cover vol 8 final international peer reviewed journal 81 public officials’ profile and skills in presiding meetings, writing agenda, minutes and resolutions cecilia d. arong arongcecilia@yahoo.com southern leyte state university sogod, southern leyte abstract local legislation is effective for good governance. legislators must be proficient in presiding meetings, drafting resolution, formulating agenda, taking down minutes and writing official communications. this study assesses public officials’ profile in presiding meetings and in writing agenda, taking down minutes and drafting resolutions. the study used the descriptive design. fish bowl technique determine 23 village captains, their councilors, sk chairmen, secretaries and treasurers as respondents. results revealed that most captains and councilors are male; most secretaries and treasurers are female. majority are 50 years and below; most are college graduates/ college level; first termer. councilors are reelected. majority of the secretaries and treasurers are reappointed. majority have attended one seminar on writing agenda/resolutions. nearly all captains and secretaries can formulate agenda while majority of the councilors and treasurers cannot. majority of the captains, councilors, and treasurers claim they cannot take down minutes and cannot draft resolutions. the study concludes that officials lack competence in presiding meetings and writing resolutions. keywords presiding meetings, writing agenda minutes resolutions. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.172 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom jpair: multidisciplinary journal 82 introduction a barangay is the smallest local government unit in the philippines and it is run by a captain, seven councilmen , one sangguniang kabataan (sk) chairman with the sk kagawads, the secretary, treasurer, tanods and health workers. all affairs are managed by the public officials as the governance of a barangay rests on the elected officials in the furtherance of the socio-cultural, economic and political developmental needs and aspirations of the inhabitants within its territorial jurisdiction. barangay legislators work for the deliberation, consultation, codification and consideration of all aspects that are geared towards development for the sustained capacity to achieve a better life. better life means that citizens have higher life expectancy and higher quality of life regardless of age, sex, gender, religion or ethnicity. local legislation is considered an effective tool for good governance and results in ordinances and resolutions that enable citizens to achieve a better life. it is effective if it contributes to the attainment of the community’s shared vision and results in poverty reduction, gender equality, environmental protection, peace and unity, accountability and transparency of local officials, and active participation of citizens in social, economic and political transformation. barangay officials as local legislators are expected to be proficient in presiding meetings, in deliberating issues, drafting resolution, formulating agenda for the order of business, taking down minutes and in writing official communications more specifically on writing business letters. an effective meeting serves a useful purpose which means that a desired outcome is achieved. too often, people call a meeting to discuss something without really considering what the good outcome could be whether to arrive at a decision, to generate ideas, to get status report, to communicate something or to make plans. to help one determine the meeting’s objectives, he has to complete this “at the close of the meeting, i want the group to…”. with the end result clearly defined, he can plan the contents of the meeting and determine who needs to be present (http://midtools.com/commskills/runningmeeting.htm). keeping records of official discussions and decisions in an organized fashion is very important for village officials and other civic leaders. international peer reviewed journal 83 anybody, whether officer or ordinary member of an organization should be skilled in taking down minutes of meetings. if nobody takes down minutes of the meeting, be it of small group or big group, then decisions and discussions made during that meeting are of no importance since it would turn out as hearsay and there is no evidence of what transpired during the meeting. so, any official should learn how to write minutes of meetings. the decisions made on issues discussed during a meeting are crucial to the continued functioning of a business or organization. therefore, keeping record of those discussions and decisions in an organized fashion is important (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/120518/villageofficials-relearn-simp). brief and direct to the point minutes serve as snapshot of what transpires in a meeting (http://www.umdnj.edu/ ama/policy/how2 res.html). student government officers and even teachers and employees have difficulty in taking down minutes of meetings. however, trainings can develop the writer of minutes to capture the discussion of meetings, not to lead nor participate on the discussion and not to record every word being spoken but to get the gist of the discussion and take down notes to be summarized later. objectives of the study this study attempts to 1.) describe the profile of the officials of sogod; and 2.) determine how many officials could write agenda for the order of business in a meeting, take down minutes of a meeting, draft resolutions, write official communications and preside small group and big group meetings using parliamentary procedures. materials and methods this research is descriptive normative survey using 51.11% of the 45 barangays of sogod. the 23 captains, 184 councilors including sangguniang kabataan chairmen, 23 secretaries, and 23 treasurers were the respondents. fish bowl technique was used to determine which of the 45 were used as respondents where all the names of the 45 were written on rolled paper but only 23 pieces of rolled paper were picked. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 84 questionnaires given to every barangay consists of questions for sex, age, educational qualification, number of terms being elected/ reelected or appointed/reappointed, number of seminars attended on writing minutes, resolutions, and number of other seminars attended on public speaking and other oral communication seminars.further, same questionnaire gathers data if captains, councilors, secretaries and treasurers have the ability to write agenda for the order of business of meetings, take down minutes of meetings, draft resolutions, write official communication and preside small group and big group meetings using parliamentary procedures. percentages were used in the computation of data. results and discussion profile of respondents majority (73.91%) of the captains are male; majority (61.96%) of the councilors and sk chairmen are male; majority (65.22) of the secretaries are female; and nearly all (91.30%) of the treasurers are female. most (43.48%) of the captains are 41-50 years old; 58.69% of the councilors, 60.52% of the secretaries and 73.91% of the treasurers are 3150 years old. most (47.82%) of the captains, majority of the councilors, secretaries and treasurers are college graduates and college level. majority (65.21%) of the captains,59.78% of the councilors, majority of the secretaries and treasurers are first termer and second termers. more than half (65.22%) of the captains have not attended any seminar on public speaking and oral communications. more than threefourths(80.43%) of the councilors, majority (73.91%) of the secretaries and 78.26% of the treasurers have not attended a seminar on public speaking and oral communication. ability of barangay officials in writing/formulating agenda of meeting in preparing agenda, table 1 shows that 91.30% of the captains claim that they can formulate agenda of meetings; 59.24%of the councilors claim that they cannot; 100% of the secretaries claim that they can; while 56.52% of the treasurers believe they cannot. this result international peer reviewed journal 85 is supported by arong (2007) that of the supreme student council officers’, only 39.33% claim they can formulate agenda for meetings. in formulating agenda which keep the meeting running on target and on time, the priorities (or what absolutely must be covered), the results (what needs to accomplish at the meeting), the participants (who needs to attend the meeting for it to be successful), the sequence (in what order will he cover the topics), the timing (how much time will he spend on each topic), the date and time (when will the meeting take place); and the place (where will the meeting place) are to be considered. table 1. barangay officials as to ability in formulating agenda of meetings officials yes f % no f % total f % captain 21 91.30 2 8.70 23 100.00 councilors 75 40.76 109 59.24 184 100.00 secretary 23 100.00 0 0.00 23 100.00 treasurer 10 43.48 13 56.52 23 100.00 taking down the minutes of meetings table 2 unfolds that 65.22% of the captains claim they have no ability to take down minutes; 71.20% of the councilors believe they cannot; while 100% of the secretaries claim they can take down minutes; while 56.52%of the treasurers claim they cannot. secretaries’ work is to take down minutes. effective note taking is not recording every word being spoken but on getting the gist of the discussion and taking down notes to be summarized later. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 86 table 2. barangay officials as to ability in taking down minutes of meetings officials yes f % no f % total f % captain 8 4.78 2 8.70 23 100.00 councilors 53 8.80 109 59.24 184 100.00 secretary 23 00.00 0 0.00 23 100.00 treasurer 10 3.48 13 56.52 23 100.00 drafting resolutions the most efficient way for villages to write resolutions is to make a simple outline or list of premises for the whereas clauses and a simple list of phrases for the resolved clauses. table 3 shows the distribution of the ability of the barangay officials in drafting resolutions. the captains (69.57%)claim that they do not have the ability to draft resolutions; more than three-fourths of the councilors believe they cannot draft;the entire secretaries (100%) claim they can; but majority of the treasurers (65.22%) claim they cannot. table 3. village officials as to skills in drafting resolutions officials yes f % no f % total f % captain 7 30.43 16 69.57 23 100.00 councilors 45 24.46 139 75.54 184 100.00 secretary 23 100.00 0 0.00 23 100.00 treasurer 8 34.78 15 65.22 23 100.00 international peer reviewed journal 87 writing official communications cursory conversation with barangay officials resulted to their admission that they lack the ability to write official communication such as business letters. several times these officials come to slsu english teachers to request them to draft a letter of request requesting slsu for a seminar workshop in writing resolutions, and official communication as extension program of said university. table 4 presents that 56.52% of the captains claim that they are deficient in writing official communications as they are not equipped with the knowledge and skill in addition to their grammar deficiency in doing such; 55.43% of the councilors claim they cannot do the job with correctness and precision; 69.57% of the secretaries believe they are doing the job correctly; 69.57% of the treasurers claim they cannot do the job. table 4. barangay officials as to ability in writing official communications. officials yes f % no f % total f % captain 10 43.48 13 56.52 23 100.00 councilors 82 44.57 102 55.43 184 100.00 secretary 16 69.57 7 30.43 23 100.00 treasurer 7 30.43 16 69.57 23 100.00 presiding meeting using parliamentary procedure anybody can call for a meeting even without following the order of business or even without formulated agenda. however, the presiding officer could go anywhere else or could just discuss any topic as it comes to his mind. the provisional agenda are to be presented, moved for approval and duly seconded so that the meeting has a guide. a meeting is effective if the meeting’s planning, preparation, execution and follow-up are well-structured. table 5 shows that 100% of the captains claim that they preside jpair: multidisciplinary journal 88 their meetings using parliamentary procedures; 72.28% of the councilors claim they do not have the ability to preside meetings using parliamentary procedures; 52.17% of the secretaries; and, 60.87% of the treasurers believe they cannot preside meetings. table 5. barangay officials as to ability in presiding meetings using parliamentary procedures. officials yes f % no f % total f % captain 23 100.00 0 0.00 23 100.00 councilors 51 27.72 133 72.28 184 100.00 secretary 11 47.83 12 52.17 23 100.00 treasurer 9 39.13 14 60.87 23 100.00 this result is similar to the slsu ssc officers’ ability in presiding meetings that only 17.33% claim they can preside meetings using parliamentary procedure. conclusions this study has the following conclusions: 1. nearly all captains claim they can formulate meeting agenda; majority of the councilors cannot; all secretaries can; while majority of the treasurers claim they cannot formulate agenda. 2. majority of the captains, councilors, sk chairmen and treasurers claim they do not have the ability to take down minutes of meeting; while all secretaries claim they can take down minutes of meetings as it is the nature of work. 3. majority of the captains, councilors, sk chairmen and treasurers believe they cannot draft resolutions; while all secretaries claim they can. 4. majority of the captains, councilors, sk chairmen and treasurers claim they do not have the ability to write official communications; while majority of the secretaries have the ability as it is their international peer reviewed journal 89 work. 5. all captains claim they have the ability to preside meetings using parliamentary procedures; while majority of the councilors, sk chairmen, secretaries and treasurers claim they cannot. recommendations it is recommended that a seminar – workshop on presiding meetings, formulating agenda, taking down minutes of meetings, writing resolutions and in public speaking should be conducted to village officials so that they will be equipped with the necessary skills for handling the governance of the village officials. literature cited arong, c. d. 2007 ssc officers’ ability in presiding meetings. slsu rde journal 2007 edition arong, c. d. 2006. assessment of barangay officials’ ability in writing resolutions. paper presented during the slsu inhouse review conducted by slsu ordex internet sources http://www.midtools.com/commskill/runningmeeting.htm http://www.gmanews.tv/story/village-officials-relearn-simp http://www.umdnj.edu/ama/policy/how2res.html 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.442 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 community extension profiling of the teaching and non-teaching personnel of the university richie l. montebon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6779-9644 montebonrichie@gmail.com university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines rafael m. bachanicha http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5899-9732 rafaelbachanicha3@gmail.com university of cebulapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines melvin monton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0075-3833 melvinmonton1998@gmail.com university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines jean careen m. engkong http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7188-0488 jeancareen@gmail.com university of cebulapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines mailto:rafaelbachanicha3@gmail.com 2 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 alladino p. labana http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4506-5169 alladinolabana@gmail.com university of cebulapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract building a community that needs assistance from various organizations, such as academic institutions, is a way to carry out the mission of helping to improve not only the living conditions of the underprivileged but also to have a more significant impact on the morals and principles of the faculty and staff who participated community extension related activities. with relevant provisions of the higher education act of 1994, or republic act no. 7722, passed in 1994, and the commission on higher education memorandum order no. 48 series of 1996, institutions of higher learning are supposed to have a reliable community extension program. through community-based research, the cares program of the university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue campus continued to uphold the spirit of service to the community. as guided by the vision, mission, goals, and objectives and following the philosophies of the organization, the cares program was able to create the flagship of every department, and it has been the primary foundation for community service in the partner community. this study is a descriptive, quantitative research design that was conducted on the faculty and non-teaching personnel at the university of cebu – lapu lapu and mandaue campus. this study’s primary goal is to determine the profile of faculty and non-teaching volunteers, know the different programs and activities that they want to be involved in, and determine the reasons for participating in the program. also, to propose a recommendation based on the result of the study. keywords — social science, social community extension, community service, community profiling, teaching and non-teaching, mandaue city, cebu, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 3 international peer reviewed journal introduction a community extension activity is an essential function of the academic community to broaden its scope. the outreach initiatives and community extension program serve as a link between the community and the university. it is the method by which a university broadens the range of its program’s competencies. community service has been described as “services that a higher education institution has identified with the assistance of formal or informal consultation with nonprofit, governmental, and community-based organizations, as designed to improve the quality of life for community residents, particularly low-income individuals, or to solve particular problems related to their needs (lim, 2011). providing community service is about fostering relationships that help communities grow. it is intended to promote social and personal growth (rubio et al., 2016). the development of a community is a dynamic process that involves all areas of the community. the key to this process is establishing and maintaining channels of communication and interaction among local organizations that are otherwise focused on their more individualized concerns (chua et al., 2014). a community extension program is a supported voluntary effort by any public or private organization that aims to assist a community in raising the stakes of its comm. depending on the needs, a program may take on several shapes, including health care, financial aid, educational support, and livelihood. any extension program’s overall success depends on how participants respond to the program regarding behavioral changes (coral et al., 2015, as cited in pesigan et al., 2017). community extension activities are “a wide-ranging set of activities that are intended to bring about a sequence of outcomes among targeted clients.” they explain that a program is more than a single activity. amongst other things, community extensions are measured as giving attention to the needs of the target respondents and dedicated to marking participants’ learning behavior, multiple activities, and outcomes (diehl & galindo-gonzalez, 2011). the university of cebulapu lapu and mandaue campus developed a community extension office in response to this need so that employees, faculty, and other staff members could pool their knowledge and resources and participate in the social engagement program. the community awareness, relations, and extension service (cares) office operated as the institutional hub for all of the university’s colleges’ community 4 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 extension initiatives. the community extension program will act as a link to the community by meeting their needs in line with the university of cebu’s purpose to democratize high-quality education, be a leader in the industry, inspire hope, and improve lives. the cares program of the university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue campus maintained the spirit of community service through community-based research. the cares program established the flagship of every department while adhering to the organization’s principles and being directed by its vision, mission, goals, and objectives. it has also served as the basis for community service in the partner community. objective of the study this study’s primary goal is to determine the profile of faculty and nonteaching volunteers, know the different programs and activities they want to be involved in, and determine the reasons for participating. also, to propose a recommendation based on the result of the study. methodology research design this study is a descriptive, quantitative research design conducted on the faculty and non-teaching personnel at the university of cebu – lapu lapu and mandaue campus. uc is situated at the base of the mactan bridge, which links the cities of cebu and lapu-lapu. a higher education school dedicated to providing a real education based on the values of academic achievement, nationalism, and humanism. with its vision statement of democratizing quality education, being the visionary and industry leader, and giving hope and transforming lives. research respondents a total of sixty-nine (69) respondents on this survey comprise fifty-six faculty members and thirteen non-teaching personnel. instrumentation the survey was done through google forms that have three parts; first is to identify the profile of the respondents, second is to identify the preferred community extension activities of the faculty and non-teaching personnel, and the third is to know the reasons for volunteering in the community extension 5 international peer reviewed journal programs/activities of the university. frequency, percentage, and ranking were used to determine the study’s results. thus, this is a convenience sampling in which the google form was cascaded by sending a google form link through facebook messenger and e-mail. data collection the responses from the specified number of informants were used to collect the data. the researcher then assembled and examined the information gathered from the google form. the identity of the informants was treated as confidential since ethical considerations were given the utmost importance during the course of this study. another aspect of the ethical norm is protecting data privacy and confidentiality. this ensures that any data acquired is used solely for the goals of this study. results and discussion as reflected in table 1, the college of teacher education and the senior high school department is the highest number of volunteers, with 14 volunteers comprising 43% of the total population. the second highest number of volunteers is the basic education (junior high school department), with six volunteers comprising 9.20% of the total population. the colleges of nursing, hospitality, and tourism management are the third highest number of volunteers, with five volunteers comprising 15.40% of the total population. table 1. distribution of volunteers per college/department college/department f % college of nursing 5 7.70 college of customs administration 3 4.60 college of criminology 1 1.50 college of marine transportation 4 6.20 college of marine engineering 1 1.50 college of computer studies 4 6.20 college of teacher education 14 21.50 college of business and accountancy 2 3.10 senior high school department 14 21.50 basic education (junior high school department) 6 9.20 6 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 college/department f % basic education (grade school department) 3 4.60 college of engineering 3 4.60 college of hospitality and tourism management 5 7.70 total 65 100 as shown in table 2, most volunteers are teaching personnel, with 56 volunteers comprising 81.20% of the total population. furthermore, 53.60% are full-time permanent employees. according to this result, regular employees are more receptive to the university’s community extension services. lastly, most of the respondents are female (66.70%), 22-26 years old (33.33), and single (59.40%). table 2. profile of the respondents f % classification • teaching 56 81.20 • non-teaching 13 18.80 total 69 100 employment status • full-time permanent 37 53.60 • full-time probationary 23 33.30 • full-time retiree 2 2.90 • part-time 7 10.10 total 69 100 age • 22-26 years old 23 33.33 • 27-31 years old 14 20.29 • 32-36 years old 9 13.04 • 37-41 years old 6 8.70 • 42-46 years old 4 5.80 • 47-51 years old 7 10.14 • 52 years old and above 6 8.70 total 69 100 7 international peer reviewed journal f % gender • male 23 33.30 • female 46 66.70 total 69 100 civil status • single 41 59.40 • married 24 34.80 • widowed 3 4.30 • separated 1 1.40 total 69 100 preferred community extension activities of the uclm employee volunteers as presented in figure 1, the volunteers’ most preferred community extension service is environmental related activities (clean-up drive, solid waste management program, and the like). the finding implies that uclm employees are responsive to the call to protect and preserve the environment. the second most preferred activity of the volunteers is disaster relief operations (distribution and packaging). the researchers, who also assist with distribution and packaging, have noted that uclm employee volunteers are highly kind and eager to donate their spare time to help those affected by disasters. the volunteers’ third most preferred community extension activity is the skills and livelihood training program (as a facilitator, trainer, or mentor). the outcome implies that uclm staff members are eager to go beyond the classroom and engage the local community. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 figure 1. preferred community extension activities of the teaching and non-teaching personnel these findings must be taken into account before beginning a universitywide community extension program with uclm staff members. the results of the research will have a significant impact on how much participation the employees decide to take part. additionally, this will serve as a map for finding the areas where uclm staff volunteers’ preferred community extension projects are most needed. finally, these results will serve as the main focus and source of information for the university’s community extension activities. reasons for volunteering in the community extension programs/activities of the university figure 2 is the list of reasons why uclm employees want to be part of volunteer in community extension programs/activities. it was revealed that the number one reason why employees want to volunteer is to get a chance to give back. it demonstrates the willingness of uclm staff members to provide what they have to benefit the community. giving back to the community boosts self-esteem, and the person will feel proud of themselves for helping others and the community (cassady, 2021). after volunteering, one could feel proud of and connected to themselves. the more assured he feels about himself, the more probable he will have a positive outlook on life and ambitions for the future. volunteering does raise one’s selfesteem, which may then be applied to “normal” activities and, ideally, results in a more positive outlook on life and one’s aspirations (fairley et al., 2016; gaber et al., 2020). 9 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. reasons for volunteering in the community extension programs/activities the second reason uclm employees want to volunteer is to make a difference. the results imply that their participation in university community extension programs will benefit the community, with the expectation that others will also serve the community in some way. the results also suggest that uclm staff members are faithful to the institution’s vision of inspiring hope and transforming the lives of students and community members. volunteering benefits individuals and their support community (kelemen et al., 2017; kontogeorgopoulos, 2017). volunteers’ more extraordinary altruism is hardly surprising (nolan & rotherham, 2012; gilbert et al., 2020). many people use volunteering to combine their hobbies with doing well (galang, 2014; kankanamge et al., 2019). the third reason uclm employees want to volunteer is to promote personal growth and self-esteem. it shows that uclm staff members want to advance their personal growth and encourage the creation of their distinctive identities. volunteering can give one’s self-confidence, self-esteem, and sense of fulfillment in life a positive boost (bautista jr. et al., 2021; escolar chua et al., 2014). there will be a natural sense of accomplishment when helping others and the community. a person’s volunteer work might also help them feel proud of themselves (aked, 2015; walag et al., 2020; llenares & deocaris, 2019). 10 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conclusion the college of teacher education and senior high school department is the highest number of volunteers, followed by the junior high school department. the third highest number of volunteers are from the colleges of nursing, hospitality, and tourism management. most uclm employee volunteers are working full time permanently, 22-26 years old, female, and single. the most preferred community extension services of uclm employee volunteers are environmental related activities (clean-up drive, solid waste management program, and the like), disaster relief operations (distribution and packaging), and skills and livelihood training program (as a facilitator, trainer, or mentor). the top three reasons uclm employees volunteer in community extension programs/activities are to get a chance to give back, to make a difference, and to promote personal growth and self-esteem. translational research the findings of this study may best be translated to various institutions for information dissemination. as such, an information drive can be done to create awareness among other faculty and staff who is interested in the community extension services of a certain university. moreover, it can be used as benchmarking on community outreach initiatives that relate to and complement the motivations of employees’ volunteerism. literature cited aked, j. (2015). what’s different about how volunteers work? relationship building for wellbeing and change. ids bulletin, 46(5), 29-42. bautista jr, r. a., ballada, c. j. a., & rabo, j. s. (2021, april). examining volunteering behavior of filipino youth during covid-19 pandemic using an extended theory of planned behavior. in prediction model of sustainability practices on the financial performance of philippine rural banks 2021 asean university network business and economics virtual conference (p. 236). cassady, m. (2021). community-based organizations and addressing vaccine hesitancy: giant’s role in increasing vaccine confidence. 11 international peer reviewed journal chua, v. d., caringal, k. p., de guzman, b. r. c., baroja, e. a. d., maguindayao, j. b., & caiga, b. t. (2014). level of implementation of the community extension activities of lyceum international maritime academy. educational research international, 3(3), 19-28. diehl, c. d., & galindo-gonzalez, s. (2011). planning or refining an extension program.  department of family, youth and community sciences. florida: institute of food and agricultural sciences, university of florida. escolar chua, r. l., & de guzman, a. b. (2014). effects of third age learning programs on the life satisfaction, self-esteem, and depression level among a select group of community dwelling filipino elderly.  educational gerontology, 40(2), 77-90. fairley, s., cardillo, m. l., & filo, k. (2016). engaging volunteers from regional communities: non-host city resident perceptions towards a mega-event and the opportunity to volunteer. event management, 20(3), 433-447. gaber, j., oliver, d., valaitis, r., cleghorn, l., lamarche, l., avilla, e., ... & dolovich, l. (2020). experiences of integrating community volunteers as extensions of the primary care team to help support older adults at home: a qualitative study. bmc family practice, 21, 1-13. galang, k. j. a. (2014).  keeping the light burning: a study on the filipino culture of volunteerism, on its perception and volunteer motivations (doctoral dissertation). gilbert, j., chauvenet, c., sheppard, b., & de marco, m. (2020). “ don’t just come for yourself ”: understanding leadership approaches and volunteer engagement in community gardens.  journal of agriculture, food systems, and community development, 9(4), 259-273. kankanamge, n., yigitcanlar, t., goonetilleke, a., & kamruzzaman, m. (2019). can volunteer crowdsourcing reduce disaster risk? a systematic review of the literature. international journal of disaster risk reduction, 35, 101097. kelemen, m., mangan, a., & moffat, s. (2017). more than a ‘little act of kindness’? towards a typology of volunteering as unpaid work. sociology, 51(6), 12391256. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 kontogeorgopoulos, n. (2017). finding oneself while discovering others: an existential perspective on volunteer tourism in thailand.  annals of tourism research, 65, 1-12. lim, p. k. c. (2011). the role of academic publications in community service. international e-journal of science, medicine & education, 5(1), 1. llenares, i. i., & deocaris, c. c. (2019). volunteerism is associated with improved soft skills of marine engineering students in the philippines.  journal of interdisciplinary studies in education, 8(2), 57-73. montebon, r., bachanicha, r., & ocariza, r. (2023). transformative reflections of nursing students and alumni volunteers on the community extension services of the university. international journal of science and research (ijsr), volume 12 issue 2, february 2023, pp. 1587-1592. nolan, r., & rotherham, i. (2012). volunteer perceptions of an ecotourism experience: a case study of ecotourism to the coral reefs of southern negros in the philippines. journal of ecotourism, 11(3), 153-172. pesigan, n., mahia, y., oliva, j., panganiban, r., ramirez, c., ronquillo, k., & felicen, s. (2017). impact of community extension activities to the tourism and hospitality management students.  journal of tourism and hospitality research, 14(1). rubio, j. a. m. a., pentinio, c. v. p., ascan, j. c., mendoza, m. c. d., vito, j. v., & encio, h. a. (2016). involvement in community extension program of business administration students in one higher education institution in the philippines. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 4(1), 109122. walag, a. m. p., & fajardo, m. t. m. (2020). rapid assessment of the perceived impacts of an adult-education science competency-based enhancement training on alternative learning system mobile teachers and volunteer teachers in cagayan de oro city, philippines. strategies, 11, 34-38. 203 international peer reviewed journal abstrak ang pag-aaral na ito ay naglalayong masukat at mabigyang halaga ang gamit ng ekspresyon ng wikang adbertaysment at pagtangkilik sa produkto. isang deskriptibong pamamaraan ang gamit sa pananaliksik na ito gamit ang kwalitatibong disenyo sa pagkalap ng datos. pamamaraang purposive sampling ang ginamit sa pagpili ng mga kalahok.may isang daan at dalawampung (250) mga mag-aaral mula sa universidad de zamboanga, western mindanao state university, southern city colleges, at zamboanga state college of marine science and technology . isang sarbey kwestyoner ang ginamit bilang instrumento sa paglilikom ng datos.sa pagsusuri ng mga datos na nalikom ay ginamit ang frequency count, percentage at mean bilang istatistikal na kagamitan. mula sa pagtutuos na isinagawa, natuklasang may limang produktong higit na tinatangkilik ng mga mag-aaral. ang safeguard bath soap, colgate toothpaste, maggie noodles, biogesic tablet at clear shampoo.ang mga ekspresyong nangunguna bilang pinakaepektibo at malinaw ang mga sumusunod: “pamproteksyon ng balat, pamproteksyon ng balat, pamproteksyon ng mabahong amoy, excellence sa proteksyon sa balat, strengthens hair to reduce breakage at hair fall defense. kapansin-pansin sa mga ekspresyon ng wikang ginagamit sa adbertaysment ng mga tinatangkilik na produkto ayon sa pagiging kapani-paniwalang sinabi vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.524 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. gamiting ekspresyon ng wikang adbertaysment at pagtangkilik sa produkto necita b. tayong necitatayong8@gmail.com zamboanga city state polytechnic college rt lim boulivard baliwasan zamboanga city 204 jpair multidisciplinary research tungkol sa produktong iniindorso at ipinahahatid na nagunguna pa rin ang ekspresyong ‘pamproteksyon sa mabahong amoy” pumapangalawa ang “pamproteksyon ng balat” pangatlo ang “excellence sa proteksyon sa balat “pangapat ay ang produktong “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” at panlima ang “hair fall defense.” susing salita: adbertaysment, ekspresyon , impormasyon, produkto abstract this study aimed to measure and appreciate the use of the expression of language and product support. a descriptive approach was utilized. there are two-hundred fifty (250) students from universities de zamboanga, western mindanao state university, southern city colleges, and zamboanga state college of marine science and technology. a questionnaire survey was used as a data gathering instrument. data collection tests used frequency counts, percentages and meanings as statistical equipment. from the computation done, the students found five more products: safeguard bath soap, colgate toothpaste, maggie noodles, biogesic tablets and clear shampoo. the expressions lead the most effective and clear the following: “skin protection, scent protection, excellence in skin protection, strengthens hair to reduce breakage and hair fall defense. it is noteworthy in the expressions of the language used in the advertricted products of the product according to the credibility of the product endorsed and delivered the ‘scent protection’ effect is on top, second is “skin protection”, third is “excellence in skin protection”, fourth is the product “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” and the fifth is “hair fall defense.” keywords— advertisement, expression, information, product, descriptive design, philippines introduksyon ano ang advertaysing? ito ay pagpapalaganap ng impormasyon tungkol sa isang idea, serbisyo, o produkto sa layuning mapakilos ang pinag-uukulan ayon sa gusto ng nagpapaadbertays o nagpapaanunsyo. nakaabot ang mga adbertaysment hanggang sa kasuluksulukan ng bansa. alinmang lugar na nararating ng dyaryo, telebisyon o radyo ay tiyak na may nakikilalang pamilyar na “komersyal” ang itatawag sa mga adbertaysment naman na gagamiting pangkalahatang tawag sa 205 international peer reviewed journal kapwa print at brodkast advertaysing. ang adbertaysing ay isa sa pinakamalakas makatawag pansin ng madla na mabisa sa halos lahat ng angulo ng pamumuhay ng mga tao, maging mayaman man o mahirap. hindi lang ito mapwersang instrumento ng sangkatauhan kundi nagsasaad ng mga aspetong pang-kultural at makamundong paninindigan na sinasabing isang maling istraktura.ayon sa isang tanyag na makata na si indiya kalidas (1999) ang mga salitang ginagamit sa tamang pamamaraan at kahali-halinang kilos ay tiyak na tinatanggap ginagamit ng sangkatauhan. nangangahulugan lamang na ang pagbibigay halaga sa wika ay ang pangkalahatang obligasyon ng sino pa man sa paggamit ng makataong pahatiran, maging ito man ay sa pakikipagsulatan o pakikipagbalitaan. ito’y hindi lamang totoo sa lengwahe o wikang ginagamit sa pansariling katangian sa impormal na antas, kundi pati sa larangang pang-edukasyon, administrasyon, pangkomersyo at pangmasang komunikasyon. ayon naman kay chunawalla (1985) ang adbertaysing o anunsyong pampubliko ay bahagi na ng lahat ng klase ng negosyo, hindi lang sa pilipinas kundi ng buong mundo. sa panahon ng makabagong larangan, lalo na sa bilis ng panahong panteknolohiya, ang pangmasang komunikasyon ay may mahalagang papel na ginagampanan sa pagbuo ng isang matiwasay, makabuluhan at maginhawang sibilisasyon. ito’y maisasakatuparan sa pamamagitan ng madaliang at kapani-paniwalang impormasyon naibibigay ng isang adbertaysment maging ano mang aspeto ng pakikibaka sa buhay pampulitiko, pang-ekonomihiya, pansosyo-kultural at maging panrelihiyon.sinasabi rin ni handoo (1998) datapwat ang isang anunsyo ay nagbibigay ng malakas na negatibong impluwensya sa media, lalo na sa mga kabataan, hindi pa rin maialis na ito’y bahagi na rin sa pang -arawaraw na pakikihalubilo ng mga tao sa madla. sa ganitong katangian, ang pangmasang komunikasyon o “ mass media “ ay mga impormasyon at anunsyong pampubliko na ang layunin ay makapagbigay ng kaakit-akit na konseptong itinataguyod o inihahatid sa madla sa pamamagitan ng diyaryo, radyo o telebisyon.dagdag pa niya inaasahan na tumpak, makabuluhan at makatotohanan ang mga pinagsasabi sa produktong iniindorso ng isang ahensyang nag-iindorso ng produkto. matatanto na hindi lang impormasyon ang binibigyang diin sa isang anunsyong ginagawa kundi ang lalong mahikayat ang mga taong makinig, magbasa o manood sa kapani-paniwalang tuntunin ng isang adbertaysment. dati, purong ingles ang lenggwahe ng adbertaysment sa pilipinas. ngunit mula nang pumasok ang dekada ’70 parami na nang parami ang mga ad at komersyal na gumagamit ng wikang filipino sa alinmang bahagi o sa kabuuan nito. ano ang dahilan sa dumaraming adbertaysment na pinag-ukulan nitong target audience 206 jpair multidisciplinary research gayon din sa image ng produkto na ibig likhain? sa gayon, mapapakilos ang publiko ayon sa gusto ng advertaysing agency: bilhin o tangkilikin ang kanilang produkto/ idea serbisyo (batnag 1975) sa mga nabanggit, ang paggamit ng wikang pang anunsyo ay mananatiling isang malakas na puwersa o salik, o kaya nama’y isang ma-impluwensyang salik na nakakatawag pansin sa isang masiyasat na pag-aaral. dahil dito, ang mananaliksik, ay naniniwalang ang riserts na ito’y napapanahon . datapwat maselan ang paggamit ng wikang chavacano at filipino sa mga adbertaysment mismo sa zamboanga ay mamarapatin na lang suriin ang ang mga ekspresyong gamit na panghihimok sa ano mang lenggwahe o wika. layunin ng pag-aaral na ito ang suriin at tayahin ang mapanghikayat o mapang-enganyong mga ekpresyon gamit sa adbertaysment. batay sa layuning inilahad, inaasahang masasagot ang mga katanungang sumusunod: 1. anu–ano ang limang produktong tinatangkilik ng mga kalahok mula apat na paaralan ; universidad de zamboanga, western mindanao state university, southern city colleges, at zamboanga state college of marines and science technology 2. anu-ano ang mga gamiting ekspresyon ng wikang adbertaysment sa tinatangkilik na mga produkto ayon sa; epektibong ekspresyong panghikayat , malinaw ang paglalarawan sa produktong iniindorso, kaakit-akit (malakas ang paghikayat o pang –eengganyo sa madla , kapani-paniwala ang sinasabi tungkol produktong iniindorso. 3. alin sa mga ekspresyonmga mamimili? metodolohiya sa kabanatang ito ay tinatalakay ang pamaraan na ginamit sa pag-aaral. ang disenyo ng pananaliksik gayon din ang pagpili ng mga kalahok o mga respondents , pagbubuo ng instrumento , ang paraan ng paglilikom ng datos batay sa mga tanong na kasaad sa pag-aaral,at ang pagtutuos –mit upang mabigyan interpretasyon ang mga nakalap na datos. paraang kwalitatibo – kwantitatibong ang ur4inng pananaliksik. ginamit ang na disenyong deskriptibo sa pag-aaral na ito. ito ay ang pinaka karaniwang paraan ng pananaliksik na may sarbey kwestyoneyr. ang mga respondents ay mga mag-aaral sa antas tersyarya. binigyan ng tseklist kwetyoney r ang mga respondents batay sa kung anong ekspresyon ng produkto ang kanilang tinatangkilik. 207 international peer reviewed journal purposive sampling ang ginamit ng mananaliksik sa pagpili dalawapong daan (250) ang mga respondents, mula sa apat na paaralan , dahil layunin na makuha ang mga datos mula sa mga mag-aaral na nasa kolehiyo. resulta ng pag-aaral mapapansin na sa mga produktong inaadbertays ay mas higit na tinatangkilik ang mga produktong may kaugnayan sa pangangalaga ng katawan sa kalusugan at mga produktong palaging nang naririnig sa mga adbertaysment sa radio, telebisyon na sumasangayon sa pag-aaral ni arens (1992) nanagsasabing ang adbertaysment ay isang anunsyo o pakikipagtalastasan na nagbibigay informasyon sa madla. ito ay nababagay sa mga manonood o mamimili, mapalokal man o pandaigdigan (sa radio at telebesyon). ito ay nagiging bahagi na rin sa kanilang buhay at sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan. sa pananaw naman ni mencher (1997) ang media ay may mahalagang papel sa pagpapaunlad at pagpaginhawa ng modernong sibilisasyon sa pamamagitan ng mabilis na pagkalat ng mga impormasyon sa publiko. talahanayan l. mga produktong higit na tinatangkilik ng mga mag-aaral ng uz, wmsu, scc at zscmst (n=200) produkto frequency percentage rank 1. safeguard (bath soap) * 130 65.0 1st 2. colgate (toothpaste) * 94 47.0 2nd 3. . maggi (noodles) * 91 45.5 3rd 4. biogesic (medicine tablet) * 90 45.0 4th 5. clear (shampoo) * 78 39.0 5th 6. close up (toothpaste) 75 37.5 6th 7.head & shoulder (shampoo 63 31.5 7th 8. bear brand (powdered milk) 47 23.5 8th 9.. medicol (medicine tablet) 37 18.5 9th 10. palmolive (shampoo) 35 17.5 10th 11. neosep ((medicine tablet) 29 14.5 11th 12 silka papaya (beauty soap) 26 13.0 12th 13. quickchow (noodles) 21 10.5 13th 14. hapee (toothpaste) 20 10.0 14th 208 jpair multidisciplinary research 15 fitrum (fitness vitamin) 19 9.5 15.5th 16. palmolive (bath soap) 19 9.5 15.5th 17. chippy (snack curls) 17 8.5 17th 18 bioderm (bath soap) 14 7.0 18th 20.rejoice (shampoo) 13 6.5 19.5th 21. pantene (shampoo) 13 6.5 19.5th 22. arthro (supplementary) 12 6.0 21st 23. stick o (rolled candy) 6 3.0 23rd 24. whiter (toothpaste) 2 1.0 24th legend: ang limang produkto na napili ng mga mag-aaral ay nilalagyan ng * astires upang malaman kung alin ang una at hanggang panglimang produkto ng kanilang tinatangkilik. pangalawang katanungan: anu-ano ang mga gamiting ekspresyo ng wikang adbertaysment at pagtangkilik sa produkto ayon sa: epektibong mga expresyon ginagamit sa panghihikayat, malinaw ang paglalarawan sa produktong iniindorso,kaakit-akit (malakas ang paghihikayat o pang-enganyo sa madla kapanipaniwala ang sinasabi tungkol sa produktong iniindorso. katanungan # 2. anu-ano ang mga gamiting ekspresyon ng wikang adbertaysment na mga tinatangkilik na mga produkto ekspresyon ng wika sa adbertaysment sa limang produkto na epektibo talahanayan 2. ranking sa ekspresyon ng wika sa adbertaysment sa limang produkto na epektibo (n=250) ekspresyon frequency rank “pang protection ng balat”(skin germs protection) 206 1st “pang protection ng mabahong amoy”( protection in perspiration odor) 191 2nd “great mint taste freshens breath” 191 2nd “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” 189 3rd “nangunguna sa protection ng balat”( excelence skin germs protection 188 4th “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng kati-kati sa katawan i”(proven effective in removing skin germs that cause skin infection) 186 5th “work from the outside and from the inside” 181 6th 5th “no dandruff 180 7th 209 international peer reviewed journal “unique formula fight cavities on teeth & exposed roots” 180 7th “hair fall defense” 179 8th “pangpaputi ng ngipin” (whiten teeth) 178 9th “pagtulong sa pagunlad ng pamilya na malusog”(help promote your family health 176 10th “ anti dandruff 171 11th “gamut ng sakit ng ulo” 170 12nd “maximum cavity protection” 167 13th “maximum cavity protection” 167 13th “pangpatibay ng ngipin” (streathen teeth) 163 14th “safe ito” 161 15th “hmmmm ang sarap” 160 16th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 158 17th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 158 18th “most suitable for breakfast” 148 19th “mmmmmy super sarap” 140 20th inlahad sa talahanayan 3 ang ranking ng ekspresyon ng wikang ginamit sa limang (5) tinatangkilik na produkto ayon sa pagiging malinaw. sa limang mga ekspresyon nangunguna pa rin ang pamproteksyon ng balat “ na may dalawandaan anim napung (206) mga respondents ang tumatangkilik. pumapangalawa ay may parehong bilang na tumatangkilik sa ang “proteksyon ng ng mabahong amoy” ng safeguard at “great mint taste freshens breath” ng colgate na may sandaan siyamnaput-isa (191 mga respondents. pumapangatlo ang “strengthens hair to reduce breakage dahil nakakuha ito ng sandaanwalungpu’tsiyam 189 na mga kalahok .nangunguna sa proteksyon ng balat ang safeguard soap. pang-apat naman ang ekspresyong ,napatunayan na epektibo sa pantanggal ng dumi na may sadaanwalungpu’twalo (188) ang mga kalahok ang tumatangkilik. panlima anaman ang “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng kati-kati sa katawan i”(proven effective in removing skin germs that cause skin infection) safeguard bath soap , na may swadaawalumpu’t anim (186) na mga respondents ang tumatangkilik. 210 jpair multidisciplinary research talahanayan 3. ranking sa ekpresyong ng wika sa adbertaysment sa limang produktong malinaw (n=250) ekspresyon frequency rank “pang protection ng balat” (skin germs protection) 192 1st “pang protection ng mabahong amoy” ”( protection in perspiration odor) 185 2nd “excellence sa protection sa balat” ”( excelence skin germs protection 181 3rd “super sarap” 181 3st “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng dumi” ”(proven effective in removing skin germs that cause skin infection) 179 4th “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” 176 5st “mmmmmy super sarap” 174 6nd “no dandruff” 171 7nd “great mint taste freshens breath” 168 8tth “unique formula fight cavities on teeth & exposed roots” 168 8th “work from the outside and from the inside” 166 9rd “ anti dandruff 164 10th “hair fall defense” 163 11th “pangpatibay ng ngipin”” streathen teeth) 160 12rd “maximum cavity protection” 159 13th “pangpaputi ng ngipin” (whithen teeth) 157 14th “kahit walang laman ang tiyan” 157 14th “pueding uminum kahit walang pang kain” 151 15th “gamut ng sakit ng ulo” 150 16th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 145 17th “safe ito” 144 18th talahanayan 4. ranking ng ekspresyon ng wika sa advertasyement sa limang produktong kakit-akit (n=250) expression frequency rank “pang protection ng balat”( skin germs protection) 187 1st “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” 181 2nd “ anti dandruff 178 3rd “pagtulong sa pagunlad ng pamilya na malusog” 175 4th “excellence sa protection sa balat”( excellence in skin germs protection) 175 4th “great mint taste freshens breath” 174 5st “pang protection ng mabahong amoy” 174 5h 211 international peer reviewed journal “super sarap” 174 5st “work from the outside and from the inside” 174 5 “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng dumi” (proven effective in removing skin germs protection) 168 6th “pangpaputi ng ngipin”(whithen teeth) 167 7nd “no dandruff” 162 8th “hair fall defense” 158 9th “hmmmm ang sarap” 157 10th “kahit walang laman ang tiyan” 156 11st “gamut ng sakit ng ulo” 153 12th “pueding uminum kahit walang pang kain” 153 12th “unique formula fight cavities on teeth & exposed roots” 154 13rd “most suitable for breakfast” 152 14th “maximum cavity protection” 151 15th “mmmmmy super sarap” 151 15th “3 minuto lang may super sarap maggie ka na” 147 16th “pangpatibay ng ngipin” (steangthen teeth) 145 17th “safe ito” 140 18th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 136 19th pumapangalawa ang “strengthens hair to reduce breakage”ng clear shampoo na may sandaan walumpu’t isa (181) kalahok naman, “ anti dandruff” talahanayan 5. ranking ng ekspresyon ng wika sa advertasyement sa limang produktong (kapani-paniwala ) (n=250) expression frequency rank “pang protection ng balat” (skin germs protection) 1st 184 “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng dumi”(proven effective in removing skin germs that cause skin infection) 181 2nd “excellence sa protection sa balat”(excellence skin germs protection) 178 3rd “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” 177 4sth “hair fall defense” 168 5th “pagtulong sa pagunlad ng pamilya na malusog”(help promote your family heath) 167 6th “pangpatibay ng ngipin” (streangthen teeth) 166 7st “great mint taste freshens breath” 165 8th 212 jpair multidisciplinary research “unique formula fight cavities on teeth & exposed roots” 165 8th “kahit walang laman ang tiyan” 164 9th “no dandruff” 163 10tth “pueding uminum kahit walang pang kain” 162 11nd “work from the outside and from the inside” 160 12tth “ anti dandruff 159 13th “pangpaputi ng ngipin”(whithen teeth) 158 14th “mmmmmy super sarap” 158 14th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 153 15rd “most suitable for breakfast” 152 16th “maximum cavity protection” 150 17th “gamut ng sakit ng ulo” 148 17th “3 minuto lang may super sarap maggie ka na” 148 17th “safe ito” 148 17th makikita sa talahanayan 6 ang wikang ginagamit sa limang produktong tinatangkilik ng mga respondents. sa kabuuang ang katangian ng pagiging epektibo. malinaw, kaakit-akit at kapani-paniwala, ipinahahayag na sa limang produkto ang ekspresyong ang ‘pang proteksyon ng balat (skin germs protection) ng safeguard ang tinatangkilik ng mga mag-aaral respondents dahil ito ang nangunguna sa rank 1. sumunod ang ekspresyong na nasa rank 2 ang “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng dumi”(proven effective in removing skin germs that cause skin infection” na tinatangkilik ng mg respondents pangatlo sa rank 3 ang excellence sa protection sa balat”(excellence skin germs protection). pang-apat sa rank ang strengthens hair to reduce breakage”. ang panglima ay ang “hair fall defense ang mga respondents na gumagamit. epektibo, malinaw, kaakit-akit at kapani-paniwala ang mga produktong nabanggit sa talahanayan dahil nabigyan diin sa limang produkto ang limang gamit ng adbertaysment ayon kay boston (2004) sumasagot sa matinding pangangailangan ng mamimili, sumasagot sa kagustuhan ng mamimili, mapang-akit at makatotohanan ang mensaheng ipinaaabot ng produkto; nababatid ng ahe o impormasyon ng mga bagay na tatangkilikin. 213 international peer reviewed journal talahanayan 6. paglalagom sa mga ranking sa ekpresyons sa wikang adbertaysment sa limang produkto (n=250) ekspresyon katangian ng mabuting ekspresyon epektibo malinaw kaakit-akit kapani-paniwala f r f r f r f r 1. rich maggi noodles “super sarap” 179 1st 181 1st 174 1st 158 1.5th “mmmmmy super sarap” 140 5th 174 2nd 151 4th 158 1.5th “most suitable for breakfast” 148 4th 158 4th 152 3rd 152 4th “3 minuto lang may super sarap maggie ka na” 169 2nd 165 3rd 147 5th 148 5th “hmmmm ang sarap” 160 3rd 157 5th 157 2nd 155 3rd 2. safeguard (bath soap) “pang protection ng balat”(skin germs protection) 206 1st 192 1st 187 1st 184 1st “napatunayan na epektibo sa pagtanggal ng dumi”(proven effective in removing skin germs protection) 186 4th 179 4th 168 5th 181 2nd “excellence sa protection sa balat”(excellence skin germs protection) 188 3rd 181 3rd 175 2.5th 178 3rd “pagtulong sa pagunlad ng pamilya na malusog”( help promote your family health) 176 5th 170 5th 175 2.5th 167 5th “pang protection ng mabahong amoy” (protection in perspiration odor) 191 2nd 185 2nd 174 4th 168 4th 3. clear shampoo “ anti dandruff 171 5th 164 4th 178 2nd 159 5th “strengthens hair to reduce breakage” 189 1st 176 1st 181 1st 177 1st “hair fall defense” 179 4th 163 5th 158 5th 168 2nd “no dandruff” 180 3rd 171 2nd 162 4th 163 3rd “work from the outside and from the inside” 181 2nd 166 3rd 174 3rd 160 4th 4. colgate (toothpaste) “maximum cavity protection” 167 4th 159 4th 151 4th 150 5th “great mint taste freshens breath” 191 1st 168 1.5th 174 1st 165 2.5th “unique formula fight cavities on teeth & exposed roots” 180 2nd 168 1.5th 154 3rd 165 2.5th “pangpatibay ng ngipin” 163 5th 160 3rd 145 5th 166 1st “pangpaputi ng ngipin” 178 3rd 157 5th 167 2nd 158 4th 5. biogesic “gamot ng sakit ng ulo” 170 2nd 150 3rd 153 2.5th 148 4.5th 214 jpair multidisciplinary research “pueding uminum kahit walang pang kain” 167 3rd 151 2nd 153 2.5th 162 2nd “kahit walang laman ang tiyan” 177 1st 157 1st 156 1st 164 1st “safe ito” 161 4th 144 5th 140 4th 148 4.5th “laging daladala kahit saan pumupunta” 158 5th 145 4th 136 5th 153 3rd 3.alin sa mga ekspresyons sa adbertaysment ang nakakaakit sa mga mamimili? ang interpretasyon kung alin sa ekspresyon ng adbertaysment ang nakakaakit sa mga sa mg respondents ay ang mga ekspresyon ng produktong safeguard na mga ekspresyon na may halong salitang hiram. ito yung tinatawag na code switching. mula sa mga datos na nakalap, iniinterpret at nasuri, natuklasan na ang limang ekspresyon ng wikang nakakuha ng pinakakamataas na rank ay katulad na lamang ng pangproteksyon ng balat, pangproteksyon ng mabahong amoy, “ excellence sa proteksyon sa balat, strengthens hair to reduce breakage, hair fall defense, at mga salitang payak at mapapansin na ang mga ekspresyong nangunguna ay ang mga ekspresyon sa pangangalaga ng pangangatawan. dahil ito ang unang pangangailangan ng mga respondents at ito rin ay epektibo, malinaw kaakit-akit at kapanipaniwala na mga ekspresyon para sa mga mamimili. unang-una ang ekspresyon ng mga produktong nabanggit ay paulit-ulit na lumalabas sa media, lalong-lalo na sa telebisyon, na umaayon ito sa teorya ni mencher (1997) na ang media ay may mahalagang papel sa pagpapaunlad at pagpapaginhawa sa modernong sibilisasyon na may kaugnayan sa pang-araw-araw na gamit nga tao.ang produktong binanggit ay umaayon sa layunin ng media sa pagiging makatotohanan, tiyak at malinaw kung para kanino ang adbertayesment. gumagamit ng mga salitang nagungumbinsi. kongklusyon ang mga ekspresyon ginagamit sa adbertaysment ng mga produkto ay epektibo, malinaw kaakit-akit at kapani-paniwala dahil sumasagot ang mga ito sa matinding pangangailangan ng mamimili. sumasagot din ang mga ito sa kagustuhan ng mamimili at umaayon sa kanilang panlasa. mapag-akit at makatotohanan ang mensaheng ipinaabot ng produktong nagbibigay diin ng maliwanag na larawan ng mga bagay na iniindorso at nailalarawan din ng mga adbertaysment ang katumpakan sa pagbabatid ng 215 international peer reviewed journal mensahe o impormasyon ng mga bagay na tatangklikin. dahil sa mga ekspresyon na payak at mga salitang may halong hiram o code switching at mga salitang madaling maunawaan lalong na na sa mga kabataan dahil sila ang pangunahing mga kalahok sa pag-aaral na ito. at ang mga produktong higit na kanilang tinatangkilik ay may kaugnayan sa kalusugan at sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan . bibliograpiya arens, william f. 1992 contemporary advertisement united state of america bores, f.j. (2000). globalization and advertising : issues and concerns. prentice hall. bestmont, darick t. advertising in the american setting ; new york publications, usa (1996) boston, irwin mc. graw hill 2004 xvv, chunawalla, sethia. 1985. foundations of advertising theory and advertising. bombay : himalaya publishing house. irwin, richard d. case in advertisement and promotion management publishing division : harbard buseness school , boston ma. printed in united state of america (1999) kalidas, v. 1999. india advertising all through the postindependence era” in the hindu, august 15, 1999 gopal, w.l ( 1989 ) the indian advertising and effects to populace. india publishing company 89 international peer reviewed journal teacher-made comic strip: a strategic intervention material in teaching fundamental operations on integers edison l. uy http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9154-1317 edisonuy23@gmail.com deped-catbalogan city division pangdan national high school catbalogan city, philippines 99% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 1% abstract a relatively large share of students often struggles in learning fundamental operations on integers because they express general dislike to its context for it has numerous rules that lead to confusion. in this perspective, the study proposed a teacher-made comic strip entitled numerolandia: the chosen one as an alternative way to increase and strengthen students’ knowledge and understanding of the fundamental operations on integers. it aimed to investigate its effectiveness to the identified bottom 20 students (based on the latest average in mathematics) of grade seven section amethyst of pangdan national high school, catbalogan city during s.y. 2017-2018. quasi-experimental research design with one group pre-test post-test design was used. thus, the comic strip was given to the student-participants for them to read and answer all the activities provided in it, and two questionnaires were served: one was about the assessment on fundamental operations on integers, and another was about the extent of acceptance on the comic strip. thus, it was found out that the comic strip was an effective way of improving students’ knowledge and skills as it showed vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.606 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:edisonuy23@gmail.com/09555187780 90 jpair multidisciplinary research a notable positive 7.7 increase in their scores when they were exposed to this intervention and as to the degree of acceptance, based on the given indicators the student participants agreed to accept it strongly. therefore, it is recommended that mathematics teachers should innovate their teaching styles and strategies to fortify the students’ learning process like the use of a comic strip. keywords – mathematics education, teacher-made, comic strip, quasiexperimental design, strategic intervention material introduction animated novel cartoons and comic strips have conventionally been seen as “rivals” of the teachers for students most often caught reading these materials in schools during their class hours which were likely to be disciplined (cleaver, 2008). nevertheless, nowadays, some teachers are starting to view comic strip as potential educational tools, as a way to arouse students’ interest in academic subjects (cleaver, 2008), and also it is a positive avenue to improve students’ academic performance (tilley, 2008). learning is important because no one is born with the ability to function competently as an adult in society (bransford, brown, & cocking 2000). it is why, comics have been used as a pedagogical tool to motivate students to read, help them remember the content, and make the whole learning process fun (muzumdar, 2016). moreover, comic strips or comics in short appeals to a broader audience across all age and ethnic groups because they employ an everyday language that is almost universally understood and can be concurrently instructive and entertaining. such sophisticated yet simple use of visuals and text in comic books in generating a clear narrative for the information to be presented gives comics the potential to go beyond the traditional textbook for teaching and learning (muzumdar, 2016). thus, students became more motivated to learn the subject through the use of cartoons and comics in teaching mathematics lessons especially the students who are having struggles in learning specific concepts (toh, 2009). also, reading of comics is a move beyond debased or simplified word-based literacy it is a complex and multimodal literacy. in this note, using comics in classrooms can help students develop as critical and engaged themselves with multimodal texts and imagine things beyond words (jacobs, 2007). mathematics education, in particular, have always faced and will continue to meet challenges for students complained of the hardships of the learning, and teachers complained of students’ laziness (karp, 2016). it can be hard for children 91 international peer reviewed journal to see how functions, equations or geometric shapes can help them in everyday life (legner, 2013). like in pnhs, the first quarter mean of grade seven section amethyst students were only 22.15 out of 50 with an mps value of 55.36 which was far from the standard requirement of department of education (deped). thus, basic operation on integers was on the top of the least learned skills in grade seven in pnhs, so, it is a vital reform for a teacher to have an intervention that could upsurge student’s interest in dealing with this topic. hence, it is for this reason why the researcher came up with numerolandia: the chosen one, a comic book which aims to strengthen and increase students’ knowledge and understand in fundamental operations on integers. objectives this study chiefly attempted to improve and strengthen students’ knowledge and attitude in dealing fundamental operations on integers by the use of comic strip entitled numerolandia: the chosen one to the bottom 20 students of grade seven amethyst section of pangdan national high school during the school year 2017-2018. moreover, it also aimed to increase the mean and mean percentage scores of the school in mathematics. specifically, this study sought answers to the following questions: (1) what is the academic performance of the student-participants’ before (1st grading) and after (2nd grading) the intervention?; (2) what are the pre-test and post-test scores of the student-participants on the fundamental operations on integers?; (3) what are the pre-test and post-test proficiency levels of student-participants on the necessary action on integers?; (4) is there a significant difference between the academic performance of the student-participants before (1st grading) and after (2nd grading) the intervention?; (5) is there a substantial difference between the pre-test and post-test scores on the assessment relative to the fundamental operations on integers?, and (6) what is the extent of acceptance of studentparticipants on numerolandia: the chosen one? hypotheses based on the statement of the problem, the study tested the following explanation: there is no significant difference between the academic performance of the student-participants before (1st grading) and after (2nd grading) the intervention. also, there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores on the assessment relative to the fundamental operations on integers. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research conceptual framework the figure below is the illustration of the conceptual schema of the study. it shows the entirety of the research process. figure 1. the conceptual framework this section discusses the different intervention acquired in this study, the response used and the strategy that was applied. innovation. the research instrument used by the researcher in this study was a 40-item test covering the four fundamental operations on integers. its reliability was tested using kuder-richardson 20 (kr-20) using ten (10) identified students from grade seven section amethyst. after the calculations, the researcher obtained a 0.86 alpha value which means the research instrument is good. thus, this study used descriptive ratings and numerical ratings of the students’ proficiency level on the fundamental operation on integers which were based on the following: table 1. numerical and descriptive rating numerical rating descriptive rating scores 1-50% beginning 1-20 51-74% developing 21-29 75-88% proficient 30-35 89% and above advanced 36-40 moreover, this questionnaire includes a 13-item indicator to assess the student-respondents’ degree of acceptance on the intervention material used in teaching the fundamental operation on integers that is the numerolandia: the chosen one. 93 international peer reviewed journal intervention. the intervention material used in this study was a comic strip entitled numerolandia: the chosen one. an adventure type comics that tells the story of a young man (chosen one) who possess the power of four operations who lives in numerolandia where numbers defined by its existence and being protected by the four legendary guardians named; pluhz: guardian who can add all forms of numbers, mynuz: guardian who can subtract all types of numbers, tymez: guardian who can multiply any types of numbers and dihvydez: guardian who has the ability to divide all forms of numbers which later on task to find the chosen one to save numerolandia from destruction. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research strategy. using quasi-experimental research design with one sample pretest post-test design, the 20 student-participants took the research assessment for one hour. after receiving the pre-assessment, the intervention material (numerolandia: the chosen one) was given to student-participants and ask to read the comic strip and be able to answer all the different activities in it within two days. after two days, the researcher and the student-participants gathered once more to check and discuss the various events on the intervention materials. on the next day, the post-assessment was conducted using the same research instrument at the same time. afterward, the researcher surveyed to what extent of acceptance does the student-participants like the intervention material used provided with some indicators. 95 international peer reviewed journal methodology this part presents the methods and procedures that were used in this study. it explicitly discusses the research design, sampling procedure, data collection, ethical issues, and plan for data analysis. research design the study utilized the quasi-experimental research design using one group pre-test post-test design. figure 2. the research design o 1 means the pre-test while o2 implies the post-test. moreover, x indicates the intervention used in this study, the comic strip entitled numerolandia: the chosen one. sampling procedure in this research, the researcher used purposive sampling technique and simple random sampling technique. purposive sampling technique for the official student-participants that was the bottom 20 of grade seven amethyst section (out of 55) which was done by getting their average grade during the first grading period in mathematics subject. the researcher used the sample random sampling technique for the ten (10) student-participants that served as the official students-participants for the validation of the research instrument. instrumentation to have the content of numerolandia checked, the researcher asked the aid of three mathematics teachers of pnhs. with an open conference, they scrutinized the material. afterward, the comments and suggestions were incorporated. aside from numerolandia, the researcher also used a 40-item research instrument which the reliability was measured using kr-20. randomly selected ten (10) students from the remaining 35grade seven amethyst, the researcher lets these students answered the assessment tool. after the assessment being 96 jpair multidisciplinary research done, based on their scores the researcher computed the alpha value, and that is 0.86this means that the instrument used has good internal consistency. participants the participants of this research are the bottom 20 students of grade seven section amethyst based on their grades during the first grading period in mathematics subject last school year 2017-2018. data gathering procedure a letter requesting permission to conduct the study among the objectively selected bottom 20 students of grade seven amethyst section was secured from the secondary school head of pangdan national high school. the letter mentioned above, upon approval, was attached to the letters requesting permission from the section advisers of the student participants. upon their support, the intervention and survey were conducted using the intervention material used and the questionnaire for this study. after all the data has been collected, the tabulation, computation, analyses and, interpretation proceeded. ethical issues to make this research possible, the researcher asked permissions from the school head of pangdan national high school in the person of mr. rolex s. jakosalemas well as from the grade seven-amethyst adviser. after the authorization, the researcher immediately conducted the research process. this intervention was conducted during the mathematics class hour of grade seven-amethyst that is 3:00-4:00 p.m. last august28-31, 2017. results and discussion the proceeding tables show student-participants personal data regarding academic performance during first and second grading periods and the results in the implementation of intervention material. the academic performance of student-participants table 2 shows the first grading academic performance of the student participants. this was the grades of the student-participants before the intervention which serve as the baseline for choosing these students to be the official participants of this study. 97 international peer reviewed journal table 2. first grading academic performance of student-participants (before the intervention) academic performance f % 75 2 10 76 1 5 77 2 10 78 1 5 79 2 10 80 7 35 81 5 25 total 20 100 mean 79.05 sd 2.01 based on table 2, the majority of the student participants have an 80 percent grade in mathematics during the first grading period that is seven or 35 percent of the total sample. thus, the mean of the student-respondents’ academic performance was 79.05 with a 2.01 sd value. this means that the academic performance of the student participants was reasonably satisfactory; this is based on the descriptors provided by deped for grading scale. table 3 shows the second grading academic performance of the student participants. this was the grades of the student participants after the intervention. table 3. second grading academic performance of student-participants (after the intervention) academic performance f % 77 2 10 78 2 10 79 3 15 80 2 10 81 3 15 82 3 15 83 2 10 84 2 10 85 1 5 total 20 100 mean 80.75 sd 2.38 98 jpair multidisciplinary research based on table 3, after the intervention, the highest grade of the student participants became 85 from 81, and the lowest grew 77 from 75. thus, the mean of the student-participants’ academic performance was 80.75 with a 2.38 sd value. this means that the academic achievement of the student-participants moved up to satisfactory from reasonably satisfactory, this is based on the descriptors provided by deped for grading scale. furthermore, there is a positive 1.7 significant mean difference between the first and second grading grades of the student participants. the student-participants’ pre-test and post-test scores table 4 shows the result of pre-test and post-test of the student-participants using the validated test questionnaire for the study. table 4. pre-test and post-test scores of student-participants student-respondents pre-test post-test m a le 1 25 27 2 15 20 3 18 24 4 15 30 5 12 23 6 21 23 7 10 19 8 24 32 9 12 23 10 15 26 11 22 27 12 13 15 13 31 33 14 24 31 fe m a le 15 15 26 16 17 29 17 27 28 18 24 39 19 14 22 20 21 32 mean 18.75 26.45 sd 5.82 5.60 99 international peer reviewed journal the table 4.0 shows the summary of scores of pre-assessments and the postassessment of the student participants in this study. the pre-test score obtained an 18.75 average with 5.82 sd value while the post-test scores attained a 26.45 mean value with a 5.60 sd value. this means that there was a positive 7.7 increase in the score of the student-participants when they were exposed to the intervention made by the researcher. the student-participants’ pre-test and post-test proficiency level on the fundamental operations on integers table 5 and 6 represents the pre and post assessment proficiency level of student-respondents respectively on the fundamental operations on integers. table 5. pre-test proficiency level of student-participants on fundamental operations on integers descriptive rating student-participants total percentage m f beginning 9 2 11 55% developing 5 3 8 40% proficient 1 0 1 5% advanced 0 0 0 0% total 15 5 20 100% based on the data-driven, out of 20 student-participants 11 or 55 percent fell under beginning level, 8 or 40 percent of student-participants fell under developing level, 1 or 5 percent fell under proficient level. this means that the majority of the student-participant fell under the beginning level. this means that the student-participants don’t have much knowledge on the fundamental operations on integers for most of them have just reached the beginning level. table 6. post-test proficiency level of student-participants on fundamental operations on integers descriptive rating student-participants total percentage m f beginning 3 0 3 15% developing 8 3 11 55% proficient 3 2 5 25% advanced 1 0 1 5% total 15 5 20 100% 100 jpair multidisciplinary research based on the data above, out of 20 student-participants 3 or 15 percent of them fell under beginning level, 11 or 55 percent of fell under developing level, 5 or 25 percent fell under a proficient standard, and a 1 or 25 percent only reached an advanced level. this means that there is significant learning from the studentparticipants after the intervention. this says that the majority of the studentrespondent has already sufficient knowledge of the fundamental operations on integers for most of them have reached the developing level. the relationship between student-participants’ academic performance before and after the intervention table 7 shows the relationship between the student-participants pre-test and post-test scores. table 7. the relationship between student-participants’ first and second quarter grades variable r-value p-value interpretation/decision first vs. second quarter grades 0.80 0.000 significant/reject the null hypothesis table 7 depicts a 0.80r-value and a 0.000 p-value that leads to the decision of rejecting the null hypothesis because the p-value is less than 0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between the pre and post assessment conducted by the researcher. this means that the hypothesis which states that “there is no significant difference between the academic performance of the student-participants 1st grading and 2nd grading grades the intervention” is said to be rejected. thus, the academic performance of the student-participants was significantly increased. the relationship between student-participants’ pre-test and post-test scores table 7 shows the relationship between the student-participants pre-test and post-test scores. table 8. t-test for dependent samples (two-tailed) variable sd t-value p-value interpretation/decision pre and post test scores 4.44 -7.76 0.000 significant/reject the null hypothesis 101 international peer reviewed journal table 8 depicts -7.76 t-values, a 0.000 p-value that leads to the decision of rejecting the null hypothesis because the p-value is less than 0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between the pre and post assessment conducted by the researcher. this means that the hypothesis which states that “there is no significant difference between student-respondents’ proficiency level before and after the intervention” is said to be rejected. thus, the post-test scores of the student-participants were significantly increased. the student-participants’ extent of acceptance on numerolandia: the chosen one table 9 shows the student-participants’ degree of acceptance on numerolandia: the chosen one. table 9. degree of acceptance of student-participants on numerolandia: the chose one indicators mean sd interpretation 1. layout/design 4.50 0.95 very acceptable 2. font style 4.30 1.03 acceptable 3. font size 4.70 0.73 very acceptable 4. background 4.40 1.10 acceptable 5. borderline 4.60 0.68 very acceptable 6. characters 4.85 0.37 very acceptable 7. name of the characters 4.80 0.41 very acceptable 8. activities 4.40 0.94 acceptable 9. color combinations 4.25 1.21 acceptable 10.colorless characters 4.55 0.96 very acceptable 11.the facial expression of the characters 4.25 1.02 acceptable 12. title of the story 5 0.00 very acceptable 13. nature of the story 4.85 0.37 very acceptable grand mean 4.57 0.25 very acceptable legend: 5-very acceptable, 4-acceptable, 3-somewhat acceptable/unacceptable, 2-unacceptable and 1-strongly unacceptable. table 8 shows the student-participants’ extent of acceptance on numerolandia: the chosen one based on the given indicators which obtained 102 jpair multidisciplinary research a grand mean of 4.57 with sd value of 0.25. this means that based on the given indicators the student-respondents agreed to accept those indicators strongly. conclusion based on the data gathered, this study found out that the teachermade comic strip entitled numerolandia: the chosen one was an effective intervention to strengthen the learning attitude of the student-participants on fundamental operations on integers it is also positive to say that it increased the knowledge and skills of the student-participants in dealing with integers for the student-participants obtained a positive 7.7 mean increase on their scores on the assessment relative to integers. moreover, the academic performance of studentparticipants had also a significant increase of 1.7 mean value which moved up their academic level from fairly satisfactory to satisfactory. thus, construction of comic strip to increase and strengthen students learning attitude towards certain topics could be one of the best ways to improve students’ academic performance in mathematics and also, it could increase students’ interest in learning the subject area because it encourages the students to appreciate mathematics creatively and imaginatively. translational research with the findings of the study, this comic strip will be submitted to the division office to evaluate further the content and design of the material for production. if logistics permit, this will be distributed to all the schools under deped-catbalogan city division to serve as recommending strategic intervention material in teaching fundamental operations on integers. this is to increase and strengthen students’ skills and knowledge towards this concept and improve schools’ performance regarding mean and mean percentage score. acknowledgment this paper would not be possible without the undeniable help and support of the following: our lord god for the strength, grace, and wisdom that inspired me to do a better research study, my gratitude to our school head, research coordinator and of course to our supervisor, my everlasting appreciations to all the pnhs teachers for their undisputable efforts and assistance to make this 103 international peer reviewed journal research possible especially to ms. ma. sharmaine solis, mr. reymart abarracoso, mr. alexis solis, ms. rizame silawan and mr. gibbs apollo caro in helping me gather all the data needed to put this research into a meaningful reality, my exceptional thanks to my family for the unquestionable moral support and genuine backing and my special appreciations to all the students and studentparticipants who were involved in this research study. also, i would like to give thanks to all the people who i wasn’t able to mention above which extended a genuine help to make this research a full success. literature cited bransford, j., brown, a., & cocking, r. (2000). how people learn: brain, mind, experience and school. washington, dc: commission on behavioral and social sciences and education, national research council. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=bransfor d%2c+j.+et+al.+%282000%29.+how+people+learn%3a+brain%2c+mi nd%2c+experience%2c+and+school.+washington+d.c.%3a+national+ academy+press.+p.+3-23&btng= cleaver, s. (2008). comics & graphic novels. instructor, 117(6), 28. retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej792963 jacobs, d. (2007). more than words: comics as a means of teaching multiple literacies. english journal, 19-25. retrieved from doi: 10.2307/30047289 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30047289 karp, a., (2016). current issues in mathematics education. moscow state pedagogical university teachers college, columbia university. retrieved from http://www.comap.com/free/c_i_in_mat_ed/pdf/current_ issues_in_mat_education.pdf legner, p. (2013). the value of teaching mathematics. retrieved from https:// mathigon.org/downloads/value-of-mathematics.pdf muzumdar, j. (2016). an overview of comic books as an educational tool and implications for pharmacy.  innovations in pharmacy,  7(4). retrieved from doi: https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v7i4.463 https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v7i4.463 104 jpair multidisciplinary research tilley, c. (2008). reading comics. eric institute of education sciences. school library media activities monthly, 24 (9), 23 26. retrieved from https:// eric.ed.gov/?id=ej790403 toh, t. l. (2009). use of cartoons and comics to teach algebra in mathematics classrooms. mathematics of prime importance-mav, 1, 230239. retrieved from http://w.mav.vic.edu.au/files/conferences/2009/12toh. pdf 232 jpair multidisciplinary research effect of deep cervical flexor training on craniovertebral angle and muscle endurance among students with forwarding head posture jamaica p. manlogon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9197-7524 jpmanlogon@gmail.com calayan educational foundation, inc. lucena city, philippines maurice r. villafranca http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3961-8356 maurice_villafranca@dlsu.edu.ph calayan educational foundation, inc. lucena city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract with the ease of use and a wide variety of choices of smartphones, it significantly affects the ways of life in terms of socializing, applications, gathering, and sharing information. little do the people know that it can also affect the posture. this is where an introduction of exercise that targets the muscles involved in the impaired posture comes to maintain a proper posture. this study aimed to evaluate the effect of deep cervical flexor training on the craniovertebral angle and muscle endurance of students with forwarding head posture. the study is an experimental type of research that was utilized to thirty (30) junior high school vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.734 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:maurice_villafranca@dlsu.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 233 international peer reviewed journal students who had undergone fishbowl technique selection and assigned in two (2) groups namely control and experimental group. craniovertebral angle and deep neck flexor endurance test were used to determine the preand post-test of both groups. there is a significant difference in the paired t-test result of preand posttest outcome of deep cervical flexor training of the experimental group in terms of cva. in contrast to dnfet, there is no significant difference in the paired t-test result of preand post-test intervention of deep cervical flexor training of the experimental group. deep cervical flexor training is useful to increase cva. keywords—deep cervical flexor, forward head posture, smartphone, cva, dnfet introduction proper body mechanics can prevent anticipating injuries from happening. one of the aspects of body mechanics is posture. it is the primary function of the musculoskeletal system of the human body. the structures, bones, muscles, ligaments, and cartilages that make up the musculoskeletal system can be dependent on the mechanical stresses and force like gravity. collectively, these stresses and force can disrupt the normal posture, thus creating an imbalance between the agonists and antagonists muscles. hence, the body compensated the forces through posture deviations. one of these postural deviations is forward head posture. forward head posture (fhp) is one of the impaired posture in adolescents (ruivo, pezarat-correia & carita, 2016). fhp is an uncommon and unrecognized cervical problem (talati, varadhrajulu, & malwade, 2018). it is characterized as advancing of the lower spine of the neck with respect to the line of gravity and exaggerated backward movement upper spine of the neck (sheikhhoseini, shahrbanian, sayyadi, & o’sullivan, 2018). in the study of batistao et al. (2016), forward head posture is 53.5% on the age group 13-15. prolonged fhp can precede another impaired postures and impairments (singla & veqar, 2017). this can lead to cervical pains, myofascial pain syndromes, temporomandibular diseases, cervicogenic headaches, tension-type headaches, and migraines (celik et al., 2018). the duration of computer exposure, the bearing of backpacks, duration of smartphone usage, headaches, bad posture practice, or repetitive use of shoulder use an association on fhp (singla & veqar, 2017). also, overuse and increasing stress in the cervical region and shoulders limit the action of deep cervical flexor muscles (kim & koo, 2015). 234 jpair multidisciplinary research the muscles that are attached to the upper cervical spine or the deep cervical flexor (dcf) muscles, namely, longus capitis and colli, rectus capitis anterior and lateralis, hyoid muscles, contribute to the 80% of support in the cervical structure became weak (durall, 2012). according to iqbal, rajan, khan, and algahir (2013), the head-on-neck posture important stabilizers are dcf muscles, which can be impaired due to loss of proper alignment. it is also shown that the high endurance of dcf improved the ability to hold upright the cervical spine (gupta, b.g., aggarwal, gupta, b., gupta, m., & gupta, n., 2013). the neck muscles have a vital role in keeping stability and postural alteration while the head turns in any direction to avoid musculoskeletal disorders (talati et al., 2018). constant load on the cervical spine leads to changes in spine curvature, which can worsen and progress to cervical herniation of the intervertebral disc (cho, lee, e., & lee, s., 2017). dcf training will focus on the dcf muscles and less movement of the superficial muscle (saleh, rehab, & sharaf, 2018). also, durall (2012) stated that dcf training should focus on low levels of resistance and precise movement control to lessen the activation of superficial muscles. therefore, dcf training is needed in fhp to restore the imbalance of muscles on the upper cervical spine to reduce, decrease neck discomforts and keep the head in line with gravity (gupta et al., 2013). according to mak et al. (2014), as cited in cha and seo (2018), 21% of teenagers in the philippines have smartphone dependence. for this reason, the researcher focused the study on teenagers, specifically students that are enrolled in junior high school, that are more exposed to social media and mobile games like mobile legends, rules of survival, minecraft, and pubg. smartphone users bent their head down to glance at the device and kept this position in a lengthy period may associate with the occurrence of neck discomfort (lee, kang, & shin, 2015). also, there is discomfort in the shoulder and thumb, and seriousness of discomfort depends on the duration of use (jung, lee, n., kang, kim, & lee, d., 2016). smartphones can cause a further strain on the cervical regions than computers because of sustained forward bending of the head (kim & koo, 2015). as stated by hansraj (2014), the head weighs 10 to 12 pounds within line of gravity; an extra 27 pounds of force will apply at the cervical flexion at 15o, 40 pounds at 30o, 60 pounds at 60o. cho et al. (2017) stated that the load increased 3.6 times than the load in neutral. thus, the more angled the fhp, the more it is susceptible to the weakening of the neck structures. as stated by talati et al. (2018), posture is a fundamental piece of normal balance. musculoskeletal impairments arose from the prolonged use of a 235 international peer reviewed journal smartphone (lee & seo, 2014) and impaired the stability of the deep cervical flexors due to the forward bend of the head (gupta et al., 2013). the researcher aims to focus on deep cervical flexor muscles on the students who have fhp due to prolonged use of smartphones. the researcher supposed that improving craniovertebral angle and endurance has an effect on postural function in supporting and maintaining the cervical lordosis and withstand the gravitational force that is being applied to the cervical region. framework to clarify the concepts, the researcher conceptualizes a framework to have a visual representation of the ideas and variables that may involve in this study: figure 1. research paradigm on the effect of deep cervical flexor training on cva and dnfet figure 1 presents the conceptual framework on the effect of deep cervical flexor muscle training among students with a forwarding head. this study focused on determining the initial craniovertebral angle (cva) and deep neck flexor endurance test (dnfet) among junior high school students with forwarding head posture. the researcher will analyze the significant difference in the craniovertebral angle and deep neck flexor endurance test of junior high school students. increased in cva and dnfet among students with forwarding head posture served as the output of the study. 236 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study aimed to (1) to determine the mean of craniovertebral angle of the participants before and after the implementation of deep cervical flexor training in control and experimental group, (2) to determine the mean of deep neck flexor endurance test of the participants before and after the implementation of deep cervical flexor training in control and experimental group, (3) to know the significant difference between the pre-test and post-test outcome in terms of craniovertebral angle of the control group and experimental group, and (4) to know the significant difference between the pre-test and post-test outcome in terms of deep neck flexor of the control group and experimental group methodology research design the study used a pretest-posttest controlled design to have a baseline measurement before and after the intervention. dimitrov and rumrill (2003) defined pretest-posttest design as commonly used in behavioral research, for the purpose groups and/or measuring change comparison resulting from experimental treatments. the measurement of change provides a vehicle for assessing the impact of rehabilitation services, as well as the effects of allied health interventions. it was conducted at a physical therapy laboratory in cefi. participants the researcher screened the participants to determine if they were eligible. this screening was comprised of a questionnaire and measurement of the craniovertebral angle before the inclusion of the study. the inclusion criteria are the following: (1) craniovertebral angle (cva) of less than 50o; and (2) smartphone use of greater than 4 hours. part of the inclusion criteria is that participants should not have been diagnosed with any diseases or injury relating to the musculoskeletal system. a total of 30 participants were randomly assigned in the intervention group (n=15) and control group (n=15) through the fishbowl technique. instrumentation to measure the cva, the researcher used a goniometer. in standing position, the craniovertebral angle (cva) was measured in the sagittal plane with the 237 international peer reviewed journal fulcrum of the goniometer is inlined laterally to the c7, the distal arm is parallel to the floor and the proximal arm in the tragus of the ear. the researcher took the measurement three times. the mean of the three measurements was the final measurement that was used as the baseline measurement (oliveira & silva, 2015). to measure the endurance, the researcher used the deep neck flexor endurance test. the dnfet had an interrater (icc, 0.78), and interrater (icc, 0.88) values were good to excellent. the test was performed in supine, hooklying position with the arms by the side. the participants were asked to tuck the chin and lift the head for approximately 2.5 cm from the bed. the researcher started the time and placed her fingers stacked under the posterior occiput. the test was stopped if one of the following happens for more than 1 second: (i) the participants’ head dropped on the researcher’s finger, (ii) loss of skin folds over the neck, or (iii) if the participants want to stop the test due to fatigue or pain. the test was performed twice with a 5-minute rest interval. the mean of two trials of dnfet was used in statistical analysis (jarman et al., 2017). ethics protocol an approval from the calayan educational foundation, inc. research ethics committee was obtained. participants were informed about the nature, purpose, voluntary withdrawal, and duration of the study before they signed informed consent. data collection the pre-test in both groups was administered to the participants using the craniovertebral angle (cva) measurement and deep neck flexor endurance test (dnfet) before the start of the intervention. the deep cervical flexor training was implemented for six sessions. after the completion of six sessions, the posttest was recorded using the same measurements that were administered in the pre-test. statistical techniques statistical analysis was performed by spss. to compare the effectiveness of the intervention in cva and muscle endurance of both groups, a paired t-test was used at the a significant level of 0.05. 238 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion this chapter deals with the presentation of data with the analysis and interpretation. tables are used to present the data statistically and arranged into the following: table 1. pre and post intervention mean in terms of cva mean interpretation control pre-test 44.09o medium fhp post-test 43.71o medium fhp experimental pre-test 42.60o medium fhp post-test 51.49o slight fhp legend: range of craniovertebral angle 56o above normal fhp 48o 55o slight fhp 40o 47o medium fhp 0o 39o severe fhp table 1 shows the mean craniovertebral angle of control and experimental group of the students with forwarding head posture according to their pretest and posttest. the craniovertebral angle in the experimental group before and after the implementation of the deep cervical flexor training has a pretest mean of 42.60o interpreted as medium fhp while the post-test mean 51.49o interpreted as slight fhp. the control group pre-test mean is 44.09o can be interpreted as medium fhp while he post-test mean is 43.71o interpreted as medium fhp. therefore, the result indicates that the use of smartphones affects the posture of students. in the study of alshahrani et al. (2018) of healthy individuals who used smartphones for a long period of time (4 h+) during any daytime was divided into light use (less than 4 hours) and heavy use smartphone users (greater than 4 hours). the computed mean is interpreted as medium fhp. in contrast to the study from selvaganapathy, rajappan, and dee (2017), the light smartphone users’ computed mean is interpreted as both in slight fhp. 239 international peer reviewed journal table 2. pre and post intervention mean in terms of dfnet mean interpretation control pre-test 13.66sec minimum dnfet post-test 19.11sec average dnfet experimental pre-test 11.93sec minimum dnfet post-test 20.83sec average dnfet legend: hold time of deep neck flexor endurance test 33.97sec 65.79sec maximum dnfet 18.61sec 33.96sec average dnfet 0 18.6sec minimum dnfet table 2 shows the mean deep neck flexor endurance test of control and experimental group among students with forwarding head posture. the mean deep neck flexor endurance test in the control group has a pretest mean of 13.66sec interpreted as minimum dnfet, while the post-test mean is 19.11 sec interpreted as average dnfet. the same interpretation in the experimental group is given to the pre-test, and post-test mean in terms of dnfet. the study showed the pre-test and post-test results of dnfet of students with forwarding head posture showed that both groups and interpreted as minimum deep neck flexor endurance capacity in agreement with oliveira and silva (2015). it showed that minimum dnfet in students with fhp has less muscle activation of longus colli compared to non-fhp (lee, yu, & seo, 2018). thus, the result indicates that the lower the dnfet, the lesser the length-tension relationship of dnf muscles to stabilize the cervical region against stresses. table 3. paired samples test in terms of cva paired differences p-valuemean control 1.49 .483 experimental -7.78 .003* *<0.05 = significance table 3 presents the computed p-value of the control group pre-test, and post-test is 0.483. the p-value is greater than the p-value 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted. there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test intervention in terms of cva. in terms of the experimental group 240 jpair multidisciplinary research pre-test and post-test, the p-value is 0.003, which is less than the p-value 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. there is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test intervention in terms of cva. when the control and experimental group is compared, the latter has a significant difference (p=0.003). the result of the study is similar to the study of gupta et al. (2013), found that the deep cervical flexor training is effective due to the significant differences in the pretest and posttest after the implementation of the experimental group. there is evidence which has indicated that addressing these muscle control problems with the use of specific exercise strategies, leads to maintain an upright posture. table 4. paired samples test in terms of dnfet paired differences p-value mean control 1.73 .358 experimental -1.72 .751 *<0.05 = significance the computed p-value of the control and experimental group pre-test and post-test is 0.358 and 0.751, respectively. the p-value is greater than the p-value 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted. when the control and experimental group is compared, both have no significant difference. according to oliveira and silva (2015), authors argued that the absence of significant difference in dnfet was the unequal proportion of males and females, different age groups and/or sample size might have contributed to the contrasting results. furthermore, domenech et al. (2011), as cited in jarman et al. (2017), another factor to be considered is the performance variability of males and females. since there were 30 participants, this may have contributed to the results of the study. conclusions in terms of cva, the experimental group shows marked improvement after the implementation of deep cervical flexor training while there is no improvement in the control group. thus, in terms of cva, there is a significant difference between the experimental and control group. deep cervical flexor training is 241 international peer reviewed journal an effective exercise to improve the ability of the deep cervical flexor muscles to maintain an upright posture. in terms of dnfet, the experimental group and control group shows little improvement after the implementation of deep cervical flexor training. thus, in terms of dnfet, there no is a significant difference between the experimental and control group. deep cervical flexor training is not useful in increasing the muscle endurance of the deep cervical flexor muscles. translational research the researcher recommends extending the training schedule from 6 sessions to 12 sessions. the researcher would also recommend implementing the deep cervical flexor training to other populations and considering the factors that affect the researcher’s result in dnfet. literature cited alshahrani, a., aly, s. m., abdrabo, m. s., & asiri, f. y. 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(2017). the effect of forward head posture on spinal curvatures in healthy subjects. asian pacific journal of health sciences, 5(1), 3–6. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.21276/ apjhs.2018.5.1.13 cover single 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.179 perspectives on the correlates of positive and negative spillover between work and family: a study of selected banks in port harcourt, rivers state nigeria young a. nkpah orcid id 0000-0003-2780-7704 youngitize@yahoo.com larry-love effiong nduonofit orcid id 0000-0002-9511-5649 aminoacid395@yahoo.com nwoke nwoke bieh orcid id 0000-0002-1491-1353 bnwokenwoke@yahoo.com university of port harcourt rivers state, nigeria abstract the work-family interface is a systematically defined and measured attempt to evaluate a medium through which promotion of work-family synergistic relationship can thrive. it centres on providing a unique methodology into the work micro-system, family micro-system and individual characteristics. to actualize this, ols regression analysis was used on data elicited from five (5) commercial banks in port harcourt. the study revealed that personality factor alone does not account for the propensities of individuals to experience or report work and family conflict. however, the study recommends that provision of public insurance guaranteeing paid leave for families is necessary for unification of positive or negative spill over effect between work and family. keywords work micro-system, individual characteristics, family micro-system, supportive work-family environment, banking, nigeria jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 2 jpair: multidisciplinary research introduction social and ideological trend suggest that work family issues is becoming increasingly important. social trend, such as increasing participation of women in the workforce (lerner, 1994; badey, et al 2012), greater numbers of working single-parent and dual-earner families (bumpass, 1990; zill; 1991), and the increasing care giving needs of an aging population (marks 1996; myers, 1990), are providing new responsibilities and new challenges to both women and men to blend work and family commitments. since the early 1950s work-family research has been driven by various hypotheses derived from role theory (e.g. role conflict, scarcity of resources, role accumulation, role congruence, role strain. (marshall, et al., 1991). structural functionalist role theory’s assumption regarding a biologically-based proclivity of men toward an instrumental role in the workplace and women toward an expressive role in the family (parsons, 1954) led to a deterministic perspective and overemphasis on separate spheres of life for adult men and women. structuralfunctionalist role theory’s deterministic perspective of role strain requires conceptualizing the work-family interface as a continuum ranging from little to much conflict or buffers the individual from conflict’s undesirable consequences. research using community and regional samples often find that work pressure can undermine marital satisfaction and other family processes, and that family pressure or problem can undermine job performance and job satisfaction (greenhaus and beutall, 1985). family problem have been found to “spillover” into the work domain, conflict at the work-family interface has been implicated in a variety of deleterious consequences such as depression (frone et al 1997; higgins et al, 1992), alcohol abuse (frone et al 1997) and marital tension (marshall et al 1991). the overarching goal of this paper was to use 2 by 2 zero sum game theory to develop a more expanded conceptualization of the workfamily interface and to identify significant correlates of both positive and negative spillover between work and family. 3 international peer reviewed journal framework extrapolating 2 by 2 zerosum game resulting from family and work negotiation the above theory helps in decision-making. this suggests that the work-family experience is a joint function of process, person, context and time characteristics. it follows that if this theory is applied each type of characteristic exerts an additive and potentially interactive, effect on the work family experiences. in this analysis, a family demand is grouped into strategies on the basic reasonable trade off demands in alternative strategic options. this is applicable to the work demands. objectives of study the objectives of this study are to: 1. provide a conceptual framework on which work family policies and programmes are anchored; 2. work out a medium through which promotion of workf a m i l y synergistic relationship can thrive; and, 3. provide a unique methodology into the work microsystems, family microsystems and individual characteristics. materials and methods the method used is descriptive survey. questionnaire elicited desired information from respondents. the study population consists of the 1,986 workforce of the selected five banks. purposive sampling was used because not every staff is married. automatically, they are not members of the target population. this reduced the sample size from 1,986 to 799 respondents. a stratified random sampling of 799 was selected. the instrument was divided into two sections. the first collected by graphical information, i.e. sex, age, department, educational qualification and level of education. the second section has three parts; ten questions each for work micro-systems, family 4 jpair: multidisciplinary research micro-systems, and individual characteristics. the reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.83 using cronbach alpha method. the statistical analysis of least square regression is used: where y is the observed y value corresponding to the value x and n is the number of pairs of values of x and y observed. the mathematical derivation of the formula y is omitted. out of the 799 administered, 500 questionnaires of 63 percent response rate were completed. data were analyzed with simple correlation and multiple regressions. results and discussion fig 1. unstandardized ols estimates for the association between family relations, work characteristics, individual characteristics and work-family spillover among married adults aged 25-62 in selected banks in port harcourt metropolis negative spillover work to family positives spillover work to family negative spillover work to family positives spillover work to family women men women men women men women men family microsystems marital status not marrieda -0.62+ -0.54* -0.42 0.05 -0.28 0.04 -1.86*** -1.7*** parental statusb oldest child ≤ 5 years -0.33 0.19 -0.03 0.55 0.92 0.95*** -0.07 0.59 oldest child < 5 years 0.25 0.01 0.18 0.12 0.99*** 0.84*** -020f 0.34f spouse affectual supportc lowest tertile -0.08 0.39+ -0.35 0.17 0.60* 0.84*** -2.12*** -1.92 middle tertile 0.16 0.01 -0.23 0.23 0.27 0.48* -0.88*** -0.68 spouse disagreementc lowest tertile -081** -0.78*** -0.42 -0.13 -0.74** -0.54** 0.14f 0.64** 5 international peer reviewed journal middle tertile -0.46+ -0.15 -0.23 .0.08 -0.03 -0.25 -0.27 0.27 other family affcctual supportc lowest tertile -0.32 -0.60** -0.09 -0.33 0.13 0.29 -0.52** -0.63*** middle tertile -0.01 0.31 0.22 -0.05 -0.16 0.32+ -0.15 -0.13 other family criticism/burdenc lowest tertile -0.61**f -0.31f -0.41+ -0.08 -0.80*** -1.05*** 0.47*c -0.15c middle tertile 0.07 -0.44* -0.08 -0.13 -0.22 -0.65 0.16 -0.16 work microsystem hours worked/weekd 1-19 hours/week -1.61*** -0.88+ 0.48 -0.22 -1.06*** -0.90+ -0.52+ -0.56 20-35 hours/week -0.35 -0.31 0.15 -0.04 0.14 0.14 -0.40+f 0.23f 45 hours/week or more 0.59** 0.63*** 0.01 0.05 -0.03 0.23 0.02 -0.16 decision latitudesc lowest tertile 0.39+ 0.33+ -1.49*** -1.70*** 0.11 0.12 -0.78*** -1.09*** middle tertile 0.43 -0.04 -0.54** -0.85*** 0.34+ -0.01 0.02 -0.16 pressure at workc lowest tertile -2.34*** -2.18*** -0.12 -0.41* -0.99*** -1.00*** -0.21 -0.17 middle tertile -1.16 -1.20*** -0.10 -0.15 -0.19c -0.43*c -0.05 -0.05 support at workc works alone 0.70** 0.43+ -0.33 -0.36 0.24 0.24 -0.72** -0.54* lowest tertile 1.20***c 0.61**c -0.45* -0.85*** 0.32 0.32 -0.52* -0.22 middle tertile 0.69 0.25 -0.25 -0.37+ 0.45* 0.45* 0.12 0.26 individual characteristics age -0.01 -0.02* 0.02* 0.01 -0.5*** -0.05*** 0.01c -0.02+ race/ethnicity (black=1) -0.03 -0.55+ -0.38c 0.09c -0.56* -0.41 0.38 0.54+ education more than b.sc educ. 0.15 -042 -0.89*c -0.08c -0.22 -0.85** 0.66+ -0.01 m.sc educ. ph.d -0.51* -0.36+ -0.82***c -0.09c -0.65 -0.30 0.07 -0.03 some college -0.13 -0.10 -0.53**f -0.2f -0.20 -0.15 0.08 -0.05 household earning bottom quartile -0.27 -0.15 -0.17f 0.3-f -0.12 0.19 0.24 0.31 low quartile -0.15 0.01 -0.54*c 0.16c -0.14 0.22 0.20 -0.16 high quartile -0.31 -0.25 -0.57*c 0.03c -0.38 -0.01 -0.05 -0.03 neuroticism 1.09*** 0.88*** -0.25* -0.12 0.95*** 0.69*** -0.21+ -0.07 extraversion -0.43** -0.46*** 0.63*** 0.39** -0.31&* -0.15 0.70*** 0.78*** constant 10.78*** 11.86*** 7.93 7.93*** 9.36 9.13*** 10.29*** 10.54*** adjusted r2 0.384 0.347 0.154 0.133 0.252 0.249 0.236 0.293 note: weighted data n = 1,986 men =253 women =247. +p≤ 10* p≤ 05** p≤ 01*** p≤ 001 (two-tailed) (a) contrast group is married with high spouse effectual solidarity and high spouse disagreement b: contrast group has no children. (b) contrast group is working 35-44 hour per week. (c) contrast group is highest tertile. 6 jpair: multidisciplinary research (d) a significant gender difference (p≤ 05) was noted in a combined gender model. (e) a significant gender difference (p≤ 10) was noted in a combined gender model. table 1. sample allocation by department department population sample no of respondents human capital 86 74 62 marketing 150 90 49 customer service 315 189 93 operations 210 126 85 administration 95 87 61 intels banking 132 89 87 total 114 799 500 table 2. demographic characteristics of the respondents. sex no of respondents percentage male 253 50.6 female 247 49.4 age 23-30 116 23.2 31-35 111 22.2 36-40 158 31.6 41-45 76 15.2 46+ 39 7.8 men and women each account for about half the respondents. nearly one third of respondents were ages 36-40, while only about 8 percent were older then 46. nearly three quarter hold b.sc. degree, with the rest having m.sc. the work-family interface is best characterized by four dimensions of spillover; negative spillover from work to family, negative spillover from family to work, positive spillover from work to family and positive spillover from family to work. 7 international peer reviewed journal using ordinary least square (ols) estimates for the association between family relations, work characteristics, individual characteristics, and work-family spillover among bank workers aged 25-62+ in port harcourt metropolis. table 3. strategic notation and demand trade off strategic notation demand trade off type of demand f1 high demand by family tertile spouse effectual support needed. spouse disagreement f2 high demand by family tertile family burden criticism f3 moderate demand by family tertile parental status oldest child < 5 years. oldest child > 5 years f4 low demand by family tertile temporarily separated, divorced etc f = represents family coping strategies w = represents family coping strategies work microsystems (adjustment/trade off) w1 extremely difficult bargaining with family w2 considers demand by the family realistic w3 considers demand by family realistic w4 large variations in demand by family the family microsystems coping strategy presents demand of adjustment, which implies increase in high effectual spouse relationship/children. but the demand for flextime, bonus leave, with short notices as a result of child ill-health etc is pure matter of collective agreement between work micro-system and family micro-system. 8 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 4. synergistic assumption between family micro-system and work microsystems. family coping strategies work copping strategies minimum of row f w1 w2 w3 w4 f1 25 14 15 32 14 f2 40 17 13 16 13 f3 30 5 12 15 5 f4 -2 8 12 3 -2 maximum of column 40 17 25 32 predicting and describing the behaviour of the synergistic condition through every stage of the adjustment process it need to be mentioned that the game in which we are involved is a mixed strategy. this is because no saddle point exists, that is, the maximum value or the minimum value of rows is not equal to the value of the minimum or the maximum values of column. further, if family coping adjustment mechanism plays strategy f2 under work coping adjustment mechanism w1, the point will be 40, and work coping strategy has to trade off 40 points from its work involvement. work coping strategy can adjust rationally to minimize their pay off; they will immediately play strategy w3 which will make them adjust only 13 points. the family on the other hand seeing that work coping strategy is playing c3 will immediately shift to play strategy f1 which will enable them maximize pay off due to them that is 15 points. consequently, work coping strategies itself will shift again to play strategy w2. family observing this will immediately change to strategy f2 to enable them gets 17 point instead of 14 point. finally, work microsystem noticing that family micro-system had gone back to play strategy f2 will simultaneously move to play strategy w3 and they will therefore continue to rotate between strategies w2, w3 and f1, f2. hence those figures are strategies (pointed) indicate the dominant values. further solving the problem mathematically we shall have to adopt the following processes in order to use the dominance to reduce the matrix to 2 by 2 zero sum game as shown on table 5. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 5. mechanical display of the process in reducing the (nxm) matrix to 2 by 2 zero sum game. family coping work coping strategy strategy w1 w2 w3 w4 f1 25 14 15 16 f2 40 17 13 15 f3 30 5 12 3 f4 -1 8 11 32 f1 25 14 15 16 f2 40 17 13 15 f3 30 5 12 32 f1 25 14 15 16 f2 40 17 13 f1 25 14 15 f2 40 17 13 f1 14 15 f2 17 13 hence, we have our 2 by 2 matrix resulting from the behaviour of the two parties as shown on table 6. table 6. 2 by 2 zero sum game resulting from behaviour of coping strategies family coping system work coping strategy minimum of rows w2 w3 f1 14 15 14 f2 17 13 13 maximum of column 17 15 finally, in assessing the concessions that work coping strategy is to make in the light of the pay off that would result in playing of the various strategies by both negotiating parties, one can suggest that as a rule of thumb-any value between point 14 and point 15 can serve their 10 jpair: multidisciplinary research purpose. but for the purpose of the more scientific method i.e. game theory technique which we have decided to use in the preparation of this case, series of equation will be used to get the specific value using our 2 by 2 matrix above. let (p1p2) be the optimal strategy of family, and (q1 q2) be the optimal strategy for work v the value of the game. further, if family closes strategy f1, work will have as its expected trade off point similarly, if family plays strategy f2 the expected pay off of work will be: we also have = q1 + q2 = 1 ……………………….……….(c) on the other hand, if work choose to adopt strategy w2, the pay off family will expect will be similarly, if work chooses to play strategy w3, the pay off family will expect, will be; we also have )........(........................................21 fipp =+ from equation (c) we find that: hence, substituting the value of q1 in equation (a) and (b) to find the value of q2 and since equation ‘a’ = v and b = u. therefore ‘a’ = ‘b’ = v hence are solve: 11 international peer reviewed journal further, substituting the value of q2 in equation (c) to find the value of q2 we compute q1 = 1 – 3/5 = 2/5. therefore to find the value of the game for both work and family we substitute the value of q1 and q2 in equation (a) and we have: similarly, we can verify the result by solving from equation (f) we found that: p1 + p2 = 1 hence p, = 1 – p2 substituting the values of f, and equation (d) and (c) to find the value of f2 and since equation (d) = v and (d) = v therefore, a = b = v, hence we have; further substitute the value of p2 in equation (f) to find the value of p1, we compute 12 jpair: multidisciplinary research therefore to find the value of the game for work coping strategy and family coping strategy, we substitute the value of p1 and p2 in equation (d) and we will have fig 2: synergistic grid for work and family adjustment point. where wps fps family positive spillover fns family negative spillover wps work positive spillover wns work negative spillover the point 14.6 explains the hypothetical adjustment point. it centres on the border line between fps and wns. it follows that this individual will tend to pay attention or adjust to the family microsystem. it has no negative effect on work coping strategy. it follows that reducing pressure at work, building supportive work environments, promoting emotionally close family relationships may provide more benefit in reducing workfamily conflict than programs that enhance decision latitude. these analyses confirm that personality factors alone do not account for the propensities of individuals to experience or report work and family conflict. this invariable means that personality 13 international peer reviewed journal characteristics, positive and negative interaction in the family microsystem, and positive and negative experiences in the work microsystem were all independently associated with the work-family interface. several of the independent variables were found to be skewed; therefore, we trichotomized the work and family measures based upon approximate tertile cut-points to comply with the general assumptions of regression analyses and to avoid strong assumption regarding the shape of the association. to provide evidence that support our hypothesis that negative spillover from work to family, positive spillover from work to family, negative spillover from family to work, positive spillover from family to work are distinct forms of work-family experience. two items (i.e. item three described earlier for positive spillover from work to family, and item two described earlier for positive spillover from family to work) were eliminated because they are strongly loaded on multiple factors. consequently negative spillover from work to family was constructed using a four item scale (alpha = .83), positive spillover from work to family was constructed using three items (alpha = .73), negative spillover from family to work included four items (alpha = .80), and positive spillover from family to work was constructed from three items (alpha = .70). additional analyses suggested concurrent and predictive validity for each of the work-family measures identified by the factor analysis. multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that all four dimensions of work-family spillover were independently associated (p£.01) with global measure of physical and mental health and life satisfaction. moreover, each measure except for positive spillover from work to family was found to be independently associated (p£.01) with marital quality. recommendations from the foregoing, the study recommends that programme that provides employees with higher levels of decision latitude are important for synergistic work-family relationship. again, for the banking sector to thrive in port harcourt, leave-ofabsence for women infant and toddler care, reasonable work hours 14 jpair: multidisciplinary research and weeks must be taken into corporate planning for human capital development policies. succinctly, initial inequities across social class are markedly exacerbated by the public policy decisions in nigeria has made, including, among others, the failure thus far to provide public preschool or early childhood education to parallel public school, the failure to extend the school day or school year, now that the economy is tending toward industrial rather than primarily agricultural and the failure to ensure that employees have basic family-related leave from work. to this end, the study recommends provision of a minimum number of vacation and sick leave days; provision of public insurance guaranteeing paid leave for families. literature cited badey d.k, b.e okemini, a.y nkpah and l.e nduonofit 2012 h i g h u n e m p l o y m e n t a n d t u r n o ve r r a t e a m o n g women: the role of technology. international journal of academic research in business and social sciences (i-jarbss). vol., 1; issue no 4. bumpass, l.l 1990 what is happening to the family? interactions between demographic and institutional change demography 27,483498 ekpenyong, o.a and a. y. nkpah 2011 women and the informal sector in southern district of rivers state franklin publishing net. texas usa. frone, m.r, russel, m. and m.l copper 1997 job stressors, job involvement and employee health: a test of indentity theory in journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 68, 1-11. greenhaus, j. h and n. j beutall 1985 sources of conflict between work and family roles. academy of management review, 10, 76-88. 15 international peer reviewed journal grzywacz, j.g and n.f. mark 1999 reconceptualizing the work-family interface, an ecological perspective on the correlates of positive and negative spillover between work and family. cde working paper no. 99-03. higgins, c.a, l.e duxbury and r.h iriving 1992 work-family conflict in the dual-earner family. organizational behaviour and human decision process ed, 51, 51-75. lerner, j.v 1994 working women and their families. thousand oaks, c.a, sage. marks, n.f 1996 care giving across the life span: national prevalence and predictors. family relations, 45, 27-36. marshall, c.m 1991 family influences on work. in s.j bahr (ed) family research; a sixty-year review, 1930. 1990: vol. 2 (pp-115-166) – new york: lexington books. myers g. c 1990 demography of aging in r. h binstock and l.k george (eds) handbook of aging and the social sciences (3rd ed). pp. 19-44) san diego. ca academic press. nkpah, a. y. and j. agalume 2008 the influence of reward administration on total quality management implementation. a study of selected banks in nigerian journal education planning and finance (njepaf) vol. 2. no. 1. parsons, t. 1954 age and sex in the social structure of the united states. in essays in sociological theory (2nd edition), pp.89-103 new york free press of gelled (organically edition, 1949). reprinted from the sociological review, 7, 604-616). 16 jpair: multidisciplinary research zill 1991 u.s children and their families current condition and recent treads, 1989. society for research in child development. news letter, 1-3. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research syntactic analysis of hiligaynun visayan: select print media articles evalyn m. pedrosa https://orcid/0000-0003-3123-5374 evalyn.pedrosa@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis campus negros occidental, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this study investigates the syntactic structuration of the five select hiligaynun visayan print media articles, namely: three news articles such as wanted person sa antique, prisu, lalaki ginsirbihan warrant, 4 ka tu-ig nga bata nalumus sa suba, and two editorials: swildu sang manunudlu and saka sa kuntribusyun sa sss. the study focuses on the following linguistic aspects (1) immediate constituents analysis of the sentences, (2) phrase structures of the syntactic forms, and (3) pedagogic grammar monograph on visayan hiligaynun syntax. the syntactic analysis through immediate constituents was the method used for the structuration segments of the articles. the sentences were analyzed using the constituent analysis to reveal syntactic structuration. ica (immediate constituent analysis) has two phases: phase one, identifying immediate constituents, and phase two, the rule in determining the syntactic structure. based on the ica and phrase structures of the sentences, the following are the findings: the ica of the articles reveals that out of the nineteen sentences, eight are composed of simple sentences, eight compound sentences, and three compound-complex sentences. the syntactic structure phrasal analyses of the five articles yield nineteen sentences consisting of noun phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases. a pedagogic grammar vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.599 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:evalyn.pedrosa@chmsc.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 145 international peer reviewed journal on hiligaynun visayan syntax is developed to guide the teaching and learning of hiligaynun. keywords — languages, visayan hiligaynun syntax, visayan print media, syntactic structuration, pedagogic grammar, immediate constituents, philippines introduction whenever human beings exist, language exists. language makes everyone uniquely human (burton-roberts, 2016). there are no other species that can be compared to humans concerning the ingenuity and intricacy of the schemes that they use to express their beliefs and ability to communicate. with this, one can influence the fundamentals in one’s language to express the complexity of thoughts and ideas and comprehend the words and sentences that have not yet been heard or spoken (rowe & levine, 2018). human communication is driven by the guidelines for uniting words to produce original meanings. syntactical rules have long been expected to be solely humans (tallerman, 2019). the syntax may be a broad adaptation to social and behavioral complexity in communication systems (carnie, 2011). language is unique to humans’ most significant characteristics. it permits them to produce countless expressions from a limited number of vocal elements and meanings. it underlies the development of other characteristics of human behaviors, for instance, art and technology (burton-roberts, 2016). the command of language is set in joining meaningless sounds into words that, in turn, are combined into phrases (fasold & connor-linton, 2006). studies on the communication systems of non-human primates and birds recommend that the ability to combine meaningless vocal elements has developed repeatedly. still, the progression of syntax (i.e., combining different words to form more complex expressions) is until now measured to be unique to human language (burtonroberts, 2016). even though language plays a significant role in our lives, and human beings quite easily make use of it a hundred times each day, most people are not aware of the complexity of the systems used to communicate. speakers of all languages can create and understand a set of unlimited sentences (carnie, 2011). it was revealed that every language has a way of constructing sentences based on syntactic universals (mcgregor, 2015). like all austronesian languages, hiligaynun follows a standard word order (pesirla, 2012). there are many https://phys.org/tags/communication+systems/ https://phys.org/tags/syntax/ https://phys.org/tags/human+language/ 146 jpair multidisciplinary research dissertations, articles, papers, theses, and studies on hiligaynun, but many of the latest ones concentrated on its literature. these studies focus on the syntax of the hiligaynun language; however, they cover an inadequate figure of word categories or parts of speech. there are new studies in the review that focus on grammar but only on one class or part. hence, importance should be given to more thorough studies on the grammar of the hiligyanun language should be studied. thus, the linguistic structural linearity of hiligaynun visayan with idealized orthography should be focused on. this investigation argues that hiligaynun visayan print media articles reveal the syntactic structures of the textualities in their constituents and phrasal linearity. two linguistic theories support this argument: the theory of linear grammar by corder (1973), and phrase-structure grammar by chomsky (2002). the linear grammar, according to corder (1973), treats the sentences of language as a “string” of grammatical categories like beads in a necklace, or as a series of “slots” to be filled by words of the category appropriate to each slot. for this reason, this model of linguistic description is also called “slot-and-filler grammar” because it treats the structure of the sentence as a linear pattern. the choice of each successive category depends upon the category immediately preceding it. like all austronesian languages, all philippine languages, including hiligaynun, closely related to cebuano visayan, the predicate structures all their sentence forms. hence, their natural sentence word-order patterns always begin with the predicate and always end with a subject (pesirla, 2012). another linguistic theory by noam chomsky is the phrase structure grammar which groups into phrasal units of elements in a sentence that function as meaningful components after identifying its sentence constituents. each act of segmentation divides a single construction into two constituent components: noun phrase corresponds to the complete subject of the sentence; verb phrase relates to the complete predicate of a given sentence (constantino, 1965). to best illustrate the linguistic analysis of the sentence using the phrase structure grammar, chomsky’s tree diagram has the following steps: (1) identify the immediate constituents, (2) group the constituents into phrases, (3) group the phases into a noun and verb phrases, (4) group the phrases into the sentence again, and (5) make a rewrite rule description. syntax, thus, illustrates how the constituent linearity is organized into different categories and how the constituent linearity of words in a sentence is not just a string of elements arranged in a hierarchical constituent structure (tallerman, 2019). categories in modern linguistics, according to parker and riley (1986), classify words as parts of speech into two: lexical (word) categories and 147 international peer reviewed journal phrasal (word group) categories. lexical categories include content words like n, v, adj, and adv and function words such as det, prep, conj, pron, and intj. determiners include an article the, a, and an, demonstratives this, that, and those as well as possessive personal pronouns my, your, his, her, it, our, and their. phrasal categories include noun phrases (np), verb phrases (vp), adjective phrases (adjp), adverb phrases (advp), and prepositional phrases (pp). while phrase structures group together those elements which function as meaningful units: nouns phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, prepositional phrases, and the likes are also called phrase structure description, this segmentation of constituent structures treats as similar in function groups of sentence elements, which are themselves different in internal structure. within these theoretical parameters, this study is conducted. figure 1. a schematic presentation of the theoretical background of the study 148 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the linguistic analysis follows the following phrases in gathering data for this academic investigation: preliminary phase: idealization of raw data and their english version. each article is idealized according to phonetic orthography and predicate structure since all visayan languages are phonetic languages (spelled as sounded) and are structured by predicates (sentences start with predicates and end with subjects) (pesirla, 2012). the matrix below is used in the idealization, as follows. article 1: solterito gintiro sang riding-in-tandem source: panay balita original text (raw) idealized text english version na-ospital ang 16-anyos nga solterito matapos nga gintiro sang riding-in-tandem. na-uspital ang 16-anyus nga sultiritu matapus nga gintiru sang riding-in-tandem. a 16-year old teenager (male) was hospitalized after he was shot by a riding-intandem. the english version of the text is needed for scholarly understanding and linguistic comprehension by all researchers. phase 1. the syntactic analysis of the immediate constituents each sentence is processed through immediate constituents analysis (ica) to reveal their varied syntactic structuration. ica (immediate constituents analysis) has two phases: phase one identifies the immediate constituents, and phase two is the rule determining the syntactic structure. to show this method, an example of a simple sentence written in hiligaynun is hereby subjected to immediate constituent analysis: the sentence: ginbungguan sang salakyan ofw. (hit by a car-ofw.) the immediate constituents identified: ginbunggu-an sang salakyan ofw. v det n n 149 international peer reviewed journal the rewrite rule: v + det + n + n s where: v verb det determiner n noun s sentence generalization: this is a simple sentence with only one main clause. the sentence starts with a verb phrase v+ det+n as the predicate followed by the subject ofw n. phase 2. syntactic analysis of phrase structures each sentence is processed through phrase structure analysis using a tree diagram by chomsky. each phrase structure analysis of the simple sample sentence is done on one page in a frame, followed by its corresponding analytical discussion. the simple sentence contains the verb phrase ginbunggu-an sang salakyan composed of the verb ginbunggu-an and the determiner sang 150 jpair multidisciplinary research and the nounsalakyan. it ends with a noun phrase ang ofw, which is composed of a determiner and a noun. phase 3. a monograph on the pedagogic grammar of hiligaynun visayan syntax based on the findings, a monograph on syntax is developed. it is to be made as a reference for teaching and studying hiligaynun visayan as the target language. it describes how the syntax of hiligaynun visayan is structured and how to put them together into grammatical and well-formed sentences. moreover, it is essential to study syntax because it gives an understanding of how a language works, and brings the doorway to more research and theories on all facets of linguistics. hence, this pedagogic grammar is focused on how grammatical items may be made more learnable and teachable for both hiligaynun students and teachers. exercises for each major topic are provided to better learning and understanding the target language. it is outlined as follows: pedagogic grammar for hiligaynun visayan syntax introduction pangunang hambal na angut sa sintaks hiligaynun visayan syntax ang sintaks sa hiligaynun nga pulung grammar of hiligaynun speech lantipung sa hiligaynun nga pulung predicate constructs matangnun pagtukud phrases and clauses mga prasi kag mga dinalan kinds of sentences according to purpose klasi sang mga dinalan sunu sa katuyu-an kinds of sentences according to structure klasi sang mga dinalan sunu sa pagbalay 151 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion sample sentences extracted from one of the news articles: article a: wanted person sa antique, prisu source: panay balita huybis, pibriru 1, 2018 tumu 15, numiru 104 original text (raw) idealized text english version nagtupa sa prisohan ang wanted person nga nadakpan sa barangay igbical, hamtic, antique takna alas-10: 40 sa aga kahapon. nagtupa sa prisuhan ang wanted person nga nadakpan barangay igbical, hamtic, antique takna alas10: 40 sa aga kahapun. the wanted person who was caught in brgy. hamtic, at 10:40 am yesterday, ended up in jail. immediate constituent analysis: article a sentence table 1 presents the immediate constituents of the article a wanted person sa antique, prisu from panay balita is now analyzed. table 1. immediate constituents of article a sentence in sequence rewrite rule of immediate constituents sentence structures 1 n+ det+n+v+det+n+det+ adj+ n = mc det+ v+det+n+n+n+n+n+adj+det+ adj+adv = s cl complex 152 jpair multidisciplinary research this is a complex sentence consisting of one main clause and a subordinate clause (pesirla, 2012). this sentence starts with a verb phrase v+ det+ n as the complete predicate of the sentence and is followed by the noun phrase det+ adj+ n+ det+ adj+ det+ adj+ n +adv+ adj n+ det+ n+ adv. the main clause consists of v + det + n+ det +adj+ n and the subject is person a noun, while the subordinate clause is composed of det+ adj+ det+ adj+ n+ adv+ adj+n+ det+ n +adv and the subject of this clause is nga a determiner. phrase structure analysis article a sentence according to corder (1973), the phrase structure of language groups together the immediate constituents of a sentence which function as meaningful units of the noun phrase (the subject) and a verb phrase (the predicate). thus, a sentence is the arrangement of the noun phrase (np) and verb phrase (vp). the idealized print media articles under study are now subjected to phrase structuration using the tree-diagram by chomsky (2002). each phrase structure of the idealized print media articles is done in a frame with corresponding analytical discussion. 153 international peer reviewed journal sentence one, alas 10:40 sa nagtupa sa prisuhan (vp) and ang wanted person nga nadakpan sa brgy. hamtic, takna aga kahapun (np) is a simple sentence. the sentence contains the verb phrase nagtupa sa prisuhan and a noun phrase ang wanted person nga nadakpan sa brgy. hamtic, takna alas 10:40 sa aga kahapun. the verb phrase nagtupa sa prisuhan is made up of the verb nagtupa, determiner sa, and a noun prisuhan while the noun phrase ang wanted person nga nadakpan sa brgy. hamtic, takna alas 10:40 sa aga kahapun is made up of the noun phrase ang wanted person. ang is a determiner, and wanted person 154 jpair multidisciplinary research is another noun phrase made up of an adjective wanted to describe the person as a noun. nga nadakpan the other, is an adjective phrase made up of nga a determiner, and nadakpan is an adjective. the noun phrase sa brgy. hamtic is composed of a determiner, sa, brgy. as an adjective and the noun hamtic. this sentence ends with another noun phrase takna alas 10:40 sa aga kahapun composed of two noun phrases takna alas10:40 and sa aga kahapun. the noun phrase takna alas10:40 is made up of an adverb takna and another noun phrase alas 10:40 which is composed of an adjective alas and a noun 10:40. the noun phrase sa aga kahapun is made up of sa aga while the word kahapun is an adverb. put together, the verb phrase natupa sa prisuhan and the noun phrase ang wanted person nga nadakpan sa brgy. hamtic alas 10:40 sa aga sang kahapun becomes a sentence. article b: apat ka tu-ig nga bata nalumus sa suba source: panay balita, martis iniru 30, 2018 tumu 15, numiru 102 original text (raw) idealized text english version nalumos ang apat ka tuig nga bata sang nagtabuk sa suba mga ala-una y medya sa hapon sang dominggo sa hacienda antolanga, barangay antolangan sa isabela, negros occidental. nalumos ang apat ka tu-ig nga bata sang nagtabuk sa suba mga ala-una y midya sa hapun sang duminggu sa hacienda antolanga, barangay antolangan sa isabela, negros occidental. the four year old child was drowned in the river at 1:30 last sunday at hacienda antolanga, barangay antolangan sa isabela, negros occidental. immediate constituent analysis: article b sentence the table below presents the immediate constituents of article b apatka tu-ig nga bata nalumus sa suba from panay balita is hereby analyzed. 155 international peer reviewed journal table 2. immediate constituent of article b sentence in sequence rewrite rules of immediate constituents syntactic structures 1 v +det+n+det+ n+det+n+det+n+ det+ adj + n + adj + n+ det+ n+det+ adj+ det+n+ det+n m cl simple this is a simple sentence made up of one main clause. this sentence begins with the simple predicate nalumus, a verb which is part of the whole verb phrase composed of v+ det+n+ det+n+det+ n+ det+ n+ det +adj+n+ adj+n+ det+ n followed by a noun phrase det+ adj+ det+ n +det that ends with the simple subject bata a noun. phrase structure analysis: article b sentence according to corder (1973), the phrase structure of language groups together the immediate constituents of a sentence which function as meaningful units of a noun phrase (the subject) and a verb phrase (the predicate). thus, a sentence is 156 jpair multidisciplinary research the arrangement of a noun phrase (np) and verb phrase (vp). the idealized print media articles under study are hereby subjected to phrase structuration using the tree-diagram by chomsky (2002). each phrase structure of the five idealized print media articles is done in a frame with corresponding analytical discussion. sentence one, nalumus sa suba mga ala-una y midya sa hapun sang duminggu sa hacienda antolanga, brgy. antolanga sa isabela negros occidental (vp) ang apat ka tu-ig nga bata (np). within the verb phrase is a verb nalumus and an adverb phrase sa suba mga ala-una y midya sa hapun sang duminggu sa hacienda antolanga, brgy. antolanga sa isabela negros occidental. 157 international peer reviewed journal the adverb phrase is made up of two adverb phrases sa suba mga ala-una y midya sa hapun sang duminggu and sa hacienda antolanga, brgy. antolanga sa isabela negros occidental. the adverb phrase sa hacienda antolanga, brgy. antolanga is made up of a determiner sa and within this adverb is a noun phrase hacienda antolanga brgy. antolanga and within this noun phrase are two noun phrases hacienda antolanga and brgy. antolanga. the noun phrase hacienda antolanga is composed of an adjective hacienda and a noun antolanga while the noun phrase brgy. antolanga is made up of the adjective brgy. and a noun antolanga. moreover, the adverb phrase sa isabela, negros occidental is made up of a determiner sa and a noun isabela, negros occidental. while the noun phrase, ang apat ka tu-ig nga bata, is made up of an adjective phrase ang apat ka tu-ig and a noun phrase nga bata. the adjective phrase ang apat ka tu-ig is composed of an adjective phrase ang apat and a noun phrase ka tu-ig. the adjective phrase ang apat is composed of a determiner ang and an adjective apat while the noun phrase ka tu-ig is composed of a determiner ka and a noun tu-ig. moreover, the noun phrase nga bata is composed of a determiner nga and a noun bata. therefore, the verb phrase (vp) nalumus sa suba mga ala-una y midya sa hapun sang duminggu sa hacienda antolanga, brgy. antolanga sa isabela negros occidental and the noun phrase (np) ang apat ka tu-ig nga bata constitute a simple sentence. sample sentence extracted from one of the editorials used in the study: article e: saka sa kuntribusyun sa sss source: sabadu-duminggu, pibriru 3-4, 2018 tumu 15, numiru 106 158 jpair multidisciplinary research original text (raw) idealized text english version halos 40 porciento ang igasaka sa kontribusyon sang mga miembro santu sa handum sang sss nga mabawi ang pundo nga ginpain nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nag nagasugod sang 2017. halus 40 purcientu ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru santu sa handum sang sss nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginpa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugod sang 2017. almost 40% increase in the contribution of the members is in accordance with the aim of sss to retrieve the funds which were allocated for the increase of the pension of pensioners which started in 2017. immediate constituent analysis: article e table displays the immediate constituents of the article e saka sa kuntribusyun sa sss from panay balita is hereby analyzed. table 3. immediate constituents of article e sentence in sequence rewrite rules of immediate constituents syntactic structures 2 prep + det + n + det + n + det+ v + det + n + det + v + pron = m cl det + v + det + n + det + pron + det + n + det + v +det + n = s cl det + v + det + n + det + det + n + adj + n = m cl compound complex 159 international peer reviewed journal this is a compound complex sentence having two main clauses and one subordinate clause. the two main clauses are composed of prep+ det+ n+det+ n+det+v+det+n and det+v+det+n+det+det+n+adj+n, while the subordinate clause is made up of det+v+pron+det+v+det+n+det +pron+det+n+det+v+det+n. the idealized print media article under the study is hereby subjected to phrase structuration using the tree-diagram by chomsky (2002). 160 jpair multidisciplinary research sentence two, santu sa handum sang social security system nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017, ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga miyimbru is the verb phrase and the halus 40 pursyintu is the noun phrase. when segmented further, the sentence contains a verb phrase santu sa handum sang social security system nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017, ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru and the halus 40 pusyintu is the noun phrase. the verb phrase santu sa handum sang social security system nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017, ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru is made up of the prepositional phrase santu sa handum sang social security system and a verb phrase nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 and the verb phrase ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru. within the verb phrase santu sa handum sang social security system nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017, is the prepositional phrase santu sa handum sang social security system and the verb phrase nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapa-in nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017. the prepositional phrase santu sa handum sang social security system is made up of a preposition santu and a noun phrase sa handum sang social security system, which is composed of two noun phrases sa handum and sang social security system. these two noun phrases are made up of a determiner sa and a noun handum while the noun phrase sang social security system is composed of a determiner sang and social security system a noun. the verb phrase nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapain nila sa pagsaka sang 161 international peer reviewed journal pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 is composed of two verb phrases nga mabawi and ang pundu nga ginapain nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017. the verb phrase nga mabawi is made up of a determiner nga and a verb mabawi. in contrast, the verb phrase ang pundu nga ginapain nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 is composed of a noun phrase ang pundu nga ginapain nila and the verb phrase sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017. the noun phrase ang pundu nga ginapain nila is made up of two noun phrases: ang pundu and nga ginapain nila. the noun phrase ang pundu is composed of a determiner nga and a noun pundu, while the noun phrase nga ginapain nila is made up of a determiner nga, a verb ginapain and nila is a pronoun. the verb phrase sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 is a verb phrase sa pagsaka, which is composed of a determiner sa and a verb pagsaka while the noun phrase sang pension is made up of a determiner sang and a noun pension. on the other hand, the noun phrase sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 is composed of a prepositional phrase sang ila and a noun phrase mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017. the noun phrase sang ila is made up of a determiner sang and a pronoun ila while the noun phrase mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 is composed of a noun phrase mga pensioners and an adjective clause nga nagasugud sang 2017. the noun phrase mga pensioners is made up of a determiner nga and a verb magasugud, while the adjective clause nga nagasugud sang 2017 is composed of two nouns clauses nga nagasugud and sang 2017. the noun phrase nga nagasugud is composed of a determiner nga and a verb nagasugud, while the noun phrase sang 2017 is made up of a determiner nga and a noun 2017. within the verb phrase is another verb phrase ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga miyimbru which is composed of a verb phrase ang igasaka and a noun phrase sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru. the verb phrase ang igasaka is composed of a determiner ang and a verb igasaka, while the noun phrase sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru is composed of two noun phrases sa kuntribusyun 162 jpair multidisciplinary research and sang mga myimbru. the noun phrase sa kuntribusyun is composed of a determiner sa and a noun kuntribusyun, while the noun phrase sang mga myimbru is made up of a determiner sang and another noun phrase mga miyimbru which is composed of a determiner mga and a noun myimbru. lastly, the noun phrase halus 40 pursyintu is made up of an adjective halus and a noun 40 pursyintu. thus, the verb phrase (vp) santu sa handum sang social security system nga mabawi ang pundu nga ginapain nila sa pagsaka sang pension sang ila mga pensioners nga nagasugud sang 2017 prepositional phrase ang igasaka sa kuntribusyun sang mga myimbru and the noun phrase halus 40 pursyintu, when put together, become a sentence. conclusions based on the immediate constituent analysis and phrase structures of the sentences by chomsky (2002), the following are the findings of the study: the immediate constituent analyses of the five print media articles reveal that out of the nineteen sentences, eight of which are composed of simple sentences, eight compound sentences, and three compound-complex sentences. the syntactic structure phrasal analyses of the five print media articles yield nineteen sentences consisting of noun phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases. a pedagogic grammar on hiligaynun visayan syntax is developed to serve as a reference guide in the teaching and learning of hiligaynun. it gives a basic description of the sentence structures of hiligaynun to aid native and non-native learners to understand its elements and improve their competency in using the language. based on the findings of the study, it has been proved that hiligaynun visayan print media articles reveal the syntactic structuration of the textualities in their immediate constituent and phrasal linearity. literature cited burton-roberts, n. (2016). analysing sentences: an introduction to english syntax. routledge. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2vylagv carnie, a. (2011).  modern syntax: a coursebook. cambridge university press. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3lx6w9p https://bit.ly/2vylagv https://bit.ly/3lx6w9p 163 international peer reviewed journal chomsky, n. (2002). syntactic structures 2nd ed., berlin and new york: mouton de gruyter. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3xuqpcr constantino, e. (1965). the sentence patterns of twenty-six philippine languages. lingua, 15, 71-124. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/00243841(65)90009-4 corder, s. (1973). introducing applied linguistics. retrieved from http://hdl. handle.net/123456789/107913 fasold, r. w., & connor-linton, j. (2006). “an introduction to language and linguistics”, cambridge university press. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3czbhpf mcgregor, w. b. 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(2019). understanding syntax. routledge. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/3afnfbv https://bit.ly/3xuqpcr https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(65)90009-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(65)90009-4 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/107913 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/107913 https://bit.ly/3lfhjoy https://bit.ly/3jfm4px https://bit.ly/2ww4bdq https://bit.ly/3afnfbv https://bit.ly/3afnfbv 147 international peer reviewed journal lived experiences of newly hired teachers: basis for policy recommendations ponciana l. quimque http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3715-6530 ponciana.quimque@deped.gov.ph uwisan elementary school division of calamba city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this phenomenological study described the lived experiences of newly hired teachers about their journey towards achieving the goal of imparting knowledge among their students and in attaining excellence in their chosen profession. the testimonies of the participants provided bases for policy recommendations. the study was participated by ten (10) teachers who were purposively and randomly sampled among public elementary schools in the schools division of calamba city. the purpose was to obtain participants from the rostrum of teachers with a 5-year length of service. an interview guide question was used during the focus group discussion (fgd). the following themes emerged from the experiences shared by the participants: unprepared, under pressure, high expectations, opportunity, errands, culture shock, accountable, confused, tradition, challenging, and unequipped. these and all other challenges in classroom management and instructions, students’ behavior and varied abilities, and lack of resources changed the life of newly hired teachers. they coped with all these challenges by doing researches, being updated, asked for technical assistance, and pursuing continuing professional development. policy recommendations on deployment and handling of newly hired teachers were highlighted: process vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.766 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3715-6530 mailto:ponciana.quimque@deped.gov.ph https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.766 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 148 jpair multidisciplinary research of assigning tasks among newly hired teachers, classroom management and discipline, and diversity of learners, interruption of teaching-learning process, and having a good start. keywords — newly hired teachers, classroom management and instructions, student behavior, calamba city, philippines. introduction studies have found that in many countries high-achieving young people are usually not attracted to the teaching profession because it is perceived to be a career of low social and economic status, with low levels of professionalization and a lack of rewarding career pathways (park and byun, 2015; oecd, 2014; unesco, 2016). in the australian context, school-leavers and graduates, they don’t see a career path in teaching that gives high status and recognition and high professional standards (ingvarson, 2015). in many developing countries, teachers’ career structures are not sufficiently linked to promotion prospects that recognize and reward teacher effectiveness (unesco, 2014). quoted from seameo-innotech work, “the teaching profession is definitely not financially rewarding but is very fulfilling. it is also a very gratifying career as the society in general looks at teachers as respectful and trustworthy role models”. in this, every teacher has its own experiences as they started to travel the path of becoming an effective teacher. according to cruickshank, et al. (2010), “along with one’s journey of practicing the profession toward success, newly hired teachers should be equipped with the knowledge, values, and skills about teaching strategies.” the process of assigning tasks among newly hired teachers was stipulated in deped order no. 43, series 2017, or “teacher induction program policy.”conducted by bilbao et. al. (2013), it was found that “tip has contributed positively in enhancing teachers’ knowledge, skills, values, and commitment to the profession, and in improving the students’ learning outcomes. ingresol and strong (2011) posit that support and assistance for newly hired teachers have positive impacts on three sets of outcomes: first, on teacher commitment and retention; second, on teacher’s instructional practices; and third, on student achievement (d. o. no. 43, s. 2017). therefore in this context, the researcher became interested to know the lived experiences of newly hired teachers in their journey to be an effective teacher and excerpt from their testimonies bases for offering policy recommendations. 149 international peer reviewed journal framework this study is hinged from the social learning theory, which focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. it considers that people learn from one another; via observation, imitation, and modeling. among others, albert bandura is considered the leading proponent of this theory. bandura’s social learning theory (1977) emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. bandura states that learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them on what to do. most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling. from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions, this coded information serves as a guide for action (achor and duguryil, 2014). aligned with social learning theory is the mutual benefit model developed by zey (1984), drawn from the social exchange theory. zey (1984) pointed out that in the university setting, the mentor and mentee enter into a relationship in order to meet certain needs, and the relationship continues for as long as the mentees and mentors continue to benefit from each other. another foundation of this study is the concept of lifelong learning. pastuović (2006) pointed out that lifelong learning is closely linked to the concept of a learning society, and the concept of “knowledge society” further claims that learning must be a lifetime process. given the fact that enrolling in different school programs is not always possible through a whole lifetime, gaining knowledge and learning has to become available outside the school system per se, and it has to be available to all people regardless of their previous education and business rank. in other words, the concept of lifelong learning has to enable meaningful education harmonized with one’s professional and personal life. thus, the study was framed within the context of bandura’s social learning theory (1977); zey’s (1984) mutual benefit model, and pastuović’s (2006) concept of lifelong learning. as the newly hired teachers observe the teaching of the serving teachers, they can model the teaching strategies of the veteran teacher. this relationship can help the newly hired teacher to be effective. strategies consistent with social learning theories include mentoring, apprenticeship, on the job training, and internships. each involves learning in a social situation whereby novice learner’s model more experienced teachers or co-workers (skamp and mueller, 2001). 150 jpair multidisciplinary research hobson, ashby, malderez, and tomlinson (2009) used the mutual benefit model as a framework for teacher induction and teacher mentoring interchangeably. the model suggested elements to compose a neophyte teacher mentoring program to include orientation sessions, conversations with faculty colleagues, conference meetings with supervisors, capacity building workshops, workload reduction, one-to-one classroom assistance, and mentoring sessions. to mansilla and jackson (2011), effective lifelong learners are self-reliant and acquire higher-order cognitive competencies. by promoting the capacity to learn and grow, learning and innovation skills facilitate the mastery of other 21st century skills such as the capacity to recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, take creative action, and draw on relevant disciplinary and interdisciplinary expertise to solve complex problems. educated workers in the twenty-first century need to be able to understand and work with complex ideas and be able to evaluate information critically. other vital skills include the ability to discern relationships between existing and new information, and between new contexts and goals, and to locate new knowledge when needed (gijsbers and van schoonhoven, 2012). objectives of the study the main objective of the study is to describe the lived experiences of teachers given their condition as new in the teaching profession or newly hired as a teacher in a public school. basically, the researcher attended through the following specific objectives, (1) explore the essence of lived experiences of newly hired teachers, (2) determine the themes emerged from the testimonies shared by the newly hired teachers, and (3) offer policy recommendations. methodology research design the study employed a qualitative approach due to its concern with understanding the social phenomenon from the participant’s perspective (macmillan & schumacher, 2010). specifically, the study adopted the phenomenological educational research. through using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach to educational research, the underlying meanings and existential experiences of participants (the ‘why’), as well as the strategic thinking, practicalities, hands-on approaches and embodiment (the ‘how’), are 151 international peer reviewed journal accounted for in descriptions, analyses, and interpretations. the processes and procedures of doing this qualitative educational research were orientated to the phenomenological when there is a deliberative holistic attitude to understanding and working with participants and to apprehend their expressions that emerge from internality and thus disclose the nature of their experiences as newly hired teachers in public school. participants the participants of the study were sampled among public elementary schools in the schools division of calamba city. purposive and random sampling methods were used in the selection of participants. the purpose of the selection is to obtain the lived experiences of newly hired teachers. therefore, from the rostrum of teachers with a 5-year length of service, 10 participants were randomly selected. instrumentation the researcher prepared an interview guide question as to the main instrument of the study. the researcher asked two of the doctorate degree holder at the same time experts in qualitative research, the chief of the curriculum implementation division (cid) of sdo calamba city, and an education program supervisor to validate the instrument. the following main questions were included in the interview and focus group discussion guide of the participants: (1) describe yourself by starting with the phrase “as a newly hired teacher…” (2) what are the challenges you experience as a newly hired teacher?’ (3) how have those challenges been addressed? data gathering procedures the informed consent of the participants was sought, and they were asked to specify their preferred venues for the interview. the focus group discussion was done in the conference hall of a public elementary school. permission to audiotape the interviews was obtained, and all discussions were recorded both by audio-recording and note-taking. ethical consideration ethical considerations were taken into account throughout this paper. the informed consent of the school head of each participant was sought by the researcher explaining the importance and significance and objectives of the study. 152 jpair multidisciplinary research the data and information gathered were kept in confidentiality. the works of researchers of other authors were properly recognized. for this study, which intended to look into the experiences of newly hired teachers, no question that may connote insult on the capabilities of the participants was included in the sub-questions. in addition, the sub-questions were constructed in such a way that there is no discrimination or any reference to any specific religion or organization. at the time of gathering data, the casual talks, and focus group discussion, the researcher, at times, give comments to support the participant’s responses. the researcher prevented herself from asking any questions that may offend the respondents. she properly observed sensitiveness on the various experiences by the participants. with due respect to the participants, the researcher used pseudonyms to protect their identities. this was done to establish trust and maintain harmony in the workplace. statistical analysis for the qualitative method, this study employed what is generally referred to as theme-centered or category-based analysis. braun and clarke (2006) describe a specific theme-centered analysis as thematic analysis. one of the advantages of this type of analysis is its theoretical freedom. thematic analysis is done by coding the data. coding is done by combining the data for themes, ideas, and categories and making similar passages of text with a code label so it can be retrieved at a later stage for further comparison and analysis. coding the data makes it easier to search, compare, and identify any pattern (braun & clarke, 2006). results and discussions during the focus group discussion, the researcher asked the participants to describe themselves by starting with the phrase “as a newly hired teacher…” they shared the following responses: as a newly hired teacher: “i am unprepared in dealing with behavior problems, especially to deal with extreme behavior.” “i had put myself under pressure, especially on meeting the expectations and the demands of being a public school teacher.” “i have understood how hard it is to be a public servant.” 153 international peer reviewed journal “i entered classrooms today with high expectations for myself and for my students.” “i was given an opportunity to deal with a bigger world of teaching and a wider scope of experiences.” “i dealt with different errands, such as having a culture shock in terms of surroundings, new experiences, workloads that i am not used to.” “i am expected to be “highly qualified” and is held accountable for results in their classroom.” “i was bombarded with different information, which confused me where to start.” “i was expected to follow the tradition of assuming all the same responsibilities as more experienced teachers did” “i was assigned to the most difficult and challenged students.” “i really didn’t know what i was expected to teach.” “i am not fully equipped with knowledge of classroom management.” when asked about the challenges they met as newly hired teachers, they shared the following: “my first year of teaching is fraught with many challenges. the biggest challenge that i face was classroom management.” “classroom management and the behavior of the pupils, especially on the heterogeneous classes. in giving instructions, the level of each pupils’ understanding is not the same.” “dealing with paper works which are different (some of it) from the private school i came from is very challenging.” “i was not given a curriculum guide or materials to work with; there are too many pupils and not enough chairs and books for them.” “it’s really a challenge to impose discipline. rules are set to be observed and followed by everyone, but some of them tend to break the rules.” “what makes it challenging is on dealing with different characteristics of each learner every day.” “the curriculum itself is a challenge for me as a newly hired teacher.” “when it comes to instruction, the biggest challenge i encountered is the lack of resources.” when asked on how they addressed the challenges they encountered, some respondents talked about the following: 154 jpair multidisciplinary research “i keep on doing research on what is the best classroom management that suitsmy class until now.” : i have to keep myself updated with the groups i am in so that i can download learning materials and teaching guides for classroom delivery.” “i asked for technical assistance from my immediate superior to address the challenges they encountered in the classroom.” “i attended different trainings and programs, push myself into continuing professional development to equip myself with proper and relevant teachinglearning process as they enter real classrooms day-by-day.” the discussions along with the participants with regards to their live experiences as newly hired teachers yielded different themes, like “unprepared,” “under pressure,” “high expectations,” “opportunity,” “errands,” “culture shock,” “accountable,” “confused,” “tradition,” “challenging,” and “unequipped.” it is not surprising that some traditional practices of “how to treat newly hired teachers” still exist among public schools like doing “different errands,” ”workloads,” and “assigned to the most difficult and challenged students.” these and all other challenges in classroom management and instructions, students’ behavior and varied abilities, and lack of resources changed the life of newly hired teachers. the adjustment period lasted in two years or so, while some haven’t recovered yet. as practicing professional teachers, according to (bilbao et al., 2015), we all go through life cycles, and each person has his/her ways of dealing with their emotional changes. anent to this, the greatest struggles of a professional teacher as an individual are not fought on battlefields, they are fought not only inside the classroom, but in human hearts, as they struggle with fear, frustration, stress, lack of self-confidence, feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, and the inability to cope with circumstances, not to their liking. while these challenges can defeat everyone, they can also serve as catalysts for improvement in preparation for the favorable development in the cognitive, spiritual, social, personal, as well as in the understanding of one’s own professional opportunities and challenges. on the other hand, newly hired teachers cannot easily give-up the profession they dreamed of since their childhood. they continue to find ways to cope with all these challenges like doing researches, being updated, asked for technical assistance, and pursuing continuing professional development. these expanded roles strengthened the profession by enabling teachers to contribute to the development of the school in general and engage in innovative 155 international peer reviewed journal and effective teaching and learning practices, in turn improving student learning outcomes (metropolitan life insurance company, 2013; natale et al., 2013). this shift in roles provides teachers with professional learning communities where they are able to work and plan collaboratively with peers (stoll and louis, 2007; stoll et al., 2006). conclusions the live experiences in school as newly hired teachers were described in the following themes: “unprepared,” “under pressure,” “high expectations,” “opportunity,” “errands,” “culture shock,” “accountable,” “confused,” “tradition,” “challenging,” and “unequipped.” the challenges they encountered are mostly on classroom management and instructions, students’ behavior and varied abilities, and lack of resources. the newly hired teachers coped with all these challenges by doing researches, being updated, asked for technical assistance, and pursuing continuing professional development. the study determines the following needs: to review the policy on teacher induction program and to study insertions on moral and psycho-social development of newly hired teachers; to institutionalize a school-based committee that will oversee the interest of newly hired teachers; for the immersion program to be intensified in teacher education; and to include on deped’s research agenda the study on how institutions can best prepare preservice teachers not only to learn but also teach effectively on their early years in teaching.the integration of classroom management and discipline in the school lac session. policy recommendations were highlighted with the following: a framework for orientation/briefing of process of assigning tasks among newly hired teachers, and a local-based policy on handling diversity of learners. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit the institutional policies. additionally, both the external and internal stakeholders might be able to translate it into a more comprehensive administrative policy and enhanced intervention program that could increase the interest of prospective internal stakeholders and professionals towards further studies. finally, it can be translated by sharing this with present and future employees to clarify the administrative policies in the workplace. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited achor, e. e., & duguryil, z. 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(1984).  the mentor connection. irwin professional publishing. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2o8h55s https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246011 http://bit.ly/2o8h55s 167 international peer reviewed journal tinuy-an, the hidden treasure and other literary forms in barangay burboanan lilifreda p. almazan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6341-4591 lilifreda.almazan@deped.gov.ph bislig city division bislig city, philippines teresa may a. mundiz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0614-5193 teresamaym@gmail.com stand alone senior high school cumawas, bislig city, philippines edwin c. salazar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7720-4891 edwinsalazar.dwen@gmail.com bcnhs – coleto annex coleto, bislig city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract this study examines the different literary forms present in burboanan, bislig city, where the indigenous tribe, mandaya kamayo, is still thriving and practicing their culture and more alongside the new one. it aimed to anthologize literary traditions found in their locality like the indigenous songs, myths, and rituals. purposive sampling was used involving key informants such as the mandaya leaders. a triangulation was done with a focused group discussion with vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.688 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:lilifreda.almazan@deped.gov.ph mailto:teresamaym@gmail.com mailto:edwinsalazar.dwen@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 168 jpair multidisciplinary research the ancestral domain council elders, and documentation of demonstrations on the indigenous ways of life for these people. the study found out that oral tradition is still a dominant practice in the literary scene in burboanan. the tribe has myth on the origin of the name tinuy-an; a collection of songs, or bagi; and rituals are done for their anito in order to ask for abundant harvests and heal sick relatives. with this information, a contextualized resource material has been developed for social science classes. the study concludes that nature played a big part in the lives of indigenous people of burboanan, bislig city as reflected in their literary tradition. the mandaya kamayo living in the area depended on nature for their sustenance, and that the belief of living harmoniously together with unseen beings is still evident. keywords — literature, documentation analysis, bislig city, philippines introduction human societies have long since thrived even before their discovery and colonization. they have developed and enriched their experiences relative to their coexistence in the environment they live in. these experiences are referred to as the tradition or indigenous or local knowledge which includes “sophisticated arrays of information, understandings and interpretations that guide human societies” (fien, 2010; nakashima, prott, & bridgewater, 2000). this knowledge is passed down from generations through word of mouth or even cultural rituals and activities. unesco’s teacher education programme highlights local or indigenous knowledge as crucial for the sustainability of human societies. fien (2010) writes about the inclusion of indigenous knowledge into mainstream education, thus bringing “the benefits of helping to ‘sustain’ indigenous knowledge and societies to all.” moreover, there is a need for all teachers and students to “respect for local culture, its wisdom and its ethics, and provides ways of teaching and learning locally relevant knowledge and skills” since understanding lies in one’s particular culture (fien, 2010; fernandez, 2002). clifford espoused that ethnographers on field find themselves writing about languages, community practices, local traditions, and all others of cultural value for the community being studied on, not just about literature (as cited in alsop, 2005). as embedded in the 1987 philippine constitution article xiv section 14 that “the state shall foster the preservation, enrichment, and dynamic evolution 169 international peer reviewed journal of a filipino national culture based on the principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic and intellectual expression.” in addition, section 5 of the same article stipulates that “the state shall take into account regional and sectoral needs and conditions and shall encourage local planning in the development of educational policies and programs” (cdasia, 1987). studying culture, then, is not just in teaching subject, but also, understanding power (fernandez, 2002). since the state dictates it, a filipino education entails on the inclusion of culture: the language, climate, and even literature. as a typical human activity involving language, literature is a written record, from the latin term littera, meaning letters, and reflection on the everyday lives of people (klarer, 2013; patron, 2002). patron (2002) presupposed that literature is a collection of compositions that deal with life experiences—telling stories, dramatizing situations, expressing emotions, analyzing and advocating ideas. but mostly, though reading literature, goals are identified, values and one’s identities are shaped, with the knowledge and acceptance of what is admirable and sinister in humans. similarly, this points to the teaching of literature as a way of rediscovering and re-evaluating the traditions of filipinos as filipinos. and to some degree, klarer (2013) shared that “literary production is certainly the human wish to leave behind a trace of oneself through creative expression, which will exist detached from the individual and, therefore, outlasts its creator.” what remains, then, is the reflection of what used to exist, yet, made legitimate and negotiated in the context of one’s culture. the birth of literary tradition is known to come from stories passed orally. this has been known to be the oral tradition of literature which beowulf has come to be passed down from cultures and generations across time. oral narratives from various cultures have been widely documented by researchers and ethnographers, alike, citing folklores as means of communication and interaction (gabbert, 2010). as civilization prospered, early people immortalized their identity through literature and expressed it through recitation and singing; and these were retained only as long as people performed these oral act handed down from generations, contributing to their literary tradition (patron, 2012). these are mostly poems spoken and shared orally, then eventually documented for posterity, much like oral literature in africa (finnegan, 2017). this is an example of a compilation of oral literature which has been handed down from one generation to the other. in the philippines, oral literary tradition has also marked every region of the country. mapping out these literary pieces from the region have always involved 170 jpair multidisciplinary research ethnographic works. as abad (1993) puts it, a ‘native clearing’ shall be done by filipino writers for them to create a mark in the philippine literary tradition. on the other hand, enriquez (2006) qualified that much of ancient philippine literature was in oral tradition. this consisted of folk narratives, riddles, proverbs, sayings, songs, ritual chants, and epics. these were definitely community bound and served its needs, from the transmission of beliefs, values, ideals, customs, and mores, to entertainment. many of these expressions still survive at present, having handed down orally through generations. every ethnic group has its own rich literary heritage. it has specially been well preserved among groups and untouched by western influence. baltazar, erestain, and estanislao (1981) shared that even before the spaniards arrived in the country, early filipinos already had a culture of their own, including the oral literary forms. much like the mandaya kamayo of burboanan, the same oral literary tradition has been handed down to the younger generation, in spite of the presence of formal education from among them. burboanan, bislig city is one of the 24 barangays in this locality where indigenous culture and way of life is still practiced. the mandaya and the manobo tribes are known to co-exist in the scenic tinuy-an falls. however, this present study focused on the mandaya tribe as the researchers have already had prior interaction with the community and as with one of the researchers’ distant kin. with contextualization and localization in the curriculum, there is a necessity to start documenting local stories and traditions surrounding bislig city. as fernandez (2002) put it, philippine culture proves to be a powerful teaching tool. she emphasized that even in teaching, culture plays a crucial role in the transferring of information to the learners. and to best teach the young, the philippine culture should also live in the classroom. in fact, there are efforts to document local stories started especially by the local government unit (lgu) of bislig, but these sources are yet to be published; others require credibility, hence, deemed unsubstantial for research. much of the local knowledge about the different barangays focuses on tourism and the promotion of the city’s tourism industry. however, for literary studies and traditions, bislig still has to document its own. in this culture where everything is shared digitally, collection and documentation of these literary forms are a necessity. in the classroom setting, human society, history, experience, and culture still prove to be the basic material in classroom teaching (fernandez, 2002; lopez, 2006). written history and culture of the barangays in bislig including barangay burboanan, hence, is essential in the teaching of araling panlipunan. 171 international peer reviewed journal yet, no learning and teaching resource is available for use which contextualizes and localizes the contents of the lessons. thus, the present study finds its audience from among the teachers, particularly, teachers of araling panlipunan and literature as they bridge the past into the current classrooms. through the key informants of the mandaya kamayo, this study recorded the literary tradition as reflected in their songs, rituals, myths, dances, and poems. this also established the themes common from the literary traditions of the mandaya kamayo. a compilation and documentation of these proceedings form part of this research as the resource material developed for the subject area in araling panlipunan. methodology research design this research is qualitative in nature. this study made use of purposive sampling. creswell (2012) indicated that purposeful sampling is done by purposefully selecting individuals to understand the inquiry at hand. the informants were chosen because they could provide rich information. the key informants were the tribal leaders of the community known as chieftain and the elders of the tribe. the interview was on the scheduled period allotted. research site the research locale of the study is barangay burboanan, one of the 24 barangays that composed the city of bislig. burboanan, bislig city is famous for being the location of tinuy-an falls also known as the “niagara falls of the philippines” because of its multi-tiered falls and wide water curtain. on a broader note, bislig city is located around 900 kilometers from the capital manila in the province of surigao del sur, mindanao, philippines. bislig is approximately 208 kilometers northeast of davao city, 152 kilometers south of tandag (the provincial capital) and 158 southeasts of butuan city. 172 jpair multidisciplinary research participants the participants of this study were the mandaya kamayo elders of barangay burboanan, bislig city. mandaya kamayo is one of the tribes that originally inhabited the locality. the researchers used a purposive sampling technique which the identified mandaya kamayo elders were intentionally picked just for the purpose of the study. 15 mandaya kamayo elders were interviewed during the whole duration of the conduct of the study. data collection field notes and interviews were done to collect data from key informants in burboanan, bislig city. video documentation was also used to supplement the data collection. the data collected was then sorted/analyzed according to its genre. results and discussion the study primarily aimed to collect different literary forms in brgy. burboanan, bislig city, specifically among the mandaya kamayo tribe of the 173 international peer reviewed journal locality. the key informants and the focused group discussions revealed the unpublished literary forms. consequently, the present study classified the themes common in literary forms. and finally, a compilation, or an anthology, of these works was designed as an instructional or material for the bislig city division. as an ethnic or indigenous tribal community, the mandaya kamayo in burboanan, bislig city has a reported population of 837 as per barangay census on august 2018. the community follows a tribal chieftain leadership who is chosen through bloodline as a right or title descendible by law at the ancestor’s death. but the recent demise of luis m. iligan, datu gacub, entrusts the community to the wisdom of the tribe elders. on august 4 and 19, 2018, a focused group discussion put into open the literary forms as practiced by the community. these literary forms were then grouped according to genres and the same here analyzed/documented. ritual. victoriano sumaganday mandabon, (herein then referred to as tatay victoriano) 79 years old, a mandaya tribe elder, demonstrated a ritual known to the local as “taphag” that they used to practice before. the ritual made use of food offerings like braised native chicken, and rice, hard-boiled eggs and sweet candies. the researchers brought in white rabbit and kendi mint as sweet candies during the ritual. there was no restriction as to what kind of sweet candy was offered; however, during the early days, the food offering specified by the elders, shamans, or even the anointed ones to conduct the ritual were identified according to the needs of the spirits, or anitos (lumbera, 1976). this non-restriction for food offerings for ritual implies how the community has become open and accepting of the changes in its larger environment. the constant interaction of the mandaya kamayo community to the people in the lowlands, or even those from the local government of bislig city through the leaders reveal that in spite of their seclusion from the urban area, the need to commune with these ethnic group and account their contribution to the history and progress of bislig brings in another culture different from those practiced by the tribes’ men. as fernandez (2002) explained, one’s culture is the only way to understand another’s. thus, the efforts from the city tourism office of bislig greatly indicates that to understand the kamayo is to understand its ethnicity and that includes the mandaya. education also introduces change to the community that alongside the tribal culture, the influence of formal education from the nearby schools opens the community. therefore, it is hardly a surprise that what used to be a strict practice of ritual to commune with the spirits, the offerings required from such ritual 174 jpair multidisciplinary research also have to bargain itself from what is locally available. as to the researchers, the sweet candies completed the offerings for that day. moreover, other offerings included were cigarettes, kamanyan, an apog, or lime, or buyo (made from fresh water shell known to the locals as “tuway” that is crushed until it became powder), rhum (preferably mallorca) and firewood. it is important to note that all of these offerings have no salt as an ingredient for the tribe elders believe those deities and other supernatural beings (locally known as engkanto) do not like salt. at the start of the ritual, tatay victoriano lit the firewood and mixed it with kamanyan, to excite smoke. “ining abuwu na arun kamanyan amu ini ang ag awungun niran pagmaka bahu siran sini (this smoke with apog will make the deities come to us, once they smell it, to hear our pleadings),” recalled tatay victoriano. if kamanyan is not available, the indigenous people use sawong that comes from the bayawak tree. sawong is the local name for sap, the sticky fluid part of a plant. he then proceeded to call cristobal (an ascetic which they believed living in the upriver of tinuy-an who turned into a rock), cipriano (a prince deity whom they believed as a huge snake with a crown on its head) and several other ancestors (dead relatives) to come and hear his pleading. “para madayaw ang mga masakitun, kinahanglan manawag-tawag sa mga taghuya ug mga espiritu ng mga kahinuudan na yamanaw da sa laing kalibutan, ug tradisyun na sa mga hinuud na manawag-tawag” (for the sick to be healed, a ritual or taphag is done. the ritual is also a customary tradition of the natives), said leo gallo iligan, one of the elders. he (tatay victoriano) then offered food to them and ask for their blessings for a bountiful harvest, seek permission to hunt for wild animals and heal their ill relatives. the practice of rituals dates back to the pre-colonial inhabitants of the country (godinez ortega, (nd); lumbera, 2000). it affirms to the ties with the other southeast asian countries as reflected in the dances mimicking that of animals, or nature processes. during the conduct of the research, the same was shown by the tribal elders, expressing the long tradition of rituals, not just simply as an ‘obligation to the gods’, but more so on the affirmation of one’s identity and culture. the community’s ritual also experiences modernization. for example, the inavailabity of sawong, which the indigenous people often use is replaced by kamanyan commonly found in the market. moreover, their ritual is not characterized by dance movement, unlike the ones from the manobo. the elder 175 international peer reviewed journal or anyone who would perform a ritual will only call on their deities or dead ancestors in panawag-tawag. myth. tinuy-an falls and its surrounding tiered waters played an important role for early inhabitants in burboanan. it is where the community gets most of its food like hunting for wild boars and fishes. a widely acknowledged legend regarding how tinuy-an got its name has been circulating among the locals. according to the legend, as narrated by tatay victoriano, an early inhabitant of the area fooled a group of moros (synonymously referred as bandits) to ride a raft that eventually fall from the falls that led to their demise. the name tinuyan came from the local name “tinuyuan,” meaning there is an intent to do it, referring to the native who intentionally lured the moros to ride a raft and fall so that they could be free from them. in the legend, the locality was terrorized continuously by bandits. that is why, when they rode a raft along the river of tinuy-an falls, they were told by one local that the river would lead them to the community. however, they were just tricked and that they eventually fell from the falls. likewise, the name burboanan (name of the barangay) was derived from the local word “bubuanan,” meaning a place poured with grace. according to alfredo manlino domogoy also known as “datu tinuy-an,” the tribal chieftain of the manobo tribe, “ang burboanan grasyusu ang lupa. magtanum ng humay, manda digmi-un ug tadtadun ang sagbut tas patuyuk-tuyukan ng kabaw, tas pagkalata, ag rabkan ng similya tas balikan da haw ting-ani ra” (the soil of burboanan is much fertile. if the natives plant rice, they will only crush the weeds using carabao. after that, they will throw seedlings in the area and returned during the harvest season). myth, as an oral literary tradition, has been one of the forms of literature for the indigenous people, much like the mandaya kamayo. the myth is a “strong source which complements the magical nature of poetry and adds flavor to its mystifying flair” (castrillo, 2005). the myth around tinuy-an could add to the mystery to its already majestic stature; the story of the moros further intensified its grandiose and the relevance of local historians as keepers of the culture. the mandaya elder may have only known the story as passed down from the generation of elders, but, the credibility and consistency of how the story unfolds remain unchanged. legends and myths constitute what mainly describes as folklore. song. a collection of local song, “bagi” is famous among the early inhabitants of the area. according to the mandaya elders, the bagi was part of the 176 jpair multidisciplinary research locals’ daily life and tackled almost every aspect of life like courtship, food, jokes, greetings, birthdays and similar activities. a bagi is a song of just a few lines that rhyme at the end of every sentence. instead of delivering it in a form of narration or poem, the locals convey it in a form of a song. bagi is commonly sung by two people as if they were talking, responding to the other’s song. for father nestor climaco (personal communication), who has studied the culture of mandaya, bagi literally means “tubag-tubag,” hence, there is an expected response from a line. a sample bagi of the natives for courtship is written below. translation is provided by the researchers. ay inday ang gugma ku kanmuoh lady my love for you daw sama sa batu na pinasigulike a stone that perfectly fits into tangtangun diri matangtangyou can’t remove it my lady kang hesukristu pinahimutang‘cause it came from jesus almighty response: ay magbayad duduyoh my man i’m sorry ang kanmu gugma na ipasiantugthe love that you convey puro hambugis nothing but heresy -kagawad leodegario forones bartolazohowever, a similar poetic form for bagi is balitaw (castrillo, 2005). balitaw is also rendered in a song, as a verbal joust or exchange between two persons, not necessarily a man and a woman. although the subject revolves around love and courtship, political themes and social commentaries are also embraced in the form. arguments are versified and rendered in alternate modes to indicate an exchange of ideas. other practices. there is a unique, indigent way to capture baboy ihalas or wild boar with the use of batik. batik is a kind of trap made of tree branches. in the middle of it is a semi-like spear stick with a sharp pointed tip that would pierce into wild boar’s body if it steps into it. another way is the sarungag, a trap made of bamboos with pointed tips that were lined usually below an elevated or slope area. if the wild boar will fall or slide into it, the bamboo would pierce into its body. gahung or hole was used to keep the wild boar away from camote 177 international peer reviewed journal field. “butangan ng kahuy na gabuk da ang bangag. gamit panguha ng baboy tas proteksyon sa tanum” (the hole is covered by rotten slabs of trees), says leodegario. if the animal will step into it, it will fall in the hole and cannot escape. it is interesting to note that in order for humans not to fall or step in the traps, a symbol, usually a form of an arrow is placed not far from the trap. in catching fishes from the streams surrounding the waters of tinuy-an, traps were also used. traps named bubu and takup were commonly used. the natives will use takup if they are only planning to catch kasili (freshwater eel) while bubu can catch eel, pait (kind of freshwater fish) and different kinds of freshwater crabs called by the natives like kimpi ug kuga and a kind of freshwater shimp known as urabang. another trap called sanaw is used to catch haruan (mudfish commonly found in freshwater). “pero ang waray himbis na isda diri makuha” (however, fish without scales cannot be caught using sanaw), says leodegario. the trap called butuwu “pait lang ang makuha. ang paan apa ng mais” (can only catch pait using corn hay). as the researchers continued to convene with the mandaya kamayo community, themes common in their oral literary tradition revealed that the lives and daily encounters prove to be a rich subject for these works. a song/poem commonly for the purpose of courtship, and ritual asking for blessing and healing are among the themes of the mandaya literary forms. likewise, a myth regarding an ascetic who lived in the upriver of tinuy-an was also present, whom the elders said was really true and that he really existed. love and courtship are also common themes even in other ethnic literary traditions (godinez-ortega, (nd); lumbera, 1976; castrillo, 2005). this is probable to happen as the philippines still has thriving tribal communities, albeit the constant influence of western education, and commercial merchandizes. moreover, like love and courtship, rituals and petitions for healing and blessing reflect the paganistic nature of man. even before the arrival of christianity, man has always believed in something and someone greater than himself. for the mandaya kamayo community, the spirits, or the anitos, are proofs of this belief. nature also plays a significant role in the composition of the songs, or bagi, myths, and in the observance of rituals. this characteristic goes back and supports a man’s paganistic nature. the tribal elders act as mediators for the spirits and for man. a compilation of all these oral forms myth, bagi, and rituals and other practices have been developed as a learning resource for the araling panlipunan subject. yet, the learning resource management system still has to conduct 178 jpair multidisciplinary research quality assurance of the resource material as this compilation can also be used by all the other subjects with the introduction of contextualization and localization in the classroom teaching in bislig city division. conclusions nature played a big part in the lives of the indigenous people, the mandaya kamayo of burboanan, bislig city as shown in their existing literary forms. oral literary traditions such as rituals (taphag), songs (bagi), myth, and other indigenous practices are part of the everyday lives of these people, and they deserve to be known and documented. love and courtship and healing of sick relatives were the usual themes present in the literature of the mandaya kamayo. however, a remarkable observation of these literary traditions is the inclusion and evolution of how people observe their indigenous practices. the offered objects and food for rituals and other practices have also been contextualized according to the resources available in the locality. even so, whatever the changes in the community, nature still dictates the rituals and practices of the people. translational research the results of this study may be translated into different media like reviews, prints, and even social media for information dissemination. more researches relating to the present study can also be developed to be used in classrooms, and similar venues. finally, this study can be rendered through performance arts for the proliferation of the literature relative to this endeavor. acknowledgments to the local government unit (lgu) of bislig city, headed by mayor librado cubil navarro, for providing funds for this research under the special education fund (sef). literature cited abad, g. h. (ed.). (1993).  a native clearing: filipino poetry and verse from english since the’50s to the present: edith l. tiempo to cirilo f. bautista. univ philippines press. retrieved from https://goo.gl/gnt497 https://goo.gl/gnt497 179 international peer reviewed journal advantages and disadvantages of oral tradition. (2015). history reference notes for both acsee and csee. baltasar, s. s., erestain, t. e., & estanislao, m. f. s. (1981). philippine literature past and present. katha pub. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ijt2tr castrillo, p.r. (2005). philippine literature: a mindanao reader. introduction. p. del rosario, d. pagusara, and m. tiu. (eds.). davao city: blue iguana. retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34468602 cdasia. (1987, february 2). www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitution/1987constitution/. retrieved febraury 2, 1987, from www.officialgazette.gov.ph: www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitution/1987-constitution/ creswell, j. w. (2012). educational research. planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. retrieved from https://goo.gl/1ochci enriquez, d. c. (2006). philippine literature: a regional approach. national book store. mandaluyong city. retrieved from https://goo.gl/luqrk2 fernandez, d. g. (2002). culture in the classroom. budhi: a journal of ideas and culture, 5(3 6.1), 371-379. retrieved from https://journals.ateneo. edu/index.php/budhi/article/viewfile/599/596 fien, j. (2010). indigenous knowledge and sustainability. teaching and learning for a sustainable future: a multimedia teacher education program (unesco website). accessed on 16 june 2018. retrieved at http://www. unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html?panel=4#top. finnegan, r. (2017). oral literature in africa (p. 614). open book publishers. retrieved from https://goo.gl/t2gbu2 gabbert, l. (2010). exploring local communities: conducting ethnographic research in folklore studies.  cur quarterly,  30(4), 37. retrieved on 19 april 2018 from https://goo.gl/uwnehd https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34468602 180 jpair multidisciplinary research godinez-ortega, c. f. the literary forms in philippine literature. retrieved from https://goo.gl/6pbh5c klarer, m. (2013). an introduction to literary studies. routledge. retrieved from https://goo.gl/wjnnyp lopez, m. l. (2006). a handbook of philippine folklore. up press. retrieved from https://goo.gl/5ypco2 lumbera, b. (1976). towards a revised history of philippine literature. revaluation (manila: index, 1984), 5. nakashima, d., prott, l., & bridgewater, p. (2000). tapping into the world’s wisdom.  unesco sources,  125(5), 12. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ weu81u patron, i. (2002). interactive readingresponding to and writing about philippine literature. great books trading. quezon city. retrieved from https://goo. gl/gqyc6w 226 jpair multidisciplinary research bullying among junior high school students: effects on health and academic performance lorenita t. celeste http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9065-1971 lorenceleste27@gmail.com notre dame university notre dame avenue, cotabato city 9600 philippines joyce c. bisnar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-9582 joycebisnar71@gmail.com notre dame university notre dame avenue, cotabato city 9600 philippines imelda v. javier http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6270-9432 imeldajavier801@gmail.com notre dame university notre dame avenue, cotabato city 9600 philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract bullying and victimization phenomena have serious effects on the wellbeing of individuals. therefore, the study intends to help the students maintain a normal state of well-being and enhance academic performance as a reference vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.691 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9065-1971 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-9582 mailto:joycebisnar71@gmail.co http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6270-9432 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 227 international peer reviewed journal for administrators to develop programs managing the challenges encountered through identification of demographic profile; forms of bullying; effects on health and academic performance; coping strategies and school management. mixed method approach was employed. quantitative data was gathered through survey questionnaire and qualitative data through fgd from advisers, parents and students and kii from the principal, guidance counselor and prefect of discipline which were analyzed to corroborate with the quantitative data. periodical grades were analyzed and compared. findings revealed that out of 260 students, 232 expressed experienced bullying at a younger age as young as 10 years old. more alarmingly, some students reported recently experienced though rarely. the most common form of bullying identified are verbal, covert and physical bullying. cyberbullying as the least experienced. the investigation disclosed they sometimes experience the health effects of bullying that are generally a normal response to stress. however, manage to deal with the experience through the support of family and the school. data showed that students’ experience of bullying does not affect their academic performance. nevertheless, data analysis revealed that victims of bullying eventually become bullies themselves. keywords — bullying, junior high school students, mix method research design, philippines introduction bullying and victimization are widespread phenomena that can have a serious effect on the well-being of and individual most specially the growing children. usually, these victims are bullies themselves. the observable effect of bullying has caused the students to manifest low self-esteem that leads to social isolation. at the same time school performance is also affected but defending on how a student copes. jansen, verlinden, berkel, mieloo, ende, veenstra, & tiemeier (2012) found out that children from families with a low socioeconomic background have an increased risk of this behavior that encompasses physical aggression, threats, teasing, and harassment.  in any form, bullying is unacceptable antisocial behavior that can undermine the quality of the school environment, affect students’ academic and social outcomes and even jeopardize the life of an individual. it can have harmful effects on childhood development and detrimental influences that can even stretch into adulthood, depending on how victims handle the trauma. 228 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, arseneault (2017) study showed that higher rates of anxiety and panic attacks among victims of bullying, and such experiences are increasingly linked to mental health and behavioral problems later in life. worldwide, several incidents had been reported to affect children and youth who even went to the extent of committing suicide. although anti-bullying act has put into law, still the magnitude of incidence is increasing. whatever environment the children are exposed to particularly the parents` important role in molding and/or rearing their children, they are vulnerable to adopt it. however, in spite of being bullied children or victims, they were able to cope and become successful in their life. as members of the healthcare team, the researchers interest arouse thus the conceptualization of this paper in order to aid identify coping strategy to maintain normal state of well-being and enhance academic performance and aid in the development of a program which can help and/or assist a bully and victim student to manage the challenges he or she will encounter. in the environment where we are currently employed, the incidence of bullying has been observed and shared by colleagues wherein the victims were tremendously affected. methodology this study employed a mixed method approach. it took into consideration the research ethics whereby a consent was secured from the participant`s parents as well as from the school administrator. students’ bullying experiences and coping strategies were determined using survey questionnaires. purposive sampling was used in determining the student participants for the quantitative component of the study. these participants comprised of the260 grade 7 and grade 8 students enrolled in junior high school of notre dame university. ndu-jhs is a newly established junior high school that envisions to produce students of excellence and character despite its diverse populace in terms of socioeconomic status, cultural background, and faith. the self-constructed instrument was subjected to pilot testing. the test for its reliability utilizing cronbach`s alpha which has a minimum value of .700 yielded .861 which is interpreted to be highly reliable. focus group discussion was conducted among selected parents, class advisers of student participants and students to further describe and validate the quantitative data gathered through an in-depth analysis of the effects of bullying to the health and academic performance of the participants. key informant interviews were also done to the 229 international peer reviewed journal school principal, guidance counselor and prefect of discipline. the collected data were treated using descriptive statistics. qualitative data from fgd and kii were subjected to in depth-analysis to extract themes and patterns. qualitative data was used to validate and expound the quantitative data gathered. the coping strategies identified focused more on health effects rather than academic performance. furthermore, a review of secondary data was compared and examined with the use of t-test. results and discussion the incidence of bullying in schools is increasing. although students rarely experienced bullying, the high number of students who experience it is alarming as they experienced it as young as ten years old. in contrast with the study of lister, merrill, vance, west, hall, and crookston (2015) as cited by menesini and salmivalli (2017) that bullying by peers was negatively related to age. the incident of bullying at the research site is increasing. ndu-jhs has drawn up programs such as organizing a committee to address bullying among students. parent representatives are part of the committee. the participants experienced different forms of bullying with verbal and covert bullying being the most commonly experienced. students are physiologically and socially affected by bullying manifested by their tendency to work alone and their low self-esteem. in contrast with the study of yang & salmivalli (2013) where in the bully-victims are the perpetrators and targets of verbal, physical, indirect and cyber bullying. moreover, they perpetrated significantly more physical and verbal bullying. students cope by crying and fighting back eventually making those bullies as well. their academic performance is not severely affected although their first and second grading grades were extremely high and low. the extreme range of their grades could not be attributed to their bullying experiences alone. the parents and the student participants verbalized that they frequently experienced bullying in school especially before the seminar and orientation on bullying. according to them, most of the bullies are their classmates, oftentimes their schoolmates and even their teachers. they experience bullying from their siblings and parents less often. in contrast with the parents’ and students’ views, the class advisers, guidance counselor, prefect of discipline and principal verbalized that students seldom experience bullying even before the seminar and orientation. the seminar and orientation on bullying did not only awaken the students’ awareness of the forms of bullying and how to avoid being bullied. 230 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers were also taught on how to apprehend bullying inside the classroom. according to the students, most bullies are the intelligent ones because they see themselves as superior, overly selfconfident and do not want to stoop down to the level of the slow ones. others are bullies because of envy, jealousy, insecurity. those who get easily annoyed also have the tendency to bully others. students, teacher`s , advisers and guidance counselor verbalized that bullies had bullying experience either at home or outside their home and are influenced by bullying in the social media. as a result of these experiences, they also bully others. data from the focus group discussions described the features of students who are mostly bullied. these features include being slim or thin, fat or obese, dark-skinned, a slow or low performer in class, those with a physical disability, low self – esteem and lack of selfconfidence, those who refuse to counterattack the bully because of fear and those who cannot pronounce words correctly. the most common forms of bullying identified are covert and verbal bullying. although there are some, who verbalized to have experienced physical and cyberbullying. physical bullying is common among boys while verbal bullying is common among girls. however, there are others who reported that they experienced verbal bullying from boys. bullies usually attack during break time or when teachers are not around. these results are similar to the study of seo, jung, kim & bahk (2017) that boys are more likely to experience physical victimization whereas girls are more likely to be targets of indirect bullying. students’ coping strategies to counter bullying varies and is mainly dependent on how they perceived the act. there are students who took their experience of being bullied as a challenge. these students use the experience as a motivation to strive hard and prove the bullies wrong, thus quite inconsistent with the study of seo, jung, kim, and bahk (2017) that lower academic achievement was associated with victimization. moreover, the students unanimously said that they retaliate and fight back the bullies by shouting and punching back. other forms of responses to bullying are crying, hiding, avoiding the bully, preferring to work on their own and reporting to their grandparents, teachers, and friends. interestingly, they do not report their experience of being bullied to their parents because of fear that their parents might confront the bully. one parent and one student shared that they also bully their younger siblings. this claim is agreed upon by menesini, camodeca, nocenteni (2010) that sibling bullying and sibling victimization were associated with bullying and victimization at school.  some participants believed in “karma” and just kept https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/dosearch?contribauthorstored=menesini%2c+ersilia https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/dosearch?contribauthorstored=camodeca%2c+marina 231 international peer reviewed journal quiet hoping that they would be avenged by fate. other participants shared that they bravely talk and confront bullies. in order to address the incidence of bullying the school administrators conducted a seminar on anti-bullying at all levels of the junior high school. a resource speaker was invited to facilitate the orientation and discussion among students and teachers the different forms of bullying and tips on how to handle bullying cases inside the classroom. according to schultes, stefanek, van de shoot, strohmeier, & spiel (2014) school bullying requires that educators use strategies and approaches available to them when such situations occur. however, the key informants verbalized that the school does not have programs in place yet to address bullying. instead, they are strengthening the child protection program (cpp) of the ched, a program that caters to the needs of students who are either bullies or victims of bullying. ccp personnel examine and handle cases of bullying. despite the absence of a regular program to arrest bullying, the administrators make sure that it is properly addressed. most of the time, the class advisers resolve the case within the classroom. when the act becomes recurrent, the bully is brought to the prefect of discipline. when the student continues the aggression, s/he is recommended for counseling because bullying is considered as a behavioral problem, thus requires counseling. the school administrators want to change students’ distorted notion that if they are asked to report to the guidance counselor, they will be subjected to punitive disciplinary actions. matters of resolved bullying cases are documented and communicated to students. parents of identified chronic bullies are also informed. school administrators talk to parents separately to avoid violent confrontations. however, if both parties agree to meet, then the case is settled amicably between them. part of the dialogue with parents is requesting them to sign an agreement that the case should not be discussed outside the school premise. they are also asked to sign a waiver stating that if something happens to their child outside the school campus, the school will not be held liable. ndu-jhs administrators admit that there is really a struggle on their part on how to properly handle bullying cases since most of the teachers have less teaching experiences. on the other hand, informants are also aware that some bullying cases are not documented for reasons that victims keep the incident to themselves for fear of retaliation. the incidence of bullying in schools is increasing. although bullying is rarely experienced, the high number of students who experience it is alarming. 232 jpair multidisciplinary research this could be attributed to the modeled behavior of the parents or significant persons during the students’ growing up years. this scenario is generally observable in every secondary school`s as part of the growing up years of the adolescent especially the school populace is diverse. moreover, the students in this study are mostly the eldest child among a mean brood of three and whose parents are mostly married and with extremely low monthly earnings. the result is congruent with the findings of seo, jung, kim, and bahk (2017) that significantly families with a lower socio-economic status seems to be correlated with bullying victimization. with the current technological expansion, adolescents live a different lifestyle. they are computer and/or gadget literate making them more vulnerable to give in to the pressure of having the latest gadget or else they are labeled as outsiders, unable to conform to their peers’ social status. a status akin to that of an outcast makes them more susceptible to bullying. bullying experiences differ from one student to another. the most common forms of bullying that students experience are verbal and covert bullying. as expressed, participants experienced being called by names such as “idiot,” or bawled with bad words, insulted, judged, criticized, teased and played with nasty jokes to their embarrassment and humiliation. the fact that most of the student participants are female tends to explain the greater frequency of the preceding verbal and covert forms of bullying. the male participants were more engaged in physical form such as pushing, hitting or kicking. according to wang, lanotti, and  luk (2012), boys’ bullying is more physical, whereas girls tend to bully psychologically such as by spreading rumors. the least experienced form of bullying is cyberbullying. student participants reported that they were sent negative messages via email or being bashed in social media. this could be attributed to their awareness of the existing anti-cyberbullying law especially so that the school, in collaboration with the university guidance and testing center conducted an orientation on bullying. one of six of the students of ndu-jhs said they had been a target of cyberbullying within the past 12 months and girls were more than twice more likely to be targeted than boys (rivara, & le menestrel 2016). the outcome of the focus group discussion with the class advisers, parents and students validated the responses of the participants that they encountered verbal and covert bullying more frequently compared to physical and cyberbullying. they added that the experience usually occurred during break-times, inside the classroom and when teachers transfer from one room to another for their succeeding classes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=wang%20j%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=22710019 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=luk%20jw%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=22710019 233 international peer reviewed journal physical f verbal f covert f cyber f pushed 73 called by name e.g. ugly 131 played w/ nasty jokes to be humiliated 81 sent w/ mean text messages 23 pinched 61 thrown w/ bad words 120 mimicked 67 made fun of by edited photos 21 punched 52 insulted 107 gestured w/ negative facial & physical expression 51 posted w/ humiliating comments 18 kicked 47 teased 106 made fun in front of many people 51 bashed in social network 14 hit 46 criticized/ judged 105 accused of things i never known 48 sent w/ negative rumors thru email 9 locked in the room 45 asked to give food 42 looked contemptuously 45 sent w/ embarrassing videos on social networks 6 bumped 45 threatened 29 intimidated 30 boxed 36 forced to give money 25 spread w/ bad rumors 25 harassed 28 target of speculations 25 elbowed 29 bitten 6 poured w/ water 1 the bullying experiences of students have slightly affected their health. there were no indications of their being at risk of depression or of committing suicide. however, this area was not examined in-depth. their physical responses to the bullying experience are classified as a normal form of stress such as fast heartbeat, getting cold moist hands and feet and rapid breathing. according to hans selye`s general adaptation to stress, a person`s response to stress is either to fight or flight. similarly, students’ experience of bullying produces physiologically response to the stimuli. over time, this reaction can weaken the immune system and may cause a variety of health problems such as dizziness, headaches, stomach upset and physical injuries (wolke & lereya, 2015). 234 jpair multidisciplinary research physical health mean sd description i experienced… 1. fast heartbeat. 1.58 .739 often experienced 2. rapid breathing. 1.39 .745 sometimes experienced 3. cold moist perspiration. 1.27 .788 sometimes experienced 4. cold moist hands and feet. 1.49 .841 sometimes experienced 5. having black eye/s. 0.97 .721 sometimes experienced 6. bruising or having a scratch or scratches on my skin. 1.30 .806 sometimes experienced 7. loss of appetite to eat or drink. 1.38 .774 sometimes experienced 8. pain on the affected area. 1.32 .817 sometimes experienced 9. having cut or wound. 1.18 .740 sometimes experienced weighted mean 1.32 sometimes experienced experience of bullying affects the psycho-emotional health status of students. indicators of this include the development of low selfesteem and the anxiety on the presence or perceived danger in their environment. consequently, their social health is also affected as manifested by their preference to work alone, being forced to obey when asked to do good or bad things and not trusting anyone. likewise, the study of rivara (2016) generated that bullying has a big mental and emotional impact, bullied feel unaccepted, isolated, angry, and withdrawn. one parent shared that her daughter bullies her younger siblings at home supporting the qualitative data result that students tend to fight back due to the experience. psycho-emotional health mean sd description i experienced… 1. an unpleasant feeling caused by anticipation /awareness of danger. 1.37 .811 sometimes experienced 2. becoming angry. 1.82 .859 often experienced 3. loss of interest to participate in any activities. 1.33 .718 sometimes experienced 4. being submissive/giving in to the control of others. 1.24 .800 sometimes experienced 5. sudden overpowering fright. 1.26 .819 sometimes experienced 6. an abnormal, uneasiness & overwhelming fear. 1.20 .806 sometimes experienced 7. being irritable/easily gets impatient. 1.39 .856 sometimes experienced 8. trauma resulting from mental or emotional stress/ physical activity. 1.16 .774 sometimes experienced 9. indifference/showing little or no feeling & concern. 1.32 .801 sometimes experienced 10. being low in spirit or sadness. 1.37 .773 sometimes experienced weighted mean 1.35 sometimes experienced 235 international peer reviewed journal the movement against bullying reported that during the teen years, adolescent craves for dependence and do not want assistance. they, therefore, attempt to deal with their problems on their own because their coping skills are not developed enough to deal with complicated situations such as bullying. as a result, they begin to internalize the problem and develop a sense of helplessness. this is the reason why they cry, hide, avoid the bully and would prefer to work on their own. some of them report to authorities except their parents because of fear that their parents might confront the bully. on the other hand, there are students who took their bullying experience as a challenge. it motivated them to strive hard, to prove the bullies wrong and show them otherwise, (ju and lee (2019). furthermore, according to seo, jung, kim, and bahk (2017), a perceived poor relationship with parents was related to bullying thus a warm and positive parentchild relationship is associated with both emotional and behavioral resilience which might reduce the risk of being bullied or lead to an effective response to victimization. student unanimously said that they retaliate or confront the bullies by shouting and punching back. some believe in “karma” and just kept quiet when bullied. these students rely on fate to avenge for them. other participants bravely talked back and confronted the bullies. still, others become angry to the aggressors or even to themselves especially when they feel that they cannot do anything. this is one limitation of the study where in-depth qualitative data could have supported this claim in the form of a case study. psycho-emotional health mean sd description 1. preferred being alone. 1.37 .793 sometimes experienced 2. experienced withdrawing myself from others. 1.32 .883 sometimes experienced 3. experienced of not trusting anyone. 1.45 .811 sometimes experienced 4. prefer to work on my own. 1.55 .875 often experienced 5. isolate myself. 1.16 .779 sometimes experienced 6. bully others especially those smaller than me. 1.22 .792 sometimes experienced 7. become independent. 1.42 .879 sometimes experienced 8. easily influence by my classmates to harm others. 1.22 .815 sometimes experienced 9. obedient when ask to do good/bad things. 1.46 .840 sometimes experienced 10. a trouble maker. 1.04 .737 sometimes experienced 11. feel i am a disgrace to my parents. 1.24 .827 sometimes experienced weighted mean 1.31 sometimes experienced 236 jpair multidisciplinary research thus, the philippine government has enacted into law the anti-bullying act known as republic act 10627 of 2012.the anti-bullying act mandates the school administrators to institute measure to manage and prevent bullying in schools. collaboration with individual parents and parent associations are encouraged to help respond to the issue of bullying. for ndu-jhs, the school has organized a bullying committee headed by the principal with the guidance counselor and prefect of discipline members. the advisers are considered as first level managers to address bullying incidents within the classrooms. it is important to note that the class advisers expressed that they need training in handling bullying cases. conclusions the grades 7 & 8 high school students of jhs-ndu rarely experienced bullying as early as 10 years old. the commonly experienced forms are verbal bullying among grade 7 paralleled to covert bullying for grade 8 students and its effect on their health are the commonly normal response to stress. typically, they tend to isolate themselves by working alone and becoming a bully themselves. however, they manage to deal with the tremendous experience due to the family and school support; thus their academic performance is not much affected though extremely high and low. recommendations based on the outcome of the study, the following are recommended, (1) advisers and teachers to undergo training on handling bullies and victims. (2) a more visible process flow on how to manage to bully based on the antibullying act which will be posted and disseminated to students, parents and other stakeholders including documentation. (3) guidance counselor enrichment skill to manage to bully. (4) program formulation to prevent and address bullying in school and clearly stipulated in the students` handbook. (5) in depth study or case study of the bullied and bully students for better understanding of the student; thus, appropriate measures can be instituted to help the students manage the bullying experience. translational research the outcome of the study could be explained and translated through a journal article for international publications, newspapers, social media, brochures 237 international peer reviewed journal and leaflets and other means of information dissemination that will be made available for the end users (nurses, school administrators, teaching personnel, nursing academic administrators, learners). moreover, the findings of the study will help the school administrators and policy makers (government agencies e.g. department of education, commission on higher education and other agencies) in the attainment of its goal as well as mapping out strategies in formulating policies that will aid in the holistic development of the learners by providing a healthy environment in school or at home. additionally, this will create a meaningful learning experience that will result to the production of graduates who are equip with competence, value-laden and stable emotional quotient. as such, these graduates will be able to navigate in their chosen profession nationally and internationally. acknowledgments the researchers would like to express their profound and sincere gratitude to all those who unselfishly shared their time, talent and effort and were instruments in the completion of this book. the notre dame university management for the opportunity and trust and confidence given to the writers and for the financial assistance it has extended; fr. charlie m. inzon, omi, ph.d. for the endless inspiration, motivation and moral support that kept the enthusiasm burning; dr. nida p. rodriguez, dr. ma. theresa p. llano and the rpc team members for their dedication and overwhelming attitude by making themselves always available for the researchers` assistance; ndujunior high school administrators and advisers for extending their unselfish support and cooperation in the realization of this paper; prof. norma c. salgado and fellow chs faculty members and staff for the unspoken but well-felt support; participants and their parents for their congeniality and willingness to provide information and honest response for the topic under study; and above all, to almighty god, for his protection, wisdom and guidance that made the researchers stronger and more confident to face all odds and for bringing before them the real meaning of patience and perseverance to make all things possible in the completion of this paper. glory be to him. literature cited arseneault, l. 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(2013). different forms of bullying and victimization: bully-victims versus bullies and victims. european journal of developmental psychology, 10(6), 723-738. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17405 629.2013.793596 https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2fndt.s140535 https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2fndt.s140535 https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000165 https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000165 https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.649726 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2012.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2012.03.004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306667 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306667 https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2013.793596 https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2013.793596 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.262 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. nurse(s) make a difference on early detection of intimate partner violence (ipv) in pregnancy: a study case aynur uysal toraman orcid no. 0000-0002-9140-7396 aynur.uysal@ege.edu.tr ege university bornova-izmir, turkey safak dağhan orcid no. 0000-0003-2768-2737 safak.ergul@ege.edu.tr ege university bornova-izmir, turkey abstract violence against women in the perinatal period is common and leads to negative health outcomes for women and infants. this case presentation demonstrates the value of home visit interventions and nursing implications for abused pregnant woman. a single case study was utilized in this research. the only participant in this study was canan k.*, a 20 year-old pregnant living in izmir, turkey. home visiting interventions addressing intimate partner violence in perinatal period have been effective in minimizing intimate partner violence and improving outcomes. in this case, the nursing educators and primary health care nurse served as an advocate for the abused woman, supporting her in her decision-making and providing necessary resources and referrals. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords health education, intimate partner violence (ipv), pregnancy, home visit, nursing intervention, case study, turkey introduction given the high rates of ipv in the perinatal period (garcia-moreno et al., 2006) and the associated negative health outcomes, health care providers should routinely screen women for ipv; without such screening, few ipv cases are likely to be detected, and women cannot be appropriately referred to resources such as home visitation. additionally, nurses and other health care professionals play an important role in identifying and preventing public health problems. they have an opportunity to help the victims of ipv as they work in a variety of health and community settings, and they often are the first ones, outside the family, to know about the abuse especially for nurses who serve as advocates for abused women, supporting them in their decision making and providing necessary resources and referrals (sharps et al., 2008). framework research conducted over the past two decades has demonstrated that many women, including those who are pregnant, are victims of physical abuse perpetrated by intimate partners in both developed and developing countries (bohn et al.; 2004, deveci et al., 2007; bhandari et al., 2008). a summary of studies examining violence against pregnant women found that the prevalence ranges from 9% to 25%, with most studies in the 0.9% to 20.1% range (arslantaş et al., 2012; bohn, tebben & campbell, 2004; schoening et al., 2004). deveci et al. (2007) found that in turkey, 28.9% of the pregnant women were exposed to physical violence. studies have shown that domestic violence exposure to pregnant women is more prevalent than pregnancy related complications such as preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes that have detrimental effects on both the physical and mental health of the mother, as well as presenting risks for the baby (deveci et al., 2007). health consequences of intimate partner violence during the perinatal period noted in the literature include miscarriage, vaginal and cervical infections, sexually transmitted diseases, abruptio placentae (placental abruption), chrioamnionitis, preterm labor, low birth weight and intrauterine fetal death (bhandari et al., 2008; bohn et al., 2004; durham et al., 2006; schoening et al., 2004; sharps 3 international peer reviewed journal et al., 2008). many of the negative effects of ipv during pregnancy are indirect, including inadequate perinatal care, poor maternal weight gain, substance abuse, suicide attempts, depression, the increased use of alcohol, tobacco, less social support and lower self-esteem (bohn et al., 2004; deveci et al., 2007; durham et al., 2006; sharps et al., 2008). while not all abused women have access to health care services, it is estimated that approximately 80% see physicians or health care providers during a one-year period and that abused women who use health care services do so at a higher rate than women who are not abused. thus, health care professionals have the opportunity to assist the majority of abused women (mcnutt et al., 1999). the international council of nurses (icn, 2001), the american medical association (ama, 2002) and the association of women’s health, obstetric and neonatal nurses (awhonn, 2007) recommend that practitioners screen all patients for ipv, regardless of the reason for which they are seeking health care. women are four times more likely to report abuse if they are simply asked (schoening et al., 2004). nurses are in a key position to screen women for ipv. however, investigators found that many nurses lacked knowledge regarding ipv (schoening et al., 2004). home visiting historically has been an essential component of public health nursing practice. perinatal home visiting interventions have been used to reduce risks for poor pregnancy outcomes, improve parenting skills, and enhance infant development. current economic slowdowns and under funding of a variety of health initiatives and interventions have forced many public health departments to eliminate home visiting interventions. some literature suggests that public health nurses be uniquely suited to be home visitors because of their advanced training in maternal and infant health and parenting and their ability to gain insight on family functioning (arslantaş et al., 2012; minsky-kelly et al., 2005; sharps et al., 2008). early detection, supportive education, effective referral and ongoing support, and follow up for abused women could eventually reduce the prevalence of abusive injury. until recent times, medical personnel is tended to ignore the violence towards women even if they have come across such women among their patients who are subjected to violence, and they have stayed away from the idea of the fact that this problem is their basic responsibility (berkowitz, 2005; griffin & koss 2002; mccauley et al., 2003; thurston et al., 1998). it is suggested that nurses’ attitudes have been effective on their intentions to screen patients for intimate partner abuse (han, 2008; schoening et al., 4 jpair multidisciplinary research 2004). in the research which woodtli (2000) carried on with 13 experts who work on care related to violence, they indicate that nurses experience anger, disappointment, tenderness and empathy as well as sorrow while working with the victims of violence. there is a dearth of studies dealing with these topics and dimensions from the perspective of nursing students. while recent researches have been planned for students of social sciences and behavioral sciences to indicate the manners directed towards beaten women and beating men, very few researches have been carried out for students of the school of nursing and faculty of medicine (coleman & stith, 1997; haj yahia & uysal, 2008; haj-yahia & de zoysa, 2007). it is pointed out that people’s beliefs about wife beating appear and improve in the childhood, adolescence and young adulthood periods (gerbert et al., 2002; haj-yahia & uysal, 2008; woodtli, 2000; woodtli & breslin, 1996). lack of appropriate knowledge base contributes to an inability to identify and effectively care for victims of partner abuse, much could be done to educate nursing students. content on domestic violence could easily be incorporated whenever women’s health issues are addressed on nursing curriculum (coleman & stith, 1997). early detection, supportive education, effective referral and ongoing support, and follow up for abused women both at the social and practice level would be important. objective of the study the purposes of this study are to: 1) define ipv in pregnancy; 2) share the experience of one abused pregnant woman; and 3) demonstrate the value of home visit interventions and nursing implications for abused pregnant woman. methodology a single case study was used in this research. case studies use in-depth data collection techniques that allow for the detailed study of all aspects of the case and the exploration of perspective that may have been missed when using other methods. case study design focuses on the data analysis of one phenomenon, which the researcher selects to understand in depth regardless of the number of sites, participants or documents for the study and provides a detailed description and analysis of processes of themes voiced by participants in a particular situation (polit & beck, 2008). the case study has been described as being simultaneously 5 international peer reviewed journal descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. however, it is acknowledged that a frequent criticism of case study methodology, incapable of providing a generalizing conclusion (yin, 2009). data was collected using a semi-structured interview form during the home visits by student nurse and educators-researchers. the only participant in this study was canan k.*, a 20 year-old pregnant living in izmir, turkey. assurances were provided regarding the confidential nature of the interview. *the names used in this case are pseudonyms. results and discussion the case determined the value of home visit interventions and nursing implications for abused pregnant woman via the home visits conducted by the fourth year nursing school student during public health practices under the guidance of nursing educators and district nurse. 1.case 1.1. detection in the first home visit, the student nurse posed the case descriptive questions concerning the family relations included in the family identification form. canan k. is a primary school graduate who is 20 years old. a psychosocial history reveals that canan lives in a rural district where low-income families reside and relocated to the region one year ago. she was employed as a worker at a textile factory until her pregnancy. her husband is 25-year-old worker at a textile factory. it has been their first year of marriage, and she is 24 weeks pregnant. when asked about social relationships, canan states that she is somewhat lonely because she is new to the region and has not formed any friendships. besides, she adds “i left all my family and friends where we used to live.” my husband says, “we have each other, so we do not really need anyone else.” she states that her husband is very jealous and because of that he does not keep a telephone at home to limit her communication with others. on the other hand, he does not leave her any money for not enabling her to go out. the anxious appearance of canan, her contradictory statements concerning family relations and her complaints concerning the negative impacts of her pregnancy on her relationship with her husband drew the attention of the student nurse. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research after completing the psychosocial history, student nurse and nurse educator performs general examination of the pregnant woman and assess vital signs, and measure height and weight. the physical examination is normal to inspection and palpation. the student nurse set a date for the second home visit in the short run. one week later, in the second home visit, the case expressed to the student nurse that she was exposed to violence perpetrated by her spouse. the student nurse did not come across any finding indicating that physical violence was perpetrated. she wrote down the story of the case by taking her permission and gave her feedback by telling her that she would help and support her. 1.2. situation assessment the first case of physical violence occurred on the eighth day after the wedding. following this incident, the case lived separately for a while but then she was persuaded by her spouse to come back home. as no cases of violence occurred for a while, thinking that her spouse changed, the case stated that they decided to have a baby. however, she stated that their life changed along with pregnancy and the furious behaviours of her spouse increased which led to the onset of violence. she stated that her husband pulled her hair to drag her way, mostly punched her in the stomach not to reveal the violence and sometimes she was even hit in the face. she also stated that right after her spouse perpetrated violence, he started caressing her face and then forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. furthermore, the case expressed that her spouse showed excessive interest and affection to her and the baby in her abdomen one day after he perpetrated violence. the case is worried that her family would hear about her story. in this regard, the student nurse promised to keep the information confidential and only share it with the authorities of the health center in the district. after she had left the house, she shared this information about the case with the educators who is guiding her in the public health practice program conducted within the health center in the district. together with the student nurse, the educators made an interview with the nurse and the doctor who are in charge of watching the pregnancy of the case. following this interview, a plan regarding the case of violence was made. the legal and social procedures concerning domestic violence was analyzed by this team. 7 international peer reviewed journal 1.3. intervention /case management guidelines prepared icn, ana and awhonn for nurses and health professionals were used for case management. according to this plan, the student conducted another home visit with the district nurse and researchers. first, whether there was a life threat for the woman and the baby was assessed, and the case expressed that such a threat did not exist. the district nurse did not notify forensic institutions of the case as there was not any sign violence-related injuries at the time of the interview made with the case. however, the woman was informed about her medical and legal rights when she was exposed to violence and was asked what she preferred to do at that moment. the woman stated that she would not file a legal application and that she did not want to leave the house or make the case known to her family. accordingly, the health crew offered solutions regarding domestic violence. by giving support and courage, the woman was motivated to fight with this problem. in accordance with the plan designed, the district nurse and researchers worked as a consultant for the case. within the scope of the consultancy, her medical and legal rights were explained to the case. at the same time, help resources from which the case could benefit were listed, and information on social support systems and communication network were also given. the women’s consultation center of the local management was contacted, and the case was provided a connection with a psychologist employed at the center. the case was given a booklet which could guide her when necessary as it includes the cases and indicators that might magnify the danger, increase the cycle of violence and its impacts on herself as well as the baby. after the case had started seeing a psychologist, another home visit was conducted. the case stated that she demonstrated the behavior pattern that was suggested to her by the psychologist. accordingly, she told her spouse about the legal procedures that would be followed in case of violence and added that the situation in the house was being watched by both the health center of the district and women’s consultation center. the case expressed that her spouse became uneasy by what she told him and that he brought her flowers while coming home for the last three weeks, adding that he did not perpetrate any violence. furthermore, her husband rejected seeing the psychologist on his behavior of violence. the case continued her weekly phone interviews with the psychologist. the case expressed that she did not experience an act of violence within the one-month period in which the home visit was conducted. the advanced follow-up and consulting services of the case were provided by the district nurse, and a repetitive case of violence was not observed in the pregnancy process. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research this case example demonstrates how a nurse can help women who have experienced ipv during pregnancy. low socio-economic and educational status, early marriage, alcohol and substance abuse habits of the partner, immigration, and unemployment are among the main risk factors for domestic violence (bhandari et al., 2008; bohn et al., 2004, deveci et al., 2007; van hightower & gorton, 1998). the risk factors for increased domestic violence found in this case was consistent with the literature. these factors can be defined as the sociodemographic characteristics of the case such as her age, early marriage and the fact that she settled in the district through migration from another region. in the study conducted by bohn et al. (2004), it was determined that the most significant predictor that increased the risk of violence during pregnancy was the woman’s level of education. in the same study, it was also determined that the rate of being exposed to violence was higher in women who had an educational level below high school. the low level of education was considered a significant risk factor in this case, as well. the sociocultural analysis of spouse abuse views sex-role socialization, which results in aggressive, dominant, authoritarian men and passive, dependent, self-sacrificing women, as one vital social mechanism for the creation and legitimization of an ideology that supports male dominance and the need to maintain power through whatever means are deemed necessary (bhandari et al., 2008; coleman & stith, 1997). patriarchal norms are still predominant in the turkish society, particularly inside the family; having strong impact on relations between husbands and wives. this popular local saying is a reflection of norms that sanction domestic violence: “after all, he’s your husband; he can both love you and beat you”. this patriarchal structure seems dominant in the family life of the case. the social relations and expenditure of the pregnant woman are controlled by her spouse. a striking finding is that the case considered the situation usual and the case did not render the experience a problem until physical violence occurred. it is stated in the literature that some forms of violence and force should be tolerated and accepted physical violence occurs more frequently in the first years of marriage (martin et al., 2004). similarly, the case was exposed to violence in the first days of marriage. the story of violence was experienced in a typical cycle of violence (tension, acting-out phase, separation and the honeymoon phase caused by the spouse’s regret). in a period without violence the woman decided to become pregnant thinking that her spouse changed. however, acts of violence were repeated in the period of pregnancy as well. most victims will not spontaneously disclose that they are victims of wife abuse (han, 2008). it is difficult to explain domestic violence to persons, other 9 international peer reviewed journal than family members, due to the cultural and traditional structure in the turkish population. therefore, women do not admit that they have been exposed to abuse or violence, and do not give any information about details (deveci et al., 2007). in the same way, the case did not apply to a legal or institutional mechanism in order to receive help until the home visit was conducted by the student nurse. researchers are of the opinion that violence could be decreased by up to 75 % through its definition and intervention by professionals working in primary health care centers (glaister & kesling, 2002; arslantaş et al., 2012). a recent study also identified health care provider characteristics that may hinder disclosure of abuse. these include the woman’s fear that she will be judged or blamed for the abuse and perceptions that the provider was uncaring, rushed, too busy, uncomfortable or not really listening (bohn et al., 2004). therefore, the home visit conducted by the nurse in the woman’s own environment reduces these negative barriers to the minimum. during home visits, the following points are suggested to be taken into consideration and carefully analyzed; the medical history of the persons that are suspected to be exposed to violence, chronic complaints and physical injuries observed during pregnancy. furthermore, while diagnosing through appropriate questions and examination methods, all records should be kept in full (atan & şirin, 2005; sharps et al., 2008). the student developed trust in the case and she confided the abuse she experienced during home visits period. developing a trusting relationship with health care providers is important in intimate partner violence. in the study conducted by mcnutt et al. (1999), it was determined that being asked questions concerning domestic violence, being listened to, being believed and not being judged when they tell the violence they experienced were the expectations of the domestic violence victims from health professionals. besides, they want information about domestic violence and reference to community resources to be provided when needed. the aforementioned approaches were taken into consideration and confidentiality was provided with the case. the educators, nurse, doctor and student nurse in charge at the health center all abided by the legal arrangements and the domestic violence case management guidelines. within this framework, the conditions of the pregnant woman were evaluated, the process of guiding and education was conducted, and the woman was informed about her medical and legal rights as well as the legal and institutional mechanisms she could apply for support. the experimental studies put forward the fact that the guidance and education conducted with home visits reduced the frequency of the physical violence the pregnant women experienced, led the women to utilize help resources more, and 10 jpair multidisciplinary research increased their self-confidence. (olds et al., 2004; sharps et al., 2008; sullivan & bybee, 1999). in the case in question, the advocacy, support and the information provided by the nurse made the pregnant woman gain confidence and encouraged her. she started receiving guidance on family relations from the psychologist at the local women’s consultation center. the limitation of this study concerns the limited generalizability due to limited sample. if more samples were obtained, the patterns of ipv abuse and preferred interventions could have been determined. conclusions nurses and other health workers have intimate knowledge of homes and other settings where violence takes place and they must take actions to break the cycle. health professionals who work in the community may suspect or detect signs of violence during home visits or when the victim seeks health care. although the knowledge of intimate partner violence in turkey has recently increased, knowledge and research on pregnant abused women is still limited. while descriptive studies portraying the frequency and prevalence of spouse violence towards pregnant women are recently observed, case presentations in which acts of violence are discussed are limited. this study puts forward the effect of home visiting conducted in the perinatal period on the early diagnosis of ipv and in avoiding negative health outcomes for women and infants. this case is significant for the nurses working in primary health care centers to determine the case of violence which is not considered primary in terms of mother and infant health during perinatal follow-up and it constitutes an example for case management. acknowledgment the authors would like to thank the nursing student and district nurse for their collaboration and support to the case. literature cited american medical association 2002 october is domestic violence awareness month. retrieved january 12, 2009 from http://goo.gl/qen8mr 11 international peer reviewed journal association of women’s health, 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retrieved on may 8, 2014 from http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/8923313 woodtli, m.a. 2000 domestic violence and the nursing curriculum: tuning in and tuning up. journal of nursing education, 39, 173-182. retrieved on may 8, 2014 from http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/10782762 185 international peer reviewed journal solid waste management (swm) conditions, practices, and challenges of select barangays in lipa city joan m. villanueva http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7427-4694 joan.villanueva@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city lipa city, batangas, philippines annabelle b. magsino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2849-5079 annabelle.magsino@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city lipa city, batangas, philippines floryfe g. hernandez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0538-4360 floryfe.hernandez@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city lipa city, batangas, philippines abigail marie u. hernandez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2792-2174 abigail.hernandez@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city lipa city, batangas, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.738 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract one of the significant challenges around the globe is solid waste and solid waste management. in lipa city alone, over 167kilos of garbage are produced per day, making it the second biggest waste generator in batangas province. the study aimed to identify the city’s solid waste management conditions, practice, and challenges, focusing on three selected barangays. the focus was to identify, evaluate, assess the existing solid waste management; and design and develop a piece of equipment as an alternative way ideal for the current condition of solid waste management for these barangays in lipa city. this study used the descriptive-evaluative and quantitative research design; utilized the 10-year ecological solid waste management plan of the lipa city environmental and natural resources office or cenro; and a personal interview with the head and 27 staff in the solid waste management of the city. this study found out that problems still arise despite the strict implementation of solid waste management in these three barangays. as part of the program to be implemented, the researchers proposed introducing a biodegradable composter known as biocom. keywords — social science, solid waste management, descriptive-evaluative, quantitative research design, philippines introduction every year, people all over the earth dump a massive 2.12 billion tons of waste. if all this waste is on trucks, each truck will go around the world 24 times daily. global waste grows to 3.40 billion tons every year. each household will consume more in 2050 (hoornweg & bhada-tata, 2012). solid waste affects us and our environment. it affects land, water, air, and human health. according to the un (2010), two-thirds of the global population will migrate to cities. with the growing population, waste generation will rise. the waste in asia alone will reach 1b tons by 2030 (okumura, tasaki, & moriguchi, 2014). according to world health organization (2011), the term ‘solid waste’ includes all non-liquid wastes generated by human activity. this also includes a range of solid waste materials like human feces disposed of in garbage; plastic water bottles and packaging from other emergency supplies; rubble resulting from the disaster; mud and slurry; alien trees and rocks; and other specialist 187 international peer reviewed journal wastes, such as medical waste from hospitals and toxic waste from industry (guzman, 2010). in asian countries, the amount of solid waste generated has increased immensely because of improved living standards, technological developments, economic growth, and cities’ population. japan has the highest waste generation, followed by south korea, but both countries also have the highest percentage of recycled materials. with the growing population and economy, solid waste generation is predicted to increase in developing countries, yet recycling rates remain too low (ali & sion, 2014). solid waste management is one of the basic essential services provided by municipal authorities to keep urban centers clean. however, it is among the most poorly rendered services in the basket—the systems applied are unscientific, outdated, and inefficient; population coverage is low, and the poor are marginalized. municipal laws governing urban local bodies do not have adequate provisions to deal effectively with the ever-growing problem of solid waste management. the urban population has grown fivefold in the last six decades, with 285.35 million people living in urban areas as per the 2001 census. castillo (2012) stated that the global community recognized that solid waste management (swm) is an issue that requires serious attention. the aggressive pursuit for economic growth by developing countries like the philippines has resulted in the manufacture, distribution, and use of products and generation of wastes that contribute to environmental degradation and global climate change. available data showed that the philippines is the 9th most among the countries at risk from climate change due to the rise of sea levels, intense storm surges, and droughts. along with economic progress, the rapid population growth has also made waste management a significant environmental challenge. according to the world population prospects (united nations, 2013), the population is projected to double in size from 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050 among the 49 least developed countries. the philippine national statistics office (nso) estimated the country’s population in 2012 to be around 97 million, with an annual growth rate of 1.87%. based on the figure, the philippines is the 12th largest country in the world today. the responsibility of municipalities, according to the united nations human settlement program in 2010, is to provide solid waste collection services. it was dated back to the mid-19th century, when infectious diseases were linked for the first time to poor sanitation and uncollected solid waste (un habitat, 2010). the philippines, like most developing countries in asia and the pacific region, faces more pronounced waste management challenges in urban 188 jpair multidisciplinary research metropolitan centers (magalang, 2014). in response to the growing number of solid wastes, the philippines republic act 9003 was launched on january 26, 2001. this act provides for an ecological solid waste management program, creating the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declaring certain acts prohibited, and providing penalties, appropriate funds for other purposes. this act, known as the “ecological solid waste management act of 2000.” section 2 declared that the systematic, comprehensive, and ecological solid waste management program should: a) ensure the protection of the public health environment; b) utilize environmentally-sound methods that maximize the utilization and valuable resources and encourage resource conservation and recovery; c) set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through resource reduction and waste minimization measures including composting, recycling, reuse, recovery, green charcoal process and others; and d) encourage greater private sector participation in solid waste management (republic act no. 9003, 2000). 770 million people generate an average of 0.3 to 0.7 kilograms of garbage daily, and this amount is expected to increase by 40% at the end of the decade. the southern tagalog region contributes to one of the highest bulks of the country’s solid wastes (macawile & su, 2009). from the research of the national solid waste management council (nswmc) 2015, the generated waste of cities and provincial capitals in the country is 0.50 kg/cap/day. municipal solid waste comprises 52.31% biodegradables, 27.78% recyclables, 17.98% residual waste, and 1.93% particular waste (national solid waste management commission, 2015). based on the ecological solid waste management system or eswm act of 2000, city governments must collect non-recyclable materials and special wastes. however, because of a lack of budget, lipa’s city government provides financial assistance to barangays who need help to perform mandated responsibilities stated in ra 9003.. the study demonstrates the interaction and the interrelationships among the following: solid waste management, population, city budget, environmental quality (measured in greenhouse gas emissions), marketability of recovered waste, and public participation (of waste generators). the alliance explores the interrelationship of economy, environment, and society in urban solid waste management. the ecological solid, waste management system theory, refers to the systematic administration of activities that provide segregation at source, segregated transportation, storage, transfer, processing, treatment, disposal 189 international peer reviewed journal of solid waste, and other waste management activities that don’t harm the environment. it is composed of the three essential elements, economy, society, and environment. this system has a societal influence, the primary of which is population and existing laws. the community’s characteristics, also influenced by the current economy, affect the waste generation and composition. guzman (2010) reported that solid waste management is one of today’s most critical environmental problems. in lipa city alone, 167.199.42 kilos of garbage are produced per day, making it the second biggest generator of waste in the whole province of batangas (cenro-lipa, 2018). lipa city’s trash a day comprises 18.29% of the province’s total generated waste. to address this problem, the city government has enacted several local ordinances like kautusan blg. 2, s.1993anti-littering ordinance, general ordinance no.3 s. 1993comprehensive waste disposal and management ordinance, ordinance no.1 s. 1997implementation of tapat ko, pananagutan ko”, kautusan bldg. 7 s.2004kautusan sa pangmalawakan pangkalikasan na pamamahala ng mga basura, gen. ordinance no.6 s.2004 prohibiting all livestock farms, commercial establishments, etc. from draining, throwing, or waste to, land, river creeks, and tributaries, gen. ordinance no.2 s 2004 requiring all households, industries, establishments, etc. to segregate their waste and gen. ordinance no.1 s.2011 -prohibiting the use of plastic bags and the total ban of styrofoam. daily, the bulk and volume of wastes are continuously created and produced in lipa’s progressive city. thus, there is a need for these wastes to be managed appropriately. the identified issues are the increase in solid waste generation, non-compliance to the introductory provisions of the eswm act of 2000, the limited involvement of some barangays, the ineffective iec campaign, the lack of solid waste management facilities, the ineffective enforcement of local ordinances, and the public indifference. tatlonghari and jamias (2010) stated that the very high rate of waste generation from the growing population of people and establishments and the attendant health and environmental implications made it imperative to implement ecological solid waste management (swm) programs down at the household level. objectives of the study the study aimed to identify the following: current situation of city solid waste management conditions, practices, and challenges with the focus on three 190 jpair multidisciplinary research selected barangays. these barangays are near the university of batangas lipa city’s vicinity, where the researchers work as faculty. the focus is to identify, evaluate, assess the existing solid waste management; and design and develop a piece of equipment for use as an alternative way ideal for the current condition of solid waste management for the abovementioned barangays in lipa city. the ecological solid waste management framework is the basis of this study. methodology research design this study used a descriptive-evaluative, quantitative research design and utilized the following: (1) 10year ecological solid waste management plan of the lipa city environmental and natural resources office or cenro; (2) and a personal interview with the head and 27 staff of lipa city environmental and natural resources office, in-charge in the solid waste management of the city. a written request was sent to the cenro director to seek permission before the conduct of the study. data collection the ten-year (2016-2026) ecological solid waste management plan of the lipa city environmental and natural resources office or cenro is a comprehensive plan. this plan encompasses the geographical scope, the current solid waste management conditions, the key issues, the plan strategy, the financial aspects, and the implementation plan and schedule. it has a vision of having a diverse city that empowers the residents; promotes and protects the community’s health, safety, and general welfare. this study provided the researchers with specific information about the solid waste management of the identified barangays (city government of lipa, 2019). research ethics protocol lastly, the researchers conducted an interview with lipa city environmental and natural resources office’s head and staff with consent and assurance that personal data will be kept confidential. there is constant communication with the cenro office for the updated and relevant information regarding the topic during the research. 191 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion figure 1. waste generation flowchart the figure shows the process of collecting solid wastes from three barangays; (1) household waste generation and storage, (2) scheduled collection, (3) transfer and transportation by eco-aides and cargo trucks, (4) processing and recovery using materials recovery facility (mrf) and (5) disposal. under ra 9003, collection, transport, and disposal of solid wastes are the local government units’ responsibilities (lgus). at present, most lgus administer their collection systems or contract out this service to private contractors. the more impoverished areas of cities, municipalities, and rural barangays are typically unserved or under-served. the uncollected waste ends up mostly in rivers, esteros, and other water bodies, thus, polluting major water bodies and clogging the drainage systems, resulting in flooding during heavy rains (senate economic planning office publication, 2017). 192 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. schedule, mode, and frequency of collection in three barangays barangay population type/mode of collection frequency of collection 1 18,714 barangay collecting their waste and transfer it to transfer station m-f 2 9,072 barangay covered by contractor’s collection m-th 3 15,022 barangay with a portion collected by the contractor and other amounts collected by the barangay for transferring m-w-f table1 shows the schedule, mode, and frequency of collection for the selected barangay of lipa city. current conditions of solid waste management of barangays 1, 2, and 3 are as follows: currently, barangay 1 has its garbage collection truck and collects waste on weekdays. after collecting waste, the barangay ecological or eco-aides manually transfer the waste into cargo trucks and forward truck of the private hauler parked in the transfer station located at the senior auction compound of the city government. these trucks transport and dispose of the collected wastes to private disposal facilities in barangay bubuyan, city of calamba laguna. on the other hand, metro lipa medical center, the only healthcare facility in this barangay, generates about 144 kg/day collected by chevalier enviro service. barangay 2 has its materials recovery facility (mrf) used as a temporary repository area for recyclables. it collects the garbage of the local city government on monday, wednesday, friday, and saturday. eco-aides manually transfer the waste into cargo trucks and follow the same process as the garbage collected in barangay 1. the contractor collects some households’ garbage in barangay 3; others by the barangay eco-aides for transferring every mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. lipa medix medical center, a healthcare facility found in this area, generates about 90 kg/day of garbage, which sanikleen laundry corp collects. in indonesia, specifically in yogyakarta, mrf is applied by the regional government through the department of the environment. it is designed to solve government challenges at low service levels, not easily accessible areas, limited infrastructure, and funds that are currently being a constraint. the mrf managed by the community has the main activity of collecting solid waste from sources, sorting, and processing, and selling recycled products/raw materials (putra, damanshuri, & sembiring, 2019). 193 international peer reviewed journal here in the philippines, while recycling through the establishment of municipal recovery facilities (mrf), which includes waste transfer stations, and processing, and selling recycled products/raw materials (putra, and composting and recycling facilities, is mandated under ra 9003, most local government units (lgus) do not comply with this mandate. even though the law requires establishing an mrf in every barangay or cluster of barangays, only about 21% or 8,843 barangays are being serviced by mrfs in the country (castillo, 2012). .table 2. type of solid waste management in three (3) barangays type of solid waste management barangay with materials recovery facility (mrf) collection with barangay ecoaides no segregation, no collection policy 1 / / 2 / / / 3 / / / table 2 shows the summarized solid waste management of the selected barangays of lipa city. through the city environmental and natural resources office (cenro), the city government coordinates with the barangay solid waste management committees of the three barangays to implement the collection activities for residual wastes. they sustain the improvements in collection efficiency for all sources of residual wastes in the service areas. they also monitor the enforcement of solid waste management ordinances; and rules and regulations relating to an effective collection system. different barangays collect the biodegradable waste and recyclable waste from households, commercial establishments, and institutions by barangays based on their barangay ordinance. no segregation no collection policy is implemented in all barangays. there are two collectors of waste in the barangay. one eco-aide collects the recyclables, and the other eco-aide will collect the compostable. the city enro services the barangays without composting area. the city’s centralized mrf is the location for processing biodegradable wastes into composts. in a study by bernardo (2008), the households in metro manila rely on the government’s garbage collection. most respondents said that garbage collection and disposal are the government’s responsibility. 194 jpair multidisciplinary research the biodegradable waste and recyclable waste coming from the public market was collected twice daily in the morning and the evening by the contracted hauler and by the city government hauler. the collection point is at the rooftop of building 3 of the public market, utilizing the contractor/city government’s available trucks. the biodegradable wastes will be contained in half-drum size containers, whereas the recyclables are in sacks or plastic bags. the segregated residuals in the public market are also collected daily using the available trucks at the same collection point. the residual waste is collected in the serviced barangays twice a week utilizing the contracted hauler and the city government’s available trucks. the urban barangays are serviced daily in the evening, and the rest of the service barangays will be in the day-time. the respective barangay mrfs or designated pick-up points on a predetermined schedule collect all residuals and are placed in sacks or plastic bags. problems and issues concerning solid waste management activities the city’s waste collection is under contract services with a private hauler and transporter, rc bella waste management & disposal services. the collected wastes consisted of residuals and biodegradables. each household initially segregated this waste. the serviced areas included twelve (12) urban barangays, urban subdivisions, public market and night market, five (5) rural barangays, main thoroughfare (ayala highway), and lgu offices and buildings. twenty-two rural barangays had their garbage trucks and collection schedule, and they are bringing their wastes to the transfer station. the remaining 37 rural barangays had no system of waste collection. the households of the remaining barangays managed their wastes. though there were nine rural barangays with eco-aides, they use them in street sweeping and vegetation control. aside from that, there was no transfer station for the barangays with service trucks, but the city government utilized the old auction compound as the centralized transfer station/mrf. the barangay eco-aides manually transferred their wastes to cargo trucks and forward truck of the private hauler parked in the transfer station. developing countries across asia have already established national strategies to address challenges related to waste and environmental management. each has its respective policies, programs, plans and procedures and regulations and standards. issues related to implementation, coordination and capacity is 195 international peer reviewed journal apparent for most countries (united nation environment programme, 2017). government shortcoming in implementing the law on national and local levels, lack of public information and lack of environmental education has always been a challenge for solid waste management in the philippines ((ali et al., 2014). improper waste disposal, inefficient waste collection, and lack of disposal facilities are among the dominant concerns in the country’s solid waste management. unless these are addressed, the wastes generated from various sources will continually lead to health hazards and severe environmental impacts such as ground and surface water contamination, flooding, air pollution, and the spread of diseases (senate economic planning office publication, 2017). alternative management scenarios residents can apply the residents might do garbage segregation of biodegradable and nonbiodegradable. non-biodegradable wastes may be further segregated in different recyclable waste, which may be sold to junk shops. about 36 registered junk shops out of 40 operate in lipa, which is present in 40 barangays. there is one junkshop organization, lipa kalikasan junkshop association, identified with 30 to 40 members. on the other hand, there are seven junkshops with memorandum of agreement (moa) as mrf with the sangguniang barangay. the common recyclable materials that were accepted are alloy, aluminum and tin cans, copper, metal, pvc, pet bottles, plastic film and container, bottle, vehicle batteries, and electronic waste, such as computers, printers, and appliances.. sm lipa has its environmental program that focuses on the solid waste hierarchy of “reduce, reuse, and recycle.” every 1st friday and saturday of the month at the transport terminal, they have a recycling market event called “trash to cash” wherein all the mall tenants, barangays, subdivisions, companies, and schools are invited to participate in the event and bring all recyclable materials in exchange of cash. as part of the proposal, the use of the biocom machine is recommended. biocom is a biodegradable composter, a handy device that means a tank that grinds or decomposes organic material biologically and ends with fertilizer as a by-product. this product is inspired by the food blender in its breaking process and its blade. it is a solar/rechargeable generated machine that produces fertilizers in a faster way for household consumption. also, it is designed and fabricated to suit any household. moreover, this idea came from the researchers’ objective to bring easy biodegradable composting in homes to make a difference in our polluted environment. 196 jpair multidisciplinary research the proposed solution’s benefit is that the wastes are transformed into something more useful as organic animal feeds and fertilizer. the machine produces organic feeds and fertilizers that would benefit the animals and residents and make room to be used by our farmers, agricultural sectors, and livestock industries. it would be a steppingstone to restore our agricultural and livestock sectors, which our country is known worldwide. likewise, it would address the problem and satisfy the needs because it can prevent households from piling their biodegradable waste into the waste collection by dump trucks. biodegradable waste accumulation will eventually be answered. conclusions solid wastes in three barangays are manually collected on a scheduled basis and transferred to a rented private disposal facility in calamba. healthcare facilities generating more of the solid wastes have their private collecting services. city environmental and natural resources office (cenro) of lipa city strictly implements solid waste management ordinances and creates programs. these programs include an effective collection system, monitoring waste collection from residential, public, and private areas, composting, recycling, and segregation of wastes through materials recovery facility (mrf). problems and issues concerning the complete collection of wastes are still encountered despite the strict implementation of solid waste management ordinances. this implementation undergoes instigation since the city’s collection of wastes is under contract services with a private hauler and can only accommodate the group in urban and public areas/barangays. there is also a limited number of garbage trucks, and some rural barangays still don’t have a waste collection system. with some of the problems/issues concerning solid waste management, residents of selected barangays can utilize the process of garbage segregation and recycling, which can generate additional income. other public and private establishments implement their environmental programs for solid waste management such as “reduce, reuse, and recycle” and “trash for cash.” solid waste management for the three barangays is administered properly during the storage, collection, transfer, and transportation, processing, and recovery up to final disposal. however, an extensive program for solid waste control, including regulatory and enforcement of barangay officials, public education, awareness, and involvement, must be given full attention. the biggest 197 international peer reviewed journal challenge for lgu lipa is to develop a concrete plan for the effective and strict implementation of solid waste management for all barangays. recommendations for the city of lipa to address the strict implementation of solid waste management for all barangays, the researchers thereby recommend an intervention plan focusing on the following strategies: (1) improvement of the delivery system of solid waste management through updated databases, concrete guidelines, and regulations; (2) promotion of public awareness and information dissemination drives through seminars, dialogues and use of social and mass media; (3) enactment of clear responsibilities and tasks among government implementing agencies; (4) development of standards for environmental sustainability through 3r activities; and (5) opportunities of increasing active participation with private sectors. as part of the program to be implemented, the researchers proposed introducing equipment, a biodegradable composter, also known as biocom, developed even by students from the industrial engineering department. biocom is a machine that is composed of a tank that grinds and decomposes organic materials biologically that ends as fertilizer and animal feeds as inspired by the functions of a food blender and powered by electricity and is designed and fabricated for household usage. the five-year development plan of the ublc college of engineering and architecture’s community extension services (ces) program includes pdp. the machine will be introduced to each barangays for utilization as part of the implementation of this research. . literature cited [ra 9003] in the philippines. (2000). republic act no. 9003: ecological solid waste management act. quezon city, philippines. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/3rmz6gf ali, n., & sion, h. (2014). solid waste management in asian countries: a review of solid waste minimization (3’r) towards low carbon. retrieved from https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/18/1/012152/ pdf 198 jpair multidisciplinary research castillo, a. (2012). status of solid waste management in the philippines. japan society of material cycles and waste management. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3rrrkly city government of lipa, (2019). ten year ecological solid waste management plan (2016-2026) lipa city, batangas, philippines. raw tables obtained from the city government of lipa. retrieved from http:// bit.ly/3qihu4d guzman, j. b. (2010). a geographic information systems-based decision support system for solid waste recovery and utilization in tuguegarao city1. c va rrd rde, 13. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3jy7bhu hoornweg, d., & bhada-tata, p. (2012). what a waste: a global review of solid waste management. retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17388 macawile, j., & su, g. (2009). local government officials’ perceptions and attitudes towards solid waste management in dasmarinas, cavite, philippines.  journal of applied sciences in environmental sanitation,  4(1), 63-69. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3p1xynn magalang, a. a. (2014). municipal solid waste management in the philippines. in municipal solid waste management in asia and the pacific islands (pp. 281297). springer, singapore. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978981-4451-73-4_14 national solid waste management commission (2015). national solid waste management status report (2008 – 2014). retrieved from https://bit. ly/3ti0nb7 okumura, s., tasaki, t., & moriguchi, y. (2014). economic growth and trends of municipal waste treatment options in asian countries. journal of material cycles and waste management, 16(2), 335-346. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1007/s10163-013-0195-9 putra, h. p., damanshuri, e., & sembiring, e., (2019). the roles of mrf in indonesia’s solid waste management system (a case study of the special region of yogyakarta, indonesia). journal of material cycles and waste management. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338811294 https://bit.ly/3jy7bhu http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17388 https://bit.ly/3p1xynn https://bit.ly/3ti0nb7 https://bit.ly/3ti0nb7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0195-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0195-9 199 international peer reviewed journal senate economic planning office publication (2017). philippine solid waste at a glance. retrieved from https://bit.ly/38drzoq tatlonghari, r. v., & jamias, s. b. (2010). village-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices on solid waste management in sta. rosa city, laguna, philippines.  journal of environmental science and management,  13(1). retrieved from https://bit.ly/3cukti7 un habitat. (2010). solid waste management in the world’s cities: water and sanitation in the world’s cities 2010. london. retrieved from http:// bit.ly/3rjemge united nations. 2013. world population prospects: the 2012 revision. new york: population division of the un department of economic and social affairs. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3eeqx5p https://bit.ly/3cukti7 http://bit.ly/3eeqx5p 1 international peer reviewed journal the implementation of the management processes of mobile hospital health services in the province of maguindanao mocamad m. macasayon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0279-6271 cotabato city state polytechnic college cotabato city, philippines mmmacasayon@gmail.com originality: 99% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 1% abstract although agreement about the need for quality improvement in healthcare is almost universal, the means of achieving effective improvement in overall care is not well understood. mobile hospital health interventions could have beneficial effects on healthcare delivery processes. this study explored the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile hospital health services. the study used the descriptive correlation method of research. survey questionnaires were used to collect data from health workers from different municipalities of the province of maguindanao. the study shows that the management processes of mobile health services in terms of planning, organizing, staffing, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation were properly implemented. the study implies that the mobile hospital health services in the province of maguindanao through the application of management processes are effective. keywords — healthcare, mobile hospital services, descriptive correlation method, philippines vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.602 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0279-6271 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction the development of wireless communication technology combined with large numbers of people using mobile phones and the internet has made the development of a ‘mobile hospital’ a reality. with a mobile hospital, anybody will be able to receive expert medical care and advice anytime and anywhere. although such a concept will be of great benefit in emergency care, it can also play a key role in long-term care. demographic changes in many countries may make this concept a necessity rather than a luxury. half the population in the world’s poorest countries lacks access to healthcare. provider shortages are likely to persist, as many countries do not have the means to train adequate numbers of medical personnel. several researchers (walter et al., 2012; king & jatoi, 2005; liang et al., 2005; saddki, yusoff & hwang, 2010; brandling-bennett, kedar, pallin, jacques, gumley, & kvedar, 2005) from different countries agreed on the need of mobile health services. this paper attempts to explore the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile hospital health services in terms of planning, organizing, staffing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in the province of maguindanao. framework planning for mobile health program there are aspects of the planning process that are best left to consulting experts to assist with identifying the type of vehicle needed (i.e., towed trailer versus selfcontained vehicle) and vehicular requirements (electrical system, external and internal design) to sustain the specific activities of the mhu as well as purchase and maintenance options (doerner, focke & gutjahr, 2007). the numbers of answerable questions to be addressed within the process answerable questions comprise questions that are worth asking and for which there is evidence to allow them to be answered. who does health planning? the health planning process occurs within the health service sector usually initiated by the government or bodies delegated by the government to manage health resources in an area, such as a regional health authority. as well as consumers, through advocacy groups, forums or other processes, promote their needs to the government and thereby seek to increase or influence the allocation of health resources (mintzberg, 2000). 3 international peer reviewed journal organizing it is the process of bringing together physical, financial and human resources and developing productive relationship amongst them for the achievement of organizational goals. according to henry fayol, “to organize a business is to provide it with everything useful or its functioning, i.e. raw material, tools, capital and personnel’s.” to organize a business involves determining and providing human and non-human resources to the organizational structure. organizing as a process involves: identification of activities; classification of the grouping of activities; assignment of duties; delegation of authority and creation of responsibility; and coordinating authority and responsibility relationships (rahman, 2012). methodology research design the study used the descriptive method of research. it intended to find out whether or not there is a relationship with the implementation of the management processes terms of in planning, organizing, staffing, implementing, monitoring and evaluation on mobile health services in maguindanao. locale of the study the study was concentrated in maguindanao province, particularly served by the provincial mobile hospital. the province of maguindanao had thirtysix (36) municipalities and divided into two districts. the district one was composed of datu odin sinsuat, municipality, datu blah sinsuat, kabuntalan, northern kabuntalan, north upi, sultan kudarat, sultan mastura, parang, matanog, buldon, and barira. second district composed of south upi, talayan, guindulongan, datu anggal midtimbang, talitay, datupiang, datu saudi, datu unsay, shariff aguak, datu hoper, municipality, shariff saidona municipality, mamasapano, sultan sa barongis, rajah buayan, sk-pendatun, paglat, buluan, datupaglas and pagalungan, datu abdullah sangki, montawal, datu sangki municipality, mangudadatu municipality and municipality of pandag. respondents of the study the respondents of the study were health workers from the different municipalities of the province of maguindanao. criteria in selecting the respondents were those who are directly involved in the implementation of the mobile health services. lgus officials in the municipalities recipients of the project were also included as respondents of the study. http://managementstudyguide.com/organizing_function.htm 4 jpair multidisciplinary research sampling techniques the respondents of the study were selected using purposive sampling. the complete enumeration was used in identifying the respondents included in the study. for the health workers, there were 35 respondents considering they know the implementation of mobile health services. for the local government, there were 45 local government officials whose barangays were recipients of the program since 2010. research instrumentation triangulation method of collecting data was used in data collection, such as the survey questionnaire, direct interview, and documentary analysis. the research instruments are made of parts. the research instrument is designed to describe the extent of implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of planning, organizing, staffing, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. the reliability and validity of the instrument were pre-determined before it was administered to the respondents. after determining the reliability and validity of the instrument, the researcher administered the distribution of the survey instrument to the selected respondents of the study with the help of hired enumerators. the researcher hired two enumerators to help facilitate the distribution of the survey instrument. these enumerators were briefed by the researcher of what to do during the conduct of the study from the distribution and collection of the instruments. the research study used a 4-point scale system prepared instrument. the respondents were asked as to their honest, yet free opinion on how they perceived the level of effectiveness of implementation of mobile health services in the province by encircling the number provided for under the symbol representing one of the 4 responses: range of means 1.00-1.49 least implemented 1.50-2.49 less implemented 2.50-3.49 implemented 3.50-4.00 highly implemented range of means 1.00-1.49 not adequate 1.50-2.49 less adequate 5 international peer reviewed journal 1.1-1.49 adequate 3.50-4.00 very adequate validity and reliability of the instrument the reliability and validity of the instrument were tested and proven first. according to csikszentmihalyi and larson (2014), the reliability on instrument indicates the extent to which a person’s score and his relative positioning a group would remain the same on subsequent administration. validity was common as the degree to which a test measures what is supposed to measure (kimberlin & winetrstein, 2008). for the validity of the self-made questionnaire, a consultation with the expert on the topic was done for suggestions. the recommendation of the expert was adopted to ensure that the content of the questionnaire measured what is intended to measure in this study. for the reliability of the self-made questionnaire, there was a dry run to the group of 30 respondents who are excluded in the final conduct of the study. the response of the 30 respondents was processed and analyzed using the split-half method, and the result of the analysis shows that the instrument was reliable with a correlation between forms of .731 and spearmen-brown coefficient of equal length of .773 and guttman split-half coefficient of .768. this means that the survey instrument is reliable. after having the validity and reliability analysis, the instrument was revised according to the recommendation of the screening committee, and specific item which needs improvement or deleted on the basis of the reliability analysis was improved and changed before it was used as a final instrument in gathering the data needed in this study. data gathering procedure the data gathering procedure was undertaken in three phases. phase 1 was the preparation of all the necessary documents needed for the conduct of the study. the letter of request to conduct the study was secured first from the provincial governor of the province of maguindanao. likewise, a courtesy call was also initiated to the office of municipal mayor of the included municipalities. upon receiving the approved letters from the governor a preliminary survey and a conversation with the local government officials was initiated. after all the preliminary activities have been done, the survey questionnaire was distributed to the respondents with the aid of the hired enumerator. due to the length of the questionnaire, enough time was given to the respondents to 6 jpair multidisciplinary research answer the questionnaire for them to understand and give what was asked in the questionnaire. the data obtained from the survey questionnaires were encoded by the researcher with the assistance of the statistician to ensure the less probability of error in entering the data. rechecking of the data against the coding sheets was employed for the accuracy of the data after which, the data were analyzed with the use of a computer software program. results and discussion the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of planning, organizing, staffing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. planning the respondents rated implemented the management process of the mobile health services in terms of planning with a grand mean of 3.47. this means that before the mobile health services were implemented, it underwent consultation among stakeholders. further, mobile health services had undergone proper planning. in the (armm) autonomous region in muslim mindanao, particularly the province of maguindanao with the issuance of the executive order 007 s. 2010 by the local health board who served as the advisory committee to sangguniang panlalawigan for the delivery of health services in maguindanao and with the approval of funds allocated for the acquisition of the provincial mobile hospital by the provincial board. the provincial government had fulfilled their promise for their people in the province which is to prioritize the program related to health services. specifically, the respondents rated implemented on the following statements such as conduct needs assessment survey among health workers and in the community with an average mean of 3.11. this supports form the health services planning and service reform stats that health services planning, service reform and performance are an integrated and cyclical process that informs and is informed by a variety of external and internal influences and stakeholders. health services planning is the first phase of reviewing the current services, models, gaps and issues. a service plan provides high-level direction and strategies for service development, service reform, and resource investment. planning is required when medium to long-term changes are needed to service delivery models or processes to better meet the changing community in terms of health services and strategic government priorities and 7 international peer reviewed journal policies. health services planning informs the redesign or remodeling of health services and facilities to deliver safe, contemporary, effective and efficient service models. table 1. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of planning n=80 a. planning mean description 1. conducts needs assessment survey among health workers and in the community. 3.11 implemented 2. consults stakeholders 3.34 implemented 3. presents to sanggunian panglalawigan. 3.67 highly implemented 4. provisions of resolution to create mobile health services. 3.78 highly implemented 5. integrates into the fiscal budget of the province. 3.61 highly implemented 6. requests budget from department of budget and management. 3.53 highly implemented 7. conducts human resources inventory for health services. 3.61 highly implemented 8. conducts the consultation with the local government official. 3.42 implemented 9. conceptualizes the operation of mobile health services. 3.41 implemented 10. secured list of supplier for the mobile health services. 3.25 implemented grand-mean 3.47 implemented during the interview conducted by the researcher, one of the health workers interviewed explained that the needs assessment was conducted in the community regarding health problems. the assessment showed that the people in the community are very much in need of health treatment, however, considering the distance of their place from the health institution most of the time they could find hard in availing the health services of the community clinics. moreover, consultation among stakeholders of health was also conducted or implemented with an average mean of 3.34. furthermore, one of the respondents revealed that after having the community needs assessment on health consultation was conducted to bring the problem to the stakeholders soliciting their idea on how it could be addressed. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, the respondents rated highly implemented on the following statements like presents to sangguniang panlalawigan, provision of resolution to create mobile health services, integrate in the fiscal budget of the province, request budget from department of budget and management and conduct human resources inventory for health services with an average means of 3.67, 3.78, 3.61, 3.53 and 3.61 respectively. these ratings were supported by the issuance of the executive order 007 s. 2010 by the local health board which served as the advisory committee to sangguniang panlalawigan, for the delivery of health services in maguindanao and with the approval of funds allocated for the acquisition of the provincial mobile hospital by the provincial board as shown by one of the respondents who happened to be respondent of this study. likewise, the respondents rated implemented on the following statements such as conduct consultation with the local government official, conceptualized the operation of mobile health services and secured list of supplier for the mobile health services with an average means of 3.42, 3.41 and 3.25 respectively. the records keeper of the mobile health services in the province of maguindanao revealed that there was consultation among local government officials he further showed to the researcher some of the minutes of the meeting during the consultation process. further, the respondents showed to the researcher copy of master plan for the mobile hospital in the province, and a copy of bedding and canvas for the purchase of the facilities and medical supplies was also shown to the researcher by the respondents. organizing the respondents rated implemented on the management process of the mobile health services in terms of organizing with a grand mean of 3.34. in the personal interview conducted by the researchers the division chief assigned in the health program of the province revealed that before the mobile health services were in place, all the resources such human, facilities and funding support for the operation of the mobile health services were organized. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 2. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of organizing n=80 organizing mean description 1. creates a committee for mobile health services. 3.52 highly implemented 2. coordinates with the local government official. 3.62 highly implemented 3. organizes skilled manpower. 3.12 implemented 4. prepares medical facilities. 3.63 highly implemented 5. conducts the inventory of medical supplies. 3.54 highly implemented 6. organizes the volunteers. 3.12 implemented 7. organizes the community para-medical team. 3.10 implemented 8. coordinates with the local medical practitioner. 3.42 implemented 9. coordinates with the line agency for the medical mission. 3.11 implemented 10. coordinates with the established medical institution. 3.26 implemented grand mean 3.34 implemented further, he explained that the governor of the province issued memorandum concerned health workers personnel to participate and support the mobile health services to address the needs of the people in maguindanao in terms of health, especially in the far-flung areas. moreover, they rated highly implemented on the following statements like creating the committee for mobile health services, coordinate with the local government officials with an average means of 3.52 and 3.62 respectively. these ratings were supported by the documents available in the provincial health office showing the memorandum from the governor office instructing the provincial health office to create a committee to look into the possibility of having mobile health services in the province. likewise, a letter address to the local government official informing them of the implementation of the mobile health services. further, the respondents rated implemented on the statement organized skilled manpower with an average mean of 3.12. furthermore, the respondents rated highly implemented on the statement prepared medical facilities and conducted inventory of medical supplies with an average means of 3.63 and 3.54 respectively. the supply office of the provincial health office showed that there were conducted inventory of all the facilities and medical supplies in the provincial health office in maguindanao. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research similarly, the respondents rated implemented on the following statements such as organized volunteers, organized community para-medical team, coordinate with the local medical practitioner, coordinate with line agency for the medical mission and coordinate with an established medical institution with an average means of 3.12, 3.10, 3.42, 3.11 and 3.26 respectively. according to one of the respondents interviewed, there were a group of volunteers which was organized purposely to facilitate easy implementation of the mobile health services in the community. among the function of the volunteers were listing of patients in the community before the schedule of the medical mission in the area for the management of the mobile health services gets prepared for all those needed manpower and medical supplies. medical practitioners and other line agencies such as the medical team of 6id of the philippines army were also coordinated to help for the diagnosis, tooth extraction, and circumcision. furthermore, they explained that the medical mission was not conducted by the mobile health services alone but a collective effort of other health stakeholders to maximize the benefits of the people for health services. coordination with established medical institutions was also done for the referral of some acute cases that need further medication. staffing the respondents revealed that the staffing of the mobile hospital health services has adequate manpower to implement the program with a grand mean of 3.41. the respondents further explained during the interview that aside from the regular employee of the mobile hospital, some medical specialists were invited by the management of the mobile hospital to participate and rendered voluntary services for the medical mission of the mobile health services. furthermore, they revealed that most of the time the medical team of the 6id and 33rd infantry division of the philippine army offered their health services. specifically, the doctors of medicine were rated adequate of the respondents. the respondents explained that there were five (5) doctors of medicine who were actively involved in the operation of the mobile hospital and this is confirmed by the organizational structure of the mobile hospital shown by the respondents during the visits of the researcher for the personal interview. 11 international peer reviewed journal table 3. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of staffing n=80 staffing mean description doctor of medicine 3.67 very adequate dentist 3.52 very adequate surgeon 3.11 adequate radtech 3.17 adequate medtech 3.26 adequate nurse 3.48 adequate midwife 3.27 adequate clerk 3.65 very adequate driver 3.58 very adequate utility 3.42 adequate grand mean 3.41 adequate dentists were also rated very adequate by the respondents for there were seven dentists actively involved in the operation of the mobile hospital. surgeons were adequate for the needs of the patients being served by the mobile hospital although there was one (1) surgeon in the mobile hospital and still were other staff in the different areas that can assist him in performing surgery works. radtech, medtech, nurse, and midwife were rated adequate. implementation the respondents rated implemented the management processes of the mobile health services in terms of implementation with a grand mean of 3.33. on the basis of the analysis of the documents available in the office of the provincial health showed that the mobile health services are properly implemented. the documents showed that different barangays in the province of the maguindanao were reached by the mobile health services to conduct the medical mission. similarly, the mobile hospital served 332,961 patients since from 2010 to 2012. there were 272,897 patient given medical treat or consultation, tooth extraction 37,492 patients, cyst removal 2,078, minor surgery or circumcision 20,494. the most common illness referred by the patients was the cough, body weakness, and difficulty of breathing, cyst and back pains. moreover, the respondents rated implemented on the statement like provide facilities for mobile health service with an average mean of 3.24. on the ocular visits conducted by the researcher, it was observed that mobile hospitals are equipped with facilities needed for the 12 jpair multidisciplinary research treatment of the patients. table 4. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of implementation=80 implementation mean description 1. provides facilities for mobile health service. 3.24 implemented 2. provides medical supplies for mobile health service. 3.53 highly implemented 3. hires qualified health practitioner. 3.12 implemented 4. conducts listing of medical beneficiary. 3.21 implemented 5. conducts medical mission to every barangay. 3.57 highly implemented 6. conducts surgery 3.21 implemented 7. issued referral to patient needs further medication. 3.42 implemented 8. distributes vitamins to children 3.23 implemented 9. conducts vaccination to mothers. 3.31 implemented 10. conducts monitoring of the patients. 3.46 implemented grand mean 3.33 implemented moreover, the respondents rated highly implemented on the statement like provide medical supplies for mobile health services with an average mean of 3.53. in the supply office of the provincial health office, it showed that there were varieties of medical supplies in the office intended for the use of mobile health services. similarly, the respondents rated implemented on the statement like hired qualified health practitioner, conduct listing of medical beneficiaries, conduct surgery, issued referral to patient needs further medication, distribute vitamins to children, conduct vaccination to mothers, and conduct monitoring of patient treated with an average means of 3.12, 3.21, 3.21, 3.42, 3.32, 3.31 and 3.46 respectively. however, on the statement like conducts a medical mission to every barangay they rated it highly implemented with an average mean of 3.57. monitoring the respondents rated the implementation of the management processes of the mobile health service in terms of monitoring as implemented with a grand mean of 3.34. during the interview conducted by the researcher, the respondents revealed that the implementations of the mobile health service were constantly monitored so if ever there are problems encountered during the implementation of the program this can be immediately addressed. further, the respondents 13 international peer reviewed journal rated implemented on the following statements like design monitoring system, conducts monitoring regularly, organizes monitoring body, there were monitoring instruments for mobile health services with an average means of 3.12, 3.42, 3.31, 3.47 respectively. monitoring refers to the process of determining whether the project expected inputs, activities and outputs are accomplished according to the plan (mercado, 1997). it is a continuous assessment of project implementation in relation to the agreed schedule of activities on the use of inputs, infrastructure, and services by project beneficiaries. table 5. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of monitoring n=80 monitoring mean description 1. designs monitoring system 3.12 implemented 2. conducts monitoring regularly. 3.42 implemented 3. organizes monitoring body 3.31 implemented 4. there were monitoring instruments for mobile health services. 3.47 implemented 5. conducts community survey 3.56 highly implemented 6. interviews local government officials on the performance of the mobile health services. 3.21 implemented 7. conducts focus group with stakeholders to solicit information on the implementation of the mobile health services 3.42 implemented 8. requires health officials to render monthly accomplishment. 3.67 highly implemented 9. solicits feedback from the beneficiaries. 3.32 implemented 10. provides a solution to the problem encountered in the field for the implementation of mobile health. 3.47 implemented grand mean 3.34 implemented promoting involvement in gender-sensitive monitoring can build consensus among stakeholders on the project’s gender goals, and on what gender outcomes to monitor. it makes possible to identify problems early in the project implementation stage, and give communities and implementing agencies the ability and flexibility to respond to changing scenarios that may affect the project intervention. furthermore, the respondents highly implemented on the statement such as conducts community survey, requires health official to render monthly 14 jpair multidisciplinary research accomplishment with an average means of 3.56 and 3.67 respectively. likewise, the respondents rated implemented on the statement like interviews local government official on the performance of the mobile health center, conducts focus group with stakeholder to solicits information on implementation of the mobile health services, solicit feedback from the beneficiaries and provide solution to problem encountered in the field for the implementation of the mobile health with an average means of 3.21, 3.42, 3.32 and 3.47 respectively. evaluation the respondents rated implemented in the management process of the mobile health services in terms of evaluation with a grand mean of 3.34. evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone. evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice, foundations, and non-profit organizations, government, healthcare, and other human services. table 6. the extent of the implementation of the management processes of mobile health services in terms of evaluation n=80 evaluation mean description 1. there were scheduled regular evaluation for the mobile health service performance. 3.36 implemented 2. there were designed instruments for evaluating the mobile health service. 3.28 implemented 3. there were organized groups to evaluate the mobile health services effectiveness 3.37 implemented 4. the result of evaluation served as the basis for improving the mobile health services 3.43 implemented 5.there were conducted evaluations for the medical practitioner involved in the mobile health services 3.48 implemented 6. follow up check of the patients treated were done as part of the evaluation. 3.24 implemented 7. conducts forum to solicit information from the beneficiaries. 3.11 implemented 8. consultation with the community health workers was done. 3.33 implemented 9. consultation with the local government official was done. 3.46 implemented 10. an annual evaluation was conducted. 3.29 implemented grand mean 3.34 implemented http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/arts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/criminal_justice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/foundation_%28charity%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/non-profit_organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/government http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care 15 international peer reviewed journal evaluation, according to chambers (1974), plays a critical role in the planning process, since the community must be able to assess what they have done and to learn from both the successes and failures. it is one of the ways that the capacity for “self-help” and for effective management of community projects can be developed. further, the respondents rated implemented the statement such as there were schedules for regular evaluation of the mobile health services, there were designed instrument for evaluating the mobile health services, there were organized group to evaluate the mobile health services effectiveness, result of evaluation served as the basis for improving the mobile health services, there were conducted evaluations for the medical practitioner involved in the mobile health services with an average means of 3.36, 3.28, 3.37, 3.43, 3.48 respectively. this information was further clarified by the researcher through an interview. the respondents explained that mobile health services were regularly evaluated to determine if the mobile health services helped in attaining the objectives of the department of health. furthermore, the respondents rated implemented also on the statement like there were conducted evaluations for the medical practitioners involved in the mobile health services, follow up check of the patients treated were done as part of evaluation, conducts forum to solicit information from the beneficiaries, consultation with barangay health workers were done, consultation with the local government officials were done, and there were annual evaluations conducted with an average means of 3.48, 3.24, 3.11, 3.33, 3.46 and 3.29 respectively. conclusion the management processes of the mobile health services in terms of planning were properly implemented in terms of organizing as well as staffing with adequate manpower to ensure that task was distributed in accordance with the skills available for the implementation of the program. for evaluation, a regular assessment was conducted to grasp the shortcoming and further enhancement. it is participated with the local government units and non-government organization/civil societies. moreover, mobile hospital contributes to their healthy body, food production and social participation. however, it needs some improvement in the delivery of services like surgery, laboratory test, and maternal care. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the implementation of the mobile hospital health services in the province of maguindanao through the application of management processes is effective. this implies that it needs some improvement in the planning, organizing, and implementing through the involvement of local government units and nongovernment organizations/civil societies. the staffing must be strengthened so that monitoring and evaluation will also be improved. the mobile hospital health services in the province of maguindanao are not fully addressed the problem of health through healthy body, food production, and social participation. this implies that the delivery of services must be improved. literature cited brandling-bennett, h. a., kedar, i., pallin, d. j., jacques, g., gumley, g. j., & kvedar, j. c. 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(2012). diagnosis and treatment of patients with stroke in a mobile stroke unit versus in hospital: a randomised controlled trial. the lancet neurology, 11(5), 397-404. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/ s1474-4422(12)70057-1 https://doi.org/10.1089/apc.2005.19.253 http://dx.doi.org/10.18034/abcjar.v1i2.433 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-75 https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(12)70057-1 https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(12)70057-1 104 jpair multidisciplinary research mobility and walkability: an analysis of urban design elements around divisoria, cagayan de oro ar. romel m. eltanal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6559-5082 romeleltanal@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract mobility and walkability is an important concept in urban planning. the term is built around the concept of providing healthy communities, reducing dependency on automobiles and improving health consciousness to people. based on factors including connectivity, densities, amenities, and socio-economics, this research focused on the analysis of urban design elements in relation to mobility and walkability of pedestrians around divisoria district, cagayan de oro city through the influence of street networks around the area. using data and actual survey helped locate high rates for walkability within the district. additional qualities such as distance, safety, socio-economic and public spaces also play a role in the rates of mobility and walkability around the district. the urban design elements as facilitators take place within all types of developments around the area, but the number of barriers hinders mobility and walkability. analysis of barriers and facilitators produced design guidelines that will promote mobility and walkability for new districts and urban development in the future. the findings suggested that urban design elements are important in achieving mobility and walkability. vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.684 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6559-5082 mailto:romeleltanal@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 105 international peer reviewed journal keywords — mobility, walkability, urban design, urban planning, urban design elements, public space. introduction we are faced with barriers as pedestrians at one point or another when traversing the networks of streets in divisoria, cagayan de oro. utility shafts, uneven elevation, and informal street vendors to name a few hinders people to access the sidewalks of the streets fully. on the other hand, we see ramps, trees, and shrubs for shading and visible law enforcement personnel which promotes high walkability score. the planning of street networks and pedestrian connectivity throughout a city helps define how a city continues to expand and grow. maneuvering streets and sidewalks to become more accessible and pedestrian friendly can be a challenge if not established from the infancy of the development, but it can be done as long as multiple of the important elements within the city’s infrastructure is highlighted. the characteristics of urban design elements help differentiate the ability to walk around the area compared to commuting in very short distances defined by the barriers and facilitators of mobility and walkability. according to design, (2013) 824 king st. suite 103 alexandria, va 22314; 2018, there are five (5) urban design elements, these are; buildings, public space, streets, transport, and landscape. where, 1) buildings; are the most pronounced urban design element – it gives shape and texture articulation by forming the streetwalls of the city. a well-designed building and groups of buildings incorporate together to create a sense of place. 2) public space; public spaces are the social halls of a city – the venue of people gathering making the quality of life vibrant or subdued. this type of urban design element varies from grand squares and plazas to small community parks. 3) streets; they are connections between spaces and places. they vary according to dimension and scale as well as the character of buildings that are found on the street. street ranges from grand avenues and boulevards to small pedestrian pocket street. street patter and form is a big part that defines a city and makes it unique to others. 4) transport; these are systems connecting all parts of the city and enable movement of people and goods throughout the development. these are roads and pedestrians forming the system of movement of a city. the equilibrium of this transport system will define how friendly and hostile to people a city would be. the best among cities are 106 jpair multidisciplinary research the ones that advance pedestrian experience while minimizing the use of private cars on the road. 5) landscape; is the interconnection of greens through urban parks, street lane trees, plants, flowers and other vegetation around the city. it creates beauty and character between urban design elements found in the city. the landscape ranges from grand parks to small intimate pocket gardens. most definitions of what the perception of users determines a walkingfriendly environment. this attribute is not related to urban design; instead, it is connected to urban form instead which raises issues from the designer’s point of view. addressing the microscale or street level urban design characteristics in the city reducing the chance of neglecting urban form outside the urban designer’s scope when existing land use, density, and even the street network pattern will be designed in macro-scale. in a pedestrian-friendly city, one should look into the urban design elements existence and pattern to uplift the quality of mobility and walkability towards its end-users (cao, handy, & mokhtarian, 2006). according to a research conducted by yang and diez-roux (2012), walking is an important concept in the fields of transportation and public health; a distance of 400 meters is often used as an acceptable walking distance in u.s. research studies. walking is the basic form of transportation when people walk more we reduce the travel of carbon-consuming transportation making our community healthy. healthy trends nowadays promote walking from short to mid distances which are seldom observed in divisoria making the practice a must to do if urban design elements will offer a conducive to walking environment. with these, the divisoria district of cagayan de oro is considered to be an inclined walking environment. with the rising interest in active living and bigger concern for the quality of public space, many audit instruments have been introduced by researchers who focus on the streetscape environment and measure the physical components or features related to walkability — given existing data collected, guaranteed that the scores in determining the degree of walkability in specific streets reliable (clifton, smith, & rodriguez, 2007). framework mobility and walkability are dependent on the urban design elements found in a given area which details both the facilitators that promotes walking and barriers that prevents people from doing so. evaluation and analysis of these elements will determine design guidelines to promote more the mobility and walkability value of a place. 107 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. conceptual framework of urban design elements influencing mobility and walkability of people in a given area. objectives of the study this study is generally aimed at analyzing the issue and present condition of mobility and walkability of as to street networks and urban design elements around divisoria, cagayan de oro city. conducting a study that provides people with the directional strengths and weaknesses surrounding the area to help improve mobility and walkability of pedestrians. the specific objectives of the study are as follows; (1) to identify the barriers and facilitators of mobility and walkability around divisoria, cagayan de oro city; (2) to analyze the urban design elements of divisoria, cagayan de oro city on how it affects mobility and walkability in the area; and (3) to provide a design model and guidelines that is ideal for enhancing mobility and walkability of pedestrians for the new developments of the city. methodology in this chapter, the research methodology used in the study is described. the geographical location of the district where the study will be conducted, the research design and the population and sample are described. the research instrument used to collect the data, including the methods implemented to maintain validity and reliability of the instrument are described. research design an explanatory case study is used to seek to answer the questions that are seeking to explain the presumed causal links in real-life interventions. an in-depth and detailed examination of the subject of study as well as its related contextual 108 jpair multidisciplinary research conditions (babbie, 2014). physical characteristics of the urban design elements were recorded in the location. in this study, descriptive research was used to describe the actual characteristic of the data. the best approach is conducting an on-site investigation. it has the aim of describing the actual conditions of urban design elements and examine why the observation exist and what implications it imparts to mobility and walkability. the dependent variables in the study are mobility and walkability while independent variables where the five urban design elements namely; buildings, public spaces, streets, transport and landscape. the research will examine the data within the barriers and facilitators of mobility and walkability, related to street networks to selected random pedestrians of divisoria area, cagayan de oro. the main research components include: (1) identification of barriers and facilitators of mobility and walkability; (2) analysis of the potential mobility and walkability of the pedestrians from the primary survey data to be collected and examined; (3) comparison and analysis of walking and commuting people to and from one block to the other within the 400 meter common standard, according to jarret walker (access, basics and stop spacing, april 24, 2011); (4) analysis of specific urban design elements that provide the mobility and walkability to the area. research site the study will be conducted in the streets of divisoria district, cagayan de oro city, misamis oriental, philippines. with a radius of 400 meters from kiosko kagawasan at plaza divisoria as the focal point. the approximate area of the sample district is 785,000 square meters or 50.24 ha., having more or less 35 streets at maximum 1-kilometer length including blocks with intersections and 20 meters length of the shortest block with intersections. 109 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. the 400-meter radius of the area of study at divisoria, cagayan de oro city and kiosko kagawasan located at don a. velez – t. neri – rn abejueala sts. at plaza divisoria as the central point. data gathering data gathered are form related studies and other literature from the internet. the researcher made interviews from local government unit personnel and common people around divisoria which is found essential in the formulation and construction of the research. the researcher thoroughly studied the evaluation and analysis of the five urban design elements specific on each quadrant namely; buildings, public spaces, streets, transport, and landscape. the researcher recorded all available visual data using tables and point system scoring to attain mobility and walkability score. the design (2013) mobility and walkability index was enhanced and used for local setting to achieve the intended results. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the results from the evaluation and analysis are provided in four parts. the first part provides the street as an urban design element and sidewalk flow requirement evaluation and analysis. the second part presents the road classifications, carriageway, and a variety of pedestrian and vehicular users of the street. the third part establishes the prominent buildings and landmarks, the year of construction evaluating the architectural character and visual impression to adjacent buildings and its conformity to present laws. the last part evaluates the sidewalk landscape and buffers requirements that will be analyzed to know its impact on mobility and walkability of the area. each part provides a summary of the overall outcome of the urban design elements study. audit tools are a systematic observational method which demands that personal data be collected by an observer within a targeted environment. there is also considerable variation in the level of details measured by each audit tool; some focus only on a couple of features while others are more in depth that addresses many different environmental characteristics (brownson, hoehner, day, forsyth, & sallis, 2009). overview of the study area the four quadrants used in this study represents significant urban design elements found divisoria area, cagayan de oro city (tables 1, 2, 3 & 4). the 98 specific streets, street junctions, and street lines within the four hundred meter radius from kiosko kagawasan, plaza divisoria, cagayan de oro city, represented the place of study divided into four quadrants where the evaluation of the urban design elements will be analyzed. plaza divisoria is comprised of various street classification and carriageway widths, different building occupancy type and architectural character which reflects the architectural trend during the time of its construction. the appreciation of people in the area to the different landscape requirements is also very wide. the mode of transportation to arrive from one place to another in the area was also evaluated. evaluation and analysis of the urban design elements in the area support in the formulation of the guidelines of a mobile and walkable environment that helps provide a healthy community and less dependency on cars for future developments. 111 international peer reviewed journal analysis no. 1: street vehicular traffic flow and sidewalk requirements the data evaluation on street vehicular traffic flow and sidewalk requirements is evaluated and analyzed in quadrant 1, northeast of the area of study (table 1). two national secondary roads are found in the area making it the busiest streets in terms of pedestrians and vehicular traffic in the area and the remaining 92% of the streets belongs to city and barangay roads as per department of public works and highway road classification standards. 87.5% of the streets, junctions and street lines mobility and walkability due to uneven floor levels of sidewalks, building walls encroaching to sidewalks, obstruction from utility posts and lines, sidewalks being utilized as illegal parking of adjacent buildings. 79.16% of the streets does not promote person with disability ramps and no tactile strips can be found even for the fact that the easternmost portion of divisoria is a known blind massage center of the city. while 87.5% of the streets have visual traffic rules and regulation signs, some are dilapidated and most are not visual to motorist due to degradation from a long time installation without maintenance. analysis no. 2: carriageway and variations of pedestrian and vehicles of the street the carriageway of the road right-of-way, a variety of pedestrian and vehicular users is evaluated and analyzed in quadrant 2, northwest of the area of study (table 2). two national secondary road has 12.00-meter carriageway width. most streets at 56% have a carriage width of 7.50 meters and the remaining 40% of the streets have the carriageway of 7.00 meters. 28% of the total streets of the area is accessed by all variety of pedestrians namely; students, adjacent building users, area residents, tourists (local and international), used as access to other parts of the city, exercise, and leisure. they use these determined streets because major modes of transportation access these streets all parts of the day. the 64% of the streets are observed to be non-conducive to tourism, exercise and leisure activities due to the dilapidated situation of buildings making the said activities unsafe in some areas. only 36% of the area is readily accessed by some routes of jeepneys and motorelas as a form of public transportation. the rest can be easily accessed only by use of private cars and taxis which is higher in fair pricing. the 100% loading and unloading areas do not have roofed waiting for areas and shed making it difficult for pedestrian mobility experience comfort and safety during the rainy season and hot months in the city. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research analysis no. 3: prominent buildings, landmarks, architectural character and visual impression to adjacent properties and conformity to existing laws. to determine the prominent buildings and landmark and architectural character of existing buildings in the and the evaluation of its visual effects to adjacent properties and conformity to existing laws are investigated in quadrant 3, southwest of the area of study (table 3). most buildings found in the area of study is being used from its original building occupancy type while others at 16.6% are adaptively re-used into another more beneficial building occupancy type. divisoria’s long age and history at 4% of the prominent buildings found in the area was built during the 1920s, 20% were built during the mid-american colonization period to pre-world war 2 period, 11.5% were built during the post-world war 2 period and 51.5% were built from the 1970s to present, making the area of study rich in various architectural character from as early as 1920s to present. 61% of the old and present buildings in the area has parking spaces of either conformed to the building code or a parking space obstructing the flow of pedestrians on the sidewalk. analysis no. 4: sidewalk buffers and landscape requirements the evaluation of present sidewalk buffers and landscape requirements analyzed to know its impact on mobility and walkability in the area is determined in quadrant 4, southeast of the area of study (table 4). the area of study has 6 blocks of small islands that offer linear and clustered alternative tree lines mostly of mahogany in specie. only 12 streets and junctions offer either liner or clustered alternative tree lines and canopy not more than 5 trees. the 13% of these tree canopied tree lines fall to the linear alternative classification while 57% falls to the single or isolated tree only. while 30% of the streets do not have any existing tree or tree lines at all making mobility and walkability very difficult especially during the hot and rainy months of the year. these blocks offer bleachers and good shade refuge to pedestrians from the high temperature of the environment. only one circumferential fountain with the pond is found in the study area making water features a scarce landscape requirement. all the streets have individual planting pots from building users who are observed to be substituted to the 69% only existing planting boxes in the area of study. the data presented denotes that the area of study is prone to the heat island effect due to the full concrete pavement which is directly observed to the area of study even in areas presented to have parks. on the next pages, tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 will show the district/area mobility and walkability score of quadrants 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the study area. 113 international peer reviewed journal q1-q4 district/area mobility and walkability score table 1. quadrant 1 district/area mobility and walkability score district/area mobility and walkability score q1 quadrant 1 of the 400.00 meter radius from the kiosko kagawasan, plaza divisoria, cagayan de oro city name of street buildings and architectural character requirements (5.0 points) public space and landscape requirements (11.5 points) street requirements (10.0 points) people and transportation requirements (20.0 points) mobility and walkability score thru color system   weight weight weight weight   don apolinar velez st. 2.00 7.00 7.00 16.00 32.00 don a. velez mabini sts. 4.00 1.00 4.00 9.00 18.00 don a. velez yacapin sts. 4.00 3.00 5.00 10.00 22.00 don a. velez p. pacana sts. 0.00 0.50 4.00 11.00 15.50 don a. velez j.r. borja sts. 4.00 0.50 3.00 12.00 19.50 don a. velez gomez sts. 0.00 0.50 4.00 9.00 13.50 don a. velez cruz taal sts. 0.00 0.50 4.00 10.00 14.50 pabayo st. 4.00 1.00 6.00 13.00 24.00 pabayo yacapin sts. 0.00 8.00 7.00 12.00 27.00 pabayo p. pacana sts. 3.00 2.50 5.00 12.00 22.50 pabayo j.r. borja sts. 0.00 2.50 6.00 13.00 21.50 coralles st. 3.00 8.50 3.00 14.00 28.50 coralles av. ramon chavez 4.00 6.50 2.00 10.00 22.50 coralles av. justo ramonal 0.00 7.00 3.00 9.00 19.00 coralles av. domingo velez 0.00 6.00 4.00 7.00 17.00 coralles av. yacapin sts. 3.00 3.00 5.00 12.00 23.00 coralles av. j.r. borja sts. 4.00 5.00 6.00 12.00 27.00 aguinaldo st. 3.00 3.50 3.00 12.00 21.50 aguinaldo justo ramonal sts. 0.00 5.50 3.00 9.00 17.50 aguinaldo domingo velez sts. 0.00 5.50 2.00 10.00 17.50 aguinaldo yacapin sts. 0.00 5.50 3.00 10.00 18.50 aguinaldo j.r. borja sts. 3.00 5.50 4.00 12.00 24.50 doña nieves st. 3.00 2.00 3.00 10.00 18.00 doña nieves -yacapin sts. 4.00 2.00 3.00 10.00 19.00 114 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. quadrant 2 district/area mobility and walkability score district/area mobility and walkability score q2 quadrant 2 of the 400.00 meter radius from the kiosko kagawasan, plaza divisoria, cagayan de oro city name of street buildings and architectural character requirements (5.0 points) public space and landscape requirements (11.5 points) street requirements (10.0 points) people and transportation requirements (20.0 points) mobility and walkability score thru color system   weight weight weight weight   burgos st. 3.99 5.49 4.00 8.99 22.50 burgos yacapin sts. 0.00 2.99 3.00 7.99 14.00 burgos pacana sts. 0.00 3.90 3.00 6.99 14.00 burgos j.r. borja sts. 0.00 1.99 3.00 6.99 12.00 burgos gomez sts. 0.00 1.99 3.00 6.99 12.00 burgos cruz taal sts. 0.00 0.499 5.00 6.99 12.50 burgos tirso neri sts. 2.99 3.49 5.00 11.99 23.50 burgos r.n. abejuela sts. 0.00 3.99 5.00 11.99 21.00 capistrano st. 0.00 5.99 5.00 13.99 25.00 capistrano mabini sts. 3.99 0.49 3.00 9.99 17.50 capistrano pacana sts. 0.00 0.49 4.00 9.99 14.50 capistrano j.r. borja sts. 0.00 0.499 3.00 8.99 12.50 capistrano gomez sts. 0.00 0.499 4.00 9.99 14.50 capistrano cruz taal sts. 0.00 0.499 4.00 10.99 15.50 capistrano tirso neri sts. 0.00 4.99 4.00 12.99 22.00 capistrano r.n. abejuela sts. 2.99 4.99 6.00 12.99 27.00 tiano bros. st. 0.00 6.49 6.00 9.99 22.50 tiano mabini sts. 3.99 0.49 3.00 9.99 17.50 tiano yacapin sts. 0.00 2.49 4.00 8.99 15.50 tiano pacana sts. 2.99 0.49 5.00 8.99 17.50 tiano j.r. borja sts. 0.00 0.49 5.00 7.99 13.50 tiano gomez sts. 0.00 0.49 5.00 8.99 14.50 tiano cruz taal sts. 0.00 0.49 5.00 8.99 14.50 tiano tirso neri sts. 0.00 4.49 6.00 12.99 23.50 tiano r.n. abejuela sts. 2.99 4.49 6.00 12.99 26.50 115 international peer reviewed journal table 3. quadrant 3 district/area mobility and walkability score district/area mobility and walkability score q3 quadrant 3 of the 400.00 meter radius from the kiosko kagawasan, plaza divisoria, cagayan de oro city name of street buildings and architectural character requirements (5.0 points) public space and landscape requirements (11.5 points) street requirements (10.0 points) people and transportation requirements (20.0 points) mobility and walkability score thru color system   weight weight weight weight   burgos st. 3.99 5.49 4.00 8.99 22.50 burgos arch. hayes sts. 3.99 6.49 3.00 7.99 21.50 capistrano st. 0.00 8.49 6.00 14.99 29.50 capistrano t. chavez sts. 3.99 6.49 5.00 12.99 28.50 capistrano arch. hayes sts. 0.00 6.49 5.00 11.99 23.50 capistrano gaerlan sts. 2.99 8.49 3.00 9.99 24.50 gaston park circumeferential 3.99 8.49 6.00 12.99 31.50 rizal st. 2.99 3.49 5.00 10.99 22.50 rizal r.n. abejuela sts. 3.99 8.49 5.00 13.90 31.50 rizal arch. hayes sts. 0.00 6.49 4.00 12.99 23.50 rizal gaerlan sts. 3.99 2.99 3.00 10.99 21.00 rizal san agustin sts. 0.00 0.49 3.00 10.99 14.50 rizal dolores sts. 0.00 0.49 3.00 10.99 14.50 tiano brothers st. 2.99 6.49 5.00 11.99 26.50 tiano t. chavez sts. 2.99 2.49 4.00 12.99 22.50 tiano arch. hayes sts. 2.99 0.00 3.00 12.99 19.00 tiano san agustin sts. 0.00 2.49 3.00 10.99 16.50 tiano dolores sts. 0.00 0.99 4.00 10.99 16.00 don a. velez st. 2.99 6.49 7.00 14.99 31.50 don a. velez t. neri sts. 0.00 5.99 7.00 11.99 25.00 don a. velez rn abejueal sts. 0.00 5.99 7.00 12.99 26.00 don a. velez t. chavez sts. 2.99 1.49 5.00 10.99 20.50 don a. velez arch. hayes sts. 0.00 0.49 5.00 10.99 16.50 don a. velez gaerlan sts. 2.99 6.49 3.00 10.99 23.50 don a. velez san agustine sts. 2.99 0.99 3.00 10.99 18.00 don a. velez dolores sts. 2.99 3.99 6.00 10.99 24.00 116 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. quadrant 4 district/area mobility and walkability score district/area mobility and walkability score q4 quadrant 4 of the 400.00 meter radius from the kiosko kagawasan, plaza divisoria, cagayan de oro city name of street buildings and architectural character requirements (5.0 points) public space and landscape requirements (11.5 points) street requirements (10.0 points) people and transportation requirements (20.0 points) mobility and walkability score thru color system   weight weight weight weight   don a. velez st. 0.00 6.49 7.00 15.99 29.50 velez tirso neri sts. 0.00 1.99 5.00 11.99 19.00 velez t. chavez sts. 4.00 1.49 5.00 10.99 21.50 velez arch. hayes sts. 0.00 2.49 5.00 12.99 20.50 pabayo st. 3.00 0.99 5.00 9.99 19.00 pabayo gomez sts. 4.00 1.49 4.00 9.99 19.50 pabayo cruz taal sts. 0.00 0.49 4.00 10.99 15.50 pabayo tirso neri sts. 0.00 5.99 6.00 12.99 25.00 pabayo r.n. abejuela sts. 0.00 5.99 6.00 13.99 26.00 pabayo t. chavez sts. 0.00 2.99 4.00 9.99 17.00 pabayo arch. hayes sts. 0.00 2.49 4.00 11.99 18.50 pabayo gaerlan sts. 0.00 0.99 3.00 9.99 14.00 pabayo san agustin sts. 0.00 0.99 3.00 9.99 14.00 pabayo dolores sts. 3.00 1.49 3.00 10.99 18.50 corrales avenue 4.00 2.49 3.00 12.99 22.50 coralles tirso neri sts. 4.00 4.49 6.00 16.99 31.50 coralles r.n. abejuela sts. 0.00 4.49 6.00 16.99 27.50 coralles t. chavez sts. 4.00 1.49 4.00 9.99 19.50 coralles arch. hayes sts. 4.00 2.49 3.00 9.99 19.50 coralles hayes sts. 4.00 0.49 3.00 11.99 19.50 city health st. 4.00 6.49 3.00 10.99 24.50 mortola st. 4.00 2.99 3.00 12.99 23.00 hayes city health st. 4.00 6.49 5.00 11.99 27.50 117 international peer reviewed journal mobility and walkability score guide exceptionally conducive to mobility and walkability street  80% 100% or 37.2 46.50 points moderately conducive to mobility and walkability street 55% 79% or 25.58 37.10 points non-conducive to mobility and walkability street 0.0% 54% or 0.0 25.57 points \ figure 3. the mobility and walkability guide of the study area at divisoria, cagayan de oro city showing the mobility and walkability guide; green as exceptionally conducive, yellow as moderately conducive and red as non-conducive to mobility and walkability conclusions the study identified five urban design elements namely; buildings, public spaces, streets, transport, and landscape that are important to determine the barriers and facilitators of mobility and walkability in divisoria, cagayan de oro. within the process of establishing the area of study and providing a comparison of available data evaluation and analysis between important requirements of 118 jpair multidisciplinary research urban design elements. the barriers and facilitators of urban design elements are evaluated and analyzed to meet the requirements the pedestrians using the area of study. the visual characteristics and conditions of the streets, street junctions and street lines that affects the mobility and walkability of the area of study by the quality of present conditions of sidewalks barriers like utility posts on sidewalk shoulders are found, multi-leveled sidewalks that discourage walking, thus making pedestrians prefer to walk on the carriageway, encroachment of building walls and illegally extended parts of the building, illegal parking areas prohibiting smooth movement of pedestrians in the area which does not promote mobility and walkability. some junctions found on the national secondary roads in the area are provided with ramps for the ease of persons with disability in walking to move freely from one block to another but most are not compliant to existing laws. street names and signs are found everywhere for the direction and guide of pedestrians from city traffic rules and regulation but most are in a state of degradation for no maintenance at all. the actual visual survey provided the evidence needed to show how prominent buildings affect the totality of a certain area when they are well maintained and adaptively re-used into same building occupancy or of different building occupancy that fits its characteristic making a blighted area into a vibrant environment encouraging pedestrians to use even the most secluded street or part of a city. the prominent buildings and landmark plus the architectural character of existing buildings in the area from various construction era proved that the area of study is a thriving historical significance that one should enjoy and preserve for future generations. the findings of the study as far as sidewalk buffers and landscape is concerned, it does not offer most of the landscape requirements that help mitigate the reduction of storm water runoff to reduce local flooding and control temperature extremes to stay cooler in summer and provide shades from canopy during hot months. minimal locations on the site where a full-grown individual or alternatively planted trees are found make the area very hot all year round which makes pedestrian mobility and walkability unfavorable. in addition, non-compliance to basic landscape requirements plus the extreme concrete and asphalt pavement of the area promotes heat island effect even in areas presented to have parks. only one circumferential park with a fountain is located at the southernmost part of the site makes public activities in large volumes impossible. individual planting pots from residents and building users of the site cannot 119 international peer reviewed journal support in the lowering of the temperature of the area instead they give individuality and non-connectivity to landscape features of other buildings. figure 5. the mobility and walkability chart of 98 streets, junctions and blocks of divisoria district, cagayan de oro city showing the mobility and walkability guide; green as exceptionally conducive, yellow as moderately conducive and red as non-conducive to mobility and walkability based on the findings of the study 0% of the streets found in divisoria district, cagayan de oro are exceptionally conducive to mobility and walkability, 17% or 17/98 area moderately conducive to mobility and walkability while 98% or 81/98 of the streets are non-conducive to mobility and walkability. translational research the findings of this study are highly suggested to be forwarded to the relevant departments of the local government unit of cagayan de oro to improve the mobility and walkability situation of divisoria. a revisit to the study area must be conducted to assess what the lgu would provide to improve the present condition of mobility and walkability score of the area. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research recommendation the study identified areas of importance for further study in relation to enhancing mobility and walkability. facilitators of mobility and walkability must be taken into consideration in designing a new city or development. strategic public utility vehicular routes are important in inviting people to walk and access streets especially when provided comfortable loading, unloading and waiting area at strategic parts. a modern, clean and safe public utility transport that promotes mass transportation and ease the flow of traffic from illegal parking and too much number of individual private cars on the street. setbacks and parking areas should be conformed to existing laws and regulations so that no obstructions or like will prescribe the movement of a pedestrian using the sidewalk by whatever means. literature cited babbie, e. (2014). reflections on psa. the american sociologist, 45(2-3), 134136. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-014-9209-x brownson, r. c., hoehner, c. m., day, k., forsyth, a., & sallis, j. f. (2009). measuring the built environment for physical activity: state of the science. american journal of preventive medicine, 36(4), s99-s123. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.01.005 cao, x., handy, s. l., & mokhtarian, p. l. (2006). the influences of the built environment and residential self-selection on pedestrian behavior: evidence from austin, tx. transportation, 33(1), 1-20. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1007/s11116-005-7027-2 clifton, k. j., smith, a. d. l., & rodriguez, d. (2007). the development and testing of an audit for the pedestrian environment.  landscape and urban planning,  80(1-2), 95-110. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. landurbplan.2006.06.008 design, u. (2013). the art of creating and shaping cities and towns. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2iq3gng https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-014-9209-x https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.01.005 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-7027-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-7027-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2006.06.008 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2006.06.008 121 international peer reviewed journal yang, y., & diez-roux, a. v. (2012). walking distance by trip purpose and population subgroups. american journal of preventive medicine, 43(1), 1119. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.03.015 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.03.015 29 international peer reviewed journal abstract engineering is one of the male dominated careers, however, there is an increasing women entry into the engineering profession in the philippines. scholars have reported numerous factors on women entry in engineering careers such as rewarding work opportunities, interest, and talent in science and mathematics, etc. this different reason led women to enter into engineering career which is worthy of study. the study assessed the effects of parental income on work values of women in the engineering profession. a descriptive survey research designed was used, 39 respondents were purposively selected from vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.458 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. women in engineering careers: does parental income affect their work values? ian i. llenares http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9176-9098 ianllenares8@gmail.com technological institute of the philippines quezon city, philippines reallyn j. llenares http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8493-8105 rheallenares@gmail.com pio del pilar elementary school manila city, philippines jay a. sario http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4755-3510 jayasario@gmail.com metropolitan medical center college of arts science and technology manila city, philippines 30 jpair multidisciplinary research various engineering programs (civil, mechanical, electrical, computer, electronics, marine engineering, and environmental and sanitary). the study utilized one way manova with post hoc analysis. results showed that the respondents have “moderate” intellectual achievement orientations, interpersonal, and occupational work values and they had “weak” familial, managerial, and material work values. further, the computed one way manova reported that parental income affects the intellectual-achievement orientation, interpersonal, managerial, material, and occupational some work values of women engineers. this report has implication on guidance and counseling practice on career placement of women in the engineering industry. keywords — social science, engineering education, women engineers, work values, parental income, descriptive-survey, philippines introduction the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) jobs were projected to grow 18% than non-stem jobs in the u.s until 2018 (langdon, mckittrick, beede, khan, & doms, 2011). the planned growth of stem jobs will provide opportunities to american and non-national to fill the occupational gap. in the philippines, an estimated 102,864 filipino’s (men and women) who works abroad in the field of engineering from 1993 to 2006 (zosa & orbeta, 2009). these stem-related job opportunities on the international market have improved the nation economy. stem-related job was still an in-demand profession. also, science and technology expand new stem-related position will be created and require higher academic qualification such as masters and doctoral degrees. some authors hold the position that stem jobs are the jobs of the future (langdon et al., 2011). they are essential for developing technological innovation and global competitiveness of a nation. in the u.s and canada, the representation of women in stem program has rapidly increased (mcmullen, gilmore, & le petit, 2010; “science and engineering indicators 2006, nsb 06-01,” 2006). similarly, advancement of careers of filipino women in nontraditional areas was also evident; increasing the number of women who became professionals occupying technical jobs; holding government key positions; and becoming corporate executives (“philippine statistics office: gender statistics on labor and employment (gsle), 2009-2013.,” 2014). these changes on women work roles were brought by economic challenges (edwards & quinter, 2011; munyingi, 2012). 31 international peer reviewed journal stem occupation has become an attractive career for women because of its high remunerations, status and works demands in local and international labor market (bayog & atie, 2012; “occupational employment and wages,” 2015). scholars hold the position, that attitude, interest, and type of school (llenares & deocaris, 2014). exposure to successful female role models in stem fields (stout, dasgupta, hunsinger, & mcmanus, 2011) and positive attitude towards mathematics (chipman & wilson, 1985; tocci & engelhard jr, 1991) affect their decision to choose stem fields. scholars, for example, (hansen, walker, & flom, 1995) mentioned that math achievement and exposure to math and science (adelman, 1998, 2006; wang, 2013)the types of opportunities and experiences and support students receive in college (chang, sharkness, newman, & hurtado, 2010) attract women in stem career. research also showed a clear link between family supports and stem careers (armstrong, 1985; boswell, 1985; casserly & rock, 1985; chipman & wilson, 1985; ciccocioppo et al., 2002; graham, 1997; wilson & wilson, 1992). furthermore, family income was found to have positive effects on mathematics achievement (dryler, 1998; pong, 1997) and completion of engineering degree (huang, taddese, & walter, 2000). women from higher family income had educational advantages because of their capabilities to pay enhancement activities (mcneal, 1999; ware, steckler, & leserman, 1985; wilson & wilson, 1992). despite underrepresentation of women in stem careers, it is worthy to investigate their work motivation and goal-directed behavior which underlie on their work values. knowledge of what goals they consider valuable and worth striving is a vital interest of organization in a rational way in respect to work effectiveness and productivity. this report hypothesized that parental income of women in engineering career affects their work values. framework this study can be understood from the perspectives of work values. work values defined as a psychological state, relationship or material condition that a person holds important (d. e. super (1980). also, this refers to individual preferences towards certain job characteristics and features of work environments (furnham, forde, & ferrari, 1999; hofstede, 1998; lofquist & dawis, 1978; d. e super, 1973). super’s ‘life-span, life-space theory’ explained a longitudinal view of career development. the theory states that career development occurs in 5 32 jpair multidisciplinary research stages: growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and disengagement. the ‘growth’ phase focuses on achieving independence and developing selfesteem. then, ‘exploration’ stage the goal is for an individual to discover the vocational identity and choose a career. the ‘establishment’ stage, an individual, developed new skills set to meet work demands. when work-related skills and knowledge continue until the person takes lesser work responsibilities this is called ‘maintenance’ stage. lastly, ‘disengagement’ stage occurs when a person with lesser responsibilities begins to plan for retirement (d. e. super, savickas, & super, 1996). an individual career development cycles through each of these stages support career transition. understanding the stages of career development would help guidance counselors and psychologists identify an individual’s place in the career development continuum. objectives of the study the study aimed to: 1) determine the level of work values of women in engineering profession; and 2) identify the effects of parental income on women work values. methodology research design this study utilized a descriptive survey research design. the respondents recruited in the study were the thirty-nine (39) 4th year female engineering students of technological institute of the philippines, quezon city campus in sy 2013-2014. the respondents were purposively selected based on the following criteria; a) female b) forth year level c) regular students d) enrolled in engineering program e) enrolled in on-the-job training (ojt). research setting or locale this study was conducted at technological institute of the philippines, quezon city (tipqc) campus on sy 2013-2014. tipqc is a recognize higher education institution whose flagship programs were engineering and information and communications technology. the school offers bs degree programs on electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, electronics engineering, industrial engineering, marine engineering, environmental and sanitary engineering. it also offers bs information technology, computer science, information system, and associate on computer technology. furthermore, the 33 international peer reviewed journal school has other academic offerings such as bs education major in sped, science, english and mathematics, bs architecture, and bs business education program. respondents the respondents aged 19.76 + 1.06 years (range: 19-24 years) from engineering programs such as civil engineering (33.33%), electrical engineering (15.4%), mechanical engineering (12.8%), computer engineering, electronics engineering and industrial engineering (10.3%), environmental and sanitary engineering (5.1%) and marine engineering (2.6%) programs. their family income status were p12,000 p19,999 (33.33%) (equivalent to usd 445<: 1us dollar = 45pesos), p20,000 – p59,999 (33.33%) (usd 450 to usd 1,333), and p60,000 and above (33.33%) (>usd 1,334). engineering programs were taken in 5 years for two semesters/year. as the curriculum requires ojt training or internship during the junior year, part of the inclusion criteria is that the students must had sufficient career orientation and exposure in the work place prior to the conduct of survey. career orientation was conducted at the school’s career center. with the ojt and career orientation on the 4th year of the degree program, it was assumed that the student respondents may have clearer idea of their work preferences. survey instrument a survey questionnaire was used to obtain participants’ demographic information such as age, gender, parental income, and academic programs. the filipino work values scale (fwvs) with a cronbach alpha (α = .81) with an inter-item correlation of 0.22-0.55. fwvs is a standardized psychological test used to determine the work values of study participants. the instruments were rated using a 5-point scale (1‘strongly disagree’ – 5 ‘strongly agree’) and consisted of 80 items. validation of fwvs was previously done by cervera (1999) based on the responses of 616 students enrolled in 13 bs degree programs (education, computer engineering, chemistry, mass communication, management, accountancy, psychology, medicine, social work, business administration, biology, computer science and physical therapy). the norms were based on 2,665 college students enrolled in various program in 9 schools (3 public schools, 3private sectarian schools, and 3private non-sectarian schools) in metro manila, philippines. norms were expressed in terms of percentile rank equivalents of the raw scores. the work value scores are interpreted as follows: a) ‘very strong’ (range = 80.1-99.9) which describes a firm conviction and adherence to a specific 34 jpair multidisciplinary research work values. if the person perceives that a particular work value is upheld by a majority of co-workers, he/she would likely to report high job satisfaction. if these values are violated, tendencies for job withdrawal, or for impulsive and reactionary behavior that are intend to dissociate the employee from the organization e.g. of such behavior is retaliation, quitting or early retirement; (b) ‘strong’ (range = 60.1-79.9) implies that if the work value is in harmony with that of the organization, the person is likely to be satisfied with the job or the workplace. if a particular work value were violated, the individual may display varying levels of work withdrawal behaviors, e.g. tardiness, absenteeism, leaving work early, etc. (c) ‘moderate’ (range = 40.1-59.9) implies that if a work value is compatible with that of the majority of the individual’s co-workers, then he/ she may be comfortable with the work environment. additionally, the person does not mind any minor violations to his/her work values; (d) ‘weak’ (range = 20.1-39.9) indicates that a particular variable is in the lower hierarchy of an individual’s work values. also, violation of the work value is allowed in exchange for the maintenance of other stronger work values or concerns in the workplace e.g. ‘low salary – good companionship’. the employee simply re-frames his/her mind-set regarding the workplace to make the environment more tolerable; and (e) ‘very weak’ (range = 0.10-19.99) refers to a work value that the employee least considers in decision making. even if the worker is dissatisfied with the job, he/ she may not be empowered to make necessary changes to improve his/her work conditions (cervera, 1999). an operational definition or definition of terms was cited on this report see table 1. table 1. operational definition of the work values (cervera, 1999) work values scale definition familial related to the family – family cohesion, family unity, emotional closeness and security in the household, firm loyalty to the family ties in activities, family-oriented achievement motivation, and respect for parents. intellectual-achievement orientation associated with work, which 1) provides an opportunity for independent thinking and for learning how and why things work, and 2) gives one feeling of accomplishment in doing a job well (donald e super, 1962). interpersonal related to persons – “amor propio”, “hiya”, “utang na loob”, use of intermediaries, or go-between, the value of loyalty, hospitality, “pakikisama”, emotional closeness, respect for authority. 35 international peer reviewed journal work values scale definition managerial related to work, which involves the coordination of human and material resources to accomplish the objectives of a work organization. material associated with work, which enables one to gain prestige, security and economic returns. occupational related to the exercise of one’s occupation. subsumed in this are the following: fairness, competence, altruism, selfregulation/ occupational autonomy and public service. data collection permission to conduct a study was communicated to the research and development office (rdo) and vpaa office prior to the survey. recruitment of the participants was communicated to the guidance and counseling center of tipqc to assist in the distribution of survey questionnaires. consenting participants were handed the pen-and-paper instrument. prior to the administration of the survey questionnaire, the participants were given an orientation on the purpose of the study and were told: a) that there are no right or wrong answers, b) not to leave any items unanswered and c) to take their time in answering carefully the instrument. to ensure confidentiality, identity of the participants was not divulged. ethical considerations ethics approval was obtained from the research ethics committee of the technological institute of the philippines, quezon city prior to the conduct of study. data analysis the shapiro-wilk test was performed to examine the normality of data and to look for possible outliers. one way multivariate analysis of variance (manova) was tested using levene’s statistics and box test. levene’s statistical data was computed to test the homogeneity of variances and box test of equality of covariance matrices at p<0.05. the mahalanobis distance was also calculated to know if there are multivariate outliers. the correlation of dependent variables was examined to note the strength of relationship (moderate to weak) and to find out if there are violations prior to the use of manova (pallant, 2013). example, strong to very strong interaction (possible outliers to occur) between 36 jpair multidisciplinary research dependent variables may affect the manova results irrelevant. the one way manova with post hoc analysis (spss version 17.0) was used to determine the effects of parental income to work values of female engineering students at p<.05. one way manova was used to determine whether there are differences between independent groups on more than one continuous dependent variables (warne, 2014). results and discussion general observations on the work values of female engineering students to describe the work values of female engineering students mean score was computed, figure 1 shows the characteristics of their perceived work values. the respondents have ‘moderate’ work values on intellectual-achievement orientation, occupational, and interpersonal. the results suggest that female engineering students have realistic expectation of his or her job. he or she may find his job a comfortable place to work given a satisfying and or dissatisfying condition, for example, a job that is challenging and offers advancement of skills and talents (intellectual-achievement orientation) and a job aligned with education and training (occupational) or an organization where colleagues and coworkers have smooth working relations (interpersonal). they are likely a ‘realistic’ type of worker who can stay longer in the company because they can endure the dissatisfying condition. data also show female engineering students scores on familial, managerial, and material work values as ‘weak’. the result suggests that student may compromise certain condition in their workplace in exchange for a bigger concern. for example, he or she may be willing to work for companies that may not provide high salary and offers various fringe benefits like housing, sss insurance or vacation (material) as long as smooth relations with boss and colleagues are present or a job that takes away time for family (familial) or even a job that offers proper handling of resources (managerial). they are potentially a ‘kangaroo’ type of worker who jump from one job to another job in exchange for better and bigger opportunities. 37 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. women engineers’ work values table 2 shows the results of computed manova. data revealed that there is a significant difference between parental income and work values of female engineering students (pillai’s trace = 1.85, f (12, 64) = 66.10, p<.001). the result suggests that dependent variables have significantly contribute to the model (interaction between parental income and work values). consider the results from dependent variables separately, bonferroni correction was used to reduce the chances of obtaining false positive results. the only difference to reach statistical significance, using a bonferroni adjusted alpha of .017 were intellectual-achievement orientation, interpersonal, managerial, material, and occupational. this means that the five work values individually showed positive effect on parental income. in this case, only familial work values did not reach higher statistical results. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. the effects of parental income on work values source dependent variables value df m² f sig. partial eta squared observed power parental income pillai’s trace 1.85 12, 64 66.10 <.001 .92 1.000 familial work values 2, 36 5.564 3.271 <.05 .15 .585 intellectualachievement orientation work values 2, 36 176.718 69.151 <.001 .79 1.000 interpersonal work values 2, 36 14.179 5.711 <.001 .24 .835 managerial work values 2, 36 29.846 10.271 <.001 .36 .980 material work values 2, 36 115.154 47.947 <.001 .73 1.000 occupational work values 2, 36 76.949 26.875 <.001 .60 1.000 table 3 shows the posthoc analyses of manova f test using tukey’s hsd test conducted to determine all possible pairwise contrast. the following pairs of groups were found to be significantly different based on their scores on intellectual achievement orientation work values: groups 2 ‘students from average income family’ and 3 ‘students from high family income’ and groups 2 ‘students from average income family’ and 1 ‘students from borderline family income.’ the results suggest that level of parental income affects the study participant’s preferences to look for a job that is challenging, promote independent thinking, and a sense of accomplishment. groups 1 ‘students from borderline family income’ and 3 ‘students from high family income’ emerged to have high desire for intellectual achievement orientation work values. furthermore, the data show significant differences between the scores of different groups of interpersonal work values: groups 2 ‘students from average income family’ and 3 ‘students from high-income family’ and groups 2 ‘students from average income family’ and 1 ‘students from borderline income family.’ the results suggest that level of parental income affect the students’ preferences to look for a job where smooth interpersonal relations (sir) were exercise among colleagues and immediate superior. groups 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ and 39 international peer reviewed journal 3 ‘students from high-income family’ appeared to have the strong preference for interpersonal work values. about managerial work values, the groups remain significantly different: groups 3 ‘students from high-income family’ and 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ and groups 3 ‘students from high-income family’ and 2 ‘students from average income family.’ findings suggest that level of parental income affect the study participants’ preferences to look for a job where training on the handling of resources (people, budget, and schedule) was exercise. group 3 emerged to have a high desire for managerial work values. data show the groups were found significantly different on material work values: groups 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ and 2 ‘students from average income family’ and groups 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ and 3 ‘students from high-income family’ have different scores on material work values. results suggest that level of parental income affects the students’ preferences to look for a job where job security, performance incentives, and bonuses, and employee benefits such as sss benefits, paternal and maternal leaves, sick and vacation leaves given to staff. group 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ appeared to have the high preference for material work values. lastly, the groups were found significantly different in occupational work values: groups 3 ‘students from high-income family’ and 1 ‘students from borderline income family’ and groups 3 ‘students from high-income family’ and 2 ‘students from average income family.’ findings suggest that level of parental income affects the study participants’ preferences to find a job align with education and training. group 3 ‘students from high-income family’ emerged to have the strong desire for occupational work values. in the study, parental income was used to measure its effects on engineering students work values. the result suggests that indirectly socioeconomic conditions affect the development of their work values. the differences on the scores of study participants on work values may seem to be affected by family backgrounds e.g. parents’ educational attainment and occupations, family support, etc. which were not included in the report. scholars like (dahl & lochner, 2012; mcloyd, 1990) mentioned that parents from stable socioeconomic condition could nurture and improve children life circumstances (achievement in mathematics and reading achievement, etc.). children born into poor economic situations, specifically single-parent homes are less likely to benefit parental attention and resources that stimulate soft skills (mclanahan, 2004). furthermore, the study supported the results of previous scholarly work of (mcneal, 1999; ware et al., 1985; wilson 40 jpair multidisciplinary research & wilson, 1992) that women from higher family income had educational advantages because of their capacity to finance academic-related activities. in contrast, the groups were not significantly different in familial work values as observed on their scores. findings suggest that parental income did not affect preferences of students to find a job that promote work life balance such as time for family activities and gathering. table 3. tukey’s hsd multiple comparisons (n = 39) dependent variables (i) groups (j) groups descriptive mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. m sd familial borderline average 19.62 1.45 1.0000 0.51 high 19.38 0.96 1.2308 0.51 average borderline 20.62 1.45 -1.0000 0.51 high 19.38 0.96 .2308 0.51 high borderline 20.62 1.45 -1.2308 0.51 average 19.62 1.45 -.2308 0.51 intellectualachievement orientation borderline average 41.15 1.52 6.3077* 0.63 ** high 47.62 1.61 -.1538 0.63 average borderline 47.46 1.66 -6.3077* 0.63 ** high 47.62 1.61 -6.4615* 0.63 ** high borderline 47.46 1.66 .1538 0.63 average 41.15 1.52 6.4615* 0.63 ** interpersonal borderline average 48.62 1.45 1.8462* 0.62 ** high 50.38 1.61 .0769 0.62 average borderline 50.46 1.66 -1.8462* 0.62 ** high 50.38 1.61 -1.7692* 0.62 * high borderline 50.46 1.66 -.0769 0.62 average 48.62 1.45 1.7692* 0.62 * managerial borderline average 27.46 1.61 .7692 0.67 high 30.38 1.61 -2.1538* 0.67 * average borderline 28.23 1.88 -.7692 0.67 high 30.38 1.61 -2.9231* 0.67 ** high borderline 28.23 1.88 2.1538* 0.67 ** average 27.46 1.61 2.9231* 0.67 ** 41 international peer reviewed journal material borderline average 30.23 1.59 4.1538* 0.61 ** high 28.62 1.45 5.7692* 0.61 ** average borderline 34.38 1.61 -4.1538* 0.61 ** high 28.62 1.45 1.6154* 0.61 * high borderline 34.38 1.61 -5.7692* 0.61 ** average 30.23 1.59 -1.6154* 0.61 * occupational borderline average 39.62 1.45 -1.2308 0.66 high 43.08 1.80 -4.6923* 0.66 ** average borderline 38.38 1.80 1.2308 0.66 high 43.08 1.80 -3.4615* 0.66 ** high borderline 38.38 1.80 4.6923* 0.66 ** average 39.62 1.45 3.4615* 0.66 ** the mean difference is significant at the *.05 and ** .001 level conclusions results showed that women in engineering career who came from different socioeconomic class (parental income) affect some of their work values. women in engineering professions aspiration varied on intellectual achievement orientation, interpersonal, material, managerial, and occupational work values. however, this report could not generalize the findings because of the limited number of respondents. a stratified or cluster sampling techniques was recommended to use considering higher education institution (hei’s) offering engineering programs in the philippines. future studies may also consider millennial as cohort among women in engineering profession. the use of newer version of instrument that measure global values of women and other characteristics that affect the development of work values. translational research the guidance program (group process module) was designed to attend the needs of women in engineering careers. a memorandum of agreement (moa) may be established among partnered industry to prepare women for the engineering profession. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited adelman, c. 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(2009). the social and economic impact of philippine international labor migration and remittances: philippine institute for development studies. 95 international peer reviewed journal indigenous practices and beliefs of rice farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines jocelyn a. magallanes http://orcid.org/000-003-1585-4204 jomagz30@yahoo.com capiz state university sigma satellite college capiz, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract people of a long time ago lived in harmony with nature. because of their dependency on environment and intimacy to nature, they have come up with a set of beliefs and traditions that becomes the basis of modern rice farming practices. this descriptive study aimed to investigate and document the indigenous practices and beliefs of rice farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines. using the researcher’s made questionnaire and interview schedule, data were gathered from 59 rice farmers. findings revealed that the majority of the respondents were in their middle age (45-57 years old) and were high school undergraduate. before planting rice, farmers perform bungad (planting rice and lemongrass in the corner of the rice field facing east). in planting rice, farmers assure that their stomach is full, the sea is in high tide, and the moon is in progress to full moon. another is gabuo (throwing sliced turmeric while walking around the ripe grains for three consecutive afternoons) to drive away evil spirits. after harvesting, farmers perform pamutang butang or thanksgiving by offering a portion of their best yield to someone they believe mystic. local farmers utilize mouse traps, dead animals, and plastic strips to get rid of rat, mole cricket, rice bugs, and birds (maya), respectively. indigenous practices and beliefs of farmers were based from their forefathers and from their personal observations vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.762 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/000-003-1585-4204 mailto:jomagz30@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.762 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 96 jpair multidisciplinary research and experiences. it is recommended that concerned agencies must document farmers’ indigenous beliefs and practices. lastly, they are encouraged to conduct an awareness seminar concerning the scientific basis of their indigenous practices and beliefs. keywords — education, indigenous practices, beliefs, rice farmers, descriptive study, capiz, philippines introduction indigenous practices of people are important roots in the advancement of modern technology. however, the fast-growing achievements in technology that make the life of man easy and his work fast had put the indigenous practices and beliefs in extinction. karin & jun (2002) stressed that indigenous or local knowledge refers to a complete body of knowledge, know-how, and practices maintained and developed by peoples, generally in rural areas, who have extended histories of interaction with the natural environment. peoples with indigenous and traditional knowledge have a deep understanding of and great connections to nature. their cultural practices and respect for nature greatly contribute to maintain and protect the delicate condition of the earth. thus, indigenous people, regardless of their boundaries, must have no disagreements on how to employ their own culture based practices. further, they should be acknowledged as authentic and perfect stewards in the development and preservation of their territories and properties. (beltran, 2000). indigenous knowledge is a local knowledge– knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. according to hiwasaki, luna, and syamsidik (2014), local and indigenous knowledge has been developed by people through their intimate connections to nature for a long time. their daily experiences and observations within the environment become the basis in harmonizing their activities to the condition of nature and a strong foundation in making decisions for their everyday undertakings. rice is one of the world’s most widely eaten and most productive cereals. over the past decade archaeobotanical research based at the ucl (university college london) institute of archaeology and involving a wide range of collaborators in east, south, and southeast asia has been seeking new insights into the processes by which rice evolved and rice cultivation systems evolved, and how these relate to cultural change and long-distance cultural relationships across https://unesdoc.unesco.org/query?q=author:%20%22boven,%20karin%22&sf=sf:* https://unesdoc.unesco.org/query?q=author:%20%22morohashi,%20jun%22&sf=sf:* 97 international peer reviewed journal monsoon asia (fuller, harvey and qin 2007). in southwest asia, one of the earliest centers of origin worldwide, the transition to food production is commonly portrayed as a macroevolutionary process from hunter-gatherer through to cultivator-forager and farming stages. recently published articles and commentaries have pointed out the limited explanatory power of such universal theories of agricultural origins: their key expectations are increasingly constrained by a diverse empirical record, containing multiple and often competing sources of evidence that does not permit establishing the primacy of cause (zeder, 2009). farmers’ accumulated experiences through their constant connection with the environment and observed condition of seasonal change through centuries without external inputs, funds, and modern scientific knowledge have developed locally-adapted and varied farming schemes that aided them to adjust to the diverse environment (tella, 2007). in china, there are probably 75 million rice farmers practicing farming methods similar to those used more than 1,000 years ago. furthermore, generations of farmers in malaysia have established a complex and diverse farming system through creative combinations of methods and practices that result to community food security and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity (altieri and koohafkan, 2008) people of southeast asia give honor to their ancestors’ festivals and practices from planting to harvesting rice, asia’s staple food. for instance, hindu’s thanksgiving festival called ’pongal’ is dedicated to gods of sun and rain. in iriga city, philippines, ‘tinagba’ festival is celebrated for bountiful yield. it is at the same time with the feast of our lady of lourdes highlighting the parade of colorful floats. likewise, in malaysia and brunei, a world festival is celebrated together with thailand, indonesia, and philippines. the entire celebration involves food festivals, local community songs, and traditional stories, parade, matches games concluding with miss world harvest contest. the celebration does not only depict both ethnic traditions and contemporary aspirations but also provides a captivating balance of deep-rooted traditions and modern practices of sarawak inhabitants. in cambodia, the festival water and full moon salutation  are celebrated in relation to farming, such as predicting rainfall distribution for the year. royal ploughing ceremony is also an ancient royal rite held in cambodia and thailand  to mark the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season. a harvest festival is known as ‘boun bang fai’ in laos or ‘bun bang fai’ in thailand, or a ‘rocket festival’ is performed to call the supernatural powers to provide abundant rain for the next planting season and to celebrate fertility. the 98 jpair multidisciplinary research colorful rockets are paraded to the presentation place before being fired to ask the gods of rain for a good harvest, free from drought, floods, and pests. finally, myanmar inhabitants celebrate their winter harvest festival, ‘htamane pwe,’ by bringing all kinds of fruits such as rice, peanuts, coconuts, ginger, and sesame and mix it in a big wok to prepare a sticky glutinous form of those ingredients. the first batches of the dish are offered to buddha (asean tourism, 2014). in malaysia, the highly respected rice spirit ‘bambaazon’ is offered a number of rice farming rituals to commemorate her kindness. the ritual is likewise believed to stabilize the relationship between seen and unseen world resulted in human beings and spirits live in balance. for ‘kadazan’ community, rice and spirits are very sacred and important tools of the formation of ethnic uniqueness. rice is very dominant in life and in the formation of a traditional community social system (hussin, 2008). indigenous knowledge is fading before our very eyes and now lies on the confines of the memories of old-age people who live in remote rural areas (bañares, 2007). unlike technologies that may come and go, indigenous knowledge has been proven effective through time and experience. studying indigenous knowledge will open up opportunities in finding solutions to address the problems faced in agricultural farming that modern technology has failed to address (santos n.d.) farmers’ indigenous knowledge (ik) and scientists’ technical knowledge should not be regarded as different from one another; rather, they should be unified to lessen the gaps between farmers and researches. the present study is based on the concept that what makes man happy are the ideals promoted by almost every ethical tradition known: belonging to a community, enjoying good health, sharing, loving, and being loved, having access to nature, and making a meaningful contribution. this notion evokes sustainability in a world threatened by food insecurity and unsustainable development (poverty and environmental crisis). today, the knowledge of the indigenous people is threatened to vanish due to modern knowledge systems. the significance of the present study lies in documenting and therefore protecting indigenous knowledge from extinction. this is because most of the indigenous traditional knowledge is undocumented and only available orally or in the memory of the group of people in the community. in the second district of capiz, many farmers have a common ritual, tradition, and beliefs, specifically in planting and harvesting rice. however, it was observed that there was no known attempt to document such. if ever there is, the researcher believes that it should be supplemented in which the present study may contribute a lot to this. 99 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study this study was conducted purposely to investigate the different beliefs and practices of rice farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines. specifically, it sought to: determine the profile of the participants in terms of age, educational attainment and number of years farming; determine the indigenous practices and beliefs of the respondents before, during planting and after harvesting the rice; identify the different indigenous practices of the participants to drive away the pests in their rice fields; find out the basis of their indigenous farming practices and beliefs. methodology research design this study employed a descriptive method of research. however, there is some portion of the study in which historical research was employed. it was in part wherein the researcher gathered information on the sources of respondents’ indigenous practices and when she recorded the indigenous farming-related materials which were left in the respondents’ possession. research site the data of the study were gathered from the farmers in the municipalities of the second district of capiz. these towns are sigma, dao, cuartero, dumarao, dumalag, tapaz, jamindan mambuao, sapian, and ivisan. participants the participants of the study were the 59 farmers who were 35 years old and above and were residents of the towns of the second district of capiz. they were chosen as participants because they were identified in the preliminary queries that were practicing indigenous farming. thus, they could provide the information required to accomplish the research objectives of the study. some of them were interviewed in their houses while some on their farm while taking a rest. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research instrumentation the study employed purposive sampling, which is one of the non-probability samplings. a purposive sample, also commonly called a judgmental sample (crossman, 2018). it is chosen to be utilized in this study because the identified participants were those who have been practicing indigenous knowledge in rice farming. the participants’ characteristics were set by the researcher. participants interviewed were really farmers who were identified through their looks and by prior checking of their backgrounds from their neighbors and close friends. an interview schedule was used to gather the needed data. the researchinstrument was adopted from the questionnaire of dlamin (2007), which he used in his study entitled investigation of sustainable indigenous agricultural practices: a systems approach. however, some items were revised, and others were not included because they were not applicable to the present study. the researcher added some items to suit the objective of the study. prior to the conduct of the study, the instrument was shown to the technical committee of research and development (r&d) for face and content validation. data gathering procedure in gathering the needed data, the researcher asked her friends and relatives to help and accompany her during the interview of the target participants. in every household, one participant was interviewed. the length of the interview varies from one respondent to another, for it depends on how they respond to the questions asked. the prepared interview schedule was in english; however, it was translated into the respondents’ tongue language to ensure that they really understand what is asked, so that correct and valid data are obtained. prior to the actual interview of the respondents, the researcher presented to them a research-informed consent stipulating the following: the purpose of the study, procedures, risks, confidentiality, benefits, and statement of consent. likewise, it was explained to them that the information they will give would be held confidential and will be used in the study only. the researcher assured that participants’ questions regarding the study were all answered. after an honest conversation with the farmers, their willingness, and voluntary responses to the interview schedule were requested. the data gathering was finished for two months. 101 international peer reviewed journal ethics protocol the request letter for ethical clearance and research-informed consent for the participants were submitted to the ethical committee of the university for their perusal and evaluation. after a few discussions and inputs, the committee approved the request and informed the researcher to proceed in the conduct of the study. statistical tools used the statistical tools used to interpret the needed data were the frequency count, percentage, and ranking. the frequency count was used to determine the number of participants who responded to the items in the interview schedule. the percentage was used to find out the ratio of the participants who responded to the items in terms of age, educational attainment, number of years farming, and the basis of indigenous practices. lastly, the ranking was used to determine the most practiced beliefs before planting, during planting, and after harvesting rice. results and discussion age data in figure 1 obviously reflects that the majority of farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines are 45-57 years old. also, more than ¼ (27%) are 58-70 years old. while 19% are 33-44 years old. few (5%) are below 32 years, and 13% are 71 years old and above. noticeably, although most farmers are on their middle age, there are still old farmers tilling the farm. this indicates that rice is very significant to them. it is their life. thus, regardless of their age, they will continue farming as long as they are able and have the strength to cultivate the rice land. moreover, there is a minimal number of young farmers. this could be due to the fact that after finishing a degree, young generations explore for a greener future away from their place. also, if there are guaranteed opportunities for reaching their dreams in other places, they will prioritize it over-farming. this is supported by the humanitarian newsletter article (2013), stressing that “the average age of the filipino farmer is 57. moreover, in collaboration with the university of the philippines los baños-agricultural mechanization development program (uplb-amdp), philmech’s study in 2014 reveals that farmer is above 40 years old. this indicates that younger generations are not anymore involved and interested in farming endeavors. asterio saliot, director 102 jpair multidisciplinary research of the department of agriculture agricultural training institute (da-ati) said,” assuming an average life span of 70, we might reach a critical [shortage] of farmers in just 15 years. “this is an alarming situation because if the present farmers are no longer able to tilt the farmland, nobody will replace them. this could mean food shortage and insecurity among filipino people. figure 1. respondents’ age educational attainment results reveal that out of the 59 respondents 10 (17%) are elementary undergraduate, 6 (10%) are elementary graduate, 26 (44%) are high school undergraduate, 9 (15%) are high school graduate, 5 (9 %) are college undergraduate, and 3 (5%) are college graduate. findings show that nearly half of the respondents are high school undergraduate, and only a few had reached college and finished a degree. this indicates the majority of the interviewed farmers have not finished formal education, thereby have insufficient knowledge of modern farming technology. this suggests that they practiced what they learned from their ancestors and from their experiences, which they believed more effective in handling their farm. the result of the present study does not conform to the study of ramos, gallibu & tindowen (n.d.), wherein they reported that half of the farmers of the tuguegarao city, cagayan are elementary undergraduate. however, tolentino (2015) said that there is an increased number of high school and college graduates among younger farmers. this means that in some parts of the country, there are young farmers who are giving priority to their education. it is not impossible because of the program of the government that no filipino should be left behind in terms of availing education. http://ati.da.gov.ph/ https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2132572409_tiburcio_c_gallibu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/darin_jan_tindowen 103 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. respondents’ educational attainment number of years farming data reveal that out of 59 participants, 10 (17%) are farming for 12 years and below. moreover, 13 (22 %) are farming for 13 -21 years. nineteen (32%) are farming for 22-31 years. results also show that 8 (14 %) are farming for 32 -40 years, and 9 (15%) are farming for more than 41 years. this indicates that the majority of the participants have been farming for 2 to 3 decades. this length of time contributes greatly to farmers’ understanding of the most conventional farming practices through their observations and experiences. similarly, ramos, gallibu, and tindowen (2015), in their study “rice farming methods, tools, and indigenous practices and beliefs of itawes farmers of tuguegarao city” found out that participants indulged in rice farming for 31 to 40 years with an average mean year of 31. it implies that those rice farmers in capiz and in tuguegarao city and most likely in the entire philippines are farming since they were teenagers considering the previous data that the ages of farmers are ranging from 40-57. indigenous practices and beliefs before planting rice of rice farmers the result of the study reveals that before planting rice, farmers perform a ‘bunggad’ by planting banana, lemon, and turmeric in the corner of the rice field while asking god’s blessing and protection for them and for the rice they are planting. likewise, they ensure that they are not hungry. further, they see to it that the sea is in high tide, the moon is in its first quarter to the full moon. praying and doing rituals are significant beliefs of farmers. they believed that practicing these all will result in a bountiful harvest. these practices suggest various meanings in the lives of farmers. they sense that they have a strong https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2132572409_tiburcio_c_gallibu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/darin_jan_tindowen 104 jpair multidisciplinary research connection with other creatures in nature that help and safeguard their rice and crops. one of the farmers interviewed said, “activities and works we do on the farm are in harmony with nature in order to have a good harvest.” sodusta (1993), as cited by mantikayan & abas (2015), emphasized that agricultural rituals performed by farmers include holy symbols that express feelings and supernatural conceptions. she further clarified that “symbol” is an object, action, happening, feature, or assembly which function as a vehicle for conception.” the farming rituals of the maguindanawn are observed to be heavily associated with superstitions and traditional beliefs. before planting rice, farmers call the name of the morning star (balatik), malal (crack), prominent people, and angels. they are invoked by apu-napalay before the actual planting of rice. table 1. indigenous practices and beliefs before planting rice of farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines indigenous practices before planting rice total ranking bungad -(planting rice and lemon grass in the part of the rice field facing the sun) planting rice should not be done if one hungry saying a prayer before planting rice planting rice should be done during high tide and the moon is in the first quarter to the full moon no practices and rituals 42 20 15 12   4  1   2 3 4 6 figure 3. number of years farming 105 international peer reviewed journal indigenous practices and beliefs during and after harvesting rice of rice farmers results show that the most common farmers’ indigenous practices before and during harvesting rice are erecting a cross wrapped with black fabric facing east and gabuowalking and throwing sliced turmeric around the ripe grains to be harvested for three consecutive afternoons. they believed that this drives away the evil spirit that may have some unpleasant effect or who might snatch their harvest. this is also one way of asking for guidance and protection from god. after harvesting rice, they practice pamutang butang. they cook their best harvest, including their poultry, root crops, fruits, and vegetables. a portion of these is offered at the altar as thanksgiving for what they gained from their farm. after the ritual, the owner of the farm and the harvesters sing, dance, and drink together in celebration for what they harvest. after months of waiting for harvest season, farmers also have happy social interaction with their group, friends, and family members. it manifests that as social beings, farmers need relaxation, pleasure, and rewards for the tiredness and difficulties they are through in tilling their farm. congruently, ramos et al. (2015) reported that farmers in tuguegarao city use native chicken as one of the offerings before planting to honor the gods or spirits and after harvesting for their thanksgiving. some of the itawes rice farmers offer only the blood, but others offer either of the head, organs, or feet of the chicken, while some combine the sautéed head, feet, organs, and blood for tunnag (offering). the organs of the chicken symbolize the good production of grains. interestingly, farmers in maguindanawn are also conducting farming rituals for prosperous production. however, they have a different way of doing it. they call the name of the stars, angels, famed individuals, and others prior to rice planting. accordingly, rituals among maguindanawn farmers are done to have abundant crop and rice yields. they believed that rituals, if done properly and with sincerity, will result in a good harvest and would last long for consumption than those without appropriate rituals (mantikayan & abas, 2015). 106 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. indigenous practices and beliefs during and after harvesting rice of farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines practices number ranking wrapping a cross with black fabric and erecting it facing east at the corner of rice field 17 4 gabuo (walking and throwing sliced turmeric around the rice field for three consecutive afternoons) 39 1 pamutang butang (cooking and offering their best harvest as thanksgiving) 30 2 drinking and dancing (celebration) 10 4 indigenous practices of rice farmers in getting rid of pests in their rice field the results of the study reveal that farmers use a mouse trap to get rid of the rats. suhong (mole cricket) and tayangaw (rice bug) are controlled by erecting a bagakay (gigantochloa levis (blanco) merr.), a bamboo specie, with dead animals on top. the foul odor prevents insects from staying in the field. further, colorful plastic strips are hanged across the rice field. when blown by the wind, hanging plastic strips move and gleam, causing the flock of maya to fly away. this manifests that local farmers have amusing initiatives in utilizing the resources in their environment to protect their farm from pests. in india, majumder, deka, pujare & das (2013) reported that gundhi bugs are repelled by rotten smell emitted from frog and toads hanged in the field during panicle initiation stage. kumar, lassaad, and chhetry (2009) explained that the use of plants and animal parts and products are the important components of indigenous knowledge in the management of pests and diseases of crops in the jhum system. indigenous farmers of the region also possessed rich traditional ecological knowledge such as growing location-specific nitrogen-fixing trees such as alnus nepalensis, flemingia vestita sparsely for enrichment of soil fertility keeping tree boles /trunk and erecting /pegging wooden structures amidst jhum/ terrace fields for facilitating perching of birds which prey on harmful crop pest, recycling of jhum based waste products for the management of crops. 107 international peer reviewed journal table 3. indigenous practices of farmers in getting rid of pests in their rice field type of pest practices/ indigenous tools used rat lagpit or mouse trap tayangao (rice bugs) putting bagakay with a dead animal on the top suhong (mole cricket) putting the tabun-ak in the middle of the rice field. maya (birds) hanging colorful plastics around the rice to be harvested basis of indigenous practices of respondents the result of the study reveals that 40 (68%) of the respondents based their traditional practices from their grandparents, while 19 (32%) based on their own observations. it is perceptible that local farmers have high regard for their ancestors’ own way of farming. in the same way, there keen observations of occurrences in their farm for years gave them diverse knowledge and technique on how to balance their farming activities to the condition of the environment. farmers embrace these traditional practices because of their discernable effects and nature-friendly characteristic. kumar, lassaad, and chhetry (2009) explained that indigenous knowledge had been tested using trial and error for a long period of time through generations by word of mouth, actions, or even practiced by the elders of the family and society. they are the key and custodians of the traditional knowledge to make correct decisions to overcome the adverse situations of their immediate environment. the indigenous traditional knowledge is based on locally available resources without external inputs. eco-friendly manipulation of their immediate environment, judicious application of plant and animal products either in raw or simple processed forms are important components of the indigenous knowledge system. figure 4. bases of indigenous practices of respondents 108 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that although the majority of the farmers in the second district of capiz, philippines are 45-57 years old, there are still 71 years old and above who are engaging in farming. further, the majority of them are high school undergraduate and elementary undergraduate. consequently, those who are cultivating the farm have not obtained a degree. moreover, farmers have been farming since they were teenagers considering that the majority of them are 45-57 years old. farmers perform rituals prior to the planting of rice. they have a strong belief that rice fields should be cleared from evil spirits. moreover, they should invite the gods’ presence to bless and protect them in their undertaking. they likewise believed that sturdy rice grains and good harvest are achieved when their activities are in balance with the condition of nature. before harvesting, farmers’ drive away evil spirits that might steal their harvest by throwing sliced turmeric around the ripe grains for three consecutive afternoons. after harvesting, they cook and offer their best harvest, including their poultry as thanksgiving. finally, they celebrate together by dancing, singing, and drinking. the gatherings create healthy social interaction and cooperation among them. this is very vital in strengthening society’s life. local farmers have amusing initiatives in utilizing the resources in their environment to protect their farm from pests such as rats, rice bugs, mole crickets and birds (maya). finally, it is concluded that since most farmers have not finished formal education, they hold on to the practices and beliefs they inherited from their forefathers and to their personal observations and experiences, which have been confirmed by the time as to their effectiveness. translational research the findings of the study could be best translated to information, education, and communication (iec) materials with is potential material in classroom instruction and as a reference to a research study. content of the material may be disseminated and forwarded to department of tourism (dot), department of agriculture (da) and department of science and technology (dost) for validation and possible inputs specifically for a comprehensive scientific explanation of the indigenous practices and beliefs of rice farmers which are not covered by the study. 109 international peer reviewed journal recommendations concerned agencies are encouraged to document other indigenous traditions and cultures of their respective provinces. moreover, a program may be designed aimed to explain to the farmers the scientific basis of their practices and beliefs. however, since they are the originator of the indigenous traditions, high regard for them may be extended. finally, other researchers who are interested in conducting the same study are recommended to include other variables that are not included in the study. acknowledgment with a grateful heart, the researcher is extending her sincerest thanks to the farmers of the second district of capiz, philippines, for the time and patience allotted just to provide needed information. also, to her friend othelia fermin and to her students who helped in gathering the data. likewise, to her colleagues at capsu sigma satellite college and to the staff of the research and development office for the support extended. moreover, to her family for inspiring and supporting her financially, and to all whom she failed to mention, a warmhearted thanks. literature cited altieri, m. a., & koohafkan, p. (2008).  enduring farms: climate change, smallholders and traditional farming communities  (vol. 6). penang: third world network (twn). retrieved from http://bit.ly/2hudgza asean tourism (2014). south east asia’s harvesting festivals. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2v05mwe bañares, l. r. (2007). exploring bicol’s secret frontier: indigenous knowledge in environmental conservation.  unpublished master’s thesis, university of the philippines los baños, los baños, philippines. retrieved from http://bit. ly/37dmkg5 beltran, j. (ed.). (2000).  indigenous and traditional peoples and protected areas: principles, guidelines and case studies (vol. 4). iucn-the world conservation union. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2sepiyr http://bit.ly/2hudgza http://bit.ly/2v05mwe http://bit.ly/37dmkg5 http://bit.ly/37dmkg5 http://bit.ly/2sepiyr 110 jpair multidisciplinary research crossman, a. (2018). understanding purposive sampling an overview of the method and its application. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2xouhvc fuller, d. q., harvey, e., & qin, l. (2007). presumed domestication? evidence for wild rice cultivation and domestication in the fifth millennium bc of the lower yangtze region.  antiquity,  81(312), 316-331. doi: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598 x0009520x hiwasaki, l., luna, e., & syamsidik, s. r. (2014). local & indigenous knowledge for community resilience: hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in coastal and small island communities. jakarta: unesco, 60. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3bmhlgl hussin, h. (2008). performing rice farming rituals by penampang kadazan of east malaysia: between sacred ritual and secular performance. jati-journal of southeast asian studies, 13, 173-190. retrieved from https://jati.um.edu. my/article/view/6208 kumar, g., chhetry, n., & belbahri, l. (2009). indigenous pest and disease management practices in traditional farming systems in north east india. j. pl. breed crop sci, 3, 28-38. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2fomaln majumder, d., deka, s. n., pujari, d., & das, p. k. (2013). traditional knowledge adopted by the farmers for management of rice pests in north bank plain zone of assam. retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/22186 mantikayan, s. m., & abas, e. l. (2015). traditional rice farming ritual practices of the mangindanawn in suthern philippines.  american journal of agricultural and forestry,  3(6-1), 15-18. retrieved from http://bit. ly/2mzaori ramos, r. m. e., gallibu, t. c., & tindowen, d. j. c. rice farming methods, tools, and indigenous practices and beliefs of itawes farmers of tuguegarao city. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2qpi1s4 santos, d. k. m. expanding the knowledge base on indigenous practices through student action. http://bit.ly/2xouhvc http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598 http://bit.ly/3bmhlgl https://jati.um.edu.my/article/view/6208 https://jati.um.edu.my/article/view/6208 http://bit.ly/2fomaln http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/22186 http://bit.ly/2mzaori http://bit.ly/2mzaori http://bit.ly/2qpi1s4 111 international peer reviewed journal tella, r. d. (2007). towards promotion and dissemination of indigenous knowledge: a case of nird.  the international information & library review, 39(3-4), 185-193. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10572 317.2007.10762748 tolentino, b. (2015). rice farming in the philippines: some facts and opportunities. irri presentation at asian institute of management. available at: policy. aim. edu/files/download/844. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2007.10762748 https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2007.10762748 115 international peer reviewed journalvol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.557 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. employers and tourism students perception of employability in cruise industry mary ann g. dumlao http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2342-4853 mad_icebox@yahoo.com exact college of asia arayat, pampanga, philippines ian i. llenares http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9176-9098 iillenares@metro.edu.ph metropolitan medical center college of arts science and technology manila, philippines pamantasan ng lungsod ng maynila manila, philippines jay a. sario http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4755-3510 jasario@metro.edu.ph metropolitan medical center college of arts science and technology manila, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 91% • plagiarism:0% 116 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract despite challenges on the employability of tourism graduates, cruise industry emerged as potential labor market for aspiring tourism graduates in the field. this study aimed to understand the perception of employers and tourism students on employability and explore possible career opportunities. the mixed method research design was utilized such as survey and interview to gather data. the respondents were the 285 graduating tourism students in selected higher education institutions in metro manila and five recruitment officers of the three manning agencies, such as united philippine lines, philippine transmarine carrier, and magsaysay shipping. the phase i of the study focused on conducting the survey to know the respondents' perception on employment while phase ii concentrate on interview with the recruitment officers from the various manning agency to explore cruise tourism career opportunities. results showed that tourism students perceived highly competent on cruise tourism jobs such as front office, food and beverages, housekeeping and cruise staffing expect for ship star reservation system and bar mixology. also, they perceived high on graduate attributes such as customer expectation, innovative spirit, communication skills, organizational skills, self-management skills, self-awareness, self-reliant, leadership and assertiveness. interestingly, employers perceived employability with outstanding skills on the front office, food and beverages, housekeeping and cruise staffing section. recruitment officers from manning agency rated high on identified graduate attributes highlighting the importance of exceeding customer expectations, aligned work experience, communication skills, demanding customers and volume of workload and multicultural workplace during the interview. this article has implication on curriculum development particularly in tourism program. keywords— career in cruise tourism; graduate attributes; employability; mixed method; philippines introduction tourism is one of the biggest and emerging international industries. travel and tourism generated us$7.6 trillion (10% of global gdp) and 277 million jobs (1 in 11 occupations) for the international economy in 2014 (turner, 2015). in the philippines, tourism sector shared 8.7% of its total gdp in 2015. 117 international peer reviewed journal according to the department of tourism (dot), there is an increasing number of filipinos directly employed in the tourism sector from 4.1 million in 2010 to 7.4 million in 2016 (tourism, 2015). and it has been estimated to generate more jobs for filipinos in the local and international labor market, for example, the cruise industry. the cruise industry emerged as the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry (hall, 2001; toh, rivers, & ling, 2005). cruise refers to a specific type of ocean trip in which the vessel begins and ends at the same place which the main purpose is the leisure and recreation of its passengers (douglas, 2004). recently, it has increasingly doubled the rate of cruise tourism globally (wood, 2004). the northern part of america dominates the cruise industry while the european and asian markets are presently growing faster than the united states (butler, de lavalle, & wild, 2003). this expansion is not only geographically but also socio-demographic, for example, cruise organizations targeting new market niche such as new age groups, families, and population segments with lower and higher levels of income. thus, modern cruise industry offers an option for everyone. according to (butler, 2003), the modern cruise tourism focuses on ship’s accommodation rather than transport service. recent cruise is bigger and can offer as many activities, for example, swimming pools, theatres, shopping centers, tennis courts, ice skating, rock climbing facilities, golf courses, libraries, internetcafes, gyms, spas and art galleries than any land-based accommodation type (weaver, 2005). the ships’ nautical nomenclature is being replaced by hospitality terms, for example, decks are being called floors and cabins are now rooms on some cruise ships (ward, 2015). there are two distinct areas of operation such as a) technical and navigation department and b) hotel operations (lois, wang, wall, & ruxton, 2004). employability the global growth of tourism industries resulted in a rapid expansion of tourism education at various levels including higher education (tribe, 2005). the interdisciplinary aspect of tourism is becoming more important in the labor market, for example, the potential employment for non-maritime seafarers such as hotel personnel in charge of housekeeping, food and beverage, casino personnel and entertainers and the expectations of the tourism industry specifically on the set of knowledge and competencies of managers and employees (zehrer, siller, & altmann, 2006). 118 jpair multidisciplinary research employability is a set of skills, attitudes, and behaviors and technical capability that enable an individual to engage and advance in regular changing work demands (buck & barrick, 1987). other explanation for employability can be pinned down into three components such as skills, abilities, and knowledge (sonntag & schmidt-rathjens, 2004). however, completing an academic degree does not secure employability of graduates. alignment of graduate attributes to employer requirements increases chances of graduates to secure job employment (cox & king, 2006). interestingly, employers are looking for a more flexible and adaptable workforce, with proactive mindset (bennett, 2002; cox & king, 2006); creative, problem solvers, and independent (fallows & steven, 2000). in addition, scholars (anderson, 2005; bagshaw, 1996; byrne, 2001; cassidy, 2006; cotton, 2001; llenares raybould & sheedy, 2005; zinser, 2003) identified important qualifications such as high communication skills, empathy, motivation, decision-making, problem solving skills or cognitive skills, planning abilities, work values and improvisation abilities as a requirement for tourismrelated fields. the high rates of employability require graduates with aligned work experience (edwards et al., 2001). the suitable skills and attributes have always been critical for successful participation in the tourism workplace. however, the amount of research published on the employability of tourism graduates on cruise tourism is very limited in comparison with another profession, for example, hotel and restaurant management, engineering and sciences. the research gap on cruise employment of tourism graduates has been the interest of the researchers. understanding the industry needs would help the academe to improve the delivery of tourism education in the philippines and to ensure employability of graduates. specifically, this study sought to identify the perception of employers and tourism graduates on employability in cruise tourism and finally present the implication of cruise jobs on curriculum designing and employability of tourism graduates framework according to (spady, 1994), outcome-based education (obe) is an educational theory that can enhance the employability of graduates through a clear and organized school system from defining outcomes, curriculum designing, delivery of instruction, and assessment based on the desired outcomes required in the job while outcomes is defined as a broad performance capability, knowledge or skill learned at the end of learning process, for example, specific skills required 119 international peer reviewed journal to perform engineering work, etc. obe has two purposes; (1) developing a clear set of learning outcomes around which all of the system components can be focused (2) establishing the conditions and opportunities within the system that allow and boost all students to achieve those important learning outcomes. in the obe framework, various stakeholders (employers, alumni, professionals, educators, and other key community leaders) participate in designing learning outcomes and performance standards. according to (jenkins & unwin, 2001), learning outcomes help teachers tell students what is expected from them, for example, students are informed on what they can gain after the lecture. learning outcomes also help the teachers plan the content of their teaching, design teaching materials and select appropriate teaching and learning strategy. obe framework is based on the three ideas that; (1) all students can learn and succeed in various way (2) successful learning strengthen optimal learning, and (3) school control the conditions that directly affect successful school learning. obe framework has four guiding principles to ensure successful facilitation of learning; (1) clarity of focus on culminating exit outcomes of significance (2) expanded opportunity and support for learning success (3) high expectations for all to succeed (4) design down from your ultimate, culminating outcomes. there are also five elements important for school operation and facilitate learning success of students such as for define outcomes, design curriculum, deliver instruction, document results, and determine advancement. obe can be traced in personnel training, apprenticeship training, and military training and flight schools in the past. the higher education institution (hei) perceived the need to redesign and rethink the set of core competencies parallel to industry desired needs for graduates to compete in global labor market, in this case, the tourism graduates. obe is a holistic platform for educators to effectively develop graduates beyond the curriculum design learning. objectives of the study this study aimed to; a) describe the profile of the respondents b) assess the level of job competency and graduate attributes of graduating tourism students c) determine the job competency and graduate attributes aligned to the needs of manning agency d) explore the rating of manning agencies on the graduate attributes required in cruise industry; and, e) suggest enhancement program to improve employability of tourism graduates. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design this study utilized a convergent parallel mixed method research design (classen, lopez, winter, awadzi, & ferree, 2007; creswell, 2011). this method focuses on collecting, analyzing, relating or comparing quantitative and qualitative data to provide a better understanding of research problems (classen et al., 2007). research setting or locale this study was conducted at centro escolar university (ceu)-manila and makati campuses on sy 2015-2016. ceu is one of the institutions offering tourism management program that is committed to providing quality education see figure 1. figure 1. map vicinity of cento escolar university located in mendiola, manila, philippines also, this study was conducted in the various manning agencies such as united philippine lines (upl), magsaysay shipping and philippine transmarine carrier (ptc) as main shipping industry in the philippines see figure 2. 121 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. the manning agencies and cruise ship facilities and amenities. picture a) philippine transmarine carrier (ptc) b) magsaysay shipping c) 13 bars and restaurants d) vip lounge e) grand piazza f ) outdoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, waterslide, and esteem sauna. respondents the respondents were the 285 graduating tourism students from centro escolar universitymanila and makati campuses in sy 2015-2016 and the five recruitment officers from the manning agencies such as united philippine lines (upl) (holland america), magsaysay shipping (princess cruises) and philippine transmarine carrier (ptc) (royal caribbean). the respondents of the study were purposively selected based on the following criteria; a) graduating tourism students at centro escolar university and b) major shipping industry with the most number of cruising vessels. the respondents for the interview were the three (3) recruitment officers from manning agencies based on their survey rating. the respondents with very high rating were purposively selected to understand the job requirements for the shipping industry. survey instruments a survey questionnaire was used to obtain respondents’ demographic information such as age, gender, civil status and university affiliation and company affiliation. a researcher made instrument “cruise training assessment 122 jpair multidisciplinary research scale” (ctas) was utilized to determine the potential employability of graduating tourism students through skills audit and training assessment using a 5 point likert scale; “5 as to greatly extent” to “1 as to no extent”. the questionnaire went to series of consultations from expert in manning industry and academe for its face validity and content validity however, no report on the ctas internal reliability. this study used absolute approach on scale interpretation: score verbal interpretation range 5 very high 4.50 – 5.00 4 high 3.50 – 4.49 3 average 2.50 – 3.49 2 low 1.50 – 2.49 1 very low 0.00 – 1.49 a semi-structured guide instrument was prepared for the interview with the recruitment officers of the manning agencies. the semi-structured questionnaire was prepared based on their rating on the survey questionnaire they answer. table 1. operational and conceptual definition of the variables in the study variables definition bar mixology refers to the skill of mixing wine and non-alcoholic beverages including cocktails, spritzers and shandies cruise industry refers to the travel and tourism sector cruise staff department refers to the office responsible for all the entertainment activities on board and ashore food and beverage department refers to the department responsible for maintaining high quality foods and service and managing all the dining rooms, restaurants, bars, the galleys (kitchens), clean up and provisions. front office/purser department refers to the office directly dealing with customers. housekeeping department refers to the department responsible for maintaining the cleanliness and sanitation of cabins, rooms and messenger service, and laundry pick-up and delivery. outcomes based education an educational theory that can enhance the employability of graduates through a clear and organized school system from defining outcomes, curriculum designing, delivery of instruction, and assessment based on the desired outcomes required in the job (spady, 1994). 123 international peer reviewed journal variables definition graduate attributes the generic set of qualities and skills among undergraduate students set by the institution (hill, walkington, & france, 2016) shipstar system refers to the booking system use specifically on ship or cruise data gathering procedure permission to conduct the study was communicated to the learning institution and manning agencies. to ensure the respondents received the questionnaire and accomplished the instrument, personal visitation was conducted. consenting respondents were handed the pen and paper. prior to the administration of the survey questionnaire, the respondents were given an orientation on the purpose of the study and were told; a) that there were no right or wrong answers, b) not to leave any items unanswered and c) take time in answering the survey d) confidentiality on their identity will not be divulged. after the conduct of survey, an interview was conducted to the recruitment officers of the manning agencies to explore their rating on the graduate attributes and skills required on the cruise industry. ethical consideration prior the conduct of the study, ethics approval was obtained from the research ethics committee of the ceu manila. the consent form and waiver were prepared and given to the respondents prior the administration of the survey and interview. data analysis frequency and percentage were used to describe the profile of the respondents and required skills of the manning agencies. mean and standard deviation were used to determine the perception of the respondents (tourism students and recruitment officers of manning agencies) on employability using spss version 21.0. thematic analysis was used for analyzing the themes based on the interview transcripts of the recruitment officers of the manning agency. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion profile of the respondents the respondents in the study were divided into two; a) graduating tourism students and b) recruitment officers from the manning agencies. the graduating tourism students aged 20 (range: 19 – 25), single (100%), female (84.2%) and from ceu manila (66.30%) and ceu makati (33.7%) while the recruitment officers aged 34 (range: 30-40), female (75%) from the three manning agencies namely upl, ms, and ptc. perceived job competencies of graduating tourism students the graduating tourism students were knowledgeable on front office work responsibilities. this implies that the graduating tourism students were knowledgeable about accommodation services, for example, reservation terms and procedures, online booking promotion, and check-in and out processes. they were also knowledgeable about types of lodging and classification standards for example, hotel standards and standard amenities and facilities, etc. they were also knowledgeable with reservation system except for shipstar reservation system. the shipstar reservation system was regarded highly important in the operation of cruise industry. as regards food and beverages, the graduating tourism students were familiar with the food and beverages services. they were knowledgeable about the dining and bar services, purchasing, and food and sanitation safety except for bar mixology. the graduating tourism students were not familiar with bar mixology which they didn’t encounter during their academic training. in terms of housekeeping services, the graduating students were knowledgeable on basic room sanitation, different types of room and typical floor plans, proper storage of hazardous cleaning materials and proper cleaning method. however, it appears that they were not familiar with bed-making, parts and skirting, pest management, and control, and basic laundry procedures. also, the graduating tourism students emerged knowledgeable on cruise staffing. they were familiar with basic cruise terminology, safety and survival, and crowd and crisis management specifically on the ship’s safety and emergency equipment and communication. also, they were aware of the basic work opportunities in the cruising industry. 125 international peer reviewed journal perceived graduate attributes of graduating tourism students to describe the perceived graduate attributes of graduating tourism students, mean score and standard deviation were computed. based on the self-survey report, the graduating tourism students rated good customer relations as their top skills (m = 4.48; sd = 0.59). they perceived that they can exceed customer expectations and prompt in handling customer request and concerns. they also rated self-management as second on the hierarchy of their soft skills (m = 4.47; sd = 0.60). they perceived that they have high ability to control one’s feelings, and emotion, and manage time to achieve one’s goal. the graduating tourism students have high rating on communication skills (m = 4.46; sd = 0.61). they can express themselves in oral and written communication in the english language. data also showed that graduating tourism students have high rating on organizational skills (m = 4.44; sd = 0.64). they perceived that they were organized and can effectively plan for their personal and work-related activities. in addition, they also perceived that they have high innovative spirit (m = 4.40; sd = 0.61) and self-awareness (m = 4.40; sd = 0.61). they were capable of finding new ways or method to reinvent their job. they have new ideas that may help improve the processes or procedures in doing their job. the graduating tourism students were aware of their strengths, feelings, and motivation. they were also aware of their weaknesses and opportunity for learning. findings also revealed that among all the soft skills self-reliant was part of the bottom three although relatively high in description. the graduating tourism students perceived that they were self-reliant (m = 4.39; sd = 0.61). they perceived that they were independent and capable of performing their job on their own. interestingly, they rated themselves high on leadership (m = 4.30; sd = 0.69). they perceived that they have the potential to lead and direct the team. they perceived that they can influence people to do some work for them. lastly, the graduating tourism students rated high on assertiveness (m = 4.25; sd = 0.64). they seemed not shy on defending what they believe was important for them or for other people in a calm and positive manner. industry desired needs to determine the needs of the manning agency in terms of job competency, the recruitment officers from the identified manning agency rated the survey questionnaire provided to them. they rated high on the following cruise operational function such as front office, food and beverages, housekeeping services and cruise staffing. data showed that manning agencies consider 126 jpair multidisciplinary research graduates who are competent on front office department. they prefer college graduates in general who have practical knowledge on reservation, procedures, online booking, familiar with different type of promotion, standard amenities, and facilities in hotel and hotel standard based classification. also, they look for graduates who are familiar with global distribution system particularly, amadeus or galileo system, shipstar system, visa and passport application and processing procedures and airline ticketing and reservation procedures. based on the data, the recruitment officers from manning agencies look for graduates who have practical knowledge on dinning and bar food service such as bar mixology, different food service types, dinning setup, and presentation. they prefer graduates with knowledge on basic costing procedures, techniques yield in food conversion and standard procedure for banquet and daily breakfast buffet setup. they also prefer graduates who are competent on food sanitation and safety, proper temperature and measures for food storage, and kitchen ethics, grooming, and basic house rules. with regard to house-keeping related training, the recruitment officers from the various manning agencies preferred graduates knowledgeable with bed making parts, and skirting, pest management and control, different types of room and typical floor plan. they prefer basic housekeeping procedures in makeup rooms, vacant and dirty rooms, and room sanitation ethics for employees. they also prefer graduates with practical knowledge on laundry procedures and guidelines, proper storage of hazardous cleaning materials and proper cleaning methods. cruise-related training was found crucial in cruise operation. the manning agencies expect highly competent graduates in the cruise ship department specifically on the basic safety training for passengers, and principles of cruise transportation, principles of safety and survival such as basic fire prevention, basic safety requirements, social responsibility and crowd and crisis management. 127 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. job competency required by the manning agencies in graduating tourism students. shown above are the ratings of the recruitment officers of various manning agencies on the crucial work activities in cruise industry such as; a) front office service b) food and beverages c) housekeeping services d) cruise staff. perceived graduate attribute required by the manning agencies the recruitment officers from the various manning agencies provided an overall rating score of 5 (range: ‘1’ as low to ‘5’ as high) on the nine identified soft skills (see figure 4). they hold the position that graduates who would like to work on cruise industry should possess outstanding soft skills specifically on leadership, assertiveness, communication skills, customer relations, self-reliant, self-awareness, self-management, innovative spirit and organizational skills to work effectively in cruise industry. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research after the rating assessment provided by the five recruitment officers from various manning agencies, three consenting respondents allowed the researchers to conduct the interview. the interview was conducted to understand their rating on the following soft skills highly required in the cruise industry. table 1. themes based on the interview with recruitment officers of the manning agency identified graduate attribute required by the manning agency themes subthemes exceeding customer expectation · customers from elite and middleclass society · vip customers aligned work experience · cruise related experience · tesda certification related to cruise industry bilingual or multilingual communication · customers from asian countries · customers from western countries demanding customer and volume of workload · customers are demanding · volume of workload and task at hand is 24/7 multicultural workplace · customers from foreign countries· workers from foreign countries exceeding customer expectation the three recruitment officers based on a separate interview affirmed that: “it was really important to have high customer relation skills in cruise industry. the customers are not ordinary customers; they came from elite and middle-class society, people who can pay and afford cruise ship luxury. indeed, customers come from various parts of the world”. one recruitment officer added: “some customers are known personalities; some are owner of businesses from different part of the world”. in this case, establishing a good relationship with the customers is a must to provide quality service in cruise industry. 129 international peer reviewed journal aligned work experience one of the recruitment officers mentioned that: “if tourism graduates have plan to work in cruise industry, they have to acquire experience related to cruise industry for them to be accepted in the job”. “manning agencies prefer graduates with previous work experience in cruise industry”. other recruitment officers added: “if the tourism students want to get employed in cruise tourism, they can request their on the job training (ojt) to be in cruise… that’s the only way they can gain knowledge and experience in cruise related jobs”. “it’s a moving hotel they have plenty of things to do on the cruise during their immersion or practicum”. these statements clarify how the tourism students can acquire work experience related to cruise tourism and may enlighten educators to collaborate with shipping companies for students practicum. bilingual or multilingual communication the three recruitment officers have similar opinion on: “we hire graduates who have excellent communication skills or can speak bilingual or multi-language like english and mandarin, english and nihongo, etc. since the customers are coming from different parts of the world. filipino crews learned other languages aside from english to communicate with other nationality, for example, conversing with chinese national. the manning agency also hires other nationality aside from filipinos to cater the needs of customers who cannot speak the english language”. this affirmed the importance of academic training on bilingual or multilingual language in the tourism and hotel and management programs for its employability. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research demanding customer and volume of workload one of them said: “working in cruise differs from airlines. the aircrew personnel from airlines can relax after they reach their flight destination unlike with the cruise personnel from shipping lines. after they reach their first destination, the cruise personnel prepare the itinerary for the tour of the customers. the front office and food and beverages office work 24/7 among all the department or unit in shipping line.” other recruitment officer added: “crew personnel in housekeeping division are busy maintaining cleanliness in contrast to personnel working in ordinary hotel where they can relax. working in cruise requires initiative, self-reliant, and aggressive to attend customer needs or serve customers. so when customers call and ask to clean the room promptly, you attend to customer request. cruise personnel should be knowledgeable or well-experienced”. multicultural workplace the three recruitment officers agreed that: “it is challenging to work in cruise because it’s multicultural – people come from different races across the globe. aside from the foreign customers, the manning agency hires other nationalities for example, malaysian, chinese, etc. to address customer needs which added to work complexity”. one recruitment officer added: “the crew personnel should be flexible and culturally sensitive in dealing with their co-workers. you have to have high emotional control and selfawareness while working under pressure. you have to be aware of the body language and gestures in dealing with customers and co-workers to work effectively. the crew should be sensitive to the needs of his/her colleagues for example, being punctual during break and shifting schedules”. the crew personnel should be an excellent team player. 131 international peer reviewed journal figure 4. soft skills required by the manning agencies in graduates. shown above are the fivestar ratings of the recruitment officers on the soft skills crucial in the cruise based on the likert scale of 1 as low to 5 as high. employability is measured by both personal competency and job competency known as graduate attributes. personal competency is related to self-awareness, self-reliant and self-management. job competency refers to specific employability including leadership, technical skills, communication skills, assertiveness, customer relations, organizational skills, and innovative spirit. the present study affirms previous studies findings on employers’ perspectives in recruiting graduates such as communication skills, team work, integrity, intellectual ability, confidence, character or personality, planning and organizational skills, literacy skills, numeracy and decision-making skills, potential leaders and managers, technical skills, general intellectual ability and fast learner, fresh ideas and innovativeness (archer & davison, 2008; pollard et al., 2015). interestingly, there are other critical job requirements in hiring graduates specifically on cruise tourism such previous work experience related in cruise tourism, flexibility on multicultural work setting, bilingual or multilingual communication skills, and customer relations. furthermore, this paper suggests that curriculum design should be modularized to meet industry needs, for example, front office service required ship star reservation system in cruise operation and bar mixology on food and beverages section. tourism students interested to work on cruise should learn to use ship star reservation system and develop bar mixology skills such as mixing 132 jpair multidisciplinary research non-alcoholic drinks like cocktails, etc. the hei should also consider collaborating with shipping industries for the practicum or on the job training of tourism students. the exposure of tourism students in on-the-job training is helpful to gain practical knowledge and skills based on industry needs. collaboration with shipping agency could provide meaningful inputs for identifying learning outcomes; enhance curriculum design and setting performance standards. conclusions employers and tourism graduating students have different views on employability. there is a job shortage on particular skill required by the cruise industry such as bar mixology, shipstar reservation system, strong communication skills, and aligned work experience. translational research a partnership was established between hei and shipping agencies through memorandum of agreement (moa) for the practicum of tourism students. the partnership between hei and shipping industries should be maximized for curriculum enhancement, setting program educational objectives which led on identifying learning outcomes and performance standards. furthermore, the partnership may be maximized by inviting and allowing seasoned personnel in shipping lines to prepare graduates in cruise tourism jobs. literature cited archer, w., & davison, j. 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(2003). developing career and employability skills: a us case study. education+ training, 45(7), 402-410. retrieved from https://scholar.google. com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=zinser%2c+r.+%282003%29 .+developing+career+and+employability+skills%3a+a+us+case+study.&b tng= 67 international peer reviewed journal coping mechanisms of mainstreamed learners jeremy a. cruz https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4977-6096 jeremyacruz@yahoo.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the corona virus disease (covid)-19 pandemic caused the implementation of distance learning that deprived learners of regular school routines (oecd.org). this mixed-methods research evaluated the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed learners, the recommendations of the parents and learners, and the program that can be implemented to improve the implementation of mainstreaming learners with disabilities (lwds). results revealed that lwds exhibited low avoidance and rebellious characteristics but high reconciliation and determination indicators. the focus group discussion verified the instructional-related challenges encountered. mainstreamed students have a strong drive to cope with instructional-related challenges. to improve instructional issues, schools should contextualize lessons, especially in mathematics. video lessons should be available. the partnership between teachers and parents must be strengthened, and family support initiatives must be intensified. the researcher’s framework, rx education for the mainstreamed in time of pandemic, can be implemented, vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.695 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 68 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 which involves medical assessment, classhome readiness, creative instruction, and progress monitoring. conduct of annual medical assessments and regular monitoring by experts like psychologists and physical and psychotherapists for the learners’ well-being should be in place. the study’s results suggest significant implications and references for educators and policymakers. keywords — social science, mainstreamed learners, covid-19, learners with disabilities, mixed-methods, philippines introduction the disruptions caused by the pandemic affected more than 1.7 billion learners, including 99% of students in low and lower-middle-income countries; a sense of isolation is hard to deal with since students are not used to it and are caught unprepared. apart from those in the regular classes affected by the new learning modality are the mainstreamed learners with special educational needs (organisation for economic co-operation and development, 2020; united nations, 2020). in indonesia, approximately 45 million students cannot not participate in learning. said 45 million comprised 3% of the total number of students around the world who were not able to go to school due to the pandemic (batubara, 2020). the effects of the crisis on education, particularly public funding of education in oecd nations and international student mobility, were covered by schleicher (2020). he also discussed covid-19 and educational institutions, covering topics like the loss of instructional time delivered in a classroom, strategies to continue students’ education during school closure, teachers’ readiness to support digital learning, when and how to reopen schools, class size, a critical parameter for the reopening of schools, and vocational education during the covid-19 lockdown. tee et al. (2020) enumerated the psychological impact of the covid-19 pandemic in the philippines in 2020. the study discovered that students report the moderate-to-severe psychological impact of the covid-19 pandemic, timely and adequate health information has a protective psychological effect, healthcare workers are less likely to be psychologically affected, and home quarantine is associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. learners with disabilities, including the mainstreamed, were not spared from the effects of the pandemic on education. due to the shutdown, mainstreamed https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/pandemic 69 international peer reviewed journal learners were confined in the comfort of their homes and subjected to home-based education. they were deprived of the normal learning environment since they were used to interacting with teachers, classmates, and friends. mainstreamed learners operationally refer to the special education learners qualified to be part of inclusive education, combined with the regular students. they receive the same instruction and perform the same activities, which can be contextualized in favor of their special needs. while research had been done about the impact of the pandemic on regular students, this study focused on mainstreamed learners and how they coped with the challenges brought to them by the pandemic. framework the study considered the coping theory of lazarus and folkman (1984), who defined coping theory as constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person. objectives of the study the study investigated the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students of legazpi city division in the new normal along instruction, lesson engagement, homework preparation, technology, and isolation. methodology research design and respondents this study employed quantitative research. it involved compiling quantitative information tabulated along a continuum in numerical form. it also used focus group discussions between the 27 parents and 37 mainstreamed learners who were the respondents of this research. the researcher used total enumeration since the population was small. data collection the researcher used a validated structured survey questionnaire of coping mechanisms derived from different sources. the researcher conducted a focus group discussion to verify and confirm the validity of their responses to the survey 70 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 questionnaire about the challenges and coping mechanisms of the mainstreamed students. descriptive statistics, in particular, weighted mean (wm), was utilized to analyze data obtained from part 1 on the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students. the mathematical formula of weighted mean is wm= ∑n/n, where: wm isweighted mean, ∑n – is the sum of responses, and n – is the number of respondents. a 4-point likert scale was used. cited are the rating range and the adjectival description. 4-very high (3.50-4.00), 3-high (2.50-3.49), 2-low (1.50-2.49), 1very low (0.50-1.49), 0-not observed (0.0-0.49). the data were collated and grouped according to themes. respondents were coded, and thematic analysis was presented in line with the cited variables. results and discussion generally, the defensive pattern of behaviors was low, with an average wm of 1.82. specifically, among the five indicators, the highest rated was “i am exaggerated in asking for help from adults,” with a wm of 2.16 (low). this was followed by “i do not need help from others,” with a wm of 2.03(low). the third one is “i feel sad,” with a wm of 1.93 (low). while the least rated was “i cry,” with a wm of 1.34, described as very low. results revealed that mainstreamed students need help from others and are willing to cooperate, but the least coping mechanism was crying. it can be implied that respondents need help and can cooperate instead of being sad. generally, coping mechanisms on instruction exhibiting emotional avoidance were very low, with an average wm of 1.11. among the five (5) indicators, the highest rated was “i worry about academic assignments,” with a wm of 2.37, described as low. “i feel i am not good” was rated low with a wm of 1.82, and the third one was “i have suicidal thoughts” with a wm of 1.34 (very low). however, smoking and the use of prohibited drugs were not observed. results showed a low emotional avoidance, especially smoking and using illegal drugs, were not observed. however, a very low incidence of suicide was exhibited, and worries about academic assignments were noted. it can be implied that respondents need help in preparing academic assignments, which shows dependency on learning facilitators. also, their suicidal thoughts can be associated with the bulk of academic loads in distance education. the rebellious behaviors were generally rated low, with an average wm of 1.93. among the three (3) indicators which were rated low, “i do not need help” was rated highest, with a wm of 2.19, followed by “i give conditions,” with a wm of 1.87, and the least was “i am troubled with my disability” with a wm of 1.72. 71 international peer reviewed journal results revealed that respondents exhibited low rebellious behavior. however, a need for help was revealed; few gave conditions and were somehow troubled by their physical disabilities. it can be implied that the respondents need help with instruction-related tasks. also, the mainstreamed students showed dependency on their learning facilitator in distance education. their physical condition affecting lesson engagement made them more concerned about their physical incapacity. in the study of kwaah and essilfie (2017), the student’s academic workload, assessments, and economic status problems were the key causes of stress. however, self-distracting activities such as watching tv and listening to music to cope with stress were important; most importantly, emotional and instrumental support from family, friends, and teachers was considered effective in coping with instructional challenges. the coping mechanisms on instruction exhibiting reconciliation were rated high, with an average wm of 2.95. the highest-rated indicator was “i accept remedial help and assistance,” with a wm of 3.40 (high), “i ask for help with my problems,” with a wm of 3.30 (high), was rated second, and the third was, “i know how to control my fears” with a wm of 2.86 (high). however, “i know how to compare different emotions,” with a wm of 2.33 (low), was rated least. results revealed that reconciliation mechanisms were high, especially when asking for help on remedial lessons, and respondents asked for help on instruction problems. considering their physical disabilities, a low capacity to compare emotions was revealed. the respondents appreciated most when help with instruction was offered to them. also, they exhibited management of fears but were less likely to distinguish various emotions. it can also be implied that they relied on the help that could be offered, showing their dependency on learning facilitators. branstetter (2020), in an article entitled “how teachers can help students with special needs navigate distance learning,” cited that many students find distance learning difficult. however, students with learning, attention, or social-emotional concerns may have more difficulty. in this regard, teachers and parents faced challenges as learning facilitators. figuring out how to reach and teach different learners remotely was more challenging than with students reliant on teachers. the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students on instruction exhibiting determination were measured based on the seven (7) cited indicators. the indicators were rated high, with an average wm of 2.86. among the seven indicators (7), the top three highest-rated were: “i am strong,”; “i know how to face problems,”; and “i solve my problem,” with a wm of 3.42, 2.89, and 2.84, 72 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 respectively. the indicator with the least rating was “i consider my disability as part of my life,” with a wm of 2.62 described as high. results revealed that the respondents have high determination, as revealed by being strong and know-how to face and solve problems. it can be implied that the mainstreamed students exhibited positive attitudes along with their physical disabilities and on instructional-related tasks. the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students on lesson engagement exhibiting avoidance (defensive pattern of behaviors) were rated low with an average wm of 1.70. among the five indicators, “i am exaggerated in asking for help from adults” was rated highest with a wm of 2.20 (low). the second was “i do not need help from others,” with a wm of 1.94 (low), and “i do not want to cooperate,” with a wm of 1.63 (low). while the least rated was “i cry,” with a wm of 1.32 (low). results revealed that the defensive pattern of behavior was low. however, respondents indicated that they need help and want to cooperate. they exhibited a low tendency to be sad and cry. it can be implied that respondents exhibited the need for support which shows dependency on learning facilitators. the coping mechanisms for lesson engagement revealed a very low emotional avoidance with an average wm of 1.1. among the five (5) indicators, “i worry about academic assignments” with a wm of 2.61 (high), which was rated highest. while “i feel i am not good,” with a wm of 1.66 (low), was rated second, and “i have suicidal thoughts” with a wm of 0.99 (very low). however, smoking and the use of prohibited drugs were observed. results revealed a very low emotional avoidance. still, worrying about the academic assignments was noted, and the negative feeling about oneself was low and very low on suicidal thoughts. it can be implied that the respondents never involved themselves in smoking and illegal substance. however, suicidal thoughts can be linked with the high incidence of worrying about the academic tasks given to them. students in distance education suffer from many emotional challenges in line with instruction and isolation. as a result, it will be especially critical for reopening school communities to design and implement a plan for providing mental health first aid, screenings, and referral procedures. collaboration between and among district and school administrators, school counselors, social workers, and psychologists to assist children in capacitating children overcome emotional trauma is crucial. the respondents exhibited low rebellious behavior with an average wm of 1.88. among the three (3) indicators, “i give conditions,” with a wm of 2.00 73 international peer reviewed journal (low), was rated highest. “i do not need help” with a wm of 1.88 (low) was second, and the third was “i am troubled with my disability” with a wm of 1.77 (low). results revealed that rebellious behavior among the respondents was low. however, they indicated that help was necessary for coping with the challenges of lesson engagement though they are not much concerned about their disabilities. it can be implied that the respondents depended on the learning facilitator and were not concerned much about their disability. on reconciliation, results revealed that respondents ask for help to solve problems and accept help for remedial assistance. however, there is a low tendency to control their feelings and fears and compare different emotions. the respondents expect others to help them solve problems and remedy lessons. it was noted that they are weak in controlling their feelings, fears, and emotions. it can also be implied that the mainstreamed students needed emotional and instructional-related assistance. the coping mechanisms determining lesson engagement among mainstreamed students were measured based on the seven (7) indicators. the coping mechanisms on lesson engagement exhibiting determination were generally high, with an average wm of 2.7. among these indicators, five (5) were rated high, and two (2) were rated low. among the seven (7) indicators, the highest rated was “i am strong,” with a wm of 2.97 described as high. the indicators “i know how to face problems,”; “i think of the things that i can do despite my disability,” “i consider my disability as part of my life,” and “i have a positive attitude” were all rated high with a wm of 2.8. while the two (2) indicators rated low were: “i solve my problem” with a wm of 2.37 and “i let my peers or friends read aloud to me” with a wm of 2.31. results revealed that the coping mechanisms of respondents exhibiting determination were high, which showed optimism on facing problems, physical disability, personal strength, and having a positive attitude. however, they need more confidence in solving their problems and less preferred peers to read aloud with them. the respondents are optimistic about their capabilities and attitudes but need instructional-related assistance and guidance from teachers and learning facilitators rather than their peers. teachers have a critical role in enhancing their students’ abilities to comprehend and regulate their emotions. in the same manner, teachers are an important source of outside feedback. teachers’ input is used to guide students’ growth which enables students to be more productive. the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students on homework preparation exhibiting avoidance (defensive pattern of behaviors) were very low, with an 74 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 average wm of 1.43. among the five (5) indicators, three (3) were rated low, which include “i am exaggerated in asking for help from adults,” “i do not need help from others,” and “i do not want to cooperate” with a wm of 2.4, 1.59, and 1.31 respectively. while the two (2) indicators rated very low, include “i feel sad” and “i cry,” with a wm of 1.3 and 0.88, respectively. results revealed that respondents are not exaggerating whenever they ask for help from adults, which showed that they need help and are willing to cooperate. despite the dependency on adults, they seldom feel sad and cry. it can be implied that the mainstreamed students seldom cried and felt sad, along with their dependency on the support given by adults. also, it was revealed that the presence and focus of learning facilitators were very important while the respondents were preparing their homework. the coping mechanisms for homework preparation exhibiting emotional avoidance were very low, with an average wm of 0.86. the respondents showed low worrying about academic assignments with a wm of 2.19, low not feeling good about themselves, and low suicidal thoughts with a wm of 1.47 and 0.66. however, smoking and taking prohibited drugs were not observed. results revealed that respondents worry about their assignments but somehow feel good about themselves and rarely have suicidal tendencies when confronted with challenges in homework preparation. it can be implied that the respondents experienced worrying about assignments but were not involved in smoking and drugs. instead, they feel good about themselves and rarely have suicidal thoughts. this can be associated with their ability to ask for help from adults and the presence of emotional support from learning facilitators, including parents and teachers. attard (2022), in an article entitled “repressing emotions: 10 ways to reduce emotional avoidance,” cited that emotional suppression can be regarded as a protective mechanism in which people protect themselves from the unpleasant aspects of their personalities and instead focus on the positive qualities. individuals who cannot see themselves as a whole, acknowledging their positive and negative characteristics, may have an inaccurate perspective, preventing them from admitting they have a problem and seeking help (garssen, 2007). the coping mechanisms on homework preparation exhibiting rebellious behavior based on the three (3) indicators were rated low with an average wm of 1.85. the highest-rated among the three (3) indicators rated low was “i give conditions,” with a wm of 2.02. the second was “i do not need help,” with a wm of 1.94, and “i am troubled with my disability,” with a wm of 1.60. in general, results revealed low rebellious behavior among respondents who considered low 75 international peer reviewed journal conditions while preparing homework but were less troubled by their disabilities. however, they need help from adults. results implied that during homework preparation, rebellious behavior was less observed, and respondents showed less concern about their disabilities but exhibited dependency on the learning facilitators. the coping mechanisms on homework preparation exhibiting reconciliation were based on the five (5) indicators shown in table 14, with an average wm of 2.67 described as high. the coping mechanisms showed high reconciliation tendencies on the following indicators “i accept remedial help and assistance,” “i ask for help with my problems,” and “i know how to compare different emotions,” with a wm of 3.18, 3.07, and 2.5, respectively. at the same time, low results were noted on “i know how to control my fears and feelings,” with a wm of 2.42 and 2.16. reconciliation mechanisms were high. in particular, results revealed that the respondents highly accept help on remediation and solving problems and can compare different emotions. they are less capable of controlling their feelings and emotions. it can be implied that mainstream students expect help from people around them but need more confidence in handling their feelings and emotions. home learning facilitators and teachers must be capable of providing appropriate instructional and emotional support among mainstreamed learners. distance teaching needs the physical presence of face-to-face classes. however, support from the community can make learning enjoyable and interesting. appropriate learning support to develop social and individualized aspects of learning is critical. students learning and motivation can increase when teachers are engaged in distance education. the three basic parts of teacher presence are designing, preparing, and planning the learning instruction and learning environment (charles sturt university, 2023). the coping mechanisms for homework preparation exhibiting a sense of determination were based on the seven (7) indicators. generally, the sense of determination in homework preparation was high, with an average wm of 2.69. among the seven (7) indicators, four (4) were rated high, and three (3 were rated low. the highest-rated indicator was “i am strong,” with a wm of 3.18. the second was “i solve my problem,” with a wm of 3.07, followed by “i have a positive attitude,” with a wm of 2.90. while the least rated was “i think of the things that i can do despite my disability,” with a wm of 2.25 (low). results revealed that the respondents are highly regarded for their ability to solve the problem, are strong, have a positive attitude, and accept disability as part of life. however, they have a low capacity to face their problems, explore what 76 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 else they can do, and show low regard for the help of peers. the respondents are optimistic about their physical strength, problem-solving capacity, and attitude. however, they show less confidence in facing their problems, knowing their ability despite their disability, and showing less dependence on peers. el-dawa and hammouda (2014) stated that self-evaluation provided to students on what they are good at and are incapable of could positively impact determining the appropriate support necessary to enhance their self-esteem. the coping mechanisms of the mainstreamed students on using technology were based on the cited indicators, including avoidance, rebellious behavior, reconciliation, and determination. the coping mechanism for using technology exhibiting avoidance was very low, with an average wm of 1.49. among the five (5) indicators, four (4) were rated low, and one (1) was rated very low. these three (3) indicators were rated from highest to lowest: “i do not need help from others,” “i am exaggerated in asking for help from adults.” and “i do not want to cooperate” with a wm of 2.07, 1.68, and 1.57, respectively. while the least rated was “i cry,” with a wm of 0.74. results revealed that the coping mechanisms for using technology exhibiting avoidance were very low. they showed a very low tendency to cry, feel sad, and not exaggerate when asking for help from adults, and they showed cooperation. the respondents were eager to explore different technology uses through the assistance of adults. francis (2017) cited that students in inclusive education are driven to learn because of the specific usage of technology in the classroom. whether for pedagogical reasons or to meet the requirements of an individual education plan (iep), more research could help update teaching strategies to support inclusionary education better and increase student enthusiasm. emotional avoidance mechanisms were determined based on the five (5) cited indicators. two (2) of these were not observed, such as smoking and using prohibited drugs. while “i feel i am not good” and “i have suicidal thoughts” were rated very low with a wm of 1.44 and 0.68, respectively. however, i worry about academic assignments with a wm of 1.83 (low) was the highest rating. in general, results revealed that emotional avoidance of the use of technology was very low. it was revealed that the respondents feel good about themselves, have barely had suicidal thoughts, and have never been involved in smoking and prohibited drugs. however, they showed slight worry about the academic assignments. it can be implied that on the use of technology, respondents feel good about themselves but show concerns about the academic assignments. the united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs [ocha] (2020) stated that in distance education, technology could provide 77 international peer reviewed journal numerous ways of presenting, representing, and expressing learning and assist impaired learners in overcoming hurdles to participation in the curriculum they would otherwise face. it also can improve motivation and enjoyment. the usefulness of ict and at in helping and improving the education of impaired people is becoming increasingly clear. the coping mechanisms for using technology exhibiting rebellious behavior were determined based on the three (3) indicators. the indicators were rated in the following order: “i give conditions,” “i am troubled with my disability,” and “i do not need help,” with a wm of 2.18, 1.86, and 1.47, respectively. results revealed that the respondents considered slight conditions while using technology, were somewhat troubled by their disability, and indicated the need for help. it can be implied that rebellious behavior was displayed while using technology but exhibited dependency on learning facilitators. the coping mechanisms for using technology exhibiting a sense of reconciliation were based on the five (5) indicators. it was noted that the highest-rated indicator was “i accept remedial help and assistance,” with a wm of 2.96 or high. second, “i ask for help with my problems” with a wm of 2.63 (high), and “i know how to control my feelings” with a wm of 2.55, also described as high. however, two (2) indicators were rated low, namely, “i know how to compare different emotions” and “i know how to control my fears,” with a wm of 2.37 and 2.16, respectively. results revealed that the respondents highly need remedial assistance, tend to ask for help to solve problems, and are confident they can control their feelings. however, there is a low capacity for controlling fears and comparing emotions. the mainstreamed students preferred technical assistance on the use of technology, expected help from others to solve problems, and needed guidance on emotional management since they were less confident in managing their fears and emotions. it goes to show that they are support-dependent, and the presence of a facilitator was necessary while doing tasks involving the use of technology. morales-rodríguez (2021) study cited a significant association between fear of covid-19 and stress with covid-19, technological stress, overload, and complexity of the use of technology. the study findings have positive implications for the analysis, alignment, and design of psycho-educational and clinical interventions that can improve students’ well-being and training for effective coping strategies for daily stress and this pandemic. the seven (7) indicators determined the coping mechanisms for using technology exhibiting determination. determining mechanisms were generally rated high, with an average wm of 2.50. among the seven (7) indicators, “i am 78 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 strong was” rated the most with a wm of 2.88 or high. “i have a positive attitude” was rated second with a wm of 2.81, followed by “i consider my disability as part of my life” with a wm of 2.66. while the least rated was “i let my peers or friends read aloud to me,” with a wm of 1.64 or low. results revealed that the sense of determination in using technology was high. it showed that the respondents were confident in their capacity to face and solve problems, acceptance of disability, positive attitude, and physical strength. this can be associated with their high expectation of the help extended by teachers and learning facilitators. however, they depend less on their peers. it is implied that in coping with the challenges of using technology, the students need a learning facilitator to boost their self-confidence, aid in decision-making, and allow them to participate in activities involving technology use. it can be implied further that mainstreamed students are willing to learn, participate, and collaborate. according to đurišić and bunijevac (2017), schools must collaborate with parents and establish shared accountability for children’s academic performance. six variables contribute to the benefits of parental involvement: parenting, communicating, volunteering, and at-home learning, making decisions, and working with the community. the coping mechanisms of mainstreamed students were determined based on avoidance (defensive behavior and emotional), rebellious behavior, reconciliation, and determination. the coping mechanisms for isolation exhibiting avoidance (defensive pattern of behaviors) were based on the five (5) indicators. among the indicators, i do not need help from others was rated low but highest, with a wm of 1.64. all other indicators were rated very low, but the least rated indicator was i cried, with a wm of 0.75. results revealed that the respondents needed help from others and were willing to cooperate. they have a very low tendency to be sad. the defensive pattern of behaviors was least observed in isolation or being away from teachers, classmates, and friends. it showed that respondents expect support from learning facilitators, and they indicated a sense of cooperation. very low emotional avoidance with an average wm of 0.71 was noted on emotional avoidance. it was revealed that, like in other variables, smoking and using prohibited drugs were not observed. it was also noted that worrying about academic assignments was rated highest. while not feeling good about themselves and having suicidal thoughts were rated very low with a wm of 1.31 and 0.59, respectively. 79 international peer reviewed journal results showed that the respondents rarely exhibited emotional avoidance while under isolation. aside from not involving themselves in vices such as cigarette smoking and using prohibited drugs, they rarely feel good about themselves and have suicidal thoughts. it can be implied that while away with the teachers, classmates, and friends, the presence of a learning facilitator helped them cope with challenges in distance education. however, slight worrying about assignments was observed, which can be associated with their dependency on their teachers. in this regard, teachers should constantly communicate with the learners to give necessary feedback on accomplishing assignments. the learning facilitator is a teacher who does not follow the standard teaching approach and instead guides and encourages students to learn by breaking down concepts, forming their own opinions, and owning knowledge through self-exploration and debate. the coping mechanisms for isolation exhibiting rebellious behavior were low based on the three (3) indicators. in general, rebellious behaviors were low, with an average wm of 1.81. it showed that all indicators were rated low in the following order: “i give conditions,” “i do not need help,” and “i am troubled with my disability,” with wm of 1.94, 1.93, and 1.55, respectively. results revealed that rebellious behavior was low, meaning a low tendency to give conditions and being troubled by their disability. it can be implied that they feel comfortable with their disability and have high expectations that help from adults or learning facilitators will be extended to them. results revealed that reconciliation mechanisms among the mainstreamed students were high, as indicated by their high acceptance of remedial help and assistance and their high intention of asking for help from adults in the absence of teachers, friends, and peers. however, they cannot control their feelings and fears and cannot compare different emotions. the manner of reconciliation while isolated from their teachers, classmates, and friends among mainstreamed students was dependent on learning facilitators and indicated poor management of emotions, fears, and distinguishing different emotions. it showed that mainstreamed students need the constant presence of facilitators that can monitor all activities concerning distance education. results revealed that the sense of determination on being isolated from teachers, classmates, and friends was high, as revealed by stating that they knew that they were strong, knew how to solve problems, and thought of other things they could do despite their disability. however, they have low consideration of their disability as part of their lives. it can be implied that they have a high 80 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 sense of determination regarding what they can do but a low acceptance of their disability. pietrabissa and simpson (2020) cited that long-term social isolation, characterized by fewer social connections and contacts, leads to significant detachment among those who live alone or do not have access to a sufficient social network, increasing the risk of developing depressive symptoms. the link between physical frailty and social isolation has been linked to heightened inflammatory activity, as indicated by increased levels of c-reactive protein and fibrinogen, which has been linked to cognitive impairment, reduced immunity, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and ultimately, mortality. conclusion on instruction, avoidance and rebellious behavior were less observed but highly exhibited reconciliation and determination as coping mechanisms. avoidance was low, but learners depended on learning facilitators to prepare academic assignments. a little suicidal thought can be associated with managing academic assignments in distance education. their physical condition affecting lesson engagement made them more concerned about their physical incapacity. the reconciliation process indicated the management of fears, but learning and emotional management depended on learning facilitators. a high sense of determination was associated with positive attitudes towards physical disabilities and instructional-related tasks. on lesson engagement, avoidance, and rebellious coping mechanisms were less observed, while reconciliation and determination coping mechanisms were exhibited. respondents indicated the need for support and dependency on learning facilitators. emotional avoidance was low since involvement in vices was not observed. however, suicidal thoughts can be linked with the high incidence of worrying about the academic tasks given to them. rebellious low behaviors can be associated with less concern about their disability and dependence on the learning facilitators. reconciliation mechanisms were high since respondents expected others to help them solve problems and remedy lessons. in contrast, emotional support and instructional-related assistance were necessary. sense of determination was high by being optimistic of their capabilities and attitudes, but instructional-related assistance and guidance from teachers and learning facilitators rather than their peers were necessary. on homework preparation, avoidance, and rebellious behaviors were less observed, while reconciliation and determination were the exhibited coping 81 international peer reviewed journal mechanisms. in particular, the defensive pattern of behaviors was very low, which can be associated with not being sad, less tendency to cry, and being dependent on the support given by adults. emotional avoidance was very low, which can be linked to not having vices, good feelings about themselves associated with their ability to ask for help from adults, and the presence of emotional support from learning facilitators, including parents and teachers. the rebellious behaviors were low, which can be associated with their acceptance of their disabilities and dependency on the learning facilitators. reconciliation mechanisms were high, which can be linked to their cooperation from people around them, but they need emotional support. the determination mechanisms were high, associated with optimism about their physical strength, the capacity to solve problems, and a positive attitude. however, they exhibited less confidence in facing their problems and knowing their abilities despite their disabilities and less association with peers. on the use of technology, avoidance, and rebellious behaviors were less observed. reconciliation and determination were exhibited. particularly, avoidance involving defensive behaviors was low, which can be linked to the respondents’ eagerness to cooperate through the assistance of adults. the emotional avoidance was very low, which can be linked to feeling good about themselves and showing concerns about the academic assignments. the rebellious behaviors were low but learning facilitator dependent. the reconciliation mechanisms were high, as evidenced by being support-dependent on fears and emotional management. the sense of determination was high, which can be linked to the necessity of students’ learning facilitators to boost their self-confidence, aid in decision-making, and allow them to participate in different activities. in isolation, avoidance, and rebellious behaviors were less observed, but reconciliation and determination were exhibited. avoidance involving a defensive pattern of behaviors was very low. hence, support from learning facilitators was expected. this resulted in a high sense of cooperation. the emotional avoidance was very low. hence, the presence of a learning facilitator helped them cope with the challenges of distance education. worrying about assignments can be associated with their dependency on their learning facilitators and teachers. the rebellious behaviors were low. hence, they feel comfortable with their disability and have high expectations that help from adults or learning facilitators will be extended to them. reconciliation was high, linked to their dependency on learning facilitators and poor management of emotion, fears, and distinguishing different emotions. exhibited determination was high, which can be associated 82 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 with being confident in their ability to face problems, being strong, and what they can do, along with the low acceptance of their disability. in general, positive coping mechanisms were noted. specifically, the coping mechanisms for instruction, lesson engagement, homework preparation, technology, and isolation involved reconciliation and determination mechanisms. translational research on homework preparation, the learning facilitators should be well-equipped with the skills to cater to academic and emotional support and boost the students’ confidence to enable them to solve problems on their own. on the use of technology, activities that can boost the confidence of the learners should be part of the contextualized lessons. enhancing self-reliance among mainstreamed students should be considered by teachers and parents. on isolation, to lessen dependency and enhance students’ emotional management process, professional services involving psychologists, psychoanalysts, behavioral specialists, and other professionals should be part of the school services to cater to students with special needs. contextualization of lessons, especially in mathematics, and provision of video lessons for all types of sped learners are necessary. the partnership of teachers and parents needs to be strengthened, and the implementation of family support initiatives on instruction for special education must be intensified. the annual medical assessment and regular monitoring by experts like psychologists and physical and psychotherapists for the learners’ well-being should be effected. the recommended policy formulation and implementation program includes the researcher’s original framework titled rx education for the mainstreamed in time of pandemic. this involves four processes, 1. medical assessment (medass), 2. class home readiness (homeready) 3. creative instruction (creation), and 4. progress monitoring (progmon). the medical assessment will determine the ability of a child to read and write, the behavioral challenges he or she will go through, and whether behaviors will allow him or her to continue learning. class home readiness is all about house structure, where an area is set up as a permanent learning space where the child will do the tasks given to him/her. it also deals with accepting and supporting those staying in the house. house rules are likewise set for everyone to follow consistently. creative instruction allows fun and interesting learning among the learners. aside from the written activity sheets, visual learners will enjoy 83 international peer reviewed journal watching locally made video lessons with sign language translations. this will ensure engaging interaction with the videos they see, and they can manipulate the learning timeline. progress monitoring means the assessment of a learner’s academic and socio-emotional behavior. apart from the teachers’ regular followup with learners and their parents, psychologists and physical psychotherapists will deliver primordial roles in monitoring the learners’ well-being. iinterpret mo project will also be implemented. it will focus on the contextualization of mathematics instruction and developing video lessons for diverse learners utilizing the school ict facilities, ict technical team, sped teachers, and other stakeholders. planning, collaboration, and appropriate measures are needed to realize this program. literature cited attard, a. (2022). repressing emotions: 10 ways to reduce emotional avoidance. positive psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/repress-emotions batubara, b. m. (2021). the problems of the world of education in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic.  budapest international research and critics institute (birci-journal): humanities and social sciences, 4(1), 450-457. branstetter, r. (2020). how teachers can help students with special needs navigate distance learning. charles sturt university (2023). learning and teaching. https://arts-ed.csu.edu. au/learning-and-teaching đurišić, m., & bunijevac, m. (2017). parental involvement as an important factor for successful education. center for educational policy studies journal, 7(3), 137-153. el-daw, b., & hammoud, h. (2015). the effect of building up self-esteem training on students’ social and academic skills 2014.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 190, 146-155. francis, j. (2017). the effects of technology on student motivation and engagement in classroom-based learning. garssen, b. (2007). repression: finding our way in the maze of concepts. journal of behavioral medicine, 30, 471-481. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 kwaah, c. y., & essilfie, g. (2017). stress and coping strategies among distance education students at the university of cape coast, ghana. turkish online journal of distance education, 18(3), 120-134. lazarus, r. s., & folkman, s. (1984).  stress, appraisal, and coping. springer publishing company. morales-rodríguez, f. m. (2021). fear, stress, resilience and coping strategies during covid-19 in spanish university students.  sustainability,  13(11), 5824. organisation for economic co-operation and development [oecd]. (2020). education and covid-19: focusing on the long-term impact of school closures. http://bit.ly/3zsmjpj pietrabissa, g., & simpson, s. g. (2020). psychological consequences of social isolation during covid-19 outbreak. frontiers in psychology, 11, 2201. schleicher, a. (2020). the impact of covid-19 on education: insights from” education at a glance 2020”. oecd publishing. tee, c. a., salido, e. o., reyes, p. w. c., ho, r. c., & tee, m. l. (2020). psychological state and associated factors during the 2019 coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic among filipinos with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus.  open access rheumatology: research and reviews, 215-222. united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs [ocha]. (2020). global education monitoring report inclusion and education. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-education-monitoring-report2020-inclusion-and-education-all-means-all united nations. (2020). policy brief: education during covid-19 and beyond. un sustainable development group. http://bit.ly/3thksii http://bit.ly/3thksii 109 international peer reviewed journal relevance and responsiveness of the bachelor of science in customs administration program as assessed by stakeholders ruth b. balajadia http://orcid.org 0009-0006-1181-5020 ruth.balajadia@jblfmu.edu.ph john b. lacson colleges foundation (bacolod), inc. alijis, bacolod city russel t. relatos russelrelatos27@gmail.com john b. lacson colleges foundation alijis, bacolod city, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract responsiveness/relevance is perceived as the starting point for determining what constitutes a quality education. since development is necessary, systems that support development, like education and training systems, must be responsive. this study is focused on the relevance and responsiveness of the bachelor of science in customs administration (bsca) program and to determine whether the initiatives currently practiced by the college to make the program relevant/ responsive are effective. john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod is a higher education institution that offers a bsca program and is the only one in negros occidental. however, despite the very satisfactory results in the board examination vol. 51 · january 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v51i1.584 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:ruth.balajadia@jblfmu.edu.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 110 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 in the past years and the high demand for employment in the import and export industry, only a few are enrolled in the program. hence, the conduct of this study is to explore opportunities to improve enrolment. this descriptive study used the survey method to gather the data needed, with mean and standard deviation as statistical tools. a discussion with representative stakeholders was made on the initiatives and strategies practiced by the college to calibrate the program. the respondents were 24 bsca students, 53 alumni, and 22 industry representatives. the findings showed that the bsca program is relevant and responsive to a very great extent, as assessed by the alumni and students, and relevant/responsive to a great extent by the industry. this implies then that as a higher education, jblcf-bacolod offers a program that is relevant/responsive and the initiatives practiced by the college of business are very highly effective based on the four core resources and also affirms that teachers are considered the most valuable pillars in the teaching-learning process. this study could provide valuable insights to introduce development strategies to enhance the current enrolment. keywords — education, relevance and responsiveness, customs administration, stakeholders, curriculum, descriptive, philippines introduction customs administration is perceived to be as old as human civilization since the collection of customs duties began along with the production, transport, and delivery of goods (castillo, 2018). it is the study of the administration of customs operations and brokerage (ched memorandum order no. 11, s. 2005) in transportation and supply chain management (albay et al., 2013). since the philippines is a member of the world trade organization (wto), it is committed to enhancing and addressing customs administration concerns. the world bank recognized trade as a powerful force for growth and poverty reduction (global economic prospects, 2015). hence, improvements in the efficiency of ports and customs administration have the greatest gains for developing countries like the philippines. to address the intensive changes in a globalized economy and being a member of different international trade agreements and unions, the commission on higher education (ched) implemented ched memorandum order (cmo) no. 11 series of 2005 to re-engineer the customs administration curriculum as reform mechanisms to accelerate growth on exports and economic development through trade facilitation. this is supported by pettinger (2019) in his study that to improve the standard of living, provide 111 international peer reviewed journal employment, and for consumers to enjoy a wide variety of goods, international trade plays a very important role in making these possible. since higher education is identified as one of the underlying factors of growth performance, prosperity, and competitiveness, its social role, therefore, is to supply the link between the intellectual and educational role of universities on the one hand and the development of society on the other (qs global educational news, 2018). any country hopes heis produce the needed human resources to move the country into a high, sustained, and equitable development. to achieve this, heis should respond well to the challenges of the labor market (orbeta et al., 2015). furthermore, the relevance of higher education should be assessed according to the adequacy between what society expects from the institutions and what they do (miñán ubillús & diaz puente, 2015). higher education remains relevant if it promotes sustainable employment, foster personal development, and encourages active citizenship (european commission, 2011). this characteristic was described by stoessel (2016), who pointed out that if there is a lack of responsiveness, it will make a system ignorant of the needs of the government, the students that invested in the success of colleges and universities, and the industry concerned. in the philippines, the bachelor of science in customs administration (bsca) prepares individuals to become competent and knowledgeable customs brokers (albay et al., 2013). it becomes essential now for higher education institutions (heis) in the philippines to endeavor to be responsive to the everunpredictable labor market and to make necessary adjustments to achieve this. one of the effective ways to keep up with the rapid changes is for the heis to provide opportunities for their graduates to gain the necessary skills to adequately equip them for the demands of the industry (abas & imam, 2016). according to republic act no. 9280 it is the policy of the state to prioritize, give attention, and support the practice of the customs broker profession in the philippines. it is, therefore, the duty of the state to include in its policy a conducive climate for filipino customs brokers to enhance and maximize their potential and capabilities to practice their profession. john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod is one of the colleges and universities in the philippines that offer a degree in customs administration and the only one in negros occidental. however, despite the very satisfactory results in the board examination for the past years, according to the professional regulation commission during the ched-prc visit at jblcf-bacolod on july 27, 2019, and the demand for employment in the import and export, few are interested in enrolling and undergoing curricular training for bsca and becoming licensed 112 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 customs brokers as shown by the enrolment trend in jblcf-bacolod. for these reasons and the pacucoa recommendation, the researcher drew out the inspiration to conduct this study on the relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by stakeholders. framework this study is founded on the concepts from the general education system quality analysis/diagnosis framework (geqaf) by the international bureau of education under the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (ibe-unesco), which emphasizes that sustained development relevance/responsiveness is the starting point for determining what constitutes a quality education system. according to ibe, an education system needs to be relevant and responsive to analyze and emphasize four important core resources: the curriculum, teachers/ educators, learners/students, and the learning environment. these core resources are further discussed in this paper. a curriculum is considered the “heart” of any learning institution, which means that schools or universities cannot exist without a curriculum (kranthi, 2017). it is defined by ibe-unesco (2019) as a systematic or combined packaging of various competencies that learners should obtain through a methodical set of learning experiences. it also has to seek and value the opinions and experiences of experts and various legitimate stakeholders to take part in the review and development of a curriculum. the ibe emphasized that the curriculum is a means to foster quality learning; thus, curriculum development and reform processes involve public consultation and discussion with a wide range of stakeholders. it should value the input of stakeholders and should have a sustainable and long-term impact. constructing a meaningful curriculum involves addressing basic factors such as the issues to be learned, the resources needed, and how learning is assessed. in the modern world, curriculum development is viewed as a comprehensive cycle of development, implementation, evaluation, and revision to ensure that it is updated and relevant. curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about the school, the learners, and the teachers. it is also about the development of society in general (kranthi, 2017). the higher education curriculum preserves the country’s national identity and ensures economic growth and stability. teachers implement it and depends on the quality of teaching, learning strategies, learning materials, and assessment. 113 international peer reviewed journal as stated in the new policies, standards, and guidelines (psg) for the bsca program, ched memorandum order (cmo) no. 30, series of 2021, the revision of the curriculum is premised on the need to equip the graduates with sound fundamentals, technological, professional and technical knowledge with research capability to professionally and ethically deal with internationalization and standardization of customs and trade practices and supply chain in this dynamic and rapidly evolving world trade environments, every professional must possess in order to serve and secure public interest and welfare. as claimed by kranthi (2017), curriculum development is a vital component in the educational process as it offers guidance for lesson plan preparation that meets educational standards. an effective curriculum development process, according to kranthi (2017), includes planning, articulating and developing, implementing, and evaluating. meanwhile, an essential part of the curriculum development process is a discussion among the curriculum planners of their perspectives on how learning occurs to produce the best curriculum, its faculty, and learners. educators consider assumptions and beliefs, discuss previous experiences, and identify the appropriate explanations for learning as they are relevant to the program under revision (saylor, 2020). on the other hand, learning outcomes and acquired competencies are the ultimate indicators or evidence of quality education and an effective learning system. the education system should consider learners not only as beneficiaries but as a benefactor or the “prime human resource” to measure the effectiveness and quality of education. with these, for programs of heis to be responsive and relevant, they have to be learner-centered (ibe-unesco, 2019). teachers or educators, as ibe mentioned, are considered the most valuable pillars in the teaching-learning process. moreover, the education system has to apply a logical and appropriate selection and preparation process. it should adopt strategies for continuous professional development to provide the entrusted teachers with adequate knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. educational institutions need to give attention to the important factors affecting the quality of teachers to deliver quality education to students/learners. furthermore, according to ibe (2019), when provided with a supportive environment, learners will achieve a high level of ability to produce the desired or intended result and become self-driven. ibe also mentioned that when learners are welcomed in a safe and nurturing environment, it helps them develop as individuals and as part of society. heis should provide learners with 114 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 an environment that is physically and psychosocially supportive of learning effectiveness and conducive to developing quality education. furthermore, in education, relevance is defined as the learning experiences that in some way directly apply and connect to the personal aspirations, interests, cultural experiences, issues, contexts, and problems of students in the real world (education reform, n.d.). this term relates to a behavioral change when triggered by a stimulus. in science, it is considered to be a characteristic of living organisms. in science, it is considered to be a characteristic of living organisms. to survive, these organisms shall learn and adapt to the changes in environmental conditions. responsiveness is the driving force for survival. as applied to educational institutions, however, responsiveness means matching society’s broad expectations that higher education will adapt to change and help sustain national needs (ogude et al., 2018). meanwhile, stoessel (2016) relates the term ‘responsiveness’ with a system or curricular ability of colleges and universities to be internally focused, responding to the direction and needs of a constantly changing enterprise. inspired by these concepts, this paper focuses on the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the identified stakeholders based on the curriculum, learners/students, teachers, and learning environment as the four core resources. this paper will also present the initiatives practiced by the college of business and the desired outcomes to assess the relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program and how effective these initiatives are and will explore the strategies that can be implemented to sustain and calibrate the program. figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of this study. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program of jblcf-bacolod as assessed by the alumni and industry stakeholders. specifically, the study aimed to, (1) determine the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the alumni, students, and the industry, (2) identify the initiatives that are practiced by the college of business to achieve the bsca program’s relevance and responsiveness in terms of the following core resources, (a) curriculum, (b) learners/students, (c) teachers, and (d) learning environment, and (3) determine how effective the initiatives as assessed by students and faculty. 115 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study employed a descriptive design. descriptive studies may be characterized as simply the attempt to determine, describe or identify what is or a purposive process to gather, analyze, classify, and tabulate data on existing conditions, processes, beliefs, or trends. research site this study was conducted at john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod, alijis, bacolod city, specifically in the college of business and education offering the bachelor of science in customs administration program. participants the participants of this study were 24 bsca students enrolled at jblcfbacolod during the school year 2019-2020, 53 alumni, and 22 company representatives for problem number 1. for problems 2 and 3, the dean, program head, faculty, 6 representative students, and 6 representative alumni were formed as participants in the discussion workshop. lastly, all bsca students and faculty under the program were engaged for problem number 3. instrumentation this study used three sets of survey instruments. the first survey questionnaire for question number 1 was answered by the students and alumni, the second by the industry representatives, and the third set by the bsca students and faculty. the researcher-made survey questionnaires for objectives number 1 and 3 were derived from the concepts presented by the related literature previously discussed. the questionnaires were composed of questions on the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program answered by the students, alumni, and the concerned industry and at the same time by the students and faculty members to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives currently applied by the college to make the bsca program relevant and responsive. the items in the questionnaire for objective number 1 on the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the alumni, students, and the industry were rated using the likert’s scale with a corresponding verbal interpretation: 116 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 scale verbal interpretation description 5 to a very great extent shows a very significant relevance/responsiveness of the bsca program 4 to a great extent shows a remarkable relevance/responsiveness of the bsca program 3 to a moderate extent shows moderate relevance/responsiveness of the bsca program 2 to a small extent shows little relevance/responsiveness of the bsca program 1 not at all shows no relevance/ responsiveness of the bsca program meanwhile, the items in the questionnaire for objective number 3 on the level of effectiveness of the initiatives as assessed by students and faculty were also rated using the likert’s scale as follows: scale verbal interpretation description 1 not effective the initiative currently applied in the college of business to make the bsca program responsive/relevant is ineffective. 2 somewhat effective the initiative currently applied in the college of business to make the bsca program responsive/relevant is effective in some ways. 3 moderately effective the initiative currently applied in the college of business to make the bsca program responsive/relevant is average and effective. 4 highly effective the initiative currently applied in the college of business to make the bsca program responsive/relevant is effective to a high degree. 5 very highly effective the initiative currently applied in the college of business to make the bsca program responsive/relevant is effective to a very high degree. on the other hand, two sets of worksheets were designed to gather data needed for objectives 2 and 3. one set was used to gather data on the initiatives the college of business currently practiced to achieve the bsca program’s relevance and responsiveness based on the four core resources by the identified participants. 117 international peer reviewed journal the two instruments, i.e., three sets of survey questionnaires and two worksheets, were submitted to the research committee of john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod for comments, suggestions, and feedback. five (5) professionals validated the questionnaires. the validation instrument of good and scates (1972) was used for this purpose, and they obtained an average of 4.61 and 5, respectively, and both were interpreted as excellent. to test the reliability of the instruments, cronbach’s alpha was used. the industry questionnaire obtained a coefficient of 9.68 and 9.82 on the questionnaires for alumni and students, and both were interpreted as excellent. on the other hand, the questionnaire for objective number 3 for students got a coefficient of 0.903 and 0.927 for faculty. these results were also interpreted as excellent. according to mohajan (2017), reliability and validity are the two most important attributes of a research tool or instrument to complete good research. research ethics protocol the participants’ rights to privacy, in which they were made to understand that their responses were strictly kept confidential and were made available only to the researchers. no one could identify the participants when the results were reported, and the participants’ names did not appear anywhere in the written report. data collection the questionnaires were distributed during the stakeholders’ satisfaction survey and the alumni gathering in manila in november 2019. likewise, each participant was provided a template of the worksheet to fill in and to retrieve information in two separate discussions (i.e., one was made in manila with the industry representatives during the stakeholders’ satisfaction survey and the alumni gathering, and the other was in bacolod city) to identify the initiatives practiced by the college of business in achieving the relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program based on the four core resources. their answers were collated and the output was used to formulate the questionnaire for problem number 3. statistical techniques the data from the questionnaire were gathered and presented in tables using the appropriate statistical treatment, which includes the following: mean and standard deviation were used for problem number 1 on the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program and the effectiveness of initiatives. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 mean score range interpretation 4.21 – 5.00 relevant/responsive to a very great extent 3.41 – 4.20 relevant/responsive to a great extent 2.61 – 3.40 relevant/responsive to a moderate extent 1.81 – 2.60 relevant/responsive to a small extent 1.00 – 1.81 not relevant/responsive meanwhile, for question number 1 on the effectiveness of the initiatives currently applied by the college, this scale and interpretation were used: mean score range interpretation 4.21 – 5.00 very highly effective 3.41 – 4.20 highly effective 2.61 – 3.40 moderately effective 1.81 – 2.60 somewhat effective 1.00 – 1.81 not effective results and discussion the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the alumni and students figure 1 presents the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the 53 alumni and 24 students based on the four core resources. the results show that teachers got the highest mean results as assessed by the alumni and students. it can be concluded then that the teachers are important resource in the learning process among the four core resources and therefore play a very important role in making the bsca program relevant and responsive. the results also imply that the college is effective in its current practices and implementation of initiatives and strategies in the teachers’ core to make the program relevant and responsive. it also affirms ibe’s claim that teachers or educators are considered the most valuable pillars in the teachinglearning process. this is also supported by sultan and shafi (2014), who identified an important link between teacher competencies and viable learning outcomes since students need a personal connection to any learning by emotionally engaging them or connecting the new information with the previously acquired knowledge (briggs, 2014). 119 international peer reviewed journal to compare, figure 1 shows how the alumni and students assessed the relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program based on the four core resources. figure 1. a graphical comparison of the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the alumni and students the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the industry table 1 presents the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the 22 industry representatives. the results show that “the graduates of the bsca program of jblcf-bacolod are motivated and determined to perform their assigned tasks with less supervision” got the highest mean value of 4.41, interpreted as “relevant/responsive to a very great extent.” meanwhile, the lowest mean value is 3.77 on “the bsca program of jblcf-bacolod emphasizes the development of the emotional and behavioral attributes in dealing with different work situations,” interpreted as “relevant/responsive to a great extent.” here, the overall mean is 4.11 and interpreted as “relevant/responsive to a great extent.” these findings imply that the employers regard “bsca graduates of jblcfbacolod who are motivated and determined to perform their assigned tasks with less supervision” as of very great relevance/responsiveness in the industry. the results are supported by the study of dobre (2013) on “employee motivation and organizational performance,” which states that attaining high levels of productivity in the company is influenced by the level of motivation and effectiveness of its employees. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 in light of the findings of this study, it is therefore relevant for the college to train students to develop their sense of responsibility, initiative, motivation, and determination as they prepare for their future employment and answer industry needs. this may also serve teachers and mentors to raise their standards by untiringly uplifting the minds of the students to be competitive and proficient in their area of specialization to cultivate and equip students who are skilled academically and who will actively participate in a globally competitive world of work. table 1 the extent of relevance and responsiveness of the bsca program as assessed by the industry indicators mean sd interpretation the bsca program of jblcf-bacolod provides social, interpersonal, leadership, problem-solving, and other relevant skills applicable to the job. 3.91 .81 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the bsca program of jblcf-bacolod gives emphasis on the development of emotional and behavioral attributes in dealing with different work situations. 3.77 .81 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod adhere to personal and professional standards in performing their functions. 4.18 .80 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod possess a practical understanding of the nature of their job. 4.09 .75 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod demonstrate self-confidence in dealing with clients, fellow professionals, private firms, and/ or various government agencies. 4.09 .68 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod demonstrate relevant competencies in their field of specialization/line of work. 4.23 .81 relevant/ responsive to a very great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod show initiative, self-management skills, and a sense of responsibility in completing their assigned tasks. 4.09 .81 relevant/ responsive to a great extent 121 international peer reviewed journal indicators mean sd interpretation the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod are open-minded and able to adapt to changing situations. 4.14 .71 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod are resilient and able to handle work demands, challenges, and expectations. 4.18 .80 relevant/ responsive to a great extent the graduates of the bsca program of jblcfbacolod are motivated and determined to perform their assigned tasks with less supervision. 4.41 .67 relevant/ responsive to a very great extent average mean 4.11 .76 relevant/ responsive to a great extent initiatives practiced by the college of business tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 show the collated data gathered during a separate discussion with the dean, program head, faculty, and representative students and the meeting with the alumni and the industry representatives. these initiatives were based on the four core resources. the collated data shows initiatives the college of business practiced to make the bsca program relevant and responsive, including the strategies/activities adopted in each initiative. curriculum table 2 shows the initiatives practiced in the curriculum by the college of business to make the bsca program relevant and responsive, which includes learning from the industry feedback, annual course and curriculum review, values integration in the curriculum, and application of outcomes-based education. these initiatives were assessed by the alumni and students to be effective, as shown in figure 3 of this study. by practicing and implementing these initiatives, the college can continuously gather suggestions from its stakeholders, particularly the alumni and the industry partners, to bridge the gap between the academe and the industry concerned. likewise, enrichment of the curriculum by integrating the core values and obe approaches is also effective based on institutional and regulatory requirements, respectively. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 table 2 current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business in the curriculum to make the bsca program relevant and responsive initiatives strategies/activities learning from the industry feedback visits to industry partners every november. conduct surveys and interviews with company representatives to gather firsthand feedback. course and curriculum review annual course and curriculum review by students, alumni, industry, faculty, program head, and the dean. values integration inclusion of jblfmu’s core values and other related values in all courses. application of outcomesbased education inclusion of classroom activities using the outcomes-based teaching/learning approach in the syllabi. presented in table 3 are the current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business for the teachers to make the bsca program relevant and responsive with corresponding strategies/activities for each initiative. to improve the teacher competencies, the initiative of the college is the continuous upgrading of faculty by conducting a training needs assessment where each faculty needs to identify the competency they need to undergo training/upgrading, attendance to continuing professional development (cpd) programs, training, and seminars to keep them abreast with the latest in their field of specialization and pursue graduate and post-graduate studies to comply with the requirements of ched, and different accrediting agencies. another initiative is the efficiency evaluation of faculty through periodic classroom observation by the program head and the dean; and evaluation of faculty by students, peers, program head, dean, and administrator at the end of every semester. this is to assess the performance level of faculty, identify areas for improvement, and recommend training opportunities. strict implementation of the policy on selection and hiring is also an initiative practiced by the college by looking into teacher-applicants’ qualifications in making relevant decisions during the hiring process and evaluating their work experiences and other competencies as needed in the program. by practicing these initiatives, the college can identify its teachers’ strengths and weaknesses and the gaps to address. 123 international peer reviewed journal table 3 current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business for teachers to make the bsca program relevant and responsive initiatives strategies/activities upgrading/continuous improvement of competencies conduct of training needs assessment attendance to cpd programs, training, and seminars pursuit of graduate/post graduate studies conduct of efficiency evaluation periodic classroom observation evaluation of faculty by students, peers, program head, dean, and administrator strict implementation of the policy on selection and hiring proper selection of faculty based on their qualifications evaluation of work experiences and other competencies involvement in the curriculum/course review periodic curriculum/course review by faculty table 4 shows the current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business for the learners/students to make the bsca program relevant and responsive with corresponding strategies/activities for each initiative which is aligned with the curricular and non-curricular activities stated in the academic affairs manual and student handbook of john b. lacson foundation (jblf) system to supplement and facilitate a more meaningful learning experience for students in addition to regular classroom instructional programs that are in accordance with the program requirements. the college, however, introduced more initiatives to strengthen the learning process. as stated in the study of rathore et al. (2018), knowledge nourishes the human mind, and physical exercise helps the body to be in good shape, while students need an environment that offers opportunities to participate in different activities as they develop their self-confidence, communication skills, and good physical health. as proven by the results of their study, students who participate in various activities are also more engaged in school time, have better exam grades, and have motivation toward education. these initiatives were also assessed as effective by the students and faculty, as shown in figure 2. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 table 4 current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business for learners/ students to make the bsca program relevant and responsive initiatives strategies/activities attendance/ participation in enhancement programs enhancement programs on-the-job training (ojt) during the summer of incoming senior students. field trip/educational tour as required in a particular course. familiarization activities for specific courses. encourage participation in activities conducting activities that encourage full participation of students, which may include but are not limited to intramurals and culminating activities. involvement in clubs and organizations. providing values clarification activities conducting activities that promote and develop jblfmu’s core values and other related values. ask students to identify and reflect on what values they learned, applied, and developed after every activity. participation of students in spiritual/values enhancement programs like retreat/recollection. applying interventions/ mechanisms for students with academic deficiencies regular monitoring of the academic performance of students through their grades. sending students’ grades to their parents periodically conducting academic counseling by faculty or referring student concerns to the guidance office. providing peer mentoring or tutorials for students with academic deficiencies. holding parent-teacher conferences to discuss student concerns. finally, to complete the answer for objective number 2, shown in table 5 are the current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business in the learning environment, which includes the provision of classrooms and facilities that are conducive to learning, compliance with health, safety, and environmental standards, availability of services and support services to cater to students needs and by gathering feedback from stakeholders. these initiatives and adopted strategies by the college are anchored in jblfmu’s integrated management system (ims) policy: “we are committed to continually aim for the highest standards of quality education and training, taking into account relevant educational, scientific and technological developments, managing intellectual property, health, safety, environmental protection, pollution prevention and social responsibility, in our consistent drive to satisfy and strive to exceed stakeholders’ needs and expectations”. 125 international peer reviewed journal table 5 current initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business in the learning environment to make the bsca program relevant and responsive initiatives strategies/activities provision of classrooms and facilities that are conducive to learning regular checking of classrooms/facilities by the services and facilities office identification of areas for improvement and providing necessary recommendations compliance with health, safety, and environmental standards creating a core group/committee on health, safety, and environmental protection organizing programs/activities that incorporate the jblfmu’s integrated management system policy appointment of class officers on health, safety, and environmental protection availability of services and support system providing corresponding offices to cater to students’ needs and answer student concerns (e. g., guidance office, library, clinic, registrar, student activity services, accounting, dean’s office) gathering feedback from stakeholders providing suggestion boxes in strategic areas within the campus. annual conduct of stakeholders’ satisfaction survey (i.e., students, employees, parents, alumni, and industry) parents and employees assembly the level of effectiveness of the initiatives of the college of business as assessed by the faculty and students figure 2 presents how the faculty and students assessed the effectiveness of the current initiatives implemented/practiced in the college of business to make the bsca program relevant and responsive. the teachers’ core got the highest results from both stakeholders, while the learning environment got a lower mean value of 4.25 for faculty compared to 4.67 for the students. it also shows that the students assessed the initiatives higher than the faculty, but both results were interpreted as “very highly effective.” these results have proven that the stakeholders consider the initiatives practiced/implemented by the college effective, especially the teachers’ core, as it reflects the level of effectiveness of the systems and mechanisms in place for obtaining suitable and motivated individuals who enter the teaching profession, for selection and hiring of candidates, their retention and training for effective delivery of instruction. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 figure 2. a graphical comparison between the faculty and students’ assessment of the level of effectiveness of the initiatives implemented/practiced by the college of business conclusions this study has shown that it is important for higher education institutions to identify the importance of a particular program it offers. as proven by the results from the data gathered, it can be concluded that the identified stakeholders consider the bsca program relevant and responsive. as to the teachers core with the highest average mean results, it can be concluded that without an adequate focus on teachers, the quality of education is not feasible, as supported by ibe’s general education system quality analysis/ diagnosis framework (geqaf). as new and more complex roles are placed on teachers, coherent selection and continuous professional development strategies must be in place to endow them with the required knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values and retain them in the profession. on the other hand, the curriculum is relevant and responsive and plays an important role in forging lifelong learning and competencies. it is increasingly called upon for revision as it contributes to developing skills and acquiring knowledge and values that students/learners need to apply in the context of their studies, daily life, future careers, and what the industry needs. the initiatives practiced and implemented by the college in the curriculum by requiring the participation of the stakeholders in its periodic review and revision and gathering feedback from industry partners through a survey and/or interview of company representatives have also been proven effective. 127 international peer reviewed journal translational research the present study is a valuable contribution to the field of customs administration and business education. the results of the study revealed that while the bsca program has generally met the expectations of its stakeholders, there are still areas for improvement. the college of business may consider alignment of the curriculum, programs, and activities with the needs and recommendations of the stakeholders during the review and updating of the curriculum to continually ensure that it is relevant to the current needs of the industry. also, the college of business shall continue partnering with industry stakeholders to enhance teacher competencies through seminars, trainings and industry immersion programs. this could involve working with industry professionals to identify emerging trends and skills required for success in the field. moreover, offering more opportunities for students to gain practical experience through internships and other work-based learning opportunities is another initiative to explore because of low results in the learning environment core as shown in the results. a memorandum of agreement/understanding between the college, industry partners, and other stakeholders may be executed to answer these needs. the college may also initiate to formally organize an academic advisory council for the bsca program, composed of representatives from students, faculty, alumni, parents, industry partners and other stakeholders. guidelines/by-laws shall be formulated stating the duties and responsibilities of the officers and members of the council. the objective is to continuously improve the program and to gather suggestions and formulate recommendations in improving the current enrolment, which is the root cause of this study. literature cited abas, m. c., & 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(2017). two criteria for good measurements in research: validity and reliability. annals of spiru haret university. economic series, 17(4), 5982. international bureau of education [ibe-unesco] (1925). https://www.ibe. unesco.org/ https://www.ibe.unesco.org/ https://www.ibe.unesco.org/ cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 38 new ecological paradigm: testing the environmental concern among urban middle income cebu city household heads mary gretchen f. chaves marygretchenfchaves@yahoo.com.ph up cebu management division cebu, philippines abstract this study evaluates the level of environment concern among middle income cebu city household heads using the 15item new ecological paradigm (nep) scale developed by dunlap et al (2000). environment concern as a pro-environmental attitudinal construct reflects a person’s eco-centric orientation. the nep scale is a globally accepted methodological assessment for pro-ecological worldview wherein the more an individual agrees with the nep items, the more concerned (s)he is about the environment. also investigated in the study are the underlying dimensions (subscales) of the nep scores. the results of the study show the respondents’ nep scale items’ average score as “unsure” indicating neither strong or weak environment concern. using principal components analysis, three subscales were generated, explaining 77% of the variance, and are interpreted in this study as “disastrous consequence of ecological abuse,” “delicate balance of nature,” and “humans subject to law of nature.” the study concludes that while respondents agree with the disastrous consequences attributed to ecological abuse, the nep scores indicate low level of environment concern. the results of this study serve as reference to the recommendations raised intended to improve the ecological worldview among the respondents to favor the environment, particularly on education and information campaigns. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.169 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 39 keywords new ecological paradigm, principal components analysis, environmental concern introduction more than ever, expressed consciousness of the environment has never been as pervasive and ubiquitously manifested around the globe, including the philippines. discussions about ecology-related issues resound all over as humankind is witness to the fury of mothernature’s backlash to the unabated consumption behaviors characterized as unfriendly to the environment. these ecological discourses have taken center stage, some of which tackle on consumers’ seemingly continuous and wanton disregard of their ecological footprint in their day to day economic activities. there is no denying that consciousness or awareness of the ecological degeneration and the resultant consequences attributed to man’s lack of concern about the environment is ever increasing. yet, awareness about the environment is one thing, and care and concern for the environment is another. some studies reveal that people’s concern for the environment influences their propensity to engage in proenvironmental activities. thus, knowledge on the respondents’ level of environment concern will aid in determining implications on proenvironment behaviors. in this study, concern for the environment among urban middle income household heads is measured using the new ecological paradigm (nep) scale by dunlap, van liere, mertig and jones, 2000. the nep is a worldview used in social psychology which holds as its central theme the relationship between human activity and the biosphere. the nep scale had been used in many other studies as a measure for environment concern. some studies found the15-item nep scale to have underlying dimensions. this study also investigates the dimensionality of the nep scale scores of the respondents. tested in this study are two hypotheses, namely, (a) urban middle income cebu city household heads are ecologically concerned, evidenced by high scores (agreement) on the nep items; and, (b) the nep scores of the urban middle income cebu city household household heads have underlying dimension. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 40 framework environmental concern according to telesiene (2004), environmental consciousness is the interest in and awareness of the environment and its issues, having knowledge about the state of environment and close interdependency of social, political, economical, and environmental processes and attitudes towards nature and society relations. a person’s concern for the natural environment reflects his or her values and influences the willingness to act on this value system (bansal and roth, 2000). a number of studies operationalized attitude towards the environment either as “environmental consciousness” (schlegelmich and bohen, 1996) or “environmental concern” (stern and dietz, 1994; roberts, 1996; roberts and bacon, 1997; straughan and roberts, 1999). environmental attitude social scientists fishbein and ajzen (1975) define attitude as a “learned disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object.” extending this concept to environmental attitude, it is presumed that people with positive attitude about the natural environment consider ecological care and preservation of environment quality. schultz et al (2004) define environmental attitudes as “the collection of beliefs, affect, and behavioral intentions a person holds regarding environmentally related activities or issues.” according to corraliza and berenguer (2000), proenvironmental attitudes are “peoples’ disposition, relatively durable and relatively organized, to pay attention to, be concerned about, and ultimately, to act in the name of environmental protection.” environmental attitude measures and the nep different measurement instruments have been developed and implemented in various studies which examined concern for the environment. maloney and ward (1973) developed the ecology scale which measures attitudes, knowledge, emotion and behavior with regards to the environment. weigel and weigel (1973) designed the environmental concern scale which measures attitudes towards more general environmental concern. stone et al (1995) created the international peer reviewed journal 41 scale which measures the level of environmental responsibility of an individual. sinkovics and stottinger (1999) posit that “different instruments differ substantially with regard to the components of the construct ‘environment consciousness.’” according to schultz and zelezny (1998), the new environmental paradigm (nep) scale is used more often as a measure of general proenvironmental attitudes, and stern, dietz and guagano (1995) claim that the nep is “by far the most widely used and has been subject to the most methodological assessment.” developed by dunlap and vanliere (1978), the nep originally comprised 12 item statements and was developed to measure public acceptance about the then emerging worldview on issues on man’s ability to control and manage the environment, the limits of industrial growth in relation to the environment’s capacity, as well as on preserving and caring for the environment. the more concerned an individual is about the environment, the more an individual is inclined to approve the statements in the nep scale. subsequently, the scale had been improved to what is currently a 15-item new ecological paradigm scale, now reflecting a perspective that recognizes the relationship between man, society and the environment. the new nep scale was designed to “tap a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, offers a balanced set of proand anti-nep items, and it avoids outmoded terminology.”(dunlap et al, 2000). according to the proponents “a proecological orientation or ‘seeing the world ecologically,’ reflected by a high score on the nep scale should lead to pro-environmental beliefs and attitudes.” dimensions of nep the dimensionality of the nep scale scores had been measured in some studies which utilized the 12-item nep scale. dunlap and vanliere (1976), the original proponents of the nep found their scale to be uni-dimensional. however, albrecht et al (1982) found the nep to be multidimensional, along the following themes, namely: (1) balance of nature, (2) limits to growth, and (3) man over nature. in yet another study, scott and willis (1994) found two underlying dimensions in the nep scale, namely: (1) human with nature, and (2) balance with nature – limits to growth. on the other hand, roberts jpair: multidisciplinary journal 42 and bacon (1997), in exploring the relationship between environment concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior, found four dimensions, namely: (1) balance of nature, (2) god and nature, (3) limits to growth, and (4) adaptation before modification. while different studies may have found varying dimensions of the nep scales, dunlap et al (2000) issued a caveat that the decision to take the nep as a single variable or to reduce the scale into its underlying structure should depend on the results of the individual study. objectives this study maps out the level of environment concern among urban middle income cebu city household heads using the nep scale. specifically, the study aims to: (1) measure the extent of environment concern of the respondents; and, (2) find out the underlying dimensions of the respondents’ nep scale scores. materials and methods for this study, a stratified random sampling survey was administered among urban upper-middle and lower-middle income household decision makers in the top ten most populated urban villages in cebu city with the use of a structured questionnaire. the sample size of 500 respondents was determined using the formula for stratified random sampling, computing for the overall sample size and proportionally allocating among the sec upper c and sec lower c socioeconomic class stratification. the sample size was computed applying the twostep guidelines of parel (1978) on proportional stratified sampling. the sampling frame used was list of homeowners in the respective chosen subdivisions and residential areas. the survey instrument is composed of five sections, one of which is the nep scale comprising fifteen statements on a five-point likert-type response category which is used to measure environment concern. the other sections of the questionnaire include the respondents’ classification items, which include sex, age, education level and income. appendix a shows the 15-item nep scale. the questionnaire international peer reviewed journal 43 instruction was for the respondents to express their degree of agreement and disagreement with each of the 15 nep statements with the following responses (sa = strongly agree, ma = mildly agree, u = unsure/neither agree nor disagree, md = mildly disagree, sd = strongly disagree). some statements (nep items 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14 and 15) were stated in reverse (and thus scored in reverse). disagreement with those nep items and agreement with nep items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, and12 indicate eco-centric world view, and thus, concern for the environment. to test the first hypotheses, descriptive analysis was applied. the respondents were asked to indicate their responses in a likert scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” agreement with nep items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, and12 and disagreement with nep items number 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14 and 15 indicate concern for the environment. scores for the disagreement with nep items were reversed. to test the second hypothesis, principal components analysis was used to explore the dimensionality of the nep scale scores. for each of the nep scale items, a transmutation equivalent was designed, with an equal interval of 0.80, such that the resultant means of the nep items may fall under the following categories: 1-1.80 – strongly disagree; 1.81-2.61 – mildly disagree; 2.62-3.42 – unsure; 3.434.23 – mildly agree; and 4.24-5 – strongly agree. results and discussion respondent classification descriptive frequency analysis was done to reduce the respondent classification data. seventy one percent (71.2%) of the respondents were between 21 to 50 years old, and about seventeen percent (16.6%) were between 51 to 60 years. fifty four percent (54%) were males, and the rest were female. fifty percent (49.6%) finished college, while another 22% finished some college. seventeen percent (17%) reached up to high school only. in terms of household monthly income, seventy eight percent (78.2%) were in the broad sec c (php8,000 – php30,000) category, while the 22%were in the upper sec c (php 30,001 – php 50,000). figures 1 to 4 show the frequency distribution of the classification variables. hypothesis #1 urban middle income cebu city household heads are jpair: multidisciplinary journal 44 ecologically concerned, evidenced by high scores (agreement) on the nep items appendix a shows the mean scores of the nep items, with the average nep score of 3.2. the transmutation equivalent of this score suggests that the respondents are “unsure”, that is, on the average they neither agree nor disagree with the nep items. table 1 shows the nep items with mean scores indicating high concern for the environment, while table 2 shows the nep items with mean scores indicating challenged attitudes for the environment. table 1. nep items with mean scores indicating environment-friendly worldview nep no. nep item mean score std dev 10 despite our special abilities humans are still subject to the laws of nature. 4.46 .81 5 humans are severely abusing the environment. 4.34 .97 12 plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist. 4.31 1.05 9 if things continue on their present course, we will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe. 4.29 1.02 4 when humans interfere with nature, it often produces disastrous consequences. 4.16 1.10 3 the balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset. 3.93 1.11 1-1.80 – strongly disagree; 1.81-2.61 – mildly disagree; 2.62-3.42 – unsure; 3.43-4.23 – mildly agree; and 4.24-5 – strongly agree international peer reviewed journal 45 table 2. nep items with mean scores indicating environment-unfriendly worldview nep no. nep item mean score std dev 11 the earth has plenty of natural resources if we learn how to develop them. (reversed) 1.33 .73 6 humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. (reversed) 2.50 1.3 15 the so-called “ecological crisis” facing human kind has been greatly exaggerated. (reversed) 2.62 1.33 1-1.80 – strongly disagree; 1.81-2.61 – mildly disagree; 2.62-3.42 – unsure; 3.43-4.23 – mildly agree; and 4.24-5 – strongly agree hypothesis #2 the nep scores of the urban middle income cebu city household heads manifest a multidimensional measure. principal components analysis was applied in determining the underlying dimensions of the nep scale scores. the initial cronbach alpha (0.466) on all 15 nep items showed a low level of itemcorrelation. elimination of certain nep items improved the cronbach alpha (0.695) of the remaining nep items, specifically, items 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10. appendix a shows the frequency distribution and item total correlations for the nep scale items. the principal components rotated factor generated three factors using the size of variance criterion with the cutoff greater than 0.70 based on jolliffe’s simulation studies, namely factor 1 (nep items 4,5), factor 2 (nep items 3, 9) and factor 3 (nep item 10). the high loading of the variables on the factor indicates commonality between the factors and the respective variables. these first three components are sufficient to describe nep scale scores, which explain 76.77 % of the total variance of the original data set. appendix b shows the eigenvalues of the generated factors. table 3 shows the three factors with the nep items 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10 that load highly on the factors, while tables 4 to 6 shows the specific nep items that significantly loaded on each of the factors. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 46 table 3. rotated factor pattern factor 1 factor 2 factor 3 nep 3 0.10752 0.90717 0.00318 nep 4 0.80338 0.28979 0.05941 nep 5 0.84687 0.07101 0.21046 nep 9 0.30455 0.60082 0.31850 nep 10 0.16529 0.11487 0.95601 table 4. nep factor 1: “disastrous consequences of ecological abuse” nep number nep item 4 when humans interfere with nature, it often produces disastrous consequences 5 humans are severely abusing the environment. table 5. nep factor 2: “delicate balance of nature” nep number nep item 3 the balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset. 9 if things continue on their present course, we will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe. table 6. nep factor 3: “humans subject to laws of nature” nep number nep item 10 despite our special abilities humans are still subject to the laws of nature. international peer reviewed journal 47 nep factor description the first two-item factor explains 45.43% of the total variance. this factor may be referred to as the awareness that humans are severely abusing the environment and the knowledge of the disastrous consequences of perpetuating this ecological abuse. the nep items that loaded in this first factor are interpreted in this study as “disastrous consequence of ecological abuse,” as indicated in table 4. the second two-item factor, explaining 16.62% of the total variance may be attributed to the anticipation that human kind is bound to experience a major ecological catastrophe if the current state of ecological abuse continues, aware that the balance of nature is very delicate and is easily upset. table 5 shows the nep items in this second factor which is referred to as “delicate balance of nature.” finally, the single item third factor which explains 14.72% of the total variance suggests the respondents’ belief acknowledging the supremacy of nature over man, and man being subject to the laws of nature despite man’s inherent special abilities. table 6 shows the single nep item in this third factor is interpreted as “humans subject to laws of nature.” the nep scale developed by dunlap et al (2000) is used to measure how respondents see the world from an ecological lens, where “high scores on the nep should lead to proenvironmental beliefs and attitudes.” the more concerned an individual is about the environment, the more an individual is bent to express agreement or approval with the nep items. the results of the first hypothesis analysis indicate that on the average, the middle income cebu city household heads straddle on “the-middle-of-the-road” in their ecological worldview, albeit strongly agreeing with four (4) nep items as shown on table 1. their strong agreement on these items is suggestive of their knowledge on the supremacy of mother-nature over mankind and their awareness of the present state of ecological disrespect as well as the consequences of a major ecological catastrophe indifference towards the environment perpetuates. on the other hand, the respondents strongly disagree on three nep items as shown on table 2. a strong disagreement (score reversed) on jpair: multidisciplinary journal 48 nep item 11 (the earth has plenty of natural resources if we learn how to develop them) projects the respondents’ understanding of man’s ability to utilize the natural resources and their lack of knowledge of the finite state of the natural resources. the same thinking dominates their mild disagreement (score reversed) on nep item 6 (humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs). finally, the disagreement (score reversed) on nep item 15 (the so-called “ecological crisis” facing human kind has been greatly exaggerated) reinforces the respondents’ lack of appreciation of the earth’s capacity and its limited natural resources, and their cynicism of the ecological crisis propaganda. the respondents’ disagreement (score reversed) on the above three nep items reveals an anthropocentric stance, with their belief that the earth has plenty of natural resources and that humans are the masters entitled to modify the natural environment. with the backdrop of today’s current state and rate of material consumerism, respondents who may be unaware about the limits of the earth’s carrying capacity and its finite resources, may keep on believing that the earth has plenty of natural resources and that humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. this study’s results serve as knowledge base for government policy makers, implementers of the law, as well as green-oriented business organizations and advocates when clarifying to the middle income consumers the issue on the earth’s carrying capacity and its limits. advocacy groups and the academe may complement and collaborate with government entities, together with the industries in ensuring that the consumers are made aware about the sustainable utilization of the earth’s resources and primarily making these consumers understand about the earth’s carrying capacity limits. bansal and roth (2000) assert that a person’s concern for the natural environment reflects his or her values and influences the willingness to act on this value system. thus, a country whose people manifest a high concern for the natural environment is expected to have its citizens behave in a manner that cares for the natural ecology. in turn, the country benefits from the efficient implementation of statutes and programs that favor the environment. international peer reviewed journal 49 that the respondents further disagreed (score reversed) that the “ecological crisis” facing human has been greatly exaggerated deserves closer attention. this state of denial seems to be a disconnect from the respondents’ agreeing that a potential major ecological catastrophe may ensue due to man’s abuse of the natural environment. for as long as these respondents consider that the ecological crisis has been exaggerated, convincing them to care for the environment as well as to practice ecologically sound consumption behaviors shall remain to be an uphill climb. the results of testing the second hypothesis through the principal components analysis yielded three statistically significant and meaningful factors, albeit only five nep items have remained after elimination in order to improve the nep scale reliability. extant literature (roberts and bacon, 1997) generated four thematic nep factors, namely, (1) god and nature; (2) balance of nature; (3) limits to growth and (4) adaptation before modification. in this study, only the “balance of nature” seems to be consistent with roberts and bacon (1997). the dominant dimensions of this study namely (1) disastrous consequences of ecological abuse; (2) delicate balance of nature;” and, (3) humans subject to laws of nature” seem to reveal the respondents’ belief on the supremacy of nature and the disastrous consequences of the present state of human exploitation of the natural environment cognizant of the delicate balance of nature. having extracted these three themes should help identify and simplify the communication points to these consumers, particularly when reinforcing or even modifying their attitudes to favor the environment. leveraging along these themes, education and information campaigns may focus on strategies in support of these consumers’ concern of the environment. for example, in the case of implementing the ecological solid waste management law at the household level, the message directed to the consumers may emphasize that by appropriately segregating their household waste, ecological disaster may be averted. likewise, the benefits of maintaining the balance of nature may be stressed when persuading consumers to prefer eco-friendly products. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 50 conclusions this study investigated the level of environment concern and mapped out the ecological worldview among cebu city middle income household heads through the use of the new ecological paradigm (nep) scale. using principal components analysis, the study also explored the underlying dimensions of the nep scale scores of these respondents. the diminutive average nep score (3.2, “unsure”) of the respondents indicates a lukewarm environment concern. however, increasing this level of concern is not without hope. an understanding of the underlying dimensions of the nep statements may serve as entry points when improving the consumers’ ecological worldview. the underlying nep dimensions have been interpreted in this study as (1) disastrous consequences of ecological abuse; (2) delicate balance of nature;” and, (3) humans subject to laws of nature.” awareness of these dimensions simplifies and makes straightforward the communications strategies to these respondents. policy makers may strengthen consumers’ current eco-centric beliefs and target possible modification of their anthropocentric affect through communication and education campaigns. when attempting to deepen this level of environment concern through education, information and awareness advocacies, policy makers, project managers and advocates may begin by focusing on these nep underlying themes. with the current state of environmental abuse and degradation and the consequences of man’s disregard to the natural ecology, a citizenry that espouses a favorable environmental worldview is crucial. in the words of corraliza and berenguer (2000), people with pro-environmental attitudes“ pay attention to, be concerned about, and ultimately, act in the name of environmental protection.” limitations the nep originally had been designed by its proponents as a measure of ecological worldview. as in other studies across various samples around the world that used the nep scale, readers must be made aware of the use of a “worldview” instrument for an attitudinal international peer reviewed journal 51 measure. it is prudent to assess the validity of the constructs “worldview” and “attitude.” future related studies may utilize other environmental attitude scales to validate this study’s results. also, the weak inter-item correlations of the 15 items of the nep limit the robustness of the analysis. only five items remained as the other scales items had to be eliminated in order to reach statistical significance. thus, future studies utilizing the nep must ensure that respondents clearly take a stand on the nep statements, i.e, the respondents must undoubtedly understand each of the nep items and avoid yielding in to socially desirable responses. figure 1. age distribution of respondents figure 2. sex distribution of respondents age of respondent 2.40% 24.40% 24.20% 22.60% 16.60% 9.80% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 20 or less 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 above 60 sex of respondent male, 270, 54% female, 230, 46% jpair: multidisciplinary journal 52 figure 3. educational attainment distribution of respondents figure 4. gross monthly household income distribution of respondents educational attainment of respondent 4.20% 17% 1.40% 22.40% 49.60% 5.40% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% el em en tar y hi gh s ch oo l te ch nic al/ vo ca tio na l so me c oll eg e fin ish ed c oll eg e po st gr ad ua te gross monthly household income php 8,001 15,000 (broad c1), 190, 38% php 15,001 30,000 (broad c2), 201, 40% php 30,001 50,000 (upper c1), 106, 21% php 50,001 100,000 (upper c2), 3, 1% international peer reviewed journal 53 a pp en di x a n ew e co lo gi ca l p ar ad ig m s ca le fr eq ue nc y d is tr ib ut io n an d it em t ot al c or re la ti on s fo r th e n e p sc al e it em s s ca le i te m s % s a m a u m d s d to ta l m ea n s td . d ev c or re ct ed it em -t ot al c or re la ti on c ro n b ac h ’s a lp h a if i te m d el et ed 1. w e ar e ap pr oa ch in g th e lim it o f t he n um be r of p eo pl e th e ea rt h ca n su pp or t. 11 17 .4 11 .6 32 .6 27 .4 10 0 3. 48 1. 35 0. 30 6 0. 40 5 2. t he e ar th is li ke a s pa ce sh ip w it h ve ry li m it ed r oo m an d r es ou rc es . 19 23 6. 8 25 26 .2 10 0 3. 16 1. 51 0. 26 3 0. 46 1 3. t he b al an ce o f n at ur e is v er y d el ic at e an d e as ily up se t. 3. 8 11 8. 8 41 35 .4 10 0 3. 93 1. 11 0. 35 5 0. 40 1 4. w he n hu m an s in te rf er e w it h na tu re , i t o ft en p ro d uc es d is as tr ou s co ns eq ue nc es . 3. 4 9 6. 6 30 .6 50 .4 10 0 4. 16 1. 10 0. 33 3 0. 40 7 5. h um an s ar e se ve re ly a bu si ng th e en vi ro nm en t. 2 6. 8 3 31 .4 56 .8 10 0 4. 34 0. 97 0. 29 4 0. 42 1 6. h um an s ha ve th e ri gh t t o m od if y th e na tu ra l en vi ro nm en t t o su it th ei r ne ed s. 23 .6 40 .4 8. 4 17 .6 10 10 0 2. 50 1. 30 0. 11 9 0. 45 9 7. h um an s w er e m ea nt to r ul e ov er th e re st o f n at ur e. 16 .4 31 11 .8 22 .4 18 .4 10 0 2. 95 1. 39 0. 19 9 0. 43 7 8. h um an in ge nu it y w ill in su re th at w e w ill n ot m ak e th e ea rt h un liv ab le 20 .4 33 .2 14 .6 21 .2 10 .6 10 0 2. 68 1. 30 -0 .0 57 0. 50 6 9. if th in gs c on ti nu e on th ei r pr es en t c ou rs e, w e w ill so on e xp er ie nc e a m aj or e co lo gi ca l c at as tr op he . 3. 8 4. 4 5. 2 32 54 .6 10 0 4. 29 1. 02 0. 28 7 0. 42 1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 54 10 . d es pi te o ur s pe ci al a bi lit ie s hu m an s ar e st ill s ub je ct to th e la w s of n at ur e. 1. 4 3. 2 2. 4 33 .8 59 .2 10 0 4. 46 0. 81 0. 18 5 0. 44 6 11 . t he e ar th h as p le nt y of n at ur al r es ou rc es if w e le ar n ho w to d ev el op th em . 76 .8 18 .8 0. 8 2. 2 1. 4 10 0 1. 33 0. 73 -0 .2 11 0. 50 6 12 . p la nt s an d a ni m al s ha ve a s m uc h ri gh t a s hu m an s to e xi st . 3. 2 6. 8 5 26 59 10 0 4. 31 1. 05 0. 11 4 0. 45 9 13 . t he b al an ce o f n at ur e is s tr on g en ou gh to c op e w it h th e im pa ct s of m od er n in d us tr ia l n at io ns . 17 38 14 .2 20 .4 10 .4 10 0 2. 69 1. 26 0. 15 5 0. 44 9 14 . h um an s w ill e ve nt ua lly le ar n en ou gh a bo ut h ow na tu re w or ks to b e ab le o c on tr ol it . 4. 4 10 .4 11 49 25 .2 10 0 3. 80 1. 07 -0 .1 20 0. 50 8 15 . t he s oca lle d “ ec ol og ic al c ri si s” fa ci ng h um an k in d ha s be en g re at ly e xa gg er at ed . 21 .4 37 .8 10 .2 18 .2 12 .4 10 0 2. 62 1. 33 0. 12 8 0. 45 8 to ta l a v e 3. 20 1. 04 a t he q ue st io nn ai re s ta te d : “ fo r ea ch s ta te m en t b el ow , p le as e ch ec k yo ur a ns w er o n th e ap pr op ri at e co lu m n at th e ri gh t.” b sa = s tr on gl y ag re e, m a = m ild ly a gr ee , u = u ns ur e/ ne it he r ag re e no r d is ag re e, m d = m ild ly d is ag re e, s d = s tr on gl y d is ag re e a d is ag re em en t w it h qu es ti on it em s nu m be r 6, 7 , 8 , 1 1, 1 3, 1 4 an d 1 5 in d ic at e co nc er n fo r th e en vi ro m en t a it em -t ot al c or re la ti on s re fl ec t t he c or re la ti on b et w ee n th e si ng le it em a nd th e to ta l s co re o f t he s ca le ex cl ud in g it se lf . international peer reviewed journal 55 appendix b eigenvalues of the correlation matrix eigenvalue difference proportion cumulative 1 2.27147185 1.44029791 0.4543 0.4543 2 0.83117393 0.09526682 0.1662 0.6205 3 0.73590711 0.08526692 0.1472 0.7677 4 0.655064019 0.13983327 0.1301 0.8978 5 0.51080692 0.1022 1.0000 literature cited albrecht, d., g. bultena, e. hoiberg & p. nowak 1982 the new environmental paradigm scale. journal of environmental education, 13, 3, 39 – 43. bansal, p. & k. roth 2000 why companies go green: a model of ecological responsiveness. academy of management journal, 43, 4, 717 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environmental concern: the development of a measure: environment and behavior, 10, 1, 3 – 15. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research design and fabrication of horizontal screw type mixer for livestock feed meal jayson r. cajindos orcid no. 0000-0002-1385-3438 jaysoncajindos@gmail.com university of northern philippines ilocos sur, philippines abstract small-scale livestock raisers are in dire need of a highly nutritious poultry feed to increase production output. and efficient mixing is the next key to good feed production. the mixing time for a batch of ingredients varies according to the design of the mixer, thus designing a fabricated horizontal screw type mixer was necessitate. the horizontal screw type mixer for livestock feed meal was fabricated using metal working concepts. the main components are the housing, bucket, rotor assembly and gear box. experimental design was made to obtain the machine performance like pulley ratio, number of paddles/ blades, and the driving gear ratio. the machine used four (4) inches diameter pulley at the gear box and seven (7) inches diameter pulley at the gear box and seven (inches) diameter pulley at the motor connecting with a v-belt, eight paddles were installed at the rotor shafting for good mixing capability. the driving gear used 18 teeth at the upper sprocket and 36 teeth at the lower sprocket to obtain past and efficient mixing of raw materials in the production of feeds. it is powered by one half horse power electric motor. the machine could produce in an average of 15 kilograms in two (3.66) minutes. keywords – technology, fabricated horizontal screw mixer, livestock feeds, experimental design, philippines vol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.266 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 83 international peer reviewed journal introduction backyard hog raiser is one of the added sources of income of small holder farmers in ilocos sur and in the region. farmers usually raise 520 heads of swine for ready source of cash for the family; and some had already ventured in a medium-scale production to cope up the demand of pork and other value adding productions such as “ longanisa”, pork “chicharon” and the like. food is one of the most important basic needs of animals like the hogs in order to survive. that is why food and machinery are related in terms of food production, preparation and other processes. traditionally, small scale hog, cattle and poultry raiser like the researcher, used manual or hand to mix the crushed feed. venturing into medium scale production, machineries is needed for the purposed of mixing an ingredients to turn into feeding of the animals. machine is a well-known structure consisting of frame works with various moving parts for doing the job easier, faster and more quality output. in addition, machine is a device which requires a certain amount of electrical energy to operate its moving part. zhang, finger, and behrens (2003) describe the functions of link mechanism is to produce rotating, oscillating or reciprocating motion from the rotation of the crank or vice versa. applying oscillating or reciprocating motion in designing and fabrication of horizontal screw type mixer will produce less torque resulting to low efficiency because it defends only to the force needed in mixing livestock feed ingredients. in fabrication of the machine it is composed of rotating and oscillating parts which produce to operate effectively, but cause accidents if it is not properly installed and mounted. hence, the philippine mechanical code, section 3.10.a 3.10.b and section will be followed as stated “ hazardous revolving or reciprocating parts shall be guarded, and guards may be provided with hinge or removable mechanism whenever it may be necessary to change belts, to make adjustments, or to apply lubrication to the guarded parts.” in the fabrication of the horizontal screw type mixer all safety precautions will be followed. raisers like the researcher are in dire need of a highly nutritious food to increase production output. machineries sold in the market are very expensive in the part of raisers. hence, this study is conceptualized to design and fabrication of horizontal screw type mixer. the result of this study could lead several experimentation, more efficient operation of the horizontal screw type mixer. the new fabricated design machine 84 jpair multidisciplinary research will improved the production of mixing the ingredients of livestock feed mill without large capital expenditure. additionally, the existing labor on a small farm may be able to absorb the extra load of making feeds, keeping operational costs low. farm-made compound feeds provide a potentially cheaper alternative to the purchase of commercially manufactured product. further, the farmer have the opportunity to increase productivity. framework the design of the horizontal feed mixer proceeded through following paradigm. it is operated by a ½ horsepower motor in order to rotate the rotor by means of a pulley and the v-belt. the rotor consists of horizontal screws, paddles or metal ribbon blades mounted on a horizontal rotor with in a semicircular trough. the move of the material from one end of the mixer to the other, tumbling as it goes. this mixer will discharge the mixed product from the bottom, using the mixer blade action. figure 1. process flow of the study this study is founded on the theory that design and development of horizontal ribbon type feeds mixer provides savings on unit feed costs achieved by smallscale on-farm feed production. in addition, the study is fundamentally focused on determining possible effect of feed mixers because there is always an optimum level needed by farmers specifically small scale farm owners to attain maximum net income. some farm owners in the province failed to achieve high net income due to high cost of commercial feeds. one contributory factor to their failure is the lack of information that would eventually reduce their input on feeds commercially manufactured by feed millers, and sold in the market. to provide reliable data and information to farm owners and backyard raisers, the researcher in this experiment developed the design of horizontal ribbon type 85 international peer reviewed journal feeds mixer as alternative to highly costs feed mills to obtain maximum return. hence, some studies and related literature are hereunder cited which served as bases and guidance of the researcher in conducting the experiment. according to orriss( 1997) ribbon mixer is one used in manufacturing and industrial applications. ribbon mixers are also occasionally called ribbon blenders. they are usually used when one of the items being mixed has a lot of particles, and it’s important that all ingredients are mixed evenly. the mixer has a central shaft with mixing blades angled in different ways that look like ribbons of metal wrapped around the shaft, and is able to move parts of the mixture in different directions at the same time, ensuring that all ingredients are blended in. it can be used for food or medicine manufacturing as well as for heavier industry. the ribbon mixer consists of some type of closed container, usually with a shape similar to a feed through. the shaft with attached blades is located inside the container. blades of the ribbon mixer are look like two metal ribbons winding around the shaft, in a double helix design. the ribbon mixer can have a horizontal construction, where the shaft and blade are sideways in container, or the shaft and blade can be in a vertical position. a ribbon mixer usually operates very slowly, and requires a lot of power to work. the blade is formed and angled in a way that allows the mixture to move in two directions at once. the mixture in the outer part of the container typically moves in one direction, while the mixture near the center of the container moves in the opposite direction. the shape of the ribbon mixer also ensures that no ingredients are left undisturbed on the bottom of the container, and that all portions of the mixture are blended evenly with the same ratio of ingredients. orriss (1997) added the use of a ribbon mixer is not recommended for mixtures that have sticky final product as the unique design of the blade makes it difficult to clean sticky substances off to it. however, ribbon mixers are an ideal choice for many other applications. they can be used for wet or dry mixtures, and they mix ingredients evenly, yet gently. a few examples of dry mixtures are fine gravels, powders, pets or farm animal foods, cereals. snack mixes, and certain medications. examples of wet or moist mixtures include the many types of dough used in commercial bakeries, as well as resins and plaster used for manufacturing building materials. vertical mixers are unsuitable for mixing wet ingredients. horizontal mixers are more suitable but, because of their complex construction, are often difficult to clean properly. there is also a tendency for sticky materials to adhere to the blades and to accumulate at one end of the mixer. simple bowl or circular mixers are the most suitable types for mixing wet ingredients or mixtures of wet or 86 jpair multidisciplinary research dry materials. they can also be used for mixing dry ingredients. this type of mixer is available in sizes suitable for mixing a few kilograms or of dealing with several tons of ingredients. the larger types discharge the mixed product from the bottom. chicken horizontal feed mixer consists of a series of paddles or metal ribbon blades mounted on a horizontal rotor within a semi-circular trough. the blades move the material from one end of the mixer to the other, tumbling it as it goes. vertical mixers are the most common type found in small livestock feed mills. however, the vertical type is well suited to aquaculture, poultry and fish feeds than the horizontal type, which are much more efficient in blending in small quantities if liquids (such as added lipids) or in mixing ingredients with different particle sizes. ribbon mixer paddle mixer had consisted of a series of paddle or metal ribbon blades mounted on a horizontal rotor within a semi-circular trough. the blades move the material from one end of the mixer to the other, tumbling it as it goes. these mixers usually discharge the mixed product from the bottom, using the same mixer blade action. see above the inside views of both a paddle mixer and a ribbon mixer. simple mixtures as the title implies, this is simply the act of mixing two or more ingredients together. the raw materials used may be all dry, all moist, or a mixture of both. the purpose of mixing them, rather than feeding them to the animals separately, is to provide a more balance feed (i.e., not all high protein ingredients or all high carbohydrates etc,). a simple mixture like this, particularly one consisting of dry materials only, does not remain a single feed once it is put into water in which the animals live. it will tend to break down very quickly into its components parts. however, it is a simple way of providing a better feed than a single ingredient. simple mixtures, such as groundnut cake and rice ban, are often made for this purpose where no feed making equipment is available on the farm at all. the ingredients should be as finely ground when purchased as possible, to ensure that the stock can ingest them. the mixing process can be done by hand, by shovel on the floor, by pounding in a bowl, or by simple mechanical mixer. a concrete mixer will do. the main thing to be careful about in this type of simple mixing is that the proportions of the ingredients are correct and that no contamination occurs. the ingredients should be weighed out, not measured by volume, because the bulk densities of different ingredients vary widely. an alternative method is to weigh one batch of each ingredient and then to mark its volume container specifically 87 international peer reviewed journal reserved for that ingredient, using volume measurement in each successive batch. even this is a little inaccurate however, because the bulk density of the same ingredient can vary, especially according to its particle size. care must be taken to see chat only the intended ingredients are included in the mixture. make sure that the ingredients are well identified and that chemicals which may be stored nearby are not included by mistake. do not mix feed on a floor area which is contaminated with herbicides or pesticides (orriss 1997). feed grains are the most important source of animal feed globally. the amount to grain used to produce the same unit of meat varies substantially. according to an estimate reported by the bbc in 2008, «cows and sheep need 8kg of grain for every 1kg of meat they produce, pigs about 4kg. the most efficient poultry units need a mere 1.6kg of feed to produce 1kg of chicken.  farmed fish  can also be fed on grain, and use even less then poultry. the two most important feed grains are  maize  and  soybean, and the  united states  is by far  the largest exporter  of both, averaging about half of the global maize trade and 40% of the global soya trade in the years leading up the 2012 drought. other feed grains include  wheat,  oats,  barley, and  rice, among many others. traditional sources of animal feed include  household food scrap  and the by-products of food processing industries such as milling and brewing. scraps fed to pigs are called  slop, and those fed to chicken are called  chicken scratch. brewer’s spent grain is a by-product of beer making that is widely used as animal feed (orriss 1997). animal feeding practices have changed considerably over the past century. as large-scale, concentrated production methods have become the predominant model for animal husbandry, animal feeds have been modified to include ingredients ranging from rendered animals and animal waste to antibiotics and organoarsenicals. evidences, that current feeding practice lead to adverse human health impacts. the u.s. animal feed industry is the largest producer of animal feed in the world (gill 2004). in 2004, over 120 million tons of primary animal feed, including mixes of feed grains, mill by-products, animal proteins, and micro ingredient formulations (i.e., vitamins, minerals, and antibiotics) were produced in the united states (gill 2004). in the same year, the united states exported nearly $4 billion worth of animal feed ingredients. the structure of the u.s. animal feed industry is complex, with a multitude of industries and individual producers contributing to the production, mixing, and distribution of feed ingredients and complete feed products. however, there are a few firms that play principal roles in the manufacture of u.s. feeds, including feed mills, rendering 88 jpair multidisciplinary research plants, and protein blenders. feed mills combine plantand animal-based feed ingredients to produce mixes designed for specific animal species. rendering plants transform slaughter by-products and animals that are unsuitable for human consumption into animal feed products using grinding, cooking, and pressing processes (gao 2000; national renderers association inc. 2005a). protein blenders mix processed plantand animal-based protein ingredients from many sources into animal feeds (gao 2000). once animal feed ingredients are mixed, an estimated 17,500 u.s. animal feed dealers distribute the final feed products to individual feeding operations (feedstuffs 2005). another major animal protein–based feed ingredient is animal waste, including dried ruminant waste, dried poultry litter, and dried swine waste (aafco 2004). as with rendered animal products, there are no national data on the total amounts of animal waste included in animal feeds, although some states have collected limited data concerning this practice. in 2003, it was estimated that approximately 1 million tons of poultry litter were produced annually in florida, and an estimated 350,000 tons of this litter were available for use in feed (dubberly 2003). yet, information concerning the precise amount of this “available” poultry litter that was actually incorporated into florida animal feed was unavailable. recycling animal waste into animal feed has been practiced for > 40 years as a means of cutting feed costs. however, the u.s. food and drug administration (fda) does not officially endorse the use of animal waste in feed and has issued statements voicing the agency’s concern about the presence of pathogens and drug residues in animal waste, particularly poultry litter (fda 1998). in line with these concerns, the aafco, an organization that develops guidelines for the safe use of animal feeds, advises that processed animal waste should not contain pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, or drug residues that could harm animals or eventually be detected in animal-based food products intended for human consumption (aafco 2004). in addition to animal protein–based ingredients, fats originating from both plant and animal sources are included in animal feed and may contain contaminants such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs), which are harmful to human health. in 1988, the usda (1988) reported that approximately 1.3 million metric tons of fats were used in the production of u.s. primary animal feed. unfortunately, as with many other animal feed ingredients, we were not able to obtain recent data. yet, because as much as 8% of feed could be composed of fats alone (schmidt 2004), the quality (i.e., contaminant levels) of 89 international peer reviewed journal both plant and animal fats used in animal feed could be important factors in the ultimate safety of animal-based food products. metal compounds are also administered in animal feeds, and the compounds currently added to both swine and poultry feeds that are particularly concerning from a public health perspective are organoarsenicals. the most commonly used organoarsenical, roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsenic-acid), is administered to feeds at concentrations ranging from 22.7 g/ton to 45.4 g/ ton to promote growth and improve feed efficiency (chapman and johnson 2002). when used in combination with ionophores, roxarsone also act as a co-coccidiostat to control intestinal parasites (chapman and johnson 2002). once roxarsone is ingested by animals, the parent compound can be degraded into inorganic arsenite (asiii) and inorganic arsenate (asv) in animal digestive tracts and animal waste (arai et al. 2003; stolz et al. 2007). both asiii and asv are classified by the u.s. environmental protection agency (u.s. epa) as group a human carcinogens (u.s. epa 1998). many other metallic compounds are also mixed into feeds, including copper, manganese, magnesium, and zinc compounds, as well as metal amino acid complexes (aafco 2004). objectives of the study the overall objective of this research is to design and develop horizontal ribbon type feed mixer so that some of the hog and cattle raiser developments shall be realized; to wit: assemble the component of the horizontal screw type feed mixer for livestock feed mills, dry-run and test the performance in the different parameters to obtain the productive performance of the machine in the following main component; pulley ratio between the gear box and the motor; number of paddles or blades, a)driving gear ratio of sprocket, and b) using the motor size. further, the significant difference between and among the different combination parts will be measured. materials and methods this study used the experimental type of research conducted in two phases namely, phase 1: the design and fabrication of the machine; and phase 2: qualitative testing to identify the mixing capacity. the designed machine computation of the horizontal feed mixer to handle a 15 kg. mass of feed was done, for proper machine design approach. the machine 90 jpair multidisciplinary research was designed using autocad 2d design software and proper material selection was done before the assembling and fabrication of parts. the efficiency of the machine, its associated cost of production and the product obtained after few minutes of mixing were outstanding, thereby, making the design acceptable and cost effective. the horizontal feed mixer was constructed by the following major parts; electric motor, the mixing trough, metal bucket, shaft pulley, motor pulley, set of blades mounted on the shaft, bearings, speed reducer (gear box), shaft, supporting structures, and v-belt. the machine can achieve the desired poultry feed mixing based on the proper design specification of the various components of the machine and it will be tested in different trials to obtain efficient operation. frequency and percentage were utilized to determine the mixing procedures. mean were used to give summary statistics and information on the level of the mixing procedure. the anova were used to find out whether there is a significant difference of the assembled machine over the commercial one found in the market. procedure in fabricating the machine 1. cut the 1”x1”x20” angle bar into different sizes required in making the frame of the mixer bucket: a) cut four pieces eleven inches long, use as a brace of mixer b) cut two pieces 20 inches long, use as bucket frame. 2. divide the stainless plain sheet into three: 1 piece 20 inches by 52 inches, use as bucket; 2 pieces 12 by 20 for the left and right siding. 3. cut into eight the 24 inches by .25mm stainless steel, use as paddle bucket. 4. weld the parts being used for the mixer’s frame. 5. put inside the frame the 20 by 52 inches stainless steel to form bucket. 6. attached the right side siding to connect the right pillow block bearing with 8 inches upper part centered to the bucket. 7. assemble the 4 paddles connected to the 24” main shaft. 8. put the 22 pieces 3/16 machine bolt and knot to lock the right side siding. 9. lock the pillow block on the right, lock the pillow block on the left side. 10. attached the 36 teeth sprocket to the main driving shaft and lock. 11. attached the chain for transmission to the gearbox. 12. weld the basement of the gearbox. 13. weld the basement of the driving electric motor. 14. lock the gearbox on its basement. 91 international peer reviewed journal 15. lock the electric motor to its basement. 16. put the v-belt to the gearbox pulley connected to the electric motor 4 inches diameter pulley. assembly of the component of the horizontal feed mixer for livestock feed mills a. housing structure b. motor, pulley, v-belt and the speed reducer relationship. the electric motor has 1750 rpm speed. in order to attain the speed reduction, a 3 inches diameter of motor pulley was used. a 6 inches pulley was also used at the speed reducer (the gearbox to drive from the motor to the gearbox using v-belt. c. speed reducer (gearbox) and the rotor/shafting assembly figure 1 figure 2 figure 1 and 2 during the fabrication process of housing dry run and tested performance in the different parameters to obtained the productive performance of the machine a series of experimental design were made to obtain the machine performance like performance of the machine thru pulley ratio, the different number of paddles or blades, driving gear ratio. series of trials were made to obtain the productivity of the machine. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. installation of gear box and motor figure 4. the paddle design results and discussion on performance of the machine thru pulley ratio between gearbox and motor there were three trials conducted to obtain the performance of the machine through pulley ratio at the gearbox and the motor. 93 international peer reviewed journal table 1. performance of the machine thru pulley ratio between gearbox and motor variables output gearbox motor t1 t2 t3 average a. 4 inches diameter 3 inches diameter 6 min 5 min 4 min 5 min b. 4 inches diameter 5 inches diameter 6 min 4 min 3 min 4.33 min c. 4 inches diameter 7 inches diameter 5 min 4 min 2 min 3.66 min table 1 presents the three variable combinations of gearbox and motor ratio pulley. and it was made three trials for each combination of gearbox and motor to obtain the average time in mixing a raw material of feeds. combination of gear ratio are: first, 4 inches diameter at gearbox and 3 inches diameter at the motor pulley; second, 4 inches diameter at gearbox and 5 inches diameter at the motor pulley; and the third combination, 4 inches diameter at gearbox and 7 inches diameter at the motor pulley. in every combination and three trials were to obtain the best combination of pulley, to look into the normal operation of the motor in consideration the capacity rating not to be overheated and overloaded the motor. as gleaned at the table, it is evidently seen that variable letter a, gave an average of 5 minutes, variable letter b is 4.33 minutes, and variable letter c, gave 3.66 minutes in mixing raw material of feeds in equivalent of 15 kilograms. of the three variables of combination, using a 4 inches diameter of pulley at gearbox and 7 inches diameter of the pulley of the motor gave the best mixing time with an average of 3.66 minutes in mixing an ingredient of 15 kilograms livestock feeds. this implies that the larger the pulley of the motor than the gearbox shown a faster performance of the horizontal screw type feed mixer machine to mix a raw material in the production of livestock feeds without abnormality in operation of the electric motor. this is in consonance to the statements of orriss (1997) , ribbon mixer usually operates very slowly, and requires a lot of power to work. the blade is formed and angled in a way that allows the mixture to move in two directions at once. the mixture in the outer part of the container typically moves in one direction, while the mixture near the center of the container moves in the opposite direction. the shape of the ribbon mixer also ensures that no ingredients are left undisturbed on the bottom of the container, and that all portions of the mixture are blended evenly with the same ratio of ingredients. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research on performance of the machine on the different number of paddles or blades in assembling the rotor to drive the raw material while mixing feeds are important to consider. the number of paddles or blades should be properly selected. paddles or a blade gives the perfect mixing capability of the machine. there were three sets of variables in identifying a good mixing performance in consideration of the positions of the paddles or blades. table 2 presents the different design of the paddle or the blades. variable number 1 having 2 paddles with ribbon, variable number 2 having 4 paddles with ribbon, and the variable number 3 having 8 paddles with ribbon. table 2. performance of the machine thru the different number of paddles or blades variable output number of paddles t1 t2 t3 average 2 paddles 10 min 10 min 10 min 10 min 4 paddles 8 min 8 min 8 min 8 min 8 paddles 3.66 min 3.66 min 3.66 min 3.66 min in every variables, the machine was observed to obtain the average time in mixing and how it work in normal operation of the paddle and the way it mixed the raw materials in the production of livestock feeds. it can be seen that using 2 paddles on the rotor driver, it gave an average of 10 minutes to mix raw material of livestock feed with a volume of 16 kilograms. and the second variable gave an average of 8 minutes using 4 paddles; while the third variable gave an average of 3.66 minutes having to use 8 paddles or blades. the result implies that the third variable having the greatest number of paddles gave the best performance, that take only a 3.66 minutes in a good standard procedure of mixing the ingredients. it was further observed that no abnormalities observed from the motor, like raising of the ampere rating. the machine was also tested using the 4 paddles or blades removing the ribbon. it was observed that a slower time in mixing the ingredient, and a poor quality of feeds output. the researcher decided that the ribbon of the paddle will be re-installed. this related to the statement of orriss (1997) that ribbon mixer paddle had consisted of a series of paddle or metal ribbon blades mounted on a horizontal rotor within a semi-circular trough. the blades move the material from one end of the mixer to the other, tumbling it as it goes. these mixers usually discharge 95 international peer reviewed journal the mixed product from the bottom, using the same mixer blade action. on the performance of the machine on the driving gear ratio and sprocket to give more efficiency on the operation of the machine, a combination of upper and lower sprocket of the motor and the driving gear box were identified. it was carefully observed for a good quality as mixing the ingredients of the livestock feed. table 3 presents the result of performance of the horizontal screw type feed mixer machine in the two sets of driving gear ratio. horizontal ribbon mixer is a new type of mixing equipment with high efficiency, high uniformity, high load factor, low energy consumption, low pollution and little destruction to frangible material. it is widely used to mix powder-powder and powder-liquid, especially materials that are paste, viscous or with big specific gravity such as putty, stone coatings, metal powders, etc. horizontal ribbon mixer consists of transmission parts, double ribbon agitators and u-shape cylinder. in the direction of rotation, the outer ribbon pushes materials from both ends to the middle to both ends. ribbon wind with different angle direction carries the materials flowing in different directions. through continuous convective circulation, the materials are sheared and mixed thoroughly and quickly. in addition, it is cheap and is therefore frequently used in farms, particularly in south east and south asia (orriss 1997). table 3. performance of the machine thru the driving gear ratio variable output t1 t2 t3 average 18 teeth lower sprocket 36 teeth upper sprocket 3.66 min 3.66 min 3.66 min 3.66 min 36 teeth lower sprocket 18 teeth upper sprocket 2 min 2 min 2 min 2 min the data from the table reveals that the performance of the horizontal screw type feed mixer machine through driving gear ratio of 18 teeth lower sprocket and 36 teeth upper sprocket had an average of 3.66 minutes to mix a raw materials. while using a 36 teeth upper sprocket and 18 teeth upper sprocket it takes only two minutes to mix raw materials to feeds. this result implies that if the lower sprockets have a greater number of sprockets the faster to mix raw materials in the production of feeds. on the contrary if the upper sprocket contains a greater number of sprockets the performance of the machine to mix a raw material to 96 jpair multidisciplinary research becomes slower. of all the trials done like selecting the pulley ratio between the gearbox and the motor, number of paddles or blades and the proper selection of the driving gear ratio and the sprocket was obtained more faster and efficient mixing 16 kilos of ingredients from 3.66 minutes to two (2) minutes. on the performance of the machine on choosing the motor size for an efficient and economical way of electric energy consumption, the machine was also carefully chosen. there were three sets of motor being used to assess the capability in mixing ingredients of the machine. the first trial is by using 1 horsepower rating of the motor at 1750 revolution per minute. and the second trial is by 1 ½ horsepower rating, and the third trial is by using a ½ horsepower motor. using the first trial and the second trial using 1 horsepower and 1 ½ horsepower motor, gave a good mixing of ingredient capability of the machine respectively. there were no abnormalities being observed while in operation and mixing of 16 kilos in just 2 minutes. using these two trials, it was observed that the motor operates free-load. the ampere rating did not increased, which means that the motor is so big enough to drive the machine. the researcher tried to use a one half horsepower rating. the idea of reducing the size of motor was based on the observation on the ampere ratings of the two first trials. it is observed that the performance of the horizontal ribbon type feed mixer machine using ½ horsepower electric motor can drive the machine ideally. the same average time of 2 minutes to mix raw materials of feeds with an ideal operation. this is a manifestation that using ½ horsepower electric motor had an ideal and efficient operation without affecting any sensitive part of the machine. this implies that using lower size of electric motor has lesser current drawn. this implies further an economical current consumption of the machine. on the level of the performance of the machine between and among the different combination variables the level of performance was compared with the different components to determine whether the component differs significantly in the production of mixing ingredient. the mean score in the level of the different variables were there subjected to test of differences. 97 international peer reviewed journal table 4. result of anova testing for significant difference in the level of performance and among the different trials of component components f-ratio f-sig decision pulley 9.60 p<0.05 reject ho paddles 0.00 p>0.05 do not reject ho gear 0.00 p>0.05 do not reject ho the result of the one-way analysis of variance (anova) shows that there is no significant difference in the level of performance among the different variable groups of components. this implies that the groups of variables are not significantly different or are not affected by the normal operation of the machine. to find out which groups are significantly different in their level of operation, the means of component were further subjected to multiple range test through the post hoc tests method. table 5. scheffe test in the level of operation of the different components multiple comparisons scheffe dependent variable (i) output (j) output mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound 3.00 2.66667* .60858 .013 .7148 4.6185 2.00 1.00 -1.33333 .60858 .171 -3.2852 .6185 3.00 1.33333 .60858 .171 -.6185 3.2852 3.00 1.00 -2.66667* .60858 .013 -4.6185 -.7148 2.00 -1.33333 .60858 .171 -3.2852 .6185 paddles 1.00 2.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 3.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 2.00 1.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 3.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 3.00 1.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 2.00 .00000 2.64641 1.000 -8.4877 8.4877 gear 1.00 2.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 3.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 2.00 1.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 3.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 3.00 1.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 2.00 .00000 .78253 1.000 -2.5098 2.5098 *. the mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research pulley paddles gear pulley --paddles 0.171 --gear 0.013* 0.171 --*significant at 0.05 level table 5 presents the result of scheffe test on the level of operations of the different components. the data reveal that there is no significant difference on the level of operation on the use of pulley and paddles. however, there is a significant difference on the operations with respect to the use of pulley and gear. pulley ratio should match the gear ratio to attain the desired speed operation of the paddles. revolution of the paddles should have a desired speed operation based on the output of the driving gear. moreover, on the use of paddles and gear, there is no significant difference. conclusions on the basis of findings, the following conclusions are hereby deduced. stainless plain sheet was used in the fabrication of bucket and paddle or blades and stainless rod was also used as the shafting of the rotor assembly. gear box is used to reduce the speed ratio of the motor to the rotor assembly by means of using sprocket and chain. designing the horizontal screw type feed mixer was fabricated on the desired specification as per in the working drawing. combination of pulley ratio of the gearbox and the motor a four inches diameter pulley was used at the gear box while seven inches diameter pulley at motor. there were eight paddles or blades with ribbon that gave the best productive performance. the driving gear and the sprocket used 36 teeth upper side while 18 teeth sprocket lower side gave the right combination and resulted faster from 3.66 minutes to two minutes to produce 15 kilograms of feed. the machine was powered by ½ horsepower motor. there is a significant difference on the operation with respect to the use of pulley and gear. wet-milling, drying processes of raw materials ingredient were prepared. performance of the machine gave the key to good feed production. 99 international peer reviewed journal recommendations based on the conclusions drawn from this study, the following recommendations are hereby suggested. hog and fowl raisers should adapt the use of feed mixer machine. the department of science and technology should evaluate the ease of handling and safety features of the machine for patenting and commercialization. there should be an inspection to feed millers regarding proper measurement of the ingredients. literature cited arai, y., lanzirotti, a., sutton, s., davis, j.a., sparks, d.l. 2003 arsenic speciation and reactivity in poultry litter. environ sci tech. 2003;15:4083–4090. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/ zkdyxy chapman, h.d., johnson, z. b. 2002 use of antibiotics and roxarsone in broiler chickens in the usa: analysis for the years 1995 to 2000. poult sci. 2002;81:356–364. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/6sqvz1 dubberly, d. 2003 substances prohibited from use in animal food or feed; animal proteins prohibited in ruminant feed. docket: 02n-0273, comment no.: ec -31. washington, dc:u.s. food and drug administration. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/8dgeg1 feedstuffs feed marketing and distribution 2005 feedstuffs. 77:4. gao 2000 food safety: controls can be strengthened to reduce the risk of disease linked to unsafe animal feed. gao/rced-00-255. washington, dc: general accounting office. retrieved on january 3, 2006 from http://goo.gl/qttupj 100 jpair multidisciplinary research gao 2002 mad cow disease: improvements in the animal feed ban and other regulatory areas would strengthen u.s. prevention efforts. gao-02183. washington, dc:general accounting office. retrieved on march 22, 2007 from http://goo.gl/fmgewz gill, c. 2004 top ten feed makers worldwide. feed manag. 2004;55:38–40. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/xrcdg9 orriss 1997 fda requests that ball clay not be used in animal feeds. rockville, md:u.s. fda center for veterinary medicine. retrieved on january 23, 2006 from http://goo.gl/r7kbsh schmidt 2004 aafco official publication. oxford, in: association of american feed control. stolz, j. f., perera, e., kilonzo, b., kail, b., crable, b., fisher, e., ... & basu, p. 2007 biotransformation of 3-nitro-4-hydroxybenzene arsonic acid (roxarsone) and release of inorganic arsenic by clostridium species.environmental science & technology, 41(3), 818-823.doi: 10.1021/es061802i. retrieved on january 10, 2007 from http://goo.gl/kfo9gn u.s. da 1998 integrated risk information system.arsenic, inorganic (casrn 744038-2) washington, dc:u.s. epa integrated risk information system. retrieved on march 26, 2007 from http://goo.gl/o7jbci zhang, y., finger, s., & behrens, s. 2003 introduction to mechanisms. carnegie mellon university. retrieved on august 28,2013, from http://goo.gl/r5jg5n 155 international peer reviewed journal filipino nurses competencies and their perspective on asean integration mary jane k. balawag https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2996-6944 joenajtwak06@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city maria hazel d.cayena https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2036-5475 mhzelcayena@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city bai katherine t. dela torre https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-0413 bkdt113077@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city girlie “j” g. hermoso https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9690-9208 gjxmas2471@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city judelyn t. uson notre dame university cotabato city originality: 95% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 5% vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.610 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:joenajtwak06@gmail.com mailto:mhzelcayena@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-0413 mailto:bkdt113077@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9690-9208 mailto:gjxmas2471@gmail.com 156 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the study intends to determine the level of competencies (knowledge, skills, & attitude) based on the philippine nursing core competency standards and nurse’s perspective on asean integration to match with their competencies and determine their readiness towards the alliance. a descriptive quantitative design was used. the survey questionnaire was conducted among nurses (112) working in the government hospital in region xii such as cotabato city, general santos city, kidapawan city, and koronadal city. focus group discussion and key informant interview were utilized. findings revealed that nurses have high knowledge, very competent, and moderately favorable attitude towards their role in client care, leadership and management, and research. common themes emerged are, a. clueless about asean integration; b. filipinos are globally competent. nurses do not have an idea of the asean integration. but they were not threatened because they considered themselves globally competent. despite the information dissemination of the government regarding asean integration, this significant information did not reach the nurses working in the clinical area. nurses have a different understanding of the asean integration phenomenon because of the degree of exposure. however, competency wise, filipino nurse believed they could keep up with the demands made by the integration. keywords — asean integration, filipino nurses’ competency, descriptive quantitative design, philippines introduction (aec) will involve the free movement of professionals among the ten asean countries. seven professionals have the best opportunity for loose change including nurses. however, a set of standards concerning education and competencies has been drawn up, and only those who will qualify can freely move in the region (jimeno, 2014). nevertheless, this will give a chance for the nursing profession to strengthen professional capabilities by promoting the flow of relevant information and exchange of expertise, experience and best practices suited to the specific needs of asean member countries (asean secretariat, 2014). filipino nurses, on the other hand, have ambivalent feelings about asean economic integration in the country. should they be worried and feel threatened 157 international peer reviewed journal or excited for the new opportunity for professional growth and personal progress. however, the philippines is one of the leading suppliers of skilled workers in asean countries (yue, 2011). according to the joint study of asian development bank (adb) and the international labour organization (ilo) on the impact of asean economic community on labor, it revealed that by the year 2025 philippines would generate 3 million additional jobs for the filipinos (2014). effective implementation of services and liberation for deeper economic integration in the aec can be achieved through mobilization of skilled labor. among other professions, nursing is one of those covered by the movement of natural persons in the wto. only those who meet the requirements based on the expected and standard professional education and competencies are eligible for mobilization in the region. (yue, 2011). furthermore, domestic regulations will also limit the cross-border movement of nurses. for example, for a filipino nurse to practice in malaysia or singapore, the candidate is required to obtain temporary practicing certificate (tpc) in malaysia and employment pass or s pass in singapore (matsuno, 2009). filipino nurses need to be competitive to survive and flourish in the world of asean integration. although in an asean perspective, a joint effort of the governments, private sectors, and stakeholders across southeast asia are working together towards the full realization of the asean community through harmonization of the nursing education among asean countries (south east asian ministers of education organization, 2016). the philippines as part of the asean countries is not exempted to this. the questions are how much nurses are prepared to meet the competitive regarding integrating with other countries in the region? are they equipped with the expected competencies based on the standards of nursing practice? with the scenario presented, the researchers would like to assess the skills of nurses in region xii and determine their perspective in adapting transition demands of asean economic integration. framework this study was anchored on the novice to expert theory of patricia e. benner and nursing intellectual capital theory by christine covell and souraya sidani. in the first theory, dr. patricia benner emphasized that a nurse can become an expert in her field, gain her skills and empathetic patient care through a wide range of educational background coupled with the learning experience. it does not happen overnight; it takes a lot of years to develop it. she conceptualizes in 158 jpair multidisciplinary research her writing about nursing skills as experience is a prerequisite for becoming an expert (oshvandi, moghadam, khatiban, cheraghi, borzu, & moradi, 2016). benner (1984) described five levels of nursing experience as a novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, an expert. novice means a beginner with no experience. they needed to be taught with general rules before they can perform tasks. advanced beginners are those newly graduate on their first job. they have the knowledge and know-how but not enough in-depth experience. competent is typically a nurse with 2-3 years’ experience on the job in the same area or similar day-to-day situations. these nurses lack the speed and flexibility of a proficient nurse, but they have some mastery and can rely on planning and organizational skills. proficient perceives and understands situations as whole parts. more holistic understanding which improves decision-making and learns from experiences what to expect in a certain situation and how to modify plans. lastly, the expert is nurses who know what needs to be done because she no longer relies on principles, rules, or guidelines to connect situations and determine actions because she has much more background of experience. has an intuitive grasp of clinical situations and performance is now fluid, flexible, and highly-proficient. this theory changed the profession’s understanding of what it means to be an expert, placing this designation not on the nurse with the most highly paid or most prestigious position, but on the nurse, who provided “the most exquisite nursing care. hence, in this study, the professional advancement required by the prc to remain globally competitive with other asean member state is indeed essential for nurses to integrate and facilitate the occupational mobility across asean countries. this move enables the liberalization of the practice of nursing and so with the other professions like engineering, medicine, dentistry, accountancy, architecture, and surveying. undergoing continuing professional development will improve the quality of registered professional; it will provide support for lifelong learning enhancement of the competencies of the filipino professionals towards the delivery of quality and ethical services locally and globally. the second theory known as nursing intellectual capital theory is a middlerange theory which proposes nursing human capital, operationalized as registered nurse’s knowledge, skills, and experience is related to patient issues related to the quality of patient care and organizational outcomes associated with recruitment and retention of registered nurses. nurses’ staffing and employer’s support for nurse continuing professional development are the two factors in the work environment that believed to influence the human capital quality patient’s care 159 international peer reviewed journal and retention and recruitment outcomes. the theory also suggests that nursing structural capital is directly related to the quality of patient care outcomes (covell & sidani, 2013). thus, through this theory, the study will be directed and guided of the proposition and intention of the researcher that acquiring advancement of the profession through continuous professional development will improve patient outcome, increase nurse’s recruitment and retention in an organization. hence, for the filipino nurses to continue locally competitive with other foreign nationals of asean countries a more significant investment must be made over the human nursing capital or the nurses because the theory suggested that higher levels of nursing human capital are associated with better quality patient care and registered nurse recruitment and retention. moreover, this paper was conceptualized based on the two theories discussed which provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under study. it offers a deeper meaning and provides a conceptual framework which will be helpful later on the analysis of the study. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the level of competency of filipino nurses in region xii and their perspective of asean integration. specifically, it sought to answer the following questions (1) the demographic profile of the filipino nurses regarding a. gender; b. highest educational attainment, c. length of service; and d. place of work, (2) the level of competency of nurses in the institution regarding a. knowledge; b. skills; and c. attitude, (3) the respondent’s idea on asean integration, and (4) the respondent’s perspective on the implication of asean integration concerning the level of competencies of filipino nurses. methodology research design the study made use of descriptive quantitative research design since the researchers would assess the level of competency such as knowledge, skills, and attitude of the nurses in region xii. there were combined elements of quantitative and qualitative approaches for breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration of the subject under study. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted in the cities of region 12: cotabato, koronadal, kidapawan, and general santos. the study required at least one government tertiary hospital from the identified cities where the chosen participants are currently working. participants the participants were nurses of region xii from cities of cotabato, general santos, koronadal, and kidapawan who are working in a government hospital. the reason for choosing hospital-based nurses as participants is that they will be more affected by the movement of the professionals across asean member states. the participants must have at least a three-year continuous experience as a practicing registered nurse. they can either be male or female, whether with masters or not, regardless of area of assignment, position or rank in the institution she/he is connected. nurses working in at least five of the asean countries were chosen and identified as participants of the study to determine the expected competencies required or set by the foreign country for nurses. further, the study wanted to examine if filipino nurses are adapting well with the set of standards in the practice of nursing in other asian countries or also suggest improvements with the current core competencies for nurses in the philippines. instrumentation the data collection was done through sets of survey questionnaires. set a pertained to the demographic profile of the participants. set b was the researchermade questionnaire on the level of competency of the filipino nurses concerning knowledge skills, and attitude. these competencies were based on the role of the nurse on client care, leadership, and management as well as the part of the nurse on research as stated in the philippine national core competency standard as of 2012. it was not contextualized on the virtue of the expected competencies of the nurse integrating into any asean member state. the real intention of the researchers is purely focused on identifying these competencies and determine the perspective of the nurses in asean integration concerning these competencies because the actual integration through movement of the human resources (nurses) across asean member state has not started yet in the philippines. the researcher made questionnaire was subjected for validation by experts with a score of 3.36 which was rated as excellent and pretesting of the instruments was done as well to determine the feasibility, correctness, and accuracy of the questions to circumvent 161 international peer reviewed journal the possibility of not getting the appropriate data with the reliability index of 0.647. an element of qualitative approach was utilized to view the phenomenon in a different dimension or lens which will add further depth to the study. hence, a focus group discussion was done to a separate group of nurses involved in the decisionmaking process and provide their input regarding the subject. the following likert scale was used to interpret the data on the level of competency regarding knowledge:5 (4.24-5.00) very high knowledgehugely broad and coherent understanding of the profession and lifelong learning. 4 (3.43-4.23) high knowledgeprecisely broad and consistent understanding of the job and lifelong learning. 3 (2.62-3.42) moderate knowledgebroad and coherent knowledge of the profession and lifelong learning. 2 (1.81-2.61) low knowledgefairly broad and coherent knowledge of the profession and lifelong learning. 1 (1.00-1.80) very low knowledgenot conversant about the aqrf concerning the mobility of nursing professionals interpretation of data gathered on skills will be as follows: 5 (4.24-5.00) extremely competentwith highly specialized technical and theoretical foundations involving analytical thinking. 4 (3.43-4.23) very competent -with well-specialized technical, theoretical foundations involving analytical thinking. 3 (2.62-3.42) moderately competent -with specialized technical, theoretical foundations involving analytical thinking. 2 (1.81-2.61) somewhat competent specialized technical and theoretical foundations to some degree involving analytical thinking. 1 (1.00-1.80) not at all competentnot at all competent. concerning measuring the attitudes, the following likert scale was applied for a better understanding of the responses of the participants. 5 (4.24-5.00) strongly agreehighly favorable attitude on her role in client care, management & leadership, and research. 4 (3.43-4.23) agreemoderately pleasant attitude on her part in client care, management & leadership, and research. 3 (2.623.42) undecidedneither positive nor negative attitude on her role on client care, management & leadership, and research. 2 (1.81-2.61) disagreeunfavorable attitude on her on client care, management & leadership, and research. 1 (1.001.80)strongly disagreehighly unfavorable attitude on her role om client care, management, & leadership and research. to answer the statement of the problem number two (2), the researchers conducted a focus group discussion among nurses in the four cities. the following were the semi-structured open-ended guide questions for the focus group discussion which was recorded and documented accordingly to facilitate analysis of the result. 162 jpair multidisciplinary research 1. what is your idea on asean integration? 2. what do you know about asean economic integration? 3. what are your preparations for the forthcoming 2015 asean integration? 4. tell me more about your preparations concerning your role in client care, management & leadership, and research? 5. what are the supports/hindrances you experience in your preparations? 6. what is the process of recruitment of nurses in your institutions? 7. do you hire non-filipino nurses? 8. what is the percentage recruitment of nurses in your institutions every year? 9. what are your qualification requirements for hiring nurses? 10. what are your policies in hiring nurses in your institutions? sampling technique there are no current statistics of the registered nurses in region xii obtained by the researchers thus it was decided that at least 50 participants from each city will be chosen as participants. a non-probability sampling using purposive quota sampling was used because the researchers purposefully selected the participants according to the criteria required by the study. only those nurses working at the government tertiary hospitals have been chosen as candidate participants in the survey since a quota sample would be taken out from the subtotal population representing the entire population. the target population of this study was 200 nurses from different cities of region xii namely: cotabato city, koronadal city, general santos city, and kidapawan city. there were ten (10) participants recruited in every hospital from the four cities (cotabato city, general santos city, kidapawan city & koronadal city) who joined the focus group discussion (fgd), so a total of 40 nurses aside from the actual participants partook in the discussion. nurses working in nearby asean countries were also tapped. it was done through a facebook connection. two nurses from the five asean member state (malaysia, indonesia, singapore, thailand, and brunei) were intended to include in the interview. out of the five countries, only two nurses working in singapore responded for the call. the recruitment was done through the referral system. data gathering procedure the researcher underwent a series of preliminary approval before the final conduct of the study. the study was approved after a review was conducted by 163 international peer reviewed journal university research publication center (urpc) to assess for any violation of rights of the participants. informed consent was sought from the participants before the conduct of the study. included in the explanation was the extent of their involvement and contribution in the research. transmittal letters were submitted to the offices of the chief of the government tertiary hospital of the four identified cities and explained the intention of the researchers and the benefits of the study. the letters were followed by permissions letters to the chief nurse of the hospital since the nursing service department is the focal subject of the study. a onehour orientation for the participants was done to convey the purpose, objectives, benefits, and possible risk the study would pose on them. rights of the participants were emphasized. consent forms were distributed to the participants giving them time to agree to participate without undue coercion voluntarily. it was explained to the participants that all data that would be gathered would be treated with utmost confidentiality. with the assurance that whatever information shared would not be used against them. their responses were codified to maintain anonymity. since the study covers four (4) cities, the group will be divided into 2. the data gathering procedure was done on schedule since all the researchers have their faculty functions to attend. however, they have to squeeze their time for data gathering. to determine how filipino nurses working abroad particularly from the ten asean countries are doing and what competencies they are expected to perform, they were interviewed using social networking such as facebook and skype. they were identified using the referral of friends on facebook. data analysis this study utilized descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage for the profile of the participants grouped according to age, gender, highest educational attainment, and length of service. as to the level of competencies, mean, standard deviation and weighted mean were utilized to determine the homogeneity and heterogeneity of the responses of the participants. for the third, and fourth statement of the problems, the data gathered on these objectives were analyzed by identifying the common themes and patterns based on the participants’ answers. the results of the focus group discussion were analyzed. transcribing the entire interview process was done to facilitate further analysis. after the transcription was completed, the interviewer or the observer (researcher) supplemented the transcript with other additional data or observations that 164 jpair multidisciplinary research were obtained during the interview. it was done because the transcript did not reflect the entire character of the discussion. the transcripts and field notes were analyzed for common themes and patterns. concepts were identified by reading through each transcript and underlining essential phrases. results and discussion majority of the participants belong to age group 20-29 with most extended length in service as 11-15 years, mostly assigned in general ward; seven nurses have masters, and 20 nurses have earned units in masters’ degree. these nurses were very knowledgeable in their field, very competent, and have a moderately favorable attitude towards their role in client care, leadership and management, and research. nurses in region xii are clueless about asean integration because they do not have an idea at all about asean integration. the following are some of their narratives: “i am not well versed on this through my seminar, so i think it is about preparing our nurses to be competent in all aspect.” “hindi ako masyado familiar kung ano talaga ito, hindi ako masyado well versed about asean integration.” (“i am not so familiar or well versed with asean integration.”) they shared that there was no discussion made in their institutions on the implication of asean integration and the integration did not threaten them. the staff nurses were also confident that some of the asean countries would adopt the best practices of filipino nurses in taking care of the patients. for nurse managers, they were willing to accept non-filipino nurses as long as these nurses meet the institutional requirement for hiring nurses. the chief nurses also share that there might be a possibility of communication barrier between foreigner and filipino patients, and there might be a tendency to be lenient to non-filipino nurses. asean integration is a means to open for exchange of workforce and an opportunity for research. there might be a chance for foreign nurses to work in the philippines because they are interested in filipino culture. majority of the participants in region xii belong to the age bracket of 2029, based on the erik erikson psychological theory age 20-39 years old belong to the cluster of young adults. this means that the study has a higher number of young adult participants. the workforce also consists of a minority from late adults (50-59 years old) participants at eight percent which indicates that the productivity level of nurses is still at its highest point. higher numbers of older nurses remain in the workforce. thus, many employers will have difficulty finding 165 international peer reviewed journal ways to protect the health and safety of these aging workforce. modification of the workplace and creating the infrastructure to support aging workforce encourages health behaviors among these groups (phillips & miltner, 2015). age also has a high impact on productivity and working performance. on the light of venturing work overseas as asean integration allows liberalization of the practice of nursing across countries, lorenzo, as cited by dumo (2012), shared that nurses leaving the philippines to work abroad are predominantly female, young (in their early twenties) and single. the participants of the study are in their early twenties, this places them as good candidates to venture abroad, and likewise, this may also explain the number of minority nursing workforce. working abroad or asean integration proposals may be convincing as it may bring economic growth to filipino families, though, it was perceived to impact nursing in the philippines negatively by depleting the pool of skilled workers, thus, compromising the quality of care in the healthcare setting. this also poses concern among healthcare managers as the loss of trained nurses requires a continual investment in the training of staff replacements. hence, the issue on brain drain sets in which probably makes the health administrators capitalize on those nurses who will indeed stay in the country for good, who can re-echo what has been taught, and usually they are those who are in a higher position. in the interviews, it was evident that those on top management was given a chance most of the time. the points considered as challenges are related and connected to budget, time and schedules. nevertheless, the effort is there to make every professional globally competitive, and it will benefit the primary stakeholders of each health institutions, foreign or filipino patients. participants believed that whether for asean integration or not they can be placed in any situation here and abroad with expectations of excellent nursing care, making them the best nurses for filipino and the choice of the world. dr. patricia benner introduced the concept that expert nurses develop skills and understanding of patient care over time through a sound educational base as well as a multitude of experiences. the work setting often determines the nurses’ duties and responsibilities, patient population served or area of assignment. they can even specialize in one or more areas of patient care. in the study, more than half of the participants (54.40%) are assigned in the ward, and 45.60 percent are allocated in particular areas. these two areas may equally have paramount responsibilities attached, and user management needs to be employed; the ward may have chaotic schedules and activities given the number of patients; the particular areas may need such 166 jpair multidisciplinary research organized programs and activities given the acuity they need for critical patients. this goes to show that the administration gives both areas requiring special competency attention concerning staffing, health services may also indicate that they have revolved to cater specific health needs and are more trained nurses to handle intensive care units. this could be a significant indicator that the filipino nurses are heading towards one of the most critical developments in professional nursing that is the preparation of clinical specialists. it is said that a critical component of nursing practice is the nurse’s ability to process information and to make decisions. graduate from a master’s degree in nursing make statistically significant gains in critical thinking (drennan, 2010). experience and knowledge were the most influential factors in decision making. this is an edge that the filipino nurses are trying to establish. the interviews relayed that there were a lot of nurses willing to pursue continuing education like a master’s degree; however, challenges in work and studies hinders them. the administrators should study this concern and contemplate earning a master’s degree for professional development and improving the quality of patient care. a positive change in the health care system can be realized if nurses will be better equipped with a higher level of specialization and increased education. being a nurse and staying as one doesn’t end with handing the professional license and professional card. according to goethals, gastmans, & de casterlé (2010), in today’s health care system, nurses are required not only to have a robust medical-technical competency but can concentrate on the ethical dimension of care. the study presented how nurses’ reason and act in ethically challenging situations. table 1. level of knowledge. skills, and attitudes variables mean s.d.* description knowledge 3.76 0.58 high knowledge skills 3.78 0.79 very competent attitude 3.95 0.78 agree *standard deviation affirmatively, findings show that the participants have high knowledge (3.76) in all aspect of the nursing core competency standards. the in-school training for undergraduates like scenario-based simulations increases the confidence and competence of the nursing (mould, white, & gallagher, 2011). therefore, nursing schools in the philippines can be concluded as quality education providers 167 international peer reviewed journal given the result. in the interviews, nurses feel that they are adequately trained before entering the workplace and believed to have been mentored excellently by people around them and gained the trust and confidence after serving humanity. this could be a significant finding for the academe that can be used in structuring future bsn programs come the changes in philippines educational paradigm or the advent of k to 12 in the country and in the transfiguration of the educational system that will be brought about by asean integration. the nurses are very competent (3.78) regarding skills in almost all aspects. this was validated by the result of the interview conducted from them. the theme emerged on this is filipino nurses are globally competent. they answered: “i could say our nurses are competent in all areas.” “concerning the competency of our professionals we are leveling up to the standards. ang mga professionals natin dito sa pilipinas are multitasked, they are performing what we expect them to perform. ang galing ng mga nurses natin. “(in fact, most of our professionals here in the philippines perform multitasking activity, and they are performing what is expected of them. they are very competent.” this could be attributed to their years of committed service. although, some of the nurses’ superior admitted that there are nurses who still need assistance and coaching, and they are willing to accommodate them to help them learn the process. “in client care, i will act as a coach, so i know for a fact that there are some staff that needs coaching so in some way kung kulang naman ang staff na kailangan talaga ng assistance i will act as role model because before maging excellent ang performance ng procedure if he can see your dedication mo ma a-apply nila maco-copy nila so experience wise mas evident ito sa mga trainees kung ano yong natutunan mo na sa mga training and seminars you will more likely be able to share.” (“in client care, i will act as a coach or a role model to them. nurses tend to emulate their superior’s performance if they see and observe the dedication in them and share/impart what they learned from seminars attended.”) leadership and management wise, the role of the supervisors helped the nurses coped up well with the problems and difficult situations they encountered in their clinical practice. “i see to it yong mga staff ko when in terms of decision making, like if there are problems occurring in the area i will let them solve it, until such time that they will refer it to me, there are times that when they refer i would ask them of their plans first that will lay their options would you think this is the right decision? from there on ma assess mo kung tama ba yong decision making nila then kung kailangan ng reinforce then at the end at least ma realize nila na yong decision nila tama rin pala.“ (“i allowed my nurses to utilized their decision-making ability. i let 168 jpair multidisciplinary research them solved the problem, in case they referred to me, i ask initially of their plan and let them choose the best option/solution for the problem. in that way, i can assess, if they are correct and let them realize the significance of their decision concerning its impact.”) however, on the note where these expert nurses got moderate competency in areas like managing a community village and engaging health-related research, nurse managers or administrators might have to listen to this call for it is about emerging collaborative efforts of both healthcare facility/administrators and health care professionals that would define the achievement of a safe and exquisite health care delivery. dr. patricia benner (1984) proposed that one could gain knowledge and skills (“knowing how”) without even learning the theory (“knowing that”). she further explained that the development of knowledge in applied disciplines such as medicine and nursing is composed of the extension of practical knowledge (know how) through research and the characterization and understanding of the “know how” of clinical experience. she conceptualized in her writing about nursing skills as experience is a prerequisite for becoming an expert. nurses likewise (agree) or have a moderately favorable attitude towards their role in client care, leadership and management, and research. respect the rights of the individual or group was the highest rated virtue which everybody is expected to have, it is integral, more so when we talk of asean integration where we deal with different people of differing cultures. kim (2010) emphasized that the strategies that promote error reporting play a significant part in producing positive attitude to reporting errors and improving behaviors among nurses thus enhanced patient safety, though all persons are caring by their humanness (boykin & schoenhofer, 2013). according to nursing theorist jean watson in the book of alligood and tomey (2010) the caring occasion occurs during the human to human experience /encounters between the nurse and the patient, making the nursing profession a vocation that values life and a lifetime privilege of caring for many lives entrusted to nurses. according to alligood and tomey (2010), leininger once said that caring is the essence and central domain of nursing, it is the unique and dominant attribute of nursing. a virtue that is not far from filipino nurses and what makes other nations desire for, as claimed. collectively, nurses in region xii are not aware of asean integration and how this exactly affects the nursing profession. the participants’ stillness cued for some rephrasing of the posed query. there are uncertainty and hesitations from the participants who give an idea that the context of asean integration has not 169 international peer reviewed journal yet reached the front-liners of health care. despite this revelation, these nurses articulated confidently that they are very competent concerning patient care. they believed they could compete with foreign nurses. they are not threatened because they know they are knowledgeable, skillful, and they work with a heart. as they always say they are proud of their experience and these experiences have honed them to what they are today, confident nurses. they are satisfied that they carry with them the best practices in nursing, which they can share with the asean countries. hence, filipino nurses in region xii may not be aware of the integration at the moment, but eventually, they will learn all about it sooner or later. it is not the awareness or the knowledge that matters but rather the capability of these nurses to be globally competitive and their readiness despite having a limited background of the asean integration phenomenon. a different scenario was observed during crucial informant interview done with nurse managers. surprisingly, they have a background on asean integration because of their attendance and participation to seminars and conventions organized by professional nursing organizations. they were sent continuously by their institutions to attend the said conventions/conferences. they seemed to have a monopoly of attendance to seminars. there might be a problem somewhere on the processes or protocols of the institutions, but this is not an issue here. this concern can be managed efficientlya matter of reviewing the institutional protocols on improving the personal and professional development of the human workforce in the institutions might be the best solution to address this issue. conclusions despite the effort of the government about the information dissemination on asean integration, people on the ground were not aware of itparticularly that of the nurses. the discrepancy like their understanding may be attributed to the level/degree of their exposure. however, competency wise, filipino nurses believed they could keep up with the demands made by the integration. translational research the findings of the study could be explained and translated through a journal article for international publications, newspapers, social media, brochures and 170 jpair multidisciplinary research leaflets and other means of information dissemination that will be made available for the end users (nurses, hospital administrators, nursing academe, nursing students). furthermore, the study findings will help the healthcare administrators and policymakers in supporting the movement and goal of the government, prc, ched, and other agencies in mapping out strategies in formulating policies, establishing standards and guidelines for levels of outcomes in education, national regulatory and quality assurance mechanism, and alignment with international qualification framework. additionally, this will support nurses to navigate through change with the focus on improving the delivery of quality healthcare services. this study will also serve as a stepping stone for nurses to go out from their comfort zone and begin accepting change. this acceptance will mobilize liberalization of nursing practice across asean countries. acknowledgment this research paper reflects the work coming from the active collaborations among the researchers and acknowledges inputs into the field making them into discipline-based research. notre dame university supported this under the leadership of our university president father charlie m. inzon, omi ph.d. whose prodigious adoration to research inspired us to conceptualize hence gave birth to this paper. we would like to note a special thanks to university research and publication center (urpc), especially to dr. ma. theresa p. llano as former director of urc and dr. nida p. rodriguez as the current director for sharing their pearls of wisdom with us during this research and whose door to their office was always open whenever we ran into a troubled spot or had a question about our research or writing. our sincere thanks to the research panel headed by the active vice president for academic affairs dr. dolores s. daguino and her team for their insightful comments and generous time and expertise to give us the direction of our paper. we thank them for their contribution and kindly support. we would like to thank the chief of the hospitals dr. lilian a. roldan (provincial hospital of amas), dr. marinel a. lim (general santos city hospital), dr. condrado brana jr. mph (south cotabato provincial hospital), and dr. helen p. yambao. fpogs (cotabato regional and medical center) for approving the conduct of the study in their respective hospitals. a particular word of gratitude to the chief nurses of provincial hospital of amas, general santos city hospital, south cotabato provincial hospital and 171 international peer reviewed journal cotabato regional and medical center who provided their expertise that greatly assisted us in this research. we are very grateful to the technical support extended by prof. virginia s. margallo for helping us during the conduct of pilot testing of our research instruments. we would like to express our sincere appreciation and indebtedness to the participants of the study whose candid answers, sharing, and wisdom supported, enlightened, and motivated us (nurses) to valiantly face asean integration without fear because we can be globally competitive. without their passionate participation and inputs, data gathering procedures would be successfully conducted. a special word of thanks is due to our beloved dean of college of health sciences prof. norma c. salgado, rn for her critical and helpful comments during the preparation and early drafts of this manuscript. finally, we express our profound gratitude to our respective families for providing us with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout the entire months of study and through the processes of researching and writing this paper. this accomplishment would not have been possible without them. thank you from the bottom of our heart. cheers to team aseanwe finally made it! literature cited alligood, m. r. & tomey, a. m. 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(2011). free flow of skilled labor in the aec. singapore institute of international affairs, singapore. retrieved from https://goo.gl/frxhhr https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2011.38.1-2.180 https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2011.38.1-2.180 http://eprints.dums.ac.ir/id/eprint/148 https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12217 36 jpair multidisciplinary research efficacy of botanical pesticides in controlling insect pests of three pigeon pea varieties victorino a. artienda, jr. orcid no. 0000-0002-7914-401x victorinoartienda@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences and technology lagangilang, abra, philippines abstract pigeon pea (cajanus cajan) is a high-value crop with its nutritional and medicinal properties that could augment food security. pigeon pea is prone to pests attack that could affect its yield, thus, this study is conceived. this study aimed to evaluate the effect of botanical pesticides in controlling insect pests of three pigeon pea varieties. specifically, it sought to: 1) determine which of the botanical pesticides can effectively control insect pests of pigeon pea; 2) find out which among the pigeon pea varieties has the least damage by insect pests; and 3) identify and recommend the best-botanical pesticides to control insect pests of pigeon peas. the experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design. data gathered were analyzed using the analysis of variance. significant differences among treatment means were analyzed using the duncan multiple range test. the results implied that the botanical extract applied to the pigeon pea plants exhibited a significant effect in terms of controlling the pests. the results of the study conclude that the application of botanical extracts is comparably effective in controlling pests of pigeon pea. the study recommends that b1 (neem leaf extract), b2 (yellow ginger extract) and b3 (hot pepper extract) can be used to control insect pests of pigeon peas; v2 (icpl 87119) is recommended for production due to its resistance to pests. vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.270 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 37 international peer reviewed journal keywords – science, botanical pesticide, pigeon pea varieties, experimental design, philippines introduction pigeon pea (cajanus cajan) is one of the most-versatile crops because of its varied uses. it is a staple food that provides good protein either fresh peas or dried peas like any other beans or lentils. it is thought to have originated in india, where it is still widely grown as a food crop and plays a significant role in achieving food and nutritional security. dhal is made from pigeon pea. the peas can also be sprouted to make them even more nutritious and can be made into flour. pigeon pea leaves, flowers, seeds and pods are all nutritious animal fodder (tropical permaculture, 2007). the plant is also used extensively as a cover crop, green crop and intercrop in many sustainable farm systems in the tropics and subtropics especially in the semi-arid regions. it also requires low farm inputs and drought tolerant. in abra, pigeon production has not been given priority. the crop has been grown as backyard hedge from which pods are harvested for home consumption using traditional varieties. the supply of pigeon pea in the locality is often limited due to lack of appropriate technologies in the cultivation of improved varieties and longer production cycles of traditional varieties. abra has a great potential for pigeon pea production considering its resources as vast marginal uplands and semi-arid climatic condition. to attain food security and improved nutrition of increasing population, production of pigeon pea becomes urgent being an important source of proteins and vitamins. hence, this study is conceived. pigeon peas (cajanus cajan) originated in india and appeared about 2000 bc in west africa, which is considered their second major centre of origin. pigeon peas are currently wide spread throughout the tropics and subtropics. they are cultivated in india, malaysia, indonesia, the philippines, caribbean, east and west africa (agriculture, forestry and fisheries, republic of south africa, 2009). pigeon peas grow well in temperatures between 18 and 29 °c. the plants are sensitive to waterlogging and frost. the crop grows well in all types of soils, varying from sandy to heavy loams, with well-drained, medium heavy loams being best. it requires a ph ranging from 5.0 to 7.0. it is one of the most drought tolerant and frost intolerant legume crops, with a wide range of rainfall intolerance but prefers optimal rainfall ranging between 400 and 750 mm per annum. pigeon 38 jpair multidisciplinary research pea prefers moist conditions for the first two growing months, drier conditions during flowering and harvesting. pigeon pea is best established by direct seeding in a well-prepared field. seed inoculation is not usually needed but if inoculating, a cowpea group strain of rhizobium can be used. it thrives best in a seed bed prepared by deep tillage to reduce weeds. primary tillage assists the soil to dry makes earlier seeding possible. seeds can be sown from 2.5 to 10 cm deep by hand dibbling. seeds can be broadcasted at a seed rate of 45 to 67 kg/ha, or at least a maize planter can be used for seeding. a plant shows little response to nitrogen fertilizers and usually to phosphorus and requires enough calcium, potash and magnesium. the plant has to be inoculated with rhizobium to enhance nitrogen fixation. pigeon pea can be used as a green manure crop. it is one of the most drought-tolerant legume crops, with a wide rainfall tolerance. in dry areas with less than 400 mm annual rainfall, water can be supplemented by irrigation for the first two growing months, and during flowering to harvesting the irrigation should cease to reduce damage by pests and diseases. pigeon pea is very sensitive to weed competition in the first 45 to 60 days of growth because of its slow-initial growth rate. effective weed control at the early growth stages of the crop is one of the most-important factors contributing to high yields, especially during the first four to eight weeks. insect pests and diseases have a negative impact on pigeon pea productivity and poor quality seed. pests and diseases reduce the plant stand however; these can be controlled by the use of pest resistant cultivars, crop rotations, and weed removal, inoculation with cow pea group strain of rhizobium and intercropping with cereals. according to calleja (2010), the international crops research institute for the semi-arid tropics (icrisat) is encouraging filipino farmers to produce more pigeon pea (cajanus cajan) as export commodity to india. calieja further stated that, according to icrisat executive director dr. william dar, it is interesting to note that while pigeon pea is considered a minor crop in the philippines, usually grown in the backyards or some insignificant portions of the farm, it is consumed in big volumes in india that although largely produced in that country, it still imports three million tons of the commodity per year. dar believes that domestic production of pigeon pea called “super crop” for dry-land agriculture should be given due attention. it is a protein-rich human 39 international peer reviewed journal food and excellent animal feed aside from its usefulness in increasing soil fertility, in preventing soil erosion and in suppressing weeds in upland farms. pigeon pea is one crop that will thrive even in areas where the rainy season is short and dry periods are long, like many parts in the philippines. it will grow even in hilly areas where many other crops fail. pigeon pea is drought-resistant because it is deep-rooted. being a legume, it can fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, hence enhancing soil fertility. it also produces green manure to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. the pods and leaves of the pigeon pea are consumed as vegetables. pigeon pea greens, as well as the peas themselves, are used as feeds to animals. as a medicinal crop, the hamdard publication ‘dehati mualij’ from new delhi, india says it is useful as a remedy to the swelling of internal organs like the stomach, liver, and intestines. pigeon pea contains high levels of vitamin b, protein, and, amino acids such as methionine, lysine, and tryptophan, and makes for a well-balanced human food, it said. there were several benefits that could be derived from pigeon pea production among them were the following: it can survive in poor soil conditions; tolerant of dry weather; nutritious and high-protein pulse crop; leaves can be used for animal feed; the fast-growing plants make good shade for other crops, e. g. vegetables, herbs, vanilla perennial for up to five years; woody parts can be used for firewood; water and nutrients from deep in the soil can be caught by its deep taproot; plants can be used along contour barriers for erosion control; and helps in agroecology, performance of pigeon pea as an intercrop is remarkable and even after the harvesting of the intercrop it continues protecting the soil. pagluanan (2010) claimed that icpl 7035, a short duration variety may be planted in upland areas in abra because this variety produced favorable yield with an average of 791.88 kgs. of dry seeds per hectare. yields of up to 3 t/ha have been recorded under very favorable seasonal conditions. yields under normal conditions should be between about 0.5 and 2 t/ha. pigeon peas are attacked by several insect pests in the field. one of the common insect pest is heliothis. heliothis is the major pest of pigeon pea and can completely devastate a crop if not correctly managed. the pest attacks the plants during flowering and pod development stage. the eggs are laid in and around flowers. local producers preferred quality products to obtain high yield. however, several problems arise in producing high yield and quality products. the attack of pests if not properly attended too, contributes to factors causing low yield. this study, therefore, is intended to come up with the necessary information concerning the management of the said pests. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research botanical insecticides are naturally occurring chemicals extracted from plants. natural pesticide products are available as an alternative to synthetic chemical formulations, but they are not necessarily less toxic to humans. some of the most deadly, fast-acting toxins and potent carcinogens occur naturally. botanical insecticides breakdown readily in soil and are not stored in plant or animal tissue. often their effects are not as long lasting as those of synthetic pesticides and some of these products may be very difficult to find (sharma et. al, 2012). sharma et al.  (2012)  estimated that over 2,000 plant species possess biological activity against insects, and the principal chemicals that impart such activity include alkaloids, terpenoids, acetogenins and flavonoids. among the various plant products used as insecticides, nicotine from nicotiana tabacum and pyrithrins from chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium are the most prominent. pesticide formulations developed from neem (azadirachta indica), karanja (pongamia glabra), and custard apple (annona squamosa) have also shown promise for pest management. despite voluminous information on the usefulness of these products as pest control chemicals, their exploitation in practical agriculture is limited due to low toxicity, latent period of action, short shelf-life, rapid degradation, and limited spectrum of activity. however, there is a general prevailing belief that natural plant products are easily biodegradable, and thus, are considered safer as compared to synthetic pesticides. antonious et al. (2007) reported that a research is needed to provide alternative pesticide with minimal impact on human health and the environment. farmers around the world have long used plant extracts to protect food and fiber from insects and mites. in their study, they found that peppers have shown particular promise as a source of botanical pesticides: powdered chilli pepper deters the onion fly, delia antiqua, from laying eggs. a chemical from hot peppers reduces growth of the spiny ballworm, earias insulana and may repel cotton pests. one of the most widely used botanical pesticides is derived from the extract of tropical neem tree, azadirachta indica. it comes in two forms, azadirachtin solution and neem oil. unlike the other botanical insecticides, neem does not poison insects outright. instead, when insects eat the active ingredient, it interrupts their ability to develop and grow to their next life stage or lay eggs. it also deters insects from feeding and is effective against aphids, thrips, ants, caterpillar, beetles, leafminers and others. neem as botanical pesticide supplies at least two compounds, azadirachtin and salannin that have insecticidal activity and other unknown compounds with fungicidal activity. neem has been used for more than 4,000 years for medicinal 41 international peer reviewed journal and pest control purposes in india and africa. it is not highly toxic to mammals. a neem-based pesticide, margosan-0, has shown to control gypsy moths, leaf miners, sweet potato white flies, western flower thrips, loopers, caterpillars and mealy bugs. this product is use on ornamentals, foliage plants, trees, shrubs and other non-food products. plants can absorb neem so that any insects that feed on them may be killed or deterred from feeding. extracts from the neem tree have been reported to control over 200 types of insects, mites and nematodes. the neem spray solution should not be exposed to sunlight and must be prepared with water having a temperature between 50 and 900f. the solution is effective for only eight hours after mixing. hot-pepper wax is a botanical product used primarily as an insect repellent. the blend of capsaicin and food-grade paraffin wax is a metabolic stimulant for many soft-bodied insects. hot-pepper wax acts to repel pests for up to three weeks (collins, 2012). botanical pesticides were prepared in two ways: twenty (20) g of ground dried pepper were shaken with ten (10) drops of detergent in one hundred (100) ml of water, and fifty (50) g of fresh pepper was blended in 100 ml of alcohol for two (2) minutes. many of the hot peppers tested killed cabbage loopers. only one of the peppers tested repelled spider mites. objectives of the study the study aimed to assess the efficacy of botanical pesticides in controlling insect pests of three pigeon pea varieties. specifically, it is aimed to determine which of the botanical pesticides can effectively control insect pests of pigeon pea, find out which among the pigeon pea varieties has the least damage by insect pests, and to identify and recommend the best botanical pesticides to control insect pests of pigeon peas materials and methods the materials used in the study were: pigeon pea varieties (v1 0042 red, v2 icpl 87119 and v3 icpl 7035), botanical pesticides extract (neem leaves, yellow ginger and hot pepper fruits), inorganic fertilizer, bamboo pegs, meter stick, plastic straw/string, field note book, weighing scale, knapsack sprayer, and graduated cylinder. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research planting area a total land area of 335.5 square meters of the research department of abra state institute of sciences and technology, main campus, lagangilang, abra was utilized for the study. source of planting materials seeds of pigeon pea varieties were secured through the initiative of dr. inez gonzales at the college of agriculture, bsu, la trinidad, benguet. statistical designs and treatments the research study was laid out following a factorial randomized complete block design (frcbd) with three replications. the total land area was divided into three blocks representing the replication. each block was further subdivided into four plots representing the different treatments. main plot was factor a which consisted of the different varieties while the sub-plot or factor b were the various botanical pesticides. main-plot: varieties (v) v1 – 0042 red v2 – icpl 87119 v3 – icpl 7035 sub-plot: botanical pesticides extract (b) b0 – control b1 – neem leaves b2 – yellow ginger roots/tubers b3 – hot pepper fruits the different treatments were tagged by the use of bamboo pegs. each plot measures 3 meters long and 2 meters wide. there were 36 plots used in the study. please see figure 1 in appendix a. source of botanical pesticides botanical pesticides were secured locally as these are grown in the locality. 43 international peer reviewed journal preparation of botanical pesticides neem leaves extract procedure: neem tree extracts were prepared according to the volume of spray solution required per treatment. neem tree leaves were gathered a day before the application from the source. then the leaves were chopped into small pieces. rate of application: after chopping, add 10 liters of water for every 5 kgs of chopped neem leaves then soaked overnight. the extract was filtered by the use of muslim cloth, put in a bottle ready for use. yellow ginger extract chop 1 kilo of yellow ginger tubers. pound the materials to extract the juice. filter the solution with muslim cloth. mix 2 liters of water. mix 1 liter of extract to 6.5 liters of water. hot pepper fruit extract collect/gather, wash and clean ripe hot pepper fruits. chop/cut hot pepper fruits into pieces. pound/grind hot pepper fruits to extract the juice or liquid. filter the juice with muslim cloth. mix 2 tbsp to 1 gallon of water. cultural management land preparation. one month before planting, the area was plowed by the use of a carabao-drawn plow to kill and incorporate all weeds in the area for proper decomposition. after plowing, harrowing was done several times to properly pulverize the soil for easier planting and facilitate fast emergence of seedlings. planting. after preparing the land thoroughly, the experimental plots were laid out following a factorial randomized complete block design (frcbd). pigeon pea seeds of short duration lines v3 (icpl 7035), and the medium duration lines v1 (0042 red) and v2 (icpl 87119) were planted at a distance of 100 cm x 30 cm between furrows. three seeds were planted per hill at a depth of 5 cm. replanting. the missing hills of pigeon pea plants were replanted at 15 days after planting. fertilizer application. basal application of complete fertilizer was done before planting. basal application of complete fertilizer (14-14-14) was applied at the rate of 4 gm. /hill before planting. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research irrigation. irrigation was employed just after planting and succeeding irrigations were done as often as necessary. the pigeon pea plant was irrigated through furrow irrigation by the use of water pump. weed management. the whole experimental area was kept weed-free throughout the duration of the study. spot weeding was done to remove weeds growing along the ridge and between plants. insect management. insect pests were monitored weekly starting from 21 days after planting. the recommended botanical pesticide was sprayed only at critical pest level. application of botanical extract. application of hot pepper extract was done during vegetative and reproductive stage of pigeon pea. other botanical extract tested followed with the required dosage of application. data collection and analysis two inner rows in the plot constituted the sampling area. for growth and yield parameters, 10 sample plants within the effective sample area were randomly selected and tagged for easy identification. data gathered were the following: plant height – the heights of ten sample plants from the inner rows were measured from the base up to the tip of the shoot at 80 days after planting. number of days from planting to emergence was counted. (50% emergence of plants) number of days from emergence to flowering was counted. (50% of plants) degree of pest damage. (per hill of sample plants). this was evaluated counting the number of leaves showing holes using the scale: scale description 1 sound 2 1-10 holes (light) 3 11-20 holes (medium) 4 21-above holes (severe) percentage of infestation (leaves, flowers, pods of sample plants). the leaves 45 international peer reviewed journal were examined for damages at vegetative and reproductive stage. the percentage of leaves with damage was determined using the formula: damage leaves (%) = number of damaged leaves x 100 total number of leaves per plant pod damage (%) = number of pods damaged x 100 total number of sample pods pod damage per plot = ave. no. of damage pods/hill x no. of hills identification of insect pests all the data were analyzed statistically using factorial randomized complete block design. results and discussion identification of insect pests on pigeon pea pod borer – adult moths have dull brown forewings. a single female can lay up to 2000 small eggs, usually single. eggs are laid on flower buds and young pods. full-grown larvae are 30-40 mm long and may have various color and banding patterns. pupation occurs in the soil or plant debris. it destroys buds, flowers and pods. larvae also feed on foliage of pigeon pea. the presence of pod borer in the study was evident prior to application of botanical pesticide. fruit worm – feeding on the leaves and flowers of pigeon pea. it may have migrated from the neighboring tomato plantation. the following insect pests were also noticed during the monitoring of the sample plants of the study: plume moths – adults have brown plume-like wings; larvae are green or brown, spindle-shaped and covered with short spines. larvae chew into the buds flowers and pods and small holes are seen in the buds and tender pods. pod flies – the adult is a small black fly. the larvae are white legless and 3 mm long. they feed inside the green seed. pod wasp – the adult is a small wasp of 2 mm long. the legless white larvae (3 mm long) feeds on the young green seed and inner pod wall. attacked locules remain undeveloped resulting in abnormal appearance of the pods. other pests noticed were aphids, leafhoppers, katydids, adult beetles, cowbugs, ants and some friendly insects like spiders. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research growth parameters height of plants variety. the height of plants at 85 days after planting as affected by variety is presented in table 1a. v1 (0042 red) obtained the tallest height with a mean of 95.62 cm. v3 (icpl 7035) did not differ significantly with the height of v2 (icpl 87119) with a mean of 74.58 and 77.43 cm., respectively. analysis of variance showed a significant difference among the treatments which means the different pigeon pea varieties tested showed variation on their growth. figure 1. pod borer figure 2. fruit worm figure 3. pod wasp 47 international peer reviewed journal table 1a. height of plants at 85 days after planting as affected by variety variety mean v1 – 0042 red 95.62 b v2 – icpl 87119 77.42 a v3 – icpl 7035 74.58 a botanical extracts application. the height of plants at 85 days after planting as affected by botanical extract application is presented in table 1b. pigeon pea varieties applied with yellow ginger extract had registered the tallest height with a mean of 83.6 cm. but did not differ significantly to the height of plants applied with neem leaf extract and hot pepper extract with a mean of 82.8 and 83.0 cm. respectively. table 1b. height of plants at 85 days after planting as affected by botanical extract application botanical extract mean b0 – control 81.7 b1 – neem leaf extract 82.8 b2 – yellow ginger extract 83.6 b3 – hot pepper fruits extract 82.0 interaction effect on the height of plants by variety x botanical extracts application. no significant interaction effects were noted between varieties and botanical extract on the height of plants at 85 days after planting. these results signify the absence of influencing effects between the two factors studied. effects on germination variety. the emergence of the pigeon pea plants from the date of planting is shown in table 2. v1 (0042 red) emerged slightly ahead followed by v2 (icpl 87119) and v3 (icpl 7035) ranging from 8-12 and 10-15 days respectively. some missing hills were replanted 16 days after planting. botanical extracts application. no botanical extract application was done yet from planting to emergence of pigeon pea plants. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research interaction effect on the number of days from planting to emergence by variety x botanical extract application. no interaction was observed between variety and botanical extract application since at this period botanical extract application was not yet done. table 2. number of days from planting to emergence variety range v1 – 0042 red 8 – 12 v2 – icpl 87119 10 – 15 v3 – icpl 7035 10 – 15 emergence to flowering variety. table 3 showed the number of days from emergence of the pigeon pea varieties to flowering stage. the data was obtained when 50% of the plants exhibited fully matured flowers or early pod development. v3 (icpl 7035) showed to have the earliest flowering stage at 80-90 days, followed by v2 (icpl 87119) at 86-95 days while v1 (0042 red) bear its 50% flowers at 90-100 days. botanical extracts application. data on the effect of the number of days from emergence to flowering as influenced by botanical extract application were not reflected since this growth variable is attributed to the variety of the pigeon pea and not botanical extract application and consequently no interaction effect between the two variables was noted. table 3. number of days from emergence to flowering (50%) variety range v1 – 0042 red 90-100 v2 – icpl 87119 85-95 v3 – icpl 7035 80-90 leaf damage assessment before botanical extracts application variety. table 4a presents the initial assessment of the degree of damaged leaves per plant as influenced by variety. as shown on the table prior to the application of the treatments, v1 (0042 red) and v3 (icpl 7035) had damaged leaves rating of 2.050, however it is comparable to the damaged leaves rating of v2 (icpl 87119) with 2.000. 49 international peer reviewed journal the analysis of variance showed no significant differences among the treatment means. the result implies that prior to the application of botanical extracts; all the plants exhibited almost the same condition of insect damage on the pigeon pea leaves. table 4a. initial assessment of degree of damaged leaves of pigeon pea plants as affected by variety variety mean v1 – 0042 red 2.050 a v2 – icpl 87119 2.000 a v3 – icpl 7035 2.050 a botanical extracts application. table 4b shows the initial assessment of damaged leaves on pigeon pea plants as influenced by botanical extracts. the plants treated with b1 (neem leaf extract) had significantly higher damaged leaves rating compared to pigeon pea plants applied with hot pepper extract. however, it did not differ significantly on the damaged leaves assessment of plants. plants applied with b2 (yellow ginger extract) exhibited the least damaged leaves assessment. table 4b. initial assessment of the degree of damaged leaves of pigeon pea plants before botanical extracts application treatment mean b0 – control 2.022 b1 – neem leaf extract 2.089 b2 – yellow ginger extract 1.956 b3 – hot pepper fruit extract 2.067 interaction on the initial assessment of the degree of damaged leaves by variety x botanical extracts application. no significant interaction effects were observed between varieties and botanical extract application on the initial assessment on the degree of damage. these results meant the absence of synergistic effects of the two factors studied. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research leaf damage assessment after botanical extracts application variety. assessment of the degree of damaged leaves of pigeon pea plants after botanical extracts application as affected is shown in table 5a. v2 (icpl 87119) showed a significant difference in having the least degree of damaged leaves at 1.888 compared to v1 (0042 red) and v3 (icpl 7035) with a rating of 2.377 and 2.154, respectively. anova showed highly significant differences among treatment means. the duncan multiple range test showed that v3 (icpl 7035), and v1 (0042) red were not significantly different from each other but were significantly different from v2 (icpl 87119). table 5a. assessment of the degree of damaged leaves of pigeon pea plants after application of botanical pesticides variety mean v1 – 0042 red 2.377 b v2 – icpl 87119 1.888 a v3 – icpl 7035 2.154 ab botanical extracts application. table 5b showed the effect of botanical extract on the degree of damaged leaves after application. evidently, results showed that spraying with the different botanical extracts had an effect in controlling the insect pests of pigeon pea as shown on the treatment means with b0 (control) having the highest degree of damaged leaves. table 5b. assessment of the degree of damaged leaves of pigeon pea plants after application of botanical pesticides. treatment b0 – control 2.229 b1 – neem leaf extract 2.007 b2 – yellow ginger extract 2.162 b3 – hot pepper fruit extract 2.162 interaction on the assessment of the degree of damaged leaves after application by variety x botanical extract application. no significant interaction was observed on the degree of damage after application on the variety, and the botanical extracts applied reflecting that the action of the two factors were not related on these parameters. 51 international peer reviewed journal initial percentage of leaf damage variety. table 6a showed the initial percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant prior to application of botanical pesticides, with v2 (icpl 87119) having the least percentage of damage leaves at 16.05% followed by v3 (icpl 7035) and v1 (0042 red) with 18.32% and 20.63% respectively. anova showed no significant difference among the treatments prior to the application of botanical extracts. table 6a. initial percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant variety mean v1 – 0042 red 20.63 b v2 – icpl 87119 16.05 a v3 – icpl 7035 18.32 ab botanical extracts application. table 6b showed that b2 (yellow ginger extract) has the least % of infestation with 16.62%, followed by b0 (control), b1 (neem leaf extract), and b3 (hot pepper extract) with 18.23%, 19.16% and 19.33%, respectively. table 6b. percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant before application of botanical extracts treatment b0 – control 18.23 b1 – neem leaf extract 19.16 b2 – yellow ginger extract 16.62 b3 – hot pepper fruit extract 19.33 interaction on the percentage of leaf damage by variety x botanical extracts application. no significant interaction effects between variety and botanical extract application were observed on the % of infestation before application indicating that the two factors acted independently. percentage of leaf damage after application of botanical extracts variety. the percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant after spraying botanical extracts is shown in table 7a. v2 (icpl 87119) showed the best 52 jpair multidisciplinary research result in responding to botanical pesticide by having the least damage leaves at 13.80%, followed by v1 (0042 red) and v3 (icpl 7035) with 20.58 and 21.08 respectively. analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among the treatment means. the result implied that v2 (icpl 87119) might have a greater degree of resistance to the attack of pests compared to the two treatments, thus resulted to least percentage of damaged leaves. table 7a. percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant after botanical extracts application variety mean v1 – 0042 red 20.58 b v2 – icpl 87119 13.80 a v3 – icpl 7035 21.08 b botanical extracts application. table 7b shows that b3 (hot pepper fruit extract) had the least percentage of leaf damage with 15.8%, followed by b1 (neem leaf extract), b0 (control), and b2 (yellow ginger extract) with 17.7%, 19.9% and 20.5%, respectively. anova showed insignificant differences among the treatments. table 7b. percentage of leaf damage per pigeon pea plant after botanical extracts application treatment mean b0 – control 19.9 b1 – neem leaf extract 17.7 b2 – yellow ginger extract 20.5 b3 – hot pepper fruit extract 15.8 correlation analysis table 8 showed the correlation analysis among the varied factors. comparing the degree of damage before and after application results showed a non-significant result. the insignificant result might be attributed to the fact that the degree of damage observed before and after application are almost similar. 53 international peer reviewed journal table 8. correlation analysis paired samples n correlation sig. pair 1 degree of leaf damage before and after application 12 -.176 .584 ns pair 2 degree of % infestation before and after application 12 .280 .379 ns pair 3 insect counts before and after application 60 .645 .000** pair 4 degree of leaf damage & % infestation before application 12 .671 .017* pair 5 degree of leaf damage & % infestation after application 12 .679 .015* ns not significant ** highly significant * significant likewise, the correlation analysis between percentage infestation before and after application showed insignificant result. this is because botanical extract applied to the pigeon pea plants did not show immediate reduction on pest damage on the sample plants. in terms of monitoring the insect count before and after application, the correlation analysis showed a significant result. the result implied that the botanical extract applied to the pigeon pea plants exhibited a significant effect in terms of controlling the pests. the correlation analysis between the degree of damage and the percentage infestation before application showed a significant result. the data implied that the pigeon pea plants applied with botanical extract showed variation on degree of damage and the percentage infestation. this could be attributed to the efficacy of the botanical pesticides. similarly, a significant result was noted on the degree of damage and percentage infestation after application of botanical pesticides. the result implied that after application of botanical extracts, the degree of infestation that resulted to a least degree of damage to the pigeon pea plants had been reduced. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research pod damage variety. samples were taken in v3 (icpl 7035). the percentage of pod damage per pigeon pea plant after spraying botanical extracts is shown in table 9. botanical extracts application. the efficacy of the extracts is reflected in table 9. the plants treated with b2 (yellow ginger extract) exhibited the least percentage of damaged pods with 4.14% followed by plants treated with b3 (hot pepper fruit extract) and b1 (neem leaf extract) with a mean of 8.57% and 8.9%, respectively. the b0 (control) recorded the greatest percentage of damaged pods with 10.47%. the anova showed insignificant result. table 9. percentage of pod damage per pigeon pea plant after application of botanical extracts treatment (v3 – icpl 7035) mean b0 – control 10.47 b1 – neem leaf extract 8.90 b2 – yellow ginger extract 4.14 b3 – hot pepper fruit extract 8.57 interaction effect on pod damage by variety x botanical extracts application no significant interaction effect comparison between varieties and botanical extracts application because only icpl 7035 variety has pods during the assessment of damaged pods. this wide range in terms of percentage of pod damage was due to the unpredictable behavior and mobility of the larvae during the larval stage, which is considered the most active period in the life cycle of the insect pests. the larvae of these identified pests can create devastating pest outbreaks anytime depending on the existing conditions during this life cycle stage (global food security, 2009). however, assessment of the total damages done by the different pests during the observation period using the revised pigeon pea leaf damage assessment chart was low to moderate. according to hutchison, bolin, and hines (2003), larvae of dbm cease to feed when the temperature drops below 50 0f. like other insects, their development through all life stages is delayed during cool temperatures. in contrast, populations can increase dramatically when temperatures rise above 80 0f. life cycles of the insects may take as long as 50 days to complete their life cycle at low temperatures and as short as 15 days at high temperatures. 55 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the results of the study, conclusions were drawn. firstly, distinct pigeon pea pests were identified to pose alarming damages to pigeon pea production in lagangilang, abra when not properly controlled and managed. the application of b2 (yellow ginger extract), b3 (hot pepper fruits extract) and b1 (neem leaf extract) can effectively control pests of pigeon pea. secondly, v2 (icpl 87119) pigeon pea variety had the least damage by insect pests during the duration of the study. thirdly, b3 (hot pepper extract) showed the best figure but b1 (neem leaf extract) and b2 (yellow ginger extract) are comparably effective in controlling pests of pigeon pea during the conduct of the study. recommendations based on the above conclusions, the following are recommended: b1 (neem leaf extract), b2 (yellow ginger extract) and b3 (hot pepper extract) can be used to control insect pests of pigeon peas; v2 (icpl 87119) is recommended for production in abra due to its resistance to pests; and the conduct of a similar study to determine the efficacy of botanical pesticides using different combinations of the same botanical extracts in controlling pigeon pea pests. literature cited antonious, g. f., meyer, j. e., rogers, j. a., & hu, y. h. 2007 growing hot pepper for cabbage looper, trichopulsia ni (hübner) and spider mite, tetranychus urticae (koch) control. journal of environmental science and health part b, 42(5), 559-567. calleja, d. o. 2010 research group sees high export potential of rp pigeon peas. retrieved from http://balita.ph/2010/05/25/research-group-sees-highexport-potential-of-rp-pigeon-peas/ collins, f. 2012 over-the-counter insecticides for home, yard and garden use, colorado. retrieved from colorado state university, college of agricultural sciences web site: http://agsci.colostate.edu/search/?cx=0 56 jpair multidisciplinary research 14653838822769289642%3a2falhynz7ke&cof=forid%3a11&ie= utf-8&q=over+the+counter+insecticides department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries 2009 directorate agricultural information services, republic of south africa. retrieved on august 12, 2014 from http://www.nda.agric.za/ docs/brochures/pigeon_peas.pdf global food security 2009 halting the armyworm march. biotechnology and biological sciences research council, polaris house, north star avenue, swindon, sn2 1uh. tel: 01793 413279. retrieved from http://www.foodsecurity. ac.uk/research/current/armyworm-march.html pagluanan, e. r. 2010 adaptability test of new pigeon pea lines under abra [philippines] condition. philippine journal of crop science (philippines). sharma, h. c., war, a. r., & sahrawat, k. l. 2012 botanical pesticides: environmental impact. tropical permaculture 2007 growing pigeon peas. retrieved from http://www.tropicalpermaculture. com/pigeon-pea.html 179 international peer reviewed journal lived experiences of the graduate school professors in albay amidst covid-19 pandemic jeorge m. notario https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3513-5648 jeorgenotario89@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract everyone affects by the covid-19 pandemic. the pandemic would have a vastly different impact on each professor. this study aimed to analyze the lived experiences of graduate school professors in private higher education institutions in the second district of albay and the challenges experienced during the covid-19 pandemic. primarily, this research investigated the experiences brought by the shift to different modes of delivery of education from the traditional face-to-face. this study used qualitative and quantitative research designs interview guide, and a survey questionnaire to obtain necessary data and information. the study found that the majority of professors encountered the same challenges encountered power interruption and low internet connection. the study concludes that the respondents can effectively manage their time and pace because of a new way of instruction on the use of the internet. in regards to and in line with the findings, the professors experienced more negative reactions about internet connectivity and technical difficulties, thus hindering them from fully benefiting vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.539 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 180 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 from the new learning. professors should be reflective and adaptable in terms of instructional delivery, learning environment, time management, and student assessment. they may have had to learn how to use different technological tools through the internet and ensure that it can be delivered effectively online. keywords — social science, lived experiences, covid-19, professors, descriptive survey, phenomenology research, philippines introduction the pandemic has caused significant disruption globally, particularly among students and professors. they must deal with the inability to see friends, the transition to online education, and the loss of face-to-face contact with teachers, to name a few issues. the pandemic would have a vastly different impact on each professor. everyone affects by the covid-19 pandemic, which started in december 2019, regardless of age, gender, or socioeconomic status. the world came to a stop, all businesses closed, and the economy stopped. most nations closed schools, colleges, and institutions to curb the virus’s spread (adedoyin & soykan, 2020). the crisis affects the economy as a whole as well as the health and education sectors. due to the fact that courses are still in session, the disruption is severe when the philippine government orders the closure of all educational institutions. the quick action and strategy are to minimize the shutdown while maintaining high quality. the sudden transition to online schooling sparked a heated discussion in the philippines, highlighting the student’s deplorable living conditions (ancheta & ancheta, 2020). commission on higher education (ched), in accordance with the provisions of republic act no. 7722 known as the “higher education act of 1994,” and the republic act no.11469, known as the “bahamian to heal as one act,” implemented the flexible learning (fl) on both private and public higher education institutions heis (commission on higher education memorandum order no. 04, 2020). al-hariri and al-hattami (2017) assert that technology is crucial in facilitating learning. it assists in effectively applying various educational techniques, such as independent and collaborative learning. additionally, it assists in bringing together individuals with various schedules and locations. to improve and achieve learning, assessment and feedback can also be supplied right away. 181 international peer reviewed journal in this pandemic, schools, colleges, and other universities are utilizing a new mode of instruction, which is flexible learning, blended learning, and online learning. since covid-19 is still ravaging and endangering everyone’s health, the graduate school relied heavily on online learning via google meet, group chats, and google classroom. because of the diverse learners from masbate, sorsogon, rapu-rapu, legaspi, daraga, and other places, virtual learning is an efficient and effective way to ensure that lessons are clearly explained and delivered to the students. despite difficulties with virtual learning, the school prioritized nurturing the mind, which the students deserved. more importantly, this new mode of learning achieves the school’s vision, mission, and goals. however, online learning can be inconvenient for professors at times because it requires them to perform virtual instruction in every meeting, and some problems are encountered, such as being unable to attend due to poor internet connectivity and power interruptions. according to gayon and tan (2021), the government disseminated information about the suspension of classes (march 2020) due to the catastrophe that the country is experiencing. the government, the department of education (deped), and the commission on higher education work together and communicate about how they will respond to this situation, which leads to the development of an alternative solution, which is to change the instructions to the new form of education. they wanted to continue students’ learning despite the pandemic, so teachers and students used technology as a virtual channel of instruction and study. they stated that traditional instruction would resume if covid-19 was no longer present and that they wanted to ensure the safety of the students until vaccines were available. joaquin et al. (2020) discussed in their article that higher education in the philippines implemented policies to continue education to respond to the needs of learners. online learning is modified and improved. one of the schools that used online learning is de la salle university (synchronous and asynchronous). there are other options to comply with the course requirements for the students who cannot join or participate in the online classes. despite changes made by philippine higher education with alternative learning modes and technologies to deliver education, there are still delays and provocations to students’ responses. moving down to bicol region, specifically in graduate school private higher institution in the second district of albay, implemented online learning as an approach to continuing education for its students in accordance with the ched memorandum order no. 04, s. 2020. some professors discuss their lessons through google meet, zoom, and other platforms. this major shift in 182 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 education certainly affects the professors’ challenges and experiences during the covid-19 pandemic in the new system of education, particularly in the aspect of instructional delivery, learning environment, time management, and student assessment. also, understanding course expectations require self-discipline and a lack of instant feedback. in albay, graduate school professors likely had to adjust their teaching methods to suit online learning platforms. they may have had to learn how to use different technological tools, such as video conferencing software, to conduct classes and hold meetings with their students. they may have also had to adapt their curriculum to ensure can be delivered effectively online. the covid-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges and changes to the education sector, including the experiences of graduate school professors in albay. however, the resilience and adaptability of educators have allowed them to continue providing quality education to their students amidst the pandemic. this serves as the driving force for researchers to conduct this study. framework this study entitled lived experiences of the graduate school professors in albay amidst covid-19 pandemic. it seeks an answer to the following objectives raised in this study: determine the profile of the private higher education institutions in graduate school; determine the challenges experienced by graduate school professors in private higher education institutions; analyze the lived experiences of the professors in coping with new normal; share lessons learned by the graduate school professors from their experiences. professors are crucial in supporting students’ learning. in order for students to learn extremely effectively and to satisfy the learning methods, they must be able to approach the students using various teaching strategies that will make them satisfied. higher education institutions have shifted their work setup into new modalities to continue learning. today’s learning strategy can be an opportunity and challenge to a professor, but as long as they are working and adjusting well, they will get used to it and give opportunities to some because they have learned a lot from this new setup. they learn to adapt to new technology, which is also a benefit. there is a high percentage that even after the pandemic, it will still be popular, and every company is open to it since the world is being modernized. the result of this study provides feedback about concrete data and figures out the current situation in an educational system based on the experiences and challenges of the professors amidst the covid-19 pandemic. 183 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study the study aimed to (1) determine and analyze the lived experiences of the graduate school professors in albay amidst the covid-19 pandemic along with program offering, the number of enrolment per program, and the number of faculty members, (2) determine and analyze the live lived experiences of the graduate school professors in albay amidst covid-19 pandemic along with instructional delivery, learning environment, time management, student assessment; (3) share the lessons learned by the graduate school professors from their experiences, the researcher after its assessment to the data, propose an action plan to be adopted by the graduate school private higher education institutions. methodology research design the mixed method design is used in the study. according to the definition of creswell and plano clark (2011), studies with at least one quantitative and one qualitative strand. the goal of this type of research is to understand a research problem or issue more thoroughly than either research problem could be understood on its own. research site the study was conducted in the second district of albay, which includes divine word college of legazpi and bicol college. these were chosen by the researcher because they are part of the graduate private higher education institutions in the second district of albay. in other municipalities, camalig, manito, and rapu-rapu, these municipalities did not have private graduate school higher education institutions. research respondents the respondents of this study are full-time and part-time professors in private graduate schools and higher educational institutions within the second district of albay. there were five (5) regular full-time professors and twenty-seven (27) part-time professors. supported by the study of (saxena, 2017) stated that setting selection criteria for participants are essential to achieving the goals of a survey, so it is imperative to identify the appropriate respondents. responses came from the survey questionnaire and interview guide. 184 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 instrumentation private graduate schools and higher education institutions in albay provided their responses as the study’s main information sources. a survey questionnaire and an interview question were developed by the researcher to gather useful information from the respondents. to gather the desired data from a respondent, a questionnaire is a printed research tool (schaefer t al., 2017). this study used a multi-method of research due to it utilizing both qualitative methods (nominal data) and quantitative methods (discrete data). the results, on the other hand, are those gathered from responses based on the survey questionnaire and interview guide. the research instrument was composed of four (4) parts. the first part focused on the profile of private higher education institutions and the profile of the respondents; part ii of the questionnaire was a checklist to know the challenges experienced in coping with the new normal. the third part focused on the challenges experienced by graduate school professors. five-point indicators were provided in the different areas to determine the respondents’ challenges experienced during the covid-19 pandemic with the likert scale. part iv of the questionnaire was a follow-up or an open-ended question wherein respondents could express their opinions. this serves as another data source to identify the challenges encountered by graduate school professors in coping with the new normal. data gathering as to gathering the data from the respondents, the researcher observed the following procedure. the researcher underwent a title proposal. upon approval, the researcher identified the target respondents from the different private graduate schools and higher institutions in albay. the data-gathering procedure began with the approval from the president of bicol college and divine word college of legazpi to get the total number of enrollment, the total number of offerings, and a total number of part-time and full-time professors. also, prepare a protocol letter to the dean of graduate school to allow the researchers to collect the information needed for the study. the study was divided into three (3) stages, namely: (1) the analysis phase or preliminaries; (2) the development of the survey questionnaire and interview guide and (3) the survey phase and data gathering of the graduate school professor in private graduate school higher educational institution. 185 international peer reviewed journal data analysis plan  the researcher used frequency counting to total the data received from the respondents in order to validate and produce an accurate analysis and interpretation of the data collected. based on the frequency discovered, a percentage was determined. secondary data is derived from publicly available resources such as journals, theses, published research, and other printed and online materials. this information was obtained through local and international research. once approved, the researcher will prepare the instrument for inspection by the adviser. in addition, percentage is used to interpret objective number one (1). however, the checklist is used in objective two (2) to analyze the experiences of the professors in coping with the new normal to the benefit of the graduate school higher institution in albay. the study employed the frequency count and percentage to determine and tally the received data from the respondents in terms of the year of service and educational attainment. weighted mean was used significance to determine the challenges experienced by graduate school professors in private higher education institutions. follow up interview guide used for objective number four (4), the qualitative data gathered from the respondents to identify the experiences of graduate school professors. ethical considerations as to gathering the data from the respondents, the researcher observed the procedures in that the participant/respondents of this study voluntarily participated and with their consent. the researcher obtained an interview protocol in adherence to the data privacy act of 2012 (r.a. 10173), all data and information collected, and assured them that the responses would be treated with utmost confidentially. results and discussions this part presents the results and findings based on the responses provided by 32 respondents to the study. the study employed the total number of enumerations of professors in graduate school in albay. this section provides a thorough analysis of the study’s findings and results. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 personal profile of the respondents the profiles of the respondents, along with their profile, cover respondents’ (a) name, (b) position and designation, (c) years in teaching graduate school, (d) highest educational attainment, and (e) employment status. the majority of professors were graduates of a doctoral degree in terms of percentage; 87.50% of them finished the doctoral degree. only a few professors, or 9.38 %, were graduates with master’s degrees. the professional profile of the respondents in two private graduate schools in albay. among the thirty-two (32) professors, eleven (11), 34.38% are teaching ten (10) years and above, and this was followed by 31.25%, which are in the range of seven (7) to nine (9) years. based on the years in teaching graduate school, 21.88% were four (4) to six (6) years in teaching, and lastly, 9.38% belonged to one (1) to three (3) years. table 1. program offering and number of enrollment per program (bicol college) program offering number of enrolment per program and semester ay 2022-2023 ay 2021-2022 ay 2020-2021 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd edd 18 20 20 19 17 ma 120 87 78 48 76 med 97 58 82 27 48 mm 152 125 131 84 100 mscj 29 16 15 24 22 mscrim 1 3 2 phd 14 25 25 18 15 total 431 331 351 223 280 the program offers a number of enrolments in bicol college and has 7 program offers. in the academic year 2020-2021, there are 223 total enrolled students in graduate school in the first semesters and 280 students in the second semesters. for the academic year 2021-2022, there are 331 enrolled students in the first semester and 351 in the second semester. the academic year 2022-2023 had the biggest number of students enrolled in the first semester, 431. 187 international peer reviewed journal table 2. program offering, number of enrollment per program, and number of faculty members (divine word college of legazpi) program offering number of enrolment per program and semester ay 2022-2023 ay 2021-2022 ay 2020-2021 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd mm 70 69 62 39 52 mba 31 33 26 28 34 total 101 102 88 67 86 the program offers a number of enrolments in divine word college of legazpi and has two (2) program offers. in the academic year 2020-2021, there are sixty-seven (67) total enrolled students in graduate school in the first semesters and eighty-six (86) students in the second semesters. for the academic year 20212022, there are one hundred two (102) enrolled students in the first semester and eighty-eight (88) in the second semester. the academic year 2022-2023 had a total number of one hundred one (101). instructional delivery the strategy to be adopted to use in coping new normal in terms of instructional delivery is the use of a new learning platform that is easy and accessible to all students with the sum of the frequency of eleven (11). it was followed by the embraced the needs of the time sought help from friends on how to effectively deliver classes online, which obtained nine (9) sum of frequency. the third strategy to be adopted equipped me with the skills needed to deliver classes via online platforms, which has seven (7) responses. the fourth coping strategy is the need to continue to explore and study different learning platforms, which has four (4) responses. joaquin et al. (2020) discussed in their article that higher education in the philippines implemented policies to continue education in order to respond to the needs of learners. a new mode of learning is modified and improved. the result implies the challenges faced by graduate school professors may need to adapt their instructional methods. for example, if there are technical difficulties with online teaching platforms, instructors may need to use alternative methods of delivering content, such as pre-recorded lectures or interactive quizzes. 188 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 learning environment in terms of learning environment coping strategies adopted to address coping in the learning environment. the table shows the first strategy to be adopted is supporting professors-students with the sum of the frequency of 13. communicating efficiently and effectively 7 sum of frequency. the third strategy addresses learner variability and needs 6 responses. the fourth coping strategy is creating a new instructional design with 5 responses. moreover, in line with the article by valtonen et al. (2021) entitled “learning environments preferred by university students: a shift toward informal learning environments,” there are appropriate academic pursuits that can enhance educational requirements where they conflict with difficulties and develop pedagogical approaches in adaptable learning environments. it implies that professors can seek resources and support from their institution or colleagues to help address challenges in the learning environment. this may include professional development opportunities, access to counseling services, or support from other faculty members. time management in terms of time management and there are also 4 factors listed. the table shows the first strategies to be adopted continued to explore and enhance the settings of the instructions used with the sum of the frequency of 23. it is followed by preparing a plan that helps you stay focused on your most important to accomplish the first 4 sums of frequency. spending time with family and friends can help you cope with stress 3 responses. the fourth coping strategy is setting a time frame for activity 1 response. a study by owusu-agyeman and amoakohene (2020) states this type of education was designed to provide learning opportunities in time to all teachers and students, regardless of their circumstances. flexible time is needed. it was assumed that distance education could increase educational access through distribution and economies of scale. it implies the professors may identify the most critical tasks that require their attention and prioritize them accordingly. they can use tools like a to-do list or task manager to keep track of their priorities. graduate school professors can benefit from developing a time management strategy that works for them, incorporating techniques that prioritize their most important tasks and goals while managing interruptions and taking care of their well-being. 189 international peer reviewed journal student assessment in terms of student assessment, rank 1 building personal connection with your students, which has 14 sums of frequency. followed by identifying and supporting struggling students with 9 responses. the third challenge in student assessment is connecting students with independent learning tools with the sum of the frequency of 8. and the last strategy is improving learners’ motivation and engagement with the frequency of 1. illanes et al. (2020) found that students faced a variety of experiences during sessions and online exams, including methodological, content perception, technical, and behavioral issues. the result implies that professors can use technology to assist students in assessment, such as online quizzes and grading tools, which can help reduce grading time and provide immediate feedback. instead of relying solely on exams, professors can use a range of assessment methods, such as essays, projects, presentations, and group work. by adopting these coping strategies, professors can overcome the challenges associated with student assessment and ensure that their assessments are fair, valid, and reliable measures of student learning. table 3. challenges experienced by the professors during covid-19 in terms of instructional delivery a. instructional delivery 5 4 3 2 1 weighted mean adjectival interpretation lack of technological facility to deliver the learning 4 9 11 8 0 3.28 sometimes experienced lack of resources such as laptops, computers, internet, etc., to deliver learning to students 5 7 10 10 0 3.22 sometimes experienced most of the faculty are not technologically able to cope and deliver learning. 10 8 2 12 0 3.50 often experienced insufficient training on the use of technology to deliver teaching modality 3 7 10 12 0 3.03 sometimes experienced general assessment 3.25 sometimes experienced 190 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the researcher utilized 4 indicators under instructional delivery. the table shows the responses of the graduate school professors on instructional delivery. most of the faculty are not technologically able to cope and deliver learning 3.50 mean rating was rated as sometimes experienced as unanimously checked by the respondents. this was followed by a lack of technological facility to deliver the learning with 3.28, as sometimes experienced. lack of resources such as laptops, computers, internet, etc., to deliver learning among students have 3.22, and among the indicators under instructional delivery, insufficient training on the use of technology to deliver teaching modality with a mean 3.03 mean score. based on the data, the level of instructional delivery of the experiences of graduate school professors in private higher education institutions in albay is supported by the overall weighted mean of 3.25 with an adjectival interpretation sometimes experienced. caratiquit and caratiquit (2022) say the pandemic has forced many professors to rely on technology for instructional delivery. it’s important to become comfortable with new tools and platforms, such as online learning management systems, video conferencing, and digital assessment tools. the result implies and is shown in the table mentioned above. it can be deduced that since the majority of the graduate school professors were on a parttime basis only, it is of the high assumed that they still have employment outside their respective colleges, probably as a professor also or in the industry. table 4. challenges experienced by the professors during covid-19 in terms of learning environment b. learning environment 5 4 3 2 1 weighted mean adjectival interpretation weak data or signal in the area to support or deliver learning at home 5 2 15 10 0 3.06 sometimes experienced difficulty in coping with the required continuity of education. 5 7 10 10 0 3.22 sometimes experienced distraction from the environment 11 5 4 12 0 3.47 often experienced frequent power interruption 6 7 9 10 0 3.28 sometimes experienced general assessment 3.26 sometimes experienced 191 international peer reviewed journal among the indicator provided, distraction from the environment got the highest weighted mean of 3.47. at the same time, frequent power interruption has a weighted mean of 3.28. difficulty in coping with the required continuity of education got 3.22. weak data or signaled in the area to support or deliver learning at home, with a weighted mean of 3.06. data shows that the respondent professors in private graduate schools, in terms of the learning environment, only got over all weighted mean of 3.26, and this is rated as sometimes experienced. raziq and maulabakhsh (2015) said that the learning environment is one factor that significantly influences how employees feel about their work, including the setting, social features, physical conditions, workplace relationships, collaboration, efficiency, and employee health. to increase effectiveness and efficiency, productivity, and employee job commitment, the institution must satisfy the needs of its employees by providing good working conditions and an environment. the result implies that in the graduate schools in private hei, the two graduate schools involved the common study problem is the distraction from the environment. however, the provider still is strengthened, especially weak data or signals in the area to support or deliver learning at home because this is a type of learning that can be adopted today, and as graduate students, learners need to be dependent already. table 5. challenges experienced by the professors during covid-19 in terms of time management c. time management 5 4 3 2 1 weighted mean adjectival interpretation setting up class meetings takes time 8 9 6 9 0 3.50 often experienced lack of time to prepare instructional material. 6 9 9 8 0 3.41 often experienced running of time because of chasing a deadline such as grades and reports. 11 8 2 11 0 3.59 often experienced lack of time for family and friends. 4 9 8 11 0 3.19 sometimes experienced general assessment 3.42 often experienced 192 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 in terms of time management, running time because of chasing a deadline, such as grades and reports and got an overall highest weighted mean of 3.59. among the indicators, setting up class meetings takes time, got 3.50. lack of time to prepare instructional material received a weighted mean of 3.41. lack of time to family and friends with a weighted mean of 3.19. this data reveals that the professors in private graduate schools in higher education institutions in terms of time management often experienced, supported by the overall weighted mean of 3.42. this finding shows that the professors in graduate school at phei experienced different difficulties in terms of managing their time during the time of the pandemic. furthermore, the adaptability and opportunity of time management can crash understudies who have not dominated time the professors’ abilities. the main connected indicator is time scheduling (razali et al., 2018). this implies graduate school professors during the time of pandemic part-time/full time may face unique time management challenges related to the new nature of teaching online courses. they may need to spend more time responding to student emails and grading assignments, as well as managing their schedule to ensure that they are available during the times when students are most active. table 6. challenges experienced by the professors during covid-19 in terms of student assessment d. student assessment 5 4 3 2 1 weighted mean adjectival interpretation lack of student selfmotivation 7 9 5 11 0 3.38 sometimes experienced working too many roles at the same time 7 7 8 10 0 3.34 sometimes experienced lack of knowledge in using technology like share screen, post and, etc. 7 11 6 8 0 3.53 often experienced lack of learning through adequate instructional tools 6 9 8 9 0 3.38 sometimes experienced general assessment 3.41 often experienced in terms of student assessment, lack of knowledge in using technology like share screen, post and, etc., got the highest weighted mean of 3.53. lack of student self-motivation and lack of learning through adequate instructional 193 international peer reviewed journal tools. the respondents almost similarly gave the same responses, and it is got mean got a 3.38. lack of knowledge in using technology like share screen, post and, etc., rated with a mean of 3.34 and has an overall weighted total of the weighted mean of 3.41, and has an adjectival interpretation often experienced. according to geverola et al. (2022), the major challenge for professors in this new normal has been ensuring the integrity of assessments. with remote learning, it can be difficult to monitor student behavior during exams and prevent cheating. the result implies that based on the years of teaching experience as graduate school professors may have different expectations of their students, which can make it challenging for students to know what is required of them in assessments. for example, some professors may expect students to have a deep understanding of the subject matter, while others may focus more on memorization and recall. this result was the actual transcript of the interview through open-ended questions conducted by the researcher. instructional delivery statements of respondents are the same answers to the question what did you do to be able to teach even without a face-to-face class? and how did the student meet it? according to graduate school professors, they stated that: there is a common answer the respondent is using online digital platforms using zoom, google met, and use virtual means, and students were able to cope in the class. learning can be used to plan a wide range of instructional strategies, from professors’ lectures to hands-on student-centered activities. furthermore, as a result of using this process, teachers should be able to develop effective instruction that will assist students in learning and remembering more information (isman, 2011). data revealed professors might learn how to modify everything, including their way of life, as a result of covid-19. additionally, the pandemic caused some significant adjustments, particularly in the educational sector. learning environment respondents in terms of learning environment have the same answer focusing on the challenges i encountered are poor internet connection experienced, and internet connection is weak, and the lesson/reporting interrupted. frequent power interruption is also a major problem in albay. distraction from the environment also.” 194 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 according to a study by delgado and arellano (2021) entitled “a phenomenological study of the lived experiences of graduate students adapting flexible learning modality due to covid-19 pandemic” stated that in this time the pandemic, empowering students to adapt and choose how, when, and where they learn them to combine work and study and complete their learning tasks in the safety of their own home. data revealed that despite facing survival challenges, professors could overcome them by adapting to changes in their environments. time management responses gathered from the private graduate school, and higher institution professors, share their experience in how they manage their time during the pandemic times. managing time during the pandemic has been challenging for many people due to the disruption of daily routines, increased distractions, and the impact of mental health issues. however, there are strategies and tools available to help manage time effectively, such as creating a schedule, minimizing distractions, and seeking social support. the adaptability and opportunity of time management can crash understudies who have not dominated time the professors’ abilities. the main connected indicator is time scheduling (razali et al., 2018). data revealed with remote learning. it can be easy to blur the lines between these two domains; while the new mode of teaching has presented many challenges for professors, many have been able to adapt and thrive by using time management strategies and self-care practices. student assessment all of the respondents of the respondent’s majority of the answer focusing on the issue of copy-paste via the internet copy to google and pasting it as answers. most professors gave assessments via google forms. usual problems encountered that there is a such time of frequent power interruptions during the time of assessment also malfunctioning computers. a new mode of learning can present challenges, but with proper planning, communication, and support, professors can help students succeed in the digital learning environment. the study of mojica (2021), “the lived experiences of teachers amidst the pandemic,” sought to reveal the lived experiences of teachers and students participating in remote learning. respondents must have prior experience with remote learning. when the survey results are considered, it is clear that a lack of 195 international peer reviewed journal a reliable internet connection is one of the most significant challenges educators and students face. as a result, communication between the two, as well as communication among the students, is hampered. this leads to a slew of issues caused by a lack of connectivity. conclusions the profile of the respondents varies in personal, professional, and years in teaching graduate school. the majority were part-time or 84.37 of them, and only 15.63% were full-time and highly qualified with a doctorate holder. the result implies that the majority of faculty in the graduate school were parttimers meaning a sense of accountability and responsibility is at stake. it is also not surprising that the result was like that because the majority of the faculty members are connected to other agencies / belong to an aging population and are no longer interested in committing themselves to become full-time due to legal repercussions and other hindrances like coping with the new system of education through the use of educational technology. as stated in this thesis paper, the pandemic situation of 2020 caused changes, particularly in graduate school (both positive and negative). in the education system, instructional delivery, learning environment, time management, and student assessment is part of the professor’s learning process. it turns out that there are some adjustments that must be made. the study concludes that the respondents can effectively manage their time and pace because of the new way of instruction to the use of the internet. in regards to and in line with the findings, the respondents experienced more negative reactions about internet connectivity, power interruption, and technical difficulties, thus hindering them from fully benefiting from the new learning. the covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lived experiences of graduate school professors in albay. it has required them to adapt to new teaching methods and balance their personal lives with their work. however, it has also presented opportunities for innovation and new ways of engaging with its students. online meetings, while providing the opportunity to virtually see each other, may give professors the impression that they do not have the same responsibilities as when they come face-to-face with their students. 196 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 translational research the result of the study could be translated through journal article for international publication. proposed action plan to address the problems discovered in this research. this action plan was created using all of the information gathered from the respondents. the researcher created this to address pressing issues discovered through scientific research. it was divided into four (4) items: the areas of concern instructional delivery, learning environment, time management, and student assessment. major final output propose action plan to address challenges experienced by graduate school professors in albay amidst covid-19 pandemic areas of concern instructional delivery learning environment time management student assessment objectives to improve the instructional delivery ability to use trend strategy to promote selfimprovement among experiences of professors demonstrate basic proficiency in productivity instruction to promote coping strategies and techniques in dealing with time. to improve the professors’ assessment ability to use trend strategy to identify the forms and purpose of student assessment in the teaching and learning process. activities conduct workshops and seminars for training sessions to improve computer literate skills. conduct a lecture and workshop through webinar/ face to face conduct a webinar about time management to improve dealing with conflicts conduct workshops and seminars for training sessions to give professors assessments for students. person involved professor, it, and students professor, it, and students professor, professional psychologist professor source of fund school budget for workshop and seminar school budget for workshop and seminar school seminar budget school budget for workshop and seminar amount php 65,000 php 50,000 php 50,000 php 30,000 197 international peer reviewed journal expected outcome improve the instructional delivery in ability to use technology incorporating continuous changes and adapt the new environment. enable the time management t to 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(2021). learning environments preferred by university students: a shift toward informal and flexible learning environments. learning environments research, 24, 371-388. https://doi.org/10.36713/epra7342 75 international peer reviewed journal conquering the stormy seas of pandemic: appropriateness and effectiveness of a quasi-military institution’s covid-19 response victoria q. paraggua http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0284-5555 vqparaggua@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines froilan d. mobo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4531-8106 fd.mobo@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines ronalyn c. acuavera http://orcid.org/0000-00024744-6080 rc.acuavera@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines leah r. villavicencio http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3074-7346 lr.villavicencio@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines sheena lee r. atejera http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0071-2991 slr.atejera@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.754 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:vqparaggua@pmma.edu.ph mailto:fd.mobo@pmma.edu.ph mailto:rc.acuavera@pmma.edu.ph mailto:lr.villavicencio@pmma.edu.ph mailto:slr.atejera@pmma.edu.ph 76 jpair multidisciplinary research geraldine c. pasa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3332-8833 gc.pasa@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the global health crisis brought about by the covid-19 has disrupted and negatively affected even the education sector. strict measures and plans to curb the spread of the virus were implemented nationwide, but a sudden surge of covid-19 positive cases at the philippine merchant marine academy was experienced. thus, this research generally aimed to discover how pmma responded to the surge in terms of effectivity and appropriateness. this quantitative-descriptive research used a bilingual researcher-made survey questionnaire. through the descriptive analysis of the data gathered, the study found out that the measures implemented (e.g., adequate meals for the stayin respondents, consultation with relevant personnel, ensuring strict compliance with health and safety protocols.) were generally highly appropriate and highly effective. even so, some practices must be corrected to ensure the safety of cadets and employees, including strict implementation/compliance to health and safety protocols, guidelines on quarantine facilities, and allowing covid-19 negative students to stay inside the academy. given these, to ensure resiliency to future and similar circumstances, it is recommended that cadets who were sent outside for important reasons must be quarantined, a permanent emergency management team be created, a work from the home scheme will be implemented, and vaccination of all employees and cadets will be worked on. keywords — social science, covid-19, response, appropriateness, effectiveness, maritime quasi-military, quantitative-descriptive, zambales, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 77 international peer reviewed journal introduction globally, as of july 9, 2021, there have been 185,291,530 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) cases, including 4,010,834 deaths, reported to world health organization. the spread of covid19 drastically affected the whole world, from the operations of big institutions, companies, and establishments down to the customary activities of the small units of society – the family. no one was spared from this dreaded and fatal culprit. covid-19 brings an immediate lesson in various aspects of a national government-equity, leadership, social justice, ethics, and patient care (dewart et al., 2020). this pandemic, the greatest challenge that the national education systems have ever faced, will constantly modify the educational landscape. many institutions were ordered to cease face-to-face instruction, requiring them to suddenly shift to online teaching and virtual education (daniel, 2020). in the philippines, the inter-agency task force on emerging infectious diseases (iatf-eid), created through executive order no. 168 in 2014, released resolutions containing recommendations for managing the covid-19 situation. even with the global emergency that required a declaration of enhanced community quarantine in luzon, the philippine merchant marine academy (pmma) opted to continue its operation. as the only government-owned institution specializing in maritime education training (met), pmma serves as the model of met in the philippines, with the mission to educate and train midshipmen/women to become competent merchant marine officers for shipboard and shore-based positions in response to the global requirements of the expanding international maritime industry (ching, 2017). according to paraggua et al. (2017), the discipline and training acquired from the quasi-military setup were very beneficial during the shipboard training of cadets. the physical training experienced by the cadets helped the trainees survive the daily activities and training onboard. also, the military training experiences are very significant in the actual training onboard, which requires courage, commitment, perseverance, and tolerance. in the same study, the cadets agreed that military training significantly changed their attitudes towards anxiety and fear. being a regimented higher education institution, cadets of pmma are provided with meals and are quartered at the pmma dormitories for the entire period of their academic years, although under normal circumstances, they are allowed to go on short stay passes and end-of-term vacations. in the public 78 jpair multidisciplinary research advisory released by the academy on march 20, 2020, the academy stated that the administration, upon conducting risk assessment with the department heads, decided that it would be best to continue with their operations considering the distinct characteristic of pmma. the commission on higher education (ched) issued advisory no. 7 on may 24, 2020, entitled guidelines for the prevention, control, and mitigation of covid-19 in higher education institutions (heis) for the heis to comply in order to continue still providing the learners quality education aligned with their respective visions and missions. the commission also released ched memorandum order (cmo) no.4 s.2020, which aimed to provide learners with the highest flexibility in learning content, schedules, access, and innovative assessment, using digital and non-digital tools during this time of the pandemic. in their research, liu and huang (2020) presented a few issues in online learning wherein, not every student can access the internet and have smart devices for their online learning. academic integrity is an unavoidable concern in online teaching and learning, and plagiarism is a serious issue. in addition to the ched guidelines and memorandums, pmma still developed and implemented policies and regulations to prevent being tremendously affected by covid-19. following proclamation no. 922 by the president of the philippines declaring the state of public health emergency, the academy released memorandum circular order (mco) no. 16 s. 2020, on march 11, 2020, whereby several academy bicentennial celebration events were postponed until further notice. upon the release of the news on the first case of covid-19 in zambales, pmma issued mco no. 20 s. 2020 on march 26, 2020, stating its intensified efforts amidst the health crisis. when central luzon, including zambales, was placed in general community quarantine, the academy released mco no. 30 s. 2020 on may 28, 2020. it was thereby ordered that returning employees secure health certificates that they are physically fit and free of signs and symptoms of covid-19. the university professional respondents in the study conducted by indira and sonia (2020) expressed that considering the safety and security of students and faculty, efforts are being taken for the smooth running of academic work and other operations of institutions during this pandemic. the biggest challenge faced by them is converting traditional education to e-learning. also, they experienced difficulty in continuous planning and communications and developing the educational advancement with new educational solutions (like going online). azman and abdullah (2021) found out that in managing to teach and learn 79 international peer reviewed journal amidst covid-19 lockdown, it immediately became clear that the priority for malaysian heis was to take care of the basic needs of students who remained on campus. despite the strictly implemented plans and measures, pmma was still disturbed by the coronavirus. pmma first experienced the difficulties caused by covid -19 on august 27, 2020, when seven incoming 3rd class midshipmen got infected by the virus. mco no. 45 s. 2020 contains the order that certain areas within the academy shall be off-limits to all unauthorized personnel. on march 19, 2021, one of the employees in the academy was also tested positive for covid-19, which was followed by five more employee cases. two months after, the academy was placed in a critical state due to the surge of covid-19 positive cases, where 309 cadets were tested positive for the disease. in response to this disturbing problem, pmma developed and executed various actions (by each unit and department) to address the problem. upon implementation of strategic containment on may 30, 2021, pmma memorandum circular order no. 19 s. 2021 was released with the order that all employees living outside the pmma complex will be on work-fromhome (wfh) arrangement and shall not be allowed to come aboard pmma throughout the 14-day quarantine period. based on the pmma memorandum circular order no. 23 s. 2021, the administrative employees should maintain zero contact with cadets. the order also allowed only 50% work operations. the office of academics, training, research, and extension (atre), in cooperation with the medical unit, the department of midshipmen affairs (dma), and the two colleges, college of marine transportation (cmt) and college of marine engineering (cme), implemented different measures concerning the education and training of the members of the corps of midshipmen, to safeguard the welfare of the students and staff in terms of their health and safety. despite all these guidelines, the surge of covid-19 positive cases in pmma still transpired. this has fueled the conduct of this research. this study aimed at finding out how pmma fared in responding to the recent surge of covid-19 in terms of effectivity and appropriateness. it attempted to analyze the adaptation of factors and procedures implemented to respond the surge of positive cases in the academy. the first major practical use of this research is that it provides muchneeded data to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures implemented by the academy. this will allow pmma to redesign the strategies 80 jpair multidisciplinary research or measures depending on the needs of the stakeholders. second, the study can be a basis for formulating an action plan during similar situations to address all internal stakeholders’ needs. third, it can also be used as a benchmark for future studies of other heis’ covid-19 responses. finally, the study indicates the urgent need for vaccination of all employees and cadets, especially since cadets are quartered in the academy, and face-to-face academics and training are practiced. framework figure 1. conceptual framework as per the description of durkheim, the social adaptation of individuals is linked with the existing normative structure of society (scambler, 2009). thus, social distance and isolation are defined to reduce the risk of covid-19 in society, and individuals follow to reduce the risk of infection that results in solidarity and integration among individuals. relative to the social adaptation theory, this research followed the inputprocess-output to assess how the pmma adapted and responded to the covid-19. figure 1 illustrates that through the utilization of an experiential survey, this research gathered data to determine the effectiveness and appropriateness of covid-19 response of pmma, other measures are taken, actions to be avoided, and recommended measures. the analysis of the data gathered would yield recommended practices to ensure resiliency to future and similar circumstances at the academy. 81 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study generally, the study focused on (1) finding out how pmma fared in responding to the recent surge of covid-19 in terms of effectivity and appropriateness, (2) identifying actions that must be avoided, (3) documenting measures that were taken but were not recorded, and (4) improving response through recommended measures. it was the hope of this research to make pmma resilient to imminent and similar incidents in the future. as benjamin franklin says, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” methodology research design the study used a quantitative descriptive research design to assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of the responses, measures, and policies of the pmma. this methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject than the “why” of the research subject. it primarily focuses on describing the nature of a demographic segment without focusing on “why” a particular phenomenon occurs. in other words, it describes the current situation of the respondents, not covering “why” it happens. the variables of the study are as follows: (a) measures undertaken by the academy, and (b) appropriateness and effectiveness of measures undertaken by the academy. respondents the respondents of the study are the 436 cadets/cadettes and the 70 male employees, and 24 female employees in the academy. furthermore, a total of 43 employees responded through an online survey, while 51 employees responded through the printed survey form. convenience sampling was used. this method is done by collecting research data from a conveniently available pool of respondents. it is the most commonly used sampling technique as it is incredibly prompt, uncomplicated, and economical. in many cases, members are readily approachable to be a part of the sample. instrumentation the instrument used is a survey questionnaire with different parts and categories. it includes (1) the department where the employee respondent 82 jpair multidisciplinary research belongs, (2) sex, and (3) case status of covid-19 wherein the cadet-respondent identified if he/she is positive, negative, or suspected to have the disease. the survey is in bilingual form using english and tagalog languages. respondents, including the executive committee, department of midshipmen affairs, unit/department heads, faculty members, medical unit, stay-in finance department, dormitory unit, and cadets/cadettes were invited to complete the online questionnaire through google form, while the other respondents such as the grmu, janitorial, mess, and security unit were requested to complete the printed survey questionnaire in the tagalog language. the last part covered the respondent’s feedback on (1) practices that must be avoided or corrected to ensure the safety of cadets and employees and (2) other measures the respondents recommend preventing infection and immediate spread of the virus at pmma. the survey questionnaire used a three-point likert scale to identify the appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures undertaken with regards to the surge of covid-19 positive cases inside the academy. the appropriateness of these measures was rated from (1) not appropriate, (2) slightly appropriate, and (3) highly appropriate. on the other hand, the effectiveness of the measures undertaken was also rated from (1) not effective, (2) slightly effective, and (3) highly effective. the frequency of the conduct of the measures was also counted. due to the unexpected circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic, particularly, the restriction of movement and the need for social distancing, the data collection for this study had to be conducted via the online survey platform and through hard copies. the distribution of the printed survey instrument was requested by an employee staying inside the academy while adhering to the guidelines and following the protocols set by the academy. the collected data were processed and analyzed using tables and microsoft excel. the mean and mode were also identified. moreover, the range was computed to establish the range and provide the equivalent descriptive assessment. appropriateness effectiveness 1 1.67 not appropriate not effective 1.68 2.34 slightly appropriate slightly effective 2.35 3.00 highly appropriate highly effective 83 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion level of appropriateness and effectiveness of measures taken table 1. highly appropriate and highly effective measures taken from executive committee 1. consultation with department/unit heads and other concerned personnel on an action plan to be taken. 2. conducted regular execom meetings (supt, as-atre, as-af, planning director, and acting qmr) to discuss the implementation of covid-19 measures. 3. risk assessments are revised and updated to ensure appropriate safety measures are implemented. 4. tasked someone to coordinate with san narciso iatf, rhu, and provincial health office regarding the situation. 5. timely issuance of memorandum circular stipulating guidelines on the strategic containment 6. established flexible work from home and skeleton work arrangements. 7. provided timely and accurate information to employees and cadets/cadettes, especially to covid19 positive to reduce uncertainty and distress. 8. advised on the procurement of immediate needs/supplies (foods, medical, etc.) in sufficient quantity and quality. 9. other measures: additional designated berthing area; reduce cdo and ood to lessen possible exposure; use the electronic platform to make transactions/ appointments. members of the executive committee have responded, as presented in table 1, that they consulted with department/unit heads and other concerned personnel weekly concerning the action plan to be taken. no organization can respond independently to the serious problems presented by the scope and scale of covid-19. the pandemic goes beyond demographic, geographic, and organizational boundaries (nembhard et al., 2020). the academy coordinated with san narciso iatf, rhu, and provincial health office regarding the situation. all measures implemented were highly appropriate and highly effective, according to the execom members. the high level of appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures conducted by the executive committee members is a result of their great efforts in combatting the disease. this is also what happened at the university of taiwan. with proactive containment efforts and comprehensive contact tracing, the number of covid-19 cases in taiwan remained low: the 84 jpair multidisciplinary research university in taiwan had not recorded any domestic cases for 67 consecutive days (cheng et al., 2020). table 2. level of appropriateness and effectiveness of measures taken from department/unit heads covid-19 measure appropriateness effectiveness mean qi mean qi was consulted on the action plan to be taken. 2.80 highly appropriate 2.70 highly effective conducted meeting, which department/unit heads were included, discussed updates on the implementation of covid-19 measures. 2.50 highly appropriate 2.50 highly effective coordinated with concerned personnel/ other departments on matters related to the implementation of strategic containment guidelines. 2.70 highly appropriate 2.80 highly effective provided real-time and accurate information. 2.50 highly appropriate 2.60 highly effective continuous service delivery and production of the output of your respective offices. 2.90 highly appropriate 2.80 highly effective other measures implemented a. notify concerned individual 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective b. skeletal workforce 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective the majority of the department/unit head respondents have similar responses in all the measures indicated in the survey. for other notable measures, as shown in table 2, one respondent stated that the concerned individual was notified as the need arises and a skeletal workforce was implemented daily. de bruin et al. (2020) stressed that communication strategy on effective risk mitigation must be clearly and well-coordinated using all possible channels because this is vital in establishing trust with the people in a quickly evolving situation. all of the measures were deemed highly appropriate and highly effective with the continuous service delivery and production of output having the highest mean inappropriateness of 2.90 while the same measure and coordination with concerned personnel/other departments tied in highest effectivity rating of 2.80. bhagat and kim (2020) emphasized that, for universities and colleges to be 85 international peer reviewed journal digitally resilient, they should be well-adjusted and prepared to adopt new systems and processes to ensure continued competitiveness and survival, especially when internal or external interventions force them to undergo certain disruptions. table 3. level of appropriateness and effectiveness of measures taken from faculty members covid-19 measure appropriateness effectiveness mean qi mean qi was consulted on the action plan to be taken. 2.30 slightly appropriate 2.20 slightly effective received regular updates from the college deans regarding the situation 2.40 highly appropriate 2.40 highly effective clear instructions were given for the continuation of classes/exams. 2.40 highly appropriate 2.40 highly effective there was special instruction to exempt cadets/cadettes found covid19 positive. 2.30 slightly appropriate 2.30 slightly effective the existence of a program meant to address the delay of learning if there was special instruction to exempt cadets/cadettes found covid19 positive. 2.20 slightly appropriate 2.20 slightly effective other measures implemented a. covid-19 rt-pcr/swab test 2.00 slightly appropriate 2.00 slightly effective as presented in table 3, faculty members perceive that the covid-19 measures are effective and appropriate to a certain degree. only two (2) measures got a highly appropriate and highly effective rating: receive regular updates from college deans regarding the situation, and clear instructions were given for the continuation of classes/exams. on the other hand, the rest were rated as slightly appropriate and slightly effective. mina et al. (2020) recommended that there must indeed be a response plan that the universities must adapt to resolve the concerns of the faculty and staff, especially in reducing the spread of the virus without sacrificing the day–to–day transactions of the academic institutions. jacob et al. (2020, as cited in simon & hans, 2020), who observed that the closure of schools, colleges, and universities not only interrupts the teaching for students around the world but also coexisted with major examination periods, many exams have been postponed or canceled. furthermore, they recommended that the government increases the funding of higher education institutions in the next year’s budget to manage all the damages caused by the covid-19 school temporary closure. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. highly appropriate and highly effective measures taken from department of midshipmen affairs was consulted on the action plan to be taken. ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols such as wearing of face mask and proper and frequent handwashing at the cadets’ quarters. ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols such as wearing a face mask and proper and frequent handwashing at the quarterdeck area. checked and ensured the number of patients in each room in the quarantine area was enough to adhere to physical distancing rules. restricted mass gatherings of cadets through suspension of: a) formation at the parade grounds b) dining at the mess hall c) daily routines such as calisthenics d) morning, noon, and evening muster e) morning and evening colors implemented shifting schedule of the mess of cadets to avoid mass gathering and spread of the virus. cadets were not allowed to go ashore regardless of purpose. conducted disinfection of cadets quarters regularly. other measures implemented limited face to face between midshipmen/ women and tactical officers segregation of infected cadets from the healthy ones table 4 presents that for the department of midshipmen affairs, only one (1) measure gained a unanimous response: restriction of mass gathering of cadets through suspension of dining at the mess hall for the full duration of the lockdown. in the study, alfano and ercolano (2020) indicated that lockdown is effective in decreasing the number of new cases in the implementing countries compared to non-implementing ones. this is indeed effective around 10 days after the implementation, and its efficacy continues to grow up to 20 days after. 87 international peer reviewed journal table 5. level of appropriateness and effectiveness of measures taken from the medical unit covid-19 measure appropriateness effectiveness mean qi mean qi was consulted on the action plan to be taken. 2.75 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols, such as wearing a face mask and proper and frequent handwashing. 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective checked and ensured the number of patients in each room in the quarantine area is enough to adhere to physical distancing rules. 2.25 slightly appropriate 2.25 slightly effective coordinated with the rural health unit and provincial health office to conduct rapid antigen test and rt-pcr test for suspected cases and close contacts. 3.00 highly appropriate 2.50 highly effective ensured availability of medicines and other medical supplies for cadets/employees who have symptoms. 3.00 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective coordinated with authorities if medicines and medical supplies were depleting to ensure a steady supply 3.00 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective monitored the number of covid-19 positive cases 2.50 highly appropriate 2.50 highly effective regularly monitored the health situation of covid-19 positive cases 2.75 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective coordinated regular clean-up and disinfection 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective introduced measures for avoiding crowding and social mixing and encouraged employees and students to observe safe physical distancing 3.00 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective used medical masks and other ppe according to tasks and applied standard precautions in providing patient care. 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective provided face masks and face shields to cadets for free 2.75 highly appropriate 2.75 highly effective conducted regular disinfection of sickbay and quarantine areas 3.00 highly appropriate 3.00 highly effective 88 jpair multidisciplinary research organized swab testing for employees and cadets 3.00 highly appropriate 2.50 highly effective proper and easy coordination with transportation unit, dma, oos, oasaf, oas-atre, and other concerned units/offices regarding measures to be implemented 2.75 highly appropriate 2.50 highly effective as seen in table 5, five measures were answered consistently by the medical unit staff. accordingly, nine measures got a perfect rating of 3.00 in terms of appropriateness. on the other hand, only four measures got a full 3.00 rating for effectiveness. conversely, checking and ensuring the number of patients in each room to ensure physical distancing got the lowest rating of 2.25 for both aspects, which implies that it is slightly appropriate and slightly effective. in addition to the above measures, healthcare systems must be established for the procurement and distribution, and adequate training must be provided to professionals in its use (liu et al., 2020). table 6. highly appropriate and highly effective measures taken from covid-19 positive cadets ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols such as wearing of face mask and proper and frequent handwashing. the meals provided were varied and nutritious for the health of covid-19 positive cadets/ cadettes quarantine facilities/rooms were large enough to ensure physical distancing provided with properly ventilated quarantine rooms beddings and other sleeping necessities were provided adequately swab testing was conducted in a timely manner medicines were immediately provided vitamins were given to boost immunity ensured availability of online counseling in times of anxiety, depression, fear, etc. ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols such as wearing of face mask and proper and frequent handwashing. the meals provided were varied and nutritious for the health of covid-19 positive cadets/ cadettes quarantine facilities/rooms were large enough to ensure physical distancing provided with properly ventilated quarantine rooms 89 international peer reviewed journal beddings and other sleeping necessities were provided adequately in case of other needs, it was easy to convey to pmma management. suspended formation at the parade grounds suspension of dining at the mess hall suspension of mass calisthenics. implemented shifting schedule of the mess of cadets to avoid mass gathering and spread of the virus limited number of cadets in the quarantine facilities/rooms to ensure physical distancing cadets were not allowed to go ashore regardless of purpose. in case of other needs, it was easy to convey to pmma management. other notable highly appropriate and highly effective measures implemented regular disinfection of identified areas personal hygiene isolation of covid-19 positive temperature checking use of online platform for activities maintenance of cleanliness physical distancing provision of supplies such as alcohol, disinfectants, mineral water, and medicines monitoring of dma commandant thru group chat as seen in table 6, the majority of the covid-19 positive cadets/cadettes, who were the most affected by the sudden surge of cases in the academy, always ensured strict compliance with minimum health and safety protocols. relatedly, the following measures were implemented for the full duration of lockdown according to the majority of the respondents: suspension of formation at the parade grounds, suspension of dining at the mess hall, suspension of mass calisthenics, shifting schedule of the mess of cadets to avoid mass gathering and spreading of the virus, and staying aboard of cadets (not allowed to go ashore regardless of purpose). moreover, wild et al. (2021) emphasized that wearing face masks and following safe social distancing are two of the enhanced safety protocols that need to be followed in public places to prevent the spread of the virus. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. highly appropriate and highly effective measures taken from covid-19 negative cadets compliance with minimum health and safety protocols such as wearing of face mask and proper and frequent handwashing. the meals provided were varied and nutritious for the health of the cadets/cadettes cadets’ quarters were disinfected regularly vitamins were given to boost immunity in case of other needs, it was easy to convey to pmma management suspended formation at the parade grounds suspension of dining at the mess hall suspension of mass calisthenics. implemented shifting schedule of the mess of cadets to avoid mass gathering and spread of the virus limited number of cadets in the barracks/rooms to ensure physical distancing cadets were not allowed to go ashore regardless of purpose. as seen in table 7, the non-covid cadets experienced various measures in mitigating the spread of the virus in the academy. in connection to these, the following measures were implemented for the full duration of the lockdown according to the majority of non-covid/negative cadets: suspension of formation at the parade grounds, suspension of dining at the mess hall, suspension of mass calisthenics, implementation of shifting schedule of the mess of cadets to avoid mass gathering and spread of the virus, and staying aboard of cadets (not allowed to go ashore regardless of purpose). other notable measures implemented were the following: disinfection of barracks and mess hall, isolation/segregation of covid-19 positive from others, regular cleaning/maintaining cleanliness, personal hygiene, mass testing, covid-19 negative cadets were encouraged to be exposed to the sun, the conduct of online classes, checking of temperature, a limited number of cadets using head, delivery of meals in the battalion and other quarantine areas, and putting plastic cover at the quarters. 91 international peer reviewed journal table 8. practices to be corrected or avoided practices count % allowing negative cadets to stay inside the academy 9 4.52% behavior 2 1.01% allowing employees to go ashore even if lockdown is implemented 9 4.52% guidelines in quarantine facilities 20 10.05% health-related practices 8 4.02% implementation/compliance to iatf/pmma health and safety protocols 130 65.33% quality of meals (nutritious) 2 1.01% suspension of liberty of cadets 6 3.02% not conducting mass testing 6 3.02% provision of free supplies (face mask, alcohol, vitamins) 5 2.51% vaccination 2 1.01% total 199 100.00% other practices all the practices must be corrected be proactive, not reactive quality of quarantine facilities change of beddings class system contingency plans use of non-disposable mess kits conduct face-to-face lessons guidelines on how to treat covid-19 patients quality of quarantine facilities mess kits of covid-19 positive not gathered separately conduct of activities must be online mess kits must be permanent personal responsibility no physical fitness activities the quick response of the medical team segregation of cadets tolerating awol 92 jpair multidisciplinary research table 8 shows the respondents’ insights on what practices must be corrected/ avoided to ensure the safety of cadets and employees. overall, it is noted that the highest is on implementation issues on released protocols. respondents also stated that the guidelines on quarantine facilities must be corrected, as there could be implementation issues too, such as those who are not billeted in the quarantine areas must strictly not go near the areas where covid-19 positive cadets are billeted; thus, all negative cadets must not fetch water, distribute mess, and perform other duties for those who are positive. it can also be gleaned in the table that respondents stated that allowing cadets, especially those who are negative, to stay inside the academy premises must be corrected. they believe that cadets, especially those tested negative, must be allowed to go ashore/home because confining them here where there are many cases would put them at high risk of infection. however, when lockdown is implemented, they suggested that employees must not be allowed to leave the academy premises. moreover, mass testing must be conducted instead of just testing those who are symptomatic since, accordingly, there may also be infected cadets but may just be asymptomatic. this way, it will be easier to contain the virus and prevent further spread. most of the highly appropriate and effective measures implemented by the academy are being performed worldwide; indeed, governments around the world have employed highly operational public safety measures, including recommendations and other campaigns for improved hygiene practices, passing social distancing requirements, and restricting public gatherings (trung, 2019). recommended measures for future and similar incidents from respondents to address other future and similar incidents, respondents recommend that pmma must strictly adhere to the health and safety protocols issued by the national and local iatf. allowing negative cadets to stay inside the academy was also recommended. additionally, a suggestion was also made on the proper disinfection of outside packages, which should be done at the main gate. relatedly, for the employees and tactical officers that go in and out of the academy, the academy should have a disinfection tunnel, which is used by most public places like malls or supermarkets, which they called mobile thermometry disinfection tunnel. vaccination of all employees and staff was also recommended, as well as regular check-ups, provision of free vitamins and minerals to boost the immunity of everyone. sufficient supplies such as a free face mask, face shield, alcohol, 93 international peer reviewed journal disinfectant solutions, aerosols, hand sanitizers must also be provided to ensure compliance to health and safety protocols at all times. conclusions the education sector is greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic. in the philippines, higher education institutions had to adjust to the new situation where face-to-face interaction is prohibited and should practice online learning. the pmma opted to continue with its operations, considering the distinct characteristic of pmma. however, unavoidable challenges caused by covid-19 infection hit the academy. based on the findings, it can be concluded that pmma fared well in conquering the covid-19 surge inside the academy, with the fact that the lockdown was lifted on july 8, 2021, with zero casualties. the different measures evaluated were proven appropriate and effective as evaluated by the different sets of respondents. mccormack et al. (2021) cited mukerjee (2014), affirming that agility is a strategy that, when implemented effectively, promises institutions not only survival but a way to thrive in a fast-changing situation. moreover, there were additional measures that other departments/units had implemented that supported the goal of eradicating the virus inside the academy. moreover, although most are better implementation of the existing measures, the recommended additional measures are signs that everyone takes their safety seriously. recommendations to mitigate these challenges while also building a more resilient system that can withstand future and similar circumstances that may occur, the following are recommended: (1) continue implementing the safety protocols, including the conduct of immediate contact tracing, as guided by the iatf (national and local) and pmma guidelines, (2) there should be stricter implementation and proper monitoring of some of the current protocols, (3) students who were sent outside for important reasons must be quarantined when they return. in a situation that students cannot avoid going ashore, well-defined guidelines and policies must be implemented upon going ashore and coming aboard, (4) a regular work from home (wfh) scheme (e.g., 3-days report, 2-days wfh) could be considered for implementation to lessen exposure in department/units that are output/ 94 jpair multidisciplinary research outcomes-based, (5) the vaccination of all pmma employees and cadets must be worked on, (6) the pmma comes up with a financial strategy to better implement the different protocols. a well-laid plan with a clear source of financial support can assist the academy in the procurement request, and approval of funding from external sources, including that of the government and stakeholders, and (7) a permanent emergency management team (emt) could be created with the composition of (e.g., medical [1], safety [1], planning [1], finance [1], etc.) and their main responsibilities (i.e., create a readily implementable crisis management plan (cmp) for all possible and future disasterand health-related crisis, implement the cmp). these efforts will help the academy conquer the challenges of covid-19 while also adapting more resilient and flexible approaches going forward. future studies are further recommended, such as planning and implementation strategy, assessing learning online systems of the academy, a survey on online platforms, development of online instructional materials appropriate to a new normal setting, and many more. translational research the outcomes of this study could be translated into a short video clip showcasing the most appropriate and most effective strategies implemented in conquering the covid-19 surge inside the academy. other institutions can utilize this material in planning and implementation strategy, assessing online learning systems, developing online instructional materials appropriate to a new normal setting and many more. literature cited alfano, v., & ercolano, s. 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(2021). communicating https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2195 https://doi.org/10.1163/25902539-00203011 https://doi.org/10.1056/cat.20.0111 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01161.x https://doi.org/10.31618/esu.2413-9335.2019.4.65.275 https://doi.org/10.31618/esu.2413-9335.2019.4.65.275 97 international peer reviewed journal covid-19 health information to culturally and linguistically diverse communities: insights from a participatory research collaboration. public health research & practice, 31(1). retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17061/ phrp3112105 37 international peer reviewed journal abstract history would tell us categorically that women in the past were relegated to the background. however, the 21st century has changed the lives of women in the workplace arena where they were elevated on an enviable pedestal in leadership, management, education and skills training. this paper focused on describing the workplace challenges, opportunities and insights of women executives in kidapawan city. using phenomenological research design, multiple frameworks in data collection (friendly conversations, reflection analysis, and on-line interview) data analysis through story-telling writing helped me drew several themes which established the data’s trustworthiness regarding credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. with better portrayal on their professional development, the 15 women executives welcome the opportunities traveling the paths, climbing the traditional ladders, and running down their companies, there is one constant at them: they cultivated their success. they have enjoyed opportunities brought about by professional credibility, great sense of are women the new men? travelling the paths toward internationalization of women executives beatriz d. gosadan http://orcid/org 0000-0002-9407-7863l beatrizdgosadan@gmail.com central mindanao colleges, kidapawan city, philippines original: 100% • grammarly: 94% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.553 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research responsibility, and most importantly, financial independence. they have faced the challenges in leadership, human behavior, and high expectations, however, family and work-life balance remain the biggest issue that has affected them emotionally. it was through prayers and family support that these women drew strength from. hence, even if they were judged by society as weak, they continue to inspire the world. keywords — multicultural, challenges and opportunities, qualitative design, kidapawan city, philippines introduction history has placed women at the background, however, with the power shift toward women at work, education, and performance, the traditional male is dying out as women out-performed men economically (myers, 2016). looking ahead at the dawn of the 21st century, we have witnessed the increasing importance placed upon the role of women occupying corporate board and senior management positions in the companies worldwide (shinner, 2012). the rising number of women executives is a global phenomenon branding them as the new men in the 21st century (bachelet, 2011). the lives of women have changed drastically over the past hundred years and were placed in a position of advantage. women changed the workplace arena and made traipse in positioning themselves to move into the leadership pipeline. the grant thornton international business report (2014) likewise indicated that women held 24 percent of senior management roles around the world (www.dlsu.edu.ph). in the philippines, the ratio of filipinas taking on leadership positions in business has increased. dumlao (2014) added that the proportion of filipina cfos (chief finance officers) has been steady at 59 percent. women representation on boards continues to improve globally. european countries lead the way in gender diversity in the boardroom (konigsburg, yuen, withers, bachelder, sabia, & touraine, 2015). further, the higher presence of women on boards and top management is associated with better firm performance (carter & wagner, 2011) while small banks chaired by women are less likely to fail during a financial crisis (palvia, vähämaa, & vähämaa, 2015). on the average, women hold 12 percent of board seats worldwide, with european countries leading the way in gender diversity in the boardroom. it was reported that for the first time in history, women are less than a percentage point away from making up the majority of the national workforce (cassel, 2017) the economic downturn has hit men harder (belle, 2011). 39 international peer reviewed journal in particular, female chief executive officers (ceos) are becoming considerably more prevalent in businesses around the world. women ceos around the world has risen by 71 percent from 2.1 percent in end-2004 to 3.6 percent in end-2013 and predicted that women will constitute about onethird of new ceo appointments by 2040 (unite, sullivan, & shi, 2016). a most interesting comparative study confirmed that women scored higher than men on the 12 of the 16 leadership competencies. regarding function, women received higher ratings than males on the traditional male bastions of sales, legal, engineering, it and research and development. as women move higher to the organizational ladder, the more positively they were perceived to be effective than men (sherwin, 2014). with all these changes, the women now look tall and elevated from the dominations of the past regarding leadership and management. today, more than 70 percent of women have increased their productivity in the workplaces (frimpong, 2012). being a woman of principle and advocate of just dealings with every human being and a former woman executive, i find it interesting to make an in-depth investigation of the upsweeping phenomena of women leaders in schools. moreover, it sought to describe the work challenges and opportunities of women executives being the prime movers and chainsaw lilies in their industries, and hopefully, the result will give some insights to the other women who are on deck for promotion in the executive or managerial level. parenthetically, the commission of higher education (ched) and department of education (deped), in coordination with other organizations for gender and development (gad) encourages studies and programs for women empowerment. in addition, traceable studies on the challenges and opportunities for women executives in the education sector were seldom explored, thus, this study was pursued. framework this study is of great importance for the promotion of gender equality which refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of men and women (www.ohchr.org) in their employment. this condition of gender equality is an aspiration of women all over the world (sucharipa-behrmann, 2013). to add, the guiding premise of this study was based on the principles and advocacies of the magna carta for women (mcw), convention on the elimination of all 40 jpair multidisciplinary research forms of discrimination against women (cedaw) and united nations (un) program for women. objectives of the study this study was undertaken to describe the challenges and opportunities of the women executives and discuss the insights and suggestions they can share to other women who are newly appointed in the executive position or who are prospects to be the next women executives in kidapawan city. methodology this study is a qualitative design using a phenomenological tradition. phenomenological research centers on the description of the experience of the participants (bueno, 2016). the focus of a phenomenological study according to patton (2002) lies in the narrative of what people experience and how they feel about the experience. this study, therefore, resulted in describing the work experiences of women executives. a total of 15 women executives from the different sectors in kidapawan city were the respondents. fifteen as a minimum for most qualitative studies works very well when the participants are homogeneous (latham, 2013). they were purposively chosen based on the following criteria: appointed women executives, have been in the position for at least two years, eager to participate in the research and willing to sign a letter or consent. the data collection steps included the setting of the boundaries for the study, conversation through semi-structured, reflection analysis and on-line interview as well as establishing the protocol for recording information. the study employed story-telling writing since i focused on stories of the lived experiences of women executives. the use of the four criteria about the participants’ knowledgeability, credibility, impartiality, and willingness to respond (kumar, 1989) were satisfied by the 15 participants. as part of the ethical standards in research, voluntary consent from the participants was sought and assured them that the researcher will uphold confidentiality and that their rights would surely be respected. in the analysis and interpretation, the researcher used the suggestions of colton and covert (2007) regarding the sorting and categorizing of the data by applying a coding system of recurring themes. the data were analyzed guided by the framework of qualitative study as discussed by creswell (2007). to ensure 41 international peer reviewed journal trustworthiness of the data, the researcher strictly observed credibility through thick description, transferability which informants were purposively chosen, dependability through stepwise analysis, code and decode, and confirmability through an audit trail. though the participants were the women executives, the researcher allowed the use of any language so that the participants will be comfortable to share. those above were strictly observed because in qualitative research, the inquirer anticipates any issue related to ethics (richards & schwartz, 2002). researchers need to protect their research participants by developing trust with them, promoting the integrity of the research, guarding against misconduct and any impropriety that might reflect on their organizations or institutions, and cope with new challenging problems (creswell, 2007). results and discussion having employed the story-telling in writing the results of this inquiry, the following themes were derived from the responses of the participants. work challenges of women executives. women, strong as they are, were confronted with a lot of challenges that will truly test their capacity and faith. however, a lot of them believe they can handle their crisis. leadership. one of the challenges among women executives is on the leadership skills and styles. as leaders, it is their role to inspire, delegate, collaborate, communicate, influence and gain respect from the industry and the ability to learn and change which conforms with the statement of the center for creative leadership (2014). women executives are often stereotyped being called emotional instead of just being passionate (silsbee, 2008). the participants felt that they were perceived by men and other women as vulnerable. they said that they have experiences that they outsmarted by other employees and belittled in their capacity. also, the most crucial leadership challenge shared by one of the participants was on dealing with minor annoyances from the organization. while leadership presents them the opportunity to demonstrate the best of what they are, it also exposes their limitations which agree with rabinawitz (2016) who stated that good leaders have to overcome those restrictions to realize their vision. concerning corporate leadership, dowd (2005) said that the sad truth is, women only get to the top positions after those places were devalued. the contemporary culture of the united states stated that women were lauded as having the right combination of skills for leadership, yielding superior leadership 42 jpair multidisciplinary research styles and outstanding effectiveness (dev.womensurgeons.org). women still portray a suffering disadvantage in access to leadership positions as well as prejudice and resistance when they occupy these roles. to the participants, they believe that women and men display somewhat different leadership styles within limits set by their leader’s roles. they were faced with accommodating the sometimes conflicting demands of their roles as women and their roles as leaders. in general, people expect and prefer that women executives be manifesting traits such as kindness, concern for others, warmth, and gentleness. human behavior. women executives have considered the presence of varied behavior in the different industries. when they were pondered with issues, they understand that the behaviors exhibited by the employees fall within a range with some conduct in common, some unusual, some acceptable as influenced by their culture, values, attitudes, and ethics. most of the participants shared that they find it hard to mobilize people because they seemed to be uncooperative and does not show initiatives. this finding agrees with andersen (2012) when she also shared that most managers encounter these unmotivated employees, spending a disproportionate amount of time, thought, and emotional energy on them. some employees expressed their discomfort on the task assigned, and they were counting on what they have done. their social attitudes of being insensitive trigger the start of gossips and power struggles. this result was supplemented by mcleod (2014) when she said that people pick social aggressiveness from their personal experiences or observation which dictates their formation of values. family and worklife balance. women executives also face the challenges in the family and work-life balance during their first year of service when the expectation for more outputs/accomplishments is high. the participants recognize the importance of work and family in life. however, there are some instances of which company work, domestic work, and childcare responsibilities conflict at the same time. as shared by most participants, prioritizing one is sometimes hard to set because of some concerns even when you are in the workplace already. the role of being a wife, a mother and an executive may sometimes conflict due to the hectic schedules. thus, quality time for the family was sometimes sacrificed. in a study conducted by hall and chandler, (2005) they declared that viewing one’s job of an executive, as a calling is a factor in one’s ability to achieve a work-life balance. calling on work was found to be a significant factor among executives and has a positive effect on work-life balance. even though women executives enjoyed the flexible time for work, there are also instances of extended work hours which make it hard for them to set 43 international peer reviewed journal what to take first. similarly, work-life balance scholars have suggested that worklife balance itself is conceptually unique from work-life enrichment and worklife conflict due to the global perspective of balance, and was supported by role theory (carlson, grzywacz, & zivnuska, 2009). the emphasis of balance rests in the individual’s ability to meet the demands of the roles imposed by work-life and family life. being the primary caregiver for the family, they are guilty at times when they cannot give much attention to the needs of their family members due to some conflict in schedule. women entrepreneurs indicate that they deploy several strategies to cope with the double workload and challenges deriving from combining business with family but while self-employment may provide flexibility. on the self-employed status of women, a study showed that there was a negative relation on the amount of time spent caring for children and success. furthermore, successful women in the business rely on the support from their husbands, partners, and relatives. high expectations needed for output. when women executives were elected or appointed to the position, it is expected of them by the board that the company’s portfolio will improve and the company’s asset will increase. they feel that with their strength as women, they will be able to do better than the previous company statistics. however, to some women executives’ experience, they said that their employees would criticize them if they will not be able to reach their school requirement. but to some women executives, they believe in their charm, and they were expecting to get more clients because of the professional integrity that these women executives have established in the society. tatum (2017) agreed with the findings and stated that the greatest challenge to high expectations is the achievement gap itself. many women executives enter the job fully dedicated to establishing and maintaining high expectations. and yet, as they encounter the stark reality of their workers’ relatively low skill levels, they find their faith in maintaining high expectations was shaken, if not destroyed, by the gap between their workers’ current performance and high company achievement. further, the high level of expectations in their accomplishments is another challenge met by women executives. to them, the expectation of the agencies would lead them to work hard for extended hours. according to babson college’s 2012 global entrepreneur monitor, the fear of failure  is the top concern of women who launch startups. failure is a true possibility in any business venture, but passi (2012) said that it should not be viewed as a negative. what makes the high expectations of the society is the confidence imbibed to them by the different companies. some participants shared that their coaching and mentoring 44 jpair multidisciplinary research styles were some of the reasons why their companies were expecting too much from them. the women executives believe that their sharing of knowledge to their employees will help increase the participation of their people. the finding was supported by the article of lloyd and associates (2016) said that most women executives would like to develop their employees so that they can learn to make decisions and to take the initiative themselves. women executives prefer giving rewards that come from the success and the skill of their colleagues than the rewards they get from their supervisors.  in 2016, rosenthal has published his article citing that expectations were translated into behaviors through the following: climate, feedback, input and output, and stressed that women executives set more praises and criticisms to teach their employees to increase their skills. opportunities for women executives. women were designated as the new engines for growth and the rising stars of the economies to bring prosperity and welfare. thus, women were blessed with opportunities for this generation. higher compensation package and benefits. the informants also shared their opportunities. the main benefit was the financial aspect. most of them recognized the monetary upside since there are more benefits that they enjoyed. aside from their salaries, they also enjoy representation and travel allowances and percentages of the company’s productivity. other remunerations were reflected in their travel and leisure while on business trips for attendance in meetings and conventions and other activities. garvett (2015) explained that chief executive officers (ceos) get paid much for being the top employees in the company. vested with a high level of talent that is required to produce the desired product, they have the skills and responsibilities that are extreme, and the number of people who can fill these roles are limited. as a general rule, base salary accounts for just 20 percent of a ceo’s pay. the other 80 percent comes from performance-based pay (sherwin, 2014). high professional credibility. aside from their measured accomplishments and high compensation, women executives carry with them the prestige of having professional credibility. not just their companies, but the whole society as well trusted them and appreciated their characteristics because of their high educational status, their experiences, and their professional development. for most executives, it will not be hard for them to convince some clients or stakeholders for educational or business investments with them because of the credible relationship they have established in the society. this result agrees with kerns (2003) who said that leaders who were credible and act with integrity can 45 international peer reviewed journal create a comfortable workplace culture where society is treated with fairness and respect. they were committed in promoting a fair culture and ethical behavior. regarding the women opportunities, they said that they had established their names in the society through their company. this prestige made them easy to convince the society for their different success stories and in marketing their schools. they believe that their expertise in their schools comes from a blend of their education and experience. the participants believe that the high integrity is a package deal perceived to them by society. women executives also know that the degree of credibility assigned to them by people was based on how they do sound judgment and expertise. high sense of responsibility. women executives were aware of their obligations. with their responsibilities, they were able to influence the lives of their stakeholders. they also focused on their goals to realize their vision. serving people at their full potentials is also an opportunity for them. kockina (2015) said that people with a strong sense of responsibility are also hard-working and ambitious. if they find the balance, no goal is too difficult for them to achieve. people high in responsibility have advantages over others. their deep sense of dedication means that they have a psychological possession of their work. they are people who keep their words. participants also emphasized that they were also training or coaching other employees as second liners for their future promotion. one informant said that to mentor people they delegate some tasks to them with supervision. mentoring is also central to one’s management success. if the most valued employees were mentored, they will realize their full potentials and take their skills to the next level. mentoring also improves employee retention (hoerwath, n.d.). another opportunity gained by women executives is the high sense of responsibility. in their sharing, women executives know that they are morally accountable for their behavior. they take responsibility for their actions and are good at independent decision-making. further, jenkins (2017) agrees with the participants’ idea that a strong sense of responsibility and the employees’ work were related. being responsible motivates the leaders to show their best ability. they do not make commitments that they are not prepared to follow through. they have trust and confidence in their words. in their eyes (and in the eyes of others), they are always the right women for the job. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research insights of women executives participants were asked for their thoughts or suggestions. for the future executives, the following were their words of wisdom: be yourself, work hard and love your work, pray for god’s guidance, and be proactive. moreover, their suggestions are the following: know your people, manage your stress and continue to dream. be true to oneself. the participants were eager to share their insights and suggestions with some future executives. first, they wanted the future managers to be true to themselves. it is central to be honest and maintain such integrity. for most women executives, it is an important thing for future executives to keep themselves well grounded. being true to yourself means that you perform based on what you reflect (wright, 2008). participants also wanted future executives to remain firm in their decisions and be cautious on the words that come from their mouths. kunc and morecroft (2010) stated that there is a framework of behavioral view of decision-making processes. these are the creative conceptualization of new resource configurations that are intended to deliver competitive advantage and the other one is the painstaking development of resources required to implement the strategy. work hard and love your work. based on the experiences of the women executives, they emphasized to the future executives to work hard and love their work. even if employees are in the position, they should not rest on their laurels. they need to work hard because of that commitment to share the passion in making things happen. inamori (2009) supported the findings and said that the best way for employees to be motivated is to love their work. no matter what the task is, if everybody put all their efforts into accomplishing their job, they’ll gain a great sense of achievement and confidence, and have the motivation to face new challenges. repeating this process enhances their fondness for their job. when this happens, they will spare no effort and be able to achieve wonderful results. kupka (2012) agreed with this finding and said that there is a best time and prospect for us to create our own destiny. loving one’s job is essential for our entire society and our overall well-being. pray for god’s guidance. the participants believe that above all knowledge is god’s divine intervention. their appeal to the future executives was for them to let god be at the center of their life. women executives should pray in making their decisions, their actions, and in their words. hopler (2016) agrees to the findings stressing that when confusion stops us from making important decisions 47 international peer reviewed journal in our lives, what we need is god to guide us towards our best choices. prayers of faith will help us make decisions that reflect god’s purpose in our lives. robbins (2004) also noted that many individuals place great emphasis on another’s advice that validates their preferred choice. it is a wisdom from god. know your people. women executives stressed the importance of knowing their people since they will be working with them as a team. they believe that the better they understand their people, the better they will relate to them. they also need to leave the door open for the employees to come and share their thoughts. there are essential points listening to the cues of your employees and talk to them. you will hear their hearts, and you will understand them better. lencion (2015) stated that when employees feel anonymous in the eyes of their managers, they cannot love their work, even if they receive a lot of money or if they have the best jobs. but if their managers recognize them, they will eventually work harder, promote the company’s best practices, recruit other people and make sacrifices for customers. to the participants shared that listening to their employees’ stories made them understand their struggles. tapping the shoulders’ of their employees will help to connect with them better. one participant said that it is comforting also for her to hear some positive thoughts from their employees about the tapping of their shoulders and having time to talk to them. one participant was happy sharing her story that a son of her employee whom she met in the mall thanked her for granting his father’s cash advances during his college days to pay for his tuition. and she said, that made him so inspired to reach his dream and now working as a bank manager. the words of gratitude captured her heart. keep a legacy of your leadership. to the participants, keeping a legacy in their leadership is something they will be proud of to leave after their term of office. it is in the minds of the women executives to place themselves to achieve. they need to work hard and accomplish more together with the engagement of their people. they need to be focused on their goals and come up with some strategies to attain them. they should gain friendship from their people and share their knowledge and expertise to their successors. they should be objective in their decisions and should value competition among their similar entities. inspire people. the participants have different views of inspiring their people or employees. future women executives should keep a positive attitude and explore all the avenues to reach out their people and encourage them in so many ways. people who inspire us to be better are not weak, scared or stuck.  they are bold and have the fortitude and courage to push through their fears, and take 48 jpair multidisciplinary research a stand on what they believe (caprino,2016). one participant said, they should learn to wear different hats in different situations so that they will be able to get the hearts of their employees. inspiration involves changing the way people think and feel about themselves so they can take actions. it taps into people’s values and desires (witt, 2012). they need to appreciate the individual performance of their people as a team and insist the proper mind set. they should be ready to become mentors/coaches of their employees so they will also be more competent in their jobs. conclusion the cultivation of women executives in career success is what they wanted. they have built their success through sheer and determination. they know that they have the skills and the desire to do something great. although to them, it is not an obligation but a challenge to reckon. they have traveled different paths, some climbing the traditional corporate ladders, some zigzagging upwards by jumping between companies, some by starting and running down their businesses. no matter what the course, there is one constant: each of these women executives has cultivated her success. as women executives, they too have different challenges not just in their workplaces, but also at home, and in the society. women executives have different stories of their concerns since they lead a double lifeat home, at work, and in the society as well. most of them said that the aspect of family and work-life balance was an issue that affected them emotionally. they make sure that they would exhaust the best strategies for them to surpass the challenges in the workplace. for them to cope with these issues, they said they faced them and used human psychology to beat the challenges. establishing a friendly relationship in the workplace is a remedy to avoid some stresses. however, there are workmates who would try to test their leadership abilities. women executives were always positive that they can perform what was expected of them by their schools. even the challenges they experienced have made them stronger and smarter as an effect. they believe that they do not need to be the other person but their true selves instead. being true to themselves brought them to their dreams. listening to them during the interview was truly inspiring. they are the source of enlightenment to all future executives. indeed, unveiling the success barriers of these women executives, without receiving judgment and belittlement was therapeutic. it was a privilege as well as a blessing on my part to hear the participants share their expertise on this phenomenon. 49 international peer reviewed journal this study has brought inspiration to me as a researcher. i felt inspired by the optimism of the participants to make things happen. i felt i was not alone in my journey. i am going to share with some future executives or next in rank employees about the experiences i have learned from this research. i remembered the different stories of the participants and filled with awe at how they lived their lives despite the challenges they are facing in the workplace. i was reminded of the value of determination and perseverance that has helped me achieve my dreams and surpassed all the challenges that a woman executive might encounter. the women executives manage to handle themselves in situations where they are very vulnerable. they develop coping mechanisms. these mechanisms are necessary to avoid the undesirable effect on them. competing demands between work and home have assumed increased relevance for employees because of demographic and workplace changes. they have different forms of defense mechanism such as unwinding with friends and families, converting negative thoughts to positive thoughts, hard prayers, shopping, taking more time to sleep and resorting to things that keep them busy. working with god as the center of all the things they do was also noteworthy. the participants drew strength in their mind, body, and spirit through hard prayers. they know that even if they have the competence and expertise, they still need the divine intervention to achieve their goals and make things happen. some members of the society have already started accepting women as capable of accomplishing their goals. they believe that success is not dependent on gender. however, women executives still felt that they were being judged by society as weak, but for the women executives they believe, they have inspired the world. being a woman executive is an honor since they have the chance of serving the company to the best of their ability. it is also a reward because their hard work has been paid off. the different situations they shared are indeed worth keeping when they climbed the ladder towards their success. their words serve as an inspiration not just to the other women executives or the future women executives but being a former woman executive because i believe i was right in my decisions, i worked within my principles, and i have reached my dream. to those who are in the same boat with the participants of the study may take their suggestions/advice. for those in the society, they humbly request people to show their support instead of being judgmental. the participants have worked hard for their positions and have passed through qualifications for promotion. based on the responses of the participants, they don’t want people to talk against them and 50 jpair multidisciplinary research be the center of the discussions, instead, they need the support of the society to achieve their company goals. let us pray and support them in any way. in the context that they have a lot of roles in life, they wanted to be understood better regarding their availability in the different activities, and their decision making. for the women executives, the result of this study is giving them an opportunity to be explored in the kind of life they have vis-à-vis the roles they perform in their daily lives so that society will be sensitive to them. moreover, employees must learn from these people, particularly to their contributions in their companies and the development of the city as well. translational research the result of the study could be translated into a journal article for international publications, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to strengthen the government programs for women. additionally, government, non-government agencies and other interested funding agencies were encouraged to translate it into a more comprehensive program that could help address the concerns of the women sector. finally, it can be explained by sharing this research with the employees for them to hope for a better opportunity. acknowledgment i would like to acknowledge all the women executives who participated in the study, to the central mindanao colleges 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(2008). dare to be yourself.  psychology today,  1. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=dare+to +be+yourself+%2cpsychology+today&btng= 57 international peer reviewed journal pagana meranao: a royal feast as an institution cadidia a. pimping orcid no.: 0000-0002-6442-2072 cadidiapimping@yahoo.com mindanao state university system marawi city abstract the study aimed to describe its origin, historical and other components in the preparation of meranao foods. specifically, the research work pursued the following objectives. 1) to describe the meranao decorations during the pagana meranao, 2) to describe the pagana meranao food preparation and serving, 3)  to describe the pagana meranao as royal entertainment. the study used the descriptive design involving qualitative techniques, supported by interviews to key informants who are knowledgeable about the tradition and customs of the meranao. the study utilized all available meranao materials references on pagana meranao   found in the library to counter check information given by key informants for better understanding of the research work and its significance, especially the non-meranaos. the researcher also conducted an actual observation about the serving of pagana meranao.  keywords social science, pagana meranao, royal feast, descriptive design, mindanao state university, philippines introduction the study on pagana meranao started when dr. macapado a. muslim assumed to the office of the president as acting president of the mindanao state vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.235 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research university system on january 2008, subsequently appointed as 6th president of the university system. president muslim said one of his major concerns was to pursue the mandate of the university for the preservation of the cultural heritage of the muslim, christian, and indigenous groups in mindanao. this mandate is expected to achieve a better understanding and harmony, and to prevent conflicts among the peoples of mindanao. to realize this goal, president muslim has formalized a permanent committee on pagana meranao with a major task to plan out, implement and handle activities pertaining to a pagana meranao. there are three offices which are members namely; the office of the president which oversees and coordinates the proper implementation of the program, the pre-university center and the university training center. the researcher was designated by the office of the president as chairperson, committee on pagana meranao. the committee was reinforced by the emergence of the msu’s royalties who are presently working with the university main-campus to carry different traditional titles such as sultans and bai-a labis.  president muslim believes that these traditional leaders can help implement the mandate of the university in preserving the culture of the meranao. among these is the traditional pagana meranao which handles the activity of tendering dinner or luncheon for important guests and visitors of the university. in addition, it was clearly stipulated under the charter of the university’s mandate to pursue its vision for the cultural integration and preservation of the cultural heritage of the muslim, christian, and indigenous groups in mindanao. the preservation of pagana meranao makes the msu unique from other state universities in the country, including the great tourism potentials of the scenic campus. many had been written on the meranao (also m’ranao, maranaw), their beliefs and practices, way of life, people, and history. notwithstanding the variety of interests that people had shown today towards anything that is muslim or meranao, there is however one domestic genre, almost like-day-today affair to speak of so common in meranao household, but overlooked probably because it 59 international peer reviewed journal either draws interest to scholarly nor scientific pursuits in the community. the most overlooked cultural practice of which almost none has been written scholarly about it yet is the pagana meranao. the meranao people have been holding or hosting pagana meranao as far as they could remember since the time immemorial up to their own contemporary times, but nobody asks?". what made them value and continue hosting or tendering such as royal feast?". pagana as an institution ,if ever, through instituted or observed during ceremonial reception during weddings, enthronements and other celebrations, has not been regarded or treated distinctly as a separate institution from the rest. pagana may well be a function of a meranao family and the meranao society to preserve and show the value-system of "maratabat "attached to this as a form of institution. it may well be as a sub-system of economic institution, a non-enterprising or income generating as in business entities or establishments, but rather a cultural event which has been perennially instituted by some establishments, like schools as educational institutions and for that matter, the mindanao state university system-university training center. during the time of late president dr. antonio s. isidro who was the first president of the mindanao state university, started to introduce the pagana meranao with the guidance of late dr. mamitua saber, director of the university research center. the first guests who visited the university from the asia and ford foundation officials were treated a pagana meranao. other regular presidents of the mindanao state university system like dr. mauyag m. tamano, dr. ahmad e. alonto jr.,dr. camar a. umpa as well as the acting presidents late gov. mohammad ali dimaporo, professor diamael m. lucman, dr.ricardo de leon, dr. mangiging d. magomnang, atty tocod macaraya and dr. alfredo primero continued to tender a dinner pagana meranao , the highest form of hospitality afforded to a guests. president muslim believes in the existence of the traditional leaders. it is now reinforced by the emergence of the msu's royalty composed of msu employees who carry traditional titles, the objective of which is to promote the msu's special mandate of preserving the meranao cultural heritage and making them partners in peace and development. this is timely as president macapado a. muslim's new leadership helped prepared msu to its 21st century role as a university for world peace. these traditional leaders help implement the mandate of the university in preserving the culture of the meranao. among these is the traditional pagana meranao of tendering dinner or luncheon for important guests during special occasions such as; the assumption of traditional 60 jpair multidisciplinary research titles (kandatu, wedding celebration (ka-khawing ), etc., accompanied by playing of the kolintang (kalilang) or merry-making (kakarila) consisting of meranao songs and dances. framework pagana is a meranao term which means to serve meranao food and delicacies to visitors. it is usually accompanied with cultural entertainment and giving of tokens. during the historic pagana meranao and presentation of rawaten award to dr. macapado a. muslim, 6th msu system regular president by the meranao royalties in marawi city, the term used for pagana meranao was "kasapaat" from the root word "sapat" or to serve. it means the act of serving food to guests. the meranao hospitality is manifested through its lavish presentation and offering of variety of food. the sumptuous meal is served on a tabak, a table-tray bedecked with ampas, ( a covering decorated with sequins, beads and coins). on the table are the yellow rice called koning, a native fish found in lake lanao usually tilapia or aroan, bakas and mamis (meranao delicacy ) such as dodol, tiateg, browa, tamokonsi among others. reflective of the communal nature of the meranaos, four to five guests share one tabak. normally, guests eat with their bare hands in a pagana meranao. the tabak also serves as the table itself. its close circular setting arrangement engages guests and hosts in a homely conversation reflective of the very warm nature of the meranaos. according to one of the informants, traditionally, a pagana meranao setting is usually an elevated platform called "panggao" where the guests and visitors are being served. this highlights the pagana meranao as a gesture of golden hospitality or royal courtesy to guest and visitors attending a cultural event such as enthronement, kandori, commencement exercise or community affairs like wedding, thanksgiving and other celebrations. pagana meranao could have originated from the inherent value-systems attached by the common people to a special hospitality towards the royal people, sultans and datus, and baes, and later invited guests and visitors to the affair. it manifests the meranao character and cultural traits such as kambilangataw (social graces), kasesela-i (mutual honoring of relationships), kangiginawa-i (building of relationships), kapamagongowa (preserving relationships) embodied in the meranao maratabat (high pride). 61 international peer reviewed journal pagana, then, may have been from the start plain and simple as a gesture of royal hospitality to sultans and datus/baes, other invited guests and visitors for their social affairs, wedding, enthronement, and other activities. as in the majority cases, where receptions for guests/visitors in weddings and enthronements, may be held, there is usually a pagana, a special or royal feasting as part of the highlight to conclude the said event. though not exactly synonymous, but where there may be a royal wedding, enthronement, celebrations, or the like, at the end there is usually a pagana tendered for the guests and visitors in said affair. objectives of the study the objectives of the study are: 1. to describe the meranao decorations during the pagana meranao; 2. to describe the pagana meranao food preparation and serving; and, 3. to describe the pagana meranao as royal entertainment. methodology the study used the descriptive design involving qualitative research techniques, supported by interviews to key informants and observations of pagana meranao celebrations. the writer used the participant observation technique. she validated the answers of the key informants through library documents. results and discussion display of meranao decorations during pagana meranao a pagana meranao showcases meranao hospitality and is set against the backdrop of meranao colorful decorations. the venue of pagana meranao is usually highlighted with a variety of decors from floor to ceiling. the ceiling of the venue is often decorated with lines of lalansay (embroideries) as curtain walls pasted around from corner to corner. lalansay is commonly accentuated with special okir (curve) designs which create the artistry of mamandyang designs on embroideries). with lalansay or mamandyang designs, the ceiling decors may not require any other, but not limited to other ceiling paraphernalia such as “umbrella” cloth or napkin/handerchief ” hangers or “canopoy” luhur cloth, plain 62 jpair multidisciplinary research or landap (woven fabrics). wall curtains lalansay may serve as wrappers on posts and walks to create exotic mood/ambiance for said affair. decors flow down to the matting, with floors of paramadali or variety of middle-estern carpets or just plain native meranao mats. one of the most fascinating features of meranao culture is the use of special ceremonial flags made in an array of distinctive shapes. these flags can be used for many different occasions, including parades, weddings, coronations, enthronement and other meranao cultural activities. the set typically includes the flags called sambolayang, payong, pamanai, dopo, and gada-gada. the gadagada consists of a pair of triangular flags similar in shape but larger than the pamanai. they are seldom displayed nowadays, but they are normally erected in a crossed position at the foot of a pansandalan. when used as a set, the flags are placed in a specific order and arrangement. the dopo is stationed firstly, followed by payong, pasandalan, sombolyang, gada-gada (when used) and finally the pamanai. the sambolayang is usually erected at the center with a payong on its left and a pasandalan on its right. thus, the sambolayang, payong, and pasandalan, displayed with the pamanai, symbolizes the social rank, prestige, and honor of the pagawidan in the meranao social order. the pasandalan also known as pasandalan sa morog is a legendary ancestor of the meranao and prominent character in the epic darangen. the pasandalan is a rectangular flag mounted vertically by inserting a bamboo pole into a sleeve. frequently, the top of the pole bears a decorative finial called kilala (literally “sapling”). the payong is the third-ranking flag. it is shaped like 63 international peer reviewed journal an umbrella, its function is ceremonial rather than logistic. some payongs are single -tiered, but most are multi-tiered; and the tiers are generally found in odd number of three, five, seven, or nine layers. cloth tassels called padiontay are hung from the rim on occasions. sometimes some payongs are displayed as a group and associated with women in particular. the obor-obor, a special class of payong with sarimanok on the top is exclusively used  for the sultan or baes. the pamanai is the smallest and most numerous of the flags in the set. these small triangular flags are mounted on a short stick low in ground, symbolically representing the multitude under the authority of a sultan or datu. accordingly, when pamanais are displayed, they usually surround the biggest flags. the dopo is rectangular and normally flown horizontally in the familiar manner of international flags. when displayed during a maritime battle, a red dopo and its location are related to the status of the ships occupants. for example, when it flies from the prow of a ship, a red dopo signifies that the occupants are pagawidan (nobility), but when it is from the ships, stern, the occupants are kadakelan sa tao (commoners).                  the legend of meranao food according to a scholar, food is one of the panabi-nabian (prophet), a mercy and a gift from allah. when the world was created, mankind had no food to eat. the soil was asked to feed mankind but it refused because it does not have enough to feed all. one of the sons of fatima, asa, was buried so that bai adam (prophet adam) will also be fed and be able to move. for seven days nabi soapak was buried .after seven days, it grew. on the head part, grew a coconut, on the heart grew the palay, on the pelvis grew cotton, and on the lower art grew a white chicken. the palay was harvested and fed to mankind (datu acmad guro, one of the informants was interviewed by professor hafiza m. macada-ag 1990:40-41). meranao concept of food dr. cadidia a. pimping cited the study of   hafiza m. macada-ag’s study on maranao food (1990:viii) which revealed that food is considered: (1) rhama (mercy from allah; (2) riskih (gift); (3) one of the panabi-nabian (prophets); (4) as satisfying hunger; (5) as rasa (nutrients); (6) as bolong (medicine); (7) as having social value (keeps family   and community united and cohesive; (8) as having niawa (spirit) as in the case of the rice; (9) as having a soul; (10) as an 64 jpair multidisciplinary research appetizer; (11) as having the capacity to beautify; (12) as a source of strength; and, (13) as a symbol of rank and social status. the almighty allah has assured every living creature, more so with human beings, sustenance from birth till death. moreover, the concept of halal (lawful) and haram (unlawful/forbidden), governs the food intake of a person. the human being, which constitutes both physical and spiritual entities, is assured of food and sustenance. mother earth provides all the necessary food and sustenance that every living creature, including man, needs in his daily life activities. since allah created all living creatures, it is also mandatory to utter the word, bismillah whenever a fowl or an animal is slaughtered for only him can take the life of any living creature. in the same manner, when one begins to partake of the food, the word, bismillah is likewise uttered. after eating, the word alhamdolillah (thanks to allah) is uttered. bismillah is also uttered to drive away the evils spirits: one who is fat, the other thin. if the word bismillah is not uttered, then the evil spirit is happy, he gets a share of the food. any food that drops while one is eating is his share, too. before slaughtering a chicken, one recites: bismillah... allahuma saliili (3x) uba ako ngka panontoti sa alongan a maori, ka inisbap ka o allah, kailangan ko on inaden iyan. in the name of allah, praise to be muhammad (pbuh); do not blame me (addressed to the chicken) in the day hereafter. allah, to feed his creations, created you. likewise, before eating, these verses are recited: allahu mabarik lana fima razak tana wa kina ada banar. allah, we thank you for the food we are about to take . .it is also observed that a small amount of salt is taken before taking any food. the salt is an antidote to poison and likewise, it gives taste and flavor to the food, not to mention spices. 65 international peer reviewed journal   macadaag’s (1990) further explained that the almighty allah has assured every living creature, more so human beings, sustenance from birth till death. moreover, the concept of halal (lawful) and haram (unlawful/forbidden), governs the food intake of a person. the human being which is constituted by both physical and spiritual entities is assured of food and sustenance. mother earth provides all the necessary needs in his daily life activities. since allah created all living creatures, it is also mandatory to utter some words in the preparation of whatever kinds of food that is to be served to guests and visitors for pagana meranao. this is further discussed the study of meranao concept of food. one of important ingredients meranaos use in the preparation of food is the exquisite meranao cuisine and hospitality called palapa. they are known of having a spicy taste in their foods. a condiment made of traditionally cultivated spices, locally known as palapa is one of their distinguished cuisine symbol. it is made of stewed scallion bulbs or ‘sakurab” in meranao. the thinly sliced scallion bulbs and ginger are caramelized by slow cooking and mixed with chilies and a little coconut oil. meranao recipe is so rich that it talks about life itself. the recipes are intertwined with the life cycle rite and rituals of all aspects of meranao society and culture from birth to death. in other words, food cannot be separated with daily life activities because food is life itself. everestgurl (2001) study on palapa revealed that it is a very unique dish because of its two-fold purpose and nature. it is the main ingredient in all meranao cuisines; at the same time, it is also an appetizer for all seasons. no native meranao dish is perfect sans palapa and no meal is that satisfying without it. this two-fold characteristic of a dish is exemplified only by meranao palapa and with this; they take pride if founding this one of a kind ingredient-appetizer. the main composition of palapa is ginger, native chili called “sili”, and native scallions called “sakurab”. it can be eaten raw after its ingredients are crushed finely, mixed and blended all together using a mortar and pestle. as soon as the components are well-blended, palapa is ready to be served as an appetizer in its raw form. how the meranaos relish this basic concoction because of its spicy, tangy and exotic taste. smoke will be coming out of your ears and nostrils. most of the time, the ingredients are mixed with bits of chicken meat, fish or beef. this is the cooked form of palapa which also comes with desiccated coconut meat. the following are the ingredients: 2 teaspoons of oil, 1/4 kg garlic finely chopped, 1/4 kg medium onions finely chopped, 1/4 kg ginger peel and finely chopped, 1/4 kg native scallions cleaned and finely chopped, 1/4 kg chicken meat/fish meet/beef food preparation during a pagana meranao 66 jpair multidisciplinary research cubed into small bits, 1/2 kg grated coconut  meat totally squeezed of its juice, 5 pieces red native sili. 1 teaspoon kuning (yellow meranao food coloring) powder. the following are the steps in making palapa: 1) ginger, scallion, and sili (chili pepper) are mixed all together and pounded in a large mortar and pestle until the three ingredients are no longer distinguishable. set aside, 2) oil is heated in a pan with garlic and onions, 3) the meat is sautéed with spices until cooked, 4) the coconut meat is poured in and stirred until it is cooked, 5) the ginger, scallion, sili mixture is then put in the pan and stirred until completely mixed and ingredients are no longer distinguishable, 6) the kuning is sprinkled and mixed well into the mixture to give it a yellowish color, 7) remove mixture from the pan and set aside until it is cooled, and 8) palapa is now ready to be served. it is advisable that the person cooking should have a mask on because the aroma wafting from the mixture could sting and hurt the nostrils. the palapa is now ready to be served as an appetizer. it could last for a month with proper storage and sealing. it should be stored in a container that is properly sealed or capped. it should be stored in warm and airy spaces in the kitchen, and kept away from moist to avoid early contamination. if desired, it can be used as an ingredient to season meranao cuisines such as spicy prawn, beef randang or bodi (caviar). these cuisines are served on large silver platters during pagana maranao or meranao feast when celebrating weddings, enthronements of royal leaders and other special occasions. kandolang: the art of serving meranao food if pagana is the meranao traditional way of serving meranao food, kandolang is the art of serving traditional food.it is taken from the word meranao dolang, the other word for tabak (brass tray). the preparation takes weeks because the food served and displayed in a marabong (intricate meranao structure where food delicacies and fruits are displayed), and the dolang, takes a lot of time to prepare and cook. the preparation is a highly specialized skill and art that only few can do it. the dolang are in three, five or seven tiers at most. every tier holds a special kind of food. it is tied together in a shape of a minaret and the four corners are elaborately decorated with okir motifs and cakes which resembles the panolog (house beam in the torogan), traditional house of the datu/sultan. it is usually done and assembled on very special occasions and very few skilled cooks can do it. every item displayed or hang in the dolang is especially cooked and prepared to last for weeks. 67 international peer reviewed journal the higher the tiers of tabak, the most prestigious the occasion and the wealthier the person is. on top of the dolang is a sarimanok cake perched at the zenith. this signifies the highest degree of the occasion and its prestige. in a pagana meranao, about three to five pieces of the dolang are usually placed in the panggao, the elevated platform where special guests and dignitaries are seated. this elaborately decorated dolang with sangkad (crown) is in the shape of the minaret, depicting distinctly islamic influence. dr. zenaida p. gania former director of msu’s manila information office (1990-23-26) gave as sample of some pananaro-on (saying/proverb) that goes with the dolang. the pananaroon says: pagawa sa sangkad, kagiya kidolon ka ko manga pepantaw a tao. o baka peman saleg sa ba ka on kadawai. makipang so petanding minangoao ko bantog. ka iragan so inged randongan a kaparan ka daresay ka sangkad ka diwang ka sa dar. o baka kalilang-kalilang ka dika kaya bandingen ka seka man i ampiten ko mizaripag a ramig. her free translation was “be firm/stand still, songcad (crown) as you presented to the nobilities. show/display no infirmities/ short comings-these will bring disgrace to those who prepared /constructed you, and bring dishonor from where you come from. be proud sangkad (crown) stand tall and firm, do not shake, be firm, stand tall, and be proud. indeed, you are the first that people will emulate. pagana meranao means to serve in the meranao traditional ways (pagana, literally “to serve”). before the advent of tabak (brass tray), wood trays were used. the paraphernalia for this purpose is composed of the following: tabak (brass tray), pinggan (plates), bato intan) receptacle to hold fish/desert, kendi (kettle) panalagadan (flower stand made of brass, kararao (water container), and a palanggana (a receptacle used for washing hands). each tabak is covered with ampas (a cloth cover with beads and sequins) to signify the importance of the occasion. special guests are served with the ampas. a cone-shape cover called todong is used to cover the food before it is served. in the middle of the tabak is a huge plate with yellow rice (kioning) prepared like a mound. around it and on top are hard boiled eggs on sticks. surrounding 68 jpair multidisciplinary research the plate are smaller glass plates and receptacles which hold different dishes and desserts. below the tabak is another tray without a stand, talam, where glasses are placed, as well as the spoons and forks (in contemporary times). however, an informant resident of buadi-puso buntong, lanao del sur said it is more preferable to eat using your hands rather than to use spoons and forks. the conservative people living in rural areas said it is a sign of disrespect to your culture if you eat using spoons and forks during pagana meranao. ideally, a minimum of three to four persons (of the same gender) squat around the tabak. for special guests, only the heads and eggs of fish as well as the middle parts are served. the tail of the fish is never served to special guests and may even cause trouble. a strict etiquette and proper norm is observed among people around the tabak. there is an elevated platform called panggao where guests are served first before anybody else. no person can just go to any tabak unless told to do so.as a practice, a group of young men (manga ngongoda) go around if someone needs assistance for additional rice, soup or water for that matter. usually, seven kinds of fish and fruits are served to reflect the seven kinds of food served in the life hereafter. the tabak symbolizes unity and equality because there is no such thing as “head table”. sharing is shown equally taking food so that the other person has an equal share of what is served in the tabak. among the four persons squatting around the tabak, they choose who the “leader” is, and this person takes the first move to pick the rice first. he takes the head of the fish first and the rest will follow. the traditional way to pick a handful of yellow rice is to squeeze it and soak it into the soup before eating it. when islam came, the prophet’s (pbuh) manner is not to leave even a single grain of rice on the plate. that single grain of rice could contain the grace of allah and it should not be missed. after eating, the following verse is recited “alhamdulillah hiladi wata amani wasakano wajaalani minal muslimen” praise be to allah who nourished us and gave us water to drink and render unto us muslims.          pagana meranao as royal entertainment kalilang which means entertainment is one of the essential parts of the pagana meranao cultural presentation. the royal entertainment usually starts with the playing of the kolintang while the guests were arriving. the players show their prowess in playing the kolintang. the kolintang or gongs in a row, is basically a 69 international peer reviewed journal melody instrument played either as a solo instrument or part of the ensemble. it consists of eight gongs placed horizontally on top of an okir-decorated holder (langkongan) and tuned to a flexible pentatonic or fine tone scale. as part of an ensemble, the kolintang is the primary melody instrument accompanied by the debakan (a conical), agong, gandingan (four suspended narrow-rimmed gongs) and babendir (small gong) usually the last of the kolintang .it is played by using two tasseldecorated wooden sticks, throwing them on air and catching them. they are used to beat with a precise tempo, most important of which is the “kapranon” the most popular meranao dance is the royal meranao fan dance called kasingkil. it is named after the singuel or singkil, which are the ankle bells used by a muslim princess and dancers. singkil is performed by a girl of a royal blood. it recounts the epic legend of the “darangen” which is the fateful tale of diwatas (nymphs or fairies) that play a joke on princess gandingan. as the princess was taking a walk with her faithful slave (umbrella) girl), the diwatas caused an earthquake that made the trees tremble and the rocks roll. the bamboo symbolizes the fallen trees, and create crisscross pattern, tapping together to give the illusion of a violent natural catastrophe. undaunted, the princess nimbly skips from rock to rock avoiding this ordeal until she is finally rescued by the prince. the dancers use fans (apir) and scarves to symbolize the winds that prove to be beneficial for the princess in successfully escaping the trees and rocks from hitting her tiny feet. kapamalong-malong is a dance showing the several ways of wearing the malong. usually the dancers used landap hand-woven materials during special occasions. men and women wear landap although they differ in color and the manner of wearing it (pimping, 2007). the prominence of the yellow color from food to decor and costume of the meranaos is due to the royal nature of the 70 jpair multidisciplinary research color. yellow is a symbol of royalty. traditionally, women’s hair should be long and tied neatly in a pinalot style. when islam came, this was replaced by wearing of kombong or veils. the mindanao state university system in marawi city entertains their guests and visitors through meranao dances and artistic performances of the famous darangen dance troupe and the sining pananadem ensemble. the rawaten cultural troupe named in honor of the president of the mindanao state university system, dr. macapado a. muslim who was awarded the title as datu a rawaten sa mindanao (model prince in mindanao) by the msu pagana meranao committee and the meranao royalty association of the mindanao state university of lanao. gift-giving as part of entertainment in some forms of pagana meranao, special guests and visitors are afforded with valuable gifts. this is done towards the end of the affair. this accentuates the meranao hospitality by providing complete entertainment to the guests and by carrying with them tokens of appreciation 71 international peer reviewed journal for coming to the royal feast. the gifts are usually locally-made products and handicrafts, and other materials that would reflect the meranao material culture. examples of which are the baur (wooden chest), a miniature of the kampilan (datu’s sword) or gonong (datu’s knife), malong, and other cultural materials. these gifts are intended to always remind the guests of the pagana meranao tendered to them, and the meranao hospitality, in particular. during the pagana meranao the guests and visitors’ attire is formal, with traditional garments and accessories like the traditional malong for the ladies and kopya (cap) for the gentlemen. conclusion pagana meranao culture and society will endure and persist against all odds for as long as the institutions that nourish it and sustain it will survive. the threat from within is that considering the present generation very few meranaos have the talent and skills to prepare these highly specialized  recipes, which are in turn served on special occasions to special guests and dignitaries. a pagana meranao showcases meranao hospitality and set against the backdrop of meranao colorful decorations. the pagana meranao is usually highlighted with a variety of decors from floor to ceiling which is often decorated with lines of lalansay as curtain walls pasted all around from corner to corner. with lalansay or mamandyang designs, the ceiling decors may not require any other, but not limited to other ceiling paraphernalias such as “umbrella” cloth or napkin/handkerchief hangers or “conopy” luhur cloth, plain or landap (woven fabrics). another important culture of the meranao that highlights in tendering a pagana meranao is the preparation of the food to be served to their special guests and visitors. the preparation of foods takes weeks because the food served and displayed in a marabong (intricate). meranao structure where food delicacies and fruits are displayed, and the dolang, take a lot of time to prepare and cook. the preparation is highly specialized skill and art and only few can do it. after the foods are being cooked, it is displayed in the dolang (tabak). the dolang is in three, five or seven tiers at most. every item displayed or hanged in the dolang is especially cooked and prepared to last for weeks.  kalillang which means entertainment is one of the essential parts of the pagana meranao cultural presentation. the most popular meranao dance is the royal fan dance called kasingkil. it is named after the singuel or singkil, 72 jpair multidisciplinary research which is the ankle used by a muslim princess and dancers. other meranao royal dances usually form part of the kalilang includes kapmalong-malong, sagayan, sadoratan, kambayoka, kapranon and others. the royal entertainment usually starts with the playing of the kolintang while the guests were arriving.  in some forms of pagana meranao, special guests, visitors and dignitaries are afforded with valuable gifts. in mindanao state university main-campus, the giving of these royal gifts to the special guests and dignitaries is accompanied by the famous darangen dance troupe and the sining pananadem ensemble. in addition to this dance troupe, the rawaten cultural troupe name in honor of the president of the mindanao state university system, dr. macapado a. muslim who was awarded the title as datu a rawaten sa mindanao (model prince in mindanao), by the msu’s pagana meranao committee and the meranao royalty association of the university main-campus with traditional titles as bai-a-labes representing their respective towns or municipalities due to their genealogical history. this is done towards the end of the affair. this accentuates the meranao hospitality by providing complete entertainment to the guests by carrying with them tokens of appreciation for coming to the royal feast. the gifts are usually locally-made products and handicrafts, and other materials that would reflect the meranao material culture. like the baur (wooden chest), a miniature of the kampilan (datu’s sword) or gonong (datu’s knife), malong, and other cultural materials. these are intended to always remind the guests of the pagana meranao tendered to them, and the meranao hospitality, in particular. during the pagana meranao as a traditional practices, the special guests and dignitaries is required to be in formal traditional attire garments and accessories like the traditional malong for the ladies and kopya (cap,gura) for the gentlemen. recommendations considering that the mindanao state university system, especially in the main-campus, has institutionalized the pagana meranao, it is recommended that a sub-committee on pagana meranao be organized in its respective campuses to be headed by concerned colleges. they should be trained in the preparation of foods so that they can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in order to promote the significance of pagana meranao enhancing its preservation of the meranao culture. it is also recommended that further research shoud be conducted on pagana meranao practices among the meranaos for more documentation. likewise, 73 international peer reviewed journal it also recommended to collect photos of special guests and dignitaries served during the pagana meranao occasions. acknowledgments the researcher deeply acknowledges the following university officials, dr. macapado a. muslim, president of the mindanao state university system and dr. zenaida ababa, vice chancellor for academic affairs for their encouragement and full support to finish this research work on pagana meranao. likewise, dr. nagasura t. madale, former vice chancellor for research and extension, dr. aida hafiza m. macada-ag, former  dean college of education of the university main-campus, dr. ben kadil, chairman history department of the college of social sciences and humanities, msu main campus, and dr. zenaida pangandman-gania, former director of msu-manila information office, who have contributed so much for their materials utilized by the researcher to substantive her  work on pagana meranao. key informants who have spared their time for interview and other authors whose materials on pagana meranao were cited and utilized by the researcher for further enrichment of her research work on pagana meranao. most especially to the director of mamitua research center and staff. glossary ampas: each tabak is covered with a cloth called ampas to signify the importance of the occasion. special guests are served with ampas (placemats) concept of halal: (lawful) and haram (unlawful/forbideen), governs the food intake of a person. the human being, which constitutes both the physical and spiritual entities, is assured of food sustenance debakan:  the kolintang is the primary melody instrument accompanied by the debakan (conical drum), agong gandingan (four suspended narrow-rimmed gongs) and bedendir (small gong usually the last kolintang. it is played by using two tassels decorated round wooden stick, in which the instrument player does an awe-spinning  exhibition of twirling the sticks, throwing them on the air and catching them using to beat with a prices tempo, most important of which is the “kapranon” danganan: ceremonial sword display symbolizing the sultan’s power and prestige darangen:  meranao epic believed to be in 36 chapters/episodes; an account 74 jpair multidisciplinary research of the origin of the meranao dopo: is rectangular and normally flown horizontally in the familiar manner of international flags. when displayed during a maritime battle, a red dopo and its location are related to the status of the ships occupants. for example, when it flies from the prow of a ship, a red dopo signifies that occupants are pagawidan (nobility), but when it is flown from the ships stern, the occupants are kadakelan sa tao (commoners) gada-gada: it consists of a pair of rectangular flags similar in shape but larger than the pamanai. they are normally erected in a crossed position at the foot of a pasandalan. when used as a set, the flags are placed in a specific order and arrangement. the dopo is stationed first, followed by the payong, pasandalan, sambolayang, gada-gada (when used) and finally the pamanai. isa ka koman:  one cooking pot; one household isa ka labo-ay: set of meranao flags symbolizing meranao grar (titles) kolintang: musical instruments; eight graduate gongs, part of the musical ensemble called lima ka daradiyat kolintang ensemble:  the kolintang or gongs in a row, is basically a melody instrument played either as a solo instrument or part of the ensemble. it consists of eight gongs placed horizontally on top of an okir-decorated holder and tuned to a flexible pentatonic or fine scale kalilang: it means entertainment. another essential part of the pagana meranao is the cultural presentation which could either be a singkil, sagayan (war dance) or kapmalongmalong (malong dance) or kapangolintang) kasapaat:   from the root word, sapaat or to serve, it means the act of serving food to guests. the meranao’s hospitality is manifested through its lavish presentation and offering of variety of food kandolang: is the art of serving traditional food. it is taken from the word dolang, in other word for tabak, brass tray. the preparation takes weeks because the food served and displayed in a dolang takes a lot of time to prepare and cook. the preparation is a highly specialized skills and art and only few can do it. kioning: in the middle of the tabak is a huge plate with yellow rice kioning prepared like a mound lalansai:  the ceiling of the venue is often decorated with lines of lalansay (embroideries) as curtain walls pasted all around from corner to corner. it is also commonly accentuated with special okir (curve) designs which create the artistry of mamandyang (designs on embroideries) landap:   this is hand-woven material used during special occasions. men 75 international peer reviewed journal and women differ in color and the manner of wearing it. the prominence of the yellow color from the food to decor and costume of the meranao’s is due to the royal nature of the color. yellow is a symbol of royalty. traditional, women wear their hair long and tied neatly in a pinalot style. this was replaced by the wearing of kombong or viels when islam came. leader:  among the four persons squatting around the tabak, they can choose who the “leader” is, and this person takes the first move to pick the rice first.he takes the head of the fish first and the rest follow. the traditional way is to pick a handful of the yellow rice, squeeze it and soak it to soap before eating mamandyang: once mamamdyang designs or lalansay is display, the ceiling decors may not require any other, but not limited to other celing paraphernalia such as “umbrella” cloth or “napkin/handkerchief “ hangers or canopy”; uhur cloth, plan or landap (woeven fabrics. wall curtains lalansay may serve as wrappers on posts and walls, to create exotic mood/ambiance for said affair meranao: is taken from the two words mera (peacock) which is one of the most beautiful birds, and me-anao meaning one who is awake alert and caustious of the things around him and the future. thus, the two words, mera plus meano, put together mean meranao (madale, nagasura t. 2002) okir: okir maranao art characterized as flora and geometric craved in the torogan ol-ol: a canopy placed on the top of the ceiling directly above the bed obor-obor: a special class payong, serves as a symbol of sultanates (bailabi) pasandalan: it is rectangular flag mounted vertically by inserting a bamboo pole through a sleeve. it is also known as pasandalan sa morog, a legendary ancestor of the meranao and prominent character in the epic darangen. on top of the pasandalan pole bears a decorative final called kilala (literally “sapling”) payong:   the third-ranking flag. it is shaped like an umbrella, its function id ceremonial rather that logistic. some payongs are single-tiered, but most are multi-tiered; and the tiers are generally found in odd numbers of three, five seven or nine layers. pamanai: it is the smallest and most numerous of the flags in a set.these small triangular flags are mounted on a short tick low in the ground, symbolically representing the multitude under the authority of a sultan or datu. accordingly, when pamanais are displayed, they usually surrounded the biggest flags. padiontay: the cloth tassels called padiontay are hung from the rim on occasions. sometimes some payongs are displayed as a group and associated with women in particular. panggao:  in a pagana meranao, about three to five pieces of the dolang are 76 jpair multidisciplinary research usually placed in the panggao, the elevated platform where special guests and dignitaries are seated fully carpeted. the walls are fully decorated with lalansai and mamandyang.  there is also a canopy above the panggao known as ol-ol that displays the ka’aba, holy place in mecca palapa: is a condiment principally made of stewed scallion bulbs locally known as “sibujing” in visayas or sakurab in meranao. the thinly sliced scallion bulbs and ginger, “luy-a” in visaya, are caramelized by slow cooking and mixed with chili’s and little coconut oil palapa: is a regular feature of the meranao cuisine .it come whatever dish or even as main dish for families who are experiencing hard times. (nahara mutia, enterprise development officer of lgsu’s, munai lanao del norte pagawiden: one of the geographic areas divided in into 15 pagawiden (supported villages) and including the 28 pagawiden a mababaya ko taritib (supporting villages) pagana meranao: means to serve in meranao traditional ways (pagana, literally “to serve) before the advent of the tabak (brass tray) wooden trays were used. the paraphernalia for this purpose is composed of the following: tabak (brass tray, pinggan, (plates, bato intan), receptacle to hold fish/dessert, panalagadan (brass stand receptacle), kararao (water container) doda-i (spitton) with panalagadaan and kararao (flower stand made of brass for washing the hands sambolayang: it is usually erected at the center with a payong on its left and a pasandalan on its right. thus, the sambolayang, payong, and pasandalan, displayed with the pamanai, symbolizes the social rank, prestige, and honor of the pagawidan in the meranao social order sarimanok: the maranao bird of art symbolizing the datu/sultan’s power and prestige; a component of the meranao set of flags tabak: symbolizes unity and equality because there is no such things as “head table” it is also used to serve food in a special occasions like, weddings, coronations and other meranao traditional activities todong: a cone-shaped cover called todong is used to cover the food beforte it is served talam:  below the tabak is another tray without a stand, talam, where glasses are placed, as well as the spoons and forks 9in contemporary times) torogan: a sleeping place; the ancestral house of the datu/sultan: an official house and residence of the sultan 77 international peer reviewed journal literature cited everstgurl internet website 2001 what is maranao palapa? a research paper presented to the graduate school of hawaii macada-ag, m. 1990 maranao food and rituals. mindanao polytechnic state college, cagayan de oro city. ph.d. educational planning and management dissertation. pimping, c. 2007 versatility of wearing malong. meranao publications. mindanao state university umagang kay ganda 2013 (2013-07-07) “recipe: meranao dish chicken  piaparen, abs-cbn website retrieved on july 9, 2013 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. 35 international peer reviewed journal an assessment of the language learning attitudes, learning strategies, language proficiency of first year college students nelson u. julhamid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8064-6092 nelson.julhamid@gmail.com sulu state college jolo, sulu, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this descriptive-correlational research described the language learning attitudes (lla), language learning strategies (lls) and language proficiency (lp) of 120 college students from 4 courses. it employed lunsford’s standardized lla questionnaire, oxford’s (1994) strategy inventory of language learning (sill); and reading proficiency test. it used mean, standard deviation, pearson r, multiple regressions, t-test of significant difference, and one-way anova for treatment of data. this study found out that students are average in lla; “somewhat true of me” in lls and poor in reading proficiency. no significant relationship between respondents’ lla and reading proficiency; very low correlation between respondents’ lls and reading proficiency; sex and course do not affect students’ lla and do not influence the latter’s contribution on reading proficiency except for the inferential level; and sex does not influence respondents’ lls and reading proficiency except course. this study hardly provides empirical data to support the theories in lla and lls which are supposed to have a vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.680 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 36 jpair multidisciplinary research significant role in affecting students’ reading proficiency. it also denies the role of schema theory in reading by activating learners’ prior knowledge to process meaning and concepts from the reading selections. variable course may seem to provide empirical support to the extension of the theories in lls as well as schema theory in reading. keywords — english language earning attitudes, language learning strategies, language proficiency introduction growing interest in the study of learner’s propensity in second language learning and pedagogy has been acknowledged for a considerable number of years. in fact, there have been “a large number of second language learning researchers ventured into this area such as filmore (1979), ellis (1985), willing (1988), ellis and sinclair (1989), oxford (1989), o’malley and chamot (1990)” as cited in martínez (1996:104) . similarly, griffiths (2003) explored the relationship between patterns of reported language learning strategy (lls) use by speakers of other languages (sol) and proficiency with implications for the teaching/ learning situation. in indonesia, ghufron (2017) analyzed language learning strategies used by efl fluent speakers in the indonesian context. consequently, a substantial body of research now exists describing the taxonomies of learning attitudes and strategies and their accompanying relations to language learning such that by oxford (1994), oxford (1996), cohen (1996), lessard-clouston (1997), grffiths (2003), shermila (2006) samida (2012) and many others. however, less is known about how language learning tendencies inter-relates each other, vis-à-vis language learning attitudes, learning strategies, language proficiency, gender and learner’s preferred academic program when these variables are taken altogether. second language learning in college is a continuing process where learners must have diverse attitudes and strategies for learning (cohen, 2007; cohen 2016). how learners behave and process new information and what kinds of strategies they utilize to understand, learn or retain the information as well as the role of learners’ other personal and demographic factors have been the crucial concern of present research that ventures into the area of second language learning (wyner & cohen, 2015). language learning attitudes and strategies as well as sex and course preference, therefore, are potential factors on how learners approach learning tasks or problems encountered during the process of learning. with 37 international peer reviewed journal college students as second language learners, these factors must affect learner’s desire and ability to learn a second language (wyner & cohen, 2015). in the philippine context, as with most other research in second language learning, little attention has been paid to how learning attitudes, strategies, sex and belonging to the course program affect the variability of learners’ second language proficiency. an adequate database in this area could help parents, college faculty and schools make more informed decisions about their populations of learners. hence, this study was conducted to investigate the degrees of relationship and difference of learner’s language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and language proficiency in relation to sex and academic course among first year college students. framework this study is anchored on the following models and theories: schema theory schema theory suggests that schemata are unconscious mental structure or models that underlie and control the simplifying process that is essential to human learning, skill acquisition, and problem solving. schema theory for reading affirms that this learning theory views organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represent one’s understanding of the world (anderson, 1983 as cited in sil international, 1999). language learning attitudes in this study, language learning attitudes are described as the way college freshman students think and feel about learning english as a second language in a formal language learning setting. attitudes and belief were reported to have a profound effect on the strategies learners choose, with negative attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of orchestration of strategies (oxford, 1994). these are categorized according to orwig (1995) taxonomy of language learning attitudes, namely: self-image, inhibition, risk-taking, ego permeability and tolerance of ambiguity. language learning strategies language learning strategies are those that were described by oxford (1996) as specific actions taken by them to make their learning convenient, easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more transferable to new situations. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research under oxford’s (1994) classified these are:memory strategies, such as grouping, imagery, rhyming, and structured reviewing (9 items); cognitive strategies, such as reasoning, analyzing, summarizing (all reflective of deep processing), as well as general practicing (14 items); compensation strategies (6 items); metacognitive strategies (9 items); affective (emotional, motivation-related) strategies, such as anxiety reduction, self-encouragement, and self-reward (6 items); and social strategies (6 items). language proficiency the overall language proficiency of the respondents is described under reading comprehension levels and classified based on smith and barret (1974) as cited in shermila (2006) which are: literal, inferential, and evaluative. literal comprehension, the ability to recognize and recall of explicitly stated information, to read for the central thought and main ideas, remembering significant details, the sequence of event and to find the answer to specific questions; inferential comprehension, the ability to make hypotheses based on stated information, intuition and personal experience. grasping cause-effect relationships, anticipating the remainder of a story, and forming opinions, and evaluative comprehension, the ability to judge based on the reader’s experiences, knowledge or values. it focuses on qualities of accuracy, acceptability or probability of occurrence that includes making value judgments and analyzing the intent of the author. sex is the first moderator variable posited to influence other variables in this study. sex is assumed to significantly influence the degrees of relationship and difference between students’ levels of language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and overall language proficiency, i.e., reading comprehension. the course is the second moderating variable that is hypothesized to influence other variables in this study. the basis for the inclusion of this variable in this study is based on the assumption that the course of the respondents may influence other educational variables. in this study, the levels of language learning attitudes and language learning strategies are treated as the independent variables while reading proficiency levels treated as the dependent variable. each level of language learning attitudes interrelates with each level of reading proficiency. in like manner, each level of language learning strategies interrelates with each level of the reading proficiency. variables sex and course preference differentiate each level of learner’s language learning attitudes, learning strategies and reading proficiency. sex and course preference also moderate the degrees of relationship among levels 39 international peer reviewed journal of language learning attitudes and language learning strategies with reading proficiency. objectives of the study this study sought to determine the following: (1) levels of respondents’ language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and reading proficiency will serve as inputs to teachers’ preparation for language teaching; (2) the differences in these variables will help teachers to synchronize their teaching between male and female as well as to deal with students enrolled in different course; and (3) the contributions of sex and course to the variances in these will help teachers in aligning their language learning activities. methodology research design a research design is a program that guides a researcher in collecting, analyzing and interpreting observed facts (bless, higson-smith, & kagee, 2006). similarly, babbie and mouton (2001) regard to research design as the road map or blueprint by which one intends to conduct research and achieve his/her research goals and objectives.” this study employed a descriptive research design via a quantitativecorrelational research method. that is, with purport to describe, quantify, and infer the phenomenon of college freshman students’ language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and language proficiency, the significant relationship, and differences of these variables when data are grouped according to sex and course preference. research site this study was conducted at the sulu state college. this is a government higher educational institution under the direct supervision of the commission on higher education (ched) with state universities and colleges (suc) level ii status. participants this study used first year college students taken purposively from each of the following 4 academic departments, namely: education, business administration, computer science & engineering, and nursing as respondents. thirty (30) 40 jpair multidisciplinary research students were chosen purposively to represent each department. the use of nonprobability sampling method through purposive technique in this study was to ensure the representation of male students since it has been observed that education and nursing departments used to have few male enrollees unlike those in business administration and computer science & engineering. instrumentation the study employed standardized self-report questionnaires and proficiency test as an instrument for data gathering. the researcher administered the standardized questionnaires on language learning attitudes, language learning strategies, and reading proficiency test at the same time to first year college students. orwig’s (1995) standardized measured the first year college students of their ability to think and feel toward learning english as a second language. it consists of the following categories: self-image, inhibition, risk-taking, ego permeability and tolerance of ambiguity with 27 close-ended questions using a five-point likert scale and corresponding numerical value. choices for each item are sa=strongly agree (8), a=agree (6), n=neither agree nor disagree (4), d=disagree (2), sd=strongly disagree (0). this study also used oxford’s (1996) strategy inventory of language learning (sill) version for speakers of other languages learning english which consists of 50 close-ended questions with the five-point likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. the researcher also adopted reading proficiency test from shermila’s (2006) standardized reading comprehension test consists of literal (reading the lines), inferential (reading between the lines), and evaluative (reading beyond the lines). this consists of five reading comprehension texts selected from various books with the help of english language teaching (elt) experts to measure the students’ skills in literal, inferential and evaluative which consists of an objective type of test items with suitable distracters. this study employed the following steps in data collection procedure: (1) the researcher sought permit to administer the questionnaire and to read proficiency test was sought from the deans of the respective departments where the target respondents of this study are under them; (2) the researcher administered the research instrument at the same time which was started on the first week and has ended on the second week of the second month of the first semester of the academic year; it was administered first to education students 41 international peer reviewed journal and then was followed by business administration, computer engineering and nursing students respectively; and (3) the researcher administered the research instrument during the regular schedules of students’ english classes. thirty (30) minutes was required to answer both languages learning attitudes and language learning strategies questionnaires. one hour and thirty minutes were required to answer the reading comprehension test. in case the questionnaire and test administration incurred two class periods, an arrangement was done in advance with the instructor/professor of the succeeding class period. scoring procedure the researcher adopted the following steps: (1) each question in the questionnaire was rated on a five-point likert scale such as strongly agree (sa), agree (a), neither agree nor disagree (n), disagree (d) and strongly disagree (sd); (2) each scale was assigned with numerical value such as sa=8, a=6, n=4, d=2 and sd=0; (3) the point value of each question was placed on the line next to its corresponding number; (4) the total points in each column were divided by 8 to find the average score for each of the five levels of language learning attitudes; and (5) the sum of total scores in all columns was divided by 40 to obtain the overall average score. finally, the rating scale for language learning attitudes is shown as follows: high (7-8); above average (5-6); average (5-4); and low (1-2). statistical techniques the researcher treated and analyzed the data using the following statistical tools: (1) for research question number 1, 2 and 3, the levels of respondents’ language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and reading proficiency were determined through mean and standard deviation; (2) for research question number 4 and 5, the degrees of relationship between students’ levels of language learning attitudes and reading proficiency as well as language learning strategies and reading proficiency were determined using pearson product moment correlation coefficient (pearson r); (3) for research question number 6, 7, and 8, the significant differences in students’ levels of language learning attitudes, language learning strategies and reading proficiency were determined using t-test of significant difference for independent samples (for sex) and one-way analysis of variance (for course); (4) for research question number 9 and 10, the extent of contribution of variables sex and course to the variance in the relationship between the variables were determined using the test of multiple regression. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion on students’ levels of language learning attitudes the students obtained the mean score of 5.3085 for risk-taking with a standard deviation of 1.0625, and 5.1084 for tolerance of ambiguity with a standard deviation of 0.9717 and are described as above average. this means that although the respondents have somewhat developed the feeling of being pretty good language learners, they do not have much idea how to go about learning a language. however, the data also reveal that the students obtained the mean score of 4.9886 for self-image with a standard deviation of 1.1778, and 4.5375 for inhibition with a standard deviation of 1.1412 and are both described as average. the ego permeability had a mean score of 5.0084 with a standard deviation of 0.9717 which described as above average. these categories fall under unfavorable language learning attitudes. this means that these students have not attained a high level of language learning attitudes along these categories. with only “average” degree in self-image, it also means that the respondents do not think that they are pretty good language learners. on students’ level of language learning strategies except for compensation level in language learning strategies, which is described as “usually not true of me,” all the other five levels such as memory, cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and social are described as “somewhat true of me.” it means that the learners are likely to enter information into longterm memory and slow to retrieve information when needed for communication. they seem to overcome any gaps in knowledge of the language. it also suggests that the students seem to exercise executive control through planning, arranging, focusing and evaluating their learning. the learners are likely to be able to control their feelings, emotions, and attitudes related to language learning. learners seem to select when they want to interact with. on students’ level of reading proficiency students’ reading proficiency in three levels such as literal, inferential and evaluative are described as poor. it means that the poor performance of the respondents in these three categories may be due to their limited exposure and experience in reading proficiency exercises. perhaps, their teachers have not exposed them to varied reading materials thereby affecting their reading performance in the three levels. 43 international peer reviewed journal moreover, having poor reading proficiency, the respondents are said to have low ability in relating the information they read from the text to their background knowledge. the importance of background knowledge in reading is also central to schema theory (rumelhart, 2017). this theory claims that reading a text implies an interaction between the reader’s background knowledge and the text itself. the knowledge that is organized and theory, fluent reader’s mind is called schemata. according to this theory, fluent readers relate their schemata with the new information present in the text. therefore, the poor performance of the respondents in the reading proficiency test indicates that they cannot use well their schemata with the information they read from the texts. on the significant relationship between students’ language learning attitudes and reading proficiency the pearson r value of 0.133 with a probability value of 0.149 is not significant at alpha .05. it means that language learning attitudes are not related to reading proficiency in this study. it also indicates that even when the respondent’s language learning attitudes are favorable for language learning, this does not necessarily mean that he would obtain a high score in reading proficiency. or, if he happened to have unfavorable language learning attitudes that he should always get a lower score in reading proficiency. on the significant relationship between students’ levels of language learning strategies and reading proficiency the correlation matrix between the students’ language learning strategies and their reading proficiency indicates that the r-value of 0.175 is significant at alpha .05. it means that language learning strategies are related to reading proficiency, but the relationship is too low. that is, respondents who scored high in language learning strategies are those who scored high in reading proficiency test; whereas, respondents who scored low in language in language learning strategies are also those who scored low in reading proficiency test as well (chamot & o’malley 1987; oxford 1994; wenden, 1991; cohen 1996). chamot and o’malley (1987) has affirmed that “learners might be able to learn the language more effectively by the use of language learning strategies” (griffiths, 2003). lessard-clouston (1997) asserts that language learning strategies enhance language learning and help develop language competence, as reflected in the learner’s skills in listening, speaking, reading, or writing the second language. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research on the significant difference in the levels of students’ language learning attitudes when data are grouped according to sex and course by sex: out of the five levels in language learning attitudes, only selfimage and inhibition with t values of 2.663 and 2.212 which have corresponding probability values of 0.009 and 0.029 significant at alpha .05. this means that male and female respondents differ significantly in language learning attitudes along these levels only. this implies that sex is generally not influencing language learning attitudes. moreover, the t value of 1.640 for risk-taking has a corresponding probability value of 0.104 is not significant at alpha .05 but meaningful. to be meaningful, its probability value is greater than .05 but less than .20. it means that there is a good reason not to discard such variable but to affirm or disaffirm its contribution in any research endeavor in the future. by course: the f-ratio of 2.678 for risk-taking and 5.222 for tolerance of ambiguity have the corresponding probability values of .034 and .002 which are significant at alpha .05. this means that out of the five components in language learning attitudes, only in two components such as risk-taking and tolerance of ambiguity where the respondents differ significantly. this indicates that the respondents vary in their language learning attitudes given the right circumstances. this further implies that the course is not a great factor affecting students’ language learning attitudes when grouped according to course. these respondents further differ in ways of overcoming their feelings of vulnerability and exposing themselves in front of others by taking part in classroom activities, as well as in dealing with confusing language learning situations without clear demarcation. moreover, the respondents vary in the ways that they overcome uncertainties, which are inherent in english language learning. ambiguity tolerant people who are eager to deal with new, complex and insoluble situations are more receptive to change, more willing to take the risk (mclain, 1993). similarly, the findings also negate gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model that explains how the setting is related to proficiency by positing a series of intervening variables (attitudes, motivation, self-confidence) and by trying to plot how these are interrelated and how they affect factors influence proficiency currently available. out of the four groups of students, only two groups differ significantly in their language learning attitudes for components risk-taking and tolerance of ambiguity. the difference is shown in the result of the post hoc analysis using tukey’s test. it shows that only beed and bsn groups differ significantly in the 45 international peer reviewed journal components of risk-taking and tolerance of ambiguity. this means that the course of the two groups of respondents has the potential for affecting their language learning attitudes. being an education and nursing students with high degrees of risk-taking and tolerance of ambiguity, these respondents believe that they should show active participation in class as well as social maladjustment (lavery, siegel, cousins, & rubovits, 1993); and the will to accept and relate to confusing situations without clear demarcation lines (ely, 1989), that is, situations in which is linked to persistence at language learning (goodman, cunningham, and lachapelle, 2002). on significant differences in the levels of students’ language learning strategies by sex and course none of the components in the language learning strategies is significant at alpha .05. this means that sex does not influence the respondents’ language learning strategies. however, the t value of 1.509 for metacognition, which has a corresponding probability value of .134, is not significant at alpha .05 but meaningful. according to pedhazur (1975), its p value is greater than .05 but less than .20. this means that there is a good reason not to drop off this variable but to affirm or disaffirm its contribution in any future research work. also with azadeh nemati’s (2008) study on the “use and ranking of vocabulary learning strategies by indian efl learners” which showed no significant difference between gender and strategy use. however, this finding seems to contradict green and oxford’s (1995) finding that in the four significant language learning strategies categories, significant variation occurred by gender, with females using strategies significantly more often than males. it also opposes kaylani’s (1996) attribution the presence of gender difference to the sociocognitive development and learning strategy. 7.2. on differences by course: the f-ratio of 4.832 (memory); 5.9741 (cognitive); 8.199 (compensation); 8.453 (metacognitive); 4.078 (affective; and 3.358 (social) have corresponding p values of .003, .001, .000, .000, .009, and .021 which are all significant at alpha .05. this means that the respondents differ significantly in their language learning strategies. in other words, courses of the respondents influence their language learning strategies which imply that students in the four courses utilize different learning strategies during their coursework in learning a second language which is english. they use different specific actions to make learning easier, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research spolsky (1989) posited that student’s decision to what school to go to is one among the causes for good learning behavior/strategies and setting for educational goals. thus, in this study, the chosen field of each course group of the respondents can be assumed as one factor that causes the differences in their language learning strategies. a group of students enrolled in the four courses (beed, bsba, bscoe, and bsn) have different educational goals and therefore tend to use different language learning strategies relevant to their course orientation. a study on the “reliability and validity of the felder-solomon index of learning styles” by litzinger, lee, and wise (2005) indicate that there are significant mean differences among colleges on all scales. the post hoc analysis using tukey’s test was conducted to determine which among groups classified according to course have different language learning strategies mean per component.it can be noted that the difference in the means of language learning strategies by components of the two groups being compared shows that it is the lower group mean minus higher mean. therefore, a positive difference would mean that the lower group means are greater than, the higher mean group means. for example, in the memory component, the mean difference between group 1 (beed) nd group 2 (bsba) is .67433. this indicates that the mean of group 2 (bsba) is greater than the mean of group 1 (beed). no students in group 1 are supposed to be better in language learning strategies. on differences in the reading proficiency levels of respondents by sex and course by sex: female respondents obtained the t scores and corresponding probability values which are all not significant at alpha .05. this means that the male and female respondents do not differ significantly in their reading proficiency. this further implies that the respondents may have similar background experiences and limited reading experiences along the three levels. this result supports shermila’s (2006) finding that boys and girls are very much identical in their skill of reading comprehension in english, that is, they fall under the ‘moderate’ category in the skill of reading and its dimensions reading the lines, reading between the lines and reading beyond the lines. however, this result seem to contradict najafdari’s (2008) findings on the study of “the impact of gender on proficiency, attitude and social class of pre-university students in mysore within the framework of learners’ multilingualism” where multilingual females are better than multilingual males in proficiency test (comprehension 47 international peer reviewed journal test) as a general english knowledge. the f-values of literal, inferential and evaluative levels with their corresponding probability values are all significant at alpha .05. it means that the respondents differ significantly in their reading proficiency among three levels. it further implies that the course influences the respondents reading proficiency. further analysis of the results indicates that the responding vary in their performances in the three reading levels because teachers teaching different courses tend to give different reading materials and exercises to their students. such varied inputs may impact the students’ performance in reading. hence, the course is a factor affecting the students reading performance in all three levels. the post hoc analysis using tukey’s test to determine which among the groups of students classified according to course differ in their reading proficiency along three levels. it can be noted that the differences in the means of reading proficiency by levels of the two groups being compared show only beec and bsn, bsba and bsn, bscoe and bsn differ significantly in all the three levels of reading proficiency. while groups beed and bscoe, bsba and bscoe differ significantly for the literal and inferential levels only. it can further be noted that the differences in the means of reading proficiency by levels of the two groups being compared show that it is the lower group minus, the higher group means. therefore, a positive difference would indicate that the lower group means are greater than the high group means. however, a negative difference indicates that the higher groups’ means should be greater than the lower group means. the result of this kind is the usual expectation because the perception of groups having technical and medically related courses is perceived to have better performance in reading comprehension. the difference in all the groups is negative which implies that course influences the students’ reading proficiency. on the contribution of sex and course to the variance in the relationship between language learning attitudes and reading proficiency the f values of male and female respondents with corresponding probability values are not significant at alpha .05. it means that the students’ language learning attitude, either male or female, in all the five dimensions when taken together do not significantly influence the contribution of language learning attitude to the variance of students’ reading proficiency along the literal level. this implies that sex does not significantly influence the contribution of language learning attitude to the students’ literal level in reading comprehension. the result suggests that 48 jpair multidisciplinary research students, being male or female, do not have anything to do with the contribution of language learning attitude on reading proficiency along the literal level. the t values for male and female respondents in all the five components of language learning attitude are not significant at alpha .05. it means that sex, as a variable does not significantly influence the contribution of students’ learning attitude in the literal level in reading proficiency.this finding seems to oppose the result of najafdari’s (2008) study on “the impact of gender on proficiency, attitude and social class of pre-university students in mysore within the framework of learners’ multilingual males in proficiency test as a general english knowledge.” the r values and f values and probability values for female and male are significant at alpha .05. it means that sex influences the contribution of language learning attitude on respondents’ reading proficiency along the inferential level. this implies that the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level largely defense on their language learning attitude. najafdari’s (2008) study reveals that gender affects the variation in proficiency test as general english knowledge. the t and probability values for ego permeability and tolerance of ambiguity are significant at alpha .05 while risk-taking is not significant. it means that at least two the components in the language learning attitudes can significantly attribute to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency along the inferential level. in other words, sex influences the contribution of language learning attitudes on these components only. thus, 8.64% of the contribution of language learning attitudes such as ego permeability and tolerance of ambiguity is done by the female respondents, 7.88% of the contribution of risk-taking on the students’ reading proficiency is influenced by the male respondents. spolsky (1989) and ellis and elis (1994) asserted that culture is among the social factors affecting second language learning. in sulu, particularly the tausug ethnic group, cultural differences in the upbringing of girls and boys seem to be persisting despite the modernization brought about by education and modern technology. similar to shermila’s (2006) observation of her respondents, compared boys, and girls, girls withdrawn from schools and have more restriction to involve in social activities. therefore, in this study, for female students to have a higher degree in ego permeability, i.e., being more conservative and easily intimidated by the reactions of other students in language learning activities may be due to the influence of tausug cultural practices already embedded in them. the regression of language learning attitude on the evaluative level of students’ reading proficiency wherein r and f and probability values for female respondents is significant at alpha .05. it means that only the female respondents 49 international peer reviewed journal that are influencing the contribution of language learning attitudes on the evaluative level of students’ reading proficiency. in this study, the evaluative level is dependent on the language learning attitude which is influenced by the female respondents only. further analysis shows that female students in this study are better than male students in dealing with judgment based on their experiences, knowledge or values presented in the text. they have a better focus on qualities of accuracy, acceptability or probability of occurrences and in making a value judgment and analyzing the intent of the author. green and oxford (1994) and najafdari (2008) reported significant variation occurred by gender along with language learning categories. the beta coefficient for the model where language learning attitudes are regressed on the evaluative level of students’ reading proficiency. it indicates that the t and probability values of ego permeability and tolerance of ambiguity are significant at alpha .05. it means that at least one of the components in the language learning attitudes contributes significantly to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency. in other words, female respondents significantly influence the contribution of the two components in language learning attitudes on reading proficiency along the evaluative level. female learners generally do better than male. boyle (1987) reports on the study conducted with 490 (257 male and 233 female) chinese university students in hong kong where female students achieve higher over-all means on ten tests of general l2 english proficiency and in many cases the differences were significant. language learning attitude on the students’ literal level in reading proficiency by course shows that none of the r values in all the components of language learning attitudes is significant at alpha .05. its means that course does not influence the contribution of language learning attitude on the reading proficiency along the literal level. this result further implies that students in the four courses whose reading skills in recognition and recall of explicitly stated information, ability to read for the central thought and main ideas, remembering significant details, the sequence of event and to find the answer to specific questions are not influenced by their language learning attitudes. related to this finding is shermila’s (2006) report where she found that the reading attitude of her respondents does not significantly influence their reading comprehension levels. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research the beta coefficient for the model where language learning attitude is regressed on the reading proficiency along the literal level shows none of the t values of the five components of language learning attitudes is significant at alpha .05. it means that course does not influence the contribution of language learning attitude on the students’ reading proficiency along the literal level. language learning attitudes regression on the reading proficiency in the inferential level reveals that none of the r values of the five components of language learning attitudes is significant at alpha .05. this means that course does not influence the contribution of language learning attitudes on the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level. the data further implies that all groups of students belong to the four courses whose reading skills in making hypotheses based on stated information, intuition and personal experience, grasping cause-effect relationship, anticipating the remainder of a story and forming opinions do not differ and not influenced by their language learning attitudes. shermila (2006) found out that students’ reading attitudes does not significantly influence their reading comprehension in the three levels. the beta coefficient where language learning attitudes are regressed on the reading proficiency in the inferential level by course indicates that the t and probability values are significant at alpha .05. it means that language learning attitudes are inversely contributing to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level. the summary regression model where language learning attitude is regressed on the reading proficiency in the evaluative level by course shows that r, f, and corresponding probability value is not significant at alpha .05. it means that beed and bscoe have no significant influence on the contribution of language learning attitudes on the students’ reading proficiency in the evaluative level. shermila (2006) reported that her respondents do not differ significantly in their reading attitude. and that skill of reading comprehension in terms of reading the lines (evaluative) and its components are not associated with their reading attitudes. thee beta coefficient for the model language learning attitude regressed on the students’ reading proficiency in the evaluative level reveals that none of the t values is significant at alpha .05. it means that course does not influence the contribution of language learning attitudes on the students’ reading proficiency in the evaluative level. 51 international peer reviewed journal the contribution of sex and course to the variance in the relationship between language learning strategies and reading proficiency the summary regression where the language learning strategies are on the literal level of reading proficiency when grouped according to sex shows that it is only the female respondents having r-value with corresponding f-ratio and probability value which is significant at alpha .05. it means that the female students are the ones who largely influence the contribution of language learning strategies on the variance in their reading proficiency at the literal level. green and oxford (1996) found out that in four significant language learning strategies categories, significant variation occurred by gender, with females using strategies significantly more often than males. this result also supports shermila’s (2006) finding that students’ skill of reading comprehension in english found to be influenced by their gender where girls have scored better than boys. the beta coefficient for the model where language learning strategies regressed on the reading proficiency in the literal level shows that none of the t values in the language learning strategies is significant at alpha .05. this means that female respondents have limited influence on the contribution in the students’ reading proficiency in the literal. hence, sex is not a factor affecting such contribution of language learning strategies on the students’ reading proficiency. green and oxford (1995) found out that in the four significant language learning strategies categories, significant variation occurred by gender, with females using strategies significantly more often than males. the summary regression of language learning strategies on the reading proficiency in the inferential level by sex reveals that the r-value with corresponding f-ratio and probability values for female respondents is significant at alpha .50. it means that female students significantly influence the contribution of language learning strategies on their reading proficiency in the inferential level. this result supports shermila’s (2006) finding that students’ skill of reading comprehension in english found to be influenced by their gender where girls have scored better than boys. goodman, cunningham, and lachapelle (2002) indicated that positive women are good at their courses and performance in the academic fields. the beta coefficient for the model where language learning strategies regressed on the reading proficiency in the inferential level indicates that the t values with corresponding probability value for cognitive component among male respondents are significant at alpha .05. it means that at least one of the components in the language learning strategies significantly contributes to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency. for females, the t value with 52 jpair multidisciplinary research corresponding probability value for a metacognitive component is significant at alpha .05. it means that both male and female respondents have only limited effect on the contribution of language learning strategies to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level. the summary regression of language learning strategies that regressed on the reading proficiency in the evaluative level by sex indicates that none of the r values is significant at alpha .05. it means that sex does not influence the contribution of language learning strategies on the variance in the students’ reading proficiency along the evaluative level. this result support najafdari’s (2008) study where he reported that gender distinction in finding the errors in the specific and mixed texts is not significant. the beta coefficient for the model where language learning strategies regressed on the evaluative level of reading proficiency by sex. the data reveal that none of the t values in all the components in language learning strategies is significant at alpha .05. it means that sex is not a factor influencing the contribution of language learning strategies to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency in the evaluative level. the summary regression for language learning strategies on reading proficiency in the literal level by course reveals that only the beed group with r-value with corresponding f-ratio and probability value which is significant at alpha .05. it means that only the beed students on their reading proficiency at the literal level. hence, generally, the course is not a factor influencing the contribution of language learning strategies on the variance in the students’ reading proficiency. beta coefficient for the model where language learning strategies regressed on reading proficiency along the literal level reveals that none of the t values in the components of language learning strategies is significant at alpha .05 except for the cognitive component. this implies that at least one of the components in the language learning strategies contributes significantly to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency at the literal level. this implies that at least one of the components in the language learning strategies contributes significantly to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency at the literal level. the summary regression where language learning strategies regressed on the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level shows that none of the r values in the language learning strategies but the course is significant at alpha .05 except for bscoe students. it means that bscoe students are influencing the contribution of language learning strategies on the students’ reading proficiency. 53 international peer reviewed journal thus, course generally does not affect the contribution of language learning strategies to the variance in the students’ reading proficiency along the inferential level. the beta coefficient where language learning strategies regressed on the inferential level of reading proficiency shows that the t values of affective and metacognitive components have the probability values which are significant at alpha .05. it implies that these components are significantly contributing to the students’ reading proficiency in the inferential level. however, this implies that generally, the course does not influence the contribution of language learning strategies to the students’ reading proficiency. the summary regression where language learning strategies regressed on the students reading proficiency indicates that none of the r values of language learning strategies is significant at alpha .05. it means that generally, the course does not influence the contribution of language learning strategies on students’ reading proficiency in the evaluative level. beta coefficient for the model where language strategies regressed on the evaluative level in the students’ reading proficiency indicates that none of the values in the language learning strategies. only in the memory component where the t values with the corresponding probability value are significant at alpha .05. it means that the memory component is inversely affecting the contribution of language learning strategies along the evaluative level. hence, the course generally does not influence the contribution of language learning strategies on students reading proficiency. conclusion firstly, it can be logically inferred from the foregoing finding that this study hardly provides empirical data to support the theories in language learning attitudes and language learning strategies which are supposed to have a significant role in affecting students’ reading proficiency. secondly, it also denies the role of schema theory in reading by activating learners’ prior knowledge to process meaning and concepts from the reading selections because these learners performed poorly in reading comprehension test. finally, it can be concluded that the preceding findings on the moderator variable course may seem to provide empirical support to the extension of the theories in language learning strategies as well as schema theory in reading because from the different courses, students show varied use of language learning strategies which ultimately affect their reading proficiency. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of this study could be translated into a conceptual manual that draws the relationships between the language learning attitudes and language learning strategies in enhancing the language learning proficiency among second language learners of english. the conceptual manual drawn can also be evaluated by the stakeholders alike for 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(2015). second language pragmatic ability: individual differences according to environment. studies in second language learning and teaching, 5(4), 519-556. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2c9ipnn https://www.sil.org/ https://goo.gl/wb5l4w https://goo.gl/wb5l4w https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/48.3.280 107 international peer reviewed journal story retelling (sr) technique in improving reading comprehension of sixth-graders cupid jones o. risonar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4507-0999 cupidjones.risonar1995@deped.gov.ph deped-gingoog gingoog city, misamis oriental philippines jayson s. digamon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1739-4395 jayson.digamon1991@deped.gov.ph gingoog city comprehensive national high school gingoog city, philippines jerome n. de la peňa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3031-5444 jdelapena03572@liceo.edu.ph liceo de cagayan university cagayan de oro city, philippines ronnel rey r. delima https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2855-1974 ronnelrey.delima1994@deped.gov.ph deped-gingoog gingoog city, misamis oriental philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.453 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4507-0999 mailto:cupidjones.risonar1995@deped.gov.ph http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1739-4395 mailto:jayson.digamon1991@deped.gov.ph http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3031-5444 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2855-1974 mailto:ronnelrey.delima1994@deped.gov.ph 108 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the phil-iri results of the sixth graders during their fifth grade were seriously alarming. all learners were identified as frustration readers. thus, this study aimed to improve sixth graders’ reading comprehension through story retelling (sr) technique. the study used a pretest-post-test quasiexperimental design consisting of two intact classes with 43 grade 6 learners. one class was exposed to sr technique, while the other was exposed to the traditional method. the comparison of posttest results revealed no significant difference in the comprehension level of the respondents with (p>.01) between groups. the data proved that sr did not significantly enhance the reading comprehension of the learners. there was a slight increase in the posttest mean scores of the experimental group. however, the increase was not significant. it showed that the learners lacked solid general knowledge and vast vocabulary, which are essential in reading. the interviews discovered that the learners were not exposed to the english language and were not adequately monitored about their academic progress. these pre-existing background conditions significantly affected the intervention, preventing a significant difference in the learners’ reading comprehension. based on the results, it is recommended that the story retelling (sr) technique is only introduced to the learners after they learn the basic reading skills, including vocabulary, and establish solid general knowledge. moreover, the amount of time spent on the intervention added to the undesirable results. thus, the intervention should be conducted in more than six weeks to achieve better results. keywords — education, phil-iri, reading comprehension, story retelling (sr) technique, vocabulary introduction in the 2018 program for international student assessment (pisa) cited by thomson (2018), 80 percent of school students around fifteen years of age in the philippines received lower scores in areas like reading, mathematics, and science compared to those who took the same assessment in other countries (trinidad, 2020). a similar study by tomas et al. (2021) revealed that in the 4056 filipino reading profiles and 4216 english reading profiles of children in grades 1 through 7, the majority of them were frustrated readers. this is consistent with the report 109 international peer reviewed journal that twenty million filipinos could read but not understand (nolasco, 2010). the report showed they were not able to meet the minimum level of proficiency in reading. according to the results, the students were not exposed to expository texts and improper instruction in processing information. establishing a solid foundation for the students in their critical literacy is a challenge facing today. some things need to be improved in the country’s educational system to make up for this negative feedback which primarily includes curriculum development and implementation. for instance, many teachers are trained to emphasize gathering details instead of analyzing the materials being used. this focus should shift towards providing chances for students to make visualization, synthesis, and connection building with the materials they are reading. moreover, establishing good foundations for the literacy and comprehension programs in the current educational platform, the k-12 curriculum, could be salient keys to this enormous endeavor. in the division of gingoog city, sixth-graders had performed very poorly in the previous year’s philippine informal reading inventory (phil-iri). all of them were identified as frustrated readers, implying that reading comprehension was a severe academic problem among these learners. according to honig et al. (2013), various strategies were identified to be helpful towards establishing reading comprehension. these include using prior knowledge, predicting events, determining and synthesizing main ideas, inferential questioning, visualizing, story mapping, and story events retelling. most of these strategies were already used by teachers in the classroom. still, a potential attribute was seen in story retelling because while this may not be the most engaging student task, it is one of the most straightforward ways to assess reading comprehension (kolk, 2013). thus, this study aimed to improve the reading comprehension of sixth graders through story retelling (sr) technique. story retelling is an effective approach for increasing reading comprehension, which leads to increased enthusiasm and passion for reading (warth, 2021). jennings et al. (2014) asserted that retelling is a strategy used to determine how well a reader understands a particular story’s content and context. story retelling is a higher thinking activity that allows learners to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and interpret the text they are reading at complex levels (tankersley, 2005). it will enable them to explore the story beyond the literal level, allowing them to understand the story in their level of perception and understanding. they build connections between what the story means and what meaning they acquire from it. this understanding of the story is beyond ordinary reading experience. hence, retelling could effectively enhance 110 jpair multidisciplinary research reading comprehension to help learners understand the meaning behind and beyond the material they are reading. reading is a cognitive process, complex enough for young learners to find it less convenient to derive a good understanding unless their reading skills have been honed very well. on a higher level, it is not enough that learners just read the words or simply get the meaning out of these words. they must learn how to associate these words in their places within a text. nejad and keshavarzi (2015) stated that reading comprehension is necessary for the learners to comprehend the context of reading material. waugh (2018) similarly stated that when students cannot decipher the meaning of words, they will be unable to comprehend what they are reading. there are at least six essential reading comprehension skills, according to lee (2014). decoding, fluency, vocabulary, reasoning, and background knowledge, as well as working memory and attention, are among them. reading comprehension, forming connections between textual pieces, and comprehending important ideas require background knowledge (smith et al., 2021). it is critical to provide learners with opportunities and challenges to apply their collective experiences or background knowledge (christen & murphy, 2005). also, reading comprehension is best developed and improved when readers have a larger vocabulary, so they should be exposed to activities that encourage marginal vocabulary growth (mokhtari & velten, 2015). vocabulary knowledge assists in activating and building background information in order to establish connections to text, and it can improve reading comprehension and fluency (weiser, 2015). however, it takes time and considerable learning experiences to build a vocabulary (smith, 2008). many factors affect reading comprehension. one is cognition, a person’s total knowledge and learning orientation based on previous experiences (walsh, 2017). cognition is necessary for learners to comprehend new learning inputs by connecting previous and new knowledge (anderson, 2013). the environment is also one factor. for instance, the social and educational backgrounds of the parents have a major impact on the academic achievement of their children, particularly in mathematics and language (farooq et al., 2011). the teacher’s influence, ideas, and expectations of the students’ skills also affect their academic performance and accomplishments (richland, 2020). guided reading is also a factor. according to vinciquerra (2002), guided reading has a positive impact on pupils’ reading achievement. passion, according to serin (2017), is a driving component in learning. 111 international peer reviewed journal reading comprehension should be honed in the early years of children, insofar children start to acquire language inputs from their environment before they learn the language itself and use it to express themselves and communicate with other people. in a study, kidwai (2013)  cited chomsky’s innateness theory that children are born with an innate capacity to develop a language. in the proper language development, children must establish basic reading skills to comprehend language inputs found in texts that they may find themselves reading in a formal and informal learning exposure. waugh (2018) stipulated that reading comprehension is essential because it helps the learners acquire different language structures and rules and helps them in other learning areas like mathematics and sciences. in developing reading comprehension, children must engage in various learning activities, including story retelling. story retelling is an excellent strategy for developing reading comprehension because through this, and the children can use their critical thinking in reconstructing the text they are reading (mäkinen et al., 2018). to achieve good results with story retelling, there are things to consider. farmer (2019) outlined the importance of voice, facial expression, and bodily gesture in storyretelling, mime, pace, repetition, rhythm, elaboration, exaggeration, and audience engagement. today, the department of education gears towards transforming filipino learners into critical thinkers through reading. according to tankersley (2005), the task is more than simply picking of words from a text read; it is a process that requires critical thinking and involves the evaluation of ideas and their application to daily situations. if the learners cannot develop the skills needed for reading comprehension, they cannot become critical thinkers. critical thinking is significant in the learners’ engagement in academic activities, which will dictate how well their future careers will go. the need for reading comprehension development in primary education is a salient key towards learners’ academic progress. when there is no reading comprehension that learners manifest in the process, teachers must employ the necessary strategy to address the reading problem. reading comprehension is so important because it affects the overall performance of the learners in all other learning areas. according to spencer and wagner (2018), learners with poor reading comprehension are unable to answer questions related to a passage being read; they are unable to retell the story from beginning to end; they are unable to make connections between sentences or paragraphs to create meaning from the passage; they are unfamiliar with the meaning of the words found in the course; and they lose interest in reading, forcing them to stop reading. enhancing reading comprehension takes 112 jpair multidisciplinary research time and effort, but reading comprehension practices might help (mcnamara, 2007). teachers and other stakeholders must use good strategies. when standard methods are not fit for the pain, teachers must think outside the box. according to aguirre and de cadiz (2015), instructional materials are critical in determining a program’s efficacy. exposure to books, newspapers and other reading materials would aid in developing the wide expertise required for reading intervention (crandall et al., 2016). objectives of the study this study aimed to improve the reading comprehension of learners through story retelling (sr) technique. methodology research design the design used in this study was quasi-experimental. a quasi-experimental plan aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between an independent and dependent variable. the researcher used a quasi-experiment to test the effectiveness of the intervention strategy to the reading comprehension enhancement among the respondents. two intact classes were used for the study as control and experimental groups. the story retelling (st) technique was used as an intervention strategy in the experimental group. in contrast, the control group was exposed to the traditional technique, which involved the typical reading and answering follow-up questions without story retelling. research site this study was conducted in one of the schools of gingoog for the school year 2020-2021. this school was one of the largest schools in the east 2 district of gingoog city division. it was situated 5 kilometers away from the national highway to butuan. there were four buildings. one building was used as the principal’s office. the others were for school classrooms, a mini-library, and a canteen. this school was staffed by nine elementary teachers and one principal. for the school year 2020-2021, the school had 307 enrolled learners. the school did not perform well in phil-iri the other year. the fifth graders currently enrolled in the sixth grade performed less satisfactorily than the other grade levels. all of them were classified as frustrated readers who could read but could not understand what they read. 113 international peer reviewed journal participants the study respondents were the grade 6 pupils in one of the schools in gingoog for the school year 2020-2021. group sample experimental 21 control 22 total 43 the experimental group was the section narra pupils. they were taught using the story retelling (sr) technique. on the other hand, the control group was the section talisay pupils. they were conducted using the traditional method of reading without a story retelling activity. instrumentation two research instruments were used in the study. the first instrument was the 40-item reading comprehension test used for pretest and posttest. it determined if the student fell under the independent, instructional, or frustration category of reading comprehension. the passages utilized in both the tests were adapted from phil-iri. the questions were varied based on literal, inferential, and evaluative reading comprehension skills. the second instrument was an interview where select respondents answered a few questions about the drivers and barriers that affected the intervention program. it was focused on the positive and negative experiences of the learners in using the story retelling (sr) technique. reliability and validity of instrument the instrument’s validity was submitted for validation to the three experts in reading: a master teacher in english from gingoog city comprehensive national high school, a master teacher from mimbunga national school, and a senior education program specialist from the deped-gingoog division. it was to ensure that the passages and questions were fitted to the grade-6 pupils. for reliability, pilot testing was conducted on another group of grade-6 pupils with the same characteristics as the respondents. then, the reliability evaluation using kuder-richardson 20 was used, which revealed a result of 0.70 described as reliable. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research data gathering procedure the researcher asked permission from the schools division superintendent of gingoog city division and the school principal of the research site to conduct the study. then, consent forms were secured. upon approval of the request, the researcher started validating the reading comprehension test in a grade 6 class of the same school. after the research instrument validation, the researcher started conducting the study. after the 40-item pretest, the researcher utilized the story retelling (sr) technique in the experimental group. the researcher engaged the respondents in story retelling (sr) activities. the engagement happened every weekday for at least one to two hours for each respondent. this ended six weeks. this reading approach aimed to help learners improve reading comprehension through story retelling activities. before the small group activity, the researcher involved the respondents in a guided practice wherein they modeled pre-reading strategies. in the preview, the students were given a passage to read. the respondents were asked to read the story independently. during reading, they were monitored by the teacher. the teacher reread the story while the learners listened without unnecessary movement. after reading the passage, the respondents were asked to answer a worksheet that required the respondents to answer related questions about the story. then the respondents individually retold the story in their terms in an oral presentation. during the oral presentation, the teacher helped the respondents recall the events in the story to correct their mistakes. the researcher used traditional reading in the control group, requiring the respondents to retell the story orally. the respondents received the same mode instruction as the experimental group. after reading, the teacher discussed the passage, which included unlocking vocabulary and getting the main idea. then, the respondents were asked to answer a worksheet that required them to answer questions related to the story. no retelling of the story events happened. the researcher had to meet the respondents through home visitation because the respondents could not be gathered altogether in one classroom or learning environment. because of the limited contact time with the respondents, the researcher contacted at least five respondents a day whose residences were physically close to one another, with one same story to read and retell every week. the 40-item reading comprehension posttest was administered after one month and one week of intervention implementation. checking, tallying, and consolidation of data followed. the raw data were given to a statistician, and the researcher interpreted the findings of the study. 115 international peer reviewed journal scoring procedure reading comprehension was measured through a 40-item reading comprehension test composed of literal, inferential, and evaluative questions. the researcher used the philippine informal reading inventory (phil-iri) scale 2018 to determine the reading comprehension level of the learners. below is the scale to measure the reading comprehension level: reading comprehension level range of score performance criteria qualitative description 33-40 at least 80-100% of the questions were correctly answered independent 24-32 students answered 59-79% of the questions correctly instructional 0-23 at least 58% of the questions were correctly answered frustration statistical treatment for the analysis and interpretation of data, the mean was used to determine the reading comprehension level of the learners, and a t-test was used to determine the significant difference between the reading comprehension levels of both groups. results and discussion reading comprehension level in the pretest and post-test table 1 presents the reading comprehension level of the learners in the control and experimental groups in the pretest and posttest. table 1. mean level of respondents’ reading comprehension in pretest and post-test respondents pretest post-test mean proficiency level mean proficiency level control group 13.18 frustration 13.05 frustration experimental group 13 frustration 13.57 frustration legend: independent –33-40 instructional – 24-32 frustration – 0-23 116 jpair multidisciplinary research the results revealed that in the pretest, the mean values of both groups were slightly closer. specifically, the control group had a mean of 13.18, while the experimental group had a mean score of 13. the students could read the text, but they lacked good reading comprehension in understanding its meaning. it implies that their background knowledge of reading comprehension belongs to the same level, which is frustration. it implies that they found it challenging to understand the questions in the text. the results affirmed the study of nolasco (2016), whose findings revealed that about 20 million filipinos can read but cannot understand the meaning of the reading content they are reading. it is an indication that the quality of education went low in past years. meanwhile, pisa (2018) results showed that a majority of male students (84.82%) and female students (76.90%) did not obtain the minimum proficiency level (level 2) in overall reading literacy (trinidad, 2020). it means that the respondents belong to million filipinos with low reading comprehension in english texts. many factors have contributed to this problem, including the learners’ background and teaching strategies used in the classroom. based on the interviews, the learners do not have proper guidance from their parents because they are also busy making a living. most of them come from prominent families who are under the poverty line. this trigger caused the learners’ lack of educational background to establish good reading comprehension. it is consistent with the data from programme for international student assessment (pisa) cited by thomson (2018), which revealed that learners’ socioeconomic background immediately affects their academic performance. if learners do not receive enough learning exposure to language, their cognition is affected. cognition is a person’s total knowledge from previous experiences and learning orientation (walsh, 2017). cognition is vital for a learner to understand new learning inputs by connecting the past knowledge with new ones (anderson, 2013). if the learner has poor cognition, it would be challenging to understand new knowledge because he cannot link it to other similar knowledge inputs. meaning, there comes a missing link that sets a barrier between the old and new learning. meanwhile, the mean score of the experimental group in the posttest was 13.57, which was slightly higher than the mean score of the control group, which fell at 13.05. the difference at 0.52 is not significant. in the interviews, some of the learners in the experimental group found story retelling as a fun activity that piqued their passion in expressing their way of recalling events of 117 international peer reviewed journal the story. serin (2017) asserted that passion has a motivating factor in learning. however, in general, the respondents from the experimental group still did not improve significantly to advance to the instructional level or proficient level. the respondents in both groups remain at the frustration level, which means that all the respondents performed almost at the same rate and the same level despite the exposure of the experimental group to story retelling. the intervention results yielded that almost all respondents could not retell the story being read unless guided by the teacher. they could not even express their thoughts in english, so they had to use the vernacular to do the retelling activity. spencer and wagner (2018) said that learners with poor reading comprehension could not answer the questions related to a passage being read; cannot retell the story from the beginning to the end; cannot make connections among the sentences or paragraphs to create meaning out the passage; are not familiar with the meaning of the words found in the course and lose interest in reading which forces them to quit reading. it confirmed the phil-iri results of the learners that they were all frustrated readers. in the interviews, there were many contributing factors to the learners’ poor reading comprehension. some of them were already mentioned, including poor learning background associated with low-income family socioeconomic status and low cognition due to lack of exposure to the language associated with poor learning environments. other factors may include limited vocabulary, general knowledge, and limited time of intervention implementation. limited vocabulary caused the learners’ inability to express themselves in english. they had to use their mother tongue in the retelling activity. a little language problem in reading comprehension is seen because it obstructs learners from connecting among ideas (mokhtari & velten, 2015). a limited vocabulary could have been less troublesome if learners had good general knowledge because they could understand the whole thought of the story by creating a complete picture. but that was the problem; they lacked solid general understanding, which could have helped them read. general knowledge is vital in reading comprehension, according to christen and murphy (2005). with general knowledge, the learners could connect one idea to another and create a whole thought. meanwhile, a six-week intervention implementation was also one reason the learners could not improve reading comprehension. it was too short for the intervention to positively impact the learners’ reading comprehension, considering that learning to understand the meaning of a text takes more time than learning how to read it. it was affirmed by mcnamara (2007), who stated that enhancing reading comprehension takes time and effort. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research similar results were revealed in frischmann’s (2016) study, who stated that learning new skills takes extended until complete development. significant difference in the experimental group’s pretest and post-test table 2 shows the distribution of statistics of the respondents’ reading comprehension levels. it indicates their pretest and posttest scores. table 2. significant difference in the experimental group’s pretest and post-test group pretest post-test t p decision interpretation experimental mean sd mean sd -.623 .540 accept not significant13 4.44 13.57 5.16 the data reveal that the mean level of the experimental group in pretest and posttest is almost the same. the improvement is only 0.57 in favor of the posttest. it also shows that the p-value is 0.542, which is higher than the 0.05 level of significance. in this case, the null hypothesis is accepted. there is no significant difference between the pretest and posttest of the experimental group. the control group remained to be in the frustration level of reading comprehension. it is observed that the standard deviation in the pretest is slightly lower than the standard deviation in the posttest. it indicates that their scores are closer to the mean. however, the scores in the pretest have slightly wider dispersion. but the distribution is insignificant. it implies that there were only very few learners who improved their posttest scores. the minimal increase in the posttest mean scores of the experimental group shows that few learners enhanced in the process. still, it does not necessarily mean that the effectiveness of the intervention caused it. various factors affect the academic performance of the learners, especially in reading comprehension development. these factors encompass the external influences of the learners; and innate cognitive abilities (chomsky, 1979). according to mcwhorter (2020), children have natural abilities for oral language acquisition, which determine how slow or how fast they are in acquiring language inputs from the environment and learning new language forms. that is why the cognitive ability of the readers is vital in the process of reading comprehension. in this research’s case of the learners of the experimental group, some learners 119 international peer reviewed journal performed better than others. they could grasp ideas from the activities of the intervention better than the other respondents. similarly, borah (2013) stated that learners with below-average cognitive abilities that cannot be considered disabled are called slow learners, while those who can move faster than moderate learners academically are called fast learners. cognitive skills can be honed through engaging activities, which will help learners to exercise them properly. reading practices enhanced through reading comprehension strategies help develop cognitive skills. although there are several strategies to developing reading comprehension, and even how effective these strategies are, there is still a variation in how the readers respond to the activity considering that they have different backgrounds and previous learning experiences. however, there are various categories through which we can assess the learners’ response to reading comprehension strategies. one category that needs to be considered is vocabulary. to comprehend a text, one must have a vast vocabulary (mokhtari & velten, 2015). in the interviews conducted with the respondents, the researcher learned that the learners struggle a lot in understanding english texts because there were terms that they were not familiar. two keys are required to unlock comprehension of printed text: the capacity to read correctly the words found in the text and the ability to make meaning of the words when put together in the sentence or paragraph (davis, 2006). based on the interviews, the researcher learned that the learners’ limited vocabulary was caused by their poor exposure to the english language. one’s exposure to a particular language is critical for learners to understand a text. exposing children to a language builds their general knowledge, which is essential in reading comprehension. general knowledge comes from years of exposure to books, newspapers, and other reading materials (crandall et al., 2016). moreover, the respondents said that they were not expansively exposed to the english language at home in the interviews. their parents do not help them out in their studies because they focus more on seeking money, and they do not have an excellent educational background to help their kids with their homework. in the study of egalite (2016), family structure, parental education, and family income are indicators of the children’s academic success. if the parents show poor conditions in all these aspects, the children will perform very poorly in school. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research significant difference in the control and experimental group’s posttest results table 3 indicates the posttest scores of the non-sr and sr groups. it shows the distribution of statistical mean and test statistics of the respondents’ reading comprehension levels. table 3. significant difference in the control and experimental group’s posttest results score control experimental t p decision interpretation posttest mean sd mean sd -.395 0.695 accept not significant13.05 3.43 13.57 5.16 the data show that the difference in control and experimental groups’ posttest mean scores provide sufficient evidence to accept the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between them. specifically, it shows a mean of 13.05 in the posttest of the control group and 13.57 in the posttest of the experimental group, in favor of the latter. there is a mean difference of 0.57, which implies that the difference in the posttest between the two groups is not significant. there was no improvement in both groups’ level of comprehension, indicating that the intervention to which the experimental group was exposed did not make a significant difference in their comprehension level. the standard deviation also shows to be at 3.43 in the posttest of the control group and 5.16 in the experimental group’s posttest, which suggests that the respondents’ scores in the control group are closer to the mean score compared to the scores of the control to the scores in the experimental group. it implies that only very few learners in the experimental group performed better than the others, while the learners performed almost equally in the control group. thus, the null hypothesis was accepted. the data reveal that story retelling used in this study did not enhance the learners’ reading comprehension. in the interviews conducted with the respondents, it was disclosed that they found it challenging to comprehend the text because there were terms which they did not know. consistent with the study of davis (2006), the ability of the readers to correctly read the words in the text and their ability to comprehend the meaning of these words are essential keys in reading comprehension. 121 international peer reviewed journal developing and improving reading comprehension is best done when the readers have a wider vocabulary, so they should be exposed to activities that stimulate marginal vocabulary expansion (mokhtari & velten, 2015). according to lee (2014), there are at least six essential reading comprehension skills. they include decoding, fluency, vocabulary, reasoning and background knowledge, and working memory and attention. if the learners fail to develop all these skills, it would be difficult to understand a reading passage. in the conduct of the intervention, the researcher observed that most of the learners manifested poor performances across these skills. in the interviews conducted, the researchers learned that the learners were not widely exposed to different reading resources at home. that is why they could not build a general knowledge that could have helped them develop good reading skills. exposure to books, newspapers and other reading materials would help develop the broad expertise needed in the reading intervention (crandall et al., 2016). however, they lacked that general knowledge. prior knowledge must be built in the learners if one does not exist. for instance, building their previous knowledge of english terms is vital if they are pushed to read with comprehension. it is essential to create an opportunity and challenge learners to use their collective experiences or prior knowledge (christen & murphy, 2005). through this, teachers help the learners improve from memorizing information to meaningful learning. when that happens successfully, the learners could begin connecting learning events instead of just simply remembering pieces of the whole meaning. in the interviews, this was one of the missing factors of the learners that’s why they could not read with comprehension. their background was one reason why they performed poorly in reading. most of these learners came from economically challenged homes whose parents had poor educational backgrounds. the parents’ socioeconomic background and educational background significantly affect the learners’ academic performance, especially in mathematics and language (farooq et al., 2011). the parents’ educational background appears to be more significant than their occupation about their children’s performance in school. moreover, improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, but it can be done through reading comprehension strategies (mcnamara, 2007). one of these strategies, one which was utilized in this study, is story retelling. retelling a story helps learners build the connection between the events found in the text and all other elements that can be sought within it (mäkinen et al., 2018). it provides them the opportunity to create meaning through their terms of expression. it will improve their creative and critical thinking, which is a good way of exercising comprehension skills. story retelling provides an avenue for the 122 jpair multidisciplinary research readers to orally retell a story in their own words, forcing them to analyze the content and determine which ones in the text to pick up and which ones to be eliminated. however, their performance in six essential reading comprehension skills, including decoding, fluency, vocabulary, reasoning, and background knowledge, working memory, and attention (lee, 2014), led them to perform poorly in the story retelling activity conducted in this research. the drivers in implementing story retelling (sr) technique in the experimental group the students were asked about the drivers and barriers in implementing the story retelling technique to reading comprehension. the students were given prompts to answer in the interviews. these were collected, consolidated, and used as the basis for further analysis of the story retelling (sr) technique data. the report prompts were summarized into two parts: positive experiences and negative experiences. the student’s responses varied, considering that they had different perspectives about their experience with the sr technique. the first prompt was on the students’ positive experiences with the use of sr. they were asked about their positive experiences with the sr technique. table 4 shows the drivers in implementing the intervention. it includes the number of learners in the experimental group who had positive experiences in the intervention. identified drivers include guided instruction, excitement towards the intervention, and self-expression. table 4. the drivers in implementing story retelling (sr) technique in the experimental group drivers (n) (f) (p) respondents liked to be guided in the reading and retelling process. 21 20 95% respondents were excited to read and retell a story. 21 18 86% respondents liked to express their own ways to retell a story. 21 19 91% based on the data, about 95% of the respondents liked to be guided in the reading and retelling activities. about 86% of them were excited to read and retell a story, while 91% wanted to express their ways of retelling a story. most learners agreed that they were happy about the sr technique implemented by the researcher. they were pleased working together with the teacher, and they were motivated to read. some learners stated that sr technique enhanced their 123 international peer reviewed journal self-confidence in reciting events of the story in front of the crowd. they also loved the guided reading because, through this process, they understood the reading passages easier. in addition, vinciquerra (2002) pointed out that guided reading positively affects students’ reading achievement. she listed some benefits of guided reading, including a) it allows for differentiated instruction; (b) it addresses individual weakness; (c) allows for targeted word work and sight word practice; (d) it can help build reading comprehension and fluency; and (e) can intentionally teach concepts about print. since guided reading was one positive quality of the sr, their experiences in sr technique were not bad at all. based on the interview conducted, the learners loved to read and retell a story, with a teacher guiding them along the way. they felt confident that they could quickly finish their task if properly guided in the reading and retelling process. another driver in implementing story retelling (sr) technique was the learners’ enthusiasm to work with the teacher who guided them in the activities. they would feel bored when they were only reading on their own. they wanted to read with the teacher showing them. story retelling technique was a perfect avenue for them to express their ways of retelling events of a story. story retelling is a good strategy for building reading comprehension, which eventually yields excitement and love for reading (warth, 2021). the barriers in implementing story retelling (sr) technique in the experimental group for the second prompt, the learners were asked about their negative experiences with story retelling technique. table 5 shows the barriers that faced the intervention. it includes the frequency and percentage of the respondents who agreed that they lacked vocabulary requirement, background knowledge, and proper exposure to language, which were important in the reading and retelling activities of the intervention. table 5. the barriers in implementing story retelling (sr) technique in the experimental group drivers (n) (f) (p) respondents lacked the vocabulary requirement both in reading and retelling. 21 19 91% respondents lacked background knowledge which is significant in the reading and retelling process. 21 18 86% respondents lacked the proper exposure to the language, which is essential in communication. 21 18 86% 124 jpair multidisciplinary research building vocabulary takes time and significant learning experiences (smith, 2008). data reveal that 91% of the respondents lacked the vocabulary requirement in reading and retelling, and 86% lacked background knowledge and proper exposure to the language, which were significant in the reading and retelling process. their responses revealed that there were terms in the stories they did not know about, and even if they were taught about their meanings, they would still forget them. it was hard for them to speak in english in retelling the stories. that is why they had to use the vernacular to express themselves. moreover, based on the interviews, they did not have proper exposure to the language, so their vocabulary was narrow enough not wholly to understand the stories. on the one hand, background knowledge is helpful to students so that they will enjoy reading and learning. they are essential to reading comprehension, making connections among textual elements, and understanding critical ideas (smith et al., 2021). as equally important, the link between vocabulary and the goal of reading comprehension is profound. once the learners fail to decode the meaning of words, they would fail to make sense of what they are reading (waugh, 2018). the teacher’s guidance helped the learners of the study understand the stories, but they were wondering how they would appreciate them if the teacher was not there. the support of the teacher is significant in teaching reading comprehension among the learners. not only does it help learners identify the right ways or correct manners in the process of reading, but it also helps them in some other vital ways. the teacher’s influence, ideas, and expectations of the learners’ capabilities impact their academic performance and achievements (richland, 2020). it is also of equal importance to the way that the teacher tells the story. it should provoke the learners’ imagination and pique their interest. it should involve the dramatic conveyance of the story because the ability of learners to see images in their minds enables them to enjoy reading. it is consistent with the techniques of farmer (2019) in storytelling. he stipulated essential processes in storytelling, including voice, facial expression and bodily gesture, mime, pace, repetition, rhythm, elaboration, exaggeration, and engagement with the audience. all of these techniques can be summed up as a ‘dramatic’ factor in storytelling. the teacher’s dramatic techniques in conveying the story’s content will engage the learners in an exciting and compelling storytelling activity. aguirre and de cadiz (2015) stated that instructional materials are significant in assuring the effectiveness of a particular program. the researcher developed and modified an instructional module using the story retelling technique. this 125 international peer reviewed journal module should be simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. the module should be added with activities that foster vocabulary enrichment, considering that the study’s findings showed that poor vocabulary was one impediment to the intervention. a vast vocabulary is essential for learners to easily connect ideas in the text and organize these ideas in their context of expression. vocabulary knowledge aids in activating and building background knowledge to make connections to text, and having vocabulary knowledge can increase reading comprehension and fluency while reading (weiser, 2015). limitations the study was conducted in two heterogeneous classes. one section became the experimental group exposed to the story retelling (sr) technique as a reading strategy of the study, and the other section was confined to a control group that received a traditional class strategy for reading that does not involve a story retelling. the two groups were given the same pretest and posttest. the researchers met the respondents through home visitation because the country was facing a threat from the covid-19 pandemic. the researchers gathered five (5) respondents each day with one same story read each week. there was limited time in implementing the intervention among the respondents, considering the untimely circumstances. conclusions the story retelling (sr) technique in this study does not enhance the learners’ reading comprehension, although the researchers have noted several limitations on this conclusion for other researchers to explore. learners’ reading comprehension is affected by various factors, including learners’ backgrounds. poor exposure to the english language creates an undesirable impact on their reading comprehension. when learners are not well exposed to the language, it is difficult to understand these words’ meaning. story retelling meets a multifarious barrier in their implementation. one of these barriers may include the background knowledge and vocabulary of the learners. when these key factors are not welldeveloped in the learners in their early years at school, it is challenging to improve or enhance their reading comprehension through any strategies utilized. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited aguirre jr., d., & de cadiz, g. 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(2018). exploring reading comprehension inside and outside the classroom.  bu journal of graduate studies in education,  10(2). retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ej1230302.pdf weiser, b. (2013). effective vocabulary instruction for kindergarten to 12th grade students experiencing learning disabilities. council for learning disabilities. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xf07zs https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.06866-8 https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.06866-8 https://handsonaswegrow.com/story-retelling-three-ways/ https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ej1230302.pdf 22 jpair multidisciplinary research peace education and the promotion of peace-building initiatives through health care programs in conflict-affected areas in mindanao elvira a. baquial http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1087-8429 elviebaquial@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city, philippines originality: 100 • grammar check: 100 • plagiarism: 0 abstract for several years now, there has been a growing global consciousness on the close connection between health and peace. this study aimed to describe peace education and determine the promotion of peace-building initiatives through healthcare programs in conflict-affected areas in mindanao. the study utilized the descriptive research design and correlation method using survey, interview, and focus group discussion, to 250 survey respondents, eight informants, and 16 fgd participants from conflict-affected areas of maguindanao and north cotabato. data were analyzed and interpreted using mean and multiple regression methods. the study found out that the delivery of the health care programs, the performance of the roles and responsibilities of the healthcare providers and the use of peace mechanisms were moderately extensive. that peace education has significantly contributed to the promotion of the peace-building initiatives in the conflict-affected areas. however, the health care programs and health to peace mechanisms strongly influence peace education. the study concludes that health care programs have been delivered well, although there is still a need for vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.758 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1087-8429 mailto:elviebaquial@gmail.com mailto:elviebaquial@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.758 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 23 international peer reviewed journal improvement in terms of the performance of the roles and responsibilities of the health care providers. the use of peace mechanisms still needs to be intensified. keywords — peace and development, peace education and peace-building initiatives, descriptive – correlational design, maguindanao and cotabato provinces, philippines introduction the connection between health and peace has been globally considered. thus, in many countries in the world affected by armed conflict, health services are upgraded in pursuit of better health, and therefore increased the level of peaceability (who, 2014). peace-oriented health programs could reduce risks, lessen vulnerability, mitigate risks, and resistance to instability and insecurity in communities. they can also be good springboards for policy formulation or policy reform (international peace institute, 2011). rushton and youde (2014) described how war is affecting the health of the residents of the conflict-affected areas in west africa. the who study on the social determinants of health (2008), as mentioned in the fact sheet of the canadian nurses association (2008) states that armed conflict is the third leading cause of violent deaths globally and that conflicts have directly killed 3.6 million people and displaced 50 million since 1990. they also described the health services delivered with peacebuilding interventions to enable the communities to rise up and become resilient. in columbia, the government has established strategic cooperation with the united states for international development and world health organization for the delivery of health services and health and peace research to investigate the level of vulnerability to diseases as affected by the armed conflict in the country. in the philippines, internal conflict has been experienced for over four decades. this includes violence related to two main causes: a communistinspired insurgency and a separatist struggle in the southern bangsamoro region (peace insight, 2015). in the study of sumagayan (2018) findings revealed that peacebuilding facilitates the establishment of durable peace and prevents the recurrence of violence through reconciliation, education, institutional and political building for economic transformation. it is difficult to know the total number of people who have been affected by the conflicts in the philippines, but it is often estimated at 150,000. natural disasters have contributed to the 24 jpair multidisciplinary research displacement of many more. as mentioned by who (2014) in the article of tilford (2018), where non-fatal consequences of violence are concerned, children, women, and older adults experience a greater burden. in the case of children, whether the impacts are on physical health, as a result of malnutrition and injuries or on mental health as a result of experiencing violence and loss of families, the outcomes can be particularly long-lasting. the role of health workers then is crucial. in the delivery of health services in conflict-affected countries, health care professionals have undeniably and increasingly served an important role as frontline responders in mitigating the fallout of conflicts and epidemics. because of this, conflict-affected countries receive much attention from the united nations through the world health organization (world economic forum, 2015). it is in this premise that the study seeks to describe the role of peace education and determine the promotion of peacebuilding initiatives through the health care programs of the department of health in conflict-affected areas in mindanao. framework the promotion of peacebuilding initiatives is linked with the culture of peace model developed by virginia cawagas and swee-hin toh (2002), known as the six petals of peace. it includes cultivating inner peace, dismantling the culture of war, living with justice and compassion, building cultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity, promoting human rights and responsibilities, and living in harmony with the earth. galtung in grewal (2013) explains that personal and direct violence such as those inflicted by wars are built into the social and political structures, such that if equal violence is done, the conflict or violence perpetrated. violence here is redefined as unavoidable insults to basic human needs and, more generally, insults to life. the bearing of the theory of galtung in the study is strong. this is saying that fighting a violent war to win peace in situations of structural violence will not gain positive peace when won because direct violence begets direct violence. the sufficient delivery of government programs and services, when successful, wins positive peace because no one is done violence along the way. 25 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study describes peace education and determines the promotion of peacebuilding initiatives of the department of health in conflict-affected areas in mindanao, particularly in maguindanao and cotabato provinces. specifically, it generates data on the extent of the provisions of health care programs to the community residents of conflict-affected areas in mindanao, the extent of the health as a bridge for peace (hbp) in promoting peacebuilding, the extent of the health care providers and the department of health in promoting peacebuilding initiatives using the health to peace mechanisms, the role of peace education in promoting peacebuilding initiatives, and the influence of peace education in the promotion of peacebuilding in conflict-affected areas in mindanao. methodology research design the researcher utilized mixed methods, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research designs. the quantitative method consists of the survey that was conducted to find out the different health care programs delivered, the health as bridge for peace for the roles and responsibilities of the health care providers, and the health to peace mechanisms used by them, and how these contribute to the process of peacebuilding, using an anchor, the six elements of the culture of peace. the key informant interview (kii) and the focus group discussion (fgd) were employed to gather the qualitative data which substantiated and validated the quantitative data. the interview and fgd results come in the form of statements and narratives. participants the participants of the study are the residents of shariff aguak of maguindanao and carmen of north cotabato, who were direct beneficiaries of the programs. both municipalities have barangays that have been constantly hard hit by the armed conflict. only those who were affected by the conflict spanning from 2014 to 2017 were included as part of the n population. the focus group discussion (fgd) was conducted with a cross-section of the direct beneficiaries, the implementers on the ground, such as the barangay health workers (bhws). the local government officials were also invited to participate in the fgd. the 26 jpair multidisciplinary research key informant interview (kii) respondents were the officials of the department of health, particularly the municipal health officers, doctors, nurses, and program coordinators of the rural health unit of both municipalities to supplement responses and elicit problems encountered in the delivery of health care programs. instrumentation the survey questionnaire consisted of four (4) parts. part i consisted of the provision of health care programs of the department of health through the rural health units in conflict-affected areas in mindanao. part ii gathered information about the health as bridge for peace (hbp), which consisted of the roles and responsibilities of healthcare providers in promoting peace in the conflict-affected areas in mindanao. part iii delved on the promotion of peacebuilding initiatives of the health care providers using the health to peace mechanisms. part i, ii and iii utilized the four-point likert scale: (4) 3.504.00 = highly extensive; (3) 2.50-3.49 = moderately extensive; (2) 1.50-2.49 = not extensive; and (1) 1.00-1.49 = no delivery. part iv dealt with the role of peace education in promoting peacebuilding initiatives in the conflict-affected areas in mindanao. it utilized the four-point likert scale: (4) 3.5-4.0 = strongly agree; (3) 2.50-3.49 = agree; (2) 1.50-2.49 = disagree; (1) 1.00-1.49 = strongly disagree. also, a triangulation method of gathering the data was used. the data was gathered through the use of the questionnaire, focus group discussions, and interview of key informants. data gathering procedure an approval letter was submitted to the dean of the graduate school. after obtaining approval from the dean, the researcher asked permission and approval from the department of health xii and the department of health armm for the conduct of the survey to maguindanao and cotabato provinces. once approved, the researcher sought permission from the municipal health officers of shariff aguak and carmen rural health units for the conduct of the survey to the selected residents and fgd to barangay health workers. after this, the researcher personally interviewed the key informants. the proceedings of the interview were recorded to ensure that all information was accurately documented. 27 international peer reviewed journal ethical consideration a consent letter addressed to the participants was attached to the survey questionnaire. all participants were informed that their participation is voluntary. they are assured that their names will not be included in the study and that all data gathered from them will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. informed consent was signed by the participants. statistical analysis upon retrieval of the data, questionnaires were checked as to the completeness of responses. the questionnaires were then coded and group responses to various categories. the mean and multiple regression statistics were utilized. the data are presented in tabular form. the data gathered from the key informants and the fgd participants came in the forms of statements and narratives. they were collated according to the subject matter or themes, analyzed and interpreted as to how they support or negate the findings of the survey. they are written as support to the relevant tables to strengthen, validate, corroborate, or refute the data in the quantitative data. results and discussion part i: extent of the provisions of health care programs this part presents and discusses the extent of provisions of the healthcare programs such as the maternal healthcare, dental healthcare, immunization, family planning, and nutrition program of the department of health, through the local government units (lgus) in conflict-affected areas in mindanao. maternal health care program the participants rated the delivery of all the components of maternal health as “highly extensive” with a grand mean of 3.62. table 1 presents the data. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. mean rating on the extent of the health care programs in terms of maternal health care maternal health care mean description 1. pre and postnatal care of the mother 3.67 highly extensive 2. blood pressure monitoring 3.58 highly extensive 3. weight monitoring 3.60 highly extensive 4. assessment of pregnancy 3.60 highly extensive 5. advice on proper breastfeeding 3.63 highly extensive grand mean 3.62 highly extensive the kiis revealed that the municipal health office gave the utmost support it could afford to give and established all the linkages and partnerships necessary to enable full delivery of services even during difficult times. the narrative account of the informants encompassed the responses of the others, such as the matter on the training, that of the establishment of the linkages, including that with the armed forces of the philippines. the other key informants also mentioned the apprehension regarding the increasing rate of maternal morbidity and infant mortality. the fgds validated the results in the survey and the statements of the key informants. the results of the fgd corroborate the study of padua (2013), who also enumerated the difficulties in the implementation of the doh maternal health care program. transportation difficulty was mentioned in his study. also mentioned are the skilled implementers as a result of pieces of training and the conscientiousness of the health workers willing to go inland to visit far-flung clients. dental health care program for the dental health care program, it shows that the delivery of the program was rated “moderately extensive” with the overall mean of 3.07 and interpreted as “moderately extensive.” table 2 shows the data. 29 international peer reviewed journal table 2. mean rating on the extent of the health care programs in terms of dental health care dental health care mean description 1. dental check-up 3.09 moderately extensive 2. tooth extraction 3.09 moderately extensive 3. tooth cleaning 3.00 moderately extensive 4. tooth filling 2.91 moderately extensive 5. lecture on oral hygiene 3.24 moderately extensive grand mean 3.07 moderately extensive the key informants said that there is a little difficulty experienced in the case of the delivery of dental services. in the fgds, the participants said that the services are done simultaneously; that is why there is a long queue of dental patients. immunization program the immunization program, on the other hand, was rated by participants as “highly extensive” with a grand mean of 3.59. the data are presented in table 3. table 3. mean rating on the extent of the health care programs in terms of immunization immunization mean description 1. immunization of infants below one-year-old 3.64 highly extensive 2. immunization of children 1-5 years old 3.58 highly extensive 3. instruction before and after immunization 3.58 highly extensive 4. administers vaccines free of charge 3.57 highly extensive 5. providing immunization booklet 3.62 highly extensive grand mean 3.59 highly extensive immunization is a regular program of the department of health. what makes the difference now is that the processes have become peaceful, as shared by one of the key informants. the fgd participants said that they are happy that the health care workers are now serious about their work. they really go down the ground and advocate the need for immunization. they all agreed that the health workers had served all the communities. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research family planning program in the areas of the locale, it is surprising that despite the long years of the delivery of health care services for family planning, the respondents still rated it “moderately extensive“ with the grand mean of 3.47 interpreted as “moderately extensive.” the data are presented in table 4. table 4. mean rating on the extent of the health care programs in terms of family planning family planning mean description 1. distribution of contraceptives such as pills and condom free of charge 3.48 moderately extensive 2. individual counseling of couple on family planning 3.50 highly extensive 3. helping couples to determine the desired number of children 3.50 highly extensive 4. sufficient discussion on the pros and cons of family planning 1.44 not extensive 5. coordinates with other lined health agencies for family planning activities 3.45 moderately extensive grand mean 3.47 moderately extensive on the sufficient discussion on the pros and cons of family planning, the fgd participants explained that the discussions were not really sufficient. in the fgd in shariff aguak, there was one participant who said that their clan never subscribe to family planning because it is against the will of allah. the moderator quickly commented that the study focuses only on whether or not the delivery of family planning health care program was extensive. in carmen, the participants said that the family planning implementers deserve an award or commendation. nutrition program i1n the context of the nutrition program, cantallopez (2010) said that displacements in conflict-affected areas could last 4-6 months. she said that there were even families who refuse to go back to their homes. further, cantallopez observed that many children suffer from malnutrition because the food items distributed were usually canned goods and noodles. there has always been a nutrition program implemented in all municipalities of maguindanao and north cotabato, as revealed by the key informants in both shariff aguak and carmen. the survey respondents generally rated the interventions as “highly extensive” 31 international peer reviewed journal with the mean of means is 3.52. all the means do not vary greatly from one another. table 5 shows the results. table 5. mean rating on the extent of the health care programs in terms of nutrition nutrition mean description 1. growth monitoring of children 3.55 highly extensive 2. feeding program for malnourished children 3.47 moderately extensive 3. giving of vitamin a supplementation 3.51 highly extensive 4. teaching community on backyard gardening 3.45 moderately extensive 5. celebrating nutrition month 3.60 highly extensive grand mean 3.52 highly extensive part ii: extent of the health as bridge for peace (hbp): responsibilities of health care providers in promoting peace building in the conflict-affected areas in mindanao the second part of the survey dealt with the health as bridge for peace program, which focuses on the roles and responsibilities of the health care providers. the health as bridge for peace program was designed by the world health organization for conflict-affected countries, including the philippines. in the communities, implementation is done by the department of health. in this study, the respondents are asked to rate the delivery in terms of the various components of the program. the indicators used are the different intervention activities of the program. to achieve the primary goal of health, the humanitarian health action of the world health organization (2018) recognizes the responsibilities of health professionals to create opportunities for peace. these are the following: integrating peacebuilding strategies into health relief and health sector development, developing concepts and strategies, learning lessons from the field experience, improving skills of health personnel, and networking and advocacy. integrating peace building strategy into health relief and health sector development the respondents generally rated them “moderately extensive” in terms of program component delivery, as indicated by the mean of means, which is 3.39. table 6 presents the data. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. mean rating on the extent of the health as bridge for peace (hbp) in terms of integrating peace building strategy into health relief and health sector development integrating peace building strategy into health relief and health sector development mean description 1. implementation of health policies and guidelines 3.41 moderately extensive 2. strengthening the philhealth program 3.51 highly extensive 3. stress debriefing in areas affected by conflict 3.38 moderately extensive 4. reduction of social violence through health programs 3.36 moderately extensive 5. management of conflict through health care programs 3.33 moderately extensive grand mean 3.39 moderately extensive in the interviews with the key informants, it was learned that there was difficulty in doing this activity. firstly, there are only a few experts and legitimate workers. secondly, some people would say that they do not need trauma healing or stress debriefing. they have been used to the cyclical wars. in the fgds, the statements of the participants corroborate those of the kiis, but they added that they think there was still a need to explain to a considerable number of people about the health as bridge for peace program. developing concepts and strategies the concepts and strategies and the skill of developing them in the communities are indeed part of the community peace processes. generally, the respondents rated the health care providers in the context at which they transferred these skills to the community people as “moderately extensive. the mean of means is 3.37. table 7 shows the result. 33 international peer reviewed journal table 7. mean rating on the extent of the health as bridge for peace (hbp) in terms of developing concepts and strategies developing concepts and strategies mean description 1. developing health strategies to reduce human disaster 3.37 moderately extensive 2. conducting strategic health development planning with local leaders 3.38 moderately extensive 3. integrating with its plan of work the reflection on the relations between violence, conflict instability, and public health 3.36 moderately extensive 4. conducting public health awareness to reduce conflict instability 3.36 moderately extensive 5. mainstreaming local health strategies with global strategies for disaster reduction and humanitarian action 3.36 moderately extensive grand mean 3.37 moderately extensive the key informants were asked what this component all about is. they said that these are about peace concepts and strategies the community people could think about as affecting their lives. this is especially useful when doing conflict mapping to find out what peace elements are missing and what strategies could be used to restore them or further develop the communities toward peace and development. some of the key informants revealed that they were not used to being asked to think. they were used to being consulted about something that has been pre-planned and submitted to them for critiquing and approval. learning lessons from the field experiences the experiences in the field are supposedly for enrichment purposes of the health care providers, and expectably, these should flow back to the communities and discuss with them, so they also benefit from the lessons. the respondents generally rated the health care providers as ‘moderately extensive” with the grand mean is 3.33, meaning the health care providers have not really maximized the use of lessons inferred from previous experiences. a summary of the responses is shown in table 8. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research table 8. mean rating on the extent of the health as bridge for peace (hbp) in terms of learning lessons from the field experience learning lessons from the field experience mean description 1. considering conflict as a different scenario from the past 3.30 moderately extensive 2. integrating lessons from different conflict scenarios 3.28 moderately extensive 3. addressing present conflict based on lessons from field experience 3.32 moderately extensive 4. providing adequate health needs to different conflict situations 3.39 moderately extensive 5. documenting field experiences as the basis for health interventions 3.38 moderately extensive grand mean 3.33 moderately extensive two of the participants said that they were able to attend a session where they talked about lessons learned from past experiences of peacebuilding. they added that it was really difficult to draw out ideas from the participants. they said further that there could also be a difficulty with language use because not all of the participants understood maguindanaon and tagalog. improving the skills of health personnel the health personnel whose skills have been developed are now expected to have the capacities of moving people to action, enabling them to understand that for communities to be peaceful, they have to cooperate with the government, such as collaboration with the health care workers for their own advantage. all means except one rate the health care personnel’s capacity to improve the skills of the community people as “moderately extensive.” the highest of all falls on the indicator “exercise of good public health practice,” and which is 3.53. one example of public health practice is the prohibition of throwing garbage anywhere in the community. “moderately extensive” when applied here, means that although there had been attempts, these are not really highly extensive. table 9 shows the means of the rating. 35 international peer reviewed journal table 9. mean rating on the extent of health as bridge for peace (hbp) in terms of improving skills of health personnel improving skills of health personnel mean description 1. training of field health personnel in conflict-prone or affected areas 3.36 moderately extensive 2. exercise good public health practice 3.53 highly extensive 3. seeking out health opportunities for peace building 3.42 moderately extensive 4. integrating new knowledge, attitudes, and practice, in dealing with residents affected by conflicts 3.41 moderately extensive 5. counseling residents affected by armed conflicts 3.37 moderately extensive grand mean 3.42 moderately extensive the key informants said that based on post-conference conducted, the health care personnel experienced some difficulty, especially in the attendance of pieces of training held right in the community. people go to the training venue late because they had to attend to so many concerns. the fgd participants agreed to the observations of the key informants regarding the behavior of training participants, although they said the statement could be a little sweeping. the researcher could attest that in a training seminar conducted only once, extensive learning and development of skills could not be highly expected. generally speaking, the rating is suggesting that the peace situation may be improving. one indicator is that health care services are delivered, and people’s capacities have been developed to a certain extent. networking and advocacy networking and advocacy have become global trends. this is an influence of the united nations (un). this international organization is an epitome of networking and advocacy. un organizations are bringing these to conflict-affected areas. the participants are one in saying that the extent is moderately extensive. the highest of means is 3.46, and this falls on two indicators: “coordinating with other line agencies” and “regularly communicating with local government officials. the grand mean is 3.40. table 10 presents the data. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research table 10. mean rating on the extent of the health as bridge for peace (hbp) in terms of networking and advocacy networking and advocacy mean description 1. involving other organizations, institutions, and individuals of various backgrounds in promoting peace 3.40 moderately extensive 2. coordinating with other lined health agencies in the delivery of health care programs 3.46 moderately extensive 3. conducting health to the peace forum 3.36 moderately extensive 4. advocating peace activities 3.33 moderately extensive 5. communicating constantly with local leaders of the community 3.46 moderately extensive grand mean 3.40 moderately extensive the key informants shared that networking and advocacy are done before programs are implemented. they are indispensable. the agency mandates these. accordingly, these are necessary for shared ownership of the program. a key informant in carmen said that nowadays, local government officials would not allow the implementation of a program without informing and consulting them. the fgd participants said that the rhu does not conduct peace activities as a separate activity. they have focused more on the activities related to health programs implemented and to be implemented. that is why they coordinate with other line agencies. part iii: the extent of use of the health to peace mechanisms the third part of the survey is the extent of use of health to peace mechanisms by the health care providers. a “mechanism” is a stratagem or procedure that is designed to achieve a result. none of the peace building mechanisms is the unique property of health professionals, but each is highly suited to health professionals (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). among its indicators are conflict management, solidarity, strengthening the social fabric, dissent, and restricting the destructiveness of war. conflict management in terms of conflict management, the participants rated it as “moderately extensive” with a grand mean of 3.30. it shows that the indicator of undertaking diplomatic activities got the lowest mean of 3.29, which means that the mechanism is used to a moderate degree. the data are presented in table 11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 37 international peer reviewed journal table 11. mean rating on the health to peace mechanisms in terms of conflict management conflict management mean description 1. undertaking diplomatic activities 3.29 moderately extensive 2. assisting in the facilitation of dialogue 3.31 moderately extensive 3. giving a high level of advocacy in conflict management 3.32 moderately extensive 4. supporting mediation 3.31 moderately extensive 5. conducting training on conflict management through health 3.31 moderately extensive grand mean 3.30 moderately extensive in an interview with the key informants, they said that they advocate peace, but they do diplomatic activities in moderation. they added that when conflict arises, such as arguments within families, the local leaders intervene and manage conflict. at times, the local leaders seek assistance from health officials if the management of high authorities is needed. solidarity in terms of solidarity, the participants rated it as “moderately extensive” with a grand mean of 3.43. table 12 presents the result. table 12. mean rating on the health to peace mechanisms in terms of solidarity solidarity mean description 1. promoting peace and security of communities 3.44 moderately extensive 2. advocating peace and justice 3.42 moderately extensive 3. reporting human rights abuses 3.53 highly extensive 4. linkage with other health sectors 3.33 moderately extensive 5. working with health leaders of the community 3.41 moderately extensive grand mean 3.43 moderately extensive it shows that reporting human rights abuses was rated “highly extensive” with a mean of 3.53. this means that the health care providers report human rights abuses to a great degree. they also have social workers in their unit who are responsible for counseling the victim/s. individuals and groups in threatening situations may be struggling to survive, attempting to restrain an existing war or to prevent a possible war, or resisting abuses of state or rebel groups’ power. linkages with health sector 38 jpair multidisciplinary research groups outside the conflict area may provide much-needed resources, including knowledge. strengthening the social fabric in terms of strengthening the social fabric, the participants rated it as “moderately extensive” with a grand mean of 3.48. respecting people of different ethnicity and health care system being accessible to all members of the community were rated “highly extensive” with a mean of 3.52. table 13 shows the data. table 13. mean rating on the health to peace mechanisms in terms of strengthening the social fabric strengthening the social fabric mean description 1. healthcare system is accessible to all members of the community 3.52 highly extensive 2. promoting feelings of security and belongingness to the community 3.45 moderately extensive 3. respecting people of different ethnicity 3.52 highly extensive 4. meeting the common needs of the community 3.43 moderately extensive 5. providing better interactions between members of the community 3.48 moderately extensive grand mean 3.48 moderately extensive during the fgd with the bhws, they said that all programs in the rhu are always available and accessible to the community. those residents in the farflung communities are visited by them, to ensure that everyone can avail of the health services. according to who, there is a need to deliver health in conflict situations because health can be a neutral meeting point to bring conflicting parties to discuss mutually beneficial interventions. health workers are ideally placed because of their professional and ethical position within the community (http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/hbp/about_why/en/). restricting the destructiveness of war in terms of restricting the destructiveness of war, the participants rated it as moderately extensive” with a grand mean of 3.30. data are presented in table 14. http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/hbp/about_why/en/ 39 international peer reviewed journal table 14. mean rating on the health to peace mechanisms in terms of restricting the destructiveness of war restricting the destructiveness of war mean description 1. educating the community on the effects of armed conflict 3.39 moderately extensive 2. advocating peaceful activities to restrict conflict 3.41 moderately extensive 3. addressing the health care needs of the community 3.50 highly extensive 4. supporting peaceful negotiations 3.39 moderately extensive 5. encouraging armed groups to avail of health care programs 3.33 moderately extensive grand mean 3.40 moderately extensive the barangay health workers (bhws) during the fgd, explained, that sometimes they have difficulty penetrating the areas affected by conflict. for their safety, they coordinate with the military and local leaders prior to penetrating the area. a key informant reiterated that their responsibilities as health care providers do not focus on restricting the conflict. but, they added, that health can be an instrument to restrict the culture of war. it is evident also in the result that encouraging armed groups to avail of health care programs, advocating peaceful activities, supporting peaceful negotiations, and educating the community on the effects of armed conflict as mechanisms or strategies to restrict war, is done in a moderate degree. there is a risk in such efforts since legal restrictions on war are always interpreted in some quarters as evidence that war is a civilized, professional activity that can be waged in rule-based and even humane ways. but for people committed to diminishing or abolishing war, gradual suffocation through graduated restriction is one possible route. controlling dissent in controlling dissent, the participants rated it as “moderately extensive” with a grand mean of 3.36. it shows that the health care providers used strategies to control dissent to a moderate degree. table 15 shows the result. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research table 15. mean rating on the health to peace mechanisms in terms of controlling dissent controlling dissent mean description 1. redefining conflict as a public health problem rather than a strictly political problem 3.32 moderately extensive 2. giving awareness of the health effects of armed conflict 3.34 moderately extensive 3. asking the opinions and needs of the people for health relief 3.31 moderately extensive 4. respecting the suggestions of community leaders in addressing health problems 3.43 moderately extensive 5. involving the community in making health decisions 3.38 moderately extensive grand mean 3.36 moderately extensive these mechanisms or strategies are redefining conflict as a public health problem rather than a strictly political problem, giving awareness to the health effects of armed conflict, asking opinions and needs of the people for health relief, respecting the suggestions of community leaders in addressing health problems, and involving the community in making health decisions. at the community level, the rhu coordinates with the community leaders and conduct a meeting with them, to ask for their suggestions in addressing health problems in their respective areas. in an article by the who, it is said that such dissent may be furthered by “redefinition of the situation” by dissenting parties. by redefining the situation, parties attempt to gain control over issues that have been defined by those with formal political power as “none of their business” or “outside their field of expertise.” healthcare workers have, at times, been successful in redefining war as a public health problem rather than a strictly political problem, thereby creating a space for the exercise of their knowledge and opinion. given their generally high legitimacy with the public, they have, in this way, being able to exercise considerable influence. part iv: role of peace education in the promotion of peacebuilding initiatives in conflict-affected areas in mindanao part four of the survey is on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in conflict-affected areas in mindanao in terms of cultivating inner peace, dismantling the culture of war, compassion, and social justice, 41 international peer reviewed journal building cultural respect, solidarity, and reconciliation, promoting human rights and responsibilities, and living in harmony with the earth. cultivating inner peace the participants rated as “strongly agree” with a grand mean of 3.61. table 16 presents the result. table 16. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of cultivating inner peace cultivating inner peace mean description 1. health check-up makes people feel good 3.63 strongly agree 2. health service removes fear and worries 3.56 strongly agree 3. health care programs bring peace of mind 3.61 strongly agree 4. to be healthy in the body is to be healthy in mind 3.62 strongly agree 5. good health enhances inner peace 3.65 strongly agree grand mean 3.61 strongly agree cultivating inner peace is about finding harmony between inner and outer well-being so that one can appreciate life and the world. inner peace begins with being at peace with self and others (https://www.seeds oftheheart.com/). according to a key informant, they see to it that that the health team conducts barangay visits and render health care services to them because most of the residents cannot afford to go to health centers and rhu since it is too far from their area. cultivating inner peace not only means looking inwards and definitely not in a self-centered way. it means strengthening one’s inner resources of faith, love, and hope; one’s personal vision and capacities so that he/she can use these in building outer peace (navarro-castro & nario-galace, 2010). dismantling the culture of war the respondents gave their agreement or disagreement as to the role of peace education in attaining the goal of dismantling the culture of war through the health care initiatives. the data are presented in table 17. https://www.seeds http://oftheheart.com/ 42 jpair multidisciplinary research table 17. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of dismantling the culture of war dismantling the culture of war mean description 1. promoting attitudes and values of non-violence will dismantle the culture of war 3.51 strongly agree 2. promotion of health is promoting the culture of peace 3.52 strongly agree 3. healthy community leads to a peaceful community 3.58 strongly agree 4. participation in healthy activities will help dismantle the culture of war 3.48 agree 5. overcoming the problem of physical violence in schools will help dismantle the culture of war 3.55 strongly agree grand mean 3.53 strongly agree dismantling the culture of war creates a culture of peace, where all citizens need to be carefully taught throughout their lives to respect the dignity of others, to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to live together in peace and harmony (https://www.questia.com). a culture of peace is intimately linked with a culture of human rights and democracy. peace cannot be preserved if the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups are violated, and when discrimination and exclusion generate conflict. it shows that the respondents generally “strongly agree” to all indicators suggested. the grand mean, which is 3.53, still is to be interpreted that they strongly agree that peace education has a big role in dismantling the culture of war through the peace-oriented peacebuilding initiatives. the key informants revealed that all they do is to hope that the sufficient, efficient, and fast delivery of the health services could lessen their vulnerability to the recruitment of the armed groups. however, they said the pursuit of peace through the delivery of basic services is not that easy, given that the mindanao conflict is a protracted one. their hope is for people to realize that the government is now doing everything to deliver the basic services they deserve and that eventually, people stop resorting to war. compassion and social justice this study also seeks to find out the role of peace education in peacebuilding initiatives along with compassion and social justice. there were five indicators suggested in the survey questionnaire. the respondents strongly agree that peace education has performed a role in the peacebuilding initiatives along the line of compassion and social justice. the result is shown in table 18. https://www.questia.com 43 international peer reviewed journal table 18. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of living with justice and compassion living with justice and compassion mean description 1. meeting the basic health needs of people is done with justice and compassion 3.56 strongly agree 2. helping people in need is an act of compassion 3.59 strongly agree 3. building relationships is based on values, dignity, and freedom 3.61 strongly agree 4. valuing health is valuing peace 3.60 strongly agree 5. health service is serving with justice 3.63 strongly agree grand mean 3.60 strongly agree it shows that all means point out a strong agreement that peace education specifically on living with compassion and social justice performs its role in the promotion of peacebuilding in both shariff aguak and carmen. indeed, it is the role of peace education to raise the social consciousness of the people regarding the dividends of good governance. but governance is ruined by corruption, and this is the reason why people go to war. their experience tells them that there is no other but to fight. however, there is now a quandary of “compassion for whom” and “justice for whom,” as expressed by the workers on the ground. one of the key informants said that their field of work is very crucial. when they go to the conflict-affected areas, their safety is at stake. he personally realized that there is no justice served for them. as health workers, they could be caught in the crossfire anytime. building cultural respect, solidarity and reconciliation the respondents also gave their agreement or disagreement as to the role of peace education in building cultural respect, solidarity, and reconciliation through the health care initiatives. table 19 shows the data. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research table 19. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of building cultural respect, solidarity and reconciliation building cultural respect, solidarity and reconciliation mean description 1. understanding conflicts between peoples of different cultures will lead to peace 3.57 strongly agree 2. promoting values, attitudes, and social-cultural policies through health education will lead to peaceful negotiation 3.59 strongly agree 3. delivering health services regardless of culture and ethnicity leads to mutual respect 3.61 strongly agree 4. being culturally sensitive in the promotion of health will lead to peace 3.61 strongly agree 5. respecting health beliefs of different cultural groups will lead to respect and understanding 3.63 strongly agree grand mean 3.60 strongly agree it shows that all means point out a strong agreement that peace education specifically on building cultural respect, solidarity, and reconciliation performs its role in the promotion of peacebuilding in both shariff aguak and carmen. in an interview with the key informant, he said that in their area, cultural respect is very important since the municipality is composed of different ethnicity, tribes, and culture. in building cultural respect, solidarity, and reconciliation, the focus lies on helping learners to critically understand conflicts between peoples of different cultures and ethnic/racial identities. in building a culture of peace in multicultural contexts, there is clearly a need to promote values, attitudes, and social-cultural policies based on mutual respect, understanding, non-discrimination, and nonracism. promoting human rights and responsibilities in promoting human rights and responsibilities through the health care initiatives, it shows that all means point out a strong agreement that peace education specifically on promoting human rights and responsibilities performs its role in the promotion of peacebuilding in both shariff aguak and carmen. table 20 shows the data. 45 international peer reviewed journal table 20. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of promoting human rights and responsibilities promoting human rights and responsibilities mean description 1. health care programs improve the lives of people 3.64 strongly agree 2. access to health services is a right 3.68 strongly agree 3. everyone is responsible for his/her own health 3.67 strongly agree 4. every person has the right to a healthy environment 3.68 strongly agree 5. to be healthy is a human right 3.66 strongly agree grand mean 3.67 strongly agree health is a right of every people in the community, according to bhws during the fgd. when they conduct health education in their respective barangays, they always emphasize to the residents that it is their right to avail of the health services of the government. their health services are free of charge. some of the residents, especially in the far-flung areas, are hesitant to go to the health centers because they thought that they would pay the service, and they have no money to pay for it, according to some bhws. that is why they always emphasize during mothers’ class and health education that the services that they can avail in the health centers are free. the building of a culture of peace in all societies cannot overlook the fulfillment of the full spectrum of human rights (civil, political, economic, social, or cultural) as embodied in the universal declaration on human rights. all persons deserve to live and to be treated as human beings, each with inalienable rights, and human rights, policies, laws, and education need to be promoted and defended at the individual, community, national, and international levels (who, 2015). living in harmony with the earth in living in harmony with the earth through the health care initiatives, it shows that all means point out a strong agreement that peace education specifically on living in harmony with the earth performs its role in the promotion of peacebuilding in both shariff aguak and carmen. table 21 shows the data. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research table 21. mean rating on the role of peace education in promoting peace building initiatives in terms of living in harmony with the earth living in harmony with the earth mean description 1. a clean environment is a healthy and peaceful environment 3.69 strongly agree 2. conserving water is living in harmony with nature 3.68 strongly agree 3. health care programs promote care of the environment 3.69 strongly agree 4. public health problems will also threaten our environment 3.62 strongly agree 5. potable water provides a healthy life 3.73 strongly agree grand mean 3.68 strongly agree in an interview with key informants, one of the programs implemented by the doh for environmental sanitation is the zero open defecation (zod). the objective of this program is to encourage the community to build and construct their own comfort room. this program was implemented because most of the residents, based on their records, have no comfort rooms. they defecate anywhere. this is one way of promoting a healthy environment in the community, she said. to do this, the bhws educate the community of utilizing their own resources in constructing their comfort rooms, such as parts of the coconut. the government does not dole out supplies for their construction. this way, they will learn to protect the environment and will promote cleanliness starting from their homes. hence, living in harmony with the earth directly focuses on environmental sustainability. summary of peace building initiatives peacebuilding does not only apply to post-conflict situations, although it may attract a greater level of attention. it encompasses a wide array of functions and responsibilities of many sectors that will initiate peacebuilding and establish sustainable long term peace (www.peacebuildinginitiative.org). table 22. summary of mean rating on the peace building initiatives peacebuilding initiatives mean description 1. health care programs 3.45 moderately extensive 2. health as bridge for peace 3.38 moderately extensive 3. health to peace mechanisms 3.39 moderately extensive overall mean 3.41 moderately extensive http://www.peacebuildinginitiative.org 47 international peer reviewed journal it shows that the three peacebuilding initiatives, namely the health care programs, health as a bridge for peace and the health to peace mechanisms, were rated “moderately extensive.” the health care services have obviously been delivered well, but there is still a need for improvement in terms of intensifying the programs, especially in the areas hardest hit by armed conflicts. the roles and responsibilities of health care providers as part of the health as a bridge for peace programs should be strengthened, and the use of health to peace mechanisms still needs to be intensified. in this sense, peacebuilding initiatives need to have an appropriate evaluation for improving and legitimizing peace efforts. culbertson (2018), in his article “the evaluation of peacebuilding initiatives,” states that evaluation that does not sufficiently assess how initiatives can and do contribute to broader peacebuilding efforts are losing valuable learning opportunities. similarly, the field needs assessment tools that consider the role of emergent planning, particularly given the volatile and dynamic environments in which peacebuilding occurs (culbertson, 2018). in order to get an in-depth analysis, standard multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well a set of predictors predicted the peace education. the predictors were health care programs, health as a bridge for peace, and health to peace mechanisms. the linear combination of health to peace mechanisms, health care programs, and health as a bridge for peace was significantly related to peace education, f(3,246) = 76.919, p=.000 at 0.05 alpha level. given an r-squared of .484, this means that there is a probability of 48% that the results can be predicted from the regression analysis. the health to peace mechanisms, health care programs, and health as a bridge for peace are contributing significantly to the dependent variable, which is peace education. based on the coefficient result, two of the independent variables are making a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of peace education. health to peace mechanisms (beta = .382, p = .000 at 0.05 alpha level) make the strongest contribution to peace education. the next is health care programs (beta = .263, p = 0.000 at 0.05 alpha level). however, health as a bridge for peace factor makes no significant contribution (p = .292) to peace education. so, the multiple regression results suggest that the health to peace mechanisms and health care programs strongly influence peace education. conclusions the study concludes that the health care programs of the department of health have been delivered well, although there is still a need for improvement 48 jpair multidisciplinary research in terms of the performance of the roles and responsibilities of the health care providers. the use of peace mechanisms still needs to be intensified. in addition, peace education has influenced the delivery of health care programs, but only to a moderate extent. thus, there is also a need for intensification along this line. the health as bridge for peace does not have a significant influence on peace education probably because the components do not jive with the elements of a culture of peace used as the basis for peace education. there is a need to reexamine the component parts of the program if only to align it to peacebuilding initiatives through the delivery of health care programs. generally, there are successes of these doh programs. there are no failures. however, there is a need to reexamine and rethink some aspects. translational research the findings of the study may provide information and share insights that are crucial in the building of sustainable peace in the conflict-affected areas, through the delivery of health care programs and the implementation of peacerelated health programs by the department of health. this is an illustration of how the development of peace could gain momentum without resorting to armed struggle and how peace could be developed through non-conventional, but still deliberate strategies of gaining sustainable peace. further, the study may be an eye-opener to the peace stakeholders including other government agencies such as the department of interior and local government, the department of social services and development and the office of the presidential assistant on the peace process that by the mere conscientious implementation of government or non-government programs, peacebuilding is already underway. furthermore, the study may be of significance to the world health organization as this could show how the health as bridge for peace is implemented at the community level and how this affects the delivery of other health care programs and vice-versa. to those who engage in the armed struggle, this study demonstrates one of the so many ways by which sufficient and efficient delivery of social services could be asserted. thus, this may inform and eventually lessen the level of dissent and therefore contribute to the dismantling of the culture of war to cure structural violence. the peace and development students may use this study as one of the pieces of evidence in the establishment of the close link between health and peace and not simply saying that healthy people make happy communities. finally, this study is expected to contribute to the general bank of knowledge of health and peace. currently, there is still a dearth of knowledge in this area. 49 international peer reviewed journal literature cited cantallopez, e. (2010). armed conflicts defacing and reshaping communities: the case of aleosan, north cotabato.  unpublished doctoral dissertation. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2ou8osn culbertson, h. (2018). the evaluation of peacebuilding initiatives. strategies of peace, 65. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mkk67a navarro-castro, l., & nario-galace, j. (2010).  peace education: a pathway to the culture of peace. center for peace education, miriam college. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2otythx padua, alfredo d. (2013). the implementation of the maternal health care program of the department of health seen through the p.e.a.c.e. paradigm. dissertation, graduate school, 2013. peace insight (2015). philippines: conflict profile. published by peace direct. retrieved from https://www.peaceinsight.org/conflicts/philippines/ rushton, s., & youde, j. (eds.). (2014).  routledge handbook of global health security. routledge. retrieved from http://bit.ly/31fzwzs sumagayan, s. m. (2018). division of lanao del sur 1, deped-armm: its vital role in peacebuilding and reconciliation in the post-conflict settings.  jpair multidisciplinary research,  31(1). retrieved from doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.569/ tilford, s. (2018). health promotion and peace. international journal of health promotion and education, 56(3), 176-178. retrieved from https://doi.org/1 0.1080/14635240.2018.1451029/ toh, swee-hin, and cawagas, virginia (2017). three decades of peace education in the philippines: stories of hope and challenges. center for peace education, miriam college & world council for curriculum and instruction, philippines chapter. retrieved from https://www.mc.edu.ph/portals/8/ resources/3-decades-of-peace-education.pdf http://bit.ly/2ou8osn http://bit.ly/2mkk67a http://bit.ly/2otythx https://www.peaceinsight.org/conflicts/philippines/ http://bit.ly/31fzwzs https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.569/ https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2018.1451029/ https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2018.1451029/ https://www.mc.edu.ph/portals/8/resources/3-decades-of-peace-education.pdf https://www.mc.edu.ph/portals/8/resources/3-decades-of-peace-education.pdf 51 international peer reviewed journal covid-19 pandemic and performance: empirical study of integrated remote site management services in dubai, united arab emirates senaj avdic http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3795-7482 avdicsenaj@outlook.com catholic university of murcia, ucam spain hosam azat elsaman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-8052 hossamezzat101@gmail.com catholic university of murcia, ucam spain liza gernal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6451-8066 liza.g@westford.org.uk westford university college united arab emirates originality: 100% • grammar check: 97% • plagiarism: 0% abstract generally and in the uae, businesses worldwide are particularly affected by the covid-19 pandemic. the sme companies in dubai uae faced a very tough challenge to deal with the new circumstances of lockdown and curfews in running the international business. the purpose of the current study was to vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.446 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:avdicsenaj@outlook.com mailto:hossamezzat101@gmail.com mailto:liza.g@westford.org.uk 52 jpair multidisciplinary research analyze the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on business performance. the theoretical frameworks for this study are process theory of internationalization (pti), uppsala-model (the u-model), and internalization theories and the link with ib theories applications nowadays. the quantitative study applied a nonexperimental, deductive approach and explanatory correlation design, and snowball sampling was used to select stakeholders of integrated remote site management (irsm) services in dubai, uae. data was collected at a single phase using a cross-sectional survey instrument and analyzed using inferential statistics with the aid of spss. the survey results revealed that the covid-19 pandemic did not significantly change the efficiency performance of the irsm stakeholders. stakeholders’ confidence in their strategic leaders did not decrease while working under the constraints of the covid-19 pandemic. the study did not account for any changes in employee or leaders’ behavior over time. this empirical study findings add value to the limited literature on the correlation between the covid-19 pandemic and the strategic leadership of international businesses. the paper’s practical implications would be further study on strategic leadership in ib and efficiency performances during global pandemics. keywords — business management, remote site management services nonexperimental, deductive approach, explanatory correlation design, uae introduction ‘‘only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. when that crisis occurs, the actions taken depend on the ideas lying around’’ (friedman, 1982). the specific aims were to analyze the extent to which international business (ib) stakeholders were prepared to work under stress, constraints, and uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic; to determine the extent managers and leaders of ib efficiently navigate during uncertainty, and to evaluate the confidence of ib strategic leaders of irsm during and after covid-19 pandemic. ibs have always been coupled with a certain degree of risk and uncertainty as it compels former domestic firms to abandon their secure market zones in search of new and greener pastures in overseas markets (sharma, leung, kingshott, davcik, & cardinali, 2020) while risk is typically described as erratic but probable and to a certain degree measurable occurrence or circumstance connected with the internationalization of business that might harm the organization (i.e., national, 53 international peer reviewed journal political, cultural, and foreign exchange risks). uncertainty, in the context of ib is subjective and denotes a complete lack of knowledge about anticipations of future events that may affect the firm (eduardsen & marinova, 2020; sharma et al., 2020). covid-19, as a global health and economic pandemic, falls into an uncertain and unprecedented crisis category, novel to modern human history, affecting economic standards and social norms, sparing no country of its effect for the last twenty months. strategic leaders of ibs have encountered new and extraordinary challenges to mitigate and manage the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the business performance and underlying strategies in line with the global reputation economy (caligiuri, de cieri, minbaeva, verbeke, & zimmermann, 2020). both developed and developing economies are experiencing the worst economic recession since the great depression, emphasizing significant disruptions in countries particularly reliant on travel, f&b, tourism, logistics, and entertainment (gopinath, 2020). the covid 19 pandemic has altered people’s lifestyles, businesses, and communication. limitations caused  by quarantine, social distance, and lockdowns forced ibs to evolve to keep pace with the criteria of the new normal in the digital and low-touch economy (iza, 2021). besides the global gdp decline, societal and generational division is more significant than ever, resulting in social concerns and behavioral conflicts at all levels of society. the modern ib organizations emerged after the global crisis caused by world war ii. since then, ib strategy has been developed on the foundation of four concepts, as stated by verbeke and yuan (2021): “the firm-specific advantages (fsas), country-specific advantages (csas), benefits of subsidiary integration, and a requisite tradeoff between international and product diversification.” for several decades, strategic management was absent from the fsas and only in 2015 that a wider perspective of fsas advocates for management quality as one of the fundamental components, as argued by aharoni (2015, as cited in verbeke & yuan, 2021). furthermore, verbeke and yuan (2021) suggest that mitigation of the covid-19 pandemic requires a broader fsas definition regarding management quality. the argument is that ib governance should not be limited to the top management only (i.e., ceos, cfo’s, gms) but also inclusive of the board of directors. moreover, the acquisition, preparation, and retention of key staff, including top management and the board of directors, are critical to the firm’s growth (casson, 2018). however, this area of study has often been separated from conventional ib studies and treated as multinational human resource management. furthermore, 54 jpair multidisciplinary research it is often overlooked that many major decisions in a company are made by individuals (entrepreneurs) who excel in making critical decisions that require the investment of vast resources under circumstances of considerable uncertainty. people are important not just because a company’s policies affect many people, including consumers, vendors, shareholders, and workers (casson, 2018). the overreaching research question asked, “to what extent is there a relationship between the covid-19 pandemic and the work efficiency of the ib stakeholders, including the level of trust they have given to their top management to mitigate uncertainty successfully.” the research was designed to comprehensively investigate the ib academic theory on the role of strategic leadership as a foundation for the hypotheses development and apply the quantitative method to discover whether the relationship with the impact of covid-19 was statistically significant. the research problem investigated was the performance of ib stakeholders, emphasizing the level of confidence entrusted to the ib strategic leaders. the focus is on the ib stakeholders from integrated remote site management services (irms) in dubai, uae, and their response to the vicissitudes of the macroeconomy. academic literature on strategic leaders and internationalization has been scarce. despite the fact that much has been written about leadership over the years, we have only recently started to focus on strategic leadership at the top of corporations (hitt, keats, & yücel, 2003). this field has yet to be closely investigated in the context of our technologically advanced economies and the fact that the pandemic crisis is not yet over. therefore, this current study aims to fill this gap in the literature by addressing the strategic leadership of ibs. objectives of the study the study aimed to address the following objectives, (1) to analyze changes in ib integrated remote site management service efficiency during the covid 19 pandemic in dubai, united arab emirates, and (2) to evaluate the level of confidence of ib strategic leaders of integrated remote site management services during the pandemic in dubai, united arab emirates. framework international business: research and theories international business (ib) as an academic discipline has been practiced worldwide for decades. the academic interest in ib arose after the global crisis 55 international peer reviewed journal of the second world war, primarily in the usa, as large, mature, powerful multinational companies (mnc) expanded their involvement in rebuilding the european economy and restructuring efforts (roberts & dörrenbächer, 2012). theories related to ib were developed because orthodox neoclassical theories were unsuccessful in interpreting unexpected mnc growth in the post-1945 era (rugman, verbeke, nguyen, 2011). value of us foreign direct investment (fdi) increased sharply from $11.8bilion to $78.1billion (ajami & goddard, 2014). corollary, ibs had become involved more than ever before in the complexity of cross-border economic transactions involving currency, political risk, the interchange of position, and ownership in a global production system (casson, 2018). moreover, ibs had to engage in international cultural settings different from their own. they had to deal with international development variations, social values, trust, and ethics. consequently, research in the ib field by its nature espoused an interdisciplinary approach and, as such, became engaging and academically significant vis-à-vis other disciplines. major topics of ib research have been focusing on trading blocs and international institutions (casson, 2018), hence dominated by managerial issues of investing abroad, flows of fdi, and manufacturing productivity (roberts & dörrenbächer, 2012). casson (2018) argues that the most prominent contributor to the emerging ib theory and strategy research was john dunning, who noticed higher productivity in the companies operating in the usa in comparison to their uk counterparts. it led to the creation of famous advantage terms, namely ownership advantages and location advantages. the third advantage to become part of the well-known eclectic paradigm dunning formulated was the internationalization advantage hence finalizing the three oli factors: ownership, location, and internalization (ferreira, pinto, serra, & filipe, 2011) the significance of the eclectic paradigm in ib theory rests in the formulated model, which explains why mncs exist, why mncs desire to manufacture overseas using oli criteria, and why mncs are more efficient in host countries than domestic companies (casson, 2018). therefore, the essence and foundation of ibs early frameworks guided mncs to use their competitive advantages and utilize their investment to engage in international business activity. subsequently, it was assumed that internationalization is unsuitable for smes or any other business establishment which was not mnc). the smes lacked the necessary resources to achieve competitive advantage for such ventures, hence perceived more like a threat than an opportunity. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research evolution of strategic leadership in ib theories dunning and his contemporaries excluded non-mncs from the ib domain and also failed to include and investigate the role of strategic leadership and senior managers (entrepreneurs) in the process of decision-making on internationalization. situations confronting the firm were considered the primary determinants of management practices and corporate consequences in the 1960s and early 1970s. managers were thought to have no power to make decisions that would impact the firm’s success compared to factors in the firm’s external climate (al–aali & teece, 2014). nevertheless, the development aspect of internationalization continues to be a subject of detailed studies (casson, 2018) argues that those studies are still assuming that internationalization should be built on economies of scale and huge mncs. the most prominent model, process theory of internationalization (pti), called the uppsala model (the u-model), initially was developed by johanson and wiedersheim-paul in 1975 and complemented the model was a continuation of hymers’s analytical approach of firm-specific advantages (fsa), (rugman, verbeke, & yuan, 2011) adopting longitudinal research approach of nordic companies, containing four different and gradual stages of corporate internationalization: fsas can be maneuvered via direct export or agencies, as well as employ fdi into wholly-owned subsidiaries or international joint. figure 1. process model of internationalization (laine & kock, 2000). the significance of pti for ib leadership scope of the study is not only an intelligent way to analyze mncs entry mode selection, but it also puts a greater focus on mncs network thinking, strategic management process challenges, and the roles of parent company managers (autio, 2018; rugman, & verbeke, (2004) consequently, as rugman et al. (2011) suggest, the role of international subsidiaries emerged as the next primary focus of many ib authors, and the most prominent place belongs to bartlett and ghoshal (1986), authors of the book ‘managing across borders: the transnational solution.’ their work was characterized as the brand-new area of international strategic management, and rugman et al. (2011, p. 758) stated: “therefore, it has been argued that an mne national subsidiary facing a specific external environment with unique 57 international peer reviewed journal challenges, and commanding an idiosyncratic set of competencies, should be managed differently from other national subsidiaries.” according to chhotray, sivertsson & tell (2018), managerial tasks in all types of organizations are quite similar; nevertheless, it appears that ib executives have mainly entrepreneurial attitude, greater dependency on the working team members, and higher risk tolerance in order to be competitive at the international markets. stojadinović-jovanović, krstić & marković (2020) argue that managing international business operations regularly is more complex than managing business operations within national borders because changes in business circumstances and environments, particularly those associated with recessions and crises, make it more complicated, hazardous, and uncertain. impact of globalization on ib theories worldwide economy and globalization have had a key impact on ib agenda since the 1980s, and the views on corporate competitiveness became accentuated (buckley & casson, 1998; rugman & verbeke, 2004). the more blatant stance of national governments concerning contending in a global economy resulted in an emphasis on competitiveness and the expansion into new markets of the former socialist countries. buckley (2002) argues that more systematic models of global strategy were required to replace the irregular, add-hoc, externally oriented approaches to international strategic planning (isp). the author further argues that the numerous ways of doing ib, in particular, strategic alliances and international joint ventures (jv), had to be apprehended by an all-inclusive theoretical approach. subsequently, that era was marked by extensive ‘transition’ studies of socialists nations’ integration into global capitalism (mcdougall & oviatt, 1991). moreover, numerous western entrepreneurs were engaged in knowledge transfer (western expertise and economic savoir-faire) to eastern europe and other emerging markets, utilizing even popular business press to write about entrepreneurial experiences in the usa (mcdougall & oviatt, 1991). corollary, ibs fsas amalgamated managerial expertise as an exclusive advantage of ib in emerging markets, as adarkwah & malonaes (2020) pointed out. the scholars stated, “to cope with competition in uncertain and constantly changing environments; there should be easy access to cheaper capital; a stronger commitment to networks, such as those with diaspora communities; and political connections.” hence, potential operational and financial risks associated with globalization were identified, anticipated, and to a certain degree measured. however, the 58 jpair multidisciplinary research broader influence and impact of unprecedented situations such as the covid-19 pandemic remain uncertain (sharma et al., 2020) progression of ib strategic leadership along with technological innovations, network relationship, and knowledge resources the entrepreneurial leadership qualities were further embedded into the ib field by jones and coviello (2005) with a dynamic model based on ‘cyclical behavior’ in which internationalization is viewed as a temporal entrepreneurial performance. therefore, a company’s success would be influenced by the entrepreneur’s and firm’s internationalization activity over time, moderated by the environment (zolfaghari, rialp, & nowiński, 2013). casson (2018) suggests that the acquisition, preparation, and retention of key staff are critical to the firm’s growth. nonetheless, this level of study is often separated from conventional ib studies and treated as multinational human resource management. furthermore, though often overlooked, many major decisions in a company are made by individuals (entrepreneurs) who excel in making critical decisions that require the investment of vast resources under circumstances of considerable uncertainty. people are important not just because a company’s policies affect many people, including consumers, vendors, shareholders, and workers. strategic ib leadership during a crisis the recognition of managerial and leadership roles in ibs gained its momentum in early 2000, and coincidently, during the same period, numerous business crises (caused by political, health, natural disasters) have occurred, including major ones such as the bomb blast on september 11, 2004, boxing day tsunami in indonesia and 2009 global financial crisis. unlike covid-19, all these crises were limited to individual organizations, restricted geographical locations, or a single industry. the pandemic phenomenon experienced, primarily as a health crisis, has become a global threat to the economy and business people are accustomed to. both developed and developing economies are experiencing the worst economic recession since the great depression, causing significant disruptions in countries reliant on travel, hospitality, tourism, and entertainment (gopinath, 2020). according to waters (2013), scholars disagree about the leadership concept definition as it has different meanings to different people resulting in over 65 theories in the past 50 years. gandolfi and stone (2016) argue that very little attention had been given to more comprehensive analytical 59 international peer reviewed journal studies of leadership practices during those critical times. day, fleenor, atwater, sturm, & mckee (2014) argue that leadership is a subject that is a concern to all businesses. nevertheless, how to build leaders and leadership as quickly and efficiently as possible affects them the most, not whatever leadership philosophy or paradigm is “correct” (which can never be determined definitively). as a result, this is a vital area of academic study and practice, with many unresolved (and still unknown) questions to be addressed. however, even if academics were more involved in such discourse, nobody would have an opportunity to study circumstances of such magnitude. the covid 19 pandemic has been a threat for almost eighteen months, and according to all forecasts, the economic recovery to return to the pre-pandemic state will take more than three years. in a survey by culturewizard (2018) interviewed 1620 employees, both team leaders and team members, from 90 different countries about their experiences of working on global virtual teams in multinational companies. the results showed that team members are valuable team components and essential for virtual team success. however, only 22% of the respondents were trained to do their work in their geographically distributed teams, and 90% of them had team members from two or more different cultures. team leaders’ responses indicated that only 20% were trained to lead from a distance, while only 15% described themselves as effective. many ibs had to change their business strategies instantly to stay alive. with social distancing and the inability to work from offices, the first decisions were to enable and manage their employees while working from home. this abrupt change created new challenges of distance working for leading ib teams. hence, managers have had to decide on many important strategic issues over a brief period; who should stay in the office and work from home?; organizational priorities, and how to communicate those priorities to employees in the best possible way? (caligiuri et al., 2020). in a world of globalization supported by fast, innovative technological progressions and progressively adaptable work courses of action, current workplaces are like never, described as virtual teams grouped toward a shared objective and whose communication is based on electronic media (handke, klonek, parker, & kauffeld, 2020) according to the euromonitor international voice of industry research (2020), the covid-19 has initiated tremendous demand for digital tools to increase corporate sustainability and lessen the impact of the pandemic. across five different industries covered by the research, on average, 70% of surveyed companies are planning to have long-term work60 jpair multidisciplinary research from-home strategies and consequently, more investments are allocated to digital solutions (emi, 2020). jacques (2010) argues that nothing can harm an organization’s status, standing, and financial stability more quickly and profoundly than the effect of a significant crisis. however, numerous organizations tend to designate leadership duty to the middle managers while the executives progressively monitor at the leadership table. according to ernst & young’s (2019) global survey of 500 board members and ceo’s only 20% of respondents believed that their organizations could ensure a quality response to a large crisis. shortly after the spread of the covid-19 pandemic, 80% of respondents were justifiably particularly concerned regarding the financial resilience of their organizations, reliability of supply chain management and human talent concerns. the findings portrayed disturbance in social relationships by which business organizations are defined. their accomplishments depend on successful collaborations between leaders and followers at every managerial level. better social relationships within the organization will undoubtedly result in better outcomes. therefore, the effectiveness of leaders is a function of organizational success and input are the determinant of organizational effectiveness (sanders & davey, 2011). in search of the leadership model and theory for the answers and guidance on practices during the crisis experienced today, the literature review presented various categories and subcategories. the rationale of leaders’ role to motivate followers to participate in achieving organizational activities willingly is sufficiently described in existing theories and models such as autocratic, democratic, charismatic, transactional, transformational, and others. however, the theories or models emphasized the need for followers to serve the leader without addressing the importance of collective work and leadership roles as an attitude of service to followers (caligiuri et al., 2020 the leadership function of management in ib has been the subject of numerous studies. the current emphasis is on developing emotional intelligence, empathy, a positive attitude to life, and diversity as key factors for leaders to create a nurturing workplace (pinos, twigg, parayitam, & olson, 2013) the challenge for organizations is to provide holistic individuals who will consciously collaborate in the decision-making processes during or after the covid 19 pandemic. it is attested for organizations to accept the change in the economic environment and turn around, so this global threat is converted into an opportunity to create better leaders for tomorrow. 61 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study adopted a quantitative research approach as the most accurate research method to understand the nature of the relationship between two or more variables and results can be generalized to a larger sample population (saunders, lewis, philip, & thornhill, 2019). quantitative data is numerical measurable with specifically focused variables so that their correlation eventually be explored via experiments, surveys, correlation comparison, and quasiexperiments (morgan, 2007). the independent variable was perceptions of the covid-19 pandemic and the dependents variables were an employee working efficiency employee confidence in their strategic leadership. because the variables an axiological assumption of the present study is that social data findings have an objective authenticity separated from the subjective influence of the researcher has an external role in avoiding bias and impact on the findings. it is widely used in statistical analysis with a deductive approach in the research process, developing and testing inquiry from general to a specific outcome to back it up or reject it (saunders et al., 2007). this research applied a deductive approach to investigate the hypotheses and explain the relationship between variables. the quantitative investigation is predominantly guided by a close-ended questions survey (morgan, 2007; saunders et al., 2019). the process of data validation is guided by exterior standards such as statistics, previous investigations, and academic juries (saliya, 2016). the study adopted a positivist paradigm, predominantly exploiting literature as the main source to bring out research questions and hypotheses. positivism is based on the view that the empirical scientific method of collecting observable and measurable data is the path in discovering the truth and copper-bottomed source of authentic knowledge (mackenzie & knipe, 2006). hence, the research methodology is executed by interpreting research data and evidence through reason and logic applicable to explaining different phenomena that are constant in time and context (bryman & bell 2011; shah & al-bargi, 2013). data gathering to collect data for the study, an online survey was used in accordance with positivist principles, notably objectivity. the online survey link was distributed 62 jpair multidisciplinary research during april and may 2021 via social networks such as linkedin, applying convenience sampling from individuals working in irsm. the final sample of 86 stakeholders was achieved, and they all have been working in virtual settings of dubai, uae. the upsides of utilizing online surveys for research design are costeffectiveness, convenience, reach, and scalability. it is also anonymous, objective, accessible, time-saving, leads to rapid findings, mandatory or compelled completion of survey questions, and more accurate data. as responses are collected in an online database and free of manual manipulation by the researcher, as argued by evans & mathur (2018). hence, the researcher maintained a valuefree viewpoint by using the online survey without impacting or influencing survey participants. ethical protocol the researcher informed the participants in advance about the nature and requirements of the study. in addition, participants were guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality of the information provided through their participation. the data collected is available to authorized persons only. the survey questions were sent to 100 individuals, and 86 responded. for the questionnaire on leadership during the pandemic, responses to all items were collected on a five-point likert-type scale. responses on the rating scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. sampling trustworthiness, credibility, and quality of the study depend on a suitable paradigm, methodology, methods, information sources, and accurate research sample selection (blaxter, hughes, & tight, 2010). regarding information sources for research, the main classifications fall into primary and secondary sources (saunders et al., 2019). linear snowball sampling was applied by selecting stakeholders of irsm in dubai, uae, using a questionnaire. primary information is collected explicitly for the particular research (including a description of the methodology, data, and analysis of findings) in question, while secondary sources (i.e., books, position papers, literature reviews, etc.) are those which are readily available and collected for other studies (saunders et al., 2019). moreover, to accurately answer the research question suitable sampling strategy should be applied. the suitable demographic was chosen based on the objective of the study; a research population is a well-defined group of people who share similar, 63 international peer reviewed journal common, binding characteristics. in statistics, a sampling frame is a device or source material from which the sample is drawn. adults who met the study’s eligibility requirements made up the sample: adults living and working in ib irsm services companies in dubai, uae, were included. therefore, anyone who did not satisfy these requirements was ruled out. as a result, the sample frame included 100 full-time, senior, and middlelevel managers from ibs in dubai, uae. participants, both non-executive and executive managers, were required to have a manager, or a higher-up, to rate in the survey. design limitations according to pedersen and nielsen (2016), online surveys are associated with limitations involving response bias and the inability to confirm the accuracy of responses. furthermore, because the researcher did not have direct contact with the participants, extra steps to validate the survey replies using independent data were impossible. despite the limitations of online surveys design, collecting data from study participants through the internet has become commonplace among academics (saleh & bista, 2017). the authors argue that faster response rates and cheaper survey facilitation costs are two primary reasons for the rise in online survey utilization. after evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of online surveys, it was decided to employ one in the current study while mitigating the possible drawbacks. several design constraints were linked to the quantitative research design utilized in the current study. a limited number of components were assessed, so the study could not cover all aspects of leadership. the study was also unable to quantify abstract notions related to organizations’ dynamic social interactions as qualitative research appropriate for the study area would be a more suitable approach (jamshed, 2014). another drawback of the current study’s methodology was cross-sectional rather than longitudinal. the researcher only collected data at a single moment by using a cross-sectional survey instrument. as a result, the study did not account for any employee or supervisor behavior changes. in academic research, crosssectional surveys are widely used (spector, 2019). therefore, this restriction was not predicted to influence the study negatively. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the excel sheets of inferential statistics with the aid of spss statistical software were used to analyze quantitative data results gathered via an online survey. hypothesis 1: there is no significant change in ib irsm service efficiency during the covid 19 pandemic. table 1. two-sample assuming equal variances mean for employee performance [mep] and mean for covid 19 [mc-19] variable 1 mep variable 2 mc-19 mean 3.391304348 3.387681159 variance 0.686132424 0.839221014 observations 86 86 pooled variance 0.762676719 hypothesized mean difference 0 df 136 t stat 0.02436858 p (t<=t) one-tail 0.490297165 t critical one-tail 1.656134988 p (t<=t) two-tail 0.98059433 t critical two-tail 1.977560777 the results indicated that p-value was above 0.05; hence the null hypothesis h0 “there is no significant change in employee ib irsm service efficiency during the pandemic in dubai” was approved. hypothesis 2: there is no change in the confidence rate of employees in the irsm services category towards leaders and managers during the pandemic. 65 international peer reviewed journal table 2. two-sample assuming equal variances mean for employee confidence [mec] and mean for strategic leadership [mleds] variable 1 mec variable 2 mleds mean 3.51884058 3.504348 variance 0.685080989 0.87954 observations 86 86 pooled variance 0.782310315 hypothesized mean difference 0 df 136 t stat 0.096243394 p (t<=t) one-tail 0.461734472 t critical one-tail 1.656134988 p (t<=t) two-tail 0.923468945 t critical two-tail 1.977560777 statistically executed by author. 2021 the results showed that p-value was above 0.05; therefore, the null hypothesis h0, no significant change in employee confidence towards the senior management during the covid 19 pandemic time, was approved. table 3. t-test of two samples of mep and m-c19 mep mleds mep pearson correlation 1 .662** sig. (2-tailed) .000 n 86 86 mleds pearson correlation .662** 1 sig. (2-tailed) .000 n 86 86 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). statistically executed by author. 2021 results showed a significant positive correlation value of 0.662** between two variables, employee performance and proper strategic leadership style during 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the covid-19 pandemic. this analysis confirms no obvious changes in the efficiency performance of irsm during the pandemic. table 4. t-test of two samples of mec and mleds correlations mleds mec mleds pearson correlation 1 .970** sig. (2-tailed) .000 n 86 86 mec pearson correlation .970** 1 sig. (2-tailed) .000 n 86 86 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). statistically executed by author. 2021 the results on the correlation coefficient analysis was 0.970**. therefore there was a positive correlation between the levels of confidence towards strategic leadership while working under constraints during the covid-19 pandemic. the empirical research findings indicate a direct correlation between strategic leadership and the performance of ib stakeholders. variables used in the research for irsm are critical, not only for ibs. they are also applicable in various industries as employees’ readiness, motivation, and satisfaction with their leadership in the context of the unprecedented global crisis have been essential for the success of any organization. the study findings indicated a strong association among dependent variables of employees’ confidence, remotely working performance, and business efficiency and independent variables of leadership management style and impact of the covid-19 pandemic. subsequently, it confirmed that strategic leadership has a critical role in improving employee performance and happiness. however, there is still a gap of 30% of critical neutral respondents in the survey affecting both hypotheses. consequently, the longitudinal study on this field might lead to insights into their performance over time (as the pandemic is still in full force) which might deteriorate and negatively impact their perception of their readiness to work under duress. similarly, their level of confidence in their management could turn either way. findings on stakeholders’ preparedness to work in a different environment (remote/home) due to covid 19 pandemic showed that 38 or 55.9% of 67 international peer reviewed journal respondents felt ready and comfortable with changes. however, 21 or 30.9% of respondents were unsure about sudden working adjustments caused by a lack of training and technical equipment required for their work. therefore, further research is needed, especially on organizational readiness to adapt their strategies to respond quickly to major interruptions and implement changes. research questions should be ‘how do flexible work and organizational results relate?’ and ‘what are the limits of virtual collaboration: is it necessary to develop new strategies for scaling up virtual collaboration in diverse models? research results on stakeholders’ efficiency level while working from home or any other remote location indicated that 25 or 26% of respondents felt satisfied with efficiency in their work. about 22 or 33.4% of respondents felt unsure about their level of performance attributed to the lack of feedback from their superiors. furthermore, 21 or 39% of respondents recognized their underperformance while working remotely. it is probable that the home environment is unsuitable for work because family members disturb and interfere with employees in their regular work routines. considering that most of the kindergartens and schools have adopted online learning during the covid 19 pandemic, confinement of children at home and other family members considerably affects employees’ efficiency. the result indicates that it is necessary to carry out research on efficiency in operational planning to drive an organization’s growth during pandemic. the research question should be the extent of support practices provided to remote working employees in adjusting to various aspects of work-life during the pandemic. research findings on employees’ perception of the transparency of their leaders and their ability to communicate action plans during a crisis showed that 33 or 58.6% of respondents were fairly satisfied with their management. however, 14 or 20.6% of respondents emphasized this area as the critical aspect in their performance, which directly correlates to previous data on efficiency level. however, 22 or 33.4% of respondents were reluctant to classify leaderships’ performance on this issue. based on the results, further research should be carried out on the function of leadership, talent development, and support from strategic leaders (or lack of it) feature in the way employees manage work demands during a pandemic furthermore, future investigations should establish the effect of global risks have on managing the global workforce. regarding the employee sentiment towards leadership’s care on their wellbeing during the covid-19 pandemic, 38 or 55.8% of respondents felt reasonably satisfied. however, 8 or 11.8% of respondents felt neglected and 22 or 68 jpair multidisciplinary research 32.4% of respondents were neutral and unwilling to classify the leadership’s during the pandemic. the diversity in results is attributable to different expectations and relationships employees had had with their managers even before the pandemic. further research on the crisis response plan during the pandemic should raise the question, “how can ibs acknowledge and reward strategic leaders who can generate a sense of shared humanity amid a pandemic?” limitations and future research the allocated timeframe for the study did not allow the researcher to expand the number of survey respondents to the more significant and broader pool of ib professionals. however, the limitation of the study is a guide for further research. stakeholders who lost their jobs due to the pandemic were not included in the research. therefore, further study should consider employees who were either unable to work from remote locations or dismissed due to organizations’ financial strains. moreover, investigating stakeholders in other industries and geographical locations will provide valuable insights. including participants in health care, logistics, and hospitality who were unable to work from home and under psychological stress would further strengthen research validation. strategic leadership is critical in improving employee performance and happiness, according to the findings of the current inquiry. therefore, future research should also consider a mix-method research design, applying nonnumerical qualitative research methods (i.e., phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnographies, case studies) with a smaller sample but an opportunity to investigate the subject in more depth and over a longer period. conclusions ibs have encountered an unprecedented crisis. the covid-19 pandemic has altered the way of life, work, and communicate communication. the objective of the study was achieved as the empirical findings strongly indicate a direct connection between strategic leadership and the performance of irsm ib stakeholders during the pandemic. throughout the pandemic period, irsm businesses and their workers rely on clear evidence that the organization is taking the problem seriously and responding in a way that respects the rights of all persons involved. the current study advances knowledge on organizational behavior by increasing understanding of how strategic leadership improves workers’ positive job outcomes. positive job outcomes are fundamental in increasing workers’ 69 international peer reviewed journal motivation during the global crisis and organizational uncertainty. researchers believe that enhanced drive is fundamental and leads to good work outcomes by boosting employee performance while decreasing burnout and job stress. even though the long-term consequences of covid-19 are unknown at this time, there is little reason to think that its influence on organizational life will be brief. literature review on strategic leadership during crisis points towards the general notion that strategic leaders of ibs are expected to perform miracles on the scale of superheroes.with their supernatural abilities, the leaders are obliged to restore employees’ hope towards the future while facing enormous character tests. however, research investigation among irsm stakeholders showed that the level of confidence in strategic leadership did not decrease to the minimum level in the current phase of the pandemic. furthermore, study findings incite researchers to argue that strategic leaders should seize this opportunity to make a difference in the firm and the lives of those being served. crisis management in the ibs may often be a good turning point for the organization. considering all its limitations, the current study identified and suggested several areas for analysis and potential improvement. strategic leaders should consider, in their organizations, building a stronger foundation for resilience. first, to what extent is the ib organization is ready to adapt strategy to respond quickly to major interruptions and implement changes? second, to what extent do leadership function, talent development, and support from strategic leaders (or lack of it) feature how employees manage work demands during a pandemic? third, in the accelerated distressed environment holding on to old processes, documentation, and training programs has become a burden for most organizations. therefore ethics as an integral part of sustainable development should be more in focus. besides the covid-19 pandemic, in the last 50 years, the world has had the experience significant crises and developments, many of which are part of the ib study. the researcher reviewed the growth of the ib sector, explored the advancement of strategic leadership as an integral component of fsas., the study’s analysis indicates that ib research has been successful because of its organic development and the economic developments of the world economy. the analysis focused on a sequence of global events, starting with the end of world war 2, expansion of internationalization, global opportunities for foreign direct investments, and lastly impact of globalization from the mid-1980s to 2000. new ibs emerged, such as international new ventures and born global firms, and new theories developed, such as international entrepreneurship (ie), a crossover between ib and entrepreneurship. as an academic topic, ib is a complicated 70 jpair multidisciplinary research field. it addresses the internationalization process itself, the peculiarities of several functional areas of management in international contexts, variances in institutional settings and cultural surroundings, and, finally, the nature of businesses. however, the researcher agrees with verbeke and yuan (2021), who argue that moderation of the covid-19 pandemic requires broader fsas definition of ib strategic governance, namely study of higher involvement of the board of directors. in crises, the board of directors should be the leading authority in identifying effective and successful business responses. therefore, the researcher’s argument based on the literature review is that further research in the ib field should investigate the effect of the quality of governance of the board of directors on corporate social responsibility and sustainability? therefore, the significance of the 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(2013). international entrepreneurship from emerging economies: a meta-analysis. in current issues in international entrepreneurship. edward elgar publishing. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.4337/9781781953426 https://bit.ly/3jz7iwb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.026 https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12665 https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-05-2012-0041 cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 90 igcabugao: a potential tourist destination in the southern part of iloilo, philippines ma. rhona j. pelasol lafiesta_research@yahoo.com michelle anne t. tayoba elna mondero khristy jugado christopher lahaylahay st. therese-mtc colleges m.h. del pilar st., molo, iloilo city abstract the philippines is endowed with abundant natural tourist attractions. one of the provinces in the philippines is iloilo wherein the town of igbaras can be found. igbaras is considered as one of the leading tourist destinations in the province due to its bountiful hidden attractions. igcabugao is home to igbaras’ several beauty spots such as igcabugao cave, lapusan cave, with an underground river, and guiritsan falls. this study was conducted to determine the potential of igcabugao as a tourist destination in the southern part of iloilo. videos and pictures of igcabugao were used by the researchers in focused group discussion conducted among tourism students of the different colleges and universities in iloilo city. qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the findings of the study. findings revealed that igcabugao have a lot of natural attractions that it could be developed as a potential tourist destination. it concluded that igcabugao has the elements of a successful tourist destination. the cooperation of residents, local government and the tourism sector is a key to plan for and develop igcabugao as a tourist destination. recommendations, among others, were centered on the drafting of a sustainable tourism development plan for igcabugao. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.173 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 91 keywords tourist destination, tourism management, guiritsan falls, igcabugao cave, lapusan cave introduction as human beings, we are innately curious concerning the world in which we live; we yearn to know what other places look like what the people, their culture, the animals and plant life, and landforms may be elsewhere. travel can be undertaken for many reasons; the most common are pleasure, business, and study. we think primarily of people who are visiting a particular place for sightseeing, visiting friends and relatives, taking a vacation, and having a good time. they may spend their leisure time engaging in various sports, sunbathing, talking, and singing, taking rides, touring, reading or simply enjoying the environment. a number of countries in asia and the pacific consider tourism as an important vehicle for economic and social development. over the past decade, tourism has become the largest industry worldwide in terms of employment and share of global gross domestic product. looking at the international scenario, tourism has been a major source of revenue for countries and through this we had managed to sustain our tourism industry. philippines rich biodiversity had provided us the opportunity to develop ecotourism. the tourism industry has been growing rapidly as well as changing at a fast pace, as more people are interested in spending leisure time in nature, ecotourism has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the tourism industry. this creates opportunities in areas characterized by natural attractions, wildlife and wilderness habitats. local communities may benefit in economic terms as well as create a commitment to conservation and sustainable development. tourism brings both economic and non economic benefits and costs to host communities. there are additional areas of benefit that have not received much research attention. these relate to the benefits occurring to the traveler, such as the contribution of pleasure travel to rest and relaxation, the educational benefit, the understanding of other people and cultures, and the physical and mental well-being of the traveler. philippines is an archipelago abundant in nature, rich in culture, and filled with pleasant discoveries. it is an “archipelago of jpair: multidisciplinary journal 92 wonders” which every explorer enjoys and experiences a diversity of destinations, activities, and events. vast mountains and volcanoes tell of great legends. old cities share stories of the past. caves excite. shimmering waters and a tropical climate lure travelers all year round. the philippines has three main islands: luzon in the north; visayas, a cluster of smaller islands in the middle; and mindanao down south, the largest island. the country has 79 provinces grouped into 16 regions. among its 79 provinces is iloilo – heart of the philippines island, a province of diverse natural, cultural and historical wonders. it is in the center of the philippines archipelago. strategically located 283 statute miles from manila, it is the gateway to the flourishing region of western visayas. the province comprises the southeastern of panay island. mountain ranges with peaks as high as 7000 ft., provide natural boundaries between iloilo and antique on the west and capiz on the north. the rest of mainland iloilo is largely plain with interspersing upland portion. comprising iloilo are one city and 42 municipalities. it has 5 districts. iloilo is not just the historical and cultural cradle of the visayanisland but the province of hidden rich biodiversity and attractions. every municipalities has its own richness in terms of cultural, historical and attractions, and one of this is one of the most exciting and beautiful districts in iloilo is the district of igbaras – the district of scenic spots, attractions and rich in historical facts and figures. the place you can be proud of. igbaras is located in southern part of the province of iloilo and belong to the first district with 46 villages. it is approximately 40 kilometers from iloilo city bounded by the municipality of guimbal to the southeast, municipality of miag-ao to the southwest, municipality of tubungan to the northeast and the province of antique to the northwest. igbaras is another get-away here in the province. it is one of the leading destinations in southern part of iloilo. it is an extraordinary pampering and refreshing place to relax and enjoy the home of the most spectacular falls in iloilo city. this town is not just well-known for its mount napulak but also for its hidden treasure – igcabugao. igcabugao is a farthest village in igbaras and it takes 14 kilometers from poblacion. it is bounded by the north and village passi by south. considering the role of ecotourism in economic and social development, the researchers conducted this study. international peer reviewed journal 93 framework in psychographic research, the push/pull theories explain the combination of push and pull forces in human motivation. according to the push/pull theory by everett lee (1966), internal factors lead or “push” people to travel, while external forces “pull” them to certain destinations. positive destination images enhance the pull effect. but negative destination images may trigger the basic human motives of avoidance of pain or fear. these motives of avoidance of pain or fear. these motives may cause some people to bypass that destination, choosing another that they perceive as safer. other people may prefer their homes to places away regardless of image or time or money available for eating out or travel. they may fear flying or suffer motion sickness. or they may not be comfortable dealing with change or new experiences. the push/pull theory of traveler motivation is closely related to the concept of hierarchy of needs as described by abraham maslow, maslow claims that there are five levels of human needs: (1) psychological needs for shelter, clothes, and food; (2) safety needs for protection from physical threats and harm; (3) social needs for belonging and association with others; (4) esteem needs for fulfillment of ego and status; and (5) self-actualization needs for realizing maximum potential and emotional well being. maslow’s levels of needs from basic motives to secondary motives. some tourism researchers use maslow’s theory to evaluate tourist motivation. people, who travel for rest and relaxation and then return home refreshed, fulfill the psychological need to maintain health. people who travel to visit their ancestor’s land in search of “roots’ fulfill their social need for belonging. travelers returning home with stories of an exotic locale fulfill the esteem need through the recognition and admiration from neighbors, friends and coworkers. travelers can satisfy the self-actualization need by sailing around the world or seeing the culmination of a long-held dream. even business travel presents opportunities to satisfy this need. a business traveler’s selfactualization need maybe satisfied when peers show appreciation for his or her seminar presentation or business proposal. allan mills, a jpair: multidisciplinary journal 94 tourism researcher, contends that some people on skiing trips have reported a sense of self-actualization during an exhilarating downhill run. the push and pull of travel and the hierarchy of needs work differently for different people. what is refreshing for one person (white-water rafting) may be stressful to another (who would rather lie on a beach). to study the differences among people, psychologist stanley plog develop a tourist typology based on personality profile. the typology ranges from allocentric to psychocentric. the word allocentric has its origin in allo (meaning “varied in form”), and refers to someone who enjoys varied activities and gets a thrill from the unexpected. plog calls a non adventurous person who is self-inhibited, a psychocentric, from the word psyche (meaning “self”). lee also outlined the impact that intervening obstacles have on the migration process. lee pointed out that the migration process is selective because differentials such as age, gender, and social class affect how persons respond to push-pull factors, and these conditions also shape their ability to overcome intervening obstacles. furthermore, personal factors such as a person’s education, knowledge of a potential receiver population, family ties, and the like can facilitate or retard migration. the movement of people is a result of the degree of connectivity within a given system, no matter what level of spatial interaction is analyzed. connections and subsequent interactions among centers imply specific complementarities. this relationship between two points (origin and destination) means that the origin is affected by push factors and the destination point is affected by pull factors, according to lee’s theory (lee, 1966). figure 1. lee's push-pull theory shows possible migration between international peer reviewed journal 95 a place of origin and a place of destination. positive and negative signs signify pull and push factors, respectively. flows take place between two places but there are intervening obstacles to these spatial movements. in the context of labor migration, such push factors are often characterized by the lack of job opportunities in sending areas/ countries, and pull factors are opportunities presented in receiving areas/countries. objectives of the study this study aims to present relevant information regarding the features and potential benefit of igcabugao as a potential tourist destination. the research was conducted to feature the benefit and impact of the place, which can be the source of additional income to the community, will not be maximized. materials and methods the conceptualization, design and the conduct of the study covered the period of january to september 2010. using the qualitative research design, the researcher visited the place for several times to take pictures and to gather information about the place. the researcher prepared for the video and pictures of village igcabugao. for the other half of the study, the organized video and pictures were shown to the selected tourism students in the province of iloilo students who participated in the focus group discussion. a structured interview schedule was used during the discussion and qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the results of the discussion. some of the pictures presented were the following: results and discussion the study presented the different tourist attractions in igcabugao, igbaras. the results of the focus group discussion revealed that igcabugao has a high potential as a natural beauty spot due to its flora and fauna, the scenic view and verdant landscape of the mountain, the attractive caves, the unique falls with clear water and mountain range which would appeal to mountaineers and hikers. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 96 however, before the development of igcabugao can be brought about, there are challenges which should be addressed. among these are the six a’s of tourist destination which are the attractions, access, amenities, ancillary services, accommodation and activities. of these six a’s, the only available in igcabugao are its attractions. the place is not accessible to everyone. motorcycles are utilized to visit the place. there is also lack of accommodations with amenities and ancillary services. as of the moment, there is also no organized activity for tourists. it would take the cooperation of residents, local government and the tourism sector to plan and develop igcabugao as a tourist destination. the respondents of the study opined that the residents and the local government must be involved in the implementation of the plan for igcabugao while serving as tourist guides. they must also commit themselves to the maintenance of the cleanliness and sanitation of the place, environmental protection and safety and security of tourists. on the part of tourism students and the tourism sector, they can contribute to the development of igcabugao by going to the place, take pictures and use the different media to disseminate the beauty of the place. the tourism sector could also help in providing technical knowledge in terms of tourism development to be focused in the igcabugao sustainable tourism development plan. recommendations it is recommended that an analysis of the physical characteristics igcabugao be made to ascertain the number of caves, falls and its other natural features. second, it is recommended that accommodation, access, amenities and ancillary services needs of igcabugao be made. roads going to igbaras in general and to igcabugao in particular must be improved to enhance accessibility. infrastructures such as accommodation facilities equipped with utilities such as water and electricity should be the first priority to accommodate tourists who wish to stay longer. food services such as canteens should be established to cater to the nourishment needs of the tourists. ancillary services such as clinics, transportation services and the like should be provided for the needs of the tourists. a budget should be made with the respective international peer reviewed journal 97 sources of funds. third, based on the assessments, it is suggested that a committee be formed by the local government to create the igcabugao sustainable tourism development plan. fourth, since tour guides play significant roles in tourists’ destinations (balena, et.al, 2009), training of local residents to act as tour guides should be undertaken as well as the identification of local households as host families for tourist who arrive before development of igcabugao is finalized. fifth, the disaster risk reduction management council must be strengthened to address possible environmental hazards. sixth, an igcabugao development committee composed of local officials, residents and the tourism sector should be organized to strategically plan for the sustainable development of igcabugao as a tourist destination. lastly, the sustainable tourism development plan for igcabugao should have quantifiable standards to have a mechanism in monitoring the development of the place. acknowledgments the authors express gratitude to michelle anne tayoba, elna mondero, christopher lahaylahay and khristy jugado who imparted their special skills for the completion of this study. literature cited beauty spots of igcabugao in igbaras. hhtp://www.local philippines .com /attractions/1528/beauty-spots-of-igcabugao baleña, r. a., pingoy, y., sampuego, r.g. 2009 roles of bantay gubat towards tour guiding activities in sibalom, natural park, sibalom, antique. unpublished student thesis, st. therese-mtc college la fiesta site, molo, iloilo city. gotera, ambrosio eilang 2000 the igbarasnon. knights of columbus: igbaras council 6346 30 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 the ruthless wealth of health: power dynamics of hospital industry in sulu province jenneth b. ballesteros http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5819-0829 ballesterosjb_18@yahoo.com sulu sanitarium hospital jolo, sulu, philippines originality: 98% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 2% abstract the people in sulu usually go to hospitals and seek medical treatment when they are already in a severe condition that doctors can no longer cure and help. the qualitative method using focus group discussion and workshop conduct was employed, and the most appropriate sampling design is purposive. four participants were invited and represented the actors from the regularity agent, supply side, demand side, and alternative substitute. sixteen participants purposively drew and shared their opinions in the workshop. findings show that the actors involved in the regulatory framework created by republic act of the philippines and the policies and regulations were all done at the national level; the hospital director, administration, health provider, external suppliers together with the hospital and medical facilities, equipment, buildings, and services comprised the supply side in the hospital industry; the markets of the health services were the entire citizen of sulu; alternative substitute like the traditional medicines and procedures like hilot were accepted by the tausug. lastly, all the interactions displayed by the different actors coming from the regulatory agent, supply side, demand side, and the alternative substitute described the nature and vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.560 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:ballesterosjb_18@yahoo.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 31 international peer reviewed journal performance of the hospital industry in sulu. nonetheless, producing a climate of quality health care service. keywords — health science, hospital industry in sulu province, qualitative method, purposive sampling design, jolo, sulu, philippines. introduction the empirical analysis of the economic environment has long remained the search of households and profit-making firms. the increasing importance of non-profit enterprises like hospitals as producers of services and as objects of government policy supports every individual in their medical treatment. access to health care across countries, groups, and individuals is largely influenced by social and economic conditions and health policies. countries and jurisdictions have different policies and plans for their societies’ personal and populationbased health care goals. what applies to a certain country may not apply to other countries. in some countries, health care planning is distributed among market participants, whereas in other countries, health care planning is done more centrally among governments or other coordinating bodies. it is commonly acknowledged that healthcare delivery quality encompasses more than just effective clinical treatment. quality is now defined to include dimensions such as clinical effectiveness, safety, and patient-centeredness (institute of medicine (us) committee on quality of health care in america, 2001). patient experience and voice are increasingly being incorporated as a key component of health care consultation and planning. the assumption is that patient and public participation will improve healthcare quality and execution, satisfy population expectations and needs, and stimulate healthcare choices and shared decision-making (boivin et al., 2010). according to world health organization (who), a well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism; a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce; reliable information on which to base decisions and policies; and well-maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies. global health policy encompasses the global governance structures that create policies underlying public health worldwide. in addressing global health, global health policy “implies consideration of the health needs of the people of the whole planet above the concerns of particular nations.” the philippine department of health, or kagawaran ng kalusugan, is the executive branch of the philippine government in charge of ensuring that all https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00038/full 32 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 filipinos have access to basic public health services by providing quality health care and regulating all health services and products. it is the government’s overall technical authority on health. it has its headquarters at the san lazaro compound, along rizal avenue in manila. the department is led by the secretary of health, nominated by the president of the philippines, and confirmed by the commission on appointments. the secretary is a member of the cabinet. power has been defined in a variety of ways by different theoretical and philosophical views. there is no such thing as a neutral definition of power because it is always embedded in a theoretical context (guzzini, 2005). it is not the goal of this article to provide an in-depth examination of various opinions on the meaning of power. weber’s formulation, as stated by rutar (2017) is an example of a classic sociological concept of power. “for him (weber, 1978 [1922], p. 53), power is, as is well known, “the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.” this can be, and usually is, further condensed. social power is simply the ability of agent a to influence agent b in such a way (with the help of either personal or impersonal means) that agent b does something he/she otherwise would not have done or does not do something he/she otherwise would have done (cf. dahl, 1961)” (2017, p. 153). the resulting demand for healthcare services and a relative shortage of some healthcare professionals make it difficult for hospitals and other healthcare providers to provide consistently high levels of care. health care organizations are increasingly concerned with looking beyond financial performance measures while focusing on how to deliver higher quality care (love et al., 2008). it is true that some improvements in care quality can be reached through investments in technology and infrastructure, but the most dramatic improvements are achieved through people. previous studies have concluded that unsatisfied health care employees negatively affect the quality of care, adversely affecting patient satisfaction and loyalty to a hospital (atkins et al., 1996; al-mailam, 2005). thus, increasing the commitment and dedication of employees may benefit a health care organization and result in improved patient care and higher patient satisfaction. patient feedback is commonly regarded as a crucial and essential resource in the improvement of healthcare services. however, there are still concerns about the legitimacy of different types of information that members of the public and experts bring to the table, as well as power struggles (o’shea et http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/manila http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/secretary_of_health_%28philippines%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/secretary_of_health_%28philippines%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/president_of_the_philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/commission_on_appointments_%28philippines%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cabinet_of_the_philippines https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00038/full 33 international peer reviewed journal al., 2019). as observed, despite many good outcomes and the reputation of the hospital due to its quality medical service rendered, people in sulu usually go to hospitals and seek medical treatment when they are already in a severe condition and most of the time, doctors can no longer cure and help them because it is too late. some factors affect their decisions not to seek medical help in the hospital, such as accessibility, finances, culture, etc. one of the many reasons is the lack of modern medical machines or technologies that can instead add assistance to medical practitioners or doctors. only two (2) active government hospitals in sulu, specifically in the town of jolo, cater to the residents’ medical assistance. both hospitals render only primary services that eventually limit their rendition of services. this study explores the dynamics of the health care or hospital industry in the province of sulu, specifically the two government hospitals, ipho and sulu sanitarium. different actors compose the hospital industry, such as the regulating bodies, the supplier, internal and external actors, the customer, and the alternative substitute. this study reflects how these several actors influence the administration, management, and decision-making. it is a common observation that there is no study yet conducted bearing on the dynamics of the hospital industry in the context of sulu province. this is the very reason why the present study is conducted. accordingly, this study can be used to formulate measures that can improve the existing hospital climate in conducting and managing its services and, in a way, create a quality health care service for its tausug people in sulu. framework this study is based on the theoretical model: a model for industry analysis by michael e. porter (1980). porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. it is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development. it draws upon industrial organization economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, the attractiveness of a market. according to porter, the five forces model should be used at the line-ofbusiness industry level; it is not designed to be used at the industry group or industry sector level. an industry is defined at a lower, more basic level: a market where similar or closely related products and/or services are sold to buyers. three of porter’s five forces refer to competition from external sources. the remainders 34 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 are internal threats. these are (1) threat of new entrants, (2) threat of substitute products or services, (3) bargaining power of customers, (4) bargaining power of suppliers, and (5) competitive rivalry within an industry. they consist of those forces close to a company that affects its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. a change in forces normally requires a business unit to re-assess the marketplace given the overall change in industry information. this study relates to the five forces model by michael porter. the hospital industry consists of forces that affect the hospital’s ability to serve its customers, primarily the patients. the first is the context of the hospital industry in sulu, which is the regulatory framework or the one that is responsible for the regulating bodies that impose policies and procedures and directs the hospital in servicing its people. it may yield possible new entrants, which depends on the cost of the entry points. second is the supply condition of the hospital industry, wherein they have the principal responsibility for ensuring that care in their organization is safe and that those who use their services are treated as individuals with dignity and compassion. in line with it is the third force which refers to the demand condition concerned with the consumers. the supply and demand side depends on the actors who navigate the transaction in the hospital. fourth is the availability of substitutes or the alternative medicines that can replace the services brought by the hospital, and last is the market structure, conduct, and performance of the public hospital industry in which there will be a comparison of the industry. it is perhaps not feasible to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry independent of the resources a firm brings to that industry. thus, it is thus argued that this theory is coupled with the resource-based view for the firm to develop a much more sound strategy. it provides a simple perspective for accessing and analyzing the competitive strength and position of a corporation, business, or organization (wernerfelt, 1984). 35 international peer reviewed journal framework objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the power dynamics of the hospital industry in the province of sulu. the interactions portrayed by different actors can be influenced, whether politically, socially, or perhaps, collusions between actors inside and outside the industry. the conduct, performance, regulating agent, demand, supply, and available substitutes, contribute to the totality of the public hospitals in rendering services to the tausug people. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 methodology research design this study assessed the inclusiveness of the hospital industry, particularly the two public hospitals in sulu. the empirical data generated in this particular study is a qualitative method using focus group discussion. primary data were gathered through interviews with the authorities of the hospitals. desk reviews were administered in the collection of data as to the regularity agent, the suppliers, and the demand condition in the hospital. through reviews conducted, determination of the different regulatory bodies, suppliers, demand-side, and the alternative medicines, it is considered that interactions, performance, and conduct of such hospitals in rendering services in sulu to a large group of tausug constitute what kind of hospital industry sulu has. focus group discussion was conducted with a representative from the hospital personnel and a participant from the patient to validate the key questions. a workshop or activity was administered to assess the structure, conduct, and performance of the hospital industry and participated by representatives from the regulatory bodies, suppliers, demand-side, and the alternative medicines or practitioners. research site in order to establish familiarity with the research area, perhaps we will briefly sketch the hospitals in sulu. province of sulu includes nineteen municipalities, and jolo is the capital of sulu. the data in this particular section were derived from the report made by the officials of the municipality planning and development office of jolo. the urban town of jolo does not have sizeable land that can be utilized and devoted to agricultural purposes, especially rice, corn, and other crop products. this problem is attributed to the unavailability of farmlands for agricultural purposes, considering that jolo has only about 596 hectares of dry land. accordingly, the municipality of jolo has an aggregate total land area of 26 hectares for commercial uses, as being the center of trade and industry and where the majority of the population comes from the municipality of jolo. the place where the study was conducted was situated in the municipality of jolo. the participants in the workshop or activity were those individuals residing in the province of sulu: municipalities of jolo, parang, patikul, luuk, maimbung, and other island municipalities that need the services of the hospitals, 37 international peer reviewed journal as mentioned, and regulatory bodies: a representative from the personnel of the different hospitals, philippine health insurance corporation, department of social welfare and development, social security system and local government unit; supply side, a representative from the personnel of the hospitals, external suppliers, private hospital, outside doctors, and pharmacy; demand side, a representative from the in-patients and out-patients and a representative from school; and for the alternative substitute coming from the manghihilot, faith healers, herbolario and mangtatawas. the research setting consisted of a central section where many government offices, the public markets, stores, churches, mosques and private and public school buildings are located. as such, there are hosts of public and private hospitals operating in the municipality of jolo. there are three hospitals in the town of jolo namely, integrated public hospital situated in barangay asturias, sulu sanitarium located at the barangay san raymundo and medical specialist hospital, a private hospital situated at martirez st. barangay san raymundo. this was why the researcher purposely chose this place as the research setting of the study. sources of data two types of empirical data were generated in this study. these are: (1) primary and (2) secondary data. the former set of data was elicited using interviews with authorities in the hospitals. the researcher personally collected data using interviews and guide questionnaires. the study uses guide questions in the conduct of focus group discussion. face-to-face interviews using guide questionnaires for those participants were also done. on the other hand, the latter set of data was generated from books, journals, hospital memorandum, orders, official reports, websites, and other reading materials which have a bearing on the research problem. data gathering this study used key or guide questions to measure the variables under this research and to be used in the workshop or activity. the content of the key question was based on literature reviews and focus group discussion (fgd) participated by representatives of both hospitals and individuals who utilized the services of hospitals. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 the questionnaire contained four parts. the 1st part consists of the regulatory bodies in terms of the institutions responsible for creating or establishing hospitals, structure, incentives, and power relationships. the 2nd part is the supply side of the hospital in terms of institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. the 3rd part of the questionnaire comprises the demand side of the hospital in terms of: institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. part 4 of the questionnaire contains the availability of substitutes for institution, structure, incentives, and power relationships. sampling procedure considering the nature of the research problem and factors like time element, financial consideration, and availability of research manpower, the most appropriate sampling design employed in this study is purposive. the sampling design does not provide the sampling units in the sampling universe an equal chance to be included in the sample (blalock, jr. 1972: 15-20). in purposive sampling, the researcher chooses his respondents and does not use random selection or chance to obtain a study sample (nagel, 1961). in the four types of actors operating the hospital industry in the municipality of jolo, four participants were invited and represented the actors from the regularity agent, supply side, demand side, and alternative substitute. the total number of participants purposively drawn and who shared their opinions in the workshop were sixteen participants. procedure of the study pilot testing of the guide questionnaire was conducted at the sulu sanitarium on july 18, 2014, from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning. there were 10 respondents, five from the sulu sanitarium staff and five from the patients who availed the service of opd. direct interviews for illiterate patients and questionnaire administration for the literate patients and staff were done to collect the data. in the conduct of the questionnaire administration, the purpose of the interview was explained to the respondents. they, too, were given assurance of their anonymity. it has to be stressed that a pretest was being conducted to pilot test the key questionnaire for its validity and reliability. to sharpen the content of the guide questionnaire in terms of the variables, a focus group discussion (fgd) was conducted last september 15, 2014. there were 10 staff participants. the purpose was to determine the reasons that hindered most of the tausug from availing of hospital services. guide questions were 39 international peer reviewed journal prepared based on the pretest conducted for the fgd. good communication was established, and the participants actively and confidently shared their opinions. through this, findings were gathered from the results and then incorporated into the content of the key questionnaire. formal permission was sought from the director or chief of each servicing hospital, different government agencies, the private sector, and the individual who had participated in the conduct of the workshop or activity for the study. a letter of invitation was given to different organizations, specifically to philhealth, sss, dswd, dilg, rural health unit, integrated public hospital, sulu sanitarium, redcross, jolo emergency rescue network (jern), notre dame of jolo for girls, one from a medical practitioner and a representative who practiced alternative substitute. the opportunity to conduct the workshop assured the researcher of reliable and valid data. the workshop was administered on november 21, 2014, from 8:00 am at the notre dame of jolo college graduate school building which was selected for the setting of the activity. dr. darren b. datiles was tapped to be the informative speaker to pilot the workshop. during the activity, research assistants were around to make the workshop sustainable. the workshop was participated by sixteen people coming from various public and private organizations, namely: the rhu of which they had a representative from each different municipality; notre dame of jolo for girls; sulu sanitarium; redcross; one from the patient; one from medical practitioner; and one from the side of the alternative substitute particularly the manghihilot. proceedings during the workshop were recorded with the use of a recorder. the key questionnaire was translated to the local dialect of bahasa sug for clarity of content. rapport was established, and participants were allowed to speak in bahasa sug to have open communication and confidence in voicing out their opinions. significant findings were elicited from the results of the workshop. data analysis since the data elicited in the study are highly qualitative, a textual presentation was used. problem tool 1. power dynamics of regularity framework as to: a. institution b. structure c. incentives d. power relationship categorizing the responses from the participants and highlighting the most commonalities. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 2. power dynamics of the supply side in terms of: a. institution b. structure c. incentives d. power relationship categorizing the responses from the participants and highlighting the most commonalities. 3. power dynamics of the demand side in terms of: a. institution b. structure c. incentives d. power relationship categorizing the responses from the participants and highlighting the most commonalities. 4. power dynamics of the available service/substitutes as to: a. institution b. structure c. incentives d. power relationship categorizing the responses from the participants and highlighting the most commonalities. 5. structure, conduct and performance of public hospitals responses from the participants 6. power dynamics of the hospital industry in sulu province responses from the participants results and discussion power dynamics of regularity framework health care is conventionally regarded as an important determinant in promoting the general physical and mental health and well-being of people worldwide. the management and administration of health care are another sector vital to delivering health care services. in particular, the practice of health professionals and the operation of health care institutions is typically regulated by national or state/provincial authorities through appropriate regulatory bodies for quality assurance. most countries have credentialing staff in regulatory boards or health departments who document the certification or licensing of health workers and their work history. these compose the institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. institution. the financing of health care services is mostly mixed with general taxation to the state, country, or municipality, social health insurance, voluntary or private health insurance, out-of-pocket payments, and donation to health charities. in all countries and jurisdictions, there is much evidence in the politics that can influence the decision of a government, private sector business or other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_administration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/regulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quality_assurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quality_assurance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_department http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_department http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/healthcare_provider_requisites 41 international peer reviewed journal groups to adopt a specific health policy regarding the existence and financing aspects of the hospitals. as can be gleaned in table 1 (regulatory framework of the institution), the regulatory agency is composed of two hospitals servicing the medical needs of the people in which they are under the department of health national and armm, respectively. social health insurance like the philhealth, dswd, redcross, sss, and local government constitute the institution under the regularity framework in support of the hospitals. the results showed in appendix h that hospitals exist through government assistance, the integrated public hospital (ipho), and where they headed different municipalities’ hospitals and rural health units and under the national government for the sulu sanitarium. from the views of the school, hospital exists through government officials or organization like doh, dswd, etc. only the sulu sanitarium stated that they had not been assisted by the local officials, unlike the rural health unit, wherein it received donations from the local government. policies and regulations are made in national law. the findings revealed that the department of health is one of the health services that is dedicated to delivering health care services and products to the people. sulu is under the zamboanga peninsula. the policies and regulations are based on guidelines, administrative orders, or circulations. philippine health insurance corporation, department of social welfare and development, local government unit, and the rural health unit were in deep connections to address the health programs of the government in achieving universal health care for all filipinos and, at the same time, dedicated and empowered to serve the people in sulu. table 1. regulatory framework as to institution variable responses institution the rural health unit (rhu) supervises the integrated public hospital and exists with the help of the government. they receive assistance from the local government unit as donations like medical equipment; they have been given free medical missions, laboratory exams, and the rural health seminar for the mothers. according to philippine redcross, they exist through republic act 95. and for the sulu sanitarium, their agency exists as leprosarium under national government (doh) and is categorized as a retained hospital. later, the hospital expanded its general services and caters to all tausug people, not just the leper patients. they had not been assisted in their services by the local officials or government. policies and regulations are made at the national level based on the guidelines and administrative orders/circulations. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 structure. the health care industry is typically divided into several areas. it is categorized according to hospital activities, medical and dental practice activities, and other human health activities. the human health activities involve or are under the supervision of nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, scientific or diagnostic laboratories, pathology clinics, residential health facilities, or other allied health professions, e.g., optometry, hydrotherapy, medical massage, etc. this is where services are performed and as to the capacity of the hospital service. in figure 2 (regulatory framework of the structure in terms of the level or stage of services), the diagram shows that primary health care services are being offered by the hospitals. primary care refers to the work of health care professionals who act as the first point of consultation for all patients within the health care system. continuity is a key characteristic of primary care, as patients usually prefer to consult the same practitioner for routine check-ups and preventive care, health education, and every time they require an initial consultation about a new health problem. they have good services delivered to the people. as stipulated in the creation of their services, hospitals, and other agencies providing and giving assistance to the health care of the population are continuously maintaining the good performance they offer. figure 2. regulatory framework as to structure (level/stage of services) incentives. managers in all industries have made employee engagement a hot button issue because of growing evidence that engagement positively correlates with individual, group, and organizational performance in areas such as productivity, retention, turnover, customer service, and loyalty (ketter, 2008). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/allied_health_profession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/allied_health_profession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care_provider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/patients http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/preventive_medicine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_education 43 international peer reviewed journal the health care industry is no exception to this phenomenon in human resource management theory and practice. to have a strong engagement, benefits and recognition are at stake to give them motivation. in table 2, the regulatory framework of the incentive showed that good services would increase the number of patients visiting the hospitals. giving rewards, sending employees to seminars and trainings and promoting qualified employees will encourage employees to work that will produce an effective and quality service. in line with the doh implementing rules and regulations of r.a. 7883, all accredited health workers shall be entitled to the following incentives and benefits in response to the services performed such as hazard allowance, subsistence allowance, training and education programs, civil service eligibility, free legal services and preferential access to loan. table 2. regulatory framework as to incentive variable responses incentive in terms of medical services offered by different agencies, they have good services based on the increased number of patients visiting the hospital. motivating employees, giving rewards, and sending them to different seminars and trainings related to their designation, especially outside town, will eventually help them be more effective in rendering services to people. on-time salary and benefits can be a motivating factor in order for them to be inspired to work efficiently. giving promotions to qualified employees and sending them to seminars and trainings are the recognitions offered to employees. power relationship. health care organizations that routinely achieve high employee satisfaction scores tend to have the following in common (1) accessible leadership, (2) frequent communication, and (3) employees are empowered to satisfy patients (fassel, 2003). internal marketing efforts have been shown to develop better relationships between employees and their organizations while increasing satisfaction and retention. the results, as depicted in table 3 (regulatory framework as to power relationship), showed that all hospitals adopt open communication and have a harmonious relationship. organizations that promote employee empowerment can help them take a more active role in daily care decisions, which are believed to enhance employee satisfaction (berlowitz et al., 2003). when employees are more active in decision-making, not only in nursing practice and unit management but also in patient care, they feel more engaged, which leads to 44 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 higher satisfaction and lower turnover rates (relf, 1995). as seen in appendix h, obstacles encountered by different institutions are ease of job-to-human dynamics, stress brought by the patient’s behavior, and the lack of medicines, equipment/facilities, and manpower. table 3. regulatory framework as to power relationship variable responses power relationship open communication and harmonious relationship are being adopted by the different agencies in rendering services. the policies and regulations are being implemented. the obstacles that a different institution is encountering are: redcross – the task or job that is not difficult to human dynamics, challenge staff/ clients/boss. rhu – the behavior being manifested by the patient. different styles of the patients were coming to seek the help of health workers even in the hospital. sometimes they were respectful, but there were times when they were the ones who got angry, especially when they were the last to be checked up by the doctor. it is a big challenge for the health workers to handle the situation and have some patience, which contribute to some obstacles. instead of more work accomplished, they will have to attend and settle for such a situation. sulu sanitarium – one of the problems that hinder most of the accomplishments of the hospital is the usual problem of lack of drugs and medicines in the pharmacy of the hospital. aside from the fact that few budgets for the medicines are given and it is only through the revolving fund of the hospital that funded the supply of the medicines. another reason for that problem is the lack of manpower to manage the operation of the hospital. incomplete medical equipment or facilities of the hospital contribute to the obstacles in rendering services to people. a major factor that poses a problem to the hospital is the unfinished building. more employment and, most especially, more patients like the poor people who need a point of care can be given if only the construction of the two-story building is continued. actions in response to the obstacles mentioned are: redcross – they responded to the mentioned obstacles depending on the needs of the public. rhu – they will respond to the patients’ behavior by using the therapeutic communication. sulu sanitarium – responded to the obstacles described above by making and presenting budget proposals. suggestions to improve the operations in the hospital are: for the redcross, they need to increase staff, a position, and the salaries. the participants from the sulu sanitarium stated that manpower must be added just like the redcross to man all the services needed by the public. more heads are better than one, and naturally, success is inevitable. sulu sanitarium also suggested that they must be provided infrastructure or finish their two-story building. drugs and medicines, as well as medical equipment, must also be added to help the public. on the side of the consumer like the school, they suggested providing more hospital facilities, having fair treatment to the patients, and if possible, having a regular doctor assigned, especially during night time. 45 international peer reviewed journal power dynamics of supply-side health administration is the field of leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital networks. health care administrators are considered health care professionals. they feed the medical or healthcare needs of the people. institution. these are individuals who act as the central point of control within hospitals. these individuals may be previous or current clinicians or individuals with other backgrounds. there are two types of administrators, generalists, and specialists. generalists are individuals responsible for managing or helping manage an entire facility. specialists are individuals responsible for the efficient operations of a specific department, such as policy analysis, finance, accounting, budgeting, human resources, or marketing. the supply side includes outside doctors, pharmacies, dentists, and external suppliers. table 4 (supply side as to institution) portrays the awareness of the existence of hospital service by the population in sulu. the health services depend on the type of agency and department they will cater to the public. table 4. supply side as to institution variable responses institution each servicing health care is aware of its contributory services to all tausug that is vital to the needs of every individual. the services rendered will depend on the agency they are in, be it in a hospital, health center, school clinic, local government, or even in an office. structure. according to fahad al-mailam (2005), quality leadership in health care organizations helps foster an environment that provides quality care which is linked with patient satisfaction. organizations that seek to improve patient satisfaction and encourage return visits or customer loyalty should focus on improving the quality of care. therefore, facilities, machines, technologies, and services contribute to the accomplishment rendered by the health workers. as can be seen in, table 5 (supply side as to structure) provides a picture that primary health care is the only service rendered by the hospitals and health units. limited medical equipment and technologies are the only means for the doctor to render and treat patients and as a result, only limited treatment or health care that is usually basic is done by the doctors assigned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/public_health http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hospital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hospital_network http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care_professional http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care_professional http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/clinician 46 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 table 5. supply side as to structure variable responses structure primary health care is the only service rendered by the agencies that participated in the seminar. they only cater to the immediate needs of the patient. incentives. the concept of internal marketing in the health care sector suggests that the best way to satisfy patients is by viewing employees as internal customers and that by understanding and meeting employees’ needs, wants, expectations, and concerns, their level of satisfaction will increase, thereby leading to a better quality of care and higher patient satisfaction (bitner et al., 1990; o’neill, 2005; testa et al., 1998). it is understood that employees were properly compensated, afforded trainings and seminars in improving their work performance, and were given promotions to qualify employees, as depicted in figure 3 (supply side in terms of incentives). figure 3. supply side as to incentive power relationship. engagement level has a direct impact on the quality of care. if not engaged, quality can suffer. when the employee is unhappy in servicing people, patient care will suffer. a highly engaged employee cares more for the success of the organization and works harder for patients. in figure 4 47 international peer reviewed journal (supply side in terms of power relationship), the diagram depicts that the employees accept the tasks and duties even if obstacles exist like security threats, patient behavior, and conflict of interest. once they willingly accept the tasks, it is likely to say that the employees are satisfied and vigorously work towards the goal of the institution. this, in turn, results in better and quality patient care and high patient satisfaction, which increases in patients visiting the hospital. aside from the patient’s satisfaction, this is geared to better financial performance, and as a whole, everybody benefits. figure 4. supply side as to power relationship (relationship of employee engagement, employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and financial performance) power dynamics of demand side patients in sulu who experienced and encountered more satisfied employees are more likely to say that they would recommend the hospital to others. they are the target market of the health care services and are composed of the institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. institution. health care is an extremely people-based industry. much of the emphasis given is on the people’s side and satisfaction. they are the service users like families, friends, advocates, and institution like schools, philhealth, and sss who support the health needs of the people. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 table 6, which is the demand side concerning institution states that the target market of the healthcare services or hospitals is the entire citizen of sulu, considering those mother and child and the leper patient. table 6. demand side as to institution variable responses institution the consumers of the services offered by the agencies or institution are the citizens of sulu and those who are direct casualties, mother and child and the leper patient. structure. employee’s performance, the idea of improving organizational success by better connecting employees to customers accentuates the importance of patients and what they do personally as workers, particularly in an increasingly electronic and mechanized workplace dictates that health care will be provided without disparity as to age, gender, and level status in the society. this is portrayed in table 7, demand side, in terms of structure. table 7. demand side as to structure variable responses structure the market of the services rendered by the health institution is its entire citizen without regard for their tribes, religion, genderm and status in the society. the people of sulu came to know the services of the health institution basically through their family, relatives, and friends. some know through various activities or programs given by the hospitals or health centers and local officials. incentives. hospitals compete aggressively to attract patients, particularly for high revenue services. a variety of dimensions factor into the competitive landscape, including hospital location, infrastructure, technology and equipment, physician reputation, and hospital image, as well as the patients’ preferences in terms of accessibility and affordability of the service or product. as shown in table 8, which is the demand side in terms of incentive, accessibility, and affordability of the product or service is the factor that patients consider in availing the health services. the drugs, medicines, and medical supplies are well monitored as to expiration. therefore, results showed that repeat visits by patients could be expected, patients will spread more positive word of mouth (word of mouth is a primary driver in patient health care decisions), and financial performance of high satisfaction units will be better. 49 international peer reviewed journal table 8. demand side as to incentive variable responses incentive accessibility is the very reason most tausug avail and continue to patronize the services of the health institution. only those who live in rural areas have difficulty engaging the services. the services also are affordable or at government price. they even offer free laboratory examinations and free medicines. they offer discounted prices, especially for those poor people who need a point of care. the drugs and medicines, as well as the medical, dental, and laboratory supplies, have been properly checked and monitored as to expiration to benefit and satisfy the receiving patient. power relationship. some patients rate the quality of the care they received as higher. from this, it can be concluded that the patient, either consciously or not, infers that the care received is better merely because of the environment created by having more satisfied employees. since the analyses dealt with average responses within and outside hospitals, differences in actual performance in delivering health care (e.g., doctors and nurses administering procedures and the support group, which are the administration and finance department rendering their jobs respectively) are averaged out. in table 9, demand side as to power relationship dealt with the performance and treatment of the employees in rendering service and displays a harmonious relationship between the patient and worker. table 9. demand side in terms of power relationship variable responses power relationship the health institution is of help to every citizen in cases of emergency wherein they offer immediate relief, provide health insurance like philhealth members and serve the health needs such as medicines, laboratory, dental, x-ray, etc. as to health providers, it improves their skills and their communications and interactions with the patients. the interactions between patient-worker are better. the health provider treats them with respect and dignity the patients. improvement for better performance is also needed. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 power dynamics of alternative substitute alternative substitute is those procedures and medicines available as an alternative to the health care services and products. institution/structure. the creation of the philippine institute of traditional and alternative health care, which is tasked with promoting and advocating the use of traditional and alternative health care modalities through scientific research and product development, greatly helps every culture in the world. traditional medicine still enjoys a large patronization, especially in rural areas where advanced science and modern information have progressed. table 10 on alternative substitutes in terms of institution and structure shows that it had been practiced in the early years, and alternative medicines were launched in 1992 and signed into law r.a. 8423. it further shows that acceptance of alternative medicines is seen and experienced by the people. table 10. alternative substitute as to institution and structure variable responses institution traditional medicine has been practiced since ancient times in every culture and is influenced greatly by religion, mysticism, and superstition, especially in rural areas in sulu. they first patronize the presence of alternative substitutes like hilot, tawas, albularyo/herbolario and faith healers that, in their thinking, will help them instead of consulting the doctors and hospitals. structure alternative medicines started in ancient times. former secretary juan m. flavier of the department of health launched the traditional medicine program in 1992 and later signed republic act 8423 by former pres. fidel v. ramos to promote effective and safe use of traditional medicines. it is known now as the philippine institute of traditional and alternative health care (pitahc). for the one practicing hilot, it all started when one approached and asked help for her, and she adopted the procedure of hilot until the patient was relieved. incentives. alternative procedures and medicines pose advantages to people. as can be gleaned in table 11, alternative substitutes as to incentives showed that the benefits are espoused to them, such as giving relief, offering an inexpensive cost, and being accessible to their immediate needs. 51 international peer reviewed journal table 11. alternative substitute to incentive variable responses incentive the alternative procedure or medicines were helpful for those who patronized and accepted the practice. it relives them; it is less expensive for services and fees and accessible for them to visit. for herbal medicines and soap, only a minimal amount can be discounted. for herbal medicines and soap, only minimal amount and can be discounted. power relationship. in alternative substitute, culture and tribes sometimes influenced the indulgence of procedures by the people. in table 12 (alternative substitute as to power relationship), the practitioners had no problems while practicing the alternative procedures. just as no contracts had been made, the patient took the risk regarding the results, and no prescribed fees were imposed regarding the services performed. shortage of supplies in line with the alternative medicines like herbal soap and herbal medicines had been encountered. thus, no negative impacts or criticism had been heard. table 12. alternative substitute as to power relationship variable responses power relationship as for the one practicing the alternative procedure, she had not encountered any obstacles during the time she practiced it. shortage of supplies was the only problem encountered by the hospital concerning herbal medicines and soaps. structure, conduct, and performance of public hospitals organizational processes are influenced by the mutual harmonization of parts of the system and by how power is structured and used. in organizations, the distribution of power is characterized by stability. this stability results from a commitment to decisions concerning the realization of the business strategy, the structuring of the organization, and the distribution of power that emerged from the past (pfeffer, 1981). in organizations, there is a balance of power between the interests of individuals and of the interdependent groups. sometimes these interests are at odds, resulting in conflicting objectives, power games, and controversies in decision-making (hickson et al., 1971; pfeffer, 1992). the tension between the interest of individuals and groups is viewed as inevitable and as a normal part of the way of getting things done. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 structure. all interest groups or employees play roles in the day-to-day operations and change process based on their position in the organization, departmental power sources, and interests. chief executive officers, top managers, consultants, work councils, employees, and other interest groups make up the hospital industry. conduct. this portrays the ethical aspects of health care workers and providers in giving health care to people. they follow the standard ethical norms and conduct of a public servant. performance. each employee and health provider in the hospital industry delineates their duties and responsibilities, thereby creating good and quality healthcare in their performance. power dynamics of the hospital industry the power process is characterized by negotiation and the exchange of resources. some departments in the hospital have more power than others. the departmental power bases are related to what the work unit does, but the power of different departments varies among organizations and can change over time (perrow, 1970; pfeffer, 1992). three underlying dimensions that determine departmental power bases. the first dimension is the ability to cope with the uncertainty that influences the day-to-day operation of an organization. departments that can cope effectively with uncertainty can increase their performance, power ability, and position in negotiation processes. the second dimension is the substitutability of the department’s functions and activities of the organization. departments can prevent substitution and acquire control over scarce resources by shielding from others how the work is actually performed. the third dimension is centrality. centrality refers to the power of a department that derives from the dependency of other departments and their significant role in the flow of work. the other departments are in grace with the department that does the significant role (hickson et al., 1971). conflict management and negotiation do occur in the hospital. all interest groups play roles in the process based on their position in the organization, departmental power sources, and own interests. in the process, different coalitions will focus on securing their interests, objectives, and power positions (kanter, 1993). resistance to change is seen as a result of the exercise of power and can be understood as a struggle to achieve power or to escape from it. the managers or the director focus on preventing conflict in the process by regulating the participation of the groups involved, by top-down decision-making and implementation, or by negotiating the objectives of the process and the way it is 53 international peer reviewed journal organized and managed. at times, directors create conflict between the employees because they believe they are still the ones to be followed and have the authority to rule. the results of the study, as shown in figure 5 (power dynamics of the hospital industry in sulu) depict the structure, conduct, and performance of different actors in the regularity framework, supply side, demand side and the alternative substitute. those actors interact in terms of the institution and structure they belong, the incentives and benefits they will get, and the power relationship they share. the hospital industry in sulu sets an atmosphere of good service to the people. even though obstacles have been encountered at times, employees are still motivated to render quality service to all. figure 5. power dynamics of hospital industry in sulu conclusions these generalizations are derived henceforth: the conduct and performance of the sulu hospital industry are described as to 1. the regulatory framework in terms of institution wherein all agencies exist through the republic act of the philippines. an institution like hospitals, the technical team of doh, philhealth, dswd, local government, rhu, and redcross determined the easiness of entrants in the industry. the regulatory framework stressed that primary health care services were the only service offered by the hospital and health centers. in the aspect of incentives, giving rewards, promotions, and sending employees to seminars and trainings strengthened the capabilities of every employee. furthermore, collaboration and cooperation among the top and lower management of the health services were seen in the hospital; 2. supply-side in 54 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 terms of institution, where different actors who served the tausug people, such as the doctors, director, administration, different services of the hospital, external suppliers, and dentist, determined all the interactions they would portray to the consumers of the service. alongside the skilled workers, without such service, technologies, medical equipment, and machines, naught will be processed and utilized. benefits and recognition had been given to employees to further inspire them to work; 3. the demand side constituted the institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. the entire citizens were the health service market without regard for religion, tribes, gender, and status in the society. it had been stressed that the factors that gave the consumer to avail and patronized the hospital services were the accessibility and affordability of the product and services. the servicing agency practiced open communication and openness to suggestions; and 4. alternative substitutes composed of the institution, structure, incentives, and power relationship. traditional medicines were one of the alternative substitutes that most of the population availed, wherein they had no side-effect and were less expensive, although a shortage of supplies happened. the tausug people practiced alternative procedures like hilot, tawas, albularyo, and faith healer. no required fees are imposed and they are accessible also because anytime they are available. this is seen that accessibility and affordability are the factors that favor the decision of a client in acquiring health services, even how the regulating and supply-side acts effectively. recommendations the study yielded relevant inputs for improving the conduct and performance of the hospital industry and more programs implementing health programs of the doh. the following recommendations are made toward this goal: policy, program action, and research. policy a. strengthen the monitoring of the health programs of the doh. the doh should develop a monitoring and evaluation scheme to strengthen the capacities of the health facilities and equipment and the infrastructure to provide quality health care services. b. strengthen the linkages among the hospital personnel, lgus, ngos, and other stakeholders advocating for health through resource generation and allocation for health care services to be provided for the tausug without 55 international peer reviewed journal user’s fee or “donation” from the patient. c. based on the study conducted, it was found that security threat hinders the employees from rendering quality service. the management must strengthen the cooperation among the lgus, police force, and armed forces of the philippines (afp) [as necessary] in improving security measures to safeguard the safety of health workers in implementing their duties and functions. d. require lgus and other stakeholders to actively support and partner with health workers in information dissemination and program/s implementation. program action a. with the increased number of patients that the hospital caters to, the study reveals that more manpower is needed. b. conduct seminar workshops on skills and proper dealing with patients. c. maintain discounts and more affordable prices for the services rendered while maintaining quality service. d. strengthens and develops the harmonious relationship between patientworker. e. maintain open communication by instrumenting a suggestion box or having a drop box to have patient feedback and suggestions. research agenda a. review program inputs and evaluate monitoring scheme of doh to increase service of health providers focusing on key variables for intervention in making a better hospital industry in sulu. b. conduct studies to assess the capacities of hospitals and health centers of sulu to provide quality health care for all programs. c. conduct studies to assess the capacities and readiness of lgus, police force, afp, and other stakeholders to partner and actively support the hospitals and health center of sulu in information dissemination and program/s implementation. d. conduct studies to evaluate the willingness in the partnership of the police force and afp in the security of the personnel in securing the advocacy of the doh. e. conduct studies to assess the continuous sustenance of health financing and responsive programs by the practice of good governance. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 acknowledgements it has been an exceptional journey in my life that i have never dreamed of and that is writing a dissertation. it is one of the most challenging parts of the journey. however, this undertaking is made possible through the guidance and assistance of many persons i am deeply indebted to. firstly, to my adviser dr. rec eguia for sharing his vast expertise and valuable time. his sharp insights and countless experience significantly guide the direction of the study. sherlito c. sable, marcelo m. angelia and carmencita b. aquino, for their expert, and excellent ideas. their suggestions are priceless. dr. atasharr s. paradji, dean of the graduate school, for her constant pieces of advice, which undoubtedly strengthened my determination to finish the study. to dr. darren b. datiles for gracing the workshop with his informative insights. grateful appreciation to my officemates, especially mrs. catherine n. lee, for their support and supplying me with the data needed for the study. special recognitions to different participants from rhu, lgus, notre dame of jolo for girls, philippine redcross, and sulu sanitarium for sharing their valuable time and opinions to enhance the study. i also appreciate the presence of my classmates sakura abduraji, femushreena ahalul, salvador zacarias, raymond delos reyes, and edgar acevedo. they are the ones who pushed me to do better, and their gestures portray a clear definition of friendship. they inject in my mind that i am strong and can surpass difficulties amidst unexpected situations as we journey to completion. such experiences make this degree so meaningful. i would be the most ungrateful person if i passed without recognizing the people behind my success: my mother and uncle ken for their moral support, and my lovely sisters, lelhen, tootz, meckz, and innang for understanding and helping me during the trying times. above all, to almighty allah, from whom everything started, armed me with blessings and made this endeavor possible. literature cited al-mailam, f. f. (2005). the effect of nursing care on overall patient satisfaction and its predictive value on return-to-provider behavior: a survey study. quality management in healthcare, 14(2), 116-120. 57 international peer reviewed journal atkins, p. m., marshall, b. s., & javalgi, r. g. (1996). happy employees lead to loyal patients. marketing health services, 16(4), 14. berlowitz, d. r., young, g. j., hickey, e. c., saliba, d., mittman, b. s., czarnowski, e., ... & moskowitz, m. a. (2003). quality improvement implementation in the nursing home. health services research, 38(1p1), 6583. bitner, m. j., booms, b. h., & tetreault, m. s. (1990). the service encounter: diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. journal of marketing, 54(1), 71-84. blalock jr, h. m. (1972). social statistics. mcgraw-hill book company. https:// bit.ly/3qs0ehn boivin, a., currie, k., fervers, b., gracia, j., james, m., marshall, c., ... & burgers, j. 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(2003). building better performance. in  health forum journal  (vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 44-44). health forum. guzzini, s. (2005). the concept of power: a constructivist analysis. millennium, 33(3), 495-521. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 hickson, d. j., hinings, c. r., lee, c. a., schneck, r. e., & pennings, j. m. (1971). a strategic contingencies’ theory of intraorganizational power. administrative science quarterly, 216-229. kanter, r. m. (1993). the change masters: corporate entrepreneurs at work (p. 306). ketter, p. (2008). what’s the big deal about employee engagement?. t and d, 62(1), 44. love, d., revere, l., & black, k. (2008). a current look at the key performance measures considered critical by health care leaders.  journal of health care finance, 34(3), 19-33. nagel, s. s. (1961). political party affiliation and judges’ decisions.  american political science review, 55(4), 843-850. o’shea, a., boaz, a. l., & chambers, m. (2019). a hierarchy of power: the place of patient and public involvement in healthcare service development. front sociol 2019; 4. perrow, c. (1970). departmental power and perspectives in industrial firms. power in organizations, 7, 59-89. pfeffer, j. (1992).  managing with power: politics and influence in organizations. harvard business press. porter, m. e. (1980). competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. editorial free pr, isbn, 13, 9780029253601. relf, m. (1995). increasing job satisfaction and motivation while reducing nursing turnover through the implementation of shared governance. critical care nursing quarterly, 18(3), 7-13. rutar, t. (2017). clarifying power, domination, and exploitation: between “classical” and “foucauldian” concepts of power. revija za sociologiju, 47(2), 151-175. testa, m. a., & simonson, d. c. (1998). health economic benefits and quality of life during improved glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. jama, 280(17), 14901496. 59 international peer reviewed journal weber, m. (1978). economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology (vol. 2). university of california press. wernerfelt, b. (1984). a resource view based of the firm. strategic management journal, 5(2), 171-180. 259 international peer reviewed journal abstract the study aimed to develop a low cost water purifier in treating ground water utilizing indigenous plant materials such as the seeds of the moringa oleifera lam as the main flocculant and the kernels of the terminalia catappa linn. which is the activated carbon adhering to the principles and practices of green technology. ground water samples from three local communities in zamboanga city, namely, talisayan in the west cost, bungiao in the east cost and san roque in the city proper were gathered conforming to the standard procedures of the department of science and technology (dost). some water parameters were tested using the gadget and these were compared with the standard values set by the philippine national standard for drinking water (pnsdw). a survey questionnaire of four point likert scale was employed in determining the acceptability of the gadget among sixty four respondents from the three communities. the weighted mean was use in treating the data. the findings revealed that the gadget which is made of a four layer stainless steel containing the de fatted moringa press cake (mpc), the terminalia granulated activated carbon (tgac), the sand and the pebbles has the capacity to improve the quality of ground water based from the result of the laboratory tests conducted by the depratment of science and rechnology vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.526 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. low-cost moringa seeds and terminalia kernels water purifier: a water management technology annabelle f. mortera http://orcid.org 0000-0002-0439-7223 judemort@gmail.com zamboanga city state polytechnic college zamboanga city, phillippines 260 jpair multidisciplinary research in zamboanga city as against the standard values of the philippine national standard for drinking water on the following parameters, ph total dissolved solids (tds), hardness and total coliform count (tcc0 and odor. the gadget is accepted by the sixty four respondents in terms of its functionality, effectiveness and portability. the study recommends that the gadget may use different type of materials with surface pores smaller than that of the particles of the press cake and activated carbon. keywords — water management technology, water purifier, moringa oleifera lam, experimental design, philippines introduction water, coming straight from the ground contains bacteria and unwanted sediments, which makes it unfit for human consumption. this may cause several water-borne diseases among the locals such as diarrhoea,cholera, intestinal helminths and other related diseases, specially the young and the old. in rural areas particularly in developing countries like the philippines, especially in zamboanga city, underground wells still used in procuring water, for drinking, washing, bathing, cooking a. this is done either by drawing water straight from the well using a bucket or through the use of water pumps. procuring water this way, puts the health of the people at great risk. this is the present concern of the world health organization (who)to provide clean and potable water people who do not have access to it. for many communities in developing countries, however, the use of coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation is low due to high cost and limited availability of chemical coagulants such as alum and iron salts. these substances aside from being expensive pose a threat on the people’s health as these are inorganic. for water to be considered safe and potable it has to undergo treatment prior to drinking or cooking. one alternative could be the use of moringa oleifara seeds. the seeds can be used to purify water corpuz (2009). moringa oleifera lam. more popularly known as malunggay in thephilippines is called “the miracle tree”. as the term implies, from its leaves down to its roots, almost every part of the moringa tree can be utilized, as food, medicine, fertilizer, dye among others. studies have shown that the moringa seeds not only diminish water pollution, but that they also remove harmful bacteria, making it fit for 261 international peer reviewed journal consumption. the filtering method is simple and effective. the moringa seed powder is added, joins with the solids in the water and sinks at the bottom. the result is clear and clean water. the crushed seeds are to a bucket of water and let the bucket is allowed to sit undisturbed for about an hour or until the impurities have sunk to the bottom. the process can be done at home. since, using chemicals in treating ground water proved to be expensive and at times possed a threat to peoples’ health, the need to utilize organic substances that are cheap and readily available proved to be the best solution to the current issues and problems on water sanitation and hygiene. it is for these reasons that this study was conceived, it aid to develop a low cost and handy water purifier using defatted seeds from moringa oleifera lam or malunggay as the main flocculent and the kernels of the talisay tree as the activated carbon for underground water adhering to green technology principles and practices and utilizing indigenous plant materials. according to the world health organization who (2004), water, sanitation and health program there are 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera); 90% are children under 5, mostly in developing countries. eigthyeight percent, (88%) of diarrhoeal disease is attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene and improvements in drinkingwater quality through household water treatment, such as chlorination at point of use, can lead to a reduction of diarrhoea episodes by between 35% and 39%. since, involving chemicals in treating ground water proved to be expensive and at times possed a threat to peoples’ health, the need to utilize organic substances that are cheap and readily available proved to be the best solution to the current issues and problems on water sanitation and hygiene. it is for these reasons that this study was conceived, to develop a low cost and handy water purifier using defatted seeds from moringa oleifera lam or malunggay as the main flocculent and the kernelsof the talisay tree as the activated carbon for underground water adhering to green technology principles and practices and utilizing indigenous plant materials. objective of the study the main objective of this study is to develop a low cost water purifier using moringa oleifera (malungay) seeds as its main flocculent and the kernels of terminalia catappa (talisay) as the source of activated carbon to treat underg round water. 262 jpair multidisciplinary research specifically, the study determined the: 1. design and construct a low cost water purifier using moringa seeds as its main flocculent and terminalia kernels as its activated carbon that is environment friendly, which involve the materials, processes and procedures to be used in the gadget; 2. evaluate the effectiveness of the gadget based on the laboratory test results on the different parameters of the water samples before and after treatment; 3. the shelf life of the processed and packed moringa presscake; and, 4. evaluate the acceptability of the gadget in terms of its functionality, effectiveness and portability. methodology the mixed research was used in this study which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. quantitative research, in which the information gathered is quantitative, meaning , numeric information from some type of formal measurement and is analyzed with statistical procedures. whereas, qualitative research focuses on gaining insights on and an understanding of an individual’s perception of events. it is concerned with in-depth descriptions of people or events and their interpretation of circumstances. methods used in this type of research are questionnaires and unstructured interviews collectively used in a survey. cristobal and cristobal (2013) the first phase of the study made use of the true experimental design after the development of the gadget, in which it made use of the independent and dependent variables as well as the moderating / experimental variable or the causal effect design and the latter phase made use of qualitative approach which involved the survey method in the collection or gathering of data. the study was composed of six stages; stage 1 was the gadget design; stage 2 was the construction of the gadget. the third stage wass the processing and packing of the moringa press cake and the terminalia activated carbon. the fourth stage was the gathering of water samples. stage 5 was the testing of the effectiveness of the water purifier against standard conditions. the last stage was the evaluation of the gadget among ground water users. all stages were illustrated using the input-throughput-output approach employing biostatics. biostatistics  (or  biometry) is the application of  statistics  to a wide range of topics in biology. the science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiments, especially in medicine, pharmacy, agriculture and fishery; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results. 263 international peer reviewed journal the study is a technical development research in which the gadget or the stainless steel water purifier was designed, constructed and developed. in objective number two, evaluating the effectiveness of the gadget, the true experimental design was employed, this type of design is primarily concerned with cause and effect relationships in which all experimental studies involve manipulation or control of the independent variables (causes) and measurement of the dependent variables (effects). this design utilizes the principle of research known as the method of difference. this means that the effect of a single variable applied to the situation can be assessed, and the difference likewise be determined (mill as cited in cristobal and cristobal (2013). the time series design was used for research objective number three, where the formula, o1-o2-o3 x o4-o5-o6 was used ,where: o1, o2,o3 stand for pretest (multiple observations) and o4,o5,o6 stand for postest (multiple observations) and x stand for intervention/treatment while the survey method was employed for research objective four. results and discussion the laboratory tests, specifically the physical or aesthetic parameters were done in the chemistry laboratory of the zamboanga city state polytechnic college, zamboanga city and the chemical and microbiological aspects were performed by the chemists of the department of science and technology, (dost) at pettit barracks, this city. the results were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the gadget in treating underground water. open underground water was collected from three barangays in the east and west coasts and in the city proper using the purposive sampling. in determining the barangay where the water sample will come from, the fish bowl method was used. in the west coast, barangay a was identified, the source of ground water was an open deep well, which was the same type of source with barangay b in the city proper. while a dug-out-hole was for barangay c in the east coast. water samples were drawn and collected from the respective sources using sterile containers with a lid and following the standard procedures from the dost on the gathering of water samples from open water source. these were brought to the dost for the laboratory tests and analyses. there were two sets of water samples, one set were the samples gathered from the three different sources which were untreated with the gadget while the second set were the samples which were treated with the gadget containing the defatted moringa 264 jpair multidisciplinary research seeds or the moringapress cake (mpc) and the other was the kernels of terminalia granulated activated carbon (tgac) all of which were processed and packed in a four layered stainless steel, which is the water purifier. the materials, processes and procedures all conform to the principles of greentechnology. which are all environment friendly and organic. the results were used in evaluating the effectiveness of the gadget against standard values of the philippine national standard for drinking water (pnsdw) of 1993, under pd 856 -the sanitation code of the philippines of 1975. the time series design was used in evaluating the shelf life of the moringapress cake. while the survey-questionnaire was the main instrument used in evaluating the acceptability of the gadget among the sixty-four respondents from the three barangays. the weighted mean was use in the treatment of data. findings the following findings were deduced 1. on the effectiveness of the gadget 1. physical parameters 1.1 odorthere was no objection on the odor state on the three water samples before and after treatment using the gadget. 1.2 colorthe three water sample gave a clear color state before treatment with the gadget. after treatment, however, all three sample were found to be slightly cloudy. the main reason for this maybe the holes of each cover materials which were “big” enough to allow the passage of the minute particles of the moringapresscake (mpc) and the terminalia granulated activated carbon (tgac) rendering the state of cloudiness to the water. 2. chemical parameters 2.1 phall ph values after treatment using the gadget rendered the three water samples slightly alkaline. before treatment , the ph values for all samples was slightly acidic. the water after treatment using the gadget became alkaline which is an indication that there was improvement in the ph of all water samples. 2.2 hardnessthis is one property of water that measures the minerals present in the form of calcium carbonate (caco3). all water samples before treatment using the gadget have hardness values 265 international peer reviewed journal that were acceptable by the pnsdw. after treatment using the water purifier, the values for hardness has decreased by 11 to 27 percent. this shows that there was an improvement in the quality of all water samples in terms of hardness when using the gadget. 2.3 turbidityvalues for turbidity before treatment using the gadget for the two water samples in barangays a and c had shown to be higher than the standard. except for the water sample from barangay b which met the standard value for turbidity. however, after treatment using the gadget. turbidity values had increased. this shows that there were solid particles that were suspended in the water rendering the water cloudy or turbid. the reason for this maybe the materials used as covering for the mpc and tgac. the minute particles of these two substances were able to pass through the holes of the three cover materials which were, the filter paper, muslin cloth and sterile gauze. 2.4 total dissolved solids (tds) – the accepted standard value for tds is 500mg/l. all water samples have values exceeding the accepted value except for water sample coming from barangay b. after treatment, all tds values had decreased from 55 to 72 percent. this means that there was improvement in the quality of the water samples in terms of total dissolved solids. 3. microbiological parameter 3.1 total coliform count (tcc)-this is the number of coliform found in water. standard value for this is zero per 100ml sample. but the permissible limit is 10. all water samples gave a very high number of tcc before treatment. after treatment however, the number of bacteria decreased by 63 to 66 percent. this shows that the gadget containing the mpc and tgac has the ability to kill bacteria present in water. 2. on the shelf life of the moringa press cake (mpc) 2. 1. before use, under normal room temperature, the average shelf life of the mpc is 19 days and kept refrigerated is 30 to 31 days 2. 2. after use, under normal room temperature, the average shelf life of the mpc is 3 to 4 days and kept inside the refrigerator about a week or 7 days. 266 jpair multidisciplinary research 3. on the acceptability of the gadget in terms of its: 3.1 functionalitythe overall mean for this parameter was 3.34. this value was found to be in the range of 3.26-4.00 with the descriptive equivalent of very acceptable. 3.2 effectiveness – parameter number two, which was the effectiveness on the acceptability of the gadget among the sixty-four respondents had an overall mean of 3.25 and with a “acceptable” descriptive equivalent. 3.3 portabilitythe overall mean for this parameter was 3.15 and with a descriptive equivalent of acceptable. the grand mean on the acceptability of the gadget among the respondents from the three barangay was 3.25 with an acceptable descriptive rate. conclusion on the basis of the findings the following are derived 1. the gadget, which is a stainless steel water purifier containing the processed and packed moringapress cake (mpc) andterminalia granulated activated carbon (tgac) can treat and improve the quality of underground water on some parameters on the basis of the ratio used of the mpc and tgac per liter of underground water and the kind of materials used as cover. 2. the gadget is acceptable in terms of its functionality, effectiveness and portability. 3. the average shelf life of the mpc is about a month kept refrigerated while unrefrigerated is 19 days prior to use. after use, the average shelf life is about a week kept inside the refrigerator and only 3-4 days under room temperature. it is best to keep the mpc inside the refrigerator for a longer shelf life. recommendations on the basis of the conclusions, the following are recommended: 1) other materials maybe use as cover so as not to allow the passage of minute particles such as the moringa press cake and terminalia activated carbon in order to obtain clear state of water; 2) increase the amount of the moringapress cake and terminalia activated carbon per liter of water to be purified to yield better purification and 267 international peer reviewed journal improvement of the quality of water; 3) it is best to keep the mpc inside the refrigerator for a longer shelf life; 4) for the gadget to be strongly acceptable among underground water users, an awareness campaign maybe conducted on water sanitation and hygiene; and 5) a follow up study similar to the present one maybe conducted to improve the gadget. literature cited amagloh, francis and benang, amos (2009) effectiveness of noringa oleifera seed as coagulant for water purification.10 july retrieved from http;// 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purification with seeds from moringa tree 13 august 2014 ret. from www.science daily.com stainless steel ret. from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/stainless-steel willis,r.j.b. and wilby,j.m., home health and care..simple measures for emergencies in the home, philippine publishimh house, manila, philippines : 2008 world health organization (who) (2004-2005), water sanitation and health (wsh) 8 september 2014 ret, from www.who./int/water_sanitation_health cover single with doi 234 jpair: multidisciplinary research vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.5 published online: august 2012 extent of systems performance of caraga state university, butuan city, mindanao, philippines alvaro l. salingay al.salingay@gmail.com liceo de cagayan university abstract this study adopted a descriptive survey design to assess the extent of systems performance processes of caraga state university in butuan city, mindanao, philippines with the aim of gauging the extent of systems performance processes as rated by 164 respondents consisting of 38 administrators, 71 faculty members and 55 non-academic staff. results show that the school’s extent of systems performance processes was moderately achieved. the different perception of respondents on the extent of systems performance processes shows incongruence of perceptions among administrators, faculty and staff that leads to the gap in understanding the degree of university performance with regards to the financial aspects, customer satisfaction, internal business process efficiency and learning and innovation. the school needs to improve its processes especially its processes on customer satisfaction, internal business process efficiency and learning and innovation to improve its financial performance. keywords systems performance processes, customer satisfaction, internal business process efficiency, learning and innovation. jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 235 international peer reviewed journal introduction balanced scorecard concept explains that financial results alone cannot capture value-creating activities which means financial measures are lagging indicators and, as such, are not effective in identifying the drivers or activities that affect financial results (karathanos & karathanos 2005). organizations should develop a comprehensive set of additional measures to use as leading indicators, or predictors, of financial performance. kaplan & norton (2001) suggested that measures should be developed to address four perspectives: (1) financial perspective measures in this perspective should answer the question; “how should we appear to our shareholders?” (2) customer perspective measures should answer the question; “how should we appear to our customers?” (3) internal business processes perspective measures in this perspective should answer the question; “what processes must we excel at?” (4) learning and growth perspective. these measures should answer the question; “how can we sustain our ability to change and improve?” a critical factor for an effective bsc is the alignment of all the measures in the four perspectives with the company’s vision and strategic objectives. the bsc allows managers to track short-term financial results while simultaneously monitoring their progress in building the capabilities and acquiring the intangible assets that generate growth for future financial performance (kaplan & norton, 1996). thus, the bsc enables managers to monitor and adjust the implementation of their strategies and to make fundamental changes in them. devie dan tarigan (2010) states that each perspective in bsc is interdependent among one another, especially the first three perspectives (customer perspective, internal business process perspective and learning and growth perspective), which are the factors that support financial perspective. it means that organizational effort to increase performance in customer perspective, internal business process perspective and learning and growth perspective will assist the make-up of performance in financial perspective. in this study, the four aspects of bsc were adapted as variables in measuring the extent of systems performance processes of caraga state university in butuan city, mindanao philippines. 236 jpair: multidisciplinary research framework the study considers the theory of norton & kaplan (2001) about balanced scorecard (bsc) – which states that performance outcomes (results) and performance drivers (strategies) have causal relationships that cover four perspectives namely: financial perspectives, customer perspectives, internal business process perspectives, and learning and growth perspectives. these perspectives are chosen as variables for systems performance. the balanced scorecard has four perspectives, namely; financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business process perspective and learning and growth perspective. each perspective in bsc could not stand by itself or they are reliant to one another. as an illustration, competence of every people in organization will not be useful if each individual does not work along with others. the figure below depicts how each perspective in bsc is interdependent among one another, especially the first three perspectives (customer perspective, internal business process perspective and learning and growth perspective), which are the factors that support financial perspective. it means that organizational effort to increase performance in customer perspective, internal business process perspective and learning and growth perspective will assist the make-up of performance in financial perspective (devie dan & tarigan 2010). in this study, financial performance is categorized into attainment of cost objectives, control of non-conformities and the effective use of resources. the attainment of cost objectives is measured in terms of budget allocation, fund utilization, materials procurement, professional development, information technology and strategic quality planning. while control of non-conformities is measured in terms of non-conformance to ched requirements, recurrence of nonconformities, non-conformance to specifications standards, and nonconformance to iquame. the effective use of resources is measured in terms of budget expenditure attainment and the maximum use of information system. meeting customer requirements is one level of customer commitment. iwa 2 provides that the educational organization top management should identify and document the needs and expectations 237 international peer reviewed journal of learners, defined as curriculum requirements that include; learning outcomes and specific performance indicators. learners’ requirements are often implied. customer satisfaction is measure in terms of stakeholder’s satisfaction level. customer satisfaction is a strategic issue to companies in this competitive era. customer satisfaction can affect customers’ trust (omar et al., 2009) and their future behavior intention (clemes et al., 2008). furthermore, the increase in customer satisfaction will also affect on economic returns, i.e. profitability, market share, and return on investment (sik sumaedi, et al., 2011). in an educational institution, students are the main costumer of the organization (iwa, 2007). thus, in a university, its main costumer is the college student. students’ satisfaction should always be considered by the university due to intensive competition among universities, internationalization spirit, higher expectation of customer to higher educational institution, an increase in the tuition fee, and the classification of education as a marketable service (kwek et al., 2010). furthermore, student satisfaction is important to be discussed, considering that there is a good effect if the students are satisfied, and vice versa. letcher and neves (2010) reported that “psychologists have found that student satisfaction helps to build self-confidence, and that self-confidence helps students develop useful skills, acquire knowledge”. on the other hand, student dissatisfaction can lead to negative student activities, such as a bad grade, an unpleasant relationship between the student and the staff, faculty, and friends (letcher and neves, 2010). 238 jpair: multidisciplinary research educational organizations typically provide a service that is intangible, not storable, and consumed during delivery. educational organizations should provide the opportunity for learners to study existing knowledge and to practice its application (iwa 2:2007). when learning takes place in an educational organization’s classroom buildings, expectations may include (but are not restricted to) the following safe, clean facilities with someone in charge; two-way communication procedures between interested parties and the educational organization are responsive; the organization’s personnel treat everyone with respect; and appropriate activities are conducted by qualified personnel. thus, in this study, internal business process efficiency, is measured in terms of management of needs and expectations of interested parties, quality system conformance and iquame conformance, procurement improvement, and other process efficiency factors. the management of needs and expectations is composed of internal customer satisfaction, figuire 1. the balanced scorecard perspective (devie dan tarigan 2010: kaplan 2004) 239 international peer reviewed journal employee satisfaction, and community relations projects. the quality system conformance and iquame conformance is measured to quality management system and iquame. the procurement improvement is measured in terms of shopping, public bidding and negotiated bidding processes. on learning and innovation, iwa 2 states that the education environment and the rapid evolution of knowledge leads to periodic curricula and syllabus review, and resulting revision. these changes should be identified, documented, authorized and communicated. the revision of any subject should include the evaluation of its effect on the entire curriculum, and records should be maintained. learning and innovation is composed of skills and competence improvement, better understanding of roles, responsibilities and goals, consistent and visible involvement of management, continuous improvement of performance and other learning and innovation factors. skills and competence improvement is measured in terms of training implementation, increase in competence level. better understanding of roles, responsibilities and goals is measured in terms of manpower availability and overtime over available man hours. consistent and visible involvement of management is measured in terms of management reviews, internal audit, and closing of nonconformities. continuous improvement of performance is measured in terms of improvement of projects. objective of the study the main objective of the study is not to measure the quality of education but rather to determine the extent of systems performance processes and the difference of perceptions of administrators, faculty and non-academic staff of caraga state university. materials and methods this study utilized the descriptive survey design adapting the questionnaire based on the philippine quality award criteria for performance excellence and application guidelines (pdc-dap:2004) and the malcolm baldrige national quality criteria (calingo, 2000) to 240 jpair: multidisciplinary research assess the extent of system performance. random sampling procedure was done for the selection of respondents, which consists of 38 administrators, 71 faculty (educators) and 55 staff (non-educators). permission and authority was secured from the school’s president through the office of the quality assurance (quams). the researcher solicited help from quams staff in distribution and retrieval of the questionnaire. the data retrieved were collated and tabulated for purposes of determining the extent of system performance of the school. unstructured interviews were conducted to supplement the ratings of the respondents. the following statistical techniques were used to quantify the results of the data: frequency count and percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation for the descriptive part of the analysis. f-test for independent samples testing the significant difference in the ratings of administrators, faculty & staff of the extent of system performance of caraga state university. while one-way anova – was used to determine the significant difference of ratings of respondents in the extent of systems performance. results and discussion 1. on extent of systems performance of caraga state university table 1 presents the summarized perception on the extent of system performance at the caraga state university. the overall mean of 2.81 (me) was based on the weighted scores of 2.62 (me) from the administrators, 2.76 (me) from the faculty, and 3.05 (me) from the staff. highest impact is perceived on customer satisfaction, with an item mean of 2.92 (me), based on the weighted scores of 2.75 (me) from the administrators, 2.82 (me) from the faculty, and 3.19 (me) from the staff. the next highest score is on learning and innovation with a rating of 2.80 (me) based on the weighted scores of 2.58 (le) from the administrators, 2.81 (me) from the faculty, and 3.01 (me) from the staff. financial performance is perceived by the respondents as equal to internal business process efficiency which both indicators have a score of 2.76 (me). this entails that the implementation of the quality management system at caraga state university denotes a good 241 international peer reviewed journal performance level in most areas of importance to the organization’s key business requirements, and there are no pattern of adverse trends. results are reported from most areas of the organization’s key business requirements which indicate an attainment of 41% to 60% of an excellent performance target. table 1. summary of the extent of system performance indicator administrators faculty staff mean ratings vd ratings vd ratings vd ratings vd a. financial performance 2.58 le 2.71 me 3.00 me 2.76 me b. customer satisfaction 2.75 me 2.82 me 3.19 me 2.92 me c. internal business process efficiency 2.59 le 2.70 me 2.99 me 2.76 me d. learning and innovation 2.58 le 2.81 me 3.01 me 2.80 me grand mean 2.62 me 2.76 me 3.05 me 2.81 me on financial performance in an interview, the vp-academic affairs confirmed the ratings and said that it is an honest result given the fact that the school has been on the process of revising its procedures and processes with regards to the financial performance. the budget planning and implementation was done based on the approved general appropriations act (gaa) from the dbm and also done basing on the available special thrust fund (stf) generated from the collection of tuition fees and miscellaneous as approved by the commission on higher education. the implementation of the budget is subject to the internal audits (the pre-audit and the post audit) as required by the commission on audit. this was also confirmed by the in-charge of the scholarship grant of the university on how the university controls its budget utilization. the interview reveals that the school has no budget for the capital expenditures to support its big projects like; school buildings and facilities. they rely only on their collection of tuition fees and 242 jpair: multidisciplinary research other donors from the cause oriented groups, non-governmental organizations, and other national agencies like the department of agriculture and also from the different political personalities like from the senators and congressmen. hence, the school has a limited funds to perform its scheduled work, although utilization of funds was subject to internal audit and liquidation. as a whole, the university need to review its overall system in order to attain the highest efficiency targets that leads to favorable financial performance. on customer satisfaction the study shows the average rating of 2.92 (me) entails moderate extent of system performance in the aspect of customer satisfaction based on the group average of 2.75 (me) from the administrators, 2.82 (me) from the faculty, and 3.19 (me) from the staff. this indicates that the university needs to enhance its processes that have significant impact on stakeholders satisfaction. during the interview, the school is not conducting a periodic survey to its stakeholders, what they did was a tracer study on how many graduates are able to land a job. the conduct of the survey to its partner agencies or community is done only during the visit of the aaccup, hence, there is no concrete evidence of the satisfaction of its stakeholders. although, during the interview, the student council confirms that the current administration is very supportive to its officers, and they opined that they are happy as of the moment to the attention the university extended to them. issues on collection of fees from the university are still the most lingering problems being faced by the students. in the interview, the administrator confirms about the problem on collection of fees, the intervention they made was through open forum and consultations. on the other hand, the school able to demonstrate the customer satisfaction by engaging its programs with trans-national sister universities through their 1st international sister university the national pingtung university of science and technology (npust) in pingtung, taiwan and it is working on its partnership with toyo university in tokyo, japan. 243 international peer reviewed journal on internal business process efficiency the study shows that the respondents perception on efficiency of its internal business process to a moderate extent. the efficiency of internal business process of the university was adequately perceived within the organization which leads to moderate attainment of efficiency in delivering the needs and expectations of interested parties. during the interview, the respondents opined that the school was not conducting an internal survey on how was the performance of the university, this is the first time that the survey is made hence they have no idea about the needs and expectations of the different interested parties. this was confirmed by the academic affairs. the conduct of survey for the internal customer satisfaction was not done, and also with the employee satisfaction. the survey on community relations project was done but not periodic. hence, the respondents cannot ascertain in a balanced way in considering the needs and expectations of all interested parties to have an effective and efficient system. as a whole, the result shows a moderate extent 2.76 perception based on the group mean ratings of 2.59 (me) from the administrators, 2.70 (me) from the faculty, and 2.99 (me) from the staff. this means that the university able to attain good performance level in most areas of importance to the organization’s key business requirements specifically on internal business process efficiency, and there are no patterns of adverse trends. on learning and innovation the study shows the extent of system performance in the aspect of learning and innovation. the perceived extent is moderate with a mean rating of 2.80 (me) based on the weighted mean of 2.58 (me) from the administrators, 2.81 (me) from the faculty and 3.01 (me) from the staff. learning and innovation through other factors is perceived moderately by the respondents as evidenced by the mean score of 2.82 (me) based from the weighted rating of 2.63 (me) from the administrators, 2.84 (me) from the faculty, and 3.01 (me) from the staff. the respondents highest score is on “encourages recognition and 244 jpair: multidisciplinary research reward factor” 2.94 (me) based from the weighted rating of 2.73 (me) from the administrators, 3.01 (me) from the faculty and 3.09 (me) from the staff. this is because, the university has policies with regards to the recognition and rewards as confirmed during the interview. the recognition and rewards is implemented every department and there is also a university wide recognition and reward system. they have a reward and recognition program for the students and for the faculty. if the students will top in the national board examination, the students can avail the monetary reward and recognition. as a whole, the respondents felt moderately the learning and innovation of the university. on test of difference using one-way anova on the ratings of administrators, faculty and staff on the level of system performance of caraga state university table 4. test of difference using one-way anova on the ratings of administrators, faculty and staff on the level of system performance of caraga state university analysis of variance system performance variables mean vd f-value p-value interpretation financial performance administrator 2.5766 me 7.17 0.001 significantfaculty 2.7124 me staff 3.0625 me customer satisfaction administrator 2.7895 me 3.73 0.026 significantfaculty 2.8169 me staff 3.1887 me internal business processes administrator 2.6205 me 4.88 0.009 significantfaculty 2.6982 me staff 2.9951 me learning and innovation administrator 2.6358 me 3.45 0.034 significantfaculty 2.8090 me staff 3.0074 me 245 international peer reviewed journal group consensus administrator 2.6553 me 5.43 0.005 significantfaculty 2.7599 me staff 3.0625 me the table shows that there is a significant difference in the ratings of administrators, faculty, and staff in the extent of system performance at caraga state university. the respondent differs significantly on their ratings because of the different outlook in their position. the administrators being the head of the school are considering the extent of systems performance processes are at the true state because they are the one knows the systems processes. all the respondents agreed that the implementation of the quality management system contributes moderately to the performance of the school in terms of financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal business processes and learning and innovation. the mutual feelings of the respondents may be attributable to their internal relationship as prime movers in making the agricultural school into a state university, their eagerness to be recognized as the state university with distinct history somehow align their perceptions on the extent of systems performance processes. conclusions the following are the conclusions: (1) the moderate extent of system performance of caraga state university revealed that they need to enhance its systems processes in order to attain significant improvements of the school. the respondents differ significantly in their ratings on school’s systems performance processes. the different perception of respondents on the extent of systems performance processes shows incongruence of perceptions among administrators, faculty and staff that leads to the gap in understanding the degree of university performance with regards to the financial aspects, customer satisfaction, internal business process efficiency and learning and innovation 246 jpair: multidisciplinary research recommendations the following recommendations are offered for consideration: (1) implement a thorough review of all the interrelated processes to have a system in place and adapting the balanced scorecard concept in every process so as to fully grasp the performance of the school. the school needs to improve its processes especially its processes on customer satisfaction, internal business process efficiency and learning and innovation to improve its financial performance. (2) conduct a specific study per department to identify the specific unit that needs overhauling of its system processes. literature cited calingo, l. m. 2000 survey instrument for self-assessment using the baldrige award criteria for performance excellence. the corporate guide to the singapore quality award, epb publishers pte ltd. clemes, m.d 2008 an empirical analysis of customer satisfaction in international air travel. innovative marketing devie dan tarigan, josua 2007 implementing balance scorecard in higher education, petra christian university surabaya (seaair conference 2007, bangkok,thailand.) iwa2: 2007 quality management systems – guidelines for the application of iso 9001:2000 in education. kaplan, r. s. & d. p. norton 2001 the balanced scorecard. hbs press. karathanos & karathanos, 247 international peer reviewed journal (2005) applying the balanced scorecard to education. southeast missouri state university cape girardeau, missouri kwek, c. l. 2010 the ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’ approaches on students’ perceived service quality: an empirical evaluation. management science and engineering, letcher, d.w. and neves j.s. 2010, “determinant of undergraduate business student satisfaction”, research in higher education journal malcolm baldrige national quality program 2000 education criteria for performance excellence. omar, n.a. 2009 parents perceived service quality, satisfaction and trust of a childcare centre: implication on loyalty. international review of business research papers philippine association of colleges and universities commission on accreditation (pacucoa). self-survey instrument for accrediting program. sik sumaedi 2011 the effect of students’ perceived service quality and perceived price on student satisfaction. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 245 international peer reviewed journal non-government organization practices on peace building process munain h. haron http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0962-0834 munainharon2@gmail.com bagoinged elementary school pikit south district, cotabato division originality: 99% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 1% abstract generally, this study aimed to determine the influence and contribution of the socio-demographic profile of the ngo officers and practices on the peace building process. specifically, it aimed to determine the socio-demographic profile of the ngo officers, the level of practices of ngo activities, the level of conduct of different initiatives on the peace building process, and the effect of the socio-demographic profile and ngo practices on the peace building process. 47 ngo officers who served as respondents of the study. percentage and frequency were used to describe the socio-demographic profile of the officers. mean was used to determine the level of practices of ngo and peace building processes; multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. it was found out that most of the ngo officers were under the age bracket of 26 – 30 years old male, maguindanaon, married, primary and high school graduate in arabic and english education, had 11,000 – 20,000 monthly income and gave 600 – 1,500 weekly to support the operation of the organization. findings further revealed that the ngo officers fully practiced relational dimension, peace building agents, and communication and consultation. vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.735 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0962-0834 mailto:munainharon2@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 246 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — non-government organization, peace, unity, pikit north cotabato, philippines introduction in general, the non-government organization is an organization that seeks for the rehabilitation of every conflict and finding a solution for any conflicts, the best practices made by the ngo is to strengthening the relationship of every individual. another practice of ngo has the strongest role in society, especially to promote peace and order; it is also empowering people to take their initiative to supports peace process for lasting peace; peace education is one way conducting by ngos to promote peace in our society. as such, peace building is a multidisciplinary, cross-sector technique or method which becomes strategic when it works over the long run and at all levels of society to establish and sustain relationships among people locally and globally—thus engendering sustainable peace. strategic peace building activities address the root causes or potential causes of violence, create a societal expectation for peaceful conflict resolution, and stabilize society politically and socioeconomically. peace education is a philosophy and a paradigm with its values and precepts which provide a framework to discern, understand, analyze, and regulate human relationship to create in an integrated holistic and human social order. peace through the efforts of every ngo’s awakening to situation and strategies. it is a long term program of ngo to build peace, stable communities, and societies. but the most important peace that we might contribute to our country is to maintain a harmonious and smooth relationship with others; peace begins in ourselves before we can promote peace to others. the included in peace building vary depending on the situation and the agent of peace building. successful peace building activities create an environment supportive of self-sustaining, durable peace; reconcile opponents; prevent conflict from restarting; integrate civil society; create the rule of law mechanisms, and address underlying structural and societal issues. researchers and practitioners also increasingly find that peace building is most effective and durable when it relies upon local conceptions of peace and the underlying dynamics which foster or enable conflict. a relatively narrow set of activities aimed at achieving the above objectives. according to wulf (2009), ‘the role of regional organizations in conflict prevention and resolution’ in still under construction: regional organizations’ 247 international peer reviewed journal regional organizations should, therefore, have an immediate interest in promoting peace due to the spill-over effects of war. donor organizations have highlighted the lack of regional capacity as a top priority without concern for different values within regional organizations. as a researcher, i want to pursue to know if what are the different activities should be conducted by ngos to help reduces the conflicts in any place because ngos have become a vital part of the emerging multi-level and multi-dimensional approaches to peace-making. framework the study assessed the non-government organization practices on the peace building process. figure 1, shows the independent variables that consist of socio-economic factors such as age, tribe, civil status, gender, arabic education, western education, type of community, monthly income, and weekly financial support; ngo practices such as relational dimension, peace building agents, and communication and consultation; and the dependent variables consists of peace-building process in terms of training, organizing, and organize public demonstration. figure 1. schematic diagram showing the relationship between the independent and dependent variables 248 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study was conducted to determine the practices of a non-government organization towards peace building. specifically, it sought to answer the following: (1) to determine the socio-economic factors of the respondents; (2) to identify the practices of the non-government organization on peace building; (3) to determine the ways of peace building process (4) to determine the sociodemographic profile of the respondents significantly affect the peace building process; and (4) to determine the practices of ngo significantly contribute to peace building process. if there is any, what are those practices? methodology this chapter presents the research design, research instruments, and respondents of the study, data gathering procedure, and data analysis. research design the study used a descriptive research design. survey on the initiatives of ngos such as immaculate conception parishintegrated rehabilitation program (icp-irp), united youth for peace and development (unypad) and united christ church of the philippines (uccp) served as a source of data. a researcher-made questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. research site this study was conducted at pikit, cotabato, with 42 barangays, through the immaculate conception parish-integrated rehabilitation program (icpirp) in partnership with others ngo’s, the seven barangays were declared as “tarababubabuba space for peace.” 249 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. map of municipality of pikit participants the respondents of the study were members of the non-government organization based in pikit north cotabato, who were involved in peace building activities. these were the united youth for peace development and uccp. instrumentation the instruments used in this study were mainly questionnaire administered to respondents who were working in peace building. the questionnaire had three parts. the first part determined the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. the second part was designed to determine the practices used in organizing peace building. the third part of the questionnaire aimed to find out the peace building process done by the ngos. data gathering procedure the researcher asked permission from the office of the executive director of the non-government organization. the questionnaire was distributed by the researcher to the respondents. the complete enumeration was used to considering all non-government organization workers who advocate peace building. 250 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical analysis the responses to each item in the questionnaire was tallied and properly encoded. the data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency count means, and percentage. multiple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses. results and discussion the result of the study specifically the socio-demographic factors, practices of ngo towards peace building process, the peace building process of ngo, effects of the socio-demographic factors to the peace building process, and contribution of ngo practices to the peace building process. socio-demographic factors table 2 shows the socio-demographic factors of the officers of the ngo existing in pikit in terms of age, tribe, civil status, gender, educational attainment in arabic and western education, monthly income, and weekly financial support. age and tribe as reflected in table 2, the ages of the respondents were grouped into a bracket. it revealed that most (34.04%) of the officers were under the age bracket of 26 – 30 years old, 25.53% were under the age bracket of 21 – 25 years old, 17.02 % were under the age bracket of 31 – 35 years old, 10.64% were under the age bracket of below 20 years old, 8.51 % were under the age bracket of 36 – 40 years old, and 4.26 % were under the age bracket of 41 years above. the result implies that officers of ngos existing in pikit are at their young age. findings conformed to the findings of morrison, nicolaisen, kanen, calibuso, and brown (2007) because he found out that age as positive determinants of the ngo workers concluded that older workers, particularly in mid-fifties declined slowly and gradually in their physical efficiency. it also reflected in table 2 that as to the tribe of the respondents, 53.19 % of the officers of the ngo existing in pikit were maguindanaon, 19.15 % were maranao, 14.89 % were cebuano and other christian tribes, and 12.77 % were iranon. 251 international peer reviewed journal civil status and gender it was gleaned in table 2 that 85.11 % of the ngo officers were married, 10.64 % were single, and 4.25 % were separated and annulled. it implies that most of the ngo officers were married. this is due to the general perception that married individual is more responsible, emotionally and mentally matured (dilangalen & adam, 2007) table 2 further shows that 61.70 % of the respondents were male, and 38.30 % were female. this means that most of the workers in ngos were male. the findings conform to maguindanaon’s belief that males lead and work for the family while females do household chores (dilangalen & adam 2007). educational attainment in arabic and western education table 2 further shows the education of respondents in both arabic and western education. for arabic education, it revealed that of the total officers of the ngo, 53.19 % finished primary, 31.91 % finished elementary, 10.64 % finished high school, and 4.26 % finished college. for western education, 59.57 % graduated high school, 34.04 % finished college, 4.26 % graduated elementary level, and 2.13 % finished the primary level. the educational field has been known as playing a major role in shaping contemporary society, mainly because it allows conceptualizing people’s surroundings as well as their interactions with those surroundings. non – governmental organizations ngo (both transnational and national), and agents of civil society (many of which belong to the aforementioned (rio, 1992). as to weekly financial support, 51.06 % were extend 600 – 1,500 support to the organization, 36.17 % extend 1,600 – 2,500, 4.26 % extend 2,600 – 3,500 and below 500, and 2.16 % of them extend 3,600 above. finance weekly, we bring you the economic forecasts, information about trade in competitive markets and rising fuel prices, as well as tax policy and economic growth, etc. (kesavayuth, rosenman, & zikos, 2016). conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: non-government organizations fully practiced their respective activities like relational dimension, peace building agents, and communication, and consultation. moreover, they also fully conducted and initiated different activities like training, organizing, and organized public demonstration. 252 jpair multidisciplinary research socio-demographic profile of the offices significantly affects the peace building process, such as training, organizing, and organized public demonstrations with age and civil status as best predictors. furthermore, the different practices of the ngo significantly contributed to peace building process where the relational dimension as the best predictor. translational research when talking about the importance of ngos in society, one must keep in mind that the ngos are doing what has not been completed. in other words, they are trying to complete all those things that matter the most in society. these ngos are providing healthcare services, clothing, shelter, education, etc. if ngos exist, then this means that these fields need improvement. so, in other words, ngos serve for the betterment of society. ngos promote peace and building, so let us promote peace in our community, and it would start in our home. literature cited dilangalen, a. k., & adam, z. m. (2018). economic viability and ecological friendliness of madrasah educational institution in region xii, philippines. people: international journal of social sciences, 4(3). retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2019.43.813820 kesavayuth, d., rosenman, r. e., & zikos, v. (2016). retirement, personality, and well‐being. economic inquiry, 54(2), 733-750. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12307 morrison, l., nicolaisen, n., kanen, a., calibuso, t., & brown, s. (2007, march). implications of menstrual suppression on health, immune function, and sexuality. in american journal of human biology (vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 268-268). div john wiley & sons inc, 111 river st, hoboken, nj 07030 usa: wiley-liss. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mfeygz rio (1992). the rio declaration on environment and development. retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/rio_e.pdf https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2019.43.813820 https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12307 https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12307 http://bit.ly/2mfeygz http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/rio_e.pdf 253 international peer reviewed journal wulf, h. (2009). the role of regional organizations in conflict prevention and resolution.  still under construction: regional organizations’ capacities for conflict prevention, 5-19. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2otqphf http://bit.ly/2otqphf cover single with doi 26 jpair: multidisciplinary research academic reading proficiency of freshmen in the college of education of dmmmsu-sluc: input to the design of instructional modules for english 101 dionisio m. uychoco dmmmsu-sluc.org don mariano marcos memorial state university la union, philippines abstract the study described the academic reading proficiency level of incoming college freshmen which served as an input to the design of learning modules. it used a validated 50-item researchermade test and two sets of questionnaires to determine the adequacy of learning activities and the extent of utilization of academic reading strategies by content area teachers. the research found the studentrespondents unprepared for college work given the moderate academic reading proficiency index. concerned language and content area teachers failed to provide enough learning activities and sufficient opportunity and training in the use of academic reading strategies that will enhance students’ level of proficiency in content area reading. it is recommended that topics designed to develop academic reading skills of senior high school students be included in the course content in secondary schools; that english teachers provide more learning activities and experiences expected in content area reading; and that content area teachers become active reading teachers by facilitating comprehension through the use of time-tested academic reading strategies. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.17 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 27 international peer reviewed journal keywords academic reading strategies, proficiency test, content area reading, instructional materials introduction the quality of an institution and that of a system of higher education are determined to a considerable extent by the abilities of those who are admitted and retained as students. the global education sector asserts this to be more than a fact, be it in basic education, collegiate, or graduate studies level. significantly, the issue of quality has snowballed into a concern among public and private education sectors anywhere in the world today. it is quite interesting to note that same has been prevalent even among the premier colleges and universities in the united states (lao report, 2001). the same has become a truism in fully developed countries where compliance to continuing program accreditation has become a catchword if not a status symbol among colleges and universities that have the proclivity of maintaining their stature on the map of excellence in higher education. besides continuing program accreditation, the performance rating of students in licensure examinations determines to a large extent a college’s or a university’s success or failure in its ability to produce quality graduates. fine performance in licensure examinations guarantees that taxpayers’ money is not wasted on individuals who do not have the will or are less than ready to succeed in their studies. in other words, this implies that the success or failure of a university depends on the success or failure of the students who venture on a career. obviously, this advances the fact that a student’s degree of preparation in the basic education level has positive significant effect to his success in college. the common denominator then is a student’s degree of preparation. the question is: how prepared are high school graduates to undergo the rigors of college education? in an electronically published news from the association for career and technical education (acte), university officials of the california state university (csu) reported that more than two-thirds of freshmen arrive “unprepared” for college level reading, writing or mathematics. lois romano, the washington post staff writer, reported that the reading proficiency of college graduates has declined in the past 28 jpair: multidisciplinary research decade with no obvious explanation. the report was based on the result of an adult literacy assessment given to some 19,000 sixteen year olds or older. the assessment which focused on reading proficiency and mathematics pointed out glaring difficulties in reading tables, following instructions, understanding labels, comparing viewpoints on prose materials, locating facts on a document, general reading comprehension; and using the library. experts assume that this could be attributed to the failure or lack of will by most state schools to select the best from high school graduates for the sheer purpose of bolstering enrollment. this searing reality finds sharp congruency in philippine setting where the issue on quality college freshmen and quality graduates seem not a real concern to bother anyone. state funded higher education institutions are constantly being pressured to address the issue over quality inputs (freshmen) and quality outputs (graduates). in the local perspective, ana marie pamintuan in her hard-hitting column “sketches” mentioned that 700,000 graduating high school students – more than half of batch 2007 – are unfit for college, or that rather than take technical-vocational education, a third of the graduates prefer to become dancers and actors … for lack of aptitude for college. the foregoing observations leave us no room for complacency. at this point, a common denominator is clearly discernible: poor academic reading skills of freshmen pose a threat to their success. this is a pretty good reason that alarms us all. generally, high school students are spoon-fed, so to speak. the result: freshmen feel lost at the cutting edge in tertiary education. in great proportion, the precollege years of students are strongly shaped and influenced by their high school teachers who perform the role of the good and typical “classroom provider.” this results in a systemic overdependence of students on their teachers which is likewise aggravated by the severe lack of instructional materials particularly textbooks that greatly boost student performance in the content areas in particular and in their reading skills in general. unwittingly and perhaps due to the lack of flexibility, skill, and foresight, teachers in the secondary level inadvertently deprive their students the chance to work on their own to acquire and develop necessary coping skills for them to survive in a university. 29 international peer reviewed journal one of these coping mechanisms every freshman must possess before entering a university is a well-developed array of study skills extensively manifested in his reading skills in the content courses across the curriculum. academic reading, reinforced by class lectures in the content areas as social sciences, biology, psychology, anthropology, humanities, computer science, and many more, has become the main medium in most academic classrooms in universities. as such, incoming freshmen are expected to toe the line if they are to succeed in academics besides the fact that this requires a great deal of applying the language skills they have learned and acquired. conversely, reading activities in the tertiary level are more focused, more direct, and more purposeful than the reading activities students used to have in high school. as content areas become rich sources of input for reading activities, the reading materials presented become increasingly more technical and scientific, offering greater demands upon the students’ comprehension skills. it is within this perspective that content area teachers come in and play one important role. the above mentioned reality has been exacerbated by the recent paradigm shift being aggressively advanced in the teaching and learning environment in the education system more particularly in the tertiary level. with this present change of roles in the teaching and learning environment, many freshmen often feel lost in big campuses knowing not how to cope with the mainstream learning trends employed by the experienced ones within the existing set up. the reason is that many freshmen are ill-prepared and have difficulty adapting to the new system. dmmmsu more particularly the south la union campus in agoo, la union, has its own share of the aforementioned dilemma as regards the poor academic reading skills of its college freshmen. a more glaring evidence of this is the annual measly performance of freshman applicants in the english proficiency test which is an integral part of the dmmmsu college admission test. for this reason, there is a felt need to strengthen and enhance reading instruction to enable unprepared students to cope with the demands in college, particularly among those who will eventually become teachers. interestingly, the role of content area teachers expands beyond mere instruction on content, for likewise; they serve as reading 30 jpair: multidisciplinary research teachers indirectly. this bridges the gap between the demands of comprehending texts and the comprehension competencies of many students. it is assumed therefore, that the content area teachers play a crucial role by not merely suppressing the problem but by arresting it as well, for unless these students receive adequate help from teachers in making sense from reading materials in subject areas, they may find themselves in the losing end. in today’s educational context, where no student is to be left behind, every content area teacher has a responsibility to help students access, read, and understand texts successfully and productively. to achieve this end, there is a felt need to enhance if not overhaul the existing academic reading instructional strategies. at this point, retooling the content of english 101 (study and thinking skills) by seeing it as academic reading-based is one measure to ease the problem and in the present dearth of instructional materials which are institutionally validated and recognized the need for this study gains much stronger ground. framework indisputably, college students read to learn. this is a clear departure from learning to read in the elementary, and to some extent, even in secondary schools. reading to learn gains support from the constructivists’ view of teaching. constructivism spouses the theory of learning which posits that students learn by actively constructing their own knowledge (colker; schcolnik, 2006). constructivism portrays the reader as actively building a mental representation by combining new information from the text with previously acquired knowledge (spivey, 1989). radical as it is, constructivism relegates rote memorization of facts in the backseat while it supports the idea of problem solving as its centerpiece. ultimately, constructivists promote pedagogical practices that are geared toward developing the productive skills of the learners giving teachers enough information to uncover what learners want to learn and how to organize activities that will induce the learners to construct meaning, comprehend, and gain knowledge (colker, 2006). in support, jackeline and martin brooks, in the case for constructivist 31 international peer reviewed journal classrooms, explained that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. learners are seen, not as mere accumulators but active creators of their own knowledge. this is reinforced by schcolnik, kol, and abarbanel (2006) citing von glasersfeld (1995) and duffy and cunningham (1996). accordingly, concepts cannot be transferred from teachers to students – they have to be conceived and that learning is a process that involves active construction and not passive acquisition. with this premise in view, and with the most conducive learning environment, tools and equipment, and without dismissing the active role of the teacher or the value of expert knowledge, the students learn how to learn. the development of the students’ study and thinking skills is a crucial adjunct to this learning perspective. constructivism recognizes the value and importance of prior knowledge, or schema, including concurrent experiences, multiple information sources, social negotiations of meaning and integration of new understandings and existing knowledge networks (shymansky, 1994). spivey (1989) mentioned that central to the constructivists’ view is the concept of organization – not only organization of the knowledge that readers bring with them, such as schemata, frames, and scripts, but also the organization of the text and of the mental representation built from the reading text. briefly, readers must be able to approach texts knowing how texts are conventionally organized and knowing how to use text structure in forming representations. in relation to this, rummelhart (1976) explained how people learn through the schema theory – a theory about knowledge – which impacts both reading research and instruction. schema (singular for schemata) represents an individual’s stored knowledge such as knowledge of the world, knowledge about language, and knowledge about text structures. added to this is the information on how to use this knowledge. in short, a schema serves as a building block of cognition or knowledge. an important principle, schemata or prior knowledge posits that we cannot learn new information unless we can link it with something we already know. learning, therefore, depends largely on the store of knowledge an individual has. hermosa (2002) echoes the work of anderson & pearson (1984) 32 jpair: multidisciplinary research regarding the use of schema in reading as an interactive process by rummelhart (1976). the schema theory asserts that meaning is absent in a text, whether spoken or written, and that meaning is created only by using background knowledge (schemata). prior knowledge (in the reader’s memory) interacts and helps in processing and clarifying the incoming information (from the text) and how this knowledge must be organized to support this interaction. more elaborately, two sets of schemata – the reader’s and that of the text – come into play in a reading act. based on the theory, comprehension is greatly controlled by the extent to which the reader’s and the text’s schemata match. it can be deduced therefore, that the nearer the match between these two schemata is, the better, if not keener is the comprehension. in a capsule, prior knowledge is a keystone in reading comprehension. this view of reading as a linking of previous knowledge with the information in a text gives birth to some important implications more particularly in classroom reading instruction. first, teachers must assist readers in making a connection between what they already know about a topic and that which is presented in a reading text before, during, and after reading. second, teachers must be acquainted with the different types of text structure through timely exposure to a broad range of reading materials like stories, news articles, poetry, essay and the like. moreover, both teachers and students become aware that reading is an active, purposeful, and meaning-centered activity and that there is a need to recognize the personal, social, and academic purposes for reading. lastly, content area teachers must observe a dynamic use of strategies that guide readers to retrieve prior knowledge. by its very nature, content area reading can be equated with academic reading which finds a strong underpinning on contentbased instruction (cbi). brinton, snow, & wesche (2003) as cited by james (2006) explained that allied to academic reading in both principle and practice, content-based instruction (cbi) is a language teaching approach taking center stage in education setup today more particularly in the secondary level. in its strictest sense, it refers to the concurrent teaching of academic subject matter and second language skills. with a combined focus on form and experiential techniques, it aims to eliminate the artificial separation that exists between language instruction and subject matter classes in most educational setup. 33 international peer reviewed journal the enhancement of academic reading skills especially among college freshmen likewise finds strong parallelism in the theoretical underpinning of english for specific purposes which is a ‘hands on’ and skills-based approach in english language teaching. hutchinson and waters (1990) contend that as english becomes the accepted international language of technology and commerce, it has created a new generation of learners who know specifically why they are learning a language – businessmen and women who want to sell their products, mechanics who have to read instruction manuals, doctors who need to keep with developments in their field and a whole range of students whose course of study include textbooks and journals only available in english. all these and many others need english and they know why they need it. precisely, students know how to work and function gainfully with it and carry the skills learned from it as a lifelong useful experience. in a nutshell, the figure below recaps the theoretical backbone upon which this study was anchored. figure 1. the theoretical framework conceptual framework academic reading is also referred to as subject matter reading and reading in the discipline. it embodies what reading theorists 34 jpair: multidisciplinary research and experts call “reading to learn.” these terms refer to reading, understanding, learning, and using content areas, subject matter, or texts in the discipline such as science, history, or literature, for the purpose of gaining, demonstrating, and possibly creating knowledge in that discipline. the pivotal question however, is whether students are proficient or not in academic reading across content areas. if not, where do they fall short of and to what extent in terms of proficiency? proficient academic readers typically possess the ability to apply useful study skills and strategies in various learning situations. likewise, he has a profound understanding of the nature of reading texts and the many forms they take. successful academic readers are those who possess mastery of the following important skills. first, the reader understands meaning. he must be able to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words and word groups, establish the relationships clearly among sentences and recognize implications, categorize conceptual meanings, like comparison, purpose, cause and effect. second, the reader understands relationships in the text. he considers text structure, assesses the communicative value of sentences; spot relations between the parts of a text through lexical and grammatical cohesion devices and indicators in discourse. third, the reader marks out important points, distinguishes main ideas from supporting details; recognizes supported claims and claims unsupported by evidence – fact from opinion; extracting salient points to summarize; following an argument; reading critically and evaluating the text. fourth, the reader employs efficient reading practices like surveying the text, chapter or article, skimming for gist or general impression; scanning to locate specifically required information and reading quickly. finally, the reader is a note taker and an efficient user of notes. content area teachers play a very important role in the development of academic reading skills of college students as they provide the authentic texts in various forms. with constant use of reading strategies students gain proficiency in content topics and at the same time gain proficiency in reading. these academic reading skills and strategies are expected to be utilized not only by english teachers during their reading classes but 35 international peer reviewed journal also by content area teachers as they take up content topics. this means that the content area teachers perform a two-way function: that of becoming content area teachers and that of becoming reading teachers. obviously, it is bringing the act of reading outside the confines of the regular english class into the content area classes. this is the original concept of academic reading or reading in the content areas. to simulate the real meaning and essence of academic reading or at least to approximate what really takes place in content area classes where much reading takes place, the reading teacher in a regular english class uses subject matter-specific texts as launch pads. in this manner the teacher brings the students closer to the actual learning experiences in their respective subject areas. a dual purpose now emerges: the students develop their reading skills and at the same time learn content area topics. with the above concepts, one thing becomes clear: that fundamental to any learning activity in college is reading and central to any act of reading is comprehension (forgan, harry w. and charles t. mangrum ii, 1990). objectives of the study this study was conducted to determine the level of academic reading proficiency of freshmen in the college of education in dmmmsusluc which was a chief input to the design and development of instructional modules for english 101. likewise, this study looked into the level of adequacy of learning activities in english 101 in terms of developing academic reading proficiency and the extent of utilization of academic reading skills and strategies by content area teachers. materials and methods the descriptive research design was used in this study. it attempted to get the current academic reading proficiency level of the students in the college of education by way of deriving data from a 120 incoming freshmen in the said college. this served as one of the inputs that determined the nature of intervention measure to be done to upgrade their reading skills. 36 jpair: multidisciplinary research a validated 50-item researcher-generated academic reading proficiency test was used as the primary data-gathering tool to determine the academic reading proficiency level of the respondents. secondarily, two sets of questionnaires were used to gather two sets of perceptions: (1) the perception of the respondents as to the adequacy level of learning activities in the course english 101that develop academic reading proficiency; and (2) the perception of the respondents as regard the extent of instructional utilization of academic reading skills and strategies by content area teachers. frequency count, percentage, arithmetic mean (simple mean) were the statistical tools used in analyzing the data in this study. frequency count and percentage were used to determine the academic reading proficiency level of the respondent groups along the identified academic reading areas. for the perceived level of adequacy of learning activities in english 101 and the perceived extent of utilization of reading strategies by content area teachers, the arithmetic mean (or simple mean) was used. results and discussion in general, the college freshmen in the college of education manifested a moderate proficiency level in academic reading. specifically, the freshmen showed low proficiency level in vocabulary skills, reading comprehension skills, and note taking skills. as to the adequacy level of learning materials and activities in english 101, the sophomores who took the course during the previous semester were given moderately adequate learning activities and experiences that enhanced their academic reading proficiency on all six areas included in this study. this study likewise found out that the sophomores were exposed to academic reading strategies only moderately by content area teachers in their classes. based on the above-mentioned findings, a set of learning modules for english 101 was developed as a material to enhance the academic reading proficiency of students in the college of education of dmmmsu sluc. 37 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the freshmen enrolled in the college of education lack the necessary preparation to assume college work as manifested in their moderate academic reading proficiency level. as to the current adequacy level of learning activities in english 101, the result of this study suggests that teachers handling the course failed to provide their students more than enough learning activities that will enhance their academic reading proficiency. significantly, content area teachers, particularly those handling general education courses did not provide students sufficient opportunity and training in the use of academic reading strategies that will enhance their level of proficiency in content area reading. recommendations to arrest the prevailing problem, the following frontline measures must be implemented. first, topics that will develop the academic reading skills of senior high school students must be included in the course content of fourth year high school during the last quarter of the school year to prepare them for college work. second, teachers in english 101 should provide varied and more than adequate learning activities and experiences which approximate what students are expected to do in content area reading. finally, content area teachers must go beyond being mere content area teachers. they must assist their students in facilitating comprehension by making them use time-tested academic reading strategies. this makes content area teachers active reading teachers as well. literature cited forgan, h. w. and c. t. mangrum ii. 1990 teaching content area reading skills: a modular preservice and inservice program, fourth edition. london: merrill publishing company. 38 jpair: multidisciplinary research hermosa, n. 2002 the psychology of reading. quezon city: university of the philippines open university. hutchinson, t. and a. waters 1990 english for specific purposes: a learning centered approach. new york: cambridge university press. james, m. a. 2006 transfer of learning from a university content-based eap course. tesol quarterly, 40: 783–806. doi: 10.2307/40264308 pamintuan a. m. “sketches” (the philippine star, march 23, 2007:14) romano, l. 2005 literacy of college graduates is on decline:survey’s finding of a drop in reading proficiency is inexplicable, experts say. the washington post sunday, december 25, 2005; page a12. rummelhart, d. 1980 schemata: the building blocks of cognition in hermosa, nemah. 2002 the psychology of reading. quezon city: university of the philippines open university schcolnik, m., s. kol, and j. abarbanel 2006 constructivism in theory and in practice. english teaching forum. vol. 44, number 4. spivey, n. n. 1989 construing constructivism: reading research in the united states. occasional paper no. 12. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research local government finance: it’s relationship to the socio-economic development in the municipalities of northern samar, philippines ricabeth anabe-aducon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6832-3426 ricaaducon@gmail.com university of eastern philippines laoang campus laoang northern samar originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract local government units are recognized as viable organs for the performance of local functions; they are challenged to use their limited resources for delivering better services. hence, the grant of local fiscal autonomy is considered necessary for the effective local government system and to achieve the objective of alleviating the economic conditions of the locality and efficient delivery of essential services to the populace. this paper has examined the financial management skills of local chief executives and the local government finance regarding social services, economic services and socioeconomic development in the twenty-four municipalities of northern samar. it also looked into the significant relationship between the financial management skills and local government finance of the local chief executives. questionnaire and interview guide were used, utilizing a descriptive correlation method of research. the analysis concludes that the local chief executives are much skilled in financial management, have a high level of performance in local government finance in terms of social and economic services vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.685 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6832-3426 mailto:ricaaducon@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 123 international peer reviewed journal while an average level of performance in terms of socioeconomic development, it was also shown that the financial management skills of the local chief executive are related to local government finance. keywords — local government finance, financial management skills, social services, descriptive correlation method, philippines introduction the way public finance is organized in a country depicts how local authorities run their activities. while the national government has the responsibility to design and supervise a system that works, the local government is challenged to deliver better local services. thus, most of the countries, decentralized the functions of the national government through delegation to the local government of some of the administrative powers including fiscal autonomy, to ensure their development as self-reliant communities and an effective partner in the pursuit of national development. walker and andrews (2013) postulated that local governments play a critical role in delivering services to the public. however, lessmann and markwardt (2010) pointed out that the majority of theoretical and empirical studies on the relationship between decentralization and corruption argue that the devolution of power might be a feasible instrument for use in keeping corruption at bay. he claimed that this result crucially depends on the effectiveness of monitoring bureaucrats’ behavior. yushkov (2015) conducted an empirical analysis of russian regions for 2005-2012 shows that excessive expenditure decentralization within the region, which is not accompanied by the respective level of revenue decentralization, is significantly and negatively related to regional economic growth. in contrast, regional dependence on intergovernmental fiscal transfers from the federal center is positively associated with economic growth. ghuman and singh (2013) claimed that the impact of decentralization on public service delivery is mixed. in particular, decentralization has resulted in improvements in the delivery of local services where devolution as a mode of decentralization is accompanied by sound financial resource base of local governments, full autonomy to local governments in hrm matters, the regular capacity building of local officials, performance-based incentive structures and involvement of the community in decision making through public consultations. in contrast, the proliferation of corruption in the decentralized bodies has hindered the development of most of the local governments and the equitable distribution 124 jpair multidisciplinary research of services. yoshino and morgan (2017) assumed that sustainable and inclusive growth in emerging economies like asia requires continued high levels of public sector investment in infrastructure, education, health, and social services. as a response to these needs, fiscal decentralization has been implemented in many asian economies. in the philippines, the 1987 constitution recognized the value of the local government units as viable organs for the performance of local functions. hence, the local government code of 1991 (republic act 7160) was enacted; through this law, the local government units (lgus) were granted local fiscal autonomy, they are vested with the authority to create their source of revenue, levy taxes, fees to finance government activities for their localities, they are conferred with the autonomy on deciding the composition of local spending to achieve their development objectives. lgus are encouraged to explore alternative sources of revenue by exercising their corporate powers through a partnership with private sectors. despite the almost limitless possibilities for local development guaranteed by the local government code, northern samar is among the provinces with the highest poverty incidence in the philippines (psa, official poverty statistics, 2015). many lgus cannot still lack the capability to generate or raise their income and revenue; hence, they are highly dependent on the internal revenue allotment (ira). thus, these impede socioeconomic development which leads to the higher poverty incidence among local government units, particularly those in the rural areas like the municipalities in northern samar. local government units face a range of challenges from spending limited resources on the expectation of better service delivery. hence, the local populace demands competent and skilled local chief executive that is expected to possess the skills and competency needed to perform quality public service. with this observation, the researcher, aimed to look into the financial management skills and performance of the local chief executives in local government finance, with the hope that the outcome would provide a way in crafting a better strategy in the delivery of public services and improving the socioeconomic conditions of the people in northern samar and of the country as a whole. framework fiscal autonomy is one of the key concepts in decentralization. it suggests that revenue and expenditure responsibilities are transferred from the national to the local government. 125 international peer reviewed journal the study was anchored in wagner’s law of expanding state expenditures (1835-1917) he pro pounded an empirical law to analyze and explain the trends in the growth of public spending. according to wagner’s law, the expenditure of public authorizes has a continuous increasing trend due to three reasons; they are an expansion of traditional functions, coverage of new functions and expanding the sphere of public goods. almost all modern democratic governments have increasingly rec ognized the need to provide and expand the sphere of public goods. the modern state increasingly recognized the need and necessity to provide social and merit goods through budgetary allocation. the state was trying to shift the composition of national prod uct more in favor of public goods. wagner theorized a positive relationship between government spending and economic activity in the long run. which implies that the government must expand its spending in connection with the increasing social progress and such expansion does not only indicate the quantitative expansion of publicly provided goods and services but also qualitatively increases as well. the theoretical framework of this study was based on the principle that the role of the local government units is not only limited to the delivery of fundamental basic services, but more importantly, but to play a vital role in the economic development of the locality and the country, as a whole. objectives of the study the study determines the local government finance and socio-economic development in the municipalities of northern samar of local chief executives. specifically, the study seeks to describe the (1) financial management skills of the local chief executives, (2) their performance in local government finance and (3) the significant relationship between their financial management skills and performance in local government finance. methodology research design the descriptive correlation research design was utilized in this study. the method was used to correlate the financial management skills and performance in local government finance of the local chief executives. the results and findings of this study were used as a point of reference in proposing a strategic design for strengthening local government capabilities to address the challenges of limited 126 jpair multidisciplinary research government resources and promoting a range of social opportunities and overall living conditions of the people. research site this study was conducted in the twenty-four municipalities of the province of northern samar. participants two groups of respondents were involved in this study, the internal stakeholders which were identified through complete enumeration composed of the 24 municipal mayors, municipal accountants, municipal budget officers, the chairman of the budget and appropriation committee of the sangguniang bayan; and the external stakeholders which were identified through multi-stage sampling composed of barangay captains, barangay treasurers, elementary school principals and elementary school teachers. the number of barangays and elementary schools in the municipality were first identified and sampled. thereafter, one barangay and elementary school were chosen at random. the barangay captain and barangay treasurer from the chosen barangay and the principal of the chosen elementary school were considered as respondents. teachers from the elementary school chosen were also sampled and the selected teachers were considered as respondents. instrumentation the researcher first sought the permission of the municipal mayors. upon approval, questionnaires were handed to the identified respondents. the purpose of the study and how the instrument should be accomplished was explained to ensure reliability. the researcher further ensures the respondents that their response will be treated with utmost confidentiality; they were assured of their anonymity information will not be revealed nor be stated in this paper. further, signed informed consent from the respondents was obtained by the researcher. questionnaires were retrieved after they were accomplished. the data obtained were tallied, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using appropriate statistical tools. weighted mean was used in analyzing the data on the financial management skills of local chief executives in terms of financial planning, fund sourcing, budgeting, control and utilization of funds and their performance in local government finance in terms of economic services, social services and socioeconomic development; the relationship between the financial management 127 international peer reviewed journal skills and performance in local government finance of the local chief executives were analyzed using multiple regression. validity and reliability the instrument used in this study was subjected to validation process by three (3) experts in the field of public administration. after that, preliminary testing was made in calbayog city a local government unit not covered by the study, having the same characteristics as the target respondents of the study. the analysis of the variables (financial management skills in terms of financial planning, fund sourcing, budgeting, control and utilization of funds and performance in terms of economic services, social services and socio-economic development) was conducted. the results of the reliability analysis are shown in table 1. table 1. results of reliability test variables number of items cronbach’s alpha financial management skills financial management skills fund sourcing, budgeting, control and utilization of funds) 40 .815 performance (in terms of economic services, social services and socio-economic development 30 .863 cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for financial management, with forty (40) items is .815, while on performance with thirty (30) items is .863. according to sekaran (2010) reliabilities less than 0.60 are considered to be poor, those in the 0.7 range are deemed acceptable, and those over 0.8 are considered good. the cronbach’s alpha of this study ranged from .815 to .863 which is above 0.60. hence, all items of the measurement of this study can be considered as acceptable to provide consistent and reliable results. results and discussion financial management skills of local chief executives table 1 presents the financial management skills of the local executives regarding financial planning, fund sourcing, budgeting, control and utilization of funds. the two groups of respondents have a common assessment that the local chief executives are much skilled in financial management regarding planning, fund sourcing, budgeting, control and utilization of funds. this 128 jpair multidisciplinary research suggests that the local chief executives in northern samar are competent in financial management. these findings support salam (2018) who determined the best practices on financial management and found out that the financial management of the local community was managed as evidenced by the award of the seal of good housekeeping. but negates waqas (2013) who pointed out that the poor performance of local government is due to lack of specialized education and training regarding local government system managing local government efficiently is essential for the improved performance of local government. management of local government is of unique characteristics. it includes the use of existing resources efficiently and effectively in meeting legitimate demands for public services. table 2. financial management skills of local chief executives in northern samar financial management skills grand mean interpretation financial management skills regarding financial planning 3.40 much skilled financial management skills regarding of fund sourcing 3.56 much skilled financial management skills in budgeting 3.99 much skilled financial management skills regarding control and utilization of funds 3.87 much skilled performance of local chief executives in local government finance table 2 presents the performance of local executives in local government finance regarding economic services, social services, and socio-economic development; the local chief executives performed high in local government finance regarding financial services and social services while they have an average level of performance regarding socio-economic development. wang, van wart, and lebredo (2014) contended sustainability in local context involves not only environmental practices such as energy conservation but also policy efforts to affect communities develop organizational capacity and encourage widespread adoption. it revealed that administrators have a significant role in sustainability leadership by involving his/her constituents and enhancing their capability. active administrators help overcome dispersed public perspectives, organizational constraints, and technical challenges in local sustainability, which can result in the better organizational performance of sustainability 129 international peer reviewed journal policies. afonso and fernandes (2008) assess the relative efficiency of local municipalities using data envelopment analysis and parametric analysis. the results suggest that most municipalities could improve performance without necessarily increasing municipal spending. these findings disaffirm the results of the study of bratton (2012) that focuses on political relationships between citizens and local government in sub-saharan africa, with particular attention to leadership responsiveness. cross-national survey data provide essential insights into performance. citizens regard local councils as weak institutions with limited functions (rarely performed well) and elected councilors as largely unresponsive. table 3. performance of local chief executives in local government finance performance of local chief executives grand mean interpretation economic service 3.53 high social services 3.68 high socio-economic development 3.36 average the relationship between the financial management skills and performance in local government finance of the local chief executives table 3 presents the relationship between the financial management skills and performance in local government finance of the local chief executives; the findings show that the performance in government finance of the local chief executives was dependent on their financial management skills. this suggests that the success in the delivery of local government services and socio-economic development of the local government units generally rely on the financial management ability of the local chief executives. this supports walker, damanpour, and devece (2010) who underpinned that the impact of management innovation on performance is not direct; performance management mediates it. it also found out that performance management positively affects organizational performance. table 4. the relationship between the financial management skills and performance in local government finance of the local chief executives variables b std. error beta sig. int. financial planning 0.634 0.124 0.732 0.001 significant fund sourcing 0.330 0.074 0.385 0.035 significant budgeting 0.723 0.204 0.689 0.004 significant control and utilization of funds 1.093 0.132 0.787 0.020 significant 130 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the respondents shared a collective observation that the local chief executives are proficient and adept in financial management which denotes that they are competent in affecting ways in which financial objectives can be achieved which means that they appropriate local funds by their legal mandates and ensure that funds are appropriately utilized for the public purpose. the local chief executives are equipped with the knowledge and capabilities to boost the local government socially and economically, but their programs which are focused on socio-economic development are needs to be improved. translational research the findings of this study could be translated into a strategic design for strengthening local government capabilities to address the challenges of limited government resources and promoting a range of social opportunities and overall living conditions of the people. the competence and skills of the local chief executives on financial management as well as on local government finance is an indispensable tool in socio-economic development. literature cited afonso, a., & fernandes, s. (2008). assessing and explaining the relative efficiency of local government. the journal of socio-economics, 37(5), 19461979. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gcblda bratton, m. (2012). citizen perceptions of local government responsiveness in sub-saharan africa.  world development,  40(3), 516-527. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2vb3wzd ghuman, b. s., & singh, r. (2013). decentralization and delivery of public services in asia. policy and society, 32(1), 7-21. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2gbxl1y lessmann, c., & markwardt, g. (2010). one size fits all? decentralization, corruption, and the monitoring of bureaucrats. world development, 38(4), 631-646. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gbxfcp https://bit.ly/2gbxfcp 131 international peer reviewed journal psa, official poverty statistics, 2015. salam, n., & sedik-salam, m. (2018). best practices on financial management: a collaborative academic interventions in cotabato city, southern philippines. jpair multidisciplinary research, 31(1). doi:10.7719/jpair. v31i1.568 sekaran, u., & bougie, r. (2016). research methods for business: a skill building approach. john wiley & sons. retrieved may 27, 2018, from https://bit. ly/2joybq2 walker, r. m., & andrews, r. (2013). local government management and performance: a review of the evidence.  journal of public administration research and theory, 25(1), 101-133. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2u62zih walker, r. m., damanpour, f., & devece, c. a. (2010). management innovation and organizational performance: the mediating effect of performance management. journal of public administration research and theory, 21(2), 367-386. retrieved from https://goo.gl/zxjihx wang, x., van wart, m., & lebredo, n. (2014). sustainability leadership in a local government context: the administrator’s role in the process.  public performance & management review,  37(3), 339-364. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2vc74e6 waqas, m., (2013),. local government management and performance.vfast transactions on education and social sciences, 2(2) 12-17. http://www. vfast.org/index.php/vtess yoshino, n., & morgan, p. j. (eds.). (2017).  central and local government relations in asia: achieving fiscal sustainability. edward elgar publishing. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2t9qsld yushkov, a. (2015). fiscal decentralization and regional economic growth: theory, empirics, and the russian experience.  russian journal of economics,  1(4), 404-418. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2txsacs https://goo.gl/zxjihx https://bit.ly/2vc74e6 http://www.vfast.org/index.php/vtess http://www.vfast.org/index.php/vtess 105 international peer reviewed journal values or activity: reality on early sexual encounter among adolescents in zamboanga peninsula mark angelo t. cristino http://orcid.org 0000-0003-3727-7145 markangelocristino@gmail.com university of the philippines manilaschool of health sciences extension campus baler, aurora, philippines jed patrick m. catalan http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6042-0061 jepycatalan@gmail.com cebu normal university cebu city, philippines josephine s. duyaguit http://orcid.org 0000-0003-1707-7592 j.duyaguit@gmail.com mindanao state university – buug campus zamboanga sibugay, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 1% abstract the burgeoning teen-pregnancy annually with victims getting younger is a severely endless problem that hitherto is superficially understood in its real context. this study aimed to determine and intensely focus on the factors that influence early sexual encounters (ese) to both adolescent boys and girls in the zamboanga peninsula, philippines. to understand the underlying real phenomenological complexities, a mixed method, specifically the sequential vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.607 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:jepycatalan@gmail.com mailto:j.duyaguit@gmail.com 106 jpair multidisciplinary research explanatory was utilized. data were first gathered and analyzed through a crosssectional correlational survey; followed by a focus group discussion represented by the teen-dads, teen-moms, parents, and teachers. correlational analysis showed that socio-economic and sexual desire factors were significant. however, when re-explored using qualitative research, analyzed through mayring’s qualitative content analysis, economic status has no direct influential pattern to early engagement in sexual activities. for them, thematically, the quality of parental role in value formation was crucial. given this shift, a schematic diagram was developed why teenagers nowadays engage too early sexual encounters: 1) seeking the parental role, 2) blinded to values, and 3) tearful regrets. thus, through this realization, a proposed intervention of encapsulating culture, values, and parental involvement in the teaching strategies in the sex-education curriculum is timely. keywords social science, teen-pregnancy, sequential explanatory, zamboanga peninsula – philippines introduction early sexual encounter (ese) is becoming a new trend among young teens globally, albeit the vast of strategic interventions formulated annually. this increasing incidence is a severe societal concern that threatens adolescents’ growth and development. as the years passed, numbers of cases are getting worse to worst especially among southeast asian countries. the philippines has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in southeast asia. from 14,205 in 1999, the case surge to 70% (van der hor, 2014). the traditional view of adolescence behavior towards ese, alas, has drastically changed over time. this is influenced by multi-factorial facets that are yet superficially understood in its real contextual-phenomenon, perhaps, the primary reason why solutions drafted are obscure to fit at the right angle. in the zamboanga peninsula, this dilemma is alarming. as of 2013, about 31.6% out of the 1000 teenage women interviewed have already engaged in premarital sex which is triple higher in 2002 at 11.9%. notably, at early 13-year-old girls have already involved in sex, and 92% admitted that they did it “out of love” (van der hor, 2014). as a result, they end up with an unplanned pregnancy, myriad pre, and postnatal complications, school drop-outs, or even stis/hiv as well. yearly, sexual and reproductive health (srh) programs, as well as researches were made by competent authorities within the region; however, it is a hanging question why such situation continuously progresses. thus, this has a profound 107 international peer reviewed journal implication that the current interventional programs must be restructured, whereby useful insights grounded on youth’s opinions and needs should be uncovered to ensure policies are tailored-fit. framework objectives of the study this study aimed to determine and intensely focus on factors that influence ese expanding to both adolescent girls and boys in the zamboanga peninsula, philippines. through dual voicing among genders, soundness and rigor of data are ensured, wherein it is considered as the main strength for this investigation. furthermore, this research is an initial foray towards a new comprehensive srh education model designed to support the psychosexual development of responsible filipino youth. methodology research design to understand the complexities of the real phenomenological context, a mixed-method specifically the sequential explanatory research was utilized. consecutively, data were first gathered through a cross-sectional survey. using a self-made likert-scale type questionnaire, the correlation between the rates of ese and other variables: demographics; environmental factors; physical activity; and perceptions towards adolescent sexuality, was analyzed. before distribution, the tool used went to a series of modification and review from sets of hired experts; then piloted until finally, it reached a chronbach alpha result of 0.81. the final 108 jpair multidisciplinary research tool was distributed among the pre-selected 1,080 adolescents, who were scouted through multi-stage sampling across the region above. numerical data, in this phase, were pre-analyzed in a statistical software (spss ibm – 21) employing percentile, cross-tabulation, weighted mean, chi-square, and anova. research site before data gathering procedures, a clearance from the university ethics review board was secured. in the case of identifying potential respondents, a passive snowballing technique was applied, wherein communication letters were sent initially to the barangay health workers of the four (4) pre-selected municipalities within the region, namely: buug – zamboanga sibugay, pagadian – zamboanga del sur, dipolog – zamboanga del norte, zamboanga city. for safety reason, isabela city was excluded from the locale of the study. moreover, upon endorsement, formal one-on-one interactions to clarify the research’s purpose and participant’s rights were initiated. equal samples between genders were also emphasized in the sampling process. priority was given to focus on in-school students aged 12 – 19 years old. worth to note, the final confirmation to include them in the population pool was a signed parental consent form. correspondingly, pseudonyms and special codes were used for anonymity purposes. participants qualitative research was intentionally incorporated as a second phase of the methodological design to substantiate and provide depth in the analysis of the preliminary quantitative data. a 4-set focus group discussion (fgd) participated by the teen moms, teen dads, parents, and teachers were separately conducted. each cohort was composed of 7 volunteered representatives, who were purposively selected based on the imposed criterion. guide questions used were purely anchored from the beforehand survey analysis and suggestions from a hired evaluator. instrumentation the qualitative data were scrutinized following the mayring’s qualitative content analysis principles. thematic analyses were first done per group; then cross-analyzed to telescope the different lenses of the phenomenon from micro to macro view perspective ⁵ (catalan, 2015). identified discrepancies were reclarified among the fgd participants. also, other referred raters were invited to counter-examine the concreteness of the findings. lastly, results were then 109 international peer reviewed journal triangulated to relevant scholarly journals to eliminate the personal conclusion of the paper. results and discussion majority from the surveyed participants, who started ese, were aged 18 to 19 years old (54%); whereas surprisingly the youngest age among both genders was 12 (0.5%). regarding year level, 42% of the respondents had their first sexual encounter in tertiary level; while at the remarkable 9% of them started even as early as high school (hs) – the first year. interestingly, filipino teens, between third year hs to freshmen college, admitted that they were already in a “live-in” arrangement (sf2, sf5, sm3) (jolley, 2018). “the millennials were too westernize now. they believed that everything (ese) in their generation is acceptably normal part of growing up.” t1 (female-teacher) half of them (59%) came from families below 5,000 pesos monthly income. accordingly, a large percentage of adolescents from this family income bracket engaged in ese not merely because they lack money, but, their parents were overworking that they rarely spend quality time (sf3, sf5) (udigwe, adogu, nwabueze, adinna, ubajaka, onwasigwe, 2014). as a result, teens spend more time in the street or live in the neighborhood mimicking negative attitudes leading to low moral values and poor decision making (malahlela & chireshe, 2013; udigwe, adogu, nwabueze, adinna, ubajaka, onwasigwe, 2014; weed & nicholson, 2014). this learned negative values was the loophole factor why some if not all, teens were easily deceived by their suitor’s hopeful promises and financial/material tokens to give-in for ese (sf2, sf5, sm1, p2) (ankomah, mamman-daura, omoregie, & anyanti, 2011). “i can’t refuse. i knew my boyfriend loved me. he’s the only person who dared to understand me and willingly provided the things i needed. sf3 (female-student) about 77% of the surveyed participants were roman catholics (77%). in countries where catholicism is dominant, sex-discussion is a taboo (nadal, sriken, davidoff, wong, y., & mclean, 2013). religion in any shapes, indeed, play a pivotal function in adolescent’s development and sexuality, which can be 110 jpair multidisciplinary research a restraining factor that will help teenagers to control and prevent tendencies of ese (t3; t6) (udigwe, adogu, nwabueze, adinna, ubajaka, onwasigwe, 2014); ghaffari, gharghani, mehrabi, ramezankhani, & movahed, 2016; gyimah, kodzi, emina, cofie, & ezeh, 2013). among the teens interviewed, 70% of them (specifically among girls) said they went to churches “once a week.”however, with a follow question of how they were devoted or perceived the importance of religion to them, the percentage declined at nearly half (40%). for them, going to churches was their way to meet-up friends/partners (sm3, sm4, sf1, p3) and escape-goat from home (sm5, sf3, p4). the frequencies of attendance in religious services without valuing religion in their lives are more likely to commit premarital sex; in contrast to others who consistently and religiously follow their church doctrine (jackson, 2016; landor & simons, 2011). it is believed that teens with a high level of religiosity had more conservative attitudes and views on ese (t3) (wamoyi, fenwick, urassa, zaba, & stones, 2010; merkel, 2013; weed & nicholson, 2014). “many youths nowadays are fallen astray from religious practices and belief. if only parents guided their children very well and taught about god in their lifestyle, then they won’t get involved in this early-earthly-pleasure.” t3 (female-teacher) the extent of parent-adolescent communication affects teen’s health and development. conversation at home is not merely an exchange of information, but, a venue where meaningful interaction, culture, and values interplays (t7) (riesch, anderson, pridham, lutz, & becker, 2010). a more significant percentage of adolescents who discuss sex-topics with their parents were not sexually active compared to those who won’t (wamoyi, fenwick, urassa, zaba, & stones, 2010). however, when questioned how teens were open to their parents about discussing “sex,” 67% said they preferred to talk this matter to peers and girlfriend/boyfriend in lieu because of they are afraid to their “authoritativeparents” (sm1, sf3, p6). while, 80% agreed that tackling “sex-matters” at home was useless since their parents were also victims of teenage pregnancy (sf6, p5) and incompetent to give advice (sm3, p7). certainly, less closeness with parents denotes less guidance, navigating adolescents to poor coping skills, low morale, and unhealthy decisions (t6) (ankomah, mamman-daura, omoregie, & anyanti, 2011; tobey, hillman, anagurthi, & somers, 2011). conspicuously between genders, males (34%) rarely shared “sex-discussions” with their parents unlike females (57%). perhaps, because at home, mothers are the sex-education 111 international peer reviewed journal counselors and sons find it awkward to discuss. they’re looking for a manly/ father-figure instead (sm6) (ayalew, mengistie, & semahegn, 2014; wamoyi, fenwick, urassa, zaba, & stones, 2010; tobey, hillman, anagurthi, & somers, 2011). this is the primary reason why they preferred to discourse things with their male peers or other friends. “it’s hard to open-up things like these to our parents. their generation is different from us.” sm1 (male-student) estimated 66% from them pointed out via television; followed by 52% from social media: fb, twitter, and instagram. between genders, most males watched tv (73%) and spent more on social media (64%) compared to females (23%) and (30%) respectively. when interviewed, teens believed that what have seen: kissing and hugging scenes, were all normal, “okay,” and tolerated by their parents (sm5, sf2, p3, p7). sexual content in the general media, undeniably, affects the cognitive skills of average teenage viewers, which parents should be cautious (t6) (kimemia & mugambi, 2016). these so-called minor sexual gestures are surprisingly normal and acceptable at their young age; where in fact, these can somehow trigger the innocent mind to explore on the worst next move or the beginning of sexual-desire-stimulation (t4) (kearney & levine, 2015). this will get worse when they’re directly exposed to pornography either via television or any social media, which will later lead in developing sexual compulsion or addictive behavior (t3; t5) (peter & valkenburg, 2011; stanley et al., 2016). such a phenomenon can be simplified in a cyclical form: from an innocent exchange of e-messages and i-pictures, apparently, to flirting: sexting and webcam abuse; then curiosity to live-experiment (sm3, sm5, sf2, sf7) (stanley et al., 2016; udigwe, adogu, nwabueze, adinna, ubajaka, onwasigwe, 2014). “it started by simply liking the status in facebook. then we exchanged simple greetings to messages later pictures. we decided to have ‘eyeball’ or meet-up.” sf2 (female-student) “i just copied what i’ve seen on television or web. from simple experiment into something, i became obsessive. ‘twas normal for us boys.” sm5 (male-student) 112 jpair multidisciplinary research on the one hand, teens’ higher rates of physical activities involvement: sports or dance, were also found significantly associated with lower rates of ese (habel, dittus, de rosa, chung, & kerndt, 2010; noguira et al., 2016). participation in such activity has a positive impact on their intra-being: social behavior, leadership, self-protection, self-worth, self-esteem, high moral, higher goals, and good health (hooper, gurven, winking, & hooper, gurven, winking, & kaplan, 2015; kaplan, jones, olson, & yunzal‐butler, 2013; merkel, 2013). hypothetically, participation to this gives teens positive alternatives where they divert their attention, balance time, and prioritize focus leading to less opportunity to engage in potential sexual encounters or negative health-risk behavior (bean, forneris, & halsall, 2014; noguiera et al., 2016). but, when the surveyed respondents were asked about this, only 56% indulged in dancing (most girls), while 44% were into sports (dominantly boys). and, roughly 59% and 50% spent not more than 30 minutes a week respectively. with a follow-up question, why? teens preferred to consume time on social media updates or stalking their crushes (sm3, sf2), and their parents were unsupportive (sm5, t1). whereas for those dance troupe members, interesting to note, instead of developing sisterhood/brotherhood they were vulnerable to tendencies in ese due to consecutive overnights and out-oftown (sm2, sf7, p3). thus, for effectiveness, it is essential to adopt a wholesome activity-focused intervention where culture, values, and parental-involvement are given importance (t7) (merkel, 2013; sluijs & kriemler, 2016; sutherland et al., 2016). “it’s useless and not motivating when my parents were not there to support me.” sm5 (male-student) teens’ perception of sexuality as categorized by sexual desire, sexual orientation/background, and sexual behavior, was highlighted. with an average weighted mean (awm) score of 2.61, it can be denoted that the surveyed participants can be categorically considered having the moderate level of sexual desire. as claimed, their urged for ese was part of their notion of “expression of love” (sm3, sf6, and sf7). and such “repeat episodes” were their way to show “faithfulness” to their teen-partners (sf5, sf6). regarding sexual orientation/ background, this group has limited knowledge (awm = 2.83) on possible consequence when involved in ese. they believed that having one sexual partner was safe, and getting pregnant was “by chance” or will only happen for 113 international peer reviewed journal 20 years old and above individuals (sm7, sf2). with a follow-up question in case pregnancy will occur, both genders were confident that “their families are still willing to support them” (sm2, sm4, sf4, sf6). unfortunately, among this teen-cohort 73% were already teen-parents at the early ages between 14 – 18 years old. lastly, it can be depicted that respondents didn’t care about their future and the aftermath of ese (awm = 2.77). for them, it was their only option to stick in temporary relationships and so-called happiness (sm4, sf4, and sf7). noticeably, more than a half of them were forced to quit schooling to do new parenting responsibilities. “as a partner, i did my part because i love him. and if by accident, i got pregnant at least to the man whom i love.” sf7 (female-student) when the correlation of all variables was analyzed, only sexual desire (0.035) and parental monthly income (0.019) were highly significant. however, when re-explored using a cross-fgd, an interrelated pattern was overarching: seeking for parental role more than the financial satisfaction, teenagers were seeking for quality parental-relationship where: (1) they felt accepted and not judged (sm1, sm3, sm4, sf1, sf6, t3); (2) there is comfort, in which not too stiff nor authoritative; but instead there are respect and open-mindedness (sm2, sm7, sf2, sf3); (3) time to listen attentively and actively talk with them, in pains, sorrows and joy (sm5, sf7,p2, t4); (4) knowledgeable to guide them on the holistic approach towards “sex-matters” appropriate to age (sm2, sf3, p4, t7). as an effect, teens seek parental affection to others, to whom they felt temporary happiness and acceptance (sm6, sf1, and t3). “how i wish my parents have time to listen and understand me.” p2 (teen’s-mother) blinded to values a weak foundation of quality parent-adolescent relationship only inculcated anxiety, anger, low self-esteem and poor value-formation to teenagers (t4, t6). in turn, they started to become rebellious to their parents by doing activities under irresponsible decision-making (sm2, sm3, sf4, sf7). they never mind on self114 jpair multidisciplinary research respect (sm3, sm7, sf1), role setting (sf1, sf7), and worst they perceived discipline as “against their will or human rights” (sm3, sm4, sf2, sf7). adolescents are becoming blinded because of their internal pessimism (p2, t3). they cannot find happiness at home that they preferred enjoying with their peers and boyfriends/girlfriends instead (sm3, sm4, sf5, and sf7). interestingly, in some cases, they were deceived by their partner’s hopeful promises and material tokens given (sm3, sf2). they’ll do everything to make their partners happy and satisfied, to stick to an uncertain relationship (sf3, sf4). “parental-role was a big factor why i indulged into ese. i felt unloved and not important.” sf6 (female-student) “youth today are aggressive or ‘super-hot.’ most of them would dare such a thing (ese) without thinking its possible consequences.” p6 (teen’s father) “admittedly, they immediately gave up their dignity because they were deceived by their suitor’s gifts and material things that we couldn’t afford to provide.” p7 (teen’s-mother) tearful regrets this was the period of a lot “ifs and buts.”unwanted pregnancy due to ese bears serious repercussions to both teen-dads and teen moms. such a circumstance was associated with multiple long-term negative outcomes. ambivalence started to arose in their mind whether to hold new responsibilities or to continue growing up as a teenager (sm2, sm4, and sf5). between genders, females were carrying the greater burden. aside from struggling about herself and her baby’s future, they’re unsure whether their boyfriends will marry and support them, if there is “forever,” or leave them hanging (sf1, sf6). not only teens have remorse, their parents as well have regrets why such circumstances or “curse” repeatedly happening to their children, yet they were powerless to thwart it (p3; p7). “if only i have listened to my parents and refused, for the sake of my dignity.” sf1 (female-student) 115 international peer reviewed journal “being a teen-dad was difficult. i have to take extra-responsibility at my age.” sm3 (male-student) findings showed that the srh program lacks a family-based intervention. albeit, socio-economic is highly correlated; however, the quality of parental care has clearer ingrain why teenagers were pushed to ese. irrefutably, teen’s life is a mixed-bag of uncertain emotions and doubts. this is their crucial developmentalphase, where they seek quality time with their parents, who are unfortunately over-working or ill-prepared. in turn, gargantuan pessimism is developed in their intra-being; unconsciously pulverizing their premature inculcated personal values. because of being desperate, adolescent(s) search affection of a parentalfigure to others: friends/partners, to fill-in their feeling-of-emptiness. they tend to blind themselves, doing activities without thinking its cons, just to fit into an unsure relationship where they find comfort and acceptance. such poor decisions, eventually, lead to independent regrets, whereby what they can only do in the end is to let their powerless tears fell. in the adults’ perspectives, blames are usually pushed to teenagers why they did this and that; without considering that the types of their activities were merely by-products of their parental relationships. it is important to note that adolescents are not liable for their risky sexual activities. they engaged in ese at their early age because their parents deprived them of their rights to the quality parent-adolescent relationship. this calls urgency that instead of providing tampering panacea, parents should be taught with both basic pieces of knowledge on youth’s srh and their crucial developmental needs. conclusion therefore, parental-role and value formation interplay significantly in adolescent’s perception and lure for sexual activity. the quality of parentadolescent relationship has clearer ingrain, why teens indulged in ese. translational research results of this research paper may be translated through a journal article for publications. further, this can be used as a scientific reference to re-engineer the sex-education curriculum in the country and the conservative nations in the asia 116 jpair multidisciplinary research pacific. furthermore, it can be utilized as the basis to draft future resolutions and national policies relevant to the youth’s sexual and reproductive health rights. recommendation sex-education curriculum must encapsulate filipino culture and values to its core objectives, filling-in the parental lapses. moreover, the campaign for srh should be extended among parents, allowing them to be edified on the holistic youth’s development and welfare. findings generated do not only robust the insights on how-and-why the proposed-intervention be incorporated into the teaching strategies, but also allows more in-depth evaluation approaches. literature cited adogu, p., udigwe, i., nwabueze, a., adinma, e., udigwe, g., &onwasigwe, c. 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(2015). differential social evaluation of pregnant teens, teen mothers and teen fathers by university students.  international journal of adolescence and youth, 20(1), 1-16. retrieved from https://doi.org /10.1080/02673843.2014.963630 https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-7-6 https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2014.963630 https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2014.963630 78 jpair multidisciplinary research perceived effects of texting and the spelling skills of high school students in misamis university joel t. aclao orcid no. 0000-0001-5507-5868 joeltaclao@gmail.com misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines ashley faye a. aclao orcid no. 0000-0001-7517-584x ashleyfayeaclao@gmail.com high school department, misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines ken willem s. estrada orcid no. 0000-0002-6773-6309 kenwillemestrada@gmail.com high school department, misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines adrian michael y. pahayahay orcid no. 0000-0002-9641-9994 adrianmichaelpahayahay@gmail.com high school department, misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines shantee nicole g. regalado orcid no. 0000-0002-7815-5147 shanteenicoleregalado@gmail.com high school department, misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.236 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 79 international peer reviewed journal gina a. tomo orcid no. 0000-0003-0228-3254 ginatomo@gmail.com high school department, misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines abstract text messaging or texting is economical and fastest means of exchanging written messages, hence, become popular and affordable to students. its limited characters make texters follow a system of texting called “textese” as to its effects to users. this study examined the relationship between the perceived effects of texting and the spelling skills of the high school students in misamis university. the results show that the students are highly aware of the positive and negative effects of texting. the students have a good level of spelling skills despite being avid texters. the study failed to gather evidences to associate the perceived effects of texting and the spelling skills of the students. however, students revealed that texting disturbs their study time, and they use texting in classroom cheating. the study calls for a regulation on the use of mobile phones during classes as this could be used by the students in academic dishonesty. keywords – texting, cellular phone, texters and textese, perceived effects, spelling skills, descriptive-correlational study introduction the rise of mobile inventions has increased the use of text messaging or texting by people all around the world. texting feature in cellular phones has become a “blessing” for most of the people. this feature has made communication very easy to everyone. philippines is tagged as the “texting capital of the world” (ahn media corporation, 2009). using cellular phones with limited characters, text message users or “texters” sacrifice correct use of language for fast and easy communication. texters use write in all lowercase or all capital letters, omit spaces between words, and alter the spelling of words to communicate faster to their families and friends (starovoit, 2012; tomita, 2009). 80 jpair multidisciplinary research over the years, “texters” have saved time by creating a new form of shorthand known as “textese”. textese developed contractions and nonstandard spellings to reduce the length of words for fast text messaging. texting becomes the fastest and the cheapest among the communication fad because of its shortened messages. this feature permits people to communicate with each other regardless of distance (montiel & estuar, 2006; myhra, 2010; ling & baron, 2007; crystal, 2008). moreover, the overuse of texting has been detrimental to the way students write formally in the classroom and the real world. the character limitations on text messages have caused students to form their own style of writing. frequent use this style has caused them to carry it over to formal writing projects. although students are writing more than ever, they are writing with terrible grammar and are abbreviating words they write (myhra, 2010). some teachers think that abbreviations used in text messaging are negatively affecting students’ written english. they reported that students write and submit papers without regard to proper punctuation, good grammar, and standard abbreviations (o’connor, 2005). the literature described above reveals that previous research studies on text messaging have only collected data from foreign countries. very few studies were conducted on the subject matter in the philippine setting. furthermore, most of the studies related the effects of texting to the students’ communication skills in general. the present investigation described the relationship between the perceived effects of texting and the spelling skills of the high school students in misamis university. framework the conflicting ideas that texting has both positive and negative effects to students communication skills served as the basis of the study. there are different effects of frequent text messaging. the effects could be in spelling and grammar (rusell, 2010; yau-hau tse, 2012). texting weakens the spelling skills and grammar to texters. text abbreviation has a negative effect on the texters’ academic work (dansieh, 2011; rosen et al., 2009). text messaging does not pose a threat as many fear it does. the more students write, the more they improve their writing skills. mobile phone text messaging can enhance children’s spelling skills. the use of textisms can improve literacy among children as it gives them extra exposure to word composition outside the school (crystal, 2008; paton, 2011). text messaging could be considered as 81 international peer reviewed journal another language. learning a new language does not necessarily affect a student’s ability to use english grammar; text messaging as another language cannot either (russell, 2010). these conflicting effects of experiences with texting need further study (plester, et al., 2008). in this investigation, the researchers assessed both the positive and negative effects of texting. it considered the perceived effects of texting as a variable that affects the spelling skills of the students. objective of the study this study explored the significant relationship between the perceived effects of texting and the spelling skills of high school students in misamis university. this study assumes that the perceived effects of texting significantly relate to the students’ spelling skills. methodology the study used descriptive correlational method of research. the researchers believed that descriptive correlational research is appropriate in describing relationships among variables where the researcher has no control over the independent variables (lappe, 2000). the researchers conducted the study in the high school department of misamis university. misamis university is a private non-sectarian institution located in ozamiz city, northern mindanao, philippines. the respondents of this study were the sophomores, juniors and seniors of the high school department of the university. using the slovin’s formula, a sample size of 143 students was obtained from the total population of 224. however, only 130 of the 143 (90.91 %) students voluntarily participated in the study. at the time of the study, high school department of the misamis university was composed of sophomores, juniors and seniors. freshmen (renamed grade 7 schoolers) were excluded because the group is no longer under the supervision of the department. in this study, male and female students are well-represented (f = 55.00 %, m = 45.00 %). the respondents had ages ranging from 13 – 16 years old (96.00 %); they used nokia phones (38.00 %), samsung phones (31.00 %), cherry mobile phones (18.00 %), and lg, myphone, iphone, star mobile and motorola units (13.00 %). the respondents were smart network subscribers (83.0 0 %); with an average weekly allowance of php 50.00 (82.00 %); and they sent about 100 messages a 82 jpair multidisciplinary research day (80.00 %). in gathering data, the study employed effects of texting questionnaire (etq) and spelling test. etq is a researcher-made questionnaire; hence it underwent validation and reliability testing. originally, etq had 15 items in each subscale, but after the validation and reliability processes, 10 items left for each subscale. the questionnaire obtained a cronbach’s alpha of 0.79 and 0.89 for the positive and negative effects subscales respectively. the study utilized an online material for the spelling test. the material is originally composed of 15 items. after the processes of validation and reliability, 12 items left for the final form. the instrument has a cronbach’s alpha of 0.68 which denotes that the material reached a moderate level of reliability (bergeron et al., 2010). prior to the data-gathering, the researchers asked permission from the principal, and they also sought consent from each respondent and their parent. they informed the student-respondents that respondents’ identity is secured, and they are free to discontinue if they get disinterested in the study. the study used descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation to describe the students’ perceived effects of texting and their spelling skills. the researchers computed pearson product moment correlation (pearson r) to establish significant relationship between the perceived effects of texting and the students’ spelling skills results and discussion perceived effects of texting data (table 1) show that the respondents perceived a high degree of positive effects of texting (m = 3.10). the survey reveals that texting makes students communication quick and fast. it enables them communicate with their classmates silently to more than one person at once anytime and anywhere. the respondents perceived the item to have very high positive effects of texting in their lives as students. in the survey, students reveal that texting has a little effect in developing their writing skills; contradictory to the findings of petrillo (2006) which says that text messaging is giving students an exposure to the written words, which relates to a higher literacy attainment. the data (table 1) also show that the students perceived a high level of negative effects of texting (m = 2.83). students confessed that texting disturbs 83 international peer reviewed journal them during study time. this means that the students realized that texting got a portion of their study time that could eventually affect their school performance. as also revealed, texting enables students to cheat in the classroom. studies proved that students used texting to cheat during school examinations among students. students sent text messages containing answers during examinations (starovoit, 2012). the findings are alarming to teachers and school administrators. with this, the study recommends that schools and teachers prohibit students to use cell phones during classes. spelling skills of high school students the result of the spelling test (table 1) shows that the students had a “good” level (m = 7.66) of spelling skills. this means that out of the 12-item test, on the average students got 7 items correctly. as good texters, students still spell words at a good level. this finding negates the ideas that texting weakens the spelling skills and grammar of the texters and it affects negatively on the texters’ academic work (dansieh, 2011; rosen et al., 2009). educators criticized the invented spelling used in texting because it appears that students are learning bad habits by misspelling words (snow, burns, & griffin, 1998), but as students learn more about spelling, their invented spellings become more sophisticated to reflect their new knowledge. even if in texting students spell some words incorrectly, they still have chances of spelling more and more words correctly as they move through the stages of spelling development (tompkins, 2013). table 1. perceived effects of texting and the students’ level of spelling test variables mean sd perceived effects of texting positive 3.09 0.42 negative 2.82 0.64 spelling test 7.66 2.32 notes: effects of texting scale: very high (3.26 -4.00); high (2.51 – 3.25); low (1.76 – 2.50); and very low (1.00 – 1.75). spelling skills scale: very good (10-12); good (79); fair (4 6); and poor (1 3). 84 jpair multidisciplinary research correlation between the perceived effects of texting and the students’ spelling skills results of the correlation show that both the perceived positive effects (r = 0.04, p = 0.64) and negative effects (r = 0.02; p = 0.82) of texting are not significantly correlated with the students’ spelling skills. the r value of -0.04 would mean that the perceived positive effects of texting and the spelling skills of the students have weak negative linear relationship (paler-calmorin & calmorinpiedad, 2009). if the positive effects of texting gets lower, the spelling skills of the students gets better. it could also mean that as students apportion greater time for text messaging, which leads to the use of shorthand method of texting, their spelling and grammar skills deteriorate (garrido & viernes, 2011). in this study, the relationship between the variables is weak and not significant hence it is not alarming. the r value of 0.020 denotes that the linear relationship between the perceived negative effects of texting and the students’ spelling skills yet positive but weak. this finding is consistent with the preliminary investigation on the linguistic aspects of text messaging, that there is no significant effect and difference between the spelling and grammar efficiency of students who own cellular phones and those who do not. the respondents’ proficiency in spelling and grammar is independent to whether they have cellular phones or not. among owners of cellular phones, their frequent text messaging does not affect their spelling and grammar proficiency (laurilla, 2009). though this study failed to gather evidences that texting affects the students’ spelling skills, parents and teachers should not be complacent on this finding. harmful effects of text messaging on students’ writing skills are yet to become a major threat. this is the best time to adopt conscious and pragmatic measures to prevent the phenomenon from further worsening students’ writing skills (dansieh, 2011). conclusions the high school students are highly aware of the positive and negative effects of texting. they are good in spelling. the students’ being avid texters does not influence their good level of spelling skills. parents 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http://goo.gl/brbviw. tompkins, g 2013 stages of spelling development. retrieved on january 11, 2014, from http://goo.gl/ckwcc2 tse, a. y. 2011 impacts of short message service texting on university students in malaysia. asian social science, 108-110. retrieved on january 11, 2014 from http://goo.gl/pfmswi. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. 159 international peer reviewed journal leadership practices among private higher education institutions: basis for transformational leadership model jinky m. navia https://orcid.org/000-0002-2038-3761 jinkynavia799@gmail.com bicol college daraga albay, philippines theresa t. nasser https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-5611 theresatabuenanasser@yahoo.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract leadership is the foundation and basis of an organization’s success. its context has been melded in private higher education institutions by the shifts in technological modes of teaching and learning and its response to the demand of the new generation and competition. the purpose of this research is to identify leadership practices and their effectiveness that will help private higher education vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.443 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:jinkynavia799@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 160 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 institutions achieve institutional goals and vision, manage their operations, maintain good relationships, and lead with a high-quality education. the study used a quantitative research design to determine and assess the effectiveness of leadership practices among private education institutions in the 2nd district of albay, likewise using descriptive statistics to interpret the study findings. the analyzed data revealed that the respondents ‘agree’ that their institutional leaders have demonstrated their management skills in terms of academic leadership (3.43), human resources (3.29), financial resources (3. 15), and facilities and equipment (3.09); thus, their leadership skills along intrapersonal skills (3.34), interpersonal skills (3.3), and innovation skills (3.18). however, there are problems encountered by the respondents along with the leadership skills of their leaders. therefore, developing a transformational model is necessary to address further development and ensure their long-term success and sustainability. keywords — institutional research, innovation skills, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, private higher education institutions, quantitative research design, philippines introduction in the lively changes of the new era or the 21st century, private higher education institutions (pheis) are not free from transitions and challenges along with other business organizations. its context has been melded by the shifts in modes of teaching and learning, impacts of technology, mobility of students and its response to the demand of the new generation, and increase in competition among private institutions. nowadays, leaders of different organizations are facing more diverse difficulties in managing every aspect of an organization, from daily operations to the achievement of their goals, due to constant threats which include inevitable disruptions and technological innovations. it also became a struggle for them to develop competitive people as well as a sustaining partnerships with their stakeholders (yildiz & budur, 2019). leadership is the foundation and basis of an organization’s success, and the person who initiates and drives the path to its success crucially enhances the skills of his people to ensure the organization’s profitability even through challenges (toker, 2022). it is a function and not just a role of showing direction and influence to the followers, so a leader must be a real 161 international peer reviewed journal collaborator who shares goals to achieve by providing a sense of purpose and vision (budur, 2020). in line with this, leadership is required to provide and create great value in producing results in terms of procedures, knowledge, and innovation (shaw et al., 2021). academic administrators must possess the right effective skills, such as learning skills, literacy, and life skills, which are also called the “transversal,” “transferable,” and “soft” skills or competencies, to create the change necessary for the institution which people can also follow, as it ensures education system that goes beyond cognitive domain to improve learning outcomes (vivekanandan & louis, 2020). to support this, biao (2018) mentioned that these skills, including global citizenship, problem-solving, and ict and digital literacy (mcnulty, 2018), impact academic success, so they must complement foundational skills. in the academe, the leaders are those who take responsibility and multifunctions. these leaders are responsible for providing equity among students and faculties, managing the school’s resources, and identifying and resolving conflicts within the institution (budur et al., 2021; mohammed et al., 2020). as mentioned by yildiz and budur (2019), they are also helping teachers in creating and developing techniques in the delivery of instructions and means to attain a higher learning rate for student satisfaction. leadership is not a generalized function since it includes leading in training and developing interpersonal skills, thinking critically in creating a vision, and leading people for collaboration and motivation (ali et al., 2020). thus, simple words cannot define leadership since its nature is beyond just accomplishing tasks, especially during transitions (altun, 2017). changes and challenges have remarkably become the nature of the education system. as of 2020, there are 1,949 higher education institutions in the philippines, and the number of students enrolled in private higher education institutions reached 1.83 million, according to international trade administration [ita] (2022). in this regard, the philippine department of education and the commission on higher education (ched) then led the transition of the philippine education system that started in 2016. in the bicol region, there are 115 pheis recognized, wherein 22 pheis are in the 2nd district of albay. as of 2018–2019, ched recorded that 72,336 students were engaged in pheis. sixty-seven percent (67%) or 44,638 were enrolled in 19 large universities and more than 1,000 students in pheis. thirty-eight percent (38%) or 27 698 students were administered among 162 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the 96 pheis with fewer than 1,000 students, also known as small pheis. to effectively attend to these students, the potential of ict development in leaders and faculties is recognized to enable creative working, and critically analyze digital information to address the problem (mcnulty, 2018). according to dayagbil et al. (2021), it is determined that higher education institutions must swift to flexible teaching and learning methods, encourage the faculty, upgrade the infrastructure, implement a strategic plan, and evaluate and modify every aspect of the plan to ensure teaching and learning continuity. in 1970, the presidential commission to survey philippine education (pcspe) stated policies and recommendations to strengthen higher education. among others, it recommended that schools should join or organize accrediting associations and that a federation of accrediting agencies (faap) be established. laws and regulations have been provided to state the government’s policy on accreditation to ensure quality education. some of the pheis accreditation bodies are the philippine accrediting association of schools, colleges, and universities (paascu) and the philippine association of colleges and universities commission on accreditation (pacucoa), wherein the paascu process promotes principles and practices standards to ensure the existence of excellent institutions, which detailed eight areas and 23 standards that should be met by the applicants. in contrast, the pacucoa specified its principles, characteristics, and process of accreditation and standards for a phei to pass for its accreditation. to meet these needs and address the current problem, including teaching, the conduct of research, and the pheis’ contribution to society, the development of educational institutions focused on learning management systems which give them the opportunity to deliver training and learning effectively (yusuf et al., 2019). the downside of the application of technology, along with the adjustment of policies and facilities in the institutions, also became a burden to all involved and concerned. the management of the facilities also impacts opportunities (atkin & bildsten, 2017); therefore, this is a clear call for an effective and competent academic leader, thus, must have a wide range of management and leadership skills (ariffin et al., 2022). in conducting this study, the presidents and administrators of pheis will be delighted to sustain high-quality education for students and faculty teaching and development. accreditation standards will be met, and internal 163 international peer reviewed journal institutional issues will be resolved through the results and recommendations gathered and formulated to be applied relevant to a transformational leadership model that will be designed to be suitable for every institution. the proposed and designed leadership model may provide more insights and strategy to surpass difficult times faced by the leaders and administrators in sustaining the academic business life span. this study will be conducted to identify leadership practices and their effectiveness that will be of help to private higher education institutions in terms of skills and abilities, as well as the challenges that affect or serve as an obstacle in achieving institutional goals and vision, along with the management of their operations, maintaining a good relationship with their stakeholders and leading with high-quality education and motivation for its faculties and employees. objectives of the study the main objective of this study is to determine the leadership practices of pheis in the province of albay. specifically, this study aims to: (1) determine the leadership practices of pheis in the 2nd district of albay in terms of academic leadership, human resources, financial resources, and facilities and equipment, (2) assess the effectiveness of the leadership practices of pheis in terms of intrapersonal skills, interpersonal, and innovation skills, (3) identify the challenges encountered by the pheis along the abovementioned variables, and (4) propose a transformational leadership model for pheis. framework various theories on leadership have been presented in numerous studies to explain the behaviors and practices of existing influencers and instructional leaders. however, changes are constant and at full tilt. thus, it is crucial to identify the skills of an individual who will manage and influence entire organizations and institutions, especially in changing situations (korejan & shahbazi, 2016). this study is embedded in administrative leadership theory, behavioral theory, transactional theory, and transformational leadership theory, which served as a supporting framework in the conceptualization and conduct of the study. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the theories support this present study. the significance of each theory to the research is relevant and connected, in which a firm conclusion can be formulated from them. the focus of this study is the leadership practices of pheis and their effectiveness in identifying the challenges encountered by the administrators and the pheis, and to be guided in designing the transformational leadership model for pheis in general and make way for change implementation for the institution’s competence and sustainability. administrative leadership theory is about influencing people to move and develop the organization. successful administrative leaders effectively establish systems that ensure and sustain necessary operational functions to meet the needs of their respective institutions. administrative leadership or management theory was proposed by henry fayol in 1841, which has two important aspects, which are operational leadership and strategic leadership. operational leadership refers to the activities such as hiring, mentoring, and supervising staff, planning and monitoring budgets and establishing and maintaining a positive work environment and climate. meanwhile, strategic leadership involves leading the direction of the organization with a futuristic and positive mind. the leaders explain the purpose and their vision meaningfully, inspire their people to pursue the shared vision, and make sure their goals and outcomes are aligned and both achieved. this theory is embedded in this study to determine the leadership practices of the pheis in the 2nd district of albay and explain how the academic leaders manage their respective institutions in terms of four variables which are academic leadership, human resources, financial resources, and facilities and equipment. the administrative leadership theory supports and guide the leaders on what and how an effective institution is achieved to meet the expectation of its staff and constituencies, relevant to the work of teaching and learning, and achieve program outcomes, as well as establishing systems to run a healthy, competitive institution productively and efficiently. in the field of education, these functions are typically considered management functions and are valued as the leaders’ important responsibilities and abilities that they must possess. another theory is the behavioral theory of ralph stogdill (1948), which claims that leaders can be taught and suggests that in every situation, a different skill is required, especially in making decisions and communicating to their people the decisions they have made. hence, a successful leader must have all the factors and qualities suggested since their influence on their 165 international peer reviewed journal people as motivation will impact the performance and condition of their people, as well as meeting their needs, which is also significant to ensure organizational performance. these abilities are those that administrative leaders must acquire. the behavioral theory supports how the different skills of the academic leaders or the presidents of the pheis must be demonstrated and valued, as it impacts not only the performance of the employees and the learning of the students; rather, it is a significant factor and key for the holistic change and success of the institution. aside from the latter, the transactional leadership theory, also known as rational-legal leadership, extended by max weber in 1947, is also used. in this regard, transactional leaders move people only through the exchange of interests, which means that employees are not self-motivated and only conform to the set structure of the organization that only focuses on outcomes or results and is dependent on reward-penalty results that hinders the organization from achieving sure success, since it only considers the status quo, and the leader is only reactive. this elucidates how other leaders delegate, manage and lead people in their respective institutions on the leader-follower relationship. it is generally used in education in the correspondence between administrators and employees and instructors and students. relevant to the given theories, the transformational leadership approach also supported the study to understand leadership further and to build a stronger foundation for an individual to be a leader. this theory was used as a guide in designing a transformational leadership model that will be of use for pheis under the study and in general. transformational leadership theory was first introduced by james downtown (1973), expanded by macgregor burns (1978), and developed further by bernard bass (1985). its focus is on achieving optimistic change in either human or social structures. this theory helps in the integration of values, motivation, and morale of the employees for them to be flourished as their preparation to be future leaders. in other words, transformational leadership is about developing and transforming subordinates or followers into great leaders as support for the entire organization. it has already contributed to high-performance outputs and results in distinct organizations. in this approach, the strengths and weaknesses of his people are identified, along with attending to their needs and providing them support as he is leading by example to develop a sense of responsibility and obedience. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 furthermore, transformational leadership elucidates how leaders can manage change implementation through the four key factors; inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence, which are necessary for organizations. in the academe, especially in private higher institutions, it is also important to acknowledge the importance of transformational leadership since teaching faculties and even non-teaching personnel are required to coordinate and collaborate with the administrators as leaders. this will strengthen relationships and will eventually create a positive impact on their performance in achieving institutional goals, especially in the encountered swift process transitions that greatly impact internal operations. thus, this study suggests a corresponding transformational leadership theory that will lead to more integrated, effective management and direction of the institutions by means of creativity and new insights for the institution and its people (susilo, 2019). all the theories that support this study elucidate the significant factors that impact and determine the success and life of every business, especially in terms of the effectiveness of leadership practices in pheis (arjona, 2021). the personal trait theory and behavioral theory feature that leaders have a great influence on their people in terms of motivation and communication, which bridges the gaps between employee and employer relationships as well as the flow of institutional operations (aizza anwar et al., 2018). conversely, transactional leadership and transformational leadership theory emphasize the significant differences in their effectiveness as applied in diverse types of institutions, which bring positive results in organizational competitiveness through innovation and creativity in implementing change (sugiana et al., 2021). thus, it is supported that transformational leadership is the most dominant and must be integrated to ensure institutional sustainability and its lifespan (thompson & glasø, 2018). in relevance to this, to ensure the effectiveness of transformational leadership practices, there must be a useful model for change leadership practices for recommending measures to address the difficulties in implementing the latter type of leadership. this can serve as a guide or road map for the institution’s working group and their leaders, which will enhance faculty and staff capacity and overall institutional success (kositpimanvach et al., 2021). to further elucidate the theoretical discussion, the paradigm of the study on leadership practices among private higher education institutions in the 167 international peer reviewed journal province of albay: basis for transformational leadership model is illustrated below. figure 1. paradigm of the study methodology research design the study utilized a descriptive quantitative research design since the data gathered were only used as substantial input to determine the leadership practices and assess the effectiveness of the leadership practices among the private education institution in the 2nd district of albay and to determine the changes and integration of the evaluated practices that will be of help for the participants in the operation and management of their respective institutions. 168 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 research respondents the respondents of the study were the administrators, including the vps, program heads, faculties, and non-teaching personnel from divine word college of legazpi (dwcl) and bicol college (bc), with a total of 466 staff as possible target respondents. the respondents answered the survey questionnaires to assess the effectiveness of the leadership practices among the selected pheis. the profiles of the respondents were gathered and treated with confidentiality, which is included in the questionnaire. the two colleges have a combined population of 466 staff members, 326 from divine word college of legazpi (dwcl) and 140 from bicol college (bc). instrumentation the researcher distributed survey questionnaires to the respondents, utilizing the multifactor leadership questionnaire of bass and avolio, 21st century skills, and education 4.0 as bases and guides for the effective formation of the research instrument. this instrument was used to assess the leadership practices of selected pheis along with the given variables. document analysis was also used to gather data to support the study. the survey questionnaire for the respondents included 65 questions, including their basic information as the preliminary information. the first part of the questionnaire contains questions about the leadership practices of the chosen pheis’ presidents relevant to the given variables, their strategies in leading their people, and in responding to the current crisis and managing the institution. while the second part is for the effectiveness of the leadership practices as demonstrated by the leaders of the pheis under this study. the researcher initially recognized the chosen problem and conceived the title regarding the leadership practices of presidents in private higher education institutions. subsequent to the presentation of the title and its approval by the panel with the help and consultation from the adviser, the researcher disseminated survey questionnaires to respondents by presenting beforehand the request for permission to pursue the process and conduct of the study to gather the data needed to be gathered, by having an onsite visit to each phei. the primary source for this research came from the respondents’ data gathered for analysis and inferencing. data from related research and studies, books and other articles served as secondary sources. 169 international peer reviewed journal data collection to shed further light on the sample, participants of the study were selected using the stratified random sampling technique. this technique was adopted because of the feasibility of obtaining accurate answers and access to the participants since there are different departments involved in each school. the study also adopted slovin’s formula to calculate the sample size necessary to achieve a certain confidence interval when sampling the population. the researcher made use of a 5% margin of error in slovin’s formula. using this, the researcher came up with a reliable sample size to study a given population without having to study the entire population individually (william, 2021). the study was conducted at selected private education institutions in the 2nd district of albay, including bicol college (bc) and divine word college of legazpi (dwcl). the said pheis are selected since they are the only paascu and pacucoa-accredited private colleges in the 2nd district. bicol college is a private, non-sectarian educational institution in daraga, albay. it was established in 1941 and had a branch in juban, sorsogon, called the juban institute. it offers grade school, senior high school, college, and graduate programs. while divine word college of legazpi (dwcl) sprang from a small school, liceo de albay (lda), a diocesan school of caceres for boys. the school building was at corners rizal st. and maria clara st. (now fr. joseph l. bates st.), legazpi city. the lot was donated by the calleja family of legazpi city. it also offers grade school, senior high school, college, and graduate programs. the data analysis technique used in the study was descriptive statistics. the researcher presented the data in a thematic manner and showed the results in tables to interpret the findings of the study. the weighted mean is used to treat appropriately objectives number 1 and 2. and ranking is used for objective number 3. the researcher personally conducted the tabulation and table creation to interpret the data collected based on the researcher’s analysis. results and discussion the gathered data was used to determine the respondent’s perceptions about the pheis’ administrators’ leadership practices of academic leadership, human resources, financial resources, and facilities and equipment. it assessed its effectiveness along and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and innovation skills 170 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 in managing their respective institutions to address the challenges encountered by the respondents regarding their leadership practices in providing healthy learning and working environment as well as the institution’s sustainability. leadership practices of the pheis in the 2nd district of albay this presents the perceived leadership and management practices of phei leaders in the 2nd district of albay in terms of academic leadership, human resources, financial resources, and facilities and equipment. table 1. leadership practices of pheis in 2nd district of albay. variables awm interpretation academic leadership 3.43 agree human resources 3.29 agree financial resources 3.15 agree facilities and equipment 3.09 agree average 3.24 agree table 1 shows that the total average weighted mean of the leadership practices phei a and b in terms of the four variables was (3.24), interpreted as ‘agree.’ the facilities and equipment obtained the lowest average weighted mean of 3.09, while academic leadership got an average of 3.43. this implies that the leaders of both pheis have good leadership and management skills, which is supported in the article by tufts university (2020) entitled “at a glance: academic leader’s role and responsibilities,” wherein it includes that academic leaders are also responsible also for the administration of departments, the performing roles of the faculty members, enhancing personal and professional development, and providing service and support to constituencies. accordingly, in the study of watson et al. (2019), enhancing institutions’ reputation and success is provided with the essential support of the vision, mission, and academic decision-making, which only means that the leaders and administrators greatly influence the achievement of its people which impacts the institutions’ overall performance (aqqad et al., 2019). despite the positive results of this study, it implies that the management skills of educational leaders should still be refined. subsequent to the study of bessing et al. (2021) and vijayasingham et al. (2020) conclude that the educational leader roles are important to determine the increase 171 international peer reviewed journal in performance productivity because an effective leader can motivate and mentor an employee to carry out his duties with enthusiasm, dedication, and responsibility. 2. effectiveness of leadership practices of pheis in the 2nd district of albay the respondents of the two pheis were surveyed using the three variables, namely, intrapersonal skills, interpersonal, and innovation skills, to get their perspectives if these skill sets are demonstrated by their educational leaders. table 2. effectiveness of leadership practices of pheis in 2nd district of albay. variables awm interpretation intrapersonal skills 3.34 effective interpersonal skills 3.3 effective innovation skills 3.18 effective average 3.17 effective table 2 presents the intrapersonal skills, interpersonal and innovation skills of phei a and b as perceived by the three groups of respondents, the administrators, teaching staff, and non-teaching staff. as the table shows, these leadership skills obtained a total average weighted mean of 3.17, interpreted as effective. the interpersonal skills got a 3.3 average weighted mean as the lowest, while the variable that obtained the highest weighted mean of 3.34 is interpersonal skills. it is implicit that the educational leaders of the two pheis possess the skill set as they have demonstrated effectiveness. although findings showed agreeable and effective results of the leadership practices of the two (2) pheis, it is still suggested that these skills and management practices must be improved and further developed to ensure the competence and sustainability of the institutions. according to spina et al. (2021), continuous improvement is an important principle in managing quality in higher education as it empowers the institution to be globally competitive. higher education institutions are now in a new generation of digital transformation, where they need to adapt to the challenges caused by this to achieve in emerging competitions since this modern era is an opportunity to integrate technology, escalate resources (human, financial, facilities, and equipment) and develop dynamic changes and a model for transformational leadership that will aid enhance the academic leaders’ practices. 172 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 as supported by barasa (2021), the technology-driven skills will integrate other competencies such as critical thinking, decision-making, communication, and collaboration for more effective management of academic institutions and the achievement of its goals. 3. challenges encountered by the respondents of pheis a & along intrapersonal skills, interpersonal and innovation skills in the given results, both phei a and b have effectively demonstrated the required skills in promoting quality education and an integrated work environment. however, there are identified challenges that imply that there is still a need for more developments and strategies to overcome the inevitable changes they encounter, to meet demands and achieve institutional goals successfully. it is assumed by yusuf et al. (2020) that the education 4.0 revolution addresses the problem, which is crucial for the institution’s owners and administrators as it affects their business, the performance of its people, and the learning of the students. conclusions based on the gathered data, the researcher concluded that: the leadership practices of pheis were appraised as effective by the respondents in terms of academic management, human resources, financial resources, as well as the facilities and equipment that are perceived as important factors in establishing a competent institution. carrying out these functions with the ability of the academic leaders impacts the productivity and performance of their employees, student learning, and achievement of institutional goals. this is based on administrative leadership theory  by henry fayol in 1841, which elucidated that it is about influencing people to move and develop the organization, and successful administrative leaders effectively establish goals that ensure and sustain necessary operational functions to meet the needs of their respective institutions. likewise, the behavioral and transactional theories feature that leaders have a great influence on their people in terms of motivation and communication, which bridges the gaps between employee and employer relationships as well as the flow of institutional operations (aizza anwar et al., 2018). the academic leaders of the pheis hold effective personal skills in leading and managing their people and respective institutions based on the 173 international peer reviewed journal results. these skills, which include intrapersonal skills, and interpersonal and innovation skills, are required to build a healthy work and learning environment, as well as strengthen relationships. anchored on the 21st century skills and education 4.0, an academic leader must possess and demonstrate this skill set to make changes and improvements for school growth, which is a necessary action to be competent and achieve excellence, such as technological advancement that must be acquired and provided, since we are already in a modern phase of educational system and condition. stauffer (2022) also affirmed that these skills are considered to help students and education facilitators to carry on with the speedy pace of this generation. based on the given results, the respondents have encountered challenges regarding the leadership skills of their pheis’ leaders. these leaders must understand and consider continual personal improvement and development to help their employees accomplish their responsibilities. they must be a role model that will lead and guide their people in serving both students and society. their skills improvement will extend to their people and will strongly inspire and influence them to pursue their personal and professional development. there are still necessary actions and resolutions to make positive transformative changes in the private higher education institutions under study. this is based on transformational leadership theory introduced by james downtown (1973), expanded by macgregor burns (1978), and developed further by bernard bass (1985), which focuses on achieving optimistic change in either human or social structures. this theory helps in the integration of values, motivation, and morale of the employees for them to be flourished as their preparation to be future leaders. in this light, more effective leadership skills and strategies will aid in addressing the identified challenges of the respondents in terms of the leadership skills of their respective presidents. thus, pheis must have a transformational leadership model that will guide them in achieving their goals and sustaining their competence. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated through international journal article publications or various media of communication that can disseminate information, including other materials and means such as newspapers and academic awareness campaigns. the higher education 174 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 institutions and their internal stakeholders may reconstruct their institutional policies and build a more competent and sustainable institution by enhancing their programs and implementing interventions. it can be translated by giving this as awareness and guidance to the current and future staff to practice more effective administrative policies and transformative leadership in the institution. thus, the external stakeholders will be delighted with the positive effects of the transformational practices through the services of the leaders and employees. literature cited aizza anwar, a. w., shakeel, k., & hassan, s. s. 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(2020). restructuring educational institutions for growth in the fourth industrial revolution (4ir): a systematic review. int. j. emerg. technol. learn., 15(3), 93-109. 1 international peer reviewed journal strategic management and social responsibility practices of lending institutions domely eroy – tortola http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5519-359 domelytortola@gmail.com cas-jrmsu tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this study aimed to determine the strategic management and social responsibility practices of lending institutions in zamboanga del norte during the year 2018. the descriptive method of research was used with 372 respondents. frequency counts, percentages, and pearson product moment correlation (r) were used. results revealed that the majority of lending institutions were in operation for three years and below. the lending institutions often did strategic management in terms of strategic analysis, strategic decision-making, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic control. economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities were often manifested by the lending institutions involved in the study. a significant relationship was noted between strategic management and social responsibility practices. it is recommended that most of the lending industries need to monitor and review the strategic management practiced by their employees. further, lending institutions are a neophyte in the service and not very familiar with how they play the field of competition; they should assess the competition and potential threats that can affect operation in the market. the top management needs to monitor and review the strategic management practiced by its employees. further, lending vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.697 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research institutions are enjoined to sustain or improve their social responsibility with regards to philanthropic responsibility as this would create a long-lasting impression better image towards their stakeholders. keywords — strategic management, social responsibility, decision making, lending institutions, philanthropic responsibilities, mindanao, philippines introduction the turn of the 21st century revolutionized the advent of the new economy which is supported by the increasing role of knowledge and communications (technology) in business. this brings about issues and challenges of innovation and technology change. along with this view, jofre (2011) asserted that globalization tends to underscore matters such as business ethics, standardization, international markets, and what managers call global scale strategies.   by this, strategic management as a field of research and practice moved from specific firm issues towards the broad and complex dynamics of systems beyond the organizational boundaries. strategic management is a continuous process of strategy creation, execution, and evaluation of cross-functional decisions to enable the lending organization to achieve its goals and objectives. strategic management process goes through strategic analysis, strategic decision-making, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic control. when these specific processes are executed and managed creatively, distinctly and strategically, the organization can ultimately achieve organizational success (young, 2015). however, while profitability is the criterion of success of the business (arthur, thompson, strickland, & janes, 2010) and its first responsibility, it is not its only responsibility, because, the business has a responsibility to pursue policies and make decisions and actions that are desirable in terms of objectives and values. this that benefit society is termed corporate social responsibility. pachamama (2018) cited the work of carrol argued that corporate social responsibility encompasses the economic, legal, philanthropic, and ethical expectations that society has of organizations. social responsibility is built on an ethics system, in which decisions and actions must be ethically validated before proceeding. if the response or resolution causes hardship or gross disadvantage to the community or the society, then, it would be accounted to be socially irresponsible. 3 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, corporate social responsibility implies that organizations must behave ethically and be sensitive to social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues. it includes compliance with legal and ethical standards, corporate governance, environmental protection and protection of public health and safety. an ethical business environment creates trust from customers and employees, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, stronger employee commitment, and improved quality, all of which lead to higher profits (evans & lindsay, 2014). according to medina (2014 lending institutions, like any other business enterprises, are required to conform to regulatory requirements and ethical practices. as such, lending institutions as business enterprises, are expected to be fair and honest, beyond obeying the law, they should not knowingly harm customers, clients and competitors through deception, coercion or misrepresentation, or providing false and misleading information about their products and services. moreover, van duuren, plantinga, and scholtens (2016) underscore social responsibility as legitimizing the business enterprise’s economic performance and also appearing as the absorption of the fundamental principles of business ethics. by and large, the extent to which the lending institutions practice the aspects of social responsibility is reflective of the value system of the organization. there is an increasing number of people who think that business decision making must not only consider profit maximization (barclift, 2012), but businesses should also voluntarily contribute to solving social issues as their moral responsibility. this is most applicable in local situations where the informal business sectors in the places studied has come to rely on lending institutions for steady capitalization of their small enterprise. also, the unemployed become engaged and productive in many ways from the startup capital sourced out from their loan proceeds. small-scale farmers too depend on lending institutions for farm maintenance. it has become a trend for the majority of conditional cash transfer beneficiaries enrolling in lending institutions to augment financial aids for their incomegenerating projects. there are instances when even the regular salary earners seek loans from lending institutions. in dire financial needs, people have come to depend on lending institutions for immediate cash assistance. the ease for no-hassle loans in which the ordinary man on the street could immediately avail of essentially makes one of the factors which render lending institutions as a thriving industry. their strategic direction possibly makes them a mainstay in the financial market despite the fierce competition of service 4 jpair multidisciplinary research providers, both from government financial institutions as well as from nongovernment sectors. the reason why, in spite of bankruptcy or fall of large financial institutions is publicly announced, one can see that business operation of local lending institutions continues to flourish and remain stable. assumptions why lending institutions remain in the business for academic and scientific purposes. compelled the researcher to conduct this study. this study will give a new perspective on how lending institutions operate in the 21st century. it aimed to determine which of the lending institutions in the province of zamboanga del norte consistently employ the phases of a strategic management process, as well as the extent in which these business organizations practice their social responsibility. methodology this study employed a descriptive method of research. this study was conducted among the lending institution in the entire province of zamboanga del norte. there were three groups involved in the study, namely; the owners and/or management and staff of the lending institutions under study, their clients and customers, and the selected local government unit employees and/ or barangay officials/ employees in the lending institution’s area of business operation. the grouping was made to validate the data generated from the respondents. in totality, there were 372 respondents including the 145 lending institutions operating in the province understudy. economic development is as apparent in the province of zamboanga del norte as the number of lending institutions operating in the province is increasing, serving and catering to the needs of constituents who are financially tight. being the commercial hubs of zamboanga del norte, liloy, tampilisan, sindangan, maukan, katipunan, dipolog city, and dapitan city are the sites of branch offices of sec-registered lending institutions in these places. thus, all the lending institutions operating in these municipalities and cities were utilized as participants in this study, except those few who declined. what impact do these lending institutions have to the community where they are operating gave reasons to the conduct of the study? necessary official permission was processed. under the principle of research ethics, consent of the respondents was sought. likewise, the three groups of participants were informed about the nature of the study, as well as assured of the confidentiality in the treatment of the research data gathered. upon approval of 5 international peer reviewed journal the personalities mentioned above, fielding of the instrument proceeded subject to the consent of the identified participants. the researcher administered two sets of questionnaires, one set for the owners/managers or top management and employees of the lending institutions currently operating and the other set of questionnaire for the people of the community which included the customers and/or clients of the li’s and the local officials and employees where li’s are operating. the data gathered from the instrument were analyzed and interpreted with the use of the frequency count and percentage, computations were used to describe the responses of the overall responses of the different respondents in terms of years of operation. a weighted mean and ranking applied on the extent of the practice of strategic management along with strategic analysis, strategic decision-making, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic control and social responsibility practices along with economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities of lending institutions. pearson r product moment coefficient of correlation was employed to find out the relationship between behavioral identity and organizational performance of which is strategic management and social responsibility practices of this study. results and discussion table 1 presents the data on the profile of lending institutions as to some years in operation.  the data above shows that there were 72 or 49.66 percent of the lending institutions that were operating for 1 – 3 years; 53 or 36.55 percent were operating for 4 – 6 years; 14 or 9.66 percent have been in operation for 7 – 9 years and only 6 or 4.14 percent have been in operation for more than 10 years. it means that the majority of the lending institutions were new in the lending industry in the entire province of zamboanga del norte.   they are the neophytes and those that are yet not very familiar with how the lending institutions play in the field of competition.  however, despite the lack of experience in business, they are still expected to perform social responsibility to all their stakeholders. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. profile of the businesses in terms of years of operation years of operation frequency percent 1 – 3 years 72 49.66 4 – 6 years 53 36.55 7 9 years 14 9.66 10 and above 6 4.14 total 145 100.00 it is evident in the data on the table that the top management of the lending institutions understudies often practiced strategic analysis, strategic decision making, strategy formulation, strategy formulation and strategic control as indicators for strategic management practices. the data on the table showed values that are within the range 3.41 – 4.20 which are within the qualitative description as “often practiced.” this means that the situation cited is practiced four (4) times a week in its business operations of the lending institutions under study. the overall scenario reveals that top management often manifests strategic analysis.  the mean of 4.07 proved that these important analysis indicators used were often practiced by the senior management of the lending institutions under study. they often interview with external stakeholders and gather feedback after the interview to determine product reputation.   analysis of decision along innovation is the most popular among all decisionmaking strategies; this implies that the top management is aiming for the change of offerings now and then.  the average weighted value of 4.22 proves it. the data show that the top management often did strategy formulation.  this is proven by the average weighted values that fall within the range 3.41 – 4.20, described as often. this means that revisiting vision, mission, and goals and considering the top management is considering its importance in planning. this implementation includes updating the policies and procedures of the organization and seeing to it that these policies and procedures are in line with the current of the organization for operation.  strategy implementation also includes updating financial requirements and other requisites for implementation. in other words, as strategies are being formulated, the implementation of the strategies is constantly being formulated. suggestions and improvements are implemented to improve better what has been initially formulated. young (2015) discussed strategic controls are simultaneously being carried out as a way of determining whether the strategies designed and how they are being implemented 7 international peer reviewed journal are systematically and thoroughly assessed. it may be based on premise control which based on the assumed premise of how things will occur in the future. another one is implementation control which the will of the management to implement such control while the third one is special alert control which is the place to assess the position of the business in the case of sudden events in the market. lastly, strategic surveillance controls which are protecting your business from external threats that may hinder the success of the strategy. thus, the findings of this study corroborate the main theory of strategic management of dewey and mintzberg cited by young (2015) that strategic management is a continuous process of strategy creation that involves strategic analysis and decision-making, strategy formulation and implementation, and strategy control. table 2. lending institutions strategic management practices strategic management practices awv d strategic analysis 4.07 op strategic decision making 4.04 op strategy formulation 4.01 op strategy implementation 4.04 op strategic control 4.07 op the table shows the test of difference in the corporate social responsibility practices in terms of economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities in the lending institutions under study.   a closer look at the results on the table would tell that the top management has a high rating over the clients. the ratings of the top management fall on the highest level while those that of the clients were a little bit lower than the top managements’ rating on legal responsibilities. in totality, economic responsibilities of the lending got the means of 4.02 and 4.15 were both described as often practiced.  this means that economic responsibilities are often done by the lending institutions their social responsibilities to the business, to their employees and the other stakeholders of the lending institution especially the clients. it is important to note that if a business is unable to produce profitable products and maintain sustainability, it is impossible to attend to all other succeeding social responsibilities. which enables them to perform their social responsibilities martinuzzi and krumay (2013) covered economic performance is the base in business, without which business cannot discharge other responsibilities. lending 8 jpair multidisciplinary research institutions comply with legal requirements and adhere to all state rules and regulations though it may entail a cost for them as their basic legal responsibility practices. these items obtained the average weighted values that fall within the range 3.41 – 4.20, all are described as often. this means that most of the times, ethical responsibilities are practiced by the employees of the lending institutions included in this study. the overall results show that the lending institutions are expressing their concerned about the community especially those activities that need funds like human-made and natural disasters, civic activities and causeoriented activities.  this implies that philanthropic responsibilities are among the priorities of the lending institutions covered in this study. table 3. lending institutions’ corporate social responsibility practices corporate social responsibility practices lgu and clients top management awv d awv d economic responsibilities 4.02 o 4.15 op legal responsibilities 4.10 op 4.24 ap ethical responsibilities 4.06 op 4.18 op philanthropic responsibilities 3.54 op 3.75 op table 4. test of relationship between strategic management and social responsibility variables means sd r-computed p-value strategic management 4.04 0.0678 0.636* 0.048 social responsibility practices 4.01 0.0938 the table reflects the test of the relationship between strategic management and social responsibility.  the data on the table shows a computed value of 0.636 with a probability coefficient of 0.048. this means that there is a significant relationship between strategic management and social responsibility practices of the lending institutions. this means that strategic management paved the way towards the performance of the lending institutions on their social responsibility.   these lending institutions become more socially responsible because their business operations are well planned to result in a successful business. according to d’amato, henderson, and florence (2009) states that on the 9 international peer reviewed journal standpoint of business, socially responsible behavior may improve the present value of a firm’s future cash flows and, thus, may be consistent with the wealthmaximizing interests of the firm’s equity holders. accordingly, socially responsible behavior can enable a firm to differentiate its products in its product market enables a firm to avoid costly governmentimposed fines, reduce or lessen a firm’s exposure to risk. all of these actions can increase the present value of a firm’s future cash flows and are therefore consistent with maximizing the wealth of the firm’s equity holders. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the researcher at this moment concludes that the majority of the lending institutions were in operation for three years and below. the lending institutions were often practiced the strategic management concerning strategic analysis, strategic decision making, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic control as well as social responsibility. on the other hand, there are items of a strategic analysis which need to improve by the respondents such as reviewing the technology utilization periodically, and strengthening and identifying networks. the issues for strategic decision making in the often practiced found in unifying decision by all internal stakeholders on change dimension. besides, participates in vision statement formulation with the board of directors, formulates succession planning, and generates strategies in dealing with an organization’s issues done by collegiality found often practiced in the aspect of strategy formulation. further, in the course of daily business operations, the lending institutions observe proper planning for the realization of their respective visions as they survive the stiff competition of the industry. though they are new in the business, lending institutions are socially responsible for giving back to society the benefits they gained. it cannot be emphasized that their value is determined not only by its bottom line but by its contribution to the community and country that it serves. the management of lending institutions needs to balance a multiplicity of interest, not only for more considerable profit but also take into account the employees, the communities where they are operating, the government and the nation as a whole. thus, the findings of this study corroborate the main theory of strategic management of dewey and mintzberg cited by young (2015) that strategic management is a continuous process of strategy creation that involves strategic 10 jpair multidisciplinary research analysis and decision-making, strategy formulation and implementation, and strategy control. and also the concept of carroll as cited by roa (2011) on social responsibility. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media of communication for information dissemination, if not, further awareness campaign or as the basis for policy recommendations to the operations of the lending institutions nationwide. recommendations based on the findings of the study, the researcher at this moment concludes that the majority of the lending institutions were in operation for three years and below. the lending institutions were often practiced the strategic management concerning strategic analysis, strategic decision making, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategic control as well as social responsibility. on the other hand, there are items of a strategic analysis which need to improve by the respondents such as reviewing the technology utilization periodically, and strengthening and identifying networks. the issues for strategic decision making in the often practiced found in unifying decision by all internal stakeholders on change dimension. besides, participates in vision statement formulation with the board of directors, formulates succession planning, and generates strategies in dealing with an organization’s issues done by collegiality found often practiced in the aspect of strategy formulation. further, in the course of daily business operations, the lending institutions observe proper planning for the realization of their respective visions as they survive the stiff competition of the industry. though they are new in the business, lending institutions are socially responsible for giving back to society the benefits they gained. it cannot be emphasized that their value is determined not only by its bottom line but by its contribution to the community and country that it serves. the management of lending institutions needs to balance a multiplicity of interest, not only for more considerable profit but also take into account the employees, the communities where they are operating, the government and the nation as a whole. thus, the findings of this study corroborate the main theory of strategic management of dewey and mintzberg cited by young (2015) that strategic management is a continuous process of strategy creation that involves strategic 11 international peer reviewed journal analysis and decision-making, strategy formulation and implementation, and strategy control. and also the concept of carroll as cited by roa (2011) on social responsibility. based on the study the recommendations were drawn. since most of the lending industries are a neophyte in the service and not very familiar on how they play in the field of competition, they should assess the competition and potential threats that can affect its operation in the market. the top management of lending institutions needs to monitor and review the strategic management practiced by their employees because what is done in the planning phase might differ in the implementation phase. lending institutions are enjoined to sustain or improve their social responsibility with regards to philanthropic responsibility as this would create a long-lasting impression on their stakeholders, and it would create them a better image. information dissemination regarding the importance of strategic management and social responsibility practices is very vital to the operations and success of the lending institutions. the future researcher may study the relationship of each indicator of strategic management to social entrepreneurship. this study provides investors or owners of the lending institution the knowledge of the management strategy processes proven to be effective. practices of the lending institutions under study would be revealed and may become a model for other lending institutions. the external stakeholders or the community people would be more aware of the social responsibility of lending and other business organizations in the community, the government, and the nation. they would be able to understand different social responsibilities alongside with the optimum objectives of business which is to earn a profit. literature cited arthur a.. thompson, strickland, a. j., & janes, a. (2017).  crafting and executing strategy: the quest for competitive advantage: concepts and cases. mcgraw-hill education. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2w2mygd barclift, z. j. (2012). corporate social responsibility and financial institutions: beyond dodd-frank.  banking & financial services policy report,  31(1). retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2232280 https://bit.ly/2w2mygd https://ssrn.com/abstract=2232280 12 jpair multidisciplinary research d’amato, a., henderson, s., & florence, s. (2009). corporate social responsibility and sustainable business: a guide to leadership tasks and functions. center for creative leadership. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2iylwag evans, j. r., & lindsay, w. m. (2014). an introduction to six sigma and process improvement. cengage learning. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2nqofp7 jofre, s. (2011). strategic management: the theory and practice of strategy in (business) organizations. retrieved on march 6, 2018 from https://bit. ly/2iyncf1 martinuzzi, a., & krumay, b. (2013). the good, the bad, and the successful– how corporate social responsibility leads to competitive advantage and organizational transformation.  journal of change management,  13(4), 424443. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.851953 medina-vicent, m. (2014). business ethics and gender equality: the basis for a new leadership model. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2o4o5qe pachamama alliance 2018. social responsibility and ethics. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2vic4t9 roa, f.c. (2011) business ethics and social responsibility. manila: rex book store van duuren, e., plantinga, a., & scholtens, b. (2016). esg integration and the investment management process: fundamental investing reinvented. journal of business ethics, 138(3), 525-533. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10551-015-2610-8 young, f. (2015). strategic management. rex bookstore https://bit.ly/2iylwag https://bit.ly/2nqofp7 https://bit.ly/2iyncf1 https://bit.ly/2iyncf1 https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.851953 https://bit.ly/2o4o5qe https://bit.ly/2vic4t9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2610-8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2610-8 101 international peer reviewed journal describing an excellent university instructor: towards developing a new paradigm joel t. aclao orcid no. 0000-0001-5507-5868 joeltaclao@gmail.com misamis university ozamiz city, philippines aida g. abasolo orcid no. 0000-0001-7998-971x aidagabasolo@gmail.com misamis university ozamiz city, philippines marc will l. villacora orcid no. 0000-0001-7503-6217 marcwillvillacora@gmail.com misamis university ozamiz city, philippines chrissa faith m. mañego orcid no. 0000-0002-2838-8495 chrissafaithmanego@gmail.com misamis university ozamiz city, philippines abstract universities and colleges use different constructs in describing excellent instructor. the study aimed to analyze students’ descriptions of excellent instructors, to report the descriptions as themes, and to develop a new paradigm of an excellent university instructor. the researchers reviewed comments from the 836 learning environment survey results completed by the students coming vol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.267 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research from the 44 classes of the subject instructors. a total of 22 excellent instructors coming from the different colleges composed the subjects of the study. this qualitative study used thematic analysis to report the emergent themes. the study revealed that students describe excellent university instructors as content expert, facilitator, motivator, and role model. as an output, the study develops a new paradigm of excellent university instructor. however, the constructs of the paradigm need further study for validation. keywords higher education, excellent university instructors, content expert, facilitator, motivator, role model, thematic analysis, philippines introduction interest on determining the common descriptions and attributes of an excellent instructor with the use of different approaches has increased recently. defining excellence in teaching is a strenuous job because it linked with the observable and technical aspects of the profession (simendinger et al., 2009; hammer et al., 2010; exley, 2011; arikan, et al., 2008). conceptions regarding excellent instructors vary depending on a host of variables, such as the individuals defining it, the learners, subject matter, methods used, and other important factors (hammer et al., 2010). excellent teachers emphasize intangible values that contribute to student success (rinaldo, 2009). teacher quality is the most significant school-based factor in determining student outcomes (ibrahim, aziz & nambiar, 2013). it is essential to maintain workforce of effective teachers who can establish an environment conducive for learning to achieve and sustain high quality teaching and learning (arikan, et al., 2008). this supports the idea that teachers demonstrate awareness of a wide range of conditions that impact students and they must have full control of these things (bramwell, reilly, lilly, kronish & chennabathni, 2011). most universities make use of systematic student evaluations of classroom teaching among other methods (simendinger et al., 2009). in addition, the increasingly popular student-oriented customer approach to instruction in colleges and educational institutions contributed to the reliance and dependability of student evaluations for teacher effectiveness (simpson & siguaw, 2000). in this context, instructors’ qualities must be analyzed to provide reasonably precise measurement of instructor performance. 103 international peer reviewed journal framework teaching is a two-way communicative process primarily facilitated by the teacher who has in depth knowledge of the subject matter, demonstrates a caring attitude towards the students, and maintains classroom control for keeping the students actively involved in their learning (cakmak, 2009). studies pointed out two important components of the ideal teacher: professional knowledge, both of the content and didactic information and an appropriate personality (arnon & reichel, 2007). excellent instructors are those that hold strong discipline and deep content knowledge; have pedagogical skills appropriate to the environment and discipline, and have personal knowledge and concern to students and with a firm moral code. they are also those that own intimate knowledge of the context in which they were teaching (hammer et al., 2010). the studies reviewed dealt with different descriptions of excellent instructors in general from different evaluators such as teachers themselves, administrators and students. the studies failed to present common descriptors of high performing instructors. the study, therefore, aimed to develop a general construct of excellent university instructors. objective of the study this study analyzed students’ descriptions of excellent instructors in misamis university, reported the descriptions as themes and developed a new paradigm. methodology the study employed qualitative method of research employing thematic analysis in analyzing students’ descriptions of excellent instructors and in reporting data in themes. thematic analysis is a flexible technique that can be used to analyze data, and it is relatively easy and quick for new qualitative researchers to learn (braun & clarke, 2006). the researchers cautioned themselves not to form a priori hypotheses or expectations with respect to students’ description of what an excellent instructor is (bengo et al., 2012). the documents for analysis were the learning environment survey forms completed by the 836 students (44 sections) coming from the classes of the subject instructors. a total of 22 excellent instructors coming from the different colleges composed the subjects of the study. the students rated these instructors 104 jpair multidisciplinary research “excellent” during the second semester of the school year 2012-2013. the study was conducted from august to september 2013 in misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines. the researchers asked permissions from the vice president for academic affairs and different deans prior to the data-gathering process. they also personally approached the subject instructors and requested them to sign an informed consent. results and discussion the analysis yielded the following themes of students’ descriptions of an excellent university instructor: theme 1. content expert we cannot give what we do not have as teachers cannot teach what they do not know about. with the same reasoning, we cannot effectively teach content we know quite well if we lack knowledge of teaching. content expertise includes teachers’ knowledge of the subject and understanding of curriculum standards (hofer & swan, 2009). researches on teachers’ content expertise in the subject areas of mathematics (ojose, 2012; asikainen, pehkonen, &hirvonen, 2013) and science (lee and luft, 2008) concluded that teachers with sufficient knowledge about the contents of the subject matter able to describe teaching enactments as convincing, innovative, and interesting. mastery of the subject matter and pedagogical knowledge and skills, therefore, make an instructor content expert. the finding implies that a university instructor needs to pursue graduate studies, conduct research to keep him abreast in the field. the activities will help instructors to enrich and advance his content knowledge, thus, ensuring that students learn most from him. the great majority of the students describe a content expert teacher as the one who: “is intelligent and knowledgeable in his field.” “provides/cites clear and best example of the lesson’s concept.” “digs deep to what matters most in the lesson.” “demonstrates a good quality of teacher as a catalyst of knowledge.” “inspires students through his expertise in the topic.” “can explain and relate the lesson to real life things.” “has a lot of information/knowledge that he can share to anybody.” “gives clear information about the topics.” 105 international peer reviewed journal “teaches the lesson in a refreshing perspective.” “masters the topic as well as the subjects he handles.” “uses various techniques and strategies to help students understand the lesson.” “teaches many things including current events.” “involves himself in school activities and always attends seminars and trainings.” theme 2. facilitator in the learning process, an instructor possesses not only knowledge on what to teach but also on how to teach. students viewed excellent instructors as good facilitators. instructors in the classroom do not just only tell students the things they need to learn. they have ways and means in delivering instruction. teachers as good facilitators know various methods and strategies helpful in maximizing student learning. teacher’s ability to facilitate learning is not only bounded on having the knowledge but also on the application of the appropriate methods and strategies to varying learning situations. a facilitator selects the most appropriate technique for a context (mann, 2011). he values the division of tasks among members to attain the maximum output. he effectively manages group interaction to maximize individual contribution toward the attainment of a goal. great facilitators acknowledge the idea that there is no best single method or technique: they know which tool and technique work best in a context. in addition, a good facilitator is skilled in terms of time management. the following statements illustrate excellent instructor as a good facilitator: “teaches students with different strategies according to our learning styles.” “provides opportunities for students to participate in the class activities.” “very competent and proficient in teaching.” “knows how to facilitate learning properly.” “provides a variety of learning activities for us.” “simplifies tasks for the students.” “gives students the opportunity to explore and share new life discoveries. “presents his ideas in a manner that a student could never forget.” “has a good teaching procedure.” “provide learners a conducive learning environment.” 106 jpair multidisciplinary research theme 3. motivator motivation deals with students’ beliefs about their competence, the “quality of task engagement,” as well as “goals or reasons for learning,” and the duration, intensity and direction of academic behaviors (freeman, alston & winborne, 2008). an instructor is a good motivator if he can positively affect students’ feelings of competence, particularly for students who may struggle academically (engstrom & tinto, 2008). he is someone who can alleviate students’ self-efficacy through praises and encouragements. a recent study (jenkins & hewitt, 2010) has found that a teacher can motivate students if he succeeds in developing a cherished bond with them. this is because they do not feel restricted and bogged down for the atmosphere is friendly. to students, an instructor who is a good motivator is one who: “motivates students to pursue learning.” “never fails to encourage.” “makes the students motivated to study well.” “never lets students feel sleepy.” “has charisma or charm that motivates students to listen” “is the reason why we hrm students like and love this course.” “inspires us to become a better person.” “keeps on encouraging students to perform well in the class and other subjects.” “gives encouragement to her students to participate in the class.” “encourages students to be good in their studies and challenges students to excel.” “is a nice teacher and motivates us well through her good attitudes.” theme 4. role model it appears in the present investigation that excellent teachers are being looked up by the student as role models. a role model, as defined in kaahwa (2009), is a person who possesses the admirable traits one would like to have and influences other individuals to be better. teachers establish clear pictures of what truly a teacher is and make use of these as their guiding principles (stuart, 2009). students value and love instructors who dressed smartly and presentable (kagoda, 2011). this suggests that the teacher’s pleasing personality is a part of the students’ description of an excellent instructor. students consider instructors who come to school early, compassionate to students, diligent and passionate about their profession as good (stuart, 2009). 107 international peer reviewed journal hurd (2009) indicated that role models greatly affect in the development of resilience among african american adolescents reared in a home with negative nonparent adult behavior. adolescents with an identified role model received higher grades and had higher self-esteem (yancey, 2002). other researches also revealed good effects of role models to adolescents. the effects include reduced risk behavior; more positive academic outcomes; decreased aggressive behavior, anxiety and depression (aspy et al. 2004; hurd, 2009; oman et al., 2004; vesely et al. 2004; mcmahon et al., 2004). thus, teachers who are role models are paragons of virtue hence, influential to students. students describe them as the one who: “gives us advice on how are we going to solve problems.” “has good values.” “follows rules and regulations in the classroom.” “teaches moral lessons.” “inspires and aspires.” “adheres to the code of ethics of a good teacher.” “has a very good attitude.” “teaches from the heart.” “possesses both positive professional and affective traits needed for teaching.” “encourages us to be honest of what we do and follow our dreams.” a new paradigm of an excellent university instructor figure 1. a new paradigm of an excellent university instructor 108 jpair multidisciplinary research the results of the analysis prompted the researchers to develop a paradigm for an excellent university/college instructor (figure 1). the paradigm illustrates that to become an excellent university instructor he has to be expert in his field, a facilitator, a motivator and a role model to students. the overarching circle connecting the four subscales shows the interrelatedness of the concepts. a university instructor has to equip himself with these four indicators should he strive to excel. this means that content expertise, motivational skills, facilitating skills and role modeling make up an excellent university instructor. content expertise is at the top of the circle because the proponents believed that as a university instructor, first and foremost he has to equip himself with knowledge of the subject area he is to teach (hofer & swan, 2009). an excellent university instructor endeavors to keep abreast in his field through pursuing further studies, conducting research and sharing his knowledge to appropriate audiences (content expert). he scaffolds to help students make own meaning (facilitator) and encourages them (motivator) to pursue and participate in the higher level of knowledge construction (engstrom & tinto, 2008; mann, 2011; lam, cheng, & ma, 2009; jenkins & hewitt, 2010). further, an excellent instructor diligently leads and learns by example (role model) and strongly influence others to be better (kaahwa, 2009; stuart, 2009; kagoda, 2011). conclusions the study provided information on how students describe an excellent university instructor. the study advanced the idea that an excellent university instructor must be content expert, facilitator, motivator, and a role model. excellent university instructors promote and maintain quality instruction. hence, universities and colleges have to consider these qualities or descriptions in hiring, developing, assessing and promoting instructors. the paradigm developed herein as an output of the study, clearly defines an excellent university instructor, however; the constructs need further study and validation. a followup quantitative inquiry in the different universities could be done in the future. literature cited arikan, a., taser, d., & saraç-süzer, h. s. 2008 the effective englishlanguage teacher from the perspectives of turkishpreparatory school students. egitimvebilim, 33(150), 42. retrieved on november 14, 2013 fromhttp://goo.gl/yio16m. 109 international peer reviewed journal arnon, s., &reichel, n. 2007 who is the ideal teacher? am i? similarity and difference in perception of students of education regarding the qualities of a good teacher and of their own qualities as teachers. teachers and teaching: theory and practice, 13(5): 441–464. retrieved on november 14, 2013 fromhttp:// 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elaine g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-1747 elaineonearth@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines anthony alcantara http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8089-8487 anthonyalcantara229@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines fay ann v. ballada http://orcid.org/0000-0030-2105-6561 fayannballada@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.540 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 2 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 trisha mhay e. calma http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8600-9855 calmatrishamhay@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines alyson dessiree b. duya http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0112-3868 alysonduya@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines allysa mae b. gasilao http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6554-0858 gasilaoallysa@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines marcela n. salengua http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1055-5726 marcelasalengua@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines john russell c. villegas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4364-715x johnrussellvillegas77@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 1% this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 3 international peer reviewed journal abstract suicide has received attention in the global public health arena and its effect has a prolonged-lasting psychological trauma on friends and relatives. this prompted the researchers to systematically analyze the possible underreporting of suicide cases, particularly in the province of batanes. there are no studies of trends in the incidence of suicide that have been undertaken in the province. thus, it aimed to provide a complete picture of the problem’s size and facilitate better-informed decisions concerning prevention priorities such as high-risk age or sex groups and the most common suicide methods. the study used a descriptive research design and inventory questionnaires to gather data from six (6) municipal civil registrars from the different municipalities in the province of batanes. based on the results, causes of death are asphyxiation, gunshot, and alcohol intoxication, and the municipality with the highest committed cases is basco, batanes. additionally, males are more inclined to commit suicide than females, and young and middle-aged individuals have more committed selfinflicted cases than older people. it has also been found that suicide cases have risen from 2010 to the present. keywords — social science, suicide ideation, suicide behavior, descriptive research, basco, mahatao, ivana, uyugan, sabtang, itbayat, batanes, philippines introduction  suicide is a serious global public health issue. it is a fatal self-injurious act with some evidence of death (bilsen, 2018). people tend to feel difficulty facing emotional situations that lead to a mental breakdown, which is one of the main reasons people intentionally end their lives. the idea of being helpless and pressured by society triggers overthinking, which develops mental health problems such as anxiety or depression and makes our mental health unstable. because of the issue’s sensitivity, it has received attention in the global public health arena in recent years. in addition to the loss of life and economic productivity for society, it has a long-lasting psychological trauma on friends and relatives. suicide rates are high amongst vulnerable groups who experience conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss, and a sense of isolation is strongly associated with suicidal behavior. those who experience discrimination, such as refugees 4 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (lgbti) persons; and prisoners, are also vulnerable. the most potent risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt (world health organization, 2021). according to the world health organization (2019), 703,000 people die globally by suicide every year. it is among the leading causes of death worldwide, with more deaths due to suicide than malaria, hiv/aids, breast cancer, or war. more than one in every 100 deaths in 2019 resulted from suicide. suicide accounts for 1.4% of all deaths and is considered the 15th leading cause of death globally, and many more men than women die by suicide (world health organization 2017). however, the male to female ratio varies between 4 to 1 (europe and america) and 1.5 to 1 (eastern mediterranean and western pacific region) and is higher in wealthier countries. additionally, suicide rates differ substantially between regions. about 80% of all suicides occur in low and middle-income countries. suicide mortality rates differ from 15.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in southeast asia to 5.6 per 100,000 in the eastern mediterranean region. on the other hand, europe has an average suicide mortality rate of 14.1 per 100,000. this is above the global average of 10.7 per 100,000 (world health organization, 2018). moreover, southeast asia reports an increase in suicide cases by 10%. in 2012, the national suicide rates in the region per 100,00 population ranged from the lowest value of 4.3 in indonesia to the highest value of 38.5 in the republic of korea. however, most countries do not have a comprehensive vital registration system. thus, data are best estimates, and actual figures may be higher (vijayakumar, 2017). in the same study by vijayakumar, women in this region, particularly those in lowand middle-income countries, are especially vulnerable to suicide. the male to female ratio for completed suicides is much narrower in these countries. an estimated 124,282 women died by suicide in the countries in southeast asia, which means that a little less than half of the global suicides in women occurred in this region. the suicide rate for women per 100,000 women from the southeast asia region was 11.9, while the next highest was 5.6 from the lowand middle-income countries of the european region. according to an article released by the asean post, suicides are highest in low to middle-income countries in asia because of poor access to appropriate care, a large treatment gap, lack of appropriate services and facilities, and stigma and discrimination. the same article reports that thailand’s mental health department records six attempts of suicide every hour, or about 53,000 annually. in myanmar, the suicide rate is highest among those between 25 and 40 because mental health issues are often neglected. pre-existing mental health conditions 5 international peer reviewed journal and substance abuse are significant reasons for suicide. other reasons also include marital problems, financial problems, and sexual harassment. on the other hand, many elderly suicides are observed in singapore. men who are 60 years or older commit suicide far more than women. sentiments on masculinity lead to the number of male suicides double that of women. on the contrary, suicide attempts among adolescents and women who have a history of trauma and abuse are more rampant in cambodia (vijayakumar et al., 2020). in the philippines, official suicide rates are lower than in many countries in the western pacific region due to under-reporting because of its non-acceptance by the catholic church and the associated disgrace and stigma to the family (corpuz, 2021). however, data from the philippine statistics authority (2021) suggests that deaths due to intentional self-harm in 2020 increased to 25.7%, making it the 27th leading cause of death in 2020, from 31st in 2019. however, suicide prevention is not given much attention in the philippines because of other health problems, stigma, and poor understanding of its meaning. this prompted the researchers to systematically analyze of the possible underreporting of suicides, particularly in the province of batanes. it is essential so its true incidence and trends can be estimated. both the factors that contribute to suicide and suicidal behavior are complex and multifaceted. while no solution can guarantee the prevention of suicide, conducting this study can identify the most relevant current knowledge about the factors associated with suicide cases in the province of batanes. results can be used to highlight programs and recommendations with regard to addressing this problem. it can also help inform future policies and procedures of the local government to reduce the risk of suicide among different populations. there are no studies of trends in the incidence of suicide undertaken in the province to date. this study, then, aims to provide a complete picture of the problem’s size and facilitate better-informed decisions concerning prevention priorities such as high-risk age or sex groups and the most common suicide methods. this would give information and a better understanding to the people of batanes regarding the seriousness of suicide in the province of batanes. framework suicide ideation and behavior develop because of the interplay of different factors. a social phenomenon develops through an individual’s interaction with his/her environment and has been applied to classify risk factors for suicide (lee et al., 2010). research on how suicidal ideation progresses to suicidal behavior has been gaining attention recently. the biopsychosocial context where suicidal 6 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 ideation may develop includes vulnerability, poverty, stressful life events, and early life adversity constitute the milieu where ideation may develop into suicidal behavior. feelings of defeat, humiliation, and entrapments can also aid the development of suicidal ideation. the transition from suicidal ideation to behavior can occur in the presence of moderators like having access to means of suicide, increased capability to attempt suicide, exposure to suicide, and feelings of impulsivity (o’connor & kirtley, 2018). moreover, joiner’s (2005) well-known interpersonal theory of suicide gives some insight into how social ideation and risk factors such as mental pain motivate a person to engage in suicidal behavior. he proposed that this interpersonal theory of attempted and completed suicide must have both the desire and the capability. however, this rarely occurs as few people have the desire, and even fewer can take their own lives. it also suggests that suicide stems from a thwarted sense of belongingness and the feeling of being a burden to others. mental pain entails the feeling of thwarted belongingness and that one’s existence can become a burden to family or friends. however, the capability to engage in suicidal behavior is separated from the desire to engage in it. the capability to die by suicide is acquired through habituation that allows one to overcome the fear of suicidal behavior, and pre-existing factors can sometimes accelerate the process. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the number of committed suicide cases in the province of batanes, philippines. the study will help professionals conduct interventions to decrease the number of suicide incidence around the province. furthermore, this study will empower health care and community leaders to adopt “zero suicides” as an aspirational goal. this research will make it easier to determine which of the municipality of batanes needs prioritization of attention on social, mental, and health programs. methodology research design the study utilized a quantitative research approach. it used a descriptive research design to describe the rate or prevalence of suicide cases in the province of batanes. a descriptive research design aims to obtain data to describe a 7 international peer reviewed journal phenomenon, situation, or population scientifically (nassaji, 2015, as cited in billote et al., 2021; ponce et al., 2021). research site the study was conducted in all the municipalities in the province of batanes, namely, basco, mahatao, ivana, uyugan, sabtang, and itbayat, because there is no current reported number of committed suicide incidences in these municipalities. respondents the respondents were the municipal civil registrar in each municipality. a total of six (6) municipal civil registrars participated in the study. data gathering tool the researchers utilized a one-page researcher-made questionnaire to obtain the data needed in the study. the questionnaire identified the number of committed suicide cases in each municipality and the cause of death based on age and gender. data gathering procedure the researchers submitted a letter of intent to conduct the study to the municipal mayors in all the municipalities in the province of batanes. when the researchers were permitted to conduct the study, they were referred and endorsed by the municipal mayors to the municipal civil registrars who answered the questionnaires. the respondents were given sufficient time to complete the questionnaires. ethical considerations this research has been committed to avoiding ethical dilemmas to comply with the study’s ethical criteria. all study procedures involving human participants followed institutional and/or national research committee ethical standards, the 1964 helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. this study has been reviewed and approved by a college institutional review board. it is an original work, has not been submitted or published elsewhere, and complies with all ethical standards established by the american psychological association. results and discussion the demographics of suicide cases in the province of batanes are gathered in terms of sex, age, and year of death to determine the numbers of committed 8 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 self-inflicted deaths in the six municipalities of batanes. table 1. summary of suicide cases based on sex municipality cause of death grand totalasphyxiation gunshot alcoholic intoxication female male total female male total female male total basco 5 25 30 0 2 2 0 1 1 33 mahatao 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 ivana 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 uyugan 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 itbayat 3 15 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 sabtang 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 grand total 11 53 64 0 2 2 0 1 1 67 presented in table 1 is the summary table classified according to the six municipalities in the province of batanes. there are sixty-seven (67) committed suicide cases around the province and three identified causes of death among males and females. in terms of the causes of death, asphyxiation is the most common cause of suicide, having sixty-four cases. basco has the highest number of suicide deaths caused by asphyxiation followed by itbayat, ivana, mahatao then sabtang and uyugan. the second cause, according to the table, is a gunshot, having a total of two cases in basco. the third leading cause is alcohol intoxication, with one case in basco. in terms of the highest rate in municipalities, basco has the highest number of deaths with thirty-three committed suicide cases – twenty-eight male and five female. while the municipalities of uyugan and sabtang have the lowest with three committed male cases each. the table also shows that males are more inclined to commit suicide across the municipalities in the province. basco has the highest rate of suicide cases with twenty-five males, followed by itbayat with fifteen male cases, ivana with six male cases, mahatao with four male cases then itbayat with three male cases. the interpersonal model by joiner (2005) explains that sex differences in suicide result from differences in acquired capability for suicide. higher acquired capability for suicide among males makes it likely to end their lives when suicide is being considered. in line with previous studies, males have a considerably higher risk of dying by suicide than females (miranda-mendizábal et al., 2017). this high mortality among males can be explained by using more lethal means, including but not limited to firearms and hanging methods. 9 international peer reviewed journal additionally, males are less predisposed to seek help from others in an attempt to exhibit masculine behaviors. at the same time, females are likely to engage in help-seeking behaviors, have a general readiness to talk about emotional problems and look for friends and professionals as sources of help. this helpseeking behavior and contact with the healthcare system may diminish the risk of suicide among females. males have a frequent lack of awareness of available support services or a sense that the services available do not adequately cater to their needs and would not help in their situation (wilson & deane, 2010). furthermore, the association of males committing suicide may be moderated by intentionality, impulsiveness, and aggressiveness. a male’s tendency to adopt avoidance strategies might make it more challenging to cope with emotional and mental problems (miranda-mendizabal et al., 2019). according to amin et al. (2018), the social norms defining appropriate masculine roles and behaviors are being embedded from a young age. the pressure to conform to these norms can be immense, and males deviate from normative masculine roles and behaviors that have social consequences. confinement with these behaviors can severely delimit healthy behaviors and emotional responses. table 2. summary of suicide cases based on age age municipality basco ivana uyugan itbayat sabtang mahatao total 15-20 2 1 0 1 0 0 4 21-25 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 26-30 5 0 0 3 1 1 10 31-35 5 1 1 2 0 0 9 36-40 5 0 0 5 0 0 10 41-45 6 1 1 1 1 0 10 46-50 2 1 0 0 0 1 4 51-55 2 0 1 0 1 1 5 56-60 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 61-65 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 66-70 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 71-75 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 76-80 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 81-85 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 86-90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 91-95 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 total 33 6 3 18 3 4 67 findings showed that from the suicide cases, the highest cases among the age groups are from 26-30, 36-40, and 41-45, with ten committed cases. this indicates that young and middle-aged individuals are mostly engaged in selfinflicted deaths. in the united kingdom, middle-aged men commit suicide at three times the rate of women. men of the same age and 1.5 times more than men of other ages. this is concerning because it is commonly assumed that middle-aged men do not use health or other support services and are more likely to use illicit substances. economic adversity is likely to affect them. they sometimes report a reluctance to discuss or report mental health problems, and they may perceive more challenges and barriers to accessing services than women (appleby et al., 2019). according to the findings of the study by wong et al. (2008), suicide among young to middle-aged adults occurs because of the complex interaction of (a) socioeconomic factors such as indebtedness and unemployment, (b) social factors such as never married and living alone, and (c) psychiatric factors, especially the presence of mood disorders. the considerable impacts of unemployment and indebtedness on suicides in young and middle-aged people could be understood from the perspective and values of work and wealth. work is often associated with one’s sense of selfworth in many societies (lee et al., 2007). these age groups tend to define “self ” primarily based on their role in social identities. loss of job and failure to financially support oneself or others might be the failure to fulfill such responsibility. on the other hand, øien-ødegaard et al. (2021) report that marital status, such as living alone or not being married, was a significant risk factor for young and middle-aged people for suicide. however, this convergence of sociodemographic effects on suicide varies across gender and cultures. for instance, a study in japan found that suicide rates were higher in settings where marriage was more common and divorce was less common. more women in these age groups committed suicide in pakistan than unmarried women (wyder et al., 2009). these inconsistent findings suggest that the relationship between social factors 11 international peer reviewed journal and suicide among young and middle-aged adults is equivocal when cultural issues are considered. table 3. summary of suicide cases based on year of death year of death number of suicide cases 1993-1997 12 1998-2003 11 2004-2009 16 2010-2022 28 total 67 table 3 presents the year of death of the committed suicide cases. of 67 cases, 1998-2003 had the lowest rates, having 11 cases. on the other hand, 2010-2022 has the highest number of suicide case with 28 committed self-inflicted deaths. in an article written by heid (2019), several factors have been considered in the rise of suicide cases over the years. one factor can be the growth of smartphones and digital media such as social media, texting, and gaming. these have impacted the social lives of both younger and older adults. there is an association between heavy technology use and poor mental health outcomes among adolescents and young adults. another factor can be the way people communicate and spend their leisure time. it has fundamentally changed. they spend less time interacting with people in person and more time on digital media. however, in the same article, experts say that existing evidence does not support blaming social media for the rise of suicide cases recently. indeed, other stressors, such as increased competition in school and work. conclusions as this study aimed to identify the number of committed suicide cases in the province of batanes, philippines, results show (a) the cause of death, (b) age range, (c) gender, and (d) year of death range of each committed suicide case in every municipality in the province of batanes. it was found out that the causes of death in the committed suicide cases are asphyxiation, gunshot, and alcohol intoxication, and the municipality with the highest committed suicide cases is basco, batanes. additionally, males are more inclined to commit suicide than females, and young and middle-aged individuals have committed more selfinflicted cases than older people. because of the traditional gender roles, men 12 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 learn early on to identify problems with themselves. it is a weakness to talk about fear or pain, and they usually get much less medical advice. moreover, serious life challenges like relationship problems, unemployment, substance abuse, and poverty increase the suicide risk among young and middle-aged individuals. it has also been found that suicide cases have risen from 2010 to the present. based on the results, it can be concluded that the reasons why individuals commit suicide, regardless of the demographic profile, are varied and complex. however, they often involve severe emotional or physical pain that a person finds unbearable. translational research results of the study can help professionals make an intervention or program to address the problem. however, gaps in our study are present. hence, continuing research is still needed to know how to approach and give the help they need and achieve the zero-suicide case. the local government can also use this research to determine what kind of intervention or program should be developed in the community. this will assist medically aligned professionals in planning potential actions for the batanes community. furthermore, this can be used as motivation to reduce the number of suicides in the province to zero. literature cited amin, a., kågesten, a., adebayo, e., & chandra-mouli, v. (2018). addressing gender socialization and masculinity norms among adolescent boys: policy and programmatic implications. journal of adolescent health, 62(3), s3-s5. appleby, l., kapur, n., shaw, j., hunt, i., ibrahim, s., turnbull, p., ... & burns, j. (2019). national confidential inquiry into suicide and safety in mental health: annual report: england, northern ireland, scotland and wales. authority, p. s. (2021). causes of deaths in the philippines (preliminary): january to december 2020. billote, w. j. s., ponce, k., taghap, l., arca, s. j. n., & villa, c. m. (2021). mga bayaning walang kapa: struggles and coping of ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs in the province of batanes. jpair multidisciplinary research, 44(1), 65-92. bilsen, j. (2018). suicide and youth: risk factors. frontiers in psychiatry, 540. 13 international peer reviewed journal corpuz, j. c. g. (2021). covid-19 and suicide: when crises collide. journal of public health, 43(4), e747-e748. heid, m. (2019). depression and suicide rates are rising sharply in young americans, new report says. time magazine. joiner, t. e. (2005). why people die by suicide. harvard university press. lee, s. y., hong, j. s., & espelage, d. l. (2010). an ecological understanding of youth suicide in south korea. school psychology international, 31(5), 531546. miranda-mendizabal, a., castellví, p., parés-badell, o., alayo, i., almenara, j., alonso, i., ... & alonso, j. (2019). gender differences in suicidal behavior in adolescents and young adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. international journal of public health, 64(2), 265-283. miranda-mendizábal, a., castellví, p., parés-badell, o., almenara, j., alonso, i., blasco, m. j., ... & alonso, j. (2017). sexual orientation and suicidal behaviour in adolescents and young adults: systematic review and metaanalysis. the british journal of psychiatry, 211(2), 77-87. niederkrotenthaler, t., laido, z., kirchner, s., braun, m., metzler, h., waldhör, t., ... & till, b. (2022). mental health over nine months during the sars-cov2 pandemic: representative cross-sectional survey in twelve waves between april and december 2020 in austria.  journal of affective disorders, 296, 49-58. o’connor, r. c., & kirtley, o. j. (2018). the integrated motivational–volitional model of suicidal behaviour. philosophical transactions of the royal society b: biological sciences, 373(1754), 20170268. øien-ødegaard, c., hauge, l. j., & reneflot, a. (2021). marital status, educational attainment, and suicide risk: a norwegian register-based population study. population health metrics, 19(1), 1-11. ponce, r., bayaras, p., blanca, h. m., gutierrez, v., horbino, v. l., villaruel, j. v., & billote, w. j. s. (2021). bullying and self-concept among senior high school students. jpair multidisciplinary research, 45(1), 1-32. vijayakumar, l. (2018). challenges and opportunities in suicide prevention in south-east asia. who south-east asia journal of public health, 6(1), 30-33. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 vijayakumar, l., daly, c., arafat, y., & arensman, e. (2020). suicide prevention in the southeast asia region. crisis. wilson, c. j., & deane, f. p. (2010). help-negation and suicidal ideation: the role of depression, anxiety and hopelessness.  journal of youth and adolescence, 39(3), 291-305. wong, p. w., chan, w. s., chen, e. y., chan, s. s., law, y. w., & yip, p. s. (2008). suicide among adults aged 30–49: a psychological autopsy study in hong kong. bmc public health, 8(1), 1-9. world health organization. (2017). global diffusion of ehealth: making universal health coverage achievable: report of the third global survey on ehealth. world health organization. world health organization. (2018). who mental health. geneva. http:// www.who.int/mental_health/en/ world health organization. (2019). suicide worldwide in 2019: global health estimates. isbn 978-92-4-002664-3 world health organization. (2021). suicide. https://www.who.int/news-room/ fact-sheets/detail/suicide wyder, m., ward, p., & de leo, d. (2009). separation as a suicide risk http://www.who.int/mental_health/en/ http://www.who.int/mental_health/en/ https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide 98 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract in the local state college in negros occidental, philippines, data from the guidance office confirmed an increased cases in adolescent pregnancy in the last three years. with the use of the phenomenological approach utilizing in-depth interview, this study looked into the circumstances in the lives of the pregnant adolescent students which led to their early pregnancy. these pregnant adolescents were enrolled during the 2nd semester of the academic year 2015-2016 in the state college in negros occidental. purposive sampling was employed to identify the participants of this research. exploring the participants’ narratives, common patterns or themes were observed. circumstances which have led to their pregnancy are divided into 2 broad themes. inherent factors which are in their search for love, some life-changing decisions and their lack of awareness about sex. adventitious factors, on the other hand, are the family’s social interaction and being deceived by her partner. the results were used as a basis for formulating an intervention program for the pregnant adolescents, which was intended to develop some of their necessary life skills and also implement a massive campaign regarding adolescent sexuality as identified in this research. keywords — social science, teenage pregnancy, phenomenological approach, negros, philippines drivers to adolescent pregnancy dyan t. gapulan dyangap@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college binalbagan, negros occidental vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.460 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 99 international peer reviewed journal introduction adolescence is a period of growth beginning with puberty and ending at the beginning of adulthood. authorities consider this stage as a transition stage which persons must pass through before they become adults. adolescence ends when the youth relinquish their typical student roles and enter into one or more adult roles (marriage, parenthood, and stable full-time work (arnett, 2014). adolescence, then, is not the assigned developmental stage for parenthood. however, adolescent pregnancy is a worldwide phenomenon which is currently gaining attention due to its global implications. the world health organization (who) reports that the magnitude of teenage pregnancies from developing countries encompasses one-third of women who give birth before the age of 20 (parungao, bautista, mariano, bonifacio & aguinaldo, 2014). probably affirming of the increasing trend in the incidence of adolescent pregnancy are data from the guidance and counseling office of the local state college in negros occidental. records revealed that in the last three years, there is an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies among female adolescents enrolled in the college. there were seven cases of adolescent pregnancy recorded in june 2012-may 2013, 12 cases in june 2013-may 2014, and 21 cases recorded from june 2014 until may 2015. as observed by herrman and waterhouse (2010), despite of the increasing number of pregnant adolescents, little research has been done to focus on the experiences and perspectives of teen mothers. answers to this question are deemed important towards a deeper understanding of the pregnant adolescents’ realities in aid of teaching, guidance and counseling as well as psychological servicing. framework this study is mainly anchored on the psychosocial theory of erik h. erikson who claimed that the fifth psychosocial crisis people experience at about the same time they experience adolescence, is the stage of identity vs. role confusion (corpuz, lucas, borabo, & lucido, 2010). it is the stage of simply knowing, “who am i?” the adolescent negotiates his role in the society. if the pregnant adolescent achieves this negotiation, a sense of identity, of knowing who one is, is acquired. if not, the individual is driven to experience role confusion. herein presented are the various research on the protective factors to adolescent pregnancy. certain situations become factors which shelter the adolescents from 100 jpair multidisciplinary research teenage pregnancy. wang, hsu, lin, cheng and lee (2010) suggested that protective factors are assets that can facilitate to bring about positive outcomes, or reduce and even avoid a negative outcome in the presence of risk factors. they further described that protective factors are positive characteristics and influences in adolescents’ lives that can safeguard them from negative influences. family support during this trying time is crucial for the adolescents. according to vickers (2010) depression and anxiety may be experienced during this period, but because the parents provide support, a lower level of emotional distress may be experienced by pregnant teens. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the circumstances which have led to the early pregnancy of the adolescent, those enrolled during the 2nd semester of ay 20152016 in the local state college in negros occidental, philippines. methodology research design the qualitative research design, specifically, the phenomenological approach was utilized. this research on the circumstances which have led to the early pregnancy of adolescents utilized nonprobability sampling method, specifically, the purposive sampling method. research site the study was conducted in the local state college in negros occidental. participantsparticipants from each campus of the local state college in negros occidental were chosen through referrals of the four campus guidance counsellors: campus a, b, c and d. the participants were the pregnant students, particularly, between the ages 16-20, and were officially enrolled in the local state college in negros occidental for the 2nd semester of the academic year 2015-2016. seven pregnant adolescents were identified as participants for the research. instrumentation the seven participants were subjected to an in-depth interview, to provide substantial information on the lived experiences of the pregnant adolescents. 101 international peer reviewed journal the participants who were 18 years old and above signed a consent form, and for the participant below 18, the mother signed the consent form after the participant agreed to be interviewed. in gathering information about the lived experiences of the pregnant adolescent students, a semi-structured interview guide was utilized, which was made to undergo the scrutiny of a psychologist, to determine the appropriateness of the questions. the interview guide included a question which pertains to probing for further details regarding the circumstances which have led to the participants’ early pregnancy. probing was made to acquire in-depth answers on the early experiences or circumstances which the participants think have led to their early pregnancy. the researcher analyzed the data generated from the interviews utilizing the basic steps in qualitative analysis by creswell (creswell, 2013). i n particular, soon after the verbatim transcription of each interview and recording of all observations, the significant segments of the interviews were categorized and highlighted. after reading, re-reading several times the transcriptions, the evocative segments were grouped into categories for each objective. these categories were reviewed several times, trimmed down if needed, to come up with more coherent and descriptive categories. in the later part of this chapter, the common categories were combined to make the general themes, which reflect the diverse lives of the pregnant adolescents. significant data found in the transcript obtained during the interview were coded and categorized to identify the themes and organized them into coherent categories. the researcher returned to each participant to confirm the accuracy of the transcriptions made. the themes achieved were validated by an expert in the field of psychology vis-à-vis the transcription of interviews for the confirmation of the appropriateness and accuracy of the formulated themes about circumstances which have influenced the lives of the participants. a language expert verified the accuracy of translations of the narratives of the participants specifically cited in the research. results and discussion circumstances which have led to participants’ early pregnancy derived two themes which are inherent and adventitious factors. inherent factors are: 1) search for love; 2) life-changing decisions and, 3) lack of awareness about sex. adventitious factors are 1.) family’s social interaction and, 2) deceived by her partner. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research participants have attributed their early pregnancy to either of the two factors: events which were inherent in themselves, and things which were outside of their innate sphere of life. inherent factors are those factors which the participants have control over, such as their feelings and emotions. their love for their partner, the decisions which they have made and their lack of awareness are the examples. adventitious factors, on the other hand, are those factors which the participants do not have control about, for these are the factors which occur outside of themselves. these are the factors which they believe wield strong influence over them yet they do not have power over, such as their family. in her search for love trite belief says, “love makes the world go round.” love is manifested by the pregnant adolescents in more ways than one. the maturity that comes with age redefines the concept, but for an adolescent, the term is usually associated and commonly mistaken with infatuation, if not interchangeably used. for these adolescents, their pregnancy is associated with love. glendale said,“nabulag sa gugma e. pero kay palangga ko man ang laki e. pero wala man, daw wala man ko naghinulsol nga nagbusong ko kay palangga nya man ko bala haw. kag asta subong gina panindugan nya man ko e. siguro ano maam e, siguro ang love. amu gid na sya. indi ka man magpa tandog sa laki kung wala ang love.” (“i was blinded by love. however, i love the boy. i do not regret being pregnant because he loves me. maybe, ma’am, maybe it’s the love. that’s it. you don’t allow yourself to be touched by a boy if there is no love”). aryan further compared her present life with the possible life she would have with the man she did not love, “kay sa pensar ko maupod kami nga duha, wala ko naluyag sa iya te mapakasal kami, te ano matabo sa akon sa ulihi, nga nagpakasal lang ko sa iya tungod sa bata. waay ko naluyag, indi man ko dyapon malipay... te wala ko dyapon nagpati sa ila kay ginpati ko dyapon ang kaugalingon ko,” (“i’m thinking if we live together while i don’t love him, what will happen to me in the end, i married somebody just because of the baby. i don’t love him, i will never be happy. i never listened to them, i only followed my own decision”) and her life with the man she loves, “wala man ko naghinulsol nga ginpili ko ang laki na bala miss kay ano man bala miss haw, ok man lang nga mangabudlay man ko at least duha man bala kami, nalipay kami bisan gapangabudlay kami, at least nalipay ko bala miss haw.” (“i did not regret choosing this man miss, since it’s ok even though i’m miserable at least we both go through it together, we are happy though miserable, at least i am happy, miss.”) 103 international peer reviewed journal kerren attributed her adolescent pregnancy with her and her partner’s choices, when she related, “ gin gusto man ni namon. ang pag-ano maam e, ang paghimo sang baby.” (“we both wanted this, maam, making the baby”). according to the triangular model of love (sanderson & safdar, 2012), a kind of love which includes passion and intimacy is a kind of romantic love, that which is comparable to a fleeting kind of love. the feeling of passion corresponds to infatuation and intimacy to liking. a special kind of love could be a cause of adolescent pregnancy. twinkle narrated that, “may gina-seek, or kulang, ambot a, sa pagpalangga? kay te away ko ya sa akon tatay mong. guro amo na guro e. ang pagpalangga nga inughatag ko sa father ko, nang naglain bala, nang na-ano ko nalang, napa-upok ko nalang sa iya. nang... kay sige lang a. daw magulang, all-in-one, older na sya ya nga daan. daw nadala ko guro sa iya. sagad sya mag care sa bata sa akon nga kis-a ko lang mabatyagan kay te si tatay wala” (“i mean, i seek something missing… i do not know. with love?! i was away with my tatay. maybe that’s it. the love that i was supposed to give my father was transferred to him. like an older brother, all-inone, for he is older than i. he takes care of the child of me which i seldom feel, for tatay is not here”). e hh her feeling of the lack of love from her father make her search for love in her relationships. in freud’s terminology, twinkle’s experience may have been a form of displacement (kalat, 2016), when she diverted her affectionate behavior for her father to another person, towards her boyfriend. life-changing decisions some people often have to make difficult decisions. supported by the concept of social psychology, these adolescents may have experienced some dissonance as an outcome of foregoing an appealing option for another appealing option. for instance, the feeling of having lost opportunities and in some cases, the lost youth. for aryan, her pregnancy was an outcome of her indecision towards life. “ kay daw waay man ko guro sang sang hugot bala nga desisyon haw. wala man ko direksyon bala, kung amo na, amo lang na a. daw waay man ko guro bala panindugan miss haw, daw waay man ko labot. sa kaugalingon ko labot, amo na guro. kay kung ano da amo lang na bala haw. daw wala ko gina pamensar kung ano ang matabo, kung ano ang consequence. ang napamensar ko ang subong, subong lang. dason daw wala na. amo man na ang natabo sang una.” (“since i did not have the firm decision. i did not have any direction, whatever it is, and that’s it. i didn’t have the disposition; i didn’t seem to care. with myself i don’t care, 104 jpair multidisciplinary research maybe that’s it. whatever comes, i didn’t seem to think of what would happen, of whatever is the consequence. i only think of the now, only the now and nothing more. that was also what happened before”). an earlier decision made by twinkle had to a great extent influenced her early pregnancy. she revealed that, “maybe ang early nga engaging gid siguro sa sex ang mainly gid nga nag influence sa akon. 15?! 16?! 15, sexually active na ko.” (“maybe because i engaged in sex early. 15?! 16?! 15?! i was already sexually active”). lack of awareness about sex these adolescents confirmed their lack of knowledge about their sexuality. their lack of awareness has significantly changed their lives. their early pregnancy might have been prevented if these adolescents had access to significant information about their reproductive processes. the lack of knowledge about their monthly reproductive system was reflected several times in the responses of these pregnant adolescents. glendale mentioned that, “ambot a. timingan lang guro kay indi regular akon menstruation.” (“i don’t know. maybe it was just coincidence since i have an irregular menstruation”). the concept of lack of knowledge about the monthly menstruation was further mirrored in the response of ritchie, “kay that time miss nga gabusong ko, nang... amo na bala miss, kay before ko to nabal-an, ako miss wala man ko idea nga nagbusong ko bala haw, kay that time. daw wala nalang ko bala nag mind kay irregular akon menstruation.” (“since that time miss that i became pregnant, before i came to know, i didn’t have any idea that i was pregnant, for during that time, i did not mind since i had an irregular menstruation”). further, twinkle narrated, “wala ko ga expect nga subong gid miss ya… wala gid ko nag expect ya, as in. accidentally lang gid guro... wala ko kabalo kay irreg /irregular/ ko. that’s why nag salig-salig lang ko guro nga... a, irreg lang ko guro, delayed lang.” (“i did not expect miss that it would be this time… i did not expect… it was accidental… i did not know since my menstruation was irregular, maybe it was only delayed”). some pregnant adolescents did not specify on their lack of information about their menstrual process but revealed minimal, if not the complete absence of understanding about their sexuality and pregnancy. josie narrated, “kay sa iya man guro, kag sa akon man nga daw wala experience, kay syempre wala ka kabalo nga gapasulod na sya gali. siguro te sa iya, kabalo na sya kung kapasulod. siguro wala ko kabalo kung ano na sya ang kalainan, kung ano... amo na.” (“maybe it’s on him, and maybe with mine who is inexperienced, since i did not know that he was inserting already. maybe on his part, he knows when he was inserting. 105 international peer reviewed journal i didn’t know the negative consequences the … that’s it”). being devoid of comprehension on matters of sex was further confirmed by jacqui, “wala gid ko ka muwang-muwang sa amo ni, te gahambal sya nga, “wala ni, makon kon pirmepirme kay, kis-a man lang.” ga amo na sya miss. sang ka-duha to ga abot-abot pa akon tyan. hambal ko, “waay man ni guro.” amo to sang ka-tatlo nga na delay na bala akon tyan haw.” (“i don’t know anything on this, and he’s telling me, ‘this is nothing. we do it very seldom unless it’s frequently done.’ he tells me that, miss. for those two times, i still had my menstruation. i told myself, ‘maybe it’s nothing.’ it was during the third time when my menstruation was delayed”). in a study conducted by asonye (2014), it was revealed that lack of sexual education is contributory to the adolescents’ premarital sexual behavior. these adolescents manifested the lack of understanding and knowledge of matters which pertain to sex and their reproductive processes. rice (2010) said sex education ought to include adolescent pregnancy prevention, both through the teaching of responsible sex behavior and by teaching basic facts about contraception and birth control. family’s social interaction the family is the minuscule reflection of the entire social system. the dynamism of social interaction within the family is a reflection of the society’s vitality. events which happen inside this basic social unit influence the person in some ways. glendale related about her relationship with her mother, “kay ginbayaan nya kami duha ka tuig. sang grade six ko. tapos sang gamay pa gid ko e naglain na ang buot ko sa iya sugod sang naka manghod ko. kay daw gin etsapuwera nya na ko. kay daw ang manghod ko nalang ang gina ano nya pirme, ang ginatuunan sang pansin. ako wala na. tapos kung ano sala ko, a, kung ano sala sang manghod ko napasibangod sa akon, pati man sya. te galayo nga galayo ang buot ko sa iya. amu na. asta subong.” (“she left us for two years when i was in grade six. when i was smaller, i felt bad towards her which started when i had a younger sibling. she had taken me for granted. it was only my younger sibling that she gave attention to, while there was none for me. when my sister did something bad, it always was made to appear it was my fault, and she believed it. my feelings brought me far from her, until now”). glendale exhibited a classic case of the self-fulfilling prophecy, a social psychology concept which pertains to the process by which people’s expectations about a person lead them to elicit behavior that confirms these expectations 106 jpair multidisciplinary research (sanderson & safdar, 2012). she tells, “kis-a nahambalan ko, “waay ka pulos klase bata, mayo pa ang iban nga bata kaysa sa imu.’ daw kalain bala.” (“sometimes she tells me, ‘you are a good-for-nothing daughter, other children are far better than you.’ i detest it). glendale further pronounced, “kung maghambal ko nga ano e, nga wala ko nobyo, amu na bala haw. indi sya magpati. ‘wala lang guro, tago mo lang guro,’ bisan wala pa. amu na e, wala nya ko nasaligan. biskan ara na na indi pa na sya magpati sa akon.” (“when i tell her i don’t have a boyfriend, she does not believe me. ‘maybe you’re keeping it from me.’ she does not trust me. she does not believe me”). her mother’s unfulfilled promises were also very significant to glendale, as she recalled her youth, “first year ko top 10 pag second year ko nag top six ko, pagka third year ko nag top five ko mong, ato na kay, siling ko, “wala gid ya ni isa” tapos fourth year ko naghambal sya, “pag nag top five ka baklan ta ka cake sa birthday mo.” te siling ko, gusto ko gid, kay wala gid na sya daan kaagi bakal cake sa akon halin sang gamay ko, tapos naka top five ko third grading wala dyapon cake naka birthday na ko wala dyapon cake. siling ko, “a wala na.” wala na ko gana magtuon. asta nag sixth honor nalang ko. ok lang a. siling ko. wala ko man nakuha ang akon prize bisan mag top ano pa ko.” (“when i was in first year, i belonged to the top 10, top six in second year and top five in third year, i said, ‘not even once.’ when i was in the fourth year, she told me, ‘i will buy you a cake on your birthday if you belong to the top five.’ i wanted it so much; she has not bought me a cake ever since. on the third grading, i was on top five, my birthday went by, and still there was no cake, and i told myself, ‘it’s already impossible.’ i lost the motivation to study until i only became the sixth honor. it’s ok, i told myself; i won’t get any prize at all whatever honor i would have). jacqui affirmed that she grew fond of the newfound freedom she had in her college freshman. she narrated that, “te wala ko bala nakapabalo sa family ko haw, nga may migo ko, gin tago-tago ko lang sa ila. te dason diri ko naka eskwela, te ara balang wala na may gabantay sa akon, mangakig sa akon kon magab-ihan na ko. te sa balay to todo-bantay, nabantayan gid ko pirme.” (“i had not informed my family that i had a boyfriend, i kept it from them. while i was here, nobody’s looking after me; nobody scolds me even though i would go home late. at home, i was heavily guarded all the time”). aryan had a different story when it pertains to her family dynamics. she recalled, “pamilya. wala time ang family miss. daw ano miss, daw indi ko nila maintyendihan bala miss haw. daw wala ko nila gina-intyende, daw amo na. kay gustong-gusto ko gid tani bala miss mag-open sa ila pero wala ko bala nila natagaan 107 international peer reviewed journal bala miss chance haw. daw gina-ano ko nila dayon... nahambalan lain… gusto ko man tani mabal-an nila nga amo ni gakalatabo sa akon, amo ni gusto ko, amo ni, amo to. tani intyendihon lang ko nila indi lang ko nila paghambalan lain… amo na bala miss wala ko bala nila natagaan miss mag open sa ila kay lain na dayon nahimo ko… imbes nga ihambal ko pa, taguon ko nalang ni kay total amo man lang na gali pamensaron nila sa akon.” (“famil. my family has no time for me. they do not seem to understand me. they do not try to understand me, and that’s it. they tell me hurtful things. i have wanted them to know the things which happen to me; this is what i want… i hope they understand me and do not tell me things which are upsetting. they do not give me a chance to open up on them since they already misjudge what i do. instead of telling them, i would rather keep it to myself, anyway, they think otherwise”). the pregnant adolescents’ narratives revealed a lack of communication and a lack of support from the family. rice (2010) said, “parents who provide firm guidance by setting clear standards and limits for their young adolescents are especially likely to be successful in having children behave responsibly.” clearly, the key is not in curbing behavior but in making the adolescents understand their limitations in a responsible way. aryan further revealed that her mother was a battered woman for as long as she can remember, and it also instilled in her a sense of fear for her father. even her siblings were not spared by her father’s mauling, but she said he had not lifted a finger on her ever since. the problematic family experiences as causative to adolescent pregnancy have been validated by pogoy, verzosa, coming and agustino (2014) who revealed that family problems cause pregnancy among teenagers. aryan and glendale exemplified the results of this research. the family structure had been viewed as the foundation of every successful society; however, certain family elements can increase the risk of sexual activity and pregnancy among unmarried female adolescents (vickers, 2010). among these are single-headed family (illustrated by the cases of glendale, jacqui, ritchie, twinkle) whom all have absentee parents (one parent was absent), and inadequate communication herein identified by the participants’ narratives. deceived by her partner if the pregnant adolescent blamed herself for early pregnancy, her partner also had his share of the decisions made. aryan revealed one reason for her early pregnancy might have been her boyfriend’s fault since she said he had intentionally made her pregnant so that she would be compelled to be in their 108 jpair multidisciplinary research relationship. despite the earlier decision to practice “withdrawal method” in sex, he intentionally made it, “kay hambal nya kuno gin-amo nya na kuno bala para indi nalang ko kuno madula sa iya… bale ginhungod nya kuno bi,” she said. (“he said he did it so that he could take hold of me. he did it intentionally”). her partner had assured jacqui that nothing could go wrong with doing premarital sex. for jacqui, he lured her to believe that everything would be safe, as she narrated, “… nagsalig gid ko bala sa iya miss haw, hambal nya, ‘ah, wala na ya. indi ka na ma-ano ya.” (“i trusted him so much miss, he told me, ‘it’s nothing. it would not cause you anything”). in the end, with the knowledge of her pregnancy, he denounced his responsibility by saying, “kay sin-o na ayhan ya…’’ (“it may be of another man”). she said he even told her, “… indi na ko kuno mag text-text sa iya” (“i should not text him anymore”), a symbol of his closure of their relationship, and a termination of his assumption of responsibility for her child. the pregnant adolescents seemed to exhibit a lack of assertiveness. according to pipas and jaradat (2010), assertive communication occurs when the person can say what he does not agree about without being aggressive or disturbing, but leaves room for discussion. being assertive means being appropriately able to become open, honest and direct and being able to clarify one’s needs to the other person. apparently, the participants were not able to express their thoughts to their partners and allowed themselves to merely obey by their partners’ will. twinkle stated that she initially refused but eventually yielded into his advances. the realities of the pregnant adolescents are confined only to the experiences of the participants of the study. the circumstances which have influenced early pregnancy are restrained within their individual experiences. the venue becomes one of the further limitations of the research. the researcher would have wanted to detach the participant to the school setting so as to avoid any bias the person has towards the school setting. in search for better venues, however, the participants have been exposed to more people and in some instances, more prying eyes due to their physical condition. conclusions early experiences have contributed to the participants’ early pregnancy. two general conditions influence the phenomenon: inherent factors and adventitious factors. the inherent factors are classified into search for love, life-changing decisions and lack of awareness about sex. the adventitious factors, on the other 109 international peer reviewed journal hand, are the family’s social interaction and the fact that they were deceived by their partners. what causes adolescent pregnancy are factors which the participants can have control over. their love for their partner, the decisions which they make, and their lack of awareness about their reproductive processes can significantly influence pregnancy at an early age. events which happen inside the family can have a strong impact on the adolescent’s life and can influence their early pregnancy. the support or nonsupport of parents to the adolescent’s life can be very influential to the decisions that they make. translational research it has been discovered that there is a need to enhance the following skills in the pregnant adolescents: esteem, decision-making capabilities, assertiveness and positive coping skills. it has also been recognized that a prevention program could be implemented so as to impact the students’ general population. the very core of this program is to become a collaborative preventive effort to be participated in by the whole chmsc system, including the administrators, faculty, staff and students. this program is intended to target the freshmen students, since change should commence from the beginning of college life. there will be weekly activities to target these different populations, separate activities for males and females, according to degree program: bs business administration, bs criminology, bs education, bs fisheries, bs information technology. titled as the “a find self program (adolescents find selfempowerment for a life fulfilling program), this will be implemented wholeyear round. as is essential for any program, an evaluation shall be conducted after each activity, and another to evaluate the entire program at the end of the academic year. this collaborative prevention program will be an emblem of chmsc’s lifelong commitment to the continued development of its student populace. an offshoot of the research on the lived experiences of pregnant adolescents, this preventive program will impact the entire student population, and has the following objectives: deepen self-awareness, enhance self-esteem and create a positive self-image, create a heightened awareness on adolescent sexuality issues and develop and enhance their necessary life skills. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited arnett, j. j. (2014). adolescence and emerging adulthood. new york, ny, usa:: pearson education limited. asonye, p. n. (2014). experiences and perceptions of pregnant unmarried adolescents in nigeria. corpuz, b., lucas, m.r., borabo, h.g. and lucido, p. (2010). child and adolescent development. quezon city: lorimar publishing, inc. creswell, j. w. (2013).  research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. sage publications. herrman, j. w., & waterhouse, j. k. (2011). what do adolescents think about teen parenting?. western journal of nursing research, 33(4), 577-592. kalat, j. w. (2016). introduction to psychology. nelson education. parungao, c. r., bautista, l. p., mariano, r., bonifacio, v. m., & aguinaldo, m. v. (2014). life brought at a tender age: the lived experiences of filipino teenage pregnant women. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research| vol, 2(1). pipas, m. d., & jaradat, m. (2010). assertive communication skills.  annales universitatis apulensis: series oeconomica, 12(2), 649. pogoy, a. m., verzosa, r., coming, n. s., & agustino, r. g. (2014). lived experiences of early pregnancy among teenagers: a phenomenological study. european scientific journal, 10(2). rice, f.p. (2010). human development: a life-span approach. pearson learning solutions, united states of america. sanderson, c. and safdar, s. (2012).social psychology. john wiley and sons canada, ltd., united states of america. 111 international peer reviewed journal vickers, m. (2010). a personal narrative: the struggles of teenage pregnancy through a teenager’s eyes with an adult perspective (doctoral dissertation, california state university, long beach). wang, r. h., hsu, h. y., lin, s. y., cheng, c. p., & lee, s. l. (2010). risk behaviours among early adolescents: risk and protective factors.  journal of advanced nursing, 66(2), 313-323. 139 international peer reviewed journal the satisfaction level of undergraduate engineering students on distance learning amidst covid-19 jereco jims agapito http://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4084-6740 jerecojims.agapito@evsu.edu.ph department of engineering eastern visayas state university ormoc city campus ormoc city, philippines genaro v. japos http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-0988 genarojapos@gmail.com philippine association of institutions for research, inc. cagayan de oro city, philippines abstract distance learning is the primary solution of the educational system in the entire world. online mode also led the undergraduate engineering students. this study was a prospective, cross-sectional, and observational study. there were 20 questions, each of which was scored using the likert scale. the data collection was done on an electronic platform. the data are presented in frequencies and percentages using jamovi to analyze the data and the outcomes of the hypotheses. a total of 170 engineering students participated in the study and 2 of them disagreed with consent and were excluded. a total of 64 (37.76%) participants gave students positive responses (very satisfied and satisfied). a total of 71 (42%) participants gave a negative response to online learning (very dissatisfied and dissatisfied). a t-test provided evidence of no statistically significant difference in the student’s satisfaction regarding distance learning between male and female vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.739 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-0988 mailto:genarojapos@gmail.com 140 jpair multidisciplinary research students. anova test shows no statistically significant difference in the student’s satisfaction relating to distance learning between bsce, bsee, and bsme. large engineering students were dissatisfied with the online mode of teaching due to various reasons. they are generally satisfied with the support and response from the teaching faculties and dissatisfied with the communication/technology issues and lack of practical or clinical learning. keywords — education, distance learning, online learning, engineering students, satisfaction, philippines introduction the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) had carried the world to a stop. to contain the spread of the infection states guaranteed lockdown, which additionally incorporated the conclusion of instructive organizations (world health organization, 2019). with the inaccessibility of authoritative treatment and vulnerability for the finish of the pandemic, preventive measures are vital in saving oneself from getting contaminated from this infection. the conventional method of homeroom education was unimaginable as it would disregard social removal standards and would chance educators and the understudies. this contrarily affected the training framework. along these lines, internet instructing was the primary choice passed on to show undergrad designing understudies to proceed with their expert educational program. distance learning is certainly not another adaption model yet has its foundations as correspondence (postal conveyance) learning since the eighteenth century (kentnor, 2015; pant, 2014). on the web/e-learning has been a discretionary and important apparatus for a significant stretch. however, with the advances in innovation and simpler ways of interfacing with telecom, the schooling framework has changed radically, and there was a colossal ascent in web-based learning using different computerized stages which have demonstrated that distance learning is a practical choice at present occasions (agapito et al., 2021; alkhowailed et al., 2020; tabatabai, 2020; walker & fraser, 2005). internet learning enjoys its upper hands over traditional showing techniques, such as accessibility to a more extensive populace, particularly in troublesome regions where up close and personal education is not plausible, time-productivity, adaptability to understudies, and comfort (panchabakesan, 2011; tabatabai, 2020). considering the pandemic circumstance, web-based educating is legitimate, yet its handiness in instructing engineering programs is 141 international peer reviewed journal questionable as assessing student satisfaction with web-based learning systems has been a critical issue for researchers and academia (chiu et al., 2005; guy & lownes-jackson, 2015; knapper, 1988; roach & lemasters, 2006; sweet, 1986; strong et al., 2012). the writing shows fluctuated results regarding the general inclination of understudies with on the web or online learning (chiu et al., 2005; sweet, 1986). a couple of studies detailed instabilities among the understudies and dropouts from the courses with internet learning. aside from this, different issues looked at by the understudies were specialized issues, web issues, helpless general media transmission, and so forth (knapper, 1988; panchabakesan, 2011; sweet, 1986). in proficient courses like designing projects involve commonsense learning, experimentation, lab, and hardware application later in the educational program assume an essential part in acquiring abilities. however, the current condition does not warrant regular face-to-face addresses. as of now, because of covid-19, we do not have numerous choices for showing the understudies, and henceforth online intelligent instructing is the ideal choice we have in the current situation. considering such a situation, this review was planned to survey the fulfillment level of undergrad designing understudies and break down the related issues looked at by the understudies during web-based instructing. there are many studies about the shift from a face-to-face learning environment to an online learning environment but only a few studies were undertaken in the philippines about the satisfaction level of the students’ vis-à-vis to distance learning. the challenges of establishing online learning from the government’s perspective the lecturers’/facilitators’ perspectives include the following: online learning development, which takes a long period, both time and money are required (bahian et al., 2020; bacow et al., 2012). furthermore, online education is cost-effective. believed to be a reduction in the fundamental values of face-toface instruction innovative teaching approaches allow lecturers and students to collaborate indirect interaction with one another. however, some lecturers also feel afraid that online classes will be used as an assessment in determining their expertise and assessing their advancement in career paths. this is in line with the review results which states that the two big problems faced by lecturers in implementing online learning include increasing workload and time to design, implement, and assess online learning, and not yet mastering the best pedagogical approach that can combine online learning with face-to-face learning (ma’arop, 2016). technical issues are one of four categories of impediments to online learning. online learning abilities, social context, and online course design as well 142 jpair multidisciplinary research as required management, motivation, assistance, and time to participate in online learning activities (henderikx et al., 2018). these conclusions are nearly identical to the research findings conducted by lloyd et al. (2021), which indicated that there are four key variables that become impediments to online learning, including interpersonal barriers to both facilitators and users, institutional barriers such as policies, facilities, and funds. then there are technological and training limitations, as well as difficulties analyzing the costs and benefits of online learning. face-to-face learning cannot be totally replaced by online learning. online learning has only one benefit: it saves time, providing rapid access to knowledge through the easy provision and search and can facilitate peer-to-peer learning. however, most other skills are better learned in person. the combination of several factors is the most basic barrier to online learning. parties involved in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation it is possible to assess the quality of online learning, but it is not simple. some of these can be executed optimally to provide high-quality online learning. a blended learning adaptation requirements study must be conducted by higher education institutions (porter et al., 2015). all stakeholders, particularly instructors and students, must contribute to the need’s analysis. higher education institutions must determine the number of professors who can utilize them immediately without training and the percentage of lecturers who require training. workload changes can be made for lecturers who require training so that they can best prepare for online learning. furthermore, institutions can hire third parties to help with content production for their instructors’ blended learning needs. so that the display quality and the beauty of the information meet the users’ expectations. barriers experienced by the students of online learning environments have been reported by markova et al. (2017). students are generally interested in and challenged by the online learning environment, according to the findings of his research in russia. however, the majority of them have challenges when it comes to creating a successful communication process in online learning. students wish that lecturers can create engaging, compelling, communicative, and artistic content so that students feel like they can communicate with their professors even if they don’t meet face to face. as outlined by stein and graham, various basic supporting components are required to provide high-quality blended learning. according to stein and graham, to produce quality blended learning, several standard supporting components are required, including a system analysis and measurable needs 143 international peer reviewed journal analysis, clarity of development orientation, provision of network infrastructure, policy and financial support, development team reliability, and the use of technology. many developers are involved, there is ongoing training, and design, content, implementation, and assessment standards are set for high-quality products. due to the covid-19 epidemic, the policy requiring the use of online learning services as an advantage and learning innovation in the management of learning in undergraduate engineering students at eastern visayas state university in ormoc city  necessitates a continuous study effort aimed at improving every aspect of it. undergraduate engineering students, who are at the forefront of content users and the learning process in online learning, must have their perceptions of the usage of online learning assessed. there is a slew of issues that need to be addressed through research. data from research will be important in resolving flaws in all aspects of online learning, including infrastructure, networks, hardware, and software. the goal of this study is to determine the satisfaction level of undergraduate engineering students at eastern visayas state university in ormoc city (evsuocc). the findings of this study can be used by higher education policymakers to help them create policies that encourage the use of online learning on campus. furthermore, the findings of this study can be used to improve online learning services. framework figure 1: conceptual framework 144 jpair multidisciplinary research student satisfaction is a key way to determine how students feel about the distance learning implemented by ched since the pandemic started to mitigate the spread of the covid-19 virus. it can correlate to university performance and is directly proportional to the engineering faculty teaching performance. the figure above outlines four steps involved in measuring student satisfaction and shows that it is an ongoing process. a similar study in singapore conducted by woo et al. (2020) concluded that most of his respondents reported moderate satisfaction in their online learning experiences indicating indeed that they are more agile during the fpandemic perhaps because the reason of internet connectivity in the country is incredibly fast compared to other southeast asian countries. while in the study of surahman (2020) in indonesia reported most of the students are dissatisfied with the online learning environment. limited internet access and low lecturer attachment and direction are two characteristics that contribute to dissatisfaction. the reason that needs to assess is very simple: students do not learn what teachers teach and the assessments are the best way to determine whether students have learned something. the difficulty is when the teacher uses those results to serve several different functions. although the assessment process is very simple, teachers give students stuff to do, then evaluate what they did and draw conclusions. however, the difficulty was drawing lots of different conclusions, and sometimes those purposes conflict, and that is why assessment is such a contentious area assessment that looks justifiable for one perspective. from a different perspective, the important way to navigate this difficult terrain is to shift the focus. right now, researchers focus on datadriven decision-making. the trouble of data-driven decision-making ends up hoarding vast amounts of data and having very little idea what to do with it; there is a need to focus on decision-driven data collection (sumner & tribe, 2008). a focus on improving educational preparation programs at the engineering programs and the successful retention of students participating in these programs have become increasingly important. appropriate student evaluative feedback can aid in helping to identify program strengths and weaknesses. listening to student comments and concerns allows for pedagogical progress. this study constitutes the first formal step in identifying the collective perceptions of undergraduate engineering students who have participated in three main engineering courses, which are the bachelor of science in civil engineering (bsce), bachelor of science in mechanical engineering (bsme), 145 international peer reviewed journal and bachelor of science in electrical engineering (bsee) of eastern visayas state university in ormoc city (evsu-occ). this study endeavored to aid university in evaluating, from the students’ perspective, the program’s ability to meet designed expectations and achieve program goals in a manner that was reasonable for and relevant to student participants. the study’s researchers conducted a survey to determine the satisfaction level of the undergraduate engineering students at evsu-oc. learning their satisfaction level entails providing the greatest alternative learning mode for students and faculty members, as well as discovering the best recommendations from them, while now participating in covid-19’s e-learning modality. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the satisfaction level of the undergraduate engineering students at eastern visayas state university in ormoc city (evsuocc). methodology research design this study was a prospective, cross-sectional, observational study conducted on undergraduate engineering students receiving online teaching for their professional program due to the lockdown imposed given the current pandemic of covid-19 across philippines. the study was led during the time of march 14, 2021 to august 28, 2020. the study was led utilizing a semi-organized survey created and adjusted from the past couple of studies (roach & lemasters, 2006; strong et al., 2012; walker & fraser, 2005). it was validated to assess logical consistencies, clarity, comprehensibility, a chronology of items, and refined accordingly to facilitate better comprehension and organization of the questionnaire. the first section of the questionnaire was for the sociodemographic, and the second was the satisfactions questionnaire with a total of 20 questions scored on a five-point likert scale which 5 with a qualitative equivalent of strongly agree, 4 for agree, 3 for neutral, 2 for disagree and 1 for strongly disagree. the overall satisfaction rate (osr) of each participant was calculated using the following formula: the questionnaire was controlled through a web-based mode by getting ready google survey structures. the connection of the survey was shared and 146 jpair multidisciplinary research dispersed through different internet-based stages, for example, messages and informing applications to undergrad designing understudies at eastern visayas state university in ormoc city (evsu-occ). ethical statement before the data gathering, the researcher secured a formal endorsement letter from evsu-occ and the office of research, planning, and development (rpdo) to conduct this study. the researcher then sent a letter of permission to the campus director. the approved letter was presented to the engineering faculty. a letter stating the intent of the researcher in conducting the study was attached to the questionnaire. informed consent was also requested from the participants, and they were also assured of the confidentiality of their responses. the questionnaires were administered online through google forms and personal meetups. the participants’ answers were checked, tallied, presented in tables, analyzed, and interpreted by the researcher. statistical analysis the information was recorded into microsoft excel and examination was performed utilizing jamovi version 1.6.23. classification factors were introduced as mean and standard deviation (sd) in view of the dissemination, frequency, and proportions for classification variables. the satisfaction rate among engineering programs, gender, and electronic devices was analyzed using the overall satisfaction rate formula. results and discussion table 1. summary of sociodemographic profile of students sociodemographic characteristics number of participants (%) age, (n=168) 18-20 years 21-23 years 24-28 years 29-above 41.1% 49.4% 7.1% 2.4% gender, (n=168) male female 62.7% 37.3% professional engineering program, (n=168) bsce bsee bsme 51.8% 39.3% 8.9% 147 international peer reviewed journal year of program, (n=168) first year second year third year fourth year fifth year 33.9% 4.2% 14.9% 44.6% 2.4% type of electronic device, (n=168) mobile phone laptop tablet desktop 88.7% 9.5% 0.6% 1.2% abbreviation: n, number of total participants a total of 170 engineering students participated in the study and 2 of them disagreed with consent and were excluded. finally, in the study, 168 (98.8%) participants participated. the dominant age group is 21–23 years (49.4%). the gender of the male participants was dominant with 62.2%. the majority were civil engineering students (51.8%) and fourth-year students were the majority (44.6%). the commonest device used for online classes was a mobile (88.7%), followed by laptops (9.5%). the details of the sociodemographic profile is summarized in table 1. table 2. perception of engineering undergraduate regarding distance/online learning questions sa, n (%) a, n (%) n, n (%) d, n (%) sd, n (%) mode 1. with the online classes, i felt more comfortable introducing myself to the faculty compared to conventional classroom teaching. 6 (3.6%) 42 (25%) 91 (54.2%) 24 (14.3%), 5 (3%) 3 2. while teaching online, the faculty met the goal or objectives of each of the topics. 12 (7.1%) 58 (34.5%) 80 (47.6%) 16 (9.5%) 2 (1.2%) 3 3. during online classes, the content of the class was communicated effectively. 8(4.8%) 53 (31.5%) 70 (41.7%) 31 (18.5%) 6 (3.6%) 3 4. the faculty used class time for the online teaching well. 30 (17.9%) 70 (41.7%) 60 (35.7%) 7 (4.2%) 1 (0.6%) 4 5. during online classes, the faculties were supportive and responsive in resolving my queries. 49 (29.3%) 65 (38.9%) 47 (28.1%) 6(3.6%) 0% 4 148 jpair multidisciplinary research 6. the response time from faculty was quick enough to ask any doubt during online classes. 33 (19.8%) 67 (40.1%) 60 (35.9%) 7(4.2%) 0% 4 7. while teaching online, the faculty made learning an active process by motivating us, helping to develop thought, encouraging us to participate in the discussion. 41 (24.6%) 67 (40.1%) 56 (33.5%) 3(1.8%) 0% 4 8. this style of communication enabled me to get engaged with the faculty during class discussions. 10 (6%) 44 (26.2%) 98 (58.3%) 12 (7.1%) 4(2.4%) 3 9. the communication and discussion with other students were easier during online classes 8 (4.8%) 22 (13.1%) 82 (48.8%) 44 (26.2%) 12 (7.1%) 3 10. with the online teaching, i felt more engaged with my studies. 7 (4.2%) 30 (18%) 90 (53.9%) 24 (14.4%) 16 (9.6%) 3 11. during online classes, i felt i had more opportunities to interact with the faculty than conventional classroom teaching. 7 (4.2%) 29 (17.3%) 81 (48.2%) 37 (22%) 14 (8.3%) 3 12. with online teaching, i felt it was easy to ask questions to the faculty and clear my doubts compared to conventional classroom teaching. 7 (4.2%) 32 (19.2%) 85 (50.9%) 29 (17.4%) 14 (8.4%) 3 13. with online teaching, i feel that it is easier to manage my studies than conventional classroom teaching. 5 (3%) 36 (21.4%) 83 (49.4%) 32 (19%) 12 (7.1%) 3 14. during online classes, the quality of the teaching material projected or taught was the same or comparable to the one used during conventional classroom teaching. 7 (4.2%) 37 (22%) 91 (54.2%) 21 (12.5%) 12 (7.1%) 3 15. an interactive online discussion along with a powerpoint presentation is an effective way of learning. 28 (16.7%) 56 (33.3%) 73 (43.5%) 11 (6.5%) 0% 3 16. i prefer online teaching and feel online education is worth my time. 7(4.2%) 26 (15.6%) 73 (43.7%) 38 (22.8%) 23 (13.8%) 3 149 international peer reviewed journal 17. the faculties during online classes helped to build discussion and recognize problem areas in my studies. 16(9.6%) 55 (32.9%) 83 (49.7%) 12 (7.2%) 1 (0.6%) 3 18. i got constructive (positive and negative) feedback from the faculty on my assignments. 15(9.1%) 34 (20.6%) 100 (60.6%) 14 (8.5%) 2 (1.2%) 3 19. these online classes have helped me to gain knowledge regarding technology and being technically sound. 23 (13.7%) 54 (32.1%) 70 (41.7%) 16 (9.5%) 5 (3%) 3 20. overall, how will your grade your experience with online teaching? (for this question, strongly agree on means immensely great experience and strongly disagree means extremely poor experience) 11(6.5%) 45 (26.8%) 84 (50%) 22 (13.1%) 6 (3.6%) 3 abbreviations: sa = strongly agree; a = agree; neutral; d = disagree; sd = strongly disagree; mode the majority of the faculty used the class time well and response time was quick enough to ask any doubt during online classes. the faculties were supportive, responsive, and quick enough to resolve the queries. the faculties made the learning active by motivating and encouraging them to participate in discussions (mode = 4). the details of the responses are shown in table 2. overall satisfaction rate (osr) overall satisfaction rate was determined by the number of participants with positive or negative responses/total number of responses multiplied by 100. a total of 64 (37.76%) participants gave positive responses (very satisfied and satisfied), out of which 30 were bsce, 21 bsee, and 13 bsme students. a total of 71 (42%) participants gave a negative response (very dissatisfied and dissatisfied) to online learning; out of these, 29 were bsce, 25 bsee, and 17 bsme students. however, major of the students filled the survey with an answer “neutral,” which implies that they are not sure whether they learned something or not. some studies show that if a participant chooses neutral, they are not interested in the questions or with the topics. they filled it up perhaps for the reason of compliance and showing in a stage of doubt. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research a t-test provided evidence of a not statistically significant difference in the student’s satisfaction regarding distance learning between male (m=3.17, sd=0.885) and female (m=3.25, sd=0.869) students; t (0.551) =166, p=0.583. cohens d add support to the result with a value of 0.0884 effect size. in the findings of this research, there is no statistically significant difference in satisfaction regarding distance learning vis-a-vis gender differences. however, in the literature, they agreed that there is a need for more research on gender debate about differences and similarities from learning strategies to performance and even with satisfactory measurement (bidjerano, 2005; price, 2006; rovai & baker, 2005). anova test shows that there was no statistically significant difference in the student’s satisfaction relating to distance learning between bsce, bsee, and bsme at the p<0.05 level [f (2,41.2) =0.852, p=0.434] in welch’s and even in fisher’s, the output was significantly related at the same benchmark alpha level of 0.05 [f (2,165) =0.861, p=0.424]. the result shows that all programs in the engineering department of evsu ormoc city have the same satisfactory level vis-à-vis in distance learning. two of the reasons for this were the study conducted in one university only and in terms of disciplines or programs were only three. perhaps this outcome provides us with the idea that we need to expound this study to other states and colleges with more categorized disciplines. there are elements of students’ satisfaction based on the study of ke and kwak (2013) identified the five elements which are: learner relevance, active learning, authentic learning, learner autonomy, and technical competence. kuo et al. (2013) determined that learner-instructor interaction and learner-content interaction combined with technology efficacy are valid indicators of students’ positive perceptions. however, battalio (2007), using a criterion approach, argued that a positive course rating requires effective learner-instructor interaction. conclusions distance virtual internet learning is a fundamental option in a circumstance like covid-19 that causes a pandemic and should play a corresponding part in designing engineering understudies, especially in the experiment and laboratory aspects. this study features the issues pivotal in web-based learning and helps comprehend the fundamental changes to be made to defeat the hindrances in showing the expert designing curriculum. the curriculum amendments and development of necessary devices and technology for engineering ungraduated 151 international peer reviewed journal students at eastern visayas state university in ormoc city will empower them to functional classes. they can work on the viability of the web-based classes, consequently further developing fulfillment levels among understudies. this review was led to survey the fulfillment of designing understudies with virtual classes after disturbance of actual instructing because of the covid 19 pandemic. the dominant students who participated in the study were bachelor of science in civil engineering (bsce) students, followed by bachelor of science in electrical engineering (bsee) and bachelor of science in mechanical engineering (bsme). large engineering students were dissatisfied with the distant learning pedagogy because of some irregularities. they were generally pleased with the teaching faculty’s assistance and reaction but disappointed with communication/technology difficulties and the absence of practical learning. there are so many studies about the satisfaction level of students and they have a common denominator of conclusion, distance learning was not effective, especially to those programs that require experiment and hands-on application to learn. recommendation in professional courses such as engineering, traditional face-to-face education is regarded as a regular pattern of routine learning. learners’ attention is drawn to face-to-face meetings, which also anchor the focus through additional interactions and brainstorming exercises. the overall satisfaction rate of students was low and most of them were dissatisfied. because of the unexpected transition to virtual education, several students have reported stress and health issues. another study believed that the physical classes could be a better platform than virtual classes even if the virtual classes were well adapted. there should be a guideline for the arrangement of the students if face-to-face class proceed. if the pandemic gets worst, there should be a continuity plan of distance learning. there should also be an improvement of the learning pedagogy of teachers, especially to those instructors handling engineering laboratory subjects. for that to implement, the university should invest in a license simulator for the engineering students. even though they cannot experiment in the actual laboratory, but somehow at least they can experience it in simulations. a combination of distance learning and traditional teaching can proliferate the student’s satisfaction. one of the promising teaching techniques, like the blended learning method and student engagement using the multiple attempt 152 jpair multidisciplinary research quizzes method (smaq), addresses the shortcomings of virtual teaching. the learning is integrated web-based teaching with a small group, delivering online educational resources alongside interactive classroom lectures and hands-on practical lessons in the blended learning style. literature cited agapito j, j., bahian m., capala j, endriano r., arcilla jr, f. e. 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(2019). rolling updates on coronavirus disease. retrieved on september 1, 2021 from https://bit.ly/3cs70mf woo, m. w. j., & li, w. (2020). nursing students’ views and satisfaction of their clinical learning environment in singapore. nursing open, 7(6), 1909-1919. retrived on november 10, 2021 from  https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.581 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-005-1568-3 https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.581 138 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract this study dealt to explore the administrative and instructional practices associated with the implementation of the senior high school program in the division of pampanga in aid of policy recommendation. it described how administrators and teachers assess the level of readiness of schools; administrative and instructional practices that are utilized; common problems and their coping measures; significant insights and observations and the policy recommendation that may be proposed. the study made use of the descriptive evaluation method utilizing the mixed method explanatory sequential design in data analyzing, for the purposes of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration. based on the results, the division of pampanga has the readiness to offer the program. administrators have been pursuing their administrative and instructional functions. there are issues hindering implementation that need to be addressed. administrators and teachers are doing their very best to find solutions to their encountered problems. the following are the recommendations; administrators may study the possibility of strategically aligning the local school board funds. administrators may continue the training, and supporting teachers to do action vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.558 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. state of implementation of senior high school program: an explanatory analysis of administrative and instructional practices rigette ryan s. ramos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3652-7942 rigetteryanramos@ymail.com telesforo and natividad alfonso high school, pampanga, philippines originality:100% • grammar check: 91% • plagiarism: 0% 139 international peer reviewed journal researches. concerned schools may revisit the different ways and means on how the problems can be solved. keywords – education, senior high school, administrative and instructional practices, mixed method research design, philippines introduction education equips an individual with the necessary knowledge and skills he needs to become a profitable member of a society. undoubtedly education is the most formidable instrument in reducing poverty, therefore, improving the well-being of the people. however, to establish and maintain a high-quality system, proper investment must be made. indeed, the short duration of the basic education system is also a disadvantage for the professionals and those who intend to study abroad. due to the insufficient achievement in the world’s standard in having a 10-year curriculum, filipino workers are perceived unrecognizable as professionals. the department of education, therefore, strongly believes that the k to 12 program will give every clientele the opportunity to receive quality education based on a well-designed and decongested curriculum that is internationally competitive. in the past few years of the philippine context, curriculum in the country experienced drastic changes in adapting to the world’s demand. the government offered the curriculum they think appropriate and fulfills the needs of its citizens. education remains the top priority. despite the various developments, plans, and projects created by the government, the quality of education still needs much room for improvement (ragasa, 2012). the intention of k to 12 is not merely to add two years of schooling but more importantly, to enhance the basic education curriculum. deped also noted that the present ten-year curriculum is congested in which students are forced to absorb all the knowledge and skills necessary in a short and limited span of time. as a result, high school graduates are often unprepared for employment, entrepreneurship, or even in higher education. the department of education on its new program would like to create more mature senior high school students that can be a functional member of the society. matthew (2012) explained the scope and purposes of secondary education in shs in nigeria’s context which is provided for children after primary education, that is, before tertiary education. they believed that developing a child better than 140 jpair multidisciplinary research the primary level, because it is obvious that primary education is insufficient for children to acquire different skills like the literacy, numeracy, and communication skills. such education is provided in secondary school, which can be owned by government individuals or community. before k to 12, the philippines was the last country in asia and one of only three countries worldwide with a ten-year basic education system. this means that the country is left behind and needs progress in accordance with the world’s trend. the k to 12 program is affirmed by the government as the solution to the need in the job sectors in the country. in as much as the employment in the philippines is concerned, the k to12 education can also respond to the fact that most countries in the world already have the same plan in their educational institutions. with this, the standards of these countries will lift higher than what the country has, creating a proliferation in the global competency (tabora, 2014). the implementation of the k to 12 basic education program in schools in the philippines is being done in phases, starting in the school year 2012-2013. students who were in grade 7 were the first in the formal implementation to undergo the enhanced secondary education program. in 2015, it was announced that the deped was preparing for the implementation of shs for the school year 2016-2017. all divisions of deped have finished planning and have figures on enrollment a year in advance. plans were actually reviewed by technical working group, committees, and finalized upon conference with other stakeholders, which involved: classrooms, teachers, textbooks and curriculum. strategies were carried out and examined by studying their pros and cons. dalumpines (2011) explained that the deped had started orienting its employees for the first phase of the implementation of the k to 12 basic education program. according to deped, 171 of their employees from different central offices attended the orientation on the features of the program and issues arising from its implementation. the first phase of the new program started in school year 2011-2012, with the implementation of the universal kindergarten program, with children entering school as young as 5 years old. the k to 12 program includes kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school. the two additional years in high school will be used for in-depth specialization for students depending on the occupation or career track they wish to pursue. deped explained that we need to add two more years to our basic education curriculum so as to uplift the country’s standard of education. this program will help the country to cope with the fast pace of globalization. the k to 12 program is part of president benigno simeon aquino iii’s 10-point education 141 international peer reviewed journal agenda. after the implementation of the universal kindergarten program, grade 1 students of school year 2012-2013 were first to undergo the 13-year basic education program. the study obtained empirical data on the state of implementation of the senior high school program in the division of pampanga. specifically, on the readiness of the schools to operate the program, bringing to fore the problems encountered in program implementation in and of policy recommendations. framework this study drew a support from the theory of constructivism originally postulated by jean piaget as cited by stotsky (2008). this theory assumes that motivation to learn is enhanced by the opportunity to choose what to learn and how to learn it. this theory claims that what students learn must be selfconstructed from their own initiatives and experiences. meaningful learning is said to take place only when students can construct, with their peers, their own understanding of the world they live in, whether from personal experience or from the texts they choose to read. constructivism is a learning theory that compels students to “reinvent the wheel.” students became engaged by applying their existing knowledge and real-world experience, learning to hypothesize, testing their theories, and ultimately drawing conclusions from their findings. in fact, constructivism taps into and triggers the student’s innate curiosity about the world and how things work. students do not reinvent the wheel but, rather, attempt to understand how it turns, how it functions. figure i shows the schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of the study. it has three significant components: (a) the level of readiness of the schools in the implementation of the shs program from the administrators’ and teachers’ factors; (b) the common problems encountered in the implementation of shs program and (c) coping measures employed in addressing the issues and problems; and (c) the proposed policy recommendation. 142 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. schematic diagram of the study objectives of the study this study sought to explore the administrative and instructional practices associated with the implementation of the senior high school program in the division of pampanga in aid of policy recommendation. methodology research design this study made use of the descriptive-evaluative method in determining the level of readiness of the administrators and teachers in implementing the shs program in their school. the method was deemed useful in assessing the state of implementation of the senior high school program in the division of pampanga. this study also employed the mixed method explanatory sequential design. this research design combines the elements of quantitative and qualitative research approaches for breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration. the method also advances the systematic integration of quantitative and qualitative data within a single investigation or sustained program of inquiry. the basic premise of this methodology is that such integration permits a more 143 international peer reviewed journal complete and synergistic utilization of data than do separate quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.  participants quantitative phase. the respondents of this study were the administrators and teachers in public secondary schools in the division of pampanga offering shs program for school year 2016-2017. the total population of the study was 84 public schools from the seven clusters according to its municipality. using the g power test, a random sample of 21 was chosen representing 25 percent of the target population. schools per cluster were chosen using stratified – random sampling design categorize as large, medium and small schools. qualitative phase. the participants of the study were the seven administrators from the seven clusters. one participant from each cluster was chosen using non-probability purposive sampling to gather insights and observations on the implementation of the shs program. the purpose of the interview is to gather supporting facts that would justify the result of data. instruments the researcher sought the assistance of seasoned educators and researchers to validate the study. the questionnaire was later subjected to a pilot testing to examine the readability of the instrument. the results were analyzed using the cronbach’s alpha test, and the result was a coefficient alpha of 0.88 indicating that reliability of instrument. data collection survey questionnaire was used extensively in the study. the first phase of the study focused on descriptively analyzing the profile of the school offering shs regarding readiness in (i) physical facilities and infrastructures; (ii) teachers training and preparations; (iii) curriculum materials and (iv) source of funds. it also dealt with the administrative and instructional practices in implementing the new program. numeric data was the product of the first phase of the study. administrators were interviewed and given an open – ended questions to know the problems they encountered in the implementation of the shs program and what strategies they used to solve the encountered problems. text data were the product of the second phase of the study. mixing of quantitative results and qualitative findings. the integration of the results of the quantitative and the qualitative findings provided a better 144 jpair multidisciplinary research understanding on what coping measures were employed to address these problems that administrators and teachers encountered. this led the researcher an output of policy recommendations based on the result of the study. figure 2 shows the theoretical scaffold method of the study. ethical consideration the researcher presented a formal letter and requested the permission to the schools division superintendent of the division of pampanga to administer the instrument before employing the survey questionnaire. the anonymity of the respondents was highly observed and their responses were treated with utmost confidentiality to protect the interest and credibility of the schools. data analysis quantitative phase. statistical treatment of data. the data gathered were processed by a computer system using the spss program. the spss was used to process the statistical data of variables that are in the strength of interval scale in terms of readiness of the school in (i) physical facilities and infrastructures; (ii) teachers training and preparations; (iii) curriculum materials and (iv) budget requirements and the different instructional and administrative practices used in the implementation of shs program. the following statistical tools were utilized in describing and analyzing the results of the study: 1. four points likert scale procedure was utilized in presenting the profile of the school offering shs regarding readiness in physical facilities and infrastructures, teachers training and preparations, curriculum materials and budget requirements. 2. mean, frequency counts, percentage and ranking procedures were used analyzing the problems encountered by the administrators and teachers qualitative phase. qualitative data analysis. the procedure in this phase was qualitative case study that dealt with the problems and coping measures of the respondents. theme development regarding assertions utilized as findings in this phase. 145 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. theoretical scaffold method of the study results and discussion level of readiness of the schools in the implementation of the senior high school program a. physical facilities and infrastructures. the overall assessment of the administrators had a mean value of 2.74 and standard deviation of 1.14; while the assessment of the teacher-respondents, was 2.55 and 1.12 for the mean and standard deviation respectively with a descriptive equivalent of ready. the computed t-ratio of 0.93 is less than the critical value of 1.645. the data imply that the administrator and teacher respondents did not vary significantly in their perceptions. it can be deduced that the respondents have a common stand on the level of readiness of the division of pampanga to offer the shs program regarding the state of physical facilities and infrastructures like classrooms, laboratories, computer laboratories, and library requirements. this affirms the study of luistro (2015) which states that the shs program is manageable and 146 jpair multidisciplinary research that the agency is actively dealing with the needed infrastructure, the planned construction initially of 30,000 new classrooms and school facilities and he is confident that the implementation of the grade 11 component will proceed. b. teachers’ training and preparations. the overall assessment of the administrator-respondents obtained a mean score of 3.40, and standard deviation of 1.44; while the assessment of the teacher-respondents was 3.30 and 1.37 for the mean and standard deviation respectively. the result reveals that computed mean of the respondents has a descriptive rating of fully ready. the overall computed t-ratio of 0.96 is less than the critical value of 1.645. the result manifests that the administrator and teacher respondents’ assessment did not vary significantly in their perceptions regarding teachers’ training and preparations. it can be concluded that administrators and teachers have the same views regarding the level of readiness of the schools in the division of pampanga to offer the shs program specifically regarding teachers’ orientation, seminars and workshops, inservice trainings, and lac sessions being attended by the shs teachers. this contradicts the study of ragasa (2012) which explains one basic problem of shs program is the lack of teacher training and the failure of the government to address this problem and create gaps that if left unaddressed may imperil the full implementation of the program. c. curriculum materials. the overall assessment of the administrators had a 2.79 and 1.16 for the mean and standard deviation respectively; while the assessment of the teacher-respondents obtained a mean value of 2.75, and a standard deviation of 1.15. the findings show that curriculum materials are ready. the overall computed t-ratio of 0.98 is less than the critical value of 1.645. the findings indicate that the administrator and teacher respondents’ assessment did not vary significantly in their perceptions. it can be deduced that the respondents have a mutual conclusion on the level of preparedness on the curriculum materials like curriculum guides, learning materials, teaching guides and lesson exemplars. this opposes the findings of rubante (2012) which foresaw the problem in curriculum materials of the shs that are not complete until the pilot implementation of the new program. d. sources of funds. the overall assessment of the administrators had a mean value of 2.32 and standard deviation of 1.13 with a descriptive rating of moderately ready; while the assessment of the teacher-respondents of 2.75 and 1.15 for the mean and standard deviation respectively and has a descriptive rating of ready. the overall computed t-ratio of 0.84 is less than the critical value of 1.645. the finding implies that the administrator and teacher respondents’ 147 international peer reviewed journal assessment did not vary significantly regarding budget requirement. it can be concluded that the respondents have the same interpretation of the sources of funds like mooe, pta, lgu, and stakeholders support the implementation of shs program in the division of pampanga. this affirms the study of dalumpines (2011) which states the government can manage its sources and budget to attain the goal of the senior high school program of k to 12 and there are business organizations which have been supporting the k to 12 program on its continued and proper reform implementation. the administrative and instructional practices used in the implementation of the shs program a. administrative practices. the administrative practices used in the implementation of the shs program are categorized into four kras; school leadership and management operations practices, human resource management and development practices, parents’ involvement and community partnership practices and learning environment practices the learning environment practices got the highest mean score of 3.65 with a descriptive equivalent of always. the parents’ involvement and community partnership practices, school leadership, management and operations practices and human resource management and development practices have the same descriptive equivalent of often with a mean score of 3.49, 3.43 and 3.37 respectively. an overall mean score of 3.49 with a descriptive equivalent of often means that the administrative practices are being done four times a week. this affirms the study of belle (2017) that administrators’ administrative strategies will make the school more effective and very helpful to needs of teachers and students as well. it also centers around the ambidextrous leadership of the principal: he should strike a balance between daily administrative matters and devising and implementing effective disciplinary strategies to promote a healthy environment in the school organizational climate and culture. consequently, administrator’s administrative practices in the implementation of shs program need to be sustained regarding learning environment and give additional focus on parents’ involvement and community partnership, school leadership, management and operations and human resource management and development for the students to achieve the goal of the shs program. b. instructional practices. the assessment of the administrator and teacher respondents in instructional practices used in the implementation of shs program have an overall assessment of the administrator-respondents obtained a mean 148 jpair multidisciplinary research score of 2.67 and standard deviation of 1.13; while the assessment of the teacherrespondents were 3.19 and 1.31 for the mean and standard deviation respectively with a descriptive equivalent of often. the overall computed t-ratio of 1.00 is less than the critical value of 1.645 which implies that the administrator and teacher respondents’ assessment did not vary significantly. it can be concluded further that administrators and teachers have the similar understandings regarding the instructional leadership used as instructional practices in the implementation of shs program in the division of pampanga. the finding affirms the study of blase (1999) that instructional practices are essential to all teachers’ perspectives on principals’ everyday instructional leadership characteristics and it is great impact of those characteristics on teachers. it is also mentioned that the everyday strategies of principals practicing exemplary instructional leadership really influenced teachers.  common problems encountered in the implementation of the shs program the common problems encountered by the teachers and administrators in the implementation of shs program are inadequate number of modules available inadequate shoproom for tvl, inadequate laboratories for academic tracks, students’ absenteeism, lack in learning / instructional materials, inadequate number of classroom for the shs students, subjects handled are not in line with teachers specialization, minimal allotment of budget in the mooe, nonlicensed teachers, unexperienced teachers, students are not prepared in his chosen track, no tools and equipment in tvl, and untrained teachers, and the problem of insufficient financial support from the school head. the data project that the main problem in the implementation of shs program is inadequate number of available modules. this really made the teachers and administrators having hard time in resourcing different books congruent to the competencies of the subjects. coping measures employed by the administrators and teachers in addressing the problems encountered. the coping measures by the administrators and teachers in addressing the problems encountered in the implementation of shs program regarding the problem no classroom for the shs students is to compress/lessen the number of section of jhs, second is to utilize the unfinished building and the last is shifting of classes. the problems no laboratories for academic tracks and no shoproom for tvl, the use of the jhs shoproom and tle laboratory is the first coping measure, the use of jhs laboratories like science laboratory is the second and the last coping measure to address the problem is the teacher is bringing her own 149 international peer reviewed journal materials. regarding lack in learning/instructional materials and no modules available, the first coping measure is the teachers’ resourcefulness and initiatives. second is to purchase books using personal money. third is the innovative use of gadgets and internet. fourth is peer – tutoring. fifth is there is a per cluster mentoring and lastly is borrowing books from college library. problems about unexperienced teachers, non-licensed teachers, subjects handled are not in line with teachers’ specialization and untrained teachers are given coping measure by first, coaching. second is by mentoring followed by assistance of the school head, encouraging teachers to take units in teaching, and remediation are the third, fourth and fifth respectively. lastly, to attend seminar related to subject to address the problem. in the aspect of the problem in no allotment of the budget in the mooe and no financial support from the school head, personal money is the first coping measure used. partnership and adopt a school program are the two remaining solutions to solve the problems. lastly, on the problem about students are not prepared in his chosen track and students’ absenteeism, the first coping measure is home visitation by their class adviser and teachers. parents’ conference, remediation and conference with students are the second, third and fourth coping measures respectively. significant insights / observations in the implementation of shs program in the division of pampanga the insights and the observations of the implementers were sought to get a better picture of the state of program implementation. seven administrators from the seven cluster implementers who were directly involved in the implementation of the new program were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed in the light of three assertions: (1) the schools division of pampanga has the readiness to offer the shs program; (2) there are problems affecting the smooth implementation of the shs program; and (3) there are administrative issues that hinder the implementation of the shs program. policy recommendation that may be proposed to further improve the implementation of the senior high school program in the division of pampanga a number of significant observations and insights may be drawn from the integration of the quantitative results and qualitative findings of the study: first, as a whole, the schools division of pampanga was perceived to have the readiness to offer the shs program. moreover, the need to improve the physical facilities and curriculum materials was brought to fore. specially mentioned was the need 150 jpair multidisciplinary research to improve the laboratory facilities and instructional modules. this finding raises a big challenge to school administrators to strategically study the possibility of realigning the local school board fund and the programming of the school mooe so that necessary provisions for the aforementioned needs could be made. second, the administrative and instructional practices used by the administrators in the implementation of shs program in the division of pampanga were indeed a big help to the teachers and students as well. these practices were the guide of the administrators to lead and manage the school properly especially the newly hired teachers and students who are the first students of the new program. the results of the study showed that there is an administrative area that needs enhancement which is the human resource management and development. it would seem exigent that the school administrators find more time establishing rapport with teachers, coaching and mentoring them and giving rewards and recognition to their accomplishments and lastly, the role of administrators in providing leadership in the various facets of school operation is of utmost important. it would seem very necessary that the administrative practices particularly the organization and improvement of school – based management be intensified to assist teachers in their instructional and other curricular planning and development activities. conclusions the administrators and teacher respondents were as a whole in agreement that the schools division of pampanga has the readiness to offer the senior high school program regarding physical facilities and infrastructures, teachers’ training and preparations, curriculum materials and budgetary requirements. the school administrators have been pursuing their administrative and instructional functions in support of the implementation of senior high school program. the schools division of pampanga has the readiness to offer the senior high school program. nonetheless, there is a need to address issues and problems hindering the smooth implementation of the program. the administrators and teachers of the senior high school implementers in the schools division of pampanga are doing their very best to find solutions to their encountered problems immediately so that there will be a smooth implementation of the new program. 151 international peer reviewed journal translational research the study can be translated into reports and documents stipulating the coping measures they are using in addressing the problems encountered so that other shs implementers may see and benchmark those solutions in their own schools. schools division office can initiate a summit of different coping measures used by the administrators and teachers of every shs implementers and recognized those best school implementers of the shs program. school administrators may study the possibility of strategically aligning the local school board funds and logically program the school mooe so that the urgent needs of the teachers and students could be addressed. literature cited blase, j., & blase, j. (1999). principals’ instructional leadership and teacher development: teachers’ perspectives. educational administration quarterly, 35(3), 349-378. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from https://scholar.google. com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=principals%e2%80%99+instr uctional+leadership+and+teacher+development%3a+teachers%e2%80%9 9++perspectives.&btng= dalumpines, s. (2011, may 10). deped starts orientation for k+12 education program. gma news online. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from http://www. gmanetwork.com/news/story/220124/news/nation/deped-starts luistro, a. (2015, may 09). philippine education reform program faces challenges. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/05/08/15/ philippine-education-reform-program-faces-challenges. matthew, i.a., (2012). provision of secondary education in nigeria: challenges and way forward. retrieved on april 25, 2016 from https:// www. academicjournals.org/article/article1380092456_ige.pdf belle, l. j. (2018). the state secondary school principal as an effective leader of learner discipline management. british journal of education, 6(1), 43-54. 152 jpair multidisciplinary research ragasa, j. m. (2012). the problem with aquino’s k to 12 program. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from http://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us/2012/06/ problem-with-aquinos-k-to-12-program.html#ixzz45doudclf. rubante (2012). rushed trainings, lack of materials mar implementation of k to 12. retrieved on april 16, 2016 from http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/30/ rushed-trainings-lack-of-materials-mar-implementation-of-k-to-12/. stotsky, s. (2008). the negative influence of education schools on the k–12 curriculum. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from https://www.nas.org/ articles/the_negative_influence_of_education_schools _on_the_k–12_ curriculum tabora, s.j. (2014). serious problems with the k-12 senior high school curriculum. retrieved on april 6, 2016 from https://taborasj.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/ serious-problems-with-the-k-12-senior-high-schoolcurriculum/. 16 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.263 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. cleaner production: the key to waste, water and energy reduction in higher education, philippines richard a. badiola orcid no.: 0000-0001-7465-4814 richardbadiola14@gmail.com surigao state college of technology surigao city, philippines analyn morite orcid.no.0000-0003-4165-0651 analynmorite@gmail.com surigao state college of technology surigao city, philippines bryan ylaya orcid.no.0000-0001-6846-9495 bryanylaya14@gmail.com surigao state college of technology surigao city, philippines alexis espaldon orcid.no.0000-0003-2090-1044 alexispaldon@gmail.com surigao state college of technology surigao city, philippines abstract the fight against the worsening environmental problems has been the battle cry of the world. environmental sustainability requires balance between development and the environment, is the key towards efficient resource 17 international peer reviewed journal management. this paper examines a higher education institution through cleaner production assessment, to look for viable and economic options through which the institution can enhance its environmental performance thereby can generate resources’ savings; utilizes solid waste and increase worker’s productivity. cleaner production assessment was successfully conducted to come up with a program for efficient cost reduction measures for water, energy and solid waste generations. the study revealed that, through cleaner production, about 8% monthly energy savings is expected by shutting down air-conditioned appliances one hour per day. eighty percent can be saved on the computer’s monthly energy consumption when laptop computers are used instead of desktops. a savings of 28% on monthly water consumption if rainwater will be utilized. monthly financial savings of not less than 180,000 pesos is expected can be attained under a sustained cp program. more than 50% of solid waste, if diverted for recycling/ processing, the institution can produce at least 35,000 pesos annually. the cleaner production program requiring the combined effort of the stakeholders can provide huge benefits to a school institution through improved operating and maintenance practices, cleaner technology and product changes. keywords environmental engineering, cleaner production, cleaner production assessment, philippines introduction the diverse environmental problems that exist nowadays left people with persistent drawbacks how to attain a livable and salubrious place to reside. the united nation industrial development organization (unido, 2013) stressed that the global production and consumption is outpacing the renewal capacity of the natural resources and the ability of the government to manage pollutions, waste, and scarcity of resources. this calls for a balance between development and the environment through integrating environmental sustainability into the different aspect of human activities. united nations conference on environment and development (unced) in 1992 declared that physical development may have greatly exhausted the environment if there’s no balance between development and environment. in the philippines, numerous environmental groups along with concerned citizens both from the public and private sectors are claiming that the environment is in the critical state of destruction, something that must be given preferential attention. world wide fund (wwf) global (2012) has 18 jpair multidisciplinary research articulated that the country is facing major environmental problems associated to deforestation, coastal development, pollutions and the climate change all to be blamed on natural resources mismanagement and weak law enforcement. furthermore, wwf reported that increasing development activities, the rise of demand of goods, services and energy arising from the significant economic growth in the country invariably put too much load on the limited capacity of the country’s’ biosphere. indeed, development comes with a price that is the deterioration of the precious resources of the state. in addition, the annual report of the environmental management bureau (emb) under the department of environment and natural resources (denr) in 2012 described the state of the philippine environment. according to embdenr (2012) the country’s air quality still exceeds the denr guideline value of 90µg/ ncm which is caused by motor vehicles, traffic and non-compliant industries. thus, people are at risk of air pollution-related health problems. out of the 108 rivers 25% failed to pass because they exceeded the water quality criteria of biological oxygen demand (bod) and the dissolved oxygen (do) levels. moreover, about 60% of 89 beaches in the country surpassed fecal coli form count that means many of the country’s water bodies are unfit anymore for human activity. in united nation conference on environment and development (unced) held in rio de janeiro on june 1992, new goals were established for the world that communities should advocate environmentally sustainable development as a response to the global environmental issues. sustainable development and cleaner production technology are the key to address these environmental issues (unido, 2012). this study applies cleaner production (cp) technology to integrate environmentally sustainable initiatives and actions in an educational higher institution. cp paves the way for companies/organizations to improve their environmental performance while remaining competitive and profitable (mamery, 2005). it is through cp technology that company/organizations can reduce or eliminate tradeoff between environmental protections against economic growth (unep, 1994). in the industry, according to baas, l. (1994), roughly 70% of all current wastes and emissions can be prevented at source by the use of technically sound and economically profitable procedures. such procedures and techniques are among the cp options. there have been lots of possibilities to reduce the environmental burden in the industrial production that exists; like the maximization of the environmental performance through good housekeeping, recycling of wastes, adaptation of clean technological innovations, application of 19 international peer reviewed journal the end of the pipe techniques, and total quality management (nowoseielski et al., 2006). these practices in the industry are also recognized cp initiatives and actions. unido (2012) also promoted cp technology as a way to address the environmental issues in the industry sector. on the other hand, higher education institutions have been following this trend arising from the issue of campus sustainability (disterheft et al., 2012). based on the study of disterheft et al. (2012), environmental management system is a powerful tool to enhance the operational environmental performance by integrating sustainable practices in all aspect of the organization’s system. cp philosophies and practices are well suited under the programs of environmental management system. however, the knowledge and practices of environmental sustainability do not exist yet in many educational institutions (disterheft et al., 2012). environmental sustainability can be integrated in schools /universities through incorporating cp into the organizational processes. cp is a solution for academic institutions that seek ways for the environmental preservation and reduction of pollution in their vicinity. likewise, if a cp program is in place in an organization, practicing cost-effective resource management system is within reach. the main goal of this study is to evaluate a higher educational institution to generate means for maximizing water and energy resources and minimizing waste disposal. according to the department of science of technology (dost) in 2008, cp has many benefits. first, it can help companies and institutions comply with stringent environmental regulations. second, safer and healthy surroundings can be maintained. third, the products and services can be enhanced making them in demand to the global market. fourth, the practice of cp can generate savings through increased productivity and environmental management. the main goal of cp is for the protection and preservation of the environment where the source of life emanates. this study purports to conduct a cp assessment in surigao state college of technology a higher education institution to come up with water and energy reduction measures and resources efficiency management initiatives. framework cleaner production is a continuous application of integrated environmental preventive strategy to product, processes, and services to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment (unep, 1994). its ultimate goal is for the optimal use of man’s resources so that people would not be dependent so 20 jpair multidisciplinary research much on both renewable and non-renewable resources. cp is a result of one or the combination of conservation of resources such water, energy and raw materials, eliminating toxic materials and reducing emissions and wastes in the production processes and/or services (dost, 2008). it protects the environment, the consumer and the worker while improving organization’s efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness. the guiding principle for resource conservation has evolved into waste management hierarchy (wmh) shown in figure 1. wmh aims to maximize the use of a product/resource with less impact to the environment. source reduction is at the top because the best management of the waste is not creating it in the first place (dost, 2008). as applied to hazardous waste management, the united states environmental program (us epa, 2014) stated that source reduction is the elimination of pollutants, contaminants and toxic components in the waste stream. minimization of resources consumption like water and energy is an example of resource reduction. recycling and re-use strategy would also significantly reduce the generation of waste. conversion of waste materials into useful products is a way of environmental preservation. one of the many problems of academic institutions is the burdens of solid waste generations, if recycled would lead to financial savings. reducing water consumption or utilizing wastewater that would be generated out from the buildings’ use is a form of recycling initiative. if waste cannot be recycled it goes to treatment prior to disposal. cp is focusing on source reduction and recycling techniques while end of the pipe techniques is the treatment and final disposal. source: us epa, 2014 figure 1. waste management hierarchy 21 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this paper evaluated an academic institution through cleaner production assessment with the aim of minimization of solid waste, and generating water and energy cost reduction measures. likewise, the paper aims to estimate the financial savings out from the integration of cp into the institutional processes. methodology this study employed a cleaner production assessment (cpa) based on dost standards to gather relevant data necessary for the basis of action planning. the assessment generated the cp options comprising the solid waste management actions, water and power cost reduction measures which were the basis for the environmental management program of the organization. the cpa activities include the gathering of water and electric bills, inventory of equipment and lightings including estimation of their energy consumption, facility walkthrough, cause diagnosis analysis, interview for the selection of the priority area of assessment, waste characterization study, statistical analysis of data gathered, and cp option generation. then the selected cp options were the basis for the cp program. water and power bills provided the baseline data as to how much was the consumption monthly of the buildings and facilities. maximum consumption was taken from each year since 2010 for comparison so that the trend may be established. then, the inventory of all appliances and lightings was conducted so that the total power consumption could be estimated and for verification purposes. the estimate of power consumption was used to compare which among the appliances and facilities consumed the highest power. it was also used to assess the power savings of some appliances if the use of the facilities is controlled. literature review was done to gather energy reduction measures that are applicable in higher education institution. a feasibility analysis for the solar panel technology from the engineering department of the institution was incorporated in this study to establish the payback period of the technology. comparison of the power consumption between laptop and desktop computers was estimated to distinguish which of the two is more energy efficient. water reduction options were also generated from a comprehensive review. estimation of potential water savings coming from the existing water refilling station and the construction of a water harvesting facility were performed. the period of return of investment of rainwater facility was then computed to know how many years 22 jpair multidisciplinary research the institution can get a profit. the determination of the nature of solid waste generated from the institution was determined through a waste characterization study (wacs). wacs was done through collecting all the waste in the school for four consecutive days. waste was manually segregated, weighted and recorded. this gave the baseline data of the type of waste, amount of waste and frequency of generation. wacs provided an essential input to the solid waste management measures. solid waste handling and treatment actions were taken from literatures. results and discussion water and energy expenditure at ssct in year 2012 is about 2% and 9% respectively of the total maintenance and operating cost. figure 2 provides the highest energy monthly consumption each year for the past four years based on the recorded electric bills. every year there is about 10,000 kilowatt-hour (kwh) increase since 2010, roughly expenses of about 63,000 pesos. at present, the energy consumption increased to almost 80,000 kwh with a difference of more than 20,000 kwh relative to the previous year and costs more than p78,000.00 (1,813. 9 usd). figure 2. comparison of energy consumption in ssct main campus (2010-2013) 23 international peer reviewed journal based on the inventory of equipment and lightings, air-conditioner ranked the highest in terms of energy consumption, followed by desktop computers, and lastly, the other miscellaneous devices that cannot be traced yet. untraced appliance may be due to the use of lcd projectors, charging of cellular phones, welding machine and construction-related activities. figure 3 shows the distribution of monthly energy consumption with air-con consumes more than 29,000 kwh monthly, more or less 36% of the total ssct’s energy consumption. desktop computers placed second highest energy consumers, about a quarter of the entire electricity consumption. putting the air-con off for one hour only it can save about 14,000 or 8% on its monthly consumption and in a year can save up to p170, 000.00 (3,953.5 usd) enough to finance a room improvement. comparison of energy consumption between desktop and the laptop computers revealed that the laptop can save up to 80% of the monthly energy cost more or less p100, 000.00 (2325.6 usd). laptop computers can use up to 60 watts (w) only compared to 250 w of desktop computers. based on the feasibility analysis of solar panel technology, using a 40 kw panel amounting to six million, the organization has an annual cost savings of more than p500, 000.00 (11,927.9 usd). this would yield 8% savings of the total power consumption and more than 10 years return of investment. figure 3. the distribution of energy consumption of appliances and lightings figure 4 compared the highest monthly water consumption for the past four years since 2010 up to 2013. data shows a record high of more than 7,000 cubic 24 jpair multidisciplinary research meter was consumed in july 2013 more than doubled the water consumption in 2012, even if the population was only less than 10 % increase. the water consumption expenditure was also doubled which costs about p272, 000.00 (6325. 6 usd). the institution’s water refilling station processed water at a monthly average of 20 cubic meters of which 60% is considered waste. if this wastewater is utilized, it can save up to more than 5000 a year enough to send a student to school. the school can also utilize rainwater to augment water demand. using the monthly average rainwater of the philippine atmospheric geophysical astronomical services administration (pag-asa) and considering the roof catchment area almost 2000 cubic meters can be generated which can save more than 70,000 monthly. rainwater water harvesting study of the school shows that for 1.8 million rainwater facility, it could save as much as 8 hundred thousand annually. return of investment for the facility is just two years. figure 4. comparison of water consumption in ssct main campus (2010-2013) based on the result of the waste characterization study (wacs) that was conducted at ssct in year 2013, it shows that the three biggest waste generations were paper (34%), plastics (26%), and food waste (16%). plastics component was composed of cellophane, bottles and styrofoam. figure 5 reveals the composition 25 international peer reviewed journal of solid waste in ssct. it further shows that more than 50% of the waste can be recycled under appropriate treatment strategies prior to disposal. more or less an average of 67 kilograms (kg) of solid waste was produced coming from different sources in the campus, approximately 9 grams (g) per capita per day that is below the 0.5 kg per cap per day generation of a municipal solid waste (msw). the school can generate as much as p35,000.00 (813.9 usd) yearly through recycling and selling the recyclable waste to the junk shops. cleaner production program (cpp) can set the tone in managing the increasing power and water consumption, as well as the burden of solid waste in ssct. this cpp formed the basis of the water and energy cost reduction measures outlined in table 1-3. the cp program shown in table 1 and 2 targeted a reduction in both water and energy consumption by 20%, which is translated to monthly savings of p150, 000.00 (3,488.4 usd). cp options under each table from table 1 to 3 were divided into two, short term and long-term options. short term cp options are those measures and initiatives that do not require big capital investment and longer approval by officials. the long-term options require more than six months accomplishing because of the considerable financial considerations needed. it also requires the support and approval of the higher officials before those cp options would be integrated into the school system. some longterm options are still subject for feasibility analysis and further research studies to establish their viability and the economy of use. figure 5. solid waste composition based on wacs in ssct 26 jpair multidisciplinary research cleaner production options cover improvement on operating conditions; product changes, improving equipment/technology, good housekeeping practices, input material change, and waste management. the cp program will have evaluation and monitoring for its proper implementation and making sure of the sustainability of the program at the same time form the basis of the creation of environmental management system. some of the cleaner production options as stated in table 1, 2 and 3 presents exemplary technological innovations in the industry that is also can be very effective environmental management tool for an academic institution like ssct. technological innovations such as the use of clean technology, modification of the production process, improvement on cleaning methods reducing water, energy and material consumptions brings the best profit (nowosielski r. et al. (2007). ashton et al. (2002); huhtala (2003); and geiser (2001) also said that these cp measures such minimization on waste resources may increase productivity including lots of benefits that can have both environmental and economic gains. moreover, the work of mamery in 2005 asserted too that using energy saving bulbs and energy saving equipments and devices have high energy saving potentials including the utilization of biogas and solar power technology. education and training about cp is one of the important findings that need to be given preferential attention for the cpp to be integrated successfully. the work of huisingh et al. (2000) and luken et al. (2004) recognizes the significance of training to broaden the knowledge and deepen the skills of people regarding cp considering that no formal education is available for this cpp. 27 international peer reviewed journal proposed cp program focus area: surigao state college of technology a.) cp target: reduce electricity consumption by 20% table 1. energy cost reduction measures findings benefits cp options responsible person short term action (<6 months) long-term action (>6 months) a.)intensify initiatives on energy conservation significant savings on electric consumption as much as 25% *educate employee on energy saving tips *turn-off lights when, not in use *put the computer in sleeping mode *avoid unnecessary airconditioning *unplug appliances if turned-off * turn off the computer monitor if i’m not going to use my computer for more than 20 minutes *turn off your screensaver. *turn off all equipment at the end of the day. *appoint someone to monitor energy consumption * change the thermostat settings in rooms to 25.50 during warmer months and 200 during cooler months. *encourage everyone to keep doors and windows closed when heating or air conditioning is running. * use recycled paper towels instead of electric hand dryers in toilets. *develop a comprehensive energy management system. *initiate education & training * incorporate energy conservation initiatives in the operations administration/ faculty/staff/ students 28 jpair multidisciplinary research findings benefits cp options responsible person short term action (<6 months) long-term action (>6 months) * using fans can make people feel degrees cooler, at much less cost than air conditioning. * create a “save energy” sign *adjust temperatures to ensure minimum energy use for a given comfort level * clean my air conditioning unit’s condenser of dirt and debris regularly *look for energy star label on devices/lightings in planning to purchase *plant deciduous trees to cover window during hot season *establish electricity conservation manager and a team to monitor *turn-off the aircon 12 hours per day *replace desktop with laptops *implement energy efficiency for motors *develop a comprehensive energy management system. *initiate education & training * incorporate energy conservation initiatives in the operations administration/ faculty/staff/ students 2.) utilize energy saving technology electric savings of 20% on lightings and as much as 50% on appliances. * use compact fluorescent lamp (cfl) with energy star label (10,000 hours) *avoid turn-on & off cfl several times * use light-emitting diode (led) lightings (30,000 hours) *use air-con with thermostat *install smarter switches ($96) with infrared heat detection that sense people proximity & motion to turn the light on and off. *use solar photovoltaic panels technology 29 international peer reviewed journal * use of solar heater *install highquality electronic ballasts with t8 florescent tubes. *purchasing energy-saving devices/fixtures. administra-tion 3.) intensify education and training on electricity reduction strategies increased awareness encourages more participation * conduct trainings on a regular basis * build experts in electric conservation energy conservation officer/ monitoring team(cause champion) source: mahlia, t. et al. (2010)/ tseng, m. et al. (2013)/ zhang, n. et al. (2011) park, c. et al. (2009)/ nedevschi, s.(2008)/ akbari, h. (2002)/ arms, s. et al. (2005)/ lorch, j. (1998)/ seligman, c(1977)/ peattie, k.et. al (2009). b.) cp target: reduce water consumption by 20% table 2. water cost reduction measures findings benefits cp options responsible person short term action (<6 months) long-term action (>6 months) a.)intensify management practices on water conservation significant savings on water consumptions as much as 20%. * by fixing dripping hot water faucets, can save water *check water consumption regularly * repair water leaks and leaky toilets. * bring a water bottle to school to avoid using a drinking fountain that can use more water than a person drinks. *integration of water conservation policies in the employee orientation manual and training program * recycle wastewater *recycle rainwater administration/faculty/ staff/students 30 jpair multidisciplinary research * when washing hands, do not let the water run while soaping up your hands. *shut-off faucet when, not in use * dispose tissues or solid waste in a trash container rather than in the toilet. * take shorter showers * when washing dishes by hand, fill one sink or basin with soapy water. *quickly rinse under a slow-moving stream from the faucet. *do not use running water to thaw meat or other frozen foods. defrost food overnight in the refrigerator. * kitchen sink disposals require a lot of water to operate properly. start a compost pile as an alternate method of disposing of food waste instead of using a garbage disposal. * always use a broom to clean walkways, driveways, and entrances rather than hosing off these areas. *maximize the use of natural vegetation by establishing smaller lawn. shrubs and ground covers provide greenery for much of the year and usually demand less water. * waste treatment technology 2.) utilize of watersaving technology assured of water less cost. reduce 20% or more on water consumption *utilize water-saving technology (low flow faucet and toilet) *use water free urinals *utilize new cleaning methods/technology *use economical toilet flush systems *plan out and build rain water facility *install automatic shut-off devices on faucets administration 31 international peer reviewed journal * retrofit all wasteful faucets by installing aerators with flow restrictors. *water conservation program be implemented. 3.) intensify education and training on electricity reduction strategies encourage awareness as well as initiatives *conduct awareness campaign and training * build experts on water conservation water conserva-tion officer/monitoring team (cause champion) sources: gavrilescu, m. et .al (2008)/ niemczynowicz, j. (1993)./ lindahl, m. et al. (2013)/ tseng, m. et. al(2013)/ zhang, n. et al./ brown, r. r. (2005). (2011)/ gleick, p. h. / roberts, i. m (2004) c.) cp target: reduce solid waste generation by 25% and recycle 50% of the solid waste. table 3. solid waste reduction measures findings benefits epi cp options responsible person short term action (<6 months) long-term action (>6 months) a.)improve management practices on solid waste significant sw reduction by 20% * use recycled notebooks and stationery * recycle aluminum cans and plastic bottles. * use paper-reducing strategies. *consider doublesided printing, re-using paper and using e-mail instead of mailing or faxing documents. * implement incentive scheme administration/ faculty/staff/ students 32 jpair multidisciplinary research *sell recyclable waste *design appropriate storage and collection mechanism 2.) waste to energy conversion and modernizing process and waste material recovery gain additional profit in sw recycling, reuse and treatments. * *provide containers enough to store sw temporarily at strategic locations *biogas technology build an mrf enough to process waste *composting facility *material and energy recovery facility administration 3.) intensify education and training on sw reduction strategies encourage awareness as well as initiatives *initiate waste reduction program & training. solid management committee officer/ monitoring team(cause champion) source: darlington, r.(2009)/ tseng, m. et. al(2013)/ zhang, n. et al. (2011)/ tınmaz, e. et. al (2006)/ stefan, a. et. al (2008)/ he, y (2014)/ lahore, p. s. w. c. (2010)/ beattie, a. (2014)/ ostrem, k. m. et. al (2004) conclusions cleaner production program is the key to efficient resource management of the institution. cpp would address the growing environmental degradation because of too much demand of the people on the environment. optimizing the use of available water and energy resources at minimal waste generation is the goal of cpp. the cpp in this study comprises water and energy cost reduction measures as well as solid waste minimization. cpp as integrated program advocates sustainable development. sustainable development requires that there should be a balance between institutional development and environmental preservation. an institution can generate more money without compromising the need to protect the environment. with cp advocating reduction or minimization of waste, it would greatly enhance the environmental performance. wise spending and utilization of resources through cp entails lots of savings at the same time would have less impact to the environment. 33 international peer reviewed journal recommendations intensifying the initiatives and efforts on conservation of water and energy through improvement of the operational practices may significantly reduce if not eliminate unnecessary wastage. cp based policies and guidelines would support strongly the said initiatives. although big capital is needed for the investment on cleaner technology, but this technology would guarantee economic return and environmental protection. education and training of people also may increase participation and the rate of success on cp integration. thus, it is important to have as many partners in the cpp with appropriate expertise to be able to accurately resolve the high resource consumption. successful application of cleaner production requires the concerted effort of the management and the stakeholders. with less waste means savings, with more savings means more productive and the more productive, the greater the success is expected of an 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agency, 2014. waste management hierarchy. retrieved on may 28, 2014 from http://www.epa.gov/osw/ nonhaz/municipal/hierarchy.htm zhang, n., williams, i. d., kemp, s., & smith, n. f. 2011 greening academia: developing sustainable waste management at higher education institutions.  waste management,  31(7), 1606-1616. retrieved on december 3, 2103 from http://goo.gl/ldmso. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research assessing the senior high school work immersion with partner industries: basis for supervisory work plan irene l. macalintal http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0525-3931 irene.macalintal002@deped.gov.ph sdo calamba city city hall compound, halang, calamba city criselda m. de chavez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2411-9949 cddechavez2001@yahoo.com calamba city senior high school calamba city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the researchers wanted to assess the preparedness of the grade 12 students for work immersion in terms of punctuality, interpersonal relationship, efficiency, productivity, and safety. the descriptive method of research was used in this study. an online survey was conducted from 48 student respondents from calamba city senior high school who graduated during the school year 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 under the stem strand. the results showed that students were prepared for work immersion in terms of punctuality, interpersonal relationship, and safety measures, as indicated in their responses. they were not as prepared as the first three mentioned indicators when it comes to efficiency and productivity, as revealed in the responses. problems like attitude of superiors vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.763 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0525-3931 mailto:irene.macalintal002@deped.gov.ph http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2411-9949 mailto:cddechavez2001@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.763 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 113 international peer reviewed journal towards students, schedule of work, unapproachable co-workers, and tedious work were encountered. based on the findings, the following conclusions were made: grade 12 students were prepared for work immersion, and they need more activities to develop themselves to become efficient workers. there were problems encountered by senior high school students during work immersion with partner industries that need to be addressed in school for them to adapt when they are in the actual workplace easily. keywords — technical and livelihood education, the preparedness of senior high school students, descriptive design, philippines introduction the 10-point education agenda was set out to provide every filipino child with the education she or he needs to compete in a global context. this program provides universal kindergarten year and two additional senior high school years in the basic education to give filipino students enough time to master their skills and concepts so that they will be ready for tertiary education when the time comes. a final point of the 10-point education agenda calls for a reintroduction of vocational and technical education in high schools, which have been designed to give filipino students practical skills to gain employment after graduation—a key component in tackling the high youth unemployment rate in the philippines. in 2011, the department of education had made the implementation of shifting from the 10-year basic education curriculum to the kinder to 12 program (k-12) in phases. the additional two-year senior high track aims to equip learners with knowledge and skills that will help them prepare better for their chosen path, be it higher education, employment, or entrepreneurship. senior high school (shs) is the last two years of the k to 12 program that includes grades 11 and 12. in senior high school (shs), students need to undergo a work immersion program. this program aims to expose the students to the harsh realities of the environment in the workplace and develop and enhance their work ethics and habits. it would also serve as an assessment tool on the effectiveness of the module designed for the purpose. this reform in the philippine educational system is a way of catching up with global standards in education. the key points of this policy are prepared for higher education, eligibility for entering domestic and overseas higher 114 jpair multidisciplinary research educational institutions, and immediate employability on graduating, all leading toward holistically developed filipino (okabe, 2013). the world of work in the 21st century is experiencing significant fluctuations (parker, 2008). dynamic forces that comprise globalization, economic downturn, and market uncertainties are impacting the individual and workplace. in 2004, the central bank of malaysia survey on 312 companies concluded that 77.6% of respondents found malaysian graduates lacking in the required skill to function effectively at the workplace. the focus on producing “work-ready graduates should be on graduate attributes geared toward empowering graduates to thrive in the 21st-century workplace and to function as productive and responsible citizens lau, baranovich, & leong, 2018). furthermore, (cabellero & walker, 2010) said that work readiness is, therefore, viewed as the level of which graduates are perceived as possessing attitudes and attributes that will enable them to be prepared for success in the workforce. since work readiness is new in the training and workforce development literature, it is justifiable to explore this construct among the population that it concerns-graduates. montemayor (2018) quoted what briones reported about senior high school or k-to 12 program graduates. k-to 12 graduates are competent and ready to land jobs after graduation, especially those who took the tech-voc track and had an on-the-job (ojt) training in business, manufacturing, and commercial industries. on-the-job (ojt) training or work immersion is a part of the graduation requirements for all shs students. it aims to provide them the skills they will need as they become part of the labor force. the researchers wanted to assess the respondents’ preparedness for work immersion in terms of punctuality, interpersonal relationship, efficiency, productivity, and safety, know the problems encountered by the senior high school students in work immersion with partner industries and suggest supervisory work plan to make senior high school student more productive in the performance of their work. framework department of education released deped order no. 30, series of 2017 entitled ѐguidelines for work immersion. the document contains details of the work immersion program that begins its implementation in 2017. the said programs include a pre-immersion program, mandatory work immersion seminars, and other activities coordinated both by the school head and the 115 international peer reviewed journal coordinator of partner companies. work immersion, which ranges from 80 to 320 hours, will enable students to become familiar with the workplace, experience workplace simulation, and apply their competencies in different areas of specialization. “work immersion will help develop among learner’s life and career skills, and will prepare them to make decisions on post-secondary education or employment,” the guidelines read. “through partnership building, deped hopes that partner institutions will provide learners with work immersion opportunities, workplace or hands-on experience, and additional learning resources,” it added. in the enhanced basic education act of 2013 of republic act 10533, the deped was tasked to implement the k to 12 program. by adding two years of specialization within the basic educational system, deped designed the implementation of ra 10533 within the framework of increased community involvement in the learner’s experience. through community involvement, the deped offers venues for various stakeholders to participate in the implementation of ra 10533. the work immersion program is a part of the senior high school curriculum consisting of 80 hours of hands-on experience or work simulation, which the grades 11 and 12 students will undergo. this  document describes the work immersion program and how students, schools, and stakeholders may benefit from their participation. job simulations are employment tests that ask candidates to perform tasks that they will perform on the job. simulation tests present tasks that an applicant will have to complete in a real job. by using job simulations, employers can evaluate whether a job candidate can do the job, rather than guess based on interview answers and personality questionnaires (appelman, 2014). job simulations are designed to minimize biases and errors in screening applicants by allowing employers to directly observe the abilities of applicants when doing a task or activity that reflects the actual work that applicants will accomplish. in the same manner, mr. christian nazarene, admin officer of dep ed catanduanes, shared the importance of this immersion in shaping the character during work with regards to the human relation skills to your workplace (villegas, coba‐rodriguez, & wiley, 2018). former dep ed secretary leonor briones said that “we should start training our senior high school students in the actual field of work to enhance their competency early. on the other hand, the future success of the work immersion program also has flaws like the fact that our country had a lot of experiences with on-the-job training programs on the collegiate level. unfortunately, many (if not most) of college ojt students are assigned only to insignificant jobs in 116 jpair multidisciplinary research a company answering the phone, making photocopies, making coffee (that sort of thing). ojt students are expected to produce the same products that regular employees produce. if that is the case, how are these students going to learn prior to their expectations with these experts that are going to teach them to be future professionals (magno, 2010) from the view of masterson et al. (2017), there are six (6) skills one needs to be successful in a manufacturing job. drawing from experience, the following are some of the skills need for prospective employees, such as attention to detail, critical thinking, interest, and aptitude for technology, dependability, and ability to be cross-trained. getting the first-hand experience is not just the aim of this immersion. it also aims to develop young professionals whose work ethics and values are admirable and will serve as an epitome to future trainees like them. work immersion taught students the value of punctuality, good working relations with subordinates and superiors, information confidentiality, professionalism inside the workplace, good working relationship, work values, and ethics. in a national survey of employers in the us on the hiring of graduates, the important skills evaluated and sought after are the soft skills. about 60% to 80% place importance on soft skills such as “ability and willingness to learn new skills, “critical thinking and problem solving,” collaboration or teamwork skills, “interpersonal communication,” and the ability to analyzed and synthesize information. (u.s. chamber of commerce, 2011). that is to say that soft skills are very much needed to be learned by the students in the immersion program. an internship is an opportunity to integrate the career-related experience into an undergraduate education by participating in planned, supervised work (ohio state university, 2013). internships serve as training for people starting in professional careers. it also allows students to test their interest and compatibility in a certain field or industry or to gain practical knowledge. chronicle of higher education (2012) mentioned that it could also benefit employers since they can directly assess the performance and aptitude of students taking internships. objectives of the study the study seeks to answer the following questions; (1) what is the assessment of the respondents on their preparedness for work immersion in terms of punctuality, interpersonal relationship, productivity, efficiency, and safety; (2) what are the problems encountered by the senior high school students in work immersion with partner industries?; and (3) what supervisory work plan 117 international peer reviewed journal can be suggested to make senior high school student more productive in the performance of their work? methodology research design the study utilized a descriptive research design. descriptive research method is used when a researcher wants to describe specific behavior as it occurs in the environment. this research provides a description of the current perceived preparedness of the respondents towards work immersion. this essentially focused on analyzing the level of perceived preparedness on the data gathered without having the need to perform statistical comparisons. research site the study was conducted at calamba city senior high school (ccshs). this is a stand-alone senior high school located at the heart of calamba city in brgy. 3 along chipeco avenue. this school can be easily seen as a sole building, in the same compound, right at the opposite of calamba city science high school on the same avenue. ccshs, being stand-alone senior high school is only offering stem in its academic track, and mechatronics in its vocational track. the school is usually sending students in the different partner locators/industries during the second semester. participants the participants of the study were 48 student respondents from calamba city senior high school who graduated during the school years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 under the stem strand. this is about 20% of the total graduates during those years. an online survey was conducted to gather data from the respondents. ethical issues since the goal of the study is just to assess the performance of grade 12 senior high school in their immersion with the partner industries, the target respondents were informed that they need not answer the survey if they are not willing to share their experiences from the industry they worked with on their immersion period. they would only answer what is being asked on the questionnaire making it sure that their identity would not be divulged. likewise, the researchers ensured that the questionnaire has no information about the name 118 jpair multidisciplinary research of companies/industries where the studentrespondents were immersed. this is to assure that the information shared by the respondents about the industry would remain confidential. data collection the questionnaire used in the study was a researcher-made questionnaire, which is a result of school coordinators’ benchmarking from industries. the researchers used other related studies to come up with the final instrument. the questionnaire was validated through an interview about the content from human resource officers of two partner industries. the questionnaires were sent to the target graduate respondents after approval of some authorities were obtained. the researchers waited for about two weeks, but it appeared that only a few respondents replied. follow-up was made, and after another week, the study reached about 20% of the total respondents, which made the researcher decisive on collating the information gathered. about 8% of graduates from sy. 2017-2018 and 12% from graduates of sy. 2018-2019 respectively participated in the survey. this is a good percentage of retrieval since more graduates from sy 2018-2019 responded, which corresponds to a greater number of graduates on that year. the said samples are enough to represent the entire population as upon checking, and they were part of the different partner industries where the immerses worked. plan for data analysis raw data were converted into meaningful data through the organization of raw data and classifying it so that it may become worthwhile for the required purposes. the result of the analysis generated from spss was presented in tabular form to conclude. the simple mean is utilized to describe the responses of student’s immerses through a fourpoint likert scale. the four-point likert scale was the scale used rather than a five-point likert scale to come up with an assessment that would be interpreted in a two-sided response only. this is done to avoid a neutral option that enables the researchers to get a specific response. interpretation for the computed means are adopted from the following: arbitrary scale verbal interpretation 3.50 4.00 often 2.50 3.49 sometimes 1.50 2.49 rarely 1.00 1.49 never 119 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the following are the results of the analyses and interpretations of the findings based on the data gathered in the study. table 1. preparedness for work immersion in terms of punctuality indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. comes to work on time 2. does his/her assigned work without telling him/her 3. starts working before the scheduled time 4. submits his work ahead of time 5. easily meets the deadlines composite mean 3.87 3.49 3.06 3.60 3.68 3.54 often sometimes sometimes often often often never: 1.00-1.49 rarely: 1.50 – 2.49 sometimes: 2.50 – 3:49 often: 3.50 – 4.00 among the indicators about preparedness for work immersion in terms of punctuality, the most favorable response of students has a weighted mean of 3.87. this indicates that immerses often come to work on time. however, the least response among the indicators has a weighted mean of 3.06, which implies that students immerse usually work on their official time. the data revealed that, based on the composite mean of 3.54 with an interpretation of often, implied that the majority of the students are ready for work immersion, especially in coming to works on time and submitting works ahead of time or before the deadline. bueno (2017) in his study stated that love of god, honesty, and punctuality are the values evidently manifested in the workplace of private higher education institution (phei)-graduate school from 2010 – 2015 in the philippines thus, they are now occupying supervisory and managerial positions and highly satisfied with their basic salary. similarly, in the study of anoyo et al. (2015), it was found out that the performance of the criminology interns in terms of attitude towards work like being punctual, job performance, adherence to company’s rules and regulations, and competence were very good. the respondents agreed that individual factors, university support, and organizational environment contribute to their ojt. it is recommended that ojt coordinators should conduct frequent visitations to 120 jpair multidisciplinary research student-interns to ensure that attendance and punctuality are being observed and practiced. table 2. preparedness for work immersion in terms of interpersonal relationship indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. can work with different people 2. flexible to changes 3. motivates other people to work with the group. 4. shows dependability towards work 5. collaborates with the group in decision making composite mean 3.74 3.60 3.34 3.45 3.72 3.57 often often sometimes sometimes often often never: 1.00-1.49 rarely: 1.50 – 2.49 sometimes: 2.50 – 3:49 often: 3.50 – 4.00 it can be gleaned from table 2 that student-immerses have already developed their interpersonal relationship as indicated by a weighted mean of 3.74, on the other hand, they sometimes show dependability towards work, which garnered a weighted mean of 3.34. the findings indicated that based on the composite mean of 3.57 with an interpretation of often, all of the students are socially inclined to work with other people that tend them to adjust and adapt to changes easily. in the study of archer and davison (2008) conducted for the council for industry and higher education (united kingdom), findings of another study are quoted indicating that almost a third of employers (30%) who were surveyed in that study had graduates’ generic employability skills such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving. similarly, edaño (2019), in his study, stated that schools should foster a more harmonious relationship and create a healthy working environment to improve a variety of traits and abilities for better teaching and learning process. 121 international peer reviewed journal table 3. preparedness for work immersion in terms of efficiency indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. finishes all of the tasks on time 2. works without any errors 3. stays focused and ignoring distractions 4. produces desired outputs/products without wasting any resources 5. makes visuallypleasing work composite mean 3.72 3.02 3.36 3.45 3.57 3.42 often sometimes sometimes sometimes often sometimes never: 1.00-1.49 rarely: 1.50 – 2.49 sometimes: 2.50 – 3:49 often: 3.50 – 4.00 the data revealed that most of the respondents often finish all of the tasks on time with a weighted mean of 3.72. this tells that they work efficiently to complete the task assigned to them on the specific time given. on the other hand, sometimes immerse-students works with errors shown in the obtained weighted mean of 3.02. this implies that as new in the field of work, they can’t avoid working without mistakes. from the composite mean of 3.42 with an interpretation of sometimes, it means that those students are still on their way of developing focus on their works that will lead them to work without errors and wasting any resources. similarly, the study of gardner and liu cited in the study of doe (2015) which compared recent graduate employees (technical and non-technical graduates) with their job performance requirement. the employer rated 52 skills and competencies needed for a job in order to assess graduate performance as well as their preparation for work. the results showed that some employees perceived their hired employees as insufficiently prepared for the work they have been hired for. over-all, both groups of graduates were perceived by their employers as lacking relational, personal competencies. specifically, technical graduates show higher deficiencies in speaking and listening, writing, organizational as well as personal skills compared to their non-technical counterparts. according to pascual (2014), numerous researchers on the country’s senior high school program argued that the graduates, as well as the hiring companies, are not satisfied with the jobs they get after graduating from senior high school. furthermore, they are looking for senior high school graduates that are armed with the skills that the job market needs. there are just a few studies highlighting the growing concern about the perceived mismatch between the industry’s needs and demands and the skills of 122 jpair multidisciplinary research graduates produced by institutions of higher education (ayarkwa, adinyira, and osei‐asibey, 2012). the dissatisfaction of employers with graduates’ performance in the workplace, more particularly with graduates’ shortcomings in soft skills (such as typing and communication skills) that are deemed vital for a successful transition in the workplace, highlighting two important issues. firstly, filedspecific knowledge and technical skills on their own are not sufficient to label graduates “work ready’ and secondly, there is a necessity for graduates to develop certain capacities beyond their qualifications that would enable them to deal with the stressful nature of the work environment. jorgensen (2004) highlights the important fact that qualification does not automatically translate into the king of competencies valued by today’s labor markets, this is also evident in the high numbers of unemployed graduates both locally and abroad. in the period between january and march 2012, 4.5 million people in south africa were unemployed, and 9.5% of those were people with tertiary qualifications (quarterly labor survey, 2012). this relatively high number of unemployed graduates is evidence that qualification does not always equal employment. it is therefore clear that, in this highly volatile and competitive labor market, graduates need to acquire skills that would make them more attractive and potential employers. table 4. preparedness for work immersion in terms of productivity indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. properly manages time and schedule 2. can continuously perform repetitive work 3. persistent against any current challenges 4. delivers high-quality work 5. sets timelines in every activity composite mean 3.55 3.68 3.43 3.34 3.32 3.46 often often sometimes sometimes sometimes sometimes never: 1.00-1.49 rarely: 1.50 – 2.49 sometimes: 2.50 – 3:49 often: 3.50 – 4.00 table 4 disclosed that the majority of the respondents could continuously perform repetitive work in terms of productivity, which obtained a weighted mean of 3.68. this denotes that immerse-students can do work repetitiously that can lead to production. likewise, when it comes to preparedness in terms of productivity, sometimes they set timelines in every activity with a weighted mean 123 international peer reviewed journal of 3.32. this means that to make them productive in the workplace, they need to be particular in the timeline given. based on the result with a composite mean of 3.46 and with an interpretation of sometimes, it only implied that although they want to be productive, they can’t still comply with what expected from them since it is their first to be immersed in different industries. jorgensen (2004) highlights the important fact that qualification does not automatically translate into the king of competencies valued by today’s labor markets, this is also evident in the high numbers of unemployed graduates both locally and abroad. in the period between january and march 2012, 4.5 million people in south africa were unemployed, and 9.5% of those were people with tertiary qualifications (quarterly labor survey (qls, 2012). this relatively high number of unemployed graduates is evidence that qualification does not always equal employment. it is therefore clear that, in this highly volatile and competitive labor market, graduates need to acquire skills that would make them more attractive and potential employers. binag and eguia (2012) stated that based on the findings among 48 school divisions in mindanao, 10 of these had achieved full technical efficiency levels. meanwhile, 38 schools division were least efficient due to lack of factors inputs like a number of male and female enrollees, desk, classrooms, and mooe. a component of the productivity change is due to more technological and total factor productivity changes with efficiency changes providing a gap. thus, the study revealed that a number of the desk and teachers were the sources of inefficiencies of the school divisions. table 5. preparedness for work immersion in terms of safety indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. free from any injuries or hazards 2. knowledgeable on the policies, rules, and regulations on safety awareness 3. follows standards and procedures 4. prepares medicine kit if the need arises 5. knows how to apply proper housekeeping precautions. composite mean 3.77 3.87 3.91 3.23 3.70 3.70 often often often sometimes often often never: 1.00-1.49 rarely: 1.50 – 2.49 sometimes: 2.50 – 3:49 often: 3.50 – 4.00 124 jpair multidisciplinary research it could be gleaned in the table that following standards and procedures in terms of safety got the highest weighted mean of 3.91 out of five indicators. this implies that everyone is aware of the standards and procedures to be followed to make them safe and that they always prepare medicine in the work station. similarly, immerse-students sometimes prepare medicine kit if the need arises that garnered a weighted mean of 3.23. this means that they just look for medicine at the time of the accident. based on the result, a composite mean of 3.70 with an interpretation of often, it only implied that although they were aware of safety, they just sometimes prepared a medicine kit which is really essential in working place. paraggua et al. (2017) stated that full compliance with security and safety is needed to keep graduates abreast of the trends and demands in maritime in order not to lag behind in a highly competitive environment and maintain the country’s status as the prime provider and producer of highly qualified marine officers. table 6. problems encountered by the senior high school students in work immersion with partner industries problems frequency percentage attitude of superiors towards students attitude of superiors towards students; tedious work schedule of work schedule of work; attitude of superiors towards students schedule of work; attitude of superiors towards students; tedious work schedule of work; tedious work tedious work unapproachable coworker unapproachable coworker; attitudes of superiors toward student unapproachable coworker; tedious work students are errands only due to confidentiality of work that students cannot handle, 80% stay is not working immersion at all 17 3 2 10 2 1 1 3 6 3 2 35 6 4 21 4 2 2 6 13 6 4 note: will not total to 100% due to multiple responses table 6 revealed the problems encountered by the senior high school students in work immersion with partner industries. attitude of superiors toward students got the highest percentage of 35 %. it means that superiors and students were not familiar with each other that can be seen on the way how they interact with each other. on the other hand, experiencing tedious work and with unapproachable co-worker got the least percentage among the 125 international peer reviewed journal problems encountered by them. it implies that since some of them were assigned in dpwh, they thought that they could hand all things that make them feel their co-worker as unapproachable one. the findings in the above paragraph gave a clear indication that attitude of superiors toward immersed students is not really established due to their short time of staying in the industries wherein the students just stay there for 80 hours or more or less ten (10) days or two (2) weeks. the relation of the superior and students cannot be harmonized for the short term. since they stay at the industries for a short time wherein they have no time to know each other, they have the same feeling of being unapproachable. partner industries believed that two (2) weeks is too short to learn and execute. they just tell what they are doing, but the immerse didn’t do the real task. on the other hand, the schedule of work, which got 21%, is the second problem encountered by the immersed students wherein they were assigned on time the same as with working students. unapproachable co-worker, which garnered 13 %, is the third problem encountered by the immerse in dealing with other co-workers, especially for those employees from the company. for the students, they feel that some of the employees are not easy to mingle with, but for the employee itself, they didn’t think of it. employees think these students are just their visitors who will observe how they work in the workplace. very tedious on the part of the student got 6% wherein for the immerse they feel that there’s a lack of activities to do. for them, most work done by them was not specifically related to their future college course. they believed that there’s a mismatch of their course and industry that they were assigned. they haven’t experienced appropriate exposure to their future workplace. students are errands only due to the confidentiality of work that students cannot handle with 4%. there are a lot of works that cannot be handed down to the immersed students due to its confidentiality, and the lack of mastery. they didn’t know the total process of work and even immersed totally. conclusions based on the preceding findings and the alternative hypothesis posited in this study, the following conclusions were made. grade 12 students are prepared for work immersion in terms of punctuality, interpersonal relationship, and safety, and they need more activities to develop themselves to become efficient workers. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research (1) to develop oneself commitment in doing task with promptness, there’s a need to have frequent monitoring on the status of project/activity done by the students in school, setting deadlines when there is an output /activity to be submitted, start on time, don’t wait around for those who are late when having activity, find out reason for lateness, and give rewards to those who comply on time. (2) to easily adapt with different group of students and even teachers, give them situational problem for the benefit of the learners especially in teachinglearning situation, let them lead the spg group in following the policies and guidelines of the school, conduct of different school programs, establish open communication among groups, show respect to other people all the times, and be open to positive criticism and feedback. (3) to make them safe every time in the workplace, prepare medicine cabinets with enough medicine in every conspicuous area, wear protective equipment that suit the task, and immediate response to the problems, (4) with regards to the schedule of work,  make time schedule suitable for their age, (5) for them not to be tedious, prepare lots of works related in their course so that students have their idea of what is their job in the future, there were problems encountered by senior high school students in work immersion with partner industries like attitude of superiors toward immersed students, schedule of work, unapproachable co-worker and tedious work that need to be addressed in school for them to adapt when they are in the actual workplace easily. translational research the results of the study will be of great help to school administrators, teachers, and partner industries to help the students easily adapt to the workplace and be a productive worker. the supervisory plan being made could be shared with other schools for them to utilize and make them ready for immersion. to expose the learners with a different group of people, allow them to work with other people so that students will easily adapt to the different behavior of persons around them. to produce desired outputs/products without wasting any resources, prepare rubrics that will guide them on how to make desired outputs with concern on the conservation of resources, so outputs that will be produced are in good quality and quantity. to stay focus and ignore distractions, help them to have full concentration on whatever activity is being done. 127 international peer reviewed journal acknowledgment this study will not be possible without the help of dr. isabelita r. hizon, who provided insights and expertise that greatly assisted the researchers from the beginning up to the end. ms. criselda de chavez and magnawa et al. who shared their insights in making this research work. and above all, the almighty god for his wisdom and greatness. literature cited anoyo, j. c. v., jimenez, j. i., matunog, r. m., mendoza, m. v., sarmiento, r. s., & mojares, r. e. 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(2018). continued barriers affecting hispanic families’ dietary patterns. family and consumer sciences research journal, 46(4), 363-380. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/ fcsr.12262 https://polisci.osu.edu/ https://polisci.osu.edu/ http://bit.ly/2svwtwl http://bit.ly/2svwtwl https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.507 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00393.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00393.x http://bit.ly/2vkpuky https://www.psa.gov.ph7ifs http://bit.ly/2uktw78 https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12262 https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12262 cover single with doi 39 international peer reviewed journal vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.16 published online: august 2012 competencies in the workplace of the bachelor of science in fisheries graduates of the western philippines university elsa carmen n. montaño ecnmontano@yahoo.com western philippines university, puerto princesa city, palawan, philippines nelson s. salvador holy trinity university puerto princesa city, palawan, philippines abstract this study was conducted to assess the bachelor of science in fisheries’ graduates competencies and how they fare in their job as assessed by the employers. the study employed the descriptive survey and correlational methods of inquiry using a prepared questionnaire that involved 46 graduates. the data gathered were statistically treated and analyzed with the use of frequency, percentages, mean, ranking, weighted mean, chi-square and cramer’s coefficient. results revealed that most of the graduates were employed in the government agencies. the graduates’ competencies were indicative that they can work with others. employers confirmed the graduates are capable and very prepared for work. a significant association existed between the graduates’ nature and status of employment in terms of present employment status, place of work and employing skills and their professional preparation as to reasons for taking the course. the employers’ assessment of the graduates in terms of their job performance, quality of graduates being employed, employment skills and other skills were significantly associated to the graduates reasons jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 40 jpair: multidisciplinary research for taking the course. the study concluded that graduates nature and status of employment are the results of their professional preparation. keywords fisheries course, competencies, employers’ assessment, nature of employment, workplace, job placement and skills introduction fisheries play an important role in the global provision of food directly accounting for at least 15 percent of the animal protein consume by humans and indirectly supporting food production by aquaculture and livestock industries (myers, et al., 2010). according to palma (2009), it provides about 50 percent of animal protein in the philippines, or as high as 80 percent for coastal areas. based on the economic role of fisheries in the national economy, the fisheries and aquaculture organization (fao) states that, the philippines ranked eleventh among the top fish producing countries in the world in 2003, with production of 2.63 million tonnes of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants (including seaweed). such potential of fisheries resources can be attributed to the philippines as an archipelago that is composed of more than 7,100 islands with a total coastline length of about 18,000 kilometers. the total land area of water ratio is 1:7 with a land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers and total water of 2.2 million square kilometers. the population currently stands at 96 million with more than 60 per cent living in coastal areas. being an archipelago, the country is endowed with a vast expanse of coastal and inland water resources which is approximately seven times larger than its land resources. palawan province is one among the provinces that contribute to the total national coastal and estuarine resources. it has an almost 2,000 kilometer of irregular coastline which is dotted with 1,780 islands and islets, rocky coves and sandy beaches. it is also home to diverse marine organisms from top predators to small reef fishes and numerous species of coral and marine algae (gonzales, et al., 2008). 41 international peer reviewed journal with the nature of the philippines as an archipelagic country and palawan as its largest island province, majority of its population is residing in coastal areas with fisheries as the major source of livelihood. over the years, there is an increasing demand for fishery products here and abroad. together with this demand is the need to produce people that would operate fishery industries not only in the province of palawan but also in region iv, and in the attainment of fish sufficiency for domestic consumption and for export. the government itself campaigns to the academic institutions for support through curricular offerings. one of the state universities that answer to this call is the western philippines university (wpu) which has the main campus in aborlan, palawan. galuba (2010) mentioned in his lecture that science and technology thrusts of national higher education research agenda (nhera-2:2009-2018), these consist of: agriculture, forestry and natural resources, health and medical science, biotechnology, information and communication technology, microelectronics, earth and marine sciences, fisheries and agriculture, environment, natural disaster mitigation, energy, materials science and engineering and manufacturing and process engineering. today’s students are striving to have a university education. they believe that higher education is an investment and that competencies needed for employment are usually taught in tertiary level. it is a longlife learning experience that will broaden their professional career in the global society. the performance of the school is valued by the society for it assures the graduates that they produce and the services to be rendered are of consistent quality. the commission on higher education (ched) has issued memorandum order (cmo) no. 43 series 2006 regarding policies and standards for bachelor of science in fisheries (bsfi) program. this is in accordance with the pertinent provisions of republic act (ra) no. 7722 otherwise known as the “higher education act of 1994,” and by virtue of resolution no. 603 of the commission en banc dated september 11, 2006 and for the purpose of rationalizing the undergraduate fisheries education in the country with the end view of keeping at pace with the demands of global competitiveness. 42 jpair: multidisciplinary research the new bsfi curriculum provides knowledge to students as required in the fisheries code for proper fisheries and environmental management and sustainable/responsible fisheries, and in the recently approved duties and competencies of fisheries professionals. the bsfi program has no majors and graduates are intended to be knowledgeable in all aspects of fisheries. the paradigm shift from having majors to non-majors is a call to provide competent fisheries professionals who can contribute better to sustainable and responsible fisheries and total approach to fresh water and marine coastal management, and would be flexible in tackling job opportunities in both private and government sectors. the program is designed to: educate students in the field of fisheries who can contribute to the country’s need for sustainable/ responsible fisheries and proper concepts of fisheries management, environmental management and multi-sectoral approach to coastal management; make students knowledgeable in statistical tools, computer use, social equity, extension service, economics, and proper handling of fish to reduce losses; and help students acquire knowledge and competencies in all aspects of fisheries such as aquaculture, capture fisheries, post-harvest fisheries, aquatic resource and aquatic ecology; and be capable to do research. the fisheries program in the western philippines university started in june 1983, three years after the signing of world bank loan agreement no. 1786 ph under international bank for reconstruction and development (ibrd). this project, palawan regional institute of fisheries technology (prift) started with 125 diploma in fisheries technology (dft) students. ten universities of the philippines bs fisheries graduates pioneered the implementation of this project (cfmt bulletin of information,2008). bachelor of science in fisheries is under the fisheries and allied sciences branch of the college of fisheries and maritime technology (cfmt). in 2009, it was identified as the national university of fisheries in region iv-b under the national agriculture and fisheries education system of ched. in 2000-2006, it was awarded the center of excellence (coe) for fisheries in region iv by ched. the bs in fisheries program has been accredited to level iii by the accrediting agency of chartered colleges and universities in the philippines, inc, (aaccup)(dyke and campbell, 2010). since the offering of the course 43 international peer reviewed journal in 1983 it had graduated 105 individuals. some of them were employed. however, no assessment was done in terms of how they fare with their work and yet, the institution has continued serving the people of the province in developing their knowledge and skills in fishing and fishery management, and has built its capability as the center of viable and environment-friendly fishery and aquatic technologies. instruction, research, extension and production works continued to be the university’s central activity. for several long years, the western philippines university is the only institution that offers bachelor of science in fisheries (bsf) program in palawan particularly at wpupuerto princesa campus. the campus revised goals and objectives enable it to be more relevant and responsive to the present demands of the society and communities. despite of this, no assessment had been done to find out the status of its graduates in terms of employability and competencies. it was for these reasons that the researcher embarked for this study. framework there are many assumptions on how graduate students who graduated from a college degree acquire employment. for decades, career development theories were reviewed. some of these theories have tenured while others are still evolving. it is through these theories that an individual fashioning an identity. this study will be based on the career anchor theory. visconti (2010) had written about life’s goals, it is clear that not everyone has the same ambitions in work. some are very content to have a quiet, uneventful job, while others thrive to constant change and excitement. he added that we are all different, and our motivators are an “internal barometer” of who we are and what we want. everyone has dominant “anchor” and motivator, as it relates to work. this shows the individuality of a person. motivation is something innate to himself. this includes his career. he further cited dr. edgar schein statements that an individual holds a variety of career interests. there are eight main career anchors which are as follows: 1. technical/functional competence: this is described as 44 jpair: multidisciplinary research enjoying the use of core skills. it can be skills that don’t have to be technical in nature. it can be a human resources worker or a secretary who enjoys using the skills needed for a position. likewise, they are human resources who are motivated by learning new skills and expanding current knowledge base. this is an aspiration that focuses on the importance of knowledge and skill. to remain in this orientation, professionals will require constant updating and learning new knowledge and technology development. 2. general management competence: this views specialization as limiting. this is a liked primarily by a human resource who wants to manage or supervise people. one who enjoys motivating, training and directing the work of others. one who enjoys authority and responsibility, and when someone strips of control it is “demotivator;” who thrives in three areas of competenceanalytical, interpersonal/ intergroup, and emotional. this is an aspiration to exist in the increasingly political, environment, analytical and financial skills, and interpersonal competence to function in teams and negotiations. he/ she will be responsible for major policy decisions. 3. autonomy/independence: this explains that need and want control over work and want to be recognized for achievements. this is good for human resources who can’t tolerate other people’s rules or procedures and that they need to do things in their own way: it can be seen that independent consulting and contract work would be of good fit for these people who want to be left alone to do their work; just give them instructions on what you want, when you want it and let them “go to it!” this aspiration focuses on the self-reliance that can reduce their dependency on any particular organization or job. employees who have already built autonomous careers will be well adapted to the future. 4. security/stability: this refers to one’s need to be safe, secure, and motivated by calmness and consistency of work. this is good for human resources who don’t like to take chances and are not risk-takers. stable companies are their best bets. they strive for predictability, safety, structure, and the knowledge that the task has been completed properly. somehow their unused talents may be channeled outside the work. this is an aspiration that focuses on professionals who seek stability and continuity as a primary factor of their lives. they avoid 45 international peer reviewed journal risk and wanting to remain with the same employer or place. 5. entrepreneurial creativity: other persons like the challenge of starting new projects or businesses. those who have lots of interests and energy, and often have multiple projects going at once. this is different from autonomy in what the emphasis is on creating new business: it can refer often to pursuing dreams at early age.this is an aspiration that focuses on professionals who fond inventing things, be creative and most of all, to run their own businesses. 6. service/dedication to a cause: an individual is motivated by core values rather than the work itself: it needs strong desire to make the world a better place. this is an aspiration to maintain an adequate income and also something meaningful in a larger context. 7. pure challenge: there are persons whose strongest desire is overcoming obstacle; conquering, problem-solving; competition; winning; constant self-testing; single-minded individuals. this is an aspiration that is driven by constant challenge stimulation and difficult problems. 8. lifestyle integration: some persons have a high need to balance work and the rest of life; enjoy work, but realize that works is just one of many parts of life that is important; subscribe to philosophy of “work to live”, rather then “live to work.”this is an aspiration to stabilize life pattern and career by setting into a given region and refusing to be moved by their company every few years. with the above discussion, careers can be considered as an individual preference. it takes place at several levels. one can choose what he wants, what he wants to become and what he needs. it is a chosen pursuit that is called profession. it is about one’s working life towards professional achievement. further, the theories cited give a picture that one may need a particular career depending on his inclination. along this line, the researcher theorizes that graduates of wpu fisheries course are heeding their professional career. it is also theorized that they apply their knowledge and skills acquired from wpu in the different employment agencies. these knowledge and skills serve as their competencies which enable them to get employment. to summarize the theories cited, these are captured in the research paradigm. 46 jpair: multidisciplinary research independent variables dependent variables figure 1. research paradigm the paradigm shows the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. the independent variables are composed of the graduates’ professional preparation as course, specialization and professional examination passed and the nature and status of employment as employment status, nature of work, job level position and employment skills, whereas the dependent variables are comprised of the graduates’ competencies brought by the curriculum and their employers’ assessment of their job performance, quality of graduates and employment skills. the data generated from the dependent variables will serve as feedback which can serve as basis to review the educational preparations of the graduates. objectives of the study this study assessed the employment quality of the western philippines university fisheries graduates and evaluates their performance in their workplace. 47 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods in this study, the descriptive and correlational methods of research were employed. these methods were used to generate the needed information regarding the graduates of the bachelor of science in fisheries at the western philippines university-puerto princesa campus. this was designed to use a self-completion questionnaire. in this inquiry the profile, competencies, employment status and job performance were dealt with. further, this study employed the descriptive correlational method of study to correlate the graduates’ professional preparation to their nature and status of employment and job performance and to determine the relationship between the graduates’ competencies and their nature and status of employment and job performance. respondents of the study the respondents of the study were the 105 bachelor of fisheries graduates of the wpu-ppc from school year 1997-1998 to 2009-2010. based from the population of 105 bachelor of science in fisheries graduates since 1997 to 2010, the researcher opted to use 30 percent as quota. in terms of the number of graduates per school year, these were broken as follows: 10 graduates during the school year (sy) 19971998; 17 graduates in sy 1998-1999; four graduates in 1999-2000; ten in 2001-2002; six in 2002-2003; three in 2003-2004; five in 2004-2005; four in 2005-2006; five in 2006-2007; nine in 2007-2008; 12 in 2008-2009 and five in 2009-2010. as targeted, 32 comprised the 30 percent of the total graduates. however, in the actual administration of the questionnaire, 46 or 43.80 percent of the total 105 graduates responded to the study. there were 26 employers who also cooperatively responded to this study. this number was larger than the one planned to be the respondents of this study. data gathering instruments the researcher developed her own data gathering instruments 48 jpair: multidisciplinary research which were patterned after the commission on higher education (ched) tracer survey questionnaire and that of the university of mauritius particularly on its employers’ assessment questionnaire with permission from their quality assurance officer. there were two sets of questionnaire. one set of the questionnaire was intended to be answered by the graduates. this was composed of the following: 1) personal related profile, 2) graduates’ professional preparations or background, 3) competencies brought by the curriculum, and 4) nature and status of employment. the other set of questionnaire which was answered by the employers. this covered the employers ‘assessment of the graduates being employed and employment skills being sought by the employers to the graduates. the researcher made questionnaire was pre-tested in wpu-puerto princesa campus to a group of college of fisheries and maritime technology (cfmt) students and faculty who graduated from other courses on january 18, 2011. this was done to find out if there were items that were difficult to understand. after this, corrections were incorporated and then finalized and administered. the researcher herself retrieved the questionnaires. statistical treatment of data data gathered were processed, analyzed and interpreted with the use of the following statistical tools: 1. frequency and percentages were used to describe the graduates’ profile. 2. mean was applied to determine the centrality of some data in the profile. 3. rank was employed to show the positional importance of the different indicators as used in the study. 4. chi-square was used to determine the association or correlation between variables. 5. cramer’s coefficient was applied to find out the extent of correlation. 49 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the findings revealed that more bs fisheries graduates were male, married and were born during the year 1975-1979. seven of the respondents took and passed the career professional examination. majority were employed and worked in the city on contractual basis as extension worker and as entrepreneur. fourteen graduates held executive or supervisory positions. twenty-two were employed in public-service oriented offices and six in business oriented organizations. the graduates’ employing skills were technical capabilities related to specialization, computer literacy and command of both english and filipino languages. as to graduates’ competency, majority of the graduates attested to the relevance of the curriculum. the graduates’ competencies as to communication skills were: make descriptive and narrative reports ( ͞xr= 2.97) and use acceptable terms and language in making reports( ͞xr = 2.97) and prepare basic communication ( ͞xr = 3.17). their technical skills were: capability to prepare project feasibility studies ( ͞xr = 4.09), implement data gathering and profiling of fisheries and aquatic environment ( ͞xr = 4.97) and operate/use computer in the exercise of my work ( ͞xr = 5.00). their critical thinking skills were: capabilities to evaluate/assess quality management program ( ͞xr = 4.09); assess hazards in fish and fishery products ( ͞xr= 4.26) and prepare research proposals ( ͞xr = 4.8). their human relations skills were: work harmoniously with colleagues and clientele ( ͞xr=2.86); consider intellectual property rights ( ͞xr = 3.60); and consider one’s feelings when suggesting or giving criticism ( ͞xr = 3.74). their entrepreneurial skills were: determine output target and costs ( ͞xr = 3.37); identify resource to be harnessed by applying fishery technology ( ͞xr= 3.49) and formulate business plan ( ͞xr =3.63). as to employers’ assessment of the graduates, the graduates were found to have the capacity for cooperation and teamwork; ability to apply knowledge to the workplace; and adaptability/capacity to cope with change. they were assessed to be very good, have average level of theoretical and practical knowledge thus; employers were satisfied with the quality and preparedness of the graduates. they considered bs fisheries graduates to have high level of prospects for employment. 50 jpair: multidisciplinary research the employment skills needed were: adequacy of knowledge in appropriate field; time management; and capacity for cooperation and teamwork. other skills were: human relations skills and quick response time. significant association existed between the graduates’ professional preparation as to reasons for taking the course and the employers’ assessment of their job performance and that of graduates’ professional preparation as to reasons for taking licensure examination and the employers’ assessment of their other skills needed for employment which rejected the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. as to correlation between the graduates’ competencies and the nature and status of employment, graduates’ competencies as to communication skills significantly correlated to their nature and status of their employment in terms of affirmation if employed and reasons for changing job. in terms of correlation between the graduates’ competencies and the employers’ assessment of graduates’ job performance and skills, the graduates’ competencies as to communication skills and technical skills were significantly associated to the employers’ assessment of their theoretical and practical knowledge. conclusions the following conclusions are drawn based from the findings: more graduates are married, male and in middle age. the respondents of the study are bs fisheries graduates who graduated a year or two. they also have taken and passed professional and government examinations. majority of the graduates are employed on contractual basis as entrepreneur and community worker but there are some who hold executive or managerial position. they obtain employment that is related to their degree in a particular organization or agency that range from business related work to supervisory or executive position. they are employed in the government agencies because of their technical skills, being computer literate and good command of english and filipino languages. 51 international peer reviewed journal the curriculum of the bs fisheries course is affirmed to be relevant by the majority of the graduates. the graduates’ competencies as to communications skills are indicative of their capability to make reports and communication that are needed in their employment. the curriculum of the bs fisheries prepares the graduates to acquire skills in project feasibility studies preparation, profiling of fishery resource situation and operate computer. the graduates of bs fisheries are capable to do quality management assessment hazards in fish and fishery products assessment and do research proposals. the bs fisheries graduates’ competencies as to human relations skills enable them to work with others, consider intellectual property rights and considerate to the feelings of others particularly in giving suggestions that will not offend them. the graduates have entrepreneurial skills that can make them engage into entrepreneurial related activities. the graduates according to their employers can perform very well in the workplace. they are observed to work with others, apply the knowledge learned and have the capability to cope with change or innovations. employers are satisfied with the quality of the graduates they employed. they find them very prepared for the work, average in their theoretical and practical knowledge and considered to have high level of prospect for employment. they prefer to hire graduates with adequate knowledge in their area of specialization, conscious of time or capable of managing time and can work with others. other than knowledge acquired, the employers like the graduates who have good human relations and who can work under pressure. the professional preparation of the graduates in terms of the reasons for taking bs fisheries is a determinant of their job performance; quality of graduates being employed, employment skills and other skills needed. literature cited ched memorandum order (cmo no. 43. series 2006, regarding procedures and standard for bs fisheries program college of fisheries and maritime technology. 52 jpair: multidisciplinary research 2008 bachelor of science in fisheries bulletin of information. western philippines university. colins palawan-live and retire in the philippines. retrieved january 13, 2011 from http://www.retirephilippines. wetpaint.com/page/palawan dyke, j. and a. campbell. 2010 bachelor of science in fisheries brochure. western philippines university. fao. www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_philippines/en galuba, h. 2010 “21st century competence: the research challenge in the knowledge society”. lecture presented during the national research seminar and forum on october 20-22, at the cebu business hotel, cebu city gonzales, r. o. m. 2008 “state of palawan coasts”, reefs through time. initiating the state of the coasts reports. coral reef information network of the philippines series of publications. palma, m. a. 2009 the philippines as an archipelagic and maritime nation: interest, challenges, and perspective. rsis working papers series no,182. july 21, vizconti, r. 2010 career anchors. what are your real values. retrieved november 15, from, h t t p : / / w w w. j o b s c a re e r s . c o m a r t i c l e s / careeranchors.html university of mauritius. report on employer evaluation of uom graduates. retrieved september 28,2010 from, http://www.uom.ac.mu/qa/ 53 international peer reviewed journal employer/report.pdf university of mauritius. employer evaluation form. retrieved september 28,2010 from, http://www.uom.ac.mu/qa/forms/ employer_evaluationform.pd what is job competency retrieved january 14, 2011 from http://www. wisegeek.com/what-is-job-competency.htm pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 174 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract muslim communities are known to be united, but every year, towards the start of ramadhān, some of them argue which started to be divided over the issue on the determination of the start of the blessed month. this study aimed to investigate the different options proposed for the determination of the month of ramadhān including local and global sighting; number of witnesses required; size of matla’; and saudī sighting process and its implications. data were gathered through an in-depth study using the descriptive method. the objectives were to determine the universally accepted legal opinion on sighting the new moon in connection with the elimination of differences that frequently surface and for ensuring the celebration of ‘eid on a single day in one lunar unit. based on the findings, it is revealed that sighting the new moon must be conducted in each locality because there are multiple horizons (the time at which the moon rises, varies from place to place). muslims must show unity during the month of ramadhān and at the occasions of ‘eid at least locally if not nationally or internationally. this would be of great value and importance to the whole muslim nation by fostering the initial steps towards united observance of ramadhān. sighting the new moon as the methodology for determining the month of ramadhān morad sabdullah umpa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4230-5331 msumpa594@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 1% vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.611 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 175 international peer reviewed journal keywords — new moon, local sighting, global sighting, follow saudi sighting only, legal theories, muslim nations. introduction every year, towards the start of ramadhān, some muslim communities are plunged into confusion and disarray over the issue on the determination of the start of the blessed month. in some cases, this further leads to argument and division within the community. for instance, the filipino muslims, particularly meranaos, is at present divided into three groups as regards to the theories on sighting the new moon at the beginning and end of ramadhān. the first group is following the theory that wherever the new moon is sighted, the entire muslims throughout the world must follow; the second group says that it is not necessary to fast from the appearance of ramadhān hilāl, nor to breakfast in shawwāl, except for the one who saw the hilāl or agreed on the sighting in the matāli› of hilāl, because matāli› of hilāl differs. so if there are any differences of matāli›, each country must follow their own sighting; and the third group goes with the scientific calculations in determining the islāmic months without any need to resort to actual sighting (aliraqi, “tarh at-tahrib” 4:113-114). framework the islāmic way of life is very dynamic and is based on the unchanging principles given explicitly in the noble qur’ān and the sunnah of the prophet [r]. these principles have led to different methods and ways of islāmic life during different times due to different levels of technological development, sociological conditions, and the ability of the deep-sighted scholars of islām. (farfur, “the characteristics of islamic thought” p. 7) the questions regarding the appearance of the new moon vexed the minds of the early ummah. during the time of the prophet [r], some curious individuals asked prophet muhammad concerning the new moon as in the following text of the qur’ān: “they ask you (o muhammad) about the new moons. say: these are signs to mark fixed periods of time for mankind and the pilgrimage.” (holy qur’ān 2:189) 176 jpair multidisciplinary research the scholars of the past disagreed on the unity or disunity of the horizon, i.e., if the moon is seen in one locality, does the sighting become binding to all other localities if the information reaches on time for them to begin fasting? specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: 1) what are the various opinions regarding the sighting of the new moon, particularly on the concepts “shahida” and “ra’a”? and 2) what constitutes a universally accepted legal theory regarding the sighting of the new moon in one particular region? from the traditionists’ points of view, the months connected with islāmic acts of worship, known as ‘ibādāt, such as ramadhān, shawwāl, and dzul-hijjah can only be determined either by practical sighting or by completion of 30 days. the messenger [r] established the tradition of visual moon watch on the 29th day. if it was not seen, muslim have to complete the lunar month to 30 days. it was a fact that a moon would always be visible on 30th evening and, thus, if it was seen on 28th or not seen on the 30th evening, the start of the lunar month was wrong. but contemporarily, scholars differ remarkably over the question of using any method to sight the new moon and confirm the beginning and end of any lunar month, particularly ramadhān. objectives of the study the objectives were to determine the universally accepted legal opinion on sighting the new moon in connection with the elimination of differences that frequently surfaces and for ensuring the celebration of ‘eid on a single day in one lunar unit. hence, this study serves as a guideline of the muslim’s particularly the meranaos including islāmic law students of the king faisal center for islamic, arabic and asian studies and for the ulama’ to be united in observing the start of the month of ramadhān and the ‘eid at one the same time so that unity and development, which are symbols of strength and prosperity will be achieved. methodology research design the methodology deals on how and where the writer expects to find data and factual information about the study. it involves research design and data gathering procedure. the study used the descriptive and/or qualitative research design. hence, an in-depth study and reading of the available literature of the published works of muslim scholars. 177 international peer reviewed journal content analysis method was also used to determine which of the various views and theories on sighting the new moon is most in consonance with the primary sources of islāmic law, such as the qur’ān and the sunnah. research site this study was initiated and completed within the mindanao state university – main campus located in marawi city. mindanao state university (msu) was established on september 1, 1961 through ra 1387, as amended, was the brain child of the late senator domocao a.  alonto, as one of the government’s responses to the so-called “mindanao problem”. the original mission  of the university was anchored on instruction, research, and extension. the 1954 congressional committee conceptualized it as a social laboratory for national integration. the said site is very rich with a variety of reading materials for being a university. it has a college unit name king faisal center for islamic, arabic and asian studies which offers courses that are essentially relative to this study where the researcher mainly found its contextual sources. the king faisal center for islamic, arabic and asian studies was created as an academic unit of mindanao state university to serve as a vehicle for promoting arabic and islamic studies in the muslim areas southern philippines. it was created as an academic unit of mindanao state university with the primary mission of promoting arabic and islamic studies in the muslim areas of southern philippines and of helping to achieve the goal of national integration and peaceful co-existence between muslims and christians in the region. participants this study was mainly made to address the issue of apparently widening of the gap of the dates where the holy month of ramadhan for muslims begins which is basically due to the rise of different islamic sects having different and varying interpretations to the qur’anic verses and prophetic traditions regarding said topic. specifically, this issue is a heavy blow to the muslims in the philippines as most of the muslims therein are merely followers or subscribers of certain islamic scholarly view regarding the said matter. henceforth, as the researcher is also a filipino muslim, he deemed it necessary that this study is focally addressed to muslims in the philippines. however, as this study is an issue carrying highly valuable importance equal to all muslims in the world, it would not be right to say that this is limited to the philippines only. 178 jpair multidisciplinary research instrumentation as this research is a descriptive and/or qualitative type, the main material used was almost all availabe reading materials related to this topic in the university’s main library and that of the king faisal center’s library. the researcher, for having finished his tertiary level studies in saudi arabia, has many books and other textual materials relative to this issue. in addition, thereto, the researcher made interviews with the pagasa quezon city’s representatives and with a muslim astronomer known as abu ammar. their statements were used to further enrich the context of this study. their statements also were mainly corroborative to that of the islamic principles regarding the science of the heavenly bodies. results and discussion it has been recognized that the earth revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves around the earth. the qur’ān states in this regard: “and the moon, we have measured for her mansions (to traverse) till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk” (holy qur’ān 36:39) as the moon revolves around the earth, the light of the sun reflected off the moon reaching the earth is seen as phases of the moon. when the earth, moon, and sun are roughly in a straight line, it is the conjunction or the astronomical new moon which is completely dark or invisible and is clearly not the hilāl. when the moon moves further, the reflected sunlight appears as the crescent shape hilāl. this crescent shape is referred to in the above-quoted verse as like “al-urjūn al-qadīm” meaning old dried curved date stalk – the curled form of the palm branch as it shrivels up appearing similar to the crescent moon’s shape. as the moon moves further, it appears to lag behind the apparent motion of the sun, thus causing the moonset to be compared later to sunset that is apparently referred in the next verse of sūrat yāsīn: “it is not permitted to the sun to catch up the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day: each (just) swims along in (its) orbit (according to law)”. (holy qur’ān 36:40) 179 international peer reviewed journal the sun, being a source of light can be seen easily, while the moon, having no light of its own, can only be seen when the sun is in such a position that its light falling on the moon can come to the earth. many times the moon may be above the horizon, but it cannot be seen because the sun is in such a position that its rays coming to the moon do not make a sufficient thickness of crescent to be seen from earth. the earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit while the moon similarly revolves around the earth. hence, when the new moon occurs, the sun, moon, and earth come in line, and no light of the sun falling on the moon can come to the earth, so it is a dark or invisible moon. and in effect, we have to wait for a few minutes after local sunset so that the bright light of the twilight sky can diminish and the light of the hilāl can be seen. completing 30 days in case of cloudy weather is the most agreed-upon position among the majority of classical scholars, but again, it is not the only categorical stance accepted by the ummah. leading authorities such as ibn ‘umar, imām ahmad et al. were reported to have started ramadhān and its fasting following the 29th of sha’bān even if it was cloudy as most of the narrations report the prophet [r] requiring completion by the phrase “fast with sighting it (the moon) and break the fast with sighting it. complete thirty days of sha’bān if it is cloudy.” (sahih al-bukhari) he [r] also said, “fast with sighting it (the moon) and break the fast with sighting it. count thirty days if the month is concealed from you (being cloudy).” (sahih muslim) in the above-quoted two hadīths, it is important to note that both al-bukhārī and muslim are narrating from abū hurayrah through muhammad ibn ziyād. the first part of the hadīth is the same in both narrations, but the ending parts are different. therefore, the degree of variation in language shows that transmitters of the hadīth are describing an idea freely in their own words rather than attempting to transmit the hadīth with faithfulness to the original words. the jumhūr has derived from the above-quoted clear and authentic prophetic narrations that completing 30 days and counting 30 days (are the same). the explanatory phrase “complete thirty days” explains away the general phrase “then count or estimate it.” (an-nawawi, “al-majmu” 6:276). an-nawāwī himself reported that imām ahmad and a few others said that the meaning is not “complete 30 days” but “restrict it or shorten the month by 180 jpair multidisciplinary research considering the moon under the clouds.” that is why imām ahmad contended that fasting should be observed the next day, the day after the 29th of sha’bān, if the moon is not sighted on the evening of the 29th of sha’bān due to obscurity. abū dāwūd also reported that such was the action and opinion of ibn ‘umar. the report establishes the fact that the original narrator, ibn ‘umar himself, did not accept the explanatory note as “complete thirty days” but went against it and fasted after the 29th day of sha’bān in case of obscurity. actually, there existed no consensus even among the companions or their successors that the phrase “complete thirty days” is explanatory for the prophetic phrase “count or estimate for it.” the position of ibn ‘umar and ahmad in fasting on the cloudy day after the 29th without actual sighting the moon categorically refutes the argument of the so-called majority that either actual sighting by the naked human eye or completing 30 days is the only prescribed method for confirming the month of ramadhān as well as the other islāmic months. ibn ‘umar or imām ahmad started the month of ramadhān on counting 29 days of the month of sha‘bān. this method of confirming the month in case it is cloudy on the 29th of sha‘bān is neither by actual sighting nor by completion, but by mere “counting of the days.” (ibn rushd, “bidāyat al-mujtahid” 1:286) on the other hand, there is a hadīth that the prophet [r] himself started or ended the month without resorting to the actual sighting or completing 30 days: ummo salamah narrated that once the prophet [r] took an oath upon not seeing his wives for a month. when the 29 days passed, he came to them. he was told that he took an oath not to enter the home for a month. he said, “the month consists of twenty-nine days.” (sahih al-bukhari) the prophet [r] just counted the days and completed his month or started the new month without seeing the new moon. he did not say that he had seen the moon and none of his wives asked him whether or not he had seen the new moon. the hadīth does not say that it was cloudy that evening. it is also clear that the prophet did not complete 30 days. (azeemabadi, “awn al-ma’bood” 6:457) both interpretations of the so-called jumhūr’s opinion and ibn ‘umar and ahmad contention could lead to some of the practical difficulties of ending up sometimes fasting 28 and sometimes 31 days of ramadhān in reality. the actual method of estimation was left unspecified since that would depend on the available information and analytical tools, which can change from place to place and time to time. however, people tried to make the phrase more specific and establish a simple rule applicable in all situations. one simple way to do that 181 international peer reviewed journal would be to give to the month a particular number of days in case of obscurity — 29 or 30. as earlier mentioned, ‘ibādāt are connected with the time, which in islāmic understanding is connected with the moon and not with the sun, as the islāmic calendar is not solar but lunar. the sharī’ah does not want us to start fasting when the month of ramadhān has not even begun, nor to lose a day of ramadhān by celebrating the ‘eid on the last day of ramadhān. that is why the prophet [r] advised us not to start or finish the month of ramadhān a day or two ahead of time. he wanted us to start and end ramadhān with certainty that the new moon is there. the actual sighting of the new moon was the only mechanism then at the muslims’ disposal to attain that certainty. that is why the prophet [r] emphasized so much the sighting of the new moon; not because sighting is the objective of fasting or in any way a goal of the ‘ibādāt, but because it was a means to ascertain the presence of the new moon, thus the knowledge of its appearance is the objective of ‘ibādāt. if the actual sighting were the objective or a prerequisite without which fasting could not be started, then it would have been required even on the 30th of sha‘bān. nobody goes out to see the new moon on the 30th of sha‘bān or on the 30th of ramadhān. no jurists have ever required such a sighting because the sighting was prescribed for the certainty of the beginning or end of the month, and not for the sake of sighting itself. once that certainty is achieved by completing 30 days, sighting is not even required and the new month is started. in other words, sighting is not a prerequisite for fasting, even on the 29th of sha‘bān. had it been a precondition, then no muslim would be allowed to start the month of ramadhān except by sighting the new moon on the 29th of sha‘bān. ibn ‘umar, along with ‘āishah and asmā’ bint abī bakr, used to start fasting the next day if it was cloudy on the 29th of sha‘bān and the new moon was obscured. they would not fast that day as a supererogatory day of fasting but as a mandatory day of ramadhān. that was the case with many of the tābi`īn or the generation after the prophet [r], and a whole school of fiqh is based upon this opinion. imām ahmad, following the actions of these companions of the prophet [r], adopted this position and the entire hanbalī school follows this position. it becomes important when we know that ibn ‘umar is the original narrator of many of the ahādīth found in all the authentic sources of ahādīth that require sighting as a means of fasting. 182 jpair multidisciplinary research it is sufficient to note that in spite of apparent claims of consensus that actual moon sighting is the only way to confirm the month before the 30th of sha‘bān, there is a tremendous difference among jurists in the details related to the same subject. therefore, actual sighting cannot be called as the categorically absolute rule of islām with no difference of opinion. moreover, there is no consensus among the majority (al-jumhūr) about the exact nature of moon sighting, whether it is established through sighting of one or more witnesses or a multitude of people. there also exists a host of opinions about the criteria and characteristics of these witnesses, whether they be male, female, slave, or free. there is no consensus about the number of witnesses needed for confirmation of the month of ramadhān and for the month of shawwāl. for instance, the hanafī jurists require witness of a large number of individuals in case the horizon is free from obscurities. they accept the witness of one trustworthy muslim if it is cloudy, and that is only in the case of confirming the month of ramadhān. (al-fiqh al-islāmī wa adillatuhu, p. 1651) the mālikī jurists require a large number of witnesses in case the horizon is free from obscurities such as cloud, dust, or fog, etc., or at least two trustworthy muslims or more in case it is cloudy. they, unlike hanafī jurists, do not accept one witness in confirming ramadhān or shawwāl. the shāfi‘ī jurists accept one trustworthy muslim’s witness in either case of cloudy or clear weather. that is the case for both ramadhān and shawwal. the hanbalī jurists accept one trustworthy witness in confirming the month of ramadhān but require two witnesses in the case of shawwāl. regarding the linguistic argument, the original linguistic meanings of the word hilāl are not intrinsically bound to the light or appearance. the word hilāl is derived from the ‘arabic root hallalah which is the extreme pouring down of rain. the first pour of rain is called hilāl. it is said that hilāl is what you receive the first from that rain. its plural is ahillah. when the rain comes down with drops full of noise, that rain is also called hilāl. the root of the word hilāl consists of the two original meanings: the beginning or starting part of something and the raising of voice”. (ibn manzur, “lisan al-arab” 4:420) when the sky rains with noise or when a person talks in a loud voice or when a baby cries with a loud voice, all these are referred to with the same root verb. these linguistic usages coincide with the use of the word in many ahādīth. ibn manzur shows that the origin of the word hilāl is from “raising of voice.” the same verb is used to define a person who raises his voice. everything that makes noise can be called muhill. after a lengthy discussion of the various us183 international peer reviewed journal ages of the root word, ibn manzūr concludes that the origin of the root is from “raising the voice.” he concludes by saying that “abūl ‘abbās said that the hilāl is named hilāl because the people raise their voices to inform others about it (the new moon).” (ibid.) it should be clear by now that the original meanings of the word hilāl are connected with the first signs of something and with the raising of voices, not with glittering or shining of the new moon. the new moon was then called hilāl because it was the first sign of the new month and because when it appeared, people raised their voices to inform others about the arrival of the new month. there was no method available to the people of previous generations except seeing it with the naked eyes. that is why they defined it as something seen rather than known. moreover, the above-mentioned two meanings happen only at the time of the first few days of the new month; therefore, the new moon was called hilāl. had the name hilāl been given to the new moon because of its light, then the full moon had more rights to be called hilāl than the crescent because it shines more and has more light than the crescent. there are as many as four different opinions among the scholars concerning the issue of moon sighting. with regards to the qur’ān, allāh [i] says: “the month of ramadhān in which was revealed the qur’ān, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). so whoever witnesses the month should fast it...” (holy qur’ān 2:185) with regards to the sunnah, the prophet [r] said: “if you sight it (the new moon of ramadhān), then fast and if you sight it (the new moon of shawwāl), then end the fast (al-bukhar, muslim). the famous kurayb showed that madīnah and damascus observe different sightings, although the two places are only 1,050 kilometers apart and almost of the same longitude with the distance from marawi to manila by road which is 1,350 km. furthermore, there is also no evidence that the prophet [r] ever tried to adopt the dates in makkah for use in madīnah. conclusions it is concluded that sighting the new moon must be conducted in each place because there are multiple horizons (the time at which the moon rises, varies from place to place). moreover, the ittihād al-matāli› (single horizon or universal sighting) would be valid if the earth were flat. because of the spherical 184 jpair multidisciplinary research shape of the earth, this is impossible to implement. ikhtilāf al-matāli› (multiple horizons or local sighting) is supported by astronomy and by scholars worldwide including saudī ‘arabia and is as natural as using local time for daily prayers. and, to follow saudī announcement for the worldwide date is neither ikhtilāf al-matāli› (local sighting) nor ittihād al-matāli› (universal sighting, that is following first sighting no matter where without restriction to saudī ‘arabia). hence, it is not a valid sharī‘ah position since it is based on conjecture. conjecture in some cases is a sin, according to a verse of the qur’ān: “o you who believe! avoid much suspicion; indeed some suspicions are sins.” (holy qur’ān, 49:12) actual sighting is not the objective, but a means to establish the objective. the objective is to start the month of ramadhān with certainty. that is why muslims used to sight the new moon on the 29th day of ramadhān and not on the 30th day of ramadhān because the certainty is already achieved that the new moon is there on the 30th of the month. in other words, sighting and calculations are complementary, and both are needed. calculations to negate false sighting is used, but not to completely replace sighting. thus, if the calculations say with certainty that hilāl cannot be visible, then we should reject or negate the false sighting and reduce errors. the islāmic law does not make the impossible a requirement. ikhtilāf al-matāli› is the predominant method from the time of the prophet muhammad [r], down to his companions, and a great number of jurists (up to present) believe that sighting of the new moon must be conducted in each place and that there are multiple horizons. translational research this research is already on the process of making its debut as a book. this would be combined with another topic to form as a single manuscript regarding the sighting as a procedural requisite in determining the beginning of the holy month of ramadhan among muslims. this would be of great value and importance to the whole muslim nation by fostering the initial steps towards united observance of ramadhan. implications based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following are recommended: 185 international peer reviewed journal 1. a central committee on sighting the moon should be formed under whose aegis the state moon committees should operate. 2. muslims should attempt on sighting the moon. if they see it in accordance with the shari’ah, they should act accordingly. if a sighting is not possible, the assistance of astronomers should be taken into consideration in sighting the new moon. shari’ah approves of such measure as the holy qur’ān, and hadíth does testify this effect. 3. do not cause fitnah in the community by loud-mouthing around the incorrectness of this or that opinion. ‘eid prayer is an emphasized sunnah, but the unity of muslim communities is an obligation. muslims must show unity during the month of ramadhān and at the occasions of ‘eid, at least, locally if not nationally or internationally. allāh [i] almighty knows best! 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journal transformational leadership skills among public elementary school administrators susan b. poliden susanbpoliden@gmail.com orcid no. 0000-0002-8864-725x line 10 primary school bokod, benguet philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract this study investigated the transformational leadership skills and leadership styles of the public elementary school administrators in bokod district, bokod, benguet. data gathered were summarized, analyzed and cross-tabulated. descriptive statistics like weighted mean, percentages and ranks were computed from test results. responses from the respondents were also classified according to the number of years as an administrator and the kind of designation whether a) principal, b) head teacher, c) teacher-in-charge. analysis for transformational leadership survey measured leadership skills on six factors: charisma, social, vision, transactional, delegation, and execution while analysis for the leadership style survey determined the leadership styles of the respondents whether they are authoritarian, democratic or laissez-faire. the public elementary school administrators of bokod district have generally varied transformational leadership skills and leadership styles. the leadership styles practiced by the respondents regardless of the number of years as administrators and the kind of designations are democratic followed by laissez-faire and last, authoritarian style vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.689 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 182 jpair multidisciplinary research of leadership. it is recommended that charisma as transformational leadership skill be revisited and be strengthened by the school administrators, and the interplay of the different leadership styles is paramount in school management. hence, the principals, head teachers and teachers-in-charge need to be flexible in their management at all times. keywords — transformational leadership, leadership skills, leadership styles, administration and supervision, descriptive survey, bokod, benguet philippines introduction the feat of an institution lies in the management skills and leadership capabilities of its administrators. in the same manner, the achievement or success of one school is dependent on the effectiveness and efficiency of the school head or supervisor. several authors of administration and supervision would stress that supervision is one task of an executive. consistent with the aims of public administration which is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service, this research will also be a vehicle in stirring the current status of the administration and supervision of the school administrators. public administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government. in this context, public elementary schools are governmentowned institutions managed by school administrators. hence, with the diverse scope of public administration, this study is appropriate as public elementary school administrators are also public servants who are directly involved in the management of public programs like the public elementary schools. according to northouse (2018), a transformational leader should empower followers to do what is best for the organization; be a strong role model with high values; listen to all viewpoints to develop a spirit of cooperation; create a vision with the people in the organization; act as an agent of change within the organization by setting an example of how to initiate and implement change; and help the organization by helping others contribute to the organization. these were the compelling reasons why the study was conducted to elementary school administrators in bokod, benguet. transformational leadership has strengths and weaknesses as with other theories or approaches to management or leadership but it has a vital role in 183 international peer reviewed journal effective managers because it determines the ultimate success of an organization. according to cohen (1999), organizations that take the time to teach leadership are far ahead of the competition. by becoming familiar with the transformational leadership approach and combining the four factors, managers can engage as effective leaders in the business world. hoy and miskel (1991) on the one hand, identified two distinct styles of leadership: production-oriented and employee-centered. they believe that production-oriented leaders value mission or task accomplishment and the technical aspects of the job while employee-centered leaders delegate decisionmaking and assist followers in satisfying their needs in a supportive work environment. to katz and kahn (1966), a leader who successfully integrates primary and secondary relationships within the organization is the best. primary relationships refer to face to face interaction and tend to be person specific such as relationships in the families or among friends whereas secondary relations refer to interpersonal relationships required by an organizational role such as in the case of division of labor. thus, to them, a successful leader integrates organizational requirements with the needs of persons and he does this in ways which are not damaging to the organization, but enhancing it. they also believe that leadership is achieved by promoting group loyalty and showing care to any person. walton (1996) identified four factors to transformational leadership: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. to walton, idealized influence describes managers who are exemplary role models for employees while managers with idealized influence can be trusted and respected by people to make good decisions for the organization. inspirational motivation, on the other hand, describes managers who motivate associates to commit to the vision of the organization. intellectual stimulation describes managers who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. it is also believed that managers with intellectual stimulation promote critical thinking and problem solving to make the organization better. individual consideration also describes managers who act as coaches and advisers to the associates to reach goals that help both the associates and the organization. henceforth, this study aimed to shed light on the transformational leadership skills of public elementary school administrators. there are already existing researches on leadership and management skills of school administrators, but few have delved on the transformational leadership skills of public elementary school administrators. specifically, no research has been done on the transformational 184 jpair multidisciplinary research leadership skills of public elementary school administrators particularly in the municipality of bokod, benguet. this is the prevalent reason why the study is conducted. there is a need to determine the leadership skills and styles of public elementary school administrators in bokod, benguet for a better educational system at par with the national and international quality of education. while there is no undesirable report as regards to the management of school administrators of bokod district, it is still deemed necessary to evaluate their existing leadership skills and styles to enhance and cope with the current trends of management. framework transformational leadership skills transformational leaders seek to transform an institution or organization and that follower may be transformed in some ways to be amazing leaders. ross and gray (2006) define transformational leadership as a multidimensional construct that enhances an organization by raising the values of members, motivating them to go beyond self-interest to embrace organizational goals, and redefining their needs to align with organizational preferences. somehow, this is related to what miller and rowan (2006) called organic leadership which is defined as a shift away from conventional, hierarchical patterns of bureaucratic control toward what has been referred to as a network pattern of control, that is, a pattern of control in which line employees are actively involved in organizational decision making, staff cooperation and collegiality replace the hierarchy as a means of coordinating workflows and resolving technical uncertainties, and supportive forms of administrative leadership emerge to facilitate line employees’ work. bass and avolio (1994) and leithwood (1994), on the other hand, developed the transformational leadership model for education, with a primary focus on school principals. leithwood, begley, and cousins (2005) delineated transformational leadership as leadership that entails major changes in the form, nature, function and/or potential of some phenomenon. bass (1998) continued to research this theory and determined that transformational leaders are judged by their impact on followers in the areas of trust, admiration, and respect. leithwood (1994), in like manner, articulated seven discrete characteristics of transformational leaders (or dimensions): building school vision and establishing goals; creating a productive school culture; providing intellectual stimulation; 185 international peer reviewed journal offering individualized support; modeling best practices and important values; demonstrating high-performance expectations; and developing structures to foster participation in school decisions. bass (1990) believed that leadership must increase the followers’ awareness of task importance and value; get them to focus first on the team or organizational goals, rather than their interests; and activate their higher-order needs. burns and leadership (1978), on the other hand, define transformational leadership where leaders and followers engage in a mutual process of raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation. burns and leadership claim that transformational leaders raise the bar by appealing to higher ideals and values of followers where they model the values themselves and use charismatic methods to attract people to the values and the leader. there are also six factors of transformational leadership: charisma, social, vision, transactional, delegation and execution. charisma is said to show true dedication, trust and respect to others while social helps others to learn by coaching and mentoring them. it also creates challenging environments to help them reach their full potential. vision helps people to understand them while transactional ensures others understand what is expected from them by using agreement. the delegation, on the other hand, delegates both task and the authority to get things done while execution does follow-ups of the delegated tasks and authority to ensure things are going as planned. leadership styles effective leadership depends on the styles of leaders. it is not only limited to management. effective leaders are regarded as strong leaders when they can adapt to change, make an all-encompassing decision, maintain open lines of communication and lead others to accomplish the goals. good leadership, according to bass and bass (2009) is developed through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and the accumulation of relevant experience. jenkins (2013) asserted that the basis of good leadership is a strong character and selfless devotion to an organization. amanchukwu, stanley, and ololube (2015), underscored five (5) factors that determine leadership styles: size of the institution, the degree of interaction/ communication, the personality of members, goal congruency and level of decision-making. according to the organizational interaction or communication refers to a relational approach between two or more individuals on the basis of social and organizational structures aimed at achieving goals (ololube, 2012). 186 jpair multidisciplinary research the quantity and quality of interaction in an organization tend to influence the style of organizational management with the main issue that employees must work together in order to accomplish tasks (amanchukwu, stanley, & ololube, 2015). according to naylor (1999), an effective organization disseminates information and that there is an open channel of communication. he asserted that leaders should interpret complex data/information face-to-face with staff. to naylor (1999), for organizations to be effective, managers must constantly share information; managers must have open channels of communication; there must be informed of sufficient potential to demand regular attention from leaders at all levels; interpretations of complex data/information should be done in faceto-face discussions with staff; and managers must debate the nature of the data/ information and the possible assumptions and actions that result from it. similarly, according to amanchukwu et al., (2015), the personality attributes of employees and other leaders can influence the leadership style of an organization. some people tend to react more to certain styles of leadership than others. individuals who like to depend on others generally do not like to participate in organizational affairs since their need for security and direction is better served by a rigid organizational structure. those with an understandable sense of direction wish to advance in their careers and enjoy participating in organizational decision-making processes tend to be more inclined towards open and collaborative leadership styles. to amanchukwu et al., (2015), goal congruence is applied to an organization which ensures that all its operations and activities support the achievement of its goals. accordingly, organizations with high goal congruence review their operations and activities to ensure that none of these limitations or inhibit the ability to achieve organizational goals. weddle (2013) asserts that employee perception often plays a big role in the implementation and outcome of decisions. objective of the study this study aimed to determine the transformational leadership skills and styles of public elementary school administrators in bokod, benguet. methodology research design the study used a descriptive survey design in order to determine the transformational leadership skills and leadership styles of the public elementary 187 international peer reviewed journal school administrators of bokod, benguet. responses from the respondents were also classified according to the number of years as administrator and kind of designation whether a) principal, b) head teacher, c) teacher-in-charge. research site this study was administered to 30 public elementary school administrators of bokod, benguet sy 2016-2017. in this context, administrators are defined as principals, head teachers and teachers-in-charge. there were seven principals, four head teachers, and 19 teachers-in-charge. instrumentation survey-questionnaires crafted were grounded from burns’ (1978) leadership and ghamrawi’s (2013) leadership styles of school principals and their multiple intelligences profiles. analysis for transformational leadership survey measured leadership skills on six factors: charisma, social, vision, transactional, delegation, and execution while analysis for the leadership style survey determined the leadership styles of the respondents whether they are authoritarian, democratic or laissez-faire. for transformational leadership skills survey, it measured six factors: charisma, social, vision, transactional, delegation, and execution. each factor was measured by three questions. the questionnaire was used to assess what leadership style the administrators normally carry out. the highest of the three means scores indicate what style of leadership the administrators normally use — authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire. ethical consideration a letter of intent to conduct the research was addressed to the district supervisor for endorsement considering the ethical issues like concerns of informed consent, privacy and confidentiality in such a way as to preserve their dignity as human beings. after the approval was given, respondents were then informed and asked if they could be the respondents to answer the questionnaire to which they all agreed voluntarily. it was also made clear that their identities as school head respondents won’t be revealed. responses from the respondents were treated with the utmost confidentiality. 188 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical treatment data gathered were summarized, analyzed and cross-tabulated. descriptive statistics like weighted mean, frequency counts, percentages and ranks were computed from test results. results and discussion this study dealt with the transformational administration and supervision of public elementary school administrators. specifically, it investigated the transformational leadership skills and leadership styles of the public elementary school administrators. table 1 presents the transformational leadership skills of the respondents according to the number of years as administrators. the respondents whose administrative experience is below 5 years have transactional as their dominant transformational leadership skill with a mean score of 3.47 followed by execution with a mean score of 3.42, delegation – 3.33, social – 3.24, and charisma – 3.00. vision, with a mean score of 3.04, became the least transformational leadership skills of the respondents. transactional leadership skill posits that the respondents with below five (5) years of administrative experience ensure that others understand what they expect from them by using mutual agreement. this means that there is open communication between the administrators and the teachers they supervise. this result also emphasized the importance of the relationship between administrators and a subordinate where the commitment and loyalty of the subordinate are valued by the supervisor or administrator. respondents with 6 – 10 years of experience as administrators have social as their dominant transformational leadership style with a mean of 3.62. this is followed by transactional – 3.57, execution – 3.52, and vision – 3.38. charisma and delegation, both with a mean score of 3.33 are the least transformational leadership skill of the administrators. administrators with social as their dominant transformational leadership skill suggests that they are always ready to coach and mentor their colleagues and subordinates. they create challenging environments to help them reach their full potential. social skill, as their dominant transformational leadership skill is reinforced by northouse (2018) who emphasized that a transformational leader should empower followers to do what is best for the organization; be a strong role model with high values; listen to all viewpoints to develop a spirit of cooperation; create a vision with the people in the organization; act as an agent 189 international peer reviewed journal of change within the organization by setting an example of how to initiate and implement change; and help the organization by helping others contribute to the organization. table 1. transformational leadership skills of the respondents according to number of years as administrators transformational leadership skills number of years as administrators f-value p-value<5 6-10 11-15 >15 d.e. d.e. d.e. d.e. charisma 3.00 od 3.33 ad 3.33 ad 3.42 ad 1.489ns 0.241 social 3.24 od 3.62 ad 3.42 ad 3.83 ad 1.464ns 0.247 vision 3.04 od 3.38 ad 3.33 ad 3.67 ad 2.108ns 0.124 transactional 3.47 ad 3.57 ad 3.58 ad 3.58 ad 0.171ns 0.915 delegation 3.33 ad 3.33 ad 3.42 ad 3.58 ad 0.455ns 0.716 execution 3.42 ad 3.52 ad 3.42 ad 3.58 ad 0.175ns 0.912 legend: ns – not significant interestingly, respondents with 11 – 15 years of experience as administrators recorded transactional as their dominant transformational leadership skill with a mean score of 3.58 followed by social, delegation, and execution with mean scores of 3.42. charisma and vision were the least transformational leadership skills of the administrators. like the administrators with below five (5) years of experience, the administrators with 11 – 15 years of experience are aware of what others expect from them by using mutual agreement. this advocates open communication between the administrators and the teachers they supervise. further, consultations, meetings, are regularly conducted to ensure that before action is implemented, the school heads properly inform their constituents. essentially, burns and leadership (1978) description of transformational 190 jpair multidisciplinary research leadership supports this result of the study. he asserts that leaders and followers must engage in a mutual process of raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation. burns and leadership claim that transformational leaders raise the bar by appealing to higher ideals and values of followers where they model the values themselves and use charismatic methods to attract people to the values and to the leader. meanwhile, respondents with more than 15 years of experience as administrators accorded social as their dominant transformational leadership skill with a mean score of 3.83. this is reinforced by vision with a mean score of 3.67 and transactional, delegation and execution with a mean score of 3.58, respectively. charisma is their least transformational leadership skill. like the administrators with 6 -10 years of experience who have social as their dominant transformational leadership skill, administrators with more than 15 years of experience help others to learn by coaching and to mentor them. they create challenging environments to help them reach their full potential. when others have difficulties they are not afraid to empathize with them and guide them. although statistically, the result showed no significant difference in the dominant transformational leadership skills of the public elementary school administrators, it also demonstrated that they are eclectic in executing their administrative functions. this is evident with their varied transformational leadership skills which are classified as almost always dominant. it further suggests that the administrators are dynamic. similarly, it shows what ross and gray (2006) articulate about transformational leadership. they highlight that transformational leadership is a multidimensional construct that enhances an organization by raising the values of members, motivating them to go beyond self-interest to embrace organizational goals, and redefining their needs to align with organizational preferences. kind of designations table 2 presents the dominant transformational leadership skills of the administrators along with the kind of designation. the table shows that for the principals, their dominant transformational leadership skill is transactional with a mean of 3.67 followed by social and vision with mean scores of 3.62, execution – 3.57 and delegation – 3.52. charisma, with a mean of 3.38 is the least transformational leadership skill of the principals. remarkably, the head teachers charted a combination of three (3) dominant leadership skills – social, transactional and execution with mean scores of 3.75. the delegation came 191 international peer reviewed journal second with a mean score of 3.50 while vision logged a mean score of 3.42. charisma registered the least transformational leadership skill with a mean score of 3.33. the teachers-in-charge, on the other hand, revealed transactional as their dominant transformational leadership skill with a mean score of 3.42 which is followed by execution with a mean score of 3.37, and delegation – 3.30, social – 3.28. both charisma and vision are the least transformational leadership skills of the teachers-in-charge with mean scores of 3.07, respectively. as gleaned in the result, the teachers-in-charge have varied dominant leadership skills; however, charisma is their common least transformational leadership skill. earlier, charisma is presented as a transformational leadership skill that defines one as a role model that shows true dedication, trust, and respect to others, who in turn, do the same. while this skill is inherent in one administrator, there are always weaknesses that need to be given attention. table 2. transformational leadership skills of the respondents according to kind of designation transformational leadership skills kind of designation p ht t-i-c f-value p-value d.e. d.e. d.e. charisma 3.38 ad 3.33 ad 3.07 od 1.363ns 0.273 social 3.62 ad 3.75 ad 3.28 ad 1.726ns 0.197 vision 3.62 ad 3.42 ad 3.07 od 3.864* 0.033 transactional 3.67 ad 3.75 ad 3.42 ad 1.733ns 0.196 delegation 3.52 ad 3.50 ad 3.30 ad 1.096ns 0.349 execution 3.57 ad 3.75 ad 3.37 ad 1.472ns 0.247 legend: * significant ns – not significant hence, to address this issue on charisma as the least skill, the administrators may revisit the four (4) factors of transformational leadership identified by walton (1996): idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. to walton, idealized influence describes managers who are exemplary role models for employees while managers with idealized influence can be trusted and respected by people to make good decisions for 192 jpair multidisciplinary research the organization. inspirational motivation, on the other hand, describes managers who motivate associates to commit to the vision of the organization while managers with inspirational motivation encourage team spirit to reach goals of increased revenue and market growth for the organization. intellectual stimulation describes managers who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. it is also believed that managers with intellectual stimulation promote critical thinking and problem solving in an effort to make the organization better. individual consideration also describes managers who act as coaches and advisers to the associates to reach goals that help both the associates and the organization. statistically, vision as a transformational leadership skill registered a significant difference with f-value of 3.864 at a p-value of 0.033 with that of other transformational leadership skills which are not significantly different. this means that the challenging visions of the public elementary school administrators provide help to people to understand them as they are motivated to join. further, the administrators influence their constituents based on how they mingle with them. table 3 presents the summary of the dominant transformational leadership skills of the public elementary school administrators in bokod district according to the number of years as an administrator and the kind of designation. results show that the administrators have transactional as their dominant transformational leadership skill with a mean of 3.52 which is rated as almost always dominant. table 3. summary of the transformational leadership skills of the respondents transformation leadership skills mean d.e. rank charisma i go out of my way to make subordinates feel good to be around me. 2.80 od i have an ever-expanding network of people and subordinates who trust and rely upon me. 3.40 ad my subordinates listen to my ideas and concerns not out of fear, but because of my skills, knowledge, and personality. 3.33 ad mean 3.18 od 6 social i help subordinates with their self-development. 3.37 ad i provide challenges for my subordinates to help them grow. 3.37 ad i provide an empathic shoulder when others need help. 3.53 ad mean 3.42 ad 3 193 international peer reviewed journal vision i help subordinates to understand my visions through the use of tools, such as images, stories, and models. 3.03 od i use simple words, images, and symbols to convey to subordinates what we should or could be doing. 3.40 ad i help others with new ways of looking at new and complex ideas or concepts. 3.30 ad mean 3.24 od 5 transactional i ensure subordinates get recognition and/or rewards when they achieve difficult or complex goals. 3.50 ad i direct subordinates by setting standards that we agree on. 3.47 ad i ensure the poor performance of subordinates gets corrected. 3.60 ad mean 3.52 ad 1 delegation i let subordinates work toward their degree plan in the manner that they want. 3.30 ad i rarely give direction or guidance to my subordinates if i sense they can achieve their goal. 3.17 od so long as things are going smoothly, i am satisfied. 3.67 ad mean 3.38 ad 4 execution i get things done. 3.43 ad i consistently provide coaching and feedback so that my subordinates know how they are doing. 3.33 ad i monitor all subordinates who are having problems to ensure they meet their goal. 3.63 ad mean 3.47 ad 2 grand mean 3.37 ad transactional leadership ensures that subordinates get recognition and/or rewards when they achieve difficult or complex goals and that poor performances of the subordinates are corrected by setting standards which they agree on. transactional skill means that respondents ensure that others understand what they expect from them by using mutual agreement. they see to it that if poor performance occurs, they take appropriate action without affecting the morals of the team. in this context, transactional as their dominant transformational leadership skill suggests that the public elementary school administrators stimulate their employees to get the best out of themselves. they do not only set the criteria for 194 jpair multidisciplinary research their subordinates on how they should execute the task, but they also indicate what sources and resources can be used. they also monitor the work closely and take corrective action when things go wrong. the second transformational leadership skill of the respondents is execution with a mean of 3.47 which is also rated as almost always dominant. execution as a transformational leadership skill provides coaching and feedback so that subordinates know what and how they are doing, and monitors all subordinates who are having problems to ensure they meet their goals. execution as a skill means the respondents delegate as many tasks as possible with authority to accomplish them but ensure that things are going as planned without wasting time. the third transformational leadership skill of the respondents is social with a mean of 3.42 which is rated as almost always dominant. this indicates that the administrators provide subordinates full support for self-development. the administrators encourage and challenge them to strive and reach their goals. the fourth transformational leadership skill of the respondents is delegation with a mean of 3.38 which is rated as almost always dominant. delegation as a transformational leadership skill defines the administrators to let subordinates work together in the manner that they want to be provided that instructions are well articulated. vision as a transformational leadership skill, came fifth with a mean of 3.24 at almost always dominant. the vision describes the administrators who do not only use words to convey their ideas but even images, stories, models, and symbols. they want to make sure that the subordinates understand what they want to achieve as an institution. charisma is the least transformational leadership skill of the administrators with a mean of 3.18 which is rated as often dominant. understandably, it makes sense because the administrators do not go out of their way to make subordinates feel good. subordinates have high regards to their administrators because of their skills, knowledge and personality to lead them—charisma as the least transformational leadership skill matched with the definition of sinha (1995). according to sinha, charisma is a ‘‘magical aura’’ which only a few leaders may be granted. max weber (cited in sinha, 1995) maintains that there are three bases of authority which are traditions, rights and privileges and charisma which is synonymous with heroism and an exemplary character of a person. although the dominant transformational leadership skill of the respondents is transactional, it does not mean that they do not possess the other transformational leadership skills. 195 international peer reviewed journal it signifies that the public elementary school administrators are dynamic and diverse in their management skills and styles especially in dealing with the different personalities of the subordinates. as northouse (2018) emphasized, a transformational leader should empower followers to do what is best for the organization; be a strong role model with high values; listen to all viewpoints to develop a spirit of cooperation; create a vision with the people in the organization; act as an agent of change within the organization by setting an example of how to initiate and implement change; and help the organization by helping others contribute to the organization. this is also supported by cohen (1999) who stated that organizations that take the time to teach leadership are far ahead of the competition. they asserted that by becoming familiar with the transformational leadership approach, administrators could engage as effective leaders in the world. in relation to the result of the study, it points out that the administrators of the public elementary schools in bokod district upsurge the subordinates’ intrinsic value of performance and confidence, leading to higher levels of motivation. this further implies that transactional leadership results in performance beyond expectations resulting in the outstanding performance of the students in return. this upholds what liao and chuang (2007); and walumbwa, wang, lawler, and shi (2004) claim that transformational leadership can positively stimulate performance, behaviors and job attitudes of subordinates. table 4 presents the leadership styles of the respondents along the number of years as administrators. interestingly, the result shows that all the administrators irrespective of the number of years as administrators have the same leadership styles. although they differ in their mean scores, their first leadership style is democratic followed by laissez-faire. their least leadership style is authoritarian. for the administrators with less than five (5) years of experience, democratic has a mean of 4.26 while laissez-faire recorded a mean of 3.97 and authoritarian – 2.69. administrators with 6 -10 years of experience registered a mean of 4.17 for democratic while a mean of 3.71 for laissez-faire. authoritarian has a mean of 2.86. administrators with 11 – 15 years of experience documented democratic with a mean of 3.83 followed by laissez-faire – 3.17 and authoritarian – 2.88. 196 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. leadership styles of the respondents according to number of years as administrators leadership styles number of years as administrators f-value p-value<5 6-10 11-15 >15 d.e. d.e. d.e. d.e. authoritarian 2.69 sa 2.86 sa 2.88 sa 2.96 sa 1.186ns 0.335 democratic 4.26 aa 4.17 aaa 3.83 aaa 4.79 aa 3.314* 0.036 laissez-faire 3.97 aaa 3.71 aaa 3.17 sa 4.00 aaa 6.0457** 0.002 legend: ** highly significant * significant ns – not significant lastly, administrators with more than 15 years of experience disclosed a mean of 4.79 for democratic while laissez-faire has a mean of 4.00 and authoritarian – 2.96, respectively. statistically, laissez-faire is highly significant with f-value of 6.0457 at p-value at 0.002 while democratic is significant with an f-value of 3.314 at a p-value of 0.036. it is however not significant for authoritarian style of leadership. this indicates that the leadership styles of the administrators matter very much to the subordinates. this points out that there is a smooth flow of administration with democratic leadership. according to bass and bass (2009), good leadership is developed through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and the accumulation of relevant experience. this defines the principals, head teachers and teachers-incharge of bokod district. they advocate leading by example. the result of the study also intensifies that as one stays longer in his/ her post, he/she gains wisdom and varied leadership skills to manage his/her organization. administrators, as time go by, develop strong character and selfless devotion to serve their organizations (jenkins, 2013). trustworthiness is also developed as trust is fundamental to all manner of organized human groups, whether in education, business, military, religion, government, or international organizations (mckee, hinton, richardson, & lamb, 2010; ivancevich, konopaske, & matteson, 2007). kind of designations table 5 displays the leadership styles of the respondents along with the kinds of designations. although the administrators have the same leadership styles along kinds of designations, they differ in their mean scores. for the principals, democratic as their first leadership style, has a mean of 4.40 followed 197 international peer reviewed journal by laissez-faire with a mean of 3.74 and authoritarian – 2.98. head teachers have democratic as their first leadership style with a mean of 4.33 followed by laissez-faire with a mean of 4.04 and authoritarian – 2.67. teachers-in-charge have democratic with a mean of 4.17 followed by laissez-faire with a mean of 3.77 and authoritarian – 2.75. although statistically there is no significant difference in the leadership styles of the principals, head teachers and teachersin-charge, the result shows that the administrators have diverse leadership styles and that they address issues in different styles depending on the situations they encounter. like amanchukwu, stanley, and ololube (2015), the respondents recognize the five factors that determine leadership styles: size of the institution, the degree of interaction/communication, the personality of members, goal congruency and level of decision-making. further, they are aware that the quantity and quality of interaction in an organization tend to influence the style of organizational management with the main issue that employees must work together in order to accomplish tasks (amanchukwu, stanley, & ololube, 2015). table 5. leadership styles of the respondents along kinds of designation l e a d e r s h i p styles kind of designation p ht t-i-c f-value p-value d.e. d.e. d.e. authoritarian 2.98 sa 2.67 sa 2.75 sa 1.936ns 0.164 democratic 4.40 aa 4.33 aa 4.17 aaa 0.685ns 0.513 laissez-faire 3.74 aaa 4.04 aaa 3.77 aaa 0.783ns 0.467 legend: * significant ns – not significant summary of the leadership styles of the respondents table 6 presents a summary of the leadership styles of the respondents. regardless of the number of years as administrators and the kind of designations they have, the public elementary school administrators registered democratic as their first leadership style with a mean of 4.24 which is rated as always applies. this is followed by laissez-faire with a mean of 3.80 rated as almost always applies. the authoritarian style of leadership came third with a mean of 2.79 which is rated sometimes applies. in summary, the grand mean of the leadership styles of the respondents is 3.61 which is rated as almost always applies. the result implies that the principals, head teachers and teachers-in-charge always 198 jpair multidisciplinary research involve the subordinates in planning and making decisions for the institution. they see to it that every employee shares his/her ideas for the achievement of the school’s goals. table 6. summary of the leadership styles of the respondents leadership styles mean d.e. authoritarian i always retain the final decision-making authority within my department or team. 3.87 aaa i do not consider suggestions made by my employees, as i do not have the time for them. 1.17 da i tell my employees what has to be done and how to do it. 3.97 aaa when someone makes a mistake, i tell them not ever to do that again and make a note of it. 3.27 sa new hires are not allowed to make any decisions unless i approve it first. 1.17 da when something goes wrong, i tell my employees that a procedure is not working correctly and i establish a new one. 3.30 sa mean 2.79 democratic i always try to include one or more employees in determining what to do and how to do it. however, i maintain the final decision-making authority. 3.57 aaa i ask for employee ideas and input on upcoming plans and projects. 4.70 aa when things go wrong and i need to create a strategy to keep a project or process running on schedule, i call a meeting to get my employee’s advice. 4.47 aa i want to create an environment where the employees take ownership of the project. i allow them to participate in the decision-making process. 4.60 aa i ask employees for their vision of where they see their jobs going and then use their vision where appropriate. 3.80 aaa i allow my employees to set priorities with my guidance. 4.33 aa mean 4.24 aa laissez-faire my employees and i always vote whenever a major decision has to be made. 4.43 aa for a major decision to pass in my department, it must have the approval of each individual or the majority. 4.70 aa to get information out, i send it by email, memos, or voice mail; very rarely is a meeting called. my employees are then expected to act upon the information. 1.67 da i allow my employees to determine what needs to be done and how to do it. 4.53 aa my workers know more about their jobs than me, so i allow them to carry out the decisions to do their job. 3.53 aaa i delegate tasks in order to implement a new procedure or process. 3.93 aaa mean 3.80 aaa grand mean 3.61 aaa 199 international peer reviewed journal they also create an environment where the employees are given equal opportunities to establish and set priorities in relation to their functions/works but with proper guidance and supervision. the varied leadership styles of the administrators suggest that they can adapt to change, make an all-encompassing decision, maintain open lines of communication and lead others to accomplish the goals. the varied leadership styles of the administrators corroborate with the fiedler’s contingency model of leadership (1967). this model according to fiedler (1967) postulates that there is no single best way for administrators/ supervisors to lead. to fiedler (1967), a leader’s task depends on the leadersubordinate relationship that is, how well the leader and the employees get along; task structure which describes how the work is structured; and position power, that is how much authority the leader possesses. democratic leaders like the public elementary school administrators of bokod also advocate human resource and political leadership (dereli, 2003). human resource leadership, according to dereli (2003) upholds an organization’s most critical resources which are people’s skills, insights, ideas, energy, and commitment. first, it is believed that human needs such as physiological, social, self-esteem and self-actualization are served. second, administrators and subordinates need each other. third, either the administrators or the subordinates will suffer when the fit between them is poor. fourthly, both administrators and subordinates will find meaningful and satisfying work. like human resource leaders, democratic leaders value relationships, feelings of individuals and attempt to lead through facilitation and empowerment (bolman & deal, 1994). the result further proves that the school administrators are democratic leaders at the same time political leaders mainly because they accommodate a complex variety of individuals and group interests such as hierarchical levels, departments, professional groups, gender and ethnic subgroups. they also have high regards to the deeply rooted differences among individuals and groups in their values, preferences, beliefs, information and perceptions of reality (bolman & deal, 1994). conclusions the dominant transformational leadership skill of the principals and the teachers-in-charge is transactional while the head teachers have a combination of three (3) dominant leadership skills – social, transactional and execution. 200 jpair multidisciplinary research their least transformational leadership skill is charisma. the leadership styles practiced by the respondents regardless of the number of years as administrators and the kind of designations are democratic as the first leadership style followed by laissez-faire and last, authoritarian style of leadership. translational research based on the empirical findings and conclusions of the study, charisma as transformational leadership skill may be revisited and be strengthened by the school administrators as this will boost the good relationship between and among the heads and the subordinates. further, the interplay of the different leadership styles is paramount in school management. hence, the principals, head teachers, and teachers-in-charge need to be flexible in their management at all times. literature cited amanchukwu, r. n., stanley, g. j., & ololube, n. p. 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(2004). the role of collective efficacy in the relations between transformational leadership and work outcomes.  journal of occupational and organizational psychology,  77(4), 515-530. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1348/0963179042596441. https://doi.org/10.1348/0963179042596441 93 international peer reviewed journal implementation of the katarungang pambarangay in the selected barangay in legazpi city for fy 2015-2020 consorcia evelyn e. sotto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0412-1331 consorciasotto@yahoo.com bicol college sagpon, daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study aimed to determine the level of implementation of the lupong pangkapayapaan at the selected barangays in legazpi city for fy 2015-2020. specifically, it aimed to determine the status of katarungang pangbarangay in terms of the nature of complaints filed by the residents, problems encountered by the lupong tagapamayapa in its effort to amicably settle disputes, and propose recommendations that may be suggested by the lupon members and by the parties to the disputes as regards the effective settlement of disputes. the descriptive method of research was used. the study revealed that there were different disputes among the residents filed, there were problems encountered by the lupong tagapamayapa in its effort to settle the disputes amicably, and there were proposed recommendations with regards to the effective settlement of the disputes. as recommended, the members of the committee should have enough knowledge in handling the different disputes that are being filed in the barangay, and the barangay council should conduct a seminar on the basic laws, protocols, and procedures to provide more knowledge and skills necessary in addressing disputes in the community. the local government unit should continue to empower the members of the committee in its effort to the effective settlement of the different disputes. vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.585 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0412-1331 mailto:consorciasotto@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 94 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, disputes, lupong tagapamayapa, implementation, amicable settlement, descriptive method, philippines introduction the practitioners in peace and security seek solutions to the increasing numbers of conflicts in middle-income countries. there is a range of actors, multilateral organizations like the united nations, governments, nongovernmental organizations (ngos), and the private sector continue to invest in the capacity to make better use of data to promote peace and security (relief web, 2019). this leads to too many ongoing initiatives in developing new practical data sources with the use of technologies and other new approaches to defining better where the risks and threats to peace and security. in this way, better insights and essential information can be gathered in addressing the issues in a particular place. by 2030, more than half of the world’s poor will be living in nations with high levels of violence if current trends continue (center on international cooperation, 2018). however, resources allocated to peacebuilding and prevention are a small fraction of those allocated to crisis response and reconstruction. similarly, it highlights the need to focus on peace, justice, and inclusion with the new frameworks for development. the member states affirm their commitment to the centrality of peace and prevention, specifically foster peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. in many cases, governments pursue security with approaches that decrease the exclusion and inequality core drivers of conflict. in an article of world report (2019) in vietnam, the basic civil and political rights, including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful public assembly, are severely restricted. it prohibits the formation of independent labor unions, political associations, and human rights organizations. police frequently use excessive force to disperse peaceful public protests that criticize the government. in indonesia, it is a relatively new but now major contributor of united nations peacekeepers (wiharta, 2016). the government announced in early 2015 that it would send 4,000 peacekeepers by 2019 and that it would join the un’s top ten contributors list. although indonesia originally committed un peacekeepers to the un in the 1950s, it remained mainly absent during president suharto’s new order dictatorship until the early 1990s, owing to the military’s responsibility for internal security. given its leading role in the peace process 95 international peer reviewed journal in cambodia, indonesia deploys nearly 2,000 peacekeepers to untac (199294). indonesia then retreats from un peacekeeping until 2006, when it deploys about 1,000 uniformed personnel to five un missions. since then, indonesia demonstrates a sustained and significant commitment to un peace operations through increasing deployments and active and engages participation in policy development. indonesia expanded its contribution to include police officers in 2007, sending six police officers to unmis in sudan. in 2008, it deployed its first formed police units (fpus) to unamid in darfur and had maintained its commitment there ever since. the national police, polri is keen to expand its contributions, particularly fpus and female police officers, and increases its international training efforts for its cadre of police officers. sam et al. (2013) explore the barangay justice service system (bjss) project, which was launched in maguindanao province, southern philippines, with the goal of strengthening the awareness and technical know-how of personnel handling disputes and cases at the local level. it examines the project’s content and subject areas, as well as the mechanisms and strategies used to implement the project, which is divided into five (5) modules: katarungan pambarangay; counseling; paralegal mediation; and shariah or p.d. 1083, also known as “the code of muslim personal laws of the philippines.” the project’s implementation resulted in more accessible and affordable justice services in maguindanao province’s local communities, as planned. the decrease in cases filed at normal trial courts, particularly civil matters within the jurisdiction of the katarungan pambarangay level, demonstrates this. by providing correct documentation and records of instances and settlements that were not properly addressed in the past at the barangay level, a more improved and methodical way of addressing conflicts at the local level was also established. finally, the program was a success because of the backing of not only local officials but also community citizens, who saw the program’s relevance and responsiveness to the need for quick and impartial delivery of justice services at the local level. in this way, to reduce the load of the lower courts, local committees of citizens called pacification committees (lupon tagapamayapa) are being organized to effect the extrajudicial settlement of minor cases between barangay residents (britannica, 2000). in this way, in each committee, there is a conciliation body or the so-called pangkat tagapagkasundo wherein whose main function is to bring opposing parties together and effect an amicable settlement of differences. as stated in the rules, the committee cannot impose punishment, but otherwise, its decisions are binding. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amicable 96 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, citizens prefer to resolve their conflicts first at the barangay level through the lupong tagapamayapa, according to the department of local government (2019). the chairman of this peacekeeping council is the barangay captain, who is joined by ten to twenty members who live or work in the community. they are expected to supervise the conciliation panels administratively, meet once a month to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas among its members and the public on issues related to the amicable settlement of disputes and allow various conciliation panel members to share their observations and experiences in effecting the amicable settlement of disputes. in this effect, according to philippine information agency (2018), in tagurong city, sultan kudarat, some 300 village leaders in the 20 barangays attend training that aims to improve their implementation of the katarungang pambarangay law. the training involves members of the lupong tagapamayapa, composed of barangay officials and community leaders. the course covers the discussions on the implementing rules, regulations, and procedures of the katarungang pambarangay law. the participants are also introduced to the kp forms specific to every action that will be carried out by the lupon. they also learn about their powers, duties, and functions, and scope of authority as members of the lupong tapamayapa. on the other side, it gives information on anti-violence against women and children, giving barangay officials a better understanding of what they can do to improve response processes in cases involving these groups. lupong tagapamayapa is a body formed of the punong barangay as chairman and neither less than ten nor more than 20 members in each barangay. each lupon member must be a bona fide resident of the barangay and not hold an electoral office. they are picked because they have personal qualities that suggest their suitability for the role of resolving conflicts. in the province of albay according to serrano and calipay (2018) the local government unit through its massive campaigns, plays a crucial role and do their share in relieving hundreds of villages in bicol of the bondage of insurgency and poverty. not only in the selected barangays of legazpi city that the katarungang pangbarangay is being applied and implemented in order to address the complaints of the residents in the community and amicably settle such disputes in the barangay level, but also in all the barangays all over the country. to really find out the effectiveness of such law in the selected barangay of legazpi city hence, this study aims to determine the status of katarungang pangbarangay in barangay tinago, puro, and rizal from 2017 to 2020. 97 international peer reviewed journal according to grignon and kroslak (2008), after a decade of dramatic failures in the 1990s in somalia, rwanda, and sierra leone, peacekeeping operations aimed to protect the people in africa. there was an increasing number of peacekeepers through the united nations and the african union (au) with the support of the european union, especially in sudan’s darfur region, chad, the central african republic, and somalia in order to protect the civilians who were under imminent threat. as indicated in the report, the recent peacekeeping operations had indeed achieved notable successes in africa. however, their success had not been in the area of civilian protection. similarly, the united nations mission in congo efficiently supported the peace process, yet in its efforts over the past five years to save lives in eastern congo had performed abysmally means to address the political rationales behind the violence. on the other hand, bernard (2016) claimed that this decade marked a radical shift in the association of southeast asian nations (asean) member states’ attitudes toward its role in the region. in the record, the idea of an asean regional peacekeeping cooperation was first raised in 1994 but never gained traction among its member states. it could be perceived that asean did not interfere in the domestic affairs of its member countries. in this way, malaysia had reinvigorated the push to create a regional peacekeeping force, and over the past year, member states had become increasingly supportive. however, there were still some hurdles. initially, the member states opposed the idea of an asean peacekeeping force because of their shared history of colonization, except in thailand, followed by bloody and protracted independence wars. as such, sovereignty and non-interference became the bedrock of many member states, including and founding principles enshrined in the asean charter. instead of pushing for an active regional peacekeeping force, asean opted for third-way conflict management based on consensus and consultation. conversely, again in indonesia in 2003 raised the issue with the suggestion that asean adopts a peacekeeping force in order to address the increasing number of intra-state conflicts across southeast asia with spillover potential to neighboring countries. it could be manifested in indonesia’s candid support for a force emanating from its growing contribution to the united nations peacekeeping (2019) operation driven by its desire to strengthen the democratic image abroad. according to a un peacekeeping statement (2019), the un peacekeeping mission assisted countries in strengthening the rule of law by restoring and http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/malaysia-wants-an-asean-peacekeeping-force/ https://www.academia.edu/344321/the_absence_of_asean_peacekeeping_in_southeast_asia_2009_ https://www.academia.edu/344321/the_absence_of_asean_peacekeeping_in_southeast_asia_2009_ http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/asean-and-un-peacekeeping/ http://www.nids.go.jp/english/event/symposium/pdf/2014/e-06.pdf 98 jpair multidisciplinary research maintaining security, protecting civilians, paving the way for peacebuilding, rebuilding communities, and creating the enabling conditions for long-term peace. hence, the rule of law activities in peacekeeping was people-centered initiatives and tailored to local realities and assisted communities in producing concrete peace dividends. in addition, the united nations’ peacekeeping also supported the rule of law by providing interim stability or security measures, such as mixed patrols in mali, local ceasefires in darfur, informal and community-led security arrangements in abyei, local peace agreements in the central african republic and targeted community violence reduction programs in haiti. the ties that hold society together, as well as a sense of trust and fairness, can be severely broken in countries emerging from deadly conflict. armed combatants, for example, may walk free, local police may be feared, and old grievances may resurface. according to franco (2013), the october 2012 framework agreement on the bangsamoro between the philippines and the moro islamic liberation front was a milestone in the peace negotiations during the aquino administration. it illustrated how mediation and local-level peace could trump national-level rhetoric. however, this contradicted to popular belief that kuala lumpur’s foreign policy eschewed support for moro secession. more crucially, the malaysianled international monitoring team’s efficacy as a peacekeeping force aided community peace. this essay demonstrates how local-level peace and mediation may transcend national-level rhetoric. in a report of the united nations (2017), the organizations encouraged its member nations the member to be more flexible, nimble, and pragmatic in creating and managing the peacekeeping operations in order to prevent conflict better and protect the civilians in an increasingly complex world. in condemning the blight of sexual exploitation and abuse by some peacekeepers that had harmed the lives of civilians and damaged the organization’s credibility, thus, zero tolerance of those acts had become a reality. furthermore, it emphasized the importance of increased measures to prevent conflicts from erupting or spiraling out of control, particularly during the key transition period when troops leave a country. gender parity in the field was also critical since more women in peacekeeping have been shown to improve trust, protection reach, and interactions with communities while reducing sexual abuse incidences. in the statement of the city government of valencia (2016), the barangay tanod (bpat) played a significant role in the development and progress of the 99 international peer reviewed journal barangay, as it was one of the implementing mechanisms of the barangay peace and order committee (bpoc). it ensured that peace and order prevailed in the barangay while conducting peacekeeping activities in association with the various sectors of the community. similarly, the valencia city government, in collaboration with the department of interior and local government, the bureau of fire protection, the city disaster risk reduction management council, and the valencia city police station, had a common goal of recognizing bpat and the barangay tanod’s contributions in the barangay. according to presidential communications (2015), malacanang palace led the awarding of outstanding barangays during the national assembly of the liga ng mga barangay sa pilipinas liga ng mga barangay sa pilipinas’ awards ceremony. the lupong tagapamayapa incentives award (ltia) 2013 national awardees were barangay san vicente, butuan city, region xiii (for highly urbanized cities); barangay cataning, balanga city, bataan, region iii (component cities); barangay kitang ii/ luz, limay, i bataan, region iii; and barangay ambassador, tublay, benguet, cordillera administrative region. as stated in the department of interior and local government (2016), the city government of davao conducted a forum on positive peace in close coordination with peace 911. the activity was in relation to the continuing efforts of the department to support the executive order no. 70 series of 2018 known as institutionalizing the whole-of-nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a national task force to end local communist armed conflict (elcac) and directing the adoption of a national peace framework. in this effect, the revised katarungang pangbarangay law, the lupon was composed of the punong barangay and 10 to 20 members. the lupon were normally constituted every three years and held office until a new lupon is constituted in the third year. members assisted in settling disputes between parties without receiving remuneration, with the exception of limited honoraria, allowances, and other emoluments recognized by law or barrio, municipal, or city code. as a result, practically all civil issues and every criminal infraction punishable by a term of imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of not more than p5,000.00 could be settled amicably under the kp if the parties involved lived in the same city or municipality. sone (2017) claimed that most disputing african states relied heavily on foreign intervention in the resolution of their disputes. it was argued that african leaders needed to establish a strong commitment to resolving the conflicts 100 jpair multidisciplinary research through effective leadership. it was suggested that african leaders and the au understand the problems of africans better than anyone else, and they were also the ones most greatly affected by these disputes. on the other hand, de juan (2017) made an argument that the historical, political, and cultural topographies were essential to understanding patterns of the persistence and demise of precolonial institutions. traditional modes of conflict resolution remained strong where they had been internalized over centuries: in the cultural and political centers of precolonial states. the author used the original geocoded survey data and historical spatial information on pre-colonial burundi to analyze this hypothesis. the estimations yielded robust correlations between the geographic patterns of the pre-colonial kingdom and current modes of resource-related conflict resolution. ayer et al. (2017) conducted a comprehensive review to synthesize empirical evidence on the israeli–palestinian conflict and its psychological effects in another study. as a whole, the body of literature suggested that exposure to regional political conflict and violence could have detrimental effects on psychological well-being and that these effects likely extended beyond the psychiatric disorders and symptoms most commonly studied. more investigations on the nonclinical psychological components of the israeli–palestinian conflict, as well as longitudinal studies on the impact of the conflicts, were advised by the review. it is possible to see how chong (2012) made an analysis of the multifaceted complexities embedded in disputes involving contested cultural heritage. it underscored the point that quarrels over ostensibly petty issues are often symptomatic of protracted undercurrents of political conflict between states. drawing from the illustrations of the pending example, it further demonstrated how failure addressed these latent tensions could potentially result in destructive manifestations, even over seemingly trivial spats. it proposed that examining these disputes within the broader context of the history and dynamics of the relationships of the various parties of the dispute became necessary and critical in engendering a sustainable resolution of disputes over shared cultural heritage. similarly, raharjo (2016) explained the role of cross-border cooperation in managing communal conflicts in the border area between the timor tengah utara district of indonesia and the oecussi district of timor leste. this study showed that cross-border cooperation played a significant role in managing the conflict by reducing violence, building and maintaining social relations, as well as improving the economic development of the local people. https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/sandy-nur-ikfal-raharjo-2166178756 101 international peer reviewed journal in a similar perspective, zaw (2018) analyzed the nature of ethnic conflicts in myanmar and the consequences and situations from the independence time to the current time under a democratic government. the study attempted to show detailed information about how myanmar governments tried to shape conflict resolution and peace-building in the country and why it is still traumatic in the country. moreover, this study also spoke more about some solutions for the peace-building process from different dimensions and communication. silliman (1985) argued that the philippine system of compulsory conciliation is important both in terms of the political system as a whole and in terms of how it operates at the village level. the author argued that the national lawenforced mediation structures are part of a pattern in which the philippine state is incorporating various sectors of civil society into itself, but that the cooperation of the traditional method of dispute resolution is not meeting resistance from rural filipinos. this study supported the more general idea that informal justice systems serve to strengthen centralized political power, but it also revealed the dialectic. in another study, ranario et al. (2014) determined the conciliation competencies of the lupong tagapamayapa of selected barangays in cebu city. the study was conducted in 4 barangays, namely: barangay guadalupe and barangay sapangdaku from the south district and barangay san antonio, and barangay hipodromo from the north district. included in this study was the member of the lupon of barangays sapangdaku, guadalupe, san antonio, and hipodromo, who was appointed by the barangay captains by virtue of section 399 of the 1991 local government code of the philippines, which states: “the punong barangay, taking into consideration the proposed appointments or any recommendation for appointment, shall, within ten days after posting appoint members who shall be determined to be suitable, therefore.” in conclusion, mohammed and caingat (2017) found out that majority of the filed cases were resolved with the help of the barangay justice system. in addition, robbery or theft and trespassing were the cases that were commonly not resolved due to the lack of evidence and the identities of those who committed the offenses. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the level of implementation of the lupong pangkapayapaan at barangay tinago, puro and rizal in legazpi city from 102 jpair multidisciplinary research 2015-2019. specifically, it aimed to (1) determine the status of katarungang pangbarangay in barangay tinago, puro, and rizal in legazpi city from 20172020 terms of nature of complaints filed by the residents, number of disputes conciliated and amicably settled, and number of cases elevated to the court for failure to be settled amicably, (2) determine the problems encountered by the lupong tagapamayapa in its effort amicably settle disputes as regards to their background knowledge on legal and other matters, the attitude of disputants, and availability of government lawyers to give advice to both disputants, and (3) propose recommendations that may be suggested by the lupon members and by the parties to the disputes as regards the effective settlement of disputes. methodology research design this study employed the descriptive method of research in gathering relevant information of the study. research site the study was conducted in legazpi city in the province of albay. participants the study utilized the 36 members of the barangay council and lupong tagapamayapa from the three barangays in legazpi city. data collection the researcher personally sought permission from the office of the barangay captain of the selected barangays in legazpi city to conduct the study. upon approval, the researcher asked for the records from the barangay secretary. the researcher administered the distribution of the questionnaires to the respondents and requested them to answer all the items as honestly as possible. the researcher personally retrieved the questionnaires. the gathered data were tabulated and tallied, and the weighted mean was computed to determine the perceptions of the respondents. statistical technique the findings of the study were evaluated using statistical terms and formulas. the frequency count and the percent determined the responses of the respondents, 103 international peer reviewed journal while the weighted mean was used to express the relative participation of the set of responses compared to the totality. results and discussion the findings of this study were presented in a descriptive and tabular form analyzed and interpreted to answer the research objectives. data were gathered to determine the problems encountered by the committee in the conduct of problems are encountered by the lupong tagapamayapa in its effort amicably settle disputes by the parties as the basis for recommendations may be suggested by the lupon members and by the parties to the disputes as regards the effective settlement of disputes. table 1. number and nature of complaints by the residents n = 36 year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 p indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm f wm f wm agrarian disputes 7 19.44 5 13,88 4 11.11 6 16.66 7 19.44 80.33 personal loans/ debts/collection 3 8,33 1 2.77 1 2.77 2 5.55 2 5.55 4 11.11 36.08 breach of contract 3 8.33 6 16..88 4 11.11 3 8.33 1 2.77 52.75 husband-wife relation disputes 2 5.55 3 11.11 5 19.44 3 11.11 2 5.55 1 2.77 44.64 thefts and robberies 2 5.85 3 8.33 8 22.22 8 22.22 3 8.33 3 8.33 75.24 sexual cases & acts of lasciviousness 4 11.11 2 5.85 3 8.33 5 13.88 4 11.11 2 5.55 55.83 child support issues 1 2.77 6 16.63 3 8.33 3 8.33 5 13.33 3 8.33 57.72 violence against women and children 3 8.33 3 8.33 8 22.22 5 13.88 3 8.33 61.09 physical violence 1 2.77 4 11.11 5 13.88 1 2.77 2 5.85 56.12 land border disputes 2 5.55 3 8.33 5 11.11 1 2.77 1 2.77 6 16.66 47.19 right of way cases 5 13.88 6 16.66 3 8.33 3 8.33 2 5.85 1 2.77 55.82 table 1 presented the status of the implementation of the katarungang pambarangay, specifically on the number and nature of complaints by the 104 jpair multidisciplinary research residents. the respondents were made to answer the questionnaire to determine the number and nature of the complaints filed from 2015 to 2020. as indicated on the table, agrarian disputes had a frequency of 28 and the highest percentage of 80.33, while personal loans, debts, and collection had the lowest frequency of 13 or 36.08 from 2015 to 2020. according to van leeuwen et al. (2020), the issue of land disputes in conflict-affected settings was often considered as a security threat, to be addressed through mediation and strengthening the rule of law. this overlooked the roots of land conflicts in longer-term processes of agrarian development and worsening conditions of land and labor access. while dispute resolution may temporarily calm down tensions, it could not be substituted for fundamental political choices vis-a-vis in wider questions of agrarian development and justice. table 2. number of disputes amicably settled n = 36 year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 p indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm f wm f wm agrarian disputes 1 2.77 6 16.16 4 11.11 5 13.88 3 8.00 51.92 personal loans/ debts/collection 4 11.11 4 11.11 5 13.88 3 8.33 2 5.55 1 2.77 52.63 breach of contract 2 5.85 4 11.1 5 13.88 4 11.11 5 13.88 1 2.77 69.54 husband-wife relation disputes 3 8.33 5 13.88 6 16.66 4 11.11 1 2.77 52.75 juvenile offenses 3 8.33 7 19.44 2 5.85 3 8.33 4 11.11 48.97 thefts and robberies 1 2.77 5 13.88 4 11.11 4 11.11 5 13.88 5 13.88 64.45 sexual cases & acts of lasciviousness 2 5.85 4 11.11 5 13.88 4 11.11 4 11.11 53.06 child support issues 8 22.22 1 2.77 2 5.55 1 2.77 33.31 violence against women and children 5 13.88 2 5..55 3 5.85 13.88 8.33 2 5.85 53.34 physical violence 4 11.11 7 19.44 2 5.55 3 8.33 4 11.11 55.54 land border disputes 5 13.88 13.88 2 5.55 3 8.33 2 5.55 1 2.77 49.96 right of way cases 4 11.11 6 16.66 3 8.33 1 2.77 4 11.11 1 2.77 52.75 others 6 16.66 3 8.33 5 13.88 4 11.11 1 2.77 52.75 105 international peer reviewed journal as illustrated in table 2 on the number of disputes amicably settled in the barangay level, the breach of contract had the highest percentage of 53.06 while the issue on child support had the lowest percentage of 51.92. furthermore, child support is often a major area of disagreement between separating spouses, bogging down proceedings, and causing increasingly hostile negotiations, and the philippines had created several laws dealing with custody and support of children (lawyers in the philippines, 2018). the breach of contract had the highest frequency of 21 or 69.5 percent on the number of disputes amicably settled, while the child support issues had the lowest frequency of 12 or 33.31 percent from 2015 to 2020. according to le and nguyen (2010), land disputes were a highly sensitive issue in vietnam as to government reports, complaints involving land acquisition and compensation made up a high percentage of all complaints to governmental agencies, and significantly, the increase in land disputes had occurred following land reforms that had strengthened land-use rights and public accountability for land administration. in the same manner, right of way cases issues. table 3. number of cases elevated to the court n = 36 year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 p indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm f wm agrarian disputes 10 27.77 2 5.55 3 8.33 1 2.77 2 5.55 49.97 personal loans/debts/collection 3 8.33 5 13.88 2 5.55 6 16.66 2.77 47.19 breach of contract 8 22.22 4 11.11 1 2.77 1 2.77 3 8.33 47.20 husband-wife relation disputes 5 13.88 1 2.77 5 13.88 2 5.55 6 16.66 52.74 juvenile offenses 3 8.33 5 13.88 6 16.66 13.88 1 2.77 55.52 thefts and robberies 2 5.55 4 11.11 6 16.66 2 5.55 1 2.77 4164 sexual cases & acts of lasciviousness 12 33.33 4 11.11 8 22.22 9 25 91.66 child support issues 1 2.77 3 8.33 4 11.11 5 13.88 6 16.66 52.75 violence against women and children 3 8.33 2 5.55 3 8.33 7 19.44 6 16.66 58.31 physical violence 4 11.11 5 13.88 7 19.44 2 5.55 5 13.88 63.66 land border disputes 1 2.77 6 16.66 7 19.44 5 13.88 2 5.55 58.30 right of way cases 2 5.55 1 2.77 2 5.55 5 13.88 1 2.77 30.52 as shown in table 3, the sexual cases and acts of lasciviousness had the highest frequency of 33 or 91.66 percent, while the right way disputes with the lowest frequency of 11 or 30.52 percent elevated to the high court from 2015 to 2020. according to terpstra and baker (1992), the case characteristics 106 jpair multidisciplinary research were related to the courts’ decisions on the severity of the behavior involved, the presence of witnesses and documents, whether complainants had informed their employers of the harassment before filing charges, and whether the employers had taken action. indicator a had a frequency of 30 and ranked one on the problems encountered by the members of the committee in their effort to settle the disputes at the barangay level. conclusions in conclusion, there were different disputes among the residents filed in its effort to settle at the barangay level amicably. also, there were problems encountered by the lupong tagapamayapa in its effort to settle the disputes among the complainants amicably, and there were proposed measures with regards to the effective settlement of the disputes. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to the various understanding of the importance of effective and efficient implementation of katarungang 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(2016). peacekeeping contributor profile: indonesia. providingforpeacekeeping. org. world report (2019). vietnam: human rights watch. retrieved from www. dilgregion11.gov.ph zaw, h. t. (2018). conflict resolution and peacebuilding: the long-lasting trauma of myanmar.  advances in journalism and communication,  6(04), 121. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4236/ajc.2018.64010 https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1824179 http://www.dilgregion11.gov.ph http://www.dilgregion11.gov.ph https://doi.org/10.4236/ajc.2018.64010 50 jpair multidisciplinary research determinants of healthcare utilization among senior citizens in davao city, philippines mark m. alipio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8360-0287 markalipiorrt@gmail.com university of southeastern philippines davao city, philippines joseph dave m. pregoner http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0571-307x pregonerjosephdave@gmail.com university of the immaculate conception davao city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract as the number of senior citizens increases, issues regarding their utilization for healthcare services are becoming highly relevant to discuss. this study aims to evaluate the potential determinants of healthcare utilization among senior citizens in davao city, philippines. stratified sampling with proportional allocation was employed to select the 2,952 respondents. data were collected using questionnaires. of the total sample, 61.0% consumed cigarettes at most two times per week, 70.0% drank alcohol two to three times per week, and 78.3% performed an exercise at most one time per week. approximately 59.0% reported experiencing two to three symptoms of a disease; however, 56.3% of the respondents utilized healthcare services at most four times for the past six months. vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.759 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8360-0287 mailto:markalipiorrt@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0571-307x mailto:pregonerjosephdave@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.759 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 51 international peer reviewed journal most of the respondents were unaware that they automatically receive philhealth coverage in accredited healthcare facilities in the philippines. multiple regression analysis revealed that age, sex, family size, monthly income, geographical area, lifestyle factors, and awareness on health insurance were significant determinants of healthcare utilization. the findings revealed the impact of socio-demographic, lifestyle, and health insurance awareness on healthcare utilization among senior citizens. policymakers and local government unit may consider improving the capability for senior citizens to access health services, such as providing health insurance awareness programs and developing health-promoting activities. keywords — health, healthcare utilization, filipino senior citizens, davao city, philippines introduction a significant demographic shift towards the senior population has been observed in societies worldwide. based on the global health and aging report showed by the world health organization (who), senior citizens’ number is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050 (suzman & beard, 2011). in the philippines, the population of senior citizens constituted eight million in 2018 (philippine statistics authority, 2019). the elderly filipino populace is burgeoning: 6.0% in 2000, 6.8% in 2010 and 8.2% in 2018. as the number of elderly in the world continues to increase, the need for current and extensive information on this population surges, and thus, issues regarding their utilization for healthcare services are becoming highly relevant to discuss. with their declining physical function and increased morbidity from various diseases, the demand for healthcare services among senior citizens is far higher compared to other age groups(acharya, ghimire, jeffers, & shrestha, 2019). for instance, the rates of healthcare demand by senior citizens are growing in asian and american countries. annually, there are 6.1 visits, more hospital admissions, and a longer length of stay by the elderly in malaysia. moreover, approximately 40% of the total healthcare expenditure is utilized by the elderly, which amounted to 9.32 billion a year (moh, 2013). in canada, seniors accounted for 46% of the national public healthcare expenditures (canadian institute for health information, 2016). in the united states, three-fourths of the total health care costs are related to the treatment of chronic conditions of the seniors (hazra, rudisill, &gulliford, 2018). in the same vein, nepal is 52 jpair multidisciplinary research experiencing epidemiological, as well as demographic transitions (shrestha, 2013).most southeast and east asian countriesreported high demand for longterm care with older adults(yeung,& thang,2018). in the philippines, healthcare services are focused on the management of cardiovascular diseases such as rheumatic heart disease (tolentino, & margallo, 2019) as these diseases are the leading cause of deaths among senior citizens. the burden of chronic diseases in the aging population is increasing, implying higher healthcare needs and effective healthcare services delivery for years to come (zhu, cai, wang, & liu, 2014). hence, there is a growing concern globally of the need to assess how healthcare services are used, and how healthcare management might be best improved to meet the needs of the elderly population (acharya et al., 2019). healthcare utilization means the use of services to obtain information about one’s health, prevent and cure health conditions, and maintain health and wellbeing. previous theoretical models of healthcare utilization have been studied, examining which variables influence it and to what extent (hulka, & wheat, 1985). for example, berki and kobashigawa (1976) explored the impact of individual characteristics and socio-economic factors on healthcare utilization, while mutchler and burr(1991) explained the racial differences in healthcare utilization among vulnerable populations. miquel et al. (2016) focused on the influence of lifestyle (e.g., alcohol use, smoking) on healthcare utilization. in the philippines, the republic act 9994 or expanded senior citizens act of 2010 is implemented to support the senior citizens’ immense demand for goods and services, especially in healthcare. the act states that the elderly filipinos aged 60 and above are privileged to a 20% discount and exempted from the value-added tax on applicable goods and services for their exclusive use. in davao city, the ‘pagkalinga program’ of the government is instigated to help the senior citizens cope with their maintenance medicines and other medical needs. despite the various policy efforts of the government to address the demands of the elderly, the factors prompting senior citizens to utilize healthcare services were still overlooked. uncovering the factors related to healthcare use is essential, mainly when used concurrently with conventional care, as this could avoid potential problems. given the escalation of healthcare costs for the elderly, population aging has become a concern to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and researchers. however, in the philippines, particularly in davao city, research on healthcare demands of the elderly is few and far between. given this phenomenon, the study is proposed to investigate the determinants of the healthcare demands of 53 international peer reviewed journal the senior citizens in davao city. the study aims to bridge the gap in healthcare demands literature concerning the older people as the unit of analysis, by understanding the factors that lead to the utilization of healthcare facilities of senior citizens. framework figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of this research study. the framework was summed up by presenting the independent and dependent variables to attain the objectives of this study in forecasting the probability of healthcare utilization of the senior citizens. the socio-demographic profile, lifestyle, morbidity count, and healthcare insurance awareness served as the independent variables of the study. the socio-demographic profile sought to elicit data on age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, family size, educational attainment, monthly income, and the geographical area of barangay, and the lifestyle consisted of cigarette consumption, alcohol drinking frequency, and performing exercise frequency. the dependent variable in this study was the healthcare utilization in terms of the total number of healthcare visits for the past six months. independent variable dependent variable figure 1. schematic diagram employed in the study 54 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the thrust of this study is to know the determinants of healthcare utilization among senior citizens in davao city. specifically, it tried to answer the following objectives: (1) to determine the demographic profile of the senior citizens; (2) to determine the lifestyle of the senior citizens; (3) to determine the morbidity count of the senior citizens; (4) to determine the healthcare insurance awareness of the senior citizens; (5) to determine the healthcare utilization of the senior citizens; and (6) to determine if the socio-demographic profile, lifestyle, morbidity count, and healthcare insurance membership of the senior citizens significantly predict their healthcare utilization. methodology research design the present study utilized the descriptive-predictive design to test the claim of this study. it is descriptive-predictive in purpose as it focused on the identification of significant predictors of healthcare utilization among senior citizens in davao city. research site and participants this study was conducted in the 182 barangays of davao city. the respondents of the survey were the 2,592 senior citizens who were chosen through stratified sampling using proportional allocation. this sample size was calculated using raosoft sample size calculator with a 99% confidence level at 2.5% margin of error. the total population size and population size per barangay stratum in davao city were taken from the 2015 census of population and housing by the philippine statistics authority. instrumentation this study employed a researcher-made questionnaire, which is composed of five parts. the first part gathered information about the socio-demographic profile of the respondents, namely, the age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, family size, educational attainment, monthly income, and geographical area of barangay. the second part sought to know the lifestyle of the respondents, namely, cigarette consumption, alcohol use, and physical activity. the third part gathered information about the morbidity count of the respondents. the fourth 55 international peer reviewed journal part sought to determine the level of awareness of the respondents on healthcare insurance of the government. the fifth part gathered information about the healthcare utilization of the respondents in terms of the total number of healthcare visits for the past six months. the total number of healthcare visits for the past six months was calculated based on the sum of the number of inpatient visits, the number of outpatient visits, and the number of emergency department visits.the researchers did not conduct reliability testing because the tool did not contain any scale-type items. before the administration of the questionnaire, written informed consent was obtained from the respondents. after securing the approval, the enumerators administered the questionnaire to the respondents. after retrieving the surveys, the responses were tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted using the appropriate statistical tools. for descriptive problems concerning the socio-demographic profile, lifestyle, morbidity count, and level of awareness, frequency, and percentage were used. multiple regression analysis was used to determine if the socio-demographic profile, lifestyle, morbidity count, and healthcare insurance awareness predict the healthcare utilization of the respondents. a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. results and discussion the present study focused on the determination of healthcare utilization of the senior citizens in davao city and the factors affecting the demand of healthcare among the senior citizens in davao city. table 1 shows the socio-demographic profile of the respondents. out of the 2,592 respondents, 31.3% belong to the age group 68-71, 24.0% belong to the age group 72-75, 17.0% belong to the age group 60-63, 15.0% belong to the age group 64-67, 10.3% belong to age group 76-79, and 2.4% belong to the age group 80-83. in terms of sex, there are more male respondents (52.3%) compared to female respondents (47.7%). in terms of ethnicity, most of the respondents are cebuano (35.0%), 27.0% are bisaya, 17.0% are dabawenyo, 8.7% are boholanos, 6.7% are hiligaynon, and the remaining 5.7% belong to other ethnic groups. in the marital status area, there are more married respondents (53.3%) than either single or widow respondents (46.7%). in terms of family size, 59.3% of the respondents live with a family of 3-4, 27.7% live with a family of 7-8, while 13.0% reside with a family of 5-6. in the educational attainment domain, most of the respondents did not attend formal 56 jpair multidisciplinary research education (51.0%), while the remaining 49.0% attended formal education. in terms of monthly income in thousands, 48.7% of the respondents earn 4,2015,600, 41.7% earn 2,801-4,200, 9.6% earn 0-1,400, and none earns 1,4012,800. in the dimension of geographical area, most of the respondents reside in the urban barangay (71.7%), while the least number of respondents reside in the rural barangay (28.3%). table 1. socio-demographic profile of the respondents profile f % age 60-63 441 17.0% 64-67 389 15.0% 68-71 811 31.3% 72-75 622 24.0% 76-79 268 10.3% 80-83 61 2.4% sex male 1,355 52.3% female 1,237 47.7% ethnicity cebuano 907 35.0% bisaya 699 27.0% dabawenyo 441 17.0% boholano 225 8.7% hiligaynon 173 6.7% others 147 5.7% marital status married 1,381 53.3% single/widow 1,211 46.7% family size 3-4 1,537 59.3% 5-6 337 13.0% 7-8 718 27.7% total 2,592 100.0% 57 international peer reviewed journal educational attainment not attended formal education 1,322 51.0% attended formal education 1,270 49.0% monthly income 0-1,400 250 9.6% 1,401-2,800 0 0.0% 2,801-4,200 1,080 41.7% 4,201-5,600 1,262 48.7% geographical area of barangay rural 734 28.3% urban 1,858 71.7% total 2,592 100.0% table 2 shows the lifestyle of the respondents in terms of cigarette consumption, alcohol drinking frequency, and performing exercise frequency per week. among the surveyed respondents, 61.0% of the respondents consumed 0-2 cigarettes weekly, 16.3% consumed 3-5, 10.7% consumed 6-8, another 10.7% consumed 9-11, and the remaining 1.3% consumed 12-14. in terms of alcohol drinking frequency per week, 70.0% of the respondents drank alcohol 2-3 times, 27.3% drank 0-1 time, and 2.7% drank 4-5 times. in the area of performing exercise frequency per week, 78.3% of the respondents performed exercise 0-1 time, 15.0% performed 4-5 times, and 6.7% performed 2-3 times. table 2. lifestyle of the respondents lifestyle f % cigarette consumption (weekly) 0-2 1,581 61.0% 3-5 423 16.3% 6-8 277 10.7% 9-11 277 10.7% 12-14 34 1.3% alcohol drinking frequency (weekly) 0-1 708 27.3% 2-3 1,814 70.0% 4-5 70 2.7% 58 jpair multidisciplinary research performing exercise frequency (weekly) 0-1 2,029 78.3% 2-3 174 6.7% 4-5 389 15.0% total 2,592 100.0% the morbidity count of the respondents is shown in table 3. it can be gleaned that most of the respondents (59.0%) had 2-3 symptoms of a disease, while the remaining 41.0% of the respondents reported they had only 0-1 symptoms of a disease. table 3. morbidity count of the respondents morbidity count f % 0-1 1,063 41.0% 2-3 1,529 59.0% total 2,592 100.0% table 4 shows the awareness of the respondents on healthcare insurance of the government. when asked about their awareness of philhealth coverage, most of the respondents (79.7%) were not aware that they automatically receive philhealth coverage in accredited healthcare facilities in the philippines, while the remaining 20.3% were aware of this privilege. table 4. awareness of the respondents on healthcare insurance of the government awareness f % aware 526 20.3% not aware 2,066 79.7% total 2,592 100.0% the healthcare utilization of the respondents for the past six months is shown in table 5. majority of the respondents (56.3%) visited the hospital 0-4 time/s for the past six months, 16.7% visited 10-14 times, 15.3% visited 5-9 times, and 11.7% visited 15-19 times. 59 international peer reviewed journal table 5. healthcare utilization of the respondents for the past six months number of healthcare visit f % 0-4 1,459 56.3% 5-9 397 15.3% 10-14 433 16.7% 15-19 303 11.7% total 2,592 100.0% table 6 shows the unstandardized coefficients of the different determinants via the multiple regression analysis. overall, age, sex, family size, monthly income, geographical area, cigarette consumption, alcohol drinking frequency, performing exercise frequency, and awareness on healthcare insurance significantly predict the healthcare utilization of the respondents (p<0.05). in terms of the direction of influence of the predictors on healthcare utilization, family size, monthly income, geographical area, awareness on health insurance, and performing exercise frequency have a negative impact on healthcare utilization as denoted by a negative standardized coefficient. the finding implies that respondents who live in larger families, earn higher monthly income, reside in the urban barangays, are unaware of healthcare insurance coverage, and performed exercise many times per week, have decreased utilization of healthcare services for the past six months. among these predictors, family size had the most substantial adverse influence on healthcare utilization, followed by monthly income, geographical area, and awareness on health insurance coverage as denoted by their standardized coefficients of -0.12, -0.05, -0.04, -0.03, and -0.01, respectively. this result conforms to the findings of motlagh et al. (2015), which reported that the utilization of both inpatient and outpatient healthcare services decreases with increasing household size. larger families are associated with a lower probability of reporting the disease as non-serious (gorman & braverman, 2008). with the reported association, these families may resort to non-admission to hospital facilities. surprisingly, respondents with higher incomes had low healthcare utilization for the past six months. in contrast to this finding, acharya et al. (2019) found that higher income was associated with higher odds of using health services. senior citizens with pension income were most likely to avail of healthcare services (jiang et al., 2018). these conflicting results could be attributed to residing with larger families and high consumption of both alcohol and cigarettes, which may avert spending of income to hospital care. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, it was reported in previous studies that distance to the healthcare facility or the geographical location of community dwellers has proven to be a problem that tends to limit access to the health service (fisseha, berhane, worku, & terefe, 2017; onasoga, afolayan, & oladimeij, 2012). on the other hand, physical exercise activity has also been associated with lower utilization of healthcare. compared to sedentary leisure time, the odds ratio for health care utilization decreased with increasing levels of physical exercise activities (rocca, beckman, ekvall, & ohlsson, 2015). on the other hand, age, sex, alcohol drinking frequency, and cigarette consumption have a positive influence on healthcare utilization as denoted by a positive standardized coefficient. the result implies that respondents who are older belong to a female group, drank alcohol at a higher frequency per week, and consumed more cigarettes weekly, have increased utilization of healthcare services for the past six months. among these predictors, cigarette consumption had the highest positive influence on healthcare utilization, followed by alcohol drinking frequency, sex, and age, as denoted by their standardized coefficients of 0.73, 0.22, 0.05, and 0.01, respectively. as agreed by atella et al. (2019), healthcare utilization increased among older adults in italy. consistently, the present data showed that increasing age is associated with higher healthcare use. thus, aging, which is accompanied by multiple chronic conditions (bahler, huber, brungger, & reich, 2015), warrants appropriate medical consultation. other than age, sex is also associated with the utilization of healthcare. women were found to live longer as compared to men but unexpectedly reported more significant morbidity and disability and made greater use of health care services, particularly at the end of life (noh, kim, park, & kwon, 2016). as in the previous study of huang (2017), it is indicated that women use more health care services than men in terms of the visit to general practitioners, home medical visits, number of medications, and overall utilization. the present study also conforms to the study of miquel et al. (2016), which showed that hospital admission rates were lowest for abstainers compared to people with moderate and heavy drinking. the study also reported that concerning hospital days, heavy drinking was associated with significantly higher adjusted rates than both abstainers and moderate drinkers. on the other hand, smoking has a direct influence on outpatient hospital visits (li, fan, & supakankunti, 2018). 61 international peer reviewed journal table 6. multiple regression analysis study variables standardized beta coefficients sig. (constant) family size -0.12 0.00 monthly income -0.05 0.00 geographical area -0.04 0.00 awareness of health insurance -0.03 0.00 performing exercise frequency -0.01 0.00 age 0.01 0.02 sex 0.05 0.00 alcohol drinking frequency 0.22 0.00 cigarette consumption 0.73 0.00 morbidity count -0.01 0.06 educational attainment 0.01 0.08 ethnicity -0.01 0.12 marital status 0.01 0.38 conclusions this is the first study to determine the factors affecting healthcare utilization among senior citizens in the philippines. for the past six months, most of the respondents utilized healthcare services at a relatively low level. the lifestyle of the filipino senior citizens in davao city posed a detrimental issue on their overall health. most of them consumed cigarettes and drank alcohol weekly. also, most of them performed exercise at most once per week. when asked about their awareness of philhealth coverage, most of them were not aware that they automatically receive philhealth coverage in accredited healthcare facilities in the philippines. socio-demographic profile, such as age and sex, were essential factors influencing healthcare utilization. senior citizens who consumed alcohol and cigarette at a relatively high level had a higher demand for healthcare services. however, senior citizens who reside in urban barangays, belong to larger family size, and are unaware of healthcare insurance coverage, were disadvantageous groups in utilizing healthcare services.recognizing the heterogeneity of the senior citizens, the findings recommend that policymakers may put more attention on 62 jpair multidisciplinary research these vulnerable populations and take targeted measures to improve access to and use of health care services by senior citizens in need of medical care. translational research the result of this study may leverage the vast amounts of readily accessible public datasets and uncover meaningful healthcare utilization patterns of the senior citizens that may be used to inform policy-making entities. gathered data may be used as a reference for policies to improve healthcare access for the elderly and the development of health management and healthy aging programs for older people in davao city. this study may aid the hospital administration in the formulation of health measures on the growing senior citizen population. the findings of the study may help the administration implement new approaches in healthcare delivery to address the changing health status of the aging population and prepare for implementing a multidisciplinary approach to ensure that the senior citizens are receiving better case management. finally, the result of the study may guide in improving healthcare services to the elderly, making a paradigm shift in health governance and organizing measures to cater to the health needs of the senior citizens, especially in davao city. literature cited acharya, s., ghimire, s., jeffers, e. m., & shrestha, n. (2019). health care utilization and health care expenditure of nepali older adults. frontiers in public health, 7. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2sptn27 atella, v., mortari, a., kopinska, j., belotti, f., lapi, f., cricelli, c., & fontana, l. (2019). trends in age-related disease burden and healthcare utilization. aging cell, 18(1), e12861. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/ acel.12861 bahler c., huber c., brungger b., & reich o. (2015), multimorbidity, health care utilization and costs in an elderly community-dwelling population: a claims data based observational study. bmc health serv. 15 (23). retrieved from doi: 10.1186/s12913-015-0698-2. http://bit.ly/2sptn27 https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.12861 https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.12861 63 international peer reviewed journal berki, s. e., &kobashigawa, b. (1976). socio-economic and need determinants of ambulatory care use: path analysis of the 1970 health interview survey data. medical care, 405-421. fisseha, g., berhane, y., worku, a., & terefe, w. (2017). distance from health facility and mothers’ perception of quality related to skilled delivery service utilization in northern ethiopia. international journal of women’s health, 9, 749-756. retrieved from doi:10.2147/ijwh.s140366 gorman, b., & braverman, j. (2008). family structure differences in health care utilization among u.s. children. social science & medicine. 67 (11), 17661775. retrieved fromhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.034 hazra, n. c., rudisill, c., & gulliford, m. c. (2018). determinants of health  care costs in the senior elderly: age, comorbidity, impairment, or proximity to death? the european journal of health economics : hepac : health economics in prevention and care, 19(6), 831-842. retrieved from doi:10.1007/s10198-017-0926-2 huang, j. c.-l. (2017). influence of healthcare utilization and social characteristics on health outcomes among elderly asian americans: a structural equation analysis health and health care concerns among women and racial and ethnic minorities (vol. 35, pp. 211-230): emerald publishing limited. hulka, b. s., & wheat, j. r. (1985). patterns of utilization: the patient perspective. medical care, 23(5), 438-460. jiang, m., yang, g., fang, l., wan, j., yang, y., & wang, y. (2018). factors associated with healthcare utilization among community-dwelling elderly in shanghai, china. plos one, 13(12), e0207646. retrieved from doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207646 li, c., fan, y., & supakankunti, s. (2018). the impact of cigarette smoking on healthcare utilization among rural residents in china. journal of substance use, 23(6), 626-633.retrieved fromhttps://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.20 18.1489004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.034 https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2018.1489004 https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2018.1489004 64 jpair multidisciplinary research ministry of health (moh) (2013). country health plan: 10th malaysia plan (2011-2015). retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mzhsua miquel, l., gual, a., lligoña, a., vela, e., bustins, m., colom, j., & rehm, j. (2016). alcohol consumption and inpatient health service utilization in a cohort of patients with alcohol dependence after 20 years of followup. alcohol and alcoholism, 52(2), 227-233. retrieved from doi:10.1093/ alcalc/agw075 motlagh, s., sabermahani, a., hadian, m., lari, m. a., mahdavi, m. r. v., &gorji, h. (2015). factors affecting health care utilization in tehran. global journal of health science, 7(6), 240-249. retrieved from doi:10.5539/ gjhs.v7n6p240 mutchler, j. e., & burr, j. a. (1991). racial differences in health and health care service utilization in later life: the effect of socio-economic status. journal of health and social behavior, 342-356. noh, j.-w., kim, k.-b., park, h., & kwon, y. d. (2016). gender differences in outpatient utilization: a pooled analysis of data from the korea health panel. journal of women’s health, 26(2), 178-185. retrieved from doi:10.1089/jwh.2016.5771 onasoga, o., afolayan, j., & oladimeij, b. (2012). factors influencing utilization of antenatal care services among pregnant women in ife central lga, osun state nigeria (vol. 3).retrieved from http://bit.ly/2fsyw1i philippine statistics authority (2019). population projection statistics. retrieved from https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/ rocca, p., beckman, a., ekvall, e., & ohlsson, h. (2015). is the association between physical activity and healthcare utilization affected by self-rated health and socio-economic factors? bmc public health, 15(1), 737. retrieved from doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2079-5 shrestha, l. (2013). geriatric health in nepal: concerns and experience (vol. 15).retrieved from http://bit.ly/2zvfsin http://bit.ly/2mzhsua http://bit.ly/2fsyw1i https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/ http://bit.ly/2zvfsin 65 international peer reviewed journal suzman r., & beard j. (2011). global health and aging: preface. national institute on aging. retrieved from www.nia.nih.gov/research /publication/ global-health-andaging/preface tolentino, r., & margallo, v. (2019). rheumatic heart disease management: patients’ experiences, health practices, and role performance.  jpair multidisciplinary research, 37(1). yeung, w. j. j., & thang, l. l. (2018). long-term care for older adults in asean plus three: the roles of family, community, and the state in addressing unmet eldercare needs.  journal of aging and health,  30(10), 1499-1515. zhu, x., cai, q., wang, j., & liu, y. (2014). determinants of medical and health care expenditure growth for urban residents in china: a systematic review article. iranian journal of public health, 43(12), 1597-1604. retrieved fromhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc4499080/ http://www.nia.nih.gov/research https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc4499080/ 18 jpair multidisciplinary research healthcare facilities and services: correlates to the clinical nursing care for patients with psycho-behavioral pathologies in lanao del sur omira abdulbasit mindanao state university main campus marawi city anieraida h. hassim mindanao state university main campus marawi city randy ian f. gallego https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7338-3263 randyian_17@yahoo.com.ph college of health sciences mindanao state university, main campus marawi city, philippines, 9700 originality: 95% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 5% abstract mental health, for some time, has been a facet downplayed to be of lesser importance due to its very mystical nature causing it to be habitually ignored. albeit the case, mental illness and its similar disturbances can become so significantly serious that it can encroach on and impair the day-to-day activities of its stricken victims. this study examined the extent of preliminary clinical care provided by nurses to clients with unique psychological needs. it used the descriptive-correlational design through a validated and reliability-tested instrument responded by 113 staff nurses from six hospitals around lanao del vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.603 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 19 international peer reviewed journal sur. it involved the statistical analysis of data using frequency, weighted mean, and pearson correlation. in addition, a triangulation procedure was also employed to incorporate qualitative narrative comments of the respondents through followup informant interviews and journal writing. the survey revealed that hospitals in the study locale do not have personnel with qualified specializations to attend to the needs of clients with psycho-behavioral manifestations. moreover, the institutions did not have adequate physical facilities and equipment to aid in the appropriate diagnosis and management of mental conditions. it also showed that the availability of mental health care services, facilities, and personnel were significantly correlated to the extent of preliminary clinical nursing care. hence, it can be regarded that these factors have a strong bearing and influence on the quality and extent of clinical care received by patients. keywords — psychiatric mental health nursing, preliminary clinical care, psycho-behavioral pathologies, descriptive correlational design, lanao del sur introduction health, when viewed holistically per se, overlays not just the physiologic well-being; it also has to acutely involve the interplay of progressive mental and emotional responsiveness along with several other parameters. an understanding of what truly constitutes a well-rounded health profile, therefore, involves a comprehensive state of physiological, behavioral, mental and psychosocial wellness that capacitates a person to carry out an array of varying life responsibilities and functions. to date, the recent enactment of republic act 11036 or the mental health act of the philippines has given many directions to the national policy and program of the country to enhance the delivery of mental health services to clients with issues in psychiatric and behavioral well-being. however, considering that the law is relatively new, its implementation and effects are yet to be generally seen. the directives governing the delivery of psycho-behavioral services in the country are so far generically enclosed in several segments of existing laws such as the penal code, the family code, or the dangerous drugs act. in effect, the nation gets to expend just a meager fraction of its overall budget allocation on mental wellness programs; sparing a staggering share of it mostly on operations and maintenance of psychiatric facilities. in an article released by the essays uk in 2013, the dismal country-wide health setup revealed that in most regional settings, no provincial facilities are structured 20 jpair multidisciplinary research for the purpose of in-patient psychiatric confinement. local government-owned hospitals hold no critical psychiatric units due to poor budgetary resources making access to mental health facilities across the philippines a compelling obstacle. what seems to be even more challenging in this setting is that there are not enough health workers who are expressly skilled in handling the individual needs of these types of clientele. the article pointed out that “one glaring setback in the field is that the current primary health care staff are not specifically trained on mental health.” comparatively, the present state of mental health systems in the country does not differ much when examined alongside with its other asean neighbors. in terms of legal provisions, there is also no existing mental health legislation in indonesia (who, 2011). it is similar to the case of myanmar where most legal policies on the delivery of mental services are covered in other general welfare statutes or disability laws. on the other hand, countries such as malaysia, thailand, and singapore have officially approved national directives and manuals on the management and treatment of mental disorders. the mental health act in malaysia, for instance, has brought forth tremendous development to the health workers, service users, and all other stakeholders in the country (chong, mohamad & er, 2013). when it comes to mental health expenditures, available literatures bare that myanmar expends less than one percent (0.3%) of its health care expenditures towards mental health (who aims report myanmar, 2006) while thailand approximated 3.5% percent of its healthcare budget in 2004 towards mental health services (who aims report thailand, 2006). challenges being commonly faced by most southeast asian nations revolve around insufficient government resources to propel mental services and programs to its full implementation. majority of primary health care doctors and nurses in indonesia have been reported not to have received official in-service training on mental health within the last five years (who, 2011). similarly, cambodia is confronted with the same challenge of poor mental health and limited resources for care (olofsson, sebastian, & jegannathan, 2018). low awareness and mental health literacy coupled with an ardent devotion to the conventional multicultural belief systems in malaysia are seen as confounding threats to caregivers, mental health program users, and providers (chong, mohamad & er, 2013). locally, in the lanao del sur province, in particular, no established mental healthcare agency has been instituted to cater to the exigencies of clients with behavioral issues. with respect to the country-wide profile, armm holds no regional in-patient mental facility. this fact also actually holds for most of the hospital venues in mindanao. conde (2004), in his study cited that even 21 international peer reviewed journal at the turn of the new millennium, “the appointed secretary of health in his trips around the country to assess the health care delivery system, have seen the deplorable conditions of one particular hospital in mindanao, where half-naked patients were allowed to roam the grounds or were left immobilized in corridors.” in any care setting where acute management of psychological impairment is evident, the role of the nurse navigates both in addressing the actual and potential needs of the client. the american nurses association (2012) clearly asserts the phenomena of concern for nurses: the maintenance of optimal health and well-being and the prevention of psychobiologic illness, assessing and assisting the self-care limitations of clients, symptom management associated with psychopharmacologic intervention and treatment regimen, and providing support for deficits in functioning associated with emotional stress and anxiety. this study, therefore, aimed to explore the extent of preliminary clinical nursing care provided by nurses working in the locale to clients with unique psychological presentations. it is of interest to find out how the the provision of mental health care is facilitated in regional settings despite the seeming insufficiency in terms of resources and programs. framework based on the different concepts carted off by the researchers from a wide review of the literature, the outline framework was conceptualized. this is to show the relationship of the personal profile, professional profile, and institutional profiles on the extent of nursing care being provided to clients with psychological and behavioral symptoms and pathologies in the different hospitals in lanao del sur. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study aimed to (1) investigate the extent of preliminary clinical nursing care imparted by registered nurses to clients with unique psychological presentations. it is of interest (2) to find out how local nurses are rendering their nursing interventions in light of the aforementioned deficiencies in our healthcare system. moreover, it also (3) endeavored to evaluate the extent of professional nursing performance to shed light on the quality of care, education, and resource utilization in mental health care delivery. methodology research design the data was generated from a cross-sectional, researcher-administered survey of 113 respondents from the randomly selected hospitals in lanao del sur, philippines. a descriptive correlation research design was selected to fulfill the objectives of the inquiry. it is descriptive in purpose, gathering salient personal, professional and institutional data to describe the respondents’ profile and correlational that it tested the relationship between the profile and the extent of the preliminary clinical care provided to clients with psycho-behavioral symptomatology. in addition to the above process, a triangulation procedure was also employed to incorporate qualitative narrative comments of the respondents through follow-up informant interviews and journal writing. research site the study commenced on august of 2016 until june 2017 and was conducted in six (6) private and government hospitals which were geographically distributed around the province of lanao del sur. these six hospitals were chosen on the basis of being considered as an operational, private, and government-operated facilities equipped to attend to the preliminary health care needs of the general population of lanao del sur with a minimum primary healthcare facility status and more than 20-bed capacity patient coverage. likewise, they were checked for feasibility in terms of organizational structure and accessibility to clients. hence, they qualify in the eligibility for study inclusion. 23 international peer reviewed journal research respondents registered nurses were primed as main respondents in the study because they possess the legal mandate as healthcare providers and advocates of clients with diverse clinical needs, including psychiatric care. hence, they are the ones expected to manage the patients’ various health affairs including but not limited to the provision of preliminary mental health care. thus, enabling them to meet the inclusion criteria. to be eligible as respondents, these nurses should be: 1.) current staff members of the selected hospital regardless of their employment status; and 2.) have taken care of client(s) with reported or diagnosed case of psycho-behavioral pathology. criteria 2 was determined using a pre-survey of the profile of all nurses employed in the randomly selected hospitals. an item in the pre-survey tool specifically asked for the nurse’s history and prior experience in handling clients with known psycho-behavioral symptoms. the researchers further identified at least 3-5 respondents per hospital through a purposive selection scheme and were tapped to take part as keyinformants in a follow-up interview. all those who formed part of this group were asked to answer an essay-type question constructed for them to describe the extent and nature of psychiatric management provided by them for their patients not otherwise explicated in the survey forms. instrumentation of data collection the research instrument was a survey questionnaire composed of five (5) sections with a total of 123 items. the parts of the questionnaire constructed by the researchers framed the set of questions to determine the personal, professional, and institutional profiles of the respondents to obtain the information such as the respondents’ work summary and degree of professional competence. the institutional profile and extent of preliminary care delivered would determine the presence of health facilities, services, and quantity of personnel and the degree to which they are rendered to the mentally ill clients. a panel of experts composed of the panel members, validators, and the statistician was requested to evaluate the content validity of the research instrument. the experts were asked to assess the individual item in the questionnaire to test if they were applicable and appropriate in relation to the study problems and whether the items would sufficiently measure all aspects of the construct. thus, comments, suggestions, and recommendations of the experts were acknowledged. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research validation of instruments after all the validated data has been gathered, the results were then tested for content validity ratio. the result of the tabulation of cvr was based on its standard corollary in which the score of 0.7 – 0.9 was retained, 0.6 – 0.5 revised and 0.4 – 0.1 was considered rejected. consequently, the researchers conducted a pilot study with 15 staff nurses from the study locale to subject the instrument for cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient. for research purposes, a useful rule of thumb is that reliability should be at least 0.70 and preferably higher. hence, in the test instruments of the study, the reliability of the survey instrument is 0.987 or 98.7%. ethical clearance was then secured from the msu-college of health sciences research committee for the field data collection to commence. informed consents were attached to the research questionnaires to serve as a guide for respondents to be reviewed of their rights and assured of their anonymity and privacy throughout the entire course of the study. data analysis data were then treated using descriptive statistics: frequencies, and percentages for the socio-demographic variables; and means and standard deviations for the extent of preliminary nursing care. pearson correlation analysis was used for the assessment of relationships among quantitative variables. statistical significance was considered at p-value ≤ .05 with a critical value of 2.000. the content of each scale was analyzed, categorized, and then coded by the researcher. subjects’ responses to each category were tabulated separately by using the statistical package for social science (spss) version 19. results and discussion table 1 shows the socio-demographic data of the study sample. female respondents, who comprised the majority (88) of the sample or 77.90%, outnumbered the male nurse respondents. this high proportion of female nurses in hospital settings and probably in all types of healthcare environment is not a novel scenario in nursing practice; it is common place to assert that nursing is predominantly a gendered profession. this correlates with the literature that indicates that the nursing workforce in the health sector is mostly female (who, 2003). 25 international peer reviewed journal the majority of the respondents have an age bracket of 23 to 28 years and were mostly single (71.70%). relatively, it is also from this age frame that most beginning registered nurses start their careers as entry-level practitioners in the nursing workforce. within this age range, they are able to secure their license to practice by passing the nurse licensure examination (nle), which is usually immediately upon completion of their baccalaureate program. it can be confidently assumed that this is the typical career route or path taken by nursing graduates. furthermore, the biggest portion of the respondents (58.41%) in the study has a monthly income of p9, 000.00 and below per month. this is a far cry from legislative stipulations which provides for the minimum compensation track for nurses in the country: republic act 9173, otherwise known as the philippine nursing act of 2002, sec. 32, salary states that – entry-level nurses in public health institutions shall receive compensation not lower than salary grade 15 (at least p 24, 887.00). majority (72.60%) of the respondents has islam as their religion whilst the remaining fell in the christianity and others category. in terms of ethnic affiliation, more than half (65.50%) were meranaos, and the rest of the samples represented the cebuano, maguindanao and other tribes. this finding is to be expected considering that the research locale chosen is lanao del sur. the province of lanao del sur is a province in the philippines located in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm). the people of lanao del sur are predominantly practitioners of islam. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. frequency distribution of the studied sample according to their personal profile characteristics. (no. = 113) variables no. % age group 22 and below 13 11.5 23 – 28 70 61.9 29 – 34 23 20.3 35 and up 7 6.2 gender male 25 22.1 female 88 77.9 civil status single 81 71.7 married 27 23.9 widowed 3 2.7 divorced 1 0.9 others 1 0.9 ethnic affiliation meranao 74 65.5 maguindanaon 5 4.4 cebuano 19 16.8 others 15 13.3 religion islam 82 72.6 christian 29 25.7 unaffiliated 1 0.9 others 1 0.9 monthly income 20,000 php or more 19 16.81 15,001 php – 20,000 php 12 10.62 10,001 php – 15,000 php 16 14.16 5,001 php – 10,000 php 66 58.41 5,000 and below 0 0.00 in terms of the professional profile of the respondents, the great majority were bachelor’s degree in nursing graduate (88.50%). in most instances, fresh graduates or so-called initiates usually comprise the novice population in healthcare settings, thus, the critical need for socialization and resocialization to extend or enhance the gains made from the socialization provided by the nursing school attended. socialization into the organization is crucial for the novice professionals to ease the transition into their professional roles, minimize 27 international peer reviewed journal frustrations, awkwardness, and conflict on the clinical floor, and to instill in them high morale and enthusiasm for the organization and commitment to its goals (cable & parsons, 2001; marquis, 1988). albeit the fact that nurses have been holistically honed to cater to the needs of all kinds of clienteles, psychiatric clients included, as the bachelor’s degree curriculum provides for instruction and training on this aspect of nursing care, the exposure and clinical rotation can be considered limited. specific nursing knowledge and skills need to be learned scrupulously for the health provider to render effective and condition-congruent nursing care. particularly in the case of mental health care delivery, most finishers of the undergraduate degree in nursing are considered generalist practitioners who are trained only with the fundamental aspects of care for patients with psychiatric conditions. further advanced training and specializations in mental health care are needed to provide streamlined interventions for these types of clientele. subsequently, in terms of their employment, these nurse-respondents were mostly employed under the non-permanent tenure (54.80%) either as contractual, job-order or volunteer status. on the average, these nurses have served their current base hospitals for a length of 1 year and below (41.60%). consistent with the findings on the respondents’ present length of service, the researchers presumed that the reason why there is a high percentage of respondents who were employed under the non-regular status employment is that, most beginning nurses are not hired instantly for regular appointments in most hospital settings since they first go through a period of orientation and training to familiarize and slowly integrate into the roles and functions of a regular staff nurse. subsequently, through mentoring activities, most novice nurses gain the necessary competence and development that will help them prepare to step up to higher positions in the professional ladder (gallego, 2014). this is supported further in other literature as “individuals who have been mentored report a variety of beneficial outcomes including higher promotion rates, salary, job and career satisfaction, organizational socialization, and organizational commitment, and lower job stress. consequently, the framework of mentoring programs has seen to affect professional outcomes for new nurses positively; this holds particular bearing even amongst those who have been coached under informally structured activities. studies further suggest that similar mentoring undertakings are also favorable to the career and psychosocial health of neophyte nurses. however, its effect on job satisfaction is not as widely pronounced as compared to other professionals and disciplines (blastorah, 2009). 28 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. frequency distribution of the studied sample according to their professional profile characteristics (no. = 113) variables no. % highest educational college graduate 100 88.5 attainment master’s degree level 6 5.3 master’s degree graduate 6 5.3 others 1 0.9 length of service 1 year and below 47 41.6 1 year & 1 month – 2 years 19 16.8 2 years & 1 month – 3 years 16 14.2 3 years & 1 month – 5 years 15 13.3 5 years and above 16 14.2 employment status permanent/regular 51 45.1 contractual 46 40.7 volunteer 12 10.6 job order 4 3.5 on the context of the institutional profile, three parameters were assessed: the availability of mental health care facilities, availability of services, and the availability of personnel/manpower. the data collected revealed that in terms of facilities, the different participating hospitals did not have adequate mental imagery visualizers, medical diagnostic apparatuses, and hospital-owned ambulances. these data were also counter-verified by ocular surveys by the researchers. 29 international peer reviewed journal table 3. frequency distribution of the studied sample according to their institutional profile characteristics. (no. = 113) facilities availability mental imagery visualizer computed tomography scan none magnetic resonance imaging none positron emission tomography none medical diagnostic apparatus present transportation vehicle inadequate room wards for psychiatric clients inadequate personnel psychiatrist none psychologist none trained psychiatrist nurse none vocational rehabilitation specialist none in light of all the perceived insufficiencies vexing our local health care facilities in addressing our regional mental health needs, national allocation of resources on the aspect of mental care has, for the longest while, been a perennial challenge. the philippine mental healthcare statistics show that there are only around 7.76 hospital beds and 0.41 licensed psychiatrist for every 100, 000 patients. presently, there are: 2 mental institutions operating in the country; 46 facilities catering to about 124.3 users/100,000 general population on an outpatient basis; 4-day treatment facilities treating 4.42 users/100,000 population; 19 community-based inpatient centers providing .61 beds/100,000 population; and 15 residential-type, custodial care accommodating clients at a rate of 0.61 beds/100,000 cases. the only metro-based psychiatric hospital in the country, the national center for mental health has a bed capacity of 4,200, the rest of the facilities are distributed along the other regional cities in the country. furthermore, psychotropic medication use is limitedly available; more so in nonphysician based primary health care units (who-aims report philippines, 2005). this dismal condition reflecting our limited national resources to promote mental health and cure mental illness is further reinforced by the verbalizations 30 jpair multidisciplinary research expressed by some respondents during the interviews conducted and the responses provided in the journal. in one instance, a nurse in an interview state: “it is hard to implement psychiatric nursing interventions when we do not have the right equipment to actualize our care plans. we all know that psych patients are different from regular patients, right? their needs are unique. so, if we don’t have the right facilities for them, then it’s going to be difficult to manage their needs. (nurse a from hospital 2, interview response, august 15, 2017) in terms of mental health care services, 75.86% of the participants responded that services such as counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions, health-teachings, health promotion, and maintenance are being provided and rendered by them in their institutions because of their availability. the researchers contend that such high response can be attributed to the nature of the services being rendered. majority of the indicators under the services have to do with the provision of health education and therapeutic communication to all clients which are predominant responsibilities of nurses in whatever type of care setting. patient education does not warrant high academic training and specialization, as most generalist practitioners can deliver such function and task. the quality of mental health care services usually takes predication on sound protocols, guidelines, and standards which highlights the responsiveness of the delivery system to address the needs of clients and strengthen their mental health welfare. it is, therefore, crucial to have a body that would help determine whether the standards and training are consistent to set and establish protocols. in the country, the department of health is the regulating agency that is assigned for licensing of mental health institutions. in terms of mental care services, accreditation is facilitated by the philhealth; although not all facilities submit for such quality assurance process. it is also importuned that international accrediting bodies such as the iso and jica do not oversee the accreditation of mental health services and facilities. moreover, the academic arm of the philippine psychiatric association (ppa) known as the philippine board of psychiatric is the body in-charged of providing certification for psychiatrists to become diplomats. it is the same organization that sets the standards and protocols followed for training programs and modules in the field and practice of psychiatry. as for the other mental health practitioners, they receive their educational instruction from academic institutions as generalists and are then further trained to specialize in 31 international peer reviewed journal mental health after being hired as a mental health worker (health policy notes, 2008). for the availability of manpower and personnel, as illustrated in the table above, most hospitals in the locale do not have staff members that have specializations in the appropriate care for psycho-behaviorally affected clients. for instance, no psychiatrists, psychologists, trained psychiatric nurses, and registered guidance counselors are employed in their institutions. in available philippine studies, the total number of human resources working in mental health facilities or private practice per 100,000 general population is 3.43. the breakdown according to profession is as follows: 0.42 psychiatrist, 0.17 other medical doctors (not specialized in psychiatry), 0.91 nurses, 0.14 psychologists, 0.08 social workers, 0.08 occupational therapists, 1.62 other health or mental health workers (including auxiliary staff, non-doctor/non-physician primary health care workers, health assistants, medical assistants, professional and paraprofessional psychosocial counselors). thirty percent of psychiatrists work only for government-administered mental health facilities, 59% work only for ngos, for-profit mental health facilities and private practice, while 11% work for both sectors. fifty-six percent of psychologists, social workers, nurses, and occupational therapists work for government-administered mental health facilities, 26% work only for ngos, for-profit mental health facilities and private practice, while 18% work for both sectors. the figures provided are best estimates based on official registration and data from professional associations (who-aims report philippines, 2007). the concentration of mental health professionals in metro manila was noted by dr. melissa mariano, a psychiatrist, and a member of the ppa. according to her, 90% of practicing psychiatrists are in metro manila. this suggests that while all the bills advocating for mental health emphasized the delivery of mental health services in all parts of the country, this is not what is actually in practice (castro, capinpin, esteban, fojas, & luis, 2014). this seemingly disproportionate ratio of available practicing mental health professionals and their served population is seriously compromising our care systems in the country. fewer personnel may also mean less quality of work and poor delivery of care services. however, a more positive outlook is surfacing as statistics according to castro, capinpin, esteban, fojas, & luis (2014) records the number of professional graduates per year in academic and educational institutions per 100,000 is as follows: 0.011 psychiatrists, 3.43 medical doctors, 43.22 nurses, and 21.36 nurses with at least 1-year training in mental health care. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research in another dimension, six areas were also covered in this inquiry to highlight the extent of preliminary nursing care provided to clients with mental and behavioral problems. these are counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions, health-teachings, health promotion, and maintenance. in summary, table 4 illustrates that the nurse-respondents of the selected hospitals in lanao del sur generally considers the extent of implementation of the six nursing care areas tested under the dependent variable as frequently done. they described the extent of demonstration and performance of counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions & healthteachings, case management, health promotion and maintenance as generally emphasized in about 75% of the time in their respective clinical areas. table 4. summary on the extent of preliminary clinical care provided to clients with psycho-behavioral symptoms preliminary clinical care on the context of: mean descriptive rating 1 counseling 3.676 frequently 2 milieu therapy 3.677 frequently 3 self-care activities 3.679 frequently 4 psychobiologic interventions and health teachings 3.753 frequently 5 case management 3.639 frequently 6 health promotion and maintenance 3.678 frequently average 3.684 frequently scaling: 4.21-5.00– “whole”, 3.41-4.20– “frequent”, 2.61-3.40– “occasional” 1.81-2.60– “rare”, 1.00-1.80“never” aside from the above clinical care, the who (geneva, 1996) stated that mental health care should contain 10 basic principles which are: promotion of mental health and prevention of mental disorders; access to basic mental health; mental health assessment (diagnosis, choice of treatment, determination of competence); provision of lesser restrictive type of mental health care; selfdetermination; right to be assisted; availability of review procedures; automatic periodic review; qualified decision maker; and right of the rule of law. another important presentation in this part of the discussion is the possible relationships or correlations between the sets of variables previously identified. 33 international peer reviewed journal hence, attention is further focused on an attempt at identifying the relationship between the personal, professional, and institutional profile of the respondents versus the extent of the preliminary clinical care that they provide to their psychologically vulnerable clients. the results are depicted in table 5 to 8. as revealed in the findings, all personal profile variables, namely age, sex, civil status, religion, monthly income, type and size of the family have no significant correlation with the extent of preliminary clinical care in terms counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions, health-teachings, health promotion, and maintenance. when tested at 0.05 level of significance, the p-values obtained were all less than the critical value. only the ethnic affiliation was significantly related to health promotion and maintenance. table 5. relationship between personal profile and extent of clinical care to clients in terms of health promotion and maintenance relationship correlation coefficient p-value age health promotion and maintenance 5.607 0.231 sex 1.219 0.544 civil status 0.717 0.699 ethnic affiliation 11.660 0.020* religion 3.168 0.205 monthly salary 2.241 0.691 type of family 4.774 0.311 size of family 0.570 0.997 * significant at 0.05 level of significance this implies that the respondents’ ethnic and cultural background has an influence to the extent and perhaps the degree of clinical care that they can render to their clients with psycho-behavioral manifestations. hence, the researchers are convinced that the implication of this correlation should be considered by institutions to particularly intensify and emphasize the need to encourage their nurses to become transculturally competent and sensitive to the diverse and unique cultural backgrounds of their clients with psychological disabilities. according to the reviewed literature, filipino perception of mental illness is very much influenced by our inherited system of cultural beliefs and practices. castro, capinpin, esteban, fojas, & luis (2014) cited that aside from the lack of availability of mental health services in the rural areas, filipinos’ perceptions of 34 jpair multidisciplinary research mental health care may affect the procurement of mental health services. filipino families whose members suffer from mental illnesses initially blame the patient for possessing the illness. the patient is shunned by sayings such as: “nasa utak mo lang yan” (it’s all in your head) or “mahina lang loob mo” (your will is just weak). therefore, the expected cure is for the patient to help himself/herself. moreover, these families usually keep the condition of the patient as a secret because of the stigma attached to having a mental illness. moreover, mental illnesses in rural communities are also perceived to stem from spiritual factors and paranormal activities such as “kulam.” this perception of curses and witchcraft encourages families to seek faith healers (albularyo) instead of mental health professionals. for example, the study by brolan, van dooren, taylor gomez, fitzgerald, ware, lennox (2014) on intellectual disability and treatment choices in negros occidental, they discovered that the preferred treatment of choice was going to the suranho (shaman or medicine man). “informants explained that family members contact the suranho to cast out ‘the bad spirit’ that has possessed the body of the person with intellectual disability, due to the belief that the person with intellectual disability became possessed after an unfortunate encounter with a ghost or spirit” (brolan, van dooren, taylor gomez, fitzgerald, ware, lennox, 2014). table 6 further highlights the relationship between the professional profile and the extent of the preliminary clinical care provided to clients. it could be surmised based on the result that the educational attainment, length of service and employment status has no significant relationship with clinical care in terms of counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, and health promotion and maintenance. when tested at 0.05 level of significance, the p-values obtained were all less than the critical value. however, it was found out that relevant seminars and trainings attended especially those that are conducted at the regional levels have a significant relationship with psychobiologic interventions, health teachings, and case management. 35 international peer reviewed journal table 6. relationship between professional profile in terms of relevant seminars and trainings attended and extent of clinical care to clients relationship correlation coefficient p-value relevant regional seminars and trainings attended counselling 0.052 0.588 relevant regional seminars and trainings attended milieu therapy 0.064 0.499 relevant regional seminars and trainings attended self-care activities 0.084 0.374 relevant regional seminars and trainings attended psychobiologic interventions health teaching 0.196 0.037* relevant regional seminars and trainings attended case management -0.223 0.017* relevant regional seminars and trainings attended health promotion and maintenance 0.088 0.355 *significant at 0.05 level of significance it can be gleaned from the above results that psychobiologic interventions, health teaching, and case management are influenced by the nurses’ participation in relevant seminars and training at regional levels. the researchers ascribe this significant correlation to the fact that most of the patients involved in the care are coming from the locale itself, communities of lanao del sur. as such, they are constituents of the meranao community whose culture and practices are unique and distinct from that of other tribes. hence, for healthcare providers to be able to give the best, suitable, and apt psychobiologic interventions and health teachings to these patients, they have also to be exposed to training and conferences that deals much with the meranao way of life, their perception of mental illness and their approaches to mental health care. in relation to the provision of health teachings to meranao clients, one respondent keenly depicted his experience and expressed that: 36 jpair multidisciplinary research “i am visayan and i am working here in marawi city. what i find very challenging in my job is my inadequate exposure to the culture that they have here. syempre dili ko taga diri, so kailangan ko makahibalo sa ilang culture, sa dialect ug uban pa. (of course, i am not from here, so i really need to learn about their culture, dialect and other things.) i have to be effective in my work, especially in handling psych patients. lisod na! (its hard). i think i need more education about them.” (nurse b from hospital 4, journal response, august 18, 2016) table 7 illustrates the relationship between the institutional profile and the extent of the preliminary clinical care provided to clients. the institutional profile was characterized using three indicators, namely: availability of mental health care facilities, availability of mental health care services and availability of mental health care personnel. relationships were then statistically tested between these profile indicators versus the extent of clinical care in terms of counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions and health-teachings, case management, health promotion, and maintenance. it can be gleaned from the table below that availability of mental health care facilities was significantly correlated to the extent of preliminary clinical care in all its areas, to wit: counseling, milieu therapy, self-care activities, psychobiologic interventions & health-teachings, case management, health promotion, and maintenance. table 7. relationship between institutional profile in terms of availability of mental health care facilities and extent of clinical care to clients relationship correlation coefficient p-value availability of mental health care facilities counselling 10.108 0.006* availability of mental health care facilities milieu therapy 11.346 0.003* availability of mental health care facilities self-care activities 23.992 <0.001* availability of mental health care facilities psychobiologic interventions health teaching 14.325 0.001* availability of mental health care facilities case management 28.303 <0.001* availability of mental health care facilities health promotion and maintenance 24.888 <0.001* *significant at 0.05 level of significance 37 international peer reviewed journal it can, therefore, be regarded that the availability of mental health care facilities can have an influence on the extent of clinical care to clients with psychobehavioral problems. the delivery of long-term mental health care for patients with acute mental disorders has always been the perennial problem in the country, most especially that community health services takes very gradually to develop due to multiple confounding factors. some barriers are linked to policy level: inadequate mental health policies and laws, insufficiency of funds, procedural discrimination against patients battling with mental illness, and limited health insurance. another barrier centers on health system issues: distribution of resources do not get evenly released from larger to smaller institutions causing under-investment in services on the community level, poor integration of services with the national mental health system, poor integration of services with the other existing social care systems like housing and employment services, poor coordination between statutory and non-statutory mental health services, and not enough training of personnel all throughout the systems (who, 2003). in any case, there remains to be a pressing need to pursue better strategic initiatives still to deliver accessible, competent and superior quality long-term mental interventions to all patients who suffer from debilitating mental illnesses in europe. although the glaring reality is that, for the most part of the world especially among developing nations, clients living with psychiatric disabilities continue to live in mental institutions where there are poor living conditions, insufficient medical assistance and chronic abuse of human rights (muijen, 2008). in other countries, resources allotted for new services are not very much visible, and responses to psychosocial needs are limited. even in countries where the implementation of deinstitutionalization is not a novel concept, there still exist issues concerning the increasing rate of “reinstitutionalization” of patients facing a longer-term and more complex confinement need (priebe et al., 2005). this phenomenon is termed as the “oats” (out of area treatments) issue in the uk, where concerns on the quality and safety of care in certain institutions are being pointed out, together with the sense of social displacement of patients after having been isolated away from their families plus the other factors such as poorly coordinated assessment system to review patients ‘present needs and placement funding (ryan, pearsall, hatfield & poole 2004). conclusions the findings of this study derived from the responses and data gathered from the respondents suggest that the philippines still has to continue on its effort to 38 jpair multidisciplinary research continuously improve its healthcare sector, paying particular emphasis on the aspect of mental health. the country has to tirelessly pursue and affirm the who vision of ensuring health for all, by making sure that health is inclusive in that, to speak of health is to speak of its encompassing coverage of not just physical but emotional, social, and psychological wellness converging in one body and system. to make headway in terms of health, relevant legislation has to be enacted so that resources, processes, and structures are set in place, and health reforms are started in earnest as it is most necessary now more than ever. for it to be sustained, it is important to decentralize these reforms and make it visible across the entire country. in the lanao sur province, for instance, the research findings revealed the insufficiency of the existing mental health facilities and personnel to cater to the needs of the informed population. the lack of treatment equipment and counseling areas may pave the way for the provision of inappropriate, poor quality services to the clientele. this might only make the status of patients’ worse, making them feel more helpless about their conditions. on the other hand, the apparent inadequacy in the perceived competence of nurse-generalists on the aspect of rendering clinical care to psychologically disturbed clients is a gaping chasm that points out a lot of implications in the quality of professional practitioners that this philippines is producing. essentially, when one is not holistically and all-inclusively equipped with the aptitude and proficiency that is expected of him/her in the practice of his/her profession, he/she is deemed to be unskilled and incompetent to carry out her/his roles, functions and responsibilities. to be able to endow the nursing goal to enforce health, it is essential to aid the number of personnel in the hospitals with trained experts who are capable of handling psychologically ill clients to attain mental health and integrate themselves to the clinical care world. hence, the researcher believes that there is a need to strengthen and intensify the equitable access to appropriate assessment and treatment by the informed populace with regard to their mental health conditions. this can be ensured by training staff members to have the appropriate skills to work professionally and effectively with people who are vulnerable and at high risk of developing mentalbehavioral disorders. the researchers recommend that registered nurses, who are presently working in acute, medical-surgical inpatient settings, should still actively receive training and education in caring for psychologically impaired clients. they should act as an advocate and must be sensitive in communicating with mentally 39 international peer reviewed journal ill clients. they should participate in many seminars related to psychiatric health and expand their knowledge and skills about dealing with psychologically impaired clients and further update themselves with the trends in their practice. translational research the findings of this study may be best translated into an actual survey and field data as the reference to lobby legislative bills and national directives to promote the cause of improving the mental 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university general santos city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract performance management is an important step in the organization’s human resource management because it hones and improves employee performance. determining the extent of functional flexibility in human resource management, organizational communication, leadership behaviors, and employee performance, including their significant relationship, as well as the significant effects, is the aim of this study. a descriptive survey and correlational research design were utilized to gather the said information through a questionnaire with 498 respondents. it was revealed through weighted mean, pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis that there was a significant low positive correlation between functional flexibility in human resource management and employee performance, organizational communication and employee performance, transformational leadership behaviors and employee performance, and transactional leadership behaviors with employee performance. given the overall results, the study concluded that all four (4) independent variables had significant effects on employee performance in small and medium enterprises. keywords — functional flexibility, organizational communication, leadership behaviors, employee performance, and small and medium enterprises vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.447 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3814-2349?lang=en mailto:cklubon@gmail.com 77 international peer reviewed journal introduction in the context of the global economic downturn brought by the pandemic, organizations in both private and public sectors faced challenges for their workers to reach maximum efficiency and competitiveness. similarly, economic and social disturbances threaten the livelihood and wellbeing of employees. according to the international labor organization (2020), the covid-19 pandemic greatly impacted the world. most organizations adopt remote work, reduction of workers, reduction of working hours, limited training and development, and reduction of recruitment. in effect, the quantity and quality of work were greatly affected. also, employees’ work behaviors become a concern with the changes in the work environment and work setup. bosman and mervosh (2020) disclosed that the united states of america had slowly reopened its economy, but some businesses remained closed. however, employees showed inappropriate behaviors like resistance to change and accepting new responsibilities, lack of cooperation, refusal to follow instructions. moreover, employees showed resistance to new policies and procedures and a lack of flexibility in response to the new normal. according to the department of trade and industry in the philippines, more than 3,000 business establishments temporarily shut down operations while more than 200 permanently closed since january 2020. furthermore, the philippine economy was expected to shrink by 2% in 2020 after expanding 5.9% in 2019, and unemployment is projected at 6.8% in 2020. at present, small and medium enterprises (smes) that employ 60% of the filipino workforce have suffered a low quality of outputs because of multitasking. also, smes micromanaged the employees by supervising everything they were doing down to the last detail. employees were showing helpful ideas, but the owners refused to listen. lastly, employee disputes like the clashing of ideas, office politics, bullying, and stressful environments have affected the performance of the employees (abadilla, 2020). jean paolo lacap, acting head of the city treasurer’s office of general santos city, said that smes were forced to scale down and suspend their operations. the city has over 10,000 micros, small and micro enterprises (msmes), asking for recovery measures to assist businesses affected by the pandemic (gubalani, 2020). moreover, 68 establishments opted to downsize, affecting 720 workers; 142 businesses implemented flexible work arrangements for 2,704 workers; 286 others with 4,484 workers decided to temporarily cease their operations. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research in addition, the four-day partial closure of the city fish port complex in early september of 2020 due to the emergence of covid-19 cases resulted in around php 300 million in lost revenues for the fishing industry. new work protocols and policies led to many people losing their jobs and changes in employees’ behavior in the organization (rebollido, 2021). employees were hesitant to update their skills and resistant to new policies and work procedures because of age, security of tenure, anxiety, and stress. but the organization depends largely on employee performance (abadilla, 2020). however, some smes in general santos city failed to train their employees to be flexible and lacked the necessary preparation to adapt to the changes in operation. in effect, employees were not doing their job properly or behaving unacceptably at work. administrators observed that employees were not doing their work to the required standard or not doing their job at all, not following workplace policies, rules, or regulations, and showing unacceptable behavior at work. on the one hand, one sme in general santos city wanted to leverage great ideas from its employee to improve productivity and reduce costs. the administrator’s approach was to call all the employees and give ideas. the outcome was a failure because the administrator was not fully aware of the roles of individual employees in the organization. the situation indicated the importance of understanding the employee’s job roles. therefore, the assessment of internal communication flow was necessary. in contrast, one company needed to address an internal report that revealed that their products were not all used by their employees. the owner issued a memo to all the employees regarding the problem and took a heavy-handed approach. he told the employees to use the product or quit. the action of the owner was a failure. the challenge of getting the best out of the employees during the pandemic is important and necessary for organizations to ensure that employees are getting their jobs done – and well. to help these companies become more competitive, they need to have clear employee performance management (na-nan et al., 2017). 79 international peer reviewed journal framework figure 1. conceptual framework the framework shows the relationship between variables. in this framework, it is assumed that functional flexibility, organizational communication, and leadership behaviors have something to do with employees’ performance. in this study, functional flexibility includes human resource management practices flexibility, employee skills flexibility, and employee behavior flexibility, while for organizational communication, this includes interpersonal communication context, group communication context, and organizational context. on the other hand, leadership behaviors refer to transformational leadership behavior and transactional leadership behavior of the management. for the dependent variable of the study, employee performance consists of task performance, adaptive performance, and contextual performance. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the extent of functional flexibility (human resource practices flexibility, employee skills flexibility, and employee behavior flexibility), organizational communication (interpersonal communication context, group communication context, and organizational communication context), and transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. the extent of the said variables will be used to get its relationship to employees’ performance and develop an employee performance program to address the concerns related to the given variables. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design descriptive and correlational research design was utilized in conducting this study through a survey method to determine the extent of functional flexibility, organizational communication, and transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and their relationship to employees’ performance. research site general santos city was considered the locale of the study. general santos is a chartered city and is considered a highly urbanized city in the province of south cotabato last september 5, 1988. it has twenty-six (26) barangays with a population of five hundred ninety-four thousand (594,000) (nso data, 2016). according to leonard flores, cgdg ii of cemcdo, general santos city was ranked 1 in the “ease of starting a business” category by the ifc-doing business philippines in 2011, top 2 of total daily fish catch unloading volume next to navotas of the same year, rank 3 in “most competitive highly-urbanized city in mindanao” in 2019, and a member of privileged few and elite lgus with the presence of four major gateways (airport, seaport, fish port, and transport hub). moreover, the export value of the city was us$ 1,057,029,909.83 (as of 2019), offering products like canned tuna, fresh pineapple, canned pineapple, crude coconut oil, pineapple juice, coconut water, fresh bananas, organic virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut and the like. participants the study was conducted in general santos city among managers, supervisors, and employees of smes. a business asset worth between php 3,000,000 and php 350,000,000 and total liabilities worth between php 3,000,000 and php 250,000,000 to qualify as an sme with at least 10 to 199 employees. for the quantitative part of the study, the respondents were four hundred ninety-eight (498), consisting of managers, supervisors, and employees regularly employed to smes in general santos city. the determination of the number of respondents in this study was based on neuman and kreucer’s (2003) idea that in a small population, a sampling ratio of about 30% is needed to be equally accurate. 81 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation a survey questionnaire focused on the functional flexibility in human resource management that has three sub-variables as a) human resource management practices flexibility, b) employee skills flexibility, and c) employee behaviors flexibility. the functional flexibility in the human resource management questionnaire was adapted from de la lastra et al. (2014). the organizational communication questionnaire focused on three subvariables as a) interpersonal communication context, b) group communication context, and c) organizational context. interpersonal communication has three dimensions–personal feedback dimension, supervisory communication dimension, and subordinate communication dimension. group communication has two dimension–horizontal (co-worker) communication and organizational integration. organizational context has three dimension-corporation information, communication climate, and media quality. down and hazen originally crafted the adapted questionnaire but reviewed it by downs and adrian (2012) and alnajjar (2016). transformational leadership behaviors has five sub-variables, namely 1) charisma, 2) idealized behavior, 3) inspirational motivation, 4) intellectual situation, and 5) individualized consideration. the transactional leadership behaviors had four sub-variables, namely 1) contingent-reward, 2) active management-by-exception, 3) passive management-by-exception, and 4) laissezfaire. the leadership behavior diagnosis was adapted from bass and avolio and developed by manubag (2004). the dependent variable of the study is employee performance, which has the following factors: task performance, adaptive performance, and contextual performance. pradhan and jena (2017) made an exploratory factor analysis that explored the areas of employee performance. the respondents were asked to answer the items included in the survey questionnaire that were validated by five experts in the area of business management, human resource management, and business research to ensure getting the right data in achieving the objectives of this study. accomplished survey questionnaires were properly retrieved. data were tallied and tabulated. this research used the following statistical tools: weighted mean, correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis in analyzing the data. the researcher used spss application guide as statistical software to perform all procedures. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion table 1. results for the extent of functional flexibility in human resource management parameters mean value description 1. human resource practices flexibility 3.88 highly extensive 2. employee skills flexibility 3.91 highly extensive 3. employee behavior flexibility 3.99 highly extensive grand mean 3.93 highly extensive the extent of functional flexibility in human resource practices has a grand mean of 3.93 which is described as “highly extensive” with an interpretation which indicates that the extent of functional flexibility is 61%-80% (manubag, 2004). according to hodge et al. (2011), functional flexibility was a way to meet the problems of a constantly changing environment, rapid technology advances, and the need for new services. it was most closely linked to the efforts of the employees. management must incorporate and improve individuals’ knowledge, skills, and abilities for them to be given new responsibilities within the firm (kok & ligthart, 2014). thus, the flexibility of human capital had taken into account in the use of manpower. if the employees do not have the necessary flexibility, it can harm the organization (veise et al., 2014). table 2. results for the extent of implementation of organizational communication parameters mean value description 1. interpersonal communication context 3.94 highly extensive 2. group communication context 3.97 highly extensive 3. organizational communication context 3.87 highly extensive grand mean 3.93 highly extensive the three indicators, interpersonal communication context, group communication context, and organizational communication context, the extent of implementation of organizational communication was highly extensive (x̄ = 3.93) with an interpretation which indicates that the extent of organizational communication is 61%-80% (manubag, 2004). the study of downs and adrian 83 international peer reviewed journal (2012) stated that efficient and adequate communication would lead to an enterprise’s efficiency, success, and external consumer orientation. organizational communication helps organizational participants accomplish both individual and organizational objectives, adapt and respond to organizational changes, organize events, and engage digitally with all organizationally related behaviors (winarso, 2018). table 3. results for the extent of transformational leadership behaviors parameters mean value description 1. charisma 3.50 highly extensive 2. idealized behavior 3.92 highly extensive 3. inspirational motivation 3.99 highly extensive 4. intellectual stimulation 3.91 highly extensive 5. individualized consideration 3.82 highly extensive grand mean 3.83 highly extensive the statistical value for the extent of transformational leadership behaviors was 3.83 and described as highly extensive with an interpretation which indicates that the transformational leadership behaviors is 61%-80% (manubag, 2004). as stated in the study of alkhawlani et al. (2019), transformational leaders behaved so that their followers saw them as role models. leaders were respected, appreciated, and trusted. leaders are idolized by their followers, who desire to be like them. also, the leader engaged his supporters in imagining appealing future scenarios and established clear expectations that followers desire to meet, and demonstrated dedication to common objectives and vision. the leaders in transformational leadership should be aware of what is important to the subordinate and encourage the employees to see the opportunities and challenges around them creatively (pongpearchan, 2016). odumeru and ogbonna’s (2013) study stated that transformational leaders empowered their team to be inventive and creative by challenging assumptions, reframing problems, and addressing old conditions in new ways. furthermore, transformational leaders pay extra attention to a person’s needs for success and advancement by acting as a coach or mentor. delegated tasks are monitored to identify if followers require further direction or help, and assess progress; nevertheless, followers should not feel as though they were being scrutinized. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. result for the extent of transactional leadership behaviors parameters mean value description 1. contingent-reward 3.88 highly extensive 2. active management-by-exception 3.93 highly extensive 3. passive management-by-exception 3.75 highly extensive 4. laissez-faire 4.00 highly extensive grand mean 3.89 highly extensive the application of transactional leadership behaviors by immediate supervisors was highly extensive and has a statistical mean value of 3.89 with an interpretation which indicates that the transactional leadership behaviors is 61%-80% (manubag, 2004). odumeru and ogbonna’s (2013) study stated that transactional leaders were more interested in procedures than forward-thinking ideas. these leaders focus on contingent reward (also known as contingent positive reinforcement) or contingent punishment (also known as contingent negative reinforcement). the study of khan (2017) stated that transactional leadership is very effective at motivating people to achieve their strategic goals. however, its effectiveness in motivating followers beyond the original goals has been questioned. furthermore, transactional leadership, which is more managerial in style and is applied to lower-level demands, serves as a basis for transformational leadership, which is applied to higher-level demands (odumeru & ogbonna, 2013). table 5. result for the extent of employee performance parameters mean value description 1. task performance 4.16 highly extensive 2. adaptive performance 4.14 highly extensive 3. contextual performance 4.15 highly extensive grand mean 4.15 highly extensive the extent of employee performance in smes was highly extensive (x̄ = 4.15) with an interpretation which indicates that the extent of employee performance is 61%-80% (manubag, 2004), with three indicators: task performance, adaptive performance, and contextual performance. smes were said to establish highly extensive task performance by completing tasks outlined in the job description, according to the respondents. that personnel exhibited the capability to adjust 85 international peer reviewed journal and comprehend the change in the workplace, allowing them to carry out their tasks in the firm. also, volunteering for extra responsibilities, aiding co-workers, and working with them to be rewarded is very evident. as stated in the study of pradhan and jena (2017) that explicit job behaviors, which include assigned job responsibilities assigned as part of the job description, are included in task performance. the output component of task performance is primarily covered, and it concentrates on the activities that are included in the organizational rules. furthermore, employee job performance is not only about output and behavior but also about an individual’s adaptability to future development and other factors. on the other hand, contextual performance eliminated the inconsistencies and clashes that occurred during the production of task performance; it was aimed at lowering the cost of exchange among individuals and teams in organizations, so it was necessary to cultivate a positive organizational climate and improve the completion of work obligations. table 6. results for the relationship between functional flexibility and employee performance functional flexibility employee performance functional flexibility pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n 1 1494 .301** .000 1494 employee performance pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n .301** .000 1494 1 1494 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) there was a significant low positive correlation r = 0.301 (sig. =0.000) between functional flexibility in human resource management and employee performance.  this positive correlation means that when the functional flexibility in human resource management was high, there was corresponding high employee performance. consequently, when function flexibility in human resource management was low, one could expect lower employee performance. this result was similar to the results of the study made by davidiscu et al. (2020), in which employees were happy about the new sorts of workplaces, and there was an increasing interest among them. it was proposed in the study that actual 86 jpair multidisciplinary research human resource management was modified to integrate sustainability. flexible time and flexible locations are two principles that have been utilized to boost employee productivity and satisfaction. similarly, the same conclusion was given by xiu et al. (2017), in which organizations with a strong focus on strategic flexibility were more likely to adopt innovative hr practices. furthermore, the authors found that the extent to which firms have adopted innovative hr practices strongly affected employee productivity. table 7. results for the relationship between organizational communication and employee performance organizational communication employee performance organizational communication pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n 1 1494 .374** .000 1494 employee performance pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n .374** .000 1494 1 1494 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) the correlation between organizational communication and employee performance was a significantly low positive correlation with a correction value of r = 0.374 (sig. =0.000). again, this positive correlation between organizational communication and employee performance signified that in smes in general santos city, the higher the organizational communication is higher than the employee performance. worth noting is the result of the study of musash et al. (2017) and jacobs et al. (2016), in which organizational communication has a significant effect on job performance. thus, managers should not focus exclusively on job satisfaction but rather on communication strategies because it improves employee satisfaction, employee performance, and job relations. moreover, cited in the study of selamat and heryanto (2019), it emphasizes that to achieve high employee performance, the organization must strengthen the communication system and keep all employees motivated. therefore, organizational communication has an indisputable and obvious influence on employees’ overall performance and satisfaction (nabi et al., 2017). 87 international peer reviewed journal table 8. results for the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and employee performance transformational leadership behavior employee performance transformational leadership behavior pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n 1 2490 .281** .000 1494 employee performance pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n .281** .000 2490 1 1494 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) results of the correlation test showed a significantly low positive correlation between transformational leadership behaviors and employee performance with an r = value of 0.281 (sig. =0.000).  this positive correlation indicated that transformational leadership behavior would positively affect employee performance. the significance, however, was low. even if the correlation was low, there was still a significant relationship between the two variables. the proponent would like to reiterate the results of the study by pongpearchan (2016). transformational leadership and a high-performance work system had a greater impact on creating job motivation to improve the performance of a lecturer in thailand. added to that is pongpearchan’s (2016) study that states transformational leadership can improve performance because this style wants to develop knowledge and employee potential. the same result in the study of manzoor et al. (2019) in small and medium enterprises in pakistan in which transformational leadership positively and completely predicts job performance. a transformational leader enables subordinates to have vision, tasks, and objectives to achieve full efficiency and encourages subordinates to think objectively and address challenges in different ways (pongpearchan, 2016). 88 jpair multidisciplinary research table 9. results for the relationship between transactional leadership behavior and employee performance transactional leadership behavior employee performance transactional leadership behavior pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n 1 1992 .329** .000 1494 employee performance pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) n .329** .000 1992 1 1494 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) transactional leadership had a significantly low positive correlation with employee performance. the correlation coefficient r value was 0.329 (sig. =0.000).  although the correlation was low it was still the relationship was significant. in other words, a higher transactional leadership behavior resulted in higher employee performance. shah and hamid (2015) provide empirical evidence that transactional leadership positively increases employees’ job performance. it posits that transactional leadership style is perceived to be critical that leaders by adopting transactional style could dramatically influence job performance of employees. therefore, prominent leaders should consider this style of management. moreover, paracha et al. (2012) concluded that though both leadership styles have a strong positive correlation with employee performance, transactional leadership was more significant than transformational leadership. the organization must focus on transactional leadership through training and different instructions. table 10. result for the effects of functional flexibility, organizational communication, transformational leadership behaviors, and transactional leadership behaviors on employee performance model r r square adjusted r square std. error of the estimate 1 .427a .183 .181 .58088 a. predictors: (constant), transactional leadership behaviors, transformational leadership behaviors, functional flexibility, organizational communication 89 international peer reviewed journal using multiple regression analysis, the result showed that the four independent variables, namely functional flexibility, organizational communication, transformational leadership behaviors, and transactional leadership behaviors, had significant effects on employee performance. to quantify the significant effect of these four variables, the r-value gave an amount of 42.7%. this 42.7% means that employee performance was 42.7% was due to the four independent variables mentioned. in other words, the four independent variables only contributed 42.7% of whatsoever performance the employees had in the smes. thus, there was a significant effect of functional flexibility in human resource management, organizational communication, transformational leadership behaviors, and transactional leadership behaviors on employee performance. conclusions based on the findings workers in smes were not that provided by the opportunity to acquire new skills for them to apply to their organization. if only given the opportunity to learn new and relevant skills they will become more equipped which they can utilize to their work and may improve their work performance. when it comes to organizational communication this study concludes that there is the existence of miscommunication due to unclear chain of communication which affects employee’s morale, commitment and loyalty to the organization thus it reflect to their work performance. on the leadership behavior’s side, failure to motivate the employees to work on their best and creating a pessimist environment will affect employee’s work performance as well as unable to recognize their efforts and achievements. literature cited abadilla, d. d. 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(2017).  strategic flexibility, innovative hr practices, and firm performance. personnel review, 46(7), 1335– 1357. retrieved from doi:10.1108/pr-09-2016-0252 159 international peer reviewed journal on assessing public leadership as basis for public service enhancement romel b. basilan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1862-9037 romel.basilan@shct.edu.om romel_mama1917@yahoo.com shinas college of technology al-aqr, shinas, oman originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the descriptive quantitative research explored the different dimensions of public leadership in relation to organizational productivity to analyze the service rendered by the provincial government of batangas, philippines. this focused on the assessment of innovation in terms of inputs, processes, and outcomes with respect to the demographic profile of the locale. with this assessment of innovation, the paper withheld that innovation is significantly affected, and the results vary in terms of age, sex, educational attainment, and years in service of the government employees. expressively, dimensions of public leadership bestowed relationship to give innovative public service. it also deliberately manifested that in consideration of the profiling of the employees, the government can maximize the human resources to optimal innovation, creativity, and skills, which leads to employees’ effectiveness, creative ideation, and implementation of best practices. this paper strongly agreed that productivity in the workplace is inevitable. in the end, this paper would propose an enhancement program that might help to hoist productivity and innovation among batangas employees and administrative personnel. vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.767 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1862-9037 mailto:romel.basilan@shct.edu.om mailto:romel_mama1917@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.767 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 160 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — public leadership, productivity, enhancement, public service, innovation, demographic profile introduction innovative leadership in the public sector is required to address the same external forces that have been presenting challenges for private-sector organizations, to adapt and respond quickly in a rapidly and continually changing environment, and dealing with turbulence and uncertainty. in particular, globalizations with its related pressures for enhanced productivity and competitiveness, and the ongoing evolution of ict have resulted in unprecedented levels of organizational complexity. moreover, citizens are becoming more engaged and demanding that their governments be more open, transparent, and responsive in delivering public services more efficiently and effectively. with this, productivity in an organization is such a vital factor to keep the employees in their best working condition. one way and a major factor to increase the growth of a company are to escalate the employees’ productivity. it is an initiative of the management to do some ways to do this to expect higher productivity in the long run. when the company takes time to comprehend and carry out the factors which lead to company improvement, it leads to a positive investment in the organization’s future. this works hand in hand with leadership (de griep and sieben, 2005). additionally, no matter what the company does, improving the productivity of one’s workforce can boost one’s bottom line. this means that when employees in a certain company or organization receive more support, they are more likely to be more productive compared to those employees who have not. if one’s employees are not making the most of their time, he is losing money. develop a strategy to improve productivity in the office and watch profits grow. it is notable that the province of batangas was awarded the seal of good local governance for several years now, which guarantees good public service. yet, there are still innovative strategies and public leadership that may be enhanced by the province. this is what province of batangas is viewed to become and have. these kinds of leaders can contribute tothe changing future of batangas province government that would play an effective role in increasing employee productivity. moreover, the batangas innovative leader would potentially expose the limitless source of creative ideas that can contribute to any organization’s performance. also, innovative ideas can be contributed to make the most out 161 international peer reviewed journal of the quality and efficiency of the working operations. it is true that there is no organization that can surpass the competitive world if it is not open to change and innovative thinking and ideas. this is a great factor in the growth of any organization. in addition, whether how many employees are there in a company, it is essential to continually review, reinvent and reinvest in the resources that keep it visible and viable in a competitive market (birkinshaw, 2010). with this, the researchers realized the need for studying how different organizations in the province of batangas government deal with leadership and innovation to be productive in every day public service. specifically, this would be beneficial as the public servants, and top management analyzes their own job performances, whether they are able to cope up with the advancement of the technological service yet still considering humane and excellent performance. this study aimed to withhold a number of factors that affect the level of innovation in relation to productivity and vice versa. the researcher believes that inspirational or charismatic leaders affect innovation through organizational design and must create appropriate organizational environments to suit the different innovation processes. also, the researcher found this study significant to the future and present employees of any other government specifically in the province of batangas that they can uplift their productivity in the adoption and openness regarding innovation which is not limited to technology but extended to the way of leading, motivating and helping one another in the organization. furthermore, the researcher who is currently working in a public sector considered this study important as he realized the dynamic world of public service. in the middle of new trends, it is imperative that batangas province, one of the most urbanized and leading provinces in region iv or even the whole country, must be open for change towards innovative leadership to increase the level of productivity of every office in the provincial government. this study would divulge the level of productivity and innovation of the said organization that would help them analyze their own status of service. lastly, this study would offer a proposed plan of action as a basis for an innovative leadership database that would let them evaluate their offices in the near future. this manifesto is tailored to fit the province of batangas that would surely help them to enhance their services. 162 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the level of organizational innovation and productivity in the provincial government of batangas province. more specifically, the study determined the demographic profile of the respondents. this demographic profile was investigated deeper as the study withheld the significant difference of the responses when grouped according to profile variables. moreover, the study significantly showed the assessment of public service innovation in terms of inputs, processes, and outcomes. in the study, the dimensions of public leadership, when grouped according to profile variables, had a great impact and relationship towards the demographic variables gathered. the workplace was greatly affected by gender, age, education attainment, and years in service. based on the results of the study, the researcher would propose an action plan to enhance organizational innovation and productivity among batangas employees and administrative personnel. methodology research design the descriptive correlation was used to gather the needed information on organizational productivity and innovative leadership. pearson-r was utilized to measure such variables. more so, descriptive studies were very valuable in providing facts that may form the basis for scientific judgments. further, the purpose of descriptive correlational research is, of course, to describe, as well as explain, or validate some sort of hypothesis or objective when it comes to a specific group of people. participants in this study, the target participants were employees from different departments or offices in batangas province. out of the 2, 019 total population of employees, 360 employees are selected as the respondents of the study. the respondents are from the different offices of the government of batangas province. based on the total population, a sample of 360 participants was selected with an effect size of 0.23, an alpha level of 0.05, and a power probability of 0.95 using g*power 3.1.9. stratified random sampling was used to select the participants by the department. 163 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the researcher utilized a 2-part questionnaire. part i includes the age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, length of service, department, job status, and salary. likewise, a standardized questionnaire was used to gather the needed information on innovation. also, the researcher used the innovation of public personnel questionnaire from the office of personnel management’s employee viewpoint survey partnership for public service. the questionnaires were keenly scrutinized and validated by five (5) experts from the field of public administration. through cronbach alpha (with the value of .872), the whole set was then treated for validity and reliability by the statistician, have undergone pilot testing in one of the municipal town government in batangas province. after the data was gathered and analyzed, the questionnaire was proven valid and reliable to gather the needed information for the said study. data gathering procedures the data gathering instrument had undergone several processes to be validated and finally given to the respective respondents. the questionnaire was from 3 different sources. they were modified and validated by several experts from the field. after it was being validated by experts, it was pilot tested in a certain government organization. finally, the statistician treated the questionnaire for the final test of reliability and productivity and attested for its approval for dissemination. the researcher distributed the questionnaire and also sought the assistance of the administrator of the province understudy for the distribution of the questionnaire to employees of the institution. all questionnaires were retrieved personally and through the support of some employees. these data were validated to come up with comprehensive results and discussion. ethical consideration it is being taken into great consideration the ethical issues regarding the execution of this research. the researcher had been careful about the treatment of data, consulted several experts on the field to maintain the reliability, validity, and credibility of the paper. moreover, the researcher honored certain procedures and protocols upon the execution of the data gathering methods. all of the offices in the research locale have been given proper letters to hid permission to pursue the 164 jpair multidisciplinary research said data gathering. additionally, the researcher managed to communicate to the said respondents that the confidentiality of their answers was given with utmost objectivity. statistical analysis the research sought for referrals of the department head/administrator to qualify for the study. the needed data were tallied, encoded, and analyzed using different statistical tools. this include frequency distribution which was used to present the profile of the respondents, weighted mean was used to determine the demographic profile of the respondents, pearson product moment correlation was utilized to test the relationship between the level of public service innovation and productivity and independent sample t-test and f-test using post hoc analysis was used to compare the responses on the level of public service innovation and productivity when grouped according to profile variables. in addition, all data were treated using statistical software known as pasw version 18 to further interpret the results of the study. results and discussion table 1 shows the demographic profile of the respondents according to age, sex, educational attainment, and years of service. the demographic profile is essential in the study. the profile of the respondents attests to the significant relationship and difference among the major variables. table 1. percentage distribution of the respondents profile profile variables frequency percentage (%) age 18 – 27 years old 187 51.90 28 – 37 years old 94 26.10 38 – 47 years old 61 16.90 48 – 57 years old 9 2.50 57 years old and above 9 2.50 sex male 177 49.20 female 183 50.80 165 international peer reviewed journal educational attainment high school undergraduate 11 3.10 high school graduate 14 3.90 college undergraduate 37 10.30 college graduate 225 62.50 with ma units 51 14.20 masters graduate 22 6.10 years in service o – 5 years in service 187 51.90 6 – 10 years in service 64 17.80 11 – 15 years in service 44 12.20 16 – 20 years in service 28 7.80 20 years and above in service 37 10.30 notably, it can be viewed that most of the employees in the batangas province government range from 18 years old up to 27 years old. it has the highest percentage of 51.90 of the total population. moreover, the 28 year old up to 37 year old employees have the second-biggest share of the population. it has 26.10 of the total number of respondents; meanwhile, the age range of 3840 years old with 16.90. lastly, the age ranges from 48-57 and 57 years old, and above both got the percentage of 2. 50. additionally, female employees got a larger population share of 50.80 percent compared to the male who has 49.20 percent of the total population. the educational attainment of the respondents, on the other hand, manifested that 62.50 percent of the population is college graduates. the next largest populations from the employees are college graduates with maters unit with 14.50 percent, followed by 10.30 percent of the employees who are college undergraduate. notably, there are masters graduate in the pool of batangas province employees. they shared 6.10 percent of the total population. lastly, there are 14 staff members who are high school graduates with 3.90 percent, and there are 11 staff members who are high school undergraduate who had 3.10 percent of the total population. it is distinguished that most of the employees in the batangas province government are in their early years of public service. it is remarkable to note that 51.90 percent of the respondents rendered five years of service and below. next, the employees who served for 6 – 10 years got a percentage of 17.80. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research eventually, those respondents who served the government in 11-15 years got 12.20 percentage. moreover, public servants of the province who gave 20 years and above service has the percentage share of 10.30. lastly, 7.80 percent of the total respondents’ population is serving the government for 16-20 years now. more so, great work culture empowers employees. when they do not feel empowered to make decisions or participate in certain projects, especially those that impact the company’s key initiatives, employees may disengage from their responsibilities and struggle with unhappiness at work. on the other hand, it is important that employers give employees a certain degree of autonomy and responsibility for decision-making in their daily work. but it is more than just that. when one encourages the employees to grow, give them a chance to decide, and prove their ways to their own achievement, the employee leads to a better working environment (hardré & reeve, 2009). the one that is being placed as the 2nd rank is that the employee felt encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things in their work settings. it gathers a wm of 3.49, which is verbally interpreted as agreeing. the moment the employee feels dissatisfaction; this would be reflected in the performance and income of the company. table 2. innovation in public service in terms of input weighted mean verbal interpretation rank 1. i am constantly looking for ways to do my job better 3.45 high 3 2. i feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things in my work settings 3.49 high 2 3. i have a feeling of personal empowerment towards workplace improvement. 3.52 very high 1 4. i am given a better opportunity to improve my skills in my organization 3.41 high 4 5. my department head provides me with opportunities to introduce new ideas, plans, and projects. 3.39 high 5 composite mean 3.45 high legend: 3.50 – 4.00 = very high; 2.50 – 3.49 = high; 1.50 – 2.49 = low; 1.00 – 1.49 = very low 167 international peer reviewed journal department heads can enhance their employees to perform well to give a positive turnover towards the company. falola et al.  (2014)  found out that compensation or salary, as well as employee recognition and awards, decreased the chances of employee turnover. more so, monetary bonuses to outstanding employees do not need to be at every end of the year. the employees constantly looking for ways to do their job better is ranked as the 3rd one. this has a wm of 3.45 and verbally interpreted as agree. professional employees continuously improve themselves so as to improve their work. they urge themselves to be skilled so that they can face challenges and endure (romero, 2003). they were garnering a wm of 3.41; which indicates that employee is given a better opportunity in improving their skills in their organizations. this one is placed as the 4th rank and interprets verbally as agree. this is important in an organization. training, seminars, and alike gives the opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills, but many employers see these activities as extravagant expenditures, especially in the present times (hameed & waheed, 2011). moreover, ranging a wm of 3.39, it shows that the employee’s department head provides each of them with opportunities to introduce new ideas, plans, and projects. it is ranked as the 5th place, which is verbally interpreted as agree. training courses leading to the increased productivity of the employees in an organization. project success, in turn, will be improved when there is increased efficiency in the process. more so, this leads to the improved company turnover and potential market (saleem, shahid, &naseem, 2011). this table connotes that public service in terms of input composes a composite mean of 3.45 and is being interpreted verbally as agree. development training programs are offered to employees to have better work performances to assume greater responsibility. continuous professional pieces of trainings equipped employees to cope up with the fast-changing demands of the working world (bercu, 2017). investing in each of the workers is beneficial to the whole organization and can boost the bottom line. table 3 indicates the innovation in public service in terms of process. this table reveals that the employee support program or project department heads promote and support innovative ideas, experimentation, and creative processes that are rank as the 1st one. this indicator garnered a wm of 3.51 and interpreting verbally as strongly agree. when working on a project, an individual or any leader needs a helping hand from his or her colleague. skills can be contributed by other members of the organization by means of collaboration with other employees or inter-department. 168 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. innovation in public service in terms of process weighted mean verbal interpretation rank 1. i deal with clienteles’ suggestions or complaints urgently and with utmost care. 3.49 high 2.5 2. i constantly emphasize and introduce department innovations (e.g., computer-based administrative innovations, new employee reward/training schemes, new departments or project teams, etc.). 3.40 5 3. i welcome innovation proposals in the organization. 3.49 high 2.5 4. i perceived innovation as too risky yet doable and practical. 3.47 high 4 5. i support program/project department heads to promote and support innovative ideas, experimentation, and creative processes. 3.51 very high 1 composite mean 3.47 high legend: 3.50 – 4.00 = very high; 2.50 – 3.49 = high; 1.50 – 2.49 = low; 1.00 – 1.49 = very low on the other hand, motivation was enhanced, possibly when a motivational strategy is used. it can also be the other way around. there are so many considerations to do so, such as the uniqueness of the situation and the diversity of the concerned group (cossette and hess, 2012). these considerations are the main concerns of management. in the same way, the employee deals with clientele’s suggestions or complaints urgently and with the utmost care, and they welcome innovation proposals in the organization, which is placed as the 2nd rank with the same wm of 3.49, that is being verbally interpreted as agree. it is important that the clienteles; welfare is the prime consideration of the company. subsequently, having a wm of 3.47 that reveals the employee that perceives innovation as too risky yet doable and practical. it is placed as a 4th rank, which is verbally interpreted as agree. the traditional view in mainstream economics today is that governments have little ability to spark innovation. the state has to be compelled to play as a restricted job inside the economy as possible. the thinking goes; intervening simplest in instances of “marketplace failure.” this is often an extended way from reality. this method that public businesses should be able to take possibilities and about to know from trial and error (mazzucato & semieniuk, 2017). if failure is 169 international peer reviewed journal unavoidable, a part of the innovation game, and if the government is important for innovation, society got to be extra tolerant of “government failure.” but the fact is that when government fails, there’s public outcry – and silence whilst it succeeds. besides, on the 5th rank, which is about the employee constantly emphasize and introduce department innovations like computer-based administrative innovations and etc. this indicator shows a wm of 3.40 and interpreting verbally as agree. computers play a vital role in most aspects of life today since they’re employed in business, in medical-related fields, in education, and even in enforcement. the exchange of important information through various government agencies is additionally made easier through the utilization of computers (venkatesh, chan, & thong, 2012). lastly, but most importantly, in the government, they need data storage. storing data in actual paper files is known to be unsafe since theft and calamities, such as fire outbreaks, can destroy vital information. public service in terms of the process has the range of the composite mean of 3.47 and which is verbally interpreted as agree. with this, like businesses, state and federal government offices use computers. the computer uses in government offices also include various e-mail functions, payment distribution, record keeping, and even coordinating mailings (krishnaraju, mathew, & sugumaran, 2016). table 4 is about the innovation in public service in terms of outcomes. this table divulges that the employee who has a high level of respect for their organization senior leaders’ innovative strategy. it is placed as the 1st rank, which composes of a wm of 3.55, and it is verbally interpreted as strongly agree. in the current century, organizations are facing unprecedented changes in their working environments. in order to remain viable, organizations must learn to adapt to the changes they face. the influence of senior leaders on organizational learning is from the employees’ perspective (waddell & pio, 2015). 170 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. innovation in public service in terms of outcomes weighted mean verbal interpretation rank 1. i have a high level of respect for my organization, senior leaders’ innovative strategies. 3.55 very high 1 2. i am satisfied with my involvement in decision making that affects my work. 3.50 very high 2 3. i am rewarded for being a part of providing high-quality products and services 3.41 high 5 4. i am rewarded for my creativity and innovation. 3.45 high 4 5. i deal with clienteles’ suggestions or complaints urgently and with utmost care. 3.49 high 3 composite mean 3.48 high legend: 3.50 – 4.00 = very high; 2.50 – 3.49 = high; 1.50 – 2.49 = low; 1.00 – 1.49 = very low in this context, by employing an explorative, exploitative and transformative organizational learning framework, and a transactional and transformational model of leadership, the findings contribute empirically to the limited body of research surrounding how senior leaders influence organizational learning. to build an understanding of how communities of practice create organizational value, we suggest thinking of a community as an engine for the development of social capital. the social capital resident in communities of practice leads to behavioral changes, which, in turn, positively influence business performance (lesser and storck, 2001). it has also identified four specific performance outcomes associated with the communities of practice we studied and linked these outcomes to the basic dimensions of social capital. on the 2nd rank is that the employee satisfies his/her involvement in decision making that affects their work. this has a wm of 3.50 and interpreting verbally as strongly disagree. it is a great satisfaction for the employees to be involved in decision making. they feel important having the chance to contribute and be involved in the process. ranging a wm of 3.49 is that, the employee deals with the clienteles’ suggestions or complaints urgently and with utmost care. it is placed as the 3rd rank, which is verbally interpreted as agree. an employee that is being awarded for his/her creativity and innovation is ranked as the 4th one. it has a wm ranging 171 international peer reviewed journal of 3.45 and interpreting verbally as agree. it is possible to use science to defining an agency’s highest-priority journeys and measuring customer satisfaction across those journeys, not just at individual touch points. it is also possible to use design elements necessary to structure the organization in an exceedingly customercentric manner and make it adaptable as citizen needs and conditions change (liu & fang, 2009). ranked as the 5th is about, the employee is being rewarded for being part of providing high-quality products and services. this indicator reveals a wm of 3.41, which is verbally interpreted as agreeing. accordingly, employee recognition is that the timely, informal, or formal acknowledgment of a person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal expectations (saunderson, 2004). this table specifies that public service in terms of outcome has a composite mean of 3.48, which verbally interpreted as agreeing. it is very important that the top management or the department heads of the government acknowledges the effort of the employees. this contributes to the great success of the government in serving the people. it is perennial in any other institution that when an employee is being motivated with good compliments, they work with double efficiency and enthusiasm. on the other hand, the employees must serve the clientele with the utmost care, patience, and understanding. however, the way within which the praise is delivered contains a significant touching on its effectiveness. it is reiterated that and acknowledged that only genuine achievements should be praised, which nonsensicality has little or no value. indeed, unearned praise can do more harm to a person and a workgroup than none at all. it not only prevents employees from knowing once they have to be compelled to improve, but it can diminish the impact of the real praise that’s offered at other times (saunderson, 2004). table 5. summary table on innovation in public service indicators composite mean verbal interpretation rank 1. input 3.45 high 3 2. process 3.47 high 2 3. outcomes 3.48 high 1 overall composite mean 3.47 high legend: 3.50 – 4.00 = very high; 2.50 – 3.49 = high; 1.50 – 2.49 = low; 1.00 – 1.49 = very low 172 jpair multidisciplinary research it can be seen in the table of summary on innovation in public service that outcomes indicator ranked first with a composite mean of 3.48 with the verbal interpretation agree. the quality of those services is part of the bedrock on which society and future prosperity depend and is crucial in shaping a more successful, wealthier, and fairer province (teofilovic, 2002). further, the process comes next higher with a composite mean of 3.47, agree. public administration performs its functions through a wide range of processes in which all or considerable numbers of its bodies participate. therefore, most of these processes cut across organizational and sectoral boundaries. new experience shows that many operational tasks, professional decision-making, execution of supervision, testing, etc. can be decentralized and transferred to self-government or to private entities (bentley, 2017). lastly, the input is in the third rank with the composite mean of 3.45, agree. in an ideal world from the perspective of productivity measurement, organizations would produce a single homogeneous good using a single homogeneous input (mark, 1981). productivity measurement then amounts to relating the number of units of the good that are produced to the number of units of the input that are used to produce it. the overall composite mean of the innovation indicators to execute public service is 3.47, agree. this means that innovation is visible and practiced in the government of batangas province. the general public sector has traditionally been considered inhospitable to innovation, particularly innovations initiated by middle managers and front-line staff. unlike the private sector, the general public sector is characterized by asymmetric incentives that punish unsuccessful innovations far more severely than they reward successful ones, by the absence of working capital to seed creative problem solving, and by adverse selection by innovative individuals against public service careers. this table implies that productivity at the workplace has a composite mean of 3.58, which is being interpreted verbally as strongly agree. productivity is essentially the ratio of an organization’s outputs divided by its inputs. for many years it was treated as always being static in government agencies. in fact, productivity in government services should be rising rapidly as a result of digital changes and new management approaches, and it has done so in some agencies. however, dunleavy and carrera show for the first time how complex are the factors affecting productivity growth in government organizations – especially management practices, use of it, organizational culture, strategic decisions and political and policy churn (dunleavy, 2013) 173 international peer reviewed journal while there have been a variety of studies concerning government worker motivation and productivity, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on state government workers’ perceptions about what factors affect their productivity. government workers appreciate having freedom and autonomy, like their jobs and the sense of achievement, and welcome teamwork, but feel limited by poor supervision and management, poor communications, and insufficient budgets and staffing. to improve productivity, the workers would eliminate bureaucracy, supervise better, and improve communication (haenisch, 2012). table 6. difference of responses on innovation in public service when grouped according to age f-value p-value interpretation input 6.019 0.000 highly significant process 2.678 0.032 significant outcomes 2.505 0.042 significant legend: significant at p-value < 0.05 to foster innovation, organizations like government must establish a culture that embraces failure, cultivates talent, and empowers employees with autonomy and creative freedom. indeed, managers have a direct impact on their employees’ effectiveness and creativity, yet most managers fail to implement the best practices associated with maximizing their employees’ innovative potential. complicating this issue is the emergence of the millennial workforce. according to a panel held at a recent bloomberg business summit in chicago, 69 percent of corporate recruiters say that it is difficult to manage millennials (those born in the 1980s and 1990s and also referred to as gen y). as it is predicted that millennials will make up the majority of the workforce by 2025, managers must learn how to drive innovation from their younger employees if they hope to support their organization’s survival in the increasingly competitive operating environment. before one gets into the specific behaviors and actions that managers can implement to drive more innovation from their younger workforce, they take a look at the reasons why people need millennials in the organizations in the first place. managers must drop the negative stereotypes associated with the younger workforce and realize that their success depends on the successful integration of millennials with other employees. fortunately, many employees and managers 174 jpair multidisciplinary research are indeed shedding the assumption that millennials are lazy, entitled, and selfish. according to the previously mentioned panel, 74 percent of non-millennials agree that millennials offer different skills and work styles that add value to the workplace. the world in which millennials developed is a much different place than the world in which gen xers and baby boomers developed. younger employees are more tech-savvy than their older counterparts and are more comfortable working in fast-paced environments characterized by loose schedules and multitasking (wile, 2019). in addition, millennials are less resistant to change and better able to cope with extreme loads of changing information due to growing up with the internet, social media, and mobile technology. the effective integration of millennials into the organization is critical in order to facilitate the diversity of ideas required for true innovation in emerging. this is especially so when most organizations seek to introduce and implement new technologies into their work processes or strives to bring new technology-based products and services into the market. in essence, enhancing the creativity of millennials comes down to keeping them engaged, but managers should seriously consider these six key workplace values and motivations that are directly related to creative performance and innovation: millennials want to be challenged. research shows that millennials are confident, individualistic, and have a strong achievement orientation. this means that to keep them engaged, they must be given challenging assignments at work where the success or failure depends primarily on the level of effort that they put into the project. there is nothing more intrinsically motivating than being intellectually stimulated and forced to test the limits of one’s skills and expertise. the feeling of accomplishment after achieving a challenging goal is a primary driver that will keep your millennial employees engaged and committed to the organization. furthermore, the challenge is a precursor to flow, the state of “being in the zone” that is also linked to creative performance. studies show that too little challenge relative to one’s skill level leads to a state of boredom, while higher levels of challenge (but not too high as to be anxiety-inducing) push people to become totally engaged with what they are doing and ultimately expand their skills and capabilities. as a person’s expertise and capabilities develop, so too does their potential to generate and implement innovative ideas. in addition, the flow state brings with it a rush of positive emotions, which have been linked time and time again to heightened levels of creative ideation. 175 international peer reviewed journal millennials want to personally and professionally develop. as mentioned above, high levels of the challenge by itself will not ultimately lead to higher levels of creative performance— millennials must also feel as if they have adequate skills to take on these challenges. this generation has a very strong drive to personally and professionally develop. in fact, millennials even view personal learning and professional development as more important than financial rewards or flexible working hours. another important reason for the high rate of innovation, millennials want to receive frequent feedback and open communication. millennials want plenty of feedback and information, and they want it in real-time. one of the best ways to keep younger employees engaged is to give them continuous constructive feedback aimed at helping them learn from their mistakes and their successes. this type of feedback facilitates on-the-job, experiential learning, and also demonstrates that others care about them and their contributions to the organization (fajans, 2014). millennials appreciate transparency in the workplace and desire for communication to be open and honest. they can be turned off by communication practices characterized by the withholding of information. this openness of information sharing is characteristic of what organizational psychologists refer to as a “psychologically safe” work environment. when employees feel safe to express their differing ideas, they are more likely to present unique perspectives that ultimately can lead to novel ideas and innovations. millennials want to make a real difference. whereas challenge may be the foundational driver of engagement among millennial workers, making a real difference could quite possibly be second on the list. more so than previous generations, millennials have strong values towards public service and making the world a better place. they are more comfortable with diversity, and thus better at perspective-taking (fajans, 2014). table 7. difference of responses on innovation in public service when grouped according to sex t-value p-value interpretation input 0.286 0.775 not significant process 0.619 0.536 not significant outcomes 1.371 0.171 not significant legend: significant at p-value < 0.05 176 jpair multidisciplinary research the table reveals that all computed p-values were all greater than 0.05 alpha levels; thus, the researcher fails to reject the null hypothesis. this means that the responses do not vary among the respondents. this means that innovation with regards to sex. it is immaterial whether the employees are males or females. it is said that men and women are equally innovative. optimal innovation occurs when there is an equal mix of men and women using a systematic process. research in this area may have some suggestions on why. lynne millward and helen freeman tested several hypotheses and reported the results in their article, “role expectations as constraints to innovation: the case of female managers.” the essence of the research is that, while men and women are equally innovative, their gender role within the context of an organization can affect how they are perceived and how they behave when innovating and sharing ideas. men are perceived as more innovative and risk-taking and women are perceived as more adaptive and risk-averse. “thus, gender roles may interact with the role of the manager to inhibit (in the case of women) or facilitate (in the case of men) the likelihood of innovative behavior” (boyd, 2013). for practitioners, there is both a negative and a positive aspect to this. on the one hand, innovation workshops need a process to assure that women feel they can innovate “bigger” and share those ideas with the group. if, as the research suggests, women are more likely to hold back, then the facilitation approach has to break through it. otherwise, one loses the inherent value of the (equal) innovation talent they bring to the table (boyd, 2013). table 8. difference of responses on innovation in public service when grouped according to educational attainment f-value p-value interpretation input 2.153 0.059 not significant process 3.204 0.008 significant outcomes 1.861 0.100 not significant legend: significant at p-value < 0.05 the table presents the comparison of responses on innovation in public service when grouped according to educational attainment. it was observed that the responses differ significantly in the process since the obtained p-value of 0.008 was less than 0.05 alpha level. based on the post hoc test conducted, respondents’ who are master’s graduate have higher assessment of the process. 177 international peer reviewed journal with the employees who are with higher education, they yield more changes and innovation in the workplace. they are open to the notion that employees must be innovative in any and every way they can to cope up with the advances of the technology and demands in the service. innovation is one of the most important concerns of each organization, and its role in the development and coordination of the market is inalienable. innovation in all human areas is applicable from product development, methods of management, ways of doing works and etc. in recent decades, the commercialization of education has become more apparent, and the need for using marketing tools is greater than before. multinomial regression analysis was conducted to identify the characteristics of students, which make their perception about the quality of higher education dissimilar. the findings show that the status of students for scholarship, extracurricular activities, parents’ education, age, previous result, and university they study in have a significant influence on perception about the quality of higher education. part-time job status has a moderate influence on people’s perception. notwithstanding, technology is changing the nature of work. the requirements for employee’s skills have also changed. higher education institutions assure the relevance of their knowledge, identify skills gaps, create a special program and build the right skills that can help countries improve the economic prosperity and social cohesion, adapt workforce development to the economy and changing demand for the new skills, develop relevant skills and activate skill supply, and thus support improvement in productivity and growth. additionally, the roles of higher education in sustainable economic and social development increase year by year, and this will continue over the next decades. higher education can be seen as a focal point of knowledge and its application, an institution which makes a great contribution to the economic growth and development through fostering innovation and increasing higher skills. it is looked like a way to improve the quality of life and address major social and global challenges. higher education is broadly defined as one of the key drivers of growth performance, prosperity, and competitiveness. unesco (2017) says its social role provides the link between the intellectual and educational role of universities on the one hand and the development of society on the other. 178 jpair multidisciplinary research table 9. difference of responses on innovation in public service when grouped according to years in service f-value p-value interpretation input 4.921 0.001 significant process 5.677 0.000 highly significant outcomes 4.079 0.003 significant legend: significant at p-value < 0.05 as seen from the result, there was a significant difference observed on input (p-value = 0.001), process (p-value = 0.000) and outcomes (p-value = 0.003) since the resulted p-values were less than the alpha level of 0.05. this only concludes that the responses differ statistically, and this was found on those who are in the service for more than 20 years. senior managers would like to believe that employees are a team of selfless workers who – in exchange for a monthly wage and odd benefits – work exclusively to the benefit of the organization. as the organization grows, the employee receives promotions, salary increases, and additional benefits that encourage her to continue serving the company wholeheartedly. if employees feel disconnected from their firm and feel they gain no personal benefits from the firm’s growth, they will keep their heads down, keep new ideas to themselves and avoid rocking the boat. on the other hand, if employees feel disconnected from their firm and feel they gain no personal benefits from the firm’s growth, they will keep their heads down, keep new ideas to themselves and avoid rocking the boat. 179 international peer reviewed journal table 9. proposed plan of action to enhance public service innovation and productivity in batangas provincial government ppa strategies performance indicator persons responsible innovation in public service in terms of: 1. input 1.1. the holding of brainstorming of programs for every major decision, new ideas, plans, and projects should be made in the department. 1.2. provision of seminars and trainings to upgrade the skills of employees and staff plan brainstorming meetings of the staff and employees to participate in the decision making, and planning which involves the department organize seminars and trainings to upgrade the skills of employees and staff. employees’ involvement in brainstorming and planning held seminars and trainings to upgrade employees’ skills. provincial executive / administration office/ all departments provincial executive / administration office/ all department heads 2. process 2.1. creation of an it expert department and training & reward department for computer-based administrative innovations, new employee training and reward schemes. 2.2. initiation of seminars and workshops and trainings for doable and practical innovative public service. enact ordinance to create the program that will support computer-based administrative innovations, new employee training, and reward schemes. hold seminars and workshops and trainings for doable and practical innovative public service. computer-based administrative innovations, new employee training and reward schemes created. seminars and workshops and trainings for doable and practical innovative public service initiated. provincial executive / administration office provincial executive / administration office 180 jpair multidisciplinary research 3. outcomes 3.1. establishment of recognition and awards program committee for providing high-quality products and services. 3.2. provision of professional development programs for employees to enhance creativity and innovation. launch recognition and awards program committee for providing high-quality products and services. develop programs for employees’ enhancement of creativity and innovative skills recognition and awards program committee for providing high-quality products and services established professional development programs for the employees to enhance creativity and innovation provided provincial executive / administration office provincial executive / administration office conclusions innovation in public service in terms of input, process, and outcomes has the composite mean, which has the verbal interpretation of agree. on the other hand, innovation is agreed to be visibly observed, so as it is strongly agreed that productivity in the workplace is inevitable. in this study, there is a significant relationship among variables innovation and productivity. therefore, a program to enhance innovative leadership and productivity is proposed. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media of communication for information 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(2015). the influence of senior leaders on organisational learning: insights from the employees’ perspective.  management learning,  46(4), 461-478. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1177/1350507614541201 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2419.2009.00325.x https://doi.org/10.1109/ncm.2009.176 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-015-9550-9 http://bit.ly/2tc4uoh http://bit.ly/2tc4uoh https://doi.org/10.1177%2f009102600403300302 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grw036 http://bit.ly/2tc5typ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2011.10.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2011.10.001 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1350507614541201 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1350507614541201 247 international peer reviewed journal abstrak ang pag-aaral na ito ay isang ponolohohikal, morpolohikal at sintaksis na pagsusuri sa wikang sinama – badjao na inihambing sa wikang filipino at ingles. naglalayong masagot ng pag-aaral na ito ang mga tiyak na katanungan:ano ang istruktura ng ponolohiya ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa paraan ng artikulasyon at punto artikulasyon?ano ang istruktura ng morpolohiya ng wikang sinama-badjao ayon sa paglalapi, pag-uulit at pagtatambal?ano ang istruktura ng sintaksis ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa mga tuntunin sa pagpaparilala at mga tuntuning transpormasyunal: payak “simplex, pangugnay, sugnay na kondisyunal, pang-abay na pananggi, pananong at hugnayan/relatibisasyon. ano ang pagkakaiba at pagkakatulad sa ponolohiya morpolohiya at sintaks ng wikang sinama-badjao sa ingles at filipino? anong desinyong pang-kurikulum ang maaaring iplano para sa pang-unawa sa pangkat –etnikong sinamabadjao? kwalitatibong pamamaraan ng ginamit na metodolohiya sa pag-aaral na ito na may disenyong pagsusuri sa phenomenology ng wika dahil sinuri ang mga ponema, morpema ng wikang ingles at filipino. ang pag-aaral sa istruktura ng vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.527 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. paghahambing ga wikang sinama ng mga badjao sa wikang filipino at ingles sa konstekstong ponolohiya, morpolohiya at sintaksis necita b. tayong necitatayong8@gmail.com zamboanga city state polytechnic college rt lim boulivard baliwasan zamboanga city 248 jpair multidisciplinary research wikang sinama ay pagtutuunan ng fukos sa konteksto ng kultura ng kapaligiran ng pangkat etnikong ito. mula sa sa natuklasan ng mananaliksik sa pag-aaral na ito, binuo ang mga sumusunod na konklusyon: ang istruktura ng ponolohiya ng wikang sinama –badjao ay halos katulad sa istruktura ng wikang filipino. na nahahati sa patinig at katinig. may limang (5) patinig at labing-anim ang katinig sa wikang sinama-badjao. ang istruktura ng morpolohiya ng wikang sinama badjao ayon sa paglalapi ay katulad din ng sa wikang sinama ay magkatulad sa wikang filipino na binuo ng pagsasama ng di –malayang morpema at malayang morpema. susi ng salita— sinama,badjao sa wikang filipino, ingles abstract this study is a phonologic, morpological and syntax analysis in the sinama badjao language compared to filipino and english. this study aims to answer specific questions: what is the structure of phonology of sinama-badjao according to the method of articulation and point articulation? what is the structure of the sinama-badjao morphology by fiscal, repetition and synthesis? what is the syntax structure of the sinama-badjao language according to the terms of identification and transactional rules: simple “simplex, interrelated, conditional clause, adverb, question and relationship/relativization. what is differences and similarities in phonological morphology and sinama-badjao syntax in english and filipino? what curriculum decision can be planned for the understanding of the sinama-badjao group? qualitative methodology of this methodology used in this study with a design analysis of language phenomenology due to the examination of phonemees, english and filipino morphemes. the study of the sinama language structure is the focus of the fukos in the context of the cultural environment of this ethnic group. from the findings of this researcher, the following conclusions have been drawn: the sinama -badjao language phonology structure is very similar to the structure of the filipino language. divided into vowels and consonants. there are five (5) vowels and sixteen consonants in sinama-badjao. the structure of the sinama-badjao language morphology is likewise similar to the sinama language similar to the filipino language developed by the inclusion of free morphemes and independent morphemes. keywords – sinama, badjao in filipino, english 249 international peer reviewed journal intorduksyon ang mga wika ng pilipinas ay naging paksa na malawakang mga pagsusuri at imbestigasyong panlinggwistika ng mga linggwista, antropologo, edukador at mga opisyal ng pamahalaan. ang mga pag-aaral na ito ay nakalikha ng mga diksyunaryo, sa lahat ng mga pangunahing wika. malaking panahon din ang inialay sa pagsusuri sa relasyon ng mga wika at diyalekto ng pilipinas kaya may mga gawaing iskorli na ang nabuo sa mga paksang ponolohiya , morpolohiya at sintaksis. marami-rami ding pag-aaral ang isinagawa sa etnikong pangkat ng sinama – badjao dahil kinakatawan nila ang naiibang minorya at matatagpuan sa maliliit na pamayanan sa buong kapuluan. (peterson1974) ang mga sinama-badjao ay nahahati sa tatlong dibisyon: abaknon, yakan at sulu-borneo, na may limang wika_ jama , mapun, panguntaran, sama , sama balangingi, siasi sama at sibutu. ang wikang sinamabadjao ay dapat pagyamanin at pag-ukulan ng pansin para sa madaliang pag-unawa at pagpapahalaga sa pangkat etnikong muslim ( rubrico 1997). matatagpuan ang pangkat etnikong ito sa karagatan ng sulu, mindanao, north borneo at sulawesi. ang badjao laut at sama delaut ay mga laking dagat. lahat ay nagsasalita ng wika ng samal at na may ilang baryasyon sa diyalekto, lalo na ang nakatira sa kanlurang babayin ng lungsod ng zamboanga hanggang sulu tawi-tawi at hilagang borneo. ang populasyon ng badjao ay maaring ikategorya sa geograpikal na lawak na kanilang tinitirhan. dahil ang mga sama o badjao ay nakatira sa malawak na karagatan nabuo ang isang naibang kultura na inangkop sa kanilang kapaligiran. ang pagkakaiba sa mga samal at mga badjao ay artipisyal at hindi tiyak. inaasahan na ang tinaguriang mga samal at badjao ay nagmula sa parehong pangkat etnilingwistika kagaya ng sama ngunit bawat pangkat ay may nabuong ibang kultura at lipunan. (jun 1996) ang mga badjao at tinagurian ding “the philippines sea sypsies” na matiwasay na nakatira sa mga vinta na nagsisilbing tahanan at transportasyon lumilipat sa iba’t ibang lugar sa paghahanap ng pagkain at mapagkitaan. sila’y mga ekspertong maninisid at mangingisda na nananalig lamang sa kanilang karanasan sa ikaunlad ng kabuhayan. naninirahan sila sa mga tabi ng baybayin sa mga ‘ coral reef ’ at baybayin. nananatili silang mahirap at ‘marginalized’ kinukutya at may nabuong diskriminasyon sa kanila at sa iba pang “indigenous people “sa mindanao. ang mga iba ay lumipat na malayo sa kanilang comfort zone. ang karagatan ng 250 jpair multidisciplinary research zamboanga peninsula, sulu at tawi-tawi upang mapadpad sa kalakhang maynila at iba pang maunlad na lugar. kahirapan at ang sosyal na pagkakaiba nila ang naghihiwalay sa kanila bilang samal na nakatira sa dagat sa pangkat ng samal na nakatira sa lupa. pareho ang mga pangkat ng wikang sinasalita na may kaunting pagkakaiba lamang sa baryasyon sa diyalekto. lahat ay nagsasalita ng wikang siama o wikang sinama. sinasabi at nasusulat na nababasa ng mga badjao ang langit at alon ngunit hindi sila marunong sumusulat at bumasa. ayon kay bolida (2007) philippines daily inquirer: layunin ng pag-aaral ang pag-aaral na ito ay isang ponolohohikal, morpolohikal at sintaksis na pagsusuri sa wikang sinama – badjao na inihambing sa wikang filipino at ingles. naglalayong masagot ng pag-aaral na ito ang mga tiyak na katanungan: 1. ano ang istruktura ng ponolohiya ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa paraan ng artikulasyon at punto ng artikulasyon? 2.ano ang istruktura ng morpolohiya ng wikang sinama-badjao ayon sa paglalapi, pag-uulit at pagtatambal? 3.ano ang istruktura ng sintaksis ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa mga tuntunin sa pagpaparilala at mga tuntuning transpormasyunal: payak “simplex, pang-ugnay, sugnay na kondisyunal , pang-abay na pananggi, pananong at hugnayan/relatibisasyon. 4.ano ang pagkakaiba at pagkakatulad sa ponolohiya, morpolohiya at sintaks ng wikang sinama-badjao sa ingles at filipino? 5. anong desinyong pang-kurikulum ang maaaring iplano para sa pangunawa sa pangkat –etnikong sinamabadjao? metodolohiya kwalitatibong pamamaraan ng ginamit na metodolohiya sa pag-aaral na ito na may disenyong pagsusuri sa phenomenology ng wikang dahil sinuri ang mga ponema, morpema ng wikang ingles at filipino. ang pag-aaral sa istruktura ng wikang sinama ay pagtutuunan ng fukos sa konteksto ng kultura ng kapaligiran ng pangkat etnikong ito. pinag-aralan ang linggwistik istruktyur ng wikang sinam-badjao. limang (5) tao na sinama badjao ang informant ng pag-aaral na ito pinili sa pamamaraang purposive sampling dahil ang mga badjao na ito ay matatagpuan 251 international peer reviewed journal sa badjao village barangay ng sinunuc , isang barangay sa tabi ng dalampasigan sa bahaging timug kanlurang mindanao at nakaharap sa basilan strait. ang mga badjao na pinili ay may edad 40-60 at matagal nang naninirahan sa lungsod ng zamboanga. mga natuklasan 1. ano ang istruktura ng ponolohiya ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa punto ng artikulasyon at paraan ng artikulasyon? talahanayan 1. mga salitang may paglalapi sa wikang sinama badjao at salin sa filipino at ingles kalahok pangalan salitang sinama salin sa filipino salin sa ingles 1 sabaya aga pinangiram anakan magbissara maghining pag-usapan ipinaglihi ipinanganak magulo magsalita hanapbuhay ‘concieved’ ‘was born’ ‘how to speak’ ‘to make a living 2 juratul l. maljante pang-enrol kabaya-baya magtagalog dinagangon makapag-aral nangyari magtagalog ibebenta ‘ to study’ ‘happened’ ‘speak tagalog’ ‘to sell 3 raya m. maljantel maglabat agbutas makadangon ?habambuhay nagkahiwalay magbenta ‘forever’ ‘separated’ ‘to sell’ 4 tudjabara j. anivoi atauh paggastos ahiya marunong panggastos lumaki ‘to know’ ‘express’ ‘grew’ 5 sugailla tahaji angalenta tangbus pasalig? lumipat nagtapos lumaki ‘transfer’ ‘finished’ ‘grew’ makikita sa talahanayan 1 na sa wikang sinama-badjao ang mga salita ay nahahati sa malayang morpema na tinatawag na salitang-ugat at di-malayang morpema na tinatawag na panlapi. may mga salitang maaring bigkasing magisa at di laging nakadikit sa iba pang morpema. tinatawag na mga, malayang morpema ang mga salitang sin-aglahat-passal, fil-dahil, ing-because; sinmataah, fil-magulang, ing-‘parents’;sin-maituh fil-dito, ing-‘here’; sin-tepoh, fil-banig, ing-‘mat’;sin-iskul, fil-aral, ing-‘study’; 252 jpair multidisciplinary research may mga morpema ding tinatawag na di-malaya dahil laging nakakabit sa ibang morpema. tinatawag na ‘affix’ o panlapi ang mga morpemang nakakabit sa malayang morpema. sa wikang sinama ang mga panlapi at salitang-ugat ay makikita sa mga sumusunod:sin-in+ aniram= pinangiram , fil-ipinaglihi, ing-‘conceived’;sin-mag+bissara=magbissara, fil-magsalita, ing.’to talk’; sin-anak+an=anakan, fil-anak, ing-‘child’;sin-ka+baya-baya, fil-nangyari, ing’happenned’; sin-in+dagangon=dinagangon,fil-ibebenta, ing-‘to sell’; sinmag+lahat=maglahat, fil-habambuhay, ing-‘forever’; sin-pag+usaha=pag-usaha, fil-hanapbuhay, ing’occupation’; sin-ta+sabut=tasabut, fil-makaintindi, ingl’to understand. ; sin-ma+ituh=maituh, fil-dito, ing.’here’ talahanayan 2. mga salitang pag-uulit sa wikang sinama-badjao at ingles sinama badjao filipino ingles dahu-dahu diki--diki panahon time but used as long before batay sa mga salitang may pag-uulit, makikita sa talahanayan 2 sa halos lahat ng mga kalahok ang pag-uulit nang buo sa mga salita . sa unang kalahok ang salitang sin-tatauh, fil-marunong, ing-‘know a little’; ay may pag-uulit sa unang pantig ng salitang-ugat, sa ikalawang kalahok ay may pag-uulit sa buong salita at may kasamang panlapi o di-malayang morpema sa salitang sin-kabaya-baya, filnangyari, ing-it happenned’. magkatulad lang ang mga halimbawa ng salitang may pag-uulit sa iba pang mga kalahok dahil sa limitadong mga datos. talahanayan 3. mga salitang tambalan sa wikang sinama-badjao at salin sa filipino at ingles kalahok salita mga salitang pinagtatambal filipino ingles salaya a. aga magtaihanak magtaih+anak magkapamilya ‘family juratul l. maljanti duisab andu+isab naman ‘also raja m. maljanti duisab (pareho) tudjahara j. amioni danyuius dam+putus bawat supot “used os for every bag’ makikita sa talahanayan 3 ang mga salitang tambalan sa wikang sinamabadjao. kaunti lamang ang mga salitang nakalap mula sa mga panayam. mapapansin sa mga salita ang pagbabagong naganap sa pagsamasama ng salitang hinandu + isab , fil-naman , ing-‘also’ . dalawang salitang pinagsama ang sinmagtaih+ anak na nagkaroon ng ikatlong kahulugan o”implied meaning”. sa 253 international peer reviewed journal sinama ang magtaih ay may kahulugang buon sa filipino at sa ingles ay “whole’o intire’. ang anak sa sa filipino ay anak sa ingles ‘child’. nagkaroon ito ng kahulugang magkapamilya sa filipino at ‘whole family ‘ sa ingles. sa salitang sinamabadjao na damputus may pagsasam ng dalawang salita na tinatawag na tambalang di-ganap. ang daw at putus ay pinasama at nagangahulugang bawat supot sa filipino at ‘for ‘every bag’ sa ingles. talahanayan 4. komparatibong analisis sa mga salita ng wikang sinama-badjao, filipino at ingles sinama-badjao filipino ingles 1. pinangiram ipinaglihi ‘conceived’ 2. dahu-dahu una ‘first’ 3. diki-diki konti ‘a little’ 4. asigpit mahirap ‘difficult’ 5. patennah nakatira ‘lived/staying’ 6. atauh marunong ‘know’ 7. akuh ako ‘i’ 8. matauh magulang ‘parents’ 9. magtaihanak magkapamilya ‘family’ 10. magbissara magsalita ‘to speak’ 11. magdongon ibebenta ‘to sell’ 12. ahap mabuti ‘good’ 13. ubus pagkatapos ‘after’ 14. tepoh banig ‘mat’ 15. passal masaya ‘happy’ 16. piituh pumunta ‘went’ 17. pag-iskul pag-aral ‘for the studies’ 18. ummul edad ‘age’ 19. tahun taon ‘years’ 20. maingga saan ‘where’ 21. paggastos panggastos ‘for expenses’ 22. kabaya-baya nangyari ‘happened’ 23. anakan pinanganak ‘born’ 24. inah ina ‘mother’ 25. tasabut maintindihan ‘understand’ 254 jpair multidisciplinary research talahanayan 5. mga parirala sa wikang sinama-badjao at salin sa filipino at ingles kalahok sinama filipino ingles 1 simula akuh pingiram simula ng ipinaglihi ako since my mother conceive me 2 ubus pagga magbunu mab siasi tapos napakagulo sa siasi it was very clastic in siasi 3 paggaasigpit pag-usah pistu napakahirap ng buhay doon life was difficult there dabu-dabu bay kami mah jolo, solo, siasi unang –una, doon kami sa jolo, sulu. siasi first we stayed in jolo, sulu, siasi inggaih arub atauh maghinsama tagalog hindi ako marunong magsalita ng tagalog i don’t know how to speak in tagalog kalahok 4 hallom sin paggastos para maka-iskul walang perang panggastos para sila makapag-aral have no maney for expenses for their studies kalahok 5 posal hallom akuh nakaiskul, ako imbal hahati kuh kasi hindi ako makapag-aral kaya hindi ako nakapagaral kaya hindi ko maintindihan i was not able to study because i can’t understand talahanayan 6. komparatibong analisis sa mga salita ng wikang sinama-badjao, filipino at ingles sinama-badjao filipino ingles 1. . pinangiram ipinaglihi ‘conceived’ 2. dahu-dahu . una ‘first’ 3. diki-diki . konti ‘a little’ 4. asigpit mahirap ‘difficult’ 5. . patennah nakatira ‘lived/staying’ 6. atauh . marunong ‘know’ 7. . akuh ako ‘i’ 8. matauh magulang ‘parents’ 9. magtaihanak magkapamilya ‘family’ 10 magbissara magsalita ‘to speak’ 11. magdongon ibebenta ‘to sell’ 255 international peer reviewed journal 12. ahap mabuti ‘good’ 13. ubus pagkatapos ‘after’ 14. . tepoh banig ‘mat’ 15. passal masaya ‘happy’ 16. piituh pumunta ‘went’ 17. pag-iskul pag-aral ‘for the studies’ 18. . ummul edad ‘age’ 19. . tahun taon ‘years’ 20. . maingga saan ‘where’ 21. paggastos panggastos for expenses’ 22. . kabaya-baya nangyar ‘happenned’ 23. anakan pinanganak ‘born’ 24. . inah ina ‘mother’ 25. . tasabut maintindihan ‘understand’ talahanayan 6. mungkahing disenyong pangkomunidad key result area strategy objective activities time frame person involve budjet success 1) magbasa kita to teach children reading and writing teaching children basic skills in reading &writing one week teachers student teacher sponsorship school fpr children 2)livelihood triaing program (community participation) to train residentents on small scale business enterpreneurship development seminar 3 days community residents speakers and purok zone/ leaders 20, 000 3) leadership training (shared values) 1. to enhance leadership skills on the leader and residents of the baranggay 2) to strengthen confindence and self-esteem of the participants. 3) to identify skills of conflict resolution personality development seminar team building seminar one week one week barangay officials speaker purok zone/ leaders barangay officials speaker purok zone/ leaders 25,000 15,000 manif4station of respect of self and others know how to solve problems and successfully resolve conflict in the community using what has learned to earn a living 256 jpair multidisciplinary research leteracy program(social contact) to develop knowledge and skills on the residents especially those who don’t go to school remidial classes on basic subject one month faculty residents and out of school youth 30,000 leteracy mula sa sa natuklasan ng mananaliksik sa pag-aaral na ito, binuo ang mga sumusunod na konklusyon: ang istruktura ng ponolohiya ng wikang sinama –badjao ay halos katulad sa istruktura ng wikang filipino. na nahahati sa patinig at katinig. may limang (5) patinig at labing-anim ang katinig sa wikang sinama-badjao.ang istruktura ng morpolohiya ng wikang sinamabadjao ayon sa paglalapi ay katulad din ng sa wikang sinama ay magkatulad sa wikang filipino na binuo ng pagsasama ng di –malayang morpema at malayang morpema. sa pag-uulit ay ganoon din. sa wikang sinama ay may pag-uulit din ng unang pantig ng salitang-ugat tulad ng sin-tatauh, fil. marunong. ang pagtatambal sa wikang sinama-badjao. kaunti lamang ang mga salitang nakalap mula sa mga panayam. mapapansin sa mga salita ang pagbabagong naganap sa pagsamasama ng salitang hinandu + isab , fil-naman , ing-‘also’ . dalawang salitang pinagsama ang sin-magtaih+ anak na nagkaroon ng ikatlong kahulugan o”implied meaning”. bibliyografi bottignolo, b., (1998) celebrations with the sun: an overview of religious phenomena among the badjaos. quezon city: ateneo de manila university press. casino, eric (1976). the jama mapun: a changing samal society in the southern philippines casino, eric et al. (1975). ethnic groups of insular southeast asia cruz, leticia c. (1999). sama badjao, sama bangingi, sama sibuco: a description and comparison, ateneo de zamboanga gonzales, fsc andrew and ma. corazon s romero the manila lingua franca as the tagalog of first and second generation immigrants into metro 257 international peer reviewed journal manila (pilot study) philippines journal of linguistic, linguistic society of the philippines 1993 jundam, masbur bin –ghalib. asaian center echnic research field report (series ii) no.2 asian center unversity of the philippines, diliman, quezon city 1983 national conference on the history and culture of the bajau. february 26-27, 2001. culture and peace studies, 1, 1, june 2001. nimmo, hadji arlo. (2001). magosaha: an ethnography of tawi-tawi sama dilaut. nimmo, h. a., (1972) the sea people of sulu: a study of social change in the philippines. san francisco: chandler publishing company. nimmo, h. a., (1994) songs of salanda and other stories of sulu. quezon city: ateneo de manila university press. paz, consuelo ang pag-aaral ng wika the university of the philippines press. diliman quezon city philippines daily inquirer. april 1,2007 pennoyer, f. douglas. inate: the hidden negrito language of panay, philippines. philippines journals of linguistics. vol. 18.& vol. 19. 1986-1987 sather, c., (1997) the bajao laut: adaptation, history, and fate in a maritime fishing society of south-eastern sabah. oxford: oxford university press. santiago, alfonso o. at tiangco, norma g. (2003). makabagong balarilang filipino.rex book store teo, s. s., (1989) lifestyles of the badjaos. manila: centro escolar university research and development center. 258 jpair multidisciplinary research trick, douglas. (1997). equi-np deletion in sama southern. philippine journal of linguistics 28:1-2 pp. 125-143 warren, c., (1983) ideology, identity and change: the experience of the bajau laut of east malaysia. james cook university, southeast asian monograph series, no.14. yamamoto, h., (2002) “the emergence of bajau identity in british north borneo (sabah)” southeast asia: history and culture, 31, may 2002 53 international peer reviewed journal holistic framework as an approach towards a relevant and responsive community extension and development program: the case of sitio dipanamianan rowel g. olila https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-7460 rowelolila@gmail.com aurora state college of technology baler, aurora, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract an integrative, participatory, sustainable, and outcomes-oriented community extension and development activity must have three main elements in the program planning, namely, (1) research, (2) extension activity that focuses on technology dissemination and adoption generated from research findings, and (3) capability building of stakeholders and beneficiaries. combining all these concepts, the researcher termed these approaches holistic or holistic approaches towards making extension programs relevant and responsive according to the situation and conditions of the community it intends to serve. the research investigated the overall quality of the 5 year community extension and development program, the status, and responses of the beneficiaries of the extension program in its adopted community in sitio dipanamianan, brgy. pingit, baler, aurora, philippines. the researcher used the community needs assessment to describe the beneficiaries’ prevailing conditions and status. the research utilized a mixed-methods research design through the community needs assessment vol. 45 · july 2021 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 journal impact: h index = 5 from publish or perish doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.755 vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.755 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-7460 mailto:rowelolila@gmail.com 54 jpair multidisciplinary research survey (cna) and focus group discussion. these were utilized to investigate the participants’ responses, level of participation, and willingness to make the extension activity sustainable and outcomes-oriented. based on the holistic model, it is found out that the 5 year community extension and development program is comprehensive, containing all the principles of the holistic approach. the respondents believed that the holistic approach to extension services is a crucial factor in the sustainability of the program and a high level of participation from the beneficiaries. keywords — social science, extension, outcomes-oriented, mixedmedthods, sitio dipanamianan, philippines introduction an extension is one of the primary core functions of higher education institutions together with research, instruction, and production. in the extension initiatives, it is where the generated knowledge is brought to the community through extension training and other initiatives. technical knowledge is adopted by the community, hoping that it can transform the lives of the people in the suburbs. all the extension efforts are expected to generate results and impact the lives of the people it wishes to serve. through the extension initiatives, the academic institutions can realize their mission. the origin of the problem of extension activities is that participants and extension workers are not treated as collaborators in the process but merely execute decisions from the central unit or agency responsible for the program. the old framework does not allow participation in the extension program, and the training of project implementers is insufficient. the ability to communicate and engage in dialogue on rendering advisory services and an institutional linkage is missing. an institutional framework must be considered that will serve as a link between the government agencies, private organizations, and the cooperators-the farmers (cho & boland, 2003). many colleges and universities already have extension initiatives. it is one of the major functions of any higher education institution. there were structures adopted, designed, and invented for extension and training services to serve their purpose. an integrative, participatory, sustainable, and outcomes-oriented community extension and development activities, must have three main elements in the program planning, namely, (1) research, (2) extension activity that focuses on technology dissemination and adoption generated from research findings, 55 international peer reviewed journal and 3) capability building of stakeholders and beneficiaries (international fund for agricultural development [ifad], 2006). raison (2014) considers three innovative approaches to the educational mission: sense-making, contextual (typological) framing, and an internal starting with why concept. there were four current approaches in agricultural extensions, namely, (1) partnership extension services, (2) people-centered participation, (3) farmers organizations, and (4) fund mobilization through shared responsibility among all the stakeholders (saliu et al., 2009). there were models of innovation related to the agricultural extension, which are believed to be mutually exclusive. among the competing models, the innovation systems approach in agricultural extension worked in the vietnamese context as they engage in discourses, interaction, and support strategies that will improve the people’s livelihood (friederichsen et al., 2013). the research utilized the holistic approach towards making extension programs relevant and responsive according to the status and conditions of the community it intends to serve. extension initiatives in the academe have been in place for years. however, with regards to making it integrative, participatory, sustainable, and outcomes-oriented, there is much work to do. after every extension work, it will die out naturally. reasons may range from the lack of careful and strategic planning, limitations of budget, administrative support, and lack of response from the community; impacts that were complex if not impossible to see and measure. the political, social, economic, environmental, emotional, and psychological conditions prevailing between the extensionists and the community aggravate the situation. the people in the community are after an immediate result. they cannot appreciate the good benefits and the advantages of the information disseminated in the extension work. it is challenging for them to change their ways. they doubt the knowledge, technical skills, and usability of the information being packaged in the extension work. some of the delivering institutions did it to comply with academic standards, accreditation, and targets. after achieving the desired accreditation level, the extension program will have its natural death. the efforts will continue if another visit, compliance, or application for accreditation is at hand. higher education institutions operate traditionally believing that they are doing the service for the benefit of the community and not as a two-way relationship. the first perspective is a charity in nature, unconsciously emphasizing the privilege that the organizers hold. in contrast, a service perspective is about collaboration and mutual benefit (ward & wolf-wendel, 2000). 56 jpair multidisciplinary research there is also a misconception about extension work. most of the time, the nature of the programs are mere outreach activities, gift-giving, and the like. the delivery of extension work is dole out, making the people mere recipients of the program well; in fact, they can share and contribute something in making the extension program work. the dole-out approach makes the people in the community believe that in the community, for extension work, there would be much stuff, groceries, and the like to be given by the organizers. they did not realize that aside from outreach activities, there are more worthwhile activities that people can use in their life to improve their socio-economic conditions (ward & wolf-wendel, 2000). the extension program of the graduate studies department of aurora state college of technology in sitio dipanamianan, baler, aurora, philippines, was conceived in this scenario. there were scattered activities, but all those did not lead to a particular, specific outcome. with these concepts at hand, the 5 year extension development program was developed anchored on the different principles to making the extension services of the institution relevant and responsive that engages in the transfer and utilization of technology generated from research and varied agricultural training and livelihood programs leading to the community’s empowerment. framework the holistic approach is where this research was anchored. it is a philosophy stating that all parts of a thing are interconnected. when applied in planning for extension work, it embraces all the aspects and domains of the life of the people it wishes to serve. it is necessary for a perspective geared towards sustainable strategic development to utilize the existing community development approaches. according to research, transformational change and effective leadership have been the goal of development approaches that is holistic and innovative. these existing approaches will be compared to what is in existence. the existing development strategies may be effective in helping and building the capacity of communities. as an institution aims for a holistic perspective, it could need planning and decision-making aligned with socio-ecological sustainability to support longterm effects and progress (al-dahir & bisley, 2009). according to vanclay (2004), the critical principles for agricultural extension to assist in the promotion of natural resource management are (1) awareness of farming as a social activity; (2) to recognize the farmers’ social diversity and the 57 international peer reviewed journal prime movers in agriculture, and (3) the sociocultural basis of adoption. there are issues relating to public agricultural extension. the problems that a community faces vary from political, social, economic, and cultural issues both at the local, national, and international levels. the renewal of processes related to agricultural extension systems is a worldwide concern and the role of the public sector is still in question on how institutions shall deal with these in the future. different partnerships may be explored between public and private and take advantage of the open access in general extension. the efficiency offered by the private sector, and capital and market orientation, will be part of this partnership (haug, 1999). extension development projects to be holistic must put the local community at the center, and all applied technologies must support their aim for a better life. it must serve as a springboard that will detach them from anything that prevents them from realizing their empowerment. the local community is essential. therefore, extension projects must not be separated from the context of local culture, and they must have a deeper understanding of poverty in the context of the social, political, economic, cultural, and personal factors as invisible causes of deprivation. the development of this approach and its implementation needs a great deal of time, compassion, and dedication on extension workers. development projects must include the “human” aspects combined with technical aspects as crucial factors of its success. through this holistic development perspective, people who are called beneficiaries will have an equal share of their empowerment and not as mere receivers of imposed beliefs and ideas. though time-intensive and experiences are often frustrating, the holistic development project is the heart of the holistic development approach (zahnd, 2005). the satisfaction of fundamental, personal and familial, and communal needs may result in a long-term impact. these are indications that inevitable changes are happening in the lives of the people in the community. a series of surveys after the initial implementation of the development project can assess the impacts and the appraisal of the community participation as an outcome of the shared responsibility between the proponents and the community. the impact assessment will measure the delivery of the basic personal, familial, and community needs. it will also measure if the program resulted in an overall improvement in the quality of life of the people. the impact assessment would serve as a basis for developing the intervention project (zahnd, 2005). the crafting of the 5-year extension and development followed the model of the holistic community development approach. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/view/author/zahnd,%20alexander.html 58 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study there were numerous researches conducted on the approaches towards practical community extension work. these researches include the problems and difficulties encountered by extension workers, lack of response and consistency of the extension work, and almost none to the poor impact of the extension program. the research utilized the (1) holistic approach as a framework to assess the significant components of the 5 year community extension and development program. this was used as a basis to plan, develop, and implement the community extension development of the institution. after two and a half years of implementing the holistic community development plan, (2) the research measured the impact of the extension program on the stakeholders and beneficiaries in terms of relevance and responsiveness. the results of the impact assessment were made as bases in the crafting of the intervention plan. lastly, the researcher analyzed (3) the importance of the approach in developing outcomesoriented community extension work. methodology research design the research utilized mixed methods research design. a survey was conducted to assess the community needs assessment survey (cna) and focus group discussion to measure the impact of the extension work. the community needs assessment survey form (cna) and the focus group discussion (fgd) are the primary instruments for gathering data. the study analyzed the components of the strategic development plan, which is patterned after the holistic framework. it also evaluated the implementation process and the responses of the beneficiaries in terms of the relevance and responsiveness of the community extension program. the study may help discover underlying principles in developing a community extension program that is holistic. it will secure that the program will respond to the needs of the community and be relevant to community conditions. the findings of this research can serve as a basis for planning, strategic interventions, and policy formulation in the design and implementation of the extension plan of the college or university. participants the research involves the residents of sitio dipanamianan, brgy. pingit, baler, aurora as participants. they are primarily farmers and represent their 59 international peer reviewed journal entire household. twenty-five (25) household heads participated in the community needs assessment survey and focus group discussion. these twenty-five participants were initially identified by the municipal agriculture office of baler, who were also beneficiaries of their programs and projects. they were chosen based on residency, years of stay, and certified farmers or at least engaged in farming as owners or tenants of the land they tilled. the participants accomplished the cna form and participated in the fgd. instrumentation the research evaluated and analyzed the five year community development plan using the holistic framework as a basis for the analysis. the research conducted an analysis of the key components of the plan and its relevance to the community. the components of each were carefully analyzed when it comes to its contribution to the whole program. the research used the community needs assessment form as the basis for consultative meetings and re-planning. it utilizes the focus group discussion (fgd) as a vital tool in gathering data that identifies the relevance and responsiveness of the extension program. the researcher conducted an unstructured interview to validate the data inputs collected from the cna and a structured interview to facilitate the fgd and come out with the extension program’s relevance and responsiveness to the people’s lives in the community. data collection the research is descriptive. it conducted a quantitative and qualitative data analysis based on the holistic approach framework. it draws inferences and meanings from the components of the 5 year development program. the research engaged in careful analysis of inferences, and meanings especially on the results of the cna. the research conducted a consultative meeting to validate the results of the cna. the research engages in evaluating the five year community extension program based on the inputs gathered during the consultative. after implementing the different components of the program according to the timeline, the research utilized the fgd to gather the stakeholders’ input regarding the relevance and responsiveness of the extension program. the researcher tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted the results to answer the objectives of the study. the research used statistical tools and techniques to ensure the good and systematic presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data, primarily for the quantitative part of the study. these tools include frequency and percentage (to describe the relationship of a part to the whole). the research 60 jpair multidisciplinary research utilized the qualitative method to draw inferences and give meanings to the responses of the participants based on the result of the fgd. results and discussions barangay pingit is one of the barangays of the municipality of baler. it is a rural barangay comprising seven sitios. one of these is sitio dipanamianan, the extension site of the education and the graduate studies department of aurora state college of technology. the barangay residential areas, commercial, industrial, and agricultural lands, the biggest in square kilometers except for special classes land comprising 5.84 sq. km. it has no mineral resources nor timberland, unlike other barangay that are rich with those resources mentioned. it has a total land area of 10.25sq.km. brgy. pingit has five different landforms. it has plains, uplands, mountains, and even coastal areas. the area is suitable for agriculture due to the vast fertile plains utilized by the locals for farming palay, fruits, coconuts, and different types of livestock and crops. from the commission on election data dated april 29, 2017, about 1,547 households and 1,740 families. the set-up of the family members is mainly due to the practices of filipinos having relatives living with their parents, brother, or sisters. as of april 2017, there were a total of 2,940 registered voters in the area. there were cases of malnutrition in the barangay beginning from moderate to severe but with a very small percentage of children recorded. although the research of zahnd (2005) focuses mainly on the delivery of electricity as a basic need of the community, the researcher believes that it represents the overall socio-economic conditions of the people. it is important to address the fundamental concerns of the people in order to see the visible changes in their lives. addressing the fundamental concerns of the people will also give way to other problems related to the improvement of quality of life. the extension workers and the community must work collaboratively to address these emerging problems of the people in the community. the barangay is generally peaceful with minor incidents related to crime, with some notable cases of physical injury, rape, and crime against property. the most severe cases are those related to vehicular accidents. there are also existing programs and projects based on barangay’s annual investment program during the past year. these are the existing and ongoing projects and activities that the barangay facilitates to protect the rights and freedom of the people. 61 international peer reviewed journal the residents of sitio dipanamianan have an average of 5.48 children per family. some have 7-13 children, most of whom are not attending schooling and married at an early age. those married children are still living with their parents. the residents have been in the area for almost 13 years. a total of 56% held a tricycle, 48% had motorbikes, 4% bicycle, and 4% owned a tractor. the majority of the residents owned their toilets (72% flush/de buhos), 16% still use the pit latrine (hukay), and there were residents (8%) who did not have a toilet of their own. instead, they are just using their neighbors’. the residents are still dependent on spring water/well (44%), while 20% use pitcher pumps and 28% use barangay waterworks. although sitio dipanamianan is a few kilometers away from the barangay/town proper, still 88% have the provision of electricity, and 12% still use gasera (gas lamp) and batteries. the residents burn their wastes (64%), 32% of them bury their refuse in the ground, and some (12%) tend their garbage to the barangay collectors. most of the residents have a house made from wood materials (85%), 8% bahay kubo (bamboo, nipa, and wood), and 4% have a place made from concrete. the residents use scrap wood/firewood in cooking (72%), some are still using charcoal (24%), and 52% use lpg. the majority of the residents (72%) have their vegetable garden in the backyard together with medicinal plants, and 24% of the population do not plant nor maintain a backyard garden. when it comes to the techniques employed in limiting the number of children, 56% disagree with the idea of using such. a smaller percentage of the population had undergone ligation (8%), 24% used pills, and 4% used iud and condoms. the residents till and cultivate a vast tract of land, especially the mountain slopes since they are devoted to agriculture. half (52%) of the residents served as tenants, and only 28% owned the lands they cultivated. there are inborn disabilities like being deaf and having cleft lift, in which 8% and 12% were acquired (respiratory disease, mild stroke, and bone disease). to institutionalize an extension approach that is participatory, there should be an assessment of the root problems and existing conditions. innovations can be introduced gradually and systematically and never aim for a complete change of the system. in the case of sitio dipanamianan, the program assessed the prevailing conditions to identify the needs to be addressed and take advantage of good practices which are already in existence (minh et al., 2010). 62 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. summary of the significant components of the 5-year development plan under item a: establishing linkage a. establishing linkage status 1. consultation meeting with the local officials and residents of the target barangay. accomplished 2. feeding program. accomplished 3. gift-giving among the selected beneficiaries. (school supplies/ tsinelas campaign. accomplished 4. profiling of the target area. accomplished 5. needs identification/ assessment accomplished 6. development of extension plan accomplished 7. moa signing between the ascot graduate studies and brgy. pingit, baler aurora. accomplished the 5-year extension development plan begins with establishing linkage to the community. the organizers implemented a series of activities, like (1) consultation meeting with the local officials and residents of the target barangay. this ensures that the people and the local officials will commit to the program. establishing rapport with the community is necessary to resolve indifference among the community members and immediately address concerns. after establishing linkage, the organizers conducted a series of feeding programs. this is to increase the institution’s visibility to the community as each tries to get the favorable response of people of all ages. the series of feeding activities were implemented simultaneously with the gift-giving activities among the selected beneficiaries. these were mainly school supplies and slippers. after earning the confidence of the members of the community, the extension workers started the profiling of the area with the help of the local officials and community volunteers. the extension workers completed the data through the community needs assessment with the help of the community volunteers and the barangay officials. the cna served as the primary basis in the crafting of the extension development plan. this is to ensure that the activities will be relevant and respond to the residents’ preferences and prevailing conditions. communities vary in different ways. extension services play a vital role in addressing community needs by formulating a program to strengthen community extensions. there have been changes in the lives of the people in the rural areas. these changes are related to basic social, economic, educational, political developments. involvement of the community has positive effects, 63 international peer reviewed journal and collaboration among service providers is vital towards the success of rural extension services (amanah & fatchiya, 2018). after conducting the initial activities according to the holistic community development plan, the memorandum of agreement was signed between the aurora state college of technology and the brgy. pingit, baler aurora. the series of activities enable the institution to establish linkage with the community effectively. the community needs assessment ensures that the program will be relevant according to the conditions at hand. according to baxter et al. (1989), the extension needs an appropriate structure that will link other activities to agencies responsible for delivering of the program. the community extension development program must recognize the existing problems and conditions to develop appropriate and outcomes-oriented targets. for minh et al. (2010), in their research on farmer livestock school (fls), using a participatory approach in extension is a successful experiment in the micro-scale. in vietnam, there are possibilities to institutionalize the fls through challenges related to capacity and resources. table 2. summary of the significant components of the 5-year development plan under item b: extension programs developed based on the results of the cna b. extension programs/activities according to the results of the can status 8. literacy programs a. basic literacy for elementary pupils b. alternative learning systems especially for out-of-schoolyouths c. adult education c.1. parenting/responsible parenthood seminar c.2. personal hygiene/sanitation/disease prevention seminar c.3. political education seminar c.4. seminar on global warming and illegal logging in aurora with tree planting activity accomplished accomplished accomplished 9. transfer of technology/ utilization of research outputs to create possible additional/alternative sources of income among the people status a. basic farming technologies accomplished b. trends and technologies in organic farming accomplished c. sabutan cultivation for implementation d. backyard gardening accomplished 64 jpair multidisciplinary research e. handicraft making e.1. sabutan-making e.2. souvenir items (t-shirt, fans, key chains, and others) for implementation f. food processing f.1. banana chips making f.2. gabi chips f.3. santan (coco jam making) f.4. taro chips/polvoron for implementation g. seminars g1. basic financial management seminar g.2. advance financial management seminar (selected participants) for implementation 10. livelihood programs a. livelihood projects a. 1. establishment of cooperative/election of officers b. 2. dispersal projects (pigs, goat, sheep, cow, carabao, ducks) c. 3. establishment of an outlet (store) in ascot showcasing their products. d. 4. monitoring and evaluation of the cooperative. e.5. registration to securities and exchange commission to be qualified for external funding (local and foreign) for implementation (activities may change/vary depending on the readiness of the target clienteles.) after the successful implementation of the initial component of the community extension development plan, the extension workers implemented the series of extension programs and activities according to the results of the cna. literacy is one of the major concerns among people of all ages. literacy programs should be offered for elementary pupils, alternative learning systems, especially for out-of-school-youths and adult education. under adult education, this includes (1) parenting/responsible parenthood seminar, (2) personal hygiene/ sanitation/disease prevention seminar, (3) political education seminar, and (4) seminar on global warming and illegal logging in aurora with tree planting activity. when it comes to literacy programs, it failed to implement numbers 2, 3, and 4. the implementation of these literacy activities shall be done in succeeding months in between the technical and livelihood activities. it is indispensable that generated knowledge from research must be disseminated to the community. the developed knowledge must be translated into extension activities in which discoveries must be known, utilized, and adopted by the community. new trends in the field of agriculture can improve the quality and quantity of harvest. the dissemination of knowledge, in the long run, will help the farmers improve their economic conditions. the problem 65 international peer reviewed journal with technology adoption when introduced is that farmers are dubious about the method and scientific processes. they prefer to remain to their ancient and traditional knowledge even if the land is not yielding a good harvest. with this concern, essential farming technologies, trends, and technologies in organic farming will be part of the technical knowledge dissemination together with knowledge in sabutan cultivation, backyard gardening, handicraft making, food processing (banana chips making, gabi chips, santan (coco jam making and taro chips/polvoron). it is not enough that people be given technical skills related to livelihood. it is also necessary to include a seminar on basic financial management and advanced financial management for selected participants. in this way, this can empower them to be entrepreneurs and engage in business without losing their initial capital. the trend about government-funded assistance on business capital is that recipients do not have the skills to improve and grow. aside from livelihood training and management seminars, the program also aims to establishment a cooperative/election of officers, dispersal projects (pigs, goat, sheep, cow, carabao, ducks), establishment an outlet (store) in ascot showcasing their products, monitoring, and evaluation of the cooperative, registration to securities and exchange commission. the registration to sec will qualify the organization for external funding (local and foreign). the series of extension activities under technology transfer and utilization aimed to empower the community to establish their source of income, properly manage it and engage in a cooperative. it is not enough they learn the skills. the target beneficiaries must learn to adopt the skills. depending on the participants’ readiness, the implementation of the activities will vary to secure the maximum adaptation and learning of new skills. the extension workers implemented three activities considering that livelihood training requires a budget. to address this concern, the researcher had written a proposal to agricultural training institute regional office iii. this will ensure that the livelihood and agricultural extension activities will continue with support from government agencies when approved accordingly. baxter et al. (1989) stressed that four principles must be considered for an agricultural extension to be effective. first is the transfer of knowledge and skills in agriculture among the farmers. second is a proper understanding of the production systems and scientific basis of the knowledge the extension staff promotes. third, extension systems must be research-oriented, meaning all technical knowledge to be disseminated among farmers must produce intensive research. lastly, a range of strategies for consistent follow-ups to ensure the 66 jpair multidisciplinary research project’s sustainability. further, baxter et al. (1989) suggested that for these principles to be operational, there is a need for a trained workforce, researchbased training, an approach that will encourage collaborations and stakeholders of the program. given the access to extension services and linkage to the market, reji and guha (2020) maintained that farming can be profitable and productive. these agricultural innovations in the grass-roots are vital in providing the farmers’ costeffective services. in a study conducted by timprasert et al. (2014), the adoption of technical knowledge in agriculture has a significant difference when the researcher measured the knowledge of pest management which influenced their adoption and nonadoption of the technology. the more farmers have better knowledge about the technology, the higher the adoption level, and the lesser knowledge would mean poor adoption of the technology. this result reveals that it is necessary to disseminate research-based agricultural technology among the target beneficiaries for a higher level of adoption. this, in turn, will result in a higher yield and quality harvest. table 3. summary of the significant components of the 5-year development plan under item c: research in impact assessment c. research on impact of extension programs status 11. research study on the impact of the extension programs of ascot among the residents of sitio dipanamianan implemented 12. utilization of the findings and recommendations of the impact assessment: a basis for re-planning and intervention. its aims to align the extension programs according to the needs of the community. ongoing after the planning phase of the 5 year extension development program, packaging of literacy activities, and livelihood training and seminars, it is necessary that research be done to keep the program in place. the extension organizers understood that as it implements the community development extension program, there will be plans and initiatives that are no longer applicable or not working in the actual implementation. research must be conducted concerning the relevance and responsiveness of the program. in this way, evaluation of the strategies is possible, the implementation can be revisited, and impacts of the extension program can be measured. impact assessment results can be used as bases to modify, re-plan and develop intervention strategies to ensure that the 67 international peer reviewed journal extension program is on the right track. impact evaluation is necessary to measure the program’s effectiveness. the assessment must include the evaluation of the communication and the flow of information, (2) levels of adoption of the community to the technical knowledge shared in the training and other desirable practices, (3) if the training inputs were utilized, improvement in the yields of major crops, changes in the income, and if the extension program generally resulted to an improved life condition (rubi, 2019; sreensunpagit, 1983). table 4. summary of the significant components of the 5-year development plan under item d: empowerment d. empowerment status 1. founding of an organization and election of officer. for implementation 2. capacity-building of the community through their selected leaders/officers through additional training and seminars on leadership and management. for implementation 3. turn-over of projects to the community. (requires minimal supervision to secure the sustainability of the project) for implementation the community extension development plan also has provisions for empowerment. it means that there will be initiatives that will equip the collaborators with the necessary skills they need to acquire to be self-reliant and independent after the maturity of the program (sy, 2012). for empowerment initiatives, there will be an activity for the founding of the organization and an election of officers. there will also be capacity-building activities that will prepare them for the transition. monitoring and evaluation is a technical activity requiring highly developed and specialized skills in the social sciences and statistics, combined with substantial knowledge of the extension system and development constraints. however, the most serious and frequently encountered weaknesses are staffing, particularly staffing in the senior ranks. in some situations, insufficient professional and supervisory posts have been provided, while in others, posts have been created but remain unfilled owing to a lack of qualified staff or grading difficulties. this can have severe consequences on both data quality and work output. (baxter et al., 1989). 68 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. summary of the significant results of the focus group discussion on the relevance and responsiveness of the 5-year extension development plan fgd results rank 1. residents are not mere recipients but co-participants and co-operators of the program. 1st 2. the extension workers conducted consultative meetings among the residents, which became the basis for re-planning and intervention strategies. 2nd 3. the community engages in the sharing of resources. 3rd 4. regional, national and municipal agencies are involved in the process, thereby strengthening the success indicators of the program. 4th 5. the extension activity is sustainable, consistent, varied, and comprehensive. 5th 6. the packaged training was informative and useful. 6th 7. the change of designations of extension workers is a concern for them. 7th 8. the change of administration of both the institution, the partner agencies, and other stakeholders affect the consistency of the extension projects. 8th 9. they concern themselves about the day-to-day needs and sometimes skip the training and or activity. 9th 10. the extension program is encompassing. 10th 11. the extension activities are varied, valuable, and timely. 11th 12. the implementation of the projects will have significant impacts on their lives. 12th 13. when the technical knowledge is appropriately disseminated to the community, this can help the residents improve their farms, yields, and other sources of income. 13th 14. extension workers are accommodating and people-oriented. 14th 15. a partnership must continue until the community can apply the technical knowledge learned with minimal supervision from the extension workers. 15th the community prefers to be a collaborator and co-participants rather than mere recipients or beneficiaries. participants emphasized this preference in the fgd. the idea of being recipients and beneficiaries made them feel even more inferior and insecure. the institutions or individuals are in a position of being privileged compared to the ones being helped; they prefer consultation concerning their needs and are very much willing to share the resources available to their households or in the community. they are happy that there is a convergence between the college and the regional, provincial and local agencies. in this way, efforts are centralized and focused. agencies and institutions have 69 international peer reviewed journal separate extension programs but, most of the time, a mere replication of another (ward & wolf-wendel, 2000). the participants commended the usability of the technical knowledge because the program encompasses all the aspects of the life of the people in the community. despite the valuable knowledge that they can get, participants will still skip some training because they have to provide food on their tables to feed their families for a day. the people from the beginning were doubtful but became interested, for they realized that the technical knowledge could help them improve their farms, yields, and other sources of income. the challenge related to technology adoption is the budget and the consistency of the technical services being rendered by the extension workers. they believe that partnership must continue until the community can apply the technical knowledge learned with minimal supervision from the extension workers. active and comprehensive extension services play a vital role in advancing sustainable food production, ensuring food and cultural security at the local level (sattaka et al., 2017). baxter et al. (1989) maintained that effective organization of all extension activities must be stressed and identified in the program design. a feasible work program must be available and the program must be known to collaborators. the outcome of the extension work must be the dissemination of technical knowledge that will help the collaborators improve the productivity and yield of their farms and continuous assistance to agricultural services. extension workers must also engage in professional development related to the expertise or technical knowledge that they render to the community. lastly, the implementation of the extension activities shall be conducted in the community and must cover all the aspects of production activities of the farmer-beneficiaries. conclusions findings revealed that the 5 year extension development plan contains all the essential principles of the holistic framework based on zahnd (2005) model. the holistic community extension development plan started with simple outreach activities that attend to the basic needs of the community. the initial inputs of the development plan resulted in inevitable changes in their day-to-day lives. there is an increased awareness of the holistic community extension development program. the residents realized the different possibilities that the program may offer. the community needs assessment became the key in unlocking https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/view/author/zahnd,%20alexander.html 70 jpair multidisciplinary research the prevailing conditions of the community. without the cna, inputs in the 5-year extension development program will be inconsistent and lacks focus. the program will become irrelevant and irresponsive. after the implementation of some of the significant components of the program, the conduct of an impact assessment is necessary to validate its relevance and responsiveness. in this way, extension workers can identify missed opportunities. impact assessment can also serve as feedback on the development program and if it is functioning according to its intended purpose. the response of the community is also important. the participation of the community in the development program indicates that they are collaborators towards their empowerment. they realized that the community is not treated as mere recipients of the program but as a co-operator who plays a vital role in personal and community development. also, the transfer and utilization of technology packaged into extension training became an essential component towards empowerment. lastly, the model of zahnd (2005) includes a follow-up with previous project villages was conducted by revisiting families to discuss the ongoing changes and impacts of the projects. the 5 year development plan also provides a follow-up and impact assessment that will identify if the basic personal needs, family needs, and community needs were met. the assessment of the program can determine if there is an indication that the quality of life of the people is improving. the impact assessment will validate if the community extension development program is successful in attaining its goal. this validation would serve as a basis for the re-planning and development of the intervention project. baxter et al. (1989) pointed out that in agricultural extension, advancing technical knowledge is a requirement to effect agricultural development. for an effective diffusion of technical knowledge in agriculture, a mechanism for fieldwork involving the farmers as collaborators should be part of the program. extension and community development initiatives can be delivered in different approaches, but there are basic and constant roles that extension workers need to perform. these functions are technical advisory services for increased production and income of farmers as well as to identify the prevailing conditions and existing agricultural practices. this will enable the extension workers to identify appropriate and relevant technical advisory services among the farmer-collaborators. another important component of the extension development program is the relationship between agricultural researches with technical support services. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/view/author/zahnd,%20alexander.html 71 international peer reviewed journal the 5-year community extension development plan contains all the principles and roles that it performs in the delivery of the extension programs in sitio dipanamianan. agricultural extension led to rural development and alleviated the people from poverty. however, there remains a disparity among farmer communities (castella et al., 2006). though effective, and results are favorable for the attainment of objectives, it must address the gaps related to training, budget, and networking, among others (quimbo, 2013). following the holistic framework, the community extension development program has led the aurora state college of technology, through its implementing academic unit, to an integrative, participatory, sustainable, and outcomes-oriented community extension and development initiatives. the 5 year community extension and development program is relevant and responsive to community needs (herrera, 2010). generally, the community extension and development plan has contributed to an improved life condition (rubi, 2019) among its identified farmer-collaborators. translational research the findings of this research may assist community extension programs of academic institutions to develop an institutional extension and development program that adheres to the holistic framework. the findings of this research can be used as a reference for crafting a community extension manual that will guide all extension workers towards developing a holistic community extension development program. acknowledgements heartfelt gratitude is extended to aurora state college of technology in general for the support related to the conduct and publication of this research. the researcher also recognized the assistance of all those who contributed to the completion of this research. literature cited al-dahir, a., & bisley, h. j. k. 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(2005). a holistic approach to community development: bringing water, sanitation, heat and light to rural villages in the himalayas. world rivers review, 20(1), 8-15. retrieved from https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu. au/id/eprint/12670/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2014.04.008 https://doi.org/10.1071/ea02139 https://doi.org/10.1071/ea02139 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f00027640021955586 58 jpair multidisciplinary research students’ sexual orientations, self-esteem, and problems jeremias l. convocar http://orcid.org/000-0002-6489-5881 jeremiasconvocar@gmail.com west visayas state university-lambunao campus lambunao, iloilo myrna l. pios https:/orcid/0000-0002-7349-0800 myrnapios1973@gmail.com west visayas state university-lambunao campus lambunao, iloilo originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract creating a safe and supportive learning environment for all students regardless of their sexual orientations is especially important. this descriptive study determined the extent of sexual orientations, level of self-esteem and problems of 664 randomly selected senior college students of a certain state university in the philippines. the online epstein sexual orientation inventory (epstein, mckinney, fox, & garcia, 2012), rosenberg (1989) self-esteem scale, and mooney (in tian & heppner, 2018) problem check lists were employed in the study. the findings revealed that of 664 college students, 56 % were “straight,” 38 % were “bisexual,” 6 % were “homosexual”; of 300 males, 57 % were “straights”, 33% were “bisexuals”, and 9% were “gays”; of 364 females, 55% were straights, 42% were “bisexuals”, and 4% were “lesbians”. they had “high” vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.681 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/000-0002-6489-5881 mailto:jeremiasconvocar@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 59 international peer reviewed journal self-esteem regardless of their sexual orientations; male-bisexuals had significantly better self-esteem than male-gays. generally, they need concentration in studying academics and enough rest, worried about how to get a job after graduation and economic condition of their parents, personal financial needs, social leadership qualities, and spiritual assurance. however, gays and lesbians need more freedom and most obsessed with emotional and sexual life. thus, higher education institutions should provide to all students a wholesome and supportive learning environment responsive to students’ individual needs and well-being regardless of sexual orientations. keywords – sexual orientations, self-esteem, problems, college students, hei, philippines introduction the college student years can often be very difficult in general, but for homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual (glb) students their problems can turn out to be more than they can deal with. being glb for some individual is something that they cannot divulge with because society, most of the time, says that deviating from being sexually straight is wrong and degrade one’s personality or dignity. despite positive messages they received from significant achievements and accomplishments in the community and school yet they received many blatant or subtle negative messages about their sexuality and how well they did or did not conform to gender expectations (glsen, 2003). previous research has demonstrated that sexual minority youth report greater levels of school-related problems, including a weaker sense of attachment to school and more trouble with teachers and peers (pearson, muller, & wilkinson, 2007). gay and lesbian individuals may be subject to negative outcomes following self-disclosure, such as verbal and physical abuse, poor academic performance, substance abuse, and suicide attempts, which may lead to elevated psychological distress (savin-williams, 1989). other salient factors that may contribute to depression in gay and lesbian individuals include increased stress, low social support, perceived discrimination, victimization, bullying, and rejection (almeida, johnson, corliss, molnar, & azrael, 2009; corrigan & matthews, 2003). furthermore, internalized homophobia (sometimes called internalized homonegativity) as a result of being socially stigmatized by society (lock, 1998) can lead to psychological distress, such as depression (williamson, 2000) also 60 jpair multidisciplinary research linked to low self-esteem and loneliness (szymanski, chung, & balsam, 2001) may relate to a broad range of mental disorders and social problems (mann, hosman, schaalma, & de vries, 2004). as affirmed, higher education institutions are legally, ethically, and morally obliged to provide equity to educational opportunities and protection under the law for all students. in observance of its mandates the academe is expected to create a safe, supportive, and nondiscriminatory environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and even transgender students. appropriate and adequate guidance and counseling programs and activities may be provided to help students on their problems including sexuality (akerlof & kranton, 2002; snyder & broadway, 2004). such negligence may fuel the level of prejudice, harassment, and discrimination that deny sexual minority students of their basic rights to quality education. this study was anchored on weiler (2003) position that sexual minority students faced challenges in their social, physical and emotional growth and development however most often they may encounter extreme problems on social isolation, self-doubt, and fear. as such, schools have a major role and responsibility in preparing adolescents for the transition to adulthood not only to impart skills and knowledge but to convey social norms and values (akerlof & kranton, 2002; snyder & broadway, 2004) responsive to individual needs regardless of their sexual orientations. hence, study to identify factors related to glb self-esteem and problems and developing programs to address these factors for at-risk gay and lesbian students is vital for such purpose. this study will look into prevailing problems and self-esteem of sexual minorities among college students. since problems and needs of gays, lesbians and bisexuals could be one of the major concerns to be attended by guidance and counseling office of the higher education institution; hence students’ sexual orientation, self-esteem, and problems do deserve the merit for the investigation. do gay, lesbian, and bisexual students were predominant had low selfesteem? what are their common prevailing problems? this question must be answered. hence this study was conducted. framework the association of self-esteem to one’s sexual orientation has been an area of focus because of the implications it has on overall well-being. for instance, baumeister, campbell, krueger, and vohs (2003) has found that in general, 61 international peer reviewed journal individual with high self-esteems fare better in the face of adversity, performed better in a group, and tend to be happier than people with low self-esteem. furthermore, low self-esteem is a general risk factor for depression (orth, robins, & roberts, 2008). particular aspects of the coming out process are related to higher self-esteem, such as positive attitude towards homosexuality, involvement in gay and lesbian activities and reported self-disclosure of sexual identity (rosario, hunter, maguen, gwadz, & smith, 2001). conversely, concealing one’s sexual identity, that is, “being in the closet,” can have a negative impact on self-esteem and life satisfaction (bos, sandfort, de bruyn, & hakvoort, 2008) which illustrates the importance of acknowledging one’s sexual orientation. on the other hand, jones and patulin (in guimba, alico & taib, 2015) mentioned the problem areas affecting students’ college lives such health and physical hindrances, home and family relationship, leisure time, personality, financial, religious life and church affiliation, school, social including moral and civic, and vocational. exploring self-esteem and problems confronting college students may bridge the gap of what college education is all about. objectives of the study the objectives of the study are: (1) to determine the profile of students’ sexual orientations in a state university; (2) to ascertain the self-esteem among straight, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students grouped according to their sex, and (3) to identify the common problems among slgb students. methodology research design the data were collected from the self-administered survey of 661 randomly selected college students of one of the campuses of a certain university in the province of iloilo, philippines. descriptive-inferential research was selected to test the hypotheses and to answer the current status of students’ sexual orientation, self-esteem, and problems. a survey of the respondents’ sexual orientation, selfesteem, and problems using a set of the questionnaire were employed. participants in this study, 664 randomly selected college students in predetermined higher education institutions in the province of iloilo, philippines. the respondents were classified as to their sex. there were 300 (45.18%) males and 62 jpair multidisciplinary research 364 (54.82%) females. the researchers obtained an ethics clearance from the ethics review committee and also got signed informed consent from the respondents. all participants were over 18 years of age and were properly informed about the purpose and nature of the study. further, they were advised that their participation was voluntary of which their consent was asked prior to their acceptance as respondents. they were also were guaranteed the privacy and confidentiality of the data gathered. pseudonyms were used in reporting research to protect the anonymity of the participants. instrumentation sexual orientation inventory. to find out the “sexual orientation” of the students, the investigator utilized the 18 items electronics epstein sexual orientation inventory (esoi), a test of sexual orientation designed by robert epstein (in epstein, mckinney, fox, & garcia, 2012), one of america’s most distinguished research psychologists. the test has been empirically validated with a sample of nearly 18,000 people in more than 40 countries. permission to utilize the instrument for the study was secured from dr. epstein. the response authorized the use of the test and access to electronic processing of data and analysis regularly. to hard copy of the test was reproduced and administered directly to the respondents and likewise, their retrieved individual responses were entered in esoi electronic questionnaire for data processing and analysis. the results of computer processed scores were interpreted as follows: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 heterosexual sexual orientation continuum homosexual the range from lowest score to highest score is the sexual orientation range (sor). the lower your scores, the more heterosexual the orientation. the higher your scores, the more homosexual the orientation. the wider the range, the greater the sexual flexibility and the more choice have about how to behave sexually. the center point of the sor is mean sexual orientation (mso). rosenberg self-esteem scale (ses). the test was adopted from rosenberg (1989) self-esteem scale (rses) is made up of 10 items that refer to self-respect and self-acceptance rated on a 4-point likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 4 (totally agree). the scale is a brief and unidimensional measure of 63 international peer reviewed journal global self-esteem. the test has demonstrated good reliability and validity across a large number of sample groups with both male and female adolescent, adult and elderly population. for scoring, the computation of the ratings assigned to every item after reverse scoring the positively worded items with a scoring range from 10 to 40, with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. the test was scored by adding and interpreted by means of the scale as follows: very high self-esteem, 22.60 – 30.00; high self-esteem, 16.00 – 22.59; low self-esteem, 7.60 15.09; very low self-esteem, 1.00 -7.59. mooney’s problem checklist. to gather the data for the students’ common prevailing problems, the researcher adopted the mooney’s (in tian & heppner, 2018) problem checklists. the checklist consists of seven problem areas and number of problem checklists as follows: academic (25), career (7), family (14), health (16), social (14), personal (20) and religion (5). the questionnaire consisted of identified problems and the respondents will be requested to check the problem which troubles them most. an open-ended question is provided in the later part for other problems not included in the list. their score from each problem was totaled and ranked to determine the most prevailing problems. data analysis procedures the data gathered for the study were subjected to a certain computer analysis using the statistical package for the social sciences (spss) software. the percentage analysis, mean, standard deviation and rank were used for descriptive statistics, and the kruskal wallis h test was employed in inferential statistics with probability level set at 0.05 alpha. results and discussion initially, the extents of sexual orientations among selected college students were determined in this research. the obtained frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and corresponding standard deviations were used in the analysis. the extent of sexual orientations among college students. of the 664 college students, 372 (56.01%) were “straights,” 251 (37.81%) were “bisexuals,” and 41 (6.18%) were “homosexuals.” figure 1 shows the overall profile of students’ sexual orientation. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research however, when their sex was considered, of 300 males, 172 (57.33%) were “straights”, 100 (33.33%) were “bisexuals”, and 28 (9.33%) were “gays”; and of 364 females, 200 (54.95%) were straights, 151 (41.48%) were “bisexuals”, and 13 (3.57%) were “lesbians”. these findings imply that a majority or 55% of the students were straight, and the minority consisting of 40 % bisexuals and 5 % homosexuals. figure 1. profile of students’ sexual orientation however, when homosexuality was considered, gays were more prevalent (9%) among males than their lesbians (3%) female counterpart. this profile of gays among males and lesbians among females supports burri, cherkas, spector, and rahman (2011) contentions that homosexuality appears to be a constant sexual phenotype in humans when measured as exclusive same-sex “feelings” (e.g., homosexual attractions and fantasies). the distribution of same-sex attraction in the case of present study is generally bimodal and this is stronger for men than it is for women. students’ self-esteem grouped as to their sexual orientation data revealed that as an entire group (m=17.83, sd=3.09), and when classified as to sexual orientations (straight, m=18.10, sd=3.18; bisexual, m=17.65, sd=2.99; homosexual, m=16.40, sd= 2.51) the college students in this study had “high” self-esteem. these findings may imply healthy self-esteem prevailing among students regardless of their sexual orientations. in other words, they believed in their self-worth and confident for themselves. according to donnellan, trzesniewski, 65 international peer reviewed journal robins, moffitt, and caspi (2005), a student with high self-esteem have a positive outlook of their life, feel confident, view difficulties as challenges, and can be assertive. it is important to have healthy self-esteem because it gives one the courage to try new things and the power to believe in and value their selves even when they make mistakes (olson, fazio, & hermann, 2007). self-esteem of male students grouped as to their sexual orientations as an entire group (m=17.31, sd=2.70) and when classified as to straight (m=17.51, sd=2.89), bisexual (m=17.23, sd=2.42) and gay (m=16.28, sd=2.31), the male college students had “high” self-esteem. although generally, the subjects found their self-esteem “high,” a closer look at the means in terms of sexual orientation, the gays (16.68) perceived their the self-esteem “lower” than did their bisexual (17.10) and straight (17.51) counterparts. the findings suggest that the high self-esteem enjoyed by male students in this study regardless of their sexual orientation imply social support or acceptance (cruse, 2004; savin–williams, 1989). however, the low perceived self-esteem among male-gays may be attributed to their identity problems. self-esteem of female students grouped as to their sexual orientations as an entire group m=18.26, sd=3.33), and when classified as to straight (m=18.62, sd=3.33), bisexual (m=18.01, sd=3.26) and lesbian (m=15.42, sd=2.78), the female college students had “high” self-esteem. although generally, the subjects found their self-esteem “high,” a closer look at the means in terms of sexual orientation, the lesbians (15.42) perceived that their self-esteem is “lower” than their bisexual (18.01) and straight (18.62) counterparts. the high self-regard of students in this study seemed to attribute to some factors like self-perceived competence, self-acceptance, and sense of support of others regardless of their sexual orientation. according to harter (1986), competence and social support, together provide a powerful explanation of the level of self-esteem. harter’s in research on self-perceived competence, explains that every child experiences some discrepancy between what he/she would like to be, the ‘ideal self,’ and his/her actual perception of him/herself, ‘the real self.’ when this discrepancy is large and it deals with a personally relevant domain, this will result in lower selfesteem. moreover, the overall sense of support of significant others (especially parents, peers and teachers) is also influential for the development of self-esteem. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research children’s who feel that others accept them, and are unconditionally loved and respected, will report a higher sense of self-esteem (bee, 2000). thus, students with a high discrepancy and a low sense of social support reported the lowest sense of self-esteem. these results suggest that efforts to improve self-esteem in students require both supportive social surroundings and the formation and acceptance of realistic personal goals in the personally relevant domains (harter, 1986). on the other hand, “lower” self-esteem among lesbians may suggest feelings of non-acceptance or fear of disclosure of their sexual orientation. according to russel (2015), the disclosure of sexual orientation or gender identity in school will develop self-esteem than those who hide. thus, non-acceptance or fear of disclosure among sexual minorities may lead to lower self-esteem or depression. difference in the male and female students’ self-esteem grouped as to their sexual orientation male students’ self-esteem grouped as to their sexual orientation a kruskal-wallis h test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the self-esteem scores of male students between the gays and bisexuals, x2 (2)=12.219, p<0.05, with a mean rank score of 17.23 for bisexuals and 16.28 for gays. however, there were no significant differences in the selfesteem between gays and straight, x2 (2) =11.058, p>0.05, and between straights and bisexuals x2 (2) =13.91, p>0.05. the findings suggest that male-bisexual students had better self-perceived image or esteem than the male-gay counterpart. this may be since exposure or non-exposure of one’s true status of sexual identity may affect the level of their self-esteem. this finding was supported by corrigan and matthews (2003), that the status of identity development is likely related to the level of self-esteem and proneness to anxiety or psychological distress. perhaps, the low level of self-esteem among gays is attributed to the conflicts over their sexual identity, were verbally and physically assaulted by family members, most often by their mothers (pilkington & d’augelli, 1995), peer harassment (isay, 1991) being called “homosexuals” (or pejorative variations) as the worst harassment (remafedi, 1994), can increase the likelihood of poor selfimage or low self-esteem. these findings support lamke (1982) study on the relationship between sex-role orientation and self-esteem in early adolescence junior high school 67 international peer reviewed journal students which revealed that androgynous individuals had higher levels of selfesteem than feminine and indifferent individuals. conversely, being bisexual as were not devolved, disclosed, or unconsciously recognized by some students as to their age, were not issue that may greatly affect their self-image or self-esteem. female students’ self-esteem grouped as to their sexual orientation a kruskal-wallis h test showed that there were no significant differences in the self-esteem scores of female students between the lesbian and bisexual, x2 (2)=3.374, p>0.761; between the lesbians and straights, x2 (2)=11.058, p>0.05; and between bisexuals and straights, x2 (2)=13.911, p>0.05. the findings imply that self-esteem among female college students is not an issue of sexual orientations. in other words, sexual orientations among female students did not influence their self-esteem. according to harter (1986), girls are more likely to have internalizing symptoms than boys; boys are more likely to have externalizing symptoms; and that girls appear to be better than boys in positive self-evaluation in the domain of behavioral conduct. self-perceived behavioral conduct is assessed as the individual view on how well behaved he/she is and how he/she views his/her behavior in accordance with social expectations (harter, 1986). negative selfperceived behavioral conduct is also found to be an important factor in mediating externalizing problems (reda-norton, 1995). thus, the findings suggest that by nature, female students in their positive self-evaluation have that ability to mediate externalizing problems that do not significantly affect their self-esteem regardless of their sexual orientations. prevailing problems among straight, bisexual, and homosexual college students grouped as to their sex i. male students prevailing problems of straight male students. from each problem area the straight male students mostly encountered “lacking in concentration” in academic; “needing to know how to get job after graduation” for career; “parents sacrificing much” in family, “lacking sleep” in health; “lacking leadership qualities” in social aspect, “lacking money” for personal need, and “wanting to understand bible” in religion as their most common prevailing problems. the results indicate that the socio-economic status of the sexually straight oriented students in this study seems to affect their learning abilities, emotional 68 jpair multidisciplinary research stability, health, and social conditions. likewise, the students were anxious about their eternal security for the salvation of their soul in their desires to know the truth in the holy scriptures. prevailing problems of bisexual male students. from each the bisexual male students had “lacking in concentration” in academic, “worried about future” for their career , “parents sacrificing much” in the family, “lacking sleep” for health, “lacking leadership qualities” in social aspect, “lacking money” for personal need (45, 45%), and “wanting to understand bible” in religion (38, 38%) as their most common prevailing problems. likewise, the findings imply that the bisexual students in this study were physically, mentally, and emotionally affected by their socio-economic conditions. they were very much concerned about the economic plight of their parents who sacrificed much for their studies and for them to have a better future. due to such life predicaments, the students were more concerned about finding a job after graduation to help out their families from the difficulties of underprivileged life. prevailing problems of gay male students. from each problem area the gay male students mostly encountered “lacking in study habits” in academics, “needing to know how to get a job after graduation” for their career, “needs freedom” for their family life, “toothache” for their health, “too aggressive” in social aspect, “in love” in personal, and “wanting to understand bible” in religious aspect as the most common prevailing problems. the findings suggest that the male-gays students were more preoccupied with their health, mental and social problems as influenced by their sexual orientation. according to erikson’s (1965, 1968) theory on the stages of psychosocial development in children, adolescents, and adults and herbert’s (1987) flow chart focus on the vicissitudes of identity and the development of unhealthy mental and social problems. according to these theories, when a person is enduringly confused about his/her own identity, he/she may possess an inherent lack of selfreassurance which results in either a low level of self-esteem or in unstable selfesteem and feelings of insecurity. however, low self-esteem—likewise inflated selfesteem—can also lead to identity problems. under circumstances of insecurity and low self-esteem, the individual evolves in one of two ways: he/she takes the active escape route or the passive avoidance route (herbert, 1987). the escape route is associated with externalizing behaviors: aggressive behavior, violence, and school dropout, the seeking of reassurance in others through high-risk behavior, premature relationships, cults or gangs. reassurance and security may also be 69 international peer reviewed journal sought through drugs, alcohol or food. the passive avoidance route is associated with internalizing factors: feelings of despair and depression. extreme avoidance may even result in suicidal behavior. according to chakraborty, mcmanus, brugha, bebbington, and king (2011), homosexual people tend to experience more mental health problems than heterosexual people on the ground of sexual orientations discriminations. thus, the gay aggressiveness in this study might be associated with some frustrations. a. female students prevailing problems among “straight” female students from each problem area the straight female students mostly encountered “lacking in concentration” in academics, “needing to know how to get a job after graduation” for their career, “parents sacrificing much” in family life, “lacking sleep” for their health, “lacking leadership qualities” in social aspects, “lacking money” for personal need, and “afraid to hell” for religious aspect as the most common prevailing problems. likewise, the results indicate that that the straight female students in this study were physically, mentally, and emotionally affected by their socio-economic conditions. they were very much concerned about the economic situation of their parents who sacrificed much for their studies and to have a better future. due to such life predicaments, the students were concerned about how to land a job after graduation to help their parents and alleviate their economic conditions. prevailing problems among bisexual female students from each problem area the bisexual female students mostly encountered “lacking study habits” in academic, “needing to know how to get job after graduation” for their career, “parents sacrificing much” in family, “lacking sleep” for their health, “lacking leadership qualities” in social aspects, “lacking money” for personal need, and “afraid to hell” in religious aspect problems. prevailing problems among “lesbian” female students from each problem area the lesbian female students mostly encountered “lacking study habits” in academics, “worried about future” for their career, “need more freedom” in the family, “lacking sleep” in health, “lacking leadership qualities” in social aspect, “in love” in personal aspect, and “afraid to hell” in religious aspect as the most common prevailing problems. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research the result indicates that lesbians were more preoccupied of their personal, health, family, and career problems. they need social support and understanding of their emotional, social, and financial problems associated with their unique sexual orientation. as argued, lesbian youths experienced social isolations due to lack of support systems at home, in the community, and the educational system (mercier & berger, 1989), and contributes to their high-risk status (elia, 1993). thus, the findings suggest social support at home, community, and educational system for them to live normally with a majority of heterosexuals students. conclusions stereotyping of the profile of sexual orientations is true also college students. the majority had a straight sexual orientation, bisexuals at the middle and homosexuals belonging to the sexual minority. the prevailing wholesome, nondiscriminatory atmosphere and supportive learning environment develop the positive self-image and self-esteem among students regardless of their sexual orientations. they become more resilient despite the challenges and difficulties they encountered in school and their personal life due to the existence of social support at home, community, and educational system. the better self-esteem among bisexuals than gays among male students was attributed to the non-disclosure of their sexual orientation. on the other hand, the lower level of self-esteem among gays was attributed to the conflicts and confusions arising from their sexual identity. the students of the public higher education institutions in the philippines were predominantly affected by the socio-economic conditions of their family. as a consequence of their adverse economic conditions, some of them cannot eat regularly, cannot concentrate on their study, prone to illnesses, and very much worried about their future. enduringly confusion about one’s sexual identity develops unhealthy mental, emotional, and social problems among homosexuals that result to over preoccupation of their love life, bothering about sex, spiritual insecurity, aggressiveness and longing for more freedom from family. translational research additionally, this study may help curriculum developers and guidance and counseling program planners in addressing the needs and concerns of students 71 international peer reviewed journal regardless of their sexual orientation. from the foregoing findings, it is concluded that most of the sexual minorities were deprived of the guidance and counseling services responsive to their unique sexual identities. supports provided by the family, community, and academe were only limited to address the general concerns of students, but fail to look into the special needs of sexual minorities. hence, the current status of self-esteem and prevailing problems across students’ sexual orientation may help in the diagnosis and remediation of the physical, emotional, social and spiritual problems of college students. the self-esteem and problems of students determined in this study could be useful to high school and college guidance counselors, instructors and their students. it will also enlighten their understanding of students sexual orientations and preferences and factors that may affect their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual development. this will also help education planners and policymakers to develop various programs and activities that are more responsive or sensitive to the needs of sexual minorities. finally, the findings of the present study were very useful to the 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(2000). internalized homophobia and health issues affecting lesbians and gay men. health education research, 15(1), 97-107. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/her/15.1.97 https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20014 https://bit.ly/2xyhhte https://bit.ly/2xyhhte https://bit.ly/2uai44k https://bit.ly/2nlppc1 https://doi.org/10.1093/her/15.1.97 57 international peer reviewed journal the socio-cultural and political undertones in demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic leo andrew b. biclar orcid no. 0000-0001-7276-1018 leoandrewbibitbiclar@gmail.com the graduate school, university of santo tomas españa, manila, philippines abstract the philippines, a treasury of oral folk epics, calls us for opportunities to research epics in transition, documenting and introducing them to wider audiences. losing of the epic tradition attracts national and international attention and becomes a concern of the state and the educational system. this study is focused on the metahistorical contexts of the epic barter in panay by ricaredo demetillo (1961) who gathered his materials from maragtas. the study is anchored to hornedo’s (2004) theory of reality frames in teaching literature. employing descriptive-qualitative method of research through textual analysis unfolds the value of the text as literary and fictive-historical records. the study aims to answer: how the narrative structure of the epic unveils the political and social practices of the visayan people? how the characterization reveals the themes of the literary epic? barter in panay reflects the “sweetness and light” of the filipino lifeways-its unique genetic origin and rich traditions. the voice in the epic sketches the community beyond the spatial and projects itself into the future who continues his legacy to the young listening to the tales. the epic contains historically self-aware characters providing integral engines to the filipino identity. the study benchmarks for literary-anthropological research. keywords – literature, barter in panay, literary epic, reality frames of teaching literature, central panay, folk literature, descriptive design, philippines vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.271 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction the philippines, a treasury of oral folk epics, gives us opportunities to research epics in transition, which implies documenting epics and introducing them to a wider audience. the losing of living epic tradition attracts national and international attention and becomes a concern of the state and the educational system. this leads to the cultural alienation of the students or the younger generations about their culture. it is a vital role of the teacher to fill the gap between the hermeneutical experiences of the students and the cultural values and traditions that their ancestors have practiced in the past which only literature have recorded. according to hornedo (2004: 1), the classic principle of teaching effective communication – unity, clarity, simplicity, and veracity – is the same principle applied to teaching any form or materials being taught – and in any case, to literature classes. there is a strong possibility that the teaching of literary material would become disorganized and incomprehensible if the teacher himself is alienated from the literary principles and the text content. this problem arises because literature itself is complicated in form when considered or treated as an art of life. the people’s way of life is not clear or does not have specific directions, so as literature if it is not studied and taught accurately by the teacher. giving value to life as an art itself becomes the focus of literature. the student’s interpretation may be dependent in his hermeneutical understanding towards the literary texts he reads if the teacher would religiously apply the basic pedagogical principles of learning. the study of folklore in the philippine school curriculum is drowning due to the lack of interest among teachers and students. addition to this is the influence of the filipino-westernized forms of literature like novels and short stories in english. this school setting resulted to the filipino’s acculturation despite the efforts of the parents or other carriers of cultural heritage in enculturating the filipino minds. florentino h. hornedo (2000: 51)1 stated that so vital is folklore to the creation of any national masterpiece. when a writer begins to create a work of art and happens to have been cut off from the mainstream of his race’s lore, he is constrained to steal from other cultures or to create his myths so as to contrive the illusion of being rooted in something or being a part of a larger whole. thus, teachers of literature are responsible to creating phenomenal nationalism 1 hornedo, f.h. 2000. culture and community in the philippine fiesta and other celebrations.p.51 59 international peer reviewed journal awareness of filipinos’ founding parents’ heroic values and traditions, not by regressing, but by way of re-establishing a national cultural continuity. these ideals seek to express the metaphors of the past and the metaphors of the mass consciousness that goes within or beyond the classroom setting. “needless to say, the condition of philippine folklore had known happier days. and in the rough tides of colonial history, it was either the victim of cultural suppression or of neglect. its marginalization froze its progress, and time left it behind. and instead of reaching the 20th century through the mainstream of filipino urban culture, it vegetated in the mountains and fermented in the basements of the cities.” (florentino h. hornedo: 2000:53) in 1989, former president corazon c. aquino proclaimed the un decade of cultural development in the philippines, along with the declaration of nationalism in commemoration of the centennial of philippine revolution. it was during that time, pcca (presidential commission for culture and the arts) took the lead in drumming up a lively interest in cultural preservation. the proclamation could have been the answer for the warning made by cultural scholars, which mostly composed of the philippine folkloric society that the pace of social and technological modernization and globalization was threatening the very existence and survival of traditional culture and arts. the problem could be true anywhere in the world. the school curricula have not included the traditional arts and the younger generation had neither the motivation nor even the opportunity to receive their ancestral traditions (hornedo, 1998: 97)2. culture for the people. the creation of artistic and cultural products shall be promoted and disseminated to the greatest number of our people. the level of consciousness of our people about our cultural values in order to strengthen our culture and instill nationhood on cultural unity shall be raised formally on the educational system and informally through extrascholastic means, including the use of traditional as well as modern media of communication. (sec. 6, art. i, ra 7356) 2 this was discussed by dr. f. h. hornedo in his article at unesco intangible of cultural heritage, 1998. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research preservation of the filipino heritage. it is the duty of every citizen to preserve and conserve the filipino historical and cultural heritage and resources. the retrieval and conservation of artifacts of filipino culture and history shall be vigorously pursued. (sec. 7, art. i, ra 7356) contributing to the call of filipino cultural preservation in the school curriculum, as stated in ra 7356 (an act creating the national commission for culture and the arts, establishing national endowment fund for culture and the arts, and for other purposes) in the philippine constitution, it is therefore the desire of the researcher to illuminate the meaning of one of the many epics found in his birthplace – panay island philippines to the young minds and international audience. the barter in panay: an epic1, as the subject of this study is claimed by ricaredo demetillo (1961) as the first literary epic of the philippines, for the materials for this work were gathered from the very life of the people and from the checkered history of the filipinos taken from the maragtas. maragtas is an account containing the semi-historical, semi-legendary records of the bornean settlement in panay led by datu puti and datu sumakwel. in this literary creation, ricaredo demetillo used the materials from maragtas with poetic license to suit his own epic purpose2. e. arsenio manuel (maragtas symposium: 44) rejected maragtas as neither a folklore nor a history, for it fails to meet the requirement the authenticity of any folklore material. in the same manner, f. landa jocano (maragtas symposium: 60-61) declared that: “whether or not the maragtas is acceptable historical document is dependent upon our view about history. if by history we mean actual events as recorded by witnesses, then maragtas, on the basis of inconsistent internal documentation, has to be rejected as non-historical. but if by history we mean “a branch of learning which deals with written documents about those actions of men which are also social events or result in general conditions, then the maragtas can be accepted as part of the oral tradition of folk history.” the analyses of e. arsenio manuel and f. landa jocano are construed to the declaration of pedro alcantara monteclaro in the preface of his transcription in 1907 as translated by dr. manuel carreon: 61 international peer reviewed journal “in order that the readers of this maragtas should not accuse me of having merely composed this book from imagination, i wish to mention the two manuscripts upon which i based my work. one of these was given to me by an eighty-year-old man, who said that it was handed to him by his father, who in turn got it from his father, the old man’s grandfather. this old man was the first teacher in town. the long years through which this manuscript must have passed wore out the paper so much that one had to exercise utmost care in handling it. what made it worse was it was written only in black dye and smeared with the inflammable sap of trees, which burned and made useless parts of the paper. i found in a bamboo tube, where my grandfather used to keep his old papers, the other manuscript. this manuscript however, was not very legible and was so brittle that i could hardly handle it without tearing it to pieces. having located one manuscript and concluding that there must be available another copy elsewhere, i decided to ask different old men and women in town. my search was not in vain because later i came across in the street the afore-mentioned old man, who even went to extent of giving me the manuscripts dealing with what happened in the town of miag-ao from the time of its foundation. as a remembrance of the town of miag-ao, i copied these records in a book on june 12, 1901, but did not publish them then for the reasons i have already stated.” monteclaro’s proclamation on the authenticity of his collection, and the analyses contributed by e. arsenio manuel and f. landa jocano infers that maragtas might gain the respectability of ethnohistory of the filipinos. william henry scott (1984: 91-103) placed maragtas as both written and oral sources then available, and contains three sorts of subject matter – folks customs still being practiced or remembered by old folks, the description of an idealized political confederation whose existence there are reasonable grounds to doubt and for which there is no evidence, and a legend recorded in 1858 of the migration of bornean settlers, some of whom are still remembered as folk heroes, pagan deities, or progenitors of part of the present population of panay. scott further discussed that there is no reason to doubt that this legend preserves the memory of some actual event, but it is not possible to date the event itself or to decide which of which details are historic facts and which are embellishments of generations of oral transmission. maragtas thereof contains ethnographic value and depicts the society as an effective, pragmatic charter of the people’s lifeways. it embodies their worldview, 62 jpair multidisciplinary research tells of their origin, contains their ceremonial prayers, provides a “historical” reality for their religious, political, and social norms; defines their kinship structure, express their feelings, and vouchsafes their empirical judgments (jocano in maragtas symposium: 61). thus, it is the duty of the teacher to uncover the aesthetic value of the text, not merely as a historical record, but also as a reflection of the filipino’s metahistorical identity through literary approach/ technique. metahistorical analysis appears to hold much promise in uncovering the aesthetic value of the literary work. monteclaro’s maragtas as the source of demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic will not be used in this study as a subject; however, it serves as the primary reference in rereading the epic barter in panay. framework the folk or ethno-epics belongs to the first and longest period, stretching backward to prehistoric time. lumbera and lumbera (1982) remark that, owing to the development of our history and consciousness, this period is often overlooked (lumbera: 1982). the problem leads to the false notion that oral lore went with the precolonial milieu at the dawn of colonialism in 1564. folklorists however lead us, to the more historically valid view of epic as a living form. the epic singer or poet and his community has to be reconceived as a synchronic other either as carrier of the tradition or a historical witness of his time. in 1963, e. arsenio manuel surveyed the philippine ethno-epics and classified them into three categories namely pagan, muslim and christian. from these three categories, he identified common characteristics of ethno-epics: 1) a narrative of sustained length; 2) based on oral traditions; 3) revolving around supernatural events or heroic ideals; 4) in verse form; 5) either chanted or sung; and 6) with certain seriousness of purpose, embodying or validating the beliefs, customs, ideals, or life-values of the people. barter in panay discloses e. a. manuel’s theory on the form and structure of philippine ethno-epics except on the fifth characteristic that it should be chanted or sung. nonetheless, it embodies or validates the beliefs, customs, ideals, or life-values of the people. the speaker in the stylish lyrical voice narrates the epic either coming from the memory of datu sumakwel or every filipino who is living in the “here” and the “now” of periodization who passes this account as folkloric or historical record to the younger generations. 63 international peer reviewed journal demetrio (1986) employs the following criteria of the ethno-epics: 1) the story must contain a body of ancient traditions centering around supernatural or heroic persons or deeds; 2) there must be a living faith in these traditions and their contents; 3) these traditions must be molded into a single poem or group of poems by especially gifted persons; and 4) the poem must be invested with a certain sacred or venerable character, not only for their antiquity, but also for their cosmic, national, and social significance inasmuch as they validate beliefs, ideals, and life-values of the people or race. he considers form and style as secondary characteristics. these are as follow: 1) the poem must be of certain length; 2) it must be composed in verse form; and 3) it must be either sung or chanted. demetrio’s characteristics of the ethno-epics present the anthropologist’s point of view that pointed e. arsenio manuel’s theory in secondary position which put emphasis on the performance form. demetrio’s model creates national universal themes as a method of elevating ethno-epics into sacral. into this view, barter in panay responds to the primary characteristics of demetrio’s theoretical frame, but fails to meet the secondary characteristics because it is not primarily chanted nor sung, and secondarily, barter in panay: an epic is created within a text-based source from maragtas. deviating from the philippine ethno-epic t theories of e. a. manuel and f. demetrio, and treating barter in panay: an epic as a fictive literary creation, this textual analysis is anchored on florentino h. hornedo’s (2004) theory of reality frames in teaching literature. these include: 1) literature as a theme, 2) literature as an aesthetic creation; 3) literature as script; and 4) literature as the source of history these approaches in teaching literature fill the gap of periodization between the text and the literature teachers and students to be equally self-conscious on the metafiction and historical content embodied in literature. using the theory of reality frames in teaching literature through metahistorical approach reveals the literary text as something more or less autonomous experience inside the classroom, and will bring the audience beyond their cerebral perception of history and unfolds the beauty of the text itself. barter in panay: an epic as the literary text under study engages the cognitive, conative and emotive aspects of the students in and of the community in the past through the help of the teacher. f. h. hornedo’s theory of reality frames in teaching literature thus serves us well who are “here” and “now” at the other end of history’s periodization. it serves us who are bound to the printed, mass-produced word to the intensely individuated 64 jpair multidisciplinary research consciousness with which we approach reality. however, in this study, the analysis is limited only on theme to unfold the literary themes of the text. the socio-cultural and historical values of the text are uncovered through metahistorical contexts of the epic. objectives of the study this research aims to identify the literary value of the text that contains the records of the filipinos’ culture and traditions. specifically, it sought to determine: 1) how the narrative structure of the epic unfolds the themes of the text, and 2) how the characterization reveals the political and social practices as the literary-historical contexts of the epic. answering these questions will enable not only a teacher of literature, but also the students who are exculturated from their ancestors’ culture to appreciate and imbibe the customs and traditions of their roots. methodology the descriptive-qualitative method of research is extensively used in this study. the study is focused on the literary-historical contexts of the epic. hence, the analytical approach (content analysis) is likewise employed. such approach appears to hold much promise in uncovering the aesthetic and holistic value of the text. this study utilized the documentary analysis technique, which involves the careful study of all printed materials such as the original transcription of maragtas by pedro a. monteclaro (1957 copyrighted by juanito a. monteclaro)3, english translation by dr. manuel carreon, and the maragtas symposium (1970). the primary and secondary materials gathered were studied and analyzed systematically to bring out literary-historical contents and were anchored to hornedo’s theory of reality frames in teaching literature. however, the methodology used was not the same as those of the anthropologists that entails rigorous fieldworks. the reading of the text requires the critical analysis considering its socio-cultural, 3 the original transcription of maragtas was obtained from west visayas center for creative studies during the informal fieldwork and documentary research done by the researcher last june 17, 2014. the analysis of these printed materials significantly related to the text were presented in the introductory part of this paper as the traced source materials of ricaredo demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic. 65 international peer reviewed journal historical, and psychological background which provided phenomenological and hermeneutical understanding. symbolic interaction between the researcher and the text was given emphasis in the textual analysis/interpretation that shed light to the metahistorical questions. figure 1. the copyright page of the original transcription of maragtas the narrative structure of the epic through the sequence of events was evaluated. each canto of the literary epic was scrutinized as the basis of revealing the socio-cultural and political practices of the people in panay island, and had reflected the filipino lifeways and culture in general. each literary element revealed the cultural, political, historical, social, and traditional values system in the actions performed by every character of the epic. in the course of analysis, passages or quotations were provided and were given interpretations in accordance to its significance to better understanding of the text. results and discussion a. the theme of the epic barter in panay in identifying the theme in any form of literature, the audience must identify the narrative structure and persona of the text that drives them for comprehension. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research literary critics define the persona in any form of art as someone that assumes intellectual and emotional center who speaks to the reader or audience. it is through the speaker whom the author may speak in his own name, whose words and ideas may also be fictive. however, in folk literature, the persona is difficult to be identified due to its historical social origin, what kind of people he was addressing in time of literary composition and what kind of cultural conditions he wants to presuppose in the text. thus, the persona in folk literature like in the epic of barter in panay though under sumakwel’s perspective, is merely undefinable, for the poet stratified him in a position who leaves a lot unsaid, yet expects its readers to grasp what he does not say. the barter in panay: an epic is consists of eleven cantos, each narrates the story or events, underlying the settlement of the ten bornean datus in panay island led by datu puti and datu sumakwel and their meeting with the aetas who were the inhabitants of the place, led by marikudo. the persona in barter in panay recounted lyrically and poetically in a stylized oral register of the borneans’ way of life, as well as that of the aetas. the persona attempts to retain aesthetic autonomy while still returning the text to the world of ordinary empirical reality. he projects implicitly and explicitly the people’s racial urge and desire for freedom, righteousness, and justice in their division of the land. the persona does these in the epic poetry by greatly modifying the characters’ colloquial language and recounting their ways of life. in nearly all its stanzas, the barter in panay is lyric in “we” of every bornean who narrates his story from his point of view as stated in the first stanza, canto i of the poem: full ten years now is notched on our tree of life (a) since siruagan creek we anchored. hope (b) had keeled our hulls that in this spume-fenced land (a) freedom would germinate like seeds we’d brought (b) from far brunei, where makatunaw grasped (a) a despot’s sceptre and a murderer’s sword. (b) rather than pour more blood on a gore-soaked soil, (a) we fled the coasts of trampling tyranny. (x) each stanza has eight decasyllabic verses or lines with rhyming patterns abababax. the author preferred consonant rhyming pattern rather than assonance. each stanza is divided into four couplets: the first couplet presents the 67 international peer reviewed journal topic; the second and third develops the topic; and the last vigorously concludes the stanza in a form of synthesis. each canto of the poem narrates and focuses the story of the characters which are significant in the revelation to the totality of its theme which is the settlement of the bornean datus together with their wives and their slaves in the island of panay (table 1). table 1. the narrative structure of barter in panay: an epic and their contextual themes canto contexts i the arrival of bornean datus in the island of panay and the causes of their departure from borneo ii kapinangan’s feeling of incompleteness iii the council of the datus and the timauas iv the datus’ argument in claiming the land from the aetas v datu puti’s turning-over of leadership to sumakwel vi sumakwel and rishi lakshman vii the failures and usurpation of gurong-gurong viii polpulan and girum’s death ix the barter in panay x the adventures of marikudo xi the adventures of datu puti in the last part of the epic, there is a sudden change of persona’s perspective. it was not sumakwel anymore who narrates the story, for the story itself is about sumakwel and kapinangan: before they left, chief marikudo said: “tomorrow, we shall leave the settlement and you are free to live there. as for us, we go t hunt among the hills and find a new place where to build a settlement.” soon all the beach was quiet. dusk have come and with them, stars which beamed like constant hope. that night, most happy dreams glided our sleep. (stanza 81, canto xi) the change of scene and setting changes the persona’s perspective who though a part of the story, is narrating using an imaginary camera that captures a significant climactic act – separating itself from the persona of sumakwel and creating another persona taken from the eyes of the audience. thus: save that within the hearts of some of us, desires grew tangled in a thicketry. slim kapinangan dreamed a finger played upon her pearls and then snatched them away but, strangely with her own consent. when she woke, stirred by her dream, she felt sumakwel’s hand upon her bosom; she moved out of his reach. but feeling guilty, she crept to his embrace. (stanza 82, canto xi) her movement woke sumakwel. when he found her close, he hugged her tightly to his breast. she yielded to his touch, and, now aroused, she gave her body to her lord. but in her mind, she saw young gurong-gurong’s face; and so she lay, clasped in sumakwel’s arms, until the taut need in her flesh was stilled; but sleep was fitful and she tossed all night. (stanza 83, canto xi) stanzas 82 and 83 of canto xi are told by the persona from the voice of a younger generation who probably has listened the tale from his ancestors and retell the story. switching from the voice of sumakwel as indicated by “us” (verses 1-2, stanza 82), the poet transcended his persona from the point of historical perspective to the present world. the poet, who becomes the persona in these parts of the epic, directs the audience (readers and listeners) and links them to the world of empirical reality. in this stylish narration by the poet himself, he implicitly states that the persona has a contemporary critical truism, that realism is really a set of convention constructed between the text and history. the representation of the persona is not real and is not the same as the real itself depicted from the historical characters. the challenge thereof in historiographic metafiction is both any naïve realist concept of representation and any naïve 69 international peer reviewed journal textualist or formalist assertions of total separation of art from the world. the epic of barter in panay thus, simply shows itself as self-consciously art “within the archive” (foucault, 1977: 92), and that archive is both historical and literary. b. the epic of barter in panay as source of historical records every literary work has the specificity of time and space that can be perceived by man’s senses, is wrapped by a history behind it. the specificity of the setting singles out an event that happens in a particular time in the past and may have been constructed by the author from his memory. this makes literature as a metaphor of history. literature contains or depicts the records of the author’s views, feelings, or critical opinions. implicitly or explicitly, his literary creation is addressed to an audience who shared with him the same views and sentiments. thus, the author and the audience in that particular world speak or converse and build a common understanding of the literature created by the former. their shared horizons valued literature as the sacral records of their lives and experiences. the socio-cultural practices ricaredo demetillo wrote barter in panay: an epic in 1961 with his epic purpose in describing or recalling the filipino’s race – specifically the people in panay island. the persona of the epic recounts the bornean settlement in the island and the aetas’ customs and traditions during the aboriginal period of philippine history. particularly, the epic pictures the people’s socio-cultural practices before the spanish colonization in the country. • matrimonial rites that week, we ran the matrimonial race. she panted like a deer eager to escape her hunter, but she faltered in my arms and, from that day, she never left my home. i brought her dowry to my bride, where she was hailed by all as marikudo’s bride. (stanza 45, canto x) 70 jpair multidisciplinary research filipinos have similar aboriginal marriage procedure but differs in ceremonial rites. among the aetas, after the conference and agreement of the elders, the bride and the bridegroom were brought to a hill along with their relatives. the bride-elect was made to run a hundred meters ahead of the groom who would run after her. once he caught her up, they were considered already as married. then they would go back in hand together to join the festivity and merrymaking prepared for them3. at this pace of the epic, chief marikudo narrates his adventures and matrimonial rites with his wife maniwantiwan. aside from the traditional custom, what the character and the epic implicitly nuance is the participation of the parents/elders in the decision making. consent and blessing of the parents in the decision made by their children especially in their married life signifies their great respect, for the elders are the epitome of the virtue of prudence which they gained from their life’s experiences. to defy the will of the parents results to the failure on the lives of their children. • myths and beliefs in nature we are as you see, mariners. our homes are far away across the scudding sea. we started our journey when the moon was half a golden lemon in the sky, it ripened to the full, then fell to the dark; then grew to half again and ripened full, then fell to dark, but now it’s half again. such is the length of time we journeyed here. (stanza 5, canto xi) this was said by datu puti when he started narrating how they left borneo to get rid of datu makatunaw’s tyranny. they have referred to the nature as indicator of their time of travel. the day before our wedding, while the tribe was eating, gradually the sky went dark. fear seized us all, for never had we seen so ominous a sight – the dark to swallow sun at noon. we thought the end of all had come. (stanza 46, canto x) 71 international peer reviewed journal maniwantiwan narrates a part of marikudo’s adventure during the day of their wedding. there was an eclipse, and the day turns to darkness. since marikudo does not belong to the igtalunon community, her other suitors and kinsmen charged marikudo to be killed; for the god is displeased by their marriage. however, marikudo proved them wrong; he challenged the monster dragon that swallowed the sun by forcefully throwing his spear to it. after a while, the bird appeared in front of them, and the light suddenly comes again. everybody believed that marikudo defeated the monster dragon, and the wedding festivity continued, proclaiming marikudo as the hero of their tribe. it is depicted that filipinos had the strong beliefs in nature and all other creations of god. these mythical beliefs guide them in every act or decision they make. nature as the representation of god in the reflexivity of filipinos’ religiosity suggests their paganistic nature. however it could also implicitly understood that they have already formed religious customs prior to the coming of catholicism introduced by the spaniards. and may your gods, the blest anitos, heap upon your tribe that gift, prosperity.” (stanza 16, canto i) that’s fair enough. one favor we shall ask. our people worship bulalakaw’s light; and for that end, we raised cairns on the peaks of mountains. let us climb those peaks for worship… (stanza 31, canto ix) evidently, sumakwel discusses the pact of agreement with marikudo. the aetas worship no god, but anitos – for no one had come down to tell them who really god is. every year after their harvest, they offer them foods as offerings to bless them with good health and good harvest4. the borneans on the other hand, worship bulalakaw, the sun-god whom they offer prayers at the peak of the mountain. the traditional filipino notion of nature is knowable. they perceive the world as accessible to all their senses – both the visible and the invisible world. their strong beliefs on both worlds signify the importance of nature in their ways of life – that nature itself supplies their needs from physical to spiritual. nature’s 72 jpair multidisciplinary research destruction is man’s destruction. the epic of barter in panay serves as an avenue to teach the society today the value of nature the strong spirituality and belief in nature as part of god’s creations. these traditional beliefs and myths will bind the filipinos today to better understand the mythic understanding of science. acquiring mythical gen means seeing knowledge as a function of life and not merely of consciousness, for consciousness abstracted from its life context alone has often caused mischief in man. thus, knowledge of traditional and modern beliefs towards nature and god must always of wholeness, for only then a man be whole and care for the whole. political leadership over the land symbols can be used to communicate with power and authority – both temporal and spiritual. every culture has developed symbols of power and statuses that accord with its social values, beliefs, and customs. royalty and office or wealth and possessions are associated with their societal ranks. traditionally, valuable commodities such as gold have been used to signify wealth and rank. each item may depend on cultural values. in the epic, gold was offered by the datu puti to marikudo in bartering the panay island: “grant to us strangers hospitality: water and food for bodies cramped with toil and, most of all, barter us land for gold; and may your gods, the blest anitos, heap upon your tribe that gift, prosperity.” (stanza 16, canto i) in the same manner, sumakwel had also offered to use his golden salakot (hat) and his wife’s batya (basin) which is made of gold as materials for bartering when he had a talk with datu puti. “i have a salakot of solid gold, an ornament melted by cunning smiths from nuggets, tribute of a distant chief. my wife, too, has a batya, pure of ore; she uses it to hold the water of her bath. these we can give in barter for these coasts.” (stanza 35, canto v) 73 international peer reviewed journal the words of datu puti and sumakwel signify that they are willing to barter their greatest possessions and share their leaderships, in exchange for land, which is also worth for gold. however, the decisions they made confine with a conference amongst the other datus who eventually agreed, though they underwent conflicts of ideas. on the other hand, the acceptance of the gold by marikudo may signify of uplifting and confirming his leadership and governance as the chief among the aetas. as reported by paibare: “…now, we have come with news. chief marikudo promises to grant us all the coastal plains in exchange for gold!” (stanza 15, canto ix) as acceptance of datu puti’s code of agreement on commerce and settlement, marikudo commented: “show me the gold you’ll barter for our land.” (stanza 32, canto ix) gold, as a traditional symbol of wealth, features in the regalia of monarchy and high office. it is also used to symbolize human achievement shared both by the aetas and the borneans on their settling over the panay island – that is, the former dwells over the mountains to hunt and the latter would live near the coastal for fishing and on the plains for planting. all these were under the pact of commerce and friendships led by datu puti and chief marikudo. thus, the bartering of gold for an abode is equally significant to both tribes. the golden salakot the salakot is a traditional wide-brimmed native hat made of either rattan or reeds. it used to protect farmers and among others against the rain or the heat of the sun. historically, it is made of gold used by the high-ranked officials of the neighbouring asian countries. it symbolizes their power and prestige. however, the salakot is pointed on its top-end. its pointedness may also represent as a metaphor of the male phallus – used for reproduction. the barter of land with a golden salakot, may iconically be interpreted as sumakwel together with his tribesmen has the desire to propagate not only with his race, but also the possibility of expanding their identity and populace or community with and 74 jpair multidisciplinary research among the aetas. “the aeta’s eyes were bright with avarice. [upon seeing the golden salakot]5 sumakwel signaled to some slaves, who came. now, when the cloth was lifted, all said, “ah!” all ah’d and oh’d, the aetas most of all, for they had never seen such precious thing – a salakot that gathered in the light in blazing contours, wondrous in workmanship…” (stanza 32-33, canto ix) without much ado, chief marikudo accepted the salakot from datu sumakwel: “chief marikudo grabbed the salakot and crowned his head6 with it – the fit exact. the gold starling contrast to his skin.” (stanza 34, canto ix) the gestures of marikudo, and of his people symbolize not only their ignorance and amazement towards the materiality of the salakot. they also serve as the gestures of willingness to unite their race and identity to the brown dwellers. the fitting of the salakot to chief marikudo’s head means his equal leadership to sumakwel, who are both expected to lead the planting of seeds towards the propagation of their race. the golden batya the batya or basin is an open, shallow, usually round container used especially for holding liquids. as a container, it can also be associated with a feminine principle (o’connor 2007: 16). it is shaped like a woman’s body part – especially that of a womb, where every individual forms and has started his life. in the epic, one of the golds being offered by datu sumakwel for bartering the land is his wife’s batya. kapinangan uses her batya to hold water in her bath. so then, the batya symbolizes herself as a woman and her capability of bearing a child. in the barter, kapinangan represents every bornean women who in turn have the possibility of raring their children from the race of the aetas in time of 75 international peer reviewed journal their union. as the wife of datu sumakwel, she too, is expected to lead in the procreation between the union of her tribe and the aetas. “and one large batya, fit to serve a queen in her ablutions in a perfumed bath. (stanza 33, canto ix) upon seeing the golden batya, maniwantiwan, marikudo’s wife snatched the basin up. for the first time, she has seen her image clearly on the shiny surface of the batya. “his wife, not to be outdone, snatched the basin up and peered upon it shiny surface and exclaimed, for there she saw her image clearly limned. she danced, he danced; both clapped their pot-black hands.” (stanza 34, canto ix) seeing her image on the surface of the batya, maniwantiwan becomes aware of herself as a woman. she and the batya becomes one who has the sufficiency of bearing life for the united race of the aetas and the borneans who agreed to share in living and in governing the panay island. turning over the batya to maniwantiwan means the equal responsibility of the women in leading the procreation and expansion of their tribes. hence, kapinangan and maniwantiwan and their batya are the significations of birth and rebirth of their race which continues and runs in the blood of the filipinos in the present. the barter system the barter system is an old method of exchange. the system has been used for centuries and long before the invention of money. people exchanged services and goods for other services and goods in return. in the epic, datu puti and sumakwel purchased the panay island with a golden salakot, batya, and a necklace. the island has become then a shared property of these tribes. however, it is not only a barter of land and properties, but it could also mean an exchange and share of all the material and non-material cultures practiced by both parties. these include their beliefs on supernaturals, values, leaderships, and justice systems. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research “let there be commerce between us, and let there be true friendliness as we have now. our ways are different, but we have needs that you can fill and have you have needs that we, out of our bounty, may supply at gain. my leader datu puti, has drawn terms which would agree with your best interests and work for mutual benefits for all.” (stanza 30, canto ix) datu sumakwel speaks their agreement of the bartered land. however, the voice is a representation of sharing their rich cultures, and customs and traditions known and inherited by the new generations living in the land. the narration of datu sumakwel’s persona tells us of great names and intellectual heroes of our culture and of world’s civilization. the voice of the persona draws us back to the shadows of creating heroes who lead us into life’s kindness. the characterization in the barter of panay: an epic brings us to the center of discovering the extraordinary things in most pieces of historical fiction. like the roman’s aeneid, and greeks’ iliad and all other world known epical fiction, the heroes in barter in panay: an epic transmit us the evidences of understanding ourselves, our past, in a very unique and creative way. barter in panay: an epic reshapes and rationalizes the filipinos’ identity and worldviews, and brings us to the profound interest and link to the contemporary times which this must have been the ultimate value of literatures of the world. conclusions the study is a response to the urging of manuel (1985), demetrio (1986), lucero (2007), and hornedo (1997) and other filipino folklorists for scholars to continue discover and unfold the aesthetic value of philippine folklore particularly the ethno-epics for its preservation and integration in philippine school curriculum. ricaredo demetillo’s literary work belongs to the classification of modern epics which are characterized by a long poem, typically derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of the nation (oxford dictionary). 77 international peer reviewed journal barter in panay: an epic contains filipinos’ socio-cultural beliefs, values, and traditions revealed by its theme. the persona’s poetic voice narrates either coming from the memory of datu sumakwel or every filipino, who lives in the “here” and the “now” of periodization who passes this account as folkloric or historical record to the younger generations. the characters and the style of narration in the epic reveal the folk historical contexts using the symbolisms of gold, golden salakot, batya, and the barter system. barter in panay: an epic through its symbolisms lays me to imbibe my own unique genetic origin and rich traits and traditions. the voice in ricaredo demetillo’s literary creation depicts a panay-anon himself and sketches the community beyond the spatial and projects itself into the future that will continue and preserve his legacy, his race and more so to the young who will listen to the tales. it yields insight about the epic’s preservation and function. as resil mojares (2002) states: “to explore a people’s lore is to understand something of the shifting ideological configuration of changing times. a systematic mapping of folklore, informed by a sense of the contingency as well as the interconnectedness of social phenomena, should afford us with a view of material and mental transformations over the long duration.” barter in panay contains historically self-aware characters that provide an integral engine to the identity of panay-anons, and of the filipinos in general. ricaredo demetillo’s epic poetry by treating history in a particular manner is an attempt to humanize the discipline of recapitulation differently. he succeeds in convincing the readers that historical narratives through poetry will not be taken as worlds shut – reputedly finished, done with and over. rather he shows how those days, people and values of yore have not diffused totally. we are living them in some ways, in some aspect of extension. he also implicitly emphasizes the urgency to know our past and to revise our understanding of it with progress of time. he is a subaltern historian in the real sense that he boards upon the boat of poetry writing to do the job perfectly – one doesn’t need to be a master for trying all trades of creative and historical writings. we have come out of the monological times! because history is not the only way to interpret one’s past, fiction through epic poetry in the hands of demetillo does that even better. barter in panay: an epic as well as its source maragtas indeed shows that intellectual maturity does not only come in substantial historical volumes. in fact, 78 jpair multidisciplinary research curiosity for historical knowledge is part and parcel of communal upbringing in most filipino societies. our methods of restoring history have been different as ricaredo demetillo’s epic poetry has depicted. we have the richest oral histories breathing in and among us that does not mean we lack it. every culture has like ours, has its own ways of preserving our folkloric tradition which depicts our filipino identity and worldview – which is the prime aspiration, implicitly treasured in every heart inhabiting this land – the philippines. the history makes home in hearts here! our past mingles with our present. generally, philippine folklore contains the symbols of filipino crushed spirit, and its revival is more than philological – it had a strong racial and political implications, and it illuminates the historic conflicts of man and history. barter in panay: an epic is viewed as filipinos’ contribution not only in asian literature, but also in the canon of world literature. like virgil’s aeneid and homer’s iliad, barter in panay: an epic is a narrative of our nation’s rich historical culture and worldviews that happened a long time ago. it is a story of every individual, though time and space separates him in the grassroots of his nation, yet be able to embrace the cultural tradition and shape the structure of the past and reconnect it in the present world he lives in. barter in panay: an epic is a form of “literary epic” that elevates human consciousness through a purposive vehicle in the definition of historical position of the people or nation in the realm of nation’s human civilization. recommendations the interpretation made in this study will illuminate the filipino’s understanding, particularly the panay-anons on the historical record of their race, culture and tradition, and identity. using the findings of this study, they are encouraged to tell and retell the epic to the young generations. this literary study benchmarks the philosophical contexts of the text which need further explorations and analysis by either a philosophy or literary scholar/ researcher. rejecting the text as the historical record, and treating it as literary folkloric tradition, the epic contains the cultural beliefs and traditions, political hierarchy and structure which needs validation through literary-anthropological fieldworks. the barter in panay and the analysis of its metahistorical contexts should be included as material in the philippine school curriculum as a response to the mother tongue based program of the k to 12 and its preservation. 79 international peer reviewed journal to absorb closely to the contexts of barter in panay: an epic is to encounter a new vision of the ancient world that lies at the root of human civilization. the literary epic under study contains a man’s disremembered tradition that has the power to transform all his views about his culture and his life. thus, every man, either a scholar or a philosopher must uncover the bewildering reality that lies within and beyond the meaning of the text. literature cited carreon, m. l. 1956 maragtas: the datus from borneo (the earliest known visayan test). manuscript. demetillo, r. 1984 barter in panay:[an epic]. new day publishers (quezon city). demetrio, f. r. 1986 introduction to philippine epics. philippiniana sacra 21 (61), 5-53. epic. 2014 in oxford dictionary. retrieved on march 13, 2014 from http://www. oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/epic foucault, m. 1977 language, counter-memory. practice, 221. hornedo, f. h. 1997 laji: anu maddaw ka mu lipus: an ivatan folk lyric tradition. university of santo tomas publishing house. hornedo, f. h. 1997 pagmamahal and pagmumura: essays. office. hornedo, f. h. 2000 culture and community in the philippine fiesta and other celebrations. university of santo tomas pub. house. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research hornedo, f. h. 2004 literatura, guro at bansa: mga kuwadradong konseptwal para sa pagtuturo ng literature. manila. university of santo tomas publishing house. jocano, f. l. n.d. maragtas: fact or fiction? maragtas symposium, pp.60-61. lucero, r. c. 2007 ang bayan sa labas ng maynila. ateneo university press. lumbera, b., & lumbera, c. n. (eds.). 1982 philippine literature: a history and anthology. national book store. manuel, e. a. 1963 a survey of philippine folk epics. asian folklore studies,22, 1-76. manuel, e. a. 1985 guide for the study of philippine folklore. philippine folklore society. maragtas, o., & manuel, e. a. 1970 notes on the folkloricity and historicity. in a symposium on the maragtas held on the 27th of january 1968: at the epifanio de los santos auditorium (national library building). (p. 42). national historical commission. mojares, r. b. 2002 waiting for mariang makiling: essays in philippine cultural history. ateneo de manila univ pr. national commission for culture and the arts. 2011 republic act 7356. retrieved on april 25, 2014 from http://goo.gl/ fbhgnl o’connor, m., & airey, r. 2007 symbols, signs and visual codes. 81 international peer reviewed journal scott, w. h. 1984 prehispanic source materials for the study of philippine history. quezon city, manila: new day publishers. end notes 1 barter in panay won a first-prize award during the golden jubilee literary contests at the u.p. in 1959. 2 the idea presented is taken from the foreword of ricaredo demitillo in his work barter in panay. 3 the matrimonial rite of the aetas was discussed in chapter 1 of maragtas. 4 the beliefs of the aetas to the anitos were described in the chapter i of maragtas. 5 this line/verse was added to put emphasis to the completeness of thought as seen in stanza 32, canto ix of the text. 6 in the text, the line is “and crowned his lead with it”, which i suspected as typographical error during its printing. i intended to correct it for contextual comprehension labb cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 58 gender capability of elected officials and civic leaders in public speaking cecilia d. arong arongcecilia@yahoo.com southern leyte state university southern leyte state university sogod, southern leyte abstract in southern leyte, thousands of elected/appointed male/ female village officials and civic leaders give public speeches. very few of them receive training in public speaking. culture claims that male officials are better than female in decision making, running the village, leading an organization, settling disputes and giving public speeches as the father’s decision in the family is final and his word is firm and executory. this study compares the speaking abilities of male and female village officials/civic leaders as to: manner of presenting speeches, self-confidence; thought organization, voice quality, eloquence, and audience impact. officials/leaders of sogod villages are trained in public speaking for ten consecutive sundays at mahayahay public stage. after every lecture, participants’ speeches followed. during the culmination, every participant presented a public speech composed of opening remarks, welcome address, inspirational talk, closing remarks, introduction of guest speaker, interviewing, panel discussion, broadcast speech, necrological services and campaign speeches rated by three judges using pre-established criteria. mannwhitney test, non-parametric test, used ordinal data to compare the male and female abilities in public speaking. significant results showed that male and female officials have comparable manners of presenting speeches, self-confidence, thought organization, eloquence, voice quality, and audience impact. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.170 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 59 keywords public speaking, village official, inspirational talk introduction thousands of village officials and civic leaders in southern leyte are involved in giving public speeches in line with their duties as officials and as leaders. however, most of these officials and leaders, whether elected or appointed, whether male or female, whether civic or religious, have not received formal trainings in public speaking. oftentimes, village officials and leaders are invited as guest speakers or are requested to give various kinds of speeches which oftentimes are out of the topic or very far from the given task. culture claims that male speakers are better than female speakers; that male officials are better than female officials in decision making, running the village, leading an organization, settling disputes and giving public speeches as the father has the final decision in the family and the father’s word is firm and executory. in the present time, male and female officials possess equal voting power; hence, countless women emerge as elected and appointed government officials. further, numerous women hold key positions in public and public firms. therefore, the public speaking ability of female public officials and civic leaders must be developed in order to equal the public speaking ability of the male (http://pdf:usaid.gov/ pdf_docs/pdac). arong (2007) notes that public speaking is very important to everyone especially to community leaders since they are looked up to as leaders with undisputed abilities in running the public affairs of the village. in the course of their being officials or leaders, sometimes they are forced or oftentimes requested to officially welcome guests and to give opening remarks, deliver welcome address, inspirational talks, introduce guest speakers, render closing remarks, keynote address during convocation, coronation, graduation, closing/promotional programs, caucus or formal or informal gatherings. most of the times, they preside meetings or settle grievances. ehninger, et. al. (1982) explains that public communications have different general purposes. first is to entertain an audience, to help celebrate an event, to apologize for or justify some behavior, to pay jpair: multidisciplinary journal 60 tribute to a distinguished individual, but these purposes can be basically informative or persuasive. the entertainer conveys information or views about the world while giving pleasure to others: the celebrant orients listeners to the significance of the event, the apologist tries to make his or her behavior more understandable and acceptable; and eulogists highlight in an informative and appreciative manner the key achievements of the person being praised. second is to inform. its objective is to help the audience understand an idea or comprehend a concept or a process. to communicate an informative message successfully, a person relates his ideas to existing knowledge of the audience; organizes them so they are easy to follow and remember and presents enough concrete examples and specific data to raise understanding of the persons addressed. third is to persuade or to actuate. its purpose is to influence listener beliefs or actions. a speaker must seek to influence the beliefs and attitudes of his listeners. promoters and public relations experts attempt to create in the superiority of certain products, personages or institutions, lawyers seek to convince juries; members of the clergy exhort their congregations to lead nobler lives; politicians debate, campaign issues and strive to influence voters. the distinguishing feature of an actuative speech is that instead of stopping an attitude, he asks his listeners to demonstrate his feelings by behaving or acting in a specified way (tanglao & tan, 1976). objective of the study this study aims to: improve the public speaking abilities of male and female public officials and civic leaders of the villages; compare the public speaking abilities of village officials and leaders. materials and methods four approvals were sought before this study on public speaking was conducted, namely: 1) proposal of said training from the office of the research, development and extension through the rerec; 2) office of the slsu president; 3) municipal mayor to conduct such training in the villages; and 4) the five village captains. international peer reviewed journal 61 this training for ten (10) consecutive sundays was conducted at the village mahayahay public stage of mahayahay, sogod, southern leyte and was composed of lecture by the resource speaker and workshop of the participants. after every lecture session, a presentation of speeches of participants was done. there were 38 participants: 19 female and 19 male village officials and civic leaders of village salvacion, mahayahay, maria plana and maac and other religious leaders of the villages. the lecture topics were: 1). principle and practices of speechmaking; kinds of communication 2).basic elements of speechmaking; factors affecting speaker’s speech skills/competence needed for successful speechmaking; methods of presenting speech; essential steps in speech preparation 3). purposes of speech making; organizing speeches 4). opening remarks, welcome address, inspirational talk, closing remarks, introducing a guest speaker; speeches in necrological services, emceeing, interviewing, broadcast speech 5). election campaign speeches; candidate forum 6). conducting/ presiding meetings using parliamentary procedures a culmination program was presented at the end of the training where every participant presented a public speech graded by a group of three judges as to: manner of presenting speeches, self-confidence, thought organization, eloquence, and voice quality and audience impact. the public speeches composed of opening remarks, welcome address, inspirational talk, closing remarks, introducing guest speaker, interviewing, panel discussion, broadcast speech, necrological services and campaign speeches during a candidates’ forum. the judges filledin the rater’s form as to the manner of presenting speeches such as: extemporaneous, manuscript method, impromptu, memorized or a combination of two or three methods. self-confidence of the speakers was rated as high self-confidence, average selfconfidence, and lacking self-confidence. thought organization of the speakers was rated as outstanding, very good, good, fair and poor. eloquence in delivering speeches was rated as very eloquent, eloquent and fairly eloquent. voice quality was rated as very loud and very clear, very loud but not clear, loud and clear, loud but not clear, and not loud nor clear. audience impact was rated as very good, good, fair and poor. the mann-whitney test which is a non-parametric test was used. ordinal data were used in comparing the male and female abilities in jpair: multidisciplinary journal 62 public speaking. twenty participants were requested to fill-in the evaluation forms to assess the training’s resources persons, instructional materials used, accommodation, snacks and knowledge gained by the participants. results and discussion comparison of male and female officials/leaders’ public speaking abilities the male and female public officials and civic leaders were given chances to deliver public speeches during the ten sessions of the training. the abilities developed in public speaking were on the manner of presenting speeches, self-confidence, thought organization, eloquence, voice quality and audience impact. manner of presenting speeches the manner of presenting speeches was extemporaneous, manuscript method, impromptu, memorized, or a combination of two or three methods. table 1 shows that the mean rank of the 19 male speakers was 19.47 and the sum of ranks was 371.00. in testing the comparison of the manner of presenting speeches at the 0.01 and at the 0.05 level of significance, the result was not significant. this means that male and female officials have comparable manner of presenting speeches. there is no significant difference between male and female village officials and civic leaders as to the manner of presenting speeches. self-confidence some speakers spoke with average self-confidence. tables 1 and 1a show that male and female public officials and civic leaders do not differ significantly in their self-confidence. they have comparable self confidence. international peer reviewed journal 63 thought organization speakers’ thought organization was rated as good. the comparability between male and female speakers on thought organization was significant. at .01% or .05% level o f significance, .159 was greater than .01 or .05, hence male and female speakers had comparable thought organization. they did not differ in their thought organization. eloquence speakers' delivery of speeches was rated eloquent. table 1 and 1a depict that male and female public officials/civic leaders have comparable eloquence for they do not differ significantly differ in this aspect. voice quality speakers’ voice quality was rated very loud. the two tables explain that whether male or female, they had similar voice quality. audience impact the audience impact was rated good. male and female officials/ civic leaders do not differ significantly in audience impact. table 1. mean of male and female officials as to manner of presenting speeches, self-confidence, thought organization, eloquence, voice quality and audience impact. sex n means manner male female total 19 19 38 19.47 19.53 self confidence male female total 19 19 38 19.13 19.87 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 64 thought org. male female total 19 19 21.97 17.03 eloquence male female total 19 19 38 19.50 19.50 voice quality male female total 19 19 38 21.03 17.97 audience impact male female total 19 19 38 21.74 17.26 table 1a. mann-whitney test of the significance of comparison manner self-confidence thought organization eloquence voice quality audience impact mann-whitney u asymp. sig. (.01%) 180.000 .988 173.500 .821 133.500 .159 180.500 1.000 151.500 .368 138.000 .192 conclusion the male and female public officials and civic leaders were comparable in their manner of presenting speeches, self-confidence, thought organization, eloquence, voice quality and audience impact. there is no gender differentiation in public speaking abilities. international peer reviewed journal 65 literature cited arong, c. d. 2007 effective speech: a book for instruction and practice. sogod, so. leyte: slsu ehninger, d. 1982 principles and types of speech communication. illinois: scott. foreman & company tanglao, m.l. & a.b. tan 1976 public speaking and speech improvement for filipino students. caloocan city: phil graphic arts internet sources http://pdf:usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdac http://www.pstcrcc.org/docs/the_impact_of_youth_participation. pdf-naka-cache-katulad pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research ireserve: an online event reservation for lipa city cultural with sms notification mayling i. capuno mayling.capuno@ub.edu.ph university of batangas lipa city, batangas, philippines jerome f. benigno jerome.benigno@ub.edu.ph university of batangas lipa city, batangas, philippines russel g. reyes russel.reyes@ub.edu.ph university of batangas lipa city, batangas, philippines kielly chrizza mae w. tojino kiellychrizzamae.tojino@ub.edu.ph university of batangas lipa city, batangas, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study proposed a web-based research ireserve: an online event reservation for lipa city cultural, to integrate sms notification. in the existing manual system of reservation, the major challenge on the administration was vol. 43 · january 2021 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 journal impact: h index = 5 from publish or perish doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.736 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.736 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 147 international peer reviewed journal conflicts of schedule with the event reservation. thus, ireserve: an online event reservation for lipa city cultural was proposed to serve as a useful tool for booking events and send updated notifications about the status of the request event details by integrating sms technology. ireserve is designed to process the booking request and search for clients’ available target event schedules from the system database. the study used the software development life cycle in developing the proposed application. the web application structure was designed using workflow, entity-relationship, context, and use case diagrams. the web application was developed using different open sources such as html, css, javascript, php, and mysql. ireserve was evaluated using iso 9126 software evaluation tool assessing the web applications’ functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, portability, and maintainability. the study concluded that using several diagrams and a combination of open source technologies, the web application designed and developed would meet the specified functionalities. keywords — online event, online reservation, lipa city cultural, sms notification, software development life cycle introduction technology can be seen in different business areas, providing better solutions to clientele’ demands as innovation arises. technology nowadays is proliferating, converting manual systems to digitized ones leading to web-based systems combined with embedded systems to create a change known as the internet of things (iot). internet of things (iot) is expected to spread rapidly over the coming years, and this convergence will unleash a new dimension of services that improve the quality of life of consumers and productivity of enterprises, unlocking an opportunity referred to as the connected life (understanding the internet of things, 2014). internet of things and mobile communication devices have gradually become an indispensable necessity in our daily lives. with newer and more powerful models rolling out each year, modern technology has provided us with communication and information access tools. this digitalization enables the next wave of life-enhancing services across several major sectors of the economy, allowing new commercial models, building new capabilities and new services running on different platforms: web, tablets, and mobile. according to oliveira and fraga (2011), information technology was considered an essential tool in improving competition and the economic 148 jpair multidisciplinary research conditions of a country. additionally, information technology was commonly agreed to impact the productivity of a company that applied it significantly. with the vast presence of the internet, the reservation process becomes easy and convenient. these days, as it becomes increasingly technology-based, businesses everywhere are contemplating new and effective systems for the event schedule. for all the optimism surrounding online reservations, some stressed that technology advances could only go so far in smoothing the reservation process. chang, belanger, and uysal (2006) stated that the internet and technology had changed how information is distributed how people do business in the industry. its impact has been well studied, but sometimes the time element seems to be ignored to investigate risks taken and trustworthiness held by the online audience. in most cases, the time element should be included, especially for e-commerce sites, because pre-travel plans are usually made, and a timelapse does exist between “the time a reservation is made” and “the time the reservation is confirmed.” refanidis and yorke-smith (2009) mentioned that in the last decade, various research efforts and commercial offerings have sought to provide levels of automated assistance with time management. basic calendaring, collaboration, and communication concern event negotiation or scheduling, while others concern task management and monitoring. when automated scheduling is employed, events and tasks are often treated separately, with the latter being kept out of the user’s calendar. as the internet of things was developed, online reservations and shopping or hotel booking became part of customers’ daily lives. service organizations, such as retailing companies or hotel companies, event venues are providing services to their customers not only in person but also in cyberspace. online shopping enables anyone to access a virtual marketplace, where the content of a transaction is information about services or goods, and to interact with different systems and other people in a fast and convenient way (novak, hoffman, & yung, 1996). iot is not just limited to the transfer of information through the web; mobile networks could also be a suitable medium of deployment for its services and other applications. it offers a more diversified set of capabilities. the mobile phone had become increasingly popular ever since the rise of short message service (sms) in the early 2000s in europe and some parts of asia when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and send off wanted (or unwanted) content. the past decade has witnessed a revolution in using ict in developing countries (jaiswal, 2011). short messaging service (sms) is a protocol used in communications that gives way to exchange short text messages 149 international peer reviewed journal from one mobile telephone device to another. sms or text messaging dominates today’s communication since seventy-four percent of all cell phone users send and receive text messages nowadays. the technology behind sms has paved the way for the rapid growth of text messaging improvement that has allowed users to broadcast sms text messages from mobile phones and computers with sms software and through public sms gateways. the link between text messaging to sms technology now connotes the terminology of “sms” as the act of texting or sending text messages even with a different communications protocol (olaleye, olaniyan, eboda, & awolere, 2013). many applications needed to do real-time notification, especially when an event occurs, thus web and mobile with sms as the gateway to communicate with costumers’ shows excellent potential in transforming data into useful information. there are lots of researches and innovation that uses web and mobile technology. in the study of maulana, nugroho, and santoso (2017), a queuing reservation system was developed for medical centers built using php, codeigniter framework with mysql database, mqtt, responsive design, and cloud-based storage. the iot-based system is provided in medical centers and synchronized with the web-based app, making a queuing system with two methods for reservation; it’s an online and offline method. the system makes the queue time more effective and efficient as applied to the public service system. yugopuspito, herwansyah, krisnadi, cahya, & panduwinata (2016) also designed and developed a hotel-like booking system for a parking slot, a reservation-based parking system. in the study, the system allows the user to book a parking slot in advance. the system also provides a module that would notify the user based on several events such as users entering their grace period of cancellation; users entering the parking lot; a reminder for the user who will end the parking, they may extend the period of parking, or the must leave at the end of the parking period; and thanks notification and wrap-up bill. the system was developed and tested successfully using different constraints. .another study conducted by sakthi, leo, monisha, and ramesh (2014) was an advanced train reservation and passenger intimation with a safety system that focuses on an interactive and user-friendly system that modernize the railway system of india through the application of modern technologies such as gps, touch screens, gsm and other advanced communications system. the study helps railway management to track lapses and dilemmas encountered using the manual mode. another study conducted by mushtaq (2019) deals with enhancing the usability of an online airline reservation system by making it more flexible, 150 jpair multidisciplinary research considering the travelers’ compliant behavior. other factors that affect customers’ behavior, such as service quality attributes and external variables, were computed to determine their association with travelers’ flexible behavior and ascertain their range and strength of association using pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. shibata, ueda, sun, and ito (2016) proposed an online scheduling system for tours by one-way electric vehicle (ev) sharing. the system focuses on taking reservations of tours with their multiple destinations, and time windows stay time for visiting each destination. after reservation, the system then tells the user the sequence and scheduling of visits to each destination and which specific evs to take. the ev’s battery status enables users to move long distances without concerns about the remaining battery. the study showed that the proposed system improved the acceptance rate of reservations while reducing the relocation count (the number of evs moved to rebalance the distribution) by up to 15%. relevant to the study mentioned above, atchariyachanvanich (2019) proposed research focusing on assessing customer’s attitudes towards using online hotel reservations in thailand. it was designed to investigate whether or not the perceived trust and perceived risk would affect the customer’s attitude. the model was developed, and its hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling. the results of the questionnaire filled out by 446 thai university students pointed out that the customer’s perceived trust is significantly associated with the customer’s attitude towards using online hotel reservations. still, the customer’s perceived risk does not affect the attitude towards using it. lipa is one of the three cities in batangas, philippines (the others being batangas city and the city of tanauan). it is situated 80 kilometers south of manila. according to the latest census, it has a population of 283,468 inhabitants in 59,063 households. the city is considered a religious center due to the numerous magnificent churches, convents, retreat facilities, and seminaries. dubbed as the “little rome of the philippines,” tourists usually flock to the city, especially during lenten season. it is also the archdiocese of lipa and the home of two popular apparitions, the shower of petals in 1948 and the “lady” atop a coconut tree in 1993. it is also the host to the annual marian pilgrimage: the national day of prayer for peace and the sanctification of the clergy. being at the forefront of economic activities in the province and the region, lipa city is ideal for investments due to its business-friendly environment. it provides great opportunities for light industries such as the lima industrial estate, nestle philippines, and other multi-national companies. having been identified as one of the ten cyber growth corridors in the country, lipa city has 151 international peer reviewed journal great potential in business process outsourcing. it has been chosen as one of the top 10 next wave cities for a couple of years. with this, the lipa city government needs more automated systems that would cater to its investors’ and residents’ needs for more opportunities and success in the future. the above-mentioned literature and researches have a significant impact on developing an online reservation system for the lipa city cultural center (ireserve), considering the implication of internet and mobile technology. ireserve aims to provide a solution for the problems encountered by the lipa city cultural center management in using their current manual event reservation system, such as conflicts on event reservation resulting from double-booking; blocking of dates for priority reservations like events imposed by government officials, and management of schedule for events happening on same dates. the developed web-based system with sms notification simplifies the reservation process faster, easier, reliable, and more efficiently through the different software tools and techniques. objectives of the study the general objective of the study is to develop an online reservation system for lipa city cultural center. specifically, the study aimed to: (1) design a web application with the following features: reservation of events based on client’s target date, posting of public news and events announcement, management of reservation database, searching of available dates for client’s preference; report generation; (2) construct the web application using html, css, javascript, php, and mysql; and (3) test and improve the web application using iso/iec 9126 testing standard for software in terms of functionality, usability, reliability, efficiency, portability, and maintainability. methodology the researchers used the software development life cycle (sdlc) waterfall model to develop the web application and iso/iec 9126 testing standard as an assessment tool to evaluate ireserve. aside from the assessment tool, ireserve was also evaluated based on the demographics of the 30 respondents. initially, data and information were gathered by studying existing online reservation systems of the same concept and the current operation of the lipa city cultural admin office. after identification of user requirements/specifications 152 jpair multidisciplinary research and analysis of the manual reservation systems, including its processes, the design of the ireserve system was illustrated using various system design tools like a flowchart, data flow diagram, and use case analysis for a straightforward interpretation of the flow of the system of data including its relationships to different entities. the detailed logic diagrams, process diagrams, and description of all functional and non-functional requirements were used for more specific system design. next to design was the implementation of all the user and system requirements gathered used in coding through different programming languages such as html and php as the primary language for the system’s functionality and features, mysql for its database and sms api module that served as a link for notification between the website and mobile phones of the end-users. ireserve prototype was then tested based on form validation, file handling, and error handling by its end-users. by structured verification approach, detected defects by the proponents were solved immediately. a useful system review was necessary for good software design, accuracy, and quality. the validation process was also used to examine whether the software satisfies the user requirements and matches conditions for which it was made through iso/iec 9126 software evaluation standard. results and discussion in this chapter, the results of the study are presented and discussed following the main objective of the study; to develop an online reservation system for lipa city youth and cultural center. figures 1 to 3 several present diagrams which are results of the first specific objective – to design a web application considering the user requirements. figures 4 to 6 show screenshots of the results of the second specific objective – to develop the web application using several open source technologies. and tables 1 to 7 present the results of the third objective of the system – to test and improve the web application, the researchers used the iso/ iec 9126 software standard. a flowchart illustrates the sequence of processes in a system using several symbols. the step-by-step procedures of ireserve are shown in figure 1. the user needs to log in to the system before sending a reservation. the admin also requires to log in to the system before approving reservations. the illustration presents that the requirement to log in is the user must have a valid username and password; if it is validated, they can access the system and manage the events. only the administrator can approve the event reservation request and confirm 153 international peer reviewed journal through electronic mail, and if the reserved event is approved, they will fill out the forms. figure 1. flowchart of ireserve ..a context diagram shows a broad overview of the user requirements of a system under consideration as a single high-level process and then shows the relationship of the system. there are two types of end-user for ireserve, as shown in figure 2. the admin refers to the lipa city youth and cultural center personnel who has high-level access to the system, and the user relates to the persons who apply for reservations. figure 2. context diagram of ireserve a use case diagram is a simple illustration that summarizes the interaction of the user to the system. it shows the functionalities of a system from the end user’s 154 jpair multidisciplinary research perspective. the use case diagram of an admin account is shown in figure 3. the admin account has full access to the system. an admin can approve or decline user requests and post announcements to the website. figure 3. use case diagram of admin a website visitor needs to create a user account to access a system. a user account can only send reservations aside from viewing the content of the website, as shown in figure 4. figure 4. use case diagram of user figure 4 shows the data that is stored in the database of the system. a user needs to register first before accessing the system, and the data provided by the user are stored in tbl_user. after registration, a user can apply for a reservation, 155 international peer reviewed journal and the details are stored in tbl_reservation and tbl_status. the admin confirms the application, and the status of the application is stored in tbl_confim. the admin also posts announcements, which are stored in tbl_post. figure 5. entity relationship diagram of ireserve figure 5 shows the login module of ireserve. a signup button is provided for users who do not have an account. they will be required to fill in all the necessary information needed for the registration, like the user needs to provide an email address to register. an account is required to access the system, which will be validated for access control. the login module also allows the user to recover their registered account if they forgot the username and password through forgetting the password. figure 6. login module of ireserve 156 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 6 shows the news and events page of the system. it is accessible by both admin and user accounts to see information and update. this feature helps the user view lipa city youth and cultural center’s schedule the upcoming events and programs and immediately check its availability of dates before submitting a reservation request in the system to avoid conflicts. the administrator can find all the requested activity and use the search function through filtering by date request. figure 7. event page of ireserve figure 7 shows the requests list sent by the users to the administrator site. only an administrator account can confirm and approve the reservation request of the users. an application can be approved or rejected depending on the availability of lipa city youth and cultural center from the list of event dates. figure 8. reservation request page of ireserve 157 international peer reviewed journal figure 8 shows the reservation form that the users need to fill out to request for lipa city youth and cultural center. the user needs to provide the required fields before submitting the request, including its category of event, payment details, and the target date of the event. figure 9. reservation form of ireserve to determine the performance of the system, this study adopted the iso 9126 evaluation instrument for software, with the following criteria: functionality, usability, reliability, efficiency, portability, and maintainability. the following were undertaken during the software evaluation: (1) presented the system to the respondents from lipa city youth and cultural center, (2) demonstrated and explained the functionalities of the system to the respondents, (3) asked the respondents to use the system for evaluation, (4) distributed the questionnaires to the respondents. in compliance with the data privacy act, the respondents were not required to provide their names in the surveys. their answers were treated confidentially, (5) tabulated the data and computed the mean for each criterion and the overall mean for all criteria, and (6) interpreted the results for the equivalent descriptive rating in table 1. 158 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. demographics of the respondents group count of no. 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 all % 16-25 % 26-35 % 36-45 % 46-55 % nonresident of lipa 4 1 2 1 13% 0% 14% 17% 25% private sector 2 2 7% 0% 0% 17% 0% public sector 9 2 1 6 30% 29% 14% 50% 0% resident of lipa 8 2 3 1 2 27% 29% 43% 8% 50% school 7 3 2 1 1 23% 43% 29% 8% 25% 30 7 12 4 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% the participants of the research consisted of 30 respondents from different groups and ages. non-resident of lipa 4 (13%), private sector 2 (7%), public sector 9 (30%), residents of lipa 8 (23%) and schools 7 (23%). table 2. gender of respondents gender non-resident of lipa private sector resident of lipa school grand total non-resident of lipa % private sector % resident of lipa % school % grand total % female 2 1 3 3 13 50 % 33 % 50 % 43 % 43 % male 2 1 6 4 17 50 % 67 % 50 % 57 % 57 % 4 2 9 7 30 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % participants were asked personal questions such as age and gender. as seen in table 2. 43% of participants are female and 57% of participants are male. table 3. age of respondents age all female male all % female % male % 16-25 7 5 2 23 % 38 % 12 % 26-35 7 1 6 23 % 8 % 35 % 36-45 12 5 7 40 % 38 % 41 % 46-55 4 2 2 13 % 15 % 12 % 30 13 17 100 % 100 % 100 % in addition, as seen in table 3 23% of participants for ages of 16-25, 23% for ages 26-35, 40% for ages 36-45 and 13% for ages 46-55. 159 international peer reviewed journal table 4. rating scale for interpreting the evaluation result numerical rating interpretation 4.51 – 5.00 excellent 3.51 – 4.50 very good 2.51 – 3.50 good 1.51 – 2.00 fair 1.00 – 1.50 poor table 5 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s functionality. the system gained an overall mean of 4.9, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system meets the users’ needs. table 5. functionality evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation the software performs the tasks required. 4.9 excellent the result is as expected. 4.9 excellent the system interacts with other systems. 4.8 excellent the software prevents unauthorized access. 4.9 excellent composite mean 4.9 excellent table 6 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s usability. the system gained an overall mean of 4.9, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system is user-friendly and provides an attractive user interface. table 6. usability evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation the software is easy to use. 4.9 excellent the system is quickly learned. 4.9 excellent the system is used without much effort. 4.9 excellent gui interface looks good. 4.8 excellent composite mean 4.9 excellent table 7 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s reliability. the system gained an overall mean of 4.6, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system is fault-tolerant and recoverable. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. reliability evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation most of the faults in the software have been eliminated over time. 4.7 excellent the software handles errors. 4.7 excellent software resumes working and restores lost data. 4.5 excellent composite mean 4.6 excellent table 8 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s efficiency. the system gained an overall mean of 4.7, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system is prompt and effective. table 8. efficiency evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation the system responds quickly. 4.7 excellent the system utilizes resources efficiently. 4.7 excellent composite mean 4.7 excellent table 9 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s portability. the system gained an overall mean of 4.8, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system is accessible and convenient to use. table 9. portability evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation the software can be moved to other environments. 4.9 excellent the software is installed quickly. 4.9 excellent the software complies with portability standards. 4.9 excellent the software is easily replaced with other software. 4.5 excellent composite mean 4.8 excellent table 10 presents the results of the evaluation regarding the system’s maintainability. the system gained an overall mean of 4.8, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system is restorable to operational status when a failure occurs. 161 international peer reviewed journal table 10. maintainability evaluation of ireserve indicators mean interpretation faults are easily diagnosed. 4.8 excellent the software is easily modified. 4.8 excellent the software continues to function if changes are made. 4.8 excellent the software is tested easily. 4.9 excellent composite mean 4.8 excellent table 11 presents a summary of the evaluation results. the system’s functionality and usability received the highest ratings. on the other hand, reliability received the lowest rating but still was excellent. the system attained an overall mean of 4.8, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the system complies with the iso 9126 software quality standards. table 11. overall evaluation of ireserve criteria mean interpretation functionality 4.9 excellent usability 4.9 excellent reliability 4.6 excellent efficiency 4.7 excellent portability 4.8 excellent maintainability 4.8 excellent overall mean 4.8 excellent table 12 presents the results of the computer system usability. the system gained an overall mean of 4.86, which is equivalent to an excellent rating. this indicates that the users find the system effective and it satisfies their needs. 162 jpair multidisciplinary research table 12. results of the computer system usability criteria mean interpretation overall, i am satisfied with how easy it is to use this system. 4.9 excellent it is simple to use this system. 4.9 excellent i am able to complete my work quickly using this system. 4.8 excellent i feel comfortable using this system. 4.9 excellent it was easy to learn to use this system. 4.9 excellent i believe i became productive quickly using this system. 4.8 excellent the system gives error messages that clearly tell me how to fix problems. 4.7 excellent whenever i make mistakes using the system, i recover easily and quickly. 4.7 excellent the information (such as online help, on-screen messages, and other documentation) provided with this system is clear. 4.9 excellent it is easy to find the information needed. 4.9 excellent the information provided with the system is effective in helping complete my work. 4.9 excellent the organization of information on the system screens is clear. 4.9 excellent the interface of this system is pleasant. 4.9 excellent i like using the interface of this system. 4.9 excellent this system has all functions and capabilities i expect it to have. 4.8 excellent overall, i am satisfied with this system. 4.9 excellent overall mean 4.86 excellent conclusions reservation of events in lipa city youth and cultural center needs automation to improve the current system. as per the client, admin office lipa city hall, the purpose of the system is to have a well-organized schedule of 163 international peer reviewed journal events to be able to accept reservations for lipa city youth and cultural center without conflicting other events that have prior reservations – and to disseminate information online. thus, the system was proposed and developed to cater to the client’s needs to manage a schedule of lipa city youth and cultural center efficiently through the online reservation and to post news and announcements through a website. the software has many benefits such as improvement of efficiency and productivity, reduction of errors, increase in quality of service. for this reason, it becomes essential to understand the factors that affect the intention of use of i-reserve. based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were derived, (1) using a flowchart, context diagram, an entity-relationship diagram, the proposed system was successfully designed such that: (a) the user can send reservation online; (b) the admin can manage the requests sent by the user, and (c) the user and admin can search for available dates of lipa city youth and cultural center, (2) the proposed system was developed successfully using: (a) html and css for the user interface; (b) javascript for form validation and error handling; (c) php for sending and retrieving data to and from the database; and (d) mysql for data storage; and (3) using iso/iec 9126 testing standard for software, the functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability of the proposed system was tested and was rated excellent. recommendations based on the results, the researchers offer the following recommendations that ireserve be adopted by the city of lipa, but in the process, only a specific group of individuals from the admin of lipa city youth and cultural center will be given admin accounts and manage reservations for it will yield additional income generation and when it becomes operational, online payment can be integrated into the system for faster transactions. literature cited atchariyachanvanich, k., & hitoshi, o. 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(2016, july). performance notification in a reservation-based parking system. in  2016 international seminar on intelligent technology and its applications (isitia) (pp. 429-434). ieee. retrieved from doi: 10.1109/ isitia.2016.7828698 https://doi.org/10.1109/icices.2014.7034169 https://doi.org/10.1109/icices.2014.7034169 https://doi.org/10.1109/vtcfall.2016.7881004 https://doi.org/10.1109/isitia.2016.7828698 https://doi.org/10.1109/isitia.2016.7828698 32 jpair multidisciplinary research critical review of habermas’ communicative action: implication on organizational leadership marvin s. daguplo orcid no. 0000-0002-0363-133x daguplosdv@yahoo.com southern leyte state university-tomas oppus southern leyte, philippines abstract an organization is a conglomeration of individual cultural practices and not just a system of human beings acting and interacting with each other (dy, 1997). this communion can either result to thought conflict or agreement. presently, conflict is more observed within the organization. in response, this critical action research aimed to situate habermas’ communicative action among leaders’ role in unifying organizations. hermeneutic analysis found that habermas emphasized dialogue and open communication as unifying agents for interpersonal relationship and solidarity within the organization. he clarified that leaders should consider the organization as an integral part of family relationship where every member is heard equally. moreover, empowerment and encouragement among members of the organization were emphasized as contributory factors to strengthen the organization. lastly, competent leaders systematically and orderly organized and deliberate things along with the other members in the organization. hence, leaders’ self-reflection and effective communication provides a better way of social and organizational formation and transformation. leaders, therefore, must equip themselves with the necessary skills and techniques on communicative administration for the good of the organization. there is a must to change the view of society born from labor into a society which grows from interaction of people living and dreaming together. vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.233 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 33 international peer reviewed journal keywords sociology, communication, organization and management, critical analysis introduction understanding the social structure provides us with a better analysis on the society’s cultural practices. it further provides us a picture of how social relations interact in the socialization process within a social structure. this reflects the reality that society is not just a mere conglomeration of individuals in a situation but a system or systems of human beings acting and interacting with each other (dy, 1997) in a productive process. many sociological experts and social scientists viewed these interactions of individuals differently. movements and developments of society were interpreted through various sociological perspectives – functional, structural or conflict. famous among others in the field of social evolution is karl marx (2011). marx’s emphasis is on class conflict as constituting the dynamics of social change, his awareness that change was not random but the outcome of a conflict of interests, and his view of social relations as based on power. he stressed that the force transforming latent class membership into a struggle of classes is class interest. out of similar class situations, individuals come to act similarly. they develop mutual dependence, a community, a shared interest interrelated with a common income of profit or of wages. from this common interest classes are formed, and for marx, individuals form classes to the extent that their interests engage them in a struggle with the opposite class. his was a conflict view of modem (nineteenth century) society (rummel, 1977). however, upon deep reflection, jürgen habermas, a 20th century philosopher, formulated his own perspective on social development different from that of marx. habermas (2001) introduced his own theory – the theory of communicative action – which tries to explain the development of society in a more rational way. he emphasized on the importance of communication for social cooperation and development. moreover, the distinguishing feature of the human species for marx is that it uniquely raises itself above nature by virtue of the fact that human beings produce their own means of material subsistence. in other words, human society materially reproduces itself—developing the means to clothe, house, and feed itself—by engaging in social cooperation in the struggle to conquer the forces of nature (owen 2002). 34 jpair multidisciplinary research being in the competitive world where chaos and a lot of misunderstandings reign, it is but proper for leaders and managers to think for better ways to develop deep communication for better understanding and cooperation among members in the organization. it is almost a daily experience that because man is competitive by nature, influence and manipulation rule over equal integration of opportunities. it is then very important for our modern leaders to learn models of peaceful integration of the various needs and demands of their constituents. habermas provides us a simple way. thus, this study. framework this study applies as theoretical framework the habermassian principle of ‘communicative action’ and ‘consensus’ through deliberation and reasoning. habermas, in his moral consciousness and communicative action, defines the concept of communicative action as follows: “communicative action can be understood as a circular process in which the actor is two things in one: an initiator, who masters situations through actions for which he is accountable, and a product of the transitions surrounding him, of groups whose cohesion is based on solidarity to which he belongs, and of processes of socialisation in which he is reared” (habermas, 1981). communicative action in this sense is the one type of action that habermas says uses all the human ways of thinking, and language. this combination will allow school governance stakeholders to understand and agree with one another and to make plans for common action. the act of coming together and agreeing (communicative action) takes the place of revolution as a mode of change (mabovula, 2010). objectives of the study the main purpose of this study is to appreciate better how habermas’s theory on communicative action can be applied to the daily experiences of leaders in integrating the social, economical, and professional demands of its constituents. specifically, this will deal on the following subjects: (i) habermas’s view of society; (ii) habermas’s concept on social labor; and (iii) habermas’s stages of communication as mechanism of crisis. understanding this will allow every individual to live rationally rather than aggressively in dealing with various professional and personal needs. 35 international peer reviewed journal methodology this descriptive-narrative study is a critical action research which utilized all available relevant literatures of habermas’ reconstruction of marx’s dialectical materialism. from the identified thirty-four (34) books, articles, periodicals and journals surveyed, there are only eight (8) books, articles and journals considered as reliable and authentic source for narrative analysis. some philosophy experts helped the identification of resources to ensure the genuineness and meaningfulness of the data.  habermas, j. (1975). legitimation crisis (t. mccarthy, trans.). boston: beacon press. original work published in german in 1973.)  habermas, j. (1984). the theory of communicative action. reason and the rationalization of society (t. mccarthy, trans., vol.1). boston: beacon press. (original work published in german in 1981.)  habermas, j. (1987). the theory of communicative action. lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason (t. mccarthy, trans., vol. 2). boston: beacon press. (original work published in german in1981.)  habermas, j. (1998). on the pragmatics of communication (m. cooke, ed.). cambridge, ma: the mit press.  habermas, j. (2001a). on the pragmatics of social interaction: preliminary studies in the theory of communicative action (b. fultner, trans.). cambridge, ma: the mit press. (original work published in german in 1984.)  jürgen habermas, the theory of communicative action, 2 vols., trans. thomas mccarthy (boston: beacon press, 1984 and 1987) (german edition, 1981).  jürgen habermas, “toward a reconstruction of historical materialism,” in his communication and the evolution of society, trans. thomas mccarthy (boston: beacon press, 1979), pp.130-77. (the essay was published in german in 1976.)  jürgen habermas, knowledge and human interests, trans. jeremy j. shapiro (london: heinemann, 1972) (german edition, 1968). thereafter, logical classifications of data were made under the different heads focusing on the theme of investigation. interpretation, description, comparison, appraisal, cross examination, and thematic analysis of different ideas or concepts 36 jpair multidisciplinary research in the context of major questions under consideration were the main qualitative analytical technique observed by the researcher. results and discussion salient findings habermas’s view of society/institution habermas believed that we are confronted today not only by system theory’s intellectual repression of the discursive structure of social life, but also by the real repression of processes of reaching understanding in favor of systemic forms of integration. evident to this is the market or the bureaucratic state, which to a certain extent function behind the backs of the participants and achieve their ends by means of steering mechanisms. the aforementioned system, often times creates not a cooperative and productive environment, instead, it compromises individual views for the sake of bureaucracy which tries to govern individuals. thus, habermas tried to reconstruct society from a chaotic industrial revolution to a society evolve from the communicative aspect of each individuals. he tried to change the view of society born from labor into a society which grows from interaction of people living and dreaming together. here in this aspect grows the value of language. habermas once said, “language is a medium of domination and social force. it serves to legitimize relations of organized power” (cooke, 1997). here, language as a means of organizing society is not use as a power to dominate but categorized as a tool of undamaged inter-subjectivity which reconciles differences and unites visions of people within the structure. this language unifies the organization or institution into a more profound socialization which leads to a quality production. it is an action which elevates individual from being a simple mean of production in an industrialized culture as espoused by the marxian society to a person which manages, controls and operates the mode of production. figure 1 reflects how habermas as stipulated by dy (1997) considers language as a medium of utterances for norms of production and socialization. it is the focal subject of unity in an institution. moreover, it plays a constitutive role with regard to institutional norms and customs : it is only through the articulation of language that institutional norms and purposes can also be changed. 37 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. the role of language in the society (dy, 1997) reflected also in the diagram is the two natures of society, namely, the inner and the outer nature. the inner nature comprises the organic subject capable of speaking, acting, socializing, and communicating. this is the human environment working under a normative structure and living together under valid norms. on the other hand, the outer nature is the non-human resources necessary for production processes. this involves the needs for training, developments, technologies, strategies, rules, and technical knowledge to maintain and sustain the flow of operations and production in the society. these two natures, in the eyes of habermas, should properly understand each other’s’ role through communication. in these ways, the society can live through communication on the necessary things required for development. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research from this, we could say that habermas refers society as an institution by which individuals regulate their interpersonal relationships, and by which solidarity is secured. the social integration of the lifeworld links up new situations with the life world context in the dimension of social space through language; that is, the sociocultural lifeworld supplies new situations with action coordinating functions by providing structures of legitimately regulated intersubjective relations (owen 2002). we can therefore say that open communication and integration of needs among individuals in an organization/institution is a must for a peaceful agreement of a cause. every working personnel differ in needs, and leaders must understand that these needs are from the inner nature of man which longs for security. it is therefore necessary for a leader to have a heart that hear the inner and outer demands of personnel and, one by one, integrate them to formulate certain programs or projects that would respond together these claims. moreover, habermas tried to emphasize that understanding can only be achieve whenever there is an available space, time, and effort for personal, social, and professional conversation. dialogue, therefore, creates a productive, dynamic, and motivated culture within the organization. dubrin (2012) stressed that “communication has been described as the glue that holds the organization together. effective communication is a leader’s most potent tool for inspiring workers to take responsibility for creating a better future.” looking at the negative side, poor communication is the number one problem in virtually all organizations and the cause of most problems. looking at this perspective, a communication can either strengthen or weaken organizations. a challenge therefore is for the leader to mediate and facilitate flows of communication between and among members of the organization making it sure that no other organization members are influenced, manipulated or even compromised. habermas’s concept on social labor after a rigorous study on the different articles, books, and journals which narrates and describes jurgen habermas concept on social labor, the following items are the common concept which he espoused in his struggle to establish a distinction between pure labor and interaction. 39 international peer reviewed journal table 1. habermas’ concept on social labor habermas’ concept on social labor description  social labor is basically essential.  the development of a social labor is considered as a result of a communicative behavior. the social organization of labor and distribution precedes the emergence of linguistic communication, and this in turn results to the formation of a free social system.  social labor is associated with family cooperation  the bond which best describes social labor is comparable to the relationship established by family bond. jurgen habermas explained that social labor means not only labor processes but also cooperation between individual groups. this elevates man from a consideration of pure animal to a rational being.  the structures of role behavior mark a new evolutionary threshold. rules of communicative action cannot be reduced to instrumental strategic action (dy, 1997).  in contexts of social action, the agent intuitively chooses between an orientation towards success and an orientation towards reaching understanding. these types of actions are exclusively defined as strategic and communicative. in strategic actions, agents’ plans are coordinated through influence, and in communicative actions, they are coordinated through consensus. of the two, consensus is preferable than influence.  production and socialization, social labor and care of the young, are of equal importance for the reproduction of the human species (dy, 1997).  the familial structure is fundamental for the integration of both outer and inner nature. just as family relation and understanding are strengthened by communication, social labor are also strengthened and reinforced through clear and dynamic communication among individuals in the workplace. as reflected in the table, habermas’ concept on social labor moves away from the conflict society espoused by marx. he emphasized a social role system that eventually comes to integrate social labor in a human society through linguistic and cultural organization. this, however, requires highly competent individuals, and is crucially dependent on the transmission of competences from one generation to the next. thus, he maintains that the specifically human mode of reproducing life cannot be adequately described without recognizing the familial principle of organization, alongside the system of social labor. he concludes that, production and socialization are “equally” important for a human species that 40 jpair multidisciplinary research reproduces itself through social labor and that depends for its social integration on the interactive competences of a social role system (fleming, 2012). on the aspect of leadership, leaders have to ensure that quality services are rendered without compromising the working conditions and relations of the personnel. just as habermas believes that society emerges from communication, leaders must also consider that organization grows not from forceful implementation of codes and rules but in the proper communication of goals. moreover, the development of communicative action reminds every leader that they are part of the organization. they take the role as leaders and model in doing organizational related activities. habermas clarified that the organization is an extension, expansion, and even considered it as an integral part of the family relationship where every member is heard and catered accordingly and equally. leaders, therefore, must not be coercive or compelling towards work. a leader is a true guide who empowers, encourages, and motivates other members of the organization to faithfully perform duties as a contributory factor to strengthen organization. leaders see their constituents as not just followers, but rather as stakeholders striving to achieve that same common purpose, vision, and values. these follower and stakeholder constituents have their own individuality and autonomy which must be respected to maintain a moral community. leader, then, embody the purpose, vision, and values of the organization and of the constituents, within an understanding of ethical ideals. they connect the goals of the organization with that of the internal employees and external stakeholders. leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents’ opinions. they are open to others’ opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better (freeman & stewart, 2006). habermas’s stages of communication as mechanism of crisis since habermas fight on the theory of communicative action tries to negate marx’s conflict society, he must have some processes of communication to oppose violence in crisis. after reading and examining closely the narratives of habermas and his ideology, the following process of communication is formulated. habermas’ stages of communication reflect the flow of conversation from being individualistic towards the achievement of a social agreement. through a social conversation, individuals who first are bounded by his own actions 41 international peer reviewed journal and motives began to consider the needs of others as his/her own needs. this movement starts the reciprocal behavioral expectations of individuals towards a system of social roles. finally, upon verification of argument and when validity of speeches are attained, agreement of norms and principles will now be justified and established. table 2. habermas’ stages of communication stages of communication descriptive characteristics symbolically mediated interaction  behavioral expectations of participants are bound to their performative attitude  actions, motives and acting subjects are perceived on a single place of reality (dy, 1997)  one considers the needs of others to the extent that meeting those needs will help him fulfill his own needs propositionally differentiated speech  speaking and acting separate for the first time  one can connect a performative attitude of the participant with the propositional attitude (dy, 1997) of the observer  the reciprocal behavioral expectations of participants constitutes a system of social roles  actions and norms separate argumentative speech  the validity claims of speech acts can be made thematic and argued upon  norms and roles appear in need of justification, their validity can be contested (dy 1997) and grounded in principles a competent leader systematically and orderly organized, situate, and deliberate things on the table along with the other members in the organization. management gurus would always emphasize that managers and leaders need to strengthen the basic skills of planning, organizing, decision making, directing, and controlling to ensure smooth operation in the organization (barnard, 1968). these are basic skills which defines how effective and efficient the leader or manager is in taking control of the organizations’ entire system of work. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research habermas, however, emphasize the strong relationship between communication and action. both are necessary skills a leader must possess to facilitate differences and individualism in the organization. conclusion the findings of this critical study lead towards a conclusion that leaders’ self-reflection and effective communication provides a better way of social and organizational formation and transformation. for a society to develop, a mode of open communication is of vital importance for social integration. there is a must to change the view of society born from labor into a society which grows from interaction of people living and dreaming together. in this aspect, communicative leadership creates an organization that welcomes every thought of every member and considers it a unit very important for organizational development. hence, organizational formation and transformation, just like that of any society, cannot be brought about by coercive leadership and class conflicts but by a bi-dimensional learning process. class conflicts threaten the identity and integration of society. learning processes may take a long span of time. in the long run, however, they are the only alternative to violence (dy, 1997). literature cited andersen, m.l. & taylor, h.f. 2011 sociology: the essentials, sixth edition. wadsworth, cengage learning, usa. barnard, c.i. 1968 the functions of the executive.. cambridge, ma: harvard.university press cooke, m. 1997 language and reason: a study of habermas’ pragmatics. massachusetts institute of technology press. usa. dubrin, a.j. 2012 leadership: research findings, practice, and skills, 7th edition. southwestern cengage learning, usa. 43 international peer reviewed journal dy, m.b. 1997 the economic structure of society: habermas’ reconstruction of historical materialism. retrieved on july 2013 at http://www.crvp.org/ book/series03/iii-12/chapter_ix.htm. freeman, r. e., & stewart, l. 2006 developing ethical leadership.bridge paperso. habermas, j. 1975 legitimation crisis (t. mccarthy, trans.). boston: beacon press. habermas, j. 1979 “toward a reconstruction of historical materialism,” in his communication and the evolution of society (trans. thomas mccarthy), boston: beacon press. habermas, j. 1984 the theory of communicative action. reason and the rationalization of society (t. mccarthy, trans., vol.1). boston: beacon press. habermas, j. 1987 the theory of communicative action. lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason (t. mccarthy, trans., vol. 2). boston: beacon press. habermas, j. 1998 on the pragmatics of communication (m. cooke, ed.). cambridge, ma: the mit press. habermas, j. 2001 on the pragmatics of social interaction: preliminary studies in the theory of communicative action (b. fultner, trans.). cambridge, ma: the mit press. mabovula, n. 2010 revisiting jürgen habermas’s notion of communicative action and its relevance for south african school governance: can it succeed? south 44 jpair multidisciplinary research african journal of education. owen, d.s. 2002 between reason and history: habermas and the idea of progress. state university of new york press, new york, usa. rummel, r.j. 1977 understanding conflict and war, volume 3. sage publication. beverly hills, california, usa. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. 1 international peer reviewed journal abstract publication is the most visible sign of an active researcher. it is central to a research career and academic advancement. also, the institution gains prestige and the researcher gains a notable reputation and career rewards. the study summarized the findings from a systematic investigation into existing literature and views regarding the factors that affect faculty research productivity, to discuss themes and components of such work, and to propose a conceptual framework. a systematic analysis of existing literature was used to address the problems. it is found that faculty research productivity is influenced by individual factors (self-efficacy, affiliation, motivation, commitment, orientation, basic and factors affecting faculty research productivity: conclusions from a critical review of the literature jonathan m. mantikayan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8863-3299 jmantikayan@ccspc.edu.ph cotabato city state polytechnic college cotabato city montadzah a. abdulgani http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4024-9567 momtadzah143@gmail.com cotabato city state polytechnic college cotabato city originality: 97% • grammar check: 91 • plagiarism: 3 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.561 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research advance research skills, sense of achievements, contributing to society, sense of responsibility, scholarly pursuit, autonomy and flexibility, satisfying interest and curiosity), institutional factors (have fewer course preparations, staff support, advising and mentoring, resources, rewards, sufficient work time, culture, research emphasis, tenure and promotion, financial rewards, satisfying performance standards, peer and social recognition), leadership factors (highly regarded able scholar, research oriented, work for departments with a similar priority placed on research). ascriptive factors refer to gender, an age of a faculty member at a given point in time, intelligence, a personality of the individual. the paper has implications for higher education institution administrators regarding managing faculty members’ research performance. keywords — institutional research, research productivity, faculty performance, higher education, literature review, philippines introduction why are some faculty members more productive than others in academic research? institutions of higher education are complex, having multiple facets and unique infrastructures. consequently, it is vital to the success of the institution to successfully integrate different factors and balance resources for the collective purpose of the institution. universities and other academic institutions have constantly served as feeder institutions to the overall development of nations through scientific research (uzoka, 2008). the staffs of higher education institutions are the key research resource. productive faculty members do not only expand the knowledge in their professional fields by integrating their findings with those of others through scholarly publications circulated around the world, they also bring visibility and prestige to themselves and their affiliated institutions (brewer, douglas, facer, & o’toole 1999; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; mcgill & settle, 2012; zhang, 2014). due to this, higher education institutions are increasingly emphasizing research productivity when assessing promotion, merit, funding and performance recognition (creswell, 1985; blackburn & bentley, 1993; hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011; zhang, 2014). as a result, it is no surprise to see a growing interest in studying the factors that affect faculty research productivity (blackburn & bentley, 1993; williamson, & cable, 2003; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; kim, morse, & zingales, 2009; 3 international peer reviewed journal hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011). one approach examines the characteristics of all academic researchers is bland et al. (2005) model to predict faculty research productivity. although that these studies have significantly improved our understanding of faculty research productivity, the findings are often incomplete and even conflicting, depending upon the research approach undertaken and academic disciplines being studied. we examine the possible factors affecting the research productivity of faculty in different higher education institutions from various journal publications. faculty research productivity for a majority of academic scientists, research productivity is a lifelong process with a distinct life-cycle profile. it sharply increases to a peak early in life and then gradually declines (stephan & levin, 1992). research productivity has been measured as the quantity and/or quality of the artifacts produced by faculty scholarship (dundar & lewis, 1998; meho & spurgin, 2005). faculty members serve a key role in the academic success of their students, advancement of knowledge throughout society, and their professional achievements. their skills and experience significantly contribute to the mission and purpose of higher education, to advance learning and promote human knowledge. faculty work encompasses multiple interrelated activities of teaching, research, and service (fairweather, 1993, 2002; paulsen & feldman, 1995). during the past few decades, considerable attention has been devoted to the topic of faculty research productivity (blackburn & bentley, 1993; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005). such attention is warranted since productivity is often used as an index of departmental and institutional prestige and is strongly associated with an individual faculty member’s reputation, visibility, and advancement in the academic reward structure (creamer, 1998). indeed, for many faculty, the pure number of publications is far more influential in shaping one’s career. lucertini, nicolo and telmons (1995) urge schools to seek relevant benchmarks to search, measure, and compare their processes to the best practices that their external competitors have developed. previous studies have provided three types of benchmarks for research productivity: (i) qualitative rank of related journals, (ii) quantitative measures of total and average research productivity of faculty, and (iii) quantitative measures of total and average research productivity according to where faculty earned their doctoral degrees. 4 jpair multidisciplinary research several variables have been reported to be related to research productivity. one key variable is the involvement of faculty with graduate student research. kelly and warmbrod (1986) found that the number of doctoral committees chaired successfully resulted in higher faculty research productivity. this was supported by dundar and lewis (1998) when they reported that high ratios of graduate students to faculty also correlates with productivity, and the percentage of graduate students that were hired as research assistants correlated highly with research production. gorman and scruggs (1984) also reported that participation in graduate student research was related to faculty research productivity. framework time-scarcity theory a hypothesis rests on the assumption that commitment of time and energy to one role must come at the expense of success in another. the scarcity theory of role behavior is exampled by the work of goode (1960) as well as coser (1974), and may be used to account for perceptions of debilitating responsibility as individual faculty attempt to fulfill numerous commitments. under this theory, time spent in any role except research would be negatively and linearly related to research performance. complementary role theory time spent preparing for classes could have a beneficial effect on research practice through the development of complementary knowledge and skills. complementary role theorists such as marks (1977) and faia (1980) have gone on to suggest that a balanced commitment to various roles is likely to have an energizing impact on all activities. this position suggests non-linear relationships between time spent on alternative roles and research productivity, with moderate activity in alternative roles being associated with the highest levels of performance. motivation theory latham and pinder (2005) work reported between 1993 and 2003, concluding that goal-setting, social cognitive and organizational justice theories are the three most important approaches to work motivation to appear in the last 30 years. they reach 10 generally positive conclusions regarding predicting, understanding, and influencing work motivation in the new millennium. 5 international peer reviewed journal selection theory hesli and lee (2011) explain selection theory that only the most productive faculty members are promoted, eliminating low producers before they reach higher ranks and, thus, creating a situation in which higher ranking faculty produce more. although intellectual curiosity is a powerful intrinsic motivator for those who have decided to devote their lives to a field of study, there still exist the extrinsic rewards of promotion and tenure that cannot be overlooked. individual factors personality is regarded in the management literature as an alternative for an individual’s level of motivation (barrick, stewart, & piotrowski, 2002). various scholars have particularly embraced the five-factor model of personality as a replicable and unifying taxonomy of personality (goldberg, 1992; john, 1990). in particular, barrick et al. (2002) argued conscientious individuals have higher intentions for achievement striving. conscientious individuals are dependable, responsible, organized, ordered, and achievement-oriented (mccrae & john, 1992), all of which appear relevant for academic research productivity. evidence shows that the average rate of faculty publication tends to be low and the variation in performance is high. fox (1984) explains this variation in several ways that productive researchers possess certain psychological and individual characteristics that are absent in less productive researchers. high producers may have innate scientific ability or talent, possess a sacred spark of motivation and desire, and have a certain type of personality or cognitive structure. biographical studies of eminent scientists reveal hardworking people who play with ideas, recombine familiar concepts easily, and tolerate ambiguity and abstraction (fox 1984). ramsden (1994) found out that genuine individual interest in one’s discipline or field was a significant predictor of research output. indeed, prior empirical research has found that academic researchers with high professional commitment and values demonstrate the highest research productivity (fox, 1992; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011). lee and bozeman, (2005) posit that even if one understands the relationship between collaboration and individual researchers’ publishing productivity in all its richness and complexity, the health and well-being of scientific fields will continue to depend, critically, on the ability to replicate and extend research skills across generations. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research faculty development consists of program activities, practices, and strategies that aim both to maintain and to improve the professional competence of individual faculty (prince, felder, & brent, 2007). part of faculty career development could be researched development, though writers have not specified the nature of the activities. blackburn et al. (1980) noted that when faculty was asked about the areas in which they needed professional development, improvement in teaching ranked first, but research-oriented activities manuscript preparation and publication, proposal writing, and computer use ranked second. publication is the most visible sign of an active researcher. it is central to a research career and academic advancement. accordingly, producing publications during doctoral candidature is increasingly expected (aitchison, kamler & lee 2010; cuthbert & spark, 2008; raddon, 2011). some studies measure the subsequent productivity of doctoral candidates as an indicator of the quality of doctoral programs (roy, roberts & stewart 2006). candidates completing doctorates with some publications are better placed for future employment, including research employment. lockwood (2005) defined motivation as it represents the forces acting on or within a person that cause the person to behave in a specific, goal-directed manner. because the motives of employees affect their productivity, one of management’s jobs is to channel employee motivation effectively toward achieving organizational goals. although job performance involves the factors more than motivation, motivation is an important factor in achieving high performance (ramsden, 1994). institutional factors high research performance is already admired and desired throughout the institutional structure. scholarly productivity enhances a faculty member’s teaching ability by providing better insight into the discipline and contributing to the latest developments. presidents and trustees value efficiency for the visibility and reputation it indirectly earns for the institution. administrator’s and deans admire productivity for the creative, stimulating forces it brings it to the collegial atmosphere (creswell, 1985). allison and stewart (1974) measured resources as the percentage of worktime spent on research, the number of research assistants, and the proportion of respondents who reported that they “always” get the grants they seek and found out that worktime spent on research is an important predictor of high research performance. 7 international peer reviewed journal in management, promotion is one of the reward systems to help motivate employees. some scholars believe that promotion has a motivating effect on research productivity. for example, lockwood (2005) suggested that higher education institutions can influence academic staff research behavior through the manipulation of the reward structure for promotion. chen, gupta and hoshower, (2006) concluded that the tenured faculty members are motivated more by intrinsic motivation rewards, whereas untenured faculty are more motivated by extrinsic rewards. tenure and promotion are potent motivators of staff research productivity, whereas pay raises are insufficiently linked to research productivity to be a good incentive. most universities have clear written documents of performance requirement set for academic staff. the annual workload of lecture and research publications varies from one university to another (lee, 2000). the assessment of academic staff professional performance is conducted every academic year from both departmental and individual perspectives. academic rank and tenure are also related to research productivity according to the literature. for example, faculty members who are in the higher professorial ranks have larger publication (blackburn, behymer, & hall, 1978). we are aware that full professors, those who have, in theory, attained the highest promotional rank, continue to publish as well. intellectual curiosity does play a significant role in publishing productivity, especially for tenured faculty, as some studies have shown that full professors produce the most scholarship (tien & blackburn, 1996). leadership factors as a service-oriented unit, research administration offices are responsible for various administrative tasks which include submitting proposals, preparing budgets, risk management, financial reporting, and interpreting policy (langley & ofosu, 2007). these administrative tasks are indirectly related to the research, yet necessary to ensure that the research is ongoing. overall, the fundamental purpose of research administration is to enhance the ability to carry out successful research. administrative duties may provide the necessary resources that enhance performance. knorr, mittermeir, aichholzer, and waller (1976) tested the proposition that scientific productivity was associated with the status or position a scientist held in the formal or informal hierarchy of the organization. they argued that higher position (i.e., administrative position) contributed to 8 jpair multidisciplinary research productive research because a scientist’s publication capacity is multiplied by the task force he or she supervises and by the project (and other) money to which he or she gains access. knorr et al. (1976) examined this intriguing proposition using a data set of scientists located in academic and industrial organizations. they found that once a scientist attained a supervisory position, manpower resources and project tasks contributed to high research performance. ascriptive factors some researchers argue that differences in research productivity between men and women come from administrative positions of researchers and their marital status. for example xie and shauman (1998) conclude that gender differences in research productivity has declined over time, while at the same time the population of female scientists has proportionally increased. fox (2005) argues that the effect of gender is complex in a way that it is not possible to simply separate the effect of married and single researchers. he also refers to the career of spouse and family composition as two important factors of such complexity. in another study, leahey (2006) argues that the reason of low productivity of women is that women specialize less than men, which is an important factor for research productivity. table 1 shows factors the affect faculty research productivity in literature. table 1. factors that influence faculty research productivity in literature study factors (baum, hancock, & breuning, (2015); fox, 1992; mitchell & rebne, 1995; kotrlik, bartlett, higgins, & williams, 2002; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011; mcgill & settle, 2012) sufficient research time (brewer, douglas, facer, & o’toole 1999; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; mcgill & settle, 2012; zhang, 2014) financial rewards, funding for attending conferences, promotion and tenure, performance evaluation 9 international peer reviewed journal (baum, hancock, & breuning, (2015); creswell, 1985; blackburn & bentley, 1993; hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011; zhang, 2014) interest in research, research self-competence, self-efficacy for research, personal research (blackburn & bentley, 1993; williamson, & cable, 2003; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; kim, morse, & zingales, 2009; hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011) colleague, advising and mentoring, communication with professional network, advisor research, affiliation (blackburn & bentley, 1993; toutkoushian, porter, danielson, & hollis, 2003; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; prince, felder, & brent, 2007; mcgill & settle, 2012) institutional support doctoral-level institutions (blackburn & bentley, 1993; bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005) external grant, student and clerical assistance (brewer, douglas, facer, & o’toole 1999) research institute, seminars (zhang, 2014) sense of achievement, satisfying interest and curiosity, contributing to society, sense of responsibility, scholarly pursuit, autonomy and flexibility, performance recognition, job potential, job significance, peer and social recognition, social respect (sinclair, barnacle, & cuthbert, 2014) emotional engagement with research, doctoral experience, establishment of research efficacy, repertoire of soft skills, have flexible, responsive and adaptive dispositions (prince, felder, & brent, 2007) faculty development programs, promote involvement in research, recognize and reward faculty performance, encourage faculty members to use inductive teaching methods, recognize and reward academic, departments and programs 10 jpair multidisciplinary research (fox, 1992) commitment, orientations of faculty, departmental reward structure, academic roles and work, teaching loads baum, hancock, & breuning, (2015) university type, teaching load, same-sex mentor, tenure clock, summers dedicated to research, conference presentations, marital status, children and primary caregiver, paid vs. unpaid childcare, methodological preference, area focus (williamson, & cable, 2003) early career research, pre-appointment research productivity, academic origin (kotrlik, bartlett, higgins, & williams, 2002) confidence and ability to conduct research, faculty members’ perceptions of their research confidence, organizational culture, support of research, age, gender, rank (bland, center, finstad, risbey, & staples, 2005; mcgill & settle, 2012) highly regarded, able scholar, research oriented, uses assertive-participative style fulfills critical roles: • manager • keeps goals visible • assures presence of individual characteristics socialization, motivation, context knowledge, basic and advanced research skills, simultaneous projects, autonomy and commitment, orientation, work habits, resources, rewards, clear coordination goals, size/experience/expertise: • positive group climate • assertive participative governance • brokered opportunity structure • decentralized organization culture, communication, research emphasis, recruitment and selection (creswell, 1985) psychological, superior intellectual ability, strong motivation, background characteristics, access to resources, reinforcements (hardré, beesley, miller, pace, 2011) resources, motivation for research, teaching load, service load, perceived departmental support for research, family and life commitments salazar-clemeña, & almonte-acosta, 2007) culture, impact of research, administrative practices, interinstitutional collaboration, institutional research strategy, financial reward system, infrastructure, the presence of ethical policies, and the availability of research funding (vinluan, 2012) economic indicators, the local orientation of many social science research studies, funding, individual characteristics of researchers, and the epistemic culture of knowledge production 11 international peer reviewed journal methodology the objective introduced in this paper is to identify factors that affect faculty research productivity. this study is a literature review and findings were based on the review and analysis of the existing related literature. the final results were drawn by compiling critical factors that affect research productivity. nonetheless, khan et al. (2003) stated a systematic review could be done based on five steps: framing questions for a review, identifying relevant work, assessing the quality of studies, summarizing the evidence, and interpreting the findings. the review question was: “what are the factors that affect faculty research productivity?” the search strategy was comprehensive and articles were collected from google and google scholar. we used “faculty research productivity” and “literature review on factors that affect research productivity” as keywords. according to khan, et al. (2003), there are two filters to enter into the systematic review. the first filter was a set of the inclusion and the exclusion criteria such that the literature review, which were related and able to address the issues were taken into the second filter. this study included only empirical evidence from various researches in the research productivity in higher education. results and discussion a proposed conceptual framework was designed based on critical success factors of faculty research productivity in higher education. the framework was designed by compiling critical success factors from 46 articles. table 2. imported data from different databases databases total articles duplications relevant inclusion criteria passed quality criteria passed google 135 98 37 16 12 google scholar 285 197 88 51 34 total 420 295 125 67 46 figure 1 shows the proposed framework based on four independent variables (individual factor, institutional factor, leadership factor, ascriptive factor) and dependent variable (faculty research productivity). 12 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. conceptual framework for faculty research productivity the main objective of this study was to identify the critical factors that affect faculty research productivity. the methodology was designed based on a systematic review process: framing questions for a review; identifying relevant work; assessing the quality of studies; summarizing the evidence; and interpreting the findings. in the quality appraisal criteria, the study met all the necessary five steps. two databases (google and google scholar) were used to import articles and a total of 67 articles were imported. this study designed by analyzing 46 articles which were passed by the quality criteria and all the critical factors were included to design a framework. our results lead to four groups of factors that influenced faculty research productivity: i. individual factors have a significant effect on faculty research productivity. ii. institutional factors have a significant effect on faculty research productivity. iii. leadership factors have a significant effect on faculty research productivity. iv. ascriptive factors have a significant effect on faculty research productivity. 13 international peer reviewed journal in knowing what critical factors affect the faculty research productivity, it was possible to offer a conceptual framework based on those critical factors. however, there is a need for the future research to validate this framework. conclusion the analysis of literature reviews indicated critical factors influencing the faculty research productivity. the results shows that faculty research productivity is influenced by individual factors (self-efficacy, affiliation, motivation, commitment, orientation, basic and advance research skills, sense of achievements, contributing to society, sense of responsibility, scholarly pursuit, autonomy and flexibility, satisfying interest and curiosity), institutional factors (have fewer course preparations, staff support, advising and mentoring, resources, rewards, sufficient work time, culture, research emphasis, tenure and promotion, financial rewards, satisfying performance standards, peer and social recognition), leadership factors (highly regarded able scholar, research oriented, work for departments with a similar priority placed on research), ascriptive factors (gender, age of a faculty member at a given point in time, intelligence, personality of the individual). this conceptual framework is crucial in higher education institution administrators regarding managing faculty members’ research performance. effort should be encouraged, and faculty members rewarded for effort invested, not just for immediate (or short-term) measures of productivity. institution’s policies that keeping teaching load to a minimum when research productivity is expected would promote faculty productivity. translational research the output of the study will be used as inputs in the improvement of the cotabato city state polytechnic college faculty research productivity. it also supports the acquiring of facility and equipment, faculty development, research, and community extension. the output of the study offers the solutions for the perennial problem that confronts every researcher not only at ccspc but also in the halls of various universities in the country. this critical review of the findings from the literature on faculty research productivity has enabled the institution to establish priorities, identify initiatives, and allocate resources that support the college in the accreditation processes. this research study adds to the literature on faculty research and the role of higher education institutions in facilitating research. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited allison, p. d., & stewart, j. a. (1974). productivity differences among scientists: evidence for accumulative advantage. american sociological review, 596 606. retrieved on: october 1, 2017 from: https://goo.gl/ist37m aitchison, c., kamler, b., & lee, a. (eds.). (2010). publishing pedagogies for the doctorate and beyond. routledge. retrieved on: october 20, 2017 from: https://goo.gl/zxra2e bland, c. j., center, b. a., finstad, d. a., risbey, k. r., & staples, j. g. (2005). a theoretical, practical, predictive model of faculty and department research productivity. academic medicine, 80(3), 225-237. retrieved on: october 9, 2017 from: https://goo.gl/srvyfb baum, m., hancock, k. j., & breuning, m. (2015). what explains high research productivity? evidence from a survey of international studies scholars. retrieved on: october 7, 2017 from: https://goo.gl/vm2dh5 blackburn, r. t., behymer, c. e., & hall, d. e. 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(2014). factors that motivate academic staff to conduct research and influence research productivity in chinese project 211 universities (doctoral dissertation, university of canberra). retrieved on: october 10, 2017 from: https://goo.gl/cqnckm 18 jpair multidisciplinary research the extent of implementation of ra 9211 and p.d. 1619 on public secondary schools in tampilisan, zamboanga del norte evangeline a. mansanadez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com jrmsu-tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract protection against the harmful effect of liquor and cigarette is a government thrust to maintain a healthy living. this study aimed to determine the compliance on the restriction of liquor and cigarette sale to minors within school radius in any schools in tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. it employed a descriptive survey method of research using a questionnaire to gather data; employing chisquare test in finding the difference on the perception of respondents; utilizing the 244 pnp personnel, barangay officials, and community people. this study answered the questions on the extent of compliance on the restriction of liquor and cigarette sale to minors and tested the hypothesized difference on the perception of respondents. findings led to the conclusion that the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors is to a small extent while on cigarettes is to a moderate extent. pearson chi-square test indicated that there is a highly significant difference on the perception of the three groups of respondents on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors based on barangay ordinance vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.679 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 mailto:evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 19 international peer reviewed journal and a significant difference based on school policies. on the sale of cigarettes, there exists a highly significant difference in their perception. thus, a concerned community that aimed for the betterment of the youth for today and the incoming generations produces a peaceful, sound, and a healthy environment. keywords — social science, the extent of compliance, restriction on the sale of liquor and cigarette, minors school radius, barangay ordinance, school policies introduction tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by manufacturers. the world health organization has estimated that tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) is currently responsible for the death of about six million people across the world each year with many of these deaths occurring prematurely (who, 2019).  government warning which says “cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health” is imprinted on each cigarette pack. public utility vehicles or buses, public and private offices, and institutions usually bear the warning “no smoking,” “this is a smoke-free institution,” or “smoking is strictly prohibited” to warn, inform, or alarm the public of the dangerous effect of cigarette smoking to one’s health. but people who used to smoke don’t give much attention to it. according to awang (2003), curiosity, peer pressure, and loneliness were the top three reasons given for trying cigarettes and that there is a positive association between parents who smoke and children who smoke. the tobacco industry is specifically targeting youth as future customers.” he added that among filipino youth aged 13 to 15 years, three in 10 currently use tobacco products, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco and use ‘shisha’ (a water pipe for smoking), which is gaining popularity in mid-eastern restaurants in select urban areas in the country. araya of the philippine star (2018) in his latest survey, stated that the chances are high that filipino children, with ages 11 to 16, have already tried smoking cigarettes.  the probability that a child has already lighted his first stick – or worse, is a full-blown smoker – is even greater when members of his family are smoking too. the survey also revealed that the social environment plays a role in the smoking behavior of young people. peer influence is the primary reason for trying out smoking or going back to smoking after quitting and there are more family members smoke in the homes of students who are current smokers.  20 jpair multidisciplinary research the result of the study conducted by cheruiyot, retura, arasa, and kiprono (2013) disclosed that females smoked more than the males and that these teenagers were very much aware of the effects of cigarette smoking on the biological, physical and social implications. despite this awareness, the drive to perform the behavior is strong. they recommend the formulation of programs and campaigns on anti-smoking with an emphasis on the religious aspect that should start as early as in elementary school. on the other hand, chapman and freeman (2009) proposed that retail licenses should be heavily restricted and tradable, becoming valuable commercial assets, where the threat of loss or revocation would act as an incentive for strict adherence to the measures proposed. republic act no. 9211, “an act regulating the packaging, use, sale, distribution, and advertisement of tobacco product and for other purposes” bans smoking in public places like the centers of youth activity such as play school, preparatory school, basic and tertiary education schools in all levels, hostels, recreational facilities for minors, elevators, stairways, location in which fire hazard are present, gas station, storage areas for flammable liquids, within the buildings and premises of public and private hospitals, clinics, health centers, laboratories, public conveyances, public facilities including airport, ships terminals, train, bus stations, restaurants and conference halls except for separate smoking areas, and food preparation areas. anent to this, philippine president rodrigo duterte has signed an executive order that imposes a wide-ranging ban on smoking in public reinforcing some of the toughest anti-tobacco measures in asia. smoking cigarettes will be banned in many public places while selling tobacco within 100 meters (330 feet) of schools and other areas where children gather and could attract jail terms (afp 2017). according to alex cook from the saw swee hock school of public health at the national university of singapore, as cited by thomas (2019), there is clear evidence linking smoking bans to improve cardiovascular health outcomes, fewer deaths from smoking-related illnesses and the denormalization of tobacco use. in china, luo, wan, liang, and li (2015) recommended that the chinese government should try every means to build its tobacco control publicity and implement various forms of public education campaigns to enhance smokers’ knowledge of the health consequences of smoking. in addition, he said that china should emphasize the enforcement of the existing smoking prohibitions and regulations by implementing local tobacco control legislation and total prohibitions in all public places and workplaces. rashid, manan, yahya, and ibrahim (2014) based on the result of his study, had also recommended that health promotion and education concerning the harm of tobacco smoke in 21 international peer reviewed journal malaysia, which has mainly targeted smokers, must change. health education concerning the risks of second-hand smoke must also be given to non-smokers and efforts should be made to denormalize smoking. today, the government imposed restrictions to business sector on the sale of cigarette which is stipulated in section 10 of republic act no. 9211 which states that “the sale or distribution of tobacco product is prohibited within one hundred (100) meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground or other facility frequented particularly by minors”. on the other hand, regarding the sale of liquor to minors stipulated in section 5 of p.d. no. 1619 which states that “the sale of, and offer to sell, to minors of liquors or beverages containing an alcoholic content of thirty per centum or above (60 proof or above) is hereby prohibited and shall be punishable by imprisonment ranging from six months and one day to four years and a fine ranging from six hundred to four thousand pesos”. larsen, smorawski, kragbak, and stock’s (2016) study revealed that alcohol is a central part of students’ lives. they recommended that when developing and implementing alcohol policies on campus, seeking student input in the process and addressing alcohol policies in the larger community will likely improve the success of the policies. lamotte (2018) of cnn philippines reported that alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016. those deaths include alcohol-related cancer and cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, intentional injury such as violence and self-harm, and traffic accidents and other unintentional injuries such as drowning and fires. the world health organization as cited by furiscal, pancharuniti, and keiwkarnka (2008) supported this report when they revealed that the burden of disease from alcohol exceeds tobacco because harmful consequences lead to death and disability in the younger years of life. the result of their study revealed that favorable attitude towards drinking, being able to afford liquor and parental influence was significantly associated with alcohol drinking behavior. on the other hand, swahn, palmier, segarra, and sinson (2013) also disclosed that seeing alcohol ads in newspapers and magazines, sports events, concerts or fairs were significantly associated with increased reports of drunkenness. there are significant associations between alcohol marketing exposure and increased alcohol use and drunkenness among youth in the philippines. these findings highlight the need to put policies into effect that restrict alcohol marketing practices as an important prevention strategy for reducing alcohol use and its dire consequences among vulnerable youth. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research the study of pamienta (2018) documented that the earliest possible age at which their respondents used alcohol was at five years old and peer influence is a major risk factor. they claimed to have been influenced by their friends. related to this, according to the researches of the department of health (2006) in the united states, people who reported to have started to drink before the age of 15 were four times more likely also to report meeting the criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives.  in thailand, luecha, peremans, dilles, and rompaey (2018) showed that alcohol consumption tends to be quite high in thai’s early adolescents, especially girls. they claimed that result of their study could inform parents, health care providers, school directors, and local administrative organizations, for addressing alcohol prevention activities, increasing efforts to delay and to reduce early alcohol use. in the philippines, pagkatipunan (2018) concluded that alcohol-related advertisements and alcohol outlets were plentiful near metro manila colleges even when there were ordinances which prohibit giving licenses to establishments to sell alcoholic beverages while anderson, chisholm, and fuhr (2009) suggested that making alcohol more expensive and less available and banning alcohol advertising, are highly cost-effective strategies to reduce harm. additionally, they said that in settings with high amounts of unrecorded production and consumption, increasing the proportion of alcohol that is taxed could be a more effective pricing policy than a simple increase in tax. because of the ill effect of alcoholism and smoking to minors, researches on the extent of implementation of ra 9211 and p.d. 1619 need to be conducted. it is hoped that the university and the deped in their school policies, in collaboration with the lgu in their ordinances, would be able to work hand in hand to put into action and enforce what has been formulated for the protection and welfare of the younger generation against the harmful effect of liquor and cigarette. objectives of the study this study aimed to look into the extent of implementation of ra 9211 and p.d. 1619 on public secondary schools in tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. it intends to determine the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors and the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of cigarette to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. it also tests the statistical questions focusing on the difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors based on pd 1619 and barangay ordinance and the difference on the extent of compliance 23 international peer reviewed journal on the sale of cigarette to minors based on school policies within the school radius in the municipality under study. framework this study is anchored on republic act no. 9211; “an act regulating the packaging, use, sale, distribution, and advertisement of tobacco product and for other purposes” states the following: section 9. minimum age sales. under this act, it shall be unlawful: a.) for any retailer of tobacco products to sell or distribute tobacco products to any minor; b.) for any person to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products from a minor; c.) for a minor to sell or buy cigarettes or any other tobacco products; and d.) for a minor to smoke cigarettes or any other tobacco products. it shall not be a defense for the person selling or distributing that he/she did not know or was not aware of the real age of the minor. neither shall it be a defense that he/she did not know nor had any reason to believe that the cigarette or any other tobacco product was for the consumption of the minor to whom it was sold. section 10. sale of tobacco products within school perimeters. the sale or distribution of tobacco product is prohibited within one hundred (100) meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground or other facility frequented particularly by minors. this study is also anchored on presidential decree no. 1619 “penalizing the use or possession or the unauthorized sale to minors of volatile substances to induce intoxication or in any manner changing, distorting or disturbing the auditory, visual or mental process” which states that: section 5. the sale of, and offer to sell, volatile substances to minors without requiring the written consent of their parents or guardians as a condition for such sale or offer to sell shall be punishable by imprisonment ranging from six months and one day to four years and a fine ranging from six hundred to four thousand pesos: provided, that when the minor is eighteen years or over and is duly licensed to drive a motor vehicle, such written consent shall not be necessary when the volatile substance sold or offered for sale is gasoline or any other motive fuel for motor vehicles. section 6. the sale of, and offer to sell, to minors of liquors or beverages containing an alcoholic content of thirty per centum or above (60 proof or above) is hereby prohibited and shall be punishable by imprisonment ranging from six months and one day to four years and a fine ranging from six hundred to four thousand pesos. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research research methodology research design this study made use of the descriptive method of research particularly survey technique employing a researcher-made questionnaire-checklist to gather relevant data of the study to the 244 respondents of the study comprising the pnp personnel, barangay officials and the community people of the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. the research participants are engaged in the six (6) secondary schools as coverage of the study. no private high schools operating in the above-mentioned municipality. these schools are governmentowned in which five (5) of these are of the deped and the other one (1) is a state university laboratory high school. this study is descriptive in purpose, gathering salient information on the extent of implementation of ra 9211 and p.d. 1619 on public secondary schools in the municipality under study. research site this study was conducted at the six secondary schools of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte, namely, school a (tampilisan national high school), school b (galingon national high school), school c (situbo national high school), school d (tininggaan national high school), school e (new dapitan national high school) and school f (jrmsu-tampilisan campus laboratory high school). respondents of the study the respondents considered in this study were the thirty-four (34) pnp personnel, forty (40) barangay officials, and one hundred seventy (170) community people comprising the teachers, store owners, and the residents along the school premises in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. instrumentation the instrument prepared by the researcher was submitted to a committee of research experts who are doctorate holders in their field of specialization for its validity. each statement of the instrument has a 4-point likert item; not at all, to some extent, to a moderate extent, to a great extent. a cronbach’s alpha test was run on sample size of fifteen (15) people who are not included as respondents of 25 international peer reviewed journal the study to measure the reliability of the questionnaire and the results revealed a value of 0.72 which indicates a high level of internal consistency for the scale used in the study. prior to the fielding of the instrument, the researcher asked permission from the office of the municipal mayor, chief of police, barangay captain, and district supervisor to gather data to the respondents of the study. results and discussion table 1 presents the summary on the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan. as shown on the data, all respondents from the five barangays perceived that the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors in tampilisan is to a small extent except the barangay officials from school e which says it is to a moderate extent. generally, with an overall weighted mean of 2.18, the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan is to a small extent. this implies that pd no. 1619 and the school policy that restricts the sale of liquor to minors is rarely obeyed or complied by the concerned people in the municipality of tampilisan because of the possibility that most of the high schools in the municipality under study are located quite a distance from the barangay sites where liquor is openly sold. the result is similar to the study of milam (2012) which disclosed that among young adults, there was a positive relationship between alcohol outlet proximity to the home, even after controlling for neighborhood environment. on the other hand, swahn, palmier, segarra, and sinson (2013) revealed that alcohol marketing, specifically by providing free alcohol through a company representative, was associated with drunkenness among youths after controlling for demographic and psychosocial characteristics, peer environment, and risky behaviors. they recommend that policies that restrict alcohol marketing practices as an important prevention strategy for reducing alcohol use and its dire consequences among vulnerable youth be put into effect. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. summary table on the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zn pnp brgy. official com. people total wm des. wm des. wm des. wm des. 1. school a 2.48 se 2.05 se 2.09 se 2.21 se 2. school b 2.17 se 2.24 se 2.21 se 3. school c 2.33 se 2.14 se 2.24 se 4. school d 2.14 se 2.05 se 2.10 se 5. school e 2.54 me 1.90 se 2.23 se 6. school f 2.25 se 1.95 se 2.10 se overall wm 2.48 se 2.25 se 2.06 se 2.18 se rating scale: description: 3.26 – 4.00 ge to a great extent 2.51 – 3.25 me to a moderate extent 1.26 – 2.50 se to a small extent 1.00 – 1.25 na not at all table 2 shows the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors within the school radius in tampilisan, zamboanga del norte based on school policies. based on the data, according to the respondents in tampilisan, with a total weighted mean of 3.41; school b, 3.28; and school e, 3.37, the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors is to a great extent. however, in school d and school f, it is to a moderate extent with a total weighted mean of 3.22 and 3.09 respectively; while in school c, 2.38, it is to a small extent. generally, with an overall weighted mean of 3.14, the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of cigarette to minors in tampilisan is to a moderate extent. this implies that authorities and the concern people frequently regulate ra 9211 and the school policies on the sale of cigarette to minors by most of the barangays in tampilisan. the result is in consonance with the study of cheruiyot, retura, arasa, and kiprono (2013) which disclosed that the teenagers were very much aware of the effects of cigarette smoking on the biological, physical and social implications. in addition to this, the office of the surgeon general (2010) suggests that on preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults, schoolbased interventions could reduce or postpone the onset of smoking among adolescents by 20–40%. 27 international peer reviewed journal table 2. the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of cigarette to minors within the school radius in tampilisan, zamboanga del norte based on ra 9211 and the school policies pnp brgy. official com. people total wm des. wm des. wm des. wm des. 1. school a 4.00 ge 3.33 ge 2.91 me 3.41 3.41 2. school b 3.66 ge 2.90 me 3.28 3.28 3. school c 2.85 me 2.11 se 2.48 2.48 4. school d 3.57 ge 2.86 me 3.22 3.22 5. school e 3.83 ge 2.90 me 3.37 3.37 6. school f 3.25 me 2.92 me 3.09 3.09 overall wm 4.00 ge 3.42 ge 2.77 me 3.14 3.14 rating scale: description: 3.26 – 4.00 ge to a great extent 2.51 – 3.25 me to a moderate extent 1.26 – 2.50 se to a small extent 1.00 – 1.25 na not at all a. based on pd 1619 and barangay ordinance table 3 presents the result of the pearson chi-square test which serves as the basis for the decision of whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis assumed as a statistical question in the statement of the problem. the non-parametric chi-square test for the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors was computed and resulted to a chi-square value of 78.357a at .000 significance which means highly significant at .05 alpha. therefore, there is a highly significant difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. the data disclosed that the pnp personnel, barangay officials, and the community people tend to hold differences in their opinions regarding the extent of compliance on the restriction on the sale of liquor to minors. moore et al. (2015) confirmed that teens used their social relationships to circumvent existing policies designed to limit underage access to alcohol. their findings indicate that the majority of teens’ drinking occasions occur in their own or someone else’s home. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=moore%20rs%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=25445811 28 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. based on pd 1619 and barangay ordinance, chi-square table showing the difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte chi-square tests value df asymp.sig. (2-sided) interpretation decision pearson chi-square 78.357 a 6 .000 highly significant reject null hypothesis b. based on pd 1619 and school policies table 4 presents the summarized chi-square on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte based on pd 1619 and school policies. pearson chi-square test for the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors gained a chi-square value of 21.040a at .002 significance interpreted as significant at .05 alpha. this implies that the respondents arrived at a distinct perception regarding the implementation of the non-sale of liquor to minors within the school radius of tampilisan. it can be noted that the community people perceived less as compared to the barangay officials because the latter are the ones who enforce the law. paschall, grube, black, flewelling, ringwalt, and biglan (2007) suggest that more frequent compliance checks by law enforcement agents should target convenience and grocery stores, and owners of off-premise outlets should require training of all salesclerks to ensure reliable checks of young-looking patron ids and should post underage alcohol sales warning signs in clear view of patrons. anent to this, swahn, palmier, segarra, and sinson (2013) in their study revealed that there are significant associations between alcohol marketing exposure and increased alcohol use and drunkenness among youth in the philippines. they concluded that there is a need to put policies into effect that restrict alcohol marketing practices as an important prevention strategy for reducing alcohol use and its dire consequences among vulnerable youth. 29 international peer reviewed journal table 4. based on pd 1619 and school policies, chi-square table showing the difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte chi-square tests value df asymp.sig. (2-sided) interpretation decision pearson chi-square 21.040 a 6 .002 significant reject null hypothesis table 5 displays the summarized chi-square on the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte based on school policies. non-parametric chi-square test for the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors resulted in a chi-square value of 47.063a at .000 significance is found to be highly significant at .05 alpha. the result led to the decision of rejecting the null hypothesis of no significant difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors and concurrent acceptance of the alternative hypothesis of significant difference. data imply that a substantial disagreement between the perceptions of the three groups of respondents had existed. this means that the perceptions of the respondents greatly differ as grouped. the study of williams, kobayashi, fujimoto, swartz, whitehead, and bonifacio (2014) confirmed that controlling access to tobacco in retail outlets is an effective measure for reducing the use of tobacco among minors. they recommended that to control the sales of tobacco to minors in the retail environment, the states need to conduct annual, random, and unannounced tobacco sales compliance inspections. table 5. based on school policies, chi-square table showing the difference on the extent of compliance on the sale of cigarette to minors within the school radius in the municipality of tampilisan, zamboanga del norte chi-square tests value df asymp.sig. (2-sided) interpretation decision pearson chi-square 47.063 a 6 .000 highly significant reject null hypothesis 30 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusion the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors is to a small extent while on cigarettes is to a moderate extent. there is a highly significant difference on the perception of the three groups of respondents on the extent of compliance on the sale of liquor to minors based on barangay ordinance and a significant difference based on school policies. on the sale of cigarettes, there exists a highly significant difference in their perception. the community people perceived less as compared to the barangay officials since the latter are the ones who enforce the law in their respective barangay that made them perceived high in terms of its implementation. translational research the findings of this study can be translated into an administrative intervention program to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation and enforcement of pd 1619 and to put into effect the school policies. the administrative intervention program is believed to be one of the tools to aid the higher authorities in strengthening the implementation of the law to restrict the sale of liquor and cigarette to minors. this program can be evaluated for its applicability and effectivity. recommendations vendors in all schools of tampilisan should always comply with restrictions on the sale of liquor with minors within or even outside the school radius to prevent them from intoxication or addiction to alcoholic drinks. restriction on the sale of cigarettes to minors in all school of tampilisan should be complied at all times by vendors to prevent the youth from the temptation of smoking. all barangays in the municipality of tampilisan having no barangay ordinance on liquor and cigarette sale to minors should create one. implementers of barangay ordinances and school policies including vendors and parents in all schools of tampilisan should work hand-in-hand to strictly implement restrictions on the sale liquor and cigarettes to minors by enumerating all items to be sold in stores along the school radius when acquiring barangay clearance, business certificate or mayor’s permit to make tampilisan a liquor and smoke-free municipality. 31 international peer reviewed journal law enforcers such as the pnp personnel should do a spot or random checking of stores along the school radius of tampilisan to determine the kinds of items sold and recommend for the cancelation of business permit/license on the 3rd offense for non-compliance of the ordinance or school policy by the vendors along the school radius in tampilisan. all schools in tampilisan should publish in tarpaulins ordinance and school policies inconspicuous areas on the non-sale of liquor and cigarette to minors within the one hundred (100) meters school radius. literature cited afp (2017). philippine’s duterte imposes public smoking ban. retrieved from https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/philippines-duterte-imposespublic-smoking-ban/ anderson, p., chisholm, d. & fuhr, d. 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(2014). trends in underage tobacco sales: an update on the past decade of compliance checks in hawai ‘i. hawai&#39;i journal of medicine &amp; public health, 73(10), 315. retrieved from https://goo. gl/cd4r6a willner, p., hart, k., binmore, j., cavendish, m., &amp; dunphy, e. (2000). alcohol sales to underage adolescents: an unobtrusive observational field study and evaluation of a police intervention. addiction, 95(9), 1373-1388. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2000.95913738.x world health organization (2019). who global report on trends in tobacco smoking 2000-2025 first edition. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xaki1g https://bit.ly/2iuilcj https://goo.gl/cd4r6a https://goo.gl/cd4r6a https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2000.95913738.x 85 international peer reviewed journal mediating effect of happiness at work in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance: a literature review angela denise s. pojanes https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9605-0472 angeladspojanesreal@gmail.com polytechnic university of the philippines sta. mesa, manila, philippines genaro v. japos https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-0988 gvjapos@pup.edu.ph polytechnic university of the philippines sta. mesa, manila, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this study aimed to examine scientific articles as the basis for a literature review on the possible mediating effect of happiness at work in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance in the philippines’ business process outsourcing (bpo) industry. the study used a qualitative method using a literature review that applies the content of scientific articles from reputable databases such as google scholar and many other websites. vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.692 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:angeladspojanesreal@gmail.com mailto:gvjapos@pup.edu.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 86 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the results of the study show that happiness at work doesn’t exert a mediating relationship between transformational leadership and job performance. however, this concludes that happiness at work has exerted a significant and positive effect on job performance. keywords — social science, happiness at work, job performance, transformational leadership, qualitative, philippines introduction the philippines’ business process outsourcing (bpo) industry remains the global leader in voice business process management services and is a preferred location for non-voice services (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021; chen & shao, 2022; peck & hogue, 2018; santiago et al., 2021). although the bpos work in a dynamic environment with a range of cultural perspectives, effective leadership is essential in several situations, including those involving employee job satisfaction, job performance, etc. (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021). in 2020, world health organization (who) declared a new coronavirus disease (covid-19) outbreak in hubei province, china as a public health emergency of international concern (adhikari et al., 2020; chathappady et al., 2021; chawla et al., 2020; hua & shaw, 2020; rodríguez-morales et al., 2020). as covid-19 entered the philippines, a strict lockdown was implemented in the country due to the rapid increase of covid-19 cases, which forced companies to adopt virtual working practices like working from home (wfh) (caringal-go et al., 2021). wfh is what we want, but doing it daily is not as smooth as it sounds, and practicing it may impart stress and burnout, especially in bpo operations (chi et al., 2021; deery et al., 2013; o’brady & doellgast, 2021; santiago et al., 2021). when it comes to wfh, activities are positive factors, including the ability to manage their work more flexibly and the existence of a work-life balance (chung & van der lippe, 2020; felstead & henseke, 2017; gigauri, 2020). employees become happier at work if they don’t have to deal with traffic on their way to work, are able to breathe cleaner air, and are more satisfied with their personal lives (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021; davies, 2015; sangwan & bhatia, 2020). numerous hypotheses suggested explaining why happy employees perform better at work because of leadership (atmojo, 2015; azoury et al., 2013; bernarto et al., 2020; ng, 2018). thus, according to cummings et al. (2010), in leadership, bosses at work who are transformational leaders improve the employees’ job performance (jp) 87 international peer reviewed journal at work for better outcomes. likewise, it was found that the level of the jp of typical employees, in general, is significantly improved under transformational leadership (tl) (miao & cao, 2019; parr et al., 2013). tl has significant involvement in improving both organizational performance and employee job performance, and jp is a beneficial behavioral consequence of leadership (akdere & egan, 2020; antonakis et al., 2004; malik & dhar, 2017). also, tl works on both the worker’s jp and haw, so it deserves consideration and explanation (eisenberger & stinglhamber, 2011; holten et al., 2018; pan & lin, 2015; patiar & wang, 2016; salas-vallina et al., 2017). objectives of the study the intention of the study is to discover the mediating effect of haw in bpo settings precisely on tl and jp in the philippines. aiming to generate empirical literature on the mediating effect of haw on tl and jp both in foreign and philippines contexts. methodology the method study used a systematic literature review that applies the content of scientific articles from reputable databases. the focus is to analyze the data with an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter (coughlan et al., 2013). it is equivalent to conducting a research study using the data that the researcher gathered as representing an embedded study (rahman, 2020). the literature review researchers compiled and selected relevant literature and studies in order to explore the mediating effect of happiness at work in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance in the philippines’ business process outsourcing (bpo) field. results and discussion affective event theory one of the underlying theories in this study is aet. aet is a psychological model that takes into account employees’ environmental stimuli in the workplace (ashkanasy et al., 2016; cropanzano et al., 2017; goleman, 2018; hülsheger et al., 2013; zhang & xu, 2021). it concentrates on the causes, structures, and outcomes of emotional responses and experiences that influence a person’s 88 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 attitudes and subsequent workplace behavior (bohns & flynn, 2013; hagemeister & volmer, 2018; matta et al., 2014; wakefield & wakefield, 2016). emotion is an important aspect of tl, according to gooty et al. (2010). it is associated with positive rather than negative effects (akdere & egan, 2020; bissing-olson et al., 2013; tepper et al., 2018). employee moods and emotions are effects, whereas attitudes are evaluative and cognitive judgments based on emotions (brackett et al., 2013; carlson et al., 2011; innes & ahrens, 2020; ortony et al., 2022; wong & law, 2017). in the 1970s and 1980s, leadership style was initially defined as transformational (bass, 1999; bennett, 2009; kara et al., 2013; lord et al., 2017). leadership style is an important management tool because, when used correctly, it can improve employee relationships, the organizational climate, happiness doing the work, and job performance (bennett, 2009; lasrado & kassem, 2021; wambugu, 2014). leaders can elicit strong positive emotions in team members at the team level (meneghel et al., 2016; menges & kilduff, 2015; peng et al., 2021; wu & wang, 2015), influencing their attitudes and behavior at work (cropanzano et al., 2017; doh & quigley, 2014; hu & kaplan, 2015; mindeguia et al., 2021). furthermore, team members form job ratings by comparing the coherence of job traits that drive behaviors like self-esteem, self-pursuit, and expectations that influence their emotions and jp (ajzen et al., 2018; breevaart et al., 2015; carlson et al., 2011; tan et al., 2015). mediating variable of the study this part of the study is the literature and studies that are relevant and related to the researcher’s study. these will be used to understand further and to determine the mediating effect and significance of the variable on the pup students and alumni working in financial services type of bpo companies. happiness at work pryce-jones (2010) detailed haw as the positive feeling of workers whenever they work. gavin and mason (2004) cited that haw involves taking pride and self-esteem in what the employee has accomplished. happiness and satisfaction are subjective perceptions (chowdhury, 2021). each employee may perceive happiness in monetary perks, appreciation at work, conversely, motivation to achieve more. amirullah (2017) found that haw is reasonably related to income, relationships with peers, employment status, and activities done on the daily grind. employees thrive when they feel comfortable with the people they work 89 international peer reviewed journal with, want improvement, and feel respected and recognized in their workplace. brooks (2021) pointed out that employees feel happier when aligned with their employer’s beliefs and values. sharing the workload, adopting new strategies, and rewarding will earn them haw (daisley, 2019; curwen et al., 2013; dasgupta, 2013; lin et al., 2021). if employees are happy, they will work at their best and generate better results faster, which will increase earnings (elnaga & imran, 2013; grayson & hodges, 2017; goleman, 2017; 2018; sirota & klein, 2013). the effectiveness of an employee is related to how satisfied they are with their ideals and career (bin & shmailan, 2015; hanaysha, 2016; platis et al., 2015; pongton & suntrayuth, 2019). therefore, it is evident that a skilled and capable employee would produce the appropriate learning outcomes, provided he is happy with his line of work or profession in the philippine environment (laguador, 2017). according to singh and jain (2013) and armenta et al. (2017), happy people are expected to be more productive and have lower turnover. in this context, mroueh and de waal (2020) surveyed haw and organizational performance to increase employee satisfaction, suggesting that overall work is better for employees. backed their analogy that it resulted in better individual performance. thus, this is supported by fluegge-woolf (2014), where haw is positively associated with the task and creative performance. ganta (2014) stated that satisfied employees are more motivated and can bring more creative output to employers. however, wesarat et al. (2014) showed that job satisfaction is essential in improving productivity or jp. happy people think they are productive individuals, but unhappy people may need to pay more attention to what they are working on (diener & tay, 2017; peiró et al., 2019; wesarat et al., 2014). in another study, spicer and cederstrom (2015) argued that promoting happiness did not increase productivity. both sides struggle when an employee wants to run her haw. isa et al. (2019) and yassin (2014) stated that haw decreases when there are communication gaps between employees, employee ignorance of ideas, lack of accomplishment, and lack of appreciation for work done. the same study, also emphasized by salas-vallina et al. (2017), confirms that haw can be degraded if employees do not fully understand what their job entails. setiawan et al. (2020) investigated the relationship between tl and haw and found that tl positively affected their haw, with important implications when mediated via organizational learning capacity. according to a study by ghadi et al. (2013), the tl style develops employees’ sense of the work that meets their needs. this means transformational leaders encourage the importance of employee needs, so employees can develop positive feelings about 90 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 working collaboratively with leaders and the organization (afsar et al., 2019; setiawan et al., 2020; sundi, 2013; wang et al., 2017). moreover, when employees receive more support, they are more likely to achieve job satisfaction (isa et al., 2019). salas-vallina et al. (2017) suggested that the administrator integrate her tl into the component; this increases the amount of haw. they also said tl promotes strength, positive perceptions, and a sense of belonging (salas-vallina et al., 2017; mi et al., 2019; paulsen et al., 2013). latent variables of the study this part of the research is the literature and studies that are relevant and related to the researchers’ study. these will be used to understand further and to determine the relationship between the variables on the pup students and alumni working in financial services type of bpo companies. transformational leadership in the philippine setting, it is argued that a contextual method should be used to measure filipino leaders’ leadership behaviors since cultural values affect transformational leadership behaviors (atmojo, 2015; azoury et al., 2013; purnomo et al., 2020; charoensukmongkol & puyod, 2021; ng, 2018; rivera & ng, 2018; yaghi, 2017). even if transformational leadership is widely recognized, it must be acknowledged that its roots are in western culture— the study of leadership benefits from essential insights from cultural context (choi et al., 2016; kim & shin, 2019; koh & joshi, 2019; shields. 2017). studies on transformational leadership are rare in asia and rarely concentrate on the construct’s dimensional features. leaders must motivate and empower employees to initiate and implement innovative ideas that improve the overall quality and performance of the organization (afsar et al., 2019; edghiem & mouzughi, 2018). chen et al. (2020) claim that tl is characterized by passion and optimism, focusing on a positive vision of what can be attained. this type of leadership is likely to deliver high-performance levels in the long run because it focuses on inspiring, motivating, and meeting people’s basic needs (saeed et al., 2018). transformational leaders enable employees to think beyond their interests, provide feedback, set performance standards, support employees to be more innovative and creative, and pay attention to employee needs (bednall et al., 2018). this type of leader treats employees based on their personality rather than just workers (weib & süb, 2016). therefore, the most influential leaders actively collaborate with their subordinates and develop strong relationships 91 international peer reviewed journal through personal mentoring and support (andreani & petrik, 2016; atan & mahmood, 2019). additionally, cleavenger and munyon (2013) found that transformational leaders motivate employees, improve performance, find new ways of working, and inspire creativity. these leaders share their organization’s vision with their employees, stick with them, listen to them, ask for good suggestions, and try to capitalize on every opportunity. according to cherry (2021), it is a leadership style that brings positive change to those who follow. they try to focus on helping each member of the group succeed. this is very relevant to promoting a positive impact on haw personnel. this has been confirmed by the university of massachusetts global (2020), which found that these leaders know how to get their employees to perform meaningfully. white (2018) stated that these leaders trust trained employees to have authority over decisions about their assigned work. it aims to promote creativity, innovation, and problem-solving skills. c e r t a i n people with that type of leadership are jeff bezos and steve jobs. morkeviciute et al. (2019) wrote that the tl style is a positive way of communicating with employees. instead of leading to a negative, it becomes a positive. furthermore, isa et al. (2019) found that leaders willing to listen to good thoughts and ideas, a positive attribute of transformative leaders, make employees happier. in addition, the circle of transformational leaders is more involved and invested in their work (zhu et al., 2016). tl enables engagement in work by motivating people to improve their skills and focus more on contributing to the organization’s long-term success (koech & namusonge, 2010; pradhan & pradhan, 2015; white, 2018). several studies have reported that employees are more likely to focus on organizational success and think outside the box when led by a transformational leader (bak et al., 2022; shafi et al., 2020). furthermore, dalluay and jalagat (2016) found that tl significantly affects job performance, not happiness at work. transformative leaders can significantly change employee attitudes and behaviors, leading to improved performance and achievement of organizational goals (ahamad & kasim, 2016). a study by caballes (2020) showed a strong relationship between tl and organizational performance in selected institutions in metro manila. furthermore, employee performance is influenced by transformational leaders who foster organizational cultures of mutual trust and positive emotions (harms & crede, 2010; le & lei, 2018). transformational leadership, according to zacher et al. (2018), is associated with greater happiness at work and enables, for instance, employees to concurrently fulfill leadership and responsibilities. thus employees’ perception of transformational leadership impacts happiness at work and job dedication but 92 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 not job performance (xu et al., 2022); there has been evidence of a reciprocal relationship between the two (peng et al., 2021). a remarkable individual who has a good impact on others is a transformational leader. this kind of leader can motivate people to develop distinctive and original strategies to challenge the status quo and alter the environment to foster success. transformational leaders care about the development and success of their people. also, they try to instill a sense of pride in workers when they work with a specific manager, which has been shown to have an augmentation effect, boosting productivity, contentment, and effectiveness (bass, 1999). according to bass (1999), transformational leadership inspires followers to go above and beyond their expectations by increasing followers’ awareness of the significance and value of stated and idealized goals, encouraging followers to put the interests of the team or organization before their own, and luring followers to meet higher-level needs. bass separates transformational leadership into four categories: 1. leaders with idealized influence—also known as charisma—set an example for their followers, who identify with them and try to emulate them. because of their attitudes and behaviors that encourage attractiveness, they serve as models that employees attempt to copy (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021). 2. inspirational vision: successful leaders must have an inspiring vision. through symbols and emotional appeals, the leader motivates groups to make an extra effort. such management encourages a sense of unity (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021). 3. intellectual stimulation: in addition to challenging the status quo, leaders encourage followers to be creative. they encourage staff members to try out novel processes and specialized learning opportunities. such a boss encourages staff to come up with innovative solutions to production issues. 4. individualized consideration: personalized support and encouragement are provided by transformational leaders to each of their followers. they keep the lines of communication open between leaders and followers, allowing followers to openly offer their ideas and allowing leaders to express their appreciation for each follower’s participation. in an effort to assist followers in reaching their full potential, leaders work as mentors and counselors. these leaders might use delegation to help followers get over their hurdles (cabaluna & mbaw, 2021). 93 international peer reviewed journal job performance job performance is the extent to which an employee demonstrates their behavior and characteristics to achieve results related to task performance, civic performance, and unproductive performance development within a given time (ramawickrama et al., 2017; 2019). alsheikh and sobihah (2019) define job performance as the individual behavior of employees resulting from their work and related skills and knowledge. from another perspective, rhee et al. (2017) investigate job performance and the degree to which work-related tasks can be successfully performed within usual workplace constraints while using available resources, task and function performance, and contextual or external performance of roles. a company’s success depends on the organization’s performance, depending on each individual within the company (osabiya, 2015). improving and nurturing individual performance is necessary to establish good organizational performance. therefore, in order to improve organizational productivity, companies must find ways to improve the jp of their employees (obeidat, 2016). in a study conducted in cavite, philippines, by dalluay and jalagat (2016), researchers carefully observed that in addition to leadership style, leadership attributes should be considered while assessing employee job satisfaction and performance. this point of view emphasizes that any leadership style, when misused, can have detrimental effects on both the job performance of the individual and the entire organization. so, leadership is the secret to properly managing the organization; an improved jp can arise from a tl. this concept has been interpreted as comparing the productivity of individual employees to their peers in various work-related behaviors and outcomes (perko et al., 2014). a direct relationship between jp and tl has been empirically demonstrated in previous research (zhu et al., 2016). followers of transformational leaders show immediate productive outcomes, including job performance (buil et al., 2019). transformational leaders motivate followers to share a common vision of the organization’s desired goals and performance criteria and support them in achieving those goals (masa’deh et al., 2016). yahaya and ebrahim (2016) reported that this leadership style increases task completion. research highlights that tl positively correlates with individual and organizational performance (khan et al., 2020). armenta et al. (2017) reported that positive emotions enhance skills and interpersonal relationships, generate resources for future achievement, and predict long-term productivity. accomplishment is facilitated by positive emotions such as her haw through 94 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 increased flexibility, integration, thought efficiency, and creativity (van de voorde & van veldhoven, 2016). according to proto (2016), based on most fact-finding, positive emotions, including haw, drive performance and influence employees’ ability to innovate. adnan bataineh (2019) confirmed that haw could affect employee performance. haw is a condition that directly contributes to tissue productivity (oswald et al., 2015; raziq & maulabakhsh, 2015; schermerhorn jr. et al., 2020). it can also be described as a tool that helps people improve their quality of life and work performance (mizuno, 2020). salas-vallina et al. (2017) report that haw is a labor resource that significantly impacts employee performance. the impact of resource mobilization is outstanding when employees have higher haw levels (thun & bakker, 2018). research gap and direction for further study no investigation has been conducted yet linking haw as the mediator to tl, jp, and other discourses. this paper will serve as a new addition for haw as a mediating effect. most of the mediators have discussed the effect of tl on job satisfaction, grit, employee engagement, work engagement, perceived organizational support, knowledge management, life satisfaction, and job engagement (atmojo, 2015; purnomo et al., 2020; bernarto et al., 2020; bushra et al., 2011; lacap, 2020; ng, 2017; purwanto, 2020; valentine, 2018). also, this literature review will provide empirical support to hypothesis development and provide useful directions for future research that do not result in unnecessary or redundant research. research hypotheses and their justification tl is a behavior-based approach in which leaders inspire followers to change by displaying four distinct behaviors: idealized influences, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (schuckert et al., 2018). then according to salas-vallina et al. (2017), tl related to organizational learning can be the driving force of haw, which is often seen as a very challenging workplace. on the other hand, the involvement of transformational leaders creates a climate of trust related to raising employees’ positive perceptions of their professional life and happiness (restubog et al., 2010). employees with independent thinking, initiative, and positive characteristics are more engaged in their work, with engagement being a haw aspect (bailey et al., 2017; weierter, 1997). previous researchers have also demonstrated that tl has a direct effect on haw (abdullah et al., 2017). besides studies linking tl to jp, previous studies have also shown that haw has mediating effects on another study. 95 international peer reviewed journal leaders motivate and inspire employees in the company to create a working environment that will cultivate learning, collaboration, and teamwork to achieve the target organizational goals and objectives (maina & gichinga, 2018; klingborg et al., 2006; okoli et al., 2022). team leads must ensure that all employees can understand, accept, and work towards aiming corporate goals, which have a mediate effect on employee performance and overall organizational performance. according to sosa-fey (2001), tl indirectly improves company and employee performance through trust and engagement, leading to positive work outcomes. it resulted in organizational performance mediated by institutional learning and innovation (nguyen & luu, 2019). furthermore, a study by andriani et al. (2018) found tl is a leadership style that encourages employees to have a vision, mission, and goals, encouraging and motivating employees to perform at their best in their job. they have demonstrated that positive and significant effect between tl and jp and that employees perform better under tl. previous researchers have found that transformational leadership styles have a direct positive effect on job performance (tubay, 2020; schwarz, 2017). after a thorough review of the literature, we have discovered that transformational leadership affects happiness at work. however, happiness at work may not always be related to job performance. iaffaldano and muchinsky (1985) observed a weak 0.17 association between job performance and happiness at work, for instance. scarpello and vandenberg (1987) discovered that as supervisors are crucial in managing employees’ direct reports, they have an impact on organizational management. they describe supervisory satisfaction as the degree to which an employee is pleased with their supervisor’s competence to monitor and satisfy the expectations and objectives of the subordinates. spector (1997) states that if managers follow their subordinates’ preferred style, treating workers with respect and fairness, this is shown to increase happiness at work while affecting the organization’s functioning. so the research suggests that: h1: employees’ level of perception about transformational leadership style significantly affects their happiness at work except for job performance. core self-evaluation cse is a self-assessment or evaluation that ranges from positive to negative inward levels of appraisals (o’neill et al., 2016). despite the fact that the original goal of cse research was to link the trait to job satisfaction, the literature has expanded significantly beyond this criterion (judge et al., 2020). motivation and job performance are two areas where core self-evaluation theory has been used in previous studies (ferris, 2013). in a meta-analysis of 105 correlations, chen et al. (2016) linked the core self-evaluation traits to job performance: 96 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 1. the weakest correlation was emotional stability 2. self-esteem was the strongest 3. the average correlation across the traits was the same as the validity of conscientiousness in job performance thus, core self-evaluations are an important dispositional of job performance alongside conscientiousness as it results positively in employees. h2: employees with core self-evaluations are at a positive level, which results in positive job performance. according to salas-vallina et al. (2017), tl, together with organizational learning, can be a driver for haw, which is generally considered a very challenging workplace. on the other hand, the role of transformational leaders builds a climate of trust which is linked to an increase in employees’ positive perception of their work-life and level of job satisfaction (basak & akter, 2022). workers with independent thinking, pro-activeness, and positive characteristics are more engaged at work, with engagement being a haw dimension (bailey et al., 2017); previous researchers also proved that tl has a direct influence on haw (abdullah et al., 2017). thus, we propose that: h3: happiness at work does not act as a moderator between transformational leadership and job performance. happiness relates to how people experience and appraise their lives (carr et al., 2014). according to adnan bataineh (2019), haw is more than a possession of a sense of pleasure, positive affective experience, good feelings, and enjoyment that can influence the employee’s performance. people are deemed happy when they feel positive emotions while at work which, in turn, can assist in shaping the outcomes of the job market, productivity, and performance of the organization (field & buitendach, 2011). numerous studies proved that transformational leadership affects happiness at work, not the other way around (abdullah et al., 2017; dalluay & jalagat, 2016; gyensare et al., 2017; masa’deh et al., 2016; sallas-vallina et al., 2017; setiawan, 2020). furthermore, dalluay and jalagat (2016) found that tl significantly affects job performance, not happiness at work. transformative leaders can significantly change employee attitudes and behaviors, leading to improved performance and achievement of organizational goals (ahamad & kasim, 2016). a study by caballes (2020) showed a strong relationship between tl and organizational performance in selected institutions in metro manila. furthermore, employee performance is influenced by transformational leaders who foster organizational cultures of mutual trust and positive emotions (harms 97 international peer reviewed journal & crede, 2010; le & lei, 2018). no study was found linking happiness at work as the mediator between transformational leadership and the job performance of employees. thus, this investigation proposes that: h3.a: happiness at work has no discernible and positive impact on transformational leadership. in the latest study, it was reported that employees who are happy at work appear to be more involved in tasks while enjoying a greater level of job performance (awada & ismail, 2019). according to grawitch and ballard (2014), employers recognize the importance of making their employees happy, and in fact, these employers are stepping up their efforts to ensure their employees’ happiness. in taiwan, the current annual survey taiwan by common wealth and cheers magazines also mentioned making employees happy as the primary factor that led to the recognition of the best employer (sánchez-hernández et al., 2019). according to numerous studies, happy employees are more likely to be productive, generate new ideas, and attempt to complete similar tasks using different groundbreaking methods to improve effectiveness and reduce time spent (saenghiran, 2014, cited in adnan bataineh, 2019). furthermore, among the expected benefits of having effectively committed employees are improved professional endeavor and performance, positive employee outcomes and behaviors, and innovative behavior demonstrated by employees (lópez-cabarcos et al., 2015). moreover, a review of the available research proves that having happiness at work experience towards the organization makes employees work harder at their jobs and show better performance as opposed to those that have a less effective commitment (ammari et al., 2017; bahjat abdallah et al., 2017). it is a common consensus that a happy-at-work employee will become a productive employee (abualoush et al., 2018; joo & lee, 2017) and will improve their jp (salas-vallina et al., 2020). previous researchers also proved that haw has a significant positive influence on jp (urrutia et al., 2019). thus, we propose that: thus this study suggests: h3.b: happiness at work has exerted a significant and positive effect on job performance synthesis of the reviewed literature and studies the present study conducted examines the phenomena observed by the reviewers on the journey taken by the employees working in a bpo. it also examines how happiness at work affects employees’ job performance and transformational leadership. this has been achieved through an extensive review of related literature 98 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 and studies on the constructs of the study and through reference to the existing theory, which served as support and framework. literature cited abdullah, a. g. k., ling, y. l., & ping, c. s. 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(2016). “moderating role of follower characteristics with transformational leadership and follower work engagement”: corrigendum. cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 98 the information seeking strategies of digitized resources in cebu technological university, philippines ve leslie e. atanoza johannes m. camasura veleslie@yahoo.com cebu technological university cebu city, cebu, philippines abstract the study investigates the strategies employed by the students of cebu technological university in searching information using digitized resources. it identifies students' information needs using the main campus’ library and describes the information seeking approaches students employ using the internet, online databases and optical media. the study employs simple purposive sampling. it uses descriptive method of survey and document analysis. a focus group discussion was also conducted and computer log monitoring analysis. the study revealed that students’ information needs are varied and course related. students’ purposes in searching information in digitize sources are to get an overview of their research topic; answering class assignments and gathering related literature. students supply their own keywords rather than the keywords provided in the index of online databases was generally the first approach used in searching information in digitized sources. boolean operators and truncations as search techniques were the least used approach. search engines of google, yahoo, and you tube were the top three preferences of students when using the internet as a digitized information source. dealing with too many results to choose from and inadequate instructions on how to proceed with the search usually contribute to the delay in finding the needed information. keywords digitized resources, information seeking strategies vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.174 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 99 introduction information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. they know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. they are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand. the beginning of the 21st century has been called the information age because of the explosion of information output and information sources. it has become increasingly clear that students cannot learn everything they need to know in their field of study in a few years of university stay. the ability to find the exact information equips them with the critical skills necessary to become independent lifelong learners. too often we assume that as students write research papers and read textbooks, they are gaining sufficient information seeking skills. information seeking skills may be introduced but what is needed is a parallel curriculum in information literacy forming a strong foundation of a college education.” (american library association 1989) the rapid advancement of technology makes the environment for digitized information more complex. its design and means of access to the information needed has changed because of ict. its application brought unusual modification on how people do things. this unusual change can be noticed by ordinary students, doctorate students, professionals and researchers as they access, locate and store the information for a particular purpose. digitized information sources such as the internet, electronic resources, online databases and many others are becoming essential part of information centers. the rapid changes in the way information is provided arouse the interest of the researchers to find out how users access and retrieve information in a computerized environment, digitized information formats, plus the excessive resources on the internet. the availability of digital resources allows students to seek information on their own whenever, wherever they need it. with these thought, the researchers are but very much interested to jpair: multidisciplinary journal 100 find out the search strategies employed by students in locating the needed information using the following digital resources: internet, online databases and optical media particularly cd’s and dvd’s and eventually design an information literacy program that will enable information seekers and information providers acquire an integrated set of skills that allow the individual to recognize an information need, locate, evaluate and use information effectively with the use of the various digital resources. framework the understanding that the modern day students is so dependent with the digitized information, knowing their information seeking behavior using digitized resources is but an interesting area that can arouse investigations. according to boholts et.al. (2012), the understanding of information needs and information-seeking behavior of various professional groups is essential as it helps in the planning, implementation, operation of information systems and services in work settings. the need for information is recognition of uncertainty existence while the behavior of information seeking is defined as any activity of an individual that is undertaken to identify a message that satisfies an apparent need. some related literature revealed that in the recent years, considerable amount of studies of information seeking processes and factors that could affect search outcome has been carried out yet the ever changing landscape of the information environment, the user’s information needs and the development of current information retrieval systems are the major contributory factors that affect the outcome of the search. according to tibbo (2003) that primarily the history project is the first international, comparative study to examine historians’ information seeking behaviors since the advent of the world wide web, electronic findings, digitized collections and an increasingly pervasive networked scholarly environment. allison head (2007) finds out from her exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the internet and library resources for research. she said that the results suggest students may not be as reliant on public internet sites as previous international peer reviewed journal 101 research has reported. instead, the students in her study used hybrid approach for conducting course related research. a majority of students leveraged online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting and evaluating resources and gauging professors’ expectations for quality research. goldbold (2006) proposed a new model for information behavior that extends the concept beyond simply information seeking to consider other modes of behavior. the models chiefly explored are those of wilson and darvin. she argued that a shortcoming of some models of information behavior is that they present a sequence of stages where it is evident that actual behavior is not always sequential. in addition, information behavior models tend to confine themselves to depictions of information seeking. she designed/developed a model of ‘multi-directionality’ is explored, to overcome the notion of sequential stages. inspired by authors such as chatman, krikelas, and savolainen, modes of information behavior such as creating, destroying and avoiding information are included. she concluded that new models of information behavior are presented that replace the notion of ‘barriers’ with the concept of ‘gap’, as a means of integrating the views of wilson and dervin. her proposed models incorporate the notion of multi-directionality and identify ways in which an individual may navigate ‘gap’ using modes of information behavior beyond information seeking. jarvelin katevo (2003) states in his study that there are several kinds of conceptual models for information seeking and retrieval (is&r). he suggested that some models are of a summary type and others more analytic. such models serve different research purposes. his paper purposely discusses the functions of conceptual models in scientific research, in is&r research in particular. what kind of models are there and in what ways may they help the investigators? what kinds of models are needed for various purposes? in particular, we are looking for models that provide guidance in setting research questions, and formulation of hypotheses. he adds that the paper discusses [at length] one analytical model of task-based information seeking and its contribution to the development of the research area. lokman and tibbo (2003) in their paper revises david ellis’s information-seeking behavior model of social scientists, which includes jpair: multidisciplinary journal 102 six generic features: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. although the study confirmed ellis’s model, it found that a fuller description of the information-seeking process of social scientists studying stateless nations should include four additional features besides those identified by ellis. these new features are: accessing, networking, verifying, and information managing. in view of that, the study develops a new model, which, unlike ellis’s, groups all the features into four interrelated stages: searching, accessing, processing, and ending. their new model is fully described and its implications on research, practice and how or why scholars studied here are different than other academic social scientists. internet diffusion is not homogeneous and depends on many factors noce and mckeown (2010). their study used data from the canadian internet use survey (cius) to explore the extent demographic variables affect internet use by individuals in canada. a logistic model confirms that certain factors, educational attainment, and geography in particular influence internet use in canada, controlling for age and income. they added that education maintains a strong, significant impact on internet use such that the odds of using the internet are about three times greater for someone who has some post-secondary education than someone who has, at most, a high school education. an urban-rural digital divide persists in canada with the odds of using the internet being almost one-and-a-half times greater for someone who lives in an urban area. while language also has a large effect on internet use, the presence of children in households no longer seems to be a significant factor. their study thus underscores the changing digital environment in canada and the need for adaptive, flexible policies addressing national connectivity issues and, in particular, broadband internet availability. carol wright (2004) stated that academic libraries have the opportunity through their web pages to present to the university community recommended sites and appropriate techniques for searching the internet. but in the design and organization of home pages, academic libraries often provide inadequate navigational paths to sites that provide search engine selection and evaluation criteria. tahir et. al (2008) reveals in their study that consulting with experts in the subject field was the preferred method of getting information international peer reviewed journal 103 followed by the conversation with colleagues. reference books were the most important resource for teaching. consultation with knowledgeable persons or experts in the field was the most important source of information for research. he added that most humanities teachers get information sources from their departmental library; they also maintain personal collections and/or personal libraries for this purpose. most of the humanists prefer information in print, while they least prefer audiovisual material. results of the study show that a majority of the humanists do their information-seeking activities at home. meeting personally was the most-used channel of communication, followed by e-mail. consulting with the subject experts was the most common method to keep abreast with current developments in their subject fields. most search for information for their teaching preparation or lecturing, to guide researchers or students, and to support research. unavailability of required material was the most common problem in information-seeking. muhammad rafiq (2009) said that the use of electronic or digital resources is well-established and respondents urged national textile university library in pakistan to enhance access opportunities to e-resources to meet users’ academic and research needs. he added that the internet and email are highly used electronic services. moreover, he added that there is a rare use of the library website and opac is alarming and needs further exploration. although ntu library has a standard and well-maintained automation system, there is a need to increase the use of the opac. furthermore, he said that respondents heavily rely on google, yahoo, and msn, while hotmail and yahoo are preferred email servers, followed by gmail. ntu webmail is less preferred. on this issue, the ntu webmaster commented, in an interview with the principal researcher that, “people do not prefer to use official emails because of privacy threats and network problems.” he also said that “one of the other reasons is that people change jobs and they feel a threat that their data will not be accessible after quitting the organization.” case et.al. (2003) in their study stated the diffusion of the internet has radically expanded the readily-available sources for information of all types. information that was once obtained second-hand from friends and acquaintances—the traditional “two-step flow”—is now jpair: multidisciplinary journal 104 found easily through the internet. they stated that the result of their study raised questions about the apparent tendency of the public to regard the internet as the best source of information on complex topics. lastly, wilson (1994) presents an outline of models of information seeking and other aspects of information behavior, showing the relationship between communication and information behavior in general with information seeking and information searching in information retrieval systems. it is suggested that these models address issues at various levels of information behavior and that they can be related by envisaging a ‘nesting’ of models. it is also suggested that, within both information seeking research and information searching research, alternative models address similar issues in related ways and that the models are complementary rather than conflicting. finally, an alternative, problem-solving model is presented, which, it is suggested, provides a basis for relating the models in appropriate research strategies. wilson (1999) as cited by goldbold (2006) also introduced four models of information seeking behaviors which are presented below. figure 1 shows wilson’s 1981 model, as modified in 1999. he used ellis’ list as characteristics of information seeking behavior, which he placed within the context of information need arising out of a situation (of the person’s environment, social roles and individual characteristics). that same context presents barriers which must be overcome before information seeking takes place. figure 1: wilson’s 1981 model of information-seeking behavior international peer reviewed journal 105 wilson later (1999) described this 1981 model as a ‘macro model or a model of the gross information–seeking behavior’, suggesting that it implies hypotheses about information context without making them explicit, and that it does not indicate the processes whereby a person is affected by context, nor how context then affects his or her perception of barriers to information seeking. by 1996 wilson had expanded this model as shown in figure 2 (reported in wilson, 1997). aspects of the 1981 model have been developed, in particular the possible kinds of barriers which must be surmounted by the information seeker, and the possible forms his or her information seeking may take. figure 2: wilson’s 1996 model of information behavior with the next model (figure 3) presented in 1999, wilson pointed out that information search behavior is a subset of information seeking behavior and that information seeking behavior is in turn only a subset of all possible information behavior. as such, the existence of modes of information behavior, other than information seeking, is implied. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 106 figure 3: wilson’s 1999 nested model of information behavior also in 1999, wilson combined the work of ellis (1989) and kuhlthau (1991), each of whom had suggested phases or stages which tend to occur within information seeking. in figure 4, wilson pointed to similarities between the two while emphasizing that the movement of the seeker between characteristic seeking behavior can occur in varying sequence. figure 4: a stage process version of ellis’s behavioural framework and comparison with kulthau’s stage process model by wilson 1999 international peer reviewed journal 107 today’s generation belongs to the information age. the present era is called the “information era” information has become an important element for progress in today’s globalized society to thrive in this modern era, one needs a variety of information for any desired field of knowledge, no matter how well versed one is in a field or profession. psacharopoulous (1982) discusses the necessity of information in the present age. we can reorganize the educational system and redefine scientific research only with the help of information. information plays a significant role in our professional and personal lives. people need information to work properly in their fields. however people manifested different types of information seeking behaviors. krikelas’ (1993) definition of information need is the recognition of the existence of uncertainty while information-seeking behavior is defined as any activity of an individual that is undertaken to identify a message that satisfies a perceived need. information seeking begins when someone perceives the current state of knowledge that is less than that needs to deal with some issues or problems. the study of information needs and gathering behavior dates back to 1948 when bernal and others presented a paper on scientific information at the 1948 royal society conference (bernal 1960). during the past 30 years, a considerable body of literature has been produced dealing with information needs and information-seeking behavior of both individuals and groups in a variety of contexts (anwar, al-ansari, and abdullah 2004). it is estimated that the number of publications on information-seeking behavior was more than ten thousand in the 1990s alone (case 2002). many studies have been conducted to investigate the information-seeking behavior of library users based on their subject interest, occupation, information environment, and geographical location. information needs and information-seeking behavior of academic have also been popular areas of research for the information scientists for decades (majid and kassim 2000). many authors have pointed out that the studies on information-seeking behavior and needs of social scientists are fewer than those involving the natural sciences, and the studies of humanists’ information needs are even much fewer. (line 1969; hopkins 1989; blazek 1994, challener 1999) knowledge of the information needs and information-seeking behavior of users is vital for developing library collections, upgrading jpair: multidisciplinary journal 108 facilities, and improving services to effectively meet the information needs of users. zhang (1998) stresses that a thorough understanding of user needs and information seeking behavior is fundamental to the provision of successful information services. wilson (1994) points out that the scope of information-seeking behavior research is vast and many new concepts and methods are being developed. it is clear that the study of human information-seeking behavior is now a well-defined area of research. according to devadason and lingman (1997), the understanding of information needs and information-seeking behavior of various professional groups is essential as it helps in the planning, implementation, and operation of information system and services in work settings. carol (1975) states that if academic librarians are to realistically serve academic researchers, they must recognize the changing needs and variations in information gathering and provide services that would be most useful. ucak & kurbanoglo (1998) cited krikelas definition on information need as the recognition of the existence of uncertainty while information-seeking behavior is defined as any activity that an individual undertakes to identify a message that satisfies a perceived need. information seeking begins when someone perceived that the current state of possessed knowledge is less than that needed to deal with some issue or problem. theoretical development or the construction of new conceptual models in any research area often requires conceptual and terminological development. conceptual development may mean fulfilling, perhaps in a better way than before, the basic requirements for scientific concepts precision, accuracy, simplicity, generality, and suitability for expressing propositions, which may be shown true or false. moreover, good concepts represent essential features like objects, relationships, events of the research area. more importantly, the concepts should differentiate and classify the phenomena in ways that lead to interesting hypotheses (or research problems). this means that the concepts must relate to each other in a systematic manner. concepts also need to support research into the phenomena using known research methods. they need to be compatible with each other and with the research methods. below are two model conceptual frameworks for information seeking behavior. international peer reviewed journal 109 ellis’s (1989; ellis, et al., 1993) and ingwersen’s (1996) model frameworks are presented here ellis’s elaboration of the different behaviors involved in information seeking consists of six features. ellis makes no claims to the effect that the different behaviors constitute a single set of stages; indeed, he uses the term ‘features’ rather than ‘stages’. the strength of ellis’s model is that it is based on empirical research and has been tested in subsequent studies, most recently in the context of an engineering company (ellis & haugan, 1997).of the features, ellis (1989: 178) notes that, ‘...the detailed interrelation or interaction of the features in any individual information seeking pattern will depend on the unique circumstances of the information seeking activities of the person concerned at that particular point in time’. wilson (1999) proposes how these features may relate to each other temporally providing a partial order. one may describe any information seeking activities through ellis’s features. indeed, they are general enough to fit a large number of empirical situations. however, if one is to explain information seeking behavior, in terms of the work tasks the subjects are engaged with, or their knowledge on the task, the features fall short because they are not explicitly related to such external possible causative factors. ellis’s model is still of help in finding explanations for information seeking behavior. it is possible to discern differences in any of the ‘features’ in different situations involving different kinds of persons through successive research projects. for example, some persons in some roles may be shown to engage more or less in monitoring than other persons. this may then lead to an examination of the factors that cause these differences. objectives of the study specifically, the study seeks to accomplish the following objectives: to identify the information needs of students who use the information center (library) of cebu technological university; to describe the search strategies employed by the respondents in seeking information from internet, online databases and optical media. based on the findings an information literacy program for the use of digitized resources will be developed. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 110 significance of the study the advancement of technology particularly the use of the internet and other digital sources of information pose an opportunity as well as a challenge to understand it well. in recent times, there are studies showing that most people preferred getting information and services through digitized form rather that from a hardbound document or book. of course, it is lighter to go around without anything heavy to carry. however, during the last decade, relentless optimization of information retrieval effectiveness has driven web search engines to new quality levels where most people are satisfied most of the time, and web search has become a standard and often preferred source of information finding. for example, the 2004 pew internet survey (fallows 2004) found that “92% of internet users say the internet is a good place to go for getting everyday information.” to the surprise of many, the field of information retrieval has moved from being a primarily academic discipline to being the basis underlying most people’s preferred means of information access. in these digital age it is but fitting to understand the pattern on how they search information to uncover the strategies they employed using digitized resources to locate the information they need. the output of this study would benefit the university as a whole, the information providers and information seekers such as students, teachers, researchers and all other users of digitized resources in the following ways: to the information providers such as the librarians, the results of the study could be used as one of the basis in reviewing and improving the existing services related to the use of information sources found in the internet, online journals, opac and other digitized resources, knowing how the respondents use these type of resources information providers would have better view how to promote, deliver and market these type of resources to their would be clients. they would be able to develop a comprehensive information literacy program aimed to guide library and information centers’ clients to be selective of the websites, articles in online journals and other digitized formats to be used. students would better be guided with strategies and procedures to search information using the online information resources particularly the internet and other digitized international peer reviewed journal 111 sources. the faculty members would have more options which of the information found in online databases may be used for instruction purposes, and which of the vast sources may be recommended to their students for assignments and readings. finally, the result of this study would contribute to the dearth of literature of existing local studies of the information seeking patterns employed by information seekers in seeking information in the internet, electronic journals, optical media and opac’s. to find information sources that will develop an integrated set of skills and the knowledge of information tools and resources that allow a person to recognize an information need and locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. materials and methods research design the study used the descriptive method using survey and document analysis. focus group discussion was also used to triangulate the data gathered from survey and log monitoring analysis. environment the study was conducted in cebu technological university main campus located in r. palma street, cebu city specifically, the university’s library where digitized resources of information are available. the library is purposively chosen based on the presence of any of the following variables: internet connectivity, access to online databases, and collection of optical media. subjects and sampling of the study the subjects of the study were the actual users of digitized sources in the participating university. a total of 52 respondents from the graduate and college level were selected through simple purposive sampling. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 112 table 1 – subject’s demographic profile n= 52 ctu respondents level n % graduate 5 10 college 47 90 total 52 100 majority (90%) of the respondents in this study are undergraduate students. only 5 (10%) are graduate students. research procedure the study used the descriptive method using survey and document analysis. focus group interview was conducted to triangulate the data gathered from the survey and the computer monitoring log. a preliminary visit to the library was done to find out whether digital resources covered in this study are available for use by the students. the researchers then, wrote a transmittal letter to the heads of the university to inform them about the study and at the same time asking their permission to consider the library and the students to be utilized in the study. after the head granted their approval, the researcher made another visit to explain to the librarian together with the respective technical support person on how to go about the study. instruments survey questionnaire. a fifteen item survey questionnaire was developed. it was tried out to thirty students who were using the digitized sources collection at the knowledge navigation center at the university of san carlos. after it was tried out, the questionnaire was reviewed, some questions were rephrased and corrections were made. the questionnaire was administered to the respondents; at least five to eight questionnaires were administered every day, in each participating institutions, to be able to get varied response from international peer reviewed journal 113 the subjects. enumerator collected the questionnaire right after the respondent answered it. computer monitoring log. the computer log which records the searches of the respondents was monitored upon the approval of the heads and the in-charge of the librarian. to be able to monitor the searches, internet browser was set to google chrome to facilitate a uniform format of the logs. the computer logs were extracted everyday and e-mailed to the researcher to consolidate the logs. focus group inteview. the focus group interview was conducted after the entire questionnaire was collected and reviewed to clarify and confirm the respondent’s answers in the survey questionnaire. a five item prepared questions and the survey questionnaire guide the researchers during the group discussion. five to ten respondents were gathered for this purpose. statistical treatment upon the advice of the statistician the data gathered were tallied and treated using the simple percentage and ranking count for interpretation. limitation of the study the databases referred to in this study are limited to those that are accessible in the library of cebu technological university. results and discussion information needs table 2respondent’s information needs n= 52 information sought percentage rank to get an overview of my topic 90 1 to answer my class assignment 80 2 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 114 to gather related literature for my topic 76 3 to find information/sources which i did not find using printed sources 70 4 to gather data/statistics needed for my project/feasibility study 66 5.5 to read online articles related to my work 60 5.5 to be informed with current events 46 7 to communicate with my friends online 20 8 to visit entertainment websites 16 9 to shop online 10 10 other reason/s, please specify: to read novels, to learn how to use computers 2 11 information needs of the students the majority of responses as to what information needs is addressed using digitized resources by ctu students are using it (digitized resources) to get an overview of their topic (90%), to answer their class assignment (80%), to gather their related literature for their topic (76%), to find information/sources which they did not find using printed sources (70%) and to gather data/statistics needed for their project/ feasibility study (66%). they rarely use digitized resources to shop on line (10%), to visit entertainment websites (16%) and to communicate friends online (20%). the data reflect the environment as a learning institution where library use is controlled and limited to activities that are lesson/classrelated only. although non –lesson related activities is discouraged, it is still possible for somebody to explore other areas because of the all access policy of the university. all access means unlimited supply of websites and other digitized resources the university can provide. digitized database used by students the most frequently used resources (digitized) to get information continuation of table 2 international peer reviewed journal 115 by students in ctu is the internet (88%) followed by online public access catalog (opac) (46%) and worldbook online encyclopedia (32%). while, infotract database (electronic journal) (2%) and h.w. wilson omnifile(electronic journal;cdrom) (2%) are the least used digitized resources. the use of the top three resources coincides with the fgd results and the available e-sources that the library provides. the ctu main library provides unlimited access to the internet, opac, phil. elib, access engineering and science direct. it is also important to note that limited subscription of some e-resources does not deny the fact that some students are capable of using these e –resources if provided. library users will also explore all available resources offered just to get the information they need. also, as per fgd results, student’s eagerness to get the information will not stop them from getting it in the schools library but also to other information centers that will provide them services that are not available in their schools’ library. that is why there are some respondents who answered other digitized resources that are not offered in the ctu library. search facilities to access digitized resources used by students the strategies/approaches to search information using digitized resources that are being used by the majority of students in ctu are using of the keywords (76%), using the title of the book/article (74%), using of author’s name (72%) and the use of search engines (google, yahoo, etc) (68%). while, rarely use the boolean operators (and,or,not) (4%) and use of truncations (6%). these data clearly indicate that the students are able to trim down their searches in a practical way possible. most of them start using the keyword then use the title of the book, use the author's name and end up using the search engines. the fgd results also reflect this trend that they get the information they need after employing these strategies/ approaches. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 116 but, students rarely use strategies/approaches that are too technical in nature (boolean operators, data indexes and truncations) for them. obviously, students simply don’t know what it is, never heard of it and don’t know how it works for their benefit. furthermore, the fgd results shows that the students rarely use these boolean operators, data indexing and truncations because they can already get information through their usual way of searching information. they added that they are interested to learn these efficient approaches but they need time to adopt these. search engines in searching information the general response as to what search engines are used by the students in seeking information using the digitized resources is google (100%) which is followed by yahoo (90%). while, nobody uses excite and ipl2, lycos and linkedln has 2%, business (4%) and galaxy and infomine have 6%. this is consistent with the fgd response of the students; they said they are using preferably google and yahoo because this would give them a lot of information to choose from and will also lead them to other sites that will give them appropriate information. video sites such as youtube are also preferred but the speed of the library’s internet limits them to use it. most students preferred to use the popular search engines over the unknown and the least known search engines, that is why excite, lpl2, lycos, business and galaxy have the least users. the scenario of having these least known search engines to be patronized to happen, it has to establish a superior feature over the existing leader. as of the moment, students use the search engines they perceived to give them the fastest and effective way of searching information. search strategies for students using opac/ecat. the general response of ctu students on what search strategies employed in using opac/ecat if what they are looking for is familiar to them is by entering the known item in the search box (86%) and international peer reviewed journal 117 starting with a keyword that represents the concept of a topic (60%). while few said they will enter a combination of terms/phrase using the boolean operators (and,or,not) (24%) and enter a combination of terms/phrase using the advance search option provided in the opac (26%). the implication would be that the students preferred convenience over technical strategies of seeking information (like using the boolean operators, combination of terms). they will take what is being given in the search box initially if it is related to the information they seek for and have their own words entered if the suggested topic offered by opac/ecat fails to convince them that it will give them the information they need. it should be noted that the huge (30%-60%) difference on choices of convenience over the technical yet more efficient ones really suggest that the students are not familiar on how to use the more advanced search option provided in the opac (26%) and entering a combination of terms/phrase using the boolean operators (24%). in cases where the students don’t have any familiarity of the specific information they are seeking for, their general (20%) response is entering a keyword that they think would yield relevant results, browse the databases indexes of author, title, keywords, subjects, copyright date and select an option to start the search (20%) and enter a phrase (20%). while rarely said they will enter a combination of terms/ phrase using the boolean operators (and,or,not) (2%). these would imply that regardless whether the students know of the topic they are searching for or not, they will always have their own word first keyed in the search item space. they will always rely on what they think would yield them best results. familiarity also plays a big role on why few students use boolean operators. using cd/dvd databases when students search information using the optical media such as cd and dvd, most of them they said they will search the database using their own words (80%) and search the database using the author or title or subject of the article (74%). while some said they will search the database applying truncations (20%) and search database using a combination of terms combined by boolean operators (and, or,not) jpair: multidisciplinary journal 118 (20%). this would imply that students always rely keying their own words first rather than taking what can be suggested by the cd/dvd databases. this is also an indication of less familiarity in using these optical media. search approaches when students search information in internet/online and in subscribed databases, the strategy that most of them employ is the use of search engine to search the topic (74%) and determine distinctive word or phrase of the search topic to start the search (68%). while rarely said they use suffixes for words with varied spelling entries (2%), subscribe to rss feeds to receive alerts to new postings related to their topic (2%) and combine terms using the boolean operators (6%). the use of common search engines dominates as to what preferred search approaches the students used. this may be because of the fact that they don’t have any know how on the more effective way of approaching their search. again, the most common search approaches in searching in the internet is through the usual search engines (yahoo, google). this is because students don’t really understand how to deal with the more technical but effective way of searching. if the search technique employed by the students failed to yield them satisfactory results, most of them said they will modify the search by entering another keyword, and repeat the process (88%) while rarely said they will accept the result and cease the search process (4%). these would imply that students will always have their known way applied until they get the results they need. if the students have known the more efficient way of searching information then it is not impossible for them to use such techniques. this would just confirm the fgd result that the students don’t have any other way of searching the information but only through their usual practice of searching. they need an awareness regarding the effective way of searching information. international peer reviewed journal 119 problems encountered in using digitized resources the general response of the ctu students on what problems they had encountered in using digitized resources are not going directly to the sources that are being needed (82%) and too many results to choose (72%). while few (18%) say information is scattered in many sources, they lacked skills in using the search facilities provided (26%). these imply that the students are inclined about digitized resources and know how to operate these facilities but are unable to produce good results. this also implies that the students in ctu really need guidance in using digitized resources. there should be a training as to how these facilities are used especially on the navigation and exploring of the online databases. they may be able to search the data in their own way but inefficiently. how students learn to use the digitized resources most of the students learn the use of digital resources by attending library orientation/instruction (66%) and by self exploration (64%) while some read the instruction given (30%). this implies that most students will embrace external intervention (library orientation) and personal drive (self exploration) on how they learn to use the digital resources. both of these factors have impacted and will impact the students’ ability to use digitized resources in the library. this also will also imply that the students of ctu are more into computer applications. it would not be difficult for them to follow new techniques because they are already immersed into the technology. conclusion the process and strategy of finding information in digitized resources are becoming more intricate and complex because of the advancement of technology. these are due to several factors that include: the information system, the user, and the information need. knowledge on the different types of digitized resources and skills on the use of different search techniques are essential for students to access and retrieve, evaluate and utilize the information searched. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 120 recommendations based on the findings, it is recommended that the university as a whole should take a more active role in creating modules or models that will illustrate the various ways to effectively and efficiently search information in digitized sources. a guide of websites categorized by subject to direct information seekers (students/researchers) to find the most accurate and specific information should be created to avoid or at least minimize irrelevant search results. students should be taught how to evaluate the websites and the search engines to use for particular information need and lastly, to incorporate all these recommendations by designing and implementing an information literacy training program for the whole university especially designed for users of digitized sources. literature cited anwar, m.a., h. al-ansari, and a. abdullah 2004 information seeking behavior of kuwaiti journalists. libri 54 (4):228-236. bernal, j.d. 1960 scientific information and its users. aslib proceedings 12: 423-38. boholts, r.c. 2012 information seeking strategies of digitized resources in metro cebu. cit university, case, d.o. 2002 looking for information: a survey of research in information seeking, needs, and behavior. amsterdam: academic press. devadason, f. j., & p. p. lingman 1997 a methodology for the identification of information needs of users. ifla journal23 (1); 41-51. international peer reviewed journal 121 ellis, d. 1993 modeling the information seeking patterns of academic researchers’ library quarterly 63(4): 469-486. goldbold, n. 2010 “beyond information seeking: toward a general model of information behavior “. information research.11 (4), (july 2006)http://paracite.eprints.org./cgi [april 14,]. head, a. 2007 beyond google: how do students conduct academic research? first monday, volume 12, number 8 (august), url: http:// firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/head/index.htmlas katevo, j. and t.d. wilson 2003 “on conceptual models for information seeking and retrieval research.” information research. 9: (1). http://iformation.net/ ir/9-1/paper 163 html (april 14,2010) krikelas, j. 1983 ‘information seeking behavior: patterns and concepts’ drexel library quarterly 19: 5-20 majid, s., & g. m. kassim 2000 information-seeking behaviour of international islamic university malaysia law faculty members.malaysian journal of library & information science5 (2): 1-17. manning, c.d., p. raghavan and h. schutze 2009 an introduction to information retrieval .cambridge university,. meho, l. i. and h. r. tibbo 2003 “modeling the information-seeking behavior of social scientist: ellis study revisited”. journal of the american society for information science and technology. 54(6),: 570-587. http:// www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/meho-tibbo/.pdf [april 14,2010] jpair: multidisciplinary journal 122 noce, a. and l. mckeown 2008 “a new benchmark for internet use: a logistic modelling of factors influencing internet use in canada. government information quarterly 25:3: 462-76. omnifile full text select. web. [14 april 2010] psacharopoulous, g. 1982 information: an essential factor in education planning and policy.comparative educational review 26(2): 322. rafiq, m. dr. 2009 “information seeking behavior of university instructors: a case study”. library philosophy and practice. february. tibbo, h.r. primarily history in america: how us historians search for primary materials at the dawn of the digital age. uçak, n. ö. 1997 bilim adamlarinin bilgi arama davranislari ve bunlari etkileyen nedenler. (unpublished ph.d thesis, hacettepe university department of librarianship). wilson, t. d. and d. r. streatfield 1981 ‘structured observation in the investigation of information needs’ social science information studies 1: 173-184. wilson, t.d. 1981 ‘on user studies and information needs’ journal of documentation. 37: 3-15. wilson, t.d. 1994 information needs and uses: fifty years of progress. in b. c. vickery (ed.), fifty years of information progress: a journal of documentation review, (pp. 1551) london: aslib. available: http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/papers/1994fiftyyears.html international peer reviewed journal 123 wright, c. a. 2004 “the academic library as gateway to the internet: an analysis of the extent and nature of search engine access from academic library home pages”. college & research libraries 65.4: 27686. omnifile full text select. web [14 april 2010] zhang, w. 1998 analyzing faculty and staff’s information needs and use of electronic technologies: a liberal arts college’s experience. journal of education media and library sc allen, b. (1990) ‘the effects of academic background on statements of information need’ library quarterly 60(2): 120-138. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research beach resorts’ contribution to the triple bottom line: economic, environmental, and social jesszon b. cano https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-033x jesszon.cano@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines judy ann f. gimena http://orcid.org/ 0000-001-5352-8253 judygimena@gmail.com university of cebu – banilad cebu city, cebu, philippines kingie g. micabalo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4179-2086 kmicabalo@uc.edu.ph university of cebu – lapu-lapu & mandaue cebu city, cebu, philippines elisheba s. padillo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0185-3737 elisheba.padillo@ctu.edu.ph cebu technological university moalboal moalboal, cebu, philippines amabella grace n. siaton https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9956-1606 agsiaton@uc.edu.ph university of cebu – banilad cebu city, cebu, philippines vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.455 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:elisheba.padillo@ctu.edu.p 131 international peer reviewed journal arlinda n. ramasola arlinda.ramasola@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this investigation utilized the blended method of research using researcherdesigned survey tools. this study was conducted in anda, bohol. using the random sampling technique, sixty respondents provided information on the contribution of the operation of the beach resorts. the study also had nine informants interviewed on the challenges encountered by the beach resorts’ operations in their locality. for the analysis of quantitative data, frequency count, percentage, weighted mean, and thematic analysis for qualitative data. the operation of beach resorts had a high contribution towards economic growth and social development and a moderate contribution towards environmental protection. lastly, challenges encountered by the stakeholders in the operations of beach resorts in terms of ensuring economic growth were poor service quality, decreases guests’ loyalty, lack of transparency in financial report, local guest outnumber foreign visitors, marketing disadvantage due to inaccessible location, unstable employment, failure to comply legal obligations and fishing ban. in contrast, the challenges in attaining social development were negative intercultural adaptation, culture and heritage disturbance, inequalities of resources, lack of community involvement, and low public health protection. further, the challenges in ascertaining environmental protection of the beach resorts’ existence in the locality were weak environmental monitoring and enforcement, rejecting environmental policy, additional burden, minimizes financial growth opportunities and excessive fees discourages tourists from return. the beach resorts in the rural location were fully compliant with the proper solid waste management since there are standard operating procedures that they need to perform to ensure customer satisfaction. keywords — social science, hospitality management, triple bottom line, beach resort operations, blended research, anda, bohol, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction there is a growing gap between the accumulating information generated by tourism research and its practical application in the developing world. nowhere is the gap more apparent than in the relationship between resort operations and their impacts on economic and natural environments (trousdale, 2001). tourism researchers have conducted a tremendous amount of research on tourism impacts. recently, academics and practitioners have concluded that these impacts should be addressed by applying a balanced planning approach to development, like planning that incorporates public participation and sustainability issues. unfortunately, balanced planning in the developing world is rarely achieved, and the literature is still replete with developing world case studies chronicling failures in tourism development. the fundamental reason for these failures is that key sectors still embrace a messianic faith in economic growth that supersedes the consideration of tourism’s known adverse effects. furthermore, developing countries often lack a participatory governance structure, strong regulations, enforcement capabilities, technical and managerial expertise, and the political will to pursue a balanced planning approach. in the context of an increasingly competitive marketplace, business promotion tends to displace the thoughtful anticipation of avoiding tourism’s negative externalities. tourism has direct, indirect, and induced impacts on local economies. these can often be largely divergent between countries, based on the sector’s structure but most importantly on how well linked tourism activities are with the local economy. greater linkages generally translate into higher levels of local economic activity and growth, which occur when tourism enterprises source their goods and services, including locally sourced labor. in contrast, low economic linkages occur where tourism enterprises depend on imports, including staff supply their demands. the sector’s overall impacts are the sum of direct, indirect, and induced effects (lemma, 2014). in the case of manila bay in the philippines, it holds a primary role in economic growth as the area, including national capital region and regions 3 and 4, contributes approximately 55 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (gdp). despite its economic and cultural endowment, manila bay’s environment has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. the bay was severely polluted by domestic, industrial, and commercial wastes that threatened the marine life and the livelihood of nearby people, who were primarily dependent on the bay’s resources. according to the most recent water samples and laboratory 133 international peer reviewed journal tests conducted by the department of environment and natural resources (denr), manila bay has a coliform level of 330 million. the most probable number (mpn) is far beyond the acceptable level of fewer than 100 mpn. an endeavor of this magnitude would take at least five years. the government agencies and local government units (lgus) tasked with rehabilitating manila bay would need all the help they can get from the private and social sectors (palafox, 2019). additionally, communities and local governments face challenges in mitigating the undesirable impact of beach resorts’ operations along the shoreline due to the increasing number of resort operations in the philippines. sincerely, the island of boracay has been experiencing two decades of recurring issues with wastewater and solid waste management that have caused a decline in tourist arrivals and, therefore, a loss of income. there had been outbreaks of coliform bacteria as early as 1997 that caused a 60% decline in tourist arrivals during that period. in 2004, the coliform crisis continued since not all establishments were connected to the centralized sewage treatment plant, according to the denr. the same problem was also encountered in 2009 and 2015 and again in the assessment of denr in the current year. the decline in water quality and biodiversity loss has shown that the mechanisms to manage heightened tourism interest in the island lack and reflect resort owners’ mismanagement and weak governance. these environmental issues were used for the closure, which will further cause massive displacement to the lives of the residents who were reliant on tourism and related activities for their livelihoods, accounting for more than 36,000 workers. this threat raises this issue from a case of ecological justice to a case of social justice (center for environmental concerns, 2018). over the years, the municipality of anda has been the second major tourist destination next to panglao on the island of bohol, due largely to its spectacular white sand beaches and peaceful environment. according to the regional distribution of overnight travelers in accommodation establishments, 8,841 foreign travelers, 398 overseas filipinos, and 25,448 domestic travelers. 34,687 travelers visited anda annually as of may 30, 2019. it increased significantly, especially in foreign tourist arrivals, from 1% in 2018 to 6% as of 2019 (department of tourism, 2019). due to tourists’ continuous arrival in anda, bohol, there has been a growing number of tourist facilities like beach resorts, pension houses, dive shops, bars, restaurants, and cafes. the proponent has observed rapid changes in the locality’s societal and structural extents during the past several years, increasing the 134 jpair multidisciplinary research establishments in the town’s coastal areas. although numerous beach resorts have desirable impacts, there will always be another side to any economic affluent. this study explores the implications of these tourism establishments on the local community and its environment. in hospitality management and business administration, instructors handling tourism planning and development discipline aim to present a practical model in the assessment of the economic, social, and environmental contribution of beach resort operations in anda, bohol, to prevent the same problems encountered by the government and communities near manila bay and boracay island. this assessment helps adapt the unique contextual requirements for the management plan and resort development. therefore, it offers a more pragmatic and immediate way to close the gap between the resort operations and economic, social, and environmental implications. thus, assessing beach resort operations’ impacts offers a realistic way to aid local government, resort owners, and affected communities in moving the local tourism industry in the developing world towards sustainability. objectives of the study this study aims to determine the contribution of the operations of beach resorts in anda, bohol, philippines, c. y. 2021. the findings of this study served as a basis for devising an environmentally sustainable tourism strategic plan. specifically, this study sought to answer the perceptions of the various stakeholders on the contribution of the operation of beach resorts and the challenges encountered by the stakeholders. methodology this investigation utilized the blended method of research using the researcher-designed survey questionnaire and interview guide. this study was conducted in anda, bohol, situated on the island’s eastern coast, roughly 110 kilometers or a three-hour ride from tagbilaran city. purposive sampling was used to select participants from the representatives of the department of tourism, recognized beach resorts, and registered at the municipality of anda. simple random sampling was used to select the respondents from the local community, with 60 respondents who provided data about the benefits of beach resort operations. nine informants provided information about 135 international peer reviewed journal the challenges they encountered in the beach resort operations. one set of questionnaires was used in quantitative research, and one set of interview guides was used in qualitative research. the first set of questionnaires was concerned with beach resorts’ operation that contributes to economic growth, social development, and environmental protection and evaluated by the stakeholders using the scales. lastly, the interview guide was used as a guide during the interview about the challenges the stakeholders faced in the operations of the beach resorts. the pilot testing of the self-made questionnaire was conducted at bohol island state university-candijay campus. twenty hospitality management students were also residents in poblacion, anda, who served as respondents in this study. the cronbach’s alpha value of the first set of questionnaires for the stakeholders was 0.9406, indicating that the survey tools were highly reliable for administration. it also shows that the items in the questionnaire were welldefined, clearly understood, and presented consistently and accurately addressed the research questions to the respondents. for the considerations, the researchers explained the purpose of the study to the intended respondents to be well aware of the study’s objectives before they were asked to participate. once the respondents signified their permit to participate, they were asked to sign the informed consent document. however, it was also made clear that their initial permission cannot be withdrawn since their participation is fully voluntary. it is built upon volunteerism elements, which entails the capacity to make this choice freely and in the absence of coercion. deliberateness, the purposefulness of intent, clarity, genuineness, and coherence with prior life decisions are implicitly emphasized in this construction. the participants were made aware of how the findings will be used. the dominant approach was used to protect the respondent’s confidentiality. under the dominant approach, if data cannot be collected anonymously, the researcher collected, analyzed, and reported data without compromising the respondents’ identities to observe every research participant’s confidentiality. the researcher was fully aware of one’s obligation not to harm the informants or expose people to unnecessary risks. the researcher assumed that every research undertaking involved some form of harm and considered in advance how best to deal with it. finally, this study is only carried out if some benefit or good can be derived from it. therefore, whether or not research is worth undertaking should always be uppermost in the researcher’s mind. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research the researcher familiarizes the gathered data. the researcher made transcription audio recordings. the researcher went through the entire data set from the interview and started taking notes, marking preliminary ideas for codes that can describe the content. the weighted mean is used to analyze and interpret the beach resorts’ contribution to beach resorts’ operations as perceived by the stakeholders, and thematic analysis was used to determine the challenges encountered by the stakeholders in beach resorts’ operations. results and discussion there are two parts presented in this section. the first part presents the various stakeholders’ perceptions of the contribution of beach resorts. the second part shows the challenges encountered by the stakeholders in the beach resorts’ operations. perceptions of the various stakeholders on the contribution of the operations of the beach resorts this portion shows the data on the perceptions of the various stakeholders (representatives of the beach resorts, local government units, and the local community) on the contribution of the beach resorts’ operation in anda, bohol to economic growth, social development, and environmental protection. table 1 presents the results of the various stakeholders’ perceptions of the contribution of beach resorts’ operations to economic growth. table 1. stakeholders’ perception on the contribution of the operation of beach resorts as to economic growth (n=60) indicators weighted mean description 1. the people’s income out of the operation of beach resort contributes to providing their daily household needs. 3.40 high contribution 2. the beach resort operation creates a better source of income for the residents in the community. 3.42 high contribution 3. the operation of the beach resorts in anda, bohol, paved the way towards establishing other local businesses that benefit the community’s people. 3.20 moderate contribution 137 international peer reviewed journal 4. the people’s standard of living has improved due to tourist spending in anda, bohol, especially in hospitality establishments like beach resorts. 3.35 high contribution 5. the beach resort’s operation creates part-time jobs for people in anda, bohol. 3.28 high contribution 6. beach resorts paid more taxes to the local government for local development. 3.47 high contribution 7. along with the standard-of-living increases inherent in raising local employment, the presence of many resorts can raise the standard of living further by providing a wider range of services and amenities in the local area. 3.35 high contribution 8. beach resort operations encourage infrastructure development, health care facilities, and recreation areas. 3.35 high contribution 9. beach resort operations generate foreign exchange. 3.38 high contribution 10. beach resort operation stimulates trade, income, and entrepreneurship – especially in the surrounding small businesses. 3.48 high contribution aggregate mean 3.37 high contribution legend: high contribution3.26-4.0; moderate contribution -2.51-3.25; less contribution -1.76-2.50; no contribution -1.00-1.75 there was a high contribution to the operations of the beach resorts in anda, bohol as to economic growth as indicated by the aggregate mean of 3.37. this result shows that the various beach resorts in anda, bohol, were visited by domestic and foreign guests due to their magnificent white sand beaches. the clear water had contributed much towards improving the local economy in the aspect of providing jobs to the residents considering that job opportunities in the rural areas are scarce, leading to the establishment of small businesses and uplifting the people’s standard of living. additionally, beach resort operations were involved in the creation and financing of the tourism infrastructure. minding the realization of their assignments and market aims, they create the elements of tourism infrastructure simultaneously to take up joint ventures through the public-private partnership (panasiuk, 2007). 138 jpair multidisciplinary research specifically, the highest weighted mean of 3.48 shows that the operations of beach resorts in anda, bohol, had a high contribution to the economic growth since it stimulated trade, income, and entrepreneurship, especially in the surrounding small businesses. this means that the beach resorts’ existence provided the local community with the opportunity to open their own business by selling grocery items, delicacies, souvenir goods, and many more to the tourists who come to their locality. resort operations have considered achieving economic growth, social development, and entrepreneurial opportunities in small businesses in rural areas, which is the central force of economic development as it generates growth (rusu et al., 2012). however, there was a moderate contribution to the economic growth in anda, bohol in the context of the operation of the beach resorts towards paving the way for the establishment of other local businesses that benefits the people in the community, based on the lowest weighted mean of 3.20. the influx of visitors who would check in at the beach resorts in the study locale had allowed the residents to open micro-business catering to both the tourists and the local buyers. these businesses had also given more convenience since the buyers do not have to go to town proper to buy small amounts of goods. anda’s local government also benefited from this through taxes and other permits paid and complied with within the municipality. beach resort operations allow wealth to be injected into a community in a variety of ways. the great benefit of this industry is that it is extremely laborintensive, and many of the businesses that operate within it are only small businesses and micro operators (petra, 2002). table 2 presents the results of the various stakeholders’ perceptions of the contribution of beach resorts to social development. table 2. stakeholders’ perception on the contribution of the operation of beach resorts as to social development (n=60) indicators weighted mean description 1. beach resort operations bring people into contact with each other, and it can foster understanding between peoples and cultures and provide a cultural exchange. 3.45 high contribution 2. it can add to the vitality of communities in many ways. 3.52 high contribution 139 international peer reviewed journal indicators weighted mean description 3. it brings higher living standards to the commu-nity in the municipality of anda. 3.37 high contribution 4. the community received a donation of food, old equipment, and other supplies from the beach resorts. 2.48 moderate contribution 5. it can help raise local awareness of natural and cultural sites’ financial value and stimulate a feeling of pride in local and national heritage and interest in its conservation. 3.15 moderate contribution 6. it creates opportunities to learn about other people and cultures. 3.53 high contribution 7. it gives resort staff who are also residents in anda the opportunity to attend various training and seminars that can improve their knowledge, skills, and attitude. 3.70 high contribution 8. the beach resort operation requires many complementary facilities/ infrastructure to meet the tourists’ needs and the locals. 3.60 high contribution 9. the residents were able to use and enjoy new roads, new sewage systems, new playgrounds, bus services, etc., as a result of beach resort operations and greatly boosted their quality of life. 2.87 moderate contribution 10. it creates a variety of entertainment and activi-ties in the area. 3.22 moderate contribution aggregate mean 3.29 high contribution legend: high contribution3.26-4.0; moderate contribution -2.51-3.25; less contribution -1.76-2.50; no contribution -1.00-1.75 there was a high contribution to the operations of the beach resorts in anda, bohol, as to social development, as indicated by the aggregate mean of 3.29. this means that beach resort businesses in the locality have given the people the chance to mingle and learn from different people from different cultures, exposure, educational backgrounds, and social orientations. it also paved towards the enjoyment of the people of the various social overhead capital established due to the growth of tourism and hospitality activities in a rural places. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, beach resort operations can also improve the preservation and transmission of cultural and historical traditions. contributing to the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources can usually protect local heritage or revitalize native cultures, for instance, by regenerating traditional arts and crafts (malviya, 2005). specifically, the highest weighted mean of 3.70 shows that the operations of the beach resorts in the municipality of anda, bohol had a high contribution towards social development in the area of giving the resort staff, who are also residents in anda, the opportunity to attend various training and seminars that can improve their knowledge, skills, and attitude. the beach resorts provided jobs and income for unemployed residents. beach resorts need to conduct training programs and seminars for employees. seminars/training entails an investment of time and money and investment to the most important asset, the resort employees. it was designed to help employees gain hands-on knowledge in the workplace (wormley, 2019). on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean of 2.48 reveals that the beach resorts in the research environment had only a moderate contribution towards the people’s social development in the area of the community, receiving a donation of food, old equipment, and other supplies coming from the beach resort. it means that management had a considerable degree of generosity in sharing their unused items and excess food with the local community. table 3 presents the results of the stakeholders’ perceptions of the contribution of beach resorts to environmental protection. table 3. stakeholders’ perception on the contribution of the operation of beach resorts as to environmental protection (n=60) indicators weightedmean description 1. resort staff maintains the cleanliness of their surroundings as part of their daily task. 3.60 high contribution 2. it increases public appreciation of the environment and spread awareness of environmental problems when it brings people closer to nature and the environment. 3.23 moderate contribution 3. it encourages beach resort operators to plant more trees and small plants to add more attractions to their establishment. 3.15 moderate contribution 141 international peer reviewed journal indicators weightedmean description 4. the beach resort management ensures that it undertake measures towards sustainable management of natural resources. 3.23 moderate contribution 5. the beach resort management heightens awareness of nature’s value and leads to environmentally conscious behavior and activities to preserve the environment. 3.32 high contribution 6. beach resort operators are working together to contribute to environmental protection, conservation, and natural resources restoration. 3.25 high contribution 7. beach resorts conducted regular coastal clean-up near their area and also encouraged the community to participate. 3.23 moderate contribution 8. beach resorts applied reuse, recycle, and reduce as part of their standard operating procedure. 3.47 high contribution 9. beach resorts provide products and services that are environmentally friendly. 3.33 high contribution 10. the beach resorts undertake mangrove planting activities to preserve the breeding ground for fish and other marine resources. 2.53 moderate contribution aggregate mean 3.23 moderatecontribution legend: high contribution3.26-4.0; moderate contribution -2.51-3.25; less contribution -1.76-2.50; no contribution -1.00-1.75 the aggregate mean of 3.23 reveals a moderate contribution of the beach resorts’ operations in anda, bohol, as to environmental protection in general. this result indicates that certain aspects of the beach resort’s operation cannot do away with wastes that harm the natural environment and destroy the sea creatures’ natural habitat since there is always a price for any economic development in a rural place. however, the data also speaks that the management of the hospitality business entities implemented measures to mitigate the harmful effects of their operations on the environment and mitigate the destruction of the mangroves, corals, white sand beaches, and water quality they compromise their future sustainability. given the diversity of life inhabiting mangrove systems and their proximity, in many cases, to other tourist attractions such as coral reefs and sandy beaches, it 142 jpair multidisciplinary research is perhaps surprising that only a few countries have started to tap into the tourism potential of their mangrove forests (salm et al., 2000). the highest weighted mean of 3.60 provides that the operation of the numerous beach resorts in the town of anda, bohol had a high contribution towards environmental protection in the context that the resort staff maintains the cleanliness of their surroundings as part of their daily tasks. the beach resort operators, especially the housekeeping managers, strictly instructed the grounds keeping workers to clean the surroundings as part of their daily routine job. resort personnel must perform all the duties of cleaning, maintaining orderliness, and running a house or a business property. the housekeeping duties involve maintaining the best possible state in terms of cleanliness and keeping a highly desirable ambiance (king, 2016). moreover, whether a hotel is situated in a busy city center or a remote and pristine beach resort, there are several environmental and social issues to contend with, not least how to deal with the waste created by daily operations (baker, 2016). when eco-minded travelers search for a hotel or resort, they want to make sure they can easily dine in a healthy and sustainable environment. as more consumers are choosing to engage in eco-conscious lifestyles at home, it is unsurprising that their tastes in hotels and travel destinations are noticeably greener, too (petronzio, 2013). conversely, the weighted mean of 2.53 signifies that the beach resorts in the research locale had a moderate contribution to environmental protection by undertaking mangrove planting activities to preserve the breeding ground for fish and other marines. in many instances, the beach resorts organized tree planting activities to preserve and protect the natural habitat and breeding ground of the fishes and many sea creatures, considering this the source of the seafood supply for the resort and the town’s entire community. presentation on the challenges encountered by the stakeholders in the operations of the beach resorts in anda, bohol this section displays the participants’ responses concerning the challenges they encountered in the beach resorts’ operations. 143 international peer reviewed journal challenges encountered by the various stakeholders in the operations of the beach resorts in terms of economic growth the informants’ first question was about their challenges in ensuring that the beach resorts’ operations contributed to local economic growth. 1. poor service quality decreases guests’ loyalty. return or repeat guests are the lifeblood of the hospitality industry. resort operators must have to know that guests must be heard, especially if they have negative experiences. the minimal quality service of the resorts that affects the guest return to the establishments was the concern of informant 1, who said that: also, the concern of informant 2 was on the resorts’ inconsistency of good ratings in social media reviews and further added that: informants 3 shared that providing poor quality products and services to the guests will affect their decision to visit the municipality of anda again. it was uttered: the lack of resort facilities affects overall tourist satisfaction and adversely affects guests’ satisfaction and guests’ loyalty. informants 9 said that: guest experience management is one of the most heavily infested areas in the hospitality industry. thus, 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain. however, 91% of those will leave and never come back. a dissatisfied guest will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. around 13% of dissatisfied guests tell more than 20 people. moreover, hotel reputation management is heavily invested in these days, and no hotel would knowingly wish to ruin their reputation. being proactive 144 jpair multidisciplinary research in guest feedback management is mandatory to know what they thought about their experience while staying (bhat, 2018). no transparency in the financial report. the requirement for accountability and transparency is most pronounced concerning financial management. honesty in the financial records was the concern of informant 1, who said that: in addition, the concern of informant 6 was on the implications of the records to the tax obligations of the establishments and further added that: the resorts demonstrated accountability in producing an accurate and verifiable record of their revenues and expenses. such a record would show how much was received, how much was spent, and how much they earned. to demonstrate accountability and transparency, the resort will need to establish an adequate system for recording and reporting on financial transactions so that there will be no bias as they contribute to the local funds. the reasons for inaccurate financial reporting are varied. a small but dangerous minority of companies actively intend to defraud investors and the government. other companies may release information that is misleading but technically conforms to legal standards (mcclure, 2019). 3. local guests outnumbered foreign visitors. the majority of the tourists or guests in anda are locals who have a lesser propensity to spend more on goods and services in the locality. informants 4 shared that the trend of the influx of more domestic guests in anda, bohol, will slow down the economic growth since they have the lesser financial capability. it was uttered: informant 7 collaborated on the experience of informant 4 and shared that: 145 international peer reviewed journal several visitors only spend a lesser amount of money on the resorts’ products and services than foreign visitors. the latter are willing to spend a lot of money on good accommodation, entertainment, relaxation, and the likes. international visitors play a big role in the economic growth of a certain place since the income generation is slow. according to libosada (2018), back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, domestic tourism was virtually unheard of in most parts of the philippines. the only compelling reason to leave one’s community to go too far-away places was to visit friends and relatives. marketing disadvantage due to inaccessible location. among the province’s emerging hot spots is anda, situated on the island’s eastern coast, roughly 110 kilometers or a three-hour ride from tagbilaran city. however, it is the lesserknown beach area in bohol, overshadowed by alona beach in panglao. several tourists from tagbilaran city who planned to visit anda were declining because of its inaccessible location. this economic dilemma was shared by informant 8 and said that: for domestic and international tourists who will visit bohol province to enjoy white sand beaches, panglao island was the main choice. anda is always an alternative or the second option. thus, some tourists visit this place to escape from the congestion in panglao and want a quiet place even during peak season because of its inaccessible location. the second question asked to the informants was about their challenges in ensuring that the beach resorts operations contributed to providing the people with a steady livelihood source. unstable employment. several resort employees in anda, bohol, were scheduled to work for fewer hours, days, or weeks even if they wanted to work for more to earn more. this variability of work hours contributes to income instability and, thus, adversely affects resorts’ income and general local economic performance. informant 1 said that: 146 jpair multidisciplinary research the global crisis brought by the coronavirus outbreak affected the operation of hospitality establishments like resorts. in effect, this establishment had to lessen its workforce due to losses. informant 2 uttered that: sa mga situation nga wa nato gi-expect pariha aning coronavirus outbreak, ang atong gobyerno nag impose ug enhanced community quarantine, maong mapugos ang mga tag-iya sa resort nga gamay ray pa dutyhon ky wala namay mo check-in, so mawad-an sad ug trabaho ang ubang trabahanti sa resort. (during unpredicted situations or crises like the coronavirus outbreak, the government imposes enhanced community quarantine that forced the resort owners to lessen their workforce because tourists’ arrival rapidly went down, resulting in frequent resort employees losing their jobs). to survive in times when there are fewer resort guests, other workers are advised not to work. so informant 3 said that: moreover, the expatriates who worked in the local resorts were forced to temporarily stop working and go home to their country of origin. informant 7 uttered that: the workers on technical works to maintain the resort were also not spared from the work stoppage in crisis times. thus, in formant 8 spoke: another sad story is the loss of a job when there is a change in the resort’s management. informant 9 said that: 147 international peer reviewed journal the incidence of visible underemployment is very apparent in the hospitality industry’s resort sector, especially during the offseason. the workers’ work schedules can often be irregular or unpredictable because of certain reasons like fluctuation of guests’ arrivals, establishments that were close d temporarily, the takeover of new management, and unpredicted economic and health crises. unstable employment is characterized by atypical employment contracts, limited or no social benefits and statutory entitlements, a high degree of job insecurity, low job tenure, low wages, and high risks of occupational injury and diseases (edralin, 2013). 2. failure to comply the legal obligations. owning and operating a successful resort requires compliance with a myriad of employment laws, particularly those relating to the provision of overtime pay and adherence to the minimum wage law. undeniably, there are business establishments that fail to pay their employees the minimum wage, and this was divulged by informant 5, who said that: further, the cases of failure to follow other government employment rules are prevailing in the hospitality industry. thus, informant 6 also uttered that: based on the narratives of the research participants who have full knowledge of the tenets of employment in the resort sector, employers did not follow the minimum wage payment as ordered by the labor code and the minimum wage law. failure to comply can be expensive. to skip the legal obligation of paying the minimum wage required by the law, beach resort operators practice the so-called on-call time. it is becoming more widespread as more employers agree to pay employees who also agreed to be available outside the regular working hours if needed and respond by phone or computer within a certain period after being contacted (laponsie, 2019). 3. fishing ban. the local government units (lgus) imposed that no “floating objects” would be allowed within 15 kilometers from the municipality of anda, bohol’s shoreline, including the fishing boats. the fishing ban in the marine protected area (mpa), like the breeding grounds, has also affected the fishermen’s economic life. this was the response of informant 4, who shared that: 148 jpair multidisciplinary research this policy prohibits the fishing boat from entering the mpas and the fishes’ natural breeding areas; some local fishermen have to go far in the middle of the sea to catch fish. however, this local ordinance of the municipality of anda is just in compliance with the national fishing legislation where they could fish without limit anywhere in anda’s waters but not within 500 meters from the shoreline. privatization of a public resource leads to an enhanced conservation ethic and suggests a need for more holistic approaches to managing fisheries as complex socio-ecological systems. potential community-oriented alternatives such as fishery conservation solutions do not come at the expense of fishing communities, rural livelihoods, and future generations (donkersloot & carothers, 2017). figure 1. challenges encountered in the operations of beach resorts as to economic growth figure 1 shows the thematic categories of the various stakeholders’ challenges in the beach resorts’ operations in anda, bohol, in terms of economic growth. these common themes were uncovered during the one-on-one interviews of the study’s key informants based on the thematic analysis. 149 international peer reviewed journal challenges encountered by the various stakeholders in the operations of the beach resorts in terms of social development the first question asked to the informants relates to the challenges encountered in ensuring that local moral values are still preserved by tourists from different cultures. 1. negative intercultural adaptation. when someone travels, they consume places and affect local culture and traditions. that can happen with more or lesser interaction with the local population. too many social activities altered the local habits. this was the observation of informant 1, who said that: the danger with too much interaction with foreign people is the tendency to imitate their ways. informant sadly shared that: another undesirable social effect of dealing with foreigners is following their bad practices in the community. informant 5 was also worried about this and said that: informant 7 also had the same worry as informant 5 and said that: too much hospitality to the foreign guest had a bad effect on the local community, according to informant 8, who divulged and said that: 150 jpair multidisciplinary research there is also an alteration of the local food, which is part of the local culture, through a foreign menu preference. informant 9 observed this and shared that: ang mga local nga mga restaurants sa anda nagsugod na sila’g dawat ug mga pagkaon nga ganahan sa mga turista nga dili nato putahi. imbis nga ang mga turista maoy mag-adjust, ag mga local restaurants na nooy nag-adjust ug unsay gusto nilang kan-on (ikasiyam nga impormante). (local restaurants in anda start to cater more to foreign tourists’ food preferences instead of local cuisine). the influx of temporary visitors with other goals and means than the local people affects the local community and its inhabitants’ quality of life and culture for the short and longer-term. in reality, tourism has grown exponentially. many different positive and negative impacts have been noted. local populations’ reactions to increased tourism occur in different ways. they have different strategies to adapt their day-to-day life around tourists. some embrace development wholeheartedly. these are often locals with a connection to the tourism industry (hunt, 2017). culture and heritage disturbance. when heading out to a sightseeing destination, tourists should remember that they are guests, and they are very fortunate to visit places of religious or cultural importance. based on observation, some tourists exhibited undesirable behavior in public and created public scandal already. informants said: since developing nations like the philippines are dependent on tourism for economic growth, the local culture’s apparent disturbance is neglected. this informant 3 blatantly said that: the majority of the historic place in bohol are of religious significance, like churches. however, these places are disrespected by foreign tourists, and informants 6 was sad in saying that: 151 international peer reviewed journal based on many occasions, tourists have already affected the local culture of the boholanos, especially those places with cultural and spiritual vitality. there are tendencies that they are upset if, during their tour, a certain historic building or house of worship is closed for a private event since locals get to enjoy and use these spaces before they do as tourists. many sacred places may have strict dress code requirements. it is important to respect these, and they are not meant to suppress tourists, even if they disagree with their reasoning. if the tourist is female, she keeps a lightweight scarf in their handbag to be prepared if they need to cover her head or shoulders (méndez, 2018). the second question asked to the informants was about the challenges they encountered in ensuring that the beach resort’s operation in anda, bohol, contributes to the residents/people’s social development. inequalities of resources. projections based on current and previous developments regarding inequalities show that a trend reversal is essential to accomplish. the said reality with too much tourism development is that the local people will be restricted from enjoying other natural environments through privatization and restrictions. this was the idea of informant 5, who said: some tourism activities affected the fishermen’s livelihood through restrictions on the sea areas that they are allowed to fish. informant 7 shared this by saying: the bad effect of wider operations of beach resorts is the depletion of the water supply. informant 8 experienced this and sadly shared that: 152 jpair multidisciplinary research there was already inflation in the local commodities due to the competition with the foreign buyers who have more buying capacity, and informant 9 divulged this: the established and popular assumption that tourism growth automatically leads to development and diminishes inequalities is not realistic. sustainable tourism is not a goal in itself. modest socio-economic or ecological adjustments in production as part of sustainable tourism will not bring the necessary change in the economy and society. to reduce inequalities within countries, it should focus on social, economic, and political inclusion and reduce inequalities by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices. the reality of tourism is far away from this (wongruang, 2017). lack of community involvement. even though community participation is one factor of tourism development, it regularly faces barriers to tourism development. tourism can generate improved opportunities for realizing community participation, but many obstacles are still used to use tourism development for community progress successfully. the resort owners in the research local did not care about the community around them. this was the observation of informant 1, who said that: moreover, corporate social responsibility was not also in their business activities. informant 3 uttered that: the same with informant 3, informant 6 did not observe the resort owners in anda conducting any csr initiative. it was narrated that: 153 international peer reviewed journal barriers to community participation in tourism development are apparent in the local tourism industry in anda, bohol. in underdeveloped countries, a lack of community participation is a pervasive obstruction to tourism development since there are operational, structural, and cultural barriers to tourism development aside from the absence of enforcing laws that require the resorts of makes use of the natural environment to undertake community-oriented activities to contribute towards the upliftment of the lives of the local community who primarily owns the local resources. there is evidence that existing service forms do not succeed in improving outcomes and are not fully utilized, especially by families with multiple and complex needs. to improve outcomes in the communities, it is better to adopt a person-focused approach than a place-focused approach and seek to help individuals achieve better personal outcomes (vinson, 2016). low public health protection. massive tourism activities have already affected local health and safety. the excessive tourism activities had already had a tool on the health of the residents. informant 2 experienced this and uttered that: one of the worse effects of too much-uncontrolled tourism activity is the increase in the garbage that damages the natural biodiversity. informant 2 shared that: based on the informants’ experience, there are many instances that too many activities in the tourism sector had brought a disadvantageous effect on the lives of the people and even on their health and welfare. these activities have led to increased concern regarding the health dimensions of tourism stakeholders, especially the local community. tourism, the world’s largest industry, is expected to grow to 1.6 billion arrivals by 2020. public health officials are only beginning to understand the challenges of such growth. there is a unique and growing public health crisis 154 jpair multidisciplinary research associated with global tourism, the threat to the tourists and the host societies, and the tourists’ home nations (richter, 2003). this section shows the common themes that were created out of the articulations of the chosen research participants who were stakeholders of the beach resorts in anda, bohol, about the challenges experienced in the operation of beach resorts’ social development. figure 2. challenges encountered in the operations of beach resorts as to social development figure 2 shows the thematic categories of the various stakeholders’ challenges in the beach resorts’ operations in anda, bohol, in terms of social development. these common themes were uncovered during the one-on-one interviews of the study’s key informants based on the thematic analysis. challenges encountered by the various stakeholders in the operations of the beach resorts in terms of environmental protection the informants’ first question was about their challenges in ensuring that the beach resort’s operation is environmental-friendly. weak environmental monitoring and enforcement. environmental monitoring is essential as a tool to assess environmental conditions and trends, support policy development and implementation, and develop information for reporting to national policymakers, international forums, and the public. there is a lack of will on the stakeholders’ part to require the resort management to use less environmentally-harmful materials. informant 1 shared that: 155 international peer reviewed journal some resorts did not comply with the solid waste management act, yet they were not penalized. informant 2 angrily shared this by saying: also, there are many instances that the resort owner violates the law on “no build zone.” informant 3 divulges this by saying that: informant 4 suggested that there should be strict monitoring of the compliance of the resorts with the environmental laws and explained that: informant 6 said a certain degree of difficulty monitoring the beach resorts’ compliance with proper waste management. it was uttered: informant 7 was disgusted in sharing one disappointment on the lack of deliberate right to correct the locality’s resorts’ wrong practices. it was shared that: 156 jpair multidisciplinary research the participants’ narrations divulged the various forms of non-compliance of the resorts to the various environmental laws. yet, they were no action on the part of the local government unit (lgu) of anda, bohol, to impose penalties, and they were just allowed to continue their unfair practices for a long time. rejecting environmental policy. the front liners in the full implementation of the various laws about the proper management of wastes are the local government units (lgus). the local government code authorizes each local government unit to establish its system concerning collecting, segregation, processing, treatment, and waste disposal. the resorts’ common problems are the visible violation of the laws prohibiting building structures along the shoreline since such resources are common and excludable. informant 5 opines that: informant 8 uttered that there had been a call to follow the “no build zone” policy. however, there was the management of the resort remained unresponsive. it discoursed that: in addition to other violations of the study area’s resorts is the non-compliance of proper waste management. hence, informant 9 explained that: there are seemingly various forms of violations committed by the management of the beach resorts in the municipality of anda, like building 157 international peer reviewed journal structures along the 20 meters from the shoreline and other water bodies and violations of the ecological solid wastes act. these violations are obvious, yet the lgus find it hard to penalize them or strictly impose them. policymakers have realized that the tourism industry’s development needs to be consistent and to the environment’s requirements. but it should not be forgotten that ancillary services such as transportation and exploitation of natural resources in tourism indirectly lead to pollution of the environment (asadzadeh & mousavi, 2017). the second question asked to the informants was about their challenges in the adherence to the environmental laws that affect beach resorts’ operations. additional burden. the burden of environmental regulation on small businesses like the resorts in rural areas can make it more difficult for small firms to compete in the broader market. environmental laws raise production costs and may require expensive and capital-intensive design changes to meet compliance standards. these costs can discourage small business entities like micro-size resorts. based on the experience of informant 8, the implementation requires the management of the resort to add a workforce that complies with the laws, which has some financial implications. it was said that: according to informant 5, their additional burden was on sourcing supplies for green products. it was shared that: some resorts complained of more time being spent segregating the waste. this was the burden of the adherence to environmental laws that were experienced informant 5 and discoursed that: the same with other informants, informant 9 finds compliance with environmental legislation as an additional financial burden. it was shared that: 158 jpair multidisciplinary research the participants’ experiences center on the additional financial layout required to comply with the various environmental laws that the resort management needed to follow. however, the burden still depends on how the management will respond to the laws and how they created the system in making their processes efficient and economically-viable so that the additional expenses associated with the adherence can be avoided. minimizes financial growth opportunities. when facing the choice between economic development and environmental protection, the former gets preference due to the ‘common view’ that firms have already made an optimum choice in real economic activity. the implementation of environmental regulations will increase the cost of production, impeding competitiveness and economic development. environmental laws limit some tourism activities. according to informant 4: informant 6 said compliance to environmental laws became a constraint to the beautification of their premises and discoursed that: further, the implementation of environmental protection legislation also limited the income capability of the resorts, and said that informant 7: looking at the resort stakeholders’ side, their views on implementing the various environmental laws are more of a burden than of benefit to the general public and the environment life. their common complaint is that the legislation limited their tourism activities and built a border in their income generation activities. 159 international peer reviewed journal environmental regulations raise production costs at regulated firms, though in most cases, the costs are only a small fraction of a firm’s total costs. productivity tends to fall, and firms may shift new investment and production to locations with less stringent regulations (gray, 2015). excessive fees discourage tourists to return. the philippines is one of the reasons why tourism stands in this country. there are many more, but all these separate taxes and fees offend and disturb many tourists and locals. it has become a norm for the locals, but this might be hard to comprehend for tourists. indeed, too much collection of fees leads foreign visitors to feel that they are exploited. informant 1 said that: unreasonable collection of environmental fees damages the image of the locality in the eyes of the visitors. this was the negative experience of informant 3, who divulged and opined that: undeniably the national government and the local government units (lgus) in the philippines imposed various fees on foreigners, both domestic and foreign, like the environmental fee. there might be nothing wrong with this, but throughout the time being that this type of fee had been imposed, it was not clear where the proceeds of its collection would be spent. the philippines has many tourism taxes and many reasons to charge such fees with many consequences. there are also many arguments disposing of both favorable and unfavorable positions concerning its implementation (sefeld, 2017). 160 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. challenges encountered in the operations of beach resorts as to environmental protection figure 3 shows the thematic categories of the challenges encountered by the various stakeholders in the beach resorts’ operations in anda, bohol, regarding environmental protection. these common themes were uncovered during the one-on-one interviews of the study based on the thematic analysis. conclusion the beach resorts in the rural location adhered to the solid waste management act’s provisions since there are standard operating procedures that they need to perform to ensure customer satisfaction. several beach resorts’ operations had provided the residents with jobs and different sources of income paired with significant social benefits. moreover, with the government’s ongoing thrust to reduce poverty in the rural economy, beach resorts’ existence undeniably had contributed to local employment, generation of municipal revenues, and led to community entrepreneurship. thereby, their social development in the locales uplifts their living standards and stimulates a feeling of pride in local and national heritage and interest in its conservation. 161 international peer reviewed journal translational research the primary recipient of the environmental-friendly model will be beach resorts in anda, bohol, which they will adopt to ensure that their operations will hamper the town’s environmental health but maximize its potential in providing a sustainable livelihood to the local community who have very vulnerable to poverty. further, they can also formulate responsive courses of action needed to improve their practices in maintaining the good condition of their environment to ensure their future sustainability. literature cited baker, c. 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(2019). steps to building an effective training program. when i work. retrieved on july 11, 2019 from https://bit.ly/2xncvk5 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0047287503041004002 https://bit.ly/2k934hl https://bit.ly/2xncvk5 121 international peer reviewed journal personality traits, beliefs, race or ethnicity, language, and religion as contributors to job discrimination towards meranaw job applicants raimah s. maunting http://orcid.org0000-0001-7629-498x raimahmaunting@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city, philippines sonayah d. guimba http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5677-4425 sonayahguimba@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city, philippines originality: 95% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 5% abstract in a highly competitive environment where job-seekers are vying against a pool of equally competent job applicants, the challenge to provide equal employment opportunity against ethnic and racial biases still overshadows the employers’ principle of “merit and fitness.” this study focused on the mechanisms of culture such as personality traits, beliefs, race or ethnicity, language, and religion that link to job discrimination among meranaw job applicants and its implication to personnel management. it attempted to find out the correlation between the profile of the said minorities and the mechanisms of culture that link vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.608 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org http://orcid.org mailto:sonayahguimba@gmail.com 122 jpair multidisciplinary research to job discrimination among them. in this study, the descriptive correlational design was utilized, and a survey was conducted to eighty-seven (87) respondents through the distribution of a researcher-structured questionnaire. by the data gathered, the findings revealed that respondents agreed that mechanisms of culture such as personality traits, beliefs, race or ethnicity, language, and religion contribute to job discrimination among meranaw job applicants while profile has no significant relationship with most of the mechanisms identified. the study concludes that job discrimination based on culture towards meranaws does exist, and the devices above of culture have a significant impact on the chance of meranaw job applicants to be afforded with equal job opportunities in any workplace hierarchy. keywords – social science, human resource management, job discrimination, meranaw, descriptive correlational design, marawi city, philippines introduction as anyone who has ever worked in any organization is well aware, every workplace has its own “corporate culture.” formally defined, this term refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions. often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires (investopedia, 2018). the global setting shown in research conducted by bendick and ehgan (2000) reveals how employers differ widely in their corporate cultures’ openness to nontraditional workers. conscious or unconscious discrimination against women or people of color is part of the culture of more than twenty percent of all u.s. workplaces and is deeply entrenched in between seven and twelve percent. both confrontational and cooperative approaches continue to be required to reduce this vital constraint on employment opportunities. another seemingly rampant case is referred to as race-based discrimination, which, according to trenerry (2012), is defined as discrimination based on race, ethnicity, culture or religion; the behaviors and practices that result in which, along with beliefs and prejudices that underlie them, are sometimes collectively referred to as racism. race-based discrimination can reduce organizational productivity, commitment, trust, satisfaction, and workplace morale as well as increase cynicism, absenteeism, and staff turnover. 123 international peer reviewed journal few issues in today’s society are as explosive as the existence of discrimination, bigotry, bias, and prejudices in various domains of the community. these domains are as informal as streets and other public places or as formal as schools and workplaces. the latter seems to have a much more profound impact on people subject to these unfair treatments because, in the case of employment, their livelihood, family needs, and future are severely affected. hence, any act of discrimination should not be tolerated, considering its effects, both short-term and long-term, on the individuals who suffer this maltreatment. according to bendick and ehgan (2000), it is illegal for employers to discriminate based on an individual’s religious beliefs, customs, values, race, gender, age, and traditions. businesses are required to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs, as long as doing so does not have extremely negative consequences. to respond to the need for the policy that deals with job discrimination, countries establish laws that protect potential employees and those who are employed. the u.s. has the civil rights act created in 1994. the philippines also has the philippine labor code, which provides equal protection to all employees and aspirants. ideally, job applicants have to be afforded with equal protection in labor and employment by promoting and ensuring equal opportunities regardless of culture or religion and regulating relations between applicants and employers by the department of labor and employment and the equal employment opportunity commission. in east asia’s complex ethnic mix of peoples, the need to avoid racial discrimination which may undermine social stability is understood clearly by governments and businesses. but while experts agree that progress is being made in tackling this potentially corrosive personnel problem, there is still a long way to go (heng, kastner & rodrigo, 2017). history and common knowledge prove that the meranaws one of the minor ethnicities prone to discrimination in the philippines. by essence, the meranaws are an integral segment of the filipino nation and must supposedly be viewed in the context of their role in our nation. the prevailing impression is that the meranaw is a cultural minority and only a second-class filipino. their universal ratification is premised on their religious identity and ethnic posture. however, the meranaws are seemingly incepting towards this limiting stature. they think highly of themselves. they believe they belong to the high stratum of philippine society. they are social and amiable, sympathetic and hospitable, and like others, endowed with abilities and intelligence. as usually and culturally described, they do not readily come to terms when offended. if given responsibilities, however, and complimented accordingly, they are likely to prove their loyalty 124 jpair multidisciplinary research and cooperation. the belief of the meranaw applicants that they do not have the chance to be hired especially in multinational corporations still exists as an undying issue. in this study, the researchers explored to find out what constructs of cultural identity contribute towards discrimination among meranaw applicants in any workplace in the philippine setting. further, their demographic profile and the said constructs were also correlated to ascertain whether a significant relationship exists between them. from these objects, the researchers wish to discuss the problems associated with job discrimination due to the cultural and religious identity of meranaw applications and the benefits of utilizing diversity management in trying to counter the inherent patterns of discrimination that exist in any workplace hierarchy. framework this study builds upon the concept of organizational culture. organizational culture is a broad term that identifies differences between organizations in practices, beliefs, values, and symbols. corporate culture consists of the unwritten rules of the game that corporate members rely on to get things done, make decisions, etc.  culture should not be equated with the formal structure or demographic composition of the organization, although the two may co-vary. organizational culture is also distinct from the broader set of institutional forces—norms, logic, etc.—that shape all organizations in a field.  organizational culture is often imagined as consisting of distinguishing features of organizations. king (2011) argues that this is not a necessary feature of organizational culture but identifying the distinguishing features of a culture may be needed from an empirical perspective if one aims to demonstrate a causal link between culture and job discrimination. this study best contends with the possible mechanisms that link culture to job discrimination, and these are the following. personality traits. the totality of attitudes and values of an individual along with many other emotional, physical, and mental traits and characteristics constitute the personality. although attitudes and values are internal, they may be viewed by others through the behavior of the person. as the person is observed over a period, his or her reactions to people, objects, and situations can make inferences about the person’s attitudes and values (atchison and hill, 1978). not everyone thinks feels, looks, or acts alike. some people rub others the wrong way, and this cannot necessarily be explained. although personality 125 international peer reviewed journal differences can cause conflict, they are also a precious resource for creative problem solving. employees need to accept, respect and learn how to use these differences when they arise (newstrom, 2011). beliefs. the candidate whose beliefs, outlook, and behavior are congruent with those existing within the current organization is likely to be an excellent cultural fit for the organization. an employee who is good cultural fit works well in the existing workplace environment. this may also include social values which are viewed as ideas about appropriate social and sexual behavior. work ethics, wealth, and personal growth vary between cultures. race or ethnicity. the media plays a significant role in creating or maintaining stereotypes about people based on the color of their skin that lead to job discrimination in the real world. under race, it includes cultural differences in the workplace like dress wherein some cultures have specific clothing such as headscarves or turbans that are worn at all times. employees are entitled to wear your religious attire at work unless it creates a safety hazard. if an employee’s religious dress covers the face, he or she can be asked to show the face for reasonable identification purposes. second is customs in which some cultures can or cannot have specific foods and drinks or may have rules about how food is prepared. the third is a family obligation wherein some cultures have high family priorities which may sometimes conflict with work. this occurs when there is too much desire to provide the better lifestyle to families thus offer them positions at work that may lead to nepotism bat work. last is non-verbal behavior which includes eye contact, facial expressions, and hand gestures. how people interpret them varies between cultures (equal employment opportunity commission, 2010). language. individuals who speak minority languages have difficulty gaining employment in workplaces where english is the official and standard of practice. the words of all the muslim groups are closely related to the words of the central philippines, which belong to the austronesian (melayo-polynesian) family of languages (encyclopedia britannica, 2018). employers cannot discriminate against employees based on language or accent unless these requirements can be established to be genuine and made in good faith. if proficiency in a particular word is a requirement for a position, the employer would need to be able to show that the demand is linked to the essential duties of the job, is imposed in good faith and considers the responsibility to accommodate to the point of undue hardship (ontario human rights commission, 2008). 126 jpair multidisciplinary research religion. religious harassment occurs when employees are coerced or required to participate (or not participate) in religious practices as a condition of employment. harassment occurs when the employer pressures the employee to conform to another’s beliefs or to give up his/her religious idea or practice. religious harassment can also occur when employees are subjected to a hostile or offensive work environment as a result of their religion. under title vii, employers are legally obligated to provide a work environment that is free of discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult. to make a hostile work environment claim, an employee must show that he/she was subjected to the harassment because of religion, that the harassment was unwelcome and sufficiently severe or pervasive in that it altered the conditions of the employee’s employment and work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment (ghumman, ryan, barclay, & markel, 2013). some workplaces have cultures in which discriminatory attitudes or behavior would be so jarringly discordant with the prevailing atmosphere that, when they are expressed, they are rapidly suppressed by adverse social reactions or lack of ratification. other workplaces have cultures in which discriminatory attitudes and behavior are not only tolerated but implicitly or explicitly condoned. there, racism and sexism may be visible and virulent, and even criminal harassment may go unchecked. objectives this paper sought to identify the mechanisms or constructs of culture that contribute to job discrimination towards meranaw job applicants. specifically, this study found to achieve the following objectives, (1) describe the meranaw job applicants in terms of their demographic profile such as age, gender, highest educational attainment, civil status, employment status, and monthly income, (2) determine the perceptions of selected meranaw job applicants on the constructs or mechanisms of cultural identity that contribute to job discrimination, namely, personality traits, beliefs, religion, race or ethnicity, and language, and (3) ascertain whether a significant relationship between the demographic profile of the respondents and the constructs of cultural identity exists. 127 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design this study employed the descriptive method of research which is defined as fact-finding with the adequate and accurate interpretation of data. it is also referred to as normative survey method. it is derived from a survey which indicates the gathering of data regarding current conditions. on the other hand, the word “normative” is a theoretical, prescriptive approach to sociological studies that have the aim of appraising or establishing the values and norms that best fit the overall needs and expectations of society (oxford reference, 2018). moreover, the correlation design was adopted to investigate the relationship between variables in this study. hence, the design of this study is descriptivecorrelation in nature. the researcher asked for the consent of the respondents before conducting the survey that the data gathered will be used for research purposes only. before the investigation, the researcher asked for approval and appropriate permissions to research the participants. the researcher also advised the respondents that information and identity shall be kept confidential and the forms shall be appropriately disposed of after consolidation. research site the research was conducted in marawi city, the capital city of the province of lanao del sur, the island of mindanao, philippines. the people of marawi are called the meranaws and speak the meranaw language. they are named after lake lanao, which is called meranaw in the language, after that its shores marawi city lie. the city is also called the summer capital of the south because of its higher elevation and colder climate. participants the participants of this research were selected eighty-seven (87) meranawjob seekers and employees specifically employed either government employee or private employee and unemployed either a graduate of a private institution or public institution who were able to attempt to apply for any job vacancy especially in the non-muslim owned companies or organizations. the selection was randomly made, and their willingness to participate in the study was also taken into consideration. the research adopted purposive sampling. though it may be small to represent the whole of the meranaws who have experienced job discrimination, we have made use of the mindanao state unversity’s (msu) data http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/philippine_city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/philippine_province http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lanao_del_sur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maranao_people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maranao_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lake_lanao http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lake_lanao 128 jpair multidisciplinary research which says that many meranaw graduates in msu were not able to land a job especially those who have been a candidate in multinational companies. instrumentation the data collection was carried out through survey questionnaires composed of two parts. the survey questionnaires are personally made by the researcher based on the items relevant to the identified mechanisms of culture that link to job discrimination. the first part comprised items that collected the demographic profile of the respondents regarding age, gender, highest educational attainment, employment status, civil status, employment status, and monthly income. the respondent puts a check on the category where they belong. the second part constituted indicators or statements for each construct or mechanism of culture, namely, personality traits, beliefs, religion, race or ethnicity, and language. the respondents rated the indicators using a four-point likert scale ranging from strongly agree to disagree strongly. the data obtained were classified, tabulated, and converted using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. the descriptive-correlational design was employed in this study. the gathered data were treated using frequency and percentage, weighted mean, and chisquare test of independence. results and discussion respondents’ demographic profile this study examined the constructs or mechanisms of culture, mainly focusing on whether they contribute to job discrimination among meranaw job applicants. specifically, the researchers aimed at describing the respondents regarding their demographic profile, soliciting their perceptions on the constructs, and the relationship between the two variables. regarding the demographic profile, the following findings were gathered. first, as to age, the most significant portion of the respondents (41.4%) were25 to 29 years old, which reveal that they are still young and are still capable of rendering long service. rendering service needs patience, dedication, and maturity. employees of the age brackets under 25-29 can be reasonably credited with these qualities or traits, and the firmness, confidence, and air of authority and chances or opportunities that come with years and maturity. regarding gender, data revealed that the majority or 69% of the respondents are female. it has been an accepted fact that the population of the female is higher 129 international peer reviewed journal than that of the male. however, according to sears and mallory (2014), sexual orientation and gender identity have no relationship to workplace performance. this suggests that gender is an irrelevant variable when speaking of work efficiency and effectiveness. unfortunately, issues still circle companies and organizations about how applicants are evaluated during the recruitment process, and the problem emanates from the gender-bias of hiring managers. regarding highest educational attainment, data revealed that fifty-six (56) or 64.4% of the respondents are college graduates; twenty-one (21) or 24.1% are master’s degree holders, and ten (10) or 11.5% of the respondents are doctorate holders. the findings prove that meranaw job applicants are degree holders, both undergraduate and graduate levels. thus, they are qualified to fill in vacant positions in companies or institutions and must be afforded with job opportunities. furthermore, findings revealed that forty-four (44) or 50.6% of the respondents are single; thirty-nine (39) or 44.8% are married; two (2) or 2.3% are separated, and two (2) or 2.3% are widowed. the findings suggest that the respondents need jobs to sustain their basic needs, especially those of their families. this implies that most organizations prefer only candidates for a job vacancy intended for hiring. as to the employment status of the respondents, data revealed that seventynine (79) or 90.8% of the respondents are employed, and eight (8) or 9.2% of the respondents are unemployed. this may mean that the majority of the respondents can relate to the central issue of the study and to share their experiences in job applications and previous employment. according to sollow (2017) of deloitte, the employee experience is increasing in importance. this implies that there are cases that applicants are discriminated because of less exposure to workplace besides their field of specialization. finally, the monthly income of the respondents was also identified. as revealed, twenty-nine (29) or 33.3% of the respondents earn a monthly income range of 5,001 to 10,000; eighteen (18) or 20.7% earn 15,001 to 20,000; while seventeen (17) or 19.5% earn between 5,000 and below monthly. moreover, fifteen (15) or 17.2% of the respondents earn a monthly income range of 10,001 to 15,000 and eight (8), or 9.2% earn 20,001 and above. according to wage order no. armm-15, minimum wage should be php 250.00 per day (dole, 2014). this suggests that meranaw employees are not competitively compensated. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research mechanisms of culture in addition to the description of the respondents’ demographic profile, the study solicited the respondents’ perception on whether the mechanisms of culture contribute to the job discrimination they experienced, which include personality traits, beliefs, religion, race or ethnicity, and language. based on the data gathered for personality traits, the respondents agreed that the seemingly hostile personality of some meranaws contribute to job discrimination as well as their conservativeness, their pride or ego, and being social and amiable. culturally, these qualities are inherent among meranaws, thus a unique part of their personality traits. however, these usually are interpreted in a wrong manner. this suggests that employers have to know the unique qualities of job applicants and employees from different cultural backgrounds especially that not everyone thinks, feels, looks, or acts alike. the second mechanism dealt with is the belief of the meranaws. the respondents generally agreed as well that their beliefs, being different from that of the organizational culture, being not culturally fit a particular firm, and their social values contribute to job discrimination. this implies that the distinct beliefs of meranaws are subject to prejudiced perceptions of employers or hiring managers. a similar finding was also found for the race or ethnicity of the meranaw job applicants. the respondents agreed that, individually, wearing the hijab of women and turban of men contribute to job discrimination. thus, having different clothing from that of employers adds to job discrimination. aside from that, having an islamic name, facial expression and eye contact of meranaws contribute to the job discrimination they encountered. overall, the ethnic affiliation of meranaw job applicants may lessen their chance to get hired for a specific job vacancy. the study revealed that some non-muslim employers do not consider clothing, non-verbal behavior, customs, etc. of the meranaws, although these are part of their affiliation and must be afforded with reasonable consideration. also, the respondents’ perception of language-related issues as contributors to job discrimination was also determined. data revealed that mispronouncing english words by some meranaws lead to job discrimination. speaking tagalog or bisaya incorrectly also does the same, so as with accent and intense sound of meranaw language. based on the findings, the system of words or signs that meranaws use to express thoughts and feelings to their employer or towards others contribute to job discrimination. every human group develops a language 131 international peer reviewed journal similar to the dominant language of their environment but with its keywords and accents. therefore, employers have to disregard the group affiliation of a particular applicant because words are mere symbols and conduct, or behavioral tendencies constitute another. they must not equate linguistic distinctiveness to the undesirability of potential employees. finally, the respondents disclosed agreement that religion as a mechanism can contribute to the job discrimination they encountered. individually, praying five times a day and practicing ramadan are perceived to be contributors to inefficiency in the workplace, thus contributing to job discrimination. further, the meranaws being muslims who are usually judged by stereotyping also contributes to job discrimination. the commitment or devotion to the religious faith among the meranaw job applicants as religious obligations affects their chance for job opportunities. this implies that some non-muslim employers illegally discriminate meranaws based on their religious affiliation since they do not consider their religious practices. correlation analysis among variables the third step in the data analysis was determining whether a significant relationship exists between the respondents’ demographic profile and their perception of the mechanisms of culture as contributors to job discrimination. as data revealed, there is no significant relationship between the respondents’ age and the mechanisms of culture. this may mean that meranaw job applicants’ age did not influence their perceptions of personality traits, beliefs, race or ethnicity, language, and religion being contributors to job discrimination. furthermore, when the gender of the respondents was correlated with the mechanisms of culture, the results indicate that the relationship is still insignificant. as what the data signify, the respondents’ gender identity was not associated with the manner in which they perceive the mechanisms of culture as contributors to job discrimination. therefore, gender seems to be irrelevant as an intervening variable in the experiences of the respondents with job discrimination in as far as the mechanisms of culture are concerned. concerning their highest educational attainment, the analysis showed that the respondents’ perceptions of the mechanisms of culture were also insignificantly associated with their educational background. this may mean that the respondents’ attainments in education do not matter in the way they perceive the mechanisms of culture as contributors to job discrimination. hence, their experiences with job discrimination were comparable regardless of their credentials or qualifications. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, the correlation analysis also showed that the respondents’ civil status was not significantly related to their perceptions of the mechanisms of culture as linked to job discrimination. similar to the previous findings, whether the respondents are single, married, or widowed, their experiences and perceptions of culture-related constructs as sources of job discrimination were similar or comparable. thus, civil status is not a relevant factor in the respondents’ manner of perceiving the said mechanisms as contributors to job discrimination. focusing on another demographic profile which is employment status, the data revealed that their employment status did not significantly influence the respondents’ perception of the mechanisms of culture. even though that a vast majority of the respondents are employed, their opinions of the constructs being causes of job discrimination were still comparable in general, thus implying that their experiences were similar. lastly, when their monthly income was correlated with their perceptions, the results indicated that the relationship turned out to be insignificant. this also signifies that the respondents’ agreement that the mechanisms of culture contribute to job discrimination remains a general perception among all regardless of their monthly income. thus, their experiences with job discrimination are considered comparable. conclusion this study was interested in determining the potentiality of specific mechanisms or constructs of culture as sources of job discrimination as perceived by meranaws. based on the findings, meranaw job applicants are discriminated by non-meranaw or non-muslim employers because of their personality traits, beliefs, race or ethnicity, language, and religion. the results indicate that the respondents consider the said mechanisms of culture to have the significant impact on their chance to be afforded with equal job opportunities in any workplace hierarchy. thus, meranaw applicants suffer the consequences of prejudiced perceptions of those who are unaware of the intricacies of the meranaw culture, practices, and inherent characteristics. this calls for a mechanism that does not force applicants or employees from minority groups to choose between their faith and their jobs. the findings of the study imply that some non-muslim employers or firms illegally discriminate meranaw job applicants or potential applicants in individual workplaces. thus, the title vii of the civil rights act which states that “it is illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, 133 international peer reviewed journal or national origin” has been violated by some non-muslim employers who may lessen the commitment of the job applicants to render services. translational research the findings of the study may be best interpreted by various media of communication to disseminate its significance and impact. blogs in social media may be designed for job seekers, articles published in job search websites (like linkedin, indeed, jobstreet, etc.) may be intended for job search agents and applicants, and talk shows in mass media to disseminate information to other stakeholders. recommendations based on the findings of the study, the following are highly recommended: the research suggests that meranaw employees and job applicants should show employers that meranaws possess good personality traits and that meranaws know how to recognize others’ attitudes and adjust on their own. the study further suggests the following: meranaw employees and job applicants should show employers that meranaws are flexible to any culture they socialize with and could quickly adapt to changes; there is a need for employers to accommodate the employees sincerely held religious belief unless to do so would result in an undue hardship for the organization; meranaw employees and job applicants should show respect on the organizational culture of their employers to be respected in return regarding culture; employers should recognize the differences between culture and that give considerations on the beliefs of every culture of their employees or their job applicants; employers should acknowledge and consider the race of their employees or job applicants regarding their clothing, names derived from their way of life, etc; and, concerning language, the study recommends religions, asa way of life, etc. concerning language, the research suggests the following: there is a need for meranaw employees and job applicants to develop and enhance their english proficiency; there is a need for meranaw employees and job applicants to familiarize, if not learn, the language of non-meranaws to lessen communication barriers; employers have to recognize and consider that the fossilized and robust accent of meranaws is part of the meranaw language and concerning religion. the study recommends the following: employers have to consider the religious 134 jpair multidisciplinary research practices of the meranaws because these are part of their obligations as muslims and the hiring and selection policies and procedures being adopted in the philippine setting should be thoroughly reviewed so that employers would be able to make uniform policies in hiring employees that disregard the religious affiliation of the candidates. employers who practice job discrimination towards meranaw applicants have to be given attention by dole and philippine eeoc to be oriented with the labor laws and labor administration of the philippines. universities and colleges have to implement annual job fairs in their institutions for their graduates to have job opportunities. literature cited atchison, t. j., & hill, w. w. (1978). management today. retrieved from https://goo.gl/xkkw5q bendick, m. & ehgan, m. (2000). changing workplace cultures to reduce employment discrimination. washington, d.c. retrieved from https:// goo.gl/9cdexe deloitte, (2017). creating a consumer-grade experience for employees with digital hr. retrieved from https://goo.gl/35g9zt department of labor and employment (2014). wage order no. armm-15. encyclopedia britannica (2018). retrieved from https://goo.gl/wmm6ix equal employment opportunity commission. (2010). best practices for eradicating religious discrimination in the workplace. retrieved from https://goo.gl/nzsxwa ghumman, s., ryan, a. m., barclay, l. a., & markel, k. s. (2013). religious discrimination in the workplace: a review and examination of current and future trends. journal of business and psychology, 28(4), 439-454. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-013-9290-0 135 international peer reviewed journal heng, e., kastner, j., & rodrigo p., (2017). news analysis: why racial discrimination is still a problem in the workplace. retrieved from https:// www.cipd.asia/news/hr-news/analysis-racial-discrimination investopedia, (2018). corporate culture. retrieved from https://goo.gl/6i6kih king, b., (2011). how do we know that organizational culture is discriminatory? retrieved from https://goo.gl/ns2vlw newstrom jw. organisational behavior: human behavior at work (13th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill, 2011. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ogb6q9 ontario human rights commission, (2014). duty to accommodate. retrieved from https://goo.gl/4yb7x9 oxford reference (2018). retrieved from https://goo.gl/4jxj7l sears, b. & mallory, c. (2014). gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace. retrieved from https://goo.gl/v6kmn9 sollow, m. (2017). creating a consumer-grade experience for employees with digital hr. retrieved from https://goo.gl/pbz7ef trenerry, b. m. (2016). productive disruptions? responding to racism and diversity in the workplace through anti-racism practice within local government in australia. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ggzm79 https://www.cipd.asia/news/hr-news/analysis-racial-discrimination https://www.cipd.asia/news/hr-news/analysis-racial-discrimination https://goo.gl/ggzm79 cover single 35 international peer reviewed journal development of an enriched lubi-lubi (ficus pseudopalma) noodles fely a. habla orcid id 0000-0002-9925-0813 fely.habla@yahoo.com concepcion j. cambaliza tarcela f. detera mateo luis g. janer geraldine de jesus sorsogon state college sorsogon campus, sorsogon city, philippines abstract this research is focused on the development and acceptability of an enriched lubi-lubi (ficus pseudopalma) noodle utilizing its puree as indigenous ingredients. noodles were developed and enriched using lubi-lubi leaves. the level of acceptability was determined to find out the degree of acceptance of the noodles among consumers. experimental method was used by extracting the puree of lubi-lubi leaves and used as flavor and packed/stored in polyethylene bag. of the three trials conducted the enriched lubi-lubi noodles with ingredients of 250 g of lubi-lubi leaves puree, 325 g apf, 10 g salt, 150 g eggs and 2 g vegetable oil, 187.5 water was rated much acceptable. based on acceptability level, trial 2 was rated as much acceptable as to taste and color and acceptable as to texture and odor. sensory evaluation was done by the panelist using standard score sheets. acceptability factors such as color, texture, flavor and odor were included among the choices. results were obtained across prepared products, indicating the evident taste and aroma of lubi-lubi leaves through varied degree depending upon the quantity of puree used. vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.181 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 36 jpair: multidisciplinary research the researchers observed correct mixing methods or techniques used flavorings and other materials that nicely blended with lubi-lubi puree as suggested by evaluators; the accepted ones were then standardized. the researchers concluded that lubi-lubi leaves are potential flavoring in the preparation of enriched lubi-lubi noodles and accepted among consumers. the proximate analysis of the developed enriched noodles in terms of moisture content, ash content, fiber content, protein content, fat content, carbohydrate content and shelf-life is highly recommended for the developed product to compete with the other commercial veggie noodles. further research is still needed to address other gaps revealed by the research. keywords technology, lubi-lubi leaves, puree, lubi-lubi noodles, ficus psuedopalma, acceptability, enriched lubi-lubi noodles , sorsogon city, philippines introduction providing optimum health to children in terms of physical, social, and intellectual development should be a priority concern of everybody. today consumers are nutrition literate, believing that food can enhance their health promoting ingredients in their diets, increasing awareness of consumers on the nutrient contents. in a world where nothing stays the same, it would seem that the usual diet and nutrition of humans have through the years been wanting in the elements to keep one’s body healthy and in shape. this may be particularly true for developing and less developed countries like the philippines. food consumption in the country has been generally influenced by the following attributes in the order of importance; price, taste, product quality, brand name, and availability, advertisement, and product promotions. rarely do consumers care for nutrition facts and almost always go for foods that are light on the pocket and heavy in the stomach. this would seem to be reasonable words to live by given one’s meager budget and physiological need of satisfying hunger and thirst. the nutrition situation in the philippines shows a continued existence of chronic under nutrition manifested by protein-energy malnutrition and deficiency in iron, vitamin a and iodine. this 37 international peer reviewed journal situation is complicated by the emergence of over nutrition and chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancer and others. undernutrion is a pathological state resulting from the consumption of an inadequate of food over an extended period of time. findings of the nutrition survey conducted by the fnri showed that under nutrition continue to afflict the filipino people, and among these are protein-energy malnutrition (pem) particularly among pre-school children, iron deficiency anemia, vitamin a deficiency and iodine deficiency disorder.3 this may be due to 1) poverty for low income family have inadequate food intake both in quantity and quality. 2) poor food intake or composition due to the rice-vegetable fish diet pattern of filipinos, rice being the country’s staple food.3) poor distribution of food supply. 4) large family size. 5) low level of education among household members6) intra familial food distribution.7) urbanization 8) widespread incidence of infectious diseases and parasitism due to poor sanitation and 8) wrong infant feeding and weaning practices. [claudio] (1996.) the province of sorsogon is abundant in its natural resources before and even today, only that it needs to be tilt and developed. indigenous plants are still found on the said province only that, individual nowadays take it for granted due to what we call industrialization. people nowadays always look for a ready to eat food, it is maybe because most of the mothers are working mom’s that’s why too difficult and tiring on their part if coming from the office they still do some household chores, while others look for fast food chains, others lean on the packed, bottled, canned and ready to cook or eat food. despite of the fact that indigenous plants had been set aside already by some of the filipinos, there are still others who showed their interest in the processing of the indigenous materials, in which it can solely found in their backyard. having a vegetable garden in the backyard can help augment the financial aspects of every family and in a little way, can supplement the needed micronutrient of every individual specifically it is an inorganic vegetable. lubi-lubi (ficus pseudopalma) or sometimes called as nyog nyogan has an erect, glabrous, unbranched shrub growing to a height of 5 meters. leaves are crowded at the end of the stems, sprea and short 38 jpair: multidisciplinary research petiole, oblanceolate with a cordate base and an acute apex. blade is coracious and dark green, coarsely tooth growing to more than 25 centimeter long. the fruit is ovoid, angular, up to 4 cm long, on short peduncles and crowded at axils of the leaves. the leaves and the fruits leave a pattern of scars on the trunk. (barley and barley)this plant grows abundantly in the bicol region and other places of the country. each region has its common name, like in tagalog; it is known as nyognyogan, lubi-lubi in bicol and lamiyog in visayas. for several years now, lubilubi has been commonly used by the bicolanos as herbal medicines. according to guerrero (1980) the leaves when prepared in poultices are said to have sedative and healing properties. prepared as an alcoholate, they are said to alleviate neuralgic pains. the fruit itself is reported to be a cure for diabetes, because eating them tends to reduce the sugar in blood. aside from this, lubi-lubi leaves contains a higher percentage of cellulose, an insoluble fiber which helps in healing constipation and reduce the risk of colon cancer. foods naturally high in fiber can be considered to bring about improvement in the gastrointestinal health, reduction of hypertension and coronary heart disease factors. not only this, it also helps reduce the risk of developing some cancers (tessa salazar 2008). filipino consumers make noodles as one of their favorite dishes whatever occasions they celebrated, noodles are always part of it. noodle is a symbol of life and good health. to the well off family, maybe lasagna is commonly prepared, for mediocre families, spaghetti will do while for ordinary families, pancit is usually prepared. noodles were originated in china and introduced to us by chinese merchants and since then the chinese has become a part of every filipino festive preparations. considering the health benefits of fiber rich lubi-lubi leaves, this gave the researcher the drive to develop lubi-lubi leaves as flavor in noodles preparation. this is one of the answers to reduce the risk of some of the world’s most prevalent diseases, particularly the onset of some types of cancer. 39 international peer reviewed journal framework the national nutrition council recently developed a philippine nutrition country profile with funding from the food and agriculture organization of the united nations. findings showed that, just like 20 years ago, the biggest problems are protein-energy malnutrition (pem) and micronutrient deficiencies. paralleling the general trend in poverty statistics, there was a decline in the prevalence of malnutrition during mid-1990s, followed by gradual increases beginning in 1998. there are now approximately (32%) preschool children who are underweightfor-age, (20%) adolescents who are underweight-for-age and (13.2%) adults who are chronically energy deficient. vitamin a deficiency is a serious problem, with 7% of pregnant women and 8% of infants under six months being severely deficient. iron deficiency anemia affects 57% of infants, 51% of pregnant women, and 46% of lactating women. the primary cause of malnutrition is the inequitable distribution of food, which is related of course to poverty. the typical filipino diet is grossly inadequate for energy and other nutrients, causing human bodies to compensate for inadequate energy intake by utilizing protein as an energy source; the usual result is pem. this situation is unlikely to improve as long as an estimated 28 million filipinos are unable to buy food to meet basic nutritional requirements.2 according to the american dietetic association (ada) a vegetarian diet should consist of mainly whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, vegetarian diet reduces the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, among many other health conditions. many vegetarians are healthier because they also consume more fiber found in fruits, vegetables and legumes than non-vegetarians. the harvard school of public health (hsph) has found that a higher intake of fiber can decrease one’s chances of contracting coronary disease by 40 percent. it also shows that regular fiber intake is linked to a decreased likelihood of diabetes, diverticular disease (an intestinal condition) and constipation.“we must look to our farms, not to our pharmacies, for the durable solution to our national problems” cited by florencio 2005, as advised by dr. gopolan 2005, especially those primarily agricultural countries, in the speech delivered with the theme “prevention of micronutrient malnutrition.” 40 jpair: multidisciplinary research the food and drug administration has recognized fiber’s importance by requiring it to be listed on the nutrition facts panel of food labels along with other key nutrients and calories. and, based on scientific evidence, the agency has approved four claims related to fiber intake like 1) diets low in fat and rich in fiber-containing grain products, fruits, and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer. 2) diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain fiber, particularly soluble fiber, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. 3) diets low in fat and rich in fruits and vegetables, which are low-fat foods and may contain fiber or vitamin a (as beta-carotene) and vitamin c, may reduce the risk of some cancers. in brazil, non-governmental organizations utilizes alternative diet supplement known as multimixture (mm) composed of bran cereals, cassava leaf powder and eggshell powder. this study investigated the effectiveness of this mm supplement used concomitantly with other who consumed the same diet without mm. at the end of the study, the ngo intervention provided a beneficial effect on the nutritional status of children, since it improved their blood parameters and reduced the anemia independently of mm supplementation. the supplementation of the deficient diets with mm contributed significantly to the improvement of the children’s stature. vegetables are important for everyone and are good sources of vitamin a, c, e, and k, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, calcium, and more. they are important for all sorts of organ functions; they help lower the risk of cancers and other diseases, and more. healthy diets provide energy while fatty; junk food diets make one lethargic. eating out is very much an asian phenomenon, with street food sellers (called hawkers in some countries) selling everything from local burgers to traditional noodle-based fare forming an essential part of the asian food landscape; in addition to stand-alone restaurants offering cuisines from all over the world. international fast-food chains have also become popular, and offer a quick and hygienic option for people on the more. eating more fiber will improve heart and digestive health, and there is evidence that increased fiber in the diet may prove to be a component in weight management. high fiber meals have been found to contribute 41 international peer reviewed journal to satiation and satiety, which can help reduce the amount of calories consumed. while researchers have published studies showing these effects, no regulatory claims have been established, though structurefunction claims may be possible. processors should know that any claims must be stated according to strict fda guidelines. noodles are long thin strip of pastas and are classified as staple food of italian and chinese cooking. filipino consumers make noodles as one of their favorite dishes whatever occasions they celebrated, noodles are always part of it. noodle is a symbol of life and good health. to the well off family, maybe lasagna is commonly prepared, for mediocre families, spaghetti will do while for ordinary families, pancit is usually prepared. noodles were originated in china and introduced to us by chinese merchants and since then the chinese has become a part of every filipino festive preparations. the veggie noodles were originally developed by fnri-dost in response to prevailing nutritional problems in the country, particularly vitamin a deficiency (vad), iodine deficiency disorders (idd) and protein-energy malnutrition (pem). however, in these times of increasing cost of flour, the vegetable components of the noodle also provide a good supplement to flour to lower production cost of the noodles. the all-time favorite noodles are now made more nutritious having been enriched with different vegetables. the food and nutrition research institute of the department of science and technology (fnridost) developed various types of noodles supplemented with squash, seaweeds and saluyot. these products fondly called veggie noodles are good sources of vitamin a, iodine, protein and other nutrients. noodle products include spaghetti, canton, instant cup noodles, and fresh miki. seaweed-supplemented noodle products include instant spaghetti with lato, canton with lato or guso, president gloria macapagal arroyo in her sona last july 28, 2008, emphasized the importance of “food for every filipino families “she ordered dr. rogelio colting, president of bsu (2008), to conduct extensive product development and studies on highland vegetables and to produce a variety of vegetable enriched noodles. as a result, bsu and rfm foods corporation launched a squash enriched pancit canton under the brand name product harvest on july 30, 2008 at 42 jpair: multidisciplinary research the “tindahan natin” outlet in dagonoy market, san andres bukid, manila. three thousand packs (3,000) were initially produced and marketed for p28.00 to p34.00 per 250 grams. the government granted ten million pesos (p10, 000.000.00) for the said product development and tied up with rfm foods corporation for the production and monitoring. tejada, said that vegetables will be integrated in the noodle production line to include malunggay, squash, carrots, mushrooms and other readily available vegetables and will be marketed as “veggie noodles.” .veggie breads and noodle technology has been promoted by the food and nutrition research institute (fnri) of the dost to address wheat substitute at the same time, will provide additional food supplement to noodles and breads which are common to the daily filipino diet. the popularity of noodles is evident in that adult and children alike consume it. it is taken as part of a meal or snacks food. noodles are alimentary paste made primarily from wheat flour and other ingredients. there are per studies and researches on noodle manufacturing utilizing other ingredients as an alternative to wheat flour. tobias developed instant spaghetti with seaweeds. trial formulations were conducted and the most accepted formulation was determined. shelf life studied were conducted and the physio chemical microbial and sensory characteristics were evaluated. in japan, skinny noodles had been developed and with a brand name of shirataki, a noodle shaped konnyaku product and is produced from tubers of the konnyaku root, a potato family, and has been an important ingredient of japanese cuisine. the important value of the noodles unveiled dietary fiber and konnyaku is very rich in soluble dietary fiber. it is use as substitute for pasta dishes with other sauces. it is one of the most effective foods for defending oneself from obesity, in order to lose weight, it is necessary to reduce the caloric intake, eating skinny noodles (shirataki) as part of the regular meal can absorbs toxic substances produced during digestion and helps to eliminate them before they can be absorbed in the blood stream. 43 international peer reviewed journal trinidad et.al. (2000) studied iron availability from instant noodles fortified with iron and vitamin a. their study showed that the addition of edta to fe sulfate and fe fumerate, as well as nafeedta enhance iron availability from instant noodles. vitamin a enhanced the absorption of iron from pancit canton fortified with ferrous fumerateedta. the result of their body is similar to what is studied. reyes (2007) came up with a study entitled “development of fiber and protein enriched noodles”, he utilizes coco residue and coco protein isolate blend to wheat flour. optimum proportion was determined to come up with most acceptable formulation which has been evaluated through sensory evaluation and proximate analysis. results showed that formulated noodles were highly accepted and product was stable for a period of six months. egar (2006) utilizes the sweet potato flour instead of wheat flour. her ideas was on the art of combining two materials to find out whether there was a possibility of utilizing the sweet potato flour into different classification of cakes. payumo (1989), made use of high protein pandesal using a blend of wheat and mecah pea flour and wheat mungbean flour with 0.51 dough conditioner/emulsifier. this study combines two or more raw materials for the purpose of product enrichment, and utilizing of high protein materials. furthermore, the college of technology department, bicol university presented the “ coco noodles “ during the 1st regional forum in industry and energy research and development held in the said university, as the word implies, coconut is one of the main ingredients in preparing the noodles. canton noodles are popular dishes in asia, especially in the philippines and can be found in many asian markets. they may be flat or round and vary widely in width, cooked and coiled dry, creating neat packets. filipino families have their own versions of the said dishes with varying spice levels and ingredients. some companies make canton noodles with additions like squash, and seaweed, to create their desired flavor, and these additives can also make canton noodles more nutritious. 44 jpair: multidisciplinary research cordero (1980) conducted a chemical analysis of the lubilubi leaves and they are as follows: fats and chlorophyll 0.795, resin (neutral) 0.357, tannic acid 0.006, resin (acid) 3.402, cellulose 65.930, gummy particles 0.471, glucose 1.705, mineral salt 10.140, moisture 17.94, respectively. results shown that lubi-lubi leaves are considered as highly fibrous. in recent years, public awareness of the health benefits of dietary fiber has increased along with its consumption in various high fiber food products. numerous studies have reported that health problems linked to chronic ailments such as cardiovascular diseases and high cholesterol, colon cancer, diabetes, obesity and constipation can be reduced by increasing the consumption of whole grain or fiber enriched products. whole grain and other sources of dietary fiber, long an important part of the human diet, gained new stature in 1999 when the us food and drug administration authorized the following health claim: “diet rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.( kantor and others 2001). a recent food industry report mentioned “high fiber” as one of the ten functional trends in the u.s. market (sloan 2006) with the increasing awareness of the benefits of dietary fiber, the demand for functional high fiber foods, is expected to continue. the aforementioned literature and studies of the lubi-lubi leaves has a bearing to the present study of the researchers. using it as an added ingredient for a processed food product and retaining its benefits as an herb. it should also be noted that there is another kind of plant with the same name-lubi-lubi (solanum nigrumlinn). though the leaves can be eaten and has a therapeutic cure for many diseases, the fruit is believed to be toxic in some ways. in this study, the researchers use the other kind of lubi-lubi which is commonly called as nyog-nyogan with the scientific name ficus pseudopalma. with the in depth analysis of the aforementioned studies, it was noted that most of the studies focused on the developmental products specifically veggie noodles and its relevance to nutritional status of the country specifically the micro nutrients deficiency problems encountered by the country and importance of fibers to one’s health. 45 international peer reviewed journal neither perhaps addressing the said problem for the purpose of eradicating nor lessen if cannot be totally eradicated is necessary. hence the gap and intention for this study. significance of the study the findings of this study may benefit the following end users: children veggie noodles can be a better solution for children not eating vegetables and prefer noodles instead. using veggie noodles for various recipes can be inviting and tempting to the children. farmers demand of indigenous plants will guarantee them of a regular income. 46 jpair: multidisciplinary research consumer it will provide new, improved quality products suited to their preferences as to the qualitative or sensory qualities of the finished products. veggie noodles will mean lesser food expenses, and can prepare rich and palatable dishes within the budget. processor the findings of this study will not only be useful in food industry sector but transfer of technology is important in this region. it will further contribute to the noodle processor industry by proving new technology of innovation in the field of science and technology and new product would mean a business venture and market partners. students they are inspired to research and come up with innovative food material utilizing indigenous plants. the transfer of technology from school to home will mean new knowledge and skills not to forget the additional income as well. future researchers the important findings in this study would serve as a basis for other studies applied in the field of science and technology related to food processing. likewise the study may help and challenge researchers on the technological changes and knowledge explosion towards research advancement technology necessary today utilizing indigenous plant resources and develop their ingenuity to pursue further studies and contribute to proper nutrition and food sufficiency program. expected output and derivable convenience pack of lubi-lubi noodles. objectives of the study the objectives of the study are the following: (1) to develop a fiber enriched lubi-lubi noodles; (2) to determine the strength of acceptability of the developed enriched noodles to the consumers; (3) to produce convenience pack of lubi-lubi noodles. 47 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods the indigenous plants were purchased directly from the farmers of castilla sorsogon and other nearby municipality. young and green leaves who are already open or stalk of the leaves which are still soft in feature are the one needed and harvested in the early morning of the day between 5:00 to 8:00 am for the raw materials are still considered as fresh. on the other hand, non fresh lubi-lubi leaves will become wilted and difficulty in the extraction of puree will be encountered. the researchers bring it to the laboratory area of the food service management for the experimentation at the sorsogon state college, sorsogon campus. young and green leaves were carefully selected, washed and weighted and made into puree. green young leaves used are already open and can be found on the 3rd to 5th layer of the plants from its upper tip. young leaves for acridity and bitterness were not yet fully developed; color is brown green that can be observed in the finished product. puree was utilized in the preparation of veggie noodles based on the proportion made and three replications were made. the sensory evaluation was conducted using the 9 point hedonic scale. hedonic scaling was used to determine the degree of likeness or dislike to the developed noodles. the data obtained from the evaluation was used in the calculation for the analysis of variance (anova). the aim was to determine the significant difference of the developed lubilubi noodles. statistical treatment there are statistical treatments employed by the researchers during the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. the following statistical tools were used: 9 point hedonic scale – this is to determine the degree of likeness or dislike to develop lubi-lubi noodles. analysis of variance (anova) – this was used to determine the significant difference of the developed lubi-lubi noodles to the consumers. 48 jpair: multidisciplinary research frequency – refers to the count to tally the data. weighted mean – was used to compute the average value of sampling in replicates. respondents the panel of evaluators of the sensory evaluation was chosen through purposive sampling. the respondents were composed of 30 members of which 8 of them were instructors of food service management,4 of which are food technology major, 10 of which were technology faculty members who are non majors and 8 were composed of the students major in food service management and represented the community as consumers. orientation was given prior to sensory evaluation. they were chosen because they possessed the ability to discriminate and the willingness to participate in the evaluation process such as: 1. interest. found to be of major importance as a qualification is interest in evaluation of the work. there is much need for assurance that a selected judge is willing to participate in the evaluation of work. 2. health. there may be instances when a person is both interested and available for panel testing work but health problems may not warrant his participation. 3. integrity. since evaluation requires personal judgment, integrity is utmost importance. judges are expected to respond exactly what they honestly think or fell about the product under test. any form of cheating may invalidate results. 4. attitude. a person’s attitude towards his work is an important criterion for success. it could be strongly related to development of interest and healthy work attitude which are good starting points for an efficient evaluation. 5. stability. sustained stability of panelists’ responses in sensory evaluation is an important qualification. the term stability implies precision in responses. a judge with a high sensitivity to certain sensory qualities will have the ability to observed slightest differences between samples. 49 international peer reviewed journal the following are steps in the preparation of lubi-lubi noodles. blanching of the lubi-lubi leavesleaves should be blanch in a simmering temperature for 5 minutes to facilitate the ease extraction of puree and to remove some rodents in the leaves itself. osterizingthe process by which the leaves is made into puree. preparation of the ingredients to facilitate the ease preparation of the noodles, needed ingredients be measured and prepared. mixing and kneading mixing of the wet and dry ingredients ensured maximum utilization of the raw material for the formation of the dough. kneading on the other hand is an important step for gluten development since thorough dispersal of the ingredient gives it the opportunity to take up maximum amount of water resulting to enhance dough texture. after kneading the dough is allowed to rest for 15 minutes. it is now termed as 50 jpair: multidisciplinary research kneaded dough. sheeting the dough passes repeatedly between rollers of the pasta maker which will be set at no. 7. sheeting will be done until the dough will transformed to a smooth continuous sheet if desired thickness w i t h o u t a n y holes or breaks. this method requires the use of properly developed gluten to form a dough sheet with sufficient tensile strength and extensibility. sheeting of the dough cutting with the use of noodle maker, the sheet or dough will pass through the cutter, forming long, thin noodle strips. the noodle strips will be cut to about 12 inches long and carefully placed on trays to ensure that no clumping occurs. these will then be allowed to rest for 5 min. pre cooking of the noodles was done by immersing noodles in boiling water (100 c) for at least one minute to allow the amylase in the starch to swell or gelatinize. the noodles will be placed in a sieve to facilitate easy removal and to ensure that they are not 51 international peer reviewed journal overcook and to prevent clumping together. drying was done by placing in a cauldron and dry in an oven at 70 c until the moisture content was constant. drying prepares the noodles for frying. frying this is one way of the fastest ways of removing moisture and fixing the shape of the noodles. frying results to instant noodles that easily rehydrates and cooks within minutes in boiling water. contact with hot oil at a temperature of 160 c rapidly evaporates the water from the precooked noodles, forming a porous noodle. packed and store. 52 jpair: multidisciplinary research results and discussion table 1. utilization of lubilubi leaves at different proportion gleaned from the table, are the different proportions of the developed noodles, utilizing the puree as its variable table 2. palatability and acceptability of lubi-lubi noodles results shows that among the different treatments conducted, treatment 2 is the one accepted with a corresponding perception of very much acceptable as to color, much acceptable as to aroma, 53 international peer reviewed journal extremely much acceptable as to texture and extremely acceptable as to taste respectively. this is associated with the percentage of puree used and the freshness and maturity of the leaves used in the developed product. table 3. comparison of characteristics results showed that developed lubi-lubi noodles can be comparable to other veggie noodles, considering the fact that the lubi-lubi plants are classified as indigenous material. correct methods and technique in the preparation of noodle were highly observes and applied. experimental cookery was further conducted. adjustments on the proportions of ingredients particularly the amount of lubi-lubi puree were used. evaluations of the product by panelists were again conducted. results showed the improve texture and color of the noodles. all replications were subjected to comments of evaluators composed of trained teachers. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the researchers concluded that lubi-lubi leaves are potential ingredient in the preparation of veggie 54 jpair: multidisciplinary research noodles. sensory evaluation conducted shows that developed noodles were extremely acceptable. noodles were comparable to other veggie noodle and considered as more nutritious. the researchers support the findings that lubi-lubi leaves have high potential value. the academe and food manufacturing in the locality must work on the commercialization of the products. recommendations it is highly recommended that the lubi-lubi noodle food product and standardized recipe be verified and pilot tested for commercialization. the proximate analysis of the developed enriched noodles in terms of moisture content, ash content, fiber content, protein content, fat content, carbohydrate content and shelf-life is highly recommended too, for the developed product to compete with the other commercial veggie noodles. further research is still needed to address other gaps revealed by the research. literature cited barley,l.h and e.z. barley 1976 hortus, 3rd edition macmillan general reference n.y. claudio, v.s. and o. v., dirige 1996 basic nutrition for filipinos.5th edition. merriam & webster bookstore, inc. manila philippines. de leon, s. y. basic food for filipinos revised edition. egar, j. m. 2006 “utilization of sweet potato flour to cake classification” unpublished masters thesis bicol university legaspi city., march. gopalan, c. 2005 “prevention of micronutrient malnutrition.” nfi bulletin 2001; 22: 1-7 as cited by florencio, 55 international peer reviewed journal payumo, e.m. 1989 “high protienpandesal from wheat flour fortified with legumes flour. (published articles) reyes, ma. j. a. 2007 “utilization of coco residue flour and soya flour into fiber and protien enriched noodles” bugs leagaspi city, master’s thesis april the philippine nutrition country survey daily asian news, research and commentary for the international business strategy, market research and strategic management professional. the up forum 2007 from food sufficiency to food security and right to food :, volume 8, number 3 ;may-june tobias, j.r. 2000 “development of canton noodles with seaweeds (lato and guso)” research development project; food and nutrition research institute. metro manila trinidad, t.p., d.h. valdez 2000 “ iron availability from instant noodles fortified with iron and vitamin a.” research and development project. food and nutrition institute. metro manila. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research correlates of role enactment among the academic chairpersons of selected institutions in bukidnon lalevie c. lubos orcid no.: 0000-0002-7853-0023 lalevielubos@gmail.com liceo de cagayan university cagayan de oro city abstract the chairpersons’ role and approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program implementation are enacted by the department chairpersons. the study aimed to investigate the correlates of role performance of the chairpersons as perceived by the role incumbent and role partners. the study used the descriptive design involving the incumbent deans, department chairpersons and faculty members of the heis. the study utilized the non-probability sampling design. the mean, standard deviation, anova, and pearson correlation were used. results showed that the level of role conception of academic chairpersons within the same range as that of the role enactment as perceived by the deans and their role partners (faculty). the approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program implementation are correlates of administrative role, leadership role, interpersonal role, resource development role, role enactment of academic chairpersons. the study concludes that the chairpersons’ level of role conception in their administrative roles, leadership roles, interpersonal roles and resource development roles is congruent with their perceived role enactment as assessed by the deans and faculty. the extent chairpersons used approaches to conflict management, strategies to communication and techniques in program implementation determines the adequacy of role enactment of academic chairpersons as they perform. vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.237 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 89 international peer reviewed journal keywords education, role performance, higher education, correlates, descriptive design, philippines introduction a set of activities or roles that are defined as potential behaviors to be performed in accordance with a specific job is associated with every work environment. roles are created to serve the needs of institutions which lead to goal attainment. productive institutions assume that a healthy working relationship depends largely among the workforces comprising it. the workforces, who have shared meaning on the mission and vision of the institution act as role partners having a common understanding of their respective roles. these roles in the hierarchical structure of every institution can be fully understood only if one relates it to other roles positioned above or below it. there are three (3) basic assumptions in any role. first, is role conception which is what a person thinks his/her job is and how the person has been taught to do it. the second is, role expectation referring to what others in the organization think the person is responsible for, and how he/she carries out those responsibilities, this is usually based on the output of results expected from the role. the third assumption is role enactment, the actual behavior in a role. it specifies what a person actually does in carrying out the job (smith and erwin, 2005). the role occupant’s understanding of a role affects the role behavior or performance; it may also affect the role partners’ assessment of the role occupant’s performance. the role occupants’ conception and role partners’ expectation have to be compared to role enactment or performance to estimate role conformity (haas and drabeck, 1973). however, it is possible that one’s conception may not necessarily jibe with role enactment, especially when the resources may be too limited or are not available (bidle, 1986). or, when role partners and role occupants tend to view role enactment based on their own perceptions. this means that a role occupant’s view is quite different from the role partners’. adjusting to or meeting role expectations create problems.  role ambiguity is one such problem as there is a lack of clarity about just what the expectations are (house, schuler, & levanoni, 1983).  role ambiguity plagues employees endeavoring to successfully attain and maintain new responsibilities or goals.  on the other hand, a person may not achieve role objectives due to overloading of responsibilities or under utilization of talents and abilities. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research equally important to this is that the role occupant and role partners have a good grasp of their respective roles. conflicts could arise if role expectation does not match with role enactment. role conflict may involve receiving contradictory messages about expected behavior and can in turn adversely affect performance (jamal, 1984). it is important for leaders to be able to minimize the degree to which role conflict and role ambiguity occurs in their groups. these problems have been found to have a negative impact on organizational commitment, job involvement, absenteeism, and satisfaction with co-workers and supervisors (fisher & gitelson, 1983). this study looked into the complexities surrounding the role of an academic department chairperson in higher educational institutions. today’s academic department chairpersons are expected to understand and balance a plethora of roles. it is a truism that they are entrusted with enormous responsibility; they function as both faculty and administrators. the role conception sometimes causes confusion to their internal constituents (deans, fellow chairs and faculty) despite their expressed role in the college manuals and university codes. it is significant to mention that conflicts likely occur between academic department chairpersons and internal constituents. in the performance of their roles there are exhilarating and frustrating things that they encounter. to some, the role conception on certain tasks attached to their expressed role often contradicts with the expectation of the deans and sometimes of the faculty. there are times when the performance of a certain role is confusing, considering that there is no proper demarcation or boundary for its enactment. the lack of understanding of role breadth causes misinterpretations like grave abuse; it becomes disruptive to the operation of a department. this affects relationships among department members as the power dynamic and authority figure are ever-changing, thereby distorting roles. framework this study is anchored on role theory, a leadership theory that explores how situational factors affect leaders’ behaviors. in role theory, a leader’s behavior is said to depend on a leaders’ perception of several critical aspects of the situation: rules and regulations governing the job; role expectations of subordinates, peers and superiors; the nature of the task; and feedback about subordinate’s performance. (merton, 1957; pfeffer & salancik, 1975). role theory clarifies how these situational demands and constraints could cause role conflict and role 91 international peer reviewed journal ambiguity. leaders may experience role conflict when subordinates and superiors have conflicting expectations about a leader’s behavior or when company policies contradict how superiors expect tasks to be performed. a leader’s ability to successfully resolve such conflicts may well determine leadership effectiveness (tsui, 1984). role theory postulates that human behavior is guided by how the individual conceived the role he enacts in his life and the expectations of other individuals that correspond to the said role and how it is performed (biddle, 1986). bedeian (1972) emphasizes that the study of roles is one of the most complex areas in the study of human behavior. the role of an individual in a social group is the pattern of actions expected of a person in his activities involving others. the pattern of actions which constitutes a role is influenced by the individual’s knowledge of the role, his motivation to perform the role, his attitudes toward himself and the other persons in the interpersonal behavior event. since all individuals possess unique motivations, attitudes and interpersonal response traits, it follows that the individual performance of various roles is equally unique. this research confines itself to the role of the department academic department chairpersons—a status position which, as portrayed in the literature, is basic and important in the administration of a college or university. this includes the relationship between the components or dimensions encompassing skills and behaviors necessary for effective academic department administration and role enactment of academic department chairpersons as perceived by the role partners and conceived by the role occupant. fundamentally, roles are organized behavioral patterns and expectations that attend a given position (hierarchical, functional, or social) or that accompany a specific situation. that is, roles encapsulate and invoke the accepted repertoire of individual conduct associated with a specific position or extant circumstance. in this way, roles provide behavioral guidelines, prescriptions, or boundaries in the form of expectations. role expectation is a set of norms representing the kind of behaviors that should take place for a given social interaction. they may be viewed as actions or qualities expected of the occupant of a position. when viewed as actions, these norms are usually expressed in administrative handbooks, teachers’ manuals, or in job description which clarify powers and responsibilities. objectives of the study this study determined how the chairpersons’ role, approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program 92 jpair multidisciplinary research implementation are exercised by the academic department chairpersons in three higher education institutions in the province of bukidnon. it inquired into role enactment of academic department chairpersons themselves as well as assessment of role performance by the academic department chairpersons’ role partnersthose who are on the super ordinate position (deans) and those in the subordinate position (the departmental faculty). furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program implementation, as correlates of role enactment of academic department chairpersons from the perspective of the role incumbent and of his/her role alters. methodology research design the descriptive research design was used in this study. it is a type of research concerned with the conditions or relationships that exist, opinions that are held, processes that are going on, effects that are evident, or trends that are developing. it primarily draws attention to the present although it often considers past events and influences as they relate to current conditions (best and kahn, 1998). research environment the study was conducted at central mindanao university (cmu), bukidnon state college (bsc) and mountain view college (mvc) in the province of bukidnon. cmu is a comprehensive institution and bsc is a teacher training institution though both are public non-sectarian institutions of higher learning principally supported by state funds. mvc is a sectarian institution run by the seventh day adventists and a private institution of higher learning. the departments of central mindanao university are organized by the deans of every college on the basis of fields of study or discipline, duly approved by the president of the university. it is headed by a chairman who is appointed by the president upon recommendation by the dean concerned. moreover, the divisions of bukidnon state college are organized by the deans of every school on the basis of fields of study or discipline, duly approved by the president of the college. it is headed by a chairperson who is appointed by the president upon recommendation of the dean concerned. finally, the departments of mountain view college are organized by the deans of every school on the basis of fields of study or discipline, duly approved by the president of the college. it is headed by 93 international peer reviewed journal a chairperson who is nominated by the faculty and deans from different schools, to the administrative council who recommends for appointment to the president. the organizational structure of cmu, bsc and mvc shows that the departments/divisions are directly under the office of the college/school deans which are directly under the office of the vice president for academic affairs. the respondents the respondents of the study were the incumbent deans, department chairpersons and faculty members of central mindanao university, bukidnon state college and mountain view college. the organizational structure of these schools is that, the dean is the head of a college or school. under the deans are the chairpersons of each division or department. each chairperson of the division handles the faculty in the division. in other words, the faculty transacts business with the chairpersons, their direct superior. in cases where matters cannot be resolved at the chairperson’s level these are elevated to the dean. table 1. distribution of respondents by school school number of respondents dean chairperson faculty total n n n n mountain view college 5 15 56 33 53 central mindanao university 7 33 140 82 122 bukidnon state college 5 13 90 52 70 total 17 61 286 167 245 sampling procedure the study utilized the non probability sampling design using complete enumeration techniques for the deans and the department chairpersons because there are only few deans and chairpersons in every college. some deans and chairpersons were also involved in the tryout of the questionnaire; hence, they were not included as actual respondents of the study. for the faculty respondents the probability sampling using systematic random sampling technique was used. in identifying the sample faculty respondents, 94 jpair multidisciplinary research slovin’s formula was employed. thus, a total sample of 167 was taken from the population of 286 faculties. these 167 were proportionately distributed among the three schools, getting 58 percent from each. research instrument the main instruments used were the expectations/conceptions and performance questionnaire designed to elicit from deans and faculty members the performance and their expectations for the role of the department chairperson, and the conceptions of the chairperson incumbents for their role as such. four (4) sets of research questionnaires were used in gathering the data. the first part elicited data on the department chairperson’s approaches to conflict management measured in terms of avoiding, dominating, obliging, integrating and compromising. the second part delved into the strategies in communication of chairpersons which were categorized into defensive communication strategy and supportive communication strategy. the third part dealt on the department chairperson’s techniques in program implementation in terms of monitoring and scanning technique and instructional techniques. the fourth part dealt on the department chairperson’s roles in the context of administrative role, leadership role, interpersonal role and resource development role. the third and fourth instruments were validated by deans, chairpersons and faculty of the subject higher education institutions and were not included as respondents of the study. reliability analysis was conducted using cronbach alpha and obtained a reliability coefficient of 0.9429. data gathering the researcher asked permission to conduct the study from the presidents of central mindanao university (cmu), bukidnon state college (bsc) and mountain view college (mvc) through their respective vice presidents for academic affairs. the survey questionnaires were personally delivered to the campuses of cmu, bsc and mvc and administered to the deans, department chairpersons and faculty .the intent and nature of the questionnaires were explained fully to the respondents. 95 international peer reviewed journal statistical techniques to facilitate data analysis, the following statistical techniques were used: 1. mean and standard deviation. these were used in the descriptive part of the analysis. 2. f test. this was used to test the difference in the rating of respondents by group. 3. pearson product moment coefficient of correlation. this was used to trace the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. results and discussion table 2. comparison of the role enactment of academic chairpersons and role performance as perceived by the role partners in administrative role role enactment role performance role occupant qd superordinate subordinate average qd f-ratio administrative roles _ x _ x _ x _ x fiscal overseer 3.82 h 3.11 3.87 3.49 a 4.87** schedule coordinator 4.24 h 3.64 4.25 3.95 h 3.96* report generator 3.98 h 3.50 4.09 3.80 h 3.58* staff supervisor 4.20 h 3.82 3.24 3.97 h 2.34 overall 4.06 h 3.52 4.11 3.82 h 3.85* leadership role. table 2 presents the f-ratios and the weighted means on the role enactment of the role occupant (chairpersons) and the role performance evaluation by its role partners (deans and faculty) on the chairperson’s leadership roles. curriculum leader. the table shows that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of respondents in relation to the leadership role of chairpersons as curriculum leader .the level of perception among respondents on the role performance of the specific tasks under the abovementioned roles are similar. this indicates that the weighted mean of 4.18 based on the perception of the chairperson is not far from the assessment of the deans which is 3.88 and 3.85 96 jpair multidisciplinary research for the faculty with an average mean of 3.87. external liaison. moreover, the weighted mean of 3.91 based on the rating of the chairpersons to their conception and role enactment of their role as external liaison is very close to the 3.48 weighted mean of the dean’s role performance as well to the faculty’s weighted mean of 3.65. this indicates that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of respondents in relation to the abovementioned role. internal advocate. the table discloses further that there is a significant difference in the perceptions of respondents on the leadership roles of chairpersons as internal advocate based on an f-ratio of 5.91 in the analysis of variance. the mean from responses of chairpersons’ leadership task as internal advocate is done on a very high level (4.62), their role partners yielded only a high level (4.23). hence, there is close conformity in the perception between deans and faculty on the chairpersons’ leadership task as internal advocate. on the other hand, a disparity of perceptions between the role occupant and the role partners is evident as shown by the overall weighted mean ranging from 3.94 to 4.35. this is corroborated by the f-ratio of 5.60 in the analysis of variance. table 3. comparison of the level of role enactment and role performance of academic chairpersons leadership roles role enactment role performance leadership roles role occupant qd superordinate subordinate average qd f-ratio _ x _ x _ x _ x curriculum leader 4.18 h 3.88 3.85 3.87 h 2.42 external liaison 3.91 h 3.48 3.65 3.57 h 1.51 internal advocate 4.62 h 4.21 4.24 4.23 h 5.91** role model 4.68 h 4.18 4.19 4.19 h 9.11** overall 4.35 h 3.94 3.93 3.94 h 5.60** role model. there is a significant difference in the perceptions of respondents on the chairpersons’ leadership task as role model. the mean from responses of 97 international peer reviewed journal chairpersons’ leadership task as role model is done on a very high level (4.68), their role partners yielded only high level (4.19). hence, there is close conformity in the perception between deans and faculty on the chairpersons’ leadership task as role model. generally, there is uniformity on the role enactment and role performance evaluation of role partners in relation to the chairpersons’ leadership role. nevertheless, the data reveals that there is a significant difference in role performance and role enactment as shown by the f-ratio of 5.60 in the analysis of variance. hence the hypothesis is rejected. table 4. comparison on the level of role enactment and role performance of academic chairpersons interpersonal roles role enactment role performance interpersonal roles role occupant qd superordinate subordinate average qd f-ratio _ x _ x _ x _ x counselor 4.44 h 3.96 4.02 4.00 h 4.83** coach 4.48 h 4.14 3.98 4.06 h 7.07** mediator 4.21 h 4.14 3.93 4.04 h 2.02 climate regulator 4.40 h 4.27 3.97 4.12 h 4.97** overall 4.39 h 4.13 3.97 4.05 h 5.27** interpersonal role. the data reflects that the academic chairperson’s interpersonal roles are based on developing productive relationships among individuals in the workplace. a closer look at the mean ratings by the chairpersons on interpersonal roles indicates that their ratings conform to that of the deans and faculty. the chairperson’s over all weighted mean is 4.39 while the average mean of 4.05 for the role partners is evident on the data. it is further disclosed that a significant difference of 5.27 exist between the level of conception by the role occupant and the level of its role enactment as perceived by the role partners. hence, the null hypothesis is rejected along this line. the data further reveals that there is significant difference in the conception of chairpersons and role performances of the deans and faculty along the dimensions of responsibility attached to the interpersonal role of a chairperson. in the analysis 98 jpair multidisciplinary research of variance, the f-ratio of 4.83 on the task as counselor, the f-ratio of 7.07 on the task as coach and the f-ratio of 4.97 on the task as climate regulator validated the significant difference. counselor. the respondents shared the same view in relation to this particular task. as revealed by some chairpersons, the tasks of listening and giving of advices to problems and concerns of faculty and between faculty and students in the department/division are invigorating. hence, a high level of role enactment is portrayed in the data. this finding is supported by the study of creswell, (1990) wherein part of a chairperson’s task is counseling. coach. the responsibility to prepare faculty to achieve excellence, inspiring them to pursue further studies and train them to become successful researchers, was rated by the chairpersons as highly observed by them. both deans and faculty shared the same view to validate the claim of the chairperson. the rating of the chairpersons disclosed a weighted mean of 4.48, verbally interpreted as high. the same is closer to the mean average rating of 4.06 by the role partners, verbally interpreted as high. mediator. the task of a mediator in the interpersonal role dimension of responsibility showed no significant difference as indicated in the data. this is disclosed by the respective weighted means based on the ratings of the chairpersons, deans and faculty. the chairpersons weighted mean is 4.21, while the dean’s is 4.14 and the faculty is 3.97. with an average mean of 4.04 and an f-ratio of 2.02 in the analysis of variance, this therefore, indicates that a high score is assigned by respondents along this area. resource development role. table 4 discloses the f-ratio of 0.41 in the analysis of variance which indicates, that there is no significant difference in the role enactment of academic chairpersons and role partners’ evaluation on the chairpersons’ role enactment of their resource development role. the task as faculty evaluator revealed significant difference with the f-ratio of 3.30 in the analysis of variance. all other responsibilities like faculty recruiter, faculty mentor and resource warrior bears no significant difference. hence, there is a great degree of conformity between the role occupant and role partners on the role enactment of resource development role as indicated by the respective weighted mean of the respondents found in the table 4. no influence of mean ratings is evident between the respondents. the picture of role performance indicates less possibility of the existence of role ambiguity for the role performance of this role. by the very nature of resource development role being an ordinary task a regular one, there is not much room of interpretations 99 international peer reviewed journal by either role occupants or by role partners. table 5. comparison of the level of role enactment and role performance of academic chairpersons resource development roles resource development roles role enactment role performance role occupant _ x vi superordinate _ x subordinate =_ x aver _ x vi f-ratio faculty recruiter 4.01 h 4.30 4.05 4.05 h 0.65 faculty mentor 4.10 h 4.00 4.02 4.02 h 0.19 faculty evaluator 4.36 h 3.89 4.10 4.10 h 3.30* resource warrior 3.81 h 3.88 3.75 3.75 h 0.18 overall 4.09 h 4.02 3.98 3.98 h 0.41 as indicated by the overall weighted mean of 4.09 based on the chairpersons rating, a weighted mean of 4.02 based on the deans rating and a weighted mean of 3.98 based on the faculty’s rating, there is not enough significant difference as further elucidated by the f-ratio of 0.41 in the analysis of variance. techniques in program implementation. the table 6 shows that there is a moderate, direct and significant relationship between techniques in program implementation to the administrative roles, leadership roles, interpersonal roles and resource development roles and role performance of chairpersons. a total correlation value of 0.516** reflects that techniques in program implementation are significantly related to the chairpersons’ role. the percentage of its contribution to the chairpersons’ role performance is high at 26.62 compared to the other independent variables. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. correlates of role enactment of academic chairpersons independent variables role performance variables (dependent variables) administrative roles leadership roles interpersonal roles resource development roles total % ofcontribution approaches to conflict management 0.319** 10.17 % avoiding 0.322** 0.148** 0.301** 0.158** dominating 0.020 0.176** 0.060 0.007 obliging 0.310** 0.213** 0.364** 0.264** collaborative 0.228** 0.231** 0.331** 0.357** compromising 0.214** 0.195 0.291** 0.357** strategies to communication 0.433* 18.74 % supportive communication 0.529** 0.600** 0.705** 0.619** defensive communication 0.036 0.039 0.008 0.091 techniques in program implementation 0.516** 26.62 % instructional strategy 0.396** 0.211** 0.460** 0.456** 0.496** monitoring and scanning 0.402** 0.199** 0.415** 0.442** 0.475** the correlation is expected because, monitoring and scanning and instructional strategies measured role performance. monitoring and scanning take on the established system and interrelated activities to ensure quality in the various phases of academic programs. this presupposes that the chairperson’s efforts to assure that the human resources in the academic unit are moving toward the right direction in the academic community. on instructional strategies, the chairpersons are expected to initiate activities toward improved instructional practices and encourage teaching innovations and creative strategies in the teaching learning process. 101 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the findings, this study concludes that: 1. the chairpersons’ level of role conception in their administrative roles, leadership roles, interpersonal roles and resource development roles is congruent with their perceived role enactment as assessed by the deans and faculty. this means that the level of role conformity is high despite the absence of some of the specified roles in the codes and manuals of the respective academic institutions. therefore, not everything which the chairpersons perform as a faculty and as administrator is written as rules. considering the plethora of chairpersons’ role, it is clear that many things were not spelled out in writing. this results in role ambiguity. 2. the significant difference in the level of conception and enactment of roles is attributable to the performance of functions by the chairpersons which are ancillary to their expressed roles. this includes some customary practices adopted in the department which causes several interpretations that lead to role conflict. recommendations from the findings of the study, the following recommendations are offered for consideration: a. for the president. formal leadership training opportunities should be directed toward chairs (e.g., president’s leadership program).  feedback of intensive programs (e.g., 360-degree assessment) and those that allow chairs to share common methods for solving problems should be particularly helpful.  chair roles are complex and no single individual can be skilled at all of the roles. b. for the deans. it is suggested that the deans review, approve and implement the intervention designed herein as proposed. developing a sustainable and feasible management development program to strengthen the capabilities of the department chairperson as first level manager in the college or school. c. for the chairpersons. findings would help clarify the role of department chairperson to the faculty and to the school administration as a whole which can advantageously be used as a medium for further development in terms of developing a chairpersons manual to improve, enhance and change institutional climate. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research d. for the faculty. faculty are usually appointed to the position of department chairperson without receiving any training or instruction, with little indication of what it is they are supposed to do, and still less of knowing when or how well they are doing it. e. for future researchers. other studies should be conducted on role enactment, role conflict and role ambiguity. literature cited biddle b. j. 1986 recent development in role theory annual review of sociology, vol. 12, 1986 pp. 67-92 retrieved on march 19, 2014 from http://goo.gl/ rqd8ns. best, j. w., & kahn, j. v. 1998 research methods in education. creswell, j. w. 1990 the academic chairperson’s handbook. u of nebraska press. retrieved from http://goo.gl/uq72zx. fisher, c. d., & gitelson, r. 1983 a meta-analysis of the correlates of role conflict and ambiguity. journal of applied psychology, 68(2), 320. retrieved from http://goo.gl/lm1is1. haas, j. e., & drabek, t. e. 1973 complex organizations: a sociological perspective (p. 185). new york: macmillan. house, r. j., schuler, r. s., & levanoni, e. 1983 role conflict and ambiguity scales: reality or artifacts? retrieved from http://goo.gl/uft7th. jamal, m. 1984 job stress and job performance controversy: an empirical assessment. organizational behavior and human performance, 33(1), 1-21. 103 international peer reviewed journal retrieved from http://goo.gl/nxvhyw. merton, r. k. (ed.). 1968 social theory and social structure. simon and schuster. retrieved from http://goo.gl/cn9iny. pfeffer, j., & salancik, g. r. 1975 determinants of supervisory behavior: a role set analysis. human relations, 28(2), 139-154. retrieved from http://goo.gl/uzm1r7. smith, m. l., erwin, j., & diaferio, s. 2007 role & responsibility charting (raci). retrieved from http://goo.gl/ colv6w. tsui, a. s. 1984 a role set analysis of managerial reputation. organizational behavior and human performance, 34(1), 64-96. retrieved from http://goo. gl/9be1pn. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. 1 international peer reviewed journal status and prospect of mushroom industry in the philippines hyun you chang orcid no.0000-0002-9800-9884 hychang@korea.kr korea national college of agricultural and fisheries gyeonggi-do, south korea sung woo jeon orcid no.0000-0003-2574-0112 sungwoojeon1@gmail.com chungbuk national university chungbuk province, south korea alma l. cosadio orcid no.0000-0001-6892-0629 almacosadio56@gmail.com misamis oriental state college of agriculture and technology (moscat) claveria, philippines casimero l. icalina orcid no.0000-0001-6896-9684 cashagbus@gmail.com misamis oriental state college of agriculture and technology (moscat) claveria, philippines rodel panganiban orcid no.0000-0002-1522-6577 rodelpanganiban47@gmail.com bureau of plant industry, manila vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.268 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research rosalito quirino orcid no.0000-0001-6769-1174 ragmoscat@gmail.com misamis oriental state college of agriculture and technology (moscat) claveria, misamis oriental, mindanao, philippines yanghoon song orcid no.0000-0001-6021-9213 yhsong@chungbuk.ac.kr chungbuk national university chungbuk province, south korea abstract the mushroom industry in the philippines has exacerbated since 1995, and the lowest production volume was 355 metric tons (mt) in 2009. most of the mushroom consumed were imported from the different countries of south east asia like china, taiwan, thailand, malaysia, korea and japan. growing mushrooms in the philippines is economically feasible due to lowproduction cost, abundance of cheap substrates from agro wastes and high demand, which will be profitable to the mushroom growers. the study aimed to assess the production of mushroom in some parts of the philippines, assess their potentials and introduce the non-sterile fermentation method of growing mushroom to the philippine mushroom industry. there are ten varieties of edible and medicinal mushrooms grown in the philippines such as paddy straw mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake mushroom, button mushroom, ear fungi mushroom, milky mushroom, yellowish oyster mushroom, reishi mushroom, lion`s mane mushroom, and king tuber oyster mushroom. supporting the mushroom industry is vital in developing the rural economy, enhancing employment and income opportunity in the rural communities as well as providing income to the small farmers. keywords agriculture, mushroom, characteristics of prospect ten varieties, non-sterile using fermentation, swot analysis, philippines 3 international peer reviewed journal introduction the philippines has an ideal environmental condition for mushroom cultivations. it is particularly conducive for growers interested to grow tropical mushrooms. in addition, the warm climate is favorable for mushroom growing, appropriate for training, and it will pave the way for the mushroom growers’ better life, and successful mushroom production will be corroborated by them. the philippine government is preparing a 5-year plan for mushroom industry development. with this plan, more production of mushroom awaits the community that could improve the living conditions of the farmers. global mushroom production started in the 1800’s. there is a high demand of mushroom due to factors like increase in population, market expansions, changing of consumer lifestyle, and improved storage facilities and marketing strategies. the world mushroom production has attained 33.4 million tons in 2007 compared to 26million tons in 2000. china, united states of america and netherlands rank as the top three producers of mushrooms worldwide. china being the frontrunner in mushroom production, has an industry characterized with high output, great cultivating variety, and diverse cultivation pattern (yu, 2008), 12 % in the usa, and 8% in the netherlands. the fujian edible mushroom industry had an output value that is growing each year, continuously enriching the edible fungus types, and mushroom processing industry developed rapidly (hui-juan, 2012). the cultivated mushroom industry in korea is also much larger more diverse (berch & ka, 2007). pasteurization or sterilization is very important in oyster mushroom growing. it is often the most costly part in the production since fuel is needed in the steaming or boiling process. venturing in this business requires a complicated and labor-intensive procedure. it could have been very easy, fast and cheaper if pasteurization or sterilization will not be considered in the cultivation of mushroom (khan, 2004). mushroom cultivation could be a significant agricultural activity in the philippines since the consumption is increasing, and drought is the main problem in the area. with almost half of philippines’s mushroom sales coming from other countries, mushrooms can be considered as high-valued crops in the philippines. however, some potential growers are becoming concerned about the decrease of mushroom profitability and the future of the mushroom industry in the philippines. hence, this study was conducted to present the prospect of the mushroom cultivation in the philippines and how it can benefit the marginal farmers. 4 jpair multidisciplinary research materials and methods data collection secondary data related to the situation and production of mushroom in the philippines were collected and assessment on the cost of production of growing oyster mushrooms was conducted in claveria, misamis oriental. the cost analysis of mushroom was done in terms of the fixed and variable costs. ocular survey was also used to validate some information gathered from the study. the nonsterile fermentation of mushroom production was done in moscat, claveria, misamis oriental using the available resources found in the community. data analysis the research used the descriptive statistics to answer specific indicators in the status and potential of mushroom industry in the philippines. the assessment also utilized the swot analysis to identify the strengths and opportunities of mushroom production and explain the advantages of mushroom production growing in rural areas in the philippines. results and discussion situation of mushroom industry according to the department of agriculture in 1995, there was an erratic production of mushroom due to the shift of mushroom growers’ interest from mushroom to rice owing to the philippine government’s implementation of various programs to boost the rice industry. however, after the production of mushroom reached the minimum level in 2009, the volume has been increasing every year with technical extension helps from da and local universities. for example in the area of claveria, misamis oriental, a koica-coaid project has been initiated to provide trainings and activities for future mushroom farmers. the mushroom industry in the philippines is dominated by many small-scale producers. however, there are also several large-scale producers, of which are located around the areas of tagaytay, batangas and baguio city, and in vismin. although no statistics is available, this group of producers accounts for about two hundred tons of oyster mushrooms; approximately 20 tons of shiitake mushrooms and 15 tons of button mushrooms produced per year. the country imports around 150 metric tons (mt) of button mushrooms yearly, mostly from taiwan, china, thailand, and japan. 5 international peer reviewed journal the volume of mushroom production has been decreasing in 1992-2009 because of the intensification of rice production. however, the possibility to increase mushroom production is very visible since there is an increase in consumption and growing consumer awareness about the health benefits of mushroom intake. figure 1. production of mushroom in the philippines figure 2. estimated volume of imported mushrooms from each country in 2012 6 jpair multidisciplinary research in the philippines, the history of mushroom production is very brief. in the succeeding years, with investments coming from public and private sectors for mushroom production, and conducting promotional activities, the production has increased with every passing day. in figure 1, the mushroom production stayed between 700 tons to 800 tons per year until 1997. then it declined to 500 tons to 600 tons per year between 1998 and 2008. then it sharply reduced to 300-400 tons per year in 2009. in developing countries like the philippines, mushroom production is not widespread. usually, mushroom enterprises are small in size. although there are some entry barriers such as a lack of farm land, droughts, high-mushroom price can push farmers to produce mushroom. mushroom production in the philippines is stagnating. nonetheless, the situation is expected to change intensely according to the various studies done in other developing countries, regarding the technology of producing mushrooms and the marketing structure of the industry (erkel, 2004). the philippines mushroom industry is at the verge of explosion with a push of the public sector, because the demand for mushroom will ever grow when the income level of the people increases. prospect of mushroom industry at present, the level of self-production for mushroom is 5% compared to the potential yield. to boost the production of mushrooms and to replace imported mushrooms from the leading mushroom producing countries, the department of agriculture (da) is putting up p8 million mushroom technology center (mtc) in tarlac. the most prominent comparative advantage of mushroom production in the philippines is that the country has a large number of agro-climatic regions that offer congenially climatic conditions for mushroom cultivation, not to mention. also, mushroom cultivation has desirable features such as low-cost production, better profit and quick turn over of products. it is in the philippines’ advantage to utilize agro-wastes as substrate materials from byproducts of rice, corn and others. these materials are relatively inexpensive, free from pollution and organic food. another comparative advantage is the abundance of cheap labor. the philippines has available and abundant source of various raw substrate materials. among them are paddy straws, sawdust, corn cobs, bagasse, banana leaves, chicken manure, lime, cassava wastes, and de-oiled cake. in almost all the regions, these materials are relatively inexpensive when compared with international prices. the philippines has a large number of agro-climatic regions that offer congenially climatic conditions for mushroom cultivation. there 7 international peer reviewed journal are cheap labor, low-cost production, high profit and quick return that leads to the improvement of the mushroom business in the philippines. the increase of mushroom consumption is positively related to the economic growth. the increase in consumer needs and demand for healthy, quality organic products will drive the development of the mushroom industry in the philippines. table 1. estimated potential production of mushroom (metric tons per ha) products(tons) agro wastes(tons) palay 4.89 2.44 white corn 1.95 0.98 yellow corn 4.58 2.29 total 11.42 5.71 *assumption: harvest is equal to agricultural wastes left in the field *source: da table 1 shows that the average yield of each crop per hectare is 11.42 tons while the total and usable substrates is 5.71 tons for mushroom. usually, the weight of the mushroom produced is equal to the weight of substrates. figure 3. estimated potential production of mushroom (kg/regions/years) figure 3 above shows the potential production of mushroom for 2011-2016 in various provinces of the philippines. it shows that there will be an increase in mushroom production each year. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research list of ten strategic mushroom varieties in philippines in the light of profitability and adaptability there are two kinds of target mushrooms. for edible mushrooms: paddy straw mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake, button mushroom, earfungi mushroom, milky mushroom, and yellowish oyster mushroom. for medicinal mushrooms: reishi mushroom, king tuber oyster mushroom, lion`s mane mushroom. there is bright future in mushroom production especially on some of the known mushroom species. the contributions from developing countries, such as china, india, poland, hungary and vietnam had greatly promoted the increase in production of mushrooms worldwide. the outlook for many of the identified mushroom species is bright. edible mushrooms are high in nutritive and medicinal value and are fitted to every person of different countries, nationalities, age groups and faiths (han et. al. 2008). experiments and studies have found verifications regarding the nutritional and medicinal uses of mushrooms. the benefit of mushrooms was confirmed in one of the trials performed for hiv/aids patients that showed very promising results. recent advancements in the mushroom industry generally have promoted production capacities, innovations in cultivation technologies, improvements to final mushroom goods, capitalizing on mushrooms’ nutritional and medicinal properties, and utilizing mushrooms’ natural qualities for environmental benefits (chang, 2006). characteristics of the prospect ten different mushroom varieties in the philippines table 2 presents the optimal growth temperatures and attributes of different mushroom varieties. these features vary with the growth stages of the varieties. there are two stages in the life cycle of pleurotus mushrooms: the vegetative stage and the reproductive stage. the shift from mycelia (vegetative) growth to the fruit body formation (reproduction) phase needs stimuli. these stimuli include sudden changes in temperature, moisture in the environment, gas concentration, light and nutrient found in the substrates, and physical stimuli. an abrupt drop in temperature is much suited to induce fruiting for most mushrooms. the oyster mushrooms thrive best at an optimal temperature of between 10 and 18°c while p. cornucopiae and p. cystidiosus perform best even at 30°c. farmers must take into account the co₂ concentrations in the substrate containers during spawn run and during fruit body development. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 2. optimal growing conditions for various mushrooms     vo va ri el la vo lv ac ea pl eu ro tu s sa jo rca ju le nt in us ed od es a ga ri cu s bi sp or us a ur ic ul ar ia au ri cu la r c al oc yb e in di ca g an od er m a lu ci du m pe ur ot us tu be r re gi um h er ic iu m er in ac eu s pl eu ro tu s co rn uc op ia e spawn run (0c) 30 10~35 23~25 23~25 25~33 25~35 10~38 28~30 22~25 20 premordial formation (0c) 28~35 18~24 10~20 15~17 15~25 24~32 25 18~22   fruiting body production (0c) 30~35 20~28 15~20 15~17 20~28 30~35 26~32 25~30 21~24 24~26 co₂ conc. (ppm) < 1000 < 1000 < 800 < 2000 < 1000 < 1000 < 1000 < 1000 < 1000 < 1000 optimum season ye ar -r ou nd su m m er sp ri ng a ut um n sp ri ng , a ut um n ye ar -r ou nd ye ar -r ou nd ye ar -r ou nd a ut um n a ut um n table 3 shows the ten varieties of edible and medicinal mushrooms such as reishi (ganoderma lucidum) and lion`s mane (hericium erinaceus). these ten varieties of mushroom are recommended for cultivation in the philippines. most of these mushrooms suit the climatic condition of the philippines except for shiitake and button mushrooms, which grow in low-temperature condition. table 3. available varieties of mushroom cultivation in the philippines common name scientific name tagalog name paddy straw mushroom oyster mushroom shiitake button mushroom ear mushroom milky mushroom reishi mushroom king tuber oyster mushroom lion`s mane mushroom yellowish oyster mushroom vovariellavolvacea peurotusostreatus lentinusedodes agaricusbisporus auricularia auricular calocybeindica ganoderma lucidum peurotus tuber regium(fr.) hericium erinaceus pleurotuscornucopiae kabutengdayami(saging) none kabutengkahoy none tengang-daga none none none none none none 10 jpair multidisciplinary research paddy straw mushroom: vovariella volvacea has good taste and suits the most high-temperature areas. it needs four to five days to mature and is most successfully grown in subtropical climates with high annual rainfall. mixed straw and fowls manure can be used to grow this type of mushroom. o y s t e r mushroom: pleurotus  is also called  oyster,  abalone, or  tree mushrooms, and are considered the widely cultivated  edible mushrooms  in the world. they are suitable for non-sterilizing cultivation, have high vitality, and resistant to pests and diseases. shiitake mushroom: lentinusedodes is an edible mushroom and believed to have medicinal uses in some forms of traditional medicine. lentinan is manufactured as an anti-cancer medicine. it is a high-income crop with good taste. it can be cultivated year-round using sawdust in recent years. button mushroom: agaricusbisporus is considered the most widely consumed mushrooms in the world. it has a closed cap with either pale white or light brown flesh. it is essential for cooking. this mushroom requires high nitrogen. ear mushroom: auricularia auricular can be found throughout the year in temperate regions worldwide. the fungus contains high-dietary fiber. it cures constipation and has a beauty effect. logs and sawdust are used to culture ear mushroom. milky mushroom: calocybeindica is an intense interest in the philippines, as well as in the world in recent years. its shape is similar to the button mushroom. it grows in a tropical climate. sawdust is used as substrate to cultivate milky mushrooms. reishi mushroom: ganoderma lucidum is also known as mushroom of immortality and is the leading medicinal mushroom in china. there are antler form and flat form. antler form contains higher bitter taste compared to the flat one. in particular, antler reishi has high-value for ornamental pot-planting as well as the value of medicinal. it can be grown year-round in a tropical area like the philippines. it has a long-term retention when dried. it thrives on logs and sawdust. king tuber oyster mushroom: peurotus tuber regium(fr.) is originated from nigeria, africa. it grows well in high temperatures of 35°c. the people who use this mushroom as food and medicine collect the sclerotia from the wild as hunger crop. it is grown in the ground like sweet potato. king oyster mushroom is the third popular type of mushroom produced and eaten in taiwan. lion`s mane mushroom: hericium erinaceusis an edible mushroom (medical mushrooms .net, 2014) and medicinal mushroom. it contains substances found responsible for reducing blood sugar and regulating lipid levels in the blood. this mushroom apparently contains antioxidant properties. scientists are trying to determine 11 international peer reviewed journal the influence of this mushroom on cases of dementia. mushroom growing is relatively simple. yellowish oyster mushroom: pleurotuscornucopiaeamong the oyster mushrooms, it grows well at relatively high temperature. the pileus colored with yellow, a functionality that is used as coloring. this mushroom is wellaccepted by mushroom growers recently. table 4. production cost of oyster mushroom quantity price(pesos) oyster mushroom gross income   30,000 pesos expected yield per month 300kg average price per kg   100 pesos total cost   13,905 pesos labor 6 300 php1,800 straw 300kg 1 php300 plastic bags(7x14”) 600pcs 0.675 php405 spawn(1kg/bag) 15bags 150 php2,250 chemicals php150 construction php9,000 (floor area of 10m2) net income php16,095 the cost of oyster mushroom cultivation differs according to areas and the manner of producing it, yet it is less expensive compared to other cash crops. the less cost of cultivating mushroom is attributed to its small space requirement and inexpensive raw materials used (celik & peker, 2009). oyster mushroom cultivation is more advantageous to farmers with crop plantation since they no longer buy substrate materials, and can utilize low-cost structures for mushroom cultivation on a seasonal basis. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research non-sterile fermentation substrate using microorganisms’ mushroom cultivation the fermentation tank size was made at 2m width and 1.5m height. the bottom of the tank was slanted to drain water, and made the drain valve outside. the tank was filled with straws up to 2/3 of tank height and was pressed tightly to the bottom of the tank. it was then filled with water until the substrates were submerged sufficiently. water was drained in two ways: 1) keep it submerged overnight with the drain value open, or 2) press the submerged substrates by foot or another instrument and then drain. once drained, the substrate was adjusted to 65% moisture content by pressing it by foot. rice bran was mixed to substrate evenly at 5-15%. rice bran is good for fermentation and yield of mushroom, but the more rice bran is added, the higher is the chance of disease to develop. if rice bran is not added, the chance of disease development is reduced, however, yield will also be reduced. after pressing the substrate well, it was covered with vinyl sheet for 3-5 days. then, the substrate was turned over 2~3 times to produce a good substrate. the fermentation method is easier, more convenient and less expensive. figure 4. diagrammatic representation of zonation in a compost heap legend: zone 1temperature approximately 35˚c, well-aerated, dry, under composed; zone 2 temperature 55 to 60˚c, well-aerated, decomposed, white flecks of firefang fungus clearly visible; zone 3 temperature 70 to 80˚c, aeration restricted; and zone 4 – temperature approximately 35˚c, yellow, foul-smelling, anaerobic. 13 international peer reviewed journal the non-sterilized method of mushroom production follows these steps: 1) two containers will be filled with 100l of water; 2) soak the wheat straw in one of the containers; 3) dissolve 5kg of limestones to the other container; 4) add the soaked wheat straw to the limestone solution; 5) add 4kg of wheat bran or rice bran and mix thoroughly. spread the remaining 10kg of dry limestone; 6) pour the mixture of wheat straw and rice bran inside the brick circle, pour water and then cover the substrate with a plastic sheet to conserve the heat, gas and humidity; 7) make shelf bricks on the floor; 8) sprinkle spawn on the substrate; 9) spread 1kg of the yellow pulse powder on the substrate; and 10) cover the shelf with a plastic sheet. ground shelf for mushroom production to make shelf for the mushroom production, dig the ground of growing house into 5~10cm depth, 60~90cm width. length may vary. make a furrow evenly then spread the vinyl on the bottom of it. crush the spawn into a soybean size. scatter a little amount of the spawn on the vinyl. put the substrate fermented to the furrow with 10~20cm depth. in the case of having enough spawn, the spawn can be mixed with the substrate. in the case of having not enough spawn, only those not showing on the surface of the substrate may be inoculated. especially, harden the surface of substrate and spawn. cover the vinyl (make needle hole with 2cm diameter in all directions) on the surface of spawn. it is better to manage the shelf at 15~20°c for 2~3 days limited because mycelia respiration heat can rise during that time, but in case of small size incubation, room temperature is no problem. it will take 3~4 weeks to incubate completely depending on the substrate amount. incubation period does not need light yet it requires high humidity such as sprinkling water on the floor and low temperature. the mushroom can be harvested in the dry weight of substrate at least. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research swot analyses of mushroom production in the philippines table 5. the opportunity of mushroom production in rural areas requires an swot analysis strengths weaknesses • cheap labor fee • abundant substrates for mushroom production • clean, free environmental pollution and organic food • increasing of mushroom consumption depending on the economic growth • low-cost cultivation, bigger income and fast return of investment • small scale and fragmented agricultural holdings • insufficiency of capital and financial resource • lack of technological development on mushroom production • insufficiency of rural infrastructure and modernization requirements • inadequacy of mushroom training and extension services and cooperation • problems of efficiency in marketing activities opportunities threats • nonsterilization by fermentation • increasing consumer needs and demand for healthy, quality and organic products • development trends of the mushroom industry • increasing tendency for demand of mushroom, • enhanced opportunities to access foreign markets • progress in production, and processing technologies • increasing pressure of rapid urbanization, industrialization (automatic bottle cultivation) • rising input prices in the world • changing trend in agricultural support policies • migration of young people from rural areas and ageing population • growing intra and inter-regional development disparities strengths. the advantages of growing mushrooms are low-cost production, abundant substrates such as straws and corn cobs, high profit and quick return. weaknesses. there are some weakness in mushroom production such as inadequacy of growing mushroom training extension services and cooperation. other is lack of technological development on mushroom production. opportunities. there are some opportunities, one of these is the application of non-sterilization method by fermentation. the other is development trends of the mushroom industry and the tendency for demand of mushroom. threats. there is the threat of rising input prices in the world. also, there is the increasing pressure of rapid urbanization and development. the study used secondary data to present the figures on the volume and the cost of producing mushrooms and that the non-fermentation method of preparing substrates for mushroom growing is not yet widely practiced by 15 international peer reviewed journal farmers. in this case, there is a need to make further investigation on the potential of mushroom production in the community. conclusions mushroom is the right crop which can contribute much to poverty alleviation due to its low set-up cost, high-price margin and quick returns. since it requires cheaply agricultural wastes and relatively small space make mushroom growing more accessible for the poor and landless farmers. with the use of non-sterile fermentation method, mushroom growing would be much easier, faster, and economical. in addition, it provides the growers high nutritional value food and livelihood. therefore, in a capital scarce, but labor abundant countries like the philippines, the suitable technique is non-sterile method using fermentation for a profitable source of income for the mushroom growers. there are many remarkable ecological advantages in mushroom cultivation. one is the efficient re-integration of agricultural residues such as manures, straws, sawdust and others. the spent mushroom substrate can be utilized either as feed to animals or as compost for use in the farm. recommendations based on the results of the study, the mushroom industry must be strengthened to maintain its vibrance and to further its development for the rural economy. mushroom cultivation could potentially contribute to increasing and diversifying business and employment opportunities in the rural areas especially the small farm growers. mushroom production technology should be introduced to the marginal and landless farmers to get an advantage of its feasible practices and quick return of investment. the local government, the department of agriculture as well as the academe could support the program by providing trainings and seminars to interested farmers. literature cited berch, s. m., ka, k. h., park, h., & winder, r. 2007 development and potential of the cultivated and wild-harvested mushroom industries in the republic of korea and british columbia. journal of ecosystems and management, 8(3). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research celik, y., & peker, k. 2009 benefit/cost analysis of mushroom production for diversification of income in developing countries.  bulgarian journal of agricultural science, 15(3), 228-236. chang, s. t. 2006 china training manual on mushroom cultivation technology. united nations economic and social commission for asia and the pacific centre for agricultural engineering and machinery. erkel, e. i. 2004 the determination of cultured mushroomproduction potential in kocaeli, turkey.7thnationalconference on the cultured mushroom, university ofakdeniz, korkuteli vocational college, turkey. pbsociety. org.pl › home › vol 81, no 1 han, s. h., su, c. a., fan, a. l., & xu, s. s. 2008 cultivation utilization and development of edible fungi in china. edible fungi chin, 27, 3-5. hui-juan, l. i. n. 2012 analyzing on development present situation and countermeasure of fujian edible mushroom industry [j].  fujian agricultural science and technology, 8, 037. kiral, t., kasnakoglu, h. tatlidil, f. f. fidan h. & gundogmus, e. 1999 the methodology of agricultural product cost calculation. teae issue no; 37.ankara, turkey. retrieved from http://goo.gl/yem3ok medical mushrooms.net 2014 information about reishi, lingshi, shiitake, cordyceps, maitake etc. retrieved on july 24, 2014 from http://goo.gl/bu3ptb yu, l. i. 2008 present situation and prospect of chinese edible mushroom industry [j]. journal of jilin agricultural university, 4, 016. 15 international peer reviewed journal phytochemical screening, cytotoxic activity, and proximate analysis of split gill mushroom (schizophyllum commune) ricky b. acanto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3508-6847 ricky.acanto@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental van helen s. cuaderes http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1673-3711 vanhelen.cuaderes@antiquespride.edu.ph university of antique sibalom, antique priscila h. gimoto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-510x 101precy@gmail.com col. griffin national high school calatrava, negros occidental originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract mushrooms play an essential role in the ecosystem and have provided humans with numerous benefits in terms of food and medicinal sources. the study was conducted to determine the phytochemical constituents, vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.542 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 16 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 cytotoxic activity, and proximate analysis of a widespread mushroom in the region,schizophyllum commune. qualitative phytochemical analysis and cytotoxic activity of the ethanolic extract were conducted using the test tube method and brine shrimp lethality assay (bsla).proximate analysis was carried out using the standards the association of analytical chemists set. results revealed the presence of saponin, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, proteins, and carbohydrates. the linear regression analysis showed that the extracts exhibited a highly cytotoxic activity on brine shrimp with an lc 50 value of 55.64 ppm. the cytotoxicity of the extract is mainly attributed to its phytochemical content. proximate analysis revealed that the sample was composed primarily of moisture with high protein and low-fat content levels. results support that s. commune is a good protein source and a healthy diet choice. the study may serve for further ethnobotanical, nutritional, and pharmacological studies. keywords — health science, bsla, cytotoxic activity, phytochemicals, proximate analysis, schizophyllum commune, philippines introduction human survival, from food, shelter, and other basic needs, has depended on the natural environment. through time, we have developed ways to use or extract the components of living organisms, primarily plants, for countless ways and advantages. today, we have continued our exploration to address the emerging concerns on health and well-being as harvey (2008) emphasized that most of the active ingredients of medicine have been from natural products as the source. in addition, utilizing raw materials from the environment answers the need to develop organically produced and environment-friendly products, given that they are appropriately used(cooper-ordoñez et al., 2019; newman & cragg, 2020; veeresham, 2012). the exploration of natural products has led to the discovery of various important compounds to our benefit, especially in drug discovery. this field has faced challenges; however, improved analytical tools, genome mining, engineering strategies, and microbial culturing advances have opened opportunities for researchers (atanasov et al., 2021; khan, 2018).in addition, most of the active compounds have been isolated from plant and microbial sources. however, few studies on the biosynthetic pathways of fungi have been carried out in the past years (schmidt-dannert, 2015). 17 international peer reviewed journal mushrooms are typically used for food, but they also produce a variety of medicinal substances and carbohydrate-active enzymes (de mattos-shipley et al., 2016). s. commune, as one of the most widespread fungi in the world, produces a wide range of hydrolytic enzymes such as xylanases, endoglucanases, a large number of protein‐coding genes, and expansins‐like proteins, which are the potential to be used in a variety of biotechnological processes (tovar-herrera et al., 2015). also, s. commune is being studied for gene integration (knock-in) (vonk & ohm, 2021); alternative gene splicing (gehrmann et al., 2016); isolation of the first naturally occurring iminolactones from its fruiting bodies (liu et al., 2015); sesquiterpenes that inhibit fungal growth and modify bacterial motility (wirth et al., 2021); and schizophyllan, a commercially attractive biopolymer use in various industries (mohammadi et al., 2018). studies also showed the potential application of s. commune to the biodiesel industry (singh et al., 2015); the combination of s. commune and cellulase resulted in a considerable increase in ethanol production rate (horisawa et al., 2019). commonly known as split gill mushroom, s. commune is one of the many fungal species abundant in the philippines. field reyes et al. (2013) cited local terms for the mushroom, including kurakding for bicolanos, kudopdop for visayans, and kudit for ilocanos. this species is described as a tiny, light-brown fungus that clings tomoist rotting tree branches,particularly after a lengthy rain (ortega, 2012). tantengco and ragragio (2018) have underscored that aeta communities in the philippines have utilized this mushroom as food and medicine. s. commune extracts have been found to have antimicrobial activity (acanto & cuaderes, 2021)and anti-inflammatory activity (du et al., 2016), antioxidant and cytotoxic potential (romadhonsyah et al., 2022). kaur et al. (2018) also reported insecticidal potential and genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of the extracts. these properties are due to the polysaccharide schizophyllan, a multipurpose compound applicable in many fields, including the food industry and pharmacy (zhang et al., 2013). the abundance of s. commune in the local community and its potential have led the researchers to pursue an investigation into this fungus. this study focused on determining the phytochemical constituents and cytotoxic activity of split gill mushroom s. commune ethanolic extracts. moreover, it sought to determine the values of macronutrients in the sample through proximate analysis; to further enrich the literature and explore the fungus’s potential. the present study aimed to determine the phytochemical constituents and cytotoxic activity of split gill mushroom s. commune ethanolic extracts and conduct a proximate sample analysis. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 objectives of the study specifically, the study aimed to (1) determine active compounds present in the extracts through phytochemical analysis, (2) test the cytotoxic activity of the extracts using the brine shrimp lethality assay, and (3) determine the total protein content, total fat content, crude fiber, total ash content, and free nitrogen extract of the sample through proximate analysis. utilizing local raw materials, in this case, s. commune, withits potential to benefit humans,would provide opportunities to have a cheaper alternative to producing natural products. since the compounds are extracted from nature, it would lessen the adverse effects on humans and the environment compared to synthetically-produced ones. thus, a safer and more environment-friendly option. it may also pave the way for discovering new possibilities for using the species. in terms of local and cultural significance, this will give value to s. commune, which is most often neglected in terms of its importance, especially in the economic aspect. moreover, people in the community shall be recognized regarding their cultural practices, which involve this fungus. lastly, this will encourage people to value s. commune as part of the natural ecosystem that has a significant role in the balance of nature. materials and methods preparation of materials, chemicals, and reagents. laboratory materials needed for the study were obtained from carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) science laboratory. all chemicals and reagents used for phytochemical screening of the samples were of analytical grade. samples were analyzed at the negros prawn producers cooperative, bacolod city, negros occidental. collection of schizophyllum commune. the fresh samples were collected in the minapasuk, calatrava, negros occidental forests and were documented and photographed using a digital camera. s. commune growing on the dead logs were scraped using a cutter, put in a resealable bag, and placed in a plastic container to avoid the rapid drying of the sample. the collected samples were brought to the chmsc science laboratory for processing. the samples were separated and cleaned from unwanted debris, washed with running water, and rinsed with distilled water. after cleaning, the samples were air-dried for a week before analysis. the dried specimens were then covered 19 international peer reviewed journal with paper, packed in a resealable plastic bag, and put inside the thermo-chest to preserve its freshness and avoid further enzymatic activity during transportation. a. the s. commune is growing in the dead-decaying coconut petioles. b. the sample after being cleaned from unwanted debris. c. the ethanolic crude extract of s. commune. morphological identification. the samples were identified by comparing the specimen’s macroscopic characteristics to published literature and online identification keyssuch as mushroomobserver.org (n.d.)and mycokey morphing mushrooms identifier (petersen & læssøe, n.d.). extraction of the sample. the sample was thinly chopped and pulverized using a mortar and pestle after being oven-dried for several hours at 50 degrees celsius. to avoid enzymatic activity, the pulverized material was immediately immersed in 95 percent ethanol and macerated for 48 hours before extraction. after then, the mixture was filtered using filter paper. the collected filtrate was subjected to the rotary evaporator with controlled temperature and revolution to achieve the desired consistency of the extract. a flame test was done to ensure no alcohol mixture was present in the extract. phytochemical screening. phytochemical screening of s. commune ethanolic crude extract was carried out using the test tube method described by aguinaldo et al. (2005) and (tiwari et al., 2001). the extract was screened for saponin, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides, proteins, amino acids, and carbohydrates. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 proximate analysis. proximate sample analysis for moisture content, carbohydrates, proteins, crude fibers, fats, and ash was carried out using the standards set by the association of analytical chemists (ensminger, 1976). brine shrimp lethality assay (bsla).brine shrimp lethality assay was done according to the principles and protocol described by aguinaldo et al. (2004)with slight modification. brine shrimp (artemia salina) eggs were placed in a small modified container filled with brine solution, covered with aluminum foil, aerated, and illuminated on the side of the chamber. after forty-eight hours of incubation at room temperature, the active nauplii attracted to the brighter side of the hatching chamber were collected using the pasteur pipette. samples for testing were prepared using the procedure described by (peteros & uy, 2010) by dissolving 50 mg of crude extract in 5 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) and diluted with a brine solution to produce the required concentrations. an appropriate amount of the concentrations was transferred to vials with ten shrimps in each sample vial. tests were done along with control and different concentrations in triplicate. preparation of the artificial sea water.3.8 grams of rock salt was dissolved per 100 ml of distilled water. s. commune extract preparation. a 50 mg of s. commune extract was dissolved in 5 ml methanol to make solution a. extract 0.5 ml of solution a and added with 10 ml methanol to make solution b. pipette 100 μl of solution b, 50 μl of solution a and 500 μl of solution a into separate vials, and labeled 1,2, and 3, respectively.a control vial was prepared using one ml of methanol. all bottles were dried under nitrogen gas. five replicates were made for each dose level. hatching the brine shrimp. a shallow rectangular dish was filled with artificial seawater. the dish was placed with a plastic divider punched with several 2 cm holes to divide the dish container into two unequal compartments. the larger compartment was covered with black paper to keep away from light and left the smaller chamber uncovered and illuminated with light. after 48 hours, the hatched brownish-orange naupliiwere pipetted from the illuminated compartment of the dish. counting the nauplii. the nauplii were pipetted and counted macroscopically in the stem of the pasteur pipette, held against a well-lighted background. food for the brine shrimp.a 3 mg dry yeast suspension was prepared in 3 ml artificial seawater. 21 international peer reviewed journal the concentration of s. commune sample vials 1, 2, & 3. each sample vialwas diluted with five ml of artificial seawater to make a final concentration of 10 μg/ml, 100 μg/ml, and 1000 μg/ml. using the pasteur pipette, ten (10) nauplii were transferred into each vial labeled 1,2, and 3, and control vials previously prepared. five ml of artificial seawater was added to each vial, control, and sample. a drop of yeast suspension served as their food was added to each vial and kept under illumination. survivors were counted after six hours and after 24 hours. percent of deaths for each dose level and control vials was determined. a. the sample vials with control and different concentration: 10 ppm, 100 ppm, and 1000 ppm b. hatching the nauplii using the rectangular dish and study lamp. lethal concentration determination. survivors were counted after 24 hours, and the percentage mortality at each vial and control were determined using the equation: statistical analysis. percentage composition was used in the sample’s proximate analysis and the nauplii’s mortality rate. moreover, linear regression was used to determine the concentration at which lethality to brine shrimp represents 50% (lc50). results and discussions phytochemical screening. saponin, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, proteins, and carbohydrates were found to be present in the ethanolic extracts of s. commune after the phytochemical screening. however, results revealed 22 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 negative results for glycosides and amino acids. these compounds, the secondary metabolites, exhibit physiological activities in humans. table 1. results of phytochemical screening of s. commune ethanolic extract secondary metabolites reagents positive results experimental results saponin distilled water continuous frothing + tannins 1% gelatin solution green to a black precipitate + alkaloids mayer’s reagent brick-red precipitate + flavonoids lead acetate solution black cloud/black precipitate + terpenoids sulfuric acid solution a dark brown/black precipitate + glycosides ferric chloride solution upper layer: bluish-green colorlower layer: brownish-red color proteins 4% sodium hydroxide and 1% copper sulfate solution violet/pink color formation + amino acids 5% ninhydrin solution purple color formation carbohydrates α-naphthalene solution brownish-red precipitate + (+) presence (-) absence previous literature further confirms results regarding the bioactive compound present in the extract. flavonoid, phenol, and saponin were present in s. commune mycelial ethanolic extracts (berfilamen et al., 2013). also, ethyl acetate extracts of s. commune revealed the presence of phenolics and terpenoids (sharma et al., 2021).flavonoids and tannins, as well as steroid and coumarin compounds, were detected in ethanolic extracts (herawati et al., 2021). cytotoxic activity. the cytotoxic activity of s. commune ethanolic crude extracts using the brine shrimp lethality assay is shown in table 2. mortality of nauplii were 18, 68, and 90 at 10 ppm, 100 ppm, and 1000 ppm, respectively. utilizing lc50, the ethanolic extracts exhibited cytotoxic activity on brine shrimp with an lc50 value of 55.64 μg/ml or ppm using the linear regression analysis, which is less than 1000 μg/ml or ppm concentration. the extract contains active or potent constituents which are highly toxic to cells (clarkson et al., 2004; meyer et al., 1982).this activity of s. commune is due to the different bioactive compounds present in the extract. bsla is an essential preliminary cytotoxicity assay of plant extract and others based on the ability to kill cultured laboratory larvae (nauplii) (sarah et al., 2017).however, this method cannot determine the mechanism of action of the bioactive compounds present in the extract. 23 international peer reviewed journal table 2. cytotoxic activity of schizophyllum commune ethanolic crude extracts using the brine shrimp lethality assay (bsla) extract conc. (μg/ml) ppm no. of surviving nauplii after 24 hours no. of survivors % mortalityvial 1 vial 2 vial 3 vial 4 vial 5 s. commune 10 9 8 7 9 8 41 18 100 2 3 2 4 5 16 68 1000 0 0 0 2 3 5 90 the study validated kaur et al. (2018)results as they reported that s. commune extract had insecticidal activity due to its long-term cytotoxic and genotoxic effects against s. litura. the result on cytotoxicity of the extracts is further confirmed by (emsen et al., 2017) that acetone and n-hexane extracts of s. commune exerted substantial in vitro cytotoxic effects against the hepatocellular liver carcinoma. though different solvents and methods were used, it can be resolved that the solvents used were organic, and both were tested in eukaryotic cells. cytotoxicity of extracts is attributed to the presence of alkaloids (isah, 2016), flavonoids (ahmed et al., 2016), and phenolics el-ansari (2019).in this study, phenolics are present in the form of tannins and flavonoids. van dyk et al. (2009) assert that obtaining drugs with different structural features and evaluating the cytotoxicity is a recognition and validation of ethnomedicinal practices. the cytotoxic activity of s. commune recognizes the role of the species in the heritage of the people in the community. proximate analysis. proximate analysis was developed to provide a broad, toplevel classification of food components (greenfield & southgate, 2003).results of proximate analysis of s. commune are presented in table 3.data indicates that s. commune is rich in moisture (60.60%), nitrogen-free extract (25.15%), crude protein content (7.63%), and ash content (6.17%).ash content is the basis of the mineral content of the s. commune. crude fiber and fat materials are 0.18% and 0.27%, respectively. table 3. proximate analysis of schizophyllum commune test mean moisture (gravimetric-oven drying at 105 0c) 60.60% ash (oxidation at 550 0c) 6.17% crude fiber (aoac method) 0.18% fat (soxhlet extraction method) 0.27% protein (kjeldahl method) 7.63% nitrogen free extract 25.15% 24 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 edible mushrooms have been part of the human diet in addition to plant and animal sources of food. chang and miles (2004) added that besides their high-quality protein, mushrooms are a relatively good source of nutrients such as fat, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins, including thiamine, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, ergosterol, and niacin. focusing on the protein component of s. commune, the study’s results showed a lower protein percentage of the sample of 7.63% than what longvah and deosthale (1998) revealed with 16%.the difference in the protein levels is due to the type of substrate the mushrooms are growing (salami et al., 2016).the same is also true for other components analyzed for the analysis, such as the ash and nitrogen (hoa et al., 2015). conclusions the schizophyllum commune ethanolic crude extract contains phytochemicals or bioactive compounds: saponin, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, proteins, and carbohydrates. as the phytochemical analysis has revealed, the cytotoxic activity of the extract against brine shrimp (a. salina) is mainly attributed to the presence of alkaloids and flavonoids. the proximate analysis showed that s. commune can be a source of protein and may be included in the diet. the result of the study supports the traditional medicinal alternative use of s. commune as well as a good source of protein for diet. based on the possible relationship between brine shrimp lethality and bioactivity, this study could serve for further ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological research. acknowledgement the authors are grateful to the people of minapasuk, calatrava, negros occidental, philippines, for identifying and collecting the wild mushroom used in the study. also, the negros prawn producers cooperative diagnostic laboratory in bacolod city for sample analyses. literature cited acanto, r. b., & helen cuaderes, v. s. 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(2021). targeted gene knock-in reduces variation between transformants in the mushroom-forming fungus schizophyllum commune. open research europe, 1(140), 140. wirth, s., krause, k., kunert, m., broska, s., paetz, c., boland, w., & kothe, e. (2021). function of sesquiterpenes from schizophyllum commune in interspecific interactions. plos one, 16(1), e0245623. zhang, y., kong, h., fang, y., nishinari, k., & phillips, g. o. (2013). schizophyllan: a review on its structure, properties, bioactivities and recent developments. bioactive carbohydrates and dietary fibre, 1(1), 53-71. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research menstruation awareness, beliefs and taboos: a study of gujarat (india) smruti bulsari http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0651-3275 bsmruti@hotmail.com mycor human capital solutions pvt ltd, vapi, gujarat – india minasree saikia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4836-1839 minasree@gmail.com veer narmad south gujarat university surat, gujarat – india gaurang rami http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9250-9629 grami@vnsgu.ac.in veer narmad south gujarat university surat, gujarat – india kiran pandya http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6777-4647 kmpandya@vnsgu.ac.in veer narmad south gujarat university surat, gujarat – india originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract menstruation is an integral yet neglected aspect of a woman’s health. the reasons for this neglect could be because of the beliefs and taboos associated vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.600 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 165 international peer reviewed journal with it. this study examines the awareness and beliefs about menstruation and taboos practiced during the menstrual cycles. this study focuses on girls and women from different socioeconomic backgrounds in gujarat, india. the data are collected by administering a questionnaire. simple linear regression is undertaken to examine the influence of socioeconomic factors on awareness, beliefs, and taboos. the results reveal that education, region (rural and urban), and the extent of development of the district (developed, developing, tribal) are the main factors that influence the awareness, beliefs, and taboos associated with menstruation. however, occupation influences awareness, marital status, and family type influence beliefs, whereas age and religion influence taboos. keywords — health science, menstruation, beliefs, culture, healthcare, india introduction menstruation management is important for females for reproductive and overall health. however, discussing menstruation is considered taboo across cultures and geographical regions. menstruation is associated with shame, fear, and agony. the taboos, beliefs, and inhibitions associated with menstruation have led to many unhygienic practices. this harms reproductive health in particular and, thus, overall health. mahon and fernandes (2010) observed that women use reusable clothes (torn from used saris) in india, nepal, and bangladesh in order to get the menstrual blood absorbed. some tribes in india wear a flared petticoat and use the flair (pleated and tucked) to absorb the menstrual blood. menstruation is a natural phenomenon in which inner linings of the uterus, along with blood, flows out of the body every 28 days. the onset of menstruation is an indicator of puberty amongst females and is known as menarche. since the onset of menarche, normal menstrual cycle bleeding occurs for 3 to 7 days every month until menopause. problems associated with menstruation are not limited to gynaecological problems, but most problems are due to ignorance about the process, beliefs, and taboos. this lack of awareness about menstruation and ignorance about it results in inadequate and improper care and cleanliness. poor menstrual hygiene is directly related to illnesses associated with urinary tract and reproductive tract infections (dasgupta et al., 2019). thus, awareness about menstrual health and hygiene issues is necessary for its own sake as well as for guiding the adolescent girls in the family and neighborhood. therefore, it is important to deal with inhibitions to discuss health-related issues, more specifically, menstrual health issues. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research initiation of menstruation is linked to women’s entry into the reproduction age; however, prevailing traditions and cultural practices make this transition seem scary and difficult (dhingra et al., 2009). many girls/women are found to have little information and misconceptions about the physiological changes at menarche. most of this information is acquired from their mothers, friends, and teachers. theses information influences girls’ emotional state, mentality, lifestyle, and most importantly, health. education, age, region (rural/urban) etc. have a bearing on a girl/woman’s knowledge and understanding of menstruation issues as well as in their beliefs and behavior (alharbi et al., 2018). it is often found that menstruating girls are not aware of the biological reasons associated with menstruation, and this has been documented by sreenivasa et al. (2017). the lack of awareness on the causes of menstruation, irregularities in menstruation, and the importance of hygiene of private body parts affect women’s health status. a study undertaken by the district level household and facility survey (dlhs) (2010), using data collected during 2008-09, shows that more than 17% of women have menstruation-related problems. this study was undertaken in gujarat, a western coastal state of india. the percentage of women having menstruation-related problems increases with age. the percentage of women in the 25-35 age group who do not menstruate is 8.2%. the data on socioeconomic indicators are collected for these women who have problems with menstruation. there is a little gap between the percentage of rural and urban women who have problems with menstruation. the percentage of women having problems with menstruation is high among those with education less than five years (21%) and illiterate women (20.1%). data on husband’s education is also collected, and women who have a less educated or illiterate husband have more menstrual problems. muslim women have the highest percentage of menstrual problems (21.8%), and jains have the lowest (13.6%). the percentage of women with these problems is highest among scheduled castes (21.5%), though women belonging to a scheduled tribe and other backward classes having these problems are not very low (20.1% and 19%, respectively). other socioeconomic variables like income index, age at the consummation of marriage, and duration of marriage do not seem to exhibit any pattern on the percentage of women with these problems, as per the said study. the menstrual problems on which data are collected include no periods, painful periods, frequent or short periods, irregular periods, prolonged bleeding, scanty bleeding, intermenstrual bleeding, and blood clots or excessive bleeding. the cohort surveyed and was found to have menstruation-related problems comprised of 3597 women. among the problems listed by the dlhs (2010), the painful period was the most prominent, and 167 international peer reviewed journal 67.9% of women in gujarat reported. good research in any discipline enhances our understanding of issues to suggest measures to improve people’s overall well-being and welfare, and social science research is not an exception. the present study focuses on getting insights into the issues associated with menstrual management and hygiene. little research is undertaken on issues of menstrual hygiene from the social science perspective. objectives of the study the study aimed to address the following objectives, (1) to examine the awareness about menstruation among women from a cross-section of socioeconomic strata, (2) to elicit the prevailing beliefs and taboos associated with menstruation among women and society, and (3) to examine whether socioeconomic factors like education, income, occupation, religion, marital status, and region and development status of the district. methodology research design this study employs a cross-sectional, descriptive research design to examine the objectives. the data are collected using a mix of self-administered and investigators’ administered questionnaires over online, telephonic, and offline modes. these questionnaires are administered to women aged 14-49 years in selected districts of gujarat state in india. the design is descriptive as it focuses on getting insights into women’s awareness about menstruation and social beliefs and taboos associated with it. details on various socioeconomic characteristics of the sample were sought through the said survey questionnaires, which were used to get insights into the influence of these characteristics on awareness, beliefs, and taboos. it is crosssectional because the survey was conducted for only one period, from april to august 2020. research site a total of 1050 women from various districts across the gujarat state of india were sampled for collecting data. the women belonged to the age range of 14-49 years, and the first stage of stratification was developed, developing districts, and tribal districts. women belonging to the strip from valsad in 168 jpair multidisciplinary research extreme south to ahmedabad in the extreme north of gujarat were approached for the data collection. within each category of these districts, rural and urban areas were sampled, from which women with different educational backgrounds and a cross-section of income-group were selected. instrumentation a questionnaire is developed and administered to women across different parts of gujarat. the questionnaire is designed to include questions on (1) awareness, beliefs, and taboos, (2) practices during menstruation, and (3) costs of menstrual hygiene (or otherwise). the questionnaire is organized into nine modules; the first module is designed to capture the socioeconomic profile of the respondents’ modules 2 to 4 of the questionnaire asks the respondents to choose among the multiple-choice responses on awareness, beliefs, and taboos. the fifth module asks the respondents to give responses on the hygiene practices adopted by them during menstruation. the sixth module tries to seek information on the direct costs associated with hygiene practices. module 7 seeks information on explicit, indirect costs associated with menstrual and pre-menstrual syndromes and on implicit costs of taboos. module 8 seeks information on implicit costs of hygiene practices. finally, module 9 asks questions to get insights into the opportunity costs of absenteeism during menstrual cycles. in this paper, however, the attempt is to present the insights derived from modules 2 to 4, that is, on awareness, beliefs and taboos, and their association with relevant socioeconomic variables. the process of developing this questionnaire began with discussions with women doctors and gynecologists. the draft questionnaire was then discussed for adequacy of different issues of menstruation with working and non-working women. the questionnaire was then pilot tested. at each stage, the suggestions and feedback were incorporated to make the questionnaire as indepth as possible. the questionnaire responses were then triangulated with the responses from fgds. the questionnaire is administered both using online mode as well as faceto-face mode. also, the questionnaires are administered by the respondent themselves (self-administered) as well as by trained field investigators. the questionnaire is designed to get a broad understanding of menstruation issues and examine whether any differences are observed across socioeconomic groups/ demographic characteristics. a sample of 1050 girls/women across different districts of gujarat is collected using a mix of respondent-driven sampling (rds) and multi-stage stratified sampling. the online self-administered questionnaires’ 169 international peer reviewed journal link is sent via whatsapp, which employed rds, whereas the questionnaires administered by trained field investigators employed multi-stage stratified sampling. the stratification is done on developing versus developing districts, regions (rural-urban), age-group, and income-group. the sample size from the developed/developing districts versus rural/urban is given in table 1. table 1. sampling distribution across extent of development of a district and region regions rural urban developed 260 427 developing 91 103 tribal 116 21 unclassified 5 2 the ratio of self-administered to field investigators administered questionnaire was 30:70. after data cleaning, 1025 responses were retained, and 25 responses had to be discarded because of incomplete/inconsistent responses or samples outside the sampling frame (for example, some responses of the self-administered questionnaire were received from bangalore and pune, whereas the sampling frame included girls/women of gujarat state only). the reason for getting responses, outside the sampling frame, through a self-administered questionnaire was partly because of the rds approach, which constitutes the limitation of the rds approach. multi-response frequencies and percentages are used to describe the data. simple linear regression using the ordinary least squares (ols) method is used to examine the impact of different socioeconomic and demographic indicators on awareness, beliefs, and taboos. ols is one of the commonly used regression methods because of its computational simplicity. however, it requires some assumptions like the linearity of parameters, normal distribution of the dependent variable, and absence of multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity for the ols estimators to be unbiased. while ols is largely robust to the heteroscedasticity assumption, the normal distribution of the awareness, beliefs, and taboos scores is ensured before applying ols. the absence of multicollinearity is also ensured. in this paper, the discussion is confined only to awareness, beliefs, taboos, and usage patterns. 170 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion socioeconomic factors’ influence on awareness, beliefs, and taboos this section presents the results obtained by analyzing the responses received from the respondents. three different scores for (1) awareness, (2) beliefs, and (3) taboos are generated, and these scores are regressed against the socioeconomic factors: age, education level, occupation (nature of work), marital status, religion, region, and the development status of the district. menstruation awareness literature on menstruation awareness among women shows a mixed pattern: women seem to be aware in some regions of india, whereas, in other regions, women are found to have less awareness. patel and patel (2016) examined the practices among the 203 girls-students of mbbs (under-graduate) program at the gujarat medical education and research society (gmers) located in valsad (gujarat, india). they found that the girls were aware of the duration of the menstrual cycle, and they knew about menstruation well before their menarche. santra (2017) undertook a study in the baghbazar slum, an urban slum of kolkata (west bengal, india), on 160 women of reproductive age (15 to 45 years) and found similar results. sreenivasa et al. (2017) examined the awareness regarding menstruation among the 400 adolescent school girls from 5 schools of bangalore medical college and research institute (bmcri). the girls were found to have good awareness about menstruation (as a biological process), the approximate age of attaining menarche, and the duration of menstruation. chadalawada and kala (2016) examined menstrual hygiene practices among 150 girls of a secondary school in the rural vijaywada, the field practice area of siddhartha medical college. they found that a majority of the girls have awareness about menstruation prior to their onset of menarche. thakur et al., 2014) examined the menstrual hygiene awareness among 192 (96 adult & 96 adolescent) women belonging to a low socioeconomic community of the bombay development department, chawls in mumbai and found that relatively fewer girls in the age group of 15 to 24 years had information about menstruation before their menarche, but that was not adequate. srinivasa and manasa (2017) undertook a study on 486 school-going girls studying in 8th to 12th standard of one of the government girls high school in bengaluru and found that only 31.06 percent of girls had awareness about menstruation before menarche. prajapati and patel (2015) undertook a study on examining the menstrual hygiene awareness 171 international peer reviewed journal among adolescent girls on 88 adolescent girls, who are enrolled in the seven different anganwadi centers (awcs) under the 24 urban health training centres (uhtc) of gujarat medical & education research society (gmers) medical college, gandhinagar. only 39.8 percent of girls had information about menstruation before their menarche and the source of information about menstrual cycles, and only 17 percent of girls had correct information on the source of menstrual blood. some girls had a misconception that menstrual blood contains toxic substances. this study conducted an in-depth inquiry into awareness associated with physical changes, hormonal and associated changes, which is the major contribution of this study to the existing literature on menstruation awareness. the details of awareness about the changes at, and prior to, menarche are given in table 2. table 2. bodily changes and menstruation awareness awareness parameters frequency percentage breast development 839 81.85 growth of pubic hair 813 79.32 growth of armpit hair 812 79.22 overall physical changes 783 76.40 hormonal changes 660 64.39 mood changes 669 65.27 body ready for reproduction 499 48.68 realization of medical conditions 264 25.76 source of menstrual blood 488 47.61 normal gap between two cycles 573 55.9 one can see from table 2 that more than 75% of respondents were aware of physical changes that take place at menarche; around 65% are aware of hormonal and mood changes. however, less than 50% are aware that the body is getting prepared for reproduction whereas, only 25% are aware that a medical condition like endometriosis, polycystic ovarian disorder (pcod), etc., could be diagnosed at menarche or soon after that. to examine the impact of socioeconomic factors on menstruation awareness, an awareness score is developed. the awareness score is generated by summing up the number of “yes” responses for each aspect of awareness. thus, the maximum 172 jpair multidisciplinary research score of awareness is 10, and the minimum is zero. the awareness score is regressed against the socioeconomic factors. awareness score is then regressed against the relevant socioeconomic factors1. the results of the regression are given in table 3. table 3. impact of socioeconomic factors on menstruation awareness coefficients estimate std. error t value pr(>|t|) (intercept) 6.6028 0.1852 35.646 2e-16 education: illiterate -1.6055 0.6137 -2.616 0.00903 education: literate -1.2833 0.4289 -2.992 0.00284 education: up to 12th grade -0.4519 0.2294 -1.970 0.04915 education: up to primary -0.4309 0.3468 -1.242 0.21438 education: up to secondary -0.6868 0.2654 -2.588 0.00980 occupation: manual labor (outdoors) -0.2180 0.3782 -0.576 0.56455 occupation: non-working -1.6783 0.2237 -7.502 1.37e-13 occupation: other work (outdoors) 0.5239 0.2151 2.436 0.01503 occupation: school-going student -0.9281 0.3760 -2.469 0.1373 occupation: working (indoors) -0.6832 0.2149 -3.179 0.00152 region: urban 1.0355 0.1613 6.419 2.11e-10 development status: developing -0.6839 0.1876 -4.604 4.67e-06 development status: tribal -0.3969 0.2362 -1.680 0.09327 development status: undefined -2.0754 0.8696 -2.387 0.01719 residual standard error: 2.272 on 1010 degrees of freedom multiple r-squared: 0.2441, adjusted r-squared: 0.2336 f-statistic: 23.3 on 14 and 1010 df, p-value: < 2.2e-16 the f-statistic and the associated p-value shows that the model is statistically significant. while the adjusted r-square is 0.2336, the objective of this regression is to examine the impact influence of different socioeconomic factors, holding 1 for categorical predictors like education, occupation, region, development status, etc., the coefficients are interpreted in the context of a reference category. in categorical predictors, the coefficients will be calculated for all the categories, except the reference category. in table 3, the reference category of education is “higher education,” for occupation, it is “college-going girls,” for the region, it is “rural,” and for development status, it is “developed.” these reference categories remain the same across all the regressions used in this paper. in the case of additional predictors, the reference categories are given in the footnotes of the respective regressions. 173 international peer reviewed journal for the rest. the results in table 3 show that education influences awareness; higher education is associated with higher awareness. this can be seen from the negative and statistically significant coefficients for all the categories of education, except primary education. the coefficient of primary education is also negative but not statistically significant. occupation also influences awareness scores. all the coefficients of different occupation categories are negative and statistically significant, except for manual labor (outdoors) that has a negative but statistically insignificant coefficient. thus, it can be inferred that in comparison with college-going students, the respondents in all other categories have relatively lower awareness. urban girls/women have clearly higher awareness about menstruation and menstrual hygiene compared to rural girls/women, as can be seen from the positive and statistically significant coefficient of the urban region. also, the negative and statistically significant coefficients of the categories of the development status of the districts reveal that the awareness in developed districts is clearly higher compared to developing and tribal districts. thus, there is a positive relationship between awareness and education level. the girls/women who are currently studying in higher education institutions have higher awareness than women in other occupations, including school-going girls. awareness is found to be different across different occupations. urban girls/ women have higher awareness than rural girls/women. the awareness is higher in the girls/women from developed districts than those from developing and tribal districts. kotian et al., (2017) find that the information is highest for the girls/women belonging to middle-income households, though high-income households lagged only slightly behind in terms of knowledge on menstruation. they undertook the study on a sample of 110 women visiting the lady goschen hospital and the kmc hospital both in mangalore (karnataka, india). the results further revealed that women/girls aged 15-35 years are better informed than those belonging to higher age groups. the present study does not show any association of age or income with menstruation awareness. chajhlana et al. (2019) examined the menstrual hygiene practices among 69 school-going adolescent girls aged 13 to 16 years in the urban areas of hyderabad. the results show that awareness is better among daughters of a literate mother compared to an illiterate mother. also, the daughters of working mothers show better awareness compared to the non-working mothers. thus, the 174 jpair multidisciplinary research educational and working status of the mother also seems to influence awareness about menstruation. patavegar et al., (2014) undertook a cross-sectional study on 440 adolescent school-going girls of the government schools in the field practice area of the urban health training centre at pulpralhadpur, new delhi. they, too, find that awareness was found higher among girls whose mother’s education was higher than in high school. mahajan and kaushal (2017) examined the awareness about menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of the government girls senior secondary school, shimla, himachal pradesh, and found that education of mothers had an association with the level of awareness. however, in this study, a majority of girls were found to have inadequate awareness about menstrual hygiene. anusree et al. (2014) also examined the extent of awareness about menstrual hygiene on a sample of 60 girls studying in standard 7th, 8th, and 9th studying in a girls’ school of mangalore were selected for the study. the results of their study reveal that more than 50 percent of adolescent girls did not have adequate awareness about menstrual hygiene. mothers’ occupation was found to have an association with the score of menstrual hygiene awareness. a similar study was undertaken in nepal by ghimire (2017) examined 100 girls studying in standard 7th, 8th, and 9th in two schools of dharan in nepal. she obtained similar results as of (anusree et al., 2014) that fewer girls were aware of menstrual hygiene and mothers’ occupation associated with the said awareness. thus, apart from the socioeconomic factors influencing menstrual awareness, literature shows that mother’s education and occupations play an important role. beliefs about menstruation das (2008) provides an insightful description of different beliefs associated with menstruating women in simlitola, assam. the discussion in the study reveals that the village people of simlitola believe that menstruation is impure, and that is because the blood coming out of the woman’s body is dirty or wasteful. they, therefore, believe that if a menstruating woman touches anything, it becomes impure, and thus menstruation is labelled as “a pollutant.” they believe that impurity stays with women for the entire menstruating period. this could be true of most communities and religions across india, as could be found from garg et al., (2001), who attempt to understand the experience of menstruation in the socio-cultural context of an urban slum of delhi and whether the behavior and beliefs in relation to menstruation change on moving from a rural setting to an urban slum. there could be rural-urban differences as well as across education 175 international peer reviewed journal levels, especially of mothers, on the beliefs associated with menstruation, though taboos are largely deep routed in the societies. the beliefs model examines the impact of socioeconomic background on beliefs associated with menstruation. in this study, eight different beliefs associated with menstruation are listed, and the respondents were asked to rate on a fivepoint balanced, likert-type scale. different beliefs on which the respondents are asked to rate on the five-point scale ranging from strongly believe to strongly disbelieve are: • menstruation is a disease. • menstruation is impious. • the absence of menstrual cycles is pregnancy. • menstrual blood contains dangerous substances. • pain during menstruation indicates sickness. • irregularity in menstrual cycles is a disease. • regularity in menstrual cycles but shorter than 28 days is a disease. • regularity in menstrual cycles but longer than 28 days is a disease. the belief score is developed by taking a mean of the z-score of the responses across belief measures. belief score is developed and regressed against the factors defining the socioeconomic background of the respondents2. the results of the regression are given in table 4. table 4. beliefs model: impact of socioeconomic factors on beliefs associated with menstruation coefficients estimate std. error t value pr(>|t|) (intercept) -0.047909 0.0425709 -0.958 0.33820 age 0.0014938 0.0009178 1.628 0.10391 education: illiterate -0.2513771 0.0450039 -5.586 2.99e-08 education: literate -0.0520457 0.0316999 -1.642 0.10094 education: up to 12th grade -0.0105541 0.0166527 -0.634 0.52637 education: up to primary -0.1377765 0.0248798 -5.538 3.91e-08 2 here, age is a continuous variable and hence does not require any reference category. the reference categories for marital status and family type are “currently married” and “extended family,” respectively. the reference category for education continues to be “higher education.” 176 jpair multidisciplinary research coefficients estimate std. error t value pr(>|t|) education: up to secondary -0.0929897 0.0178059 -5.222 2.14e-07 marital status: ever married (married but currently not with the husband) -0.0669419 0.0350194 -1.912 0.05621 marital: status never married -0.0326530 0.0153405 -2.129 0.03353 family type: joint 0.0289266 0.0300694 0.962 0.33628 family type: nuclear 0.0552946 0.0303170 1.824 0.06847 region urban 0.0117149 0.0118126 0.992 0.32157 development status: developing 0.0361237 0.0138954 2.600 0.00947 development status: tribal -0.0875690 0.0169901 -5.154 3.06e-07 development status: undefined 0.1140208 0.0647555 1.761 0.07858 residual standard error: 0.1686 on 1010 degrees of freedom multiple r-squared: 0.1692, adjusted r-squared: 0.1577 f-statistic: 14.7 on 14 and 1010 df, p-value: < 2.2e-16 the f-statistic and the associated p-value in table 4 show that the model is statistically significant. here too, the adjusted r-square is 0.1577, but the objective of this model is only to examine the influence of socioeconomic factors on beliefs score. a lower belief score indicates stronger beliefs, and a higher score indicates loose or no beliefs. one can see that age does not influence belief scores because the coefficient of age is statistically not significant. all the coefficients of education are negative. however, the categories illiterate, literate, and those with education up to secondary have statistically significant coefficients. thus, it can be inferred that those who have attained higher education have higher belief scores. thus, they have milder beliefs. thus, education helps one have a better understanding of the menstruation process and thus, frees one from the beliefs associated with it. the belief score of those who are either never married or those who are married but not currently living with their husbands (that is, single women/girls) has a lower and statistically significant belief score than those who are currently married. this indicates that single women have stronger beliefs compared to married women. the coefficient of the urban region is not statistically significant. this means that there is no difference in intensity of beliefs among the rural and urban girls/ women. 177 international peer reviewed journal nuclear families have a positive and statistically significant coefficient, albeit at a 10% level of significance. the coefficient of joint families is not statistically significant. thus, it can be inferred that girls/women in joint and extended families have stronger beliefs compared to those in nuclear families. the coefficients of developing and tribal districts are positive and statistically significant. this means that girls/women in developing and tribal districts have stronger beliefs compared to those in developed districts. in a nutshell, the results reveal that with an increase in education, the beliefs get milder. the intensity of beliefs is the same across rural and urban women. married women hold milder beliefs than single girls/women. girls/women in nuclear families hold milder beliefs compared to those in joint or extended families, and the girls/women from developed districts hold milder beliefs compared to the developing and tribal districts. menstruation taboos one of the oldest studies is by montgomery (1974), who examines various dimensions of taboos observed during menstruation. her ethnographic study covers forty-four different societies to examine various beliefs and taboos for women during menstruation, which are, menstruating women should not, (1) have sexual intercourse and should restrict her movements, (2) touch personal belongings of men, weapons, instruments used in agriculture and fishing, craft tools, certain crops termed as “men’s crops,” religious emblems and shrines, hams, or flowers, and (3) cook for men and should be confined to separate huts. menstrual fluid is unpleasant, contaminating, and dangerous. das (2008) identifies the taboos observed by the people of simlitola, which include: (1) the girl/woman should be confined to her bed, she is not allowed to touch anything, and once she passes the route to go to the toilet, the route is sprinkled with holy water. young girls are not allowed to go to school. they girls/women are not allowed to enter the kitchen or cook. the utensils in which she eats are washed in the backyard. married women are not allowed to sleep with their husbands. the men do not seem to have any role in supporting the women during their menstruation period. kumar and srivastava (2011) examined the prevalent social and cultural practices associated with menstruation across religions, socioeconomic background, and education regarding menstruation by conducting a survey on 117 adolescent girls and 41 mothers from residential colonies and slums in the urban area of ranchi, jharkhand. the commonest taboos include abstaining from religious practices, visiting places of worship, and touching pickles during 178 jpair multidisciplinary research menstruation. the mothers explained that because the body emits a foul smell during menstruation, preserved food turns bad. other taboos are largely guided by religion, caste, community, and age-old family beliefs. the findings also show that girls have become sensitive and aware of their health, and therefore, show a positive change in the outlook about the menstruation process. the economic status of the family is found to have a direct influence on menstrual practices. deo and ghattargi (2005) examined the perceptions and practices regarding taboos associated with menstruation in the urban and rural field practice area of swami ramanand teerth rural medical college ambajogai, beed, maharashtra, by administering a structured questionnaire on 168 adolescent schoolgirls, 94 urban schools plus 74 rural, who had attained menarche. the results of the study show that the number of girls not practicing any taboo was significantly more among rural girls compared to urban girls. the authors do not explain this finding, which seems to contradict other studies and general observations. normally, it is seen that girls in urban areas practice lesser taboos as compared to those in rural areas. the study further found that the girls observed restrictions were on the type of clothing, though there is no detailed discussion on the nature of clothing to be avoided during the menstrual cycles. other restrictions include interaction with boys, physical activities and traveling in general, or traveling alone. mahon and fernandes (2010) tried to answer some questions associated with beliefs and taboos while examining why menstrual hygiene is not a part of the water, sanitation, and hygiene (wash) initiative. the study was undertaken using a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews with a randomly selected sample of 2579 (686 students and 1893 adults not attending the school) girls and women. the study was administered in both rural and urban areas of nepal and west bengal, india. the major highlights in the context of taboos examined are attending religious functions, attending schools, cooking, doing household chores, touching males, playing, refraining from eating certain foods, and sleeping separately. in the present study, ten different taboos associated with menstruation are listed and the respondents were asked to rate on a three-point scale. the taboos for which the respondents are asked to rate on the three-point scale – “can’t do”, “can do but i don’t”, and “can do and i do” are: attend religious ceremonies, perform religious ceremonies, offer prayers, go to the place of worship, do household work, cook food, touch stored food, live a routine; life, sleep on the usual bed, play outdoors/go to work, dance, and do work involving physical strain. 179 international peer reviewed journal taboos score is developed by taking the mean of the z-scores of the responses received for different taboos. a higher taboos score indicates milder taboos, and a lower score indicates stricter taboos. the taboo score is then regressed against the factors defining the socioeconomic background of the respondents3. the results of the regression are given in table 5. table 5. taboos model: impact of socioeconomic factors on taboos associated with menstruation coefficients estimate std. error t value pr(>| t |) (intercept) 0.0430153 0.0552272 0.779 0.43623 age 0.0023557 0.0007601 3.099 0.00199 education: illiterate -0.2665177 0.0513938 -5.186 2.60e-07 education: literate -0.0373035 0.0360661 -1.034 0.30124 education: up to 12th grade -0.0491048 0.0189947 -2.585 0.00987 education: up to primary -0.1255001 0.0283103 -4.433 1.03e-05 education: up to secondary -0.1209002 0.0201695 -5.994 2.85e-05 family type: joint 0.285593 0.0344568 0.829 0.40739 family type: nuclear 0.0701960 0.0346994 2.023 0.04334 region urban 0.0655778 0.0136377 4.809 1.75e-06 development status: developing 0.0307154 0.0160797 1.910 0.05639 development status: tribal 0.0395919 0.0195425 2.026 0.04303 development status: undefined -0.199493 0.0740760 0.269 0.78775 religion: hindu -0.1581568 0.0383424 -4.125 4.02e-05 religion: jain -0.4540509 0.0472627 -9.607 <2e-16 religion: muslim -0.1766292 0.0554436 -3.186 0.00149 religion: parsi -0.1784836 0.1417960 -1.259 0.20842 religion: sikh -0.0523159 0.1423375 -0.368 0.71329 residual standard error: 0.1929 on 1007 degrees of freedom multiple r-squared: 0.21, adjusted r-squared: 0.1967 f-statistic: 15.75 on 17 and 1007 df, p-value: < 2.2e-16 the f-statistic and the associated p-value in table 5 show that the model is statistically significant. here too, the adjusted r-square is 0.1975, but the 3 the reference category for religion is “christians”. the reference categories for the rest of the variables are the same as for the regressions of table 3 and table 4. 180 jpair multidisciplinary research objective of this model is only to examine the influence of socioeconomic factors on taboos score. the positive and statistically significant coefficient of age reveals that taboos tend to get milder with age. the coefficients of different categories of education are negative and statistically significant, except for those who are just literate (with or without schooling). this indicates that the intensity of taboos gets stricter with education. this is contrary to the logic since education liberates an individual from practices that appear to be illogical. moreover, the results of beliefs show that an increase in education makes the beliefs milder. thus, this result requires to be explored further. the coefficient of taboos for women in a joint family is not statistically significant, whereas those in a nuclear family have a positive and statistically significant coefficient. thus, women in joint and extended families observe milder taboos compared to those in nuclear families. the coefficient of taboos in urban areas is positive and statistically significant. this indicates that urban girls/women have milder taboos compared the rural ones. the coefficients of taboos score for those living in developing and tribal districts is higher and statistically significant. thus, those living in developing and tribal districts have milder taboos compared to the developed ones. the taboos score of hindu, jain, muslim respondents have a negative coefficient and is statistically significant. the coefficients of taboos for parsis and sikhs are not statistically significant. thus, hindus, jains, and muslims seem to observe stricter taboos compared to christians, parsis, and sikhs. the regression results reveal that the practice of taboos appears to get milder with age—an increase in the level of education results in the lesser practice of taboos. the girls/women practices from joint and extended families practice lesser and milder taboos compared to those from nuclear families. the practices of taboos by the girls/women in urban areas are lesser and smilder than those from rural areas, and those living in developing or tribal districts practice milder taboos. christians, parsis, and sikhs observe milder taboos compared to hindus, muslims, and jains. conclusions a woman experiences menstruation every 28 days for nearly two-thirds of her life. despite menstruation being a routine for women and a precondition for conceiving, it is stigmatized for being bad and impious across societies and 181 international peer reviewed journal geographical areas. the beliefs and taboos associated with menstruation result in poor awareness about menstruation, resulting in poor menstruation management and menstrual hygiene. therefore, understanding the extent of awareness, the nature of beliefs, and the sets of taboos is important to identify the factors that might adversely impact menstrual hygiene. the impact of socioeconomic background on the awareness, beliefs, and taboos score is also examined. the data is collected using a structured questionnaire, largely from five districts of gujarat. a sample of 1050 girls/ women from different parts of gujarat, in the menstruating age range, is collected. after data cleaning, 1025 responses are retained. the respondents were asked to rate on “yes or no” alternatives about awareness about menstruation, and the intensity of beliefs on a five-point likert-type belief scale, and a three-point scale for practicing taboos. scores are calculated based on responses on each scale. the mean awareness score is 6.2 out of 10, whereas there are mixed responses about beliefs and taboos. there is an almost equal number of respondents who have strong beliefs and strictly practice the taboos, as there are respondents with mild beliefs and mild practice of taboos. each of the scores for awareness, beliefs, and taboos are regressed against the socioeconomic status of the respondents. the broad observations, based on the regression results are, awareness increases with an increase in education level. awareness was found to be different across the occupations, though except for those currently studying in higher education institutions, girls/women in any other profession, including school girls, have lower awareness about menstruation. urban girls/women have higher awareness than rural girls/women. the awareness among women from developed districts is higher than those from developing and tribal districts. educated women have milder beliefs. there is no difference in the intensity of beliefs of rural and urban women. married women have milder beliefs than single girls/women. girls/women in nuclear families have milder beliefs compared to those in joint or extended families. girls/women in developed districts have milder beliefs than those from developing and tribal districts. while age did not seem to influence awareness and beliefs, the practice of taboos appears to get milder with age. education seems to inversely influence the practice of taboos. higher the education, lesser taboos are practiced. the practices of taboos by girls/women in joint and extended families are milder compared to those from nuclear families. the practices of taboos by the girls/women in urban areas are milder compared to those living in rural areas, those living in developing or tribal districts have milder taboos. christians, parsis, and sikhs observe milder taboos compared to hindus, muslims, and jains. 182 jpair multidisciplinary research the use of mass media like television and radio can be made to create awareness among citizens, in general, irrespective of age and gender. schools should organize menstruation and menstrual hygiene awareness programs to educate girls prior to their menarche and early menstrual cycles. the government may consider including menstrual hygiene in the school curriculum to be made aware of the puberty changes. this would help in sensitizing the boys and in developing compassion towards the menstruating girls/women. translational research the findings of this research may be used by policymakers to design awareness campaigns to debunk the myths associated with menstruation and hygienic menstruation practices. the findings may be disseminated in various forms, such as an article in women’s magazines or a monograph for those with academic interests. acknowledgements this paper is based on the findings of a study sponsored by the indian council of social science research (icssr), new delhi. literature cited alharbi, k. k., alkaharan, a. a., abukhamseen, d. a., altassan, m. a., alzahrani, w., & fayed, a. 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(2014). knowledge, practices, and restrictions related to menstruation among young women from low socioeconomic community in mumbai, india. frontiers in public health, 2, 2–7. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00072 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00072 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00072 16 jpair multidisciplinary research a content and thematic analysis of student international internship reports: basis for designing alternative experiential learning activities maria cecilia e. remanente http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7160-6160 cecilia.remanente@perpetualdalta.edu.ph university of perpetual help system dalta molino bacoor city, cavite, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract schools design internship programs based on intended learning outcomes, which influence their choice of partner training establishments and setting of training activities and duration. an internship is a form of experiential learning, students acquire many unintended discoveries in completing their tasks and interacting with others. this study examines such intended and incidental learning experiences through content and thematic analysis of the internship reports of 26 students of a higher education institution (hei) located in cavite, philippines, who joined either the thailand student internship abroad program (siap) or the usa work and travel program in 2018 and 2019. these reports contained student reflections, weekly logs of their training activities, and supervisor feedback. the following nodes or units of analysis were used: type of establishment, training area, intentional learning, incidental learning, courses and activities in school that prepared them for their internship, and the supervisors’ comments on the students’ performance. the findings highlight the importance of developing students’ skills in guest handling, food preparation and styling, guiding and escorting, report preparation, and event coordination in preparation for internship. further, increased cultural knowledge and sensitivity was needed. vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.444 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 17 international peer reviewed journal these findings were used to improve the hei internship and skills enhancement program for school year 2021-2022, tempered by current situations, most notably the siap suspension and limited implementation of onsite local practicum. alternative experiential learning activities were thus proposed. keywords — international internship, experiential learning, content analysis, thematic analysis, philippines introduction the study locale is a higher education institution (hei) in the calabarzon region which considers international internships among the chief activities that draw students to the hospitality and tourism management programs. in 2018, around 18% of the fourth-year students availed these international experiences for their practicum. an immediate drop in enrollment in the hospitality and tourism management programs was seen in the school year that followed the declaration by the world health organization, in march 2020, of a covid-19 pandemic (ducharme, 2020). as of this writing, face-to-face classes have been allowed in alert level 1 status (magsambol, 2022). however, the commission on higher education (ched) has yet to lift the ban on the student internship abroad program (siap) in july 2020. travel restrictions have started easing as early as the last quarter of 2021 (rodriguez, 2020), with global vaccination rates steadily increasing (reuters, 2022). however, the prospects of educational delivery going fully back to normal remain uncertain, and a blended learning setup might continue in schools (razavi, 2020). as for practicum or internship, not all tourism and hospitality establishments have returned to full-capacity operations (hilotin, 2021), and thus their capacity to accept students as trainees remain limited. another challenge hounding school is the increase in the required minimum number of hours of practicum laboratory, from 350 to 600, effective with the curricular structure adopted since 2018 (cmo 62 series of 2017). further, following this new curriculum, many schools are expected to offer practicum in schoolyear 2021-2022, hence the immediacy of the need to finalize the details of an effective practicum design. in hospitality and tourism management programs, experiential learning plays a huge role in acclimatizing students to the challenges of working in the 18 jpair multidisciplinary research industry, which include diverse customers, high service standard expectations, and inseparability of service production and consumption (bilsland et al. 2020). reflection is an essential aspect of experiential learning, allowing the individual to create meaning (hayden & osborn, 2019). the learner interacts with and adapts to the environment, resolves conflicts in adapting, and relearns to create knowledge (hayden & osborn, 2019). the present study captures these learnings by examining the reflections contained in the students’ internship reports. internships and practicum are a form of placement-based work-integrated learning (wil) (milne & caldicott, 2016). practicum allows students to “experience industry standards” (cmo 62 s2017), as employers are deemed to be ideal assessors of professional competence (milne & caldicott, 2016). internship benefits different stakeholders. students who undergo internships receive not only academic credit and remuneration (lei & yin, 2019) but also higher starting salaries as well as better employment and career advancement opportunities (dommeyer et al., 2016; sanahuja vélez & ribes giner, 2015; wiseman & page, as cited in bilsland et al., 2020). employers benefit from the inexpensive labor that internship provides, whereas educational institutions boost their reputation: academic-industry partnerships help attract enrollees (sanahuja vélez, & ribes giner, 2015). pinto and pereira (2019) found that international internship experience did not improve ones’ perceived job suitability or starting salary, but the lack of internship experience per se made women applicants less likely to be hired. however, such findings are not generalizable; the authors used fictitious resumes in asking portuguese businesses to screen applicants for entry-level marketing positions. one apparent benefit of international exposure is increased cultural awareness (batey & lupi, 2012). international internships may provide the needed setting to acclimatize students to workplaces that have become increasingly globaloriented. the concept of international education can be traced to the grand tours for aristocrats in europe in the 18th century (younes & asay, 2003). these tours provided both intentional (formal, structured, and purposely planned) and incidental (e.g., interacting with others, completing tasks, experimenting in a trial-and-error setup) learning (younes & asay, 2003). students engaged in selfdiscovery as they were immersed in other cultures, and they experienced selfefficacy as they learned to adapt to a foreign country. further, they developed emotional resilience, flexibility and openness, perceptual acuity, and personal 19 international peer reviewed journal autonomy, as seen in the study by batey and lupi (2012) on american students who interned in the united kingdom. students at a midwestern university in the united states of america registered higher cultural intelligence scores after completing their internship in the netherlands, peru, and south korea (lambert snodgrass et al., 2021). their international internship program included living in local neighborhoods, completing academic courses, and working at a local business, following a livelearn-work model. one’s communication skills likewise improve when in a foreign country. chinese students who joined a short-term walt disney internship program reported increased comprehension and confidence in speaking english (jing & zhang, 2019). in light of the stricter protocols that the ched has prescribed for holding classes and providing wil for students, the question becomes, “how will hospitality and tourism internships be delivered?” moreover, “what alternative experiences can heis design to ensure that important learning outcomes are achieved?” as early as 2017, sykes and roy (2017) have proposed a framework for internships in hospitality programs delivered through distance learning. their framework sees internship as ground based or close to the learner’s location but supervised by the educational institution, albeit from a distance. for virtually supervised internships to succeed, sykes and roy (2017) suggest preparing a letter of commitment that outlines the program learning objectives to which both the host establishment and educational institution agree; clarifying the roles of the student, internship coordinator, and host establishment; evaluating the students’ performance based on set criteria; conducting a pre-internship seminar; requiring the student to keep a virtual log of and reflection on the internship activities, in addition to completing self-assessment; maintaining an instructormoderated discussion board that may include role-playing activities; and hosting on-site training. programs such as the siap and the usa work-and-study program operate with the same principle as the internships offered through distance education in sykes and roy’s study: the students’ practicum adviser, based in the hei, maintains communication with the students through a virtual platform. coordinating agencies that offer these programs usually provide an ocular visit of host establishments to school administrators who intend to avail the program. however, because these visits are scheduled before deploying students to the host 20 jpair multidisciplinary research establishments, they are rarely used to check student performance during the internship. objectives of the study this study is a content and thematic analysis of students’ international internship reports that addressed the following objectives: (1) to classify the students according to type of establishment and training area, (2) to describe the intentional and incidental learnings that surfaced from their narratives, (3) to determine which prior courses or school activities they considered helpful in preparing them for international internship, (4) to reveal areas for improvement in instructional delivery based on supervisors’ comments on the students’ performance, and (5) to recommend alternative experiential learning experiences that the hei can integrate in its practicum program for the school year 20212022 in light of current conditions. methodology the main source of data were 26 internship reports containing student reflections, weekly logs, and supervisor evaluations about students’ participation in either the thailand siap or usa work and travel program from 2018 to 2019. of these 26 reports, 23 were about the siap and the rest were about the usa work-and-travel program. other international internship reports were excluded as they lacked sufficient narrative or qualitative supervisor feedback. internship reports allow a methodical reflection on the trainees’ experiences, from practicum establishment selection to completing the pre-internship requirements, the actual internship, and then evaluation (santos et al., 2019). content analysis allows the researcher to select units of analysis, whereas thematic analysis allows extracting meaning from text (vaismordi et al., 2013). further, content analysis entails “identifying units of analyses, paraphrasing relevant excerpts, reducing data, categorizing the remaining data, and reviewing the categories against the original data” (flick, as cited in cohen et al., 2011). in the pre-coding stage, the researcher skimmed through the reports to identify possible units of analysis (or “nodes”). these units of analysis became the basis for classifying the narratives as follows: 21 international peer reviewed journal • type of establishment • training area • intentional learning • incidental learning • courses and activities in school that prepared them for their internship • supervisors’ comments on students’ performance after extracting relevant excerpts from the narratives and paraphrasing where needed, the researcher ordered the excerpts according to the above units of analysis. these excerpts were read at least thrice, and the researcher assigned codes based on meaning derived from the data. similar codes were then grouped, and the resulting themes were identified. results and discussion research question 1: what types of establishments and training areas the students joined in their international internship? the siap and usa work-and-travel host establishments where the students interned were generally airport lounges (42%), resorts (42%), and hotels (15%). one student was initially assigned to a resort, then to an airport lounge, and a student interned in a theme park in the usa. in terms of training batch, 14 (54%) of the students included in this study completed training in march 2019, and the rest (12, 46%) in march or summer of 2018. in terms of training department or area, eight students were assigned to more than one area. table 1 shows the different areas that the students joined. table 1. training areas baking 1 (1 bshrm) food and beverage services 6 (3 bshrm, 3 bst) front office 4 (all bst) guest services 11 (3 bshrm, 8 bst) housekeeping 4 (all bshrm) kitchen 7 (6 bs hrm, 1 bst) ride operations 1 (bst) spa 1 (bshrm) travel and tours desk 1 (bst) 22 jpair multidisciplinary research research question 2: what were the intentional and incidental learnings that surfaced from the narratives of students of a particular hei on joining the siap and usa work-and-travel program in 2018 and 2019? as shown in table 2, all the students reported that they answered guest or passenger inquiries except for one trainee assigned to do housekeeping work in a hotel for the usa work and travel program. according to supervisor feedback, the latter student needed to overcome shyness in initiating conversations with hotel guests. this finding implies the importance of training students in product knowledge to improve their confidence in talking with guests. table 2. intentional learning provided product information 25 96% handled food (i.e., food and beverage preparation and service) 18 69% escorted guests (around the hotel, to immigration express lane) 14 54% prepared daily reports (e.g., inventory of stocks, guest arrivals/lounge users, tour bookings, laundry report, etc.) 13 50% performed work that required physical strength (i.e., pushing food carts, carrying luggage, clearing tables, cleaning guest rooms and public areas) 13 50% work required special techniques or creativity (i.e., floral arrangement, napkin folding, baking, cooking, fruit/vegetable carving) 10 38% contacted other hotels, airlines, immigration 9 35% handled guest complaints 9 35% learned to use property management system to update guest information, check-in/out guests 5 19% booked airport transfers and tours 2 8% that 69% of the students were assigned to handle food and beverages implies the importance of orienting them on food safety and sanitation principles. another skill that schools should develop is guiding—which requires confidence and a keen sense of direction—because more than half (54%) of the students performed tasks that required escorting guests around the establishment. report preparation was also fairly common in their internship, as reported by 50% of the students. although establishments may provide a template for preparing these reports, students who are adequately trained in ms office and other applications, including property management and global distribution systems, tend to display increased self-efficacy in completing the task. 23 international peer reviewed journal the internship can be exhausting for students, especially when the tasks require physical strength, such as cleaning guest rooms and public areas, clearing tables, carrying luggage, or pushing heavy equipment. half of the students in this study performed some form of work that required physical exertion. also worth noting are the tasks that require dexterity and a certain degree of creativity, such as creating flower bouquets, folding linen, producing pastries, and carving fruits or vegetables, as reported by 38% of the students included in this study. coordinating with various offices and addressing guest complaints were both cited in the internship reports of 35% of the students. in properties managed by well-known brands such as wyndham, ramada, embassy suites, hilton, and kings dominion, none of the students reported dealing with guest complaints. complaints mostly arose from the lack of personnel who would immediately assist guests or passengers, limited food options and other amenities at the vip lounge, crowded tours, and tour cancellations due to inclement weather—aspects which are sometimes beyond the students’ control. one student did not use the word complaint in her narrative but instead described the passengers of a certain nationality to be rude or mean. understanding cultural differences and conflict resolution could help students deal with such guests in difficult situations. table 3. incidental learning adjusted to a different culture and language (by using google translate, teaching oneself to learn some foreign words, speaking slowly, using sign language, adjusting to spicy food) 23 88% kept a calm, professional, and friendly demeanor at all times; exercise patience 15 58% grew independent and responsible 9 35% worked long hours, especially during peak season, because the industry requires it 8 31% overcame shyness in dealing with guests; experienced increased confidence 8 31% managed their time 7 27% built harmonious relationships with peers, co-workers, and superiors; was treated as part of a family 7 27% handled difficult living conditions 6 23% appreciated/enjoyed the rich culture in the places they visited 4 15% maintained good grooming and dressed professionally 3 12% 24 jpair multidisciplinary research trained other trainees 2 8% dealt with homesickness 1 4% lamented not being assigned to other departments 1 4% not surprisingly, completing an international internship requires adjusting to the culture of that country and to the different nationalities they encountered on the job. a total of 88% of the students in this study recounted how they adapted to an initially unfamiliar environment. several students used applications such as google translate or spoke slowly and with sign language—indicative of what batey and lupi (2012) termed as perceptual acuity or increased attentiveness to other people’s verbal and nonverbal cues. as for schools, the pre-departure orientation needs to be more intentionally designed, to include understanding nuances in language, navigating unfamiliar places, or simply, being street smart. whether local or international, internship entails working with people of varied temperaments. courtesy and patience were reported by 58% of the students as important skills on the job. one student narrated that an immigration officer would often speak as though he was shouting, but this student eventually just learned to carry on with her job, unfazed by his attitude. nine students (35%) emphasized the value of independence in completing an international internship. one student recounted that it was her “first time to ride in an airplane” she learned “to approach airline personnel confidently, open a bank account, and obtain a social security number in the usa.” to quote another student, “i learned to be thrifty in handling my money,” whereas another said, “i learned to make my own decisions.” eight students (31%), all assigned to the airport lounge, complained about rendering too much overtime work. on some occasions, they had to forego their breaks because of the volume of passengers they needed to assist. one student assigned to the front office initially wanted to record guest information but eventually enjoyed talking to guests of different nationalities. she is one of eight students in this study (31%) whose confidence in interacting with people grew over three months of internship. other learnings focused on the importance of managing one’s time (27%), building harmonious work relationships (27%), and handling difficult living conditions (23%). these realizations prepare one for adulthood and can be seen as offshoots of living independently. one us intern would sometimes walk long distances from her apartment to her workplace or the mall as no buses were 25 international peer reviewed journal available. another student complained about the inconvenience of taking a 10to 15-minute boat ride daily, under the scorching heat of the sun, to reach the resort. others dealt with faulty air conditioning at their dormitory. these findings imply the need to brief students about housing conditions and commuting to work to set their expectations properly. yet scholars (batey & lupi, 2012) view these discomforts as a turning point in one’s journey of self-discovery, thus labeling study-abroad internships as ‘transformational learning opportunities.’ students learn about complex socio-economic issues and, in the process, gain increased self-confidence. by contrast, 15% of the students in the study reported immensely enjoying the rich culture (e.g., holiday traditions, dances) of the country where they interned. two trainees were asked to host the holiday festivities at the resort where they worked. on one hand, the relatively short duration—two months—of these international internships may have reduced the usual misgivings in being away from home (penington & wildermuth, as cited in batey and lupi, 2012). working alongside peers (i.e., the case of the students who joined the siap thailand program as a large delegation) and having relatives whom one can visit if needed (i.e., the case of students who joined the usa work-and-travel program) helped them in coping with isolation. on the other hand, short-term internships could also mean that exposure is confined to “surface” rather than “deep” cultural norms of the host country (batey & lupi, 2012). recommended duration for study abroad programs is one year (gates, 2014) to achieve full immersion in the language and culture of the host country. certain realizations were confined only to a few of the students, but they need to be addressed, nonetheless. one student—an active leader in school and presented herself well—lamented not being assigned to other departments as she remained in housekeeping for the duration of the internship, handling laundry and maintenance of public areas and guestrooms. intentionality of program design (lambert snodgrass et al., 2021; pagano & roselle, 2009) is thus important to ensure that students receive the full breadth of the internship experience. research question 3: what were the prior courses or school activities that helped students in their internship? not all the students who participated in the study answered this question (part of the self-evaluation for siap participants) or discussed it in their internship 26 jpair multidisciplinary research report. the pre-practicum seminar and career orientation (19%) were deemed most helpful among those who did. some students cited particular courses such as destination marketing, tour guiding, culinary, and the skills certification training completed. research question 4: what were the supervisors’ comments on the students’ performance in the host establishments? the supervisors in us work establishments generally provided lengthy assessments of the students. one supervisor who handled several siap trainees provided identical comments for them. the themes that surfaced from the supervisors’ qualitative evaluation of the students’ performance are summarized in table 5. table 5. supervisors’ comments positive, enthusiastic, proactive, fantastic attitude 13 50% recommended for hiring 11 42% team player 11 42% hardworking 7 27% friendly 6 23% helpful 6 23% willing to learn 6 23% talented, skilled 5 19% responsible 5 19% learned fast, adjusted well 5 19% followed policies 4 15% punctual 4 15% confident 3 12% knowledgeable about tasks 3 12% good rapport with co-workers 3 12% always smiling 3 12% polite, professional 2 8% well-groomed 2 8% good english communication skills 2 8% should be creative 2 8% 27 international peer reviewed journal needs to learn more about tour operations 1 4% understanding towards others 1 4% honest 1 4% should be careful (in completing tasks) 1 4% efficient 1 4% exceeded work standards 1 4% paid attention to detail 1 4% self-motivated 1 4% needs to use supplies moderately 1 4% humble 1 4% should be more confident 1 4% supervisor feedback was mostly positive. among the common traits that the supervisors noticed were having a positive attitude at work (50%), being a team player (42%), being hard-working (27%), as well as being helpful, friendly, and willing to learn—each at 19%, as shown in table 5. further, more than half of the raters indicated a willingness to hire the students, although some added that they would hire only if the trainee displayed more creativity or that they would let the student complete additional skills training first, which implies that they considered attitude more important than skills when hiring. conclusions this section addresses research question 5 or the alternative experiences that heis can integrate into the practicum program for schoolyear 2021-2022 to produce learnings similar to those identified in the content and thematic analyses and in light of current conditions. in this study, students tended to adjust better to the work tasks to which they have been exposed previously due to classroom learning or other experiences provided by the school. although some students could learn quickly, they struggled—when placed in training areas outside their program specialization, i.e., a tourism student assigned to food and beverage services, a hotel and restaurant management student asked to assist airport passengers. therefore, one recommendation is to customize internship plans according to the trainee’s competencies and interests while meeting intended learning outcomes. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research the lack of confidence that the students experienced in starting their internships could imply a need for the hei to design learning experiences that simulate work situations such as in handling irate guests, navigating a property management system, or touring guests around a property. skill certifications improve students’ preparedness for internship and thus, the inclusion of these certifications in post-pandemic practicum delivery is also recommended. aside from improving their skills in completing tourism and hospitality work, the students gained important life skills that include adapting to foreign cultures, remaining calm and patient when dealing with people of various temperaments, making decisions independently, adjusting to the long hours required at work, and being more personable. developing cultural knowledge and sensitivity is thus seen as another key aspect of the practicum plan. several students experienced difficult living conditions, i.e., inconvenience in commuting to work, poor ventilation and water supply in the dormitories, which imply the need for setting their expectations early on what to expect so they could prepare accordingly. such briefing can be included in the pre-practicum and career orientation seminars for students, which they perceived as helpful in preparing them for an international internship. in a post-pandemic setting, similar skills in adapting to one’s environment can still be developed, by letting students identify, and propose solutions to address, the constraints (e.g., limited mobility) in completing practicum tasks. the above considerations can be included in preparing the practicum learning continuity plan that the ched requires. table 6 summarizes these alternative learning experiences that the hei in this study intends to include in the work portfolio that students can complete in place of on-site practicum for schoolyear 2021 to 2022. table 6. alternative practicum learning experiences desired learning outcome alternative learning experiences knowledge of other cultures, which could lead to cultural sensitivity virtual cultural tours guest handling virtual environments that simulate employee-guest interactions training and certification on becoming guest service professionals food handling training and certification related to food and beverage services, safe food handling, haccp 29 international peer reviewed journal desired learning outcome alternative learning experiences guiding and escorting learning activities that require students to facilitate virtual tours training and certification in tour guiding report preparation training and certification in the use of property management and global distribution systems that include report generation coordination learning activities such as planning and conducting events, entail coordinating with various offices. training and certification in event management services are recommended. creative output such as food styling and event styling learning activities on latte art, fruit and vegetable carving, pastry decorating, and themed table set up are recommended. because the pandemic has not ended yet, proposed practicum arrangements would certainly continue to change (san juan, 2020). should the government further relax the restrictions in holding in-person classes, limited on-site reporting can be included in the learning plan. additionally, because practicum is a terminal course requirement, the learning experiences proposed in table 6 can also be integrated earlier in the program, in other professional courses, to reinforce learning. the hei in this study should consider building strong partnerships with selected host establishments that would agree to provide the students with either virtual learning activities or limited face-to-face, on-site training. student performance should be assessed using criteria relevant to the industry and the hei. additionally, heis should continue asking students to narrate and reflect on their experiences in a journal, as reflection remains an important way to concretize knowledge. after deriving meaning through reflection, students can proceed to critical thinking or evaluating of information, and finally, refraction or that stage where transformative knowledge happens (pagano & roselle, 2009). additional studies on post-pandemic practicum delivery are needed to recognize the constancy of change. future studies can include the perspectives of host establishments and students, which would lend a more accurate view of wil issues that need to be addressed. furthermore, the learning that students derive from paid and unpaid internships can also be explored, as the researcher used data only from students’ experiences in paid, international internships. qualitative data analysis software is also recommended to facilitate coding, especially when dealing with voluminous data, such as in the present study. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research acknowledgment this researcher is blessed to receive countless opportunities to engage in scholarly work. she is grateful to her family for their love and support. her chief inspiration is her daughter, who reminds her always to 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(2013). content analysis and thematic analysis: implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. nursing and health sciences, 15(3), 398-405. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12048 younes, m. n., & asay, s. m. (2003). the world as a classroom: the impact of international study experiences on college students. college teaching, 51(4), 141-147. retrieved from doi: 10.1080/87567550309596429 58 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract it is alleged that capiz has evolved to be the subject of many aswangs and other mythological ghosts, goblins, ghouls, manananggal and other monster stories. as views, opinions, and questions are ignored or receive a poor treatment – varying beliefs about the aswang phenomenon in capiz will just lead to rising ignorance, persistent stereotyping, and deeper confusion that may continue to afflict capiz and dehumanize capisnon undeservedly. hence, this study was conducted to probe the perception of capisnon to the said phenomenon; elicit change in their conceptual, personal/social behaviors and dispositions vis-à-vis their practice of the catholic faith. the research employed a descriptive qualitative design using a researcher-made questionnaire to a stratified sample of respondents. also, a focus group discussion with non-probable sample from dumarao’s tag-aw ati minority and the guban-tapaz tribe panayanon bukidnon was conducted to enrich the data and inferences of the study. results acknowledged that the past colonial masters are the reasons for wrongly imputing the word aswang to capiz and capisnon and the contemporary detractors who take capiz aswang phenomenon or c.a.p. out of their proper historical and cultural contexts. with behaviors, cognitions, and affects of catholic school students and teachers on capiz aswang phenomenon (c.a.p.) rev. fr. glenn bermejo baes http://orcid.org 0000-0002-3890-6647 gbbaes013071@gmail.com colegio de la purisima concepcion, roxas city, capiz, philippines original: 98% • grammarly: 92% • plagiarism: 2% vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.554 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 59 international peer reviewed journal or without the presence of c.a.p., the ideal circumstances in upholding the real identity and self-worth of capisnon are: a well-informed insight about the phenomenon, a conscious discernment of its history and real meaning, and a growing diligence in character to be good and to do good in the community. keywords – social science, capiz aswang phenomenon, descriptive qualitative design, philippines/asia introduction before the turn of the third christian millennium, the late holy father now saint john paul ii, gave attention to the continent of asia through his postsynodal exhortation (pope john paul ii, 1999). on a positive note, he cited in the exhortation the church of asia to be richly gifted with the continent’s people, cultures, religious vitality and the unique gift of faith. this came with a reaffirmation of his challenge to the federation of asian bishops’ conferences in manila, philippines back in 1995 during the x world youth day event, where he expressed that “if the church in asia is to fulfill its providential destiny, evangelization, as the joyful, patient and progressive preaching of the saving death and resurrection of jesus christ, must be your absolute priority” (e.a., # 2, p. 7). this challenge echoed elements of contextualization and inculturation of theology to be the framework of asia in the proclamation of jesus; the focus was emphasized in inculturation (e.a., # 21). and this rightly matched the 1991 second plenary council of the philippines directive where inculturation in catechesis, as the first element of renewed evangelization (plenary council of the philippines ii, # 156). heeding the call and challenge of contextualization and inculturation of theology in the renewed evangelization of the philippine church, the encounter of catholic faith with local cultural phenomena has become a fundamental concern. a good example of this is the cultural belief about the aswang as experienced by the local church in capiz. it is alleged that capiz has evolved to be the subject or focus of many aswangs and other mythological ghosts, goblins, ghouls, manananggal and other monster stories; it is unfairly rumored to have a number of aswangs and covens of witches (philippine information agency, 2010). inexplicably in the minds of many people, an aswang is created in capiz and there it lives as an ordinary creature like anybody. other than the literary and colonial factors why this phenomenon is strongly associated to capiz to this day, 60 jpair multidisciplinary research the significant cases in capiz of torsion dystonia, a muscle related contraction that often progresses to prolonged abnormal posture of the body (lee, 2008) is something least present to other places to which the phenomenon is associated to a certain degree. similar to the experience of other asian countries (e.g. thailand, malaysia, and vietnam), the consequences of the said phenomenon can be double-sided in terms of its effect to the social milieu. in thailand, vampire belief on pret/ nang tani threatens the conventional social order in view of women adhering to strict gender roles (ancuta, 2017). on the other hand, belief of the unknown imposed upon early in life in malaysia through mass media creates unfounded fear that would remain and have a long-term effect to the mental behavior of the people (soga, 2015). in capiz, effects are direct and personal as it is a common experience among the people of capiz (or the capisnon) that anywhere they go they are out rightly asked if they are aswang themselves or if indeed aswang is real in capiz. with or without an answer, capiz and the capisnon endure this prejudice against them. as views, opinions, and questions about c.a.p. are ignored or receive a poor treatment – varying beliefs about it will just increase ignorance, persistent stereotyping, and deeper confusion. looking it out of its proper context may just continue to afflict capiz and dehumanize capisnon undeservedly. in fact, a number of national publicities have already exposed capiz and capisnon to national ridicule and bad light. the gma-7’s november 1996 brigada siete’s aswang segment, hosted by sen. tito sotto iii, tried to hint that capiz is a haven of witches. also, the front page story entitled “baby m puzzles pgh doctors”, 7 february 2000 issue of the manila standard written by dulce m. arguelles, labelled capiz as the island of aswangs, i.e., of supernatural beings that prey on sick people or pregnant women. on a similar note, in an attempt to establish the significance and value of the aswang phenomenon in capiz, dugo capisnon inc. organized the “aswang festival” in october 2004 and 2005. it caused negative effects to the image of capiz and their sense of unity as a people. views and opinions about the festival were divided. locally, the stand of the archdiocese of capiz, some officials of the capiz provincial government and the roxas city government, and the capisnon themselves prompted disagreement and disunity as reports in the local and national papers (i.e. pagharion, the capiz times, november 1991; celino, panay news, october 2006; capundan, sun star capiz, september 2006; esguerra, philippine daily inquirer, september 2005, etc.) and television programs (i.e. gma 7 brigada siete, november 1996; knn the aswang stigma in capiz, november 2006, etc.) attest. 61 international peer reviewed journal indeed, these manifestations of varying views and opposing opinions about the belief in capiz aswang reflect scores of questions among the minds and hearts of capisnon (and perhaps of others with whom they get acquainted with). these necessarily seek relevant answers, clarifications and more importantly integration to the faith, should contextualization and inculturation of theology be relevant to the renewed evangelization in the archdiocese of capiz today. it is upon these considerations that the researcher deemed it necessary, not only to investigate the different manifestations of the said phenomenon, but more so to probe perceptions about it; elicit change in their conceptual, personal/social behaviors and dispositions vis-à-vis their practice of the catholic faith. framework the cultural system theory of geertz in 1973 influenced the culture-related concept of this study, which is the cultural belief about aswang in capiz. this theory proposed culture as a context of significant webs man has interwoven and that an analysis of their meaning has to be searched by isolating their elements, specifying the internal relationships among those elements, and characterizing the whole system in some general way. the appropriateness of this theory lies on its pedagogical approach to cultural concepts which the objectives of the study has taken into account. in support, the culture theory of serrat (2008) which adheres to the use of an inter-disciplinary approach, reinforced this research work which “seeks to define a heuristic concept of culture, i.e., on how a particular phenomenon relates to matters of ideology, nationality, ethnicity, social class, and gender…it follows that practitioners of culture theory draw from a diverse array of theories and associated practices and encompass many different approaches, methods and academic perspectives” (culture theory, serrat, 2008, p.1). hence, this theory is adoptable to the study as it supports the value of both secular disciplines (i.e., sociology-anthropology and psychology) and sacred disciplines (i.e., theology and scriptures) regarded as lenses in the analysis of results of the study. given these theoretical support, the call of the second plenary council of the philippines (1991) and the post-synodal apostolic exhortation (pope john paul ii, 1999) to integrate culture to evangelization done in the context of inculturation, where the sacred and the secular disciplines are necessary in the examination, refinement, and renewal of culture in the light of the gospel, upholds the process this study has espoused. along the idea of discernment, de mesa (1987) elaborates as he pointed out the need of – 62 jpair multidisciplinary research …bringing into awareness the set of presuppositions provided by the worldview so that an explicit understanding of what we hold ‘in faith’ can be subjected to analysis and judgment as to whether these presumptions lead us to further humanization rather than dehumanization; the christian’s relationship with his indigenous culture is not one of uncritical acceptance but one of discernment and challenge. (de mesa, 1987, p.180) the context of inculturation, then, is the raison d’être in studying the phenomenon of aswang belief in capiz. it is a way to reflective action that would emphasize change in personal and social disposition about it. in relation to the catechism output (based on the implications and critical observations of the respondents’ data), a platform for evangelization is carried out, i.e. through the use of the said catechism output; an enlightened perception in the light of the gospel values makes way to contextualization of theology (bevans, 2002). objectives of the study the study intends to investigate the concepts, impact and challenges that c.a.p. brings to the religious and values education students and teachers/faculty of the catholic schools in capiz. on the basis of their concepts, impact and challenges about c.a.p., a catechetical module about it shall be developed and to be used in these schools. to realize these objectives, the following questions shall be answered: 1) what is the profile of the respondents in terms grouping, sex composition, and age composition?; 2) what is the concept of the respondents about capiz aswang phenomenon?; 3) what is the impact of capiz aswang phenomenon among the respondents?; 4) what is the challenge of capiz aswang phenomenon among the respondents?; 5) what catechism about c.a.p. for the students and teachers/faculty of the catholic schools in capiz can be formulated based on the results of the study? methodology the study employed a descriptive qualitative design using a survey method that utilizes a researcher-made interview schedule (jackson, 2015). to realize this, investigation of events, developments and experiences of the respondents including two indigenous groups, which were included as secondary respondents, were conducted through an open-ended questionnaire. 63 international peer reviewed journal using the qualitative data of the respondents, strands of significant implications were treated that provided needed data to the output of the study, i.e. a catechetical material. research site this study sought to (a) investigate the aswang phenomenon in the province of capiz, the eco-cultural tourism hub in the central philippines located in the northeastern part of panay island in region vi, western visayas of the philippines (abalajon, 2008). the research site is confined in capiz as the objective of the study intends to treat the aswang phenomenon and other related beliefs only associated to capiz. participants using the inclusion criteria, the main participants of this study are catholic school students and teachers/faculty in capiz. these participants are appropriate to the study since being capisnon themselves, their responses on the concepts, impact and challenges of c.a.p. will be of significant value to the output of the study itself, i.e. an instructional catechetical material mainly, though not exclusively, intended for catholic school students and teachers/faculty in capiz. for the school year 2007 2008, there were 16 catholic schools with 9,149 students taking up religious or values education subject and 80 teachers/faculty handling religion, christian living, and/or theology subjects both in the basic education and tertiary level. the age bracket of the population ranged from 7 years old to 21 years old while the teacher/faculty participants’ age bracket ranged from 24 years old to 58 years old. both groups were composed of males and females. to compare and verify similarities or differences in the concept of c.a.p. that arose from the field interview among its primary participants and library research, representatives of two indigenous groups in capiz, i.e., the tag-aw ati minority (tamyas) of dumarao and the guban-tapaz tribe panayanon bukidnon took part in the study as non-probable samples. the tourism office of the province of capiz endorsed the engagement to the municipal mayors who helped facilitate the consent of both groups to be part of this study. aside from the rich data sought which enhanced the inferences of the study, the inputs of both groups were of unique value being the early settlers of capiz, i.e., the ati or negritos who migrated to the island for over 25,000 years ago and the bukidnon or mundo who reached the shores of capiz about 5,000 years ago (bolante, n.d.). 64 jpair multidisciplinary research instrumentation the tool used in obtaining the perceptions, impact and challenges of the belief in c.a.p. from all its participants was a set of open-ended questionnaire created by the researcher. the questionnaire was categorized under three major categories, i.e. category 1: questions that ask respondents of their concept(s) about c.a.p., category 2: questions that ask participants the impact of the phenomenon to them, and category 3: questions that ask participants what challenges c.a.p. present to them. sub-questions were provided to lead participants in answering the major questions. in formulating these open-ended questionnaires, the author involved opinions of experts (anthropologists, priest-historians and bible scholar, doctor of education, etc.) to warrant the internal validity of the instrument. heeding the advice of one expert and considering one’s observation when the questionnaires were pre-tested for reliability, only the details of the demographic profile of the participants in the questionnaires were omitted during the actual survey. this was to dispose the participants to a less inhibited mode in giving their responses and to be more straightforward. data collection in the data gathering of this research, the author used various methods. to obtain the primary respondents’ data of the study, the author made use of field research survey interview. the same method was also used for the two indigenous groups. through a pen and paper interview using the prepared open-ended questionnaires, it was done either individually or by groups. all sessions with the research participants of the survey interview were done on site, i.e., in the campuses of all the participating catholic schools and with the proper approval of the principal and/or administrator who represent as the head of school. while for the representative participants from the two indigenous groups, the permission to conduct fgd was channeled through the tourism office of the local government unit that ensured the necessary consent in participating to the study. to ensure confidentiality and informed consent, a general orientation about the study, the questionnaires, and instructions on how to answer the questionnaires, and the extent to which the confidentiality of the responses will be maintained were done. according to level (i.e., elementary, high school and college), student participants were interviewed as a group in a classroom setting designated by the school administrator and/or principal. all interview 65 international peer reviewed journal sessions ended asking each group to record their responses in the individual answer sheets provided. after the interview of student participants, the researcher would conduct the same among the teachers/faculty. however, they complied with the interview individually. before concluding each of these sessions, the researcher made sure that documents were checked, reviewed, and labelled with a given code for animosity of participants’ name and other identifying details. the designated codes both for students and teacher/faculty participants from the chosen catholic schools were respondent-cpcs01/cpctf01, csjrs01/ csjrtf01, sihms01/sihmtf01, olgas01/olgatf01, olfas01/ olfatf01, olmhras01/olmhratf01, olmlcs01/olmlctf01, olsis01/olsitf01, pssis01/pssitf01, scas01/scatf01, sjdss01/ sjdstf01, and smacs01/smactf01. while the code assigned to the given responses of two indigenous groups in capiz, i.e., the tag-aw ati minority (tamyas) of dumarao and the guban-tapaz tribe panayanon bukidnon were fgd –t01 and fgd – g01 respectively. adjusting to the level of the group, orientation about the study, the questionnaires and instructions on how to go about the activity were expressed in the local dialect. the facilitation of a simple focus group discussion for both groups on two separate occasions aided the researcher to obtain their responses. each activity ended by recording their responses, reviewing and clarifying them with the group. their documents were as well checked and properly labelled with a code accordingly. for other important data related to the study, analysis of document found in books and other references and the library method were utilized. other materials that contained topics related to the study were considered for review. papers, reading materials, periodicals, journals and documents on the sociological, anthropological, psychological, biblical, and theological perspectives of witchcraft were looked into. in particular, local literatures that provided information regarding beliefs about c.a.p. were examined. most of the church documents were sought as well as part of enriching the interpretation and discussion of data. complementing the library work, on-line scientific research was employed. the e-sources probed to be of help in the access of more up-dated and relevant materials that may not be available in book form. nevertheless, the author has always checked the actual book stated in e-sources in cases when they are available in libraries he visited. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical techniques in the treatment of the profile of the participants, the frequency count and percentage were used to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. for the results sought from the open ended questionnaire, the researcher made use of the steps in analyzing qualitative data of powell and renner (2003) and the qualitative analysis of content of zhang and widemuth (2009). out of the five (5) steps, the first three steps directed how data are to be prepared and presented while the remaining steps provided the guide how to go about the analysis and interpretation of data. the first step starts in getting to know the data. this involved reading and re-reading, review, examination and scrutiny of all data. here, errors, omissions, wrong entry, accuracy and inaccuracy, consistency and inconsistency with other data were noticed and addressed. the arrangement and organization of responses of the survey interview followed. initially, impressions about them were noted as well. the second step followed in preparing the data was the setting of focus of the data analysis by question and by group in view of what the study wants to know. hence, the problem or the research questions were reviewed including the key questions which the narrative data seek to answer through the respondents, i.e. individually or as a group. in reference to the problem or the research questions, the key questions which this study wants to know were identified as: (a) what is/are the concept/s of the respondents about c.a.p.? (b) what is the impact of c.a.p. to the respondents? and (c) what is the challenge/s of c.a.p. to the respondents? on the other hand, the grouping of responses was classified into: (a) student responses, e.g. elementary student responses, high school student responses, college student responses, and (4) religious and values education teacher/faculty responses. the next step taken in preparing the data for presentation is the organization of data into categories. in the conduct of this process, individual categories as the unit for analysis were used. in the organization of these themes to coherent categories, however, the pre-set method was used. to these, three (3) categories were identified, i.e., (a) concept/s of c.a.p., (b) impact of c.a.p., and (c) challenge/s of c.a.p. these themes indicated what the study wanted to know and provided directions in finding what the study was looking for in the data. under each category, responses were grouped and sorted into different themes. as data were identified to themes and organized by coherent categories, a 67 international peer reviewed journal descriptive code (i.e. of a few letters) to each category was assigned. and in the progress of doing this step, other possible themes which emerged as sub-themes were also defined. in view of analysis, the relative importance of the responses was established using the frequency method (i.e., number/count of each category). the fourth step in the interpretation of data is the actual analysis of data. here, patterns and connections within and between themes were identified, obvious and subtle similarities or differences in the responses were highlighted and the key ideas expressed within themes were known. the relative importance, characteristics, patterns, connections, etc. of the significant themes that emerged under the three given categories were also analyzed. the last step is the interpretation, i.e., setting the key concepts of the significant data where their meaning, implications and significance related to the problems of the study were inferred. here the inter-disciplinary approach (i.e. employing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, bible and theology as lenses in interpreting the key concepts data) was applied to distinguish various theoretical understandings relevant to the important concepts found in the data. consultations with the experts (anthropologists, priest-historians and bible scholar, doctors of education, etc.) were done in the discussion of the result of the study and in setting the position of the catholic church about it, in verifying their relation and relevance to contextual and inculturation theology, renewed evangelization through catechism and catholic education. all the qualitative data obtained from different methods used in this study were made as bases in formulating the catechism on c.a.p. study output. it was designed mainly for catholic school students and teacher/faculty of capiz. however, the desire of the author that the study output be used by all capisnon or by anybody who needs to be clarified about the topic remains constant. results and discussion in this study, responses that were organized as themes under a category would show similarities and differences in terms of which group or groups of participants have expressed them. within and among groups of participants, the data would also show common and varying concepts about c.a.p. including its impact and challenges to them. among the common and varying concepts (i.e. similar and different responses or themes), results within and among the groups of participants tell that some concepts and themes are more significant than others. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research the collective data of different groups of participants, specifically the significant themes in all of the categories, display more similarities than differences. however, when all similar themes are examined according to individual grouping of respondents, difference is easily observable in terms of the order of significance (i.e. which response comes first, second, etc. from one group of respondents to another), variety of views (i.e. what respondents articulated based on the key questions asked) and frequency count (i.e. on how many times a given response was expressed). problem statement number 1. the total number of actual participants of this study from the elementary level of all the catholic schools in capiz was 112 (29.62% of the actual student participants). 39 (34.82%) of them were males and 73 (65.17%) were females. the age bracket of this particular group of participants would range from 7 to 11 years old. the total number of actual participants of this study from the high school level of all the catholic schools in capiz was 137 (36.24% of the actual student participants). 59 (43.06%) of them were males and 78 (56.93%) were females. the age bracket of this particular group of participants would range from 11 to 16 years old. the total number of actual participants of this study from the college level of all the catholic schools in capiz was 129 (34.12% of the actual student participants). 49 (37.98%) of them were males and 80 (62.01%) were females. the age bracket of this particular group of participants would range from 11 to 21 years old. the total number of actual participants of this study who were teacher/ faculty from all levels of the catholic schools in capiz was 40 (100% of the actual teacher/faculty participants). 21 (52.5%) teacher/faculty participants were males and 19 (47.5%) were females. the age bracket of this particular group of participants would range from 24 to 58 years old. avoid problem statement number 2. as to the notion or idea of the different groups of participants about the concept of c.a.p., results show that out of the sixteen (16) themes that emerged, half of which appear to be more significant than the rest. the more significant themes are: (1) a myth; (2) a superstitious belief; (3) an undesirable/ugly attitude of capisnon; (4) a negative label to capisnon; (5) a form of social control; (6) a cover-up; (7) a powerful, supernatural and mythical being; (8) a demonic creature. the other eight (8) less significant themes are: (1) it is related to a festival in capiz; (2) it is a form of entertainment and attraction in capiz; (3) it is an evil spirit; (4) it is a red-eyed old woman; (5) it is associated with 69 international peer reviewed journal t. guimo, c. kabra, m. labo; (6) it is those persons who practice witchcraft; (7) it is a phenomenon which is contrary to catholic faith; (8) it is a socio-religious issue. concept(s) about c.a.p. the major themes that emerged on the understanding of the participants about c.a.p. as a myth and a superstitious belief indicate that any unreasonable or improbable figure can likely be created into a mental construct like a demonic, powerful, supernatural and mythical being. one participant expounded this point by saying: capiz aswang is a myth. it is a terrifying creature created by people to scare children. my grandmother said that it is a flesh-eating bad looking woman and have red eyes. aswangs are depicted to have supernatural power that they can transform to an image of animals and eat the heart and liver of their victims and have the ability to fly like a bird. i don’t believe in aswang. i have not seen one in my life. (respondent olsis58) noticeably, this view correlates to another theme that underscores c.a.p. as a negative trait (i.e. undesirable/ugly attitudes) that serve a number of functions. one of which is related to the human pursuit of what is ideal to the self. as this pursuit is sought, one is confronted with obstacles, i.e. in the form of human limitations and weaknesses in one’s attitudes and behaviors that are far from the ideal. supposed to be, this human experience of imperfections is normal in as much as nobody is perfect. however, this situation can easily create a representation which signifies both the ideal state aspired for and the less ideal state being eluded. this point comes close to the freudian concept of projection in psychology, i.e. the process by which one attributes one’s own individual positive or negative characteristics, affects, and impulses to another person or group (vanden-bos, 2009), where the character of aswang is constructed outside of one’s self unconsciously and projects the less ideal traits an individual is struggling to reject. hence, for people who have difficulty in processing negative behaviors and attitudes in a mature and responsible manner, aswang comes as an easy construct to associate what they detest in themselves and others. this is probably the reason why hatred, anger and rejection are among the other elements of the aswang as a mental construct since it is symbolic of what one hates or is angry about in one’s self or others. furthermore, this construct may be a shared experience of a society as a whole where what is ideal and what is less ideal are prototyped collectively to the symbolic character of aswang. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research significantly, the theme that surfaced which discloses the participants’ understanding of c.a.p. as a negative label or branding against capisnon denotes a social complex for superiority operating among individuals or group of individuals in their affairs and varied inter-actions in the society. in the process of which, actions in favor of asserting one’s superiority appear to effect antagonism in degrading others, e.g. when non-capisnon would label capisnon as aswang, when others would label people from siquijor or samar as manugbarang, ilocanos as thrifty, etc. possibly, this human dynamics may also be instinctively present in the crab-mentality of filipinos, in capisnon’s parental measures which use aswang in disciplining a child or when spanish colonizers called our revered ancestors, the babaylanes, as aswangs, since their resistance is not in favor of spanish superiority. attributing aswang as a social branding against capisnon may also be alluded to ethnocentrism and regionalism conveyed by regis (2010). relying on regional identity and ethnic distinction, the premise of ethno-regionalism would affirm the lack of sense of nationhood amidst ethnic groups or tribes who are geographically distant with one another and exist in isolation and independent from one another. and filipinos being clannish and regionalist, this circumstance provided the opportunity to crystallize their ethnocentric world-view that would dispose them to preserve their superiority as a region by establishing a degrading ridicule of people from other regions through branding or giving of a moniker. unfortunately, aswang was directed to capiz and along with the persisting filipino regionalism and other complex web of factors, the aswang brand or moniker has been nurtured for capisnon to this day. arguably, the issue here then is not directly the objectivity of the word “aswang”, which may literally mean to represent a fearful supernatural being capable of animal transformation and would feast on human organs, but rather the element of utilitarianism in using that term against a person or group of persons for inordinate purposes like human manipulation, social bullying and the like. as regards to the theme that emanated about c.a.p. as a form of social control, i.e. a mechanism by which the behavior of individuals is constrained and directed into acceptable channels, thus maintaining conformity (peoples & bailey, 2011), is usually exhibited by parents or guardians who, in view of guidance and discipline, would use the negative concept of aswang in exacting control over young children under their care. under this circumstance, aswang is made to appear as a real, frightening and deadly creature to be believed thereby impressing unfounded fear upon them at such an early stage. while this appears 71 international peer reviewed journal effective, psychology points that a repercussion is to be acknowledged over this matter since according to ibrahim (2004), these imaginary, misplaced, inane or baseless fears can become the bane of a person if he is not able to overcome them. he is always obsessed with these fears and wakes up sometimes from sleep shouting and yelling as a result of seeing disturbing and horrendous dreams. unnecessary fear and tension is a psychic illness that can have very harmful effects on the child’s future life. a timid person will lack courage and while taking any major decisions he will be subject to great pressure. he will avoid meeting people and will always be worried and crestfallen. he will run away from congregations and will prefer a lonely existence. several psychic illnesses spring from such inane fears in a person. and to accentuate this damaging psychological implication being cautioned, magos (2005) would ensure that after all there is no empirical evidence had been documented to prove the reality of the negative meaning attached to the word aswang. if indeed, some people have been attacked by evil spirit (because the spirit world is another dimension of reality that cannot be mentioned by science), let it be said that the presence of evil spirits is anywhere in the world. it need not be pictured as a man with tail, horns and with red eyes because the spirit of drug addiction, prostitution, abortion, corruption and murder is found anywhere in the world. those are the evil spirits that are more deadly than the imagined stories about the aswangs. the understanding of participants about c.a.p. as a form of cover-up, underlines sociological and anthropological realities among individuals who feel dissatisfied over adverse experiences in life where their causes can be obscure and ambiguous. it is as if one’s satisfaction tends to depend on containing all that happens around the person. when all else fail to explain everything, vague phenomenon, e.g. aswang, may even be resorted to. also, when things are left uncontained, one’s feeling of insecurity ensues. to illustrate this point, peoples and bailey (1988), in discussing possible psychological interpretations of witchcraft belief, singled out the azande tribe whose unfortunate experiences, e.g. misfortunes, prolonged and serious illness, bad crops, etc., are habitually blamed on witchcraft all the time without considering the elements of accidents or coincidence. by this it is implied that these accidents or coincidence are actually the ones that witchcraft explains to those who maintain the charge. on a similar note, this theme that sets c.a.p. as a cover-up may have its basis from one’s experience in confronting life’s situations where superiority in terms of control could hardly be asserted. hence, under uncontrollable and uncontainable situations, the symbolic character of aswang may be utilized as 72 jpair multidisciplinary research a means of control, e.g. controlling an uncontrollable child who wants to play outside his play time by resorting to the character of aswang as a threat, using aswang as an easy cover-up to unexplainable turn of events like sudden death or death caused by unexplainable maladies, calling other people aswang who are uncooperative or unsympathetic to one’s cause, etc. in connection to one’s faith, there are a number of biblical and theological views that are caught up to the themes which majority of the participants have significantly expressed, i.e. concepts about c.a.p. as a powerful, supernatural, mythical being, and a demonic creature. aswangs are demonic creatures who are scary. they are dangerous and bound to harm people. they are evil spirits and servants of satan. (respondent csjrs12) naming as demon or evil the mental construct of aswang appears divergent to the admonition of the bible and theology against the negative meaning of demon and/or evil brings in one’s christian faith. also, the language utilization of demon and/or evil as a mental construct of aswang must be a serious concern to the biblical and theological tenets of christian faith, since it has the tendency to confuse capisnon and others to believe and fear it as if it is real. if the old and the new testament are considered, being condescending to the concept of demon and/or evil is discouraged. the bible demonstrated strong opposition to their meaning and what they represent. particularly, the bible is even consistent in opposing these constructs as attached to witchcraft belief and practices including all forms of occult practices for a number of reasons. the old testament pointed out various connotations of witchcraft as divination, enchantment, nephomancy or augury, magic, potions, charms, necromancy, cleromancy, fortuneteller, soothsayer, medium, etc. (lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6; 2 kings 17:10-17; 21:1-6; 23:24-25; 2 chron. 33; dt. 18:10-12; lev. 20:6, 20:27; i sam. 15:23, 28:1819; is. 8:19, 47:9; jer. 27:9; mic. 5:11; nah. 3:4-5; ex. 7:11); and these were followed with strong oppositions each time they are mentioned including the heavy punishments that await to those who would engage on them directly or indirectly. in the new testament, we learn that the character of satan and the recurring theme of sin, were mentioned on critical situations where important proclamations were also enjoined, e.g., jesus began his public ministry by being tempted by the devil (luke 4:1-12); in the prayer jesus himself taught, forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil is included (matthew 9-13); in his various parables, jesus attributed to satan the hindrances met in his preaching ministry 73 international peer reviewed journal (mark 4:3-8, luke 20:9-18 and 11:20, matthew 13:47-48 and 12:28 ); allusions like “the prince of the world”, “the reign of darkness”, “the powers of death”, “god of this world”, etc are in the passion narratives of the gospel (mark 14 ff.; matthew 26 ff. and luke 22 ff.). to these, a conclusion can be deduced that jesus recognized the reality of the devil and the activities of satan to be adversarial to man’s redemption. in view of the attitude of the scripture against the meaning of demon and/or satan used as a mental construct of aswang, vatican ii specifically pointed out the teaching of the fathers of the church, e.g. ireneus (140 – 202 a.d.), tertulian (160 – 220 a.d.), (298 – 376 a.d.), that showed a substantial adherence to the teaching and outlook of the new testament in particular that recognizes the reality and nature of evil, what satan or the devil can do to an individual, and the limitations of his power. to further this point, st. augustine (353-430 a.d.) taught by describing the nature of evil as condemned spirits who possess harmful ability and power over man. in relation to witchcraft related belief and practices, he is among those who categorically denounced it as a collaboration with the devil who deceives and destroys one’s christian identity and destiny. he stressed this in his book, the city of god, that we must believe them to be spirits most eager to inflict harm, utterly alien from righteousness, swollen with pride, pale with envy, subtle in deceit; who dwell indeed in this air as in a prison in keeping with their own character, because cast down from the height of the higher heaven, they have been condemned to dwell in this element as in the just reward of irretrievable transgression (dods, 2009). noticeably, this is an assertion in retelling the outlook of other church fathers about the harmful power of the devil seeking out the destruction of man’s body and soul. interestingly, two important points in view of witchcraft practices and belief were underlined by this latin-speaking philosopher and theologian: first, st. augustine believed that witches were able to make people fall ill or restore them to health, and second, he neither believed that metamorphosis occurs nor it was possible to make spells that summon up the souls of the departed and carry out various things (caro, 2001). looking further into this consideration, theologians of the seventeenth century onwards taught more about the influence of evil in one’s spiritual growth and development, e.g. ignatius of loyola (1491 – 1556 a.d.), st. francis de sales (1567 – 1622 a.d.), jane de chantal (1572 – 1641 a.d.), etc. like other theologians, blessed john henry newman (1808-1890), named satan as an adversary or enemy who is opposed to the word of god and whose aim is to put one in a unique circumstance as to miss the superiority of god’s omnipotence 74 jpair multidisciplinary research over the forces of evil by tempting one’s heart and conscience to intolerance, bigotry, no fear of god, no deep hatred of sin, no indignation and compassion at the blasphemies of heretics, no jealous adherence to doctrinal truth, no loyalty to the apostolic church, etc. at the back of this exposé, newman would promote that the hand of god and the deep secret wisdom of the divine counsels still ought to remain man’s foremost defense (ker, 1994). through these perspectives of the sacred scriptures, the magisterium, the fathers of the church and some of the contemporary theologians, it can be inferred how the reality of evil and its purpose were recognized. in view of using demon and/or satan as a mental construct, the scripture echoed its attitude against the meaning that goes along with it. more importantly, they sounded a concern for the need to disseminate to the faithful how demon and/or satan can employ various ways, including witchcraft, harmful to man not only spiritually but also physically and hence to be discouraged. problem statement number 3. result shows that the different impact of c.a.p. to the participants would tell that out of seventeen (17) themes that emerged, participants expressed more significantly only seven (7) themes as compared to the remaining ten (10) themes which only a few number of them have exposed. these seven (7) signifcant themes are: (1) it destroys the reputation of capisnon; (2) non-belief; (3) curiosity; (4) “to see is to believe” complex; (5) it misleads young minds; (6) it affects negatively the socio-spiritualeco-psycho/ emotional life of capisnon; (7) denial of one’s birthplace. while the other ten (10) less significant themes are: (1) it makes one more prayerful; (2) it brings fun and fascination; (3) it brings question about its history and origin of the phenomenon; (4) scares people away from capiz; (5) contradicts the spirituality and religiosity of capisnon; (6) it made capiz popular; (7) it sustains itself phenomenon; (8) it entertains people; (9) media exploitation; (10) it divides the people in capiz. impact of c.a.p. the major themes that were drawn out from the results on the effects of c.a.p. gave attention to the existence of a cultural belief to capiz aswang and the fear that goes along with it. from that point, a good number of participants conveyed their greater need for divine protection against such allegedly mythological creature. taking the reaction as it is, a basic sense of religiosity on the part of the participants can then be deduced since god is recognized as the one who can give them the protection they need and that they feel the need to keep themselves closer to god through prayer, the sacraments, and the word of god whether the mythological creature is true or not. this seems to imply one positive effect of the belief in this particular phenomenon. however, in view of christian theology, capisnon is still to be discouraged to 75 international peer reviewed journal make such cultural belief in aswang as though it is the central tenet of their faith. in fact, an exaggerated emphasis on such belief may actually distract catholics from the real essence of their faith. it is not ideal that the faith of catholics grows only on account of their fear of mythical creatures. rather, the church so desires that growth in the faith is a fruit of one’s love for god and neighbors. the destructive elements and damaging effect on the cultural belief of aswang in capiz ascribed to the reputation of capisnon (in their social, spiritual, psycho-emotional life) signify obvious dehumanization and discrimination. one participant pointed out that: the effect of capiz aswang phenomenon is very bad. fellow students i meet during seminars in other places would say to me that capiz is full of aswang and they would stay away or fear us. that is not good to hear. it is insulting to me as a person. it destroys the reputation of capiz. (respondent pssis19) along this matter when culture would bring about negative and deathdealing elements, de mesa (1987) would point out the need for discernment as an essential part in the process of social transformation. discernment necessarily includes a bringing into awareness the set of pre-suppositions provided by the worldview so that an explicit understanding of what we hold in “faith” can be subjected to analysis and judgment as to whether these presuppositions lead us to further humanization rather than dehumanization. the christian’s relationship with his indigenous culture is not one of uncritical acceptance but one of discernment and challenge. hence, one can understand why there is a need for us to bring into explicit awareness our understanding of the culture’s worldview. significantly, this point is a good anchor in ascertaining the concept of this study and the theories that support it, i.e. studying the cultural belief of c.a.p. and to use the knowledge sought from this study for personal and social transformation. the discriminating factor of c.a.p. belief brings shame and embarrassment, debases their self-worth so much so that some even try to conceal or deny their capisnon identity lest they suffer undeserved ridicule from non-capisnon. a teacher participant manifested this point when she said: to many of my students, who are more inclined to superstitious beliefs, aswang phenomenon would sink deeper in their minds. thus, it is perpetuated and the stigma of the aswang brand to capisnon continues to their shame and embarrassment in other places. (respondent smactf05) 76 jpair multidisciplinary research socially, such label destroys the good reputation of capisnon in the national and even in the international contexts, subjecting capiz and capisnon to unfair discrimination. it scares people away from capiz. thus, tourism industry and the local economy lose their potential share of the national and international market. justly, capiz and capisnon do not deserve these. authoritative studies of abalajon (2008), magos (2005), bolante (n.d.), etc.have noted that capisnon are fun loving, deeply religious and hospitable, highly sociable and generous in treating friends and visitors, keeping close family ties, industrious, and thrifty. the province is a place of beauty, artistry, seafood resources, cut flower industry and talented capisnon. with all these positive characteristics of the capisnon, there is no reason why they should be cursed with such a diabolical image that elicits fear, insults and condescension from other filipinos. moreover, the capisnon deserves the respect due to a person who enjoys the character and dignity of any christian who has been saved by jesus. the discriminating aswang label is in direct clash against the christian dignity each capisnon truly and rightfully deserve. the idea of c.a.p., being out of the ordinary, is more likely to entice many to be curious about it. this is also reflected among the significant themes of the study. curiosity per se is a positive mind-set towards learning. it can create the interest to know, to be aware, to understand and appreciate things around us. in the absence of curiosity, the danger of not knowing or missing to learn something important can be present. in educational practice, it is observable how curiosity carries an instrumental value for inquiry and knowledge. in relation to the cultural belief of aswang in capiz, the need to channel one’s curiosity about it towards knowing, being aware, understanding and appreciating its significance remains to be relevant. nevertheless, it must just be noted that it could hardly be predictable as well, when and where one’s curiosity brings knowledge or when and where it will just be irrelevant. hence, caution, serious assessment and assistance of experts in exploring one’s curiosity would be more advantageous than passively take on the “to see is to believe” complex as expressed by a good number of participants. the results about the confusion brought about by c.a.p. can be an effect of unmanaged curiosity. when their questions about the subject matter are left unanswered or when the object of their curiosity is sensationally patronized out or lacking proper context, confusion can ensue more easily. like curiosity, when the elements of one’s confusion are left not clarified; one is placed away from proper information and becomes a victim of ignorance. consequently, young and old capisnon are incessantly misled, lost and discriminated which are not 77 international peer reviewed journal actually formative to them as individuals or growth promoting in their christian faith. for the challenge of c.a.p. (problem statement number 4), result shows that out of seven (7) themes that surfaced in the data, six (6) of which were expressed by more than half of the participants while the remaining theme was only expressed by a very minimal number of participants. the six (6) signifcant themes are: (1) to study the phenomenon; (2) to counter-act the phenomenon; (3) to have a formal instruction about the phenomenon; (4) to strengthen capisnon identity; (5) to prove that there is no aswang; (6) to ignore the phenomenon. the only one (1) less signifcant theme is: (1) not to use it for tourism purposes. challenge(s) of c.a.p. the themes that resulted in the study put on view two key challenges of c.a.p., i.e. to ignore it and to study it. these opposing themes were accentuated by the participants when they said: i think it would be beneficial to look into this phenomenon attributed to our province. it is not clear to me why this destructive phenomenon exists? how is it associated to my faith as a christian? studying where it originated and why capiz is well known for it will shed light on the confusion that this phenomenon has brought to capisnon. (respondent cpcs58) this should not be given attention. it is to be ignored. it has been putting us to shame. it is not true after all – everything is just in the imagination. we are not aswang and should stop talking about it or patronize and make it into a festival. doing so will make the stigma of aswang to capisnon and capiz continue than putting it to an end. (respondent – olsis08) although these themes showed that the latter challenge is apparently more considerable as compared to the former, an element of disagreement in terms of possible actions which participants are to take in the presence of c.a.p. remains obvious. however, when their implications are closely examined, possible connections between these opposing calls of action may be arrived at. the concept of defense mechanism in freud’s psychoanalysis is one theory that can be of help as it explains that defense mechanisms are strategies used by the ego to ward off or to reduce anxiety. these consist of adjustments made unconsciously, either through action or the avoidance of action, to keep from recognizing personal motives that might threaten self-esteem or heighten anxiety (mcleod, 2009). as attested by the participants who may not have the knowledge or only 78 jpair multidisciplinary research lacking of knowledge about c.a.p., being typically branded as aswang can be threatening or anxiety provoking. thus reaction formation happens where denial of a disapproved motive is shown by giving strong opposing expressions to reduce the threat or anxiety. this way, capisnon are able to hide their real desire to know, be clarified about c.a.p. and be empowered to face it by opting to do the opposite manner in just simply ignoring it. this construes an underlying relationship between these seemingly opposing calls of action in a subtle manner. in view of the goals of this study, ignoring c.a.p. would be of less value as it will engender more ignorance, manipulation and discrimination against capisnon. considering this challenge to the spiritual and religious implications of the belief about c.a.p. to the church evangelization and catholic education, vatican ii’s malgre les declarationes (1977 # 36-37) would rather affirm the sense of integrating faith and culture. it said that if the catholic school has as its aim the critical communication of human culture and the total formation of the individual, it should work towards this goal guided by its christian vision of reality through which our cultural heritage acquires its special place in the total vocational life of man. mindful of the fact that man has been redeemed by christ, the catholic school aims at forming in the christian community those particular virtues which will enable him to live a new life in christ and help him to play faithfully his part in building up the kingdom of god....its task is fundamentally a synthesis of culture and faith, and a synthesis of faith and life: the first is reached by integrating all the different aspects of human knowledge through the subjects taught, in the light of the gospel; the second is in the growth of the virtues characteristics of the christian. along the consideration of simply ignoring c.a.p. as a course of action, the bible expressed its reservation. the basis is the sinful nature inherent to the implications of aswang belief and practices and their possible evil effects to the human affairs. in the old testament, connotations of witchcraft that are possibly manifested in the context of the superstitious belief of aswang and their practices are mentioned, i.e. divination, enchantment, nephomancy or augury, magic potions, charms, necromancy, cleromancy, self-deception and destruction (lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6; 2 kings 17:10-17; 21:1-6; 23:24-25; 2 chron. 33; is 8:19, 47:9; jer. 27:9; mic. 5:11; ex. 7:11). in the new testament, jesus recognized the reality of the devil and varied activities of satan as adversarial to one’s redemption (luke 4:1-12, 20:9-18, 22; mark 4:3-8, 14ff; mt. 13:47-48, 12:28, 26ff; acts 8:9; gal. 5:19-20). the discipline of christian theology also maintains the same reservation. the basis is its recognition that the devil and satan can create any activities (e.g. 79 international peer reviewed journal aswang belief and practices) that are deceptive and destructive to human beings. for ireneus (140-202 a.d.), satan can dissuade a person away from god when he articulated that the devil, however, since he is an apostate angel, is able, as he was in the beginning, to lead astray and to deceive the mind of man for the transgressing of god’s commands. and little by little he can darken the hearts of those who would try to serve him, to the point that, forgetting the true god, they adore him as if he were god (jurgens, 1979). tertulian (160-220 a.d.) highlighted that satan can extend harm over the bodily sphere of man and the physical world by stating that demons, being fallen angels, are up to corrupt mankind by inflicting dreadful adversities to the body and aggression to the soul; he describes further that demons have wings and therefore can be anywhere (jurgens, 1970). st. augustine (353-430 a.d.) categorically denounced witchcraft and stressed that we must believe them to be spirits most eager to inflict harm, utterly alien from righteousness, swollen with pride, pale with envy, subtle in deceit; who dwell indeed in this air as in a prison in keeping with their own character, because cast down from the height of the higher heaven, they have been condemned to dwell in this element as in the just reward of irretrievable transgression (dods trans., 1950). furthermore, while st. augustine believed that witches were able to make people fall ill or restore them to health, he neither believed that metamorphosis occurs nor it was possible to make spells that summon up the souls of the departed and carry out various things (caro, 2001). other modern theologians like st. ignatius of loyola (1491-1556 a.d.), st. francis de sales (1567 -1622 a.d.), blsd. john henry newman (1808-1890 a.d.), fr. c. pesch, s.j. (1898 – n.d.), bernard härring (1912-1998 a.d.) also demonstrated how evil spirit has certain power over natural phenomena. these perspectives of the scriptures and christian theology are not supportive of the idea to simply ignore c.a.p. rather, these sounded a concern for the need to be aware, know who and what satan is and how he can employ various ways, including the superstitious belief of aswang and its practices, that are not only spiritually but physically harmful to human beings. the other key concept among the themes on the challenges of c.a.p. is to study it by knowing its history, origin and finding its relation to capiz and capisnon. having these categories included to the conduct of studying c.a.p. makes operational one major objective of this study, i.e. to bring capisnon to an enlightened perspective about c.a.p. that will strengthen their identity for a better behavior and proper dispositions. a participant noted: 80 jpair multidisciplinary research this topic needs to be researched. religious and values education teachers have to learn about the phenomenon so we can teach our students about it. studying it can give a clear view about the phenomenon to learn how to explain this to students. proper perspective about it is needed to explain well the phenomenon. probably, symposia or forum about this phenomenon could be done and implemented. (respondent-smatf35) with respect to any challenge c.a.p. brings, the enriching and collaborative theology of contextualization and inculturation, where the christian message emerges, regardless which kind of culture one is identified with or what cultural phenomenon one experiences, is rather a more relevant undertaking. along with the data analysis of this study and in view of the renewed evangelization, the ecclesia in asia and pcp ii’s inculturation and contextual theology agenda and the influence of the culture theory of serrat (2008) and the cultural theory of geertz (1973) found their significance altogether. problem statement number 5. the catechetical material, based on the data gathered in this study, is significantly instructional in nature, understandable and practical in view of the target audience, i.e. the catholic school students and teachers/faculty. for this kind of catechetical methodology teacher/facultycatechists are enabled to use the said catechism in a creative manner. in view of methods based on processes of reasoning, the theological aspect of the catechetical material is deductive, i.e., “it moves from the proclamation of the faith, i.e., bible, liturgy, creed, doctrinal and moral church teachings) and applies it to daily life events” (ncdp, 2007, p. 151). the theological conclusion of the catechism is applied to the beliefs about the phenomenon as experienced in capiz only. on the other hand, as to the anthropological and sociological aspects of the catechism, the inductive method is used, i.e., moving from concrete experiences and individual belief system of capisnon to a generalized description as to what constitutes cap. the catechism of the catholic church (ccc) is made as the basis for its content, form and style. it followed the prescribed model of the catholic bishops conference of the philippines and the national catechetical directory for the philippines without neglecting the directive of the second plenary council of the philippines in view of the conduct of renewed catechesis which is christocentric, rooted in the word of god, authentically filipino and systematic. this catechism out put, in unity of faith and fidelity to catholic church, and in view of the renewed evangelization in the church of capiz, attempts 81 international peer reviewed journal to integrate the gospel message to the contexts and the particular cultural phenomenon of aswang among capisnon. conclusions out of the sixteen (16) themes sought on the concept about c.a.p., more than half of the participants understood c.a.p. under the following themes: (1) a myth; (2) a superstitious belief; (3) an undesirable/ugly attitude of capisnon; (4) a negative label to capisnon; (5) a form of social control; (6) a cover-up; (7) a powerful, supernatural and mythical being; (8) a demonic creature. the other eight (8) less significant themes are: (1) it is related to a festival in capiz; (2) it is a form of entertainment and attraction in capiz; (3) it is an evil spirit; (4) it is a red-eyed old woman; (5) it is associated with t. guimo, c. kabra, m. labo; (6) it is those persons who practice witchcraft; (7) it is a phenomenon which is contrary to catholic faith; (8) it is a socio-religious issue. all these concepts seek relevant answers, clarifications and more importantly integration to the faith, should contextualization and inculturation of theology be relevant to the renewed evangelization in the archdiocese of capiz being the locale of the study. given the seventeen (17) themes about the impact of c.a.p. to the participants, more than half of the them expressed that the impact of c.a.p. to them are: it destroys the reputation of capisnon; non-belief; curiosity; “to see is to believe” complex; it misleads young minds; it affects negatively the sociospiritualeco-psycho/emotional life of capisnon; and denial of one’s birthplace. on the other hand, for the less than half of them, the impact of c.a.p. are: it makes one more prayerful; it brings fun and fascination, it brings question about its history and origin of the phenomenon; scares people away from capiz; contradicts the spirituality and religiosity of capisnon; it makes capiz popular; it sustains the phenomenon itself; it entertains people; media exploitation; it divides the people in capiz. in general, these varying effects of c.a.p. are less helpful on the christian formation and self-disposition of the faithful. as views, opinions and questions about capiz aswang phenomenon receive a poor treatment, all will just lead to ignorance, stereotyping, and deeper confusion. let alone, taking this phenomenon out of its proper context may just continue to afflict capiz and capisnon with the stigma that they do not rightly deserve. in view of the eight (8) themes on the challenge of c.a.p. resulting from this study, more than half of the participants expressed significantly that the challenges of c.a.p. are: to study the phenomenon; to counter-act the phenomenon; to have 82 jpair multidisciplinary research a formal instruction about the phenomenon; to strengthen capisnon identity; to prove that there is no aswang; and to ignore the phenomenon. insignificantly, only very few of the participants stated that c.a.p. should not be used for tourism purposes. with these results, it can be inferred that any reaction towards other people who label the capisnon as aswang must start from a correct internal disposition. this means an enlightened view of c.a.p., where misconceptions and wrong notions of cap are clarified, is recommended to all capisnon. in view of the data gathered, the catechetical material output of this study indicates the provision of a remedy in arresting, if not totally extinguishing, the perpetuation of the inhumane and un-christian effects of the aswang label to the personal, social and christian identity and dignity of capisnon in general (and the respondents of the study in particular). it is significantly instructional in nature, understandable and practical in view of the target audience, i.e. the catholic school students and teachers/faculty. it considered the historical contexts of the aswang belief from the pre-colonial era to the colonial and post-colonial eras that uncover its relation to capiz and capisnon. the doctrinal exposition includes the biblical basis and the position of the church on witchcraft related-belief and practices. while its doctrinal integration is anchored on one’s christian dignity, on god and man’s identity, and on the theology of the body. on the other hand, the moral and worship integration of the catechetical material consists in one’s understanding of god’s just demands to man in relation to the reality of the gift of life to be used according to the divine purpose and intention. the catechism output ends with the didactic question and answer where belief in aswang is confronted in terms of one’s faith, human relations, and its personal and social implications. transalational research in general, the form and style of the catechism on capiz aswang phenomenon, as an out put of this study, followed the prescribed model of the catholic bishops conference of the philippines and the national catechetical directory for the philippines without neglecting the directive of the second plenary council of the philippines in the conduct of renewed catechesis which is christo-centric, rooted in the word of god, authentically filipino and systematic. the material is composed up of the following parts: introduction, context, exposition (i.e. the biblical basis and the stand of the church on witchcraft), integration (which includes doctrine, moral, and worship), and the question and answer. 83 international peer reviewed journal making the results of the study as the major basis for its content, the catechetical material is significantly instructional in nature, understandable and practical considering the target audience, i.e. the catholic school students and teachers/faculty. hence, such kind of catechetical methodology should enable teacher/faculty-catechists in their creative use of the said catechism. in view of methods based on processes of reasoning, the theological aspect of the catechetical material is deductive, i.e., “it moves from the proclamation of the faith, (i.e., bible, liturgy, creed, doctrinal and moral church teachings) and applies it to daily life events” (ncdp, 2007, p. 151). in this particular material however, the theological conclusion was applied to the beliefs about the phenomenon as experienced in capiz. basic tenets of the faith are integrated and some major themes like john paul ii’s theology of the body which envisions god’s sacramental plan of the human body and the meaning of being a person (montalbo, 2006). on the other hand, as to the anthropological and sociological aspects of the catechism, the inductive method was used, i.e., moving from concrete experiences and individual belief system of capisnon to a generalized description as to what constitutes c.a.p. the catechism out put, in unity of faith and fidelity to catholic church, attempts to integrate the gospel message to the contexts and the particular cultural phenomenon of aswang in capiz in view of the renewed evangelization in the church of capiz. directly in line with the output of this study, the last section of fidei depositum (1992) would affirm the use of ccc as a sure and authentic reference in preparing of local catechism and with due consideration to the approval of local episcopal conferences, bishops, ecclesiastical authorities, etc. significantly, this pointed out what ccc encouraged, i.e. the making of new local catechisms that would take into account various situations and cultures as long as unity of faith and fidelity to catholic doctrine are preserved (fidei depositum, section iii). literature cited abalajon, n. v. b. 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(2009). american college dictionary of psychology. american psychological association: washington d.c., u.s.a. retrieved from https:// scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=vanden+bos%2 c+g.+%282009%29.+american+college+dictionary+of+psychology&bt ng= zhang, y. & wildmuth, b. (2005). applications of social research methods to questions and library science. libraries unlimited: santa barbara, california, u.s.a. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt =0%2c5&q=zhang%2c+y.+%2c+%26+wildemuth%2c+b.+m.+%282 009%29.+qualitative+analysis+of+content.+&btng= 112 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the challenge of realizing the value of pragmatic competence development in the current curriculum has been a long struggle in most language classes across the globe. this struggle initiated few researches from scholars on language learning who specifically explored the role classroom approaches in pragmatic development, but still less attention is given to these approaches. the study aimed to find out the relative effectiveness of task-based approach in developing the pragmatic competence of college students. it employed the experimental type of research called pretest-post-test non-equivalent group design. the respondents were the first year college students enrolled in a writing subject. the data were collected using a researcher-made pragmatic competence test anchored on bowers, huisingh, and logiudice’s pragmatic tasks framework (2005). results showed that the experimental group after being taught with task-based approach improved their pragmatic task competence in making inferences, sequencing, decoding implied meaning, supplying appropriate maxims, considering politeness, summarizing, and providing solutions to language problems. it can be posited that tasks as center of language teaching would develop and enhance the language learners’ pragmatic competence. the study recommends the use of task-based approach to innovate language instruction and enhance students’ potentials in pragmatic development. vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.461 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. task-based approach as an effective tool in developing pragmatic competence leo d. rayon, jr. http://orcid.org 0000-0001-8415-416x rayon.leo91@gmail.com compostela valley state college compostela valley, philippines 113 international peer reviewed journal keywords — linguistics, pragmatic competence, pragmatics, task-based approach, task, experimental design, compostela valley, philippines introduction the study of pragmatics explores the ability of language users to match utterances with contexts in which they are appropriate. stalnaker (1972) defined pragmatics as the study of linguistic acts and settings in which they are performed. pragmatic competence is defined by csizer and edwards (2001) as the knowledge of social, cultural, and discourse conventions that has to be followed in various situations. the development of pragmatics aims to facilitate the learners’ sense of being able to find socially appropriate language for the situations they encounter. this also encompasses speech acts, conversational structures, conversational implicatures, conversational management, discourse organization, and sociolinguistic aspects of language use such as choice of address forms. these areas of language and language use have not been given attention in language teaching curricula, leading learners to ask if teachers could teach them the secret rules of english. pragmatic rules for language use are often subconscious, and even native speakers of english are often unaware of pragmatic rules until these rules are broken (bardovi-harlig & taylor, 2003). the results of a study conducted by fletcher (1983) revealed that native americans, alaskans, and american-indians have difficulties in their own native language. these include semantic and pragmatic implicatures of junctures, interpretations, structures, and speech acts. also, various researches in pragmatic competence has repeatedly proven that even proficient speakers of english often lack necessary pragmatic competence; that is, they are not aware of the social, cultural, and discourse conventions that have to be followed and considered in various situations (bardovi-harlig, 1999). curriculum designers, language learning advocates, teachers, and instructors have been inspired to seek innovations in evaluating and developing pragmatic competence. many language teaching approaches, methods, and programs have been developed to find innovative ways for pragmatic competence development. relatively, less attention is given to how these teaching programs can contribute to the pragmatic development of the learners. overtly, classroom-based instructions and approaches have been seen greatly by language advocates as a facilitating tool in pragmatic development. martinez-flor (2005) indicated that instruction and instructional methods have significant effects on pragmatic competence 114 jpair multidisciplinary research acquisition. thus, language learning advocates have formulated and developed a method which sets task as the central component of language learning called as task-based approach. tba is an innovative approach of teaching a second language which seeks to engage learners in an internationally authentic language use by having them perform a series of tasks (ellis, 2003). it aims to both acquire new linguistic knowledge and process existing knowledge. skehan (1996) also asserted that tba could be a preferable alternative method and innovation in communicative language teaching. viewing the development of pragmatics, ellis (2007) claimed the importance of task as a primary focus on pragmatic meaning by setting learners to perform a series of tasks. in the philippines, the challenge of pragmatic competence development has not been given focus by most educational institutions and language teachers. since the current global linguistic era demands more of what has been offered by philippine universities, the conventions of english as a second language is not anymore bound to communicative proficiency only. what the current curriculum offers failed to holistically address the needs of learners specifically the competency in pragmatics. most of philippine educational institutions and language teachers have disregarded the importance of integrating pragmatic competence enhancement. as a result, students may come up with decreasing pragmatic awareness which is significant in dealing with real life linguistic situations. the philippine educational system should realize the importance of integrating pragmatic competence development because this development is what the learners need in dealing life outside the four walls of the classroom. the current demands of the workforce and in the broad range of professions are applicability and practicality rather than of consolidated framing of theories. in view of the foregoing gaps and premises mentioned above, this research was conducted to serve as a pilot study in realizing the value of pragmatic competence in the philippine curriculum and the role of task-based approach in pragmatic development. also, this study was conducted to primarily assess the effectiveness of task-based approach in developing pragmatic competence and to facilitate insights for language teaching and learning. objectives of the study this study aimed to assess the relative effectiveness of task-based approach in developing pragmatic competence. primarily, it was focused to determine 115 international peer reviewed journal the pragmatic competence level of the experimental and control groups using a researcher-made pragmatic competence test. further, this research was set to identify if there is a significant difference in the levels of pragmatic competence between the experimental and control groups in the pretest and post-test and in the overall mean gain scores of the two groups after being treated with task-based approach and traditional approach of language teaching, respectively. methodology participants this study involved two sections of college students enrolled in a general education writing subject in a state university in davao city, philippines. they were classified as experimental and control groups. the researcher determined the control and experimental groups through a toss coin. the groups were chosen since they shared common factors such as field of discipline, year level, college unit, class schedule, and the subject teacher. also, the researcher made a deeper comparison of the two groups pretest to compare if they have the same level of pragmatic competence before the conduct of the research. the results were comparable. the researcher also established an informed consent and briefing among the respondents in conducting the research. the experimental group was taught using task-based approach of language teaching, while the control group was taught with traditional approach of language teaching. instruments lesson designs for the experimental group. these lesson designs are taskbased and were used in teaching the subject course. the lessons in the experimental group were structured in the following phases of tasks: pre-task, task phase, posttask, and practice. these phases were the mechanism or set up in employing task-based approach to the experimental group. the lesson designs were based on the course syllabus utilized by the general education writing subject in the state university. lesson designs for the control group. these lesson designs follow the traditional approach of language teaching and were used in teaching the subject course to the control group. the lessons were structured and limited to class discussion, lecture, seatwork/individual work, oral recitation, administering quizzes and exams, and writing weekly journals. the lesson designs of the two groups contained the same topics and lessons. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research researcher-made pragmatic competence test. a 50-item pragmatic competence test was used in the administration of pretest to determine and compare if the experimental and control groups have the same level of pragmatic competence before the conduct of the research. the same test was used in the post-test to determine the effectiveness of task-based approach in developing and enhancing the pragmatic competence of the respondents. the test was based on bowers, huisingh, and logiudice’s pragmatic tasks framework (2005) specifically the tasks of making inferences, sequencing, decoding implied meanings, supplying appropriate maxims, considering politeness, summarizing, and providing solutions to language problems. originally, the pragmatic competence test was composed of 80 items of pragmatic tasks problems. to test the reliability and validity of the test, it was subjected for pilot testing. the test was administered to a class of first year students of the same college and class schedule. the pilot test revealed that nine task items in the instrument were too easy and 21 items were too difficult, hence, they were all discarded in the final test of pragmatic competence. also, two expert validators checked each item of the test based on presentation/relevance, topic organization, applicability, and clarity and comprehensibility. the test was then certified as reliable and valid. data gathering the participants were classified as experimental and control groups. administration of pretest was conducted, and all scores were tabulated and recorded. the control group was taught using the traditional approach of language teaching while the experimental group was taught using with task-based approach of language teaching. all classroom activities were carefully monitored and accurately documented including attitudes and motivations manifested by both groups towards the approaches of language teaching. after a 10-week period, a post-test was administered to both groups, and all scores were tabulated and recorded. the collected data of the study were then computed, analyzed, and interpreted. data analysis the study utilized the experimental design type of research called the pretestpost-test non-equivalent group design to find any relative effect of task-based approach on the pragmatic competence of the respondents. the non-equivalent group design was utilized because of the unequal number of respondents in 117 international peer reviewed journal the two groups. the experimental had 34 respondents while the control group had 38 respondents. also, the design ensured that the interpretation of data specifically in the determination of significant differences in the level of pragmatic competence would not be affected by unequal respondents. further, t-test was used to determine the significant difference between the pretest and post-test scores of the two groups. also, mean gain scores were computed and the level of significance was tested at 0.05. results and discussion pragmatic competence level of the experimental and control groups in the pretest table 1. level of pragmatic competence of the respondents before the experiment period scores experimental group control group f % level f % level 45-50 0 0.0 high 0 0.0 high 35-44 28 82.4 above average 26 68.4 above average 25-34 6 17.6 average 12 31.6 average 16-24 0 0.0 below average 0 0.0 below average 0-15 0 0.0 poor 0 0.0 poor total 34 100 38 100 the findings above reveal that the students in the experimental group got an above average level (28 or 82.4%) in their pragmatic competence pretest which means that they have correctly answered most of the questions in the pragmatic competence test in terms of making inferences, logically sequencing a series of events, decoding implied meanings, supplying appropriate maxims, politeness, summarizing, and problems and solutions. there are six or 17.6% of the students got an average level in their pragmatic competence pretest which means that they have correctly answered some of the questions in the pragmatic competence test. the result also shows that all students in the experimental group passed 118 jpair multidisciplinary research the pragmatic competence pretest since all respondents scored a minimum of 50% from the total number of test items. a majority of the students in the experimental group got an above average level in the pretest. on the other hand, 26 (68.4%) of the students in the control group got an above average level in their pragmatic competence pretest which means that they have correctly answered most of the questions in the pragmatic competence. there are 12 (31.6%) of the students in control group got an average level in the pragmatic competence pretest which means that they have correctly answered some of the questions in the pragmatic competence test. similar to the experimental group, a majority of the students in the control group got an above average level in the pretest. the result only shows that both groups are comparable in their overall pragmatic competence level at the start of the experiment. table 2. level of pragmatic competence of the respondents after the experiment period scores experimental group control group f % level f % level 45-50 30 88.2 high 1 2.6 high 35-44 4 11.8 above average 30 78.9 above average 25-34 0 0.0 average 7 18.4 average 16-24 0 0.0 below average 0 0.0 below average 0-15 0 0.0 poor 0 0.0 poor total 34 100 38 100 a majority of the students in the experimental group obtained high scores in the pragmatic competence post-test after employing task-based approach in language teaching. the significant improvement validated the effectiveness of the task-based approach since it enabled the learners to acquire new linguistic knowledge and processed their existing knowledge in language. also, they were exposed to authentic language and materials since classroom interactions are student-centered (ellis, 2003). 119 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, one (2.6%) of the students in the control group got a high level in the pragmatic competence post-test which means that the student has correctly answered almost all of the questions in the pragmatic competence test. thirty or 78.9 % of the students in control group got an above average level in the pragmatic competence post-test which means that they have correctly answered most of the questions in the pragmatic competence test. furthermore, there are only seven or 18.4 % of the students in the control group got an average level in the pragmatic competence post-test which means that they have correctly answered some of the questions in the pragmatic competence test. a majority of the students in the control group have improved their level of pragmatic competence after being taught with traditional approach. this implies that there was a minimal increase of pragmatic level in the group; one student achieved a high level from being above average, five students improved their level from average to above average while still the rest in the group remain on the average level. in spite the minimal level increase, traditional approach is still practically not operational in teaching application of facts, in developing problem-solving skills or in changing attitudes. also, it is characteristically confined to a structure-based course which requires a good deal of remedial reteaching which, in turn, led to similarly less improvement. the significant increase in the pragmatic competence level of the experimental group is greater than the increase of the pragmatic competence level of the control group as shown in table 2. this is because task-based approach (tba) enables learners to make far more rapid progress, use their second/foreign language in real-world circumstances with a reasonable efficiency even after quite short courses, and operate an effective meaning system (e.g. to express what they wanted to say and interpret what others have said in every classroom interaction) even though their grammar and lexicon were often far from perfect (leaver & willis, 2004). moreover, task-based approach caters development and progress in decoding social, cultural, and discourse conventions that have to be followed in various situations (e.g. student-group interaction and exchange). nunan (2006) also asserted the possible effects of tba in developing competencies. he noted that tasks, as the central component of tba, allow learners to involve their selves in activities that require comprehension, production, and interaction in the target language while their attention is focused on the mobilization of their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning than to manipulate form. these tasks that require comprehension, production, and interaction reflect real-life 120 jpair multidisciplinary research situations tasks. lynch and maclean (2000) supported this notion by saying that the first source of justifications for task-based learning is what may be termed the “ecologic alone”: the belief that the best way to promote effective learning and competency development is by setting up classroom tasks that reflect as far as possible the real world tasks which the learners perform or would perform. in this view, tasks performance is seen as a rehearsal for interaction to come. one factor which can be viewed that has contributory effects on the pragmatic competence level of the experimental group is their attitude towards the medium of tba method which english language. the attitude towards the english language implies the students’ feelings, prejudice, or fears about the learning of english as a second language (spolsky, 2000). brown (1994) stated that those learners who show a positive attitude towards a language can get benefits from it while learning and those who have a negative attitude towards a language might lead to a decreased motivation and unsuccessful attainment of proficiency or competence due to decreased input and interaction. in addition, chan, jung, masaki, and park (2007) asserted that students who have been learning a language via a variety of traditional approaches but are subsequently introduced to task-based language teaching, such students initially tend to have negative attitudes toward tba, but when using and experiencing tasks using the target language, they may overcome their original judgments and react favorably towards tba practices. they also suggested that attitudes affect various aspects of the approach. this notion is consistent to the experimental group wherein at the start of the administration of the treatment; the students have shown some negative attitude towards tba since they are required to use their target language. however, as the instructor continued to engage the experimental group to tba using the english language, they have started to show positive attitudes towards the approach since they eventually became familiar with how the different tasks work in the classroom. ellis (2006) asserted that tasks reduce the cognitive or linguistic demands placed on the learner. the positive attitude manifested by the experimental group can also be due to the instructor of the subject. murad (2009) stated that if the instructor is accustomed and has shown enthusiastic reactions towards tba, learners can receive adequate assistance in learning and in acquiring a competency. thus, positive attitude towards the employment of tba by the instructor to the experimental group have developed accordingly. since the instructor has incurred a positive attitude towards tba, it led the experimental group to motivation. relating to the second language learner’s overall goal orientation and attitude, ellis (1985) defined motivation as the 121 international peer reviewed journal persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal. the motivation established by the experimental group in accomplishing each task presented is an apparent factor why competency in pragmatics was achieved in this study. yashima (2002) noted that if the students are motivated, they will develop a complete self-confidence in their second language, resulting in a greater willingness to communicate and interact. referring to ellis’ definition of motivation – learner’s overall goal orientation and attitude, willis (1996) also provided an assertion why accomplishing a task leads to motivation. she asserted that task is a goaloriented activity with a real outcome which stirs learners to be motivated. table 3. difference in the pragmatic competence level between the experimental and control groups in the pretest group mean standard deviation level t-value p-value experimental group 38.06 4.315 above average -2.192 0.052* control group 35.92 3.915 above average legend: * = significant difference the result shows that the experimental and control groups both have an above average pragmatic competence level in their pretest performance. the t-value of -2.192 with the corresponding p-value of 0.052 implies that there is no significant difference in pretest performance of the experimental and control groups before the treatment period. this condition is required to be met before the experiment to ensure that the respondents’ level of pragmatic competence in the two groups are comparably the same (murad, 2005). table 4. difference in the pragmatic competence level between the experimental and control groups in the post-test group mean standard deviation level t-value p-value experimental group 47.35 2.281 high -12.662 0.000* control group 38.26 3.710 above average legend: * = significant difference 122 jpair multidisciplinary research the t-value -12.662 with the corresponding p-value of 0.000 shows that there is a significant difference in the pragmatic competence level between the experimental and control groups in the post-test. this implies that the experimental group performs better in the pragmatic competence test than the control group after conducting the experiment. the findings are confirmed by the several studies conducted by foster and skehan (1996), mehnert (1998), and ortega (1999) who said that task planning produces a positive influence on the aspects of a learner’s performance. moreover, beglar and hunt (2002) pointed out that learners who participated in task-based projects found the experience to be rewarding, intrinsically motivating, and educationally beneficial. thus, the final result was generally of a high level. table 5. difference in the overall mean gain scores of the experimental and control groups group mean standard deviation t-value p-value experimental group 9.29 3.546 -8.824 0.000* control group 2.34 3.319 legend: * = significant difference the results indicate that the experimental group gained a higher mean gain score compared to the control group. also, the t-value -8.824 with the corresponding p-value of 0.000 reveals that there is a significant difference in the overall mean gain scores between the experimental and control groups. thus, the use of task-based approach has a significant effect on the pragmatic competence level of the experimental group. the findings of this study are consistent with the study of murad (2009) on task-based approach which revealed that it enables teachers to improve their students’ communicative skills, provide opportunities for native-like interactions, practice oral representations immediately after getting enough decoded educational, social, and cultural meaning. the effectiveness of tba was made possible through giving a clear guide and procedures on the different tasks accomplished. furthermore, the effectiveness of the approach on the pragmatic competence proves the theory of ellis (2003) that the use of tba has a positive outcome for learners to process language pragmatically which can be evaluated in terms of correct or appropriate 123 international peer reviewed journal propositional content, decoding social, cultural, and discourse conventions that have to be followed in various situations. another factor that contributed to the high-level performance in pragmatic competence post-test is the types of tasks that the experimental group has performed. these tasks usually contribute pragmatic awareness and development. these tasks as classified by willis (1996) include the following: listing including brainstorming and fact-finding which help train students’ comprehension and induction ability; ordering and sorting including sequencing, ranking, and classifying which foster comprehension, logic, and reasoning ability; comparing including matching, finding similarities and differences which enhances students’ ability of differentiation; problem solving including analyzing real situations, reasoning, and decision-making which promotes students’ reasoning and decision-making abilities; sharing experience including narrating, describing, exploring, and exploring attitudes, opinions, and reactions which help students share and exchange their knowledge and experience; and creative tasks including brainstorming, fact finding, ordering, and sorting, comparing, and many other activities which cultivates students’ comprehensive problemsolving abilities as well as their reasoning and analyzing abilities. these types of tasks were comprehensively integrated into task-based approach which acted as the mechanisms in unconsciously developing the pragmatic awareness of the experimental group. also, these tasks are aligned in evaluating, developing, and enhancing pragmatic competence. bowers, huisingh, and logiudice (2005) stated in their study that pragmatic competence could be assessed through making inferences, sequencing, summarizing, determining causes and effects, and problem and solution. through these assessments, the learners’ ability to think, to reason, to solve problems, to infer, to determine causes, to sequence, and to understand directions can be socially, culturally, and discursively determined. also, the different phases of tba incurred a contributory factor in the pragmatic competence enhancement of the experimental group (murad, 2005). in the employment of the approach in each lesson of the subject, the tasks were identified and divided into different phases – pre-task phase, task phase, posttask phase, and practice phase. these phases were carefully considered and were followed chronologically from the task-based lessons. the different phases of the approach made the students in the experimental group focused on the form of each task through doing a task design plan before performing it (nunan, 2006). 124 jpair multidisciplinary research another contributory factor to support the findings of this study is mentioned by ellis (2003). he emphasized the criteria features of each task accomplished. according to him, a task is a work plan which constitutes a plan for learning activity. this work plan takes the form of teaching materials. in the case of the experimental group treated with tba, the results have matched the expectation intended by the plan. hence, the approach paved the development and enhancement of the pragmatic competence of the respondents. conclusion this study concludes that the pragmatic competence level of the respondents improved after task-based approach was used. for this research, tba has a positive outcome for the learners to process language pragmatically which was evaluated through appropriate propositional content, decoding social, cultural, and discourse conventions that have to be followed in various situations. the findings of this study give teachers/instructors teaching english courses the implications of the task-based approach to language pedagogy. also, teachers may utilize this approach to innovate and enhance students’ potentials, confidence, and competencies, particularly in pragmatic competence development. since task-based language teaching is an effective method in this study, more researches of this nature must be conducted in different school levels. also, future researchers could determine and explore more pragmatic competence indicators to be applied on tasks. through these tasks, students would be more motivated and enthusiastic in learning the english language which may lead to their language skills’ improvement. finally, future researchers could employ tba on other areas in language teaching to help and guide teachers and students in discovering the other implications of tba in language learning and in language skills development. translational research the outcome of this study on task-based approach and pragmatics could be translated into a module on pragmatic competence enhancement that centers on the roles of task as the primary mechanism of instruction and learning in a second language classroom. this module can also be a basis to initiate reform in general education english course syllabi and outlines and to acquire alternative methods of feedback for curriculum revision. 125 international peer reviewed journal literature cited bardovi-harlig, kathleen. (1999). exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: a research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. language learning: a journal of research in language studies, volume 49 (4) pg. 677-713. retrieved on september 1, 2012, from https://goo.gl/dcjooh. bardovi-harlig, kathleen and taylor, rebecca m. (2003). teaching pragmatics. washington, dc: united states department of state. retrieved on september 1, 2012, from https://goo.gl/7fzfge. beglar, d., & hunt, a. (2002). implementing task-based language teaching.  methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice, 96-106. bowers, l., huisingh, r., & logiudice, c. (2005). tops 3, elementary: a test of reasoning in context: skill area: problem solving and reasoning, developmental ages: 6-0 through 12-11 years. linguisystem. brown, h. d. (1994). principles of language learning and teaching. chan, elisa, jung, min lee, masaki, seo, and park, mi yung. (2007). attitudes and perspective on the implementation of tblt: the second international conference on tblt at hawaii university. retrieved on february 8, 2013, from https://goo.gl/c1dc28. csizer, kata and edwards, melinda (2001). opening and closing the conversation – how course book dialogues can be implemented in the classroom. novelty, 8(2), 55-66. ellis, rod (1985). understanding second language acquisition. oxford: oxford university press. ellis, rod. (2003). task-based language learning and teaching. oxford: oxford university press. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research ellis, rod (2006). the methodology of task-based teaching. paper presented at the 2006 asian efl journal conference, pusan, korea. ellis, rod (2007). task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstanding. retrieved on january 17, 2013, from https://goo.gl/xd74u3. fletcher, john dexter. (1983). what problems do american-indians have with english?. journal of american indian education, volume 23(1). retrieved on september 1, 2012, from https://goo.gl/ubyp4h. foster, pauline and skehan, peter. (1996). the influence of planning on performance in task-based learning. studies in second language acquisition 8(3): 299-324. leaver, betty lou and willis, jane. (2004). task-based instructions in foreign language education: practices and programs. washington: george university press. lynch, tony, and maclean, joan. (2000). exploring the benefits of task repetition and recycling for classroom language learning. language teaching research, 4, 221-250. martinez-flor, alicia (2005): the effect of instruction on the development of pragmatic competence in the english as a foreign language context: a study based on suggestions. university of jaume i. department of english studies. retrieved on september 2, 2012, from https://goo.gl/x9id0v. mehnert, uta. (1998). the effects of different lengths of time for planning on second language performance. studies in second language acquisition, 20, 83-108. murad, tareq mitib. (2009). the effects of task-based language teaching on developing speaking skills among the palestinian secondary efl students in israel and their attitudes towards english. ph.d. dissertation: yarmouk university, irbid jordan. nunan, david (2006). task-based language teaching in the asia context: defining ‘task’. asian efl journal, 8(3), 12-18. 127 international peer reviewed journal ortega, lourdes. (1999). planning and focus on form in l2 oral performance. studies in second language acquisition, 21, 109-148. skehan, peter. (1996). second language acquisition research and task-based instruction. in willis, d. and willis, j. (eds). challenges and change in language teaching. oxford university press. spolsky, bernard. (2000). language motivation revisited: anniversary article. applied linguistics, 20(2), 157-169. stalnaker,  robert  c. (1972). pragmatics. in: donald davidson and gilbert harman, (eds.), semantics of natural language, 380-397. dordrecht: reidel. willis, jane. (1996). a framework for task-based learning. harlow: longman. yashima, tomoko. (2002). willingness to communicate in a second language: the japanese efl context. modern language journal 86 (1): 54-66. 189 international peer reviewed journal abstract orphan studies are scarce internationally and locally. however, the implications of these orphans are tantamount to the society’s effort to advancement. one of the problems that the philippines need to address is its status on the abandoned, neglected and orphaned children. the country has an uncertain living: challenges of orphans in the philippines john mark vergara http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8857-5858 johnmarkvergara94@gmail.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines ladee abigail angeles http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9589-5841 ladeeabigail04@gmail.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines ashley angel pagkalinawan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9051-1725 ashpagkalinawan@gmail.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines maurice villafranca http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3961-8356 maurice_villafranca@dlsu.edu.ph calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines originality: 98% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 2% vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.612 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8857-5858 mailto:johnmarkvergara94@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9589-5841 mailto:ladeeabigail04@gmail.com mailto:ashpagkalinawan@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3961-8356 190 jpair multidisciplinary research abandoned children problem (kaiman & de leon, 2016). about 1.8 million children in the philippines are under the status of abandoned or neglected. this phenomenological study focused on the experiences, aspirations, and fears of orphaned children living in and outside the orphanage. the study sought ethical clearance from the ethics committee to ensure that ethical standards were observed. trustworthiness and rigor were ensured through member checking. measures to protect participants’ confidentiality and anonymity were followed. five (5) participants were purposively chosen through criterion sampling and data were collected through semi-structured interview. narratives were transcribed verbatim and reflectively analyzed using collaizi’s (1978) procedural steps. analyzed narratives revealed three (3) dominant themes: (1) nay, tay, bakit? questions of sufferings, (2) paglaho ng alaala: standing anchored in the ground (3) bakas ng nakalipas: a choice to move forward. the study revealed that the orphans underwent social, emotional, mental, spiritual and physical difficulties as an orphaned child. the study includes suggestions and recommendations for exploring the health and nutritional status and psychological well-being of an orphan. keywords — social science, orphans, phenomenological approach, philippines introduction the philippines is a developing country that has made significant economic progress in the last few years. however, this progress that the filipino people are enjoying it without any problems. one of the problems that the philippines need to address is its status on the abandoned, neglected and orphaned children. the country has an abandoned children problem (kaiman & de leon, 2016). about 1.8 million children in the philippines are under the status of abandoned or neglected (united nations’ children’s rights & emergency relief organization, 2018). this is more than 1% of the entire population. some of the factors that contribute to this growth are extreme poverty, victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts. the department of social welfare and development is the responsible agent for ensuring these children to find homes. data reveals that between 2009 and 2015, american families adopted around 1,350 filipino children. according to the world bank orphans and other vulnerable children (ovc) toolkit, an orphan is a person who is below 18 years of age, and whose 191 international peer reviewed journal mother, father, or both are deceased. however, other children were considered as social orphans as their parents unlawfully discarded their duties as parents due to either poverty or illness. these children end up roaming in the streets to survive, or if they are fortunate enough, they are taken to an orphanage, where they receive primary care and support. bethany christian services (n.d) pointed out the reality that majority of the world’s orphans had families before. there were even definitions of different types of orphans, a ‘single orphan’ whose mother or father is deceased, a ‘paternal orphan’ which refers to a child whose father had died, a ‘maternal orphan’ which refers to a child whose mother had died and a ‘full orphan’ or ‘double orphan’ which refers to a child whose parents had both died-these were all categorized as ‘true orphans’. moreover, by ‘social orphans’ these were children that one parent or both parents were lost because of abandonment, or relinquishment due to poverty, alcoholism, or imprisonment. orphaned children compared to non-orphaned are disadvantaged regarding several facets including but not limited to family relationship, education, and finance. in addition to the trauma of witnessing the death and illness of one or both parents, orphans lack emotional and mental support. they are more likely to undergo problems in cognitive and emotional development (unicef, 2003). children who had lost one or both parents are witnessed by the society but are still not addressed. this phenomenon happened in sub saharan africa where the support from locality and government is not enough to solve the issue (fredriksson-bass & kanabus, 2004). also, orphaned children grew up with a lack of love from their parents and the basic needs for survival, and now they have to face this sad reality. numerous works of literature provide help to address the needs of the orphans and to support families and localities to improve their capacity to cope with as orphanages are not a sustainable long-term solution for this kind of phenomenon (unaids, 2002). the circumstances of orphanhood vary by country and region of the world. this had been one of the worldly concerns. the fact that being 18 years old and below made these children even more vulnerable as they have no foundations to build upon nor have a certain future. this shows the fact that orphanhood is an economic phenomenon much related to the notion of childhood which was shown to be an economic and social construct that can have no universal validity. this study aimed to understand the challenges of an orphan child living in the orphanage. the researchers wanted to know what the experiences of the children are. furthermore, the researcher also aimed to recognize the actual state of an orphan in the philippine setting. 192 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design it was stated by husserl (1963) that “phenomenology studies the structure of various types of experience such as perception, thought, memory, imagination, emotion, desire, and volition to bodily awareness embodied action, and social activity, including scientific activity.” according to classical husserlian phenomenology (2008), individual’s experience is directed toward—represents or ‘intends’—things only through particular concepts, thoughts, ideas, images, etc. the structure of these forms of experience typically involved what husserl called ‘intentionality.’ descriptive phenomenology was about producing ‘thick descriptions’ of people’s experiences and perspectives within their natural settings. this research design was used by researchers to determine the ideal qualities of using qualitative research. the researchers utilized the descriptive method to collect and gather their data wherein an interview was held with five orphaned children to answer the research problem. the gathered data were used as bases to support the problem. research site the research was conducted inside the reception and action center of dswd lucena. lucena city is the capital of quezon province in region iv-a. it is a 2nd class highly urbanized city. it has a total population of 266,228 people (census, 2015). the establishment of the reception and action centers for boys (rac) has significantly supported the care, protection, development, and rehabilitation of the orphaned children, particularly the potentially neglected in lucena. at the reception and action center for boys, the health and basic needs of the 114 boys are being provided for by the center; it also provides either formal or non-formal education, spiritual enhancement through various activities and programs. participants participants were the orphaned filipino children who experienced different challenges in their lives. the participant child must be in the age of 10-19 years old and must be willing to share his/her story. informed consent and assent were secured before the commencement of the interview and data gathering 193 international peer reviewed journal procedures. five (5) participants were chosen from the reception and action center. a therapist was readily available in case of distressed feelings among the participants. data gathering procedure data was gathered through a face-to-face interview with the participants. the reception and action center validated the interview questions. the questions in the interview were formulated by the researchers and were validated by the research adviser for suitability about child protection policy. the researchers assured confidentiality of this interview and held responsible for protecting personal information and reputation of the respondents. the researchers utilized a semi-structured interview guide and narrative approach in data gathering to ensure that the study would be consistent. the interview was conducted on the most favorable time and condition to ensure readiness among the respondent. with the use of the descriptive phenomenology, the researchers asked the participants to tell their experiences in a detailed manner as possible. the participants were allowed in sharing and narrating one’s story. the researchers’ questions for the participants were used to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and to prevent the researchers from interrupting the interview process; intriguing questions were avoided. after the collection of data, the researchers offered a simple token to the participants for their trust and willingness to cooperate in this study since they belong to the late childhood period. transcriptions were done word per word and were translated into english. also, the researchers identified the verbal and non-verbal cues including the body language and gestures. trustworthiness and rigor of the data were observed during the conduct of the study. the process of reflective analysis in this descriptive phenomenological paper, the method by collaizzi (1978) was used to analyze all the transcription and narratives of the participants who were significant for the researchers to validate the research objectives. smith (2009) commented on the importance of consensus in a research study and contributed to positive interdependence (johnson and johnson 2009). 194 jpair multidisciplinary research establishing trustworthiness and rigor trustworthiness was important in conducting qualitative research. the researchers became open to accept the results of the interview to be able to avoid data manipulation. credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability were ensured to attain study rigor. data analysis swanson (2004) and wojnar (2005) argued that rigorous analysis of data constitutes the second component of the detailed phenomenological investigation. colaizzi’s (1978) method was used to guide the analysis. this includes the reading and rereading of the participant’s transcripts, extracting the significance statements, formulating meanings to illuminate meanings hidden in various context, categorizing into clusters of themes and validating original text to identify experience common to all, describe to generate prototype of theoretical model, revalidating findings to participants, and incorporating any changes based on the participants’ feedback. ethical consideration the study observed the welfare of the participants such as confidentiality, fidelity, respect for participants and autonomy, and acquiring consent to the respective officials. ethical standards also protected the anonymity of the participants. the letter of consent and assent was presented to the respective officials concerning the interview by the researchers. the researchers also informed the participants entirely regarding the procedures and purpose of the research project. also, the researchers ensured that the participants’ engagement in this study was done voluntarily and were given an option to withdraw their involvement anytime freely. results and discussion after the interview narratives reflection, three (3) major themes emerged: (1) nay, tay bakit? questions of suffering; (2) paglaho ng alaala: standing anchored in the ground; and (3) bakas ng nakalipas: a choice to move forward. the themes were constructed from the narratives of the participants and were validated and counter-validated by the participants themselves. 195 international peer reviewed journal the resulting themes show the genuine experiences of the participants in facing orphan challenges. theme 1: nay, tay bakit? questions of sufferings after careful analysis and reflection of the narratives, nay, tay bakit? questions of sufferings was the first theme that emerged. three sub-concepts were identified under this theme: (1): searching for answers (2): self doubt among others and (3): trials along the journey. this theme expounds the participants’ perspective on the challenges faced by an orphaned child and how they confront the struggles in life. cinderella shared her questions about her parents on why they left them: (“…because i do not know why, why they left me? if they love me if they love us, why do they need to leave us like that, it is hard to explain…”) hiro also shared their sentiments about their parents after they left them: (“…why did you leave me, why did you run away…”?) their insecurities among others were also a significant challenge to them as they faced their everyday lives. harry shared that: (“…it is like, you are having a feeling of envy towards other, and it is just like you feel anger towards yourself like i am the unluckiest child…”) also, lilo shared that: (… “i envy other people because they have a father, but all i have is a mother…”) their challenges also evidenced their struggles in life as they grow up. some participants attested that it was hard to accept from other people about the fact they are already orphans. according to harry: (“…they always ask me how i managed to survive, without a father, they are looking for my father… they keep on asking who my father is to them, and it was impossible that i came from nothing… of course, it pains me 196 jpair multidisciplinary research every time that there is a meeting of parents, it is only my mother who is attending and if not the assistant will do…”) lilo also shared that: (… “i suffered bullying from my classmates and friends saying that i do not have a father, which he left us…”) hiro further supported the account by: (“sometimes they are saying something against me that i do not have parents, but then i said that how come that i am living now if i do not have parents, i am just ignoring it”) theme 2: paglaho ng alaala: standing anchored in the ground based on the analysis done by the researchers an additional theme was made which is paglaho ng alaala: standing anchored in the ground. this theme is divided into three sub-themes: (1): blaming him (2): fear to be left out and (3): emotional support. this theme shows how their situation affects their faith and emotional state. harry shared how his situation affected his faith: (“…i had so much hatred to god when i was a child, when these painful things in life happened to me, asking why he gave me this life, i blamed him for everything that happened…”) cinderella further shared that: (“…..honestly, i blamed god first, maybe because i am just a human and there was some point that even if you have so much faith in him, you will blame him because they said he created everything….”) the faith of this orphaned child develops into their fear and projection towards god. this leads to the discovery of the second sub concept of anxious thoughts, and this is how life gave them uneasiness and fear of the unknown. cinderella stated that: 197 international peer reviewed journal (“i am having a feeling of being left out, and i do not like the feeling of being left by someone that’s why i make ways to be noticed”) similar to lilo: (“…i have many fears, like what if i lose my mother, that there is someone important to me that i will also lose, that i do not want to happen even if i know that it will…”) the participants aimed to comfort themselves, with the help of others despite their challenges. the third subconcept is coping strategies. cinderella shared that: (“…i imagine something because, for me, imagination is my most family and best friend because it can make me happy, i became happy because of my imagination…”) lilo further shared that: (“...yes, my friends and when my father died i had a boyfriend he was the one whom i leaned on...”) theme 3: bakas ng nakalipas: a choice to move forward analysis of the narratives lead to the presented theme: bakas ng nakalipas: a choice to move forward. four sub-concepts established under this theme: (1): mistaken thoughts (2): lessons from the aftermath (3): moving on through acceptance and forgiveness and (4) chasing dreams. this theme shows how the participant’s experience affects their decision-making from the past to the present time and for their future knowing the fact that they have no parents now to hold on. harry shared his thoughts: (“when she was gone, that time it flashed back to me how important she is to me. i thought i could live my life alone, that is how i felt but then i thought wrong, it is difficult now that she’s gone…”) 198 jpair multidisciplinary research lilo also shared her memory: (“…back then i prayed for my father, ‘i wish that you die’ (crying)... that is how wrong i was to him. however, now, that he is dead. i wish that he be in good condition…”) harry remembering his past said that: (“…give importance, love yourself first before you turn into other people, and love your parents as long as they are there... because if they were gone that is only when you will realize their importance in our life, as a person, as a child…”) lessons in life after the problems and challenges of orphaned children affect their present perception about life. batang simbahan shared her lessons in life that: (“…learn how to appreciate the people around you, all the people who love you, all the people that god gave you. you will only realize it when they are gone.”) lilo also told that: (“i learned to forgive. i learned that if there is a person who made a mistake, i forgive them. i had a deep grudge against my father and forgave him only when he was already nearing death. i learned a lesson that you do not need to take too long to forgive a person, all you need to do is understand him and then forgive him…”) moving on is the only way that they can accept the fact that they are already orphan and forget the hardships of their situation. harry shared how he had moved on and quoted that: (“…you will not blame her because of what she showed me and expressed, but then like other people said “no matter what i do, she is my mother” she is, she is the one who raised me no matter what. i accept the truth whatever that is because that will prevent my freedom or be firm if i would not accept the truth…”) 199 international peer reviewed journal also, lilo pointed out that: (“…when he died, when he was still in, in the morgue, i said, “just be alive i will accept you even i am the one who will take care of you.” the feeling that...you want to make up with the lost chances with him, but then there is nothing you can do now because it is already there, and all you have to do is accept it. i accept that he is gone because if i do not, i will only make myself suffer…”) after all the trials that came their way, they still hold in their heart big dreams for their future. harry told his dream that: (“…finish my studies, have a good job, to save money, of course, i also want to build my own house. i do not want other people to experience what i have been through. i want to have a simple life even if it is not that prosperous but then a complete family that my future child will experience the love of a whole and complete family which i did not experience…”) cinderella supported the account by: (“…because for me, my success in life would not be a true success if the family would not be involved because as what other say, ‘family matters the most’…”) lilo executed her dreams by: (“…i only dream ... that when the time came that i will be alone and my siblings, of course, will have their own family too, i dream that i will not be the same. my future family would not be the same as the family i grew up, that is all…) together with them, hiro shared his only dream for the future by: (“…yes, until i finish to be able to graduate, as long as i will acquire a job so i can help the poor people for them not to get hungry. moreover, then i will help to take good care of the children here…) 200 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the participants displayed courage that they were capable of overcoming their challenges in life and also in achieving their goals no matter what the odds are. they were willing to sacrifice their happiness for the sake of their remaining loved ones. the symbolic representation of the life of the orphans is a stumbled bicycle in the midst of a different path. the bicycle represented the condition of the orphans. they are stumbling upon because of the absence of a parent who should be holding their hand and guiding them throughout their journey. different paths are there, some are easier to find, some are already open while some are not, and it is a matter of choice, a choice to choose the path to take. translational research the findings of this phenomenological inquiry may be best translated to various media of communication for awareness of the experiences of orphans in the care of the dswd. social media may be used to campaign for soliciting help for the educational needs of these orphans since it may reach a larger audience. the results must also be echoed to the different professional organizations related to caring for these vulnerable children, especially during their childhood development period. recommendations the following implications were derived based on the findings that emerged and the insights gathered through the process of reflective analysis: inspire other orphans or even abandoned children through the experiences of the participants that they may serve as testimonial speaker during seminars and others; addition of trained social workers to have a further understanding of the children inside the orphanage; conduct a monthly assessment of the experiences of children in the orphanage to address the needs of the children; education should be a priority in choosing projects concerning the orphans; educating the public including the government and non-government organizations through information dissemination regarding the needs of the orphans so that it may be promptly addressed; and, guidance and support from social workers and psychologists are needed to develop positive coping mechanisms during the crucial period of child development. 201 international peer reviewed journal literature cited bethany christian services (n.d) retrieved from http://christianadoptions.org/ orphan-care/example-major-subpage/defining-orphan/ colaizzi, p. f. 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(1989). convention on the rights of the child. retrieved f r o m h t t p s : / / d i g i t a l c o m m o n s . i l r. c o r n e l l . e d u / c g i / v i e w c o n t e n t . cgi?article=1007&context=child world bank (2008) data and statistics: country groups. retrieved january 10, 2008, from world bank organization. retrieved from http://databank. worldbank.org/data/home.aspx wojnar, d. m. (2005). miscarriage experiences of lesbian birth and social mothers. retrieved from https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9347644 https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2004.10.s-43 82 jpair multidisciplinary research relevance of “pananaroon” to islam and culture of mȅranaw arsalan a. diamaoden http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5358-9507 archiediamaoden@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city insah p. mama http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1523-4243 insahpapilmama29@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city mohammad jihan m. macarambon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9350-2231 macarambon.ji@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city marwah m. camama http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1390-8400 marwah.camamaowah@gmail.com mindanao state university-main campus marawi city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.760 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5358-9507 mailto:archiediamaoden@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1523-4243 mailto:insahpapilmama29@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9350-2231 mailto:macarambon.ji@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1390-8400 mailto:marwah.camamaowah@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.760 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 83 international peer reviewed journal abstract mȅranaws of lanao areas is known as a riyayatan ko kambilangataw (role model in characters and good deeds). they have their unique cultural beliefs, tradition, and ethics, such as kambilangataw (etiquette), kaseselai (giving worth), kapoporowai (praise) kasangila (heed), kapamagawida (helping each other), kapakiroroyoden (sense of empathy), and kapamagipata, (caring person). this paper attempted to describe the significance of pananaroon (mȅranaw proverbs) in contemporary mȅranaw society. this also to determine the role of pananaroon in the lives of the mȅranaw people since time immemorial until now. finally, this is to find out the awareness of the mȅranaws regarding the practice of pananaroon from the islamic perspective. the researchers used a qualitativenaturalistic research design. this study gathers data through an oral interview of some informants from marawi city and municipality of butig, lanao del sur. field-based research was undertaken through the observational method, focus group discussion (fgd) with the traditional leaders, local officials, and selected respondents from the academe. findings revealed that the etymology of the word “pananaroon” comes from the word “taro,” which means speech. pananaroon (mȅranaw proverbs) is already a part of the mȅranaw cultural practices, especially during important events such as a wedding, enthronement, etiquette, and settling family feuds or conflict. the practice of pananaroon is not only confined to its relevance to the mȅranaw culture, but it also symbolizes nobility and societal rank in society. keywords — pananaroon, culture, islam, proverbs, mȅranaw, qualitativenaturalistic research design, philippines introduction the mȅranaws in lanao areas has their own set of ethics such as kambilangataw (etiquette), kaseselai (giving worth), kapoporowai (praise) kasangila (heed), kapamagawida (helping each other), kapakiroroyoden (sense of empathy), and kapamagipata, (caring person). besides mȅranaws are well known as a riyayatan ko kambilangataw (role model in good deeds and characters). one of the unique traditions of mȅranaw is kapangongangen, mȅranaws recites pananaroon based on their daily livings and adds beauty in their speeches. on the other hand, kapagongangen vividly identifies as wisdom, you might know, but it 84 jpair multidisciplinary research doesn’t mean you have wisdom. that is why being knowledgeable and wise are different. hence, the researchers are motivated to investigate the significance of pananaroon to the mȅranaw culture and islam. for this reason, the researchers pursued it as the main focus of the study. cabaro (2011) mentioned in her study that meranaw pananaroon are simple sayings that became a part of the early life of their ancestors. these express truths that are based on their everyday life experiences and views in life. proverbs are not just said in special gatherings during the old days but a part of their daily living as a form of communication. proverbs is one of the vanishing traditional art forms among mȅranaws; these proverbs are not just their literary heritage, but for the whole of their cultural heritage. modernization has a rapid effect on the mȅranaw youth, and as a result, the mȅranaw language nowadays has a mixture of different languages. besides, the proverb that is studied is useful in the understanding of the meranaw culture. the cultural symbolism embedded in the proverbs (pananaroon) of the mȅranaw is the main point of the study. the proverbs are gathered through different sources. understanding and knowing the mȅranaw proverbs is one of the ways in learning their traditional values and beliefs, cultural heritage, and characteristics. for instance, their beliefs in courtship and marriage are found in some of their pananaroon (proverb). as far as the study is concerned, it was the best instrument to the present mȅranaw today to apprehend that their language was very rich and vibrant, that they must help in its conservation. thus, this study serves also as awareness of the mȅranaw people to know the relevance of mȅranaw pananaroon in islam. objectives of the study this study aimed to (1) investigate the origin of pananaroon, (2) offer an overview of the significance of pananaroon to meranaw culture, and (3) highlight the significance of pananaroon in islam. methodology research design the study utilized the qualitative-naturalistic research design, which entailed extensive field and use of the participant observation method data needed were gathered through in-depth interviews, observations, participation, and focus group discussions (fgd). 85 international peer reviewed journal research site this study was conducted in four research sites, the municipality of butig, and marawi city both homelands of the researcher, thus familiar territories. butig is a landlocked municipality in the coastal province of lanao del sur. the municipality has a land area of 331.49 square kilometers or 127.99square miles, which constitutes 2.46% of lanao del sur’s total area. its population, as determined by the 2015 census, was 19, 302. this represented 1.85% of the total population of lanao del sur province or 0.51% of the overall population of the bangsamoro autonomous region in muslim mindanao. based on these figures, the population density is computed at 58 inhabitants per square kilometer or 151 inhabitants per square mile. marawi city is the capital of lanao del sur with an estimated land area of 5, 838 hectares with an elevation of 2,350 feet above sea level, and measures 18 by 16 miles. it is bounded on the north by the municipality of kapai; on the southbound by the scenic lake lanao; on the east by the municipality of bubong, and on the west by the municipality of marantao. marawi is some 36 kilometers away from iligan city, the capital of lanao del norte, and is accessible through the iligan-marawi and malabang-marawi highway. the city is surrounded by rolling hills and mountains that overlook lake lanaothe second largest and deepest lake in the philippines with 112 meters at its deepest portion, and covers an area of about 200 square kilometers that contains approximately 28,000 kilometers of freshwater and 700 feet above sea level. the climate belongs to the fourth type, which is cool and pleasant throughout the year. march to may, which is the summertime is not quite distinct. the city is outside typhoon belt, and rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year. under the philippine state system, marawi is subdivided into several smaller local units or barrios. thirty of which are considered major barangays in terms of the sizes of their household populations. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. map of islamic city of lanao del sur data gathering the researchers went to the field with a letter of request and purpose of the research, in most cases, they were accompanied by someone who was in a position to make the formal introduction particularly in selected traditional leaders. first, researchers held interviews with each of the thirty respondents. for these one-on-one interviews, they were equipped with an interview guide or list of preplanned open-ended questions. tape recorder was used to more freely observe the interviewee and catch some nuances that they could use in the analysis and interpretation of actual statements made by the participants. participants there were thirty (30) key informants of this study who were chosen based on their acclaimed or recognized wit, abilities, insight, and experiences. acclamation or recognition was formed by respectable members of the community like members of academe, local officials, and traditional datu and bae. 87 international peer reviewed journal results and discussions this chapter presents the findings of the study. the data are presented the following order of the pananaroon and its origin, the significance of pananaroon to the meranaw culture, and the relevance of pananaroon to islam. however, before discussing the answers to the above-mentioned inquiries, the relevance of pananaroon to meranaw culture and islam as described by the selected respondents as well as by the related studies to which this study referred, like the book of gowing, p.g, (1979) the book of madale (1983), the dissertation of azis-alangca, (2013) the thesis of cabaro, r.m, (2011), curo (2008), presented first, followed by some important answers of the selected respondents. pananaroon pananaroon of the meranaos is simply saying that it had been a part of the early life of their ancestors. these truths are based on their everyday experiences, or the totality of their views in life. proverbs are not just said in special gatherings in the olden days but a part of their daily living, such as their simple conversation. proverbs is one of those vanishing traditional art forms among meranaos. these proverbs are nor just their literary heritage but the whole of their cultural heritage. modernization has a rapid effect on the meranao youths, and as a result, the meranao language nowadays becomes a mixture of different languages. according to dr. guimba poingan, in a certain seminar about the vanishing meranao language, “when we lose or leave a kind of work of art, every term connected with that work of art is also lost.” he wants to emphasize that if the meranao youth leaves their traditions, there will come a time that its traces will be gone. when the old folks are gone, and no one of the stakeholders would take part in restoring their cultural heritage, all of these things will be lost into nothingness. in the statement of h. jalil t. diamaoden sulutan a romapenut sa butig/ datu sa butig said: “so pananaroon na basa o meranaw a knaba makakakalilid a kapkasabota ko maana niyan” “pananaroon, a poetic expression that an ordinary person cannot understand the meaning of its contents.” in the statement of aleem mansawi”dariday” mimbalawag says: 88 jpair multidisciplinary research so basa meranaw a adn a barangan niyan a tlo soson panseb, senyar and diyangal, egeramanuto a panseb a kapamitiyara o taw na languwan a kataro iyan na and a madakel a philosopy run maana madakel a wisdom run, na gyoto e marani ko ptaroon a pananaroon.” “meranaw words were categorized into three panseb, senyar and diyangal, when you speak on panseb, the way of your speech is more on philosophy and wisdom, and it was considered as near to kapananaroon. in the statement of yahya tamano said: “is saying or a phrase that gives advice and effectively embodies a commonplace truth based on practical experience or common sense. pananaroon is commonly used expressions that illustrate a specific point. and pananaroon are generally proved the real facts in life. a pananaroon may have an allegorical message behind its odd appearance. the reason of popularity is due to its usage in spoken language. pananaroon play very important roles in different types of literary works. the most important function of pananaroon is to teach and educate the audience. they often contain expert advice, with a role for educating the readers on what they may face if they do something.” this implies that pananaroon is a form of proverbs in meranaw dialect, which demonstrates the origin of the communication of the meranaws. back when the sultans and datus used pananaroon on their everyday lives that serve as “ongangen ko kapaguyag” they used this pananaroon to emphasize and say these phrases with deep meanings. significance of the pananaroon to the meranaw culture pananaroon use cultural symbolisms to wit; to express an invisible or intangible meaning of words by means of visible or sensuous representations, use elements of nature as symbolism for certain people in the society or within the family circle, symbolisms used in the proverb reflect the meranao values and way of life in the past, mernaw proverbs use figurative language to emphasize an idea or sentiment in the proverbs, the proverbs studied in the inquiry are found to have more than one interpretation, there are proverbs that use two or more figurative language, it is also found out that some meranao words have two or more synonymous meanings, proverbs are used as tools in resolving or settling 89 international peer reviewed journal family feuds among meranaos. it is also used wedding ceremonies (kakawing), formal negotiation for marriage, kandori (thanksgiving) and during wake for the dead, it can also be in the form of advice or used as mockery of certain person, situations, or happenings, or just plain saying that talks about life, love friendship, and relationship with other people. in the statement of shadjaradar m. alodino a professional teacher said: “a maranao who knows how to speak a pananaroon is a sign that he or she is a good person and from a royal family.” in the statement of hadji rasul macasilang a madaris teacher said: “pananaroon becomes important because this is mostly maranao use for expressing their thoughts and feelings, and it is fascinating.” in the statement of yahya p. tamano said: “is their mannerism to utter a pananaroon or flowering words in front of single or a group of persons, on particular occasions like for instance, the wedding ceremony and also on public occasions and even to settle amicably between the feud families.” during the interview with rasmiah a. abdo she was able to state: “pananaroon represents how wise and preserved our culture is. it doesn’t only represent “wise,” but it also represents how we value our culture as our identity.” wedding rites as for the relevance of pananaroon to the meranaw culture in terms of wedding rites, firstly, it gives advice to the newlyweds, and it shows to the guests that our culture is still alive. secondly, a medium by which the groom-to-be or aspiring groom, through some elder relatives, that the intention of marriage is delivered. likewise, elder relatives of the bride-to-be respond to the proposal of the other party through pananaroon; thirdly, it can be used as a guide in preparing the new couple for the right decision every step of the way. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research enthronement ceremony apparently, the significance of pananaroon in kandatu/ kambae (enthronement ceremony), as mentioned by the respondents, is that ‘it gives an important role. for it shows to its people that the leader is wise and values our culture. enthronement ceremony among meranaw are celebrated with the exchange of eloquent pananaroon by sultans and datus of pat a pangampong without pananaroon, the ceremony lifeless. and lastly, it can be used as a tool in making the right decision for the benefit of the majority in a certain community.” adab o kandatu siiko sempad o meranaw a miyalinggaga siiko darangen: giyaya so kiyapanginsarat o diwatandao gibon ko wata iyan a tominaman sa rogong a kakhabaloy niyan a ayonan sa bembaran. “ ayaki a kandatu na paganay a bengkasen so olawla kandatu na taritibangka so taw na kompasangka so engud sa kipekhidait iyan ko kokoman o bangesa ka aneka katokawi a piyakapapangkata ko kadatu ko marandang; go aya sapangkaton na taritibangka so taw na atorangka so bontal o kapakassenggaya o kokoman ko marandang; paganaya bengkasen a khapamarintaangka ko pephagingedan ka na apiya anda rido ko langowa kampongka na aya pen sa marandan a batinger a phaginged na asara maneg ka na dingka den penayawa a gorangengkana sogo na panalangka ayonan ko kariyaogan sa tao ka andi tanto kibolo a gii kapakasambi o kariyaogan sa tig; bangka den kekenega a kawarao so marandang na obangkaba koyangi masayana ka datu a tailisangka kampong. na paganay a pen datu ka ginawangka ayonan panginginsokoringka so langowa kampongka ago so madakel a taw ka apiyangka pekhaneg i pekhitaloga a teg na bangka den pethongkopa sa diron kasebana tao ka gyoto e kandato a maliwanag i lalag; amay peman k ataman a lidasan ta so sosa na baden pekhawmani e makarampaan sa darn a pangimbaya kaon den kadi malangay so ndao na seka bo i mipandi a khaonotan ko engud; na isaon pen ayonan na dingka phakaampita so kalimbabaan ka sa pakambabayaangka sa data na samporna ko indan na odi niyan khasowa so kindolonen ko datu na pakasangkopangka den ka baloyangka poonan a ladiyawan ko engud ka aniran katokawi so kokoman o kandatu; go isapen 91 international peer reviewed journal ayonan na bangka den kekenega a kawarao so marandang na dingka tanto mbologen e kaphamarinta lalag ka makalamba ka ko taw na obaka pelawada ka baka den khambaali a khasablawan o taw; na apiya anda ngganat ka batara pen langit i phanalana phamendeg a kisong sa aniyaya na pangmbayaka on den ka apiya ka on malab na ranongkaon o tao, go isa pen ayonan na aya kindolonaan ko langowa kampong ka na sanaga pamelalag sa madakel i kilangan a dibo pira longkan i sarikitan ko lalag ka khawita katakabor ka ipembantogan niyan so kalalalongan niyan. etiquette of the becoming accountable ruler in darangen: an excellent sermon of diwatandao gibon to his son in the person of tominaman sa rogong when he was crowned as ruler/leader of kingdom of bembaran) ayonan sa bembaran. “if you want to be a fair leader you have a good decision maker and man of action for the benefit of your followers, you have to be familiar on the issues, difficulties encountered by your community particularly to your followers, if your community encountered feud you have to mediate them in order for them to avoid risk, most important is that you have to be an accountable, assertive, transparent leader in serving your community wholeheartedly.” etiquette (kambilangataw) meranaws are well known as riyayatan ko kambilangataw. the importance of pananaroon to the meranaw kambilangataw shows that people value their culture and how wise you have been by learning from elders, like familiarizing the pananaroon is considered as bilangataw. another one is that we, meranaw, are very sensitive in terms of action, words, especially sexuality. so thru pananaroon. it can help boys so much with the girls how to act properly to prevent her/his family from embarrassment. settling rido (kapapamasadan sa rido) the importance of pananaroon to settling rido (kapapamasadan sa rido) is that it gives an important role in solving a conflict. for the reason that people who fight are like children, but, with the help of pananaroon, surely it shows how our ancestors and elders love their offspring. secondly, pananaroon is essential to the culture of meranaw, for it is part of their way of living is dealing with 92 jpair multidisciplinary research things such as in rido (conflict) resolutions and mediation, marriage, escorting, and other likes. and lastly, pananaroon helps in making intense context or culturally sensitive things neutral. it fashions the occasions that would keep the atmosphere appropriate to all of those attendees or parties involved. it set out the right communication means in dealing with sensitive issues; therefore, through pananaroon it can resolve the feud through clearing the mind of both parties. pamomolan sa ranao so andang a kaplolot a mona katonganaya a kaiisa o bansa na iliyan a lindongan a kota a panarigan sa kaswat o kadnan. “the unity of the nation could be gained through promoting camaraderie among the people.” relevance of meranaw pananaroon to islam islam is a religion of peace, pananaroon means a way of living for such reason that that pananaroon are actually connected to our lives as meranaw. it becomes the tools to interpret the situation with more critical thinking and believe that we need to be good and be a concern. islam teaches peace and prosperity, and pananaroon teach the right way of living. in the statement of madansalan aromponi sulutan a diamla of royal house of butig says: “pananaroon is relevant to islam when it is based on taritib and igma of a certain meranaw society. the taritib and igma has its relevance to islam, that those taritib and igma its source of authority in islam.” in the statement of juhary lumna said: “islam encourages the preservation of culture. like that of arab tradition, pananaroon is allowed and even encouraged for it distinguish meranaw of the other nations in the world. it helps in the proliferation of islam in such an approach that the locality could easily accept or acknowledge, which is a much-given emphasis in many qur’anic ayah. preach in the name of your lord through wisdom” one of them is the term “ala bashera” which means through wisdom that could help in spreading islam in any means. an example of which is by integrating it in friday sermon or seminaries.” 93 international peer reviewed journal in the statement of yahya tamano said: “not at all but whispering the truth, there are several ideas that can be remembered by the creations in connection to its creator allah (s.w.t.) in the way of pananaroon. the one who is pronouncing is deco rational expressing the superiority of akhira over the world. and it is also expressing how the creator created the world based on the qur’an and the hadith of the prophets. because even to spread or to campaign islam in whatever well verse, pananaroon, or by bil hikma. yes, a lot. for example, a poet man is always citing the greatness of allah and his chosen messenger muhammad (s.a.w) and how the world and the universe and its contents created by god and even encourages sacrifices and etc. like for instance, when the pananaroon says “da a matarangga o da a matawakal’n” meaning “no one is successful if nobody sacrifice”. “di kadn makaphantaw ko pangkatan a maporo odingka kapanagadi so titho dn a margn” which means “you cannot reach your goals unless you encounter some trials”. it is related to islam and it is a piece of good advice. for example, a person encounters several trials and still looking for the solution with the help of allah then they can do surpass it because they learned how to survive from it. therefore, there is a relevance of pananaroon in islam because we know that islam is a religion that is based on logic. what is morally acceptable to many, what is beneficial to public welfare, is definitely in line with islamic teaching. conclusions the origin of pananaroon can be traced from its etymology, maranao word “taro” which means speech. it has been said that it is originated from the longtime tradition of meranaw by which the royalties fashioned their expressions that marks their societal ranks or either with the intention of paying respect to whom it was addressed or challenge the same base on the context of the discourse. pananaroon has been part of maranaw culture as a way of life. it is like a chain message from our ancestors to prevent a bad event, or that can be used to a tight path thru phrases by reading between the lines. therefore, pananaroon is a form of proverbs in meranaw dialect which demonstrate the origin of the communication of meranaw. also, pananaroon is relevant in islam because we know that islam is a religion that is based on logic. what is morally acceptable to many, what is beneficial to public welfare, is definitely in line with islamic teaching. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research recommendation with this humble study, the researchers would like to recommend the following; (1) the restoration of pananaroon of meranaw must be preserved in order also to preserve our own golden dialect as well as the wisdom of our ancestors, (2) it is strongly recommended that the department of education will prioritize the meranaw literature in the private or even public schools in barmm. and the mȅranaw maongangen will teach or share their skills regarding the kapananaroon. (3) it is recommending that pananaroon should be preserved and applied every family, especially adopt and use it as its part of meranaw identity, (4) it is suggested that pananaroon should be restored and be encouraged to the youth. it could be institutionalized in schools, (5) it is suggested that programs and contest relating to such must be held or conducted and library that contained meranaw literature must be built, and (6) lastly, it is recommended that there should be a restoration of kapananaroon among meranaws through workshops, seminars and if possible integrating it in some subject courses for us to preserve it and not lose our identity. literature cited azis-alangca j.d, (2013) the meranaw view on the language of ridu negotiation, college of social sciences and humanities, mindanao state university. cabaro, r.m, (2011) cultural symbolism in meranao proverbs: means to cultural preservation, college of social sciences and humanities, mindanao state university. curo, norhassan s. (2008) euphemistic expression in meranao ceremonial speeches: their meanings and implication, college of social sciences and humanities, mindanao state university. gowing, p. g. (1979). muslim filipinos: heritage and horizon. new day publishers (philippines). retrieved from http://bit.ly/2fjsvc0 madale, a. (1983) the remarkable meranaws, omar publication 15 calavite st., la loma quezon city. http://bit.ly/2fjsvc0 15 international peer reviewed journal level of implementation of pnp oplan double barrel in the province of camarines sur: basis in formulating a holistic rehabilitation program for drug surrenderees lorlie b. tanjay https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1585-4132 lorlie.tanjay@unc.edu.ph university of nueva caceres naga city, camarines sur, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0%   abstract   in support of the barangay drug clearing strategy of the philippines, the oplan double barrel program was implemented under pnp command memorandum circular no. 162016. the program impacted almost all sectors of the community, especially the drug surrenderees. this quantitative descriptive research evaluated the level of implementation of pnp oplan tokhang in the province of camarines sur. it determined the effectiveness of intervention strategies towards the rehabilitation of the drug surrenderees. a survey questionnaire was administered to six hundred twenty-four (624) respondents, and it was collected, analyzed, and interpreted using weighted arithmetic mean kruskal wallis h and mann whitney u test to compare the response. data revealed that three (3) phases of oplan tokhang were effectively implemented. however, the problem with the scarcity of financial resources to provide health and other social services, insufficient rehabilitation personnel, and limited rehabilitation facilities are encountered. hence, the government should increase vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.769 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research budget allocation for the rehabilitation services and strengthened the holistic community-based rehabilitation towards effective oplan tokhang.        keywords —  social science, oplan tokhang, weighted mean, descriptivequantitative design, camarines sur, philippines              introduction   this study primarily provides the community with empirical data relevant to the extent of implementation of the pnp oplan double barrel program in camarines sur. the program is a new anti-drug policy of the philippines implemented under the pnp memorandum circular no.16-2016. it is carried out in two approaches, the oplan tokhang and project high value-target (hvt). the study is focused only on the first operational approach (oplan tokhang) for safety consideration. the word tokhang is a visayan composite term (toktokhangyo) that means knock and negotiate. it was implemented in three (3) phases, such as pre-tokhang, tokhang operation, and post tokhang phase. these phases highlighted the plea of the authority for the voluntary surrender of drug personalities to undergo drug rehabilitation. as the oplan tokhang commonly critiqued by both domestic and international communities (purnomo, 2017), this study generated the first-hand information from the program implementers (police and anti-drug abuse councils), recipients (surrenderees) and community (media, religious group, residents) to know the real score of the program in curtailing the drug problem. it also examines the effectiveness of the tokhang on the premise of determining the surrenderee’s total rehabilitation and the relapse on illegal drugs. since drug issue is a threat that knows no border, numerous regional and international cooperating organizations set drug policies that prohibit the illegal drug operation within and outside the border of the participating countries. though drug policies vary according to jurisdictions, they have a common end of controlling drug supply, reducing the demand, and mitigating harms of drug abuse. studies of sacco and finklea (2014), ford and saville (2017), pattern (2016), and vanni (2015) manifested the robust drug policies in reducing the use, manufacture, and trafficking of illicit drugs and drug-related crimes and violence. however, these strategies are considered ineffective in curtailing drug problems in the community. tobias (2016) showed in his study that the colombia anti-drug policy has been an ineffective strategy, similar to the 17 international peer reviewed journal counter-narcotics efforts of bangladesh (bashar & vineles, 2019), and thailand (sombatpoonsiri & arugay, 2016). the ineffectiveness of the drug policy showed that illegal drugs fostered violence and has harmed economic development. studies of scherlen (2012) described the drug war as expensive, damaging, and ineffective. mcpherson (2013) claimed that the global war on drugs has failed with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. for  wincup  (2016), drug policy in the uk has to focus on the conflation of recovery with abstinence and the displacement of the harm reduction agenda. hence,  hyshka et al. (2012) suggest a scientific-based approach like harm reduction services and reduced reliance on law enforcement. on this note, a need for an optimized solution, holistic treatment, and a long-term evidence-based program that considers the factors to drug use (i.e., poverty, lack of education, unemployment, poor parenting, and poor coping skills. similarly, ma et al. (2016) on community-based drug recovery in china; koppak & ho n (2014) and forman & sharp (2006) promotes the prioritization of dependence assessment and formulation of individualized treatment and early implementation of highly structured drug control programs in the united states of america. in india, brashier, sharma, and akhoon (2016) proposed therapeutic vaccines to prevent the relapse rate from occurring among drug users. meanwhile, in the philippines, hechanova,  alianan,  calleja, and melgar  (2018) theorized the development of a community-based drug intervention reflective of the county’s collectivist culture, relational values, propensity for indirect and non-verbal communication, interdependent self-construal, appropriate to the asian culture and to developing economies. sari & bahian (2017) suggested the increase of police officer visibility and parental guidance to reduce the spread of drug usage. the programs such as seminars and training, rehabilitation of drug surrenderees, creation of livelihood programs, provision of recreational facilities (dulin & guadamor, 2017), and effective counseling programs can solve the problem against drug abuse (oluremi fareo, 2012). further, proper coping skills for addiction and socio-psychological aid should be extended to drug users to avoid relapse (martinez & guadamor, 2017).  in the drug policy of the philippines, particularly the oplan tokhang, many have expressed their negative remark. mariquit (2018) has called it ruthless and relentless operation surrounded by a climate of death and suffering, for palatino (2019) the oplan tokhang resulted in a kind of social disarticulation among the residents of the communities, that caused various protests and rights campaigns against these anti-drug operations. nevertheless, studies on the https://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/wincup%2c+emma https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5bauthorterms%5d=arsenio%20s.%20alianan&eventcode=se-au https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5bauthorterms%5d=mendiola%20t.%20calleja&eventcode=se-au https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5bauthorterms%5d=isabel%20e.%20melgar&eventcode=se-au 18 jpair multidisciplinary research effectiveness of oplan tokhang concerning drug reported incidents (eusebio, 2018); an evaluation of oplan tokhang operation in police regional office xi (tamayo, 2018); the role of mayors and barangay captain in the anti-drug campaign (mendoza, yusingco & gamboa, 2018); and the drug surrenderers and crime statistics during the implementation of project double barrel (pdb) in the philippines (dio, aposto & madrazo, 2019), claimed that oplan tokhang brought a positive result in the drug-related crime reduction in the community. thus, prompted this study to ascertain its level of implementation and provide fair information regarding the issue, particularly in camarines sur. the study also aids in the development and institutionalization of a holistic intervention and program to combat illegal drugs and strengthen the rehabilitation process of the community rehabilitation networks, anti-drug abuse council across the barangay, municipal, city, and provincial levels.   objectives of the study   the study aimed to evaluate the level of implementation of the pnp oplan double barrel program in the province of camarines sur to serve as a basis in formulating a sustained, holistic rehabilitation program for drug surrenderees. specifically, the study sought to (1) evaluate the level of implementation of pnp project tokhang in camarines sur in terms of (a) pre-tokhang phase, (b) tokhang period, and (c) post-tokhang period; (2) determine the seriousness of problems encountered in implementing the oplan tokhang; (3) to examine the level of effectiveness of the strategies adopted to enhance its implementation; and (4) to determine the significant difference in the responses of police, provincial antidrug abuse council (padac), drug surrenderees, and community members.   methodology   research design the study used a descriptive quantitative approach to gather the data with the aid of a closed structured survey questionnaire. this research design was preferred in gathering the important data from the respondents since it sought to provide a systematic description, measurement, and analysis of the data, situation, or phenomenon, particularly on issues regarding the implementation of oplan tokhang in the locale of the study.    19 international peer reviewed journal participants to preclude bias in the study, both of the implementers, community, and recipient of the program were included. the respondent was composed of police, provincial anti-drug abuse council, drug surrenderees, and selected community members from the thirty-five (35) municipalities and one (1) city of the province of camarines sur. there are 144 police, forty-nine (49) padac officials, 33 surrenderees, and 100 community members. to be included as respondents, the police must be identified as  tokhangers  (skilled and trained in tokhang operation as certified by the chief of police), the surrenderees must complete the rehabilitation program given by anti-drug abuse council, and for the community members, must be of legal age. the sample size of surrenderee respondents and community members was determined using the slovin’s formula. overall, there are six hundred twenty-four (624) respondents.    instrumentation the primary data gathering instrument in this research is a self-made survey questionnaire. the questionnaire was divided into four (4) parts. the first part dealt with the respondents’ profile in terms of age, sex, educational attainment, and occupation. the second part was designed to determine the level of implementation of the three (3) phases of oplan tokhang in the province of camarines sur. it contained thirty-three (33) statement indicators. the third part of the questionnaire was intended to determine the seriousness of the problems encountered in the program implementation. meanwhile, the fourth part aimed to measure the effectiveness of the twenty-one (21) intervention strategies in the implementation of the oplan double barrel. the instrument used the five (5) point likert scale with the corresponding descriptive ratings for the level of implementation/seriousness of problem: 1.00 1.80 not implemented at all (niaa) / not a problem (np); 1.812.60 barely implemented (bi) / not a serious problem (nsp); 2.61 3.40 implemented, but not consistently (ibnc) / considerably serious problem(csp); 3.41 4.20 implemented (i) / serious problem(sp); 4.21 5.00 effectively implemented (ei) / very serious problem (vsp). while, a four (4) point likert scale is used on measuring the effectiveness of the  strategies  with descriptive rating: 3.26 – 4.00 – very effective (ve); 2.51 – 3.25 – effective (e); 1.76 – 2.50 – somewhat effective (se); 1.00 – 1.75 – not effective at all (neaa).  content validity of the questionnaire was achieved after several revisions based on the comments, suggestions, and recommendations of the research 20 jpair multidisciplinary research adviser and field experts in law enforcement. after the content validation, the instruments were pilot tested to the respondents. questions that are unclear and inappropriate were eliminated or replaced. comments from the pilot test were incorporated into the final questionnaire.   data gathering procedure before the actual administration of the survey questionnaire, permission was sought from the governor of the province, provincial director of the pnp, and chief of police of the city/municipalities. upon obtaining authorization, the identified respondent was contacted, and a questionnaire was personally administered to them. available respondents had accomplished the instrument right away, while the others are scheduled for a meeting. after the retrieval of the instruments, the responses to the different items in the questionnaire were tabulated, statistically analyzed, and the report was written.   ethical considerations before the data gathering, a clearance to proceed was sought from the ethics review committee of the institute of graduate studies and research. voluntariness of the respondents was considered in the research. before soliciting their response to the study, the researcher secured first their consent to make sure of their willingness, cooperation, and voluntariness to provide appropriate answers. it guaranteed the confidentiality and privacy of the respondents through the informed consent and privacy impact assessment following the pattern issued by the institute of graduate studies and research. the researcher assured that all information regarding respondents’ identity is private and protected. all of the data gathered is purely towards the development of the study and not for any legal pursuit.    data analysis plan       to ensure the objectivity of research data, the following statistical tools and techniques were used: frequency, count, percentage, weighted mean, kruskalwallis h test, and mann whitney u test.    results and discussion                                                  level of implementation of pnp project tokhang in camarines sur in terms of pre-tokhang phase, tokhang period, and post-tokhang period. 21 international peer reviewed journal  the pre-tokhang phase was implemented in camarines sur. the operatives and program implementers such as the police coordinate with the barangay officials and observe the necessary preparations before the tokhang phase, particularly by identifying the drug personalities in the barangay and development of the drug watchlist. in this phase, the pnp anti-illegal drugs units also coordinate with the pdea to assist in the conduct of investigation and verification of suspected drug personalities as listed and identified by the barangay officials. under the supplemental guidelines for oplan tokhang, only names validated by the pnp’s directorate for intelligence can be added to the list. names not confirmed are queued for further validation. in the setting of the study, the respondents manifested that the tokhang operatives are seriously following said guidelines, resulting in the smooth and proper implementation of the program. this implies that before the tokhang operation phase, all preparations were in place and ready for the service to drug surrenderees.  the pre-tokhang phase, as stipulated under cmc 16-2016, is more on investigation and validation of drug personalities, whether user, pusher, or both (drug user at the same time drug pusher), necessary for the preparation of the watchlist. also, this is where the coordination with the different concerned agencies takes place to ensure that the tokhang operation will be safe for both drug personalities and the operatives. the dilg-ddb joint memorandum circular no. 2018-01 furthers that the badac must identify drug-affected places and report to pnp or pdea. however, looking at the reaction of the respondents, it scored  very low. somehow, the barangay officials need higher regard for reporting to authorities, and their coordination must be intensified to ensure the eradication of drugs at the grassroots level. similarly, firesheets, francis, barnum, and rolf, (2012) and cox, marchionna, and fitch (2017) argued that community involvement at the grassroots level plays an essential role in combatting illegal drug use and abuse and the success of prevention efforts relies upon it. nevertheless, the overall responses of the respondents reveal that the pre-tokhang phase in camarines sur is implemented by its operatives, although not consistent. in the tokhang operation phase, the respondents rated it as  implemented. this phase is the actual house to house visitations, processing and documentation, and referral of suspected drug personalities duly identified and validated by the pnp and pdea. these are the highlight of project tokhang, where the police knock on suspects’ homes and ask them to surrender. if the person expresses intent to surrender, they are referred to the barangay hall, adac office, or police 22 jpair multidisciplinary research station for interview, documentation, and other alternative action. the drug suspects are accompanied by a relative or guardian to witness the procedure. once brought to any of those venues, the drug suspect will be asked to fill up a biographical profile form (bpf). the giving of information is voluntary, and a suspect should not be forced to fill up forms like the bpf or to have his or her photo taken.  in this study, the pnp and padac respondents revealed that camarines sur effectively implements the process of voluntarily giving the information with a weighted mean of 4.40 and 4.94, respectively. in contrast, the surrenderees and community residents gave a lower rating on it. it was also noted that the wearing of body cameras was not consistent, and there is a little participation of the barangay council, human rights, media, and religious sector. police officers said that they are only smartphones with cameras because there’s no issued camera to them, and it is only during the promulgation of the new memo from the higher headquarters that they underscored the presence of the quad officials. nevertheless, oplan tokhang still values humankind, and many are amenable to the tokhang operations. as revealed in the study of dullin and guadamor (2017), filipinos have a positive outlook on the illegal drug campaign programs of the pnp.  the respondents’ assessment on the level of implementation of post-tokhang operation was generally rated as implemented. this stage pertains to the monitoring of surrenderees and the evaluation of the tokhang operation. the cmc 162016 directs the operatives to conduct weekly tracking of drug personalities to determine their status and whereabouts. with this, a national anti-illegal drugs monitoring center (naidmc) co-located at the pnp national operations center was created to collate all anti-illegal drugs operation and activities of all offices/units/stations nationwide. it created a database for all these reports and submitted a summary report to the chief pnp on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. a similar structure was replicated at the regional, provincial, district, city, and municipal level co-located at their respective tactical operation center. these centers perform identical functions as that of the naidmc and submit the report to their separate regional/provincial/city directors and quad staff. however, if the surrenderee persists in doing illegal activities, the chief of police unit/stations and the anti-illegal drug unit in the area shall immediately initiate police action in coordination with adacs for the lawful arrest and filing of appropriate criminal charges against them. likewise, the pnp continuously monitor drug surrenderees who are undergoing rehabilitation program in coordination with the department of health (doh), dangerous drugs board, and department of social welfare and development (dswd). also, as part of 23 international peer reviewed journal the evaluation of the police, higher headquarters assess the performance of the operatives and hold the commander and police chiefs accountable for the fault of subordinates, which can be traced to the negligence of police superiors. sharing of “best practices” from the field is conducted, and these sharing sessions are documented for future reference. the after activity report  (aar) is prepared submitted to regional police. according to the pnp, residents who spot police violating any of these guidelines should immediately report the cops to police stations where they belong to or to local government officials. there is no doubt, however, that in camarines sur, the anti-drug operatives religiously implement the mandate of cmc16-2016. the respondents rated almost all variables with a higher weighted mean. in terms of rehabilitation, the pnp transfers the responsibility to doh or dswd for the communitybased rehabilitation program. however, the respondents still rated the operatives’ effort quite low on the continuous monitoring of the surrenderees’ rehabilitation progress. thus, it is inferred that the post-tokhang phase in camarines sur still necessitates improvement and sustainability to ensure effective implementation. as suggested by estacio (2018), voluntary surrenderees should be treated and rehabilitated because they are not as violent and dangerous as generally reported by media and by law enforcers. they are not those types considered as beyond redemption but are capable of self-change. these statements are reflective of the national reports that 90 percent of the surrenderees are mild users. of the three phases of oplan tokhang, the most observed is the posttokhang phase, while the least implemented is the tokhang operation phase or the actual visitation and processing. data suggest that both the surrenderees and community residents marked the operation phase considerably lower than the padac and police officers’ assessment, with a weighted mean of 3.87 and 3.90, respectively. this observation is influenced by the respondents’ personal experience from the hand of operatives on the onset of processing their voluntary submission to community-based rehabilitation. this calls the attention of the police, the adacs, the community, and the policy-makers to strategize to enhance the drug clearing operations at the grassroots level. as vanni (2015) suggested, a high level of security for the general public, health protection, well-being, and social cohesion can be done by intensifying preventive action against drug-related crimes through active cooperation and joint approach of all stakeholders, embedded into taking action against drug production, cross-border trafficking in drugs, diversion of chemical precursors used in drug production and rescue and rehabilitation of drug users. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research the seriousness of problems encountered in implementing the oplan tokhang despite the objective of the oplan double barrel and the government’s effort on drug eradication, several issues and related problems continue to exist within the community. the study reveals that most of the serious problems are related to rehabilitation services, legality issues, lack of resources, and community support. the question on the insufficiency of rehabilitation facilities and financial resources to accommodate the influx of surrendering drug users are shared across different city and municipalities of camarines sur. as stated by barcia (2016), even the doh in bicol encounters a problem in accommodating the vast numbers of drug surrenderees. the department needs more facilities and physicians to run the drug rehabilitation centers, especially those who are deeply affected by the effects of illegal drugs. hechanova et al. (2018) stated that a significant challenge in implementing community-based treatment in the philippines is the lack of resources allocated for mental health services. the country’s budget for health is only 2-3% of the national budget, and mental health is a low priority. there is also a shortage of mental health professionals as well as the disparity in their distribution. that for every 100,000 filipinos, there is only one licensed psychologist usually located in the urban areas. thus, a small percentage of recovering users have been screened and assessed by professionals. similarly, cousins (2016) said that the country is caught surprisingly by the surge of drug surrenderees. the philippines has fewer than 50 accredited rehabilitation facilities and lacks drug counselors and doctors to assess the patients’ needs properly. it seems that the pnp, lgus, and the doh are not ready to implement community-based drug recovery support and handle the growing number of surrenderees due to lack of facilities, specialist physicians, and funds. lack of educational qualification of the adac council is also a serious problem in effectively managing the anti-illegal drug program. a concern raised by the respondents was the lack of community facilitators to deliver the modules. although they reported volunteers, mainly from church-based organizations, the majority of these volunteers could not facilitate. stakeholders noted that the current programs tended to use lectures and do not focus on skills development and adult learning methodologies. arana (2013) also cited several problems encountered in the barangay that can hinder the successful implementation of anti-drug abuse programs. more likely, he stated that inadequate training of the barangay officials in handling administrative positions and the lack of educational qualifications are perennial problems in the barangay.   25 international peer reviewed journal level of the effectiveness of the intervention strategies adopted to enhance its implementation geared towards the realization of the true spirit of oplan double barrel, several intervention strategies are adopted by the government to end the drug problem in the community and ensure its legitimate operation. under this premise, strategies like promulgation of different memorandum circulars, additional guidelines and directives from the concerned authorities, training for both police and rehabilitation group, and careful evaluation and accountability charged to the implementers are accentuated. there are specific strategies adopted by the pnp along with the enhancement of the oplan tokhang in camarines sur. they were developed and embodied within the various government memorandums, directives, and guidelines to ensure bloodless oplan tokhang in the province and the country as a whole.  as revealed in the study, the respondents perceived that those strategies are very effective in dealing with the target outcome of the program, particularly in the aspect rehabilitation of drug personalities. the conduct of sports activities was considered top among the 21 strategies. respondents have much recognized the value of sports in the rehabilitation of drug personalities. similarly, olmstead (2016) believed that when people participate in sports, they are given more mental than physical health benefits, such as the ability to focus, boost selfconfidence, socialize with a network of people, and acquire essential morals and values like camaraderie and goodwill. sports help an individual achieve positive socialization which results in the effective management of one’s personality and reduces the likelihood of vulnerability to use the drug.  the implementation of the barangay-based rehabilitation program and partnership of pnp and stakeholders (both with awm=3.51) rank 2 in the strategies implemented. the core goal of the community-based treatment is to ensure a holistic treatment of drug users. it varies according to the nature and complexity of the problems experienced by the individual. as stipulated in guidance for community-based treatment and care services for people affected by drugs in the philippines, clients are referred to whichever community services are appropriate, based on a screening of drug problems. this approach ensures community participation and linkages to ongoing drug-use prevention and other services, which aim to reduce the harm associated with drug use in the community. the conduct of regular visits to drug surrenderees to monitor their activities and the creation of one-stop-shop facilities for the assessment, interview, counseling, referral, and processing of applicants for rehabilitation also 26 jpair multidisciplinary research got the highest rating. this means that oplan tokhang in camarines sur has tried to be compliant with rules and regulations of the government; hence, a need to further its implementation to ensure drug clear community.    the variance of the four groups of respondents’ assessments on the implementation of oplan tokhang, the seriousness of the problems encountered, and the effectiveness of the strategies implemented.  the result varied to a significant degree, as represented by the asymp. sig. value of 0.0000 to 0.0001 in all items, which are within the maximum tolerable alpha of 0.05. this means that the responses police, padacs, surrenderees, and community member  significantly differed  from each other. these findings are the outcome of the fact that each respondent group has unique experiences and viewpoints on the program. the police are the lead implementers who are pressured by the mandate of the laws as well as the community’s welfare. thus, they assess oplan tokhang differently than the other respondents considering that they implement every aspect of the program in the very best they can. in like manner, the padac members whose task is to carry out the responsibilities of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the rehabilitation services have manifested a unique perception of the program as compared to the community members and surrenderees who are the recipient of the padacs initiatives.  the comparison of the respondents’ assessment regarding the problems encountered in implementing oplan tokhang is  not significantly different. this implies that the police and the surrenderees similarly viewed the seriousness of the issues considering that they both experience the hitches of oplan tokhang. similarly, no significant difference in the response of the padac and the community residents. this manifestation is a result of the fact that the padac and community residents are just the secondary elements involved in the tokhang implementation. the police officers and surrenderees considerably pointed out some aspects of the application of oplan tokhang as not a severe problem. however, the padac and community residents regarded it as a serious problem. this means that the police and surrenderees positively perceive the oplan tokhang, particularly the aspects of rehabilitation. both of them assumed and are hopeful that lawful, safe, and bloodless drug war is implemented in the province. meanwhile, the community and the padac view the tokhang as severe problems, thus reminding the implementers and policymakers to be cautious in implementing the program. perhaps, with the stated remarks of the respondents, a principle of balance could be maintained. 27 international peer reviewed journal the respondents’ assessment of the level of effectiveness of the intervention strategies implemented varied to a significant degree. this indicates that most of the intervention strategies got positive responses from the respondents. the respondents believed that the implementation of the program would be of great help in attaining a drug-free community. this also connotes that the real indicators of the effectiveness of a program are measured by strict adherence to methods and implementation, subject to general guidelines, quantity, and completeness of the application, quality of the program execution, and the degree to which users are included (kranzelic, slehan, & jerkovic, 2013). sustainable and continuous support to the implementation of the program is indicative of the effectiveness of the program.   conclusions   despite the negative public remark on the implementation of oplan tokhang, the study revealed that the program was effectively implemented in the province of camarines sur. the padac consistently assessed the three phases of operation as effective. the intervention strategies adopted with the implementation of oplan tokhang are very effective, particularly the community-based rehabilitation.  however, scarcity of financial resources to provide health and social services, insufficient rehabilitation personnel, and limited rehabilitation facilities are the topmost problems encountered; therefore, it is significant to increase the budget allocation for the rehabilitation, especially on the health and social services, personnel, and facilities that must be made available and accessible to the public, particularly in the rural areas. a need also to further the surrenderees life skills to help them divert their attention away from drugs. close coordination and capability enhancement of the badac and its auxiliary team, non-government organizations, and doh for the immediate recovery and monitoring of the surrenderees. there must be seminars and training on the lawful arrest of illegal drug culprits, collaboration with the community residents, creation of sustained livelihood programs, and provision of recreational facilities. the continued observance of the intervention strategies of the government-aligned with the oplan tokhang, through the memorandums issued by dangerous drug board, pnp, and department of interior and local government.  mechanisms to facilitate entry/admissions to drug rehabilitation centers should be set up, and a one-stop-shop treatment facility to encourage drug dependents to undergo treatment and rehabilitation should be established. and 28 jpair multidisciplinary research finally, it is hoped that the local government may consider the output of the study, which is a holistic barangay based rehabilitation program that recognizes the quality treatment of minds, body, and soul. the inclusion of educational, vocational, medical, psychological, and spiritual based programs, has been put forward as a means to reform drug surrenderees.    translational research   a proposed bill to enhance the implementation of the oplan tokhang has been forwarded to the authority. the bill establishes clear guidelines and specific procedures to be followed by the government agencies, law enforcement unit, anti-drug abuse councils, and cause-oriented non-government organizations in dealing with drug personalities in the barangay through a holistic rehabilitation program. the bill also provides for a mechanism to capacitate the rehabilitation networks and monitor the compliance of the local government entities to the guidelines issued by the government about the campaign against the use of illegal drugs in the barangay level.    literature cited arana, s.t. 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(2016). gender, recovery, and contemporary uk drug policy.  drugs and alcohol today,  16(1), 39-48. retrieved from  https://doi.org/10.1108/ dat-08-2015-0048  https://bit.ly/2xiwxve http://dergipark.gov.tr/ijsshs/issue/36096/405342 http://dergipark.gov.tr/ijsshs/issue/36096/405342 https://bit.ly/2wogkux https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/85066 https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/85066 https://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/vanni%2c+domitilla https://doi.org/10.1108/jfc-11-2014-0058 https://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/wincup%2c+emma https://doi.org/10.1108/dat-08-2015-0048 https://doi.org/10.1108/dat-08-2015-0048 117 international peer reviewed journal strengthened resilience: impact of pandemic in a gawad kalinga community ervie emelda s. gallespen http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9735-7289 eesgallespen@gmail.com eesgallespen@riverside.edu.ph riverside college bacolod city, philippines marie bernadette o. villanueva http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1224-3451 marbie.villanueva@gmail.com mvillanueva@riverside.edu.ph riverside college bacolod city, negros occidental, philippines mariz a. larido http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8223-8885 marizlarido09@gmail.com ma.larido@riverside.edu.ph riverside college bacolod city, negros occidental, philippines inna isabel g. deramas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3820-0986 innaisabeld@gmail.com iigderamas@riverside.edu.ph riverside college bacolod city, negros occidental, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.740 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:eesgallespen@gmail.com mailto:eesgallespen@riverside.edu.ph mailto:marbie.villanueva@gmail.com mailto:mvillanueva@riverside.edu.ph mailto:marizlarido09@gmail.com mailto:ma.larido@riverside.edu.ph mailto:innaisabeld@gmail.com 118 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract an educational institution that offers mostly paramedical courses has a significant role in strengthening community resilience as a recovery response to the covid-19 pandemic. this study utilized a mixed-methods research design to describe the impact of the pandemic on the lives of 126 gawad kalinga community residents in bacolod city, philippines. the greatest impact of covid-19 was the decrease in family income, but the resiliency of the residents was strengthened through each other’s support and that of partner institutions. there was difficulty in procuring food, medicine, and health care, but respondents declared their willingness to participate in livelihood initiatives. the following themes emerged from the interview with eight participants to validate the survey responses: perseverance, protection for oneself and others, isolation, better safe than sorry, fear and uncertainty, weathering the storm, vaccines are priority and resiliency. determining the impact of the pandemic was successful in incorporating the inputs of the residents into the community engagement programs of the partner educational institution. it is recommended that constant communication with the community and a regular assessment of their evolving needs must be monitored even beyond the pandemic. this can yield better recovery responses and health outcomes that may be adopted by other gawad kalinga communities all over the country. keywords — social sciences, gawad kalinga, covid-19 pandemic, impact assessment, mixed methods research, bacolod city, philippines introduction the community engagement programs of riverside college are geared towards answering the needs of its partner communities, one of which is gawad kalinga (gk) smile village, murcia in negros occidental, philippines. gk is a philippine poverty alleviation and nation-building movement founded with a culture of caring and sharing. in gk, everyone takes ownership in solving poverty problems through shared values of concern and selfless service. gk smile village is the second gk community that riverside college adopted. riverside college sees to it that the needs of the residents are properly addressed, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. covid-19 is a global issue that has created an extensive amount of social, physical, mental, and economic effects on individuals and communities regardless 119 international peer reviewed journal of race. in rural kenya, a study on low-income households by janssens et al. (2021) showed that income from work decreased by almost one-third after the start of the pandemic. household food expenditures were the same as during the pre-covid. livelihoods have been affected, but they managed to keep food expenditures at a reduced cost. suriyankietkaew and nimsai (2021) investigated the impacts of covid-19 in southeast asia to identify opportunities for recovery solutions toward the achievement of the united nations sustainable development goals. in-depth interviews with 33 organizations revealed various effects, such as those on the intra-trade strategy, green economy, and partnerships between private and public individuals. in nepal, singh et al. (2021) explored food insecurity among low-income families. the study revealed that families who relied on daily wages and remittance experienced increased food insecurity during the pandemic. members of the community experienced partiality from local politicians during food relief distribution. the food insecurity among community members affected their health, making them vulnerable to covid-19 infection. aside from the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, there are also psychological and mental consequences. buonsenso et al. (2020) studied a rural village in sierra leone, west africa, and findings revealed a reduction in weekly income compared with the pre-lockdown period. there were difficulties in providing food for the family, and more than half of the respondents experienced anxiety. in the philippines, the sentiments of filipinos toward extreme community quarantine due to covid-19 were analyzed. pastor (2020) gathered the tweets from twitter users in the luzon area, and it was found out that most filipinos encountered several problems concerning extreme community quarantine, such as food supply and lack of support from the government. the pandemic is not yet over and the need to build upon the capacity of the gk smile village community to recover is necessary. this research includes an assessment of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the residents and how they have managed their situation individually and as a community. there is an urgent need to strategize plans in collaboration with riverside college as a partner institution. this will ensure that the community engagement programs extended are relevant and responsive to the needs of the residents in gk smile village. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the covid-19 pandemic has taken its toll on communities. this study aimed to (1) determine the impact of the pandemic on the gk smile village community residents in terms of physical, mental, social, and economic aspects; and (2) investigate how the residents have managed their situation. framework as reviewed by van breda (2018), resilience theory examines the model of resiliency with relevance to social work. resilience is a mediating process between adversity and expected outcomes and being resilient can be the outcome itself. resilience is a process of adapting well in the face of adversity due to stressful circumstances. these stressful situations may be sourced out from family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or other stressors in the workplace. in this study, covid-19 is the identified adversity. the mediating process refers to the strategies employed by the community residents to manage the impact of the pandemic. the residents’ resiliency to the situation enabled them to overcome their difficulties. figure 1. model framework for resilience theory lockdowns and isolation due to covid-19 had many consequences globally. the study of hawkins et al. (2020) focused on socio-economic status and its association to covid-19–related cases and mortality in the u.s. it was concluded that higher rates of covid-19 cases and fatalities were associated with lower education levels and greater percentages of black residents. the impact of covid-19 in six asia pacific countries was examined by kang et al. (2021). the impact was on job loss or reduced income as well as on the food 121 international peer reviewed journal expenditure of households and food availability in markets. reduction in income and job loss was higher in urban areas in india, myanmar and vietnam. there were larger food expenditures in urban areas in india, myanmar and vietnam. there were fewer available food stocks in urban areas in bangladesh, india and myanmar. aside from the socio-economic impact, health anxiety is also one of the problems encountered during the pandemic. vigo et al. (2020) discussed how anxiety levels can lead to dysfunctional and problematic help-seeking behaviors. dysfunctional behaviors are exemplified by the act of stockpiling essential goods, while help-seeking behaviors include demanding in-person medical services. in uk, a qualitative study by knights et al. (2021) identified the impact of the pandemic among recently-arrived migrants and how it affected their access to primary health care. the study revealed specific beliefs among the migrants, which included their acceptance or mistrust of covid-19 and the vaccines as they were influenced by misinformation. mackworth-young et al. (2021) investigated the community and healthcare workers’ perspectives on the covid-19 pandemic in zimbabwe. four themes emerged: (1)  individuals were overloaded with information which resulted in widespread fear; (2)  difficulty in compliance to preventive measures because of limited access to long-term food supplies and water; (3) healthcare workers’ inadequate pay and minimal provision of personal protective equipment made them feel undervalued; and (4) other health conditions were set aside because of redirection of resources. developing countries all over the world are struggling with the negative impact of covid-19. buenaventura et al. (2020) studied the current struggles among developed countries even if these countries had a wealth of resources, a solid economy, and established healthcare infrastructures. the study discussed the impact of covid-19 on the mental health of older filipinos and how healthcare workers can help in alleviating the negative impact on their mental health. there are also a number of positive outcomes from the pandemic. in vietnam, the use of herbal medicine was observed among community residents. a crosssectional online survey by nguyen et al. (2021) revealed that nearly half of the respondents are using herbal medicines such as ginger, honey, garlic, and perilla for the treatment of sore throat, cough, nasal congestion, and fever. in the philippines, lau et al. (2020) studied the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of covid-19 among poor households. a total of 2224 respondents from 166 communities in rural, urban and coastal settings were surveyed. coughing and sneezing were identified as the common transmission route, while indirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/perilla 122 jpair multidisciplinary research hand contact was the least. among the preventive measures, handwashing was identified by 82.2% of the respondents as the most commonly practiced, while social distancing and avoiding crowds were only identified by 32.4% and 40.6%, respectively. in order to manage the pandemic, community support is important. bowe et al. (2021) explored the opportunity that helping fellow community members can be unifying for those engaging in the coordinated community helping. the survey in uk in june 2020 showed that coordinated community helping resulted in psychological bonding among community members. this resulted in unity and a sense of community identification among the members, which then predicted increased well-being and reduced depression and anxiety. in its pursuit to strengthen partnership with gk smile village as its adopted community, riverside college will utilize the data to provide recovery measures from the pandemic through the implementation of community engagement programs that will address the residents’ immediate needs. sustainable livelihood projects are part of the long-term plan that will further strengthen the community residents’ resiliency despite the physical, mental, social, and economic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic. methodology research design making decisions for the improvement of the community is based on the residents’ needs and available resources. the impact of covid-19 on gk smile village residents was explored using mixed methods. a quantitative survey gathered the demographic profile of the residents, the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on their families, and the residents’ skills for capacity building. a qualitative approach through a semi-structured interview was conducted to understand the residents’ experiences and how they have managed the impact of the pandemic. research site data collection was done within the gk smile village in murcia, bacolod city, negros occidental. respondents gk smile village community has a total population of 150 households at the time of on the survey. they were all given the survey questionnaire, but only 126 123 international peer reviewed journal (84%) responded. to further validate the responses, an interview was conducted among the eight residents who were selected purposively as they possessed the characteristics required by the study. instrumentation the researcher-made survey questionnaire was distributed by the community extension office personnel of riverside college with the assistance of officers from the gk smile village. the questionnaire had three parts: the first part gathered the demographic profile of the respondents, including age, sex, occupation, trainings acquired, and skills possessed. the second part consisted of 12 items that described the respondents’ physical, social, mental, and economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic. the third part focused on an assessment of the respondents’ capacity to augment their reduced income. an interview schedule was prepared with ten items on the impact of the pandemic and how the participants have managed the challenges encountered. similarities and differences among the responses were treated with the flexibility to allow further probing of information. validation of the instrument all items in the survey questionnaire and interview guide went through the face and content validation by experts in psychology, community, and social work. clearance was sought from the research office of riverside college to pursue the conduct of the survey. the purpose of the study was stipulated in the survey questionnaire. informed consent from the residents was obtained with no coercion made. the interview participants were informed of the purpose of data verification and they were assured of the confidentiality of their responses. data analysis frequency and percentage were utilized to describe the community residents’ demographics and responses to the survey questionnaire. the verbatim transcripts of the participants from the interview were noted and audio recorded for verification. a thematic approach was used with the data through coding, then categories were extracted, and themes were generated. results and discussion the residents’ profiles in terms of age, educational attainment and occupation are presented in figures 1, 2, and 3. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. age of respondents figure 2. educational attainment of respondents figure 3. occupation of respondents 125 international peer reviewed journal the majority of the respondents are 49-59 years old, high school graduates, and unemployed. as high school graduates, respondents are aware of covid-19 and its preventive measures. the cases of covid-19 are few in the area and this is supported by the study of hawkins et al. (2020), which implied that lower education levels are strongly associated with higher rates of covid-19 cases and fatalities. on the impact of covid-19 figure 4. impact of covid-19 pandemic figure 4 shows the percentage of responses to the 12 items in the questionnaire regarding the impact of covid-19 in terms of physical, mental, social and economic aspects. physical. item 9 reflects 96% of the respondents whose family income decreased during the pandemic. they experienced difficulty in the procurement of food, medicine, and healthcare, especially when enhanced community quarantine (ecq) status was imposed. this is supported by the study of buonsenso et al. (2020) on the social consequences of covid-19, which revealed a reduction of weekly income and difficulties in providing food for the family members. mental. item 3 reflects the 25% of the respondents who had a family member going out for work. item 4 reflects the 10% of the respondents whose family member worked as a frontline worker in healthcare and item 8 shows 126 jpair multidisciplinary research the 11% who had someone isolated at home due to possible exposure. this was a mental challenge for the entire household as they could be susceptible to the virus. gk houses are small in size, and the space is not conducive for isolation if someone gets infected. the study by buonsenso et al. (2020) revealed that anxiety was one of the experiences during the pandemic. social. item 1 reflects 9% of the respondents had family members who had to come home because of job loss. item 2 showed 13% of the respondents had family members who had to move out because of employment requirements. the number of people living in one household was a challenge. vigo et al. (2020) support this finding wherein home environments of marginalized populations were explored as not suitable for isolation. the practice of proper hygiene and the accessibility to basic necessities are hampered in limited spaces. economic. item 10 presents 52% of the respondents had to cut back hours from work while in item 11, 44% had a family member who stopped working, and in item 12, 39% had family members who lost their job. the study of kang et al. (2021) highlighted the prevalence of job loss and reduced income in the asia pacific region due to covid-19. on community needs responses to items 5, 6, and 7 present the percentage of respondents who found difficulty in procuring food (67%), medicine (60%), and health care (56%) respectively. this finding contradicts the study of janssens et al. (2021), which revealed that even if livelihoods were affected because of covid-19, the households managed to keep food expenditures the same as during pre-pandemic. on respondents’ capacity table 1. trainings attended and skills possessed by the respondents trainings % skills % candle making 22% cooking 20% mechanic/electrician 13% food processing 12% pastry/bread making 13% dress making/sewing 5% flower arrangement 9% beautician 3% food processing 9% gardening 3% rug making 5% carpentry 2% rescue training 5% construction 2% 127 international peer reviewed journal massage therapy 4% housekeeping 2% dress making 4% bread making 2% massage training 4% rug making 2% shoe repair 4% manicure 2% tailoring 4% gravestone making 2% table 1 shows the percentage of respondents with special trainings and the skills they possess, which are helpful in augmenting their loss of income. the majority of the respondents have attended trainings in candle making and they have skills in cooking, food processing, and dressmaking which are helpful in sustaining their daily needs if these skills are put into small business projects. table 2. on planting fruits and vegetables items % with an adequate water supply 93% willing to participate in planting fruits and vegetables in the area 92% willing to provide an area for the community to plant 87% with available area for planting 68% currently involved in farming 33% table 2 shows the percentage of respondents who are willing to participate in livelihood projects given the available resources. the respondents’ willingness to participate is an indication of their resiliency to the impact of the pandemic. the study of kampman et al. (2021) identified an increase in the interest of the community in home gardening during the pandemic, something that is similar to what the residents in gk smile have been doing through their focus was more on fruits and vegetables that could sustain their daily food needs. interview results to validate the survey responses, an interview among selected participants was conducted and the following themes emerged: theme 1. perseverance the participants expressed perseverance despite the challenges. they boosted their income, remained hopeful, and they strived to survive the challenges of the pandemic. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research boost income the source of income was shut down, but life has to go on, so options were considered for boosting income: participant 1 (p1):  my newspaper business was closed down. now, we sell vegetables from the farm. we have this second-hand tricycle for vegetable delivery. p2: i used to sell food at the elementary school and earn as much as 1000 per day. when the pandemic hit, it affected us. now i sell food and other things online. hopeful the participants showed hope and gratitude in the middle of adversity through these narratives: p4: it has been very difficult. we are hoping that covid will stop so we can go back to normal. we never had anyone infected in the family, thankfully.  p5: we have been struggling with our income. i hope this will end so i can do laundry work again and my husband can go back to construction.  p6:  i am hoping that when everything goes back to normal, i will have sideline jobs. striving to survive the participants expressed how they strived for the sake of their families. p4: it has been difficult because even if i have three children in manila who are employed, they too have been affected. we sell vegetables, but it is not enough. i hope to get enough money to put up a small business. p6: if i had the means to start another sideline business, i would help my children get through school.  theme 2. protection for oneself and others the best way to protect oneself against the virus is through the practice of protective measures. health and safety protocol at home there are family members who had to continue working outside their homes so they made sure they were free from the virus. p1:  no one in our family got infected, but recently we have had colds, so we maintain social distancing. p2: when we have someone infected by covid-19, we will have to stay together since my baby is only eight months old, and i cannot leave her.  129 international peer reviewed journal p6: as a frontliner, i could not just go to people’s houses and do work for them. it’s not safe.   strengthen relationships with family and neighbors to fight covid-19 protection against the virus was not only an individual concern. participants were watchful of their neighbors’ safety. p8: we could facilitate many donation drives, but it could not sustain us. it has been difficult, so we unite to help each other. p7: i could not go from house to house as i used to for safety reasons.  theme 3. isolation isolation is keeping oneself and others protected even if it would mean a challenge to the mental health of the residents. one of the government guidelines is to observe physical and social distancing. following rules following rules is not just a sign of obedience to authority, but it is taking responsibility for the consequences once the guidelines are not strictly followed. p3: whenever a family member gets in contact with someone who tested positive for covid-19, i would isolate myself and send my family to my parents’ house for 14 days. p7: when someone got infected, we isolated ourselves.  p8: when i got infected by covid-19, i was sent to a quarantine facility with my mom and sister. we stayed there for 14 days and i was separated from my child. health is wealth giving value to one’s health became the priority of each household. p1: the best thing to do is isolate. we could not afford the hospital bills. p3: i am a healthcare worker, so it’s really hard not to be infected. i have been quarantined more than four times already. if i get exposed to someone positive, i isolate myself at home and send my family to my mother’s house.  the study of tee et al. (2020) among 849 participants from 71 cities in the philippines and 861 participants from 159 cities in china showed higher levels of depression, stress and anxiety among the filipinos than the chinese. filipino respondents were more likely to show concerns about family members contracting the covid-19 virus and their unnecessary worries on the virus were all associated with mental health. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research theme 4. better safe than sorry keeping oneself safe is better than having the virus. protect body health participants had to keep themselves protected. p1: we avoided mass gatherings. in doing our business, we distanced ourselves from our customers. we kept eating healthy foods and taking our vitamins. p2: we have a baby at home, we give her vitamins and we eat healthy food.  p4:  we  plant and  sell vegetables at home to keep us  healthy. we don’t  go  out anymore. cautious being cautious of one’s actions is necessary to ensure everyone’s safety. p4: our community is generally safe. during ecq, there weren’t many cases. we never had a family member infected. p6: no one in my family was infected, but i isolated myself when i got exposed to someone positive. p8: when someone in my family gets sick, i will take extra precautions by taking vitamins. the participants’ preventive response toward covid-19 is mostly through isolation. this finding is in contrast with the study of lau et al. (2020) wherein the identified most common preventive measure against covid-19 was hand washing. theme 5. fear and uncertainty the participants feared the virus and the possibility of not being able to feed their families. the study of ong et al. (2020) pointed out how the pandemic and health protocols have disrupted food systems. in the philippines, households in poverty had to rely on food aids from private donors and local governments and such foods were not sufficient in nutrients putting them at greater risk for diseases. need for support the participants expressed their need for support from their family and community. p3: i am okay with my job as a healthcare worker, but it is not enough. my husband needs a stable job. 131 international peer reviewed journal p4: we need enough resources to buy medicine and vitamins. p7: we need more resources and sponsors for our community to be sustained. we need more livelihood opportunities. worried about the future the participants expressed their worries about their families’ future. p3:  although i have a stable job, my husband works for a gasoline station only a few days within the week. we try to live on a day-to-day basis, but there’s always that fear of being infected because of my job. p5:  it  has  been  challenging  for  my  husband and me. i don’t know if we can survive any longer with this situation.  the study of mackworth-young et al. (2021) showed that the pandemic yielded fear among their respondents because of the many unanswered questions about covid-19. theme 6. weathering the storm weathering the storm means to come out of a difficult situation or to survive the hardships with minimal pain. participants expressed how they have overcome their difficulties. overcoming difficulty the participants’ positive attitude toward their difficulties enabled them to survive. p1: we managed to sell our products every day and that’s where we get our money for our daily needs.  p7:  we are managing as a family and as long as we are healthy and safe, we can survive.  p8: we are more careful when it comes to our health. financially we are surviving, but of course, it’s not always the case. make ends meet the participants struggled but found ways to survive. p2: i  shifted online, not only by selling food but also by rtw (ready-to-wear) clothes. p6: since my eldest is already in college and i lost many sideline jobs, i  can barely handle paying the bills.  132 jpair multidisciplinary research theme 7. vaccines are priority knowledge and acceptance of vaccines are important. the participants believed in vaccines and they encouraged their family members to get vaccinated for protection against severe cases of covid-19. vaccines work participants expressed their confidence in the vaccines. p1: i believe in taking the vaccine because it will protect us. my husband goes out every day to earn, so we have to be protected. p2: what’s important is i have vaccinated as well as the rest of the adults in our family. p3: i was one of the first ones here who got vaccinated. it helps a lot. p4: i am not vaccinated yet, but i am for vaccines and i want to protect my family. encouraging members to get vaccinated participants encouraged their community to be vaccinated as an expression of their concern for each other. p6:  i see the importance of vaccines, especially that i am an encoder in the municipality. p7: i am fully vaccinated and because i go house-to-house for visitation, i need to protect myself. we are trying to work out that everyone gets vaccinated.  p8: having experienced covid-19 in the family, vaccination is a must. i also want my community to be 100% vaccinated. theme 8. resiliency resiliency is the ability of an individual to bounce back from a pressing situation. driven to acquire new skills participants expressed how they acquired new skills to augment their income and sustain their needs. the study by razon (2020) showed that many opportunities were unveiled among filipinos who were on extreme lockdown. community spirit surfaced and values of compassion and empathy became evident. p1: i am working on my sewing skills and i sell rugs so we can get by.  133 international peer reviewed journal p3: i used to attend workshops and trainings before and if they were given online today,  i am also okay to attend. p5: i used to avail myself of the free dental check-p from riverside college, but now i can’t have my teeth checked anymore.  i used to be very active in workshops for making rugs and graduation togas.  need assistance with health and livelihood participants expressed their need for assistance in health which they presumed riverside college could provide since it is a paramedical institution. they also expressed their willingness to participate in livelihood initiatives. p2:  i just want more capital to help with my business.  p3:  my mother and relatives were a great help during the pandemic, so we managed the little that we had just to get by. p7: the pandemic affected everyone and we were there to support each other, but if it is really different if there were constant support in terms of goods, medicine, and workshops to help the members make a living. observations from the interview with the participants participants have similar sentiments. covid-19  has dramatically  affected their way of living. they are an organized community, but their needs differ. most of the participants verbalized their fear for their family’s health, where many cannot easily  access medical consultation, much less  be admitted to  a hospital.  they expressed their need for medical and financial assistance, but they are open to programs provided by benefactors for additional sources of income. they are open to  remote trainings as opposed to the traditional workshops they used to  avail pre-pandemic.  the majority  expressed they  have  ideas on recovering economically, and the challenge is how to materialize these ideas. the community does not necessarily rely on donors coming to their village, but they need support to  jumpstart  their recovery from the  impact of the  pandemic.  on the medical side, 70% of the community members have been vaccinated, and almost 100% of the senior citizens have been fully vaccinated. fortunately, this community has easy access to the covid-19 vaccine through their community leaders and local government unit. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the impact of covid-19 pandemic to the community residents are both negative and positive. they suffered from unemployment, decreased income, increased health risks, and vulnerability to stress. this finding is supported by the study of kimhi et al. (2020) which revealed the negative impacts of the pandemic on their participants’ level of distress and sense of danger. the gk smile village residents’ resiliency was strengthened by their concern for their families and their community plus the support of partner institutions. this finding is in contrast with the study of kimhi et al. (2020) wherein a decrease in national resilience was observed due to the participants’ mistrust in government decisions. recommendations as an educational institution known for its paramedical programs, riverside college plays a vital role in strengthening the resiliency of gk smile village community. it is recommended that there should be constant communication with the residents and a regular assessment of their evolving needs especially in the areas of health and livelihood. the results of monitoring can yield better recovery response and health outcomes which can be shared with other gawad kalinga communities all over the country. translational research the findings of this study may be best translated through benchmarking and 357 implementing best practices from the other successful night market of southeast asia. 358 infusion of tourism-value to the night market may be worth exploring and program may 359 be operated year-round to achieve a higher social return on investment. the significant findings of this study may be best translated through the community engagement programs of riverside college for its adopted community with emphasis on health and nutrition, enrichment of family skills for livelihood, awareness and advocacy, community organization and mobilization, instruction for children and youth, environmental protection, and volunteers’ development. these programs will enable riverside college to strengthen and sustain its linkage with its partner communities in the middle of this pandemic. 135 international peer reviewed journal acknowledgments the researchers are grateful to all the residents of gk smile village, murcia, negros occidental. their participation in this study contributed to the realization that a strong linkage with partner institutions can strengthen resiliency. the challenge to pursue a mixed method of research is indebted to the asian qualitative research association and the philippine association of institutions for research inc., whose passion for research has inspired enthusiasts to keep doing research for dissemination and utilization. literature cited bowe, m., wakefield, j. r., kellezi, b., stevenson, c., mcnamara, n., jones, b. a., & heym, n. 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(2020). mental health of communities during the covid-19 pandemic. retrieved on september 13, 2021 https://doi. org/10.1177/0706743720926676 https://bit.ly/3wgicw2 https://bit.ly/3wgicw2 http://dx.doi.org/10.15270/54-1-611 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0706743720926676 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0706743720926676 94 jpair multidisciplinary research leadership style of senior manager of medical device industry in germany: a case study suriyakumaran kousihan kousi80@gmx.de york saint john university, uk hosam azat elsaman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-8052 hossamezzat101@gmail.com westford university college, uae mohamed ali maricar http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-2118 mohd.maricar@hotmail.com westford university college, uae originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract leadership allows organizations to focus on employee development and sustain efforts for well-being. it argued that the medical device industry is complex and leadership requires support to meet the demands. moreover, increasing globalization and politicization of social welfare institutes have increased challenges. regulatory compliance must be followed. the study aimed to explore the leadership style of senior leaders in the context of regulatory compliance in the medical device industry after the covid-19 outbreak. the research objective is to get insight, thoughts, and shared experiences from the medical device industry leaders as they face regulatory challenges. the research used a qualitative approach and the data was collected through conducting interviews vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.448 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:kousi80@gmx.de mailto:hossamezzat101@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-2118 mailto:mohd.maricar@hotmail.com 95 international peer reviewed journal with medical device industry leaders and later performing a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. the sample population taken in the research comprised 14 senior leaders from south germany, particularly in baden-württemberg region, where they shared their responses based on design questions. the questions were designed within the context of regulatory compliance. ethical considerations maintain the anonymity of the participant. it was observed that regulatory compliance in the medical device industry has uncertain and dynamic situations where an authoritarian style of leadership becomes necessary. however, most of the leaders disagreed with this style of leadership and some resort to a democratic way of listening through effective communication or collaboration. communication skill was found to be the most effective for leaders in the medical device industry. leaders build personal relationships with their subordinates and try to cater to their needs. it recommended that management develop a constructive attitude to enable staff to be innovative as new medical treatment devices come into the market and staff be provided proper training. also, female managers in upper-level management can remove gender bias. keywords — social science, covid-19, leadership, medical device, regulatory compliance, senior leaders, uk introduction after the pandemic, the medical field competition has significantly increased; it is important for the firms to come up with change and sustain competitive advantage effectively. with rapid globalization, the medical device industry is expanding in different parts of the world to provide effective healthcare activities and seek more routes to selling their products. due to this reason, wilson (2018) mentioned that senior leaders and organizations sought to identify new strategies and adopt necessary actions so that new markets could be capitalized on or new market trends could be approached globally. the issue of implementing change has been observed in organizations expanding to other nations. in an investigation by jerez (2020), it is stated that political and economic landscapes have changed significantly in recent times; hence medical devices companies should also change with them. due to this reason, more innovation-based strategies are needed so that solutions improve health costs as well as improve the quality of health (padró & green, 2018). nonetheless, a dichotomy exists in medical devices that can allow research and development of innovative products and procedural solutions to serve needy people (gbadegesin, 2020). the change forces applied to medical 96 jpair multidisciplinary research organizations do not serve the best interests of the people, and the leadership role is considered the most important in doing so. employees are considered an integral part of a company, and they can play an important role in bringing change and elevating the chances of increasing healthcare quality. however, leaders in a medical organization are considered the most important for managing them. in an investigation by gbadegesin (2020), it is argued that companies’ strategic and competitive goals can be achieved by keeping the employees motivated and meeting the strategic vision of the firms. leaders who previously used to lead organizations and carry extensive experience have the skills to be included in multinational medical organizations. there is a need to seek regulatory approval for medical products in all the countries they are operating in (root, 2019). pham et al. (2019) argued that many companies need to take medical approval for their devices, especially when the aim is to meet sales demands in that region. hence, the leaders must play an important role in this regard by introducing a good change management plan. objectives of the study the study aimed to achieve the following objectives (1) to highlight the gap between theoretical and practices after carrying out a critical review of what the literature defined leadership in the medical device sector in particular, (2) to determine the leadership styles of senior managers in medical device industries, and (3) to recommend the most suitable leadership styles strategies for organizations comply with the pandemic situation. methodology research design for the study, it was decided that interviews would be conducted to collect the data and also so that thematic analysis could be performed on the data collected, and since the thematic analysis was chosen as the mode of data analysis, the interview method was considered to be the most suited. furthermore, the research design was chosen to be interview-based for the following reasons. face to face interviews helps to screen more accurately. the participants were interviewed in major sessions and the overall time was between 30 to 45 minutes as they were only conducted once (mcgrath, palmgren, & liljedahl, 2019). the interviews were semi-structured. a series of open-ended 97 international peer reviewed journal questions was asked to gain in-depth information about participants’ experiences and viewpoints. senior leaders in the medical device industry were contacted by email or directly with a demonstration of the objectives of the study. all interviews were recorded for analysis with the express contest of all participants. prior to the interviews, the participants were made aware that the data collected from their interview and the voice recording of the session, would be kept anonymous by using a pseudonym. the study employed the following questions: 1. what leadership skills do you find most useful? a) what leadership skills do you find very useful? b) what leadership attributes enable you to comply with regulatory demands? c) what characteristics and attributes that make an effective and motivational leader do you observe in the leaders you have interacted within your life? 2. how do you describe your leadership style? a) what experience has influenced your leadership style? b) as a leader, how do you get your people to follow you? c) what do you think about how your followers perceive your leadership style? d) how do you motivate your followers to do their best? 3. is there any specific leadership style suited to the medical device industry? a) can you tell me the characteristics of competent leaders in the medical device industry? data collection the respondents of this study consisted of the top or senior managers who were purposively selected. research ethics the primary ethical consideration in this study is protecting the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants in data collection, analysis, and research results reporting. participants will also be informed that they can optout and be allowed to receive a report on the results and completion of this study if they choose to participate. finally, the ideas of relationships and forces between researchers and participants have been integrated into qualitative research. the desire to participate in research is influenced by the readiness of members to share 98 jpair multidisciplinary research their involvement. qualitative researchers often need to describe their research experience in a real way, which runs counter to their goals. the research protocol must also provide adequate info to ensure the protection of human subjects. results and discussion describing leadership styles the paper described leadership styles from different perspectives in terms of describing leadership. based on the findings of thematic analysis, it has been revealed that leadership is more concerned with assisting more to co-workers. also, leadership is the one that reflects professionalism and discipline. this can also be supported by arijanto and wulandari (2019) findings, who have suggested that leadership fosters discipline and is responsible for developing the workplace environment, which facilitates employees to exploit their skills and creativity better. the respondents explained the stressful nature of the jobs that must practice keeping rules and regulations, which affirms smith’s (2017) assessment that employees adopt practices to ensure regulatory compliance. in view of jackson (2018), the stressful nature of the job has greatly affected the work culture, climate, and especially the leadership style as respondents are mostly resolute to autocratic leadership style as in the medical devices industry, human lives are on the line and leaders have to deal with difficult and strict deadlines. as sethi et al. (2017) argue that the quick response time in the medical device industry has led leaders to deal with unusual circumstances, as found in the results. workers have no support time to explore, discuss, or see different options available in the face-paced environment. in accordance with this finding, it is incredibly hard to bring transformation in leadership style (moghisi et al., 2020). regulatory frameworks have made it very difficult to innovate strategies and leaders view that authoritarian style is necessary as through harnessing power and authority, staff would, on an hourly basis, requires quick, responsible decisions and quick action. leaders in the medical device industry have the freedom to explore, discuss, and see the strengths and weaknesses of the options available. disagreement was found about the extent of the use of the authoritative style. differences of opinion existed among respondents regarding what authoritative or autocratic was related to. the transformation in the leadership styles was not a sudden process; the complex nature of the medical device industry led to their authoritarian behavior as they were more adamant about negative feedback. many respondents of those autocratic qualities made their subordinates comfortable in 99 international peer reviewed journal their job and this view is in line with jackson’s (2018) recommendation that collaboration builds a culture of leadership that directly influences employees. the industry’s regulatory compliance is very stressful, and the leaders also have situations where someone’s life may also be on the line and time is a major constraint to consult others in emergencies. according to some studies (neves & sanna, 2016; parvari et al., 2017), even men are likely to behave rashly when equipment or regulatory compliance is not met or is sub-standard. the leaders believe that a strict attitude is necessary to deal with a crisis, although room for innovation is still left when situations ease off. many managers in the medical device industry are adamant about transforming the leadership style necessary for top managers in the medical device industry (mukhtar et al., 2020). this can also be supported by the findings of oliveira et al. (2016), who have suggested that managers of the medical device industry needed to follow the rules and regulations of the industry to maintain compliance. it is to the reason that the medical device industry is to produce excellent quality products and tools that can be utilized for the treatment purpose of patients. the rules and regulations reflect patients’ health and safety prioritized in the medical device industry (farid, davaji, & barani, 2016). the results obtained through thematic analysis suggest that while managing strict rules and regulations, leaders are also required to provide employees freedom so that creativity and innovation can be fostered. this implies that leaders must reflect the element of strictness in their leadership style while leading the workforce in this industry (neves & sanna, 2016). it is the reason that besides adhering to the quality standards and requirements, it is also essential to develop innovative products so that the competitive edge in an industry can be maintained. this can be supported by the findings of sonsale and bharamgoudar (2017), who have suggested that exploration and exploitation activities are essential while producing innovative designs. most useful leadership skills the strategies adopted by the leaders inadvertently shape the leader’s work environment and the culture of the organization (bäker and goodall, 2018; manss, 2017). in our findings, leaders tend to be very organized and schedule their routines in advance. according to privitera, evan, and southee (2017), leaders provide training to their employees members for developments that would help them conduct their duty and responsibilities better. handling medical equipment is not an easy task (ahmed et al., 2019), and the development of the staff is given importance by the leaders, as analyzed from our research. in order to address the 100 jpair multidisciplinary research challenges, it is observed that most companies try to come up with platforms of engagement and motivation by adapting to transformational leadership. the study of spano-szekely et al. (2016) has also suggested that the inclusion of helpful attitude, encouragement, and motivation are nonetheless described as some of the most useful skills for leadership. this can also be supported by the findings of kalhori et al. (2016), who have suggested that health care provided by following transformational leadership skills in light of influencing junior staff and educating them with a clear vision or support are observed as some of the most useful skills. leaders also motivate their employees to follow their tough routines by mentioning company policies. nonetheless, the medical device industry necessitates this approach to function (rooke, 2018). supporting their employees’ leader would inevitably make employees adopt job practices and life principles that would be advantageous for overall organizational and societal well-being (bäker, and goodall, 2018). according to one leader, leaders should be flexible and adaptable to transformation. this would help the staff and the organizational function of the medical device industry. bumgarner (2016), coleman (2018), and arijanto and wulandari (2019) gave similar arguments that the organization’s goals are important, and in the medical device industry, transformation in leadership style will result in organizational progress through better productivity and employee skill development (mgqibi, 2019). many participants viewed that through shared collaboration, autocratic prejudices would get acceptance by the staff. according to smith (2017), leaders must indulge in coercive practice in the medical device industry to promote effective strategies for the work environment. ogbomeh (2018) literature can be counter-argued that organizational decisions can be counter-productive if the decision will not work in the facility. however, contrary to this fact, it is found that the coercive practices implemented by the leaders in the medical device industry are beneficial for the organizations to work. around a third of the respondents disagreed with authoritative and repressive behaviors from leaders at times of disagreement on decision making. in practice, it is not observed and only three people in the interview responded to dealing in democratic ways of listening, which resolves issues through effective communication (schiavone & simoni, 2019). equal number of participants resolve conflicts through collaboration and accommodation. in further answers to the questions, it can be observed that leaders in the medical device industry face critical situations where they must respond quickly and may not consider the emotional elements of a job task. according to covelli and mason (2017), the 101 international peer reviewed journal collaboration related to their work is key as dealing with discernments requires effective communication, but, in our findings, not all respondents dealt with situations democratically. they also shared different skills to collaborate with others as some dealt through collaboration in the divergent view of alabdulhadi et al. (2017) that leaders share similar characteristics. conclusion the findings derived from the interview data in this research showed the differing mindsets of senior leaders and yielded an understanding of the experiences that have shaped their leadership styles. in comparing the participants’ experiences, many similarities were revealed, as well as differences related to leadership style, attributes to enact change, the impact of regulatory compliance, and leadership development. an important conclusion of this study is that the approach of a leader in the medical device industry to drive an effective strategic decision-making strategy directly impacts the successful outcome of operational practices in the medical device industry. the study also concluded that the leader’s approach was directly influenced by previous experiences, emotions, and evaluative judgments about the external environment, reminiscent of ogbomeh’s (2018) perspectives. communication skill was found to be the most effective skill for leaders in the medical device industry. leaders favored the view that effective communication would improve the overall performance as they would get thorough feedback as they engage people in their surroundings (covelli & mason, 2017). based on the analysis, it can be concluded that leaders who support the employee in their growth and development through education and career development opportunities are identified as one of the most useful skills. the findings of kalhori et al. (2016) have suggested that transformational leadership skills considering influencing junior staff and education are observed as some of the most useful skills in the health care sector. moreover, oliveira et al. (2016) indicated transformational theory is one of the most useful leadership while influencing others and coping with changes concerning the changing environment. therefore, one of the research questions is answered as leaders with good communication skills tend to influence people and the workforce better. from the analysis, the most useful leadership style was authoritative, as the nature of work involved in the medical device industry necessitates enforcement. although there is always space for bettering new methods and equipment, 102 jpair multidisciplinary research external departments connected with the medical device industry could help fill the requirements. the leaders want their subordinates to stay energized and motivated in work and meet certain expectations, as observed in a study by spano-szekely et al. (2016). as ravand, darvish, and nasrabadi (2017) mention, the complexity of the medical device industry leadership is paramount and medical organizations need to comply with the regulations; and similar findings were observed as respondents stated stressful situations in the medical devices industry. the nature of service in the medical device industry has made the transformational leadership style more authoritative. there are significant gender role issues in the medical device industry as very few females hold top executive positions, although the responsiveness to their leadership style is equal in measure to men. in terms of identifying a suitable leadership style for the medical device industry, the findings of alabdulhadi et al. (2017) and chao (2017) have suggested that though leaders possess a common set of skills in terms of communication skills, motivation, rewards, and recognition and others nonetheless, the leaders while working in the environment like medical device industry has to comply with certain types of rules and regulations that are considered crucial in hospitaloriented services. further, the findings of oliveira et al. (2016) have indicated that managers of the medical device industry are needed to be followed the rules and regulations of the industry to maintain compliance. moreover, to develop innovative products, change is crucial so that the competitive edge in an industry can be maintained. in this aspect, sonsale and bharamgoudar (2017) findings have suggested that exploration and exploitation activities are essential while producing innovative designs. therefore, the transformational theory and skills assist leaders in transforming the procedures and processes along with the workforce to foster innovation and creativity. recommendation the findings of this research recommend that change management should be focused on developing a constructive attitude instead of being rigid to change that would enable staff to be adaptable to innovation as new medical treatment devices come into the market (ahmed et al., 2019). when leaders show positive attitudes toward their employees, their actions will more likely inhibit employee resistance to change. leaders must recognize their behavioral processes and resistance to change as it can be detrimental to the organization and the skill set of 103 international peer reviewed journal the staff at the middle and bottom levels (moghisi et al., 2020). an authoritative leadership style helps to deal with such emergencies. by harnessing authoritative leaders’ power and authority, they can force people to fight for a common goal, provide clear advice and consistent instructions, and help leaders deal with crises and implement solutions quickly. literature cited ahmed, a. k., ata, a. a., & abd-elhamid, z. n. 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(2018).  a case study of exploration into the transformational leadership styles of global senior leaders in the medical device industry in the context of organizational change  (doctoral dissertation, indiana institute of technology). 204 jpair multidisciplinary research revitalizing the bicol college livelihood programs at barangay kilicao in daraga, albay vicente b. fernandez https://orcid.org/0000002-81194761 vincefernandez1@yahoo.com bicol college sagpon, daraga, albay originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract livelihood is one of the ways of helping people alleviate poverty. this action research determined the causes of the temporary closure of the projects implemented in terms of (1) attitude of the participants, (2) organizer, and (3) financial support and the recommended development plan. this action research employed the descriptive method of research and utilized the focusedgroup discussion as the primary source of data and as the main data gathering instrument. the findings revealed that the participants failed to demonstrate a positive attitude, no facility in terms of sanitation and proper product handling, no complete equipment, and materials needed, failure of the organizer to fully support the projects and not enough financial assistance from the institution to sustain the livelihood projects. as recommended, the livelihood projects should be revitalized to achieve its sustainability, the organizer spearhead to conduct seminars and workshops on livelihood trainings, regularly monitor an asses the activities, and prepare a five-year livelihood development plan. keywords — revitalize, livelihood projects, sustainable vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.690 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:vincefernandez1@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 205 international peer reviewed journal introduction livelihood is a means of making a living. it encompasses people’s capabilities, income, and activities as a requirement to secure the necessities of everyday living. it is believed that livelihood is sustainable when it enables individuals to cope with and recovers from difficulties and uncertainties brought by natural disasters and economic and enhance their well-being and that of future generations without undermining the natural environment or the resource base (international federation of red cross and red crescent societies, 2018). the well-being of individuals is best conceptualized within a livelihood’s framework. according to ellis (2003), livelihood is defined as ‘the activities, assets and the access that jointly determine the living gained by an individual or household. livelihood projects are suggested to have the potential to reduce vulnerability and increase the social resiliency of communities (scoones, 2009). according to reardon (2000), the increasing number of american colleges and universities are undertaking long term partnership with community-based committed to improving the quality of life in the nation’s poorest and urban communities. the most successful of these universities bring community leaders and university students together to develop innovative solutions to critical economic and social problems overcoming the significant race, class, and genderbased barriers that make such cooperation difficult. at present, sustainable development is the code word for the most important debate. hence, poverty is widespread in most communities in the country, such as the problems on food supply, high prices of basic needs and even the deterioration of public hygiene and the contamination of water. how livelihood programs are embodied in addressing such problems wherein the real battle for sustainability is being fought. the long-term health of a community’s food system is an important indicator of its vitality and sustainability. a logical and appropriate way to revitalize a community is by the development of a local food economy. people throughout the united states are designing and implementing sustainable, local food systems that are rooted in particular places, aim to be economically viable for farmers and consumers, use ecologically sound production and distribution practices, and enhance social equity and democracy for all members of the community (feenstra, 1997). the school’s intervention and involvement in the adopted barangay through the different departments in terms of creating programs from seminar-workshops to its implementation could serve as an avenue of helping the constituents in addressing the problems they encountered every day. bicol colllege, inc. aimed 206 jpair multidisciplinary research to contribute greatly to the attainment of the school’s vision in bringing the tangible changes in the adopted community. hence, in response to the growing need to further implement worthwhile and impact-loaded outreach activities and to create awareness among the students and the staff of their social responsibilities enunciated in the vision of the college, the community outreach office conducted the community service festival on october 16, 2014. during the festival, in front of the students and selected student-leaders together with the key faculty members, the officers of the administration and the board of directors signed the covenant to lend a hand to the adopted communities further. the formal turn-over of the manual sewing machine to the officers of the bicol college-sitio matagbak people’s enterprise followed. the organization was composed of housewives, fondly called as ‘nanays’. they were the housewives of junk collectors of sitio matagbak adjacent to barangay kilicao where signed of social neglect were very evident. thus, the people’s enterprise, an incomegenerating through sewing was conceived, and heartfelt response from the participants followed. the actual battle against social neglect and deterioration had begun. in addition, in its aim to contribute greatly to the attainment of bicol college’s vision and to bring about tangible changes of its adopted communities, the community outreach office came up with a supplementary incomegenerating project for the ‘nanays’ of sitio matagbak and barangay kimantong in daraga, albay, the choco-peanut spread production. after several of failing and trying, the perfect look and taste of the choco-peanut spread created delicious, chocolatey waves of change both in the market and in the lives of the ‘nanays.’ hence, he ventures already generated an initial revenue through effective marketing strategies such as the use of social networking sites, and massive campaigns. also, trainings on financial management were conducted wherein the entire fund was turned over to the so-called ‘nanaypreneurs.’ furthermore, the community outreach office together with the bicol college sinag bayani-student-volunteers from liberal arts department, college of teachers’ education, college of business education and the college of business education through ‘kinaw nin pagturugangan’ conducted an organizational development session. hence, the members of the bc-kilicao people’s organization zone 7 chapter attended a series of sessions to lead a civic organization effectively. the participants also attended lectures on financial literacy. two of the ‘nanaypreneurs from sitio matagbak received the first phase of trainings on sewing. the outreach office together with other departments introduced the 207 international peer reviewed journal basics of sewing and purchased one machine for the operation for the mothers at zone 7 in 2014. the two nanaypreneurs from sitio matagbak continued their formal training at tesda. hence, the officers of zone 6 turned over the sewing machine that was provided by bicol college to zone 7 since they had their sewing equipment given by the department of social welfare development (dswd). according to the records from the barangay council, kilicao is composed of 2000 households or 10 thousand residents living in the seven zones. it is one of the depressed areas in daraga, albay as evidenced with the economic status of the people due to lack of employment and other income-generating activities that resulted in poverty. hence, there is a need for livelihood programs to sustain the basic needs of the people. the potential for economic growth and poverty reduction is promoting an opportunity to the poor people to create and compensate their potentials in the field of interest, facilitating empowerment and implementation that are responsive to the needs of the people. this involves enhancing security and encouraging cooperation among the residents, diversity household activities such as creating and implementing livelihood programs. the study had the following objectives: 1. determine the status of the livelihood programs at zone 7 in barangay kilicao, darage, albay. 2. analyze the causes of the temporary closure of the projects implemented in terms of a) attitude of the participants, b) organizer, and c) financial support 3. prepare a five-year development plan to revitalize the livelihood program. respondents of the study respondents frequency percentage female 17 94 male 1 6 total 18 100 there were more female respondents than the male respondents as shown in the matrix. in a book by tembo (2003) entitled, participation, negotiation, and poverty: encountering the power of images – designing pro-poor development programs, the author used cases from rural malawi. it presented a comparative view of the interface between  non-governmental organizations  (ngos) and 208 jpair multidisciplinary research people, in a given project community, in terms of images, they formed the different aspects of ngo assistance, and derived a theory from this comparative analysis of image interactions which assisted project managers in improving the design and implementation of projects that were meant for social transformation. it was suggested that the political realities of  participation  entail processes of negotiation that were influenced by images that people and ngos formed each other, the resources involved, and the actual activities undertaken for development. these image-based negotiations underlined the participatory relationships between communities and ngos, and within communities, which if not properly managed put the poor at a disadvantage. in the study conducted by mathie and cunningham (2005), the authors explained that arising out of a critique of needs-based approaches to development, asset-based community development (abcd) offers a set of principles and practices to mobilize and sustain community economic development. this paper drew attention to the connections between these principles and practices and current interest in sustainable livelihoods as a conceptual framework, the concept of social capital the social psychology of mobilization, the enhancement of capacity and agency to engage as citizens with the entitlements of citizenship, the role of multiple stakeholders, and the issue of control over the development process. finally, the paper pointed to the challenges for non-governmental organizations (ngos) employing an asset-based, community-driven approach given the needs-based, problem-solving paradigm in which they operated. similarly, researchers had developed an understanding of the strategies in the conduct of the livelihood programs. arce (2003) conducted a study with the main concern on the discussion of livelihood approaches as forms of strategic thinking based on different value orientations within the development policy sphere. the two approaches were presented as part of a continuum in the field of development. however, there was a critical shift in the relationship between the state, the market, and the people. despite these differences, the author explained what they both shared was a dismissal of the value contestations that underpinned people’s livelihood interests and experiences. this argument was illustrated with a case from bolivia, which demonstrated that any policy capacity to act at a local level today must involve a willingness to tackle issues of value contestation and the impacts of globalization. this raised the question of how policy values relate to the complexities of the everyday practicalities of livelihoods and livelihood discontinuities. according to ellis-jones (1999) in an article on poverty, land care, and 209 international peer reviewed journal sustainable livelihoods in hillside and mountain regions, resource use decisions made by households and communities in pursuit of today’s survival and livelihood security were influenced by policies, institutions, and technologies that made an impact on their lives. such decisions were the main determinants of links between poverty elimination, improved land care, and sustainable rural livelihood. in the long term, such goals could be compatible, but in the short term, the need for increased yields with increasing populations was likely to undermine sustainable natural resource management. in addition, according to the author, increasing analysis and understanding of poverty, its measurement and identification of the processes that create poverty due to their inaccessibility, fragility, marginality, and diversity. although, many of the world’s hotspots for land degradation were found in hillside areas, there were also many bright spots where improvements in natural resource management resulted in increased incomes. poverty elimination required a revival of the community stake in the natural resource base, restoring local control over local resources, and use of local perspectives and traditional knowledge systems in development activities. new policies, institutions, and technologies needed to reflect such principles.   according to novellino and dressler (2009), the rapid rise of nongovernmental organizations (ngos) in the philippines had reflected a regional trend toward the democratization of conservation and development on behalf of the rural poor when the state fell short. this article examined how this trend had manifested itself among the indigenous peoples of palawan island and how, despite best intentions, project delivery by “hybrid” ngos in changing organizational formed with multiple objectives and functions had often yielded unsustainable and culturally damaging outcomes. the authors drew on ethnographic research among the tagbanua and batak peoples to examine recent claims of broad non-governmental organization (ngo) success in achieving community empowerment and forest conservation on palawan. the authors’ argument was supported by examining case studies in which ngos and state’s failure to properly engage traditional livelihoods had reinforced outsider control over indigenous needs and aspirations. according to the report made by asian development bank (2015), on the island of samar, some of the most impoverished communities in the philippines received cash grants through an asian development bank (adb) supported livelihood program to meet their basic needs. the cash grants were part of an adb’s supported program with a total of $20 million being spent on a series 210 jpair multidisciplinary research of initiatives to support the livelihood of local communities in eastern visayas. flexibility was given to the local authority to decide how to spend the money depending on the needs of the community, including tools, cash for work and conditional and unconditional cash transfers. the beneficiaries were selected based on age, pension income, and support they already received from family. typically, communities gathered to identify priorities and appointed a village committee of 10-20 representatives. the committee identified who should benefit from the program in ranking people according to their needs. plan international (pi), a non-governmental organization (ngo), then stepped in to review the ratings and validated the decision. in a similar report, kalipay negrense foundation (2007) already involved in a community outreach project which was the gawad kalinga (gk) at barangay kabatangan in talisay city, negros occidental from donations of some houses to gk beneficiaries with the commitment to help the poorest of the poor. since then through the good leadership and the monetary help was given by generous donors, continued to support and implemented projects in gawad kalinga. the program had built 29 houses including four classrooms for grades 1 to 4, a community clinic equipped with dental and medical facilities, and an activity center for livelihood projects. through the years, kalipay reached out not only to the disadvantaged children loitering in the street but also to families who were in need.  community outreach projects and activities emphasizing the importance of family values also provided economic opportunities and offered education to the children and the community members. ballesteros, orbeta jr, ancheta, and corpus (2017) aimed to assess the sustainable livelihood program (slp) implementation processes based on recent policy enhancements and to determine additional dimensions or indicators of program success. the analysis was based on focus group discussions and key informant interviews, and a survey of a small sample of beneficiaries. majority of those served by the program had expressed positive results from the slp intervention particularly when it comes to the skills training. there was an improvement in the standard of living experienced from additional household income, business expansion and a stable source of employment. other dimensions of success included increased motivation to be productive; better links to employment or that the program provided a form of social protection. however, beneficiary targeting was poor with parent leaders, their friends, and relatives capturing most of the benefits. delays in project review and approval caused potential beneficiaries to drop out, backed-out or looking 211 international peer reviewed journal for other opportunities. moreover, the establishment of slp associations was viewed as a deterrent instead of a mechanism for success. in general, additional reforms in the delivery of program services were still needed. it was noted that the reforms should focus on beneficiary targeting and development of characteristicbased assessment tool on beneficiary’s readiness and capacities. the department of social welfare development (dswd) also needed to examine project review and approval, and issues concerning social preparation and development of associations. lastly, an impact evaluation had to be undertaken to provide better evidence of program success. methodology this section presents the discussion of the research design, and methodology along with the procedure that employed in data gathering, instruments used and the process used in assessing the data to be gathered. the study employed the qualitative research design in gathering relevant information of the study. the focused-group discussion (fgd) and interview were utilized in gathering vital responses. the researcher sought permission from the office of the barangay captain of kilicao in daraga, albay to conduct the study. upon approval, the researcher requested the president of the livelihood projects to get the total list of the participants involved in the program. the researcher conducted the focused group discussion and interview with the barangay officials and participants. the researcher personally recorded the responses of the participants. the data gathered were analyzed. results and discussion this part presented the results and discussion of the data gathered from the respondents through a focused group discussion (fgd) and interview to determine the status of the livelihood projects at zone 7 in barangay kilicao in daraga, albay. on the first venture in dressmaking for the mothers, it was revealed that during the first phase of the dressmaking venture, the eight participants who were composed of mothers showed interest and enthusiasm in learning the basics of sewing as a way of earning extra to help their husbands increase their monthly income instead of doing nothing at home. the school had provided training212 jpair multidisciplinary research workshop, purchased one unit of a sewing machine and other materials needed to start up the project. also, the organizer who was the head of the outreach office provided used clothing for the participants to make ready to wear apparels such as short pants, shirts, pillow case, curtains, and other finished products from cloth. according to the participants they benefited from the project wherein they were able to earn extra money instead of engaging in activities like gossiping and watching television after doing the house chores. through the project, they were able to sustain the needs of their children in going to school, able to buy food items and other things they needed for everyday living. hence, they were able to save extra money aside from their husbands’ earning compared to the time when they had no extra jobs. one of the participants wholeheartedly expressed her gratitude to the head of the outreach office for introducing the project because she was able to support her daughter’s education. they sold their finished products during the school events such as intramural and other school occasions. also, they introduced their products in other places in daraga, albay and in legazpi city. on account of mrs. miraflor the head of the project, after two years of the venture, they met one of the nuns from sta. rafaela congregation based in daraga, albay during the group’s community activity. the first batch of the so-called ‘nanaypreneurs’ was asked if they would like to join the group who were also engaged in the same venture. eventually, the first batch agreed and accepted the offer to engage in dressmaking venture. the nuns who expressed their willingness to help the community especially the people who needed financial support, provided them with several units of sewing machines and other equipment essential for such venture such as edging machine and other materials to start up the project. they even offered them to look for clients and customers for their finished products. on the first place, they also provided the participants with the basic needs such as food and other things they needed for them not to worry on their daily necessities to concentrate on the venture. they also received additional trainings necessary for the improvement of the project such as the latest trends and innovations in the industry. from that point, they decided to turn over the sewing machine to zone 7 since they had already acquired the needed equipment for the project, and to help other interested individuals to do the project. during the time of the turn-over of single unit sewing machine to zone 7 in barangay kilicao, on another account of mrs. myla llorca, most of the new participants 213 international peer reviewed journal included herself were glad to have received the sewing machine. on the first place, they had shown interest to engage in the sewing venture. on the contrary, the new participants who had expressed their interest were only allowed to use the machine on a limited time during weekdays because of the number of users. instead, they were asked to use the machine during weekends which the mothers found it inconvenient for them because they were needed at home to attend to their children and perform other house chores. such a scenario, as disclosed by the participants resulted in disruption of the venture. in addition, its operation had stopped in the long run because of the malfunction of the only one sewing machine. another notable finding was that the head of the community outreach office failed to show initiatives in terms of providing new seminar-workshops for the new participants, and the only sewing machine left was not being repaired and stored inside the center. the head also did not exert effort in making followups for the requisition of additional equipment necessary for the project, and in addition, the school did not provide financial support to continue the project as expected. furthermore, on the choco-peanut spread production for nanays, mrs. myla llorca, one of the participants and the president of the organization revealed that its operation had also temporarily stopped due to similar factors with the sewing project. during the first year of the production, the participants showed interest in the venture that they sold the finished products and generated income, but in the long run, its operation did not continue due to several factors. on the part of the community, she explained that the participants had no interest in continuing the project which was the common practice of people in the community. also, the organizer also failed to fully support the project in terms of making follow-ups on the requisitions of the needed equipment such as grinder, utensils and other needed materials for the venture. according to the participants, there was a need for a purchase of a peanut grinder. the roasted peanuts were brought to daraga market, but the owner of the grinder advised them that they can no longer accept it with the chocolate concoction as needed in the production because it became messy and could result to the malfunction of the equipment. it was also noted by the participants that aside from the failure of the head of the outreach office to make follow-ups on the purchase of peanut grinder, the center remained under repair. the participants need a place with complete facilities for its operation and the production in terms of good sanitation and proper product handling. moreover, the project stopped its operation because of the failure of 214 jpair multidisciplinary research the school to provide financial support to continue the project. the participants informed the researcher that the organizer initially provided only minimal funds for the project that resulted in temporary closure of the operations of the project. bicol college five-year livelihood development plan introduction this bicol college community outreach program 5-year livelihood development program of barangay kilicao is the embodiment of the coordinated efforts of the bicol college outreach office towards the development of the adopted barangay. serving as a tool for the development of the barangay and a guide to development-oriented agencies/organizations in channeling and providing their services to the people, this “programang pangkauswagan kan kilicao” is a broad and holistic integrated program geared towards engaging in livelihood programs and general well-being of the people. it advocates total integrated development strategy through the use of a local change agent and the development of the capabilities of the people invoking self-help and self-reliance. the program encompasses development thrusts such as dressmaking and food production as income generating projects. hopefully, its successful implementation in kilicao shall serve as a model of development in other barangays. a. rationale the vision, mission, goals set for the dynamic and responsive community outreach office working with utmost care toward the total development of the quality of life of daraquenos and beyond, conduct rights-respectful, relevant and sustainable community outreach programs with the partner barangays’ areas of development and strengthen collaboration with the government agencies and non-government agencies, and to pursue a dynamic and integrated community outreach program that will complement to the institutional goal of bicol college community outreach program particularly in bringing about improvement of the quality of life of daraqunenos through sustained collaborative, rights-based and environment-friendly endeavors. 215 international peer reviewed journal b. objectives 1. to make the students faculty staff, non-teaching staff and the administration aware of the objectives of the community outreach office. 2. to devise strategies to enable the students, faculty staff, non-teaching personnel, and the administration adopt and apply the objectives of the community outreach office; 3. to improve participation of the students, faculty staff, non-teaching personnel and the administration to activities in the adopted barangay; 4. to adopt modern educational technologies to upgrade the quality of service given to the participants of the programs in the community; 5. to strengthen community involvement and extension services. c. strategies for implementation 1. organize a committee that will review the goals and objectives of the program; 2. attend meetings, conferences, seminar-workshops in-service trainings on educational reform and innovations to meet the standard of excellence in teaching; 3. procure information technology and audio-visual materials and modern equipment; 4. determine the availability of funds and generate more resources; and 5. provide a regular evaluation of the expected outcome. d. persons involved a. administration b. finance officer c. deans/program chairs d. faculty e. non-teaching personnel f. students e. time frame: figure 1 g. financial requirements organization 10,000.00 conference 50,000.00 miscellaneous 20,000.00 total 80,000.00 216 jpair multidisciplinary research activities year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 1. organization of a committee that will review the goals and objectives of the department. 2. regular attendance to meetings, conferences, seminar-workshops in-service trainings on community outreach reform and innovations to meet the standard of extension services in the community. 3. procurement of materials and equipment. 4. determining the availability of funds and generate. 5. yearly evaluation of the expected outcome. figure 1. gantt chart of activities for the goals, philosophy, and objectives of the five-year development plan h. source of fund community outreach fund i. evaluation 1. are the set goals and objectives specific, measurable and attainable? 2. are the livelihood programs relevant to the need of the community? community development “activities for community development in outreach office program” a. rationale the development of a community is the primary concern of the community outreach office. as stated in the manual, the areas of development focused on the safety, security, and order, education and literacy and gender sensitivity. it also includes recreation, culture and sports, values formation and moral recovery, innovation and entrepreneurship, care for health and sanitation, and 217 international peer reviewed journal environment and intergenerational responsibility. participation of the students, faculty staff, non-teaching personnel and the administration in different activities in the adopted community will give them a chance for further improvement and development. b. objectives to improve the different structural condition of the community through various projects and activities and contribute to regional and national development. specifically, the following are the objectives of the community outreach office: 1. the families shall have a stable livelihood and increased income; 2. . the residents shall have sufficient knowledge and skill in managing their families and other livelihood and income-generating projects. 4. the participants shall be equipped with technical skills and/or modern technology from production to processing to marketing and saving; 5. the site shall have established functional, serviceable facilities such as equipment for choco-peanut production, sewing machines, and other essential utensils needed. 6. to strengthen community involvement and extension services. c. strategies 1. monthly meeting of the core groups to assess the activities that happened during the immediately preceding month initiate possible solutions to problems met and make a detailed plan of action for the succeeding month. 2. monthly meeting of community outreach office to assess the activities that happened for the immediately preceding month initiate possible solutions to problems met and make a detailed plan of action for the succeeding month. 3. regular follow-up to development agencies and other entities where assistance has been requested. 4. regular monitoring and assessment of projects and activities. 5. regular preparation of reports by the community outreach officer to be submitted to bicol college president and other agencies concerned. 6. yearly programming of a livelihood development plan. 7. organizational meeting to provide feedback to the people on the progress of implementing the livelihood development plan. 218 jpair multidisciplinary research activities year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 1. monthly meeting of the core groups; 2. monthly meeting of community outreach office; 3 regular follow-up to development agencies and other entities; 4. regular monitoring and assessment of projects and activities; 5. regular preparation of reports by the community outreach officer ; 6. yearly programming of livelihood development plan ; 7. organizational meetings of the officers of the two livelihood programs figure 2. gannt chart of activities for the five-year student’s development plan d. persons involved a. administrator b. finance officer c. deans/department heads d. faculty e. students e. time frame: figure 2 f. financial requirements the financial requirements for livelihood programs are: capital 25,000 purchase of equipment 175,000 miscellaneous 5,000 total 205,000 219 international peer reviewed journal g. source of funds community outreach fund h. evaluation 1. did the monthly meeting of the core groups address the problems met to make a detailed action plan? 2. were the participants provided with adequate resources for the programs? 3. were the participants benefited from the livelihood programs? physical plant and facilities “provisions for construction/repairs/improvement of the bc community outreach site and needed equipment, utensils and materials for the livelihood programs” a. rationale the quality of physical plant and facilities has a significant effect on the conduct of livelihood programs. it is one very important component in any community outreach activity. it includes site, equipment, and production area. improvement of physical plant and facilities will help increase the output and the atmosphere for being conducive to conduct of the livelihood projects. a corollary to the human resource development is infrastructure development. infrastructure development ensures that the site can accommodate the increase in participants that the outreach office foresees in the future and will enable the development of new facilities for the different activities and future programs being envisioned by the college. this includes the construction of appropriate working areas and providing for appropriate equipment for each activity. however, as envisioned, the infrastructure development does not only mean the site where the participants will gain lifelong learning, but also the technological facilities that will bring about information and discovery. this includes improvement and working areas and equipment. b. objectives 1. repair the bicol college community outreach facility. 2. construct/provide working areas for choco-peanut spread production and dressmaking venture. 3. purchase additional sewing machines and grinding machine. 220 jpair multidisciplinary research 4. increase the number of necessary utensils for choco-peanut butter productions and materials for dressmaking venture. 5. provide an area for trainings and seminars, and facilities with proper ventilation, illumination, and sufficient water supply. c. strategies for implementation 1. a written request must be submitted for approval to the administration of the need to repair the facility and construct/provide the working areas for the livelihood program inside the bc site. 2. request for the purchase of additional sewing machines and grinding machine. 3. make the administration aware of the inadequacy of utensils and other materials for the livelihood projects. 4. follow-up request made with the administration regularly. activities year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 1. a written request must be submitted for approval of the administration of the need to repair the facility and construct/ provide the working areas for the livelihood program inside the bc site. 2. request for the purchase of additional sewing machines and grinder machine. 3. make the administration aware of the inadequacy of utensils and other materials 4. follow-up request made with the administration regularly. figure 3. gannt chart of activities for the five-year development plan on physical plant and facilities 221 international peer reviewed journal d. personnel involved a. administrator b. finance officer c. deans/department heads d. faculty e. community leaders e. time-frame: figure 3 f. financial requirements 1. site improvement p 300,000 (repainting, purchases, repairs etc.) 2. production equipment 100.000 2. other misc. expenses 50,000 total p 450,000 ======== g. sources of fund community outreach fund h. evaluation 1. was there a positive result with regards to the requested site facilities, equipment from the administrator? 2. did the administrator purchase the needed equipment utensils and materials? administration and supervision “provision for the financial support of the administration” a. rationale management of the outreach community programs is intended to help its participants for sustainable livelihood programs. initially, the administration through the community outreach office provided some of the needed equipment for the livelihood programs, but there is a need to extend adequate financial support. 222 jpair multidisciplinary research b. objectives 1. determine the needed resources of the livelihood programs. 2. conduct performance appraisal of the participants based on the established performance evaluation system to foster the improvement and efficiency of the livelihood programs. c. strategies 1. community outreach programs’ policies shall be formulated to include the specific functions and responsibility of the participants, administration, faculty and the students. 2. conduct a fair and systematic performance evaluation of the participants, administration, faculty, and students every semester. 3. accountability for the efficient and effective administration and management of the livelihood programs. d. persons involved 1. administrator 2. finance officer 3. community outreach officer 4. deans/department heads 5. faculty 6. students e. time frame: figure 4 strategies year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 1. community outreach programs’ policies shall be formulated to include the specific functions and responsibility of the participants, administration, faculty and the students. 2. conduct a fair and systematic performance evaluation of the participants, administration, faculty and students every semester. 3. accountability for the efficient and effective administration and management of the livelihood programs. figure 4. gannt chart of activities for the five-year administration and supervision 223 international peer reviewed journal f. financial requirement planning expenses p 5,000 miscellaneous 10,000 total p 15,000 ======= g. sources of fund community outreach fund h. evaluation 1. had the community outreach office formulated programs’ policies on the specific functions and responsibility of the participants, administration, faculty and the students? 2. had the community outreach office conducted a fair and systematic performance valuation of the participants, administration, faculty, and students every semester? 3. was the community outreach office accountable for the efficient and effective administration and management of the livelihood programs? conclusions based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn, (1) the participants failed to demonstrate a positive attitude in the conduct of the livelihood projects; (2) there was no facility in terms of sanitation and proper product handling; (3) there were no complete equipment and materials needed for the dressmaking and choco-peanut butter ventures; (4) the organizer failed to fully support in terms of making follow-ups for the requisitions of the needed equipment and other materials for the project; (5) there were not enough financial assistance from the institution to sustain the livelihood projects. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various agenda in creating programs and projects to reduce poverty by generating employment among the poor residents of the community. the livelihood program, such as dressmaking venture and food production among others may be designed for the stakeholders in the community. 224 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited arce, a. (2003). value contestations in development interventions: community development and sustainable livelihoods approaches.  community development journal,  38(3), 199-212. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1093/cdj/38.3.199 asian development bank (2015). livelihood  support for the poorest of the poor in the philippines. accessed on september 13, 2018 from www.adb.org/ results/livelihoodsupport-poorest-poor ballesteros, m. m., orbeta jr, a., ancheta, j., & corpus, j. p. (2017). assessment of livelihood success and implementation issues on the sustainable livelihood program of the dswd.  no. dp,  54, 2017. retrieved on september 17, 2018 from https://bit.ly/2i8thrl ellis (2000). sustainable  livelihoods  approach. retrieved from on september 1, 2018 from http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/74377. feenstra, g. w. 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(2005). who is driving development? reflections on the transformative potential of asset-based community development.  canadian journal of development studies/revue canadienne d’études du développement,  26(1), 175-186. retrieved on september 20, 2018, from https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2005.9669031 scoones, i. (2009). livelihoods perspectives and rural development. the journal of peasant studies,  36(1), 171-196. retrieved on september 3, 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2005.9669031 novellino, d., & dressler, w. h. (2009). the role of “hybrid” ngos in the conservation and development of palawan island, the philippines. society and natural resources, 23(2), 165-180. retrieved on september 15, 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920902756141 reardon, k. m. (2000). an experiential approach to creating an effective community-university partnership: the east st. louis action research project. cityscape, 59-74. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2tb9arw https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2005.9669031 https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2005.9669031 https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920902756141 110 jpair multidisciplinary research assessment of gdna extracted from staphylococcus aureus isolate by polymerase chain reaction, agarose gel electrophoresis, and spectrophotometric assay ricky b. acanto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3508-6847 ricky.acanto@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines jasmin t. castor http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5801-1488 jasmin.castor@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college binalbagan, negros occidental, philippines mary grace f. langcoy http://orcid.org/0000-0001-64855-1291 marygrace.langcoy@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract dna sequencing is crucial in molecular biology techniques to identify staphylococcus aureus isolates’ genotype to advance diagnoses, prevent, and control vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.586 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 111 international peer reviewed journal infections. dna isolation can be influenced by several factors which can affect the quality of the output. the experiment was conducted to assess the quality and quantity of genomic dna isolated from s. aureus. the gdna’s purity and concentration were determined using the spectrophotometric assay, and the quality was analyzed using pcr and agarose gel electrophoresis. the purity of dna and rna was determined using the absorbance ratio at a260 and a280, and the percent coefficient of variation was used for the three replicates. the result showed that the extracted gdna from s. aureus was obtained in large quantities, with good quality, r 1=93.67 μg/ml, r2=59.85 μg/ml, and r3=67.50 μg/ml. the concentration was within a 1.8 – 2.0 absorbance ratio and was considered high quantity output. the extracted and amplified pure gdna fragment from the sample can now be used for other molecular techniques. keywords — molecular biology, agarose gel electrophoresis, gdna, pcr, s. aureus, philippines introduction about 30% of the world’s human population is colonized by staphylococcus aureus, a pathogenic bacteria and a leading cause of benign to life-threatening skin and soft tissue infections, bacteremia, and other device-related infections (tong et al., 2015). s. aureus is a natural microbiota of the human skin and major pathogens that causes a wide variety of infections when it enters the internal tissues, affecting humans, livestock, and wild animals that have hopped across host species genetically epidemiologically (matuszewska et al., 2020). as one of the frequently isolated pathogens, s. aureus infections affect any organ, and strains develop resistance to antibiotics (gnanamani et al., 2017; turner et al., 2019). the resistant strains significantly participate in nosocomial infections, damaging the host epithelial cells and neutrophils (foster & geoghegan, 2015; prévost, 2013). s. aureus is typically transmitted through direct contact and other transmission methods commonly acquired in the community or hospital settings (taylor & unakal, 2019). according to van hal et al. (2012), s. aureus infections are severe and deadly; it accounts for more deaths than other bacterial and viral infections combined. deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) fingerprinting and sequencing is crucial in molecular biology techniques to identify and genotype s. aureus isolates to advance diagnoses, prevention, and control of infections. several approaches 112 jpair multidisciplinary research were developed to amplify the nucleic acids as a basis for dna extraction and isolation of the bacteria. the model method for genomic dna (gdna) extraction has to optimize a high quantity of pure yield from the isolated sample with minimal co-extraction of inhibitors during the downstream process or removal of contaminants, minimize dna degradation, and be cost-efficient (auricchio et al., 2013; looi et al., 2012; miyata et al., 2011). in preparation of bacterial genomic dna, most common protocols before the precipitation of nucleic acids, comprising of lysis and incubation with a nonspecific protease followed by a series of extractions that effectively remove protein contaminants but not exopolysaccharides which can interfere with the activity of restriction enzymes such as endonucleases and ligases (andreou, 2013; canto-canché et al., 2013; raven et al., 2021; vingataramin & frost, 2018). recently, different methods of extracting bacterial dna have been introduced as an alternative to conventional, time-consuming manipulation and contamination risks. commercial kits are readily available and offer low-risks, faster than traditional protocols with high-quality dna recovered (hassanzadeh et al., 2016). polymerase chain reaction (pcr) is an everyday and indispensable scientific technique use to amplify dna fragments to generates millions of copies of a particular dna in a few hours (garibyan & avashia, 2013; kadri, 2019; kuzdraliński et al., 2017). in pcr, a small amount of dna is added to a solution containing essential components such as dna polymerase, primers, and nucleotides and heated in a thermal cycler to separate dna strands, and once cooled, the dna polymerase creates the copy of individual dna strand. the pcr cycle is repeated after five minutes until exponential dna amplification is produced. after developing the pcr method, several dnabased technologies were also developed and were applied in the different areas of biomedical research, especially in the investigation of the growing number of diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) (chung et al., 2021; han et al., 2021; udugama et al., 2020; wang et al., 2020; zauli, 2019). agarose gel electrophoresis is another method used for separating dna fragments by the electric field where negatively-charged molecules migrate toward the anode (positive) pole. the molecular weight of the molecules determines the migration of dna fragments. in addition, nucleic acid fractionation in gel electrophoresis can be an initial step to purify a band of interest. agarose gel electrophoresis is most suited for separating dnas/rnas in the range of 100bp to about 15kb (cai, 2020; kuhn et al., 2018; motohashi, 2019; tankeshwar, 2021). 113 international peer reviewed journal sufficient quantity and quality of extracted dna are critical in the amplification-based analysis since dna amplification is influenced by contaminants’ presence from matrix and reagents, which reduce the pcr efficiency. the experiment was conducted to assess the quality and the quantity of the gdna extracted from the s. aureus isolates based on its reaction in agarose gel electrophoresis, pcr, and spectrophotometric analysis, which is essential in identifying s. aureus species. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the quantitative and qualitative aspects of extracted genomic dna from s. aureus. specifically, the study aimed to (1) determine the quantity of gdna extracted from s. aureus isolates by spectrophotometric method and (2) determine the quality of extracted gdna from s. aureus by a polymerase chain reaction and agarose gel electrophoresis. materials and methods reagents all reagents, including agarose, tris-acetate edta (tae), ethidium bromide (stock concentration of 10 mg/ml), nuclease-free water, taq dna polymerase, template dna, reverse primer, forward primer, deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dntps), and standard taq reaction buffer used in the experiment, were analytical grade and obtained from addgene® (2018). tae recipe can be found on this site (https://media.addgene.org). equipment the following were the equipment used in the experiment: eppendorf® mastercycler® (40) cycler for amplifying the dna isolate, spectrophotometer for quantifying dna isolate, and agarose gel electrophoresis: casting tray, well combs, voltage source, gel box, uv source, and microwave. s. aureus isolate s. aureus isolates used in the experiment were previously prepared by the laboratory professor, dr. sabinay, and obtained from the biotechnology research laboratory at west visayas state university. the gdna was isolated from s. aureus using the nucleospin microbial dna protocol (macherey-nagel, 2018). about 2.5 μl taken from the sample was used pcr amplification. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research dna extraction dna extraction of s. aureus isolate was carried out using the protocol described by macherey-nagel (macherey-nagel, 2018), using the commercial kit nucleospin® microbial dna designed to isolate genomic dna for microbial samples efficiently. sample preparation. the cells were harvested from the produced isolates by spinning for about 2 minutes at 1000 rpm in a microcentrifuge tube to eliminate the residues. after the supernatant was discarded, resuspend the harvested cells with a 100 μl of elution buffer (be) and centrifuge again at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes to obtain the chloroplast pellets. lyse sample. the cell suspension was then transferred to nucleospin® bead tube type b, and 40 μl buffer mg and 10μl of liquid proteinase k were added tube was closed to avoid spilling the mixture during the agitation process. the nucleospin® bead tube was agitated to a swing mill and centrifuged for about 30s at 10,000rpm to clean the lid. adjust dna binding condition. a 600 μl buffer mg was added to the mixture and centrifuged for about 30s at 10,000rpm to clean the lid, sediment glass beads, and cell debris. bind dna. for dna binding, an approximately 500–600 μl supernatant was transferred to the nucleospin® microbial dna column, positioned in a 2ml collection tube, and then centrifuged for about 30s at 10,000rpm. the collection tube was discarded with flowthrough. put column into a fresh 2 ml collection tube. wash silica membrane. a 500 μl buffer bw was added and centrifuged for about 30s at 10,000rpm on the first washed. discard the flowthrough and place the column back into the collection tube. rewashed and 500 μl buffer b5 was added to the column and centrifuged again for about 30s at 10,000 rpm; 30s at 10,000rpm. dry silica membrane. the column was centrifuged for the 30s at 10 000 rpm. in this step, the residual wash buffer was removed. elute highly pure dna. the nucleospin® microbial dna column was placed into a 1.5 ml nuclease-free tube, and 100 μl be was added. then incubated at ambient temperature for a minute and centrifuged for 30 s at 10 000 rpm. 115 international peer reviewed journal spectrophotometric assay of gdna the concentration and purity extracted gdna from s. aureus were analyzed using thermo scientific™ multiskan™ go (4) spectrophotometer (thermo fisher scientific corporation, 2010). the analysis was done using the protocol described in the user manual. the spectrophotometer was used to measure the amount of light a substance can absorb; by combining kinetic measurement and beer’s law principle, analysts could calculate its concentration. it is simple, sensitive, non-destructive, and selective. first, the instrument was switched on, and it performed a self-diagnostic scan before it could be used. the microplate loaded was fitted well in the microplate carrier and made of quartz or uv compatible microplates to ensure the instrument’s output quality. then, the desired measurement parameters were defined in the plate menu. the device has automatically displayed the data onto its monitor. the selected data were then exported to the attached laptop. after the microplates were removed from the carrier, the instrument was switched off. dna amplification by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) the extracted gdna of s. aureus was amplified using eppendorf® mastercycler® pcr cycler. the instrument can accommodate several standard vessels in 96 well plates.   pcr is a powerful technique for dna amplification that involves thermal cycling or heating and cooling. there were three stages involved in the amplification of gdna of s. aureus. first, the denaturing process, where the double-stranded dna was heated to separate into two single-stranded dna. next, is annealing where the temperature is cooled to enable the dna primers to attach to the template dna. lastly, extending where the temperature is raised and the taq polymerase enzymes make the new dna strand. in the experiment, the traditional protocol by genscript ® (2019) was followed. first, all the reagents (nuclease-free water, taq dna polymerase, template dna, reverse primer, forward primer, dntps, and standard taq reaction buffer) was thawed on ice. assembled reaction mix into 50 μl volume in thin-walled 0.2 ml pcr tubes. the reagents were added: nuclease-free water, standard taq reaction buffer, dntps, mgcl 2, template primers, and taq dna polymerase. then, the mixture was gently mixed by tapping the tube and centrifuged to settle the tube contents. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. steps for pcr reaction. image from genscript ® (2019). agarose gel electrophoresis the gdna extracted from s. aureus was subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis to separate dna fragments based on size. the method has proven to be an effective and efficient way of separating gdna. agarose gel electrophoresis followed the protocol preparation of the agarose gel. about 1g of agarose powder was weighed in the analytical balance. the agarose powder was mix with 100 ml 1xtae in a microwavable erlenmeyer flask. the mixture was put in the microwave for about 3 min until the powder was dissolved. it cooled down the agarose solution for about 50 oc for 5 mins. approximately 0.2-0.5 μg/ml of ethidium bromide (etbr) was added to the final concentration to visualize dna when viewed under uv light—poured out the agarose solution into a gel tray with the well comb in place. allow it to cool to ambient temperature until it has solidified completely. loading samples and running and agarose gel. loading buffer was added to each of the dna samples. once solidified, the agarose gel was placed into the gel box (electrophoresis unit). the gel box was then filled with 1xtae until the gel was covered. a molecular weight ladder was carefully loaded into the first lane of the gel. the gel was run for about 80 – 150 v until the dye line was approximately 75-80% of the way down the gel. the typical runtime is about 1 – 1.5 hr, depending on the gel concentration and voltage. lastly, the power was turned off, and the gel was carefully removed from the gel box. the dna fragments were visualized in uv light and analyzed the bands or the fragments of dna. 117 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the quality of gdna extracted from s. aureus was assessed using the polymerase chain reaction and agarose gel electrophoresis. spectrophotometric analysis was done to quantify the gdna of the said bacterium. dna extraction has come a long way since its inception in 1869; techniques range from straightforward manual processes to more advanced automated dna extraction strategies. it would be excellent to identify the solutions that perform best in terms of cost-effectiveness and time efficiency based on the extensive range of possibilities (chacon-cortes & griffiths, 2014). extraction methods are critical in molecular biology because molecular investigations play a significant role in downstream applications, such as pcr and gel electrophoresis (boesenberg-smith et al., 2012). dna quality indicators, such as dna purity and integrity, must be verified before employing dna samples in analytical techniques to ensure their quality and applicability (lucena-aguilar et al., 2016). amplification of nucleic acids is a powerful molecular biology tool, but its use outside the laboratory is limited. researchers have successfully created an equipment-free nucleic acid extraction dipstick methodology to obtain amplification-ready dna and rna from biological samples. zou et al. (2017) developed an extraction method that confirmed that untreated cellulose-based paper might fast absorb nucleic acids and retain them after a single washing phase, while contaminants present in complex biological samples are quickly eliminated. on the other hand, sasagawa (2018), based on the alkaline lysis approach, a novel composition of solution iii was devised, allowing for the purification of plasmid dna without rnase. this method does not require any unique columns or resins, and it is sufficient for the transfection of a cultured cell. it also has a significant benefit in terms of pure plasmid dna quality. in the experiment conducted, spectrophotometric analysis was done using the thermo scientific™ multiskan™ go (4) spectrophotometer (thermo fisher scientific corporation, 2010) to determine the quantity, concentration, and purity of the extracted gdna of s. aureus. the most common and simple technique to quantify dna yield and purity is the measurement of absorbance, which requires only the commonly available equipment in the laboratory. table 1 shows the absorbance values of the extracted gdna at 230 nm, 260 nm, 280 nm, and 320 nm uv wavelengths. uv absorbance is a common way to quantify the dna since molecules absorb different wavelengths of light to varying degrees, and many molecules have a specific  maximum absorption 118 jpair multidisciplinary research wavelength (tsang, 2020). the blank (known as the buffer) was measured first, which served as the background absorbance, followed by the replicates containing the s. aureus. the blank absorbance measures gave an idea of the contamination of the dna preparation. uv spectrophotometry is a typical yet straightforward approach to estimate the concentration of dna in a sample. according to shen (2019), the technique does not require large purified samples; it has the advantage of not requiring any additional reagents or incubation time, and a uv spectrophotometer is widely available. however, it has several drawbacks. it often involves minimum sample volumes of 50–75l to produce an accurate instrument output; it cannot distinguish between signals from dna and rna or between double-stranded and single-stranded dna, and the uv technique is susceptible to biological contamination. negative values at 320 nm absorbance mean that no particulates are contaminating the solution. according to olson and morrow (2012), dna extract purity is of interest in how contaminants will affect downstream assay performance; uv spectroscopic dna purity measurements only provide indicators for different types of contaminants and provide no information about the effect of contaminants on downstream applications. however, kazeminasab et al. (2019) established that sodium dodecyl sulfate (sds) treatment and incubation at a high temperature significantly impact the extracted dna from exhaled breath condensate (ebc) samples, but no effect on the quality of the dna obtained from ebc samples. to garibyan & avashia (2013), the future of pcr is promising, combining various assays and approaches to produce greater insight into different gene combinations. as with all methods, the validity of the results should be compared with the specificity associated with the technique. table 1. the absorbance of gdna from s. aureus at different wavelengths gdna replicates uv absorption 230 nm 260 nm 280 nm 320 nm tube 1 tube 2 tube 1 tube 2 tube 1 tube 2 tube 1 tube 2 blank blank 0.003650 -0.003650 0.001200 -0.001200 0.0007000 -0.0007000 0.0004000 -0.0004000 s. aureus r1 0.06575 0.05425 0.1071 0.06900 0.05310 0.03230 -0.003700 -0.003800 s. aureus r2 0.05895 0.03315 0.05340 0.05840 0.02560 0.02680 -0.001900 -0.003600 s. aureus r3 0.002250 0.04365 0.04220 0.07840 0.01840 0.03700 -0.005400 -0.006300 table 2 shows the concentration of gdna extracted from s. aureus. the concentration of each replicate of s. aureus was computed using the formula: concentration (μg/ml) = (a260 measurement – a320 measurement) x nucleic 119 international peer reviewed journal acid conversion factor x dilution factor. the conversion factor for dsdna is equal to 50 μg/ml (barbas et al., 2007; promega®, 2021). the formula (a260 a320) * (50/0.049) was used to obtain the concentration. the coefficient of variation (%) or cv% for the three replicates is low, except for r3, which may be attributed to pipetting and contamination errors. furthermore, the results show that high-molecular-weight dna was obtained in large quantities and sound quality, r1=93.67 μg/ml, r2=59.85 μg/ml, and r3=67.50 μg/ml. there are many ways to extract dna from a sample using various methods, including phenol-chloroform, detergent, and commercial kits. despite the need for pretreatments to extract dna from microorganisms other than gram-negative bacteria, guanidine thiocyanate breaking has been the conventional initial step in genomic dna (gdna) extraction of microbial dna for decades. vingataramin and frost (2018) developed a low-cost gdna extraction procedure, effective for bacteria and yeast over a wide concentration range, known as etna, made by lysing ethanol in a hot alkaline solution to break down single-stranded dna from bacteria and yeast. the etna reagent can process a wide range of biological samples for pcr assays in clinical diagnostic and biomedical research. in the study conducted by hassanzadeh et al. (2016b), the highest concentration of extracted dna was associated with the tent method (919 mg/μl), which may be attributed to triton ×100 along boiling that complete cause lysis of cell wall, which showed satisfactory result for pcr assay. according to nzilibili et al. (2018), sodium monofluorophosphate (smfp), a component of toothpaste, can affect the purity and concentration of dna for forensic analysis by damaging the dna molecule. using a spectrophotometer and electrophoresis results, one of the samples examined had an extreme dna content of 371 g/ml and a minimum purity value of a260/a280 ratio of 1.25. limited dna targeted locus for electrophoresis and dna ionic irresponsive interactions arose as two distinct occurrences. table 2. analysis of the concentration of gdna extracted from s. aureus gdna replicate concentration (μg/ml) mean sd cv% t1 t2 blank blank 0.8163 -0.8163 -3.497e-15 1.154 -3.301e+16 s. aureus r1 113.1 74.29 93.67 27.42 29.27 s. aureus r2 56.43 63.27 59.85 4.834 8.078 s. aureus r3 48.57 86.43 67.50 26.77 39.66 120 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2 shows the purity of the extracted gdna from s. aureus. the purity of the extracted gdna was computed using the formula: (a260 – a320)/ (a280 – a320). the purity of the dna samples was determined using the 260/280 absorbance ratio with a value of ∼1.8 – 2.0; however, if the ratio value is lower (≤1.6), it may specify the presence of contaminants such as proteins phenol, and other contaminants in the sample. moreover, the 260/230 ratio is an accepted alternative measure for dna purity with an expected value within the range between 2.0 and 2.2; values lower or higher than this may specify the presence of contaminants such as proteins, carbohydrates, and or salts (denovix, 2021). the purity of the extracted dna can be calculated after correcting for the turbidity absorbance at 320nm. figure 2. the purity of extracted gdna at a 260/280 table 3 shows the absorbance for determining contaminants present in extracted gdna from s. aureus. the absorbance ratio at 260 nm and 280 nm (a260/280) is used to assess the presence of rna and protein in gdna, while a260/230 absorbance ratio was used to detect the presence of chaotropic salts (held, 2001). the experimental result showed that the extracted gdna was contaminated with protein molecules, as demonstrated by the three replicates’ absorbance ratio at 260 nm and 280 nm. the values are lower than 1.8. this means that the protein present in the mixture is higher than the amount of dna molecule. no rna contamination is observed because the a 260/280 values are lower than 2.0. contamination of samples by residual phenol, guanidine, and other chemicals 121 international peer reviewed journal employed in the isolation technique; samples are very dilute, and concentrations are near the lower detection limit; and an inappropriate solution was used for the blank measurement are the three most common causes of abnormal 260/280 ratios (denovix, 2021). according to held (2001), several factors may affect a260/a280 ratio, but the most important is the amount of light absorbed by a given sample. different instruments may produce slightly different ratios due to variability of wavelength accuracy between instruments. the amino acid sequence of proteins has a tremendous influence on the ability of a protein to absorb light at 280 nm. table 3. the absorbance of extracted gdna extracted from s. aureus for detection of contaminants gdna replicate chaotropic salt contamination rna/protein contamination a 260 a230 a260 a280 blank blank 0.2462 0.2462 2.667 2.667 s. aureus r1 1.595 1.254 1.951 2.017 s. aureus r2 0.9088 1.687 2.011 2.039 s. aureus r3 6.222 1.696 2.000 1.956 moreover, the extracted gdna from s. aureus was amplified in agarose gel electrophoresis. the agarose gel electrophoresis allows dna fragments of varying sizes to separate (lee et al., 2012). figure 3 shows the extracted gdna of s. aureus, lanes 2,3,4,5,6, and 7 run-ups to the first linear double-stranded dna fragment (10,000 bp) of the 1 kb dna ladder (lane 8) with no dna fragmentation but do not appear as bright bands. the first well (at lane 1) does not show any band, although it was loaded with lambda dna. lambda dna did not appear as a band in the gel because it was still circular, for it was not treated with a restriction enzyme. the bands of the pcr products in agarose gel electrophoresis appear longer than the gdna bands. it shows that lane 2 and 3 run-up to the 9th band (1,500 bp) of the 1 kb dna ladder. lanes 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 run-up to the 8th band (2,000 bp) of the same dna ladder. all the bands appear slightly bright except for the band in lane 4, which appears degraded. this implies that the gdna extracted from the bacterium is suitable for pcr. pcr amplification also indicates that the dna was of good quality (wang et al., 2011). 122 jpair multidisciplinary research 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 figure 3. agarose gel electrophoresis of extracted gdna of s. aureus conclusion dna extraction is one of the most crucial undertakings that can influence all immediate and downstream experiments. dna purification can extract sufficient amounts of genomic or plasmid dna from a limited source to meet the researcher’s needs, as well as lower the number of contaminants that could jeopardize the study’s results and sample shelf life. the value of highquality, pure dna cannot be overstated in today’s era of multiplex and realtime pcr dna analysis. finding a suitable dna isolation system to meet the downstream application objectives is critical to completing research successfully. the experiment’s weakness was the use of only one sample type, the s. aureus; more sample types included in the study might have appropriately challenged the result of the experiment. the methods for extraction involved here can be used as a starting point for developing a standard procedure for evaluating gdna extract quality and quantity for use or downstream microbial research and application. though the extracted gdna obtained from the sample was large and sound quality, it may have been contaminated with proteins and chaotropic salts based on its absorbance. acknowledgment the corresponding authors would like to thank dr. stephen g. sabinay for the exposure and opportunity to use the laboratory equipment and reagents for free and the unselfish knowledge imparted to his ph.d. students. 123 international peer reviewed journal literature cited addgene®. 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(2017). nucleic acid purification from plants, animals and microbes in under 30 seconds. plos biology, 15(11), e2003916. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003916 42 jpair multidisciplinary research knowledge building on climate change among women in flood-prone communities in cotabato city estelita s. gayak http://orcid.org0000-0001-7037-9755 esgayak@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 1% abstract according to the united nations (un), disaster situations such as flooding in south and east asia are increasingly linked to climate change, and the greater vulnerability of women is most striking. women typically outnumber men by 14 to 1 among those dying from natural disaster. due to the scarcity of studies which document knowledge building on climate change among women particularly in flood-prone communities in cotabato city prompted the researcher to conduct this study. using an exploratory research design, 289 respondents were interviewed using questionnaires. mean, frequency, and percentage were also utilized. findings revealed that six out of seven women had heard about climate change and all have experienced its serious effects. women had moderate knowledge on climate change. there was a significant difference in women’s knowledge when grouped according to age, educational attainment, and length of stay in the community. women have some correct understanding of the issue yet they have misconceptions about the scientific causes and effects of climate change. hence, the deped and ched must ensure the integration of vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.604 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org 43 international peer reviewed journal climate change and its full implementation in the basic education and the new tertiary general education curricula. this mechanism will ensure the building of knowledge and capacity of the youth on climate change. keywords — climate change, flood-prone community, knowledge building, exploratory research design, cotabato, philippines introduction climate change demands global attention for it brings various exigencies (rodrigues, da silva, de oliveira, gabriel filho, & putti, 2018) most especially in developing countries (pagasa, 2011). the poorest will experience the worst consequences of climate change while at the same time having a reduced coping capacity (preet, nilsson, schumann, & evengård, 2010). global warming induced by human activities such as charcoal harvesting in south somalia (ogallo, mwangi, omondi, ouma, & wayumba, 2018) are directly accelerating atmospheric concentrations of co2, methane and nitrous oxide, and some chemically manufactured greenhouse gases (lifshits, spektor, kershengolts, & spektor, 2018) has been causing increasing environmental, economic, and sociopolitical crises (bose & navera, 2017). variability of precipitation, frequency, and intensity of typhoons, sea level rise, and the risk of more droughts, floods, and heat waves (bhuyan, islam, & bhuiyan 2018) invokes land cover dynamics within the river basins which include mangrove, forest, beach, tidal areas, lagoon, river, settlements, barren salt areas (paz-alberto, de dios, alberto, & de guzman, 2018) and on ecosystems, food and water security, health, infrastructure, and human security is already occurring around the world (australian academy of science, 2015). the philippines is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts (paz-alberto, de dios, alberto, & de guzman 2018), with an average of 20 typhoons hitting the country every year (maceda, 2015). climate change amplifies the different socio-economic burdens already shouldered by filipino families are increasingly putting the urban and rural poor at risk (santos, 2012). the country’s vulnerability to severe weather worsens the existing disparity in living standards between the rich and the poor and gender-related inequalities (pagasa, 2011). women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable (undp, 2011) and even worse than those living in the low lying communities. in bangladesh, girls are considered as the burden of the society and being dominated by a patriarchal kinship system which mainly reflects their subordination and unequal status in the society 44 jpair multidisciplinary research (akter, 2018). women suffer a disproportionate amount of impacts due to the systemic inequality between men and women in society (dube, intauno, moyo, & phiri 2017). climate-related shortages force women to perform additional unpaid works (owusu-agyeman, fourie-malherbe, & frick, 2018 & gonda, 2016). harvested works of literature reveal that women are less able to cope and adapt to the effects of climate change. to date, gender equality is given minimal attention, and the degree of difference in the impact of climate on women and men has been overlooked. the literature on the mechanisms for building knowledge of women most especially in vulnerable communities is minimal. to address this gap, this research on knowledge building on the causes and effects of climate change is imperative to provide timely and more proactive responses for women living in most vulnerable communities such as cotabato city. investigating the knowledge building activities of women on climate change could lead and guide the local leaders in addressing the gaps and issues that hinder compliance to international and national mandates specifically ra 9729 or the climate change act of 2009 and the effective implementation of local climate change adaptation plan for the different barangays in cotabato city, philippines. framework some theories have been utilized to study the status of women and their plight with the effects of global warming. kaijser and kronsell (2013) employed an intersectional analysis of climate change which illuminates how different individuals and groups relate differently to climate change. intersection sketches out a pathway that stays clear of traps of essentialism, enabling solidarity and agency across and beyond social categories. it illustrates how power structures and categorizations may be reinforced, but also challenged and renegotiated, in the realities of climate change. the study of dube et al. (2017) investigated how livelihood-related household labor requirements are shifting as a result of climate change which used an adapted version of the harvard analytical framework. on the other hand, gonda (2016) utilized discursive and cultural constructions of hegemonic masculinities and femininities in reasoning that women are likely not only to suffer more from the consequences of climate change, but they will also be more eager to implement actions that alleviate their increasingly heavy duties. https://www.tandfonline.com/author/kaijser%2c+anna https://www.tandfonline.com/author/kronsell%2c+annica 45 international peer reviewed journal this study which focused on knowledge building on climate change was anchored on adult learning theory or andragogy of malcolm knowles. knowles made five assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners (andragogy) that are different from the assumptions about child learners (pedagogy). as people mature, their self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being; they accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning, and their readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his/her social roles. their orientation to learning changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and their orientation toward learning shifts from one of the subjectcenteredness to one of the problem centeredness and the motivation to learn is intrinsic (knowles, holton, & swanson, 2012). moore (2010) elaborated that adult learning is a unique process that requires supporting processes to make it successful. two of the processes that co-exist with adult learning are critical thinking and decision-making. the ultimate goal of adult learning is to make the educational experience as valuable to the learner as possible and to create a desire to expand the learning. on the other hand “mentoring” uses transformational theory through the critical reflection in a nonjudgmental manner and addresses the principle of andragogy that experience is the most abundant source of adult learning (klinge, 2015). anchored on the theory of andragogy, this study explored that the experiences of women living in flood-prone barangays for the past years exposed them to acquire knowledge and understanding about the causes and effects of climate change. to fully understand the mechanisms employed in building knowledge of women, personal and social factors were explored. the relationships of the independent variables such as women’s age; some children; educational attainment; employment status; source of income; and monthly income and the dependent variables regarding women’s knowledge were examined to identify contributing factors. objectives of the study the study determined the knowledge building on climate change among women in flood-prone communities in cotabato city. specifically, it aimed to describe the (1) profile characteristics of women in terms of a) age; b) number of children; c) educational attainment; d) employment status; e) source of income; 46 jpair multidisciplinary research f ) monthly income; g) length of stay in the barangay; (2) women experience about the effects of climate change for the past three years and how serious are the effects; (3) women’s knowledge about the causes and effects of climate change; (4) mechanisms employed in building women’s knowledge; and (5) significant difference on women’s knowledge on climate change when grouped according to their profile characteristics. methodology research design this research which employed an exploratory design aimed to capture the experiences of women in building their knowledge of climate change. the techniques used were a survey and key informant interview. research site the study was conducted in the three flood-prone barangays in cotabato city under the province of maguindanao in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm). the sample barangays namely: poblacion1, poblacion 2, and rosary heights 3 were located along rio grande de mindanao, matampay, kakar, and pulangi rivers. participants the main participants of the study were married women and residents in the barangay for at least three (3) years. the barangay chairman or punong barangay and the barangay health worker serving the community were the secondary respondents. purposive sampling was applied in identifying the sample barangays. stratified systematic sampling was employed in selecting the households where a total of 283 households were proportionately distributed; poblacion 1 was represented by 66 households, poblacion 2 with 88 households while 129 households from rosary heights 3. for each sample barangay, two key informants were selected purposively. hence, a total of 289 respondents were involved in the study. the researcher hired and trained enumerators who assisted her in surveying the three barangays. the enumerators were already familiar with the communities because of their previous engagement with the project of the university research and publication center. they were oriented to the content of the questionnaire and the attached cover letter which introduced the main goal of the study, and 47 international peer reviewed journal the participation of the respondent was voluntary. they secured the consent of the participant before proceeding to the interview. during the actual survey, the enumerators were grouped into two (2). with the barangay hall as the point of origin, one group took the houses in the right direction while the other group surveyed those houses on the left side. both groups moved towards the direction of the houses along the river bank following the 5-house interval. instrumentation the first instrument was the interview questionnaire which was based on un and pagasa (2011) pieces of literature regarding the causes, effects, and mechanism in building knowledge on climate change. section i asked for the profile; section ii on the experiences and seriousness of climate change; section iii on knowledge on causes and effects; and section iv on mechanisms in building knowledge. the survey questionnaire subjected to content validity of the two (2) experts in climate change yielded the rating of 4.625 in the scale of 5. the second instrument was the interview guide questions which focused on the key informants’ knowledge of women’s experiences, knowledge of climate change, and the mechanisms employed by the barangay in building their knowledge. procedure after the approval and endorsement of the research proposal for implementation, the researcher communicated to the office of the local government to carry out the objectives of the study. first, the approval and endorsement of the city mayor were sought, and the approved letter together with the survey questionnaire was brought to the barangay chairmen of poblacion 1, poblacion 2, and rosary heights 3 as the locale of the study. second, the barangay chairman approved and endorsed the request for data gathering in the barangay, and finally, the researcher together with the trained enumerators conducted the house-tohouse visit to gather the data using the survey questionnaire which commenced on october 28, 2016, until november 5, 2016. the statistical package for social sciences (spss) 20 was employed in processing the data. the quantitative data in the profile and knowledge of climate change was summarized using mean, frequency, and percentage. anova was used in finding the data for a differential problem. for the qualitative data such as the participants’ mechanisms employed, themes were constructed as a guide. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the mean age of the women is 36 years old, indicating that they are in their early adulthood. on average, they have four children and have been staying in their barangay for about 19 years. this implies that majority of the women are familiar with the community, people, and events such as the effects of climate change. while all women have been into formal education, most are high school graduates and have not finished a degree. more than half of the women are unemployed while others are self-employed and few are employed in service, government, and private organizations. however, the working women are just earning meager monthly income which is below the minimum wage. unemployment engages women in multiple tasks and responsibilities. as full-time housekeepers, women perform both maternal and domestic roles and are dependent on men for the livelihood of the family (undp, 2011). these are due to factors such as women’s economic disadvantage, social and cultural norms and the discrimination they face in the access to and control over productive resources and their limited decision power (jost et al., 2015 &un). the unequal relationship between men and women gave rise to higher rates of poverty and more severe experience of poverty by women than men (kaijser & kronsell, 2013 and dube, intauno, moyo, & phiri, 2017). out of 283 participants, only 249 (88 percent) have heard about climate change. about 9 out of 10 women are aware of the climate change phenomenon, but all of them have experienced the effects of climate change over the past three years. increased water level, flooding, heavy rainfall, and high temperature are the worst effects. heavy rains often result in high water level in the low lying communities. this is expected for the majority of the barangays in cotabato city are flood-prone since it lies within the mindanao river basin and 70%of the city’s total land area lies below sea level. drought, flash flood, typhoon, and storm surge have no severe effect on women. despite viewing other events as not having serious effects, generally, climate change is quite a severe situation for the women living in the flood-prone barangays. according to un, disaster situations such as flooding in south and east asia are increasingly linked to climate change, and the greater vulnerability of women is most striking. women typically outnumber men by 14 to 1 among those dying from natural disaster. for example, women and girls were recorded as comprising up to 80 percent of those who lost their lives in the 2007 asian tsunami (un). women in the south were more affected by climate change https://www.tandfonline.com/author/kaijser%2c+anna https://www.tandfonline.com/author/kronsell%2c+annica 49 international peer reviewed journal (arora-jonsson, 2011) and gendered social norms and roles inhibit women’s adaptive capacity (jost et al., 2015). most women have correctly identified the causes of climate change such as smoke from a vehicle (96%); burning of plastic and other garbage (95%); and pollution from factories (90%). also, the women are right in saying that volcanic eruptions warm the environment (77%) and it is a consequence of modern life (76%). however, they have incorrectly identified that climate change is caused by nature (84%); overuse of aerosol or hairspray decreases greenhouse gases (83%); accumulation of gases in the atmosphere cool the earth (81%); cutting and burning of trees (77%); and god’s punishment to human abuses on the environment (76%). while most women have beliefs that are contrary to the scientific causes of climate change, they view the environment as a sacred and god-given gift. they (people) are god’s stewards of the natural resources. women have a healthy body of knowledge that can be used in climate mitigation, disaster reduction, and adaptation strategies (gonda, 2016). their knowledge is honed by their interaction with nature and emerges from participation in nature rather than separation from it (undp, 2011). the misconception on climate change is critical if not corrected. if women continue to believe in what they know, their knowledge will be handed down to their children. this is a serious matter that is needing attention from local leaders. proper education for mothers and women must be pursued at the barangay level. since mothers are the first teachers of their children, they need support so they can educate their children and others correctly. this concern could be addressed by way of foreground gender mainstreaming (dube, intauno, moyo, & phiri, 2017). the government should incorporate gender perspectives in the national policies, actions plans, and other measures in climate change (undp, 2011). in this light, consultation and participation of women in climate change initiatives must be ensured. those responsible for teaching adults must take on the responsibility of creating a learning environment that facilitates critical thinking and ensures learners see the vital connection between adult learning, critical thinking, and decision-making (moore, 2010). on the effects of climate change, the result reveals that women know that all populations will be affected (96%); occurrence of drought (94%); contamination of freshwater supply (93%); destroys homes (86%); brings malaria (83%); contributes to deaths from cardiovascular disease (80%); affects the supply of fresh water (78%); and extreme heat can trigger asthma (72%). 50 jpair multidisciplinary research women have already known from experience that everyone is affected by climate change. since they live in flood-prone barangay, they know the risks of climate change to their life and property. women’s responsibilities in households and communities, as stewards of household resources, security and safety of their children and family position them well to adapt to changing the climate. notably, women misconceive that climate change lessens the risk of waterborne diseases (82%). they need to understand more on the effects of high temperature, flooding, and the like on health. they need to know that dengue, malaria, and skin diseases are not only caused by flooding but even caused by warm temperatures (pagasa, 2011). moreover, women misconstrue that rising temperatures and variable precipitation are likely to increase the production of staple foods (74%). this misconception implies that they lack full knowledge of the effects of climate change on food production and supply. as city dwellers, they are not exposed to farming and agriculture and so, they are not aware that the changing climate endangers food supply. this misconception of most women needs to be corrected for them to understand the dangerous effects of climate change fully so that they can respond and act responsibly considering that the impoverished and flood-prone communities are at higher risks (pagasa, 2011).in the us, contrary to expectations from scientific literacy research, women convey greater assessed scientific knowledge of and concern about climate change than men do (mccright, 2010). most women identify training and seminar/workshops as mechanisms in establishing their knowledge. their membership in pantawid pamilyang pilipino program (4ps) or cash transfer has exposed them to the discussion on climate change. during their family development sessions (fds), they learned about dengue and malaria prevention, clean environment, and gardening. women have learned climate change from tv and radio programs. these media are the most common source of information available to them, and they find them useful in disseminating information. however, there are possible problems with these mechanisms considering the one-way flow of information to the audience. incomplete and unclear information about climate change may happen with the limitation of these media. on the other hand, the least they heard it from the newspaper and internet. these imply that women have limited or lack of access to these media. the use of technology is never genderneutral. like the philippines, the access of girls and women to information and communication technology is restricted by social and cultural bias, inadequate 51 international peer reviewed journal technological infrastructure in rural areas, the fear of or lack of interest in technology, women’s lack of disposable income to purchase technology services and low level of education limits women’s ability to understand and adapt to the impacts of climate change (un). furthermore, the women learned climate change from their local leaders. the barangay leaders conducted house-to-house visits to inform the residents about their campaign for garbage-free barangay. this shows that local leaders mentor their constituents. mentoring is traditionally a process in which an experienced guides another person in the development of her or his ideas, learning, and personal/professional competence (klinge, 2015). the workers of the department of social welfare and development (dswd) and barangay officials are the most effective groups in building knowledge of women, indicating that women trusted these groups. women’s participation in community clean-up drive is an indication that they have succeeded in teaching them and enhanced consciousness of their obligation as residents in the community. to strengthen this mechanism, climate change policy must be interdisciplinary which ensures building bridges between extreme events and societal impacts (bogardi & fekete, 2018). significant differences on women’s knowledge on climate change are found when they are grouped based on their age (the f-value is 1.755 with a p-value of .045) and the highest educational attainment where the f-value is 2.023 and a p-value of .016. on the other hand, there are no significant differences in women’s knowledge of climate change when grouped according to the number of children (f-value= 249 with a p-value of .240), length of stay in the barangay (f-value= 1.018 with a p-value of .436), employment status (f-value=1.447 with a p-value of .131), source of livelihood, (f-value= 1.048 with a p-value of .346), and monthly income (f-value= 1.095 with a p-value of .362). since the p-values are less than .05 between the women’s knowledge on climate change and their age and highest educational attainment, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in the knowledge on climate change is rejected. therefore, older and more educated women have better knowledge than their counterparts. the other variables such as some children, length of stay in the barangay, employment status, source of livelihood and monthly income do not matter in knowledge building. it can be gleaned from this study that knowledge building among women on climate change supports the principles of adult learning theory or andragogy of malcolm knowles. adults are motivated to learn based on experience and 52 jpair multidisciplinary research personal interests. they need to know why they should learn to know something before undertaking to learn it. while adults are responsive to external motivators, the strongest motivation is internal pressures to learn (knowles, holton, & swanson, 2012 & moore, 2010) and learn better in situations where they are comfortable both physically and psychologically (klinge, 2015). in this study, the women who have learned several lessons from repeated experiences of rising water level, high temperature, and flooding in the barangay have gained some knowledge on the causes and effects of climate change and acquired skills as forms of response mechanisms. these are indications that the experiences of women have motivated them to know more to become resilient to the effects of climate change. although education constrains them, they have grasped information from seminar/training, tv and radio programs and house visits the dangers posed by climate change. the women in this study hold critical knowledge on climate change adaptation and their local beliefs and traditions produce a wealth of traditional knowledge that is priceless. the understanding of women on the seriousness of climate change has motivated them to participate and cooperate in the barangay clean-up drive indicating that they recognize the importance of the activity for the broader community rather than self-interest. the internal pressure for collective action as evidenced by their compliance to barangay ordinances on proper waste disposal and protection of the rivers, streams and the like goes with personal will and conviction for social accountability and responsibility. similar findings are found in the study of whyte (2014) among indigenous women that the responsibilities they assume in their communities expose them to harm stemming from climate change impacts and other environmental changes. at the same time, their commitment to these responsibilities motivates them to take on leadership positions in efforts at climate change adaptation and mitigation. conclusions knowledge building on climate change among women employs mechanisms that are responsive to their needs as women and mothers. local culture involving group dynamics and interaction, inputs, mentoring, and sharing of stories and best practices have been useful in acquiring information on climate change. knowledge gained from these mechanisms and the direct exposure and repeated experiences of flooding and high-water level have provided the women a critical space in addressing the worsening effects of global warming. 53 international peer reviewed journal women have acquired some correct understanding of climate change, but misconceptions on the topic prevail. they have incorrect beliefs on the scientific causes and effects of climate change and the processes involved in the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. this is critical since all information including wrong ones when transmitted to the young are construed as correct and proper which could aggravate further the vulnerabilities and risks of climate change when left unrectified. despite prevailing limitations, knowledge of climate change has led women to become resilient with the effects of global warming. the government agencies and barangay leaders who played key roles in building their knowledge have guided them to become resilient and conscious of their obligation in the protection of the environment. better knowledge of climate change is found among older and more educated women. better education, more maturity, and analytical processes are needed in understanding the scientific causes and effects of changing the climate. the younger generation of uneducated women needs literacy in these aspects not only to cope successfully with the dangers of climate change but for them to protect their generation and future generations to come. translational research the findings of this study could be translated through a journal article for international publication, newsletter, television and radio, social media, and other forms of information dissemination for the international and national institutions on climate change. the result of the study may provide feedback to global advocates on the status and challenges in the attainment of goals relative to strategic priorities to address the impacts of global warming, vis-à-vis knowledge and capacity development of women. it is hoped that the findings will be translated into a collective action among government leaders and stakeholders around the world which addresses gender inequality and, thus elevates the position of women in the society in order to equip them with knowledge and capacity to fight the global impact of climate change for themselves, children, family, and to their own community. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited australian academy of science, (2015). the science of climate change. retrieved from www.science.org.au/climatechange akter, m. 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(2014). climate change through the lens of intersectionality. environmental politics, 23(3), 417-433. https://doi.org/10.1080/0 9644016.2013.835203 klinge, c. m. (2015). a conceptual framework for mentoring in a learning organization.  adult learning,  26(4), 160-166. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1177/1045159515594154 knowles, m. s., holton iii, e. f., & swanson, r. a. (2012). the adult learner. routledge. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_ sdt=0%2c5&q=knowles%2c+m.+holton%2c+e+%26+swanson%2c+ r.+%282012%29.+the+adult+learner%3a+the+definitive+classic+in+ adult+education+and+human+resource+development+%287th+edition %29.+new+york%2c+usa%3a+routledge.++https%3a%2f%2fwww. amazon.com%2fmalcolm-s-knowles%2fe%2fb001ighjae%2fref%3 ddp_byline_cont_ebooks_1&btng=#d=gs_cit&p=&u=%2fscholar%3fq %3dinfo%3aszfyea55grsj%3ascholar.google.com%2f%26output%3 dcite%26scirp%3d0%26hl%3den lifshits, s. k., spektor, v. b., kershengolts, b. m., &spektor, v. v. 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(2018). exploring the educational needs of adult learners: a study of three universities in ghana.  journal of adult and continuing education, 1477971418782997. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1477971418782997 paz-alberto, a. m., de dios, m. j. j., alberto, r. p., & de guzman, c. h. e. a. (2018). climate change impacts and vulnerability assessment of selected municipalities and agroecosystems to support development of resilient communities and livelihoods in nueva ecija, philippines.  american journal of climate change,  7(02), 295. retrieved from doi:  10.4236/ ajcc.2018.72019 preet, r., nilsson, m., schumann, b., & evengård, b. (2010). the gender perspective on climate change and global health. global health action, 3(1), 5720. retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3402/gha. v3i0.5720@zgha20.2010.3.issue-s3 rodrigues, g. s., da silva, a. c., de oliveira, a. s., gabriel filho, l. r. a., & putti, f. f. (2018). climate characterization of the machado-mg region through geotechnology techniques and tools. american journal of climate change, 7(01), 79. retrieved from doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2018.71007 santos, k. (2012). philippines: women weather climate change. inter press service news agency. retrieved from http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/03/philippineswomen-weather-climate-change/ undp asia-pacific human development report, (2011).united nations development program retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/ en/home/librarypage/hdr/human_developmentreport2011.html https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2018.73022 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1477971418782997 https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2018.72019 https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2018.72019 https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2018.71007 http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/human_developmentreport2011.html http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/human_developmentreport2011.html 57 international peer reviewed journal un women watch (2009). women, gender equality and climate change. retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/climate_change/ whyte, k. p. (2014). indigenous women, climate change impacts, and collective action.  hypatia,  29(3), 599-616. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/ hypa.12089   https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12089 https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12089 39 international peer reviewed journal is my boss effective? a retrospection of the middle managers’ communication style and effectiveness joey m. villanueva orcid no. 0000-0002-8467-0540 joeyvillanueva2014@gmail.com nueva vizcaya state university nueva vizcaya, philippines abstract clear and specific communication lines need to be established within the educational system to achieve successfully the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the institution. the study aimed to determine middle managers’ management communication styles and its effectiveness, and the barrier commonly encountered. the study was conducted in a state university of the philippines utilizing the descriptive research design to describe the middle mangers management communication style, effectiveness and barriers encountered. there were two groups of respondents in the study; group of middle managers and the group of subordinates. the subordinates are the faculty or staff who were directly under the supervision of the middle managers. they validated the management communication styles, effectiveness and barriers encountered by the middle managers. the questionnaires were intended to define the demographic profile of the middle manager, identify the management communication styles, and assess the effectiveness and barriers to effective communication. most of the middle managers’ management communication style was open, then blind, hidden and few of them were using closed style. these managers were found effective in seeking and giving feedback, listening, understanding others, influencing and relating and oral and written skills. the management communication performance of the middle managers is not greatly affected by the different vol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.264 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research management communication barriers. keywords – organization management, communication management, management style, management effectiveness, communication barriers, middle managers introduction communication is a complex endeavor. so many factors go into getting two people to really understand one another. great companies rely on effective communication for greater efficiency and teamwork (feigenbaum, 2012). communication is heavily constrained by formal organizational structure: the vast majority of communication occurs within organization unit and functional boundaries (kleinbaum et. al., 2008). effective communication is crucial to the success of any educational institution. clear and specific communication need to be established within the educational system to achieve successfully the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the institution. the desired goals of the educational institution necessitate a multiplicity of roles performed by school administrators and influence is exerted through their management communication styles and effectiveness. the primary communication task of educational administrators is the structuring of an official network that provides all persons in the institution the information they need when they want it. the stakeholders of the institution should be reasonably well-informed and know where and how they could obtain the necessary information. through clear policies in the communication system, information, values and insights transmitted in adequate amounts to the right person who needs it and minimizes problems. therefore, figuring out how to get it together so teams can function optimally is a priority for any business or organization. moreover, school administrators have the task of creating an intellectual environment that provides the means of communication where each feels free to reveal his needs and values, to discover the purpose and perceptions of others without any risk of miscommunication or communication gap among members of the institution. at the nueva vizcaya state university (nvsu), communication through a variety of channels is urged among the constituents. in line with the university structure, official communications of administrative personnel are coursed 41 international peer reviewed journal through the section chief, then to the director of the program and to the vice president concerned and finally to the president. courtesy and diplomacy are observed in all official communications. all official letters and documents relative to the concerns of the university are addressed to the president or to the offices concerned. except for emergency cases, official communications are sent through channels through the office higher in rank than the originating or transmitting office. this policy on communication flow within the university is expected to be understood by the middle managers. they are expected to be equipped with the proper skills and competencies of communication and be able to implement a smooth communication flow. a comprehensive understanding of effective communication strategies, negotiation skills, styles, competencies and media expertise prepares managers for management challenges.  their professional skills as communication management specialist will transfer across sectors, making them equally valuable in the different fields of their works. likewise, a harmonious relationship between the middle managers and employees shall be established resulting in a more excellent and successful implementation of the university’s vision, mission, goals and objectives. the realization that effective communication based on personal foundation upon which organizational life is built among middle managers encouraged the researcher to venture in this study. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the communication styles and the effectiveness of the middle managers of the nvsu. the barriers encountered that affected the management communications of the middle managers were likewise explored. methodology research design the research utilized the descriptive survey method using questionnaires to determine the management communication styles, its effectiveness, and barriers encountered by the middle managers of the nueva vizcaya state university while performing their duties and responsibilities. the study also employed the correlation method to inter-relate communication styles to effectiveness and barriers. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research respondents the respondents of the study were the middle managers such as the college deans, directors of academic related and non-academic offices, laboratory high school principals, department chairpersons, coordinators of special projects and programs and head of non-academic offices of the nueva vizcaya state university. there were two groups of respondents; the first group was composed of middle managers, and the second group was composed of the subordinates such as faculty and staff who were directly under the supervision of the middle managers. the subordinates validated the management communication styles, effectiveness and barriers encountered by the middle managers in performing their duties. table 1. number of middle managers and subordinates respondents positions of the middle managers number of middle managers total number of subordinates in the unit number of respondents for unit managers only number of respondents for unit and sub-unit managers total number of actual respondents college deans 11 211 154 directors 15 83 45 36 34 principals 2 44 24 department chairmen 35 117 36 60 coordinator 5 48 12 12 12 head of office 8 23 23 23 23 total 86 526 116 131 247 as seen in table 1, there were 86 middle managers broken down into 11 college deans, 15 directors, 2 principals, 35 department chairpersons, 5 coordinators and 8 head of offices. there were 526 total number of employed faculty and staff at the nueva vizcaya state university both bayombong and bambang campuses but only 247 respondents actually answered and retrieved set of questionnaires. out of the 247 actual respondents, 116 of them rated the unit managers only while 131 of them rated the unit and the sub-unit middle managers. 43 international peer reviewed journal research instruments the researcher utilized a self-made questionnaire, one set for the middle managers and one for subordinates. part i intended to gather the demographic profile of the managers. part 2, 3 and 4 were used to determine the middle managers’ communication styles; effectiveness and barriers encountered while performing their duties. part 2 was management communication styles lifted from the book of (hamilton and parker, 2008). part 3 was adapted from the communication effective questionnaire (consulting tools, 2006). part 4 was a self-made questionnaire on barriers to effective communication. the sets of questionnaires were validated by experts in the field of communication and management. data gathering the researcher distributed the questionnaires to all the middle managers. another set of questionnaires was distributed to the selected faculty and staff of their respective office/unit/department. for offices with more than 4 staff, random sampling was done to determine at least three subordinate-respondents. while for offices with less than 4 staff, all were considered as subordinate-respondents. when the distribution and collection of questionnaires were completed, the researcher tabulated the responses and data were treated according to the objectives of the study. statistical tools the following statistical tools were used to analyze the data gathered. descriptive statistics such as frequency and percent were used to describe middle managers’ responses in terms of management communication styles, effectiveness and barriers. ranking was employed to determine the manager’s dominant management communication styles. spearman rho (rs) was used to determine the association of communication management styles to effectiveness and barriers. results and discussion management communication styles of the middle managers as determined by themselves and their subordinates using the scoring procedure defined for the survey from hamilton and parker (2008), middle managers of the nueva vizcaya state university revealed their dominant communication styles through the combined self-assessment 44 jpair multidisciplinary research and subordinate-reports on preferred actions given some management-related situations. the table 1 shows the distribution of the management communication styles as determined by the middle managers themselves and their corresponding subordinates. table 2. distribution of the management communication styles as determined by the middle managers and the subordinates management communication styles total percent open 43 50.00 blind 17 19.77 hidden 18 20.93 closed 8 9.30 total 86 100.00 of the 86 middle managers, there were 43 (50%) middle managers are open, 17 (19.77%) blind, 18 (20.93%) hidden and 8 (9.30%) closed. these scores can be inferred that the greater number of middle managers in the nueva vizcaya state university use open style of management communication. according to hamilton and parker (2008), an open style is a person who is a good communicator, likes and respects other people and uses the communication disclosures and feedbacks properly. the second most leading styles of the middle managers were blind and hidden. closed style is basically non-communicator, has anxiety feeling, insecurity, fear of people, and seldom use communication disclosures and feedbacks while, blind style is the same with authoritarian, over confident, have overused communication disclosures and seldom recognize the need of seeking and giving feedbacks,. only 8 (9.30%) of the middle managers were closed and according to hamilton and parker (2008), these managers are those who mistrusts people, have the desire for social acceptance, seldom use communication disclosures and have over used feedbacks. professor david thomas pointed out that “increasingly the people who are the most effective are those who essentially are both managers and leaders” (blagg & young, 2001). hbs professor joe badarocco agreed that the traditional manager versus leader argument tends to undermine the value of management. “there are lots of people who look and act like managers, who have excellent managerial skills, and who don’t make a lot of noise”. it is in this event that 45 international peer reviewed journal an open manager has to loom to avoid any conflict that may raze the smooth operation of the organization. extent of management communication effectiveness of the middle managers the following tables show the extent of management communication effectiveness as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates. they were measured in eight indicators in each skill namely: listening (table 3a), seeking and giving feedback (table 3b), understanding others (table 3c), influencing and relating (table 3d), and oral and written (3e). table 3a. extent of management communication effectiveness in listening as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates management communication effectiveness indicators self assessment by the managers assessment by the subordinates mean sd extent mean sd extent 1. he/she answers questions specifically and direct to the point. 4.12 0.94 he 3.87 0.84 he 2. he/she always sees to it that he/ she learns from the interactions if he/she has a good conversation with someone else. 4.01 0.86 he 3.84 0.74 he 3. he/she always remembers that people are more attracted towards those who have interest in them, and therefore will pay more attention to what they will say. 3.67 0.89 he 3.77 0.71 he 4. he/she is approachable and easy to talk with. 4.14 0.87 he 4.06 0.78 he 5. he/she receives and acts upon feedback from others in a nondefensive manner. 3.65 0.89 he 3.69 0.87 he 6. he/she allows his/her colleagues to finish what they have to say whenever they are communicating with him/her. 4.12 0.96 he 3.94 0.71 he 46 jpair multidisciplinary research 7. he/she listens to the person first because he/she believes that communication is a two-way process. 4.26 0.80 he 4.10 0.70 he 8. he/she doesn’t try to catch something which someone has just said and immediately goes on telling his/her own story. 3.27 1.20 me 3.55 0.81 he over-all listening skill 3.90 0.54 he 3.85 0.48 he legend: ne not effective; se – slightly effective; me – moderately effective; he – highly effective; ee – extremely effective table 3a shows that middle managers manifest a highly effective performance in listening by answering questions specifically and by being direct to the point. they see to it that they learn from the interaction with their subordinates. they are likewise easy to talk with and approachable. they believe that communication is a two-way process and that they always pay attention when someone is speaking as denoted by a high grand mean score of 3.90 for the middle managers and 3.85 for the subordinates which were qualitatively described the results were highly effective like the other items in this measure except for the last item which was qualitatively described by the middle managers as moderately effective. the middle managers are effective in listening. this conclusion was in parallel with the following ideas; bittel (1992) said that school managers must be good listeners, receptive to feedbacks and questions and must be willing to share ideas in such a way that information could be very beneficial to the employees.  catt (1989) stated that good listeners are individuals who are admired, valued, and respected by others. booher (2000) argued that active listening begins with one’s willingness to listen.  listening for understanding is more than simply hearing words and knowing their meanings.  listening requires conscious effort and a willing mind.  it is a decision to take an action. 47 international peer reviewed journal table 3b. extent of management communication effectiveness in seeking and giving feedback as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates management communication effectiveness indicators self assessment by the managers assessment by the subordinates mean sd extent mean sd extent 1. he/she uses to ask questions. it is great way to show to people that he/she really interested in them. 4.10 0.95 he 4.07 0.72 he 2. if other persons have different point of view towards him/her, he/she will find out why they have such point of view. 3.51 1.05 he 3.45 0.83 me 3. he/she tries to value others input as his/her own input. he/ she believes they have opinions which can be better than his/ hers. 3.70 0.93 he 3.57 0.77 he 4. he/.she listens to the views of others. 4.38 0.80 he 4.24 0.71 he 5. he/she asks questions for him/ her to learn more about what his/ her colleagues are saying. 4.01 0.96 he 3.96 0.67 he 6. he/she gives constructive feedback through letters to help others improve their performances. 3.87 0.99 he 3.88 0.83 he 7. he/she sends impact and meaningful verbal messages. 3.83 0.91 he 3.96 0.73 he 8. he/she constructively questions how things are done. 3.88 0.82 he 3.73 0.78 he over-all seeking and giving feedback skill 3.91 0.59 he 3.86 0.50 he legend: ne not effective; se – slightly effective; me – moderately effective; he – highly effective; ee – extremely effective 48 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3b shows that middle managers have the ability to provide knowledge about the meaning and impact of the message for the receiver and an opportunity for the sender to correct any problems. they effectively seek and give feedback by listening to the views of others. they ask question to show to people that they are really interested in them. they value others’ opinion which can be better than their opinion. they likewise give constructive feedback through any means to help their subordinates improve in their performances. these results were denoted by a grand high mean score of 3.91 for the middle managers and 3.86 for the subordinates. both were qualitatively described as highly effective like the other items in this measure except for the third item which was qualitatively described by the subordinates as moderately effective. this further entails that middle managers are really flexible in dealing with their subordinates to get the best results of their management communication. being effective managers must have to be an effective communicator. seeking and giving feedback is indispensable in effective management communication. careful analysis of the message received can make communication effective. sending good feedback or asking questions to learn more about the sender contributes to the effectiveness of any communication. the research of (london, 2003) disclosed that the importance of job-related feedback is generally accepted. specific and timely feedback from a co-worker may help a new employee to master unfamiliar duties. conversely, feedback that is negative in tone and lacking in detail may cause a new employee to become demoralized although feedback’s importance is widely accepted, this does not mean that individuals are particularly good at giving and receiving feedback. research has shown that the feedback provided by manager is often lacking in specificity, harsh in tone, and/or delivered in an untimely manner. potentially worse, sometimes feedback is simply not provided. the table 3c indicated the over-all mean scores for management communication effectiveness in understanding others as assessed by the middle managers themselves was 3.87 and 3.94 as assessed by the subordinates were described the results as highly effective. it can be inferred that effective management communication manager has the ability to understand and recall the spoken or written word delivered by the message sender. they are likewise aware of the importance of being a good receiver; they are likely to show some improvement almost automatically. they are competent in comprehending the material well, evaluate it, make inferences and judgments from it, and use it intelligently. 49 international peer reviewed journal table 3c. extent of management communication effectiveness in understanding others as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates management communication effectiveness indicators self assessment by the managers assessment by the subordinates mean sd extent mean sd extent 1. he/she recognizes unspoken thoughts and feelings. 3.40 0.94 me 3.45 0.71 me 2. she/he openly communicates team achievement to others. 4.20 0.92 he 4.42 3.20 he 3. he/she tries to identify what are the causes of people’s long term attitudes by making a record of their behavior. 3.44 1.01 me 3.68 0.65 he 4. he/she encourages people to be open with each other. 3.93 0.86 he 3.99 0.59 he 5. he/she actively seeks the views of her/his colleagues. 3.90 0.95 he 3.91 0.77 he 6. he/she treats others with dignity and respect. 4.34 0.83 he 4.26 0.66 he 7. he/she always understands the reasons behind her/his colleague’s thinking that will lead her/him to understand one another’s point of view. 3.95 0.87 he 3.93 0.62 he 8. he/she can sense how people feel about anything happening around them through their body language. 3.79 0.95 he 3.84 0.65 he over-all understanding others skill 3.87 0.56 he 3.94 0.54 he legend: ne not effective; se – slightly effective; me – moderately effective; he – highly effective; ee – extremely effective in addition, effective management communication manager treats others with dignity and respect, tries to identify what are the causes of people’s long term 50 jpair multidisciplinary research attitudes by making a record of their behavior, and recognizes unspoken thoughts and feelings. it is believed that understanding the feelings and movements of the subordinates can lead to better results of communication. sensing how your colleagues feel about anything can develop a good relationship between the manager and the subordinates. similarly, likewise, effective communication manager relies on understanding peoples’ behavior and feelings when communicating. the meaning of the message can be easily understood when subordinates are open to share ideas and thoughts (hoy & miskel, 2008) stressed that communication is a two-way process. they added that two-way communication requires continuous exchanges and transactions of ideas. each participant initiates messages that each message affects the next one. empathy is the art of seeing the world as someone else sees it. when you have empathy, it means you can understand what a person is feeling in a given moment, and understand why other people’s actions made sense to them. rogers and roethlisberger (1991) pointed out that in communication, understanding is the result of listening. what does this mean? it means that to see the expressed idea and attitude from the other person’s point of view, to sense how it feels to him, to achieve his frame of reference in regard to the thing he is talking about; you have to listen to him in intent and in serious manner. table 3d. extent of management communication effectiveness in influencing and relating as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates management communication effectiveness indicators self assessment by the managers assessment by the subordinates mean sd extent mean sd extent 1. he/she is interested in people he/she communicates with. 4.05 0.92 he 3.81 0.82 he 2. he/she openly shares information to his/her colleagues because he/she trusts them. 3.86 0.96 he 3.81 0.78 he 3. he/she presents ideas in a persuasive manner. 3.86 0.92 he 3.80 0.79 he 4. he/she makes sure that people talk about them first and then he/she carefully tells them so as not to sound like a competition. 3.71 1.00 he 3.71 0.82 he 51 international peer reviewed journal 5. he/she tries to think why it all went well and remembers key points for the next time. if it did not go well, he/she will try again and take note of the negative points. 3.98 0.87 he 3.78 0.73 he 6. he/she presents cases or problems to his/her colleagues through meetings. 3.71 0.96 he 3.73 0.78 he 7. he/she smiles and uses eye contact in all his/her communication activities. 3.94 0.92 he 3.75 0.82 he 8. he/she changes his/her own approach to encourage others to adopt a course of action. 3.83 0.95 he 3.77 0.66 he over-all influencing and relating skill 3.87 0.61 he 3.77 0.52 he legend: ne not effective; se – slightly effective; me moderately effective; he – highly effective; ee – extremely effective the table 3d indicated ratings of effective management communication manager in terms of influencing and relating. the middle managers grand mean score of 3.87 and 3.77 for the subordinates. all items in this measure were described as highly effective. further, the manager makes sure that people talk about themselves first and then the manager carefully tells them about himself so as not to sound like a competition. he presents cases or problems to his colleagues through meetings and makes sure that every employee is kept informed about what the organization is doing and what he intends to do in the ensuing years. this further infers that middle managers possessed the ability to influence and relate information properly to their colleagues. these will also prove that because of genuine interest, trust, confidence and respect the managers are continuously demonstrating to their people, supportive communication climate, cooperative interactions and an open culture of sharing knowledge can be achieved easily. influencing and relating are important process of sharing information to someone in such a way that the real purpose of communication can be achieved. furthermore, other forms of communication like oral or written forms, formal or 52 jpair multidisciplinary research informal like memorandum, school organ, business letters, conversation, inquiry and debate can be used effectively by any individual to relate his message or influence others about something. these can be effective indicators for successful management communication (hoy & miskel, 2008). table 3e. extent of management communication effectiveness in oral and written as assessed by the middle managers and their subordinates management communication effectiveness indicators self assessment by the managers assessment by the subordinates mean sd extent mean sd extent 1. he/she is relaxed every time he/ she talks with other people. 3.67 1.44 he 3.76 0.94 he 2. he/she personally talks to anyone who is directly involved in any issue or endeavor. 3.88 0.98 he 3.46 0.86 me 3. during meetings, he/she presents ideas in a well organized manner. 3.81 0.93 he 3.97 0.79 he 4. when he/she is speaking, he/she tries to be enthusiastic and he/she uses voice and the body language to show this. 3.81 1.00 he 3.89 0.76 he 5. he/she respects the views of others. 4.13 0.84 he 3.89 0.79 he 6. he/she keeps people informed and up-to-date in all programs and activities of the organization thru memoranda or route slips. 3.90 0.92 he 3.93 0.65 he 7. he/she expresses ideas clearly through writing. 3.86 0.88 he 3.81 0.76 he 8. he/she passes notices and lets us affix our signature every time he/ she calls for a meeting. 3.81 0.93 he 3.67 0.85 he over-all oral and written skill 3.86 0.61 he 3.80 0.55 he legend: ne not effective; se – slightly effective; me – moderately effective; he – highly effective; ee – extremely effective 53 international peer reviewed journal as could be inferred on the table 2e, being effective management communication manager who practice the effective use of both an oral and written forms of communication indicated that they show high respect of people in all their communication or transactions. they keep people informed and up-to-date in all programs and activities of the organization thru memoranda or route slips. they personally talk to anyone who is directly involved in any issue or endeavor. the above statements were based on the results as denoted by high grand mean scores of 3.86 for the middle managers and 3.80 for the subordinates. both results were described as highly effective. these scores explain that middle managers are effective communicators using both oral and written. they lead the meetings in a well organized manner and express ideas clearly not only through oral form but also through written form of communication. toffel and lenox (2008) said that managers face a range of options to diffuse innovative practices within the organization. they believed that there are many techniques providing practice-specific information through mechanisms such as internal seminars, demonstrations, knowledge management systems and promotional brochures. this “information provision” approach empowers facility managers to decide which practices to actually implement to achieve effective information dissemination among subordinates. management communication barriers as encountered by the middle managers table 4 shows the extent of communication barriers as encountered by the middle managers and their subordinates. the over-all mean scores for the combined assessment of the middle managers and their subordinates for the communication barriers were 3.12 with a description of “occasionally” encountered. the indicator with the highest mean score of 3.24 is the psychological barrier, followed by 3.15 for physical barrier, and 3.11 for physiological barrier. while the indicators with the least mean scores of 3.08 and 3.01 were the cultural/attitudinal barriers and semantic barrier respectively. the results of the study further imply that communication barriers moderately affecting the management communication effectiveness of the middle managers. according to williams (2012), effective communication occurs when someone’s intended meaning successfully and accurately reaches another person. problems occur at many junctures, from the initial sender using the wrong language or medium, through noise or interruptions to the message along 54 jpair multidisciplinary research the way, up to the receiver misinterpreting the message. potential obstacles to effective communication arise on several levels, from individual to another individual, office to another office or an individual to an organizational. but many precautions can help managers and employees avoid the worst of the obstacles. table 4. extent of cultural/attitudinal communication barriers as encountered by the middle managers and the subordinates management communication barriers indicators combined assessment of the managers and the subordinates mean sd extent cultural/attitudinal 3.08 0.83 occasionally encountered semantic 3.01 0.82 occasionally encountered physical 3.15 0.74 occasionally encountered physiological 3.11 0.82 occasionally encountered psychological 3.24 0.82 occasionally encountered over-all barrier 3.12 0.73 occasionally encountered cultural / attitudinal barrier the indicators for cultural/attitudinal barriers included in the study are as follows; having harsh tone from any of the communicators, insufficient training for middle managers and subordinates, giving negative information or criticism from any member of the organization and lack of motivation or dissatisfaction of works. the mean score of 3.08 indicating the combined assessment of the middle managers and their subordinates was described occasionally encountered. this further revealed that among the indicators for cultural/attitudinal moderately affect the management communication performances of middle managers. cultural barriers are brought about by cultural differences. three ways in which culture interferes with effective cross cultural understanding include cognitive, behavioral and emotional constraints. cultural barrier is a tradition or a practice that often comes in the way of success of an organization. the cultural barrier often serves as a wall that makes it very non-conducive for an organization to go about with their activities. there are many reasons why communication being affected by culture or attitude. cultures provide people with ways of thinking--ways of seeing, hearing, 55 international peer reviewed journal and interpreting the world. thus, the same words can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the “same” language. languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate, the potential for misunderstandings increases. according to (feigenbaum, 2012), effective communication requires deciphering the basic values, motives, aspirations, and assumptions that operate across geographical lines. given some dramatic differences across cultures, the opportunities for miscommunication in cross-cultural situations are enormous. baldwin (2014) considered co-workers as a barrier to effective communication because others may stereotype one another based on perceived beliefs about their peers’ backgrounds. some employees may not have a full range of vocabulary in the office’s primary language, causing misunderstandings. cultural values also impact workplace communication. a female employee may come from a country in which she acts as subordinate to men. as a result, she might be reluctant to take the lead on projects. the radius of personal space also differs from culture to culture. one employee might stand in a peer’s personal space without realizing he is doing so. semantic barrier it can be noted from table 4 that semantic barriers were occasionally encountered by the middle managers as validated by their subordinates. the semantic barriers included in the study are as follows; using difficult or inappropriate words in communication, words having general and multiple meaning, and poor choice of words were considered moderately encountered. the mean score of 3.01 indicating the combined assessment of the middle manager and their subordinates was described occasionally encountered. this further suggests that these barriers affect moderately the effectiveness of the managers. semantic barrier refers to ideas, objects, and actions that can be referred to by more than one word or meaning. semantic barriers are the meanings people attach to words. the different meanings people attach to the same word create one barrier to effective communication. moscovici (2008) focused his study upon the way in which particular meaning complexes can prevent dialogical engagement with alternative representations. these meaning complexes referred to as “semantic barriers.” he wanted to draw out the two main semantic barriers that he identifies, and then add to this a consideration of five additional semantic barriers, such as rigid opposition, transfer of meaning, prohibited thoughts, separation, stigma, understanding the 56 jpair multidisciplinary research motives and bracketing. at the polemical end of the continuum, the alternative representation tends to be locked, by semantic barriers, into a rigid and often un-dialogical and uncreative relation to the main representation. he concluded that these semantic barriers are one of the subtle means employed by polemical representations to adapt to contexts of a plurality of potentially competing representations. these barriers stand between the sociological and psychological levels, enabling intolerance to exist at a psychological level while plurality increases at the sociological level. physical barriers the following are the physical barrier indicators; large working areas that physically separating employees, background noise, poor lighting, and hot or cold environment, unclear organizational structure, and outdated and lack of communication equipments causes moderate problem in the management communication for both the middle managers and the subordinates. the grand mean scores of 3.15 indicating the combined assessment of the middle managers and their subordinates were described as occasionally encountered. this further means that the above indicators of physical barriers can moderately affect the management communication effectiveness of middle managers. physical barriers to effective management communication are not directly under anyone’s control. noisy typewriter, a duplicating machine, someone’ loud voice, or a nearby vacuum cleaner could prevent us from hearing and understanding an important message. since many physical barriers are difficult for us to control or eliminate, we have to control ourselves when these barriers are present. concentration is the key to dealing with physical barriers to management communication. devoting the entire mental effort to the message we are supposed to be receiving is difficult but necessary for effective management communication. williams (2012) stated that even the company’s physical structure can block communications. a work team needs physical closeness to discuss work problems and share solutions. separating members with walls or large spaces hampers this process. managers can obstruct interaction with a closed door, as employees get the message that the manager is too busy to talk. or team members might be located across the country or the world from each other. feigenbaum (2012) said that sometimes barriers are very literal. walls, doors and dividers do their jobs-they divide. and while people need these to have quiet time, private conversations and structure to a workspace, they can be a subtle hindrance to communication. 57 international peer reviewed journal if you think about it, people in open rooms tend to talk more and walk about more freely. therefore, organizations interested in great communication consider how they configure employees’ space. the idea of feigenbaum was in accordance with the idea of baldwin (2014) when he said that a departmentalized layout can also cause communication barrier among employees in an organization. an organization’s departments form internal bonds that can put employees at odds with other departments. even cubicles offer privacy and certain amount of isolation may also act as a physical barrier that discourages communication between employees and subordinates. the location of the supervisors’ office can serve as another physical barrier. a closed door signifies a reluctance to talk with subordinates. likewise, if the supervisor’s office is isolated from the rest of the office, the supervisor may appear out of touch with the rest of the employees. physiological barriers the mean score of 3.18 for the combined assessment of the middle managers and the subordinates was described as occasionally encountered. the indicators of physiological barriers are the following; the communicator looks stress and harassed with work, lack of comprehension from any of the message sender or receiver, insufficient, uncertain and changing information from any of the communicator, and inability to converse in the language that is known to both the sender and the receiver. this further shows that the management communication performance of the middle managers was moderately affected by the indicators of physiological barrier. since physiological barrier is the result of sensory dysfunction, dalley (2013) thought-out on the other hand that emotions weather a person is happy or sad may likewise cause physiological barrier to communication among employees in an organization. he said that if a person is engrossed in his emotions for some reasons, he tends to have trouble listening to others or understanding the message conveyed to him. according to the college of marin, if someone is angry, resentful, happy or excited, that person may be too preoccupied with emotions to receive the intended message. emotions mainly involve fear, mistrust and suspicion. excessive fear of what others might think of others and what he say can interfere with what he wants to communicate and his ability to form meaningful relationships. psychological barriers the indicators of psychological communication barriers in the study are the presence of personal conflicts or problem between the message sender and the 58 jpair multidisciplinary research receiver; having personal misunderstanding between the communicator and uttering unnecessary words which may imply personal prejudices and biases among communicators. the mean score of 3.24 for the combined assessment of the middle managers and their subordinates was described occasionally encountered. this further proves that the above indicators of psychological barriers can moderately affect the management communication of the middle managers. psychological barriers can arise from almost any source. personal problems such as finances, behavior of the co-workers and family members could all serve as sources of psychological distraction. distraction can also originate in events or conditions at work. likewise, personal problems involving the school manager can affect his management in general. unhealthy relationship with the subordinates can have a harmful effect on management communications. being bias in making decisions and giving assignments as observed by the subordinates can affect the work. they will always think that they were treated unfairly by the manager. according to katz (1947), the effect of psychological barrier to individual lasts longer than any other barriers to communication. he further stressed that physical barrier are rapidly disappearing but the psychological obstacles remain. these psychological difficulties are in part a function of the very nature of language; in part they are due to the emotional character and mental limitations of human beings. meanwhile, (baldwin, 2014) believed that emotional stability and family problems may result to psychological barrier to effective communication. some employees are hostile when it comes to authority, which may make for heated confrontations. you’ll find other employees can’t connect with your other employees due to shyness. their shyness might make them appear unfriendly; as a result, peers won’t try to connect with them. problems stemming outside of the workplace creep into office culture and impact communication. an employee who is dealing with an illness in the family, for example, might become withdrawn or lash out at peers. relationship between and among management communication styles to management communication effectiveness and management communication barriers the following tables reflect the relationships of management communication styles to management communication effectiveness (table 5a) and to management communication barriers (table 5b). 59 international peer reviewed journal table 5a. correlation matrix between management communication styles and management communication effectiveness management communication effectiveness open management communication styles blind hidden closed listening r -0.27* 0.23* 0.01 0.02 sig. 0.01 0.03 0.90 0.88 seeking and giving feedback r -0.30* 0.17 0.01 0.11 sig. 0.01 0.11 0.90 0.32 understanding others r -0.17 0.04 0.04 0.13 sig. 0.13 0.71 0.74 0.23 influencing and relating r -0.23* 0.21 -0.04 0.02 sig. 0.04 0.06 0.68 0.89 oral and written r -0.18 0.13 -0.09 0.11 sig. 0.10 0.22 0.40 0.29 over-all r -0.26* 0.18 -0.02 0.09 sig. 0.02 0.10 0.88 0.41 legend: * significant the open management communication style was significantly related to management communication effectiveness indicators like listening, seeking and giving feedback, influencing, relating and the over-all management communication skill. the r-values together with the significance values, all were less than the 0.05 level of significance suggest these findings. only the listening skill showed significant relationship to the blind style with r-value of 0.23 and has a significant value of 0.03. all the other styles like hidden and closed have no significant relationship to any of the management communication effectiveness. the results show that middle managers who use open style of management communication have a high tendency of becoming good listeners, can seek and give good and constructive feedback for better flow of communication, and can influence others to work cooperatively than middle managers who were using blind, hidden and closed style of management communication. the middle managers who use blind style believed that listening is a prerequisite to effective management communication. listening to employees is a way of showing support and acceptance which make for a more open climate, and an open climate makes employee satisfaction and productivity more likely. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research these findings were supported by hamilton and parker (2008) when they stated that an open communication manager is someone who is flexible in meeting the needs of his people, accepting and open for criticisms, genuine liker for people, flexible in using communication styles, careful listeners, seen as trusting, honest, tactful, look at all sides of a problem, share job feelings, doubts and concerns, friendly, productive and dependable, and willing to share feelings as well as knowledge. however, this does not mean however, that open is always the best communicator or the best person. table 5b. correlation matrix between management communication styles and communication barriers management communication barriers open management communication styles blind hidden closed cultural/attitudinal rs 0.22* 0.03 -0.25* -0.07 sig. 0.04 0.76 0.02 0.51 semantic rs 0.35* -0.11 -0.08 -0.20 sig. <0.01 0.33 0.44 0.06 physical rs 0.08 0.03 -0.21 0.07 sig. 0.47 0.76 0.06 0.51 physiological rs 0.26* -0.04 -0.25* -0.06 sig. 0.02 0.72 0.02 0.61 psychological rs 0.15 0.03 -0.27* -0.02 sig. 0.17 0.77 0.01 0.89 over-all rs 0.23* -0.01 -0.23* -0.06 sig. 0.03 0.92 0.03 0.57 the open management communication style was significantly related to communication barriers indicators like cultural/attitudinal, semantic and physiological communication barriers. the hidden management communication style was significantly related to cultural/attitudinal, physiological and psychological communication barriers. the r-values together with the significance values corresponding to the skills and the styles were all less than the 0.05 level of significance. while, the blind and closed management communication styles were not significantly related to any of the communication barriers indicators. 61 international peer reviewed journal the findings further suggest that middle manager who practice open and hidden type of management communication were more aware of the presence of communication barriers in their workplace. these further imply that middle managers who were using open and hidden styles were aware with the presence of communication barriers in the workplace which has the possibility of affecting or obstructing their management. being identified as an open type manager is not enough to become calm and contented. as a manager, it is critical to understand and be aware of the potential sources of communication barriers and constantly avoid these barriers by making a conscientious effort to make sure there is a minimal loss of meaning in communication. these statements are in parallel with the idea of chua and morris (2009). according to them, “capabilities to communicate are needed to work across cultures”. there is a need to identify affect relevant strengths such as confidence, trust, bond with others and non-verbal communication. these strengths have to be considered by an open type manager to avoid conflict in his organization. conclusions most of the middle managers of the university adhered to an open management communication style in dealing with different management communication situations. there were managers who use the blind or closed as their management communication style. few of the managers adapted the hidden management style. in addition, middle managers have tendencies to used more than one management styles depending on the situation; however most of the managers used the open management communication style as their dominant style, and either blind or closed as their secondary management preferred style. the middle managers disregarding their styles were highly effective in utilizing management communication effectiveness strategies in conveying ideas and information especially in seeking and giving feedback, listening, understanding others, influencing and relating and oral and written skills. the management communication performance of the middle managers is not greatly affected by the different management communication barriers. the higher the tendency of one in becoming an open manager, the less effective he is in listening, seeking and giving feedback and in influencing and relating with others. on the other hand, the higher the tendency of one in becoming a blind manager, the more effective he is in using listening skills. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research the higher tendency to become an open manager, the more effective he become in dealing with cultural/attitudinal, semantic and physiological management communication barriers; while the lower the tendency to become a hidden manager, the more effective he becomes in dealing with cultural/attitudinal, physiological and psychological management communication barriers. recommendations the management communication style of all university managers should be evaluated yearly to ensure effective management. in addition, a management communication program must be crafted by the university considering the following objectives; to initiate a series of trainings and seminars on management communication among university officials in order to acquire better strategies, approaches and techniques, and to further enrich or strengthen the management communication attributes with more emphasis on the latest trend on management communication which will be useful in the facilitation of an effective and competent management; to schedule a management communication development programs to upgrade the university managers in terms of their functions and be updated with the latest trend in communication; to introduce an innovative work procedure, method or device that could benefit the middle managers in terms of greater management communication effectiveness; to provide immediate and possible solutions to the problems in management communication especially the communication barriers affecting smooth communication flow; to adopt an appropriate management style to a particular management situation; and to strengthen an effective use of oral and written forms of communication among people in the university. improve their personal qualities through their attendance to trainings and seminars on management communication and show evidence of improvement in the actual setting. participate actively and show positive and supportive behavior to the plans and programs of the university in relation to improving their capability in communication. engage themselves in research works and enhance their skills through their attendance to research capability building activities initiated by the university and come-up with a research output in management and in communication. they should explore other qualitative methodologies that require more variables and in-depth analysis on related topics in management communication. 63 international peer reviewed journal literature cited baldwin, a. 2014 what hinders effective communication in the workplace? retrieved on march 15, 2014 from http://goo.gl/jtpaqt. bittel, l. r. & newton, j. w. 1992 what every supervisor should know. st. louis: mcgraw-hill, 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(2nd edition). 2008 nueva vizcaya state university, bayombong, nueva vizcaya. toffel, m. w. and lenox, m. j 2008 diffusing management practices within firm: the role of information provision. retrieved on march 10, 2014from http://goo.gl/c8jtpd . williams, j. t. 2012 obstacles in effective communication. retrieved on march 12, 2014 from http://goo.gl/j1gsp7 76 jpair multidisciplinary research design, development, and evaluation of a microgrid for the energy management in a small poultry nicasio i. saavedra, jr. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5708-5509 nicsaavedra77@gmail.com cavite state university-imus campus cavite civic center, palico iv, imus city, cavite originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract the development of an energy management system for a small poultry is another solution to help the poultry raisers/farmers obtain a reasonable and renewable source of energy. a microgrid can be characterized by its integration of distributed energy resources and controllable loads. such integration brings unique challenges to the microgrid management and control which can be significantly different from conventional power systems. the developed device is composed of the following major components: brooder, where the chicks are placed, and the electronic devices are installed; a relay which monitors and controls the power supply of the system; a solar panel and battery that captures and saves the energy from the sun; and an inverter that converts direct current to alternating current. the total power of the poultry is 33w and used 560w per day of the power source from the battery. test results showed that the contribution of saving power consumption reached 83% and losses are 35.75%. the voltage of the battery in 100% reached to 12.4v down to 2% has 10.45v. the actual testing for amperes of the bulb is 2.5a, the counter has 0.6a, and the temperature has 0.25a. the actual wattage of bulb is 30w, and temperature has 3w. the performance of vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.682 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:nicsaavedra77@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 77 international peer reviewed journal the prototype was evaluated by twenty (20) panel of evaluators composed of electronic technicians and engineers, agriculturists, and poultry farmers using the technological university of the philippines (tup) evaluation instrument for prototype developed. the prototype got a grand mean of 4.72 with a descriptive rating of “excellent” which proves that the project reduces the consumption of electricity from the commercial power distribution. keywords — energy management, microgrid, small poultry, experimental, manila, philippines introduction an energy management system is a systematic process for continually improving energy performance and maximizing energy savings. the principle of an energy management system is to engage and encourage staff at all levels of an organization to manage energy use on an on-going basis (kahlenborn, kabisch, klein, richter, & schürmann, 2012). energy efficiency means using less energy for the same or increased output. it is increasingly being recognized as one of the most important and cost-effective solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced as part of industrial processes (bautista, ong, pineda, urbano, uy, & dulay 2015). today, electricity is essential in daily life. electricity is generated from various sources of energy and then distributed through the grids to consumers. for decades, most countries rely on large grids to fulfill electricity needs. however, with the rapid development of technology, there is a significant contribution from smaller grids all over the world in recent years, especially to fulfill the demands in remote areas. based on geography, asean member states (ams) have mountainous areas, forests, and islands (remote islands). this has brought the opportunity for ams to develop microgrids or smart grids as part of the effort to increase the electrification ratio in remote area/islands. however, microgrids and smart grids are not only for the remote area as a stand-alone system (off-grid), but also could be integrated with the nearest national grid (or grid-connected) (pranadi, 2016). the philippines’ high electricity rates have not only hurt ordinary consumers but have also served as among the biggest barriers  against investments in the country. what the country needs is a stronger state that can bust oligarchic collusion, and protect the interest of the consumers and productive sectors of the economy (the energy philippines, 2014). 78 jpair multidisciplinary research the electricity is insufficient specifically in mindanao – region ix, zamboanga peninsula. the consumers have encountered a serious problem with the electricity supply in this region. this is usually occurring every start of summer and even during the rainy season and any time of the year. the water supply is decreasing because of the long summer where heat is strong, and rain is no longer evident. this would take two (2) to four (4) months brownout and the consumers are experiencing this every year. at present, the supply of energy in zamboanga peninsula area is insufficient. on poultry population, as of january 1, 2014, the total chicken population was 167.67 million birds higher than last year’s headcount of 166.39 million birds. the inventory of broilers and native/improved grew by 4.03 % and 1.19 %, respectively (philippine statistics authority, 2015). the supply of the electric power in the poultry industry is vital to give the consistent heat to sustain needed heat of the bodies of the newly hatched chicks. in this study, one piece of the 25-watt bulb will be connected to the microgrid that will serve as the source of heat for a group of 25 chicks. this heat would maintain the appropriate temperature during brooding for a period of more or less 21 days. this is the time where chicks require a constant supply of heat while feathers begin to grow and develop but still unable to protect their body from the external environment. this is why provision of artificial heat becomes a very necessary process for birds to cope up from temperature stress and survive normally. there are several sources of artificial heat for the chicks during brooding. the most common source is electricity supplied by zamboanga city electric corporation (zamcelco) an electric cooperative operating in zamboanga city, however, it is costly, irregular, and insufficient. the author has thought of studying the possibility of using an alternative renewable, cheap and environment-friendly source that would supply energy to the chicks using microgrid, hence this study. the microgrid is one way to solve the problem of the power crisis in zamboanga city where brownouts occur for more than six hours a day. it is noted that the use of a generator to supply electricity during brooding is very costly. hence, the installation of a microgrid is an answer to this dilemma. this can help poultry farmers in the area which cannot afford generator set or use of electricity for raising poultry. this equipment will be easy to use and convenient because it is simple to operate and requires less monitoring work since it is programmable. it could be automatically switched on and off both the solar panel from the heat of the sun and the supply from the utility grid. therefore, the development of microgrid is facilitated by switching on the supply of power from the battery that comes from the heat of the sun. 79 international peer reviewed journal the existence of this equipment can really support the chicks’ temperature requirement during the brooding in the poultry house. the adoption of this technology is the ultimate solution for the farmers who can now obtain a cheap and renewable source of energy from the sun. the solar panel is huge that could contribute to the nonstop source of electricity that is essential to effect a more efficient and effective poultry production system. this is of great help to the reduction of electricity consumption cost and at the same time easy to install, portable and most especially an environment-friendly technology. conceptual model of the study on the basis of the foregoing concepts, theories, and findings of related literature, studies presented, and insights taken from them, a conceptual model is developed as shown below. figure 1. conceptual model of the study figure 1 shows the conceptual model of the study of the different stages of the process involved in order to achieve the objectives of the study. the input stage consists of the knowledge requirements needed in the design and development of the microgrid for energy management in small poultry. the knowledge requirement includes the topics for the energy management, microgrid 80 jpair multidisciplinary research management, and poultry management system. hardware requirements consist of the important part of the electric study relay, proximity sensor, thermostat sensor with lcd display, solar panel, counter with lcd display, inverter, and solar charge controller. the software is arduino uno for the coding. the process block is composed of the system design, fabrication and assembly, and the testing of the prototype. the fabrication has two (2) phases: the circuit and casing fabrication. finally, an evaluation on the performance of the system is done a panel of evaluators. the output of the study is the microgrid for energy management in small poultry. objectives of the study generally, it aims to develop a microgrid for energy management in a small poultry. specifically, it aimed to answer the following (1) design a microgrid system with the following features to; (a) manage the power supply inside the brooder, (b) include a monitoring and control panel for the system, (c) monitor and controls the temperature of the brooder, (d) compute the area of the solar panel based on the assumptions of the number of chicks, (e) determine the total power of the brooder, (f ) also determine the losses in each of the parts of the electrical system, (2) to construct the prototype, as designed; (3) to test and improve the developed prototype; and (4) to evaluate the performance of the developed prototype. methodology research design microgrid for the energy management in small poultry is a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries that act as a single controllable entity with respect to the grid. it consists the two (2) way automatic switching responsible for the energy distribution from the solar and utility grid as shown in figure 2. the loads for the distribution of power supply are the monitoring device installed on top of the brooder and the 25w bulb inside the brooder. 81 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. block diagram of the study figure 3. circuit diagram of microgrid in a small poultry with temperature figure 3 shows the circuit diagram of the microgrid. this consists of the utility grid connected to the island mode which is the controller. on the other, another alternative source of energy is coming from the solar which is coming from the sun. the solar panel contains 100w is also connected to the island mode. the two-way automatic microcontroller is responsible for managing the energy distribution in the brooder cage. the 25w bulb is responsible for giving the heat for the chicks in order for them to live and grow their feathers for 21 days period. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research this will be operated by two operation modes: the grid-connected mode and the island mode. in the grid-connected mode, a microgrid is connected to a power system, especially a distributed system in the utility grid. on the other hand, the island mode means isolated operation mode energy is coming from the solar sun’s energy. this device has a small power system composed of one or more distributed generation units that can be operated independently or connected to the utility. the microgrid is a small scale flexible reliable source of electricity. this is connected to both local generating system units and utility grid to prevent outages. the green color as indicated above is represented that the energy is coming from the utility grid. on the other hand, the deep cycle is already empty. project development the preparation and installation of the various components of the project, microgrid for energy management in a small poultry, used the following procedures: 1. the needed materials and devices were prepared such as, solar panel, deep cycle (dc) battery, solar charge controller, power inverter, relay responsible for the energy management coming from both utility grid and sun’s energy, wooden brooder for the chicks, temperature with lcd display and the 25w bulb. 2. the 100w solar panel was set up connected to the solar charge controller to dc battery, dc to a power inverter in its proper place. 3. the relay was set up on its proper place. 4. the brooder cage was prepared and the 25 heads of chicks’ were purchased as subjects for observation good for 14 days. 5. the 25w bulb was fixed inside the brooder; 6. the temperature control panel with lcd display was placed on top in the brooder. 7. the software was prepared for installation ready to monitor the heating temperature inside the brooder. 8. finally, all the devices were tested for their functional operations. brooder 1. all the materials for constructing the brooder were prepared, such as, lumber, nails, plywood, bolts, and the plastic screen. 2. the plywood was cut into 36 inches and 42.5 inches. 83 international peer reviewed journal 3. the lumber was cut at least 4 by 27 inches. 4. eight holes were drilled for the bolts to fasten. 5. the plastic mesh was cut into size 18 x 42.5 inches. 6. then, all four sides were assembled by inserting the bolts on all 8 holes. temperature panel 1. the gizduino was inserted onto the lcd. 2. wires on positive and negative adaptor were connected on the lcd. 3. the lm34 inserted into the thermostat sensor. operation and testing procedure operation procedure the following steps were done to maintain the normal operations of the project. 1. first, the solar panel was exposed in the sun for 12 hours. 2. connect the relay to 220v from the utility grid. 3. connect the solar panel to solar charge controller to the deep cycle battery. 4. connect the power inverter to 220v to dc battery. 5. plug the 9v temperature with lcd display to 220v. 6. plug the 25w bulb to 220v. testing procedure three (3) tests were performed for pilot testing of the developed prototype, namely: reliability test, quick response test, and functionality test. a. reliability test 1. test the relay for proper switching and energy distribution. 2. test the solar charge controller for battery charging consumption. b. quick response test 1. monitor switching speed of the relay. 2. check temperature monitoring inside the brooder. 3. monitor the time of solar battery charging. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research c. functionality test 1. list down the charging time of the solar charge controller to dc battery. 2. list down the time consumption of the dc battery to load per day. 3. list down the number of seconds of switching relay. table 1. testing for dc power supply time battery (voltage) bulb (a) temperature (a) 6:00 am 12v 3a 1a 7:00 am 12v 3a 1a 8:00 am 12v 3a 1a 9:00 am 12v 3a 1a 10:00 am 12v 3a 1a 11:00 am 12v 3a 1a 12:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 1:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 2:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 3:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 4:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 5:00 pm 12v 3a 1a 6:00 pm 12v 3a 1a table 1 shows the assumption of the testing dc power supply for voltage and ammeter of dc battery, the incandescent bulb, and temperature with lcd. this is to test and determine the actual voltage and ammeter of the power supply distributed by the dc battery. evaluation procedure the evaluation is one way to determine the efficiency, accuracy, functionality and acceptability as designed to assess the energy management in small poultry. people were selected as respondents and were asked to rate the performance of the device. these respondents composed of twenty (20) professionals in different fields related to electronics such as engineers, technicians, instructors and poultry farmers. prior to the actual demonstration and evaluation of the device, the researcher had explained the function of the device as well as specification of the prototype. furthermore, the researcher also discussed the contents of the evaluation sheet before this was given to each respondent. 85 international peer reviewed journal the instrument used for evaluation of the device comes from the technological university of the philippines. this instrument had the following criteria: functionality, aesthetics, workability, durability, economic value, safety, and salability are part of the instrument. one portion of the evaluation was the “comments and suggestions from the evaluators”. this was intended for additional improvements on the device for its system of energy distribution on poultry. the evaluation was accomplished and the results were organized, tabulated and computed statistically to find the mean of every criterion as well as the overall mean. table 2. likert scale of rating numerical rating equivalent meaning 4.51 ~ 5.00 excellent 3.51 ~ 4.50 very good 2.51 ~ 3.50 good 1.51 ~ 2.50 fair 1.0 ~ 1.50 poor table 2 shows the likert scale of rating that the result of the evaluation will be based on the tabulated and computed mean score. this will be graded on the numerical rating and will be interpreted on the equivalent meaning. results and discussion project description the project is about the development of a microgrid design for energy management in small poultry. the system has two energy sources, the utility grid which is 220v and the dc battery that contains the energy captured from the heat of the sun using the solar panel. the relay is responsible for energy distribution; it will automatically switch on and off. the temperature sensor with lcd display monitors the temperature inside the brooder. the 25w incandescent bulb is the source of heat inside the brooder so the chicks can sustain their internal body temperature from coldness. the temperature for the first week is 32.20c – 350c, the second week is 29.40c – 32.20c, the third week is 29.40c – 26.70c, and for the fourth weeks is 230c. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research project structure the project is composed of two parts, the hardware and the software. the hardware parts are the following: solar panel, solar charge controller, dc battery, inverter, relay, and the 25w incandescent bulb. the software is built-in using arduino uno on temperature and chicks both with lcd display. project capabilities and limitations the project prototype has the following capabilities: (1) can monitor the temperature inside the brooder, (2) can automatically switch on and off the energy supply from utility grid and dc battery, (3) can decrease the bill from the utility grid, (4) low current, and (5) can switch on and off the relay for 2 seconds both from utility grid and dc battery. however, the project has the following limitations, (1) the energy consumption from dc battery last for 14 hours, and (2) the proximity collision sensor is sensitive and can detect up to 25 cm. the following details show the different computations regarding the design, implementation and testing conducted on the prototype. area of solar panel based on the number of chicks 1watt per chick x 10,000 chicks = 10,000watts area of 100 watt solar panel a = l x w a = 48 in x 21.5 in a = 1,032 sq. inches table 3. result of dc testing for ammeter time battery voltage (v) bulb (a) temperature (a) 6:00 am 100% 12.6 2.5 0.25 7:00 am 93% 12.5 2.5 0.25 8:00 am 86% 12.42 2.5 0.25 9:00 am 79% 12.38 2.5 0.25 10:00 am 72% 12.35 2.5 0.25 11:00 am 65% 12.27 2.5 0.25 12:00 pm 58% 12.15 2.5 0.25 1:00 pm 51% 12.02 2.5 0.25 87 international peer reviewed journal 2:00 pm 44% 11.9 2.5 0.25 3:00 pm 37% 11.5 2.5 0.25 4:00 pm 30% 11.08 2.5 0.25 5:00 pm 23% 10.89 2.5 0.25 6:00 pm 16% 10.65 2.5 0.25 7:00 pm 9% 10.57 2.5 0.25 8:00 pm 2% 10.45 2.5 0.25 table 3 shows the result of dc testing for the ammeter. the voltage that is coming from the dc battery changes from 100% is in full charge and it has 12.6v. the level of dc battery becomes lower; the voltage also is going low where 2% is at the lowest level where the voltage is 10.45v. the bulb ampere has 2.5a, and the temperature has 0.25a. table 4. result of dc testing for wattage time battery bulb (w) temperature (w) total 6:00 am 100% 30 3 40 7:00 am 93% 30 3 40 8:00 am 86% 30 3 40 9:00 am 79% 30 3 40 10:00 am 72% 30 3 40 11:00 am 65% 30 3 40 12:00 pm 58% 30 3 40 1:00 pm 51% 30 3 40 2:00 pm 44% 30 3 40 3:00 pm 37% 30 3 40 4:00 pm 30% 30 3 40 5:00 pm 23% 30 3 40 6:00 pm 16% 30 3 40 700pm 9% 30 3 40 8:00 pm 2% 30 3 40 grand total 560 table 4 shows the result of dc testing for wattage. the monitoring is 14 hours to get the accurate data from a 100% level of dc battery down to 2%. the incandescent bulb is 25w but the actual is 30w, and the temperature is 5w 88 jpair multidisciplinary research and the actual is 3w. the total power wattage of all the supplies are 30w and the grand total is 560w per day. table 5. results of solar charging solar charging number of days time in (charging) time out (charging) percent of charging total number of hours day 1 7:00 am 6:00 pm 90% 11 hrs day 2 7:00 am 6:00 pm 40% 11 hrs day 3 7:00 am 6:00 pm 40% 11 hrs day 4 7:00 am 4:00 pm 100% 9hrs day 5 7:00 am 6:00 pm 40% 11 hrs day 6 7:00 am 4:00 pm 100% 9 hrs day 7 7:00 am 4:00 pm 100% 9 hrs the table 5 shows the results of solar panel captured the heat of the sun and charge to dc battery controlled by a solar charge controller. this is the actual result of the total hours per day. the full charge of the dc battery is 9 hours in high humidity and good weather. the minimum charge is 40% in 11 hours in cloudy weather. table 6. results of battery used solar discharging number of days time in (charging) time out (charging) total number of hours battery used day 1 6:00 pm 6:00 am 12 hrs 90% day 2 6:00 pm 1:00 am 7 hrs 40% day 3 6:00 pm 1:00 am 7 hrs 40% day 4 6:00 pm 8:00 am 14 hrs 100% day 5 6:00 pm 1:00 am 7 hrs 40% day 6 6:00 pm 8:00 am 14 hrs 100% day 7 6:00 pm 8:00 am 14 hrs 100% table 6 shows the results of the battery used. the supply loads of battery are the 25w incandescent bulb, and 3.5w temperature with lcd. the average hours that the battery can supply is 14 hours in a full charge and the shortest hours is 7 hours in 40%. 89 international peer reviewed journal project evaluation the project was set-up and evaluated in technological university of the philippines manila as seen in figures 20 and 21 and assessed the performance in terms of its functionality, aesthetics, workability, durability, economy, safety and saleability. table 8 shows a summary of the evaluation results of the performance of the project. table 7. the mean scores and results on the evaluation of the project criteria mean scores equivalent meaning functionality 4.67 excellent aesthetics 4.42 very good workability 4.82 excellent durability 4.78 excellent economy 4.82 excellent safety 4.65 excellent saleability 4.85 excellent overall mean 4.72 excellent table 7 shows the mean scores and descriptive equivalents of respondents’ results on the evaluation of the project. the functionality of the machine got an average mean of 4.67 which has a descriptive rating of “excellent”. it signifies that the project functioned as designed, easy to operate, convenient and user-friendly. the aesthetics of the project had a mean rating of 4.42 which is described to be “very good”. this implies that the size of the project depends on the number of chicks and the design is appealing to the eyes of the evaluators. the workability of the project was “excellent” with an average mean of 4.82. this shows that the materials used are locally available, the technical expertise needed to make the project work as well as the tools, machines and devices were all readily available. the criteria of durability gained an average mean of 4.78 which is described to be “excellent”. this indicates the quality of the materials used, its design and workmanship. in terms of economy in relation to the materials needed, time and labor spent and machines required, the evaluators gave an average mean of 4.82 which has a descriptive meaning of “excellent”. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research the safety of the device was given a mean of 4.65 which denotes to be “excellent”. it indicates that there was an absence of sharp edges, along with the provision for the protection of devices and the resulting design is safe from electric shock. the saleability of the overall project was given a mean of 4.85 which denotes to be “excellent”. it indicates that there was a necessity on demand for the poultry raisers specifically on areas experiencing brown out every day. results of the evaluation revealed that the respondents are satisfied with the outcome of the project and gave an overall mean score of 4.72 with a descriptive meaning of “excellent”. conclusions in consideration of the objectives of the study and the results of the project evaluation, the following conclusions are derived (1) the design of the prototype has the following features: (a) the project installed a relay device for immediate managing the power supply inside the brooder, the energy has two sources, one is from the utility grid and the other one is from the solar panel charge on dc battery; (b) the 100w solar panel can charge the 50ah dc battery for 9 hours in 100% and 11 hours in 40% during cloudy weather, the usage of 100% reached up to 14 hours and 9 hours for 40%. (c) the brooder has a temperature with an lcd display that monitors the temperature inside the brooder for the first week is 320c, the second week is 290c and third week is 260c. (d) the total area of the solar panel is 1,032w; (e) the brooder has a total power of 33w and 560w consumption of the load from the dc battery per day; (f ) the losses of the electrical system is 0.1kwh and 35.75%. (2) the designed prototype is based on the evaluation of the respondents’ that the prototype has a mean rating of 4.42 which is described to be “very good”. this implies that the size of the project depends on the number of chicks and the design is appealing to the eyes of the evaluators. (3) the result in testing, the actual wattage of the supplies in the brooder such as the bulb has 30w, and the temperature sensor is 3w. (4) the performance of the prototype and the electrical system of the brooder in terms of energy management has an overall mean score of 4.72 in the descriptive rating of “excellent”. it is evident that the prototype is working well. 91 international peer reviewed journal translational research user manual 1. the project has following major components: brooder, where the chicks are placed, electronic devices are installed, relay, which monitors and controls the power supply of the system, solar panel and battery, that captures and saves the energy from the sun, inverter, that converts direct current to alternating current. 2. micro-grid is island mode means isolated operation mode energy is coming from the solar sun’s energy. this is connected to both local generating system units and utility grid to prevent outages. the green color is represented that the energy is coming from the utility grid. on the other hand, the deep cycle battery is already empty. 3. the two (2) ways automatic switching responsible for the energy distribution from the solar and utility grid. the loads for the distribution of power supply are the monitoring device installed on top of the brooder and the 25w bulb inside the brooder. literature cited bautista, a. d., ong, e. t., pineda, n. a. g., urbano, m. y. v., uy, p. s. l., & dulay, a. e. (2015). energy management system for educational buildings using narrow band power line communications based on the prime standard. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2c6otnv kahlenborn, w., kabisch, s., klein, j., richter, i., & schürmann, s. (2012). energie management systeme in der praxis: iso 50001: leitfaden für unternehmen und organisationen.  auflage, broschüren/faltblätter. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2eqxw2d pranadi, aloysius damar (2016), “microgrids and smartgrids in asean”. retrieved from http://www.aseanenergy.org/blog/microgrids-andsmartgrids-in-asean/ philippines statistic authority, (2015). performance of philippine agriculture. retrieved from https://psa.gov.ph/ppa-main/livestock-poultry the energy philippines, 2013-2014. growth and opportunities in the philippine electric power. retrieved from https://bit.ly/1sslzhx https://bit.ly/2c6otnv https://bit.ly/2eqxw2d http://www.aseanenergy.org/author/damarpranadi/ http://www.aseanenergy.org/blog/microgrids-and-smartgrids-in-asean/ http://www.aseanenergy.org/blog/microgrids-and-smartgrids-in-asean/ https://psa.gov.ph/ppa-main/livestock-poultry 82 jpair multidisciplinary research development of domestic refrigerator trainer: an instructional material for beginner technician manuel a. bajet, jr. orcid no. 0000-0002-7545-971 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines nelson a. bajet orcid no. 0000-0001-5853-3983 nelsonbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines abstract the university of northern philippines is one arm of the government in developing skilled manpower. it envisioned produce highly skilled graduates employed in the country and abroad to boost the country’s economy and support themselves and their families. the objectives can only be realized if it is properly equipped with laboratory facilities that can provide hands-on training for students. the technology department has been facing problems of inadequate instructional materials and facilities, especially those that could help in the development of the student’s manipulative skills. the design and development domestic refrigerator trainer used locally available materials. the conceptualization of the trainer is in the intellectual capability of refrigeration and air conditioning faculty researchers. the domestic refrigerator trainer in its advancement in the teaching and learning process is and the principle operations, easy to understand the different connection of electric circuitry in the mechanical components. the trainer can also present the four phases of refrigerant cycle .its vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.272 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 83 international peer reviewed journal design focuses on skills training approach to aid the beginner student in an easy and comprehensive way of learning the trade in a very limited time that servicing and repair is in his hands. keywords – technology, design and development of domestic refrigerator trainer, experimental design, philippines introduction educational institutions are given very serious responsibilities such that greater expectations are placed on their capability to mold future citizens for increased and effective participation in national development. it is imperative that schools have to examine critically their curriculum and training programs and suit them to meet new challenges and requirements. facilities, resources and instruction have to be evaluated if it fits existing needs demands for the successful achievement of goals. technical education prepares the individuals for employment in occupations requiring technical knowledge and competence beyond that of skilled craftsman. likewise, technology education is an education term to connote a form of education intended to provide training to develop skills, abilities, understanding, attitudes, work habits, and appreciation needed by the workers to enter and make progress in an employment on useful and productive basis. to become an effective instrument of national development, education must not only prepare and equip the young with the needed skills and knowledge in academic courses but also along technical and technological courses to be acceptable for entry into the occupation for which they are trained. given adequate support and training, skilled manpower developed along technical and technological courses would be certainly contributes in accelerating productivity. in a world swift technological change, it is neither enough nor of importance to equip students with the skills essential to their jobs. the real challenge is to equip them with more core knowledge and skills that will enable them to adapt successfully in the future to changing jobs and environment that might require different skills. the commission on higher education (ched) its vision is the key leader of the philippine higher education system effectively in partnership with other major higher education stakeholders in building the country’s human capital and innovation capacity towards the development of a filipino nation as a responsible 84 jpair multidisciplinary research member of the international community. it is mandated to the national government’s commitment to transformational leadership that puts education as the central strategy for investing in the filipino people, reducing poverty, and building national competitiveness and pursuant to republic act 7722, ched shall, promote relevant and quality higher education. the ched strategic plan programs for 2011-2016 is the rationalization of higher education institutions, with in a moratorium period on the opening of new programs especially in oversubscribed disciplines. the objective is to lay the foundation for a more efficient and effective system in delivering quality public higher education services and for a more flexible regulatory framework for private higher education provision. and one of the project components is jobskills matching project. to produce highly competent and competitive graduates, heis are encouraged to offer programs that are in demand and responsive to the needs of industry, both domestic and international. the jobskills matching project includes; formulation of master plans for priority disciplines, review the curricula to make them fit the needs of industries, establishment of labor market information on jobs that are in demand and hard to fill, to guide both students and parents in choosing courses; identification of areas of mismatch and implementation of strategies to address such mismatches; massive information dissemination on employment opportunities among students and heis, and periodic conduct of graduate tracer studies. (ched strategic plan for 2012-2016). technical and technological education, as an area in the country’s overall manpower and human resources development program, has the crucial role of individuals and providing skilled and technical workers required by the philippine economy. one of the popular criticisms hurled against technical and technological education is the mismatch of graduates to the needs of industry in terms of quality performance. industries or companies questioned, that school training is inadequate to their needs so they are compelled to exclusive train, or even retrain workers just to meet their immediate needs. faced with the need of increasing numbers of skilled workers for expanding industries, as well as rapidly advancing technology, technological institutions play a very crucial role in moulding or developing the skills and abilities of students and constantly revising the educational facilities to meet these challenges. in recent years, the pressing need for training programs to serve students’ various backgrounds and abilities has also become evident. the university of northern philippines is one arm of the government in developing and improving skilled manpower. it has envisioned itself as the 85 international peer reviewed journal leading institution in technical education in region 1 in terms of instruction, research, extension and production. it also envisioned be produce highly skilled, value laden graduates employed in the country and abroad to boost the country’s economy and support themselves and their families. its mission is to provide students the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to become highly productive technicians with the potential of becoming managers in their own field of specialization and to extend the services through expert, technical researchers and quality products. the objective of the university can only be realized if it is properly equipped with laboratory facilities that can provide hands-on training for students. for many years the university particularly, its technology department, has been facing the problem of insufficient and inadequate instructional materials and facilities, especially those that could help in the development of the student’s manipulative skills. with this problem, the idea of designing this domestic refrigerator trainer was conceived to facilitate the transfer of learning and also to assist the learning activities of the students, particularly in the refrigeration and air conditioning course. lecture alone do not satisfy the need of the learners .therefore, technical knowledge and skills are always supplied with actual performances. the researchers believe that one of the best ways to help minimize the problem of in adequate equipment is to come up with a trainer that will help facilitate the teaching learning process in the refrigeration and air conditioning course at the university of northern philippines, hence, this study. framework syamsuri hasan and ricky gunawan (2013) opines, that the goal of teaching process is to enable students in mastering the subject either in theory or in practice, where the latter is a conceptual application in real performance. the application process of the concept will need some aid of medium or educational equipment to perform the goal of a teaching process. this medium has a role in giving the information of teaching material from teachers or other sources which can encourage the students in fast comprehension. the goal of this research is to produce a cheap and representative aid / teaching medium. the aid / teaching medium will be a trainer unit multiple evaporator system model which contributes to the students in the teaching process of conceptual refrigeration system. based on the analyses and discussion, of their study they found that: 1) trainer unit multiple evaporator system model resulted from this research 86 jpair multidisciplinary research has fulfilled the terms of educational medium that is cheaper than the market sale. furthermore, it is properly used for teaching visual aid and facilitates the conceptual comprehension. thus, it can basically be applied to the real equipment, either as commercial refrigeration system or in industry. 2) trainer unit multiple evaporator system model can overcome or eliminate any obstacles in the teaching process of refrigeration system, especially subjects in relation with multi evaporator and can give the basic competence. teaching medium consists of all sorts of teaching components available around the student’s environment which can stimulate learning (abdulhak, 2003). medium or teaching aid is a fundamental necessity and has a supplementary character in reaching the goal of teaching process successfully. further, abdulhak (2003) said that the teaching medium may include human, material, equipment or activities used for distributing messages which can stimulate mind, feeling, attention and motivation of the students, so that they get in themselves a learning stimulant. teaching/learning process in arousing the students’ motivation will need an aid device which can concentrate mind, feeling, attention, and motivation of the students in understanding the concept they are studying (ibrahim & syaodih, 2003). obviously the teaching medium is needed in any teaching or teaching/learning process. the use of teaching/learning medium will need to consider the cheap price, efficiency and affordability of the educational institute without rejecting the possibility in using modern medium according to technological demand. so, educational medium as an aid device must be able to be reached by educational institute with a cheap price and efficiency. according to nurdin et al. (1982), the requirements of educational medium are: a) rational, according to ratio and thinkable by the inventor. b) scientific, according to the scientific development. c) economical, according to the affordable fund. d) practical, can be used in the practical situation in school and simple in characteristic. e) functional, useful in the teaching and can be used by teachers and students. according to sudjana and rivai (2001), the advantages of teaching/learning medium are: a) the teaching will be more interesting and so that the motivation will grow, b) the teaching/learning material will be clearer in meaning, easy to understand, and easy to reach its goal, c) giving variation to the teaching 87 international peer reviewed journal method, and d) the students will do more learning activities. the advantage of teaching/learning medium in the teaching/learning process is the ability to make a more conducive atmosphere and enhance activities. one important factor is that the teaching/learning medium can heighten the students’ learning process in the teaching/learning, so that finally it can heighten the achievement result of learning (sudjana & rivai, 2001). the existence of teaching/learning medium is to support the teaching/ learning process, so that the students can understand the teaching material and finally can reach a satisfied result. the effective and efficient teaching is done for example by applying creative teaching from muhtar (2005). one means of creative teaching is by making a teaching/learning medium which can motivate the students in the teaching process. it is better if the learning medium is made by teachers so as to suit the requirement, and it can be made in a simple form. the teaching/learning medium is divided in two categories: two dimensions and three dimension. the three dimension model consists of: solid model, cutaway model, and diorama model. trainer unit as a teaching/learning medium constitutes a combination between working model and mock-up model. based on the definition given by sudjana and rivai (2001), working model is an imitation of an object which exposes the outer side of the original object, and it has some parts of the real object. as for the mock-up model, it is a simplified structure of the main part of a more complicated process or system. the real structure of the main parts is modified so that the main aspects of a process can be easily understood by the students. refrigeration system is a process to maintain the room temperature or substance/object so as to stay lower than the surrounding temperature. this process will occur when there is equipment/machine which can be used for this purpose (sarao & gaabi, 2001). as an equipment to maintain temperature to stay lower than the surrounding air, refrigeration system is widely used in social life, either for preserving (food) or for producing goods in the industry. refrigeration equipment/machine consists of four main components: evaporator, compressor, condenser, and refrigerant control equipment (resistant device for refrigerant expansion). besides, there is an additional device for maintaining the work of the machine according to the desired temperature, e.g. thermostat, compressor control equipment, etc. according to ikhsan (2006), edgar dale clearly gave a stress about the significance of medium in education through pyramid/cone graphic (see figure 1). 88 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. pyramid/cone graphic of stages in educational medium according to edgar dale’s pyramid, it can be seen that the students learn conceptually (theoretically) and they just listen, have a low grade of comprehension: about 20%. if the students in the active learning do the job themselves either by simulation or by the real object, so they can get about 90% of the information. later on they can learn through simulation with multimedia interactive module and after they understand well, they can continue to learn by using trainer unit multiple evaporator system model. it is hoped that the students can get as much information as they can from their study result and meet the criteria of edgar dale (90%). the result of the study syamsuri hasan and ricky gunawan in february 2006, is as follows: 1) the application of refrigeration concept in the assembling of the trainer unit in the subject of refrigeration system can be done by the students significantly according to the material concerning refrigeration which has already been informed. 2) a medium or a teaching aid equipment has been produced, which can be used in the teaching process. the medium, which is in 89 international peer reviewed journal the form of trainer unit has been assembled by the students, and it can readily be used for medium or teaching aid equipment in the learning/teaching activity process, especially in the department of refrigeration and air conditioning engineering specialist. the goal of the research is a standard to direct the researcher in searching data so as not diverge from the stated problem. so the goal is to produce teaching medium/aid equipment which is relatively cheap and representative. the teaching medium/aid equipment is in the form of trainer unit multiple evaporator system models, which can be a contribution to the students in the teaching process of refrigeration system conceptual. the success of this research can give a contribution in solving the educational problem, especially in relation with the teaching process of refrigeration system, so that the relevant competence can be obtained with the field job in refrigeration and air conditioning technology. the conceptual model showing the variables for the development of the project which guided this study is depicted below in the form of a paradigm. the input includes the ideas on design and construction of the trainer, supplies and materials, tools and equipment needed. the throughput involves the designing, constructing, and assembling of the trainer utilizing old and recycled materials that are locally available it also involves testing of its functionality and effectiveness of the trainer. the output of the study is a skeleton type domestic refrigerator. figure 2. the conceptual paradigm objectives of the study the objective of this study is to design and develop a domestic refrigerator trainer to solve problems of inadequate teaching learning device for students. the student can visualize all the mechanical and electrical components of a domestic 90 jpair multidisciplinary research refrigerator. further, the trainer can present the four phases of refrigerant cycle unlike the actual domestic refrigerator that having the cabinet assembly. furthermore, the trainer is more practical and interesting for the students that while discussion is going on students can visualize that all the components are working. the evaporator is icing and the condenser is heating. this will arouse the curiosity of the students that may trigger them to be attentive and eager to learn. materials and methods this study uses a discarded, malfunctioned refrigerator to recycle the serviceable spare part. malfunction refrigerator do not have the same trouble, it may either one or two spare parts are caused of operational failure. the study used the project method of research which aims to develop a skeleton type domestic refrigerator trainer that components are transparently seen by the eye. assembling the mechanical parts, tube systems and installation of the electrical components was done. further it includes the sequence of the development of the project, from the time it was conceived until it was fully accomplished. results and discussion figure 1 shows domestic refrigeration. students may not understand the laws of refrigerator that deal with heat temperature and pressure. how heat travels from higher to lower temperature, the heat of compression, evaporation process and condensation process. also, some of the mechanical, tubing, and the electrical components are hidden. the proposed refrigeration trainer the proposed project is shown in figure 2. all the components are traceable, the flow of current and cooling or heating process, that is taking place inside the tube system that the students may experience outside the cabinet. the assembly of the trainer is much easier to explain the respective functions in the system. it is also easier to understand the refrigeration theory, principles and cycles. 91 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. actual refrigerator figure 4. proposed trainer figure 5. the developed refrigerator trainer 92 jpair multidisciplinary research assemble the mechanical component 1. compressor unroll the 5 feet length 3/16 inch diameter copper tube. swag and join to the dis charge line of the motor compressor. likewise connect a copper tube 7 feet length ¼ inch diameter at the suction line, while an access valve with a 6 inches length ¼ inch copper will be connecting to the charging port. silver brazened all connected copper tubes. 2. condenser install the condenser to the frame housing of the trainer. connect the discharge line tube 3/16 inch diameter of the compressor to the inlet (upper portion) at the condenser. silver brazened the joining. figure 6. the electrical diagram figure 7. actual setup of the electrical diagram 93 international peer reviewed journal 3. capillary tube from the outlet (lower portion) of the condenser, one end of the capillaries tube. after brazing the capillaries tube to the condenser allow approximately one half of the length to be winded on the suction line of the compressor tube to use a heat exchanger. at the other end of the capillary tube brazed with 6inch length of ¼ diameter copper tube for the installation of the inlet fort of the filter/drier brazens connection. 4. filter/ drier and the evaporator – filter/drier have its marking note to identify the inlet and outlet. either an arrow or dotted marked. dotted or arrow mark identify that it will be connected at the evaporator where the flow of refrigerant direction, brazened the connection. 5 accumulator from the suction line of the evaporator the accumulator will be installed. at the other end, the suction line of the motor compressor will also be connected, brazened the connection. the complete mechanical set up of the trainer cooling units like a refrigerator uses a compressor that follows a tube system to accomplish the cooling and heating process. the tube system starts from the outlet of the discharge valve of the compressor and goes to the discharge line. it is either 3/16 or ¼ of an inch diameter that extend up to the filter/drier approximately 25 to 37 feet for 6 cubic feet refrigerator. filter/drier in its function in the tube system is to screen all dirt that may enter to free the capillaries tube from clogging. the capillaries tube is the refrigerant control. it is joined at the outlet of the filter/drier. this is the smallest of all the tubes in the system. at about ½ of the length of this tube is either brazened winded or inserted in the suction line to form the heat exchanger. the end of the capillaries is brazened with the evaporator to control the refrigerant just enough to be used inside these coils for a desired temperature. evaporator tube system was bigger to give space for the refrigerant to boil while absorbing heat. the accumulator, the size is much bigger that trap some of the unboiled refrigerant (flash gas) to protect the moving part of the compressor from wearing out. the last part of the tube system is the suction line which connected the accumulator to the motor compressor. be sure that all joints connections of the piping lay-out is free from leaks. leak testing is necessary. leak is a minor trouble, but it can give more headaches to technicians. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research to look for leaks, it takes time and patience and worse the refrigerant will go to the atmosphere and destroys the ozone layer. there are many ways of finding leaks, by using pressurized gas (nitrogen) and using leak detectors or using soap suds. installation of the electrical component electrical system contributes about 75 percent trouble of refrigerator. therefore, a beginner student must devote to familiarize the electrical component of the refrigerator. since the motor compressor is the heart of the system, it is best to start to study. the concern of the beginner student is the functional relationships of each subcomponent and how they function. this analysis is based on the actual connections being dissected into related parts to easily memorize the whole circuit. 1. motor and its sub-component. the motor consists of three terminals where the relay and overload protector connections are attached, the starting, common, and running terminal configuration. since the motor is the starting point of the circuit, connect the relay and the overload protector. 2. overload protection. the overload protector is connected at the common terminal of the motor. it is necessary because the common terminal is the junction that the running and starting winding meet, and that it will protect the winding against overloading. 3. thermostat connection. this device is to cut off the line when the refrigerator attains its coolness. it can be connected either in line 1 or line 2. it can be along the line of the relay or at the overload protector. 4. door switch and lighting. these electrical devices connection are done as separate circuit from the motor so that the motor is independent, and that no other electrical component can obstruct while the motor is in operation or at in rest. 5. service cord. the service cord is the path of current to the entire electrical system of a refrigerator where the male plug is installed. 95 international peer reviewed journal summary of the electrical circuits since the whole circuits are dissected into segment, it can be seen as a whole. there are three circuits the motor, lighting and the dew point heater. starting from the male plug are the two lines that sourced the current. from then, the door switch and the light bulb are connected across the two lines, because it needs no power interruption whether the motor is on or off. the bulb must provide light whenever the user needs something inside the refrigerator. the second circuit is the dew point heater. this is the heating element of the insulator of the cabinet. the steel plate of the outer shell must be kept dry from the moisture absorbed by the insulator. the thermostat is used as the switching device when the motor needs rest or operation. the device is connected a series in either one of the line source of power. the other line source of power, the relay is connected. the overload protector is a “must” that is connected in the common terminal of the motor that protects the two windings (the running and starting) of the motor in case of power failure. there were three terminals of the compressor the starting, common and running terminals. understanding the whole circuitry may the beginner student in visual electrical wirings. other important roles of the refrigerator trainer another important role of the refrigerator trainer, aside from direct visualizing the mechanical component, the tube system and the electrical connections the beginner students, the trainer can present the four phases of refrigerant cycle. these are; circulation, pressure, temperature and the state of refrigerant that can be properly illustrated the complete appearance of the refrigerator. figure 8. the circulation process of the refrigerant 96 jpair multidisciplinary research 1. circulation process of refrigerant. circulation is one of the important parts of the cycle of refrigerant that a beginner student needs to master in the tube system. to start the circulation phase, when the piston of the compressor is down stroke motion, refrigerant is sucked at the lowpressure side of the system. then, during the upstroke of the piston it is forced. to flow into the discharge line and passes through the filter/drier then into the capillaries tube. from this tube, it enters the evaporator coils and the accumulator passing through the suction line and back to the suction valve. the circulation repeated in the entire operation. 2. pressure cycle of refrigerant. another important factor, without the specific pressures in each set of tube, cooling is hindered. the trainer demonstrates as in the diagram in figure 6 that pressure a force exerted by the compressor to let the refrigerant circulate inside the vacuumed tube. circulation starts when the piston is in its down stroke position. the compressing chamber pressure is approximately 250 to 500 psi. refrigerant while travelling in the different set of tube sizes it reduces its force. in the condenser, the pressure is slightly high up to the filter, this lowered as it passes the capillaries tube because its inside diameter is reduced. refrigerant as it enters the evaporator it is much lowered to allow it to boil and absorb heat. low pressure refrigerant goes to the accumulator and into the suction line which is approximately 20psi. refrigerant pressure is divided into two, high and low side of the system. high side constitutes the high pressure starting from the discharge valve of the compressor up to the filter/drier. the low side is from the junction between the capillaries tube and filter/drier up to the suction valve of the compressor. figure 9. pressure cycle of refrigerant 97 international peer reviewed journal figure 10. the temperature cycle 3. temperature cycle -the temperatures cycle is repeated all over the set of tubes of the system is in normal operation. failure to follow this condition means a problem in the system. the tube is divided into different size, the smaller diameter tube set has higher temperatures while the bigger sets of tubes have lower temperature. the lower temperature starts at the junction of large tube of the evaporator and the small tube of the capillaries meet. it is in this part, refrigeration starts. 4. state of refrigerant unless the tube system used transparent one like the trainer, one may see the state of refrigerant while it is moving inside the vacuum tube system transforming from one state to another. this aspect is one of the important information that a beginner analyse possible student can have in order to causes of troubles along this line. this can be a basis of scientific investigation that leads to the proper diagnose and solution of the problem. the refrigerant inside the service tank is at ambient temperature is in liquid form. by the nature, only liquid substances can absorb heat, thus this refrigerant starts its cycle from liquid to vapour and from vapour back a liquid state again. conclusions the design and development domestic refrigerator trainer used reconditioned and locally available materials. the conceptualization of the trainer is in the 98 jpair multidisciplinary research intellectual capability of refrigeration and air conditioning faculty. the cost of production is incomparable in terms the economy for the reason that this trainer has no commercial counterpart. the domestic refrigerator trainer in its advancement in the teaching and learning process is and the principle operations, easy to understand the different connection of electric circuitry in the mechanical components. the trainer can also present the four phases of refrigerant cycle. its design focuses on skills training approach to aid the beginner student in an easy and comprehensive way of learning the trade. in a very limited time that servicing and repair are in his hands. recommendations refrigeration and air conditioning faculty are encouraged to make use of this trainer in the transfer knowledge and skills training in the trade to bridge the gap between lecture and handson application. literature cited abdulhak, i. 2003 media pemelajaran dan peranannya dalam meningkatkan mutu pendidikan (tinjauan paedagogi). makalah pada pelatihan pembuatan media pemelajaran jurusan pendidikan teknik mesin. bandung. jptm fptk upi. commission on higher education (ched) strategic plans for 2012-2016. retrieved on august 31, 2006 from http://goo.gl/ewqlm4 hasan, s., & gunawan, r. design of trainer unit multiple evaporator system model for eliminating obstacles in the teaching process of refrigeration system conceptual. ibrahim, r. dan syaodih. s, nana 2003 perencanaan pengajaran. jakarta. penerbit pt. rineka cipta. 99 international peer reviewed journal ikhsan, m. 2006 teknologi pendidikan, prinsip pengembangan media pendidikan sebuah pengantar. muhtar, m. 2005 pembelajaran kreatif. nurdin, fahmi, gambut, amran., ridwan 1982 media pendidikan. makalah pada semlok metode belajar mengajar. padang. fkt ikip padang sarao, a.s. & dan gaabi, p.s. 2001 refrigeration & air conditioning second edition. new delhi. satya prakashan. sudjana, n. & dan rivai, a. 2001 media pengajaran cetakan ke empat. bandung. sinar baru algensindo offset. syaodih s., nana. 2001 pengembangan kurikulum pendidikan dan pelatihan teknik. bandung. upi. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research abstracts neonatal conjunctivitis is a worldwide problem. although global incidence is not known, incidents of 1-24% have been reported from various regions of the world especially those practicing home delivery without standard prophylaxis. this study was an in-vitro investigation on possible prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum (on) like potassium aluminum sulfate (kalso 4)2 and povidone iodine (c6h9i2no) in comparison to tetracycline. a five by three (5x3) factorial experiment in completely randomized design (crd) was used in this study. factor a was the five-test bacteria, namely staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. while factor b was the experimental variables or the substances to be tested such as alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline. aluminum was diluted and subjected to purity test prior to bacteria assay. the zone of inhibition was measured using a caliper and results were recorded. based on the in-vitro analysis, aluminum showed a positive response to the five tested bacteria as it yielded a comparative mean results of efficacy of potassium aluminum sulfate (kalso 4 ) 2 and povidone iodine (c 6 h 9 i 2 no) as crede’s prophylaxis against ophthalmia neonatorum leonel c. mendoza http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2280-2077 leonelmendoza49@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology-calapan city campus masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 95 • plagiarism: 1 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.562 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:leonelmendoza49@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 23 international peer reviewed journal growth inhibition. among the possible applications of the findings in the study could be the formulation of antiseptic eye drops with the use of alum or povidone iodine to be used as prophylaxis to guard against neonatal conjunctivitis. keywords — health science, in-vitro investigation, zone of inhibitions, prophylactic agents, ophthalmia neonatorum, philippines introduction based on the reports from various regions of the world, ophthalmia neonatorum has recorded 1-24% of incidences making it one among top global health problems. most the epidemiological findings are related to gonococcal and chlamydial on because it is related to sexually-transmitted diseases and are, therefore, of general public health importance. in this case, expectant women are the main source of infection that is reason that neonates born to such mothers have a high risk of contracting the disease during delivery. the occurrence of on is associated to socioeconomic status of the area like in united states of america which ranges from 1% to 2%. neonatal conjunctivitis or ophthalmia neonatorum (on), is a commonly encountered problem which presents during the first month of life. the causes can be septic or aseptic and the majority of infectious neonatal conjunctivitis are of bacterial etiology. in spite most of these cases are benign, some of them may progress to systemic complications or visual loss if left untreated. often, but not invariably, bacterial conjunctivitis has a longer incubation period as compared to other infective causes. clinical signs include redness, tearing, secretion, conjunctival and palpebral inflammation, a pseudo membrane and corneal perforation which may result in blindness. ocular prophylaxis is still warranted because not all women receive prenatal care, and, therefore, not all women are able to be diagnosed prenatally (mabryhernandez, & oliverio-hoffman, 2010). it is a common knowledge in the philippines that home delivery conducted by a comadrona or hilot is still a usual practice especially in the rural areas. in such cases, no standard prophylaxis is used to guard against neonatal conjunctivitis. from this standpoint, it is deemed significant by the researcher to conduct an in-vitro investigation on possible remedies for the prevention of neonatal conjunctivitis. it is sought by the proponent to determine alternative agents like alum and povidone iodine in comparison to tetracycline which is the current drug choice for crede’s prophylaxis. with 24 jpair multidisciplinary research the rising cost of medicines and hospitalization, babies delivered at home might be spared from neonatal conjunctivitis through the discovery of safe, affordable indigenous alternatives to the current drug choice. this study also aimed to determine whether alum or potassium aluminum sulfate can be used to substitute tetracycline which is the current prophylactic drug choice for neonatal conjunctivitis. this is for the reason that based on research findings, cases of neonatal conjunctivitis still occur in spite of treatment with tetracycline. the same is true in the case of povidone iodine, a commonlyused antiseptic. alum is inexpensive and very easily available in the market, even in far-flung rural areas. it is a common household remedy for body odor and mouth sores or thrush or “singaw.” it is claimed by the researcher from personal experience and observation that alum quite readily relieves and heals said sores. objectives of the study the study was conducted to determine safe, effective, and inexpensive possible alternative prophylactic agent in vitro for on that can be used as home remedy for home-delivered babies. specifically, it sought: 1) to determine the antibacterial property of potassium aluminum sulfate, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration in vitro against the following test bacteria: staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. in terms of zone of growth inhibition; 2) to measure zone of growth inhibitions of potassium aluminum sulfate, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against the test bacteria namely staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp.; 3) to compare zone of growth inhibitions of potassium aluminum sulfate, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against the test bacteria namely staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp.; and 4) to determine and compare the periods of first growth inhibitions of potassium aluminum sulfate, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against test bacteria namely staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. materials and methods a five by three (5x3) factorial experiment in completely randomized design (crd) was used in this study. factor a was the five-test bacteria, namely 25 international peer reviewed journal staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. while factor b was the experimental variables or the substances to be tested such as alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline. the different combination was presented in table c while the set-ups were as follows: factor a (test bacteria) a1 staphylococcus aureus a2 escherichia coli a3 klebsiella pneumoniae a4 enterobacter spp. a5 pseudomonas spp. factor b (experimental prophylactic agents) b1 5% potassium aluminum sulfate b2 5% povidone iodine b3 5% tetracycline table 1. experimental set-ups used in the study test bacteria (a) prophylactic agents (b) b1 b2 b3 a1 a1b1 a1b2 a1b3 a2 a2b1 a2b2 a2b3 a3 a3b1 a3b2 a3b3 a4 a4b1 a4b2 a4b3 a5 a5b1 a5b2 a5b3 the five bacterial strains were purchased from luna goco medical center. the bacteria sensitivity test started by bringing mueller hinton agar, tetracycline antibiotic, blank discs and bacterial strains to room temperature. in a sterile tube, 1 ml of 5 % povidone-iodine and 1 ml of 5 % alum were transferred in a separate tube. the five blank discs were soaked to each solution of povidoneiodine and alum for 30 minutes. five sterile tubes were prepared and each tube was labelled with respective bacterial strains. the 2.5 ml of normal saline solution was transferred in each tube for preparation of bacterial suspension. the tube was heated before and after transferring of sample or inocula. the inoculating needle was heated. using the inoculating needle, a single colony 26 jpair multidisciplinary research of each bacteria was picked and was emulsified with nss in each respective tubes. the suspension was mixed. a sterile cotton swab was submerged in each prepared bacterial suspension. the cotton tip was allowed to absorb the suspension for some time. then, the mueller hinton agar was labelled with the name of bacteria, alum, povidone-iodine and tetracycline. each suspension was swabbed in mueller hinton agar using overlapping streak technique. the streaked suspension was allowed to dry. a pre-soaked disc in each solution of povidone-iodine and alum was planted respectively to the mueller hinton agar with specified bacteria. tetracycline was also planted to each respective plate to serve as control. the plates were incubated in 35-37 degree celsius for 18-24 hours. each plate was examined after 8 hours for initial growth and final growth after 24 hours. lastly, the zone of inhibition was measured using a caliper and results were recorded. standard laboratory precautions in handling pathogenic bacteria were observed throughout the experiment. data collected were analyzed using glm procedure of the analysis of variance (anova) of the two factorial completely randomized design (crd). mean comparison for the significant differences among treatment combination means was further analyzed using duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 1% and 5% level of significance. results and discussion antibacterial property of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline the antibacterial property of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline against the five test bacteria namely: staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp was presented in table 2. it is significant to note that both alum and povidone iodine inhibit the growth of test bacteria. relative to the result, alum recorded the highest growth inhibition against s. aureus with 27 mm. in addition, it also shows positive response against e.coli, and pseudomonas spp. for recording both 23 mm growth inhibitions. for enterobacter spp. and k. pneumoniae, equally 20 mm growth inhibition was recorded. whereas, a 19 mm growth inhibition was the highest recorded for povidone iodine against s. aureus. against e. coli and enterobacter, both 12 mm zone of inhibition was recorded. for k. pneumonia, 11 mm growth inhibition was recorded and for pseudomonas spp., 8 mm growth inhibition was recorded. 27 international peer reviewed journal for tetracycline, results reveal that s. aureus had the highest growth inhibition of 29 mm while both e. coli and enterobacter gained 25 mm. 22 mm growth inhibition was recorded for k. pneumoniae, and 14 mm for pseudomonas spp. findings indicate that all the three substances tested, namely, alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline effectively inhibited the growth of the test bacteria: staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. in the experiment within the trial period of twenty-four hours. results show a possibility that alum might be proven to be effective as a prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum in the future after further studies that need to be conducted. animal studies could later be conducted to test for possible adverse reactions in vivo. mucous membranes like the surface coverings of the eyes are quite delicate. table 2. antibacterial property of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline against test bacteria test bacteria mean growth inhibitions of substances tested (mm) experimental control alum (b1) povidone-iodine (b2) tetracycline (b3) s. aureus (a1) 27 mm 19 mm 29 mm e. coli (a2) 23 mm 12 mm 25 mm k. pneumoniae (a3 20 mm 11 mm 22 mm enterobacter spp.(a4) 20 mm 12 mm 25 mm pseudomonas spp. (a5) 23 mm 8 mm 14 mm zone of growth inhibitions as affected by five-test bacteria test bacteria the zone of inhibition against the five test bacteria at 5 % concentration of the prophylactic agents was recorded and was presented in table 3. analysis showed that the growth of inhibitions is highly significantly different (p<0.01). results show that the highest zone of inhibition among the five test bacterial agent of ophthalmia neonatorum was observed in s. aureus with a mean 24.33 mm. it is significant to note that among the five test bacteria, s. aureus was the most vulnerable or defenseless against the three prophylactic agents. having a consistent result for s. aureus, it suggests that the three prophylactic agents were effective in inhibiting the growth of the bacteria. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, e.coli, k. pneumoniae and enterobacter spp. showed a comparable (p<0.05) effect to the three prophylactic agents. as revealed in table 3, e. coli recorded 19.09 mm inhibition, k. pnuemoniae with 17.86 mm and for enterobacter of 18. 67 mm growth. this verifies that the three bacteria were also susceptible to be inhibited by the prophylactic agents next to s. aureus. on the contrary, pseudomonas spp. showed an outstanding resistance among the five test bacteria against the three prophylactic agents. it was revealed that only 13. 56 mm growth inhibition was recorded for pseudomonas spp. among the five test bacteria. although relatively low in terms of growth inhibition, it still verifies that the three prophylactic agents did show an effect or positive response to the bacteria. the result of pseudomonas spp. as the most resistant among the five test bacteria can be attributed to the report of van duin and paterson (2016) in a medical journal relative to antibiotic resistance that pseudomonas spp. is a gramnegative bacteria and are multi-drug resistant (mdr). however, s. aureus along with other test bacteria may develop resistance to tetracycline due to sustained use of it (speer, shoemaker, & salyers, 1992). furthermore, the results of the five test bacteria can be correlated to matejcek and goldman (2013) that emergence of neonatal conjunctivitis are caused by the said bacterial agents. table 3. zone of growth inhibitions as affected by the test bacteria factor a-test bacteria zone of growth inhibition (mm) s. aureus (a1) 24.33a e. coli (a2) 19.09b klebsiella pneumoniae (a3) 17.86b enterobacter spp. (a4) 18.67b pseudomonas spp. (a5) 13.56c legend: means within column with different superscript are significantly different (p<0.01) prophylactic agents the effect of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline against test bacteria staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. is reflected in table 4. results showed a significant difference (p<0.01) in the effect of the three prophylactic agents against the five test bacteria. moreover, the growth of inhibition against the five test bacteria recorded in the tetracycline is significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to the growth of 29 international peer reviewed journal inhibitions of povidone iodine but are comparable (p<0.05) to the growth inhibitions observed and measured in alum.tetracycline which is the current drug of choice for prophylaxis against neonatal conjunctivitis and as the experimental control showed an outstanding effect for having recorded a mean of 21.60 mm growth inhibition against the five test bacteria. this clarifies that using tetracycline to the five test bacteria is effective but this result does not coincide with the article “treatment and prevention of ophthalmia neonatorum” (matejcek, & goldman,2013) having 10% to 20% failure rate and some infants required a second or occasionally intervention of other prophylactic agents. despite the long use of tetracycline as prophylactic agent for neonatal conjunctivitis, there is still an emergence and recurrence of the bacterial neonatal conjunctivitis which coincides with the findings of rasool et al. (2016) that bacterial isolates are now 64.6 % resistant to tetracycline. on the other hand, povidone iodine which is also a common antiseptic but is not used for the eyes before but currently being utilized preoperatively as an antiseptic in eye surgeries was tested against s. aureus, e.coli, k pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. to investigate whether it can be used as an alternative to crede’s prophylaxis. this outcome confirms the conclusions of simon (2003) that povidone iodine when used to neonates as prophylactic agents reappeared more commonly in the first 3 days after treatment with povidone iodine. this also proves that povidone iodine is associated with noninfective (sterile) conjunctivitis, probably because of its toxicity to the ocular surface in neonates. in case of alum as prophylactic agent, a mean of 21.60 mm growth inhibitions was recorded which is comparable (p<0.05) to 22.60 mm growth inhibition of tetracycline. among the five test bacteria, alum showed a consistent effect of mean growth inhibition, meaning, it can be a possible substitute for crede’s prophylaxis. table 4. zone of growth inhibition as affected prophylactic agents factor b prophylactic agent zone of inhibition (mm) alum (b1) 21.60a povidone iodine (b2) 12.00b tetracycline (b3) 22.67a legend: means within column with different superscript are significantly different (p<0.01) 30 jpair multidisciplinary research comparison of growth inhibitions of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against the test bacteria the comparison of the mean growth inhibitions of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline against staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. is revealed in table 5. results showed significant (p<0.01) interaction effect of the five test bacteria and three prophylactic agents.the findings show that the tetracycline shows a consistent effect to the four bacteria, however, alum shows significant (p<0.01) positive effect on pseudomonas spp. having 19.33 mm growth inhibitions compared to 13.67 mm of tetracycline. on the other hand, tetracycline recorded the highest growth inhibition against s. aureus with a mean of 28. 67 mm which is comparable (p<0.05) with alum having a growth inhibition of 26.67 mm. this also reveals the comparison between potassium aluminum sulfate and povidone iodine against the five test bacteria, namely, staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. based on the table, the highest mean growth inhibition for povidone iodine was recorded to s. aureus with a mean 17.67 mm which is relatively low compared to a mean of 26.67 mm inhibition in alum. this result gains support in the study ofspeer et al. (1992) that although tetracycline and povidone iodine showed a pronounced effect to the bacterial agents, still the occurrence and reappearance of the bacterial infection recurs in a period of three to four days. this maybe because that bacterial agents are becoming resistant to the consistent use of tetracycline and povidone iodine. another study confirms the result of this study that pseudomonas spp. having the lowest inhibition is a multi-drug resistant bacteria along with other gram positive and gram negative bacteria (van duin & paterson, 2017). table 5. zone of inhibition as affected by the interaction of test bacteria and prophylactic agents test bacteria substance tested alum (b1) povidone iodine (b2) tetracycline (b3) s. aureus (a1) 26.67a 17.67b 28.67a e. coli (a2) 22.67a 11.50b 24.00a k. pneumoniae (a3) 19.67a 11.50b 21.50a enterobacter spp. (a4) 19.67a 11.67b 24.67a pseudomonas spp. (a5) 19.33a 7.6 c 13.67b legend — means within rows with different superscript are significantly different (p<0.01) 31 international peer reviewed journal periods of first growth inhibitions of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against test bacteria the periods of first growth inhibitions of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against test bacterianamely staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. was presented in table 6. results showed that tetracycline posted an outstanding effect and fastest rate (p<0.05) of showing growth inhibitions after 8 hours of incubation against the five test bacteria. however, povidone iodine also shows positive inhibitory effects after 8 hours of incubation for s. aureus. against e. coli, k. pneumoniae and enterobacter spp., zone of growth inhibition was observed after 12 hours and the latest was 16 hours of incubation. for alum, the earliest observed zone of inhibition was recorded after 12 hours of incubation against s. aureus, k. pnuemoniae and pseudomonas spp. against enterobacter spp. zone of growth inhibition was recorded after 16 hours and the latest was 20 hours of incubation against e. coli. results can be correlated to the findings of the study entitled,“tetracycline antibiotics: mode of action, applications, molecular biology, and epidemiology of bacterial resistance” (chopra & roberts, 2001) that tetracycline exhibited activity against a wide range of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, rickettsia, and protozoan parasites for the 8 hours period of incubation but then it was discovered earlier in 1940’s and its continued use resulted to antibiotic resistance at about 64.6% (dagnachew, 2014). however, alum was tested for antibacterial activity and was proven to inhibit growth of bacteria but since this study was the pioneer in the field of ophthalmic application, it may be a good a substitute since this is foreign to different bacterial agents. table 6. periods of first growth inhibitions of alum, povidone iodine and tetracycline at 5% concentration against test bacteria test bacteria period of first growth inhibitions of substances tested (hrs) experimental control alum (b1) povidoneiodine (b2) tetracycline (b3) s. aureus (a1) 12 hrsa 8 hrsb 8 hrsb e. coli (a2) 20 hrsa 12 hrsb 8 hrsb k. pneumonia (a3 12 hrsa 12 hrsa 8 hrsa 32 jpair multidisciplinary research enterobacter spp. (a4) 16 hrsa 12 hrsb 8 hrsb pseudomonas spp. (a5) 12hrsb 16 hrsa 8 hrsb legend: means within rows with different superscripts are significantly different (p<0.05) conclusions based on the in-vitro analysis, potassium aluminum sulfate can be used as prophylaxis against pseudomonas spp., a bacterial agent of ophthalmia neonatorum. since it outperformed tetracycline and has comparable effect with tetracycline against s. aureus, e. coli, k. pneumonia and enterobacter spp. potassium aluminum sulfate showed a positive response to the five test bacteria as it yielded a comparative mean results of growth inhibition. still povidone iodine manifests a good effect but not comparable to potassium aluminum sulfate and tetracycline. tetracycline showed a consistent effect to the five bacteria, however, potassium aluminum sulfate showed a positive effect on pseudomonas spp. in terms of its rate of first period of growth inhibition. although tetracycline showed better compared to potassium aluminum sulfate and povidone iodine but then still potassium aluminum sulfate and povidone iodine manifested positive activity against the test bacteria. tetracycline showed the fastest effect compared to the two substances tested which potassium aluminum sulfate and povidone iodine; however, potassium aluminum sulfate and povidone iodine still showed a positive response to the test bacteria. translational research potassium aluminum sulfate commonly known as tawas can be used as substitute prophylaxis to tetracycline and also a potent antibacterial agent against staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, enterobacter spp. and pseudomonas spp. based on the bacterial assay administered. on this note, considering that the results are highly favorable, an awareness campaign or information dissemination through extension activity of the institution maybe conducted for this reason. on the other hand, the college school paper may write a feature article discussing the beneficial results of this study. since the target clienteles of this project is to help indigenous people when it comes to health and sanitation, a literacy or health forum maybe conducted relative to this 33 international peer reviewed journal study. other prints like brochures, leaflets and manuals or broadcast media may be considered to better educate the people regarding the use and benefits of the present research results. literature cited chopra, i., & roberts, m. (2001). tetracycline antibiotics: mode of action, applications, molecular biology, and epidemiology of bacterial resistance.  microbiology and molecular biology reviews,  65(2), 232-260. doi: 10.1128/mmbr.65.2.232-260.2001 mabry-hernandez, i., & oliverio-hoffman, r. (2010). ocular prophylaxis for gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum: evidence update for the us preventive services task force reaffirmation recommendation statement.  agency for healthcare research and quality, rockville, md. retrieved from https:// scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabr yhernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophy laxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+f or+the+u.s.+preventive&btng= matejcek, a., & goldman, r. d. (2013). treatment and prevention of ophthalmianeonatorum. canadian family physician, 59(11), 1187–1190. retrieved from http://www.cfp.ca/content/59/11/1187/tab-article-info rasool, m. h., siddique, a. b., saqalein, m., asghar, m. j., zahoor, m. a., aslam, b., … nisar, m. a. (2016). occurrence and antibacterial susceptibility pattern of bacterial pathogens isolated from diarrheal patients in pakistan. saudi medical journal, 37(3), 274–279. http://doi.org/10.15537/ smj.2016.3.14449 speer, b. s., shoemaker, n. b., &salyers, a. a. (1992). bacterial resistance to tetracycline: mechanisms, transfer, and clinical significance. clinical microbiology reviews, 5(4), 387–399. doi: 10.1128/cmr.5.4.387 simon, j. w. (2003). povidone-iodine prophylaxis of ophthalmianeonatorum. the british journal of ophthalmology, 87(12), 1437. http://dx.doi. org/10.1136/bjo.87.12.1437 https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabry-hernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophylaxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+for+the+u.s.+preventive&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabry-hernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophylaxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+for+the+u.s.+preventive&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabry-hernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophylaxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+for+the+u.s.+preventive&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabry-hernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophylaxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+for+the+u.s.+preventive&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mabry-hernandez+i%2c+oliverio-hoffman+r.+%282010%29.+ocular+prophylaxis+for+gonococcal+ophthalmia+neonatorum%3a+evidence+update+for+the+u.s.+preventive&btng http://www.cfp.ca/content/59/11/1187/tab-article-info http://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.3.14449 http://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.3.14449 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.87.12.1437 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.87.12.1437 34 jpair multidisciplinary research van duin, d., & paterson, d. l. (2016). multidrug-resistant bacteria in the community: trends and lessons learned.  infectious disease clinics,  30(2), 377-390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2016.02.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2016.02.004 45 international peer reviewed journal facebook use as mechanism in understanding emotion and self-regulation joel t. aclao orcid no. 0000-0001-5507-5868 joeltaclao@gmail.com misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines joey a. cabrera orcid no. 000-0002-49581294 joeyacabrera@gmail.com misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines ell june s. abucay orcid id: 0000-0003-1740-7424 elljuneabucay@gmail.com misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines cleo wendell jade z. colegado orcid id: 0000-0001-7113-1065 cleocolegado@gmail.com misamis university, ozamiz city, philippines abstract schools and school administrators regulate the use of social networking sites especially facebook in the campus as they consider it unfavorable to students’ academic life. this study looked into the positive contribution of facebook to students’ life. it correlated students’ frequency of facebook use and their level of emotion regulation. this descriptive-correlational study utilized emotion regulation questionnaire to collect data from the 130 student-respondents. the study revealed that the misamis university high school students used vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.234 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research facebook for 1-2 hours a day on average. as the students increase their frequency of facebook use, their level of understanding and regulating their emotion get better. the study reconsiders revision of the school policy on facebook use in the campus and integration of the same in instructional practices. keywords – educational psychology, facebook use, understanding emotion, self-regulation, descriptive-correlational study, philippines introduction facebook (fb) is a popular social networking site (sns) used primarily to communicate and stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. students adopt it for academic and non-academic purposes (lampe, 2008; roblyer, 2010; bakar, 2009). many psychologists and researchers afterwards posed recurring questions about the detrimental effects of facebook use to individuals who frequently use the social site. compulsive use of the networking sites may have deleterious effects on the user’s psychosocial well-being, (tokunaga & rains, 2010). on the positive side, facebook provides emotional support on teens who suffer emotional problems related to their academic studies (erjavic, 2013). the features of facebook impact the emotion of its users and its format can intensify feelings (mod, 2010). users enjoy collaborative learning and can direct their emotions through posts. hence, expressing one’s emotion and learning something becomes easy. these strategies specify how people go about managing a particular unwanted emotion. failure to regulate emotions affects the advancement of the affective domain (gratz, 2009). emotion regulation (er) is a strategy we use to maintain components of an emotional response (schmidt, 2008). it is also the process responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reaction in order to accomplish one’s goals (mcewen&flouri, 2009). emotional regulation comprised a multitude of physiological, cognitive, and behavioral overlapping processes (sim&zeman, 2006). emotion regulation is the process of maintaining, modulating, or changing the occurrence and intensity of physiological processes (eisenberg et al., 2000). the maturation of these er capacities is central to the individual’s growing abilities to handle stress, develop coping skills, and modulate attentive and learning processes (shen& zhang, 2012). inability to regulate emotions can cause maladaptive ways of modulating emotional arousal, difficulties in controlling behaviors during emotional distress, and failure to use 47 international peer reviewed journal emotions as information (gratz, 2009). many issues rise as the use of facebook is becoming popular. bullying has become more prevalent because of profane photo or video comments and irresponsible post (mazer& james, 2012; litwiller&brausch, 2013). social networking sites such as facebook have evolved as a combination of personalized media experience within the social context of participation. in snss like facebook, profiles, friends and comments are publicly visible (ahmad, 2011). in sum, social interaction is now more open causing openness also on the issues on irresponsible posting, degrading comments, and even war of words. with these issues, a total ban of facebook is the battle cry of many. schools and academic institutions safeguarded their subjects by a total ban of facebook use in the school premises. many researchers attempt to explain the effects of facebook use on the individuals. however, they failed to associate facebook use on the affective domain specifically on the emotion regulation aspect of the learners. this paper will take a different view and see how facebook use can impact a person’s emotion regulation skills. result will support revision of policies regulating facebook use inside school campuses and using it as a platform of instruction. framework emotion regulation is an ability of human beings to express their emotions in productive ways. it consists of people’s active attempts to manage their emotional states. people use different strategies to regulate their emotions. maximum development of emotion regulation occurs when teens are given the opportunity to pursue goals and engage in challenging and collaborative learning experiences (gross, 2002; boekaerts and corno, 2005; fredricks et al., 2004). one’s ability to regulate emotion is crucial to psychological and physical wellbeing (ahn et al., 2013). deficiency in emotion regulation skills negatively affects the affective domain of the students (gratz, 2008). knowing that affective domain development is one of primary goals in learning (sherry, 2005), it is thus imperative not to underestimate the role of emotion regulation in the learning processes. emotions are processes that unfold over time, and its response components are interrelated as the emotion unfolds (gross, 2002). behaviors can change emotions, often these effects are unintended or incidental or even implicit or outside awareness. it entails the modification of ongoing or newly created 48 jpair multidisciplinary research emotional responses through the active engagement of regulatory processes (williams, 2009). this study considers the use of facebook as the students’ strategy to regulate emotions. objectives of the study the study assessed the frequency of facebook use and the level of emotion regulation among the high school students in misamis university. it also aimed to explore significant relationship between students’ facebook use and their level of emotion regulation. methodology this descriptive-correlational research design aimed to describe the relationship between students’ frequency of facebook use and their level of emotion regulation. descriptive correlational research describes relationships among variables where the researcher has no control over the independent variables (lappe, 2000). the study randomly surveyed 130 high school students in misamis university high school department on august to september 2013. the study employed demographic profile survey to ask students’ frequency of facebook use a day, gadget used upon visiting facebook, and internet connection access. the study also used emotion regulation questionnaire (erq) to assess the students’ emotion regulation. erq is part of the social skills checklist of the psychological services department of escambia county school district. the study tested the tool to ascertain its applicability and reliability level. results showed that the four subscales of the erq are within the acceptable level of reliability, to wit: understanding emotions (ue) – 0.85, self-regulation (sr) – 0.73, flexibility (fl) – 0.73, and problem solving (ps) – 0.70. the researchers preserved the integrity of the respondents by maintaining anonymity of the completed questionnaires. they asked student-respondents, and their parents to sign an informed consent prior to answering of the questionnaires. the researchers computed the descriptive statistics such as counts and percents, mean and standard deviation to describe the frequency of facebook use and students’ level of emotion regulation. the study measured the strength of correlation of the variables using the pearson product moment correlation test (pearson’s r). 49 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion frequency of facebook use and level of emotion regulation data (table 1) revealed that most of the students (60.77%) surveyed visited facebook 1-2 hours a day on average. a few of them (26.15%) use facebook for 2-4 hours a day and the least minority (13.08%) hang out with facebook for 5 hours or more a day. misamis university high school students used facebook for 1 – 2 hours a day. finding shows that the students have lesser time in socializing friends via facebook. this finding means that the students do not have the affluence time on facebook. they can only access the social networking site outside the school or at home because the school regulates its use in the campus. however, the 1-2 hours student engagement in facebook is already enough for them to express their emotions about academic pressures that have transpired during the day. the students’ level of emotion regulation along the four subscales is at the good level (table 1). the finding suggests that the high school students can identify their likes and dislikes, can demonstrate affection and empathy towards peers, can refrain from aggressive behaviors, do not exhibit intense fears or phobias, can interpret body language and can vary voice tone to convey messages. in short, the students have the understanding on when and how to express appropriate emotions. this study found evidence that the students can define their emotions portrayed by different scenarios and circumstances. since emotions are indicators of how things are going on in people’s lives, these students find it easy to understand why things are going upside down. the students regulate their emotions themselves by allowing others to comfort him/her if upset or agitated, by accepting teases without becoming upset and by ending conversations appropriately. self-regulated students develop realistic expectations, create goals with specific outcomes, and identify plans to maximize success (zimmerman, 2008). the students consider best learning to occur when they observe their own behaviors. this means that students learn to decrease negative behaviors and increase positive behaviors. in facebook, the students cope up in decreasing negative behaviors by posting shout-outs, photos, and by bullying enemies. they also learn to increase positive behavior by liking and appreciating friends’ album, posting announcements, and by expressing feelings through comments and posts. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. frequency of facebook use and the students’ level of emotion regulation variables f % understanding emotion selfregulation flexibility problem solving frequency of fb use m sd m sd m sd m sd 1 – 2 hours 9 60.77 2.44 0.515 2.62 0.502 2.83 0.569 2.69 0.501 3 – 4 hours 34 26.15 2.74 0.403 2.90 0.609 2.85 0.520 2.87 0.449 5 hours or more 17 13.08 2.67 0.623 2.81 0.556 2.87 0.591 2.73 0.890 overall 130 100.00 2.55 0.519 2.72 0.549 2.84 0.556 2.74 0.554 notes: emotion regulation scale: very good (3.26 – 4.20); good (2.51 – 3.25); poor (1.76 – 2.50); and very poor (1.0 – 1.75). correlation between students’ facebook use and their level of emotion regulation the results (table 2) of the test of correlations between the frequency of students’ frequency of facebook use and their level of understanding emotions yielded a highly significant mark or moderate correlation (r = 0.632; p = 0.007). further analysis of the data (table 1) reveals that the students who used facebook for 2-4 hours a day had a higher level of understanding emotions (m = 2.76) than that of students who used facebook for 1-2 hours (m = 2.44). this finding supports the idea that when students increase their time socializing in facebook, they get better opportunities of understanding their emotions. this finding of the study strengthens the argument on allowing the use of facebook. the ability to understand emotions serves fundamental roles in decision-making and reasoning. in facing moral decision-making, we may consider other people’s emotions resulting from physical pain. the ability to interpret emotional cues is important in maintaining psychological functioning. further, a coordinated understanding of emotional state can lead to appreciation of the relationship between how others perceive and think about one’s actions. the finding supports further evidence that facebook use can inhibit social adjustment just like understanding one’s emotion (yang & brown, 2013). data (table 2) also show a significant marked or moderate correlation (r = 0.481; p = 0.040) between students’ frequency of facebook use and their level of self-regulation. this could mean that somehow by increasing the time of facebook use, the level of self-regulation among student-users will improve. 51 international peer reviewed journal the comparison of the means (table 1) between the groups of 12 hour and 2-4 hour facebook users reveals that the later group had a higher level of selfregulation (m = 2.90). this finding implies that when students maximize their time socializing in facebook for 24 hours a day, they will be able to achieve better self-regulation. it is evident that the students manage their emotions to achieve positive goals such as maintaining good relationships, learning, etc. furthermore, they are wellequipped in terms of monitoring their own learning, providing own feedback and performance evaluations, and viewing errors and criticism as opportunities to learn rather than as reasons to give up (perry and vandekamp, 2000). the students also involved in the development of constructive behaviors that affect learning. they adapt the processes to support the realization of personal goals. with the advent of internet, specifically the facebook, the students taught themselves to become self-regulated learners by the integration of social sites for learning purposes. table 2. correlation between frequency of facebook use and students’ emotion regulation variables understanding emotion r (p) self-regulation r (p) flexibility r (p) problem solving r (p) frequency of facebook use 0.632(0.007)** 0.481(0.040)* 0.043(0.623) 0.107(0.225) notes: (1) ** highly significant at 0.01, * significant at 0.05. 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b. 2013 motives for using facebook, patterns of facebook activities, and late adolescents’ social adjustment to college. journal of youth and adolescence, 42(3), 403-16. retrieved on december 19, 2013 from http://goo.gl/8svnyy. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research zimmerman, b. 2008 investigating self-regulation and motivation: historical background, methodological developments, and future prospects. american educational research journal, 45(1), 166–83. retrieved on december 19, 2013 from http://goo.gl/b2qu1v. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 66 women's awareness on the law on anti-violence against women and their children mary ann e. caparas mauro allan p. amparado me_ann_cap@yahoo.com mapamparado@gmail.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines abstract the republic act no. 9262 otherwise known as antiviolence against women and their children act of 2004 provides the legal framework of the country’s effort to address violence committed against women and children in keeping with the fundamental freedom guaranteed under the constitution and the provisions of the universal declaration of human rights. this study determined the awareness on anti-violence against women and their children law among women of village looc, mandaue city, philippines in 2011. this study utilized the descriptive-correlational design. the respondents were 96 women who were selected through purposive sampling with the inclusion criteria that they must be at least 16 years old and living with a partner. majority of the respondents were 25-65 years old, single with live-in partner, has 0-3 children, high school graduates and belonged to the low monthly income bracket. most of the respondents expressed that they have acquired awareness on intimate partner violence from watching television. majority of the respondents were aware of the intimate partner violence in ra 9262. there was a significant relationship between the modes of information, education and communication (iec) and level of awareness of the respondents on ra 9262. this study concludes that full awareness on ra 9262 through the modes of iec is necessary to ensure protection of women and their children. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.171 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 67 keywords ra 9262; women; children; intimate partner violence; iec; anti-violence, violence against introduction intimate partner violence is a major public health problem affecting thousands of women each year. this kind of violence involves abuse of female partners which is the most widespread form of family violence. the assault against women and their children result in physical injuries and sexual trauma, as well as emotional and psychological problems which are often severe and long lasting (bonomi 2008). the term intimate partner violence refers to a patient of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and violence that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners. intimate partnerships include current or former dating, married, or cohabiting relationships or heterosexuals, lesbian women, or gay men. it is a purposeful behavior, directed at achieving compliance from, or control over, the targeted person. the violence is part of a system of coercive control that may also include financial coercion, threats against children and other family members, and destruction of property (stuart 2005). the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition revision) or dsm-iv-tr by the american psychiatric association, has categorized physical abuse of adult such as intimate partner violence under the section of problems related to abuse or neglect wherein the focus of clinical attention is harsh abuse of one person by another (antai-otong 2003). abuse threatens women’s health and human rights throughout the world. women of all races, ethnic backgrounds, and ages are subjected to forced abortion, rape, female genital mutilation, and other acts of violence, often at the hands of their partners or persons known to them (rebullida 2006). studies reveal long-term health problems that are associated with intimate partner violence and these include chronic neck or back pain, migraine, stammering, visual and hearing loss, sexually transmitted diseases, stomach ulcers, frequent indigestion, diarrhea or constipation. moreover, victims experience emotional health effects such as depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse and posttraumatic jpair: multidisciplinary journal 68 stress disorder (stuart, 2005). estimates are that more than 25% to 50% of men and women worldwide (from adolescents to the elderly) have suffered physical assault by a partner at least once in their lifetime. the number is even higher when psychological abuse and other violations of rights are considered. it is difficult to collect statistics on female to female, female to male, and male to male abuse because of the lack of reporting. women are abused, raped, tortured, or beaten, by their husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, male or female lover, former partner, estranged partner, and most of this abuse goes unreported, even when injuries are severe enough to require treatment. prior partner abuse increases the risk of it recurring during pregnancy (keltner 2007). between 25% and 44% of women report a history of intimate partner violence (ipv) in their adult lifetimewith many suffering depression coinciding with their abuse experiences. studies have identified symptoms of depression as mediating the relationship between intimate partner violence victimization and subsequent adverse events in women, such as suicide attempts and further victimization and depression later in life (bonomi 2008). from 90% to 95% of domestic violence victims are women, and one in three women in the united states is estimated to have been beaten by a spouse at least once. each year, as many as 5.3 million women in the united states experience a serious assault by a partner. eight percent of us homicides involve one spouse killing another, and 3 of every 10 female homicide victims are murdered by their spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. an estimated 324,000 women experience violence while pregnant (videbeck 2011). in the philippines, as elsewhere in the world, the data on violence against women and their children (vawc) is a growing public health concern. in three years, the reported incidents of women or children being abused in central visayas reached close to 20,000, with about 17,000 cases in cebu city. close to 4,000 cases where villages assisted the complainants were reported to the cebu city women and family affairs commission (ccwfac) in 2010 alone. in the department of social welfare and development (dswd), 828 such cases were recorded in 2010, the highest in central visayas. based on the comparative summary of vawc between 2008 and 2010, the figures have increased. in 2008, a total of 5,996 vawc cases were reported. international peer reviewed journal 69 the figure ballooned to 8,850 the next year. the records for 2010 were incomplete, but these indicated 4,751 cases. that is a total of 19,597 cases in three years. most cases are for battery, which includes physical, psychological, emotional and economic abuse (awit 2011). recognizing the seriousness of the problem, congress passed republic act no. 9262 which took effect in march 2004. the antiviolence against women and their children act is a result of many years of advocacy of victim-survivors, women’s rights and human right advocates, non-government organizations, and government agencies led by the national commission on the role of filipino women. ra 9262 was passed to provide relief and redress to women and children who are victims of the abuse (aquino 2005). in looc, mandaue city, philippines, police station 5 has recorded 31 cases of physical injuries in relation to ra 9262 from 2008 to 2010. it was likewise observed by the researchers in three instances that women experience verbal abuse and ridicule from their partners. the incidence of abuse is considered a growing concern to the society. because most abused women do not seek direct help for the problem, knowledge on their level of awareness regarding the law that provides them protection is essential in providing assistance and holistic care to these clients. hence, this study determined the awareness of women on anti-violence against women and their children law. the findings served as the bases for a proposed action plan. framework the study is anchored on three legal bases: fundamental freedom guaranteed under the constitution; provisions of the universal declaration of human rights; and republic act 9262 or antiviolence against women and their children act of 2004.”violence against women and their children” refers to any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including jpair: multidisciplinary journal 70 threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty(www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2004/ ra_9262_2004.html, 2012). specifically, the study determined the profile of the respondents, the iec materials encountered by respondents in acquiring awareness regarding the intimate partner violence in ra 9262, and the significant relationship between the profile and the level of awareness. figure 1 shows the conceptual framework of the study. legal bases: fundamental freedom guaranteed under the constitution provisions of the universal declaration of human rights republic act 9262 or anti-violence against women and their children act of 2004 sources of information, education and communication (iec) materials level of awareness of ra 9262 proposed action plan figure 1. conceptual framework of the study objective of the study the study determined the women's awareness on republic act 9262, the anti violence against women and their children act of 2004. materials and methods this study utilizes the descriptive-correlational design to determine the level of awareness on the anti-violence against women and international peer reviewed journal 71 their children law among women in village looc, mandaue city, philippines. looc is one of the partner communities of the university of cebu approximately 1.5 kilometers from the heart of the city with a land area of 897,747 square meters. the consists of 15 sitios with a population of 16,128 and 3,580 households based on the 2010 census. the 96 respondents were women, at least 16 years old and above, and living with a partner. this study utilizes a researcher-made questionnaire. it is based on the republic act no. 9262, known as the anti-violence against women and their children act of 2004. this questionnaire is divided into two parts. the first part deals with the profile of the respondents which includes the age, civil status, number of children, highest educational attainment and the sources of information, education and communication (iec) materials encountered by respondents in acquiring awareness regarding the intimate partner violence in ra 9262. the second part is composed of 25 statements which determined the level of awareness of the respondents on ra 9262. in this part, the respondents were instructed to place a check mark to the corresponding number that appropriately determines their level of awareness regarding the law. results and discussion table 1 shows the profile of the respondents in terms of age, civil status, educational attainment, monthly family income. findings revealed that majority of the respondents were 25-65 years old, single with a live-in partner, has 0-3 children, high school graduates with less than 5,000 philippine pesos monthly family income. the table also shows that majority of the respondents have acquired their awareness on intimate partner violence in ra 9262 from television. most of the respondents expressed that they have acquired awareness on intimate partner violence from watching television. health education is a process whereby knowledge, attitude and practice of people are changed to improve individual, family and community health. health education is a basic health service and every member of the health team shares responsibility in providing health education. the sequence of steps in health education includes jpair: multidisciplinary journal 72 creating awareness, motivation and decision making action to practice health services. information refers to the provision of knowledge; communication involves the exchange of information. education constitutes the change in knowledge, attitude and skills. health education makes use of supplementary aids and devices. these educational materials are aids to a cooperative health program and helps verbal instructions such as: leaflets, brochure, comic handouts, flyers, audio-visual aids, bulletin boards, billboards, posters, streamers, radio, television, and multi-media presentation (reyala 2000). table 1. profile of the respondents variables f % age 18-25 (young adult) 30 31.3 25-65 (adult) 66 68.8 total 96 100 civil status single with live-in partner 50 52.1 married 42 43.8 separated 4 4.2 number of children 0-3 81 84.4 4-6 12 12.5 7-9 3 3.1 total 96 100 educational attainment elementary level 6 6.3 elementary graduate 10 10.4 high school level 27 28.1 high school graduate 29 30.2 college level 20 20.8 college graduate 4 4.2 total 96 100 international peer reviewed journal 73 monthly family income less than 5,000 philippine pesos 63 65.6 5,001-10,000 philippine pesos 26 27.1 10,001-20,000 philippine pesos 5 5.3 more than 20,000 philippine pesos 2 2 total 96 100 sources of iec television 62 64.6 radio 39 40.6 print media 11 11.5 social networking 10 10.4 seminars 1 1 table 2 presents the awareness of the residents on intimate partner violence in ra 9262. the respondents were less aware on the following indicators: (1) any victim who suffers from bws should be diagnosed by a psychiatric expert or a clinical psychologist. this will also help the victim in obtaining a just decision in her case; (2) if the courts have proven that the offender is guilty of the crime, he may be imprisoned and will be obliged to pay a fine in the amount of not less than one hundred thousand pesos (php100,000.00) but not more than three hundred thousand pesos (php300,000.00); (3) it is acknowledged that women who have retaliated against their partners or who commit violence as a form of self-defense may have suffered from battered women syndrome (bws); (4) the offender will be obliged to undergo mandatory psychological counseling or psychiatric treatment and shall report compliance to the court; (5) battered women syndrome refers to a scientifically defined pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a result of cumulative abuse. many women who have experienced ipv develop a recognized pattern of psychological symptoms called battered women syndrome. these symptoms are usually transient but are observed in a recognizable pattern in women who have been physically, sexually, continuation of table 1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 74 or seriously psychologically abused by their partner. components of battered women syndrome are consistent with ptsd. it is usual for abused women to experience flashbacks to the violent incidents, and when the intrusive memories are too overwhelming. the statistics and consequences of violence and abuse require nurses to prepare for collaboration necessary to the coordination of effective interventions with victims and perpetrators of violence and abuse (antai-otong, 2003). furthermore, the table illustrated that the respondents have less awareness on the protection and relief granted to victims of ipv as well as the penalty for the perpetrator and the mandatory psychiatric or psychological treatment that an abuser must undergo according to the republic act 9262. this implies that awareness on ipv on the republic act 9262 needs to be strengthened further. according to rebullida (2002), awareness of a republic act will only be obtained by way of mass media, conferences, and seminars, referrals, and information relayed through individuals and non-government institutions. table 2. awareness on intimate partner violence in ra 9262 indicators weighted mean interpretation 1. the law seeks to address the prevalence of violence against women and children (vawc), abuses on women and their children by their intimate partners like husband or ex-husband, live-in partner or ex-live in partner, boyfriend/girlfriend or exboyfriend/ex-girlfriend, dating partner or ex-dating partner 2.78 aware 2. violence against women and children (vawc) is classified as a public crime. 2.85 aware international peer reviewed journal 75 3. violence against women and children (vawc) refers to any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. 2.90 aware 4. physical violence refers to acts that include bodily or physical harm. 2.96 aware 5. sexual violence refers to an act which is sexual in nature, committed against a woman or her child. it includes , but is not limited to: rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness, treating a woman or her child as a sex object, making demeaning and sexually suggestive remarks, physically attacking the sexual parts of the victim’s body, forcing her/him to watch obscene publications and indecent shows, forcing the woman or her child to do indecent acts and/or make films thereof, forcing the wife and mistress/lover to live in the conjugal home or sleep together in the same room with the abuser; 2.98 aware 6. sexual violence includes but is not limited to acts causing or attempting to cause the victim to engage in any sexual activity by force, threat of force,physical or other harm or threat of physical or other harm or coercion; 2.85 aware 7. sexual violence includes prostituting the woman or child. 2.88 aware 8. psychological violence refers to acts or omissions causing or likely to cause mental or emotional suffering of the victim such as but not limited to intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to property, public ridicule or humiliation, repeated verbal abuse and mental infidelity; 2.84 aware 9. psychological violence includes causing or allowing the victim to witness the physical, sexual or psychological abuse of a member of the family to which the victim belongs, or to witness pornography in any form or to witness abusive injury to pets, or to unlawful or unwanted deprivation of the right to custodyand/or visitation of common children; 2.69 aware continuation of table 2 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 76 10. economic abuse refers to acts that make or attempt to make a woman financially dependent which includes, but is not limited to the following: withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim from engaging in any legitimate profession, occupation, business or activity, except in cases wherein the other spouse/partner objects on valid, serious and moral grounds as defined in article 73 of the family code; 2.49 less aware 11. economic abuse includes deprivation or threat of deprivation of financial resources and the right to the use and enjoyment of the conjugal, community or property owned in common; 2.46 less aware 12. economic abuse includes destroying household property; 2.49 less aware 13. economic abuse includes controlling the victim’s own money or properties or solely controlling the conjugal money or properties; 2.36 less aware 14. a dating relationship refers to a situation wherein the parties live as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage or are romantically involved over time and on a continuing basis during the course of the relationship; 2.70 aware 15. sexual relations refer to a single sexual act which may or may not result in the bearing of a common child; 2.83 aware 16. women are allowed to secure village protection order and/ or temporary or permanent protection order from the courts; 2.59 aware 17. women can also file an independent civil action for damages and criminal action for the violation of ra 9262; 2.63 aware 18. a protection order is prescribed in the anti-vawc act to prevent further abuse of or violence against a woman. it also provides her relief from the said abuse or violence; 2.79 aware 19. the relief granted under a protection order serves the purpose of safeguarding the victim from further harm, minimizing any disruption in the victim’s daily life, and facilitating the opportunity and ability of the victim to independently regain control over her life. the provisions of the protection order shall be enforced by law enforcement agencies; 2.48 less aware continuation of table 2 international peer reviewed journal 77 20. anyone of the following may also file the protection order in behalf of the victim/s: parent or guardian; grandparents, children and grandchildren; relatives (aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws); local officials and dswd social workers; police, lawyers, councilors, punong village or village kagawad; therapists and health care providers (nurses, doctors, village health workers); any two people who come from the city or municipality where vawc happened and who have personal knowledge of the crime; 2.76 aware 21. it is acknowledged that women who have retaliated against their partners or who commit violence as a form of self defense may have suffered from battered women syndrome (bws); 2.22 less aware 22. battered women syndrome refers to a scientifically defined pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a result of cumulative abuse; 2.35 less aware 23. any victim who suffers from bws should be diagnosed by a psychiatric expert or a clinical psychologist. this will also help the victim in obtaining a just decision in her case; 2.05 less aware 24. if the courts have proven that the offender is guilty of the crime, he may be imprisoned and will be obliged to pay a fine in the amount of not less than one hundred thousand pesos (php100,000.00) but not more than three hundred thousand pesos (php300,000.00); 2.06 less aware 25. the offender will be obliged to undergo mandatory psychological counseling or psychiatric treatment and shall report compliance to the court. 2.29 less aware grand mean 2.61 aware table 4 reveals that there was a significant relationship between the sources of iec materials and level of awareness of the respondents continuation of table 1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 78 on ipv. the relationship was moderately positive. this is supported by bandura who postulated that behavior occurs as a result of the interplay of cognitive and environmental factors (antai-otong 2003). bandura further explains that learning occurs by simply observing and that one of the basic models of observational learning is the symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media (gordon 2001). similarly, according to health belief model, cues to action are also modifying factors and are provided by activities such as mass media campaigns, advice from others, and literature such as newspaper or magazine article. the likelihood of taking a recommended preventive health action is thus a composite of individual perceptions and modifying factors (taylor 2005). table 4. relationship between socio demographic variables and level of awareness on intimate partner violence in ra 9262 international peer reviewed journal 79 variables value approx. sig. interpretation age and level of awareness phi .134 .631 no significant relationship at cramer’s v .134 .631 contingency coefficient .133 .631 civil status and level of awareness phi .324 .121 no significant relationship at cramer’s v .229 .121 contingency coefficient .308 .121 family size and level of awareness phi .292 .226 no significant relationship at cramer’s v .206 .226 contingency coefficient .280 .226 highest educational attainment and level of awareness phi .452 .186 no significant relationship at cramer’s v .261 .186 contingency coefficient .412 .186 monthly income and level of awareness phi .333 .301 no significant relationship at cramer’s v .192 .301 contingency coefficient .316 .301 source of information and level of awaareness phi .715 .015 significant relationship at moderate positivecramer’s v .413 .015 contingency coefficient .582 .015 conclusion and recommendations in conclusion, residents of looc, mandaue city were aware of the anti-violence against women and their children law. sources of iec influenced their level of awareness on intimate partner violence in ra 9262. the researchers recommend the following: continuing education on economic abuse and battered women syndrome; continuous determination of incidence of intimate partner violence jpair: multidisciplinary journal 80 in the community; enforce programs for women that includes increasing training and opportunities to improve self-esteem and negotiating skills; deliver assistance for clients to find opportunities for employment and to conduct skills and development programs for women to improve their talents and abilities; and, promote advocacy that includes referrals to social services and community agencies. literature cited antai-otong, d. 2003 psychiatric nursing: biological and behavioral concepts. singapore: delmar thompson learning asia. aquino, r.c. 2005 the legal protection of vulnerable sectors: a guide to r.a. 9208, “the anti-trafficking in persons act” and r.a. 9262, “the violence against women and their children act” and implementing rules and regulations. philippines: central prints on demand. awit, j.g. 2011 17t cases in cebu. sun star, p. a2. bonomi, a.e. 2008 use of brief tools to measure depressive symptoms in women with a history of intimate partner violence. nursing research. 57 (3), pp. 150-156. gordon, m. 2001 nursing diagnosis process and application. boston: mosby pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.456 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract proper fish nutrition and adequate feeding are necessary for high fish production. the study was conducted to determine the suitability of m. oleifera leaf meal supplementation to commercial diets on the growth performance of oreochromis niloticus fry until fingerling size. seven experimental diets were used with three replicates each arranged in a complete randomized design. treatments 1, 3 and 5 were given commercial diets only, treatments 2, 4, and 6 with 10% m. oleifera leaves and 90% commercial diets. treatment 7 was the control with the suitability of moringa oleifera leaf meal supplementation to commercial diets on the growth and survival of oreochromis niloticus fry romeo d. caturao http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9923-4859 romeocaturao@gmail.com university of antique, tario-lim memorial campus antique, philippines michel r. atilano michelatilano@gmail.com university of antique, tario-lim memorial campus antique, philippines rexie b. urbina rexieurbina@gmail.com university of antique, tario-lim memorial campus antique, philippines 2 jpair multidisciplinary research rice bran. each treatment was stocked with 50 fry with an average weight of 1.76+0.112 and an average length of 47.65+1.78 and feed for two months. data gathered were analyzed using the one-way anova to determine significant difference among treatments. duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) was used to determine the significant difference between treatment means. all test used 0.05 level of significance. results showed significant differences among treatments. treatment 4 had the highest average weight of 6.83+0.145 g, an average length of 65.97+0.251 mm, and survival rate of 86.0+2.646% after eight weeks of culture. growth and survival of oreochromis niloticus could be enhanced by adding 10% dried m. oleifera leaf meal supplementation to commercial diet. keywords — nutrition, suitability, growth performance, oreochromis niloticus, leaf meal supplementation, m. oleifera, experimental design, philippines, asia introduction nile tilapia (oreochromis niloticus) is one of the most widely cultured species of tilapia in the philippines. it can tolerate poor water quality and can graze wide range of natural food. out of 112.30 million tons of world production of fish in 1995, 18.97% came from the aquaculture sector while the rest came from the capture fishery (fao, 1998). it is expected that the increase in fish production should come from aquaculture, the fastest growing food production sector of the world (fao, 2000). in aquaculture operations, particularly in fish hatchery, the need to have good quality feed that could supply the nutritional requirements of fish for stocking in the fishpond is very necessary. the high cost and fluctuating quality of fish feed in the market (abo-state, hammouda, el-nadi & abozaid, 2014) are variables that can result to low survival rate and eventually, low production. because of this problem, the need to identify alternative and cheap protein sources to replace one of the ingredients in the formulation of feed for fish is very important. one of the identified plant sources is moringa oleifera (malunggay leaves), considered to be a promising plant protein sources in aquaculture (foidl, makkar & becker, 2001) for inclusion in fish diets at low levels (tagwireyi, mupangwa, jepsen & mwera, 2015). it is rich in protein and has been tested in various fish species as a potential replacement for fish meal. moringa leaf meal can be introduced in nile tilapia diets only in limited amounts, up to 8-10% dietary 3 international peer reviewed journal level (abo-state et al., 2014;  yuangsoi & charoenwattanasak, 2011;  richter, siddhuraju & becker, 2003;  afuang, siddhuraju & becker, 2003). in a diet where moringa leaves were included at 10% to provide supplementary protein, protein digestibility was reported to range from 68% to 75%, and daily weight gain was 30% higher (yuangsoi et al., 2011). thus, this study is timely to be conducted to confirm previous findings on the suitability of m. oleifera leaves in addition to different commercial feeds as a protein source for oreochromis niloticus fry. objectives of the study this study determined the suitability of moringa oleifera leaf meal supplementation to commercial diets on the growth and survival of oreochromis niloticus fry. specifically, it determined the growth of oreochromis niloticus fed different commercial feeds with supplementation of moringa oleifera leaf meal, the survival rate of oreochromis niloticus fed different commercial feeds with supplementation of moringa oleifera leaf meal and significant differences among treatments. materials and methods experimental design the study was conducted at the hatchery of the college of fisheries of the university of antique, tario-lim memorial campus. the experiment had seven (7) treatments with three (3) replicates, each arranged in a complete randomized design indicated below: treatments replicates treatment 1 (b-meg) without m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 2 (b-meg with powdered m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 3 (tateh) without m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 4 (tateh with powdered m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 5 (excel) without m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 6 (excel with powdered m. oleifera (malunggay) leaves 3 treatment 7 (rice bran) (control) 3 4 jpair multidisciplinary research experimental animal nile tilapia fry with an average weight of 1.76+0.112 and a length of 47.65+1.78 was used as an experimental animal for this study. processing of malunggay leaves m. oleifera leaves were taken from the hatchery of the university of antiquetlmc and dried under the sun for one (1) day. after drying, it was ground by the used of the local grinder until it turned into powder form. the powdered malunggay leaves were mixed manually with different commercial feeds with a proportion of the 10% (0.5g) malunggay leaves and 90% (3.5 g) commercial feeds. cleaning of tanks and stocking of fry a total of twenty-one culture plastic containers with a capacity of 15 liters each were used in the study. it was cleaned with freshwater and powdered detergent and rinsed with freshwater for one (1) day. all plastic culture containers were labeled based on the assigned treatments. it was filled with fresh water at about 14 liters and installed with aeration. before stocking, initial weights and lengths of 50 fry in each treatment were measured by the use of a general master model d108 weighing balance with high precision up to 0.1 g and a transparent ruler, respectively. fry was then stocked slowly and gradually early morning to prevent stress. no feed was given after stocking, only during the next day. water management water change was done every day at 100% of the total volume by the use of a rubber hose with a diameter of .5 inches to remove the fecal waste of tilapia and uneaten feeds in the water. the same volume of water was replaced after draining. feeding right after the water change, feeding was done three (3) times a day, once in the morning (7:00-8:00), noon time (12:00) and in the afternoon (4:00-5:00). the feeding rate was computed by the formula indicated below: feeding rate= (stocking density) (feeding ratio)(survival rate)(abw) x 100 1000 5 international peer reviewed journal moreover, feeding rate was based on the percentage body weight expressed below: 1stand 2nd week --------5% 3rd and 4th week -------4% 5thand 6th week --------3% 7th and 8th week -------2% monitoring of water temperature water temperature was monitored every morning and afternoon at 7:00 am and 4:00 pm, respectively, after water change by the use of a thermometer. also, a 24-hr monitoring of temperature in each treatment was done every after two hours by the use of a thermometer one day before sampling of the growth of the fish. sampling of growth and survival rate a sampling of tilapia fry was done every two weeks to determine growth increment. twenty-five tilapia fry was taken by means of a scoop net from each treatment and weighed by using the general master model d108 weighing balance with high precision up to 0.1. for the length (mm), a transparent ruler was used. harvesting nile tilapia was harvested after eight weeks of culture upon reaching the juvenile stage. in harvesting, the water in tanks was drained, and all the experimental animals in each treatment were harvested and measured for weight and length by the use of weighing balance and transparent ruler, respectively. data analysis all data were summarized, computed for the average and subjected to oneway analysis of variance to determine significant difference among treatments. duncan’s multiple range test was also used to determine the significant difference between treatment means. all tests were set at 0.05 level of significance. results and discussion average weight results show that after two weeks of culture (first sampling), the highest average body weight was obtained from tilapia fry fed with rice bran (treatment 6 jpair multidisciplinary research 7, control) followed by those fed with tateh with m. oleifera. however, during the 4th (second sampling) and 8th (fourth sampling) weeks of culture, when tilapia reached the fingerling size, the average body weight was consistently highest in treatment fed with tateh with m. oleifera, over other treatments. significant differences among treatments (p>0.05) occurred during the 6th week (3rd sampling) and 8th week (4th sampling) of culture. significant difference among treatment means showed that tateh with m. oleifera leaves obtained the highest average weight among the rest of the treatments (figure 1). figure 1. average weight (grams) of tilapia fingerlings at different commercial feeds with the addition of malunggay leaves for 8th weeks of culture. average length results show that the highest average body length of tilapia fingerlings (65.97+23 mm) after 8-week of culture was obtained in treatment fed with tateh with m. oleifera. it was noted, however, that rice bran could better enhance the growth of tilapia fingerlings comparable with tateh with malunggay leaves (59.21+.12 mm) during the 4th week of culture only. but it tapers down to the lowest average length during the last sampling period (59.65+.32 mm). result shows significant difference among treatments at 0.05 level of significance ( figure 2). 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 1st 2 nd 3rd 4 th sa ve ra ge w ei gh t (g ) sampling periods b-meg b-meg w/ m. tateh tateh w/ m. excel excel w/ m. rice bran legend 7 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. average length (mm) of tilapia fingerlings at different commercial feeds with the addition of malunggay leaves for eight weeks of culture. survival rate results show that highest survival rate of tilapia fingerlings from fry after 8 weeks of culture was obtained in treatment fed with tateh with m. oliefera (86.00+2.646%) over other treatments. there was a significant difference among treatments at 0.05 level of significance. duncan’s multiple range test also shows a significant difference among treatment means. the result is shown in figure 3. figure 3. the survival rate of tilapia fry at different commercial feeds with the addition of malunggay leaves for eight weeks of culture. 45.00 50.00 55.00 60.00 65.00 70.00 1 st 2nd 3rd 4th ia ve ra ge le ng th (m m ) sampling period b-meg b-meg w/ m. tateh tateh w/ m. excel excel w/ m. rice bran 8 jpair multidisciplinary research daily temperature and 24-hr monitoring results of the daily average temperature in each treatment in the morning ranged from 24.87ᴼc – 25.90ᴼc and in the afternoon ranged from 28.54ᴼc30.00ᴼc. no significant fluctuations of temperature occurred throughout the duration of the experiment. a twenty-four-hour monitoring of the temperature was done one day before sampling periods. results of the 24-hr monitoring of temperature which was done every after two hours ranged from 21.13ᴼc – 30.40ᴼc. this present study shows that tilapia fry fed with tateh plus m. oliefera obtained the highest average weight over other treatments after 8th weeks of culture. this means that dried and powdered moringa oleifera can enhance the growth of tilapia nilotica at 10% supplementation of the total feed given. it is because m. oleifera contains average crude protein of 26.8% and crude fiber of 12.2%. its average total energy is 18.8 mj/kg dm. protein content present in m. oleifera has a major role in building and repairing worn out cells and tissues of fish. proteins are micro molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and may also contain sulfur. proteins occur in every living cell as compounds of tissues and organs and are major components of the fish tissue (millamena, 1998). moreover, aquatic animals consume protein to provide continuous supply necessary for replacing worn out tissues (maintenance) and for the synthesis of new tissues (growth and reproduction) millamena, 2001). furthermore, all aquatic animals require food to supply the energy they need such as muscle activity, chemical processes, nerve activity and osmotic work (millamena, 2001). on the other hand, the role of fiber in the nutrition of fish cannot be overemphasized. it aids in the digestion and cleans out the intestines of fish. it can also prevent many diseases of the digestive tract. the result of this study is in agreement with the study of el-nadi (2011) in their experiment on the effect of dietary supplementation with moringa oleifera leaves on the growth and performance parameters on nile tilapia. they started feeding with moringa leaves from fingerlings (20 g) until 56 days. their results showed that highest weight gain was obtained in treatment fed moringa leaves with 53.310 grams. based on their study, moringa leaves could be used with fish meal as a growth enhancer in tilapia feeds. moreover, their results show that the addition of moringa leaves at 5g/kg diet had the best performance in terms of growth performance parameters, reduce cost and maximize profit. in our present study, however, results shows that treatment fed commercial feed with the addition of 10% m. oleifera obtained the highest average weight of 4.83 g with a survival rate of 76% for 8 weeks of culture. 9 international peer reviewed journal in the study of tagwireyi at al. (2015) they used 10% inclusion of steam heated moringa leaves to nile tilapia fry, and they found better growth performance in terms of body weight gain (bwg), average daily gain (adg), feed conversion ratio(fcr) and protein efficiency ratio (per) than those fed boiled moringa leaves. in another study of yuangsui and masumoto, (2012), it indicated that moringa leaves could replace not over 200 g kg-1 soybean and could become an alternative plant protein source in fish to lower production cost of fish diets and add value to a plant origin. francis, makkar and becker (2002) used moringa leaf meal in tilapia nilotica indicated growth-reducing effects at high levels of inclusion of raw leaf meal. richter et al. (2003) reported that the replacement of fishmeal in a diet for tilapia with moringa leaf meal beyond 10% level produced poor growth and lowered the feed utilization efficiency. afuang et al. (2003) found that extraction of the anti-nutrients/antimetabolites components of raw leaf meal up to 33% in tilapia diets has no any adverse effects on growth. a number of studies in other species of fish have shown that mol at a maximum level of 10% could be acceptable as plant protein replacement in fish based diets without adverse effects on the growth performance and health welfare of lates calcarifer (ganzon-naret, 2014). another study has shown that m. oleifera leaf meal could also be used to substitute or can be supplemented up to 10% level in clarias gariepinus (ozovehe, 2013). conclusions based on the result of this study, m. oleifera leaves is suitable for the growth and survival of nile tilapia when added to commercial feeds at 10% of the total feed consumption from fry up to fingerlings size and could enhance growth and survival, reduce cost and maximize profit. recommendations it is recommended that aquaculture fish diets may be added with m. oleifera leaves especially in tateh diets that had the best growth performance parameters and survival rate based on the results of this study. moreover, experiment on the inclusion of m. oleifera in growing out commercial feeds must be tried in nile tilapia in bigger ponds to determine if it would also enhance growth and survival and reduce the cost of feed. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited abo-state, hnan, hammouda, yasser, el-nadi, ali and abozaid, hesham, 1015.evaluation of feeding raw moringa [moringa oleifera lam. leaf meal in nile tilapia fingerlings [oreochromis niloticus] diets. global veterinaria, 13(1): 105-111, 2014. issn 1992-6197© idosi publications. retrieved on january 19, 2017, from http://www.aensiweb.net/aensiweb/aeb/ aeb/2016/march/128-133.pdf afuang, w., siddhuraju, p., & becker, k. (2003). comparative nutritional evaluation of raw, methanol extracted residues and methanol extracts of moringa (moringa oleifera lam.) leaves on growth performance and feed utilization in nile tilapia (oreochromis niloticus l.).  aquaculture research, 34(13), 1147-1159. el-nadi, a. s. m. m. (2011). growth performance and endocrine response of nile tilapia (oreochromis niloticus) treated by trenbolone acetate and reared in polyculture with common carp. fao (1998).code of conduct for responsible fisheries. food and agricultural organization of the united nations, rome. fao (2000).yearbook of fishery statistics 1998.vol 86/2.aquaculture production. fao statistics series no. 154 and fisheries series no.56, rome, fao. 182p. francis, g., h.p.s. makkar and k. becker, 2002. products from little research plant as aquaculture feed ingredients. http//www.fao.org/docrep/article agrippa/551en. htm. foidl, n., h.p.s. makkar and k. becker, 2001.the potential of moringa oleifera for agricultural and industrial uses. in: l.j. fuglie, [ed.]. the miracle tree. cta, wageningen, netherlands and cws, new york, usa, 45-77. millamena om, golez nv. 1998. essential fatty acid requirement of juvenile grouper epinephelus coioides. paper presented at the 5th asian fisheries forum, 11-14 november 1998. chiangmai, thailand. 11 international peer reviewed journal millamena om. 2001. replacement of fish meal by animal by-product meals in a practical diet for grow-out culture of grouper epinephelus coioides. aquaculture 182:75-84. naret. e. .utilization of moringa oleifera leaf meals as plant protein sources at different inclusion levels in fish meal based diets fed to lates calcarifer. animal biology and husbandry, international journal of the bioflux society. ozovehe, b.n., 2013. growth performance, hematological indices and some biochemical enzymes of juveniles clarias gariepinus fed varying levels of moringa oleifera leaf meal diet. journal of aquatic research development, 4;66 doi:10, 4172/2/55-9546. richter n, siddhuraju p and becker k. (2003). evaluation of nutritional quality of moringa (moringa oleifera lam.) leaves as an alternative protein source for tilapia (oreochromis niloticus l.). aquaculture 217: 599-611. tagwireyi t., mupangwa j. f., jepsen j., mwera p., 2008 effect of feeding moringa oleifera leaf meal on the growth performance of oreochromis niloticus fry. 3rd international research and practice in appropriate technology-energy solution in the era of climate change, november 12-15, kigali, rwanda. yuangsoi, b., & charoenwattanasak, s. (2011). utilization of moringa (moringa oleifera lam.) leaf on growth performance and protein digestibility in tilapia (oreochromis niloticus l.). in  proceedings of the 49th kasetsart university annual conference, kasetsart university, thailand, 1-4 february, 2011. volume 3. subject: fisheries (pp. 317-326). kasetsart university. 159 international peer reviewed journal effects of hybrid work model on employees and staff’s work productivity: a literature review jinella marie m. castañeda https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7685-6888 jinella.castaneda@gmail.com polytechnic university of the philippines sta. mesa, manila, philippines genaro v. japos https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-0988 gvjapos@pup.edu.ph polytechnic university of the philippines sta. mesa, manila, philippines wenifreda r. templonuevo https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3651-0928 wfrtemplonuevo521@gmail.com jesus is lord colleges foundation, inc. bocaue, bulacan, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract covid-19 had remarkable effects on different sectors and industries that pushed them to cope and adjust to the abrupt change in all facets globally. including universities and colleges, management prepared an effective action vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.537 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7685-6888 mailto:jinella.castaneda@gmail.com mailto:gvjapos@pup.edu.ph https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3651-0928 mailto:wfrtemplonuevo521@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 160 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 plan in response to the current crisis. institutions decided to adopt the hybrid work model where employees, including the management and educators, work by turns from home or remotely and on-site. the study uses the literature review to investigate available scientific literature on the possible effects of the hybrid work model on the employees’ work productivity, specifically in a higher education institution. the sources and references came from research databases such as google scholar, the open access directory journals, and other websites. the results suggest that employees should feel and experience positive well-being, a sense of belongingness in terms of collaboration, and continuous innovation to cope with the new set-up of hybridity, which will not compromise their work productivity. keywords — institutional research, attribution theory, effects, hybrid work model, well-being, collaboration, innovation, review of literature, employees, higher education institution, philippines introduction the highly infectious coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) has profoundly impacted many institutions globally, including higher education and public and private school systems. the pandemic has plagued the system of education, added to the workload of faculty and staff, and forced many colleges, universities, and schools to remain closed or operate with minimal resources to minimize the risk of infection (dhawan, 2020; rapanta et al., 2020; singh et al., 2021). universities and higher education institutions were forced to close during the consecutive covid-19 lockdowns. as a result, most educational institutions implemented emergency remote teaching, and students’ online learning relied heavily on digital technology support. although online and distance learning is familiar at the university level, this was a new and sudden experience for university students who usually attend face-to-face classes. (ahmed et al., 2020; iqbal et al., 2022; van der graaf et al., 2021). the shift to online teaching was a challenge for both teachers and students. in addition, transforming online courses has been a major challenge, especially for academic programs where collaboration and building social meaning are essential (lapitan et al., 2021; tomej et al., 2022; nechita et al., 2023). the pandemic’s disrupted outcomes may last longer in the education sector and have a negative impact on educators’ interests and performance (onyema et 161 international peer reviewed journal al., 2020). while transforming traditional educational institutions into virtual organizations improves teaching and learning practices, it also poses challenges for leaders, organizations, and employees (bolden & o’regan, 2016; kohntopp & mccann, 2019; kohntopp & mccann, 2020; vial, 2019). pandemic-induced work transformations have compelled educational institutions to reconsider their leadership practices toward staff (wiradendi wolor et al., 2020), have raised the concern about staff training to cope with the challenges of technological emergence (miao & holmes, 2022), and have created uncertainty to endure secure employment (onyema et al., 2020). besides, the traditional education system’s transformation into virtual organizations has increased academic staff stress (garcía-gonzález & ramírez-montoya, 2020) that influenced their performance. in times of crisis, universities must be resilient. in the educational system, resilience is the ability to overcome obstacles and challenges–trauma, tragedy, and crises and emerge stronger, wiser, and more powerful personally (henderson, 2012). the educational system must prepare to move forward and address the new normal following the crisis. higher education is necessary for resilience and must address teaching and learning continuity amid and beyond the pandemic. according to the manila bulletin (2022), schools may request that the blended learning modality be continued or adopted due to exceptional circumstances such as delays in school facility repair or construction. furthermore, higher education institutions (heis) may elect to design and deliver their degree programs online. chairperson of the commission on higher education, prospero de vera iii (ched), stated that on-site or hybrid learning would begin in the second semester of the school year (sy) 2022-2023 (mocon-ciriaco, 2022). with the institution’s support, employees from teaching and non-teaching departments adapted to the drastic change. however, employees being used to the flexibility of their work set-up could lead to needing more comfortable, especially when working from home. in addition, employees’ productivity should be highlighted so that tasks given will not be compromised and they will not feel that there are no boundaries between work and personal time that would lead them the other way around. hybrid work is a versatile work model that combines in-office, remote, and on-the-go workers. it allows employees to work wherever and however they are most productive (cisco, 2023). hybrid work is a people-first approach to workforce management that boosts while addressing the significant challenges of remote work, such as isolation and job satisfaction, and a lack of community. employees with a hybrid work model 162 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 have the more remarkable ability to work from home and flexibility or anywhere they can be productive. the workplace is no longer contained within the four walls of the corporate office with hybrid work—it is an ecosystem of employees working from home, in co-working spaces, and in the office. team members can migrate between various locations depending on the work they need to be done (cisco, 2023). hybrid work continues to grow. some companies resisted, arguing against the concept of remote work. companies mentioned productivity concerns and tactical problems that limited supervisors’ ability to observe and coach employees (robinsons, 2020). moreover, according to tsipursky (2023), hybrid work environments have become increasingly popular in recent years, where employees work from home and in the office. in addition, the covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, forcing many businesses to adopt remote work arrangements. while hybrid work has many advantages, such as the increased ability to attract top talent from anywhere and flexibility, it also has disadvantages. it is challenging to maintain productivity when employees are all working in different physical locations. supervisors could find innovative ways to connect with and manage workers from afar by ensuring their colleagues feel heard and know they are not alone. exhibiting heightened sensitivity to emotional intelligence, particularly when physical isolation has become a necessity, is vital (feast, 2020). in line with this, teevan (2021) cited that worker productivity is difficult to define and quantify. however, researchers approximate two types of data: selfreported worker data, asking people if they feel productive, and worker activity data. for example, one year into the pandemic, microsoft’s work trend index survey revealed that the self-assessed productivity of over 30,000 global workers outside of microsoft remained constant or increased. the results of microsoft’s annual employee survey were similar. regarding activity data, one microsoft division found that the number of features checked in by developers per hour increased by 1.5%, while focus time increased by 6%. therefore, the researchers were inspired to study the effects of the hybrid work model on the employees’ productivity, especially in their well-being, collaboration, and pursuit of innovation in the current situation. as a result, this paper presents and discusses published literature and studies that are relevant to the study. 163 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study this study intended to identify the effects of the hybrid work model on employees’ productivity in a higher education institution, specifically on their well-being, collaboration, and innovation, working either remotely or on-site. methodology this study uses a literature review that provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation concerning the research problems being investigated. the sources and references are from survey books and scholarly articles and are relevant to the particular issues in the different areas of the research (fink, 2019). a literature review follows an organizational structure and combines summary and synthesis, frequently within specific conceptual categories. a summary is a recitation of the key points from the source. a synthesis, on the other hand, is a reorganization or reshuffling of that information in such a way that it informs how to investigate a research problem (fink, 2019; hart, 1998; jesson et al., 2011; knopf, 2006; ridley, 2012). the researchers selected relevant literature and studies to determine the effects of the hybrid work model on the employees’ work productivity in a higher education institution, specifically in terms of the well-being, collaboration, and innovation of the subject. results and discussion attribution theory according to heider (2013), the attribution theory concerns how people perceive information, how they interpret events, and how these events form causal chain judgments. no one would act or decide unless they attributed it to a cause or factor. attribution theory deals with how individuals relate and make sense of the social world. it is more concerned with how people interpret events in their environment and how their interpretations influence their thinking and behavior. attribution theory assesses the explanation people give to specific behaviors; it considers how individuals interpret their behaviors (heider, 2013). moreover, all behavior is determined by either internal or external factors. external attribution is also called situational attribution. causality is attributed 164 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 to an external factor, agent, or force. outside factors fall outside of an individual’s control. leaving an individual with no choice. so behavior is influenced, limited, or entirely determined by influences outside of an individual’s control. therefore, the subject does not feel responsible. a generic example is the weather (heider, 2013). according to krampe et al. (2021), people with specific personality characteristics are well-equipped, whereas others are particularly vulnerable in times of crisis. according to the current study, people with an external locus of control are especially vulnerable. on the other hand, individuals with an internal locus of control should be more likely to see complex tasks as challenges rather than as something to be avoided. they should thus be more hopeful, active, and more likely to take responsibility for themselves and their environment (rotter, 1966). latent variables of the study this part of the study is the literature and studies that are relevant and related to the researchers’ study. these will be used to understand further and to determine the effects and significance of these variables on the employees’ of a higher education institution. hybrid work model according to vidhyaa and ravichandran (2022), hybrid work is a flexible work model that allows for a mix of in-office, remote, and on-the-go employees. it allows employees to work wherever and whenever they are most productive. hybrid work is a people-first approach to workforce management that drives increased productivity and job satisfaction while addressing remote work’s significant challenges, such as isolation and a lack of community. employees who work in a hybrid work model have more flexibility and can work from home or anywhere they can be productive. the workplace is no longer contained within the four walls of the corporate office with hybrid work.—it is an ecosystem of employees working from home, in co-working spaces, and in the office. team members can migrate between various locations depending on the work they need to be done. hybridity combines a physical work arrangement and a remote work system in the workplace (cook et al., 2020). for example, some employees work on-site at the company or organization, while others work remotely via the internet. this arrangement could include the same group of people who come to the company’s location and remotely work the rest of the week. 165 international peer reviewed journal the hybrid working system ensures that the organization that uses it benefits from remote working. flexibility at work, lower labor costs, increased worker satisfaction, and better environmental experiences are all part of the package that comes with remote work. the benefit of the traditional working system is also included. there is a guarantee of hands-on interaction with the existing culture in the workplace. likewise, there comes the advantage of informal networking, more likely in-person collaboration, and the added benefits of a structure to help foster creativity. the situation of hybridity refers to the coexistence of the benefits of traditional and remote workplace systems (malhotra & reay, 2019). the findings of the study by waller (2022) show that the failing models are all location-centric, attaching some rigid on-site requirements. only one model outperformed the rest: “hybrid-flexible,” which allows leaders and employees to choose where they work. a hybrid-flexible model that incorporates other vital elements of human-centric work design, such as location flexibility and the practices of intentional collaboration and empathy-based management, is even more successful. furthermore, the recent study by de castro (2022) found that a hybrid or remote work set-up is the next preferred evolution of the workplace, based on the 2022 survey “going hybrid: the future of work,” a local software as a service (saas) company, hosted the event. 91% of the 8,184 employees polled desired a hybrid or remote workplace. of the remote employees, over 70% love their current remote set-up, but only around 43% feel engaged. according to the survey, 80% of human resources (hr) administrators and managers preferred hybrid or remote work, but 64.6% needed assistance figuring out how to make the arrangement work. well-being aryanti et al. (2020) cited that workplace well-being is an application component of subjective well-being in a work environment. workplace wellbeing that will impact employee welfare is crucial in determining long-term sustainability in an organization. workplace well-being is an obligation because improving workplace well-being will positively impact overall performance. according to anwarsyah et al. (2012), workplace well-being is a sense of prosperity obtained from work that is related to the feelings of the workers in general (core effect) and the intrinsic and extrinsic value of the work (work values). individual experience, whether emotional or social, clearly influences the person at work and in the non-working domain. workers spend about one-third 166 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 of their time at work and still carry the work even after leaving the workplace. welfare can potentially affect workers and organizations negatively. workers with poor welfare may be less productive, make low-quality decisions, be more vulnerable to absenteeism at work and consistently reduce overall contributions to the organizations (de simone, 2014). collaboration according to the study of yang et al. (2022), microsoft’s business groups became less interconnected as the company transitioned to firm-wide remote work. it also decreased the number of ties bridging structural gaps in the company’s informal collaboration network, causing people to spend less time collaborating with the remaining bridging ties. furthermore, the transition to firm-wide remote work required employees to spend more time away from the office, a more significant share of their collaboration time with their stronger ties, better suited to information transfer, and less time with weak connections because they are more likely to provide new information. baum et al. (2012) cited that previous research has also shown that workers’ performance is influenced not only by the network’s structure and the strength of its ties but also by its temporal dynamics. the advantages of various times vary with age, and people benefit from shifting their network position. (burt & merluzzi, 2016; kneeland, 2019; kumar & zaheer, 2019), adding new ties (soda et al., 2021; zeng et al., 2021) and reconnecting with dormant ties (levin et al., 2011). in addition, the existing theoretical perspectives and empirical results of lengel and daft (1984) suggest that employees’ communication modes impact knowledge transfer and collaboration. on the theoretical front, media richness theory posits that more prosperous. in-person interaction, for example, is best suited to communicating complex information and ideas. furthermore, dennis et al. (2008) media synchronicity theory proposes that synchronous communication channels (such as video calls) are better suited for information transmission. in contrast, asynchronous communication channels (such as email) are better suited for information convergence. a rich body of empirical research also documents the numerous implications of communication media selection for organizations. previous research, for example, has shown that establishing a rapport, which is a crucial step, and an essential precursor to knowledge transfer, is impeded by email use, according to morris et al. (2022), and that in-person and phone/video communication are stronger predictors of positive team performance than email and instant messaging (im) communication (pentland, 2012). 167 international peer reviewed journal according to yang et al. (2022), remote work eliminates in-person communication; however, results show that people must replace in-person interactions with video and voice calls. broad remote work decreased observed synchronous communication, such as scheduled meetings and audio/video calls. in comparison, the findings of remote work caused employees to communicate more through more asynchronous media—sending more emails and instant messages. according to media richness theory, media synchronicity theory, and previous empirical studies, these communication media options employees may find it more challenging to communicate and communicate effectively and converge on the meaning of complex information. innovation traditionally, an organization’s performance has been measured using financial indicators such as profit, market share, earnings, and growth rate (demirbag et al., 2006). however, non-financial indicators also must be considered in accessing performance, which usually develops in line with human resource outcomes such as turnover, absenteeism, job satisfaction, productivity, and quality (abdalkrim, 2013; dyer & reeves, 1995). according to sadikoglu and zehir (2010), it was found that employees’ performance, including productivity, is influenced by innovation. so with that, innovation through employees’ generation of ideas for new products and services would eventually improve competitiveness, improve the administrative process, increase efficiencies and effective work management (walker et al., 2010), increase organizational fitness (choi et al., 2009), improve quality performance (sadikoglu & zehir, 2010). additionally, innovation will increase the quantity, quality, and timeliness of output, attendance on the job, and efficiency and effectiveness of work completed (tinofirei, 2011). employee’s productivity the notion of employee productivity is familiar in management (palmer & dean, 1973) as it has become multidimensional (adeinat & kassim, 2019). it has now been associated with motivation, work-life balance, work environment, internet, service profit chain, and compensation. as a result, organizations are becoming increasingly concerned about how to increase the productivity of employees (burke & hsieh, 2006; yunus & ernawati, 2018). mainstream research revealed that the productivity of employees is associated with organizational performance; the higher the employee productivity, the better the organization’s 168 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 performance (yunus & ernawati, 2018; iqbal et al., 2019). yunus and ernawati (2018) defined employee productivity as the capability to produce goods and services to achieve the organization’s goals. similarly, iqbal et al. (2019) defined employee productivity as impersonal trust; therefore, a lack of trust between employees and employers can lower employees’ productivity, hindering the organization’s performance. moreover, various other factors influence employee productivity, and the most important is the work environment in which people work (awan & tahir, 2015; al-shammari, 2015). the productivity of employees reflects the efficiency level indicating the time taken to perform a particular task. when employees tend to be productive, they perform a particular task more efficiently and effectively within a given period; on the contrary, they take longer to perform a particular task costing money if they are unproductive at work. finally, employee productivity is also significantly influenced by employee commitment, satisfaction (adeinat & kassim, 2019), employee well-being (sharma et al., 2016), and engagement (lee et al., 2017). research hypotheses and their justification this section of the study will support why the researchers came up with these hypotheses and the fine points of the current study. improved well-being in the workplace can reduce cases of presenteeism and absenteeism. higher levels of workplace well-being correlate with higher productivity and happiness among employees. it will also often improve a company’s profitability and efficiency. consequently, with the support of the above-stated literature and studies, the researchers used and will further test and verify that: h1: well-being has a significant and positive effect on the employees and staff’s work productivity. furthermore, haddon (2018), pfeffer (2018), and isham et al. (2020) stated that well-being is associated with higher levels of employee engagement and lower levels of absenteeism and turnover. human relations theory states that higher employee well-being is associated with higher morale, which, in turn, leads to higher productivity. emotions theory argues that employees’ positive emotions lead to improved attitudes and motivation, hence better job outcomes and organizational citizenship (isham et al., 2020). the effect on employees’ well-being should be considered, as the employees’ collaboration towards work productivity even in times of restructuring the work 169 international peer reviewed journal set-up they got used to, such as the hybrid work setting. collaboration is essential for creating a more transparent, productive, and happy workplace. employees who collaborate by sharing ideas and skills feel more connected to one another are more engaged, and contribute to an environment of innovation and growth. this has been shown to improve employee retention and organizational success. in addition, collaboration is the key to keeping employees engaged and productive — no matter where they work — as remote and hybrid work settings become more viable alternatives to in-office work after the covid-19 pandemic. collaboration that is effective fosters a sense of belonging, drives innovation, makes employees feel like valued contributors and encourages them to do their best. furthermore, because it improves productivity, collaboration is essential for both performance and maintaining a healthy work-life balance (borrego, 2021). furthermore, collaboration improves how a team works together and solves problems, according to ribeiro (2020). this results in more innovation, efficient processes, tremendous success, and better communication. therefore, with the support of the above-stated literature and studies, the researcher used and will further test and verify that: h2: collaboration has a significant and positive effect on the employee and staff’s work productivity. the workplace is evolving quickly, becoming more hybrid and remote. to spark innovation, companies and facility managers (fms) must create an innovative culture that caters to all employees, regardless of location or work schedule. implementing workplace innovation begins at the top. companies that want to maximize innovation must provide a conducive environment and initiatives for all employees. employers must collaborate with fms to design a supportive and collaborative workspace for remote and in-office workers to improve innovation and creative thinking (mason, 2021). according to eipa (2018), workplace innovation is how organizations divide the work performed in different jobs. it is an organizational model which explicitly focuses on new methods of improving the working environment to help employees work in a way that brings out the best in their capabilities and helps them work, perform, and live better. the critical objective of workplace innovation is to improve employees’ motivation, engagement, and performance. in addition, it aims at giving back energy and pleasure in work. salesforce uk (2021) mentioned that there is a beautiful symbiosis between innovation and productivity. the more innovative a company is, the more it can drive productivity. this increased productivity allows the workforce to be more 170 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 creative and innovative. on and on the cycle goes as the company grows. these gave the inspiration for one of the hypotheses: h3: innovation has a significant and positive effect on the employee’s and staff’s work productivity. as the effects of the pandemic waned, most businesses adopted a new work structure that combines remote working with the pre-pandemic in-office set-up. enter a hybrid work model. the hybrid structure provides employee flexibility and the benefits of both work arrangements. however, some business leaders have strong opinions about one structure or the other and wonder if hybrid work increases productivity. hybrid working enables employees to choose their work location. giving employees the ability to create their work schedule according to their needs and personal aeries is one of the benefits that positively affects productivity levels (koeva, 2022). clarke (2021) states that not all organizations and businesses measure productivity using the same performance standards. on the other hand, employee productivity usually depends on their employees’ positive behavior and capability of meeting employee performance goals and objectives by management. research conducted by bloom et al. (2014) from stanford university, hybrid work led to more productive employees. it combines the needs of businesses to have employees in their offices and allows employees the flexibility to work from home and gain all of the benefits from that. therefore, researchers would like to investigate further: h4: effects of the hybrid work model has significant and positive effects on the employee’s and staff’s work productivity. synthesis of the reviewed literature and studies this study aims to determine and set a test in finding the results that will answer the significant effects of the hybrid work model on the employees’ productivity in a selected higher education institution. the researchers got interested in further studying how these effects of hybrid work set-up, specifically the well-being, collaboration, and innovation, affect employees’ productivity given the flexibility to work either at the very comfort of their home, remotely, or on-site. with that, researchers sought to study further and look for gaps that concern with hybrid work model that researchers aim to bridge these gaps. the most significant challenges of hybrid work are a need for adequate work tools, disconnect from the culture of the organization, impaired collaboration and relationships, and disrupted work processes (wigert & white, 2022). 171 international peer reviewed journal by thoroughly investigating the related and suited literature and studies, researchers found the framework that can support this study: the attribution theory. literature cited abdalkrim, g. m. 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(2021). fresh teams are associated with original and multidisciplinary research.  nature human behaviour, 5(10), 1314-1322.  cover vol 8 final international peer reviewed journal 1 smallholder dairy farmers’ group development in bhutan: strengthening rural communities through group mobilization thubten sonam thubtenst@gmail.com graduate school of khon kaen university, faculty of agriculture, department of agricultural extension, kku. niwat martwanna niwmar@kku.ac.th. department of agricultural extension, faculty of agriculture, khon kaen university, bhutan abstract this paper describes the mobilization processes of smallholder dairy farmers’ groups (sdfg) and its relevance to the process of community development in an integrated crop livestock forestry farming system in bhutan. the group approach aims to ensure effective delivery of dairy services for strengthening collective self-help capacity, promoting self-reliance, group cooperation and solidarity of poor rural farmers through collective action. data for the study were generated through focused group interviews and workshop organized among the relevant stakeholders involved in formation and development of dairy farmers’ groups. the study found that the group mobilization processes demanded new competences in managing the different stages of group formation and development processes with professional support backed by new knowledge and skills. while the government encourages and supports the mobilization of dairy groups, the process of forming a group is still difficult due to a wide range of technical, socio-cultural, organizational, and physical challenges. vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.167 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom jpair: multidisciplinary journal 2 however, despite the challenges and difficulties, sdfgs are slowly contributing to the enhancement of smallholder dairy farmers’ skills, achievement of economies-of-scale and improving their bargaining power. the sdfgs are helping to build trust among members, instill positive changes in attitude and commitment to achieve group’s success motivated by accrued financial benefits and easy access to other services. the formation and development of dairy groups needs to be supported by well-trained competent group mobilizers who are able to manage and facilitate group processes effectively. keywords service delivery, collective action, smallholder dairy farmers’ group, mobilization and integrated crop-livestock-forestry farming systems. introduction the smallholder dairy farmers’ groups (sdfgs) are a distinct category of farmers’ groups in bhutan, initiated and promoted by the department of livestock (dol) adopted as one of the key mechanisms for modernization and commercialization of smallholder dairy farming by assisting in production, processing and marketing of dairy products. due to the small farm size and limited landholdings, mobilization of smallholder dairy farmers into groups is seen as a viable option to develop and commercialize the dairy sector in bhutan, where there is an everincreasing market demand for the dairy products. as of 2009 there were more than 51 livestock groups with as many as 1,828 members, engaged in dairy, poultry, piggery and fishery activities, of which 27 were sdfgs consisting of both operational and newly proposed groups. the smallholder dairy farmers here refer to those households practicing an integrated crop-livestock-forestry farming system; in most cases with crop cultivation as the dominant farming activity supported by cattle rearing and forestry activities. objectives of the study the aim of this paper is to describe the current development status of the sdfgs and their relevance to community development international peer reviewed journal 3 in bhutan. in pragmatic terms, the sdfg approach in dairy enterprise development assures the group members an effective means of pooling their resources, thereby enabling them to meet their common economic, socio-cultural needs and aspirations. concurrently, the sdfg approach is also an important mechanism for strengthening the rural communities’ accessibility to markets by mobilizing smallholder dairy farmers into groups that coordinate dairy and other agroeconomic activities. materials and methods administratively, bhutan is divided into twenty dzongkhags (districts). first, districts with existing sdfgs were identified, and sdfgs were segregated into operational and newly proposed groups. the study focused on the operational dairy groups. from the 27 smallholders dairy farmers’ groups 18 were operational serving around 600 members. the study covered 12 sdfgs from eleven dzongkhags in proportion to the number of sdfgs operating in each dzongkhag, using a stratified random sampling method. the data for the study was gathered through focused group interview and open participatory discussions with the leaders of sdfgs’ and livestock extension agents (directly involved with the groups) during a three days stakeholders’ workshop. the focused group interview used four major questions to assess and describe the sdfg mobilization and development processes adopted by the group promoters in bhutan. based on the group formation principles suggested by acc (administrative committee on coordination of united nations) network on rural development and food security’s article titled “farmer groups in food production” (acc network on rural development and food security, n.d.), the following four questions were formulated: a. how is the formation and development of sdfg encouraged in bhutan? b. were there adequate discussions and awareness programs on sdfg formation prior to establishment? c. was the establishment of sdfg participatory or not? and, d. how adequately was self-reliance and sustainability addressed in the post establishment period? jpair: multidisciplinary journal 4 most of the data were analyzed immediately after the process of data collection mostly in a qualitative manner, while conducting the focus group interviews and open participatory group discussions and meetings with the group leaders and extension agents. a simple gap analysis technique is for identification of gaps between the principles of group formation and the actual field level execution by group promoters. the study also used secondary information for describing the policies related to dairy development and issues of group formation. the benefits of sdfg are illustrated by a case study. results and discussion policy environment the ministry of agriculture started to actively promote the concept of farmers’ groups as an approach to rural development from the beginning of 9th five year plan (fyp, 2002-2007). in the 10th fyp (20082013), a renewable natural resources (rnr) sector policy objective is to commercialize agriculture by strengthening production and marketing activities through the promotion of farmers’ cooperatives and marketing boards (gnhc, 2008). further, the current bhutanese agricultural development policy advocates pam (production, access and marketing) and ogtp (“one geog, three products”) as the main strategies to increase agricultural productivity and improve rural livelihoods nationwide (moaf). in the livestock sector, sdfgs are expected to play vital roles in commercializing dairy production and to fulfill the dairy development policy objectives, especially in advancing the ogtp approach and thereby promote economic and social development of rural communities by effective delivery of livestock development services. as reflected in the 10th five year plan, the policy support for development of farmers’ groups in general is very strong in bhutan. therefore, formation and development of sdfgs and other farmers’ groups are supported and guided by the following policy documents: • cooperatives act of bhutan 2009 (amended) • strategy for farmer’s group in rnr enterprise development 2004 international peer reviewed journal 5 • the cooperative regulations 2006 • farmers group & cooperative development strategy 2008. although the number of farmers’ groups has increased over the years, achievement in terms of cooperative development was minimal mainly due to the mismatch of roles between ministry of home and cultural affairs (as implementer of act) and ministry of agriculture (promoter of groups in the field) and absence of regulations. however, with the amendment of cooperative act in 2009, authorization of moaf as the act implementing agency, and institutionalization of department of agriculture marketing and cooperative under moaf promises an enabling environment for smooth formation and development of farmers’ groups and cooperatives in general. dairy development and sdfg the mobilization of smallholder dairy farmers into groups and cooperative societies for collection, processing and marketing of fresh milk and processed products was first started by the highland livestock development project (hldp) in the early 1990s, a livestock development project. hldp was launched with financial assistance from asian development bank (adb) in the fifth plan (1981/821986/87). one of the components of the project was to increase the productivity of cattle through a program centered on better animal health control and improved breeding and feeding management, and was supported by market development initiatives such as milk cooperatives and milk and meat processing facilities (adb, 1998). the milk collection society in deothang (eastern bhutan), trashiling milk processing society in trongsa (east central bhutan), and phuntsholing milk processing plant in the south (now bhutan dairy limited, bdl), were the first smallholder dairy farmers’ groups and processing plant established by hldp. the bdl, with a capacity of 5000 liters/day, was established in 1985 mainly to serve as the centralized market for the milk producers in the southern region. the formation of sdfgs were mostly initiated and supported through livestock projects. this is evident from the two clear phases of the dairy groups’ development in bhutan: the first phase in the early jpair: multidisciplinary journal 6 1990s supported by the hldp project and the second from the start of the new millennium program with projects supported by european union, helvetas, ifad, snv and government of india. the lack of clear legal and institutional support for the farmers’ groups affected the performance and development of sdfgs in the mid 1990’s, especially from 1993 to 2003. for example, the early dairy groups were fully dependent on the government after the exit of the initial donors. without a clear mechanism to support farmers’ groups and with little or no managerial capacity at the group level, withdrawal of government support nearly led to the dissolution of early dairy groups. figure 1 number of new sdfgs formed yearly after 2003 however, a change in dairy development strategy, with emphasis on a group approach, has positively impacted the growth of sdfgs since 2003 (figure 1). gradually, this has created an increasing number of viable dairy enterprises that secure productive selfemployment and generate cash income to rural communities. in other words, sdfg approach in dairy enterprise development is contributing to community development; the new income generated to participating households through these ventures has enhanced other rural development activities. as mentioned by opare (2007), like international peer reviewed journal 7 the community based organizations which provide various services to develop rural communities by channeling information and other key resources to enhance rural living conditions, sdfgs in bhutan are seen as an important move toward dairy development by channeling extension and other support services to dairy group members through the group. sdfg formation processes in the absence of trained group promoters, the geog (subdistrict) livestock extension agents despite their limited community mobilization knowledge and skills collaborate with stakeholders to facilitate group formation and development as the main leader in the field. as stated by fao (1995), forming group is not just gathering some like-minded people, but involves the commitment of members who are willing to work together and come to agreement on a number of issues which any group promoter should be able to facilitate effectively. the group formation is not only an additional job for the extension workers but requires knowledge and skills, resources and patience. short training courses (one to two weeks) were organized for selected extension agents mainly to develop and prepare them to facilitate group processes in the field. they in turn were required to organize similar trainings for their colleagues in their districts and also to initiate group activities in their respective working areas. steps for sdfg formation the formation of farmers’ groups in general are guided by the “strategy for farmers’ groups in enterprise development” developed and distributed by the moa in 2004. however, as reported by subedi (2009) since the legislation, policy and guidelines for farmers’ groups development has been vague, many groups were formed without an in-depth pre-feasibility study, market analysis, orstrategic guidelines on awareness creation. as such formation of dairy groups was usually based on the general potential observed in the area and the benefits members are likely to enjoy through the collective action. a generalized step (figure 1) for group formation has been summarized based on the jpair: multidisciplinary journal 8 results of focused group interviews, steps generally adopted by the group promoters in the field. figure 2 steps adopted for forming sdfg despite the similarities in the group establishment steps followed by the extension agents, group development strategies widely varied across the regions, mainly due to lack of expertise, absence of specific group development guidelines and weak institutional accountability. the most common concerns shared by extension agents were; inability to conduct proper feasibility and market studies, to execute group formation processes effectively and to provide capacity development trainings to members once the group was established. the dairy group formations were mostly facilitated by the field extension agents who possess very little experiences, knowledge and skills on group processes (table 1). the majority (91.6%) of extension agents claimed to have some experiences in group formation but at the same time about 83% have expressed having limited knowledge in group formation (table1). many extension agents have not undergone formal group mobilization trainings but have participate in group formation processes in the field with other stakeholders. despite the limited knowledge many (67%) have formed or helped form some livestock groups in the field. monitoring & evaluation international peer reviewed journal 9 table 1 livestock extension agent background in group formation processes variables yes no none one two > two groups number of groups formed 67% 33% 33.30% 25% 33.30% 8.30% knowledge in group formation 16.60% 83.30% experiences in group formation 91.60% 8.30% source: focused group interview 2009 as a group promoter/facilitator in the field, the livestock extension agents expressed the need to enhance their knowledge and skills in areas such as group formation processes, leadership and conflict management, record and book keeping, group dynamism and planning, and bylaws drafting and development. enhancement of knowledge and skills in group mobilization processes, leadership and conflict managements were considered vital by the extension agents for effective facilitation of group processes. the study found that most dairy groups were formed within short period of time with inadequate group awareness and educational activities, mainly due to limited time and capacity of the group promoters. the experiences of extension agents about groups formed in shorter duration were, often such processes had negative impact on members’ sense of ownership, comprehension about benefits of collective action and participation in group activities. in principle, according to fao (1994), it is important to allow for a reasonable time interval between the different stages of the group formation and to avoid forming groups in haste. this provides farmers adequate time to reflect, discuss and evaluate their decisions to take up collective action. based on the results of the focused group interviews, formation of sdfgs were mostly externally initiated based on the interest of agencies and projects mainly to meet annual targets, or simply taken up as a means of implementing new “development activities” like the dairy groups of the early 1990s. the externally driven development initiatives were found necessary particularly in the early stages of results of focused group interviews, steps generally adopted by the group promoters in the field. figure 2 steps adopted for forming sdfg despite the similarities in the group establishment steps followed by the extension agents, group development strategies widely varied across the regions, mainly due to lack of expertise, absence of specific group development guidelines and weak institutional accountability. the most common concerns shared by extension agents were; inability to conduct proper feasibility and market studies, to execute group formation processes effectively and to provide capacity development trainings to members once the group was established. the dairy group formations were mostly facilitated by the field extension agents who possess very little experiences, knowledge and skills on group processes (table 1). the majority (91.6%) of extension agents claimed to have some experiences in group formation but at the same time about 83% have expressed having limited knowledge in group formation (table1). many extension agents have not undergone formal group mobilization trainings but have participate in group formation processes in the field with other stakeholders. despite the limited knowledge many (67%) have formed or helped form some livestock groups in the field. monitoring & evaluation jpair: multidisciplinary journal 10 group approach promotion, mainly to encourage and create awareness among illiterate farmers about the benefits of collective action, however, such externally driven initiatives have led to the creation of expectations among the farmers where agencies often promised many support services and facilities. supports for the development of dairy groups were provided through capacity building (training, workshops, study visits), supply of materials and equipment for (milk collection, processing and storage), loans for purchase of cattle, and subsidies for transportation of cattle and cattle feeds in the initial phase. gap analysis of sdfg formation processes the general gap analysis technique was used for identifying gaps in sdfg formation processes in bhutan. the four basic principles established by the acc network for rural development and food security was used as the standard for comparing with practices adopted by the group promoters in the field (table 2). as most the sdfgs are externally initiated; the problems and needs of the farmers are often pre-determined by agencies and authorities with minimal participation of the farmers. as such the compliance to group formation processes were often perceived as more of a formality than necessity; extension agents as facilitators complete the requisite tasks and technical inputs within short time periods leaving very little time for farmers to discuss, consider and comprehend the benefits of cooperation and collective action. table 2. principles, field practice and gaps in sdfg formation processes no basic principles1 field level practice gap 1 encourage group formation • do not impose anything • work with farmers to identify their problems • help them assess their group selfcapacities • assist in identifying areas for group action • group formation is mostly target and projectbased (externally initiated) farmers’ needs and problems analysis not properly identified. weak feasibility and market study. international peer reviewed journal 11 2 discuss group formation • go slowly-forming healthy groups takes time • call village meetings • discuss goals and expectations • focus on individual profitability • assess all benefits & costs of cooperation • lack of adherence to group formation processes, groups formed in shorter periods and mostly top down limited awareness programs and meetings. limited group educational programs 3 establish groups • encourage small groups • ensure that group members share a common bond homogenous • promote groups that are voluntary and democratic • help the group choose a name for itself • assist it in setting realistic objectives • urge groups to meet regularly • participatory approaches are emphasized but groups are usually formed based on the predetermined plan and objective. weak facilitation processes. 4 aim at group self-reliance • ensure that leadership develops and is shared • highlight the importance of members contributions • encourage simple record keeping • organization of trainings are determined by the availability of resources no clear capacity development plan at for group & extension agents the target based approach, weak facilitation processes and no clear capacity development plans for group facilitators and members of dairy groups, and absence of well trained and experienced community mobilizers were expressed as some of the factors affecting the smooth formation and development of dairy groups in bhutan. member benefits and community development compared to benefits accrued from other types of farmers’ groups, member benefits are more visible and relatively better in the smallholder dairy farmers’ groups. all the dairy groups (12 sdfgs) have started with member saving schemes mainly to build a collective fund to finance milk collection, processing and marketing activities, and also to provide loan facilities to the members. according to the group leaders and members saving and loan scheme were useful jpair: multidisciplinary journal 12 and also effective as a mechanism to maintain members together in the smallholder dairy farmers’ groups. further the assured monthly payment to the members for their milk deposits are said to motivate and encourage active member participation. the case study (box 1) illustrates how a young sdfg benefits its members in the east central region. box1. a case of chumey gonor lothuen tshogpa (a smallholder dairy group) background chumey gonor lothuen tshogpa (cglt) in bumthang district (east central bhutan) was established in 2008 with 31 members with assistance from the district’s livestock sector. since dairy is an important component of the dryland farming system, all the households in the area raise dairy cattle. this smallholder dairy farmers’ group (sdfg) was established for collection, processing and marketing of processed milk products. currently (2011), 31 members and 15 non-members supply milk to the processing unit. the functioning of the sdfg is guided by the group’s by-laws. current group activities the group collects and processes about 90-150 kg of milk per day (members and non members) producing around 6-7 kg butter and 70 balls of cottage cheese (200g/ball) daily earning a net income of about nu. 6000 permonth. the products sold are fresh milk (nu. 25/kg), butter (nu.240/kg), cottage cheese (nu.25/ball), skim and butter milk (15/kg). products are marketed from the processing unit and surplus products are marketed through the existing renewable natural resource farm shop located in bumthang town. the group also procures and supplies commercial dairy feed to the group members, and has an insurance scheme for cattle and family members of the group. benefits to members the opportunity for smallholder dairy farmers to raise their income depends on their ability to participate and compete in the market. with a long way to go to developing into a fully sustainable group, this sdfg has atleast made a good start in initiating the use of collective action for addressing the inefficiencies and coordination problems related to market access. on an average, a farmer supplies about 3 kg of milk per day (nu.20/kg) earning approximately about nu.1800 per month. besides enabling the community to earn regular monthly cash income, the group has also helped to strengthen the financial position and social bond among members. the loan from the group saving scheme has made the members’ access to credit easy, reducing international peer reviewed journal 13 the sdfgs can be seen as an important platform for facilitating community development processes in the rural areas. the community development is seen as a process for facilitating active participation of people in the issues which affect their lives, involving sharing of power, skills, knowledge and experience. the improved sdfg’s members’ access to cash and loan facilities, better sharing of knowledge and information on dairy farming, and stronger representation of members to outside agencies are contributing helping to strengthen rural communities. according to members without sdfg’s, there was little or no opportunity to earn cash, loan sources were very limited and came with high interest rates. the benefit of group is evident from chumey’s case (box 1) in east central bhutan where the group currently assures monthly cash flow for milk deposits and also provides low interest loans to its members easing the cash demands on the farm and reducing dependency on external credit sources. thus as put forward by laidlaw (1962) with their emphasis on self-help and local initiatives, the dairy groups and cooperatives in bhutan can be the mainspring of the people’s own effort in dairy and community development in the coming future. challenges for mobilization of sdfgs a major weakness in terms of management and organizational issues in bhutan is the difficulty in mobilizing groups and undertaking group formation activities, further hindering the commercialization of the dependency on expensive external credit sources. the success of the group has raised the interest of many non-members, who are then more inclined to join the group. future outlook the group has plans to strengthen and expand its membership, explore possibilities for product diversification, initiate heifer production for stock replacement and sale andsupport the development of improved pasture. like many other successful farmers’ organizations, this sdfg has effectively encouragedgreater group participation in the market by reducing the transaction costs and improving their group’s bargaining power. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 14 farming activities (bellotti and cadilhon, 2007). the challenges include factors related to cultural and social, technical, policy, physical, organizational, and land resources. cultural and social factors the low level of trust among farmers and their individualistic thinking about farming practices are making the group mobilization processes more difficult and challenging. subedi (2009) confirms illiteracy of the farmers, lack of awareness of group benefits, lack of cohesion among the group members, lack of rural manpower to participate in group activities, and a lack of trust amongst the group members as constraining group development in eastern bhutan. a high illiteracy rate among large numbers of uneducated farmers was said to affect development of sdfg’s and their performance. according to the dairy farmers’ group leaders, instilling a sense of ownership among members who usually are not aware of their responsibilities is said to be difficult and challenging. this could be attributed in part to weak, inadequate and vague awareness programs (trainings and meetings) in the pre-establishment period of the dairy groups. however, this assumption requires further study and confirmation. technical factors the lack of trained and experienced group promoters who understand group mobilization processes and are capable of handling these processes smoothly is a major constraint to the formation of farmers’ groups in bhutan. the shortage of trained professional group promoters at the department and dzongkhag levels, have forced the extension agents to attend a few days training on group modalities (usually between 5 and 8 days) and are often required to take the role of group promoters and trainers in the field. this raises questions on their competency and effectiveness, especially when they are also required to perform many other technical livestock extension services for the public. belotti and cadilhon (2007) reported that lack of skills and expertise among the group promoters and poorly trained extension agents as some of the reasons constraining the group mobilization efforts in bhutan. according to the livestock personals, members’ international peer reviewed journal 15 inability to invest in improved cattle owing to high prices, the risk of cattle mortality, and high cost of feed, marginal land holdings that limit pasture development and a general lack of knowledge of proper feeding regime also said to constrain the development of dairy groups. policy factors while overall national policy support for farmers’ group formation is strong, the absence of a uniform support programs is a concern for the group mobilizers and farmers, especially in areas where project supports are minimal or absent. the financial resources and technical supports are essential ingredients for capacity developments in the initial stages of group formation and development. as reported by subedi (2009), a common phenomenon throughout the nationis weak local government support, non-involvement in group formation, limited or no accountability for group activity and absence of continuous monitoring of group activities by the local government. all of these areas of institutional weakness play a role in limiting the development of farmers’ groups in eastern bhutan. physical factors bhutan is an exceptionally mountainous country with most settlements concentrated in small river valley bottoms and on steep mountain slopes where accessibility is difficult and time consuming. the conditions are improving with construction of new farm roads but at the moment poor road connectivity and transportation facilities between settlements are also hindering group mobilization efforts in bhutan. the physical separation of settlements and households due to the difficult terrain offers less opportunity for interaction between communities, thereby limiting group formation and functioning in some parts of the country. organizational factors the lack of interested and dynamic leaders is expressed as a major concern for the sdfg’s covered in the study. as reported by subedi (2009) the unavailability of qualified candidates from illiterate group jpair: multidisciplinary journal 16 members with limited leadership capabilities often makes it very difficult for groups to change committee members and office bearers as required by the group bylaws. according to the sdfg leaders, lack of knowledge on book-keeping and accounting, absence of clear monitoring and evaluation systems exacerbated by weak participation by the members are all said to be affecting group development. as rural entrepreneurs, the sdfgs also lack knowledge of the dairy market, access to technology, business linking services, advocacy and other services that would help them to build competitiveness. the mobilization and functioning of the dairy groups is also affected by the lack of a uniform organizational development plan for sdfgs. some dairy groups are not even able to carry out the primary role for which the group was formed, such as collection, processing and marketing of milk products. for example, gogona smallholder dairy farmers’ group in the west central region of bhutan has privatized the milk processing and marketing to a single member simply due to lack of manpower and transportation facilities. the members only contribute milk and receive payment at the end of the month where cooperative thinking and value is almost absent.the inability of sdfgs to diversify their activities and provide additional benefits to the members is also a concern for the development and management of the dairy groups. lack of resources scarce financial resources in the early stages of sdfg development is reported as a common constraint among all the sdfgs due to difficulty in mobilization and low internal group savings by the livestock group promoters. according to the livestock extension agents’ lack of assets, proper offices or office equipment and unwillingness among members to invest are also said to hamper the growth of dairy groups. dairy groups are highly dependent on government subsidies and donor funding, especially in the early stages of group formation and development. further, since groups are mostly promoted in areas with project supports, often members join the group mainly aspiring for project inputs and incentives, increasing their dependency on the external sources. the introduction of the revolving fund 2010 by the animal husbandry department is expected to minimize the financial constraints at least with the livestock related group enterprises. international peer reviewed journal 17 conclusion and recommendations in summary, as identified by fao (1998), the social environment plays a major role in the establishment, development of self-reliance and sustainability of farmers groups in general. similarly the key parameters that influence success or failure of a sdfg are: purpose and potential benefits of group formation; motivation and timing of formation; the role of a group promoter or a facilitator; and the extent and form of external support. the change in policy approach towards rural development with emphasis on collective action has raised the level of awareness among farmers about the value of cooperation resulting into increased number of sdfgs in the past few years. the lack of professional group promoters demands the recruitment of trained group promoters at the department and dzongkhag levels who could guide, streamline and strengthen the group formation processes. the increasing involvement of livestock extension agents with their limited knowledge and skills in community organizing underscores the need for these agents to enhance their skills in group mobilization, participatory approaches and marketing. in order to successfully implement capacity development programs for farmers groups, extension agents should focus on the three basic promotional roles identified by fao (1994); as a group advisor, participatory trainer and networker. agents must explore the engagement of professionals from other organizations to build up linkages and network with relevant academic institutions providing community development and management courses. group formation demands special knowledge and skills, commitment and extra time from the group promoters, and therefore it is important for the concerned authorities to reassess the workloads of extension agents and find out the availability of time, especially when they are also required to provide other technical services at the same time. the lack of strategic guidelines and institutional support assures no uniformity in the support and management services provided, further leading to weak monitoring and evaluation of sdfgs activities. since formation and development of sdfgs are “project driven” and supported, there should be a clear strategy and plan to support the jpair: multidisciplinary journal 18 already established groups especially after termination of project support. lack of start-up capital is a constraint faced by the sdfgs in the early stages of development. fao’s experiences in other countries found “savings first” as a more effective approach, than using low interest credit as an incentive for group formation and management in the initial stages of development (rouse, 1996). therefore, group promoters should first focus on cooperation to improve members’ income generation potential which will not only reduce the dependence on the government and donor subsidies but will also solve the financial requirements in the early stages of the group formation and development. although many challenges lie ahead for sdfgs to fully develop into sustainable dairy groups and cooperatives, they are relatively better in terms of management and benefit-sharing compared to other farmers’ groups in the country. as a result, according to the extension agents’ members’ participation in the group activities is said to be improving through more effective group leadership, improved trust among members, positive changes in individual attitude and commitment towards group activities. �further, it is also said that the mobilization of farmers into dairy groups, by promoting understanding and collaboration among members irrespective of their background and status, has also helped to strengthen members’ social bonds thereby building more peaceful and stronger communities in the rural areas. therefore, sdfg presents promising opportunities as an organization at the community level to channel all the government assistance and also as a link between the government and people in framing and dissemination of government policy. acknowledgements i would like to briefly express my gratitude to all those who provided their kind assistance, valuable comments, feedbacks and suggestions, without which this paper would not have materialized. this work acknowledges financial support provided by thailand international cooperation agency (tica), thailand. international peer reviewed journal 19 literature cited adb 1998 project performance audit report on the highland livestock development project in bhutan, asian development bank, ppa: bhu 19168 administrative committee on coordination of united nations (acc) 2010 network on rural development and food security, farmer groups in food production. n.d. available at http://www.rdfs. net/oldsite/en/news/farmergroups-e.htm. [accessed 3 march]. bekele s., o.gideon, m.geoffrey 2007 rural market imperfections and the roles of institutions for collective action to improve markets for the poor international crops research institute for semi-arid tropic, p.o. box 39063,00623 nairobi, kenya. bellotti p. and j. cadilhon 2007 appraisal mission for high-value mountain products in bhutan, a summary analysis of the high value mountain products sector. rome. department of agriculture (doa) 2004 agriculture statistics (volume i) ministry of royal agriculture, royal government of bhutan, thimphu, bhutan department of livestock (dol) 2007 livestock statistics, ministry of agriculture, thimphu, bhutan fao, 1994 the group promoters resource book, a practical guide to building rural self-help groups, food and agriculture organization of the united nations. 1995 the group enterprise book, a practical guide for group promoters to assist groups in setting up and running successful jpair: multidisciplinary journal 20 small enterprises. food and agriculture organization of un. 1998 small farmer group associations: bringing the poor together, sustainable development department (sd), food and agriculture organization of the united nations (fao) e-mail conference, 24 september-11 november 1998 updated november 1999 laidlaw, f.a. 1962 a training and extension in the cooperative movement, ‘a guide for fieldmen and extension workers’. food and agriculture organization of the united nations, rome. gross national happiness commission (gnhc), 2008 tenth five year plan [2008-2013 vol. i and vol. ii: february 2008 ministry of agriculture 2008 rnr farmers group & cooperative development strategy, royal government of bhutan, 2008, ministry of agriculture. ministry of agriculture 2004 strategy for farmers’ groups in rnr enterprise development, a change in the context for rural development, ministry of agriculture, council for nr research of bhutan, rnr extension material 2004. opare s. 2007 strengthening community-based organizations for the challenges of rural development. community development journal, 42 (2), pp. 251-264 rgob 2001 the cooperative act of bhutan, 2001. royal government of bhutan (rgob), bhutan. rouse j. 1996 organizing for extension: fao experiences in small farmer international peer reviewed journal 21 group development rural institutions and participation service (sdar) fao rural development division, (extracted from “ceres” magazine, no. 145, vol. 26 no. 1) subedi u. 2009 support to development of farmer groups’ enterprise in eastern bhutan, ministry of agriculture, royal government of bhutan, regional agricultural marketing services, mongar. snv –bhutan. undp 2007 united nations development assistance framework for the kingdom of bhutan 2008-2012, thimphu, june 2007. (footnotes) 1 acc network for rural development and food security, (n.d.). pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 extent of forensic practices of police investigators: a basis for enhancement plan japhet v. quiape https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2451-3492 quiapejaphet@gmail.com university of antique sibalom, antique, philippines ermee joy f. painaga https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8245-1742 ejfpainaga@gmail.com university of antique sibalom, antique, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract in criminal investigations, the directorate for investigation and detective management – police investigators are required by philippine national police orders to conduct forensic science-based crime scene investigations. in order to ensure that every government employee adheres to the accepted belief that public office is a public trust, it is challenging to assess the work of police detectives performing crime scene investigations using forensic technology. this essential value of forensic science in police investigations is undeniable. this study discusses the scope of police forensic methods in ballistics, photography, and dactyloscopy, specifically in the province of antique. these issues regarding the scope of practices in conducting investigations and forensic examinations are vol. 51 · january 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v51i1.601 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2451-3492 mailto:japhet.quiape@antiquespride.edu.ph https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8245-1742 mailto:ejfpainaga@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 131 international peer reviewed journal expressed via a survey questionnaire and a series of statistical tests. in addition, the report outlines the difficulties experienced by these philippine national police investigators. the results of the study found that police investigators had a high level of forensic experience with ballistics and photography. further, results revealed low level of forensic experience with dactyloscopy.. therefore, police investigators, among many solutions, may consider the following to be of great help: 1-attending relevant seminars and trainings involving dactyloscopy, and 2specifying budget allocation for lacking equipment. keywords — ballistics, forensic photography, dactyloscopy, police investigators, philippines introduction in a world without forensic science, perpetrators of the most heinous crimes, including homicide, robbery, drug trafficking, and sexual assault, would walk free. fortunately, forensic science includes various individuals, such as an extensive and highly diverse community of forensic practitioners. these practitioners include managers, crime scene examiners, lab technicians, and forensic science experts (lawless, 2016). additionally, various individuals from other parts of the criminal justice system might be considered stakeholders in forensic science. officers of the law were included in this group. the purpose of the state is to promote a high level of ethics in public service, as stated in the “declaration of policy” that is included in section 2 of republic act 6713 (the law phil project, 2020). to this end, public officials and staff must consistently demonstrate accountability to the general populace and prioritize the public’s welfare over their interests. therefore, according to the norms of conduct of public officials and employees, police investigators are also held accountable while doing their duties in the line of duty. these professionals are expected to enter public service with the highest passion and dedication in performing their duties. they must try disposing erroneous notions about their activities as sources or carriers of unlawful patronage. according to rice university (2014), practice is a powerful holistic sign of success in many endeavors. furthermore, and this should come as no surprise, those who report much practice tend to do better than people who practice less. subsequently, this study was anchored to the study of bjelovuk et al. (2020), which aimed at determining the evidentiary value of photography in 132 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 criminal investigations. moreover, rohatgi and kapoor (2016) established that photographs are the most efficient and straightforward way for an investigating officer to depict a crime scene. fingerprints give authorities with highly strong physical evidence that may be used to link suspects to evidence or the scene of the crime (britannica, 2017). this study also anchored to a study by morgan et al. (2018) that tackled the impact of ballistic evidence on criminal investigations, wherein results provided some promising evidence in support of using ballistic evidence obtained through a national automated ballistic information network in investigations into firearm crime. in the province of antique, police investigators also use varied strategies to investigate the occurrences of various crimes. many of them employ techniques and methods to resolve crimes within their respective area of jurisdiction. however, it is still being determined if these investigators are using the scientific method of investigating crimes as expected, given that they already enjoy the modern world of technology. their forensic practices truly reflect their performance as competent police investigators. thus, it is on this premise that the researcher would like to find out the forensic practices of police investigators in the province of antique as the bases for formulating a proposed training design or program to enhance or sustain their investigation skills. finally, studies on the extent of forensic practices of police investigators in the province of antique eventually revealed whether or not they were performing their duties and responsibilities at their best while serving their stakeholders. framework the current inquiry is guided properly by schechner’s performance theory (2004), which proposes that humans are capable of incredible feats and that these magnificent accomplishments also occur in day-to-day practice. this theory also contends that humans are capable of doing feats that other living creatures are not capable. therefore, putting in a strong effort will lead to notable accomplishments. consequently, it is vital to practice, regardless of whether one aims to be “pretty good” or “expert.” however, practicing can be challenging and unpleasant when someone is accustomed to high proficiency. to get the most out of training, however, you must make an effort to put what was learned into practice. after all, the only way to become proficient in a new skill or conduct is to practice using that new ability or habit. fogleman (2017) also added that if one routinely 133 international peer reviewed journal practices something, the likelihood of him doing better on something is higher. it helps one improve. considering the outcome of the study on the problems/ issues encountered by police investigators in the conduct of investigation or examination using forensic sciences, the researcher realized the importance of practice in enhancing the performance of police investigators during the conduct of crime scene investigation or examination using forensic science. it connotes that if the practice of forensic science by police investigators is very high, it means they are doing their best to meet the community’s expectations. similarly, a very high practice level suggests that they are carrying out their responsibilities at an exceptionally high level of performance. it reflects well on the image of police investigators who work in this area of the profession. the parties involved, who represent the victim, have been given the assurance that justice was done. the findings highlight the need to have the necessary tools and materials to ensure accurate documentation, preservation, and examination of a potential crime scene and any evidence that may have been present to use forensic science to piece together what may have transpired. objectives of the study specifically, this research sought the answer to this objective: to measure the extent of forensic practices of philippine national police (pnp) investigators or police investigators in the province of antique; the study also identifies the challenges and issues encountered by these investigators in the conduct of investigations in terms of ballistics, photography, and dactyloscopy, in addressing the enhancement and developmental programs on investigative skills as perceived by the police investigators. methodology research design descriptive research was utilized in carrying out this investigation. according to best and kahn (2008), descriptive research focuses on examining non-manipulative variables and formulating generalizations, including findings extending beyond the observed sample. because it seeks to follow the current forensic methods of police investigators in the province of antique, this research design is the most appropriate for this study. in addition, this research used the qualitative technique to determine the 134 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 challenges or obstacles law enforcement officers have when conducting forensic sciences investigations. research site the inclusion of the whole 18 municipalities of antique was considered in the study for better results. participants the respondents were sixtyfive (65) police investigators assigned at the different municipal police stations in antique. their educational attainment and length of service were considered essential variables in assessing the extent of forensic practices in their respective municipal stations. stratified proportionate sampling was employed to identify the number of respondents per municipal station. instrumentation a researcher-made questionnaire was used to gather data. this instrument underwent content and phase validation by a jury of three members. the instrument was composed of three parts. part i contained the demographic profile of the respondents. part ii obtained data on the extent of forensic practices of police investigators. to answer this portion of the instrument, the respondents were required to indicate their extent of practice to each statement using these options: 4 – always; 3 – frequently; 2 – sometimes; and 1 – never. data gathering procedure in gathering the data, the researcher secured approval from the adviser to research the extent of forensic practices. a permit from the ccje-graduate school and the city director, iloilo city police office (icpo), was secured for reliability testing. finally, the permit to conduct the study was secured from ccjegraduate school, the office of police provincial director, antique provincial police office (appo) was approved, and the instrument was signed by three experts from the college of criminal justice education. the instrument was validated by three (3) experts from west visayas state university. after the content and face validation, the instrument used to determine the extent of forensic practices of police investigators was subjected to pilot testing using 35 respondents represented by the police investigators assigned at the iloilo city police office. the results of pilot testing were subjected to reliability testing using the statistical package for the social sciences (spss version 20.0) software. 135 international peer reviewed journal ethics protocol the researcher ensured the respondents ‘ anonymity and privacy through informed consent and a privacy impact assessment (pia). the research took into account the respondents’ willingness to participate. the researcher initially obtained their agreement to determine the respondents’ willingness, collaboration, and voluntariness to deliver acceptable responses before asking them to participate. finally, the researcher ensures that the study is independent and impartial in providing all the data. results and discussion the participants of this paper were 65 pnp investigators. their demographic profile, such as age, educational attainment, and length of service, was collected to properly assess the extent of forensic practices regarding ballistics, photography, and dactyloscopy. table 1 extent of forensic practices of police investigators as an entire group and when classified as to age, length of service, and educational attainment in terms of ballistics indicator sd mean description entire group 0.48 3.56 very great extent age 30 years and < 0.44 3.61 very great extent above 30 years 0.49 3.55 very great extent length of service very great extent 15 years and < 0.41 3.59 very great extent above 15 years 0.63 3.50 very great extent educational attainment b.s degree holder 0.50 3.55 very great extent m.s degree holder 0.32 3.66 very great extent legend: (1.00-1.49) very low extent, (1.50-2.49) low extent, (2.50-3.49) great extent, (3.50-4.00) very great extent. table 1 shows the extent of forensic practices of police investigators as an entire group and when classified as age, length of service, and educational attainment in terms of ballistics. as an entire group, the result showed that the 136 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 extent of forensic practices of police investigators in terms of ballistics is very great (m=3.66, sd=0.48). the police investigators in the province of antique were all conversant with applying forensic ballistics during crime scene investigations. the results are further supported by the study conducted by de guzman (2010) on the significance and effectiveness of firearms identification and investigation concerning solutions of criminal cases as perceived by the police investigators that firearm identification and investigation had a very high relation to the solution of criminal cases. table 2 extent of forensic practices of police investigators as an entire group and when classified as to age, length of service, and educational attainment in terms of photography indicator sd mean description entire group 0.37 3.70 very great extent age 30 years and < 0.34 3.76 very great extent above 30 years 0.37 3.69 very great extent length of service 15 years and < 0.33 3.74 very great extent above 15 years 0.45 3.61 very great extent educational attainment b.s degree holder 0.38 3.69 very great extent m.s degree holder 0.20 3.83 very great extent legend: (1.00-1.49) very low extent, (1.50-2.49) low extent, (2.50-3.49) great extent, (3.50-4.00) very great extent. table 2 shows that the extent of forensic practices of police investigators in terms of photography was very great extent (m=3.70, sd=0.37). it could be interpreted that the police investigators in the province of antique were all conversant with applying forensic photography during crime scene investigations. the results are further supported by a study conducted by murgod et al. (2018), in which forensic photography is a vital tool in modern forensic procedures, assisting in investigation operations, archival data management, and supplying evidence that can supplement medicolegal issues in court. 137 international peer reviewed journal table 3 extent of forensic practices of police investigators as an entire group and when classified as to age, length of service, and educational attainment in terms of dactyloscopy indicator sd mean description entire group 0.81 2.06 low extent age 30 years and < 0.71 2.16 low extent above 30 years 0.83 2.04 low extent length of service 15 years and < 0.80 2.05 low extent above 15 years 0.86 2.08 low extent educational attainment b.s degree holder 0.80 2.03 low extent m.s degree holder 0.86 2.06 low extent legend: (1.00-1.49) very low extent, (1.50-2.49) low extent, (2.50-3.49) great extent, (3.50-4.00) very great extent. table 3 shows the great extent of forensic practices of police investigators in terms of dactyloscopy, m=3.06, sd=0.81. the results of this study also conform to the study of ulery et al. (2011), which determined the accuracy and reliability of fingerprint examiners in assessing difficult latent print comparisons and revealed that 85% of the examiners committed at least one error in identifying the prints. conclusions the result of the study implies that the police investigators in the province of antique were highly capable of performing and applying forensic science during the conduct of crime scene investigation, particularly in ballistics and photography. however, a variation in forensic practices in terms of dactyloscopy was observed to be underperformed. the problem arises as dactyloscopy should be the topmost priority among any other forensic sciences because of its high reliability in terms of identification. with this, police investigators may consider attending relevant dactyloscopy seminars and training. further, the researchers suggest the adaptation of the proposed enhancement plan specifically 138 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 designed for the development of skills of police investigators. finally, the proper authorities may consider providing for the lacking equipment for better practice or application of forensic science in investigative examinations. translational research this study benefits the police regional office 6 in upholding and enhancing the practice of one of its three primary functionsinvestigation. the conduct of investigations is aided by forensic science that strengthens the findings and testimonies of experts. adopting the proposed skills enhancement plan on forensic practices would address the personal challenges of investigators that hinder their professional progress toward a high level of expertise in their respective practices. moreover, if adopted, the agency’s investigative performance may move the organization towards its visions and goals and serve as a benchmark to all other provinces as a highly capable, effective, and credible police service. literature cited best, j. w and j. v. kahn. 2008. research in education. 10th ed. new delhi: prentice hall of india. retrieved on november 20, 2020 from https:// tinyurl.ph/foeut bjelovuk, i., kesić, t., & tasić, m. (2020). the evidentiary value of photography in criminal investigations. kriminalistička teorija i praksa, 7(2/2020.), 24-36. britannica, t. editors of encyclopaedia (2017, june 4). dactyloscopy. encyclopedia britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/dactyloscopy de guzman r. (2010). significance and effectiveness of firearms identification and investigation in relation to solutions of criminal cases as perceived by the police investigators. masteral metro manila college. philippine national bibliography. http://kulturalink.nlp.gov. ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail. pl?biblionumber=923 fogleman, a. s. (2017). revolutions without borders: the call to liberty in the atlantic world. the historian, 79(3), 662-664. lawless, c. (2016).  forensic science: a sociological introduction. routledge. retrieved on jan 12, 2020, from https://tinyurl.ph/vswwm http://kulturalink.nlp.gov 139 international peer reviewed journal morgan, a. & jorna, p. (2018). impact of ballistic evidence on criminal investigations. australian institute of criminology. retrieved on may 10, 2023 from https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/ti548_impact_of_ ballistic_evidence_on_criminal_investigations.pdf murgod, s., karnam, s., gouse, s., & girish, h. c. (2018). forensic photography: prospect through the lens. journal of forensic dental sciences, 02-04. rice university. (2014). does practice really make perfect? sciencedaily. retrieved on jan 20, 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2014/07/140716123835.htm rohatgi, r., & kapoor, a. k. (2014). importance of still photography at scene of crime: a forensic vs. judicial perspective. j harmonized res appl sci, 2, 271-4. schechner, r. (2004). performance theory. retrieved on nov 22, 2020, from http://bit.ly/3o805qb shah, s. a. a., & hussain, b. (2021). challenges faced by police officers in forensic criminal investigation in peshawar, pakistan.  pakistan journal of criminology, 13(4). the law phil project. (2020). rules implementing the code of conduct and ethical for public for officials and employees. retrieved on nov 24, 2020, from https://www.ombudsman.gov.ph/docs/republicacts/implementing_ rules_of_ra_6713.pdf ulery, b. t., hicklin, r. a., buscaglia, j., & roberts, m. a. (2011). accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions. proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, 108(19), 7733–7738. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1018707108 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140716123835.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140716123835.htm http://bit.ly/3o805qb https://www.ombudsman.gov.ph/docs/republicacts/implementing_rules_of_ra_6713.pdf https://www.ombudsman.gov.ph/docs/republicacts/implementing_rules_of_ra_6713.pdf 33 international peer reviewed journal employability of female graduates in a quasi-military maritime higher education institution: towards gender equality in the maritime industry ana liza gruspe-taberdo agtaberdorc50@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines victoria q. paraggua vqparaggua@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy myrna d. alvarez philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines ronalyn c. acuavera rc.acuavera@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines geraldine c. pasa gc.pasa@pmma.edu.ph philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the commission on higher education (ched) underscores the value of conducting graduate employability studies in higher education institutions. vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.756 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, the philippine commission on women (pcw) battles for the empowerment of women, notably those who are seafarers assigned to work-aboard inter-ocean ships. the study traces the employment, career path, and relevance of the curriculum and competencies learned in the academy and gender issues experienced by the 26 alumnae of the philippine merchant marine academy (pmma) who graduated in 2013-2018. the quantitative-descriptive research design was utilized. a researcher-made questionnaire both via google form and print-out was the main data gathering instrument. data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and likert scale. data shows that the female graduates are single, with an oic license, able to land a job 1-6 months after graduation and mostly working in either an international ocean-going vessel or serving at the philippine coast guard. they also perceive that they have acquired all competencies in pmma to a great extent which become handy in their respective jobs. further, they strongly agree that they have acquired workrelated values from pmma and that the curricula at the academy are relevant. unfortunately, most of them have experienced gender inequality. the findings imply that even if the alumnae were skilled and had the necessary competencies, gender inequality is still prevalent in the male-dominated industry. the incidence of inequality was mostly experienced in the assignment of tasks and finding a job. it is recommended that gender and development seminars/lectures should be given to the students, which includes anti-sexual harassment, safe space and violence against women and children acts and the academy to institutionalize system-wide the conduct of employability studies every three-school year to include not only the graduates but also the employers as respondents. keywords — institutional research, employability study, female graduates, gender and development, maritime, philippines introduction employability has been presented as an aspect of the quality of higher education and as a benefit of university degree programs for career and work (storen & aamodt, 2010). employability studies or tracer survey is a means of sustaining curriculum relevance and enhancing the marketability of educational programs. adequate knowledge on employment outcomes of the graduates could assist in formulating academic policy towards combating unemployment (balingbing, 2014). these are surveys mostly used by higher education institutions (hei’s) to follow up on their graduates; find out what they are doing 35 international peer reviewed journal in the education and training they have received from their alma mater (aquino et al., 2015). higher educational institutions (hei) are challenged in balancing the development of higher education and the professional relevance of academic teaching (melik & pavlin, 2009). learning success’ parameter is measured through the employability of graduates, type of employment and the length of time landing on their first job (word press 2011). it was noted that graduates’ employability had been an increasing concern of hei’s. government agencies have encouraged educational institutions and employers to work together to address employability issues (lowden et al., 2011). furthermore, according to brown et al. (2001, as cited in stiwne and alves, 2010), when there is a growing supply of graduates, employers consider educational certificates less essential than individual characteristics and abilities. thus, employers define ‘employability’ as aspects of ‘behavioral competence’ and the students’ abilities to display personal, performative, and organizational skills rather than the possession of established academic, conceptual knowledge and skills. estimo (2012) revealed that the bsmt alumni seem to find employment as soon as they reach the age of 21 and that they seem to gain stable employment as they reach the age of 26. accordingly, based on the study made by orence and laguador (2014), maritime graduates (respondents) found communication skills as one of the competencies which are very advantageous in their first job. the graduates are presently employed during the time of data gathering wherein their first jobs are related to the maritime program with almost 1 to 6 months of job search employed in international shipping industries and cruise line and tourism vessels. the skill in basic safety is considered the number one very relevant and important competence in the marine transportation curriculum. having provided the skills such as knowledge and technical, communication, human relations, leadership, research, problem-solving very adequately, and other competencies were major factors on top of the area of specialization considered for immediate job acquisition (gines, 2014). the fight for gender equality in the maritime world and the seafaring industry has gained overwhelming support from the united states and other seafaringconnected and allied organizations (pateña, 2019). it is said that “the place of women is well recognized by the job placement when they deployed inter-oceangoing vessels aboard, and in land-based officers of a shipping company.” further, the international labour organization (ilo) shows that at least 25,000 female seafarers are deployed aboard international ocean vessels, inter-ocean vessels, and competent in the job assigned to them by employers and superior officers. it 36 jpair multidisciplinary research represents only 1-2 percent of the world’s 1.25 million seafarers. however, in the cruise line sector, they represent 17-18 percent of the workplace. ninetyfour percent are employed on passenger ships (with 68% on ferries and 26% on cruise ships) and 6 percent are employed on cargo vessels (i.e. container ships, and oil tankers). as for jobs, there are women shipmasters and chief engineers, as well as officers. because the nature of seafaring life has changed in recent years, having women on board is a great advantage; it creates a more normal social environment. as part of the crew, women can reduce the sense of isolation felt by many seafarers (ilo, 2011). the role of women in traditionally man’s seafaring dominion is also gaining attention in the country. the women in maritime philippines (wmp) and the associated marine officers and seaman’s union of the philippines (amosup) led industry stakeholders in validating this development. wmp battled for the empowerment of women, notably those who are seafarers assigned to workaboard inter-ocean ships, while amosup underscored the role and importance of maritime education and training to which women seafarers must have equal access to squarely face challenges of the times with success. although very much outnumbered by male students, female maritime students are equally attentive and patient with their male counterparts. he also added that women empowerment in the philippines is very much in place. proof of this development is women holding key post-elective and appointed government and private business (pateña, 2019). in the philippines, the pmma is the pioneer institution in maritime education. for 192 years, it has produced many master mariners, chief engineers, shipping executives, naval and coast guard officers, excellent educators and trainers now serving in maritime-related industries/institutions in our country and abroad. no maritime education institution can claim 100% employability of its graduates except the philippine merchant marine academy (pmma). the entrance of midshipwomen on this prestigious academy was brought about by the implementation of a certain board resolution in 1993. the 1997 batch of graduates gives way to the first batch of graduates with two cadettes on its line of marine merchant officers. this is largely connected to the perceived shortages of officers in the world fleet, and thus, since the late 1990s, there has been a growing interest in training and recruiting women seafarers (magramo & eler, 2012). the successful implementation welcomes the opportunity for midshipwomen to slowly penetrate the maritime education and training of the academy, and despite the quasi-military approach life in the academy, midshipwoman in their unique way shows significant performance and manifests 37 international peer reviewed journal virtuous characteristic of a true merchant marine.” (paraggua et al., 2015). once onboard, some women seafarers encountered the problem of gender discrimination in terms of promotion in their seafaring careers compared to their male counterparts, even when qualified and due for promotion. for instance, some of these women had the experience of applying to companies who rejected their applications based on their gender or who applied an unofficial upper limit on the level to which women could be promoted (thomas, 2004). female seafarers on board commonly experience sexual harassment, and the residential and isolated nature of the ship increases opportunities and amplifies consequences for sexual harassment (belcher et al., 2003). ultimately, this study aimed to trace the employment, career path, and relevance of the curriculum and competencies learned in the academy of the alumnae of the pmma who graduated from 2013-2018. this is a typical tracer study to identify program effectiveness and determine the effectiveness and relevance of the curriculum and the students’ learning experiences and how it affects employment after graduation. this also assessed the employment status of the graduates and how far they have come after earning the knowledge and skills in college. this study is similar to the studies of gines (2014), refozar et al. (2017), negro and amparado (2019), and biscante et al. (2019) but with different courses or bachelor degrees. it is very similar to estimo (2012), orence and laguador (2014), ampong (2016), who studies maritime graduates. this study, however, focused on the female maritime graduates and aside from identifying the employability of graduates, competence acquired in the school and the relevance of the curriculum, it further explored gender issues experienced by the female graduates very similar to the study conducted by belcher et al. (2003) and thomas (2004). objectives of the study the study aimed to trace the employment, career path, and relevance of the curriculum and competencies learned in the academy and gender issues experienced by the alumnae of the pmma who graduated from 2013-2018. specifically, it sought to address the following objectives, (1) to identify the demographic and employment profile of the female graduates, (2) to describe the perception of the respondents on the relevance of the pmma curriculum on their job placement and the extent of learning from pmma, (3) to recognize gender inequality experienced by the female graduates, and (4) to interpret the 38 jpair multidisciplinary research possible measures to promote gender equality in the employment of females in the maritime industry. framework the study characterized the respondents by gathering their employment profiles. the study has the following independent variables: (1) employment status/ job placement profile of the respondents (i.e., present employment, employment status, nature of employment, means of job search, place of work, reasons for accepting the job, reasons for staying on the job, reasons for unemployment, if applicable, duration of job search, job level position, and gross monthly income; (2) skills/competencies learned in the academy based on ched memorandum order no. 20 series of 2015; (3) work-related values that the academy have inculcated in them (i.e., discipline, honesty, integrity, sense of obligation/duty, obedience to regulations, directives, and order, courtesy, respect for all, fairness and justness, and preserving and saving life at sea at whatever cost); (4) relevance of the bsmt and bsmare curricula in their employment; and (5) gender inequality experience while job searching and while employed. as an output/ dependent variable, the study determined the employability of the pmma female graduates. once determined, the study could propose enhancements of the current education and training program to improve employability and lobby for the promotion of gender equality in the employment of females in the maritime industry. y. figure 1. conceptual framework 39 international peer reviewed journal methodology the quantitative-descriptive research design was utilized. descriptive research includes observation and description of the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way (ragma, 2018). the respondents of the study are female graduates of the philippine merchant marine academy school year 2013 up to 2018. a total of 78 graduates were identified; however, since there was limited contact with all of the graduates, only 26 alumnae could answer the survey questionnaire via google form or print-out. ethical considerations were made to assure the anonymity of the respondents and protection of the data gathered through the inclusion of confidentiality notice and informed consent form. this researcher-made questionnaire which was validated by subject experts, was the main data gathering instrument of this study. the respondents are equally distributed according to the year they graduated from 2013-2018. frequency, percentage, and mean were used to present and analyze the gathered data. results and discussion demographic and employment profile of the female graduates table 1 shows the demographic and employment profile of the respondents. the respondents are in the middle-adult age group with an age average of 24 years old. they are fairly distributed according to their course. among the respondents, 76.92% respondents are with oic licenses, and others are currently undergoing licensure exams or with the philippine coast guard. only 1 of the 26 respondents is married. on the employment status, data shows that 13 or 50% are regular/ permanent, 12 or 46.15% are contractual, and only 1 or 3.85% are temporary. on the location of the present job, data shows that 12 or 46.15% are work located at land-based and 14or 53.85% are work located at sea-based: oceangoing vessel. on job level position, the table shows that at land-based there are 5 or 19.23% are managerial/executive, 5 or 19.23% are professional/technical, and only 2 or 7.69% are rank or clerical. at sea-based (ocean-going vessel), there are 13 or 50% operational level (2nd/3rd mate/3rd/4th engineer) and only 1 or 3.85% who are in a support level. on reasons for staying on the job, data shows that there are 24 or 28.57% who are staying on their job because of the salaries and benefits, 18 or 21.43% who are staying on their job because of the career challenge, 9 or 10.71% who 40 jpair multidisciplinary research are staying on their job because of the proximity to residence, 8 or 9.52% who are staying on their job because of the family and/or peer influence, 5 or 5.95% who are staying on their job because of the security-related, 15 or 17.86% who are staying on their job because it is related to their course and only 1 or 1.19% who are staying because of the job stability. on the duration of job hunting, data shows that there are 12 or 46.15% who looked for their job in less than one month, 7 or 26.92% who looked for their job in 1-6 months, 5 or 19.23% who looked for their job in 7-11 months and only 2 or 7.69% who looked for their job in 3 years and above. on nature of the first job, data shows that there are 8 or 30.77% who worked at military service (pcg/pn/pnp maritime and the like), 14 or 53.85% who worked at international shipping, 1 or 3.85% who worked at privately-owned maritimerelated offshore offices and 3 or 11.54% who worked at maritime education and training. on resigning from the first job, data shows that there are 5 or 19.23% who resigned from their first job. 2 or 40.00% resigned because of career challenge, 1 or 20.00% resigned because of security-related, 1 or 20.00% resigned because of continuation of contract and 1 or 20.00% resigned because of review for licensure exam while there are 21 or 80.77% who stayed on their first job. lastly, on gross monthly income, data shows that there are 6 or 23.08% who have a gross monthly income of less than php 50,000, 11 or 42.31% who have a gross monthly income of php 50,000 – php 100,000, 8 or 30.77% who have a gross monthly income of php 101,000 – php 200,000 and only 1 or 3.85% who have a gross monthly income of php 201,000 – php 300,000. the data which reveals 1-6 months of job hunting, onboard employment, and status of graduates as contractual employees agree with the result of the studies of estimo (2012), orence and laguador (2014), paraggua et al. (2015) for maritime graduates and amparo (2016) and refozar et al. (2017) for other degrees. the philippines has been the world’s biggest supplier of seamen, with filipinos accounting for approximately 30 percent of the world’s 1.6 million seafarers, which reflects a high level of employability for maritime graduates. however, the findings on position level and monthly salary of graduates from the result of the studies of estimo (2012), orence and laguador (2014) argued with the present study. such disagreement is because pmma graduates hold managerial positions or deck/engine officers upon graduation and the graduates from other schools work as quartermasters or ordinary seamen. 41 international peer reviewed journal table 1. demographic and employment profile of respondents demographic profile f percentage (%) age: 27-30 6 23.08% 24-26 12 46.15% 21-23 8 30.77% course: bsmt 12 46.15% bsmare 14 53.85% license passed oic licensure exam 20 76.92% undergoing licensure exam 6 23.08% civil status single 25 96.15$ married 1 3.85% employment status regular/permanent 13 50% contractual 12 46.15% temporary 1 3.85% total 26 100% location f % land-based 12 46.15% sea-based: ocean-going vessel 14 53.85% total 26 100% job level/position land-based: a. managerial/executive 5 19.23% b. professional/technical 5 19.23% c. rank or clerical 2 7.69% sea-based (ocean-going vessel): a. operational level (2nd / 3rd mate/ 3rd / 4th engr.) 13 50.00% b. support level 1 3.85% total 26 100% reasons for staying on the job salaries and benefits 24 28.57% career challenge 18 21.43% related to special skill 9 10.71% proximity to residence 4 4.76% family and/or peer influence 8 9.52% security-related 5 5.95% related to course 15 17.86% others: job stability 1 1.19% total 84 100.00% 42 jpair multidisciplinary research duration of job hunting less than 1 month 12 46.15% 1-6 months 7 26.92% 7-11 months 5 19.23% 1 year to less than 3 years 0 0.00% 3 years and above 2 7.69% total 26 100.00% nature/industry of first job military service (pcg/pn/pnp maritime 8 30.77% international shipping 14 53.85% domestic shipping 0 0.00% privately manning agency and offshore offices 1 3.85% government-owned maritime offshore offices 0 0.00% maritime education and training 3 11.54% total 26 100.00% respondents who resigned from first job yes 6 19.23% reasons for resigning career challenge 2 40.00% security-related 1 20.00% continuation of contract 1 20.00% review for licensure exam 1 20.00% no 21 80.77% total 26 100.00% gross monthly income less than php 50,000 6 23.08% php 50,000 – php 100,000 11 42.31% php 101,000 – php 200,000 8 30.77% php 201,000 – php 300,000 1 3.85% total 26 100.00% perception on the relevance of pmma curriculum table 2 shows the relevance of the pmma curriculum to female nautical graduates. data shows that with the bsmt curriculum, english, mathematics, physical education, computer, seamanship, naval science, aptitude for the service, meteorology and oceanography, deck watchkeeping, maritime communication, statistics, marine environment, maritime law, mar power, and persman are very relevant to the graduates’ job placement while filipino, social science, natural science, humanities and navigation are relevant. 43 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, table 2 shows that under the bsmare curriculum, english, mathematics, physical education, social science, computer, humanities, automation, auxiliary machinery, electro, engineering materials, maritime drawing and diagram, machine shop, maintenance and repair, marine environment, maritime law, naval architecture, persman, mar power, thermodynamics, engineering watchkeeping, power plant steam, naval science, aptitude for service are very relevant job placement of the graduates while filipino and natural science are relevant. table 2. relevance of pmma curriculum bsmt curriculum mean qi rank bsmare curriculum mean qi rank english 3.83 very relevant 1.5 english 3.79 very relevant 8 filipino 2.75 relevant 19 filipino 2.57 relevant 26 mathematics 3.25 very relevant 15 mathematics 3.50 very relevant 20.5 physical education 3.50 very relevant 10 physical education 3.71 very relevant 12 social science 2.92 relevant 17 social science 3.36 very relevant 23.5 computer 3.83 very relevant 1.5 computer 3.93 very relevant 4 natural science 2.58 relevant 20 natural science 2.86 relevant 25 humanities 2.92 relevant 17 humanities 3.43 very relevant 22 navigation 2.92 relevant 17 automation 3.71 very relevant 12 seamanship 3.58 very relevant 7.5 auxiliary machinery 4.00 very relevant 1.5 naval science 3.67 very relevant 4.5 electro 3.86 very relevant 6 aptitude for the service 3.67 very relevant 4.5 engineering materials 3.71 very relevant 12 meteorology and oceanography 3.50 very relevant 10 maritime drawing and diagram 3.64 very relevant 16 deck watchkeeping 3.67 very relevant 4.5 machine shop 3.71 very relevant 12 maritime communication 3.42 very relevant 12.5 maintenance and repair 3.93 very relevant 4 statistics 3.50 very relevant 10 marine environment 3.93 very relevant 4 44 jpair multidisciplinary research marine environment 3.58 very relevant 7.5 maritime law 3.79 very relevant 8 maritime law 3.67 very relevant 4.5 naval architecture 3.57 very relevant 19 mar power 3.33 very relevant 14 persman 4.00 very relevant 1.5 persman 3.42 very relevant 12.5 power 3.79 very relevant 8 over-all mean 3.38 very relevant thermodynamics 3.50 very relevant 20.5 engineering watchkeeping 3.71 very relevant 12 power plant steam 3.64 very relevant 16 naval science 3.36 very relevant 23.5 aptitude for service 3.64 very relevant 16 over-all mean 3.63 very relevant the data above agree with the findings of estimo (2012), paraggua et al. (2015), and orence and laguador (2014) that both bsmt and bsmare curricula are very relevant to their present employment. the cause of such agreement among researchers is the adherence of maritime schools to the commission on higher education (ched) policies, standards and guidelines for the bachelor of science in marine transportation and the bachelor of science in marine engineering programs. applicability of competencies learned to their present employment table 3 shows the usefulness/ applicability of skills/competencies of the respondents that they acquired from pmma. data shows that on the extent of learning, the items ranged from 2.96 to a moderate extent to 3.73 to a great extent. the competencies: communicate effectively in oral and written english (ranked #1), work in a multi-cultural and/ or multi-disciplinary team demonstration of the ability to perform the competence (ranked #2.5) and understand professional and ethical responsibilities (ranked #2.5), use appropriate techniques, skills and modern tools to remain globally competitive (ranked #4), understand the impact and implications of various contemporary issues, demonstrate ability at the operational level under section a-ii/1 (bsmt) or section a-iii/1 (bsmare) of the stcw code (ranked #5), understand the 45 international peer reviewed journal impact and implications of various contemporary issues in the global and social context of the profession; and engage in lifelong learning and keep abreast with developments in the field of specialization and/or profession (ranked #6) are to a great extent learning is acquired in pmma, while the competence on applying knowledge in mathematics, science and technology in solving problems related to the profession and the workplace and conduct research using appropriate research methodologies are moderate extent of learning in pmma are of moderate extent learning was acquired. table 3. usefulness/applicability of skills/competencies skills extent of learning usefulness/applicability to job mean qi rank mean qi rank demonstrate the ability to perform the competence at the operational level under section a-ii/1 (bsmt) or section a-iii/1 (bsmare) of the stcw code 3.42 to a great extent 6 3.46 very useful/ applicable 6.5 apply knowledge in mathematics, science and technology in solving problems related to the profession and the workplace 3.23 to a moderate extent 8 3.27 very useful/ applicable 8 work in a multi-cultural and/ or multidisciplinary team 3.69 to a great extent 2.5 3.73 very useful/ applicable 2 understand professional and ethical responsibilities 3.69 to a great extent 2.5 3.54 very useful/ applicable 3.5 communicate effectively in oral and written english 3.73 to a great extent 1 3.77 very useful/ applicable 1 understand the impact and implications of various contemporary issues in the global and social context of the profession 3.42 to a great extent 6 3.54 very useful/ applicable 3.5 engage in lifelong learning and keep abreast with developments in the field of specialization and/or profession 3.42 to a great extent 6 3.50 very useful/ applicable 5 use appropriate techniques, skills, and modern tools in the practice of the profession in order to remain globally competitive; and 3.50 to a great extent 4 3.46 very useful/ applicable 6.5 conduct research using appropriate research methodologies 2.96 to a moderate extent 9 3.08 useful/ applicable 9 over-all mean 3.45 to a great extent 3.48 very useful/ applicable 46 jpair multidisciplinary research the findings above are similar with gines (2014), ampong (2016) and biscante et al. (2019) that graduates find their learned communication skills to be very useful at work. english language proficiency is a major qualification in getting a job in the international seafaring profession. thus, maritime school graduates consider that developing high standards of competence and professionalism with good english communication skills is very important in their careers. work-related values acquired in pmma table 4 shows the work-related values acquired in pmma of the respondents. data shows that the respondents strongly agree that work-related values: a sense of obligation/duty integrity, honor, courtesy, honesty, fairness and justice, obedience to regulations, directives, and order and humility are acquired in pmma with a sense of obligation/duty ranked #1; ranked #4 are integrity, honor, righteousness, courtesy; ranked #8.5 are discipline, fairness and justice, and obedience to regulations, directives, and order; and humility ranked #11. table 4. work-related values acquired in pmma work-related values mean qi rank discipline 3.85 strongly agree 8.5 integrity 3.88 strongly agree 4 honor 3.88 strongly agree 4 sense of obligation/duty 3.92 strongly agree 1 righteousness 3.88 strongly agree 4 courtesy 3.88 strongly agree 4 honesty 3.88 strongly agree 4 fairness and justice 3.85 strongly agree 8.5 courage 3.85 strongly agree 8.5 humility 3.77 strongly agree 11 obedience to regulations, directives, and order 3.85 strongly agree 8.5 over-all mean 3.86 strongly agree this implies that the academy has a weak policy implementation on developing the values of humility, discipline, fairness, justice, courage, and obedience to regulations, directive and order among the students. the findings agree with the study of refozar et al. (2017). the root cause of these weaknesses is 47 international peer reviewed journal the value priorities, commitment to a value and the disposition to act as imposed by the quasi-military training. table 4 shows the experience of female graduates on gender inequality. data shows that there are 16 or 61.54% of female graduates experienced gender inequality while there are 10 or 38.46% of female graduates who did not experience gender inequality. among those who experienced inequality, the incidence of inequality was experienced in the assignment of task 11 or 39.29%, 9 or 32.14% inequality in finding a job, 5 or 17.86% in job promotion, and 3 or 10.71% in training and development. the finding agrees with the study of thomas (2004) that once onboard, some women seafarers encountered the problem of gender discrimination in terms of promotion in their seafaring careers as compared to their male counterparts, even when qualified and due for promotion. however, it argues with the study of belcher et al. (2003) where it empathized that sexual harassment is commonly experienced by women working onboard cargo vessels because of the residential and isolated nature of the ship. table 5. experience of female graduates on gender inequality gender inequality experience f percentage yes 16 61.54% no 10 38.46% total 26 100% situation finding the job 9 32.14% assignment of task 11 39.29% job promotion 5 17.86% training and development 3 10.71% total 28 100% strategies in promoting gender equality in the workplace does your office/company have strategies to promote gender equality in the workplace? yes 23 88.46% no 3 11.54% total 26 100% 48 jpair multidisciplinary research strategies conduct of gender sensitivity training 16 25.81% equal representation to planning/executive bodies 20 32.26% provision of special leave for women 11 17.74% equal access to scholarship/training 15 24.19% total 62 100% the reason for gender discrimination in terms of promotion is that women still only comprise two percent of the 1.2 million seafarers worldwide and the lasting stigma that the maritime industry is for men only. on the other hand, the reason why female maritime graduates from a quasi-military institution do not experience sexual harassment is the nature of the authoritarian command structure of the academy where male and female roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. on the strategies for promoting gender equality in the workplace of the respondents. data shows that there are 23 or 88.46% of offices/companies have strategies to promote gender equality in the workplace. on the other hand, there are 3 or 11.54% of offices/companies do not have strategies to promote gender equality in the workplace. conclusions this study assessed the employability of the pmma female graduates and traced their whereabouts and current employment status. further, it looked into the possible gender issues that arise when female graduates are seeking employment and during their employment, including possible measures to address these gender issues and improve the female graduates’ employability. this was limited to the alumnae of the philippine merchant marine academy, who graduated from 2013 up to 2018. the study utilized a very limited sample size of female maritime graduates with a very limited time frame. furthermore, the inputs for this study were limited to ched and pmma policies and documents, results of the survey, and inputs from key informant interviews, to include other studies and literature that are related to tracer study and gender equality in the maritime industry. the female graduates of the philippine merchant marine academy 20132018 are able to gain employment and are successful in their chosen occupations, 49 international peer reviewed journal which benefit themselves, the maritime workforce, the community, and the economy. moreover, the pmma curriculum has contributed significantly to developing the set of skills and attributes that will enable a graduate to succeed throughout their working life. most of the companies where female graduates have worked have strategies to promote gender equality in the workplace. however, the incidence of gender inequality in the assignment of tasks and finding a job was experienced by the female graduates. the findings provide interesting insights on the design and development of policies to improve female graduates’ employability and promote gender equality in the employment of females in the maritime industry. the study implies that maritime institutions that admit female students in their program must enhance employment opportunities for females in the maritime industry to help attract more applicants. recommendations in the light of the findings of this study, the following are recommended: (1) pmma should provide more focus on the study provisions and conditions such as the hiring of competent instructors, acquisition of state-of-the-art facilities. that they are providing to their students, especially that this is significantly related to the graduates’ employability and professional success; (2) strengthen the involvement of students in research projects as part of their study provisions and condition; (3) enhance the values of discipline, courage, fairness, and justice, especially humility among students as these are core values of the academy that should be exhibited in their profession; and (4) gender and development seminars/ lectures should be given to the students which include anti-sexual harassment, safe space, and violence against women and children acts. further, in-depth research should be done on gender-sensitive issues among females in the maritime industry and that other researchers need to base the same study on a larger sample size to generate a more relevant result. translational research the findings of the study may best be translated into a policy to institutionalize system-wide conduct of employability studies every other school year to include not only the graduates but also the employers as respondents. a tracer sustainability plan should be established, which will include qualitative research methods. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited ampong, a. l. (2016). tracer study of bachelor of science in marine transportation major in nautical studies graduates of the naval state university.  international journal of engineering sciences & research technology, 5(8), 174-193. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3lpisgb aquino, a. b., punongbayan, e. j., macalaguim, l. p., bauyon, s. m., rodriguez jr, r. a., & quizon, g. r. (2015). teacher education graduate tracer study from 2010 to 2014 in one state university in batangas, philippines.  asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research,  3(5), 45-50. retrieved from https://bit.ly/39orw4o balingbing, a. b. (2014). tracer study of bs in information technology (bsit) graduates of camarines sur polytechnic colleges, nabua, camarines sur from 2004 to 2010. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 2(4). retrieved from https://bit.ly/3ayen4c belcher, p., belcher, p., sampson, h., thomas, m., zhao, m., & veiga, j. 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(2013). employability of maritime graduates of lyceum of the philippines university from 2007–201 https://bit. ly/2xetsts1. international journal of research in social sciences, 3(3), 142157. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3acwbxq paraggua v. q., alvarez, m. d., diviva r. c., millar, j. c., solas, c. s. & naca, v. a. m. (2015) philippine merchant marine academy alumnae tracer study waves 2015 journal of maritime research vol 1:46-59. retrieved from https://issuu.com/pmma-drd/docs/waves_2015_optimized pateña, a. j. (2019). collective push to boost ph maritime education system sought. retrieved on september 19, 2019 from https://www.pna.gov.ph/ articles/1059141 refozar, r. f., velasquez, j. e., & luistro, e. j. (2017). employability of bs business and computer management graduates from 2013 to 2015 in one academic institution in the philippines.  asia pacific journal of academic research in business administration,  3(3), 1-9. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3azh1su stiwne, e. e., & alves, m. g. (2010). higher education and employability of graduates: will bologna make a difference?.  european educational research journal,  9(1), 32-44. retrieved on august 29, https://doi.org/10.2304/ eerj.2010.9.1.32 storen, l. a. & aamodt, p. o. (2010). the quality of higher education and employability of graduates. quality in higher education, 16(3), 297313. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2010.506726 https://www.ijbcnet.com/7-3/ijbc-19-61005.pdf https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1059141 https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1059141 https://doi.org/10.2304%2feerj.2010.9.1.32 https://doi.org/10.2304%2feerj.2010.9.1.32 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2010.506726 52 jpair multidisciplinary research thomas, m. (2004). ‘get yourself a proper job girlie!’: recruitment, retention and women seafarers. maritime policy & management, 31(4), 309-318. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/0308883042000259828 wordpress (2011) improving higher education quality, a daydream?. retrieved from https://dokterphi.wordpress.com/tag/tracer-study/ https://doi.org/10.1080/0308883042000259828 cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 142 community journalism: its roles in ilocano language and culture preservation jimmy r. soria alfredo r. rabena alfredorabena@yahoo.com rommel v. tabula rommeltabula@yahoo.com university of northern philippines vigan city abstract this study attempts to explore the social roles of community journalism in the preservation of ilocano language and culture in metro vigan. specifically, it determined the extent of effectiveness of the social roles of community journalism; the significant relationship between the profile and the social roles of community journalism; and the significant difference of the extent of effectiveness of community journalism when reader-respondents are grouped according to municipalities. using a researcher-constructed and field-validated instrument, data were purposively gathered through informants from the four municipalities and one city of metro vigan. two hundred fifty (250) participants were involved in the study and the following statistical tools were utilized: frequency and percentages, mean, pearson r, anova, and scheffe’ test. results revealed that majority of the respondents are female; a great number of them belong to the parent age or 20-39 years old; majority resides in the rural areas; most of them are skilled workers; and many of them widely read bannawag. the study further disclosed that there exist significant relationships between the personal attributes of the respondents and the social roles of community journalism. furthermore, significant differences in the vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.176 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 143 responses between and among the reader-respondents exist when grouped according to municipalities. keywords community journalism, language, culture, mother tongue/language introduction community journalism is a trend that emerged in the late 1980’s in the united states and continues to achieve widespread effects. it is a movement that aims for reforms in the practice of journalism. it got its name from a montana editor, ken byerly, while he was a professor of journalism at the university of north carolina at chapel hill in 19571971. although the term is relatively new, community journalism has been around since the founding fathers. he gave it its name because the concept had been referred to as “hometown newspapers,” which did not fit the suburban newspapers in that time. he chose community journalism because it fit both the weeklies and small dailies of the day. metro vigan, which composed of four municipalities (bantay, caoayan, san vicente, and sta. catalina) and the city of vigan (a unesco world heritage city), have been identified as one of the country’s potential growth centers. such potential could be realized and accelerated through concerted development efforts, including the help of community papers published within the metropolitan area. the role of community journalism in enhancing national and local development cannot be discounted. aside from fostering community consciousness or disseminating vital information to the public, community journalism serve a major role in the preservation and promotion of the ilocano language and culture. through writing and publishing ilocano articles, the uniqueness of the ilocano language and culture can be preserved for they are of great help in making the ilocano people remember their ethnicity. with the help of community journalism, the ilocanos can share their cultural heritage not only to their fellow ilocanos but also to others. featuring in the community papers the historical landmarks, trails and beauty spots found not only in metro vigan but in the entire “amianan” or northern luzon is also one of the ways. presenting the well-known leaders and jpair: multidisciplinary journal 144 writers including their biographies, refined works and outstanding accomplishments may also help. framework the following views of authorities and contributions of researches were reviewed as a springboard in conducting the present study.in her dissertation on the development of public journalism, sandra nichols of the university of wisconsin claimed that although the practice of public journalism seemed to have achieved widespread effects with several us news organizations engaged in doing it, still the movement has not achieved full institutionalization. nichols’ study provided a comprehensive analysis of the news organizations engaged in public journalism. her study also revealed the development of community issues that have been tackled, and how journalists tapped into communities to make them participate in various events and activities where problems needed to be solved (nichols, 2003 in barrientos 2004) another study on public journalism was done by barbara zang in 1997, in which she discussed the participatory nature of public journalism. in her case study of the sun, a daily paper in washington, dc that practices public journalism, zang (1997) as cited by barrientos (2004) discusses the relationship of the newspaper to the community it serves. her interviews and other documentary data revealed mixed reactions and attitudes between journalists and citizens on the practice of public journalism. citizens appreciate the sun’s participation in community life which made citizens view them as credible. but journalists think participation made them less credible because it questions their sense of objectivity. readers also appreciate the newspaper for opening more space for readers to write in their views. the study concludes that community building is a vital possible role for the press. it is inevitable that journalists will not find it easy to participate given their professional training. however, zang suggested that maybe it is time these journalism standards and values be questioned in the background of a democratic community life. one of the arguments that public journalism spawned is its lack of clear definition that consequently create uncertainty and fear on those who questioned it. in an article entitled public journalism and international peer reviewed journal 145 the problem of objectivity, meyer (1995) as cited by barrientos (2004) defined the elements of what public journalism should be. he said that more than anything else, public journalism is all about a desire to rebuild a community’s sense of itself. he stressed that public journalism should lead journalists to get the community’s attention on important issues and discuss with them issues that affect their lives deeply and extensively. he further pointed out that public journalism should also give more attention to what is essential than what is peripheral by providing substance especially in its coverage of political affairs. mmusi (2002) critically examined and traced the impact of community broadcasting on rural development in south africa. mission statements of the radio stations in the region are as follows: (1) to keep the community informed and to revive, retain, and sustain the cultural heritage, traditions, and norms; (2) to empower the community by sharing skills and providing them training to eliminate crime and promote health awareness; (3) to develop the community through educational and cultural broadcasting; and (4) to operate an effective and sustainable community radio that will champion health care and community development within and around the area. in short, the radio stations have the aim of serving a community through information, education and entertainment. in the study of racoma (2005) on the effectiveness of radio stations in vigan city, she found out that sex is significantly related with the ideological formation, consolidation and communication of the listener-respondents. she also revealed that there exist significant differences on the perceptions of the listener-respondents as to the effectiveness of the radio stations in terms of the quality of the delivery of service. when torricer (2009) explored the english language proficiency of the second year college students of ilocos sur community college, she discovered that the speaking ability of her respondents are significantly related with their sex, fathers’ occupation and educational attainment, availability of english newspapers and encyclopedia, exposure to radio programs in english and iloko, and exposure to tv programs in english and filipino. the emergence of community journalism in the philippines paralleled that of the united states, where journalists began to jpair: multidisciplinary journal 146 reconsider their relationship with local communities which they observe to have become indifferent and less participative in local governance processes of which they are a part. the scope of studies done on community journalism mostly dwelt on case and historical studies of a particular community newspaper. these studies usually determine the length of time the newspaper has been publishing, its impact on the community and its capability to stay in the business. other studies tackled the role of particular newspapers in bringing public agenda into the consciousness of the public and determined whether the newspaper is faithful in living up its role as watchdog and advocates of truth. objective of the study this study attempted to explore the social roles of community journalism in the preservation and promotion of the uniqueness of ilocano language and culture in metro vigan. materials and methods research design. the researchers employed the descriptive method of investigation in exploring the social roles of community journalism in the preservation and promotion of the uniqueness of ilocano language and culture in metro vigan. statistical treatment of the data. the following statistical tools were utilized to analyze and interpret the data gathered: frequency and percentages, weighted mean, pearson r, analysis of variance, and scheffe’ test. results and discussion the frequency distribution on the profile of the respondents is summarized in table 1. on municipality. the reader-respondents who participated in the study shared equal numbers and percentages: 50 (20%) were from vigan city, 50 (20%) were residents of bantay, 50 (20%) were settlers international peer reviewed journal 147 in caoayan, 50 (20%) were living in san vicente, and 50 (20%) were residing in sta. catalina. this means that the four municipalities and one city of metro vigan were well-represented by the readerrespondents. on sex. of the 250 reader-respondents, majority (157 or 62.8%) of them are female while only few (93 or 37.2%) are male. this means that readers of community papers are predominantly females. this further supports the fact that females have the passion to read any reading material during their spare time. on age. most (105 or 42%) of the respondents belonged to the parent age or 20-39 age bracket; while a large portion (76 or 30.4%) of them belonged to the grandparent age or 40-65 years old; then, by children age or 19 years old and below with 51 (20.4%) reader-respondents; and finally, great grandparent age or 66 years old and above with 18 (7.2%) reader-respondents. on geographical location. only few (64 or 25.6%) of the readerrespondents were residing in the urban areas while the majority (186 or 74.4%) came from the rural areas. the findings suggest that readerrespondents from the rural areas usually resort to read community newspapers than the dailies because they can only subscribe to periodicals considering the distance of their localities. on occupation. majority (170 or 68%) of them are skilled workers working as housekeepers, vendors, laundrywomen, security guards, farmers, fishermen, drivers, carpenters and the like. only a few (55 or 22%) of them are professionals employed either in public or private agencies as education practitioners, health care providers, law enforcers. it is interesting to note, however, that twenty-five (25) or 10 percent are non-professional reader-respondents; meaning, they are students who are avid in subscribing and reading community publications. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 148 table 1. profile of the respondents profile frequency percentage municipality vigan city 50 20 bantay 50 20 caoayan 50 20 san vicente 50 20 sta. catalina 50 20 total 250 100 sex male 93 37.2 female 157 62.8 total 250 100 age great grandparent age (66 above) 18 7.2 grandparent age (40-65 years old) 76 30.4 parent age (20-39 years old) 105 42 children age (19 below) 51 20.4 total 250 100 geographical location urban 64 25.6 rural 186 74.4 total 250 100 occupation skilled 170 68 professional 55 22 non-professional 25 10 total 250 100 community paper read at home bannawag 210 84 timek ti amianan 122 48.8 tawid news and magazine 97 38.8 ilocos sur post 74 29.6 total 250 100 on community paper read at home. the community paper widely read by the reader-respondents at home is bannawag which registered at 84%. this is followed by timek ti amianan at 48.8%; then tawid news and magazine at 38.8%; finally, ilocos sur post at 29.6%. this finding is not surprising since the oldest, most famous, and regularly published and circulated community paper of the ilocanos is the bannawag. international peer reviewed journal 149 table 2. summary of mean ratings of the social roles of community journalism social roles mean descriptive rating information 4.03 satisfactory ideological 4.02 satisfactory consolidation 3.77 satisfactory communication 3.95 satisfactory education 3.99 satisfactory overall 3.95 satisfactory legend: 4.21 – 5.00 very satisfactory 3.41 – 4.20 satisfactory 2.61 – 3.40 fair 1.81 – 2.60 poor 1.00 – 1.80 very poor the table exhibits the summary of mean ratings of community journalism as an instrument for the preservation and promotion of ilocano language and culture along its fivefold social role. as manifested in table 2, the reader-respondents perceived information, ideological formation, consolidation and stabilization of the society, communication, and education as “satisfactory” backed up by their mean ratings of 4.03, 4.02, 3.77, 3.95, and 3.99 respectively. taken as a whole, these social roles of community journalism are viewed as “satisfactory” as manifested by its overall mean of 3.95. this suggests that the reader-respondents find the community papers to be satisfactory in the performance of their social roles of promoting the uniqueness of the ilocano language and culture. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 150 table 3. correlation coefficients showing the relationship between profile of the respondents and social roles of community journalism profile social roles information ideology consolidation communication education sex -.111 .006 .021 -.165** -.049 age .026 -.013 -.044 .052 .076 geographical location .063 .110 .073 -.049 -.052 occupation -.006 .034 .076 .126** .136** bannawag .000 -.114 -.055 .086 -.019 timek ti amianan .021 .170** .047 .044 .038 tawid .015 .086 -.023 -.036 .046 ilocos sur post .032 .069 -.004 .018 .072 *significant at .05 probability level **significant at .01 probability level the table exhibits the correlation coefficients on the relationship between the personal attributes of the respondents and the social roles of the reader-respondents. as shown on the table, occupation of the reader-respondents is significantly related with communication and education at .01 probability level. this means that the social roles of community journalism as a means of communication and of education are highly significant with the occupation of the readerrespondents. this implies that professionals tend to be well-informed about governmental issues and more educated in the preservation and promotion of the ilocano language and culture through reading community papers. this finding could be attributed to the claim of meyer (1995) as stated in the study of barrientos (2004) that public journalism should lead journalists to get the community’s attention on important issues and discuss with them issues that affect their lives deeply and extensively. international peer reviewed journal 151 it is also reflected in the table that there exists a significant relationship between the sex of the reader-respondents and the social role of community journalism as a means of communication at .05 probability level. this suggests that females subscribe and read local newspapers for communication purposes. through reading locally published news items, females tend to share a lot of interesting topics in their daily interactions with others as a manifestation of their sociable and outspoken nature. this finding conforms with the results of the study of torricer (2009) that significant relationship exists between the speaking ability of the students and their sex and exposure to radio programs in ilocos. it can be gleaned further that “timek ti amianan”, which is the oldest community newspaper in metro vigan, is significantly related with ideology at .05 probability level. this means that “timek ti amianan” is a best reading material that helps in the formation of ilocano ideologies or cultural consciousness. this further implies that in the process of ideological formation, the ilocano language and culture, which is the most precious heritage of the ilocanos would be preserved, enriched and rejuvenated. the result of this study can be attributed to the claim of zang (1997) as cited by barrientos (2004) that community building is a vital possible role for the press. this further validates the claim of meyer (1995) in barrientos (2004) that public journalism is all about a desire to rebuild a community’s sense of itself. table 4. result of anova on the significant difference of community journalism’s social roles in ilocano language and culture preservation social roles sum of squares df mean square f sig information between groups within groups total 1.725 35.541 37.265 4 245 249 .431 .145 2.972 .020 ideology between groups within groups total 4.212 36.314 40.526 4 245 249 1.053 .148 7.104 .000 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 152 consolidation between groups within groups total 1.926 40.913 42.840 4 245 249 .482 .167 2.883 .023 communication between groups within groups total 1.268 31.326 32.594 4 245 249 .317 .128 2.480 .045 education between groups within groups total 1.235 50.781 52.016 4 245 249 .309 .207 1.490 .206 the above table displays the analysis of variance (anova) of the perceptions of the reader-respondents on the extent of effectiveness of community newspapers along the indicated social roles as an instrument in promoting the uniqueness of ilocano language and culture. along information. the null hypothesis that there are no significant differences between and among the perceptions of the reader-respondents as to the effectiveness of community papers as means of information is rejected (f-value = 2.972, f-prob = .020). this means that the perceptions of the reader-respondents are significantly different when compared according to municipalities. to determine which pair of groups of reader-respondents are significantly different, the scheffe’ multiple comparison test was used. results of the test are shown in table 5. table 5. scheffe’ test results on the effectiveness of community journalism in terms of information vigan city bantay caoayan san vicente sta. catalina vigan city .982* .098 .995* .301* bantay .319* 1.000* .648* caoayan .236* .986* san vicente .541* sta. catalina *significant at .05 probability level **significant at .01 probability level international peer reviewed journal 153 the perceptions of the reader-respondents on the effectiveness of community journalism as an instrument of ilocano language and culture preservation along information have significant difference. the table further unveils that only the pair of vigan city and caoayan was not significantly different. along ideology. the above table proves that the perceptions of the reader-respondents are significantly different with an f-value of 7.104 and f-probability of .000 which is significant at .01 level. therefore, the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between and among the perceptions of the reader-respondents as to the effectiveness of community papers as means of ideological formation is rejected. to determine which pair of groups of respondents are significantly different, the scheffe’ multiple comparison test was used. result of the test are shown in table 6. table 6. scheffe’ test results on the effectiveness of community journalism in terms of ideological formation vigan city bantay caoayan san vicente sta. catalina vigan city .978* .941 .010 .999* bantay 1.000* .001 .996* caoayan .000 .983* san vicente .004 sta. catalina *significant at .05 probability level **significant at .01 probability level scheffe’ test results on the mean differences on the perceptions of the five groups (vigan city, bantay, caoayan, san vicente, and sta. catalina) on the extent of effectiveness of the community papers as means of ideological formation are shown on table 6. this category displayed previously that the reader-respondents’ perceptions are significantly different. the table further shows that the pairs of readerrespondents who have varied perceptions are as follows: vigan city and bantay, vigan city and sta. catalina, bantay and caoayan, bantay and sta. catalina, and caoayan and sta catalina. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 154 along consolidation. the table disclosed that the null hypothesis is rejected as proven by its f-value of 2.883 and f-probability of .023 which is significant at .05 level. to determine which pair of groups of reader-respondents are significantly different, the scheffe multiple comparison test was utilized. result of the test is presented in table 7. table 7. scheffe’ test results on the effectiveness of community journalism in terms of consolidation and stabilization of the society vigan city bantay caoayan san vicente sta. catalina vigan city .191* .550* .069 .118* bantay .969* .993* 1.000* caoayan .827* .916* san vicente 1.000* sta. catalina *significant at .05 probability level **significant at .01 probability level further test was made and it indicated that only the pair of vigan city and san vicente was not significantly different. this implies that this pair has assessed the community papers’ effectiveness similarly along ideological formation. furthermore, the result of the test indicates that the rest of the pairs have different assertions as to this social role of community journalism. along communication. the perceptions of the reader-respondents are significantly different with an f-value of 2.480 and f-probability of .045 which is significant at .05 level. therefore, the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between and among the perceptions of the reader-respondents as to the effectiveness of community papers as means of ideological formation is rejected. to determine which pair of groups of respondents are significantly different, the scheffe’ multiple comparison test was used. results of the test are shown in table 8. international peer reviewed journal 155 table 8. scheffe’ test results on the effectiveness of community journalism in terms of communication vigan city bantay caoayan san vicente sta. catalina vigan city 1.000* .658* .255 .290* bantay .744* .327* .367* caoayan .965* .977* san vicente 1.000* sta. catalina *significant at .05 probability level **significant at .01 probability level further test has been made and it indicated that only the pair of vigan city and san vicente was not significantly different. this implies that this pair has assessed the community papers’ effectiveness similarly along communication. furthermore, the result of the test indicates that the rest of the pairs have different assertions as to this social role of community journalism. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. majority of the respondents are female; a great number of them belong to the parent age or 20-39 years old; majority resides in the rural areas; most of them are skilled workers; and many of them widely read bannawag and timek ti amianan. 2. there exists significant relationships between the personal attributes of the respondents and the social roles of community journalism. 3. significant differences in the responses between and among the reader-respondents exist when grouped according to municipalities. 4. community newspapers performed satisfactorily these social roles: information, ideological, consolidation, communication and education. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 156 recommendations based on the foregoing conclusions, the following recommendations are hereby forwarded: 1. parents should encourage their children to read local newspapers and other forms of community journalism to rejuvenate ilocano language and culture. 2. similar studies should be undertaken to include other variables not mentioned in the study. literature cited barrientos, p. 2004 community journalism in the philippines. retrieved on may 18, 2011 at http://srpinky.blogspot.com/2004/09/communityjournalism-in-philippines.html. mmusi, s. o. 2002 impact of community broadcasting on rural development in south africa. retrieved on april 21, 2011 at http://www.codesria.org/ links/home/abstracts%20ga%2012rural_mmusi.htm. racoma, m. r. q. 2005. the effectiveness of radio stations in vigan city. master’s thesis. university of northern philippines, vigan city. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research sagayan: the dance of meranao royalty                                            sahria t. maruhom sahriamaruhom@gmail.com orcid no.: 0000-0003-2317-8090 mindanao state university system marawi city, philippines abstract the paper examined the origin and historical background of sagayan war dance, the dance of meranao royalty. specifically it seek to answer the following aspects of sagayan war dance 1) to determine the meaning of sagayan war dance; 2) to describe how sagayan war dance is being performed by the players including its traditional costumes and significance; and, 3) to describe the implications of   sagayan war dance in terms of good leadership and governance. the study used the descriptive design involving qualitative research techniques with the support of various meranao materials found in the libraries of mindanao state university main-campus, and other public and private schools located in marawi city and lanao del sur, which is the setting of the study. aside from the materials found in the library, the researcher conducted personal interview to key informants who are knowledgeable on sagayan war dance. the results shows that in most occasions, sagayan war dance is performed before any celebration or gathering. the study concludes that the sagayan war dance conveys masculinity and bravery, attributes needed by leaders in the discharge of public duties. keywords social science, sagayan, research, dance of meranao royalty, bravery, origin of darangen epic, description design, philippines vol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.238 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 105 international peer reviewed journal introduction            the term "meranao" or "maranao" is derived from the word ranao which means “lake”, hence, maranao means people of the lake (saber and madale, 1975). the maranao population was 989,579 as of the 2001 census, making them the largest islamic ethnolinguistic group in the philippines. the traditional home of the maranao is the area surrounding lake lanao, the second largest in the philippine archipelago next to laguna de bay in luzon. located in lanao del sur, it bear the border of lanao del norte, the area is roughly triangular in shape with a 28.8 km-long base. the surface is approximately 7802300 m in above sea level. this elevation results in a temperature-far more pleasant than in the surrounding areas. on the northern tip of the lake lies marawi city, the premier urban center of the province of lanao del sur. in basa iranon (maranao language), "marawi" literally means a "place where things are inclined or center" (saber, 1975). the city is bisected by the agus river, which is the only outlet of the lake to the sea to the north, and which feeds maria cristina falls-now the major source of hydroelectric power throughout lanao del sur and lanao del norte. the maranao language spoken in the lanao provinces is part of a subgroup of language called "danao languages". the others included (also illanun or iranun), spoken by a group of sea-based people between lanao and maguindanao, spoken mainly in maguindanao and north cotabato. the earliest maranao historical records, found in the salsila or oral traditions are about the kingdom of bumbaran from where we came, the ancestors of the present-day maranao. legend says that when the first muslim missionaries came to preach islam, the inhabitants of bumbaran refused to be converted. the entire kingdom then sank into what is now lake lanao. only four people survived and they became the ancestors of today’s maranao. in short, the darangen is viewed as an embodiment of beliefs, practices, norms, behavior, thinking, ritual and other activities, which may be social, political, cultural, religious, intellectual adopted by the maranaos (francisco 1977). 106 jpair multidisciplinary research in general, the darangen has greatly shaped maranao history, society, culture and institutions. for instance, the concept of datuism which revolves chiefly in political, social and economic aspects of this institution is believed to have originated from the darangen.  dr. mauyag m. tamano, former president of the mindanao state university in marawi city, stated “in the past, the datu’s power, authority and rank in the (maranao) society constituted a style of life based on the legendary culture of the lost civilization of the city-state of bembaran, the pre-islamic kingdom form which maranao royalty is believed to have sprung” ( tamano 1969) saber (1961) further emphasized that in traditional societies, like the maranaos, the literature-both oral and written-functions in various ways. the darangen as a body of tradition, apart from the story that it presents, has more or less functioned as a bond that has stabilized maranao society through the vicissitudes that it underwent in its history. it serves as a bible in which faith in their continuity was anchored, for its was and still respected as a record of andang sa muna, “the ways of the ancestors”. at present, the epic stands side by side with the koran as a strong foundation of maranao culture. earlier, madale (1981) had pointed out that the living testimonies of events mentioned in the epic narrative “darangen” did actually happen. these highly valued landmarks serve as link between the present and the past. activities and festivities mentioned in the text are revived or replayed during the significant social gatherings and occasions as are believed to have happened in the past. as such, these gatherings and occasions are based (riyawat) on the reenactment of activities in the past like prince bantugan’s preparation for battle. this was the time that sagayan, a cultural event that features maranaw dances was introduced into the maranao society (madale 1981). this sagayan, the dance of royalty, warrior dance is complemented by another dance, one that depicts women wearing colorful costumes and walking gracefully in fluid motions with their arms waving in the air.  usually, maranao dance forms can be classified into those which are reenactments of some episodes in the darangen epic, and those which are adaptations from the epic. it requires a very talented performer, someone who can perform the intricate steps with ease, poise, and fitness. body movements are calculated to convey something; the fingers, the way of the hips, and every step. the performer must be single, with beautiful and supple body. there is much swishing of the fan and swaying of the hips as the performer reenacts the adventure of prince lomna (saber and madale 1989). 107 international peer reviewed journal today, in some cities and provinces dominated by muslim population, sagayan has become the most popular cultural event to highlight their celebrations like anniversaries, enthronements, weddings, kandori and other traditional activities. sagayan has attracted more tourists to come and document the uniqueness of this meranao historical event.  framework the study is anchored on concepts that both the “radia indarappatra” and the “darangen” epic are seen as salsila, which are genealogical accounts of the peopling of ranao. the former is a narrative “prose” tale, and the latter, an epic in “verse” in terms of language. the former is in contemporary maranao, while the latter is in classical maranao/ iranun which can be understood only by few of the older people. in relating these maranao oral tradition, the narrator, particularly (one who recites the chain of descent-lines) tends to link together the characters of the two tales, those of the “radia indarapatra” is being considered “foreign” while those of the darangen as indigenous.  the present-day dancers in the sagayan interpret the character of prince bantugan, the principal hero of the epic "darangen" as being fearless and skillful with his sword, the kampilan. the legendary prince was so skillful with the sword and shield that he could kill hundreds of his enemies at a time saber and madale (1975) mentioned that when bantugan was talking to his sweetheart he was making wide sweeping gestures, as if he were actually fighting in a battle. the sagayan is not an ordinary dance but a dance of royalty. the kampilan used by sagayan dancers is a thin sheet of sharp steel punctured with five or seven holes, through which hairs from the beard of a goat and the eyebrow of a sheep are tied. through each of the seven holes, seven strands of hairs hang. each hole is colored red, black and yellow. in the darangen epic, when prince bantugan swings his kampilan, he uses his magerag, a shorter sword, which is his last weapon of defense. the kampilan is 108 jpair multidisciplinary research usually tied to a warrior’s wrist, always handy in case of an attack. sagayan portrays the warriors from the maranao-maguindanao epic “darangen”. this epic, written sometime in the 14th century, tells the story of princess gandungan, who was caught in the middle of a forest during the earthquake. her loyal slave accompanied her throughout her ordeal until she was saved by her prince. the “darangen” is an epic that originated from the original leaders of mindanao. it reveals the adventures of many heroic warriors. the tale proves that early forms of music, metal work and warrior arts were already in existence many centuries ago. the darangen epic mentions three major kingdoms, namely illyan a bumbaran, gindolongan, marogong, and kadaraan sandaw. bumbaran is also known as tangkal a baaraantakan. both names means the place where the sun rises. sometimes, it is referred to as mimbala’s which means a place where a river cuts across, which could be the present agusan river. bumbaran is also the favorite abode of the gods which makes it a very powerful kingdom. while the whole darangen epic narrates the exploits of bantugan, some books are focused on his other brother (kkapaesandalan a morog); his sister lawanun, while the youngest is the heroine in taratakan a oray. the dance itself involves leaping, turning, jumping, kicking and the rolling movements of a warrior ready to defend his master in battle. it highlights many complicated hand and foot movements. the warriors move in a magic-like trance, and the elders believe that the motions drive away evil spirits, while welcoming good fortunes. the warriors follow the music and rhythm of a kolintang and other musical instruments including gongs and drums (saber and madale 1989). sagayan is complemented by a woman in colorful costumes dancing gracefully with a pronounced movement of her arms in a dance known locally as kasiduratan, accompanied by the agong and kolintang. today, some local government agencies and even other institutions are patronizing sagayan war dance to highlight their occasions. on the other hand, the name maranao may have come from the root word ranao (lake) and could be a latter development. theoretically, the great lake has been peopled by the waves of migration from the coastal areas. this theory is supported by studies in linguistics and of maranao phonological system as well as by archeological evidence. at least, what is certain is that both the maranao and maguindanao can trace descent from the iranun/illanun and that their languages are mutually intelligible. 109 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the general objective of the study was to trace the origin and historical background of sagayan: dance of royalty. specifically, it sought to: 1) describe the origin of sagayan and meaning; 2) describe how sagayan is being performed by the players including its traditional costumes and significance; and; 3) describe the implications of sagayan in terms of good leadership and governance, 4) come up with recommendations and suggest plans of action for the promotion and preservation of sagayan. methodology the study utilized the descriptive design as major means of the gathered data. the researcher used the meranao culture materials found in the libraries of the mindanao state university main campus and dansalan jr. college and other schools within marawi city and lanao del sur.  these were used to determine and validate the analysis and interpretation of data gathered on sagayan. key informant interviews were also conducted with authors who have written books on meranao culture. in most occasions, the researcher had the chance to actually observe how sagayan is performed by the players. the method used helped enhance the gathering of first-hand information about sagayan activity. informed consent was obtained from the key informants to comply the research ethics protocols.             results and discussion sagayan or war dance originates from the epic. it is a reenactment of prince bantugan’s preparation to rescue her sister princess lawanen, unluckily, it was her fiancé who rescued princess lawanen. this particular episode “kalid a dempas” describes the minute details of all the movements of the warrior. the manner of holding the kampilan and the logistics of warfare are all depicted.  first, the hero takes his kapasti or headdress with embedded mirrors. he then puts on his clothes which have the colors of the rainbow. he takes his klong or shield made of hardest wood and from which small bells hang, he gets his shining kampilan which is as blinding as the sun when it glitters. very slowly, he moves to the left then to the right, and then moves around very gracefully. each step and movement he makes is accompanied by a recitation, invoking the guidance and support of the unseen benevolent spirits. when the hero removes his kampilan 110 jpair multidisciplinary research halfway from its scabbard, half of his enemies are killed. at the height of the war, the hero is not able to see his enemies; hence, he defends only on the sound of the rattling shields (madale, 1989). sagayan is a philippine war dance performed by both maguindanao and meranao depicting in dramatic fashion the steps of their hero, prince bantugan. he wears his armaments. performers depicting fierce warriors would carry shield with shell noisemakers in one hand and double-bladed sword in the other attempting rolling movements to defend the master. according to dominquez (2007), the term sagayan comes from the tausog word of “sagay” meaning headhunter. in maguindanao, they define sagayan as a dance of nobility, gallantry, and honor depicting fierce warriors carrying elaborate painted shields and doublebladed swords. sagayan dancers wear a three-tiered skirt in the strand tricolor of red, green, and yellow, with brightly colored headgear embellished with feathers, mirrors, tassels and other trimmings. secular and spiritual in nature, sagayan is performed on different occasions like weddings or healing rituals. although it is an ancient dance, the sagayan has endured the test of time in the hearts of maguindanaoans and continues to live and flourish as an undying testament to their noble ancestry and exciting history (aliwan fiesta website). the sagayan war dance provides tremendous implications in the area of leadership. the dance that shows the warrior’s masculinity and bravery, implies that these desirable values and qualities could be adopted by leaders in attaining common goals and objectives as well as promote local governance. good warriors make good government functionaries and can be depended upon in implementing development goals for the welfare and interest of the people. for instance, the traditional political institutions of the maranao is a vital force to reckon with. despite the introduction of modern institutions, they survived and still play a significant role in the lives of the people. these traditional institutions are vital as far as the people’s identity is concerned and are considered as the embodiment or symbols of maranao tradition. they constitute a part of their past and therefore should be preserved. even up to the present, the sultans and datus, as well as the religious leaders in the community, are looked upon by the people for leadership and guidance. the people's strong faith in their leaders have been attributed to their religious beliefs, their maratabat and their strong adherence to their adat. ( saber, tamano, warriner, 1960) aside from masculinity and bravery, sagayan war dance also manifests other behaviors, values and qualities such as encouragement, solidarity or unity, which 111 international peer reviewed journal are the basic principles in attaining human destiny particularly in the area of total human development as one major component of the civil society. the performance of these leaders' roles by virtue of the traditional offices they occupy elevated them to positions of prestige and influence. the traditional leadership is useful as a mechanism for change especially among those who strongly integrated within the institutional network of their communities. as such, responsible leadership from within should be developed and eventually utilized to bring about the development of the area. there is therefore a need to work through religious and traditional leaders to promote and facilitate awareness for change. the municipal officials and other local leaders in the community, may be likened to the sagayan war dance, who are willing to defend and protect their constituents against any invader. this behavior does not only connote masculinity but bravery as well. when adopted and duplicated in the local level, these values could be translated into development action and enhance the socio-economic condition of the people toward building strong community. the maranaos as a "rank-conscious" group does everything under any circumstance if only to safeguard their “maratabat” (pride) which is a manifestation of their rank. to an outsider, such peculiar behavior and idiosyncrasies can be interpreted as “kayabangan”. however, to a maranao, such behavior and idiosyncrasies are manifestation of being conscious of his rank not only in exhibiting peculiar behavior but also by displaying flags, musical, instruments, and other material possessions. conclusions the maranao myth asserts that all maranaos trace their descent from either an epic hero or from mohammed. hence, in relation to others, they see themselves as superior beings or as royalty in relation to commoners. they recognize affiliation with other moro groups, but to others, especially christian filipinos are thought of as foreigners. they recognize kinship ties with people of borneo and sulu archipelago, but their closest affiliations are with the moro groups that adjoin their boundaries, especially the maguindanaos of the western coast of mindanao. lake lanao is the center of the maranao territory. maranao literally means “people of the lake”. so far, the most extensive study on radia indarapatra is nagasura t. madale’s ph.d. dissertation, “a socio-cultural analysis of radia indarapatra: a meranao 112 jpair multidisciplinary research folk narrative” (1981). madale claims that, the narrative, contains the origin or beginning (po-onan) of maranao genealogy, hence a history. the narrative as a genealogy (salsila) is one of the two basic references in tracing one’s own descent line. in maranao, this is called “sa dorog a bangensa” (one chain of royal descent line). in other words, the narrative is the earliest oral account of the ancestors (apo) of the maranaos that serves as a link between the present and the past. activities and festivities mentioned in the text are revived or replayed during significant social gatherings and occasions and are believed to happen in the past. as such, these gatherings and occasions are based (riyawat) (madale 1981). maranaos do not only look at the leaping, turning, jumping, kicking and rolling movements of the sagayan dancers who are ready to defend their master in battle, but the significant message that these movements imply in the development of the country in general and the local communities in particular. concomitant to this concept, there is a need to work within the framework of the existing laws and regulation or structures. moreover, since traditional values are deeply ingrained in the culture of the meranaos, a program should be designed and devised where values and norms can be effective tools to bring about change. glossary bembaran is one the three major kingdoms in the darangen namely; iliyan a bembaran, gindolongan marogong, and kadaraan sa nadlaw. bembaran is also known as tangkal a borantakan. both names mean the place where the sun rises. sometimes it is referred to as mimbala’ which means a place through which a river cuts across, which could be the present agusan river. bembaran is also the favorite abode of the gods which makes it a very powerful kingdom. prince of gadongan is the ruler of the second most powerful satellite state of bembaran, the complete name of which is gadongan pamaloy but better known as kodarangan a lema. the word gadongan literally means «storehouse» kadaraan sa ndlaw literally means “the place where one cannot see the sun except at sunset” which locates it in the west. it is also known as kadaan. although both rulers of bembaran and kadaraan come from the same ancestor, aya diwata mokom sa kaadionga lopa’, they are bitter enemies and fight all the big battles of the darangen. the story of how feud began is related in book no. 4 kapaesxandalan a morog. 113 international peer reviewed journal paramata bantoganis the hero of the darangen, the second son of tominaman sa rogong from his first wife. his name means «brilliant, famous, one who makes history, the pride of bembaran». in particular episode, however, he plays a minor role as this is the story abduction of his sister, princess lawanen, and her rescue is done by her fiance. mipaesandalan means the «highest flag», a powerful spirit. kodarangan a lena is the other name of gadongan a pamaloy. it literally means “yellow-green which is pertified or enchanted. kampilan is the most common weapon used for fighting, made of steel, and has three kinds of blades: curved, straight, or with two points one long and one short. when plunged into an opponent, the longer point enters while the short stump holds the victim since it is first struck at the arm holding a kampilan and in swift movement strikes at the head for the final blow. in case a warrior loses his kampilan, he still has his magerag, a shorter sword, which is his last weapon for defense. the kampilan is tied to the wrist, on the ready for an attack. sagayan the term sagayan comes from the tausog word of «sagay» which means head-hunter sagayan is a philippine war dance performed by both maguindanao and meranao depicting in dramatic fashion the steps their hero, prince bantugan, took upon wearing his armaments, the war he fought in his subsequent victory afterwards. performers, depicting fierce warriors would carry shield with shell noisemakers in one hand and double-bladed sword in other attempting rolling movements to defend the master. po-onan the origin or beginning of maranao genealogy  salsila is one of the two basic references in tracing one›s own descent line «sa dorog a bangensa»one chain of royal descent andang sa muna «the ways of the ancestors» anonen a rawatenmeans «the heights of emulation». literally, amonen means «harmony». when there is harmony, there is organization (as in the case of the pengampong, the traditional or indigenous socio-political organization and territorial division of lanao. rawatenmeans «model» or «that which is to be emulated» bangensavariously spelled bang›sa or bangsa) has three meanigs; «nation» social rank» and «ancestry of genealogical connection with a certain family from a certain place. maranaosclassify or stratify  themselves socially into two: these are the mala i (big) bangensa or mapia a tao (good people) with royal descent including 114 jpair multidisciplinary research the pagawidan and the pagawid and the mababa i (low) bangensa or mabeba a tao (low people) or the commoners who include freemen, artisans, small farmers, small businessmen, blacksmiths, etc. literature cited msu university research center 1986 darangen. vols i, ii, iii.iv. marawi city. 1987. madale, a. t. 1976 the remarkable maranaws. omar publications. madale, a. t. 1997 the maranaws: dwellers of the lake. rex bookstore, inc. retrieved from http://goo.gl/duucto.             madale, n. t. 1973 radia indarapatra: a study on maranao folk narrative (doctoral dissertation, university of the philippines). madale, n. 1981 socio-cultural analysis of radia indarapatra: a maranao folk narrative. unpublished doctoral dissertation, university of the philippines, diliman, philippines.              presidential commission for the rehabilitation, & development of southern philippines. 1980 darangen: epic of history (vol. 12). presidential commission for the rehabilitation and development of southern philippines. saber, m., tamano, m., & warriner, c. 1960 the maratabat of the maranao. the maranao.             saber, m., & madale, a. t. (eds.). 1975 the maranao. solidaridad publishing house. 115 international peer reviewed journal saber, m., & madale, a. t. (eds.). 1975 the maranao. solidaridad publishing house. warriner, c. k. 1960 myth and reality in the social structure of the philippines. philippine sociological review, 8(34), 26-32. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/ aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-jour-nals; 3) google scholar; and 4) the journaltocs. 152 jpair multidisciplinary research linguistic study on surigaonon and kamayo children’s songs teresa may a. mundiz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0614-5193 teresamaym@gmail.com bislig city division bislig city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract this paper looks into the linguistic characteristics of the surigaonon and the kamayo languages of the surigao provinces through the children’s songs. it aims to identify and explain the morphological and phonological features that bring about the intelligibility of the two languages. oftentimes confused as the waya-waya or the jaun-jaun language, surigaonon finds its speech community among the surigao del norte inhabitants as well as a few numbers in the municipalities of surigao del sur. kamayo, on the other hand, is common among the surigao del sur inhabitants. using convenience sampling, this qualitative study interviewed ten participants and recorded children’s songs common for both languages. it found out that surigaonon and kamayo have to compete for forms and phonological differences. both languages’ morphological constructions differ with the use of some inflectional affixes and grammatical markers. the morphophonemic alterations between the different versions of the songs reflect the same kind of changes unique to the cebuano visayan language. as a result, surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo are in themselves variants of the cebuano visayan since speakers from the languages can understand each other without really having to speak the kind of language each speaker is acquainted vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.687 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0614-5193 mailto:teresamaym@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 153 international peer reviewed journal with: kamayo language is intelligible with that of surigaonon; while the latter is intelligible to the cebuano language. keywords — linguistic analysis, intelligibility, kamayo-surigaonon, bislig city, philippines introduction this study describes and analyzes the intelligibility of kamayo and surigaonon languages with children’s songs. since language use entails context and structure, stating “facts, things, persons, or events” viewed to be one of the primary purposes for human communication (strawson, 1950). similarly, morris (2006) considered language as human “artefact” to articulate his thoughts, ideas, and activities. through language, communication was possible (medina, 2010). yet, this success in communication achieved only if both speakers and hearers can translate their thoughts through “some sensible external signs, whereby those invisible ideas […] might be made known to others” (locke, 1975 as cited in morris, 2006). for instance, as smith and nelson (2006) aptly problematized, how do people or speakers of different nationalities make themselves understood even with the use of english? as the case may be for a tourist and a host, english becomes handy, then, if both can communicate at a level appropriate to understand. even so, intelligibility is categorized into 1) intelligibility, or understanding of “word/ utterance recognition”; 2) comprehensibility, or understanding of “word/ utterance meaning”; and 3) interpretability, or understanding “meaning behind word/ utterance” (smith & nelson, 2006). this problem on intelligibility is common in other western languages that the european commission put in efforts for more researches to examine linguistic factors influencing intelligibility (golubovic & gooskens, 2015; riionheimo, & härmävaara, 2017). mutual intelligibility, then, is viewed when languages within a linguistic family exhibit a certain quality or characteristics of similarities (gooskens & swarte, 2017). the extent of this similarity may allow mutual intelligibility to occur that speakers of two languages could understand a ‘genetically related language’ like language a to b, and vice versa. furthermore, intelligibility allows for meaningful exchange and communication between speakers while using their respective native languages (riionheimo, & härmävaara, 2017). as such, cognates may then be present for intelligible 154 jpair multidisciplinary research languages. cognates, as defined, are words having a common origin, albeit having dissimilar forms (golubovic & gooskens, 2015); wolff (1972) called this as competing forms—the same etymology, and usually with the same meaning— typically common in sound changes. in this study, surigaonon and kamayo are two of the languages in the philippines, which also have intelligibility concerns. while mcfarland (1981, as cited in dumanig & jubilado, 2015) asserted on the similarity of surigaonon to cebuano, albeit the former’s distinctiveness in its characteristics and linguistic attributes, kamayo is also used by the majority of people in surigao del sur, alongside surigaonon (bucjan, e., 2017; bucjan, m., 2017). intelligibility may be evident between surigaonon and kamayo with the influences of the former, through human migration, from the cebuano visayan, leyteño and boholano languages (wolff, 1972). additionally, a work of endriga (as cited in bucjan, m., 2017) postulated the intelligibility of cebuano as spoken in bohol, cebu (wolff, 1972), and davao provinces, respectively. as more studies have been done on surigaonon language, a lack of literature and a limited number of studies on its intelligibility with kamayo, which is another language used in the surigao provinces (bucjan, e., 2017; bucjan, m., 2017), have been the motivation to conduct this study. consequently, even one of the informants added that surigaonon language is not the same as cebuano and kamayo. yet, a surigaonon speaker still understands what the speaker of cebuano and kamayo has to say, if not the other way around. this paper, then, identifies surigaonon language as surigaonon naturalis, while bisliganon kamayo is the variant for kamayo. in this study, the intelligibility of the two languages—kamayo and surigaonon – in their morphological structure, and phonological processes through the select children’s songs have been examined. this study also looks into the implications of the understanding of the kamayo and surigaonon languages and their eventual mutual intelligibility with cebuano as presented in the songs. methodology research design this is a document analysis of the children’s songs shared by the key informants who were purposefully chosen for the study. the informants are native speakers of the languages, and they were chosen because they can provide in-depth information, and shed light, on the issue explored in the present 155 international peer reviewed journal study (creswell, 2017; creswell, 2012; bucjan, 2017). the availability of the participants was considered primarily. moreover, the analysis is based on the morphological structure and phonological processes of the surigaonon naturalis, the bisliganon kamayo, and the cebuano bisaya languages. research site the study was conducted in bislig city. participants there were ten (10) participants for this study. they were school administrators and local government employees of bislig city. the age group of the participants ranged from 40 to 80 years old. all of them are native speakers of surigaonon, kamayo, and cebuano languages. for this study, songs were collected from the participants through a recording, and dictation of the lyrics. the songs included in this study were either native from the surigaonon or kamayo languages or translated version. data collection a letter of request was sent to the participants, seeking their consent and permission to be part of the study. a schedule was set for the interview at the participants’ convenience. an orientation on the objective of the study was also done. strict confidentiality of the data gathered was also assured to the participants. data were gathered through a voice recorder, and dictation of the lyrics to ascertain the correctness of the words. results and discussion songs commonly chosen by parents and adults to teach their young ones are those who try to educate children of the common and frequently used terms like songs identifying body parts, and even songs that animatedly describe people. my toes, my knees (ipalakpak an alima), and the haughty mother (nanayng garbosa), and philemon (pilemon) were the songs used in this study. the song my toes, my knees is an original english song, yet, all three languages—surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo, and cebuano visayan— have kept the same context of the song: to identify in simplest terms the basic human limb parts. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. linguistic comparison of my toes, my knees (ipalakpak an alima) english original   my toes, my knees, my shoulders, my head (3x) let’s all clap hands together! surigaonon naturalis original   siki, tuhod, abaga, uyo (3x) ipalakpak an alima bisliganon kamayo versiontranslated   kanak siki, tuhod, abaga, o (3x) ipakpak kanato alima cebuano bisaya translated   tiil, tuhud, abaga, ulu (3x) ipalakpak ta atung kamut the table reveals that there is a major similarity among the terms used in the song. between the surigaonon naturalis and that of the bisliganon kamayo, “siki,” “tuhod,” “abaga” and “alima” are similar, and also, generally used among the speech communities of the two languages. however, the bisliganon kamayo has the genitive “kanak” to show possession, which means “my,” hence, “kanak siki, tuhod, abaga, o.” while the english version makes use of the possessive marker “my” all through the songs, bisliganon kamayo only used the genitive “kanak” ones. surigaonon naturalis and cebuano bisaya dispensed the use of the marker. “ulu,” “uyo” and “o” are competing for forms of the cebuano visayan “ulu.” oftentimes confused as a language which changes all the /l/ phonemes into /y/; hence the name “waya-waya,” surigaonon language has the /l/ sound as represented with /i-pa-lak-pak/and /a-li-ma/. wolff noted (1972) that roots containing /l/ between like vowels, usually, but not all the time, observes: a) /l/ is dropped, and the vowel is usually lengthened; b) /l/ becomes /w/; and c) intervocalic /l/in isolated dialects become /y/. thus, /ulu/ in the cebuano visayan version has its competing forms (wolff, 1972) with the surigaonon naturalis / uyo/ and the bisliganon kamayo /ó/. in comparison to the english version that ends with a command/imperative: “let’s all clap hands together,” “ipalakpak an alima,” “ipakpak kanato alima,” and “ipalakpak ta atung kamut” showed that all three languages use similar inflectional affix ito state a command. while the surigaonon naturalis informants confirmed their usage of the predicate marker “an” which is an equivalent to the cebuano visayan “ang,” bisliganon kamayo uses the nominative marker “kita” in its competing form “kanato.” on the other hand, the cebuano visayan version has used the short form “ta” and the possessive marker “atu” nominative marker “ang” to mean “us” or “we.” 157 international peer reviewed journal the nasal /ŋ/ and /n/ phonemes take the forms of the nominative marker “ang.” surigaonon naturalis both has /an/ and /aŋ/. though /ŋ/ and /n/ are nasal sounds and have the tendency to be assimilated, both cannot be assimilated since only those nasal consonant sounds that are adjacent to another consonant can observe the phonological phenomenon. as a result, like “ulu,” “uyo,” and “o,” / an/ and /aŋ/are then considered as competing forms of the nominative marker “ang” /aŋ/. a deletion of sound, in its verb conjugation, is apparent in bisliganon kamayo. this phonological process involves the loss of sounds or letters in the middle or interior of a word (wolff, 1972). this process is commonly called syncope. thus, /i-pa-lak-pak/ becomes /i-pak-pak/, dropping the middle syllable /la/. a few of the words and terms found in the versions of the song in surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo are also present in the cebuano context (wolff, 1972). however, competing forms of some roots may not have the same meaning as that of the other languages. for instance, when surigaonon naturalis, and bisliganon kamayo translate “my toes,” the languages shared the common term “siki” or /siki/ in contrast with the cebuano visayan /tiil/. however, /ti-il/ is a metonymic term that means “foot” or “feet.” to identify toes in cebuano visayan is to use the term “tudlu” or /tud-lu/ which refers to both the fingers and the toes. the english song my toes, my knees sets a different context compared to cebuano visayan version. by using metonymy—a figure of speech in which an attribute is used to stand to mean for the thing itself; or a representation of something is used to link for the whole parts—to mean not just the whole but also the parts itself as a representation of the whole. thus, /ti-il/ could also mean /tud-lu/ and consequently could be used in the cebuano visayan version of the song. competing forms, sometimes, do not involve sound change. like the example with “siki,” though surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo identify it as “toes,” “siki” in cebuano visayan—spelled and pronounced the same as that of the former—identifies it otherwise. in addition, similar to “siki,” “alima” is also found within the cebuano visayan context. /a-li-ma/ or “alima” is taken from the root “lima” which means the numeral five. somehow, the surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo languages could look up to this definition relative to their meaning of “alima” as hands. however, the numerical meaning of the root is not maintained as the inflection takes place. since there is a phonological change between “lima” and “alima,” this process then is called as apophony or an alternation of sounds that indicate grammatical inflection (wolff, 1972). with 158 jpair multidisciplinary research the inflection from noun to verb, the prefix aindicates a difference between the verb “alima” and the adjective “lima.” nanayng garbosa three-lined song briefly describes a mother with a red purse in three different yet intelligible languages. common in the languages is the usage of a subject marker and a verb-forming affix. table 2. linguistic comparison of the haughty mother (nanayng garbosa) english translated   my mother is arrogant who has an almost red wallet but actually she has no money surigaonon naturalis – original an akong nanay garbosa papuya-puya sa iyang pitaka pag-ando wayay kwarta bisliganon kamayo original ang kanak inay garbosa gapaima nang kanaan pitaka kadi pa sa way/ ampan kwarta cebuano bisaya original   ang aku mama garbusa papula-pula sa iyang pitaka pag-andu walay sapi competing forms “an” and “ang” open the song in the surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan versions. the surigaonon language uses “an” while bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan use “ang.” but contrary to the definite predicate marker as used in the previous song, the song nanayng garbosa has used “ang” or “an” as a subject marker modifying the noun “nanay” or mother. surigaonon naturalis’ “akong” is already the inflected form of the genitive marker “ako” and subject marker “ang” in its short form “ng.” on the other hand, bisliganon kamayo uses an altogether different form of the genitive “aku” which is “kanak.” like “an” and “ang,” “akong,” and “kanak” are competing for forms of the cebuano visayan base “aku.” on the other hand, “nanay” and “mama” are in themselves root forms that means “mother” in much the same way as the word “inahan” means. “inahan” is an inflected form where suffix –an is added to the noun “ina” to form into another noun. the presence of /h/ in /inahan/ refers to the phonological process where a root that ends in a vowel adds a /h/ before a suffix. “inahan,” then, now refers to a place where sth is found, done, held and located (e.g., humayan, tubaan). “inahan,” then, also means mother but it is more of “inahan nga buhatan” or main office of a firm with branches. but then again, the frequency of the term “inahan” and its usage in conversation cebuano visayan make it a convention in the cebuano visayan dialect (wolff, 1972). hence, “inahan,” “mama” and “nanay” are all acceptable terms. “inay” of the bisliganon kamayo is considered as the short form of the cebuano visayan term “nanay.” since the song describes 159 international peer reviewed journal the “mother,” it also follows the usage of the affix –sa indicating gender on the adjective used; hence, “garbusa.” the form “garbosa” from surigaonon naturalis and that of the bisliganon kamayo is a competing form of the cebuano visayan “garbusa,” still observing the gender of the adjective. another example of competing forms is “papuya-puya” and “papulapula” which are both inflected forms of the adjective “pula,” the color red. the derivational verb-forming affix pais added to both the surigaonon languages versions and that of the cebuano visayan. with the addition of the affix is also the change in meaning from the adjective form “pula” or red into a verb—have sth become. despite the inflection, there is no morphophonemic change from the forms “pula” and “puya.” by doubling up the forms such as “papula-pula,” or “papuya-puya,” the meaning again changes—instead of saying “a red purse” or “pulang pitaka” or “puyang pitaka,” “papuya-puya” would mean “an almost red hue” but not the same redness as that of a deep red hue. then again, bisliganon kamayo uses a different term reflecting on the whole meaning of the song. instead of using color, the version showed “gapaima” which means “to show off.” a genitive is written before a noun is the inflected word “iyang” or “iya” which is a derivative of the pronoun “siya.” both surigaonon naturalis and cebuano visayan versions use the inflection “iyang” or “iya.” bisliganon kamayo, however, used an altogether different term to mean “iya—” “kanaan.” in addition, the latter also uses the marker “nang” which means “sa”; thus, “nang kanaan” also means the same “sa iya.” the usage of the prefix pagin the surigaonon naturalis changes the verb into an infinitive, hence, referring to no specific tense or time. the assimilation of the affix pag-, in turn, creates a glottal stop out of the inflected word. the hyphen (-) before “ando” in the surigaonon languages signals a sudden release of air, taking the name glottal stop. surigaonon language and cebuano visayan observe the same usage with the prefix: the former “pag-ando” is a competing form of the inflected cebuano visayan base “pag-andu,” which means “but actually.” with the affixation, the verb “andu” turns into the adverb “pag-andu” or “pag-ando” which then modifies the adjective “wala” as it also modifies the noun “pitaka.” another adverb used in the song nanayng garbosa is the adverb “wala” which denotes “none” or “nothing.” the cebuano visayan version of the song has had an inflection with the assimilation of the particle /-y/ into the pronominal marker /wala/ or /walay/. surigaonon naturalis, and the bisliganon kamayo version of nanayng garbosa show the same inflection and assimilation of the particle /-y/: “wayay” (/wayay/), or “way” (/way/). for the surigaonon version, 160 jpair multidisciplinary research the change of the intervocalic /l/ to /y/has been predominant in the song. for the bisliganon kamayo, “kadi” is a competing form of “diay,” with the particles “pa sa” and the short form of the inflected “walay” as “way.” it also has another term as “ampan” to mean “wala” or nothing. “sapi” and “kwarta,” as well, are cebuano root forms that mean “money.” “kadi pa sa” or “man diay” is the bisliganon kamayo way of saying “it turned out” or “but actually” as the song goes kadi pasa way kwarta or “but actually she has no money.” the usage of a verb forming affix has not brought about much morphophonemic change as shown in the affixes found in the song nanayng garbosa. eventually, intervocalic sounds have changed as reflected in the different versions. rhoticization of /r/ has also been observed as with “garbosa” where /r/ is a distinct sound of the whole utterance. intervocalic /l/ in /pula/ has undergone a phonological change in the surigaonon naturalis. as the base of cebuano visayan /pula/ finds its competing form in the surigaonon language, intervocalic /l/ has changed from /l/ to /y/— “pula” is also “puya.” table 3. linguistic comparison of philemon (pilemon) english translated   philemon, philemon caught with a fishing line a mudskipper in the sea then, sold it to the market for a japanese centavo just enough to buy coconut wine surigaonon naturalis – original si pilemon, si pilemon namingwit sa kadagatan nakakuhanakakuha ug isdang tambasakan gibaligja-gibaligja sa tyanggeng guba an halin puros puya (2x) igo ra gipanuba bisliganon kamayo – translated si pilemon, si pilemon yamingwit sa dagat yakakamang yakakamang nang isdang tambasakan ibaligya-ibaligya sa tiyanging guba ang halin saman puya (2x) anda ra gipanuba cebuano bisaya original   si pilemon, si pilemon namasol sa kadagatan nakakuhanakakuha ug isdang tambasakan gibaligya-gibaligya sa merkadong guba ang halin puros kura (2x) igo ra gipanuba competing forms are still in existence in the different versions of pilemon. affixations are also common among the languages. all the languages— surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan—make use of the nominative particle “si” written before names or titles of persons. in the song, the nominative “si” introduces the character of the same title, pilemon. from the previous songs, vowels /e/ and /o/ have not been a common occurrence. but the absence of the vowels does not signify that there is also the absence of 161 international peer reviewed journal sounds. vowels /e/ and /o/ may take the place of vowels /i/ and /u/ but with no consistency (wolff, 1972). passive verb affix naexpressing the past tense is used together with the roots “bingwit” and “pasol” in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan versions repectively. when affixation occurs in the verbs “bingwit” (/biŋwit/) and “pasol” (/pasul/), assimilation of the nasal sounds from the grammatical marker /ŋ/ has also occurred. the affix used in the surigaonon language and cebuano visayan versions is the passive verb affix nawith the grammatical marker /ŋ/ attached after the vowel. the bisliganon kamayo text uses an equivalent affix yawith the same short form grammatical marker /ŋ/. the tendency for nasal phonemes like /ŋ/ to be assimilated is common when the same nasal phoneme touches or is adjacent to a consonant (wolff, 1972). affix yaof the bisliganon kamayo version is added to the root “bingwit” to express the past tense (bucjan, 2017). a particle “sa” has also been used in the different versions of pilemon. the particle “sa” precedes a phrase referring to a place: “sa kadagatan.” surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan versions all use the particle “sa.” “kadagatan” in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan versions is an inflected form of the root “dagat” and affix forming nouns “ka-an”. the affix now refers to a group of sea water. yet the meaning of the affix form does not mean the same with that of the root “dagat” which is “sea” into “kadagatan” which is the ocean. bisliganon kamayo observes otherwise. instead of following the other versions of pilemon, the latter language does not make use of the affix ka-an; what the bisliganon kamayo has is simply maintained the root “dagat.” it may not mean the same as an ocean or “kadagatan,” but it is still a viable place to fish. another verb affix expressing past form is the active verb affix naka-. the affix refers to an action which one had managed to do; as it is added to the verb “kuha,” “nakakuha” in the context of pilemon would then mean as pilemon managed to catch fish. like naand naka-, bisliganon kamayo still uses the competing form yakato mean the same as that of the affix nakawhich is managed to do (bucjan, 2017). the root “kamang” in the bisliganon kamayo is not the same as crawl of the cebuano visayan context. “kamang” is the bisliganon kamayo equivalent of “kuha.” thus, affix yakaand the root “kamang” would be “yakakamang” that means pilemon managed to catch and get some fish. the fish “tambasakan” or mudskipper is further emphasized with the particle “ug” in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan versions. “ug” shows a 162 jpair multidisciplinary research grammatical relation as it precedes a noun referring to sth specific—“isda”— but referring to it as sth general on any occasions (cebuano visayan dictionary). bisliganon kamayo uses a different particle which still means the same as the particle “ug.” “nang” is common in the bisliganon kamayo text of pilemon instead of “ug.” indeed, pilemon is a fisherman; pilemon fishes for a living; but he fishes no particular species or type of fish, but that still makes him a fisherman nonetheless—surigaonon or bisliganon kamayo versions. the fish which pilemon caught has been put on sale as conveyed by the passive verb affix expressing the past form gi-. this same affix has been uniformly used in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan version. the bisliganon kamayo text of pilemon uses the future form of the passive verb affix giwhich is i-. the root “baligya” common to the cebuano visayan and bisliganon kamayo versions of the song is a verb that means sell similar to the competing forms “baligja” of surigaonon naturalis; the affixed forms “gibaligya,” “ibaligya” and “gibaligja” are verbs that mean put, bring, convey sth—put the fish on sale; bring the fish on sale; and convey the fish on sale whether in the past of future forms. according to the informants, the presence of the phoneme “dy” or /j/ has originally been a part of the leyteño migrants who came in the surigao islands. this change from /y/ to /dy/ or /j/ is a phonological process that has spread not just in the bohol-southern leyte speech community, but also among the cebuano visayan area (wolff, 1972); as a result, /idya/ or “ija,” / dyaton/ or “jaton,” and even / malipadyon/ or “malipajon” are all acceptable competing forms of “iya,” “tua” and “malipayon,” much like “gibaligja” /gibaligdya/. by adding the short form of the grammatical marker “nga” or “ng” between a noun and adjective construction, the nouns “tyangge,” “tiyangi” and “merkado” are then identified as “guba” with the assimilation of the short form marker “ng.” surigaonon naturalis’ “tyangge,” and bisliganon kamayo’s “tiyangi” are synonyms of cebuano visayan “merkado.” thus when all the versions of the song identify that pilemon sold his fish in the surigaonon naturalis’ “tyanggeng” (/ tyaŋgeŋ/), bisliganon kamayo’s “tiyanging” (/tiyaŋgiŋ/), and cebuano visayan’s “merkadong” (/merkaduŋ/) “guba,” they are really just talking about the same venue—a rundown market. subject marker “ang” has its competing form “an” in the surigaonon naturalis version. both cebuano visayan and bisliganon kamayo use “ang” to introduce the next line ang halin puros kura or ang halin saman puya. “puros” of the cebuano visayan version is similarly written in surigaonon naturalis. the adjective “puros” could be spelled as “purus” which is a competing 163 international peer reviewed journal form of “pulos” or “pulus” denoting be all sth. an equivalent term is found in the bisliganon kamayo text of pilemon. the latter uses “saman” instead of the common “puros.” “puros” or “pulos” are competing forms with the change of intervocalic /l/ from /pulos/ into /r/ in /puros/. all the languages—surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan—observe the same forms, after all they are also equivalent terms of the cebuano visayan “pulus” (/pulus/). the vowel /o/ is found common in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan versions of the song pilemon. “igo” is just a differently spelled form of “igu,” an adjective that means enough. bisliganon kamayo version uses “anda” to mean the same as “igo” or “igu.” the usage of the particle “ra” following the first word of the predicate emphasized further the adjective “igo” or “igu” or “anda.” enough as denoted by the adjective takes on a negative connotation that means only enough and there is nothing else—igo/anda ra gipanuba signifies that what pilemon has earned is just enough for the “tuba” and nothing more. he could not buy anything than just the coconut wine since it is all he could afford from what he has fished. “gipanuba” is an affixed form using the affix gi-. but unlike the previous meaning of the affix gias a passive verb affix expressing the past tense, giin “gipanuba” is used in verbs containing another affix which is pa-. affix “gipa-” means have s.o [do] to; “gipanuba” then would mean have pilemon use the “puya” or “kura” to buy “tuba” or coconut wine. the inconsistency of the vowels /i/, /e/, /u/ and /o/ has brought about phonological processes and changes in the song pilemon. along with this, sounds are also assimilated and changes in intervocalic consonants are commonly found in the different versions of pilemon. the glottal stop after the last syllable of the affixed form “nakakúhà” (/ nakakúháכ/) in the surigaonon naturalis, and cebuano visayan versions are indicated with the hyphen as the same affixed form is repeated. for the bisliganon kamayo, an equivalent term is used to mean as “kuha” or get. “kamang” (/ kamaŋ/), like “kúhà” (/kúháכ/), is repeated but without the hyphen since it does not observe a glottal stop. assimilation as well as sound deletion has been a common occurrence among the nasal phonemes used in the different versions of the pilemon in surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo and cebuano visayan versions. the noun “isda” (/isda/) is found to have assimilated with it the short form of the grammatical marker /ŋa/ which is /ŋ/ consequently assimilating the short form after the vowel. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the intelligibility of these songs in the different languages—surigaonon naturalis, bisliganon kamayo, and cebuano bisaya— allows for meaningful communication, even for non-speakers of the language. each version of the song, though highlights the distinctive characteristics of the languages, bears in it the subtlety of the lives of the surigaonon and kamayo in the surigao provinces. competing forms are characteristics among the languages as reflected in their different versions of the songs. present geography identifies surigao del norte and surigao del sur as two separate entities with different political districts and municipalities. however, the languages of both these surigao provinces have shared a lot in common despite the spelling and some phonological differences. these two languages in the surigao provinces are aberrant forms of the cebuano visayan language—making surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo linguistic varieties of the language. typical among the surigaonon languages and bisliganon kamayo, are the phonological alterations of intervocalic sounds particularly that of the phoneme /l/. the morphophonemic alterations between the different versions of the songs reflect the same kind of changes unique to the cebuano visayan language. this phenomenon was referred to as intelligibility of two languages where one speaker can understand that of the other speaker and vice versa. hence, if this is so, surigaonon naturalis and bisliganon kamayo are in themselves variants of the cebuano visayan language since speakers from the languages can understand each other without really having to speak the kind of language each speaker is acquainted with. surigaonon and bisliganon kamayo are intelligible languages. a kamayo speaker understands surigaonon and cebuano, but not cebuano to the two languages. translational research this study can be rendered in different mediums like journals, publications, newsletters, and similar forms of media information dissemination. accordingly, the result of this study can be translated into programs and policies in the preservation and maintenance of the languages studied. in addition, agencies like the department of education and commission on higher education might be able to translate this into policy review of its mother-tongue based education and bilingual education. 165 international peer reviewed journal literature cited bucjan, e. r. simple tenses of the verb in kamayo language.  international journal of english literature and social sciences, 2(5). retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2fangj8 bucjan, m. e. 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(1972). cebuano visayan dictionary.  linguistic society of the philippines, monograph, (3). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2hxigvg https://bit.ly/2jbwcvw 1 international peer reviewed journal bullying and self-concept among senior high school students ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines perrik i. bayaras http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8531-9747 perrikbayaras6@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines hya marie blanca http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2418-9624 blancahyatut@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vanessa v. gutierrez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-3586 gutierrezvaso02@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vance louie horbino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4612-5928 vancelouiehorbino@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.764 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 2 jpair multidisciplinary research jerome vincent villaruel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0688-3188 jheromevincentvillaruel@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract bullying takes many forms, serves different functions, and is manifested in different patterns of relationships. this study employed a descriptive research design that aimed to identify and describe the forms of bullying experienced by 32 senior high school students of saint dominic college of batanes, inc. and how their bullying experiences affect their self-concept. inventory questionnaires were utilized to gather data. using mean analysis, anova one-way repeated measures, and pearson’s correlation coefficient, the following were revealed. firstly, senior high school students often experienced verbal, psychological, and social forms of bullying and seldom experienced cyber and physical forms of bullying. however, the more prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students were verbal, psychological, social, and cyber. secondly, bullying and self-concept have a significant moderate negative correlation, suggesting a substantial and inverse relationship. lastly, physical appearance, conduct/morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept often influenced by bullying among senior high school students. on the other hand, scholastic competence and athletic competence are the areas of self-concept seldom influenced by bullying among senior high school students. however, physical appearance, conduct/morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 3 international peer reviewed journal keywords — bullying, self-concept, senior high school students, descriptive research, quantitative, batanes, philippines introduction the school should be a safe place for each student. it should be a place where students go to learn and not be afraid. the students’ experiences in schools are essential to their successful transition into adulthood. according to de wet (2007), it is in the school where students negotiate and re-negotiate their relationships, self-image, and independence. it is also a place where they cultivate interpersonal skills, discover and refine their strengths, and struggle with vulnerabilities. on the other hand, senior high school is an opportunity for educators to build citizenship, character, and self-responsibility with students. for others, this may be an opportunity to change behaviors associated with bullying before they become adults. the students’ perceptions of school are associated with students’ wellbeing (minkkinen, 2015), health behavior (ilona et al., 2012), and academic achievement (freeman et al., 2009). contrastingly, negative perceptions of school or a poor school climate are associated with being bullied (erginoz et al., 2015; glew et al., 2008; turner et al., 2014). according to a study by harelfisch et al. (2011), negative perceptions of the school are strongly associated with bullying. because of this, the experience of being bullied has a negative impact on the students’ connectedness to the school. with this, the school, as a learning environment, becomes a ground for bullying. bullying is defined as the continuous and repetitive negative actions of one or more students who are focused on harming and hurting others consciously by abuse of power (olweus, 1994). similarly, srabstein and leventhal (2010) describe bullying as a multifaceted form of mistreatment, mostly observed in schools and the workplace. it is described as a perennial exposure of a person to aggressions, either physically or emotionally. this includes teasing, name-calling, threats, ridicule, aggravation, taunting, hazing, social exclusion, or rumors or gossips. school bullying, then, can be defined as the victimization and intimidation of students by their fellow peers within the school environment. this happens when students are frequently and repeatedly intimidated or victimized by powerful peers over a period of time. this results in psychological effects to the student being bullied (undheim & sund, 2010). repeated threatening, verbal cursing, 4 jpair multidisciplinary research teasing, physical attacks, or exclusion occurs anywhere and anytime within the school environment. school bullying has been a major social problem that affects children and adolescents in all parts of the world, and about one in ten high school students is bullied (hong & espelage, 2012). it is a type of violence that poses threats to young people’s well-being. it creates effects on the individual, family, school, and society as a whole. this results in feeling powerless, intimidated, and humiliated among young people. bullying is a common occurrence in schools, and it varies greatly from school to school (blosnich & bossarte, 2011). regardless of one’s status and personal background, bullying can happen to anyone at school. according to the american psychological association (2011), seventy percent of high school students have experienced bullying. twenty to forty percent report being bullied or being part of bullying, five to fifteen percent are chronic victims, and seven to twelve percent are chronic bullies. these statistics show that bullying is prevalent in most schools. it usually occurs in schools where individuals use their strength in inflicting harm to others. it can happen in secluded places such as locker rooms and playgrounds, especially when no teachers to monitor students. the basis of a bully’s strength is either physical strength, age, financial situation, social level, or technological skills. congruently, according to the national center for education statistics, almost a third of students aged 12-18 reported having experienced being bullied at school and some almost daily. fifty-six percent of students have personally witnessed some kind of bullying at school (siddiqui, 2018). research studies report a high prevalence of bullying worldwide among senior high school students, and as a result, there is an increase in somatic complaints, depression, anxiety, school refusal, and overall lower self-esteem in students who are bullied (bowllan, 2011). overall, it can affect the students academically and harm them physically and psychologically, resulting in a long-term impact on their lives. according to al-raqqad et al. (2017), school bullying harms others. in singapore, it has been reported that approximately one in four senior high school students surveyed was a victim of bullying and were victimized at least twice every single month for one school year (holt et al., 2013). there have also been several studies on bullying in malaysia. a study carried out by noran-fauziah (2004) on a group of students found that 95.8% of senior high school students were psychologically bullied, and 65.3% were physically bullied as well. similarly, traditional bullying is much more common among vietnamese school students. findings show that 60% of senior high school students engaged in bullying roles as the victim, bully, or bully-victim (le et al., 2017). in the 5 international peer reviewed journal philippines, a study conducted by ancho and park (2013) revealed that bullying is experienced by one in two filipino high school students. in the same study, it was specified that an australian newspaper stated that fifty percent of filipino high school students are being bullied in school. also, students in the philippines had led the record of experiencing different types of bullying. this includes being made fun of or called names, left out of activities by others, and made to do things the bullied did not want to. contrastingly, previous studies revealed that islamic countries such as indonesia reported a lower rate of bullying incidences. the percentage of indonesian students aged 13-17 years old who experienced bullying was only 20.6%, whereas prevalence in southeast asian countries of the same age group ranged from 28.3% to 51% (world health organization & centers for disease control and prevention, 2013)—considering that indonesia has the world’s largest muslim population and their teaching on not inflicting harm on oneself or others might affect the difference in the prevalence of bullying (world health organization regional office for the eastern mediterranean, 2004). with the prevalence of bullying across countries and schools, it is important to note the factors causing school bullying. according to tambawal and umar (2017), the factors can be categorized into two – environmental and psychological factors. since one of the factors that cause school bullying is defective or wrong upbringing, there are homes where discipline is either too harsh in society, especially if corporal punishment is frequently resorted to, or too lenient, especially if the child is always permitted to do all that he wishes, evil deeds without anyone deterring him. these extreme upbringing cases are defective because they lead to a lack of internalizing of the child’s right or correct behavior. the poor parent-child relationship is another environmental cause of bullying. research findings suggest that children who are not very well attached to their parents are more likely to bully their peers. in contrast, children who have positive relationships with their parents are less likely to participate in bullying (omoteso, 2010).  on the one hand, psychological factors and personality traits can make an individual become bullied. these personality traits include anger, jealousy, aggression, insensitivity, low self-esteem, cruelty, the desire to control others, by all means, lack of self-confidence (williams, 1993), and lack of social skills that often lead to difficulties in managing positive relationships (james, 2010). there are various causes of bullying in schools. this indicated that personality and typical reaction patterns, combined with physical strength or weakness level, 6 jpair multidisciplinary research can explain bullying problems development in students. these factors help determine such problems in school with other environmental impacts (e.g., teachers’ attitudes, behaviors, and supervisory routines). similarly, parents greatly impact this concern, especially when they use aggression to meet their needs or use harsh and aggressive discipline methods. these will contribute their children to engage in aggressive behavior such as bullying (omoteso, 2010).  those who are victims of those who have experienced being bullied can suffer from short-term and long-term emotional and behavioral problems (banks, 2000). victims of bullying have a higher risk of developing depression and anxiety, which may persist until adulthood. people who are bullied have increased suicidal thoughts that can also continue when they are adults. research shows that bullying can also have negative academic, physical, social, emotional, and psychological consequences for those who bully, those who are bullied, and the witnesses of the violence. it can as well greatly affect the overall climate of the school. bullying is often accompanied by isolation and exclusion. this not only denies students company friendship and social interaction but can also cause them to feel incompetent and unattractive. those who have experienced being bullied often have difficulty forming relationships and leadless successful lives (sullivan, 2000). as a result of peer victimization, they may often feel sadness, hurt, and rejection. additionally, persistent bullying erodes the victim’s self-confidence, induces serious health problems. some may also develop post-traumatic stress disorder (carney, 2008). the psychosocial consequences of bullying are also significant since bullying victims have reported increased rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and loneliness (van der wall, de wit, & hirasing, 2003). hence, significant stressors, such as victimization, are presumed to damage normal psychosocial processes responsible for developing a positive self-concept (finkelhor, ormrod, & turner, 2010).  according to oyserman and markus (1998, as cited in oyserman et al., 2012), self-concept is a cognitive structure that can include content, attitudes, or evaluative judgments. it is used to make sense of the world, focus attention on goals, and protect one’s sense of basic worth. a positive self-concept is important for mental health and positive development during adolescence since it protects against common problem behaviors. ybrandt (2008) suggests that the strength of the relations between self-concept and problem behaviors was dependent on gender and age. gender differences in self-image ratings were identified for social functioning and vocational attitudes, with females reporting more positive 7 international peer reviewed journal attitudes than males. this finding is consistent with the theory suggesting that women are often more relational than men (kenny et al., 2005). additionally, hines (2011) indicates that there is a negative correlation between traditional bullying and self-concept. those students who reported being victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying reported the lowest selfconcept among all the participants. moreover, rath and nanda (2012) stated that academically competent adolescents have higher physical, moral, personal, family, social, and overall self-concept than less-competent ones. the strength of association between personal self-concept and overall self-concept in boys is higher than in girls. similarly, the strength of association between physical selfconcept and overall self-concept and social self-concept and overall self-concept is higher in girls than boys. one important dimension of self-concept, which is dominant among students, is family. according to yahaya et al. (2009), students who feel their presence is being accepted, needed, loved, and appreciated would have high respect for their families. families who are not careful of the atmosphere at home may provide a protected environment where negative personality traits and characteristics are more accepted and do not necessarily lead to bullying. on the other hand, an environment that is emotionally unstable can become a factor for a student to be involved in bullying at school. since individuals acquire their self-concept with their interactions with others, internalizing their experiences, especially those adverse life experiences such as bullying, may lead them to believe that they are worthless and failures. also, the results of bullying targets showed larger significant negative relations with the self-concepts factors of general selfesteem, opposite sex, same-sex, physical appearance, parent relations, emotional and verbal self-concepts. this study was conceived to determine if bullying influences the self-concept of senior high school students. it aims to increase awareness within the school and assess the said phenomenon’s level of occurrence. knowing this may help establish a concrete foundation for school administration and personnel to derive policies and changes that will substantially lessen, if not eradicate, bullying in the school and raise awareness among students and parents. framework presented in this section are the different variables that underpin the study. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research bullying the basic concept of bullying involves two people, the bully, and the victim. bullying commonly includes the set of physical and/or verbal behaviors that a person or group of persons directs against another. the behaviors associated with bullying are aggressive, repetitive, and abusive of power that intends to cause harm to a victim (olweus 1993, as cited in benítez & justicia, 2012). bullying can also be defined as a specific type of aggression in which behavior is intended to harm or disturb. an imbalance of power is present (e.g., a more powerful individual attacking a less powerful one), behavior repeatedly occurs over time (coy, 2001). types of bullying there are two major subtypes of bullying, and these are direct and indirect bullying. it is termed direct bullying because hostile behaviors involve physical and/or verbal harm. according to dedousis-wallace and shute (2009), direct bullying is usually an objective, easy to detect behavior that is regarded as clearly unacceptable and necessitating teacher intervention. physical, verbal, gesture, extortion, and exclusion are forms of direct bullying. physical bullying means using a body part to cause harm to others (e.g., punching, kicking, spitting, and stealing). verbal bullying means an individual uses words to hurt someone (e.g., name-calling, teasing, threatening through words, and saying put-downs). gesture bullying means using non-verbal aggressive and threatening movements (e.g., dirty look and throat-slitting). extortion bullying means that an individual demands the victim’s money, food, and equipment just for the fun of it and follows it with a threat if the victim does not comply. exclusion bullying means socially rejecting someone (e.g., ignoring, silent treatment, and giving a cold shoulder).     on the other hand, indirect bullying focuses on the emotional aspect of the victim, often causing too much damage to an individual’s state of mind. the amount of harm varies from one victim to another, making the destruction difficult to measure. this bullying subtype primarily consists of relational aggression, which includes the social exclusion of victims through manipulating social relationships by bullies or injuring the victims’ reputations (merrell et al., 2008). some relational bullying forms include gossiping, slandering, sabotage, and convincing peers to exclude victims (hinduja & patchin, 2010). bullying can also include social, emotional, and cyberbullying. social bullying is associated with the use of words that describe someone negatively. it comes in the form of spreading rumors or gossips and making someone uncomfortable in public. 9 international peer reviewed journal the use of words to insult, shock, and tease that can hurt someone’s feelings is emotional bullying. on the other hand, cyberbullying, also known as online social cruelty or electronic bullying, is an offensive, deliberate act carried out regularly and over time by an individual or a group of individuals against another individual (smith et al., 2008). physical bullying.  according to rigby (2001, as cited in hines, 2011), physical bullying is often referred to as “schoolyard bullying” and usually, like social and verbal bullying, involves a power imbalance between the bully and the victim, preventing the victim from defending him/her against the bully and repetition of the abuse. physical bullying entails physical attacks, such as punching, pushing, kicking, choking, and violently taking this from the victim. physical bullying is the most evident and, therefore, the most readily identifiable form of bullying. it accounts for less than one-third of bullying incidents reported by children (coloroso, 2008). moreover, physical bullying involves behaviors whereby the perpetrator might punch, hit, and/or steal money from the victim (salmivalli et al., 1998). hence, academic institutions need to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment because of the challenges brought about by physical (larson, 2005). social bullying.  social bullying is often known as relational bullying (coloroso, 2008). psychological damage and social system exploitation usually involve intentional exclusion from or coercion within a social community (lee, 2004). this form of bullying includes circumstances where the perpetrator spreads gossips and rumors, teases other individuals, and bites back. in senior high school, social bullying can take the form of teasing unpopular students. examples of behaviors that a bully displays to gain control over another individual are ridiculing an individual’s clothing, making fun of the way one speaks, and insulting one’s academic achievements, race, or culture (o’moore & minton, 2004).  verbal bullying. verbal bullying happens when an individual uses language to gain power over someone. although the consequences of verbal bullying are not physical, it can be perilous to experience psychological and emotional harm. additionally, this form of bullying can be anything about weight, appearance, racist, sexual or homophobic bullying (besa et al., n.d.). according to olweus (1993, as cited in antiri, 2016), verbal bullying is called name-calling, teasing, and verbal threats. although the effects of physical bullying at first may be more apparent, verbal bullying is more subtle and works to undermine the selfimage and self-esteem of an individual over long periods, which lead to anxiety, depression, and in difficult situations, persistent verbal abuse may cause substance 10 jpair multidisciplinary research abuse and suicide. verbal bullying can have physical consequences, even if the aggressor never lays a finger on the victim (coloroso, 2008). to conclude, it may be difficult for teachers, counselors, and other school authorities to identify verbal abuse since there is no physical damage (kaar, 2009). cyberbullying. cyberbullying is also called social cruelty or electronic bullying online. this type of bullying took over when electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, and social media sites, sending mean texts and emails, embarrassing pictures about the victims. beran and li (2005) defined cyberbullying as the intentional act of online digital intimidation, embarrassment, or harassment such as name-calling, threats, spreading rumors, sharing another person’s private information, social isolation, and exclusion. moreover, this form of bullying may be more subtle and covert and can be perpetrated faster and in more environments than traditional bullying forms. similarly, nocentini et al. (2010) categorized cyberbullying into four main types. these types are writtenverbal behaviors (e.g., phone calls, text messages, emails, instant messaging, chats, blogs, social networking communities, websites), visual behaviors (e.g., posting, sending, or sharing compromising pictures and videos through mobile phone or internet), exclusion (e.g., purposefully excluding someone from an online group) and impersonation (e.g., stealing and revealing personal information, using another person’s name and account).  understanding the nature of cyberbullying is very difficult. to gain more knowledge, teachers, parents, and students should be aware of this phenomenon. according to kowalski et al. (2008), there are three reasons why most teens are not revealing their experiences of cyberbullying. these are the fear that their parents forbid them to access the internet as soon as they learn about online incidents because of their concern that their children might be online victims again, the fear that they will hear the cliché parental phrase “i told you so.” the fear that many agents will be involved in the issue and things will be even worse.  psychological bullying. psychological bullying, also known as emotional bullying, is when an individual uses words or acts that can cause psychological harm to a person frequently and deliberately (e.g., excluding, tormenting, ridicule, humiliating, spreading rumors, use sarcasm, threatening). this form of bullying beats a person to make him or her uncomfortable, disturbed and destabilized (antiri, 2016). the sensations of victimization, depression, anxiety, isolation, social disappointment, and low self-esteem are linked to psychological or emotional bullying (cowie & jennifer, 2008; coloroso, 2008). 11 international peer reviewed journal self-concept during the european middle ages, the word “concept” denotes “the act of conceiving.” it is a mental process that converts apprehended impressions into abstract thoughts. moreover, these abstract thoughts represent beings, forms, and qualities of reality, only described. hence, unlike mental images, they have no definite boundaries, allow for no mental pictures, and cannot be measured. furthermore, this makes concepts “shorthand” symbols for imageless “longhand” thoughts, which can be referred to thoughts that may be about one quality, form being, principle, a piece of any real or may be referred to a summary of a large number of similar, yet non-identical observations of basic characteristics (bailey, 2003). cheerfulness is one example of symbolized characteristics. the relevance of self-concept derives from the fact that this construct clarifies many other psychological factors. this indicator measures the level of adjustment to life and emotional well-being, influencing how individuals are motivated, acquire and reach levels of success desired in different areas of their existence (freitas, 2009, as cited in ferreira et al., 2014). self-concept alludes to self-assessment or self-discernment, and it speaks to the whole of a person’s convictions about his or her particular qualities. selfconcept is how a young person evaluates himself or herself in an environment in which he or she perceives success the vital. according to oyserman & markus (1998, as cited in oyserman et al., 2012), self-concepts are cognitive structures that include content, attitudes, or evaluative judgments. they are used to make sense of the world, focus attention on goals, and protect one’s sense of basic worth. self-concept also has four important aspects: how a person perceives himself, what he thinks of himself, how he values himself, and how he attempts to enhance or defend himself (symonds, 1951, as cited in sarsani, 2007). athletic competence. athletic competence refers to an individual who can perform a certain sport task effectively. it is also known as sports competence. according to eccles et al. (2003), sports are essential. involvement in sports activities allows adolescents to interact with others (e.g., peers, coaches) and to develop in several important aspects in their lives, such as athletic aspects (e. g., learn and develop different physical skills), social aspects (e.g., to make friends), physical aspects (e.g., build body) and health aspects (e.g., physical fitness, obesity). the nature of their sport experience and the consequences of this participation allow them to develop their self-concept, specifically their physical and social self-perceptions (balaguer et al., 2012). 12 jpair multidisciplinary research conduct/morality. according to haidt and kesebir (2010), conduct/ morality refers to right and wrongs ways of behaving (e.g., one should be fair and not unfair to others). the aristotelian premise postulates that morality is a characteristic of a person and not simply a result of abstract moral reasoning (jennings et al., 2014). according to narvaez and lapsley (2009), morality is understood to be at the heart of what it means to be a person. baumeister (1987) and solomon (1992) further suggest that the moral self is concerned with the morality of selfhood (e.g., the qualities by virtue of which a person is oneself ) that implicates both who a person is (e.g., a person’s sense of self and identity based on deeply felt concerns, commitments, and attachments) and how a person acts (e.g., a person’s characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and regulating behavior). peer acceptance. peer acceptance and friendship are two different words. according to jones (2012), peer acceptance refers to whether an individual is liked or not in a setting such as a classroom or a school grade. also, the level of acceptance of an individual is typically defined by sociometric ratings or nominations by peers that can be determined when an individual receives the highest summary scores are considered to be well-liked. however, those who receive the lowest scores are considered to be the least liked or rejected. adolescents spend more time increasingly with peers, often without adults’ supervision, and expectations of peers’ opinions come to have a more important value to them (brown & larson, 2009). being accepted in groups and crowds are important to solidify adolescents’ social and personal identity. similarly, being accepted in groups with high status is highly valued and is sometimes pursued at the cost of intimate friendships with unpopular peers (brown & larson, 2009; eder, 1985, as cited in brikeland et al., 2014). according to braza and colleagues (2009, as cited in stuffelbeam, 2012), peer acceptance is important to children’s social development because it can provide a wide range of learning and developmental opportunities. acceptance of peers is also essential for every individual as it helps to provide social skills, solve peer problems, collaborate, and be part of a community. physical appearance. physical appearance is one of the features first noticed by other individuals that impact relationships and interactions. hence, perceptions of individuals’ characteristics can be influenced by their physical appearance. attractive individuals are evaluated more positively than unattractive individuals (dion et al., 1972, as cited in zaikman & marks, 2016). mccoll and truong (2013) suggest that attractive individuals are viewed as dominant, sexually warm, and mentally healthy. they are also sociable, friendly, competent, 13 international peer reviewed journal and intelligent than less attractive individuals (lorenzo et al., 2010). therefore, physical appearance influences how individuals think about other individuals’ personality traits and probable life outcomes, such as marital happiness and career success (niesta kayser & schwarz, 2017).  scholastic competence. scholastic competence, one of the areas of selfconcept, is conceived as a domain-specific perception of the self, referring to the way students feel about themselves as learners (harter, 1999, as cited in barros & duarte, 2016). according to diperna and elliott (2000), this self-concept area is a multidimensional construct consisting of learners’ sets of skill, attitude, and behavior that contribute to success in classrooms or schools. academic or scholastic competence includes the domains of academic skills and academic enablers. academic skills refer to the basic and complex skills that are the primary focus of instruction in elementary and secondary schools. on the other hand, academic enablers are attitudes and behaviors that allow a learner to participate in and ultimately benefit from academic instruction in the classroom.  objectives of the study the study seeks to find out the prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students, the relationship between bullying and self-concept among senior high school students, and the area of self-concept influenced by bullying. methodology research design the study employed a descriptive research design that aimed to identify and describe the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students of saint dominic college of batanes, inc. and how their bullying experiences affect their self-concept. according to nassaji (2015, as cited in billote et al., 2021), the main goal of this research design is to describe a phenomenon and its characteristics. research site the study was conducted with senior high school students of saint dominic college of batanes, inc., which is located at lizardo st., brgy. kayhuvokan, basco, batanes. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research respondents the respondents were randomly selected from the grade 11 and grade 12 students under the department of basic education. a total of 32 senior high school students comprised the sample of the study. in terms of demographic features, the participants’ ages ranged from 16 to 21. there were 10 male participants whose ages ranged from 16 to 21, and 22 female participants ranged from 16 to 17. data gathering tools a four-part questionnaire was used to obtain the study’s data. this includes the consent form, the respondents’ demographic data, questionnaire on bullying, and assessing self-concept scale. consent form. the consent form is the first part of the data gathering tool. this is the front page of the questionnaire, which provides the background of the researcher and the purpose and objectives of the study. it also seeks to ask permission from the participants if they want to participate in the study. demographic data. the demographic data is the second part of the data gathering tool. this was used to gather the senior high school students’ information, such as age and gender. questionnaire on bullying. the questionnaire on bullying is a 30-item self-report that measures the bullying experiences of the respondents. the questionnaire on bullying was constructed by the researcher, and each item that was included was based primarily on the different related literature, the definition of variables and concepts, and the conceptual framework of the study. the survey items were categorized into five (5), namely, physical bullying, social bullying, verbal bullying, cyberbullying, and psychological bullying. each form of bullying contains six (6) items each. the questionnaire was content-validated by two co-raters. one has a master’s degree in psychology, and the other has a master’s degree in education. the respondents answered the items by referring to a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (never true of me) to 4 (always true of me). the pre-testing was conducted on senior high school students of saint dominic college of batanes, inc. the researcher asked permission from the school president if he could administer his data gathering tool. as approved by the school president, the researcher scheduled a specific time for the administration proper of the tool to five (5) respondents. 15 international peer reviewed journal after the pre-test, the reliability of the tool was determined. the cronbach’s alpha coefficient is equal to 0.89, which suggests that the tool is adequately reliable. assessing self-concept scale. the assessing self-concept scale, a 24-item self-report, was adopted from hadley et al. (2008). this scale is used to assess the respondents’ self-concept. items in the tool are categorized into five (5) areas: athletic competence, conduct/morality, peer acceptance, physical appearance, and scholastic competence. the questionnaire was content-validated by the same co-raters who validated the questionnaire on bullying. the respondents answered the items by referring to a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (never true of me) to 4 (always true of me). the pre-testing was conducted on senior high school students of saint dominic college of batanes, inc. the researcher asked permission from the school president if he could administer his data gathering tool. as approved by the school president, the researcher scheduled a specific time for the administration proper of the tool to five (5) respondents. after the pre-test, the reliability of the tool was determined. the cronbach’s alpha coefficient is equal to 0.77, which suggests that the tool is adequately reliable. data gathering procedure the researcher submitted a letter of intent to the college president of saint dominic college of batanes, inc. to administer the questionnaire to the senior high school students. when the request was approved, the researcher then administered the questionnaires to the respondents during the enrolment period. the respondents were randomly selected and asked if they were available to answer the researchers’ questionnaire. the researchers gave the respondents instructions, asked them for their honesty in answering the items, and assured them of the confidentiality of the data that will be collected. the respondents were allowed to take their time to complete the questionnaire while the researcher waited for them to finish. upon completion, the questionnaires were immediately retrieved and were then screened to see which were possible for use in the study. after screening, all the 32 questionnaires gathered by the researcher were deemed valid. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students to describe the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students, mean analysis was conducted. table 1 served as the basis for determining the qualitative interpretation. table 1. range of mean scores and their qualitative interpretation for the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students mean scores qualitative interpretation 3.26 – 4.00 always true of me 2.51 – 3.25 often true of me 1.76 – 2.50 seldom true of me 1.00 – 1.75 never true of me the obtained mean scores, with qualitative interpretations, for the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students are shown in table 2. table 2. descriptive statistics for the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students forms of bullying mean sd qualitative interpretation verbal 2.63 0.41 often true of me psychological 2.61 0.48 often true of me social 2.56 0.37 often true of me cyber 2.47 0.47 seldom true of me physical 2.41 0.40 seldom true of me n = 32 table 2 shows that senior high school students often experienced verbal, psychological, and social forms of bullying and seldom experienced cyber and physical forms of bullying. to determine the more prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students, anova one-way repeated measures were utilized. the anova one-way repeated measures showed that the forms of bullying experienced by senior high students significantly varied, f(4, 124) = 3.25, p< 0.05, (ηρ² = 0.0950). the partial eta-squared value of 0.0950 indicates a medium 17 international peer reviewed journal effect size whereby 9.50 % of the variability in the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students can be explained by the forms of bullying being rated. the bonferroni pairwise comparison revealed where exactly lies the differences in the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students. verbal, psychological, social, and cyber are the more prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students, and the mean scores are not significantly different from each other, which suggests that these forms of bullying are experienced to the same extent. therefore, the hypothesis that the more prevalent forms of bullying that the senior high school students experienced are cyber and verbal is rejected. the results proved that even if physical bullying is considered the most dangerous form of bullying, the repercussions of the other forms, verbal, psychological, social, and cyber, can be as harmful. verbal bullying happens when someone, often the bully, uses insulting words or demeaning language to mock, embarrass, or insult another individual. according to lee (2004) and coloroso (2008), 70 percent of reported cases with immediate impacts are accounted for by verbal bullying. while the effects of physical bullying can be more apparent at first, verbal bullying is more subtle. it works to undermine the self-image and self-esteem of an individual over long periods. hence, words alone do have power. it affects one’s self-image and may affect someone in emotional and psychological ways. this type of bullying leads to low self-esteem or depression as it aggravates problems that a victim may already be experiencing at home or in other places (cowie & jennifer, 2008). verbal bullying can be as harmful as physical bullying, if not worse. psychological bullying is another form closely related to verbal bullying. psychological bullying happens when an individual uses words or actions that cause another individual psychological harm. according to antiri (2016), students who experienced psychological bullying view their schools as less safe and less pleased with the school environment. hence, this is often linked to victimization, depression, anxiety, loneliness, social dissatisfaction, and low selfesteem among the students (cowie & jennifer, 2008; coloroso, 2008). social and cyber are other prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students. social bullying happens when individuals spread rumors and gossip, which often damages an individual’s reputation or social acceptance. consequently, cyberbullying happens when an individual uses the internet, a smartphone, or other technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target 18 jpair multidisciplinary research another individual. these two prevalent forms of bullying were supported by the national survey about student safety in secondary schools conducted by the us department of education. the findings revealed that 16 percent of all students reported being the subject of rumors, and 5 percent reported being excluded from activities on purpose within the past school year. approximately 4 percent of students reported being the targets of cyberbullying, including acts intended to damage social relationships or status. specifically, 2 percent reported that hurtful information had been posted about them online, and 9 percent reported that they had been deliberately excluded from online activities (nieman, 2011, as cited in stuart-cassel et al., 2013). when senior high school students are not allowed to express themselves freely, they begin to search for ways to learn how strong their self-concept is. some adolescents may end up treating others as lesser than themselves, and if this mentality is uncorrected, it may mold them to become perpetrators of bullying. during pubertal transitions, adolescents can have conflicting views of self-image and worth that further affect self-esteem, control, efficacy, and confidence. indoctrinations from poor peer relations, parent-child relationships, and significant others in adolescents’ relational contexts have negative consequences (ramtahal-metivier, 2009). relationship between bullying and self-concept among senior high school students to determine the relationship between bullying and self-concept among senior high school students, pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted. the pearson’s correlation coefficient showed that bullying and self-concept among senior high school students have a significant moderate negative correlation, r = -0.493, n = 32, p< 0.05. this implies that there is a substantial and inverse relationship between bullying and self-concept. hence, the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between bullying and self-concept among senior high school students is rejected. as the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students increase, their self-concept decreases. similarly, as the forms of bullying experienced by senior high school decrease, their self-concept increases. considering that senior high school students experience forms of bullying, it is important to understand the degree of its effect on their self-concept. the results of this study revealed that there is a significant moderate negative relationship between experiences of bullying and self-concept among senior high school students. this study confirmed hines’ (2011) findings where bullying and self-concept were negatively 19 international peer reviewed journal correlated. students who reported being a victim of bullying reported the lowest self-esteem. moreover, there have been many researches that have looked at the idea of self-concept with being bullied. studies (callaghan & joseph, 1995; rigby & cox, 1996; rigby & slee, 1993; stanley & arora, 1998, as cited in parada et al., 2005) have consistently found a negative correlation between being bullying and global self-concept. in general, studies that have looked at particular dimensions of self-concept have revealed that victims of bullying tend to have negative selfviews concerning the degree they perceive themselves as socially competent and capable or well accepted by their peers (callaghan & joseph, 1995; hawker & boulton, 2000). in summary, research suggests that being a victim of bullying is negatively correlated with self-concept and may lead to further declines in selfconcept. although many studies have found bullying and self-concept to have a significant negative relationship, bullying may also be seen as part of the normative development during the stage of adolescence, where the respondents are currently in. although high levels of conflict during adolescence are deleterious for adolescent development, relationships, and future adjustment, many would agree that conflict in early adolescence is a normative and temporary perturbation that is functional. according to cook and colleagues (2010), bullying is not an isolated problem unique to specific cultures but is prevalent worldwide. ramtahal-metivier (2009) explained that successful developmental transitions enable adolescents to mature psychologically, psychoanalytically, socially, and psychosocially across lifespan development. cognitive maturity helps adolescents manage emotions because they learn to think rationally, solve problems, and confront crises to balance pleasure and pain to achieve emotional satisfaction. consequently, adolescents form healthier self-perceptions and engage in positive self-evaluations that enhance self-worth and self-confidence. furthermore, senior high school students’ identity is not yet completely defined during the adolescent stage. according to erickson’s theory, this age in adolescents is called an identity crisis. teenagers go through an identity crisis as a momentary period of distress and try to experiment with changes. young people forge an organized self-structure by trying out various life possibilities with age moving towards making enduring decisions (pauriyal et al., 2010). adolescents are in constant search of who they are, and because of this, they continuously test their abilities against the people in their age group. this mentality may lead bullies to believe that being superior to others gives them a better self-image. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research meanwhile, though it is expected that victims of bullying will have a diminished view of themselves as bullying experiences increase, many factors could be affecting the stability of the victim’s self-concept. the primary socialization theory (pst) posits that deviant behavior is learned from the adolescent’s norms by the three primary sources of socialization – the family, the peers, and the school. according to pst, the more pro-social the normative environment, the less likely the adolescent will engage in deviant behavior (dulli, 2006). areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying to describe the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying, mean analysis was utilized. table 3 below served as the basis for determining the range of mean scores and their corresponding qualitative interpretations. table 3. range of mean scores and their qualitative interpretations for the areas of self-concept of senior high school students mean scores qualitative interpretation 3.26 – 4.00 always true of me 2.51 – 3.25 often true of me 1.76 – 2.50 seldom true of me 1.00 – 1.75 never true of me the obtained mean scores with qualitative interpretations for the senior high school students’ self-concept are presented in table 4. table 4. descriptive statistics for the areas of self-concept of senior high school students areas of self-concept mean sd qualitative interpretation physical appearance 2.76 0.42 often true of me conduct/morality 2.57 0.33 often true of me peer acceptance 2.55 0.39 often true of me scholastic competence 2.41 0.41 seldom true of me athletic competence 2.28 0.35 seldom true of me n = 32 it can be seen in table 4 that physical appearance, conduct/morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept often influenced by bullying among 21 international peer reviewed journal senior high school students. on the other hand, scholastic competence and athletic competence are the areas of self-concept seldom influenced by bullying among senior high school students. to determine the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students, anova one-way repeated measures were conducted. the anova one-way repeated measures showed that the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students significantly varied, f(4, 124) = 9.55, p< 0.05, (ηρ² = 0.2350). the partial eta-squared value of 0.2350 indicates a large effect size whereby 23.50 % of the variability in the areas of self-concept influenced by bullying among senior high school students can be explained by the areas of self-concept being rated. the bonferroni pairwise comparison revealed where exactly lies the differences in the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students. physical appearance, conduct/morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students. the obtained mean scores are not significantly different, which suggests that these areas of self-concept are influenced by bullying to the same extent. therefore, the hypothesis that the areas of selfconcept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students are scholastic competence, physical appearance, and peer acceptance is rejected. fournier’s (2010) study postulated that adolescence is when reputation and likability seem to have particular significance, during which concerns about low social standing in the eyes of one’s peers contribute significantly to the experience of depression. social competition in humans is largely based on attracting others’ attention and interest, admiration, and investment. therefore, humans compete for social rank and status through attraction, which is to produce a positive effect on others. this explanation supports the results of the study. since adolescents are hungry for acceptance in society, they usually behave in morally upright and conduct-driven ways, increasing their popularity and likability. by struggling to fit in the standards in society’s definitions of who is beautiful and handsome, adolescents put a huge deal of importance on their appearance. this mentality eventually leads some adolescents to think lowly of those who do not possess beauty standards. in other words, the more beautiful or handsome an individual is, the more he/she is accepted by his/her peers and society. a positive self-concept makes senior high school students accept themselves completely, fulfill their duties responsibly, and effectively deal with people. this guides them to the path they want for themselves and eventually leads them 22 jpair multidisciplinary research closer to their goals and dreams. the results of this study revealed that the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying are physical appearance, conduct/ morality, and peer acceptance. conclusions based on the results of the study, the following are the conclusions, (1) senior high school students often experienced verbal, psychological, and social forms of bullying and seldom experienced cyber and physical forms of bullying. hence, verbal, psychological, social, and cyber are the prevalent forms of bullying experienced by senior high school students; (2) bullying and self-concept have a significant moderate negative correlation, which suggests a substantial and inverse relationship between them; and (3) physical appearance, conduct/morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept often influenced by bullying among senior high school students. on the other hand, scholastic competence and athletic competence are the areas of self-concept seldom influenced by bullying among senior high school students. hence, physical appearance, conduct/ morality, and peer acceptance are the areas of self-concept more influenced by bullying among senior high school students. translational research this study implies that bullying among senior high school students is prevalent, specifically inside the classroom. hence, it is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. if ignored, it can create emotional and psychological effects on the part of the students. there is a great challenge in developing intervention programs that will help address problems on school bullying. results of this study can strengthen the strict implementation of republic act n0. 10627, otherwise known as the anti-bullying act of 2013, in secondary schools. it can guide schools on the re-orientation of the implementing rules and guidelines needed so that the stakeholders – students, parents, teachers, and communitywould be aware of their important role in addressing school bullying. it can also be used to consider having a peer counselor’s organization aid victims with their psychological distress caused by bullying. on the other hand, schools must train their teaching and non-teaching staff to properly identify students involved in bullying and teach them how to respond to such problems. it is important for teachers to address the root cause of bullying 23 international peer reviewed journal within schools and report such problems for proper guidance. schools need to design programs for both the bullied and the bullies. for other stakeholders such as parents and the community, this study could help them be more active in formulating preventive programs for school bullying. also, students should be involved in all these to make them fully aware of their rights as well as that of their peers. by letting them actively participate in the formulation of antibullying programs, they may also learn how to protect themselves from abuses of fellow students. altogether, this study can raise awareness of bullying and its effect on one’s health. this study indicates the importance of a broader perspective in understanding bullying in the school context and its consequences. literature cited al-raqqad, h. k., al-bourini, e. s., al talahin, f. m., & aranki, r. m. e. 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(2016). the influence of physical appearance and personality on the exhibition of the sexual double standard. sexuality & culture, 20(2), 255-276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9319-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9319-9 166 jpair multidisciplinary research becoming resilient and selfless: a grounded theory of service despite the threats during pandemic wilter c. friales http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5786-5345 cuevas_friales@yahoo.com notre dame of marbel university south cotabato, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract . frontliners were referred to the civil workers fighting against the pandemic, which includes the nurses, doctors, and other health workers and allied professionals; officials and staff of the inter-agency task force on emerging and infectious diseases (iatf); the uniformed personnel of the armed forces of the philippines (afp) and the philippine national police (pnp); media; various government agencies, groceries, banks, food establishments, and delivery services who ensure that basic services are provided to the people; private sectors, volunteers; and civil society organizations. the study intends to explore the experiences of these frontliners in doing their service to people despite the risks and threats to their lives. it used a grounded theory approach to generate themes, and themes emerge from the data drawn from varied situations and contexts to capture and explain the essence of meaning or experience of the frontliners. as a result, categories and sub-categories had emerged from narratives of experiences of the frontliners. becoming resilient and selfless are two larger categories that transpired after all the categories and sub-categories were combined. resilience and selflessness emerged as important attributes manifested by the frontliners in doing service despite the pandemic threats. vol. 43 · january 2021 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 journal impact: h index = 5 from publish or perish doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.737 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.737 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 167 international peer reviewed journal keywords — social sciences, frontliners, services despite the threats during the pandemic, grounded theory, philippines introduction the outbreak of novel coronavirus 2019‐ncov, which is now known as coronavirus disease (covid‐19), has affected several aspects of human lives experienced by people in different parts of the world. thus, it is declared a global emergency by the world health organization (chua et al., 2020). with the rapid increase of cases-related to covid19, several actions or measures of the international institutions, communities, local and national governments, and international bodies were initiated to slow or stop the spread of covid-19. these measures to reduce transmission of covid-19 include individual and environmental measures, detecting and isolating cases, contacttracing social and physical distancing measures including for mass gatherings, international travel measures, and vaccines and treatments (world health organization, 2020). in the philippines, enhanced/general community quarantine as a safety measure has been implemented in accordance with the presidential proclamation dated march 8, 2020, which declares a state of public health emergency throughout the country. the community quarantine limits people’s movements and access to basic services except for the frontline workers who are the civil servants and others whose work involves delivering basic services. they play an important role in ensuring the safety and protection of the general public. they were the civil workers fighting against the pandemic, including the nurses, doctors, and other health workers and allied professionals; officials and staff of the inter-agency task force on emerging and infectious diseases (iatf); the uniformed personnel of the armed forces of the philippines (afp) and the philippine national police (pnp); media; various government agencies, groceries, banks, food establishments, and delivery services who ensure that basic services are provided to the people; private sectors, volunteers; and civil society organizations (presidential communications and operations office, 2020). as the frontliners continuously fulfill their duties and responsibilities in this fight against covid-19, their lives are also at stake. there was news heard about the death of some frontliners, especially those who are in the medical field due to their exposure and contact with individuals who have been positive with the virus. while their service needs the protection of humanity, their lives are being 168 jpair multidisciplinary research threatened. thus, hoped to generate concepts and categories on the experiences and narratives of the frontliners in fulfilling their mission or their roles despite the risk of harm of the pandemic. the experiences of the frontliners in pursuing their roles despite the threats to their lives and the risk of harm can be viewed using various psychological lenses. frontliners’ constant exposure to people exposed them to a high risk of harm. the researcher came from that premise on questioning how these people continued to survive and pursue doing their job (regardless of whether it’s their prescribed job) to serve and save people in the time of the pandemic. why would people do something that benefits someone else but offers no immediate benefit to them? if it’s part of their job, some people do it beyond what is expected from them. the concept of help and service beyond self can be viewed using prosociality as the theoretical lens for this exploration. it is viewed that prosociality is fundamental to human social life (tappin and capraro, 2018). prosocial behaviors are those intended to help other people. these actions are characterized by a concern for the rights, feelings, and welfare of other people. behaviors that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for others. prosocial behavior includes a wide range of actions such as helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperating. the term itself originated during the 1970s and was introduced by social scientists as an antonym for antisocial behavior (cherry, 2020). . the concept of prosociality is even explained in the context of neuroscience, as in the study of chierchia and singer (2017). it explains that empathy enables the person to connect at an emotional level. but this might not be enough to promote prosociality. being empathic to someone does not necessarily motivate others to help. however, for stocks, lishner and decker (2008), empathically aroused individuals help those in need, even when physical escape from the need situation is easy. this evidence has been used to support the claim that empathy evokes an altruistic motive. to fill this gap, a tradition in psychology has highlighted the role of empathic concern or compassion, and developments in social neuroscience have made this proposal increasingly clear, and it has also been shown that empathy and compassion can be trained; whereby compassion training has been associated with several intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits, ranging from increases in psychological well-being and health to increased cooperation, trust, and tolerance. cherry (2020) revealed different types of prosocial behaviors are distinguished based on why they are produced. the first type is proactive, which refers to prosocial actions that serve self-benefitting purposes. reactive 169 international peer reviewed journal actions are performed in response to individual needs, and altruistic includes actions meant to help others without any expectations of personal gain. for this study, the theoretical concept on prosociality and understanding prosocial behaviors simply helps the researcher set the phenomenon under study and not dictate the emerging data in the course of analysis. from the review of literature and studies, seemingly, there had already been several studies on prosocial behaviors explaining why people continue doing service and helping others despite the possible threats to themselves. however, in this study, the phenomenon of serving despite the risk is very specific to the experiences of the frontliners during the quarantine period whose lives are at stake. this study is a grounded inquiry to generate theory from the narratives and experiences of the frontliners serving the public in times of the pandemic. objectives of the study .the study aimed to establish a theory to explain the phenomenon of service despite the threats experienced by the frontliners during the quarantine period. it examined the experiences of the frontliners in serving the community despite the threats to their health during the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic utilizing a constructivist grounded theory approach in showing the relationship of the concepts inductively derived from the data. the method used was a key informant interview with the identified participants. using theoretical sampling crucial to a grounded approach, the participants were chosen based on the criteria described in the succeeding part of this paper. generally, these are frontliners who have been serving (they are still in the service even when this study is being conducted) during the community quarantine period from may to october 2020. methodology research design .this study utilized the qualitative research design and grounded theory approach in examining the experiences of the frontliners in doing their service amidst the threats brought by the pandemic during the enhanced and general community quarantine period. grounded theory is a systematic and iterative process of research. the goal is to develop theories from the data through an inductive process of analysis to explain or understand a phenomenon. this approach calls for a continual interplay between data collection and analysis to produce a theory during the research process (bowen, 2006). in this 170 jpair multidisciplinary research study, the phenomenon of doing service amidst the threats to life caused by the pandemic is seen to be the phenomenon and explored by examining the experiences of the frontliners. key informant interview as the method in the data gathering was be employed with the use of an interview guide prepared by the researcher. with theoretical sampling as crucial to a grounded theory, participants were interviewed based on referral and criteria. research site the study was conducted within the city of koronadal south cotabato, placed under general community quarantine under the executive order (eo) no. 35. such was issued as a control measure in response to the increasing confirmed cases and spread of the deadly disease in parts of the country as being reported. koronadal is a fast developing city composed of twenty-seven 27 barangays and is the center of political, cultural, and socio-economic activities in the province of south cotabato. this city has advanced itself as the capital city of the province at the same time named as the seat or the administrative center of region xii or soccsksargen. participants .the participants in this study were identified as frontliners who served during the quarantine period. they were nurses who worked in the hospitals that accommodate covid patients, medical doctors, pnp personnel, barangay police, and civilian volunteers. these participants were identified through referrals considering the set inclusion criteria set by the researcher. the participant should have started to render service since day one of the enhanced community quarantine in the city and continued up until the general community quarantine period. for the participant from the medical field, she/he should have been exposed to a patient identified as either a person under investigation (pui) or a ‘person under monitoring’ (pum). for the participant from the armed force/pnp, he should come from the checkpoint area of the city; the participant from the barangay unit, he should have been assigned to the area where there were identified pui or pum. the participants, though they have encountered any of the cases, should be confirmed to be safe, still in service when this study is to be conducted. most importantly, they should be willing to participate in this study. instrumentation .since this study used key informant interviews to gather data, an interview guide was developed by the researcher. questions are open-ended to gather 171 international peer reviewed journal comprehensive and substantial narratives of the experiences of the participants. data gathering .a key informant interview was utilized for this study. basic protocols for the conduct of the interview were properly observed. some participants agreed to be interviewed face-to-face with social distancing as protocol. theoretical sampling is crucial to a grounded theory approach. after the interview with the participant, the data were transcribed and analyzed to see initial codes and categories from the first data. then, the researcher interviewed the second participant, analyzed the data, and compared it with the prior data. this is where the constant comparative analysis played a critical role also for a grounded approach. this process has been reiteratively repeated until it reaches the saturation point. the saturation point tells the researcher that the data that had been gathered are already sufficient and substantial enough and that no more new categories emerged in the course of analysis. data analysis .grounded theory, by nature, is an iterative process in terms of data analysis. after the first data being gathered, it was analyzed using thematic analysis to identify initial concepts. then went back to the field, gathered data, analyzed, and made a constant comparison. bowen (2006) discussed that themes generate a grounded theory, and themes emerge from the data during analysis, capturing the essence of meaning or experience drawn from varied situations and contexts.  the analysis involved examining underlying meanings of data reduced data to abstract concepts, and summarized them. it involved three stages: the first one was the initial coding which is the assigning of labels to the significant portions of the data; the second stage is focused coding which is the selection of relevant or dominant codes and determining their connections with other codes; and the third one is the theoretical coding which is the creation of connections between categories relating to data. the process was iteratively conducted until the data reached the saturation level in which no more new themes or categories emerged in the analysis. the emerging categories were theoretically coded by naming the particular relationship between them (glaser, 1978). at successive stages of the study, themes moved from low levels of abstraction to overarching themes. these overarching themes served as the foundational pillars of theoretical saturation when the additional data for such themes failed to uncover new ideas about the developing theory (bowen, 2006). 172 jpair multidisciplinary research theoretical saturation is achieved through constant comparison of incidents (indicators) in the data to elicit the properties and dimensions of each category (code). this constant comparing of incidents continues until the process yields the interchangeability of indicators, meaning that no new properties or dimensions are emerging from continued coding and comparison. it is by constantly comparing the meaning of indicators that concepts and their properties are slowly built. results and discussion after the rigor process of analyzing the data using the grounded inquiry approach, the following categories and sub-categories had emerged from narratives shared by the frontliners who served despite the threats to their lives during the quarantine period due to the pandemic. .there are two larger categories that transpired after all the categories and subcategories were combined. becoming resilient and selfless as a theory emerged as important attributes manifested by the frontliners in doing service despite the threats of the pandemic. becoming resilient .resilience is one major category that emerged from the analysis. it appears as one trait manifested by the frontliners. according to sarkar & fletcher (2013), resilience is required in response to different adversities, ranging from ongoing daily hassles to major life events. positive adaptation must be conceptually appropriate to the adversity examined in terms of the domains assessed and the stringency of criteria used. similarly, in the study of masten & barnes (2018), resilience is the capacity to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten function, survival, or future development. this definition is scalable across systems levels and across disciplines, applicable to resilience in a person, a family, a health care system, an economy, or other systems. here, resilience as a major category emerged as a trait or characteristic of the frontliners based on how they respond to the challenge of the pandemic in the context of continuing their service despite the risk or threats to their own safety. this particular trait is being demonstrated by the frontliners through the following: resilience can withstand the threats of the pandemic to their own and other people’s safety by continuing serving despite complete awareness of the threats. they are aware that exposing themselves to the people (as a nature of their job) means threats to their health, threats to other people’s health, and even conflict 173 international peer reviewed journal to their relationship with others. exposure to their work can bring threats to their health, for they may get infected and become the carrier of the virus due to their contact with clients, patients, random people they meet in the workplaces like in the hospitals for the nurses, checkpoints for the police officers and bpats and in the community visited by the volunteers. it can be a threat to other people’s health especially for their family, when they unintentionally and unknowingly get infected by the virus. resilience is being able to resist difficult situations and conflicts within the work and against the apathy of some people. as shared by the frontliners, conflict with other people becomes part of their daily routines. for example, for the medical practitioners like the nurses in particular. when they are out of work, like when they are at home or elsewhere, they feel that they are being discriminated against by being judged to be the carrier of the virus because of their work and where they work. that feeling of being judged is expressed in the following sentiments: one of the challenges that we face as frontliner is discrimination. they fear us that we are exposed to a patient positive to covid or are the carrier of the virus. (p1) second, despite all the reminders, people still roam around. they do not stay at home for their safety. as frontliner, we sacrifice our lives for them, but some people only think about what’s good for themselves. another challenge is time. our time away from family just to ensure their safety. (p3) common to the experiences among the armed personnel like the policemen and barangay patrol is the negotiation between them and people. there are times that negotiation leads to argument and sometimes fight. there goes the conflict between them and others who are apathetic (as they call them) and insistent without following the protocols. in their sharing, they understand the plight of the public, but they operate according to policy and protocols, and they need to be consistent. this is why most of the time, they are in conflict with people but remain calm and patient in dealing with them. as shared by them; ang pinaka budlay o mahirap gid kay may ma-encounter kmi nga mga tao nga wala ga-social distancing kis-a ga-rant pa, maakig pa kong sawayon mo. and also, wala ga-proper wear sang mask. (p1) 174 jpair multidisciplinary research (we have difficulty dealing with people who do not follow the safety protocols just like wearing mask and social distancing. when caught, they tend to rant and fight against the authority. (p1) damu wala ga-suksuk sang mask, kis-a pabungul-bungul ka lang kis-a mangakig pa sila, ma encounter ka pa nga ma isog nga tao so amu lang ng part nga budlay, so total kay di man abi permanente na oras ara ang pulis o visible ang pulis, so thankful kami kong may mga pulis kami na visible sa amuna na areas…(p1) (many do not follow the safety protocols just like wearing of mask. when you call their attention, they pretend not to hear the authority. some get mad when their attention is called for. police officers are not allowed at all times to pacify. we are thankful if police are visible in the area.) (p1) some people are so stubborn and don’t want to follow quarantine rules, so you have to cope-up with them. (p2) resilience is being able to adjust and being flexible. as experienced by the front liners, they sacrifice time spent with their family. most of their time are attributed to work. as shared by one of them, “aside from hindi mo na or hindi ko na masyadong ahmm… inuuwian yong tirahan hindi pa masyadong nakakausap ang pamilya hindi rin pong masyadong nagkakaroon ng contact with other people as a frontliner” (p9). (seldom i go home (to where he stays). seldom also i talk to my family. contact with other people also becomes limited) (p9). they needed to adjust to their new routines both at home and work. because of their exposure to the covid patients, some nurses were also isolated and were not allowed to meet their families momentarily. the following were shared by some of them: being a frontliner is not an easy job. you put yourself at risk, not only you but your family and loved ones. you sacrifice a lot of time being in the hospital and quarantine facility than going home to your family…(p8) 175 international peer reviewed journal we have to adjust your schedule against your usual routine and you have to do overtime. as government employees, we are required to do extra time to undertake our responsibilities as front liners on top of hour 8 (p7). to them, that’s a lot of sacrifices. police, barangay patrol, and even barangay officials need to ensure that everyone’s curfew policy is being implemented strictly. this means a lot of work in terms of monitoring and securing that the policy is observed to them. for them, the work means dedicating most of their time on duty, even at night or early morning. as a result, time for the family is sacrificed. other than the time, apprehensions on whether they are infected or not are also there. they cannot be certain and complacent because of their whereabouts too. in effect, they also needed to keep their distance from the children and family members. resilience is being able to see positivity despite the difficult situation. frontliners tried to be strategic in terms of ensuring their safety at the same time fulfilling their job. they believed that their job is their oath and a calling to serve despite the risk of threats. they believed in the power of collaboration to mitigate the problem, and they trust that what they are doing, though it’s risky, is for the people and the community. but it’s a calling... an oath, a responsibility. in the end, you may feel that you did a good job, a great job in society…(p8) the coordination between the government and hospitals also helped us to somewhat control the pandemic. we were also able to cope with these challenges with the people donating proper protective equipment for the use of the health care professionals. we need to hold hands, come together, and help each other to fight this pandemic. (p9) lastly, resilience is being able to consciously utilize a “protective mindset” to protect themselves as shared by one medical front liner, “as a frontliner, aside from the ppes that are being provided to me. a well-established knowledge of the disease transmission is the top consideration to protect myself to such. i believe that, although my enemy is microscopic and cannot be seen by my naked eyes, knowing everything about it is as important as the ppes (p7). 176 jpair multidisciplinary research this is also manifested through doing simple things like being not too complacent, ensuring cleanliness in one’s body system, ensuring self-protection while outside, such as wearing ppe’s in the workplace’, planning for safety routines every day, and being able to understand completely what the threats of the pandemic are. the following statements may substantiate more the idea about frontliners’ protective mindset: always put into mind the risk that we face every minute and every day. wag pa kampante! even you know that person you need to follow all the safety rules and protocols, be sure that you wear your mask, never entertain a patient without your ppe, wash hands as always and maintain social distancing.(p8) always build your mindset for safety first, be alert to your surroundings… plus, always follow all the protocols not only for your safeness but also for the safeness of your family. a lot of patience, prayers, and have a positive thoughts that soon this pandemic will end. (p8). magampana ko ang akon nga… (refering to duties) ang siguridad ko kag ang akon nga safety pinaagi sa pagsuot sang mga facemask, faceshield tapos gloves tapos naka atleast one meter distance kami sa mga salakyan na amon nga ginapara kag sa mga tao kay para ma avoid namon ang pagtransmit sang mga laway dira oh ano nga pwede makalaton sa isa ka tao para syempre security first kay paano kami ka ubra sa amon nga trabaho kong hindi, hindi namon ma kwan ang amon nga sarili ma secure amo lang to… (p3) (i ensure my own safety through wearing mask, face shield and gloves. we ensure one meter distance with the vehicles when we do check-up to avoid possible transmission. we are mindful about protecting ourselves first. how can we protect others when we (as frontliners) are not safe?) (p3) as a frontliner po nag set din po ako ng rules and regulation ko para ma prevent ko po ang virus nato. after work sinisigurado kop o na malinis po ang mga gamit ko nakapag disinfect ako na kapag ligo ako at lahat po ng gamit ko. (p5) 177 international peer reviewed journal (as a frontliner, i also established my own rules and regulations to avoid the virus. after work, i make sure to disinfect, clean the equipment (used) and if possible, take a bath) (p5) malinis bago pumunta or pumasok sa mga gusali or tirahan nakadisinfect po ako to ensure that…(p5) (i ensure to disinfect upon entering the building or homes.) (p5). i am clear of this kind of pandemic at hindi po ako cause ng isang pandemic (he meant that he is not a carrier) sa isang lugar or saaking pupuntahan…(p5). becoming selfless selflessness is the second major category that emerged from the analysis. it appears as one trait manifested by the frontliners. this particular trait is being demonstrated by the frontliners through the following: the frontliners show commitment to their work/duties as expressed through extending the work time when necessary; conscious effort on helping the government; clear on their duty for public safety; syempre bilang isa ka pulis nga ginatawag ang akon ang amon nga role is bantayan namon ang mga nagagawas kag nagasulod sa aton nga siyudad no lalo na sa mo na gahalin sa gawas na kong may mga quarantine pass sila dapat ma prevent naton na nga nakasulod sila sa aton nga siyudad kay para maprevent ang pagdamo o paglapta sang covid19 (p3). (as a police officer, i ensure the safety of the people coming in and out the city. i check the quarantine pass especially those who came from outside the city. this is important to contain the virus and avoid the spread of it) (p3). dapat maging strict kami na mag implement sina kay para nga masecure naton ang aton siyudad nga hindi na magdamo o maglapta pa gid ang aton nga kwan nga covid19 nga issue dire sa aton dire nga siyudad. (p3). 178 jpair multidisciplinary research (we need to be strict in implementing the policy to ensure the safety of the city, and not to allow the spread of the covid19 virus.) (p3). felt accountable for the safety of other people; extra effort on educating people about safety such as social distancing and other safety measures; extra effort on monitoring whether people are following safety rules or not, especially in the barangay level; show consistency in performing their duties; set themselves as models of others in terms of following protocols; and personal initiatives in purchasing the necessary equipment for their safety. as frontliner gina-ensure gid namon nga himuon ang tanan para lang maayos ining pandemic nga ini… (p1) as frontliners, we do our best to find solution to this problem on pandemic.) (p1) we need to ensure the safety ofour family and the people around us dahil tayo ang frontliner tayo yong nagiging ahm… vocal point ng mga tao since we are the, the material to help other people and coping of this kind of pandemic auhh (p9). (we need to ensure the safety of our family and other people. as frontliners, we become the instrument to help in coping this kind of problem) (p9) aside from that we need to take a risk as a frontliner to help other people to take them cure uhmm.. to be survivors from that auh.. mas nagkukulang na tayo ng oras sa pamilya at saibang tao natotoon tayo saating trabaho which is yon ang dapat kasi dito tayo na puntahan ito yong atin dapat gawin kasi tayo yong ahmm.. naging model sa panahon ng pandemic which we are ahmm.. aside to be frontliner.. (p9) (we take risks as frontliners to help othersto cure them and be survivors. we already sacrificed much time intended for our own family. we are much focused on our work. this is expected from us. many see us their models (many rely to them) this time of pandemic) (p9) 179 international peer reviewed journal another manifestation of their commitment is how they ensure the judicious and proper delivery of their task. the medical practitioners do a rigorous investigation and examination of facts, especially on travel histories and illness, and perform surgeries and operations as needed. the barangay patrol ensures that everyone adheres to the safety measure in the barangay. the front liners also recognize that their role is significant for people’s safety in information dissemination, encouraging people’s participation, data collection, and innovative strategies and studies on treatment based on current studies. .care as expressed by the nurses, provides extra care for the patients by ensuring that patients are comfortable. they assess them every day to prevent further complications of the disease. the nurses believe that they needed to care for themselves to continue caring for others, especially those who need most of their presence. i would describe my role as the person who ensures that patients and clients and medical and non-medical staff coming into the institution, are safe in possible exposure to someone who is a suspect/probable/confirmed patients (p7). we try to give the best treatment possible based on current studies to ensure that our patients will be comfortable and prevent further complications of the disease….. we make sure to see and assess our patients every day because, they may develop sudden complications with the course of the discease (p9). they believe that part of their significant role is orienting and educating the public on basic protocols on protecting themselves. for them, that is not only because it’s a policy. they needed to re-orient and re-educate people for their safety regardless of whether it is a policy or not. the police officers consider the fact that imposing policy can sometimes be challenging. sometimes, they need to consider some due to necessity. for them, human consideration is also important while imposing policies-it depends on the judgment of the officers. when they give consideration it is sometimes out of care also for people’s circumstances. it is difficult but sometimes, flexibility is also necessary. .care is also reflected in the way they worried about people’s apathetic behavior. based on their sharing, many people they have encountered seem not to care about what’s going on around them. they do not follow the protocols. they disregard safety measures. they do not wear protective equipment when in 180 jpair multidisciplinary research public, not cooperating with the authority that they sometimes even fight against the persons in authority. others do not tell facts about important information on their travel and whereabouts. when they encounter that, they got irritated, not really because of people’s apathy but because of people’s lack of concern for their safety, as apathy leads to getting infected. i’ve encountered people who lie in their health conditions and their travel histories. i realized that it is not the virus that we must only be scared of, but more to people who are ignorant and apathetic who don’t care for everyone and only look for themselves (p7). there are also times when the frontliners, the medical people, in particular, cannot right away perform their tasks immediately due to standard health and safety protocols or by not having standards at all “how-to.” it affects their performance, and it worries them not to respond to the needs of the patients outrightly. .passion is the drive that allows frontliners to volunteer. most of them are private individuals who are willing to render service for others. as shared, they volunteer to gather goods and cash for those in need, and they connect people to the government for help. according to the sharing of one volunteer, he even shells out his own money just to help. when asked about why they opt to do this even though it is risky, one volunteer said that it was the passion to help that drives him to do so. parang if you are blessed share your blessings so what you see what you receive. words from the bible truly inspire me a lot. share once you are blessed. you need to share, i showed my time my effort and also if you have that amount of what (p14) parang ano sir, once nakahelp ka parang you are complete, kumpleto kana i mean yung parang happiness mo… (p14) (once you share something, you feel complete) (p14) .. .patience is being shown by the frontliners to show maximum tolerance for the people, especially those who are not following the protocols. there are times that they got angry but remain calm. in the process, they have learned to handle complaints properly and nicely. they said it is something they have also 181 international peer reviewed journal learned with their engagement in a lot of cases. for them, patience is necessary to explain even many times already the safety protocols and measures for the public as experienced by the police and barangay patrol. for the nurses, performing triage as one important task is the common problem of most health workers. doing this takes a lot of patience, most especially in dealing with difficult people who are not cooperative. some people are so stubborn and don’t want to follow quarantine rules, so you have to cope-up with them (p2) . one of the biggest challenges is how to convince the public, the general public, to internalize how hard it is to fight covid-19 without their participation (p7). figure 1. the schematic presentation of the theory “becoming resilient and selfless” generated from the analysis 182 jpair multidisciplinary research this study generates theory from the experiences and narratives of the frontliners during the quarantine period as they have continued rendering their services despite the threats and risks of the pandemic. trusting the rigor and process of the constructivist grounded theory approach following the inductive and constant-comparative analysis in generating themes (categories and subcategories), the essential traits and attitudes of the front line workers towards service despite the threats of the pandemic surfaced as the central category. resilience emerged as an essential trait which captured the sub-themes revealing how they withstand the threats, resist difficult situations and conflicts, their ability to adjust and their flexibility, their positivity and their acts of exemplifying protective mind set at all times. selflessness emerged as the second central category that encapsulates their sense of commitment, care for the people, patience and passion on what they do. conclusions resilience and selflessness of the frontliners in serving despite the threats of the pandemic emerged as theory through the inductive constructivist process of grounded theory analysis. the intention of the study primarily was to explore how these frontliners as workers during the quarantine period experienced continuous and persistence service amidst the risks and threats brought by the pandemic. in the interview, the researcher began by simply asking the participants to share their stories on serving despite the risks of the pandemic to their safety and health. following the process on data analysis using the constructivist paradigm, what emerged as the core category on the initial and succeeding analyses are their traits and attitudes shown or manifested by the front line workers in dealing with people, handling stress, managing conflicts, implementing the guidelines and protocols, and even in handling their personal lives and family. thus, the theory explains how frontliners could withstand to their duties and responsibilities despite the risk. it furthers prosociality as a theory that explains human predisposition to help others especially those in need or some behaviors such as showing empathy and concern for others by helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperating. this theory may explain that in dealing with difficult situations in the context of service, essential traits on being resilient and selfless can also be a process that evolve through human’s experience with the phenomenon. as an emerging category that defines one particular trait of the front line workers, resilience captures the participants’ strength and potency 183 international peer reviewed journal to deliver and perform their tasks despite the risk of harm. it is their duty and commitment that linked to the second core category on selflessness. selflessness is the second emerging core category that captures their sense of service driven by their own commitment, patience, passion and care. translational research the theory generated in this study through the rigor of grounded theory approach is already a contribution in explaining underlying issues and phenomena related to the study. the theory may provide additional inputs on some exiting theories related to the topic explored. in terms of the practical implications, this may provide significant feedback on policy legislation about possible capabilitybuilding programs, mentoring and coaching for the involved front line workers and some initiatives that emphasize on their welfare and protection as individuals with significant functions in times of crisis just like the pandemic. literature cited bowen, g. a. (2006). grounded theory and sensitizing concepts. international journal of qualitative methods, 5(3), 12-23. retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1177%2f160940690600500304 cherry, k. (2020) personality-the big five personality dimensions. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3k0wshw chierchia, g., & singer, t. (2017). the neuroscience of compassion and empathy and their link to prosocial motivation and behavior. in  decision neuroscience  (pp. 247-257). academic press. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1177/160940690600500304 chua, m. s. q., lee, j. c. s., sulaiman, s., & tan, h. k. (2020). from the frontline of covid‐19–how prepared are we as obstetricians? a commentary. bjog: an international journal of obstetrics & gynaecology,  127(7), 786-788. retrieved form https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16192 fletcher, d., & sarkar, m. (2013). psychological resilience. european psychologist. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000124 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f160940690600500304 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f160940690600500304 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f160940690600500304 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f160940690600500304 https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16192 184 jpair multidisciplinary research glaser, b. g. (1998).  doing grounded theory: issues and discussions. sociology press. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3bdcd0f masten, a. s., & barnes, a. j. (2018). resilience in children: developmental perspectives.  children,  5(7), 98. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/ children5070098 presidential communications and operations office (2020). frontliners against covid-19 receive morale booster from president duterte. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2m4gr0p stocks, e. l., lishner, d. a., & decker, s. k. (2009). altruism or psychological escape: why does empathy promote prosocial behavior?. european journal of social psychology, 39(5), 649-665. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/ ejsp.561 tappin, b. m., & capraro, v. (2018). doing good vs. avoiding bad in prosocial choice: a refined test and extension of the morality preference hypothesis.  journal of experimental social psychology,  79, 64-70. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.06.005 sarkar, m., & fletcher, d. (2013). how should we measure psychological resilience in sport performers?.  measurement in physical education and exercise science, 17(4), 264-280. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/1 091367x.2013.805141 world health organization (2020). coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) situation report – 72. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2m2ux8l https://bit.ly/3bdcd0f https://doi.org/10.3390/children5070098 https://doi.org/10.3390/children5070098 https://bit.ly/2m4gr0p https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.561 https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.561 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.06.005 https://doi.org/10.1080/1091367x.2013.805141 https://doi.org/10.1080/1091367x.2013.805141 https://bit.ly/2m2ux8l 100 jpair multidisciplinary research facets of machismo and maternalism in fictional philippine settings sherill a. gilbas orcid no. 0000-0003-4764-1633 sheriillgilbas@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon city, philippines abstract the legal implication of infidelity in philippine law serves as an initial display of “machismo” that reflects the propensity and pervasiveness of its concept in philippine society. as a response to society’s partiality to male’s gender role, the gender role of women called “maternalism” has surfaced. this gender role identifies itself as a manifestation of society’s concept of gender roles including double-standard machismo. this paper aims to disclose how desire is depicted as justification to the existence of machismo and maternalism in selected philippine short stories like “magnificence,” “of fish, flies, dogs and women,” “the chieftest mourner,” “thirsty is the arid land,” and “wedding dance.” this paper also supports the concept of desire with pleasure principle and tripartite model of sigmund freud’s psychoanalysis. the paper’s critical point focuses on how infidelity is reflected in said stories, thereby leading to understanding its concept as manifested by characters’ gender roles. this paper also employs the descriptive literary analysis anchored on hans-georg gadamer’s hermeneutics. in addition, the paper also discusses the binary opposition of marriage and infidelity, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, along with its implication to the couple and the society in general. the paper identifies culture as an inherent factor in addressing the questions of gender roles in philippine fiction. keywords literature, machismo, maternalism, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis, literary analysis, gender roles, descriptive design, philippines vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.273 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 101 international peer reviewed journal introduction halo-halo is one of the favorite desserts of filipinos. its peculiar taste from different ingredients such as ice and milk topped with creamy leche flan and cheese and at the bottom part, the variety of flavors like sweetened beans, banana, jackfruit, colored gelatin and sugar makes it a popular choice of desserts especially during the summer. its wonderful taste could be related to filipino cliché, habang lumalalim, lalong sumasarap, which literally means the bottom gets more delicious when one eats from the top without mixing the ingredients at the bottom with those at the top. the cliché is actually a nice metaphor for life: more experiences good or bad means a better person people love to feel ecstatic, they laugh, feel betrayed, they cry, forgive, and then they learn. as one grows older, he or she acquires a conglomeration of different experiences that come with varying emotions and reactions. there are laughter, betrayal, crying, forgiveness, and learning—and this mixture of situations result in a person accepting what he or she cannot control. happiness is a choice. such is the researcher’s perception about choice-making in relation to gender roles in philippine society as reflected in the prose narratives which this paper put under study. a person’s idea about marriage and infidelity is a result of his or her exposure to culture and his or her upbringing and experiences. in the philippines, which is predominantly catholic, a man and a woman deciding to be united in matrimony are expected to vow to remain faithful to each other; therefore, when infidelity comes into the picture, that marital vow is broken. according to gonzales (1991)--quoting medina in his discussion of the filipino context of infidelity and resilience, extra marital relationships range from casual relationships to the keeping of a querida or paramour. given that most filipinos are catholic, one who strictly adheres to his or her faith actually considers marriage sacred, hence indissoluble. in philippine law, the infidelity of the husband differs from that of the wife in terminology and in punishment level: “concubinage is committed by any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling or, shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place. (article 334 of the revised penal code or rpc). adultery means the carnal relation between a married woman and a man 102 jpair multidisciplinary research who is not her husband, the latter knowing her to be married, even if the marriage be subsequently declared void (rpc article 333).” legally then, the filipino married male who keeps another woman temporarily is committing the crime of infidelity called concubinage. the philippine law favors men committing infidelity considering the difference between a conviction for adultery and concubinage. the proof of sexual intercourse is enough in adultery, but in concubinage, the prosecution must prove that sexual intercourse is under a scandalous circumstance or that the husband keeps a mistress and cohabits with her. in addition, the penalty for adultery is the same for both woman and man (prision correctional medium and maximum); in concubinage, however, the penalty for a man is lower by one degree (prision correctional minimum and medium). the concubine is given a separate penalty called destierro. it is a penalty based on the proximity or distance to the scene of the crime. indeed, the law is reflective of society’s concept of gender roles, along with the idea of doublestandard machismo. “men by nature are polygamous,”—one often hears this cliché and passé to justify. this excuse relates to what is known as “machismo” complex which encourages some filipino men to take on a highly sexual role, egged on and verified by the peer group to which he belongs. true machismo also tends to be measured in terms of the number of affairs a man maintains and the number of children he sires either with his legitimate wife or his mistress or mistresses. this paper deals with the various types of machismo and maternalism in fictional philippine settings as seen in selected short stories as materials under study. lumbera (1997) points out that english writing in the philippines began during the first decade of the 20th century; however, it was only in the 1950’s when it began to attain stature as literature. accordingly, the short story as a literary form entered philippine literature through the agency of the english writers, the group of university-based writers such as alfon, bautista, benitez, arguilla to mention a few. these writers established the short story as a literary form par excellence for filipino writers. furthermore, lumbera (1997) mentions that by virtue of the writers’ easy access to models, the writers set the pace in employing the form to tell about philippine conditions although most of the works depict the lives of the middle class. thus, philippine fiction shows a desire to create a national literature in the hopes of defining the national psyche or identity of the filipino. the table below shows the title, name and the birthplace of the authors of the materials under study. 103 international peer reviewed journal table 1. the novel and authors’ place of origin title author “magnificence “ estrella d. alfonsan nicolas, cebu city “of fish, flies, dogs and women “ timothy r. montesborongan, eastern, samar “the chieftest mourner” aida riverafordjolo, sulu “thirsty is the arid land” liwayway arceobautistamanila “the wedding dance” amador daguio laoag, ilocos, norte it can be noted that the authors came from different regions of the country. hence, although they are university-groomed writers, their genre still speak of their respective culture. the phenomenology of human action lies on the worldview of human desire, yet to be satisfied by the idea of belongingness and acceptance in the community. the recognition of one’s role is dependent of his/her culture. with that view, culture needs to be treated as an important factor in the shaping of society since it determines the expected behavior and norms of the people. this paper wants to discuss the underlying factors behind the concept of male and female societal roles in the philippines as a result of cultural disparity among regions. framework machismo is one of the most compelling reasons of infidelity as revealed in the 2001 study of dr. sandra tempongko of the up college of public health entitled “determinants of risky behavior related to sexually transmitted diseases (std’s) among population groups” as cited by lee-brago (2001). the study showed that infidelity happens during drinking sprees and through peer pressure. drinking sprees are the common form of entertainment and ‘bonding” among filipino men which presumably proves their prowess and toughness as men. what then is the counterpart role dictated by social norms for women? the above discussion of machismo signifies maternalism for filipina women. maternalism may be strengthened by another cliché, “mother knows best,” which refers to the mother’s unquestionable instinct as a mother. thus, maternalism 104 jpair multidisciplinary research refers to such precious acts of a mother to show her love, care, and affection among others, for the sake of her child/children. apparently, gender roles of both men and women are based on what the society expects them to do. one of the drives of the human person is the capability of feeling or having emotions, with the desire as one of them. desire is a sense of longing for a person or object; it also refers to a person’s hoping for a favorable outcome. desire is also manifested in human feelings like “craving” or “hankering”. when a person desires something or someone, his or her sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of an object or person; in consequence, he or she expresses the want to take actions to satisfy his or her desire. the motivational aspect of desire has long been noted by philosophers like thomas hobbes, who asserts that human desire is the fundamental motivation of all human action. desire, as a literary theme, is at the core of literary genres all around the world particularly romantic novels such as madame bovary by gustave flaubert, gone with the wind by margaret mitchell and jane eyre by charlotte bronte. these works highlight how human desire is impeded by social conventions, class, or cultural barriers. the same theme is also manifested in gothic works such as dracula by bram stoker, the phantom of the opera by gaston leroux, and the hunchback of notre dame by victor hugo. in these works, desire is mingled with fear and dread. poets like homer and edgar allan poe also deal with the themes of desire in their works. just as desire is central to the written fiction genre of romance, it is also the central theme in the contemporary filipino films and soap operas such as no other woman, secret affair, the mistress, and the recently-concluded telenovela, the legal wife. these works employ plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience by showing “crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship” in which desire is thwarted or unrequited objectives of the study this paper’s point of contention focused on how infidelity is reflected and played in the works of fiction, particularly short stories. the author sought to loosen the tie that binds the origin of the act and understand fully the concept based on the gender roles played by the characters in selected works. specifically, this paper aimed to study how the manifestation of culture and the inherent universal concept of desire are depicted as justification to the existence of 105 international peer reviewed journal machismo and maternalism in the philippines as depicted in the five selected short stories. methodology the study is qualitative in nature adopting literary criticism as means of analysis. this paper employed sigmund freud’s contention that the stuff of literature is the unresolved conflicts that give rise to any neurosis. freud says of neurosis as the internal battle between the unconscious and the subconscious mind. thus, he believes that a work of literature is the external expression of the author’s unconscious mind. accordingly, some philippine short stories in english such as those used in this paper manifest freud’s concept of literature. another important consideration for this study was hans–georg gadamer’s viewpoint of hermeneutics. gadamer believes that it is always important to consider descriptive phenomenology, in which he posits that understanding is related to the readers’ encounter and the participation in a cultural tradition. skinner (1985) explains further that, for gadamer, understanding is not a matter of forgetting our own horizon of meanings but it is of merging or fusing our own horizon with the alien text or the alien society. the analysis employed on the materials used in this study was both descriptive and contextual. materials used were selected philippine short stories in english which identify varying forms of machismo and maternalism. the authors’ background as well as the development of philippine literature in english was also considered. results and discussion analysis of the stories used in this paper revealed that the facets of machismo and maternalism can be traced back to desire. in estrella alfon’s magnificence, maternalism is seen in the mother of the two children. she is alert that she catches what vicente is about to do to the innocent little girl. had the mother not intervened, vicente could have molested the little girl. vicente’s act exemplifies an extreme type of machismo. freud’s tripartite model of the psyche has three parts such as id, ego and the superego. what freud calls as pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. the id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex and aggressive impulses, and demands immediate satisfaction. as for vicente, his id 106 jpair multidisciplinary research is obviously demonstrated when he is able to consume his desire for a girl of seven by kissing her during the tutorials; in addition, vicente’s id becomes strong towards the end of the story when he desires to do the molestation even more thinking that no one is around. he uses the pencils to lure the girl into his lap because he knows that she is fond of them. children want to have pencils for their immediate satisfaction and be the envy of their peers. the ego, which is the rational, logical, waking part of the mind, operates in harmony with the reality principle. its main concern then is an individual’s safety; the ego allows some of the id’s desire to be expressed. the mother’s superego shields her daughter from the pedophiled instincts that she thinks drives vicente. phallic symbols refer to the male generative powers. in magnificence, the phallic symbol used is the pencil. children love pencils, and they are crazy about them, so vicente uses this object to seek pleasure with the girl. the two children use their possession of these pencils to brag to other kids at school. the colors of the pencil that vicente gives to the children also have significance in the story. the girl receives red and yellow small pencils and a white jumbo–sized one. red represents power/passion and sexuality, yellow means intelligence and consciousness, and white, being the biggest among the three, means innocence and purity/cleanliness. this is symbolic of the little girl, innocent and yet uncorrupted. she does not have dirty thoughts inside her mind so she does not show any consternated look as vicente gains pleasure from “tutoring” her. the little girl does not see malice or lust in vicente’s overtures, given her state of innocence. when the mother finds out what vicente has been doing to her daughter, she simply asks her to leave. after showing her “magnificent” behavior towards vicente, hence driving the man away into the darkness, the mother asks her daughter to take a bath quickly. reminded of what she has seen, she presides over the bath that the girl takes, scrubs her with soap, and washes her with the hope of preserving the little girl’s purity. in addition, she clothes the girl with new clothes and burns the old ones the girl was wearing before she discovered vicente’s despicable act. this bath that the mother gives her daughter symbolizes cleanliness and purity, to wash away the “stains” of vicente’s corrupting desire. in timothy montes’, of flies, fish, dogs and women, the narrator, maria has no choice but to sell fish to accomplish her role as mother and, to feed her five children amid the miserable condition of being a battered wife. her maternalism is obvious in the desire to support the family and make up for the husband’s irresponsibility so as to be able to provide for the family’s needs. maternalism is 107 international peer reviewed journal also shown by another woman in the story. angelica has no chance to help maria from the dogs because she holds her baby in her arms. maria advises angelica to be brave for the sake of her baby and in the same way she regains her wits not to allow her husband to beat her again. the said situation adheres to the idea of carl jung which states that people from all over the world respond to certain situations because lying deep in their collective unconscious are the racial memories of humanity’s past. the husband, despite being an irresponsible head of the family asserts his machismo when he beats up his wife after getting intoxicated and losing his money on tuba and cockfighting. to cover his irresponsibility, the husband deliberately shows machismo through his barbaric and savage actions, beating up his wife so he could let people see that though the wife supports the family he still has the power over her. in the chieftest mourner, the legal wife shows a different level and form of maternalism. in the absence of her own child, sophia demonstrates protective instincts when she never allows the niece to “taste her uncle’s lemonade.” she even washes the inside of her niece’s mouth with soap and water and calls upon at least a dozen of the saints to witness the act. there is an obvious purpose of hiding “grown-up” stories from the niece when the conversation between sophia and the narrator’s mother suddenly switches to spanish. sophia might have considered that exposure of ideas about the other woman named esa, is not healthy for an eleven-year-old girl. the machismo on the part of the poet may be seen in his action when he is tied to a chair with a strong rope after going home drunk. he walks out of the door, leaves his wife, never comes back, and eventually finds contentment in the arms of another woman. in his study about “the unfaithful husbandwhat made him do it,” torento (1987) summarizes some of the cases of male infidelity from a marriage-and-family center and records of legal separation cases. some of the reasons are the perception of lack of care and concern by the wife, pressures about providing for a domineering wife, all true in the case of the poet in the story. in thirsty is the arid land, the daughter narrates how her mother suppresses her emotions. the aspect of maternalism in contrast with the machismo is presented by the mother when she does not express her pain and bitterness in front of her daughter even if the daughter knows the truth. this action intends to maintain the reputation of the father in the daughter’s eyes. the father exhibits machismo by being a good provider for the family and hides the proof of his 108 jpair multidisciplinary research affair in the “pink box” which both the daughter and the mother eventually and inadvertently discover. the story is set in a milieu in which filipinos’ culture was focused on the family orientation with stereotypical gender roles of the parents and the child/children. along with the cultural tradition principle, awiyao, in the wedding dance, has to leave lumnay and must marry madulinay because of his desire to have a child. he decides to do so after receiving ridicule and pressure from the other males of their tribe since he has not had a child with lumnay after seven harvests. in one of awiyao’s lines to lumnay, he says, “you know that life is not worth living without a child.” that statement proves alano’s (1995) report that five of the six highest probable reasons for a husband’s infidelity are related to marital and family dissatisfaction. these include lousy marriage, neglect of kids/ household duties, neglect of the spouse, and not having children. considering wedding dance, the fifth reason justifies awiyao’s decision to leave lumnay and attempt to marry madulinay instead. when lumnay lets go of awiyao, she gets to show her selfless love towards her husband, which is her maternalism. from the study of gonzales (1991), the sources of resilience for the filipino wife are varied: faith, prayer, religion, friends and family, professional counsellors and psychiatrists, priests, education, work and personal care. in the case of lumnay her maternalism is the love she definitely expresses for husband. maternalism can be applied to anyone referring to the quality of having or showing the tenderness, warmth, and affection towards others. the characters in the works of fiction under study who exhibit respective gender roles are representation of male and female in the society where they belong. this paper utilized primarily the idea of freud focusing on his concept of literature as the expression of author’s unconscious mind. likewise, the analysis also limits the hermeneutics of gadamer to the understanding of the text emphasizing that the reader’s understanding is basically rooted from his/ her cultural background. this paper does not involve other types of hermeneutics such as of heidegger and other psychoanalytic issues of jung. conclusions machismo and maternalism though they vary depending on given situations, are simply the result of one’s adherence to social norms which a man or a woman does not desire to change for fear of being criticized. there are different forms and range of reasons that a person may provide to justify his/her compliance with 109 international peer reviewed journal these norms. such occurrences may be understood by another individual if he or she takes into account his or her personal perspective of life. faithfulness and infidelity are the same with the different perception of human senses; accordingly, gender roles are subsequent to the culture and origin of people. as manifested in the short stories considered for this paper, desire can be viewed as the root of gender roles. in a similar way, filipinos’ concept of gender roles is rooted from their cultural and religious upbringing tainted by the society’s expectations. recommendations the researcher recommends that in reading, analyzing or teaching literature, one must consider the background of the text, such as the authors’ background, time of writing and the eminent theme of the period unless otherwise employing the new criticism type, or the “isolationist.” in the case of philippine literature, one must consider that it can be understood and interpreted in the context of history. the two major colonial aggressions (spanish and american) set as strands that influence regional and ethnic differences but somehow comprise the common theme of philippine literature. furthermore, it is suggested to consider the use of four reality frames in teaching literature such as; literature as history, art, aesthetic and script. with those, understanding of the text shall be in accordance to gadamer’s “fusion of horizon.” literature cited alano, m. 1995 “infidelity: the dynamics of the querida system in the philippines. a dissertation, faculty of the graduate school. ateneo de manila university. retrieved on january 25, 2013 from http://goo.gl/l7f2e4 bressler, c. e. 1999 “literary criticism, an introduction to theory and practice second edition: prentice hall inc. new jersey, usa. retrieved on january 23, 2013 from http://goo.gl/3ayflm gonzales, t. 1991 “house bill no. 3502 “revised penal code.” retrieved on january 24, 2013 from http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/ 110 jpair multidisciplinary research lee-brago, p. 2001 why pinoy (filipino) men cheat their wives. retrieved on january 23, 2013 from http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200104029927193. htm lumbera, b. 1997 revaluation 1997 essays on philippine literature, cinema and popular culture, ust, manila, philippines. skinner, q. (ed.). 1990 the return of grand theory in the human sciences. cambridge university press. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research exploring students’ level of conceptual understanding on periodicity dexter c. necor https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5592-388x dextercnecor@gmail.com sultan kudarat state university (sksu) access, ejc montilla, tacurong city, sultan kudarat, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 90% • plagiarism: 0% abstract nowadays, many scientific studies motivated on addressing the conceptual understanding particularly in chemistry that soon may affect students’ academic performance. this study covered the level of conceptual understanding of the trends of the periodic table of elements and the type of conceptual change before and after the exposure of interventions. the qualitative and quantitative research method was used in the study. respondents were grade 10 high school students. frequency, percentage, and t-test were the statistical tools applied to answer specific questions. results revealed that most students have an ambiguous conceptual understanding. the trends in ionization energy (i.e.) noted the highest misconception statements followed by the trends in atomic radius (a.r.). the trends in electron affinity (e.a.); formation of cation and anion (i.r.); and electronegativity (e.) were also least understood by the students. after interventions, there is a marked increase in students who progressed from misconception (mu) to full understanding (fu). this is prevalent on the trends in atomic radius, followed by the trends in electron affinity and the formation of ions. the use of varied activities such as visualizing and multimedia tools; smallvol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.609 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 137 international peer reviewed journal group discussions; and concept mapping have a vital positive outcome in their progression. ergo, science teachers should vary their teaching strategies to address and correct students’ conceptual obstacles in learning chemistry concepts. keywords — chemical education; conceptual understanding; descriptive; remedial activities; philippines introduction general chemistry is commonly perceived to be more difficult than other subjects. this subject has a very specialized vocabulary, and most of the concepts are abstract. in spite of the best efforts of chemistry teachers, students do not easily comprehend the fundamental concepts covered in the class. some smart students can give the right answer. however, these students revealed a lack of understanding and failed to explain the underlying concepts fully. in the study conducted by kind (2004) and horton (2004), it was stated that students often use algorithms and memorized equations to solve numerical problems without completely understanding the underlying concepts. lythcott (1990) also reported that some high school students who were able to balance an equation could not even draw a diagram in the molecular level. in the study of peterson, treagust, and garnett (1989) to secondary school students, about 74% were unable to answer underlying concepts about electron repulsion in valence shells. schmidt (1997) also added that some students could do well on standardized tests using algorithms and formulae without understanding the concepts that underlie the problems they have solved. it is then an effort of a teacher to offer helpful examples and information leading to algorithmic and conceptual understanding. blosser (1987) cited that teachers should provide more structured opportunities for students to talk through ideas at length, both in small and whole class discussions, begin with known and familiar examples and introduce some science topics into the curriculum at earlier ages. the conceptual change is the creation and alteration of mental representations that correspond to words. chi, michelene & roscoe (2002) believed that conceptual change is often related to restructuring, revision or accommodation of new conceptions to the learners’ existing systems of beliefs and knowledge. thagard (1992) suggested that conceptual change is produced by mental processes that create and alter mental representations. the conceptual change will also develop children’s thinking in the field of science and even mathematics; influences how students learn new scientific knowledge; play an 138 jpair multidisciplinary research essential role in subsequent learning and become a hindrance in acquiring the correct body of knowledge (özmen & kennan, 2007). özmen and kennan further believed that conceptual change could promote students’ interest, curiosity, and understanding. it is therefore imperative for the teacher to know what conceptions that student brings to class. a diagnostic test could be one way to identify the preconceptions of the students. this should be administered prior to the teaching of a unit to find out students’ ideas so that lessons could be planned to address these preconceptions. various teaching strategies were recommended to address these preconceptions of the students to dissatisfy their existing conceptions (locaylocay, van den berg, & magno, 2005). moreover, locaylocay et al., (2005) suggested that the most effective strategies in promoting conceptual change are the use of discrepant and the use of analogies in learning chemical equilibrium. she suggested giving more examples and extensive followup to convert anomalies into lasting conceptual change. such follow-ups could include small and large group discussions and conceptual exercises. several researchers documented misconceptions about many topics in chemistry. these include misconceptions in stoichiometry, balancing chemical reactions, atoms and molecules, electrochemistry, thermodynamics, atomic structure, and chemical bond, and chemical equilibrium have been documented (horton, 2004 & kind 2004). however, horton (2004) suggested that alternative conceptions concerning the periodic table of elements have to be evaluated. the periodic table of elements (or periodicity) is considered to be one of the important topics in basic chemistry to explain the chemical and physical properties of elements across a period and down a group. elements’ physical and chemical properties depend on its group or family due to its atomic radius, ionic radius; ionization energy; electron affinity; and electronegativity. students often think of the trends as only an increase and decrease across the period and down a group except they fail to explain the underlying concepts of the trends. hence, this study was conducted to investigate conceptual understanding and to address their preconceptions. 139 international peer reviewed journal framework the diagram above shows the conceptual framework of the study. the top left rectangle shows the students’ preconceptions based on the different strategies and learning experiences held by the students in dealing with science ideas, particularly chemistry. after learning science concepts, students may now apply the concepts learned, and the different misconceptions may occur (as shown in the top right rectangle). misconceptions will then be identified as to the basis of designing remedial activities to lessen or to correct misconceptions prior to discussing the succeeding topics. objectives of the study this study aimed to identify the level of conceptual understanding on the trends of the periodic table of elements along the following topics: atomic radius, ionic radius, ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity among grade 10 high school students. it also intended to design various remedial activities to address the misconceptions of the students. lastly, to classify the type of progression based on the results from pretest to posttest of students into unchanged conception and change for the better. methodology this study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. the qualitative part involved the analysis of the students’ explanations of the chemistry conceptual understanding test (ccut). the quantitative part was data collected from the pretest and posttest scores on the level of conceptual understanding ability rubric (lcuar). 140 jpair multidisciplinary research the ccut is composed of 15-item with four options and explanation. the 49, one-intact grade 10 students were chosen as respondents for the research. the ccut was given immediately after their chemistry teacher finished discussing the topics. consequently, students’ level of conceptual understanding was transcribed and analyzed as full understanding (fu); partial understanding (pu); misconception understanding (mu); and no understanding (nu). after which, the respondents were then exposed to different remedial activities prepared by the researcher. these include computer-generated activities; cooperative learning; concept mapping; and games. after the respondents took the ccut, students’ responses were carefully transcribed and analyzed to determine the level of concept evolution of the students from the pre-test to post-test results. an inter-rater also rated scores. percentage (%) of students’ level of understanding was used to determine students’ concept progression after interventions. research instruments a) chemistry conceptual understanding test (ccut). the instrument developed in the study is the chemistry conceptual understanding test (ccut). the score of a student in this test was interpreted as his/her conceptual understanding. the topics included in the test were: atomic radius (ar); ionic radius (ir); ionization energy (ie); electron affinity (ea); and electronegativity (e). these topics were chosen based on the content or coverage outlined in the basic education curriculum for chemistry. this test was used as pretest and posttest. the ccut is composed of fifteen (15) multiple-choice items with four options. each question has an open-ended portion for the students to write their explanations for their choice. the researcher prepared the test. the questions were obtained from existing test question banks. the test was validated by the chemistry education experts prior to administering the test to the respondents. a sample item test is shown in table 1. 141 international peer reviewed journal table 1. a sample question in the ccut. sodium (na) and aluminum (al) atom are both metals. which do you think is more reactive when placed in water (h2o)? a. sodium is more reactive than aluminum when added to water. b. sodium is less reactive than aluminum when added to water. c. both elements do not react when added to water. d. the same reactivity will happen to sodium and aluminum when added to water. please explain your choice. b) level of conceptual understanding ability rubric (lcuar) in scoring the ccut, a level of conceptual understanding ability rubric (lcuar) was developed and used. this scoring rubric probed the conceptual understanding stated by the students. a lcuar used in the study is presented in table 2. table 2. the level of conceptual understanding and criteria of scoring. level of understanding/(score) criteria for scoring full understanding (fu) 2points • responses include all components of the validated responses, both the correct choice of option and explanation partial understanding (pu) 1-point • responses include at least one of the components of the validated response but not all the components. • correct option, wrong explanation or wrong option, correct explanation • correct option but an incomplete explanation. misconception understanding (mu) 0-point • responses include illogical choice and incorrect explanation no understanding (nu) 0-point • non-sense response • unclear response • no response/blank during these analyses, the levels of conceptual understanding were identified using a point system. as a guide, acceptable scientific explanations were written for each question. students’ response was categorized as full understanding (fu); partial understanding (pu); misconception understanding (mu); and no understanding (nu). according to nakiboglu (2003), this scheme is appropriate in which the ideas of students’ response to each question was identified first: 142 jpair multidisciplinary research some response might contain one or more ideas linked together, but extended lists of ideas in response to each question was organized as much as possible to attain mutually exclusive categories. the degree of understanding of the students was rated by the other rater. after students’ responses had been categorized, frequency distributions were calculated based on percentage (%) responses. moreover, the post-test results were then compared to the pre-test results, and the level of conceptual understanding and frequencies of responses classified were then analyzed as shown in table 3. to ensure reliable and valid analysis, each answer was independently checked by the researcher and another chemistry teacher. c) students’ progression the students’ progression was also transcribed and analyzed after taking the posttest. their progressions were transcribed based on frequency distributions (percentage, %) responses as shown in table 3. table 3. criteria in classifying students’ progression before and after interventions category of conceptual change students’ progression (%) unchanged conception remained in any of the level of understanding as: fu, pu, mu, nu changed conception change which occurred from: a. nu to fu; nu to pu; nu to mu b. mu to fu; mu to pu c. pu to fu the results of the pretest and posttest (ccut) on periodicity was subsequently analyzed using the hake factor test (normalized gain). it was used to measure the change in various interventions in promoting conceptual understanding in learning periodicity. descriptive equivalents and verbal description for hake factor test results are presented in table 4. table 4. descriptive equivalents for the hake factor test results formula scale range verbal description 0.71-1.00 high gain 0.31-0.70 medium gain 0.10-0.30 low gain 143 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion table 5. level of conceptual understanding on periodicity on pretest/posttest results concept full understanding partial understanding misconception understanding no understanding pretest posttest pretest posttest pretest posttest pretest posttest f % f % f % f % f % f % f % f % atomic radius 20 41 27 55 18 37 20 41 10 21 2 4 1 2 0 0 ionic radius 11 23 41 84 16 33 7 14 16 33 1 2 6 12 0 0 ionization energy 2 4 7 14 16 33 36 73 27 55 6 12 4 8 1 3 electron affinity 19 39 15 31 7 14 27 55 20 41 5 10 3 6 1 3 electronegativity 1 2 32 65 24 49 16 33 23 47 1 2 2 2 0 0 during pretest, about 21% of the students have many misconception statements in the trends of atomic radius across the period and down a group. about 33%, 41%, and 47% of the students have many misconception statements in the trends in ionic radius, electron affinity, and electronegativity, respectively. consequently, the trends in ionization energy garnered the highest misconception statements of about 55%. it is then imperative for the teacher to know what are the conceptions that student could bring to the class using a diagnostic test to address these preconceptions. after interventions, there was a high progression from misconception to partial and even to full understanding. this is prevalent in electronegativity, ionic radius, electronegativity, and atomic radius. however, about 73% of the students still have a partial understanding of the trends in ionization energy. some of the common misconception statements were shown in table 6 and table 7. the misconception statements are mostly shared ideas or communicated by many students after they have studied topics in chemistry (schmidt, 1997). schmidt further suggested that standardized tests and multiple-choice formats should be replaced. subsequently, the use of an openended question is highly recommended to know the conceptual understanding held by the students. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. misconception statements about the trends in atomic radius. concept misconception statements (21%) the atomic radius is increasing down in group ia because… • the electronegativity is increasing • the atomic weight of the atom is increasing • the elements are becoming less metallic • the elements have lower energy level • the number of protons decreases • is decreasing so the number of protons (+) cannot attract the electron • the greater is the atomic energy; the lower is the energy level • arranged in the quantity of atomic radius. • the bigger the atomic radius, the easier the atom to attract. • atomic radius decreases down a group. • effective nuclear charge increases because of the more metallic the element, the higher the nuclear charge. • the lesser the energy its atomic weight also increases. • down a group, valence electron increases. the atomic radius is decreasing from left to right, across the period because… • the atomic weight is increasing. • cl has the small atomic radius because of the low energy level. • cl has a high atomic number • decreasing nuclear charge. table 6 shows lists of misconceptions by the students about the trends in atomic radius across the period and down a group. it revealed that many students hold misconception statements. student no. 17 showing misconception statement. student no. 17 stated that electronegativity of the elements is increasing from top to bottom (within a group or family) is adjudged as a misconception. chang (2010) explain that electronegativity is the ability of an atom to attract to itself while atomic radius is the effective nuclear charge attraction of the atom to its nucleus. thus, electronegativity has no relation to the sizes of atoms. student no.33 also believed that as the elements go down, it is less metallic. 145 international peer reviewed journal student no. 33 showing misconception statement. the metallic property of the elements, from top to bottom is increasing as its atomic sizes are increasing due to the additional principal quantum number. thus, the student no. 33 answer adjudged as misconception statement. periodic trends are evident across the period. consider the second-period. it’s effective nuclear charge increases from left to right, the added valence electron at each step is more strongly attracted by the nucleus than the one before. therefore, we expect that the atomic radius decreases from li to ne because of additional valence electron/s (chang, 2010). thus, the statement of student no. 11 found to be a misconception because atomic weight does not correlate with its atomic size though atomic weights are increasing across the period. student no. 11 showing misconception statement. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. misconception statements in ionic radius concept misconception statements (33%) biggest and smallest ions (al3+, mg2+, n3-, o2-)… • exponential, the bigger its ionic radius • the smaller the electrons, the bigger it’s ionic radius. the bigger the electron, the smaller it’s ionic radius. • al3+ has the biggest ionic radius than n3-. • the bigger the atomic radius, the bigger it’s ionic radius. the smaller the atomic radius, the smaller it’s ionic radius. • al3+ increases its ionic radius while n3decreases its ionic radius. • n3easily transfers its electron. • n3receives ionic radius while al3+ gives ionic radius. • the greater the exponential, the smaller, the lower the • al3+ is the biggest ion while n3is the smallest ion. formation of cation and anion from a neutral atom. • anion has no change in ionic radius while cation is becoming bigger. • cation has the biggest ionic radius than anion. • cation has no change • cation has big energy than anion. • the atom that receives electron, the bigger it is because it needs more space. • anion has a smaller ionic radius because of the charges that were used. • an anion is bigger in the gas phase. • the positive charge needs more energy. • an anion has a smaller ionic radius than cation. • anion is electronegativity. • cation releases more electron affinity. • an anion is an ionic radius while cation is an electronegativity. • the size of ionic radius changes because it is a non-metallic. chang (2010) explains that ionic radius is the radius of a cation or an anion. when an atom forms an anion, its size (or radius) increases while forming cations, its size (or radius) decreases. brown et al., (2012) further explain that ionic radius decreases with increasing nuclear charge as the electrons are more strongly attracted to the nucleus. thus, the cation is smaller than its atom. chang (2010) likewise explain the formation of the anion is due to the nuclear charge. he suggested that the nuclear charge remains the same, but the repulsion resulting from the additional electron(s) enlarges the domain of the electron cloud. student no.4 however, believed in a different way. this misconception may be attributed to mathematics. if the charge is positive, the higher its value while the lower the charge, say negative charge, the lower it’s value. as figured-out in the exponential form. 147 international peer reviewed journal student no. 04 showing misconception statement as a general rule, a tri-positive ion (ions that bear three positive charges) has a smaller ionic radius, and tri-negative (ions that bear three negative charges) has a bigger ionic radius. table 8. classification of students’ progression before and after interventions topics/categories atomic radius ionic radius ionization energy electron affinity electronegativity f % f % f % f % f % unchanged conception remained in any of the level of understanding as: fu, pu, mu, nu 5 11 2 4 11 23 4 8 3 7 changes for the better change which occurred from: nu to fu; nu to pu; nu to mu; mu to fu; mu to pu; or pu to fu 44 89 47 96 38 77 45 92 46 93 total 49 100 49 100 49 100 49 100 49 100 results showed (table 8) that there are still students who maintained the same conceptual understanding from pretest to posttest. about 23% of the students are resistant to the same concepts after interventions. this resistant is very evident on the trends in i. e. the same is through with the trends in a.r.; i.r.; e.a.; and e. on the other hand, there is still high increase in the change of conceptions after interventions. in the study conducted by u. turgut, gürbüz, and g. turgut (2011), some misconceptions that are resistant to change may be caused by the country’s culture, language, and teaching strategies. punzalan (2007) believed that these misconceptions may deeply penetrate the students’ minds and can resist change. both kind (2004) and horton (2004) further agreed that in spite of intensive teaching in chemistry, many misconceptions are still occurring during 148 jpair multidisciplinary research assessments. they further suggested that language and teaching activities should be given into consideration. finally, they pointed out that the students generalize the ideas fairly quickly and teaching has to be supported with different activities. hake factor test results in table 9 shows that, i.e. and e. both in high gain, followed by a.r. and, i.e. both in the medium gain and e.a. in low gain. take note that in e.a., though it has low gain, it means that some students already have understood this topic before administering the ccut. to determine if it is statistically significant, a t-test was performed based on the pretest/posttest mean scores. it shows that the t-value is -5.61521 at alpha=.05. it revealed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest. it signifies that the interventions are successful in enhancing the conceptual understanding of the students in learning the trends of the periodic table of elements (take note that the students already finished the discussion of the periodicity before administering the pretest). moreover, scores of inter-rater and the researcher were also statistically analyzed using t-test. it shows that there is no significant difference at alpha=.05 with t-value=1.61559. table 9. descriptive equivalents for the hake factor test results in the pretest/ posttest topics mean verbal description atomic radius, a.r. 0.54 medium gain ionic radius, i.e. 0.84 high gain ionization energy, i.e. 0.46 medium gain electro affinity, e.a. 0.25 low gain electronegativity, e. 0.61 high gain myers, oldham, and tocci, (2000) cited that the use of technology would deepen students’ understanding to promote optimal insights into the cognitive level of the students. using appropriate and relevant materials along with the latest and varied teaching strategies gives the students the solid grounding in the basic chemical principles and skills. they also cited that instructional goals should develop greater conceptual understanding when students actively participate in the learning process; meaningful learning in the context of their lives and an environment, and encourages reflection and comparisons with the teachers and peers. these strategies would help the students to focus on mastery of chemistry content, and experience scientific inquiry. 149 international peer reviewed journal as shown in tables 10, 11 and 12 are misconception statements held by the students about the trends in ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity. table 10. misconception statements in ionization energy which element (aluminum and sodium) is more reactive when added to water? • na is a very soft silvery-white metal; al is more metallic than na. • na is very soft and 80% present in water. • al is more reactive in the air while na is a liquid metal and it is used as a heat exchanger in a nuclear reactor. • metals are not water conductors. • na is used to preserve vegetables. na is a constituent in plant tissues. • na is less reactive than al because al has a greater melting point of 66°c than na 97.81°c. • na has the highest melting point than al. al has less melting point than na. • al easily accepts heat than na. al is more reactive than na. • na attracts water. na is a pure metal while al is a non-metal. • na has a lower atomic radius. • na’s oxidation state is smaller than al. • na has greater ionization energy than al. • na and al do not react to the water because they are both metals and metals are hard and non-reactive. • na and al have the same reactivity when added to water. • na easily melts than al. which element (beryllium, carbon, lithium) has the highest 2nd ionization energy (i 2 )? • c has the highest i 2 because the larger the electronegativity, the higher its ionization energy. • li belongs to the noble gas, and it has a big atomic radius • be has the highest i 2 • li is nearer to the noble gas • the same i 2 because all elements have 2 valence an electron • c has the highest i 2 because it has high atomic weight and valence. • c has the highest i 2 because it is metalloids and have a high valence electron • li has the highest i 2 because of the small an electron. • c has the highest i 2 because c is more negative. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research table 11. misconception statements in electron affinity. why oxygen readily exist an anion as to compare to selenium? • oxygen has high bigger atomic radius than selenium • oxygen is used in the chemical industry while selenium is used in electric cells, photocopiers, and semiconductors. • oxygen has a negative charge and has high valence electron than selenium • oxygen exists as anion because it tends to release an electron why is metallic property always associated with low electron affinity? • metals have more electrons that attract electron. • metals have a weak attraction and unstable. • metals easily accept electron. • the more metallic, the more electron affinity is lost. • metals have low electron affinity because metals are solid. • electron affinity is a negative charge and metals are positive charge because metals are solids. • metals have low electron affinity because metals are good conductors. • metals have low electron affinity because metals have high ionization energies. • metals have low electron affinity because metals have a small number of electrons. • metals have low electron affinity because metals lost some atoms. • metals have high electron affinity because metals have low energy level. table 12. misconception statements in electronegativity. which is more electronegative, fluorine or nitrogen? • fluorine has more tendencies to release an electron. • fluorine absorbs more energy. • fluorine has high atomic weight than nitrogen. • fluorine has high atomic size. • fluorine has high atomic number than nitrogen. • halogen is a non-reactive element. • fluorine and nitrogen have the same ionization energy. which pair of elements (ca, f, n, na) has the highest and lowest electronegativity? • fluorine has the highest electronegativity value because it has the highest atomic weight. • fluorine has the highest electronegativity value because it has the highest nuclear charge. • fluorine is a nonmetal while sodium is a metal. nonmetals are not reactive while metals are reactive. 151 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the students’ level of conceptual understanding in the trends of the periodic table of elements was mostly in misconception and partial understanding. students’ preconceptions about the trends in the periodic table of elements were abstract. they believed that the trend is simply an increase and decrease across the period and down a group. nevertheless, they fail to explain the underlying scientific concepts. the remedial activities were found to aid in the promotion of their conceptual change. the progress of most students’ level of conceptual understanding moved from misconception to partial understanding or even to full understanding. however, there are still resistant to their concepts as adjudged as misconception statements. conceptual change is produced by mental processes that create and alter mental representations. this affects thinking influences how students learn, play an essential role in subsequent learning, and may a hindrance to acquiring an appropriate body of knowledge in the scientific world. it is, therefore, imperative for the teacher to know what conceptions that student brings to class. through this, a teacher should look into different remedial activities to enhance the conceptual understanding. in this study, a graphical representation, concept mapping, cooperative learning, games and online videos are remedial activities imparted which in turn an effective in conceptual understanding. translational research this study may help curriculum developers and course program writers in planning courses and sequencing topics. from the given misconception statements, it is concluded that most students do not understand the underlying concepts in the trends in the periodic table. most of them only rely on the trends as decrease or increase across the period and down a group. however, they fail to explain the underlying concepts. hence, these identified preconceptions may help in the diagnosis and remediation activities. the remedial learning activities developed in this study could be useful to high school and college chemistry instructors and their students. it will also lead students to understand other concepts such as chemical bonding; intermolecular forces; physical properties of solutions; chemical reactions; activity series; and redox reaction. this will also help chemistry teachers in improving various activities. finally, the developed test was very useful to the researchers who plan for further investigation on the students’ misconceptions 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https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=thagard%2c+p.+%281992%29.+conceptual+revolutions.+princeton%3a+princeton+university+press&btng=#d=gs_cit&p=&u=%2fscholar%3fq%3dinfo%3auifq4kcyr8uj%3ascholar.google.com%2f%26output%3dcite%26scirp%3d2%26hl%3den https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=thagard%2c+p.+%281992%29.+conceptual+revolutions.+princeton%3a+princeton+university+press&btng=#d=gs_cit&p=&u=%2fscholar%3fq%3dinfo%3auifq4kcyr8uj%3ascholar.google.com%2f%26output%3dcite%26scirp%3d2%26hl%3den https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=thagard%2c+p.+%281992%29.+conceptual+revolutions.+princeton%3a+princeton+university+press&btng=#d=gs_cit&p=&u=%2fscholar%3fq%3dinfo%3auifq4kcyr8uj%3ascholar.google.com%2f%26output%3dcite%26scirp%3d2%26hl%3den 88 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract anti-intellectualism, the manifestation of disrespect and lack of interest of individuals for intellectual pursuits and critical thinking, has become a constant thread not only in the corporate world but also among students. its long-term effect will be very excruciating, especially in the philippine economy. this quantitative correlational research investigated the extent of relationship between the anti-intellectual attitudes and level of self-esteem or the individual’s overall impact of the anti-intellectual attitudes to the level of self-esteem of senior high school students from fiat lux academe-cavite, philippines cristine kyle cuizon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7475-1568 cuizoncristinekyle@gmail.com fiat lux academedasmariñas campus, cavite, philippines mary-ann a. atienza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5158-278x atienzamaryanna@gmail.com fiat lux academedasmariñas campus, cavite, philippines john ismael j. medina https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9206-7031 johnismaeljmedina@gmail.com fiat lux academedasmariñas campus, cavite, philippines original: 99% • grammarly: 92% • plagiarism: 1% vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.555 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 89 international peer reviewed journal sense of self-worth or personal value of one hundred and ninety-four (194) senior high school students from fiat lux academe-cavite, philippines. the researchers made use of the student’s anti-intellectualism scale and state self-esteem scale to measure the two variables. analyzed data revealed an average level of attitude of anti-intellectualism and a moderate level of self-esteem among the participants. furthermore, there is a significant, inverse, and moderate correlation between the two variables (pearson= -0.50; spearman correlation = -0.44). thus, students with high level of self-esteem have low anti-intellectual attitudes. conversely, students exhibiting low level of anti-intellectual attitudes tend to have higher self-esteem. the researchers also utilized other statistical techniques such as the t statistic and linear regression. keywords — social science, quantitative research, anti-intellectualism, linear regression, philippines introduction curiosity, in human’s nature, is fed through one’s intellectual pursuits, but with the constant thread of changes happening, these pursuits are diminishing causing deficiencies in a person’s knowledge, understanding, and, in a greater impact, his/her overall being. the term “anti-intellectualism” emerged in the united states in the early decades of the 20th century and had become a long tradition of the country (lecklider, 2017). it was first described as a social phenomenon by richard hofstadter in 1963, who won a pulitzer prize for his book, “anti-intellectualism in american life”. hofstadter defined anti-intellectualism as a negative attitude towards intellectual activities and those who engage in them. he also describes how the vast underlying foundations of anti-elite, anti-reason and anti-science have been infused into america’s political and social fabric. it also refers to student’s lack of interest and disrespect for intellectual pursuits, critical thinking, and a preference for practical memorization style learning and has been observed at all schooling levels including higher education (trout, 1997). a rising problem that prevents our community to progress and develop. the anti-intellectual attitude of the students may impact their academic performance. frequently, students with anti-intellectual attitudes display academic dishonesty and consistency (triki, nicholls, wegener, bay & cook, 90 jpair multidisciplinary research 2012). however, student’s anti-intellectual attitudes can be lowered through the education process, and how anti-intellectual attitude can predict academic success (elias, 2008). the attitude of anti-intellectualism has spread widely in the philippines. the philippines then became a country of many faces, a place of false and misguided beliefs, and culture seemingly against the betterment of its people and society (manaig, 2017). for hundreds of years of being under foreign occupation, filipino insecurities have been through the roof – giving birth to the crab mentality, machismo, and perhaps, this anti-intellectualism. this phenomenon became the new social issue in the philippines that is slowly spreading. although some may refer to it as nothing to worry about, the long-term effect of this problem will be heavy especially to our economy (reymundo, 2015). in an article written by tomas santos (2016), he stated that filipino’s expression such as “edi ikaw na magaling!” or a sarcastic way of saying “you’re the best!” and “edi wow!” are now viewed as common responses to people who presumably share more information than what is needed. more than the intention of poking fun, it makes a good conversation to get halted by such responses. instead of engaging people in meaningful conversations, they take such sharing of ideas as an offense. according to sta. romana (2015), the causes of anti-intellectualism are low self-esteem, low intelligence, personality, past experiences, and family background (mindanao state university, 2017). the issue of anti-intellectualism is not just on people who are in the corporate world but also on students. usually, when a student in a class is able to answer the teacher’s questions or pass the exams, he/she receives acknowledgement and praises from others. however, apart from the good things most people say, there seems to be few who hate the idea of other people overshadowing them. when a person downgrades any form of intellectual display, that person practices antiintellectualism (fortuno & cuason, 2017). the purpose of this research is to know how anti-intellectual attitude is related to students’ self-esteem. in psychology, the term self-esteem is used to describe a person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value (cherry, 2017). it is how an individual values himself and his perception of how valuable he is to the world and others. appraisal of one’s appearance, beliefs, emotions, and behaviours and other variety of principles about self-are involved in self-esteem. according to the website teens health, written by d’arcy lyness (2015), people with high self-esteem feel worthy of being valued and accepted not only 91 international peer reviewed journal by others but also by themselves even if they make mistakes. additionally, they believe in and think positively about themselves even when they do not succeed at first and see their good qualities, such as being kind, capable, or fun to be around. they also take pride in the things they do. on the other hand, people with low self-esteem think negatively about themselves. they focus on the times they fail rather than the times they succeed. they also feel self-critical and are hard on themselves, feel insecure or inferior, think of themselves as defective or not deserving of good things. additionally, individuals with low self-esteem expect that other people will not accept them, consequently, allow other people to mistreat them and doubt their ability to do well or succeed at thing. these characteristics imply that the subjective experience of manifesting a high or low level of self-esteem is important on how an individual perceives the world around him. given the information above, it can be inferred that only a few studies have been conducted to investigate the nature of anti-intellectual attitudes. previous research studied academic self-efficacy of business students as a predictor of antiintellectualism but there are still no other research that focused on self-esteem. in this study, the researchers will investigate the extent of relationship of filipino senior high school students’ anti-intellectualism attitude and level of self-esteem. this paper will answer the question whether self-esteem and its sub components: performance, social and appearance self-esteem affects the anti-intellectual attitude of senior high school students. framework this study is anchored on the socio-metric theory developed by mark leary in 1999, a director of the interdisciplinary behavioral research center at duke university and professor of psychology and neuroscience and with the piaget’s theory of cognitive development created by swiss psychologist jean piaget. the socio-metric theory proposed that humans have evolved a form of psychological meter or gauge, which monitors the degree to which other people value and accept them. leary named this monitor a socio-metric and posited that this evaluation of the individual’s level of acceptance by others is a determinant of self-esteem (hoyle, kernis, leary & baldwin, 1999). it was created as a response to a psychological phenomenon experienced by someone. therefore, selfesteem is an internal representation of social acceptance and rejection. it can be conceptualized as a subjective experience that has evolved to encourage behaviors that restore social relationships. the socio-metric theory provides a framework 92 jpair multidisciplinary research in further understanding the nature of self-esteem and its relation to emotional and behavioural problems (reis, & sprecher, 2009). the piaget’s theory of cognitive development (1936) on the other hand, is a comprehensive theory that deals with the nature of knowledge and how do humans progressively acquire, construct and use it. he concluded that cognitive development is the result of interaction of heredity and environmental factors. he believed that children construct understanding of the world around them, experiences discrepancies between what they already know and what they did discover in their environment and then adjust their ideas accordingly. furthermore, piaget disagrees that intelligence is a fixed trait among individuals (mcleod, 1970). this study intends to measure the relationship between the attitudes of antiintellectuals and their self-esteem. furthermore, the researchers will focus on the nature of anti-intellectualism to gain knowledge and understanding regarding the topic of this study. this paper will also explore the attitudes of the antiintellectuals and measure the degree of their anti-intellectual attitude. moreover, this research will examine the subcomponents of self-esteem of each participant such as the performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. figure 1. conceptual paradigm showing self-esteem and its subcomponents (performance, appearance, and social self-esteem) affect anti-intellectual attitude. antiintellectual self-esteem performance self-esteem appearance self-esteem social self-esteem 93 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aims to investigate (1) the extent of relationship between antiintellectual attitude and level of self-esteem of the participants, (2) the significant relationship between the subcomponents of self-esteem (social, appearance, and performance self-esteem), and anti-intellectual attitude, (3) the difference of the level of self-esteem and anti-intellectual attitude of shs students across age and gender, lastly, (4) the effect of involvement of the participants in school clubs/ organizations to the level of their self-esteem. the researchers aimed to determine the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable in a population. since the purpose of this research is to measure the relationship between anti-intellectual attitudes of students and their level of self-esteem, the independent variable, one that is being controlled, used in this study is the level of self-esteem of students. on the other hand, the variable that is expected to change as a result of the influence of the independent variable is the anti-intellectual attitudes of students. methodology a non-experimental, correlation type of quantitative research was utilized to measure the relationship between the variables but without the manipulation of the independent variable. the researchers made use of this to discover the causal relationship between the anti-intellectualism attitude of the students and their level of self-esteem. typically, this also implies that a non-experimental researcher must rely on correlations, surveys or case studies, and cannot demonstrate a true cause-and-effect relationship. four different research instruments were utilized in this study. the informed consent (see appendix a), which was given to each of the participants that indicates their full awareness in participating in the research and that they fully understand the demands and accept the request of the researchers to become the study’s participants; the personal data sheet (appendix b) that includes questions pertaining to basic information of the participants like their name, age, grade, track and strand, and some questions which are related to the research topic; the request letter which was given to and signed by the vice principal of fiat lux academe-dasmariñas campus to formally ask permission to conduct the study inside the said institution and lastly, the research questionnaires. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research the eigenberger and sealander’s (2001) student’s anti-intellectualism scale (sais) was utilized to measure the anti-intellectual attitude (dv) of the participants. it is a 25-item, 7-point likert scale questionnaire composed of positive and negative statements in which the participants would choose whether to agree or disagree. positive statements are reversed scored. reliability of the sais is .88. to measure level of self-esteem of the students, the researchers made use of polivy’s state self-esteem scale (1991). it is also composed of positive and negative statements that are scored from 5 to 1. negative statements are reversed scored. this 20item questionnaire is further divided into three (3) subcomponents namely, appearance self-esteem, social self-esteem and performance self-esteem. this self-esteem scale is 90% reliable. an email was sent to the owners of the scales to formally utilize their questionnaires. for the sais, the researchers sent a message to karen a. sealander, one of the researchers who developed the scale. however, no permission is required for the sses. the research instruments mentioned except for the scales were validated by a registered psychometrician. the research questionnaires together with the informed consent were distributed to a total of three hundred and fifteen (315) students at fiat lux academe, dasmariñas campus in school year 2017-2018. however, only one hundred and ninety-four (194) qualified and were used for the actual study. participants of this research include ninety-two (92) male students and ninetynine (99) female students, three (3) students did not indicate their gender. age range is 15-19 years old. in addition, the participants were composed of academic track and technical, vocational and livelihood track students and most of them are grade 11 learners with a total number of one hundred and twenty-one (121). data were collected on the 14th and 15th of september 2017. the survey took no more than twenty (20) minutes for them to finish. a pilot study was conducted before to the actual survey. a total of thirty-one (31) students from fiat lux academe participated in the pre-study. during the survey, the researchers distributed and presented the aforementioned instruments. the pilot lasted for about thirty (30) minutes. a quantitative approach to data analysis is used in this study. after gathering the desired data, the researchers made use of the descriptive statistical analysis on the sample groups to obtain a clear understanding of the population such as computing for the measures of the central tendency and standard deviation. statistical data analysis in the form of correlation coefficient was also performed. the pearson product moment correlation is used in this study since it is the 95 international peer reviewed journal most common and most useful statistics that measure the degree of relationship between the variables. the spearman correlation was also utilized which evaluates the monotonic relationship between two continuous or ordinal variables. it can also be used to validate the consistency of the results of this study. linear regression was also performed to predict the value of the dependent variable form the independent variable. furthermore, the hypothesis test was also used to quantify the linear relationship between the two variables. the computed correlation is further analyzed and interpreted using a graphical representation in the form of scatter plot that would show how much the independent variable affects the dependent variable. to ensure that the survey was conducted as thoroughly and ethically as possible, the students were made aware that their identities and answers would remain confidential as stated in the informed consent administered to each one of them. the said instrument is also distributed to guarantee that all the participants are chosen to participate in their own free will and that they have been fully informed regarding the procedures and objectives of the research paper. the surveyed students were free from coercion, meaning they are not forced to join the said research and were allowed to back out from study as long as they want. it is also ensured that those who were surveyed were unharmed whether physically or mentally. lastly, all the questions that were asked were all relevant to the research topic, and their answers will be used for the research purposes only. the scope of this study directly involved those high school students, specifically, senior high school learners of fiat lux academedasmariñas campus of academic year 20172018. the researchers chose this group of participants since they are most likely be associated with anti-intellectualism. the expected participants of this research will only include senior high school students of the said institution. this study is limited only to the intended participants thus the results would only cover the expected participants. limitations to this include the non-senior high school students of any other school except for the intended institution. interpretation of the r-value r – value interpretation ± 0.00 ± 0.30 negligible correlation ± 0.30 ± 0.50 low correlation ± 0.50 ± 0.70 moderate correlation ± 0.70 ± 0.90 high correlation 96 jpair multidisciplinary research ± 0.91 ± 0.99 very high correlation ± 1.00 perfect correlation results and discussion table 1. measures of central tendency and standard deviation variables mean median mode standard deviation independent variable dependent variable 2.96 3.54 3.00 3.60 3.15 3.60 0.34 0.51 table 1 shows that the average score of the participants in the antiintellectualism scale (dv), is 3.54 out of 7.00 (average) the participants have a middle anti-intellectualism score of 3.00 and have a common score of 3.6. regarding to self-esteem (iv), the participants have an average score of 2.96 out of 5.00 (average). the median score is 3.00 and common score is 3.15. these results imply that the participants manifest an average level of anti-intellectual attitude and a moderate level of self-esteem. also, the standard deviation of 0.34 and 0.51 for the independent and dependent variable, respectively, indicate that the scores of the participants fall closely to the mean. table 2. relationship between anti-intellectual attitude and level of self-esteem r r2 rs t-value p value at α .05 level of significance interpretation level of selfesteem -0.50 0.25 -0.44 0.92 5.56e-14 significant dependent variable: anti-intellectual attitude table 2 reflects the extent of relationship and the influence of the level of selfesteem of the participants to their anti-intellectual attitudes. the r-value of -0.50, obtained upon the utilization of pearson r correlation, indicates that there is a moderate correlation between the two variables resulting to a 25.56% influence of the level of self-esteem to the anti-intellectual attitude of the students. furthermore, the extent of moderate relationship between the two variables is supported by the rs-value of -0.44, which was obtained using the spearman correlation. the linear regression equation of y = -0.75x + 5.818 can be used to calculate the predictive value of the independent variable. 97 international peer reviewed journal the t-value of 0.9277 in their level of self-esteem significantly relates it to their anti-intellectual attitudes at α .05 level of significance. this implies that the level of self-esteem of the students is a predictor of their degree of anti-intellectual attitude. moreover, students exhibiting low level of self-esteem are most likely to manifest anti-intellectual attitudes; conversely, students exhibiting high level of self-esteem were least likely to manifest anti-intellectual attitudes. the result from table 2 is in parallel with two of the literature cited in the previous section. chemers, garcia and hu (2001) suggested that antiintellectualism was related to academic self-efficacy and that both variables were related to academic performance. students with high academic self-efficacy and therefore more confidence in their academic abilities were less likely to have anti-intellectual attitudes. according to triki et al. (2012), students high in anti-intellectual attitudes and those with low academic self-efficacy were more likely to engage in academic dishonesty, and are often the ones who consistently downgrade intellectuals and their work. the result is also anchored by the sociometric theory of mark leary (1999) which states that self-esteem is an internal representation of social acceptance and rejection. additionally, piaget’s cognitive development theory reflects in this result. the participants with higher level of self-esteem have a good interaction with their environment and feel socially accepted that leads to their lower manifestation of anti-intellectual attitude. consequently, their knowledge progressively develops over time. table 3. relationship between the three subcomponents of self-esteem and the anti-intellectual attitude subcomponents of self-esteem r r 2 standard deviation t-value p value at α .05 level of significance interpretation performance social appearance -0.39 -0.15 -0.29 0.1521 0.0225 0.0841 0.487 0.594 0.598 -0.0362 -0.0446 -0.0448 1.62e-08 0.027659 4.01e-05 significant significant significant dependent variable: anti-intellectual attitude table 3 shows the relationship between the three subcomponents of selfesteem— performance, social, and appearance self-esteem— to the antiintellectual attitude of the participants. the calculated r-value of -0.3917 implies that performance self-esteem is moderately correlated to the anti-intellectual attitude of the participants. the t-value of -0.0362 of the performance self98 jpair multidisciplinary research esteem further implies a significant correlation to the anti-intellectual attitude at α .05 level of significance. however, the other subcomponents of self-esteem which are social and appearance self-esteem are not correlated with the anti-intellectual attitude after calculating an r-value of -0.15 and 0.29, respectively. this indicates that social and appearance self-esteem do not affect the anti-intellectual attitude of the students. the results in table 3 supported the study of journal of educational psychology (chemers, garcia & hu, 2001) which states that anti-intellectual attitude and self-efficacy are both related to academic performance. table 4. level of anti-intellectual attitude and level of self-esteem according to age and gender category subcategory anti-intellectual attitude self-esteem age 15 16 17 18 19 3.80 3.49 3.63 3.52 4.04 3.10 3.01 2.94 3.00 2.86 gender malefemale 3.66 3.41 2.96 2.96 table 4 presents the level of anti-intellectual attitude and level of self-esteem of the participants across age and gender. the table shows that participants of 19 years of age have the highest level of anti-intellectual attitude of 4.04 over 7.00 and the lowest level of self-esteem which is 2.86 over 5.00. the male participants have the higher level of anti-intellectual attitude of 3.66. however, the male and female participants have an equal level of self-esteem of 2.96 (average). the result (table 4) opposes the age and gender differences in selfesteem—a cross-cultural window (bleidorn et al., 2016) which states that the level of self-esteem of men is higher compared to female. however, the results supported the other findings of the said study wherein it is stated that the level of self-esteem increases from late adolescence to middle adulthood. table 5. school club/organizations participation and level of self-esteem average level of self-esteem school club/organization member 2.979104 non school club/organization member 2.915899 99 international peer reviewed journal table 5 presents the average level of self-esteem of the participants who are members of school clubs and/or organizations, and those who are not. it can be inferred that there is no large difference between the two average levels of selfesteem. however, involvement in school clubs and/organizations affects the level of self-esteem of the participants. furthermore, students involved in clubs and organization exhibit higher level of self-esteem compared to students that are not part of any school organizations and clubs. result in table 5 is anchored by the student-involvement theory that is proposed by alexander w. astin in 1984. his theory expounded considerable findings of research on student development. this theory implies that the higher the student involvement, the quantity and quality of physical and psychological effort that a student exerts in school, the greater will be the improvement of personal development. improvement in personal development leads to higher level of self-esteem. conclusion based on the findings of the study, the participants are manifesting an average level of anti-intellectual attitudes and a moderate level of self–esteem. a critical aspect of the study is that the self-esteem of the students is significantly related to their anti-intellectual attitudes. students exhibiting higher level of self-esteem are least likely to manifest anti-intellectual attitudes. conversely, students exhibiting lower level of self-esteem are most likely to manifest anti-intellectual attitudes. moreover, among the three subcomponents of self-esteem, only performance self-esteem correlates, at a low level, to the anti-intellectual attitude. additionally, the level of anti-intellectual attitude and self-esteem varies across age and gender. shs students of age 19 years old manifest higher level of anti-intellectual attitude whereas they also manifest the lowest level of self-esteem among the other ages. the male and female shs students have an equal level of self-esteem; however, male students have higher level of anti-intellectual attitude compared to female students. furthermore, shs students that are involved in school clubs and/or organizations have higher level of self-esteem compared to other students who don’t participate in such. translational research the findings of this study may be translated to brochures, posters, and video advertisements to help in preventing further occurrence of anti-intellectualism 100 jpair multidisciplinary research not only among students but among every individual. this research can also be part of an institution’s academic basis on how it would determine which socio-academic problem to prioritize. it can be translated into powerpoint presentations used by the teachers, a module used in homeroom classes, and specialized action plan used to target issues arising in the academe. having it presented on the aforementioned releases will enlighten the readers on how their self-esteem affects their anti-intellectual attitudes and, perhaps, foster collective intellectual growth – a solution to the deteriorating effect of anti-intellectualism. literature cited astin, a. w. 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(1997). student anti-intellectualism. retrieved september 05, 2017, from http://mtprof.msun.edu/spr1997/trout-st.html 34 jpair multidisciplinary research do marketing strategies, covid 19 pandemic and consumer location affect consumer buying behaviour? empirical study on oil and gas lubricant industries in united arab emirates hosam azat elsaman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-8052 hossamezzat101@gmail.com catholic university of murcia (ucam) spain liza gernal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6451-8066 westford university college united arab emirates originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract for uae end-users, consumer behavior and purchasing power faced many swings period after covid 19 pandemic. recently, changes in sales capacity and customers’ preferences for eco-friendly products highlighted the industrial gap for producers before and after the pandemic. green marketing practices aim to improve customer knowledge to increase consumer loyalty, preserve wealth, and reduce global environmental degradation. the research examines the relationship between changes in consumer purchasing behavior and green marketing strategies following the covid-19 pandemic in the uae’s oil and gas lubricants industry. it also assesses the efficacy of green marketing in improving the dynamic of organization performance. stakeholders and three bottom lines theories vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.445 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 35 international peer reviewed journal formed the theoretical background for this research. the paper’s methodology is quantitative with deductive approaches and inferential statistical analysis, while the sampling strategy is a snowball, with 162 respondents, through quantitative methods, most notably surveys. the primary findings of this study established a substantial positive correlation between both study variables and consumer attitudes toward green marketing initiatives. consumer opinion differs according to geographical ages when developing and advertising environmentally friendly products. meanwhile, the article examined how consumers’ behavior of economic themes changed prior to and following the covid-19 pandemic epidemic. keywords — business and management, covid-19, consumer behavior, oil and gas, marketing strategies, stakeholders, quantitative, united arab emirates introduction the purpose of “green marketing techniques” is to improve customer knowledge, increase consumer loyalty, preserve wealth, and decrease pollution in the global environment. green marketing can define as a tool to achieve individual or corporate targets while maintaining environmental conditions (arseculeratne & yazdanifard, 2014). producing, selling, and providing environmentally friendly services covers a wide range of business activities. these activities vary from modifying a product to become environmentally friendly, changing plastic packaging to sustainable packaging, and modifying advertisements supporting environmentally friendly products (crane, 2019). presently, the environmental topic and how to contribute to saving nature are considered the main goal for most organizations in different industries, particularly after the covid-19 pandemic. therefore, many organizations converted to apply environment-friendly activities to ensure processes, products, and manufacturing are based on the principle of environment safety that is why the research investigated the effect of green marketing strategies on consumer buying behavior after the covid-19 pandemic outbreak in the uae in oil and gas lubricants industry. green marketing is founded on the belief that it is beneficial for planned and integrated efforts in marketing to positively impact customer preferences by encouraging clients to purchase environmental and sustainable items (ayabaca & villa, 2020). its mission is to deliver a more integrated marketing mix of innovation to enhance natural resource preservation. the notion of green marketing is centered on reducing the consumption of natural resources and 36 jpair multidisciplinary research other raw materials. it is the most appropriate method for meeting environmental requirements and adapting to industrial activities to meet the specific goal of green marketing (ali, kaur, ersöz, lotero, & weber, 2019). it improves the oil industry’s environmental accountability and evaluation. at the same time, green marketing considers the expected obligations of firms to comprehend the consumer, stakeholder group, and government’s attitudes toward green consumerism, the lubricant industry’s strategy focused on sustainability (elsaman & sergio, 2020). the study examined the implications of implementing a green marketing strategy that manufactured the automobile oil item within the company in uae. business organizations in the lubricant industry utilize green marketing techniques that contribute to an overall improvement in market performance by offering ground-breaking for new green technology that may be applied for the first time in the market in uae. additionally, the study described the assessment used to determine the effects of releasing eco-friendly green products for businesses to boost productivity and profitability, considering social and environmental concerns (ahmed, sultana, & khan, 2018). the european union’s carbon footprint could be decreased by around 25% (3kg). by effectively adopting already-known consumer behavior improvements, the most significant changes are consumption (28 percent of total), usage (26 percent), switching to products with smaller carbon footprints (17 percent), and switching to goods with fewer carbon emissions during operation (17 percent of total) (19 percent). transportation (39%), buildings (24%), and food supplies continue to have the biggest carbon footprints of consumption (26%). moreover, assessed and established that 65 of these have a negligible effect on the amount of national carbon footprint effects resulting from 90 behavioral modification side effects discovered in an earlier study. as a result, it is critical to prioritize behavioral adjustments that have the largest potential impact. the individual carbon footprint grows with income even in transportation modes with highincome elasticity, such as travel and automobile use. although behavioral change is often discussed as a potentially strong driver of cuts, comprehensive assessments of the chances of such action remained unclear. an exception is an extensive study on consumer options in austria’s consumer to manufacturer supply chains (steininger, munoz, karstensen, peters, strohmaier, & velázquez, 2018). many studies have been carried out on the effects of household decisions, but these studies were rarely combined and modeled to lead to the understanding of the impact of these actions, in general, on global supply chains and inductive remote emissions, in a macroeconomic context (newman, 37 international peer reviewed journal rand, tarp, & trifkovic, 2020; nunes, causer, & ciolkosz, 2020). therefore, it is reasonable to concentrate on modifying consumer behavior at the highest income levels to mitigate climate impacts. the study examined the implications of implementing a green marketing strategy that manufactured the automobile lubricant. the uae was chosen as the location for the research study. firms in the lubricant industry employ green marketing techniques that improve overall market performance by providing ground-breaking green technology (agyeman, 2014; cherian & jacob, 2012). likewise, the study described the assessment used to determine the effects of releasing eco-friendly green products for businesses to boost productivity and profitability, considering social and environmental concerns (walker, zang, & ni, 2019). objectives of the study the study addressed the following objectives, (1) to analyze the effect of green marketing strategies on consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricant industries in the united arab emirates, (2) to determine the effect of covid 19 pandemic on consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricant industries in united arab emirate, and (3) to establish the effect of consumer location on consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricant industries in the united arab emirates. framework independent variables: x1: green marketing strategies. x2: covid-19 pandemic. x3: consumer location on gcc. dependent variable y1: consumer buying behavior changes. consumer perception for green marketing consumer behavior can be described as a step forward that began initially as a practice presented to protect customers from immoral business operations, and it has become commonplace and broader (delafrooz, taleghani, & nouri, 2014). since today’s consumer protection agenda is included in the process, it can be understood that environmental protection is the most significant factor 38 jpair multidisciplinary research (agyeman, 2014). green marketing is the most effective strategy since it is primarily concerned with environmental safety and the performance of various corporate activities (awan & raza, 2012). it entails manufacturing, packaging modification, and other forms of green advertising to engage clients’ practices and actions regarding environmental stewardship. the oil-based lubricants industry has attracted attention on the effects of business operations on the environment, particularly when the lubricant industry’s inadequate response exacerbates environmental issues (alamri, 2019). different oil corporations in the middle east and gulf region are being pressed to manage their ecological imprint, which will attempt to offset sustainable development. economic growth is critical for managing and regulating total commercial prospects in the oil industry. in comparison, businesses face difficulties implementing green marketing strategies because they are costly and difficult to adopt in the near term. additionally, the environmental benefits are intangible; for example, buyers may not feel or realize the emission reductions associated with using green products rather than conventional oil in automobiles (ottman, 2017). jacobson, mazur, and nader (2019) claimed that green marketing is a subject of advertising, referring to environmental conditions that enable businesses to engage in beneficial activities to resolve environmental challenges and difficulties, the basics of the business show that marketing style places a premium on ethics the oil business benefits from expanding its branches and fields through sustainable development. the strategy encompasses a broad range of corporate operations to meet client needs while minimizing unwanted effects on the natural environment. developing and implementing a green marketing plan is not an easy task for the oil sector, as it involves the availability of appropriate resources, aims, and objectives. businesses must have a clear strategy to easily margin green initiatives to boost corporate profitability in the marketplace because other energy sources, such as crude oil, play a critical role in the lubricant business. nowadays, various opposing interests exist between oil exploration and environmental protection, increasing the pressure to lessen the environmental effect caused by energy production and use (samli, 2013). the green marketing in industrial and automotive lubricants the corporation can enhance income by adopting green marketing. additionally, green marketing can balance environmental protection and 39 international peer reviewed journal consumer satisfaction; thus, green marketing considers a purpose to boost an organization’s competitive edge (wooders, zinecker, & steenblik, 2019). nowadays, individuals are more conscious of leading a healthy lifestyle; therefore, green marketing is an environmental stewardship tool and a marketing strategy; by incorporating innovative eco-friendly concepts, businesses can gain a competitive edge by adopting and implementing a green marketing plan (arseculeratne & yazdanifard, 2014). to maximize the effectiveness of green marketing, environmentally friendly techniques such as biodegradable labels and ecological advertising should be used in green marketing strategies (karmakar, ghosh, & sharma, 2017). meanwhile, implementing appropriate marketing strategies to improve customer awareness of the benefits of eco-friendly products fosters more profound perceptions and a favorable impact on that type of modern technology. it modifies customer behavior to shift from conventional and eco-friendly products (crane, 2019). conversely, kinoti (2011) claims that not all enterprises are interested in using green marketing because the company may have difficulties owing to a lack of technology and the additional expense of new innovative items. the green marketing strategy is founded on the belief that coordinated and integrated marketing can positively affect customer preference. it strives to give a more integrated marketing mix based on innovation, which may preserve the natural environment (cherian & jacob, 2012). green marketing is a principle used by altering how natural resources and other raw materials are used. it is the most appropriate method for meeting environmental requirements and modifying industrial activities to conform to the specific purpose of green marketing (ali et al., 2019). green marketing and organization stakeholders stakeholder approaches can lead to contradictions through the concept of sustainability since they do not entirely mean that all stakeholders will benefit from corporate social policies. walker et al. (2019) argues that more effort is needed to treat them similarly and ensure that the company generates more value from stakeholders (walker, zang, & ni, 2019). organizations implement green marketing to control the overall incorporation of the framework in social and environmental terms, intending to increase market efficiency (hæreid & indregård, 2015). thus, management patterns have implications for management practices, which primarily adopt them to change the organizational environment (elsaman & sergio, 2020). this may involve business models and more engagement with 40 jpair multidisciplinary research stakeholders to comply with corporate social responsibility requirements. consequently, many companies can benefit from implementing eco-friendly measures while still meeting critical business goals and objectives. recently, stakeholders have become involved in csr policies, which entail various activities, including identifying environmental issues and stakeholder management (frynas & yamahaki, 2019). in this way, it can be decided that green marketing is a vital concept that is always helpful for corporate identification, communication, and developing fruitful interactions with others. additionally, to ensure longterm growth, it is always worth pursuing corporate strategies that promote the lubricant industry positively, focusing on the existing consumer (islam & huda, 2020). this will create jobs and increase profits while growing the enterprise’s productivity and profitability in the global marketplace (srivastava & shree, 2018). methodology research design the research design related to the overall methodology that the researcher decided to apply to ensure that the research problem is adequately investigated, it consists of data collection, measurement, and analysis then the research design can be divided into three types: descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory (suki, 2013). in this study, the researcher chose a descriptive research design. descriptive design requires testing one or more variables, hence identifying the correlation between many variables. it gives more understanding and clarification on existing theory or phenomenon (rajeshkumar, 2012). the researcher used alpha cronbach reliability that ensures no manipulation of any study variables and the data collected simultaneously. analyzing the relationship between the variables is often referred to as the term correlation to prove the research objectives (gast & ledford, 2014). this method is based on procedures and methods helpful for collecting and measuring variables in a specified manner. it can be used as a framework that has been created to answer the research questions (ledford et al., 2018). the research questions were identified and formulated precisely to prepare the research design. it helps the investigator to state the conceptual structure within the project. therefore, it makes it easier, if possible, to be efficient in order to increase the demand for data collection. the relevant evidence related to 41 international peer reviewed journal the project can be examined while assuming minimum expenditure in terms of money, effort, and time (venable, pries-heje, & baskerville, 2017). to investigate the research objectives, the researcher conducted two surveys by answering research questions—first survey concerns lubricant green oil endusers, such as motorists and vehicle owners. the second survey will target experts in the oil and gas industry. respondents a total of 162 respondents from various nationalities in the uae participated in the study. the researcher discarded 12 responses due to skipping some data or iteration pattern responses. data collection the data gathering process is defined as a method used to collect various types of research data, and this research survey is based on primary data (wilson, 2014). the researcher used direct resources to collect data and information in the primary data. the web-based technique is a time and cost-effective process. the researcher collected data directly from key sources through a questionnaire to maintain the relevance and effectiveness of the data. a web-based survey is a source to collect the primary data directly from respondents. the monkey survey tool was used to start the questionnaire for the study. through this approach, it is possible to target many samples. different types of information are gathered in this data collection process, which may help the researcher to arrive at a verifying conclusion. a web-based survey adheres to the positivist philosophy approach (wright, 2005). it, therefore, increases the quality of the analysis. there is no influence on the responses of the groups of respondents (wilson, 2014). ethical considerations the study examined certain ethical aspects and identified issues during the analysis. it must ensure that all participants have reported their acceptance of research members (venable et al., 2017). the primary objective is to reassure each participant that their confidential information shall be maintained. it can be done when each participant have been fully informed about objectives while ensuring that the correct response is known. on the other hand, it guarantees that not all participants are harassed or hurt by any other individual during the research study. the researcher sought to create a comfortable atmosphere so that the participant would feel at ease. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research data analysis statistical package for social sciences (spss) software was used to aid in analyzing the correlation between variables and how they are interlinked and between two or more variables by multivariate analysis as a data analysis program. the human and measurement errors were measured using the alpha coefficient to test the data reliability (bryman & cramer, 2012). sampling sampling is based on the technique mainly used to select the participants within the research project. it depends on the large number of populations being studied (hickson, 2016). the researcher used a simple random technique that helped select the participants within the population. the first questionnaire was administered to green lubricants end-user and car owners in the geographical area of the uae. the researcher chose snowballing sampling technique, which explains the list of target population members. it can contribute to research projects in collecting any information relevant to the research topic. the samples were medium in size, with about 162 respondents, comprising vehicle owners and motorists responding as product end-users; the snowball method is considered the most straightforward strategy, which helps select a wide range of populations. it provides the logic behind the technique, which removes bias from procedures and represents the accurate result or outcome. results and discussion table 1. profile descriptive analysis conducted by author std. profile mean deviation n gender 1.7308 .44499 156 age 2.7848 .91235 158 ethic 3.8280 2.15483 157 uaeloc 2.8497 .77605 153 carmodel 3.8839 1.06268 155 buyingdecs 2.2115 .62227 156 greendeal 2.4873 .66522 158 progrentec 2.6688 .57052 157 consattr 2.5949 .58688 158 43 international peer reviewed journal std. profile mean deviation n sharhlder 2.1146 .87683 157 greenads 2.7070 .55771 157 consperce 2.7197 .50427 157 table 2. variables correlational coefficient analysis conducted by author correlation coefficients y1 pearson correlation .280** x1 sig. (2-tailed) .001 n 150 x2 pearson correlation . 193* sig. (2-tailed) .016 n 150 x3 pearson correlation .278** sig. (2-tailed) .001 n 150 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). source: author’s work. table 3. cronbach’s alpha cronbach’s alpha x1 0.830 x2 0.750 x3 0.770 y1 0.790 overall cronbach’s alpha 0.777 source: author’s work h1: marketing strategies have no effect on consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricants industries in the united arab emirates the pearson r correlation between x1/y1 .280** indicates a strong and significant relationship between the two variables. that rejects the null hypothesis h0 and approves the alternate hypothesis ha. buyers are typically 44 jpair multidisciplinary research more emotionally attached to companies that are much more environmentally responsible, which enhances the organization’s image and increases sales capacity and overall company profitability in the uae. the result is clearly documented in the analyzed data regarding the organization’s performance and the benefits of implementing a green marketing strategy. the survey findings corroborated (zhang, oo, & lim, 2019) academic and recent research on building a firm through a consumer base while adhering to organizational regulations linked to social and environmental issues. additionally, the study with three bottom lines emphasized that instead of a single bottom line cantered on profit; there should be three: profit, people, and the planet (trivellas, rafailidis, polychroniou, & dekoulou, 2019). additionally, the results corroborated the current research findings of srivastava and shree (2018) by emphasizing the importance of green marketing in generating more profit while arranging businesses to maximize productivity and profitability in the global marketplace (srivastava & shree, 2018). h2: covid 19 pandemic has no effect on consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricants industries in the united arab emirates the results spotted a correlation between two variables x2/y1. this rejects the null hypothesis h0. consumer purchasing behavior has shifted towards more environmentally friendly options and continues to evolve. investmentscepticism research indicates that customers are prepared to pay a premium for green products and that sustainability has become a new dimension in quality. when combined with the marketing of luxury products, the objective is to communicate the worth of the products that customers pay either emotionally or as a premium. the benefits of eco-friendly products as a renewable energy source are long-term and extend beyond providing the end-user market with competitively priced products. the world’s largest exporter of bioethanol demonstrates the purchasing decision made after the pandemic association between x2/y1.193* purchasing environmentally safe and acceptable lubricants versus non-environmentally friendly oil and lubricants. meanwhile, perceptions of the product or firm are directly tied to the phrases used in promotional materials such as avoiding environmental pollution, keeping safe at home, and taking care of family’s health. h3: consumer location affects consumer buying behavior at oil and gas lubricants industries in the united arab emirates. 45 international peer reviewed journal the pearson r was 0.278** between x3/y1 approved ha. there is a strong correlation between the location of residents of uae and consumer behaviour as the uae is a melting pot of nations from all over the world. it indicates that at 0.0278 significant 95 percent accuracy is associated with consumer location regarding purchasing decisions. meanwhile, oil and gas purchasing decisions fall into the -.280 level of significance in terms of promoting green technology in the lubricant field in the uae. it is done by incorporating vegetable oil and eco-friendly additives into motor oil formulas, which adds biodegradability and additional features to the final product, thereby providing a competitive edge in the current pandemic. meanwhile, consumers are often more drawn to organizations that are more ecologically responsible, with a correlation coefficient of 0.278 using a two-tailed test and public information about environmental awareness and behaviors in the united arab emirates. there is a strong environmental concern in the uae; governments must ensure that environmental policies are appropriately implemented in the region, even if it is an oil-producing country. otherwise, there would be a monetary cost due to negligence and ignorance. this demonstrates 0.278** at 0.05 significant relationship x3/y1 in the uae region the respondents came from. meanwhile, the extent to which the covid-19 epidemic affects purchasing decisions varies.  conclusions it demonstrates that residents of the uae, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, or age, are already aware and agreeable that promoting green technology in the lubricant industry in the uae incorporating vegetable oil and ecofriendly additives into motor oil formulas provide a competitive advantage for the company in the current pandemic situation. the companies’ management is completely aware of environmental marketing’s influence. previously, individuals were unconcerned about the impact of environmental safety, awareness, and practice. however, as a result of educational initiatives accessible in the region, the perception of a product or firm employs terms such as avoiding environmental pollution, keeping safe at home, and taking care of family’s health. the findings indicate a clearer grasp by the public of the environmental concerns and their relationship to economic and social variables. additionally, citizens are concerned about environmental degradation and resource depletion 46 jpair multidisciplinary research and are usually satisfied with the government response. the findings from the survey indicated that the public was willing to promote good change through legislation requiring tighter environmental protection and natural resource conservation, as well as through individual action. additionally, the study findings showed that consumers are more drawn to environmentally friendly businesses. environment-friendly activities enhance the organization’s image and thus raise sales capacity and total corporate profitability. the uae economy continues to face many persistent and growing environmental problems. production and consumption models, which are at the foundation of environmental problems, garner considerable attention. it is strongly advised that the uae ministry of environment promote the benefits of green marketing throughout the region to save its limited resources. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to recommendations for oil and gas companies and oil industry experts; 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(2018). austria’s consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions: identifying sectoral sources and destinations.  global environmental change,  48, 226-242. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ s0959378017304508 suki, n. m. (2013). green awareness effects on consumers’purchasing decision: some insights from malaysia. international journal of asia-pacific studies, 9(2). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/158571248.pdf trivellas, p., rafailidis, a., polychroniou, p., & dekoulou, p. (2019). corporate social responsibility (csr) and its internal consequences on job performance: the influence of corporate ethical values. international journal of quality and service sciences.  https://doi.org/10.1108/ijqss-12-2017-0117 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1364032119308640 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1364032119308640 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351278683 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351278683 https://bit.ly/3q1bpov https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4614-5125-9 https://doi.org/10.1108/ijqss-12-2017-0117 50 jpair multidisciplinary research venable, j. r., pries-heje, j., & baskerville, r. l. (2017). choosing a design science research methodology. https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2017/112/ walker, k., zang, z., & ni, n. (2019). corporate social irresponsibility and firm performance in coordinated market economies and liberal market economies. british journal of management, 30(1), 1. https://bit.ly/3hnzq6j wilson, j. 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(2019). drivers, motivations, and barriers to the implementation of corporate social responsibility practices by construction enterprises: a review. journal of cleaner production, 210, 563584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.050 https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2017/112/ https://bit.ly/3hnzq6j https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.050 17 international peer reviewed journal abstract nursing is primarily a practical discipline. thus, clinical learning experience is an integral part in the nursing curriculum. the perioperative setting is challenging, particularly for student nurses with limited exposure to this area. these difficulties cannot be taken for granted because the operating room has a profound effect on those who enter it.as personally experienced by the researcher and as observed by nursing curriculum graduates, perioperative exposure entails a different level of stress to student nurses which serve as a challenge and thus the display of varied responses to it. as a clinical instructor always assigned in the responses to perioperative challenges of student nurses in university faith a. cuervo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8286-6953 faith.cuervo@gmail.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines maria estela cabataña http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9986-3142 maestella17@yahoo.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines piluchi victorina villegas http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-8854 piluchi69@gmail.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 91% • plagiarism: 1% vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.552 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research operating room to supervise student nurses, it is vital to identify the responses to perioperative demands encountered by students. this study aimed to determine the responses of level iii student nurses to perioperative challenges. this study utilized the descriptive method using a researcher-made questionnaire with follow-up interviews. the findings revealed that level iii student nurses experience physiologic and emotional-behavioral responses to perioperative demands. a weak relationship between the respondents’ profile and their responses was also found out. the researcher recommends implementing the proposed action plan and conducting an investigation to confirm or reject weak relationships between the respondents’ profile and responses to perioperative challenges. keywords — surgical nursing, perioperative challenges, student nurses, operating room, descriptive, philippines introduction nursing is primarily a practical discipline. thus, clinical learning experience is an integral part in the nursing curriculum. clinical education is a vital component in nursing courses and provides student nurses with the opportunity to combine knowledge, skills, and positive attitude. perioperative nursing includes nursing care given before (preoperative), during (intraoperative), and after (postoperative) surgery. it may take place in the hospital, in a surgical center attached to a hospital, in a free-standing surgical center, or in a physician’s office. perioperative nursing is a fast-paced, changing and challenging field to work (perry & potter, 2009). board of nursing resolution no.357 mandates nursing students to comply with the requirements of their operating room and delivery room cases before graduation. thus, the academe should ensure that students can experience perioperative nursing in the clinical setting to achieve the required number of cases. stress refers to the widespread, generalized responses of the body to various environmental, physical and social situations. it is a force that affects emotions and motives. it affects people of all ages and can be both good and bad. each person reacts differently to stress. stress is part and parcel of everyone’s life, whether that be a teenager or an adult. increased stress is seen in people because of high competition and pressure. there are many adverse effects of stress. as personally experienced by the researcher and as observed by graduate nurses, perioperative exposure entails a different level of stress to student nurses 19 international peer reviewed journal which serves as a challenge and thus the display of varied responses to it. these reactions could either yield positive or negative results to the student nurses performance of perioperative skills. as a clinical instructor who is always assigned in the operating room to supervise student nurses, it is vital to identify the responses to perioperative challenges encountered by students. upon informal interview of level iii students who have had their perioperative exposure, challenges faced in the operating room included preoperative assessment, the performance of intraoperative skills, knowledge on the operations performed, assessment of postoperative complications and accomplishment of the written requirements. among the ten clinical instructors initially interviewed, seven mentioned usual observations on the responses of level iii students to perioperative challenges. these are sweaty palms, cold hands and feet, inability to concentrate on tasks, forgetfulness, and blocking, and effectiveness in problem solving. although there are existing studies pertaining to perioperative response but studies involving student nurses are limited at present. understanding how student nurses learn in the clinical workplace setting can assist academics and clinical teachers to support and facilitate such learning. with the above mentioned challenges experience by nurses, this study aimed to determine responses of level iii student nurses of the university to perioperative challenges. the findings served as bases for a proposed action plan. specifically, it sought to identify the profile of the respondents, perioperative challenges experienced by level iii student nurses, their physiologic and emotional-behavioral responses to perioperative challenges, the significant relationship between the respondents’ profile and the responses to perioperative challenges, and the action plan proposed. framework this study is anchored on folkman’s stress and coping theory which explains the reason why some individuals find a particular situation stressful and others not. the lazarus model is a social cognitive model that identifies cognitive appraisal as the mediator between the situational demand and the individual response (walker, 2012). the commission on higher education (ched) memorandum order no. 30, series of 2001 also known as the “updated policies and standards for nursing education” has included concepts on the care of perioperative patients under 20 jpair multidisciplinary research ncm 102 (curative and rehabilitative nursing care management i) of the nursing curriculum. in connection to this, nursing board resolution no. 357, series of 2004 requires nursing graduates to accomplish five major and five minor cases before taking the nurse licensure examination. although the nursing school provides the theoretical knowledge needed to perform adequately nursing functions, practical skills need to be learned and reinforced in the clinical setting. one way to ensure competency is to provide time for practicing skills throughout the orientation (gavlak, 2007). perioperative nursing includes nursing care given before (preoperative), during (intraoperative), and after (postoperative) surgery. it may take place in the hospital, in a surgical center attached to a hospital, in a free-standing surgical center, or in a physician’s office. perioperative nursing is a fast-paced, changing and challenging field to work (perry & potter, 2009). association of operating room nurses (aorn) was formed to gain knowledge of principles and methods surgical nursing to improve patient care. the organization developed standards of nursing practice that outline the scope of responsibility of the perioperative nurse. the standards of perioperative nursing include administrative practice, clinical practice, professional performance, quality improvement, client outcomes (perry & potter, 2009). the learner in the perioperative environment may be a medical, nursing, or surgical technology student enrolled in a formal educational program. students have a surgical rotation that includes participation in surgical procedures. they learn some of the basic principles of surgical technology and the sterile technique to ensure safety and welfare of patients (phillips, 2016). learning is a process of discovery and mastery of skills. performance-based learning to function competently in an area such as the perioperative environment should take place on three levels: cognitive, psychomotor and effective. the learner should know why to do what (cognitive); how (psychomotor); and when, where and by whom (affective). learning to adapt to the variety of tasks and ever-changing demands in the perioperative environment is difficult. some anxiety is to be expected, especially in situations in which feelings of insecurity are generated, or a sense of intimidation pervades the environment. at times the demands of the job may seem to outweigh the personal resources of the caregiver. confidence develops as skills are learned (phillips, 2016). the philippine board of nursing (bon) developed a clinical teaching plan for the operating room exposure of the nursing students three objectives to be achieved by the students. first objective is, to render safe, comprehensive nursing care to an intraoperative client. second is, to assist in major and minor surgical 21 international peer reviewed journal cases in close coordination with the members of the surgical team. lastly, to apply the nursing process in rendering intraoperative nursing care to clients. nursing competencies to be achieved are specified and categorized according to the following: safe and quality nursing care; management of resources and environment; health education; legal responsibilities; ethico-moral responsibilities; personal and professional development; quality improvement; research; records management; communication; and collaboration and teamwork (ched, 2009). gaining control over new or difficult situation leads to pleasure or delight and to an increase in self-confidence and self-esteem. psychologists have long recognized personal mastery as an important source of intrinsic motivation. it also seems that information-processing systems may be blasted to support perceptions of mastery, including exaggerated perceptions of personal control, unrealistically positive views of the self and unrealistic optimism (walker, 2012). mohr (2006) further identified behavioral and emotional responses to stress in 2006. this includes anxiety, depression, burnout, feelings of inadequacy, loss of self-esteem, increased irritability, loss of motivation, loss of interest, and emotional outbursts and crying. behavioral responses include increased use of chemical substances, change in eating habits, sleep and activity pattern, mental exhaustion, decreased productivity and quality of job performance, tendency to make mistakes, forgetfulness and blocking, diminished attention to detail, preoccupation, inability to concentrate on tasks, increased absenteeism and illness, lethargy, proneness to accidents. as stated in betty neuman’s system model (1982), man is a unique individual and is affected by many known and unknown universal environment stressors. neuman classifies stressors as intrapersonal, interpersonal, or extrapersonal in nature. intrapersonal stressors are those that occur within the client system boundary and correlate with the internal environment. interpersonal stressors occur outside the client system boundary are proximal to the system and have an impact on the system. extrapersonal stressors occur outside the system boundary but are at greater distance from the system than are interpersonal stressors. these stressors are stimuli that produce tensions (alligood, 2013). physical and emotional stresses are part of the daily life. stress is the nonspecific reaction of the body, physiologically and psychologically, to any demand. the challenge may be pleasant or unpleasant, conscious or unconscious. the intensity of the stressor will dictate adaptation. an individual’s perception of a situation will influence the reaction to it (phillips, 2016). 22 jpair multidisciplinary research stress is not only an essential part of life but also a useful stimulant. positive stress, referred to as eustress, motivates an individual to be productive and efficient. it forces adaptation to the ever-present changes in the perioperative environment. the response should be quick. to expect the unexpected is part of the perioperative patient care. eustress fosters a sense of achievement, satisfaction, and self-confidence (phillips, 2016). mohr identified physiological responses. responses include elevated blood pressure, increased muscle tension in neck, shoulders, back, elevated pulse and respiratory rates, and cold and clammy palms, hands and feet. in addition slumped posture, fatigue, tension headache, upset stomach, higher-pitched voice, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, anorexia, change in weight, change in urinary frequency, restlessness, difficulty falling asleep or frequent awakening, and mydriasis may be experienced (mohr, 2006). mind and body affect each other. the mind operates at the levels of thinking, emotion, and action. mind and body cannot act independently on parallel lines. theirs is an integrated response inseparable from each other. the individual is in active relation to the environment and his environment influences and changes him. his behavior consists of dealings with the environment. all behavior is a function of the individual and his environment, both of which undergo changes because of their interaction with one another (anthikad, 2007). thought processes are mediators between the situational demand (the stressor) and the emotional and behavioral coping responses. together with averill, they proposed a three-stage model of appraisal in 1972. primary appraisal is the immediate response to a new demand, situation or event when the individual determines if this represents a threat. there are three possible outcomes to primary appraisal. one is, when the situation is disregarded as insignificant or unrelated. another is, when it is evaluated as a challenge likely to have a favorable outcome if appropriate action is taken. lastly, when it is identified as a potential threat to physical or mental well-being. secondary appraisal refers to the assessment of coping alternatives, during which the individual decides what to do about the perceived threat. very broadly, the behavioral choices available reflect the three dimensions of locus of control and include: taking personal action to deal with the situation (internal or personal control); seeking help from others to deal with the situation (external powerful other control); doing nothing or ignoring it (external chance control). reappraisal then takes place in which the individual considers the appropriateness of their judgment and the outcome of their coping response (walker, 2012). 23 international peer reviewed journal in humans, the fight or flight response occurs as an immediate reaction to a situation that is perceived as novel or threatening. the response is a physiological one that involves the arousal of the autonomic nervous system and release of adrenalin. this activates the body by causing glycogenolysis, increasing cardiovascular activity, increasing blood viscosity, rerouting of blood from the digestive organs and skin to the brain and muscles, increasing respiratory rate and depth, and mydriasis (walker, 2012). an organismic response according to myra levine in her conservation model is a change in behavior or change in the level of functioning during an attempt to adapt to the environment. the organismic responses are intended to maintain the person’s integrity. according to levine, the levels of organismic response include response to fear (flight/fight response) which is the most basic response. it is the physiological and behavioral readiness to respond to a sudden and unexpected environmental change; it is an instantaneous response to a real or imagined threat. the inflammatory response is the second level of response intended to provide for structural integrity and the promotion of healing. both are defenses against noxious stimuli and the initiation of healing. response to stress is the third level of response, which is developed over time and influenced by each stressful experience encountered by the person. if the experience is prolonged, the stress can lead to damage to the systems. perceptual responses refer to the 4th level of response. it involves gathering information from the environment and converting into to a meaningful experience. the organismic responses are redundant in the sense that they coexist. the four responses help individuals protect and maintain their integrity. they are integrated by their cognitive abilities, the wealth of previous experiences, the ability to define relationships, and the strength of their adaptive abilities (parker & smith, 2010). the model supports understanding and description, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are appropriate to develop the model and theories derived from the model. the qualitative approach helps to explain how the student experiences the challenges to their internal and external environments. the quantitative approach helps to test the relationships between the variables and in some cases, provides for the testing of causal models. these predictive models help clinicians alter the environments to promote adaptation and maintain wholeness (parker & smith, 2010). stress that becomes overwhelming and uncomfortable is referred to as distress. in the perioperative environment, the behavior of others may be perceived as 24 jpair multidisciplinary research cause for distress. policies, or lack of them, can also be a source of distress if they are in conflict with the caregiver’s expectations (phillips, 2016). understanding how student nurses learn in the clinical workplace setting can assist academics and clinical teachers to support and facilitate such learning. those who lack knowledge, skills and experience are clearly at a disadvantage when faced with new demands. this explains why stress responses may vary according to such variables as age, gender, education and social class. as people get older, they are exposed to a wider variety of situations and are therefore less likely to find new conditions stressful, though some older people may be resistant to change. on the other hand, younger people may perceive less danger and some may actively seek the challenge of dangerous activities. men and women respond differently because they are often exposed to different types of challenge or danger during their lifetimes, acquire different skills, and demonstrate different ways of coping. it also appears that women are more likely than men to seek or provide social support. people differ in the knowledge and skills they bring to different types of situation due to different levels of educational attainment and job experience. finally, those with strong social networks of family and friends are more likely to have help available than those who are socially isolated. these variables are likely to interact with each other such that those with little knowledge, skill or experience and who are socially isolated are least likely to cope successfully with new and challenging situations (walker, 2012). all perioperative staff members indirectly assist in teaching the learners within the guidelines of the structured learning experience. the learners gain knowledge by observing and working with members of the team. everyone should be familiar with the level of the learners, the behavioral objectives, and the teaching roles that staff members will be expected to assume. learners also should be responsible for updating the staff about needed experience and their current level of achievement (phillips, 2016). methodology this study utilized the descriptive method using a researcher-made questionnaire with follow up interviews. the study involved level iii bsn students of a university. the respondents were chosen through purposive sampling. the respondents chosen were those who had their operating room (or) related experience (rle) and took care of the patient throughout the entire 25 international peer reviewed journal perioperative experience. among 1,118 level iii students, 600 respondents were taken which is nearly 60 % of the population. students were categorized as to basic, shiftees and second-degree coursers. basic are the fresh high school graduates who opted to enroll in the college of nursing; shiftees are students who previously enrolled in another program before entering the nursing program and second degree coursers are students who graduated or obtained a degree before enrolling in the nursing program. this study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire. the crafted questionnaire was based on the related literature on perioperative challenges. the reliability of the instruments was tested by means of conducting a pilot testing among fifty (50) students who were not included in the actual study. the accomplished questionnaires were processed and the items that were no answered and the trend of responses were noted. since, the dry-run respondents were able to answer all the questions within a reasonable range of variation, the instruments were then finalized, for administration the questionnaire was composed of three parts. part i refers to the respondents’ profile. part ii enumerates the common perioperative challenges experienced by student nurses of the university. respondents were asked to rank the listed challenges according to the degree of difficulty. the challenges were drawn out from the list of operating room competencies of the board of nursing and conducted informal interviews. part iii determines the varied responses of the student nurses to perioperative challenges. a check mark was placed on any of the scales representing the respondents’ rating for their responses. it includes always, often, occasionally, seldom and never experienced. as an initial preparation for the gathering of data, the researcher wrote a transmittal letter to the dean of the college of nursing of the university to ask permission to conduct a study among the level iii student nurses. after the approval, the researcher then prepared the questionnaire. before the final administration of the tool, the contents were validated and had undergone pilot testing. proper protocols on the collection of data were reviewed and the student respondents were made to sign a consent form to signify their willingness to be part of the study. the confidentiality of the respondents and the data were also properly observed. questionnaires were distributed to the respondents based on the arranged schedule by the level chairperson. the respondents were instructed on how to answer the questionnaire and were encouraged not to leave any item unanswered. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research frequency distribution was used to interpret the respondents’ profile, perioperative challenges, and the responses. chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between the respondents’ profile and the responses to perioperative challenges. results and discussion table 1. distribution of respondents’ profile (n=600) profile counts percent age 19-35 years old 468 78.00 12-18 years old 132 22.00 gender male 220 36.67 female 380 63.33 civil status single 490 81.67 married 104 17.33 student category basic 534 89.00 shiftee 50 8.33 second course 6 2.67 table 1 displays that 78% of the respondents were already young adults; while only few were in the stage of adolescence. this data denotes that majority of the students who had undergone related learning experience in the operating room had acquired certain degree of maturity to deal with the psychological effect of dealing with patients. according to walker (2012), as people get older, they are exposed to a wider variety of situations and are therefore less likely to find new situations stressful, though some older people may be resistant to change. on the other hand, younger people may perceive less danger and some may actively seek the challenge of dangerous activities. female gender dominates the population at 63.33%. this result means that the females are more engrossed to enter the nursing profession. although people’s perception may change, there a number of nurses think that this profession is considered as a more feminine (middleton,2008). 27 international peer reviewed journal almost 82% (81.67%) of the respondents were single. in the current generation, the younger generation prefers to finish a college degree first before marriage. lastly, 89% belongs to the basic student category, although there were 50 (8.33%) students who shift to nursing from other course. this situation is attributed to the stringent requirements for those students who shifted from one program to the other. so, there were only few who will pass those and were ready to start from 1st year. those who lack knowledge, skills and experience are clearly at a disadvantage when faced with new demands. this explains why stress responses may vary according to such variables as age, gender, education and social class (walker, 2012). table 2. distribution of respondents as to experiences of perioperative challenges rank indicators counts 1 performance of the function of scrub nurse competently. 4030 2 performance of the functions of a circulating nurse competently. 3749 3 observation of the principles of surgical aseptic techniques and medical asepsis within the work area at all times. 3738 4 timely submission of complete and accurate surgical slips and or write-ups for cases handled. 3496 5 identification of priority needs of the client for surgery. 3471 6 provision of health education based on identified learning needs of the intraoperative client. 3450 7 observation of complete and accurate endorsement procedures. 3394 8 checking of the completeness of informed consent and other legal forms. 3300 9 determination of client’s preparation for surgery by checking the preoperative checklist. 3284 10 assessment of client’s physical and psychological health needs and relate to information from the chart and ward endorsements. 3231 the respondents found performance of the function of scrub nurse competently as the most challenging perioperative experience (4,030 counts). the least challenging experienced of the student nurses during their exposure at the operating room was on how to assess the client’s physical and psychological 28 jpair multidisciplinary research health needs and relate them to information from the chart and ward endorsement (3,231 counts). the perioperative setting is challenging, especially for new graduates and attendants with constrained introduction to this zone. this can’t be disregarded because the or profoundly affects the individuals who enter it. the perioperative introduction time frame frequently is the time for testing in which new medical attendants choose in the event that they can adjust to the or condition. adjustment accompanies authority of basic information and abilities for perioperative practice and improvement of self-assurance. as the new attendant builds up these aptitudes, the perioperative setting turns out to be more natural and agreeable. giving new attendants a solid, hypothetical base and basic capabilities for training in the perioperative setting diminishes disappointment and increment positive encounters amid their introduction, prompting higher maintenance of nursing staff individuals (penprase, 2000). table 3. physiologic and emotional-behavioral responses (n = 600) challenges physiologic responses emotional-behavioral responses mean interpretation mean interpretation assessment of client’s physical and psychological health needs and relate to information from the chart and ward endorsements. 2.73 sometimes 2.81 sometimes determination of client’s preparation for surgery by checking the preoperative checklist. 2.81 sometimes 2.86 sometimes identification of priority needs of the client for surgery. 2.79 sometimes 2.83 sometimes observation of the principles of surgical aseptic techniques and medical asepsis within the work area at all times. 2.89 sometimes 2.87 sometimes performance of the function of scrub nurse competently. 2.91 sometimes 2.88 sometimes 29 international peer reviewed journal challenges physiologic responses emotional-behavioral responses mean interpretation mean interpretation performance of the functions of a circulating nurse competently. 2.86 sometimes 2.90 sometimes provision of health education based on identified learning needs of the intraoperative client. 2.94 sometimes 2.97 sometimes checking of the completeness of informed consent and other legal forms. 2.91 sometimes 2.92 sometimes timely submission of complete and accurate surgical slips and or write-ups for cases handled. 2.92 sometimes 2.93 sometimes observation of complete and accurate endorsement procedures. .93 sometimes 2.95 sometimes general aggregate mean 2.87 sometimes 2.89 sometimes legend: 4.20-5.00 (always); 3.40-4.19 (often); 2.60-3.39 (sometimes); 1.80-2.59 (seldom); 1.00-1.79 (never) table 3 shows that the student nurses sometimes experience physiologic and emotional-behavioral responses during their experience at the operating room in the hospital as indicated by the general aggregate mean of 2.87 and 2.89, respectively. the results imply that the respondents experienced physiological and emotional-behavioral responses to perioperative challenges in many but not majority of cases. the frequency distribution was used to interpret the data on the perioperative challenges experienced by the student nurses. generally, nursing students considerably experience substantially more stress during those times that they are still in school compare during their first year of work. preceptorship is among the most distressing that a student encounters. it is inside the setting of a testing and on occasion of overwhelming workplace that two complete unfamiliar concepts (preceptor and student) endeavor to oblige each other inside a proficient limit. on the off chance that the connection amongst preceptor and student is not as much as fruitful, not exclusively would it 30 jpair multidisciplinary research be able to be disappointing and demoralizing, yet it can bring about understudy stress and dissatisfaction about nursing and powerlessness to coordinate and learn (yonge, myrick, & haase, 2002). physical and emotional stresses are part of the daily life. stress is the nonspecific reaction of the body, physiologically and psychologically, to any demand. the demand may be pleasant or unpleasant, conscious or unconscious. the intensity of the stressor will dictate adaptation. an individual’s perception of a situation will influence the reaction to it (phillips, 2016). table 4. test of relationship between profile and responses to perioperative challenges indicator paired variables chi-square computed value df critical value significance 1. assessment of client’s physical and psychological health needs and relate to information from the chart and ward endorsements gender & perioperative challenge 1 13.4541 1 3.84 significant c= 0.148 very weak civil status & perioperative challenge 1 30.4733 2 5.99 significant c= 0.220 very weak student category & perioperative challenge 1 16.2841 2 5.99 significant c= 0.163 very weak 2. determination of client’s preparation for surgery by checking the preoperative checklist. gender & perioperative challenge 2 17.9772 1 3.84 significant c= 0.171 very weak civil status & perioperative challenge 2 11.1598 2 5.99 significant c= 0.135 very weak 3. identification of priority needs of the client for surgery civil status & perioperative 3 22.5712 2 5.99 significant c= 0.190 very weak student category & perioperative challenge 3 9.5723 2 5.99 significant c= 0.125 very weak 31 international peer reviewed journal 5. performance of the function of scrub nurse competently age & perioperative challenge 5 37.6871 1 3.84 significant c= 0.243 weak civil status & perioperative challenge 5 12.6938 2 5.99 significant c= 0.144 very weak 6. performance of the functions of a circulating nurse competently gender & perioperative challenge 6 37.9042 1 3.84 significant c= 0.244 weak 7. provision of health education based on identified learning needs of the intraoperative client student category & perioperative challenge 7 12.5206 2 5.99 significant c= 0.143 very weak 8. checking the completeness of informed consent and other legal forms age & perioperative challenge 8 73.0052 1 3.84 significant c= 0.329 weak gender & perioperative challenge 8 28.3882 1 3.84 significant c= 0.213 weak 9. timely submission of complete and accurate surgical slips and or write-ups for cases handled gender & perioperative challenge 9 37.9042 1 3.84 significant c= 0.244 weak 10. observation of complete and accurate endorsement procedures student category & perioperative challenge 10 12.5206 2 5.99 significant c= 0.143 very weak table 4 presents the data on the results on the test of significant relationship between the profile of the student nurses and their responses to perioperative challenges. the chi-square computed value of 13.4541, 30.4733 and 16.2841 32 jpair multidisciplinary research indicate that there was a very weak relationship between the gender, civil status and student category and their assessment of client’s physical and psychological health needs and how they relate them to information from the chart and ward endorsements. these results imply that whether students were male or female; single or married; and basic or shiftees, it has connection on how they make assessment on the patient’s state and how they relate this information from the record and in making endorsements. further, there is also a very weak relationship between gender and civil status of the respondents and their perioperative challenges in the determination of client’s preparation for surgery by checking the preoperative checklist based on the chi-square computed value of 17.9772 and 11.1598 respectively. these data signify that sex and family situation of the students relates on how they take care of their patients in terms of preparing them for a procedure in the operating room. moreover, the respondents’ civil status and student category have very weak relationship on their responses to perioperative challenge in terms of identifying the priority needs of the client for surgery, as indicated by the chi-square computed value of 22.5712 and 9.5723. these data signify that the subjects’ family situation and student category relates to their ability to recognize what are the important things needed by the patients before undergoing surgical procedure. further, there is a weak relationship between the age and the perioperative challenge in the performance of the function as a scrub nurse competently, while there is a very weak relationship between the civil status and the same challenge as indicated by the chi-square computed value of 3 7.6871 and 12.6938 respectively. these data can be inferred that the age and civil status of the respondents relates to their competence in the performance as a scrub nurse. the chi-square computed value of 37.9042 indicates that there is a weak relationship between the students’ gender and their perioperative challenge in the context of the performance of the functions of a circulating nurse competently. the gender relates to the students’ ability to perform properly as a circulating nurse. in addition, the chi-square computed value of 12.5206 reveals that there is a very weak relationship between the students’ category and their perioperative challenge in terms of providing health education based on identified learning needs of the intraoperative client. this result means that the students’ category is connected on how they deliver useful knowledge and education pertaining to health but not at a great extent. 33 international peer reviewed journal there is a weak relationship between the student nurses’ gender and perioperative challenges in terms of timely submission of complete and accurate surgical slips and or write-ups for cases handled based on the chi-square computed value of 37.9042. it would mean that there is variation on male and females’ compliance in preparing documents related to the patients’ case. there is also s a very weak relationship between the students’ category and their perioperative challenges in the aspect of observing the complete and accurate endorsement procedures as indicated by the chi-square computed of 12.5206. this would mean that whether the students are regular, shiftees or second coursers, it has some connected on their ability to make a comprehensive endorsement procedure as part of properly handing patients but not at a great extent. chi-square test of independence was used to determine the relationship between the respondents’ profile and the responses to perioperative challenges. mind and body affect each other. the mind operates at the levels of thinking, emotion and action. mind and body cannot act independently on parallel lines. theirs is an integrated response inseparable from each other. the individual is in active relation to the environment and his environment influences and changes him. his behavior consists of dealings with the environment. all behavior is a function of the individual and his environment, both of which undergo changes because of their interaction with one another (anthikad, 2007). perioperative nursing is an exceptionally concentrated nursing practice, which is regularly underutilized for undergrad clinical arrangement encounter. the earth is seen as mechanical. specialists perceive the broad learning openings accessible to undergrad medical caretakers’ in this condition. the readiness of fledgling medical attendants in a perioperative domain ought to incorporate setting them up to distinguish the distinctions in understanding consideration in an option setting (callaghan, 2011). conclusion the nursing students in the university experienced both physiologic and emotional-behavioral responses to perioperative challenges. these physiologic reactions are the automatic bodily responses or physical reaction that they manifest in the course of performing these tasks as students student nurses. they also exhibit the emotional response especially that they are taking care of patients who had undergone operative and other invasive procedures which had higher tendency to show emotional stress. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the propensity of the student nurses to show physiologic, emotional and behavioral responses in the perioperative nursing, so the results were used on the crafting of a proposed action plan to help the nurses manage some emotional challenges in the course of the nursing job. literature cited anthikad, j. (2007). psychology for graduate nurses: general and educational psychology. (3rd ed). jaypee borthers medical publishers. retrieved f r o m h t t p : / / l i b r a r y. m a n i p a l . e d u . m y / c g i b i n / k o h a / o p a c d e t a i l . pl?biblionumber=2310&query_desc=su%3a%22psychology%22 callaghan, a. (2011). student nurses’ perceptions of learning in a perioperative placement. journal of advanced nursing, 67 (4), 854-864. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010. 05518.x commission on higher education (2009). policies and standards for the college of nursing. retrieved from http://www.ched.gov.ph/wp-content/ uploads/2013/07/cmo-no.14-s2009.pdf commission on higher education (ched). memorandum order no. 30, series of 2001 also known as the “updated policies and standards for nursing education. retrieved from http://web.ched.gov.ph/2001-chedmemorandum-orders/ gavlak, s. (2007). centralized orientation: retaining graduate nurses.  journal for nurses in professional development,  23(1), 26-30. retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/jnsdonline/abstract/2007/01000/centralized_ orientation__retaining_graduate_nurses.6.aspx alligood, m. r. (2013). introduction to nursing theory: its history, significance, and analysis. nursing theorists and their work-e-book, 1. 35 international peer reviewed journal middleton, j. (2008). why are there so few men in nursing?, nursing times. london: emap publishing limited company. retrieved from https://www. nursingtimes.net/why-are-there-so-few-men-in-nursing/849269.article mohr, w. k. (2006). psychiatric-mental health nursing (vol. 1), (ed.). lippincott williams & wilkins. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/ scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=mohr%2c+w.+k.+%282006%29.+ps ychiatric-mental+health+nursing+&btng= neuman, b. (1982). the neuman system model: application to nursingeducation and practice.  appleton century crofts, norwalk. retrieved from https:// scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=betty+neuman %e2%80%99s+system+model&btng= parker, m. e., & smith, m. c. (2010). nursing theories & nursing practice. fa davis. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt =0%2c5&q=parker%2c+m.+e.%2c+%26+smith%2c+m.+c.+%28201 0%29.+nursing+theories+%26+nursing+practice&btng= penprase, b.(2000). collaboratively developing an orientation program for or nurses.” aorn journal. elsevier b.v. 2000. retrieved on june 23, 2017 from https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1g1-67262606.html phillips, n. (2016).  berry & kohn’s operating room technique. elsevier health sciences. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_ sdt=0%2c5&q=phillips%2c+n.+%282016%29.+berry+%26+kohn%27 s+operating+room+technique&btng= potter, p. a., & perry, a. g. (2009). critical thinking in nursing practice. fundamentals of nursing. mosby elsevier, st. louis, missouri, 215-230. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2 c5&q=perry+%26+potter%2c+2009%29.&btng= yonge, o., myrick, f., & haase, m. (2002). student nurse stress in the preceptorship experience.  nurse educator,  27(2), 84-88. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=yoneg% 2c+o.%2c+myrick%2c+f.%2c+%26+haase%2cm.%282002%29.+st 36 jpair multidisciplinary research udent+nurse+stress+in+the+preceptorship+experience.++nurse+educator% 2c+volume+27%2c+number+2+%2cpp+84-88.++&btng= walker, j. (2012).  psychology for nurses and the caring professions. mcgrawhill education (uk). retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/ scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=walker%2c+j.%2c+payne%2c+s.%2 c+jarrett%2c+n.%2c+%26+ley%2c+t.+%282012%29.+psychology+f or+nurses+and+the+caring++professions.+&btng= 17 international peer reviewed journal “hudhud of dinulawan and bugan at gonhadan” (oral literature of ifugao culture) judith j. batin orcid no. 0000-0002-7756-2947 jetbatin@gmail.com the graduate school, university of santo tomas españa manila, philippines abstract in 2001, unesco proclaimed the ifugao epic hudhud as one of the 19 masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. this study aims to promote greater understanding and of appreciation, and interest in the epics, highest form of oral literature. the analysis is anchored on e. arsenio manuel’s theory of the philippine ethno-epic. a descriptive-qualitative method was used in this study. immersion, observation and random informal interviews in ifugao (kiangan, asipulo and lagawe) were employed in gathering and validating data. the narrative structure and characterization of the epic heroes were determined through textual analysis. a contextualist approach in the analysis of the text was utilized to validate the identified ifugao culture that is still practiced today. the epic reveals the beauty and legacy of the great ancestors of the highland that need to be protected and preserved. this study helps in the preservation of the sacredness of the tradition. likewise, it also proves that the hudhud is not just used as mere tourist attraction of the local government units and department of tourism for economic growth in the hudhud areas. it will also attract more scholars, local and international, to understand and preserve the rich and dying tradition. vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.269 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords – literature, hudhud, ifugao socio-political culture, descriptivequalitative method/textual analysis, philippines introduction all cultures, great and small, began with folklore and then developed not apart but coexisting with it, sometimes fusing in parts with it, but never without it (hornedo, 2000:51). the culture and history of a particular group of people in the ancient times were recorded and passed on by word of mouth through folklore. the hudhud (chant) is folklore that records the great history and culture provides an explanation on their practices and beliefs observed up to this period. respect for the customary laws is still observed, although these have already been modified by christianization and modernization. the ifugao uyauy (traditional prestigious marriage rite) and the hagabi (lounging wooden bench) that symbolizes the kadangyan’s (wealthy ifugao people) self-actualization depicted in the ifugao folklore manifest the unique culture of the indigenous people in the highlands. the unesco world heritage banawe rice terraces are now eroding and under rehabilitation. the culture of planting tinawon (traditional rice) that is harvested once a year is also dying and has been replaced the cultivation of modern rice crops that can be planted and harvested twice a year. harvesting the traditional rice was done leisurely, and to break the monotony, the ifugao women chanted the different variants of hudhud. but now, the hudhud is almost extinct as an effect of the change in rice production in the terraces. in 2001, unesco proclaimed the ifugao epic hudhud one of the 19 masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. the award was intended to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding an intangible heritage, which is an essential element of cultural diversity. the objectives of the proclamation of the award were: 1) to raise awareness among the public and to recognize the importance of oral and intangible heritage and the need to safeguard and revitalize it; 2) to evaluate and take stock of the world’s oral and intangible heritage; 3) to encourage countries to establish national inventories of the intangible heritage and provide legal and administrative measures for its protection; and 4) to promote the participation of traditional artists and local creators in identifying and revitalizing the intangible heritage (accu, 2002:25). the hudhud was recognized as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity based on: 1) its outstanding value; 2) its roots in the cultural 19 international peer reviewed journal tradition or cultural history of the community concerned; 3) its role as a means of affirming the cultural identity of the peoples and communities concerned; 4) its proof of excellence in the application of the skill and technical qualities displayed; 5) its value as a unique testimony of a living cultural tradition; and 6) its risk of disappearing (accu, 2002:25-26). although the local government unit (lgu) and national commission on culture and arts (ncca) have started organizing the hudhud school of living tradition (hslt) in response to the call for preservation of the almost extinct culture for the next generations, these programs seem to be superficial. the annual gotad (festival) in kiangan and in lagawe showcasing the cultural dance, traditional games, hudhud chanting competition and the merrymaking with dancing and drinking the baya (native rice wine) as means of sustaining the tradition is not enough. the current municipal mayor of kiangan, joselito gano guyguyon, stressed during the gotad festival 2014 the importance and value of preserving the culture and the role of all ifugao people in establishing global connection to keep the tradition known and alive, but there is no guarantee that the people will respond seriously to the call of the mayor. the study aims to determine:1) the narrative structure of the epic hudhud of bugan and dinulawan at gonhadan; 2) the theme/s and cultural character traits that are revealed through the narrative structure of the epic; 3) the socio-political symbols that are reflected in the narrative structure and characterization of the epic; and 4) how traditional marriage of the wealthy ifugao people (uyauy) define the socio-political strata of the ifugao people. framework demetrio (1996) considers the epic as the unconscious record of the cultural and historical background of a social group. likewise, the epic is the highest of all genres (abrams, 1999:77). the ifugao epic is a very rich record of history and culture, but its worth has been ignored by many present day scholars. there is a dearth of research done on its content and value, much less on the means of preserving the epic tradition for future generations to take an interest in it. despite unesco’s recognition, it is ironic that it has remained unknown and unappreciated by many filipinos, especially the young people. primarily, the previous studies made were concentrated on the anthropological aspect, shamanism, ritual, as an oral tradition, linguistics, musical aspect, and the structure of the epic, without considering the beauty of the work itself as 20 jpair multidisciplinary research a creative output of an older generation. some scholars have considered only the repetitive and monotonous patterns of the narrative, disregarding not only the history but also the cultural values behind the structure of the text. these scholars and researchers analyzed and reviewed only the more popular version – aliguyon. this explains the claim of castro (1985: iii) that “there is no thorough study yet on all philippine epics, the highest form of oral literature. according to castro, the epic is not only a literature but an important record of the past before the coming of the muslims and christians. the philippine epics may provide awareness and knowledge on the ancient history of the people.” what castro said in 1985 is still true at present. despite some studies and publications done by scholars, the richness of philippine epics in general, and hudhud in particular, has remained unexplored and unknown to many filipinos. lambrecht published a critical study on hudhud of dinulawan and bugan at gonhadan in saint louis quarterly (1967:359), which is the source of the text in the present study. he focused his study on the linguistic, literary, and musical aspect of the ifugao hudhud. this variant was chosen for this study since there has been no attempt yet to study the form and theme to unfold the truth and beauty (aesthetic value) behind the text. this study is focused on the form, theme, and socio-political symbols of the epic hudhud of bugan and dinulawan at gonhadan. through this study, the writer can contribute in propagating interest in and appreciation of philippine folklore. this study is anchored on e. arsenio manuel’s theory on philippine ethnoepics. manuel (1963:3) identified the standard criteria of the form and substance that sets the characteristics and definition of ethno-epics. these characteristics are: (a) a narrative of sustained length; (b) based on oral tradition; (c) revolving around supernatural events or heroic deeds; (d) in verse form; (e) either chanted or sung; and,(f ) with a certain seriousness of purpose, embodying or validating the beliefs, customs, ideas, or life-values of the people. there is no written record about its origin, though the hudhud can be traced to the past. according to manuel, the ifugao people sang hudhud during harvest, weeding, washing of the bones of their dead, and funeral wakes, with special reference to long narratives about their culture heroes. the chanting of the epic provides justification on the way of living and values of the ifugao people. he reinforced the statement of lambrecht that: the ifugao epic stories, called hu’dhud, are remarkable piece of primitive literature, memorials of an ancient culture which has maintained itself for 21 international peer reviewed journal ages, treasures of linguistic peculiarities. no wonder the people, who love to sing them from morning to evening during harvest season, and from evening to morning during their funeral wakes, attribute to these stories a supernatural origin, not because they believe that the many events narrated by their soloists and commented upon by the whole group of choristers really happened in the distant past, for no one among them admits that, but because they cannot understand how their forebears could ever have invented them. . . (from “ifugaw hu’dhud, 1960), (manuel, 1963:53). manuel (1963) also posited that the heroes in the hudhud appear to be more human than superheroes, except for their strength, compared those in other philippine epics, such as the sulod and bagobo epics (50). he likewise said that the hudhud has a simple plot and achieves the required length of an epic by its repetition of similar incidents of the opposing heroes. there is a need to give attention to indigenous tradition. as lucero (2007:78) says: our indigenous roots are living and dynamic traditions. they are the narratives of our people’s historical experiences. . . (p.7) a story coming out of another country is not our story; it is theirs. we have our story to tell. (p.8) thus, there is a need to elevate and intensify the value of the hudhud epic as a form of literary production and cultural preservation. according to russian scholar stanyukovich (2013:15), the philippines, a treasury of oral folk epics, gives us a precious opportunity to research epics in transition. transition implies documenting epics and introducing them to a wider audience; it also implies numerous losses suffered by a living epic tradition when it attracts national and international attention and becomes a concern of the state and the educational system. at such a time, an oral tradition entrenched in the local culture, beliefs and rituals, inevitably starts being turned into a “piece of ethnic literature.”lagawe ifugao provincial governor, benjamin b. cappleman, issued executive order 003, series of 2004, mandating the integration of hudhud in the elementary school curriculum, as a means of passing on the knowledge in chanting the epic to preserve the culture. but the implementation of the program is slow. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study is a response to the urging of manuel, demetrio, lucero, hornedo, and other filipino folklorists for scholars to continue discovering philippine folklore and preserve these rich unwritten records of the past and integrate the study of them in the philippine school curriculum. likewise, is intended to prove that the material is an ethno-epic, a masterpiece, and a cultural artifact that sheds light on the people’s traditional beliefs and practices, and provides an explanation on the rich and amazing socio-political culture of the ifugao people. this study also aims to expose the beauty behind this traditional pagan epic to a greater populace. the hudhud school of living tradition (hslt) initiated by ncca in lagawe, kiangan and asipulo is only one of the avenues in promoting this tradition. this study is hoped to enlighten the readers and listeners of hudhud chants on the forgotten and neglected record of the people in the hudhud areas, especially on the prestigious and traditional marriage rite of the kadangyan and the acquisition of the political and social status as a qualified member of the kadangyan. methodology the descriptive method of research is used extensively in this study. since this study deals with the elements of the epic, the analytical approach (content analysis) was likewise used. this study also utilized the documentary analysis technique, which involves a scrutiny of the printed materials, both primary and secondary, that have direct relation to the topic under study. the analysis used a contextualist approach based on manuel’s theory on philippine ethno-epics. historical and ethnographic materials were used in the textual interpretation that provided answers to the questions on social, political, and cultural aspects of the epic. the narrative structure of the epic was evaluated through the sequence of events. the episodes were analyzed on how they reveal the themes of the epic. the depiction of each character was evaluated on how it contributed to disclosing the themes. the depiction of events and characters were carefully investigated to determine the historical and cultural practices of the ifugao people. the epic heroes and narrative structure were analyzed to determine the cultural background, political, and social practices embedded in the action presented in the text. 23 international peer reviewed journal in the course of the analysis and interpretation, relevant situations, passages, and quotations were provided to support the analysis of the text. immersion, observation and informal interviews in selected hudhud areas were undertaken to validate the findings regarding the culture, beliefs and traditions of the ifugao people drawn from the text. the traits and practices of the people extracted from the text were uncovered and validated through immersion and observation in the three hudhud areas for this study. there were random interviews and observations made with the people – from the children to the old folks, chanters, direct blood descendants of the kadangyan, heirs of the heirlooms, wealth and high status of their ancestors (as evidence of the social status of their ancestors and artifacts that were passed on and preserved) and the custodians of their dying culture. obviously, there is lack of local scholars who give attention to literary materials that record ancient unique identity and culture of filipino people in general and lack of funding to continue and enhance the preservation of the culture, both the tangible and intangible. results and discussion narrative structure, characterization and theme the epic has a simple plot with episodic narrative structure. it is divided into seven episodes with the classical epic structure – love-separation and adventurereunion. each heading is focused on one central character alternating from the two major characters in the title of the epic – dinulawan and bugan. as in other hudhud variants, the title of the narrative is based on the name of the epic hero and the place where he come from. from stanzas 1 to 7 in the first episode, the narrative provides already a clear knowledge on the story line and social rank of the main characters: dinulawan, son of pangaiwan, at the houseyard at the houseyard theirs, lounging-bench theirs at gonhadan (stanza 1) lo! dinulawan, he sits-and sits on the frontyards theirs, stonewalled-yard theirs at the center at gonhadan (stanza 2) 24 jpair multidisciplinary research “ah! bugan, the elder sister mine, if there-were only a center-corner of one’s-worthy-class from the neighbor-ed of the neighboring villages, of equal-standing, a wealthy youth from the neighbor-ed of the neighboring villages” (stanza 3) “that he may marry bugan and i may-push then the marriage-feast theirs” (stanza 4) “that’s the way-and-way-of-it, bugan-here do-thou-travel-with the precious scabbard of dinulawan the younger-brother thine” (stanza 6) “and if-there-should-be [a youth] to-whom-might-fit the precious scabbard of dinulawan-here dwell-and-dwell-thou-there-with-[him]” (stanza 7) the “lounging-bench” (stanza 1), “center of gonhadan” (stanza 2), and “precious scabbard” (stanza 6), are symbols of aristocracy. during the ancient days, only the kadangyan (wealthy) have the right to possess a hagabi (loungingbench) as this requires a long process and wealth-draining rituals before one can be enthroned to this social rank. the “precious scabbard” symbolizes the heirlooms of the family, while the “center of gonhadan” identifies the name of the village where the characters live. only a kadangyan can afford to live at the center-village as a tradition. the topography where the houses were built is an indicator of the social rank in the early times. like a protractor, if one draws a circle using the protractor, the dot at the center represents the aristocrat and the big circle represents the masses, which form the majority. bugan is the elder sister of dinulawan. as an ifugao tradition, the elder sibling must get married before the younger ones can. bugan sets on a journey with the family’s heirlooms from one village to another to look for a kadangyan and one of equal rank to marry. in the ancient times, marriage is a sort of alliance, and so they take into consideration the social status of the partner. likewise, 25 international peer reviewed journal compatibility in sex is also another factor they consider. this tradition is what was depicted in the narrative of the epic. although the title bears the names of the two heroes, dinulawan and bugan, the very focus of the narrative is the expedition of bugan in search of a husband, while her brother dinulawan’s adventure and marriage supports and strengthens the alliance tradition where dinulawan marries the sister of his brother-in-law. as cited earlier, the first stanza in the first episode provides already a clear reference to the social status of the characters and the cause of the expedition. one may find it odd for a woman to go and search for a husband. bugan in the epic represents a class – the kadangyan. she is not treated as a particular or individual character but a group in society during the ancient days. her character reveals the importance of keeping the social rank and respect of the people. during the ancient days, the ifugao people were particular in terms of their social status. a kadangyan who lives in the “center village” is a social and political class. not anybody can address or elevate himself into the aristocracy without undergoing the expensive and wealth-draining process. a kadangyan lives in an abode with the same architectural design as the others, but can be distinguished from the commoners through his possessions, such as land, skulls of animals butchered and displayed in his abode, his having been married in a traditional prestigious and expensive uyauy rites, and his acquisition of a hagabi though a long process of rituals to display his wealth and capacity to feed the community over a period of time. the title of the first episode “fitting of scabbard” shows how hard and how important it is to keep the social rank. bugan needs to go on a journey and struggle to maintain the high respect for her family’s social rank. she meets aliguyon who is a perfect match for her, who is of equal rank and beauty, but unfortunately aliguyonis already married to induduli. as a customary law, a married man cannot take another wife unless he is childless. the precious scabbard is a symbol of kadangyan’s heirloom and social rank. on the other hand, the society (represented by aliguyon’s men) persuades aliguyon to take bugan for a wife and abandon induduli who is not of equal rank to aliguyon and bugan. the society despised induduli and treated her as inferior to bugan. likewise the “fitting of scabbard” is a taboo, it symbolizes “sex.” in the ancient days, the ifugao people practiced pre-marital sex. this may be immoral for the christians, but for the upland kins, this was part of their traditional custom. there is a customary law that if a couple cannot bear a child, this is a legal basis for the man to look for another wife. if the woman gets pregnant, the couple can already proceed to marriage rite. in the epic, although bugan and aliguyon are 26 jpair multidisciplinary research compatible in sex and in terms of their social rank, aliguyon cannot take bugan as a wife since he has a son with his wife. episode 1, stanza 61 to 64, explains the source of the jealousy of induduli to bugan and her way of convincing herself that she deserves to be the wife of aliguyon: and she knocks-and-knocks the floor theirs in the / basket-like house theirs at the center at kalbiyan; is-excessive, really, the grumbling-grumbling of induduli, the wife of aliguyon (stanza 61) “how troublesome the wealthy rich-people / from the neighbour-ed of the neighboring villages! “as-to-that you are wealthy, you are-rich but act-by-fitting you from the / neighbour-ed of the neighboring villages” (stanza 62) “as-to-induduli-here, i am-white [beautiful], i am-wealthy at the houseyard.” / at the houseyard theirs, lounging-bench theirs at hanaga, “was very-far in-fact the houseyard” / the houseyard at hanaga (stanza 63) “yet i was wooed-and wooed by aliguyon (stanza 64) social rank is important in the ifugao value system. the above stanzas depict the subtle sarcasm to those who pretend to belong to the kadangyan class. a kadangyan attains the high regard and respect of everyone. although induduli is the wife of a well-respected kadangyan, aliguyon, she failed to gain the full respect of the people. however, this tradition is no longer observed these days. each episode narrates the struggle and success of the hero and reveals a sociopolitical status and symbols of wealth that are significant to the ifugaos during the ancient times and have been carried over to the present era. 27 international peer reviewed journal table 1. parts of the epic hudhud of dinulawan and bugan at gonhadan with the episode title (lambrecht, 1967) parts episode i ii iii iv v vi vii the fitting of the scabbard episode episode of the marriage feast discovery of bugan, the girl with the scabbard dinulawan blocks the marriage feast but finds his sister ratification of daulayan’s marriage to bugan celebration of the double marriage feast climactic episode: fight for aginaya, aliguyon’s sister first incident: two lovers of one girl second incident: dinulawan runs home with aginaya third incident: guminingin prepares for a spear battle with dinulawan fourth incident: the spear battle at gonhadan fifth incident: the riffle incident sixth incident: dinulawan’s victory conclusion according to quito (1989:3), it is important to establish the structural elements of an epic to understand the meaning of the text. she also said that the initial step in understanding the text is through immersion in the text. her view was anchored on the dictum “art for art’s sake,” where the focus of the study is the text. her method of analyzing an epic is an outward process. only after the immersion in the text can the reader assign meanings that will be validated. it is only after assigning meanings which must be tested and validated that the text slowly discloses its meaning. the application of the stages in analyzing the epic will illuminate the spirit of the readers as its end goal. this was adopted in the analysis of the text in this study. a native ifugao’s traits and culture were depicted through the sequence of events of the epic. hudhud is known as a woman’s epic. in this variant, the woman is given more emphasis than in the other variants. in this epic though, the plot can be classified as matriarchal and patriarchal since both male and female characters have shown equal skill and beauty. the equality in the role of man and woman is an ifugao trait that can still be observed today. the ifugao people do not have gender issues. in fact, the role of a woman was given emphasis as this reflects the great respect given to an ifugao woman. in the ancient times, when a man had an enemy in another town or village, simply being with a woman would spare him from his enemies. in this epic though, the opponents of dinulawan fought with bugan to redeem their honor. it is likewise evident in the narration that men and women have equal strength. though this may be a secondary theme identified 28 jpair multidisciplinary research in the narration, yet it becomes an important symbol that represents the equality and value system among the ifugao people. the epic is a serious and complicated narration of struggle, fight, deception, love, pride, alliance and vengeance. it is complicated as it has too many characters compared to the other variants. the characters are intertwined and can draw a realistic ifugao family genealogy. despite that, there is no real villain in the epic. there are opponents, yet they respect and admire their opponents and at the end settle their feuds peacefully. the plot seems simple and may be considered as a typical love story that reflects the rich traditions, traits and beliefs of the ifugao people. this supports and validates the definition of manuel (1963:3) that an ethno-epic is embodies or validates the beliefs, customs, ideas, or life-values of people. castro (1984:4) supported the view of manuel that epics are reflective of the society whence they originated. they reflect a tribal society before the coming of the muslims and the spaniards. they are vehicles of transmission of tribal customs and wisdom – the conduct of relationships between classes, between relatives; how courtship is conducted and how marriages are concluded. from the random interviews during the immersion in kiangan, it was evident that the innate traits of men were what exactly shown in the epic. aside from the high respect accorded to women, it is also the nature of the ancient ifugaos to value one’s word of honor and respect, and they settle their feuds and differences in a highly respectable manner that does not result in death, rather through an amicable way such as the uggub (dart), dau (boiling water/trial-by-ordeal method) and bultong (wrestling). in the epic, they settled feud through spear battle, but as all the hudhud variants, the enemy recognizes the skill and greatness of the opponent. this trait of the epic heroes reflects the humility and equality among the people. feuds, fights, disagreements are normal in any society and the ifugao folks are not exempted to this, yet they make it a point to settle things in a peaceful manner. as stanyukovich (2004) assessed it, the epic manifested a peacemaking ideology. this makes the ifugao value system commendable in contrast to the pre-conceived views about them that they are barbaric. this study is an avenue to rectify the wrong notion about the ifugao people that they remained to be head hunters up to this era. likewise, this study introduces the peaceful and loving ifugao people who serve as a role modelin settling their differences in an amicable way. demetrio (1986) claimed that the hudhud characters expressed positive outlook and values despite the feud of the heroic characters of the epic. hudhud 29 international peer reviewed journal was given emphasis as an example of an ethno-epic that has no negative implication despite the battle between the two opposing clans. likewise, he posited that the indigenous and traditional epics provide lessons on justice, respect among human relationships and relationship with the supreme. this implies that hudhud does not only depict a biblical allegory, but it is more bounded to the purpose of existence of every human being and the definition of his humanness. this is evident in the characters as they learned to accept their fault and failure, as a sign of humility in their character. demetrio also expressed his admiration for the richness of the range of the epic and creativity of the indigenous people. socio-political culture the uyauy is the prestigious traditional marriage rite in central kiangan and asipulo, while the marriage rite of the ordinary people is silent. the long and extravagant process of wealthy people’s marriage is highlighted in this hudhud variant. there are many requirements of the traditional marriage that are too expensive for the people of the present era. they have thus set aside the traditional rite and have resorted to the christian way that does not require a long period for the process and which is less expensive and less exhausting ceremony. however, for the kadangyan and for the children of those who underwent the uyauy, it is a must that they keep the tradition as means of preserving the social and political status of their clan. others modify the tradition (short cut version) while, on rare occasions, the couple would undergo both the traditional uyauy and catholic marriage rite. photographs and living kiangan kadangyan shared personally their experiences of the prestigious uyauy rite in kiangan. the two knownold folk, dr. pedro indunan, an imuyauy (one who underwent the process of the prestigious traditional marriage rite), and his son, former mayor albert indunan, an imuyauy who at the same time had a catholic marriage rite immediately after his uyauy, generously shared their wealthy marriage experiences. the marriage in both traditional and catholic rite becomes more extravagant since there are additional animals butchered and another day of celebration for the catholic rite. the latest kadangyan who had a traditional marriage rite in 1999 is felix baguilat, the younger brother and staff member of the current congressman teddy baguilat jr. according to albert indunan, among the ifugaos, before one can be accepted and call himself kadangyan, he must be able to hold a uyauy that would last for about five days to one week, with plenty of animals butchered to be fed to the community and people from other villages and towns who may have heard about the betrothal of a kadangyan. the celebration is free for all to attend. it is a festive 30 jpair multidisciplinary research celebration that would last for days with the best rice wine and pigs, chicken and water buffalos butchered. the uyauy is not a one-time event. there are preliminaries before the uyauy. it starts with a paldang where the mumbaki (native priest) does the first marriage ritual. the bile of the chicken is scrutinized to determine if the gods are in favor of the agreed date of the uyauy. if the paldang rite is favorable, every night for about two to four weeks, there is beating of gongs in the house of the couple to serve as announcement and invitation to the upcoming event. the nightly announcement ends during the holyat. holyat is the last night of merrymaking before the gotad or the wedding feast proper the next day. only the real kadangyan can afford to undergo this process as it is indeed a wealth-draining occasion. the uyauy cycle starts with the imbango, which seemingly like a dowry for the lowlanders. in the ancient times, before betrothal, a man would dry a slice of meat and place it inside a bango (hunter backpack) together with the dowry; he would bring it to the family of the woman he would marry. the acceptance of the meat and dowry signals that the two families could already plan for the date of marriage and the number of animals to be butchered. however, in kiangan, three different sizes of pigs are required for the blessing invocation to the spirit. these are the tukop (large) for the departed relatives, imbango (larger) for the spiritual protectors and the hingngot (largest) for liddum, the god of skyworld. the smallest size of animal must be at least 100 kilos. aside from the pigs, there are other things needed to be brought to the house of the bride. this explains why this tradition is almost extinct. after the imbango is the bubon (engagement), after the performance of which, the bride and groom could legally live as husband and wife. in this ritual, another pig must be butchered. this process can be compared to the engagement rite of the christians of the modern times. next to bubon is angal (negotiation), where the two families produce an equal number of animals, and each would try to produce one pig or carabao more than the other. normally there is a go-between or mediator who represents both families. the go-between is usually respected, witty and good in negotiation, an old folk who knows very well the capacity of the family being represented. the next phase to angal is the holyat, a public festival the night before the wedding day. after the holyat is the gotad (marriage), which is a whole day dancing and drinking rice wine, where people would wear their best attire and ornaments. the other socio-political symbol is the hagabi (wooden bench).this serves as a testimony of the wealth, prestige and respect of people to the owner. it 31 international peer reviewed journal is not everyone’s privilege to install a hagabi in one’s house, for only the elite who have performed at least two uyauys are vested this privilege. according to juan dait, former executive director of ifugao terraces commission (itc) the performance of the uyauy is the penultimate stage in an ifugao’s climb for highest tribal recognition. the couple who aspires to have a hagabi selects a team of experts on the kinds of wood and had previous experience in making a hagabi. the team would go the farthest forest to look for the best wood. rituals are performed before the expedition, before cutting the wood until the time the bench is brought to the house of the humagabi or himagabi (the one who undergoes the hagabi process and ritual). the process and ritual make the hagabia symbol of self-actualization and aristocracy. through the hagabi, every village gets to recognize the greatness of the rich owner of the bench. conclusions the interpretation and analysis of the epic prove that the plot and characters depict the traditions and practices of ifugao people in the ancient times. the findings support as well the claim of castro (1985) that epics may provide awareness and knowledge on the ancient history of the people. the hudhud epic in this study is not far from reality. the showcasing of heirlooms, beauty and skill are ifugao traits that can still be traced in the present era. this study is a response to the urging of manuel, demetrio, lucero, hornedo, and other filipino folklorists for scholars to continue discovering philippine folklore and to preserve these rich unwritten records of the past and integrate the study of them in the philippine school curriculum. the epic was already recognized by unesco as a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity, and the challenge now is in the hands of every individual. one does not need to be an ifugao to care for the hudhud. local or international individual needs to know the culture of others in order to understand humanity and humanness in each being. the study focused on the positive outlook of people in life. feuds, disagreements, jealousy, failures, will always be a part of one’s existence, yet the characters in the epic remind everyone to settle feuds in an amicable manner. war is everywhere, but if only people will learn to deal with life’s struggles like the ifugao people do, then most probably there will be no more killings and crime rates will be reduced. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research the epic belongs to the pagan period, and the characters are not educated people but the behavior and practices of the people depicted in the narration are more civilized than those of the people of the present era. the hudhud is a regional artifact mirroring not only the cultural beliefs and traditions of the ifugao people, but also of the filipino in general. recommendations from the initial findings and analysis of the epic, both local and international scholars, graduate school students and teachers are encouraged to make a more thorough analysis of the epic to continue the call for the preservation of the masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. future researchers and scholars are encouraged to dissect the philosophical aspect and implication of the epic for greater understanding and appreciation by this precious record of the past. more scholars, sociologists, anthropologist and literary enthusiasts are likewise encouraged to examine more closely the different traditions and practices that are imbedded in the text. there should be a serious preservation of the sacredness of the tradition the ifugao people should take pride in the richness of their culture and not use their heritage as just a mere tourist attraction for economic growth in the hudhud areas. the local government unit (lgu) and the department of education must design a serious scheme to monitor the integration of the hudhud in the elementary school curriculum. literature cited abrams, m. h. 1999 a glossary of literary terms asia/pacific cultural center for unesco (accu) 2002 asia-pacific database on intangible cultural heritage (ich): promotion of the “proclamation of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” final report of the 2002 regional workshop for cultural personnel in asia and the pacific, accu: tokyo, japan, 2002. retrieved on october 1, 2013 from http://www.accu.or.jp/ich/en/pdf/2002_ tokyo.pdf 33 international peer reviewed journal castro, j., a. antonio, p. melendrez-cruz, j. mariano & r. makasair-puno 1984 anthology of asean literatures: epics of the philippines (ed.). quezon city: nalandangan inc. castro, j., a. antonio, p. melendrez-cruz, j. mariano& r. makasair-puno. 1985 antolohiya ng mgapanitikang asean: mga epiko ng pilipinas. quezon city: nalandangan, inc. demetrio, f. r. 1986 on human values in philippine epics. asian folklore studies, 205-225. demetrio, f. r. 1986 introduction to philippine epics. philippiniana sacra, volume 21, number 61, pp 5-53. demetrio, f. r. 1987 humanity in philippine epics. philippiniana sacra, volume 22, number 64, pp 333-382. hornedo, f. h. 2000 culture and community in the philippine fiesta and other celebrations. university of santo tomas pub. house. hornedo, f. h., &baltazar, s. d. 2006 epics and ballads of lam-ang’s land & people. ust publishing house. lambrecht, f. 1957 ifugao epic story: hudhud of aliguyon at hananga. the university of manila east asiatic studies, volume 6, numbers 3 and 4, pp 1-43. lambrecht, f. 1960 ifugao hu’dhud. asian folklore studies, volume 19, pp 1-35. lambrecht, f. 1965 ifugao hudhud literature. saint louis quarterly, volume 3, number 2, pp 191-214. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research lambrecht, f. 1967 the hudhud of dinulawan and bugan at gonhadan. saint louis quarterly, volume 5, numbers 3 and 4, pp 267-713. lambrecht, f. 1978 great chant of the mountain minstrels: the ifugao hudhud. filipino heritage: the making of a nation, volume 5, pp. 1141-1148) lahing filipino publishing, inc. lopez, m. l. 2006 a handbook of philippine folklore. up press. lucero, r. c. 2007 ang bayan salabas ng maynila. ateneo university press. manuel, e. a. 1963 a survey of philippine folk epics. asian folklore studies,22, 1-76. manuel, e. a. 1965 philippine folklore bibliography: a preliminary survey(no. 1). philippine folklore society. manuel, e. a. 1985 guide for the study of philippine folklore. philippine folklore society. manuel, a. e. 1955 notes on philippine folk literature. university of manila journal of east asiatic studies, 4(2), 137-153. quito, e. s. 1989 a structural approach to philippine epics: in museo ng kalinangang pilipino. stanyukovich, m. v. 2004 a living shamanistic oral tradition: ifugao hudhud, the philippines. oral tradition, 18(2), 249-251. 35 international peer reviewed journal stanyukovich, m. v. 2013 epic as a means to control memory and emotions of gods and humans: ritual implications of  hudhud among the yattuka and tuwali ifugao. in:  nicolerevel, ed. songs of memory in islands of southeast asia. cambridge scholars publications, newcastle-upon-tyne, pp. 167-204. 153 international peer reviewed journal abstract one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in the country is down syndrome. raising a child with this disorder is not an easy feat for the parents or caregivers. this descriptive phenomenological study intends to explore the experiences of mothers in lucena city in raising a child with down syndrome. ethical clearance was granted by the ethical review board. trustworthiness and vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.559 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. sa ugoy ng duyan: mothers raising a child with down syndrome vince c. tanganim http://orcid.org/0000-00033053-1833 vincee0821@gmail.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines jamyla kathleen c. barrantes https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7960-3936 jamkathleenbarrantes@gmail.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines maurice r. villafranca http://orcid.org/0000-00023961-8356 maurice_villafranca@dlsu.edu.ph calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines karen j. cusi kj_cusi@yahoo.com calayan educational foundation inc. lucena city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% 154 jpair multidisciplinary research rigor were also ensured. data thickness and rich descriptions were achieved through the five (5) participants who were chosen through criterion sampling with the help of key informants from the sped department. the narratives were gathered through the unstructured interview. transcribed narratives were analyzed through the use of collaizi’s (1978) method and result into three (3) themes namely: (1) pakikipaglaro sa tadhana: a pleasant controversy, (2) paghehele sa problema: guts and glory and (3) pag-aakay sa kinabukasan: stronger till the end. the outcome unveils the world of these mothers not only with a glimpse of their adversaries but mostly features this as a blessing in disguise. their child’s condition has helped bring community awareness and perspective on people in the same situation. their experiences have also inspired other parents who likewise struggle with having a child with different abilities. keywords — social science, down syndrome, qualitative, lived experiences, philippines introduction everyone is vulnerable to any abnormalities. chances of encountering pessimistic feedbacks from the society can be easily foreseen by the individual who suffers a certain type of an unusual condition. they may come in different types and may also come with various anomalies. down syndrome turns out to be one of the most prominent of all disability-related cases. in our country alone, according to down syndrome association of the philippines, inc. (dsapi), a child with down syndrome is born every 4 hours and is present in 1 out of 800 filipino children causing widespread discussions of their inclusion to the society (punay, 2015). down syndrome (ds) or trisomy 21 mainly features physical or aesthetic issues and defects. ds individuals have a variety of physical characteristics like a small chin, slanted eye, low-set ears, poor muscle tone, a flat nasal bridge, a single crease of the palm and a protruding due to a small mouth and large tongue. other features may include big toe, an abnormal pattern of fingerprint and short fingers (asim, kumar, muthuswamy, jain & agarwal, 2015). just as the downside of having a grotesque appearance, the cognitive or intellectual feature is also refined in having delayed or inherent abnormalities and is considered as the most common cause of intellectual disability (cohen, 2005). research conducted in finding the cause dates to 1886 wherein various conclusions had 155 international peer reviewed journal been made including uterine exhaustion in older women as they grew older. hence, increasing the risk of giving birth to a child with ds which is then narrowed down as a catalyst of frequent meiotic non-disjunction, a chromosomal abnormality (o’connor, 2008). meanwhile, an intellectual disability which is also referred to as general learning disability or mental retardation is commonly known as an impairment of intellect and cognitive state of a person. interaction, as well as their way of adaptation, is altered, resulting in isolation and difficulties of adjusting oneself in every situation like common engagements to hardships in living a normal life. just as this case is multi-factorial, this disability is subdivided into two which is a syndromic intellectual disability, referring to medical or behavioral signs (e.g. down syndrome, fragile x syndrome), and non-syndromic or idiopathic intellectual disability, which then occurs without other abnormalities. unfortunate as it is, problems related to this are incurable and can only be aided by professional or relational backgrounds whose expertise realms around psychopathology with concerns to perceived social or network support (cicchetti & cohen, 2006). according to samaniego (2015), such factors include genetic disorders, congenital hypothyroidism and environmental factors (e.g. alcoholism, nutritional deficiency, physical trauma, and medications). moreover, this can be manifested by an indication of unusual temperament, self-injurious and hyperactivity or inattentive behaviors observed during their initial stages of development. however, it was still diagnosed using mental status examination which is usually taken when a child starts to study and go to school. results from the test with lower than average intelligence support the fact that one is suffering from intellectual disability. these cases were predominantly discovered in the stage of prenatal or early childhood by their guardians or gynecologist. even though considered incurable and prescribed as having various alterations such as short attention span, poor judgment, impulsive behavior and slow learning, some skills can still be attained yet it only takes more time in developing compared to those without it. professionals under health, social services, and education play a significant role in providing support for it is beneficial to the development of one with learning disabilities and as well as the intensity of relationship of the individuals within that family (ward, 2001). this correlates to the topic of how parents of those who have that condition cope with this type of situation. primarily of how they react and inducement of 156 jpair multidisciplinary research chronic sorrow due to impending realizations of being in a tragic situation was only an initiative to the occurrence of the situation (lindgren, burke, hainsworth & eakes, 1992). parents may feel distressed, griefed, confused and angry as an effect (einfeld & emerson, 2009). may even sought for a formidable choice like consideration to religion or various beliefs to encourage each faith and somehow deduce confrontations due to the consequence faced but may end up thinking about the consequences that they possibly face in the future. parents entering the world of having a responsibility to a child with ds often encounter a confusing array of treatment options and opportunities which means determining where to focus will always be an onerous task. physical therapies as an example play a critical role in providing long-term functional outcomes to the prevention of abnormal movement patterns which is known to be an essential onset for the task of learning in the child (winders, 2001). furthermore, kishore (2011) stated that the fountainhead of stress and negative emotions to mothers and caregivers are derived from a child’s sense of needs to accomplish optimal maintenance of health and maximal security for his or her future. this includes problems related in nurturing a disabled child in terms of financial prospect and significantly on the behavioral aspect considering that children possessing that case bring adept distraction to parents and teachers whenever they feel challenged in a difficult task. contrary to the negative outcomes, parents may acquire new opportunities when undergone to adjustment processes like personal growth and tangible gains. conflicting emotions such as jealousy, embarrassment, and anger could be reciprocated in such profits like increased empathy, patience and sensitivity when having a child with ds (levine, 2002). therefore, positive perception does exist in the latter part of childhood and serves as a compliment in minimizing marginalization among the development and assured future for the child (cohen et al., 2011). after a long and in-depth research about down syndrome, it provides the parents with perceptive clarification of the condition of the child that takes a sensible expectation about what will happen in the future, hence, it concludes less stress and worries about the future (fidler, hodapp, & dykens, 2002). for mothers, the primary caregivers, stress levels were strongly related to their child’s self-sufficiency. when children with disabilities can walk alone, handling and physically caring for them becomes easier for their parents. despite changing the gender roles, mothers still tend to have primary responsibility and essential obligation for child care and are, thus, most subjected to the challenges associated to their child’s disability (gray & holden, 1992). 157 international peer reviewed journal this study aims to discern the experiences of the mothers in raising a child with down syndrome and intellectual disability in relation to their psychological related perceptions and as well as determining the coping mechanisms or strategies that they used in trigger events, circumstances. garnered data were then analyzed and interpreted with the aid of using colaizzi’s method as accurately applied to studies with a descriptive phenomenological approach. methodology research approach a qualitative research method is found useful in deciphering the output of the study as it was relatable to a phenomenological study. the study aimed to analyze the experiences of mothers raising a child with down syndrome whereas a phenomenological approach was utilized. derived descriptions from the co-researchers were improvised and concluded by means of finding the familiarity with it. lopez and willis (2004) argued that singularity of information among the lived experience of an individual or a group of people do exist with precise and accurate definitions. therefore, generalizing this phenomenon relates as indisputably applicable for any occasion within this type of study. phenomenology wojnar and swanson (2007) citing lopez and willis (2004) eloquently stated that phenomenology is a way of understanding the people’s everyday lived experience. the aim of phenomenology is to convey the experiences by using colaizzi’s (1978) strategy of descriptive phenomenological data analysis in a qualitative research. descriptive phenomenology a descriptive phenomenological approach helped the researchers in analyzing the phenomena occurring in the field of raising a child with down syndrome. descriptive phenomenology is found as the most reliable source to the development of findings on a universal aspect. descriptive phenomenology is the philosophical foundation of husserlian phenomenology that follows a five-step system of the method of researching. in doing so, giorgi’s (2009) five-step system gives the precise thoroughness of “science” while not being reductionistic in its treating of the people contemplated. 158 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, the strategy is disclosure situated instead of check arranged. descriptive phenomenology clarified that it is more helpful for a systematic investigation to pinpoint the general aspects of the phenomenon that were never conceptualized or deficiently conceptualized in a research (wojnar & swanson, 2007). process of reflective analysis colaizzi’s method of analysis provides an active strategy in describing the lived experience of a person of a group people. this includes the extraction of data and to formulate significant meanings through the narratives. the level of data saturation was determined by the researchers in a process carried out in parallel with data collection. the expressions were deciphered and interpreted as a whole in consideration with a certain condition (wojnar & swanson, 2007). establishing trustworthiness and rigor trustworthiness to all of the information was given importance as this possesses a subjective viewpoint that should be kept in a confidential manner. criteria for trustworthiness in subjective research are actually the same to the paradigmatic underpinnings in which a specific examination is directed. the researchers treated the interview with an in-depth consideration to avoid the exacerbation of negative feelings that will disorient the participants and the data. trustworthiness has been divided into confirmability, dependability, transferability, and credibility. moreover, the researchers consistently utilized the technique to guarantee immaculate elucidation of garnered information. ethical consideration containing the anonymity of the co-researchers, collecting the assets and liabilities of the research and acquiring the informed consent were the ethical constituents preferred for application to the study. the ethical clearance beforehand was reviewed by the research adviser which includes the procedures and research questions that are answered by the co-researchers. ahead of the interview are the justification and clarification in the form of written explanations of the purpose and the essence of the study condensed into informed consent. potential co-researchers were contacted and were given a brief discussion on the coverage of the study, informed consent, and the recession of procedures and set a fixed date, time and place for the interview. the co-researchers were given a free will so that they may retreat whenever they feel ashamed or stress. thereupon, the overall activity of the collection of data procedure, analysis, usage, and storage was tackled during the transaction of the researchers and co-researchers. 159 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion three (3) major themes were generated in the narratives namely: (1) pakikipaglaro sa tadhana: a pleasant controversy, (2) paghehele sa problema: guts and glory and (3) pag-aakay sa kinabukasan: stronger till the end. the theme pakikipaglaro sa tadhana: a pleasant controversy initially descends after the thorough process of research analysis. under these are the three subtopics namely (1) searching for enlightenment, (2) social dilemma: blessing or loss of reputation and (3) will of god. which discusses how mothers embraced the climacteric changes of having a child with down syndrome on the initial time onset like doubting of the occurrence of the child, receiving of degrading side comments or appraisals and consideration to the situation as a perfect planned by god. vilma shared her experience about finding answers and how they found the answer regarding the situation. (“at first, we blame each other saying it’s your fault, my fault, why is he like that? when the doctor explained to us that it’s no one’s fault, just pure accident, we just accepted it, cause it’s our child, we can’t give it to other people because it is our flesh and blood.”) judy added: (“at first, their father asked why, why is he born like that? but we explained the situation. before, my husband doesn’t want him to attend school, “what will he learn there?” he said. i’m the only one who is insisting it.”) in addition, the co-researchers experience social judgment that is either positive or negative criticism. judy stated that: (of course, in a married couple it’s like you can’t accept it at first. every time i would go to the health center, i feel humiliated. sometimes other people tell that my child is a blessing.) vilma said that: (i can see in their eyes that they are judging me. that’s why sometimes i pity myself.”) 160 jpair multidisciplinary research some co-researchers regarded the situation as a planned of god where they whole-heartedly express their gratitude towards him. aiai said that. (“i would tell the lord god if you take my life take my daughter’s life too; if you take hers then take mine as well.”) maricel further elaborated that: (“we don’t want that to happen. it is beyond our control. that’s why we say that it is a blessing from lord god. we don’t blame each other, we are thankful instead.”) another theme unfolded in the process is paghehele ng problema: guts and glory. this is then divided into two subtopics which are the (1) sacrificial support and (2) financial stability and standings. it addresses how mothers cope and how they handle the responsibility of having a child with down syndrome like assessing how they handle tantrums, providing the child’s wants and finally nurturing the child to the fullest along with an extra burden of balancing the needs or finances of the family. the co-researchers handled the responsibility and sacrificed everything for the sake of her child. according to vilma: (“there is a time that when he takes a nap in the afternoon, he would still be up until 12 midnight or 1:00 am. he would get up, go upstairs and downstairs that’s why i had to be awake as well since i’m the only one taking care of him.”) jaclyn added: (“once he wants something, “ate i want that, ate” he will be accompanied to the mall. if he wants something, his sister must buy it immediately. because if you don’t buy it, he would stay on that spot and he wouldn’t move there until you buy that thing. that’s why if you bring him to the mall you must have money.”) moreover, the co-researchers also experienced problems and challenges related to finding enough money to provide the needs of their child, especially the medical demands that is compulsory sometimes. vilma expressed that: (“that’s why his father works harder to provide finances because it is hard to earn money here in the philippines, it is very insufficient. especially that i want him to undergo ot and therapy…”) 161 international peer reviewed journal sisa further added: (“i don’t take her as a problem because my problem is money and where to get it that’s why i’m striving…”) judy further elaborated by sharing: (“at first, when he came, we need money, because he is always needed to be brought to the hospital that's where i have to spent all of our money.”) the last theme generated was the pag-aakay sa kinabukasan: stronger till the end which depicts two subtopics namely (1) enriching family ties and (2) source of joy which then presents how their family established a stronger bond as well as the joy that the child brings to everyone. one of the co-researchers, vilma, refurbished family connection: (“he helps me. whatever it is you just need to accept it even though it is hard because they are only two. i’m not supposed to cry but, at least his brother, i see how he studies very well, his grades are good and he is always on the honor list…”) jaclyn added that: (“his father loved him. even his siblings, they love their brother. yes, they accept their brother and give him whatever he wants. when he tells them that he wants to buy that, his siblings buy it immediately.”) maricel elaborated that: (“she’s close to her father. her siblings love her very much. they take care of her just so much despite her condition.”) the joy of having the child in their life along with the happiness that they shed on the family is also experienced by the co-researchers. according to vilma: (“there are times that he is always happy, he’s clingy and sweet. it is okay because he is happy that is why we are happy.”) 162 jpair multidisciplinary research in addition, judy stated that: (“he is thoughtful and clingy, most of them are sweet, always clingy. stay away from him because of back pain. his father would tell him to then he will still do something at his back even with my co-mothers and to his teacher. then he kisses the hands of elders to show them respect.”) conclusion the study determined the essence of mothers raising a child with a down syndrome. the superiority of a descriptive phenomenological approach proposed by edmund husserl was shown throughout the study. the co-researchers were chosen through purposive criterion sampling and with the help of the sped teachers under the unit of mental retardation serve as the key informant of the study. five (5) co-researchers agreed to take part in this study. wherein, they qualified on the following criteria: (1) should be a female filipino citizen living in lucena city and may be legally married, widowed and may or may not have another child. (2) should have a child with down syndrome. (3) should be willing to give information and genuine answers with regard to the topic. collaizi’s method was used in doing the reflective analysis. garnering three (3) major themes from the data namely; (1) pakikipaglaro sa tadhana: a pleasant controversy; (2) paghehele sa problema: guts and glory; and (3) pagaakay sa kinabukasan: stronger till the end. sustaining a careful reflection led to the understanding of the essence of the mothers raising a child with down syndrome, as characterized by having faith, resilience, flexibility, submissiveness, and optimism. the co-researches showed optimism which that takes part because they never let those negative thinking dominate their lives. they have become productive instead of being trashed and helpless by transforming negativities such as stress, grief, and anger into a positive one. helping themselves see the bright side of having a child with down syndrome in the family. the mothers fearlessly face the problems with raising their child. they were able to offer their own time for their child to give them better future and to secure their safety. 163 international peer reviewed journal implications  groundwork research about other façades or perspectives of mothers in raising a child with down syndromes like on how they cope with the rising demands and adjust themselves from tantrums or other manic reactions.  endorsements of additional aides in finance or assistance on needed therapies on a phase of renewed and much faster distribution for the disabled patients like down syndrome from the government.  provide or informed people of free consultations for the parents from a professional to expand their knowledge on how to handle provocative problems like pampering tantrums or even in the balancing of daily needs from various demands.  publicly informed the community about the case through the deployment of productive seminars, meetings or cultivating activities with a goal of establishing camaraderie among community people and families with a down syndrome patient and other disabled.  establish organizations whose committed and imbued on assisting or launching innovative programs not only for the child with a disability but as well as to their parents. literature cited cicchetti, d., & cohen, d. j. 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(2007). phenomenology: an exploration. journal of holistic nursing, v (25), 172-176.doi10.1177/0898010106295172 128 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the continuous push for ‘education for all’ suggests that there will be more learners with disability or exceptionality attending inclusive classrooms. the study attempted to look at how higher education institutions in northern mindanao or region 10 were preparing non-special education elementary school teachers for inclusive education. employing qualitative curriculum content analysis, 252 syllabi of the foundational courses in 21 bachelor of elementary education degree programs for non-special education majors were examined to determine how they addressed literature-based inclusion competencies. the findings are reflective of those in similar studies. one or two introductory theoretical courses in special education were required in preparing elementary school teachers for inclusive education. analysis revealed few cases of moderate to high coverage of the inclusion competencies in understanding exceptionality, collaboration, inclusive instructional strategies, and inclusive assessment vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.462 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. pre-service preparation of elementary school teachers for inclusive education in northern mindanao, philippines therese june v. aranas http://orcid.org 0000-0002-5100-6766 theresejune@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines ruth g. cabahug http://orcid.org 0000-0002-5977-3329 university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines 129 international peer reviewed journal under the professional education courses. there was a predominantly zero-tolow coverage of the inclusion competencies related to the concept of inclusive education and inclusive classroom management. the limited coverage of literature-based inclusion competencies prompted recommendations for the enhancement of elementary teacher education programs to effectively prepare teachers for inclusive classrooms. keywords – teacher education, inclusive education teaching competencies, curriculum content analysis, northern mindanao, philippines introduction the right of every child to education has been recognized worldwide for more than half a century. beginning with the 1948 universal declaration of human rights which affirmed everyone’s right to education, there had been global efforts to assure opportunities for quality basic education. one significant undertaking was the 1990 world declaration on ‘education for all’ (efa) which emphasized giving attention to the learning needs of all learners regardless of individual differences, providing them equal access to education (unesco, 1994a). this right was reiterated in the 1994 salamanca statement on principles, policy and practice in special needs education, recognizing the “necessity and urgency of providing education for children, youth and adults with special educational needs within the regular education system” (unesco, 1994b). in 2000, the world declaration on efa further identified “inclusive education as a key strategy for the development of education for all” (peters, 2004). hence, in 2006, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities urged countries to ensure an inclusive education (ie) system at all levels, recognizing the right of persons with disabilities to education without discrimination. the republic of the philippines recognizes the right of all to education in article xiv of the 1987 constitution, which affirms that “the state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels.” committed to the efa movement and as a signatory to the salamanca statement, the country through the department of education (deped) issued memorandum order no. 26 in 1997, implementing special education programs which institutionalized ie in all schools. the country’s comprehensive inclusive program stipulated in memorandum order no. 72 (deped, 2009) describes the components and mechanisms for the successful implementation of inclusive education in schools. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research it can be seen, therefore, that the country has developed its basic education plans that are anchored on the right of every filipino to quality education, specifically, stipulating that education should be inclusive (neda, 2013). in whatever manner it is implemented, the success of ie can be affected by barriers such as those relating to the preparation of teachers to meet the challenges of educational inclusion in increasingly diverse societies (florian, 2008; pugach, 2010). for example, opertti and belalcazar (2008) noted that when teachers lack the tools needed to address the diversity of learners’ needs, they “resist dealing with heterogeneity” (p.133) in the classroom. teachers in inclusive classrooms need to have the competencies in providing learning environments and opportunities for all learners with diverse background and different abilities. the unesco (2009) advocates for the reorientation and alignment of teacher education programs to ie approaches. it has long urged teacher education institutions to provide teachers the competencies to make diversity work in the classroom and to strengthen pre-service training programs to carry out the efa initiatives. aligned with this, the country’s commission on higher education (ched), in its memorandum order no. 30, series of 2004 (cmo 30 s.2004), also known as the revised policies and standards for undergraduate teacher education curriculum, has explicitly stated that graduates of bachelor of elementary education (beed) and bachelor of secondary education (bsed) should be able to facilitate learning of diverse types of learners (ched, 2004). however, it was noted that non-special education teachers in inclusive classrooms seemed to be uncertain about what to do in terms of facilitating learning, behavior management, and other instructional areas. this could lead to “catch-up cascade in-service training” (kaplan & lewis, 2013) to upgrade teachers’ competencies, which are not cost-effective. the continuous push for efa beyond 2015 suggests that there will be more students with disability or exceptionality who will attend inclusive classrooms. thus, more teachers with competencies in ie teaching will be needed, which higher educational institutions (heis) will have to provide. with the shift to outcomes-based education, per ched memorandum order no. 46, series of 2012 (cmo 46 s.2012) and the transition driven by the enhanced basic education act of 2013, heis have been redesigning curricula for their undergraduate teacher education programs. to effectively address ie teaching competency requirements in the new curricula, heis need to know how preservice teachers are currently being prepared for ie. particular attention is given to the beed undergraduate degree program in this study because it is likely that 131 international peer reviewed journal there are more differently-abled in regular classrooms at the primary grades than at the secondary levels (ormrod, 2008). framework the social efficiency ideology within the broad field of curriculum theory provided the context within which the analysis of pre-service elementary teacher education was anchored on. the study borrowed the competencyor outcomesbased education (obe) framework as lenses and adopted the constructivist philosophy as a navigational guide in looking at the curricula of teacher education programs. central to the social efficiency ideology (schiro, 2008) is the belief that the essence of learners lies in their competencies that have been determined as needs of the society, leading to a demand-driven curriculum. this means that higher education institutions (heis) specify elementary teacher education program goals and objectives, and learning outcomes in the courses, according to the needs of the schools that eventually hire their graduates. the schools’ specification for teacher competencies, in turn, are driven by the demands of society. with the inclusive education reform, schools are requiring pre-service teachers to have the inclusion-oriented knowledge, skills and attitude needed in inclusive classrooms. the focus on competencies in determining the content of an educational program is synonymous with the concept of outcomes-based education (obe). according to malan (2000), obe is an “eclectic philosophy” that combines the best of past educational approaches which address the demands of society, congruent with the social efficiency ideology. it is a philosophy or theory (killen, 2007) defined by spady (1994) as “clearly focusing and organizing everything in an educational system around what is essential for all students to be able to do successfully at the end of their learning experiences.” review of literature about the essential competencies needed to prepare preservice teachers for inclusive education yielded common sets that could serve as the focus of study when looking at the content of teacher education programs. one set pertains to the concept of inclusive education or ie (loreman, 2010; european agency for special needs education or eadsne, 2012). this knowledge base forms the foundation of ie practices that general education teachers should have (holdheide & reschly, 2008). another refers to understanding exceptionality, which includes knowledge (dingle, falvey, givner & haager, 2004; cooper, kurtts, baber & vallecorsa, 2008; allday, neilsen-gatti & hudson, 2013) and 132 jpair multidisciplinary research attitude or disposition (titone, 2005; van laarhoven, munk, lynch & rouse, 2007; eadsne, 2012) about learners with exceptionality or disability. as what darling-hammond (2006) suggests, teachers would lack the foundation that enables them to think of strategies in addressing diversity if they did not know how “different people learn differently.” a third set pertains to collaboration. experts suggest that teachers in inclusive classrooms should have competencies in working with others (dingle et al. 2004; titone, 2005; holdheide & reschly, 2008; allday et al., 2013), especially with families, other teachers and professionals (van laarhoven et al., 2007; cooper et al., 2008; eadsne, 2012). because the essential knowledge and skills for teaching have grown expansively, teachers need to collaborate with one another (darling-hammond, 2006; lepage et al., 2010). another set of competencies concerns instructional strategies, approaches, methods, or pedagogy (dingle et al., 2004; titone, 2005; cooper et al., 2008; loreman, 2010; eadsne, 2012). this set also includes specific approaches such universal design (van laarhoven et al., 2007) and differentiated instruction (allday et al., 2013). a fifth set of combined competencies pertains to classroom management and behavior support, intervention or management (van laarhoven et al., 2007; cooper et al., 2008; allday et al., 2013). it is deemed imperative that teachers understand classroom and behavior management techniques to address challenging student behavior and minimize classroom disruption. finally, a sixth set of competencies concerns meaningful assessment (dingle et al., 2004; loreman, 2010), both formal and informal (cooper et al., 2008). as darlinghammond (2006) proposes, teachers must be continually “reshaped” (p. 5) with their knowledge and skills in assessing pupil learning. 133 international peer reviewed journal the figure below illustrates how an elementary teacher education curriculum can be studied and enhanced taking into account the literature-based ie competencies. influence of inclusion competencies in a demand-driven teacher education curriculum reference to competencies in inclusive education is found in article iv of the cmo 30 s.2004, which states that teachers should be able to “facilitate learning of diverse types of learners, in diverse type of learning environments, using a wide range of knowledge and skills.” the cmo 30 s.2004 specifies the policies and competency standards for undergraduate teacher education curriculum, which prescribes the foundational and methods courses (grossman, hammerness & mcdonald, 2009) in two major categories: theories and concepts; and, methods and strategies. the constructivist paradigm in cmo 30 s.2004 (reston & dayagbil, 2010) supports the adoption of constructivism as the philosophy that guided the curriculum content analysis (richardson, 2005; beck & kosnik, 2006) employed in this study. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study attempted to analyze the bachelor of elementary education (beed) curricula of higher educational institutions in northern mindanao or region 10, with particular focus on the preparation of non-special education teachers for inclusive education. special education teaching programs were presumed to cover ie teaching competencies and thus, were not studied. specifically, it sought to identify the courses on inclusive education within beed programs for non-special education teachers. it likewise looked into how content in (1) the theory and concepts courses, and in (2) the methods and strategies courses, addressed literature-based inclusion competencies in the following areas: concept of inclusive education, understanding exceptionalities, collaboration, inclusive instructional strategies, inclusive classroom management, and inclusive assessment. the findings would serve as inputs to proposals for enhancement in the beed curricula. methodology the qualitative method of curricular content analysis (mayring, 2000; hsieh & shannon, 2005; berg, 2007; zhang & wildemuth, 2009; schreier, 2012) was utilized to answer the research questions. to infer about the beed curricula, the study used the syllabi developed by the instructors of theory and concepts courses, and of methods and strategies courses. content and objective/ outcome statements in the syllabi were examined vis-a-vis teacher competencies identified by authors (dingle, falvey, givner & haager, 2004; titone, 2005; darling-hammond, 2006; van laarhoven, munk, lynch, bosma & rouse, 2007; cooper, kurtts, baber & vallecorsa, 2008; holdheide & reschly, 2008; lepage et al., 2010; loreman, 2010; eadsne, 2012; allday, neilsen-gatti & hudson, 2013) of inclusive education studies. for ease in analysis, selected key competency indicators from a non-copyright version of the ‘profile of inclusive teachers’ (eadsne, 2012) were slotted under each of the competency areas. additional indicators were borrowed from the dingle et al. study (2004) to complete a list of two knowledge, two skills, and two attitude indicators that served as sub-competencies for each ie competency area. a total of 252 syllabi were analyzed, which were collected from 21 higher education institutions, chosen through purposive sampling from among 60 heis that offered teacher education in region 10 (ched, 2014). the prospectus of 135 international peer reviewed journal the beed programs (excluding the major in special education) were the principal instruments used in searching for inclusion-specific or inclusion-related courses. following the deductive application in content analysis (mayring, 2000; schreier, 2012), a systematic coding process was executed to facilitate making inferences from the text in the syllabi, providing answers to the research questions. this involved the development of a coding frame during the pilot phase of analysis, which was repeatedly revised as more syllabi were studied. the constructivist process of systematic and constant comparison of texts produced a final coding frame which was utilized during the main phase of analysis. magnitude coding (saldana, 2009) was performed to avoid overlapping counts of the analysis units. data produced from the content analysis were reduced in matrix tables, akin to a curriculum map, to facilitate analysis, interpretation, and drawing of conclusions. results and discussion survey of the prospectus collected from the participating heis produced no case of a required course that was specifically titled inclusive education in the bachelor of elementary education (beed) programs, either in general education or and in early childhood/ pre-school education. the course titles introduction to special education, the exceptional child in the classroom, and guidance and counseling in special education emerged as the inclusion-related course offerings in less than half of the beed programs. information in the first two courses pertains to the characteristics and classification of children with special educational needs (sen) and their educational placement. the latter focuses more on content about the various counseling approaches that can be applied in providing guidance support to learners with sen. the findings are consistent with that of other studies (amr, 2011; pugach, 2010; harvey, yssel, bauserman & merbler, 2010; wolfberg, lepage & cook, 2009; turner, 2003) that identified one or two introductory courses in special education as the common route in inclusive teacher education programs. as pointed out by kaplan and lewis (2013), introductory special education courses are not comprehensive approaches to teaching inclusive education and may not even support inclusion. they are important in preparing pre-service teachers to work with learners having special educational needs. table 1 illustrates the overall coverage of the literature-based competencies in the four theory and concepts courses (listed first), and in the nine methods 136 jpair multidisciplinary research and strategies courses. content analysis of the syllabi revealed few cases of high overall coverage of the competencies in understanding exceptionality, inclusive instructional strategies, and inclusive assessment. few cases of moderate coverage of the competencies in collaboration and inclusive instructional strategies were also observed. table 1. coverage of ie teaching competencies in the professional education courses course competency area concept of inclusive education understanding exceptionality collaboration inclusive instructional strategies inclusive classroom management inclusive assessment child and adolescent development none high low low low none facilitating learning low high low high low low social dimensions of education low low none low none none the teaching profession low low none low none none principles of teaching 1 none low low low low none principles of teaching 2 low low moderate low low none assessment of student learning 1 none none low none none low assessment of student learning 2 none none low low none high 137 international peer reviewed journal educational technology 1 none low low low none none educational technology 2 none low low low none none developmental reading 1 none low none low none none developmental reading 2 none none low moderate none none curriculum development low low moderate moderate none none the competency related to the ‘concept of inclusive education (ie)’ was addressed mainly through the introduction of the philosophy and principles underlying ie, and two world declarations that emphasize the right of every child to education, “first call for children” and “education for all.” the low coverage in few courses emphasized the theoretical aspects of inclusive education, which may render pre-service teachers unprepared for the real world or nature of teaching (booth, 2000; rosenzweig, 2009). the predominantly zero-tolow coverage likewise suggests that the ‘concept of inclusive education’ stands as an essential addition to teacher education curricula in the region. literature (holdheide & reschly, 2008; eadsne, 2012) have stressed the introduction of the concept of inclusion as it forms the foundation of inclusive education practices, including the development of a positive attitude towards teaching in diverse classrooms. analysis of the syllabi also pointed out that overall coverage of the competency in ‘understanding exceptionality’ was high in two theory-dominant foundational courses that are commonly taught in the second year under the beed program: child and adolescent development, and facilitating learning. the syllabi in these courses included content on the characteristics of learners with disability, with emphasis on respecting and valuing difference in the latter. one plausible explanation for the high coverage was the adoption of the sample syllabi of the ched regional office. content in the sample syllabi included topics on exceptional development and on individual difference, with a focus on special learning needs. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research the limited high coverage of the competency in ‘understanding exceptionality’ in only two courses reflects what has been found in a study by allday, nielsengatti and hudson (2013), which pointed out that universities are not keen about students’ understanding of the characteristics of students with disabilities. such situation suggests that pre-service teachers may not be adequately equipped with the competency in providing appropriate learning experiences. understanding the nature of exceptionality leads to proper identification (allday et al., 2013) and positive attitudes towards learners with special educational needs (sen), and therefore effective instruction (lepage et al., 2010; lewis & norwich, 2005). in studying barriers to successful inclusive education, titone (2005) identified lack of knowledge about the characteristics of the disabilities as a contributing factor, and highlighted the need for inclusion concepts as something that should “permeate in a program.” in addition, data revealed moderate coverage of the competency in ‘collaboration’ under the methods and strategies courses, principles of teaching 2 and curriculum development. a likely explanation of the coverage can be likewise traced to the content in the sample syllabi for the courses of the ched’s regional office. mentioned in both groups of syllabi were collaborative and teamwork in teaching, and integrating different learning styles in curriculum planning and implementation. there was a predominantly low coverage of the competency in many of the courses. the finding reflects that which allday et al. (2013) reported: that there are very few universities that prepare teachers adequately to use collaboration in addressing instructional and behavioral needs of diverse learners. the results of analysis imply the need to further integrate the concept of collaboration in the beed curricula. collaborative relationship has been identified in the titone (2005) study as a factor that parents and teachers find beneficial in inclusive classrooms. this includes teaming among teachers, establishing clear roles, involving parents as useful resources (titone, 2005). preservice teachers need to be taught skills in co-planning, co-teaching, and communicating effectively with parents and other teachers (winn & blanton, 2005; grskovic & trzcinka, 2011; hemmings & woodcock, 2011). the results of content analysis further indicated that overall coverage of the competency in ‘inclusive instructional strategies’ was high only in facilitating learning. particular emphasis was given to the acquisition of knowledge about the learner-centered psychological principles in facilitating learning that considers individual difference in capabilities in the learning process (american 139 international peer reviewed journal psychological association, 1997). there was moderate coverage of the competency in the methods and strategies courses, developmental reading 2 and curriculum development. further investigation revealed that the syllabi of heis for these courses had similar content on inclusive education with the sample syllabi of the ched regional office. apart from the aforementioned courses, there was a predominantly low coverage of the competency in ‘inclusive instructional strategies.’ it was noted that while content on the selection of teaching strategies and models was expressed in the syllabi for principles of teaching, only a few considered learners with disability in the objectives/outcomes expressed. this situation suggests consideration of integrating instructional strategies for inclusive classrooms, particularly in those where they likely to be prescribed. the competency in diverse (holdeheide & reschly, 2008) or inclusion-based (kosko & wilkins, 2009) instructional strategies has been determined as an essential foundation in inclusive education. in the comparison among four courses that had low coverage of the competency in ‘inclusive classroom management,’ only child and adolescent development had ie-related objective/outcome statements in practically all knowledge, skill and attitude domains. the predominantly zero coverage implies that inclusive classroom management strategies seem to be a competency that was ‘left behind’. allday, neilsen-gatt and hudson (2013) have also determined that there is little evidence to show that student teachers are receiving enough training on inclusive classroom management. this situation leaves the current graduates with less or perhaps no theory or beginning skills in classroom and behavior management that allow them to effectively teach learners with sen in inclusive classrooms. many authors (cooper et al., 2008; eadsne, 2012; allday et al., 2013) have pointed out that general education teachers need instruction in inclusive classroom management and behavior management strategies. these include knowledge and skills in reinforcement techniques, crisis prevention and intervention (grskovic & trzcinka, 2011). without these competencies, teachers may experience stress when faced with demands of students with behavior problems. the competency level in ‘inclusive assessment’ was high in assessment of student learning 2. teachers interviewed in this study disclosed that there was emphasis of many sub-competencies of inclusive assessment in the course. such level of coverage can be attributed to the focus on assessing other domains in learning, i.e., not only limited to content or subject knowledge and on alternative forms of assessment that measure practical learning. these features were also evident in the ched sample syllabus for the course. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research the low coverage in assessment of student learning 1 suggests the possibility of integrating topics and outcome statements concerning the development and utilization of assessment tools that consider different abilities of learners. in this manner, graduates of the beed programs would possess initial skills in modifying assessment, in developing and implementing assessment plans that allow students to demonstrate learning in many ways. experts maintain that inclusive education demands assessment in multiple ways (winn & blanton, 2005), and requires engagement in meaningful evaluation (loreman, 2010). conclusions the findings derived from the curriculum content analysis provided understanding about how heis in the region were preparing non-special education elementary school teachers for inclusive classrooms. characteristics of the beed programs for non-special education majors suggest the application of the infusion model (turner, 2003; stayton & mccollun, in eadsne, 2010; forlin & chambers, 2011). the infusion route adopted by some heis was the requirement of one or two introductory coursework on special education, common among teacher education institutions in other countries. this practice may not be adequate because these introductory courses have limited content on inclusive education, and may not teach students the necessary skills needed in inclusive classrooms. infusion of ie teaching competencies within the professional education courses was also a practice noted. while coverage of the literature-based competencies was evident, it was emphasized only in few courses. in these, there emerged a pattern of similar content in the syllabi among the heis, and alignment between the syllabi of the heis and the sample syllabi of the ched. the instances of high and low coverage according to the presence and absence of related content in the sample syllabi of ched, suggests a case of enacted curriculum congruent with prescribed curriculum. the predominantly limited coverage of the literature-based competencies in many courses indicates that consideration for inclusive education was wanting during the creation of many of the syllabi studied. it appears that the unesco call for the reorientation of teacher education programs to inclusive education approaches has not yet been heeded fully by many heis in the region. this leaves pre-service teachers unprepared to teach in inclusive classrooms because they would have less than adequate competencies in the concept of ie, understanding 141 international peer reviewed journal exceptionality, collaboration, inclusive instructional strategies, and inclusive classroom management. as in any constructivist inquiry, realities are dependent on the individual holding the constructions (guba & lincoln, 1994). analysis of the content of elementary teacher education programs as reflected in the syllabi may have been influenced by the researchers’ conceptions and value systems. moreover, the findings and conclusions are limited by the ie teaching competencies considered in the study. although the determination of these competencies involved data saturation during literature search, there is still likelihood of missing key areas. the focus on the syllabi as the central instrument in the study may have also created a slightly different picture of the preparation of elementary school teachers for inclusive education. it is possible that the competencies have been addressed in the coursework, yet they were not expressed in the syllabi. translational research implications while continuously adopting the infusion model, heis need to consider dedicating a course on inclusive education. this allows focus on the essential knowledge base and disposition that teachers should have to be able to teach successfully in inclusive classrooms. support of this recommendation comes from the work of sharma, forlin and loreman (2008). meanwhile, study on special education will have to be continued since the body of knowledge gained from it will instruct practice in inclusion teaching. this recommendation is anchored on the justification offered by lepage et al. (2010), arguing that even medical students study pathology, immunology, and other areas of practice. in determining student learning outcomes in the foundational and methods courses, teachers should consider infusion of content about ie, and translate these concepts into skills, in as many applicable courses as possible. the recommendation for a content-infused approach finds support from the work of loreman (2008), and forlin and chambers (2011). where content is not directly applicable in a course, there could be embedded messages about inclusion that promote valuing diversity. this is in accord with what authors stressed about inclusion. it is a “philosophy that should permeate” (titone, 2005) and should be “an integral part woven into every element” (kaplan & lewis, 2013) of teacher education. the use of an embedded design, according to zundans-fraser and lancaster (2012), would help in the maintenance of knowledge and skills required for ie teaching. 142 jpair multidisciplinary research the ched would agree that it is advantageous to articulate in detail the ie-related outcomes for the beed degree programs through its policy statements and guidelines, thus strengthening the foundation of ie teaching competency standards. the ched, including the philippine association for teacher education (pafte), are urged to consider adopting the ie-related course objectives and learning outcomes proposed by the authors for all professional education courses. literature cited allday, r.a., neilsen-gatti, s. & hudson, t.m. 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(2009). quantitative analysis of content. retrieved april 30, 2014 from https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~yanz/content_ analysis.pdf 177 international peer reviewed journal implementation of solid water and waste water management of beach resorts in anda, bohol, philippines jesszon b. cano https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-033x jesszon.cano@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines arlinda n. ramasola https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6632-1913 arlindan.ramasola@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines may amor d. gucor mayamor.gucor@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines lilanie m. olaso lilaniemabalatan@gmail.com bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines darwin a. lim darwin.lim@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.693 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:arlindan.ramasola@bisu.edu.ph 178 jpair multidisciplinary research kingie g. micabalo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4179-2086 kmicabalo@uc.edu.ph university of cebu – lapu-lapu & mandaue cebu city, cebu, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract resorts operation in developing economies has provided a visible contribution towards improving the economy through tourists’ spending and countless social transformation. however, in any economic growth, environmental integrity has always been compromised by its future viability. this study aims to determine the extent of the implementation of solid waste and wastewater management and the contribution of the beach resort. the findings of this study served as a basis for devising an environment-friendly model for beach resorts. this investigation utilized the descriptive-correlational method of research with the use of researcher-designed survey tools. this study was conducted in anda, bohol. using the purposive sampling technique, twenty respondents provided information on their demographic profile and the extent of solid waste and wastewater management implementation in the beach resorts. frequency count and percentage, weighted mean, chi-square test of independence were computed. more respondents belonged to the 40 & above age range, and the majority were females, single, college graduates, and worked as general managers of the beach resorts. the solid waste management of waste minimization and waste reuse was moderately implemented, while wastewater management was highly implemented. lastly, there is a significant relationship between the respondents’ civil status and their perceptions on the extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste reuse. the beach resorts in the rural location were fully compliant with the proper solid waste management since there are standard operating procedures that they need to perform to ensure customer satisfaction. they failed to ensure the reduction of waste thrown in the landfills. several beach resorts’ operations had provided the residents with jobs and different income sources paired with significant social benefits. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 179 international peer reviewed journal keywords — hospitality management; sustainable tourism; beach resort operations; descriptive-correlational research; anda, bohol, philippines introduction in less economically developed countries (ledcs), the tourism industry is often driven by conventional mass tourism, constraining small firms’ growth prospects and limiting the opportunities to reduce poverty that tourism could generate. biggs and shah (2003) suggest that tourism can help reduce poverty in ledcs if there is a significant expansion of the indigenous small and mediumsized enterprise (sme) sector. in ledcs, the collective bargaining power of smes to compete with large international tour operators and established groundtour operators and access tourism markets to their advantage is a major challenge. therefore, forming global network relationships and trade agreements so smes can commercialize their products/services through the international tourism supply chain is one strategic intervention that can reduce foreign currency leakage and contribute to poverty alleviation (ashley & haysom, 2006). however, marketing directly to tourists in developed countries before arrival and during their stay at an ledc destination is a challenge due to the lack of access to appropriate marketing channels. overcoming this barrier is important for the development of smes in ledc destinations so they can attract global demand directly. in an ledc mass tourism context, large hotels, multinationals, and foreign investors mainly have access to the expertise and resources to develop these global networks and therefore dominate tourism destinations. the sme sector is notoriously ill-prepared for such expansion and requires considerable support from the government, non-governmental organizations (ngos), and private sector ventures (rogerson, 2005). innovation and entrepreneurship have helped develop the reputation and advancement of the international tourism industry, particularly through alternative tourism offers (e.g., eco-tourism and cultural tourism). increasingly tourists are responding to and demanding the development of niche products and creative innovations that increase the quality of tourists’ experiences and satisfaction while developing destinations and local communities. among other benefits, local innovation and entrepreneurship help link tourism benefits into the local economy and encourage local enterprises to create more employment. however, the practice of entrepreneurship and innovation in tourism strongly differs between developed countries and ledcs due to, among other reasons, 180 jpair multidisciplinary research the lack of support to smes that is independent of government-led programs (gurel et al., 2010). beaches bohol island has been closed by the department of environment and natural resources (denr) from july 1 to 15, 2021, due to high coliform levels. this underscores the urgent need for the bohol provincial and municipal governments to resume their infrastructure projects, including the construction of sewerage treatment plants, said a highly-placed government source. the closure of alona beach was announced by panglao municipal tourism officer leonides e. senica in a letter to stakeholders on june 30, 2021. however, he only attributed the beach closure “to the scheduled conduct of scientific study or personnel from the and the environmental management bureau (emb).” however, government and private-sector sources cited information from the provincial environment and natural resources of bohol that analysis of water samples taken from the beach showed “high fecal coliform levels at 700-800 most probable number/100 milliliters.” this far exceeds the fecal coliform standard of 100 mpn/100 ml. coliform or e.coli bacteria are found in human feces. bohol gov. arthur yap has been promoting bohol island for tourism and undertaking steps to ensure guests feel safe by pushing for the vaccination of its tourism workers (arnaldo, 2021). moreover, it is also claimed that with the rapid growth of tropical beach resorts, it is claimed that all tourism stakeholders should play a role in helping sustainability to be achieved. prior studies posited that the ideal situation for achieving what is desired would be to get everyone to move in the same direction, and it can be done through the management of the organization via performance management. however, there are limited studies in the area of beach resorts. thus, this study aims to explore how the management of a beach resort on the east coast of anda, bohol, philippines manages its performance. the study explores the strategies used by this beach resort which has managed to sustain the business for the last 25 years. thus, this study aims to explore beach resort operations that assist beach resorts in sustaining themselves in the industry. specifically, it seeks to examine the implementation and contribution to the management of beach resorts in anda, bohol, and how it can further assist beach resorts to continue flourishing and sustaining in the industry. this study aims to contribute to the existing literature relating to beach resorts. it also helps the resort owners/management understand the attributes of competitiveness in the industry and the means to sustain the industry during a downturn in the economy. 181 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aims to determine the extent of implementing solid waste and wastewater management of beach resorts in anda, bohol, philippines, and c. y. 2021. the findings of this study served as a basis for devising a sustainable beach tourism development and management model. specifically, this study sought answers to the profile of the respondents, the extent of implementation of solid waste and wastewater management in the beach resorts, and the significant relationship between the respondents’ profile and their perceptions of the extent of implementation of solid waste and wastewater management of the beach resorts. methodology this study was conducted in anda, bohol, situated on the island’s eastern coast, roughly 110 kilometers or a three-hour ride from tagbilaran city. 20 respondents from the beach resorts provided the data on how they manage the different kinds of waste out from the beach resort’s operation. the questionnaires pertain to how the beach resorts manage the solid waste and wastewater produced by operations. this tool was answered by the general managers of the beach resorts. moreover, the cronbach’s alpha value of the questionnaires for the beach resort operators was 0.9404. the researchers secured permission from the mayor’s office of the municipality to administer the survey questionnaire among the beach resort managers. when permission was secured, the researchers personally administered a survey questionnaire to the target respondents. for the ethical considerations, the researchers explained the purpose of the study to the intended respondents to be well-aware of the study’s objectives before they were asked to participate. once the respondents signified their permit to participate, they were asked to sign the informed consent document. however, it was also made clear that their initial permission cannot be withdrawn since their participation is fully voluntary. it is built upon volunteerism elements, which entails the capacity to make this choice freely and without coercion. deliberateness, the purposefulness of intent, clarity, genuineness, and coherence with prior life decisions are implicitly emphasized in this construction. the participants were made aware of how the findings will be used. the dominant approach was used to protect the respondent’s confidentiality. under the dominant approach, if data cannot be collected anonymously, the researcher 182 jpair multidisciplinary research collected, analyzed, and reported data without compromising the respondents’ identities to observe every research participant’s confidentiality. the researcher was fully aware of one’s obligation not to harm the informants or expose people to unnecessary risks. the researcher assumed that every research undertaking involved some form of harm and considered how best to deal with it in advance. finally, this study is only carried out if some benefit or good can be derived from it. therefore, whether or not research is worth undertaking should always be uppermost in the researcher’s mind. the following statistical tools were used in the study: frequency count and percentage were used to analyze and interpret the profile of the respondents; weighted mean is used to analyze and interpret how the beach resorts manage different kinds of wastes, and chi-square test of independence was used to determine the significant relationship between the extent of implementation of solid waste and wastewater management and the respondents’ profile. results and discussion demographic profile this part shows the respondents’ profile, including their age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, and occupation. the respondents’ demographic profile is an important aspect of administrative research as the nuances of managerial decisions vary with changes in the demographic variables. table 1. profile of the respondents (n = 20) indicators frequency percentage i. age (in years) 21 24 4 20.00 25 29 5 25.00 30 34 3 15.00 35 39 2 10.00 40 and above 6 30.00 mean: 33.20 stdev : 9.64 ii. gender female 16 80.00 male 4 20.00 183 international peer reviewed journal iii. civil status married 6 30.00 single 14 70.00 iv. highest educational attainment masters level 6 30.00 college graduate 13 65.00 vocational 1 5.00 v. occupation general manager 11 55.00 human resources manager 5 25.00 front office manager 3 15.00 purchase chief officer 1 5.00 the respondents’ highest proportion (30.0%) belonged to the age bracket of 40 years old & above. expectedly a manager or personnel belonging to the higher management of the beach resorts were already in middle adulthood and possessed the ideal level of maturity and experience to manage people and the organization’s general operations. on the other hand, only a few (10.0%) respondents were 3539 years old. this age bracket still belonged to the early adulthood stage, who already have the competence and capability to manage the organization, such as beach resorts, wherein operations are complex. concerning gender, the data shows that more than three-fourths (80.0%) of the respondents were females, while males comprised only 20%. this data implies that females nowadays take the higher management level of beach resorts, unlike several decades ago, where male managers assigned such positions. aside from that, lots of ladies took the bachelor of science in hotel and restaurant management or hospitality management courses and were most likely to work in the hospitality sector where beach resorts belonged. graduates in this particular course or program could greatly benefit as they have already trained and equipped in the specific field. regarding the respondents’ civil status, more than two-thirds of the respondents (70.0%) of the respondents’ total number were singles, and almost one-third (30.0%) were married. this data shows that in the current generation, the majority of the educated people would prefer to focus more on their career 184 jpair multidisciplinary research rather than getting married and starting a family even though anda, bohol is a rural area where people are most like to get married earlier. the highest proportion of the respondents (65.0%) were college graduates. this means that the beach resorts are employing managers who have finished a bachelor’s degree. despite that anda, bohol is located in a rural community, the management of beach resorts preferred employees who had formal training in hospitality management since their major market are foreigners or those belonging to the higher income class in the society who have a higher preference when it comes to hospitality services. on the other hand, there was only one (5.0%) who had a vocational course. the management hired these individuals due to their long years of experience running resorts and exceptional hospitality operations’ exceptional technical skills. in terms of the respondents’ occupation, most (55.0%) or eleven respondents were general managers of the beach resorts. in this study, the respondents’ inclusion criteria should be those employees who could provide information on the beach resort operations. general managers are expected to do this task well compared to other employees. there was only one respondent, comprising only 5% was the purchase chief officer. this employee was chosen to represent this study since he has a vast knowledge of the beach resort’s overall operations. table 2. the extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste minimization (n=20) indicators weightedmean description i. accommodation the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. sorting and recycling of glass, aluminum items, pa-pers, and plastics from the guest rooms. 3.45 highly implemented 2. returning laundered clothes to guests in reusable cloth bags/ baskets, mitigating the use of plastic bags. 3.35 highly implemented 3. not replacing half-used rolls of toilet papers/tissue boxes and leaving the replacements for guests to use when required. 3.20 moderately implemented 4. using partially used items from guestrooms at the employee restrooms or donating for charitable purposes. 2.75 moderatelyimplemented 5. extending the lifespan of equipment by having it serviced/maintained regularly. 3.80 highly implemented 185 international peer reviewed journal indicators weightedmean description aggregate mean 3.31 highly imple-mented ii. food and beverage the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. use refillable containers for sugar, salt, pepper, flour, soda, syrup, and cream. 3.60 highly implemented 2. using dispensers for straws and toothpicks and avoiding the purchase of individually wrapped items. 2.90 moderately implemented 3. using cloth roll towels or hand dryers instead of pa-per products. 3.30 highly implemented 4. donating unused food to local food banks or other charitable organizations. 2.50 moderately implemented 5. offering guests the option to order half-portions of food. 2.60 moderately implemented aggregate mean 2.98 moderatelyimplemented iii. administrative and office functions the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. using bulletin boards for memos, pamphlets, and brochures instead of circulating hard copies to all employees. 3.45 highly imple-mented 2. using emails and requiring documents to be double-sided or use a smaller font and margins. 3.35 highly implemented 3. purchasing refillable pens and toner cartridges and using refillable, reusable toner cartridges for laser printers. 2.70 moderatelyimplemented 4. using shredded paper instead of bubble wrap or foam for packaging purposes and re-labeling and reusing cardboard boxes for shipping and recycling all office paper and cardboard boxes. 2.35 less implemented 5. donating old computers and equipment to schools or charities. 2.20 less implemented aggregate mean 2.81 moderatelyimplemented overall aggregate mean 3.03 moderatelyimplemented legend: highly implemented3.26-4.0; moderately implemented-2.51-3.25; less implemented-1.76-2.50; not implemented-1.00-1.75 186 jpair multidisciplinary research the overall aggregate mean of 3.03 denotes that the resort management is moderately implemented in terms of minimizing solid wastes of the beach resorts in the areas of accommodation, food and beverage, and administrative and office functions. this result indicates that their adherence to the provisions of the solid wastes management act was only in many cases, and there are still several aspects in its operations that need to be studied to reduce the solid wastes that are just thrown but are still useful in many ways especially to other fewer privilege people in the society. donoho (2018) shared a positive trend in the hospitality industry that was perhaps boosted by a strong economy like hotels that wanted to give back. in las vegas, for example, mgm resorts collects unused banquet food and helps fund a unique process to store and deliver it to various food banks. regarding the accommodation, the aggregate mean of 3.31 denotes that the resort management is highly implemented in terms of the policies in minimizing the solid wastes in providing accommodation services to the beach resorts’ guests. this result indicates that the top management adheres to the solid waste management act’s provisions about recycling resort supplies, minimizing the practice of using plastic once, and prolonging the equipment’s usefulness. maher (2009) understood that good waste management and recycling are effective public relations tools because they are dedicated to corporate responsibility with environmental policy. “doing in-room recycling is important because the guest sees that,” he says. the highest weighted mean of 3.80 reveals highly implemented in terms of the policy of extending the lifespan of equipment by having it serviced or regularly maintained in the beach resort’s accommodation aspect. in this way, the management was able to minimize the solid wastes. thus, rather than throwing away that equipment with zero value in the accounting books, they will still use them if they are still in good and working condition as long as the maintenance cost is not high compared to a brand new unit. constant use of tools and equipment is prone to wear and tear. performing routine inspections allows resort management to see and repair small damage before becoming a big problem. having a regular service significantly reduces faulty machines to ensure that parts are still in good working order (dowler, 2015). on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean of 2.75 indicates that there was only moderate implementation in using partially used items from guestrooms at the employee restrooms or donating for a charitable purpose. this means that 187 international peer reviewed journal the resorts’ management immediately disposes of guests’ partially used items like tissue papers, shampoo, soap, and lotion, as garbage. dupere (2015) said that there are items that guests will use daily that resort operators would never think of donating. those extras are necessities for the guests, yet luxuries to those donation centers for their basic needs. the aggregate mean of 2.98 in food and beverage aspects shows that the beach resort management was moderately implemented in terms of minimizing waste in food and beverage. this means that the operators have some degree of hesitation in donating unconsumed food items, offering a smaller portion of food to guests to ensure that there will be no leftovers, and using dispensers for items like straws toothpicks to avoid single-use plastics. braley (2020) opined that a beach resort should commit to forecasting guest count and maximizing ingredients to minimize waste accurately. these options should be discussed in advance. the management also desires to donate excess food by ensuring that overproduction should be minimized, but recoverable food should be rerouted for consumption when it cannot be avoided. the highest weighted mean of 3.60 shows that the resort management highly implemented refillable containers for sugar, salt, pepper, flour, soda, syrup, and cream. in many cases, the resorts’ management discouraged using sachets or any single-use plastics like wrappers of food and beverage condiments and other supplies that will become useless when the contents are loaded into the containers. devenyns (2019) discoursed that refillable containers benefit the planet and any business entities’ bottom lines. the world economic forum reports that plastic packaging waste represents an annual loss of $80 billion to $120 billion to the global economy. the lowest mean of 2.50 specifies that resort management is moderately implemented in unused food to local food banks or other charitable organizations. the data implies that the resorts’ management missed to dredge up the necessities of unprivileged people in the community of anda, bohol considering that in the philippines, there are no food banks. however, most organizations’ management is afraid that their materials or ingredients might go up if they give their leftovers. lastly, the aggregate mean of 2.81 in administrative and office functions indicates that the resort is moderately implemented in terms of minimizing the solid wastes in its office and support operations. it can be inferred that in many cases only, the operations in the office avoid the use of supplies that will only add up to the pile of solid wastes that remained unused or just being thrown to the dumpsites. 188 jpair multidisciplinary research the highest weighted mean of 3.45 shows that the resort management highly implemented bulletin boards for memos, pamphlets, and brochures instead of circulating hard copies to all employees in administrative and office functions. with the adoption of technology like the internet and intranet in the resorts and hotels’ operations, paper-based materials in disseminating information had been lessened. in this manner, the management was able to lessen the cost of procuring supplies in the office. in all cases, the resorts in anda, bohol promote the importance of lessening supplies that produce much garbage when the hardcopy information becomes outdated. kim (2018) said that bulletin boards are essential working tools in any busy environment. ideally, they offer information to the employees and often update them on the daily routine duties and directives instead of printing memos and distributing them to all employees to give them a copy individually since it will cost energy in printing/ photocopying. on the other hand, the lowest mean of 2.20 shows that resort management is less implemented in donating old computers and equipment to schools or charities. usually, the old computers and equipment of beach resorts were just stored in the stockroom, which would consume their property and may add to disruption to their daily operations. moreover, when resorts prolong the use of this type of equipment, the old ones will no longer be used when they decide to replace them with new ones. however, some items can still be used, but they were just stocked in the warehouse. according to the environmental protection agency, about 2.37 million tons of e-waste were in landfills in 2009. unfortunately, many of the electronic gadgets dumped in landfills are still usable (graves, 2021). table 3. the extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste reuse (n=20) indicators weighted mean description i. accommodation the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. donating used linens, towels, and blankets to local charities. 2.50 moderately implemented 2. installing a dispensing system for products such as shampoo, soap, and lotions. 2.50 moderately implemented 3. donating soap used and toiletries to local charities. 2.30 less implemented 189 international peer reviewed journal 4. using old linens to make aprons or cleaning rags. 3.35 highly implemented 5. reusing wastepaper as telephone answering pads or notes. 3.40 highly implemented aggregate mean 2.81 moderately implemented ii. food and beverage the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. donating empty buckets to schools or employees for storage. 2.90 moderately implemented 2. donate old utensils and kitchenware to employees or charities and contact local recyclers to identify items/areas they are interested in. 2.80 moderately implemented 3. having old appliances repaired/rebuilt. 3.60 highly implemented 4. collecting unusable food scraps and giving or selling them to local pig farmers for animal feed. 3.00 moderately implemented 5. reusing linens for aprons and kitchen towels and providing recycling bins in kitchen/bar areas for glass, aluminum, and plastic containers. 3.50 highly implemented aggregate mean 3.16 moderately implemented iii. open spaces and grounds the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. donating older equipment to employees or charities. 2.60 moderately implemented 2. donating healthy plants to community gardens, parks, and schools. 1.90 less implemented 3. leaving grass clippings when trimming as a source of nutrients to the soil and using organic gardening techniques. 2.90 moderately implemented 4. recycling motor oils, antifreeze, and paint used by grounds keeping and maintenance staff and phasing out the use of hazardous materials whenever possible. 3.25 highly implemented 5. removing dry leaves/branches regularly to prolong the freshness of other leaves/branches and collecting them in a dirty kitchen. 3.05 moderately implemented aggregate mean 2.74 moderately implemented overall aggregate mean 2.90 moderately implemented legend: highly implemented3.26-4.0; moderately implemented-2.51-3.25; less implemented-1.76-2.50; not implemented-1.00-1.75 190 jpair multidisciplinary research the overall aggregate mean of 2.90 indicates that the management of the resorts in anda, bohol, moderately implemented in terms of solid waste management in the context of wastes reuse. so in many instances, they were able to reduce the various forms of solid wastes like the used, old, worn out, and dysfunctional supplies, kitchen, and open spaces’ equipment by either giving to the employees or donating them to the chosen group of beneficiaries. the aggregate mean of 2.81 in the accommodation area shows that the resort management moderately implemented in terms of the policy of reusing the solid wastes in their operation of providing accommodation services to the guests or customers. these results denote that giving the old supplies to charities, using dispensers for bathroom supplies and other materials was done in many instances. erickson (2019) explained that guests love the experience of using hotel toiletries, but, unfortunately, some of those half-used bottles are likely to be thrown away. to be a five-star hotel, room service has to change the hotel bathroom amenities every day, even unused. the highest weighted mean of 3.40 shows that the resort management moderately implemented the policy of reusing wastepaper as telephone answering pads or notes. this indicates that the accommodation personnel avoids wasting scrap papers in the front office as much as possible. instead, they recycle it for other uses in the operations like telephone note pads. in this way, the papers that will be thrown into the garbage bins will be minimized. being a large part of the tourism industry, hotels can make a significant difference by applying certain policy changes. apart from offering the necessary environmental benefits, hospitality sustainability also proves to be more profitable in the long run by lowering costs and attracting consumers (kirkland, 2019). however, the lowest mean of 2.30 shows that resort management is less implemented in terms of the policy of donating soap and toiletries to local charities. the resort operators in anda, bohol, were less mindful of giving the supplies in the accommodation services like toiletries to the marginalized sector of the locality. instead, they immediately threw the used soap and other items used in the toilet as garbage. moreover, the aggregate mean of 3.16 in the aspect of food and beverage signifies that the resort moderately implemented the policy of reusing the solid wastes in food and beverage services at the beach resorts. this result indicates that they give out and use again worn-out and old kitchen tools, equipment, and other supplies for charitable purposes in many cases. 191 international peer reviewed journal baker (2006) said that whether a hotel is situated in a busy city center or a remote and pristine beach resort, several environmental and social issues are to contend with, like dealing with the wastes created by daily operations. aside from the costs of waste disposal, there are other headaches for hotels. the highest weighted mean of 3.60 indicates that the resort management highly implemented the old appliances repaired or rebuilt. it denotes that the beach resorts maintained their appliances’ good working condition and avoided purchasing new items without fixing the appliances first. this is their way of reducing the budget allocated to purchasing kitchen utensils and equipment if the existing ones can still be repaired. connors (2018) discussed that the hotel or resort equipment has undergone major improvements and is becoming more automated and complex. their usage was more widespread since they are more expensive, though it implied higher investments even if they often have reduced amortization periods. conversely, the lowest weighted mean of 2.80, on the other hand, denotes that the resort management moderately implemented the policy of donating old utensils and kitchenware to employees or charities and contacting local recyclers to identify items/areas in which they are interested. so, in many instances, the resort management prefers to give the old kitchenware to the employees or charities but under certain conditions to protect the hotel’s interest and possible abuses of the employees. furthermore, the aggregate mean of 2.74 in the aspect of open spaces and grounds indicates that the resort management moderately implemented the policy of reusing waste items in the open spaces and grounds. this result shows that they could reduce solid waste by recycling some items or donating them to charitable organizations for even noble causes. the highest weighted mean of 3.25 indicates that the resort management highly implemented the policy of recycling motor oils, antifreeze, paint, etc., used by grounds keeping and maintenance staff and phasing out the use of hazardous materials whenever possible. the resorts could save costs on purchasing maintenance materials for the hotels’ operations and motor vehicles in all cases. recycling and reusing used motor oil is preferable to disposal and can provide great environmental benefits. recycled used motor oil can be re-refined into new oil, processed into fuel oils, and used as raw materials in beach resorts’ daily operations (united states environmental protection agency, 2011). on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean of 1.90 specifies that the resort management is less implemented in terms of donating healthy plants to 192 jpair multidisciplinary research community gardens, parks, and schools. this data reveals that donating healthy plants to community gardens is less priority by the beach resorts considering that anda, bohol is located in the rural community. most public places already had ornamental plants that beautified the schools’ playing ground and open spaces. this means that the resorts’ excess plants were immediately thrown into the garbage bin or the compost pit for decomposition. bradley (2019) discoursed that beach resorts’ plant donations reduce garbage and impact the local community for gardening. it can positively impact food access, community vitality, local economies, and local communities’ environmental conditions. table 4 presents the results on the beach resort operators’ assessment of the extent of wastewater management implementation in aspects of monitoring water usage, conservation, and reuse wastewater management is vital in a tourist facility like a beach resort to clean, conserve, and protect the water that will be clean enough to be reused by both resort staff and guests for drinking and washing and other resorts’ daily activities, and other purposes. table 4. the extent of implementation of wastewater management (n=20) indicators weighted mean description i. monitoring of water usage the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. ensuring that water-saving practices have been taken for the last twelve months. 3.80 highly implemented 2. regularly monitoring the water use system. 3.65 highly implemented 3. regular checking of the water system for leaks or any cause of surges in consumption. 3.90 highly implemented 4. immediate finding cause of water loss. 3.90 highly implemented 5. ensuring that showerhead replacement and modification are practiced to conserve water. 3.70 highly implemented aggregate mean 3.79 highly implemented ii. conservation of water the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. water-saving measures in tourism facilities with water-intensive activities, e.g., swimming pools, gardens, and laundry services. 3.05 moderately implemented 193 international peer reviewed journal 2. using water efficiency equipment. 3.65 highly implemented 3. educating staff to water use and discharge to reduce to handscrape plates before loading, filling each rack to maximum capacity, recycling final rinse water, and keeping flow rates as low as possible. 3.60 highly implemented 4. installing proper devices and encouraging guests to conserve water will reduce consumption and discharge. 3.60 highly implemented 5. filling washing machines to reduce the number of loads, thereby saving water. 3.70 highly implemented aggregate mean 3.52 highly implemented iii. reusing wastewater the resort management implements the policy of the following, 1. ensuring that the wastewater from bathrooms, sinks, and kitchens have less toxicity, good reuse potential uses minimal treatment, and is separated into one stream. 3.45 highly implemented 2. installing a wastewater facility that treats waste from the toilets and laundries containing more toxicity, reusing, and separating another stream. 3.10 moderately implemented 3. identifying the need for wastewater reuse. 3.20 moderately implemented 4. hiring a wastewater expert that provides a technical guide on the proper management of wastewater for water conservation. 2.90 moderately implemented 5. identifying the treatment required to implement the reuse options based on geographic, climatic, and economic factors dictates the appropriate degree and form of wastewater reclamation. 3.10 moderately implemented aggregate mean 3.15 moderately implemented overall aggregate mean 3.49 highly implemented legend: highly implemented3.26-4.0; moderately implemented-2.51-3.25; less implemented-1.76-2.50; not implemented-1.00-1.75 the overall aggregate mean of 3.49 indicates that the management of the resorts operating in anda, bohol is highly implemented in waste water management to monitor water usage, water conservation, and reuse. this means 194 jpair multidisciplinary research that the operators were very conscious and serious in implementing a mechanism to ensure that the water supply is used wisely and conservable and reduce water costs being paid to the municipal water district at the local government unit of anda bohol. tuppen (2013) explained that resort companies have a strong commercial and moral imperative for addressing water use. cost is a clear factor: water accounts for 10% of utility bills in many resorts. most resorts pay for the water they consume twice – first purchase fresh water and then dispose of it as wastewater. in monitoring water usage, the aggregate mean of 3.79 reveals that resort management is highly implemented in monitoring water usage. this ensures that the level of water consumption in the entire beach resort does not exceed its normal level and avoids excessive water bills. the highest weighted mean of 3.90 shows that the resort’s management highly implemented the policy of regularly checking the water system for any leaks or any cause of surges in consumption. this means that the resorts were very keen on ensuring that the water pipes within and outside its building premises are in good condition to avoid water wastages and unwanted expenses on paying for water that is not used in operation. likewise, another highest weighted mean in the same indicators, also of 3.90, indicates the resort management highly implemented in terms of immediately finding the cause of water loss. the beach resort operators were strictly monitoring the cause of problems concerning water pipe leaks or any cause of water loss that would lead to a higher water bill. chatterjee (2016) said that leaking water pipes could considerably increase water consumption and incur high costs. a leaking toilet can waste up to 750 liters of water per day, compared with 30 liters per day required for five full flushes of a low-flush toilet in a guest bathroom. nevertheless, the lowest weighted mean of 3.65 still denotes that the resort’s management is highly implemented in terms of monitoring the water use system. this result relates to the previous findings that the beach resort operators applied to check the water consumption level to ensure that the water bill is within the usual consumption and accounting budgets. borden and roy (2015) discussed that the first step to reducing wastewater is monitoring consumption through a water use system. measuring the amount of network water supply entering the resort building reflects the environmental impacts of water use. 195 international peer reviewed journal the aggregate mean of 3.52 in the conservation of water reveals that the resort management is highly implemented in terms of the policy of conserving water. this result shows that they were conscious of adopting various conserving water, especially during the hot season. water supply is scarce, and using electricity to pump water from the deep well is very costly also. the highest weighted mean of 3.70 denotes that the resort’s management highly implemented the policy of filling washing machines to reduce the number of loads and save water. it denotes that the beach resort operators are strictly imposing the standard operating procedure to all laundry staff to load the maximum capacity of soiled linens to the washing machines to minimize the number of loads to reduce water and electric consumption. when resort manager worry about overloading their machines, they do not put enough laundry in their machines before use. this can be very wasteful because a typical laundry machine will consume just as much water and energy with a half-load as it would with a full one (hydrofinity, 2018). on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean of 3.05 reveals that the resort management moderately implemented the policy of applying water-saving measures in tourism facilities that have any water-intensive activities. in the era of high operating costs, especially water and electricity, business entities will adopt various means of reducing utilities like water. tourism is dependent on clean drinking water for visitors and the water resources needed to support the wide range of destination-based activities and services that the industry indirectly relies on (tirado et al., 2019). furthermore, the aggregate mean of 3.15 in reusing wastewater reveals that resort management is highly implemented in terms of the policy of reusing wastewater out of the resorts’ operations. this means that the operators installed systems that recycle wastewater from other operations to be used in other ways. in this manner, they were able to reduce expenses for water bills also. the highest weighted mean of 3.45 denotes that the highly implemented in terms of the policy’s management ensures that the wastewater from bathrooms, sinks, and kitchens has less toxicity, good reuse potential, uses minimal treatment, and is separated into one stream. this data shows that the resort operators checked and reviewed the greywater water quality and ensured less toxicity. greywaters must be monitored to achieve daily evaluation and establish a water use baseline, analyzing water quality trends during the observation period. thus, to ensure the water has less toxicity, it is necessary to measure its quality and, during closing days, to measure water consumption used by actual equipment and systems (scarfiello, 2016). 196 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean of 2.90 reveals that the resort is moderately implemented in terms of hiring a wastewater expert that provides the technical guide on the proper management of wastewater for water conservation. it reveals that in many cases, the resort owners hired wastewater treatment professionals or specialists to guide them and provide them with technical advice on the proper way to reduce recycling and reusing wastewater. however, this decision is within the resorts’ financial capability since professional fees can be expensive in addition to wastewater treatment facilities that bigger resorts need to procure to ensure that their wastewater is not being directly discarded to the environment containing highly toxic substances. genesis water technologie (2017) opined that it is necessary to avail the domestic wastewater treatment services from reputed water treatment companies. nowadays, almost every hotel uses wastewater treatment solutions to reduce wastewater drainage from the sewage tanks. table 5. the extent of implementation of solid waste and wastewater management in the beach resorts (n=20) no. indicators overall aggregate mean description i. extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste minimization 3.03 moderately implemented ii. extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste reuse 2.90 moderately implemented iii. extent of implementation of wastewater management 3.49 highly implemented grand mean 3.14 moderately implemented there was only moderate implementation in solid waste management as to waste minimization by the resorts in anda, bohol. this means that the resort had not fully followed and complied with the provisions of the solid waste management act since there were processes and procedures in the operations that they could not do away with, throwing the unused items to ensure that their guests are satisfied and they were able to maintain their good image in the market. further, there was also moderate implementation in terms of solid waste management as to waste reuse. this result indicates that the resort management https://medium.com/@genesiswatertech?source=post_page-----b56db8a4e4ca----------------------------------197 international peer reviewed journal could not use other unconsumed supplies, old machines, and equipment. instead, they threw them as garbage. lastly, the overall aggregate mean of 3.49 indicates that the resort management is highly implemented in terms of wastewater management in its overall operations. this means that the management observed strict water use monitoring, water conservation, and reusing of wastewater for other uses. this is a way of also reducing the level of consumption and expenses on water. more direct reuse is also possible: the technology to reclaim wastewaters as potable or process waters is a technically feasible for agricultural and industrial purposes (such as for cooling water or sanitary flushing), a largely experimental option for the supply of domestic water (rucks, 2003). table 6 uncovers the test results of the significant relationship between the respondents’ profile and their perception of the extent of implementing the solid waste and wastewater management of beach resorts. table 6. significant relationship between respondents’ profile and their perceptions on the extent of implementation of the solid waste and wastewater management of beach resorts variable computedchi-square df critical value significance result a. waste minimization age 15.241 12 21.026 not significant ho accepted gender 2.257 3 7.815 not significant ho accepted civil status 5.212 3 7.815 not significant ho accepted highest educational attainment 7.537 6 12.592 not significant ho accepted occupation 5.056 9 16.919 not significant ho accepted b. waste reuse age 14.563 12 21.026 not significant ho accepted gender 4.115 3 7.815 not significant ho accepted civil status 7.897 3 7.815 significant ho rejected highest educational attainment 5.749 5 12.592 not significant ho accepted occupation 4.667 9 16.919 not significant ho accepted 198 jpair multidisciplinary research c. wastewater management age 5.980 8 15.507 not significant ho accepted gender 0.882 2 5.991 not significant ho accepted civil status 5.434 2 5.991 not significant ho accepted highest educational attainment 4.439 4 9.488 not significant ho accepted occupation 2.888 6 12.592 not significant ho accepted there is a significant relationship between the respondents’ civil status and their perceptions on the extent of implementation of solid waste management as to waste reuse, based on the computed chi-square value of 7.897, which is higher than the critical value of 7.815. hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. this means that the respondents’ civil status influences their views on implementing the solid waste management of beach resorts. moreover, married and single managers or executives in the resort differed significantly on reducing waste through recycling or making the unused and old items of use to the employees and the community for charitable purposes. barr (2007) explained that such relationships’ civil status and nature affected respondents’ perceived capacity to impact waste problems. they certainly affected their willingness to become pro-active concerning waste management by seeking opportunities to prevent or reuse waste. the scope of the study involves 20 beach resorts with the total population of 23 beach resorts registered in the local department of tourism in anda, bohol. there were only 3 establishments who did not participated on the study due to high restriction on the confidential data issue. the estimated time range of the study is in the second quarter of the year 2021. due to the strict implementation of safety health protocol, the researchers used google form to answer all the questions provided in the instrument. conclusion this study shows that the resort uses various strategies to manage and ensure its sustainability in the establishment. through the local department of tourism, the government can help derive policies that are friendlier towards accessing, capital especially in the early stage of resorts’ growth. these would facilitate better planning and execution at the ground level. professional hiring and training of 199 international peer reviewed journal resorts’ employees can also be achieved. these would ensure the sustainability of the resorts and the tourism industry in the long run. all parties (such as the ngos, local communities, and private sectors) must put more effort and work towards contributing to the island’s development. tourism success shall not be only evaluated with respect to the number of increased foreign tourist arrivals and gross tourism revenues. instead, it shall also be measured according to how the industry is integrated with the national and local economy, plus to how tourism contributes to the total development of the local community and the place itself. translational research the findings of this study will be best translated to the tourists who will visit anda, bohol since they are the primary users of the facilities, amenities, and services provided by the hospitality establishments in the locality. so, suppose the hospitality establishments in the locality will be known to have provided quality facilities and services and observed the proper disposal of solid and liquid waste. in that case, they will be attracted and interested to visit and enjoy the different tourism services. literature cited arnaldo, m. s. 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(2011). managing, reusing, and recycling used oil. retrieved on june 2, 2011 from https://bit.ly/2xs5hfp 1 international peer reviewed journal effectiveness of ficus benjamina “vaditi” and artocarpus treculianus elm. “tipuho” sap extracts as non-chemical rodent trap william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines paul c. alcantara http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3619-0307 alcantarapaulcantor@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines dean eduard c. cadid http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9313-2998 deaneduardcadid@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines keenen ivory c. delos reyes http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3872-8297 keenencastillejos@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.768 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:williamjosebillote@gmail.com 2 jpair multidisciplinary research aira marie d. entela http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4570-148x airaentela591@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines maria angelica gabotero http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8616-3828 gaboteromaye@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract pests are organisms that can cause economic damage or become threats to the health of humans and domestic animals. rodents are pests and are considered to be essential reservoirs of numerous diseases that infect humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife species. because of the threats, they have on humans and the environment, there is a need to employ an effective method to control rodent infestations that are inexpensive and non-chemical. the purpose of this study is to create a non-chemical and eco-friendly rodent trap from the sap extracts of ficus benjamina and artocarpus trecalianus elm. two different samples of rodent traps were prepared. the samples were tested in an area infested by rats within 24 hours. the sample sap extracts in both the controlled and experimental groups were observed within the first 0 to 8 hours and within the remaining time (9 to 24 hours). this procedure was replicated five times in both groups. descriptive statistics and t-test were then used to analyze and compare the data. based on the study, the non-chemical rodent trap, mainly the decocted sap extracts from ficus benjamina and artocarpus treculianus elm. mixed with pure honey extract were found to be a capable alternative rodent trap. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com 3 international peer reviewed journal keywords — ficus benjamina, artocarpus trecalianus elm., experimental design, non-chemical rodent trap, batanes, philippines introduction pests are organisms that spread disease, cause destruction, or are otherwise a nuisance. this population of relatively few species usually lives in close association with humans. variety of pests are found in food handling premises, industrial sites, and private homes as well as in human service locations such as schools and hospitals that can sometimes cause economic damage or become threats to the health of humans and other domestic animals (macfarlane, benke, goddard, & sim, 2007). one of the most common pests is rodents. rodents make up the largest group of mammals. they comprised of 2,277 species, which account for 41% of the known mammals in the world and are a very diverse group in both size and habitat. rodents are found on every continent except antarctica. they live in a wide range of different habitats from snow-covered tundra to hot deserts. there are also some species of rodents that are considered to be the common invaders of the human environment (rickel, 2005). furthermore, rodents are also one of the most interesting groups of mammals. they are essential components of virtually all the earth’s terrestrial ecosystems and are important herbivores that aerate the soil by burrowing activities. they also assist in plant propagation by consuming and disseminating seeds. rodents are often the essential food base for most predatory mammals and birds. they act as a medium to sustain the population of these species. however, it is important to note that rodents are also considered to be essential vectors or reservoirs of numerous diseases that infect humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife species (tobin & fall, 2004). of the 41%, as stated earlier, the number of rodent species causing problems that require management is small. only about 5% of rodent species worldwide pose a significant risk to humans (singleton et al., 2007). these species include commensal rodents that are found in human-made infrastructure, such as norway rats (rattus norvegicus), black rats (r. rattus), and house mice (mus musculus) (buckle & smith, 2015). in the philippines, the more commonly found rodents that are detrimental to humans are either the black rat or brown rat.  with this, rodent presence can have serious implications for public and veterinary health and can amplify pathogens from the environment and form diseases (brown et al., 2008). rodents are also seen as pests because of their 4 jpair multidisciplinary research gnawing habit. this can cause economic losses, of food, and lead to structural damages. these rodents can directly transmit disease through feces, urine, saliva, or indirectly transmitted diseases through ticks, mites, or fleas (bonnefoy, kampen, & sweeney, 2008). additionally, the world health organization (2000) recognizes 31 common food-borne human pathogens (e.g., listeriosis, cholera, diarrhea (e. coli), and dysentery), and rodents have been associated in the transmission of many of them. diseases like salmonellosis have also been implicated with a rodent infestation. other important food-borne diseases in which rodents are associated are the enteric diseases caused by a wide range of diarrhoeal diseases. often times, the main route of transmission of these diseases among humans is the consumption of food which has been in contact with infected feces of pests, including rodents, or human hands, or with contaminated water and soil (battersby, 2002). another rodent impact is the economic and human hardships associated with devastating rodent-borne diseases (meerburg et al., 2009). such diseases include leptospirosis, murine typhus, and scrub typhus. these can be treated if diagnoses early. according to the philippines integrated disease surveillance, as cited by jacob et al. (2010), in many asian and pacific countries, diagnosis is quite often too late, and death rates are higher than higher-profile illnesses such as hiv-aids. one particular development is the linkage of an outbreak of rodent zoonoses with an unusual weather event. manila, philippines, experienced equivalent to their monthly rainfall in september in just 18 hours on 26 september 2009. this weather event has led to large quantities of stagnant water over a month that resulted in an outbreak of leptospirosis. in manila alone, from october 1 to 25, there were more than 2000 human cases that led to 192 deaths due to leptospirosis. not only do rodents infestations cause serious problems to humans, but they also pose threats to agriculture. in asia, rodents cause pre-harvest losses of 5–10% in rice crops (singleton, 2003). however, in upland environments, occasional rodent infestations can lead to severe major crop losses and shortages (aplin et al., 2006; normile, 2010). throughout history, there have been serious rodent outbreaks and infestations. one example is bamboo-masting in countries such as bangladesh, india, myanmar, and lao pdr. this led to massive population rodent outbreaks causing severe famine (schiller et al., 1999). therefore, rodents cause a variety of problems such as loss and contamination of foodstuffs, destruction of property, rat bites, gnawed electrical wiring resulting in fires, and transmission of a variety of diseases in different parts of the world 5 international peer reviewed journal especially in close association with people in dense settlements. because of the threats that rodent pests have on humans and the environment, there is a need to employ an effective method to control rodent infestations that are relatively easy, inexpensive, and effective under most conditions. according to smith and meyer (2015), the most obvious way to control and deal with a pest is to remove the pest, which usually means killing it. however, this kind of approach to pest control may not be the most useful or most economical in practice. others counter pests by using chemical pesticides or rodenticides (kudagamage & nugaliyadde, 1995). this leads to several undesirable health consequences and serious environmental pollution, hence, causing toxicity to non-target organisms. nearly two decades ago, buckle (1994) reported that the use of rodenticides was the primary approach of rodent control in urban and agricultural environments. in manhattan, it was recorded in 2012 that 60 to 80% of all forms of rodenticides and control products are being purchased (the united states environmental protection agency, 2006). households purchase about 40 to 50 million household-use containers of rodent baits each year (kaukeinen, spragins, & hobson, 2000). the use of rodenticides to target mammals has raised concerns about their use in urban environments. these are also being purchased over the counter. with all the toxicants, it may cause accidental poisonings to dogs, cats, other wildlife, and humans (stone, okoniewski, & stedelin, 2003). most of the time, it is challenging to control a pest (‘target’) using chemicals without causing collateral damage to other species (‘non-target’). non-target damage should, of course, be minimized. in this regard, the objective of this study is to create a non-chemical and eco-friendly rodent trap that has the potential to lower the use of rodenticides and reduce the risk of human poisoning and other dangers in the environment. sap extract from ficus benjamina commonly known in the province of batanes as “vaditi” (ivasayen), “vadichi” (isamurungen), or “valiti” (itbayaten) and sap from artocarpus treculianus elm. which is locally known as “tipuho” (ivasayen), “chipuho” (isamurungen), or “atipuxo” (itbayaten), were used as adhesive to make a rodent trap. ficus benjamina, also known as weeping fig, is a multipurpose tree found in various parts of pakistan. ficus benjamina is native to a large area, including india, southern china, southeast asia, malaysia, the philippines, northern australia, and the islands of the south pacific. it grows as a large evergreen shrub, up to 8 meters tall, with nearly 10 meters wide-spreading crown and drooping shoots with slender young twigs (imran et al., 2014). according to frohne and 6 jpair multidisciplinary research pfander (2005), the milky sap of ficus benjamina species contains ‘heart poisons’ that are used as dart poisons in some cultures. it has also been reported to cause allergic and toxic reactions in livestock. additionally, the sap from the plant contains furocoumarins, psoralens, and ficin. frequent contact can cause itching of the eyes, cough, and wheezing; contact and exposure to sunlight can cause skin irritation with itching, redness, and stinging (fern, 2014). this makes the sap extract from ficus benjamina an excellent ingredient in creating a non-chemical rodent trap. artocarpus treculianus is a tree that is 15 meters or taller. the leaves are broadly elliptical or oval with an acute apex. its leaves are dark green and light green below with midrib and veins prominent underneath. its fruit is irregular in shape, around 7 to 12 cm in diameter, and orange to yellow when mature. the artocarpus treculianus elm. is endemic in the philippines. it is usually found in batanes islands, babuyan islands, northern and southern luzon, palawan, sibuyan island, samar, leyte, and parts of mindanao. in these places, the white sap coming from the tree is cooked and used as a trap for birds and other organisms (madulid & agoo, 2006). the purpose of this research is to promote the use of a chemical-free rodent trap in regulating health hazards caused by both rodent pests and pesticides. there is a need to advocate for the accessibility and cost reduction of non-chemical rat traps, especially in impoverished urban communities, as well as restricting residential use of hazardous pesticides. additionally, the use of non-toxic alternatives such as plant-based traps requires a shift in intentions for people to accept that such options can be as effective and feasible as rodenticides or chemical-based traps. non-chemical rodent control methods are needed, especially in risk communities, as there is an overuse of pesticides for rodent control (kirsten & maltitz, 2006). promoting an alternative non-chemical rodent control method decreases the double health burden caused by exposure to toxic pesticides and rodent-borne diseases (roomaney, ehrlich, & rother, 2012). materials and methods research design the research design involved the utilization of experimental methods in addressing the research objectives. generally, the experimental method is a scientific and systematic approach to research in which “experiments are carried 7 international peer reviewed journal out to explore the relationship between variables” (nunan & david, 1992). it uncovers causal links as it seeks to discover the results when a set of variables are kept constant and manipulated. in contrast, the other set of variables are measured, calculated, and compared (donyei, 2007). materials the materials needed to collect the sap extracts from the trees include a sharp bolo to create an opening in the trunk and to induce the production of sap. two vials for the sap extract from each tree were also used. since the sap extracts can cause irritation or allergic reactions, surgical gloves were used. a pan, stirring rod, measuring cup, and a spoon was utilized for the process of decoction. a decoction is an extraction process that requires that the plant material be boiled (daswani, ghadge, & birdi, 2011). this process is done to dissolve the chemicals of the plant material, which may include stems, roots, and barks. the decocted sap from both trees was placed on two sheets of paper (8.5” x 11”). the spoon was used to spread the decocted sap on the sheets of paper evenly. the study also used 3-4 tablespoons of pure honey extract to compare the controlled group and the experimental group. procedure before conducting the procedure, the researchers asked for a permit (bplspamb permit no. 20-01-021) from the department of environment and natural resources (denr) in the province of batanes to avoid any environmental violation. the sharp bolo was used to make a deep hole to extract sap from both trees. the researchers were able to collect 40 to 70 ml of sap extract from each of the trees. sap extracts were then placed on separate vials. it took the researchers 25-35 minutes to collect and extract the saps of the trees. tipuho and vaditi sap extracts collecting sap extracts from tipuho and vaditi 8 jpair multidisciplinary research the first step to the process of decoction was to pour the extracted sap from each of the trees into a saucepan together with the honey extract. the mixture was stirred while being heated in low fire for no more than 6 minutes. it was then stirred continuously until the consistency of the mixture becomes thick and sticky. the decocted mixture was then placed on the two sheets of paper. it was spread evenly on the parts of the papers using a spoon. the sheets of paper with the decocted mixture were put together to prevent its exposure to air so that its sticky texture will be preserved. data analysis before the researchers started with the observation, they prepared two different samples of rodent traps – controlled and experimental groups. the controlled group consists of the sap extracts from ficus benjamina and artocarpus treculianus elm. while the experimental group consists of sap extracts from both trees mixed with the pure honey extract. the samples were placed and left for approximately 24 hours within an area in a farm infested by rats. each of the samples in both groups was observed within the first 0 to 8 hours and then within the remaining time (9 to 24 hours). this procedure was replicated five times, both in the controlled and experimental groups. the researchers used descriptive statistics and t-test, then microsoft excel version 2016 application was used to analyze the data. 9 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion table 1. comparison of the controlled group and experimental group trial 1 trial 2 trial 3 trial 4 trial 5 time duration a b a b a b a b a b 0-8 hours 0 1 1 3 1 2 0 3 1 1 9-24 hours 0 (1)+1 (1)+1 (3)+2 (1)+1 (2)+2 (0)+1 (3)+3 (1)+0 (1)+2 total 0 2 2 5 2 4 1 6 1 3 *a – no. of rat/s in the controlled group *b – no. of rat/s in the experimental group table 1 shows the number of rats trapped in the controlled and experimental group in each trial within the 24-hour observation. within 0-8 hours, the controlled group did not catch any rat for trial 1 and 4 and one rat each for trial 2, 3 and 5. for the experimental group, one rat each was caught for trial 1 and 5, three rats each for trial 2 and 4, and 2 rats for trial 3. for the succeeding hours, no rat was caught for trial 1 and 5 and an additional of 1 rat each for trial 2, 3 and 4 under the control group. the experimental group, on the other hand, caught 1 rat for trial 1, 2 rats each for trial 2, 3 and 5, and 3 rats for trial 4. table 2. total number of rats caught in the controlled and experimental group trial controlled group experimental group 1 0 2 2 2 5 3 2 4 4 1 6 5 1 3 within the 24-hour observation, there was a total of six rats that were caught under the controlled group and 20 rats for the experimental group. an independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the controlled group and the experimental group. based on table 2, there was a significant difference between the controlled group (m = 1.20, sd = 0.84) and the experimental group 10 jpair multidisciplinary research (m = 4.00, sd = 1.58), t (8) = -3.50, p < 0.05. these results suggest that the experimental group is a better rat trap. the experimental group has a higher potential to trap rats due to the added content of the pure honey extract. based on the observation, it is common knowledge that rats are attracted to sweet foods. honey can be one of the most effective baits to catch rats and mice. aside from the sweet taste of the honey, honey extract mixed with the sap extracts from ficus benjamina and artocarpus treculianus elm. makes the trap sticky. according to shin et al. (2019), what makes honey extract become an adhesive is the bee’s salivary secretions. it coats the pollen grains and allows them to stick better. the bees produce the sugary secretions from the nectar they drink from the flowers. this is the main ingredient in honey. another component in honey is a plant-based oil that coats the pollen grains called pollenkitt. this helps stabilize the adhesive properties of the nectar and protect it from the impact of too much or sometimes too little humidity. these components in honey make the experimental group more effective. the sweet aroma of honey makes rats attracted to it but would not be able to devour honey. when rats are engrossed, the honey’s waxy texture combined with the trees’ sticky sap extracts makes rats unaware of being trapped. this is similar to the method employed by cowan & brown (2015). according to them, one of the advantages of using adhesive traps is that they are non-toxic and non-contaminating. additionally, they hold the carcass in one place and require no license for their use and are inexpensive. furthermore, rodent infestation is considered as one of the health hazards both to humans and other livestock. because of this, numerous methods have already been adopted, such as the use of chemical traps, rodenticides, or repellents. however, there are limitations to these methods, and that is chemical toxicities. this is as well supported by the study conducted by kalandakanond-thongsong et al. (2010), stating that the significant factors that limit the usage of chemical pesticides are possibly handling hazards and food contamination. therefore, due to possible chemical toxicity, using natural plant extracts may be a better and more promising alternative rodent trap (gabr, 2005). conclusions the non-chemical rodent trap, mainly the decocted sap extracts from ficus benjamina and artocarpus treculianus elm. mixed with pure honey extract was found to be a capable and effective alternative rodent trap. 11 international peer reviewed journal translational research since rodent infestations will continue to pose severe challenges to landowners, community producers, and homeowners, this research can be used to provide public education and awareness on the effects of rodenticides and other chemical rodent traps about their toxicity content and how they affect humans and the environment. with this, workshops can be offered to the public, especially to rodent control industries, to consider a serious alternative to chemical rodent control. this research can also be given more attention by concerned organizations such as the department of health to foster new technologies that will help not only modernize the pest control industry but can also present a better means of toxic free pest control. furthermore, continued technology development can also be considered to improve the effectiveness and safety of pest controls and create alternative methods to eradicate rodents, particularly those that cause damage. acknowledgment the conduct of this research undertaking was financially supported by the congressman [hon. ciriaco b. gato, jr.] and the vice governor [hon. ignacio c. villa] of the province of batanes. literature cited aplin, k. p., brown, p. r., singleton, g. r., douangboupha, b., & khamphoukheo, k. 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becomes more popular and widely recognized, operating systems’ users are still relying on reviews that are based on the price, standard feature and satisfaction survey as to which product will be patronized. measuring usability requires assessment on three product attributes or factors namely: effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. there are thirty-seven (37) respondents used in the study. each respondent is required to perform the given task in each version of the windows operating system. time to complete the task and behavioral manifestations were recorded. based on the data gathered and analyzed, results show that windows 10 has the most number of the task with the highest completion rate in comparison with two operating systems in the study. regarding efficiency, windows 8 has the highest average task completion time. as to user satisfaction, the majority of the respondents were frustrated in the different task under windows 8 while most of them are delighted in the tasks vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.683 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 93 international peer reviewed journal under windows 7. regarding engagement and boredom, the result reveals that users are engaged at the same time felt bored on tasks under windows 10. keywords — usability, effectiveness, efficiency, user satisfaction, operating system, philippines introduction the market is saturated with competing brands claiming to be superior to others. product reviews serve as a tool for end users/customer to select which product is best fitted for their needs. some companies see this as a factor and baseline for researching and developing products with user-oriented methods instead of technology-oriented methods (holm, 2006). iso 9241-11 defines usability as the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. it is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object such as a tool, software application, website, book, machine, process, vehicle, or anything a human interacts with (brödner & adler, 1995). in human-computer interaction and computer science, usability focuses the elegance and clarity with which the cooperation with a computer program or a website is designed (nielsen & levy, 1994). usability becomes an essential factor since it will help companies and organizations in achieving its own goals because its primary concern is the productivity of the user (mifsud, 2011). usability is also important in website development because according to jakob nielsen (1994), “studies of user behavior on the web find a low tolerance for intricate designs or slow sites.” according to iso 9241 part 11, usability is consists of three aspects: effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. effectiveness is the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve specific goals (frøkjær, hertzum, & hornbaek, 2000). efficiency indicators include input rate, mental effort, usage patterns, communication effort, learning measures and time controlled (hornbaek, 2006). on the other hand, efficiency is the relation between the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve specific goals (baily, 1993) and the resources expended in performing them (bevan, 1995). its indicators are preference, ease-of-use, and attitude (hornbaek, 2006). the third and the last usability aspect as stipulated in iso 9241 is satisfaction. it is the users’ comfort with and positive attitudes towards the use of the system. users’ satisfaction can be measured by attitude matrix and rating scales (hornbaek, 2006). these 94 jpair multidisciplinary research three are considered independent aspects of usability, and for usability testing of computer systems having complex tasks, measures of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction must be included (frøkjær, hertzum, & hornbaek, 2000). as usability testing becomes more popular and widely recognized (holm, 2006), operating systems’ users are still relying on reviews that are based on the price, standard feature and satisfaction survey as to which product will be patronized. some companies and online websites such as globalstats and stack overflow are doing customer satisfaction survey and market share review as to which operating system mostly preferred by the buyers and end users. as to the perspective of erik frøkjær, morten hertzum, and kasper hornbaek (2000), measuring only a subset such as the satisfaction of the three usability aspects is an insufficient indicator of overall usability. also, anchoring to this perspective, the researchers are encouraged to conduct the study on usability comparing the four commonly used windows operating system; the windows 10, windows 8 and windows 7. objectives of the study the researchers aim to achieve the following, (1) to determine the hardware specification of the computers to be used; (2) to evaluate windows 7, 8 and 10 operating system versions based on the three aspect of usability; and (3) to identify the differences of windows 7, 8, and 10 operating system versions in terms of three aspect of usability. methodology figure 1. the research design of the study 95 international peer reviewed journal to start the preliminary phase of this study, reviewing related studies were made. as observed, microsoft is the most used operating systems for desktop computers, especially in the philippines. but, it was not clear as to what type or version of the microsoft operating system is fitted for users. to differentiate windows 7, 8, and 10 versions of operating systems, the researchers conducted usability testing to end users. these will have equal results compared to users that are highly exposed or have a high literacy to computers. as an outcome, this study will determine the significant differences between microsoft windows 7, 8, and 10 versions of operating systems tested by end users. hardware specifications to determine the hardware specifications to be used. according to microsoft, the three versions of operating systems under study will require the following minimum requirements to be used: table 1. microsoft windows 7 operating system version minimum requirements processor 1 gigahertz (ghz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor memory (ram) 1 gigabyte (gb) ram (32-bit) or 2 gb ram (64-bit) storage 16 gb available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 gb (64-bit) graphics microsoft directx 9 graphics device with wddm (windows display driver model) 1.0 or higher driver table 2. microsoft windows 8 operating system version minimum requirements processor 1 gigahertz (ghz) or faster with support for pae (physical address extension), nx (no-execute), and sse2 (streaming simd extensions 2) memory (ram) 1 gigabyte (gb) ram (32-bit) or 2 gb ram (64-bit) storage 16 gb available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 gb (64-bit) graphics microsoft directx 9 graphics device with wddm driver 96 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. microsoft windows 10 operating system version minimum requirements processor 1 gigahertz (ghz) or faster processor or soc (system on chip) memory (ram) 1 gigabyte (gb) ram (32-bit) or 2 gb ram (64-bit) storage 16 gb available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 gb (64-bit) graphics directx 9 graphics device with wddm (windows display driver model) 1.0 or higher driver participants in order to get statistically significant numbers, nielsen (1994) stipulates that a usability test can be deployed in at least twenty (20) users applicable to quantitative studies. for eye tracking, at least thirty-nine (39) users are necessary to provide a stable heat map. to assure homogeneity, respondents were selected based on predefined criteria such as the level of computer literacy. respondents were given a structured survey questionnaire. only those students whose responses are greater than 90% to the question if they have less exposure to the use of computer were included. data gathering procedure for the researcher to gather data, questionnaire and observation method was used. the instrument was administered personally by the researchers after seeking approval from the dean of the college of agriculture and technology of jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus through the duly signed communication letter. data gathering procedures used in the study were designed to solicit information for usability and three of its measures namely: effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction (hornbæk, 2006). the researchers had organized twenty (20) tasks to be performed by the respondents. these tasks are commonly found in the three operating systems under this study. the respondents used computer stations based on their availability. effectiveness. in measuring effectiveness, a task completion rate was used by the researchers. task completion rate is a usability key performance indicator. it is a number or percentage of tasks that users completed (sismeiro & bucklin, 2004). efficiency. efficiency defines as resources expended about the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve goals (iso, 1998). efficiency in this study was measured using task completion time (frekjmr et al., 2000). task completion time is the average of individual task time for a single attempt (desai et al., 2008). 97 international peer reviewed journal satisfaction. according to frøkjær, hertzum, and hornbmk (2000), satisfaction is the users’ comfort with and positive attitudes towards the use of the system. users’ satisfaction can be measured by attitude rating scales such as sumi (kulkarni, padmanabham, sagare, & maheshwari, 2013) and ibm computer usability satisfaction questionnaires (lewis, 1995). in the study, the researchers used a behavioral/psychological matrix to record the attitude of the respondents towards each given task. there were four attitudes were observed and recorded in the study, these are the frustration, delight, engage, and boredom. for the researchers to identify the different attitudes, observation in the facial expression (farnsworth, 2016) and gesture (castellano, kessous, & caridakis, 2008) of the respondents in every task were done. the behavioral observation was performed without the respondent’s awareness to eliminate biases. data analysis to derive comparisons from the observation and responses of the participants, and arrive at the correct analysis and interpretation of data, the researchers used the following statistical tools: effectiveness. to evaluate effectiveness, a task completion rate was used. task completion rate is calculated by dividing the number of assigned employees who completed tasks successfully by the total number of assigned employees (sismeiro & bucklin, 2004). according to sauro (2011), the good completion rate is 78% since it is above the quartile which is 75%. to identify the significant difference in task completion rate between the three operating systems, analysis of variance (anova) was used. anova was used by the researchers based on the following assumptions: a)data is interval or ratio in scale and normally or approximately normally distributed (reston, 2004). b)variances are homogeneous across treatments/groups (reston, 2004). efficiency. efficiency is measured using task completion time (frekjmr et al., 2000). task completion time is the sum of individual task time for a single attempt (desai et al., 2008). in the study, the researchers set specific time allotted for each task to be accomplished. respondents were not informed regarding the time allotted for each task to avoid being pressured which affects behavior/attitude. time allotment was used to identify if the user is efficient in all the tasks or not (hornbeak, 2006). to quantify the significant difference in task completion time between the three operating systems, the researchers used the analysis of variance (anova). anova was used by the researchers based on the assumptions mentioned. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research satisfaction. to measure the degree of user satisfaction, frequency count and simple percentage were used. to quantify the significant difference in task completion time between the three versions of operating systems used in the study, the researchers utilized the analysis of variance (anova). results and discussion hardware specification to eliminate hardware bias in the study, the researcher used the same computer specification where the three operating systems were installed. specifically, the following were the details of the three computer unit being used: table 4. hardware specification used in usability testing processor 3.70 gigahertz (ghz) memory (ram) 4 gigabyte (gb) storage 500 gb available hard disk space graphics intel graphics device effectiveness the task completion rate of windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 as shown in figure 1 shows that windows 10 has the highest average task completion rate of 75.33% while windows 8 has the lowest average completion rate of 60.41%. the result implies that windows 10 has the most numbered of the completed task while windows 8 has the least. further, both operating systems are rated not good based on 78% standard completion rate. figure 1. task completion rate of windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 99 international peer reviewed journal table 5 presents the analysis of variance (anova) to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8 and windows 10 in terms of task completion rate. the table reflects the mean of windows 10 (75.83), windows 8(60.41), and windows 7(68.88). the table further shows that computed p-value at 0.05 alpha is 0.0023 which is interpreted as significant. the result implies that there is a significant difference in the task completion rate of the three versions operating systems namely; windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10. table 5. analysis of variance to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 in terms of effectiveness operating system versions mean (task completion rate (%)) df p-value @ 0.05 alpha interpretation win. 10 75.83a 2 0.0023 significantwin. 8 60.41ab win. 7 68.88b efficiency the average task completion time of windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 as shown in figure 2 shows that windows 8 has the highest task completion time of 28.53 minutes while windows 10 has the lowest average completion time of 20.24 minutes. this implies that windows 8 has the longest while windows 10 has the shortest average time of completion in all the tasks. both operating systems are efficient since the average task completion of the three versions of the operating system is below the allotted time. figure 2. average task completion time of windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 100 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6 presents the analysis of variance (anova) to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8 and windows 10 in terms of task completion time. the table reflects the mean of windows 10 (20.24), windows 8(28.53), and windows 7(24.26). the table further shows that computed p-value at 0.05 alpha is 0.0267 which is interpreted as significant. the result implies that there is a significant difference in the task completion time of the three operating system versions namely; windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10. table 6. analysis of variance to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 in terms of efficiency operating system versions mean (task completion time(min.)) df p-value @ 0.05 alpha interpretation win. 10 20.24a 2 0.0267 significantwin. 8 28.53ab win. 7 24.26b satisfaction the user satisfaction percentage of end-user towards tasks in windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10. in terms of delight, windows 7 has the highest percentage of 34.59% while windows 8 has the lowest percentage of 31.73% among the other two operating systems. in terms of engagement, windows 10 has the highest percentage having 37.02% while windows 8 has the lowest percentage of 31.40%. in terms of boredom towards every task, windows 10 has the highest percentage of 37.84% while windows 8 has the lowest percentage of 27.03. in terms of frustration, windows 8 is the highest with a percentage of 36.25% while windows 10 has the lowest percentage of 30.00%. figure 3. user satisfaction percentage 101 international peer reviewed journal table 7 presents the analysis of variance (anova) to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8 and windows 10 in terms of user satisfaction. the table reflects the mean of windows 10 (2.55), windows 8(2.40), and windows 7(2.50). the table further shows that computed p-value at 0.05 alpha is 0.4687 which is interpreted as not significant. the result implies that there is a no significant difference in terms of user satisfaction of the three versions operating systems but windows 8 has the lowest user satisfaction mean. table 7. analysis of variance to determine the difference between windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10 in terms of user satisfaction. operating system versions mean (user satisfaction) df p-value at 0.05 alpha interpretation win. 10 2.55a 2 0.4687 not significantwin. 8 2.40a win. 7 2.50a conclusions measuring usability requires assessment on three product attributes or factors namely: effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. based on the data gathered and analyzed, results show that windows 10 has the most number of the task with the highest completion rate in comparison with the other two operating systems in the study. regarding efficiency, windows 8 has the highest average task completion time. this means that given tasks require a longer time to be accomplished in windows 8. as to user satisfaction, the majority of the respondents were frustrated in the different task under windows 8 while most of them are delighted in the tasks under windows 7. regarding engagement and boredom, the result reveals that users are engaged at the same time felt bored on tasks under windows 10. further, examined data had shown that there is a significant difference in terms of task completion rate and task completion time of windows 7, windows 8, and windows 10. regarding user satisfaction, results show no significant difference between the behavior of the respondents toward each task per operating system but windows 8 has the lowest satisfaction rate among os under the study. given the findings, this study recommends to perform usability testing on other features and highly technical matters of microsoft operating systems, compare other operating systems aside from microsoft windows operating 102 jpair multidisciplinary research system, preferably open source operating systems, and conduct usability testing on other usability contributors that have different factors of usability aside from those based on iso 9241. translational research in the broader aspect, the result of the study helps end users in selecting which operating system is more user-friendly. in the school setting, the study will help the mis officer to identify which operating system will be used to enhance productivity. literature cited bevan, n. (1995). measuring usability as quality of use.  software quality journal,  4(2), 115-130. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/ bf00402715 brödner, p. (1995). adler, paul s.(ed.): technology and the future of work, new york: oxford university press, 1992; and adler, paul s. and winograd, terry a.(eds.): usability: turning technologies into tools, new york: oxford university press 1992.  international journal of human factors in manufacturing,  5(2), 227-230. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/ hfm.4530050209 castellano, g., kessous, l., & caridakis, g. (2008). emotion recognition through multiple modalities: face, body gesture, speech. in  affect and emotion in human-computer interaction (pp. 92-103). springer, berlin, heidelberg. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-850991_8 farnsworth, b. (2016, december 6). facial action coding system (facs) a visual guidebook. retrieved from https://imotions.com/blog/facialaction-coding-system/ frøkjær, e., hertzum, m., & hornbæk, k. (2000, april). measuring usability: are effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction really correlated?. in proceedings of the sigchi conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 345352). retrieved from doi>10.1145/332040.332455 https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.4530050209 https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.4530050209 https://doi.org/10.1145/332040.332455 103 international peer reviewed journal holm, o. (2006). integrated marketing communication: from tactics to strategy. corporate communications: an international journal, 11(1), 23-33. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280610643525 hornbæk, k. 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(1994). measuring usability: preference vs. performance.  communications of the acm,  37(4), 66-76. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2eolssb sauro, j. (2011). what is a good task-completion rate.  measuringu. available online (last accessed november 2016) at: http://www. measuringu. com/blog/ task-completion. php. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2enugie sismeiro, c., & bucklin, r. e. (2004). modeling purchase behavior at an e-commerce web site: a task-completion approach.  journal of marketing research,  41(3), 306-323. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1509/ jmkr.41.3.306.35985 https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280610643525 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2005.06.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2005.06.002 https://bit.ly/2xvtod1 https://doi.org/10.1080/10447319509526110 https://doi.org/10.1080/10447319509526110 https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.41.3.306.35985 https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.41.3.306.35985 22 jpair multidisciplinary research learning environment and the comprehensive examination of nursing students mervin amba osic orcid no. 0000-0003-1661-8975 mervinambaosic@gmail.com university of mindanao – tagum college davao del norte, philippines abstract the atmosphere of the classroom environment embodies an affective tone in which teaching and learning take place.  the aim of this study was to find out the relationship of the learning environment and comprehensive examination results of tagum doctors’ college nursing students for school year 2009-2010. this study utilized a descriptive-correlation design of research. pertinent data were collated through the use of the researcher-made questionnaires as the datagathering tool and the level comprehensive examination results. the respondents of this study were the 35 first and 50 second-year students enrolled in tagum doctors’ college, inc. a complete enumeration was used in identifying the respondents since the same students went through the mandatory exam given by the school, to assess their level of knowledge of both general, special education issues and their specialty area. using pearson r product moment correlation, findings revealed that there is no significant relationship between the extent of learning environment and the level of comprehensive examination result of both firstyear and second-year nursing students in tagum doctors’ college. this implies that the learning environment does not affect the level of comprehensive examination result of nursing students. this would mean that assessment is not a just a test but can be reflected in the learning process. vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.278. journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 23 international peer reviewed journal keywords learning environment, comprehensive examination, descriptivecorrelation design of research, nursing students, philippines introduction school administrators should help teachers in making a high-achieving learning environments for all students, where the most progressive curriculum and instruction practices combine to assess learning. in a high-achieving learning environment, teachers involve students in complex problem solving and discovering ideas and issues, and classroom undertakings draw on students’ culture, experiences, and knowledge. at-risk students, in particular, need environments that employ them in realistic tasks and offer them vital chances for the development of knowledge (williams, 1994). according to experts in the field of education, managing school and classroom aims to encourage and establish student self-discipline through a process of encouraging positive student achievement and behavior. thus, student achievement, teacher efficacy, and teacher and student performance are directly linked with the idea of school and classroom management (froyen & iverson, 1999). however, a comprehensive examination should be the student’s opportunity to reflect on what she/he has learned and to demonstrate how her/his knowledge and skills will contribute to her/his own research and practice. steen (1999) reported that over the years, having obtained unsatisfactory results in comprehensive exams, many changes in departmental offerings and requirements were made. in mathematics, abstract algebra and real variables were required when it became clear (from oral exam answers like the one mentioned above) that students were not getting a sufficiently rigorous theoretical background in mathematics. more active learning in the classroom was moved, to help students become better able to handle the material. in the philippines, promoting quality education, taking necessary actions in ensuring that quality education shall be accessible to all is a directive. it is also a mandate to make sure and protect academic freedom for the continuing academic growth, the development of learning and research, producing responsible and effective leaders and making sure to produce high level professionals, and to enrich historical and cultural heritage (ched, 2010). but there were accusations on the alleged ineptness of the commission which stemmed from the report that in a seven-year period (2001-2008), the number of 24 jpair multidisciplinary research takers who failed in licensure exams exceeded the number of board passers by as much as 1.42 million or about 64 percent. the reports reveal that only 808,884 (36.35 percent) out of the 2,225,571 examinees for the period has passed the test. the problem is compounded by the fact that of the existing 1,741 hei’s in the country, only 50 or 3 percent have good facilities (malipot, 2010). in tagum doctors’ college, the commitment to quality education is clear by following the vision, mission and goals of the school. one knows for a fact that not all practice settings can provide nursing students with a positive learning environment. in maximizing nursing students’ clinical learning outcomes, it is necessary to examine the learning environment. the school is conducting a yearly assessment on all the subjects covered for the nursing course and that all students in all year level will take the exams. this will be the basis for the students’ academic report whether he/she will continue the nursing program or not. it is in this context that the researcher pursued this study which is to assess the learning environment of tagum doctors’ college, tagum city, philippines wherein the classroom relatedness was measured by, first, assessing the teacher-student relationships, second, peer relationships, third, home-school relationships, fourth, physical and instructional environment and its impact to the comprehensive examination result of the students. this study is anchored on the theory of nuttall (2006) which states that a high collaboration among school officials (administrators, faculty, administrative support, non-teaching personnel) and parents would produce high student achievement, high graduation rates, and high attendance. the latter may be the most difficult to integrate into the collaborative process. they often face difficulties in participating to school activities, like, limited financial resources, negative past experiences with schooling, and linguistic and cultural differences. teachers also face problems in involving parents, like, lack of time and money for family outreach, fear of conflict and typecasts about families and cultures. it was also proven that students are considerably more likely to be successful when parents are actively involved in their children’s academic endeavour. the paradigm shows the variables of the study. the independent variable is the learning environment in tagum doctors’ college which will focus on the six indicators, namely: a) teacher – student relationships; b) peer relationship; c) home-school relationships; d) physical environment; and e) instructional environment. the dependent variable is the comprehensive exam result of the nursing students in school year 2009-2010. this comprehensive examination is a reliable and valid tool of assessment of the critical skills of the students and 25 international peer reviewed journal may be useful for the formal assessment of readiness for practice. data were taken from the rle coordinator’s office. the gender and year level moderate the two variables. objective of the study this study aimed to determine the relationship of the learning environment and comprehensive examination results of tagum doctors’ college nursing students. methodology the research design used in this study was the descriptive correlation method. this was used to determine the relationship between two variables. also, it was used in collecting the data in order to test the hypothesis through a questionnaire. the descriptive method described the extent of the learning environment in tagum doctors’ college, inc. this study employed the correlational research design as established by rybarova (2006) wherein two variables are measured and recorded for each individual and the measurements are then reviewed to identify any patterns of relationship that exist between the two variables and to measure the strength of their relationship, whether a positive or a negative relationship will come out. as a result, thus this study aimed at determining whether the learning environment affects the comprehensive examination results of the nursing students. the respondents of this study were the first and second-year students enrolled in tagum doctor’s college, inc. a complete enumeration was used in identifying the respondents,since the same students went through the mandatory exam given by the school, to assess their level of knowledge of both general, special education issues and their specialty area. the research instrument used in gathering the data was the researcher-made questionnaire to focus on the relevant indicators. the questionnaire dealt with the classroom relatedness that would assess students’ perceptions of teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, and home-school relationships and at same the perceived competence in the classroom by assessing their academic self-efficacy, self-determination and behavioral self-control. the researcher formulated the questionnaire and had it validated by the three (3) experts for its content validity and it also revealed 82% reliable using test26 jpair multidisciplinary research retest reliability. a letter asking permission to conduct a study was sent to the school president. upon receipt of the approved letter, the researcher furnished a copy of the approved letter to the year level coordinators of the school. also, an approval of the school head was needed to get the result of the comprehensive exam of the students. when the request was granted, the researcher had personally conducted the survey questionnaire to the respondents of the study. prior to the answering of questionnaires, instruction was given to ensure honest, clear, and complete answer. after the respondents had answered the questionnaire, it was personally retrieved. all responses of the respondents were checked, collated, and consolidated in the microsoft excel file. the said file was submitted to the statistician for statistical analysis to seek answers to the problems raised in the first section of this research. in compliance to research ethics protocol, informed consent was obtained from the respondents. the statistical tools utilized in this research work are average weighted mean; mean; t-test; pearson r or product moment correlation. results and discussion level of learning environment in tagum doctors’ college table 1 illustrates the level of learning environment in tagum doctors’ college. the physical environment got the highest mean, followed by the peer relationship, instructional environment, teacher – student relationships and home – school relationship. all of the indicators have the same descriptive equivalent of high which means that the level of learning environment in tagum doctors’ college is very satisfactory. the result can be supported by the study of higgins (2005) which states that building condition, student performance and achievement conclude that the quality of the physical environment significantly affects student academic success. there is adequate study to state without anticipation that the building in which students spends a good deal of their time learning does in fact influence how well they learn. in addition, boykin et al. (2005) stated that first, surrounded by peers and often living away from home, college students experience freedom from parental control, which is often demonstrated by using alcohol in college. 27 international peer reviewed journal table 1. level of learning environment in tagum doctors college learning environment mean description teacher-student relationships 3.83 high peer relationship 4.17 high home-school relationship 3.82 high physical environment 4.18 high instructional environment 3.97 high over-all mean 3.99 high level of comprehensive examination result as shown in table 2, the level of comprehensive examination result of the firstyear nursing students has a mean of 79.89 with the description of satisfactory. the result shows that with the above average level of performance, first-year nursing students have met all the academic responsibilities in this area. this can be supported by huba (2000) who confirmed that learning is the focus and ultimate goal of the learner-centered paradigm of the students. because of this, in shifting to a learner-centered approach, assessment plays a key role. in assessing the students’ academic performance, the questions are forced such, “what and how well have they learned it?” “how successful teachers have been at what they are trying to achieve?” because of this focus on learning, assessment in higher education is sometimes referred to as outcome-based assessment. table 2. level of comprehensive examination result of first-year nursing students mean description level of comprehensive examination result 79.89 satisfactory legend: 92-100 – outstanding; 84-91– very satisfactory; 76-83 – satisfactory; 68-75 – fair; 67-below – low as shown in table 3, the level of comprehensive examination result of the second-year nursing students has a mean of 76.18 with the description of 28 jpair multidisciplinary research satisfactory. the result shows that with the above average level of performance, the second-year nursing students have met all the academic responsibilities in this area. it just shows that the assessment takes part in improving teaching and learning in academic advising at the individual, course, program and institutional levels, thus, assessment should be on-going, consistently applied, and based on teaching and learning goals and objectives. each academic program should use information from assessment in interpreting and analyzing for the improvement of the effectiveness of its academic programs in such areas as curriculum, academic advisement, and faculty development and student services. table 3. level of comprehensive examination result of second-year nursing students mean description level of comprehensive examination result 76.18 satisfactory legend: 92 100 – outstanding; 84 91 – very satisfactory; 76 83 – satisfactory; 68 75 – fair; 67 below – low relationship between the level of learning environment and the level of comprehensive examination result of nursing students the result revealed that there is no significant relationship between the extent of learning environment and the level of comprehensive examination result of both first and second-year nursing students. this implies that the learning environment does not affect the level of comprehensive examination result of nursing students. this would mean that assessment is not a just a test but can be reflected in the learning process. it is performance-based, seamless, generative, and on-going process which students need multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning. 29 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the study revealed that the level of learning environment in tagum doctors’ college is high. the level of comprehensive examination result of the first and secondyear nursing students is above average. there is no significant difference on the level of learning environment when analyzed by gender and year level. there is no significant difference on the level of comprehensive examination result when analyzed by gender. there is no significant relationship between the extent of learning environment and the level of comprehensive examination result of the first year and second year nursing students in tagum doctors college. the above results would somehow need a specific understanding of what constitutes learning environment and quality education as necessary aspects of any strategic and long-term approach to ensuring the academic performance of the students. there must have a provision of quality teachers which is necessary also in ensuring a shared commitment in dealing with the students regardless of gender and year level, thus to develop and support teacher quality. moreover, it is increasingly identified and recognized what effective teachers know, in an effective learning environment and value as an important step in enhancing student’s academic performance that would be evidenced on the result of the comprehensive examination. literature cited boykin, a. w., tyler, k. m., & miller, o. (2005). in search of cultural themes and their expressions in the dynamics of classroom life. urban education,40(5), 521-549. froyen, l. a., & iverson, a. m. (1999). schoolwide and classroom management: the reflective educator-leader. upper saddle river, nj: merrill. higgins, s., hall, e., wall, k., woolner, p., & mccaughey, c. (2005). the impact of school environments: a literature review. the centre for learning and teaching, school of education, communication and language science, university of newcastle. accessed online on, 10, 04-08. huba, m. e., & freed, j. e. (2000). learner centered assessment on college campuses: shifting the focus from teaching to learning.  community college journal of research and practice, 24(9), 759-766. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research malipot, i.h. (2010). incoming president aquino names dr. patricia licuanan as new ched head. manila bulletin. retrieved from http://balita.ph/2010/06/30/ incoming-president-aquino-names-dr-patricia-licuanan-as-new-ched-head/ steen, l. a. (1999). assessing assessment. vazquez-nuttall, e., li, c., & kaplan, j. p. (2006). home-school partnerships with culturally diverse families: challenges and solutions for school personnel. journal of applied school psychology, 22(2), 81-102. williams, b., & newcombe, e. (1994). building on the strengths of urban learners. educational leadership, 51(8), 75-78. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research issues and challenges on the mental health services of a selected municipality in metro manila: a case study william jo se m. billote 0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines ryan g. ponce 0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract mental health problem is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. it makes up one-third of the world population. with the increasing number of individuals with mental health problems and difficulties worldwide, countries such as the philippines are still on the process of addressing the issue of providing quality mental health care services. this study aimed to identify and evaluate the existing mental health services offered in a selected municipality in metro manila, philippines. moreover, this sought to increase knowledge and awareness about mental health services to help solve the issues and challenges identified in this study. the study employed an initial semi-structured interview that can lead to a case study, which is qualitative research design. the study was conducted in one of the city health offices in metro manila. insufficient budget, lack of vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.761 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:williamjosebillote@gmail.com mailto:ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.761 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 67 international peer reviewed journal trained professionals and mental health workers, lack of mental health system framework, not fully implemented mental health law, and lack of collaboration and integration were the problems identified in providing quality mental health services. although the philippine government exerts effort on filling in the gaps in providing treatment and care to those individuals with mental health difficulties, access to mental health institutions in the philippines favors those near the national capital region. keywords — psychology, mental health, mental illness, mental health problem, mental health services, qualitative research, metro manila, philippines introduction mental health is defined by the world health organization (2003) as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” it includes concepts of well-being, self-efficacy, competence, autonomy, dependence, and recognition of the ability to realize one’s intellectual and emotional capabilities. the world health organization also defines it as a state of well-being where individuals can recognize their abilities, work fruitfully, and make contributions to their communities despite the normal stresses of life. although mental health is defined universally, the symptoms of these disorders vary by discipline, and some of them show up as a reaction to culture. in oriental cultures, the symptoms of mental disorders are expressed physically, while this is rarely observed in western cultures. the translation of mental disorders to physical expressions is thought to be a primitive behavior and is not welcome in western societies. on the contrary, this somatization or conversion of emotions that are not freely expressible is an essential way for the social harmony of the individual (çam & uğuryol, 2018). mental health problems and difficulties are growing issues worldwide. thus, individuals who often have these problems and difficulties are misunderstood and discriminated. according to vos and colleagues (2013), a new index of 301 diseases found mental health problems to be one of the leading causes of the overall disease burden worldwide. common mental health problems include depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd), and posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd). these problems constitute the largest single source of world economic burden, with an estimated global cost of £1.6 trillion (or us$2.5 trillion) – higher than 68 jpair multidisciplinary research cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, and diabetes. with this, the second leading cause of disability worldwide is major depression. it has also been considered as a significant contributor to the burden of suicide (whiteford et al., 2013). additionally, lozano and colleagues (2012) reported that the primary drivers of disability worldwide are mental health and behavioral problems. they cause over 40 million years of disability in 20 to 29-year-olds. consequently, more than 100 million people suffer from mental disorders in the western pacific region, including the philippines. according to the department of health philippines, as reported by asean secretariat jakarta (2016), there is an increasing rate of suicide and an increase in self-inflicted injuries. death by suicide reached 2.2 per 100,000 population in 2005, increased from 0.5 and 2 in 1980 and 1996 respectively. also, schizophrenia and other related disorders (71%) and mood disorders (18%) are the most frequent diagnoses among patients who are treated in mental hospitals. in contrast, substance abuse and neurotic disorders are more frequent diagnoses in out-patient facilities. similarly, the asean secretariat jakarta (2016) has compiled reports on mental health from its member states entitled asean mental health systems. it has found out that hospital out-patient and in-patient data shows that the leading mental health problems present in brunei are psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, followed by bipolar disorder and depression. on the other hand, mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, somatoform disorders, alcohol, and drug abuse are common in children. the indonesia basic health survey in 2013 estimated that 6% of the adult population have mental disorders. in malaysia, a total of 8.6% of their population have mental disorders. it was also ranked fourth among the leading causes of the burden of disease. mental health problems and difficulties developed complicatedly, and too often, there is no single or identifiable cause. nonetheless, risk factors that may trigger mental health problems in certain people are heredity, adverse life events, certain medications, diseases or illnesses, and work-related stress (gabriel & liimatainen, 2000). additionally, when an individual cannot manage the stress he or she is experiencing, he or she might have a mental health problem that can lead to mental illness. this would, therefore, affect the individual’s everyday functions and working conditions in numerous ways. since this causes mild to severe disturbances in thought and, or behavior, this will result in an individual’s inability to cope with life’s ordinary demands and routines. furthermore, mental health problems affect both the individual and the community. individuals with mental health difficulties and problems are 69 international peer reviewed journal excluded from their active role in the community. this often leads to losses in human potential and productivity. the costs of mental health problems, and other disabilities, include the direct cost of welfare services and treatment (e.g., costs of disability benefits, travel, access to services and medication), the indirect cost to those who are not directly affected such as caregivers, and the opportunity costs of income foregone due to incapacity (gabriel & liimatainen, 2000). with the escalating number of individuals with mental problems and difficulties worldwide, the philippines, specifically, is still on the process of addressing the issue on providing quality mental health care services – from the lack of facilities, nonfunctional services due to insufficient human resources, budget constraints (conde, 2004), and the implementation and integration of the mental health plan and services across the country. the world health organization has suggested effective strategies to prevent these problems and difficulties and provided ways to alleviate the suffering caused by such disorders. effective strategies and techniques include mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention (jané-llopis & anderson, 2005). mental health promotion often refers to positive mental health and the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. mental disorder prevention, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with avoiding the disease, its relapses and risks, and the other disabilities associated with it (world health organization, 2002). other effective strategies include addressing risk and protective factors, strengthening community networks, improving access to education, promoting a healthy lifestyle, dealing with family disruptions, enhancing resilience, and reducing disruptive behaviors (world health organization, 2004). thus, access to healthcare and social services capable of providing treatment and social support is the key. however, access to these healthcare facilities and services, insufficient budget allocation, and an inadequate number of skilled and trained workers for mental health remain as the gaps in providing treatment and care. it cannot be denied that the current treatments and strategies on mental health care do not sufficiently address the different complex challenges of mental illness. suggested and existing models of care and available approaches for treatment often fail to address this increase in the global crisis of mental health care. because mental illness accounts for about one-third of the world’s disability, then mental health care services call for a drastic change in its paradigm and practices. such changes include improving standards of training, developing new research methods, and re-assessing current models of mental health care 70 jpair multidisciplinary research services. additionally, based on the findings from the study conducted by lally, tully, and samaniego (2019), they concluded that mental healthcare services in the philippines face continued challenges. these include underinvestment, lack of mental health professionals, and underdeveloped community mental health services. the department of health (2018) reports that 17% of the population in the philippines suffers from a major depressive disorder. additionally, data from the philippine general hospital in 2014 show that epilepsy accounts for 33.44% of adult and 66.20% of pediatric neurologic out-patient visits per year and in 2011, who global school-based health survey showed that in the philippines, 16% of students between 13-15 years old have ever seriously considered attempting suicide while 13% have actually attempted suicide one or more times. since there are gaps in the increasing number of mental health problems in the philippines, the researchers were interested in evaluating the existing mental health services in the philippines, specifically in the national capital region. this study sought to identify the concerns or issues that should be addressed and will eventually lead to ways to helping professionals in the field of psychology to offer accessible facilities and social services to people with mental health problems and provide skills training to workers for mental health. framework with the increasing trend of mental illness around the world, it is vital that health policy-makers and practitioners identify and support effective means to address issues on mental healthcare. it must be noted that the personal, social, and economic costs of mental illness are too significant to ignore. for this to happen, people concerned and responsible for programs and services on mental health must understand program sustainability. sustainability remains a vague term in health promotion. most definitions refer to a general notion of continuation (health communication unit, 2001), and sustainability is often used interchangeably with the idea of the durability of effect, long-term viability, or long-term maintenance (o’loughlin et al., 1998, as cited in world health organization, 2005). in the field of public health, program sustainability is defined as the capacity to be able to continue program services that will provide ongoing prevention and treatment for a particular health problem even after significant financial and managerial assistance have been terminated. with this, the entire service can be 71 international peer reviewed journal continued with its original structure or even an alternate one, parts of the services may be continued, or some or all of services can be transferred to local service providers (lapelle, zapka, & ockene, 2006). however, there can be many reasons why programs, services, or interventions might lose their effectiveness over time. they might also fail to transfer their benefits to their clients. program sustainability must have the potential of an intervention or service to continue to deliver benefits or health gains beyond the initial stage. even if such services are given limited resources, programs can still be sustainable if they continue to make an effort to achieve the benefits they have to offer. unfortunately, in most parts of the world, services for mental health are not rendered anywhere the same importance as other areas of health, especially physical health. instead, they have been largely ignored. hence, the program sustainability of mental health services must maximize ongoing efforts to achieve the benefits of the services to its clients – people with mental illness, given limited resources. objectives of the study the study aimed to identify and evaluate the existing mental health services provided in a selected municipality in metro manila, philippines. further, the study sought to increase knowledge and awareness about mental health services, which will help professionals to develop programs and interventions in solving the issues and concerns identified in this study. thus, the researchers hope that the results of this study will lead to ways of helping professionals in the field of psychology. methodology research design the study employed an initial semi-structured interview that can lead to a case study, which is qualitative research design. the researchers used critical case sampling, which is a type of purposive sampling technique, in identifying the respondents of the study because this is deemed as most appropriate due to the characteristics of the study’s respondents. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted in one of the city health offices in metro manila. participants the researchers were able to interview one (1) female respondent who was currently the mental health department head of the city health office and has worked with the institution for 20 years. ethical considerations this research undertaking was committed to the highest standard of professional conduct. to meet the ethical requirement established for this study, the researchers first sought approval from one of the city health offices in manila. upon their approval, the researchers conducted the interview. before the interview, the researchers explained the purpose of the study, methodology, significance of the study, limitations of the study, and possible risks of the study to the participant. with this, the participant was allowed to express her concerns about the study and was informed of her right to refuse questions during the data collection process. the researchers also sought consent from the participant if they could take down notes and audio record the interview. after the interview, a token of appreciation was given to the participant for partaking in the study. when the data was transcribed, the researchers went back to the city health office and let the participant read the transcript, initial results, and the interpretation of her responses. instrumentation the data gathering tool comprised of two parts which included the consent form and interview guide. consent form. the first part of the data gathering tool was attached to the front page of the interview guide. it provided a brief background of the researchers, the purpose and objectives of their study, and the respondent’s permission to participate in the study voluntarily. it also explained the significance of the results of the study. the respondent was given a copy that was signed to prove that she agreed to participate in the study. interview guide. the second part of the data gathering tool was used to gather information from the respondent. the questions in the interview guide that was used by the researchers were related to the demographics, competencies, 73 international peer reviewed journal qualifications, services, programs, evaluations, problems encountered, and satisfaction of the respondent in the city health office. results and discussion with the considerable lack of community mental health care in the philippines, stated below are the issues and challenges being encountered and wished to be addressed. insufficient budget. who-aims (2007) reports 19 communitybased psychiatric in-patient units and 15 community residential facilities. these accommodate 1.58 beds per 100,000 and 0.61 beds/place per 100,000, respectively. however, jacob and colleagues (2007) report a lower estimate of 0.09 beds per 100,000. they further report that there are 46 out-patient mental health facilities and four day-treatment facilities— these cater to 124.3 users per 100,000 and 4.42 users per 100,000, respectively. in the philippines, mental health remains poorly resourced. only 3–5% of the total health budget is spent on mental health, and 70% of this is spent on hospital car. (world health organization, 2007; department of health, 2008). the abovementioned results, therefore, imply that mental health is not among the top priorities of the government. this was confirmed by the respondent when asked where they get their budget: “wala. puro lang kami trabaho. work… work… work… but no budget.” (“none. we just work. work… work… work… but no budget.”) however, it can be noted that there are times when they receive sponsorships: “depende pag may mag-sponsor pero madalas wala kaming budget.” (it depends when we have sponsors but most of the time we do not have the budget.”) the sponsors helped them financially in providing mental health services to their patients but only for a period of time. yet, the area of mental healthcare still remains an under-resourced and neglected aspect of healthcare in this part of manila. nevertheless, it is good to note that the philippine health insurance corporation (philhealth) added mental illness under its coverage in 2010 under 74 jpair multidisciplinary research philhealth circular no. 09 s 2010, but this is only for severe disorders, and confinement is for a short duration (philippine health insurance corporation, 2010). it can be deemed that the government is making efforts to offer funds for mental health care. however, in the other parts of the country, the availability of mental health resources and services is still severely lacking. to name a few, these parts of the country are cavite, laguna, batangas, rizal, and quezon. according to who-aims report on mental health system in the philippines (2007), mental health facilities are sustained in public and private organizations, but access to these is uneven throughout the country. most of the resources and facilities are located in the national capital region and major cities in the philippines. although there are 12 smaller satellite hospitals throughout the country that are affiliated with the national center for mental health, overcrowding, poorly functioning units, and funding constraints are ongoing problems, particularly in peripheral facilities. lack of trained professionals and mental health workers. the mental health practitioners should be able to assess the needs of their patients, identify the possible concerns, and make diagnoses for underlying mental health problems. thus, there is a need for proper orientation and training for these practitioners. in the mid-1990s, the national mental health program integrated mental health services in community settings by providing training on the identification and management of specific psychiatric morbidities and psychosocial problems to the municipal health doctors and nurses. however, at present, it appears that the majority of those who have undergone mental health training is no longer available in their workplace, and the current primary health care staff lack training in mental health and interaction with mental health facilities is unusual (world health organization, 2007). based on the interview, all the mental health workers were not adequately trained in terms of professional development: “kulang! kulang na kulang. they need more training.” (“inadequate! it’s so inadequate. they need more training.”) when asked if their workers attend seminars, workshops, and trainings, only one (1) nurse was able to attend such: “yes. itong aking nurse ang pinakalast na training niya was last week sa grand opera hotel from 6 to 9. training ng mental health (mhgap intervention).” 75 international peer reviewed journal (“yes, the nurse. she had her training last week at grand opera hotel from 6 to 9. it was a training on mental health (mhgap intervention.”) also, there were no psychologists or psychometricians available in the city health office to help and provide psychological services to the patients, especially if a disaster happens. furthermore, since the city mental health office offers consultation and counseling only, the mental health workers refer to the more advanced or specialized cases to trained psychiatrists: “we offer basic ones, such as assessment and counseling. pag di kaya nirerefer namin sa psychiatrist.” (“we offer the basic ones such as assessment and counseling. if we can’t handle the case, we refer them to a psychiatrist.”) it appears that the current primary mental health workers seem to have inadequate training in providing mental health services. their competencies are needed to be empowered and strengthened for them to provide better mental health services. when asked about the qualifications of a mental health worker: “siguro ano, willingness. dedicated.” (“maybe willingness and dedication.”) thus, there are no clear guidelines in the qualifications of a mental health worker in their area. evidently, as reported by the world health organization (2007), 3.43 per 100,000 population is the rate of the total number of the workforce employed in mental health facilities or private practice. on the rate, 0.42 are psychiatrists, 0.17 are other medical doctors (not specialized in psychiatry), 0.91 are nurses, 0.14 are psychologists, 0.08 are social workers, 0.08 are occupational therapists, and 1.62 other health or mental health workers (e.g., auxiliary staff, non-doctor/ non-physician primary health care workers, health assistants, medical assistants, professional and paraprofessional psychosocial counselors). lack of mental health system framework. based on the interview, it came out that the respondent and other mental health workers were not aware of the mental health framework provided by the department of health (doh) when asked of their awareness regarding this: 76 jpair multidisciplinary research “no. hindi naman kami binigyan ng doh ng kopya ng framework.” (“no. we were not given a copy of the framework by doh.”) this means that they are not adequately guided by the procedures in administering mental health services. they only provide basic mental health services such as assessment and counseling because there is a lack of information dissemination and implementation. however, it was observed that the government is taking action in developing good programs and guidelines to educate the mental health workers, specifically psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and allied mental health professionals. as reported by the world health organization (2007), almost all of the available mental health facilities and institutions are located in the national capital region. hence, it seemed that access to these facilities favors those living near the main cities. not fully implemented mental health law. during the time of the interview, the initiatives of creating and fully implementing a mental health law are still ongoing, and mental health advocates are still  making an effort to establish it to make sure that proper guidelines are integrated into a comprehensive healthcare system. because of this, the respondent was aware of the mental health law, but she does not utilize the law yet as a guide in providing mental health services to her patients: “ang meron ako dito ay yung kopya ng mental health law pero di pa naman namin ito ini implement dito sa opisina namin.” (“what i have here is a copy of the mental health law, but it is not yet implemented in our office.”) additionally, prior to the implementation of the mental health law, the respondent was asked about the guide they use in the delivery of mental health services: “no guide in the implementation. bahala kami.” (“no guide in the implementation. it’s up to us.”) it is important to formulate and institutionalize national legislations, policies, program standards, and guidelines because these will emphasize the development of efficient and effective structures, systems and mechanisms that 77 international peer reviewed journal will ensure equitably accessible, affordable and appropriate health services for the mentally ill patients, victims of disaster and other vulnerable groups (department of health, n.d.). it is then noted that on june 20, 2018, republic act no. 11036, otherwise known as the mental health act has been signed into law and took effect of july 5, that same year by the department of health. once the philippine mental health law’s regulations are successfully implemented, and the community has gathered its bearings, professionals, and advocates alike can collaborate to provide essential mental health services, integrate mental health programs and policies in the communities. lack of collaboration and integration. the department of health needs to strengthen its organizational set-up for mental health in order to have a clearer structure, adequate human resources, and budget allocation to support its operation nationwide. despite differences in approach and personal context, all mental health awareness groups aim for one thing, and that is, the recognition of mental health issues and to provide mental health services adequately. there are different strategies to promote mental health. this can be done through early interventions that target vulnerable groups, community development programs, and campaigns (dogra, parkin, warner-gale, & frake, 2017). one potential strategy can be the use of the internet and social media. these are inexpensive ways to have conversations about mental health, impart information, and challenge stigma (betton et al., 2015). not only can it be used for help-seeking, but it could be used for universal mental health promotion (o’reilly, svirydzenka, adams, & dogra 2018). as seen in the interview conducted, the majority of patients who avail of mental health services were from the working class or professionals. these individuals may be the only ones who are more informed and has the financial capability of availing mental health services provided by the city health office. there is also the stigma that mental health conditions are for the rich only, which stems from a very real issue that only the middle to upper classes can afford mental healthcare. thus, it is evident that there is a lack of human resources (e.g., psychologists and psychometricians) and budget to support the city health office in its operation in providing mental health services to patients. since people spend significant time browsing through the internet and social media, then these strategies can be used by key stakeholders for mental health promotion. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions for the philippines to develop a structured mental health care program, the issues mentioned earlier should be addressed. although the philippine government exerts effort on filling in the gaps in providing treatment and care to those individuals with mental difficulties, access to mental health institutions in the philippines favors those near the national capital region. the majority of the mental health professionals in the country also work in private institutions rather than in government facilities. moreover, the government still provides insufficient budget allocation related to the various mental health programs and services that they offer and the costly amount to be paid by patients to avail the services they need add to the financial and emotional burden that they carry. translational research the research can be used to assess mental health services in the country and plan for sustainable programs that will provide the necessary needs of people with mental illness. the research can also be used to give attention as to how the department of health, general health care, and mental health care can work together to improve access to health care services. national mental health policies should be concerned both with mental disorders and, with broader issues that promote mental health. with this, mental health awareness and promotion should be mainstreamed into governmental and non-governmental policies and programs. programs and services can be provided to bridge the gap that exists between these systems. such programs and services can include necessary training and resources to primary care providers on how to correctly treat mental health problems and have access to mental health specialists when it is necessary to make a referral. to address the increasing number of mental health issues in the philippines, people and organizations concerned in this area can provide early childhood intervention programs that will provide a stable environment that is sensitive to children’s health, protection from threats, opportunities for learning, and interactions that are emotionally supportive and developmentally stimulating. programs can also target vulnerable people (minorities, indigenous people, people affected b conflicts and disasters) and include community development programs to raise awareness of mental health. psychologists and workers related to mental health work in inter-professional teams in hospitals in 79 international peer reviewed journal different 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(2007). a report of the assessment of the mental health system in the philippines using the world health organization assessment instrument for mental health systems (who-aims). retrieved from https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/philippines_who_aims_ report.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61611-6 https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/mh_promotion_book.pdf https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/mh_promotion_book.pdf http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/545.pdf http://bit.ly/2rikfdm http://bit.ly/2uoywid https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/philippines_who_aims_report.pdf https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/philippines_who_aims_report.pdf 141 international peer reviewed journal readiness of legazpi city, albay in becoming the top 5 meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (mice) destination in the philippines maria luisa n. gonzales http//orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 mangluisa12221963@gmail.com bicol college, daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract tourism played a significant role in the development of a country’s economic development. tourist expenditures contributed a lot to the economy of destination areas. with this tourism activity, it illuminated mice to be a unique opportunity for the development of a certain locality. this study determined the readiness of legazpi city in becoming one of the top 5 mice destinations in the philippines, aimed to determine the perceptions of the respondents towards hotel/resorts, convention/exhibition centers and public/private sectors along with its physical, technology and services offered, likewise the challenges encountered by the industry. it uses the descriptive method of research employing a survey instrument lifted from asean mice venue standard to 160 respondents of the study was 100 are tourists, ten from local government unit, and 50 private sectors. findings revealed that the city is on the result of the study. however, challenges were identified, such as city planning, external competition, complete vulnerability, information technology revolution, and human resources are the city’s difficulty. thus, this research will provide conceptions of a logical framework that will resolve the city’s dream of inclusion to be one of the top 5 mice destinations. vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.729 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 142 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, readiness, mice destination, tourism, technology, descriptive research design, philippines introduction tourism played a significant role in the development of a country’s economic development. tourist expenditures contributed a lot to the economy of destination areas. over the decades, according to the world tourism organization, the tourism industry continued to grow and become diverse and considered as the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world. αwith this activity, the effect on the development of a certain country was eminent, and a new destination area evolved. these dynamics have turned tourism into a key driver for socioeconomic progress. many countries considered tourism as significant because tourism expenditures on goods and services consumed in destination areas contributed a lot to the income side of the government and the hospitality industry that, in effect, increase employment and improved the economic life of the workers working in the industry. the importance of tourism has been considered by many countries. hence the tourist expenditures have a multiplier effect along with the service industry, manufacturers, taxes for the government, and employment opportunities for the community and likewise the improvement of economic activity of people working in the tourism industry. (gmelch and kaul, 2018) with this regard to tourism activity, schlentrich (2008) elaborated that mice is a complicated industry since it comprised the major part of the market segment, such as the tourist, advertiser, service providers, and suppliers as form part of the planning and execution of an event. he also emphasized that because of rapid globalization and technological advancement have also affected the tourism industry. however, it was stressed-out that an external event also affected the mice industry, such as economic and political instability, wars, terrorism, environmental disasters, oil price hike, crimes, health threats, but these occurrences in a particular country will not affect the tourism activity but considered to be growing globally. (coshall, 2003). and according to khan (2015), mice is a combination of business with pleasure. it accorded that this is considered an opportunity for businesses to grow significantly, be it considered to be an informal meeting with old friends or meetings with investors, customers, and suppliers, exchange of information, or new technologies. the mice are 143 international peer reviewed journal extensively growing and is mostly linked with travel for business purpose that as a service industry along with trade, transportation, finance, and travel has been active in europe and america for over a century. mistilis and dwyer (1999) emphasized that the mice industry is a rapidly expanding sector of tourism worldwide, but particularly in the asia pacific region. of the many challenges underlying the development of this sector, none is more important than determining the economic benefits from devoting resources to industry growth. the paper argues that although research has been undertaken on the economic impacts of mice events and mice destinations, regionally and nationally, the issue of the distribution of these benefits between tourism gateways and more remote regions has been neglected. while the study of dwyer and forsyth (1997) discussed the neglected issues relating to the assessment of the narrower economic impacts, the economy-wide impacts and the net benefits of an expanding mice sector within a tourism destination, it is an attempt to enhance the stakeholder understanding of issues important to the subsequent task of assessment and thus to more informed policy in the area of study. the study of lau, milne, and johnston (2005) on mice, ict, and local economic development investigated how information and communication technologies (ict), and the world wide web (web), enhanced the role of mice properties play in local economic development (led). their study revealed that the web has considerable potential to facilitate linkages between mice and local economies. but this potential can only be realized through careful planning, and the realization on the part of managers, developers, and planners, that the web is not only simply a marketing tool but also an integral part of attempts to improve internal ice performance and external links to local development. mistilis (1999) described the challenges to mice in the asia-pacific region that delved on the nature and scope of the mice, such as the potential economic, social, and cultural forms of this form of tourism are then discussed, before going on to elucidate about some of the challenges which must be met to maximize the scale and scope of these benefits. the challenges relate to the level of government support for mice tourism, appropriate levels of infrastructure, service, and training standards and marketing issues. although these challenges are discussed in the context of the development of mice tourism in australia and the asia pacific, they are relevant worldwide. the paper concludes with some observations concerning the development of the global mice industry. the report of sable (2019) on the asia-pacific mice industry had produced an income of $229.0 billion in 2017, that it anticipated a mark-up of $441.1 144 jpair multidisciplinary research billion by 2025. he emphasized that the clientele of mice are the travelers engaged in business transactions such as customer meetings, product marketing, employee training and development, and others. these activities brought about major changes in the tourism sectors that stimulate the mice industry. the mice industry in the asia-pacific regions was classified by event type and by country, it is analyzed across china, india, singapore, thailand, indonesia, australia, new zealand, japan, malaysia, south korea, vietnam, hong kong, and rest of asia-pacific. this was expected that the meetings segment subjugate the asia-pacific mice industry accounted to $159.4 billion and counting as the tourism industry continued growing. the impact noted progress in the economy, more infrastructure projects, and improved tourism and the global expansion of asian companies. recent trends in organizing hybrid meetings and the use of social media and meeting apps are also expected to boost market growth shortly. however, china was considered as the leading country in the asia-pacific mice industry. for 12 months, beijing and shanghai had hosted mostly of mice trips in china, followed by guangzhou, hongkong, and macau. what makes china as the leading mice industry is because of its manufacturing utility and agriculture, forestry, and fishing, likewise the aging population being anticipated that will developed in the growth of the health care industry and social work segment. one of the most important factor to consider in selecting a mice are its venues. this particularly being wed out through the asean mice venue standards (amvs) and served as references by the ten asean member countries, such as brunei darussalam, cambodia, indonesia, lao pdr, malaysia, myanmar, the philippines, singapore, thailand, and viet nam. the amvs cover three categories, namely (1) meeting/conference venue or room (2) exhibition venue, and (3) event venue. the standards cover the meeting/ conference venue within a hotel or resort setting, having multiple criteria along with 1. physical setting 2. technology, and 3. service. maguigad (2013) in his tourism planning in the archipelagic philippines: a case review stressed that tourism considered an engine in the development of the philippines even in late 1970 up to present. his research noted that foreign arrivals are undoubtedly increasing significantly. this eventuality legislation on tourism places importance since tourism considered an engine of growth. this legislation viewed against the local governance structures, power relations, and stakeholders’ linkages that may affect land use planning and tourism. however, he stated that the country lacked environmental planners, where tourism planning 145 international peer reviewed journal is a sub-specialization. these are the challenges facing the current political interrelationship of the national government to renounce its powers in land use and tourism planning to local government. he recommended that with the wider environmental planning spectrum in the country, requires re-evaluating linkages, working relationships, and power relations among the various stakeholders in the land use-tourism planning processes, with the present political and administrative frameworks in the national and local governments. in 1976, the philippine convention industry had become the government official policy. it is the year were the establishment of southeast asia’s first fullfledged convention center, the philippine conventions center (picc); creating the philippine convention bureau (pcb) that served as the promotional arm of the government in promoting meetings and convention destination. that same year, the philippines successfully played host to the international monetary fund world bank joint conference that allows the entry of the philippines into the world conventions market. since then, the philippines has hosted some of the biggest and most important international and regional meetings, conferences, conventions, congresses, and events that have made its capital city, manila, one of the acknowledged “convention cities” of the world. in the philippines, areas considered as mice destinations are subic, clark, manila, boracay, cebu, and davao. these destinations are considered competitive when it comes to huge commercial, industrial complex with hotels and resorts, convention sites, international airport, and bus companies and another mode of transportation that made the destinations accessible to tourists, may it domestic or international tourists. tourism in albay, based on provincial tourism and cultural affairs office and apsemo (2019), is a wonderful experience for every domestic or foreign traveler. since albay is known for its mayon volcano shortlisted in unesco’s world heritage site. it is a hidden tourism gem offering numerous activities for leisure, fun, relaxation, and travel. many destinations were not yet touched by commercialism, never been featured in travel literature, and still awaits for its discovery. albay was declared as biosphere reserve in unesco’s mab programmed being the proud home of approximately 462 flora and fauna, and 137 of which are endemic. the province has 19 festivals being celebrated all year round by its different municipalities and cities. according to the inaugural speech of salceda (2013), “let me reiterate the goals of our province. our goal is to become the most livable province of the philippines known for a good education, good healthcare, and a good 146 jpair multidisciplinary research environment where people are healthy, happy, and employed and live full lives. this meant three things 1. short term goal is to achieve the mdgs. done. 2. medium-term is to become a bastion of education and a tourism hub. being done 3. long-term is to become a california in 30 years. on our way albay was accorded as the most number of combined domestic and foreign tourist arrival in the first half of 2016 having 569,547. with this numbered tourist arrivals also noted multi-billion pesos revenue to the government and the economy and generated employment for bicolano’s in several tourism-related establishments. according to the former region v tourism officer ravanilla, she stressed that tourism in legazpi city under the mayoralship of noel rosal had fast-tracked the construction of coastal road known as the 4.08-kilometer legazpi boulevard. this boulevard passes through barangays (villages) victory, dapdap, puro and lamba, contributed to boosting such growth rate,” she said. barangay lamba in legazpi city connects to the bicol international airport in barangay alobo, daraga. the groundbreaking of the new airport was attended by president rodrigo duterte early in december 2015. ravanilla said this had meant more jobs, investments, and more tourists for the bicol region as a whole. dot: bicol among ph’s top five tourist destinations; by features desk (ms) january 28, 2017   the trend and issues reviewed makes the researcher thinks that despite the province of albay is considered as prone to different fortuitous events, still survive when it comes to tourism activities, and as legazpi city is the capital of albay, and considered as most livable city in bicol region, and how it is ready becoming a mice destination area, thus this research is being conceived. framework for a place to be considered as destinations, satisfaction, expectations, and quality must be an assurance. according to kotler and keller (2011), they considered that once the customer was satisfied with the products and services offered by the industry, they tend to go back and continue patronizing the industry. while, expectations that a product or service will provide outcomes beneficial to the clientele, were measured through importance, such as overall affect-satisfaction expectations, the fulfilment of expectations, and expected value from use. the expectations theory, as reviewed by chen and murphy (2019), is an attempt to predict what short-term interest rates will be in the future based on the current long-term interest rates. another one is the deming’s theory of total quality management which approach is to have a long term success of making 147 international peer reviewed journal customers satisfied by improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which the system works. figure 1. theoretical paradigm these theories relate to the study in the sense that to be mice destination these theories are significant bases in creating and formulating more satisfying destinations resources. objectives of the study this study assessed the readiness of legazpi city in becoming one of the top 5 mice destination in the philippines, specifically, 1) it determined the perceptions of the respondents regarding the readiness of legazpi city as top 5 mice destination area in the philippines considering hotel/resorts, convention/exhibition centers, and public/private sectors, along a. physical, b. technology, and c. service. 2) evaluate the challenges encountered by the respondents of legazpi city, becoming a mice destination area. 3. address the challenges encountered by designing a logical framework for legazpi city. methodology research design this research is done based on the descriptive method of research. the respondents’ were asked to fill the questionnaire and rate the importance of the items based on a five-point likert scale. 148 jpair multidisciplinary research in line with the research purposes of this study, a questionnaire-based survey was administered among the target population. some part of the questionnaire was lifted from a study, and modifications were established to provide information to the objective of the research. since this research was focused on determining the readiness of legazpi city to become the top 5 mice destination in the philippines, copies of the survey were distributed among dot officers, local and foreign tourists. the survey was conducted on 80 respondents residing temporarily or permanently in legazpi city. this research covered a wide array of professions like students, housewives, employees working in a private company, government employees, businessmen, etc. research site this inquest was conducted in legazpi city, albay. legazpi city is a firstclass component city and capital to albay with 196,639 population-based from the 2015 census. it is the largest city among the cities in the bicol region and considered as the center of tourism, education, health services, commerce, and transportation in the bicol region. participants the participants of this study comprised of one hundred sixty (160) respondents, were one hundred (100) are from the tourists, ten (10) local government unit (dot legazpi), and fifty (50) in private sectors. instrumentation the instrument used in gathering the data was lifted from the asean mice venue standard special meeting hotel/resorts, convention/exhibition centers, public/private sectors with 144 indicators from each cover 3 categories, namely (1) meeting/conference venue or room (2) exhibition venue, and (3) event venue, with the permission of the department of tourism, bicol region. data collection in the conduct of the research, initial permit from the dot for the use of the instrument in gauging the competitiveness of the site, and from the different respondents of the study. the questionnaire was prepared to gather data along legazpi city to be considered as the mice destination area. the researcher, with the aid of the reviewed literature and help from the adviser and the ethics committee, the questionnaire was approved for distribution. the questionnaire 149 international peer reviewed journal had been administered and retrieved. the retrieval of the questionnaire was done after its distribution to the tourist while giving sufficient time to the lgu and private sectors to accomplish. the data in the field-up questionnaire were tallied, tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted. before the data were distributed, the participants of the study were informed and being given a letter for their consent and were given assurance that the data that will be derived from their answer will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. the results of the study were presented to the college designated research panel with a representative from the department of tourism as an external panel. and the agency concerned was informed of providing them a copy of the output of the study. statistical techniques this study used the percentage, frequency, rank, and weighted mean. it was used to analyze based on the requirement of the data. results and discussion this part discussed the data gathered from the questionnaires retrieved. the study has 3 parts that concern about the perceptions of the respondents regarding legazpi city as top 5 mice destination area in the philippines considering hotel/resort (h/r), convention centers (c/c), and public/private sectors (p/ ps), challenges encountered and how to address these challenges by designing a logical framework as shown in the preceding discussions. a tourist destination serves as motivators to arouse tourists to visit a particular area. and these areas benefit from the tourist expenditures regarding its economy, government income, employment, and community’s lifestyle. the perception of the respondents somewhat conforms to the standard set for a destination area(s) as mice destination. however, the different provisions on physical considering the hotel/resorts industry is the sustainability of these physical facilities is a requirement. skinner (2017) on attracting mice: business tourists’ perceptions of destinations. the international congress and convention association (icca) is the industry body for the global meetings industry, using a definition of business tourism providing facilities and services to millions of delegates attending mice. all indicators for convention/exhibition centers are considered to be ‘somewhat favorable to the concept” based on the total average weighted mean 150 jpair multidisciplinary research of 4.22. all provisions in the data are all swfc, but some indicators have lesser evaluated perceptions that need to be reconsidered for improvement and sustained its capacity to augment the need of the guest or tourists; the different provisions may be sufficient enough to some areas but not to other areas.  mice referring to public/private sectors were considered somewhat favorable to the concept with a total awm of 4.07, considering other indicators as well. however, significant findings determined, that restrooms amenities and facilities must conform with the asean public restrooms for tourism standards had an awm of 4.86, stationary and materials be available for the meeting participants, had 4.37, and chairs are clean and sufficient and adaptable with variety of settings having 4.28, while on the other side with a low perceptions considered walls and/ or partitions of the meeting rooms, with 3.34, and parking sufficiency with 3.48, were all perceived to be somewhat favorable to the concept to consider legazpi city as mice destination area. these perceptions of the guest/visitors to legazpi city are responsive to the goal of the city to be considered as mice destination area, however, the concerned people in the industry must still improve the different facilities and equipment so as to cater for the standard being looked for by the guests and to determine increase of tourist arrival. based on mccartney (2008) as macao was known to be the leading gaming destination and had overwhelmingly surpassed the income of las vegas and atlantic combined. the growth of macao meetings, incentives, conventions exhibitions (mice) tourism had been introduced at destinations. with the gaming industry in macao, the government realized a convention product to develop macao as a major leisure and entertainment center, widening and expanding its tourism market segment beyond gaming. therefore, mice was considered an increasingly important focus direction of resources for the macao government. however, the government faced challenges of changing traveler perceptions from being solely a gaming destination to that of being an attractive convention and exhibition destination image. this challenge calls for strategic planning and management considerations for macao as it attempts to reposition itself to develop the mice industry in the world’s most lucrative gaming market. considering technological advancement is being adopted nowadays, technology in a destination area is very significant. data shows the respondent’s perception of technology was only 3.94 interpret as swfc. this meant that the provisions for technology had very limited connectivity to some establishment. tourists nowadays rely much on technology, since their travel was all dependent on technology. easy access to the destination area can motivate the tourist to 151 international peer reviewed journal manifest their interest to a destination. in today’s marketplace, according to mistilis (2008), mice is growing rapidly in the asia pacific region. and the challenge facing this rapidly growing industry not only in the asean countries, but it’s a global concern to maintain service standards in the context of intense competition for this form of tourism. in the service industry, the development of skills in information technology is regarded as essential to the provision of quality service to tourists. the study of mistilis highlighted the importance of information technology in tourism generally and mice tourism specifically. on services perceived before, during, and after experiencing by the tourists from the different facilities offered by a tourist destination establishment. before the service experiences, they had 4.07, during, 4.13, and after with 4.08.  this tourist experience, however, considered as somewhat favorable to the concept, must be further improved to be more competitive with other tourist destination areas in the philippines, to consider legazpi city as tourist hub capital. the services offered by some tourism industry considering that service is intangible in nature sometimes does not satisfies other tourist who are frequently travelling or the experienced tourist who already visited other destination areas not only in the philippines but another country will try to compare the services being offered, so the services offered by the city tourism establishment must be improved. according to chockalingam and ganesh (2010) on problems encountered by tourists, considering tourism as a fast-growing industry in developing countries like india, considered problems and its intensity level. problems are dependent on the kind of tourist and would be an experience they want in a destination area. there are perfectionist tourists who are females, elders, and business people who are expressive whenever they do not like the services is because of corruption, pollution, heavy rush, and beggars.  hence, social awareness must be addressed to support the national pride to minimize the problems encountered by tourists. better services must be evident on the part of the hospitality industry to meet the need of the tourists. tourism considered an engine of transformation of a country into a facet of economic and social metamorphosis, therefore, coordination between and among the major players in the tourism industry. destination areas are destined to encounter challenges as time and environment changes. tourist destination areas and services are not perfect to meet some tourist demand. this demand served as a learning experience by the destination areas improving their services offered. 152 jpair multidisciplinary research accordingly, the challenges encountered by legazpi city’s destination areas signify that they are many challenges about the city planning having 4.10 and being ranked first among the indicators, followed by human resources with 3.96, external competition, 3.89, complete vulnerability, 3.87, and lastly was the information technology revolution. these challenges are factors that affect a place to become a mice destination, hence to consider one must be perfect in all aspect of the trade. tourist satisfaction is the aim of view of the mice industry. different hospitality areas must overwhelmingly be advance and updated, not only planning along but as well as other areas that served as motivators for tourist needs, wants, and desires. a log frame or logical framework matrix – a comprehensive project cycle management tool designed to sustain legazpi city’s desire becoming a micedestination. this tool is a detailed planning procedure to address problems, identify success criteria, and enlist assumptions for the project. this log frame matrix taking the viewpoints of all stakeholders into consideration is a must – to ensure a high level of objectivity. logical framework for legazpi city as mice destination budget _________ year 2019-2020 to 2024-2025 key result areas objective(s) strategies persons involved outcome /output impact 1. city planning organize a planning committee from the different stakeholders in developing the tourism experience in the destination areas of legazpi city -allocate funds and place for the committees to convene and plan. city government dot industry practitioner’s community/ barangay officials change in knowledge improved tourism practices improved legislation budget allocation increased financing of tourism activity(ies) employment investment 2. external competition determine the external competitors that may affect the city’s viability. conduct extensive research about competitors. swot analysis research group improved practices city competitiveness 153 international peer reviewed journal 3. complete vulnerability strategic plans to mitigate the city from being vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters. sp be coordinated to people involved through proper dissemination. city government dot industry practitioner’s community /barangay officials mitigate the vulnerability of the city. development plan safe and secured tourists. 4. information technology revolution upgrade/ update/ enhance the existing information technology to be competitive with the external competitors purchase a state of the art technology city government dot industry practitioner’s community /barangay officials improved information technology utilized by the industry and would be visitors/ tourists. increased information services would be tourists and the city as well. 5. human resources design a training program to improve the services offered/ rendered by the frontlines for continues human resources development. implement the training program every other month or after 6 months for continues human resources development. city government dot industry practitioner’s community/ barangay officials change in knowledge and/or behavior increased tourist arrival prepared by: submitted to: dr. maria luisa n. gonzales, ctp department of tourism researcher legazpi city conclusions legazpi city vying to be among the top 5 mice destination in the philippines has the potential to become one. challenges can be overcome through proper city planning, analyzing the external competition, studying its vulnerability, updating its information technology, and training extensively its human resources to be made ready to compete with other places. the framework will serve as a guide in formulating a program of activities that will make the city competitive and become the top 5 destination areas. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the city of legazpi must be open to benchmarking of the best practices of other locality to provide them an idea of what to adhere and analyze to better serve the different tourists (foreign or domestic traveler) of the city. time to frequently evaluate the different tourism industries, utilize the criteria to improve the services offered by the tourism industry, frequent visit to different destination and hospitality industries to assure compliance of the tourism industry requirements, clearly define destination framework, stakeholders participation, institutional ownership, capacity building, flexible planning approach, and communication plan to enable to support the growth and expansion of the tourism industry around the natural and cultural sites of the city’s mice destinations. likewise, this study must be translated into a journal, newsletters, and article for reference to the different stakeholders as to the formulation of a strategic plan/action plan 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(2017). business tourists’ perceptions of nation brands and capital city brands: a comparison between dublin/republic of ireland, and cardiff/ wales.  journal of marketing management,  33(9-10), 817-834. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2017.1313757 https://bit.ly/2iz3zkq https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2017.1313757 129 international peer reviewed journal ethics of recognition: the struggles of ilongga overseas filipino workers (ofws) rowena v. isidro https://orchid.org/0000-0002-0518-1790 rowenaisidro3137@gmail.com iloilo science and technology university iloilo city, panay island, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this descriptive-qualitative-critical research aimed to appropriate axel honneth’s theory in the struggles for recognition of the ilongga overseas filipino workers (ofws) to understand the plight of the overseas filipino workers (ofws) particularly, the filipina domestic helpers. this work was premised on the idea to help uplift their dignity by promoting their rights as empowered women in the philippine society. the researcher argued that several filipina domestic helpers had been victims of various forms of injustices such as sexual harassment, discrimination, and exploitation. thus, the most that they can do is to struggle to recognize their rights and dignity as full-pledged members of the philippine society. a phenomenological approach was employed, content analysis, researcher interview-guide-questionnaire, one-on-one personal interview through phone calls, messenger chats, and focused group discussion (fgd) with ofws were utilized. three themes had emerged: physical and psychological abuse, sexual harassment, and insecurity of financial stability. this paper recommended that the concerned government agencies provide concrete plans for filipina ofws in consonance with republic act no. 10022. these ofws should be afforded training on livelihood skills and capital incentives and should be equipped with financial literacy through training and seminars to manage their hard-earned income properly. vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.598 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orchid.org/0000-0002-0518-1790 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 130 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, axel honneth’s theory on struggles for recognition of ilongga ofws, qualitative-descriptivephenomenological approach, iloilo, philippines introduction overseas employment has been one of the mechanisms of the philippine government to aid the country’s economic problems. overseas labor migration has significantly contributed to the country’s economic growth (presse, 2001). according to banko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp), in 2016, remittances from overseas filipino workers (ofws) have been a major driver of domestic demand and accounted for 9.8 percent of the gross domestic product (gdp) of the country (de vera, 2020). remittances help to lift households out of poverty (ang et al., 2009). however, along with the county’s growing economy, the migration of hundreds to thousands of filipino workers rise leaving their families to work abroad has impacted the lives of their left-behind dependents and the ofws themselves. according to orthodox immigration theory, “push” and “pull’ factors are among the essential reasons to explain the phenomenon of filipino overseas workers (juan, 2001). however, dalisay and tan (n.d.) went beyond these factors by looking into the facilitating and constraining circumstances that affect and shape the essence and dynamism of ofws and their families. moreover, in the work of reyes (2007), she emphasized that parental absence creates displacements, disruptions, and changes in caregiving arrangements. she added that migration varies from economic benefits to social cost and well-being of the migrant families. further, in the same work of reyes (2007, as cited in asis, 2000), it was emphasized that migration had given rise to family issues that go beyond the limits of laws and institutions. several forms of disrespect on ofws have been recorded through the years (delos santos, 2003, as cited in de guzman, 2003). according to bautista (2020) in their work on the “life challenges of ofws, they found that communication, finances, and work environment are among their major difficulties. these ofws, particularly those filipina domestic helpers (dh), have been victims of various forms of injustice. as emphasized by delos santos (2003), such difficult work conditions deprived them of access to communication. that made them feel deeply marginalized and disenfranchised; thus, the most they could do was to struggle to recognize their rights as full-fledged members of the philippine society. despite implementing republic act no. 10022 of the act amending ra 8042, otherwise known as the migrant workers and overseas filipinos act of 131 international peer reviewed journal 1995, the ofws, particularly the filipina domestic helpers, are still defenseless when it comes to the abuses of their employers abroad. ofws befits modern heroism (fernando & david, 1996, as cited in de guzman, 2003). however, despite some triumphs, several ofws and their family’s welfare are at stake (asis, 2006). though their migration gave them autonomy and control of their economic resources, the drawbacks outdo benefits (anthias & lazaridis, 2020). the support given by the philippine government is not enough to protect the welfare of these marginalized and disenfranchised modern heroines. their unending struggles exhibit such injustices; hence this study presents the social conditions of the ilongga ofws and their struggles for recognition. this is an advocacy of the researcher along with issues concerning gender and development. this work would be authentic empirical citations to philosophy students, enthusiasts, and social scientists. theoretical background the researcher appropriated axel honneth’s (2000) theory of recognition to analyze the social condition and struggles of the ilongga ofws from the different injustices they experienced. the theory provided the sound basis for the ofws’ struggle for social justice as presented by van den brink and owen (2007) in their “recognition and power: axel honnoeth and the tradition of critical social theory. in their work entitled, the struggle for recognition: the moral grammar of social conflicts, axel honneth (1995) gave any moral grammar or basis for a struggle for social justice and equality in the contemporary world. ikäheimo (2009), argues that recognition is so important to all human persons and that all persons have all the reasons to work for it. he argued that recognition is an inherent and vital factor for the individual to be free and be called “person” in its full-pledged sense. deranty (2011) employed honneth’s model to emphasize a quasi-anthropological dimension of social mediation that provides a conceptual approach to the pathologies of modern society, its impact on subjective experience, and its importance in the emergence of social movements. honneth’s model offers a theoretical solution to structural and economic inequalities and provides a basis for self-respect and subjectivation that defy all technologies of social control. (oliveria, 2009). petroal (2020), citing deranty and renault (2007), imparts that honneth’s theory laid down moral grammar for political action, leading to social justice in societies. honneth’s theory of recognition is grounded on the notion that individuals’ or groups’ feelings of injustice are a driving force in their struggle for freedom. thus, this would provide an understanding of the struggles of the country’s 132 jpair multidisciplinary research modern-day heroines and contribute to promoting social justice for the ofws. honneth’s theory emphasizes that the struggle for liberation in modern societies is moral. thus, the emancipation of the oppressed hinges on the idea of the recognition of their rights and deep-seated claims. his theory entails the full recognition of individuals’ identity, their importance in the community, their democratic views and opinions, and their rights as co-equals with all other members of the society. honneth’s model was applicable to the ilongga ofw because it provided a concept that the moral grammar for the ilongga ofws’ struggle for social justice is not only economical but primarily moral. the appropriation of philosophical grounding using honneth’s theory of recognition to understand the plight of the filipina domestic helper is an authentic contribution to the field of philosophical and social science researches. the researcher is convinced then that every ilongga ofw, like any other filipino, deserves full recognition and respect for the rights of a human. this research argues that the ofws’ struggle for social justice is motivated by their experiences of injustice and social control from the agents of globalization. hence, as in ilonggas’ case, social justice could be attained by granting them full recognition of their deep-seated claims and expectations. in this manner, applying axel honneth’s theory of the struggle for recognition to the ilongga ofws’ struggle for social justice could shed light on understanding the plight of the oppressed ilongga ofws and pave the way for their emancipation from social control and domination. objectives of the study the various stories of continued disrespect of filipina domestic helpers proved that society is doing something unjust to them; thus, the researcher believed that theory-backed solutions should be considered to provide authentic resolutions to the issues on ofws. for this reason, the researcher hoped to address the following objectives, (1) to identify the current social conditions of ilongga ofws who experienced social injustice, (2) to discuss how these ilongga domestic helpers affected by their experiences of abuses, and (3) to describe how these experiences of injustice motivate their struggle for recognition of their rights as co-equal members of the society. 133 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study utilized a descriptive-analytical qualitative design, making use of a phenomenological approach. phenomenology is an educational qualitative research design that gives rise to the philosophical investigation as posited by padilla in 2015 (creswell & creswell, 2017; marshall & rossman, 2010). descriptive research involved collecting data on the current social conditions of the ilongga ofws who confessed to having experienced social injustice. they were referred and personally introduced to the researcher. they illustrated how their negative experiences had motivated their struggle to recognize their rights as co-equal members of society. analytical research determines the significance of honneth’s theory of recognition in understanding the struggle for social justice of ilongga ofws. according to welmar and kruger (1999, as cited in groenewald, 2004), phenomenologists understand social and psychological phenomena from the people involved. this qualitative research employed descriptions of human behavior, understand the members of the population being studied, and their experiences of their own world (austin & sutton, 2014). a core assumption is that personal experiences gathered through qualitative data and the collective strength of content and critical analyses would better understand the research study. participants the key informants of the study were the ten (10) ilongga ofws previously and presently working abroad. these ten ofws, who confessed having experienced forms of disrespect, regardless of their age and civil status, were chosen through referrals by friends, co-workers, and relatives and were personally introduced to the researcher. they came from different towns of iloilo province, namely, dingle, dueñas, janiuay, miag-ao, pavia, pototan, san rafael, sta. barbara, and iloilo city. moreover, for the confidentiality of their identities, coding was utilized using the names of flowers. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. respondents code age local address workplace abroad camia 32 san rafael , iloilo hong kong dahlia 31 dingle, iloilo hong kong gumamela 34 sta. barbara, iloilo qatar, dubai and hong kong margarita 33 bakhaw, mandurriao, iloilo city singapore orchid 33 pototan, iloilo riyadh, ksa rosal 31 tacas, jaro, iloilo city united arab emirates rose 34 duenas, iloilo dubai sampaguita 35 pavia, iloilo taiwan sunflower 30 janiuay, iloilo saudi arabia tulip 32 miag-ao, iloilo hong kong data gathering the following methods were used: first, it made use of hermeneutics and descriptive methods in presenting honneth’s social-critical theory of the struggle for recognition and in presenting the present social conditions of the ofws in the philippines. second, series of interviews with those ofws who were victims of abuses by their employers were conducted. the respondents came from different towns of iloilo province and iloilo city. in the conduct of the interview, ethical standards were strictly observed in accordance with the standard operating procedures or ethics board of the university. third, data gathered were validated through small group discussions. because of the unsettling situations brought about by the covid-19 pandemic, this study conformed with the health and safety guidelines set by the national government, particularly by the inter-agency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases (iatf) and the department of health (doh); follow-up interviews and validation of data with the key informants were done online (using zoom, goggle meet, messenger, etc.) and phone conversations. fourth, a critical-analytic method was employed in the application of honneth’s (1991) theory of the struggle for recognition in the ofws’ struggle for social justice. in the conduct of this study, the respondents’ consent was sought, rights were protected, and full confidentiality of gathered information was assured. likewise, the subjects’ participation was voluntary, and they were informed of their rights to withdraw anytime if they felt uncomfortable gathering information. 135 international peer reviewed journal results and discussions this section presents the lived experiences and social conditions of ilongga ofws abroad. necessary information on ilongga ofw’s struggles was gathered through their written statements, actual personal interviews, and messenger chat paint a clear picture of the true social conditions of these modern heroines of the country. physical abuse and psychological abuse in an interview with gumamela and sunflower, both courageously shared their stories of discrimination and physical and psychological abuses by their employers in dubai, saudi arabia, and qatar. gumamela, a single mother of three, worked in the middle east as a domestic helper because of poverty. she had been in qatar in 2010 and in dubai in 2014. according to gumamela, she was discriminated against as her employers in qatar always regarded her as low class, poorly educated, and incapable. she recalled that, as always, she was made to eat her employers’ leftover food and never allowed to eat in the same place where they eat. they would point out her incapability to learn the language and their way of life. they would look down on her as less human instead treated her like an animal. for gumamela, it was a very long and agonizing year of her life. however, due to dire need and too much poverty, she challenged herself and believed that next time would be different. so in 2014, after few months of living a difficult life here in the philippines due to an unstable source of income, she decided on another ofw adventure in dubai. maybe life in the middle east was unkind to her because, like her first employer, the second one who lived with preet, her sister-in-law, was a meticulous and sensitive type of person. she would often invite her boyfriend to their house and stayed for a couple of days and even a week. preet was quite jealous of gumamela every time her boy would ask gumamela to prepare his food. in most times, because of jealousy, preet maltreated gumamela in such a way as throwing some laundry on her face, kicking her butt, slapping her face, and punching her arms. she just bore with all these until her contract ended. a few months later, she applied for another domestic job in hong kong, where she is still working for now and in a better working condition. on the other hand, sunflower, a domestic helper in saudi arabia, confessed that she was a victim of physical abuse by her female employer during the interview. sunflower’s female employer was so strict with her. sunflower’s female 136 jpair multidisciplinary research employer was so strict with her. she would get mad with a little mistake that sunflower commits. one time, while she was cooking in the kitchen, the sauce suddenly slipped on the floor and broke an expensive plate. immediately, she was slapped on the face and pulled by her hair. sunflower further explained that her female employer would always get angry with her. the employer would throw her the tv remote control, books, or even her phone even without a valid reason. “naga kakibot langko may nagalinagapok na sa ulo ko, kis a dalagko nga estrelya makita ko e, but gina agwanta ko gd.” sometimes, i am sadly surprised that things are thrown to my head that i see stars during broad daylight, but i just endure them. all these she bore for the sake of her family, and she just continued to trust that one day it would end. sexual harassment rose retold her life as a domestic helper and part-time beautician in a lowclass beauty parlor in dubai in 2013. she did a part-time job to earn more. she started as a waitress, but soon her employer asked her to be an entertainer. she thought that extra pay would be a big help for her family in the philippines. one night at the bar, while entertaining customers, rose felt dizzy and unconscious. she just woke up on the bed with a pakistanis beside her. she was sexually abused. out of dismay and fear, she just kept it. rose promised herself that such an incident would never happen again. thus, she decided to stop that part-time job, and when her contract was finished, she left dubai with a sad memory and went back to the philippines with the help of the philippine embassy officials. further, rosal shared her heartbreaking difficulty at work particularly, the sexual harassment she experienced. her struggles started when she stayed in the boarding house during her training in manila, where they were made to stay in a crowded, noisy, poor, ventilated, dirty, and unsafe boarding house. then her struggles continued with her difficulty in the different international airports. anxious of uncertainties and fear of the unknown occupied her heart and mind. her struggle worsened when she finally arrived in uae. she described her work as inhuman because she served three (3) families living in a big house. “hanggod nag balay e mataas, three stories nga damo kwarto, ayawan ka e daw mapatay ka makatapos paninlo dayon gina nyerbyos kaw pa pirme kung tawgon kaw ka amo mo nga laki, hay dyos ko dulang gd.” 137 international peer reviewed journal describing the house, she worked with a big, three-story structure with so many rooms that it is almost impossible for you to finish cleaning it. she added that she was always scared every time she was called to the room by her male employer. this had happened as her legal employer was living with her in-laws and a brother-in-law who was a soldier and a widower. whenever the soldier was at home, she could not sleep because she was afraid. at first, she was called to clean his room and massage him. this would usually end up with a sexual advantage/harassment. “pagsulod mo sa kwarto na, kis a naka tuwalya lang sya halin sa bathroom, baw naga kurog kurog nako karan. tapos mapa masahe kag t dayon…. man an mo na ran e kung ano matabo…” in teary eye, she recalled that when she is called, she became very nervous because the man was just wearing a towel and then would ask for a massage. then the harassment would follow. she had to bear with it because she did not know what to do and how to escape from it. she was afraid as this place was in a far remote desert area of uae. besides, her passport was taken from her upon her arrival, and she could not use any cell phone. when asked if she would still go back and work abroad she said, she hoped she would not because life there was never easy. hoever, due to the difficulty of living here and because of the unstable source of income and the idea that she would want to send her children to school and be able to provide with their needs, she considered taking another risk, one more time but no longer in the middle east. insecurity of financial instability emotional stress due to insecurity of financial difficulties had been the challenge for camia, margarita, sampaguita, orchid, and tulip. these three ilongga ofws (camia, margarita, and tulip) became friends in 2015 when they started to apply as domestic helpers. during our small group discussion, these three ilongga ofws asserted that their situations abroad were miserable, especially when employed by those employers who did not regard their helpers as humans. for them, some employers did not have a heart for their domestic helpers because they maltreated them. camia and margarita shared their experiences of delayed salaries. they argued that sometimes the employers were not sympathetic with the feelings of their helpers by not attending to the needs of their helpers, especially when it 138 jpair multidisciplinary research concerns health and welfare. for one, as camia shared, being maltreated by her employers when she got sick of flu with a high fever. despite her situation, she had to finish her task. camia asked her employers to seek medical consultation or for a check-up, yet she was not allowed. she waited for five more days or during her day off to have her medical check-up. camia had to bear the pain that she experienced while attending to her household tasks. likewise, margarita was asked by her employers to work despite her ill conditions. one time, she met an accident while cleaning the house. instead of helping margarita, she shouted at her and maligned her. the employer told her that she had to finish what she was doing, clean the floor and clean the mess in the kitchen. the employer did not provide any medicine or medical attention to help margarita, not even first aid her bleeding wound. margarita just cried, continued cooking, and cleaned her mess in the kitchen. she also had to bear the difficulty of having multiple jobs as she had to clean three houses. her salary was always not enough as her husband would demand and ask for more as he claimed that prices of foods and other commodities kept rising. in addition, margarita continued her story of injustice as her husband back here in the philippines would not communicate with her anymore using a different alibi. “dyos ko ina bala nga abe mo ikaw may sala kay pirme kulang ang palada mo… gali timo hay may aringkingking sya ya. baw daw tinakluban ako ka kalibutan e kag abe ko katapusan na sang tanan.” tears were falling down her face as she recalled and remembered the miserable condition she was in there, then she found out about her husband’s infidelity. she thought it was the end of the world. all these had caused a psychological and emotional burden to her. she later found out that her husband had several affairs. at first, those were just flings but eventually, he left the children under the care of their grandparents. as compared to margarita and camia, tulip and sampaguita had different but more frustrating situations. camia was accused of stealing her employer’s perfume. while she was arguing, her employer took the cooking pan with cooking oil and threw it to tulip. fortunately, tulip was able to catch the hot pan, and her hands got the first-degree burn. she immediately called her friend and asked her to send her to the nearest medical center. tulip was confined for two days for the first-degree burn. on the other hand, sampaguita narrated that her struggle was also more emotional and psychological as she had difficulty adjusting to the dos and don’ts 139 international peer reviewed journal and rigid rules of her chinese employers. due to cultural differences and being a first-timer to work abroad and having a chinese-singaporean employer with two children and an in-law in a two-bed-room house-apartment was difficult. she was not allowed to communicate with anyone using her cellphone during work hours. however, most of the 24 hours of the day, she worked, and that she had to sleep very late (1:00 am) and still had to wake up at 4:00 am to do the laundry. she also had to prepare different breakfast meals and do the cleaning and washing of the two cars. she had difficulty preparing different food demands, especially that there were only two burners of the stove. nevertheless, she would always receive insults after insults. orchid considered her experience working in riyadh in 2016 as a disappointing moment in her life. prior to her work in riyadh, she worked as a house helper in a village in iloilo city, receiving php 4,000.00/month. however, being a single mother for her two children, she decided to work as a domestic helper in riyadh with the help of her friend and a fellow helper in iloilo city. for orchid, being an ofw in a secluded area of saudi arabia was very difficult due to language and cultural differences. her work included cooking food which ingredients she never heard of before, being a nanny, and doing household chores. she first had two other companions, but after five months, their contract ended. she was left alone doing all the work and chores they had left while her employers were looking for replacements. her employers assured her that it was only temporary. however, months had passed, they had not found any replacements. because of the bulk of household chores, orchid skipped her meals and could not have enough sleep most of the time. despite the workloads that were given to orchid, her salary remained, amounting to 15,000.00 pesos. she asked for additional pay but to no avail. orchid, feeling helpless, did not know what to do, just cried inside her quarter. she continued living that difficult life for the sake of her family back home. she had to be strong to survive. orchid finished her two-year contract in riyadh and did not return to being an ofw. like orchid, dahlia also experienced being cheated when it came to her salary. as a domestic helper in hong kong, her main task was to take care of the three children, send them to school in the morning, and fetch them in the afternoon. after a month of working with that employer, her “boss” told her to transfer and work to her ailing mother with the sister-in-law. she worked as a caregiver to the 92-year-old woman, which is far different from the contract she signed. there, dahlia had to do all the household chores, including gardening, grooming of pets, and even washing the car of her “new employers.” without hesitation and complaints, dahlia worked all the chores given to her, although 140 jpair multidisciplinary research some of her day-offs were already used to clean the glass windows and do much laundry. there, she experienced maltreatment because she was not given food on time, was not allowed to communicate with her family, and sometimes was not paid on time. she felt so disappointed about her miserable situation. because of these, dahlia left her “new employer” and sought her friends and fellow domestic helpers in hong kong for relief. the authorities in the philippine embassy in hong kong acted promptly and sent dahlia home. the preceding stories of these ilongga owfs showed that their demands were not just for improving their socio-economic interests, but more so, it was a moral claim hinge on respect and self-determination. the discriminations, exploitations, physical abuses, compensation injustice, as well as the emotional and psychological stresses due to financial instability they experienced, have deeply marginalized and disenfranchised them. this showed that the feelings of frustration resulted from these experiences of being marginalized and disenfranchised drove these ilongga ofws to struggle for recognition. thus, giving the ilongga ofws due to recognition of their rights and demands shall pave the way for their emancipation from all forms of domination and social control. conclusions axel honneth’s theory of the struggle for recognition has provided theorybased analysis of the struggle of the ilongga ofws who have been treated unjustly by their employers abroad, which was aggravated by the deficits of implementing the republic act no. 10022 of the act amending ra 8042, otherwise known as the migrant workers and overseas filipinos act of 1995. indeed, their struggles for recognizing their rights resulted from their deeply-seated claims and expectations of the proper implementation of the laws both in the philippines and in their countries. such would give the ilongga ofws hope of gaining back their freedom, identity, and self-respect that were lost due to their experiences of injustice. the injustices and difficulties they experienced serve as the motivating factor for them to struggle to recognize their rights in order for them to gain freedom and be extended a sense of social status and pride as people who have the same rights and privileges as any other filipinos. in this way, the ilongga ofws would become recognized and respected as full-fledged members and modern heroines of the country. 141 international peer reviewed journal recommendations using honnethian lens in analyzing the present condition of the ilongga ofws, the researcher recommended the following: (1) strengthen the support given by the philippine government to protect the welfare of these marginalized and disenfranchised modern heroines of the country, (2) the philippine government should revisit all the laws related to labor migration, foreign policies and economic relations between the philippines and other countries. moreover, the department of labor and employment (dole), overseas workers welfare administration (owwa), and department of foreign affairs (dfa) should regularly monitor the status of ofws abroad to ensure the safety, security, and welfare of ofws in the hands of their employers and recruiters, (3) the ofws should be afforded proper trainings, and seminars about financial literacy for more comprehensive management of their hard-earned income, and (4) alternative source of livelihood should be provided for the ofws whenever they decide to stay in the country for good. literature cited ang, a. p., sugiyarto, g., & jha, s. 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(2007). recognition and power: axel honneth and the tradition of critical social theory. cambridge university press. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3h7jfs6 https://bit.ly/2yjlvdl https://bit.ly/2yjlvdl https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1474885108096958 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1474885108096958 https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/ps/article/view/1781/1808 https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/ps/article/view/1781/1808 https://bit.ly/3a8nhwj https://bit.ly/3jwrei8 https://bit.ly/3k0ovua https://bit.ly/3bryn9d https://bit.ly/3h7jfs6 141 international peer reviewed journal business resiliency of travel agencies in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (v.u.c.a) world jannyle m. olaño https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7608-2343 olanojannyle@gmail.com bicol college daraga albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract today, we live in a vuca world, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, raised to the third power. that is because of current changes in the world, such as social, business, financial and economic, technological, cultural, and educational changes. the purpose of this research is to attempt to develop a concept for organizational resilience in the face of economic change for travel agencies in the 2nd district of albay. the study used a mixed-method research design to determine the perceptions of both owners and their employees, while five-point indicators were provided in the different areas to determine the respondents’ business resiliency practices with the aid of the likert scale. the analyzed data of the travel agency believed “slightly agree” on the business resiliency when the practice is exceedingly observed and predominantly exercised along with the services delivery platform (4.61), sales and marketing (4.21), human resource (4.23), financial vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.452 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 142 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 management (4.32), and safety and security (4.69). furthermore, all the above-mentioned variables were tabulated t at 1% and had a value of 10.48. therefore, it is proposed that there are still necessary actions and resolutions to be made in order to be ready to further enhance the business resiliency of the vuca world under this study. in this light, more effective management skills and strategies are required in order to address the identified challenges of the respondents. the travel agency owners must have a strategic model that will guide them in achieving their goals and sustaining their business. keywords — tourism, business resiliency, practices, mixed method design, vuca world, travel agency, philippines introduction no industry has been able to avoid global disruption. a pandemic, the war in ukraine, global supply chain disruptions, and high fuel prices continue to wreak havoc on businesses, large and small (greengard, 2022). today, we live in a vuca world, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, raised to the third power. that is because of current changes in the world, such as social, business, financial and economic, technological, cultural, and educational changes. the increasing incidence and intensity of natural disasters and climate change have a distinct impact on the environment and vice versa and must therefore be seen as an integrated whole (wright et al., 2022). travel and tourism are often referred to as the ‘world’s largest industry and the ‘world’s fastest-growing industry. it is also a very dynamic industry that has had to respond to a wide range of factors outside its control. in the last decade, the growth of international terrorism, the increased use of the internet and other forms of technology to book flights and accommodation, and the growing awareness of climate change, as well as the environmental impact of increased air travel, have all affected the way in which the travel and tourism industry operates (lillejord, 2017). in the tourism industry, digitalization provides opportunities for smes to broaden their market reach, grow, improve operational efficiencies, and sharpen their competitive edge. collectively, it can also aid in the development and customization of product offerings, the improvement of destination connectivity, the generation of data to track performance, and 143 international peer reviewed journal the improvement of destination management (dredge et al., 2019). we are welcoming the digital era in a much-accelerated way. innovation and entrepreneurship have undergone substantial changes over the past ten or so years as a result of the rise of a variety of powerful and innovative digital technologies, platforms, and infrastructures. these changes have broad organizational and policy ramifications (nambisan et al., 2019). the main goal of digital transformation is to reorganize organizational operations using digital technologies, resulting in advantages like increased productivity, lower costs, and innovation. it also holds implications at broader regional/national and societal levels with the potential to inform policymaking entities and other stakeholders. many organizations believe they must either adapt to the changing market forces driven by digitization or face extinction and indicate how existing companies may need to radically transform themselves to succeed in the emerging digital world (dexeus, 2019). one of the first industries to be severely impacted by the pandemic was the tourism industry, as measures taken to contain the virus resulted in a nearly total cessation of travel worldwide. almost all the countries around the world felt it. from large businesses down to small ones, none were exempted. it all went down, which caused the country’s economy to fall. numerous businesses in the hospitality, travel, aviation, automotive, and non-food retail segments have been seriously crippled since covid-19 went on the rampage. these businesses must manage the short-term pressures of rationalizing costs, motivating a depleted workforce, balancing pay cuts with poor sales, maintaining service levels, and negotiating with unyielding creditors while maintaining the capacity to recover quickly when things turn around. this is because these businesses have gone from an initial shock to survival and are now in the recovery phase. without question, some businesses have prospered while others have suffered greatly (zhong et al., 2021). the initial ‘lockdown’ in albay, beginning on 16 march 2020, saw flights grounded and tourism and hospitality businesses closed. upon the gradual easing of restrictions, these businesses had to adapt to new social distancing and capacity guidelines, operating curfews, and endless lockdowns resulting in falling revenues, job losses, and widespread uncertainty, which is expected to endure. the tourism industry in albay was struggling to recover from the significant revenue losses it incurred due to the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic. according to dorothy colle, ptcao chief said that 144 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the province’s tourism and hotel industry lost php500 million during the first half of the year due to the government declaring community quarantine guidelines a health measure to stop and prevent the spread of the virus. the pandemic has had a negative impact on the industry, which is a major driver of economic activity in the province. in the 2020 annual report of the albay provincial tourism, culture, and arts office (ptcao), the covid-19 pandemic was the primary reason that nearly all of ptcao’s programs, projects, and activities were not carried out for the year 2020. to begin, despite preliminary meetings and the approval of proposals and budgets, the celebration of the magayon festival 2020 was canceled until further notice. the governor had no choice but to implement the department of interior local government’s (dilg) official advisory on the postponement of activities due to the threat of covid-19, issued last march 10, 2020. apart from that, no tourism activities were carried out due to the month-long total lockdown. ptcao decides to promote tourism through “albay muna, albay naman!” through social media, “safety tourism” has emerged amid the covid-19 pandemic. the goal of this platform is to continue tourism promotion to encourage local tourists to visit various attractions in albay. the virtual tourism campaign gained overwhelming support from the albayanos, using the hashtag #albaymunaalbaynaman, and with that, it was an effective way of promoting tourism in albay. for the past two years, the world faces a great turmoil, and tourism activities in albay are now back in almost full swing, from the re-opening of museums, hotels, resorts, and local parks to nature exploration (atv or allterrain vehicle rides, island-hopping, and hiking trails). in addition to that, albay now can be so much easier to visit and be experienced by having the bicol international airport located in daraga, albay. the bicol international airport is dubbed the most scenic gateway among all the airports in the country, for it features the iconic, perfectly cone-shaped mayon volcano as its majestic backdrop. this has now also made albay the country’s pacific gateway. with the reopening of the tourism industry, health standards are still observed and always practiced. yesterday’s models and best practices are no longer viable, but this study will aid travel agency owners in implementing a variety of coping strategies to adapt, survive, and eventually thrive in a new stage of learning and growth. this research aims to generate ideas for business resilience in economic 145 international peer reviewed journal disruption. an in-depth analysis of what factors can be improved to maintain business resilience is required. framework this study is founded on the perspectives and theories of well-known authorities, all closely related to the current study. there are three (3) significant theories that supported the study. these are: (a) the theory of resilience, (b) the theory of change by weiss, and (c) the contingency theory of leadership by fred fiedler. theories were vital considerations in any study. organizations must build their resilience to deal with unforeseen events, recover from crises, and promote future success in highly volatile and uncertain times. more understanding is needed, in particular, of the conditions that promote the development of organizational resilience and its constituent organizational capabilities. while the resilience concept has a long tradition in some disciplines (especially psychology), it is relatively new in business and management research (duchek, 2020). linnenluecke’s (2017) review reveals that there are various study streams that make up this field’s research on organizational resilience, employee strengths, business model adaptability, and design principles that lessen supply chain vulnerabilities. each of these study strands has created its own resilience definitions, conceptualizations, and metrics. according to resilience theory, how we respond to adversity rather than its actual characteristics matters most. resilience aids us in overcoming adversity, bad luck, or frustration. in the face of adversity and its aftermath, it aids us in surviving, recovering, and even thriving, but that is not all there is to it. according to suriyankietkaew (2019), the application of resilience in the field of organization studies has been found in a variety of areas, such as crisis and disaster management, sustainable organizations, and corporate sustainability literature. in an organizational setting, resilience is said to help organizational members to keep their hope up high and strong in a tough period (kim, 2020). another theory related to the current study is the contingency theory, which states that different group situations call for different leadership styles. to attain group effectiveness, an organization must construct employment conditions to match a leader’s characteristics, as leaders have a generally fixed 146 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 leadership style (ward et al., 2021). the contingency theory’s fundamental element is that there is no best way to lead an organization. there are too many internal and external limitations that will change the truly best way to lead in each circumstance. in other words, the most appropriate course of action will depend entirely on the current situation (brooks, 2004). in relation to the current study, the theory of resilience and contingency can be beneficial to travel agency owners in practicing business resiliency because it implies toughness, strength, persistence, and a positive perspective of adversity, all of which aid organizational members in enduring the disadvantages of the conditions and restarting their activities with a high degree of optimism and resilience. in addition, the study was also anchored on the theory of change by weiss (1995) defined how quite simply and elegantly as a theory of how and why an initiative works. the theory of change describes how an initiative’s shorter-, intermediate-, and longer-term results are caused by other factors, thus explaining how change occurs. the “outcomes pathway” is a map of the detected changes that depicts the chronological flow, feedback loops, and logical relationships between each outcome and the others. “rationales,” or justifications for why one consequence is regarded to be necessary for another, are used to explain how the outcomes are related to one another. the theory of change’s originality resides in two areas: (1) distinguishing between intended and actual outcomes and (2) forcing stakeholders to model their desired outcomes prior to choosing how to intervene to bring about those outcomes. the theory was applicable to the present study as it discusses ways needed to adapt to unforeseen circumstances and provide plans for these challenges. in today’s rapid changes due to economic disruptions, travel agency owners need to come up with effective and efficient strategies to adopt in their companies and to sustain business operations. to further understand the discussion cited above, below is the paradigm of the study on the business resiliency of travel agencies in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (v.u.c.a) world. 147 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. paradigm of the study objectives of the study the main objectives of the study are to (1) determine the business resiliency of travel agencies in albay, (2) identify the business resiliency practices of travel agencies in albay along with service delivery platform, sales and marketing, human resource management, financial management, safety, and security, (3) determine the challenges encountered during economic destructions by the travel agencies in albay along the above variables and (4) recommend business resiliency measures of travel agencies in albay to drive during economic disruption. 148 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 methodology research design the study used a documentary and descriptive research design, and it presented the data in textual, tabular, and semi-structured interview formats. moreover, it presented a thorough presentation of the data to describe the study’s variables. a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used to determining the outcome of the study. in-depth interviews with safe physical distancing with the travel agency owners were done. survey questionnaires were likewise utilized in gathering the data for the study. research site the research is conducted in the province of albay, specifically in the second district. the location was selected by the researcher mostly because she finds the area to be interesting because of the increase in the number in terms of tourism and accredited travel agencies. additional considerations that influenced the choice of this study site include the availability of data and its proximity to the researcher’s location. research respondents the respondents of the study were the owners of travel agencies in the 2nd district of albay that are dot-certified primary tourism, as required by ra 9593 or the tourism act of 2009 requires tourism enterprises such as hotels, resorts, inns, and other accommodation establishments, to secure accreditation from the dot for the issuance of a license or permit to operate. sources of data the study used two kinds of data: primary and secondary data. the researcher gathered the primary data from the respondents through the survey questionnaires. in-depth interviews and distribution of survey questionnaires to the travel agency owners. the secondary sources of data were sourced from related magazines, the internet, books, and unpublished undergraduate theses and dissertations as references to this study. instrumentation the researcher used structured survey questionnaires to gather primary data. there were three (3) parts to the questionnaire. part one focused on 149 international peer reviewed journal the business resiliency practices of the travel agencies, and part two focused on the challenges encountered during the pandemic. lastly, part three was a follow-up, or a guided question wherein respondents could express their opinions. the observation guide of the researcher was also used as supportive data to the information provided by owners in the survey questionnaires that were given out. one-on-one interviews with the owners were also taken into account to serve as validation to the data. data gathering procedures after the questionnaires were reviewed and amended, data collection began. to conduct a study, the researcher obtained a request for a list of accredited travel agencies in the 2nd district of albay from the department of tourism. the adviser took notice of the researcher’s letter request for permission to perform the research, which was likewise written. upon the given list from the dot, which has twenty (20) accredited travel agencies, the researcher was only able to obtain 13 respondents due to changes in the address of their businesses because of the pandemic that led to the temporarily closed their businesses. the survey was distributed face-to-face and used google forms for those businesses that were not able to reach out, which is a network-based platform that allows users to collect and retrieve data as well as for respondents to answer the questionnaire. to ease the extraction of the data from the respondents, the study’s goal was thoroughly explained to them beforehand so they would be aware and ready to participate in the interview and questionnaire without hesitation. the researcher informed all responders that their information would be kept private and highlighted that it would only be utilized for this research. sampling technique for the quantitative data, which is composed of part i and ii of the questionnaire, the researcher used a total enumeration sampling in the collection of data, where the total population is selected that has a particular set of characteristics. for the qualitative data in part iii for the structured questions using an open-ended question, purposive sampling was used. samples were selected based on the characteristics of a population and the objective of the study, also known as judgmental, selective, and handpicked by the researcher. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 data analysis plan the researcher tallied the data received from the respondents using frequency and percentage to validate and produce an accurate analysis and interpretation of the data collected. results and discussion part 1. identify the business resiliency practices (a) service delivery platform, (b) sales and marketing, (c) human resource, (d) financial management, and (e) safety and security service delivery platform the indicators show that four out five obtained an adjectival interpretation of strongly agree, namely: the agency developed strong business partnerships with service providers (4.92), developed interactive online applications (online app) for customer communication for inquiry and booking (4.69), active membership to travel agency organization for updates and trends (4.53), and technology-aware and responsive, and innovative services from time to time to suit the changing clientele and service provider’s needs and requirements (4.54). while the slightly agree indicator, with a rating of 4.39, states that the physical office and the online office are manned with knowledgeable and capable of interacting with clients and service providers. the general weighted mean indicated to service delivery platform was 4.61, which resulted in strongly agree. these findings suggested that the owners that have good business resiliency help to develop a greater relationship with their suppliers and clients that would build trust and stability in their business. according to one of the owners during the interview, to maintain a strong relationship, they practice honesty, fairness, and accountability with their clients. these findings are for the core principles to support or keep resilience. the travel agency owners made sure to stay in touch with their clients. these findings support the study. with the transition toward the “new normal,” leaders and business managers need to transform and develop a strategic approach to a vuca world to position the organization for success in the long run. sloan (2020) describes that the corporate strategy that originated in the late nineteenth century is often viewed with a “scientific, technical rational mindset.” under the influence of the two industrial revolutions, strategy 151 international peer reviewed journal formulation is considered the process of turning resources into outputs with the aim of maximizing profits in a systematic and almost mechanical way. additionally, the power to form strategic decisions belongs to people at the top of the organization since they are assumed to have a neutral global view and the ability to predict changes in the business environment. sales and marketing for businesses to maximize bookings and revenue, marketing is essential. with a good sales and marketing strategy, travel agency owners will be able to promote their business and services, make it stand out from competitors outside albay, attract more customers, and generate brand awareness. the results showed that “continually tool and re-tool sales and marketing staff through training and workshops” got the highest rating of 4.38 and was considered slightly agree. next, the statements that were tallied got 4.30 which are “regularly formulate and review business objectives and targets” and “regularly conducts market research and analysis to make plans and strategies for current and futuristic,” interpreted as slightly agree. meanwhile, the statement “evaluate and rank occurring risks based on impact and likelihood” got the least rating of 4.23 and was interpreted as slightly agree. and lastly, the lowest rating of 3.84 and interpreted as slightly agreeing with the statement “has an in-place and regularly reviewed marketing and promotional plans and strategies.” the general weighted mean of sales and marketing was 4.21 or slightly agree. these findings suggest that travel agency owners somehow practice the indicators above in their business. based on the interview, one of them shared a statement that they always post on their facebook page, even if it is only a travel announcement, to make sure that our clients are fully aware that their business is active online. human resource management when properly implemented, a strategic human resource strategy can ensure the business is working toward achieving broader goals. they must be in line with the strategic vision of the firm to be successful. the company’s future direction and the people and resources required to get there will be indicated by the vision the findings resulted in the business resiliency practices for human resource strategy. data revealed that maintaining high-performing employees 152 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 through satisfaction in the working environment got the highest total weighted mean with 4.39, establishing an open communication to stay alert to policy changes are valued at 4.31 while providing personalized support and empowering employees both got 4.23. the indicator with the lowest weighted mean was developing and maintaining hrd plans and strategies got 4.00. travel agency owners’ human resource strategy perceived the result as slightly agree; it only obtained an overall weighted of 4.23. the findings concluded that the owners set the rules and regulations for the workforce. when it came to supervising, the managers had no issues or challenges. however, according to an interview with the travel agency owners, most of their employees work part-time or on-call if more tour assistants are needed whenever there is a travel, but the owners ensure that the part-timers are treated the same as regular employees, from receiving benefits to working in an excellent work environment. financial management data revealed that being prepared for challenges by modeling and forecasting got the highest total weighted mean with 4.46, maintaining strong relationships with financial and banking institutions is valued at 4.38, and maintaining strong financial management got 4.31. indicators with the lowest weighted mean safeguarding the organization against market uncertainties got 4.30, and developing and continually enhancing financial management plans got 4.15. travel agency owners’ financial management strategy perceived the result as slightly agree; it only obtained an overall weighted of 4.32. as a result, travel agency owners need to secure of having a good financial management strategy. it is important because it will essentially identify the possible strategies for their business to maximize its market value and keep them on track to reaching long-term goals. safety and security data revealed that three (3) indicators got the same weighted mean of 4.77 which indicates ensuring business and travel insurance is updated and active, next ensuring all requirements are implemented, and lastly, developing and regularly reviewing office safety and security plan. indicators with the lowest weighted mean, maintaining health and safety measures for employees (hmo) got 4.62 and maintaining functional health and safety protocol got 153 international peer reviewed journal 4.54. travel agency owners’ safety and security strategy perceived the result as strongly agree; it only obtained an overall weighted of 4.69. as a result, it shows that the travel agency owners focused on the environment that makes their employees feel safe and secure. it also serves as a standard for assessing how the workplace environment affects worker productivity. challenges encountered during the pandemic service delivery platform to maintain the operation of their businesses in the face of economic shocks, travel agency owners come up with innovative means of offering services. as society continued to adjust to the new normal system, a number of challenges were anticipated. the highest rating of 4.15 was “newer trends in using online services (e-booking) compared to the past.” it was then followed by “travelers favor affordable packages over luxurious ones” with 4.07 and intercepted a slightly agree. the lowest rating recorded was 3.38, or agree, and was shown in the statement, “the practice of organizational resilience attributes is crucial during the pandemic.” the general weighted mean for the challenges encountered by the travel agency owners under the service delivery platform was 3.57, interpreted as slightly agree. these findings suggested that the owners really had a hard time adjusting to the changes during the pandemic, and it really affected their business operations. this can be the reason that more of their clients prefer to travel within their vicinity, and because of that, the demand for travel agencies declined in terms of availing their services. based on the interviews with the owners, one said that they decided to temporarily close their business due to the lockdown, and there were some scheduled trips that were canceled as well when the government started to implement the lockdown. sales and marketing the highest rating of 4.23 was given to the considering digital approaches as long-term solutions were interpreted as slightly agree. a weighted mean of 4.15 or slightly agrees with the statement “pushing businesses to reconsider their ideas for ongoing and upcoming advertising and marketing initiatives to keep a consistent flow of revenue.” the last rating of 3.62 was given to the two (2) statement that was tallied, which were “keeping up with the last global 154 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 changes” and “customers may be struggling to access the product or find it less useful now as their priorities have changed in response to covid-19” which got an adjectival rating of slightly agree. the general weighted mean indicated to sales and marketing was 3.82, which resulted in slightly agree. the findings implied that the travel agency owners had some difficulty in maintaining their sales and marketing due to lockdowns and travel restrictions, and they were negatively hit by widespread cancellations in 2020 and 2021 and were placed under lockdown. also, according to the interview of the travel agency owner, it was impossible to conduct their operation during the covid-19 pandemic and advertise their business. human resource management to maintain the status of their employees during the pandemic they had to make changes such as work schedules, working from home, and relocating workstations. as society continued to adjust, a number of challenges were anticipated. the highest rating of 4.77 was given to ensuring employee health and safety were interpreted as strongly agree. a weighted mean of 4.39 or slightly agrees with the statement “complying with wage and hour laws.” the last rating of 3.38 was given to the statement “negotiation of temporary layoffs,” which got an adjectival rating of agree. the general weighted mean indicated by human resources was 3.69 which resulted in slightly agree. these findings implied that the travel agency owners had some difficulty in maintaining their employees due to the transition of working hybrid and temporary layoff due to a lack of transactions and financial problems they encountered during the pandemic. also, according to one of the owners he/ she lay-off their staff. it is hard for them to sustain their wages due to the temporary closure of their business and no means of revenue. financial management the highest rating of 3.77 was given to two (2) statements which are “meeting the target revenue monthly” and “cash flows and experience an increase in expenses” shares to slightly agree. a weighted mean of 3.62 or slightly agree with the statement, “due to the absence of guest that avails our services, the insufficiency of the fund to continue our business strike us greatly.” the lowest rating of 3.38 was given to the statement “temporary closure of the business due to no revenue coming in.” which got an adjectival 155 international peer reviewed journal rating of agree. the general weighted mean indicated by financial management was 3.53, which resulted in slightly agree. these results suggested that the owner of travel agencies had some difficulty maintaining their finances because of the pandemic, which resulted in bankruptcy. also, according to the owners that share the same thoughts, their capital is depleted because no one is availing of the services or tours, even in the ticketing. because of that, there is not enough roi coming into their business, and until now, tours are still limited. given the economic challenges of today, it is obvious that businesses need to be more agile. this is not something that can happen overnight and, in many cases, will demand a cultural shift. financial challenges are some of the most painful ones entrepreneurs have to deal with. companies must observe and analyze the company’s performance to survive, one of which is by analyzing various sides. company performance is a complete condition of the company for a certain period of time, which is the result of the company’s operational activities (oktarina, 2020). safety and security the highest rating of 4.54 was given to tourists more concerned about health safety than before and strongly agree. a weighted mean of 4.39 or slightly agrees with the statement “remodeling of workspace to ensure greater spacing between employees; improved air filtration and ventilation; touch-free handles and interfaces.” the lowest rating of 3.53 was given to the statement “laws, policies, and regulations are constantly changing and difficult to adjust,” which got an adjectival rating of slightly agree. the general weighted mean indicated by safety and security was 3.69, which resulted in slightly agree. these results suggested that the owner of travel agencies had some difficulty adjusting to the changes the government made as a result of the travel restrictions. also, according to one of the owners, the worst experience they have encountered was the part where they could not get anywhere because of the lockdown, and there were so many requirements needed when you just need to go to a nearby place. the implementation of the restrictions was not properly mandated. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conclusions for effective business resiliency practices, travel agency owners must identify and recognize their weaknesses and their old habits in managing their business to develop resolutions and opportunities. they must adopt a proactive attitude towards these changes in their organization, learning how to identify, predict, and respond to emerging trends, and the capacity to respond quickly to economic disruptions. they must assess and evaluate what is lacking or not working well within their organization, such as their service and delivery, sales and marketing, human resource management, financial management, safety and security. these challenges may be a guide for them to take an action plan for the travel agency owners, particularly in the 2nd district of albay, since this will not only be beneficial to not only to meeting their interests but also the growth of their business despite the up-to-date economic disruptions we are experiencing. in line with the resilience theory, it may be suggested that organizations must develop resilience capacity to cope effectively with unexpected events, recover from crises, and even foster future success in highly volatile and uncertain times. therefore, with the transition toward the “new normal,” business owners need to transform and develop a strategic approach to a vuca world to position the organization for success in the long run. it will enhance the knowledge of the travel agency owners in managing their businesses and to further develop both their skills and strategies. thus, this major output of the study is recommended to bring constructive change to business owners. the goal for management in this new vuca world is to build resilient and effective organizations. managers must be proactive in adapting to new implications in the face of adversity. this requires developing business resilience to adapt to emerging technological trends and overcome challenging events by letting go of old habits, processes, and strategies that helped the business become initially successful. with the challenges encountered during the pandemic, it was extremely difficult to quickly recover from the calamity and deal with the post-pandemic difficulties facing the tourism industry, especially the travel agency owners. changes in the business environment, on the other hand, frequently lead to the downfall of resources, difficulty, and poor management. according to the contingency theory, different group situations require different 157 international peer reviewed journal leadership styles. to achieve group effectiveness, an organization must create employment conditions that match a leader’s characteristics, as leaders have a generally fixed leadership style (ward et al., 2021). upon analyzing the results, it is proposed that there are still necessary actions and resolutions to be made to further enhance the business resiliency of the vuca world under this study. in this light, more effective management skills and strategies are required to address the identified challenges of the respondents. the travel agency owners must have a strategic model that will guide them in achieving their goals and sustaining their business. translational research the study’s findings may be adapted into a journal paper for use in international journals, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for the purpose of disseminating knowledge and reviewing the institutional policy. furthermore, internal and external stakeholders might be able to translate it into a more thorough administrative policy and improved intervention program that could drive the interest of potential internal stakeholders and professionals into additional studies. to clarify the organizational policies in the workplace, it can be translated by sharing information with current and prospective members. literature cited 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(2019). sustainable leadership and entrepreneurship for corporate sustainability in small enterprises: an empirical analysis.  world review of entrepreneurship, management and sustainable development, 15(1-2), 256-275. ward, d. e., park, l. e., walsh, c. m., naragon-gainey, k., paravati, e., & whillans, a. v. (2021). for the love of money: the role of financially contingent self-worth in romantic relationships. journal of social and personal relationships, 38(4), 1303-1328. wright, g., & wigmore, i. (2022). vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). whatis. com. zhong, l., sun, s., law, r., & li, x. (2021). tourism crisis management: evidence from covid-19. current issues in tourism, 24(19), 2671-2682. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research a region’s local economic development and competitiveness index chona q. sarmiento orcid no. 0000-0002-7396-2273 drchonaqsarmiento@gmail.com western mindanao state university zamboanga city, philippines ere lee q. salang orcid no. 0000-0002-1084-240x erelee.salang@gmail.com western mindanao state university zamboanga city, philippines ricardo b. garcia, jr. orcid no. 0000-0002-1852-2953 riclbj06@gmail.com western mindanao state university zamboanga city, philippines ardel s. barre orcid no.:0000-0001-7023-6594 anaybarre2024@gmail.com western mindanao state university zamboanga city, philippines abstract the nationwide survey on local economic development and competitiveness index shows the local government unit’s competence in three major dimensions namely; economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure. it focuses on 30 pre-identified indicators of economic development and vol. 15 · january 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v15i1.265 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 67 international peer reviewed journal competitiveness from the national competitiveness council (ncc) reflecting the local government unit’s (lgus) financial growth and stability, and examines the potential reinforcing factors as well as the hindering factors on business licensing competitiveness. the survey was conducted in mindanao to gather secondary sources of data from various local government offices, private sectors and regional agencies. the findings revealed that the quality of performance in terms of economic dynamism, efficiency and infrastructure is highly relevant but not excellent. the progressive lgus have shown responsiveness on efficiency in terms of government policy on service, client demands, consistent with the national policies to improve support on the government economic programs, however, it failed to have an excellent rating. thus, there are still more lacking areas in promoting tourism support, business and industry promotion, and transparency on entrepreneurship. the scope of economic development and competitiveness provided opportunities on the plurality of factors to describe increase accountability among key local authorities on systematic recording and archiving of financial data. keywords – local economic development and competitiveness index, economic development, business licensing, economic dynamism, government efficiency, basic infrastructure, descriptive design, philippines introduction this survey is an initial attempt to compile local indicators for the region and to information on financial progress of businesses, government management, local infrastructures, and other major factors used to determine economic growth. it is highly selective in terms of the cities and municipalities covered indexing the economic and development indicators on financial and administrative data from the local government units (lgus). it was conducted to provide timely data with a comprehensive assessment of all aspects in the economic development of regions. it is important to identify the given specific indicators at the local level to help recognize in detail the strengths and weaknesses of their local economy. it will also allow local level comparison across areas which continued to lag behind. it is, therefore, imperative for local government units (lgus) to focus on the gaps and provide interventions to trigger catch-ups (arslan, et al., 2012). to characterize the unique and dynamic essence of the country’s economic development and competitiveness, 30 identified indicators were outlined to 68 jpair multidisciplinary research describe the major contributions to development and competitiveness. these specific indicators helped identify local financial competencies and allowed a local level comparison for the identification of gaps, eventually adapting best financial practices among developed lgus leading to financial stability. likewise, ranking the competitiveness of lgus per region spurs market interest for investment and commercialization making cities or municipalities more comparable. to answer the growing need for economic comparability, executive order number 44 (series of 2011) tasked the national competitiveness council (ncc) to execute steps to improve the country’s international competitiveness ranking, towards the goal of enhancing and upgrading the philippine competitiveness ranking. the ncc consequently organizes regional competitiveness committees (rcc) to aid the goal of the national government. eventually, it has implemented a task force to develop and institutionalize a template of standard indicators to serve as a diagnostic tool for assessment of the level of competitiveness among lgus. the total paradigm to which the entire project rests is based on the conceptual framework outlined in, “the competitive advantage of nations,” by professor michael porter of harvard school of business. porter (2011) defines that the competitiveness of the location as the productivity that companies located there can be achieved. this definition of competitiveness stresses the drivers of sustainable economic prosperity at a given location. porter’s idea of competitiveness focuses on prosperity “created’’ from economic activity—activity that creates value by providing products and services at prices above their cost of production. prosperity depends on the country’s economy-wide productivity—the level of gdp generated for each unit of factor input available for economic activity at market prices. individual productivity—the level of gdp generated by each person (or factor input) employed—is only an incomplete measure of this impact on prosperity. if markets for factor inputs are efficient and all factor inputs are employed, the two measures of productivity will be the same. if there are distortions, however, the individual productivity reported in many statistics will overstate the prospects for prosperity (ketel, 2006). the main rival to the productivity-based definition of competitiveness is the market share-based definition. it defines competitiveness as the ability to sell on international markets and is fundamentally concerned with the sustainability of the economy’s overall external balance. while the external balance is clearly important, especially for international financial institutions, it is critical to 69 international peer reviewed journal understand that exports do not automatically indicate underlying prosperity or productivity because they are also driven by the economy’s real exchange rate. a criticism that disproportionally affects the productivity-based view of competitiveness with its fundamental interest in the prosperity is that it is narrowly economic and takes no account of social and environmental concerns. however, the intuition about competitiveness and social/environmental goals as being unrelated is very misleading. social and environmental problems are often indicators of low productivity in the use of resources and they tend to be much more pronounced when competitiveness is low (porter and van der linde, 1995 as cited in ketel, 2006). furthermore, economic, social and environmental goals are not mutually exclusive: for a significant range of issues there is an overlap of policies to increase economic competitiveness and policies to address social and environmental objectives. the second key element of porter’s definition is its focus on geographic location as a key determinant of company productivity; a notion it shares with other concepts and theories interested in the sources of prosperity and growth differences across countries. the role of location has been challenged lately by what can be described as the death of distance’’-hypothesis (cairncross, 2001). it argues that the reduction of transportation and communication costs as well as of many policy barriers to international trade and investment have made geographical location and proximity inconsequential for companies. therefore, companies seem to undermine the effects of transportation and utilities expenses to the over-all economic development of a region. factors that determine the productivity of a company differ significantly across sub-national regions with countries; that is one of the reasons why there are large and often persistent prosperity differences within them. sub-national regions are, therefore, the central geographic level for competitiveness. however, other geographic levels—nations as well as cross-national regions (ketels and so¨ lvell, 2005)—have an important impact on the business environment in these sub-national regions. both for analysis and for policy it is, therefore, important to consider their different roles and focus on the geographic level with the most impact on the respective priority issues for competitiveness. this study focused on assessing competitiveness and economic development of one region in mindanao. the survey encompasses three provinces with only three municipalities and five cities as study sites. the sampling sites were purposively pre-selected, particularly, first class cities with the highest annual generated income and are centers of commercialization. the five component cities were also the capital of the province, hence by and large, the urban centers and major location 70 jpair multidisciplinary research of commerce and industries of the province selected. the three municipalities, on the other hand, were selected ranging from relatively “progressive to relatively developed” which provided the criterion a higher incidence of business licensing application to generate revenues in their respective lgus. as to its economic, situation the cities served as the centers of trade, commerce and education in the region. data retrieved from various lgus are records as of january 1 to december 31, 2012. the competitiveness survey is a quick survey providing a snapshot of trending estimates. objectives of the study the general objective of this research is to collectively provide the regional data for the indicators laid down by the national competitiveness council e.o. 44 (series 2011) towards enhancing and upgrading the philippine competitiveness ranking in various global initiatives. specifically, it imposes to provide the region’s indicators for economic development and competitiveness, subdivided into three factors: a. economic dynamism; b. government efficiency; and c. infrastructure. methodology a combined method of quantitative and qualitative design was used as the basis of analysis of the survey. the collection of quantitative data was based on the pre-identified 30 variables following the common framework for local economic development and competitive indicators on three factors respectively, economic dynamism; government efficiency; and infrastructure. the selected indicators were reviewed and finalized by the national competitive council (ncc) and regional competitive committees (rccs). other methods in gathering data included “informal procedures” such as focus group discussions (fgds), personnel interviews and review of secondary data from lgu reports, accomplishment reports and websites as sources of information obtained within the two weeks data collection. data collection of secondary data was gathered from public and company records of the following regional offices and companies: department of trade and industry; bangko sentral ng pilipinas; treasurer’s office; planning development office; city mayor’s office; the local governance performance measurement system; lgus and municipal units; land transportation office, national telecommunications company, local government units, electrical companies, water district companies while other data were obtained from national statistical coordination board, and the national statistics office. the selection considered most the convergent factors/ dimensions, common indicators readily available at the lgu level. 71 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion economic dynamism economic dynamism is referred as the activities that create stable expansion of businesses and industries and higher employment. it is the combination of the entrepreneurial spirit and the financial institutions that channels economic progress. localities are the centers of economic activities, where business expansion and job creation are easily observable in local settings. table 1. size of the economy & growth of economy and investments factor indicators measurement cities municipalities size of economy number of annual business registrations (new and renewal) number 14,757 806** amount of money in circulation (city level) value in php 14,629,378,200.00 na total capital of newly registered and renewal business value in php 1,257,858,068.00** 510,812,981.49** growth of economy and investments percent change in gross sales (total) of registered business (renewal) from past year percentage -2.43%** -14.8%* percent change in the number of construction permits and/ or occupancy permits approved for business and non-business percentage +5.6%** -2.5%** no data ** some cities/municipalities provided no data; * data shown for 1 municipality only 72 jpair multidisciplinary research the indicators for economic dynamism included the size of the economy which measures the total goods and services produced in the locality represented by the number of annual business registrations (new and renewal); and the value of local tax collection. table 1 shows the results for indicators on the size of the economy and growth of economy and investments. annual business registrations show an estimate of at least 14,000 applications for a business permit in the cities and 800 in the municipalities. the amount of money in circulation is the total withdrawals from the central bank regional offices showing at least 14 billion pesos worth of withdrawals; while total capital of businesses amounted to 1.2 billion pesos for cities and at least 500 million for municipalities. there is also a decrease in the gross sales of businesses in cities and a larger decrease of gross sales among municipalities by 14%. construction permits increased by as much as 5.6% in cities but decreased in occupancy permits by 2.5%, implying that more buildings are constructed but with less completed establishments for businesses to start. this data shows that the lgus did not perform fairly well in their economic activities, while access to the data on some municipalities were not provided by some lgus and others failed to record total gross sales of business as reflected in their business permits applications data. table 2 presents the data on the number of employment, the inflation rate, number of commercial banks, rural banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, registered lending companies and the number of organized business groups, which were also reflects economic dynamism. the number of jobs from new businesses only shows a portion of the region’s data, since there was no clear agency handling the record for this indicator in the region. the cost of living supports the outlook that the inflation rate was manageable based on the 2012 philippine inflation rate in dec 2012 of 2.9% bringing the full year average at 3.2% according to the national statistics coordination board. the values reflected on the table simply suggest that the risks to inflation over the policy horizon remain fairly balanced. accounting for the total number of financial institutions helps estimate liquidity in the locality. financial institutions become channels by which expanding capital and investments can be dispersed quickly to business and productive units. an abundant number of financial institutions support expansion of long term investments, which is evident in cities (908), but lesser among municipalities (173). the data on business groups’ are record of lgu recognized organizations with sanggunian approvals. however, other identified private business and professional groups do not intend to be recognized as evidenced by the lesser 73 international peer reviewed journal number of accredited organizations in the sangguniang bayan or panglungsod, only a few were accounted in this indicator. table 2. employment, cost of living, financial deepening, business groups and associations factor indicators measurement cities municipalities employment number of jobs created based on new business registration number 1,227* 1498* cost of living cost of living (main measure should be the provincial or city inflation rate) inflation percentage 2.4 2.8 2.4 3.3 financial deepening number of commercial banks, rural banks, microfinance institution ns, cooperatives and registered lending companies number 908 173 business groups and associations number of organized business groups number 41** -** * data shown for only 1 city/ municipality; ** some cities/ municipalities provided no data government efficiency for the government efficiency factor, the transparency score in local government performance management system (lgpms), economic governance score on entrepreneurship, business and industry promotion were obtained from the lgus together with the awards relative to the competitiveness conferred to the lgu. the business registration scheme was also dealt with to evaluate the pace of new business registration processing. data on crime incidence, capacity of secondary schools and health services were gathered to address safety, education and health in the locality. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. transparency and accountability, public finance, recognition of performance and responsiveness to business factor indicators measurement cities municipalities transparency and accountability transparency score validated lgpms score 4.6 5 4.7 4.8 economic governance score 3.71 5 2.06 4.44 public finance real estate tax and business tax to total lgu revenues percentage 15.7% 5.8% recognition of performance relevant to competitiveness awards conferred to lgu number of awards 1=gawad pamana ng lahi 1=seal of good housekeeping 1=seal of good housekeeping responsiveness to business business registration system number of days and steps   2 days / 4-7 steps   1 day/ 4-5 steps total new application renewal permit 1-2 days / 5-7 steps 1-2 days / 5-6 steps construction permit 1 -7 days / 3-7 steps 1-15 days / 5-9 steps presence of an investment promotion unit/center binary answer (yes or no) 3= yes 2= no 1= yes 2= no from the transparency scores, the indicators were very evident in the city and municipal lgus with the following criteria; presence of billboards, photo galleries of activities and accomplishments, display areas of trophy, certificates and other symbols of awards and recognitions and the presence of the information office or desk. the economic governance score reflected for entrepreneurship, business and industry promotion showed ratings from high, fair and poor performance, reflecting a substantial evidence of very high to bad performance rating in all the five areas on economic and administrative governance. data for public finance shows own source revenue (osr) with averages reflected fair between 1 billion for a chartered city and 300 million for fourth class city. the figures revealed do not consistently validate revenue generation with lack of data to benchmark with other cities. cities have a higher percentage of taxes against revenues indicating expanding local capacity to generate resources and less dependence on grants, but municipalities indicate more dependence on the national government. most of the lgus reasons for not being able to 75 international peer reviewed journal raise higher osr were the following: 1. their limited power of taxation; 2. lack of entrepreneurial activities especially levying taxes, fees, and charges for their resource poor barangay constituents; 3. lack of political will to innovate alternative methods of revenue generation on the optimal use of their powers; 4. the locally generated revenue could not be easily access because of the absence of time series data on the local-domestic product of the cities and municipalities. as to business application system, the number of procedures or steps is variable from four to seven steps in all the lgus. the same number of days for business renewal and steps in the renewal were reflected in all the survey responses. one municipality requires 15 days for construction permits, while the other lgus required as least one to eight days with a variable number of steps. the presence of an investment center is also seen mostly among cities and less among municipalities signifying seriousness in attracting investments from both local and foreign sources among the cities. table 4. basic government services factor indicators measurement cities municipalities basic government services effective local drrmc plan validated score of seal of disaster preparedness 4 out of 5 failed (1.54-2.90) 1 passed (4.45) 2 out of 3 passed (4.21-4.38) 1 failed (3.75) crime incidence crime index 1442 498 police to population ratio 1:446 1:1294 capacity of local secondary schools average class size of secondary public schools 50 45 availability of health services no. of health manpower / population 483/1,222,445 pop. 149/160,568 pop. an effective local disaster risk reduction management (drrmc) plan assesses the capacity in terms of preparedness and ability to respond to a disaster as evaluated by the department of interior and local government (dilg). most of the cities in the region had failure ratings while most of the municipalities passed. crime incidence is higher among cities, as well as the police to population ratio. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research the average class size ranges from 45 to 50 in the region indicating a poor capacity of the school to absorb students in terms of facilities. moreover, the availability of health manpower according to population is really limited in most cities as well in the municipalities. it also revealed that the majority of the lgus have not properly distributed the appropriate health staff needed for health service provision. basic infrastructure the infrastructure factor provided data on the size of local road network, given by the ratio of local roads to total land area. the travel time in minutes from the city or municipality’s center of commercialization to major transportation hubs (bus terminal, airport, wharfs or port) was also measured along with the number of registered vehicles. data on availability of water and electricity and percentage of household connected to these basic utilities were also obtained. information on basic infrastructure is presented in table 5. most roads among cities have fair to high density road networks, while municipalities have narrower roads, which may signify lesser interconnectedness within the business locality. travel time to major ports lies approximately from less than five minutes to 20 minutes maximum in cities whereas municipalities show more time spent on traveling to the airport and the wharf. as to the annual investment in infrastructure, cities have less than 10% to as much as 70% of investment to infrastructure projects. moreover, major municipalities appropriate only as much as 20% of lgu budget, indicating that cities have prioritized infrastructure projects than among municipal lgus, which may be attributed to more priority for agricultural development in provinces. other factors included in basic infrastructure indicators are the number of registered vehicles, percent of household with basic utilities and the average hours of availability of water and electricity. there are more private registered vehicles in both cities and municipalities as much as 72,000 in cities, with only 9% for public transportation in cities and 6% in municipalities from the range of private vehicles. household basic utilities range from at least 75% with electricity connection, 50% with water connection and less than 12% with a landline connection. internet connectivity shows the least patronized household utility. availability of water and electricity are from at least 20 to 24 hours per day. for technology infrastructure, the number of cell site regardless of service providers and number of atm machines in the locality were identified. tourism and social infrastructure data were also gleaned that includes the number of hotels and restaurants and ratio of hospital beds to population (table 6). 77 international peer reviewed journal table 5. basic infrastructure factor indicators measurement cities municipalities basic infrastructure size of local road network as a share of total land area of municipality or city (km of road per 100 sq. km of land area) road density 82.98 38.17 travel time from center/cbd to major ports nearest to the lgu time in hours/ minutes 2-15 mins to wharf 5-20 mins to airport 5-10 mins to bus terminal 10-45 mins to wharf 5-55 mins to airport 1-10 mins to bus terminal annual investment in infrastructure by local institutions in the locality percentage 8.65% 73.6% 5.55% 21.95% number of registered vehicles (public and private) servicing the area number 1,572 to 6,622 for hire 5,197 to 72,250 private 65 to 1,273 gov’t vehicles 139 to 1,199 for hire 11,290 to 17,339 private 52 to 356 gov’t vehicles percent of households in lgu with connection to basic utilities: a) local landline b) water c)electricity, and d) internet percentage 2.11% 12.6% w/ landline 12.9% 54.8% w/ water 66% 76.17 w/ electricity 0.04 % w/ internet** 0.57% 3.91% w/ landline 12.3% 44.02% w/ water 37.3% 75.4% w/ electricity no data for w/ internet average hours of availability of electricity and water per day ratio 20 24 hrs 24 hrs 78 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. technology infrastructure and social & tourism infrastructure factor indicators measurement cities municipalities technology infrastructure no. of cell sites number 5 to 127 4 to 9 total number of atm in the locality number 5 to 89 4 to 7 social and tourism infrastructure ratio of hospital bed/population ratio 1:11,817 1:1,887 number of hotel rooms and restaurants number 7 to 116 9 to 28 there are a low number of cell sites established in the region, especially among municipalities indicating slow progress in technological advancement. similarly, atm in locality is minimal suggestive of poor financial sophistication and instability of network infrastructure. on the other hand, the lgu’s health response capacity as evidenced by the ratio of hospital beds to population is low, catering to as much as 11,817 in cities and 1,887 in municipalities per one hospital bed. there is an inefficient capacity among health facilities in the region. the number of hotels ranges from less than 10 to more than 100 in one particular city. this number is still low considering the number of population served. data for social and tourism infrastructure shows that there is a need to improve the number of the infra-support to boost tourism like presence of hotels, number of hotel rooms available, and restaurants in the municipalities covered. the data collected for this research dwells primarily on indicators on economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure. the indicators for economic dynamism included the size of the economy which measures the total goods and services produced in the locality represented by the number of annual business registrations (new and renewal); and the value of local tax collection. growth of economy and investments was measured through the capital of current and newly established businesses; the total change in gross sales from the past year; i.e. 2011 and 2012 and the change in number of construction permits and/ or occupancy permits approved for business and non-business. the number of employment, the inflation rate, number of commercial banks, rural banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, registered lending companies and the number of organized business groups was also obtained. 79 international peer reviewed journal for the government efficiency factor, the transparency score in lgpms, economic governance score on entrepreneurship, business and industry promotion were obtained from the lgus together with the awards relative to the competitiveness conferred to the lgu. the business registration scheme was also dealt with to evaluate the pace of new business registration processing. data on crime incidence, capacity of secondary schools and health services were gathered to address safety, education and health in the locality. the infrastructure factor provided data on the size of local road network, given by the ratio of local roads to total land area. the travel time in minutes from the city or municipality’s center of commercialization to major transportation hubs (bus terminal, airport, wharfs or port) was also measured along with the number of registered vehicles. data on availability of water and electricity and percentage of household connected to these basic utilities were also obtained. for technology infrastructure, the number of cell site regardless of service providers and number of atm machines in the locality were identified. tourism and social infrastructure data were also gleaned that includes the number of hotels and restaurants and ratio of hospital beds to population. data for indicators on economic dynamism and government efficiency were difficult to obtain among government and private companies due to nondisclosure of some companies and also because most of the requested information were non-validated raw data still subjected to management recapitulation. conclusions many of the lgus covered in the survey have identified greater challenges in the areas of economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure development. the areas for improvement include revenue generation, through efficient collection of taxes and other fees, and the development of infrastructure to support local tourism seen as the potential of the city or municipality being part of the economic boost of the region. the findings of the study revealed that overall, the lgus quality of performance in terms of economic dynamism is highly relevant but not excellent. the progressive lgus have shown relevant and responsive aspect of government efficiency in terms of client demands consistent with the national policies to improve support to the government economic programs, ratings were high but not excellent. thus, there are still want areas especially for transparency of financial data, business and industry promotion and the infra support for tourism. a greater need to focus and revisit to improve the quality of permitting 80 jpair multidisciplinary research the licensing, ensuring the ease of doing business. there is a need for the lgus covered to strategize the effect of issuance of building, occupancy and business permits in a more expedient manner. there is also a need to establish an administration support body to take the lead in marketing the investment potential of the local government to provide or cause the provision of direct support services to business particularly those categorized as micro, small and medium enterprises. the provision of support services in the form of tax incentives, product labeling, product packaging, training, job fairs and trade fairs. it is seen that the high time civil society align with gos and ngos in creating economic opportunity. economic empowerment must be viewed as a stepping stone to political empowerment. the lgus economic development has so many areas for improvement like the infrastructure support, irrigation systems, farm to market roads, health facilities, credit facilitation services to local farmers and other beneficiaries. in summary, the scope of economic development and competitiveness provided opportunities on the plurality of factors to describing increase transparency among local key authorities on systematic recording and archiving of financial data related to doing and transacting business and like processing license business permit. it will also provide future recommendations for a systematic and standardized form of data banking in local development in various areas. literature cited arslan, n., & tatlıdil, h. 2012 defining and measuring competitiveness: a comparative analysis of turkey with 11 potential rivals. international journal of basic & applied sciences, 12(02), 31-43. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/ ckr7eh cairncross, f. 2001 the death of distance: how the communications revolution is changing our lives. harvard 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2011 competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior performance. simon and schuster. retrieved on july 7, 2014 from http://goo.gl/pfjt1s executive order 44 “renaming public-private sector task force on philippine competitiveness as the national competitiveness council (ncc) and expanding its membership”, june 3, 2011. executive order 571 “creating the public-private sector task force on philippine competitiveness”, october 5, 2006. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research from papers to practices: embracing challenges of iso certification riza s. reyteran http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9979-2321 rizareyteran@gmail.com occidental mindoro state college san jose, occidental mindoro originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract as a mechanism to ensure quality education and services in the state colleges and universities in the philippines, iso certification entails embracing challenges and adopting strategies for the sustainable implementation of quality management systems, policies, and procedures. this descriptive study looked into the strategies employed, the challenges encountered and the changes observed by one state college during iso certification. a total of 84 college officials, faculty members, and staff were requested to answer a questionnaire. responses were validated through an interview among selected participants. results revealed the respondents’ positive perception towards iso certification; the institution’s employment of consultant, conducting seminars, trainings, internal audits, and management review, and implementation of iso-aligned policies and procedures as strategies; conduct of orientations, dissemination of information, time management, provision of necessary resources and commitment of top management to address challenges on lack of awareness, resistance to change, conflict in schedule, insufficient knowledge on iso standards and implementation of policies and procedures; and improvement in the school image, customer satisfaction, communication, and implementation of policies and procedures as observed changes. hence, the respondents’ perception, strategies, and actions to address the challenges helped the institution acquire and benefit from iso certification. vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.753 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9979-2321 99 international peer reviewed journal keywords — social science, iso certification, descriptive design, philippines introduction globalization has brought significant changes in the social and political affairs around the world. it leads to cultural understanding, economic collaboration, and standardization of products and processes (gidley et al., 2010). ongoing developments in the international arena of higher education include mobilization of students and teachers, aligning curricula to international standards, creating campuses in other countries, and establishing cooperation and mutual agreements with other education providers (rosaroso et al., 2015). consequently, as the primary producers of professionals, higher education institutions are expected to revisit their curricula and produce graduates that are prepared for the global market. these developments and demands increased in the requirement for quality in education, support to professionals, students’ mobility, and response to the call of other stakeholders in the global arena (ryan, 2015). the year 2018 can be considered revolutionary development for higher education institutions (heis) in the philippines. from the usual day-to-day business of providing education and services to its clientele, the heis faced the increasing pressure of compliance to quality assurance mechanisms of the government. in addition to the existing compliance to the requirements of the commission on higher education (ched) for program assessment and of the accrediting agency of chartered colleges and universities in the philippines (aaccup), inc. for program accreditation, heis have to acquire a certification from international standardization for organizations (iso) for one of its core processes, a requirement set by the government through the inter-agency task force on the harmonization of national government performance monitoring, information and reporting systems (memorandum circular no. 2018-1) for the grant of the performance-based bonus. as part of its monitoring system to ensure that government agencies, including state colleges and universities, provide quality services to their stakeholders (li, 2010), the government required an iso certification and used this as a basis of their performance (marginson, 2009). iso certification guarantees that the quality of education and services provided by an institution are compliant with the requirements of the international market (jung et al., 2013). quality assurance in this aspect covers all the policies, processes, and actions that will maintain and sustain the quality of higher education (campbell & rozsnyai, 2002). with a focus on the quality of the products and services (killen, 2000), iso standards 100 jpair multidisciplinary research ensure the implementation of processes that will develop the expected outputs. consequently, acquiring an iso certification provides concrete evidence that the institution is sincere in achieving its vision and mission (laguador et al., 2014). it is an indication that the employees worked with commitment, competence, credibility, and collaboration. iso certification increases customer satisfaction and working motivation of the faculty and staff and improves the public image of the institution (gudo et al., 2011; laguador et al., 2014). it is a declaration to the community that the institution is a better place to acquire higher education. the journey to iso certification passes through a long and difficult path. issues on the commitment of the management, customer focus, and knowledge accumulation affect the implementation of the iso standards in educational institutions (cheng et al., 2004). in a study conducted by sohail et al. (2003) in malaysia, developing a quality management system in higher education institutions was challenged by the high turnover among department heads because of stress and the resistance to change of the key player in the organization. implementation of a quality management system, on the other hand, was greatly affected by the culture of the institution, the leadership styles, communication, commitment of management, involvement of the employees and the reward system (mohamed et al., 2015). in turkey, obtaining iso certification among universities was made difficult by several issues and challenges such as unwillingness and lack of staff motivation, costs financial difficulties, personnel resistance to change, increased in workloads, lack of personnel, suspicion on the benefits of the quality certificate, shortage in physical infrastructure, systems incompatibility, dissemination and internalization of the system, and insufficient reports (eryilmaz, kara, aydogan, bektas & erdur, 2016). meanwhile, in the study conducted by elgobbi (2014) in libya, a university had difficulty in applying the requirements of the iso 9001 standard to the operation of the institution, in establishing proper and comprehensive documentation of activities related to the implementation of the quality management system, and in preparing a complete guide to quality that could have helped the departments in preparing procedures necessary to achieve quality in services. in lithuania, higher education institutions consider the expensive cost of certification as a factor that influences their decision to adopt iso 9001. the higher the cost in implementation, certification, and maintenance of iso 9001, the lower the likelihood that the institutions will adopt it, and vice versa (kasperaviciute-cerniauskiene & serafinas, 2016). on the other hand, heis in lebanon considered the commitment of top management as the most critical factor in obtaining iso certification. this was followed by the confusion of the 101 international peer reviewed journal institutions in complying with the accreditation and certification requirements, dedicating time and commitment to follow the standards, lack of awareness and resistance to change, and the availability of resources (hussein et al., 2017). in the american continent, even the laboratories submitted by higher education institutions for accreditation and certification encountered challenges in financial resources, qualification, and commitment of personnel and institutional support (grochau et al., 2018). even in the philippines, higher education institutions considered the expenses involved, demanding works in the documentation of established processes and procedures, and exhaustive document control customer feedbacking as challenges in iso certification (sisno, 2017). to address these challenges and prepare for iso certification, the heis increased the level of awareness of their personnel by conducting regular meetings and management briefing on quality policy and objectives, creating a quality working environment, and creating a steering committee that was assigned to write the procedures and relevant support documents and provide trainings to respective employees. the management also appointed internal auditors who were assigned to check the implementation of the activities in the departments (sohail et al., 2003). in oman, one university applied and implemented stakeholder and market focus, staff development, measurement and analysis, and process management to ensure certification to iso 9001 (martin & thawabeih, 2018). nevertheless, despite the challenges, stakeholders have a positive attitude toward iso certification (sisno, 2017) and consider it beneficial to higher education institutions (andiva & simatwa, 2018; martin, 2018). in malaysia, it resulted in a resolution of issues pertaining the departmental management, consistency in approach to the delivery of lectures, improving communication among program courses, systematic record traceability, and reducing overlapping duties, work overload, and work redundancy (sohail et al., 2003). it also improved the overall effectiveness and performance of the institution in the products produced and services provided (othman et al., 2017). in turkey, iso certification of higher education institutions provided standardization, prestige, publicity, and recognition of the faculty, increased service quality for all stakeholders, improved processes, increased awareness of the academic members in subjects such as training, surveying, assessment, considered feedback from students and staff, creating a sense of pride among academic/administrative staff, promote continuous improvement, ensured control and traceability, established planning for the future, and increased interest in the training of instructors (eryilmaz, kara, aydogan, bektas & erdur, 2016). in kenya, universities 102 jpair multidisciplinary research benefited from increased satisfaction, morale, reduced operational costs, and increased efficiency. the quality management system has positively influenced teaching in universities through academic staff’s service delivery, namely, courses allocation, course outlines, time tables, students lessons attendance, lecture notes, staff lesson attendance, and internship. this has helped universities to increase their credibility, visibility, and trust. thus, there is marked improvement in teaching and learning standards, management processes and documentation, and fault prevention rather than correction (andiva & simatwa, 2018). the challenges and difficulties encountered by heis outweighed the benefits of obtaining iso certification. the benefits of implementing the quality management system are not in the certification itself but in the improvement of the processes and systems of the institution, which may result in an improved quality of education and services provided to the stakeholders (quinn et al., 2009. establishing documented information on the challenges and strategies implemented by higher education institutions will assist and guide other institutions in obtaining and maintaining iso certification. as a quality assurance mechanism that assesses the quality and compliance to identify local and international quality standards (sabio & junio-sabio, 2014), an institution has to revise, modify, adjust and change some of its existing policies, processes, and procedures to ensure compliance to iso standards. the efforts of the institution and the people therein should not be wasted. the school has to implement the systems and processes and learn from the experiences of others to ensure sustainability and improvement in quality management. this way, passing surveillance and certification audits will be assured every year thereafter. objectives of the study this study aimed to find out how a higher education institution could maintain its certification by looking at the strategies employed and the challenges encountered during the preparation of one state college in the philippines. specifically, it sought to address the following objectives, (1) identify the perception of the respondents on the iso certification of the state college, (2) determine the strategies employed by the institution in preparing for iso certification, (3) find out challenges encountered by the respondents in preparing for iso certification, (4) determine the respondents’ actions address to the challenges to acquire iso certification, and (5) discover the changes observed after being awarded iso certification. 103 international peer reviewed journal methodology this descriptive study was conducted in one state college in the philippines. the respondents of this study were the campus directors, deans, internal auditors, document controllers, document custodians, faculty members, and staff of the institution. with their direct involvement in preparation for iso certification, they were selected through purposive sampling. as the head of the operations of the campus, the campus director was involved in the implementation of policies and procedures and the monitoring of their campuses’ compliance to iso standards. the college deans, who were the persons directly involved in managing the offering of the academic programs, ensured that the delivery of education services was compliant with iso standards. likewise, the internal auditors, as the persons involved in conducting an internal quality audit, assess the compliance of the institution to these standards. in addition, the document controller and custodians, as the persons involved in controlling documents, records, and quality forms, monitor the implementation of the procedures relative to document controls and compliance with iso standards. moreover, as the persons directly involved in providing quality education and services, the faculty and staff experienced the need to align their activities and actions to the revised policies and procedures to ensure compliance with iso standards. table 1 presents the number of respondents included in this study. table 1. respondents of the study. classification number campus director 2 college deans 3 internal auditors 6 document controller 1 document custodian 2 faculty 40 staff 30 total 84 this study utilized a questionnaire in gathering data. the questionnaire was developed based on the related literature and the problems raised in this study and was subjected to validity and reliability tests. with a value of .970 cronbach alpha, the questionnaire was found reliable. this questionnaire was distributed 104 jpair multidisciplinary research upon approval of the respective authorities. to validate their answers, an interview was conducted among selected participants. school records in the office of the institutional quality assurance were also used in validating the answers of the respondents. weighted mean was used to interpret the data gathered from the respondents. the following descriptions were used in interpreting the data: weight range verbal interpretation 4 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 3 2.50 – 3.49 agree 2 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree results and discussion perception of the respondents on the iso certification of one state college in the philippines. iso certification disturbed the usual systems and processes in business and academic transactions of one state college in the philippines. everyone was required and expected to cooperate and participate in the preparation and implementation of the quality management system. hence, the stakeholders had their own perceptions of its effect on the institution. table 2 presents the perception of the respondents in this study. with an overall mean of 3.60, the respondents “strongly agree” on the effect of iso certification in the state college. the findings reveal that the respondents have a positive perception of the iso certification and consider it beneficial to the overall operations and status of the institution. interview with selected respondents discloses their initial hesitation, but with the results of the changes implemented, they have come to realize its contribution to the improvement of the institution. these support the study of sisno (2017) and andiva and simatwa (2018), where they found that despite the challenges, personnel of educational institutions develop a positive attitude and support iso certification because of the benefits it has for the institution. 105 international peer reviewed journal table 2. perception of the respondents on the iso certification of one state college in the philippines. item mean interpretation 1. iso certification improves the public image of omsc. 3.85 strongly agree 2. iso certification improves the processes of omsc. 3.80 strongly agree 3. faculty and staff are more aware of quality issues in omsc because of iso certification 3.58 strongly agree 4. iso certification is expensive. 3.55 strongly agree 5. iso certification has brought about excessive documentation without real benefits. 2.45 disagree 6. iso certification improves the quality of services provided to clientele. 3.79 strongly agree 7. iso certification improves team spirit. 3.71 strongly agree 8. iso certification resulted in clearer work procedures. 3.83 strongly agree 9. iso certification improves internal communication. 3.68 strongly agree 10. iso certification improves departmental cooperation. 3.62 strongly agree 11. iso certification increases the implementation of preventive action. 3.68 strongly agree 12. iso certification improves monitoring and evaluation systems on the performance of all units and colleges. 3.75 strongly agree 13. iso certification improves customer satisfaction. 3.74 strongly agree 14. through iso certification, top management strongly encourages employees’ involvement in the planning process. 3.74 strongly agree 15. iso certification improves the quality of education provided by omsc to the students. 3.71 strongly agree 16. iso certification ensures compliance of omsc to statutory and regulatory requirements. 3.80 strongly agree 17. through iso certification, omsc can demonstrate conformity to specified quality management system requirements. 3.79 strongly agree 18. iso certification is an additional burden to the faculty and staff. 2.40 disagree 19. iso certification fosters continual improvement in omsc. 3.76 strongly agree 20. iso certification standardizes the ways things are done in omsc. 3.73 strongly agree overall mean 3.60 strongly agree legend: 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 2.50 – 3.49 agree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree 106 jpair multidisciplinary research it implies that if iso certification will provide an assurance that the policies, processes, and procedures that will be implemented in the heis are compliant with the international standards (jung et al., 2013), and it will benefit the institution, the stakeholders will be satisfied and will support its implementation (laguador et al., 2014). this is crucial in the sustainable implementation of the quality management system in any higher education institution. hence, the conduct of an awareness program on the role and benefits of iso certification among the personnel of heis is significant to the improvement of their attitude and support toward its implementation. strategies employed by the institution in preparing for iso certification preparing for iso certification requires an institution to consider the requirements to have complied. table 3 shows the strategies employed by the state college in preparing for iso certification. with an overall mean of 3.69, the respondents “strongly agree” with the strategies employed in the institution. the strategies implemented by the institution to be iso certified confirms that the institution is aware of the requirements of international standards (jung et al., 2013) and committed to achieving its vision and mission (laguador et al., 2014). these strategies are comparable with the strategies employed by the heis in malaysia (sohail et al., 2003) and oman in obtaining iso certification (martin and thawabeih, 2018). table 3. strategies employed by the institution in preparing for iso certification. item mean interpretation 1. hired a consultant for the preparation 3.71 strongly agree 2. selected appropriate persons for the implementation of quality standards in the school 3.69 strongly agree 3. conducted seminar orientation on iso 9001:2015 3.81 strongly agree 4. compared existing quality systems with iso 9001:2015 requirements 3.68 strongly agree 5. evaluated systems and processes 3.75 strongly agree 6. implemented a quality policy that is appropriate for omsc 3.83 strongly agree 7. conducted training on internal audit 3.85 strongly agree 8. conducted regular internal audit 3.70 strongly agree 9. conducted training on management review 3.67 strongly agree 10. monitored report of non-conformities 3.63 strongly agree 107 international peer reviewed journal 11. conducted regular meetings to provide updates on certification 3.68 strongly agree 12. implemented control of documents and records 3.67 strongly agree 13. conducted an analysis of the current internal and external environment 3.65 strongly agree 14. collected customer and supplier feedback on current quality management 3.61 strongly agree 15. addressed customer and supplier feedback on current quality management 3.57 strongly agree 16. implemented controlled procedures 3.67 strongly agree 17. conducted regular management review 3.62 strongly agree 18. identified strengths and weaknesses of the management system. 3.69 strongly agree 19. addressed identified risks in the systems and processes 3.67 strongly agree 20. conducted review and revision of policies and procedures 3.69 strongly agree overall mean 3.69 strongly agree legend: 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 2.50 – 3.49 agree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree it implies that with a thorough review of the existing policies, processes, and procedures, and implementation of strategies that have been found effective and efficient in other organizations, heis will be able to obtain iso certification and ensure that quality education and services will be provided and delivered to the concerned stakeholders (campbell & rozsnyai, 2002). this similarity in the strategies employed by heis from different countries reflects the universality and applicability of the iso standards to educational institutions. challenges encountered by the respondents in preparing for iso certification in preparing for iso certification, an institution has to face several challenges. the respondents “agreed” on the challenges they encountered in preparing for the iso certification of the state college with a mean of 3.17, as presented in table 4. resistance to change, time management, the existence of other accreditation activities, and lack of awareness on the implementation of iso standards in the academe are among the top challenges encountered by the respondents. these support the study of sohail et al. (2003) and mohamed et al. (2015) among heis in malaysia where resistance to change is high, the study of hussein et al. (2017) in lebanon where the personnel in the institution mixed up the accreditation and 108 jpair multidisciplinary research certification activities and requirements and had difficulty in time management, and the study of elgobbi (2014) in libya where the university had difficulty in applying the iso standards to the educational system. table 4. challenges encountered by the respondents in preparing for iso certification. item mean interpretation 1. lack of awareness on the implementation of iso standards 3.31 agree 2. resistance of people to change 3.45 agree 3. terminology used in iso 9001 3.26 agree 4. existence of other accreditation activities 3.35 agree 5. commitment of top management 2.70 agree 6. time management 3.37 agree 7. availability of resources 3.13 agree 8. difficulty of performing internal audits 2.85 agree 9. insufficient employee training 3.23 agree 10. insufficient knowledge about quality programs 3.02 agree overall mean 3.17 agree legend: 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 2.50 – 3.49 agree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree it implies that heis are expected to encounter challenges in obtaining iso certification. these challenges are almost similar among higher education providers and have been addressed by those who have successfully obtained certification. learning from the experiences of other heis by identifying the challenges to be encountered in the iso certification process, education institutions will be able to identify solutions to ensure compliance with the standards (jung et al., 2013). the support of the top management, as the person accountable for implementing a quality management system in the institution, plays a very important role in obtaining and maintaining iso certification (marginson, 2009). actions to address the challenges to acquire iso certification in order to be certified, the state college addressed the challenges they encountered in obtaining iso certification. table 5 shows that the respondents “strongly agree” on the actions they performed to address the challenges they encountered, with an overall mean of 3.58. the actions involved the 109 international peer reviewed journal implementation of different strategies and motivating all administrators, faculty, and staff to cooperate and be committed to providing quality education and services (killen, 2000). the findings revealed that the institution’s actions to address the challenges helped the institution acquire iso certification. this achievement indicates a good performance on the part of the school (marginson, 2009). this implies that institutions can overcome challenges to acquire iso certification with the strong support and cooperation of all stakeholders. table 5. actions to address the challenges to acquire iso certification. item mean interpretation 1. lack of awareness on the implementation of iso standards a. participated in orientations and seminars 3.56 strongly agree b. participated in meetings conducted for iso certification 3.68 strongly agree c. read materials about iso certification 3.61 strongly agree 2. resistance to change a. read or listened to important announcements relative to iso certification 3.69 strongly agree b. asked questions to clarify issues 3.62 strongly agree c. disseminate information relative to iso certification 3.58 strongly agree 3. terminology used in iso 9001 a. read iso materials to clarify terminologies 3.58 strongly agree b. attended meetings and orientations 3.60 strongly agree c. asked questions to clarify meanings 3.57 strongly agree 4. existence of other accreditation activities a. help my unit in preparation for iso certification 3.77 strongly agree b. support other faculty assigned for program accreditation 3.80 strongly agree c. submitted required documents on time 3.51 strongly agree 5. commitment of top management a. initiated conduct of orientations and trainings 3.55 strongly agree b. provided necessary resources for iso certification 3.67 strongly agree c. implemented quality management system in the whole institution 3.56 strongly agree 6. time management a. observed implementation of the calendar of activities 3.62 strongly agree b. identified priorities among activities 3.58 strongly agree c. prepared necessary documents in advance 3.55 strongly agree 110 jpair multidisciplinary research 7. availability of resources a. requested budget for the iso certification process 3.64 strongly agree b. requested for necessary supplies and materials 3.61 strongly agree c. requested for manpower necessary for preparation 3.46 agree 8. difficulty of performing internal audits a. helped in preparing our unit for internal audit 3.64 strongly agree b. participated in the conduct of internal audits 3.52 strongly agree c. helped my unit in implementing compliance to identified nonconformities 3.67 strongly agree 9. insufficient employee training a. identified necessary training for the faculty or employees 3.39 agree b. requested for faculty or employee training 3.39 agree c. participated in the conduct of in-house trainings 3.43 agree 10. insufficient knowledge about quality programs a. participated in the review of policies and procedures 3.50 strongly agree b. followed approved written procedures 3.58 strongly agree c. provided feedback whenever necessary 3.56 strongly agree overall mean 3.58 strongly agree legend: 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 2.50 – 3.49 agree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree changes observed by the respondents after being awarded iso certification being recognized as iso certified brings changes to the state college, as revealed in table 6. the respondents “strongly agree” with these changes with an overall mean of 3.63. standardization of processes, improved school image, compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, improved control of documents, and a clear path towards continual improvement are the most significant changes observed by the respondents. these conform to the benefits observed by other heis in malaysia (sohail et al., 2003; othman et al., 2017), turkey (eryilmaz et al., 2016), and kenya (andiva & simatwa, 2018). 111 international peer reviewed journal table 6. changes observed by the respondents after being awarded iso certification item mean interpretation 1. improved school image 3.73 strongly agree 2. met customer requirements 3.64 strongly agree 3. met regulatory and statutory requirements 3.70 strongly agree 4. less customer complaints 3.39 agree 5. good relations with interested parties 3.49 agree 6. standardization of processes 3.77 strongly agree 7. clear roles and responsibilities 3.62 strongly agree 8. improved communication with internal and external relevant parties 3.65 strongly agree 9. improved control of documents 3.69 strongly agree 10. continuous analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of systems and processes 3.63 strongly agree 11. implementation of proactive approach rather than reactive approach 3.60 strongly agree 12. clear path towards continual improvement 3.68 strongly agree 13. engaged faculty and staff 3.60 strongly agree 14. increased customer satisfaction 3.63 strongly agree 15. improved quality of instruction 3.56 strongly agree overall mean 3.63 strongly agree legend: 3.50 – 4.00 strongly agree 2.50 – 3.49 agree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 1.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree this implies that iso certification improves the systems and processes of a higher education institution. through this, the hei will be able to maintain and sustain the quality of education and services it provides among its clientele (jung et al., 2013). likewise, the benefits of iso certification could not only be observed in being awarded the certification but most importantly in the improvement of the processes and systems of the institution which may result in an improved quality of education and services provided to the stakeholders (quinn et al., 2009). 112 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions based on the relevant findings of this study, the researcher has drawn the following conclusions, (1) the respondents have a positive perception of iso certification to the state college as revealed when they “strongly agree” on its positive effects on the institution, (2) the respondents “strongly agree” on the several strategies employed by the institution in preparing for iso certification, (3) the respondents “strongly agree” that the state college has encountered several challenges in preparing for iso certification, (4) the respondents had taken actions to address the challenges they encountered in preparing for iso certification, and (5) the respondents observed several positive changes after the state college was awarded iso certification. these findings attest to the applicability of iso 9001 standards in higher education institutions and confirm the benefits certification has to the quality of education and services being provided by the heis. though challenges cannot be eliminated, the institutions’ administrators, faculty, employees, and other stakeholders could work together to receive and maintain iso certification for the benefit of the students, the industry, and the community they serve. recommendations based on the conclusions, this study has the following recommendations, (1) to obtain and maintain iso certification, higher education institutions need to intensify information campaigns on the dissemination of revised policies and processes to lessen resistance to change, guide the faculty and employees in managing their time and increase their awareness of the implementation of the quality management system; and (2) heis may also need to strengthen implementation of monitoring and evaluation to immediately address customer issues and concerns and improve relations with other interested parties. finally, this study may also be conducted among heis in other developing countries to determine similarity in the challenges that may be encountered to obtain iso certification and the strategies that may be adopted to ensure efficient implementation of the quality management system and produce and deliver quality products and services that are compliant with the international standards. 113 international peer reviewed journal literature cited andiva, z. k. 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(2014). concerns for quality assurance and excellence in higher education.  international journal of information technology and business management, 23(1), 35-51. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2ylau4l sisno, r. t. (2017). conformance on quality management system of one state college in the philippines as basis for iso certification. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 5 (4), 94-103. sohail, m.s., rajadural, j., & rahman, n.a.a. (2003). managing quality in higher education: malaysian case study. the international journal of educational management, 17 (4), 141-146. doi: 10.1108/09513540310474365 https://bit.ly/2ylau4l https://bit.ly/2ylau4l 65 international peer reviewed journal adversity quotient and problem-solving skills in advanced algebra joey c. oliveros orcid no. 0000-0001-6484-4702 joeyoliveros9240@gmail.com university of mindanao davao city, philippines abstract problem-solving is a 21st century necessity, but the disconcerting results in the recent international assessment of problem-solving skills reveal an obvious failure to put this into action in classrooms. the purpose of the study was to ascertain the adversity quotient and its relationship to the problem-solving skills of 76 fourth-year high school students. specifically, the study intended to determine the students’ adversity profile in terms of the dimensions of adversity quotient and level of problem-solving skills in terms of the cognitive processes and to ascertain which adversity quotient dimension would best predict the problemsolving skills. the researcher employed a descriptive-correlation method, utilized a questionnaire adapted from stoltz’s adversity response profile and a constructed problem-solving test in advanced algebra, and used mean, pearson r, and multiple regression in the analysis of data. the findings revealed that the adversity quotient profile of the students is moderate and the problem-solving skill of the students is satisfactory.the level of adversity quotient and problemsolving skills of the respondents were found to be significantly related, and reach is the most efficient predictor of one’s problem-solving skills. keywords – mathematics education, adversity quotient, problem-solving skills, advanced algebra, descriptive-correlation design, davao city, philippines vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.282 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction problem-solving skill is an indicator of one’s readiness to advanced degrees and ultimately the country’s innovative capacity. however, worldwide assessment performances revealed a glaring difficulty among students. twenty-three percent or approximately 100,000 out of almost 470, 000 fifteen-year old students from 65 countries and economies failed to reach at least level 2 in the programmed for international student assessment of mathematical literacy (oecd, 2010). level two is considered a baseline level on the pisa scale at which students are expected to use mathematics actively in solving problems (oecd, 2004). in most countries, more than 10 percent of students were unable to solve basic problems and on average in oecd countries, half of the students were unable to solve problems that are more difficult than basic problems. though east asian students are hailed as superior, their scholastic achievements are at odds with the low general performance of their peers worldwide. as it gears towards global competitiveness, the philippines aimed to equip its young generation with skills in science and mathematics. however, results of 2008 trends in international mathematics and science study (timss-advanced) involving only students from selected science high schools showed that among the countries that participated in the assessment the country ranked lowest with an average scale score of 355 and with only 1% of the filipino students reaching the advanced level (ogena et al., 2010). it was further noted that the average percent correct in algebra is a dismal 24 percent while in problem-solving it is even lower at 21 percent. similar unfavorable results occurred in the national career assessment examination (ncae). the fourth-year high school students obtained an overall mean percentage score (mps) in mathematics of close to 41.7 percent in their ncae (virola, 2009). however, life as a student, nowadays, is not anymore as smooth as waltz but a battlefield of challenges and trials. how the students respond to these personal adversities demonstrates their adversity quotient which may in some manner influence their performance in problem-solving tasks particularly in a complex subject such as advanced algebra. thus, this study in ascertaining the possible relationship between one’s adversity quotient and problem-solving skills was put in place. 67 international peer reviewed journal framework this study is anchored on bandura’s construct (1977) on self-efficacy which states that how resilient they will be in the face of adverse situations determine the level of accomplishment that one ultimately achieves in challenging tasks and activities like mathematical problem-solving. self-efficacy theory concurs that students work harder on a learning task when they judge themselves as more capable than when they lack confidence in their ability to learn. likewise, stoltz (1997) theorized that there is a relationship between adversity quotient and academic success. he maintained that if students take positive action to solve them via a structured game plan, they increase their self-esteem, motivation to complete tasks and the capacity to succeed in academic pursuits. hence, one’s problem-solving skill is in some extent influenced by the person’s adversity profile. while most studies focused on relating iq and/or eq to academic performance, this study, however, focused on adversity quotient (aq) and its influence on the problem-solving skills of advanced algebra students. the respondent’s adversity quotient is the independent variable while the skill in problem-solving is the dependent variable. adversity quotient is further categorized by stoltz (2000) into four dimensions – control, ownership, reach and endurance. the control dimension score measures the amount of control a person perceives that he or she has over adverse events. ownership dimension score is the measure of the extent to which a person regards himself as accountable for improving the situation. the reach dimension score is the degree to which a person perceives their ability to minimize the impact of adversity to the other areas of their lives. lastly, endurance dimension score is a measure of the perceived time of recovery from the hardship. problem-solving skills are determined by combining scores in an advanced algebra test involving selected functions noted in the diagnostic test as areas having low mean scores such as polynomial, exponential and circular functions. the problem-solving skill of each participant will be evaluated in terms of the four problem-solving processes specified in the framework of the pisa 2012 problem-solving assessment (funke et al., 2010). exploring and understanding skills indicate the ability of the respondents in searching for information, finding limitation or obstacles and understanding relevant concepts. representing and formulating skills refer to the ability to construct symbolic representations of a problematic situation to make it more solvable. planning and executing skills 68 jpair multidisciplinary research encompass goal setting and carrying out strategies to provide what the problem requires. monitoring and reflecting skills demand that the respondents critically evaluate the solutions or assumptions on a given situation. objectives of the study the main intent of this study was to determine the relationship between the adversity quotient and problem-solving skills of the fourth-year students. specifically, this study attempted to determine the adversity quotient profile of advanced algebra students in terms of control, ownership, reach and endurance dimensions. also, this intended to determine the level of problem-solving skills of advanced algebra students in terms of exploring and understanding, representing and formulating, planning and executing; and monitoring and reflecting domains. then, the study assessed the significant relationship between the adversity quotient and problem-solving skills of advanced algebra students and identified the adversity quotient dimensions significantly influence the problem-solving skills of advanced algebra students. methodology the present study made use of the descriptive survey method using correlation design. the actual respondents of the study included only 76 fourth year high school students. this particular group was chosen as the respondents of this study considering that they were the ones taking up advanced algebra, and they fit the profile of the pisa takers. the proponent gathered data using these research instruments: adversity response profile and problem-solving questionnaire. the researcher obtained an informed consent from the respondents in compliance to research ethics protocol. the adversity response profile (arp) measures an individual’s style of responding to the adverse situation (stoltz, 2000). moreover, since the respondents are high school students the original questionnaire was modified to suit the level of understanding of the participants of the study. the simplified arp described 20 problematic situations adapted from the questionnaire of stoltz (2000) categorized into four dimensions of adversity quotient and each scenario is followed by a question answered in a 5-point bipolar scale. the score on each item of the four dimensions of the adversity quotient was determined by multiplying the rating by two. thus, the score for each item can 69 international peer reviewed journal range from 2 – 10. consequently, the total score for each dimension is the sum of the individual ratings per item multiplied by two so the total score can range from 10 – 50. in each dimension, a total score of 45 – 50 is regarded very high, 35 – 44 is high, 25 – 34 is moderate, 15 – 24 is low and 10 – 14 is very low.the overall adversity quotient is computed by adding the scores in the each dimension and then multiplied by two which consequently implies that the total aq scores can range from 40 to 200. an individual with a total score greater than 180 is considered to have very high aq and in a range of 140 – 179 is considered to have high aq, the individual with a score in the range of 100 – 139 falls in the moderate level and with a score between 60 – 99 is said to have low aq. an individual who scores between 40 and 59 is said to have very low aq. moreover, a 60-item multiple-choice questionnaire was used for measuring problem-solving skills. in accordance to the pisa 2012 framework, the 12 problems were categorized as exploring and understanding, 12 items involved representing and formulating, 24 items required planning and executing and 12 items demanded monitoring and reflecting skills. there were no deductions for the wrong answer so the overall test will range from 1 – 60. the scores were then converted to percentages and interpreted based on the scale below: performance rating qualitative description interpretation 81 – 100 outstanding this means the students demonstrate comprehensive problem-solving skills. 61 – 80 very satisfactory this means the students demonstrate substantial problem-solving skills. 41 – 60 satisfactory this means the students demonstrate adequate problem-solving skills. 21 – 40 poor this means the students demonstrate evidence of the basic problem-solving skills, but require assistance. 1 – 20 very poor this means the students lack the basic problem-solving skills. both instruments were submitted for validation by four experts who have served the academe for more than five years making them truly reliable in their assessment of the research tools. two of them rated the questionnaire very good while the other two rated it good resulting to an overall validity rating of 3.68 70 jpair multidisciplinary research which is interpreted as good. thus, the prepared research tools are deemed valid and reliable measurements for the attainment of the objectives of this present study. results and discussion adversity quotient profile of students the overall mean in the adversity quotient is 133.29 or moderate. this indicates that they would tend to quit instead of climbing towards success. except for their ability to take responsibility towards the improvement of their situation, they have moderate control over the adversities they experienced, less capacity to keep other areas of their lives from the impact of setbacks and have difficulty in enduring hardships and challenges. hence, this particular group of students demonstrates a moderate capacity to respond to challenges, problems and adversities. moreover, the observed aq indicates that these students belong to campers as described by stoltz (2000). campers refer to persons who have some capacity for challenge and change, but tend to get overwhelmed when adversity piles up and resort to blame when tired or tense. table 1. summary of mean scores of respondents in the adversity quotient dimensions variables mean score s.d. qualitative description control 32.61 5.924 moderate ownership 37.79 6.010 high reach 33.45 6.045 moderate endurance 29.45 6.785 moderate adversity quotient 133.29 13.618 moderate among the adversity quotient dimensions, ownership obtains the highest mean of 37.79 or high. this means that the students are more likely to take positive action when adversity arises. instead of submitting to helplessness, they consider the challenge as temporary and work their way out of the dilemma with hope and optimism. data further reveals that these respondents are somewhat pessimistic. they take adversity and its causes to be permanent. they are likely to lose motivation, reduce persistence and increase the likelihood of depression. however, the mean score of the respondents in the control dimension is 32.61 or moderate while in reach dimension is 33.45 or moderate. these mean 71 international peer reviewed journal that they have difficulty in limiting the extent of the impact of adverse situations to other aspects of their lives and they struggle a lot in putting a stop to the repercussions of their adversity-ridden experiences. also, they are moderately motivated when given problems, sometimes lack energy and persistence, and mostly surrender in perplexing circumstances. when faced with a challenge, they have a tendency to lose their core human drive to ascend and grasp the situation. problems would make them panicky. in addition, endurance has the lowest mean of 29.45 or moderate. this denotes that these students mostly attribute their failure to their ability than to their effort. they are overwhelmed by the adversity, challenges and trials. level of problem-solving skills the overall mean rating for problem-solving skills is 40.81 or satisfactory. this indicates that the students demonstrate adequate problem-solving skills. however, the obtained mean rating is merely 0.31 above the upper limit of a poor rating which means that the students’ problem-solving skills still leave much room for improvement. among the indicators, exploring and understanding has the highest mean of 47.48 or satisfactory. this means that they performed satisfactorily in tasks that call for information hunting and understanding problematic situations. moreover, the mean score in monitoring and reflecting is 42.76 or satisfactory while in representing and formulating it is 38.27 or poor. the lowest mean is in planning and executing which is 37.78 or poor. this shows that the students have poor computation and analytical skills resulting to unsatisfactory performances in problem-solving tasks. these results simply suggest that the majority of these students failed to master even the basic problem-solving skills of translating situations into mathematical notations or models leading to difficulty in obtaining the correct and practical answer when the plan is executed. these indicate that most of our students nowadays have difficulty in solving word problems in mathematics. finally, these results merely reflect the lackluster performances in local and global assessments of filipino fifteen-year old students which might be repeated again and again unless necessary initiatives will be put in place in our mathematics classes and curriculum (ogenaet al., 2010). 72 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. summary of mean scores of respondents in the problem-solving skills test variables mean s.d. qualitative description exploring and understanding 47.48 2.292 satisfactory representing and formulating 38.27 1.706 poor planning and executing 37.78 3.348 poor monitoring and reflecting 42.76 2.119 satisfactory problem-solving skills 40.81 7.006 satisfactory significance of the relationship of aq and problem-solving skills the computed r-value between adversity quotient and exploring is 0.308 with a p-value of 0.007 which suggests a significant relationship between the two variables. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. it shows that there is a moderate positive relationship between adversity quotient and the exploring dimension of problem-solving skills. table 3. significant relationship between indicator variables variables exploring & understanding representing & formulating planning & executing monitoring & reflecting problem solving skills reach r .219 .348** .174 .231* .310** adversity quotient r .308 ** .300** .131 .235* .338** the computed r-values of each dimension of adversity quotient to representing and formulating are 0.054 (p-value = 0.645) for control, 0.137 (p – value = 0.237) for ownership, 0.348 (p-value = 0.002) for reach, and 0.123 (p – value = 0.289) for endurance. among the computed r-values, only the relationship between reach score and representing skills is significant. the data mean that there is a moderate positive relationship between a person’s ability to prevent the adversity to creep into the other areas of his life and proficiency in translating word problems into algebraic notations and representation. furthermore, the computed r-value between adversity quotient and representing skills is 0.300 with a p-value of 0.009 is also significant. hence, the adversity quotient of a person is moderately positively correlated with representing and formulating skills in problem-solving. 73 international peer reviewed journal when problem-solving skill is associated with the four dimensions of adversity quotient, the computed r –values and p-values respectively are as follows: 0.057 and 0.622 for control, 0.107 and 0.358 for ownership, 0.310 and 0.006 for reach, 0.197 and 0.089 for endurance. hence, the reach score which describes one’s capacity to isolate other areas of one’s life from the effects of the adversity is significantly correlated with one’s problem-solving skills. moreover, when adversity quotient is associated with problem-solving skills, the computed pearson r is 0.338 with a p-value of 0.007. the p-value is less than 0.05, so it suggests a significant relationship between the two variables of the study, and so the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between one’s adversity quotient and problem-solving skills is rejected. furthermore, the data shows that there is a positive low correlation between adversity quotient and problem-solving skills of students, but they are significantly related with one another. it implies that having high problem-solving skills is a reflection that the person has a high-adversity quotient (deesom, 2011). also, having low problem-solving skills may imply that the person demonstrates lowadversity quotient. this result, therefore, confirms the construct on self-efficacy that the level of resiliency in the face of adverse situation determines the level of accomplishment that one ultimately achieves in a given task particularly problem-solving tasks (bandura, 1977). likewise, it conforms to stoltz’ (1997) theory that adversity quotient and academic success are directly proportional. that is if students can do something positive with the adversity then their ability to succeed in academic pursuits as problem-solving is increased. problem solving has been a problem both by the math teachers and their students. the use of diagnostic test as basis for identifying students having difficulties and in planning academic assistance initiatives in math had been noted to be insufficient. thus, this study was deemed an investigation on the potential use of the contextualized stoltz’ adversity response profile tool in determining students who might have a hard time in meeting the problem solving nature of advanced algebra. since advanced algebra is intended to be a subject for fourth year students, then they were selected as the respondents. though, a bigger number of participants would have been preferable but due to time constraints only those currently enrolled in the locale of the study were chosen. all respondents answered the questionnaires at the same time within a strictly followed time frame and chosen classroom. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions after a thorough analysis, the researcher established that the adversity quotient profile of the selected respondents is moderate. specifically, the level of control, reach and endurance are all moderate while the level of ownership is high. moreover, the level of problem-solving skills of the respondents is satisfactory. particularly, the respondents registered a satisfactory rating in exploring and understanding and monitoring and reflecting while they obtained a poor rating in formulating and representing and planning and executing. there is a significant relationship between the adversity quotient and the problem-solving skills of students. among the four dimensions, the reach score is considered to have the most significant impact on one’s problem-solving skills. literature cited bandura, a. (1977). self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. psychological review, 84(2), 191. deesom, n. (2011). the result of a positive thinking program to the adversity quotient of matthayomsuksa vi students. international proceedings of economics development & research, 5(2). department of education (deped) (2012). mathematics k-12 curriculum guide. retrieved june 10, 2012 from http://www.gov.ph/downloads/2012/01jan/ mathematics-k-12-curriculum-guide.pdf oecd-pis. (2004). learning for tomorrow’s world.: first results from pisa 2003. ogena, e. b., laña, r. d., & sasota, r. s. (2010). performance of philippine high schools with special science curriculum in the 2008 trends in international mathematics and science study (timss-advanced). organisation for economic co-operation and development. (2010). pisa 2009 assessment framework: key competencies in reading, mathematics and science. oecd pub.. 75 international peer reviewed journal stoltz, p. g. (1997). adversity quotient: turning obstacles into opportunities. john wiley & sons. stoltz, p. g. (2000). adversity quotient at work: make everyday challenge the key to your success-putting principles of aq into action. virola, r. a. (2009). will pinoy students be survivors or will they be voted out? retrieved july 22, 2012 from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/ statsspeak/2009/071309_rav_educ.asp cover vol 8 final jpair: multidisciplinary journal 22 strategies to reduce pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students in adamawa state, nigeria anaf sulienam yahya sly2011m@yahoo.com centre for graduate studies, universiti tun hussein onn malaysia, 86400 parit raja, batu pahat, johor, malaysia k.m. fasasi department of science education, school of technology & science education, modibbo adama university of technology, yola, adamawa state of nigeria abstract the purpose of this study is to identify causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students in adamawa state, nigeria. the study also examines strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fear in mathematics among students. three research questions and a hypothesis tested at α = 0.05 level of significant were formulated to guide the study. a research questionnaire on pathological fear in mathematics questionnaire (pfmatq) was used in collecting data from 250 senior secondary school students. they were selected by stratified random sampling technique from five educational zones in adamawa state. mean, standard deviation and t-test were used to analyse the data generated. the study reveals that causes of pathological fear in mathematics among others include: parental indoctrination that mathematics is difficult, the mathematics teacher factor and the abstract nature of mathematics. strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological vol. 8 · march 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v8i1.168 published online: march 2012 international peer reviewed journal jpair multidisciplinry research is being certified for qms iso 9001:2008 by the anglo japanese american registrars of the united kingdom international peer reviewed journal 23 fear in mathematics among others include; the use of mathematical games; uses of heuristic method of teaching and use of relevant set induction techniques. it is recommended that parents should stop indoctrinating their children that mathematics is difficult; they should keep away their unpleasant experiences about mathematics and present favourable ones to encourage them to develop interest in mathematics. recommendations were outlined. keywords mathemaphobia, pathological fear, parental indoctrination, heuristic method of teaching, induction techniques, adamawa state of nigeria and mathematics questionnaires introduction mathematics is one of the most important subjects in nigerian secondary schools. thus, it is made compulsory for all students to study at the senior secondary school certificate examination (ssce) level. this is because nigeria as a nation depends upon mathematics as one of the most important subjects that could help the nation meet her objective for science and technological advancement (jegede 2002). it is a fact that students have a very low interest in mathematics. students hate or dislike mathematics. in most secondary schools in nigeria, students do not attend mathematics lessons (fatola 2005). those who attend the mathematics lessons do not pay attention to the teacher. most of the students do not practice mathematics on their own, neither do they solve mathematics problems on their own. according to amazigo (2000), when the option is available, many students would prefer not to have anything to do with learning mathematics. this attitude has led them, among other things, to achieve poorly in mathematics examinations both internal and external. on the other hand, the recent paucity of undergraduates in mathematics and mathematics education in universities, colleges of education and polytechnics suggests that mathematics is no longer popular among students particularly at the secondary school level. there is no doubt that the poor achievement in the subject enhances students’ hatred for the subject. this hatred is rooted in the fact that there is a general tendency for students to fear mathematics whenever it is mentioned (amazigo 2000). jpair: multidisciplinary journal 24 fear refers to a feeling of distress or alarm caused by danger or pain that is about to happen (tobias 1993). in intensity, it varies from a mild sense of apprehension to paralyzing terror. in fear, there is always the desire to shrink, to get away or retreat from the exciting cause. the stimuli for fear are many and varied. in early infancy any sudden or intense stimuli like loud and sudden noise, unexpected jerk, and flash of bright light or loss of support may cause fear though there are large individual differences. any sudden change in the environment, which the individual regards as threatening and for which he is unprepared, produces fear. when the threatening situation is removed or controlled, and the danger real or imaginary has passed, fear disappears. also, as activities or experiences expand or interests and abilities grow, the number and kinds of fear increase. but as the power of adjustment through experience increases many of childish fears disappear. some fears are result of conditioning effect. they will have to be reconditioned by attaching pleasant circumstances and experiences with situations and objects, which arouse fear. praise or rewards attached to or associated with fearful tasks or situations will help to reduce fear. several experimental studies carried out on fears have shown that the only effective methods of overcoming fears were reconditioning and social imitation (seaman 2000). there are some fears where the best thing to do is to act as the fear suggests, that is, get away. this would be true in the case of a poisonous snake, and fear of mad dog. however, with other fears we need to face what we fear, we must have courage. example of such fear is pathological fear of mathematics. the phenomenon of fear in mathematics is variously referred to as mathemaphobia, mathematics anxiety or pathological fear in mathematics (stephen 2007). pathology refers to a scientific study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs tissue, bodily fluids and whole bodies (tobias 1993), whereas fear as already described, is an emotional response to threats and danger. it is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, which in this study could be mathematics tests or examination. pathological fears in mathematics therefore mean a behaviour disorder in which an individual becomes progressively unable to resist the impulse to fear mathematics. it is an abnormal and persistent dread of international peer reviewed journal 25 mathematics; sufferers usually experience undue anxiety even though they may rationally realize that mathematics does not pose a threat commensurate with their fears (amazigo 2000). stephen (2007) describes mathematics anxiety as an academic disease whose virus has not yet been diagnosed for an effective treatment in the class, though the symptoms of this anxiety are always expressed on the faces of the learners in mathematics classes. this disease (otherwise known as pathological fear), is communicable as it is usually distributed to sciences that are mathematics related. this probably explains why students are afraid to study science subjects in secondary schools. when a student is afraid of mathematics, he will do everything humanly possible to avoid it. where he must learn the subject, he does so with lack of interest, which usually worsens his performance. in adamawa state, the teaching and learning of mathematics at secondary school level could be described to be in a dismal state. experience has shown that, just as students find it difficult to understand, teachers also find difficulties in teaching some topics in mathematics. these usually come to light through morbid fears always exhibited during internal and external examinations in mathematics. the faces of students in the examination hall always say it all-weary and lacking confidence. many of them always look stranded as they read through the mathematics question papers of the west african examinations council (waec) senior secondary school examinations. mathematics and english language examinations are always written amidst tight securities. these problems have caused many students to develop pathological fear in mathematics beginning from the primary through the secondary to tertiary levels. this trend needs to be reversed. this paper therefore, examines the major factors responsible for students’ pathological fear in mathematics and suggests how it could be reduced to the barest minimum to enhance students’ performance in mathematics. objectives of the study the purpose of this study is to examine the strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fear in secondary school mathematics. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 26 specifically, the objectives of this study are: to identify the causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students; to ascertain the effect of pathological fear on students achievement in mathematics; to identify strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fear in secondary school mathematics. the following research objectives guided the study (i) to determine the causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students; (ii) to determine the effects of pathological fear on students’ achievement in mathematics; and, (iii) to formulate the strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students. materials and methods the survey research design was adopted in the study. the sample consisted of 250 senior secondary (ssii and ssiii) students (150 boys and 100 girls) drawn from 15 selected secondary schools in five educational zones in adamawa state. the subjects were selected by stratified sampling technique. a research questionnaire on pathological fear in mathematics questionnaire (pfmat q) was developed by the researcher and administered on the students used for the study. the questionnaire was in four sections. section a was about the bio data of the respondents, section b sought information about causes of pathological fear in mathematics, section c dealt on the effects of pathological fear on students and section d was about probable strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fears in mathematics among secondary school students. the questionnaire was both face and content validated by three experts in mathematics education in the department of science education, federal university of technology, yola. the reliability of the instrument was ascertained through a test-retest method to international peer reviewed journal 27 estimate the stability of the instrument using spearman’s rank order correlation. a reliability coefficient of 0.91 was obtained. the respondents were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement on a four-point scale ranging from strongly agree (4), agree (3), disagree (2) and strongly disagree (1). the mean of the four-point scale is 2.5, which implies that the mean lie between two boundaries 2.45 and 2.55 where 2.45 is the lower boundary and 2.55 is the upper boundary. the acceptance mean point of an item was 2.55 while below that indicated non-acceptance. apart from the mean, t-test was used to determine if significant difference existed between the mean responses of boys and girls on the causes of pathological fears among secondary school students. results and discussion the results of the study are presented in the following tables. table 1: mean responses of male and female students on the causes of pathological fear of mathematics among secondary school students items male female remark x α x α xg 1. mathematics should be made interesting by using mathematics games in the class. 2.96 0.61 2.76 0.60 2.86 agree 2. it is my parents that made me to fear mathematics through indoctrination 3.16 0.51 3.24 0.66 320 agree 3. i lack self confidence when it comes to solving mathematics problems 3.22 0.66 3.44 0.71 3.33 agree 4. my mathematics teachers instil fear in me during mathematics lessons and tests. 2.88 0.82 3.12 0.68 3.00 agree jpair: multidisciplinary journal 28 5. i have poor background in mathematics since primary school days 2.56 0.76 2.66 0.67 2.61 agree 6. i always use ‘fire brigade’ approach to write mathematics tests and examination. 2.64 0.68 2.82 0.56 2.73 agree 7. mathematics is abstract in some areas, i dread the formulae and symbols it involves. 3.12 0.55 3.42 .064 .327 agree 8. i found it difficult to relate mathematics knowledge into real life situations because. some topics are outside the cultural bearing of nigerian society 2.74 0.42 2.96 .058 2.85 agree 9. the nature of mathematics demands a lot of thinking from students. i do not have that type of patience. 3.02 0.74 3.08 0.82 3.05 agree 10. my classmates always make mockery of me if i answer mathematics questions wrongly. i hate public embarrassment. 2.60 .066 3.26 0.76 2.93 agree results in table 1 show that items 2, 3,4,7,9 are major causes of pathological fears among secondary school students because they have high mean scores average. international peer reviewed journal 29 table 2: mean responses of male and female students on the effect of pathological fear on students achievement in mathematics items male female remark x α x α xg 1. involvement in examination malpractice 2.88 0.71 2.64 0.59 2.76 agree 2. inability to recall what was learnt before tests and examination 2.92 0.62 3.02 0.66 2.99 agree 3. development of high blood pressure and other related health problems 3.42 0.53 3.12 0.60 3.27 agree 4. persistent failure in mathematics. 3.22 0.49 3.16 0.70 3.19 agree 5. scouting for mercenary who will write exam for students (impersonation) 2.68 0.58 2.52 0.58 2.60 agree 6. stagnation or repetition of a class if a pass in mathematics is a criteria for promotion 2.34 0.66 2.56 0.64 2.45 dis-agree 7. truancy rate may increase in mathematics class 3.18 0.71 3.26 0.56 3.22 agree 8. students could bribe invigilators and supervisors during mathematics examination 2.54 0.48 2.60 0.88 2.57 agree 9. lack of concentration and attention during mathematics lessons 2.64 0.84 2.76 0.43 2.70 agree 10. fear in mathematics could extend to other science courses offered by students 2.58 0.62 2.62 0.60 2.60 agree in table 2, both male and female students indicate strong agreement with all the effects of pathological fear on students’ achievement in mathematics with the exception of item 6 which had a mean average jpair: multidisciplinary journal 30 of 2.45 which is below acceptance level. items 2, 3, 4, and 7 are major effects of pathological fear on students’ achievement in mathematics due to the high mean scores average. table 3: mean responses of students to strategies that could be adopted to reduce pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students items male female remark x α x α xg 1. mathematics should be made interesting by using mathematics games in the class. 3.28 0.63 3.32 0.54 3.30 agree 2. mathematics teachers should adopt heuristic teaching method. 2.88 0.88 2.96 0.67 2.92 agree 3. incorrect responses in mathematics questions must be handled in a positive way to encourage students participation and confidence. 3.42 0.52 3.22 0.58 3.32 agree 4. lessons in mathematics should be presented in variety of ways through play acting, visual aids hands on activities and technology. 2.58 0.46 2.60 0.66 2.59 agree 5. to learn mathematics, students must be engaged in exploring, conjecturing and thinking rather than, engaging only in rote learning of rules and procedures. 2.56 0.72 2.54 0.64 2.55 agree 6. parents should show their wards how numbers are successfully used by them in positive pleasant ways, such as in cooking, sewing, sports and home repairs 3.30 0.76 3.12 0.72 3.21 agree 7. most students will master mathematics concepts and skill more readily if they are presented in concrete, pictorial and symbols. 2.88 0.64 2.66 0.58 2.77 agree 8. cooperative groups learning should be encouraged among students to learn mathematics. 2.96 0.80 2.72 0.70 2.84 agree international peer reviewed journal 31 the result in table 3 confirms that students indicate strong agreement for items 1, 2, 3, and 6 because their means are too high. they also show agreement for all the other items as effective strategies that could be used to reduce pathological fear among secondary school students. hypothesis h01 : there is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female students on the causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students. table 4: t-test difference between the mean responses of male and female students on the causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students groups n mean α se mean tcal tcrit df male students 150 289 0.82 0.07 1.90 1.96 2.48 female students 100 3.08 0.78 0.08 the calculated t-value of 1.90 is less than the critical value of 1.96 at 0.05 level of significance. therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted, that is, there is no significant difference between the mean responses of both male and female students on the causes of pathological fears among secondary school students in mathematics. 1. pathological fear in mathematics is very real and occurs among secondary school students. much of these fears happen in the classroom due to lack of consideration of different learning styles of students by the teachers. 2. pathological fear is a contributory factor to students’ persistent failure in mathematics in secondary schools. 3. to curb pathological fear in mathematics, incorrect responses by the students need to be handled in a positive way to encourage students’ participation and enhance students’ confidence. mathematics humour is also greatly needed jpair: multidisciplinary journal 32 4. there is no significant difference between the mean responses of both male and female students on the causes of pathological fears in mathematics among secondary school students which indicated consensus opinion on this finding. from table 1, it was found that students develop pathological fear as a result of parental indoctrination, abstract nature of mathematics, teacher’s use of inappropriate methodology and lack of confidence among students. this finding is in consonance with the findings of betiku (2001) who opined that mathematics is a highly structured subject. it is also abstract in some areas and it requires some special attention in learning. hence students see mathematics as a monster by its very nature. they reason that mathematics is for people with special brains and talents and thus generally difficult. furthermore, some parents indoctrinate their children that mathematics is difficult or that mathematics is not compulsory or important for the course they want to do. some parents tell their children how they hated or disliked mathematics when they were in school. thus some of these students copy their parents’ attitude by fearing or disliking that which their parents feared or disliked. this finding is in line with the finding of maduabum (2006) who found out that parent contributed to students’ anxiety in mathematics. from the data obtained in table 2, it can be inferred that inability of students to recall what was learnt, increase in truancy rate, involvement in examination malpractices and development of high blood pressure are major effects of pathological fear in mathematics in secondary schools. these findings had earlier been pointed out by previous researchers like amazigo (2000) and stephen (2007). amazigo stated that fear or panic impaired cognitive ability of students in the class. as a result the students, due to fear, could solve simple calculations under examination conditions wrongly. he therefore suggested that student needs to be calm and avoid nervousness prior to and during the time of mathematics tests and examination. also stephen (2007) opined that one of the contributory factors to examination malpractices is the problem of mathemaphobia among students in secondary schools. out of fear and anxiety students smuggled in prepared notes and textbooks into examination halls, which usually led to expulsion or international peer reviewed journal 33 litigation in so many cases. students need to build self-confidence and prepare adequately for tests and examination in mathematics to avoid unnecessary embarrassment. four major strategies were identified for reducing pathological fears in mathematics among secondary school students. the strategies are; use of mathematical games in teaching, handling incorrect responses from students in a positive way to encourage students participation and confidence, presentation of mathematics lessons in a variety of ways through play acting, visual aids and technology and use of mathematics humour in the presentation of some concepts in mathematics. this tends to support earlier views of ogunkunle (2000), akinbola (2005) and odili (2006), who pointed out those mathematical games, may be used to introduce concepts as a prelude to explicit teaching or practice skills or consolidate a concept after explicit teaching. mathematics games facilitate mathematics lesson, as they release boredom, tension and establish a friendly atmosphere, which allows for growth of skills and knowledge and remove fear in mathematics. every mathematics teacher is encouraged to introduce relevant games in his lesson so that interest and excitement about learning mathematics could be generated and sustained among students. furthermore, odogwu (2002) pointed out that one way to overcome mathemaphobia among students is the use of relevant set induction techniques in the introduction of mathematics lessons. he further noted that set induction is a potential determinant of the level of students’ interest in mathematics lesson. thus, the teacher should set induce his students for two reasons. the first is to ascertain the level of their interest and knowledge. secondly, he has to use it to generate and sustain students’ interest in the lesson in particular and in mathematics in general. mathematics teachers could achieve good set induction through relevant jokes and riddles, asking questions and involving students in a brief mathematical activity particularly in a mathematical laboratory. it appears that the fear of mathematics is common among male and female students because there was no significant difference between the mean opinions of male and female students on the causes of pathological fear in mathematics among secondary school students. this finding corroborates the finding of maduabum (2006) who jpair: multidisciplinary journal 34 reported that fear in mathematics is common among students. recommendation 1. one way to allay the fear of students in mathematics is to relate the uses and application of mathematics in day-to-day life of students. for instance, the use of patterns in tailoring and dressmaking is an example of symmetry. the work involved in basket weaving, beadwork, and hairstyles are all forms of geometry. 2. mathematics teachers need to use instructional materials to teach some concepts in mathematics. this will stimulate and sustain students’ interest and reduce their fear in mathematics. the effective use of teaching aids concretize the abstract nature of mathematics, it also stimulates students imagination and helps them retain the concept learnt. 3. most mathematics teachers are seen as ‘monster’ in the classroom by the students, teachers should have a sense of humour. the classroom needs to be a happy place and in fact teachers should be persons with whom children could have normal friendly human relationship. mathematics teachers should possess a well-rounded chiselled personality. 4. several mathematical games are available including those generated by the national mathematical centre, abuja. schools should purchase these games as they would assist the students in generating and sustaining their interest in mathematics thereby reducing their phobia for mathematics. 5. teachers’ use of dogmatic-method in teaching mathematics is the cause of irrational fear students develop for mathematics. teachers should employ heuristic method to encourage students’ participation and discovery of concepts in mathematics. absence of students’ participation makes the lesson boring and unexciting. students’ participation is important. 6. parents and guardians should avoid socializing their wards away from mathematics. they should keep away their international peer reviewed journal 35 unpleasant mathematics experiences from their wards and present favourable experiences before their wards. they should also keep their wards from peers that contribute to their negative attitude to mathematics when they are aware of it. 7. one particular cause of phobia in mathematics is lack of reader friendly mathematics textbooks. students develop hatred for reading mathematics textbooks. it is recommended that schools should adopt use of reader friendly mathematics textbooks in which topics are logically arranged to enable students work at their own rates and intensify students’ involvement in the learning process thereby reducing their fears in the subject. 8. the school and the parents should complement the efforts of teachers in the classroom by organizing remedial programme to help slow learners. the remedial programme has helped many students who have pathological fear in mathematics to overcome it. literature cited akinbola,a.d. 2005 effects of pictorial and written advance organizers on students achievement in senior secondary school, physics and mathematics. journal of science teacher association of nigeria. 40(2),109-116 amazigo, j.c. 2000 mathematics phobia diagnosis and prescription. national mathematics center first annual lecture, abuja, july betiku,o.f. 2001 causes of mass failure in mathematics examination among students. a commissioned paper presented at government secondary school karu, abuja science day, 1st march. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 36 fatola, b.m. 2005 improving attendance and behaviour in secondary schools. journal of teacher education.4(2).18-22 jegede, o.j. 2002 science technology and mathematics educations in nigeria: whose and what standards? a key note address of the 4th annual conference of the nigeria association for science education research (naser) held at university of jos 25-29th november. maduabum m.a. 2006 analysis of students performance in general mathematics at ssce level in nigeria 1991-2002.journal of research in curriculum teaching 1(1),64-68 odili, a.o. 2006 mathematics in nigeria secondary schools; teaching perspective. nimo; anachuna educational book rex charles & park limited. odogwu, h.n. 2002 the mathematics teachers factor in achievement of goals of the universal basic education (ube). journal of mathematics association of nigeria 27(1), 72-78 ogunkunle, r.a. 2000 teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. the laboratory approach. the nigeria teacher today,8(2),180-184 seaman, r. 2002 i’ve got, a secret; mathematics anxiety. unpublished m.ed thesis university of regina. international peer reviewed journal 37 stephen, t.k. 2007 perception of students on the causes and effects of mathematics anxiety among students of tertiary institution in nigeria; journal of education studies 13(1), 149-156 tobias, s. 1993 overcoming mathematicss anxiety. new york: w.w. norton and company. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover single 127 international peer reviewed journal contribution of smoke-belching vehicles to the green house gases concentration in the city of dipolog, philippines bernard g. gilaga orcid no. 0000-0003-1529-215x nard_3373@yahoo.com.ph rowell b. pallega jose rizal memorial state univerity philippines abstract among 212 nations in the world, the philippines is ranked 48th in terms of carbon emission in the transportation sector. the study sought to determine and estimate the amount of gaseous pollutants emitted by the vehicles in dipolog city in relation to the overall gaseous pollutants of the philippines. results revealed an annual gaseous pollutant contribution of 1,072929.597%v for carbon monoxide and 501,282,073.1 ppm for hydrocarbon emission which, together, roughly explain 6% of the country’s overall ghg (green house gases) output per year. considering that there are 122 cities in the philippines, the 6% ghg contribution of dipolog city is considered well beyond the normal threshold. the study also identified some of the factors leading to this inordinate amount of ghg output of the city, such as, but not limited to: (a) strict implementation of the standards for vehicle emission levels prior to renewal of registration, and (b) strict monitoring and implementation of the anti-smoke belching law or the clean air act (ra 8749). vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.185 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 128 jpair: multidisciplinary research keywords ecology, emission, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, ra 8749, greenhouse gases, psychology, philippines introduction on the verge of escalating environmental crises brought by the ghg, countries worldwide through international agreements such as, the un convention and the kyoto protocol, agreed to reduce ghg emissions all over the world. the philippines is one of the countries which believes that all countries can, and must, cooperate to address climate change through mitigation by adapting these agreements. in response to the call to mitigate the effects of climate change, ra 8749, known as the philippine air act was passed in 1999. the law requires emission testing for all cars registered annually. the law aimed to ensure substantial improvement in air quality for the health safety and welfare of the public and pursue a policy of balancing development and environmental protection. it also sets a maximum limits for all major pollutants found in auto exhausts as follows: for light duty vehicles, the co emission is 2.72 g/km, 0.97g/km for hc & no and o.14 g/km for pm for compression-ignition engines only. for heavy duty vehicles the exhaust emission limit are 4.5 g/k/wh for co, 1.1 g/k/wh for hc, for nox is 8 g/k/wh and .36 g/k/wh for pm is allowed. and in the case of 85 kw or less engines, the limit value for particular emissions is increased by multiplying the quoted limit by a coefficient of 1.7. (ra 8749, 1999). the law further provides that the fuel evaporated emission for spark-ignition engines shall not exceed 2.0 gm hydrocarbons per test and it shall not allow any emission of gases from crankcase ventilation system into the atmosphere. dipolog city is a growing city in the south with a population of 131,016, growing at a rate of 2.4% per annum. vehicular traffic is becoming congested due to the increasing numbers of motor vehicles attendant to the needs of a fast growing urban city. consequently, the city’s air quality over the years had been observed to deteriorate. there is now an urgent need to ascertain just how much the city’s vehicular traffic has contributed to air pollution and, subsequently ascertain compliance to the provisions of ra 8749. 129 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study this study aims to determine the average amount of gaseous pollutants emitted by the transportation sector in dipolog city which can guide policymakers and environmentalists in their efforts to minimize emission of hazardous gases from motor vehicles. methodology the study used the descriptive method of research. second information such as volume of traffic in the three entry points in dipolog city and types of motor vehicle were gathered from the department of public works and highways while emission test results were obtained from the land transportation office. date gathered were summarized as to the average volume of motor vehicles per day and motor vehicles were categorized according to utilization and fuel used. gasoline emission test results only include hydrocarbons (hc) in ppm and carbon monoxide (co) in percent by volume (%/v) while for diesel emission test was in terms of opacity. opacity is the degree to which smoke blocks light. it is expressed as the absorption coefficient “k” (1/k). average amount of hc, co and opacity per vehicle type was calculated and used to estimate the average emission per day and per year. motor vehicles were classified as follows; motor tricycles (motorcycles and tricycles); passenger car (multicab and other light public motor vehicles weighing › 1500kg.); passenger utility (public motor vehicles with the average weight ‹1500kg.), goods utility vehicles (those vehicles that transport goods); small bus, large bus; rigid trucks 2 axles; rigid trucks 3+axles; truck semi-trailer 3 & 4 axles; truck semi trailers 5+ axels; and truck trailers 4 axels. results and discussion traffic volume. as revealed in table 1, motor-tricycles have the largest volume (1323.55 +144.94 motor-tricycles per day), followed by the passenger car (660.12+33.41passenger car/day) and public utility (254.86+30.77 public utility/day). motor-tricycles, passenger cars, passenger utility and goods utility are known to use gasoline, 130 jpair: multidisciplinary research although there were also passenger cars, passenger utility and goods utility which used diesel. table 1. daily average number of motor vehicles running around dipolog city types of motor vehicle daily average of motor vehicle sd motor-tricycle 1323.547619 144.9392 passenger car 660.1190476 33.40793 passenger utility 254.8571429 30.76997 goods utility 194.9761905 23.2282 small bus 54.14285714 3.641871 large bus 33.07142857 2.443542 rigid trucks 2 axles 173.1428571 23.38792 rigid trucks 3+ axles 34.64285714 11.53835 truck semi-trailer 3&4 axles 2.857142857 1`.064706 truck semi-trailer 5+ axles 0.119047619 0.125988 truck trailers 4 axles 0 0 truck trailers 5+ axles 0.023809524 0.062994 total 2731.5 242.7633 greenhouse gases emission of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. based on the emission test results (table 2), the motor-tricycle (n= 45) which is a gasoline fueled vehicle has the highest hydrocarbon emission, hc (844+707.61) and carbon monoxide (1.33+0.796). this is followed by passenger car (hc=262+139.5; co=0.941+0.726), passenger utility car (hc =167.33+120.12, co =0.391+0.484) and good utility car (hc=209.2+140.25 co =0.656+0.688). for the diesel powered vehicles, opacity was the only parameter available. it refers to the degree to which smoke blocks light. it is expressed as the absorption coefficient “k” (1/m). nowadays, opacity is the basis for measuring the amount of smoke coming from a dieselpowered vehicle. it should be noted that an engine that smokes is emitting numerous toxic compounds, particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur that can adversely affect public health and the environment. as shown in table 2, a passenger car has an opacity coefficient, 1.201+0.462 k. 131 international peer reviewed journal table 2. average amount of green house gases emitted per vehicle type motor vehicle type hc co opacity (ppm) % k a. gasoline motor-tricycle 844+707.61 1.33+0.796 passenger car (n=15) 262+139.5 0.941+0.726 passenger utility 167.33+120.12 0.391+0.484 goods utility 209.2+140.25 0.656+0.688 b.diesel passenger car 1.201+0.462 passenger utility 0.68+0.376 goods utility 1.093+0.368 small bus large bus rigid trucks 2 axles 1.114+0.47 rigid trucks 3+ axles 0.812+0.486 using the emission data obtained, the daily average amount of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases emitted per vehicle type were calculated. as shown in table 3, the motor-tricycle consistently has the greatest amount of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emission per day. with regard to the opacity measure, all diesel vehicles had values below the standard k = 2.5. table 3 also presents the daily average and annual amount of co and hc emitted by the motor vehicle in dipolog city. the type of motor vehicle that contributes more co and hc is the motor-tricycle with the daily average gas contribution of 1760.318333 %v and 1117074.19ppm, followed by the public cars and public utility. the total daily amount of co of the gasoline fueled vehicles in dipolog city is 2939.533143% and the total hc is 1373375.543 ppm. 132 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 3. average annual amount of co and hc emitted by the motor vehicles types of motor vehicle average of co average of hc average daily vehicle total daily amount of co total daily amount of hc estimated total annual amount of co estimated total annual amount of hc mt 1.33 844 1323.55 1.76x1010 1117074.19 6.42x1012 407732079.5 pc 1.201 262 660.12 1.24x1010 172951.1905 4.54x1012 63127184.52 pu 0.68 167 254.86 5.8x109 42561.14286 1.88x1012 15534817.14 gu 1.093 209.2 194.98 8.68x109 40789.01905 3.17x1012 14887991.95 total 4.4x1010 1373375.543 1.60x1013 501282073.1 the preponderance of motorized tricycles in the city of dipolog contributes largely to the ghg noted. however, for a city of this size, motorized tricycles should have been limited to small arterial roads with limited distance and should be banned from plying along main city roads (ra 8749). a reduction in the number of motorized tricycles in the city of dipolog can contribute significantly to a reduced ghg emission for the city 1.76/4.6 =40% reduction. a comparison with the estimated value of carbon monoxide contributed or emitted by the motor vehicle in dipolog city (1.60x1013 ppb per year) showed that it is greater than the monthly tropospheric carbon monoxide reading by the nasa terra satellite (april 2010). it should be noted that the estimate was based on the actual results of car emission test, hence the greater values. moreover, co when released to the atmosphere is eventually oxidized to carbon dioxide through natural processes and concentration is both short-lived in the atmosphere and spatially variable which explain the great difference between the annual co in concentration (actual emission test result) and tropospheric co concentration. however, this estimate can be grossly understated. older vehicles tend to be less efficient than the newer ones. we conjecture that this could be one reason for the inordinate amount of gaseous pollutants noted in the city. however, when we tested for statistical significance of the difference between the co emissions of older and newer vehicles we found a minimal mean difference of 133 international peer reviewed journal 0.8026 resulting in a t-value of t=0.716 (p>.05). what this implies is that as per records, no statistical evidence exists to show that older vehicles are less efficient than newer ones. however, this is certainly contrary to scientific results, and so, we deduce that this is probably due to a serious under reporting of the carbon emissions for older vehicles (either intentionally or nonintentionally). the city of dipolog should be contributing less than 1% of the country’s ghg output annually, but our results indicated that it is in fact contributing 600 times more (6%). of course, metro manila contributes 20% ghg but this can be easily explained by the shown volume of traffic in this area. in dipolog we established that the co emissions are mainly attributed to the motorized tricycles plying the city roads. policy implications analysis of the fuel-burning emissions of vehicles in the city of dipolog show that, under grossly understated data, the city contributes at least 6% of the country’s total emission. this can be considered high (and even higher if data were correctly stated by the testing centers). these results have far-reaching implications on the implementation of ra 8749 or the clean air act of 1997: the mechanism of implementation of ra 8749, particularly at the emission testing centers to be reviewed and zealously guarded. in particular there are implications to the accreditation process adopted by the lto for these testing centers. since it has been established that older vehicles tend to be quite inefficient in terms of complete combustion, there is a need to define which vehicles should be allowed to register in the philippines in mores advanced countries, for instance, vehicles that are more than five (5) years old are automatically phased out (japan, land transport ministry, 2005). importation policies for vehicle surpluses should similarly be reviewed in particular, tax penalties for buying surplus vehicles can be set higher in order to discourage local consumers from patronizing the products. 134 jpair: multidisciplinary research conclusion the city of dipolog, philippines contributes a significant portion to the country’s annual co emission, and inordinately so (>6%). such a huge annual co emission can be attributed to the main factors that obtain in the city: (a.) presence of fuel inefficient motorized tricycles which constitute the bulk of public transport in the city, and (b.) huge number of older vehicle types which are also inefficient in burning fuel. serious under reporting of the co emissions of older vehicle types lead to the conclusion that the implementation of ra 8749 or the clean air act leaves much to be desired in the city. literature cited department of transportation and communication land transportation office. dipolog district office. upper turno, dipolog city intergovernmental panel on climate change 2006. volume 2 energy. national greenhouse gas inventories japan land transport ministry (2005) katherine, d. 2007. organic & biochem. 5th ed. mc. graw hill.n. y. kuzma, jan w & bohnenblust s. 2003 basic statistics for the health science 5th ed. mc graw-phil int’l ed. singapore morris h., et. al. 2005 general organic & biochemistry 8th ed. john wiley & sons, inc. neilk weaver 2002 gasoline toxicology. implications for human health. the american petroleum institute. washington, dc. philippine clean air act of 1999 and republic act 8749 cover single 200 jpair: multidisciplinary research entrepreneurial and technical capability in relation to productivity: basis for resource generation development plan sally m. cadiz orcid id 0000-0002-0822-4987 chmsc_rds@yahoo.com carlos hilado memorial state college, philippines this study determined the entrepreneurial and technical capability of carlos hilado memorial state college in relation to productivity, basis for the formulation of resource generation development plan. the researchermade questionnaire was based from the entrepreneurial capability indicator questionnaire 2005 conducted to 150 chmsc faculty members of the four campuses. descriptive method was used to determine the profile and responses on entrepreneurial and technical capability of the college.t-test and anova were used as inferential statistical tools. entrepreneurial and technical capability of the faculty members was to a moderate extent. productivity capability was low extent. no significant differences were noted in the level of perception of faculty members in terms of entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability when grouped according to different variables. the acquisition, utilization and production aspects be allocated to capital investment for sustainable programs and projects developed by the faculty members. the faculty members have to formulate one project proposal per semester for the resource generation development plan of the college. keywords entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability, resource generation development plan, descriptive research, philippines vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.189 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 201 international peer reviewed journal introduction an institution has quadruple functions and one of its functions is production (ched, 2005). the school to become more progressive must be a business driven institution (drucker,2004) without hampering the quality of instruction. a mindset to change and look into new ideas or concepts to innovate (concepcion, 2006) that will bring new business and enforce productivity. the trend now is to develop institutional innovation that will replace or transform the old one with a mechanism (teich, 1997) which will further increase production of goods and services since today’s workplace is characterized by unprecedented change and becoming globally competitive. the challenge is indeed thrown to the members of the educational sectors to get involve in productivity. emphasizing the role of innovation will precipitate major structural changes in the academe and most particularly the state colleges and universities. observations and experiences indicate that the old concept of an educational institution to focus on instruction is now considered obsolete by a process of “creative destruction” according to joseph schumpeter as cited by liu 2001. as new institutions compete with established industries for labor, materials and goods, they drive up the resources including human resources to produce quality goods and services. carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) as an institution of higher learning is desirous to involve in resource generation development plan in response to the government plea of austerity measures. the medium term development plan of neda (2004) affirmed that state colleges and universities must come up with a resource generation development plan to facilitate and finance school improvements like buildings and other related infrastructures without hampering the national budget as embodied in the normative financing guidelines 2006. in response to this, business establishments and manufacturing industries manned by the faculty members in partnership with the students, producing goods and services designed by faculty members and the students, and support provided by the school were the dreams 202 jpair: multidisciplinary research that the school administration is trying to realize. further, the theory of halpin (1995) believes that the colleges will produce a sufficient quantity with the right quality human resources needed for the growth of the economy and that the economy will in fact put these resources into productive use. he stressed that administrators and managers should rise above the traditional and written policies and should focus on long term culture by introducing continuous programs in the management systems imbued with a commitment to change focusing on the school's vision, mission, goals and objectives. it is along these basic premises that this study was conducted to find out the extent of entrepreneurial and technical capabilities of chmsc in relation to productivity as perceived by the faculty members. it is also the aspiration of the researcher to design a resource generation development plan for the college capitalizing on its entrepreneurial capability on the aspects of familiarity, research and development support, and social and cultural development support while on its technical capability on the aspects of acquisition, utilization, and production. on entrepreneurial capability entrepreneurial capability means the ability to innovate and to create things with value (concepcion, 2006). it is the process of converting ideas into goods and services and the ability to analyze and evaluate business opportunities (paragas, et .al. 2005). operationally, entrepreneurial capability means the capability of an individual to familiarize, conduct research and development support and to have social and cultural development support. citing the importance of entrepreneurship as a process of creating or converting ideas into goods or services requires a strong desire to build and create products and services to obtain profit or to increase performance gearing towards quality production. it is also a process that can contribute in improving the quality of life such as goal setting, information seeking, proactive management and systematic planning (paragas,et al 2005) will be an overwhelming desire to achieve and succeed spurred with knowledge and awareness of the market, serviceoriented and high energy level (villar, jr.1990). it is the art of finding profitable solutions to a problem. according to prof. nathaniel left as 203 international peer reviewed journal quoted by ( fajardo, 1994), it is the capacity for innovation, investment and expansion in new markets, products and techniques. this concept, relate to the theory of joseph schumpeter as cited by liu (2001) which bespeak of inventions from the entrepreneur’s innovations. accordingly, he pointed out that entrepreneurs innovate not just by figuring out how to use inventions, but also by introducing new means of production, new products, and new forms of organization. these innovations, take just as much skill and daring as does the process of invention (http://wwweconlib.org,2008). it is of great value that specific skills and knowledge directly relating to the business venture and a desire to do business opportunity are the capabilities the school were trying to realize (suc level 4 guidelines, 2004). in economics, one of the four major factors of production aside from land, capital and labor is entrepreneurial capability of an enterprise. it is the spirit that keeps it growing without such ability; the other productive resources tend to be inefficient (fajardo, 1994). on technical capability technical capability refers to the ability of the college to identify and know how to get out of the product in good style (paragas, et. al, 2005). it also refers to innovativeness and inventiveness (concepcion, 2006). operationally, as used in the study it refers to acquisition, utilization and production. citing the importance of skills and practices in devising a program of action or integrating all possible activities that can be accomplished at hand and to prevent one from committing mistakes, expedites work and become a means of producing goods and services which become the key factors to become globally competitive and acquire world class knowledge and skills in order to develop the quality of specialists and manpower required in launching the economy on high growth path so to speak in the higher education. mastering technologists’ skills in education, be competitive without losing its capacity to cooperate with other institutions; react to market forces but not to neglect the sustainability of human development; be borderless without losing the nation state foundation (shahani, 1997) are the possibilities of changing the history of education, its collision with the future but its history conceptualizes better programs of the school. 204 jpair: multidisciplinary research technical capability as indicative of the technologists’ skills was a good investment in developing the educational system and the same time will change the history of education in producing sufficient quantity with the right quality, human resources needed for the growth of the economy, and that the economy will put these resources into productive use. the managers/ administrators should rise above traditional and written policies and should focus on long term culture, introduce continuous programs in the management systems that appraise and reward; have line and staff imbued with a commitment to develop; to coach and mentor; should ensure that the development of skills are integrated with school vision, mission, goals and objectives; and above all, should foster an environment where mistakes are properly dealt with and both the teacher and supervisor should focus on outcomes and objectives (halpin 1995). combining the two capabilities, it will create a climate of educational reform in which schools feel the continued pressure to improve. the desire to improve is in the entrepreneurial spirit of a person. the global drive for improved educational performance will result in a tightly prescribed target at the center of systematic and structural change (elmore, 2000). the importance of technological advances could be attributed to the facilities and fabricating technology which have bearing to the productivity of the organization thus, the making of an invention as one of the means to accomplish change in one’s economic status and interest in technical things is a possible contribution to the growth of the society (simon, et. al, 2004). researchers have been exploring the possibility that skills and expertise and new venture formation are associated (herron, 1990; walsh, 1994). role of productivity productivity is a generative source of continuing activity. it is defined as the measure of the efficiency of production (investopedia, 2009) as mandated function of higher education (ched, 2005). productivity also ensures a decent standard of living for workers and their families and contributes to the competitiveness of enterprises through improved productivity of workers. productivity enhancement comes from technology advances and in the increased of skill levels within the workforce 205 international peer reviewed journal ( h t t p : / / w w w. i n v e s t o p e d i a . c o m / t e r m s / p / p r o d u c t i v i t y ) . operationally, as used in this study, it refers to the college entrepreneurial and technical capability. this consideration can be manifested in any given companies be it in academe or an industry for as long as the safety of the workforce can be attended to effectively (zaragosa,2006). with these considerations, the malaysian educational system had visualized their school in the year 2020 to have a sustained productivity –driven growth higher education, a challenge which have allowed them to prepare their workforce to have critical thinking and creativity for participation in the global economy for the 21st century (mallinger, 1998). likewise, in today’s global business environment, companies may have to grow to survive, and one of the best ways to grow is by merging with another company or acquiring other companies (mcgarvey, 2005). a mission abetting change which the academe has desired when it merges with the four campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college through republic act # 477. framework this study was based on the theories of teich (1997), schumpeter as cited by liu(2001), and halpin (1995). the trend now is to develop the institutional innovation that will transform or replace the old one with a mechanism which will increase production and will lead into entrepreneurial and technical undertaking of creating a products and services (teich, 1997). emphasizing the role of innovation will precipitate major structural change in the academe particularly, the state colleges and universities. the old concept of an educational institution to focus on instruction is now rendered obsolete by a process of “creative destruction “ according to scumpeter as cited by liu, 2001. halpin (1995)believes that the college should produced sufficient quantity with the right quality human resources needed for the growth of the economy and that the economy should put the resources into productive use. these theories brought realization so that the sufficient stocks of unexploited inventions are a chance and an opportunity for the 206 jpair: multidisciplinary research academe to become an entrepreneurial school capitalizing on the faculty members’ capability to innovate and invent new technology or develop products and services that will expose the schools’ stockpile of knowledge in entrepreneurial and technical capabilities that will bring a change in the academe. in reference to change, the school has played a contradictory roles. on the side of change the academe is devoted to inquiry, discovery of knowledge, and learning. the school is supposed to be imaginative, revisionist or even advanced when it comes to innovation. the college is a principal engine of economic competitiveness and individual selfbetterment. all these aspects are missions requiring a change. the theories cited by liu on the belief of schumpeter, halpin , and teich have taught the school to realize that resources started to dwindle and educational quality is affected by the high cost of commodities and global problem. the college responsibility should engage in entrepreneurial and technical capability to have better productivity through developing a technology, design a project study or explore in advanced instructional materials for mass production in partnership with the students. this is what carlos hilado memorial state college is now trying to do. objective of the study the purpose of this study was to determine the extent of entrepreneurial and technical capability of carlos hilado memorial state college in relation to productivity as basis for resource generation development plan. materials and methods the descriptive method of research was used in this study. descriptive type of research, as defined by calmorin (2004), concerned in determining the nature of things by synthesizing it into parts. this can generate a large amount of information at a single time through the administration of researcher made questionnaire based on the concepts of entrepreneurial capability scale high technology 207 international peer reviewed journal indicators of georgia university (http.//www.tpac.gatechedu/hti2005). the dependent variable is the faculty member’s perception of the college capability regarding its entrepreneurial and technical capability in relation to productivity. the independent variables was the faculty’s profile such as; age and gender, civil status, educational qualification, field of discipline, position classification and teaching experience. the study employed frequency counts, means and standard deviation as descriptive statistics. inferential statistics use was anova and t-test set at .05 level. the respondents of this study were the randomly selected full time faculty members from the four campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) namely; the twenty five (25) full time faculty members of fortune towne, forty (40) alijis campus both are located in bacolod city; fifty five (55) from nosof binalbagan and one hundred nineteen (119) from chmsc talisay campus. the total population of the four (4) campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) was 239. out of the two hundred thirty nine (239) faculty members, only one hundred fifty (150) faculty members were chosen as sample respondents of the research study. the sloven’s formula as cited by pagoso (1978) was used to determine the total sample size of the respondents. the .05 level of significance was used as the criterion for the acceptance and rejection of the null hypothesis. results and discussion the findings of the present investigation were: 1. the profile of respondents were as followed: majority of the respondents were female, comprising of younger teachers most were married, with bs degree holder and belonging to academic disciplines and were holders of instructors position and with longer teaching experience. 208 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 1. profile of the respondents independent variables frequency percentage age and gender male (46-64) female(23-45) 54 96 36% 64% total 150 100% civil status single married 33 117 22% 78% total 150 100% educational qualification bachelor’s degree car m.a. degree m.a. degree holder with ph.d/ed.d. car ph.d./ed.d. ph.d./ed.d. holder 57 28 40 13 10 2 38% 18% 27% 9% 7% 1% total 150 100% field of discipline vocational academic both 45 85 20 30% 57% 13% total 150 100% position classification associate professors assistant professors instructors 12 49 89 8% 33% 59% teaching experience longer (21 years up) shorter (1-20 years) 91 59 61% 39% total 150 100% data in table 2 reveal that the faculty of chmsc was taken as a whole and classified as to categories, which exhibited moderate extent with 40%-59% capability in terms of entrepreneurial and technical capability. in terms of productivity capability, a low extent or 20-39% capability was exhibited by the college with the obtained mean score of 2.11. 2. the entrepreneurial capability as perceived by faculty members were as followed: social and cultural development support got the highest rank, familiarity next and research and development support. 209 international peer reviewed journal 3. the technical capability as perceived by faculty members were as followed: production got the highest rank, followed by acquisition and the last rank to utilization. 4. the productivity capability as perceived by faculty members was to a low extent. table 2. carlos hilado memorial state college entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability as perceived by the college faculty members category m interpretation description entrepreneurial capability 3.04 moderate extent exhibited 40-59% capability technical capability 3.00 moderate extent exhibited 40-59% capability productivity capability 2.11 low extent exhibited 20-39% capability 5. no significant differences were found to exist in the perception of faculty members with regards to entrepreneurial capability when they are grouped as to age and gender, civil status, educational qualification, field of discipline, position classification and teaching experience. 6. no significant differences were found to exist in the perception of faculty members with regards to their technical capability when they are grouped as to age and gender, civil status, educational qualification, field of discipline, position classification and teaching experience. 7. no significant differences were found to exist in the perception of faculty members as to their productivity capability when they are grouped as to; age and gender, civil status, educational qualification, field of discipline, position classification and teaching experience. significant differences of the above statements were reflected in tables 3 to 9. 210 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 3. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to age entrepreneurial technical productivity older younger older younger older younger mean 88.41 87.02 88.85 85.48 31.55 29 n 106 44 106 44 106 44 standard deviation 24.21 19.16 26.74 19.20 14.76 14.19 difference 1.3829 4.0990 0.3374 1.645 3.3718 4.4453 0.7585 1.645 2.5472 2.6176 0.9731 1.645 standard error of the difference t tabular value * not significant at 0.05 level with df = n-2 table 4. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to gender entrepreneurial technical productivity male female male female male female mean 88.6111 183.50 90.89 86.16 32.89 39.63 n 54 96 54 96 54 96 standard deviation 27.99 939.72 27.73 22.88 15.91 13.74 difference -94.8889 128.1005 -0.7407 1.645 4.7326 4.2067 1.1250 1.645 3.2639 2.4763 1.3181 1.645 standard error of the difference t tabular value * not significant at 0.05 level with df = n-2 211 international peer reviewed journal table 5. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to civil status entrepreneurial technical productivity married single married single married single mean 87.55 89.61 86.78 91.70 30.56 31.64 n 117 33 117 33 117 33 standard deviation 23.61 19.84 25.39 22.27 14.60 14.77 difference -2.0591 -4.5037 -0.4572 1.645 -.92 4.8785 -1.0083 1.645 -1.0723 2.8848 -0.3717 1.645 standard error of the difference t tabular value * not significant at 0.05 level with df = n-2 table 6. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to educational qualification entrepreneurial educational qualification mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue baccalaureate 90.84 57 between 9168.62 5 1833.72 3.87 2.55 c.a.r 96.07 28 within 68211.38 144 473.69 m.a. 84.93 40 total 77380 149 w/ph.d./ed.d. 68.69 13 c.a.r 81.60 10 ph.d./ed.d. 113 2 total 150 on the technical mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue 212 jpair: multidisciplinary research baccalaureate 89.67 57 between 13018.82 5 2603.76 4.79 4.43 c.a.r 97.32 28 within 78271.24 144 543.55 m.a. 84.13 40 total 91290.60 149 w/ph.d./ed.d. 63.85 13 c.a.r 90.60 10 ph.d./ed.d. 121 2 total 150 on productivity meanscore n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue baccalaureate 34 57 between 1758.43 5 351.69 1.69 0.14 c.a.r 26.14 28 within 29973.57 144 208.15 m.a. 32.03 40 total 31732 149 w/ph.d./ed.d. 27.31 13 c.a.r 27.40 10 ph.d./ed.d. 20 2 total 150 *not significant at 0.05 level with df=n-6 table 7. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial capability, technical and productivity of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to field of discipline entrepreneurial field of discipline mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue vocational 85.42 45 between 557.33 2 278.66 academic 88.57 85 within 76822.67 147 522.60 both 91.40 20 total 77380 149 0.53 0.59 grand mean 88.00 150 technical field of discipline mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue vocational 86.91 45 between 132.11 2 66.06 academic 87.86 85 within 91157.95 147 620.12 213 international peer reviewed journal both 90.00 20 total 91290.66 149 0.11 0.9 grand mean 90.00 150 productivity field of discipline mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue vocational 30.40 45 between 660.11 2 330.05 academic 29.77 85 within 31071.89 147 211.37 both 36.10 20 total 31732 149 1.56 0.21 grand mean 39.80 150 *not significant at 0.05 level with df=n-3 table 8. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to position classification entrepreneurial position classification mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue instructor 90.74 89 between 2946.28 2 1473.14 2.91 0.06 asst. prof. 81.71 49 within 74433.72 147 506.35 asso. prof. 93.33 12 total 77380 149 grand mean 88.00 150 technical position classification mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue instructor 90.10 45 between 1650.81 2 825.41 1.35 0.26 asst. prof. 83.10 85 within 89639.25 147 609.79 asso. prof. 90.67 20 total 91290.06 149 grand mean 87.86 150 productivity position classification mean score n source sum of squares df mean squares fratio pvalue instructor 30.75 45 between 796.10 2 398.05 1.89 0.15 asst. prof. 29.08 85 within 74433.72 147 210.45 asso. prof. 38.17 20 total 77380 149 grand mean 30.80 150 *not significant at 0.05 level with df=n-3 214 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 9. test of significant difference on the entrepreneurial, technical and productivity capability of the college as perceived by the faculty members when they are grouped and compared according to teaching experience entrepreneurial technical productivity shorter longer shorter longer shorter longer mean 90.02 86.69 88.92 87.18 30.03 31.30 n 59 91 59 91 59 91 standard deviation 20.86 23.98 21.23 26.88 14.95 14.42 difference 3.3324 3.8121 0.8721 1.645 1.7394 4.1488 0.4193 1.645 -1.2628 2.4453 -0.5164 1.645 standard error of the difference t tabular value * not significant at 0.05 level with df = n-2 conclusions in view of the findings of the study, the following conclusions were advanced. 1. faculty members of chmsc were actively involved in income generation activity utilizing expertise of fellow teachers and nonteaching personnel. 2. entrepreneurial capability of faculty members should be further maintained and sustained in line in line with familiarity, research and development support; and social and cultural development support. 3. technical capability of faculty members must be geared towards income generation to further support the need of the college along its acquisition, utilization and production. 4. the college should allocate capital investment for productivity capability in order to encourage faculty members to be actively involved in resource generation development plan. 215 international peer reviewed journal 5. faculty members of chmsc seem to have manifested positive entrepreneurial and technical capability worthy of technical support of the college administration. 6. resource generation development plan should be monitored and evaluated periodically to determine strengths and weaknesses of program implementation. recommendations based on the findings and conclusions of the study the following recommendations are forwarded. 1. chmsc should utilize all the faculty members to formulate at least one propose resource generation development plan focusing on its entrepreneurial and technical capability. 2. chmsc should produce well, in terms of the raised items on productivity for all faculty members are capable of doing so. literature cited calmorin f . 2004 research and education, rex bookstore.concepcion, joey 2006 go negosyo drucker, peter 1992, 2004 managing for the future (new york: harper collins) fajardo,feliciano r. 1994 panorama printing inc. halpin, andrew w. 1995 theory and research in administrstion. new york mcmillan mallinger 1998 management skills for the 21st century 216 jpair: multidisciplinary research paragas, alma.et al. 2006 technology and livelihood educ: business management iv shahani 1997 world congress on higher education 21st century simon and schuster 2004 chester carlson and the birth of xerox . new york teich, alfred.h. 1997 strategic management of technology and innovation villar, manny jr. 1990 filipino entrepreneurs walsh 1994 as cited in entrepreneurship research herron 1990 2004 golden anniversary chmsc souvenier program, december, chmsc 2005 entrepreneurial capability indicator questionnaire high technology georgia university. http://www.tpac.gatech.edu / hti2005/ 2005 ched memo 2004 medium term development plan of neda philippines r.a. 8292 2006 suc’s guidelines level 4 2005 mcgarvey, enpreneurs’ magazine http://transcriptions. english.ucsb.edu 111 international peer reviewed journalvol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.274 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. fears, aspirations, and hopes: a springboard of life for domestically abused children arvin a. andacao orcid no. 0000-0002-2764-2252 arvinandacao@gmail.com davao oriental state college of science and technology city of mati, philippines maria gloria r. lugo orcid no. 0000-0001-6180-8212 mgrlugo@gmail.com davao oriental state college of science and technology city of mati, philippines danilo r. pajo orcid no. 0000-0003-0852-8566 dpajo1957@gmail.com davao oriental state college of science and technology city of mati, philippines abstract the youth are the hope of the native land. unfortunately, children in homes where there is domestic violence are more likely to be abused or neglected. this is one of the most prevalent and rampant quandaries in the society which requires critical attention of a victim. thus, a study was conducted to determine the demographic profile, forge fears, aspirations and hopes as voices of domestically abused children and produce programs to possibly heal the victims. guided by the qualitative research design and interpretative sociology orientation, the phenomenological approach was primarily used in the study. information was generated by the researchers through in-depth interview, key informant interview, and focus group discussion utilizing self-made questionnaire. the 112 jpair multidisciplinary research findings revealed that 90 percent of informants were minor age,all female victims and suffered domestic abuse. the results on the fears, aspirations, and hopes as springboard of their existence showed positive indication with the victims to fulfill their desires. however, government and other support groups were hunted. hence, the study concludes that aspirations and hopes were constant goal of the victims and their fears were poignant blueprint to their opening or preference of destiny. further, this study identified various programs needed by the victims to completely attain their aspirations of life. keywords social sciences, domestic abuse, fears, aspirations, hopes, qualitative design, phenomenological approach, philippines introduction the adage says that “home sweet home” but nowadays home can never be sweet. internationally, researchers estimate that each year between 3.3 million and 10 million children are exposed to domestic violence. further, between 50 percent and 75 percent of children living in homes where there is domestic violence are physically or sexually abused and/or neglected (ocean park community center, 2013). further research is required to investigate precisely how violent relationships develop over time and how couples ‘at risk’ of violence may be helped by formal and informal systems of support, that is, the development of a secondary prevention response in the domestic violence sector (tomison, 2000). in the philippines, the philippine national police recorded 3,228 cases on domestic violence during 1st semester, 2008 excluding some victims remain anonymous and yet unreported (irin, 2013). with all of these circumstances, this qualitative research came into existence to investigate internally the reflections and refractions of the domestically abused children particularly in the city of mati that determines the springboard of their own lives associating fears, aspirations, and hopes. framework a conceptualized (hypothesized) framework is drawn that would help to establish their springboard. fears, aspirations, and hopes are identified voices of the informants that can lead to elucidate the research problem and later on guide on their existence. 113 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. conceptual model of the study objectives of the study in this investigation, the researchers were determined to answer the following objectives: 1) to describe the profiles of domestically abused children when categorized according to age, gender, types of violence, and educational attainment;2) to determine the voices of domestically abused children in terms off ears, aspirations, and hopes; and, 3) to design programs to heal and nurture the victims. methodology research design the study used qualitative research design. the research orientation of the study utilized interpretative sociology that sees reality as constructed by people in the course of their everyday lives (gray, 2012). the phenomenological research method was particularly employed in this study. it is appropriate for the research since it identifies the phenomena through how they perceived its fears, aspirations, and hopes of the children suffered domestic abuse. this type of approach purposely describes the structures of experience as they present themselves to consciousness, without recourse to theory, deduction, or assumptions from other disciplines (neil, 2006). 114 jpair multidisciplinary research research locale this research was conducted in davao oriental, philippines particularly in city of mati: reception study diagnostic center (rsdc). respondents of the study the children suffered domestic abuse in-housed at rsdc were chosen as informants of the study to obtain their voices such as fears, aspirations, and hopes. there were only 12 informants participated during the conduct of the study. instrument of the study the research used an interview schedule as guide questions. the fears, aspirations, and hopes are voices of the informants. there were seven open-ended questions for voice of fears, five for voice of aspirations and four for voice of hopes. these open-ended questions were not only limit as guide by the researchers but depending on the answers from the informants. sampling technique since there were only 12 informants in-housed at rsdc, the researchers decided a complete enumeration of data to represent the totality of the study. data collection strategies when the approval was granted by the head agency of provincial government department head – provincial social worker and development office, the researchers immediately visited the site of study and thereby established appropriate rapport, measures and considerations from the gatekeepers and informants. key informant interviews, in-depth interviews and focus group discussion were strategies utilized by the researchers in order to elucidate the problem of the study. prior to engagement, a written consent from each informant was sought. there were only 7 respondents for in-depth and key informant interviews and one separate group for focus discussion. notes and sound recorders were employed to strengthen and validate the investigation since camera [photos and videos] were strictly prohibited by the agency. after the transcription, the voice records were deleted in order to avoid leak of information. data analysis the transcriptions were thoroughly analyzed and carefully interpreted through fishbone concept map for in-depth and key informant interviews and 115 international peer reviewed journal thematic form for focus group discussion to establish the investigated output. all of the evidences (e.g. note interviews and voice records) were considered and treated as stringent confidential. the findings were presented and confirmed by the informants, rsdc personnel, and gatekeepers to establish the credibility and accuracy of the study and validated by the psychologist. ethical consideration the absolutist stance was particularly applied in this research. the absolutist stance holds that social scientists have no right to invade the privacy of others because the invasion of privacy may cause harm, only those behaviors and experiences that occur in the public sphere should be studied. the absolutist stance addresses four areas of ethical concern, namely: protection of participants from harm (physical and psychological), prevention of deception, protection of privacy and informed consent (toit, 2013). in support to this ethical issue, the researchers honored the research sites with proper courtesy call and approval to engage research investigation from the head of agency including the personnel and gatekeepers of the site. the identification of researchers’ institutional affiliation with contact numbers were also presented to the personnel, gatekeepers and informants to guaranteeour pure intention and genuine work of research. the informants were asked to sign the informed consent voluntarily prior to accept their interviews. the researchers secured the confidentiality of their identity with full and honest reporting of findings. results and discussion table 1 presented the demographic profiles of domestically abused children which categorized according to age, gender, types of domestic violence, and educational attainment. the age of children who suffered domestic abuse started at 5 years to 18 years old. sexually abused children started at 5 years old. the average age of sexually abused children was 10.60 years of age.the results of the study was contradicting to a study conducted in 1986, 2000, 2002, and 2005 found that 63 percent of women who had suffered sexual abuse by a family member also reported a rape or attempted rape after the age of 14 (lalor &mcelvaney,2010).this implied that domestic violence was more rampant and the younger the victims. all of the informants were all female. in terms of types of domestic violence, all informants were emotionally abused and majority of themexperienced physical,sexual, and 116 jpair multidisciplinary research verbal abuse by their parents, uncle, and step-parents and some were orphans. all of them were reported as victims of domestic violence. their attainment in education was ranged from kinder i to 3rd year high school. table 1. demographic profile of the informants respondents present age (y/o) gender types of domestic violence educational attainment 1 18 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused 3rd year high school 2 18 female emotionally, sexually, and verbally abused 3 rd year high school 3 10 female emotionally abused and orphan grade 1 4 16 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused grade 6 5 11 female emotionally, physically and sexually abused grade 1 6 15 female emotionally, physically and sexually abused grade 6 7 13 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused grade 4 8 14 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused grade 6 9 15 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused grade 6 10 17 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused grade 8 11 6 female emotionally abused and orphan kinder i 12 16 female emotionally, physically, sexually and verbally abused 3rd year high school fears key informant and in-depth interviews were conducted with domestically abused children. this research revealed the insights on fears, aspirations, and hopes. the research indicated that the informants agreed on a majority of issues especially on fears. figure 2 exhibited the fishbone analysis on fears. fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger,evil,pain,etceter a,whether the threat is real or imagined (fear, n.d.). they worried most about the time what would happen in the future. their worry led to depression that is always with them all the time. 117 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. fishbone analysis on fears the findings of fishbone analysis showed domestically abused children were all aware of their condition. they had evident signs of social stigma: fear of being mocked, followed by fear of commotion, non-acceptance to the community or friends since they were not virgin anymore and losing their hope for they believe that in the eyes of the public they are mean and masochist. the result was comparable to the study of wilson (2011) pointed out that children who 118 jpair multidisciplinary research have been abused have no sense of ownership or protection of their own bodies as they assume that their bodies were for public use. all informants showed like symptoms of trauma, fear of death threats and even unwanted pregnancy. because of these fears, similar results to the study of herrenkohl et al. (2008) revealed that isolation, shame, fear, guilt and low self-esteem are emotional consequences of child abuse and children’s exposure to domestic violence aside from psychological, behavioral and relational consequences. wilson (2011) added that victims of sexual abuse damages their emotions leaving them with feelings of helplessness, shame, betrayal, fear, guilt, anger, and grief. one informant also told us that she was ‘paranoid’ which made her not comfortable during our interview. another informant also revealed her negative feeling that when someone or people around would ask her, she would just obey and submit herself for no further question. this was parallel to the study of wilson (2011) who mentioned that they often become eroticized and act out on themselves or others what was been done to them. on the contrary, few of the informants had their three major ingredients they hold such as good attitude, confidence and gratefulness. with their simple thoughts of view and little background, we were so touch to their drives in spite of their ill memories. their fears left no choice but to live and face tomorrow. their condition of living was full of fear of the unknown, fear of being mocked, afraid to be alone, bullied, hopeless, and rejection. some of their parents, relatives, and step-parents hindered their aspirations and the worst predicament was death threat that caused them to fear the people. on one hand, a six-year old girl told us so that she was dependent to her sister considering that she still a minor. on the other hand, a sixteen-year old girl stressed that she stands now on her self-determination. other fears that researchers noted were their situations would be known by everybody and revenge from perpetrators. other informants relied on the providence of god to help them stand again. wilson (2011) stated that regardless of what has happened to us, whether our sexuality was robbed from us, whether we were abused, used, or willingly gave our virginity away, only god determines our worth. meantime, one informant strongly replied that she has nothing to fear. table 2 showed the focus group discussion on fears. in spite of the positive outlook of these children who were victims of domestic violence, they inevitably felt the feeling of fear and uncertainty of what has stored outside once they leave their temporary home the research center. 119 international peer reviewed journal table 2. focus group discussion on fears respondents fears (such as) feelings conditional status other fears 1 threat trauma; ashamed trauma; shocked; profuse crying; losing hope; insecure bad people 2 threat; bullying fear; sad; hurt trauma; loss of appetite bad people 3 (no response) sad dependent; fear bad people 4 threat fear; worrisome fear; crying alone bad people; god 5 threat; losing hope nervous nervous bad people 6 threat ashamed; hurt dependent bad people 7 threat shaking; worried trauma; ashamed bad people 8 threat callous fighting back; ashamed; confused bad people 9 threat ashamed; sad fear; difficulty; self-anger bad people 10 threat unstable bored; suicidal bad people 11 (no response) (no response) dependent; fear bad people 12 threat hatred; anger dependent; ashamed; feeling guilt bad people these children shared the same feeling of what was it being threatened and bullied. they harbored the mix feeling of shame, pain, sadness, worrisome, trauma and hatred to the worst that one of them becomes callous and void of emotion while one of these girls felt unstable and always resolved her problems by committing suicide. they were still striving to be freed from their unpleasant memories which they uttered in unison as their “nightmare”. most of them were experiencing the same dilemma: traumatized; loss of appetite; fear; feeling of shame and guilt; and dependency. others seek their comfort through crying. feeling of boredom and self-anger were also among the conditions they were suffering which were analogous to the study of bragg (2003), dickason (2004) and wilson (2011) that domestically abused children suffered from behavioral, social, and emotional problem which were categorize to higher levels of aggression, anger, hostility, oppositional behavior, and disobedience; fear, anxiety, withdrawal, and depression; poor peer, sibling, and social relationships; low -esteem. aside from 120 jpair multidisciplinary research fears to people with bad intentions, only one answered that she feared god. aspirations figure 3 displayed the fishbone analysis on aspirations of domestically abused children. results of fishbone analysis divulged that four informants aimed to finish study such as to become hotel and restaurant manager, police officer, social worker, and teacher. one informant chose to have her case closed, one informant wanted for good future family and another informant wished a whole happy family. their plans to achieve their aspirations were to study well and finish their selected courses. after they would finish their study, one wanted to land a job immediately, one wanted to build a house, other wanted to become a teacher, and the other one longed to support her younger brothers and sisters in sending school. other informants chose good life and persevere what they have had but one informant desired to seek her younger siblings. as a study leader, i felt bad her feelings on longing how to rescue her siblings which she did not have financial amount and did not know where to start to find. as regards to their preparation, two of seven informants revealed to study and focus their lessons so that in the future they have education as weapon to battle in the future. another strong informant used prayer as her foundation and guidance to achieve her path of success. one would carry her own destiny, one would wait for tomorrow come and one would look for part-time job to earn income and find her way back home. other reasons to fulfill their aspirations were depending their own destiny, putting their means of living to the will of god, and aspiring a better life. however, four informants were seeking support any from government, private entities or philanthropic person such as scholarship or sponsorship assistance just to finish their study. reality is hatched out of aspirations. table 3 revealed the focus group discussion on aspirations. just like everyone, these children are no exception. they aspired to be someone else too. be an artist or businesswoman, police officer or soldier, doctor of medicine, registered nurse, hrm, caregiver, social worker and professional teachers. to achieve these aspirations, studying well accompanied with prayers along with self-trust was their mechanism. to land a good job was their ultimate aspiration. they were seeking for assistance to help them achieve what they have envisioned but if they fail, they charge their painful experience as destiny for this was not their choice but fate. 121 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. fishbone analysis on aspirations 122 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. focus group discussion on aspirations respondents dreams (such as) plans preparations other reasons 1 artist or businesswoman study pray and avoid temptations needs assistance vs destiny 2 police officer study study well needs assistance vs destiny 3 registered nurse study study well needs assistance vs destiny 4 hrm or model study pray and finish study needs assistance vs destiny 5 doctor of medicine study study well and have vision needs assistance vs destiny 6 professional teacher study pray and study well needs assistance vs destiny 7 soldier study pray, study well and self-trust needs assistance vs destiny 8 police officer study pray, study well and work parttime job needs assistance vs destiny 9 professional teacher or social worker study study well and to rise needs assistance vs destiny 10 professional teacher study self-trust needs assistance vs destiny 11 professional teacher study pray and study well needs assistance vs destiny 12 hrm or caregiver study self-trust and study well needs assistance vs destiny hopes as transcendence of the study, domestically abused children expressed their hopes related to their experiences from the past. figure 4displayed the fishbone analysis on hopes. hope is a feeling of expectation and desire of informants for a certain thing to happen. with the daily struggles both physiologically and psychologically, informants were still hopeful to survive and overcome their problems. most of the victims were hoping that they can finish their studies, have a good future and someday become professionals and land a job. one of the victims was hopeful to receive good health and love from her family, win friends like other normal 123 international peer reviewed journal children and to have a whole family back. one informant also resolves her hope to have a peaceful living. with the current situation of children endured domestic abuse, they believe that to strive hard and study well were their provisions to live independently. aside from that, some informants learned to move-on and be wary in mingling people especially men. there was one informant who said that her provision was to listen from good advices and socialize with others so that she could forget her past experience. the results of the investigation clearly established that there is still hope from them as what vaporetti (2013) stressed that children exposed to domestic violence may have their trust broken and their spirits wounded yet they also have resiliency. meantime, these children who were domestically abused and some were orphans and physically maltreated were doing their best to alleviate their hindrances of life. past experiences were sought as the worst hindrance to continue their living which turns them to lose their hopes. their past experiences engraved in their minds and remember all over again when they saw themselves in the mirror. they have tough times in struggling the past and the worst was a fear of revenge or a death threat coming from perpetrators and their family. during our interview, most informants poured out their tears, full of fears and shame on their part. with the right kind of help, children can recover completely and live normal and happy lives (national child traumatic stress network, 2007). vaporetti (2013) added that their healing process began in a safe and structured environment with large doses of love and affection, respect, encouragement, positivity, and empowerment. trauma-focused therapy can treat these children with domestically and sexually abused (national child traumatic stress network, 2007; vaporetti, 2013). health, education, protection and foster parent were most of their perceived needs. one of the victims stressed the need of support from police security and protection. other victims opted to stay at rsdc and ask education support through alternative learning system (als) from department of education (deped). support group such as women’s group, friends and acquaintances were regarded by majority of informants as very important element to live as normal person. thus, the informants were knocking from government, other agencies and the public to immediately support any to address their dilemmas. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 4. fishbone analysis on hopes 125 international peer reviewed journal reflected in table 4 is the focus group discussion on hopes of the informants. majority of them wanted to finish their studies, to forget the past and move forward. they sought schooling as their weapon to survive and the good escape to forget the past once they are already professionals and be accepted by the community as normal individuals. table 4. focusgroup discussion on hopes respondents hopes (such as) provisions barriers help/ support 1 finish study stand her hope past experience 3 rd year high school 2 finish study; forget the past hope to finish study family 3rd year high school 3 finish study finish study no response grade 1 4 finish study; forget the past; move-on overcome her trials family grade 6 5 move-on strive hard family; uncle grade 1 6 forget the past; move-on stand her hope; pray family grade 6 7 finish study pray ashamed grade 4 8 finish study; forget the past pray mother grade 6 9 be wary; forget the past pray family grade 6 10 forget the past finish study family grade 8 11 finish study finish study no response kinder i 12 forget the past finish study family 3 rd year high school to stand their hopes ardently and believe prayers as a tool to overcome trials, give them courage to fight back against the course of the lives they have had even at times they are confronted and threatened by their unhealthy past experiences and their own family who betrayed them. one of the informants told the group that she prayed every night and longed to see her mother but at the same time she hesitated to do so because every time her mother come to see her, she would only begged to the informant to withdraw the rape case she filed against her own father and or most of the time threatened the informant that her half-siblings on 126 jpair multidisciplinary research paternal side would take revenge on the informant if she would not pull out that so-called case. another one from this group of informants was ashamed what might other people say about her when they would know her story. she just relied on her belief that there is a god would listen to her prayers and guide her to finish her studies. the two orphans were just quiet when they were asked what they would think a hindrance to obtain their hopes in life. their silence speaks aloud – the once smiling nora and jean (not real name) suddenly became timid and gloomy while just looking each other. they were deprived to enjoy being child that is free from problems and worries. every one of them was seeking for police protection for the fear that the perpetrator would take vengeance or any from her relatives would kill her for the shame she brought to the family. another one they sought for was a support for their education may it came from their own family, philanthropic individuals or from the government. only one of them clung to her belief that she has no family to turn to except for rsdc-dswd. generated programs of the study police protection program, health care program, psychiatric program, guidance and counseling program, sports, exercise, recreational and sociocultural program, spiritual program, education and scholarship program, legal counsel and litigation program, social media advocacy program, and adopt-achild program are generated programs of the study to possibly heal and nurture needed by the victims. conclusions domestic violence is a crippling social disease and it does not choose gender, class, race and education. anybody is a potential victim of domestic violence. in this study, all of the victims are female because they are only among of the victims who seek assistance to the rsdc which is just a scant numbers of reported domestic violent cases. the prime unit of social institution is morally corrupted and disintegrated. the important others in one’s life whom she has trusted is the very person who breech such trust. victims are often judged and seen as the provocateurs to their perpetrator. 127 international peer reviewed journal this kind of violence must be dealt with a gamut of professionals that include among others: judges and police for prevention and protection. victims are helpless for they are socially, emotionally, physically and psychologically hostage. their silence does not mean they agreed being molested or abused but they are just quiet to save their lives and much more to their love ones. domestically abused children will become victims again in their later lives. they hold feelings of guilt, shame, fear and low self-esteem. they believed they were to blame because they allowed it to happen. they are reluctant to try to change their lives for they defined themselves that they are just good for nothing since their virginity or dignity has been taken away from them. there is a great impact of this kind of violence to their personality as well as in relating with others. indeed their development as a total person is much affected. this phenomenon has to awaken the role of education in raising the awareness of the public to understand that this kind of violence silences the victim. the school as the other form of institution must take its part to provide a friendly and wholesome environment for this victim where their case be kept confidential yet they are given an equal opportunity to grow as normal children in all aspect of human development. domestically abused children need mental health professionals, child welfare, social provider and recreation to help them heal their wounds. like everyone else, they have their aspirations yet only hampered by their fears. they believe they are alone and nobody cares. they need a venue where their fears be abridged and given address; be given a chance to achieve and gather their once shattered aspirations; and their little voices of hopes be heard through reaching them with all the services and programs they need to help them rewire themselves. recommendations based on the foregoing implications, the researchers proposed the following recommendations:a) the national government may take as findings as reference to provide funding and further intensify the programs against domestic violence and provide psychologists and guidance counselors in every local government units to overcome their stigma; b) the department of social and welfare development (dswd) may draw insights from the study to strengthen multiagency involvement in child protection, child sexual exploitation, missing and neglected children. the dswd also may provide funding to create more reception centers like rsdc in very local government units to address the 128 jpair multidisciplinary research victims and put up facilities for sports, exercise, recreational and socio-cultural activities to develop social skills; c) the philippine national police may utilize the results of the study to give immediate attention and response to the needs of the victims; d) the department of health may acquire free special health care and trauma-focused therapy to help the victims out of their unpleasant experiences; e) the commission on higher education (ched), technical education and skills development authority (tesda) and department of education (deped) may take as challenge to take their part in providing educational scholarship in order to attain the victims’ aspiration. these three educational systems may employ and campaign regular awareness program on domestic violence and implement strict policy to prevent if possible eliminate bullying in every institution; f ) the hall of justice may continue to provide free legal advice and litigation assistance; g) the spiritual leaders may provide spiritual healing program, life spirit activities and other spiritual encounter interventions;h) the mass media will help to intensify the advocacy program on protecting women and children against violence; i) the non-government entities and individuals may take action in supporting the government activities and initiate fostering programs; j) the community may take the output of the investigation as information on how to treat victims to live as normal person which free from biases and any discrimination; k) the victims on domestic violence and sexual abuse may utilize the outcome of the study as direction to achieve their aspirations and better life; and l) the researchers may take findings to investigate further the study and to come up policy program. literature cited bragg, h. l. 2003 child protection in families experiencing domestic violence. united states. retrieved from office on child abuse and neglect, children’s bureau. caliber associates web site: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/ usermanuals/domesticviolence/domesticviolenceb.cfm dickason, k. s. 2004 articles – victims of abuse. retrieved on june 1, 2014 from http://goo.gl/ ufjz9h fear. n.d.  the american heritage® dictionary of idioms by christine ammer. 129 international peer reviewed journal retrieved october 01, 2014, from dictionary.com website:http:// dictionary.reference.com/browse/fear gray, s. l. 2012 three research orientations in sociology. retrieved on may 28, 2014 from http://goo.gl/9gpnem herrenkohl, t. i., sousa, c., tajima, e. a., herrenkohl, r. c., & moylan, c. a. 2008 intersection of child abuse and children’s exposure to domestic violence. trauma, violence, & abuse. irin humanitarian news and analysis 2013 philippines: law fails to stem domestic violence. philippines.retrieved from http://www.irinnews.org/report/81668/philippines-law-fails-tostem-domestic-violence lalor, k., & mcelvaney, r. 2010 child sexual abuse, links to later sexual exploitation/high-risk sexual behavior, and prevention/treatment programs.trauma, violence, & abuse, 11(4), 159-177. national child traumatic stress network. 2007 the promise of trauma-focused therapy for childhood sexual abuse. retrieved from http://www.nctsnet.org/trauma-types/sexual-abuse#q5 neil, j. 2006 analysis of professional literatureclass 6: qualitative research i. retrieved from http://www.wilderdom.com/oecourses/proflit/ class6qualitative1.htm ocean park community center 2013 the issues: domestic violence. california. retrieved on august 12, 2013 from http://goo.gl/k6dbse toit, d. du. 2013 ethics in health research: ethics issues in qualitative research.south africa. retrieved on may 21, 2014 from http://goo.gl/yxsbhg 130 jpair multidisciplinary research tomison, a. m. 2000 exploring family violence: links between child maltreatment and domestic violence. melbourne, australia: australian institute of family studies. vaporetti, j. 2013 children and domestic violence. hope center incorporated. retrieved on may 31, 2014 from http://akhopecenter.org/children-and-domesticviolence/ wilson, b. 2011 past abuse: why do i feel this way. canada. retrieved on may 31, 2014 from http://goo.gl/zjzm2c wilson, b. 2011 healing from your sexual past. canada. retrieved on may 31, 2014 from http://goo.gl/bnfnf5 cover single with doi 208 jpair: multidisciplinary research bisu main campus electrical energy consumption: basis for improvement ivy m. bagsac roland gabo teofanes sarabosing dave pojadas anacleta perez mae remedios virtucio mar_m_a@hotmail.com bohol island state university c.p.g. avenue, tagbilaran city abstract the research was conducted at the bohol island state university main campus. it aims to assess the status of the electrical power system of the university as well as determine the perceptions of the electrical experts on the satisfaction rating of the school’s electrical system. it was found out that the overall rating of the electrical system of bisu main campus is “fair”. this means that there are several aspects that need improvement such as the implementation of a maintenance program and the hiring of maintenance personnel. the researchers recommend that the personnel should not be the instructors themselves but designated electrical technologists must be hired. furthermore, there should be a periodic inspection so that defects may be detected and given remedies the earliest time possible to avoid accidents. there should also be fund allotment that should be imposed for the maintenance and personnel. furthermore, the university must purchase more electrical supplies, tools and equipment solely for electrical maintenance. there must also be a separate maintenance shop for maintenance purpose only. an alternative electrical power source should be employed by the university such as the solar power. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.7 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 209 international peer reviewed journal because of the very high and expensive electrical energy consumption, there is a need to use a more efficient alternative source and that is the solar power. keywords electrical power system, electrical energy consumption introduction electricity has become a necessity for all people. even the farthest barrios of any municipality clamor for electrical connection. this is because with electricity, people are able to carry on their daily tasks more easily and conveniently. transportation and communication have become faster and more efficient because of the presence and use of electricity. bohol island state university main campus (bisu mc) is one of the universities in the province of bohol that utilizes a considerable bulk of electrical energy. its four colleges: college of engineering and architecture, college of teacher education, college of industrial and allied sciences, and college of business, arts, and sciences have their own electrical equipments and facilities that provide convenience to teachers and students in the conduct of their teaching learning activities. moreover, the enrolment of the university had increased noticeably over the past years. these are contributory to the school’s need for additional facilities and sufficient electrical supply. it is aggravated by the physical aspects of the present electrical system. some of electrical installations of the campus do not conform to the established standards of the philippine electrical code. the electrical experts within the campus had observed the nuisance tripping of protective device and sometimes the sparks in the electrical connections. these are indications of a make-shift installation of electrical wiring. the preceding situations had moved the group of researchers from the electrical engineering to conduct a study of the present bisu electrical system. faulty electrical connections mean greater input but lesser output. in other words, the university is paying more than what it receives in terms of electrical consumption. as a consumer, it is fair for bisu to pay the services that it actually consumes. 210 jpair: multidisciplinary research materials and methods actual inspection of the electrical devices, equipment, and wiring methods was done by the researchers. after the study was conducted, the data gathered were then analyzed and interpreted. the researchers will formulate a development plan for the energy-saving measures. questionnaires were also distributed to experts in electrical wiring and connections. they include the electrical technology and electrical engineering faculty of the university. results and discussion table 1. the profile of electrical energy consumption of bisu-mc year 2010 electrical consumption 2010 month kwhr cost(pesos) january 30706 183379.88 february 52011 310609.95 march 41541 248085.28 april 28193 168369.69 may 26623 158994.46 june 38014 227023.84 july 34772 207662.72 august 47666 284663.71 september 48698 290829.01 october 55702 332654.13 november 36880 220251.98 december 42464 253596.53 electrical consumption 2011 month kwhr cost january 43460 259545.22 average cost 240510.10 211 international peer reviewed journal as reflected in table 1, the energy consumption rates during the months of february, august, september, and october are greater than the other months’ consumption of the same year. the researchers have found out that the months with greater energy consumption are school months where the equipments were being constantly used. the rest of the months were vacation periods. the peak months were february and october. this is because most of the students in the shop classes were given semestral projects near the end of the semester. table 2. electrical loads of bisu-mc convenience outlet lighting aircon cooking & heating motor loads total (watts) building (watts) (watts) (watts) (watts) (watts) engineering building 48136 28878 14625 1000 92639 science & math building 17400 3120 1500 1000 23020 extension buildings 10800 480 3000 14280 electronics buillding 12600 2000 5625 1000 21225 automotive & computer bldg. 16200 5440 3000 1000 25640 waf building 25200 4800 12000 80000 122000 hometel & multimedia 16000 3440 25875 3000 48315 gymnasium 3600 11800 15400 decorative lights 500 500 covered walk 220 220 as can be seen in table 2, the waf building has registered the highest electrical energy consumption among the buildings. this may be attributed to the large electrical consumption of the equipment found 212 jpair: multidisciplinary research in the building. furthermore, all welding equipments are plugged in to the electrical power source of the said building. the refrigeration and air conditioning department is also located in the said building. the satisfaction rate of the experts regarding electrical supply is “satisfactory”, safety standard of electrical system is “fair”, maintenance program is “fair”, and the implementation of school project facilities that also utilize existing electrical system is “fair”. the implementation category got a description of “poor”. this means that the plans for the electrical system have not been realized. there have been no maintenance report documentation and report for maintenance variance report of budget against expenditure. had this been done, the electrical system of the school would have been more effective and functional. generally, the rating is “fair”. there must be an approved program for the maintenance of the bisu main campus electrical system and its personnel. the personnel should not be the instructors themselves but designated electrical technologists must be hired. furthermore, there should be a periodic inspection so that defects may be detected and given remedies the earliest time possible to avoid accidents. a fund allotment should be imposed for the maintenance and personnel. the university must purchase more electrical supplies, tools and equipment solely for electrical maintenance. there must also be a separate maintenance shop for maintenance purpose only. an alternative electrical power source should be employed by the university such as the solar power. because of the very high and expensive electrical energy consumption, there is a need to use a more efficient alternative source and that is the solar power. literature cited geddes & grosset 2002 webster’s universal dictionary and thesaurus. poland: isbn 184205 189 x. fink, d. & h. beaty 2002 standard handbook for electrical engineers. india: the mcgrawhill companies, inc. 213 international peer reviewed journal jaiswal, m. 2006 encyclopedia of electrical engineering. new delhi india: anmol publications pvt. ltd. mcpartland, j. & b. mcpartland, (eds.) 1999 national electrical code handbook. usa: the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. the institute of integrated electrical engineers of the philippines, inc. 2000 philippine electrical code. quezon city: pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research plagiarism checker as best free online plagiarism detection software michael p. gamba http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1108-3094 gamba.michael@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon city, philippines magdalena m. ocbian http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2421-2548 mmocbian@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon city, philippines maryjean n. gamba http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4033-3294 jeangamba27@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon city, philippines abstract the advancement of online information system allows every internet user to have ample amount of data that they can gather without acknowledging the authors. thus, the awareness of anti-plagiarism tools whether it is free-online services or commercial software can help both students and faculty to properly acknowledge and identify the source of the data. this study intended to compare and contrast the efficiency and other cited criteria for the available free-online plagiarism detection system. the seven free-of-cost online services on plagiarism detection software that were identified during the time of testing were plagiarism vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.292 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 35 international peer reviewed journal checker, plagiarism detection, check for plagiarism, plagtracker, plagscan, duplichecker and paperrater. the seven tools had been tested with the textual data that had been derived from numerous websites which includes educational institutions and open access journals. the strong and weak points of each tool were validated by allowing the respondents to use each tool and rate it according to the cited criteria. among the tools tested, the plagiarism checker turned out to be easiest tool to use with the highest rate of learnability due to simplicity of its user interface. the ability of its online services to cross-check other internet sites regardless of the file format where the tested textual data that had been copied gives a more reliable output than the others. keywords educational technology, plagiarism detection, efficiency and effectiveness, online plagiarism, descriptive research, sorsogon city, philippines introduction the advancement of technology in the 21stcentury enables the academe to be exposed in large quantity of data that can be used in teaching. the students are open to global sharing of data where retrieval becomes much faster and publicly available anytime. their common way of data mining is the proliferation of search engines in the web, which have hundreds of billions of data index that can be found on the internet. this higher rate of availability of data leads to the non-originality of students’ output. at the same time, students were exposed to the uncritical and unacknowledged use of other’s work (badge, 2010). as observed, most of the students prefer to make their outputs easier. park (2003) concluded in his study that plagiarism among student were common and manifested in their paper works. they are tempted to copy and paste the textual data from the internet or any web source. this situation creates widespread plagiarism in all grade levels and even extends to the graduate studies. however, the existence of cross-checking software for textual data through various websites will discourage students and researchers to commit plagiarism in their work. japos (2012) emphasized that failure of the researchers to document properly the sources always led them to plagiarism. citing literatures from wikis, web links, news, social networking produced grey literature and non-authoritative source of ideas. other plagiarism algorithms are included in some virtual learning environments that allow the mentors to check their student’s output immediately. this software is not purposively intended to offend students but to improve their 36 jpair multidisciplinary research ability to write and be critical in acknowledging and doing citation techniques. the extensive availability of anti-plagiarism software on the internet, whether free or proprietary will enable the students to access them to initiate a self-check mechanism for their technical works. however, for economy and fast results they use the free online services for this type of software. the tools used in this study are commonly patched text from different websites such as wikis, www.eric. ed.gov, ww2.rch.org.au, www.ihmctan.edu, wiley.com and the likes that include subscribed or commercial databases, open access journals and publications. framework plagiarism for the purpose of this study means “the action or practice of taking someone else’s work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one’s own” (oed online, 2009). the wide range of available data in the current technologies such as internet has disclosed information that is valuable and reliable for students’ work which results to unacknowledgement of other’s work. this becomes a primary concern in the higher education section which led to an increase in the prevalence of plagiarism (duggan, 2006). this study focuses only on the current available free software and services for plagiarism detection purposes. other researchers investigated the efficacy of google (www.google.com) search engine against edutie and eve2 (purdy, 2005). purdy reasoned out that the inclusion of google search engine in the plagiarism detection becomes more effective than those commercial systems as they are directly being used to query the text parameters. this was proven when he constructed several specific tests for duplicate text detection on the internet. the results showed that the google search engine is more accurate than the two commercial systems that were sold to the public. the other two commercial systems produced inconsistencies with their results. the findings of purdy’s study were also confirmed by other investigators (royce, 2003). the automated results generated by turnitin commonly calculated the percentage of copied text. this online plagiarism detection service cannot automatically distinguish between plagiarized texts and properly cited direct quotations (jocoy, 2006). this study is supported by frazer (2004) which emphasizes that the detection software produces originality of the reports by comparing the submitted written materials to the existing texts in their internal database, online text and journals and information from the internet which are open accessed. japos (2012) also conclude that technology-based quality 37 international peer reviewed journal assurance of researches improves readability and originality since it reduces plagiarized textual data. as he added, technology-based assurance led the research outputs to be readable by the other researchers, since foreign researchers had difficulty in understanding due to some complexities in their ideas. further, braumoeller and gaines (2001) utilized the eve detection software to test the accuracy based on their patch text as the test material. their results showed that there are greater variations of results after several trials that have been made on the same test material. nevertheless, there are some texts in the test material that were known to be plagiarized but have not been detected. chaudhuri’s (2008) study disclosed that safeassignment has least effective capability in detecting plagiarism when the textual data has been derived from commercial or subscribed databases especially those library resources that are being hosted by universities and colleges. however, some patch texts that were used during the test produced inconsistent results on the scores of plagiarism detections. hence, he recommends that this software should be verified and be tested by a set of evaluators to attain perfection of its result. in addition, japos (2012) stressed that some textual data cannot be cross-checked with the other sources especially if it comes from any secured databases of subscribed journals. he further disclosed that this may prevent publishers to verify if the submitted article does not violate any research ethics. objectives of the study this study primary aims to determine the efficacy or the efficiency and effectiveness of the free anti-plagiarism detection tools that is available on the internet for public use. it specifically aims to: a) identify and compare by listing the weak and strong points of the available online free plagiarism detection tools that is available on the internet as top hits of the known common search engines such as google and yahoo; b) test the effectiveness and efficiency of the the listed plagiarism detection tools based on the following criteria such as usefulness, ease of use, efficiency, and learnability; and c) recommend a plagiarism detection tool that can be used based on the criteria that had been presented. methodology this study is a descriptive survey utilizing documentary analysis of the free plagiarism detection software. survey questionnaires were given to students of 38 jpair multidisciplinary research ssc graduate school enrolled in summer 2014. data gathering was done from april to may 2014 to 25 respondents who were enrolled in computer education subject. these questionnaires drew the insights or needed information from the respondents on how these detection tools work using the criteria that were set. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. there were seven chosen free plagiarism detection software that are actively being utilized based on the google search engine hits. these are: 1) the plagiarism checker (http://www.dustball.com/); 2) plagiarism detection on the internet (http://www.plagiarismchecker. com/); 3) check for plagiarism (http://smallseotools.com/); 4) plagtracker (https://www.plagtracker.com/); 5) plagscan (http://www.plagscan.com); 6) duplichecker (http://duplichecker.com/); and, 7) paperchecker (www.paperchecker.com) most of the detection tools are online services using the web interface which requires internet connection for processing textual data to detect plagiarized information from known sources on the internet. these seven tools had been selected to be used in this study since it had been stipulated in their terms of usage agreement to be publicly accessed. moreover, they disclaim that the results will be used for personal use of the end clients and they are not responsible for what could be the possible purpose of the clients or users especially if it will results to erroneous data. moreover, they are always open for corrections of their processes or feedback based on critiques by the public if the results were made on comparisons in other plagiarism detection tools. these tools can detect plagiarized text using an automatic detection based on textual data input. furthermore, the search engine tools such as google, bing, yahoo and others were not included in these tools since they were considered as manual detection tools and have a limited number of characters per query for matching processes. to test the efficacy of the detection software, the following criteria as cited by atkinson & yeoh (2008) were used. perceived usefulness refers to degree at which a person consider the system or application would contribute for the improvement of his or her job performance while perceived ease of use refers to the extent at which learning of new application software in detecting plagiarized 39 international peer reviewed journal text will utilize minimal amount of user’s effort. results correctness refers to the expected results of the detection software based on the supplied sample files that contains copied text from various websites in different formats; efficiency is the turnaround time to complete the detection process based on the textual data provided; and learnability refers to the ease of learning by the end-user in using the detection tool(s). the test files that were provided contain textual data coming from known sources, and most of them were actually plagiarized. these files contain the copied texts from various website sources and file formats that are available on the internet during this test. the text in each file had been fed one at a time to the listed online detection tools and is rated according to the criteria using the rubrics shown below: criteria points description/conditions usefulness 3 very useful 2 partially useful 1 not useful at all ease of use 3 very easy to use 2 easy to use 1 difficult to use efficiency 3 user can use it on unlimited number of queries 2 there is a limit for every query 1 user has to wait for the results until it completes the detection learnability 3 user can easily perform a plagiarism detection due to fewer procedures to follow 2 user needs more time to be familiar with the user interface before using the software 1 user needs much time to read the software manual before learning how to use the service or software these criteria on rating the software were discussed to the respondents before allowing them to test these tools. the site links/software for plagiarism detection tools were given to the respondents for them to test the criteria provided. collected data were tallied and treated with statistical tools such as frequency distribution and weighted means. these weighted mean values determined the suitability of the detection tool based on criteria provided during testing. plagiarism detection tools were ranked in descending order based on their garnered weighted means. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion 1. identification and comparison of free plagiarism detection tools there are seven identified free plagiarism detection tools covered in this study. in the process of describing these tools, their strong and weak points were discussed. the strong points of each detection tools include the capability of the software, where, the weak points refer to the limitations of it in detecting the plagiarized software. the plagiarism checker (http://www/dustball.com/) this detection tool is built on top of web interface which has less number of controls on its user interface to provide a direct use of the tool in detecting plagiarized textual data. strong points there is unlimited number of words that can be copied or pasted to its text box for plagiarism detection; and the interface is easy to use. weak points plagiarized detection on file uploads is reserved only for paid subscribers; reports generated cannot be downloaded since it is embedded on its page during detection but it can be printed along with the page for possible copy of the results; and, it does not have a side-by-side comparison of the sample textual data from the collected data coming from the website that were suspected for plagiarism. plagiarism detection on the internet (http://www.plagiarismchecker.com) this detection tool works by dissecting the pasted textual data into 32 words as it is the limit of the search engine(s). the user controls in their web interface is the same www.dustball.com which provides a straight forward utilization. it is advantageous since it is a copy-paste procedure for textual input; and, it has easyto-use web user interface. on the other hand, its limitations include the following: a) each line of pasted textual data must contain 32 words only or it will be shortened as it is the limit for google search engine; b) the results are mainly based on the search engine hits; and, c) there is no file upload for automatic detection of the contents. 41 international peer reviewed journal check for plagiarism (http://smallseotools.com) this tool is built on top of a web service that allows the end-user to copy and paste the textual data for automatic detection. the web service derives up to nine words from the data in a random location of the textual data inputs and feed it into the google search engine. this tool is efficient and effective on detecting plagiarized text on the following points: a) unlimited number of textual data that can be pasted to their input text box. b) it counts the number of unique phrases that have been derived from textual data input against its total generated phrases. c) there is an automatic detection of existing keyword on the internet. however, its efficacy can be lessened due to the following constraints: a) the tool randomly selects phrases from the input data consisting of nine words per phrase not the whole sentence; b) it uses a search engine to generate its reports on plagiarism detection; c) there is no side-by-side comparison for the detected plagiarized text from the internet. plagtracker (https://www.plagtracker.com/) this tool is also a web service for detecting textual plagiarism which allows the end-user to copy-paste the data into the input text box for its purpose. it also allows user to register so they could use any extended usage or further reporting as soon as the checking of the text or uploaded data has been completed. this tool is effective and efficient on this purpose according to its featured capability such as; a) free for user sign-up; b) easy to use; c) unlimited number of document that can be check; d) copy-paste of textual data or file upload is supported for automatic detection for the plagiarized data. however, its efficacy is being limited because of the following constraints: a) detection reports generated cannot be downloaded in any format, but the page itself can be printed or downloaded; b) after the first scan, textual data inputs or file uploaded will be delayed for it to complete. the user will be notified through email as soon as it completes the scanning for plagiarized data or text; c) for the files or text to finish the scanning in few minutes, paid subscription will be required for the end-user; and d) there is no side-by-side comparison for the reports generated after the detection process. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research plagscan (http://www.plagscan.com) this detection tool is also an online web service for detecting plagiarized textual data. its web interface provides the end-user something to follow during input of textual data and interpreting its results. its strong points are as follows: a) this free service for textual detection requires 1000 words or less per documents for an unlimited number of detection; b) copy and paste of data for detection and file uploading is supported also to minimize procedure for textual pasting into the text box; c) new signed-up users are being offered with initial credits for a faster detection and side-by-side comparison after its detection process has been completed; and, d) deep search is available for further relevance of the phrases to other sites. nevertheless, this tool has limitations since some features are being omitted and made available to paid subscribers only such as the side-by-side comparison and extended number of papers or words per document. furthermore, reports generated cannot be downloaded into other formats due to the integration of the output onto its page; but it can be printed as the whole page or it can be saved to the local disk for reference purposes. duplichecker (http://www.duplichecker.com/) this tool is a completely free online web service for plagiarism detection. its web user interface is the same with the others, but it reports an empty file during file upload at the time of testing. there are some areas where this tool is considered strong points such as: (a) there is unlimited number of textual check anytime unless the user is registered; (b) there is no cost during user registration process; (c) aside from the copy-paste procedure for textual inputs, it also allows the user to upload file for automatic detection; and, (d)side-by-side comparison is available; however end-user must compare it against the source file or text with the detected plagiarized text or data one at a time to make a proper citation. these tool is being limited by reports generated cannot be downloaded into other format but the page itself can be saved or printed as well. paperrater.com this detection tool consists of simple and easy web interface to use their plagiarism detection tool. the website requires the user to implicitly accept the terms of service every check. the website requires the user’s acceptance of its terms of service every time that they would check source data for plagiarized text. 43 international peer reviewed journal this tool had been noted with the following strong points such as: a) it is easy to follow user web interface; b) there is unlimited numbers of textual data check through copy-paste on their input text box; and, c) the detection results clearly suggest the verdict for the processed textual data. however, this tool has the following constraints a) no side-by-side comparison between the sources and plagiarized textual data; b) a generated report is included into its page. its results can be printed along with the input text; and, c) the result is mainly based on search engine hits which limit the number of text that will be used for searching over the internet sites for the same contents. table 1. the seven online tools for detecting plagiarism according to usefulness ease of use, efficiency, and learnability tools criteria(wm)     usefulness ease of use efficiency learnability weighted mean rankwm sd wm sd wm sd wm sd plagiarism checker 2.6 .50 2.5 .51 1.8 .53 2.3 .46 2.3 1 plagiarism detector 2.2 .76 2.4 .82 2.0 .65 2.0 .64 2.2 2.5 check for plagiarism 2.3 .46 2.2 .37 2.2 .69 2.0 .57 2.2 2.5 plag tracker 2.3 .48 2.0 .58 2.2 .91 1.8 .91 2.1 4.5 duplichecker 2.0 .65 2.0 .76 2.4 .40 2.0 .41 2.1 4.5 paperrater 2.0 .59 2.0 .58 2.0 .76 2.0 .79 2.0 6.5 plag scan 2.0 .70 2.2 .71 1.8 .42 1.8 .42 2.0 6.5 along with the table, it shows the weighted mean of each tool based on the criteria presented after they tested the seven tools one at a time using the provided test materials that contain texts that were derived from different websites. the source of the text has been lifted from different file formats such as docx, ppt, html, and pdf, which can be found from different search engines such as like google, yahoo search, and bing. a. usefulness among the seven tools, the usefulness of plagiarism checker was perceived with weighted mean of 2.6 which can be described as very useful. this implies that the test results of this tool in detecting plagiarised text is as much as closer 44 jpair multidisciplinary research to the expectation of the respondents based on the test materials that had been used during the testing. the source sites where the plagiarised text can be found is properly listed in accordance with the unoriginal text that can be found from the sample textual data. thus, the clearer the results of the tool for detecting plagiarized text, the more useful it is to the respondents. atkinson’s (2008) study further emphasized that a plagiarism detection tool results should offer a more comprehensive listings of plagiarised sources to further verify the existence of the unoriginal text. b. ease of use the plagiarism checker tool sets by the respondents to be the easiest tool that can be used for detecting plagiarized text on the internet based on the sample data that has been provided. its perceived weighted mean by the respondents is 2.5 which described as very easy to use. this implies that the respondents’ perception can be attributed to the less number of controls on it user interface and less number of procedures to be used or followed during the detection process. atkinson (2008) strengthened that the user interface of the plagiarism detection tool should be straight forward to allow an easy user’s learning curve. he added also that it should be simple and easy to use for the end users. c. efficiency the efficiency of the plagiarism tool to detect plagiarised text from any internet source is always affected by the user and server internet bandwidth. thus, most of these free online plagiarism detection tools limit their internet clients on the utilization of it so other clients worldwide would have the chance to use the tool. moreover, they limit the query or the number of times for textual data entry and processing to these tools in an hourly or daily basis. most of the respondents set the duplichecker to have the highest efficiency among the other tools that have been tested. based on their perception it has the weighted mean of 2.4 during the time of testing. this implies that the respondents notice that duplichecker has the higher rates of query other than the tools that had been listed. the advantage of this tool is it allows the endusers to have a maximum of 50 queries per day if they will be registered, where registration is still free. this finding is supported by mccullough (2005) that the efficiency of cross-checking unoriginal text can be done also using search engine like google, this denotes that the plagiarism detection tool can accept queries as many as users can to extensively verify the textual data for existence or not in any 45 international peer reviewed journal online database or open access journals which is available in the internet. as he further disclosed that google search engine is efficient and can be used to verify the unoriginal text in a per sentence manner but would be too rigorous in terms of searching any online sites that would possibly match the given textual data. d. learnability among the seven tools, the plagiarism checker has the highest weighted mean of 2.3, this perception denotes that the users requires more time to understand and familiarize the interface of each plagiarism tools. this implies that respondents on this study needs to familiarize the user interface of each tool on how to use each part and possibly interpret the results of the plagiarism detection tools test. the respondents’ perception may be attributed that due to different designs of each tool, each part has its own purpose on how it could test the textual data for plagiarism. recommended anti-plagiarism tool(s) based on the criteria used by the respondents during the testing of the free online tools that had been tested, figure below shows its summary. among the tools used which were free on the internet for detecting plagiarized text on the internet, the plagiarism checker has an overall weighted mean of 2.3. this recommendations were based on the cited criteria in which these free and online web-based plagiarism tools were tested, the plagiarism checker captured the attention of the respondents which it earned the highest rating among the others. the perception of students on the efficiency of the plagiarism checker is being supported in their observation that it detects more online sources than what they are expected based on the textual data that were used during the testing. the efficiency of the plagiarism checker is supported in the study of stamatatos (2011) that the most important part of plagiarism detection is that it could detect the exact text passage from any source that can be found online or captures any suspicious between the source and the original passage. according to chester (2001), the users’ first issue in using plagiarism detection system is the ease of use of the software. it had been emphasized that their respondents quickly appreciate its utilization if they could use it with minimal supervision for them to check their own work. since the plagiarism checker is an online web-based services, any client can use it to check his own literary works anytime he wants and make the necessary corrections. the utilization of these tools were mostly online in nature in which the users 46 jpair multidisciplinary research should have an internet connection to interact with the general user interface of these tools to detect plagiarized text from the source. the automatic detection method for the plagiarized text from the source enables the user to easily interact and pinpoint what parts of the source text had been copied from any source that is available on the internet. each of the listed online plagiarism tools has its own constraints or weaknesses in detecting plagiarized text. these constraints serve as the user’s basis to weight the efficacy of these tools. these also represent the features in each tool in the process of detecting plagiarized text based from the source. the summary of a comparison of other tools for detecting plagiarism is shown below for the purpose of alternative usage. thus, the plagiarism checker has the highest overall weighted mean based on the respondents’ perception; this tool will be recommended most. however, since the nature of these tools was mostly online, there will be such times that due to bandwidth degradation its operation can also be limited. therefore, the plagiarism detector and check for plagiarism tools can be used alternatively. table 2. comparison of free software/online services for plagiarism detection name source website type method constraints the plagiarism checker http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/ online automatic • copy-paste method for textual data input • file uploads for detection are permitted for paid subscriber only plagiarism detection on the internet http://www/plagiariasmchecker. com/ online automatic • no file upload for detection contents • detection is based on search engines hits and results check for plagiarism http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/ online automatic • internal database checking • google search engine based for external checking plag tracker https://www. plagtracker.com/ report/1ac7d3caf 141d39432976c 6fd7d5e4a0/# online automatic • internal database checking • file uploads for automatic detection are limited to paid subscriber only. plagscan http://www. plagscan.com/ seesources/search. php? online automatic • internal database checking but sufficient enough to locate phrases/words for detection • (extended deep search that makes this online detection service remarkable) 47 international peer reviewed journal duplichecker http://www.du-plichecker.com online automatic • google search engine based detection • user signup to access unlimited queries paperrater www.paerrater.com online automatic • search engine-based checking and extends the output to actual site for crossverification • side-by-side comparison is unavailable after the detection process is completed. the plagiarism detection tools that were listed in the table above used the automatic detection process. this process allows the user to paste textual data in the designated parts of their home page. the common results in these tools were the phrases and source location of the unoriginal text. most of the limitations on these tools were the number of words that can be pasted in their designated input area for detecting plagiarized text. however, some of them offered file uploads using the ms-word format but it is available only on premium users or the results will be processed after several hours or days depending on the number of files uploaded by the other users. conclusions there were seven online plagiarism tools that hits on search engines like google and yahoo sites: plagiarism checker, plagiarism detector, check for plagiarism, plag tracker, plag scan, duplichecker, and paperrater. among the seven plagiarism tools that had been tested, the plagiarism checker is the easiest tool to learn and more efficient in searching for similar sources for textual data that can be found online. hence, the ability of the plagiarism checker to cross-check the textual data source to internet sources makes its output more reliable that it exists or not. thus, the tool is far more efficient than the others. the simplicity of the user interface design of the plagiarism checker allows the end-users to work on it with minimal supervision. its ease-of-use offers a greater flexibility to the end-users. the plagiarism checker is more robust than the others based on the criteria as perceived by the respondents. this tool has the minimal number of interface for user’s needs in detecting plagiarized textual data. its results on plagiarised text can be easily learned and interpreted. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the nature of free and web-based format of the plagiarism checker enables every faculty and student to check their own literary works whether it has the same textual data that had been posted in the internet earlier. student and some faculty were prone to copy-and-paste type of plagiarism due to a lot of paper works, however, for them to practice an utmost honesty in their academic articles, this tool will be a good start for them to check their work. literature cited atkinson, d., & yeoh, s. (2008). student and staff perceptions of the effectiveness of plagiarism detection software.  australasian journal of educational technology, 24(2), 222-240. badge, j. (2010). how effective are electronic plagiarism systems. plagiarism conference 2010 . braumoeller, b., & gaines, b. (2001). deterring plagiarism with the use of plagiarism-detection software. political science & political science. chaudhuri, j. (2008). how effective is the digital detection process? webology . chester, g. (2001). pilot of free-text electronic plagiarism detection software. jisc (http://www. jisc. ac. uk/index. cfm. duggan, f. (2006). plagiarism; prevention, practice and policy. assessment and evaluation in higher education, 151-154. japos, g. v., gutierrez, b. a., & tubongbanua, j. b. p. (2012). efficacy of plagiarism detection software for quality assurance of a research journal. iamure international journal of multidisciplinary research, 1(1). japos, g. v. (2012). technology-based quality assurance of international researches adopted by the asian scientific journal publications. iamure international journal of multidisciplinary research, 3(1). 49 international peer reviewed journal jocoy, c. a. (2006). plagiarism by adult learners online: a case study in detection and remediation. the international review of research in open and distance learning, 18-19. mccullough, m., & holmberg, m. (2005). using the google search engine to detect word-for-word plagiarism in master’s theses: a preliminary study. college student journal. oed, o. (2009). retrieved from oxford online dictionary: http://dictionary. oed.com/cgi/entry/50180576 park, c. (2003). in other (people’s) words: plagiarism by university students-literature and lessons. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 28(5), 471-488. purdy, j. (2005). technology and the visibility of plagiarism. pedagogy, 275-296. royce, j. (2003). has turnitin.com got it all wrapped up? teacher librarian . stamatatos, e. (2011). plagiarism detection using stopword n‐grams. journal of the american society for information science and technology, 62(12), 25122527. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the cordillera administrative region’s way of resolving crimes and disputes between two tribes is in accordance with their bodong system wherein the codified and published pagta or “the law of the bodong” (literally translated “peace covenant or pact”) is kalinga’s number one cultural and historical contribution to the country’s national cultural treasure. the study determined the extent of criminal justice system and bodong system in resolving crimes and disputes encountered by tribes who are in conflict. the researcher used the case study method wherein the basis for its concept is the theoretical framework, socio-cultural theory and grounded theory and self-report data with convenience sampling. “semi-structured interviews, narrative response and blog discussions” were also used. 50% of the respondents stand for the statement that bodong system is bound to resolve cases that involve murder, land disputes, loss of property and other violations. hence, the cordillera administrative region’s urge in pursuing in the legalization and government recognition of the bodong system has put an ease with the lengthy trials of the criminal justice system. the cordilleran leaders’ initiative to organize peace summit every year is an vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.457 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. tribal rifts: a valuation to the extent of criminal justice system and bodong system in resolving crimes and disputes in the asean region noemi y. domingo http://orcid.org 0000-002-9506-9726 duelmaster1225@gmail.com international school of asia and the pacific – kalinga 13 international peer reviewed journal effective way of informing people of cordillera the essence of bodong in their life not just a mere machinery, but rather a system. keywords — criminal justice education, bodong system, case study introduction cordillera administrative region is known for its unique culture in the line of arts and socio-cultural aspects. its ethnicity has been an attraction to other races in the northern part of the philippines and like most states in the asean regions, they have one or more ethnic minorities and there is a large chance for dissatisfaction with their status or have tension in their subnational identity and national affiliation because of the fact that some minority groups often times are discriminated in their traditional way of life, activities and how they perceive in social norms and how the environment play a role into their existence (mikesell & murphy, 1991). however, with the fast track trend of globalization, the aipp or asian indigenous people pact has studied the expert mechanisms on the rights of the minority or ethnic groups in their preservation of cultural heritage wherein they emphasized that as un declaration on the rights of the indigenous people article 3 states that indigenous people have the right to self-determination by virtue of the right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. also, in article 8.1, indigenous people and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture (aipp, 2015 ). cordillera is one good example of a place where self-determination is practiced since philippine independence in 1946. it is home to numerous ethnic people collectively known as the igorot. it is the only landlocked region in the country that is bordered by the ilocos region in the west and southwest, and by the cagayan valley on the north, east, and southeast which comprises six provinces: abra, apayao, benguet, ifugao, kalinga and mountain province which is grouped major ethnolinguistics groups; kankanaey (kan-kanai), ibaloy, bontok, kalinga, isneg, itneg, ifugao, kalanguya, iwak and ga’dang (florendo, 2015). the regional center is the highly urbanized city of baguio. the region is known for its bodong site, however, as studies shows, only the province of kalinga gives an emphasis to the essence of the constitution and by-laws of their system and with this matter, the essence of having criminal justice system in the locale is not highly recognized due to their strong attachment to traditional set ups which 14 jpair multidisciplinary research has been embodied by some of the young generation of the kalinga (cordillera peoples alliance, 2004). “bodong” is a kalinga vernacular term which means peace pact or peace council where the concept of their judicial system is similar to the frank pledge system of law enforcement policy where the leader is called tythingman, the protector and saviour of the village while in cordillera, leaders of the pact are called “peace pact holders”. they are appointed by the “bodong council” to settle disputes between two tribes in a form of large gatherings. in 1982, the provincial government of kalinga-apayao sponsored a “bodong conference” with peace pact holders, tribal leaders and government functionaries participating in a three-day bodong conference. then regional human settlements director gen. prospero olivas, the keynote speaker of the affair, urged the participants to restructure the laws of the bodong to install it as an agent of change and development, not only in the province but also in the country. the convention drafted the pagta which was presented by a committee headed by the late board member castro b. lammawin. the same was approved by the 600-strong convention participants and was later turned over to the “style committee” for its codification. it is significant to note, in this respect, that the primary steps in the pagta amendments were the brainchild of two non-kalinga and non-binodngan (tribal communities governed by the pagta) political leaders – puzon and almazan. to them, the spade work on the succeeding efforts to standardize the pagta and for its putting into writing must be credited (ramo & gomarcho, 2005). the kalinga bodong federation (kbtf) pursued the 1982 bodong convention agenda (saboy, 1999). under its president, former governor tanding b. odiem, renewed attempts to amend the pagta, especially on the revenge clause were staged in several conventions and consultations. there was not much headway seen in the standardization and writing of the pagta until the administration of governor laurence b. wacnang picked up the agenda then on a precarious step to being thrown into the dustbin of history. practiced for generations, “bodong” is considered to be as old as memoirs of kalingas which has been ingrained and interwoven in their life and culture. terms and conditions of such agreement are expressed in an unwritten covenant calledthe “pagta” meaning “law of the bodong system which expresses all the ideals of those who practice and embrace the culture and tradition of the minority groups (cordillera peoples alliance, 2004; florendo, april 16, 2015). in the late 1960s, “pagta” was sought to be the answer to abolition of some provisions and malpractices of other kalingas in the implication of “bodong 15 international peer reviewed journal system”. with the unconditional and judgement made by the fourth congress of the kalinga bodong congress, inc., on september 13, 1998 at bibak nas auditorium, bulanao, tabuk, kalinga, the codified “pagta” was finally adopted (cordillera peoples alliance, 2004). amendments of its provisions were recognized last april 2, 2002 during the 5th “bodong” congress held at lupa-lupa, tinglayan, kalinga and other new provision were then included as results of deliberations on conflicting and emerging issues vis-à-vis the national law during the special “bodong” congress on september 7, 2013 at bangad, tinglayan kalinga (kbc, 2013). however, flaws on the system has not died out even before it has been accepted and amended, until the present day it is still the main issue in the high land and that people from then and now would rather choose the ways of the “bodong” because justice is hard to seek elsewhere (ramo & gomarcho, 2005). framework through the years, discontentment over the lopsided application of pagta in tribal conflicts had been felt especially along the imposition of penalties and indemnities, questions, queries and violent reactions on the existence of the “bodong system” which brought justification for scrapping the system on the fact that the bodong, especially among kalingas, has been used to promote the self-serving ends of some politicians to an extreme so the ties are severed when a political candidate gets insignificant support from a tribal group which has existing peace pact ties with the tribe of the candidate (ramo & gomarcho, 2005). the bodong community in kalinga has been divided along pagta application standards. balbalan-pinukpuk-tabuk area, adopts the “amicable settlement” approach in solving intertribal disputes. the municipalities of tanudan, tinglayan, lubuagan, and pasil also did the same. they adhere to the “an eyefor-an-eye-and-tooth-for-atooth” practice. in vengeance killings, revenge is exacted upon any member of the tribe or on immediate relatives of the assailants. the “bodong” community remains divided in the application of the law of retaliation – the “bodong” communities in upper kalinga still adhere to automatic retaliation, while those in “lower kalinga” region remain steadfast in their moderate approach to the practice. meaning, not all tribes in the cordillera region has the same understanding in the modern days of living that elderly people of these communities would rather choose to put justice into their own 16 jpair multidisciplinary research hands and still practices isolation and separation from social amenities and acceptance of change (ramo & gomarcho, 2005). provisions of pagta law (law of the bodong) art.152 of act no. 3815 otherwise known as the official status and legal recognition to tribal peace pact holders in the province of kalinga and other areas with similar practice as persons in authority in their own tribal jurisdictions wherein it stated that, the bodong is a territorially-based bilateral covenant of non-aggression between kalinga villages, the center piece of which is an indigenous unwritten mechanism for processing its breach and regulating inter-village relations meaning it has the power to conduct speedy dispositions or trials within the tribal community that aims to strengthen the bond of tribe members to each other ( art. 1 section 1, kbc 2013). its objective is to maintain peace and stability within the village and create bonds of amity between villages that no other law can do the same (kbc, 2013). it is accurate to say that the bodong holder cannot guarantee complete safety, however, there are many things that the bodong holder can actually guarantees, such as the following: 1) swift investigation of an injury or death allegedly caused by a co-villager against a kabodong; 2) final determination of the identity of the covenant violator and consequent punishment commensurate to the gravity of the violation or as provided by the covenant; 3) indemnity for loss, injury or death due to the violation; 4) assistance to a kabodong who gets sick within the village territory; 5) return of a kabodong’s body who died of illness within its territory; and 6) assurance of village hospitality (kbc, 2013). in the pagta or law of the bodong, the bodong holder shall faithfully enforce and execute the provisions of the pagta; prosecute with dispatch cases brought to his attention until the same have been settled to the satisfaction of both parties; not allow the severance of the bodong without complying with the provisions of pagta; and arrest or cause the arrest of the violator of the pagta. for most kalinga, the bodong is not only the result of the creation of a binding legal relationships but it is also an important social activity that breaches tribes from the 8 municipalities of kalinga. the convergence of both is what they poignantly equate as the essence of life itself not only because peace insures the perpetuation of their lives but also because the very activity itself makes them feel alive (kbc, 2013). 17 international peer reviewed journal the peace pact holders or the bodong holders are revered members of the community, more than a barangay captain or a law enforcer. it is for this reason that they should be accorded recognition and legal status as recognition and legal status as persons in authority in their own tabal barangay or “ili”(art.2 sec.3, art. 3 sec.1-sec5 kbc 2013). the provisions also includes article 4-5 that pertains to the membership of the “binodngan” (native ykalinga) and their rights to the community. article 6 that specifies the crimes and penalties of a “binodngan” under “patoy” (killing), “sarmak” (homicide), “botok or songa” (serious physical injury), “putut” (killing in front of a native kalinga as witness), “”tuyuk” ( libel), “tutuk” (points a gun or threats to kill) and “am-am” (grave threat) wherein “mamulta” or “multa” (fines) is the main form of punishment through carabao or money. article 7 includes crimes committed in violation of “bugis” (territorial jurisdiction) that specifies to “dimok di pita” (stained land or soiled bugis) and “wakwak” (killing a visitor) is payable by a carabao. article 8 crime against womanhood that includes “pugod/gobao” (rape) and “sokwao” (having illicit affair/child) is punishable by “multa” of carabaos from 3-12 pcs. then article 10 which includes crimes against property that is also payable by multa or carabaos”(kbc, 2013). objectives of the study this study was conducted to present an empirical evaluation to the extent of criminal justice system and bodong system in resolving crimes and disputes encountered by tribes who are in conflict and give emphasis to the implications of bodong system and criminal justice system in handling criminal and civil cases, the perceptions of the respondents towards modifying the bodong system, and the reaction of younger generation on the consequences of the implication of both criminal justice system and bodong system. methodology the researcher used the case study method wherein the basis for its concept is the theoretical framework, socio-cultural theory and grounded theory and selfreport data with convenience sampling. there were 100 respondents who were categorized into 3 groups; barangay officials (peace pact holders), parents and students with a total of 100 respondents who are members of different tribes residing in kalinga. the researcher made use of semi-structured interviews with 18 jpair multidisciplinary research the respondents (bloggers who are ikalinga law enforcers, politicians, students and parents) with emphasis on their opinions, further the researcher also considered the written narrative responses and third is the blog discussions with a focus on the pre, during and post tribal wars or tribal disputes within the locality. results and discussion philosophy and pedagogy of bodong and criminal justice system in figure 1, 50 respondents believe that bodong system is bound to resolve cases that involve murder, land disputes, loss of property and other violations. it is being processed according to what is due for the victim, and the suspect including his tribe that criminal justice is no longer needed because they have a law of their own that can accommodate their concerns in a certain period of time. 26 of the respondents (students) still wonder on the effectiveness of the bodong’s implication over the implication of the criminal justice system to their new generation. they chose not to meddle with their old folks and not to question tradition and culture. also, 24 (working in government and law enforcement positions) sought that criminal justice system implication in resolving crimes and disputed should prevail over bodong’s implication with the mere that it follows a system and just and proper process of intervening in crimes and that criminal justice system can intervene in both criminal and civil cases wherein if a person is accused, he’s the only person that will suffer. unlike bodong, if an individual committed a crime, it does not fall in any category nor the person will not suffer any criminal liabilities and may live a normal life. another is that the whole tribe suffers for the fault of one. figure 1. responses of respondents 19 international peer reviewed journal respondents also emphasized that the peace pact of bodong is indeed intended for bringing peace among the tribes because of the fact that in every dispute done by one tribe member, all tribe members will also suffer. likewise, locals/tribe members appreciate the essence of having speedy dispositions on the cases handled by the peace pact holders. on the other hand, as to further reviews and researches regarding the implications of the bodong, some tribes who still embrace the “the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” teaching of the code of hammurabi wherein the tribal laws were based from, usually does not abide nor follow what is due to their law. and according to the 50 respondents, there are also cases wherein if the victim will not accept the amicable settlement for the damage cause, tribal war is said to be implied and no other law of the land can meddle with their ways of handling cases. the consequence of embracing this tradition is preserving the culture of kalinga. however, if individuals in a certain tribe is not well-oriented to the emphasis of bodong’s essence in their tradition, then, culture is not preserved. figure 2. philosophy and pedagogy of bodong system in figure 2, the philosophy of how bodong have existed is through the concept of saving life and preserving the tradition of the elders of cordillera. wherein they developed certain laws that started in the story of two hunters who made a settlement on hunting only within boundaries of each-others tribes and later on practiced the barter exchange. however, when it comes to settling disputes, they often tend to do it in a bloody closure and as years pass and generations of kalingas change, they also tend to change their law, specifically, in crimes and land disputes. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research as seen in the figure, cordillerans for almost 2-4 decades of working out with their law which they called “pagta” has brought 3 modes of settling crimes and dispute that is close to tradition. monetary fine ranging from 1,000-5,000 ($20-100) if the violation is under art.6 sec.8 (serious physical injuries), sec.9 (tingiting, botok/sipat), sec.10 (slight physical injury), sec.11 (bummog-oy), art. 8 sec 14 (luklok/lobak or offending a widow). fine of 3 to 12 carabao if violation is under article 6-15 of the pagta law or bodong which includes, killings, robbery, rape, adultery, concubinage, abandoning parental responsibility and accidents. however, in the case of rape, if someone was raped, the bodong holders of each tribe they belong with will have a peace talk wherein the peace pact leaders will represent both party. if the victim agrees to marry the suspect then it is settled, but if not, then the peace pact holder will turn over the case to the pnp. the pedagogy of this law is through simply passing on the stories of elders from generation to generation and thorough exposing the child into the culture. however, the bodong provisions are limited only to other people, only the peace pact holders or the bodong leaders have full access on the book of pagta in cordillera. figure 3. philosophy of law enforcement in figure 3, law enforcers usually don’t meddle with any peace talks between the two tribes during the outbreak of tribal war or tribal disputes. this would be disrespect and would affect the community’s relationship to the organization. their role is just to safeguard the community or other tribes who are not involved 21 international peer reviewed journal in any dispute. law enforcers will only imply the criminal justice system or government law to a certain dispute if the victim or the peace pact holder of the tribe involve, will file charges against the perpetrator or turns over the case to the law enforcers for further investigation. in the actual set up of the society that revolves in the new generation, it is mutually beneficial for the kalinga tribes to integrate modernization in their bodong system wherein if criminal cases involve national threat or security threat, the criminal justice system should be implied to give justification to the extent of criminal justice system and somehow avoid the traditional way of putting law on the tribes’ hands. it is right and just that every case, civil and criminal would still undergo proper way of judicial process to strengthen the essence of having government law, likewise, there should be a distinction between implication between criminal justice system and the bodong system. the bodong’s pagta law implication breaches strong community relationship within tribes and other tribes. it teaches the kalinga people, especially the youth of today’s generation on how to appreciate the beauty of their culture that revolves on restorative justice and speedy trials or dispositions. the community of cordillera, in general, will stay peaceful as long as people would understand the implications of both systems in handling criminal cases and disputes in their locality. like in the journal article by lyn ramo and marlon gamarcho (2005) stressing that there are more to discover in their tradition than meets the eye, meaning that bodong will always be how it is and it should stay as it is, it may be through a bloody battle but it gives balance in the societal advancement that modernization brings. case stories themed vignette approach: – information from multiple and similar views are synthesized allowing for construction of a unique story or vignette – vignette 1: belongingness • having an indigenous system of governance which has been practised for generations keeps the kalinga ethnic culture preserved and has been materialized as their way of life. • studying law enforcement courses ( llb, criminology, political science, public administration, criminal justice education) has also created doubts on whether to practice the bodong or not. like any other individual, confusion will still be present. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. interview questions q1 what is the best thing in having indigenous system of governance? q2 what is the best thing in having criminal justice system? q3 if you could suggest one change in both systems what would it be? q4 do you think valuating both systems would bring any good in social development of community and academic development of your children q5 is it possible and mutually beneficial for the ikalinga tribes to integrate modernization in their bodong system wherein if some cases involve criminal cases or national threat the criminal justice system can be then implied? table 2. selected responses of stakeholders bloggers community students q1 (1)bangit points out.  he says the filing fees in court and the acceptance fees that lawyers impose on the litigants are prohibitive that poor peasants prefer the tribal leaders . (1)iti agdama, bodong pay laeng ti epektibo a mangmintina iti relasyon iti nagbabaetan dagiti tribu. umuna, awan ti kabaelan dagiti mannalon para iti kaso (at present, bodong is the most effective means to maintain the relationships among tribes.  foremost, peasants have no means to finance the case),” (1)its good cause it preserves our culture and it defines who we are (2)it gives us our own identity that is more unique than any other clan od indigenous people q2 it justifies what is needed to be justified. it may be different from our traditional law but it’s also a law that needs to prevail specially when crimes committed are heneous and it would not involve the whole tribe to suffer but rather the perpetrator itself only.i’m a kalinga but let us be logical.we live in the modern days.if ou know what i mean it is good as supporting law to our tribes as long as they don’t intervene in our traditional way of giving justice ” (1)it gives balance and due process (2)cjs emphasizes the due process of law wherein a suspect in a crime will have proper punishment and will also be convicted if found guilty and be restricted to any position in the government 23 international peer reviewed journal bloggers community students q3 (1) anak kalinga : why changed the traditional bodong? when it is the reason?why kalinga people are united. when you write the bodong, our bodong would be equated to the national law… where’s the essence (2) imavaak: to anak kalinga: “why changed the traditional bodong? when it is the reason why kalinga people are united” oh brother, you could not be more wrong. bodong is only necessary because of our people’s penchant for tribal wars. your pride being an ikalinga is admirable. however, you are clinging to a romantic notion filled with fallacies. follow this line of reasoning and tell me if the analysis is correct: we do not need a peace pact if we are peaceful, right? since we often break our own peace agreements we have to go to the bodong process, over and over again. i love my culture but don’t take me wrong. it is indeed high time to reexamine whether our proud attachment to bodong is doing us favors. your thoughts, sir scott (1) “saanen a nainkalintegan ti tribal war itatta a tiyempo.   ti bodong ket masapol a pagbalinen a progresibo tapno agserbi iti interes ti amin a binodngan, (tribal wars are not justified these days.  bodong should be transformed into progressive agreements for it to serve the people in the tribal communities),” (2) the “criminal will never reform because he will have no criminal record in courts.”  after the tribal settlement, criminals may hold government positions and may even enter the philippine military academy or be a police officer, he said. (1)we are living in a modern world and i’m studying law enforcement course, i think it would be the notion of recidivism in rape cases. if i was raped i would rather see the man rot in jail” 24 jpair multidisciplinary research bloggers community students q4 (1)we must remember too that there are aspects of the larger society which do not really change, like the slow or even uncertain grinding of the wheels of our mainstream justice system, which the bodong may effectively address. you, of course, know that our papangat have been talking about how criminal and civil cases should be settled by interfacing our regular courts system with the bodong. i do not pretend to know much about the bodong, but i sense that we can still profit from it when purged of its parts that call for blood at the slightest injury. i think the recent case between sabangan (not sadanga, as i erroneously wrote earlier) and tulgao can provide us sound ideas to work on. one ceremony in the bodong i wish preserved is the padolnat, which can simply mean a regular village fellowship that celebrates our having forsaken the old, wild ways of seeking justice. (2) it is indeed not wise to cling to whatever idyllic notion we have of our past, but it is equally myopic for us not to see the good we can still salvage from it. i have just started going back to my roots and i hope to truly become a student of our culture. i had been remiss in taking part in the gatherings of our people and i now realize the need to be deeply involved in the discussions about the issues vexing us. i don’t have much to contribute, but i am willing to listen and learn. i will continue to study the bodong and i hope to share worthwhile ideas with you later. (1)yes it would, it’s to further give an emphasis to the mere existence of everything and uplifting law and culture in our region. as to academics, it has a good point in educating our children the beauty of life and the cycle of life” (2)yes, it’s to keep us intact with each other and for our children to value also life, humanity, culture and sacrifice (1)honestly, i still hate how people see us head hunters, afraid of being with us and usually only few would have the guts to be our friend, true friends from the low land but it’s tradition, it affects my academics and social growth” 25 international peer reviewed journal bloggers community students q5 (1)dinuliyao: sometimes the bodong system is the only vialble means between tribes to settle a dispute. but given the dynamic changes in kalinga the pagta is seemingly becoming more irrelevant in the aspects of justice and law enforcement. coming from the law enforcement and a personal witness and victim to tribal wars, i believe the ‘budong’ should be suppletory and let the laws of the land prevail…. for a more lasting and enduring peace in kalinga. (2)scott s aboy : i am still trying to learn more about our peace pact system and it seems to me now that much of it have become anachronistic. to jettison it totally, however, seems unwise and i guess you’re right about the bodong serving a suppletory function to our mainstream justice system. thanks kabsat for your ideas. there is a great possibility for the bodong to be modernized and be integrated with the implications of the criminal justice system there is a possibility if only other people would just have the capacity to understand. honestly not all knows the effects of both system’s implication they just go with the flow table 3. interpretations on the responses of respondents q1 the bodong binds them as one tribe and keeps them safe as long as they follow the implications q2 the bodong is effective in keeping per tribe safe and united however the cjs is effective in larger scope like city/towns specially when cases involves heinous crimes q3 it shows that different levels of stake holders have their own perception of how government and indigenous systems work and as per observation, the new generation are very eager to have changes that will suit their modern world. q4 it shows here that not in every level, there’s satisfaction, there are also flaws that can me sought beyond of what meets the eye. q5 the old-age kalinga people will have a difficult way in understanding changes basing on some students statements, still old-age tradition is being embraced by some tribes 26 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusion the cordillera administrative region’s urge in pursuing in the legalization and government recognition of the bodong system has put an ease with the lengthy trials of the criminal justice system. likewise, it has given opportunity for the less fortunate to settle disputes without paying for any debts to attorneys just for cases to be settled. however, it has been noticed that some are still misguided on the process specially today’s youth who were raised in the modern way of life and was not brought up by the tradition ways and culture. based on the findings, the only antidote to this uncertainty is for tribal leaders or peace pact holders to allot time in orienting the youth on the distinction between the implications of bodong and criminal justice system and integrate modernization in handling criminal cases or disputes in such ways like amending categories of disputes that should be only settled in the bodong tribunal, cases that are only settled in the criminal justice system way and cases that should first undergo the bodong tribunal before being subjected to the court for judicial proceedings. this is the only way to re-organize the mind set of people that the region can be as peaceful as it can be as long as locals are aware, educated and organized. this is also a way to prevent the tribes to fall on rifts and end things in a bloody battle because for the children to embrace the tradition and culture of the cordillera, children need not to encounter violence through bloody battle and be discriminated in the urban community that they came from; the land of head hunters, because in this new era, they are sensitive and melodramatic. it is just that integration should be for the convenience of the developing youth and not for the sake of showing who is the strongest or better tribe through the number of heads they cut to attain peace. the cordilleran leaders’ initiative to organize peace summit every year is an effective way of informing people of cordillera the essence of bodong in their lives. it is not just a mere machinery but rather a system. in addition to this, the cordilleran leaders should also conduct peace summit intended for the students or youth wherein the mode of informing them is levelled to their knowledge and understanding. since our generation now is focused on the concept of globalization and conduct of peace treaties, this study is a good source of making guidelines for other asean regions who has minority groups on how to strengthen both socio-cultural traditions and government laws without affecting the economic and security status of the state that they can use in preventing crimes to their locality from becoming transnational crimes. 27 international peer reviewed journal translational research the result and findings of this study could be translated into a justification on the rifts to be avoided through converting portions of the study into a conceptual manual that may guide the kalinga bodong council, peace pact holders, elderly people, parents and students of cordillera on the proper conduct of implying pagta law in their daily basis of living, preserving culture, embracing and embodying tradition with the possibility of integrating modernization in their provisions and ways of implying both laws in certain violation, crimes or disputes that will occur. literature cited art.152 of act no. 3815-third congress of the republic of the philippines, p.12., art.1-13 pagta (law of bodong).kalinga bodong congress inc. p.1-15. (kbc 2013) retrieved on january 16, 2017 from http://www.lawphil.net/ statutes/acts/act_3815_1930.html mikesell, m. w., & murphy, a. b. (1991). a framework for comparative study of minority-group aspirations. annals of the association of american geographers, 81(4), 581-604. florendo, m.n.b (2015, april 16) ethnic history (cordillera). national commission for culture and the arts. retrieved on december 10, 2016 from http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommision-on-cultural-heritagesch/ historal-research/ethnic-history-cordillera/ ramo, l. v. & gomarcho, m. (2005, february 26). kalingas forge peace the bodong way. northern dispatch, 2005, northern dispatch, p.1. retrieved on january 16, 2017 from http://bulatlat.com/main/2005/02/26/kalingasforge-peace-the-bodong-way/ the cordillera: its land and people (2006, december 12). retrieved on january 17, 2017 from http://www.cpaphils.org/cordillera.htm the expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples-promotion and protection of the rights of the indigenous people with respect to their cul28 jpair multidisciplinary research ture, p.2-9. (2015, february). asia indigenous peoples pact (aipp). retrieved on december 10, 2015 from www.unesco.org/culture/inch/index. php?lg=en&pg=00006 the “pagta”: kalinga’s no. 1 contribution to the rp’s national cultural treasure, a.u.saboynorthern luzon times of june 1999, p. 1 jpair cover vol 11 single 20 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.195 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. triple feedback hybrid (tfh) gis learning framework: a learning-crime solution amalgamation nathaniel vincent a. lubrica orcid no. 0000-0003-3789-2658 nlubrica@gmail.com center for geographic information science university of the cordilleras governor pack road, baguio city philippines abstract in the past decades, geographic information system (gis) became a powerful tool in policing. however, a niche in the andragogy of gis training was found. thus, a triple feedback hybrid (tfh) gis learning framework was formulated to facilitate the learning process. a gis utility model (gum) was developed based on a real and specific problem scenario. afterwards, the learning objectives of the training module syllabus were conveniently contrived as a simulation of the gum procedure. in connection, module testing through trainings was conducted to equip police personnel with gis application. it was found that participant attitude and leadership commitment played a central role in gis learning and implementation. moreover, focus groups with staggered phasing of trainings provided more attainable learning objectives, adequate time for mastery, and opportunity for reflective learning. as a result, the implementation of gis in the baguio city police (bcpo) became a policy. furthermore, the humble start of the research made an imprint as a best practice in rationalizing police operations, enhancing crime prevention, and engaging community policing in the regional and national level. keywords gis, gis learning, crime mapping, andragogy, problem-based learning 21 international peer reviewed journal introduction geographic information system (gis) is being used as a decision support tool in policing for more than a decade. as a decision support tool, gis facilitated crime monitoring, crime analysis, crime prevention, resource allocation, and planning ( maxfield & babbie, 2009; griffin, 2001; baker, 2009). gis can be used to simulate the occurrence of crimes for spatial analysis (vijay kumar & chandrasekar, 2011). emerging technologies like cloud computing and mobile technology and advance spatial techniques like data mining are now shaping a new era of crime prevention and crime analysis (sukanya,m., kalaikumaran, t., karthik, s., 2012, singh et. al, 2012, wendt & exner, 2013) . in policing, an efficient information system is the key to intelligence led policing (ilp). in a management perspective, ilp revolves around the concept of collaboration and community, intelligence as basis of operation, and problem solving. the utilization of gis facilitates intelligence led policing as indicated in reports and researches in the us, europe, canada, and australia. in the philippines, little evidence in the use of gis in policing was found. full implementation of gis in developing countries may be a fantasy (griffin, 2001). factors such as limitations in resources, access to technology, and technical know-how are influences gis implementation. yet it must be noted that the use of gis in police intelligence was indicated in the philippine national police (pnp) annual accomplishment report 2011. environment is considered as a determinant in the commission of a crime. environmental attributes and environmental design governs a geographic locale as criminal attractor (tabangin, flores, & emperador, 2008; vijay kumar & chandrasekar, 2011; wendt & exner, 2013). environmental criminology is a criminological theory that relates the environment as a motivation for people to commit criminal acts. the spatial sense of crimes gives an opportunity for gis application. as per procor unit crime periodic report (ucper) 2011, the highly urbanized city of baguio was chosen as the locale of study for procor reports show that about 70% of crime incidents in the cordilleras happen here. the top three (3) index crimes were physical injuries, theft, and robbery. bcpo reports a crime solution efficiency (cse) of 22% as per ucper 2011. thus, one of the goals of bcpo was to increase cse. cse reflects the efficiency of law enforcement agencies in solving cases across a given period of time. this paper is a product of a research project conducted by the university of the cordilleras (uc) with the baguio city police office (bcpo) as the beneficiary. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research with the positive impact of the project, a memorandum of agreement (moa) was signed between uc and the police regional office – cordillera (procor) during the 23rd of march, 2012. it must be noted that bcpo is under the umbrella of command of procor. a policy for a region-wide gis institutionalization was issued by procor on may 2012. after choropleth maps, point maps were sought to represent crime. as a result, the gis based crime analysis (gis bca) was developed as tool to analyze crime. moreover, a web based crime mapping (www. procor.pnp.gov.ph/crimemap/) with the aim of promoting crime visualization and awareness to the public was developed by uc in collaboration with procor and was launched december 2012. a better focus is needed on the development of a framework that fully enables the potential of gis to support contemporary pedagogy in crime mapping (kinniburgh, 2010). indeed, training police personnel without background in gis is a significant challenge. gis requires spatial literacy, which is a distinct intelligence category. visual-spatial intelligence gets more evident with increased access to television, video games, and the internet (van leeuwen & scholten, 2009). aside from being a vehicle for different skills, gis can enhance spatial thinking (comber, buxton, jarvis, wellens, and wood, 2008; jarvis and ashfield, 2009). spatial thinking being a cognitive skill is a blend of the concepts of space, the tools of representation, and the process of reasoning (national academic press, 2006). a problem based learning (pbl) strategy fits into gis learning (calvo melero, 2005; and drennon, 2005). as an effective learning approach, a pbl environment places the real world problems, data, and field learning experiences at the centre of the learning environment rather than the discipline (drennon, 2005; kinniburg, 2010; car, 2004). the gis training syllabus developed in the study targeted output maps that reflected real world crime incidences which utilized live crime data. the live crime data were collated reports from the ten (10) police stations of baguio city. aside from dealing with live crime data, the gis training module was strategically scheduled to monitor participant progress and to evaluate participant outputs. broad literature search revealed a niche in the andragogy of gis learning in policing. more researches are needed to reveal the circumstances of using pbl in achieving lifelong learning skills, effectiveness of gis use in education, and impact of gis to learning skills (pawson, fournier, haigh, muniz, trafford, & vajockzki, 2006; van leeuwen and scholten, 2009). 23 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study integrated land and water information system (ilwis), an open source desktop gis software, was installed on existing computers at bcpo. the open source application eliminated problems in hardware and software acquisition. the utilization of gis depends on the efficacy of gis learning. many challenges were identified during the gis implementation but this paper focuses only in the andragogy of gis learning in policing. enumerated are the objectives of the study. 1. create a gis learning framework; 2. evaluate the gis learning framework; 3. develop a gis utility model (gum) in generating thematic maps; 4. identify the factors that influence gis learning and its implementation; and 5. evaluate the efficacy of gis as a crime solution tool. the transfer and utilization of gis in bcpo was aimed. the goal of the gis training series was to promote lifelong learning skills that were crucial in achieving intelligence led policing. materials and methods the study was an applied research where multi-method approaches (lazar, feng & hochheiser, 2010) were utilized. the research was designed as a case study, however, experimental study was performed to evaluate the training syllabus. interview and observation were the main data gathering tools. gum aimed to provide an approach to a particular policing problem. crime data for calendar year 2010 were collected for the purpose of developing the gum. the crime data for calendar year 2011 were intended as a gis training input data. the gum was the basis of the learning objectives in the training module. the training module was designed to reflect gis functionalities that were relevant to police needs. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. triple feedback hybrid gis learning framework figure 1 shows the triple feedback hybrid gis learning framework. the model combined the essentials of problem based learning, outcomes based learning, student centered learning, and participatory learning. a triple feedback mechanism guarantees dynamic gis learning environment and rational evaluation technique. the learning model was developed and applied during the police trainings. gis learning started with specific problem scenario. the approach resembled a problem based learning where realistic problems were tackled (pawson et al., 2006). a gis utility model (gum) was first developed, and a module was created. it must be noted that the gum was based on a policing problem. a requirement in the gum was the acquisition of digital maps and crime data. the digital maps were digitized and georeferenced. moreover, relevant crime data based on the policing 25 international peer reviewed journal problem were gathered. the crime data utilized came from the bcpo ucper (2010-2012). the gis training module syllabus outlines the learning objectives. the learning objectives were focused on certain gis concepts and functionalities. the actual procedure performed in the gum was simulated in the training module. the teaching approach was more realistic, and an error troubleshooting was eased. trainings were conducted to test the gis training module. the results of the observation served as an input to the first feedback loop. participant observation is a clear-cut technique (clark, monk, & yool, 2007). herein, the syllabus was evaluated and revised. during the training, inputs from the participants were noted and integrated. after the module was mastered, learning determinants were derived. through an interview, the learning determinants were the next input to the syllabus revision. the main output of the training was the creation of thematic maps. outcome based learning was used as an approach. the thematic maps summarized the compliance of the participants to various learning objectives. output evaluation was used to reconcile actual learning outcomes vis a vis ideal learning outcomes as prescribed in the gum. the output evaluation served as an indicator of the efficacy of the gum. spatial analysis was an analytical technique performed to determine the spatial distribution to derive relationships and associations. spatial analysis uses geospatial techniques such as map overlay, raster analysis, geostatistics, and neighborhood operations. spatial analysis gave a deeper understanding on the characteristic of a certain phenomenon. interventions formulated to solve a certain problem scenario were based on spatial analysis. the intervention was evaluated vis a vis the problem scenario. did the intervention solve the problem scenario? if yes, then the gum and consequently the training attained the desired goals. if not, then adjustments are mandatory in the gum. results and discussion in 2011, bcpo was still developing its geodatabase; thus, the digitizing of relevant data, and data import were performed. the problem scenario was the representation of crime data from an excel file to a gis generated thematic map. formosa (2012) emphasized the challenges in obtaining crime data, digitizing, data cleaning, geocoding, and the establishment of spatial baseline dataset. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. gum for representing crime data from an excel file to a gis generated thematic map the gum is a set of procedure in converting crime data in excel tables to digital crime maps. beforehand, the community map was retrieved from the city planning and development office of baguio city, and crime data were gathered from collated reports at bcpo. raw crime data were encoded as an excel file. the excel file was formatted as shown in figure 3. ilwis has the functionality of importing external database. thus, the excel file was then imported and formatted using the functionalities of microsoft access 2007. the access file was converted as an ilwis object. moreover, the primary key that connected the table to the map was the barangay id. finally, thematic maps showing crime data were produced using ilwis. 27 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. formatted and import ready crime data excel file figure 4 shows the crime hotspots of baguio city for 2010. the generated map was a choropleth map. the values represented in the choropleth map got its value from the formatted excel file. it must be noted that there are 128 barangays (village, district, or ward) in baguio city, thus, only a portion of the table was captured. the gum shows crime hotspots as per crime type and crime volume. figure 4. crime volume map for calendar year 2010 28 jpair multidisciplinary research based on the gum, a gis training module syllabus was developed. the syllabus reflects the competencies needed in the gum. there were two modules, file import and attribute map creation. in connection, the following learning objectives were set. 1. import the excel file as an access file 2. convert the access file to an ilwis object 3. create an attribute map of a table indeed, it was very convenient to create a module and a set of learning objectives when the gum was in place. gis skills were introduced when the problem unfolded to give an opportunity to problem solving (drennon, 2005). the police trainees have no background in gis and a little on geography. as a resolution, engaging the trainees in a real world setting facilitated the learning process (drennon, 2005). one day training with 35 participants was conducted for a large group as means to test the module. however, it was observed that the given time was not adequate, and the learning objectives were hardly met. the participant observation gave a crucial revision to the syllabus. in the second module test, training was conducted to a smaller group in bcpo – operation department. the training was conducted in five (5) sessions, at two (2) hours per session, in a span of a month from julyaugust 2011. the participants stressed the effectiveness of attaining specific learning objectives with ample time for mastery. moreover, the participants cited the benefits of training a smaller group because queries were easily answered and troubleshooting was easily facilitated. an outcomes based feedback mechanism was performed during the trainings. it was pointed out by the participants that the outcomes based approach motivated them to master the module. substantial learning outcomes were achieved during the second testing. it was observed that the participants were intensely engaged during the training. the observation indicates the benefit gained in dealing with a real world problem and the efficacy of a problem based learning. furthermore, the learning model was reinforced with participatory learning where the participants gave significant inputs to the gis learning process. the participants noted errors and queries that they have encountered during the exploratory stage, and suggested deadlines in meeting some learning objectives. the exploratory stage, about five (5) to seven (7) days gave an opportunity for a self directed learning. a similar approach was reported to be effective by comber et al. (2008) in a paper entitled: “developing spatial literacy secondary education: gis practicals for key stage 3”. finally, the combination of the different learning techniques led to the mastery of the module. through an interview, the learning determinants were noted. it was found that 29 international peer reviewed journal attitude and leadership played a central role in successful module mastery. attitude such as interests and initiative were stressed as crucial elements for module mastery. on the other hand, leadership through the commitment of the department heads and directors were cited as compelling factors for a successful gis implementation. simple spatial analysis was performed by determining the crime patterns. choropleth generated crime maps showed vivid crime patterns as to crime type and crime volume. by time series analysis, it was observed that theft cases were concentrated in session road area and physical injury cases in azcko. choropleth generated crime gives a rapid approach in identifying geographic clusters of crime problems, and concentrations of crime (maxfield and babbie, 2009). as shown in figure 4, the dominantly red areas highlights session road area and azcko. it must be noted that physical injury and theft are the top index crimes in baguio city. thus, as an intervention bcpo increased police visibility in these communities. policing strategies like manpower allocation can be facilitated using crime maps (vijay kumar & chandrasekar, 2011). furthermore, it was through this circumstance that community policing was facilitated because of the shortage of police manpower. procor reports a police to population ratio of 1:697 whereas the ideal ratio must be 1:500. thus, force multipliers were tapped from the barangay peacekeeping action team (bpat), procor, and the armed forces of the philippines (afp) counterparts. finally, the third feedback loop was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the said intervention. the gis generated thematic crime maps also served as an evaluation tool for the said intervention. surprisingly, bcpo records indicated a significant decrease in crime incidences and a marked increase in cse. figure 5 shows the physical injury cases for the 1st quarter of 2011 and 1st quarter of 2012. on the other hand, figure 6 shows the theft cases for the 1st quarter of 2011 and 1st quarter of 2012. figure 5. physical injury cases 1st quarter 2011 (left) and 1st quarter 2012 (right) 30 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 5 clearly shows a nine (9) fold decrease in physical injury cases in hotspots from 92 cases to just ten (10) cases. based on procor records, the whole of baguio city experienced a steep drop of physical injury cases from 602 cases in 2011 to 102 cases in 2012. in 2011, 92 physical injury cases were concentrated in azcko but in 2012: lower magsaysay leads with ten (10) incidences, followed by azcko with nine (9) incidences, and loakan proper with eight (8) incidences. furthermore, police interventions resulted to a six (6) fold decrease in theft cases in azcko, from 57 cases in 2011 to 10 cases in 2012. figure 6. theft cases 1st quarter 2011 (left) and 1st quarter 2012 (right) figure 6 clearly shows a three (3) fold decrease in theft cases in session road area, from 78 cases to just 23 cases in 2012. based on procor records, the whole of baguio city experienced a steep drop of theft cases from 657 cases in 2011 to 223 cases in 2012. it was observed that theft cases emanated in ten (10) other barangays with six (6) to 11 theft cases. furthermore, police interventions resulted to a nine (9) fold decrease in physical injury cases in session road area, from 34 cases in 2011 to just four (4) cases this in 2012. the decrease of crime incidents subsequently increased the cse for physical injury and theft. for physical injuries, bcpo reports about fourfold increase, from 7.64% in 2011 to 26.53% in 2012. on the other hand, about a three fold increase for theft from 9.44% in 2011 to 25.13% in 2012. the data gathered for the evaluation of police intervention came from the unit crime periodic report (ucper) of bcpo. the results of the study were presented during the first quarter command conference of 2012 held in procor headquarters in la trinidad, benguet. the command conference was attended by the regional director, city police director, department heads of procor, chief of police of the different bcpo stations, and other key police officers. operational reports of 31 international peer reviewed journal bcpo continue to show a downward trend of crime with the full implementation of gis based crime analysis (gis bca) since october 2012. however, a more detailed assessment of the impact of a gis based crime mapping, secondary phase of time series analysis, and identification of other possible factors in the crime trend should be researched further. conclusions a gis learning framework was created with a triple feedback loop mechanism and a hybrid of learning strategies. traditional gis learning sticks on a generic approach which might downplay learning and motivation. the gis learning framework proved to be effective gis learning tool and iterative mechanism. aside from gis learning, the framework proved to be an effective evaluation tool for police intervention. the combination of problem based learning, outcomes based learning, student centered learning, and participatory learning exhibited complementary roles in the overall learning process. other benefits include rationalization of learning objectives; facilitation of training module, and analytical tool. the gis learning framework is resilient and can act as a learning-solving template for a wide array of problems. however, the learning framework can still be improved by making further studies in other fields. a gum based on the problem scenario was developed. the actual procedure performed in the gum was simulated in the gis training module. based on the findings, specific learning objectives, and training modules were conveniently prepared because of the gum. also, gum aids in anticipating difficulties and minimizing errors during the training. the factors that influence gis learning and its implementation were evident in the participant observation, participant input, learning determinants, and output evaluation. based on the results, participant attitude and leadership commitment played a central role in gis learning and implementation. moreover, attainment of learning objectives with an ample amount of time for mastery and focus group were crucial factors during the training stage. however, the conduct of focus group with staggered phasing of trainings was expensive and time demanding. large group trainings can still be administered yet follow up trainings will still be necessary. police visibility and community policing were interventions made by bcpo as a result of the gis spatial analysis. as an applied research, the most useful crime maps will showed patterns that can help analysts and police decide what sort of action to take (maxfield and babbie, 2009). the interventions were administered in azcko and session road area, the two top crime hotspots. by making a comparison of the 1st 32 jpair multidisciplinary research quarter crime statistics of 2011 and in 2012, a significant decrease in crime incidences, and a marked increase in the crime solution efficiency (cse) were observed. indeed, gis is a program evaluation tool. the facts undoubtedly highlight the efficacy of gis as a crime solution tool. however, an in depth research is recommended to reveal undiscovered truths on phenomenon that transpired. acknowledgement the author wishes to acknowledge the university of the cordilleras through dr. ricardo pama – president, dr. ruben umaly – former vp for research and extension, and ms. geraldine gumagay – former research director for their full support of the gis based crime mapping program. bcpo headed by ps supt david lacdan and procor led by pc supt. benjamin magalong, are highly acknowledged for warmly accommodating the author during the conduct of the research. the utilization of the research should not have been possible without the cooperation and enthusiasm of the baguio city police office (bcpo) – operation department through psi joseph villaran, ms. michelle benter, and the rest of the officers and staff. literature cited baker, thomas 2009 intelligence led-policing: leadership, strategies, and tactics. looseleaf law publications, inc., usa. baguio city police office 2010-2012 unit crime periodic report (ucper). baguio city, philippines: bcpo – operation department. calvo melero, miguel 2005 problem based learning for gis training. in proceedings from the international conference on problem-based learning. lahti, finland. retrieved march 19, 2012, from http://redgeomatica.rediris.es/ica_ madrid2005/papers/calvo-melero.pdf car, adrijana 2004 problem based learning in geoinformation: approach, 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willemijn & scholten, henk j. 2009 spatial literacy: the abc of the (x,y,z), global spatial data infrastructure, nr.186. retrieved march 16, 2012, from http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/ gsdi11/papers/pdf/186.pdf vijaykumar, m. & chandrasekar, c. 2011 evolution of micro, macro, me so level simulations for spatial analysis of burglary in metropolis using crime mapping and gis. international journal of soft computing and engineering, issn: 2231-2307, volume 1, issue-5. retrieved september 24, 2013, from http://www.ijsce.org/ attachments/file/vol-1_issue-5/e0184091511.pdf wendt, w., exner, j.p. 2013) crime mapping for urban planning – a useful tool for new planning times?. proceedings from real corp 2013, may 20-23, 2013; rome, italy, isbn 978-3-9503110-5-1. retrieved september 24, 2013, from http://programm.corp.at/cdrom2013/papers2013/corp2013_95.pdf pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research feedback of domestic employers on the household servicing competency of kasambahays in zamboanga del norte evangeline a. mansanadez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com jrmsu-tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte charo d. aranda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4758-0714 charems79@yahoo.com jrmsu-tampilisan campus poblacion, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract a healthy, safe and peaceful home where love and understanding abode is always the aim of every filipino family. this survey aimed to determine the feedback of domestic employers on the skill and competence of their kasambahay along household servicing tasks such as cleaning, caring for the children, cooking, marketing and doing the laundry; the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment; practice of occupational health and safety standards and relation towards employers and with others. a translated questionnaire-checklist was administered to 422 domestic employers in the 25 municipalities and 2 cities in the province of zamboanga del norte. findings led to the conclusion that the domestic employers find their kasambahay to be skilled in household servicing tasks such as cleaning, caring for the children, cooking, marketing, and doing vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.686 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 mailto:evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 133 international peer reviewed journal the laundry, competent on the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment and in practicing occupational health and safety standards. the domestic employers rated the attitude of their kasambahay as satisfactory in the way the latter relate with others. keywords — domestic employers, household servicing tasks, use and maintenance of household materials and equipment, practice of occupational health and safety standards, relation towards employers, philippines introduction domestic work is one of the oldest and most important occupations for many women in many countries. however, it is one of the occupations that are still undervalued and neglected. it is often regarded as unskilled because most women have traditionally been considered capable of doing the work. when paid, the work remains undervalued and poorly regulated. domestic workers in south korea have existed but neglected. their fundamental human and labor rights have failed to get attention (kim, 2010).  one of the causes for the continuing demand for household service workers is that more women take up full-time jobs and at times, additional part time jobs, other than their main occupations. career women become tied up to their jobs, such that for married women and single parents, child-rearing becomes a heavy burden resulting in the demand for outside domestic help (arat-koc, 1989). in reality, according to chan (2006), domestic workers are substitutions for wives’ domestic labor, and as having symbolic functions for the family household and the wives’ gender role. the presence of live-in domestic workers significantly increases the odds of mothers (but not non-mothers) being economically active. the effects of domestic workers on the odds of whether married women vary work over time and differ according to household income and wives’ educational attainment. in addition to this, cortes and pan (2013) disclosed that domestic workers increased the participation of mothers with a young child (relative to older children) and have generated monthly consumer surplus. on the other hand, groves and lui (2012) stated that men view hiring help as a contractual service and as a ‘gift’ to their wives that allows them to ‘buy out’ of housework and childcare. women, however, are likely to supplement their helper’s contributions with their labor since they view hired help as ‘less-thanoptimal’ childcare. they also feel responsible for the supervision and emotional needs of their helpers by treating them as ‘part of the family’. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research in labor-abundant countries like indonesia and the philippines, migrant workers are considered state assets and the government often calls them the ‘economic heroes’ of the nation. by maximizing economic benefits, the protection of labor migrants is often neglected by both origin and host countries. she recommended that a strong commitment from the government, along with close monitoring by civil society, is needed to ensure better protection for citizens (setyawati, 2013). in bangladesh, domestic workers are usually appointed without any form of formal contract between a practice of occupational health and safety procedure; as well as workers and employers. as a result, most of these workers have to work under poor working conditions with a very low wage taufika (2016). in thailand, the vast majority of its migrant workers are burmese who have emigrated on account of economic hardship, political instability and the repressive policies of the burmese government. most of the burmese migrants work illegally in thailand (mon, 2010). oftentimes, the family becomes heavily dependent on the quality of services rendered by the kasambahay. employers expect that the kasambahay are competent in the different aspects of household servicing, such as use and maintenance of household materials and equipment; the practice of occupational health and safety procedure; as well as the relationship with their employers. it is important, therefore, for the household service workers to be skilled and competent along their duties and responsibilities, such as cleaning, childcare, cooking, shopping and doing the laundry as well as along household servicing performance standards on: use and maintenance of household materials and equipment; practice of occupational health and safety procedures and relationship with employers in order to identify the household servicing areas in which the kasambahay need education and training. a translated questionnaire checklist was fielded to the 442 domestic employers residing in the poblacion areas in the 25 towns and 2 cities in the province of zamboanga del norte, region ix. conceptual framework of the study the conceptual framework of the study is composed of two frames in which the independent variable, contained in the first frame is the feedback of domestic employers on the skill and competence of their kasambahay and the dependent variable, contained in the second frame is the skill and competence of their kasambahay along household servicing tasks. 135 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aimed to look into the feedback of domestic employers on the skill and competence of their kasambahay in their employment along household servicing tasks such as cleaning, caring for the children, cooking, marketing and doing the laundry; the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment; practice of occupational health and safety standards and relation towards employers and with others. research methodology research design this study made use of the descriptive method of research particularly survey technique employing a researcher-made questionnaire-checklist to gather relevant data of the study to the 422 domestic employers from the province of zamboanga del norte. it is descriptive in purpose, gathering salient information from the feedback of domestic employers on the skill and competence of their kasambahay in their employment along household servicing tasks. research site this study was conducted in the 25 municipalities and 2 cities in the province of zamboanga del norte, namely; congressional district (cd 1) – dapitan city, la libertad, mutia, pinan, polanco, rizal, sergio osmena and sibutad. congressional district 2 (cd2) dipolog dity, jose dalman, katipunan, manukan, pres. manuel a. roxas, siayan and sindangan. congressional 136 jpair multidisciplinary research district 3 (cd3) – bacungan, godod, gutalac, labason, liloy, salug, siocon, sirawai, sibuco, baliquian, kalawit and tampilisan. participants the respondents of the study were the four hundred twenty-two (422) domestic employers from the province of zamboanga del norte who was considered by purposive sampling technique. the researchers sought permission from the office of the municipal mayor of each municipality by sending letter requests asking for approval to field the questionnaire-checklist to the domestic employer-respondents in their respective municipality. instrumentation this study made use of a translated researcher-made questionnairechecklist. the research instrument was submitted to the research director of the university for its development, enhancement, and validation. the committee of validators is composed of three (3) persons who are holders of doctoral degree in their field of specialization and are expert in the field or research. the validated instrument was pilot tested to ten (10) domestic employers who are not included as respondents of the study. results were submitted for a test of reliability. a cronbach’s alpha test revealed a value of 0.79 which indicates a high level of internal consistency for the scale used in the study. results and discussion table 1. kasambahay’s skill in cleaning as household servicing task item statements on cleaning as household servicing task cd1 cd2 cd3 total avewm des avewm des avewm des avewm des 1. cleaning rooms, sala, kitchen, comfort room 4.60 hs 4.23 hs 4.40 hs 4.41 hs 2. cleaning the front and the backyard. 4.41 hs 3.95 s 4.27 hs 4.21 hs 3. emptying wastebaskets and transporting trash and waste to disposal areas 4.28 hs 3.8 s 4.25 hs 4.11 s 137 international peer reviewed journal 4. dusting and polishing furniture and equipment. 4.08 s 3.74 s 4.17 s 4.00 s 5. cleaning rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, and draperies, using vacuum cleaners. 3.95 s 3.75 s 3.98 s 3.89 s 6. keeping storage areas well-stocked, clean and tidy. 4.09 s 3.77 s 4.16 s 4.01 s 7. sweeping, scrubbing, waxing, or polishing floors, using brooms, mops, or powered scrubbing and waxing machines. 4.09 s 3.79 s 4.17 s 4.02 s 8. washing windows, walls, ceilings, and woodwork, waxing and polishing as necessary 4.22 h s 3.71 s 4.25 hs 4.06 s 9. washing dishes, cooking utensils and silverware 4.09 s 4.14 s 4.50 hs 4.24 hs 10. hanging draperies and dust window blinds. 3.90 s 4.05 s 4.13 s 4.03 s 11. moving and arranging furniture and turn mattresses. 3.84 s 3.91 s 4.13 s 3.96 s 12. disinfecting equipment and supplies, and using germicides or steamoperated sterilizers 3.80 s 3.98 s 4.03 s 3.94 s total awm 4.11 s 3.90 4.20 s 4.07 s rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 llearning 138 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1 presents the summarized data on the competency of the kasambahay in performing their household servicing tasks, particularly in cleaning the house. according to roldan & crespo, (2003), domestic household service workers (hsw’s) or refers to housekeeping maintenance in a house, covering the bedrooms, kitchen, dining, receiving area, grounds, and the surrounding areas within the house. maintenance in this context involves regularly cleaning those areas. domestic employers in congressional district 1 assessed the cleaning of the kasambahay in their employment with diverse average weighted mean; congressional district 1 (4.11); congressional district 2 (3.90); and congressional district 3 (4.07) all falling within the descriptive rating “skilled”, indicative of the kasambahay’s ability to work with minimum supervision of their employers. sayres (2005) revealed that households with domestic workers could increase their participation in the labor force, and thus enjoy greater household earnings. cortes and tessada (2011) found out that low-skilled immigration increases average hours of market work and the probability of working long hours of women at the top quartile of the wage distribution. domestic workers decrease the time they spend on household work and increase expenditures on housekeeping services.  table 2. kasambahay’s skill in child care as a household servicing task item statements in child care as household servicing task cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 13. preparing the baby’s bath needs: water, towel, soap, shampoo, etc. 4.44 hs 3.82 s 3.68 s 3.98 s 14. bathing the baby carefully, but thoroughly. 4.01 s 3.78 s 3.59 s 3.79 s 15. changing baby’s diapers correctly. 3.76 s 3.87 s 3.71 s 3.78 s 16. preparing a baby’s formula correctly and hygienically. 4.13 s 3.85 s 3.71 s 3.90 s 17. feeding the baby with the correct amount of food.. 3.98 s 3.98 s 3.69 s 3.88 s total avm 4.06 s 3.86 s 3.68 s 4.07 s rating scale: description: 139 international peer reviewed journal 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning for households having babies or toddlers, childcare is an important aspect of skill and expertise, given the delicate nature of childcare. it is important to mention that some households hire a household service worker whose sole duty is looking after the baby. there are also households who are on a tight budget, thus, the kasambahay is saddled with double responsibility of doing the household chore as well as performing childcare tasks. such situations as cited tend to be one of the reasons why among all the employers across the three (3) congressional districts, only one (1) item, on the simple chore of preparing the baby’s bath needs, registered an average weighted mean of 4.44, interpreted as “skilled” as a chore in which the kasambahay can demonstrate a high degree of skill, while all the other related tasks are assessed by the employers on the average level of skill. related to this result, de guzman (2014) claimed that domestic workers were mostly female “yayas” caring for young children while they were separated from their offspring, most of whom were left behind in their rural communities, in which having experienced rural poverty; the role of women in raising children; and the role of parents in children’s upbringing and obligations of extended family; all together resulting in a heavy personal burden and transformed parenting strategies in light of spatial distance. however, asis (2006) revealed that, in the philippines, large-scale overseas migration had raised concerns about left-behind children, who are perceived to be most affected by the absence of fathers, mothers or both. without their ‘real’ parents (especially mothers) to rear and guide them, left-behind children are perceived to bear the brunt of the social costs of migration.  cortes (2015) also revealed that children of migrant mothers are more likely to lag in school compared to children with migrant fathers and a mother’s absence has a stronger detrimental effect than a father’s. on the other hand, tang and yung (2016) found that the evidence consistently points to filipino domestic workers improving the educational outcomes of school children by decreasing their probability of late schooling or increasing their scores of core academic subjects. english-speaking ability and maturity are shown to be the most important assets of the fdws in improving children’s educational outcomes. their findings suggest that the latter provide an important childrearing service. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. kasambahays’ skill in cooking as household servicing task item statements in cooking as household servicing task cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 18. preparing meals by following employer’s instructions 4.43 hs 4.19 s 4.23 hs 4.28 hs 19. serving meals following family specifications 4.23 hs 4.44 hs 4.11 s 4.26 hs 20. cooking meals are observing proper hygiene and cleanliness. 4.17 s 4.45 hs 4.33 hs 4.32 hs 21. can cook a variety of dishes. 3.98 s 4.29 hs 4.00 s 4.09 s total awm 4.20 s 4.34 hs 4.17 s 4.24 hs rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning in terms of skill in cooking, only the domestic employers in congressional district 2 rated their kasambahay’s cooking task as highly skilled. because of the overall weighted means gained by the kasambahay working for employers in congressional districts 1 and 3, the general weighted mean reached 4.24, described as ”highly skilled.” it can be inferred from the overall weighted means of the situation-specific items on cooking tasks that, although the kasambahay exhibit relatively high skill in cooking tasks, the variety tends to be limited on the menus or recipes which are possibly the food preferences of the family they are serving. the findings of the study of short (2003) revealed that useful insight into people’s cooking practices and approaches came from interpreting cooking skills as complex (consisting of mechanical, perceptual, conceptual, academic and planning skills) and ‘person-centered’. 141 international peer reviewed journal table 4. kasambahay’s skill in shopping or marketing as household servicing task item statements in shopping or marketing as household servicing task cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 22. shop groceries and household products wisely. 4.12 s 4.05 s 3.99 s 4.06 s 23. account money was given for grocery shopping. 4.12 s 3.99 s 3.96 s 4.03 s 24. know how to discriminate fresh fish, vegetables and other food items 4.03 s 4.11 s 4.07 s 4.07 s 25. know how to get the best value from money spent on grocery items. 3.82 s 4.05 s 3.89 s 3.92 s 26. can keep records expenditures. 3.78 s 4.04 s 3.90 s 3.91 s total awm 3.98 s 4.05 s 3.96 s 4.00 s rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning table 4 displays the kasambahay’s skill in shopping or marketing. shopping for food supplies and other basic needs for the family members is one important task which the domestic employer entrusts to the hsw or kasambahay. this particular household servicing task likewise challenges the financial management and trustworthiness of the kasambahay in managing the budget entrusted by the employer. shopping or marketing requires a knowledgeable degree of assessing the quality of food items, and speedy calculation of prices as against the budget, thus, a kasambahay should have more than enough exposure to acquire a particular degree of skill along this aspect. although differing in the posted average weighted means for every item, yet, all the domestic employers across the three (3) congressional districts rated the kasambahay’s skill on the average, but not one item is assessed by the employers as a shopping or marketing task 142 jpair multidisciplinary research the kasambahay had evidently shown a remarkable degree of skill. in relation to this, the result of the study conducted by chong, kwan, chi, lou, and leung (2014) disclosed that spousal caregivers who provided personal care related to activities of daily living were more likely to be distressed if they were not assisted by domestic helpers. anggia and teuku (2018) in indonesia, suggested that the government need to focus more on the skill and capacity building of migrant workers, by also imposing the social protection approach towards them. table 5. kasambahay’s skill in doing the laundry as household servicing task item statements in doing the laundry as household servicing task cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 27. sorting clothes and other articles for washing. 4.32 hs 4.28 hs 4.30 hs 4.30 hs 28. taking care that washed clothes are not discoloured 4.20 s 4.29 hs 4.12 s 4.20 s 29. removing stains either in white or colored clothes 4.12 s 4.06 s 3.93 s 4.04 s 30. making washed clothes smell fresh 4.25 s 4.21 hs 4.09 s 4.19 s 31. washing clothes either manually or with the use of a washing machine 4.08 s 4.30 hs 4.23 hs 4.20 s 32. folding clothes neatly and storing them correctly in linen closets or cabinets. 4.30 s 4.20 s 4.13 s 4.21 hs 33. ironing clothes carefully. 4.28 hs 4.13 s 3.85 s 4.09 s total awm 4.22 hs 4.21 hs 4.09 s 4.18 s rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning 143 international peer reviewed journal doing the laundry is one of the time-consuming household tasks, and also requires a lot of patience and care from the kasambahay. the domestic employers in congressional district 1 and 2 rated their kasambahay as highly skilled sorting out clothes for washing and ironing 4.22. and 4.21, respectively, contrary to the weighted mean posted by domestic employers in congressional district 3 (4.09), described as skilled manifesting average level skill. as the ilo (2011) defined that domestic workers are those who work in and for a household or households in an employment relationship (convention no. 189), they recalled that these people perform a range of services and tasks; they may cook, clean the house, wash and iron laundry, watch over young children, take care of the elderly or the sick, take care of the family garden, drive the family car, guard the house and/or even take care of the family pet. they clarified that although domestic workers perform essential services for the wellbeing of families and the smooth functioning of the national economy, they have long been ignored in labor legislation and social policy. table 6. kasambahay’s competence in the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment item statements in the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. identifying household cleaning tools and equipment according to use. 4.34 hc 4.06 c 4.20 hc 4.20 hc 2. preparing the correct cleaning tools and equipment correctly. 3.87 c 3.99 c 4.19 c 4.02 c 3. following instructions or directions correctly in handling different tools, equipment, supplies and materials. 3.98 c 3.88 c 3.99 c 3.95 c 4. cleaning tools and equipment after using. 3.70 c 4.09 c 4.18 c 3.99 c 5. returning tools and equipment in storage rooms after using 4.03 c 4.11 c 4.16 c 4.10 c 144 jpair multidisciplinary research 6. not exposing equipment, whether electrical or manual, to rain and water. 4.02 c 3.69 c 4.03 c 3.91 c overall wm 3.99 c 3.97 c 4.13 c 4.03 c rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning table 6 focused on the kasambahay’s competence in the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment necessary for the determination of their holistic competence in this line of work. it can be inferred that household employers noticed a particular deficiency among the kasambahay, that of caring and taking extra care of household materials or equipment being used in the household of their employer (item 6). remarkably, informal conversation with the domestic employers disclosed that only a small number of kasambahay displays care and maintain household materials and equipment like these were their things. another consideration for this deficiency can be attributed to the fact that the kasambahay lacked the necessary formal training along this line of work. the study of sibal & foo (2016) found that foreign domestic workers inadequately meet the requisites for digital and information literacy, which are indispensable yet lacking among many low-skilled migrants. aside from this, platt, yeoh and acedera (2014) also declared that due to singapore’s stringent migration regime, whereby foreign domestic workers are required to live-in with their employers, domestic workers often find their access and use of icts subject to a high degree of surveillance and regulation by their employers. reliance upon communications technology by both domestic workers and their employers necessitates a renegotiation of social relations in the household. findings and insights of the study of battistella, park, and asis (2011) recommend that programs on migration must be improved to promote awareness and understanding of basic policies, rights and decent work conditions. migrant workers’ education program reinforced with post-arrival orientation programs in the destination countries must be improved. 145 international peer reviewed journal table 7. kasambahay’s competence in the practice of occupational health and safety procedure item statements in the practice of occupational health and safety procedure cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. keeping work areas neat and orderly. 4.62 hc 4.35 hc 4.43 hc 4.47 hc 2. maintaining halls and floors free of slip and trip hazards. 4.02 c 4.05 c 4.21 hc 4.09 c 3. removing waste materials and other fire hazards from work areas. 4.09 c 3.92 c 4.18 c 4.06 c 4. reading, and following directions on how to use electrical appliances before use. 3.91 c 3.92 c 4.01 c 3.95 c 5. knowing how to handle electrical equipment correctly 4.14 c 3.81 c 4.10 c 4.02 c 6. handling equipment with care. never use electrical equipment in wet surfaces 3.95 c 3.66 c 4.23 hc 3.95 c overall wm / des 4.13 c 3.95 4.19 c 4.09 c rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 hs highly skilled 3.41 – 4.20 sas satisfactorily skilled 2.61 – 3.40 ms moderately skilled 1.81 – 2.60 sls slightly skilled 1.00 – 1.80 l learning another basic aspect of kasambahay’s household servicing work is the practice of occupational health and safety procedures while on the actual performance of the household task. this aspect is crucial as it is specifically provided in ra 10361 that in no way should the worker’s safety be endangered while in the actual performance of her duties. notably, of the six (6) situation-specific items, the practice of keeping the work areas neat and orderly to avoid untoward incident is the procedure which has been consistently practiced by them, thus, the highly competent rating. it should be pointed out that this particular aspect of the kasambahay’s work requires reading and understanding the printed texts or labels of household products. it should be pointed out that in the survey of personal profiles of kasambahay, data indicated that although there were those who finished third 146 jpair multidisciplinary research and fourth year high school, the majority were only able to acquire an elementary education. it would follow that the kasambahay would be remarkably deficient in this aspect of household servicing. similarly, the results of the study of poole (2013) disclosed that higher-skilled former multinational workers are better able to transfer information, and higher-skilled incumbent domestic workers are better able to absorb information. salih (2015) concluded that the best way to deal with the problems faced by domestic workers is the inclusion of them in all aspects of employment and health and safety protection, the regulation of domestic work, and a review of the domestic workers ‘visas. wang and wu (2017) suggested that there is a need for developing training and educational programs about legal rights protection and cultural competency for domestic helpers and the need to promote domestic helpers’ access to health care and social welfare and opportunities for career advancement, and provide respectful working conditions. table 8. kasambahay’s relationship with employers and with others item statements in the relationship of kasambahay with others cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des showing respect for employer’s authority and responsibility 4.70 e 4.25 vs 4.54 e 4.49 e not disclosing information about the private lives or affairs of their employers. 4.38 e 4.20 vs 4.18 vs 4.25 e not using derogatory language about their employers, both written and verbal. 4.27 e 3.97 vs 4.21 e 4.15 vs not encouraging male/ female employers to take advantage of them by having a personal illicit or sexual contact, or other verbal or nonverbal conduct of sexual nature. 4.02 vs 3.98 vs 4.24 e 4.08 vs not abandoning clients or employers when they are still in need of their services. 4.18 vs 3.98 vs 4.19 vs 4.12 vs 147 international peer reviewed journal not making their personal affairs interfere with their abilities to fulfil their responsibilities. 4.17 vs 3.89 vs 3.96 vs 4.00 vs understanding the importance of nonverbal communication through facial expressions, posture and behaviour. 4.17 vs 3.95 vs 4.22 e 4.11 vs maintaining a behaviour that does not offend anybody. 4.14 vs 3.78 vs 4.13 vs 4.01 vs overall wm / des 4.25 e 4.00 vs 4.21 vs 4.15 vs rating scale: description: 4.21 – 5.00 e excellent 3.41 – 4.20 vs very satisfactory 2.61 – 3.40 s satisfactory 1.81 – 2.60 fs fairly satisfactory 1.00 – 1.80 ns not satisfactory since kasambahay’s work is servicing household, including the members of the family, relationship with others play a vital role in their achievement of satisfaction and contentment in the workplace. remarkably, the domestic employers gave a high rating on how the kasambahay demonstrate an interpersonal relationship with them as employers and with other people around them. it can be noted that the domestic employers reveal that the kasambahay’s ways and manners are ethical, despite the level of formal education and the absence of formal training in the actual performance of their duties. the average weighted means posted in every situation’s specific item tends to disclose the fact that the kasambahays hold their employers in high esteem and respect. in addition, the kasambahay’s servile attitude, tend to be a contributing factor to their high competence in dealing with their employers and with others. related to this result is the study of french & lam (1988) which states that the relationship between employers and their live-in servants is a paternalistic one. thus while these women are paid a salary each month, they must maintain a respectful and obedient attitude towards their employers, who in turn treat them as a father would a child. in caring for the welfare of their servants, various 148 jpair multidisciplinary research sanctions are imposed by the employers; for example, few filipina domestic workers are allowed out at night time and most have to be home by a certain hour on their day off. on the other hand, marais (2016) also disclosed that caring and connectedness emerged as the main theme that characterized the domestic worker’s positive employment relationships. this finding is consistent with the broaden-and-build theory which proposes a positive behavioral cycle which results from reciprocal actions. conclusions on the basis of the findings, it can be concluded that the domestic employers find their kasambahay as skilled in household servicing tasks such as cleaning, caring for the children, cooking, marketing and doing the laundry; competent on the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment and in practicing occupational health and safety standards. they rated the attitude of their kasambahay as very satisfactory in the way the latter relate with their employers and others. translational research the findings of this study highly suggest to uplift the value and worth of domestic workers locally and internationally from the law and thereby afford them with all their rights and privileges, welfare and protection against violence, prejudices and discrimination. recommendations the government must consider allocating funds to tesda for the training of domestic helpers on the use and maintenance of household materials and equipment and in practicing occupational health and safety standards. domestic helpers should be required to obtain a national certificate from tesda as proof of their skill before applying for a kasambahay job. literature cited anggia, u. d., & teuku, 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exchange for payment, which may take the form of wages or salary. the aim of this study was to determine the spending behavior of non-teaching personnel in private higher educational institutions in albay and how they are going to improve their spending behavior. this study used mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative research designs, and utilizing a survey questionnaire which has three parts, to gather the necessary data and information needed for this study. using the statistical tool frequency count and percentage distribution, likert scale, and ranking. the analyzed data revealed that the respondents “often” spend on their necessities and “seldom” when it comes to their leisure. however, there are problems encountered by the respondents along with their spending practices that resulted in not having a budget plan. employees should always keep track of their expenses to ensure proper spending. as a result, they will become more aware of their finances, which will make it easier for them to alter their spending habits by being able to track where their money is going. employees vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.437 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:fmll0212@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 119 international peer reviewed journal should be aware of the significance of their financial decisions. they will have a better chance of being financially secure if they have the right knowledge in handling finances. keywords — spending behavior, non-teaching, qualitative, quantitative, finances, private hei, albay, philippines introduction spending is employing a person’s money for a specific transaction, such as purchasing products or services. frequent spending influences how a person meets their wants and needs with his or her money. this involves how an individual, like a public high school teacher, uses the money to purchase and protect their financial stability. spending behavior is not limited to expenditure but also includes the behavior of saving and borrowing (marasigan et al., 2022). according to the study of altamimi and tadele (2022), the consumption behavior of uae residents during the pandemic has not changed much compared to pre-pandemic time, although some have lost some of their income. the study also reports that uae customers experienced less panic buying during the pandemic. in addition, the findings show that approximately 57% of respondents do not have sufficient savings, such as emergency funds, and 51% do not have insurance. overall, it can be concluded that uae customers were able to stabilize their consumption behavior without significant changes in general consumption behavior. the high level of customer optimism can explain the stable spending of uae customers during the pandemic on the likelihood of economic recovery in the post-pandemic period. yildirim and özbek (2022) stated that the prevention-focus factor has no direct or indirect effect on financial behavior. further, preventionfocus is found to have a positive effect on powerprestige, retentiontime, distrust, and anxiety, which are among the factors that define attitude towards money. however, the retention-time factor is the only money attitude factor found to have a positive effect on financial behavior. the relationship between money and happiness is complex. while a large amount of literature demonstrates a small but significant positive association between overall income and well-being, a relatively new area of research explores the emotional consequences of everyday spending choices. here we review this recent but rapidly growing area of investigation. we begin by briefly summarizing 120 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the link between money and happiness. then, through the lens of 2 dominant models of human happiness, we suggest that seemingly inconsequential spending choices may provide an underappreciated and underutilized route to greater wellbeing (aknin et al., 2018). in addition, magendans et al. (2017) stated that perceived financial selfefficacy and financial risk tolerance both predicted participants’ intention to save for a financial buffer. in turn, perceived financial self-efficacy and saving intention predicted self-reported saving behavior. importantly, perceived saving barriers mediated the relationship between saving intention and self-reported saving behavior. according to sabri et al. (2020), enhancing the trend of better financial management practices is essential, especially for working employees, due to the increased levels of existing personal indebtedness and increasing focus on personal responsibility for financial planning among them. nowadays, employees’ role in managing their finances is becoming complex due to experiencing the complexity of financial commodities in the marketplace. previous research not only documents low levels of financial literacy in general, but also uncovers high heterogeneity in financial literacy across the population, suggesting that economically vulnerable groups continue to be disadvantaged by a lack of financial literacy. in addition, we review the literature evaluating financial education as a means of improving financial literacy and financial behavior by stolper and walter (2017). in the study of sunjono and linawati (2022). in making investment decisions, it is necessary to have a thorough rationale based on the financial literacy of investors. however, the financial literacy possessed by indonesian people is still relatively low. this means that there are other factors that influence stock investment decisions, one of which is overconfidence.  the definition makes it clear that financial literacy is something more than knowledge. it also includes attitudes, behavior, and skills. it stresses the importance of decision-making–applying knowledge and skills to a real-life process–and indicates that the impact should improve one’s financial well-being (świecka, 2019). however, reported challenges such as lack of scientific knowledge and skills, heavy teaching load and lack of financial support from schools prevented them from doing so. attending and participating in research training, receiving research incentives and a lighter teaching schedule were what teachers felt they needed to explore. (ulla et al., 2017). 121 international peer reviewed journal sustainable consumer behavior is defined as consumer acts that consider the current and future interests of themselves and others when they purchase and use market goods. the behavior change theory used here refers to the trans theoretical model of behavior change (ttm), a commonly used behavior change theory in health and finance (xiao, 2019). low financial literacy is a global phenomenon. in an increasingly materialistic and complex world, a lack of financial literacy can lead to financial problems, even among college and university students. despite the importance of financial literacy among the young, there is still a dearth of studies on financial literacy and behavior (yew et al., 2017). the relationship between money and happiness is complex. while a large amount of literature demonstrates a small but significant positive association between overall income and well-being, a relatively new area of research explores the emotional consequences of everyday spending choices (aknin et al., (2018). in order to ensure their financial stability, both families and individuals have to effectively manage their incomes and spending on a daily basis. since these are based on various types of financial transactions, understanding spending behavior can significantly help people in making better decisions (hristoski et al., 2019).  consumers, employees, and organizations have been deeply impacted by covid-19 pandemic. the present study offers a detailed coping mechanism for organizations based on the extant literature and content analysis of responses of senior management executives. the study is based on semi-structured long interviews with senior executives from various industries. various measures have been identified for firms as a coping strategy for crisis management and customer well-being. covid-19 has changed the way individuals live. this study suggests that firms should come forward for well-being of their employees in this new normal. one of the major shifts due to the pandemic is in consumer behavior and consumption habits. the pandemic made consumers go for digitization and think about hygiene, sustainability, and local products. and firms should keep the changed consumer behavior in mind while manufacturing the products. furthermore, the present study suggests that firms can create a positive image of their company by doing csr activities for society’s well-being (nayal et al., 2022). in designing the city of the future, city managers and urban planners are driven by specific citizens’ behaviors. economic and financial behaviors, specifically, which goods and services citizens purchase and how they allocate 122 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 their spending, play a central role in planning targeted services. in this context, cashless payments provide an invaluable data source to identify such spending behaviors. in this work, we propose a methodology to extract the consumption behaviors of a large sample of customers through credit card transaction data. the main outcome of the methodology is a concise representation of the economic behavior of people residing in a city, the so-called city consumption profile (galdeman et al., 2021). framework this study is anchored on the hierarchy of needs theory and consumer buying behavior theory. hierarchy of need theory abraham maslow’s hierarchy of needs identifies humans’ basic self-actualization, self-esteem, social, safety, and physiological needs.  the top level of maslow’s hierarchy is selfactualization needs that help a human to attain the highest level of satisfaction. it occurs after all other needs are fulfilled and is a process wherein individuals establish themselves in society.  self-esteem needs refer to the need for respect, appreciation, and acknowledgment.  social needs are related to acceptance, love, and belonging.  safety needs include the feeling of being financially, mentally, physically, and emotionally secure. physiological needs are the most basic needs and include everything essential for a human’s survival. philip kotler outlined a 5 stage model for the buying process. the first stage is problem recognition, the buyer`s decision process in which the consumer recognizes a problem or need. the recognition of need becomes a drive to satisfy that need and wants. the second stage is the information search, the stage in the buyer’s decision process where the consumer is encouraged to seek additional information. the intensity of the information search is partly determined by the level of the consumer’s drive to satisfy their need. the third stage is alternative evaluation, the stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer searches out and uses the information to evaluate alternative brands. it is vital for the marketer to know what attributes are important to the buyer during this stage. the fourth stage is the purchase decision, followed by the evaluation of alternatives stage, during which a purchasing intent is made. between the formation of a purchasing intent and the completion of a purchasing decision, the buyer can again change course and make different choices. the final stage is post-purchase behavior, the stage of the process in which the buyer takes further action after purchase based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their purchase. 123 international peer reviewed journal the purchasing power parity (ppp) developed concept in the 16th century in the school of salamanca, gustav cassel developed it in its current form in 1916. although gustav cassel’s use of the ppp concept has historically been seen as an effort to develop a positive theory of exchange rate determination, the theoretical and policy context in which cassel wrote about exchange rates points to a different interpretation. politicians and economists discussed ways to bring back the gold standard, which would automatically bring back the system of fixed exchange rates among participating countries, in the years immediately before and after world war i. ppp is a metric for comparing the absolute buying power of various currencies that takes into account the cost of particular items in various nations. the price of a basket of products at one location divided by the price of the same basket of goods at a different location is effectively what makes up the ppp ratio. because of tariffs and other transaction costs, the ppp inflation and exchange rate may be different from the market exchange rate. the  basket  of  goods picked has a big impact on how much  the ppp exchange rate is  worth. the  law of one  price is generally closely followed when choosing products. therefore, goods can be  traded easily and are  widely  available in both  places.  it’s possible that the market exchange rate and the  ppp exchange rate differences. the market rate fluctuates more because it responds to shifts in demand at each location. when comparing national production and consumption, as well as in other instances where the costs of non-traded goods are high, the purchasing  power parity exchange rate is used. (market exchange rates are applied to each traded item.). ppp rates can be used when that attribute is crucial because they are more stable over time. ppp exchange rates assist with costing but do not include profits or, more importantly, take into account the varying quality of goods between nations. for example, the same product may be subject to different taxes and shipping costs and have varying degrees of quality and safety in various nations. since market exchange rates  are highly volatile, if  the gdp of one country  is calculated  in its currency  and then  converted to the  currency of the  other  country  using market exchange rates,  it is possible to infer that  one  country’s  real gdp  was higher  than the other  country  in one year but lower in the  following.  both of these  conclusions  would  be inaccurate, given  their  actual  relative  production levels. the false inference will not occur if  ppp exchange  rates, rather than  observed market exchange rates,  are used to convert  the  gdp of one 124 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 country into the currency of the other. in essence,  gdp measured at ppp controls for the  various  living  expenses  and price levels,  typically  relative to the  us  dollar,  allowing for  a more  precise estimation  of a  country’s  level of production. ppp exchange rates are  particularly helpful  when  governments artificially manipulate official exchange  rates. official exchange  rates  that artificially strengthen a nation’s currency are occasionally enforced in nations with strong government economic control. on the other hand, the currency›s black market exchange rate is  deceptively low. a  ppp exchange rate is  probably  the most  accurate foundation  for economic  comparison in such circumstances. a ppp exchange rate also presents a better alternative for comparison  when exchange rates significantly depart from their long-term equilibrium as a result of speculative attacks or carry trade. objectives of the study the objectives are to (1) determine the spending behavior of the non-teaching personnel among the selected private higher education institutions in the 2nd district of albay. specifically, this study aims to (2) identify the demographic profile of the employees in terms of personal, economic, and professional, (3) determine the spending behavior along with their necessities and leisure, (3) identify the problems encountered by the non-teaching personnel in their spending practices, and (4) propose development program that can improve the spending behavior of the non-teaching personnel. methodology research design the researcher used a mixed method, such as quantitative and qualitative research, to collect quantifiable data from the population sample for statistical analysis. this method disused to describe a population or situation. asking questions or using a tool to find out or obtain information questionnaire. the researcher was able to use the survey questionnaire approach to conduct the investigation and interviews to gather more information and to determine the spending behavior of non-teaching personnel in private higher educational institutions in albay province. 125 international peer reviewed journal research site the specific target area is concentrated within the 2nd district of albay. the albay’s 2nd congressional district is one of the three congressional districts of the philippines in the province of albay. research respondents the respondents of the study were non-teaching personnel in private higher education institutions in albay province. there was a total of 64 nonteaching personnel as the respondents who were the primary source of data. their demographic profile consists of personal, economic, and professional spending behavior along with their basic necessity and leisure and problems encountered by the respondents in their spending practices. a total of 64 respondents from (16) bicol college inc., (16) computer arts and technological college inc., (16) forbes college, and (16) mariners polytechnic colleges foundation of legazpi city inc. instrumentation the researcher used a survey questionnaire. it was divided into three parts. part i dealt with the respondent’s demographic profile, including personal, economic, and professional, using frequency count and percentage distribution. part ii on determining the spending behavior along their basic necessity, such as food, education, clothing, and shelter, and leisure, such as going to shopping malls, outings, and traveling. the statistical tool used to determine was weighted mean using likert’s four scales as always, often, seldom, and never. the third part deals with the problems encountered in their spending practices by the respondents using the ranking from 1 to 10. since the research instrument was self-made, the researcher did research from related studies and asked for comments and suggestions from the adviser, panel members, and statistician for the improvement of the survey questionnaire. data gathering procedure a request letter from the researcher asking for the total number of nonteaching personnel signed by the research adviser and dean was distributed to the four private higher education institutions’ personnel offices or human resource departments. after approval from the respective office, the questionnaires were delivered by the researcher to the office, and the three other schools were the ones who are responsible for distributing the questionnaire to the respondents, while the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/congressional_districts_of_the_philippines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/congressional_districts_of_the_philippines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/albay 126 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 other one was personally distributed to the respondents. the questionnaire contains a short letter for the respondents. the personnel in institutions assisted the researcher in the retrieval process. then it was analyzed and interpreted after using statistical tools. sampling technique the researcher used primary and secondary data. the primary data was from the respondents through survey questionnaires. the process of gathering the secondary data was done by scanning from published journals, the internet, specifically google scholar, academia.eu, and other electronic data sources. data analysis the researcher showed patience and effort. the successful completion of the research requires consideration of the respondents’ time. the researcher used a structured questionnaire as her instrument. statistical treatments are tools used to better analyze the computations in this study. these statistical measures are based on making interpretations, conclusions, and generalizations. for part 1, under demographic profile, frequency, and percentage count were used to determine the number of times each variable or event occurs. the data analysis for part ii, underspending behavior, along with the respondents’ basic necessity and leisure, used the weighted mean and likert scale to determine the spending behavior by indicating how each statement is true of how they feel, think, or act most of the time in most situations interpreted. the ranking is also used in part iii under the problems encountered by the respondents in their spending practices to arrive at an adequate and accurate interpretation of the result of the study. results and discussion table 1. depicts the demographic profile of the respondents along with sex, age, civil status, number of dependents, and number of years employed. 127 international peer reviewed journal table 1. demographic profile sex frequency percentage male 16 25.00 female 48 75.00 total 64 100.00 age 21-30 25 39.06 31-40 19 29.69 41-50 11 17.19 51 above 9 14.06 total 64 100.00 civil status single 30 46.88 married 29 45.31 separated 3 4.69 widow/widower 2 3.12 total 64 100.00 number of dependents 1-2 32 50.02 3-4 9 14.06 5-6 1 1.56 none 22 34.36 total 64 100.00 number of years employed less than 10 years 43 67.19 10-20 years 14 21.88 more than 20 years 7 10.93 total 64 100.00 in terms of gender, the majority of the respondents were female, with (48) or 75.00 percent outsourcing the (16) or 25.00 percent that the male emerged. the female non-teaching personnel of the institutions is greater compared to the male because females prefer to work in offices than males. in the study of bugheanu and străchinaru (2020), in terms of sex, both women and men tend to spend, but it depends on the categories of goods and services on which they are based. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the table also presents that the highest age bracket from the respondents are those belonging to the age of 21 to 30 years old, obtaining a (25) or 39.06 percent in contrast to the 14.06 percent settled by the oldest bracket of the respondents, which got (9) or 14.06 percent in 51 years old and above, conscious spending behavior had the linear relationships in sex, and attitudes that money represents achievement, respect, and freedom. impulsive spending behavior had linear relationships in age, self-esteem, and attitudes that money is good and that money is evil, and attitude that money represents freedom; excessive spending behavior had linear relationships in sex, self-esteem, and attitudes that money represent achievement, respect, and freedom (kurnia & achmadi (2022). in relation to the result of the previous variable, there are more single respondents who acquired a (30) or 46.88 percent, and widow/widower is the least, which has a (2) or 3.12 percent. it is immeasurable whether single, married, separated, or even widow or widower; financial understanding and know-how are within other levels of data. this can be supported by previous studies by bosire and owour (2018). the findings showed that age, gender, and income were significant factors, and all had a positive effect on the value of investments in financial assets. gender and income were found to have a positive, significant effect on investment value in non-financial assets as well as on aggregate investment value. on the other hand, those who had 1 to 2 dependents were the highest turn, out that got (32) or 50.00 percent of the respondents who opposed the (1) or 1.56 percent to turn out from those who had 5 to 6 dependents. we may draw that employees managed to have good family planning and a diverse number of dependents in ratio to their age. in a study by yunchao et al. (2020), general financial wellness tends to be the main factor affecting consumption rather than debt. households with poorer financial wellness make more frequent cuts to daily meals, fruit, utility, transportation, clothing, medical care, vacations, and leisure activities. although the impact of debt on consumption is not extensive, it must be closely monitored to ensure that the risk is contained and that the wellbeing of households is not adversely affected. the highest number of years employed are those who served the institution less than ten years, obtaining a (43) or 67.19, and the least contribution who had their length of service for more than 20 years with a (7) or 10.93 percent. this interprets that the employees are very much dedicated to their work that they can afford to reach such a length of service. research from janardhanan and raghavan (2018) shows that employee productivity is crucial in today’s business environment. to achieve high productivity, companies need to have a team 129 international peer reviewed journal of high-performing employees. this empirical study explores the influence of employees’ tenure in an organization, together with their academic background, in the relationship towards improving and enhancing their performance. table 2. economic status monthly income frequency percentage less than 10,0000.00 25 39.06 10,0000.00-20,000.00 33 51.56 21,0000.00-30,000.00 5 7.81 31,000.00-40,000.00 0 0 more than 40,000.00 1 1.57 total 100.00 source of income of the family salary or compensation 64 100.00 family business 0 0 children working or spouse 0 0 total 100.00 gross monthly expenses less than 10,0000.00 40 62.50 10,0000.00-20,000.00 19 29.69 21,0000.00-30,000.00 4 6.25 31,000.00-40,000.00 0 0 more than 40,000.00 1 1.56 total 100.00 house owned 52 81.25 rented 12 18.75 total 100.00 other expenses relatives 40 62.50 government support 8 12.50 lending institutions 11 17.19 peers 5 7.81 total 100.00 130 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 however, in terms of the monthly income of the respondents (25) or 39.06 percent with less than 10,000.00; (33) or 51.56 percent and zero (0) on more than 31,000.00-40,000.00. the income threshold influences spending habits to cover incidental expenses. this data is supported by previous studies. the research of adiputra (2021) stated that financial literacy had a significant effect on financial satisfaction, indicating that people who are financially literate achieve a higher level of satisfaction with planning and managing their personal finances. financial attitude has a significant effect on financial satisfaction, which indicates that financial attitude influences people’s decision-making behavior. locus of control had a significant effect on financial satisfaction, indicating that people with good control are satisfied with planning, managing and making personal financial decisions. in the source of income of the family, all of the respondents (64), or 100.00 percent, come from salary or compensation, and no one answered from the choices of the family business and children working or spouse. employees’ understanding of the minimum wage policy had a significant impact on their satisfaction with wages and work motivation. in addition, employee satisfaction with rewards significantly affected their work motivation, job satisfaction, and perceived quality of life. limitations and future research directions are discussed (ahmat et al., 2019). under gross monthly expenses of the respondents (40) or 62.50 percent with less than 10,000.00 and (1) or 1.56 percent with more than 40,000.00. according to the study of ismail et al. (2017), the implementation of national strategies indicated that financial literacy and education is an important life skills that every people should have. the theory of planned behavior is the best way to explain actual human behavior. in our current study, we examined the determinants of financial behavior among malaysian workers. human resources are considered an important source of economic development. having high selfefficacy can help them to achieve positive financial behavior and cope with any challenges, especially in terms of financial matters. the majority of the respondents owned a house with a frequency of fifty-two (52) or 81.25, and twelve (12), or 18.75 percent, rented a house. this means that, most probably, the respondents are still staying with their parents, who are in the process of having their own home. people whose geographically distant friends have experienced more recent housing price increases are more likely to switch from renting to owning. they also buy bigger houses and pay more for that house (bailey et al., 2018). 131 international peer reviewed journal when it comes to other expenses in case of emergency needs in the family, where do they ask for assistance (40), 62.50 percent said that they ask for assistance from their relatives, and the least got (5) or 7.81 percent said they sought help from peers. exchanges of assistance among kin are a common and important source of support for families; however, people are often hesitant to seek such assistance, and broader economic contexts influence these exchange relationships (campbell & pugliese, 2021). table 3. professional status educational attainment frequency percentage high school graduate 3 4.69 college graduate 45 70.31 master’s degree 16 25.00 doctoral degree 0 0 total 64 100.00 seminars attended local 43 67.10 regional 3 4.69 national 18 28.12 international 0 0 total 64 100.00 none of the respondents enrolled in the doctoral degree, (3) or 4.69 are high school graduates; (45), or 70.31 percent, the majority are college graduates; (16), or 25.00 percent, have their master’s degree. according to data from the u.s. bureau of labor statistics (bls) (2017), earnings increase and unemployment decrease as educational attainment rises. grouping workers by education level, the more educated have higher incomes and lower unemployment rates than the less educated. seminars attended by the respondents mostly attended the local seminar (43) or 67.10 percent; regional (3) or 4.69 percent; national (18) or 28.12 percent; and no one attended international seminars. engetou (2017) reveals that training and development are a necessity in every company, particularly for unskilled or the fewer reveals that training and development are necessary in any company, especially for untrained or less experienced employees. in general, the work results of the employees have significantly improved thanks to the training 132 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 methods and work tools used in the company. thus, it positively affected the performance of employees and improved their skills and work performance. table 4. spending behavior of non-teaching personnel n=64 4 3 2 1 indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm twm ai basic necessity food 64 4.00 4.00 a education 36 2.25 19 .18 9 .28 2.71 s clothing 22 1.38 20 .94 22 .69 3.01 o shelter 36 2.25 10 .47 18 .56 3.28 o health care 32 2.00 21 .33 11 .34 2.67 o average 3.13 o leisure shopping mall 4 .25 21 .98 38 1.19 1 .02 2.44 s outing 0 0 18 .84 41 1.28 5 .08 2.20 s travel 3 .19 9 .42 40 1.28 12 .19 2.08 s average 2.24 s table 4 shows the spending habits of the respondents on necessities. it was found that, in general, they often spent their money on the above items, as revealed by the average of often as 3.13. among the basic necessity mentioned, they always spent their money on food since it obtained the highest total weighted mean of 4.00. from our everyday living, we are always in need of food which constitutes the very basic and most important factor that an individual should allocate their money. there are almost five or more than five times that we need to suffice the need of ours to food which is most probably the main reason why the respondents had such an answer, followed by the shelter, with a total weighted mean of 3.28; clothing, a total weighted mean is 3.01, education total weighted mean 2.71 and health care total weighted mean is 2.67. the group of basic problems that determine the existence of mankind involves the surplus of food for some and the malnutrition of others. there is an opinion that ensuring food security is an integrated task of agriculture and political will, combined with the logistics of product delivery. despite joint efforts and various un programs to combat hunger, only short-term local results have been achieved, according to prosekov and ivanova (2018). 133 international peer reviewed journal table 2 discusses those spending habits which were allocated to leisure activities. it was found that, in general, they seldom spent their money on the above factors, as revealed by the average of 2.24. going to a shopping mall turned out to be the greatest factor to which the respondents would allocate their income. this may imply that the employees would greatly spend their time in shopping malls than any other leisure activities, followed by an outing, which got a twm of 2.20, and lastly, travels got twm of 2.08. shopping centers are increasingly places for leisure. to attract more consumers and increase the time spent by shoppers, various leisure components are added to retail and shopping. at the same time, under the influence of consumer culture, recreational shopping has become one of the widespread leisure activities among various social groups. current research shows that leisure time for young people is now widely associated with shopping malls. recreational shopping, participating in various leisure activities and events, as well as browsing in malls are becoming more and more popular among young people. although this phenomenon developed in the context of well-developed countries, the study of youth leisure in shopping centers in the post-socialist context is in its infancy (cvetković et al., 2018). table 5. problems encountered 4 3 2 1 indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm twm ai rank 1. overspending 16 1.00 24 1.13 15 .47 9 .14 2.74 a 3 2. misallocation of money 14 .88 28 1.31 14 .44 8 .12 2.75 a 2 3. loans 13 .81 23 1.08 15 .47 13 .20 2.56 a 5 4. indebtedness 13 .81 19 .89 16 .50 16 .25 2.45 d 7 5. usage of credit cards 14 .88 16 .75 20 .62 14 .22 2.47 d 6 6. not having a budget plan 15 .94 30 1.41 16 .50 3 .05 2.90 a 1 7. buying unnecessary things 15 .94 23 1.08 20 .62 6 .09 2.73 a 4 8. too many dependents 11 .69 17 1.80 22 .69 14 .22 2.40 d 8 9. buying alcoholic beverages 12 .75 12 .56 23 .72 17 .27 2.30 d 9 10. gambling/vices 15 .94 8 .38 14 .44 27 .42 2.18 d 10 134 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 5 shows the overall assessment of the problems encountered by the non-teaching personnel in their spending practices. all items were ranked, and the top 5 problems encountered by the respondents are not having a budget plan with a total weighted mean of 2.90 and having an interpretation as agree being the first, followed by misallocation of money with a total weighted mean value of 2.75 and interpreted as agree as well; third is a total weighted mean of 2.74 and having an interpretation as agree is overspending; fourth is buying unnecessary things with an interpretation of agree, and 2.73 is the total weighted mean; and lastly a weighted mean of 2.56 and interpreted as agree on loans. any other problems encountered, such as usually use of credit cards to pay for expenses with a total weighted mean of 2.47, being in deep debt with a total weighted mean of 2.45, having too many dependents with a total weighted mean of 2.40, buying alcoholic beverages with a total weighted mean of 2.30 and gambling/vices with a total weighted mean of 2.18. focusing on different façades of financial well-being, such as wealth accumulation and retirement planning, various determinants of financial well-being have been unearthed, and financial literacy has emerged as a crucial factor that increases financial well-being. hence, financial literacy has been an important policy instrument to increase the financial well-being of individuals, particularly given that it is relatively easy to implement (karakurum-ozdemir et al., 2019). proposed development program that can improve the spending behavior of the non-teaching personnel in private higher education institutions in albay province to address not having a budget plan, respondents must know their monthly after-tax income or commonly referred to as their “take-home” pay, is the foundation of all budgeting. setting your spending and saving objectives will be easier if you have a clear understanding of where your money comes from. determine the monthly income you can expect to bring into your home. this development program will be useful for the research to be of help to the beneficiaries at the center of the research objective. 135 international peer reviewed journal areas of concern objectives program of activity target stakeholders time frame budget expected outcome introduction to spending behavior program to the nonteaching personnel to improve the spending behavior of nonteaching personnel seminar and forum about the importance of saving and investing management. nonteaching personnel 5 hours p500 per participant to improve the spending behavior of the nonteaching personnel importance of budgeting pre-start the financial awareness of the respondents about spending seminar and training program nonteaching personnel 4 hours p500 per participant giving importance to the monthly compensation received conclusion from the demographic profile, the majority of the respondents were female in the age bracket of 21-30 years old, single as their civil status, and who have 1-2 dependents with a length of service of fewer than ten years and a monthly income of 10,000.00 to 20,000.00 and having their owned house and most of them ask help from their relatives when they encountered emergency needs, most of the respondents are college graduate and already attended local seminars. the respondents often type of spending on their necessities such as food, education, clothing, shelter, and health care, while they seldom incur on leisure activities which are going to shopping malls, outings, and travel. the respondents’ main problem encountered in their spending practices is not having a budget plan. the proposed plans of action were devised to improve the spending behavior of the non-teaching personnel in private higher education institutions in albay province. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 translational research it is recommended that the non-teaching personnel of the institutions may have an appropriate way of spending their money. the personnel may allocate their money in a better and more righteous way. a right budget plan might be the key to the fight against inflation. one of the most convenient and proven ways to save money is to produce your budget plan. every non-teaching personnel may have a budget plan that ensures they are not to spend more than they are making and allows them to plan for shortand long-term expenses. literature cited adiputra, i. g. 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(2022). the relationship between prevention focus, money attitude and financial behavior. anadolu üniversitesi sosyal bilimler dergisi, 22(1), 385-404. 139 international peer reviewed journal yunchao, c., yusof, s. a., amin, r. m., & arshad, m. (2020). household debt and household spending behavior: evidence from malaysia.  j. ekon. malays, 54, 111-120. 103 international peer reviewed journal abstract radio frequency identification (rfid) technology revolutionizes the automatic identification of objects. in this paper, library logging system based on radio frequency identification (rfid) interface using arduino uno board as platform is proposed and prototyped. technology in arduino and rfid are reviewed. rfid mfrc522, is a highly integrated reader/writer ic for contactless communication at 13.56 mhz. rfid technology uses electromagnetic fields to transfer data to automatically identify objects. information of books with rfid tags are registered in the database system. when books are scanned in the rfid reader, the system will automatically give the information of the book and the current date and time. user will input the borrowers’ information which will automatically login into the system with the book details. arduino microcontroller is used as a micro web server and a communications gateway among hardware modules. design shows that rfid interfacing using arduino uno board as platform can make library logging system more efficient and convenient through the automation of workflow processes. to reduce library losses, security and item identification should be combined in a single tag in future designs. library logging system design based on radio frequency identification interface using arduino uno board as platform narcisa t. morallo http://orcid.org 0000-00025468-9179 narcisamorallo@gmail.com negros oriental state university, bajumpandan, dumaguete city, philippines originality:100% • grammar check: 92% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 30 · october 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v30i1.556 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — engineering processes and systems, radio frequency identification (rfid), arduino uno, experimental method, philippines introduction radio frequency identification (rfid) technology is used all over the world. in china, rfid is expected to reach $952 million in 2025 according to idtechex. the total rfid market in 2014 was us$1.7 billion covering chips, tags, readers, software/services and system integration. rfid tags take 25% of the total market reaching $430 million in 2014 (pr newswire, november 22, 2017). technavio’s analyst forecasts a compound annual growth rate (cagr) of 38.26% for global retail rfid security tags market during the period 2017-2021. rfid tags are primarily used for monitoring and tracking objects through an rfid reader. in retail operations, rfid tags reduce delivery cycle time, provide transparency, streamline supply chain operations, and help retailers capture data (report buyer, 2017). the projected size of the global market for rfid tags from 2016 to 2020 (in billion u.s. dollars) is around 24.5 billion u.s. dollars in 2020 (statista, 2015). rfid is used for tracking, access control, supply chain management, smart labels, and more. this technology is composed of a reader and a tag. with read and write capabilities, data in the rfid tags can be changed, updated, and locked. rfid tag is composed of a microchip, antenna, and a battery which can store up to 2 kb of data. tag is a small device which stores and sends data to rfid reader. rfid system is categorized as active and passive. active rfid system uses battery-powered rfid tags which provide extremely long read ranges and large memory banks. battery of tags is replaceable which could last three to five years. active tags continuously broadcast their own signal to accurately track the real-time location of the object or person. these tags can be used in high-speed environments and much more expensive compared to passive rfid tags. active rfid system consists of a reader, antenna and a tag. passive tags are powered by electromagnetic energy. these tags are used for file tracking, access control, smart labels and other related applications. passive rfid system consists of a reader, an antenna, and tags. passive tags have no batteries and depend on rfid reader for operating power. rfid tag has low range and is powered by the energy sent by the rfid reader in the form of radio frequency wave. the rfid tag antenna generates back the electromagnetic 105 international peer reviewed journal waves to the reader which interprets the information in the form of backscatter. passive tags cost less which is economically used in many industries. in the future, passive rfid tags can be found in every manufactured object and also in natural resources, animals and people (borriello, 2005). privacy and security technical issues with frid technology is examined in the study of david monar and david wagner, entitled privacy and security in library rfid: issues, practices, and architectures. according to the study, privacy risk of the technology is negligible. private authentication and security scheme are suggested. this scheme is to build a private authentication with work logarithmic in the number of tags (molnar & wagner, 2004). rfid technology is expected to proliferate in the coming years with the dropping of its cost. this study examines how the scientist deals with privacy protection and integrity issues in the rfid technology resulting to its rapid growth of application (juels, 2006). cheng, huang, xu, hu, and wang (2016) designed a corresponding handheld device client software for visual book search and management system. this system not only improves the efficiency of book search and management but also save the manpower and material resources. younker and ribaric (2013) presented on how arduino as platform is used in designing a production portable barcode-scanning utility for in-house use statistics collection at the james a. gibson library at brock university. in this study, a design in library logging system based on rfid using arduino uno board as platform makes library logging system fast and efficient. a visual studio is used in developing a software application program for humancomputer interaction. the program is connected to mysql which serves as the database for the record logs and books. this design will optimize the collection of fines and payments due from students. library stock-taking of books can be more efficient and fast. objective of the study the purpose of this study is to design a library logging system based on radio frequency identification (rfid) interface using arduino uno board as platform. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research materials and methods library logging system library logging system is equipped with rfid mfrc522, which uses electromagnetic fields in transferring data over short distances. database of the system contains the information of the books with rfid tags. system will give the relevant information of the books when scanned in the rfid reader. information added by the user will be automatically logged in into the system. system architecture in this study, designing of library logging system based on radio frequency identification (rfid) interface using arduino uno board as platform is presented. arduino microcontroller is the gateway to all hardware and software communication in the system. the hardware required materials in this design are arduino uno, rfid mfrc522, nfcc sticker tags and connecting wires. arduino as an open-source platform, consist of a microcontroller and a software that is used to write and upload computer code to the physical board. figure 1. arduino microcontroller as shown in figure 1, arduino uno is a microcontroller board based on the atmega328. to get started, this microcontroller can be supplied with a battery, an ac-to-dc adapter and a computer. with reset button, this board has 14 digital input/output pins, 6 analog inputs, 16 mhz ceramic resonator, a usb connection, a power jack and an icsp header. 107 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. rfid mfrc522 rfid tag is made of silicon microchip attached to a small antenna. a reader consists of a scanner with antennas to transmit and receive signals and is responsible for communication with the tag and receives the information from the tag. there are two types of rfid system. active rfid system, tag has its own power source like any external power supply unit or a battery. the only constraint is the life span of the power devices. these systems can be used for larger distances and to track high-value goods like vehicles. passive rfid system, where the tag gets power through the transfer of power from a reader antenna to the tag antenna. they are used for short-range transmission. figure 2 shows rfid mfrc522, a highly integrated reader/writer ic for contactless communication at 13.56 mhz. rfid reader as an interface is used to read rfid tags to communicate with arduino microcontroller. rfid tags contain unique data stored in a chip. both rfid tags and reader contains coil surrounding them. the chip inside the tag can be powered through electromagnetic induction as shown in figure 3. when an rfid tag is shown near the reader, electromagnetic induction takes place between the coils which activates the chip inside the tag. this chip sends data electromagnetically to the reader. rfid reader comes with serial output pins which read data using arduino microcontroller. mfrc522 rfid reader supports iso/iec 14443 a/mifare and ntag. without additional active circuitry, mfrc522 transmitter is designed 108 jpair multidisciplinary research to communicate with iso/iec 14443 a/mifare cards and transponders. mfrc522 supports mf1xxs20, mf1xxs70 and mf1xxs50 products. figure 3. schematic diagram as shown in figure 3, the information of the books with the rfid tags will be registered in the database system. when the books are scanned in the rfid reader the system will automatically give the information of the book and the current date and time. the user will now only input the name of the borrower of the book. the information of the borrower and the book being borrowed will be automatically logged in into the system. the following are the steps in making this design: step 1. setting up the hardware connections. for setting up this system, wiring connections have to be made between rfid module and arduino as shown in figure 4. 109 international peer reviewed journal figure 4. rfid module wiring connection mfrc522 module uses spi (serial peripheral interface) in communicating with arduino through digital pins 10 , 11, 12 and 13 as shown in figure 5. while the 3.3v pin and ground are connected to the corresponding supply and ground connections. figure 6 shows rc522 rfid reader testing. figure 5. arduino pin out 110 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 6. rc522 rfid reader testing step 2. graphical user interface development a graphical user interface (gui) using visual studio as shown in figure 7 is designed in developing a software application program for human-computer interaction. the program is connected to mysql which serves as the database of the record logs and books. figure 7. graphical user interface 111 international peer reviewed journal step 3. loading the arduino software aduino integrated development environment can be downloaded from arduino. the open source arduino software (ide) makes it easy to write code and compile it to the board. it runs on windows, mac os and linux. the environment is written in java based on processing and other open source software. the software can be used with any arduino development board. the rfid module should be removed from the arduino board and connected once the upload is complete. results and discussion library management requires laborious activities. to increase efficiency, libraries are deploying rfid to enable automation. in the study of dwivedi, kapoorb, and williams (2013), it was found out that user satisfaction influence person’s attitude towards rfid based technology. using the technology has a positive influence on user satisfaction. for unique identification of people and assets, rfid technology is used. the study of singh and midha (2008) explains the various uses of rfid in libraries. in this paper, a design of library logging system based on radio frequency identification interface using arduino uno board as platform is built. the working unit of the proposed system has been successfully developed as shown in figure 8. for contactless communication at 13.56 mhz, rfid mfrc522, is used in the designed. rfid technology uses electromagnetic fields to transfer data to automatically identify objects. information of books with rfid tags are registered in the database system. when books are scanned in the rfid reader, the system will automatically give the information of the book and the current date and time. user will input the borrowers’ information which will automatically login into the system with the book details. arduino microcontroller is used as a micro web server and a communications gateway among hardware modules. design shows that rfid interfacing using arduino uno board as platform can make library logging system more efficient and convenient through the automation of workflow processes. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 8 . rfid reader conclusion a design of logging system using rfid mfrc552, mysql, visual studio and arduino uno is successfully developed. a working designed for the system can make library logging system more efficient and convenient. rfid module and arduino uno, proved to be very efficient in designing a library logging system with arduino as platform. it is concluded that the design of library logging system using rfid module, mysql, visual studio and arduino will restructure the library management system. this system enables librarian to manage library resources in a more effective way to save time and effort. this system increase collections management efficiency. recommendation in this study, library logging system is designed for contactless communication for efficiency and convenience. to reduce library losses, security and item identification should be combined in a single tag in future designs. tracking library books for longer distance range and ease of laborious stock takes, active rfid tags maybe implemented in future studies. 113 international peer reviewed journal translational research the system design can be introduced at the university library to make logging system more efficient and convenient through the automation of workflow processes. collection of fines and payments due from library patrons can be more systematic with this record-keeping. library stock-taking of books can be efficient. the design concept can also be evaluated by stakeholders alike for acceptability and impact. literature cited borriello, g. (2005). rfid: tagging the world.  communications of the acm, 48(9), 34-37. retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6a26/ ec5e4fafacd21e91fcec1adf988aad163f72.pdf cheng, h., huang, l., xu, h., hu, y., & wang, x. a. (2016). design and implementation of library books search and management system using rfid technology. in intelligent networking and collaborative systems (incos), 2016 international conference on (pp. 392-397). ieee. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=cheng% 2c+h.%2c+huang%2c+l.%2c+xu%2c+h.%2c+hu%2c+y.%2c+% 26+wang%2c+x.+a.+%282016%29.+design+and+implementation+of+li brary+books+search+and+management+system+using+rfid+technology.+ &btng= dwivedi, y. k., kapoor, k. k., williams, m. d., & williams, j. (2013). rfid systems in libraries: an empirical examination of factors affecting system use and user satisfaction.  international journal of information management,  33(2),367377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.10.008 report buyer (2017). global retail rfid security tags market 2017-2021. https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5219302/global-retail-rfidsecuritytagsmarket-2017-2021.html juels, a. (2006). rfid security and privacy: a research survey.  ieee journal on selected areas in communications,  24(2), 381-394. doi: 10.1109/ jsac.2005.861395 114 jpair multidisciplinary research molnar, d., & wagner, d. (2004, october). privacy and security in library rfid: issues, practices, and architectures. in  proceedings of the 11th acm conference on computer and communications security  (pp. 210-219). acm. doi>10.1145/1030083.1030112 statista (2015). projected size of the global market for rfid tags from 2016 to 2020 (in billion u.s. dollars). https://www.statista.com/statistics/299966/size-ofthe-global-rfid-market/ pr newswire (november 22, 2017). rfid in china 2015-2025: forecasts, players, opportunities. retrieved from https://www. prnewswire.com/news-releases/rfid-in-china-2015-2025-forecasts-playersopportunities-300561218.html) singh, g., & midha, m. (2008). rfid: a new technology in library management systems.  journal of interlibrary loan, document delivery & electronic reserve, 18(4), 439-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/10723030802181778 younker, j., & ribaric, t. (2013). beyond open source software: solving common library problems using the open source hardware arduino platform. partnership: the canadian journal of library and 114 information practice and research, 8(1). 49 international peer reviewed journal design and development of fish natural convection drying facility manuel a. bajet, jr. orchid no. 0000-0002-7545-9719 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur,philippines abstract fish drying facility was designed, developed and tested to determine its performance, and characterization as a natural convection dryer for stunted tilapia. parameters in the study were air temperature, relative humidity, drying chamber, moisture content, drying time, capacity and rate. experimental research design was used and materials includes, lumber painted in black and used as frames, plastic screen mesh, cellophane, black plain sheet and stones.. findings disclosed that drying rate were noted at the highest during first two hours internal with an average drying rate of 7.20 grams per minute. average drying rate after the three trials was 2.63 grams per minute. the moisture content of the samples was reduced from 92.68%75.23% during the 20 hours of drying and weights of fish samples were also reduced from 20 to 15 kilograms. further, results on relative humidity was higher at the upper trays compared that the lower trays. return of investment was 72% and has a payback period of 0.05 year. keywords renewable energy, project and experimental research, natural convection dryer, vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.211 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction tilapia is the second most important fish cultured in the philippines next to milkfish. in 2002 of the total fisheries production (3,368,519 mt), tilapia contributed 122,417 mt or 3.6%. increased tilapia production is eminent over the last five years. the continuous study on the development of tilapia species and the use of a number of different culture technologies contributed to this steady increase in tilapia production (bfar, 2013). globally, tilapia has become the third most important fish in aquaculture in a worldwide production which exceeded millions of metric that increase annually. these are among the easiest and most profitable fishes to farm due to their omnivorous diet, having their high protein content, palatability, and mode of reproduction, tolerance of high stocking density, and rapid growth. in some regions like region i, ii, and other places in the country, the fish can be raised in the rice fields at planting time and grow to edible size from 5-6 inches of stunted (bansot) tilapia to harvest when rice is ready to harvest. in a normal tilapia culture, most of the farmers manage in a common sight in fishponds and fish fence almost all the major rivers and lakes in the country. the cagayan bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources (bfar) as of 2008 reported that tilapia production grew and cagayan valley (region ii) is the philippine tilapia capital. production supply grew 37.35 % since 2003, with 14, 000 metric tons in 2007, and still growing up this day. growth of tilapia production was due to government interventions such as accreditation of private hatcheries to ensure supply of quality fingerlings, establishment of demonstration farms, providing free fingerlings to newly constructed fishponds, and the dissemination of tilapia to other provinces in northern luzon including ilocos sur (balita, 2009). tilapia is commercially cultured in the philippines. there are filipino farmers particularly in region i, ii, and other places in the country who raised tilapia in the rice fields at planting time and grow to edible size from 5-6 inches of stunted (bansot) tilapia to harvest when rice is ready to harvest. this practiced by some farmers is to augments income or locally known as diversified farming and at the same time farmers practiced organic way of farming as commonly observed. however, because what they produced are stunted tilapia, farmers cannot sell at better prices in the market. based from the popularity of “danggit” or known as dried rabbit fish from cebu, a technology for stunted tilapia had been locally developed making the product known as “tilanggit” which means produced from juvenile or small sized tilapia. presently, processing of “tilanggit” has been done at the southern part of the philippines. further, jamandre (2012) had identified market niches of philippine 51 international peer reviewed journal tilapia were in the form of fillet, dried and whole fish and potential buyers identified were supermarkets, food chains and local household consumers. local practices on fish drying as observed was by using net, mats, cloth and directly exposing the fish under the heat of the sun without considering good sanitation practices. this practice makes traditional drying in an open air vulnerable to exposure of the food stuff to rain and dust; exposure to direct sunlight which is undesirable for some food stuffs, infestations by insects, and sometimes attacked by animals. solar drying can be considered as an elaboration of sun drying and is an efficient system of utilizing solar energy (bala, et al, 2012). the tropics and subtropics have abundant solar radiation. natural convection solar dryers do not require power from the electrical grid or fossil fuels. hence, the option for drying would be natural convection solar dryers. many studies in natural convection solar drying of agricultural products have been reported by excell 1980, oosthuizen 1995, bala et al., 2001, and woods 1995, sharma et al., 1995 as cited by bala et al, 2001, several designs are available, and these include 1) cabinet type solar dryer suitable for drying fruits and vegetable 2) indirect natural convection solar dryer for paddy drying and 3) mixed mode ait drier for drying paddy. these dryers have been widely tested in the tropical and subtropical countries. also, solar thermal technology is rapidly gaining acceptance as an energy saving measure in agricultural application. it is preferred to other alternative sources of energy such as wind and shale, because of abundant, inexhaustible, and non-polluting properties. thus, given the market opportunity for tilapia, natural convection solar dryer has been designed and tested for its efficiency and quality of produce. on the other hand, the researcher conceived it as an infrastructure support to local tilapia producers and farmers doing diversified farming by raising tilapia while growing rice that leads to increasing their productivity. in many parts of the world, there is a growing awareness that renewable energy has an important role to play in extending technology to the farmer in developing countries to increase their productivity (waewsak, 2006). objectives of the study this study focuses on design and development of natural convection solar dryer. specifically, the objectives of this study were: designing and development of natural convection solar drying solar drying system with a cabinet type; determining thermal performance of solar collector; and, determining the efficiency of solar drying system for drying of stunted (bansot) tilapia. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology this study used the project method and experimental research design. it focused on the design, performance, and characterization of the natural convection dryer for stunted tilapia. parameters included in this study were air temperature, relative humidity of the drying chamber, moisture content, drying time, drying capacity and its drying rate. the natural convection dryer was made out of wood or lumber with cross sectional dimensions of 2” x 3”, 2” x 2”, 1”x 2”,1”x 1” and 1/2” x 1” used for frames. plastic screen mesh having a one fourth perforation was used for trays and air inlet covering for protection. plastic cellophane was used for the covering of the dryer. black painted plain sheet and black painted stones were used as blackbody or the heat collector of the dryer that absorbs the heat from the sun. tilapia was used as experimental sample while testing the drying efficiency on the natural convection dryer. result and discussion i. design and development of fish natural convection drying facility the prototype fish mechanical dryer has an area of 16 square feet. it has a total height of 7.8 feet. the dryer was 2 x 3 inches of wood for its mainframe, and combination of 2 x 2 and 1 x 2 inches wood for its braces, frame of the solar collector that holds the black painted stones, and other major support, and ½ x1 inches wood for the tray supports. figure 1. fish natural convection facility 53 international peer reviewed journal wood was used because it has a very small conductivity unlike some metals like stainless steel, iron and aluminum; therefore wood cannot conduct more heat from the solar collector, which helps prevent heat losses.   the thermal conductivity of common structural woods is much less than the conductivity of metals with which wood often is mated in construction. it is about two to four times that of common insulating material. (waewsak, 2006). thus, using material in the drying facility is an energy saving too. the drying chamber has three trays which has 1.6”x2.8” feet, and is placed 7 inches apart with respect to vertical location. the two solar heat collectors have dimensions of 9”x2’10” which use black painted stones as a sun`s heat absorber that heat is faster drying operation. black painted plain metal sheet is also installed at 28 degree at the lowest portion. to collect the excess water from the fish and drain it out from the drying chamber. painted plain metal sheet act also as solar heat absorber and that helped in drying the product faster. the upper part of the dryer a semi-circle cross section served as air outlet. the design of solar dryer was partially pattered from ukegbu (2013). it was fabricated with a plastic material that conserves energy. the inside of the solar dryer was painted black in other to absorb heat from the sun to dry the samples. below of the dryer, stones painted black was place in order to trap solar energy for transmission into the dryer to dry the samples. fish samples were placed on individual net trays that are fixed into the solar dryer. the maximum and minimum temperature readings during the day were taken and the average of both temperatures taken as the temperature of the day. further, chaichan (2010) further the study disclosed that black pebbles basement had better thermal storage quality which can reach up to 59oc, while black painted basement increased the absorption of solar radiation thereby increasing system efficiency. ii. solar drying operation of the fish natural convection drying facility the sample fish to make a dried “tilangit”, first, fish were washed and cleaned. scales, fins and tails were cut, and the gills and intestines are removed. the fish were sliced at the belly portion to removes the entrails and washed again. the fish samples were then soaked in a brine solution made up of vinegar, salt, garlic, black pepper. soaking was done to marinate the fish overnight to add taste to the fish. prior to preliminary mix drying or sun drying, draining was done to remove excess water during the soaking or marinating process. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research drying tilapia samples were drained for at least three hours after soaking in a brine solution. the drying facility was also exposed under the heat of the sun prior to the loading of tilapia samples for drying. drying of tilapia fish samples started at eight o’clock in the morning. trays were loaded with samples all together inside the drying chamber of the fish dryer, the temperature, relative humidity, moisture content, and the drying rate were monitored. drying time is extended until the collector can no longer produce heat. drying stops when the solar heat absorber can no longer produce heat energy to dry the samples (fish) or there is no temperature difference between the ambient temperature and the solar heat absorber or at the drying chamber. samples were collected after 6 pm and placed in a plastic container and sealed to prevent from absorbing outside moisture. drying was continued the following day using the same facility. drying of the fish sample lasted at an average of 20 to 22 hours depending the heat of the sun. ambient temperature at different drying duration the ambient temperature inside the drying chamber was monitored in the three trials. the process was done by recording the temperature every two hours interval. the observation lasted for two days and specifically from 8 o’clock in the morning until 6 o’clock in the afternoon. the table 1 shows the results. table 1. ambient temperature at different drying duration of the fish samples drying duration ambient temperature t1 t2 t3 total mean average 0 hour 26 30.1 35.40 91.50 30.5 2nd hour 35 34.8 34.20 104 34.66 4th hour 36 40 35.40 111.40 37.13 6th hour 40 40 37 117.50 39.16 8th hour 33.50 34.50 32 100 33.33 10th hour 28.50 28 30 86.50 28.83 12th hour 35 34 33 102 34 14th hour 35.30 36 33.40 105.20 35.06 55 international peer reviewed journal 16th hour 34.20 36.50 35 105.20 35.06 18th hour 29.50 34.50 32.40 36.40 32.13 20th hour 28.20 23 23.50 86.7 28.9 results in table 1 specifically the ambient temperature in the drying chamber. data indicated that it obtained the highest average temperature of 39.160c after 6 hours of drying the fish sample at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. the lowest average temperature, after the 10th hour of drying operation is 28.830c at 6 o’clock in the afternoon. on the second day it was observed that on the 14th to 16th hour of drying the sample (at 12 noon to 2 o’clock) obtained the highest average temperature of 35.060c respectively. while at the 20th hour of drying operation, obtained it 28.900c and the sample was already dried. air temperature inside the drying chamber the air temperature inside the drying chamber was done also on three trials. measured every two hours interval as what is done in taking up the ambient temperature of the mechanical dryer. table 2. air temperature inside the drying chamber in different drying duration drying duration temperature °c total average mean t1 t2 t3 o hour 32.00 31.50 33.00 96.50 32.16 2nd hour 38.10 39.50 38.50 116.10 38.70 4th hour 46.00 45,80 45.20 137.00 45.66 6th hour 46.50 45.50 45.00 137.00 45.66 8th hour 37.50 36.00 34.00 107.5 35.83 10th hour 30.60 32.00 33.20 95.80 31.93 12th hour 34.50 34.50 33.00 102.00 34.00 14th hour 36.50 45.00 48.20 129.70 43.23 16th hour 35.80 48.60 47.80 132.20 44.06 18th hour 32.50 34.40 35.50 102.40 34.13 20th hour 31.00 32.00 34.50 97.50 32.50 56 jpair multidisciplinary research the results of the air temperature inside the drying chamber of the fish mechanical dryer indicated that obtained highest average temperature at 45.66°c. after 4 to 6 hours of drying, the fish sample at 12 o’clock to 2 o’clock in the afternoon. the lowest average temperature after the 10th hours of drying operation is 31.93 °c at 6 o’clock in the afternoon. at the second day drying, at the 16th hour of drying, the sample obtained the highest average temperature of sample obtained at 46.06°c. at the end of drying operation, the sample fish register at 32.50°c. relative humidity in monitoring the relative humidity in the drying chamber, digital hygrometer was used. it was placed at the outer of the tray and with respect to its vertical position, it was placed between the trays. data were recorded at drying time interval of two hours. table 3. average relative humidity in the drying chamber drying duration relative humidity (%) total mean t1 t2 t3 0 hour 56.00 60.50 54.50 171.00 57.00 2 hour 52.00 51.00 53.00 156.00 52.00 4 hour 46.50 45.00 47.00 138.00 46.16 6 hour 40.00 38.00 41.00 119.00 39.66 8 hour 43.00 44.00 46.50 133.00 44.50 10 hour 63.00 61.50 60.50 185.00 61.66 12 hour 58.00 61.00 60.50 179.00 59.83 14 hour 56.00 53.50 58.50 168.00 56.16 16 hour 55.00 49.50 55.50 160.00 53.33 18 hour 64.00 55.50 58.50 178.00 59.33 20 hour 65.50 52.50 60.50 178.00 59.33 table 3 disclosed results on humidity during the three trials conducted. data on average relative humidity was taken the result of the total mean. it can be noted that 61.66 percent (%) was the highest relative humidity during the drying of the 57 international peer reviewed journal samples at the 10th hour at 6 o’clock in the afternoon. the lowest average relative humidity is at 6th hour at 5 o’clock in the afternoon operation which was recorded 39.66 percent (%). it was observed during the drying period that trays placed at the top level have the highest relative humidity. this is because, air tends to move upward from the lowest tray to the highest tray all vapor will go upward. drying rate the fish samples on the trays were removed inside the drying chamber of the fish drier in an interval of 2 hours, and the samples were weighted in the use of the grams. table 4. drying rate of tilapia dried on the fish natural convection dryer dries at an hour an interval of 2 hours drying duration drying rate in grams per minute t1 t2 t3 total mean 2 7.5 8 7.5 23 7.66 4 4.3 4.40 4.7 13.40 4.46 6 4.4 4.42 4.5 13.10 4.36 8 2.5 2.70 2.40 7.60 2.53 10 1.8 1.70 1.50 5 1.66 12 2.3 4.50 2.70 7.50 2.5 14 1.8 1.70 1.90 5.40 1.8 16 1.2 1.40 1.30 3.90 1.3 18 .8 .70 .90 2.40 .80 20 .30 .25 .45 1 .33 in table 4 the three trails, were observed to have the drying rate in grams per minute as relatively very fast at the first hour from 7.66 gram to 4.46 gram. it was observed that it slowed down as the time drying becomes longer or longer exposure to the sun. further, data disclosed that the drying rate was very fast during first four hours from 8.00 gpm to 4.46 gram. it rapidly slowed as the time drying increased. there was an increase from 1.66 to 2.55 grams of the drying rate at the first hour of redrying during the second day. this may be attributed in the storing of the fish samples 58 jpair multidisciplinary research overnight. the mechanisms of most food stores were in two phases. during in the first phase, the surface layers of the food item dries up and form a hard skin. in this phase, the drying rate or rate of moisture removal was high. on the second phase, the drying becomes slow, the moisture trapped inside has to diffuse outward and there evaporate. the drying rate was reduced. also, the rate of drying depends on the weather condition on the day of drying time. moisture content moisture content was taken by having the tilapia sample weighed and pre-drying for almost 3 to 4 hour before and on the sunrise. the total initial weight of the samples was 20 kilograms. after several hours, to its bone dry weight went down to 14.20 kilograms. results of the initial moisture content of the tilapia samples were 92.69 percent (%) wet basis. table 5. moisture content loses of the tilapia, dried the dryer at different duration drying duration moisture content loss% trial 1 trial 2 trial 3 total mean 2 hours 2.05 2.20 1.42 5.67 1.89 4 hours 1.80 1.85 1.32 4.97 1.66 6 hours 2.11 2.00 2.04 6.15 2.05 8hours 2.14 1.10 1.30 4.54 1.51 10hours 0.75 1.10 1.65 3.50 1.17 12hours 2.75 1.65 1.80 6.20 2.07 14hours 2.05 3.00 2.05 7.10 2.37 16hours 1.75 2.00 2.25 6.00 2.00 18hours 1.50 2.25 1.10 4.85 1.61 20hours 0.95 0.60 0.50 2.05 0.68 59 international peer reviewed journal in drying evaluation, the weight of the samples is 20 kilograms. it was monitored every 2 hours interval and observed of a maximum of 2.37 percent moisture content loss and the corresponding weight. to prevent the samples from absorbing outside moisture, dried tilapia samples were placed in a plastic container and sealed tightly. based on the data gathered per loading of tilapia samples into the fish dryer, the moisture content of dried tilapia was almost 75 percent (%) having an initial weight of 20 kilograms, it had a final weight ranged from 14.20 to 15 kilograms. despite of the moisture content, the tilapia samples after 18-20 hours of drying attained the desired physical characteristics of a dried fish. iii. financial evaluation in this study, the following assumptions were taken into account: a.) annual interest of investment was 10 percent; b.) annual repair and maintenance cost are 25 percent of the designed fish dryer cost; c.) its economic life is assumed for three years, and d.) annual depreciation cost is 1/3 of the cost of the fish dryer. on the other hand, for drying operations, it is assumed that 60 percent of the whole year the dry season and 40percent wet season in northern luzon, philippines. for this period, there will only be 108 batches of tilapia drying. payback period. the payback period of the fish dryer was determined through the equation, total cost of investment required for the project payback period = ______________________________________________ net annual cash inflows return on investment (roi). the return on investment of the design tilapia solar dryer was determined through the equation, roi = total net income / total investment (refers to total annual cost) assumptions of total annual cost of material input of the dryer. the total annual cost of expenses investment in the sample tilapia and brine solution. 2160 kilograms of fresh tilapia @ 120 pesos = php 259,200.00 brine solution = 1,800.00 total cost of material input = 261,000.00 60 jpair multidisciplinary research fabrication cost of fish natural convection dryer = php 10, 947.15 note: fabrication cost was prorated based on the economic or useful life of the facility which is equivalent to the annual depreciation cost. annual sales of dried tilapia samples. dried tilapia (15kilos x 108 batches = 1,620 kilos) 1620 kilos @ php 300.00/per kilo = php 486,000.00 table 6. annual financial operation of the developed fish natural convection dryer particular cost (php) a.) sales ( benefits) (1620 kilos @ p300.00 per kilo) 486,000.00 b.) production cost: cost of fresh tilapia cost of brine solution labor (p150.00/batch) other production cost: depreciation expense repair and maintenance interest on investment project cost total annual production cost 259,200.00 1, 800.00 16,200.00 3,649.05 2,189.43 109.47 283,147.95 annual net income 202,852.05 financial analysis: 1. return of investment roi = total net income / total investment (refers to total annual cost) p 202,852.05 = _____________ p 283,147.95 roi = 72% or p 0.72 61 international peer reviewed journal the computation implies that an investor can earn p0.72 for every peso invested in the production of dried tilapia using fish natural convection dryer. 2. payback period total cost of investment required for the dryer project payback period = _______________________________________________ net annual cash inflows = p 10,947.15 ______________ p 206,501.10 payback period = 0.05 year payback period as computed showed that total cost of the project can be recovered for less than a month of operation. computation: initial cost of the fish natural convection dryer p 10, 947.15 annual cash inflow: sales 486,000.00 annual cash outflows: cost of fresh tilapia p 259,200.00 cost of brine solution 1,800.00 labor (p150.00/batch) 16,200.00 interest on investment/project cost 109.47 repair and maintenance 2,189.43 total cash outflows 279,498.90 net annual cash inflows ( p486,000 – p 279,498.90) p 206,501.10 note: depreciation was not included because it is a non-cash expense account. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. technical description of the natural convection fish drier facility parameter value area covered highest air temperature at drying chamber highest ambient temperature at drying chamber maximum drying rate dryer capacity drying duration per day solar collector area total solar dryer height fabrication cost return on investment payback period 22.5 square feet 45.66 degrees cel 39.16 degrees cel 7.66 gram per min. 24 kilos 10 hrs. 15 square feet 5.5 feet php 10,947.15 72 % 0.05 year figure 7 and 8. the actual view of the fish dryer natural convection facility conclusion the fish natural convection drying facility was designed and evaluated using the stunted tilapia as experimental samples. solar heat absorbers are painted black stones as the base of the facility or at the lower level. results disclosed that highest drying rates were achieved during the first two hours with an average drying rate of 7.20 grams per minute. the average drying rate of the designed fish solar dryer for three trials was 2.63 grams per minute. the total average moisture content removed was 17.46 percent, wet basis since the final average moisture content of the samples was 75.23 percent wet basis from the initial moisture content of 92. 69 percent wet basis. the moisture content of the samples was reduced from 92.68%-75.23% for the 20 hours of drying. the weights of samples were also reduced from 20 to 15kilograms. 63 international peer reviewed journal relative humidity inside the drying chamber of the designed natural convection dryer varies from time to time depending on the weather characteristic. however, relative humidity was higher at the upper level tray since vapor carried by the hot air moves upward. lastly, total cost of the project was p 10,947.15 with a computed return of investment equal to 72 percent while the investment can be recovered for less than a month as its payback period. recommendation the researchers would like to recommend this low-cost fish natural convection dryer to local farmers and fisherfolks as it only requires minimal capital investment in constructing the dryer. also, engaging in dried tilapia production is a lucrative business for tilapia for its demand is not only in the local market but to foreign market as well. literature cited bala, b.k., nipa debnath 2012 solar drying technology: potentials and developments. ashdin publishing. journal of fundamentals of renewable energy and applications. volume 2 (2012) article id r120302, 5pages www.omicsonline.com/open-acce ss/2090-4541/2090-4541-2-111.pdf‎. retrieved june 15, 2013. bala,b.k., mondol m.r.a 2001 experimental investigation on solar drying of fish using solar tunnel dryer. drying technology: an international journal. volume 19, issue 2, 2001. www.tandfonline.com. retrieved june 15, 2013.  balita 2009 www.balita.ph/2009/07/28/tilanggit-processing-as-viable-livelihoodventure. retrieved july 25, 2013. bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources (bfar) 2013 www.bfar.da.gov.ph/pages/programs/prog-getexeltilapia.html. retrieved june 15, 2013. chaichan, m.t and hussein a. kazem 2010. thermal storage comparison for variable basement kinds of a solar 64 jpair multidisciplinary research chimney prototype in baghdadirag weather.www.cscjournal.org/csc/ manuscript/journals/ijas/33pdf. retrieved august 28, 2013 aquafishcrsp. oregonstate.edu/project/?entry=1. retrieved august 8, 2013 http//balita.ph 2009/07/28/tilanggit-processing-as-viable-livelihood-venture. retrieved august 2, 2013 jamandre, w.e; upton, h.; remedios b.; russell b. 2012 improving the supply chain of tilapia industry of the philippines. www.docstoc.com/.../jamandre-etal-tilapia-industr y-philippines. retrieved august 5, 2013. ukegbu p. o*. and okereke c. j. 2013 effect of solar and sun drying methods on the nutrient composition and microbial load in selected vegetables, african spinach (amaranthus hybridus), fluted pumpkin (telferia occidentalis), and okra (hibiscus esculentus).skyjournals.org/sjfs/abstract/.../ukegbu%20%20and%20 okereke.htm. retrieved july 2013. waewsak, et. al. 2006 www..awc.org/helpoutreach/faq/faqfiles/conductivity.html.retrieved august 9, 2013. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 76 reactions of the ballast booster end-users toward filipino technology and its implication to education mario c. mapote mario.mapote@yahoo.com isabela state university philippines abstract the study determined the reactions of ballast-booster end-users towards filipino technology and its implication to education. specifically, it assessed the demographic profile of ballast-booster end-users; evaluated the reactions of ballast-booster end-users; and determined whether their reactions depend on demographic profile. for one-year period, experimental method was applied; the latter part was descriptive method. the findings: majority were of ages 25-52; male; married with children of 1-4; involved in farming; college graduate; refrained from revealing their income; had an annual income of 121,000 240,000 pesos; had extra income in farming; owned some appliances; bought one piece to test whether the product can save money and energy; majority had positive outlook on filipino inventive products with pro-foreign inclination; cared for the effects of foreign products on national economy; and praised the government with the support program; reactions of respondents did not depend on demographic profile using chi-square test. the study left vital question unanswered. where did the reactions of respondent vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.154 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 77 end-users really depend on? was it innate and naturally cultural? the study implied that national consciousness should be nurtured in filipino psyche in all levels of philippine educational systems toward filipino technology i.e. the key to national economic productivity. keywords ballast booster, filipino technology introduction there is no such term as filipino technology but german technology, american technology, japan technology, etc. however there were and are many filipino inventors and scientists claiming to have invented something in the field of science and technology. but they are sporadic and undefined. hence, the coined term filipino technology exists. and it must exist to represent the ingenuity and creativity of the filipino minds especially in the world of technology and product competition. world war ii was already a war in terms of technology and eventually economics. the war between america and japan was a war over technology and economics ever since. americans had warplanes, warships, rifles, cannons and so with japan being known for their “tora-tora.” when americans bombed the cities of nagasaki and hiroshima, japan realized a new kind of war. after the world war ii, japan won the new battle in the arena of technology and ultimately economics. japan today is known globally for their products in motors and cars, agricultural equipments and machineries and almost in every facet of global economics. the range of education is wide. but its real and practical arena resides and happens ordinarily in the economic life of society. research in education should not only be confined in the classroom nor in school. it would be significant and full of meaning whenever we deal with people in their everyday living, workshop, office, fields and homes. then and there, we study how they would use their educational attainment and background with spontaneity. we can assess how deep really the effectiveness of schooling has crept in their jpair: multidisciplinary journal 78 minds and veins; how education has affected their attitudes, thinking and way of life. in the philippine setting, there is nothing more problematic for filipinos than their economic way of life. the representatives of then second plenary council of the philippines expressed this condition, to quote … “appalling mass poverty is undoubtedly the most tragic aspect of filipino life. it is the social problem. in part, this poverty is attributed to a sheer lack of productivity in our economy.” schooling and education has many things to say in the poverty of majority of filipino people as well as the richness of the few and the overall poverty of the nation. beneath this phenomenon, it would be great to focus our attention with the present attitude of modern filipinos. in the present attitude of modern filipinos, deep seated are the influences of their previous and background of education. today in fact there are many factors affecting the economic attitude of the present time filipinos. the philippine constitution for those who are familiar basically speaks of national patrimony which promotes love for the country by giving priority for filipinos over the foreigners and boosting the filipino spirits for productivity. the department of education and commission on higher education make as their mission to promote in the hearts and spirits of filipino students the values of nationalism and patriotism. but there are discrepancies. in the philippine schools and its systems, proper education as to the right knowledge of developed philippine economics is lacking and missing, so much a paper mission. in the governance of the state, the present administration as well as lots of previous administrations has no clear vision of effective and productive national economics. if it were so, national poverty could not be felt for so long a time. majority of philippine presidents had mistaken democracy away from patriotism and independence. foreign investment has become the solution for the poverty of the nation. and what is prevailing in the philippine market for so long is but the clear dominance of foreign products, foreign owned manufacturers, foreign international peer reviewed journal 79 investors and their investments. in short the prevailing practice is proforeign rather than nationalist and patriotic. the economic practice and system in the philippine setting is depicted thus in a diagram. to exert our effort with research on companies promoting proforeign products like what is happening in typical and stereo-typical economics, marketing, or business management courses is so much. now, it is time to deal with research dealing with the attitudes of filipino end-users of a particular filipino product. it is very exciting to know from them why of all products, they had chosen locally made one. it is very unpopular from them to choose filipino products over imported ones. we do not know what is in their mind and where they get such an attitude, hence this study. objectives of the study this study determined the reactions of ballast booster end-users of central isabela residents towards filipino technology and its implication to education. fig. 1. a diagram on the history of philippine economy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 80 materials and methods research design the research method applied in this study is a novelty for the early period of the process of the study; the middle and concluding part are conventional. since the product or specimen used for research study was not yet functional in the local market, the researcher himself actively joined in promoting the product. after more than a year of marketing and having sufficient and enough end-user respondents, the research study had resumed. there was a kind of experimentation since a year of observation with the product was needed before any research exploration took place. as defined by chaplin (1975) “experimental method is the technique of discovering information by means of experimentation.” in gathering data, the researcher employed descriptive-normative survey method as the requirement of one-year of observation with the experimental object was met. according from good and scates (1972), this method is used for organizing, interpreting, and reporting the present status of certain events and actual systems as well as structures prevailing at the moment. it concerned itself with crossexamining the present situation necessary for closer study. it delves itself determining the conditions that prevail in group of cases and type of people chosen for study. it is also a method in getting the quantitative description of the general characteristics of the group. they claimed that this type of research is helpful in giving pertinent information to persons/researchers who are interested in finding the present trends and tendencies. similarly, best (1963) remarked that “descriptive research describes and interprets what is. it is concerned with conditions of relationships that exist; practices that prevail; beliefs that persist, processes that are going on; effects that are being felt and trends that are developing.” questionnaire the paper questionnaire was the primary instrument for gathering data. it was intended to have information about the personal profile of the end-user respondent. the check-response type was used to make it convenient in the part of the respondents with the aim of getting international peer reviewed journal 81 their actual and practical knowledge and internal attitude. interview was used after the questionnaire was answered during retrieval. exhibits and demos even before the questionnaires were floated, the researcher himself experienced giving demonstrations and joining in exhibits in tradefairs an occasion whereby people ask questions about the product and being informed about the product. for a new product to be patronized in the market a lot of explanations were needed and lots of questioning were thrown. locale of the study the venue of the research was in central isabela which consisted of the towns of cauayan (now a city), luna, cabatuan, reina mercedes and naguilian. these towns have people of different cultures and mind sets. from these various end-user respondents, it was good to get how they valued or what really was their basic attitude towards filipino technology and national patrimony based from their attitudes with the product, an invention of a filipino inventor. respondents of the study with limited consumers of ballast booster product, at least seventytwo persons were end-user respondents. the study made use of total enumeration as statistical basis. instruments used in the study the questionnaire and interview techniques were used to gather the data needed. the researcher first asked permission from the authorities concerned before floating questionnaires. after permission was granted, he distributed questionnaires to the respondents. distribution of questionnaires was done only after a year of observation with the product. upon retrieval, interview took place. information about the jpair: multidisciplinary journal 82 marketed product and its impact on them was discussed. the gathered data and subsequent responses from the respondents will be tallied, tabulated and analyzed to answer the specific questions of the study. statistical treatment of data in the analysis of the data gathered, the researcher made use of the following statistical tools: frequency and percentage distribution and analysis; ranking (ranking proceeded from the most to the least when three or more brackets or ranges were there. plurality was acknowledged to represent majority especially when there were more end-user respondents abstained from answering the given questions. however, there were trends of similarity; these were taken as signs to represent the majority; and chi-square was applied in testing the hypothesis results and discussion 1. demographic profile of the respondents as to the demographic profile of the end-user respondents, majority were: of ages from 25 to 52; male; married with children of 1 fig. 2. conceptual framework international peer reviewed journal 83 to 4; involved in farming; college graduate; refraining from revealing their income; having an annual income of 121,000 to 240,000 pesos; having an extra income out of farming activities; owned appliances like cable t.v., stereo/radio/ karaoke, refrigerator and electric fan; buying only one piece; and wanting to test the product whether they can save money and energy. table 1. frequency and percentage distribution of the reactions of respondents according to 3 variables/issues a. knowledge and awareness of the existence of the product yes % no % 1. know the product purchased is a filipino invention. 70 97 2 3 2. see the products in hardware or electrical supply. 20 28 52 72 3. aware something about filipino inventions. 60 78 11 22 4. believe to such thing as “filipino technology”. 64 88 8 12 5. care if the product bought is made in the philippines or not. 63 87 9 13 6. convince local product is not classy and lesser in quality vs. imported. 30 42 42 58 7. accept if product is local, it is lesser in quality and durability 30 42 42 58 8. if the product is imported, it is original. 30 46 42 58 9. importing technology from abroad like japan, usa and europe is good. 33 46 38 53 10. become classy when one buys imported goods. 52 72 20 28 11. know the inventor of fluorescent light is a filipino, agapito flores. 58 80 14 20 12. trust in filipino (inventor). 72 100 0 0 13. mind to know the inventor of the product and its origin. 63 87 9 13 14. care to know the capitalist who backed up the production. 63 87 9 13 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 84 15. conscious to differ between filipino and chinese as product distributor. 57 79 15 21 16. trust if a product is made and produced by filipinos. 68 94 4 6 17. acknowledge the new product is better of service than the old one. 65 90 7 10 18. understand new technology is costly but durable and saver. 50 69 12 31 19. learn a new product has advantage and solution left undone by old. 68 94 4 6 20. aware of the warranty and guarantee trademark of the product. 70 97 2 3 21. read the warranty and guaranteed life span of the product is long. 54 75 18 25 22. care for the accessibility of outlet even if the product is disposable. 30 42 42 58 b. economic global issues yes % no % 1. care if product has patent, national or international 58 80 13 18 2. understand issues on apec and its effect on philippine economy. 58 80 14 20 c. government economic program and support for filipino technology yes % no % 1. acknowledge the value of government support to filipino inventors. 67 93 5 7 2. realize the government support to the production of national products. 53 74 19 26 3. aware of the phil. govt. priority on pro-foreign investment/industry. 58 81 14 19 4. thank the government for putting up duty-free philippines. 65 90 7 10 5. remember mention of filipino inventors in science classes in school. 50 69 20 28 6. reminisce schools to teach something on national/filipino technology. 59 82 12 17 as to knowledge and awareness of the existence of the filipino product, majority or more than 50% of the respondents had a positive outlook with pro-foreign inclination as regards quality, durability, originality and classy and accessibility i.e. 44%; as to knowledge of continuation of table 1 international peer reviewed journal 85 economic global issues; majority or 58% cared for the effects on national economy; and as to government economic program and support for filipino technology, majority or 55% praised the government with pro-foreign inclination to the establishment however of duty-free philippines i.e. 65%. 3. chi-square results on the reactions of the end-users of ballast booster according to three categories table 2. chi-square analysis between the respondent’s reaction and the different variables variables (demographic profile) chi-square value (with and without continuity correction factor) degree of freedom tabular value decision interpretation 1. age a. existence of filipino technology 0.000 2 5.59 accept ho reaction does not depend on age b. global issues 0.292 c. government support for filipino technology 0.338 2. sex a. existence of filipino technology 0.058 0.002 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on sex b. global issues 0.021 0.213 c. government support for filipino technology 0.005 0.065 3. occupation a. existence of filipino technology 2.630 3 7.82 accept ho reaction does not depend on occupation b. global issues 2.933 c. government support for filipino technology 0.772 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 86 4. civil status a. existence of filipino technology 0.047 0.025 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on civil status b. global issues 0.006 0.101 c. government support for filipino technology 0.149 0.001 5. number of children a. existence of filipino technology 0.052 0.374 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on number of children b. global issues 0.375 1.056 c. government support for filipino technology 0.375 1.056 6. educational attainment a. existence of filipino technology 0.001 0.080 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on educational attainment b. global issues 0.313 0.081 c. government support for filipino technology 0.035 0.288 7. income a. existence of filipino technology 0.013 0.117 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on income b. global issues 0.008 0.248 c. government support for filipino technology 0.008 0.248 continuation of table 2 international peer reviewed journal 87 8. number of product’s bought a. existence of filipino technology 0.027 0.398 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on the no. of pro ducts’ bought b. global issues 0.005 0.297 c. government support for filipino technology 0.050 0.084 9. purpose a. existence of filipino technology 0.169 0.001 1 3.84 accept ho reaction does not depend on the purpose for buying b. global issues 0.072 0.510 c. government support for filipino technology 0.005 0.065 as to the reactions of the respondents regarding the existence of filipino technology, economic global issues, and government economic program and support towards filipino technology when grouped according to demographic profile such as age, sex, civil status, occupation, number of children, educational attainment, income, quantity of product bought, and purpose in buying the product; using the chi-square test, the result was: the chi-square value of all the data of different variables were very much lower than the tabular value; hence, the respondents’ reactions did not depend on demographic profile. conclusions the following are the conclusions: the personal variables have no bearing on the perceptions of the respondents on filipino technology. the study therefore left a vital question unanswered i.e. where did the reactions of respondent endusers really depend on? were those reactions innate and naturally cultural? this study therefore implied that a national consciousness continuation of table 2 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 88 should be conceived, implanted and nurtured in filipino psyche in all levels of the philippine educational systems toward filipino technology which is the key toward national economic productivity. literature cited acts and decrees of the second plenary council of the philippines, 1992 manila: catholic bishops’ conference of the philippines, andres, tomas d. 1981 understanding filipino values, quezon city: new day publishers canceran, d., o.p., justitia 1995 vol.2, a new age of global conquest, quezon city: dominican province of the philippines. constantino, r. 1997 manila daily news magazine, february 19. salgado, p.o.p. 1995 an economic vision for the philippines, justitia vol 2, quezon city: dominican province of the philippines,. sanchez, c. a., 1986 methods and techniques of research, rex bookstore, manila. the 1987 constitution of the republic of the philippines, manila: national bookstore. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 133 aristotle as an idealist glenn g. pajares g_pajares@yahoo.com university of san jose-recoletos cebu city, philippines abstract the ancient greek philosopher aristotle is widely known as a realist in believing that the real exists in the sensible world and can be known through sense of perception or observation. but, there are others who would claim that he is a moderate realist in believing that the essences are one with physical objects but are known universally and immaterially. contrary to these popular beliefs, this paper discussed that aristotle is neither a realist nor a moderate realist but an idealist. the study utilized descriptive critical analysis as its method. the author explained the basic principles and teachings of aristotle on metaphysics, epistemology and dwelt on these basic principles and teachings as bases of criticism. this article presented aristotle’s belief that the true essences of things which he referred to as forms, essences or substance are metaphysical or universal which is beyond the physical and therefore beyond the grasp of sensation and observation. in other words, reality for him is only logical or mental in nature for it is not tangible. this also explained that aristotle’s theory of knowledge (epistemology) which employed the senses to grasp the essences of things is not possible. vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.158 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 134 keywords realism, idealism, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, hylemorphism, essence, form, substance and nature. introduction in the painting of rafael “the school of athens” one finds plato walking side by side with his student aristotle. the former was pointing up while the latter is pointing down. these gestures indicate the difference of their thoughts. plato was pointing up because he believed that reality is in the world of ideas-a supersensible world found outside the material universe. the world we are living according to him is not real but merely a copy of the world of ideas. the ideas also known as forms are the real entities that serve as prototypes of all the things in the sensible world. in contrast, it is a common belief that aristotle was pointing down because he believes that reality is this world and not in the world which his teacher proposes. the real world is the sensible world that can be perceived by sense and experience (soccio, 2007, 171-172). however, the author of this article would like to explain that aristotle does not really consider reality as one with the sensible world as what most scholars and readers believe. the author would like to elucidate that aristotle is an idealista person who believes that reality is reducible to ideas or mental entities that do not have concrete existence and therefore not observable by sense and experience (blackburn, 1996, 184). the author was inspired by deconstructionism which posits that within the text there are inconsistencies that deconstruct the text itself. hence, there is no single and absolute meaning and interpretation of a text (mautner, 2005, 138). therefore, the works of aristotle are not exemptions to this. his philosophy is worth reexamining, reevaluating as well as reinterpreting. this article made use of the descriptive analysis as its method. it is descriptive in the sense that it defined and explained the different metaphysical and epistemological principles of aristotle. it is analytic for it showed to the readers the reasons why aristotle is an idealist and international peer reviewed journal 135 not a realist which most people think he is. the article is significant for it provides students and mentors of philosophy another perspective of aristotle’s thought that might be worth exploring, reviewing, and questioning. the philosophies of erstwhile thinkers are themselves products of the imperfect intellects of men. they are not free of error and doubt and therefore not absolute. the role of philosophers and students of philosophy in the present is not merely to adopt and accept the thoughts of erstwhile thinkers totally but rather to review, reflect, verify, test and even question and improve them. it is only through this that philosophy will live on. framework manuel t. pinon (1983), in his work being and reality: the philosophy of contingent being and contingent reality said that aristotle is a realist because he believed that the different categories of things are known through experience. however, he also admitted that metaphysics is not an empirical study of the nature of things. metaphysics is considered as the first philosophy for it deals primarily with the first principles of reality. when one speaks of first principles they are the most fundamental constitutions, causes or elements that compose all things. they are the reasons behind the existence of things (wardman and creed, 1963, 43). one cannot understand things without understanding these reasons first. philip stokes (2002) considered aristotle as the father of empiricism and scientific method because he investigated things by taking into account the opinion of experts and laymen altogether. ronald hoy and nathan oaklander (2005) stated that aristotle repudiated the main thought of his master plato. while plato emphasized the reality of the forms, aristotle, on the other hand, spoke greatly about particular things. for aristotle, primary substances are the individual things and not the platonic forms. mary lousie gill (2005) said that as to the status of the form, aristotelian scholars were even divided among themselves. some referred to form as universal, while others consider it particular. some scholars would identify form with substance and others would say that form is not substance for a substance is already the combination jpair: multidisciplinary journal 136 of matter and form. still others believed that a universal cannot be a substance. even on the status of matter, scholars are divided and the debate continues whether or not matter is pure potency or whether matter is a substance in itself. there are apparent contradictions and inconsistencies in aristotle’s metaphysics that lead to varying and even conflicting views on aristotle’s thought among scholars and experts of his philosophy. regarding epistemology, travis butler and eric rubenstein (2004) said that in aristotle’s works, his works, the metaphysics and on the soul (de anima) mentioned that his epistemological concern centered on the metaphysical nature of the objects of knowledge. frederick copleston (2003) said that aristotle’s thoughts and works are to be divided into three categories or segments. the first is the aristotle of the academy who is very platonic. the second is the aristotle during his departure from the academy, the time he went to asia minor. here aristotle already started to depart from platonism. the third is the aristotle of the lyceum. here aristotle is already very scientific and empirical. to understand aristotle is to understand him in the three different segments of his life. it is important to note that some of aristotle works were done within the transitions of these three segments. thus, it is not surprising that in one work, aristotle seemed to be both platonic and empirical. besides, most of his works were compilations of his students and it is very possible these were misedited or misinterpreted or miscompiled. in fact, there is no single interpretation on aristotle’s thought. since medieval times, there had been manifold interpretations already on aristotle and his work. results and discussion aristotle is the father or author of the work metaphysics (glenn, 1937, 2). etymologically, metaphysics comes from two greek words: meta (beyond or after) and phusis/physis/physika which means the physical/material or natural (vesey and foulkes, 1999, 192). literally it means beyond, behind or after physics. it is named so because it was believed to have been written after the work physics; and also it deals with realm beyond or behind the physical. it is the study of international peer reviewed journal 137 being or reality (anything that exits or may exist) in its most general or universal characteristics (rowan, 1961, 17). it is also the study of the ultimate causes and first principles of reality which according to aristotle exist beyond or behind the concrete, tangible, particular features and properties of things or of anything physical(warrington, 1961, 115&50). thus, metaphysics is the highest form of abstraction (stumpf, 1975, 87). there are four major reasons why aristotle is an idealist. first, if aristotle were a realist he would have not spoken of a realm beyond or behind the physical. he could have simply said that the physical is real and what one sees is reality, nothing more and nothing less. the fact that he believes and is an advocate of metaphysics makes him an idealist. second, aristotle said that metaphysics is the study of the being or reality in its general and most universal characteristics. this is contrary to reality because what exists in the world are particular or individual things and not universals. therefore, one cannot study a particular thing universally because universality is not a property of an individual physical entity. third, aristotle considers the ultimate causes and first principles of things which are the very explanation and the most fundamental component of things to exist beyond or behind the physical. this simply means that reality according to aristotle is not one with the physical but one which transcends it. so, there is no big difference between plato and aristotle. fourth, the ultimate causes and first principles of reality are metaphysical and metaphysics is the highest form of abstraction. then it would mean that reality is only an abstraction/ideal and never physical or concrete. therefore, aristotle is an idealist. the doctrine of hylemorphism/hylomorphism to be more specific with the discussion, the author would like to delve into one of the main teachings in aristotle’s metaphysics which is the doctrine of hylemorphism or hylomorphism which states that all bodily entities or material things are basically composed of two elements namely: material cause or matter (hyle) and formal cause or jpair: multidisciplinary journal 138 form (morphe). matter is what a thing is made of, while the form refers to what a thing is (moore and bruder, 2005, 64-65). for example, the table is made of wood. the wood is the matter of the table while its form is its “tableness” or its being a table. another example: the matter of the car is what the car is made of such as metal, steel, plastic, paint, rubber, etc., while form or essence of car is its “carness,” its being a car. the form is what things are in themselves or what is called reality of things or simply the real (kiernan, 1962, 267). the form is used by aristotle synonymously with essence, nature, and substance (migill, 1990, 68). forms are metaphysical and whatever is metaphysical is universal, abstract, and intangible (warrington, 1961, 50). the fact that aristotle considers forms and essences to be metaphysical is tantamount to saying that reality is universal, abstract, and intangible. besides, how can he speak of form and essence when it cannot be experienced in real world? nobody has actually seen or heard or touched the “banananess” of a banana or the “treeness” of a tree. all these are just mental constructs. therefore, aristotle is an idealist. speaking of matter, there are actually two types of matter. the first is prime matter which aristotle defines as pure potencythe absence of form, essence or determination. another is secondary matter which is already an “informed matter” -the union of form and prime matter or this is the matter referred to as what a thing is made of (alvira et al., 1991, 195). the problem is how aristotle arrived at the notion of prime matter when it is pure potency or it has no form and determination, in other words it is nothing. nothing is unthinkable. what can be thought of or spoken of are only beings-those that exist or may exist. again, aristotle is speaking of things not grounded on experience and observation. therefore, he is an idealist. it is important to note that according to aristotle, what exists in the sensible world is the individual thing (secondary matter) which is already the combination of prime matter and form. form and prime matter cannot and do not exist separately in the real order of things (kolak, 2011, 104). how did aristotle arrive at the knowledge of the existence of prime matter and form and that they are different from each other, when international peer reviewed journal 139 what one can experience or observe in reality is the composite of the two which is secondary matter? aristotle actually could not and did not observe the existence of form and prime matter. his knowledge and discussion of the existence of prime matter and form are without basis in experience. therefore, he is an idealist. consequently, prime mater and substantial form or form cannot be the principle or cause of secondary matter because prime matter and form are metaphysical while secondary mater is physical. the metaphysical cannot beget something physical. therefore, hylemorphism is impossible. coming up with a concept of hylemorphism will make aristotle an idealist. furthermore, if prime matter is pure potency or nothing then it cannot be combined with form in order to produce secondary matter which is physical. again, this would prove the impossibility of hylemorphism. therefore, hylemorphism is not based on experience and observation. by thinking and speaking of hylemorphism as true makes aristotle is an idealist. aristotle’s epistemology/theory of knowledge in aristotle’s epistemology or theory of knowledge, it was also explained that the forms/essences/substances are actually one with the objects or things, and are known by the intellect/mind through sense of perception. after sense perception, the active/agent intellect grasps the essence by removing the individuating notes or particular characteristics of a thing such as color, shape, size, quantity, and quality etc. and what remains in the intellect is pure essence or form which is universal and immaterial which is called idea. this process is known as abstraction (glenn, 1933, 19-26). aristotle in his theory of knowledge did not explain how the senses are able to grasp the essences/forms of substance of things. this remains to be a gray area or vacuum because again the senses are physical and the form/essence and substance is metaphysical. the physical has no capacity to reach or come into contact with the metaphysical. if the essences of things are known as universals then they can only be known by intellection/reason/thinking. therefore, sensation and observation have nothing to do with knowing the jpair: multidisciplinary journal 140 essences of things. knowledge is only accessible to reason and not through sensation. this makes aristotle an idealist. if the metaphysical realm cannot be reached by sensation and observation then metaphysics itself is not a science if one defines science as a discipline that makes use of observation as a method. metaphysics is non verifiable and falsifiable for it has no concrete evidence and basis. nobody has seen or touched form or substance, nature or essence. aristotle’s metaphysics is only an opinion or an idealistic interpretation of what is real without empirical evidence. if metaphysics cannot be grasped by the senses or by observation then it is tantamount to say that aristotle never really utilized induction as method but rather deduction. deduction is reasoning from general to particular (martin, 1994, 63). aristotle’s concept of abstraction as a process of knowledge is not possible and even not practical because a person who never really knows about a particular thing cannot know that thing as it is by simply perceiving the thing by his/her five senses. he or she needs to be told or informed by somebody else who already knows what it is. for example, tarzan goes to the city and it is his first time to see a computer, no matter how hard tarzan would look at the computer, touch the computer, listen to its sounds and even taste it, he would never come to know that it is a computer unless somebody educates him. aristotle’s theory of truth aristotle in his theory of truth postulates that truth or logical truth is basically the conformity/correspondence of thought to thing. this means that the intellect is able to grasp the essence of a thing in the form of an idea (universal) and this idea (universal) truly represents the thing as it is (bittle, 1939, 169-170). for example, if one thinks of a ball pen as ball pen then that is truth. falsity on the contrary is disconformity. it happens when one thinks of a thing as ball pen when in fact it is a pencil. if an idea is universal then it has nothing to do with individual things. knowledge or ideas cannot truly represent or has nothing to do with individual things. therefore, aristotle is an idealist and that true international peer reviewed journal 141 knowledge of things as they are in themselves is not possible. if ideas are universal then they are even unthinkable because they do not have thought contents. one cannot think of a universal. when one thinks, one always thinks of a particular object or person. to think of a tree without shape, color, quantity and quality is impossible. therefore, universals are unthinkable. conclusions aristotle in his search for the ultimate causes and principles of reality went beyond the physical and arrived at metaphysics where he found his answers. in his search for true knowledge, aristotle arrived at the universals/ideas. because of this, he is an idealist. recommendations the author recommends that other students of philosophy and scholars revisit the teachings of aristotle and find out what new interpretation or understanding can be made on his thoughts and works. further study on this matter is needed. literature cited alvira, thomas, luis clavell, tomas melondo. 1991 metaphysics. manila: sinagtala publishers. blackburn, simon. 1996 oxford dictionary of philosophy. new york: oxford university press. bittle, celestine n. 1939 the domain of being: ontology. milawaukee: bruce publishing company. butler travis and eric rubenstein. 2004 “aristotle on nous of simples.”canadian journal of philosophy. retrieved from proquest. com. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 142 copleston, frederick. 2003 a history of philosophy greece and rome. new york: continuum. glenn, paul j. 1933 criteriology: a class manual in major logic. london: b herder book co. glenn, paul j. 1937 ontology: a class manual in fundamental metaphysics. london: b herder book co. gill, m.l. 2005 “aristotle’s metaphysics reconsidered”. journal of the history of philosophy, 43(3),223 -251. retrieved from proquest.com. hoy, ronald c. and l. nathan oaklander. 2005 metaphysics classical contemporary readings. belmont: wadsworth thomson. kiernan, thomas. 1962 aristotle dictionary. new york: philosophical library. kolak, daniel. 2011 lovers of wisdom an introduction to philosophy with integrated readings. london: thomson wadsworth. martin, robert. 1994 the philosopher’s dictionary. new york: broadview press, mautner, thomas. 2005 the peguin dictionary of philosophy. london: penguin books. migill, frank n. 1999 “metaphysics”. masterpieces of world philosophy. new york: harper collins publishers. international peer reviewed journal 143 moore, brooke noel and kenneth bruder. 2005 philosophy the power of ideas. new york: mcgraw-hill, inc. pinon, manual t. 1983 being and reality the philosophy of the contingent reality. quezon city: rtp foundation. rowan, john. 1961 commentary on the metaphysics of aristotle. chicago: henry regnery company. soccio, douglas. 2007 archetypes of wisdom an introduction to philosophy. belmont: thomson wadsworth. stokes, philip. 2002 philosophy 100 essential thinkers. london: arcturus publishing unlimited. stumpf, samuel enoch. 1975 socrates to sartre: a history of philosophy. new york: mcgrawhill, inc. vesey, g. and p. foulkes. 1999 unwin hyman dictionary of philosophy. glasgow: harpercollins publishers. wardman a.e. and j.l. creed. 1963 the philosophy of aristotle. new york: mentor books. warrington, john. 1961 aristotle’s metaphysics. new york: j.m. dent and sons ltd. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research group dynamic courseware (gdc): innovative strategic intervention in enhancing basic mathematical skills joyce neniel rabor http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3831-7607 joyce.rabor@deped.gov.ph deped calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines maria sheila hermano sumilang http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3502-6326 mariasheila.sumilang@deped.gov.ph deped calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines kathreen merwin neniel opinio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-3246 kathreenmerwin.opinio.001@deped.gov.ph deped calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract   grade 4 pupils got a low mps score of 11.11 % in mathematics pretest conducted at banlic elementary school division of calamba, laguna. as an intervention, the researchers developed group dynamics courseware (gdc) that aimed at enhancing the basic mathematical skills of the pupilvol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.765 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3831-7607 mailto:joyce.rabor@deped.gov.ph http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3502-6326 mailto:mariasheila.sumilang@deped.gov.ph http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-3246 mailto:kathreenmerwin.opinio.001@deped.gov.ph https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.765 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 131 international peer reviewed journal respondents. the effectiveness of the group dynamic courseware (gdc) was checked through a pre-test and post-test written assessment. the result revealed a mean difference between the pre-test and post-test results of -10.87, which means a significant increase on the academic performance of the pupils after the integration of the courseware. furthermore,  t stat  of the pre and post-test was -14.022 > 2.015 critical value with forty-four (44) degrees of freedom and .000 level of significance. thus, this directly implies that the null hypothesis is rejected; therefore, there is a significant difference in the academic performance of the pupil respondents after the integration of group dynamic courseware. as supported by the pupils’ reflection, data revealed that the group dynamic courseware is highly effective regarding instruction and pupils› activities. the researchers concluded that gdc in mathematics had a significant impact on the pupils’ academic performance. pupils were motivated and engaged in hands-on activities; collaborate with the groups to accomplish an essential task within the prescribed time. keywords — courseware, mixed-method, innovative, banlic elementary school, calamba city, philippines introduction mathematics is always perceived as a difficult subject. aside from making the class interesting for the learners, keeping them engage in all the activities in spite of their short attention require great effort teachers adopt methods and approaches that truly enhance the learning process. innovative ways to teach mathematics class is a very challenging task for the teacher most especially if they do not have enough training and knowledge on how to integrate technology in teaching. furthermore, the mathematics community has a long history of supporting intense mathematics content preparation for prospective teachers. current publications of the professional societies continue to make this case, emphasizing that the new k-12 reforms require teachers to have increased mathematical breadth. today’s mathematics teachers are experiencing significant changes not only in mathematics but also in the way they teach. now teachers are called to teach new, more challenging mathematics to a very diverse audience using active learning approaches designed to develop understanding. teachers who 132 jpair multidisciplinary research are engaged in current mathematics education reforms attempt to establish classrooms in which students engage actively and cooperatively in exploration and discussion to solve problems and reason mathematically. moreover, education in singapore promotes social mobility and the system that provides equal opportunity for every child that they should not be deprived of educational opportunities in investing levelling up programs in primary schools that attempt to help academic weaker students in both english and mathematics, to improve their foundation for future learning (lindorff, hall, &, sammons 2019). in addition to that, dick and hollebrands (2011) stated that a balanced mathematics program, the strategic use of technology, strengthens mathematics teaching and learning. in support of that, as revealed in the study of the national council of teachers of mathematics (2015) that having access to technology is not sufficient. the teacher and the curriculum play critical roles in facilitating the use of technological tools. the study also emphasizes that teachers and curriculum developers must be good decision-makers, skilled in determining when and how technology can enhance students’ learning appropriately and effectively. all schools and mathematics programs should provide students and teachers with access to instructional technology including classroom hardware, handheld and lab-based devices with mathematical software and applications, and web-based resources-together with adequate training to ensure its practical use.  pannen (2015) added that technology is seen to support the following educational goals, improve teaching and learning in content areas, develop learners’ skills considered to be essential in the modern world, increase motivation for teaching and learning, change the social organization of the classroom to be more learner-centered, enrich interaction among learners, teachers and other schools, and creativity and collaboration. the future of learning with ict is about access, learning, and collaborating, locally and globally. the teaching and learning process is going to be social activities. access to opportunities will be open for both teachers and students to the rich and abundant educational resources available on the internet. learning can take place in the classroom, as well as beyond. a face-to-face meeting will be important for assessing and confirming students understanding through discussion with teachers, projects, and group activities with their peers. however, virtual learning through the internet is also of high importance where students will gain more information from their network – virtual teachers, virtual peers, etc. as stated by pannen (2015). 133 international peer reviewed journal according to the study of sivakova et al. (2017), ict educational programs provide a new framework that fosters the improvement of the teaching and learning practices in teaching mathematics. the application of the ict educational programs in teaching mathematics from the first to the fifth grade affects the training of the students for easier adoption of the mathematical concepts and procedures and easily identifying and resolving problem situations. they also emphasize that students were motivated when ict is involved in the educational programs of the educational process because they encounter a wide variety of digital tools and resources. in support of that, interview findings on the utilization of information and communication technologies in mathematics reveal that most students were visual learners in which the use of the computer is more useful than pen and paper. the respondents recognize educational opportunities by using technology. this also stressed a large number of opportunities in learning using technology. for instance, the findings indicated that technology can (a) provide a visual environment to enhance understanding 3d concepts, (b) use internet resources to let students feel comfortable and confident in learning mathematics, and (c) apply different software as stimulating learning tools (saadati, tarmizi, & ayub, 2014). furthermore, the study of cartelli (2008) on the implementation of practices with ict as a new teaching-learning paradigm reveals that information system had a significant part in the creation of constructivist learning environments and helps the students to develop cognitive apprenticeship strategies (a system helped the student in improving learning and performance). drijvers, monaghan, thomas, and trouche (2014) explained that in mathematics education, it is necessary to integrate content-specific technologies like computer algebra systems, dynamic geometry environments, interactive applets, handheld computation, data collection, and analysis devices, and computer-based applications. these technologies help the student in discovering and identifying mathematical concepts and relationships. furthermore, it also helps learners to improve their communication and collaboration using webbased digital media. these integrated technologies also increase students’ access to information, ideas, and interactions that can support and enhance sense-making, which is central to the process of taking ownership of knowledge. findings from a study of the national council of teachers of mathematics (2015) have shown that the strategic use of technological tools can support both the learning of mathematical procedures and skills as well as the development of advanced mathematical proficiencies, such as problem-solving, reasoning, and justifying. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research in the philippine education, mathematics subject plays an essential role in facilitating participation in productive life activities, in such a way, examinations in applying a job indicate or measuring mathematics skills of the applicant, these also serve as a means of communication and operating as a gateway to national progress. to establish and maintain a high-quality education system, proper investments, most particularly in ict, must be made comprehension of different subject areas and highlight students’ overall academic performance. the researchers understand that a lot of pupils struggle with mathematics lessons and it all leads to low grades and mathematics phobia or math anxiety. blackboards, notebooks, and instructional materials are not enough to address the needs of the diversity of learners. looking into records, grade iv pupils got the lowest mps score of 51.22% in mathematics among pupils from grades 1-6. the researcher developed the courseware to merge the three dimensions of teaching and learning, which are class session, practice, and hands-on activities, and to uplift the academic performance of the pupils in mathematics. the courseware is composed of two parts, the teacher’s section and the students’ section. the teacher section is comprised of the compilation of teachers guide, lesson plans, and curriculum guides. on the other hand, the student section is composed of video tutorials in the various experiences, mathematics vocabulary tests, and quiz of the different lessons in mathematics. the purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of group dynamics courseware (gdc) as an innovative teaching instruction in enhancing necessary mathematical skills. the researcher chose to study the current situation in the selected grade iv pupils of banlic elementary school, division of calamba city. major innovation and genuine reform require aligning the efforts of all those involved in students’ mathematical development: teachers, principals, teacher educators, researchers, parents, specialist support services, school boards, policymakers, and the students themselves. changes need to be negotiated and carried through in classrooms, teams, departments, and faculties, and teacher education programs. innovation and reform must be provided with adequate resources. schools, communities, and nations need to ensure that their teachers have the knowledge, skills, support, and incentives to give the students the very best of learning opportunities. in this way, all students will develop their mathematical proficiency. in this way, too, all students will have the chance to view themselves as powerful learners of mathematics.  135 international peer reviewed journal framework the study was anchored on several concepts and theories which served as bases of the evaluation of the group dynamics courseware (gdc) as an innovative teaching instruction in enhancing necessary mathematical skills. the study used focus dimension within the computer practice framework (twining et al., 2013)in general and with specific reference to ict; a summary of the key points emerging from twg3’s discussions; and recommendations for action. on the basis of discussions held within the twg3, the authors concluded that effective tpd requires changes at several levels of educational systems (political, institutional and individual wherein computers help children to develop their it skills, knowledge and understanding learning tool, supports their learning other than it, using the computer in a way that is not covered by it or learning tool. learning objectives stay the same, but the process is automated in some way. support is about improving efficiency and effectiveness without changing curriculum content. extend curriculum content and, or process is different, but these changes could take place in a classroom context without a computer or related information and communication technology.  objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the effectiveness of group dynamics courseware (gdc), as an innovative teaching instruction in enhancing basic mathematical skills. it is also designed to uplift the academic performance of grade iv pupils of banlic elementary school. the courseware offered the opportunity for pupils to have first-hand experiences and help improve their mathematical skills. moreover, they can solve problems quickly and accurately, and lastly, pupils interact and learn through collaborative learning. the teacher will also have an easy access on teaching materials, automatic recording of pupils’ scores, establish routine activities, easy uploads of activities or quizzes, and giving remedial instruction and review or training for pupils in competition with lesser teacher supervision. also, it sought answers to the following questions: (1) what is the pre-test result of the pupilrespondents? (2) what is the post-test result of the pupil respondents? (3) is there a significant difference in the academic performance of the pupilrespondents based on the pre-test and post-test results?    136 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the researcher used the descriptive method of research utilizing the teacher made test as a tool for gathering and interpreting data. this method was used to collect data that describe the common observed pupils’ behavior and to test if the intervention using the group dynamic courseware has a significant impact on the academic performance of the pupil respondents.  the triangulation method, which is the most common and well-known approach for the mixed-method approach (creswell, 2014), was also used in the study. the researcher collected both quantitative and qualitative data, analyzed both data set, and merged the result of the two sets of data analysis to compare the result. this method provides a better understanding of research problems and seeks informative reflection from the respondents (cameron, 2011). research site the study was conducted at banlic elementary school, calamba east 5 district, division of calamba city, laguna. banlic elementary school is an iso certified large school with 50 teachers, one (1) utility man, and one (1) security guard as the working force. seven (7) buildings with 36 classrooms as teaching and learning areas and one (1) principal’s office with a total of 2 291 sq. m land area catering 2, 074 learners. this school is chosen as the beneficiaries of the group dynamic courseware because the researchers were one of the staff and administrators of this institution. figure 1: map of banlic elementary school 137 international peer reviewed journal respondents the present study involved the forty-five grade iv pupils as pupilrespondents banlic elementary schools in calamba east district. the pupils include 23 boys and 22 girls with the same level of academic performance. the researcher used a purposive sampling technique to determine the respondents of the study. the honest results of the pre-test and post-test of the pupil-respondents were used as the basis for the affectivity of the group dynamics courseware in enhancing basic mathematics skills. comparative analysis of the pre-test and the post-test result was also used to determine the impact of the courseware on the academic performance of the pupilrespondents. conduct of interview and focused group discussion was also administered. instrumentation the researcher used the following tools to gather needed data to answer the problems stated in the statement of the problem. (1) pre-test and posttest was administered to the grade iv pupils to determine the academic performance of the pupilrespondents. the pre-test and post-test are 40 items of multiple choice teacher-made tests that were administered using the courseware. (2) interview- the researcher interviewed fortyfive (45) grade iv pupils towards the impact of the group dynamics courseware concerning their academic performance in the first to fourth quarterly assessment for the school year 20182019. (3)  focus group discussion was conducted to validated activities/ lesson/ video tutorials included in the courseware. (4)  documentary analysis  a record refers to the performance of the grade iv pupils in mathematics based on the results of the first to fourth quarterly assessment for the school year 2018-2019. (5) library/ internet – the researcher gathered data from unpublished and published theses from the libraries visited. internet linkages were also considered to facilitate comprehension of the sources. validation of instrument the pre-test was administered to the grade iv pupils to determine the least learned competence within a grading period. based on the pre-test assessment of the pupils-respondents, the following were the identified least learned competence in mathematics grade iv. (1) dividing 3 to 4digit numbers by 2 digit numbers without and with remainders (2) solving multistep routine and non-routine word problems involving division (3) performing series of operation (mdas) (4) adding and subtracting dissimilar fraction (5) solving 138 jpair multidisciplinary research word problems involving addition and/ or subtraction of fractions (6) elapsed time (7) solving routine and non-routine problems involving area of squares, rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoid. (8) finding the missing number in an equation. content and validity of the teacher made test was checked by the master teachers and principal of banlic elementary school to make sure that all the items were aligned with the competencies. mathematics teacher was also interviewed to checked and validate the topic listed as least learned. then, activities in courseware were created and validated by the mathematics teacher and master teacher of banlic elementary school. during every lesson of courseware were integrated, lastly, after every grading period posttest was administered to check the effectivity of the group dynamics courseware. focused group discussion and interview with the respondents were administered to support the results from the pre-test and post-test. to check the reliability of the interview and test questionnaire, cronbach’s alpha test was also administered to the other grade four pupils who were not included as respondents of the study. ethical considerations were applied to the whole process of this program. the researchers gave a letter to the principal to inform them on overview of the whole program and to seek permission to administer the program and focus group discussion in respect to what the program was about, who was undertaking the program, the benefits of the research, and what was exactly involved for the participant. then, the researcher also seeks permission to the parents that they are allowing their son/ daughter to be part of the pupil-respondents of the study. data analysis the data in this research tested and analyse to check the effectiveness of the group dynamic courseware (gdc) using pre-test and post-test written performance assessment. it was validated using t-test two paired-sample mean, and the result is supported by focus group discussion and reflection from the fortyfive (45) grade iv pupil-respondent. the paired sample t-test was conducted to evaluate whether a statistically significant difference existed between the mean math achievement scores before and after the integration of the group dynamic courseware. 139 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion pretest and post test result of the pupil-respondents table 1. shows the summary of pre-test and post test result of the pupilrespondents paired sample statistics pair 1 mean n std. deviation std. error mean pretest 11.1111 45 5.18837 .77344 posttest 21.9778 45 6.25768 .93284 the mean percentage score of the pre-test was 11.11% with a standard deviation value of 5.18, while the post-test result was 21.98%, with a standard deviation value of 6.26. an increase of -10.87% percent was visible comparing the mean percentage score of the pre and post-test. this directly implies a significant increase in the academic performance of the pupil respondents after the integration of the group dynamic courseware. in the study of pannen (2015), he cited that technology is seen to support improvement in teaching and learning in content areas; thus, group dynamic courseware is an essential tool to increase the academic performance of the pupils. in support of that, 42 out of 45 pupil-respondent being interviewed answered: “the use of group dynamic courseware was effective in learning mathematical concepts.” furthermore, in a focused group discussion, pupil a  responded that the courseware is easy to use and was able to help them understand their lesson. while  pupil b  said that even without the teacher, they could learn their experience because of the video tutorials installed in the courseware.  pupils c  said that with the use of the courseware, they acquired the mathematical skills by providing them varied activities that would involve them individually and collaboratively. the result is supported by the study of (andalis et al., 2017) wherein they stated that gamified environment or technology-based environment for learning is more effective than traditional learning methods, and suggests that more focus be put on said learning method in order to increase the speed and efficiency of learning, particularly in children learners. it is therefore concluded that the pupils were able to increase their academic performance because of the integration of the courseware. it is also observed that the courseware is user-friendly, offers first-hand experiences, and have interactive activities that help pupils understand the lesson. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. shows the significant correlations of pre-test and post test result of the pupil-respondents paired sample correlations pair 1 n correlations sig. pretest & posttest 45 .601 .000 the table showed that there were 0.601 correlations between the pretest result and the post-test result of the pupils’ respondents with .000 level of significance. t-test result of the pre-test and post-test of the pupilrespondents table 3. shows the paired sample t-test ofthe pretest and posttest results paired differences 95% confidence interval of the difference pair 1 mean std. deviation std. error mean lower upper t df sig. (2tailed) pre-post 10.86667 5.19878 .77499 12.42855 9.30478 14.022 44 .000 based on the data presented, the mean difference between the pre-test and post-test results is -10.87. this denotes an increase in the academic performance of the pupils on the post-test result. furthermore, t stat of the pre and post-test was -14.022 > 2.015 critical value with forty-four (44) degrees of freedom and .000 level of significance. thus, this directly implies that the null hypothesis is rejected; therefore, the alternative hypothesis is accepted that there is a significant difference in the academic performance of the pupil respondents after the integration of group dynamic courseware based on the pre-test and post-test results. this result was supported by the study of wagner et al. (2005), wherein students who used computer tutorials in mathematics, natural science, and social science score significantly higher on tests in these subjects. students who used simulation software in mathematics also scored higher. in addition to that, in the study of bocconi, kampylis, and punie (2013) stated that computers should be used to enhance the aspect of teaching through the presentation of information in different forms. pupils should manipulate and make changes to information on computers so that they can develop an understanding of the relationship 141 international peer reviewed journal between different types of information or through the process of changing that information dynamically. pupils should be encouraged to make connections between others’ learning and what they do and learn on computers. in addition, the result of focused group discussion were as follows; teacher a said that gdc helps the teacher to deliver the lesson by using modern technologies and other local materials that will enhance pupils’ interest.  teacher b  said that through gdc, pupils initiate and encourage them to learn without fear and allow themselves to participate with the class on their own. lastly, teacher c noted that the teacher could efficiently conduct a remedial intervention with lesser teachers’ participation because of the gdc, unlike other courseware, gdc allows the teacher to edit and create appropriate activities in mathematics. furthermore, in the study of (samonte & guzman, 2019)it aimed to (1, they concluded that teachers‘ professional development is a critical factor in the successful integration of computers in teaching. it is recommended that administrators must allocate budget for ict, most notably on the technological resources, and teachers shall undergo seminars and trainings that will help further enhance and improve their computer skills and knowledge. conclusions the researcher concluded that with the aid of the integration of group dynamic courseware in mathematics, pupils had improved their academic performance. it directly implies that the teacher should integrate technology into teaching. it is concluded that gdc can save time and effort of the teacher in training or conducting remedial classes in mathematics. gdc also help the teacher to automatically record the pupils’ score and allow them to edit or create activities in line with the pupils’ ability. in addition to that, an increase in the rating on their pre-test and post-test is an indication that group dynamic courseware in mathematics had a significant impact on the academic performance of the pupil-respondents. translational research the crafted group dynamic courseware (gdc) of the study may be best translated through benchmarking. training on how to install and use the courseware can also be administered to all interested schools administrator and teachers. user manual can also be provided by the researcher to utilize the 142 jpair multidisciplinary research courseware better. additionally, this study is beneficial to curriculum developers, administrators, teachers, and pupils in planning courses and improving quality education in mathematics. this material can also be used as remedial learning activities that could be useful to elementary pupils to enhance their basic mathematical skills.  recommendations the following were the recommendations offered by the researcher based on the drawn conclusions. (1) the teachers are encouraged to ensure the content of the mathematics curriculum is articulated and possessed an in-depth understanding of the subject area’s learning goals, instructional procedures, and content-based curriculum. a related domain, knowledge of content, and teaching (kct), by (loewenberg ball et al., 2008), the knowledge that combines knowing about education and knowing about mathematics. many of the mathematical tasks of education require mathematical knowledge that interacts with the design of instruction. teachers need to sequence appropriate content for guidance, deciding which example to start with and which examples to use to take students more indepth into the material. they need to evaluate the instructional advantages and disadvantages of representations used to teach a specific idea. during a classroom discussion, they have to decide when to ask for more clarification, when to use a student’s remark to make a mathematical point, and when to ask a new question or pose a new task to further students’ learning. each of these requires interaction between specific, accurate understanding and an understanding of pedagogical issues that affect student learning. (2) the teachers should demonstrate skills in the use of ict in teaching and learning. the teachers are encouraged to use the manipulative/ mathematical tools related to developing mathematical concepts of the pupils to learn concepts in a developmentally appropriate and hands-on way. from the results of the study of (buabeng-andoh, 2012), recommended that teachers need sufficient training on how to use ict into teaching and learning processes to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills in integrating the technology in classrooms. it will provide opportunities for teachers to support student-centered learning. according to russell et al., (2007) teachers should be trained on specific instructional use of technology instead of the general use of computers. also, training should be provided on the use of ict software other than simple word processing.  143 international peer reviewed journal (3) the teachers are encouraged to develop and utilize creative and appropriate instructional plans and demonstrate the ability to cope with varied teaching milieu. furthermore, the study of safdar, yousuf, parveen, & behlol (2011) suggested that to meet the demand of the present era, in the field of technology it was suggested to make its application more effective in education, students must be trained in it from the grass-root level. therefore, it is recommended that information and communication technology (ict) can be introduced as a separate discipline in the curriculum of the primary level. to promote ict in education at the secondary level and for students to become more familiar with the use of ict, libraries in the educational institutions can be converted to on-line libraries. as the students from the deprived families do not have the it facilities available at their homes, so to make the use of ict effectively in the teaching-learning process, the vital role of teachers in this process may be enhanced by giving them in-service training for technology. for the same reason mentioned above, application of ict can be comprised as an integral part of the syllabi for before-service training in teachers degree program, and also at the time of induction of new teachers in any educational institution in any sector/region (4) the teachers and administrator should invest or seek stakeholders that will provide computers and innovative technology to copeup with the needs of the 21st century learners. concerning that, keong & horani (2005) cited that the malaysian ministry of education has spent a large sum of money on the ppsmi project, which uses ict as an enabler. it should not only view using ict as a mere tool for teaching and learning as mathematics educators, and teachers alike can derive more value from it. therefore to encourage more teachers to integrate ict into mathematics lessons, the devised program must be user-friendly. the e-portal proposed for this purpose is geared towards fulfilling such needs. (5) the group dynamic courseware crafted by the researcher would be considered as a way to acquire better school performance through various best practices in k to 12 mathematics instructions and highly recommended to apply in all grade levels. literature cited andalis, a. m. s., henson, b. c. s., junsay, j. a. g., makan, k. d. n., & cruz, g. r. d. (2017). effectiveness of the angolingo mobile game technology in english language learning in adamson university basic education department. jpair multidisciplinary research, 28(1). retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.508 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.508 144 jpair multidisciplinary research bocconi, s., kampylis, p., & punie, y. (2013). framing ict‐enabled innovation for learning: the case of one‐to‐one learning initiatives in europe. european journal of education,  48(1), 113-130. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1111/ejed.12021 buabeng-andoh, c. (2012). an exploration of teachers’ skills, perceptions and practices of ict in teaching and learning in the ghanaian second-cycle schools. contemporary educational technology, 3(1), 36–49. retrieved from http://bit.ly/37fjlis cartelli, a. (ed.). (2008). encyclopedia of information communication technology. igi global. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2vlrbvt creswell, j. w. (2014). a concise introduction to mixed methods research. sage publications. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2thoaxt cameron, r. (2011). mixed methods research: the five ps framework. electronic journal of business research methods,  9(2). retrieved from https://bit. ly/2qgty7b dick, t. p., & hollebrands, k. f. (2011).  focus in high school mathematics: technology to support reasoning and sense making (pp. xi-xvii). reston, va: national council of teachers of mathematics. retrieved from http://bit. ly/3865w1g drijvers, p., monaghan, j., thomas, m., & trouche, l. 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(2005). monitoring and evaluation of ict in education projects. a handbook for developing countries. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3boupgh http://bit.ly/3boupgh 1 international peer reviewed journal perception of shoppers on visual merchandising in a philippine city freshtille mae s. cuello http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5023-5014 freshtille_mae@yahoo.com.ph graduate student, university of san carlos cebu city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract rivalry in mall operations has painted a new shopping culture that is aimed at providing shoppers the necessary convenience and pampering they deserve. the use of visual merchandising is a means of orchestrating a distinct, worthwhile, and pleasurable shopping experience. it is a soundless and effective marketing tool that communicates to the customers in a matter of seconds and instantly trigger their impulse whether to buy or not. this study describes customers’ views toward important factors of visual merchandising utilized by retail or department stores or malls to influence their purchasing behavior. the descriptive research method was employed in the study to explain the characteristics of mall-goers. ninety percent of shoppers usually notice visual presentations of malls, and yet the majority of the shoppers made no buying decision based on impulse or visual effects alone. a simple store environment is enough for them. the top three factors of vm that influence their preference on retail or department stores or malls to visit – well-planned store arrangement and layout, courteous salesperson, and product assortment and broad aisles and more spaces. customers usually tend to engage in impulse shopping behavior when retail or department store or mall deals and other enticing offers are material, especially those that are price related. vol. 39 · january 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.757 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5023-5014 mailto:freshtille_mae@yahoo.com.ph https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v39i1.757 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — marketing, visual merchandising, descriptive method, philippines introduction visual merchandising, according to (kaur and patiala, 2013), is a silent salesperson that communicates the sales message without having to try so much but simply present visual tools. with a few seconds allotted for each marketer or mall operator to take hold of the attention of a prospective passing customer. they will endeavor to make each precious second count with the hope of a profitable encounter. this merchandising activity is tied to strategic marketing to withstand the ferocious business war. competition in retail has transformed the way merchandisers or mall operators think and do business. they have to rise above the mere resemblance of their offerings at par with that of their rivals (saini, gupta, and khurana, 2015). modern shopping has never been pleasurable and enjoyable an experience (sharma, tiwari, and verma, 2008). the jaunt to the mall is a way of life rather than just one that is related to consumption (kim, lee, and suh, 2015). it is seen as a culture, “a status symbol and a onestop retail solution.” a good attraction for every shopper who is promised with convenience and other comforts and pampering (swamynathan, mansurali, and chandrasekhar, 2013). gone are the days when malls or shopping complexes are merely for purchasing items. today, it is an avenue for leisure activities where entertainment gives them a sense of connection and shopping trips as a social activity, which involves being with others. the managers or mall operators have expanded their focus on satisfying customers to be more than just product and now to include the customer’s experience as cited in (hu and jasper, 2015). they are now viewed as one who orchestrates the shopping experience of mall-goers. traditionally, they were regarded as one who puts in one complex a wide array of products. nowadays, it has included the buzzword – shopping experience. the customers’ expectations are always at the top of the list for retailers. they have placed so much emphasis on the presentation of their merchandise to please the customers. the mall operators have resorted to utilizing visual merchandising. with this, the researcher endeavors to identify the factors that influence their preference for retail stores or malls to patronize and what triggers impulsive buying. 3 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study focuses on the identification of possible factors affecting shoppers’ perception of the visual merchandising activities and efforts of shopping complexes in du city, philippines, and its link to their impulse purchases. specifically, it endeavors to answer: (1) the profile of the shoppers in du city, in terms of (a) age, (b) sex, (c) civil status, (d) occupation, and (e) individual income, (2) the factors that influence the preference among shoppers toward malls they patronize in du city, (3) the factors that affect their intention to make impulse purchases, (4) the issues and challenges that shoppers encounter in the shopping complex’s visual merchandising efforts. framework the trip to the mall has become a lifestyle for many shoppers. this is the outcome of the marketing activities of mall operators in providing the shopping mall brand experience (kim, lee, and suh, 2015). customers have become sophisticated beings when it comes to their shopping expectations. for retailers, keeping up with this pace requires them to offer a multi-sensory and allencompassing shopping experience (spence, puccinelli, grewal, and roggeveen, 2014). shopping used to be a burdensome activity until the mall culture was introduced and adopted where shopping for varied merchandise is under a single roof of a mall. a one-stop-shop facility. it has turned into an enjoyable, leisurely, and social experience and has become a favorite past time for housewives and teens (sharma, tiwari, and verma, 2008). today’s mall patrons are leisure driven, according to nicholls et al., 2002 as cited in hu and jasper (2015). some shoppers make conscious effort to shop at malls which offer experience package that fit their shopping behavior and personality. it is a key mall preference criterion. shoppers’ satisfaction gets manifested by their overall enjoyment of the attributes of the mall. they cannot help but enjoy the pampering of mall operators. in the philippines, mall operation has led to a “malling” culture that plays a central role in the day to day urban lives of filipinos marked by the sense of comfort it brings. this retail sector attributes much of the country’s development as it runs under the capitalism platform. business tycoons of the country who operate malls and superstores make it to the top list of the country’s richest people, thereby reflecting the lucrative nature of the business (rico and de leon, 2017). 4 jpair multidisciplinary research mall operators are often caught up in intensifying their efforts to provide better services to their customers and in an attempt to win their patronage (ibrahim and ng, 2002). the retail platform has been faced with numerous challenges, as some of its players operate the old fashion way. as the numbers rise, retail innovation becomes a must. it must now offer customers “ultra-convenient shopping experience” [pp.175] (teo, rathi, and saidi, n.d.) on its mix of merchandise, the person they hire, pricing strategies, and variety of products are the noticeable store image elements that stimulate customer satisfaction. in singapore, its retail sector remains competitive. retail space is expanded to meet the growing number of tenants entering the retail game. the country, despite being known as “southeast asia’s shopping hub” (fatt, 2001), is challenged by its regional rivals from the philippines, malaysia, and indonesia, among others. retailers who do not level up their game or keep up with competition just wrap up their businesses and leave. some retailers who used to cater to tourists are now turning their attention to local shoppers. consumer profile in singapore is turned out to be an aging population. this would only command the need for shopping convenience, which the retailer has to address. singaporeans are always on the hunt for quality services, merchandise, and facilities. retailers who adhere to their standards are surely rewarded as their customers are set to enjoy and pay for it. mall operations should be able to keep up with the contemporary conditions and stick to providing customer satisfaction to its target market. it may be in the form of better facilities and “communal activities.” moreover, careful selection of the tenants in malls is important. most customers are attracted to trying something new in each of their store visits from food, products, movie, and other offerings. creativity is key. retailers in singapore have eyed on the commuting public as an opportunity to expand their market. they have brought their mall operations close enough to the rail transit system, and yet they must study customers’ perceptions and behavior about it carefully. fatt (2001) found that consumers are after accessibility and convenience, the array of products carried, and the cleanliness and good airconditioning mrt malls have to offer. moreover, facilities also matter to these customers. mrt malls are very visible and convenient for commuters. however, their shopping stopover is not primarily about purchasing but more with a form of recreation. these types of customers need to be enticed and drawn to the mall through its features. there must be orchestration of visual and audio effects to give them reasons to visit and eventually buy products. mrt malls offer a portfolio of products and services 5 international peer reviewed journal to singaporeans in the convenience of a single location, a shopping complex where entertainment, food, shopping, and other services are made available to customers. this is highly favorable as massive foot traffic would only mean more customers and sales. many players entering the retail industry. it is apparent for retailers to differentiate themselves from each other. as products are similar, one of the areas in which they can differentiate themselves is store presentation in terms of visual merchandising. mall operators are very keen on designing and giving attention to details on the first touchpoint with the customers – the window display (mehta and chugan, 2013). visual merchandising may not be the top reason; mall operators cannot just ignore this. there are many types of customers to please and impress. some of these customers are easily coaxed by the magic of visuals and aesthetic tricks (kaur and patiala, 2013). it would be pointless for retailers or mall operators to have untargeted strategic marketing. the employment of visual merchandising tactics must be carefully planned and executed to capture the right shoppers-audience for their activities. otherwise, they will end up incurring losses that do not add any returns to their shopping complex. the key to every mall operator’s success is his understanding of every customer (garg, 2014.). according to (garg, 2014), there are three characteristics and kinds of consumers. they must be carefully studied as their store choice behavior would affect every mall operator’s moves. first, recreational shoppers. these are the type who view shopping as fun, and a visit to stores are, most of the time, unplanned. they have all the time in the world to browse every corner of the shopping mall. these are the mall operators’ favorite since these shoppers are impulse buyers too. second, apathetic shoppers. these shoppers do not have an interest and are often reluctant to shop. shopping for them is a boring activity. they want to seal every deal as soon as possible. they can be a mall operator’s well-loved shopper as they buy branded products, not taking too much fuss of the price attached to it, and lastly, the economic shoppers. these are the types who love to save money. each of their store visits is planned and complete with the shopping list that matches their budget. big discounts make their day. retailers have given much attention to consumers these days and capitalize and devout time and resources to cater to their every need. luniya and verghese (2015) posed a challenge on the shifting shopping behavior among consumers from traditional planned to one that is based on impulse. impulse buying can provide lots of opportunities to retailers. traditionally, customers enlist items to buy before going to the store. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research but with several factors affecting them, this has changed over time. now, they make unplanned purchases. unplanned purchases are those done without prior idea nor intention. it can range from a random purchase to those when exposed to item or advertisement allows them to remember about it and then buy, to purchases that one has no idea of buying but upon seeing the item thinks of its benefits and to those that are planned and intended purchases that will have to be considered in relation to price and other elements to evaluate. impulse purchases are based on customers’ demographics, environmental, personal considerations, and other factors. customers’ age, gender, and income affect their decision on buying items based on impulse. the way retailers stage their merchandising activities can trigger impulsive buying too. moreover, customers make unplanned purchases based on mood, identity, culture, and the satisfaction he gets out of it. wherever the customer looks, either inside or outside the store and which paints a favorable picture of the store and good enough to give a push to purchase products is a manifestation of visual merchandising (babu, 2016). on the part of the retailer, this provides the basis for their tactics to be able to influence customers in their choice whether to patronize or not the store. impulse buying is a behavior done in a swift manner with no thought of alternatives. it is common and has become a principal factor for retailers in their strategic moves. a study by kaur and patiala (2013), their findings were that a good number of customers resort to impulsive buying after an effective visual merchandising activity initiated by malls. visual merchandising is a stimulus that triggers the natural tendency of shoppers to make impulse or unplanned buying behavior even upon entering the mall. it is reinforced by in-store browsing where purchase urges are at its peak. however, despite the visual lure – a shopper’s spending may not likely show their fascination. and much to the dismay of the mall operators, as they will have to shoulder all the expenses on the events, they have sponsored in an attempt to bait customers into spending their money (hu and jasper, 2015). competition has driven retailers to take radical moves to outsmart their competition through differentiation. one way to do this is through visual merchandising. saini, gupta, and khurana (2015) revealed that visual merchandising activities have bearing over buyers’ behavior, and this includes unplanned buying. some authors signified that the way retailers visually manage their stores trigger customers to behave the way they do. while other authors believed that retailers are able to distinguish their products apart from their rivals through visual merchandising, which allows them to stay ahead in the 7 international peer reviewed journal competition. in addition to that, a few authors considered that customers exposed to visual merchandising activities need not necessarily enjoy the merchandise on display and buy it thereafter, but the exposure escalates the chances of purchase up to four times or more. visual merchandising efforts lead to impulse buying as it is intensified by elements of color, merchandise on display, music being played, lighting effects, good sanitation, and store display. stores that visually manage their channels position themselves into the minds of customers. it helps them recall significant events and spend more money on it. however, its impact is, to a certain degree. customers always stand by their own personal choices and the quality of the merchandise on display. niazi, haider, hayat, awais, and hassan (2015) painted visual merchandising and its unadorned beginning to where it has taken the retail industry to a sophisticated level at this contemporary time. they traced it to 1840, where department stores heeded to technological challenge and orchestrated a window display that changed the face of how things were. le bon marche, at that time was the largest in the world and took pride in its massive array of products and large windows. within the first decade of 1900, visual merchandising activities included leaving the lights on 24/7 even when the store was already closed. this called for the introduction of window shopping. people were fascinated by the visual effects they saw. and then came window displays in the 1930s. three decades after window displays included social trends in it. the pioneering brands that adopted the development of visual merchandising were gucci and prada, two mega-brands who spent a hefty amount on their marketing campaigns to be prominent in the market. in the 21st century, visual merchandising has evolved to include more and more elements including but not limited to displays, signages, merchandise presentation, shelve display, the arrangement of the store, and display windows. retail strategies are now pointed at attracting customers in the best way possible. the variety of visual merchandising efforts allow customers to envision how it is like to have the product displayed on the store window. it intensifies their attraction to it and takes the first step towards the store. visual merchandising includes how windows are being presented, the mannequins and other props displayed the floor configuration and the signages. and all of these, based on the minal, sanjay, and urvashi (2012), proved to be significant and can really influence buying intentions among customers. the needs and wants of the market have always been the main focus among retailers as they craft methods and strategies. consumers have changed over time, 8 jpair multidisciplinary research and so should the store activities to be staged by retailers. merchandising activities are revolutionized to be more intensive, purposeful, and skillful since efforts are directed towards consumers’ spending more. soomro, kaimkhani, and iqbal (2017) dealt with the impact of visual merchandising on consumer perceptions. it proved to be subliminal and implicit in stirring curiosity to the merchandise. retailers are faced with the dilemma as to whether their visual merchandising efforts are indeed instrumental in adding merit to customers’ exposure and impression. it is their very weapon to entice shoppers towards purchasing goods, whether on an impulse or planned visit or trip to the store. visual merchandising can cause consumers to decide whether there is the initial contact with the store or a return trip thereafter. it goes through thorough scrutiny that causes them to conclude on the overall standing of the store in terms of its product offerings, service, quality issues, and the delight of customers. the truth of the matter is, it is when the product they intend to buy in their visit to the store is on display, and will they notice the displays being staged. store displays orchestrate a store’s avenue for branding and retailing their merchandise. retailers communicate their message to their target groups to help them decide on their buying decisions associated with their own realities. how customers judge a store’s environment is dependent on the objective of their visit, their perception has a lot to do with this, including mood. perceptions of customers are very important as it points out the image the store portrays and its character. visual merchandising forms, in part, the perception of shoppers as they make their purchasing decisions (cant and hefer, 2014). impulse buying behavior is often triggered by being exposed to visual merchandising activities of malls. retailers have chosen to include visual merchandising activities as part of their strategic marketing management as it is viewed as critical to weather the turbulent retail competition. visual merchandising is hailed as the “silent salesperson’. it has that lure-factor that draws and magnetizes customers toward merchandises and has become the great influencer of their purchase decision (saini, gupta, and khurana, 2015). customers, subconsciously, are more active in examining the products on display as visual merchandising is at play in the aesthetics and visual presentation of the store. in-store activities have slowly gained popularity as a means to encourage shoppers to stay longer and buy more in malls. merchandising is no longer the sole focus of mall operations (cant and hefer, 2014). most customers get enamored by the creativity of merchandisers in presenting their products in a unique manner that supports good aesthetics. the works of merchandisers do 9 international peer reviewed journal not go fruitless, for it brings about higher sales and foot traffic in the malls, either out of curiosity or the intention to really get hold of the products and take it home. the choice of what malls to patronize will always rely on the basic reasons every shopper has. it interesting for retailers to seize customers’ interest as they position products to create appealing shopping experiences under a contemporary and diverse shopping atmosphere. kernsom and sahachaisaeree (2012) studied on how varied window display design and setups communicate effectively to target markets. window displays are vital demonstrations of tactics in selling products. it is likened to wrapping products to make it more appealing to stimulate purchase intentions among customers. effects on lighting, color management, choice of materials, and art staging are put to work to make customers desire to buy the products. however, even with efforts done on store displays that affectively influence consumers, it could not outdo the fact that they were rational in their purchasing decision. the authors mentioned pricing as part of the store image features. the price set by the store is the most enthralling attribute for customers to be able to spend money reasonably. it influences, in a decisive way, a shopper’s buying actions. just like in any other country, the malaysian market has diverse customer demographics (teo, rathi, and saidi, n.d.). it includes price sensitive to malaysian consumers. pricing constitutes an important role in their prepurchasing decision. in addition, the quality of items is top of the list alongside the discounts customers get from the stores (kaur and patiala, 2013). moreover, a good store image can infuse loyalty among its customers to be able to perform well in its industry (teo, rathi, and saidi, n.d.). somoon and moorapun (2016) viewed the aesthetics of products that can stir interest among buyers more than the value given by customers [tourists] to the function of the product. an on-line survey was conducted to volunteer respondents. in thailand, they surveyed how customers perceive window display and its effect on the buying plans of customers. the chosen respondents were 150 tourists around the world but did not represent the population, and yet their views are applicable in contributing to the understanding of the impact of store windows to customers. moreover, the authors explained how the physical environment contributes to how customers respond to the efforts of the store. customers evaluate in advance the store causing them to advance or retreat. its impact on customers can either be material or non-material, their product evaluation varies a lot, and their basis for judging do not necessarily follow logical reasoning or the gratification they get from the product. the way customers 10 jpair multidisciplinary research behave and respond to the store display on the windows, and its offerings are very telling of the benefits that can be reaped. there is a psychological play that happens to the way customers feel that causes them to purchase or not from the store. customers’ buying intention has been influenced by different elements of window displays. it covers the color, lighting effect, props, and other accessories, mannequins, and how big the window is. window display triggers customers to behave in a certain manner, which provides the luring factor to result from the possibility of purchase of products. gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) conceptualize that elements of visual merchandising like the layout of the store, color, product display, music, lighting, and cleanliness results in the intention of customers to patronize a store. the results of the study revealed that product display plays the most crucial role among the visual merchandising elements in influencing patronage, cleanliness comes next and followed by color scheme. music, however, came as the least element considered by customers as they patronize supermarkets. in addition, store atmosphere, loyalty programs, and products contribute to customer experience (mohd-ramly & omar, 2017). however, in department stores, less importance is given to communication, whether direct or indirect, and post communication service sine customers do not mind at all due to the self-service nature of its operations. it differs, though, depending on the type of customers who patronize the retail store, whether upper class, middle class, or lower end. there is a renewed meaning of the word shopping experience. it is in the unique set of multifaceted shopping encounter that fascinates and charms every shopper (hu and jasper, 2015). mall operation competition has brought retailers to offer experiential consumption rather that product consumption alone (davis, 2012). shopping complexes are now spacious, well lighted, sweet-smelling, clean, and complete with auditory detail. the demographics of shoppers have become more and more diverse, and this diversity brings challenges in catering to their every shopping needs and expectations. retail store and mall operators have leveled up their game in winning the approval of their client base. the satisfaction of shoppers, whether favorable or not, significantly depends on the shopping atmosphere and environment provided by retail or department store and mall operators. the following factors contribute, favorably or unfavorably, to their shopping experience: ambiance, attractive displays, better window displays, broad aisles, and mall space, color management in the store, courteous sales personnel, good lighting effects, music selection, product 11 international peer reviewed journal assortment, well-planned store, arrangement, and layout, and other factors. in their overall assessment of the experience package and the degree of their satisfaction would lead to purchases – planned, unplanned, or even both. it is of interest to the mall operators to identify which type of purchases are frequently made by the shoppers as it is vital to their operations. for instance, impulse purchases or impulse buying behavior of the shoppers yield higher profits for them. thereby, most of their efforts are directed to making the shopping environment as pleasant and leisurely as possible to provide good stimuli for shoppers to spend more money in the malls because of the attention it drew – attributable to visual merchandising. each customer touchpoint like window displays is carefully planned, designed, and executed, including the other factors mentioned earlier to be able to maximize profits. figure 1. conceptual framework methodology research site the research was conducted in du city, philippines, where department stores and malls thrive to serve its mix of customers: students, working professionals, government employees, retirees, foreigners, and the locals. it has more or less six shopping complexes classified as either department store or mall and with a mix of home-grown and nationally known shopping complexes. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research participants one hundred fiftyseven respondents were picked out of convenience. they were the only ones who agreed to accommodate the request to fill up the survey questionnaire in the two mall food courts right after they finished shopping in the aftermath of the holidays: christmas and new year. the selection of respondents was purposive; the data were directly solicited from shopper respondents in their natural habitat and at the height of their shopping experience after very significant celebrations. in effect, the responses are raw, a matter of fact, and exposed to zero to minimal adulteration. instrumentation data were gathered through survey questionnaires with ten items be answered, where the respondent provides a set of different responses through ticking yes or no boxes, filling in the words to describe their perceptions, and ranking, among others. it is the primary aim of the researcher to have a data mine on these perceptions of the local shoppers in du city and extract meaningful information about visual merchandising. content validity was done to ensure the constructs characterize those that are to be evaluated by the instrument (yaghmaie, 2003). some of the authors and their respective studies on the factors of visual merchandising literature are cited hereafter. the factors are also found on items of the questionnaire; this proves that it is supported by extant literature. factor(s) of visual merchandising addressed by the author(s) author(s) and year attractive displays cant and hefer (2012) gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) broad aisles and more space davis (2012) color management in the store soomro, kaimkhani, and iqbal (2017) gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) kernsom and sahachaisaeree (2012) good lighting effects soomro, kaimkhani, and iqbal (2017) gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) davis (2012) kernsom and sahachaisaeree (2012) music selection gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) 13 international peer reviewed journal product assortment teo, rathi, and saidi, (n.d.) fatt, j.p.t. (2001) well-planned store and arrangement layout gajanayake, gajanayake, and surangi (2011) minal, sanjay, and urvashi (2012) window displays somoon and moorapun (2016); minal, sanjay, and urvashi (2012) kernsom and sahachaisaeree (2012) mehta and chugan, 2013 niazi, haider, and hayat (2015) other items in the study impulse purchasing behavior store image teo, rathi, and saidi, (n.d.)luniya, p. and verghese, m. (2015) babu (2016) cant and hefer (2012) ramly and omar (2017) gathering of data the researcher started the survey process by corresponding with the officers in charge of mall operations to survey the designated area convenient for the respondents and authorized by the management. when permission was given, the actual survey was conducted on weekends, a day or two after christmas and new year. this time was favorable as all the spirits of the shoppers were on a spree and high. each respondent was requested to fill out the survey form. distribution and retrieval of the survey questionnaire were done on the very same day. however, there were a good number of shoppers who declined to be part of the study – their reason, they are in a hurry or simply wanted to be left alone. the descriptive research method was employed in the study. ethical considerations alsmadi (2008) noted that in terms of ethical challenges, marketing is an area that has numerous defiance. respondents of marketing research have to be protected about their rights to be informed, to maintain anonymous to parties other than the research team, and free from risks after their participation in research. online marketing research has breached the confidence of their respondents and demand for guidelines of research ethics. respondents [consumers] should be informed of their right to choose whether to respond or not to researchers’ [interviewers’] inquiry. the latter must also show the appropriate courtesy in dealing with the former. moreover, truthfulness should also be observed in the entire duration of the research to avoid causing any deception or risk of harming the subjects. precautionary measures are needed. researchers should 14 jpair multidisciplinary research only distribute questionnaires when the participants are willing and receptive to becoming part of the study. moreover, the location site of research can also pose challenges as there are regulations to be followed. this study adhered to the code of conduct expected of researchers in dealing with human subjects [the respondents]. 1. the researcher communicated with the two malls through the owner [department store] and administrator [mall]. both granted permission to distribute the survey questionnaires at the food court. the authorized date and time were specified and special instructions that the said activity will not disturb unwilling to shopper-participants or invade the shopping public’s enjoyment in the mall. 2. customers [respondents] were courteously approached and invited to participate in the survey and asked to sit on the mall’s food court. once willing and amiable, they were handed the questionnaire and pen, the collection of which was at their respective pace. tokens were given as a sign of gratitude, there were just simple office supplies like pens and pencils, among others. distribution and retrieval took place on the very same day—an added advantage. results and discussion the highest percentage of mall-goers in the survey were 21-35 years old and followed by the 17 to 20 bracket. there is almost a good balance between men and women mall-goers as covered in the survey, a 43-57 percentage. figure 2. 15 international peer reviewed journal seventy-eight percent of the respondents were single, and seventy-five percent of the respondents were students, and also those who were unemployed. these two groups have low purchasing capability as compared to the ten percent of the other respondents who were government employees. as reflected and basing on their income information, the purchasing capability is low. most of the respondents have low monthly income or allowance. table 1. respondent’s occupation type of occupation number of respondents % government 16 10 private employee 13 8 businessmen 9 6 professional 1 1 others (students, unemployed, etc.) 118 75 total 157 100 there is not much expectation among 92% mall-goers; they just want a simple store environment. the most frequently visited shopping center in du city is lsp, a homegrown, and the first one-stop-shop complex in the city. it is followed by rp, the first and only mall chain. there are more or less six shopping complexes. almost sixty percent of the respondents visit the mall weekly, and a little more than twenty percent go there once a month. the department or division frequently visited by shoppers is the supermarket. and the second and third divisions are the ladies department and men’s department, respectively. more than sixty percent of the respondents do not make a buying decision on an impulse. table 2. choice of store environment preference of store’s merchandising number of respondents % a simple store environment 145 92 an extravagant, “showy store” 12 8 total 157 100 ninety percent of the respondents have noticed the visual enhancement efforts initiated by malls. consciously or unconsciously, mall-goers have been exposed to visual merchandising. the shopper-respondents consider the following 16 jpair multidisciplinary research factors as their responses to what will make them purchase items on impulse: product assortment, well-planned store arrangement and layout, and courteous salesperson. however, the order of preference has changed. the top 3 answers in this item are 1 – well-planned store arrangement or layout, 2 – courteous sales personnel, and 3 –product assortment and broad aisles and more spaces. nevertheless, these are factors that need to be addressed by the mall operators and managers to encourage further the shoppers to spend more in the shopping complexes. table 3. ranking factors of visual merchandising factors of visual merchandising to rate ∑fx/n rank ambiance 1.31 5 attractive displays themed displays 1.26 4 better window display 1.37 7 broad aisles and more spaces 1.25 3 color management in the store & displays 1.31 5 courteous sales personnel 1.2 2 good lighting and its effect 1.36 6 music selection played by the store 1.48 8 product assortment 1.25 3 well-planned store arrangement or layout 0.92 1 conclusions shopper demographics present opportunities and drawbacks to mall operators. the result of the study showed that majority are at the age bracket of 21 to 35 this, however, does not directly reflect a favorable condition. there was an indication of low level of income, moreover, most respondents were students who primarily relied on the allowance given to them. the views of both men and women were suitably represented because of the 43-57% representation of both sexes. customers just want a modest store, and yet they could still be influenced to buy based on impulse by three attributes of vm in the following order: first is product assortment, second is well-planned store arrangement and layout, and third is courteous personnel. the very same factors were also rated as top influence on their mall preference in the following order: top of the list is well17 international peer reviewed journal planned store arrangement and layout, next is courteous personnel, and the top three is shared by product assortment and broad aisles and more spaces. with six retail or department stores and malls operating the city and sixty percent of the shoppers visit the shopping complexes weekly, retail stores that meet the expectations and shopping needs of customers get the bulk of mall patrons. this does not come easy with just displays, merchandises, and other orchestrations. it takes more than that. the respondent-shoppers of the city are in no hurry to buy merchandises. each trip to the mall is planned and with an objective or two in mind. translational research the study will be translated to serve as the basis for artists and merchandisers in the planning store’s attractive and creative displays and add to the literature stream on visual merchandising and the consumers’ behavior as they patronize shopping complexes. moreover, instructional materials and course outlines in universities can be drawn from this study. recommendations the malls investment in-store environment or visual effects may not yield so much or result in additional or over board spending among shoppers. mall operators can go with catering to the more basic expectations of well-arranged displays, good product assortments, and courteous salespersons. anything beyond that is appreciated, but pegs return on the same level in the absence of visual merchandising efforts and activities. local shoppers’ visit to malls are planned and with a budget at hand. mall operators can lure shoppers through making available hard to resist on sale items and orchestrate mall events that compel them to stay longer and thus spend more and not on just a few departments in the malls. they must endeavor to delight their customers and provide them with those store display effects that exceeds their expectations for them to feel the shopping vibe. it is always noticed. there is always room for improvement. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research literature 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(2014). store atmospherics: a multisensory perspective.  psychology & marketing,  31(7), 472-488. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20709 swamynathan, r., mansurali, a., & chandrasekhar, u. (2013). mall mania: a study of factors influencing consumers’ preference towards shopping malls in coimbatore city. iup journal of marketing management, 12(4), 29-41. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2quwohv teo, b. c., rathi, k. n. b. a., & saidi, m. store image attributes and customer satisfaction of convenience store and implications on retail innovation: the malaysian shopper experience. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mzqazl http://bit.ly/36qez6y https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20709 http://bit.ly/2quwohv http://bit.ly/2mzqazl 58 jpair multidisciplinary research structured mentoring strategies: its correlation to the clinical, leadership and research skills of novice nurses randy ian f. gallego https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7338-3263 randyian_17@yahoo.com.ph college of health sciences mindanao state university, main campus marawi city, philippines, 9700 99% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 1% abstract mentoring activities in the clinical area by nurse supervisors are helping the entry-level nurses to the social milieu of the hospital to ensure that competencies are set, so that safe and competent patient care is delivered. hence, this study examined the senior staff nurses’ mentoring activities and their relationship to the nursing skill development as perceived by the novice nurses in lanao del norte, philippines. the study used descriptive-inferential research design involving 71 novice-nurse respondents. the data obtained were analyzed using the pearson correlation. the findings revealed that while in general, mentoring activities given by the senior nurses indicate an increased competence in the nursing skills of the novice nurses as safe practitioners; it also showed partial impact regarding the competencies on leadership and research. the mentoring activities on conducting scientific inquiry further revealed a significant correlation with the nursing proficiency of the respondents as competent practitioners, managers, and researchers. therefore, the study concludes that activities geared towards coaching and mentoring neophyte nurses in the clinical areas have a beneficial influence on the development of their needed core competencies in nursing practice. formally structured preceptorship programs should be adapted to help novice nurses become more apposite, responsive and streamlined care practitioners. vol. 33 · july 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v33i1.605 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 59 international peer reviewed journal keywords — nursing, mentoring activities, nursing skill development, descriptive-inferential design, lanao del norte, philippines introduction new nurses in any institution routinely go through a process of indoctrination, orientation, and enculturation whereby they acquire the technical skills and the knowledge of the behavior that is understood and accepted in that organization. moreover, it is also essentially a big part of this process to identify the attitudes and core values that make conformity with social rules among new nurses personally meaningful, even gratifying (huston, 2003). all these dynamics encountered by beginning nurse practitioners in the clinical field are integrated and covered in most formal mentorship programs present in a good number of hospital institutions worldwide. in essence, mentoring activities in the clinical area by senior nurses are approaches of helping new nurses become familiar with the social setting of the hospital to ensure that competencies are established, and quality care is delivered despite the confounding reports and studies showing that newly graduated nurses are not prepared for day-to-day work (andersson, cederfjäll, jylli, nilsson kajermo & klang, 2007) and that they lack competence, especially on the aspect of clinical responsibility (gerrish, 2000; ross & clifford 2002). with the immensely perceptible value of structured mentoring activities in nursing, healthcare organizations on a global scale are already steadily adopting programs of this kind. in the united states, the united kingdom, and canadian nursing arena, different mentoring mechanisms have been set in place with clearly established formal education and training modules for novice nurses. preceptorship and mentorship frameworks are made available in these countries to demonstrate organizational commitment to nursing to facilitate healthy adaptation of nurse-initiated in achieving competence in their field (rnao, 2008). in other international counterparts, particularly in the neighboring southeast asian (sea) countries, varied levels in the extent of adaptation and practice of mentoring programs can be seen. for instance, a study made by the who (2003) revealed that the majority of the sea countries have absent or poor linkages and interdependency between education and the service sector. accordingly, there are existing challenges especially with the numbers of graduate students (nurses) being hired with that of their quality and professional potential. other than thailand, all sea nations reported having an obstacle in urging, promoting and achieving a culture of continuous lifelong learning. continuing60 jpair multidisciplinary research education, other than in thailand, is ad hoc and inadequate. consequently, in a regional review of the literature, among other asean-member countries, only thailand employs nursing mentorship strategies that are widely used in their governmental hospitals. studies in the country support the recommendation that nursing administrators should develop an effective strategy to strengthen the nurse mentorship system as it can facilitate the transition process of novice nurses to professional nurses (prousoontorn & oumtanee, 2009). interestingly, a study by enrico and chapman (2011) reports that nursing mentorship, although not an entirely novel concept is a new phenomenon in the nursing profession in malaysia. there, the traditional “buddy system”-approach is still being habitually practiced, wherein senior nurses, relying purely on their learned knowledge and skills in practice settings and without properly going through formal mentoring courses, shadow the neophyte nurses in the activities inherent in the clinical floor. conversely though, countries in the region like cambodia and indonesia are also confronted with a number of difficulties to the professional development of nurses such as limited education, a shortfall of trained nurses, lack of a central nurse regulatory board, and no mentoring of nurses in provincial hospitals on how to supervise novices and nursing students (hennessey, hicks, hilan, & kawonal, 2006). in the philippines, it is believed that since the country produces more nurses than needed (international labor organization, 2006; masselink & lee, 2010), the country loses its trained and skilled nursing workforce much faster than they are replaced due to migration (lorenzo, galvez-tan, icamina, & javier, 2007). in steadily increasing numbers, experienced and skilled nurses are lured to join the exodus to new canaans or lands of milk and honey like the united states and canada, and even the middle east despite the outbreaks of violence in those parts. according to masselink and lee (2010), 85% of filipino nurses work overseas. thus, the philippine health service is hurting its integrity and quality due to the increasing number of nurses leaving the country to work abroad (lorenzo, galvez-tan, icamina, & javier, 2007). it is seen that the health indicators of the philippines are worse compared to selected asian countries like japan, south korea, malaysia, and thailand. this is mostly related to the rapid turnover of nurses (caused by the present migration phenomenon in the country) which further lowers the standards of care because they are replaced with new, inexperienced nurses. operating rooms are staffed with novice nurses and inexperienced ones who are often short in supply and work double shifts 61 international peer reviewed journal (head, 2007). relatively, the search for local literature on mentorship in the philippines did not gather as many relevant articles and reviews when compared to other international counterparts. most training and preceptorship programs for newly registered nurses were focused and contained short-term courses on specific skill-competency acquisition (intravenous therapy training, basic life support, advanced life support, etc.). unlike in the american, european and australian contexts, no formal mentoring programs with national frameworks exist in the country. thus, with the number of new graduates and novice nurses working in the different nursing field in the country increasing considerably, it is but essential to assess how the mentoring activities are exercised in the various healthcare settings in close to the hearth or the very locale where the researcher is based. it is also interesting to look into and evaluate the extent and effectiveness of these activities as rendered by experienced/senior staff members to their new nurse aspirants considering the fact that only recently, inter-governmental initiatives have been established through the association of southeast asian nations (asean) mutual recognition arrangements on nursing services providing for a mutual cooperation and mobilization of professional nurses within the region. it is expected that starting 2015, free-flow of goods and professional services through the recognition of professional qualifications would enable filipino nurses to have better international employment prospects and continuing professional growth opportunities. framework based on the different concepts carted off from the rich field of literature explored, the framework or outline of this study was conceptualized: how the nurses’ profile and mentoring activities affect the development of nurses in terms of their nurse-practitioner skill, leadership, and management skill, and researcher skill. this study took shape under the impetus of the mentoring activities provided by senior staff nurses and its relationship with the nursing skill development as perceived by the novice nurses of the different government hospitals in lanao del norte and iligan city. two sets of variables were identified. the first set consists of the independent variables which are the profile (age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, number of years in clinical practice, income per month and employment status) and the mentoring activities of senior nurses. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research different concepts were combined in this part of the study. first, bandura’s social learning theory identifies factors that can affect behaviors. personal factors may include an individual’s innate features. this can include salient biological factors, specifically age, gender, person’s attitude, anticipated outcomes, and emotions (learned and imitated). behaviors are learned and retained especially if they are rewarded. skills learned are rewarding for nurses especially if the learned skills can develop them into quality care specialists. role models are the senior nurses effecting teaching to novice nurses. bandura also talks about the environment which includes socio-economic background, income, and employment status. he notes that external, environmental reinforcement may also be a factor that influences learning and behavior. social learning theory then looks at the human behavioral pattern as a unique continuum encompassing the interplay of cognitive, behavioral and environmental influences. by and large, humans tend to learn to perform a behavior from observing others do it. consequently, this formed information becomes a basis as a reference to future actions or behavior (bandura, 1977). on the other hand, the path-goal theory was adopted to explore the extent of competency and productivity development by nurse elders, leaders or mentors. the mentors demonstrate what needs to be shared to the novice; they identify important learning points in the clinical areas, they facilitate, they model and provide support to novice learners. the senior staff nurses have some expectations of the novice nurses to accomplish and learn skills covering the above competencies to become real care specialists. mentoring is a relevant relationship that involves modeling, teaching, coaching, demonstrating on the part of the senior nurses while doing care to clients. therefore, in the context of this theory, goal-attainment, which is acquiring competence on the part of the novice, is facilitated by the mentor, who, as the leader and motivator, effects learning and skill acquisition to the latter by clearing the path, reducing obstacles, and directing clinical activities that seek to foster autonomy, critical thinking, and clinical proficiency on the part of the novice. the second set is the dependent variable which is the nursing skill development’s effectiveness as perceived by the novice nurses. the profile of the respondents is presumed to have a significant relationship with the perceived effectiveness of the mentoring activities rendered by their respective preceptors/ mentors. in another dimension, the actual extent of the mentorship activities provided is also presumed to be related and to even have a significant relationship with the respondent’s perception of their nursing skill development. 63 international peer reviewed journal according to ra 7164, as enhanced in ra 9173, the scope of nursing practice covers appropriate nursing action and care, teaching, management and leadership, participation in studies and researches. the nurse has to develop training and research. this development and skill building can be learned in the clinical field. the senior nurses are expected to play the role of mentoring and contribute to the development of novice members of the team. these specific skills that are to be honed among nurses are further highlighted by the 2012 national nursing core competency standards released by the prc – board of nursing, it included the identified and validated roles of the beginning nurse: safe practice, leadership and management, and research. objectives of the study the initial motivation for the study on mentoring activities was an interest in (1) examining the extent of the mentoring activities that senior staff nurses engage in and their effectiveness in the nursing skill development in terms of safe practice, leadership and research as perceived by novice nurses in government hospitals of lanao del norte and iligan city. the study also (2) investigated the relationship between the extent of the mentoring activities and the respondents’ perception of its effectiveness of their competencies as clinical practitioners, nursing managers, and researchers. this study aimed to contribute to the growing body of literature on nursing mentorship in global perspectives. the data were further useful in serving as a basis for improving the entire system of mentorship in the different government hospital institutions in the province of lanao del norte and iligan city. methodology research design the research design used in the study is quantitative, descriptive-inferential. the data were generated from a cross-sectional, self-administered survey of 71 novice nurse-respondents in the selected government hospitals in lanao del norte and iligan city. a descriptive-inferential research approach was selected to fulfill the aim of this study. it is descriptive in purpose, gathering salient personal and socio-economic data to describe the novice nurses’ (respondents’) profile and their perception on the extent and effectiveness of the mentorship activities provided by senior staff nurses in the different government hospitals in lanao del norte and iligan city. results of their correlation were then treated with inferential analysis. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research a triangulation procedure has been used to incorporate qualitative narrative comments of respondents, the novice nurses, during the conduct of the study. journal writing and key-informant interview with selected respondents using interview-guide and journal essays were employed. research site the study was conducted in five government hospitals geographically distributed around the major municipalities and one city of lanao del norte. all in-patient care unit hospitals (n = 5) were the setting for the study. these are lanao del norte provincial hospital (lnph), kapatagan provincial hospital (kapph), kauswagan provincial hospital (kauph), kolambugan provincial hospital (kolph), and the gregorio t. lluch memorial hospital (gtlmh) in iligan city. these five hospitals were chosen because these are considered as public, government-operated facilities geared to address the healthcare needs of the general population including indigent clients in the province. likewise, they are easily accessible, well-staffed and organized. the other hospitals in the province have a very few censuses to warrant consideration for inclusion in this study. research respondents all novice nurses (n = 71) affiliated in the selected hospitals and available at the time of data collection comprised the study respondents through a total enumeration technique. to be included as respondents, the novice nurses were screened based on the following criteria: an individual beginning his/her first employment as a staff nurse has worked for not more than three consecutive years in clinical service, and exposed to either ward or special areas of the hospital. they classified as follow: lnph n = 18 nurses, kapph n = 20 nurses, kauph n = 2 nurses, kolph n = 5 nurses and gtlmh n = 26 nurses. the researcher further identified at least 4-5 respondents or participants per hospital through a purposive selection that were tapped to take part in a key-informant-interview. all those who formed part of this sample were also asked to answer an essay question constructed for them to describe the quality of mentoring or teaching/tutelage experienced with the senior staff nurses. the study utilized a take-all or total enumeration technique in the sampling. all novice nurses in lanao del norte and iligan city meeting the posed inclusive criteria did not reach 100. during the data collection, only about 71 nurses from all 5 hospitals qualified with the eligibility criteria established. hence their inclusion. 65 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the research instrument was composed of three (3) sets of questionnaires with a total of 103 items, and respondents’ journals. the first part of the questionnaire, which dealt with the demographic profile of the respondents, was a researcher-constructed set of questions designed to elicit personal information from the novice nurse respondents. the second part of the questionnaire was designed for the novice staff nurses to rate the senior staff nurses on the extent of their mentoring activities. it contained forty-two (42) items or statement indicators. the mentoring areas measured included developing beginning or novice nurses in the context of safe practice, in the context of establishing appropriate organizing, supervision and staff development, and in the context of developing scientific inquiry. each broad category into which the questionnaire was organized was composed of several relevant questions. the specific questions sought to determine if the given indicator was emphasized in the teaching-learning activities with novice nurses. to assign numerical values to the estimates of the extent or magnitude of the items measured, the researcher adopted a likert-type five-point rating scale. table 1 on the next page shows the weight, continuum, responses, and interpretation for measuring or ascertaining the extent of mentoring activities questionnaire. table 1. weight, continuum, and responses to the extent of mentoring activities weight continuum response interpretation 5 4.21-5.0 wholly emphasized a given learning indicator in all situations comprehensively and completely. 4 3.41-4.20 frequently emphasized a given learning indicator frequently or about 75% of the chances or activities. 3 2.61-3.40 occasionally emphasized occasionally or about 50% of the chances or activities 2 1.81-2.60 rarely emphasized a learning indicator rarely or less than 25% of the chances or activities. 1 1-1.8 never never or does not emphasize learning indicator at all. scaling: 1-1.8 = never 1.81-2.60 = rarely 2.61-3.40 = occasionally 3.41-4.20 = frequently 4.21-5.0=wholly 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the third part of the questionnaire was intended to determine the nursing skills developed among novice nurses. the novice respondents themselves answered this portion. it was in a way a form of self-evaluation, and they were in the best position to know the details of their development. the novice nurses themselves rated the skills developed in them because the contents were emphasized their day-to-day encounter with the senior staff nurses. the questionnaire was divided into three sections which corresponded each to the nursing core competency standards for practice in the philippines as stipulated by the prc-bon. these core competencies were clustered under the three major roles of nurses: 1) safe nurse practice role; 2) leadership and management role; and 3) researcher role. this part of the questionnaire contained fifty (52) items. this part also utilized a five-point likert rating scale. table 2 shows the weight, continuum, responses, and interpretation of the nursing skill development questionnaire. table 2. weight, continuum, and responses for the nursing skill development weight continuum response interpretation 5 4.21-5.0 stronglyagree demonstrates a high level of competence and can demonstrate skills thoroughly. 4 3.41-4.20 most of the time, i agree demonstrates partial level or some steps of doing the stated skill. 3 2.61-3.40 moderately agree demonstrates competence and can give few steps or fact about the skill 2 1.81-2.60 rarely agree demonstrates a minimal level of competence and limited understanding of the needed skill 1 1-1.8 never agree lacks competence or cannot execute or answer when being asked about the skill scaling: 1-1.8 = never 1.81-2.60 = rarely 2.61-3.40 = moderately 3.41-4.20 = most of the time 4.21-5.0 = strongly the fourth part of the instrument again involved the novice nurses. they were required to engage in journal writing. the entries reflected the participants’ ideas, beliefs, and their responses to certain questions provided by the researcher; these were written in journal form. some patients were tapped as key informants to answer some essay questions concerning situations designed to allow a more probing and analytical investigation of mentoring received by them, that is, whether they were mentored effectively and successfully. they were asked to describe a scenario where they experienced a 67 international peer reviewed journal senior staff nurse conducting a mentoring/teaching activity to them. specifically, they were also inquired as to what particular teachings were given to them and how they felt about being mentored especially in the context of safe practice, leadership, and management of patient care and research. consequently, the informants were also questioned about the effects of the mentoring activities on their patient care. finally, they were also asked to describe a situation wherein they experienced difficulty in dispensing a procedure of care to their patients and what their feelings and coping strategies were. validation of an instrument content and face validity of the questionnaire in this study was achieved through revision by research supervisors who are experts in the field of clinical education and mentoring. it was established by two doctorate and five masters of arts in nursing experts. the appropriateness of use and relevance of every item were assessed to measure the dimensions of the constructs. the experts were asked to assess whether individual items would be applicable and appropriate in relation to the construct and whether the items would effectively measure all aspects of the construct. the comments, suggestions, and recommendations of the experts were integrated into the construct. after the content validation, the instruments were pilot tested to the respondents. ten participants were asked to comment on the questionnaire, and most of the comments gained stated that the items were easy to understand and were appropriate to gain the data necessary to answer the objectives of the study. after the pilot study, questions that were found unclear or drew skewed responses were eliminated or replaced. comments from the pilot test were incorporated into the final questionnaire. in this study, construct validity was achieved by pilot testing, review by experts and using literature review as a basis for questionnaire development. reliability was also achieved by obtaining cronbach’s alpha (0.85) value for the likert-type responses. ethical review was then sought from the msu-college of health sciences research committee for clearance to proceed with the actual data collection. informed consents were stapled on each research questionnaire where respondents were explained of their rights and assured of their anonymity and privacy. data analysis the content of each scale was analyzed, categorized and then coded by the researcher. subjects’ responses to each category were tabulated separately by 68 jpair multidisciplinary research using the statistical package for social science (spss) version 20. data were treated using descriptive statistics: the sociodemographic variables were analyzed using frequencies and percentages, whereas, the other quantitative data such as the perception on the extent and effectiveness of mentoring activities were treated using means and standard deviations. pearson correlation analysis was used for assessment of the relationships among quantitative variables. statistical significance was considered at p-value ≤ .05 with a critical value of 2.000. results and discussion demographic characteristics female respondents, who comprised most (49) of the sample, comprising 69.01% of the population outnumbered the male respondents. this high proportion of female nurses in hospital settings and probably in all types of healthcare environment is not a novel scenario in nursing practice; it is a commonplace to assert that nursing is predominantly a gendered profession. this correlates with the literature that indicates that the nursing workforce in the health sector is mostly female (who 2002c:33). most of the respondents have an age bracket of 22 – 27 years. in recent statistics, it is projected that the average nurse is older than 45 years old (huston, 2003). a large majority of these nurses are expected to retire within the next decade projecting a challenge in the paucity of nursing manpower (halfer, graf & sullivan, 2008). if this scenario continues, the nursing shortage will inevitably result. to address this concern, leaders and organizations in healthcare are compelled to strengthen the process of hiring and retention of novice nurses. however, there might be glaring constraints to this as a survey shows that about 35% to 60% of new nurses quit from their work only a year after having been recruited (weng, huang, tsai, chang, lin, & lee, 2000). hence, it continues to be a challenge for healthcare institutions to make nursing environments more attractive and ideal for the retention of early-career starters. the corollary to this, preceptorship programs can be prudently employed to promote staff development given that it is highly thought of as an important component of a new nurse’s orientation process capacitating them to become embedded into their new role and conditions (ashurst 2008, ridge 2005, diehl-oplinger & kaminski 2000). consequently, the majority of the respondents were single (78.87%) and bachelor’s degree in nursing graduate (84.51%). in most instances, fresh graduates or so-called initiates usually comprise the novice population in 69 international peer reviewed journal healthcare settings thus, the critical need for socialization and resocialization as is seen to be extended by most preceptorship or mentoring activities. ridge (2005) asserted that seniors were not only responsible for helping the novice nurse apply his/her theoretical knowledge to practice, more so, he sees the need to comprehend how the new nurse accommodates to the new clinical setting, works collaboratively with others and provides mechanisms to give continuous feedback. the national council of state boards of nursing (ncsbn) conducted research using surveys of those who employ nurses. one descriptive survey of employers of new nurses found that, in general, respondents perceived newly licensed nurses to be inadequately prepared to enter practice (smith & crawford, 2002). studies from other countries reported similar findings. experienced nurses often complain that new graduate nurses are inadequately prepared for clinical practice and are deficient in key skills (greenwood, 2000). in light of all the perceived weaknesses of novice nurses, it is believed that undergraduate as well as graduate nursing students, profit from working and learning from professional nurses who are clinical experts, management experts, and role models. these expert practicing nurses are the behavior models needed by graduating students to make the transition to professional practitioners of the discipline of nursing (swansburg, 1995, p. 389). bandura’s contemporary model of observational learning as cited in the theoretical support comes handy in the preceptorship and mentorship programs. the capacity to learn behavior patterns through observation – also called imitation and modeling -eliminates bumbling, tedious trial-and-error learning. in nursing, there should be no room for mistakes or human errors known as iatrogenic, which make for malpractice cases. and as catalano (2009) reminds, the legal system and its effects on the practice of nursing are ever-present realities in today’s health-care system. nurses need to be aware of the implications of their actions but should not be so overwhelmed by fear that it reduces their ability to care for the client. there is strong evidence suggesting that mentoring activities will continue to find relevance in the professional and career growths of nurses. the expanding trend of mentoring programs in institutions progressively gains footing as is seen in the growing body of literature. it is clear that given the right conditions, mentoring remains to be one of the most powerful tools to promote professional advancement (illes, 1998). 70 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, the biggest portion of the respondents (56.33%) had a monthly income of 5,001 php – 10,000 php and employed under a job-order status (54.93%). many of them (30.99%) have 1 year and a month to 2 years of clinical experience. it is stated under republic act 9173, otherwise known as the philippine nursing act of 2002, sec. 32, salary. – “to enhance the general welfare, commitment to service and professionalism of nurses the minimum base pay of nurses working in the public health institutions shall not be lower than salary grade 15 as prescribed under republic act no. 6758, otherwise known as the ‘compensation and classification act of 1989’.” therefore, as provided by the said law, nurses are supposed to receive at least p24, 887.00, which is equivalent to salary grade 15. based on data elicited from the study’s sample, however, ra 9173 seems to remain a paper pledge except for 1.41% of them who claimed to receive this much. the rest were receiving lower than 20,000 pesos a month as shown in the table. the table below presents the graphical illustration of the demographic findings. 71 international peer reviewed journal table 3. frequency distribution of the studied sample according to their sociodemographic characteristics (no. = 71) variables no. % age group 31 and up 6 8.44 28-30 7 9.86 25-27 28 39.44 22-24 27 38.03 19-21 3 4.23 gender male 22 30.99 female 49 69.01 civil status single 56 78.87 married 15 21.13 highest educational doctorate degree graduate 0 0 attainment master’s degree graduate 4 5.63 master’s degree level 7 9.86 bachelor’s degree graduate 60 84.51 years in clinical more than 3 years 19 26.76 practice 2 years & 1 month – 3 years 14 19.72 1 year & 1 month – 2 years 22 30.99 7 months – 1 year 12 16.90 6 months and below 4 5.63 monthly income 20,000 php or more 1 1.41 15,001 php – 20,000 php 3 4.23 10,001 php – 15,000 php 26 36.62 5,001 php – 10,000 php 40 56.33 5,000 and below 1 1.41 employment status job order 39 54.93 contractual 22 30.99 regular 10 14.08 the extent of mentoring activities provided three areas which mentoring activities are expected to have an impact on are covered in this inquiry. respondents were asked a series of items that tended to determine their perception of the extent and rate of mentoring activities rendered to them by their senior nurses in the clinical setting. these areas included the 72 jpair multidisciplinary research coaching on the competency relative to safe practice, establishing appropriate organizing, supervision and staff development, and scientific inquiry. table 4. summary of the mentoring activities of senior staff nurses on the novice nurses rank mentoring activities on the context of: mean sd descriptive rating 1 safe practice 3.80 1.0828 frequently 2 establishing appropriate organizing, supervision, and staff development 3.77 1.1378 frequently 3 conducting scientific inquiry 3.48 1.1284 frequently average 3.68 1.1163 frequently table 4 shows that mentoring activities in all three key areas were viewed as frequently emphasized. this means that the teaching, coaching, and sharing of knowledge on the activities to hone the novice nurses vis-à-vis above parameters were emphasized in about 75% of the time in their mentoring interaction. emphasis on safe practice is understandable since it is the area that has a direct and immediate impact on the patient’s safety and well-being. after all, the primary responsibility of a nurse is the well-being of the client or patient. as already emphasized in an earlier discussion, nurses have a high level of accountability. therefore, to help novice nurses carry on the burden of clinical responsibilities while still transitioning with the various competencies, helping gestures from veteran nurses are greatly helpful. it is widely known that the preceptor/mentor role is to provide day-to-day clinical teaching for the preceptee/ mentee (gleeson 2008, burns et al., 2006, hardyman & hickey 2001). most importantly, as gleeson clarified, the priority for preceptors is patient care in addition to teaching the preceptee how to deliver safe care within their scope of practice. for instance, accurate documentation is essentially a component of safe nursing practice. during the interview part of the data gathering phase, one novice responded that contrary to the above findings, she learned proper documentation from the teaching-learning activities provided by her senior nurse. she stated that: “a very relevant piece of information that a senior nurse has taught me is the institution’s (lanao del norte provincial hospital) way of doing the 73 international peer reviewed journal charting. i have been previously employed in a private hospital before i came and what we practice there is a narrative type of charting. whereas here at the hospital, we use the fdar charting. they have mentored me on what entries should be seen in my charting. also, that there are old terms that are now not allowed like “afebrile” and the lines “due meds given” and “v/s monitored and recorded” since we have our separate monitoring sheets for those data. (nurse a, personal communication, january 5, 2014) on the context of establishing appropriate organizing, supervision and staff development, the respondents generally considered the extent of mentoring activities provided to them by their senior nurses in this particular area as frequently emphasized. the literature contends that the nursing workforce is aging; this brings up worries that without proper experiences on structured mentoring relationships between nursing leaders and new nurses, organizations will fall short on preparing for the succession towards leadership positions (feeg, 2008). coaching the next generation of leaders in the nursing profession requires today’s nurse managers to become proactive in helping new nurses learn their roles and administrative positions (ulrich, 2009). mentoring and networking can significantly propel the development of nursing leaders of the future (tracey & nicholl, 2006). in relation to the creation of a safe environment for the patients through the performance of appropriate organizing of tasks as managers of patient care, one respondent vividly depicted his experience of mentoring in an essay: “the transition from being a nurse in the ward to being an or / dr nurse was quite overwhelming. first, because it is a completely different setting from the ward, were, more responsibility is required. and it’s been a while since i’ve gone on duty in the delivery and operating room. so i was thankful for the mentoring and guidance given by my supervising and senior nurses when i was starting. they introduced me once again to the or / dr complex and (oriented me on) what’s expected of me as an or / dr nurse. and so, as an or / dr nurse, it is expected of me to know how to operate every equipment in the or complex. it is self-doubting knowing you go on duty and yet you’re still not familiar with the equipment in the or. that is why during my vacant time or whenever there’s no scheduled operation or waiting case in the labor room, i see to it that i allocate some time getting familiar with how the equipment operates.”(nurse b, personal communication, jan 06, 2014) 74 jpair multidisciplinary research it can be further be gleaned from available information provided by the respondents themselves that the field of research in nursing practice is a concept that is somehow frequently emphasized and incorporated in mentoring activities. variations in research utilization depend on individual and organizational influences. individual factors are seen to be more prevalent such as attitude towards conducting research, amount of time occupied by internet usage, and emotional exhaustion. there is however a significant number of researches that reports positive outlook towards research among nurses (estabrooks, kenny, adewale, cummings, 2007, andersson, cederfjäll, jylli, nilsson kajermo & klang,2007, björkström & hamrin 2001, boström et al., 2006; boström et al., 2008; fink, thompson, & bonnes 2005; hommelstad & ruland, 2004; mccleary & brown 2003; valizadeh & zamanzadeh, 2003; veeramah, 2004). reports on newly graduated nurses’ preparedness for using research are divergent or varied. a study conducted in canada revealed that although fresh graduate-nurses have the know-how to interpret findings of research reports, they are however constrained by the scarcity of time to read results of published scientific studies and materials (ferguson & day, 2007). this is contradicted by a swedish study which reported that newly graduated nurses are not prepared for research utilization (andersson, cederfjäll, jylli, nilsson kajermo & klang, 2007). as catalano (2009) puts it, “the profession of nursing will not experience a true renaissance until scientific inquiry becomes as much a part of daily practice as caring interventions.” this statement should remind mentors to allot more space to scientific inquiry. perception of the effectiveness of mentoring activities on the nursing skills development attention is further focused on an attempt at assessing the effectiveness of mentoring activities in nursing skills development. the respondents rated their acquired competence on the skills developed in them after months of mentoring, sharing knowledge, and coaching with their senior staff nurses in the hospital. this assumed effectiveness should be manifested in three roles: as practitioners, as leaders and managers of activities in handling patients, and as researchers. 75 international peer reviewed journal table 5. summary of the effectiveness of the mentoring activities provided by the senior staff nurses in the nursing skill development as perceived by the novice nurses rank nursing skills as: mean sd descriptive rating 1 as practitioners 4.22 0.8375 strongly agree (high competence) 2 as leaders and managers of activities handling patients 4.17 0.8011 most of the time, i agree (partial competence) 3 as researchers 3.89 0.9518 most of the time, i agree (partial competence) average 3.96 0.8635 most of the time, i agree (partial competence) the respondents’ strong agreement that the mentoring activities pertaining to patient safety practice have been effective is quite evident from the results illustrated in table 5. one respondent during the data gathering phase emphatically stated: “as a practitioner, they (senior staff nurses) refreshed to me my roles and responsibilities during the pre, intra, and post-operative phases of a surgical operation.” (nurse c interview, feb 6, 2014) in another interview with a respondent, the novice averred: “well, the outcome of the mentoring of my senior staff nurses in rendering patient care was amazingly satisfactory. it did improve the quality of nursing service and care that the patients deserved. it made me more sensitive and compassionate to the individual’s specific needs.” (nurse d interview, feb 7, 2014) on the whole, the respondents generally perceived that they possess a high level of competence in relation to their skill development as practitioners, and credit for this must go to the senior nurses who served as their mentors. this perception is supported in recent studies, in which newly graduated nurses rated their clinical competence in relation to others; they gave themselves a somewhat high total value (björkström et al., 2008). 76 jpair multidisciplinary research however, several studies using qualitative designs have concentrated on newly graduated nurses’ competence, mostly among nurses working in hospital settings. it showed that new nurses experience uncertainty in the first period (arbon, 2004), that prioritizing and delegating is challenging (gerrish, 2000; ramritu, ramritu, & barnard 2001; and whitehead, 2001), but most of all these studies conclude that the newly graduated nurses need support and feedback (clark & holmes 2007, ramritu, ramritu, & barnard 2001). therefore, the need for more mentoring in this area seems to be essential in developing novice nurses as safe providers of care. as leaders and managers of activities in handling patients, the respondents strongly agreed that the teachings imparted during the mentoring activities have encouraged and guided them in these directions: to be open to either positive or negative feedbacks about their professional dealings and take it constructively; efficiently collaborate with other members of the healthcare profession; and do prioritization of procedures in the clinical area. prioritization is one aspect of the mentoring activities that one respondent found to be very helpful as stressed in the following statement: “as an er nurse, triaging and prioritizing patients’ need comes first. the actual physiological prioritization of individual patient care was the principle that my senior nurse taught me. it was uplifting to my morale and a bit awkward too. it was during a gross event, an ambush in a remote barangay of lanao del norte (magsaysay) wherein a family was mercilessly shot and brought to the er at around midnight, and i was overwhelmed with the acquired shots of the head of the family. subsequently, without haste, the leadership skills of a good-natured senior nurse preceded and turned the er into a haven.”(nurse d, feb 7, 2014). overall, the respondents generally perceived that they possess a partial level of competence in relation to their skill development as leaders and managers. in the context of being researchers, a common consensus is revealed by the responses of the respondents. they believed that most of the time, the mentoring activities imparted to them have resulted in a partial level of competence in their research skills. it means that they can only demonstrate some steps in doing the skill. lack of time, which turned out as the most frequently reported individual barrier to implement research findings in daily practice (andersson et al., 2007; 77 international peer reviewed journal gerrish & clayton, 2004; hommelstad & ruland, 2004; hutchinson & johnston, 2004; pettengrill, gillies, & clark and holmes, 1994), may have a deeper implication than simply just a mere lack of time. thompson et al. (2008) have asserted that this may be more suggestive of a collective, organizational “culture of busyness” rather than just not finding a personal time to support research endeavors. thus, lack of time is a representation of the presence of multifaceted organizational factors explaining dissimilarities in research use. consequently, during this initial period of entry in nursing, formal mentorship programs must be established to refine and polish the learned skills of the new nurses and apply these in actual patient care. added support or reinforcement for the concept of mentorship in clinical settings is provided by bandura’s social learning theory, which emphasizes that people learn most behavior by direct experience and observation, and behaviors are retained or not retained based on positive and negative rewards. therefore, in the course of the mentoring activities, novice nurses stand to pick up better knowledge and practical skills as they observe their mentors perform activities of nursing care and are provided with the same opportunity to carry out such nursing actions. the relationship between the mentoring activities and their effect on the nursing skill development of the novice nurses on the three (3) competency areas in nursing table 6. relationship between the mentoring activities on safe practice and the nursing skill development of novice nurses 3 key areas in nursing r analysis of r t-test interpretation as practitioners 0.23 low correlation 1.963 not significant as leaders and managers of activities in handling patients 0.23 low correlation 1.963 not significant as researchers 0.24 low correlation 2.054 significant level of significance: 0.05 critical value: 2.000 as revealed in table 6, all the nursing skill variables have a low correlation with the mentoring activities on safe practice. when tested at 0.05 level of significance, the t-test values obtained were all less than the critical value, 2.000, except the nursing skill of novice nurses as researchers variable. only the skill as 78 jpair multidisciplinary research a researcher was significantly related to the mentoring activities in the context of safe practice. the finding indicates that the nursing skill development on being researchers has a significant relationship with the mentoring activities provided by the senior staff nurses in the context of safe practice. since patient safety is the prime objective and the cornerstone of high-quality healthcare, work settings where nurses deliver clinical interventions to all clienteles becomes the determinants of quality, and competent patient care (national academy press, 2004). representing the largest portion of the healthcare sector, nurses are expected to holistically apply all their prior training and education in nursing to meet the dynamic and ever-changing patient-care demands. it is therefore vital for nurses to be very cognizant of the complexity of his/her work environment and create approaches to enhance work practices because they are the foundations of high-quality and safe care. highreliability organizations take particular emphasis on having a culture of safety by capitalizing on evidence-based methodologies and practices so that favorable working conditions are afforded to nurses thus reinforcing safe and quality care (hughes, 2008). this implies further that the teaching-learning practices geared towards the creation of a safe environment for patients, especially those that occur within the context of a mentoring relationship, should be established so that nurse practitioners will be developed to become effective in identifying clinical problems that can be subjected for scientific investigation. table 7. relationship between the mentoring activities on appropriate organizing and staff development and the nursing skill development of novice nurses 3 key areas in nursing r analysis of r t-test interpretation as practitioners 0.23 low correlation 1.963 not significant as leaders and managers of activities in handling patients 0.23 low correlation 1.963 not significant as researchers 0.24 low correlation 2.054 significant level of significance: 0.05 critical value: 2.000 it could also be surmised based on the result that the nursing skill development on being researchers had a significant relationship with the mentoring activities 79 international peer reviewed journal provided by the senior staff nurses in the context of establishing appropriate organizing, supervision and staff development (shown in table 7). this may suggest that when novices achieve competence in leadership skills, they may well be apt to engage in research works that will benefit their practice of the profession. nurse leaders profess a belief that mentoring has a positive impact on their ability to perform successfully in leadership situations, and that mentoring experience enhances their self-efficacy in enacting leadership practices, although this relationship has not been evaluated extensively. the implications of mentoring for nursing leadership development warrant further investigation. the ability of nurses in formal leadership positions to enact leadership practice has been linked to benefits for nurses, organizations, and patient care creating self-efficacy has been acknowledged as a crucial factor in the success of nurse-managers as leaders. preliminary studies are suggesting a correlation between mentoring activities and achieving leadership self-efficacy (blastorah, 2009). similarly, nurses who experience a favorable culture, good leadership and performance feedback are reported to make use of research findings to a greater extent than those in less favorable or even inhospitable settings (cummings et al. 2007, estabrooks, kenny, adewale, cummings, & 2007). table 8. relationship between the mentoring activities on conducting scientific inquiry and the nursing skill development of novice nurses 3 key areas in nursing r analysis of r t-test interpretation as practitioners 0.24 low correlation 2.054 significant as leaders and managers of activities in handling patients 0.24 low correlation 2.054 significant as researchers 0.25 low correlation 2.145 significant level of significance: 0.05 critical value: 2.000 the overall result implies that the mentoring aspect of conducting scientific inquiry influences to a certain extent the competence-development of the novice nurses in terms of becoming safe practitioners, effective leaders and researchers. furthermore, this suggests that mentoring activities are essential to the growth and development of holistically-competent nursing practitioners. relative to this, fink, thompson, & bonnes (2005) felt justified in concluding that creating environments which value research use must be 80 jpair multidisciplinary research recognized as important for the organization’s success. this is particularly true in a time of rapid and prodigious change. it seems to be well documented that environmental factors play an important role in relation to research use in nursing. the findings of this study provided impetus to the researcher designing a proposed action and/or enhancement plan. the proposal necessarily includes steps that need to be taken to be able to achieve the specified goals and objectives. by this, the researcher aimed to address the problem related to the perceived inadequacy in the competence and skill of novice nurses, especially in the context of being researchers and leaders. a uniform module of a formal and structured mentoring program for government hospitals in lanao del norte and iligan city should be adopted. conclusion the findings of this study derived from the responses, and data gathered from the respondents basically suggest that from among the three major competencies that all registered nurses must possess as laid out by no less than the philippine nursing law, only the skill on safe practice is consistently and markedly shown to be emphasized and covered in most teaching-learning activities that transpire in the institutional settings. conversely, the competencies necessary to hone effective nurse-leaders and nurse-researchers who will direct the future of the profession seems to be lagging or falling behind. although it is acknowledged that the safety and well-being of patients or clients through safe practice comes first and foremost, this realization should not serve as an excuse to neglect other concerns or areas that in the long term redound to the interest of the clients/ patients. the fruits of research, for example, are applied in actual practice. as emphasized in the discussion, the evidence-based practice involves interventions based on data from research that has proved them successful or efficacious. it is a systematic process of uncovering, evaluating, and using information from research as the basis for deciding about and providing client care. in the wake of information technology, a veritable ongoing revolution, a higher level of intelligence, knowledge, and skill is now demanded by nurses and all other health-care providers. this apparent inadequacy in the perceived development of nurses on the aspect of leadership and research is a gaping chasm that points up a lot of implications in the quality of professional practitioners that this country is producing. essentially, when one is not holistically and all-inclusively equipped 81 international peer reviewed journal with the aptitude and proficiency that is expected of him/her in the practice of his/her profession, he/she is deemed to be unskilled and incompetent to carry out her/his roles, functions and responsibilities. traditional learning, intervention, and practices are constantly challenged, and many of these may need to be jettisoned or thrown overboard. nurses in these times can no longer depend on accustomed practice or deductions from physiological or pathophysiological information; they cannot, and should not, rely on units within their facilities for information about the success of treatments, decisions about health care, and outcomes for clients. nursing education and practice now require nurses to perform web-based research for papers and projects, to access a wide range of most current, updated information through electronic resources. another implication derived from the findings of this study has to do with the competency and quality of filipino nurses that could be hired and deployed in the international nursing arena, especially now that asean integration of professionals has been set to mobilize. the stance of the country’s present nursing curriculum focuses on producing top-notch and high-caliber nurses who are capable of rendering nursing services that are at par with all the other nurses in the global community. contrariwise, if filipino nurses perceive themselves as lacking in perhaps some of the aspects of the competencies, by international standards, then the export value of philippine nurses stand to be compromised. hence, the researcher believes that there is a need to strengthen and intensify the mentoring activities that are offered to the novice population in the workforce. since most of the guiding and coaching circumstances in the research locale occur through informal means, it would be more beneficial and expedient to create a more structured and organized mentoring program that should cover the facilitation of learning in all the core competencies in nursing, particularly in nursing leadership and research. this is further reinforced in existing literature as vance (2003) emphasized the importance of strengthening mentoring in the nursing profession so that crucial aspects of the profession are retained, especially in today’s healthcare environment. on this light, the researcher recommends that future studies would consider a larger, more representative sample of novice nurses, perhaps one that is national in scope and see if it would yield more 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(2010). “exploring the impact of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new staff nurses.” bmc health services research. retrieved on february 04, 2014 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ pmc2929231/ whitehead j (2001): newly qualified staff nurses’ perceptions of the role transition. british journal of nursing 10, 330-339. retrieved on february 04, 2014 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12170676 who. 2002c. nursing and midwifery services. strategic directions 2002-2008. geneva: world health organization. retrieved on february 04, 2014 from https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/strategic-directions-2002-2008. pdf https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03077.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03077.x cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 186 implementation of strengthened technical vocational education program – competency based curriculum, northern mindanao, philippines reynilda c. alferez nenita d. palmes reyn_alf07@yahoo.com mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city abstract this study attempted to assess the implementation of the strengthened technical and vocational education program – competency based curriculum (stvep-cbc) in region x. the study involved nine (9) deped technical vocational high schools in region x – northern mindanao. the respondents included twenty one (21) administrators and ninety one (91) teachers. descriptive statistics were used to describe and to analyze the data. the study also utilized t – test for paired values to evaluate the difference between administrators and teachers assessments in the status of implementation of stvep cbc. the school administrators and teachers assessed the status of the implementation of stvep-cbc along the aspects of its program. findings show that both administrators and teacher respondents were assessed very satisfactory on items of competency assessment and certification, instructional and teacher support material, curriculum instruction, program and project vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.161 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 187 management and monitoring and evaluation. on one hand, both respondents register as only satisfactory on the aspect of facilities and services. this can be due to the fact that a budgetary allocation in this area is insufficient. on the other hand, assessments of administrators and teachers vary on the following: excellent by the administrators while very satisfactory by the teachers respectively the items on human resource development, property supply management, fiscal management and physical plant facility. such high assessments of the two groups are attributed to their satisfaction level with the implementation of the different programs. the professional profiles of the respondents may also have accounted for the effectiveness on the implementation of the programs. additional budgetary allocation and enhancement trainings for both teachers and administrators are recommended. likewise, regular monitoring should be undertaken to keep track in the effective and efficient implementation of the program. keywords strengthened technical vocational education, program – competency based curriculum stvep–cbc activities introduction development, implementation and evaluation are administrative management processes. a program, project, plan, activity or any endeavor must start with the following phases within the administrative cycle: formulation which is the planning phase, implementation which is the execution phase and evaluation which is the review and monitoring phase. efficiency and effectiveness of the program can be measured through consistent and effective monitoring, evaluation and assessment in order to rectify weaknesses, enhance strengths and come up with a better program to attain quality education (gregorio 1990). jpair: multidisciplinary journal 188 quality education has always been the major thrust of philippine education. amarga (2002) as cited by botones (march 2010) in her dissertation, pointed out that one indicator of educational excellence is the presence of highly effective, efficient and efficacious curriculum implementers: the school teachers and administrators. in the 2006 deped data and statistics on cohort survival rates, out of 100 pupils that enter grade one, only 65 will reach and finish grade six. meaning, there is already a 35 percent dropout rate in the elementary. of the 65 elementary graduates, only 58 will enter high school. eventually, out of 58, only 43 will finish their secondary education. in short, the dropout rate in high school is an alarming rate of 26 percent. of the 43 high school graduates, only 23 will pursue their college education. the other 20 might have been in postsecondary or out-of-school status already. eventually, only 14 of these 23 college enrollees will finish college (deped updates 2007). considering the cost of tertiary education, a number of high school graduates cannot make it to tertiary education. this plus other factors such as poor quality of teaching, high direct and indirect schooling costs and the paucity of ‘good jobs’ discourages/prevents the parents from sending their children to college. education has also become lower level of priority compared to other short term pressing needs such as maximizing household income or providing food security (bennel 2007) to address this reality, the department of education offer the technical vocational education program which is currently implemented all over the country. it provides the students with certifiable knowledge and skills, thus making them graduates equipped lifelong skills which they can use to become productive and responsive members of society (cangas 2008). to be successful, vocational skills and trainings have to take into consideration the characteristics of local and national labour markets and employability which is commonly defined as a combination of assets and competence (hartl 2009). the strengthened technical vocational education program – competency based curriculum (stvep – cbc) aims to help lessen the dropout rate in high school and help lessen job – skills mismatch of graduates and labor market needs of local industries. it is geared towards providing technical-vocational students with tesda international peer reviewed journal 189 certifiable skills while still in the high school (andrada 2008). in its implementation, the stvep – cbc has directly benefited 282 technical – vocational high schools by putting them in a unique place in the public secondary system. its vision is for them to become the center of excellence for fields of specializations in arts and trades, agriculture and fishery (deped order no. 42 s, 2008). hean (2004) pointed out some of the observable practices which are also revelations of the teachers and the administrators of these schools. these include the following: lack of appropriate, updated training of the teachers handling the subject areas and inadequate facilities and equipment which can be used for effective teaching. on the part of the students, there are crowded classrooms because of oversized enrolment; this is consistent with the findings of pontillan (2002). mismatched enrollees if the program call for appropriate screening to tailor fit the curriculum requirements to the interest, potentials and qualifications of the students. some students have poor or low academic performance (labrador 2004) concerned therefore of the above realities, this research studyattemps to come up with empirical evidences and validates findings towards the improvement of the strengthened vocational technical education program – competency based curriculum. objectives of the study the objectives of the study are: (1.) to determine the status of implementation of activities of stvep-cbc as assessed by the administrators and teachers; (2.) profile of the administrators and teachers; and, (3.) to compare the assessment of the administrators and the teachers on the status of implementation of technical vocational activities materials and methods research design this study uses the descriptive method in determining the respondents’ perspective on the status of implementation of jpair: multidisciplinary journal 190 strengthened technical vocational education programcompetency based curriculum in region x, northern mindanao, philippines. respondents of the study the respondents of this study were the school administrators who are principals, school-in-charge, assistant principals and department heads of the 9 identified technical-vocational schools in region x. the other respondents were the teachers coming from these schools. the total population of this study is presented in table 1. table 1. distribution of respondents technical-vocational schools administrators teachers total no. of respondents aloran trade school 4 11 15 baliangao school of fisheries 3 10 13 bukidnon school of home and industries 3 16 19 bunawan agricultural high school 1 6 7 iligan city national high school 2 9 11 kinuguitan agricultural school 1 8 9 opol national secondary agricultural technical school 3 14 17 ozamis city school of arts and trades 3 13 16 rogongon agricultural school 1 4 5 total 21 91 112 international peer reviewed journal 191 sampling procedure the study made use of purposive sampling, with the administrators and teachers assigned to teach in the stvep-cbc as respondents. research instrument a survey questionnaire was utilized to gather the pertinent data for this research. the survey questionnaire for administrator and teacher respondents consists of 3 parts. the first part is the respondents profile; the second part is the respondents’ assessments on the implementation of the strengthened technical-vocational education program. this part of the questionnaire presents the twelve (12) articles of the manual of operation for public technical-vocational high schools. there are five statements that describe each article and the respondents are made to assess each article in terms of their awareness and knowledge in the implementation of stvep. the third part includes the respondents suggestions for intervention mechanism. the respondents were expected to provide suggestions in the areas administration, budget, curriculum, staff, facilities and services, monitoring and evaluation, students, teachers/faculty. there are two sets of the instrument. one is for the administrator and the other one is for the teachers. this questionnaire underwent thorough review and enhancement, checked and validated by city division deped officials and professors of mindanao state university-iligan institute of technology. the second part of the instrument was designed to elicit information from the administrator and teacher respondents on the assessment of the status of implementation of activities of stvep-cbc. to facilitate quantification and ease in analysis and interpretation, the following scaling was adopted: scale range descriptive rating 1 1.00 – 1.80 unsatisfactory 2 1.81 – 2.60 fair 3 2.61 – 3.40 satisfactory jpair: multidisciplinary journal 192 4 3.41 – 4.20 very satisfactory 5 4.21 – 5.00 excellent data analysis descriptive statistics were used to describe and summarize the properties of the mass of data collected from the respondents. the study also utilized t-test for paired values in order to evaluate the difference between school administrators’ and teachers’ assessment on the status of implementation of activities of stvep-cbc. results and discussion profile of the school administrators and teachers the demographic characteristics of the school administrators and teachers are presented in table 1. table 1. frequency and percentage distribution of the demographic characteristics of the school administrators and teachers variable administrators (n=21) teachers (n=91) frequency percentage frequency percentage educational attainment bachelor’s degree without ma units 0 0.00 21 23.60 bachelor’s degree with ma units 13 65.00 55 61.80 ma degree 4 20.00 8 8.98 ma degree with doctoral units 2 10.00 5 5.62 doctoral degree 1 5.00 0 0.00 no response 1 2 number of technical/vocationalrelated trainings attended more than 2 trainings 7 33.33 27 29.67 international peer reviewed journal 193 1 to 2 trainings 13 61.90 32 35.16 none 1 4.76 32 35.16 teaching experience at most 5 years 1 5.26 27 31.03 5.01 to 10.00 years 3 15.79 11 12.64 10.01 to 15.00 years 7 36.84 16 18.39 15.01 to 20.00 years 3 15.79 11 12.64 over 20.00 years 5 26.32 22 25.29 no response 2 4 administrative experience at most 5 years 8 38.10 5.01 to 10.00 years 7 33.33 10.01 to 15.00 years 1 4.76 15.01 to 20.00 years 2 9.52 over 20.00 years 3 14.29 thirteen of the 21 administrators are bachelor’s degree holder with ma units, four are ma degree holders, two have units in a doctoral degree and only one is a doctoral degree holder. as to this teaching experience, 7 have served for 10-15 years, 5 are over 20 years of service, 3 have served from 15-20 years and 5-10 years and 1 teacher has served at most 5 years as a teacher. as to their experience as 8 and 7 of them have been administrators for 5 and 10 years respectively, the rest have served as administrators from 10.1 to over 20 years. as can be gleaned in table 1, approximately 24 percent of the teachers have no units in ma degree; 62 percent of them have units in ma degree; 9 percent are ma degree holders; and 6 percent of them have earned units for a doctorate degree. as to the length of service as a teacher, 21.03 percent have served at most 5 years as a teacher; 25.29 percent over 20 years of service; 18.39 percent 10-15 years; 12.64% percent from 15-20 years and 5-10 years each. effectiveness of implementation may also be influenced by the length of exposure of a person and his personal and professional attributes to a certain job or situation that make an edge over a new teacher in the service. in this continuation of table 1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 194 era of growing accountability for student performance, (evans, 2010) stressed that understanding the way in which assessments are crafted and evaluated is of paramount importance. testing data and results were made more applicable and meaningful to staff and students because advance-studies-exposed administrators had the ability to clarify just what the results meant and how they translated into gains for student achievement. status of implementation table 2. school administrators’ and teachers’ assessment on the status of implementation of activities of stvep-cbc indicators school administrators teachers t-value p mean description mean description 1. human resource development 4.24 excellent 3.80 very satisfactory 2.69 .008 2. faculty and personnel 4.62 excellent 3.80 very satisfactory 3.69 .001 3. curriculum and instruction 4.15 very satisfactory 4.11 very satisfactory .19 .851 4. competency assessment and certification 3.87 very satisfactory 4.08 very satisfactory -1.12 .266 5. programs and projects 3.89 very satisfactory 3.53 very satisfactory 1.69 .095 6. facilities and services 3.34 satisfactory 3.19 satisfactory .73 .470 7. fiscal management 4.30 excellent 3.33 very satisfactory 4.35 <.001 8. property and supply management 4.22 excellent 3.53 very satisfactory 3.02 .003 international peer reviewed journal 195 9. physical plant facility 4.32 excellent 3.97 very satisfactory 1.64 .104 10. instructional and teacher support material 4.13 very satisfactory 3.76 very satisfactory 1.70 .091 11. management monitoring and evaluation 4.02 very satisfactory 3.71 very satisfactory 1.51 .135 *significant if 05.≤p table 2 shows the assessment of administrators and teachers on the status of implementation of activities of stvep-cbc of their respective schools. apparently, administrators and teachers have the same assessment on the average as very satisfactory as shown on their means specially on indicators such as competency assessment and certifications, instructional and teacher support material, curriculum instruction, program and projects, and management monitoring and evaluation, however, detailed assessment on each item component vary from very satisfactory to excellent. the unification that occurs with a common purpose often leads to greater satisfaction and motivation. as cited by buffie (1989), in speaking of creating an environment that promotes collegiality, states it is important for the principal to: (a) provide opportunities for the staff to talk about teaching and learning; (b) encourage teachers to observe each other teaching; (c) involve staff cooperatively in planning, designing, and evaluating curriculum; and, if others are to follow your lead, (d) model these behaviors. on the other hand, the mean assessment score of the school administrators on human resource development, property supply management, fiscal management, physical plant facility and faculty & personnel are significantly higher than that of the teachers as excellent and very satisfactory, respectively. conversely, both groups rate facilities and services as satisfactory as the least. this is maybe due to the fact that budgetary allocation for this area is insufficient. supported by palmer (2007) that even developing countries still lack tool kits, modern machineries for demonstration and handscontinuation of table 2 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 196 on learning, local transport, dormitories and hostels, not to mention cafeterias and the priority area, the schools training center. it can be gleaned also in the data in table 2 that out of the eleven indicators on the status of stvep implementation, administrators rate excellence on the five components while only very satisfactory on the teachers end on the following: human resource development which focuses on the employee welfare and training; faculty and personnel which describes recruitment, promotions and performance appraisal; fiscal management on school budget disbursements and payment transparency; property and supply management on school property, appropriations and procurement process and physical plant facility which describes the school classroom dimension standards and accessibility. indeed, there is a little difference on the teachers’ assessments against the school administrators’ since both have different functions to play in the institution. as thomas (2005) stressed that a principal has the opportunity to provide a supportive, nurturing environment in which to work. this is of utmost importance to teachers in whatever task they may choose to undertake. but apparently, sometimes expectations of teachers on the administrator’s performance on implementation do not meet their expectations. it is believed that the foundational-functional relationship is not dichotomous but continuous, and that the principal on the job inevitably moves back and forth between foundations and functions in resolving issues making decisions and performing his roles (fowers 2008).in summary, the “dramatically different role” of the principal is outlined by brewer (2001) as “one that requires focusing on instruction; building a community of learners; sharing decision making; sustaining the basics; leveraging time; supporting ongoing professional development for all staff members; redirecting resources to support a multifaceted school plan; and creating a climate of integrity, inquiry, and continuous improvement.”a lot of factors will be considered in the implementation process where a regular teacher does not know. but as a general view, the success of any organization solely depends upon the quality and efficiency of its staff personnel, who perform the functions necessary for the fulfillment of stated goals and objectives. this assumption is as applicable to the school system as it is to any organization involving human efforts. the extent to international peer reviewed journal 197 which the quality of education succeeds will depend strictly upon the quality of the personnel engaged in the educational process, and upon the effectiveness with which they carry out individual and group responsibilities (nakpodia 2006). conclusions with this result, it can be concluded that school administrators and the teachers are working collaboratively for the same goal. the assessment of school administrators and teachers on the status of the implementation of stvep-cbc along the aspects of its program reveal high ratings which emanates from very satisfactory to excellent except one aspect on facilities and services which is satisfactory. this can be due to the fact that budgetary allocations intended for facilities and services are insufficient. such high assessments are attributed to their satisfaction level in the implementation of the different programs. recommendations the professional profiles of the respondents may also have accounted on the effectiveness on their implementation of the programs. additional budgetary allocation and enhancement trainings for both teachers and administrators are recommended and a regular monitoring program shall be undertaken to keep track effectiveness and efficiency of program implementation. literature cited andrada l.m. 2008 making curiculum innovations work for your school. a position paper presented at the second pavea national congress, dauis, bohol bennell, p. 2007 promoting livelihood opportunities for rural youth, paper presented at roundtable 3: generating remunerative livelihood opportunities for rural youth, ifad governing council jpair: multidisciplinary journal 198 brewer, h. 2001 ten steps to success. journal of staff development buffie, e. g. 1989 the principal and leadership (elementary principal series no. 1). paper presented at the annual meeting of the american educational research association, bloomington, in. (eric document reproduction service no. ed 315911) cangas.rh. 2008 technical vocational education: then and now. a position paper presentedat the second pavea national congress, dauis, bohol dep ed updates, 2007 dep ed order no. 42. s, 2008 dep ed order no. 89, s. 2010 2010 manual of operations for the technical and vocational public secondary schools dep ed, memorandum no. 395 s. 20101 consultative conference for the 282 tech. voc. secondary school administrators for the strengthened technical vocational education program. evans, l. 2010 benefits of a doctoral degree: professional and personal. seattle pacific university fowers bj 2008 from continence to virtue: recovering goodness, character unity, and character types for positive psychology.theory& psychology international peer reviewed journal 199 gregorio, h.c. 1990 school administration and supervision quezon city, garotechpublishing hartl, maria 2009 technical and vocational education and training (tvet) and skills development for poverty reducation-do rural women benefit? pathways out of poverty journal hean, r. 2004 understanding student teacher interaction first pavea national congress, laog city labrador, vl. 2004 learning the r’s in the classroom and the basic skill for employment; second pavea national congress, laog city manila bulletin; 424: 11-12-2008 manual of operations for technical-vocational high schools 2010. nakpodia ed 2006 staff personnel in secondary school administration. current issues in nigerian educational system. edited by po itedjere. abraka, delsu publishers palmer, r. 2007 skills for work?: from skills development to decent livelihoods in ghana’s rural informal economy. international journal of education development 27 (2007) 397-420. pontillan, pc. 2002 in fusing productivity and quality seminar workshop and total quality management; argao cebu. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 200 strategies management training program for vocational school administrators, 2009 asianinstitute of development studies, davao city. thomas, c. et.al 2005 portfolio assessment: a guide for teachers and administrators. national forum of educational administration and supervision journal-electronic. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 302 free t3 as a reliable indicator of thyroid dysfunction in cirrhosis shazia shakoor 1bahria university medical & dental college, karachi, pakistan fatima shad kaneez ftmshad@gmail.com 2pap rsb institute of health sciences, universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam uzma iftikhar 3hamdard university of medical and dental college, karachi, pakistan date submitted: november 8, 2011 date revisions accepted: november 26, 2011 abstract liver cirrhosis is a common ailment afflicting a significant proportion of pakistani population of all ages. quite often, these patients require multi-system intervention, owing to the nature of this disease. this study was specifically conceived to objectively assess the level of thyroid dysfunction in cirrhotics of the urban population of karachi, together with its relationship to the severity of liver malfunction as gauged by the childs classification. liver and thyroid hormones are intricately correlated so thyroid hormone abnormalities are seen in patients of liver diseases, although they are clinically euthyroid. the aim of this study is to correlate the abnormalities in thyroid hormones with the clinical staging of hepatic encephalopathy and to examine the role of vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.166 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 303 thyroid hormone as a reliable prognostic indicator of encephalopathy. we assessed 50 patients of cirrhosis for the thyroid hormone levels (including thyroxine, triiodothyronine and tsh) by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (elisa) technique. patients were also examined clinically for gradings of cirrhosis by the childs pugh classification. all procedures on patients were done in accordance with the helsinki declaration. triiodothyronine (ft3) was found to be a useful indicator of thyroid dysfunctions and it parallels the grading of childs classification, whereas thyroxine and tsh were not found to be significantly correlated. we proposed that triiodothyronine could act as a prognostic marker to predict severity of cirrhosis and for assessing minimal hepatic encephalopathy. keywords thyroid hormones, cirrhosis, childs classification, extra hepatic manifestations of liver disease. introduction cirrhosis becomes a multisystem disease owing to its several consequential complications, which are obviously due to liver’s central role in body’s metabolism. its incidence is reportedly increased; extra-hepatic manifestations of liver disease include involvement of the lungs, central nervous system, the heart, and the kidneys, to name but a few. the involvement of these organ systems becomes manifest along the course of cirrhosis, and therefore, some of these complications are clinically relevant. other less subtle and clinically non-manifest complications do occur, which are usually neglected in the management of cirrhosis but are present nonetheless (ho jk, 2006). several hormones may be affected, including insulin and glucagon due to a deamination defect, glucocorticoids and gonadal steroids due to a conjugation defect, and thyroid hormones due to an iodination defect (burra p et al, 1992). thyroid dysfunction is present in several chronic diseases like severe liver or kidney diseases, certain metabolic jpair: multidisciplinary journal 304 disorders and infections. in patients with chronic illnesses fluctuation in thyroid hormones occur which may render routine thyroid hormone testing unreliable. hormone testing is sometimes essential in cases where additional thyroid hormone deficiency is suspected and in patients who may benefit from thyroxin treatment (chopra ij 1997). numerous clinicians have reported a sub clinical hypothyroidism in patients with chronic liver diseases (sheridan p 1983). although studies in different populations vary in their findings with respect to the type and degree of thyroid dysfunction in cirrhosis, but have consistently found low ft3 levels in the face of a normal tsh and a clinical euthyroidism (chopra ij, 1975). not only has this free hormone level been delineated as indicator of thyroid dysfunction, but ft3 levels have also been correlated with the degree of liver dysfunction (nomura s. et al, 1975). several methods are used to stage cirrhosis, including histological and clinical staging. a reliable and time tested system for assessing the clinical severity of cirrhosis is child pugh’s classification. it includes serum biochemical tests, with serum albumen, bilirubin and prothrombin time, and two clinical criteria with ascites and encephalopathy (ghany m and hoofangle jh, 2008). table 1. child-pugh classification of cirrhosis factor units 1 2 3 serum bilirubin mg/dl <2.0 2.0-3.0 >3.0 serum albumin g/dl >3.5 3.0-3.5 <3.0 prothrombin time seconds prolonged 0-4 4-6 >6 ascites none easily controlled poorly controlled encephalopathy none minimal advanced (ghany and hoofangle, 2008) score 5 and 6 are designated as child class a scores 7 to 9 indicate child class b scores 10 to 15 are included in child class c international peer reviewed journal 305 this classification also serves as an indicator of survival and predicts the likelihood of complications in cirrhosis (ghany m, hoofangle jh. 2008). `in several studies done previously, the parameters of child classification were found to be significantly linked with ft3 levels. this finding confirms the presence of abnormalities of thyroid dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis, despite clinical euthyroidism (shimada t, 1988). nonetheless, ft3 levels can be used as a useful marker and prognostic indicator of survival in cirrhotic patients along with other biochemical parameters of the child pugh classification (van theil dh et al, 1985). we tested thyroid hormone levels (ft3, ft4 and tsh) in 50 patients with varying degrees of severity of cirrhosis according to the child pugh scoring system. our study suggested the prevalence of a low ft3 level and its inverse association with increasing severity of cirrhosis according to the childs grading system. ft3 could be a significant predictor of thyroid dysfunction in cirrhotic patients. results of both ft4 and tsh did not show any relationship with increasing severity according to childs classification. chronic liver disease is classified into child-pugh class a to c, employing the added score from table 1, and the relationship between the grading and years of survival are shown below. table 2. child-pugh and years of survival points class one year survival two year survival 5-6 a 100% 85% 7-9 b 81% 57% 10-15 c 45% 35% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/child-pugh_score materials and methods all patients with a known diagnosis of cirrhosis admitted to the medical unit ii of jinnah postgraduate medical centre were initially recruited over a period of six months. they were further categorized jpair: multidisciplinary journal 306 according to the child classification as a, b or c. of the 148 cases thus enrolled, 98 were later excluded according to the following criteria: • subjects with known, or with past or family history of thyroid disorders or any other autoimmune diseases or evidence of hypopituitarism • pregnant subjects • subjects with recent abdominal surgeries or any massive bleeds • subjects receiving drugs that may interfere with thyroid hormone metabolism or secretion a total of 50 cirrhotic patients were then included in the final analysis. their thyroid functions (ft3, ft4 and tsh) were determined by using a kit purchased from immunotech, bechman coulter company, cat no1363. the radioimmunoassay was done utilizing the principle of 125i-labeled antibody. the thyroid function tests were then associated with child classes a, b and c. other biochemical tests commonly used in cirrhosis were also performed. serum alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and bilirubin were done by colorimetric method, using commercial kits purchased from human gesellschaft fur und diagnostica, germany. albumin was determined using bromocresol green method, using a commercial kit by diasys diagnostic systems gmbh, germany. prothrombin time was estimated by using a rabbit-brain thromboplastin reagent (simplastin excel), provided by biomerieux inc. usa. these results were further compared to thyroid profiles of 50 normal subjects with no known co-morbidities. results were evaluated using spss 15. students t-test was employed to compare variables between cases and controls. correlationcoefficient (pearson’s product) was calculated for quantifying the association between the severity of hypothyroidism and that of cirrhosis. autonomy and confidentiality of all subjects was ensured. all clinical and biochemical evaluations were made subject to informed consent. all records were kept confidential, except from the patients and subjects’ doctors. international peer reviewed journal 307 local ethical committee in accordance with the helsinki declaration approved all experimental procedures. results and discussion ft3 emerged as a reliable indicator of thyroid dysfunction in cirrhosis. results for both ft4 and tsh did not show variability with the increasing grades of cirrhosis. table 1 and figure 1 exhibit the thyroid function according to child’s grade. patients with decompensate cirrhosis (child’s groups b and c) showed a significant decrease in ft3 levels (p<0.05) but no significant differences in ft4 and tsh levels. table 3. thyroid function in hepatic decompensation cirrhotics (all values are expressed as mean ± se) t h y r o i d function child grade “a” (n=7) child grade “b” (n=26) child grade “c” (n=17) mean ± sem mean ± sem mean ± sem ft3 (pg/ml) 2.58 ± 0.27 2.30 ± 0.13* 1.38 ± 0.25* ft4 (ng/dl) 1.33 ± 0.11 1.26 ± 0.05 1.14 ± 0.11 tsh (miu/l) 1.51 ± 0.61 2.52 ± 0.23 2.21 ± 0.32 * p<0.05 shows significant difference jpair: multidisciplinary journal 308 thyroid hormone levels according to child’s class a, b, c. number of patients with child’s class a was 7 with b was 26, and c was 17. childs class b and c exhibits significant decrease in ft3 (pg. /ml.) figure 2 shows frequencies of ft3 levels in cirrhotics, in terms of correlation coefficient, 12 out of 50 patients had an ft3 level less than fig. 1. thyroid function tests in different stages of childs class. ft3 expressed in pg/ml, ft4 in ng/dl and tsh in miu/i. patients with decompensated cirrhosis (childs class b and c showed a significant decrease in ft3 (p≤0.05) no significant difference found in ft4 and tsh. fig. 2. histogram of ft3 values in cirrhotics. histogram showing ft3 in pg/ml on x axis and number of subjects on y axis 12 out of 50 subjects showing ft3 less than the lower limit of normal (i.e. less than 1.63) international peer reviewed journal 309 the lower limit of normal (i.e.<1.63).thus the prevalence of low ft3 levels in cirrhotic patients was 24%. figure 3 shows the clumping of values in the middle of regression line of ft3 against the child’s score, exhibiting a very high correlation between the two values. table 4 shows correlation coefficient of thyroid dysfunction versus child’s score. only ft3 was observed to be significantly inversely correlated to child’s class and hence hepatic dysfunction . table 4. correlation coefficient of thyroid function vs child’s score parameters correlation coefficient “r” ft3 r = 0.49 * ft4 r = 0.24 tsh r = 0.06 table 5 shows correlation coefficients for individual thyroid function tests ft3, ft4 and tsh against albumen ,bilirubin, alkaline phosphatases, alanine amino transferase and prothrombin time. a significant p value (<0.05) positive correlation was found between ft3 levels and albumen, and a negative correlation was found between ft3 and serum bilirubin levels. also ft4 levels showed a significant fig. 3. correlation of coefficient of thyroid function (ft3) and child score. graph showing clumping of values about the regression line for ft3, expressed in pg/ml against child’s score jpair: multidisciplinary journal 310 positive correlation with serum albumin levels. serum levels of alanine amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase correlated poorly with thyroid hormone levels. tsh showed no significant correlation with serum levels of any liver function markers. a significant negative correlation was found between prothrombin time of cirrhotic patients and their serum ft3 and ft4 levels. table 5. relationship between liver function tests and thyroid function expressed as correlation coefficients thyroid function liver function tests albumin bilirubin alkaline phosphatase alanine amino transferase pt ft3 0.48* -0.30* 0.14 -0.26 -0.48* ft4 0.32* -0.05 0.08 -0.02 -0.29* tsh -0.02 -0.05 0.17 0.13 0.02 correlation coefficients for ft3, ft4 and tsh against albumen, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase. table shows significant (p≤0.05) positive association between ft3 and albumen levels and a negative correlation between ft3, bilirubin, and prothrombin time (pt) levels. thyroid hormone abnormalities are seen in liver diseases like acute and chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis and are known to parallel the severity of liver diseases (malik r. and hodgson h, 2002). cirrhotic patients may exhibit abnormalities of thyroid hormone levels while being clinically euthyroid (faber j, et al 1981) .several abnormalities of thyroid function tests may be seen including derangements in free t3 and free t4 levels as well as those of thyroxin-binding globulin [tbg] (huang j, liaw f, 1995) out of these the finding of low free t3 was a more persistent conclusion (l’age m, 1980 and georgia kostopanagiotou et al, 2009) which is consistent with our results in pakistani population. thyroid function has again been evaluated as marker of prognosis of liver disease [kano t et al, 1987 and güven k et al 1993) as thyroid function international peer reviewed journal 311 abnormalities usually get reversed on improvement in liver function (kabadi um and premachandra bn, 1983). our study, therefore, emphasizes on assessing ft3 levels along with other biochemical parameters of child’s classification, as it may be used as a prognostic, rather than diagnostic tool for patients awaiting liver transplantation. although the relationship between liver and thyroid has been discussed several times in context of non-thyroidal illnesses, measurement of thyroid hormones is generally considered unreliable in severe illnesses. however, when dysfunction needs to be assessed in such patients, thyroid hormone must be measured. we have linked the ft3 levels with degree of liver dysfunction, and were able to exhibit significant relationship. our study has exhibited the presence of a low ft3 level and its inverse relationship with increasing severity of liver dysfunction in the local population of karachi, pakistan. a negative correlation between ft3 levels and increasing severity of liver dysfunction was also demonstrated by (green et.al 1977). they specifically correlated the ft3 levels with serum albumen and had found lower ft3 levels corresponding to lower serum albumen levels. this finding is consistent with ours, and this study in pakistani population has further expanded the scope of liver dysfunction tests in addition to the correlates of other assessments of liver function including child pugh scoring, by emphasizing the importance of ft3 as a prognostic marker. our results are also in concordance with a french study (schlienger, 1979) in which thyroid profile was done on 50 alcoholic cirrhotics using a clinical and biological index to score the severity of the disease. they also related decreased levels of ft3 with the degree of liver dysfunction as a result of alcoholism. another study conducted in pakistan, (agha f et al, 1989), also concluded that ft3 correlates with the disease severity hence could be used as a prognostic tool for assessing the course and prognosis of cirrhosis though the comparison has different perspective. our study also strongly agrees with the study conducted by takahashi and yamada 1989 who has considered ft3 as a sensitive index of liver damage. literature also indicated that low ft3 plays a protective role in the catabolic state (gallo v, et al 1990). similarly, borzio et al (1983) jpair: multidisciplinary journal 312 who studied 55 patients of chronic hepatitis found low ft3 levels despite the presence of clinical euthyroidism. walfish et al (1979) have correlated ft3 levels with worsening liver function, and since they were able to follow up on their patients, they had demonstrated that mortality rates in patients with low ft3 on admission may in fact be greater as compare to higher ft3 levels. the findings of low ft3 in cirrhotics, its association with worsening liver function by child pugh class, and absence of correlation between ft4 and tsh levels are all in agreement with the results of kayacetin et al. (2003). hepner and chopra, in 1979, also found a similar decrease in ft3 levels in 29 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, although they did not correlate it with the severity of the disease. burra et al (1992) found low ft3 levels in 31 alcoholic cirrhotic patients and also demonstrated that the changes in ft3 reflected the severity of underlying liver disease. conclusions in conclusion, we found significant correlation of ft3 with the indicators for detecting childs score, while other signs commonly used for diagnosis of cirrhosis did not have any correlation. this effect suggests that ft3 could be used as a marker for grading severity of liver dysfunction. we propose a further qualification of ft3 as a prognostic marker to predict severity and progression of cirrhosis by undertaking a largescale follow-up study of early cirrhotic patients. literature cited ho jk, yoshida e. 2006 the extra hepatic consequences of cirrhosis. med gen med gastroenterology; 8(1):59. burra p, franklyn ja, ramsden db, elias e, sheppard mc 1992 severity of alcoholic liver disease and markers of thyroid and steroid status. postgrad med j; 68:804-810. international peer reviewed journal 313 chopra ij. 1997 euthyroid sick syndrome: is it a misnomer? j clin endocrinol metab; 82:329-334 sheridan p 1983 thyroid hormones and the liver. clin gastroenterol 12(3):797818. chopra ij, chopra u, smith sr, reza m, solomon dh. 1975 reciprocal changes in serum concentrations of 3,3’,5’-triiodothyronine (reverse t3) and 3,3’,5-triiodothyronine (t3) in systemic illnesses. j clin endocrinol metab; 41:10431049. nomura s, pittman cs, chambers jb, buck mw, shimizu t. 1975 reduced peripheral conversion of thyroxin to triiodothyronine in patients with hepatic cirrhosis. j clin invest; 56:643-652. ghany m, hoofangle jh. 2008 approach to the patient with liver disease. in: harrison’s principles of internal medicine. 17th edition. kasper dl, fauci as, longo dl, braunwald e, hauser sl, shimada t, higashi k, umeda t, sato t. 1988 thyroid functions in patients with various chronic liver diseases. endocrinol jpn. 35(3):357-69 van theil dh, udani m, schade rr, sanghvi a, starzl te. 1985 prognostic value of thyroid hormone levels in patients evaluated for liver transplantation. hepatology; 5(5):862-866. malik r, hodgson h. 2002 the relationship between the thyroid gland and the liver. q j med; 95(9):559-569. faber j, thomsen fh, lumholtz ib, kirkegaard c, siersbaek-nielsen k, friis t. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 314 1981 kinetic studies of thyroxine, 3,5,3’-triiodothyronine, 3 , 3 ’ , 5 ’ t r i i o d o t h y r o n i n e , 3 ’ , 5 ’ d i i o d o t h y r o n i n e , 3,3’-diiodothyronine, and 3’-monoiodothyronine in patients with liver cirrhosis. j clin endocrinol metab; 53:978-984. huang j, liaw f. 1995 clinical associations between thyroid and liver diseases. j gastroenterol hepatol; 10(3):344-350. georgia kostopanagiotou, konstantinos kalimeris, iordanis mourouzis, constantinos costopanagiotou, nikolaos arkadopoulos, dimitrios panagopoulos, nikolaos papoutsidakis, aikaterini chranioti, agatha pafiti and danai spanou 2009 thyroid hormones alterations during acute liver failure: possible underlying mechanisms and consequences. endocrine 36 (2), 198-204 l’age m, meinhold h, wenzel kw, schleusener h. 1980 relation between serum levels of tsh, tbg, t4, t3, rt3 and various histologically classified chronic liver diseases. j endocrinol invest; 4:379-383. kano t, kojima t, takahashi t, muto y. 1987 serum thyroid hormone levels in patients with fulminant hepatitis: usefulness of rt3 and the rt3/t3 ratio as prognostic indices. gastroenterol jpn; 22(3):344-353. güven k, kelestimur f, yücesoy m. 1993 thyroid function tests in non-alcoholic cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy. eur j med; 2:83-85. kabadi um, premachandra bn. 1983 serum t3 and reverse t3 levels in hepatic cirrhosis: relation to hepatocellular damage and normalization on improvement in liver dysfunction. am j gastroenterol; 78(11):750-755. international peer reviewed journal 315 green jrb, snitcher ej, mowat nag, ekins rp, rees lh, dawson am. 1977 thyroid function and thyroid regulation in euthyroid men with chronic liver disease: evidence of multiple abnormalities. clin. endocrinol; 7: 453-461. schlienger 1979 thyroid status in fifty patients with alcoholic cirrhosis jl.z gastroenterol. jul; 17(7):452-61 agha f, qureshi h, khan ra. 1989 serum thyroid hormone levels in cirrhosis. j pak med assoc.; 39 (7):179-83. takahashi h, yamada s. 1989 studies on changes of thyroid hormones in various liver diseases: usefulness of free thyroid hormones as liver function test. jpn j med.; 28(3):297-302 gallo v, rabbia f, petrino r, riberi a, marinone c, and langer m. 1990 liver and thyroid gland: physiopathologic and clinical relationships. recenti prog med.; 81(5):351-5 borzio m, caldara r, borzio f, piepoli v, rampini p, ferrari c. 1983 thyroid function tests in chronic liver disease: evidence of multiple abnormalities despite clinical euthyroidism. gut; 24:631-636. walfish pg, orrego h, israel y, blake j, kalant h. 1979 serum triiodothyronine and other clinical and laboratory indices of alcoholic liver disease. ann intern med; 91:13-16. kayacetin e, kisakol g, kaya a. 2003 low serum total thyroxine and free triiodothyronine in patients with hepatic encephalopathy due to non-alcoholic cirrhosis. swiss med wkly; 133:210-213. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 316 chopra ij, solomon dh, chopra u, young rt, teco gnc. 1974 alterations in circulating thyroid hormones and thyrotropin in hepatic cirrhosis: evidence for euthyroidism despite subnormal serum triiodothyronine. j clin endocrinol metab; 39:501-511 burra p, franklyn ja, ramsden db, elias e, sheppard mc. 1992 severity of alcoholic liver disease and markers of thyroid and steroid status. postgrad med j; 68:804-810 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research rationing change as coping strategy employed by buhid households against food insecurity mary yole apple declaro-ruedas http://orcid.org 0000-0003-4326-3460 tsinelas.yole@gmail.com occidental mindoro state college occidental mindoro, philippines abstract the mangyans as a group of people traces a history of marginalization both in their ancestral domain and in their access to basic social services, particularly, health and education. this study was conducted to: 1) determine the socioeconomic characteristics and household food expenditures of the buhid women; 2) determine their food security condition; and 3) identify the food insecurity coping strategies employed. the descriptive method was employed. the united states department of agriculture (usda) food sufficiency questionnaire and coping strategy index (csi) was used to enumerate both frequency and severity of coping strategies of households faced with short-term insufficiency of food. results show that majority of the buhid women were between 20 and 39 years old, which means that they were still in their middle age and can still perform reproductive and productive activities. they have big household size, with low level of basic education, and with an average monthly income below the poverty threshold. the biggest portion of the household expenditure was spent for food. the buhid women experienced “food insecurity with moderate hunger” in which adults in the households have experienced reductions in food intake. it is recommended that further study on the relationship between the socio economic characteristics of the buhid women and household security status and their coping strategies be conducted. vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.312 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 83 international peer reviewed journal keywords social science, food security, coping mechanism, buhid women, food diary, descriptive design, occidental mindoro, philippines introduction mangyans’ status barely meets the basic needs of food, health, and education. mangyans are mainly subsistence agriculturists. their land holdings are generally small, sloping and communal. their economy is basically dependent on slashand-burn or “kaingin” farming, which has essentially remained at subsistence level (gapuz, 1995; lumbo et al., 2009). according to the fao (2009), there is an increasing number of people without enough food to eat on a regular basis in asia and africa. the proportion of people who are hungry, however, is greater in africa (33%) than asia (16%). food and agricultural organization (1996) states that food security exists when all people have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” the life sciences research office’s (lsro) definition of food insecurity closely follows the fao definition and states that food insecurity is the “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” (bickel, nord, price, hamilton & cook, 2000). in the recent survey in the philippines, there are 4.8 million families who said they experienced hunger in september 2014—about 1.2 families more than in the previous quarter, as hunger has risen in all regions except mindanao. moreover, 3.6 million families said they experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the last three months. these data draw a picture or pattern of bouts of hunger based on the experience of those afflicted by hunger regardless of whether they experienced hunger only “once” or “ a few times” (moderate hunger) or went hungry “often” or “always” (severe hunger) (doronila, 2014). there is variety of different coping strategies that households are likely to adopt when faced with food shortage. for instance, when faced with famine, ethiopian villagers were shown to draw on their savings, use food reserves, diversify sources of income and reduce expenditure on non-food items in the initial stages of famine; whereas during the later stages of famine, they switched to consuming famine foods and even migrated (webb & braun, 1994). 84 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study was conducted to: 1) determine the buhid mothers’ socioeconomic characteristics and their household food expenditures; 2) determine their food security condition; and 3) identify the food insecurity coping strategies employed. methodology the study was conducted in the community of salafay, monteclaro, san jose, occidental mindoro, philippines. it is surrounded by six buhid communities namely; kubkob, yabong, dayaga, malumak, mantay and dulis. the buhids of salafay, san jose, occidental mindoro were the respondents of the study. the community is composed of 35 households, 70% of which served as the respondents of the study. the mothers in each household were chosen based on the following criteria: 1) those who had both a pre-elementary and grade school child; and 2) those who had resided in the area for at least five years. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. the united states department of agriculture (usda) food sufficiency questionnaire was adapted to measure household food security. the coping strategy index (csi), developed by world food program (wfp) was used to enumerate both the frequency and severity of coping strategies of households faced with shortterm insufficiency of food. descriptive statistics such as means, frequency distribution, and percentages was used to describe the respondents’ attributes and the coping mechanisms employed. results and discussion socio-economic characteristics of the buhids majority of the respondents were between 20 and 39 years old, which means that they are still young and can perform the work requirements in doing reproductive and productive activities. they have big household size with number of children ranging from 0-11. there are at least seven buhids with formal schooling, but merely at lower level 85 international peer reviewed journal of basic education. majority (72%) have not acquired formal basic education, but they can read and write their names and perform basic mathematical operations. it could be attributed to the fact that the minority school was only established in 2005. it is noteworthy that today, they send their children to school, but the latter could not continue their schooling because of lack of finances and distance to a secondary school. the buhids are generally poor. the average monthly income per household with five members is more or less php 1000 (usd 22.83), which is less than the annual per capita poverty threshold for occidental mindoro that stood at p14, 064.00 or usd 321.09 (nscb, 2006). table 1. socio-economic characteristics of the buhid women socio-economic variables category frequency % age 19 years old and younger 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 years old and older 4 9 6 3 1 2 25 16.00 36.00 24.00 12.00 04.00 08.00 100.00 mean: range: 31.88 years old 14-65 years old educational attainment grade 1-3 grade 4-6 none 5 2 18 25 20.00 08.00 72.00 100.00 mean: range: 0.80 grade level 0-6 grade level number of children 4 and below 5-7 8-10 11 and up 2 9 13 1 25 08.00 36.00 52.00 04.00 100.00 mean: range: 7.08 children 0-11 children monthly income (family) p 1,000.00 and below p 1,001.00-1,500.00 p 1,501.002,000.00 p 2,001.00 and above 15 5 4 1 25 60.00 20.00 16.00 04.00 100.00 mean: range: p 1,018.00 p 500.00-2,100.00 86 jpair multidisciplinary research household food expenditures household food expenditures refer on how much money a family spends on each week based on their food diary. in the national level, income distribution is highly skewed. of the 88.6 million people living in the philippines, 27.6 million live at the poverty level, representing 32.9% of the total population. while the upper 50% of the population make 80% of the nation’s income, the bottom 50% only account for 17% of the nation’s wealth. the average monthly income of a buhid family is php 1,018.00 (23 usd) ranging from php 500.00 (11 usd)-2,100.00 (47 usd), which means that they could barely provide the basic needs of food, health, education, housing and other social amenities of life. based on figure 1, the monthly expenditure is divided into food (60%), education of children (15%), transportation (5%), agricultural inputs (15%), and others (5%) that include expenses on communication and medicine (2%).the household expenditure for food is more than half (60%) of the total expenses in a month, which implies that food is given a greater weight in monthly budgeting. similarly, based on the nscb (2014), the household spending continued to expand in the second quarter of 2014 by 5.3 percent from 5.1 percent last year.  food and non-alcoholic beverages expenditures, which accounted for 41.2 percent of the total household spending, grew by 4.0 percent but showed a slowdown from its 5.0 percent growth registered in 2013.  on the other hand, the following expenditure items posted decelerated growth: miscellaneous goods and services, 5.8 percent from 7.9 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 5.5 percent from 8.2 percent; recreation and culture, 3.7 percent from 8.9  percent; and education, 2.8 percent from 5.1 percent. the findings of the study corroborate with eustaquio (nd) that food expenditure accounts for the largest portion in every household’s budget for it alone constitutes more than half of the personal consumption expenditures. moreover, family size, educational expenses and total income of the household significantly increases the food expenditure of  households. if the household head’s occupation is considered an operator, a rise in food expenses is expected, while it would decrease if the age is between 61 and 70. the more employed  members of the household are, the lesser the expenditures on food because it would increase the total income but decreased the proportion of expenses. however, in the study of sekhampu (2012), male-headed households were found to spend more of their income on food compared to female-headed 87 international peer reviewed journal households. the proportion of household income spent on food increased with household size. the results of the study also show that married respondents spend a lower proportion of their income on food compared to those who are not married. figure 1. household expenditure status of food security food security was defined as “access by all people at all times to sufficient food for an active, healthy life” (world bank, n.d.). in practical terms, this encompasses the physiological needs of individuals, the complementarities and trade-offs among food and other basic necessities (especially healthcare and education), changes over time in terms of people’s livelihood strategies, the assets to which they have access, and uncertainty and risk (that is, vulnerability). food security is about more than just how much people have to eat; having “enough” food to eat is the most important outcome of being food secure; while physiological requirements differ since people largely know whether they have “enough” or not. moreover, food security is also defined as situation where all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient needs in food preferences for an active and healthy life (hoddinott, 2006). in addition, household food security refers to a household’s ability to acquire food. a household is food secure when it has access to the food needed for a healthy life for all of its members. it means adequate in terms of quality, quantity, safety and culturally acceptable), and when it is not at undue risk of losing such access (gillespie & mason, 1991). 88 jpair multidisciplinary research there are six components to define a food secure community: 1) availability of variety of foods at reasonable cost; 2) ready access to grocery stores and other retail food sources; 3) sufficient personal income to purchase adequate food to meet the nutritional needs for household members; 4) freedom to choose personally acceptable foods; 5) confidence in the quality and safety of available food; and, 6) easy access to understandable and accurate information about food and nutrition. the status of food security of the buhid women (figure 2) was categorized based on the following: a. food secure — household shows no or minimal evidence of food insecurity. it means that they have enough food to eat; b. food insecure without hunger —household food supply is adequate but there are adjustments to household food management, including reduced quality of food and increased unusual coping patterns; c. food insecure with hunger (moderate) —food insecure households with children shows that there is not enough of food to eat. thus, there is a reduction of food for adults but not for children and; d. food insecure with hunger (severe) — at this level, adults in households with and without children have repeatedly experienced more extensive reductions in food intake. results revealed that majority (55%) of the buhid women families were ‘food insecure with hunger (moderate)’. it showed that the households have higher evidence of food insecurity, which is also in line with the coping strategies they employ. root crops and banana were used as substitute to rice, while some children ate junk foods to lessen hunger. figure 2. status of food security 89 international peer reviewed journal coping strategies the acquisition of food and the provision of adequate nutrition are among the most basic of human endeavors. in general, people respond to conditions under which they do not have enough to eat, and various means of “coping” is what people have to do when they do not have enough—the more people have to cope, the less food secure they are. household decision-makers organize the resources at their disposal to limit the short-term effects of not having enough to eat. with this, people start to change their consumption habits when they anticipate a problem. they do not wait until food is completely gone (christaensen & boisvert, 2000). coping strategies refer to the mechanisms used to offset threats to a household’s food and economic resources in times of hardships. one of the most common methods for identifying food insecure households or regions is to look at the frequency and types of coping strategies (in conjunction with consumption, expenditure, food share, and nutritional status indicators). adopting any of the coping strategies (table 2) has implications for the household, and its members. the overall mean of 2.83 shows that the different coping strategies were “moderately true to me.” when there is not enough budget to spend for food, the respondents rely on less preferred and less expensive food with a mean of 3.37 which is evaluated as “always true to me”. this includes instant foods and canned sardines, and “junk food” which are considered as a dietary change. it becomes popular because of low cost, time and energy saving convenience in preparation. the “always true to me” coping strategies were to limit the amount of food given to each household member during meal time (mean=4.37), and reduce number of meals eaten in a day (mean=3.36), which belongs to the rationing strategies. relying on the help from a relative or friend outside household with (mean =3.47) is one of the characteristics of filipino, which is close family ties. it is also a strategy used by the buhids in times of ‘tagkiriwi’ or hardship. several studies have also identified similar strategies that households employ to protect themselves against food insecurity. it includes changes in food consumption patterns, rationing food intake, migration, liquidation of assets and borrowing money (molnar, 1999). similarly, household when faced with food insecurity induced food shortage; they were forced to drastically reduce their food consumption and even resort to more socially unacceptable options such as begging (molnar, 1999). in bangladesh, households facing flood-created food shortages had reduced their 90 jpair multidisciplinary research number of meals per day, change their types of food consumption and borrowed food from neighbors (frongillo chowdhury, ekström & naved, 2003). adopting any of the coping strategies described above during food insecurity has implications for the household and its members and that is why we need to study these strategies. for instance, changes in food consumption patterns, due to a reduction in the number of daily meals or a decline in the quality of food consumed, can be harmful to the health of household members especially to the long-term well-being of children (arimond & ruel, 2004). table 2. coping strategies employed coping strategies indicators mean interpretation dietary change rely on less preferred and less expensive foods 3.37 always true to me increase short-term household food availability borrow food from a friend or relative 3.47 always true to me purchase food on credit 3.16 moderately true to me decrease numbers of people rely help from relative or friend outside home 1.20 slightly true to me rationing strategies limit portion size at mealtimes 4.37 always true to me restrict consumption by adults in order for small children to eat 1.86 moderately true to me reduce number of meals eaten in a day 3.36 always true to me skip entire days without eating 1.88 moderately true to me overall mean 2.83 moderately true to me legend: 3.34 – 5.00= always true to me; 1.67 – 3.33 = moderately true to me; and 0.09 – 1.66= slightly true to me the coping strategies index (csi) was the tool used. the csi measures behavior: the things that people do when they cannot access enough food. there are a number of fairly regular behavioral responses to food insecurity— or coping strategies—that people use to manage household food shortage. these coping strategies are easy to observe. it is quicker, simpler, and cheaper to collect information on coping strategies than on actual household food consumption levels. 91 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the pertinent findings, the following were the conclusions drawn from investigation: 1) majority of the buhids were young, with big household size, low-level of basic education, and with an average monthly income below the poverty threshold; 2) the biggest portion of the household expenditure is spent for food. to cope with food insecurity, they employed “rationing change” strategies; and 3) the buhid experienced “food insecurity with moderate hunger” in which adults in the households with and without children have experienced reductions in food intake. translational research the results of this study could provide insights to the buhid mangyans with regards to their food security condition and food insecurity coping strategies employed. it could also provide an opportunity to the occidental mindoro state college to take part in the different interventions for this sector. the college could also provide technical expertise in crafting policy and programs that will improve food security in the municipality. for the other concerned government as well as non-government organizations, the study would provide background information on the status of food security in the said ip community. finally, the results would likewise provide benefits to the researchers in the related fields, for the information gathered can be used as a basis for some research undertakings. literature cited arimond, m., & ruel, m. (2004). dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys.  the journal of nutrition, 134(10), 2579-2585. bickel, g., nord, m., price, c., hamilton, w., & cook, j. (2000). guide to measuring household food security.  alexandria. department of agriculture food and nutrition service. doronila, a. “two view on poverty-from the top and the hungry.” philippine 92 jpair multidisciplinary research daily inquirer. november 7,2014. eustaquio, j. “a study on the determinants of the total household expenditure on food of the cagayan valley region.” retrieved from academia.edu.ph on 15 december 2014. frongillo, e. a., chowdhury, n., ekström, e. c., & naved, r. t. (2003). understanding the experience of household food insecurity in rural bangladesh leads to a measure different from that used in other countries. the journal of nutrition, 133(12), 4158-4162. food and agriculture organization, (1996). rome declaration on world food security note 1 in plan of action of the world food summit. retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613e/w3613e00.htm hoddinott, j. (2006). shocks and their consequences across and within households in rural zimbabwe.  the journal of development studies,  42(2), 301-321. molnar, j. j. (1999). sound policies for food security: the role of culture and social organization. review of agricultural economics, 21(2), 489-498. national statistical coordination board (nscb). (2006). annual per capita poverty thresholds by province national statistical coordination board (nscb). (2014). gross national income & gross domestic product by expenditure shares sekhampu, t. (2012). “socio-economic determinants of household food expenditure in a low income township in south africa.”   mediterranean journal of social sciences vol. 3 (3) september 2012  webb, p., & braun, j. v. (1994). famine and food security in ethiopia: lessons for africa. chichester (uk), john wiley and sons, 1994. cover single with doi 305 international peer reviewed journal factors associated with and notions concerning stress of the administration and academic personnel prose ivy g. yepes jude a. duarte pilg_yepes@yahoo.com southern leyte state university, philippines abstract noticeably, stress has affected the performance of the university’s manpower which result to sagging morale in the workplace. thus this study evaluated the factors associated with and notions concerning stress of the administration and academic personnel of slsu. a descriptive-survey method was employed to gather data from the 125 respondents using a stress audit instrument adopted from miller and smith (1993). the data gathered were consolidated and statistically analyzed using percentages and pearson-r. on the whole, the administrative and academic personnel of slsu had manifested serious susceptibility to stress sources and stress symptoms which were significantly affected by the academic personnel’s age profile, and slightly affected by the length of service of both academic and administrative staff. the academic personnel’s number of office designations had affected both their perspective on stress sources and symptoms. it can be deduced that the slsu administrative and academic personnel’s notions concerning stress sources and symptoms vary due to the nature and gravity of the tasks they perform. therefore, it is recommended that a comprehensive “welfare administration program” for the slsu personnel be implemented to reduce health risks caused by stress and to promote the welfare and well-being of all slsu employees. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.1 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 306 jpair: multidisciplinary research keywords stress susceptibility, stress sources, stress symptoms, performance, academic staff, administrative personnel introduction building a high performance organization is a popular topic in the training and development field (lee, n.d.). in order to compete with the rest, companies require understanding as to what factors influence performance. lee further stressed that one of the most significant factors is stress. stress affects the mind, body, and behavior in many ways. the specific signs and symptoms of stress vary widely from person to person. some people primarily experience physical symptoms, such as low back pain, stomach problems and skin outbreaks. in others, the stress pattern centers on emotional symptoms, such as crying jags or hypersensitivity. still for others, what predominate are the changes in the way they think or behave. lee (n.d.) stated that traditionally, stress has been viewed as an inevitable consequence of work life; or at most a health care issue. caple quoted in schultz and schultz (n.d.) averred that everyone experiences stress on a daily basis, but a label of normalcy does not make it benign. it can lead to serious health problems, and it deserves attention. it is commonly accepted that an underlying stress issue causes over 60% of all visits to medical doctors. seventy-two percent of american workers experiences frequent, stress-related physical or mental conditions that greatly increase health care costs. forty percent of employee turnover is due to stress. approximately, there are one million employees per day who are absent from work due to stress related disorders (wolley as stated by schultz and schultz, n.d.). everyone faces different challenges and obstacles, and sometimes the pressure is hard to handle. when one feels overwhelmed or unsure how to meet the demands placed on him, he experiences stress. in small doses, stress can be a good thing. it can give you the push you need, motivating you to do your best and to stay focused and alert. stress is what keeps an individual on his toes during a presentation at work. when the going gets tough, and when life’s demands exceed one’s ability to cope, stress becomes a threat to both his physical and 307 international peer reviewed journal emotional well-being. research shows that stress indeed, interferes with human intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal functioning, lee (n.d.) added. the potential causes of stress are numerous and highly individual. what one considers stressful depends on many factors, including one’s personality, general outlook on life, problem-solving abilities, and social support system. age, length of work service, and role overloads of personnel are also seen to affect how he or she addresses stress. something that is stressful to a certain person may not faze others, or what is stressful for others maybe enjoyable for some. the pressures and demands that cause stress are known as stressors. everybody usually thinks of stressors as being negative, such as exhausting work schedule or a rocky relationship. however, anything that forces people to adjust can be a stressor. regardless of whether an event is good or bad, if the adjustment it requires strains a person’s coping skills and adaptive resources, the result is stress (holmes-rake, 2007). in his seminal review, cox (1993) noted that (1) there is evidence that the experience of stress at work is associated with changes in both behavior and physiological functions, which may both be harmful to employees’ health; (2) only a minority of organizations were purposely practicing stress management in their workplace; (3) most stress management interventions were individually focused and (4) measurement of the current state of work-related stress and the effectiveness of an intervention require a standard or target to be meaningful. in gaining an understanding of the complexities of stress several researches and concepts were examined. gill et al (2007) averred that job stress can be prevented through two methods: (1) though management programs and training for employees, and (2) organizational changes that improve working conditions. the first methods make use of employees assistance programs (eaps) which are designed to help workers with personal problems that may be adversely affecting their on-the-job performance. the confidential service includes counseling, mental health assessment and referrals, workshops on topics such as time management and relations, and legal and financial assistance. the second methods applied organizational changes that improve working 308 jpair: multidisciplinary research conditions. institutional changes such as employees’ participation from the bottom up implement policies that take employees’ needs into account, and empower employees to do their best. sharing information with employees to reduce uncertainty about their jobs and futures clearly define employee’s roles and responsibilities; make communication friendly and efficient, not mean spirited or petty. workers must be given opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their jobs. they have to be counseled on employees scheduling and work rules. unrealistic deadlines must be avoided, and the organization should show that individual workers are valued. on the other hand, rewards and incentives must be accorded; employees must be praised verbally and institutionally for good work performance; and opportunities for career development must be provided and entrepreneurial work climate that gives employees more control over their work must be promoted. the yerkes-dodson laws as cited by yerkes, et al. (1996) indicate that when learning situation is more complex, the optimal relationship between performance and stress gets stronger. beyond an optional level, stress impairs performance. janis and man (1977) suggest that under stress, individuals may make decisions, based on incomplete information. this is supported by friedman and man (1993) who suggest that when under conditions of stress, individuals may fail to consider the full range of alternatives available, ignore longterm consequences, and make a decision based on over simplifying assumptions. stress can also contribute to performance decrements by slowing cognition and individual information processing. idzikowski and baddekey (1983) find that the time to complete a given task doubled with the introduction of an external stress. mcleod (1977) looks specifically at stress in the form of “task overload” asking an individual to perform more than one task under a time constraint and finds that the addition of multiple required tasks reduce the quality of individual performance and increase the magnitude of the performance decrement as compared with the case in which the individual has only one task to perform. rule viii, section 1 of the rules and regulations implementing book v of the executive order no. 292 otherwise known as administrative 309 international peer reviewed journal code provides that every official and employee of the government is an asset or resource to be valued, developed and utilized in the delivery of basic services to the public. hence, the development and retention of a highly competent and professional workforce in the public service shall be the main concern of every department or agency. taking into account on programs on stress reduction or elimination definitely will promote this directive. social supports such as comfort, care, esteem or help from an organization is needed by people. such support would include emotional support in the expression of empathy, caring and concern toward the person. esteem support occurs through people’s expression of positive regard for the person, encouragement or agreements with the individual’s ideas or feelings and positive comparison of the person with others such as people who are less able or worse off. this kind of support serves to build the individuals feelings of self-worth, competence and of being valued. tangible or instrumental support involves direct assistance. informational support includes giving advice, suggestions or feedback while network support provides a feeling of membership in a group of people who share interests. (cobb, 1976). southern leyte state university, the only state university in southern leyte with its enormous role to provide excellence in education in the province is not spared from the agonizing effects of stress caused by a variety of sources. noticeably, stress is taking its toll in the university manpower affecting grossly personnel performance resulting to sagging morale of the workforce. although several researches on stress and performance in the workplace have already been done, no research to assess the factors associated with and notions concerning on stress between the administration and academic personnel has been conducted in slsu, hence this research study. framework of the study this study is based on the theories of robbins et al. (2005), medina (2006), and papalia (2004). it is also supported by section 1, rule viii of the omnubus rules implementing book v of executive order # 292. according to robbins, an employee who is experiencing high stress 310 jpair: multidisciplinary research may become depressed, accident prone, or argumentative; may have difficulty making routine decisions; and may be easily distracted. the manager’s concern is to reduce the stress that leads to dysfunctional work behavior, through controlling certain organizational factors to reduce organizational stress, and to a more limited extent, offering help for personal stress. this is supported by dessler (2001) who averred that stress can lead to psychological problems. people who are under stress tend to perceive things less objectively than those who are not. organization is a great potential source of stress for the employees, among the organizational factors that may confront the workers are interpersonal demands created by other employees, excessive rules and lack of participation in decisions, leadership styles that breed tensions, fear, and anxiety among employees. when stress has become severe and work is affected the individual, it may adapt any of the following strategies: increased physical exercise, relaxation training and expanding the social support network. the organization may implement sound hrm practices like effective selection and training procedures, clearly write job descriptions to reduce worker anxiety regarding job responsibilities, effective reward system to relieve stress regarding pay expectations, increasing formal organizational communications with employees to reduce worker uncertainty by lessening role ambiguity and role conflict, increasing employee involvement in decision-making and redesigning jobs so employees can have more responsibility, more meaningful work, more autonomy, and increased feedback which result to reduced stress (medina, 2006). papalia et al. (2004), laments that the more stressful the changes that take place in a persons life, the greater the likelihood of illness within next year or two. some people react to stress by getting sick. the connection between stress and illness has long been observed, but only recently have we begun to understand more about how stress produces illness and why some people handle stress better than others. intense or prolonged stress seems to weaken the immune system and increase susceptibility to illness. occupational stress has become a worldwide epidemic. workplaces are generally designed for efficiency and profit, not for workers well-being but human costs can hurt the bottom-line. when people feel they are in the wrong job or when efforts to meet job 311 international peer reviewed journal demands are out of proportion to job satisfaction and other rewards, stress can result. employees who feel overwhelmed, or who believed that their skills are not adequately recognized, or who do not have clear goals, tend to show high stress and low morale and productivity. section 1. rule viii of the omnibus rules implementing book v of executive order # 292 clearly underscored that every official and employees of the philippine government is an asset or resource to be valued, developed and utilized in the delivery of basic services to the public. hence the development and retention of a highly competent and professional workforce in the public service shall be the main concern of every department or agency. each department or agency shall therefore establish a continuing program for career and personnel development for all agency personnel at all levels, and shall create an environment or work climate conducive to the development of personnel skills, talents, and values for better public service. section 2 also provides that the career and personnel development plan shall include provisions on merit promotion, performance evaluation, in service training, overseas and local scholarships, and training grants, suggestions, incentive award systems, provisions for welfare, counseling, recreation and similar services, and other human resource development interventions. objectives of the study this research study is aimed to determine the factors associated with and notions concerning stress between the administration and academic personnel of slsu. materials and methods research method. this study used the descriptive survey as a method of research. the research instruments were fielded to the academic and administrative staff of the five campuses of southern leyte state university. research environment. this research work was conducted in the five campuses of southern leyte state university (slsu) namely: 312 jpair: multidisciplinary research slsusogod, slsu-tomas oppus, slsu-bontoc, slsu-san juan, and slsu-hinunangan. slsu as an institution is greatly affected with the policies in rationalization and moratorium of creation of items wherein additional jobs are given to both academic and administrative staff without giving any additional monetary compensation; only de-loading scheme for the academic staff while nothing for the administrative personnel. research respondents. the respondents of this study were the regular academic and administrative staff of the southern leyte state university. a stratified random sampling method was utilized in this particular research endeavor. table 1. the research respondents campuses academic staff administrative staff total slsu-bontoc 12 11 23 slsu-hinunangan 11 12 23 slsu-san juan 13 9 22 slsu-sogod 17 18 35 slsu-tomas oppus 12 10 22 total 65 60 125 research instruments. the study used an adopted tool on stress audit by miller and miller (1993). data gathering procedures. permission to conduct this research study was sought from the university president through the campus administrators particularly for the administration of the research instrument to the academic and administrative staff of the five campuses of the university. the research questionnaires were personally administered to and retrieved from the respondents by the researchers. after which, consolidation and analysis of data were done followed by the interpretation of results and preparation of the technical report. 313 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the research population distribution per campus the respondents of this research study were both the academic and administrative staff of southern leyte state university (slsu) particularly from its five campuses, namely: slsu-bontoc; slsuhinunangan; slsu-san juan; slsu-sogod; and slsu-tomas oppus. out of the total population of the research study, 23 (18% are from slsu-bontoc, 23 (18%) from slsu-hinunangan, 22 (18%) from slsu-san juan, 22 (18%) from slsu-sogod, and 35 (28%) are from slsu-tomas oppus. figure 1 presents the distribution of research respondents per campus. the population of this research study constitutes 32.13% of the total population of the university. hence, forms a representative sample of the entire university employees. this would mean that the responses of the respondents truly stand for what is the general characteristics of the slsu employees as regard their age, length of work experience, designation stress susceptibility, sources, and symptoms. figure 1. the research population distribution per campus 314 jpair: multidisciplinary research the demographic profile of research respondents table 2 presents the research respondents’ age profile which is classified into four categories. it can be gleaned that faculty respondents were more or less equally distributed among the four age groups; 16 (24.6%) are under the 21-31 years age group; 16 (24.6%) are in the 32-42 years age group; 16 (24.6%) are under the 43-53 years age group and 17 (26.2%) are in the 53-64 years age group. as for the administrative staff, 6 (10%) are under the 21-31 years age group; 19 (31.7%) are in the 32-42 years age group; 27 (45%) are in the 43-53 year age group and 8 (13.3%) are under the 53-64 years age group. on the whole, majority of the respondents’ age range fall under the 43-53 age group with 43.4% followed by 28% who are in the 32-42 age group. this implies that the university is equally composed of more senior and younger faculty members who are with invaluable experiences and who energetic and enthusiastic, respectively. as stated in babyboomercaretaker.com (2007), the morale and productivity of the employees in the workplace is greatly affected by age discrimination. table 2. slsu employees’ age profile respondents age total2131 yrs 32 – 42 yrs 43 – 53 yrs 53 – 64 yrs academic staff 16 (24.6%) 16 (24.6%) 16 (24.6 %) 17 (26.2%) 65 (100%) administrative staff 6 (10.0%) 19 (31.7%) 27 (45.0%) 8 (13.3%) 60 (100%) total 22 (17.6%) 35 (28.0%) 43 (34.4%) 25 (20.0%) 125 (100%) companies are most likely also to suffer in the long run because they overlooked the priceless experience of a senior employee. the contention is that a younger workforce may be perceived as energetic and enthusiastic, but they cannot replace years of experience. nonetheless, a younger aspirant may sometimes be more authoritative and commanding than a senior employer. hence, the selection, promotion or termination of an employee should be made on the basis of merit (babyboomercaretaker.com, 2007). this would further mean 315 international peer reviewed journal that age does not really matter when the argument is all about the performance and productivity in the workplace. on the other hand, table 3 shows the slsu employees’ profile in terms of their length of work experience. it can be shown that the faculty members in the university with 0-8 years work experience ranked first with 32.3% while those with 26-34 years of work experience with 27.7% got the second rank; those with 9-17 years of experience got the third rank, which was closer to the second rank. on the one hand, most of the administrative staff belonged to the work experience range of 9-17 years with 43.3%, followed by those with 0-8 years of work experience with 21.7%, then with those belonging to the 26-34 work experience range of 26-34 years with 18.3%. table 3. slsu employees’ length of work experience profile respondents length of work experience total 0 yr – 8 yrs 9 yrs 17 yrs 18 yrs 25 yrs 26 yrs 34 yrs academic staff 21 (32.3%) 17 (26.2%) 9 (13.8%) 18 (27.7%) 65 (100%) administrative staff 13 (21.7%) 26 (43.3%) 10 (16.7%) 11 (18.3%) 60 (100%) total 34 (27.2%) 43 (34.4%) 19 (15.2%) 29 (23.2%) 125 (100%) in totality, the data reveal that a majority of the university employees fall under the 9-17 work experience range with 34.4% followed by those who are in the 0-8 years work experience range with 27.2%. this means that in terms of the employees’ work experience, most of them are already midway in the workplace. this further implies that the productivity of the university is on its way to the peak as it coincides with the majority of the employees’ length of work experience. table 4 presents the designation profile of the university employees. the data confirm that among the faculty respondents, 31 or 47.7% have no designation; 29 or 44.6% has 1 or 2 designations; while 3 or 4.6% and 2 or 3.1% have 3 and 4 or more designations. among the administrative staffs that were considered research respondents, 75% has no designation while those with 1 or 2 designations with 20% 316 jpair: multidisciplinary research ranked second. on the whole, majority of the university employees have no designation with 60.8% followed by those with 1 or 2 designations with 32.8%. this affirms that although the majority of the slsu employees has no designation; however it is also evident that nearly half of the university employees are being designated with administrative functions in concurrence to their main duties and responsibilities as academic and administrative staff. despite the burgeoning population in the public schools, which include public higher education institutions, proposals to create faculty and administrative items are not approved since the moratorium of such is still in place; hence, the burden is given to the faculty and administrative staff that perform and deliver exceedingly well their respective primary functions including the assigned additional responsibilities. this observation, which is of primary concern to academic institutions, was experienced by the university itself and other sucs. this is supported by juanta (2003) when he revealed that department heads and principals in today’s schools are multiskilled persons shaped by their various roles. they are seen as institutional leaders, motivators, counselors, dreamers, innovators, “firefighters” and crisis managers. these roles can become their worst enemies as these inflict harm to them as these would lead to emotional distress and physical health problems. table 4. slsu employees’ designation profile respondents number of designation total0 1-2 3 4 and more academic staff 31 (47.7%) 29 (44.6%) 3 (4.6%) 2 (3.1%) 65 (100.0%) administrative staff 45 (75.0%) 12 (20.0%) 1 (1.7%) 2 (3.3%) 60 (100.0) total 76 (60.8%) 41 (32.8%) 4 (3.2%) 4 (3.2%) 125 (100.0%) the stress profile of the slsu employees stress is a natural part of life as what juanta (2003) said. he stressed further that stress is a condition of the individual rather than 317 international peer reviewed journal a condition of the external situation. stress is an upshot from how we act in response to what transpires in our lives at work, at home, and at play. miller and smith (1993) further opined that people are quite different from one another in their susceptibility to stress. according to them, some are like horses, and some are like butterflies in terms of responding to stress. the horses tolerate great amounts of stress without faltering or breaking stride; the butterflies fall apart under the slightest demand or pressure. whether one is a like a horse, or like a butterfly, that individual still depends on several ingredients: one’s physical condition, the manner of taking care of oneself, and one’s resources for coping with stress. further, the author stressed that the tougher an individual is against stress, the more he or she can take it. a person who has a stress-prone constitution; is lazy about exercise, eats poorly, abuses stimulants, does not get enough sleep, or does not use any coping resources; does not stand much chance against stress. table 5 presents the slsu employees’ stress profile. it can be gleaned that the academic staff has a moderate susceptibility to stress with the highest frequency of 20 (30.8%). eighteen or 27.7% of the academic staff manifested susceptibility to stress which ranked second. on the one hand, the administrative staff has a high susceptibility to stress with the highest frequency of 23 (38.3%) followed by those with a moderate susceptibility to stress with a frequency of 19 (31.7%). however, as for the employees’ view about stress sources, both the academic and administrative staff revealed serious range with frequencies of 47 (72.3%) and 40 (66.7%), respectively. similar results were obtained on the academic and administrative staff’s view on stress symptoms with frequencies of 41 (63.1%) and 34 (56.7%),respectively. table 5. slsu employees’ stress profile variables slsu staff stress profile mi mo hi ser stress susceptibility acad 12 (18.5%) 20 (30.8%) 15 (23.1%) 18 (27.7%) admin 4 (6.7%) 19 (31.7%) 23 (38.3%) 14 (23.3%) 318 jpair: multidisciplinary research stress sources acad 2 (3.1%) 5 (7.7%) 11 (16.9%) 47 (72.3%) admin 2 (3.3%) 10 (16.7%) 8 (13.3%) 40 (66.7%) stress symptoms acad 4 (6.7%) 14 (21.5%) 6 (9.2%) 41 (63.1%) admin 11 (18.3%) 9 (15.0%) 6 (10.0%) 34 (56.7%) totality 5.8 (9.3%) 12.8 (20.5%) 11.5 (18.4%) 32.3 (51.7%) n = 65 (acad) legend: mi mild 60 (admin) mo moderate hi high ser serious acad academic staff admin administrative staff in totality, the data confirm that the stress profile of the slsu employees is within the serious range with 51.7%. this clearly shows that the slsu employees can be greatly affected by stress which means that they do not stand much chance against stress as stated by miller and smith (1993). moreover, table 6 presents the significant difference in the stress profile between the slsu academic and administrative staff. as can be gleaned from the results, the difference between stress susceptibility and the perspective on stress symptoms between the academic and administrative staff obtained p-values greater than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, which fails to reject the null hypothesis which suggest accepting the null hypothesis. this implies that employees, whether teaching or not do not differ much in terms of their susceptibility to stress and their perspective about stress symptoms. this further means that regardless of the employees’ nature of job in the workplace, their responses to stress which include the health implications of stress do not significantly differ. 319 international peer reviewed journal table 6. the stress profile difference between the slsu academic and administrative staff variables t-value p-value decision stress susceptibility 0.295 0.771 fail to reject ho stress sources 0.692 0.0121 reject ho stress symptoms 0.077 0.941 fail to reject ho legend: if p-value < 0.05, the test is significant if p-value > 0.05, the test is not significant as for the employees’ view on the stress sources, it came out that the difference between the academic and administrative staff obtained p-value lesser than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, which suggest accepting the null hypothesis. this articulates the big disparity in the nature of the job between teaching and the nonteaching personnel of the university. with the kind of mental work the teaching staff have, the way they respond and viewed stress sources is greatly different compared with that of the nonteaching staff whose work is more or less routinary in nature. this supports the contention of miller and smith (1993) when they emphasized that some people are like horses, and some are like butterflies in viewing and responding to stress sources. the complexities in their teaching job apparently have affected their notions about stress sources. the correlation between the slsu employees’ stress and demographic profile age does not matter when it comes to stress; thus, there is no age at which we are exempted from stress. according to schultz and schultz (n.d.), most of the people are well aware that as a person chronologically ages, there are more responsibilities and situational stressors that become part of his/her life which will subsequently result to consequences affecting his/her well-being. for adults, stress is a daily event, but children are not exempted from its impact and subsequent consequences. likewise, symptoms of stress are especially apparent in teenagers (bittman quoted in schultz and schultz, n.d.). 320 jpair: multidisciplinary research schultz and schultz (n.d.) define stress as the result of any demand on the mind or body. a critical point is reached when the demand surpasses the person’s belief that it can be personally managed. the level of stress spawned by any given stressor will vary from person to person. the authors further emphasized that stress does not always have a negative consequence; low levels of stress can be motivational and very beneficial experiences contributing to the growth and development of the person. acute and/or chronic stress can weaken every system within the body and lead a person to be more vulnerable to injury and disease. table 7 shows the impact of age to the stress profile of slsu employees. the data confirmed that as to the employees’ view on stress sources (job, family, financial, environmental, social, and personal stress sources) and stress symptoms (muscular, nervous system, emotional, cognitive, endocrine, and immune system stress symptoms), both the academic and the administrative staff obtained chi-square values greater than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, hence, the tests are interpreted as not significant. however, as regard the stress susceptibility levels in relation to the age of the employees, the academic staff obtained chi-square value lesser than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, which contradicted with the result in the administrative staff. thus, the relationship between the academic staff’s age and stress susceptibility is significant while that of the administrative staff is not. this means that age has no bearing with the slsu employee’s views about stress sources and symptoms. this is supported by schultz and schultz’s (n.d) research result, which states that there would be no significant relationship between stress levels and chronological age. although studies have shown that as individuals advance in age, the level of stress one experience during an evaluation is not impacted. nevertheless, age has something to do with stress susceptibility in case of the teaching staff while nil in case of the nonteaching staff. this implies that regardless of the sources and symptoms felt and experienced by the slsu employees, age has an effect to the teaching staff’s levels of susceptibility to stress. this is probably because of the nature of work teaching staff have, which entails more mental and reflective activities. although opposed by schultz and schultz (n.d.), miller and smith (1993) opined that people are quite different from one 321 international peer reviewed journal another in their susceptibility to stress wherein some are like horses, and some are like butterflies in terms of responding to stress. table 7. correlation between slsu employees’ stress profile and age range variables slsu staff chi-square value interpretation stress susceptibility and age academic staff 0.020 significant administrative staff 0.362 not significant stress sources and age academic staff 0.965 not significant administrative staff 0.134 not significant stress symptoms and age academic staff 0.672 not significant administrative staff 0.500 not significant legend: if chi-square value < 0.05, the test is significant if chi-square value > 0.05, the test is not significant another variable considered in this research study was the employees’ length of work experience. table 8 presents the relationship between the slsu employees’ stress profile and length of work experience. as can be seen in table 8, the results corroborate that the relationship between the academic and administrative staff’s stress profile (such as stress susceptibility, stress sources and stress symptoms) and work experience obtained values of pearson correlation coefficient (r) lesser than 0.03 at 0.05 level of significance hence results are interpreted as having a weak correlation. this implies that the length of service an employee has would have a slight impact to his/her susceptibility to stress and to the views on stress sources and stress symptoms. this further upholds that although the level of the employees’ susceptibility to stress is serious, it does not necessarily imply that it is greatly affected by one’s length of service, which only means that the length of service has a little impact to stress. based on the researchers’ observation in the workplace, most of the aging employees are those with longer length of service. as emphasized in previous researches disclosed by schultz and schultz (n.d.), age has no impact to stress susceptibility among 322 jpair: multidisciplinary research employees. thus, it can be deduced that the relationship between stress and length of work experience is from nil to weak. table 8. correlation between slsu employees stress profile and work experience variables slsu staff pearson-r interpretation stress susceptibility and work experience academic staff 0.080 weak correlation administrative staff 0.096 weak correlation stress sources and work experience academic staff 0.077 weak correlation administrative staff 0.159 weak correlation stress symptoms and work experience academic staff 0.158 weak correlation administrative staff 0.076 weak correlation legend: if 0.00 < absolute value of r < 0.3 = the correlation is weak moreover, the assignment of additional functions named as designation and its relationship with stress was also taken into consideration, hence table 9 shows the correlation between the slsu employees’ stress profile and designation. as can be gleaned from the research findings, the relationship between stress susceptibility and designation of both the academic and administrative staff obtained chi-square values greater than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, thus the relationship of said variables is not significant. this illustrates that designation does not have a bearing with the stress susceptibility of both the teaching and the nonteaching staff, which further means that whether one has designation or otherwise, his or her tolerance to stress susceptibility is ostensibly high. however, the relationship between stress sources and the academic and administrative staff’s designation obtained chi-square values lesser than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance, hence the test is significant. this would mean that the employees’ overload has something to do with how they view stress sources and its effects to their health. according to juanta (2003), people can become their own personal 323 international peer reviewed journal stressor. hard driving and competitiveness, a strong urge to excel in all endeavors, working to accomplish more and more in less and less time can take them to a breaking point. this further implies that those with designations having the aforesaid characteristics will likely view stress sources as threats to his or her personal and professional life. table 9. correlation between slsu employees' stress profile and designation variables slsu staff chi-square value interpretation stress susceptibility and designation academic staff 0.865 not significant administrative staff 0.623 not significant stress sources and designation academic staff 0.019 significant administrative staff 0.002 significant stress symptoms and designation academic staff 0.001 significant administrative staff 0.974 not significant legend: if p-value < 0.05, the test is significant if p-value > 0.05, the test is not significant as for the relationship between the employees’ designation and their views on stress symptoms, the academic staff posed a different test result compared with administrative staff in which the academic staff obtained chi-square values less than 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance while greater than 0.05 for the administrative staff. this means that for the academic staff, the test is significant, while otherwise for administrative staff. this implies further that since the academic staff is presumed to be mentally overloaded, they become more apprehensive regarding stress symptoms and apparently affect them. conclusion the employees of the southern leyte state university (slsu) manifested a serious susceptibility to source and symptoms of stress which is significantly affected by the age profile of the academic staff, and slightly affected by the length of service of both academic 324 jpair: multidisciplinary research and administrative staff. the academic personnel’s number of office designations had affected both their perspective on stress sources and symptoms. it can be figured out that the slsu administrative and academic personnel’s notions concerning stress sources and symptoms vary due to the nature and gravity of the tasks they perform. recommendations in view of the findings and conclusions of this research study, the following are proposed: 1. a comprehensive “welfare administration program” for the slsu employees must be proposed for implementation in order to reduce the health risks caused by stress thereby improving the employee’s work motivation; 2. the praise committee of the university must be activated and be functional for the granting of awards and/or incentives to deserving employees to lessen stress among the employees and improve work motivation among them thereby increasing work performance; 3. a training and sports-related activities (those that avoid age discrimination) must be initiated by concerned offices of the university to promote welfare and well-being of all slsu employees; and 4. to help the slsu administration formulate an improved stress and health management mechanism for its employees, the following research studies must be pursued: a. “the management styles and teacher stress of slsu: a correlational study”; b. “work motivational factors and performance of the slsu administrative staff”; c. “the work performance indicators of the academic and 325 international peer reviewed journal administrative staff of slsu.”; and d. “stress coping mechanisms of slsu administrative and academic staff” literature cited 2007. omnibus rules implementing book v of executive order no. 292 and other pertinent civil service laws 2009 use scarce resources for education.abscbnnews.com/ newsbreak. retrieved may 3, 2010 from http://www. abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/08/09/use-scarce-resourceseducation-2009. cox, t. 1993 stress research and stress management: putting theory to work. sudbury: hse books. dessler, g. 2001 leading people and organizations in 21st century. international edition. pearson education asia pte ltd. singapore. friedman, i.a. 1993 coping patterns in adolescent-decision making: an israeliaustralian comparison. journal of adolescence. vol. 16, pp. 187-199. holmes-rake 2007 life stress inventory. janis, i. 1997 decision making: new york. the free press. juanta, r.d.g. 2003 managing role demands and stress. views/comments/ features. manila bulletin. november 9, 2003 issue, pp. 11 and 22. 326 jpair: multidisciplinary research lee, d. (n.d). 2010 employee stress and performance. retrieved may 15, 2010 from http://www.humannatureatwork.com/workplacestress-2.htm. mcleod, p. 1997 a dual task modality effect: support for multiprocessor models of attention. quarterly journal of experimental psychology. medina, r.g. 2006 personnel and human resources management. rex book store inc., philippines, miller, l.h. and a.d. smith 1993 the stress solution: an action plan to manage the stress in your life. pocket books of simon and schuster inc. papalia, d. et al. 2004 human development. 9th edition. mcgraw-hill education (asia) new york. robbins, s. et al. 2005 management. 8th international edition. pearson prentice hall, new jersey. schultz, m.c. and j.t. schultz (n.d.) 2010 the effects of age and stress levels and its affect on overall performance. retrieved may 8, 2010 from http://aabss.org/ journal2003/schultz.htm. institute,. georgetown university, washington, d.c. retrieved may 26, 2010 from http://www.pmranet.org/conference/ georgetownpapers/wright/pdf. yerkes r. 1996 the relationship of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit foundation. journal of comparative neurology, oc: american journal of psychiatric press. pp. 283-313. international peer reviewed journal 1 cadmium and chromium in selected canned goods commercially available in the philippines judilynn n. solidum http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2082-9487 graloheus@gmail.com university of the philippines – manila manila, philippines abstract heavy metals are both naturally occurring and anthropogenic such that even processed food canned for easy marketing and handling may be contaminated quantitative instrumental analysis using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy the limit for chromium on both california and united states environmental protection agency (epa) limits. only cf2 and cf8 went beyond the center for food safety limit in hong kong. for canned meat samples, all went beyond the limit set for chromium relative to california epa standards but not on us epa and center for food safety in hong kong limits. all of the levels of cadmium as projected mathematically did not go beyond the acceptable blood levels for both when projected in blood did not exceed the safe levels while chromium in cf2 and cf8 exceeded the acceptable blood amounts as mathematically projected. vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.316 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. jpair multidisciplinary research 2 keywords– environmental toxicology, cadmium, chromium, canned goods, faas, philippines introduction the common cause of cadmium poisoning is by ingestion of cadmiumcontaminated compounds. in the digestive tract, it reacts with the gastric acid forming soluble and absorbable cadmium chloride. cadmium arrests respiration, causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, weakness and prostration (soine, roger & wilson, 1967). the symptoms of cadmium poisoning upon ingestion did not vary much from decades back. it causes acute gastrointestinal effects, such as vomiting and diarrhea. cadmium is widely used in industrial processes as anticorrosive agent, as a stabilizer in pvc products, as a color pigment, a neutron absorber in nuclear power plants, and in the fabrication of nickel-cadmium batteries (godt et al., 2006). cadmium may cause severe arthralgia, osteomalacia, dysfunctions in the kidneys, lungs and gastrointestinal tract (dart, 2004; elinder, 1985). chromium is an essential trace (up to 10 mcg/l) element required for maintaining normal glucose tolerance. the recommended dietary intake is 50 to 200 mcg/day of cr3+, the most common ionic form of the metal. upon ingestion, it causes nephritis and glycosuria. chromium salts, chromates and dichromates are destructive to tissue when applied topically or administered orally. individuals exposed to ‘’chromate dust’’ develop deep ulcers of the skin and nasal mucosa which heal very slowly (soine, roger & wilson, 1967). chromium vi results to untoward gastrointestinal, respiratory, hepatic, endocrine, immunological, and neurologic system effects. accumulation of chromium can lead to cancer (agency for toxic substances and disease registry, 2007). contamination of cadmium and chromium in commercially available commodities may pause health threats to the filipino community. for the last decades, concern on food quality was raised not only in the philippines but all over the globe. food safety implies the absence and acceptable or safe levels of contaminants, adulterants, naturally occurring toxins or any other substances that may make food injurious to health on an acute or chronic basis (lizada, 2007). by eating commercial food products like canned sardines, contaminants may be ingested as well. heavy metals may be acquired from food as these are natural food components. environmental and food processing contamination may international peer reviewed journal 3 increase its amount in canned goods (iwegbue, nwajei, arimoro, & eguavoen, 2009). cadmium is absorbed through oral (5%), inhalational (25%) and dermal (0.5%) route (dart, 2004; guy, 1999; kjellstrom, borg & lind, 1978). chromium is absorbed from 0.4 to 2.5% when ingested (national institutes of health, 2013). while for cadmium, the acceptable oral limit in food which is 0.05ppm (environmental protection agency,nd; 2009; sireli göncüoğlu, yıldırım, gücükoğlu, & çakmak, 2006). for health protective level it was mentioned that california goal for total chromium in drinking water is 0.02ppb or 0.00002 ppm (environmental protection agency, office of environmental health hazard assessment, california, 2011), 0.1ppm in drinking water (environmental protection agency usa, 2010) and 1ppm for vegetables (yau, 2011). the study will help give a good picture of cadmium and chromium contamination in canned meat and fish, if any. the information will hopefully result to cleaner food processing and environmental clean-up. academicians and researchers may use the results of this study to initiate related, relevant researchers to improve on commercially available canned goods released in the market. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the presence or absence of cadmium and chromium in canned meat and fish available in the philippine market. specifically, it aimed to determine the amounts of cadmium and chromium in the analyzed samples using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. further, the amounts were compared with acceptable limits of the metals. the study aimed to calculate the projected blood levels of cadmium and chromium upon ingestion and compared with limits acceptable in blood. materials and methods research design this study employed the descriptive-exploratory design of research. the concentrations of heavy metals from canned fish and meat samples were analyzed after acid digestion and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. jpair multidisciplinary research 4 sample collection ten canned meat and ten canned fish products were collected from five supermarkets in metro manila, philippines in the early parts of 2013. these were the more popular canned goods. the products are available all over the country. sample acid digestion and preparation five (5) grams of each solid meat and fish samples were digested in 10 ml concentrated nitric acid in an open glass container for 24 hours, at room temperature. the following day the pre-digested samples were heated at 80°c for 5 hours. samples were then cooled to room temperature, and the volume was adjusted to 50 ml with distilled water and filtered. diluted samples were stored in polyethylene (pet) bottles and were analysed using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (prester, juresa & blanusa, 1998). flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (faas) cadmium and chromium contents of the fish and meat samples collected were analyzed using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (shimadzu aa-6300) at the department of chemistry instrumentation, de la salle university, vito cruz, manila, philippines. prepared standard solutions with different concentrations of lead, cadmium and chromium were used to calibrate the spectrophotometer prior to analysis using distilled water as the control. data analysis the data were analyzed by comparing values to standards set for cadmium and chromium in food. the projected blood levels were also compared with acceptable limits in blood. results and discussion canning which is a kind of processing food may contribute to the presence of heavy metals in food. this procedure preserves food as these are sealed in an airtight container. canned food offers fast food. fish have good health benefits but there have been many reports on contamination of fish by chemicals in the environment. marine and fresh water organisms have been studied in different areas for heavy metal contaminants. international peer reviewed journal 5 heavy metal contamination in varied food is hazardous to health and hazard is dependent on the level of the toxicant incorporated (chukwujindu, 2009). recently, few toxicological studies are made in determining the levels of heavy metals found in canned meat although the presence of heavy metals was confirmed in previous studies. in a study conducted back in the 1990’s, seven heavy metals were found in samples of canned shoulder pork, preserved lunch pork, ham and liver paste (brito, 1990). this was a study conducted in spain, more than 20 years ago, so it could be said that these values may have changed throughout the years since industrialization and new canning technologies have been adopted. however, fewer studies have been conducted on canned meat samples marketed in asia in spite of the high consumption rate of such products in the region. one study, conducted on pork products in chennai, india, revealed that the samples had cadmium from 0.038 to 0.545 mg/kg’, chromium up to 2.244 mg/ kg, copper up to 2.847 mg/kg, lead up to 6.290 mg/kg and zinc from 6.927 to 144.575 mg/kg. generally, heavily spiced products had higher levels of heavy metals. it was also found out that levels of cadmium exceeded the maximum permissible level (mpl) imposed by the food and agriculture organization (fao) (santhi, 2008). table 1. cadmium and chromium levels in canned fish samples and blood as projected mathematically canned fish samples cd mean concentration (ppm) projected cd in blood at 5% absorption (mcg/l) cr mean concentration (ppm) projected cr in blood at 2.5% absorption (mcg/dl) cf1 0.0179+/-0.0002 0.895 0.2802+/-0.0003 0.7005 cf2 0.0085+/-0.0001 0.425 2.2837+/-0.0015 5.7092 cf3 0.0101+/-0.0034 0.505 0.2099+/-0.0006 0.5247 cf4 0.0094+/-0.0005 0.47 0.2632+/-0.0004 0.658 cf5 0.0113+/-0.0021 0.565 0.1972+/-0.0027 0.493 cf6 0.0103+/-0.0008 0.515 0.2566+/-0.0005 0.6415 cf7 0.0107+/-0.0007 0.535 0.1996+/-0.0004 0.499 cf8 0.0123+/-0.0003 0.615 6.2721+/-0.0009 15.680 cf9 0.0104+/-0.0054 0.52 0.2432+/-0.0011 0.608 cf10 0.0116+/-0.0006 0.58 0.3581+/-0.0001 0.8952 jpair multidisciplinary research 6 table 2. cadmium and chromium levels in canned meat samples and blood as projected mathematically canned meat samples cadmium (mean concentration) projected cd in blood at 5% absorption (mcg/l) chromium (mean concentration) projected cr in blood at 2.5% absorption (mcg/ dl) cm1 0.0102+/-0.0001 0.51 0.0086+/-0.0062 0.0215 cm2 0.0112+/-0.0004 0.56 0.0042+/-0.0005 0.0105 cm3 0.0103+/-0.0013 0.515 0.0064+/-0.0001 0.016 cm4 0.0114+/-0.0025 0.57 0.0032+/-0.0056 0.008 cm5 0.0106+/-0.0018 0.53 0.0132+/-0.0005 0.033 cm6 0.0111+/-0.0004 0.555 0.0052+/-0.0007 0.013 cm7 0.0103+/-0.0007 0.515 0.0097+/-0.0062 0.024 cm8 0.0198+/-0.0009 0.99 0.0147+/-0.0008 0.037 cm9 0.0075+/-0.0043 0.375 0.0068+/-0.0005 0.017 cm10 0.0063 0.315 0.0092 0.023 given the acceptable limit for cadmium in food (0.05ppm), limit for drinking water from california and usa epa (orally taken similar to food) for chromium (0.02ppb and 0.1ppm respectively), and 1ppm limit for chromium in vegetables according to the center for food safety in hong kong, none of the limit for chromium on both california and us epa limits. only cf2 andcf8 went beyond the center for food safety limit in hong kong. for the canned meat, none of the analyzed samples of canned meat went beyond the limit set for cadmium while all samples went beyond the limit set for chromium relative to california epa standards but not on us epa and center for food safety in hong kong limits. given the acceptable blood levels for cadmium at 5mcg/l (atsdr, 2013) and 3mcg/dl for chromium (atsdr, 2008) all of the levels of cadmium as projected mathematically did not go beyond the acceptable blood from meat when projected in blood did not exceed the safe levels while chromium international peer reviewed journal 7 in cf2 and cf8 exceeded the acceptable blood amounts as projected. the oral absorption of cadmium at 5% and chromium at 2.5% are quite small. this results to generally safe amounts of projected cadmium and chromium in blood. a study of canned products from turkey showed trace levels for copper, zinc, manganese, iron, selenium, aluminum, chromium, nickel, and cobalt. the values obtained for chromium are close to those of the canned fish tested in this study with a value range of 0.19-0.52 ppm (tuzen & soylak, 2007). in another study on vegetables, legumes and fish in cans from lebanon, cadmium levels were shown to exceed permissible levels of eu (korfali & hamdan, 2013). contamination of canned products, not only of meat and fish with cadmium and chromium have been observed not only in the philippines but also in other countries. continued monitoring and processing improvement must be put in place. conclusions thus, from the results of the study, the canned meat and fish samples tested all contained cadmium and chromium. none of the canned fish samples went beyond the limit for cadmium but all went beyond the limit for chromium on both california and us epa limits. only cf2 andcf8 went beyond the center for food safety limit in hong kong. for the canned meat, none of the analyzed samples of canned meat went beyond the limit set for cadmium while all samples went beyond the limit set for chromium relative to california epa standards but not on us epa and center for food safety in hong kong limits. all of the levels of cadmium as projected mathematically did not go beyond the acceptable blood levels for both the samples of canned meat and fish. concentration of chromium from meat when projected in blood did not exceed the safe levels while chromium in cf2 and cf8 exceeded the acceptable blood amounts as projected. translational research the outcome of this study entitled, “cadmium and chromium in selected canned goods commercially available in the philippines” may be translated into use in the community by sending the information to the philippine association of food technologists incorporated. further analyses of other canned good products and the full method of processing will help identify areas in the procedure that can be improved to lessen the contaminants. pafti may create guidelines for better canned good processing. jpair multidisciplinary research 8 literature cited agency for toxic substances and disease registry (nd). toxicological profile for chromium. retrieved from http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp7-c2.p agency for toxic substances and disease registry (2013) cadmium (cd) toxicity clinical assessments-laboratory tests. retrieved from http:// www. atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=6&po=15 agency for toxic substances and disease registry (2008) chromium (cr) toxicity clinical assessments-laboratory tests. retrieved from http:// www. atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=10&po=12 brito, g., díaz, c., galindo, l., hardisson, a., santiago, d., & garcía montelongo, f. (1990). levels of metals in canned meat products: intermetallic correlations. bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 44(2), 309-316. dart, r. c. (ed.). (2004). medical toxicology. lippincott williams & wilkins. elinder, c. g. (1985). cadmium: uses, occurrence and intake. cadmium and health: a toxicological and epidemiological appraisal, 1, 23-64. environmental protection agency (nd) cadmium fact sheet. retrieved from http:// www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/minimize/factshts/cadmium.pdf environmental protection agency (2009) “draft public health for hexavalent chromium,” office of environmental health hazard assessment, california environmental protection agency .pp. 1-4. friberg, l., elinder, c., kjellstrom, t., & nordberg, g. f. (1985). cadmium and health: a toxicological and epidemiological appraisal volume 1: exposure, dose, and metabolism. godt, j., scheidig, f., grosse-siestrup, c., esche, v., brandenburg, p., reich, a., & groneberg, d. a. (2006). the toxicity of cadmium and resulting hazards for human health. j occup med toxicol, 1(22), 1-6. international peer reviewed journal 9 guy, r. h. (1999). metals and the skin: topical effects and systemic absorption. crc press. iwegbue, c. m., nwajei, g. e., arimoro, f. o., & eguavoen, o. (2009). characteristic levels of heavy metals in canned sardines consumed in nigeria. the environmentalist, 29(4), 431-435. kjellström, t., borg, k., & lind, b. (1978). cadmium in feces as an estimator of daily cadmium intake in sweden. environmental research, 15(2), 242-251. korfali, s., hamdan, w.a. (2013) essential and toxic metals in lebanese marketed canned food: impact of metal cans.journal of food research; vol. 2, no. 1. available at http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jfr/ article/download/21363/15219 lizada, c. (2007) food safety in the philippines: problems, issues and opportunities for farmers and producers. office of dietary supplements, national institutes of health chromium (nd). retrieved from http://goo.gl/sn65bc prester, l., jureša, d., & blanuša, m. (1999). decomposition of fish samples for determination of mercury.  arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju,  49(4), 343-348. santhi, d., balakrishnan, v., kalaikannan, a., & radhakrishnan, k. t. (2008). presence of heavy metals in pork products in chennai (india). american journal of food technology, 3(3). şireli, u. t., göncüoğlu, m., yıldırım, y., gücükoğlu, a., & çakmak, ö. (2006). assessment of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in vacuum packaged smoked fish species (mackerel, salmo salar and oncorhynhus mykiss) marketed in ankara (turkey). ege university journal of fisheries & aquatic sciences, 23, 353-356. soine, t. o., roger, c. h., & wilson, c. o. (1967). (charles h [erbert]) rogers’ inorganic pharmaceutical chemistry. lea & febiger. jpair multidisciplinary research 10 tuzen, m., & soylak, m. (2007). evaluation of trace element contents in canned foods marketed from turkey. food chemistry, 102(4), 1089-1095. 25 international peer reviewed journal standardization of alternative learning modality in the higher education institution (heis) in albay jeymar b. betiz jeymarbetiz@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0178-5914 bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract standardizing alternative learning modalities in private and public schools encountered problems among higher education institutions (heis) in albay. poor internet connectivity and lack of trainings for faculties and students is the most massive problem upon implementing the alternative learning modality with limited face-to-face classes. the study gives an important guide and information to the commission on higher education (ched) and the higher education institutions (heis) in albay in implementing standardization of alternative learning modalities with or without the pandemic. to accomplish the objectives of the research, the mixed method is used a descriptive qualitative method and a descriptive-quantitative method. the primary sources of data were the school administrators’ higher education institutions in the first district, second district, and third district province of albay. to create and implement an effective standardization of alternative learning modality among higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay, a proposed model called vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.823 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 26 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 betiz model is projected. it represents the processes to build, evaluate, test, implement, and zeal for excellence in making operations of alternative learning modality successful that can be adopted by the target beneficiary of the study. keywords — education, standardization, learning management systems, alternative learning modality, blended learning, betiz model, mixed method, philippines introduction during the pandemic in the philippines 2020, private and public schools had difficulties in the adaptation of alternative learning modalities. administrators, school heads, teachers, parents, and students were surprised by the changes made by the government. higher education institutions (heis) had difficulties with the implementation of different alternative learning modalities. the main problem of alteration in the philippines is that various locations have very slow internet connectivity. broadband access has become a top concern for policymakers as the digital divide threatens to leave rural communities behind. in the u.s., recent federal communications commission (fcc) estimates suggest that at least 9.3 million rural residents have inadequate broadband service (federal communication commission, 2021). standardization of alternative learning modalities in private and public schools encountered problems among higher education institutions (heis) in albay. poor internet connectivity and lack of trainings for faculties and students is the most massive problem upon implementation of the alternative learning modality with limited face-to-face classes. mostly, faculty members had difficulties adopting a new learning modality in the reason of that they had an insufficient understanding of the use of technology, especially those who are handling general education subjects. the study will give an important guide and information to the commission on higher education (ched) and the higher education institutions (heis) in albay in implementing standardization of alternative learning modalities with or without the pandemic. 27 international peer reviewed journal framework the davis technology acceptance model (tam) (1989) (silva, 2015) is engaged in predicting the use and acceptance or standardizing the alternative learning modality in the heis in albay. perceived usefulness will be the prospective user’s probability that using the specific application system will enhance job performance. pu is a factor that measures how useful a blended learning modality is to its users. perceived ease of use will be defined as the degree to which users of blended learning modality are free of effort. in other words, it is a variable that will indicate how easy the blended learning modality is for users. attitude will be the user’s evaluation of the desirability of employing a particular blended learning modality. it is the perception of the users regarding the blended learning modality. behavioural intention will be the measure of the likelihood of a person employing the blended learning modality. external variables will be external variables that can be divided into three factors which are social factors, cultural factors, and political factors: (1) social factors such as language, skills, and facilitating conditions will show how society influences a person to use blended learning modality. (2) cultural factors such as the use of blended learning modality in certain cultures. (3) political factor will measure the impact of blended learning modality in politics and political crisis. learning styles theory also will be used to say that the various ways that people learn or comprehend new knowledge, as well as differences in how they process, comprehend, communicate, and recall information. howard gardner defined learning styles as an individual’s approach to a variety of activities 1983. visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic categories are all used to classify them. tools like diagrams, flowcharts, drawings, and symbols can assist people who learn best visually to understand new ideas since they help people learn to see. visual learners absorb information primarily by seeing it or by visualizing it mentally. they are imaginative and can easily picture complex scenarios, images, or ideas without reference. enjoy art, aesthetics, and the written word. kinaesthetic learners acquire knowledge by doing something. university students may find this to be the most difficult learning method because there aren’t always many possibilities for hands-on learning during lectures; because of this, laboratories and tutorials are much more essential for these students. try to utilize every one of the senses while you’re learning; the more senses you can use, the better your memory will be because you’ll have more signals. if you’re a kinaesthetic learner, you can increase the value of your study notes by including a number of examples 28 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 for each subject. consider using an example from the text, lecture, or lab, and then simply come up with one of your own. the more specific your constructed example is, the better you will remember it—and, ideally, the concept it is portraying! the process of listening helps auditory learners learn. as read-andwrite learners, attending lectures, tutorials, and group discussions is essential for them (and essential for the rest of us; skipping lectures is never an option!). figure 1 . theoretical paradigm objectives of the study the purpose of this study is to identify the needs in the higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay for the use of the alternative learning modality with or without the pandemic. along with this, the study also aims to: (1) identify the common alternative learning modality of heis in the province of albay, (2) determine the advantages and disadvantages of the common alternative learning modality of the heis in albay, (3) evaluate the feasibility of standardization of alternative learning modality of heis in albay, (4) propose a model for alternative learning modality that can be adopted by the target beneficiaries. 29 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design to accomplish the objectives of the research, the mixed method is used a descriptive qualitative method and a descriptive quantitative method. the qualitative methods can be regarded as more relevant and pertinent to comprehend the meaning that individuals give to events that they experience (merriam, 1998). the descriptive quantitative method collected quantifiable data from the respondents, which the researcher had the capability to provide clear information about the study and its variables. research site the study site is the province of albay, which has three (3) districts. the first district has eleven (11) higher education institutions (heis), three public schools, and eight private schools. the second district has (19) higher education institutions (heis), three (3) public schools, and sixteen (16) private schools. the third district has nine (9) higher education institutions (heis), four (4) public schools, and five (5) private schools. the primary sources of data were the school administrators of higher education institutions in the first district, second district, and third district province of albay. the participants were school administrators that can be represented by the school president, dean, or program chair of the institution. instrumentation the research instrument was a survey in a form, printed copy or machine copy, and soft copy form as a primary tool in this study. data collection is done by a questionnaire and interview with the school administrators, deans, and program chairs from different higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay. the soft copy form is sent using messenger if the focal person is busy or unavailable. the questionnaire was answerable by a yes or no, checklist, identifying the advantages and disadvantages in a blank column and encircling the number of choices. responses are collected on the day of the face-to-face interview and as scheduled on their vacancies or sent the data via messenger. data collection the researcher requested a list of higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay to the commission of higher education (ched) thru 30 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 messenger. the researcher distributed and asked to sign a receiving copy of the communication letters in the identified (heis) in albay for data gathering. the researcher uses a motor vehicle upon distributing the communication letters and the survey instrument. the interview is being conducted on the day received of the communication letter if the respondent is available on their time. a picture of the school and the respondent is captured in an android phone after the interview, and data gathering is done. the researcher had difficulty in the data gathering process as per schedule by the higher education institutions (heis) because of the typhoon name “paeng” and heavy rains that resulted in declaring cancellation of classes in the province of albay. the researcher made several follow up on the survey form among schools that set a date of schedule interviews, but it was always said for some reasons; it has a meeting, it is on the seminar, there is an audit, they have final examinations, and we will reschedule the interview. data analysis priory coding scheme will be used based on the prospect indicators (efficiently in teaching, internet connection, learning cost, access to learning materials, and ease of use). the researcher used weighted mean, the formula on the results of the survey from the evaluation of the feasibility of standardization of blended learning modality as alternative delivery of learning. results and discussion the respondents’ common alternative learning modality, as a result of the collected data, the respondents’ in all higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay are using alternative learning modality. the status of different distance learning modalities utilized during the interview in data gathering. it demonstrates that 13 schools are utilizing blended online learning, which combines synchronous and asynchronous online learning; 22 schools are utilizing hybrid flexible learning, also known as hyflex learning, which adapts simultaneous face-to-face and synchronous online teaching and learning; two (2) schools are utilizing blended block learning, which combines blocks of online learning and in-person learning, including practicum, fieldwork, and hands-on workshops, ten (10) schools are utilizing classic blended learning. the respondents’ state the advantages and disadvantages of the common alternative learning modality of the heis in albay, advantage on efficiently in teaching, there are many benefits of the face-to-face format; this teaching modality provides in-person, real-time interaction between faculty-students and 31 international peer reviewed journal student-student, which in turn can spark innovative questions and conversations. students have an opportunity to seek clarification or respond to their questions in their classroom (paul & jefferson, 2019). similarly, alowedi (2020), the student motivated to attend virtual classes; i.e., the teachers’ interaction, the ability to record lectures and watch them when needed, the ability to monitor the current situation, and the discussion board and online chat functions provided them with opportunities to learn and practice thus, the disadvantages some instructors were not cooperative, changing the time of the class without prior notice, and not coordinating with other instructors, thereby overwhelming their students with assignments. the findings that poor internet connection can be a significant barrier are in line with previous research. for example, altunay (2019), hamad (2017), and ja’ashan (2020) found that their students complained about having internet connection problems. to access a more reliable internet connection, people who live in rural areas must travel to the city. the school was unable to install technology that needed a quick internet connection due to the poor connection. currently, the leading internet service providers in the nation have made significant upgrades to the provinces’ internet access, taking it from 2g to 3g and even 4g in some areas. the additional disadvantage, it confirms evidence reported by ja’ashan (2020), who mentioned problems accessing content online, and altunay (2019), who mentioned technical problems when using distance learning. in the philippines, residents of rural areas must travel to the city to use a more reliable internet connection. the university was unable to install technologies that needed a fast internet connection due to the connection’s slowness, and this put the school’s pupils in a difficult situation because they couldn’t easily access e-learning websites (2019). the advantage is the reduced cost. this states that blended learning is economical, benefits the students who formerly spent considerable time commuting to the campus, and saves them the associated expenses hamad (2017) and according to stein and graham (2017), teachers and students will benefit from less travel time, fewer transport savings, and fewer parking costs (if payment is required). it makes the spending of both teachers and students more effective. in other words, this would offer more benefits to students and teachers. they found that blended learning activities improved interactions between the students and the teacher, offered more flexible learning opportunities, improved the students’ language skills, increased their confidence, and motivated them to log in to other social media accounts. they also found that the students reported 32 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 experiencing technical problems when their system had not been updated gulnaz et al. (2020). according to sofi and laafon (2020), students appreciated the idea of distance learning through the google classroom platform. it proves that online classes have had a positive impact on improving the students’ punctuation, spelling, and grammar skills (al bataineh et al., 2019) and that virtual classes enhanced the language learners’ communication skills. hussain al-qahtani (2019) found that blended learning provides additional learning opportunities to students alowedi (2020). bir (2019) showed that online teaching has a negative effect on students` academic performance, except for students with high academic performance, especially for those students not familiar with the technologies or slow learners that need attention. proposed model for alternative learning modality that can be adopted by the target beneficiaries, to create and implement an effective standardization of alternative learning modality among higher education institutions (heis) in the province of albay, a proposed model called betiz model is projected. it represents the processes to build, evaluate, test, implement, and zeal for excellence in making operations of alternative learning modality successful that can be adopted by the target beneficiary of the study. conclusion based on the foregoing finding and interviews of this study, the following conclusions have been identified: (1) the data is collected among the higher educational institutions (heis) in the province of albay, which will identify the common alternative learning modality they used. hybrid flexible or hyflex learning is the most commonly used blended learning among the higher educational institutions (heis) in the province of albay in the first, second, and third districts based on respondents’ responses. (2) in describing the advantages and disadvantages of a learning management system (lms) among the higher educational institutions (heis) in the province of albay, it is stated that the results of the interview and observation of the dean in the college provide a significant understanding and effectiveness. advantageous in terms of; can easily manage teaching materials, more references can be accessed, it allows flexibility in all phases of teaching and learning, easy use for the teacher to upload and prepare lessons can easily track students’ progress, discussion can be recorded, reducing time and effort, saves money, reaches a big number of learners, can be helpful in research, convenient access to information, 33 international peer reviewed journal and promotes collaboration even for remote learning. hence, disadvantages were defined in terms of; the reliability of exams, students cannot make a clarification and teachers following up on the activities and discussion, lack of interaction and engagement, cheating during online exams, slow learners cannot easily understand the lessons, background noise of one can affect others, error on posting, late and poor on attendance, poor signal, unavailable during a brownout, poor internet connection, it is inaccessible to others that some have very limited access to the internet, unstable internet, weak internet, more expenses on the part of the school, more learning cost on module, printing and materials and setting of internet connection, expensive, costly on some students on data, additional expenses to meet technical specifications and other software requirements, high maintenance cost, and expensive on the part of the teacher. (3) the collected data from the first, second, and third district mostly showed the feasibility of blended learning is much feasible which is that blended learning are well suited to a large group, better preparation and feedback, reduction of cost, gathering data for better insights and overall effectiveness and usefulness of the blended learning’s. however, with indicators on the data, with a feasible score, it takes a long time to learn the blended learning modality due to lack of training on faculty or some reason that the respondent might encounter. (4) the collected data and information will be a big help in constructing the proposed blended learning model, which the target beneficiaries of the study can adapt. translational resarch the study’s findings will give essential guidance and information to the commission on higher education (ched) and the higher education institutions (heis) in albay in implementing standardization of alternative learning modalities with or without the pandemic. the study’s target beneficiary can utilize the betiz model to standardize the operations of alternative learning modalities for a successful implementation. literature cited al bataineh, k. b., banikalef, a., & h albashtawi, a. (2019). the effect of blended learning on efl students’ grammar performance and attitudes: an investigation of moodle. arab world english journal (awej) volume, 10. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 alowedi, n. a. (2020). saudi electronic university a role model in implementing blended learning; exploring the experience of female students in the department of english language and translation. international journal of english language education, 8(1), 113-130. altunay, d. (2019). efl students’ views on distance english language learning in a public university in turkey. studies in english language teaching, 7(1), 121-134. bir, d. d. (2019). comparison of academic performance of students in online vs traditional engineering course. european journal of open, distance and e-learning (eurodl), 22(1), 1-13. federal communication commission. (2021). fourteenth broadband deployment report. http://bit.ly/3jc0f7h gulnaz, f., althomali, a. d. a., & alzeer, d. h. (2020). an investigation of the perceptions and experiences of the efl teachers and learners about the effectiveness of blended learning at taif university. international journal of english linguistics, 10(1), 329-344. hamad, m. m. (2017). pros & cons of using blackboard collaborate for blended learning on students’ learning outcomes. higher education studies, 7(2), 7-16. hussain al-qahtani, m. (2019). teachers’ and students’ perceptions of virtual classes and the effectiveness of virtual classes in enhancing communication skills. arab world english journal (awej) special issue: the dynamics of efl in saudi arabia. merriam, s. b. (1998).  qualitative research and case study applications in education. revised and expanded from” case study research in education.”. jossey-bass publishers, 350 sansome st, san francisco, ca 94104. mohammed nasser hassan ja’ashan, m. (2020). the challenges and prospects of using e-learning among efl students in bisha university. arab world english journal (awej) volume, 11. paul, j., & jefferson, f. (2019). a comparative analysis of student performance in an online vs. face-toface environmental science course from 2009 to 2016. frontiers in computer science, 1, 7. 35 international peer reviewed journal silva, p. (2015). davis’ technology acceptance model (tam) (1989). information seeking behavior and technology adoption: theories and trends, 205-219. sofi, a., & laafon, m. (2020). effect of using the online learning platform in teaching during the covid-19 pandemic. educational practices during the covid-19 viral outbreak: international perspectives, 167-180. stein, j., & graham, c. r. (2014). essentials for blended learning: a standardsbased guide. routledge. 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.308 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. eco-friendly indigenous farming practices among sorsoguenos in sorsogon, philippines magdalena m. ocbian http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2421-2548 mmocbian@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines maria p. lasim http://orcid.org 0000-0002-4327-1113 mplasim2014@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines abstract indigenous practices are part of people’s life and culture. in sorsogon province, philippines, numerous indigenous practices are observed, but only few are documented. this study delved specifically on documenting the eco-friendly indigenous farming practices on seed preservation and storage, land preparation, fertilization, crop protection and organic farming. this descriptive research utilized surveys, interviews, and observation. respondents are farmers with ages 55 to 75 coming from rural communities in sorsogon province. among the ecofriendly practices on seed preservation and storage include placing unthreshed seeds above wood-burning stoves or hanging them in smoky areas of the kitchen until the next planting season. rice are preserved by air-drying and mixing them with leaves like kilala, alagao (premna odorata), lagundi (vitex negundo), or 2 jpair multidisciplinary research charcoal. spraying with achuete (biya orellana) leaf extract or powdered fruits of siling labuyo (capsicum frutescens) is also practiced. to protect crops from insect infestation, farmers collect, grind and spread rice bugs in the field to make the soil fertile. dead animals are buried near the tree. these gathered alternative farming practices could contribute to the global concern of mitigating climate change. however, with the influx of modern technology, these practices may be forgotten if not documented and advocated. keywords social science, indigenous knowledge system (iks), indigenous farming practices, seed conservation, descriptive-qualitative design, sorsogon province, philippines introduction natural disasters pose great threats to man’s economic and social activities as it can cause severe damages to the environment and the lives of many people in different aspects. the adoption of modern agricultural technologies using inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals have been proven to harm man’s health and the environment. thus, it is a must to have an alternative farming system that would minimize or avoid the use of chemicals. these are the indigenous or cultural farming practices which started to be practiced long time ago by many old folks and are still being done in some rural communities even up to this time. these knowledge, skills, and strategies of farmers have been ignored by outsiders promoting modern agricultural technology. however, increasing awareness of the limitations and hazards of modern agriculture has prompted a growing number of scientists to recognize indigenous knowledge as a major untapped resource for developing sustainable agriculture (voss, 1994). even the united nations suggests the use of ancient indigenous technologies from the americans as means of mitigating the effects of climate change. although increasing number of development professionals have come to realize the potential of indigenous knowledge, the concept is still not widely recognized or systematically utilized in the development. one key reason for the failure to build development efforts in rural and urban areas is the lack of profile of indigenous knowledge system (iks) and its implication to development. nevertheless, in the absence of appropriate “modern” alternatives, conducting research on indigenous knowledge will become a starting point for academic and other institutions in their search for solutions. indigenous knowledge can be 3 international peer reviewed journal used to actualize the principle of cultural appropriateness, a feature of sustainable agriculture, incorporating into it the wealth of facing the knowledge that resides with local people. the present study is, therefore, conducted for the purpose of documenting some eco-friendly indigenous farming practices on seed conservation and other agricultural activities performed by farmers in the province of sorsogon. this also aimed to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on developing sustainable agriculture in the midst of the global environmental crisis. results of this study may increase the awareness of the indigenous peoples’ practices as “a means of mitigating climate change“, without sacrificing agricultural productivity but rather contribute to the preservation of the environment. the philippines is rich in indigenous practices on various fields of human endeavor covering agriculture, health and nutrition, fisheries, politics, education and culture and a lot more. however, this present study is mainly focused on farming practices that are ecology-friendly as these are significant to the present global crisis of climate change. framework indigenous culture requires people to be environment-friendly. they have to take into account that the earth has limited capacity to provide their needs. this concept has been considered by farmers in panay, philippines for several centuries prior to the practice of “modern methods of farming”. although they did find commercial fertilizers effective yet because of their cost and difficulty in transporting those to the farm fields, farmers often utilize organic fertilizers. some of these natural fertilizers are animal manure, dried leaves, compost and decayed plants and others. lamique’s (2010) study focused on the implementation of organic fertilizers in negros occidental. the results showed that the community moderately used the organic fertilizer in their farming practices. however, local consumptions show that there is no significance difference on those products that were organically prepared and not. this result denotes that despite the existence of the commercial fertilizers, local farmers still practice the indigenous way of farming especially the use of organic fertilizers. this indigenous knowledge in agriculture, livestock rearing, food preparation, education, institutional management, and the like provides valuable resource for development activities. under certain circumstances, these may be equal to or even superior to the knowledge introduced by outsiders. those involved 4 jpair multidisciplinary research in development projects and programs should, therefore, consider indigenous knowledge and apply it whenever suitable. on cases where using indigenous knowledge is harmful, development practitioners should be knowledgeable about it so they can respond better to the newly-introduced technologies. studies on the indigenous farming practices were also undertaken by benguet state university (bsu) which documented indigenous farming practices in kapangan, benguet province and sagada and bagyo, mountain province. data were gathered using questionnaires and interview with community leaders, influential village leaders/elders, and subsistence farmers. results showed that traditional methods were being used in rice and sweet potato production in the study areas. majority of the surveyed participants (with an average age of 61) used local/indigenous farming practices, which they learned from their forefathers. most of the sweet potato farmers were women who took the role of teaching the younger generation about indigenous farming practices. however, these practices were slowly fading because of the changing interest of the younger generation and the influx of new technologies which claim better and higher production. the previous study of bsu links with the present study in its aim of documenting indigenous farming practices. their study was done in benguet and the mountain provinces while this study is in sorsogon province. they focused primarily on those which relate to the traditional practices in sweet potato and rice farming. however, this present study is concerned with the indigenous farming practices which are ecology-friendly and dealing with many traditional agricultural activities in sorsogon province. in a study on rice production practices, farol (2011) showed the common practices in philippine rice production over the last 100 years which were brought about by government programs to meet the needs of the filipinos. he claimed that before, traditional rice management practices of filipinos were less influenced by technology or chemical inputs, but by farmers’ direct experiences and field observation. on the other hand, ventura (2010) investigated the sustainability of the hanunoos upland farming system in occidental mindoro. hanunoos practice multiple cropping system (lumundaan). lamundaan system considers that patches of forest are left untouched or uncut; however, the surrounding portion is cleared and planted with agricultural crops and fruit trees. it is their belief that the patches of forests are left because spirits of dead relatives stay there. planting time is in consonance with a specific month favorable to their growth and development. likewise, they practice pagandan or their soil erosion control 5 international peer reviewed journal practices by planting the affected area with bamboo and other tree species that can stop the erosion. the university of the philippines (zamora et al., 2013) also made a profiling on the indigenous agricultural knowledge and climate change adaptation in selected areas in the philippines. they documented the indigenous farming practices of the bagobos and the manobos in davao, the suludnons and atis in iloilo and ivatans in batanes. non-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and actual observation of the area/people showed that the indigenous agricultural practices on cropping systems and livestock rearing enabled the people to sustain food production even with climate variability in the past. their long-term adaptation strategies included the maintenance of high-level crop and livestock diversity and low dependency on external inputs. they rely more on the available resources, use of traditional varieties as well as indigenous storage practices. the sulodnons and atis of iloilo, and other ips practice multiple cropping. magoro and masoga’s (2005) study collected the key aspects of indigenous knowledge of farming practices to promote its usage which will conserve agricultural resources and intensify production in magatle and madisha leolo villages. these key ideas serve as the basis and guidelines in implementing training activities to other farmers. however, its results suggest that farmers should be open-minded and understanding the reasoning behind the indigenous farming practices. the same study also described the ip practices in bolivia’s altiplano. in the said place, huge areas are covered by raised farming platforms (waru waru), causeways, canals, and man-made islands which are all done by hand. further, the study mentioned that ancient mexicans built their city over a lake, on which the aztecs constructed thousands of floating platforms (chinampas) where they grow their crops. other farmers directed rainfall into spiraling holes that led to underground storage chambers. moreover, indigenous cultures constructed irrigation canals. zamora, et al. (6,7 authorscite only the surname of the first author followed by et al. ) (2013) also documented the land improvement strategies such as the use of raised beds, covered with thick layers of organic matter, or mulch. it was their most important method of coping with the climate variability caused by the el niño/la niña cycle. all literature and studies point to the idea that indigenous practices particularly on agriculture are still being practiced in many parts of the country and other parts of the globe. it is quite surprising to note that despite the influx of modern 6 jpair multidisciplinary research technology, many people still observe and practice these traditional activities. the studies conducted only show that the said practices continue to exist because of the various benefits that they offer to farmers and the whole mankind. however, there is a need to gather, document and advocate these practices for various advantages that can be derived from it. objectives of the study the study aimed to document and describe the eco-friendly indigenous farming practices on seed conservation and other agricultural activities performed by farmers in the province of sorsogon, philippines. moreover, this study is intended to contribute to the existing body of knowledge towards developing sustainable agriculture in the midst of global environmental crisis. methodology research design this is a descriptive-qualitative research utilizing interview of key informants and observation of their eco-friendly farming practices. research site the study was conducted in the upland rural farming communities in the 16 municipalities of sorsogon province: donsol, pilar, castilla, sorsogon, bacon, gubat, barcelona, prieto diaz, irosin, bulan, sta magdalena, casiguran, juban, bulusan, magallanes, and matnog. participants the key informants were selected purposively. they are farmers with ages ranging to 55 to 75 coming mostly from rural farming community in sorsogon province. instrumentation the interview questionnaire was constructed by the researchers and validated to a group of researchers and faculty of the college of agriculture. farmers from the neighboring province of albay also participated in the try-out. revision was made based on the results and comments of the participants’ dry run. 7 international peer reviewed journal research ethics prior to the actual conduct of the survey and interview, the researchers sought permission from the local government officials and discussed to them the objectives of the study. it was made clear to them and to the farmer informants that the responses that will be provided as a result of the survey will be treated with utmost confidentiality. knowing the noble intention of the researchers to advocate eco-friendly practices in the province, the college ethics review board has granted its consent to undertake the study after the technical aspect of the research has been considered. data collection the researchers started gathering the data through structured interview to the farmers’ responses on january 2013 to june 2013. this was supplemented by their observations on the eco-friendly farming practices. results and discussion the first part of the discussion is on practices related to seed preservation while the second is on other agricultural practices like land preparation, fertilization, crop protection and organic farming. the said activities may or may not have scientific implications, but these have been practiced by filipino farmers for many years and had been handed down even to this present generation. as such, they have become a part or way of life and culture of the sorsogueno farmers. however, with the influx of modern agricultural technology, most of these traditional practices are slowly fading away. anent to this, researchers from the university of the philippines claimed that indigenous knowledge can significantly contribute to the body of knowledge on building climate change-resilient farming communities to ensure a food-secure future for filipino households. hence, there is a need to document continuously and promote such knowledge for its sustainable use (zamora et al., 2013). i. eco-friendly indigenous farming practices on seed preservation and storage preserving the seeds for future use is an utmost concern of many farmers. seeds should be viable for planting since they carry the potential for improved crop productivity. in the absence of modern technology several decades ago, farmers resorted to indigenous practices to preserve the seeds for future use either for food or planting purposes. most of these practices have been proven effective. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research hence, they pass these on from their generation to the next generations. this is evidenced by the availability of old rice varieties like kabudit, wagwag, sinandomeng, kalansing, and pinipita in the farm market and everyone’s table for food consumption. the consumers can still savor the taste of old varieties because of indigenous farming system. it is, therefore, necessary to document the ecology-friendly farming practices and advocate them to the younger generation in the midst of the environment-related crisis being faced in the global setting today. among the most popular eco-friendly practices in sorsogon province which are practiced by farmers are those related to seed preservation. such practice includes storing unthreshed seeds like palay (rice) and corn-ears above woodburning stoves or at times, hanging them in a smoky area of the kitchen until the next planting season or even beyond. the seeds are also placed in covered baskets made of rattan, nito, siloan, or buri and also placed above a smoky area. some dried cereal seeds are placed in jute sacks and hung inside their houses particularly in the kitchen using the rat guard to avoid attack of the rodents and save for the next cropping seasons or to be bartered with their relatives and friends for other varieties. these indigenous practices in the philippines on preserving and storing the seeds are similar with the practices of the african farmers in storing their harvest to ensure that adequate seed is available for next year’s planting. the aten people in nigeria used the rumbu, a clay and thatch granary to conserve their staple cereal, acha (digitariaexilis) for three years or even longer without using any chemical to control pests. along with this, the study of engle (2002) revealed that farmers in taiwan collected and stored the indigenous vegetables for production purposes. they were able to preserve and improve the quality of the collected indigenous vegetables by genetic diversity through its germplasm. the rumbu is a three-storey circular or oblonged structure with the ground floor as the kitchen. it has a staircase to the upper floors where small chimneylike compartments hold the cereal. the roof is a small removable cover. as the women cook, the heat and smoke from the stove drive out or kill pests in the grains. the heat also reduces the moisture content, preventing microbial or fungal growth. meanwhile, the moru people of sudan used the kiro to store their staple crops, sorghum (garcia, fernandez, & teng, 1991). it is also a common practice for rural farmers in sorsogon to preserve the corn kernels by hanging corn ears along the walls of the house or by placing them horizontally on bamboo poles at the kitchen chimney. at times, the seeds are 9 international peer reviewed journal stored inside the bamboo poles with pungent leaves or grass and baskets and are placed above open stoves. figure 1. locally prepared seeds are usually preserved by hanging near the smoky and dry places. these practices are believed to be effective in preventing the attack of rats, mice, or insects like bean weevil¸ flies and other carriers of bacteria without using insecticides or pesticides. old folks also preserve palay (rice) by air-drying them. when dried, the palay is placed inside the sack and is mixed with some leaves like, alagao (premna odorata), lagundi (vitex negundo), bamboo leaves, charcoal, and shell. they also used charcoal as a preservative of many seeds like ampalaya and beans. they remain viable up to six or more months. according to garcia, fernandez, and teng (1991), using dry ash and charcoal helps in the absorption of moisture inside the container and prevents the growth and mass multiplication of weevils. another method used in maintaining the viability of vegetable seeds is spraying them with achuete (biya orellana) leaf extract or powdered fruits of hot pepper. the estimated ratio being used is five pepper fruits per three gantas or about seven kilograms of seeds. in the absence of achuete (biya orellana) and siling labuyo (capsicum frutescens), extracted juice from the vines called tubli is sprayed all over the seeds to prevent attacks from pests. villiers (1974) claimed that the viability of the seeds can be extended if it will be stored in a fully imbibed, but unable to germinate allowed a high germination capacity to be maintained 10 jpair multidisciplinary research for long periods, together with a very low incidence of chromosome aberrations. moreover, vertucci (1990) further disclosed that the higher capacity of the seeds for its germinations, the moisture content and physiological status of the seeds should be highly taken into consideration to prevent lower mortality rate of the seeds. figure 2. locals extend the viability of seeds by storing them in a jar with a naphthalene balls for longer preservation and protect them from insect attacks some common indigenous practices also include hanging the bundled rice stalks over the hearth without being sundried. fruits like mangoes and vegetables (eggplants and winged beans) are stored inside moistened or wet clay jars. small seeds from tomatoes, eggplants and sesame are stored inside airtight and sterilized bottles to prevent attacks of ants and other insects. some farmers also use “alkampor” or naphthalene balls to maintain seed viability for about a year in open storage. this is done by placing one or two pieces of alkampor in one kilogram of seeds. garcia, fernandez and teng (1991) explained that seed sources of camphor are rosewood (tavebuia rosea), sandalwood (santalum album) and camagong (diospyrs philippensis). 11 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. local farmer put the root crops underground for storage purposes for root crops like cassava (manihot esculenta), storage is done by placing them underground and covering them with soil. asexual propagules like ubi (dioscorea alata) and luya (zingiber officinale) are placed inside the sack and stored underground. ii. other eco-friendly indigenous agricultural practices aside from seed preservation and storage, there are other indigenous practices commonly observed by farmers in sorsogon province. these are along crop protection, soil fertilization, seed preparation and most especially, organic farming. on crop protection. natural iks of farmers includes collecting rice bugs, grinding and spreading them in the field. these practices are being done to protect crops from insects/disease infestation. there was an indication also that the repellant factor could be the smell of the bugs to control the same or some other insect pests. farmers also extract from roots of horseradish trees and leaves of tobacco to control golden snail and some pests. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. common insect repellant for the local farmers on soil fertilization. there are various practices that result to the unintentional or conscious practice of organic fertilization. to make the soil fertile, sorsoguenos tie the animals on the tree trunk where said animals can dispose their animal waste, and bury the dead animals near the tree. they plant the seeds in areas where dead animals have been buried, collect rice bugs and carrying them around the field three times before burying them on the ground. they also sprinkle urine on the rice especially during booting stage for flower induction. animal wastes like urine and manure also add to plant nutrition just like the leaves. likewise, old folks believe that these practices would enable the trees to produce sweeter fruits. similarly, the aetas of central luzon also practice the same iks with the knowledge that green manure adds to plant nutrition (ahmed, 1993). farmers also mix the weeds, sunflower, and rice straw during land preparation to make the soil fertile. on seed preparation. prior to actual planting, some ikss are performed to retain the viability of the seeds. one common practice is coating the seeds with ash. according to fernandez (1994), the seeds coated with ash tend to blend well with the soil and become undesirable to pests. aside from this practice, seed preparation is also done by dipping seeds in substances like kerosene or plant extract having pesticidal properties like cayenne pepper, lemon and azuete. few farmers soak or dip the rice seeds in the blood to control pests and diseases. on organic farming. even before the introduction of commercial fertilizers and chemicals as pesticides and insecticides, farmers already practice organic farming. they commonly use botanicals like fresh madre de cacao leaves 13 international peer reviewed journal (gliricidiasepium), lagundi (vitexnegundo), neem (azadirazhtaindica), alagao (premnaodorata) and makabuhay (tinospurarumpii) as insect repellants. the said leaves or botanicals are dried and powdered thoroughly. as revealed in the seed research results, several natural seed protectants and its effectiveness were discussed. madre de cacao/kakawate(hiricida sepium), neem (azadirachta indica), powdered leaves of lagundi (vitex regundo), protected seeds from insect infestations and were found good and surpassed the effects of common chemical insecticide in controlling insect infestations and maintaining seed viability. it was found out that achuete (bixa orellana) leaf extract was found effective in pre-germination treatment (pre-soaking for 3 hours) in protecting corn and mungbean seeds from fungi during germination. the powdered fruits of siling labuyo or hot pepper can maintain viability of vegetable seeds for about a year. the following steps in preparing the seed protectant were considered in this study: 1) for neem which is very common in india and in some parts of the country, the following procedures are done: a) matured leaves or seeds are gathered and sun dried until they reach the required moisture content; b) using the manual method, the neem seeds or leaf are powdered thoroughly and mixed using 3-4 teaspoon in a 1 kg seeds intended for storage. for hot pepper (siling labuyo) and black pepper (paminta), these fresh and natural seeds are more effective than a full-sized matured fruit in controlling pest and preventing its rapid multiplication. in preparing the seed protectant, the following are done: a) harvest or select hot pepper or black pepper seeds; b) mix 4-6 teaspoon of powdered hot pepper to 1 kg of seeds. for black pepper, use 6 teaspoon powdered seeds (or twice of the powdered leaf ) for every 1 kg of seeds intended for storage. crop rotation is also practiced. to restore old rice varieties in the upland area, farmers practice crop rotation to avoid allelopathy of the soil. this activity is also done to prevent the multiplication of pests and diseases harboring the plants. the eco-friendly farming practices that were documented in this study are applicable on a small scale farming only. hence, some of these practices may not be applicable on a wider scope like storage of bundled rice or un-threshed corn above smoky areas in the kitchen or spraying vegetable seeds with achuete (biya orellana). such practices are only manageable on smaller plantation or farm. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions sorsogon has rich eco-friendly indigenous farming practices which are handed down by ancient farmers several years ago. among these are on seed preservation and storage, seed protection, soil fertilization and organic farming. knowledge on these cultural practices offers additional input to young farmers which may enable them to produce higher growth rate and viability of seeds for planting. some of these practices are still being observed by some farmers nowadays despite the advent of modern agricultural technology. these also support the cited theories of this study that alternative farming system can contribute to the global concern of mitigating climate change. the said indigenous practices may be forgotten if not properly documented and advocated to the concerned practitioners. observing the iks or the natural method of seed preparation, protection and organic farming could help mitigate climate change due to natural concoctions as insecticides and fertilizers which are safe for human existence. this would also minimize or even stop the loss of biodiversity and habitat degradation. translational research many indigenous practices have become part of people’s culture, but because of the influence of technology, some of these practices are slowly fading away. the documentation of the eco-friendly farming practices is one step to make them available to the people. such initiative may enable the young farmers to realize the cultural, economic and ecological benefits that man can derive from the indigenous practices. despite the emergence of modern technologies, indigenous ways of planting still exist especially those farmers in the developing countries. most of the farmers in these countries will not be able to avail the synthetic fertilizers in their farming so local farmers can still use the sorsoguenos way of farming practices to produce and harvest plants that were organically prepared. thus, practices showed and discussed in this paper can be replicated in the local farming where the same characteristics of philippine environment can be applied. literature cited ahmed, a. e. (1993). agroforestry. retrieved from interinstitutional consortium for indigenous knowledge: https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/icik/cikard/ agroforestry.html 15 international peer reviewed journal engle, l. m. (2002). collection and conservation of indigenous vegetable germplasm to enhance biodiversity and maintain livelihoods in asean. in perspectives of asean cooperation in vegetable research and development: proceedings of the forum on the asean-avrdc regional network on vegetable research and development (aarnet) (no. 2, p. 65). avrdc-world vegetable center. farol, p. (2011). making organic farming practices accessible to filipino farmers. retrieved 07 15, 2013, from http://ezinearticles.com: http://ezinearticles.com/?making-organic-farming-practices-accessible-to-filipinofarmers&id=5963871 fernandez, p. g. (1994). indigenous seed practices for sustainable agriculture .indigenous knowledge and development monitor, 2(2), 9-12. garcia, r.g. p.g. fernandez and p.s. teng. (1991). traditional agriculture of major philippine tribal groups with emphasis on pest management. a report submitted to the philippine-german biological plant protection project. (gtz< manila, philippines). lamique, d. (2010). organic farming in negros occidental: proposed enrichment. jpair multidisciplinary research, 4(1). doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.7719/jpair.v4i1.102 magoro, m. d., & masoga, m. (2005). aspects of indigenous knowledge and protection in small-scale farming systems: a challenge for advancement. indilinga african journal of indigenous knowledge systems: can indigenous knowledge provide solutions to current problems? 4(2), p-414. ventura, a. (2010). sustainability of the hanunoos upland farming system in occidental mindoro. redti journal. vol. 6. vertucci, c. w., & roos, e. e. (1990). theoretical basis of protocols for seed storage. plant physiology, 94(3), 1019-1023. villiers, t. a. (1974). seed aging: chromosome stability and extended viability of seeds stored fully imbided. plant physiology, 53(6), 875-878. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research voss, j. (1994). development research information system. retrieved from the international development research center: http://idris.idrc.ca/app/search? request=directaccess&projectnumber=001192&language=en zamora, o.b., de guzman, l.e.p., nelson, g.l.m., tatlonghari, r.v.,  espaldon, m.v.o., talubo, j.p.p., & inzon, m.r.b.q. (2013). documenting and promoting indigenous agricultural knowledge and climate change adaptation in selected areas in the philippines: toward enhancing community-level food security. university of the philippines, los baños. retrieved from http://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph/index. php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=270:documenting-and-promotingindigenous-agricultural-knowledge-and-climate-change-adaptation-inselected-areas-in-the-philippines-toward-enhancing-community-level-food security&itemid=229 31 international peer reviewed journal student assistance program (sap) among private higher education institutions (heis) rachel p daroy orcid no.: 0000-0003-2131-7624 rdaroy@xu.edu.ph mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city, philippines abstract the student assistance program (sap) among the private higher education institutions (heis) in cagayan de oro city, philippines has played a remarkable role in curving the country’s economic problem. it is of no doubt that cagayan de oro city has also benefited the offshoot of the program lodged by these heis. it has provided cdo trained and skilled graduates that are employed elsewhere in the area. the study therefore aimed to describe the profile of the student assistance program (sap) among the private heis in cdo and how well it helped the community stakeholders –students and parents to access quality education. both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to describe the efficiency and effectiveness of sap in their respective hei. documentary analysis was used to interpret data that are gathered through data mining. a validated researchermade questionnaire was used to gather the data needed. data collected were from among the seven (7) heis with 210 respondents selected randomly by the researcher. the study revealed that the student assistance program (sap) was largely anchored on their respective mission/vision/goals or vmgo. it has been found out that those who availed of the program were either academic or non-academic beneficiaries. also, noticeable in the result is the significant helped of sap among students pursue their studies which later became the economic advantage or opportunity net of cagayan de oro city. vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.279 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords – education, student assistance program (sap), private heis, descriptive study, cagayan de oro city, philippines introduction the rapid growth of private higher institutions in the contemporary world has challenged institutions to reassess and ensure quality education. the study of levy (2004) found out that the new concept of institutionalism does not prepare enormous, distinctive characteristics of education because it is overshadowed by the sharp growth of private higher institutions. this would mean that the many private heis, the more the educational system is in need to create mechanism to ensure quality standard and accreditation is one. in bangladesh, pheis are considered business goods rather than public goods. although, knowledge is a public property, but private providers/ entrepreneurs are commercializing it making the public to cautiously select phei that would suit/match the skills and training they need. state regulations have to be immensely monitored to track indiscriminate abuse and excessive gains. however, the distinctive experience of latin america reverted the former notion since in that region pheis has instead balanced the monopoly of the public educational institutions. it has surprisingly improved regional educational quality. in the philippines, private higher education institutions are established under the corporation code and are governed by the special laws and general provisions of this code. hence, there are two types of such kind. these are the non-sectarian private heis which are duly incorporated, owned and operated by private entities that are not affiliated to any religious organization while the other is the sectarian private heis are usually non-stock, non-profit, duly incorporated, owned and operated by a religious organization. in 2013, there were 1,643 private heis with an average student per hei of 1,320. this .48% student population growth would likewise shares 71.47% of the entire higher education system in the philippines. mtey and sulle (2013) argue that education is an important means for poverty. the success of tanzania has challenged the world to make education an effective tool for poverty reduction. emphasizing on the significance and the need for proper management of education breaks the vicious cycle of poverty in the area. in fact, the success of students’ loans in financing higher education in tanzania was attributed to the government effort on democratizing education (nyahende, 2013). like tanzania, cagayan de oro is also called to respond in 33 international peer reviewed journal this new challenge of the millennium. also similar is the study of milligan, 2005 stating that with the strong faith in school and with excellent educational policy, ethno religious conflict in the southern philippines could be possibly resolved. veeser and blakemore (2006) found out that sap is a new approach for student success in addressing behavioral health and life events. regardless of the kind of heis whether private or public for as long as they availed of the student assistance program (sap) offered by their respective heis, they can be helped in coping their individual stresses. educational program in the philippines is not exclusive only among the public heis but also includes the private heis. republic act 8545, an act amending republic act no. 6728, otherwise known as “an act providing government assistance to students and teachers in private education and appropriating funds therefore,” establishing a fund for the purpose of subsidizing salaries of private school teachers, and appropriating funds therefor on the other hand, encouraged private heis to provide the student assistance program (sap) on top of their regular expenditure for curriculum, physical plant, staff development, policies, procedures, and testing which are usually the priorities of every educational institution. private heis often had sap their problems since this is a school based program which would require a budget whose income is forgone. on the other hand, success of sap does not depend on the models but on the kind of support and involvement of the personnel, administrators and the community gave to the program itself. the minimal supervision and jurisdiction of the state on the private heis operators over the implementation of sap is nonetheless the cause the concurrent sap fail. however, the seven( 7 ) private heis in cagayan de oro city if sap if seriously enforced, it can assist very well and help reduce poverty in the philippines particularly cagayan de oro city. unfortunately, there has been no previous study done in the philippines yet that looked into the neither profile nor impact of sap as it can help define how the success of the beneficiaries could also become a potential contributory factor in the macro economic success of the nation. hence, this study is more likely an inventory study of the existing sap adapted by the seven (7) private heis in cagayan de oro city. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research framework figure 1. framework of the study student assistance is a collaborative framework that creates opportunities for all students and families to be healthy, successful and connected. as a framework, it is a powerful resource program intended by an educational community to provide help for those in need of support. beneficiaries of the sap among private heis are of varied categories. there are those institutionally financed, and those of government sponsored programs which would both require grades. student assistance program (sap) such as athletics, cultural diversity intervention, guidance and counselling services, health (medical and dental), legal aid/assistance, loan grants, scholarships based on academic merits, working students/student assistants, tutorial, other forms of student assistance (tuition discounts, dormitory, meals etc.) are sustained despite budget constraints. these are their initiatives for them to contribute in the reduction of poverty related problems in cagayan de oro city. this study was anchored on the thrust of the millennium development goals (mdg) particularly on the universal primary education, which is second of the eight agenda of the world deliberated during the 2000 millennium summit. a commitment of forging partnership, the world would achieve the 2015 millennium development goals which is pivotal in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. hence, the dakar framework for action, which is education for all, becomes the world’s collective commitments to promote efa policies as a sustainable and well-integrated sector, a framework which would clearly link to poverty elimination and development strategies. the oecd report in 2009 found out that tertiary education increases the prospect of being employed. this would mean that they have greater chances of better employability than those people whose education is stinted. however, the level of poverty of the philippines is difficult to explain if it would be based from the level of education of their workers. although, education in the philippines may not have a significant macro effect but if treated individually it would create micro impact on the economy in terms of family income. 35 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study is purposely intended to find out the role of private heis in cdo through their student assistance program (sap) in curbing poverty in the area. the number of heis in cdo, the type of student assistance program (sap) offered; the sources of assistance availed by the student –beneficiaries and the efficiency; and effectiveness of sap as perceived by them are among the queries covered in the study. methodology research design this is a descriptive study that uses documentary analysis from secondary sources like student handbook, and administrative manuals to develop a list of sap offered respectively. heis that were unavailable to provide were hooked through data mining. on-line references were used instead and considered them as primary materials in the study. research instrument a researcher-made questionnaire was validated by conducting a survey to non-participant heis in the study. among them were st. michael’s college, an rvm school in iligan city and the mindanao university of science and technology (must) in lapasan, cdo. the pre-validation survey proved that items therein were reliable. using the likert scale, and with the reliability index of questionnaire is 82.90% (cronbach’s alpha=0.829), the instrument, therefore, is highly acceptable. the instrument was both open ended and objective type which would delineate prejudice of the respondents. their being beneficiaries of sap would somehow bring favorable attitude towards the private heis they were serving which would likewise manifest impact on their responses. the respondents the seven (7) heis covered in the actual survey were based on the years the heis were established. hence, only those founded before 1990 were considered. the 210 participants of the study were selected randomly. only student beneficiaries from 2007 – 2012 were chosen to answer the questionnaire. the five-year period is covered to accommodate those student beneficiaries that chose 36 jpair multidisciplinary research the degree programs of such term. the researcher obtained informed consent from respondents in compliance to research ethics protocol. each of the seven (7) respondent heis in cagayan de oro city was given thirty 30 qualified student beneficiaries of varied degree programs, year level and type of sap to answer items in the questionnaire. results and discussion unesco world heritage centre (2014) provides online list of higher education institutions maintained by participating countries to provide not just transparency but also links/access on the information and national processes on the quality of programs offered respectively. commission on higher education institutions (ched) in the philippines provided the a-z online and hard copy directory including accredited hei’s available locally as per request. table 1 shows that cagayan de oro city as a charter city of misamis oriental has only 15 heis. the list shows that only mindanao university of science and technology (must) is a public hei while the other 14 schools are private heis. lourdes college, st. john vianney theological seminary, oro bible college, pilgrim christian college and xavier university are sectarian heis while ama computer college, blessed mother college, cagayan de oro college, capitol university, golden heritage polytechnic college, liceo de cagayan university, southern de oro phil. college, sti colleges of mindanao, sti colleges of mindanao, vineyard international polytechnic college are the non-sectarian heis in cagayan de oro city. all are situated in the metropolis of cdo, which is the business center in the city. except for southern philippines college (spc) and coc-phinma, heis like lourdes college, cu, liceo de cagayan university, xu, pilgrim christian college, and xavier university-ateneo de cagayan are accredited respectively, and that programs offered are deregulated. in other words, all heis in the cdo passed through the quality assurance of ched, tasked to supervise the operations of heis all over the philippines as mentioned in the study of ruiz (2012) entitled “quality assurance in higher education in the philippines.” 37 international peer reviewed journal table 1. list of higher education institutions in cagayan de oro city name of heis address director/president contact number ama computer college cagayan de oro city 9000 mr. peter c. bacaling (088) 857-4846 blessed mother college iponan,cagayan de oro city 9000 dr. elma g. duenas, md (08822) 735593 cagayan de oro college max suniel st., carmen, cdo melliton b. salazar, jr., phd. (088)858-3881/ (08822)722010 capitol university corrales ext., cagayan de oro 9000 president: atty. casimiro b. juarez, jr. (08822) 726136/ (08822) 8561272 golden heritage polytechnic college vamenta blvd., carmen, cdo 9000 president: capt. tito p. dichosa (088)8587326 liceo de cagayan university carmen, cagayan de oro city 9000 dr. mariano m. lerin (08822)727044/ (088)8564093 lourdes college capistrano st., cagayan de oro 9000 sr. ma. nora r. joson, rvm (08822)72-34-64/ (088)8571487 mindanao university of sci. & technology national highway, lapasan, cdo 9000 dr. ricardo e. rotoras (088)8563811/856-4696 oro bible college carmen, cagayan de oro city 9000 mrs. nely a. gamayon (088)858-3209 pilgrim christian college tianoakut streets, cdo 9000 mr. pio d. baconga (088)856-4232 southern de oro phil. college j. pacana st., licoan, cdo 9000 mr. guido alfredo a. delgado (088)8562610/856-2609 st. john vianney theological seminary camaman-an, cdo 9000 rev. fr. celerino ignacio m. reyes, sj, dmin (08822)72-41-35, 72-79-04 sti colleges of mindanao cagayan de oro city, 9000 mr. noel sc bobis (08822)72-84-08/ (088)8573788 vineyard international polytechnic college mabulay subd, cdo 9000 amelita p.padilla (088)856-8646 xavier university corrales ave., cdo 9000 fr. roberto c. yap, sj (08822)722725/858-3116/ local 2015 source: ched office of student services, cdo 38 jpair multidisciplinary research education is a universal right. the article 26 of the 1948 universal declaration of human rights states that “everyone has the right to education.” education is not only a right but a passport to human development. it opens doors and expands opportunities and freedoms. it also contributes to fostering peace, democracy and economic growth as well as improving health and reducing poverty. the ultimate aim of education for all (efa) is sustainable development. in 2000, the world drafted the eight millennium development goals (mdgs), where two of the most important frameworks are in the field of education which is the priorities of the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco). it is in these objectives that the world is shaped until 2015. honing from these initiatives of unesco, regardless of race and social status, an individual can freely choose where he wants to study. in the philippines selecting phei would mean financial constraints but ra# 6728, government is thereby providing subsidy) and ra# 8545 encouraging pheis create student assistance program (sap) for those students who need financial assistance. student services are an integral part of every institutional planning and operation for a student to attain maximum selfactualization and become effective players of their respective community. that it should complement with the academic program of the institution. this is why every phei is encouraged to develop a program that can address students’ problems. ideally, student services such as guidance and counseling, co-curricular activities, alumni, research and evaluation, campus ministry, scholarship grants and financial aid, health, food, transportation (if applicable), housing facilities i.e. dormitory and foreign student assistance is under tuning of the institutional vmgo. in the thai press reports (2013), it mentioned a similar case in laos that surprised the region when in the year 2000, 14 additional private heis were opened which has increased the enrolment growth giving laotians greater access of earning the degree programs dramatically. athletics, guidance and counselling, health (medical and dental) services, scholarship based on academic merits, working students, tutorials, tuition discounts are programs similarly offered among the heis in cagayan de oro city. however, except xu which has offered legal aid/assistance not just among the student beneficiaries of sap, but it cut across the entire student population in the university makes the description different from the other private heis. spc has the least sap offering because the college is highly concentrated on its marine transportation offering which would require thorough trainings instead. 39 international peer reviewed journal table 2. type of sap offered by the private heis in cagayan de oro city type of sap cu xu spc coc phinma pcc liceo u lourdes college athletics x x x x x x x cultural diversity intervention x x x guidance and counselling services x x x x x x x health (medical and dental) x x x x x x x legal aid/assistance x loan grants x scholarships based on academic merits x x x x x x x working students/student assistants x x x x x x x tutorial x x x x x x other forms of student assistance (tuition discounts, dormitory, etc.) x x x x x x x the study of epstein (2013) has then proven the importance and need of developing a student assistance program that can protect readily the legal rights of the students in and out of the school premise. table 3. reasons why students availed of the student assistance program (sap) reason of availing sap number of responses percentage financial problem peer influence prestige and popularity 183 21 6 87.14 10.00 2.86 total 210 100 the table suggests that of the 210 student beneficiaries who availed of sap, 87.14% said that they availed of sap because of financial problem. it constraints them from pursuing college degree program, but the student assistance program (sap) of their respective schools has significantly helped them continue college. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, hughes et al. (2013) admitted in their study that counselling like periodic session with the studentbeneficiaries is an effective mechanism for them to succeed. heis in the philippines consist of 1,726 colleges and universities (ay 2007-2008), shares only 16% of the national budget goes to education which is trifocalized. there are 1,222 private non-sectarian heis and 301 private sectarian. in other words, 88% of the philippine educational system is private heis. enrolments in tertiary continuously increase each year. for example, sy 2007-2008, enrolment reached 2,565,534 while for sy 2006-2007, enrolment reached 2,541,405 registering a slight increase over the previous year’s enrolment of 2,451,238 (sy 2005-2006), (ched, 2009). table 4. list of courses taken by the students who have availed of the sap courses number of responses percentage business, management, it, communication, marine transportation education nursing, social work engineering agriculture arts & sciences 76 54 38 25 13 4 36.19 25.71 18.10 11.90 6.19 1.90 total 210 100 data show that 36.19% were from the business, management, it, communication, marine transportation while only 4% of the student beneficiaries were from the engineering courses. this would mean that cagayan de oro city is indeed the commercial hub in the southern part of the philippines which is the reason of their preferred courses. leslie torres-rodriguez (2010) admitted that low rate on the perception among the student beneficiaries is caused by inadequacy of information dissemination. 41 international peer reviewed journal table 5. perception of the student beneficiaries towards the program they availed mean descriptive equivalent 1.00 – 1.50 1.51 – 2.50 2.51 – 3.50 3.51 – 4.00 strongly disagree somewhat disagree somewhat agree strongly agree item mean sd descriptive equivalent 1. i feel good about the assistance program i availed. 2. on the whole, i am satisfied by the benefits i received. 3. i am proud as a beneficiary of the sap of my college/university 4. i heard i have better job opportunities than those who are not beneficiaries of the sap 5. i can tell/encourage other financially challenged students to avail of the sap. 6. i feel tired most of the time in school. 7. i am overworked yet i have no other benefits receive except my honoraria/tuition discounts. 8. i am deprived of the co-curricular activities of my college/university 9. i do not have time anymore with my friends and family. 10. i do not have the choice in life. 11. i know i’ll be able to cope with the requirements ask of me by the sap 12. i am thankful of the sap awarded to me by my hei where i am currently enrolled. 13. through sap, i am confident that i can finish my study. 3.71 3.58 3.71 3.28 3.66 2.46 2.13 2.15 1.80 1.64 3.41 3.60 3.63 0.58 0.60 0.53 0.77 0.62 0.91 0.92 0.98 0.93 0.99 0.75 0.64 0.68 sa sa sa swa sa swd swd swd swd swd swa sa sa 42 jpair multidisciplinary research 14. i feel like my selfesteem is improved 15. i get enough support from the sap i availed. 16. i have difficulty in doing the course requirements due to a hectic schedule 17. i am not thankful of the sap awarded to me by my college or university. 18. i have a structured, boring life causing me to fail in my subjects. 19. i feel like i am always on a hurry of time. 20. the sap i availed is not enough for my student needs. 3.66 3.34 2.54 1.46 1.59 2.41 2.11 0.56 0.70 0.92 0.88 0.83 0.95 1.01 sa swa swa sd swd swd swd overall (positive) 3.56 066 sa overall (negative) 2.03 1.00 swd overall 3.27 0.90 swa legend: sastrongly agree swasomewhat agree swdsomewhat disagree sdstrongly disagree using the likert scale, the data suggest that student beneficiaries have strongly agreed that they are satisfied and thankful of the sap they availed from their school. heavy work load, grade requirement, time management, and personal related problems caused burden among the student beneficiaries pushing them to say “somewhat disagree” on the negative questions ask in the survey. the overall response which is “somewhat agree” would mean that they are grateful but pressure of the task /expectation or requirement set for them. however, despite the validated instrument used in the study, .05 is still the expected as margin of errors hence, respondents have different experiences as recipient of the sap. their viewpoints on the questions may vary which would affect reliability of the results. the table above indicates the mean of the student-beneficiaries for all the 20 items of the perception questions. their overall perception for the positively 43 international peer reviewed journal stated statements (1–5, 11–15) is ‘strongly agree’ while they ‘somewhat disagree’ on the negatively stated statements (items 6–10, 16–20). however, for the overall mean, the student-beneficiaries generally answered ‘somewhat agree’ on the perception items, where the negatively stated statements were coded in reverse so that the overall perception is based on all positively stated statements. the recent political drama on pork barrel/pdap and the napoles issue have greatly affected the responses of the respondents. it has virtually averted the trust of the student beneficiaries especially those dependent from the politicos which has caused significant dropouts from among the seven (7) private heis in cdeo. conclusions the student beneficiaries are grateful but also pressure of the task and expectation assigned to them. time management and grade requirements are among the hardest points in their student life. nevertheless, they withstand all the tribulations in life to have a better way ahead. it is in this regard that availing the student assistance program (sap) of their respective heis has helped them succeed and improved their lives. earning college degrees would lead them to find job that would impact the economic need such as skilled and career professionals of cagayan de oro city. it is indeed noteworthy that these student-beneficiaries are earning their diplomas in the private heis and whose sources of funds are either institutionally financed or sponsored by external benefactors. these would definitely cut across the annual expenditure of an hei but nonetheless has brought good social output especially to the people of cagayan de oro city. sap is an initiative done by the private heis to help address the poverty issue in the country. it may not bring macro impact but in any way contribute in the reduction of poverty. therefore, results affirmed the theory of baum (2010) in the book of laura perna (2010) showing that sap like student work and financial aid received has significantly helped student beneficiaries pursue their studies. it is in this light that the millennium development goals (mdg) on the universal primary education has been efficiently translated into action by the private higher education institutions (pheis) in the philippines. the experience of cagayan de oro city has become the catalyst of the old dictum, 44 jpair multidisciplinary research education for all. it is in this regard that the 2000 millennium summit where the world would achieve these 2015 millennium development goals has forged collective commitments and partnership that would indeed break the vicious cycle of poverty. thus, promoting education is the key to poverty elimination as cited by mtey and sulle (2013). the dakar framework for action (efa) would succeed if and only if education is availed not just by few privilege individuals but by the greater majority. creating legislation on the student assistance program (sap), making it an operational requirement, correct implementation and proper monitoring of the program would thereby strengthened the chance of all in accessing education for the later economic gains. literature cited eppler-epstein, s. (2013). passion, caution, and evolution: the legal aid movement and empirical studies of legal assistance. hughes, a. n., gibbons, m. m., & mynatt, b. (2013). using narrative career counseling with the underprepared college student. the career development quarterly, 61(1), 40-49. milligan, j. a. (2005). faith in school: educational policy responses to ethnoreligious conflict in the southern philippines, 1935–1985. journal of southeast asian studies, 36(01), 67-86. mtey, k. p. f., & sulle, a. (2013). the role of education in poverty reduction in tanzania.  global advanced research journal of educational research and review, 2(1). nyahende, v. r. (2013). the success of students’ loans in financing higher education in tanzania. higher education studies, 3(3), p47. perna, l. w. (2010). understanding the working college student: new research and its implications for policy and practice. stylus publishing, llc. po box 605, herndon, va 20172-0605. 45 international peer reviewed journal ruiz, a. j., & junio-sabio, c. (2012). quality assurance in higher education in the philippines. asian journal of distance education, 10(2). torres-rodriguez, l., beyard, k., & goldstein, m. b. (2010). critical elements of student assistance programs: a qualitative study. children & schools, 32(2), 93-102.   united nations (2013). millennium development goals and beyond 2015. retrieved on sept 17, 2013 from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education. shtml veeser, p. i., & blakemore, c. w. (2006). student assistance program: a new approach for student success in addressing behavioral health and life events. journal of american college health, 54(6), 377-381. ched office of student services, cdo (2014). list of private heis in cagayan de oro city. retrieved on november 14, 2013 from ched office of student services, cagayan de oro city, philippines. republic act 8545, an act amending republic act no. 6728 retrieved may 22, 2013 from http://www.gov.ph/1989/06/10/republic-act-no-6728/ 76 jpair multidisciplinary research metacognitive knowledge predicts success in problem solving transfer beverly t. regidor orcid no. 0000-0003-1883-8154 beverlytabayregidor@gmail.com university of the immaculate conception davao city, philippines abstract problem solving skills play a vital role in solving real life problems. this study was conducted to determine the influence of metacognitive and motivational aspects of problem solving skills to the students’ success in problem solving transfer. furthermore, it determined what aspect of the problem solving skills predicts success in problem solving transfer. the descriptive correlation method was used to determine the relationship of the metacognitive and motivational aspects of the problem solving skills and the students’ success in problem solving transfer. the respondents of the study are the fourth-year high school students of davao central college, philippines. there are three instruments used in the study: 1) the metacognitive awareness inventory which measures their awareness in metacognitive skills such as knowledge and regulation, the 32-item academic intrinsic motivation (aim) inventory which measures motivational aspect of the problem solving skills and lastly, the non-routinized test which measures the success in problem solving transfer. the data gathered were summarized, translated, and analyzed using the mean scores for both aspects of the problem solving skills and problem solving transfer. at 0.05 level of significance, the pearson product moment r was used to test the significant correlation between the aspects of the problem solving skills and the success of problem solving transfer. findings show that only the metacognitive knowledge predicts success in problem solving transfer and this is the only problem solving skills is significantly correlated to the success in problem solving transfer. vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.283 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 77 international peer reviewed journal keywords mathematics education, metacognitive knowledge, predicts success, problem solving, descriptivecorrelation design, davao city, philippines introduction one of the greatest failures of mathematics education is how the students deal with worded problems. at this point, students tend to get bored, avoid, dislike and unloved mathematics as one of the disciplines taught in schools. moreover, students perform poorly on mathematics achievement especially in terms of problem solving. how can teachers and students learn ways in promoting problem solving transfer? dealing with real word problems, developing creative thinking and acquiring the right attitude in mathematics are great things the world of mathematics must ever face in this twenty-first century. as what has been the mindset of every individual, mathematics is always one of the difficult subjects ever experienced by students because teachers give less emphasis on the skills needed for the success of problem solving. no child left behind act of 2001 (u.s. department of education, 2005) emphasizes that teachers are having more pressure to teach to the test rather than to work towards developing conceptual understanding on mathematics. hence, many students would rather acquire the important formulas that would only surpass the test requirement. however, when they encounter ill-structured problems, the difficulty arises and exhibited misconception on the task given (mann, 2006). these are the great dilemmas of mathematics performance of the students nowadays. they are able to retain such information taught by the teacher, but cannot transfer it to real world problem (mayer, 1998). these probably motivate school heads to push through the problem solving as the center piece of mathematics curriculum (middleton et al., 2004). the trends in international mathematics and science study (timss) conveyed that asian countries are on top rank in the field of mathematics. these are the singapore, hong kong, chinese-taipei, and japan. though mathematics achievement is very high, problem solving skills were still inadequate to perform multi-step problem solving (timss, 2007). the result of national achievement test (nat) here in philippines for the school year 2005 – 2006 reflected a declining education based on the performance of the students in the country. the grade 6 pupils average on overall achievement rate of only 54.5% while fourth-year high school students were worse with only 78 jpair multidisciplinary research 44.3%. fortunately, fourth-year students perform best in mathematics. however, only mastery of the skill was quite high and problem solving was not measured in national achievement test. based on the report of national education testing research center (netrc), davao city ranked fourth (4th) from the bottom among 17 regions in the philippines during 2006 national achievement test for fourth-year high school students. hence, this cause an alarming situation that should seriously be addressed by the educators of the region and the country, as a whole. with this distressing situations, the researcher was encouraged to conduct a study on the aspects that would probably give great contribution towards success in problem solving. framework regardless of success in understanding how to stimulate routine problem solving using tried-and-true version of drill-and-practice method of instruction, the discipline continues to endeavor with how to promote non-routine problem solving. this study is anchored on the idea that successful problem solving depends on three components – skill, meta-skill, and will – and that each of these components can be an influence by instruction, mayer (1998). the meta-skill and will are the components that being use in the study. metacognitive aspect and motivational aspect of problem solving skill are the independent variable of the study. this is also supported by the theory of constructivism which states that learners are to construct new ideas as an application on the concepts acquired by them. this is in a way of showing deeper understanding on the ideas learned, (bruner, 1996). constructivist learning improves students understanding into a different more realistic application in actual life of where they can demonstrate the thinking ability about the facts they have acquired. moreover, this is also supported by the cognitive flexibility theory that focuses on the nature of learning in complex and ill-structured domains. cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to restructure one’s knowledge spontaneously in response to the increasing change in times. the theory is widely a concern with the transfer of knowledge and skills beyond their level of understanding into what field it may be. another theory that supports the study is the humanistic theory set forth by carl rogers (huitt, 2009). it states that a motivation might come from within an individual without any thought to an external reward. this 79 international peer reviewed journal theory exemplifies the intrinsic motivation, a cognitive approach to motivation that necessitates students to think through the consequences of their actions and base their decisions on the expected outcome of those decisions. lastly, the behaviorist theory set forth by b.f skinner (1963) which suggests as punishment and reward system as a motivational tool that encourage students to perform well in the task. in connection to the problem solving, students might work hard for it in order to obtain positive feedback and reward on it. with these theories as benchmark, it is conceptualized that the success in problem solving transfer is dependent on the metacognitive and motivational aspect of problem solving skills. objectives of the study the objective of the study is to determine the influence of the problem solving skills such as metacognitive aspect containing knowledge and regulation in particular and motivational aspects containing the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towards the success of the problem solving transfer. in particular it aims to determine (1) the level of the problem solving skills of students in terms of their metacognitive and motivational aspects, (2) the mean score of the students in problem solving transfer, (3) the predictor of success in problem solving transfer, (4) relationship of metacognitive aspect of the problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer, (5) relationship of motivational aspect of problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer. methodology the study used the descriptive/quantitative correlational method. correlations were computed between problem solving skills and problem solving transfer. the study was conducted at davao central college, philippines of s.y. 20112012. the respondents of the study were the three sections such as faith (90%), hope (88%) and love (66%) of fourth-year high school students. the instrument used in this study are the 52-item metacognitive awareness inventory (schraw & dennison, 1994) of which the researcher has adopted. the test is composed of two parts, namely; metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. the academic intrinsic motivation (aim) was adopted from the study of shia (1998) on her study, academic intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and metacognition. this inventory is divided into two categories of 80 jpair multidisciplinary research motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. these two adopted instruments are modified by the researcher to which fits the students in mathematics. both instruments require respondents to rate each item on a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). another instrument used was the 25-item “multiple choice” type of test from nevara, 2009 in her textbook entitled advanced algebra with trigonometry and statistics. this measures the students’ success in problem solving transfer. this test instrument encompasses the real life problems on selected topics in fourth-year mathematics. this test has a reliability α = 0.85. this means that the instrument passes the reliability test. the conduct of the study was done by seeking permission first to head offices of the school before administering the instruments to the fourth-year students and gathered it after done on the first session. the second session was allotted for the conduct of the problem solving transfer test to the same students. retrieval of the test was done, and the results were treated through the use of appropriate statistical tools. results and discussion the problem solving skills in this study is measured through metacognitive and motivational aspects. under metacognition, there are to indicators and these are metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. on the other hand, the motivational aspect also has two indicators and these are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. the level of the problem solving skills in terms of the metacognitive aspect table 1. level of the problem solving skills of students in terms of the metacognitive aspect metacognitive aspect of problem solving skills mean descriptive equivalent 1. metacognitive knowledge 2. metacognitive regulation overall 3.78 3.74 3.76 high high high data shows that there is a high level of manifestation on the metacognitive aspect both in knowledge (3.78) and regulation (3.74). this would mean that metacognitive aspect of the problem solving skill is high (3.76) also. this implies 81 international peer reviewed journal that students are highly developed in the knowledge of cognition in determining appropriate skills and strategies that work best for the learner and for knowing how and when to use the chosen skills and strategies. on the other hand, the respondents also developed high regulation of cognition in controlling one’s thinking and learning that includes planning, monitoring comprehension and evaluation. this is consistent with the idea that metacognitively aware students are more strategic that perform better than unaware learners. the knowledge about cognition and regulation are essential, and this knowledge allows individuals to plan, sequence, and monitor their learning in a way that directly improves their performance in non-routinize problems. level of problem solving skills in terms of motivational aspect table 2. level of problem solving skills of students in terms of motivational aspects motivational aspect of problem solving skills mean descriptive equivalent 1. intrinsic motivation 2. extrinsic motivation overall 3.68 3.53 3.61 high high high the motivational aspect of problem solving skills is high (3.61) generated from the intrinsic motivation as high (3.68) and extrinsic motivation as high (3.53) as well. this result indicates that students manifest awareness on the motivational aspect of problem solving skills towards mathematics. this would imply that students who are intrinsically motivated developed mastery of goals and the need for achievement. on the other hand, students who are extrinsically motivated cultivated the factors such as authority expectations (family and teachers), peer acceptance, power motivations and fear of failure. motivation is a force within the educational system to encourage students learning and understanding and thus dictates the students’ behavior due to either external or internal factors. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research the summary on problem solving skills table 3. summary on problem solving skills aspects of problem solving skills mean descriptive equivalent 1. metacognitive 2. motivation overall 3.76 3.61 3.67 high high high problem solving skills reflects 3.67 mean score or high manifestation. this is due to the result obtained in its aspects namely; metacognition (3.76) and motivation (3.61) of which both are high in awareness. this implies that students are able to develop and explore the problem, extend solutions, process and develop self-reflection. on the other hand, metacognition and motivation are two of the aspects and skills necessary to a successful problem solver (bruner, 1996). likewise, students are highly equipped with metacognition and motivation in mathematics. it emphasizes that organizing thoughts in such material, checking comprehension regularly, analyzing the usefulness of strategies differentiating learning strategies considering intellectual strengths and weaknesses and setting and meeting goals are demonstrated by the students. moreover, the respondents are also motivated to set high goals for themselves. students spend time for the things that interest them, demonstrate abilities in the classroom, and prefer to obtain good grades for the acceptance of others. the level of success in problem solving transfer table 4. level of success in problem solving transfer problem solving transfer mean descriptive equivalent interpretation/level fourth year students 15.70 very satisfactory denoted a high level of success the mean score of the success in problem solving transfer is 15.70 with a descriptive equivalent of very satisfactory. this would mean that the students have a high level of success in the problem solving transfer. this supports the theory of cognitive flexibility (spiro, viltovitch and coulson, 1990) that an individual may transfer the mastered skill in an ill-structured type of domain if 83 international peer reviewed journal he is flexible in cognition. thus, this implies that the students can construct new version of understanding highly in solving real life problems. the prediction of success in problem solving transfer table 5. model summary: the prediction of success in problem solving transfer model unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. 1 b std. error beta (constant) 14.77 2.782 5.313 0.00 metacognitive aspect 1.558 .767 .216 2.059 0.42 academic motivation -1.370 .776 -.185 -1.764 .080 this shows that the metacognitive knowledge predicts the dependent variable which in problem solving transfer as reflected in the model shown in table 4. academic motivation is not significant. the predicted success in problem solving transfer (y) is approximately equal to 14.779 plus 1.558 of the metacognitive knowledge (x), that is: y = 14.779 +1.558x. the aspect of problem solving skills that predicts the success in problem solving transfer was the metacognitive awareness and metacognitive knowledge in particular. the model emphasized that as the metacognitive knowledge increases, problem solving transfer also increases. furthermore, the unit and a half increase of metacognitive knowledge correspond to the increase of success in problem solving transfer. the relationship between the aspects of problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer the computed r-value for the correlation between metacognitive aspect of problem solving skills and problem solving transfer is 0.120 with its corresponding indicators knowledge and regulation as .186 and .041 respectively. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. relationship between problem solving skills and problem solving transfer aspects of problem solving skills r values p-value decision on h o knowledge .186* .040 rejected note: significant (sig) if p<0.05 this means that the variance of success in problem solving transfer of the students could not be explained by the variance of the metacognitive regulation for its p-value 0.653 which is greater than the level of significance. however, only the small variance of success in problem solving transfer could be influenced by metacognitive knowledge in mathematics contributes to the success in academic learning domains for its p-value = .040 is less than the level of significance. hence, the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship on the metacognitive aspect of the problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer is not rejected. therefore, there is no significant relationship on the metacognitive aspect of the problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer. the result only implies that there is a need to consider how metacognitive abilities are acquired and develop, how knowledge could be used to help improve the performance with learning difficulties and how it relates to self-evaluation processes (reeve & brown, 1985). somehow, on the aspect of metacognitive knowledge, students have acquired the skills and strategies that work best in the and even how to use the content and skills in solving real life problems. on the other hand, data also show that the correlation between the motivational aspect of the problem solving skills and the success in problem solving transfer was 0.120 or not significant, 0.033 or not significant between intrinsic motivation and success in problem solving transfer, 0.073 or not significant between extrinsic motivation and success in problem solving transfer. this means that motivational aspect of the problem solving skills did not significantly relate to a very satisfactory level of problem solving transfer for its p-values of .424 (motivational aspect), .187 (intrinsic motivation) and .717 (extrinsic motivation) are greater than the level of significance. thus, the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between motivational aspect of the problem solving skills and success in problem solving transfer was accepted. the findings of this study are consistent with the idea that extrinsic motivation across grade level proved negatively correlated with the academic outcomes (lepper et al., 2005).based on the result, it is not always true that when students are intrinsically motivated with 85 international peer reviewed journal appreciation and enjoy the learning process on mathematics will tend to have focus on learning such as the mastery needed on mathematical concepts. among all indicators of the problem solving skills, only the metacognitive knowledge is significantly related to the success in problem solving transfer. metacognitive knowledge refers to the knowledge of cognitive processes and product such as what a student knows about his cognition, how to use the strategies and procedure, and why or when to use a particular strategy. hence, this implies that at the very start, knowledge of skills and strategies is significantly correlated to their success in problem solving transfer. this is supported by the predictability result of the study as mentioned earlier. activities concerning control of students’ thinking and learning as planning, monitoring comprehension and evaluation were observed to be not significantly correlated with students’ success in problem solving transfer. it was also on the variables excluded as the predictor of the said success. to sum it up, metacognitive skill acquisition is likely to accelerate students comprehension, understanding, mastery and reasoning skill necessary for problem solving transfer (pesut &herman, 1992), but, only to those who consistently create rules, picture out the conceptual problem, identify and make rules in describing the problem on it which is done simpler and easier without taking complex ways on solving problems. conclusions based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn. the level of metacognition and motivation of students in the problem solving skills are high. students’ success in problem solving transfer was very satisfactory. metacognitive knowledge predicts success in problem solving transfer. the metacognitive aspect of problem solving skills does not relate to the success in problem solving transfer. the motivational aspect of problem solving skills does not relate to the problem solving transfer. literature cited bruner, j. s. (1966). toward a theory of instruction (vol. 59). harvard university press. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research mann, e. l. (2006). mathematical creativity and school mathematics: indicators of mathematical creativity in middle school students (doctoral dissertation, university of connecticut). mayer, r. e. (1998). cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational aspects of problem solving. instructional science, 26(1-2), 49-63. huitt, w. (2009). humanism and open education.  educational psychology interactive. skinner, b. f. (1963). operant behavior. american psychologist, 18(8), 503. middleton, j. a., heid, m. k., reys, r., gutstein, e., dougherty, b., d’ambrosio, b. & hala, m. (2004). an agenda for research action in mathematics education: beginning the discussion. journal for research in mathematics education, 74-80. pesut, d. j., & herman, j. (1992). metacognitive skills in diagnostic reasoning: making the implicit explicit.  international journal of nursing terminologies and classifications, 3(4), 148-154. reeve, r. a., & brown, a. l. (1985). metacognition reconsidered: implications for intervention research. journal of abnormal child psychology, 13(3), 343-356. schraw, g., & dennison, r. s. (1994). assessing metacognitive awareness. contemporary educational psychology, 19(4), 460-475. shia, r. m. (2005). academic intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and metacognition. assessing academic intrinsic motivation: a look at student goals and personal strategy. wheeling jesuit university. retrieved on october 11, 2014 from http://www.cet.edu/pdf/motivation.pdf. trends in international mathematics and science study (timss) (2007). no child left behind. retrieved on october 11, 2014 from http://timssandpirls. bc.edu/isc/publications.html cover single with doi 15 international peer reviewed journal vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.18 published online: august 2012 the study of effect meta theoretical curricula’s implementation in educational performances of tehran universities in educational science mohammad reza sarmadi payame noor university ,tehran, iran hassan shahraki pour azad university, roudehen, iran negar elhamian negarelhamian@gmail.com kharazmi university,tehran, iran abstract this research program to study the application performance meta theory education faculty of educational sciences at the university of tehran in the year 89-88 has been done. the aim of this study is to examine that faculty of educational science, the curriculum specialists and executives, to what extent the common teaching of basic and fundamental vision benefit and which has higher priority. the research in this study is a descriptive survey approach. measuring the validity and reliability of the questionnaire with 30 questions in 4 meta theories miller, eisner, hunecke, walker and questionnaire in the five-choice likert scale was determined. was appointed and based on simple random sampling method and survey a sample of 87 people and then run the data analysis software spss 17. descriptive statistics were used in the indicator of central tendency. in order to determine the relationship between variables in inferential statistics, ksquare method was used. also the friedman test analysis was used to determine priorities. jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 16 jpair: multidisciplinary research the results of the survey questions suggest that merit-oriented elements in the miller performance training meta theory faculty of educational sciences at the university of tehran to other applications. this means that goals in education are used more tangible, more visible and more specific cognitive characteristics. keyword curriculum, meta theory, educational function, implementation, educational performance, tehran university. introduction at century 21, the curriculum was tried to facilitate at teaching and learning as special domain for conceptualizing problems pertain to human. for this purpose, there are different attitudes that are trying to present curriculum as human structure at teaching and learning course and evaluate it (fathi vajargah, 2011). in fact, curriculum is alive phenomenon and its living are cited as it divides as two classes those points to planning curriculum and some domains that point to other sections that were cited in teaching and learning. and can meet expectations, dreams and beliefs for society. the thinkers for curriculum domains believe that this program has a strong background and many courses like; psychology, sociology and so on are extracted from this course. whereas, the concentration upon cases like; learning, research and the studies pertain to growth and human evolution can be important in this course. there are many important cases that pertain to lesson case like; eisner, huenecke, walker, miller, pioneer and hemiyear and someone cites that we can cite it more (mehrmohamadi, 2011). today, this methodology can be increase its efficiency and one of the educational problem are planning, and this problem can be site in curriculum and in this respect, there is many problems that the supreme education confronts with graduation and performance for graduation is important. the high volume of contents, non lacking horizontal relation between them and asymmetry curriculum with course can be important. perhaps, the decline for graduation and none lacking for society needs and another part are so important. all contents cited above were cited by thinkers and students by 17 international peer reviewed journal academic and experimental pint of view as for a different definition, and it provides that the researcher can play a role of meta theory for planning course and the performance for students can be important, and we want to know that what is scale of their role? do people who have significant in this course, can play a different role? do these members can apply their role for educational performance? thus, this research can try to answer to this question and cite mat theory in this field and discusses the effects of planning course upon educational performance by the scientific committee for reducing problems. framework curriculum review shows that in many studies, the role of teachers and administrators in curriculum planning has been considered (izadi, 2005). faculty participation in curriculum planning has deep historical roots and it is considered in various specialized works (guff, 2007). for curriculum planning, experts have proposed various steps that despite the similarities in the type and number of steps, there are differences between their views (luttuca, 2009, sturk, 2009, oliva, 2005, eisner, 2002). curriculum topic, set topics and issues such as curriculum resources in the implementation and operation are included. curriculum theorists have brought about many matters of curriculum components and concepts, interpretation and research case definitions have been provided. these efforts are the first step in formulating theories of curriculum, but should be considered in this process. curriculum theory, intertwined set of perception, interpretation and analysis of phenomena related to the curriculum. the phenomenon of the curriculum includes: overt and hidden curriculum that provides learning opportunities for students in the school and the absence of the curriculum, which can lead to learning issues. this part of the curriculum by eisner «null curriculum» has been called (eisner, 1979). the views expressed by the planning scheme in higher education include behavioural approaches, thematic, social, growth-oriented, cognitive process, humanistic, whole person oriented or beyond. meta theories are set of interconnected roles 18 jpair: multidisciplinary research include principles, rules or descriptions about what is both acceptable and unacceptable and it means to explore the principles of a science concept. for example, a meta-theory may change the shape and make a change or a new way to better understand a subject or topic is raised. curriculum is presented in the literature that the most important and most diverse meta theoretical curricula’s this classification examine the theories of curriculum: table 1: meta theories’ factor meta theories’ factor miller purposeful orientation cognitive orientation growth orientation subject matter orientation cultural orientation merit orientation eisnerdevelopment of cognitive processes academic rationalism personal relevance curriculum as technology social adaptation and social reconstruct walker rationalize curriculum curriculum design theory conceptualization curriculum describe scientific and scholarly curriculum hemiyearconceptual model process theories of curriculum structural curriculum theories theories of curriculum legitimization pioneer traditionalists conceptual empiricists re conceptualists huenckestructural theorizing generic theorizing substantive objectives of the study the objectives of the study are to determine the effect meta theoretical curricula’s implementation in educational performances of tehran universities in educational science: (1) to study and identify the scale of cognitive process upon educational performance; (2) to study and identify the effect of conceptualization upon planning course; (3) to study and identify the function of orientation system upon 19 international peer reviewed journal educational performance; (4) to study and identify the scale of generic scale upon educational performance materials and methods in all research performed in the field of human sciences and education domain, the aim is to determine the relation between phenomenon and different events. therefore, for reaching this aim, we have to evaluate the relation between the systems and the variables. one of the important methods is its methodology. as for this aim and evaluation for this system, we can find the variables that for this research and the descriptive method is basic. in the present research, collection data was performed based on asking questions that confirmed before and, the descriptive method is evaluative. statistical society: statistical society consists of the scientific committee from educational universities at tehran and between 10 universities like; alame tabatabaee, tehran, alzahra, shahid rejaee, shahed, payeme nour, research and science branch for islamic azad university, tarbiate moalem and tarbiyate modarres at 2009-2010 total 116. volume sample statics: for determining statistics sample, there are different methods and was used from morgan table and based on this table, number of sample people is 87. sampling: at sampling method, it was used simple randomly sampling as well as occasional method. for this purpose, the list of the scientific committee was prepared and after coordination the meeting was appointed and, the day that the scientific committee has to respond to questions was counted referred at universities. at first, as for conditions and limitation for time, the questionnaire distributed and 20 jpair: multidisciplinary research the remained were removed. in this field some of the professors were not available and, at last, the 87 questionnaire were collected. tools for collecting: the questionnaire was selected as only tools for collecting data. usually, it is estimated that the data derived from the questionnaire are a reflection of mind networks for orientation and, relation between individuals. at this field, there wasn’t questionnaire and it was necessary to regulate questionnaire based on lickert scale. thus, the questionnaire was prepared that consisted of 30 questions at 5 options as if 5 (very much) and 1 (very low) is displayed. statistical method: in this research, for determining the scale of meta theory upon educational performance for the scientific committee , the variables like average, display, mode deviant and abundant table and at analyzing data, it was used two single spearman correlation factor and one way variance. in this research, the depend and in depend variable were integrated and, scale for evaluation were not different that is indispensable. used from non parametric variable. in this test, there are many parameters that used from friedman test. this test is similar as test f and based on minimum average evaluation. results and discussion for the first question that what is scale of orientation systems upon educational performance for the scientific committee? the results derived from spearman correlation show that the members attention to individual differences, use of educational idioms and believed that the skilful learner has valuable and, he can find many values from this aim for studying and teaching. between meta theory for eisner, miller, huencke and walker, there is converse relation between medium average that is the people with another relation can find many variables that use from huencke relation with variable ( -0/45) and walker variable( -0/42) that confirm this variable. as displayed, the 21 international peer reviewed journal scales of two calculations have many effects upon suitable orientation and planning course for the scientific committee based on miller meta theory. table2: miler result chi-square 49/95 df 4 sig. 0000 for the second question what is the scale of generic variable for planning course upon educational performance for the scientific committee based on huencke variable? the results derived from spearman correlation show that generic variable for planning course has low effect upon educational performance for the scientific committee. this meta theory cites that we have to give more attention in freedom, awareness, personality, thoughts and feelings for the learner. they believed that education all respects and transmit many values. but, as what happened at education learner and controls him, thus it can be cited as a new field. based on the results derived from spearman generic variable, there is converse relation between its variables used by the scientific committee for tehran university. as displayed, the number of its scale 22 jpair: multidisciplinary research shows that generic variable influences upon educational performance. table 3: huencke result chi-square 18/115 df 4 sig. 0/001 at question three, that what scale of cognitive process influences upon planning course? the results show that the cognitive process has low effect upon eisner meta theory for educational performance and this variable can influence another part that eisner believes that this method can be suitable in this region and can enhance logical process. this capability can help to learners that enhances their learning. we can consider the problem and don’t consider it between lesson processes. at learning process, there are 4 theories based on their results, there are direct relations between them and as displayed, the number of chi square shows that cognitive process influences low upon eisner meta theory. table 4: eisner result chi-square 23/747 df 4 sig. 0.000 at question 4, that to what scale, the conceptualization curriculum walker meta theory influence upon educational performance foe scientific committee? the results derived from spearman correlation show that the scientific committee had located walker variable based on john dewy thoughts and believed that curriculum have to solve their problems and enhance the methods for thoughts and apply it in educational cycle. the most important point that was cited is the students consider their problem and their professors play a role of directors. because the most important question is applying direct answers and considering 23 international peer reviewed journal curriculum as new filed at educational performance; thus they believe in critic and discussion of problems. it is derived that based on results from spearman and conceptualization for meta theory walker, there is a direct relation between them that is the persons use it, utilize from two theories. as displayed, and as for the number of k-square, it shows that educational performance for the scientific committee at tehran universities, they exploit average of conceptualization variable for curriculum. table 5: walker result chi-square 17/310 df 2 sig. 0/002 conclusions general concluding after discussion 4 generic variable, cognitive process, suitable method and conceptualization at 4 theories like; huencke, eisner, miller and walker is explained that the members of the scientific committee used miller meta theory more at their educational performance and the more their studying scale were based on attention to individual differences, lowering subject parts at studying and increase awareness for people who involve at universities and this research shows that this application has theory base. the result shows that the scientific committee members of tehran universities confirm upon suitability in their educational performance. of course it is not that they don’t use another theory but, their activity is confirmed this meta theory. the results pointed in non parametric test for friedman that confirms that miller meta theory has more priority than other meta theories. 24 jpair: multidisciplinary research literature cited izadi, s. 2005 “teacher’s participatory role in decentralization of curriculum development;” in: m. rezaie (ed.); curricula and methods of teaching, cuidence and counseling, assessment and evaluation; tehran: institute for educational research (in persian). bates, m. j. 2005 an introduction to metatheories , theories, and models, theories of information behavior ,edited by karen e. fisher sandra erdelez and lynne (e. f) mckechine .medrord. beauchamp ,g.a. 1981 curriculum theory. fourth edition. wilmette illionois : the kagg press. eisner, e.w. 1979 the educational imagination. macmillan publisher. ellis, r. 1993 quality assurance for university teaching: issue and approaches” , in ellis, r . (ed). quality assurance for university teaching. bristol: open university press. fathi vajargah, k 2011 principle and concept in curriculum. (nashre ostadan publisher). tehran, iran. gough , n . 2003 intertextual turns in curriculum inquiry: fictions, diffraction and deconstruction. submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy , deakin university , agust. 2003 gaff, j. 2007 “what if the faculty really do assume responsibility for the 25 international peer reviewed journal educational program?”; liberal education, vol. 93, no.4, pp. 6-13. kliebard ,h . 2004 the struggle for the american curriculum . newyork : rotledge falmer. lattuca, l. and stark, j. 2009 shaping the college curriculum: academic plans in context; san francisco: jossey – bass. mehrmohamadi, m 2011 the curriculum theory . (samt publisher). tehran, iran. nudzor .h. p. 2009 a critical commentary on combined methods approach to researching educational and social issues. issues in educational research.(2)19. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 157 international peer reviewed journal technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers and second language learning motivational orientation of students ed b. bautista https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6725-5049 edbautista0807@gmail.com surigao del sur state university tandag city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study aimed to determine teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and the second language learning motivational orientation of the college of teacher education students of the university of mindanao. the study used a descriptive correlation research design, wherein survey questionnaires were administered among 300 freshmen students in the college of teacher education. the result disclosed that the level of tpack of the teachers was very high as perceived by the respondents; also, the level of the second language learning motivational orientation of students was very high. moreover, there was a significant relationship between the teachers’ tpack students’ second language learning motivational orientation. this means that both variables are gauged very high, and there is a correlation between the two variables. this would prompt educational institutions to hire english teachers based not only on their qualification but also on their competency and apt in honing and motivating english learners to master the english language. keywords — education, tpack, second language learning, motivational orientation, descriptive correlation design, philippines vol. 45 · july 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v45i1.694 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 158 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction in a country where english is the second language, students struggle to learn it, especially if it is not the lingua franca in the area. in most cases, students lose interest in learning the language because they seldom use it in their daily conversation. further, a learner may indeed be unmotivated for several reasons: he or she may feel that he/she had a slight interest in the subject, find the instructor’s methods unengaging, or be overwhelmed by external influences. it might also come to light that a student who seemed unmotivated seems to have trouble studying and need further guidance (turgut, 2017). subsequently, within the classroom contexts, second-language learners face different challenges, and some of them are not willing to take responsibility for their learning process and will not find it easy to think intellectually. one of the most critical issues in second language learning and teaching is the attitudes and motivations of learners towards second-language learning. as stated by alizadeh (2016), the effectiveness of any activity depends on the extent to which people try to achieve their goal, along with their motivation to do so; thus, paying attention to the importance of language will enable students to increase their motivation to learn even if they do not have enough intrinsic motivation to learn. teachers should be mindful of the importance of motivation in learners’ language learning and they can assist learners in increasing their motivation (alizadeh, 2016). in the study conducted in indonesia by suprapto et al. (2021), many institutions worldwide explored the importance of tpack and confirmed that it could help the development of students. a similar study was done by nuangchalerm (2020) in thailand confirmed that asean institutions now recognized the importance of technological pedagogical and content knowledge (tpack) in the classroom. moreover, kaliappen (2021) published a study in malaysia confirming that technological pedagogical and content knowledge (tpack) can help improve students’ motivation. on the other hand, jang and chen (2010) expressed that technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (tpack) shows a new way of understanding the connection between technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge, resulting in the helpful integration of technology in the classroom. another study conducted by keengwe and kang (2012) suggests that to make the use of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge success in the teaching of the english language, it will require to combine three domains: content components in the curriculum-language skills and culture, pedagogical components in second 159 international peer reviewed journal language teaching, the communicative approach and the task-based learning approach, and technological components-choosing appropriate technological tools. this means the teachers should be equipped with the skills to integrate technology in classroom practices, especially english. with the facts mentioned in the above statements, the researcher is interested to understand and determine the relationship between the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teacher and the english language learning motivational orientation of students because there is a paucity of studies in the mentioned topic within the context of davao region. the further study provided knowledge and ideas as to how the teacher’s technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge can change the motivational orientation factors of the students in learning the english language. moreover, the study could fill the existing gap in the literature concerning the topic at hand, particularly the relationship between technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers and second language learning motivational orientation of the students. framework the research is based on mishra and koehler’s (2006) tpack theory which comprises technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge. the tpack framework provides a beneficial approach to educators’ many problems in using educational technology in their classrooms. the tpack framework describes how content (what is being taught) and pedagogy (how the instructor transmits that subject) must form the foundation for effective education technology integration by discriminating between these three forms of knowledge. this sequence is critical since the installed technology must convey the information while supporting the pedagogy to improve students’ learning experiences (kurt, 2018). the study is anchored as well to self determination theory developed by ryan and deci (2015) that best supports this study in which they stated that the learner’s growth is greatly affected by their behavior and motivation. self determination theory takes a classic empirical approach to human motivation and personality while adopting an organismic metatheory that emphasizes individuals’ inherent inner resources for personality development and behavioral self-regulation (ryan et al., 1997). as a result, its domain examines people’s intrinsic growth inclinations and natural psychological requirements, which serve as the foundation for their self-motivation and personality integration, and the environments that support those positive processes (ryan & deci, 2000). 160 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study was conducted to evaluate the level of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers and second language learning motivational orientation of the students of the college of teacher education of the university of mindanao and the existing relationship between the two mentioned variables. specifically, this study has the following objectives: (1) to assess the level of technological pedagogical content knowledge of teachers in terms of technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical content knowledge, (2) to evaluate the level of second language learning motivational orientation of students in terms of amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, intrinsic motivation-knowledge, intrinsic motivationaccomplishment, intrinsic motivation-stimulation, and (3) to determine the significant relationship between technological pedagogical and content knowledge and second language learning motivational orientation of students. methodology research design for this study, the researcher used the non-experimental descriptive correlation design, a quantitative study. non-experimental research lacks the manipulation of one of the variables (independent), randomly assigned participants to a specific condition or the order of condition, or it can be both. with that, the researcher of this study has a specific research question about the causal relation of the independent and dependent variables (jhangiani, 2018). whereas descriptive is a research design to provide a snapshot of the current state of affairs, correlational designs are made to discover relationships among the variables, which allows predicting some future events from the knowledge acquired in the present (jhangiani, 2018). the descriptive correlation was the most appropriate research design for determining teachers’ motivational orientation of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and second language learning. 161 international peer reviewed journal research site the study was conducted at the university of mindanao-main campus. the sample population consisted of 300 freshmen students of the university of mindanao in the college of teacher education for 2019-2020 of the first semester. the institution was chosen because um cte is regarded as a center of excellence and teacher training in davao. likewise, it would be interesting to know the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers and students of this institution due to its status. respondents the researcher used raosoft to take from that population of 830. the sample population consisted of 300 freshmen students of the university of mindanao in the college of teacher education for 2019-2020 of the first semester. they were chosen as respondents because they have taken the english subject appropriate in assessing teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge, including their second language learning orientation. they were the most suitable respondents for the study because they have undertaken english subjects and easily comprehended and effectively answered the survey questionnaire. the researcher used a random sampling method, which consisted of 300 respondents in the conduct of this study. instrumentation there were two sets of questionnaires used in this study. the teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge level was measured based on the adapted questionnaire from fathi and yousefifard (2019). it consisted of seven indicators, namely technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge. it was modified to contextualize the school setting and the question items were simplified and translated to the vernacular for the understanding of the respondents. likert scaling system was utilized in rating the variable as follows: 162 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. range of means, descriptive level, and interpretation of tpack range of means descriptive level interpretation 4.20-5.00 very high the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is always evident. 3.40-4.19 high the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is often evident. 2.60-3.39 moderate the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is sometimes evident. 1.80-2.59 low the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is seldom evident. 1.00-1.79 very low the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is never evident. the level of second language orientation motivation of the students was measured based on the study of noels et al. (2000). the questionnaire of seven indicators was modified to contextualize the school setting and the question items were simplified and translated to the vernacular for the understanding of the respondents. likert scaling system was utilized in rating the variable as follows: table 2. range of means, descriptive level, and interpretation of second language orientation motivation of the students in the english language range of means descriptive level interpretation 4.20-5.00 very high the second language orientationmotivation of the students in the english language is always evident. 3.40-4.19 high the second language orientationmotivation of the students in the english language is often evident. 2.60-3.39 moderate the second language orientationmotivation of the students in the english language is sometimes evident. 1.80-2.59 low the second language orientationmotivation of the students in the english language is seldom evident. 1.00-1.79 very low the second language orientationmotivation of the students in the english language is never evident. 163 international peer reviewed journal validation of instrument the content and face validity were improved by three experts’ comments and suggestions in english language teaching. the appropriateness of usage and relevance of each item were examined to determine the dimensions of the constructs. the experts were asked to determine if particular questions were pertinent and appropriate and whether the items effectively measured all construct components. the instruments were pilot tested with respondents after they had been content validated. thirty participants were asked to comment on the questionnaire, and the majority of the comments claimed that the items were straightforward to grasp and acceptable for gathering the data needed to answer the study’s objectives. following the pilot research, questions that were deemed confusing or elicited skewed replies were removed or changed. the pilot test comments were integrated into the final questionnaire. construct validity was established in this study by pilot testing, expert evaluation, and using a literature review. reliability was established with cronbach’s alpha of 0.83. the um-research ethics committee was then consulted for ethical approval before proceeding with the actual data gathering. each study questionnaire included informed consent forms, in which respondents were informed of their rights and ensured of their confidentiality and privacy. data analysis the researcher evaluated, classified, and tagged the material of each scale. statistical package for social science (spss) version 20 was used to tabulate each subject’s responses to each category. data were addressed with descriptive statistics: sociodemographic factors were analyzed with frequencies and percentages, while other quantitative data, such as perceptions of the extent and efficacy of mentoring activities, were analyzed with means and standard deviations. the study used pearson’s correlation analysis to evaluate the relationship between the two variables. statistical significance was determined using a p-value of < .05 and a critical value of 2.000. results and discussion presented in table 1 is the level of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers with mean scores ranging from 4.30 to 4.59 and an overall mean score of 4.44 labeled as very high, indicating that the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers is always evident, with 164 jpair multidisciplinary research the standard deviation of .40 indicating homogeneous responses considering it did not surpass the threshold 1.0. in terms of pedagogical knowledge, the respondents assessed it very high, with the mean score of 4.59 showing that pedagogical knowledge is always evident and a standard deviation of .36 indicating homogeneous responses. pedagogical content knowledge garnered a mean score of 4.53, described as very high, indicating that pedagogical content knowledge is always evident, with a standard deviation of .47. in terms of technological pedagogical knowledge, the mean score is 4.50, which is very high, disclosing that technological pedagogical knowledge is always evident, with a standard deviation of .39 showing homogeneous responses. the indicator content knowledge got a mean score of 4.49 or a very high level, manifesting that content knowledge is always evident and a standard deviation of .44. technological content knowledge as one of the indicators garnered a mean score of 4.36 labeled as very high level showing technological content knowledge is always evident with a standard deviation of .38, manifesting homogeneous responses from the respondents. technological pedagogical content knowledge got 4.34 or very high, showing that technological pedagogical content knowledge is always evident, with a standard deviation of .45 indicating homogeneous responses. lastly, the indicator technological knowledge has a mean score of 4.30, described as a very high level manifesting that technological knowledge is always evident and a standard deviation of .40. this means that the teachers’ level of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge is very high. the students gauged the teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge, showing the teachers’ skills and competency in the mentioned areas. all the indicators disclosed a very high level, implying that the university of mindanao hired competent and highly skilled english teachers. the result confirms the statement of chai et al. (2013), stressing that technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge was described as situated, complex, multifaceted, integrative, and transformative forms of knowledge, which the secondary english teachers of the university of mindanao possess. it was evident in technological knowledge that teachers know about basic computers and software, solve technical problems associated with hardware, and deal with technical problems related to software; lastly, the teachers keep up with necessary new technologies. this implies that the teachers are technologically competent in teaching the english language to the students. the result confirmed the statement of ahmadi and reza (2018), who stressed that technological knowledge in terms of how teachers use technology more effectively to carry 165 international peer reviewed journal out varied learning activities to help learners be more equipped with different skills. further, ahmadi and reza (2018) mentioned that teachers should model technology to support the school curriculum to see the importance of technology in language learning. the students very highly assessed the teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, particularly in the area where the teachers use teaching strategies in class, utilize different evaluation methods and techniques; also, understand students’ learning difficulties, adjust teaching style, and manage class efficiently. this implies that the teachers are very highly pedagogically knowledgeable in teaching the english language to the students. the outcome follows the idea of auerbach and andrews (2018), who revealed that pedagogical knowledge exhibits teachers’ expertise in developing and fostering effective teaching and learning experiences for all students, regardless of the subject matter. in addition, könig et al. (2014) revealed that it might include knowledge of learning theories, teaching methods, the lesson structure, the organization and management of the classroom, the motivation of learners, and other learning knowledge. in terms of content knowledge, the assessment of the students disclosed their very high regard for the teachers having sufficient knowledge of english grammar, good pronunciation, teaching class naturally in english, creating materials that can enhance learning, and answering students’ questions about english. this implies that the teachers possess quality content knowledge making them highly competent in teaching english. the findings coincide with the statement of bertram and christiansen (2012) that content knowledge means that teachers need to learn more than just the’’ truth’’ of their discipline, they need to know the underlying concepts and structure of their instruction, and they need to know what methods are utilized to produce information in a particular classroom setting. moreover, khani and hajizadeh (2016) pointed out that the significance of content knowledge had become generally acknowledged to the point that educator knowledge of the subject matter has also been positively associated with student achievement. the students gauged the teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge, mainly declaring that teachers use technologies to motivate students to learn, explain clearly, interact more with students, facilitate teaching activities, and use technologies appropriate for their teaching. this depicted that the teachers are very highly competent in technological pedagogical knowledge when teaching the english language. the result is congruent with the concept of legault (2016), emphasizing that integrating technology with pedagogy will be more engaging, 166 jpair multidisciplinary research more innovative, and helpful for both the students and teachers. with that, they can create a meaningful learning environment where learning lasts long lee et al. (2014) added that in this generation where technology becomes a basic need for students, teachers must be knowledgeable in using technology and be confident enough to integrate their skills with technology in teaching. students highly assessed the teachers in terms of technological content knowledge, particularly using digitalized teaching materials for vocabulary learning, grammar learning, reading, speaking, and understanding the target culture better. this implies that the technological content knowledge of the teachers in teaching the english language was very high. the result agrees with the idea of harris and hofer (2011), who reiterated that teachers know how to validate the best educational technology to use that best fits the specific subject matters or even the environment such as the classroom. additionally, de rossi and trevisan (2018) described technological content knowledge as to how or what technologies are the best suit for a specific learning activity or lesson and how this shapes and determines technology uses. as assessed by the students, the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge disclosed a very high level covering the area where the teachers conduct lectures, quizzes, games, group activities, and discussion activities to understand english better. they are very highly competent in such areas that students learn the english language better. the outcome confirmed with the statement of morrison and luttenegger (2015), who declared that pedagogical content knowledge is a teachers’ knowledge of content cross to pedagogy and the context of learning situation including the student; thus, the content and the characteristics of the students will be the basis for an appropriate pedagogy a teacher will use. further, contemporary issues in technology and teacher education journal stated that pedagogical content knowledge is being described as the understanding of the teachers with the educational technologies, the pedagogy, and the content and its usage and connections with one another to provide effective teaching with the use of technology (calvo et al., 2010) technological pedagogical content knowledge was assessed by the students very high. this implies that the teacher is very highly competent in using the combinations forming technological pedagogical content knowledge. the result affirmed the idea of loughran et al. (2012), elucidating that teachers must be trained and learn more on how to use this technological pedagogical content knowledge to provide students the meaningful learning in a way that will not make them frustrated. in addition, keengwe and kang (2012) suggests that to 167 international peer reviewed journal make the use of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge success in the teaching of the english language, it will require to combine three domains: content components in the curriculum-language skills and culture, pedagogical components in second language teaching, the communicative approach and the task-based learning approach, and technological components-choosing appropriate technological tools. table 1. technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers indicators mean sd description pedagogical knowledge 4.59 0.36 very high pedagogical content knowledge 4.53 0.47 very high technological pedagogical knowledge 4.50 0.39 very high content knowledge 4.48 0.44 very high technological content knowledge 4.36 0.38 very high technological pedagogical content knowledge 4.34 0.45 very high technological knowledge overall 4.30 4.44 0.33 0.40 very high very high as depicted in table 2, manifested is the level of second language learning motivational orientation of students ranging from 4.20 to 4.65 mean scores with an overall mean score of 4.40 or high and a standard deviation of .40 denoting homogeneous responses from the respondents. from highest to lowest mean scores, the indicators are disclosed as follows: the indicator identified regulation garnered a mean score of 4.65 or very high level with a standard deviation of .48 indicating homogeneous responses; intrinsic motivation-knowledge got a mean score of 4.58 labeled as very high level with a standard deviation of .36 showing homogeneous responses as well. regarding intrinsic motivation-accomplishment, the mean score is 4.47, described as very high, with the standard deviation of .38 indicating homogeneous responses. the indicator amotivation has a mean score of 4.36, declared as high, with the standard deviation of .47 disclosing homogeneous responses. intrinsic motivation-stimulation garnered a mean score of 4.32, described as a very high level with a standard deviation of .43, showing homogeneous responses from the respondents. regarding the introjected regulation indicator, the mean score is 4.23, labeled as a very high level with a standard deviation of .44, manifesting homogeneous responses. lastly, the external indicator regulation garnered a mean score of 4.23 168 jpair multidisciplinary research or a very high level with a standard deviation of .60, indicating homogeneous responses from the respondents. second language learning motivational orientation was very high as declared by students learning english as their second language, which was always evident in how they speak, write and read the mentioned language. all the indicators were gauged very high by the students indicating their desire to learn english as their second language. it was confirmed by abubakar et al. (2018) that motivational orientation was an essential start in language learning as they determine the option of language to learn, the types of activities that the learner should take more likely to participate, the types and degree of skills learners expect to achieve the degree of external interference necessary to control learning and the reach of long-term dedication. in the case of amotivation, the reverse is true; students are very highly motivated to study english as their second language because they realize its importance with the realization that they are not wasting their time after all with the understanding that it would be instrumental in their careers later on. the findings negated the statement of calvo et al. (2010), who pointed out that amotivated students exhibit a sense of helplessness and often require counseling, as they are highly prone to dropping out. moreover, jackson (2011) revealed that a motivated individual does not want to participate in an activity and makes no effort to engage in the behavior. in terms of external regulation, the students are motivated by external forces, particularly the very high motivation derived from their loved ones expected to learn the english language and land a prestigious job later on, which will yield a better salary. the result conforms to chai et al. (2013) study, asserting that external influence can motivate a person. ryan & deci (2000) clarified that externally regulated individuals tried to obtain a reward or positive consequence or avoid undesirable consequences. students’ learning second language motivational orientation is introjected regulation, with the conviction that they would become good citizens if they can speak the english language, and be able to communicate with people whose first language is english, wherein they would have the satisfaction and happiness of being able to speak the said language. this implies that the students can interact without any inferiority complex with anybody because they can speak english. the finding accurately agrees with the statement of hurst et al. (2017), who mentioned that introjected regulation is where the motivation for the behavior has been partially, but not entirely, internalized. hurst et al. (2017) added that 169 international peer reviewed journal this regulation was experienced by people or people who were most likely engaged in behavior just because they enjoyed it. in terms of identified regulation, it was highly gauged by the students pointing out that motivation inspires them to stick with a person who can speak more than one language as part of their personal development and portray an image that shows they can speak english. this means that they can quickly get along with people who speak english, their first or second language. the result conforms to the notion of alizadeh (2016), who claimed that identified regulation refers to doing an action or something just because someone identifies the importance of behavior by themselves and they were accepting it as they own it. ryan and deci (2015) stressed that teachers might focus on motivating students to use their second language in the classroom to identify students who are good speakers and promote better performance in using the language. the students very highly gauged intrinsic motivation-knowledge, wherein students included in their motivational orientation are acquiring knowledge of the english language and enjoying literature written in such language, giving the students satisfaction by being able to learn the way of life of the englishspeaking people. this implies that comprehending english means acquiring new knowledge and information about native english speakers and their country of origin, including their culture featured in literature and video. the result coincides with lucas et al. (2015), who accentuated that intrinsic motivation knowledge is the motivation for doing an activity for the feelings associated with exploring ideas and developing understanding. moreover, yan and davison (2013) elucidated that training on positive behaviors of knowledge transfer, which is the sources and recipients’ behaviors of knowledge transfer, can be motivated through training them to enjoy social communication with other people. in terms of intrinsic motivation-accomplishment, the students assessed it very highly, realizing that motivated by what learning english can accomplish in their lives, particularly in the learning process of studying the english language; enjoying learning new words and speaking correctly, as well as being able to accomplish challenging exercises in learning the english language. this implies that how english can influence one’s life is one of the strong motivating factors. the result agrees with the idea of carbonneau et al. (2012), elucidating that intrinsic motivationaccomplishment also referred to engaging in an activity for the satisfaction and pleasure derived from attempting to surpass oneself or trying to accomplish or create something. lucas et al. (2015) pointed out that trying to master a mission or accomplish a goal is the feeling. 170 jpair multidisciplinary research the students assessed very high intrinsic motivation-stimulation. they welcome getting motivated by being stimulated to excitement whenever they hear foreigners speaking their language and realize that the students are speaking in english; they are all the more excited whenever they hear native english speakers speak english. this means that learning english as their second language created a desire and enthusiasm to learn the language. the finding supported the idea that intrinsic motivation-stimulation is based on the sensations stimulated by a task, such as fun and excitement. intrinsic motivation stimulation seemed to be linked to constructions such as aesthetic perceptions, stimulus searching, the motivation for sensory pleasure peak experiences, and sentences (carbonneau, 2012; bertram & christiansen, 2012). table 2. level of second language learning motivational orientation of students indicators mean sd description identified regulation 4.65 0.48 very high intrinsic motivation-knowledge 4.58 0.36 very high intrinsic motivation-accomplishment 4.47 0.38 very high amotivation 4.36 0.47 very high intrinsic motivation-stimulation 4.32 0.43 very high introjected regulation 4.23 0.44 very high external regulation overall 4.20 4.40 0.60 0.40 very high very high manifested in table 3 is the significant relationship between teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and the student’s second language learning motivational orientation. using pearson r, the independent variable technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers got a mean score of 4.44 while the dependent variable second language learning motivational orientation of the students has 4.40; computation yielded an r-value of .175 and p-value of .002, which when compared to the level of significance of 0.05 is lesser showing significant relationship resulting to the rejection of the null hypothesis. there was a significant relationship between teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and second language learning motivational orientation. this shows that the competent quality of the teacher and teaching is related to the learning motivation orientation of the students in learning english 171 international peer reviewed journal as their second language. this means that the more teachers are well-trained and equipped in teaching, the more students are motivated and interested in learning, which is learning the english language. the finding is congruent with the findings of ramanair et al. (2017). they stated that integrating the technology in a classroom setting where the english language is being taught does not only require the teacher to know about the technology but also requires the knowledge with pedagogy and the content, which is related to the learning motivation of the learning students. the result of the study also confirms the truthfulness of the tpack theory developed by mishra and koehler (2006), wherein it offers a productive approach to the teachers in their teaching career, particularly those who are teaching the english language. also, the result of the study proved correct the self determination theory developed by ryan and deci (2015), wherein learners’ growth is greatly affected by their behavior and motivation in response to the information feed to them. table 3. significant relationship between technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers and second language learning motivational orientation of the students variables mean r-value p-value decision technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers 4.44 .175 .002* reject second language learning motivational orientation of the students 4.40 conclusions based on the findings, it can be concluded that technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of the teachers at the university of mindanao is very high, particularly in pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. also, students’ second language learning motivational orientation is very high, as evidenced by identified regulation and intrinsic motivation-knowledge. moreover, a significant correlation existed between the teachers’ technological, pedagogical, 172 jpair multidisciplinary research and content knowledge and students’ second language learning motivational orientation. in short, both the independent and dependent variables are very high, and a significant relationship exists between the two variables. recommendations based on the conclusions above, the researchers recommend that the school administrators provide avenues for the teachers to enhance their tpack expertise by providing them with seminars and workshops to upgrade their teaching capabilities annually. also, the teachers may conduct their research and readings to enhance their tpack expertise besides the sponsored training and seminar-workshop by the school, ensuring they would produce english-speaking graduates. on the other hand, students should know the importance of speaking and writing english and strive hard to learn it like gasping for air to breathe, considering that almost always it is a passport in working abroad professionally. translational research the study’s findings may be best transferred to various forms of communication for educational purposes; if not, a further awareness campaign may be necessary. information platforms such as wall newspapers and one-act play, among others, may be developed for distant stakeholders, while social media and mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio) may be utilized to disseminate information. literature cited abubakar, a., hilman, h., & kaliappen, n. 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(2013). exploring behavioral transfer from knowledge seeking to knowledge contributing: the mediating role of intrinsic motivation. journal of the american society for information science and technology, 64(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22820 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22820 35 international peer reviewed journal abstract in an era of educational reforms, school leaders lived up to high expectations in implementing a new curriculum as the learning society demands improvements and transformation. how these neophyte leaders lived becomes an oblivious issue. this phenomenological study on leadership investigated the lived experiences, meaning and insights, and perceived achievements of neophyte school leaders in the division of negros occidental. anchored on piaget’s constructivist philosophy, trait theory and emotional resilience theory, the participants of the study were 3 principals and 3 assistant principals who were appointed in 2015 onwards and were selected through criterion sampling. the data were gathered through in-depth interviews and field observations. the data were analyzed using the esterberg’s qualitative analysis including immersing with the data, open coding, focused coding, development of themes and grounding the analysis. member checking was utilized to establish the reliability of the themes. findings showed that the lived experience of neophyte leaders included embracing the challenges of k to 12 program while the meaning and insight was perceiving triumphs over challenges. the perceived achievement was employing strategies leading light: the lived experiences of neophyte school leaders in the k to 12 implementation paulo e. cabatac http://orcid.org 0000-0002-0891-5294 paulocabatac@gmail.com himamaylan national high school himamaylan city, negros occidental, philippines originality: 98% • grammar check: 92 • plagiarism: 2 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.563 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:paulocabatac@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 36 jpair multidisciplinary research that work. the proposed training plan involved topics on adjustment strategies, professional dealings and collaboration techniques. keywords — educational management, neophyte school leaders, phenomenological study, philippines introduction school leaders are always the “eye of the storm” of the learning society as the latter expects immediate improvement and transformation in the latest implemented curriculum program (shen, 2005). the seemingly challenging and overwhelming responsibilities of school leaders continue to soar amidst calls for increased accountability of the school environment, faculty, and students. this consigns them in a precarious situation to produce positive outcomes with regard to processes employing the effective approach in attacking the newly implemented educational program (sergiovanni, 2005). cunningham and cordeiro (2003) strongly viewed that “the principals carry out all the duties necessary to run an effective school.” these duties include: administering all policies and programs; making recommendations about school improvements, hiring and developing staff; scheduling classes; planning, implementing and evaluating curricular programs; maintaining a safe school environment and managing the school resources. thus, school principalship is the most demanding job in the field of educational reforms and development. according to louis, leithwood, wahlstrom and anderson (2010), the roles of school leaders had been varied and multifaceted in handling innovations in the school brought about by changes which emerged from government’s mandates. they could be managers, capacity builders, problem solvers, and policy implementers in accommodating these changes. principals or even assistant principals were considered as the first hand implementers of the emergence of policies to the real school setting, where difficulties and problems may arise (reeves, 2006). at present, there are few researches in the philippines about lived experiences of school leaders as they accomplish their tasks, specifically in handling the newly-implemented k to 12 program. moreover, neophyte leaders as a group are stimulating to study since to be a new principal or assistant is the most demanding and challenging position (hodgkinson, 1996; owens, 2008). moreover, macpherson (2010) believed that the objective of neophyte principals 37 international peer reviewed journal is to manage school operations effectively and efficiently. thus, the researcher had chosen to undertake this particular research topic beyond what school leadership means in an attempt to understand the experiences, desires, struggles and triumphs of neophyte educational leaders in the division of negros occidental, philippines. framework the conceptual framework of the study was aligned with phenomenology, piaget’s constructivist philosophy, trait theory and the emotional resilience concept. the investigation showed the flow of the research from the theme emerged from the lived experience of neophyte school leaders such as embracing the challenges of k to 12 program. andrew, pedersen and mcevoy (2011) explained that piaget’s idea of philosophy is centered on epistemological constructivism which states that one’s knowledge is constructed that it is contingent on convention, human perception, and social experiences. constructivism was applied by positioning researcher within the context, collecting participant-generated meanings, understanding the context or setting of participants and validating the accuracy of findings through member checking. on the other hand, trait theory assumes that leaders are born with traits particularly suited to leadership. this leadership theory upholds that people are born with intellectual traits. some of these traits are going well with leadership. people who are good leaders have the sufficient combination of traits. though leadership is an art; it also requires the execution of skills and techniques. trait theory contends that the leader’s traits and attributes are tantamount to acquiring skills from training and experience. these experiences comprised practicing skills based on situations which are likely to predict effectiveness in the future (zaccaro, 2007). flin (1996) describes emotional resilience as one’s capacity to withstand and renew oneself in light of life stressors, thrive and make meaning from a challenge. one significant factor in coping with a crisis is leader’s ability to manage stress. it was observed that there are several benefits of emotional resilience to professionals and the whole society as a whole. it was argued that emotional resilience might be a particularly important quality for helping professionals, as it can help them adjust positively to stressful working conditions, manage to develop coping strategies, adapt to emotional demands, improve well-being and enhance professional growth (grant & kinman, 2013). 38 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study delved deeper into the lived experiences of neophyte school principals and assistant principals as they get their tasks and responsibilities done as school leaders. specifically, the study sought to document the experiences, meaning and insights and achievements of neophyte school leaders in the k to 12 program implementation for s.y. 2016-2017. methodology research design this study employed the phenomenological approach which describes what all participants have in common as they experience a phenomenon (creswell, 2007). the purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences with a certain phenomenon to a description of the universal essence or a “grasp of the very nature of the thing” (van manen, 2016; in creswell, 2007). in this study, phenomenology was employed by unveiling the common experiences of the neophyte leaders in their journey as principals and assistant principals in the k to 12 program implementation for s.y. 2016-2017. this approach was seen as suitable to delve deeper into the realities of their experiences which did not surface in the outsider’s view. the study also employed different ways in data gathering which included in-depth interviews to cull the participant’s experiences, audio-video recordings to record voice and gesture nuances, and field observation notes to verify the formulated themes to their daily practices as neophyte principals and assistant principals. research site all the participants came from the division of negros occidental and were appointed from the year 2015 to 2-17 or at the time of the k to 12 program implementation. three of them were assigned in northern negros while the rest hailed from southern negros. participants the participants of the study were the three principals and three assistant principals who met the selection criteria set by the researcher. three of them were males, and three were females. because they were school leaders who were tasked to manage the public schools, it was assumed that they had various as 39 international peer reviewed journal well as common lived experiences as neophyte warriors in the field of leadership especially in the k to 12 program implementation for school year 2016-2017. this study employed the criterion sampling method in selecting the participants. in this type of sampling, only the participants who met the criteria set by the researcher were included. the criteria in selecting the participants of the study were as follows: they are school leaders who were appointed from the year 2015 to 2017 or at the time of the k to 12 program implementation and they are either principals or assistant principals with or without leadership experience before their appointment. instrumentation the researcher used two instruments to get substantial and reliable data. first, the validated researcher-made interview guide was utilized in the conduct of in-depth interviews. the instrument was evaluated, revised, and corrected by the three experts in the field of leadership and qualitative research. eventually, the corrections, and suggestions made by the experts were integrated intensively and the instrument was revised for the final interview. the study aimed to collect data which eventually unfold to common themes in people’s perceptions of their experiences (williams, 2011). the video and audio recordings, with the consent of the research participants, were done during the one-on-one interview with an agreement not to publish the sound recording but only to validate and to transcribe their responses to the questions. these recordings were also done to record physical and sound nuances of the participants which may help in the interpretation of the transcribed data. another instrument used by the researcher was the observation notes to validate the formulated themes and to record the daily experiences and practices of the neophyte leaders. as to the validity, the research instrument was established by three experts in the field who evaluated and checked the questions. all aspects were also considered and incorporated into the final mechanism including the organization, structure, content, and grammatical errors. then, member checking was utilized to establish consistency of the interpreted data. member checking is a “way of finding out whether the data analysis is congruent with the participants’ experiences” (curtin & fossey, 2007, p. 92). it is a way in which cohen and crabtree (2006) believed that members (participants) have the opportunity to correct errors and challenge what is perceived as wrong interpretation. thus, it is viewed as a technique for establishing the validity of an account. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research finally, post observations by the use of observation notes were used by the researcher to validate the formulated themes and record the daily experiences and practices of the novice leaders. without the knowledge of the participant being investigated, the researcher went to the station where he/she is assigned. close encounter with participant’s colleagues, teachers and students were done as well as talking to them about how the participant managed the school. the researcher also explored the vicinity and grabbed any opportunity to observe the subjects even from afar, noting his daily routines, ways and means in dealing with people and resources. since qualitative research deals mainly with humans as participants, the ethical considerations below were rigorously employed by the researcher in the conduct of the study: informed consent. this means that the participants have adequate data regarding the research and are capable of comprehending the information, and have the power of choice, enabling them to consent to or decline in participating voluntarily. confidentiality. the confidentiality of information supplied by research participants must be respected. in this study, the researcher considered the ethics of confidentiality by not using the results for other purposes and by keeping the results for the sole purpose of this study. anonymity. the anonymity of the participants made to ensure that the data the participants provided cannot be traced back to them in reports, presentations and other forms of dissemination (crow, wiles, heath & charles, 2006). the use of pseudonyms for participants and the use of asterisks for the name of the school of the principals and assistant principals to hide their identity. results and discussion the lived experiences of neophyte school leaders embracing the challenges of the k to 12 curriculum in the implementation of the k to 12 program, problems and difficulties encountered by the leaders, teachers and the students are fairly serious, it is tolerable hence teachers and students endure these problems thus they were able to attain the learning competencies successfully (calot, 2016). even the neophyte leaders had their “grey areas” on how the k to 12 must be properly implemented. in his case, sir wil (personal communication, december 10, 2016) accepted the fact that since this curriculum is new and that he didn’t understand it, he was 41 international peer reviewed journal grateful he found the senior high school coordinator who did a lot of work and help. he even said, “in curriculum, we have a plan of the schedules and subjects to be offered. actually and honestly, i cannot understand what the government… how it is supplemented. but ahh, i am blessed because i have a teacher who becomes then the senior high school coordinator, who is very knowledgeable on the implementation of the senior high school that is why i learned so many things about the senior high school from birth.” in one particular instance, sir wil admitted that the government was not ready to implement the senior high school program and it had pressing problems. he also defended the department of education in this case. he said, “siyempre kay kulang guid. naghambal lang ang gobyerno nga ready ang senior high school pero... pero indi ready. but, since we are in the department, nobody will love the department except the people in in the department and we should not put down the department because of kun gina-put down naton ang department gina-put down man naton aton kaugalingon, our school, our children, di’ ba? (of course! because there are so much lacking. the government just said that senior high school is ready but…but it’s not ready. but, since we are in the department, nobody will love the department except the people in the department, and we should not put down the department because if we put down the department, we are doing it to ourselves, our school, our children, right?). sir rusty (personal communication, december 10, 2016) explained how the curriculum should be implemented. as a neophyte leader, he consistently thought that curriculum standards must be met and should not be compromised at all. he further uttered that, “ahm... in the curriculum implementation is... simply the following what is the central office the directive of the central office. but it should be followed to ... what is the standard. well, in implementing a curriculum that has been approved, you have to follow the standard. just for example, what do i mean with that? in the senior high school, you need to follow the curriculum of the implemented for the tle. just like the eight exploratory subjects, you have to follow that. and then you need to have a specialization in grade nine and grade ten so that it would be an easy transition to grade eleven. and then grade eleven again, there is a standard for curriculum or else the number of hours. in senior high school, they are living with the number of hours every semester. so you need to follow what is standard, or else, there are subjects that cannot be taken and you will have a problem at the end. you cannot balance the number of hours.” in her case, ma'am honey (personal communication, december 10, 2016) complimented the new curriculum but also believed that expert teachers must 42 jpair multidisciplinary research be hired as they are needed in the system. moreover, she noticed that we lack teachers who are experts. she said, “as to curriculum implementation, so far grabe ka complicated especially that the problem now is nang... the curriculum is... is nice. but what the problem is parang ano nag... i see that parang may... may indi sia jive as to... indi sia aligned as to the specialties, as to the expertise of the teachers at present. so, ang kulang is to proper implement the curriculum. it should be that the teachers are experts on...on the field. ang natabo sa aton subong, nice ang curriculum, bag-o ang curriculum but we lack experts” (as to curriculum implementation, so far it’s very complicated especially that the problem now is…the curriculum is…is nice. but what the problem is that it seems like…i see that it seemed that…it is not jived…it is not aligned as to the specialties, as to the expertise of the teachers at present. so, what’s lacking is to proper implement the curriculum. it should be that the teachers are experts on...on the field. the fact is, the curriculum is nice, new curriculum but we lack experts). meaning and insights of neophyte school leaders perceiving triumphs over challenges being blissful in spite of work demands and pressures is one of the core foundations of being a successful leader. in this study, one of the perceived triumphs of the participants was being happy despite the huge role that they are facing. one of the things that made them happy is that by sticking to moderation in any case. for instance, they are not too strict and not too lenient at the same time. cooke (2007) indicated that principals are recommended to strike a happy medium by doing what the teachers think is fair enough provided that legalities are followed. in this way, communication lines to teachers are opened. in this theme, constructivist philosophy is apparent. piaget declared that humans make meaning of their observations about the interaction between their experiences and ideas. it can be inferred through the experiences of neophyte leaders; they have created a meaning to certain things such as how to deal with subordinates in the new environment to discipline them but letting them understand his/her job at the same time. ma’am honey perceived that her quality as an accommodating leader is a plus and minus at the same time. she thought that there must be a dividing line between these extremes. her reason can be summed up with these: “i am easy to go. i am easy to be approached with by anybody. kung too much ko naman ka close…at least may little of strict. kinanglan na lang guro may line that divides.” 43 international peer reviewed journal (i am easy to go. i am easy to be approached with by anybody. if there’s too much closeness…at least a bit of being strict is vital. there must be a dividing line) (personal communication, december 12, 2016). being independent is one of sir wil’s strength, but he insisted that he must be cautious in giving trust to anyone. he felt that giving too much expectation on someone can lead to frustrations. in his words, “independence…i can do things with my own. kinanglan indi ko maghatag ‘ya guid too much expectation sa tawo. what i mean when i give you a taskkinanglan ma-settle ko nga asta dira lang. indi kita mag... kay kun kis-a, may mga expectation kita nga masarangan mo ni labaw sa akon. kay kun kis-a, dira nagaka-ubos-ubos man ko... kun sa akon lang, kahapos-hapos nga obra... indi mo mahimo?”(independence…i can do things with my own. i should not give too much expectation to people. what i mean is, when i give a task, i need to settle just right there. we must not… because sometimes, there are expectations that they can do it more than what i can do. sometimes, i am lost there…for me, it’s an easy job…you can do it?) (personal communication, december 12, 2016). sir zen described himself as a cool person. in his statement, “my being a cool person. and then being, ina bala ang approachable. ako ‘ya indi ko palaaway” (my being cool as a person. and then being, somewhat approachable. i am not war freak). though being cool is an asset, sir zen believed that one must be confident and assertive as a leader, too. he said he must improve his personality so that he will have confidence and assertive as a leader sometimes. to meet halfway, he must maintain that coolness with adherence to being assertive and vocal as a leader. he admitted, “indi guid ko very high confidence. dapat assertive ka at times gale as a principal” (i do not have very high confidence. you must be assertive if you are a principal) (personal communication, december 12, 2016). socrates believed that man needs to learn to know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as much as possible. in this light, our neophyte leaders had established this scheme of self-moderation. sir wil believed that teachers must be trained to be independent, but the leader must check on their ability and how they work. in other words, trusting them but do not leave them alone. ma’am honey’s example was appropriate to mention. she believed that ‘dividing line is necessary’ in leadership in order that temperance is practiced. another perceived triumph that the participants had in common is how to defeat their enemies. figuratively speaking, enemies would refer to any difficulty they had encountered during their leadership reign, may it be financially, physically or emotionally. the ancient chinese military strategies in the 5th 44 jpair multidisciplinary research century b.c. sun tzu in his book (2008) “the art of war” said, “if you know the enemy and yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” he believed that a leader must know his environment well through observation and seek for the truth. to observe and draw conclusion upon the knowledge of the environment is the leader’s advantage against his opponents. believing in this strategy, sir rusty admitted that as a leader, one needs to know important things to succeed. taking higher perspective in leadership is a “must” since a leader needs to think critically about his next big decision. this belief is reflected in his statement, “so, if you know your enemy, you can defeat them well in a shorter time. so if i’m going to deal it, i would do it on a higher perspective of knowing what to do. as you approach the problem again, you will understand how are you going to attack it.” sir wil having a specific problem about the lacking chairs in school, he brought the attention to the involved party, and that is the parents. he said, “last time pa nga conflicts with the parents regarding the issues of they will bring chairs. i called a meeting” (the last time we had conflict with parents was the issue of bringing chairs in school. i called a meeting) (personal communication, december 12, 2016). to address the problem effectively, he admitted that he used the “art of war” in this particular trouble. he believed that to win against his enemies, he must know his enemies well. he quipped, “art of war kinanglan makilala mo ang imo nga kontra para magdaog ka”. (art of war is important so that you can fully know your enemy. in that way, you will know how to defeat your enemy so that you will win). sir wil and sir rusty’s responses are also aligned with what ma’am julie said about knowing where to stand in the new environment and position. a leader must consider the culture he is facing. she said, “if you are new to that school, you have to be observant. you should weigh things and possibly be keen on the teachers. the culture of that school is different from your previous school.” perceived achievement of neophyte school leaders employing strategies that work sir zen counselled that a leader must be knowledgeable enough about his teachers and the people he is working with. he expressed this view as, “…the advice that i can give you is dapat kilalahon mo guid ang taho, ang mga taho sa palibot mo, ang mga teachers mo” (…the advice that i can give you is you should know your people well, the people around you, and your teachers) (personal 45 international peer reviewed journal communication, december 12, 2016). the complete understanding of the school system complexities can be an advantage to neophyte leaders. it is similar to what sir wil’s and sir rusty’s perception on how to defeat the enemy. the ‘enemy’ is not necessarily a ‘villain or menace’ but more of an obstacle that leaders must hurdle like communication barriers, unrecognized school culture or disturbances in leadership. the strategy of sir rusty in leading the school is to be able to understand the cause of a problem. in fact, it could be gleaned that he employed his experiences and past encounters with problems so that it would be easy to solve the next time. in his words, “making strategies that would... lessen the doubts of the thing that is very important. when you are done with the problem, as you approach the problem again, you will understand how are you going to attack it” (personal communication, december 13, 2016). ma’am honey’s strategy was different. when dealing with difficult persons, she didn’t force them. instead, she encouraged and supported them. she said, “paano ko, like for example, may ara da sa aton nga emotionally down. so, paano ta ’ni sila i-deal? so, indi ta sia mapilit to be like this kind of person but to go with kung ina ‘ya...by supporting them, support lang guid, as in support, encouraging him or her nga inspite of everything” (how can i deal with someone who is emotionally down? so how can i deal with it? so you cannot force this kind of person but…by supporting them, just give them support, encouraging him or her in spite of everything) (personal communication, december 13, 2016). the strategy used by sir wil was feedback. he believed it was effective to check what’s lacking and needed. he responded, “siguro ma-feedback lang kami and i will remind them that nga next time these are the flaws. so, kinanglan may... before sang activity…with their feedback after sang activity para everybody knows kon ano ang kakulangan” (i think we will have feedback and i will remind them next time that these are the flaws. so, there’s a need…before the activity… with their feedback after each activity so everyone knows what’s lacking) (personal communication, december 19, 2016). sir zen advocated collaboration as a strategy to be used in schools. thus he said, “to address this, dapat ang ginatawag “collaborative efforts” (there must be “collaborative efforts” to address it). ma’am linda also professed that principals must be generous to their teachers. she believed that whatever you do, it will send an echo. doing good will not be in vain. also, a strategy she implied was to appreciate people and having gratitude to all who helped you in the process. in fact, she said these words, “i-appreciate mo guid, give credit toward credit is due. huo, amo guid na to kay nga-a. remember these people who supported you in 46 jpair multidisciplinary research your way” (you must appreciate them; give credit toward credit is due. yes, that is the reason. remember these people who supported you in your way) (personal communication, december 19, 2016). both instructional and affective teaching indirect strategies used by the coach educator promoted a positive learning environment to student-coaches (mesquita, coutinho, de martin-silva, parente, faria, & afonso, 2015). these include questioning, giving autonomy for problem solving and responsibility to regulate the learning tasks development. in effect, these strategies promoted the awareness and the ability of student-coaches to explore alternative solutions and self-regulate their learning. just like the mentioned coach educators, neophyte school leaders also used effective strategies to achieve their goals in leadership. ma’am honey used encouragement, investigating the cause of the problem was sir rusty’s way, sir zen employed collaborative techniques while ma’am linda used appreciation as a good way to motivate teachers. according to sir wil, training teachers was worthwhile advocacy as an assistant principal. he wanted to build their esteem and confidence as teachers in the field. as a hands-on leader, you might able to bring out the best in them one step at a time. in his account, “... kag gahambal guid sa ila amo ni mag-train, amo ni mag-ano... kag gina-appreciate man nila pero siyempre hambal ko na sa ila nga indi niyo pagpabalo nga assistant principal niyo naga-train sa inyo. at least, ma-boost man nila ang self nila”(…and then i was telling them, this how we train, you must do this…they also appreciate it but i see to it that they must not divulge to the public that i was the one who trains. at least, their self-worth was boosted) (personal communication, december 24, 2016). sir rusty’s legacy was looking after the welfare of the students and helping them received their diploma. delighted, he said, “seeing that students can finish their studies and have a job.” he added that these students who seemed to be problematic at first have their attachment to him after encouraging them to finish their studies. they even treated him as their father in school. he quipped, “…and now, they have their full job and then they called me ‘dad’. they chatted me and then said, “sir dad, we will be we will be going back to san antonio, hope to see you” (personal communication, december 19, 2016). sir zen believed that happiness was his barometer in telling whether there is fulfillment. once happy, he was satisfied with was going on. he said, “siguro in terms of achievement, once i am happy, i achieved something. if there is happiness, may ara achievement. pero kun ‘ti fulfillment, i-prove mo guid sa self mo kun happy ka mong. pero kun indi ako happy, indi ako kuntento sa akon ubra, feeling of dissatisfaction, masiling mo nga daw may kulang” (maybe 47 international peer reviewed journal in terms of achievement, once i am happy, i achieved something. if there is happiness, there’s achievement. but if we are talking about fulfillment, you have to prove to yourself that you are happy. but if i am not happy then i am not fulfilled when it comes to work, feeling of dissatisfaction, you can say that there’s missing) (personal communication, december 19, 2016). ma’am julie believed that doing a principal task which eventually can help teachers led to her fulfillment. in her words, “i think right now the teachers are happy with the teaching loads i have given them.” for ma’am honey who was proud of being a pioneer assistant principal in senior high school, every day she felt fulfilled because of the program, “…ang daily activities nga matapos sia, feeling ko fulfilled ko” (…the daily activities we accomplished, i felt fulfilled) (personal communication, december 21, 2016). conclusions the new principals and assistant principals were not spared to any challenges of the k to 12 program. these challenges that they needed to embrace included adjustments to their subordinates, school size and the operation which was new to them as leaders. it can be noted that leaders’ understanding of the people and the challenges were part of their jobs as principals and assistant principals. as leaders, they perceived that they were triumphant in spite of the challenges they were facing by knowing how to face and handle the circumstances that came their way as leaders. the school leaders’ perceived achievement was the things that they had accomplished through their hard work and ability. each day, these leaders were given the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of their subordinates and students through their great roles as leaders. in this study, some of the strategies used by neophyte leaders in leading the school were to be able to understand the root cause of a problem, encouragement and support to colleagues, feedback mechanism, collaborative strategy and being generous to teachers. the art of war in leadership also emerged. it knows how to defeat one’s enemy. to observe and draw conclusion upon the knowledge of the environment is the leader’s advantage against his opponents. taking higher perspective in leadership is a “must” since a leader needs to think critically about his next big decision. neophyte leaders admitted that they used the art of war to win against his enemies and that they must know their enemies well. accordingly, leaders must be knowledgeable enough about his teachers and the people he is working with. the perspectives that emerged included the goal of growth in which “promotion” is considered an achievement. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research model of lived experiences of neophyte school leaders based on cabatac’s study (2017) proposed leadership training plan for neophyte principals and assistant principals i. general information: program title: a proposed training plan for neophyte principals & assistant principals program description: summer training-workshop and learning action cell (lac) session to address the priority needs of principals and assistant principals to enhance leadership and school governance in the k to 12 implementation. prerequisite programs: none 49 international peer reviewed journal ii. rationale: the job of principal has changed dramatically. neophyte principals are now expected to deal more on student achievement while still functioning their administrative and building manager duties. usdan, mccloud and podmostko (2000) in their study, pointed out that the today’s principals had doubled their working time and many thought it is ‘not doable.” principal turnover adversely impacts schools. according to research, whenever there is a new principal, student achievement temporarily slow. eventually, the impact is felt more at the most challenging schools. in these schools, the new principal is more likely to have less experience and be less effective than a new principal at a less challenging school (seashore-louis, leithwood, wahlstrom, & anderson, 2010). thus, a longer, more pronounced slowdown of achievement gains was evident. principals become more effective as they gain more experience. principals become more effective with experience, especially in their first three years (clark, martorell & rockoff 2009).  it can also be noted that no matter how effective a principal was at his or her previous school, when he or she transfers to a new school it takes approximately five years to fully stabilize and improve the teaching staff as well as fully implement policies and practices to positively impact the school’s performance (seashore-louis et al. 2010). effective principals still make significant improvements in their first few years; however, their effectiveness definitely increases over time. republic act 9155 provides the overall framework for school head empowerment by strengthening their leadership roles; and school-based management within the context of transparency and local accountability. duration: 5 days equivalent to 40 hours formal face to face training (f3) on enhancing leadership and school governance processes management level of program: division-wide delivery mode: the training plan workshop which includes f3 for all principals and assistant principals, mentoring, peer sharing, training and presentation of outputs target personnel: all neophyte principals and assistant principals who have 2 years or less experience with date of appointment as reference resource material used to support the training sessions: modules, handbooks, code of ethics for teachers, handouts, books, instructional videos, documentaries, researches 50 jpair multidisciplinary research iii. general objectives as the key areas that surfaced in the face to face interviews with the research participants, it is deemed necessary that a leadership training should be crafted. all neophyte principals and assistant principals are enjoined in the said training to address the important skills and knowledge essential for their growth. the following are relevant areas for their learning: general objectives: at the end of this 5-day training-workshop, the participants will be able to: 1. gain insights and learning on appropriate adjustment strategies during the period of neophyte principalship; 2. acquire necessary skills in dealing with subordinates professionally; building strong relationship; collaborating with stakeholders; 3. obtain knowledge on k to 12 implementation approaches; 4. upgrade understanding on inquiry-based leadership and how it helps novice school leaders; 5. apply coping mechanism strategies in a context-based role play. end of training-workshop outputs • updated insights and knowledge on adjustment strategies for neophyte principals and assistant principals • acquired content knowledge on the code of ethics for professional teachers • updated awareness on collaboration techniques • obtained information and updates on approaches to curriculum implementation • upgraded and updated knowledge on the inquiry-based leadership • applied coping mechanism strategies in a context-based role play 51 international peer reviewed journal day objectives content suggested activity/description of methodologies duration expected outputs formal face to face (f3) day 1 to enhance knowledge in the adjustment strategies for neophyte principals & assistant principals adjustment strategies lecture/ small group discussion 7.5 hours • updated knowledge on adjustment strategies for neophyte principals and assistant principals day 2 -to enhance ksas on code of ethics for professional teachers in their professional dealings with subordinates -to enhance knowledge on collaboration techniques for neophyte leaders code of ethics for professional teachers in their professional dealings with teachers; building strong relationships; collaboration technique lecture/ small group discussion 7.5 hours • updated knowledge on the code of ethics for professional teachers • updated knowledge on collaboration techniques day 3 to enhance knowledge in k to 12 implementation k to 12 program implementation approaches lecture/ small group discussion 7.5 hours • obtained information and updates on approaches to curriculum implementation day 4 to develop content knowledge on inquiry-based leadership inquiry-based leadership lecture/ small group discussion 7 hours • upgraded and updated knowledge on the inquiry-based leadership day 5 to revisit the coping mechanisms for physical and mental stress coping mechanisms for physical and mental stress lecture/ small group discussion lecture/ lac session 7 hours • applied coping mechanism strategies in a context-based role play iv. program content focus content matrix 52 jpair multidisciplinary research time day 1 (monday) day 2 (tuesday) day 3 (wednesday) day 4 (thursday) day 5 (friday) 8:00 – 8:30 arrival & registration mol mol mol mol 8:30 – 9:00 opening program professional dealings: code of ethics for professional teachers building strong relationships k to 12 program implementation approaches inquiry-based leadership coping mechanisms for physical and mental stress 9:00 – 12:00 program engagement 12:00 – 1:00 lunch break 1:00 – 1:30 mol mol mol mol closing program 1:30 – 4:00 adjustment strategies collaboration techniques k to 12 program implementation approaches inquiry-based leadership 4:00 – 5:00 v. activity schedule acknowledgments i am grateful for the governor of negros occidental, hon. alfredo maraňon, jr. as project grantor of the scholarship i have received through the project free (flagship to reach educational excellence) – paglaum scholarship. i am also thankful to the university of st. la salle, bacolod city being the institutional provider. literature cited andrew, p., pedersen, p. & mcevoy, c. 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https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=williams%2c+c.+%282007%29.+journal+of+business+%26+economic+research.&btng 154 jpair multidisciplinary research acceptability of pili pasta maria luisa n. gonzales https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 mangluisa12221963@gmail.com bicol college, daraga, albay philippines, 4501 sheila r. nunez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5570-0520 sheilarobasnunez0810@yahoo.com tanchuling college, legazpi city originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study appraised the acceptability of pili pasta in the 2nd district of albay. it determined the status of pili products in the 2nd district of albay, philippines, the level of acceptability, along with appearance, aroma, texture, and taste, the swot analysis and challenges encountered in its production, and marketability along with the product, promotion, price, place and people, likewise, the significant agreement on the rank order of its acceptability and marketability. it is substantial to the department of tourism (dot), food industry, culinary professors, and culinary students. it used descriptive-inferential and experimental methods in determining the responses from 176 respondents in 4 groups. findings revealed that the most known pili products are sweets and candies. the product was analyzed using the swot analysis and is highly acceptable in terms of appearance, aroma, texture, and taste. it was also considered marketable for its product, promotion, price, place, and people. the four groups of respondents significantly agreed on the acceptability of pili pasta when it comes to taste. vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.794 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5570-0520 mailto:sheilarobasnunez0810@yahoo.com 155 international peer reviewed journal while they disagree significantly concur on its marketability for the reason that different categories of respondents have different perspectives when it comes to marketing strategy to use in promoting the product. therefore, pili pasta is acceptable defending in its location of marketing it. keywords — business, innovation, acceptability, marketability, descriptiveinferential design, philippines introduction pasta  was considered a staple food for many countries around the world. there is a considerable increase in popularity because of its nutritional aspects. (ong et al., 2014). fiber-enriched pasta could be produced by adding up to 15 percent of dietary fiber into regular semolina-based pasta formulation, leading to acceptable products with matching characteristics of texture and color compared to commercial products (li, et al., 2019). according to prabhasankar (2010), pasta can be made with the use of semolina, durum, flour, corn, rice, wheat, or a mixture of everything, with water. pasta can also be supplemented and fortified. in the current years, most ingredients and add-ons have been produced to enhance the quality of the pasta product from durum and aestivum wheat. for those people who are gluten intolerant, pasta is a suitable and demand product for them. nonetheless, few have tackled about sensory analysis and acceptability of pasta noodles made from the variety of andean corn, capia, and cully from argentina. for the celiac and non-celiac group (gimenez et al., 2015). southern italy cultivated five durum wheat considered conventional cropping to produce quality pasta products. traditional cropping and organic farming were used to evaluate the agronomic, technological sanitary of grains, and the sensory quality of the pasta. organic agriculture was assessed as unsatisfactory when it comes to quality compared to conventional cropping. saragulla appears to be the best yield in quality pasta in all crop experiments. innovation is creativity in action and all about practical imagination to make new ideas useful. change is essential to be learned but frustrating at times because of inexperienced and requires courage to transform ideas into reality. psychologists attest that ingenuity is three different things. first is thinking, second is feeling different, and lastly, focused and committed (mckeown, 20014). in coping with challenges, innovation is just an opportunity, but a preconditioned for success. the change supports small and medium enterprises 156 jpair multidisciplinary research (sme’s). and recognize as major essential to indemnify and to sustain the combative aspects of the food sector (galanakis, 2016). jolliffe (2019) deliberate about the relevance of the identified challenges in the region on the development of food tourism scenario on its authentic and commodified, commodity development, and culinary tourism. these movements resulted in two instances resulting in studies about food tourism products such as hot spring-related cuisine in japan and cooking schools in thailand. these instances are examined on a basis for its modification, specifically in cases that the tourist experiences were overwhelming due to the modification and sustainability that brought major changes in the food tourism industry. nuts, famous around the world, were described as a hard-shelled seed, with the oily kernel that is mostly used by humans for consumption, whether for snacks or cooking. nuts can be eaten as whole-shelled nuts, blanched, and if roasted, may be produced as peanut butter. most nuts, except for peanuts, are born on trees. nuts have high protein and fat content and low in carbohydrates. nuts are composed of amino and fatty acids, vitamins with the level of glucose (othmer, 2007). the world is now using different types of flour, such as green banana flour (gbh). the article discussed that using various ingredients for a meal such as from fruits, vegetables, nuts, and wheat will produce a product that is different in texture, color, flavor, and density. (wang, zhang, & mujumdar, 2012). the article imparted that when using different flour such as green banana flour (gbf) and other fruit, vegetables, nuts, and wheat flour will make a huge difference in texture, density, color, and flavor, which will enhance the product’s nutritional values. quantity counts, innovation a new method that requires a lot of attempts and processes to produce quality innovative results or products. new techniques and methods were discovered with every failure experience and experiment. proficiency in innovation will not guarantee the success of a new innovative product (kuczmarski, 1996). in the old world, pili is grown and known as an ornamental or just a simple decoration—the example of the countries that use pili as ornaments are indonesia and malaysia. in the philippines, pilus is commercially produced and regard pili as a priority crop. pili nuts are endemic in some regions in the country, such as in bicol region and some in the palawan area. the bicol region, with the provinces of albay, camarines sur, and norte, sorsogon, and masbate, emphasized that 80% of pili production comes from this area. the large proportion crop up from sorsogon provinces and tag pili nut as “commodity champion (coronel, 1996). 157 international peer reviewed journal pili nut with the scientific name canarium ovatum with 600 species in the burseraceae family is native in the philippines. and wild grows in the southern part of the country. pili trees that grow pili fruit that is a drupe, 4 to 7cm long, and 2.3 to 3.8 cm in diameter and weighs 15.7 to 45.7 g. pili nuts can be eaten raw, blanched, and fried. pili is popular in bicol as a pasalubong product as sweets. some use pili kernel with chocolates, an add-on to baked products, and ice cream making. pili nut kernel is the essential outcome from pili composed of 8% carbohydrates in contrast for the fruit to contain 70 %fat (montevirgen et al., 2002). with the vast potential seen in the country’s prized pili tree, the philippines, a large consumer market of beauty and personal care products, can now have the chance at the global cosmetic goods industry. the tan family from bicol, the owner of the brand pili beauty, wanted to prove that cosmetics made from pili pulp oil-based beauty products get a shot in the cosmetic market. (mark anthony d. toldo) from the cited literature, the researchers experimented with making pili nut flour in making pasta noodles. hence, this research will developed and evaluate pili nut flour as an innovative take on in making pasta noodles and used the pili nut flour as an alternative ingredient in producing pasta. framework the framework emphasized that the institutional implications of the study will encourage the food industry to create a more innovative product to help the government office to promote the food industry to produce an innovative product using native products of albay, healthy food production for the entrepreneurs. for the community, they will be able to create a product to be considered a food destination in albay, which will serve as an inspiration to create new products using local ingredients and; to add more ideas in enhancing and upgrade the flavor of the food that is out of the ordinary. objectives of the study the study determined the acceptability of pili nut flour as the main ingredient in making pili pasta. specifically, 1) it learned the status of pili products in the 2nd district of albay along; a. candies/sweet products, b. beauty products, and c. pili oil. 2) analyzed the level of acceptability of pili pasta along; appearance, 158 jpair multidisciplinary research aroma, texture, and taste. (compared to ordinary pasta). 3) determined the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (swot) ` analysis of the pili pasta. 4) evaluated the challenges encountered, 5) marketability such as product, promotion, price, place, and people. 6) a significant agreement was concluded to determine the acceptability of the product to the market. the researchers hypothesized that the rank was insignificant among the groups of respondents on the acceptability and marketability of pili pasta. making pasta out of pili nut flour is complicated but possible. as claimed by marc vetri (2015), there are different types of flour can be used in making pasta noodles. most of them are wheat flour that is commonly found in grocery stores, namely, tipo 00, durum, semolina, whole-wheat, and stone ground. some were from non-wheat flour-like oats, buckwheat, chestnut, almond, pistachio, and corn. nevertheless, no single meal is perfect for making pasta noodles. as discussed by kaur, sharma, nagi & dar (2012), among cereals, only wheat is considered to be the most suitable for the manufacturing of pasta. this has the specific reasons for the protein content, and the properties of gliadin and glutenin, properties required to form a viscoelastic complex called gluten. prabhasankar, p. (2010) observed that spaghetti could obtain protein and high lysine by adding 35% of soy flour without an adverse effect with its texture and color. it was reported that using soya and wheat flour in making pasta noodles can shorten the cooking time than usual. the effect of supplementation of lasagne using chickpea flour as economical and known for its nutritional and highly protein stable, revealed that using chickpea flour than the wheat flour has a huge difference, from the nutritional value and content, and the same with texture and cooking process of the product. according to sanni et al. (2007), instant noodles produced from composite flour were different form each other. based on observation, using cassava as flour in making noodles increase the carbohydrates and fiber content and decrease in protein and fat content discusses the difference between using cassava as flour and how it increase in carbohydrates, fiber content and decrease in calories such as protein and fat. their findings revealed that using cassava is possible in making a different kind of flour other than wheat flour that is popular in the market, and that has been used in food production in the food industries. as claimed by jessup, a (2001), consumers, firms, third-party entities and governments, all play a role in determining which of many foods attributes and described in food labels can help consumers to use their purchasing power to the fullest. with this legal aspect in food innovation, consumers will know and 159 international peer reviewed journal can purchase a better product when it comes to nutritional values, pricing, and packaging. this article discussed the importance of legal aspects when we talk about food production. it gives security to entities such as consumers, private organizations, government, and international organizations. based on ma (2013) emphasized that it is better to analyze legal and regulatory aspects, general frameworks, identify fundamental mainstays and functions to have an effective traceability system. the study projected that it is better to have legal and regulatory aspects, especially in the food industry, for a better traceability system. such as analyzing assessment criteria, bar codes, and technical resources mostly to new products. discovery from the study of schaafsma and kok (2005), with regards to innovation, the product should be represented both in terms of technology and commerce for italian food companies, and the segmentation of consumers likes in young consumers. the role of acceptance of a new food within innovation varies from different culture and education. it also implies the need to identify highly differentiated marketing strategies. prahalad (2012) identified the bottom of the pyramid (bop) market as a new source of radical innovation. managerial attention should focus on creating awareness, access, availability, and availability of “4a’s”. with 4a’s, managers can create an existing environment for innovations. findings revealed that change needs full attention and support from the top management, mainly the managerial position, and should focus on 4a’s awareness, access, affordability, and availability. because of this, the external constraints can be utilized to build innovation. along with the acceptability of genetically modified cheese presented as real product alternatives by bech-larsen, t. and et al. (2002), it was conceptualized to test the acceptability of genetically modified (gm) products when presented as real product alternatives. this study is somehow to the new product that is extraordinary or unusual for them. as stated by imram (1999), appearance plays the essential aspects in influencing consumer’s perceptions and acceptance of food products. the texture and flavor are equally crucial in consumers’ perception, but “first taste is almost always with the eyes.” besides, appearance can have a halo effect, which modifies subsequent perception and food acceptability. as predicted by millena and sagum (2018) stated about the nutritional, physical, and fatty acid assessments of the pulp and seven (7) varieties were included. pili nut contains 67.2 – 74.1% fat, 9.97 % dietary fiber, 13.2% protein, and 749 cal per 100g energy. the said fact about pili nut was used by the researcher to validate the product and its nutritional content. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research this study discusses the importance of the appearance of one product, because as others would say, “we eat with our eyes.” means, you cannot force someone to eat something that is not pleasing in the eyes. the expected outputs of the study would be the production of new products that can be an innovation to add to the gastronomy/food destination in the 2nd district of albay in the bicol region. this study will help to focus on making an innovative product using local ingredients of the region. this study on food innovation needed to follow a framework in any existing theory. the researchers’ considered this an experiment on food processing, which is why the researcher needs to evaluate the said innovation. diffusion of innovation (doi) theory developed by e.m rogers in 1962, originated in communication to explain how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses (or spread) through a specific population or social system. the result of this diffusion is that people, as a part of a social network, adopt a new idea, behavior, or product. adoption means that a person does something differently than they have previously purchased. the key to adoption is that the person must perceive. the study was anchored to the diffusion of innovation because the product that will be innovated is a pili pasta that is made from wheat flour. with this study, the pasta will be made by a pili flour. as an innovative product, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability are the crucial factors to consider in product innovation. before deciding to make a product, it should have a relative advantage to the ones that are already in the market. and the product should all be compatible for it to work correctly to produce the output expected for the product; because of its oily texture, pili pasta is hard to incorporate into other ingredients to become pasta noodles, trialability, in an experiment in food it has trial and error phase just like in producing the pili pasta; observability, upon trial period of the product observation is necessary for a successful output of the experiment. for the same reason that this study used system theory, product innovation is also a system. the ingredients in making pasta are the input, the process will be the procedures in making pili pasta, and the output would be the pili pasta itself. the scope of the study focused on the status of pili pasta products in the 2nd district of albay province, comprising (1) city and three (3) municipalities that are located in the bicol region. it will also analyze the acceptability of pili pasta noodles along with the appearance, aroma, texture, and taste. distinguish the challenges that may be encountered in the production of the pili pasta noodles. 161 international peer reviewed journal this study ranged to all one (1) city, and three (4) municipalities of albay province is located in the bicol region. with respondents from the employees of the department of tourism (dot), local tourists, pasalubong store owners, and local restaurant owners. and this study was limited to acceptability, marketability, and making pasta out of pili flour was introduced in the 2nd district of albay. the study’s timetable to finish this study was before december 12, 2019. this study is relevant to the following stakeholders that can be a direct resource in supporting the innovation, such as the department of tourism, the food industry, future researchers, culinary professors, and culinary students. methodology research design the research method used in this study was the descriptive-inferential and experimental methods of research. relating to garcia’s definition, a descriptive way is a study that obtains facts about existing conditions of detaches significant relationships between current phenomena. at the same time, the inferential process is to attempt to apply the conclusions that were obtained from the experimental study. instrumentation the questionnaire were devised based on the objectives of the study. the respondents were chosen from the list of businesses that were registered to the business office of the city and the municipalities and dot list of tourist that visits the different towns and one (1) capital of the 2nd district of albay province. there were one hundred sixty (160) participants, with one hundred (100) came from tourists, ten (10) local government units (dot), and fifty (50) from private sectors. data gathering in the event of gathering the data, first, the pili pasta noodles. next would be securing a letter for approval to the dot administration and to the office of the mayor to all the municipalities of the 2nd district and to (1) city, which is the legazpi city to get the information needed and to conduct a survey. the questionnaire contains a short letter to the respondents. the researcher personally administered the distribution of the inquiry to the respondents after giving them the sample of the pili pasta dish for them to taste get their evaluation of the pili 162 jpair multidisciplinary research pasta. immediately after they answered the questionnaire, the questionnaire were retrieved by the researcher. then it was analyzed and interpreted after using the statistical tools. the statistical tools used was based according to the type and nature of the objectives. frequency count, ranks, kendall coefficient of concordance w, and chi-square test was used to test the validity of the research. results and discussion the more popular product that was made from pili are the candies/sweet products. findings indicated that there are also beauty products made from pili pulp oil, and it is the main ingredient for the pili beauty product. a demographic profile is essential to determine the status of the pili pasta. the study would help to encourage business proprietors to produce more products rather than sweets using the pili nut. with this, it could help the market to have more farmers to harvest pili so that the supply would increase. with the increased amount, it meant a lower price for the pili nut. and pili pasta could be one of the examples of the product of pili nut that can be categorized as a gourmet product. on the acceptability of the pili pasta, from the respondents coming from the department of tourism, pasalubong store owner, local tourists, and restaurant owners and employees, signifies that when it comes to the appearance, aroma, texture, and taste of the pili pasta that were being tested, the respondents emphasized that pili pasta is highly acceptable with the average ranging from 2.5 to 3.0. in terms of appearance, the data stated that the highest on the rank was that the pasta is delicious. with aroma, the respondents believed that they find pili pasta aromatic as it ranked number 1 with an average of 2.74. on texture, creaminess has the highest rating with 2.56. and lastly, the taste, which is the vital aspect of the product, respondents believed that pasta is tasty with the highest rank from the data that garnered an average of 2.77. analyzing the acceptability rate of the product in the market, the more successful the product will be. in business, the acceptability of products means more purchase of the product in the future. purchasing is related to sex, education, income, and the number of years in the business for the restaurant owner. the data projected that the results vary from the demographics of the respondents, and every category had their perspective with regards to the appearance, aroma, texture, and taste. the product was analyzed based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (swot) analysis. innovation means the adoption of new processes, 163 international peer reviewed journal services, and products, which vary among different individuals and their demographic characteristics. as claimed by pons, f (1999), to segment customers has significant importance on consumer’s predisposition in adopting the new product or innovation. and segmentation is an essential tool for marketing. the study of munuera-aleman (2004) predicted a go/no go criteria have five groups’ dimensions. first, the strategic fit, which explains that there is a particular strategy on a particular product that cannot be utilized on the other product. second, technical feasibility, the second important dimension because it will be the assessment on how to deliver the product or services to the end-user. the third will be customer acceptance, which is essential to a business that the product produced by the company will be accepted by the customers to earn a profit, a profit that every business needs. fourth is the market opportunity. this means that in business, every product has the market opportunity; to make it big with innovation and marketing strategy. the process of accepting or rejecting food is a multi-level nature. people vary their choices to their orientation to food. sensory characteristics are not just the basis for consumer’s responses to the product. there are other linked factors, like previously acquired information, past experiences, beliefs, and attitudes. the idea of arifin et al. (2019) and idris (2012) along strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat (swot) analysis were used for better projection of the result of the study to identify and anticipate the factors that can affect the production and marketability of pili pasta. based on the fact mentioned above and the data collected by the methodology, it was possible to create a swot analysis to determine the forces that can be a hindrance for the pili pasta product to make it in the food business. swot analysis can be noted in table 3. in view the scenarios of pili pasta as a new innovative product by swot analysis above, it can determine the following: strengths 1. new and innovative product made of pili nut that is popular as a pasalubong product of the tourist as sweets, and can be introduced as pili pasta that can be categorized as a portion of gourmet food. 2. since pili pasta is fresh pasta, it can be cooked for a short period, compared to the dry pasta found in the market. 3. the pili pasta being different is an advantage because it is made from the an unusual ingredient for pasta, which is the pili nut flour, unlike pasta 164 jpair multidisciplinary research being found from the market that is made from wheat, corn, and allpurpose flour. weakness 1. promotion of the product, pili pasta is new that doesn’t have a reputation compared to pasta products in the market. 2. fresh pili pasta has a shorter life span, unlike the other dried pasta product. 3. despite pili, pasta is an innovation, as different as it can be means weakness for the product for the reason that not everyone can adapt to change. opportunities 1. pili pasta, as an innovative product, has a huge advantage to make it in the gastronomical/food destination in the province of albay. 2. pili pasta can be an addition to the food destination in the local tourism of the bicol region. 3. pili pasta business can open more opportunities to give employment to the pili farmers. more pili farmers meant a more sustainable supply of pili nut. threat 1. despite the abundance of pili trees in the bicol region, with fewer farmers harvesting pili nuts, the supply of pili nuts is low, and the price is high. 2. competition with known pasta products in the market is stiff for pili pasta. 3. different demographics of people means different food orientation. the challenges that may be encountered in the production of the pili pasta; delved that the pasta is a very complicated dish, to the main ingredient which is the pili nuts that as of now is expensive in the market with php700.00 per kilo, to roast it to the right texture to mix to other ingredients like all-purpose flour, eggs, and salt. have it grind in the market like peanut butter, so it will incorporate appropriately with the other parts. finally, the rolling of the pili pasta dough is difficult in the pasta maker because of its oily texture. it needed to go in a rolling pin before rolling it in a pasta maker. while on the marketability of pili pasta, as stated according to the findings that were suggesting different types of marketing strategies in terms of product, 165 international peer reviewed journal promotion, price, place, and people. the different categories of respondents that, according to the data, marketability of pili pasta in the 2nd district of albay, is highly acceptable. from the product category, respondents prefer the product should have high quality. and also, with the promotion category, the majority of the respondents think that social media would be a highly acceptable promotional strategy because of our technology era that is dependent on the internet. it is also clear from the data of the price category that the respondents agreed that price bundling is highly acceptable than the other pricing practices. the place is also an essential category in marketing. respondents decided that it can be stated from the data that the highest rank on where to sell the pili pasta is in coffee shops or café. and from the data of the category people in marketing the pili pasta, it can be noticed that the highest percent of the respondents perceived that local tourists are the ones to pili pasta should be selling it to. upon analyzing the demographic profile of the respondents, the researcher’s perceived that in every respondent has its own specific perspectives when it comes to the marketability of the pili pasta. the respondents also have various suggestions on how to market the product, and it varies on age, occupation, and years in the business. along with the significance of agreement among the ranks of the marketability and acceptability of pili pasta, to find out whether there exists a significant agreement on the ranking of the acceptability of pili pasta, the kendall coefficient of concordance w and chi-square were computed. the level of acceptability, the summation of the squared deviation from the mean, computed w, computed x2 or chi-square, degree of freedom, the significance of the agreement, and the decision on alternative hypothesis was computed. as reflected on the data, the summation of the squared deviation ranged for taste, 2, texture, 5, appearance, and aroma, 10.5. following the same order, the coefficient of concordance w was 0.85, 0.16, 0.19, and 0.34. the x2 were computed to determine the significance of an agreement on the level of acceptability of pili pasta in the 2nd district of albay. the computed x2 for texture was 1.28 (p>0.05), appearance, 1.52, (p>0.05) and 2.72 for aroma (p>0.05), and 6.5 for taste, (p<0.05). from the data presented, it implies that the four groups of respondents significantly agreed on the acceptability of pili pasta when it comes to taste. with its taste, it is an assurance that the product will be accepted based on the agreement of the respondents. the data also revealed that the respondents do not significantly agree on the marketability of the pili pasta. hence these respondents have their identity 166 jpair multidisciplinary research judgment about how the product will be marketed depending on the demographic area of the market. conclusion the introduction of the pili pasta in the bicol region, philippines, was highly acceptable that it can be in line with other pasta found in the market. though however, there can be challenges that can be encountered, doable for as long as the sustainability of its supply can be addressed. the pili pasta will serve as a signature product of the bicol region since pili nuts are considered a product of the region. translational research the bicol region, as a potential supply of pili nuts, must support the product innovation to become competitive and also to be known as a supplier of pili pasta, just like sili ice cream. this can be considered as food tourism that will bring forth new tourist arrival since the product being new to the market if supported. likewise, this innovation study must be published in a journal, newsletter, and article for reference for other researchers who intends to innovate a product. literature cited arifin, f. a. s., syah, t. y. r., indradewa, r., & pusaka, s. 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(2012). influence of green banana flour substitution for cassava starch on the nutrition, color, texture and sensory quality in two types of snacks. lwt-food science and technology, 47(1), 175182. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2011.12.011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00874.x https://bit.ly/2qiv4av https://bit.ly/3gqwdqq https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2011.12.011 jpair multidisciplinary research 68 growth and yield performance of peanut (arachis hypogaea) lines in pampanga, philippines mary grace b. gatan http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6083-0060 mbgatan.mgbg@gmail.com pampanga state agricultural university abstract peanut (arachis hypogaea linn) is grown on nearly 23.95 million hectares worldwide with a total production of 36.45 million tons. in the country, peanut is one of the food legumes with commercial importance that contributed much national cooperative trials from 2011-2014 were conducted to evaluate their agronomic characteristics, reaction to diseases and yield potential in pampanga, philippines. experimental trials were laid out following randomized complete block design (rcbd). data were subjected to analysis of variance (anova) 99046 obtained the highest pod yield with 2.1 and of 2.4 tons/ha, respectively. the 10 peanut lines. vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.321 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. magalang, pampanga, philippines international peer reviewed journal 69 keywords agriculture, national cooperative trials, arachis hypogaea, experimental trials, philippines, asia introduction developing countries in asia, africa, and south america account for over 97% of world peanut area and 95% of total production. the production is concentrated in asia (50% of global area and 64% of global production) and africa (46% of global area and 28% of global production), where the crop is grown mostly by smallholder farmers under rainfed conditions. globally, farmers tend about 24 million hectares of peanut each year, producing about 40 million metric tons (international crops research institute for the semi-arid tropics, 2014). according to united states department of agriculture (usda), china leads in production of peanuts, having a share of about 42% of overall world production, followed by india with 12% and the united states (8%). in southeast asia, the top producing countries includes burma, indonesia, vietnam and thailand. the peanut production in vietnam slightly increased in 2012 from 469 tmt to 471 tmt in 2011 and is expected to increase in 2013 to about 10 %. the increase in peanut production may possibly due to the favorable weather and variety improvement (usda, 2012, 2013). in the country, peanut is one of the food legumes with commercial importance that contributed much to domestic earnings. though peanut is considered less important as a food crop in papua new guinea and australia, it ranked among the top five crops generating income for the family and was reported as the top ranking cash crop (rachaputi, 2006). however, in the philippines, about 95% of the peanut areas are planted with the low yielding “native” spanish-type variety (department of agriculture-regional field unit 6, n.d.). low yields of peanut are mainly attributed to lack of high-yielding adapted cultivars, damage by diseases and pests, poor agronomic practices, unreliable rainfall patterns with frequent droughts, and limited use of inputs (sharma & bhatnagar, 2006). the traditional variety is the popular variety being used by farmers due to unavailability of improved varieties in the provinces (huelgas, 1990). to improve the peanut production, international breeding programs such as united states and development authority (usda) and international crops research institute for semi-arid tropics (icrisat, n.d.) are developing cultivars that are high yielding with desirable characteristics such as large seed size, early maturing and jpair multidisciplinary research 70 tolerance to foliar diseases and acidic soils (university of florida, n.d.). varietal trials conducted at aiyura, keravat and ramu sugar showed that some of the new introductions from icrisat have out-yielded local checks by 2-3 times at all locations. verification trials have also resulted in the identification of promising peanut varieties with potential to yield 50-100% greater than the local check varieties (aciar, 2001). it is estimated that improved peanut varieties currently occupy more than 60% of the total area for peanut production in malawi due to significant yield advantage over local checks (icrisat, n.d.). new peanut varieties are released and introduced every year to evaluate their yield potential. asha peanut variety was introduced and promoted by icrisat in 2005 to address farmers’ continuous demand for new and much better variety. results from national cooperative trials (nct) showed that asha consistently ranked number one in yield surpassing the nsic pn 11 by 22% and 10% during wet and dry seasons. asha is the only variety released in the philippines that produced the highest recorded yield of 3.99 tons/ha (bureau of agricultural research, 2010). in addition, dela cruz (2011) reported two potential lines of peanut developed by icrisat have been selected for national testing. the icgv 00350 and icgv 99046 were found to be consistent high yielders. promising lines were subjected to adaptability trials to determine yield performance in different agro-climatic conditions in seven regions of the country. these peanut lines were compared to the existing national varieties (check variety) like namnama 1 and 2, ilocos pink, asha peanut, and (bureau of agricultural research, 2010) farmers’ variety. compared with other peanut lines, icgv 00350 and icgv 99046 consistently performed well in two seasons. the icgv 99046 is color red, large-seeded, moderately sweet with medium duration while icgv 00350 is rose tan in color, medium long seeds, and sweet in taste also with medium duration (bureau of agricultural research, 2011). moreover, icgv 99046 is recommended in areas with continuous irrigation and clay loam soil type; nsic pn14 is best suited for rainfed areas with sandy loam soil while red seeded farmer’s variety performs well in rainfed areas with clay loam soil (santos, 2012). despite the abundance of released improved varieties, only a few are best adapted for production. it is believed that peanut varieties differ in their agronomic characteristics and yield potential due to different agro-climatic adaptation because varietal response in terms of productivity is largely determined by soil factor, climatic conditions and cultural practices. the conduct of nct is required before seeds are certified by the national seed international peer reviewed journal 71 industry council (nsic). seed certification is important as it ensures varietal purity, genetic identity, and the overall quality of the seeds that effect production, processing, storage, and distribution (bureau of agricultural research, 2010). there are peanut lines that need to be evaluated to pass the nsic certification, hence, this study was conducted to evaluate their agronomic characteristics and yield performance which will eventually improve production and profit of farmers. objective of the study the general objective of the study is to identify the most promising peanut line in pampanga, philippines. specifically, it aimed to determine the agronomic characteristics of different peanut lines; evaluate the reaction to diseases, and determine the yield potential materials and methods experimental areas an area measuring about 600m2/planting season was used in conducting the experiment that can accommodate 11 peanut lines coming from different breeding stations of the country. the soil type in the area is sandy loam that is suited for peanut production. land preparation and cultural management practices the area was thoroughly prepared by plowing two times followed by two to three harrowing to obtain fine tilth that is essential to achieve good germination. after the final harrowing, the field was furrowed at a distance of 50cm. treatments and experimental trial the experimental area was laid out following the randomized complete block design (rcbd) with four replications. each plot measures 2m in width and 5m in length comprising of four rows spaced 0.5 m apart. an alleyway of one meter between replications was provided for ease in placing stakes, plot tags, data gathering, weeding, and harvesting. treatments (wet and dry season) t1 icgv 00350 jpair multidisciplinary research 72 t2 icgv 01273 t3 icgv 95390 t4 icgv 96176 t5 icgv 97120 t6 icgv 99046 t7 lg pn 11-c t8 lg pn 56 t9 nsic pn 11 (nc) t10 nsic pn13 (nc) t11 nsic pn14 (nc) planting and planting dates for the wet season cropping, sowing was done between june-july while during the dry season planting was done during the month of november. planting was done by sowing one seed per hill. a total of 10 seeds were planted per linear meter. replanting was done one week after planting to replace the missing hills. fertilizer application and seed inoculation complete fertilizer (14-14-14) was applied basally at the rate of 54g per 5m row which is equivalent to 214 g per plot (4 rows/entry). the fertilizer was applied uniformly along the rows and was covered with 2-3 cm layer of soil prior to planting. prior to planting, seeds of peanut were inoculated with rhizobium at the rate of 2 g/kg of peanut seeds. the inoculum was thinly spread over the seeds and was sowed few hours after inoculation. cultivation, weeding and construction of canal hilling-up was done 15 days after planting. in addition, weeding was done to prevent the growth of weeds that usually compete for nutrients, light, space and water. weeding was done manually until the flowering stage. during rainy season, appropriate canal was provided to prevent the plants from water logging. parameters 1. days to flower. this was recorded as the number of days from emergence to that day when 50% of the plants in a row have produced their first open flower. international peer reviewed journal 73 2. days of maturity. this will be recorded as the number of days from emergence to such time when at least 75% of the pods in a plot show signs of maturity (dark brown pods with deep ridges) for peanut. 3. number of pods per plant. this was determined by computing the average number of pods per plant at harvest using the 10 sample plants used for height determination. 4. weight of 100 seeds (g). select at random 100 seeds from each plot, and it will be recorded the weight in grams. 5. shelling percentage. this was obtained by weighing the shelled seeds from the 100 gram pod sample from each plot. 6. reaction to diseases. this was done by randomly selecting 10 plants per entry. field reactions of plants to diseases was recorded, using the rating scale below: common diseases of peanut (cercospora leaf spot and rust) scale description 1 no infection 2 1-5% infection 3 6-25% infection 4 26-50% infection 5 more than 50% infection the disease rating was converted using this guide to get the final disease reaction as follows: range of average scale final disease reaction 1 immune/highly resistant 2 resistant 3 moderately resistant 4 moderately susceptible 5 highly susceptible 7. pod yield (tons/ha). the pod yield from 1m2 of each plot was weighed and recorded, and the computed pod yield from one m2 served as a basis for computing the pod yield in tons/ha. 8. agro-meteorological data. the agro-meteorological data composed of relative humidity, rainfall and temperature (minimum and maximum) were recorded during the whole duration of the study. jpair multidisciplinary research 74 statistical analysis all data were subjected to statistical analysis under analysis of variance (anova). comparison of treatment means was done using least significant difference (lsd) test. results and discussion table 1 presents the summary of plant growth characteristics of different peanut entries planted in pac for three wet seasons. significant differences were noted in all treatment means in terms of days to flowering except days to maturity. among the peanut lines tested, nsic pn 11 significantly had the shortest day to produce flower while the rest of the treatments were found comparable to each other. relative to days to maturity, the icgv 95390 had the shortest day of maturity but did not significantly differ with the remaining treatments. this could be because most of the treatments tested are medium to large seeded and needs longer days to maturity to full pod development. table 1. summary of plant growth characteristics of peanut lines evaluated for three wet seasons (2011-2014) line/variety days to flower days to maturity t1 icgv 00350 26.4 ab 112.9 t2 icgv 01273 26.5 ab 115.0 t3 icgv 95390 26.5 ab 110.0 t4 icgv 96176 25.2 ab 116.5 t5 icgv 97120 27.1 ab 111.9 t6 icgv 99046 26.2 ab 115.0 t7 lg pn 11-c 26.2 ab 112.0 t8 lg pn 56 27.5 ab 112.0 t9 nsic pn 11 (nc) 24.2 a 113.8 t10 nsic pn13 (nc) 26.0 ab 110.5 t11 -nsic pn14 (nc) 27.3 ab 112.5 during the conduct of the experiments, two major fungal leaf diseases were observed namely, cercospora leaf spot (cls) and peanut rust. although, no significant differences were noted in all treatments in terms of cls and rust international peer reviewed journal 75 (table 2), the variation in foliar disease reaction among genotypes has been reported elsewhere between short duration and medium duration varieties (saese, fahey & bafui, 2006). three icrisat lines, the 01273, 97120, 99046 and the nsic pn11 significantly obtained the greatest number of pods per plant. on the other hand, icgv 95390 got the fewest number of pods (table 3). the result confirms with the findings of gatan and gonzales (2014) during the on-farm trials that introduced varieties such as icgv 99046, and nsic pn 11 are consistent high yield varieties due to a greater number of pods. during the conduct of the experiments, two major fungal leaf diseases were observed namely, cercospora leaf spot (cls) and peanut rust. the icgv 96176 and icgv 01273 were noted to be highly resistant against cls while the two check varieties, nsic pn 13 and 14 were found to be moderately resistant. meanwhile, icgv 99046 and icgv 95390 were resistant to peanut rust while the la granja (lg) peanut entries 11-c and pn-56 were moderately resistant and at par with the two check varieties namely, nsic pn 13 and nsic pn 14. table 2. summary of reaction to diseases and agronomic characteristics of peanut lines evaluated for three wet seasons (2011-2014). line/variety cercospora leaf spot rating rust rating t1 icgv 00350 2.0 2.1 t2 icgv 01273 1.1 1.6 t3 icgv 95390 1.5 1.3 t4 icgv 96176 1.0 2.2 t5 icgv 97120 1.6 1.6 t6 icgv 99046 1.6 1.2 t7 lg pn 11-c 1.8 2.6 t8 lg pn 56 2.4 2.7 t9 nsic pn 11 (nc) 1.9 2.3 t10 nsic pn13 (nc) 2.6 2.6 t11 nsic pn14 (nc) 2.6 2.5 all the treatment means were significantly different in terms of weight of 100 seeds (g), shelling percentage and pod yield (tons/ha) (table 3). among the lines used, the nsic pn11 obtained the heaviest weight of 100 seed (g) while icgv 99046 was the lightest. two check varieties, nsic pn11 and nsic pn 14 jpair multidisciplinary research 76 registered the highest shelling percentage but were found comparable with the rest of the treatments except icgv 01273 and icgv 95390. on the other hand, the icgv 99046 and icgv 00350 produced the heaviest pod yield garnering a pod of 2.4 and 2.1 tons/ha, respectively but were also found similar with the remaining treatments. table 3. summary of yield potential of peanut lines evaluated for three wet seasons (2011-2013). line/variety pods per plant weight of 100 seed (g) shelling percentage pod yield (tons/ha) t1 icgv 00350 27.96 bc 59.20 cd 71.51abcd 2.1ab t2 icgv 01273 34.75 ab 49.57 de 65.82cde 1.7ab t3 icgv 95390 12.25 d 53.25 de 63.83e 1.6ab t4 icgv 96176 29.38 bc 59.14 cd 69.86abcd 1.5ab t5 icgv 97120 33.02 ab 65.41 bc 65.93bcde 1.6ab t6 icgv 99046 33.27 ab 48.88 f 69.25abcde 2.2ab t7 lg pn 11-c 20.00 cd 64.18 bc 71.59abcd 1.4ab t8 lg pn 56 24.52 bc 58.70 cd 68.84abcde 1.4ab t9nsic pn 11 (nc) 32.25 ab 81.65 a 75.63a 1.9ab “t10 -nsic pn13 (nc) 19.79 cd 60.36 cd 71.64abc 1.9ab t11 -nsic pn14 (nc) 19.57 cd 70.84 b 74.84a 0.9b significant differences were noted among peanut lines in terms of days to flower and days to maturity (table 4). the data significantly reveals that icgv 95390 and nsic pn13 were the first peanut lines to produce flower while the remaining nine treatments were comparable to each other. the icgv 95390 and icgv 97120 significantly have the shortest days to maturity with 101.0 days from planting while six treatments were comparable except icgv 01273, icgv 96176 and icgv 99046. international peer reviewed journal 77 table 4. summary of agronomic characteristics of peanut lines evaluated for three dry seasons (2012-2013) line/variety days to flower days to maturity t1 icgv 00350 29.7 abc 108.0 ab t2 icgv 01273 30.5 bc 109.8 b t3 icgv 96176 30.5 bc 110.5 b t4 icgv 95390 28.5 a 101.0 a t5 icgv 97120 30.0 abc 101.0 a t6 icgv 99046 28.6 bc 110.5 b t7 lg pn 11-c 30.2 ab 106.8 ab t8 lg pn 56 29.0 abc 106.8 ab t9 nsic pn 11 (nc) 30.0 abc 108.0 ab t10 nsic pn13 (nc) 28.5a 106.8 ab t11 nsic pn14 (nc) 29.6 abc 104.5 ab during dry season planting, no significant differences were noted among peanut lines evaluated. however, figuratively speaking, the icgv 00350 and icgv 96176 obtained the lowest infection against cls, which is also considered highly resistant whereas nsic pn11 was found to be resistant. meanwhile, most of the icgv peanut entries were resistant to highly resistant to rust while check varieties, nsic pn 11, nsic pn 13 and nsic pn 14 including the la granja lines were recorded resistant (table 5). table 5. summary of reaction to diseases of peanut lines evaluated for three dry seasons (2012-2014). line/variety cercospora leaf spot rating rust rating t1 icgv 00350 1.4 1.5 t2 icgv 01273 1.5 1.7 t3 icgv 96176 1.4 1.6 t4 icgv 95390 1.6 1.6 t5 icgv 97120 2.2 1.7 t6 icgv 99046 1.5 1.3 t7 lg pn 11-c 1.6 2.0 jpair multidisciplinary research 78 t8 lg pn 56 2.2 2.3 t9 nsic pn 11 2.8 2.2 t10 nsic pn13 (nc) 2.6 2.2 t11 nsic pn14 (nc) 2.0 2.1 results showed significant differences among the treatments relative to the number of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds, shelling percentage and pod yield (tons/ha) (table 6). the icgv 01273 and nsic pn11 significantly obtained the numerous number of pods per plant while the nine peanut lines obtained the lowest number of pods and were found comparable to each other. furthermore, the nsic pn14 garnered the heaviest weight of 100 seeds while icgv varieties, 95390, 96176, and 97120 were the lightest. on the other hand, icgv 96176 and nsic pn 13 registered the highest shelling percentage when compared to the rest of the treatments. among the peanut lines tested, the icgv 01273 significantly produced the highest pod yield of 3.78tons/ha. in addition, the rest of the treatments are comparable to each other in terms of pod yield. table 6. summary of agronomic characteristics and yield potential of peanut lines evaluated during for three dry seasons (2011-2013). line/variety pods per plant weight of 100 seed (g) shelling percentage pod yield (tons/ha) t1 icgv 00350 12.67 bc 55.88 bc 67.11 ab 2.90ab t2 icgv 01273 20.55 a 59.42 bc 66.39 ab 3.78a t3 icgv 95390 12.57 bc 49.05 c 67.15 ab 2.30b t4 icgv 96176 12.90 bc 48.76 c 72.94 a 2.78ab t5 icgv 97120 9.40 c 48.75 c 63.12 ab 1.93b t6 icgv 99046 9.95 c 56.44 bc 66.20 ab 2.00b t7 lg pn 11-c 9.49 c 57.80 bc 69.11 ab 2.25b t8 lg pn 56 13.12 bc 56.48 bc 69.34 ab 3.23ab t9 nsic pn 11 21.0 a 64.58 bc 64.20 ab 2.65ab t10 nsic pn13 (nc) 11.18 c 64.39 bc 74.96 a 3.15ab t11 -nsic pn14 (nc) 10.55 c 69.64 ab 65.08 ab 2.08b the environmental conditions during the conduct of the study, particularly temperature, and relative humidity favor disease development (table 7). the international peer reviewed journal 79 minimum air temperature ranged from 21.20c-32.70c for wet season while the maximum air temperature ranged from 22.90c -34.70c during the dry season planting. according to subrahmanyan, subba, reddy, and mcdonald (1993), rust developed in all peanut genotypes from 10-30c but not at 35-40c. in addition, infection is high for susceptible genotypes at 20c for resistant genotypes at 30c. in addition, conidial germination was greatest at 16-20c (sommartya & beute, 1986). on the other hand, the relative humidity (rh) of 61.60c -73.70c is also within the range that favors cls. alderman and nutter (1994) reported that more than 95rh is required for conidial production by cercosporidium personatum. in addition, highest number of conidia were produced when lesions were subjected to daily periods of 16hrs or more of rh. the optimum temperature for spore production is near 20c. moreover, an average rainfall of 414mm was recorded during the wet season. table 7. agro-meteorological data for wet and dry season (20112014) month (wet season) air temperature (c) air humidity rainfall (mm) minimum maximum july 21.6 34.7 70.9 465.9 august 22.4 32.9 73.7 567.2 september 22.9 34.1 72.2 359.8 october 21.2 32.7 61.6 264.7 average 22.03 33.6 69.6 414.4 month (dry season) air temperature (c) air humidity rainfall (mm) minimum maximum november 21.5 32.2 66.9 114.8 december 22.0 31.0 63.2 34.5 january 18.9 29.3 60.5 18.7 february 20.6 31.2 61.7 15.2 march 21.2 32.5 58.3 19.4 average 20.8 31.2 62.1 40.5 this study was delimited on the national cooperative trials of different peanut lines grown in the province of pampanga mainly to determine its agronomic characteristics, reaction to diseases and yield potential. jpair multidisciplinary research 80 conclusions experimental trials were conducted for three years in both seasons to evaluate their agronomic characteristics, reaction to diseases and yield potential under pampanga condition. experimental trials were laid out following the randomized complete block design (rcbd) and each treatment was replicated four times. data were subjected to analysis under analysis of variance (anova) and treatment means were compared using least significant difference (lsd). findings revealed significant differences in all treatment means during wet season in terms of days to flower, number of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds, shelling percentage and pod yield (tons/ha) except days to maturity and reaction to cls and rust. the icgv 00350 and icgv 99046 surpassed the remaining nine peanut lines registering pod yield of 2.1 and 2.4 tons/ha, respectively. at dry season, significant differences were noted among peanut lines in all agronomic characteristics including yield potential except cls and rust rating. among the 11 peanut entries, the icgv 01273 significantly obtained the highest pod yield with 3.78 tons/ha. the high yield was associated with the greater number of pods per plant and longer days to maturity. the environmental conditions favored disease development and recorded heavy rainfall during the whole duration of the experiment. translational research the results of the study would provide awareness to marginal farmers, peanut growers and other stakeholders on the available promising peanut lines that can be grown during either or both wet and dry season. through national cooperative trial (nct), promising lines of peanut are evaluated based on the distinct agronomic characteristics, resistance to major diseases such as peanut rust and cercospora leaf spot including its optimum yield. the use of these promising lines will improve peanut production, increase farmers’ profit that will eventually help the peanut industry as a whole. acknowledgments the writer wishes to express her heartfelt thanks to the pampanga state agricultural university (former pampanga agricultural college) and the national seed industry council of the bureau of plant industry for providing financial assistance and source of seeds to this study. international peer reviewed journal 81 literature cited alderman, s.c. and f. w. nutter jr (1994). effect of temperature and relative humidity on development of cercosporidium personatum on peanut in georgia. department of plant pathology. university of georgia athens. retrieved from http://www.apsnet.org/publications/plantdisease/backissues/ documents/1994articles/plantdisease78n07_690.pdf australian centre for international agricultural research (aciar) (2001). improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia using integrated management and modelling approaches. retrieved from http://aciar.gov.au/project/asem/2001/055 bureau of agricultural research. 2010. asha peanut is now nsic approved. february 2010 issue. volume 11 no. 2 retrieved from http://www:bar.gov. ph/chronicle-home/archives-list/71-ju bureau of agricultural research. 2011. 2 promising peanut lines recommended for nct trials. retrieved from http://www.bar.gov.ph/press-room/newsand-events/650-2011-07-icrisat dela cruz, r.t. 2011. two promising peanut lines from icrisat recommended as nct entries at http://www.bar.gov.ph/barchronicle/2011/june2011_ news3.asp. department of agriculture regional field unit (da-rfu 6). undated. agribusiness – peanut. retrieved from http://rfu6.da.gov.ph/agribiz/peanut. htm gatan, m. g. b., & gonzales, v. d. (2014). on-farm verification of peanut varieties in rainfed and lahar laden areas of pampanga, philippines. jpair multidisciplinary research, 18(1). huelgas, r. r., manuel, p. c., & gabriel, e. s. (1990). socioeconomic study on peanut production in the philippines. book series-philippines council for agriculture, forestry and natural resources research and development, (90). jpair multidisciplinary research 82 international crops research institute for semi-arid tropics. undated. groundnut (arachis hypogaea l.). retrieved from http://www.icrisat.org/ crop-groundnut.htm on march 22, 2015 rachaputi, r. c. (2006). improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia using integrated management and modelling approaches—overview of aciar project asem 2001/055. improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. saese, h., fahey, g., & bafui, j. (2006). evaluation of peanut (arachis hypogaea l.) varieties in the lower markham valley of papua new guinea. improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. sharma, k. k., & bhatnagar-mathur, p. (2006). peanut (arachis hypogaea l.). in agrobacterium protocols (pp. 347-358). humana press. sommartya, t., & beute, m. k. (1986). temperature effects on germination and comparative morphology of conidia for thai and usa isolates of cercosporidium personatum 1, 2. peanut science, 13(2), 67-70. subrahmanyan, p. subba r., reddy, p. m. and mcdonald, d. (1993). effect of temperature and host genotype on components of resistance to groundnut rust. african science journal volume 1 no. 2 pp. 153-157. retrieved from http://www.bioline.org.br/request?cs93023 united states department of agriculture (usda). (2012). foreign agricultural service. created on march 10, 2015. retrieved from http://apps.fas.usda. gov/psdonline/psdreport.aspx?hidreportretrievalname=bvs&hidreportr etrievalid=918&hidreportretrievaltemplateid=1#ancor on april 8, 2015 united states department of agriculture (usda). (2013). the crop site – usda gain oilseeds, cotton, sugar, grain and feed. retrieved from http:// www.thecropsite.com/reports/?id=1895 on april 8, 2015. university of florida. (n.d). conservation tillage peanut production. retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/ag/ag18700.pdf on march 20, 2015 131 international peer reviewed journal developing a pastry product with tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii) lezyl c. macas macaslez5@gmailcom bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines jesszon b. cano https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-033x jesszon.cano@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines may amor d. gucor mayamor.gucor@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines lilanie m. olaso lilaniemabalatan@gmail.com bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines darwin a. lim darwin.lim@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines originality: 100 grammarly: 100 plagiarism: 0 vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.776 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:jesszon.cano@bisu.edu.ph 132 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract currently, our society lives under a deceptive apprehension of there being food abundance. many humans are surrounded by using quick meals prosperous in calories and unsaturated fats, high powered advertising, and over-consumption. the mass market has truly emerged as accustomed to the expression of junk food to designate such offerings, yet this incredibly processed food is bumped off in giant amounts. this study aimed to develop a pastry product with tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii). the participants chose lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds according to their impression and judgment of the product in terms of appearance, chose lot 2 with 10 grams according to the product’s visual sensation, chose lot 1 with 5 grams according to the fineness and crunchiness of the product, chose lot 1 with 5 grams according to the degree of the flavor, terms of general acceptability the participants chose lot 1 with 5 grams as their preferred treatment and the ideal amount of tropical liquid seaweed in making pastry. moreover, tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii) is loaded with nutrients, especially different dietary fibers, and other nutrients. furthermore, using tropical liquid seaweed in making white peanut cookies is ideal for the benefits of people in terms of health. keywords — acceptability, product development, quasi-experimental, bohol, philippines introduction currently, our society lives under a deceptive apprehension of there being food abundance. many humans are surrounded by using quick meals prosperous in calories and unsaturated fats, high powered advertising, and over-consumption. the mass market has truly emerged as accustomed to the expression of junk food to designate such offerings, yet this incredibly processed food is bumped off in giant amounts. the consequences for the consumption of these unhealthy foods were lack of vital nutrients, obesity, and ailments related to immoderate intake of sugars, i.e., diabetes and fat, i.e., arteriosclerosis, among others. it is worrying that the fast meal tendencies are being adopted, reputedly barring difficulty in growing countries as they grow to be more prosperous; therefore, rates of associated sickness are growing (pereira, 2011). 133 international peer reviewed journal the latest increasing demand for seaweed products, as food, fodder, fertilizer, and sources of medicinal drugs justify this investigation on the dietary composition of one of the most anti-oxidative tropical fit for human consumption species eucheuma cottonii. this data is quintessential in the search for extra healthful food sources from the sea for use in the human diet (matanjun et al., 2009). the cultivated tropical liquid seaweed, e cottonii grows very swiftly in the pristine water and can be harvested every forty-five days for human use. it is abundantly cultivated in southeast asia, especially in the philippines and the pacific islands (namvar et al., 2012). tropical liquid seaweeds like e cottonii are prosperous in bioactive antioxidants, soluble dietary fibers, proteins, minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. although previously the seaweeds had been solely used as gelling and thickening dealers in the food or pharmaceutical industries, recent researches have revealed they are plausible as complementary medicine. this form of seaweed has been shown to have therapeutic residences for health and disease management, such as anticancer, anti-obesity, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, antihyperlipidemic, antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antiestrogenic, thyroid-stimulating, neuroprotective, antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and tissue recuperation properties. active compounds encompass sulfated polysaccharides, phlorotannins, carotenoids (e.g., fucoxanthin), minerals, petides and sulfolipids, with confirmed gain against degenerative metabolic diseases (mohamed, hashim, & rahman, 2012). in the final, a long time consumer demand in the field of meal production has changed considerably. consumers extra and greater accept as true with that food make contributions without delay to their fitness (mollet & rowland, 2002). today foods are no longer meant only to fulfill hunger and to provide quintessential nutrients for human beings but additionally to stop nutritionrelated diseases and improve the physical and mental well-being of the customer (menrad, 2003; roberfroid, 2000a). in this regard, practical foods play a remarkable role. the growing demand for such foods can be defined through the growing price of healthcare; the steady make bigger in lifestyles expectancy, and the want of older people for an elevated fine of their later years (siro et al., 2008; roberfroid, 2000b). furthermore, meals acceptability is affected by means of many factors, which can also be related to the individual, the food, or the environment in which the food is consumed. acceptability is a subjective measure based on hedonics (pleasure), which in flip is influenced via the sensory properties of the 134 jpair multidisciplinary research food, previous exposure to it and subsequent expectations, contextual factors, an individual’s culture, physiological status, and many different variables. the size of meal acceptance is rather complicated and depends on psychometrics (scales) and/or behavioral models (food-choice models). thus, this study is carried out to look at foods’ sensory acceptability of exclusive remedies of pastry flavored with tropical liquid seaweeds measured and understood using sensory evaluation. objectives of the study this study aimed to develop a pastry product with tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii). specifically, this finds out about sought to answer the: 1) acceptability of white peanut cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in different sensory attributes; 2) significant difference between and amongst the sensory attributes of developed peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed, and 3) theoretical nutritional value of tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii). methodology research design this study utilized an experimental method of research to develop pastry products with tropical liquid seaweed. the information is based on the basic procedures in terms of preparation and processing of the standard recipe. research site this study was conducted in bisu-candijay campus, province of bohol, academic year 2018-2019. the bisu-candijay campus has 2,074 approximate total number of students enrolled in all programs and 70 teachings and 84 non-teaching staff employed in the said campus. the bisu-candijay campus is located in the municipality of candijay in the eastern part of bohol situated near the sea and mountains. the town produced main products are seafood like tropical liquid seaweeds. respondents this study used purposive sampling to test the products to selected participants in terms of appearance, color, texture, taste, and aroma. there are 10 bshm students, 10 non-teaching staff, and 20 teaching staff, including the experts who evaluate and mark the sensory evaluation form indicating their opinion on the sample and treatments of the products presented. 135 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the researcher utilized the sensory evaluation form and tally sheet as the main instrument in data collection. the said instrument was made up of two parts, first attributes which are very much like, extremely like, moderately like, slightly like, average, slightly dislike, moderately dislike, very much dislike and extremely dislike and lastly the general acceptability to be rated by the participants by using the nine-point hedonic scale that composed of the description as mentioned above. this study allowed the researcher to gather data on sensory evaluation through sensory evaluation sheet use. since the study aims to formulate an acceptable pastry product, following sensory attributes are observed, like appearance, color, texture, taste, and aroma of the product—a total of three treatments used in this research. the amount of tropical liquid seaweeds are varied in the different treatments in four replications. the data gathered reflected on the sensory evaluation sheet were tallied and computed to determine the mean average per attribute in four replications. the data gathered were subjected to further statistical analysis. treatment of data weighted mean, kruskal-wallis test, and mann-whitney u test were used to summarize, analyse, and interpret the data. results and discussions table 1. acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in terms of appearance appearance overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 7.53 vml lot 2 (10g) 8.27 el lot 3 (15g) 8.02 vml table 1 showed that the evaluation on the appearance of lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the highest overall mean of 8.27 with the description of extremely liked; followed by lot 3 with 15 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got an overall mean of 8.02 with the description very much liked, and lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the lowest mean of 7.53 with the description of very much liked. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research it showed that the participant chooses lot 2 with 10 grams of edible tropical seaweeds according to their impression and judgment of the product in terms of appearance. table 2. acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in terms of color color overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 7.98 vml lot 2 (10g) 8.24 el lot 3 (15g) 7.92 vml table 2 implied that the color of lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the highest overall mean of 8.24 with the description of extremely liked; followed by lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got an overall mean of 7.98 with the description of very much liked, and lot 3 with 15 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the lowest mean of 7.92 with the description of very much liked. this means that the participants choose lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds according to the product’s visual sensation as they are tested and rated. table 3. acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in terms of texture texture overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 7.99 vml lot 2 (10g) 7.97 vml lot 3 (15g) 7.54 vml in table 3, it connotes that the texture of lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the highest overall mean of 7.99 with the description of very much liked; followed by lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, with an overall mean of 7.97, with the description of very much liked; and lot 3 with 15 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the lowest mean of 7.54 with the description of very much liked. this drives to show that the participants chose lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds according to the fineness and crunchiness of the product tasted. 137 international peer reviewed journal table 4. acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in terms of taste taste overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 8.42 el lot 2 (10g) 8.21 el lot 3 (15g) 7.46 vml table 4 displayed that the taste of lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the highest overall mean of 8.42, with the description of extremely liked; followed by lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, an overall mean of 8.21 with the description of extremely liked; and lot 3 with 15 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds got the lowest mean of 7.46 with the description of very much liked. this means that the participants chose lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds with the description extremely liked according to the degree of the flavor of the product tasted. table 5. acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed in terms of aroma aroma overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 8.42 el lot 2 (10g) 8.47 el lot 3 (15g) 7.89 vml table 5 indicated that the last attribute which is the aroma, lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds has the highest overall mean of 8.47, description of extremely liked; followed by lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, an overall mean of 8.42, description of extremely liked; and lot 3 with 15 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, mean of 7.89 with the description of very much liked. this goes to express that the participants chose lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds according to the pleasant smell that came from the product tasted. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. general acceptability of peanut white cookies with tropical liquid seaweed general acceptability overall mean description lot 1 (5g) 8.42 el lot 2 (10g) 8.47 el lot 3 (15g) 7.89 vml in table 6 it showed that the general acceptability of lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds has the highest overall mean of 8.61, with the description of extremely liked; lot 2 with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, overall mean of 8.33, with the description of extremely liked; and the lowest which is lot 3 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, overall mean of 7.48, with very much liked description. it showed that in terms of general acceptability, the participants chose lot 1 with 5 grams of tropical liquid seaweed as their preferred treatment and the ideal amount of tropical liquid seaweed in making pastry. table 7. nutritional value of tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii) based on dry weight (dw) nutrients % content ash 46.19 soluble fiber 18.25 protein iodine 9.76 9.42 insoluble fiber crude fiber 6.80 5.91 zinc 4.30 iron 2.61 lipid 1.10 selenium .59 sodium .15 copper .03 source: springer science table 7 shows that tropical liquid seaweed (eucheuma cottonii) is loaded with nutrients, especially different dietary fibers, and other nutrients. 139 international peer reviewed journal however, using tropical liquid seaweed in making white peanut cookies is ideal for the benefits of people in terms of health. conclusion it is concluded that in developing a pastry product, the most acceptable treatment is lot 2 with the amount of 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds being most acceptable by the participants except for the attributes of texture and taste. on the other hand, there are insignificant mean differences between and among the sensory attributes in developing white peanut cookies with tropical liquid seaweeds except for the attributes of taste. thus, the treatment using 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds was the highest rank in terms of the participant’s preference. lot 2, with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds, is the ideal amount in making quality and healthy peanut white cookies. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to the various food production company. the results must be forwarded to the department of food and drugs and the department of health to improve the procedures in food processing and to strengthen the implementation of adding the tropical liquid seaweed to pastry or any food products for the additional unique food taste with health benefits. recommendation based on the findings, the following recommendations were formulated: tropical liquid seaweeds can be used as additional ingredients in making peanut white cookies pastry, making use of proposed standard recipe of peanut white cookies with 10 grams of tropical liquid seaweeds is ideal and highly recommended. and to emphasize the uniqueness of the peanut white cookies with seaweed, it is recommended to enhance the appearance, color, texture, and aroma to help the future consumers to easily recognize that the white peanut cookies are added with seaweed. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited matanjun, p., mohamed, s., mustapha, n., & muhammad, k. (2009). nutrient content of tropical liquid seaweeds, eucheuma cottonii, caulerpa lentillifera and sargassum polycystum. journal of applied phycology, volume 21, issue 1, pp 75–80. retrieved from https://goo.gl/wd56vv. menrad, k. (2003). market and marketing of functional in europe. journal of food engineering, 56, 181-188. retrieved from https://goo.gl/9kobmb. mohamed, s., hashim, s. n., & rahman, h. a. (2012). seaweeds: a sustainable functional food for complementary and alternative therapy. trends in food science & technology, volume 23, issue 2, pages 83-96. retrieved from https://goo.gl/f5aezz. mollet, b., & rowland, i. (2002). functional foods: at the frontier between food and pharma. current opinion in biotechnology, 13, 483-485. retrieved from https://goo.gl/gsejgm. namvar, f., mohamed, s., fard, s. g., behravan, j., mustapha, n., alitheen, n. b., & othman, f. (2012). polyphenol-rich seaweed (eucheuma cottonii) extract suppresses breast tumour via hormone modulation and apoptosis induction. food chemistry, volume 130, issue 2, pages 376-382. retrieved from https://goo.gl/puywja. pereira, l. (2011). a review of the nutrient composition of selected edible seaweeds. seaweed: ecology, nutrient composition and medicinal uses, 1547. retrieved from https://goo.gl/nh5zxr. roberfroid, m. b., (2000a). concepts and strategy of functional food science: the european perspective. the american journal of clinical nutrition, 71, s1660-s1664. retrieved from https://goo.gl/lwzmcn. roberfroid, m. b., (2000b). a european consensus of scientific concepts of functional foods. nutrition, 16, 689-691. retrieved from https://goo. gl/3zh9am. https://goo.gl/f5aezz https://goo.gl/gsejgm https://goo.gl/puywja https://goo.gl/nh5zxr https://goo.gl/lwzmcn 141 international peer reviewed journal siro, i., kapolna, e., kapolna, b., & lugasi, a. (2008). functional food. product development, marketing and consumer acceptance – a review. elsevier appetite, volume 51, issue 3, pages 456-467. retrieved from https://goo. gl/7kdfsj. https://goo.gl/7kdfsj https://goo.gl/7kdfsj 16 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract most students are unaware of their learning styles and emotional intelligence. thus, it is important to know one’s learning styles and emotional intelligence because they can be used to increase self-awareness as to their strengths and weaknesses as learners. the study determined the learning styles and emotional intelligence of the students in the college of technology of university of northern philippines, philippines. the study utilized descriptive-correlational method of research. results showed that student respondents have an overall high level of learning style in all of its three dimensions: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. also, they have an overall high level of emotional intelligence in all of its dimensions. the overall level of learning styles of the respondents is significantly related with self-motivation while visual learning style is significantly linked to self-regulation. likewise, auditory learning style is significantly related age, residence, parents' educational attainment and exposure to media affect students’ learning styles elvin a. balallo http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2291-436x balallobong@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines crizzle a. bajet paz http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7640-9035 phgovpol@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.325 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 17 international peer reviewed journal to self-awareness, self-motivation, social skills and the overall level of emotional intelligence. meanwhile, kinesthetic learning style is significantly related to social awareness and self-motivation. the university should conduct an assessment of learning preferences of the students to determine their strengths and weaknesses. likewise, emotional intelligence tests should be given to students to provide essential data on the attitudes of these students. keywords – education, learning styles, emotional, intelligence, students, descriptive-correlational design, ilocos sur, philippines introduction teaching and learning are two processes which involve a teacher and his student. the teacher gives the knowledge and the students receive the learning. teaching is the teacher’s responsibility while learning is the student’s responsibility. a high proportion of the studies on learning styles seemed to have been conducted in the domain of higher education (cofeld, moseley, hall & ecclestone, 2004; guild, 1994; hartman, 1995). even if these studies classify different learning types and/or styles in different ways, their aims and approaches are somehow similar. felder (1993) claims that since the instructional method around the cycle of learning models are similar, it is not important, which learning styles instrument have been preferred in each investigation. the study of hatcher (2000) found that the sex of learners had a significant impact on their learning styles. the teacher is the critical element in the teaching-learning process. teachers play multiple roles in the teaching-learning process, and administrator, leader and manager roles in the classroom. most of all, a teacher is the facilitator of learning that lays the foundation by initially establishing an environment conducive for learning. lastly, the teacher is tasked with the selection of the appropriate subject matters along with the set of methodologies and strategies to achieve the objective. learning style refers to the preferred way a student wants the lesson to be presented. sometimes, students take the process of information in different ways like information by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing, steady or in parts. some teachers vary their teaching styles like lectures, demonstrate or lead students to 18 jpair multidisciplinary research self-discovery, focus on principles and application of skills that things are learned, emphasize memory and understanding. there is an appropriate learning style that complements a specific teaching style. to produce globally competitive instructors who are synthesizers of organized knowledge and efficient facilitator of learning. hence, the study is forwarded. the researchers felt a strong need to conduct a study on the learning styles since bachelor of science in technology students had poor performance in the national certification level ii. in addition, the study could facilitate the identification of the learning styles of these students as future teachers. consequently, proposals can be made from the empirical data gathered in the investigation for designing the integration of the learning styles in the curriculum program. finally, the researcher intends to know these variables to determine the effectiveness and weaknesses of the teaching and learning styles in electrical technology. hence, the study is also the best way to evaluate the area of instruction and curriculum of the electrical technology, college of technology in university of northern philippines, philippines. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the teaching style of the electrical technology instruction and learning styles of the students enrolled in the college of technology in university of northern philippines, philippines. methodology the study used descriptive correlational method to determine the learning styles and emotional intelligence of the students in the college of technology. descriptive method was used to describe the learning style of the student respondents in terms of visual, auditory and kinesthetic/ tactile. likewise, the emotional intelligence along self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, self-motivation, and social skills was also determined. the questionnaire used in the study was adapted from wyman’s personal learning styles inventory (1999). the correlational method was employed to look in the relationship between the personal profile and the learning styles and emotional intelligence of the electrical technology students. frequency and percentage were used to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of the student-related factors. simple correlation analysis was also used to identify the relationships between the learning styles, emotional intelligence and their profile. 19 international peer reviewed journal result and discussion on visual learning style the student respondents have a “high” level of visual learning style. it is significant to note that the respondents “agree” on all the 12 items except on the item, “when i put something together, i always read the directions first” ( =4.53) where they “strongly agree” while the item “i often doodle when i am on the phone or in a meeting” ( =3.62) had the lowest mean. this suggests that for students to help themselves, they should need the bigger picture of a subject before they can master details. spending time on every subject in the evening is not advisable as it may be more productive to immerse themselves in individual subjects for large blocks. this is in consonance to the statements of felder (1993) stating that students preferentially take in and process the information in different ways: by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing, steadily and it fits and starts. teaching methods also vary. some instructors lecture, others demonstrate or lead students to self –discovery; some focus on principles while others on application; some emphasize memory and some on understanding. felder and silverman (1988) added when mismatch exists between learning styles of most students and the teaching style of the professor, students may become inattentive in class. they got low scores in tests, get discouraged on the present course, the curriculum, themselves, and in some cases change to other courses or drop out of school. the instructors are also confronted with low test grades, unresponsiveness, poor attendance and dropouts. in addition, the instructors may begin to wonder if they are in the right profession. to overcome these problems, professors should strive to balance instructional methods. if the instructional method is balanced, all students will be taught partly in a manner they prefer which will bring an increased level of comfort and willingness to learn, and partly in a less preferred way, provides practice and feedback by ways of thinking and fixing problems which could lead them in becoming effective professionals although they may not be comfortable with it at first. further, this also implies that in helping themselves, instructors should determine the skipped steps or fill them in by consulting references. when students are studying, they should take the time to outline the lecture material for themselves in a logical order. the global thinking skills can be strengthened by relating each new topic where it is likely to be. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research mintz (2002) related that traditional classroom lecture focused on the presentation of content by an instructor does not promote active participation and engagement. students just write down what the instructor writes on the board or show a powerpoint presentation. students also need deep rather than broad knowledge of the subject and learn differently as novices than they do as intermediate learners become experts. on auditory learning style auditory learning style of the respondents is at a “high” level ( =3.99). taking the items individually, the respondents “strongly agree” on the item “when i am alone, i usually have music playing or hum or sing” ( =4.21). the respondents “agree” with the item “when i talk, i like to say things like i hear that sounds good or that rings a bell” getting the lowest mean score of 3.71. the “high” level of auditory learning style of the respondents is backed-up by the findings of vincent and ross (2001) that auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. they may struggle to understand a chapter they have read, but then experience a full understanding as they listen to the class lecture. an auditory learner may benefit by using speech recognition tool available in many personal computers. vincent and ross (2001) added that auditory learners may have a knack for ascertaining the meaning of someone’s words by listening to audible signals like a change in tone. when memorizing a phone number, an auditory learner will say it loud and then remember how it sounded and recalled it. on kinesthetic learning style the data in table 1 shows that the level of learning style along kinesthetic of the student respondents was at a “high” level with an overall mean rating of 3.98. taking the items singly, the respondents “strongly agree” on two items: “i love working with my hands and building or making things” ( =4.42); and “i learn best doing” ( =4.28). among the items where the respondents “agree”, the item “i generally use my finger to point when i read” got the lowest mean rating of 3.59. this conforms to the explanation of repp and coutinho (2009) that several different instructional techniques are utilized for students who have problems in learning, remembering, and communicating information. one of these techniques is direct instruction, a method based on systematic curriculum design and highly structured, fast-paced lessons in which students participate 21 international peer reviewed journal actively and often. another learning strategy is to enhance problem-solving skills. instructors may also help students to work around individual learning disorders. for example, instructors may allow a student with memory problems to use a tape recorder to dictate notes and record class lectures. overall learning style table 1. mean ratings showing the level of learning style of the electrical technology students dimensions mean dr visual learning style 4.02 high auditory learning style 3.99 high kinesthetic learning style 3.98 high overall 4.00 high the result conforms to the study of burns (1995) that learning is defined as “a relatively permanent change in behavior, including both observable activity and internal processes such  as  thinking,  attitudes  and emotions”. students have undertaken learning  process  using  various  processes  such  as reading, thinking, listening, observing, talking, writing etc. in both formal and informal ways.  however, the aforementioned description in the statement of brown (2004) could not give how students learn nor do they account for why they teach. researchers have to put more effort in the area of psychology to realize various perspectives and process of learning. level of emotional intelligence of the electrical technology students the student respondents have a “high” level of emotional intelligence as supported by the grand mean rating of 4.00. the data suggest that the respondents value the emotional intelligence as backed up by network (2015) that a number of theorists have proposed the existence of emotional intelligence that is complimentary to the type of intelligence measured by iq tests. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. mean ratings showing the level of emotional intelligence of the electrical technology students items mean dr self-awareness 4.05 high self-regulation 4.06 high social awareness 3.95 high self-motivation 3.84 high social skills 4.10 high grand mean 4.00 high legend: range item overall 4.21-5.00 strongly agree very high 3.41-4.20 agree highb 2.61-3.40 undecided fair 1.81-2.60 disagree low 1.00-1.80 strongly disagree very low hautman (2008) added that awareness is the first step to better understand why you feel, what you feel and why you behave as you behave. further, he cited that understanding gives the opportunity and freedom to change those things you would like to change about yourself and create the life you want. without fully knowing yourself, self-acceptance and change become impossible. self-motivation is very imperative. there are several reasons for selfmotivation. it is one thing that is very important in a person’s life. everyone needs to be self-motivated. dinev and hart (2005) concluded that motivation is a driving force that encourages an individual to get going. it is a boost to the self-confidence, faith and inner conscience of a person. all of us look for some motivations in life. it is almost impossible to face competition, achieve success of accomplishing a goal without motivation. relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the respondents and the level of learning styles the study also determined whether the learning style of the students is related to some selected personal factors in terms of technology. there is a significant relationship between the level of learning style of the students and the following: age (r=0.1729), residence (r=0.1578), mothers’ educational attainment (r=0.1412), and exposure to media (r=0.1801). the null hypothesis stating no 23 international peer reviewed journal significant relationship between the cited variables and the level of the learning style of the student respondents are rejected. these findings suggest that the respondents who are older, residing in urban areas, with mothers who have high educational attainment, and are exposed to the media tend to have a higher level of learning style than the respondents who are younger, residing in rural areas, with mothers who have low educational attainment, and not exposed to media. the older the respondents are, the more experiences they had encountered, particularly when they are living in urban areas, which could have made them more mature in life leading to their better level of learning. the mother is usually the one who gives guidance to her children. her educational attainment could have added expertise in guiding her children in their studies. the exposure of the respondents to media could have increased their ability to deal with the challenges of learning. sex (r=0.0014), father’s educational attainment (r=0.0922), father’s occupation (r=0.0645), mother’s occupation (r=0.0635), and parents’ monthly income (r=0.0970) are not significantly related with the level of learning styles of the students. this means that the level of learning style of the respondents is more or less the same whether the respondents are males or females. also, with fathers who have high and low educational attainment, no matter the occupation of their parents and their monthly income. relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the respondents and the level of emotional intelligence there is a significant relationship between the level of emotional intelligence of the students and their age (r=0.1532), father’s educational attainment (r=0.1599), and mother’s educational attainment (r=0.2336). the null hypothesis stating no significant relationship between the cited variables and the level of emotional of the students-respondents is rejected. these imply that the older the respondents whose parents have high educational attainment tend to have a higher level of emotional intelligence than the younger respondents whose parents have low educational attainment. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. correlation coefficients showing the relationship between the profile of the respondents and the level of emotional intelligence variables r-value r-prob decision age 0.1532 0.0084 reject ho father’s educational attainment 0.1599 0.0059 reject ho mother’s educational attainment 0.2336 0.0001 reject ho * significant at .05 probability level the more mature an individual is, his emotional intelligence also tends to be higher. coupled with the educational attainment of their parents, the student respondents tend to be more armed or mature with his emotions especially when dealing with his studies. sex (r=0.0047), father’s occupation (r=0.1092), mother’s occupation (r=0.1120), parents’ monthly income (r=0.0080), and exposure to media (r=0.0576) are not significantly related with the level of emotional intelligence of the respondents. this means that the level of emotional intelligence of the respondents is more or less the same whether they are males or females, no matter the occupation of their parents and their standard of living, and no matter how their exposure to media is. the result backed up by johnson (2008) who stated that there is no statistical difference between learning styles and emotional intelligence based on ethnicity, age, gpa, and gender. the gregorc style delineator and the mayer-saloveycaruso emotional intelligence test are not interchangeable instruments measuring constructs from the same domain. relationship between the level of learning styles of the respondents and the level of emotional intelligence there is a significant relationship in the overall level of learning styles of the respondents and self-motivation (r=0.1181). the findings imply that the respondents with higher levels of self-motivation tend to have a higher level of overall learning style. 25 international peer reviewed journal table 4. correlation coefficients showing the relationship between the learning style of the respondents and the level of emotional intelligence emotional intelligence learning styles visual auditory kinesthetics overall self-awareness 0.0492 0.1193* 0.0572 0.0705 self-regulation 0.1454* 0.1042 0.0738 0.0760 social awareness 0.0783 0.0408 0.1856* 0.0415 self-motivation 0.0681 0.2201* 0.1275* 0.1181* social skills 0.0692 0.1413* 0.0715 0.0263 overall 0.0191 0.1383* 0.0886 0.0985 * significant at .05 probability level the student respondents with higher levels of social awareness and selfmotivation tend to have a higher level of kinesthetic learning style. the data suggest that the respondents value most visual learning style. it is important to note that the national research council’s 1999 publication revealed the following: “a) research shows clearly that a person must be engaged to learn. people are actively participating and observing, speaking, writing, listening, thinking, and drawing; b) learning is enhanced when a person sees potential implications, applications and benefits to others.; and c) learning builds on current understanding including misconceptions.” in addition, vincent and ross (2001) stated that auditory learners which make up 20% of the population are good at writing responses to lectures they have heard. they are too good in oral examinations, effectively by listening to information delivered lectures, speeches, and oral sessions. conclusions active learning is centered on student participation towards learning process. it became popular in the 1990s after its appearance on the association for the study of higher education (ashe) report (bonwell & eison, 1991). in the report, they discussed a variety of methodologies for promoting “active learning”. it was mentioned that learning requires more than just listening skills, but students should also read, write, discuss, or get involved in problem solving activities. it can be related to the three learning domains referred to as knowledge, skills and attitudes (ksa), and that this taxonomy of learning behaviors can be thought of as “the goals of the learning process” (bloom, 1956). it is also recommended that 26 jpair multidisciplinary research students should be engaged in such higher-order thinking tasks such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. active learning enables students perform and at the same time think about the tasks given to them. in the study, student respondents have an overall high level of learning style in all of its three dimensions: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. the student respondents have an overall high level of emotional intelligence in all of its dimensions: self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, self-motivation, and social skills. the learning style of the students is significantly related to their age, residence, mother’s educational attainment and exposure to media. the emotional intelligence of the students is significantly related to their age and their parents’ educational attainment. the overall level of learning styles of the respondents is significantly related with self-motivation. visual learning style is significantly related to self-regulation. auditory learning style is significantly related to self-awareness, self-motivation, social skills and the overall level of emotional intelligence. kinesthetic learning style is significantly related to social awareness and self-motivation. to the findings of the study is important for inventories of learning styles and processes can be used to help students be aware of their preferences and strengths as stated by thanasoulas (2000). attention should also be specified to help students develop strategies for succeeding in the course taught in ways that are incongruent with their primary learning abilities. translational research the results of the study will show what aspect or dimensions needs to be improved or develop. educators should design or create activities that could suit the learning styles of the students. this way, students will be motivated to study harder and not focus only in their situation and that they care about them. administrators, faculty members and even the guidance counsellors of the college of technology work hand in hand in improving the level of emotional intelligence of the students, not just during the completion period, but all throughout the year to sustain the teaching and learning process. 27 international peer reviewed journal literature cited bonwell, c. c., & eison, j. a. (1991). active learning: creating excitement in the classroom. 1991 ashe-eric higher education reports. eric clearinghouse on higher education, the george washington university, one dupont circle, suite 630, washington, dc 20036-1183. brown, s. (2004). assessment for learning. retrieved from www2.glos.ac.uk/ offload/tli/lets/lathe/issue1/articles/brown.pdf cofeld, f., moseley, d., hall, e., & ecclestone, k. (2004). learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning.  a systematic and critical review. uk: the learning and skills research centre (lrsc). dinev, t., & hart, p. (2005). internet privacy concerns and social awareness as determinants of intention to transact.  international journal of electronic commerce, 10(2), 7-29. felder, r. m. (1993). reaching the second tier.  journal of college science teaching, 23(5), 286-290. felder, r. m., & silverman, l. k. (1988). learning and teaching styles in engineering education. engineering education, 78(7), 674-681. guild, p. (1994). making sense of learning styles. school administrator, 51(1), 8-13. hartman (1995). kolb’s theory of learning style and hartma’s examples. retrieved from http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/weblessons/ instructionmodule/popwinkolb.htm hatcher, j. a. (2000). motivation, instructional preferences, and learning strategies among japanese university efl students. hautman i. a. (2008). the process of self-discovery. retrieved from http://self discoverylessons.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/self-discovery-questions/ 28 jpair multidisciplinary research johnson, g. (2008). learning styles and emotional intelligence of the adult learner. mintz, s. (2002). the fundamentals of college and university teaching. network, n. (2015). conceptualization of cultural intelligence.  handbook of cultural intelligence, 1. repp, a. c., & coutinho, m. j. (2009). “special education”. microsoft ® student 2009 (dvd). thanasoulas, d. (2000). what is learner autonomy and how can it be fostered. the internet tesl journal, 6(11), 37-48. vincent, a., & ross, d. (2001). learning style awareness. journal of research on computing in education, 33(5), 1-10. wyman, p.m.a. (1999). the center for new discoveries in learning. retrieved from http://www.und.edu/instruct/aquinn/apmposter/scorekey.pdf 111 international peer reviewed journal abstract human resource management is extremely imperative for any association, particularly in the scholarly setting. the employees should be given a clear direction on where they are going to when they become part of the organization. this study aimed to assess the extent of the manifestation of a sound human resource contextualizing human resource management practices: the philippine experience for an hei monriud cabahug http://orcid.org 0000-0022200-3312 emancipationofmonriud@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad judy ann o. ferrater-gimena http://orcid.org 0000-0015352-8253 judygimena@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad elouis tejada http://orcid.org 0000-00026417-3918 elouisdalmare@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad carlos lyndon ogoc http://orcid.org 0000-00023511-2251 ogoclyndoncarlos@yahoo.com university of cebu-banilad originality: 99% • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 1 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.567 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org http://orcid.org http://orcid.org http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 112 jpair multidisciplinary research management (hrm) practices of the university of cebu-banilad as assessed by the teaching and the non-teaching staff. the results of this investigation will be used as basis for the formulation of interventions in the current human resource management system. this study utilized the predictive relational method of research using a researcher-made questionnaire. using purposive sampling, there were forty-seven (47) employees who participated in this investigation. percent, median, mode, and range were computed to analyze the data. the results revealed that wage and salary, administration, training and development, and change in personnel status were practiced in some cases only. further, career management, job security and status, working condition, and people empowerment were the factors that motivate them in some cases to perform well in their respective job functions. there is a significant relationship between the age and the respondents’ perception of the human resource management practices. however, there was no connection between the sexual orientation of the representatives and their reactions to the motivational variables. keywords — human resource management, motivation, correlation, cebu city, philippines introduction managers and economists have traditionally seen human resource management (hrm) as a necessary expense rather than a source of value to the organization. however, research has demonstrated that hrm practices can be valuable. choices, for example, whom to procure, what to pay, what preparing to offer, and how to assess representative execution specifically influence workers’ inspiration and capacity to give merchandise and enterprises that are important to the clients. companies attempt to increase their competitiveness and invest in new technology and promote quality throughout the organization by making use of state-of-the-art staffing, training, and compensation practices (noe, hollenbeck, gerhart, & wright, 2009). human resource management is very vital for any organization, especially in the academic setting. the employees should be given a clear direction on where they are going to when they become part of the organization. in this period where change is always occurring in the association, frequently than not, a standout amongst the essential resources of an association is overlooked. it is the hidden part of the equation that if not considered, will hinder the success of any development process for the attainment of organizational goals. a major portion 113 international peer reviewed journal of organizational development usually relates to how well the organization understands the human capital assets (biore, 2015). under the educational arena, there is a current and rapid increase in social exigency for quality education (doming & gimena, 2014). higher education institutions today are confronted with the problem of changing the way on how they deliver the educational services, to respond to the new statutory policy from learning competency to the outcome-based educational system. as work economic situations enhance and the requirement for talented and instructed specialists ascends the world over, associations are thinking that it is harder to draw in the best representatives. this makes it progressively fundamental for hr to help fabricate a solid manager mark. savvy hr experts are featuring societies that join the basics of an extraordinary work environment, including corporate social duty activities, solid specialist wellbeing and safety efforts, and a general air of politeness and regard in the working environment. the tight rivalry for ability is additionally affecting pay and advantages methodologies, migration arrangements, and worldwide movements (schramm, 2016). academic institutions are catalysts in molding future leaders. therefore, they carry the enormous task of providing quality educational experience to the students who are the primary customers of any school. just like any other educational institutions, the university of cebu aspires to become an effective and efficient provider of educational services. there are multitudes of challenges that confront the educational institutions today in the philippines. one of them is the full implementation of the republic act (r.a.) 10533, known as the enhanced basic education act of 2013 which declares that the state shall establish, maintain and support, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people, the country, and society-at-large. the new program encompasses at least one-year kindergarten education, six years of primary education, six years secondary education. this means that there will be two more years that are added to the old curriculum in which the old tertiary curriculum would be under the overhaul. this school year, there are very few enrolled in the first year because those students who are supposed to enter the first college are now taking the senior high school. this new system somehow has a financial impact on the part of the academic institution and subsequently to the employees, especially the teachers. another challenge that confronts the academic institutions in the philippines is the commission on higher education (ched) memorandum order number 46 series of 2012 or otherwise known as policy standard to enhance quality assurance (qa) in philippine higher education through an outcomes114 jpair multidisciplinary research based and typology-based qa. this policy was issued to enhance the quality assurance system of philippine higher education through learning competencybased standards and an outcomes-based education (obe) system of quality assurance that is differentiated by type of higher education institution (hei). both r.a. 10533 and ched memorandum order no. 46 require the academic institutions to produce graduates who possess the knowledge, competency, and skills necessary for performing a specific job or line of expertise. the attainment of this goal requires all the teaching and the non-teaching staff to be qualified. teachers at the tertiary level are required to finish at least a master’s degree in line with their field of study. so this issue requires the academic institution to motivate the employees to take further studies to comply with the requirements to be able to teach in the senior high school such as teacher’s license and the additional requirements in the change of the college or tertiary curriculum come this 2018. this educational dilemma that confronts the university of cebu-banilad being an academic institution prodded the researchers to conduct this study to enhance the human resource management system and initiate measure to motivate the employees to take career advancement be to become compliant to the ched, pacucoa and typology requirements. the results will be used as a basis in the formulation of an intervention scheme to address the real needs of the employees. this is done to foster job satisfaction. framework this study is tied down to the contingency theory of fred fiedler which states that administrators settle on choices in light of the current circumstance as opposed to a “one size fits all” strategy. chief makes a proper move given angles most critical to the present circumstance. the possibility hypothesis underscores the significance of both the pioneer’s identity and the circumstance in which that pioneer works. chiefs in a college might need to use an authoritarian approach that incorporates investment from laborers. the essence of contingency theory paradigm is that organizational effectiveness results from fitting characteristics of the organization, such as its structure to contingencies that reflect the situation of the organization. contingencies include the environment, organizational size, and organizational strategy because the fit of organizational characteristics to contingencies leads to high performance. organizations are seen as adopting new organizational characteristics that fit the new level of contingencies (donaldson, 2001). 115 international peer reviewed journal human capital development is important to maximize an individual’s performance. human capital refers to the productive potential of an individual. the employees who possess the right knowledge, skills, and motivation represent human capital that gives an organization’s potential competitive advantage (kreitner & kinicki, 2004). the satisfaction of human wants is a universal concern, and this is the basic reason why organizations are established. a positive approach is the adoption of effective and efficient schemes related to management and organization. governments, business firms, and even non-profit organizations are expected to manage their resources properly, or they will fail in an attempt to contribute their share in the alleviation of poverty (medina, 2015). the success of every organization is dependent on its employees or the so-called human resources. human resources are the ones who produce the goods and services as well as set overall strategies and objectives for the entire organization. thus, employee involvement and commitment play a vital role in the success of any business organization. human resource management is the process of finding, developing, and keeping the right people to form a qualified workforce. this is one of the most difficult and important management tasks (william, 2012). minbaeva (2005) viewed hrm practices a set of practices used by the organization to manage human resources through facilitating the development of competencies that are firm-specific, produce complex social relation and generate organization knowledge to sustain competitive advantage. against this backdrop, we concluded that hrm practices relate to specific practices, formal policies, and philosophies that are designed to attract, develop, motivate, and retain employees who ensure the effective functioning and survival of the organization. according to harter, schmidt, and hayes (2002), hrm practices can generate increased knowledge, motivation, synergy, and commitment of a firm’s employees, resulting in a source of sustained competitive advantage for the firm. in human resource management, all management decisions affect the nature of the relationship between the organization and its employeesthe human resources (hendry & pettigrew, 1990). as a type of resource, it encompasses training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insights-the employee characteristics that can add economic value to the organization. managing the human resources of the organization is critical to the success of organizations because human capital has certain qualities that make it valuable. regarding business strategy, organizations can attain success if it has a sustainable competitive advantage (noe et al., 2009). 116 jpair multidisciplinary research career management the notion of “career” has been considered as the chief approach in analyzing the period of employees serving in a company (cullen, 2013). of all the human resource management functions, management development is perhaps, the most misunderstood and poorly implemented. the single characteristic that distinguishes a successful organization from others is the caliber of the management team. career management is associated to the organization’s tactics in the instruction process, with the application of a model that delineates the manager’s job as the focus in the fundamental competency and at the same time engulfed by various altruistic acts. the crucial element is to ascertain the explicit transmission from the knowledge area to the work setting (wright & belcourt, 1994). wage and salary administration wages and salaries of the organization should be managed well by the organization to avoid employee dissatisfaction. cardona, lawrence, and bentler (2009) said that the willingness of individuals to contribute to cooperative efforts of the organizations is indispensable to the effective attainment of organizational goals. the efforts must be exerted not only to perform the functions to contribute to the goals of the organizations but also to maintain the organization itself. individuals differ in their willingness to contribute to the “cooperative system,” and these individual differences in behavior cannot be explained by individual differences in ability. people are concerned with organizational justice or fairness, which concentrates on people’s perceptions of the equality of their work outcomes relative to or in proportion to their work inputs. this concept focuses on the way people perceive the relationship between the outcomes they receive from their jobs and organizations as well as the impact they contribute (moorman, 1991). outcomes are the salary and remuneration that they receive. salary and monetary remuneration are a good satisfied. job satisfaction indicates whether an employee likes or dislikes his/her work. according to mumford (1972), it matters whether the required performance of the employee commensurate with respect to the pay. in general, it is desirable for employees to be satisfied with their jobs (mobley, 2006). training and development many employees have some weaknesses in their workplace skills. a training program allows one to strengthen those skills that the employee needs to 117 international peer reviewed journal improve. a development program brings all employees to a higher level of skills and knowledge. this helps reduce any weak links within the company especially among those who heavily rely on others to complete basic work tasks. providing the necessary training creates an overall knowledgeable staff with employees who can take over for one another as needed, work on teams or work independently without constant help and supervision from others. successful preparing or advancement relies upon comprehending what is required for the individual, the office and the association in general. with constrained spending plans and the requirement for financially savvy arrangements, all associations need to guarantee that the assets put resources into preparing are focused at regions where preparing and advancement are required, and a positive profit for the venture is ensured. effective training needs analysis (tna) is especially indispensable in the present changing work environment as innovations of the working practices since the current working environment is getting to be noticeably boundless. tna empowers associations to channel assets into the regions where they will contribute the most to worker advancement, upgrading spirit, and authoritative execution (chartered management institute, 2006). a tna is the systematic investigation of training needs within an organization. it is part of a process that integrates training with the business of the academic institutions. if such needs can be pinpointed by hard data and survey information, training can lead to an increase in employee efficiency. the needs assessment process includes: a) organizational analysis which involves determining the appropriateness of training, given the company’s business strategy (corpuz, 2006). another part includes person/performance analysis which determines the training needs of current employees and verifies that there is a significant performance deficiency and whether that deficiency should be rectified through training; c) task analysis which assesses the training needs of new employees and includes identifying the important tasks and knowledge, skills, and behaviors that need to be emphasized in training for employees to develop the skills and knowledge required for effective performance and for the employees to complete their tasks (corpuz, 2013); d) performance problem which involves training professionals and launch training needs assessment (rossett, 1987). changes in personnel status changes in employment status are bound to take place during the period of employment. there is a continuous movement of employees in the form of promotion, transfer, demotion, or separation. this movement is the function of 118 jpair multidisciplinary research placement wherein the objective is to find or assign the right person to the right job. a change in employment status is affected by personnel action generated by the hr department upon receipt of a written request from an authorized representative of a department expressing the intended change in employment status. this change in employment status includes promotion, transfer and employee separation (corpuz, 2013). objectives of the study this study intended to assess the extent of the manifestation of the human resource management (hrm) practices of the university of cebu-banilad as assessed by the teaching and the non-teaching staff. the results of this investigation will be used as bases in the formulation of interventions in the current human resource management system. specifically, this study sought to determine the profile of the respondents regarding the age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, academic rank, and position. it further assessed the extent to which sound human resource practices are manifested regarding career management; wage and salary administration; training and development; and changes in personal status as well as the problems encountered by the teaching and non-teaching staff based on the areas above. moreover, the significant relationship between the respondent’s profile and the assessment of the two groups of respondents was further determined. methodology this study utilized the predictive (relational) method of research using a researcher-made questionnaire in assessing the hrm practices as well as problems encountered by the employees under the current hrm system. predictive or relational method is a type of non-experimental method that describes the relationship between two measure variables. to describe relationship, correlations allow to make predictions from one variable to the other (jala, 2013) research environment the research site of the present investigation is at a non-stock and nonprofit educational institution. it is known for providing quality education at low tuition fees. likewise, it offers programs across various fields. 119 international peer reviewed journal research respondents there were forty-seven (47) employees of the university which comprised thirty-one (31) teaching personnel and seventeen (17) non-teaching staff. the purposive sampling technique was used in the study. instrumentation this study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire as the main instrument for data collection. an exposition of the instruments is presented in this topic. the first part determines the profile of the employees as to age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, academic rank, and position. the second part assesses the extent to which human resource management is practiced in the organization; while the third part pertains to the factors that motivate the employees in the university. the cronbach alpha results of .9598 means that the self-made questionnaire is highly reliable. data collection techniques permission to conduct the study was sought from the campus director of the university of cebu-banilad. once the approval was granted, the proponents personally administered the survey-questionnaires to the teaching and nonteaching staff of the school. data analysis a simple percentage was used to interpret the demographic data of the respondents. weighted mean was applied to the extent to which hrm was practiced in the organization. results and discussion age and length of service of the respondents (n=48) the mean age of the respondents was 37 years old. fifty percent (50%) of them were aged below 37 years old based on the age median value. the age with the highest frequency indicated the modal age of the respondents of 36 years old. the standard deviation value of 12.227 was relatively large and indicates a wide scattering of the respondents’ age and further signifies a greater degree of heterogeneity of the values. the skewness value of -0.626 indicates that the respondents’ age distribution is skewed to the left and implies bigger values of the distribution. the kurtosis value of 2.621 indicates that the distribution is 120 jpair multidisciplinary research platykurtic. the results further revealed that the youngest age of the respondents was 23 years old and the oldest age was 65 years old. the average length of service of the participants was 10 years. half of them had been employed in the university for ten years; while others had been in the university for more than ten years. the modal length of service value was also ten years. moreover, there is normal distribution on the identical values of mean, median, and mode reveals pertaining to the length of service. the standard deviation value of 5.433 is relatively large and indicates a wide scattering of the respondents’ length of service and further signifies a greater degree of heterogeneity of the values. the skewness value of 0.426 indicates that the respondents’ length of service distribution is skewed to the left and implies higher values of the distribution. the kurtosis value of -0.93 indicates that the distribution is platykurtic. the results signify that the newest employee in the university had rendered service for a year and 24 years for those who had been in the institution the longest. profitability observations are influenced by one’s age and one’s situation in the pecking order. the youthful support the youthful, the old support the old, and businesses esteem the profitability of laborers not as much as representatives do. be that as it may, there are likewise surprising similitudes crosswise over bosses and workers. by recognizing the different measurements that underlie the profitability of more youthful and more seasoned laborers, the management tried whether delicate characteristics and capacities—e.g., unwavering quality and responsibility—are similarly as vital as hard characteristics—subjective and physically based abilities—according to the two bosses and representatives. it gives the idea that the two businesses and workers, youthful and old, see hard abilities as much more vital than delicate aptitudes (van dalen, henkens, & schippers 2010). gender, civil status, and designation of the respondents (n=48) the bigger proportion of the university’s employees was mostly female. they constituted 70.8% of the study populace. as regards civil status of the employees, most of them were married, comprising 70.8% of the study populace. the figure was 45.8% more than those who were single at the time of the study. moreover, a bigger proportion of the employees were faculty members wherein full-time teachers comprised of 60.4%; 25% more than the nationteaching staff; and 56.2% more than the administrative personnel with teaching assignments. ladies specifically, advancement openings and work-family adjust were identified with turnover aims while for men the lucidity of the set of working 121 international peer reviewed journal responsibilities was an imperative indicator for taking off (blomme, rheede, & tromp, 2010). table 1. wage and salary administration practices (n=48) indicators median mode mode description range minimum maximum 1. the institution’s salary scheme considers employee’ qualification, experience, length of service, skills, etc. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 2. the institution considers the economic situation such a inflation and recession. 3 2 disagree 2 2 4 3. the management revisits the salary structure periodically. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 4. policies on rewards and benefits are disseminated to all employees and are properly implemented. 2 3 agree 3 1 4 5. performance appraisal in undertaken as basis for salary increase. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 6. there is salary increase based on excellent performance. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 7. the company’s salary payment is within the industry’s salary standards. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 8. there is provision of statutory benefits other than basic salary. 3 2 agree, 2 2 9. there is provision for retirement benefits. 3 3 agree 2 2 4 10. wage and salary administration is based in qualification, length of service and other aspects 3 3 agree 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree 3 1 4 legend: 3.26 – 4.00 strongly agree; 2.51 – 3.25 agree; 1.76 – 2.50 disagree; 1.00 – 1.75 strongly disagree these results show that the employees’ ratings on these items were higher compared to items 3, 5, and 6. the mode values indicate the employees’ most frequent responses in each of the 10 items and that most of the employees agreed that the organization practiced the provisions indicated therein. however, most employees disagreed that the human resource management practices included 122 jpair multidisciplinary research revisit of the salary structure periodically, performance appraisal is undertaken as the basis for a salary increase, and the basis of the increase in salary was on excellent performance. further, except for item 4, the employees’ median and modal ratings in the human resource management under wage and salary administration provisions are identical. these identical values signify that the middlemost rating in each of the items is the same with the most frequently chosen responses. the median item rating of 3 indicates the identical values reveal that most of the employees agreed to the provisions therein. there were more employees who did not agree that policies on rewards and benefits were disseminated to all employees. the smallest rating of 1 occurs in items 1, 3, 5, and 6. this implies that they strongly disagreed that there was a practice in the corresponding aforementioned provisions (items 1, 3, 5 and 6) in the organization. on the other hand, the employees’ highest rating in each item (except item 6) was 4. the result implies that the employees strongly agreed that the educational institution observed the corresponding aforementioned provisions (items 1-5, 7-10). because pay is important both in its effect on employees and on account of its cost, organizations need to plan what they will pay employees in each job. an unplanned approach, in which each employee pay is independently negotiated, will likely result in unfairness, dissatisfaction, and rates that are either overly expensive or so low that positions are hard to fill (noe et al., 2009). therefore, the workers want to remain in the organization and such want is not reliant on the monetary pay given by the firm (gimena, 2013). table 2. training and development indicators median mode mode range description minimum maximum 1. there is a system of conducting orientation to the newly-hired employees to discuss on organizational vision, mission, policies and procedures. 3 3 agree 2 2 4 2. there is a system providing relevant trainings on a regular basis to update the employees’ knowledge, skills, etc. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 3.there is system of sending employees to training seminars conducted by other organizations or institutions to enhance their knowledge and abilities. 3 2 disagree 3 1 4 123 international peer reviewed journal 4. there is a system of providing support to employees who will join contests outside the organization(either as contestant, coach or mentor). 3 3 agree 4 1 4 5. there is a system of giving financial support and rewards to employees to had received recognition for an achievement being attain. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 6. there is a linkage with other institutions that provide trainings and update on current systems, trends and \practices. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 7. there are quality equipment, facilities, and machineries to improve productivity and efficiency of the employee. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 8. there are activities to create opportunities to enhance human relations and team work. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 9. training needs analyses are conducted to identify areas in which the employees needs trainings and updates. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 10. employees performance are given consideration in the provision of training opportunities from outside the organization. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree 3 1 4 legend:3.26 – 4.00 strongly agree; 2.51 – 3.25 agree; 1.76 – 2.50 disagree; 1.00 – 1.75 strongly disagree these results show that the employees’ ratings on these items are higher compared to item 10. the mode values indicate the employees’ most frequent responses in each of the ten items; the employees agreed that the provisions were practiced in the organization. however, it is important to note that the employees disagreed that there is a system providing relevant training on a regular basis to update the employees’ knowledge, skills, etc. and that employees’ performance was considered in the provision of training and development opportunities from outside the organization. except for item 2, the employees’ median and modal ratings under training and development provisions were identical. these identical values signify that the middlemost rating in each of the items is the same with the most frequently chosen responses. these identical values reveal that most of the employees agreed to the provisions indicated in the median item ratings of 3. however, most of 124 jpair multidisciplinary research the employees disagreed that there is a system providing relevant training on a regular basis to update the employees’ knowledge, skills, etc. moreover, the results show that the employees disagreed that performance was considered in the provision of training and development opportunities conducted by external training providers. the smallest rating of 1 can be noted in items 9 and 10. these results imply that some of the employees in the organization strongly disagreed that there is a system of practice of the corresponding aforementioned provisions. on the other hand, the employees’ highest rating in each item was 4. the data implies that for all items, some of the employees strongly agreed that the organization practiced the provisions of the indicators. a well-designed training is impactful and important as continuous learning and skills development. decision about what to training, how to train, and how to implement and evaluate training should be informed by the best information science has to offer (salas, 2012). table 3. change in personnel status indicators median mode mode description variance range minimum maximum 1. seniority is one of the top considerations when it comes to promotions, special task assignments, academic loading, and other forms of benefits. 3 3 agree .712 3 1 4 2. there is a conduct of regular performance evaluation as basis for promotion. 2 2 disagree .852 3 1 4 3. the information and reasons for changes in posts positions that are ordered in different department within the organization will be properly informed to the concerned personnel. 3 3 agree .847 3 1 4 4. there is a system consultation on job assignment and placement. 2 2 disagree .903 3 1 4 125 international peer reviewed journal 5. employees’ performance and productivity are considered in promotion. 3 3, 2 agree, disagree .703 3 1 4 6. employees are given chance to explain their side if ever they have concerns on transfer. 3 3 agree .673 3 1 4 7. separation pay and remuneration are provided to employees who resigned or being retrenched for lawful cause. 3 3 agree .849 3 1 4 8. due process of law is practiced in any investigation concerning employees’ infraction and unlawful acts being committed. 3 3 agree .632 3 1 4 9. proper compensation and assistance are given to employees who are being transferred. 3 3 agree .695 3 1 4 10. employees are given opportunities to make suggestion on job assignment. 3 3 agree .892 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree .892 3 1 4 these data indicate that the employees agreed that the university practiced change in personnel status properly. the modal responses indicate the employees’ most frequent responses in each of the ten items, and signified concurrence that the organization practiced the provisions. however, the employees disagreed that there is a conduct of regular performance evaluation as the basis for promotion. the employees’ identical median and modal ratings in this section imply that the middlemost rating in each of the items is the same with the most frequently chosen responses. the median item rating of 3 indicates that these identical values reveal that most of the employees agreed to the provisions. the employees’ ratings were more varied in items 4 and 7, compared to the rest of the items shown by the variance of results. the employees’ responses were least varied in item 10, and the provision about employees’ opportunities to make suggestions on job assignment. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research the employees’ smallest rating on all items was 1, implying that they strongly disagreed that the provisions were practiced in the organization. on the other hand, the employees’ highest rating in each item was 4, which implies that the employees strongly agreed that there is a prevailing practice in the organization. a change in employment status is effected by a personnel action generated by the hr department upon receipt of a written request from an authorized representative of a department expressing the intended change in employment status (corpuz, 2013.) table 4. summarized data on human resource management practices indicators median mode mode description variance range minimum maximum wage and salary administration 3 3 agree 3 1 4 training and development 3 3 agree 3 1 4 change in personnel status 3 3 agree .892 3 1 4 over-all ratings 3 3 agree .637 3 1 4 the data in table 4 reveals that the higher educational institution practiced human management in the context of wage and salary administration, training and development and change in personnel status. in the study conducted by f. h. lee (2010), t. z. lee, and wu (2010), the aftereffects reveal that hrm practices will be decidedly identified with firm execution; there is a nearby linkage between hrm practices and business system; business methodologies will be emphatically identified with firm execution; and incorporating hrm hones with business procedures will be identified with firm execution. table 5. career management as motivational factor indicators median mode mode description range minimum maximum 1. the assignment of people is based on educational background and expertise. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 2. there is well-defined system where employees 3 3 agree 3 1 4 127 international peer reviewed journal 3. there is a system of exposing employees to other tasks and assignments. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 4. there is a system of institutional succession as to who will be the next department head. 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 5. there should be a system of in identifying employees 3 3 agree 3 1 4 6. there is a system of mentoring and coaching to the employees 2 2 disagree 3 1 4 7. there is a system of supporting an employee to masters or any post graduate degree. 3 4,3a strongly agree, agree 2 2 4 8. there is proper job description to all types of jobs and positions. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 9. there is periodic evaluation and feed backing on results and progress of employees performance. 3 2 agree 3 1 4 10. organizational structure is formulated based necessity and practicality. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree 3 1 4 legend: 3.26 – 4.00 strongly agree; 2.51 – 3.25 agree; 1.76 – 2.50 disagree; 1.00 – 1.75 strongly disagree these results connote that the employees did not find the system of institutional succession planning as to who will be the next department head as one of the factor that motivates them. moreover, the employees’ low ratings in item 6 express the employees’ disagreement to the provisions that the human resource has a policy of practicing ethics and respecting the rights of employees. furthermore, the employees’ responses to item 9 created a bimodal distribution. this entails that there were two responses with equal highest frequency; 2-disagreed and 3-disagreed. these data imply that there was the equal number of employees who agreed and who did not agree that there was a conduct of periodic 128 jpair multidisciplinary research evaluation and to feedback on results and progress of employees’ performance are non-motivating factors. the employees’ smallest ratings on all items were 1, implying that they strongly disagreed that career management practices of the university motivate them. on the other hand, the employees’ highest rating in each item was 4, which means that there were employees who strongly agreed that the provisions of this indicator motivate them to work hard. career management was highly applied in the in the educational organization. meaning, the establishment has put a lot of assets in setting up its representatives higher than ever of expert development and duty (biore, 2015). table 6. job security and status as motivational factor indicators median mode mode description variance range minimum maximum 1. the institution will give regular status to employees had comply and passed the institutions’ standards 4 4 strongly, agree .518 2 2 4 2. there is a policy of promotion to employee who had shown excellent performance. 2 disagree .791 3 1 4 3. fair investigation is undertaken to employees in case of complaints and other issues. 3 3 agree .998 3 1 4 4. due process of law such as providing employees the opportunity to explain in writing their side in any case or issue involving them. 3 3 agree .961 3 1 4 5. length of service (seniority) and loyalty is being considered in any promotions and opportunities for growth and development. 3 3 agree .798 3 1 4 6. there is a policy of practicing ethics and respecting the rights of employees. 3 3 agree .824 3 1 129 international peer reviewed journal 7. fair disciplinary actions will be meted to employees who had committed infraction, intolerable actions and mistake. 3 3 agree .959 3 1 8. decision pertaining to change in assignment and position is being informed to concerned employees. 3 3 agree .895 3 1 4 9. favoritism is discouraged in dealing with employees. 3 3 agree .991 3 1 4 10. the top management shows support to employees concerns and other activities. 3 3,2a agree, disagree .931 3 1 factor 3 3 agree 1.065 3 1 4 the employees’ median responses conveyed their higher ratings in all of the provisions under job security and status. this implies that majority of the employees agreed to all the provisions in this section. the mode responses indicate the employees most frequent responses in each of the ten items and that the employees agreed that job security and status motivated them to work in the organization. it is however essential to note that other than item 2, the employees’ median and modal ratings in the provision of job and security status were identical. these identical values signify that the middlemost rating in each of the items was the same with the most frequently chosen response. the median and mode item ratings of 3 and 4 indicated that these identical values reveal that most of the employees agreed to the provisions of the indicator. although the employees show their positive evaluation of the provisions under this section, it is imperative to note that some employees did not perceive that there is a policy of promotion to employees who had shown excellent performance based on the mode value of item 2. the employees’ smallest ratings on all items except for items 1 is 1, implies that they strongly disagreed that the provisions are factors that motivate them. on the other hand, the employees’ highest ratings on all items were 4. it implies that the employees strongly agreed that the provisions are factors that motivate them in all cases. there is a significant relationship between the loss of job security and reduced motivation (battaglio, 2010), and a fear that the use of spoils would reappear in a deregulated environment (battaglio & condrey, 2009). 130 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. working condition as motivational factor indicators median mode mode description range minimum maximum 1. the working area has sufficient space, lightning and ventilation. 3 3 agree 2 2 4 2. there is comfort or toilet for the employees. 3 4 strongly, agree 2 2 4 3. the maintenance of clean and orderly working space is being practiced. 4. there is provision of working area that is suited for the employees to perform their assigned task. 3 3 agree 2 2 4 5. computer system is provided to the employees to enable them to perform their work effectively disagree and efficient. 3 3,2a agree 3 1 4 6. there are machines and other tools and equipment to enable the workers to be productive and efficient. 3 3,2a agree, disagree 3 1 4 7. the college/department heads monitors the physical working area of the employees. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 8. old and defective machines, equipment and tools are replaced with new ones. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 9. the company considers conditions on shortage of supplies, materials as well as absence of equipment that would hinder the smooth flow of operation. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 10. the working system allows employees to foster teamwork and camaraderie. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree 3 1 4 these data entails that there were two responses with equal highest frequency, such as 2—disagreed and 3-disagreed. this implies that there were equal numbers of employees who agreed and who strongly agreed that the human resource provides comfort rooms and toilet to employees. the employees’ smallest ratings on all items except for items 1, 2, and three is 1, implying that they strongly 131 international peer reviewed journal disagreed that the provisions of proper working condition motivated them. on the other hand, the employees’ highest ratings on all items were 4. most proprietor supervisors adopt a positive strategy to the workplace, yet additionally endeavor to ‘talk chance down’, condemn direction as organization and drive a piece of the business duty on to the representatives. they attempt to take after what they encounter as a for the most part satisfactory standard for the workplace among the partners in the area, however some proprietor chiefs additionally tend to disregard the workspace. the explanation behind the downsizing of hazard and the push to share duty can be found in the nearby social connections and the character work procedures of the proprietor administrators with their business. they endeavor to go about as nice individuals and along these lines maintain a strategic distance from individual blame and fault if workers ought to get harmed (hasle, limborg, & kallehave, 2012). table 8. people empowerment as motivational factor indicators median mode mode description range minimum maximum 1. there is assignment of tasks to handle clients student’s queries and complaints. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 2. the policy in the institution allows subordinates introduce and suggest improvements in the work areas with management approval. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 3. the system allows teaching and non-teaching staff introduce new types of facilities to improve quality service/ products. 3 3,2a agree, disagree 3 1 4 4. the teaching and non-teaching staff are allowed to make arrangement with customers. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 5. the employees are permitted to solve problems at source. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 6. there is proper information dissemination among employees. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 7. the employees are allowed to make suggestion in the formulation of performance appraisal. 3 2 disagree 3 1 4 8. feeling of trust is promoted in all aspects of the institution’s operations. 3 3,2a agree, disagree 3 1 4 132 jpair multidisciplinary research 9. employees are encouraged to participate in development plan. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 10. there is standardization and innovation of institution practices. 3 3 agree 3 1 4 factor 3 3 agree 3 1 4 over-all ratings 3 3 agree 3 1 4 the employees’ median responses convey their higher ratings in all of the provisions under people empowerment as a motivational factor. this implies that majority of the employees agreed to all the provisions of this aspect of human resource. the mode responses indicate the employees’ most frequent responses in each of the ten items; and generally, the employees agreed that the provisions of the indicator motivated them. the employees’ median and modal ratings under people empowerment provisions were identical. these identical values signify that the middlemost rating in each of the items was the same with the most frequently chosen responses. the median and mode item ratings of 3 indicated these identical values and revealed that most of the employees agreed that these practices exist in the institutions. the employees show their positive perception evaluation of the provisions of this section. the employees’ smallest ratings for all items were 1, implying that they there were some employees who strongly disagreed that when they are empowered, the employees would be motivated. on the other hand, the employees’ highest ratings in all items were four, which denoted that there were employees who strongly agreed that the provisions under people empowerment motivated them to work harder. people empowerment has been undertaken in the university at a highest scope. the institution has been proactive in enhancing the employees’ capability in performing their jobs. this means that employees were given a chance to become active participants in the organization once they become proficient in a certain organizational task (biore, 2015). table 9. result on the test of significant relationship (n = 47) paired variables kendall’s tau_b sig.(2 tailed) interpretation age vs p1 overall .265* .024 statistically significant age vs part 2a .235* .041 statistically significant age vs part 2 over all .167 .154 not statistically significant age vs hrm .121 .299 not statistically significant 133 international peer reviewed journal the data revealed that there is the significant relationship between the age and the respondents’ perception on the human resource management practices regarding wage and salary administration, training and development and change in personnel’s status as evidenced by kendall’s tau_b value of .265* and sig (2 tailed) value of .024. however, there was no significant relationship between the age and the employees’ perception of the motivational factors based on the overall kendall’s tau_b value of .167 and sig (2 tailed) value of .154. in the study of bellou (2010), it appears that employee gender and age influence the way that the organizational values affect their job satisfaction. table 10. relationship between gender and perception on hrm paired variables cramer’s v contingency approx. sig. interpretations gender vs part 1 .189 .258 .754 not statistically significant gender vs part 2 .316 .408 .142 not statistically significant gender vs hrm .323 .416 .124 not statistically significant there was no significant relationship between the respondent’s gender and their perception on the human resource management practices in the university as shown in the cramer’s v value of .189 and sig (2 tailed) value of .754. this result implies that whether the respondent is male or female, the perception would be the same. likewise, there was also no significant relationship between the gender of the employees and their responses on the motivational factors. this result means their perception does not have the connection to their gender. the results of the study of blomme et al. (2010) should be considered when developing gender-specific human resource management policies to retain highly educated staff. conclusion the higher education institution provided less focus and importance on the aspects of wage and salary administration, training and development and change in personnel status. this current organizational situation calls for a more intensified effort to address these critical facets of human resource management system in an educational organization as well as the gap in the knowledge and skills of the current human capital asset. a system of job consultation and assignment 134 jpair multidisciplinary research of the people should also be instituted to promote a collegial atmosphere of embedding importance to the people. thereby, there should be provision of the current technology and the culture of giving the employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas should be given due attention to foster motivation among the employees. translational research the university should institute stakeholders approach in the formulation of an effective human resource management system and policies to enhance certain areas on wage and salary administration, and training and development and change in the status of the employees. the management should periodically revisit its institutional goals to ascertain whether there are still aspects to be considered in the midst of the modern times. therefore, a comprehensive human resource manual should be developed that encompass all the critical aspects in the effective management of the human capital of higher educational institutions. literature cited battaglio, r.p, jr. 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(1994). management development: a career management perspective. international journal of career management, 6(5), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/09556219410072324 https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0316/pages/the-big-issues-facing-hr.aspx https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0316/pages/the-big-issues-facing-hr.aspx http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/schoech/cussn/courses/6355/syllabus_6355.htm http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/schoech/cussn/courses/6355/syllabus_6355.htm https://doi.org/10.1108/09556219410072324 67 international peer reviewed journal marketability of mango-based products: input to product development of locally farm produced mangoes in central luzon, philippines leslie r. jorge https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7993-787x jorgeleslie1@gmail.com bataan peninsula state university capitol compound, city of balanga, bataan hermogenes m. paguia https://orcid.org/000-003-3758-9317 hmpaguia@gmail.com bataan peninsula state university capitol compound, city of balanga, bataan imelda c. realce https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2213-032x irealce2019@gmail.com bataan peninsula state university capitol compound, city of balanga, bataan originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract mangifera indica, commonly known as mango, is a high-value crop with yield gaps brought by its seasonal production. the study was conducted to determine the marketability of mango-based products as one of the most vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.772 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7993-787x mailto:jorgeleslie1@gmail.com 68 jpair multidisciplinary research abundant commodities in the philippines. the study made used of a descriptive survey method to describe the type of consumer market and determine their preferences in fruit-based food items. the study revealed that the market consists of varied generations, with the majority under the generation y or the millennials. most of them were female, single, college graduates, employed, preferred to purchase fruit-based products weekly, and answered that they would be willing to try mango-based products. the market likewise considers products’ nutritional value that researchers, food technologists, and other food manufacturers must capitalize on incubating new product lines and marketing strategies to employ. keywords — marketing, mango-based product, customer preference, descriptive survey method, central luzon, philippines introduction mango is one of the most popular and economically important crops in tropical regions throughout asia, south america, hawaii, central america, the caribbean, and africa, with india remaining as the top mango producing country that approximately supplies 50% of the global mango supply that remains to be a seasonal fruit (zahedi et al., 2016). according to pawar et al. (2016), india, china, thailand, indonesia, and the philippines rank among the largest exporters and commercial producers of mangoes. the global market for processed mangoes is projected to rise with the increasing preference of consumers in naturally sweet fruit-based ingredients. the philippines, in the mango global value chain (2017), significantly contributes to the mango processing segment. processed mango exports climbed to us$91 million with dried mangoes represented the largest share among all processed products by 77%, followed by juices at 9%, airtight 8%, and 7% in purees (psa, 2007-2014). in this segment, fruit quality is less of an issue, products that fail to meet quality standards for exportation as established in the world trade organization on application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures can still be processed. food export rejection can be a harmful barrier to sustainable international food trade (wen et al., 2018). this can be a challenge to third world countries to improve products to meet the demand for quality. however, inevitably, the incident causing damages to produce, with the volume of rejections that are not suited for fruit export, may be processed for consumption and exportation in a different form. with the foreseeable increase in post-harvest fruit damage of 69 international peer reviewed journal mango production in central luzon, the study was conducted to determine mango-based products’ marketability. market research is an indispensable part of any business process, which is beneficial in all business levels regardless of the type of products and services being offered. the core point lies in the identification of customer preference; hence, if the customer is satisfied, the business will be successful. other factors, such as innovation, competition, inventions, technology, and the like, are only secondary (jiang et al., 2019). this study determined the consumer behavior and preference of the market on mango-processed products, which are vital inputs used by bataan peninsula state university food technologists and scientists in developing new product lines. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the marketability of mangobased products as input to product development of local farm produced mangoes in central luzon. it specifically determines the respondent’s profile in terms of age, sex, civil status, place of residence, highest educational attainment, occupation, monthly income, and frequency of purchase on fruit-based products. it further identifies the consumer preference for mango-based products, acceptable price range, and the most engaging promotional tools from the consumers’ perspective. methodology research design the study made use of the descriptive survey method in describing the consumer preferences on mango-based products and in determining the marketable mango-based products. research site the research was conducted at the selected provinces in central luzon, specifically bataan, pampanga, and zambales, which have demo farms that were included in the bpsu science and technology transfer project in central luzon. respondents the participants of the study were the residents who purchased food items around the market areas, supermarkets, trade fairs, and public squares in each province. a stratified sampling technique was utilized to determine the sample 70 jpair multidisciplinary research size from the total population of the three provinces using the raosoft software sample size calculator, generating 392 actual respondents. instrumentation this study made use of a researcher-made survey tool to gather data. the research instrument consisted of two (2) parts. the first part of the questionnaire dealt with the demographic profile of the respondents, while the second part consists of the description questions relating to the consumers’ preferences on fruit-based products. validation of instrument the instrument was validated by experts in the field of research, business, psychology, and food technology. the comments and suggestions given during the evaluation were considered in the revision to achieve the content and face validity of the researcher-designed tool. clearance for the study’s conduct and use of the instrument was secured from the peninsulares research ethics committee. informed consent was attached in the questionnaire, where voluntary participation was observed. data analysis the gathered data were tallied, analyzed, and processed using statistical software, spss. frequency distribution and the percentage was computed. results and discussion as seen in table 1, it can be observed that all generations were well represented in the study sample with the generation y or the millennials were the predominant buyer at the public markets and public areas of the provinces, consisting of 47.4 % this is because millennials are characterized to be outgoing and participative that they want their views, ideas and opinion to be heard through the survey, this supports the article by chou (2012), stating that millennials express themselves and are not easily intimidated by others because of lack of experience and status. 71 international peer reviewed journal table 1. distribution of respondents according to age age range/ generation frequency percentage 17 and below (generation z) 50 12.8 18-34 (generation y) 186 47.4 35-50 (generation x) 103 26.3 51 and above (baby boomers) 53 13.5 total 392 100 table 2 reveals that there were more females in the total number of respondents, accounting for 47.4%. this data indicates that women are the primary shoppers for household goods and handle most of the grocery shopping as they rule the kitchen and other household areas. bowers (2000) opined that food preparations and dining styles might have changed over the years, but food preparation remains to be associated with women. table 2. distribution of respondents according to sex sex frequency percentage male 132 33.7 female 260 66.3 total 392 100 table 3 shows that the majority (66.3%) of the respondents were still single, consisting of 56.4%. this result relates to the data contained in table 1, wherein the age range of the respondents at the time of the survey was below 17 to 35 years old, with a combined proportion of 60.2%. there is also a growing trend in supermarkets to be the singles’ hotspot, according to bernon (2018). singles bars are an outdated concept, and even the wall street journal (2018) detailed that one of the reasons adults find dating and social success at the supermarket are because meeting people while shopping is low-key, non-confrontational, and does not involve deviating from their normal routine. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. distribution of respondents according to civil status civil status frequency percentage single 221 56.4 married 149 38.0 widow/widower 13 3.3 annulled/separated 5 1.3 solo parent 4 1.0 total 392 100 table 4 reveals that the three provinces that served as the research locale was well represented in the distribution of respondents. however, more respondents came from the province of bataan, considering that the researchers were residents and where the largest number of adopted mango farms were located. table 4. distribution of respondents according to place of residence province frequency percentage bataan 171 43.70 pampanga 126 32.0 zambales 93 23.8 no data provided 2 0.5 total 392 100 as seen in table 5, a larger percentage of the respondents at 47.7% were college graduates, while only 37% were high school graduates. this finding indicates that the data were gathered first hand from the respondents out of their volition without any biases and that the content of the survey questionnaire was clearly understood. the data also implies that market-goers were well educated and appears to be smart shoppers. 73 international peer reviewed journal table 5. distribution of respondents according to highest educational attainment level of education frequency percentage elementary 14 3.6 high school 145 37.0 college 187 47.7 masters/doctorate degree 23 5.9 others 23 5.9 total 392 100 the data contained in table 6 reveals that the majority of the respondents at 54.8% were employed. this figure indicates that the respondents were not only shoppers, but they have the tendency to get the best value for their money’s worth as they are the ones earning them, these findings support the study of ramya and ali (2016) that social status often associated by employment is a factor in consumer buying behavior. table 6. distribution of respondents according to employment status employment status frequency percentage employed 215 54.8 self-employed 63 16.1 unemployed 30 7.7 student 64 16.3 others 20 5.1 total 392 100 as seen in data in table 7, there were more respondents whose monthly income was within the range of php5, 000.00 and below, consisting of 39.5%, while the highest income for the 3.8% of the respondents was within php25, 000.00. as observed during the survey, the respondents showed hesitation to provide data on their earnings tend to hide how much they earn in a month. these findings strengthen the results of paper worked by the national bureau of economic research in cambridge that revealed that some individuals have a strong preference for concealing their salary and that these privacy norms usually leads to the misperception that their earnings were significantly lower. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research individuals have to learn about seniority instead of salary, and diffusion of salary information leads to labor market phenomena (cullen & truglia, 2018). table 7. distribution of respondents according to monthly income income range frequency percentage php 5,000.00 and below 155 39.5 php 5,001.00-10,000.00 62 15.8 php 10,001.00-15,000.00 53 13.5 php 15,001.00-20,000.00 40 10.2 php 20,001.00-25,000.00 37 9.4 php 25,001-30,000.00 15 3.8 php 30,001.00-35,000.00 18 4.6 php 35,001.00 and above 12 3.1 total 392 100 the information in table 8 reveals that more respondents purchased fruitbased products weekly. this result relates to the common consumer buying behavior of grocery shopping at least once a week to stock up household supplies for a week’s consumption to save money and stick to a clear shopping plan and budget. this result relates to the findings of the study conducted by hollis-hansen et al., (2020), which opined that on mothers’ weekly food purchase and thinking intervention, they are likely to improve the calorie and nutrient content selection of their food purchases. table 8. number of times respondents buy fruit-based products number of times frequency percentage once a day 84 21.4 once a week 225 57.4 once a month 78 19.9 once a year 1 .3 never 4 1.0 total 392 100 the data in table 9 shows that the majority of the respondents answered that they preferred to purchase drinks like fruit juices for direct consumption. 75 international peer reviewed journal commonly the consumption of fruit drinks would rise when the weather is hot. filipinos, given with a tropical climate, are into drinking various types of beverages. in conjunction with the increase in consumer preference and lifestyle change towards healthier choices, the juice sector demonstrates positive and dynamic growth (priyadarshini & priyadarshini, 2018). table 9. respondents’ preference in fruit-based products fruit-based products responses percent of casesn percent drinks (fruit juices) 322 50.5% 82.6% bakery food items (cakes; pastries) 135 21.2% 34.6% confectioneries (sweets; candies) 87 13.7% 22.3% fruit jams/spreads 93 14.6% 23.8% total 637 100.0% 163.3% as seen in the data in table 10, more respondents (40.6%) answered that they would be willing to spend php 50.00 or less on fruit-based products per purchase at any given time. furthermore, there were 34.9% that is equivalent to 137 respondents who responded that they would be willing to purchase fruit juices within the price range of php 51.00 to php 100.00 per item. consumers are more responsive to price promotion of unhealthy foods and beverages than healthier items (backholer, sacks, & cameron, 2019). table 10. amount of money in which respondents were willing to spend on fruit-based products per consumption amount frequency percentage below php 50.00 159 40.6 php 51.00-100.00 137 34.9 php 101.00-150.00 47 12.0 php 151.00-200.00 21 5.4 php 201.00-250.00 11 2.8 more than php 250.00 17 4.3 total 392 100 76 jpair multidisciplinary research when the respondents were asked as to their willingness to purchase mangobased products, as seen in table 11, the majority of the respondents, comprising 58.7%, said that they would be willing to try the product. another 36.5% answered that they probably would try the abovementioned product. this data is a good indication that the product being introduced in the market has a chance to be patronized by general consumers. table 11. the willingness of respondents to try mango-based products response frequency percentage definitely won’t 11 2.8 probably won’t 8 2.0 probably will 143 36.5 definitely will 230 58.7 total 392 100 table 12 reveals that the majority (68.8%) of the respondents said that they preferred mango juice among other mango-flavored types of beverages that bataan peninsula state university researchers and food technologists initially concocted. based on common observation, the respondents would opt to select mango juice due to its popularity and familiarity, parallel to the result of a study of torrico et al. (2019) revealed that product familiarity and culture affect the sensory acceptability of consumers towards different food products. table 12. respondents’ preference in purchasing mango-based drinks mango flavored drinks responses percent of casesn percent mango juice 330 68.8% 85.7% mango flavored alcoholic beverage 35 7.3% 9.1% mango flavored energy drink 56 11.7% 14.5% mango flavored slimming drink 59 12.3% 15.3% total 480 100.0% 124.7%* *the percent of cases is from multiple responses having more than 100% total table 13 reveals that more (45.7%) of the respondents answered that they preferred to purchase dried mangoes, among other confectioneries or sweet mango based processed goods. this data could be a good consideration for future 77 international peer reviewed journal production, since the drying of fruits and vegetables enhances storage stability, minimizes packaging, and reduces transport weight (sagar & kumar, 2010). it can also be observed from the data that the usual filipino confectioneries, pastillas, and polvoron were preferred by 28.9% and 19.6% of the respondents, respectively. this result signifies that filipino food is still rooted in filipino tastes despite the introduction of foreign processed products in the philippine market. table 13. respondents’ preference in purchasing mango-based confectioneries or candies fruit-based products responses percent of cases n percent mango polvoron 104 19.6% 27.7% mango pastillas 153 28.9% 40.8% mango barquiron 31 5.8% 8.3% dried mango 242 45.7% 64.5% others 0 0 0 total 530 100.0% 141.3%* *the percent of cases is from multiple responses having more than 100% total table 14 shows that there were more (36.6.7%) of the respondents answered that they would be willing to buy mango cake, while a considerable proportion of the respondents exhibited preference on mango tart (20.7%) and mango cookies (19.6%) respectively. this data denotes that baked items are the most common and readily available in the philippine market. table 14. respondents’ preference in purchasing mango-based bakery food items fruit-based products responses percent of cases n percent mango tart 114 20.8% 31.8% mango cookies 107 19.6% 29.8% mango empanada 52 9.5% 14.5% mango bar 74 13.5% 20.6% mango cake 200 36.6% 55.7% others 0 0 0 total 547 100.0% 152.4%* *the percent of cases is from multiple responses having more than 100% total 78 jpair multidisciplinary research table 15 shows that the majority (64.5%) of the respondents preferred to purchase mango jams as a spread. this relates to the fact that filipinos are inclined to jam consumption. thomas (2016) said that sandwich is a popular lunch food in the west while in the philippines it is eaten for breakfast, morning and afternoon snacks and if most westerners would prefer bacon, cheese, beef, nutella, tomato, lettuce, ham, or tuna as their filling, filipinos have their favorite sandwich spread, among the best-loved “palaman” are margarine, peanut butter, and jams. table 15. respondents’ preference in purchasing mango-based spreads or condiments fruit-based products responses percent of casesn percent mango marmalade 67 16.4% 19.3% mango jam 264 64.5% 76.1% mango pickle 78 19.1% 22.5% others 0 0 0 total 409 100.0% 117.9%* *the percent of cases is from multiple responses having more than 100% total table 16 shows the information and promotional tools that the respondents answered as they purchase food items. it can be observed that 81.9% said that they considered nutritional value when buying foods. this finding complements to the result of the study on philippine consumer patronage of healthy meal options in food establishments (glorioso et al., 2018). it can be noted that price (67.1 %), free trial or free taste (53.9%), and discounts (49.7%) were also considered by them before buying food items. with price as one of the elements in marketing strategy, it could be a motivating factor for buyers to consider (armstrong et al., 2018) while free samples helped customers to learn about a product, while free tastes offer a more subconscious level where expectations and actions of people are in response to each other’s similar way as reciprocity which is a very strong instinct that when something was done or was given, people feel a surprisingly strong obligation to do something back for them and in this case, buying the actual product being presented (zulkifli & yazid, 2020). 79 international peer reviewed journal table 16. promotional tools respondents respond to in purchasing products fruit-based products responses percent of casesn percent nutritional value 316 16.0% 81.9% packaging 160 8.1% 41.5% label 129 6.5% 33.4% price 259 13.1% 67.1% printed materials 45 2.3% 11.7% social media advertisements 73 3.7% 18.9% telemarketing 13 .7% 3.4% personality promotion 39 2.0% 10.1% face to face selling 82 4.2% 21.2% discount 192 9.7% 49.7% coupon 52 2.6% 13.5% premium offer 90 4.6% 23.3% free trial/ free taste 208 10.6% 53.9% accessibility of the store 170 8.6% 44.0% word of mouth 143 7.3% 37.0% total 1971 100.0% 510.6%* *the percent of cases is from multiple responses having more than 100% total conclusions based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that there is a market for mango-based food products in central luzon. consumers are demographically diverse, engaged, and educated, who are conscious of what they want in a mango-based product that ranges from the food type, price, processing, shelflife, packaging, and preparations. translational research it is highly suggested that food technologist, researchers, and food manufacturers develop a product that would suit the taste of the millennials, innovating on developing new product lines that bear longer shelf life that would suit the fast-paced lifestyle of the new generation. likewise, it is recommended that product development enterprises be established through cooperatives, small 80 jpair multidisciplinary research medium enterprises, with the support of local government units (lgus) and other service agency providers. production of instructional materials, manuals, and other printed materials on food processing may also be compiled and distributed. literature cited armstrong, g. m., kotler, p., harker, m., & brennan, r. (2018). marketing:aan introduction. uk: pearson. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ud4ywd backholer, k., sacks, g., & cameron, a. j. (2019). food and beverage price promotions: an untapped policy target for improving population diets and health. current nutrition reports, 8(3), 250-255. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1007/s13668-019-00287-z bowers, d. (2000). cooking trends echo changing roles of women. food review/ national food review,  23(1482-2016-121400), 23-29. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3eomtej chou, s. y. (2012). millennials in the workplace: a conceptual analysis of millennials’ leadership and followership styles.  international journal of human resource studies, 2(2). retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs. v2i2.1568 cullen, z. b., & perez-truglia, r. (2018).  the salary taboo: privacy norms and the diffusion of information  (no. w25145). national bureau of economic research. retrieved from (doi): 10.3386/w25145 glorioso, m. i. g., gonzales, m. s., avilla, j. d., & capanzana, m. v. (2018). consumers’ patronage of healthy meal options in a food establishment.  philippine journal of science,  147 (2), 255-260. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2u96upp hollis-hansen, k., seidman, j., o’donnell, s., wedderburn, a., stanar, s., brande, s., & epstein, l. h. (2020). an ecological momentary episodic future thinking intervention on mother’s weekly food purchases.  health psychology, 39(2), 159. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000817 https://bit.ly/2ud4ywd https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-019-00287-z https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-019-00287-z https://bit.ly/3eomtej https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v2i2.1568 https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v2i2.1568 https://bit.ly/2u96upp https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/hea0000817 81 international peer reviewed journal jiang, h., kwong, c. k., kremer, g. o., & park, w. y. (2019). dynamic modelling of customer preferences for product design using denfis and opinion mining.  advanced engineering informatics,  42, 100969. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2019.100969 pawar, p. p., bhosale, s. s., gavali, a. v., & yadav, d. b. (2016). world mango trade and opportunities for india.  indian journal of agricultural economics, 71(3), 310. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xauucd priyadarshini, a., & priyadarshini, a. (2018). market dimensions of the fruit juice industry. in  fruit juices  (pp. 15-32). academic press. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-802230-6.00002-3 ramya, n., & ali, m. (2016). factors affecting consumer buying behavior.  international journal of applied research,  2(10), 76-80. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2zrd7dh sagar, v. r., & kumar, p. s. (2010). recent advances in drying and dehydration of fruits and vegetables: a review. journal of food science and technology, 47(1), 15-26. retrieved on december 18, 2018, from https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13197-010-0010-8 thomas, a. (2016). top favorite filipino palaman: part 1. retrieved on december 18, 2018, from https://balay.ph/best-filipino-palaman-part-1/ torrico, d. d., fuentes, s., viejo, c. g., ashman, h., & dunshea, f. r. (2019). cross-cultural effects of food product familiarity on sensory acceptability and non-invasive physiological responses of consumers.  food research international,  115, 439-450. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. foodres.2018.10.054 wen, x., yang, z., dong, h., fan, x., & wang, y. (2018). barriers to sustainable food trade: china’s exports food rejected by the us food and drug administration 2011–2017.  sustainability,  10(6), 1712. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061712 zahedi, s. m., asgarian, z. s., ersi, f. k., & seydi, a. (2016). evaluating marketability of ten selected cultivars of mango. open journal of ecology, 6(5), 219-224. retrieved from doi: 10.4236/oje.2016.65022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2019.100969 https://bit.ly/2xauucd https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-802230-6.00002-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-010-0010-8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-010-0010-8 https://balay.ph/best-filipino-palaman-part-1/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.10.054 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.10.054 https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061712 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oje.2016.65022 82 jpair multidisciplinary research zulkifli, n. a., & yazid, m. f. m. (2020). how reciprocity theory drives customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. journal of undergraduate social science and technology, 2(2). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2u8karg https://bit.ly/2u8karg 50 jpair multidisciplinary research students’ geopathic stress: its influence on their work-related stress, burnout and on-the-job training performance jeremias l. convocar http://orcid.org/000-0002-6489-5881 jeremiasconvocar@gmail.com west visayas state university, philippines abstract – geopathic stress is a natural phenomenon which affects certain places and can be damaging to human health. this study determined the extent of geopathic stress (gs) among 253 randomly selected fourth-year college students and its influence on their work-related stress, burnout, and on-thejob training (ojt) performance. using descriptive-correlational method, the study utilized published on-line gs questionnaire, stress test, burnout inventory, and students’ final ratings in ojt. the extent of gs among graduating college students revealed that 13.83% had “few feelings” of gs, 32.81% had “some strong feelings” of gs, 39.13% had “substantial gs feelings”, and 14.23% were “experiencing” gs. they had “fair” work-related stress, “some strong” feelings of burnout and “outstanding” ojt performance. significant differences were found in students’ burnout when grouped as to the level of gs. a positive and significant relationship was found between gs and burnout and among work-related stress and the ojt performance. however, a negative and significant relationship was found between burnout and ojt performance. hence, gs is a major stressor that triggered burnout and eventually affects students’ ojt performance. keywords – geopathic stress, work stress, burnout, ojt performance, influence, descriptive-correlational, iloilo, philippines vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.293 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 51 international peer reviewed journal introduction well-being can be location dependent and that this might be caused by a socalled geopathic stress zone (augner et al., 2010). likewise, there remains that geopathic stress (gs) could be partially responsible for good health and high productivity (clements-croome, 2002). however, gs is always ignored and considered as one of the common underlying factor to many health problems because most people are not aware of the existence in the selected location (freshwater, 1997). dharmadhikari et al. (2011) affirm that the occurrence of stress as a factor in ill health is now widely accepted, and its effects on the body are relatively very well-documented. likewise, hacker et al. (2012) explains that several studies showed a high level of relationship between major illnesses and staying for a long time over an area of gs. people who live in homes above areas of gs, most likely to have disturbed sleep patterns. they may be unable to sleep, or they awake frequently, or they might suffer from a strange dream and wake up feeling tired and irritated. staying over gs zone for a frequent number of hours a day can lead to ill health, lack of stress tolerance and general feelings of depression and lower performance. parker and kulik (1995) explain that the level of job stress significantly predict burnout. additionally, burnout levels are significantly associated with poorer selfrated and supervisor-rated job performance, more sick leaves, and more reported absences for mental health reasons. the west visayas state university (wvsu) lambunao campus fielded fourth-year students to various firms and institutions for on-the-job-training (ojt) in compliance with the requirements of the graduation course. it is part of the college curriculum to train and orient students about the work for their future career and considered as the primary method used for broadening skills and increasing productivity. considering that these student-trainees are new to the working environment, they most likely experience pressures, uncertainties, worries, and anxieties that may trigger stress. if their stress prolonged, it may lead to burnout and eventually affect their ojt performance. according to hacker et al. (2012), gs can have considerable negative industrial and commercial impact. the number of personnel on sick leave will probably increase in the long run when all employees work at geopathically stressed work places. likewise, it is one of the major causes of recurring sickness among students’ trainees and personnel, tensions and low 52 jpair multidisciplinary research concentration at work (life techno, 2008) and eventually decrease performance (hacker et al., 2012). freshwater (1997) affirms that the true range of the causes of stress is not much of the evidence. perhaps, gs is one of the unknown causes that trigger stress and consequently affects students’ academic and work performance. hence, it is an important area of concern for further research and effective intervention for college students’ health and academic performance. from the foregoing theoretical constructs, the investigator deemed necessary to delineate the influence of gs on work-related stress, burnout and the ojt performance among fourth-year college students. consequently, this question was posed: do students’ work-related stress, burnout and ojt performance were influenced by the levels of gs? hence, this prevailing question must be answered. framework geopathic stress geopathic stress is a natural radiation that rises up through the earth altered by weak electromagnetic fields created by underground streams, certain underground water streams, mineral cavities and fault lines. the wave of radiation or gs can seriously affect human health, causing cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, infertility, and miscarriage. supposedly, while a person is asleep, the body is at rest so that can repair its cells, fight against infections and take in nutrients from food. however, if one stayed over an area of gs zone, the body has to maximize all energy just to keep vital organs functioning. as a result, the body’s immune system becomes weak that eventually disrupt absorption of nutrients or resistance against infections effectively (hacker, 2009). according to saunders (2003), there are other geographical locations that can have a negative effect upon health and these are known as geopathic stress zones. it is believed that such zones can interfere with the brain’s normal function that inhibits the release of melatonin and other endocrine secretions needed to replenish the immune system moreover, hacker et al. (2008) explain that gs zones have considerable negative commercial impact. conversely, at “highly burdened” workplaces, performance will decrease, discontentment grows, and the vulnerability to diseases resulting to increase employees’ health problems. 53 international peer reviewed journal work-related stress and burnout stress is an important component of life. although stress has a negative connotation, it is not necessarily bad. a certain degree of stress is needed by the body to maintain normal functioning. in the workplace, a little amount of stress is needed to motivate employees toward satisfactory job performance (dewey, 2007). davis and newstrom (1986) add that in almost any job condition can cause stress, depending upon an employee’s reaction to it. these may include work overload and time pressures, poor quality supervisions, role conflict and ambiguity, difference between company and employee values, change of any type, and frustration. on the other hand, burnout refers to the extent to which workers have become separated from the original meaning and purpose and the degree to which workers express estrangement from the clients, jobs, co-workers, or agency (armstrong, 1979). most writers on professional burnout have identified stress as the cause (cherniss, 1995). on the job training on-the-job training (ojt) emphasizes the acquisition of skills within the work environment under usual working conditions. through ojt, workers acquire both general and specific skills that they can apply from one job to another. through ojt, workers build their skills through experiences and knowledge (pulley, 2010). siele (1990) described ojt as training done in the workplace, where the trainer performs the task of a supervisor. likewise, he emphasized that ojt supplement all other forms of training comparable to other training avenues in various group of people working in an industry. furthermore, the objectives of ojt is to acquire and apply the knowledge and skills learned by the students from actual work setting, work schedule, policies, rules and regulations, and other related matters in industries. a study of parker and kulik (1995) on how job stress and work support predict the experience of burnout and how burnout be related to absenteeism and job performance among nurses found out that levels of work support and job stress were both significant predictors of burnout. additionally, burnout levels were significantly associated with poorer self-rated and supervisor-rated job performance. it was noted that due to mental health reasons resulting from burnout additional sick leaves and reported absences occurred. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research the studies of hacker (2009), davis and newstrom (1986), cherniss (1995), and parker and kulik (1995) stressed the possible influence of gs on workrelated stress, burnout, and ojt performance. the level of stress of the students and its possible influence to their ojt performance can be determined through sets of gs, stress, and burnout questionnaires and ratings in ojt. the result from the data gathered will serve as the bases for improving stress management among college students. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the extent of perceived gs among randomly selected fourth-year college students of wvsu lambunao campus during the second semester of school year 2011-2012. it also determined the influence of students’ level of gs on work-related stress, burnout and ojt performance. methodology this descriptive-correlational research utilized the partly modified published banis’ (2014) biomedicine gs questionnaire; the sehnert’s stress test (1981); the modified maslach’s (2010) burnout inventory; and students’ final rating in their ojt. the dependent variables in this study were students’ work-related stress, burnout, and ojt performance and the independent variable was levels of gs. the respondents of this study were the 253 randomly selected fourth-year college (bshrm, bs information technology, bs industrial technology and bs criminology) students of wvsu lambunao campus during s.y. 2011-2012. the students were classified according to sex and course. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from the respondents. the respondents of the study included 118 (46.64%) males and 135 (53.36%) females; age, 141 (55.73%) younger, 112 (44.27%) older; and course, 51 (20.16%) teacher education, 53 (20.95%) criminology, 48 (18.97%) information technology, 60 (23.72%) management, and 41 (60.20%) industrial technology students. in this study, data were collected with the use of personal data forms, gs questionnaire, burnout scale, and stress test. for ethical consideration, the protection of human participants is required of all research conducted through the university. each participant was over 18 55 international peer reviewed journal years of age, and was properly informed about the purpose and nature of the study, which their consent was asked prior to their acceptance as respondents. participants were guaranteed the privacy and confidentiality of the data gathered. pseudonyms were used in reporting research to protect the anonymity of the participants. geopathic stress questionnaire. to collect the data for gs, the researcher utilized the consolidated 15 items gs questionnaire adopted from banis (2014) published biomedicine gs questionnaire validated in the researcher’s two previous studies conducted (year 2009 & 2011). the respondents were required to encircle the numerical weight corresponding to the selected responses based on frequency of occurrence (1 almost never/ strongly disagree, 2 infrequent/disagree, 3 sometimes/neutral, 4 frequently/agree, 5 almost always/strongly agree). the test is scored by adding all the scores together to determine the respondents’ level of perceived gs using the scale: 15 – 25, “few feelings” of gs; 26 – 35, “some strong feelings” of gs; 36 – 45, “substantial” gs feelings; 46 – 55, “experiencing” gs. the stress tests. the stress test (sehnert, 1981) consisted of ten items and required the respondents to encircle the numerical weight corresponding to the selected responses based on frequency of occurrence. the answering systems are as follows: 1 almost never, 2 – infrequently, 3 – sometimes, 4 – frequently, 5 almost always. the test was scored by adding, the encircled numbers and interpreted by means of the scale as follows: 2.00 and below, not stressed; 2.10 – 3.00, fairly stressed; 3.10 – 4.00, stressed; and 4.10 – 5.00, extremely stressed. “not stressed” means that the respondents do not react to any work demand or pressure placed upon them. “fairly stressed” means that the respondents somehow reacted to any work demand and pressure placed upon them. “stressed” means that they react to any work demand or pressure placed upon them. “extremely stressed” means that the respondents strongly react to any work demand or pressure placed upon them. burnout scale. to gather the data for burnout, the researcher used the partly modified published maslach’s (2010) burnout inventory consist of 15 items and require the respondents to encircle the numerical weight corresponding to the selected responses based on frequency of occurrence are as follows: 1strongly disagree, 2 – disagree, 3 – neutral, 4 – agree, 5 – strongly agree. the test was scored by adding all the scores to determine the respondents’ level of perceived gs using the scale: 15 – 27.50, “few feelings” of burnout; 56 jpair multidisciplinary research 27.60 – 40.00, “some strong feelings” of burnout; 40.10 – 52.50, “substantial” burnout feelings; 52.60 – 65.00, “experiencing” burnout. ojt training performance. the data on students’ achievement was taken from the students’ final rating in ojt reflected on form 9 in the registrar’s office. the numerical grade and qualitative description were based on the university student’s handbook (revised 2011) as follows: 1.00 – excellent, 1.25 – highly outstanding, 1.50 – outstanding, 1.75 – very good, 2.00 – good, 2.25 – very satisfactory, 2.50 – satisfactory, 2.75 – fair, 3.00 – passing, 5.00 – failure. permission was sought from the office of the school directors, dean of instruction, and campus administrator prior to the conduct of a study among selected students of wvsu lambunao campus during s.y. 2011 – 2012, respectively. the researcher personally distributed the questionnaires to the concerned students and retrieved the same. upon retrieval of the questionnaires, accomplished copies were tallied, classified, statistically treated, and interpreted. the data gathered for the study were subjected to certain computer processed statistics. statistical tools employed were percentage, mean, standard deviation, one –way analysis of variance, and pearson productmoment coefficient of correlation (pearson’s r) with probability level set at 0.05. all statistical computations were computer-processed through the statistical package for the social sciences (spss) software. results and discussion the students’ level of perceived gs, work-related stress, burnout, and ojt performance were determined in this research. the obtained frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and corresponding standard deviations were used in the analysis. extent of perceived gs among college students. of the 253 college students, 35 (13.83%) had “few feelings” of gs, 83 (32.81%) had “some strong” feelings of gs, 99 (39.13%) had “substantial” gs feelings, and 36 (14.23%) were “experiencing” gs. the findings imply that nearly ten percent (10%) of the students in this study were affected by gs. the level of gs they experienced seemed to attribute to the nature and degree of their exposure over gs zone. according to augner and company (2010), well-being can be location dependent (might be caused 57 international peer reviewed journal by a so-called gs zones). a study of hackers’ et al. (2008) revealed that certain areas above the ground can indeed induce stress. such zones might cause distress (“malignant stress”) even when present for a short time, but there are also reports that (not scientifically proven) energetically stimulating zones (“positive energy zones”) might exist, often also referred to as “power places.” clements-croome (2002) adds that people are not passive recipient of their environment, but adapt physiologically and behaviorally. findings of previous researches suggest that the extent of gs one could experience is dependent on the specific location (place), period of exposure (time), the intensity (level) of the radiation, parts of body (focus) of a person which are exposed to, and one’s sensitivity (resistance) to radiation working in on their body. thus, the findings imply that having geopathically stressed is dependent on the place where they stayed (if exposed over gs zone), length of exposure, intensity of radiation, and sensitivity and of body parts directly exposed over gs zone. students’ work stress grouped as to their levels of gs as an entire group, the college students had a “fair” (m = 2.73, sd =0.63) work-related stress, regardless of their level of gs (few feelings of gs, m=2.63, sd=0.87; some strong feelings of gs, m=2.80, sd=0.62; substantial gs feelings, m=2.70, sd=0.54 and experiencing gs, m= 2.70, sd= 0.62). the findings implied that the students were experiencing work-related stress but at a moderate level. the findings also indicated that the students had desirable amount of stress in the performance of their respective job assignment. it is positive when it induces people to work harder and negative when stress level is greater than their coping abilities depending upon an employee’s reaction to stress (davis & newstrom, 1986). previous researches proposed that having work-related stress is not necessarily bad in itself (though stress has a negative connotation). our body needs a desirable amount of stress to motivate towards better job performance. students’ burnout grouped as to levels of gs as an entire group, the college students had a “some strong” (m = 36, sd=0.64) feelings of burnout. however, when grouped as to their level of gs, those with “few” (m=28.8, sd=0.40), “some strong” (m=32.25, sd=0.56), and “substantial” (m=38.25, sd=0.54) gs feelings had “some strong” feelings of burnout except those who were “experiencing” gs (m=45.9, sd=0.64) who had 58 jpair multidisciplinary research “substantial” burnout feelings. the results of the present study suggest that having burnout may correspond to one’s high level of gs. the finding indicates that gs trigger burnout. this result agrees with hacker et al. (2008) claiming that certain areas above the ground (over gs zone) can indeed stimulate stress. such zones might cause distress (“malignant stress”) even when stay for a short time. likewise, freshwater (1997) affirmed that gs as a causal factor associated to ill health is usually ignored because most people are unaware of its existence. thus, the findings of the previous studies suggest that gs is an unknown factor that triggers burnout. students’ ojt performance grouped as to levels of gs the college students in this study had an “outstanding” (m = 1.44, sd = 0.27) ojt performance. however, when grouped as to their level of gs, those with few feelings of gs (m=1.35, sd=0.30) had “highly outstanding” performance, while those with “some strong” feelings of gs (m=1.40, sd=0.26), had “substantial” gs feelings (m=1.50, sd=0.26), and those who are “experiencing” gs (m=1.50, sd=0.30) had “outstanding” ojt performance. the findings of the present study imply that the level of gs affects job performance. the lower the level of gs, the job performance increased. this finding was supported by previous study (hacker et al., 2008) that in geopathically stressed workplaces, performance will decline, discontentment increase, and the susceptibility to illness and the resulting rise of employees’ diseases will be greater. thus, the finding suggests that gs affects job performance. differences in the work-related stress, burnout and ojt performance grouped to level of gs. results of the one-way anova revealed that the selected college students did not differ significantly in work-related stress and the ojt performance when grouped according to their level of gs (f = 0.590, p > 0.05; f = 0.087, p > 0.05). however, a significant difference was found in burnout when grouped as to level of gs (f =33.627, p< 0.05). the scheffe’ test revealed a significant increase in burnout from “few” (m=28.8) to “some strong” (m=32.25), and to “substantial” (m=38.25) gs feelings. the results of the present study suggest that the level of gs significantly corresponds to burnout. the finding indicated that the level of gs influenced burnout. 59 international peer reviewed journal relationships among students’ gs, work-related stress, burnout, and ojt performance. results of the pearson’s r showed that positive and significant relationships was found between gs and burnout (r=0.527, p<0.05), and work-related stress and ojt performance (r = 0.126, p <0.05), and negative but significant relationship was found between burnout and ojt performance (r=-0.178, p<0.05). however, a positive but not significant correlations were found between gs and work-related stress (r=0.013, p>0.05), a negative but not significant relationship was found between gs and ojt performance (r=-0.107, p>0.05), work-related stress and burnout (r=-0.065, p>0.05). the result of the present study suggests that the high level of gs was significantly related to burnout. the findings imply that basically having geopathically stressed triggered burnout. these findings agree with the results of the studies (newerla, 2010) that stress from radiation (such as from gs) triggers a stress response in the human body, with all the associated short-term and long-term consequences. nerwerla (2010) explains that if a person is exposed to radiation on a continual basis, the stress reaction is frequently stimulated. stress effect becomes chronic, leading first to constant over stimulation and finally to overtiredness within organism. conversely, anyone who sits at office desks for many hours located on area affected by gs, will usually feel uncomfortable, and gradually the amount and speed of their work will reduce, as well as work quality. a person who work permanently in places located above a radiation-free area, report feelings of wellbeing, tend to work efficiently and effectively, and produce higher quality outputs (parker & kulik, 1995). previous studies (hacker et al., 2008) suggested that in geopathically stressed workplaces, performance will decline, discontentment grows, and the vulnerability to diseases resulting to increase employees’ illnesses will be greater. hence, the findings suggest that having geopathically stressed will trigger burnout and eventually affects job performance. although the present study has been useful in exploring our understanding on the influence of gs on work-related stress, burnout, and ojt performance, several limitations existed. this study on the assessment of students’ level of gs is limited only on perception using the stress questionnaires, and such does not precisely measure the amount of geopathic or electrostatic radiation. according to newerla (2010), radiation is so subtle that they cannot be measured by means of unusual measuring devices that work according to scientific physical principles. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research other possible sources of stress and factors that may mitigate the effect were not included in the investigation. in addition, this study was confined among fourth-year college students who were still learning to adjust to new learning and working environment. moreover, the checking of the presence of gs zone in the working and sleeping area or location among students who perceived to have experienced gs for purposes of validation, were not done in the study. conclusions it appeared that one out of every ten college students is affected by geopathic stress. most likely, a geopathically stressed person has the greater chance to have burnout. on the other hand, a positive amount of work-stress motivates them towards better job performance. furthermore, burnout negatively affects individual worker’s job performance. finally, gs is one of the major stressors that triggered burnout and eventually affects job performance. translational research the researcher, therefore, deemed it necessary to disseminate the results of the study in the academic communities and work places. in this way, the knowledge and awareness on the existence of gs and adverse effect on human health be further disseminated. geopathic stress should be considered as one of the most important issues and concerns in stress management and wellness programs and activities of the academic communities and industries. considering gs as one of the triggering causes of burnout, the findings might be an aid to effectively address chronic stress health problems among college students. literature cited armstrong, k. l. (1979). how to avoid burnout: a study of the relationship between burnout and worker, organizational and management characteristics in eleven child abuse and neglect projects. child abuse & neglect, 3 (1), 145149. augner, c., hacker, g. w., & jekel, i. (2010). geopathic stress zones: short-term effects on work performance and well-being. the journal of alternative and 61 international peer reviewed journal complementary medicine, 16 (6), 657-661. banis, u. (2014). what is the impact does gs have on health? retrieved on march 5, 2014 from http://www.geopathology.com/geopathology-articles/ulrikebanis.pdf cherniss, c. (1995).  beyond burnout: helping teachers, nurses, therapists, and lawyers recover from stress and disillusionment. psychology press. clements-croome, d. j. (2002). specifying indoor climate data.  naturally ventilated buildings: buildings for the senses, the economy and society. dewey, r. (2007). eustress. retrieved on march 23, 2014 from http://www. intropsych. com/ch14_frontiers/eustress.html dharmadhikari, n. p., meshram, d. c., kulkarni, s. d., kharat, a. g., & pimplikar, s. s. (2011). effect of geopathic stress zone on human body voltage and skin resistance. journal of engineering and technology research,  3 (8), 255-263. freshwater, d. (1997). geopathic stress. complementary therapies in nursing and midwifery, 3(6), 160-162. maslach, c. (2010). burnout checklist. . retrieved on march 5, 2013 from http:// scholar.google. com.ph/scholar?q=maslach%2c+c.+burnout+checklist&b tng= &hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5 newerla, b. (2010).  protect yourself from electromagnetic pollution by using crystals. findhorn press. newstrom, j. w., & davis, k. (1986).  human behavior at work. new york. mcgraw-hill. parker, p. a., & kulik, j. a. (1995). burnout, self-and supervisor-rated job performance, and absenteeism among nurses. journal of behavioral medicine, 18 (6), 581-599. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research pulley, p. a. (2010). on-the-job-training: easy to do if you have the right program. online journal for workforce education and development, 2 (2), 4. saunders, t. (2003). health hazards and electromagnetic fields. complementary therapies and midwifery. elsevier, 9 (4). retrieved june 23, 2014 from http:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s1353611703000866 sehnert, k. w. (1981). stress/unstress: how you can control stress at home and on the job. augsburg fortress publishers. siele, p. l. (1990). on-the-job training in the unified local government service. on-the-job training, gaborone: macmillan botswana. university student handbook (2011) grading system. wvsu university handbook (revised 2011). university publishing house: wsvu, la paz, iloilo city, philippines 131 international peer reviewed journal unearthing mythological legends of local communities in pontevedra, capiz, philippines rossandrew banico-villaruel orcid no. 0000-0002-9340-7760 villaruelrossandrew@gmail.com capiz state university, capiz, philippines abstract the mythological origin of a place does not literally tell us where we are or who we are, they can be clues to understand the significant stories of history of a place it may be in the form of words and phrases used by the first inhabitants and speaking of the things that they saw, experienced and heard in the world around them. the study was conducted to unearth the mythological legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, capiz. the study used a qualitative-historical-ethnographic research designs and data were gathered through interview. the results revealed that out of 26 local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, capiz, philippines, there were seven local communities with two legends. most legends were classified as allegorical and philological theories; each legend has legendary root; one local community legend has relevance to its festival celebration; 15local community legends have relevance to its topographical location and 10local community legends are relevant to the livelihood of the people. the names of every local community can be traced to its own legend, has etymological root and do not show relevance to their festival celebrations. the researcher recommended the use of locally produced literary materials in reading centers for the preservation of historical and cultural aspect of the municipality. keywords mythology, legend, qualitativehistoricalethnographic method, pontevedra, capiz, philippines vol. 16 · march 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.275 journal metrics: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction every place has its legend that bears close resemblance in them in all their most important features. this proves that legends of all these places have one common source-the words and phrases used by the first inhabitants or elders, and speaking of the things that they saw, experienced and heard in the world around them. as the time goes by, the elders passed away or were scattered and the meaning of the terms was either partly or wholly changed or partly forgotten. these are the reasons that gave rise to different stories to explain the name of a place or a phenomenon. eugenio (2001) included name stories under etiological legends. it explains the origin of things, “how” things came to be and “why” things are such. these legends form the biggest group of philippine etiological tales. despite the great variety of ways by which places are named, however, certain patterns of folk etymology may be identified. the mythological origin of a place does not literally tell us where we are or who we are, they can be clues to understand the significant stories of history of a place. the name of the place and the place patterns are integral parts of the heritage of people. they form part of the inheritance passed from one generation to the next. stories must be respected for its inherent historical, linguistic, aesthetic and social values. place names allow the meanings and association of a place to be explored and better understood, and their continuing use should be supported through ongoing research, conversation and interpretation. stories like legends of a place lead people to feel and understand life in different perspectives, both personal and cultural. it shows the way how human race thought and felt years ago. it can retrace back the path from civilized men who lived too far from nature to men who lived in close companionship with nature. it can also lead the readers back to a time when the world was going, and people have a connection with the earth, trees, seas, flowers, hills and the whole nature in general. kennedy and gioa (2007) disclosed that literature, on the other hand, gives order to human experience. it explores cultural values and demands an emotional response from the reader. like a great journey, literature can show things you have never seen before and will never forget. mythology as described by hamilton (1969), is a collection of tales or legends relating to gods, heroes, demons, or other beings whose names had been preserved for popular belief. there are three types of mythology commonly 133 international peer reviewed journal known; the myth proper, sagas or heroic legends, and the folktales. the myth proper describes how things came into being. legends, on the other hand, are stories that are full of fictional details, but have a historical basis and folktales are stories that originate simply from desires to intention. people in the municipality of pontevedra when asked why the name of their place is such, they cannot merely answer the question. reasons may be attributed to lack of background on the legend of their place, no available literary texts to support the idea why their place was named after it, or they do not have any interest in knowing the background of their place as relative to its literature. only few municipalities in the province of capiz have unearthed the mythological origins of their local communities. with this, the researcher sought to address the unearthing of mythological legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, capiz, philippines. objective of the study the study sought to unearth the mythological legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, capiz, philippines. methodology research design the study used a qualitative-historical-ethnographic research designs. qualitative research design involves the researcher in contact with participants in their natural setting to answer questions related to how participants make sense of their lives. the researchers may observe the participants and conduct formal or informal interviews to further an understanding of what is going on in their setting from the point of view of those involved in the study. further, historical research design, comprises the techniques and guidelines by which the historians use primary sources and other evidence such as secondary sources, to research and then to write the history. ethnographic research design is conducted to contest the truth of such ideas and or sustain stereotypes of a particular group by telling the stories of the lived experience of individual (agar, 1982). the researcher generated the legends of 26 local communities of the municipality of pontevedra from the primary and secondary data available in each local community and the office of the municipal planning and development office of the municipality. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research research instrument the study utilized a researcher-made interview schedule to establish the needed primary data. the interview schedule was translated to the local dialect and was subjected to validation from the panel of experts specifically, the members of the advisory committee. in the case of local communities that did not have any data on its legend, the researcher interviewed three local residents using the interview schedule as to the legend they knew about their local community. to further strengthen its authenticity as to the narration of the story, the established legends derived as primary data were further triangulated by the researcher with the residents, municipal planning and development office, and local community officials. the secondary data were sourced out from the mpdc office of the municipality. a voice recorder was used to record the story being told by the residents. subjects of the study the study made use of the 26 different local communities of the municipality of pontevedra,capiz, philippines. twenty local communities were identified as upland and sixlocal communities were considered as coastal. the mythological legends were unearthed from these local communities in the municipality. respondents of the study there were 34 respondents used in the study, comprising the local residents of the local communities, the local community officials, and the municipal planning and development officer of the municipality of pontevedra. they were purposively taken as subjects of the study. the respondents were used to derive primary data for local communities that do not have established mythological legend. locale of the study the study was conducted at the municipality of pontevedra, capiz from january 22february 23, 2013 covering its 6 coastal local communities and 20 upland local communities. pontevedra, formerly known as caguyuman was once a part of the municipality of panay. mainly because of its rich and abundant natural resources both from the coastal and upland areas, people from the nearby municipalities of panay, panitan, maayon and president roxas, would thrive in the market place like swarm of ants. 135 international peer reviewed journal the early inhabitants called the place caguyuman (a term descriptive of the place of ants or ant hill). the municipality had its birth in 1853, and in 1856, general crespo served as the head of the town passed a decree making the town independent from municipality of panay. the term pontevedra was adopted when the town had already its independent parish. it was father gregorio hermid, the first spanish friar, who named the town because he found out a striking resemblance of the town with that of his hometown in pontevedra, spain. it has a total land area of 13,310 hectares with an average population density of 16 persons per hectare in urban communities and three persons per hectare in rural areas. the total land area of pontevedra is 9,275 hectares. eighty-one hectares of it were classified as agricultural land and were planted with different varieties of rice, sugar cane, vegetables, coconut and other root crops making farming as its main source of living and fishing as its secondary source of livelihood. data were sourced out from the secondary data from the municipal planning and development office of pontevedra as reflected in its socio-economic profile. data gathering procedure a letter requesting the local community officials and municipal planning and development officer of the municipality of pontevedra to provide the researcher a copy of the local community profile, historical background, and legends of the 26 local communities was sent to the office of the mayor for approval and dissemination. the data were gathered and compiled for easy reference. in local communities where there were no legends, a permission from the local community leaders were secured to conduct interview to the residents who had knowledge and could narrate the legend of their local community. the researcher personally met the residents and conducted the interview. customarily, the interview was done in vernacular. data gathered were recorded, translated in english and was compiled. observation method was likewise employed in considering other details in the study. validation of data the data gathered were subjected to triangulation, specifically the primary data. the legends compiled from local communities with no notable mythological legends were subjected to the process to identify its authenticity and validity by asking the three local residents, the local community captain or official, and the municipal planning and development officer of the municipality as to the 136 jpair multidisciplinary research truthfulness of the existence of the legends. observation process was also used to consider other details in the study. figure 1. the figure showing the different sectors involved in the triangulation of the data results and discussion based on the data collected from the 26 local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, there were seven local communities with two legends told. these are local communities ofagbanog, ameligan, bailan, banate, gabuc, malagit, and hipona. the rest of the local communities had only one identified legend naming their local community. every local community legend in the municipality of pontevedra was based from its legendary root. the legend of agbanog for instance from “ag banog”and“nag banog” (which means the hawk and it is swollen respectively);agdalipe from “angdalipe” (which means the rock or a place with hard rock); ameligan from names ame, ameli, and ligan another local community legend was derived from the legendary root “eligan” (which means a passage of water with a current);bailan from hiligaynon word “bairan and babaylan” (which means magical grindstone and native quack 137 international peer reviewed journal doctor respectively);banate derived its legends from banate tree and from the word “banate” (which means to push the plow harder); the legend of bantigue was derived from “tigue” (a hiligaynon term for aphids) and binuntucan from the word “binatukan” (which means slapping the person at the back of the neck). the local community legend of cabugao was based from the shape of pomelo or the “cabugao” as in hiligaynon language. gabuc derived its local community legend from “gabucngakahoy” (which means a rotten tree). the legend of guba from hiligaynon term “guba” (meaning likely about to be destroyed); hipona on the other hand, had their legends based from “libacao” (a tree) and from hiligaynon term (back fighters) for its former local community name, and “hipon da!” which means (shrimps for sale!) for its current name. the legend of ilawod was based from “lawod” which means (sea); ilaya from “ilaya” (from a higher ground); intongcan from “tongcan”(aspecie of fish called gisaw); jolongajog from “jolongamagahod” (noisy residents). the local community legend of lantangan was derived from the hiligaynon term “gantangan” (crude measuring device for rice); linampongan from the term “lampongan” (dating place); malag-it from “lag-it” (deceptive people) and manapao from “malapao” which means (to overflow). rizal derived its former name from “malabiao” (crystal clear water) and its current name from dr. jose rizal. san pedro was formerly named as “ilongbulid” (nose-liked hill) and later it was changed in honor of their patron saint “san pedro”; solo was named after “solo” (torch); sublangon from “bublang” (to meet a haven of bandits) and “binangon” (a long and sharp knife); tabuc had their former name “bangkerohan” (boat docking area) and was later changed to tabuc from “tabuc” (other side of the river). the legendary root of tacas was based from hiligaynon term “tacas” (evacuation area) and from its former name “canangkaan” (jackfruit plantation). yatingan derived its name from “yati” which means (yatch). as to the classification of legends to theory of origins in mythology, there were 10local community legends classified as allegorical and philological. these are thelocal communities of agbanog, ameligan, cabugao, guba, hipona, lantangan, linampongan, malag-it, sublangon, and yatingan. two legends of agdalipe and gabuc were classified as amenism. the legend of ameligan was classified as philological and historical, bailan as animism and fetishism, and legend of banate as philological and animism. four local community legends were classified as philological theory, they were bantigue, binuntucan, intongcan, and jolongajog. the legends of ilawod, ilaya, and manapao were classified as physical theory. two local community legends were classified as historical theory 138 jpair multidisciplinary research and these were rizal and san pedro. on the other hand,local community legends of sublangon, tabuc, tacas, and solo were classified as allegorical. table 1. classification of theories of origin per local community with its description   local communities theory/ies of origin description 1. agbanog allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 2. agdalipe amenism endowment of inanimate objects 3. ameligan allegorical and philological distorted interpretation and literal 4. bailan amenism and fetishism endowment of inanimate objects and personification 5. banate philological and amenism distorted interpretation and endowment of inanimate objects 6. bantigue philological distorted interpretation 7. binuntucan philological distorted interpretation 8. cabugao philological and amenism literal and distorted interpretation 9. gabuc amenism endowment of inanimate objects 10. guba allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 11. hipona allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 12. ilawod physical personification of nature 13. ilaya physical personification of nature 14. intongcan philological distorted interpretation 15. jolongajog philological distorted interpretation 16. lantangan allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 17. linampongan allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 18. malag-it allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 139 international peer reviewed journal 19. manapao physical personification of nature 20. rizal historical based on history 21. san pedro historical based on history 22. solo allegorical literal 23. sublangon allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation 24. tabuc allegorical literal 25. tacas allegorical literal 26. yatingan allegorical and philological literal and distorted interpretation out of 26 the local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, only the legend of san pedro has relevance to its festival celebration.the data on relevance of legends to the topographical location and livelihood of the people revealed that only 15local community legends have relevance to their topographical locations. these are agdalipe, ameligan, bailan, banate, bantigue, guba, ilawod, ilaya, lantangan, linampongan, manapao, solo, sublangon, tabuc, and tacas, and 10local community legends are relevant to the livelihood of the people in the local community. these are the legends of agdalipe, ameligan, bailan, banate, bantigue, guba, hipona, lantangan, manapao, and solo. the data further revealed that there are six local communities classified as coastal, and farming is mostly the livelihood of their people. the data were derived from the records of the municipal planning and development office of pontevedra. agbanog is classified as one of the six coastal local communities in the municipality and fishing is considered as their primary form of livelihood. its legend, do not in any way show relevance with its topographical location and livelihood since the local community just got its name from the contracted words of “ag” meaning to or the and “banog” a hawk-like bird as in its first identified legend. furthermore the second legend still do not show relevance to its name because “naga” means the, and “banog” or swollen. agdalipe, being an upland local community with 187. 2826 hectares of vast rice and sugarcane plantation is mainly having farming as its main source of livelihood. from “angdalipe” as its basis of its legend which means “the hard rock” of which the place is rich of mineral deposit of rocks that favors them a good harvest, the legend of the local community has relevance to its location and main source of livelihood. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research though ameligan has two legends, the most notable legend is about the story related to waterways “angeligan” being a coastal local community, fishing is its main source of livelihood. the legend is notably relevant to its location and source of livelihood for it highlights the significance of water. farming and entrepreneurship are the two leading sources of livelihood in bailan. the community is approximately 223.4260 hectares of land where most of the area is made agricultural. since its notable legend is about the grindstone “bairan”, which was made useful to farmers in sharpening their bolos (large cutting tool) for farming which shows relevance to its legend and location. with the second source of livelihood of bailan which is entrepreneurship, grindstone mentioned in the legend has no relevance to it. with its 3337.4179 hectares of vast plantation of sugarcane and rice, banate is classified as an upland area and obviously farming is its main source of livelihood. the two legends when considered, are relevant to its location and livelihood for these legends speak about the hard effort exerted by the farmers to alleviate the standards of living of their community. bantigue from the legend based on “tigue” or aphids which are abundant in both upland and coastal areas destroying leaves of trees and other crops, its legend shows relevance to its location for in its legend the folks mentioned that aphids are abundant in mangrove trees like in “piapi”. since it is a coastal village and fishing is its main source of livelihood, its legend is considered relevant to its location because when mangrove trees are infested with aphids and the leaves are destroyed, fish catch may somehow be affected. the legend of binuntucan was realized by the action made by a spaniard to village folks, from “binatukan” meaning slapped at the back. an upland community with 1,293.193 hectares of land considers farming as its primary source of livelihood. since the place derived its name on action made, one way or the other, its location and livelihood do not have any relevance with its legend. cabugao as another coastal village in the municipality, based its name in the pomelo-shape of its mainland. fishing is its main source of livelihood, and analyzing the legend, its topographical location and source of living are in no way relevant to its legend. pomelo belongs to a citrus family and is likely to grow in upland areas where supply of sunlight and loamy soil are abundant. its 117.5104 hectares of farmland as reflected in their socio-economic profile, guba considers farming as its main source of living. legend would speak that the term “guba” was made known because of its bountiful rice harvest placed in a thinly sliced bamboo made container. looking into it, its legend is likely to be 141 international peer reviewed journal relevant to its topographical location and source of livelihood. farming is their primary source of livelihood and fishing is just secondary, hipona, is an upland village and consists 292.5276 hectares of land. hipon or small shrimps, identified as the basis of its legend, can be seen in brackish water both in the upland or coastal villages of the municipality. this is considered to have relevance in its geographical location and secondary source of livelihood with its legend for small shrimps can be seen thriving even in upland areas of the municipality. ilawod has a total upland area of approximately 41, 4210 hectares and small-scale entrepreneur is its main source of living. though upland, ilawod is considered a floodprone village and was described by folks before as “lawod” like a sea every time it is flooded. the village is a low laying place and likely to be often flooded because with it, the legend has a relevance to its topographical location and not with its main source of livelihood. ilaya is another low laying village in the municipality whereby prone to be flooded. it has 7.4773 hectares land area and entrepreneurship is its main source of livelihood. water from high grounds “ilaya” was said to be the origin of its legend, since a low laying area is one way or the other, related to its geographical location and its source of living has no way or the other had relevance to its legend. intongcan got its name from misinterpretation of the question from a spaniard of whom the early inhabitants thought being asked of the fish named “tongcan.” the village is consist of 249, 8564 hectares of agricultural land and farming is its main source of livelihood. since “tongcan” or gisaw in dialect, a fish that can be caught in deep waters, its legend has no traces of relevance to its topographical location and main source of living. jolongajog is basically an upland village with 1910.1175 hectares of mostly farmland with sugarcane and rice plantation and farming is the main source of livelihood. the local community derived its name from the description of the attitude of the people. the same as with malag-it, an upland village with 258.1953 hectares of agricultural land where rice and sugarcane plantation are vast and farming is its primary source of livelihood. the two local communities exhibit no relevance to their topographical locations and source of living with their legends for the names of these places were derived from the attitude description of the residents. lantangan and linampongan are classified as upland local communities with 740.68 and 171.7230 hectares of farmlands, respectively, where farming is the 142 jpair multidisciplinary research main source of their livelihood. its topographical locations are related to their legends. lantangan derived its name from ‘gantangan’, a crude measuring device while linampongan derived its name from dating place called lampongan, being an elevated place where scenic spots can be seen when visiting the high grounds of the village. as to source of living, only lantangan was found to have relevance with its legend while linampongan is not. manapao derived its name from “ma lapao” meaning to cover with water from its high tide. a coastal village with fishing as its main source of living is seen to have relevance to its legend in both its topographical location and source of living. two local communities in the municipality derived their names from names of persons. the local communities of rizal and san pedro are both upland communities with 638.5874 and 259.5114 hectares land area respectively, consider farming as their primary sources of livelihood. since their names were derived from names of persons, their legends are in no way relevant with to their location and source of livelihood. solo is once a dark place is an upland village, and farming is its source of livelihood. it has a total land area of 255.4460 hectares. since there was no electricity in the place and its only source of light during night time was a torch, “solo” which is used by farmers, its legend shows relevance to its location and livelihood. on the other hand, sublangon, which is an upland village and farming as its main source of living is located in 274.1278 hectares of mostly farmland. sublangon derived its name from “bublang” to meet and “binangon” a sharp long bolo (cutting tool) used by farmers shows relevance on its legend considering its location and main source of livelihood. tabuc and tacas which are upland areas has an estimated land areas of 164.4306 and 766.4681 hectares respectively, derived their names from their locations, an elevated places, with it, legends of both villages are relevant to their topographical locations while farming as the main source of livelihood in tabuc and entrepreneurship for tacas were found to be of no relevance to their legend. yating as a local community derived its name from “yati” a yacht. a village with 315, 7056 hectares of mostly farmland, farming as its main source of livelihood was found to have no relevance with its legend in both aspects for “yati” is a water vessel and has no relation with upland areas and farming. 143 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the following are the concluding insights realized from the findings of the study: 1)the names of every local community can be traced to its own legend; 2) every legend of the local community has its own etymological root; 3) almost one-half of the local communities studied are allegorical and philological theories of origins or the legends were based on literal and distorted interpretations respectively; and 4) mythological legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra do not show relevance to their festival celebrations of their local communities and that almost all local community names are based on their root of origins. recommendations based on the result of the study, the following recommendations are offered: the local government unit of the municipality of pontevedra must encourage the use of locally produced literary materials in municipal and local community reading centers for the preservation and perpetuation of historical and cultural aspect of each local community. teachers both in elementary and secondary levels in the district of pontevedra must include in their literature subjects the use of local community legends to enliven the teaching of literature in class discussion. the result can be used as spring board in the teaching of language subjects to students whereby informing them of the stories on how their local communities got their names. students in all levels, specifically in the municipality of pontevedra must maximize their learning backgrounds on local community legends for them to have knowledge and ownership of their local community legends. the result can further enrich students’ knowledge as to their background, specifically, about their place through reading the legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, enriching their historical and cultural background. for the school administrators, the study can encourage other individuals to venture in this type of endeavor. the result can be considered as reference material that can be added in the library collection and can be used by teachers and students to enrich their historical, cultural, and literary backgrounds. for other researchers, in-depth conduct of this study is recommended not only in pontevedra but also in other municipalities in the province of capiz.on the other hand, the following areas are also considered for further research: 1) a 144 jpair multidisciplinary research research be conducted to determine the level of awareness of local community folks to their local community legends; 2) similar study be conducted identifying the legends of every village in the local communities in the municipality of pontevedra, capiz; and 3) in a larger scale, a study determining the mythological legends of the 16 municipalities of the province of capiz be conducted. literature cited agar, m. h. 1982 toward an ethnographic language. american anthropologist, 84(4), 779795. eugenio, d. l. (ed.). 2001 philippine folk literature: the myths (vol. 2). university of the philippines press. hamilton, e. 1969 mythology: timeless tales of gods and heros. warner books. kennedy, x. j., & gioia, d. 2007 literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama, 10/e. jpair cover vol 11 single 36 jpair multidisciplinary research teaching competence of the graduate education faculty in southern leyte state university, philippines marvin s. daguplo orcid no. 0000-0002-0363-133x daguplosdv@yahoo.com southern leyte state university-tomas oppus southern leyte, philippines abstract teaching competence is a critical causal factor in the learning of graduate students. this cross-sectional survey design assessed the teaching competence of the graduate faculty of southern leyte state university. a total of 122 randomly selected graduate education students responded to the standardized questionnaire. the profile of the graduate studies faculty was asked from the office of the graduate studies. descriptive analysis revealed that women faculty outnumbered their male equals in pursuing higher academic degree for professional development and competence. thus, female graduate studies faculty stood-out in the assistant and associate professorships’ ranks. moreover, graduate students assessed their professors as very competent in two areas, namely, (i)professional ethics and (ii) personal qualities; and as competent in the areas of (i) mastery of the subject matter, (ii) teaching skills), (iii) classroom management, (iv) evaluation skills, (v) intrapersonal qualities, and (vi) aesthetic qualities. inferential analysis, however, revealed a “weak to moderate” correlation with the different areas of teaching skill. only the educational degree of the slsu graduate education faculty is strongly correlated with personal qualities. with competent faculty, one can assure that quality education is properly guarded in the graduate studies of southern leyte state university. keywords graduate education, teaching competence, cross-sectional survey, philippines vol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.196 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 37 international peer reviewed journal introduction the quality of a nation depends upon the quality of its citizens. the quality of the citizens rests upon the quality of their education. the quality of their education depends upon the competence, dedication and quality of school teachers (shukla, 2009). shukla (2009) emphasized in the statement above the demand of competent and committed teachers for today’s revolutionary era. teacher competence has been identified as one of the most crucial factors for the success of education and schools. teacher’s competence is closely associated with their work performance. teacher’s competence is necessary for nation-building. moreover, competent teachers are required in every educational institution so as to increase the effectiveness of the institution. no single factor can contribute more to an improved student achievement than the guarantee of a competent teacher in every classroom. no amount of classroom facilities and instructional materials can produce the desired learning outcome without a competent teacher at the center stage (salandanan, 2001). the demand for teaching competence among the many schools around the world exists in all levels of education even in graduate education. the term graduate education usually refers to those degree-granting programs that require the baccalaureate degree as the minimum condition defining eligibility for admission. it is an advanced, focused and scholarly education. it is advance in the sense that it is based on the assumption that graduate students have acquired fundamental knowledge, both general and specific, at the baccalaureate level prior to entering graduate school. it is scholarly in the since that it is based on the premise of an evolving, generalizable knowledge base, arrived at and agreed to by those in the field and subject to challenge and validation by generally accepted procedures. it is scholarly because all graduate students must understand that they must contribute knowledge for national development (american educational research association, 1991). along with this concept on graduate education, ched memorandum order no. 36, series of 1998 stressed that graduate education shall be structured so as to enhance quality, efficiency and effectiveness in higher education. it added saying that graduate education shall take the lead role in enhancing the quality of philippine higher education towards global competitiveness and world-class scholarship. in accordance thereto, ched memorandum no. 15, series of 2005 was implemented to monitor and evaluate quality assurance in the pursuit of quality education. relatively, this study was conducted to assess the areas along with the teaching competence of the faculty in the slsu – tomas oppus graduate education to identify 38 jpair multidisciplinary research interventions that will ensure the quality and standard of teaching. framework teaching competence refers to “the right way of conveying units of knowledge, application and skills to students”. the right way here includes knowledge of content, processes, methods and means of conveying content (bhat, 2001). on the perspective of salandanan (2005), teaching competence as an effective teaching which connotes utmost commitment to enable the learner achieve the threefold goals, namely, gain knowledge, develop skills and imbibe value and attitudes. whatever definition teaching competence could have, it all depends on teaching in a particular setting, the culture and values held in the community. it also depends on the innumerable teacher and student characteristics and the classroom context. nevertheless, in order to know if we possess the necessary competencies in a given situation, we have to be judged on the basis of our ability to produce certain effects. but, there are as many ways of being effective as there are effects. the research studies conducted so far indicate that there does not exist a single set of competencies which all the effective teachers possess or all the ineffective ones lack. it is apparent to those who attempt to categorize teachers’ work, attitudes and behaviors that the identification of competence is extremely complex (cherednichenko, hooley, kruger and mulrany, 1997). just as teaching is complex by nature, assessing its competencies would also mean a complex activity. several attempts have been made to define essential teacher competencies. this application of a set of competencies for teaching to identify preferred qualities in beginning teachers is imperative, but i do believe that the need to develop these competencies to address the perspective of proficiency in teaching practice is also important. cherednichenko, et al. (1997) cited mayer who stressed ‘that teaching performance is underpinned not only by skill but also by knowledge and understanding, and that competence involves both the ability to perform in a given context and the capacity to transfer knowledge and skills to new tasks and situations’. likewise, randall (1993) believed that teaching competencies are closely related to learning outcomes, assessment and reporting. however, the role of competency statements is not only linked to the learning outcomes of students but also to the practices and appraisal of the teaching profession. there seem to be different ways of classifying teacher competencies. one has to look at it in terms of teacher functions. essentially, teachers have two major roles in the classroom: i) to create the conditions under which learning can take place i.e. the social side of teaching; and ii) to impart, by a variety of means, ‘knowledge’ to their 39 international peer reviewed journal learners -the task oriented side of teaching. moreover, whichever way we would like to classify teacher competencies, the teacher’s repertoire would seem to constitute the following: i) knowledge of subject matter, ii) planning for the course/lesson including teaching strategies, teaching materials, and classroom organization, iii) motivating learner groups, iv) presentation and communication skills including lecturing, explaining, eliciting response, questioning, discussing, dramatizing, reading, demonstrating, using audio-visual aids, etc., v) evaluation includes informal observations of student progress, diagnosing learning difficulties, encouraging peer/self-evaluation, handling evaluative discussions, etc., vi) classroom management and discipline. (http://www.davidson.edu/ academic/education/competencies.htm) these same characteristics of a competent teacher have been enumerated by the american educational research association as stated in the encyclopedia of educational research (1992), namely, i) appropriate expectations and a sense of efficacy, ii) classroom management and organization, iii) opportunity to learn, iv) teaching to mastery, v) active teaching, and vi) creation of a supportive learning environment. from this point, therefore, we can say that teacher is the key player on the educational stage and we often expect him or her to make up for the deficiencies in the curriculum and in educational resources. the success of the educational enterprise is therefore believed to hinge on the quality of teaching that goes on in the classrooms” (howie and plomp, 2005,) . this claim means that from a professional point of view the competence of a teacher is important, as successful teaching and learning depends on it. objective of the study the study assessed the teaching and values orientation competence of the graduate education faculty of southern leyte state university. this aimed also to test relationship between respondents’ profile and the different competencies of the graduate education faculty. methodology the study used a cross-sectional survey design in which the collection of data is conducted one point in time from the target population (zulueta and perez, 2010). data were collected through a survey among the randomly identified 122 graduate education students enrolled at southern leyte state university during the second 40 jpair multidisciplinary research semester of school year 2010-2011. data were collected in the last part of the second semester of sy 2010-2011. this provides certainty on students’ assessment since they were already working with their professors for at least 4 months. these students, however, answered the questionnaire based on their general evaluation and assessment towards their professors who handled them in one or two subjects in the graduate school. this makes the evaluation holistic rather than individualistic. on the other hand, profile of all the faculty members was asked from the office of the dean of the graduate education. an adapted standardized questionnaire assessed the teaching competencies (teaching practices and values orientation) of the faculty of the slsu graduate education. teaching practices were subdivided into mastery of the subject matter, teaching skills, classroom management and evaluation skills with 10-item measure for each area except teaching skills that have 15. likewise, values orientation was subdivided into professional ethics, personal qualities, intrapersonal values and aesthetic values each with 10-item measure. this questionnaire, however, has no record of standardization. the researcher was convinced that the questionnaire measures what it intends to measure based on the literature which reflects teaching competence of graduate school professors. responses were descriptively organized through frequency counts, percentages and modal category. inferential statistics like gamma contingency coefficient and cramer’s-v was used to measure the association of the variables. results and discussion the slsu graduate school faculty profile as usually observed in an academic teacher education institution, it was revealed in this study that female dominated the number of faculty members in the graduate school. this means that teaching is becoming an increasingly female-dominated profession with men making up fewer than one in four new recruits (cassidy, 2008). the independent education news (2008) revealed that despite a multimillion-pound campaign to attract more men into teaching, the latest statistics reveal a widening gap between the sexes among those gaining teaching qualifications from universities and teacher training colleges. 41 international peer reviewed journal table 1. the slsu graduate school faculty profile variables category f male (n=25) female (n=30) totalf % f % highest academic degree masters degree 16 (64) 15 (50) 31 doctors degree 9 (36) 15 (50) 24 academic rank instructor 9 (36) 8 (27) 17 assistant professor 12 (48) 11 (37) 23 associate professor 4 (16) 10 (33) 14 professor 0 (0) 1 (3) 1 years in teaching 2 13 16 (64) 13 (43) 29 14 25 6 (24) 9 (30) 15 26 37 3 (12) 8 (27) 11 moreover, this study shows that female faculty members surpassed their male colleagues in terms of academic achievement. more female faculty members are pursuing their advanced studies not only because it is a requirement but because it provides them satisfaction, respect, and protection in the field of education (writer, 2010). in fact, in the article women in teaching profession, writer (2010) states that women took clear lead compared to men in terms of success ratio in the field of education. the independent education news (2008) also revealed that despite a multimillionpound campaign to attract more men into teaching, the latest statistics reveal a widening gap between the sexes among those gaining teaching qualifications from universities and teacher training colleges. worst of all, latest studies revealed that there is a growing shortage of male teachers in school (akhtar, 2012). along with the achievement in academic degree, though male faculty members outnumbered the females in the rank of assistant professor, the latter, however, stand out the former in the associate professorship and professorship ranks. this can be attributed to the length of service made by the female faculty members. they were in the teaching profession for a quite number of years compared with their male colleagues. this shows that teaching is still a profession in which majority are women (cassidy, 2008). according to thomas (2002) teacher education is also gendered and it is perceived as female profession. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research teaching competence level of slsu graduate education faculty before teaching in a graduate school, a faculty member must have achieved a certain level of competence in his/her teaching career. in fact, one of the qualifications in teaching graduate school level is the faculty’s very satisfactory performance in instruction. this is necessary to make sure that quality, efficiency and effectiveness in higher education is preserved as mandated by the commission on higher education. a. teaching practices this study reveals that the slsu graduate education faculty performed at a competent level in the different area of competence particularly on teaching practices. this finding implies that the slsu graduate education faculty members are proficient, capable and expert in their specific field of teaching. they have attained a level of competence, achieved through education, experience and hard work (disimulacion, 2007), to convey knowledge, information and facts to their students. in fact, deeper view of the table reflects the cyclical idea of the teaching process which means that the slsu graduate education faculties are competent and equipped with the necessary pedagogical expertise to communicate information effectively and with competence in the class of advanced learning. table 2. level of teaching competence of slsu graduate education faculty in terms of teaching competence teaching competence area of competence mean standard deviation level of competence teaching practices mastery of the subject matter 4.0 0.06 competent teaching skills 4.1 0.05 competent classroom management 3.9 0.60 competent evaluation skills 4.1 0.59 competent overall mean 4.0 competent value range description 1.0 – 1.7 not competent 1.8 – 2.5 less competent 2.6 – 3.3 moderately competent 3.4 – 4.1 competent 4.2 – 5.0 highly competent 43 international peer reviewed journal salandanan (2005), on her side, described these competent teachers as one who have gained mastery of content and possess knowledge on teaching methodologies that will help them facilitate planning and evaluating the entire learning activities. grossman (1995) added that knowledge of the content they teach affects both what teachers teach and how they teach it. subject matter then links with general pedagogy, which includes knowledge about classroom organization and management, general knowledge of lesson structure, and general methods of teaching. the information revealed that the graduate education faculty members of slsu are competently doing the fundamental role of an effective teacher in the teaching process. they plan what, and how to teach the lesson, master it, implement it, and evaluate outcomes of the implementation (moore, 2007). this is an assurance that quality education is always the priority of slsu graduate education. b. values orientation the mastery of relevant knowledge and skills alone is no guarantee of teacher’s successful performance in complex environments. teacher should be able to select from their available knowledge and skills in such a way that efficient and effective behavior occurs which requires a more intrapersonal view that take into account the characteristics of a specific context (westera, 2001). the concept of competence, therefore, as explained by westera (2001), is strongly associated with going beyond the levels of knowledge and skills which includes an explanation of how knowledge and skills are applied in an effective way professionally, personally, and aesthetically. this is supported by the findings of this study when the graduate faculty of slsu is rated as highly competent in the areas of intrapersonal qualities, aesthetic qualities, and also in professional and personal qualities. a closer look at the information reveals the detail that graduate faculty of slsu are imbued with values, attitudes and dispositions that foster a classroom atmosphere of mutual trust and respect for individual characteristics, especially students’ needs, interests and abilities. medley and shannon (1994) define this professional competence as consisting of knowledge about the kinds of teacher behavior which is known to be effective in helping students progress toward important educational goals. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. level of teaching competence of slsu graduate education faculty in terms of values orientation teaching competence area of competence mean standard deviation level of competence values orientation professional ethics 4.4 0.60 highly competent personal qualities 4.4 0.61 highly competent intrapersonal qualities 4.3 0.57 highly competent aesthetic qualities 4.2 0.62 highly competent overall mean 4.3 highly competent at this point, slsu graduate students were not only ensured quality education but also a kind of environment which establishes good relationships and a sense of appreciation to every member of the class that possibly creates an atmosphere conducive for learning. with competent qualities in both intrapersonal and aesthetic qualities, it could be said that slsu graduate faculty maintains wholesome relationship with students, peers and supervisors. respect, likewise, by accepting others beliefs and point of view is observed in every classroom setting. it cannot be denied also that promoting camaraderie and teamwork by appreciating individual contribution describes and proves the aesthetic qualities of the faculty members. they were able to see good from each student and, congratulate them on a satisfactory performance. relationship between profile and the competence of slsu graduate education faculty this study further investigates the relationship between the respondent’s profile and their competence. it was found out that although sex is positively correlated to the different areas of teaching competence, its correlation ranges only from weak to moderate correlation. this would mean that sex is not really a major factor to consider in selecting faculty qualified to teach in a graduate education. moreover, information revealed that academic rank and years in teaching, likewise, shows a “weak to moderate correlation” in relation to the different areas of teaching competence. this would imply that whether young or old in the profession, or even just an instructor and not a professor, as long as qualified to teach in a graduate education, a faculty can be selected or appointed to teach. academic rank and seniority in the service should not be the only basis in making a faculty qualified to teach in a graduate education. 45 international peer reviewed journal table 4. relationship between the profile and the different competence of slsu graduate education faculty variables sex educational degree academic rank years in teaching valuev − value−λ value−λ value−λ mastery of the subject matter 0.19 -0.05 0.21 0.25 (weak) (weak) (weak) (moderate) teaching skills 0.09 -0.37 0.20 0.31 (weak) (moderate) (weak) (moderate) classroom management 0.04 -0.42 0.24 0.30 (weak) (moderate) (weak) (moderate) evaluation skills 0.27 -0.38 0.07 0.02 (moderate) (moderate) (weak) (weak) professional ethics 0.32 -0.36 0.02 -0.09 (moderate) (moderate) (weak) (weak) personal qualities 0.20 -0.52 -0.02 -0.02 (weak) (strong) (weak) (weak) intrapersonal qualities 0.25 -0.18 -0.05 0.03 (moderate) (weak) (weak) (weak) aesthetic qualities 0.40 -0.25 -0.07 0.03 (moderate) (moderate) (weak) (weak) note: r-value interpretation is based on pett (1997) r-value__ description 0.81 – 1.00 very strong 0.49 – 0.80 strong 0.25 – 0.48 moderate 0.00 – 0.24 weak it is, however, noticed that educational degree are negatively correlated to all the areas of teaching competence which implies that faculty members who are higher in degree are likely to be less competent in the different areas of teaching competence. nonetheless, this does not mean that they are incompetent. an article on “how 46 jpair multidisciplinary research important is a doctoral degree” states that doctorate holders have broader horizons which enable them to set their own academic standards. they set a higher learning competence for students allowing the latter to freely move in the academic arena independently. a doctorate holder, then, provides every student a new way of getting into an in-depth knowledge of a discipline. such attitude is manifested in the strong correlation manifested between educational degree and personal qualities. faculty members with higher academic degree are more personal in their approach to teaching compared to those that are still in their beginning years. they possess command on the content, presented in a more challenging way while maintaining good personal and emotional relationship with students. the findings, however, of this study is limited only to the graduate faculty members of southern leyte state university. since evaluation is conducted in one setting particularly during the second semester of school year 2010-2011, responses of questions were based on their general evaluation and assessment towards their professors who handled them in one or two subjects in the graduate school on that semester. it is, therefore, necessary that this study be replicated or be expanded so that generalization will be made stronger and will be applicable to a larger population. conclusions generally, the findings of the study revealed that female faculty members dominate the slsu graduate education faculty in terms of academic achievement. with high scholastic records, slsu graduate education faculty performed at “competent level” in the two major areas of teaching competence – the teaching practices and the values orientation. lastly, the slsu graduate education faculty profile reveals a “weak to moderate” correlation with the different areas of teaching skills of teaching competence. only the educational degree of the slsu graduate education faculty is strongly correlated with personal qualities. literature cited american educational research association 1992 ethical standards of the american educational research association. the association. aquino, g.v. 2003 effective teaching. 3rd ed. national book store. mandaluyong city. 47 international peer reviewed journal bhat, v. d. 2001 development of a replicable training strategy for development of essential competencies among primary teachers. a dpep project report. regional institute of education, mysor (n cert). ball, d. l., & mcdiarmid, g. w. 1989 the subject matter preparation of teachers. east lansing, michigan: national center for research on teacher education. cherednichenko, b., hooley, n., kruger, t., & mulraney, r. 1997 the practice of beginning teachers: identifying competence through case writing in teacher education. australian journal of teacher education, 22(2), 3. howie, s., & plomp, t. 2005 international comparative studies of education and large-scale change. in international handbook of educational policy (pp. 75-99). springer netherlands. pennsylvania state university 2006 teaching ethics. retrieved on march 2010 at http://www.gradsch.psu. edu/facstaff/tethics.html shukla, s. 2009 teaching competency, professional commitment and job satisfaction. retrieved from http://www.illusion.instablogs.com salandanan, g.g. 2001 teacher education journal. katha publishing co., inc. salandanan, g.g. 2005 teaching and the teacher. lorimar publishing company inc. metro manila. salandanan, g.g. 2007 elements of good teaching. lorimar publishing company inc. metro manila. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research thomas, g. 2002 the s6 kinase signaling pathway in the control of development and growth. biological research, 35(2), 305-313. van nuland, s., & poisson, m. 2009 teacher codes: learning from experience. unesco, international institute for educational planning. writer, a. 2010 women in teaching profession – important personal characteristics of a teacher. http://women.writearticles.org/ pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research comparative performance effectiveness of the portable food balls extrusion machine ana maria a. bonito orcid no. 0000-0002-9706-8778 anabonito24@gmail.com central bicol state university of agriculture-sipocot, philippines abstract this study developed a portable extrusion machine for food balls products. the study used the research and development (r&d) process for it involved the preparation and construction of a finished product that can be used in the field of education. the extrusion machine’s cost efficiency was 10 times better than the manual method but twice lower compared to the commercial machine. there was significant variation in the weights of the food balls produced by the three methods, and the instructional and commercial value of the machine obtained an overall mean rating of 4.46 or very satisfactory. thus, it is technically feasible to construct the portable extrusion machine in view of the expected functionality of the designed parts, the availability of supplies and materials and affordability of its cost. the construction of the machine requires procedure to follow for ease and accuracy. the portable extrusion machine is superior over the manual method but inferior to commercial units as to production ratio. furthermore, it is more economically viable to use the portable extrusion machine for small-scale food balls production than the manual method. potential for technology transfer/ generation and business incubation should be conducted before its release in the philippine market. keywords food science technology, portable extrusion machine, research and development, philippines vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.220 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 15 international peer reviewed journal introduction fish balls, meatballs, shrimp balls, squid balls, are among the popular food among filipinos and are used in a wild array of dishes. other than in the philippines, food balls are also hugely known in singapore, china, malaysia, and taiwan. in the us, they are available in most asian groceries (asian journal on science and technology for development (2001). these ball-shaped patties made of pulverized fish, ground meat of pork and poultry products are primarily white or yellow in color and measures about an inch or two in diameter. however, problems arise when the recipe is formulated like the preparation of the mixture which is time consuming. moreover, food hygiene is compromised when the process is done manually. this problem is addressed by the proposed extrusion machine. it is of this reality that the researcher was impelled to attempt to develop a portable food balls extrusion machine to process and make food ball products. framework the encyclopedia of food science and technology volumes 2 and 4 (1990) clearly discusses food extrusion as a technology and its relation to food consumption matters. it is a process that combines several unit operations including mixing, kneading, shearing, heating, cooling, shaping, and forming. it involves compressing a material to form a semi-solid mass under a variety of conditions and then forcing it to pass through an opening at a predetermined rate. this is one of the established technologies in food processing. according to hagenimana (2006) extrusion applications are categorized as semi-finished products, which offer economic advantages over traditional processes like drum-drying in producing pre-gelatinized cereal flour, potato starch, and cereal starches; and as finished products, which have breakfast cereals, snacks food, and textured foods as the processed foods. moreover, this covers as well other applications likes dry and soft moist pettings, croutons, full-fat soy flour, pre-cooked noodles, beverage bases, soup and gravy bases, and confections such as licorice, fruit gums and chocolate. the commerciality of food production depends much on food technology and food selling. thus, improvements and innovation need to be done for the development of new technologies and maintenance of old food processing equipment such as extrusion machine (dost, 2000). food extrusion machines use single or twin screws to transport, mix, knead, shear, shape, and/or cook multiple ingredients into a uniform food product by forcing the ingredient mix through shaped dies to produce specific shapes and lengths. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research extrusion provides the foundation for continuous production. food extruders are used to produce pasta and other cold formed products, cereals, snacks, pet food, feed, confectionery products including chewing gum, licorice, marshmallows, modified starches for soup, baby food, and instant foods, beverage bases, and texturized vegetable protein (amestoso, 1999). the advantage of extrusion is that it produces a more homogeneous and consistent cooking process, which leads to a final product of higher quality with minimum waste. extrusion is a very efficient process, since all steps can be done in-line: mixing, cooking, forming, cooling, and cutting (guy, 2001). extrusion is a highly valuable process because of its versatility to be used independently or in combination with other equipment and processes. in fact, when integrated with other processes like sheeting, depositing, filling, folding, crimping, cutting, and liquid or dry topping, the potential for creating innovative products is incredible (frame, 1993). twin screw extrusion machine designed especially for foodstuffs produces breakfast cereals in number controlled shapes, sizes, colors and textures such as dried and toasted cereals, processed extruded cereal beads for flaking and other shaped temperature sensitive or shear sensitive cereal products. the co-rotating twin screw extruders are engineered around the three separate assembles extruder barrel assembly, thrust bearing assembly, and drive assembly. it has an assurance of versatility, sanitation and maintenance convenience (mollan, 2003). the kp foods “savory break” also known as cadburry criss cross industry, has the most sophisticated type of extrusion machine. this extrusion machine is designed for sweet snacks and biscuits production wherein the extruded tubes are cut to length with the cream injected into the individual pieces and into extruded woven outer part. this machine has shown its functionality and durability over the past years (burtea, 2001). the robert reiser and company incorporated has developed a series of unique co-extrusion system attached to the machine so as to produce a wide variety of food products including filled meatballs, croquettes, and other similar products. this x-200 extrusion cooker is a split/hinged barrel extruder with interchangeable extrusion components to give quick-change capability in processing meatballs and other food products (fletcher et al., 1985). an ocular inspection conducted by the researcher noted that the camaligan fish processing plant in camarines sur had an extrusion machine design for fish balls, squid balls, kikiam, and other similar food products. this machine can produce tons of fish balls and other food balls products per day which are being distributed in supermarkets throughout the country. according to the plant supervisor, this machine 17 international peer reviewed journal was imported from japan and was manufactured by komatsu manufacturing. it has an optional automatic control, a time proven system, is simple, dependable and easily serviced. optimum operating conditions are set and automatically maintained throughout the run duration, thus assuring product uniformity and quality control. a particular problem for this product was that no existing category existed for small scale production operation, and costumers did not know where to find them in the country. objectives this study was conducted to develop and determine the comparative performance effectiveness of the portable food balls extrusion machine. specifically, it aimed to: 1. design and develop a portable food extrusion machine 2. determine the comparative performance effectiveness of the machine as to: production rate; production cost; efficiency; and weight consistency of the food balls 3. determine the perceived commercial and instructional value of the machine. methodology this study was guided by the research and development (r&d) process. the researcher followed these five (5) steps of the r&d process in the development of the portable food balls extrusion machine namely: planning, constructing the project, tryout and revisions and operational test final product revision. the construction of the machine has five (5) major parts as shown in figure 1 namely: stand assembly, extrusion assembly, guide plate and cutter assembly, motor assembly and funnel case assembly. figure 1: right photo shows the funnel and metal case assembly made of stainless steel. left shows the mounting of the motor & extrusion assembly. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research the stand assembly is a flat bar box that holds the different major parts of the machine in order to function the different parts. the extrusion assembly is a stainless steel pipe that houses the spiral and shaft that process the materials in making food balls. the guide plate and cutter assembly are cold rolled steel which makes the food ball have the same size and shape and a stainless blade attached to the main shaft of the extrusion assembly. it ensures that the pieces of food balls will have the same size and shape. the motor assembly is equipped with one-half horse power motor that drives the extrusion assembly in processing the mixture for food balls. the funnel and metal case assembly are composed of the funnel made up of stainless steel which accepts the mixture that passes the extrusion assembly, the metal case which covers the various parts of the machine to make its appearance presentable and the slide holder which is the passage of the food balls from the machine to the container. finally, in the operational test and final product revision, the machine was thoroughly tested based on predetermined criteria for quality assurance. each part of the completed project plays a very important role in the effectiveness, efficiency and safe operation of the whole machine. figure 2 shows the paradigm of the interrelationship of the parts. figure 2. paradigm of interrelationship of the parts 19 international peer reviewed journal in the stand/frame assembly, the base of the motor is mounted on and is connected to the extrusion assembly through a belt. it is reduced by the use of the two pulleys with a ratio of 2:1. the time the switch is turned-on; the machine runs and is ready to accept the material for food balls. this passes through a funnel, which is attached on top of the machines, going to the extrusion assembly. as the guide plate receives the material for the diameter of the food ball, the cutter rotates, shaping the material with uniform size. the cut food ball now goes to the slide holder/guide, and to the container. this is purposely placed on the funnel side of the machine, just below the slide older. some parts of the machine are independent that failure could not relate to the breakdown of the whole unit. some parts, however, are interdependent with one another, so that the failure of one will be the failure of the whole unit. the portable food balls machine was evaluated for its comparative performance effectiveness and for its commercial and instructional value as perceived by experts. a demonstration workshop was held to showcase the extrusion machine. evaluator was composed of five experts. an evaluation sheet was used to determine the commercial and instructional value into thirteen indicators. the data gathered from the tryouts and evaluation sheet were tabulated. weighted mean, z-test and one-way anova was used to determine the effectiveness of the machine for food balls products. results and discussion the design of the portable extrusion machine for food balls including parts, comparative performance effectiveness evaluation, commercial and instructional value. general description portable extrusion machine for food balls parts 1. stand assembly 2. extrusion assembly 3. guide plate assembly 4. motor assembly 5. funnel case assembly applications extrude two sizes of food balls 16 mm and 20 mm diameter 20 jpair multidisciplinary research comparative performance effectiveness evaluation of the machine a demonstration was held to showcase the extrusion machine. the three food technology instructor experts manually formed balls of one recipe for meatballs, fishballs and rice-balls. the working time, weight and shape were accordingly measured or noted. comparative production rate method production pieces time (hour) production rate manual 99 2 50/hour proto-type 100 0.17 588/hour commercial 100 0.004 25,000/hour *use 50 grams sample or 1 recipe food ball mixture production cost efficiency this is the cost incurred for labor and power relative to the quantity of worth of the food balls produced using 1 recipe sample. table 2 shows the method, production rate, labor rate, power cost and labor cost to arrive at the production cost. on the other hand, using similar sample in mass of food balls mixtures a commercial machine also has the capacity to manufacture 100 pieces in 0.004 hours. method production rate power cost labor cost production cost manual 50 pcs/hour 20,000/ hour 0.40 php/pc extrusion machine 588 pcs/hour 6.00/hour 0.04 php/pc commercial machine 25,000 pcs/hour 524.25/hour 0.02 php/pc from the above mentioned data, findings revealed that the lowest production cost was noted in the commercial extrusion machine while the higher production cost was detected in using the manual method. furthermore, findings deduced that the production cost efficiency of the portable extrusion machine was 100% with respect to manual method and 50% with respect to commercial machine. 21 international peer reviewed journal weight consistency the physical characteristics of the food balls as to weight consistency were monitored. method mean weights manual 6.06 extrusion machine 5.502 commercial machine 5.0 summary of mean weights of food balls products produced out of three (3) methods namely: proto-type extrusion machine, commercial machine and manual operation were compared data showed that the mean weight of food balls products produced by portable extrusion machine was 5.502 grams; commercial machine 5.0 grams and manual operation was 6.06 grams. to determine the significant difference among the three methods of production in terms of weight consistency, an analysis of variance was used using 5% level of significance. from these data, there was a significant variation on weights of food balls products produced using the three methods. findings also showed that portable extrusion machine exhibited more or less the average weight of manual and commercial machines. it can be used by small scale entrepreneurs in their small-scale business for mass production of food balls. commercial and instructional value of the machine the instructional and commercial value of the machine obtained an over-all mean rating of 4.46 which is very satisfactory. “designed to achieve its purpose”, “a time saving device”, “safe and economical in operation”, and “facilitate the teaching learning process” categories were all rated excellent. the category “roundness of balls better than the manually produced” followed by quality of “bola-bola” was rated 3.8 and easy to clean with a 4.0 mean rating. conclusions 1. it is technically feasible to construct the portable extrusion machine in view of the expected functionality of the designed parts, the availability of supplies and materials and affordability of its costs. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research 2. the construction of the machine requires procedures to follow for ease accuracy. 3. the portable extrusion is superior over the manual method but inferior to commercial units as to production ratio. 4. it is more economically viable to use the portable extrusion machine for small-scale food ball production than the manual method. 5. the food balls produced by the portable extrusion machine were less consistent in weight than the food balls produced by the commercial machine. recommendations 1. to ensure its functionality, the machine should be constructed according to its specification. 2. the specification of the major parts and the construction procedure is accordingly observed to ensure construction accuracy and functionality of the machine. 3. the portable extrusion machine is recommended for use in small scale, food balls production in view of its cost efficiency and for increased profit. 4. for bigger volume of food balls output, the portable extrusion machine is recommended for use in small scale food ball production. 5. further study to improve the weight consistency of the food balls produced should be made on the machine design. literature cited amestoso, f. j. 1999 single screw extrusion processing of pasta from sweet potato (ipomoea batatas l.) flour 1990 encyclopedia of food science and technology, volume 2, pp. 1134-1143 1990 encyclopedia of food science and technology, volume 4 page 1147 1990 equipment news, asia pacific food industry, august, pp. 8, 86-95. september 2(9) 87-95 2001 food processing industry, quality improvement, asian journal on science 23 international peer reviewed journal and technology for development 2001 fisheries administrative order, no. 211 s.2001 fletcher, s. i., richmond, p., & smith, a. c. 1985 an experimental study of twin-screw extrusion –cooking of maize grits. journal of food engineering, 4(4), 291-312. hagenimana, a., ding, x., & fang, t. 2006 evaluation of rice flour modified by extrusion cooking. journal of cereal science, 43(1), 38-46. burtea, o. 2001 snacks foods from formers and high-shear extruders. snacks foods processing, ew lusas and lw rooney (eds.) technomic publishing co. inc., lancaster, pa, 281-314. guy, r. (ed.) extrusion cooking: technologies and applications. woodhead publishing. frame, n. (ed.) 1993 technology of extrusion cooking. springer. mollan, m. 2003 historical overview. drugs and the pharmaceutical sciences, 133, 1-18. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-journals; 3) google scholar; 4) index copernicus; 5) scholastica; 6) researchgate; 7) lacriee of france; 8)university library of leipzig, germany; 9) linguist list; and 10) the journaltocs. cover single 135 international peer reviewed journal the spratly’s conflict: foreign policy implications to the peoples’ republic of china and the republic of the philippines christine marie s. yeneza orcid no. 0000-0002-4081-1401 christineyeneza@gmail.com university of san jose–recoletos cebu city, philippines abstract this study, anchored on the theory of realism by hans morgenthau (1948), examined the spratly’s conflict and discussed its implications to the peoples’ republic of china and the republic of the philippines. budgetary allocations of both states for spratly’s were reviewed. china’s interest on the spratly’s is manifested by its strong hold of military forces and recorded incursions in the area. data suggest that china has been strengthening its military capabilities from 2001 to the present. meanwhile, the conflict over spratly’s pushed the philippines to upgrade its military capabilities. china and the philippines confirm their claims over the spratly’s islands notwithstanding a commitment in the unclos (united nations convention on the laws of the seas). evidently, the spratly’s conflict has brought pressure to china and the philippines in boosting their military presence in the area. empirically gathered evidences point out expanding military budget in both countries as they advance their claims over spratly’s. indicatively, the conflict will continue as long as both states hold on to their respective claims. in this respect, china and the philippines should endeavour to resolve the spratly’s conflict through diplomatic ties. at the same time, work for cooperation by enactment of mutually beneficial bilateral agreements. vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.186 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 136 jpair: multidisciplinary research keywords military capabilities, unclos, budgetary allotment, afp’s cup, afp’s long term cup, asean introduction the spratly islands in the south china sea has been debated by its claimants since the 18th century. among its claimants are malaysia, republic of china, brunei darussalam, socialist republic of vietnam, people’s republic of china, and the republic of the philippines. these claimants go after spratly’s for the oil and natural resources that the states may exploit in the area. for several years, the spratly’s conflict has been a crucial issue to its claimants. the philippines claims the spratly’s for its distance from palawan, continue its claim amidst the possible consequences of their claim. china, through the historical basis of its claim, pursues amidst the huge distance of the area from the state itself. due to the fear that areas be seized from them, countries installed their respective flags over their claimed areas. some claimants delegate ships to take turns in keeping an eye to secure their areas. with this, relationship of both states continues to be strained. if this conflict would not be resolved, an armed conflict may occur thus a solution to this has to be provided. at present, the popular rival of the philippines over the spratly islands is the people’s republic of china. this study analyzed the efforts that china and the philippines have been exerting for their claims in the spratly’s. at the same time, assessed the prospective influences of asean and the united nations convention on the laws of the seas (unclos). the realism theory of hans morgenthau (1948) can be associated to the spratly’s conflict. realism argues that the main actors of the international arena are the states. the state aims for the acquisition of power to achieve its national interest. national interest is more prioritized than the state’s ideology. due to the fact that national interest is given the importance, a state has the capacity to go against another state for its pursuit. such pursuit may deal with any matter, like that of the state’s security. this theory is similar to saying that states are egocentric and competitive in nature. a state is willing to take an extra mile to pursue their national interest. a state is willing to 137 international peer reviewed journal go against or compete with another state for its pursuit. meanwhile, another author of the realism theory is thomas hobbes. according to hobbes, realism in itself has three assumptions. first pertains to the equality of men or states. in the situation of the spratly’s, china and the philippines will not contend over such islands in the basis of which state is developed or of which state has more alliances. if the allies of both states express their opinions regarding the issue, these opinions are not basis or guarantee to the resolution of such. in like manner, development of the state or the capacity of the state to further its development is also not a basis for the issue’s resolution. in the spratly’s conflict, both claimants are of equal footing, as they continue to present their arguments for their claims. on the other hand, the second assumption of hobbes deals with the interaction of states in anarchy. china and the philippines have their individual governments. however, in the spratly’s conflict, there is no particular system that handles the conflict. as much as there are mediators in this conflict, these mediators are not able to control the conflict. in this case, states do what pleases them as long as it is in accordance to their interest. lastly, hobbes stated that the actions of the states are motivated by competition, hesitancy, and progress. these three motivations are interrelated. it is innate for a state to compete with other states and be on top. as much as a state would want to have good relations with the rest of the world, there is still a tinge of competition. however, a state does not compete with any state at any given time. these states are cautious enough whom to compete with. when they have chosen already whom to compete, they aim for success. in this success, their efforts in competing with a particular state would not be put to waste. success here is synonymous to progress. progress is the root of all the competition. in the case of the spratly’s, china is the famous rival of the philippines aside from vietnam. as much as china would want to claim and declare spratly’s as their own, the state continues to compete with the philippines whom it shares the same claim. both states, continues their dialogue in their respective claims. however, a halt should be given to this issue. through this, other issues that may arise from this conflict would be prevented, as well. 138 jpair: multidisciplinary research framework the popular realist hans j. morgenthau (1948) enumerated six principles on political realism in his book ‘politics among nations’. these principles relate to the spratly’s conflict in one way or another. first realism principle is on the belief that the society is ruled by laws that are created based on the nature of man. the united nations convention on the laws of the seas (unclos) was created to prevent conflict among states regarding their respective jurisdiction. the unclos can therefore, be an answer to the issue between china and the philippines on the spratly’s. if this law was considered, the conflict should have been settled. however, amidst the existence of this law, the conflict remained to be unresolved. the unclos was established for the benefit of man. in this case, as much as the law is created for men, men choose not to adhere to this law. the second principle on political realism is directed towards interest that is explained in the use of power. in other words, use of power has been a definition of interest. every state has an interest that is being pursued. to materialize a state’s interest, may it be domestic or international, power is demonstrated. power here does not literally mean aggression, but refers to the actions of state for the sake of its interest. aggression and physical violence are not the only means for the state to show its power. demonstration of power is evident, when states bravely express their claims and spend for their claimed areas. the third principle of realism is related to the second principle. when interest is defined as power, this does not imply that such is the only definition of interest. morgenthau reiterates that interest defined as power is not fixed. when we speak of power, it may mean anything that maintains control of man over man. in like manner, when china expressed its claims on the spratly’s, it made the philippines resort to actions that would protect its claimed area, and thus, resorting to security measures in its claimed area. this act is not only to secure philippines’ claimed area, but to protect their residing citizens in the area. power here was not literally done, in a manner wherein china controlled the actions of the philippines. however, the mere claims of china caused the philippines to further its security measures on the area. the claims of both states control each other in a way. the 139 international peer reviewed journal capacity of china and the philippines to claim areas of the spratly’s, control each other in a manner wherein states have to be: attentive to the actions of the other, watchful of their actions, and tactful in their claims. without the power of one states to declare its claims on the spratly’s, the other state would not have been mindful of the other state and/or of their very own state. at the same time, such state would have been very much lax in their claims on the areas of the islands. another principle in realism according to morgenthau relates to the moral importance of any action that is done by a state. it speaks of what is morally upright to be done, and what are the things to be done in order to achieve success. morality and success do not go together at all times. there are instances wherein for success to be achieved, wickedness takes place. however, in realism states are said to be heedful of the actions that they execute. this is because of the other factors that can be affected in the actions that they would choose to take. in the case of the spratly’s, any of the claimants may wage war against another state to take hold of the area, yet this was not considered by any of the claimants. morally speaking, waging war is not upright for many citizens are killed, and civilians are affected. if state a wages war against state b and wins the war, it is not only state b that have several casualties. in fact, state would also have casualties of its own. in the event of a war, the economy of a state would be unstable, and infrastructures would be devastated. fortunately, a war has not been waged yet by any of the claimants of the spratly’s, but the cautious actions of the states in dealing with each other can be an example to this principle. after all, an imprecise action in this matter may not only strain their relations from one another but may also affect their citizens. the fifth principle of realism is on the failure to recognize the moral aspirations of a state in relation to the moral laws that rule the universe. due to the self-centeredness of a state, it only sees its own reasons as the valid ones. a state fails to understand the core of reasoning of the other state due to its strong belief that its own reasons are the precise ones only. if a state is able to understand the reasons presented by the other state, then conflicts may easily be resolved by meeting halfway. in the spratly’s conflict, china presents its arguments in claiming the spratly’s, and so did the philippines. however, each state wants its 140 jpair: multidisciplinary research arguments to be accepted for it to own its claimed area. if the state’s arguments are accepted, it may be easy for the other state to give up its claims. then again, this cannot be easily done. the last principle of morgenthau is on the difference of political realism with the other schools of thought. the difference of realism to the latter is that it is real and profound. this theory is established in interest which is given definition by power. the conflict of china and the philippines on the spratly’s are grounded for the pursuant of their national interests. one of these national interests is geared towards the security of their state. in order to pursue the security of their respective states, they are to protect their territories, and these territories include their claimed area in the spratly’s. as china and the philippines continue to secure their territories, this has something to do with their citizens. the security of their territories gives security to their citizens, as well. as mentioned in the previous paragraphs, any action taken, or any progress in the spratly’s conflict would make a huge impact to their respective citizens. their respective citizens may relish the success of claiming their areas, or may suffer any consequence that may result in their pursuance of their claims. objectives of the study more importantly, this study attempted to understand and explained diplomatic implications behind the spratly’s conflict between china and the philippines. materials and methods research design this study employs a descriptive qualitative research design with data source from online journal articles and books in print. emperical evidences are presented to explain and analyze the trends facts will be related to the situation and progress of the conflict. these facts may pertain on the law, budget, and statements of china and the philippines. each of the presented facts will be thoroughly analyzed to give the implications of the spratly’s to both states. 141 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedure the procedure of gathering data for this study involves three angles. the three angles are interrelated to give an understanding on the scenario in the spratly’s. at the same time, providing answers on the queries presented by this study. first angle is on the review of the budgetary allocation of china and the philippines to the spratly’s. next is on the parameters of the united nations convention on the laws of the seas. lastly, the angle that pertains to the good status of the philippines in the asean for support will be dealt. when all three angles are combined, then, objectives of this study will be attained. treatment of data in this qualitative research, there are four target areas that are to be dealt with, which are related to the three angles that are mentioned in the above statements. when these target areas are achieved, this study is able to answer the implication/s of the spratly islands to china and the philippines. first the interest of the states to the issue will be analysed, which will be evident on the budgetary allocation of china and the philippines to the spratly’s. the security that is given by these states to their claimed areas, which can be seen in their military capabilities will be discussed. the law relevant to the issue, which is the united nations convention on the laws of the seas (unclos) will be tackled. finally, there will be a look on the philippines soliciting support from the asean in relation to the conflict. when the four target areas are achieved, the entire situation of the spratly’s would be understood and analysed, thus giving answers of this study. results and discussion the data obtained from the department of foreign affairs show that chinese activities in the spratly islands had tremendously increased. the increase in chinese activities led to six chinese incursions in the claimed area of the philippines. 142 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 1. chinese incursions into the claimed territorial waters of the philippines incident 1 february 25, 2011 3 philippine fishing vessels operating 140 nautical miles west of palawan were fired with 3 shots by a chinese vessel. incident 2 march 2, 2011 2 chinese patrol boats (no. 71 & no. 75) ordered mv veritas voyager, which was a survey vessel that was operating in the reed bank area off palawan to leave and manoeuvred close, that appeared to threaten mv veritas voyager, incident 3 may 6, 2011 a chinese marine vessel was seen in the abad santos shoal, incident 4 may 11, 2011 afp claimed the alleged flight of 2 chinese jet fighters into the philippine air space near palawan. incident 5 may 21, 2011 2 chinese ships (surveillance ship no. 75 and salvage/ research ship no. 707) were observed to head the southern bank. incident 6 may 24, 2011 a chinese surveillance vessel and people’s liberation army navy (plan) ships were reported by filipino fishermen. these ships were observed to be unloading steel posts, building materials, and buoy 100nautical miles off palawan. source: security cooperation in the south china sea: an assessment of recent trends. with the tremendous threat that was brought about by the chinese incursions in the claimed area of the philippines, it is necessary to see the security actions that are taken by the philippine government. in the year 2003, the philippine government created a program that would upgrade the military capability of the state. the armed forces of the philippines’ capability upgrade program (cup) has a long-term goal in developing the external capability of the state. this is an 18year program that is geared towards the acquisition and development of the defence of the philippines, which is divided into three phases, as presented. 143 international peer reviewed journal table 2. armed forces of the philippines’ capability upgrade program (cup) first phase 2006 – 2011 internal security operation (iso) – equipment acquisition and upgrade for the enhancement of this afp operation. second phase 2012 – 2018 transition phase – from the focus on iso to territorial defence. third phase 2019 – 2024 territorial defence – acquisition which is geared towards this and peacekeeping. the first phase of the program is still being processed to the present. however, the smooth flow of the internal security operation is not that easy due to the procurement process for military hardware. as of the third year of the cup, which was 2008, the armed forces of the philippines (afp) was able to acquire only 34% budget allocation for the acquisition of the military hardware. the problem in the implementation of the cup is due to the result of various factors. these factors are said to be the following: afp’s shift in priorities, change in the guidelines of the procurement process, and the lack of financial resources. in addition, is the reorganization of various departments, which supervises the arms acquisition with the military, and is dubbed to be inappropriate. in 2007, president gloria macapagal – arroyo instructed the department of national defence (dnd) and the afp not to delay the procurement process of the military hardware that was necessary for the iso. due to this, the reprioritized capability upgrade program (rcup) was formulated. this program listed the agenda of the philippine government in speeding up the acquisition of defence material under the cup, and realigning the procurement process with the mission of the afp. rcup reiterated the need to consider military sales or government-to-government transaction by the afp. this was in the procurement of equipment for the enhancement of efficiency in acquiring defence materials required for the cup. the restoration of at least 70% of the philippine military’s critical capabilities in conducting internal security operations is the immediate goal of this program. on the other hand, the long-term goal of the program is with 144 jpair: multidisciplinary research regards to the territorial defence. this territorial defence was afp’s modernization program since the 1990s, wherein the territorial defence is its territorial goal. amidst the existence of the rcup, afp finds itself in square one in arms procurement due to the long process provided by the implementation guidelines of the 1995 afp modernization law (republic act 7898), and the constant lack of financial support from the philippine congress. the peak of the reed bank incident of march 2, 2011 was the time when afp announced the repairs of the deteriorating runway on one of the islands that are occupied by the philippines. afp revealed it will further its military presence on the western area of the state near the disputed spratly islands. in fact, afp chief-of staff major general eduardo oban reiterated the allocation of about php 8 billion for the acquisition of naval and air assets, which were found necessary in patrolling the maritime borders of the state. however, during the u.s.philippine military joint exercise balikatan 2011, president benigno aquino iii increased the amount to php 11.9 billion for a three-year development period of procurement of new patrol craft, gunboats, and ground radars for the philippine military. the said amount was from the afp modernization program allocation, and profits of the malampaya natural gas extraction wells in palawan. when president aquino assumed his office in july 2010, he was prioritizing and pursuing the afp modernization program in the presence of new security challenges. he ordered his secretary of the department of national defence (dnd) to ensure materialization of the long-overdue afp modernization program. this program was seen to strengthen the military capability of the state. in line with the president’s priorities, dnd and afp jointly came up with a dnd-afp task force. the joint dnd-afp task force came up with an afp longterm capability development program. the program has the aim of immediate shift in the focus of internal security to territorial defence within three years, from 2011 to 2013. the program has been labelled as an ambitious plan when compared to the cup of the arroyo administration. the cup has a transitory stage that was characterized by the improvement of its internal security capabilities and an increasing shift towards the development of its territorial defence capabilities in 2011. however, in the afp long-term capability 145 international peer reviewed journal development program there is a goal to develop the capacity of the state to protect its maritime borders and its territorial claim over the spratly’s. presented below is the budget allocation of the aquino administration for the aforementioned development program, which is divided to the philippine air force (paf) and the philippine navy (pn). table 3. afp’s long term capability development program php 426 billion budget for the long – term capability upgrade that is allotted for paf and pn, instead of the philippine army. a. php 200 billion(approximate) paf’s budget for acquisition of planes b. php 134 billion (approximate) pn’s budget for acquisition of vessels and planes. the current effort of the aquino administration as it shifted the focus of the afp from internal security to territorial defence was rooted in a very strategic objective. aside from having similar objectives as the previous administration’s cup, the aquino administration aims to develop a comprehensive border patrol. such an objective can be achieved through the state’s acquisition of military equipment that is necessary in protecting their border. this strategy is comprehensive, yet not aggressive for a naval warfighting capacity. on the other hand, china continues to rise as an economically and militarily inclined power. the assertiveness of china in pursuing their claims in the spratly’s conflict co-relates with its economic and military power as an emerging superpower. the increasing aggressiveness of china in the spratly’s conflict may create tension and disturb the security in the region. however, china continues to assure the world that their claims in the spratly’s are a peaceful one and that the state does not aim to be a hegemonic power. these assurances are amidst the continued increase of the military budget allotment of china to its military capability. presented in the table below is the budgetary allotment for defence spending by the chinese government. 146 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 4. defence spending of the people’s republic of china 2011 $91.4 billion expected military expenditure for the year, not including military imports. 2010 $78 billion total defence spending, not including military imports. 2009 $150 billion according to the u.s. defence department, this is the total military-related expenditure of the state including military imports from other states, especially from russia. 2001-2010 more than $17 billion russian military imports for the decade. 2001-2010 $150 billion estimated military expenditure of china for the acquisition of new weapons. source articles: “beijing’s buildup stirs fears”; and “is time running out: the urgency for full, final and equitable resolution of the south china sea imbroglio.” in the table, it is very much evident that china is inclined to boost and strengthen its military defence. such defence is regardless of internal threats or external threats that are faced by the state. similar to any other state, china has the aim to strengthen its military capability. in doing so, the state will be able to protect its territory from threats. the state shall also be ready to go against other states, if needed, under any conditions. in the annual report of the annual session of the national people’s congress, premier wen jiabao reiterated the constant enhancement of china in their military capability. china is not as transparent as other states in showing their defence budget. china does not bluntly show the inclusion of its military-related imports from other states to their state. through this, state is able to uplift its military capabilities without threatening other states. however, china is still able to threaten other states even if data on military-related imports are not shown because it is evident in its military capability. the united nations convention on the laws of the seas (unclos) has existed for decades as a representation of the most comprehensive attempt in having a set of norms and standards. in relation to the spratly’s 147 international peer reviewed journal conflict, the convention has been ratified by china and the philippines, yet it is quite ironic to have such conflict amidst its ratification. in fact, with unclos, these states have a common set of norms, principles, and rules regarding oceanic boundaries. in like manner, these states should have been able to determine their respective entitlement to the living and non-living resources in the sea. this convention is supposed to serve as a guide in settling boundary disputes, which is very much relevant to the spratly’s conflict. with the aforementioned statements, it seems that the convention is insufficient. the involvement of unclos in the conflict is limited for the different arguments of china and the philippines in the spratly’s, and their different interpretations of the unclos, plus the impreciseness, due to the vague wording of the convention. this results to the prevention of enacting this convention to serve as a guide on the behaviours of both states. however, the unclos is not totally ineffective and insufficient. the burden is not to be blamed on the convention alone. in the beginning of the unclos, it was evident that the convention would not be that effective and efficient with the attitudes presented by china and the philippines upon the signing of the convention. in the philippines’ declaration upon signing the unclos, filipino officials were clear in stating that they are unwilling to reconsider their position on the spratly’s conflict even with the existence of the convention. the philippines emphasized that the signing of the convention will not make any change in the sovereignty that the state was exercising over any territory like that of the kalayaan group of islands. similar to the philippines’ declaration was the chinese declaration upon signing the unclos. china focused their attention to the disputed spratly islands. in fact, china emphasized that the kalayaan group of islands has been a chinese territory, for it is part of the nansha islands. at the same time, china emphasized that the adjacent waters and resources of the nansha islands are part of chinese sovereignty. evident as it appears, it goes to show that from the beginning of this convention, the philippines and china has been unwilling to change their claims. this is to adhere to the norms, principles, and rules of the unclos. amidst the broad and complicated provisions, that are stipulated in the convention, there are basic key concepts that are 148 jpair: multidisciplinary research embodied in the unclos. these key concepts are as follows: the 200 nautical-mile eez, historical entitlement and claim, assumption of that those provisions take precedence over earlier norms/principles/rules embodied in earlier agreements, legal definition of an island, right and privileges of archipelagic states, use of baselines to outline territorial waters, and practice of sovereignty over new territories. however, despite the large scope of the convention as well as its contribution in successfully resolving oceanic disputes, concepts of the unclos are still not able to resolve the spratly islands issue. add to that the unwillingness of the philippines and china to change their positions on the issue, amidst the existence of the convention, as presented in their respective declarations. in august 1995, china and the philippines came up with an agreement after a month of bilateral talks. a joint statement was released at the conclusion of both states bilateral talks. the joint statement outlined the following principles: resolution of the spratly’s conflict in a friendly manner, pursuance of confidence-building measures without using force, and settlement of the conflict with reference to international law. during the estrada administration, the philippines pursued confidence-building measures through the bilateral interactions of the state with china. this was emphasized in the official state visits of the president joseph ejercito – estrada in 2000 and president gloria macapagal – arroyo in 2001. aside from this, the philippines brought the spratly’s conflict to the international arena through the united nations (un), the asean regional forum (arf), and with its partners in asean. however, china blocked the efforts of the philippines in the un and arf, but the philippines was able to gain support with the asean member states. such support was due to the released outlined principles in the 1995 joint statement. the status of the philippines in the asean allows the state to solicit support from its member states. conclusions and recommendations china and the philippines are poised in upgrading their military capabilities to defend their respective states. this defence includes their respective territorial claims over the spratly islands. such 149 international peer reviewed journal upgrade was brought about by their need to protect their pursued claimed areas. china’s military expenditure tremendously increased through the years, and the philippines came up with military capability programs. on the other hand, the unclos will not be able to resolve this issue for china and the philippines has declared that the ratification of the convention does not change their claims in the spratly’s. the maintenance of the philippines’ good status in the asean will enable the state to maintain the support that its member states are giving the state. these supports will strengthen the state’s claims over the spratly’s. the conflict is endless as long as china and the philippines continue their claims. unless one of the states or both states give up its claim, the conflict will continue without any resolve. along this line, two possible solutions are recommended. first is through sharing the claimed areas between the claimants, whenever feasible. as noted, rich oil and natural deposits in the area are the driving factors over the disputed territories. the agreement has to be something that will allow both states to gather the resources from time to time and share it between them. in this manner the resolution of the spratly’s conflict is done through diplomatic means, for the agreement has to pass through several meetings and negotiations between conflicting parties, before an agreement is created. continued bilateral talks between china and the philippines would ease the tension. at the same time, these negotiations would give rise to the agreement and other possible ways for the resolution of the conflict. on the other hand, china and the philippines may result to a diversion process. in this case, the states would shift their attention from conflict to the pursuance of their diplomatic ties and cooperation. existing bilateral agreements between both states may be reviewed for its further implementation. both states may create and engage in other mutually beneficial bilateral agreements. these agreements will allow the relationship of both states to stabilize. aside from that, these will also make the states progressive. 150 jpair: multidisciplinary research literature cited baker, c. 2004 china-philippine relations: cautious cooperation. [online] asia pacific center for security studies. available from: http:// apcss.org (09/30/2011) barnes, j.e. 2011 beijing’s buildup stirs fears. [online] the wall street journal. available from: http://online.wsj.com (09/06/2011) burchill, s. et al 2009 theories of international relations. 4th ed. new york: palgrave macmillan. de castro, r.c. 2011 for members. [online] maritime security asia. available from: http://www.martimesecurity.asia (08/20/2011) encomienda, a.a. 2011 the south china sea: back to the future through cooperation. [online] south china sea studies. available from: http:// www.southchinaseastudies.org (07/12/2011) furtado, x. 1991 international law and the dispute over the spratly islands: whither unclos? [online] the cbs interactive business network. available from: http://www.findarticles.com (06/26/2011) joyner, c.c. the spratly islands dispute in the south china sea: problems, policies, and prospects for diplomatic accommodation. [online] south china sea virtual library. available from: http://www. southchinasea.org (09/06/2011) 151 international peer reviewed journal morgentau, h.j. 2006 politics among nations: the struggle for power and peace. 7th ed. new york: mcgraw-hill/irwin. saighal, v. is time running out: the urgency for full, final and equitable resolution of the south china sea imbroglio. [online] vinod saighal. available from: http://vinodsaighal.com (07/12/2011) thayer, c.a. 2011 security cooperation in the south china sea: an assessment of recent of trends. [online] south china sea studies. available from: http://www.southchinaseastudies.org (07/12/2011) thuy, t.t. 2011 recent development in the south china sea: from declaration to code of conduct. [online] south china sea studies. available from: http://www.southchinaseastudies.org (07/12/2011) pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 201 collegial peer coaching model: a case study in empowering science teachers teresita v. de la cruz tessie_doc@yahoo.com. southern luzon state university lucban, quezon, philippines abstract this study was an attempt to develop and validate the proposed collegial peer coaching model (cpcm) for science teachers across various levels at southern luzon state university, lucban, quezon. the research design is a combination of descriptive-qualitative and developmental research methods involving 18 science teachers in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. three instruments were developed for the study—a teacher performance scale, a primer on peer coaching and an evaluation questionnaire. results suggest that the participants had highly favorable performance ratings in the conduct of the three instructional components of the cpcm, as most participants achieved either ‘very satisfactory’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings after the conduct of the model, in comparison to their pre-cpcm ratings. the predominantly identified criteria for classroom observation are discussed as well as the quantity increases obtained by science teachers by group level along the three instructional components. the acceptability ratings also indicate very favorable scores. among the conclusions made, it seems that vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.162 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 202 the science teachers’ teaching science performance require more skills improvement and/or refinement in the component identified as the “management of the teaching-learning activities” than in “classroom management skills” and “personal qualities.” keywords peer coaching, science teacher empowerment introduction professional practice often requires individuals to modify their attitudes, beliefs, and values. and changing one’s behavior involves the modification of personal conceptions of teaching and learning. how one learned or how one was taught the subject had some influence in one’s conceptions of teaching and learning. professional development can take place only if one is motivated to change. reflection is a tool to bring about that change. the study of teaching in conventional classrooms must be a collaborative exercise. a collaborative venture will promise reflection and develop both professional knowledge and classroom inquiry that will encourage open communication and criticism between the collaborations to achieve professional growth and improve practice. conceptual freedom and conceptual unity are two principles that are essential for a successful collaborative work. such things as modeling, coaching, intellectual reflective dialogues, viewing of videos of teaching practice and joint experimentation are natural components of the collaborative enterprise. joint explorations must be carried out within ethical frameworks of reciprocity, mutual benefit and commitment to human caring. it will give everyone who participates a vision for new ways of looking at teaching and learning (chamot and o’malley 1994). the interest in peer coaching has emerged in response to the literature on faculty development that is filled with concerns about transferability and action. exposure to innovative teaching strategies such as cooperative learning or the case method is insufficient if faculty does not translate their new knowledge into classroom practices. it is suggested that change is hard and typically does not international peer reviewed journal 203 occur without a group of colleagues who care and provide support and encouragement for one another (cohen 1995). this study indicates that support for cooperation among faculty is just as strong as that for cooperation among students. thus, peer coaching—faculty helping faculty—provides a powerful way to provide complex and sustained support (ebenezer and haggerty 1999). based on the foregoing perspective, the researcher was motivated to conduct a study on peer coaching by planning to tryout a peer coaching model among some faculty members teaching science subjects at the southern luzon state university (slsu) in lucban, quezon, philippines. the collegial type of peer coaching was used. this study tried to find out if this innovative strategy is effective to science instructors and in empowering science teachers. framework educators for many years now have been working to make their teaching better. despite having attended countless seminars on the subject of instruction improvement, teachers find that there is some wisdom that is difficult to impart in a group setting. classroom-style teaching workshops are good for dissemination of information, but appear to be inadequate when the purpose is to create change in values or behavior. peer coaching may be one answer for teachers who wish to improve their teaching in a supportive, non-threatening environment (galbraith and anstrom 1995). peer coaching is defined as a process in which two teachers visit each other’s classes and later meet to discuss their observations and provide feedback on what they saw. peer coaches strive to focus on positive reactions and solutions to possible problems as opposed to peer visits for evaluative purpose that many focus on ranking or ratings of teaching. peer coaching aims to help fellow instructors improve their teaching and to give them someone with whom to share the ups and down of teaching (garmston et al. 1998). one major reason as to why school systems support peer coaching is that coaching promotes a deeper analysis of teaching and learning, norms of collaboration and sharing, and an appropriate focus on and support for adult learning. it promotes development of many new skills precisely because it takes jpair: multidisciplinary journal 204 place in a subculture that is not traditional in nature (glenn 1993). for this reason, learning the new skills of collaboration and sharing feedback will require some new structures for use of time, new roles for teachers, and support for individuals who participate in the coaching. research has identified many benefits of peer coaching for teachers. among these benefits are a reduced sense of isolation, ability to implement new strategies effectively, a positive school climate, and a revitalized faculty. there are many types and models of peer coaching. one of these is the collegial peer coaching which is described by reference. the long range of goal of collegial peer coaching is self-perpetuating improvement in teaching. for example, a teacher to be observed may want to learn more about how to improve a particular area. this desire becomes the focus of the coaching sessions. the coach gathers classroom data on the teacher’s priority and helps him/her analyze and interpret teaching/learning strategies while encouraging applications to future learning (llagas 1995). teachers are advised to keep a teaching log of class activities that can be discussed when meeting with their partners. examples of categories on the teaching log that can be used to reflect on and discuss with their partners include student activities and type of instruction. in addition, partners are advised to use a checklist when observing each other so that follow-up discussion is focused on what actually happened during the lesson (meyer and gray 1994). a study on peer coaching as an effective staff development model for educators of linguistically and culturally diverse students, cites that continuing professional development is generally addressed to persons already possessing professional expertise. it is, therefore, essential that this professional development be based on their skills and that it aims basically to maintain or enhance these skills. successful development also calls for the creation of an inclusion environment in which individuals are able to create bonds among one another share expertise and improve reciprocal skills through the acquisition of new knowledge and skills (sweeny 1993). reference defines peer coaching as simply two or three teachers rotating roles and sharing in conversation, focused on a teacher’s international peer reviewed journal 205 reflection and thinking about his/her instructional processes that leads to a classroom practice. it creates an environment where teachers and students can be secured, connected, competent, and empowered. empowerment makes school a more effective place for learning because teachers use their insights and experienced teacher make better decisions, have flexibility and support to try new approaches/ teaching strategies and custom-fit what they do to meet the needs of schools and students, learn and grow on the job, work together to solve challenging problems, and believe that improved instruction is everyone’s responsibility. empowerment creates “team spirit.” objectives of the study this study was an attempt to develop and validate the collegial peer coaching model for science teachers across various levels at slsu. in more specific terms, the study aimed to: (1) analyze the teaching performance of science teachers in empowering them along the following instructional components: management of the teaching-learning skills, classroom management skills, and personal qualities; (2) conduct the collegial peer coaching activities using the model to empower science teachers; and (3) assess the acceptability of the collegial peer coaching model by group level in empowering: elementary science teachers, secondary science teachers, college science teachers. materials and methods the study consisted of three phases, namely: preparatory, implementation, and assessment of the collegial peer coaching model (cpcm). the design of the study is a combination of descriptivequalitative and developmental research methods. the descriptive method of research was used in gathering information related to the needs of the various components of the study. there were eighteen (18) science teachers involved in the study. every level was composed of six science teachers. the developmental method of research was used in the preparation of the teacher performance scale, primer on peer coaching, and the collegial peer coaching model. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 206 in the implementation phase, the descriptive-qualitative method of research was used in gathering and interpreting the data. the quality of relationship, activities and situations existing naturally between two science teachers as peer partner during the conduct of the collegial peer coaching model were investigated. the researcher developed three instruments for the study namely: (1) the teacher performance scale which was used to analyze the science teacher participants’ teaching performance; (2) the primer on peer coaching which was used as aided material by the participants during the conduct of the collegial peer coaching model; and (3) the evaluation questionnaire which was used to assess the acceptability of the collegial peer coaching model. this was administered to the 18 science teacher-participants after the conduct of the model. results and discussions the average performance ratings of the science teachers by group levels along the three instructional components before and after the conduct of the collegial peer coaching model (cpcm) are as follows: on the first instructional components which is the “management of the teaching-learning activities,” before the conduct of the cpcm the elementary, secondary and college groups of science teachers obtained an average performance rating of 4.00, 4.02 and 4.07 respectively with all ratings having an equivalent interpretation of “very satisfactory” (vs), and combined groups rating of 4.03 interpreted as “very satisfactory” (vs). after the conduct of the cpcm, the elementary, secondary and tertiary groups of science teachers obtained average performance ratings of 4.45, 4.64, and 4.65 respectively with equivalent interpretations of “very satisfactory” (vs) and “outstanding” (o) for the ratings of the last two groups. the combined groups’ rating is 4.58 interpreted as “very satisfactory” (vs). for the second instructional component which is the “classroom management skills,” the elementary, secondary, and college groups of science teachers obtained average performance ratings of 4.12, 4.09 and 4.17 respectively with all ratings having an equivalent interpretation of “very satisfactory” (vs) and combined groups’ rating of 4.13 interpreted as “very satisfactory” (vs). after the conduct of international peer reviewed journal 207 the cpcm, the elementary, secondary, and college groups’ of science teachers obtained average performance ratings of 4.63, 4.61, and 4.66 respectively with all ratings having an equivalent interpretation of “outstanding” and a combined groups’ rating of 4.63 interpreted as “outstanding” (o). for the third instructional component which is the “personal qualities”, the elementary, secondary and tertiary groups of science teachers obtained an average performance ratings of 4.15, 4.27, and 4.25 respectively with all ratings having an equivalent interpretation of “very satisfactory” (vs) and combined groups’ rating of 4.22 interpreted as “very satisfactory” (vs). after the conduct of the cpcm, the elementary, secondary, and college groups of science teachers obtained an average performance ratings of 4.56, 4.69, and 4.74 respectively with equivalent interpretations of “very satisfactory” (vs) and “outstanding” (o) for the ratings of the last two groups. the combined groups’ rating is 4.66 interpreted as “outstanding” (o). in the conduct of cpcm, the predominantly identified criteria for classroom observation of the 18 science teachers are ranked as follows: (1) observes appropriate wait-time procedure in asking questions; (2) uses varieties of methods appropriate to science teaching and objectives; (3) ask questions that stimulate students to think critically and logically; (4) uses varieties of questions from low to high level forms of questions; (5) uses motivational techniques that stimulate student interest; (6) integrates values in the lesson; (7) checks student’s mastery of the lesson; (8) uses test result as a basis for improving teaching and student’s work; (9) gives compliment to students who answered well; and (10) gives students the opportunity to ask questions. furthermore, the quantity increases obtained by science teachers by group level along the three instructional components after the conduct of cpcm are discussed in the following. (a) for the first instructional components which is the management of the teachinglearning activities (mtla), the elementary, secondary, and tertiary groups of science teachers obtained quantity increases of 0.45, 0.62, and 0.58 respectively. the combined groups’ quantity increase is 0.55. the group’s general performance rating in terms of mt-la improved from 4.03 to 4.58. (b) for the second instructional component which is the classroom management skills (cms), the elementary, secondary jpair: multidisciplinary journal 208 and college groups of science teachers obtained quantity increases of 0.51, 0.52, and 0.49 respectively. the combined groups’ quantity increase is 0.50. the groups’ general performance rating in terms of cms improved from 4.13 to 4.63. (c) on the third instructional component which is the personal qualities (pq), the elementary, secondary, and tertiary groups of science teachers obtained quantity increases of 0.41, 0.42. and 0.49, respectively. the combined groups’ quantity increase is 0.44. the groups’ general performance rating in terms of pq improved from 4.22 to 4.66. finally, the acceptability ratings given to collegial peer coaching model by elementary, secondary, and college groups of science teachers are 3.75, 3.63 and 3.95, respectively, all interpreted as “strong acceptable” (sa). conclusions based on the findings, several conclusions can be deduced. first, of the three instructional components, it appears that the science teachers’ teaching science performance need more skills improvement and/or refinement in the component identified as the “management of the teaching-learning activities” than in “classroom management skills and personal qualities.” likewise, the science teacher-participant obtained a quantity increase of 4.5 to 5.00 along instructional components indicating that they met the standards for quality assurance in teaching performance. furthermore, the collegial peer coaching model is found to be strongly acceptable to three group-levels of science teachers—elementary, secondary and college. lastly, the conduct of cpcm appears to have empowered the science teachers along the following instructional components: wellmanaged teaching-learning activities, well-developed classroom, management skills, improved personal qualities, and increased collegiality. international peer reviewed journal 209 recommendations the following recommendations are being made in light of the findings and conclusions of the study. first, a follow-up study should be conducted using the collegial peer coaching model in all disciplines. this would likely enhance the instrument, such as in terms of improving the text and further fine-tuning the other elements of the tool. second, the participants who engaged in the collegial peer coaching should be followed up for purpose of quality assurance. this will also significantly facilitate the enhancement of the instrument. third, the study should be replicated in the field. in doing this, the following suggestions may be properly considered: (1) lengthening the time frame given to the participants in the conduct of the collegial peer coaching model; (2) conducting the collegial peer coaching model by inter-department or by school; (3) increasing the number of days for the orientation-seminar on collegial peer coaching before the conduct of the model. finally, students be also be gauged through interviews or checklist questionnaires on whether collegial peer coaching model has enhanced their performance. improved school performance of students should always be a key consideration on any endeavor seeking to improve the teaching efficacy of mentors. literature cited chamot a. and j.m. o’malley 1994 the calla handbook: implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach, addison wesley, reading, ma. cohen n.h. 1995 “the principles of adult mentoring scale,” m.w. galbraith & n.h. cohen (eds.), mentoring: new strategies and challenges (new directions for adult and continuing education, no. 66), jossey-bass, san francisco, pp. 15–32. ebenezer j. and s. haggerty 1999 becoming a secondary science teacher, prentice-hall, new jersey. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 210 galbraith p. and k. anstrom 1995 “peer coaching: an effective staff development model for educators of linguistically and culturally diverse students, directions in language & education,” national clearinghouse for bilingual education, vol. 1, no. 3. garmston r.j., l.e. lipton and k. kaiser 1998 “the psychology of supervision,” handbook of research on school supervision, simon & schuster macmillan, new york, pp. 242-286. glenn r.a. 1993 “teacher attribution: affect linkages as a function of student academic and behavior failure and teacher efficacy,” dissertation abstracts international, vol. 54 (12-a). johnson d.w., k.a. smith and r.t. johnson 1992 cooperative learning: increasing college faculty instructional productivity, ashe eric higher education reprot no. 4, john wiley & sons, new york. llagas a. 1995 “emerging school culture,” educator’s journal, no. 4 (special issue), p. 5. meyer j. and t. gray 1994 peer coaching: an innovation in teaching, new mexico state university, las cruces. sweeny b. 1993 supporting a peer coaching program: the need for a coaching coordinator, corwin press, thousand oaks, ca. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 89 occurrence of soft and hard corals at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia, guimaras, philippines melchor magramo mary mar esmaña june raymond peter flores marlon terunez jblfmu-arevalo, ilo-ilo city, philippines abstract the distribution of soft and hard corals is due to prevailing environmental conditions, coral anatomical features and structural composition and presence or absence of predators and competitors. the study determined the occurrence of soft and hard corals in igang bay, nueva valencia, guimaras, philippines. ocular survey was conducted at front beach of villa igang and transect – quadrat sampling was carried out. . the results showed that soft corals found in igang bay include the genera lobophytum, radianthus, sarcophyton, sinularia and xenia and hard corals include those that belong to acropora, coeloseris, coscinaraea, favia, favites, fungia, lonophyllia, millepora, montipora and porites genera. hard corals had a greater cover with a total of 38.94% while soft corals had 3.33%. in each transect, hard corals occupied more space than soft corals. there were 6 colonies for hard corals and none for soft corals. physico – chemical conditions, particularly the salinity did not vary between three sampling points with a value of 29 ppt. and the temperature between surface and bottom had an average of 31°c and 31.7°c.the water depth ranged vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.155 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 90 from 0.9 to 1.1 meters. generally, the substrate type was rocky and sandy with presence of some coral rubbles in some portions along the transect lines. keywords – hard corals, soft corals, salinity, temperature, igang bay introduction the distribution of soft and hard corals vary from place to place due to several factors including the prevailing environmental conditions, coral anatomical features and structural composition and presence or absence of predators and competitors. because they both require about the same environmental conditions to survive, soft and hard corals are competitors for space on the reef. environmental factors like temperature, water velocity, water depth, water transparency and the shape of the shoreline or coast were observed to have an effect on coral cover and number of colonies of both hard and soft corals (white, 1987; veron, 1986). hard corals usually thrive in an area where there is good illumination and water clarity. good illumination is necessary because hard corals harbor photosynthetic algae that incidentally also gives color to the coral tissues. these algae, called zooxanthellae, provides up to 98% of coral nutrition and would allow faster deposition of calcium carbonate (caco3) in hard coral skeletons (chalker et. al.,1986). soft corals are usually found in deeper waters, in low intertidal rocks, under ledger or in crevices (white, 1987; thurman and weber, 1984). hard corals have calcium carbonate exoskeleton which effectively protects the polyps. when retracted, the polyps project little above the skeletal platform and are thus difficult for most fishes and other predators to remove (barnes, 1980). soft corals which are also called leather corals because of the leathery texture of their colonies, may resemble hard corals with the fleshy coenechyme mass acting as substrate for the colony instead of calcium carbonate that hard corals have (barnes, 1980). although both possess certain defense mechanisms in competing for space, they can not always protect themselves against their predators. predators of hard and soft corals have adapted themselves to international peer reviewed journal 91 the harmful or toxic effects of those coelenterates. common predators of hard corals are parrotfish, crowns of thorns starfish, mollusks and crabs. soft coral predators include the egg cowrie (ovula ovum) and the aoelid nudibranch phyllodesma longiciera (on sarcophytom). soft corals kill hard corals by simple overgrowth (nishihira, 1981) or through chemical substances which are believed to be toxic (coll and sammarco, 1986). on the other hand, hard corals are observed to cause tissue lesions on soft corals (coll and sammarco, 1986). despite the similar environmental requirement of hard corals, there may be certain environmental conditions that favor the proliferation of one over the other. this is coupled with their defense mechanisms, particularly against one another; may bring about the dominance of one against the other in a site. framework although soft and hard corals require relatively the same physicchemical parameters (white, 19870, it has been found that each (soft or hard corals) has certain mechanisms for survival and defense over the other. these mechanisms may directly and/or indirectly determine the soft and hard coral cover and number of colonies in an area. competition for space. studies have shown that soft corals and hard corals inhibit the growth of one another through certain mechanisms. the studies of nishishira (1981) revealed that soft corals kill many species of hard corals by simple overgrowth. conducted after the devastation of a coral community by the crown of thorns starfish acanthaster planci, the study intended to observe interspecific interactions between soft and hard corals in recolonizing the community. the presence of hard corals overgrown by soft corals like sinularia, lobophytum and sarcophyton was observed. soft corals are also known to kill, retard growth and cause tissue necrosis in hard corals through secretion of terpenoid toxins (coll and sammarco, 1986). most of the soft corals affected were pavona, porites and acropora. studies showed that pure terpenoid compounds from soft corals killed both porites andrewsi and acropora formosa at very low concentrations of less than or equal to 10ppm (co an sammarco, 1986). another study conducted by coll and sammarco (1986) showed that terpenoid toxins secreted by soft corals affect the recruitment rate of jpair: multidisciplinary journal 92 hard corals. they observed that hard corals have different recruitment responses with respect to the location of soft corals and wave current. hard corals growing down current from soft corals have lower recruitment or survival rates than if the water direction is vice versa. hard corals, on the other hand, have elaborate mechanisms against their competitors like soft corals (coll and sammarco, 1986) an even other hard corals (lang and chornesky in dubinsky, 1990). some hard corals, e.g. pectinia have long filaments that are capable of extracoelenteric digestion, while some possess sweeper tentacles e.g. goniopora that can extend up to 15 cm. (lang and chornesky in dubinsky, 1990). these mechanisms kill neighboring sessile organisms such as soft corals and even other species of hard corals. although soft corals have none of these hard coral apparatus, other mechanisms protect them from hard coral tentacles, a soft coral may secrete a polysaccharide layer which can overgrow living hard coral tissue. when a soft coral is in contact with another coral whether hard or soft, it bends away from this potential space competitor (coll and sammarco, 1986). reproduction, dispersal and survival soft and hard corals have a diverse set of reproductive options, both sexual and asexual. according to sammarco (1986), their propagules-body parts capable of growing into a new organism have different dispersal capabilities. the settlement and growth of acropora propagules are affected by physical (e.g. strong water current and illumination) and predation and competition factors. soft corals reproduce sexually in two ways: (1) as externally fertilized on the surface of the coral, and (2) as externally fertilized eggs developed planktonically in the water column. asexual reproduction is via colony growth, fragmentation, or formation of stolons or runners. a stud has showed that soft corals ensure the survival of their propagules by first secreting toxic metabolites prior to ovation (coll and sammarco, 1986). these toxic metabolites were found in high concentrations in the eggs of soft corals sinularia sp. and lobophytum crassum. brooding, reproduction of sticky eggs, toxic young and rapid growth all help to restrict predation on the settling and recently settled young of sessile soft forms (lang and chornesky in dubinsky, 1990). international peer reviewed journal 93 hard corals reproduce sexually by external fertilization followed by brooding of larvae within polyps. both external and internal fertilization of propagules pose a major problem for organisms attached to reefs. where currents are strong, gametes disperse quickly and this inhibits fertilization of gametes. according to sammarco (1986), patterns of coral distribution is genus-specific and based on reproductive modes but the actual dispersal distances of larvae is still unknown. he has also observed that the mortality rate of hard corals were higher inshore due to high sedimentation rates and salinity variation and also in shallow water on the outer shelf where wave action inhibits planulae or planktonic larvae settlement. according to veron (1986), the fates of planules depend on the prevailing currents and their ability to find unoccupied substratum. planulae of hard corals may drift for days, weeks or months and cover great distances searching for unoccupied space before they detect (probably by chemical means) the proximity of substrate. predation soft corals have defense mechanisms against predators which are absent in hard corals. chemical analysis showed that soft corals are nutritionally rich enough in proteins, fats and carbohydrates to serve as food for other organisms but studies have shown that incidence of predation is lower in soft corals than in hard corals. this is traced to the ability of alcyonarians to secrete terpenes which are volatile toxic substances. less toxic soft corals bear physical defenses against predators: sarcophyton can retract its polyps completely inside the surface layer of the colony. others like sinularia dura bear spicules aside from being retractile (coll and sammarco, 1986). these physical and chemical defenses as some specialized predators feed on highly toxic species of soft corals. the egg cowrie ovula ovum feeds exclusively on sarcophyton. this gastropod is capable of transforming highly toxic sarcophyton into less toxic compounds without ill effects. the aeolid nudibranch phyllodesma longicirra stores toxins from sarcophyton trocheliophorum in long, tubular projections on its back, called cerata. this coluntarily autotomized appendage is used to ward off predatory fish by being used as toxic projectile (coll and sammarco, 1986). jpair: multidisciplinary journal 94 hard coral polyps which seem invincible due to their ability to retract into their calcareous skeletons are not free from predators. parrot fishes have teeth adapted to biting off and then crushing pieces of hard corals or scraping off polyps. the acanthaster planci and the gastropod destructive outbreaks on some reefs as record in several such incidents in the great barrier reef of australia (endean in endean and jones, 1976). there is a stiff competition for survival between soft and hard corals as both organisms have relatively the same environmental recruitments. soft and hard corals have other as well as unique mechanisms to adapt themselves to the prevailing environmental conditions and protect themselves against predation. reports have shown that soft corals seem superior over hard corals in competing for space, reproduction and in deterring predation, yet soft corals do not dominate the whole area due to their specialized predators (coll and sammarco, 1986) and shorter lifespan (nishihira, 1981). like any other sessile organisms, corals are subject to environmental and other conditions and according to whether these are favorable or not, may either proliferate to dominance, compete in order to survive, or by larval or other types of propagation, wait to be resettled in another site. objectives of the study the main objective of this research was to compare the cover of soft and hard corals at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia, guimaras. the specific objectives are: (1)to determine if there is a difference between the cover and number of colonies of soft and hard corals in the study sites; (2) to compare the difference between coral cover and colony between the two sites; and, (3) to determine the physico-chemical condition of the sampled areas. the results of this study may serve as baseline information for future coral researches, by pinpointing a site at igang bay, where hard or soft corals predominate. this may also give useful data for future studies regarding hard and soft coral interaction. international peer reviewed journal 95 materials and methods the study sites the study sites were located at the igang bay and villa corazon, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras. igang bay, with a total area of approximately 200 and 250 square meters, respectively (figures 1ac). igang bay is located at the front beach of villa igang beach resort bounded by land on northern, eastern and western sides and open on southern (figure 1a) while villa corazon is located at the southeastern part of villa igang and bounded by land on northern side and open sea on eastern, southern and western sides (figures 1b and c). figure 1. igang bay (a); villa corazon (b & c) sampling areas jpair: multidisciplinary journal 96 sampling procedure ocular surveys were conducted at igang bay and villa corazon where transect – quadrat sampling was carried out on july 24, 2009 and october 24, 2009, respectively. physico – chemical factors such as temperature, salinity and water depth were obtained. coral cover and colony were determined through the line transect – quadrat method. a 1m x 1m quadrat divided into 25 squares with each square covering 4% of the total quadrat surface was placed in such a way that one side of the quadrat aligned with the transect line (figure 2c). three 50-meter transect line were laid in each sampling site (figures 2a-f). the 0-point of each transect line was the point nearest the shore where corals are present. five quadrats placed at 10-meter intervals were taken n each line, thus a total of 15 quadrats were taken in each site. distinguishing between soft and hard corals field identification of soft and hard corals was based mainly on touch and feel method. the absence of a hard skeleton and the presence of a fleshy base distinguish a soft coral from a hard coral. the polyps of hard corals have tentacles in factors of 6 while soft corals have tentacles in factors of 8 (thurman and webber, 1984). other characteristics of soft and hard corals (e.g. size, shape and color) described by thomson (1931) and vernon (1986) were also used. computation of percent (%) cover descriptive statistical methods was used to get % cover. cs = (qns x 0.04) / 15 x 100 ch = (qnh x 0.04) / 15 x 100 where : qns = number of grids occupied by soft corals qnh = number of girds occupied by hard corals 0.04 = given value for each grid 15.0 = given value in 15 quadrats international peer reviewed journal 97 25 grids / quadrat x15 quadrats / area 375 grids in 15 quadrats 375 grids x 0.04 given value = 15 given value in 15 quadrats the physico – chemical parameter with a laboratory thermometer, surface and bottom temperatures were taken at the 25meter mark of each transect line, during the sampling period (figure 4). other physico – chemical conditions like salinity, water depth and type of substratum were determined with the use of a hand refractometer and visual feel. sampling procedures three transect lines were used in each site, perpendicular to the shore and a 25-meter distance from each other. the 0 meter mark of the 50 meter transect line was placed at the distance of approximately 150 meters at igang bay and about 5 meters at villa corazon from the shore where corals were first observed. at every 10 meter interval, a 1m x 1m quadrat divided into 25 squares covering 4% was positioned in such a way that the spaces occupied by hard and soft corals found inside the laid quadrat was recorded. one-half colony to one whole found within the quadrat was counted as 1 colony and less than half of the colony included in the quadrat was not counted as a colony (odum, 1971). temperature was determined using the thermometer. surface temperature was taken submerging the thermometer at horizontal position for 2 minutes. bottom temperature was taken directly and read under water. salinity was measured with a hand refractometer calibrated to 0 ppt. by rinsing with distilled water, before and after use. substratum type was determined by touch and feel method. water depth was noted using a meter stick. depth at 25 meter point of the transect line was taken. depth was determined during low tide while sampling was conducted. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 98 results and discussions soft corals found at igang bay and villa corazon include the genera lobophytum, radianthus, sarcophyton, sinularia and xenia. hard corals that belong to acropora, coeloseris, coscinaraea, favia, favites, fungia, lonophyllia, millepora, montipora and porites genera. almost all genera were observed in villa corazon except the genus fungia. on the other hand, the genus goniopora and pocillopora were observed in villa corazon which was not found at igang bay (table 1). table 1. list of hard and soft corals found at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia guimaras soft corals site hard corals site genera igang bay villa corazon genera igang bay villa corazon lobophytum acropora radianthus coeloseris sarcophyton coscinaraea sinularia favia xenia favites fungia lobophyllia millepora montipora porites goniopora pocillopora hard corals had a greater cover in two sampling sites with an average of 12.98% at igang bay and 46.13% in villa corazon. however, comparing between sites, villa corazon has a higher percentage of coral cover in both categories with 3.47% soft coral and 46.13% hard corals as opposed to 1.11% soft corals and 12.98% hard corals at igang bay (table 2 and figure 5). the number of colonies gives the same picture with an average of 0.4 colonies for hard corals in both sites. no international peer reviewed journal 99 colony has been found to be exhibited by the soft corals at igang bay and villa corazon (table 2 and figure 6). table 2. hard and soft corals percent cover and colony sampled at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia, guimaras. site soft corals hard corals % cover colony % cover colony igang bay 1.11 0 12.98 0.4 villa corazon 3.47 0 46.13 0.4 figure 3. percent cover of soft and hard corals at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia, guimaras jpair: multidisciplinary journal 100 figure 4. colony of soft and hard corals at igang bay and villa corazon, nueva valencia, guimaras. physico–chemical conditions, particularly the temperatures varied between two sampling sites exhibiting higher values at igang bay with 31oc surface and 31.7 °c bottom over 29 °c surface and 29.3 °c bottom in villa corazon. the salinity was not relatively varied with higher value in villa corazon with 29.7ppt. (table 3). the water depths recorded were 1 meter at igang bay and 0.59 meters in villa corazon. generally, the substrate type was rocky and sandy with presence of some coral rubbles in some portions along the transect lines at igang bay (figure 7a-d) while presence of coral rubbles was relatively higher in villa corazon (figure 8a-d). international peer reviewed journal 101 table 3. physico – chemical parameters and general observation of the substratum in igang bay, nueva valencia guimaras igang bay villa corazon temperature (0c) a) surface 31 29 b) bottom 31.7 29.3 salinity (ppt) 29 29.7 average depth (m) 1 0.59 type of substratum rocky and sandy rocky, sandy, rocky, presence of a lot coral rubbles in comparing the sampling sites, villa corazon exhibited a higher percentage of both hard and soft corals. hard corals were found to have a greater percentage cover of 46.19% than the soft corals with an average of 12.98%. in terms of number of colonies of hard and soft corals, there was no difference between the two sites but in terms of coral category, the hard corals were found to have higher number of colonies with an average of 0.4 in both sites than the soft corals. this explains the dominance of hard corals in terms of colonies since there was no soft coral colony being observed during the sampling and also the higher composition of hard corals with 9 genera found at igang bay and 11 genera in villa corazon than 5 genera of soft corals in both sites. the distribution of the soft and hard corals in an area may be due to the physical environment (veron, 1986) or determined to an appreciable extent by chemical compounds secreted by soft corals (coll and sammarco, 1986). higher number of genera was observed in villa corazon perhaps due to the less anthropogenic disturbance as igang bay is directly located in front of the villa igang beach resort which makes them more vulnerable and accessible to human destruction. it was also observed that higher sedimentation rate seem relatively lower in villa corazon. this promotes the growth and survival of the soft and more especially the hard corals which tend to survive in shallow waters. villa corazon also exhibited a relatively wider coral reef area since the site is facing more towards open sea promoting higher rate of jpair: multidisciplinary journal 102 dispersal of the juveniles. the physico-chemical parameters recorded in the two sites did not greatly vary with each other. the positions of islands, islets and coast in the philippines may slow down the water current approaching the shore. land masses may shade the area or part of an area (white, 1987), thus affecting the location, size and composition of coastal communities which include the intertidal coral reef community. the distinctive characteristic of an area is due to particular combinations of environmental factors such as wind, waves, current and coastal shape. it has also been observed that the current coming into the igang bay was moderate upon high tide which may affect the occurrence of hard corals more than the soft corals. on the other hand, because of varying effects of shading, wind and current direction and intensity, the abundance or diversity, composition and dominance of soft and hard corals vary (white, 1987). shallow water (table 3) allows good illumination for zooxanthellae metabolism that in turn enhances the hard coral growth (chalker and dunlap, 1986). in the presence of light, hermatypic corals grow faster than they are eroded by physical and biological agents like the action of waves and predation or effects of interaction with soft corals (chalker and dunlap, 1986). also, the sites have rocky and sandy substratum, which is very conducive for hard coral growth than for soft corals. in addition, it was observed that the hard coral genus acropora seemed prevalent in the site. the said genus is known to thrive in areas with low sedimentation that is more apparent in a sandy-rocky type of substrate, good illumination, shallow water and moderate wave action (veron, 1986; endean, 1976). low soft coral cover and colony counts in the said sites (table 2 and figures 5 and 6) may be attributed to the shallowness of water and frequent exposure of the sites. high illumination is not favorable for soft corals that can only withstand short and infrequent exposures to light and atmosphere, and commonly thrive in areas that are shaded by cliff overhangs (white, 1987). yet some soft corals like lobophytum and sarcophyton were observed to be present more individually than hard corals but were not included along the transect line during the sampling period. coral rubbles were also observed in portions along the transect lines with greater degree observed in villa corazon (figure 7 and 8). international peer reviewed journal 103 endean (1976) observed that corals growing in a wave-stressed area especially near islets are prone to breakage, and the resulting coral rubble may abrade and bury other corals. also, there were more rubbles observed in villa corazon because the area is more open seaward where wave action is greater compared to igang bay. the rocky sandy type of substratum is devoid of organic components thus this site has relatively clear water. the absence of seagrass may be basically due to wave stress that inhibits seagrass growth and maybe also due to the poor organic content of the substratum since wave action does not allow detritus to stay. although few patches of seagrass were observed occasionally along transect 1 nearest the 0 meter point since the northern side of the sampling site is said to be the site of the seagrass assessment project. the exposure of this site to the open sea at the southern and wave shock, limited the distribution of many species (white, 1987) and the dominance of hard corals over soft corals in both percentage cover and number of colonies. the shading effect of the surrounding area may consequently affect the water temperature both at the surface and bottom. table 3 shows that the temperatures did not vary much. hard corals seem to prefer higher temperatures. although more hard corals were observed in villa corazon despite the lower temperatures recorded mainly because it was raining during the sampling time. aside from physico-chemical factors, hard corals can also be influenced by interaction with soft corals as characterized by the presence of unoccupied substratum and dead portions of hard corals near soft coral colonies (nishihira, 1981; coll and sammarco, 1986). soft corals can also inhibit the growth or recruitment of hard corals and they also secrete compounds which belong to the chemical class terpenes which serve as defense against predators or weapons for space competition and in reproduction (sammarco, 1986). conclusions survival and competition for space between soft and hard corals seems to be a natural part of coral life but the dominance of one over the other can be enhanced or hampered by the topography and such environmental factors such as amount of illumination, water depth, jpair: multidisciplinary journal 104 wave action and temperature. these factors were found to contribute to the dominance of hard corals at igang bay and villa corazon, guimaras, philippines. literature cited barnes, r. 1980 invertebrate zoology. jmc press inc. 601pp. chalker, b., dunlap, w. and jokiel, p. 1986. light and corals. oceanus. 19(2): 23 coll, j. and sammarco, p. 1986. soft corals : chemistry and ecology. oceanus. 19(2) : 33-37. endean, r. 1976. destruction and recovery of coral reef communities. in: biology and geology of coral reefs. edited by jones, o.a. and endean r. academic press, new york, 480 pp. lang, j. and chornesky, b. 1990. competition between scleractinian reef corals – a review of mechanisms and effects. in: ecosystem of the world. edited by dubinsky. elsevier science publisher. 550 pp. nishihira, m. 1981. interactions of alcyonaria with hermatypic corals on an okinawa reef flat. in proceedings of the fourth international cora reef symposium, manila. 76pp. odum, e. 1971. fundamentals of ecology philippines : jmc press, inc. 574pp. thurman, r.v. and weber, h.h. 1984. marine biology. charles merril publishing company, ohio. 416pp. international peer reviewed journal 105 vernon, j.e.n. 1986. corals of australia and the indo-pacific. angus and robertson publishers. london. 645pp. white, a. 1987. coral reef : valuable resource of southeast asia. ircm, manila. 36pp. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 111 teacher instructional competence and learners performance in social studies: basis for enhancement program nestor pacuno http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4408-873x mayasang2000@yahoo.com pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines alex sanchez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8311-6962 pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract one of the goals of today’s pre-service and in-service training of teachers is to promote teacher’s competencies. according to the department of education, it is a big factor in the academic achievement of the students. included under teacher competencies are teaching effectiveness, professional recognition and awards, membership and participation in professional organizations, scholarly abilities, and creative productiveness, and university and community service. in the daily life of students, they encounter different kinds of teachers. the purpose of this study is to determine the teachers’ instructional competence and the students’ mps and quarterly grade performance involving 46 respondents in the city schools division of laguna. the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals competence in curriculum content, competence in transmitting the content to the learners, competence in preparation of lesson log/plan, competence in preparation of students’ engagement, competence vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v42i1.807 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4408-873x mailto:mayasang2000@yahoo.com http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8311-6962 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 112112 jpair multidisciplinary research in classroom management; and competence in providing conducive learning environment are interpreted as very satisfactory. the level of learners’ quarterly grade and mps were fairly satisfactory for the grade and low mastery level for mps. there is a significant difference between learning environment competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps. but there is no significant difference between the four aforementioned variables between learners’ quarterly grades and mps. keywords — instructional competence, learners performance, enhancement program introduction one of the goals of today’s pre-service and in-service training of teachers is to promote teacher’s competencies. according to the department of education, it is a big factor in the academic achievement of the students. included under teacher competencies are teaching effectiveness, professional recognition and awards, membership and participation in professional organizations, scholarly abilities, and creative productiveness, and university and community service (manual of regulations for private schools, 2010). in the daily life of students, they encounter different kinds of teachers. it is a fact that the various teaching competency levels of their teachers bear different effects upon the students’ learning. because of this, teachers must be aware of their own level of competency so as to be extra conscious of how their teaching affects the learning of the students. according to onike (2007), a teacher occupies an important position and is a key element in the operations of the school system. teacher’s competence, knowledge, interest, devotion, commitment, dedication, professional training, attitude, and personality makeup matters and largely determine the quality of services provided by the teacher. muijs and reynolds (2001) claim that how a teacher teaches becomes a vital key in promoting effective teaching and learning to the students. the researchers took an interest in the study of how the teachers’ competencies affect the learning of the students whom they are teaching. therefore, the teachers themselves are given the obligation to mold students into learned, competent, responsible, and moral citizens of the country, which is to align with the aim of every educational institution that is to produce competent and excellent graduates. given the current demands of various schools with regard to the teacher’s competency, the 113113 international peer reviewed journal researchers chose to look into this topic so as to expand their knowledge on the situations and the possible remedies to some existing problems. upon noticing the impact of the quality of education on the future of the students, the researchers came up with a common view that the present condition of the teachers’ competencies could still be raised higher. the primary focus of this study is the teachers, mainly because they are in charge of the facilitation of their students’ learning experiences. the effectiveness of their teaching is one of the factors that determine how well the students would do in their journey towards knowledge acquisition. basically, teachers play a vital role in the daily lives of their students. teacher performance is the most crucial input in the field of education. teaching is not simply a process of giving information. it is an interaction between the teacher and the learner wherein the role of the teacher is to bring the desired change in the learner’s cognitive, affective, and psychomotor behaviors. competency is defined as the adequate ability for the purpose, suitability, sufficient, adequate to the need or as properly qualified, admissibility, and fitness for capability. in a sense, it refers to adequate preparation to begin a professional career. a comprehensive measure of teaching competency should include contextual, conceptual, content, transactional, evaluation, which are competencies related to other educational activities. in brief, teaching competency means an ability to do instruction well or special ability in a teacher to enable behavioral change in students. teaching is a profession; one should demonstrate certain skills and competencies which can influence learning in the students. a teacher occupies an important position and is a key element in the operations of the school system (onike, 2007). teachers’ competence, knowledge, interest, devotion, commitment, dedication, professional training, attitude, and personality makeup matters and largely determine the quality of services. muijs and reynolds (2017) claim that how a teacher teaches becomes a vital key in promoting effective teaching and learning to the students. the researchers took an interest in the study of how the teachers’ competencies affect the learning of the students whom they are teaching. therefore, the teachers themselves have an obligation to mold students into learned, competent, responsible, and moral citizens of the country. given the current demands of various schools with regard to the teacher’s competency, the researchers chose to look into this topic so as to expand their knowledge on the situations and the possible remedies to some existing problems. upon noticing the impact of the quality of education to the future students, the researchers came up with a common view that the present condition of 114114 jpair multidisciplinary research the teachers’ competencies could still be raised higher. this report discusses aspects of the relationship between innovations in education and the innovative capacity of the economy. the role of education is to develop critical skills for improved conditions in the economy. the report consists of four parts. namely: 1) innovations in teaching and learning, with a special focus on new technologies that expand the educational toolbox. 2.) teachers. the success of new teaching methods depends on the ability of the teachers to apply innovative teaching methods and how incentives can be designed to ensure successful implementations of the methods; 3.) skills. the role of education is to deliver skilled and innovative students to the workplace, and when the demand for different types of skills changes, the educational sector should respond correspondingly; 4.) governance for innovation and improvements in education. poverty is both a cause and an effect of insufficient access to or completion of quality education. children of poor families are less likely to enroll and complete schooling because of the associated costs of attending school, even when it is provided free. the cost of uniforms, supplies, and transportation may well be beyond the means of a poor family, especially when the family has several children of school age. this means that choices have to be made, and the choice is often to drop out of school or, worse yet, to deny schooling to girls while enrolling the boys, thereby contributing directly to maintaining the inferior status of women. and as poor children who are enrolled grow older, the opportunity cost becomes greater, thus increasing the likelihood of dropping out of school because of poverty. ultimately, teaching is about engaging and guiding students in learning. the nature of the students in a classroom is a major preoccupation of the teacher. seen another way, the nature of the student population is a major mediating variable in any connection between policy and teaching. the pursuit of quality in schools was implicit in such activities as curriculum development rather than programs for school facilities development. there are two alternatives posed to give remedy to the situation: (1) is to increase the resources; (2) reduce the number of students. the second alternative presupposes a systematic population policy aimed at reducing the number of births considerably. ensuring quality curriculum development is imperative in determining the needs and loopholes of the existing education, particularly high school. curriculum development is defined as the systematic planning of what is taught and learned in schools as reflected in courses of study and school programs (the canadian encyclopedia, 2010). these curricula are embodied in official 115115 international peer reviewed journal documents (typically curriculum “guides” for teachers) and made mandatory by national and regional authorities of education. background of the study as a researcher was being evaluated personally by the principal based on the criteria given in the ipcrf/opcrf, competence was measured by ticking out the teaching-learning process and its subcompetencies like quality, efficiency, and timeliness. objectives like preparing lesson plans, updated instructional materials, facilitation of learning processes, teaching strategies, classroom management, and other things must be evident for teachers to be competent; aside from this, other criteria like student outcome must also be evident in the process of keeping accurate class record data, portfolio, journals, different school forms, test results, outputs, drop out, promotions, pre-test, and post-test. professional growth and development are also included wherein teachers were evaluated based on teachers’ seminars, training, workshops, classroom-based action research, rendering technical assistance either to co-teacher or principal, conduct parent-teacher meeting, consultations, home visitations, and other plus factors. because of lack of time and much responsibility of the teacher in the schools, other competencies were not given priority and left behind. three (3) day teaching is enough to inculcate to the learners the basic knowledge that they need to possess. innovations in teaching methods require teachers that are able to innovate excellent teachers are able to motivate students and to choose the most productive teaching method for each specific topic. on the other hand, popham (2007) posits that the teacher and the school are evaluated according to the learning and achievement “outputs” of their students. in addition, the measurement of teacher competence in terms of students “performance is often difficult because many variables are involved. simply put, most efforts connect student achievement to individual teacher performance have floundered in the past on the basis of the following weaknesses: the measurement does not take into account teaching context as a performance variable; the measurement is unreliable, in part because it does not include time as a variable – both the teacher’s time with a cohort of students and some model or models of sufficient time to see learning effectiveness in students; the measurements used to reflect student achievement are not congruent with best practices and the philosophy of instruction in modern education (stufflebeam, 2003). according to seco-macarandan (2014), the study of araling panlipunan in the basic education is integral in the formation among students, whom the 116116 jpair multidisciplinary research government envisions to become citizens who are socially aware, actively involved in public and civic affairs, and contributing to the development of a progressive, just and humane society. the implementation of republic act 10533, also known as enhanced basic education act of 2013, brought various changes in the field of education such as the content of the curriculum, number of hours, approaches, and many more. in the new curriculum, araling panlipunan will contain concepts about self, community, local history of the learner. moreover, the new araling panlipunan covers a deeper understanding of the history, geography, politics, economy, and national development in the philippines, in asia, and in the world. at the senior high school level, students will learn about current issues and challenges and propose solutions to them. the skills to be developed among learners include critical thinking, logical reasoning, and creativity, appreciation of one’s culture, research skills, communication skills, responsibility, productivity, environmental consciousness, and a global vision. during the implementation of the new curriculum, teachers of araling panlipunan face challenges in terms of strategies, methodologies, and assessment tools because of the new features in araling panlipunan under the new curriculum and the fact that there is a need on becoming 21st century teachers so that they can catch up with 21st century learners. the various changes in curriculum implementation that directed the teaching and learning of araling panlipunan subject challenged the teachers’ instructional competencies. it is very important for the pamantasan ng cabuyao to sustain and enhance the teaching and learning process for continuous development of the program of social studies. professors and instructors could provide a program that can total elevate the mental capacity of the students through programs, trainings, seminars provided by the university for the higher and greater good of the learners and the institution itself. framework vygotsky highlights that interaction plays a role in the cognitive development of a learner (dahms et al., 2007). in the light of the theory discussed, more knowledgeable others (mko) refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability than the learner with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. in this study, this mko refers to the teachers. another aspect of the theory is the zone of proximal development (zpd). the zpd is the distance 117117 international peer reviewed journal between a student’s ability to perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboration and the student’s ability to solve the problem independently. according to vygotsky, learning occurs in this zone (daniels, 2005). this theory is related to the instructional competencies of the teaching force and how the interaction between the teacher and students brings about the latter’s learning. another theory that will be presented is the constructivist theory by jerome seymour bruner. constructivism sees learning as a dynamic process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts in their current/past knowledge and in response to the instructional situation. constructivism implies the notion that learners do not passively absorb information but construct it themselves (bruner’s constructivist theory, 2006). the teacher resources used should be focused on encouraging, aiding, and allowing the students to uncover the main principles on their own. communication between the learner and the teacher is the key concept. teachers need to master two types of knowledge: content, also known as deep knowledge of the subject itself, and knowledge of the curricular development. content knowledge encompasses what bruner calls the structure of knowledge – the theories, principles, and concepts of a particular discipline (ornstein, thomas, and lasley, 2000). from a theoretical point of view, competence is understood as a cognitive structure that facilitates specified behaviors. from an operational point of view, competence seems to cover a broad range of higher-order skills and behaviors that represent the ability to deal with complex, unpredictable situations. the teaching profession has been struggling to keep pace with the changes in society and the accompanying challenges of the technological world. the notion that teacher education has been unable to bridge the growing gap between the needs and expectations of learners, and the knowledge and skill levels of both new and existing teachers, the teacher education development program (tedp) was conceived (council, 2009). tedp seeks to conceptualize a teacher’s career path as a continuous process that starts with entry to a teacher education program and concludes when a teacher reaches retirement from formal services. this program will address each stage of this continuum as an integrated part. one key element in this program is the establishment of a set of national competency – based teacher standards (ncbts) so that teachers, learners, and parents are able to appreciate the complex set of behaviors, attitudes, and skills that each teacher must possess to carry out satisfactory performance of their roles and responsibilities. 118118 jpair multidisciplinary research as described in the national competency-based teacher standards – teacher’s strengths needs assessment (ncbts-tsna) primer (2009), the ncbts has defined effective teaching underscoring the strategic and indispensable role of the teacher in the learning process of students. hence, it is imperative to determine each individual teacher’s strengths and weaknesses to facilitate teacher development with the crucial support and nurturance based on the national competency-based teacher standard (ncbts). the ncbts is an integrated theoretical framework that defines the different dimensions of effective teaching. it is the bedrock for teachers during the preservice and in-service period, which provides teachers with the fundamental direction on how to hone them as a significant element in the country’s educational system. likewise, the licensure examination for teachers (let), the criteria for recruitment, selection, and promotion of teachers by the deped and civil service commission, and the performance appraisal for teachers should also be anchored on the fundamental framework of the ncbts. the ncbts seven domains are distinctive spheres of the teaching-learning process that will allow positive teacher practice. each domain embraces a principle of ideal teaching associated with student learning. figure 1. schematic diagram of the study 119119 international peer reviewed journal practice theory describes the interaction between learner and environment and links this to the concept of responsive commissioning, a research approach that explores the nature of the interaction between the social and physical aspects of the learning environment. attribution theory is defined as the way that individuals envision the success or failure of their own behavior of others (weiner, 2010). learners tend to explain the reasons for success or failure based upon the dimensions: 1. internal or external, 2. stable or unstable, and 3. they are controlled and uncontrolled. when applying attribution theory in a learning environment which is essential for the instructor to assist learners in accepting their effort as the predictor of achievement. to do so, the instructor must utilize the three dimensions together to influence the outcome of behavior or task. conceptual framework the research utilized the independent variable (iv) – dependent variables (dv) model to present the research paradigm of the study (figure 2), which involved the determination of the relationship between teachers/ instructional competence and quarterly grade and mps in araling panlipunan. the independent variables (iv) are the instructional competence through which araling panlipunan teachers made their self assessment of their competence in curriculum content, engagement in classroom management, and in providing a conducive learning environment. the school principals also contributed observations of their teachers’ instructional competence. 120120 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. research paradigm 121121 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the descriptive research design was considered as the most appropriate for this study. shuttleworth (2008) described its method as a purposive process of gathering, analyzing, classifying, and tabulating data about prevailing conditions, practices, trends, and cause and effect relations and making an adequate and accurate interpretation about such data with or without the aid of statistical treatment. the quantitative method allows the use of the survey questionnaire as a data collection instrument, which is applicable to exploring the teachers’ instructional competence in teaching social studies. this method also allows to test the hypothesis or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subject or prevailing conditions. a descriptive study determines and reports the way things are. res.pondents the study was conducted across public secondary schools in the city schools division of laguna. each barangay in the city of cabuyao (figure 3) has its own public secondary school. the respondents of this study involved forty (40) grade eight (8) to grade nine (9) teachers and six (6) school heads in the city schools division of cabuyao. table 1 shows the distribution of respondents per school. table 1. distribution of respondents population % sample school heads 6 13.043 6 social studies teachers 40 86.96 40 total 46 100 46 sampling technique proportional stratified random sampling was employed in obtaining samples from a population of 40 araling panlipunan teachers and three public secondary schools. 122122 jpair multidisciplinary research instrumentation the main instrument of the study was two sets of survey questionnaires prepared to obtain the observation of the school principal and the araling panlipunan teachers’ assessment of their instructional competence. the main elements and indicators of the instructional competence were drawn from enhance instructional supervision tool” enclosed in the division memorandum 0074, series of 2014 (city schools division of davao). however, a checklist was added to the first part of the questionnaire for teachers. this is to obtain information regarding their demographic profile, which includes their age, sex, educational attainment, years in teaching araling panlipunan, position, and relative trainings attended. data collection before the survey was conducted, the researchers secured written permissions from the schools division superintendent of the city schools division of cabuyao. then, a letter of consent was sent among the schools the school heads of the participating public secondary schools. thereafter, the researchers made the arrangement with the school administrators and retrieval of questionnaires and also arranged with record section head the conduct of retrieval of data in each school’s achieve or database. the administration and distribution of the survey questionnaires were personally administered by the researchers. after completing the collection of data, the researchers tallied and consolidated the results and presented them to a statistician for the application of statistical treatment and interpretation. results and discussion table 1 presents the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in curriculum content. number one (1) delivers accurate and updated content using appropriate approaches and strategies have a mean of 4.04 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) uses an integration of language, literacy skills, and values in teaching have a mean of 3.98 interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) explains learning goals, instructional procedures and content clearly and accurately to students have a mean 3.79 interpreted as very satisfactory; four (4) links current content with past, and future lessons have a mean 4.09 interpreted as very satisfactory, and five (5) integrates scholarly works and ideas to enrich the lessons have a 123123 international peer reviewed journal mean 3.83 interpreted as very satisfactory. according to tomlinson (1995c), 18 “teachers utilize (a) a variety of ways for students to explore curriculum content, (b) a variety of sense-making activities or processes through which students can come to understand and ‘own’ information and ideas, and (c) a variety of options through which students can demonstrate or exhibit what they have learned” (p. 1). there have been a number of studies on determining the main attributes of an effective teacher. some of the important studies have been discussed below. table 1. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in curriculum content a. content competence mean interpretation 1. delivers accurate and updated content using appropriate approaches and strategies. 4.04 very satisfactory 2. uses the integration of language, literacy skills, and values in teaching. 3.98 very satisfactory 3. explains learning goals, instructional procedures, and content clearly and accurately to students. 3.79 very satisfactory 4. links current content with past and future lessons. 4.09 very satisfactory 5. integrates scholarly works and ideas to enrich the lessons. 3.83 very satisfactory grand mean 3.94 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 1 also showed the grand mean on the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in curriculum content was 3.94 interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals was very satisfactory. in this work, the terms competency and effectiveness are interchangeably used in spite of slight differences. teaching quality is the most significant factor in students learning. an achievement gap in student’s performance suggests a performance gap in the teacher’s practice. banerji, while observing the classroom behavior of successful teachers, arrived at the conclusion that successful teaching requires qualities like quick thinking, ready wit, easy adaptability, and humor on 124124 jpair multidisciplinary research the part of the teacher. dosajh, using teacher trainees as sample, reported that imagination and maturity were indicative of success in the teaching profession. while gage identified the following five qualities as components of teaching effectiveness: teacher warmth, cognitive organization, orderliness, indirectness, and problem-solving ability. table 2. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in transmitting the content to the learners b. competence in transmitting the content to the learner mean interpretation 1. presentation to the class the objectives of the lesson. 3.68 very satisfactory 2. activation learner’s prior knowledge and motivated them for the lesson. 4.09 very satisfactory 3. delivery of localized, contextualized, indigenized, culture-based inputs for a proper and correct understanding of concepts. 3.87 very satisfactory 4. utilization of varied activities to enhance higherorder thinking skills (hots). 4 very satisfactory 5. delivery interactive and cooperative learning activities. 3.96 very satisfactory 6. clear instruction and arrange activities logically from simple to complex vice – versa. 4.02 very satisfactory 7. asking different levels of questions to develop students’ hots. 4 very satisfactory 8. integration ict in the lesson. 3.43 satisfactory 9. delivery meaningful connection between the concept learned and their experiences. 3.91 very satisfactory 10. acknowledgement and responded to students’ diverse learning needs. 3.79 very satisfactory 11. giving authentic and meaningful assessment activities. 3.87 very satisfactory grand mean 3.87 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding 125125 international peer reviewed journal table 2 showed the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in transmitting the content to the learners. in number one (1) presentation to the class the objectives of the lesson have a mean 3.68 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) activation learners’ prior knowledge and motivated them for the lesson have a mean 4.09 interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) delivery of localized, contextualized, indigenized, culture based inputs for proper and correct understanding of concepts have a mean 3.87 interpreted as very satisfactory; four (4) utilization varied activities to enhance higher order thinking skills (hots) have a mean 4 interpreted as very satisfactory; five (5) delivery interactive and cooperative learning activities have a mean 3.96 interpreted as very satisfactory; six (6) clear instruction and arrange activities logically from simple to complex vice – versa have a mean 4.02 interpreted as very satisfactory; seven (7) asking different level of questions to develop students’ hots have a mean 4 interpreted as very satisfactory; eight (8) integration ict in the lesson have a mean 3.43 interpreted as satisfactory; nine (9) delivery meaningful connection between the concept learned and their experiences have a mean 3.91 interpreted as very satisfactory; ten (10) acknowledgement and responded to students’ diverse learning needs have a mean 3.79 interpreted as very satisfactory; and eleven (11) giving authentic and meaningful assessment activities have a mean 3.87 interpreted as very satisfactory. table 2 also showed the grand mean on the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in transmitting the content to the learners was 3.87, interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in transmitting the content to the learners was very satisfactory. international journal of foreign language teaching & research – volume 3, issue 5, spring 2014 most teachers admitted that lesson plan is important in increasing the quality of education. this study set out to investigate teachers’ views towards the use of lesson plans in the class. the main findings of the study could be discussed in the following lines. lesson planning is an important process in teacher trainees’ gaining experience since it forces them to reflect on what to teach, how to teach, and how to evaluate (yildirim, 2003). unfortunately, there has been little research on pre-service teachers’ lesson planning experiences. since there is limited attention in the literature on teacher trainees’ lesson planning skills, this study aims at gaining insights and attitudes about the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher trainees in terms of applying and producing lesson planning and if their understanding and attitude might 126126 jpair multidisciplinary research be moderated by the variable as teachers’ educational degree. moradana & pourasadollah (2014) explored, the majority of older, experienced, and less educated teachers stated that they don’t usually use lesson planning and they don’t need previewing lessons before class. however, younger, and novice teachers felt it’s very useful for them and give them much confidence in class. on the other hand, higher educated teachers stated that although they are important factors, they don’t usually use them. table 3. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of lesson log/plan c. teachers lesson log/plan mean interpretation 1. preparation/ adoption objective of the lesson based on the competencies. 3.83 very satisfactory 2. establishing the concept within the objectives. 3.87 very satisfactory 3. inclusion of behavioral and smart objectives. 3.89 very satisfactory 4. preparation learning activities congruent to the objectives. 3.77 very satisfactory grand mean 3.84 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 3 showed the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of lesson log/plan. in number one (1) preparation/ adoption objective of the lesson based on the competencies have a mean of 3.83 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) establishing concept within the objectives have a mean of 3.87 interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) inclusion of behavioral and smart objectives have a mean 3.89 interpreted as very satisfactory, and four (4) preparation learning activities congruent to the objectives have a mean 3.77 interpreted as very satisfactory. table 3 also showed the grand mean on the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of lesson log/plan was 3.84 interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of lesson log/plan was very satisfactory. classroom management is one of the skills that teachers need to have for effective teaching. 127127 international peer reviewed journal classroom management is an ongoing process requiring teachers to make decisions about variable situations such as where and with whom the students should sit down; which teaching methods should be followed; how to ensure motivation and student participation; which materials to use; how to deal with misbehaviors, etc. (emmer & gerwels, 2005). teachers’ efficacy in classroom management depends on their academic and pedagogical background, as well as their classroom management skills and experiences. most teachers are likely to spend a lot of time on classroom management, they find themselves inadequate, and they need training (brouwers & tomic, 2000; johansen et al., 2011; kaufman & moss, 2010; melnick & meister, 2008; merrett & wheldall, 1993; nelson, 2002). in-service training programs to improve classroom management skills firstly need to reveal skills that teachers find effective and ineffective in order to become relevant. according to the literature in turkey, it has been found that the studies on teachers’ attitudes, skills, and experiences about classroom management have usually been done with teachers from elementary schools (çubukçu & girmen, 2008; sadık & doğanay, 2008; yalçınkaya & tonbul, 2002), and there are only a few studies on high school teachers (akpınar & özdaş, 2013; siyez, 2009). there is an increasing tendency for adolescents to show negative behaviors due to their physical, social, and emotional changes and their changing needs are effective in their relationships with their peers and teachers (piwowar et al., 2013). therefore, classroom management behaviors of teachers in high schools are important not only for adolescents’ academic but also psycho-social development (wentzel, 1999). in this respect, this study investigates the classroom management skills of high school teachers in terms of different variables and aims to detect skills that teachers find themselves effective or ineffective. 128128 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of students’ engagement d. students’ engagement mean interpretation 1. made students understood and followed give instructions and directions. 3.96 very satisfactory 2. motivate students to perform the task independently with self-confidence. 4.13 very satisfactory 3. let students share ideas and knowledge with teachers and peers. 4.28 very satisfactory 4. prepared learners in asking questions with an emphasis on thoughtful exploration. 3.98 very satisfactory 5. encourage students to be eagerly engaged and participated in group discussions. 4.06 very satisfactory 6. persuade students to cooperate and collaborate with each other while on task. 4.04 very satisfactory 7. inspire students to show respect for teachers and peers. 4.23 very satisfactory 8. stimulate the student’s ability to apply the concept and skills learned. 3.96 very satisfactory grand mean 4.08 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 4 showed the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of students’ engagement. in number one (1) made students understood and followed given instructions and directions have a mean 3.96 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) motivate students to perform the task independently with self-confidence have a mean 4.13 interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) let students share ideas and knowledge with teachers and peers have a mean 4.28 interpreted as very satisfactory; four (4) prepared learners in asking questions with emphasis on thoughtful exploration have a mean 3.98 interpreted as very satisfactory; five (5) encourage students to eagerly engaged and participated in group discussion have a mean 4.06 interpreted as very satisfactory; six (6) persuade students to cooperate and collaborate with each other while on task have a mean 4.04 interpreted as very satisfactory; seven (7) inspire students to showed respect for 129129 international peer reviewed journal teachers and peers have a mean 4.23 interpreted as very satisfactory; and eight (8) stimulate student’s ability to apply the concept and skills learned have a mean 3.96 interpreted as very satisfactory. table 4 also showed the grand mean on the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of students’ engagement was 4.08, interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in preparation of students’ engagement was very satisfactory. because according to kane and staiger (2008) find that the valueadded measures strongly predict a teacher’s future success in the classroom; jacob and lefgren (2008) find that they are correlated with school principals’ subjective evaluations of teachers; koedel (2008) finds that they affect the likelihood that a student will drop out of high school, and chetty et al. (2013) find that high-quality teachers in primary education increase the probability of college attendance and increase earnings. jackson (2012) analyses teachers in the 9th grade and concludes that teachers have even larger effects on behavioral outcomes as absence and suspension than on traditional test scores. the teacher effects on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes are only weakly correlated, which implies that the skills inherent in teacher quality are different for different types of outcomes. the literature on teacher quality estimates the individual teacher’s contribution to student achievement in a value-added framework. this method measures the average improvements in student test scores during a given period of time, typically during one school year, for the students of a given teacher. the literature finds that some teachers have consistently high value-added of their students, while others have consistently low value-added of their students rivkin, hanushek, and kain, 2005; rockoff, 2004). the evidence clearly indicates that this variation in teacher quality is real. 130130 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in classroom management e. classroom management mean interpretation 1. management of routine activities such as checking of attendance, assignment, etc. 4.19 very satisfactory 2. budgeting of time appropriately according to different stages of learning. 4 very satisfactory 3. facilitation of instructions in an orderly and pleasant learning atmosphere. 3.98 very satisfactory 4. sustenance learner’s interest through effective and relevant motivation. 4 very satisfactory grand mean 4.04 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 5 showed the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in classroom management. in number one (1) management of routine activities such as checking of attendance, assignment, etc. have a mean 4.19 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) budgeting of time appropriately according to different stages of learning have a mean four interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) facilitation of instructions in orderly and pleasant learning atmosphere have a mean 3.98 interpreted as very satisfactory, and four (4) sustenance learners interest through effective and relevant motivation have a mean four interpreted as very satisfactory. table 5 also showed the grand mean on the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in classroom management was 4.04, interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in classroom management was very satisfactory. that is why in the philippine system of education, there are factors that give difficulty to the implementation of objectives. the problems of inadequately-trained teachers, lack of support either from the government or from the private sector, lack of solid planning, lack of follow-up of the result – all these add to the difficulty (nem singh et al., 2009).in evaluating teacher’s instructional competencies, the use of student achievement as the basis to assess or evaluate teachers is one of the many approaches of teacher evaluation. other approaches in evaluating teacher’s instructional competencies include classroom observation, student ratings, peer 131131 international peer reviewed journal ratings, principal/hod/administrator ratings, self-rating, teacher interview, parent rating, competency tests, and other indirect measures (joshua m. t., joshua, a. m., & maliki, 2007). table 6. results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in providing a conducive learning environment f. learning environment mean interpretation 1. delivery of equal opportunities for all students regardless of gender 4.02 very satisfactory 2. maintaining a safe and orderly classroom free from distraction. 3.94 very satisfactory 3. managing cleanliness and orderliness inside and outside the classroom. 3.96 very satisfactory 4. handling behavior problems quickly and with due respect to the child’s rights. 4.02 very satisfactory 5. creation of a situation that develops positive students toward their subject teacher. 4.06 very satisfactory grand mean 4 very satisfactory legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 6 showed the results in the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in providing a conducive learning environment. in number one (1) delivery of equal opportunities for all students regardless of gender have a mean 4.02 interpreted as very satisfactory; two (2) maintaining of a safe and orderly classroom free from distraction. have a mean 3.94 interpreted as very satisfactory; three (3) managing of cleanliness and orderliness inside and outside the classroom have a mean 3.96 interpreted as very satisfactory; four (4) handling of behavior problems quickly and with due respect to child’s right have a mean 4.02 interpreted as very satisfactory, and five (5) creation of a situation that develops positive students toward their subject teacher have a mean 4.06 interpreted as very satisfactory. table 6 also showed the grand mean the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals in terms of competence in providing conducive learning environment was four interpreted as very satisfactory. this implied that the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and 132132 jpair multidisciplinary research principals in terms of competence in providing a conducive learning environment was very satisfactory. table 7. results in the level of learners’ quarterly grade and mps and performance in araling panlipunan mean percentage score frequency percent mean descriptor 33-43 17 42.50% 46.17 did not meet 75% of passing rate in national achievement test 44-54 18 45% 55-65 5 12.50% total 40 100% table 8. results in the level of learners’ quarterly grade and mps and performance in araling panlipunan grading scale frequency percent descriptor remarks mean descriptor 74-below 0 0% did not meet expectation failed 79.13 fairly satisfactory 75-79 25 63% fairly satisfactory passed 80-84 10 25% satisfactory passed 85-89 5 13% very satisfactory passed 90-100 0 0% outstanding passed total 40 100% legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding table 8 showed the results in the level of learners’ quarterly grade and mps in araling panlipunan. in mps (mean, percentage, score) out of forty (40), seventeen (17) or forty-two point five percent (42.5%) students were averaging thirty-three to forty-three (33-43) rate; eighteen (18) or forty-five percent (45%) were averaging fortyfour to fifty-four (44-54) rate; and five or twelve point five percent (12.5%) were averaging fifty-five to sixty-five (55-65) rate. in quarterly grade out of forty (40), no one got 74below or did not meet expectation; twentyfive (25) or sixty-three percent (63%) were 75-79 or fairly satisfactory; ten (10) or twenty-five percent (25%) were satisfactory; five (5) or thirteen percent (13%) were very satisfactory, and no one got 90-100 or outstanding. 133133 international peer reviewed journal table 8 also showed the mean level of learners’ quarterly grade and mps (mean, percentage, score) in araling panlipunan. the mean of the quarterly grade was 79.13, interpreted as fairly satisfactory and mps (mean, percentage, score) was 46.17, which did not meet seventyfive percent (75%) of the passing rate in the national achievement test (nat). table 3 presents the results in a significant relationship in the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in content competence, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.6268 shows a high correlation with a critical value of 0.0963 is greater than the alpha 0.05 level of significance, we failed to reject the null hypothesis. therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. table 9. results in significant relationship in the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance quarterly grade and mps pearson correlation sig.(2-tailed) at ʹ=0.05 decision a. content competence 0.6268 high correlation 0.0963 without significant relationship accept null b. competence in transmitting the content to the learner 0.5161 high correlation 0.2357 without significant relationship accept null c. teachers lesson log/plan 0.5610 high correlation 0.1901 without significant relationship accept null d. students’ engagement 0.5416 high correlation 0.2093 without significant relationship accept null e. classroom management 0.5990 high correlation 0.2008 without significant relationship accept null f. learning environment 0.8458 high correlation 0.0165 with significant relationship reject null legend: 1.00 – 1.49 poor; 1.50 – 2.49 unsatisfactory; 2.50 – 3.49satisfactory; 3.50 – 4.00 very satisfactory 4.505 outstanding 134134 jpair multidisciplinary research range interpretation decision rule: if p val < α, reject ho; and if p val > α, accept ho ± 0.00 to ± 0.10 no correlation ± 0.11 to ± 0.25 negligible correlation ± 0.26 to ± 0.50 moderate correlation ± 0.51 to ± 0.75 high correlation ± 0.76 to ± 0.99 very high correlation ± 1.00 perfect correlation table 9 showed the results in a significant relationship in the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in content competence, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.6268 shows a high correlation with a critical value of 0.0963 is greater than the alpha 0.05 level of significance, we failed to reject the null hypothesis; therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in competence in transmitting the content to the learner, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.5161 shows high correlation with critical value of 0.2357 is less than the alpha 0.05 level of significance we failed to reject the null hypothesis; therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in teachers lesson log/plan, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.5610 shows high correlation with critical value of 0.1901 is greater than the alpha 0.05 level of significance we failed to reject the null hypothesis; therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in students’ engagement, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.5416 shows high correlation with critical value of 0.2093 is greater than the alpha 0.05 level of significance we failed to reject the null hypothesis; therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between 135135 international peer reviewed journal the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in classroom management, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.5990 shows high correlation with critical value of 0.2008 is greater than the alpha 0.05 level of significance we failed to reject the null hypothesis; therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. there is no significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. in the learning environment, since the computed pearson correlation value 0.8458 shows a very high correlation with a critical value of 0.0165 is less than the alpha 0.05 level of significance we succeed in rejecting the null hypothesis; therefore the null hypothesis was rejected. there is significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance. table 3 also shows that only one the null hypotheses were rejected reveals that there is significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional competence and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance in terms of learning environment. this implies that the teachers’ instructional competence in terms of learning environment and learners’ quarterly grade and mps performance have relation to each other. the rest of variables for instructional competence doesn’t have any relationship to learners’ quarterly grade and mps. conclusions the level of teachers’ instructional competence of the teachers and principals competence in curriculum content, competence in transmitting the content to the learners, competence in preparation of lesson log/plan, competence in preparation of students’ engagement, competence in classroom management; 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(2002). i̇lköğretim okulu sınıf öğretmenlerinin sınıf yönetimi becerilerine ilişkin algı ve gözlemler. ege eğitim dergisi, 1(2), 1-10. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2iblala 93 international peer reviewed journal van hiele levels of thinking predict students’ mathematics grade purisima j. yap http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4650-4266 purisimajainaryap@gmail.com central mindanao university bukidnon, philippines abstract the van hiele levels of thinking has five reasoning levels, namely, holistic, analytic, abstract, deductive, and rigorous. this study aimed to determine the effects of spatial activities to the students’ van hiele levels of thinking. it evaluated the van hiele levels of geometrical reasoning taking into account the van hiele level they reflected and their mathematical accuracy after exposure to spatial activities. pretest-posttest design was used in this study. sixty thirdyear high school students from five sections were the subjects with 30 students each in the control and experimental groups. the results revealed that only level 1 in the post-test was significant. as to the type of reply, the post-test results showed that the control group acquired low acquisition to high acquisition in each level while the experimental group had low acquisition to complete acquisition in each level. only level 2 in the control group and levels 3 and 4 in the experimental group could predict mathematics grade. the control group had weaker reasoning capabilities in answering geometry problems; while the experimental group increased their level of reasoning, and thus, were able to answer geometry problems. this study concludes that the exposure to spatial activities would enhance the levels of reasoning of the third-year students in the study of geometry. vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.296 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords mathematics education, modified van hiele levels of thinking, spatial exercises, mathematics grade, true experimental pretest-posttest design, don carlos, bukidnon, philippines introduction secondary school geometry turns out well when there is a solution for student difficulty with higher order thinking skills through the van hiele levels theory (usiskin, 1982). this theory says that a learner progresses through a sequence of five reasoning levels. however, students are not ready for a formal deductive geometry and they are of different levels (mayberry, 1981). in the present classroom environment, students are not anymore considered as a receiver and absorber of knowledge, but they are already taking an active part in explorations, investigations and discussion so as to build knowledge of their own. the ideas are borne in the student’s mind and the teachers act as facilitators of learning. students should be skillful in using higher order thinking skills (mistretta, 1999). critical thinking, mathematical reasoning and proof are skills that a student should possess in all areas in mathematics. as a result, students may use mathematics as a tool in understanding and give meaning to the things and happenings around them (nctm standards). the national council for teaching mathematics (nctm) calls for greater emphasis on reasoning in all areas. reasoning, then, would indicate a chance for success in proof-writing in geometry. geometry is one of the special subjects in secondary mathematics curriculum. it has a special place due to a variety of concepts. it can be seen in other areas such as psychology because it represents the abstraction of visual and spatial experiences. this subject can also be integrated with other branches in mathematics because it provides approaches for problem solving, drawings, diagrams, coordinate system, vectors, transformations, and so on. considering euclid as the father of geometry, he was credited for the reduction of geometrical concepts to mathematical form which helped many mathematicians solve problems. thus, it also leads to the development of critical thinking, mathematical reasoning, and proving abilities. geometry develops man’s way of reasoning through proving statements. students being poor in writing proofs is a problem of geometry teachers. it is imperative that geometric maturity among students is secondary to instruction 95 international peer reviewed journal to develop their levels of thinking (crowley, 1987). one of the factors that might affect the proof-writing skills is the level of development of students. but gender has nothing to do with the acquisition of the levels (halat, 2006). one topic in geometry which is highly recommended by researchers to be used to determine the van hiele levels is on triangle congruence and inequalities. the test on van hiele theory should predict the performance of the students (usiskin & senk, 1990) and the activities should exemplify van hiele theory that can convert into classroom practices (teppo, 1991). lord’s (1985) study revealed that there was an improvement in visuospatial cognition among students through spatial visualization. this was also supported by clements et al. (1997) that there was a positive effect on spatial abilities. thus, levels of thinking might be enhanced with spatial activities. framework this study was anchored on a theory on levels of thinking developed by two dutch mathematics teachers, pierre van hiele and dieke van hiele-geldof in the late 1950’s. based on their teaching and research, they observed that in learning geometry, a learner progresses through a sequence of five reasoning levels (burger & shaughnessy, 1986). piaget’s work on readiness influence much the van hiele model. this model consists of five sequential levels of understanding by both instruction and maturity of the students. the following are the differentiated levels: 1. holistic levelwhen thinking primarily is holistic. students use imprecise properties to compare drawings and identify shapes. 2. analytic levelwhen thinking analytically, students focus explicitly on properties or attributes of shapes. at this level, mathematical proof may be explicitly misunderstood and unappreciated. 3. abstract levelstudents are thinking abstractly from complete definitions that are applied explicitly. definitions can be modified or used in equivalent forms. 4. deductive levelat this level, the mathematical structure of geometry has completely emerged for the students. thus, they can reason deductively within a particular mathematical system, although perhaps not realizing that different axioms would produce a different system, and hence a different theorem. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research 5. rigorous levelat this level, students appreciate the investigations of various systems of axioms and logical systems, also are able to reason in the most rigorous way within the various systems. senk (1989) studied 1,520 geometry students from five states and found that students had difficulty in writing proofs. her study also included the van hiele levels of reasoning. she reported that the higher the van hiele entering level, the greater is the possibility that the students master proof-writing later in the year, and the lesser is the likelihood that he or she would fail to learn to write proofs. level 2 appeared to be the critical entry level. a student beginner at level 2 had a 50-50 chance of mastering proof-writing by the end of the year. a student at levels 3 or 4 had a significantly greater chance of mastering proof-writing. gutierrez et al. (1991), both from the universidad de valencia together with fortuny (1991) of universidad autonoma de barcelona had another method of examining the acquisition of the van hiele levels. their study used spatial geometry test. in their research, they considered only the four van hiele levels, namely: level1 (recognition); level 2(analysis); level 3 (informal deduction; and level 4 (formal deduction). each level consists of a degree of acquisition with the corresponding points: no acquisition, 0-15; low acquisition, 16-39; intermediate acquisition, 40-60; high acquisition, 61-85; complete acquisition, 86-100. each item on the test has its type. the modification used by gutierrez et al. (1991), was adopted in the methodology of this study. figure 1. a schematic diagram of the effects of spatial activities on the modified van hiele levels of thinking that predict mathematics grades 97 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study generally, this study evaluated the van hiele levels of geometric reasoning and the students’ answers taking into account the van hiele level they reflected and their mathematics accuracy after exposure to spatial activities. specifically, this study aimed to: 1) determine if there is a significant difference in the van hiele levels of thinking of students exposed to spatial activities and those not exposed; 2) determine the degree of acquisition of each van hiele level of the students in relation to the type of reply they indicate at each level; and, 3) relate the van hiele levels of thinking with the mathematics grade of the thirdyear students. methodology the research was conducted in bocboc national high school, bocboc, don carlos, bukidnon. the subjects of the study were the 60 third-year students with 30 boys and 30 girls. they were randomly assigned to the control or experimental group. there were fourteen sessions or exposures to spatial activities. the researcher obtained an informed consent from the respondents in compliance to research ethics protocol. the instruments used in this study were the worksheets containing spatial activities and pre-test and post-test in van hiele levels of thinking with the topic on similarity of triangles. the spatial exercises consisted of 29 items. each item in the test had a corresponding van hiele level of thinking. this was divided into fifteen activities. the 29-item exercises were subjected to item analysis and reliability test. the test was shown to the advisers for construct validity. this instrument was tried out. using chronbach alpha through spss software, the test has a reliability coefficient of 0.74 which indicates that it is reliable. the pretest and posttest consisted of questions on triangles, following the van hiele levels. there were five items in the test taken from the textbook and some were made by the researcher. these questions were shown to the advisers for construct validity. the revised test was tried in a new nongnongan national high school for the first try-out. the items were subjected to item analysis. the chronbach alpha reliability coefficient was 0.8017. the lesson was based on triangle similarities that was taught in the third grading period. this was based from the textbook of the department of education, culture and sports (decs). the lesson plans were copied from the 98 jpair multidisciplinary research philippine – australia science and mathematics education program teacher support manual volume 2. the measurement of van hiele levels of thinking was patterned from the works of gutierrez et al. (1991) who used three-dimensional geometry, specifically on spatial geometry. in this study, instead of using three-dimensional geometry, plane geometry was used. the test design was based on the descriptors for the van hiele levels 1 to 4, as follows: after the levels had been identified, each answer was analyzed carefully as to what type. gutierrez et al. (1991), proposed an assessment procedure consisting a series of open-ended items and criteria for evaluating students’ responses to each item, which were used in this study. any reply to an open-ended item was assigned to one of the types of answer with the corresponding weight as shown in the following table. 99 international peer reviewed journal table 1. weights of the different types of answers and their descriptors type descriptors weight 0 no reply or answers. 0 1 answers indicated that the learners had not attained a given level and did not give information about any lower level. 15 2 wrong and insufficient worked answers that gave some indication of a given level of reasoning; answers that contained incorrect and reduced explanations, the reasoning process or result. 20 3 correct but insufficiently worked out answers that provided some sign of a given level of reasoning; answers that contained very few explanations, reasoning process or very incomplete results. 25 4 correct or incorrect answers that clearly reflected the characteristic features of two consecutive van hiele levels and that contained clear reasoning process and sufficient justification. 50 5 incorrect answers that clearly reflected a level of reasoning; answers that presented reasoning process that were complete, but incorrect or answers that presented correct reasoning process that did not lead to the solution of the stated problem. 75 6 correct answers that clearly reflected a given level of reasoning but that were incomplete and insufficiently justified. 80 7 correct, complete and sufficiently justified answers that clearly reflected a given level of reasoning. 100 after assigning weights to each of answer, these numbers were used to determine the degree of acquisition of each level (gutierrez et al., 1991). table 2. quantitative and qualitative interpretation of the process of acquiring a level degree of acquisition of each level qualitative interpretation quantitative interpretation no acquisition students were not conscious about the intense of or need for thinking methods, specific to a new level 0-15 low acquisition students were beginning to be aware of the method of thinking at a given level of their importance, and they were trying to use them 16-39 100 jpair multidisciplinary research intermediate acquisition students were using the methods of the level more often continuously and accurately but lacked the mastery of these methods. there were confusing answers. 40-60 high acquisition students had more experience, and their reasoning was progressively strengthened but made some mistakes. 61-85 complete acquisition students had complete mastery of this way of thinking and used it without difficulties 86-100 extraneous variables may directly or indirectly affect the overall results of the study. thus, the selection of the subjects of the study was carefully done through the use of appropriate sampling techniques. the students included in the sampling had a grade of 80% and above in mathematics iii in the second grading. however, there were only few boys who qualified. the researcher decided to include male students with a grade below 80% but with no failing grade. the two groups were exposed to the same lesson, approaches and time schedule. all groups were given the same type of test which were administered at the same time. this study used these statistical techniques: frequency count, percent and weighted average, t-test, chronbach alpha and multiple regression analyses. statistical packages for social sciences (spss) was used in the processing of data. the duration of this study was only fourteen days which was very short with sixty students only. there was not enough time of exposing the experimental group to the spatial activities. the spatial activities were only planar without including the three-dimensional figures or objects. this could somehow contribute to elevating the van hiele levels of thinking. results and discussion there were thirty students each in the treatment groups who took the pre-test with the degree of freedom of 29. there is no significant difference between the two groups in the pre-test at p< 0.05 because the two groups are matched. under the first van hiele level, they are both described to be under the degree of “high acquisition” (ha). there is no significant difference between the two groups in level 2 with a mean difference of 6.32 and the probability of 0.799. they have no acquisition of this level. in 101 international peer reviewed journal level 3, there is also no significant difference between the two groups. the two groups show a low performance in writing proofs because there is no acquisition of level 4. after fourteen sessions of exposing the experimental group to spatial exercises, the results of the post-test showed that there is a significant difference between the two means in level 1. the experimental group does a remarkable performance in terms of recognition of types of triangles in the post-test. the control group has highly acquired (ha) level 1 but the experimental group has completely acquired this level. there was no significant difference between the means of the two groups in levels 2, 3 and 4, though, the experimental group has higher means. this happened due to very short exposure of the spatial exercises. in terms of the degree of acquisition, the control group has “low acquisition” (la), “intermediate acquisition) (ia), and “low acquisition” (la) in the three levels, respectively. meanwhile in the experimental group, there was an “intermediate acquisition” in levels 2 and 3 and low acquisition in level 4. hence, only in level 1, the two groups are significantly different in their means. the experimental group did a remarkable performance in terms of recognition of types of triangles in the posttest. there was no significant difference in the next 3 levels. however, the two groups’ means differ numerically. the result conforms to the study of gutierrez et al. (1991), that the students had completely acquired level 1. clements et al. (1997) also supported the result of this study. the application of spatial thinking improves the abilities of the student in terms of understanding geometric concepts. multiple regression analyses of the pre-test on the modified van hiele levels of thinking and mathematics grade the resulting linear equations shown below describe the statistical relationship between the predictor variables (levels of thinking) and the response variable (mathematics grade). that results revealed that among the four modified van hiele levels, only levels 3 and 4 in the pre-test are the best predictors of the mathematics grades in the control group and only level 2 in the experimental group. these levels are statistically significant at p < 0.05. the beta coefficients for levels 3 and 4 are 0.341098 and -0.427842, respectively, with a constant of 80.048747. thus, the equation useful in predicting y’, mathematics grade of the control group, would be as follows: 102 jpair multidisciplinary research y’ = 80.0487 + 0.341098l3 + -0.4278l4 while, in the experimental group, the beta coefficients of level in 0.187291 with a constant of 79.8318. hence, the model in predicting y’, mathematics grade of the experimental group, would be as follows: y’ = 79.8318 + 0.187291l2 multiple regression analysis of the post-test of the modified van hiele levels of thinking and mathematics grades the results showed that only level 2 predicts mathematics grade of the control group in the posttest while levels 3 and 4 are the best predictors of mathematics grades of the experimental group. these are statistically significant at p < 0.05. the beta coefficient of level 2 as the best predictor of mathematics grade in the control group is 0.059012 with a constant of 80.9583. therefore, the equation which can be used in predicting y’, mathematics grade in the control group, would be as follows: y’ = 80.9583 + 0.059012l2 figure 2. a resulting paradigm on the modified van hiele levels of thinking that predict mathematics grades of the control group 103 international peer reviewed journal the best predictors of mathematics grades of the experimental group in the post-test which are levels 3 and 4 have a beta weight of 0.065183 and 0.069685, respectively, with a constant of 81.564509. so, level 4 has a greater effect to the mathematics grades of the experimental group than level 3. thus, the model which is useful in predicting y’, mathematics grade of the experimental group, would be as follows: y’ = 81.584509 + 0.065183l3 + 0.069685l4 the aforementioned linear equations show that mathematics grade can be predicted through van hiele levels of thinking. hence, after exposure to spatial activities, the levels of thinking elevated to levels 3 and 4. figure 3. a resulting paradigm of the modified van hiele levels of thinking that predict mathematics grades of the experimental group conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) since there was no significant difference between the van hiele levels of thinking of the control and the experimental group in the pre-test, students were of the same level. in the post-test, spatial exercises worked effectively because it was significant in level 1 and the mean of the experimental group were numerically higher than the control group in all levels ;2) though both groups were on the 104 jpair multidisciplinary research same degree of acquisition in all levels, spatial activities worked effectively to the students because the experimental group outnumbered the control group in all levels; 3) the van hiele levels of thinking could predict mathematics grades of the students; and 4) exposure to spatial activities would enhance the levels of reasoning of the third-year students in the study of geometry. translational research if the student’s level of thinking is known, this study is very useful to the parents for them to provide activities at home that would enhance thinking. this would also be beneficial to curriculum developers to design a curriculum where thinking skills are given more emphasis. a mathematics teacher in the high school can also derive advantage from this study and can lead them to craft appropriate classroom activities on proof-writing and problem-solving that will help improve thinking skills. in effect, the students’ levels of thinking and mathematics grade can be improved through a concerted effort of the aforementioned significant individuals. more importantly, the department of education can collaborate with experts in mathematics education, mathematics teachers and computer programmers to create workbooks or a software where students can interact to improve their levels of thinking. research institutions can also join forces with researchers in basic and applied mathematics to find new interventions or strategies in which their findings can support in the improvement of the levels of thinking of students. literature cited burger, w. f., & shaughnessy, j. m. (1986). characterizing the van hiele levels of development in geometry.  journal for research in mathematics education, 31-48. clements, d. h., battista, m. t., sarama, j., & swaminathan, s. (1997). development of students’ spatial thinking in a unit on geometric motions and area. the elementary school journal, 171-186. crowley, m. l. (1987). the van hiele model of the development of geometric thought. learning and teaching geometry, k-12, 1-16. 105 international peer reviewed journal gutiérrez, a., jaime, a., & fortuny, j. m. (1991). an alternative paradigm to evaluate the acquisition of the van hiele levels.  journal for research in mathematics education, 237-251. halat, e. (2006). sex-related differences in the acquisition of the van hiele levels and motivation in learning geometry.  asia pacific education review,7(2), 173-183. lord, t. r. (1985). enhancing the visuo‐spatial aptitude of students. journal of research in science teaching, 22(5), 395-405. mayberry, j. (1981). investigation of the van hiele levels of geometric thought in undergraduate preservice teachers. dissertation abstracts international part a: humanities and[diss. abst. int. pt. ahum. & soc. sci.],, 42(5), 1981. mistretta, r. m. (1999). enhancing geometric reasoning. adolescence, 35(138), 365-379. senk, s.l. (1989). “research and curriculum development based on the van hiele model of geometric thought.” theory, research, and practice in mathematical education. nottingham, great britain. pp. 351-357. teppo, a. (1991). van hiele levels of geometric thought revisited. the mathematics teacher, 210-221. usiskin, z. (1982). van hiele levels and achievement in secondary school geometry. cdassg project. usiskin, z., & senk, s. (1990). evaluating a test of van hiele levels: a response to crowley and wilson. journal for research in mathematics education, 242245. jpair cover vol 11 single 68 jpair multidisciplinary research antifungal activity of tamarind (tamarindus indica linn.) leaf extract against colletotrichum gloeosporioides mary grace b. gatan mbgatan@yahoo.com orcid no.: 0000-0002-6083-0060 jonnalexer b. david pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga abstract anthracnose (colletotrichum gloeosporioides) is considered as most important and destructive disease of mango. use of natural plants is recommended because it is cost-effective and safe. plant extracts like tamarind shown to have antifungal activity. the experiment was conducted in pampanga, philippines following two factor-factorial complete randomized design to determine the antifungal effect of tamarind against anthracnose, specifically to: determine zones of inhibition in c. gloeosporioides as affected by different solvents in young and mature leaf extracts; determine interaction effect between different solvents and type of leaf used; determine the most effective tamarind extract against c. gloeosporioides. results reveals that young tamarind leaf extract at 1:1 ratio significantly affected the production of zone of inhibition of c. gloeosporioides while the mature tamarind leaf extract did not inhibit the test organism. the ethanol extract using young leaves were the most effective against the test organisms. findings showed that the use of young tamarind leaf extract using different solvents at 1:2 ratio produced strong effect against anthracnose in terms of inhibitory activity. the use of young leaf ethanol extract against anthracnose was effective and can be considered as good biofungicide because its efficacy is comparable to mancozeb. vol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.202 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 69 international peer reviewed journal keywords biofungicide, tamarind leaf extract, anthracnose introduction tamarindus indica  l. commonly known as tamarind belongs to the family ceasalpiniaceae (fabaceae) which is indigenous to south east asia but is widely planted and distributed in tropical and subtropical regions (little and wadsworth,1964). tamarind is a large, long-lived usually evergreen tree which commonly grows to a height up to 25 m, with stem diameters of up to 150 cm, are characterized by a dense, spreading, rounded crown, a low-branching habit, paripinnate leaves, and thick, gray, deeply fissured bark (national academy of sciences, 1979). as regards its uses, the pulp of the tamarind fruit is widely used for food and beverage like syrup, juice, concentrates and exotic food products like chutneys, curries, pickles and meat sources (ishola, 1990). fruit pulp is also used to quench thirst. it is also a useful drink to persons recovering from sickness (morton, 1987). in terms of its nutritive value, tamarind is an excellent source of tartaric acid, citric acid, vitamin c and sugars (nyadoi and abdullah, 2004). diseases caused by colletotrichum species occur on a wide range of plant species and have been recorded worldwide as both pre and post-harvest causes of crop loss (jeffries, dodd, jeger, 1990). colletotrichum gloeosporioides commonly known as anthracnoseis considered to be the most important and destructive disease of mango. this disease can infect almost 100% of fruits produced under wet or very humid conditions (fitzell and peak,1984). in addition, it caused a significant yield reduction up to 80% under favorable condition (agostin et al., 1992). the symptom appears as irregularly shaped, black nurotic spots on both sides of the mango leaf. conidia of this organism germinate on the surface of leaves and form appressoria and remain as quiescent infection. generally, application of fungicide is the most common method to control anthracnose. however, frequent fungicide application leads to fungal resistance and environmental hazards. (dodd et al., 1989). some plant extracts have been recently shown to have antifungal activity. one of these plants which is tamarind. according to neetu and bohra(2003), crude ethanolic and aqueous extract from tamarind leaves, stems, fruit, pulp, seeds and bark were found toxic against aspergillus flavus and fusarium oxysporum in vitro. the study is important and timely because the findings can help solve the problem of mango farmers including consumers. controlling anthracnose, a major disease in mango, is the most common problem of farmers in mango production. on the other hand, consumers are demanding less chemical residue on produce mangoes 70 jpair multidisciplinary research of health concerns. at present, the use of natural plants as an alternative control method that is both safe to farmers and consumers is highly recommended since it helps reduce environmental risks brought about by too much application of chemicals on crops and fruit trees. in addition, the proper use of these plants can help boast consumer confidence on the purchased product. furthermore, the results of the study may strengthen the importance of natural plants in the country that have antifungal property. objectives of the study the general study aimed to determine the antifungal effect of tamarind against colletotrichumgloeosporioides. specifically, it aimed to: 1. determine the zones of inhibition in c.gloeosporioides as affected by different solvents of young and mature tamarind leaf extracts; 2. determine the interaction effect between different solvents and type of leaf used; 3. determine the most effective tamarind extract against c.gloeosporioides. materials and methods the experimental set-up was laid out following the two factor-factorial complete randomized design (crd). each treatment was replicated three times. the following are the factors used in the study. phase 1. (using 1:1 ratio) factor a. (types of leaves) l1 – young leaves l2 – mature leaves 71 international peer reviewed journal factor b. (types of extraction solvents) s1 distilled water(negative control) s2 tamarind leaf extracts(water bathed) s3 ethanol extracts s4 –mancozeb(positive control) s5 – tamarind leaf extracts(not water bathed) s2 tamarind leaf extracts(water bathed) s3 ethanol extracts s4 –mancozeb(positive control) s5 – tamarind leaf extracts(not water bathed) phase 2. (young tamarind leaf extract using 1:2 ratio) (types of extraction solvents) s1-distilled water (negative control) s2-tamarind leaf extracts(water bathed) s3-ethanol extracts s4-dithane(positive control) s5-tamarind leaf extracts(not water bathed) phases of the experiment the study is composed of bioassay experiment divided in to phases, namely: (1) extraction technique using different solvents and type of leaf using 1:1 ratio (2) extraction technique using different solvents in young tamarind leaf using 1:2 ratio. the solvent and type of leaf with significant results in phase one was used in phase two of the study. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research collection of plant specimen the test organism that was used is the colletotrichum gloeosporoiodes. this fungus was isolated from a diseased mango leaf showing anthracnose symptoms-a black spot on the leaves of mango. the leaf specimen was cut into small pieces and disinfected with sodium hypochlorite for 1-2 minutes and rinsed twice in separate distilled water for 1-2 minutes. to maintain pathogenicity of the isolated fungus, periodic reisolations were carried out to come up with pure culture. a 7-10 day old pure culture of c.gloeosporoiodes was used. the organism was properly identified. preparation and sterilization of culture media potato dextrose agar (pda) was prepared by weighing 200g potato, 20g agar, 20g sucrose, and 1000 ml of distilled water. the potatoes were washed, peeled and sliced into cubes and boiled in 1000 ml distilled water. boiled potatoes were strained using a cheesecloth. afterwhich, sucrose and agar were thoroughly mixed with the potato broth was subjected to sterilization using electric autoclave for about 15 minutes at 121ºc. sterilization of laboratory glasswares all laboratory glasswares that were used were washed and sterilized for 15 minutes at 15 psi (1210c) using an autoclave. the inoculating loop was sterilized by dipping it in 95% ethanol and allowing it to glow to redness over an alcohol before each use (munir et al., 2008). preparation of the tamarind leaf extract three hundred grams of young and matured tamarind leaf was collected and washed. the leaf was air dried for about 24 hours and pulverized. the leaves were soaked for 24 hours. immediately after soaking, the leaves were extracted and filtered using cheesecloth and whatman and were stored in separately in tightly covered bottles, ready for the experiment. 73 international peer reviewed journal a. aqueous tamarind leaf extract three hundred grams of tamarind leaves (young and matured) were washed using tap water. the leaves were mixed with 300 ml of distilled water. the mixture was heated to boiling point and allowed to boil for 15 minutes over low flame. it was cooled and filtered through a cheese-cloth and was stored separately in tightly covered bottles in a refrigerator, ready for the bioassay experiment (satish et al., 2007). b. ethanol extract the dried leaf was pulverized into a fine powder and 300/g of powdered leaves was soaked with ethanol (300/ml) until the leaves were fully submerged inside a 1l beaker. the container was then closed with a carbon paper or foil and was set aside for 48 hours. the mixture was filtered using cheese cloth. after filtration, filtrates were evaporated to dryness using a water bath. preparation of the inoculants test microorganism from the pure culture was transferred to the non-inoculated agar plates to produce the working culture for the tamarind leaf extract. a flattened needle was sterilized by heating the tip of the needle in an alcohol lamp until it became glowing red. portions of the mycelia radiating from the tissue section of the pure culture obtained using the sterile flattened needle was dissolved in small amount of distilled water (ml). the dissolved culture was transferred and mixed with the molten agar in petri plates. the side of the inoculated agar plates was heated to prevent contamination of other microorganisms. the agar was allowed to solidify before placing the discs. preparation of the filter paper disc the filter paper disc was prepared by cutting about 1 cm in diameter of whatman # 42 filter paper. this was wrapped in an aluminium foil and was autoclaved for 15/ min at 15 psi (1210c) (munir et al., 2008). paper disc diffusion assay the sterilized filter paper disc was immersed into the prepared leaf extracts. the excess liquid was allowed to drain. filter paper was placed at the center of the petri 74 jpair multidisciplinary research plates previously inoculated with fungal culture. the plates were incubated at 37ºc for about 20-24 hours in an upside down position to prevent the inoculated agar plates from contamination by moisture generated during the incubation period (munir et al., 2008). parameters gathered: zones of inhibition this was recorded using a millimetre ruler placed on the surface of the bottom plate without removing the cover. fungal inhibition test this was done by referring to determine the antifungal activity, a standard measurement was used to compare. the standard measurement in determining antifungal activity was utilized to compare with the results and identify its effectiveness. this standard was based on the work of florendoet al., (2008). zone of inhibition inhibitory activity >17 +++ = strong 12-16 ++ = moderate 7-11 + = weak 6 or 0 = negative results and discussions results of the study showed that the use of different solvents on young tamarind leaf extract significantly affect the production of zone of inhibition on the test organism (colletotrichumgloeosporioides). the s4 (mancozeb) obtained the widest zone of inhibition giving a strong inhibitory activity. on the other hand, among the tamarind leaf extracts used, s3 (ethanol extract) was found to be the most effective in producing zone of inhibition (table 1) meanwhile, s2 (tamarind leaf extracts – water bathed) did not differ significantly from s5 (tamarind leaf extracts – not water bathed) both having weak inhibitory effect but still gave significant result compared to that of s1 (distilled water). 75 international peer reviewed journal table 1. zone of inhibition of different solvents of young tamarind leaf extract against anthracnose treatments *mean (zone of inhibition) inhibitory activity s1(distilled water) 0 d negative s2(tamarind leaf extract water bathed) 11.33 c weak s3(ethanol extract) 20 b moderate s4(mancozeb) 56.83 a strong s5(tamarind leaf extract not water bathed) 11.17 c weak * means with the same letter (a-d) are not significant different at 5% (hsd) level table 2 presents the findings on the antifungal activity of tamarind leaf extract using different solvents at 1:1 ratio on the test organism, 24-48 hours after application. compared to young tamarind leaf extract, the use of mature leaf extract showed negative inhibitory effect against colletotrichumgloeosporioides. although zones of inhibition were observed, the presence of secondary growth indicates that the treatments had negative effects and could not completely inhibit the test organism. moreover, no significant effect was observed in treatments s2 (tamarind leaf extracts –water bathed), s3 (ethanol extract) and s5 (tamarind leaf extracts –not water bathed). inaddition, their performance in producing zone of inhibition is comparable with that of s1 (distilled water). on the other hand, s4 (mancozeb) was found to produce the most significant zone of inhibition. table 2. zone of inhibition of different solvents of mature tamarind leaf extracts against colletotrichumgloeosporioides(mm) treatments *mean(zone of inhibition) inhibitory activity s1(distilled water) 0e negative s2(tamarind leaf extract water bathed) 4.90de negative 76 jpair multidisciplinary research s3(ethanol extract 3.75 de negative s4(mancozeb) 57.07 a strong s5(tamarind leaf extract not water bathed) 5.50 d negative * means with the same letter (a-e) are not significant different at 5% (hsd) level. results of the data reveal that regardless of the type of leaf, all solvents used were significantly different to each other (table 3). furthermore, it can be observed that s4 (mancozeb) had the widest zone of inhibition followed by s3(ethanol extract). meanwhile, s2 (tamarind leaf extracts water bathed) and s5(tamarind leaf extracts not water bathed) had the same zone of inhibition on the fungus but was found to be more effective compared to that of s1(distilled water). the s1 showed no inhibition effect on the test organism. on the other hand, regardless of the type of solvents used for extraction, results from the statistical analysis showed that there is significant difference between young and mature leaf extract in terms of inhibition. extract from young tamarind leaf produced the widest zone of inhibition. this finding was possibly due to the chemical composition of the tamarind leaf. according to lewis et al., 1961, some active components in tamarind such as tartaric acid was responsible for this effect. it can be observed that the type of tamarind leaf extracts and different solvents greatly affected the production of zone of inhibition thus, significant interaction was present. the data further reveals that among the tamarind extracts and type of leaf used, the s3 (ethanol extract) using l1 (young leaf ) was the most effective in inhibiting the test organism. on the other hand, both s5 (tamarind extracts – not water bathed) and s2 (tamarind leaf extracts – water bathed) of l1(young leaf ) was comparable to each other in relation to the production of zone of inhibition while the effectiveness of s5, s3 ands2 in l2(mature leaf )in suppressing the test organism is similar to that of control. 77 international peer reviewed journal table 3. the interaction effect of zone of inhibition of young and mature tamarind leaf extract as affected by different solvents against colletotrichum gloeosporioides (mm) solvents type of leaves *mean(zone of inhibition) inhibitory activityl1 l2 s1(distilled water) 0 e 0e 0d negative s2(tamarind extract water bathed) 11.33 c 4.90de 8.12c weak s3(ethanol extract) 20.00 b 3.75de 11.88b weak s4(dithane) 56.83 a 57.07a 56.95a strong s5(tamarind extract not water bathed) 11.17 c 5.50d 8.33c weak mean** 19.87x 14.24y 17.06 * extract means with having the same letter (a-d) are not significantly different at 5% (hsd) level. ** type of leaf means with having different letter (x-y) are significant at 5% (hsd) level. *** type of leaf x extract means having the same letter (a-e) are not significantly different at 5% (hsd) level. results from analysis of variance showed that the use of different tamarind extracts at the ratio of 1:2 significantly differ to each other in terms of zone of inhibition against the test organism (table 4). all the tamarind extracts, s2 (tamarind leaf extracts-water bathed) and s3 (ethanol extract) except s5 (tamarind leaf extracts-not water bathed) significantly produced a strong inhibitory effect and its efficacy against colletotrichum gloeosporioides was found to be comparable with that of s4 (mancozeb). figuratively speaking, s5 (not water bathed) appeared to be less effective when compared to treatments s2, s3 and s5 was found to have similar and negative inhibitory activity with that of s1 (distilled water). 78 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. the production of zones of inhibition on young tamarind extract as affected by different solvents using 1:2 ratio against colletotrichum gloeosporioides (mm) treatments *mean(zone of inhibition) inhibitory activity s1(distilled water) 0 b negative s2(tamarind leaf extract water bathed) 57.67 a strong s3(ethanol extract 56.27 a strong s4(mancozeb) 57.30 a strong s5(tamarind leaf extract not water bathed) 0.65b negative *means having the same letter are not significantly different at 5% (hsd) level. this study was delimited on the antifungal effect of young and mature tamarind leaf extract using different solvents against colletotrichum gleoesporoiodes commonly known as mango anthracnose using bioassay experiment. conclusions from the result gathered in the study, the following conclusions are drawn: 1. there is a significant difference on the zone of inhibition in colletotrichum gloeosporioides as affected by different solvents in young and matured tamarind leaf extracts. 2. there is an interaction effect between the different solvents and type of leaf used. the use of young tamarind leaf extract is more effective as an agent against colletotrichum gloeosporioides compared to mature tamarind leaf extract. 3. the use of young leaf in tamarind s3(ethanol extract) against colletotrichum gloeosporioides was effected to be a good biofungicide and its efficacy comparable to s4 (mancozeb). 79 international peer reviewed journal recommendations in view of the conclusions drawn from the foregoing findings, the following recommendations are forwarded. 1. further study should be done on young tamarind leaf extract using ethanol as solvent for extraction technique with emphasis on the different concentrations. 2. the use of young and matured leaf extract of tamarind using different solvents in other species of fungi. 3. the use of tamarind leaf extracts using different solvents as antibacterial. 4. young tamarind leaf extract should be used directly on the fruits to test its effectiveness. literature cited agostin, j.p., timmer, l.w., and mitchell 1992 “morphological and pathology characteristics of strains of colletotrichum gloeosporioides from citrus” florida agricultural experiment station journal series r-02564(1992). dodd, jeffries, jegeret al. 1990 “the biology and control of colletotrichumspecies on tropical fruit crops”. plant pathol.,1990,39, 343-366. fitzell, r. d. and c. m. peak. 1984 the epidimology of anthracnose disease of mango: inoculum sources, spore production and dispersal, ann. appl. biol. 104: 53-59. florendo, e. p. et al. 2008 in vitro antifungal and phytochemical screening of gouania javanica miq. leaves. undp research journal vol. xvii. ishola 1990 “a chemical study of tamarindus indica fruits grown in nigeria”.journal of the science of food and agriculture. 51(1):141-143. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research lewis, y.s., neelakantan, s. and bhatia, d.s. 1961 “organic acid metabolism in tamarind leaves”. current science, 30: 381. lewis, y.s. and neelakantan, s. (1964). “the chemistry, biochemistry and technology of tamarind”. journal of science and industrial research, 23: 204 p. little and wadsworth 1964 common trees of puerto rico and the virging islands. agric. handb.249. washington, dc: u.s. department of agricultural,p.548. morton, julia f. 1987 fruits of warm climate. wipf and stock publishers.pp.115-121. munir, m. h rashid, m. rauf , z. chaudhry and m. s. bukhari 2008 callus formation and plantlets regeneration from hypocotyl of brassica napus by using different media combinations. pak. j. bot., 40(1): 309-315. national academy of sciences. 1979 tropical legumes.resources for the future. washington, dc. national academy of sciences.p.332. neetu and bohra 2003 “in vitro study of antifungal activity of tamarindus indica against aspergillusflavus”. nyadoi and abdullah 2004 population structure and socio economic importance of tamarindus indica in tharaka eastern kenya, msc. thesis. makerere university, uganda. satish, s., mohana, d.c., ranhavendra, m.p. and raveesha, k.a. 2007 antifungal activity of some plant extracts against important seed borne pathogens of aspergillus sp. journal of agricultural technology 3(1): 109119. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research engagement in mathematical thinking and the proficiency level of secondary students grace mae g. flores orcid no. 0000-0003-1910-921x gracemaeflores21@gmail.com university of mindanao tagum college tagum city, philippines abstract engagement in mathematics refers to the strategies to learn mathematics and confidence in the ability to succeed and emotional feelings about mathematics. it plays a vital role in the acquisition of mathematical skills and knowledge by being attracted to their work, persistent despite challenges and obstacles, and they take visible delight in work accomplishments. the purpose of the study was to determine the level of mathematical thinking and proficiency of secondary students of davao del norte, philippines. the other intent of this undertaking was to find out the engagement of the students in mathematical thinking and the achievement of the fourth-year high school students. this study used the descriptive-correlation design. pertinent data were gathered through the use of questionnaires in assessing the level of achievements of the 163 fourth-year students in kapalong public secondary schools specifically capungagan high school, mabantao national high school and sua-on national high school. this research employed statistical tools like analysis of variance (anova), correlation, t – test and mean. the result revealed that the level of engagement of students in mathematical thinking was high that means that all the strategies are applied by the teachers in the class. keywords mathematics education, mathematical thinking, proficiency level, secondary students, descriptive-correlation design, tagum city, philippines vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.280 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 57 international peer reviewed journal introduction many school improvement agenda focus on a new instructional strategy of the curriculum, but the work to bring all students to high achievement levels is more complex than that which involves establishing the right culture to nurture the minds of students and to enrich the involvement and innovation of school leaders and staff according to nctm of 2002. during the 89th annual meeting of the nctm of ball, 2002, emphasizes the need for student engagement in rigorous mathematical concept development beginning at an early age. american high school students have poorer mastery of basic math concepts than their counterparts in other leading industrialized nations. in the organization of economic cooperation and development comprises of nations pointed out united states as rank 24th out of 29 countries as richest country according to pisa study. another study revealed that u.s. students were in the middle of the tract when it came to reading but insulated in math. in the philippines, during arroyo’s term, science and math competencies of filipino students are also one of the lowest in the world because high school students ranked 41st out of 45 countries in math proficiency while filipino gradeschoolers, ranked 23rd out of 25 countries in math and science proficiencies agreeing to ramota of 2005. in davao del norte, particularly in capungagan high school, sua-on national high school and mabantao national high school have experienced problem regarding students’ performance in mathematics. low performance was indicated in a recent national achievement test result. unfortunately, capungagan high school is ranked 34th out of 34, sua-on national high school rank 33 and mabantao national high school rank 25. it shows only that the proficiency level of the students in mathematics is deteriorating. it is in this premise that the researcher conducted a study to find out the engagement of students in mathematical thinking and the achievement of the fourth year high school students. framework this study is based on the theory of kunsch et al. (2007), maccini, mulchany and wilson (2007) and wetzel (2005) that the professional literature in teaching mathematics to struggling learners offer several strategies that can be used in general education settings. these strategies include schema based instruction in 58 jpair multidisciplinary research which students are expected to break the problem down in order to understand how to proceed, cognitive strategies which allow the students to focus on the necessary steps for solving problems successfully, scaffolding which allow the students to build new instruction onto previously taught skills, peer-mediated instruction in which the students are paired by higher performing students, mnemonics involves choosing words that sound like the word and concrete representational abstract sequence which allow the students to form previous instruction to promote retention. it is important for both general and special education teachers to recognize how to implement these strategies in the classroom. according to marzano of 2001, students periodically assess their level of effort on assignments and trail the impact of their energy on the grades they earn. teachers can give the students a set of power and achievement rubrics which students can use to assess and track effort and achievement on a chart. when students observe the impact that their effort and attitude have on their progress, they begin to see the value of applying reading strategies to improve their comprehension and learning. they also gain a sense of control over their learning – a crucial step in assuming more responsibility for their learning. as a result of pedagogical experiences over an approximate seven years period using the imaginative education theory of egan of 1997, a research question began to emerge that would help address the above situation. the question was formalized for a pilot project as “does the use of the concept affect the student engagement in the learning of elementary mathematics?” it is suggested that the use of this theory can assist with establishing a more egalitarian dynamic form of learning mathematics by providing additional entry points for students that engage their imagination with a positive emotional response. combining the main elements of the theory i.e. students’ emotional response, with the use of their imaginations, it provides a stepping-stone of opportunity to both increase engagement and greater cognitive development. students can thus, increase their engagement with mathematics when the curriculum presented to them is inviting and recognizes their contribution as part of a larger socio-cultural conversation. sex differences emerge on more complex quantitative tasks and most of the studies; these differences begin during or after elementary school and grow larger with the increasing age (beilstein & wilson, 2000). a few studies find differences at younger ages in some, but not all, samples (levine, et al. 1999; huttenlocher et al., 1998). because the differences emerge well after infancy, it is difficult to tease apart the biological and social factors that produce them (halpern, 2013). 59 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study the objective of the study was to determine the level on the engagement of mathematical thinking in terms of schema-based instruction, cognitive strategies, scaffolding, peer-mediated instruction, mnemonics, and concrete – representational-abstract and the level of mathematical proficiency. methodology this research used the descriptive-correlation design. pertinent data weregathered through the use of questionnaires in assessing the level of achievements of the fourth year students of kapalong public secondary schools. as the term descriptive survey implies, this involved collecting data to test and answer questions on the hypotheses concerning the current status of the subject. these descriptive studies typically consist of observing behavior over a period (rog 1998). it supported the teachers in engaging the students in mathematical thinking and the proficiency level among fourth year students of secondary schools of kapalong district. this research was conducted at the kapalong east district, division of davao del norte more particularly in the three (3) public secondary schools. the schools and the number of respondents that will be involved are as follows: capungagan high school (63 respondents); mabantao national high school (70 respondents) and sua-on national high school (30 respondents). the researcher obtained an informed consent from the study respondents in compliance to research ethics protocol. the research instruments used in this research are questionnaire and test results. the questionnaire was checked; content was validated and approved by the researcher’s adviser and the panel of examiners. the researcher made such questionnaire determine the engagement of the students in mathematical thinking and proficiency level of the fourth year students of secondary schools of kapalong district. the items of the questionnaire were revised into simple, brief and concise that involve mathematics subject activities related details to provide the respondents’ basic understanding about the purpose of the research. the parameter and scaling used for the interpretation of the engagement of the students in mathematical thinking were: 4.20 – 5.00 very high; 3.40 – 4.19 high; 2.60 – 3.39 moderate; 1.80 – 2.59 low; and 1.00 – 1.79 very low. the second instrument used was the test results of the division unified test of the 60 jpair multidisciplinary research fourth year students in mathematics sy 2010-2011. the following showed scaling and parameter to be used for the interpretation of the performance of students as based on the test result: 96 – 100 which means excellent; 89 – 95 with a descriptive meaning of high; 82 – 88 implies as an average; 75 – 81 indicates low; and 74 – below denotes very low. during the data gathering procedure, the researcher utilized the revised questionnaire to determine the engagement of the students in mathematical thinking and the proficiency level. the questionnaire was distributed to the 163 students /respondents of the fourth year level to assess the level of their engagement in mathematical thinking. with the assistance of the mathematics teachers, it was distributed during their time in math. the questionnaires were retrieved personally by the researcher. the researcher used the following statistical tool in analysing and interpreting the data collected: analysis of variance (anova) to determine the significant difference of mathematical thinking and the proficiency level of students when analyzed by school; correlation to determine the relationship between the mathematical thinking and the proficiency level of the students; mean to determine the proficiency level of the students and t-test to determine the significant difference of mathematical thinking and proficiency level of students when analyzed by gender. results and discussion profile of the respondents the study was conducted at kapalong east district, division of davao del norte more particularly in the three (3) public secondary schools; 63 from capungagan high school, 70 from mabantao national high school and 30 students from sua-on national high school. table 1. level of engagement of students in mathematical thinking indicators mean description schema based instruction 3.81 high cognitive strategies 3.90 high scaffolding 3.83 high peer-mediated instruction 3.55 high mnemonics 3.68 high concrete representational abstract 3.68 high overall mean 3.74 high 61 international peer reviewed journal as we gleaned from the table, the overall mean is 3.74, with a descriptive equivalent of high level. this means that the strategies were applied by the teacher in the class. numerical proficiency the results revealed that the weighted mean of sua-on high school has 68.64 with a description of poor. mabantao national high school has a weighted mean of 75.49 with a description of fair and capungagan high school has only weighted mean of 67.84 with a description of poor. the overall weighted mean of the three schools were 70.66 which has a description of poor. this means that the level of proficiency of the students when grouped by school differ significantly. in the result, students from mabantao national high school have the higher rating compared to the other schools involved in the investigation. in the difference of the numerical proficiency of students when analyzed by gender, the male got a mean of 70.99, and the female posted a mean of 71.49. the researcher used ttest and the results revealed that there is no significant difference. this means that the proficiency level between the male and the female are similar or comparable. as a whole, the result implies that women are sometimes said to excel at verbal tasks and men at spatial tasks, but the literature on sex differences reveals a more nuanced pattern according to halpern (2013). girls and women tend to excel on tests of verbal fluency, arithmetic calculation, and memory for the spatial locations of objects. in contrast, boys and men tend to excel on tests of verbal analogies, mathematical word problems, and memory for the geometric configuration of the environment. meta-analyses have revealed that some of these sex differences are reliable, although most are small. indeed, most of the variables that have been tested in men and women have yielded sex differences that are small or close to zero in meta-analyses, leading hyde (2005) to advance the “gender similarities hypothesis.” in 2000, for example, 47% of bachelor’s degrees in mathematics were earned by women (chipman, 2005). by the most meaningful measure--the ability to master new, challenging mathematical material over extended periods of time--college men and women show equal aptitude for mathematics. the level of the engagement of students in mathematical thinking does not have any correlation with the level of numerical proficiency. data revealed that the r – value is 0.139. furthermore, the computed z-value is 1.63, which is lower than the tabular z-value of 1.96. this allows the researcher to accept the hypothesis of no significant relationship between the level of the engagement of 62 jpair multidisciplinary research students in mathematical thinking and the level of numerical proficiency. engagement of mathematical thinking is based on the theory of kunsch et al. (2007), maccini, mulchany and wilson (2007) and wetzel (2005) that the professional literature in teaching mathematics to struggling learners offer several strategies that can be used in general education settings. there are strategies applied by the teacher in three different schools, and some of them are schemabased instruction, cognitive strategies, scaffolding, peer mediated instruction, mnemonics, and concrete representational abstract. as the researcher flawed to study, however, making this conclusion relevant. conclusions the following conclusions revealed that the level of engagement of the students in terms of schema-based instruction, cognitive strategies, scaffolding, peer mediated instruction, mnemonics, and concrete representational abstract were high. the level of proficiency of the students was poor. there is a significant difference in the level of engagement of the students in mathematical thinking when grouped by gender and school. there is a significant difference in the level of proficiency of the students when grouped by school but no significant difference when grouped by gender. there is a significant relationship between the level of engagement and proficiency of the students. recommendations based on the conclusions, the following recommendations are offered that the engagement of the students in mathematical thinking shall be raised to a very high level; the teacher shall enhance the techniques or approaches in the classroom setting by giving them more drills and assignments that would lead towards a more meaningful and motivating engagement in mathematical thinking; the proficiency level of the students in mathematics should be improved (this can be done by making an analysis of the strengths and weak areas of the examination); and the school may conduct remedial classes to improve the performance of the students. although, the level of engagement of the students does not have any correlation with the proficiency level of the students, the researcher still believes that the engagement activities be enhanced, since it is in the classroom setting that the output in any test is anchored upon. related studies may be conducted. 63 international peer reviewed journal literature cited beilstein, c. d., & wilson, j. f. (2000). landmarks in route learning by girls and boys. perceptual and motor skills, 91(3), 877-882. chipman, s. f. (2005). research on the women and mathematics issue: a personal case history. cambridge university press. egan, k. (1997). the educated mind: how cognitive tools shape our understanding. university of chicago press. egan, k. (2005). an imaginative approach to teaching. san francisco. halpern, d. f. (2013). sex differences in cognitive abilities. psychology press. hyde, j. s. (2005). the gender similarities hypothesis. american psychologist,60(6), 581. huttenlocher, j., levine, s., & vevea, j. (1998). environmental input and cognitive growth: a study using time‐period comparisons.  child development, 69(4), 1012-1029. kunsch, c. a., jitendra, a. k., &sood, s. (2007). the effects of peer‐mediated instruction in mathematics for students with learning problems: a research synthesis. learning disabilities research & practice, 22(1), 1-12. levine, s. c., huttenlocher, j., taylor, a., & langrock, a. (1999). early sex differences in spatial skill. developmental psychology, 35(4), 940. maccini, p., & gagnon, j. c. (2005). mathematics strategy instruction for middle school students with learning disabilities. retrieved on july 27, 2014 from www. k8accesscenter.org. maccini, p., mulcahy, c. a., & wilson, m. g. (2007). a follow‐up of mathematics interventions for secondary students with learning disabilities. learning disabilities research & practice, 22(1), 58-74. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research marzano, r. j., pickering, d., & pollock, j. e. (2001). classroom instruction that works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. ascd. national council of teachers of mathematics. (2000).  principles and standards for school mathematics (vol. 1). natl council of teachers of. ramota, c.m. (2005) bulatlat. alipato publications. retrieved from september 7, 2014 from http://www.bulatlat.com/news/5-25/5-25-education.htm 84 jpair multidisciplinary research research programs in state universities in the calabarzon area, philippines anania b. aquino orcid no. 0000-0002-5813-0225 anania1969@gmail.com college of teacher education batangas state university arasof, nasugbu, batangas, calabarzon, philippines abstract research is one of the four – fold functions of institutions of higher learning. it is relevant to instruction, extension and production. relevant to this function, this study assessed the institutional research program of five state universities in the calabarzon area, philippines. it made used of the descriptive survey method with the bipolar rating scale questionnaire as the main instrument utilized in gathering data supplemented with interview. the respondents were composed of 59 research administrators and 158 faculty researchers. faculty researchers are found to be mostly master’s degree holder, assistant professor, regular permanent, with 17 years of teaching experience, have participated in research symposium/seminar/workshop, with seven subject teaching load, and without professional affiliation. assessment of the institutional research agenda reveals that all seven aspects were rated positive to quite positive as to evaluation; strong to quite strong in terms of potency; and active to quite active in terms of activity. faculty researchers have also exposed their expectations regarding research production, dissemination and utilization. the study culminated in identifying needs based on the findings on faculty profile, assessment of the institutional agenda and prospects in the institutional agenda. utilizing these vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.215 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 85 international peer reviewed journal needs, strategies to enhance research production, dissemination and utilization are proposed. keywords: research program, educational management, state universities, descriptive method, philippines introduction state universities and colleges in the philippines are mandated by law to be a partner in the development of the nation’s human resources through the advancement of knowledge to attain national progress. in realizing these very important mandates, research becomes one of the most vital functions of state universities together with instruction, extension and production. this is in recognition of the positive role of research in improving different aspects of society and human life. in addition, research is valuable to state universities in terms of accreditation (aaccup, 2006), attaining the center of excellence and center of development status (cmo no. 20 s.2004) and the promotion of faculty members (ncc no. 69), its most important resource. likewise, research enriches the content and the delivery of instruction, serves as a sound basis for conducting relevant extension services and powers production initiatives. in line with the importance of research and its role in attaining prestigious status, there is a continuous and persistent need for state universities and colleges to be aware of the status of its research program and its components. important as it is in many aspects of progress and development of the faculty, the university and the society as a whole, statistics reveals that only a small percentage of university faculty members are involved in research as compared to the other functions of instruction, extension and production. research is a very personal work as the faculty who wants to conduct a research must be the one to identify the problem he is going to work on, plan how to do it, with the beginning and ending usually depending on the faculty’s initiative and diligence. with this nature of research, faculty members tend to concentrate more on instruction and look at research as something that can be done later in the future. in the light of this reality, universities are posed with the challenge of involving more of its faculty in research given the very important role of research in progress development and its relationship to the functions of extension, production and instruction. calabarzon, also designated as region iv – a, is the second most densely populated region in the philippines. it is located in southwestern luzon, just south and west of metro manila. its name is a portmanteau of the names of the five provinces 86 jpair multidisciplinary research that composed it which include cavite, laguna, batangas, rizal and quezon. there is wide economic activity in the region ranging from product manufacturing, business process outsourcing, tourism, hospitality industry, services sector to agriculture and even fishery. land development is also like never as it was before. thus, it cannot be denied that the region contributes significantly to the growth of the philippine national economy. the region is also the location of five notable state universities namely batangas state university, cavite state university, university of rizal system, laguna state polytechnic university and southern luzon state university. as calabarzon gears toward enhanced industrialization and rapid development, the role of these state universities cannot be neglected. these institutions are mandated to provide quality education, develop middle and high – level manpower and intensify research and extension services to achieve equity, efficiency and high quality in their performance (education act of 1982). along this line, state universities and colleges in the calabarzon area are expected to provide quality services to its stakeholders through their quadrology of functions of instruction, research, extension and production. through this study, it is hoped that important data may be gathered which might help in the realization of the research goals and objectives of the state universities in the calabarzon area. this data may also serve as valuable input in the effective management of each institution’s research program. further, it is hoped that research will be better understood and appreciated by faculty members of these state universities, and become more productive and involved in research to make them active participants in the delivery of quality education. objectives of the study the study aimed to survey the assessment of faculty researchers and administrators of state universities in the calabarzon area about their research program which was used the basis for developing strategies for further improving research production, dissemination and utilization. specifically, the study surveyed the profile of faculty researchers in terms of educational attainment, academic rank, status of appointment, length of service, research – related training and seminars attended, teaching load, and professional affiliations. it gathered the assessment of research administrators and faculty researchers about their institutional research programs as to goals and objectives, resources, collaboration and linkages, incentives, faculty members’ research capability, output, and research production, dissemination and utilization and their responses were compared. the study also surveyed the research 87 international peer reviewed journal priorities of sucs involved and assessed its relevance. in addition, the study analyzed the prospects of the faculty researchers in line with the institutional research agenda. based on the data gathered, growth areas in faculty profile and needs in research programs and prospects of faculty – researchers were identified which were used as the basis in proposing strategies for further improving research production, dissemination, and utilization. framework a university has four functions. these are instruction research, extension and production. however, the research function makes a university unique from other institutions of learning. as complex organizations, universities and their success are affected by many factors. however, it cannot be denied that their success largely depends upon the performance of the faculty members. for the sucs research programs, the efficiency and effectiveness of its faculty researchers and designated research heads, likewise, is a great factor determining its success. this is because the research function of the university is being carried out mainly by them. with this important function, they become one of the component that determine the quality of the university’s research performance and also one of the components that radiate the productivity of the university which is gauged by its contribution to the industry and society as a whole. a theory adopted in this study is the theory of victor vroom called the expectancy theory (in robbins, 2003) which focuses on performance variables. according to the expectancy theory, the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and the attractiveness to the individual (robbins, 2003). in more practical terms as applied to the research functions of higher education institutions, the expectancy theory presupposes that a faculty member will be motivated to exert a high level of effort to conduct research when he or she believes that his or her effort will lead to a good performance appraisal as a researcher and a faculty. in turn, the good appraisal will lead to organizational rewards like research incentives and that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s personal goals like promotion in academic rank. applied to this study, the expectancy theory predicts that a faculty researcher will exert a high level of effort if she or he perceives that there is a strong relationship between his research effort and performance, research performance and rewards, and rewards and satisfaction of personal goals. each of these relationships, in turn, is influenced by certain factors. for research effort to lead to good performance, the researcher must have the requisite ability to perform or to conduct research, hence 88 jpair multidisciplinary research the need for research training program to improve a faculty’s capability in conducting research. another factor is that the performance appraisal system that measures the researcher’s performance must be perceived as being fair and objective that is, the researcher perceives that it is performance that is rewarded rather than other factors. this is one of the challenges that must be faced by all organizations especially higher education institutions, for research culture to permeate the environment. this study also relies on weisbord’s (1987) theory of organization that focuses on internal issues within an organization. in this theory, weisbord proposes six broad categories affecting the behaviour and effectiveness of an organization. these include purposes, structures, relationships, leadership, rewards, and helpful mechanisms. the purposes of an organization are the organization’s mission and goals. the structures refer to the way in which the organization is organized; this may be by function – where specialists work together – or by product, program, or project – where multiskilled teams work together. relationships include the ways in which people and units interact and the way in which people interact with technology in their work. rewards are the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards people received relevant to their work. leadership refers to typical leadership tasks, including the balance between the other boxes. finally, the helping mechanisms are the planning, controlling, budgeting, and information systems that serve to meet organizational goals. based on weisbord’s theory, for an organization to become more effective, it is essential that organizational members, in the case of the present study, the faculty researchers, be in agreement with and support the organization’s mission and goals. likewise, the organizational structure, reward system and helpful mechanisms like research funding and training must be assessed if effectiveness and efficiency are desired in the organization. the research program in sucs manifests the organization’s effort and capability to contribute to the growing pool of knowledge, and that they are doing their functions to society. thus, the management of a research program should be given importance so that the development, conduct, monitoring and dissemination would be in the proper perspective. moreover, university faculty members have a very important role to play in the research environment that can be seen in higher education institutions. these components would have an impact on the research activities of each institution as manifested by faculty performance and the effectiveness and efficiency of the research program itself. furthermore, as research is one among the basic functions of any higher education institution, it follows that its management should be given importance in order that the development, conduct, monitoring and dissemination are in proper perspective (umali, et al, 2006). this is the direction that was adopted by the present study. 89 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods this study utilized the descriptive – survey method of research. this was used by the researcher as it best responds to the need of giving a description of faculty researchers, assessment of research programs and other key concerns of the study. the respondents were composed of 59 research administrators and 158 faculty researchers with a total of 217 from five state universities in the calabarzon, philippines. to gather data needed in the study, a researcher – made questionnaire utilizing the semantic differential technique of osgood (in cooper and schindler, 2006) was used to collect the assessments of research administrators and faculty researchers which was supplemented by interview. document analysis was done to survey the research priorities of the state universities involved. the researcher – made questionnaire used was subjected to reliability testing using the test – retest procedure and pearson r. the reliability testing revealed a value of 0.85 signifying the reliability of the instrument. a bipolar rating scale of ten points in the semantic differential dimensions of evaluation, potency, and activity was utilized to gather responses of the respondents on the assessment of the institutional research program. for the interpretation of the assessments of the respondents, the intensity of their responses in the three dimensions of the semantic differential scale was interpreted following the mean ranges with their corresponding verbal interpretations as follows: options scale ratings verbal interpretations as to epa dimensions 10 9.10 – 10.0 extremely positive, strong, active 9 8.20 – 9.09 highly positive, strong, active 8 7.30 – 8.19 quite positive, strong, active 7 6.40 – 7.29 positive, strong, active 6 5.50 – 6.39 slightly positive, strong, active 5 4.60 – 5.49 slightly negative, weak, inactive 4 3.70 – 4.59 negative, weak, inactive 3 2.80 – 3.69 quite negative, weak, inactive 2 1.90 – 2.79 highly negative, weak, inactive 1 1.00 – 1.89 extremely negative, weak, inactive the questionnaire is composed of three parts. the first part surveyed the profile of the respondent; the second part dealt with the survey of the respondents’ assessments 90 jpair multidisciplinary research of their institutional research program and the last part focused on faculty researchers’ prospects in the institutional program. after the approval to conduct the study was obtained, the validated questionnaire was distributed to the respondents of the study who were chosen purposively. as the assessment of the research program was included in the study, only those who were involved in research activities were selected as respondents. frequency, percentage, ranking, weighted mean and two-tailed test of independence (t-test) were the statistical tools used to answer the problems raised in the study. . findings and discussion a. profile of respondents for highest educational attainment, there were 90 or 56.96 per cent with master’s degree, and 34 or 21.52 per cent each with doctorate degree and bachelor’s degree. for academic rank, it was found that 61 or 38.621 per cent are with assistant professor rank, 55 or 34.81 per cent are with the instructor rank, 27 or 17.09 per cent are with associate professor rank, and 7 with professor rank. for the status of appointment, there are 143 or 90.51 per cent with permanent status and 11 or 6.96 per cent on temporary appointment. for the length of service, there are 28 who have been in the service for six to ten years while 13 faculty respondents have served for 31 to 35 years and three of them for 36 years or more. with respect to seminars and trainings related to research attended, there are 110 researchers who participated in a research seminar, with15 respondents as speaker in a research conference and there are 56 respondents or 24.05 per cent who divulged that they have not yet attended any research seminar and training. as to teaching load, there were 52 handling eight to nine subjects per semester, 51 with six to seven subjects being handled, 26 with ten to eleven subjects being handled, 20 with two to three subjects being handled as teaching load, and 9 with four to five subjects teaching load per semester. in terms of professional affiliations, 84 respondents or 53.16 per cent claim that they are not members of any professional organization while the rest are aiming to become members in the very near future. b. assessment of the institutional research program. seven aspects of the institutional research program were subjected to the assessment of the respondents and the findings are presented hereunder. 91 international peer reviewed journal the research goals and objectives in terms of relevance, dissemination and acceptance, periodic review and assessment, and attainment with stake holders participation were rated quite positive as to evaluation by both groups of respondents with a composite mean of 8.18 for administrators and 8.02 for the faculty researchers. in terms of potency, they were rated quite strong by both groups (8.11 and 7.95) and for activity, quite active with composite mean of 8.09 and 7.87 for the two groups of respondents. document analysis revealed that these research goals and objectives were subjected to review with the involvement of the stakeholders. these would ensure relevance of the research goals and objectives to the university, stakeholders, community and the national higher education research agenda. likewise, the research goals and objectives are also included in their respective research handbook and manual and internet websites for effective dissemination. with reference to research resources, these were assessed quite positive (7.41) by administrators and positive (6.82) by faculty researchers in terms of evaluation; quite strong (7.20) for administrators and strong (6.73) for faculty researchers as to potency and both evaluated research resources as active (7.24 and 6.79) as to activity. the ratings can be noted as somewhat higher for the administrators than for the faculty researchers. interview revealed that some respondents were aware and appreciative of the efforts of the university administration to improve research resources. they noticed improved library holdings and information and communication facilities to support research activities. as to research collaboration and linkages, these were rated quite positive (7.65) by the administrator and positive (7.25) only by the other group as to evaluation dimension. in terms of potency, both group had it quite strong (7.67 and 7.34). activity dimension of collaboration and linkages were graded quite active (7.65) by the first group and active (7.29) by the second group. it was noted in the review of documents and interview of the respondents that some big research projects were conducted in collaboration with faculty members from various disciplines. they had also been granted research funding by external organizations like the department of science and technology and commission on higher education. research incentives in terms of evaluation were perceived quite positive (7.46 and 7.32); in terms of potency as quite strong (7.45 and 7.45) and activity as quite active (7.46) by administrators and active (7.20) only according to faculty researchers. this means that both groups of respondents appreciate the incentives given by their university administration. through an interview, it was surmised that some of faculty researchers received research incentives for poster or oral presentation and publication of their research. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research both two groups of respondents evaluated faculty research capability as quite positive (7.89 and 7.71), quite strong (7.79 and 7.640 and quite active (7.80 and 7.62) which manifest their high regard for the research capability of faculty members. assessment of research outputs as to evaluation revealed that administrators and faculty researchers both gave a rating of quite positive, with a composite mean of 7.92 and 7.76 respectively. as to potency, both groups forwarded a rating of quite strong (7.78 and 7.72 while for activity, both also evaluated research outputs as quite active with a composite mean of 7.76 and 7.74. this implies that both groups of respondents recognize their research outputs as relevant and valuable to the organization. for research dissemination and utilization, the two groups of respondents were one in saying that the different aspects pertaining to research dissemination and utilization as to evaluation were quite positive as revealed by the composite mean of 7.71 and 7.30. as to potency, the administrators rated the different aspects of research dissemination and utilization as quite strong (7.59) while the faculty researchers rated it strong (7.22) only. as for activity, both groups rated research dissemination and utilization quite active (7.61 and 7.41). documents gathered showed that institutional research forums were regularly conducted for research dissemination. likewise, documents also showed that many of the respondents were able to conduct oral presentation of their research in national and international forum. c. comparison of responses of two groups of respondents. the assessment of the administrators and faculty researchers regarding the dimensions of institutional research programs were compared. two-tailed test of independence was used to test the null hypothesis of no significant differences. table 16 presents the comparison of the assessment of administrators and faculty regarding the different dimensions of institutional research programs. the table reveals that there was no significant difference in the assessment of administrators and faculty regarding the different dimensions of institutional research programs as to evaluation, potency, and activity. with reference to evaluation, the seven dimensions of institutional research programs obtained computed t-values ranging from 0.577 to 1.844 which were less than the initial t-value of 1.96 at a 0.05 level of significance and at 215 degrees of freedom. it led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis. this means that the administrators and faculty members did not differ on their responses regarding the different dimensions of institutional research programs. they both observed that there were positive goals and objectives, adequacy of resources, strong collaboration 93 international peer reviewed journal and linkages, attractive incentives, strong faculty capability, evident research output, and dissemination and utilization of research outputs were evident in the institution. table 16. comparison of the assessment of administrators and faculty researchers dimensions administrators faculty tc interpretationcm sd cm sd 1. goals and objectives 8.18 1.37 8.02 1.61 0.64 not significant 8.11 1.38 7.95 1.65 0.62 not significant 8.09 1.46 7.87 1.65 0.846 not significant 2. resources 7.41 1.69 6.82 2.12 1.844 not significant 7.20 1.73 6.73 2.40 1.306 not significant 7.24 1.78 6.79 2.17 1.361 not significant 3. collaboration and linkages 7.65 1.40 7.25 2.05 1.307 not significant 7.67 1.41 7.34 2.07 1.068 not significant 7.65 1.42 7.29 2.08 1.161 not significant 4. incentives 7.46 1.42 7.32 2.28 0.412 not significant 7.45 1.43 7.45 2.25 0 not significant 7.46 1.39 7.28 2.27 0.545 not significant 5. faculty research capability 7.89 1.35 7.71 1.71 0.692 not significant 7.79 1.50 7.64 1.82 0.536 not significant 7.80 1.45 7.62 1.82 0.643 not significant 6. output 7.92 1.41 7.77 1.71 0.577 not significant 7.78 1.56 7.71 1.72 0.259 not significant 7.76 1.55 7.73 1.72 0.111 not significant 7. dissemination and utilization 7.71 1.54 7.50 1.98 1.367 not significant 7.57 1.58 7.22 1.98 1.167 not significant 7.61 1.61 7.20 2.0 1.323 not significant df = 215 l = 0.05 tabular t-value = 1.96 with reference to potency, the two groups of respondents did not differ on their responses on the different dimensions of institutional research programs. the obtained t-values ranged from 0.259 to 1.306 which were less than the initial t-value of 1.96 at 0.05 level of significance at 215 degrees of freedom. the null hypothesis was accepted. their similarities in responding to the different items may be attributed 94 jpair multidisciplinary research to the fact that they noted that the faculty members have the potentials, skills and abilities in conducting research studies. with the different dimensions of research programs, the incentives given to faculty researchers motivated more instructors/ professors to submit relevant and updated research proposals. the respondents believed that the faculty members can become effective researchers. their research outputs contribute to the improvement and better quality of instruction, extension and production. the administrators and faculty did not differ on their assessment regarding the activities undertaken in the different dimensions of instructional research program. the computed t-values ranged from 0.111 to 1.364 which were less than the initial t-value of 1.96 at 0.05 level of significance at 215 degree of freedom. the null hypothesis was accepted. the results show that the two groups of respondents have almost the same ratings on the activities organized, implemented and undertaken by the research center in the institution. d. research priorities of suc’s involved in the study. there were five state universities in calabarzon which were involved in the study, namely: cavite state university, laguna state polytechnic university, batangas state university, university of rizal system, and southern luzon polytechnic university. the research priorities in each university were in consonance with the national higher education research agenda (nhera) and can be described as relevant and responsive. the research priorities were on agriculture, engineering and technology, science, environment, education, social sciences and business. 95 international peer reviewed journal e. prospects of the faculty in the institutional research agenda table 2 reflects the prospects of the faculty in the institutional research agenda. table 2. prospects of the faculty in the institutional research agenda items weighted mean verbal interpretation rank to receive better research incentives 3.33 most likely to happen 1 for every college in the university to be given higher research budget allotment 3.21 most likely to happen 5 to source out research funds from different external organizations as budget source of their research. 3.20 most likely to happen 6.5 to publish continuously research in a refereed journal 3.25 most likely to happen 2 to conduct more number of interdisciplinary research projects and activities, 3.19 most likely to happen 8.5 to have research outputs commercialized 3.11 most likely to happen 11.5 to conduct continuously research poster presentation in national and international research forum 3.11 most likely to happen 11.5 to conduct continuously an oral presentation of research in the regional, national forum or international forum 3.19 most likely to happen 8.5 to be provided with additional research facilities and equipment for conducting research in science and technology 3.20 most likely to happen 6.5 to render consultancy services to other faculty and organizations 3.09 most likely to happen 14 to be provided with more opportunities for scholarships or fellowships 3.18 most likely to happen 10 to participate in intensive faculty training to improve one’s capability in research 3.24 more likely to happen 3 to be able to obtain exclusive intellectual property rights/patents for research/inventions/innovations 3.22 more likely to happen 4 to conduct more researches collaboratively with faculty members from other institutions 3.10 more likely to happen 13 composite mean 3.19 more likely to happen 96 jpair multidisciplinary research from the table, it can be seen that eleven items were perceived to be most likely to happen. topping the list, the faculty members expect to receive better research incentives. this obtained a weighted mean of 3.33. it appears that the faculty researchers look forward to deloading, additional monetary incentives, recognition, and promotion. they believed that they will be given the opportunity to present their studies in national and international forum. in line with the institutional research agenda, the respondents envision to publish continuously their research in a refereed journal with an obtained weighted mean of 3.25. this ranked second among 14 items. consequently, the respondents wish that more research studies completed being reviewed by some practitioners/experts. this means that they expect the university to appropriate more budgets for the publication of their research results in refereed journals and other publications. the respondents expected that they would be able to participate in intensive faculty training to improve their capability in research. this got a weighted mean of 3.24 and in third rank. this is a clear indication that a majority of the faculty respondents has not attended any training related to research. thus, they expect that they will be given the opportunity to attend and participate in research training to enhance their research skills. as indicated by the respondents, they expect to obtain exclusive intellectual property rights/patents for their research/inventions/innovations with an obtained weighted mean of 3.22. this ranked fourth in the rank order distribution. the faculty researchers want to be assured that their studies/incentives/innovations would not be duplicated. this means they believed that the intellectual property rights stipulated in the research manual of their university will protect their work. another important aspect that the faculty members expect to more likely to happen was the giving of higher research budget allotment for every college in the university. it obtained a weighted mean of 3.21 and ranked in fifth place. this is an indication that the faculty members look forward to the time in which each college will be given additional research budget. the respondents might have noticed that a limited number of faculty members are given the chance to attend research conferences thus, completed quality researches are not also presented in national and international forum. there are other items that the respondents envision to happen for the university research center. one is that it will be provided with additional research facilities and equipment for conducting research in science and technology. another is for the center to be able to source out research funds from different external organizations as budget source of their research. 97 international peer reviewed journal in addition, the respondents also envision to conduct continuously an oral presentation of their research not only in the regional and national forum but also in the international forum as this will allow them to disseminate their research findings in wider scope. they would also like to conduct more number of interdisciplinary research projects and activities, and be provided with more opportunities for scholarships or fellowships as these two prospects will presumably improved their capability in research. moreover, they would like to conduct continuously poster presentation of their research findings in both the national and international research forum. they are also open to the idea of conducting more researches collaboratively with faculty members from other institutions, and to have their research outputs commercialized. the obtained weighted mean ranged from 3.10 to 3.20. from the results, it can be deduced that the faculty members are interested in conducting research studies implying that they need the support of the management in giving them the opportunity to be recognized in research. they expect also to present their studies in international/national research forum. least noted with a weighted mean of 3.09 the respondents expect to render consultancy services to other faculty and organizations. this indicates that the faculty members want to share their knowledge and skills to others. their ratings manifest willingness to extend assistance so that they will come-up with relevant and quality research studies. the composite mean of 3.19 is an indication that the respondents want a more relevant, responsive and quality researches. they also believed that they would be more capable and competent of conducting quality research studies if they would be given the opportunity to attend research trainings, seminars and workshops and to help them present their work in regional, national and international forum. f. needs identification and proposed strategies based on the findings of the study, growth areas and needs were identified to enhance research production, dissemination and utilization on faculty profile, different dimensions of the institutional research program and prospects of faculty in the institutional agenda. utilizing these needs, the study culminated in designing proposed strategies to enhance research production dissemination and utilization. a need to enhance faculty members’ research performance was identified based on the highest educational attainment, involvement in the research seminar and training and professional affiliations. based on this need, it was forwarded that a more comprehensive scholarship and vertical articulation program as well as wide – ranging research training and seminars be implemented. to address professional 98 jpair multidisciplinary research affiliation, an online professional organizations network was proposed back up with membership fee subsidy. based on the prospects in the institutional agenda that a majority would like to have their research published, participate in research training and seminars, and obtain exclusive intellectual property rights, it was suggested among others that an enhanced research capability development program coupled with excellent research packaging scheme and strong linkage with refereed journals be institutionalized. a need to make the research goals and objectives more responsive and relevant was identified. to address this concern, the conduct of appreciation campaign through multimedia showcase and social marketing of research goals and objectives in academic, professional and social gatherings and functions was suggested. as there is a need to provide adequate and intensive laboratory facilities and equipment for research activities, the development of research resources and infrastructure advancement program with strategic resource assessment and procurement and the development of research resources inventory software for better resource allocation and monitoring were proposed. to reinforce research collaborations and linkages with other institutions, research fellowships, benchmarking tours, multimedia research expertise showcase and research forum and seminars were recommended. there is a need identified in the system of research incentives. in the hope of providing a sustainable enhanced and responsive research incentives, the development of faculty workload assignment software program in which research is part of faculty workload and the enrichment of research awards and incentives were suggested. it was found that there is a need to improve research outputs, thus the development of community economic, social, cultural, demographic and environmental needs scanning and monitoring system as well as the development of knowledge and innovation matrix, and research quality monitoring system were proposed. to promote a more intensive utilization of research dissemination, universities are suggested to publish a national and international refereed research journal to support research publication of conducted works. this journal may be subjected to indexing or accreditation bodies to attest to the quality of its content or publication. linkages and affiliations with international refereed journals should also be established to assist in attaining international quality standards. conclusions the findings of the study led to the following conclusions. as to profile, it was concluded that the faculty researchers in five state universities in calabarzon were master’s degree holder, occupying an assistant professor rank as regular permanent, 99 international peer reviewed journal have been teaching for 17 years, participated in an institutional symposium/seminar/ workshop, having a teaching load of seven subjects, and were not a member of any professional organization. with respect to the assessment of the institutional research programs, it was concluded that the administrators and faculty assessed the institutional research program as quite positive in terms of evaluation dimension, quite strong in terms of potency dimension, and quite active as to activity dimension. no significance difference was obtained when the responses of the two groups of respondents regarding the institutional research programs were compared. the research conducted by faculty members in the state universities in calabarzon conformed with nhera’s goals and priorities as to agriculture, engineering and technology, environment, services, education, social science and business. findings on the prospects of faculty researchers led to the conclusion that the respondents expect that they would have brighter opportunity in research, and that they would be given broad and better participation in the implementation of the institutional research agenda. finally, the proposed strategies entail optimum faculty preparation and increased logistical support to upgrade research production, dissemination and utilization. recommendations from the findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations are forwarded. the university management should give enhanced assistance to faculty researchers so that they will be motivated to be a member of professional organizations and participate in national and international research forum. the proposed research intervention strategies for production and utilization sustainability may be reviewed by the research management and suggestions incorporated before adoption by the university. a study similar to the present study may be conducted in other higher educational institutions to verify its findings. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research acknowledgment the researcher would like to acknowledge the following universities: batangas state university; batangas province; cavite state university, cavite province; laguna state polytechnique university, laguna province; southern luzon state university, quezon province; and, university of rizal system, rizal province. literature cited accrediting agency of chartered colleges and universities in the philippines, inc. 2006 manual on accreditation. manila: aaccup. cooper, d. r. and schindler, p. s. 2003 business research methods. usa: mcgraw hill school education group. the philippines education act of 1982. an act providing for the establishment and maintenance of an integrated system of education. commission on higher education (philippines) memorandum order no. 20, s. 2004 revised policies and standards on the centers of excellence project. national higher education research agenda. ched research priorities and grants. 1998 – 2007. robbins, s.p. 2003 organizational behavior. singapore: pearson education, asia pte ltd. umali, beng p., isidro, m.c. and rivera, a. f. 2006 cvsu higher education research: history, management paradigms and issues in research and higher education development: asia – pacific perspectives. bernardo, allan b., muñoz, michaela p. and marshall n. valencia, editors. manila: lasallian institute for development and educational research, college of education, dlsu. weisboard, m. 1987 organizational diagnosis: a workbook of theory and practice. persus publishing. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research the voices that cannot be heard: a phenomenological study on the lived experiences of deaf teachers marvin r. vicente http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5543-563x marvinrvicente@gmail.com laguna college of business and arts calamba city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract employment is described as life-changing for deaf people. to date, they have few and limited employment opportunities. this phenomenological study focuses on exploring deaf teachers’ lived experiences. it is crucial that we gain a better understanding of deaf teachers’ experience to generate a new area of focus on deaf people in the employment field. to gain insight into the nature of deaf teachers’ occupational experience, a focus group interview was conducted with 3 deaf teachers. participants were gathered through chain referral sampling, also known as snowballing, where the researcher’s chosen participant recruits other participants who might participate in the study. the analysis of the data led to the emergence of six essential themes: (1) professional and personal attribution; (2) equality and inclusion in the workplace; (3) feeling of belongingness and relatedness; (4) support provider; (5) job satisfaction and motivation; and (6) difficulty and challenges. findings of the study suggest that deaf teachers’ positive working environment and experience can be influenced by professional identity, personal attribution, accommodation, and inclusive practices, relatedness to significant others, support and network, job satisfaction and motivation, and ability to adapt to difficulties and challenges. vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.788 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5543-563x?lang=en mailto:marvinrvicente@gmail.com 17 international peer reviewed journal keywords — social science, deaf teachers, phenomenological approach, philippines introduction as cited by hiranandani (2005) in his critical theory of disability, he noted that throughout history, people with disabilities (pwd) struggle to live a functional, productive, and independent life due to stigma, discrimination, and lack of social support. besides these interpersonal barriers, most laws, policies, and societal norms discredit pwd’s as dependent, functionally limited, and cannot perform a task or work independently, making them “unfit” or unable to work. since the 1970s, the growth of self-organization of people with disabilities has led to a redefinition of disability as a social structure: social, cultural, political, and environmental barriers have been emphasized as more disabling than physical or cognitive disabilities. the modern world presents many differentiated challenges. therefore, senses are constantly being troubled with new sensations, environments, and experiences, coping strategies that allow us to move with confidence and deal with these challenges without getting overwhelmed. that is a major task for many of us. it is a monumental challenge for others, especially the disabled (harvest, 2014). at work, people with hearing loss have more difficulty finding employment and struggling with certain practical aspects, such as attending group meetings or answering the phone (harvest, 2014). employers are another barrier. according to the national association of the deaf (2000), employer attitudes create the largest barrier to job opportunities. schroedel and geyer cited studies that communications stress, social isolation, and unsupportive supervisors are among the difficulties faced by many deaf and hard-hearing workers (national research council, 2004). knowledge and employment are described as life-changing for disabled people. education nurtures confidence and fosters independence by leading the way to work. it also means enabling people with hearing impairment to learn, train, and prove themselves at work (harvest et al., 2014). the united nation convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (uncrpd) (2006) ensures and promotes the full realization of pwd’s human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination on the basis of disability, and taking action to maximize the resources available to achieve the full realization of economic, social, and cultural rights. in the philippines, filipino deaf advocacy efforts experienced a major breakthrough in 1991, when president corazon aquino passed r.a. 7277, also known as the “magna carta for people with disabilities.” filipino’s most 18 jpair multidisciplinary research comprehensive legislation, r.a. 7277 promotes equal opportunities for suitable employment for pwds. sadly, magna carta’s full effect has yet to be felt. to date, few and limited support services are available to the deaf, especially in the workforce. even then, those who are currently part of the workforce are more the exception as many deaf people remain steadily unemployed (success and the filipino deaf employee: a manual for working with the deaf, n.d.). schelzig (2005) estimated that only less than 10 percent of more than 100,000 employable dole-registered pwds were employed. while governments, organizations, and individuals have expressed a willing interest in promoting and supporting these groups of people, there are still invisible barriers to equal access to employment as regular individuals normally enjoy.  while there have been studies made about the employment of pwds in recent years, there has been very little attention focused on the phenomenon of deaf teachers. the course of this study is inclined and committed to systematically explore the essence of the lived experience of deaf teachers. this study attempts to investigate issues surrounding deaf teachers, such as the condition of their employment, the process, and procedures of employment, the nature of challenges, opportunities, and condition of their working environment. in general, this study aims to explore a phenomenon, the occupational experience as lived by deaf teachers. as the world rapidly changes, more focus and opportunities should have been given for deaf people in the area of sustainable employment, thus creating even more meaningful lives. when little is known about the lived experiences of deaf teachers, research such as this attempts to offer broader insights into the immense potential of deaf people to have productive lives through employment because their experience may provide us with a better understanding of our own experiences as regular individuals who would not need to endure prejudice or discrimination or unequal treatment as indirectly imposed by societal norms to people with disabilities. therefore, there is a great need to expand knowledge in this area and help to provide information for future studies to enhance future opportunities for deaf people. 19 international peer reviewed journal framework figure 1. conceptual framework. the emergence of six themes represents the overall structures of deaf teachers’ lived experience. objectives of the study the primary research question to be answered in this study is, “what is the essence of deaf teachers’ lived experience?” the main objective of this qualitative study is to explore the occupational experiences of deaf teachers through rich and pure descriptive data of their own experiences. the secondary objective is to generate new knowledge in the area of teachers who are deaf. this new knowledge can generate awareness to understand the experiences of deaf teachers in the context of identifying the challenges and working conditions of persons who are deaf with the intent to improve their working experience. additionally, this new knowledge may create a new area of focus to serve as a benchmark to generate interest and knowledge about deaf people in the field of employment.  20 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design  sloan and bowe (2014) cited methodology as a general way to research a topic, whereas method is the technique(s) used. qualitative methodologies differ from quantitative methodologies. qualitative methodologies seek to portray a socially-built, complex, and ever-changing real world. therefore, qualitative methodological approaches tend to be based on deeply recognizing and describing the subjective, experiential human life-world. in addition to the practicality of qualitative research, observation of socially-constructed reality is applicable and human scientists prefer qualitative research for its main features such as text as data focus, meaning, and/or interpretation. it also seeks to understand a specific research problem or topic from a representative’s perspective. descriptive phenomenology was an appropriate method to explore deaf teachers’ lived experiences. neubauer, witkop, and varpio (2019) defined phenomenology as a research approach aimed at describing the essence of a phenomenon by exploring it from the perspective of those who experienced it. the goal of phenomenology is to describe and understand  the meaning of this experience both as to what was experienced and how it was experienced (neubauer, witkop, & varpio, 2019; wilson, 2015). in phenomenology, the researcher collects data from individuals experiencing a specific phenomenon. the data is analyzed and organized, and the researcher develops a composite description of the experience’s essence for all individuals (yüksel, & yildirim, 2015). research site participants of this study were purposefully selected based on predetermined and specific criteria. each participant had at least one year of experience being a deaf teacher. a chosen participant or informant of the researcher was contacted through personal contact and also being the one who recruited other participants who happened to be her co-teachers in one of the private deaf schools in sta. rosa city, laguna, philippines.  during the interviews, it was found out that all of the participants were graduates of the deaf evangelical alliance foundation (deaf) inc., a non-profit organization that focuses on the education of hearing-impaired filipinos which offered bachelor of elementary education with sign language as their only and primary program. one of the participants had experience working in lamoiyan 21 international peer reviewed journal corporation, private company makers of a known filipino brand of toothpaste. two of them had been teachers since right after they graduated from deaf. all of the participants might have a different experience in terms of tenure and years of experience. however, there was a similarity with regards to their educational background, the employment process, and the nature of teaching experience and relevant training.  participants participant selection is the first step in data gathering (giorgi, 2009). sampling stems directly from the idea that the sample can be statistically related to the general population, i.e., the sample should represent the population (englander, 2012). however, to ensure that the sample’s representativeness is indicative of the general population, purposeful sampling would be used. the major premise of purposive sampling is to find a group of participants according to predetermined criteria relevant to a particular research question; thus, it is vital to reflect on this question: “does the subject belong to the study population?” the phenomenological researcher is not primarily interested in knowing how many or how often one experience has had. therefore, when selecting subjects for phenomenological research, the question the researcher must ask is: “do you have the experience i am looking for? “the phenomenological method in human science recommends that at least three participants be used, obviously not because the number three corresponds to statistical analysis, but because one or two subjects would be too difficult for the researcher to handle in terms of his own imagination (giorgi, 2009). as giorgi (2009) points out, “research-based sampling strategies should not be confused with research-based strategies.” through snowballing, also known as chain referral sampling, participants were selected (bagheri & saadati, 2015; naderifar, goli & ghalijae, 2017). a selected researcher participant or informant was contacted through personal contact. the participant with whom contact had already been made used her social networks to refer to researchers and others who might participate in or contribute to the study. the target participant, who was currently employed as a deaf teacher at the time of the study, and also the one who encouraged co-teachers who were deaf to participate in the study. participants recruited expressed their willingness to be part of this study. participants varied in terms of tenure. one participant taught for ten years. the other two had one and three years’ experience, respectively.  22 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. profiles of the participants name gender age years of experience as a deaf teacher jeffrey* male 35 10 crista* female 26 3 anita* female 28 1 *pseudonyms were substituted to the participants’ true names to protect their identity research ethics protocol the overall goal of this qualitative study was to discover a deeper and richer understanding of deaf teachers’ experiences through a subjective view of their own experiences. one of the benefits to the participants is a richer understanding of the personal meanings they and the world may not have fully understood or come to understand. klinger (2004) further points out that maintaining the voices of participants in research as much as possible is important. this is one of the ethical advantages of a phenomenological approach. participants controlled the information and how it was depicted. the participants were not obliged to disclose any information they were reluctant to share. informed consent and written agreement were provided to establish limitation and boundary on the data and information collection. the purpose and data gathering procedures and other relevant aspects such as date prior to actual interview, benefits and risks to participation, and confidentiality were carefully explained to them via a sign language expert. instrumentation questions in a phenomenological interview should meet description criteria (giorgi, 2009). in a technical sense, it is not a traditional question that initiates the interview, but the interviewer who asks the participant to describe a situation where the participant experienced the phenomenon. the researcher was interested in the meaning of the phenomenon experienced by deaf teachers, but their situation provided context and meanings were context-dependent (englander, 2012). englander (2012) further points out that the initial phase of the phenomenological research process begins by acknowledging the need to understand a phenomenon from the point of view of experience in order to discover its meaning. hence, the research purpose is formulated in which the researcher aims to discover the meaning of a particular phenomenon. this study utilized the long interview approach and/or semi-structured interview in which 23 international peer reviewed journal the central question leads the participants to describe as detailed as possible a situation in which they experienced a phenomenon. this gave essence to a phenomenon being experienced by deaf teachers. in addition to the central question, follow-up questions were asked to obtain additional data on lived experience. questions like, “tell me what it is like to be a deaf teacher?” “what are the challenges and some barriers you have faced from being a deaf teacher?” and “what are the joys and disappointments of being a deaf teacher?” were asked until rich and pure descriptions were obtained from the interviews. a semi-structured, focus group approach was used to allow participants to develop their perceived experience freely without researcher intervention. a structured format was given the least option. the first data collection phase involved a preliminary meeting with research participants before the actual interview. approximately two weeks before the interview. in a preliminary meeting, participants were gathered and signed an interview consent form, giving permission to use the interview data for this study. a sign language practitioner assisted the researcher to carefully explain the purpose and data gathering procedures and other relevant aspects such as date prior to the actual interview, benefits, and confidentiality. the participants were reviewed during the initial meeting to give them ample time to dwell and ponder on the experience. the interview became the main process throughout data collection. phenomenological, human-scientific researchers tend to choose the interview because of their interest in a phenomenon’s meaning as other subjects see it (englander, 2012). also, giorgi (2009) states that a traditional face-to-face interview would be one way to gather data from another about a person’s experience. this method implies that the phenomenological research interview is a description of a participant’s experience as complete as possible. the interview was the starting point for data collection. interviews were videotaped. due to the nature of the participants’ communications in sign language, all interviews were videotaped entirely. the length of one-to-two hours was suggested to cover the entire interview process agreed by the participants. the interviews were transcribed into text by the researcher, requiring the help of an outsourced sign language interpreter who looked at the overall videotaped communication, including body gestures and facial expressions vital to understanding the participants’ entire responses.  since some sensitive contents unintentionally derived from the interview data, such as issues relating to poor compensation and participants’ working conditions, precautionary measures were implemented allowing participants to use pseudonyms and identifying markers such as school 24 jpair multidisciplinary research name and administrator were omitted from the original transcript to protect the identity of the participants.  an opportunity was set for a final meeting, allowing participants to verify and check the accuracy of the transcribed data. participants had the option of receiving a video copy of the recorded interview and hardcopy of the transcribed data if they wanted it to be available. no participants asked for copies. they requested the omission of identifying details that would link them to an organization that might compromise their identity. results and discussion the primary research question to be answered in this study is, “what is the essence of deaf teachers’ lived experience”? to be able to answer the research problem, the researcher has gathered three deaf participants based on specific criteria. this study involved deaf participants who were teachers during the time this study was being conducted. they varied in terms of a number of years and experience in teaching, but at least they should have a minimum of 1 year of experience in teaching deaf students.  the study participants described being a deaf teacher as a complex, dynamic experience. the nature of their experience’s complexity had led to the emergence of distinctive themes. six themes emerged from the pure, descriptive data derived from all the interviews representing the essence of the deaf teachers’ lived experience. the first theme described the professional aspect of their experiences that included their selected career, qualification, and personal credentials. the second theme defined the nature of their experiences in the school administration’s job process, accessibility and accommodation practices, and how they were treated as employees. the third theme elaborated on the aspect of their relationship with students, deaf co-teachers, and hearing. the fourth theme discussed the need to connect and access through community and government programs, and support from their immediate networks like family and friends. the fifth theme illustrated their work motivation and satisfaction, which were vital in establishing positive work experience. lastly, the sixth theme outlined their major challenges and difficulties as deaf educators and as people in a predominantly hearing society. below are the major and subordinate themes. 25 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. the major themes and subordinate themes derived from deaf teachers’ lived experiences                the pure and descriptive data collected and analyzed qualitatively could be summed up to six themes that emerged from the text transcription derived from all of the interviews, which represented the essence of the lived experience of the deaf teachers. theme analysis led to the development of six findings:  (1) the role of education and personal attribution in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. this implies the importance of professional identity and career education to the belief that skilled and trained teachers are in the teaching profession. education and relevant training were instrumental in securing a job in the teaching profession. deaf teachers see their career education as the basis for teaching and practice. all deaf teachers were beed graduates with sign language and rendered relevant training in deaf schools during their college training. education deaf graduates may be more likely to end up in teaching. this formed the basis for choosing teaching as a career. according to goodson, moore, and hargreaves (2006), professional identity and teacher preparation affect perceptions of teacher beliefs significantly. darlinghammond and berry (2006) noted that to perform well, teaching is a profession requiring considerable learning skills. good teachers need content knowledge and the ability to manage a classroom and design lessons for a diverse student mix (dunn, 2008).  26 jpair multidisciplinary research participants also called their students as determinants to influence their longevity and resilience motivation. they expressed genuine love and concern, looking for their best interest. they truly understand the situations of their students and see their students in them because they were once students who also endured socially-imposed challenges in a predominantly hearing society. they regarded teaching deaf students as passion and vocation.  this is in line with gu and day (2013), whose findings indicate that among the factors influencing teacher resilience are “the positive effects of teacher impact on student life.” the professional identity included areas that teachers described as giving them a sense of general activity and value in their profession: (a) why they teach, (b) great ideas and concepts, (c) classroom tone, (d) make a difference in society, and (e) connect and motivate students (dunn, 2008). participants offered insights into the impact of teaching deaf students on their commitment to helping students progress despite the negative experiences of teaching disabled learners. participants in this study align with collier’s (2005) notion that “a caring teacher is committed to his students. the teacher, in other words, accepts responsibility for student performance, whether it involves success or failure “(p. 354). although participants often reflected on their students’ challenges, participants identified that teaching deaf students took passion and love. this became one of their resilience reasons. teaching them takes a lot of passion and love reinforces collier’s (2005) finding that teachers who care “spend considerable time and energy to nurture and sustain each student” (p. 355). smith (2005) concluded that individual beliefs and values are a combination of countless life experiences. teacher beliefs are founded, shaped, and reinforced through early personal experiences as students, formal teacher training, teaching experiences, and cultural backgrounds (as cited in dunn, 2008). participants also believed that they, deaf teachers, should have the ultimate ability and devotion to patiently teach deaf students because they once became deaf students who had experienced compassion and care from deaf teachers. they believe that if there is someone who can love and care for deaf children, it is deaf in the person of a teacher.  students are determinants to influence the longevity and resilience motivation of deaf teachers. it takes a personal value and a strong commitment to the sake of their students, which reinforced their desire to choose this type of profession. it is found that the most influential factor of deaf teachers in teaching is the personal ascription of their perceived role as primary educators for deaf students. 27 international peer reviewed journal (2) the role of accommodation and inclusion in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. participants in this study viewed the school head and administrator’s accommodation practices positively. they felt satisfied with their superior’s accessibility privilege, as this is important in developing a positive working environment and experiences. this study found that deaf teachers aspired to have an intimate relationship with their school head far beyond a typical subordinatesuperior relationship. this is in line with berry’s (2012) findings that teachers’ satisfaction with their work environments is correlated with the following factors: (a) the helpfulness of administrator support, (b) whether administrators and general education teachers understood the roles and responsibilities of special educators, and (c) teachers’ shared responsibility for the education of students (p.12). cunningham (2015) studied resilience factors for teachers and found that a positive relationship with an administrator reinforces participants to excel in their duties; when they perceived a negative disconnect, they often described feeling isolated and had a negative impact on their experience. besides accessibility to superiors and administrators, it is imperative that workers feel fair treatment among organization members. green (2011) identified “workload issues” with low morale and increased attrition. participants also expressed their feelings of receiving a lower salary compared to their hearing counterparts. injustice or unfair employee compensation distribution is an influential factor in a teacher’s decision to leave the job. furthermore, participants were dismayed with the kind of work distribution and compensation treatment. it was noted that deaf teachers must perform multi-classes. inciting their own experiences, they commented on the unfair distribution of salaries between deaf and hearing teachers as they receive lower salaries than those of counterparts. this is congruent with carver-thomas and darling-hammond’s (2017) findings that accountability expectations and salary contribute to the attrition problems of teachers. this discusses the greater role of equal treatment as an influential factor for the positive work experiences of deaf teachers.  (3) the role of relatedness and belongingness in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. participants shared that it was through becoming teachers they would find and feel a sense of relatedness. they shared that being together with people having the same situation as them, made them capable of extending their network, giving them the opportunity for interaction and communication in a method which is obviously visual in nature, thus giving them a sense of relatedness. in support of this, cunningham (2015) found that teachers described their personal connections to their students who have special needs and how this influenced 28 jpair multidisciplinary research their long-term commitment. participants shared that it was their connections to the students that made them better teachers, and connections to the students were motivators to persevere. participants emphasized relationships with co-teachers. however, they have a smooth and sound relationship with each other, negatively viewing the relationship with hearing co-teachers. they felt isolated as if the participants described division among deaf and hearing teachers. the kind of relationship they had with co-hearing teachers affected their emotional well-being, resulting in distress and tarnishing the supposedly healthy social network and the relationship they hoped they had with them. a supportive and positive relationship is an integral part of the teaching experience. good peer relationships yield positive work experience and environment, resulting in improved morale and resilience. as cunningham (2015) noted, positive and supportive relationships with professional peers are crucial in resilience. as cited by skaalvik and skaalvik (2018), positive and supportive social relations with colleagues and school administration involve commitment and job satisfaction, but also well-being and lower burnout levels schlichte, yssel and merbler (2005) concluded that “strongly forged relationships and emotional well-being are protective and critical to retention” (p. 39). an encouraging and compassionate relationship is important for motivation and job satisfaction, as jones, youngs and frank (2013) noted that teacher relationships with their colleagues in general education are important to help them overcome the challenges they face. they added, “colleague support perception was a strong predictor of retention plans” (p. 365). daily experiences with coworkers, students, and administrators also influence teachers’ beliefs, and those with positive experiences are more likely to remain to teach (darlinghammond 2007, ware & kitsantas, 2007).  further, a common understanding among and between teachers and school administration, and as a set of common teacher practices, was positively associated with self-concept and job satisfaction (skaalvik & skaalvik, 2018). (4) the role of support and network in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. being disabled, participants felt isolated from their community and the people around them. this suggests an existing gap between them and the community due to their communication and interaction deficit. this intensified their desire to be included in community programs and activities to break this invisible barrier.  inclusion in community programs and activities breaks this invisible barrier. cunningham (2015) found the importance of being connected to the school and neighborhood community as influencing teachers’ decision to stay. henkin 29 international peer reviewed journal and holliman (2009) also concluded, “commitment is linked to the idea that strongly committed people to identify, participate and enjoy membership in an organization.” participants also shared their feelings with local and national governments. they did not intend to discredit the government, but their current situation intensified their desire to be heard by the government and eventually led to policies being implemented for people with disabilities. government provisions and laws promoting the welfare of deaf teachers in the area of employment make them feel secure and, in turn, can lead to positive self-esteem and valued self and dignified lives. having a positive view of one’s ability and self-efficacy is vital to becoming a productive and contributing member of society, in effect, can lead to a positive view of self-worth and self-concept.  participants also commented on the slackness of government intervention to provide sustainable, equal opportunities for deaf people. they sought government action to enact mandates and policies to implement full and equal opportunities for disabled people. participants were unaware of the existing “magna carta for the disabled” law. (5) the role of job satisfaction and motivation in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. in this study, it is found that numerous factors could influence a teacher’s desire to stay long in a belonging organization. deaf teachers identified several factors ranging from compensation, network support, technical work difficulties, etc. one of the factors that had been given greater emphasis was the care and concern of participants for students who also endured being disabled people. this finding supports gholami and tirri’s (2012) finding that caring teachers know their students well to meet their needs, desires, and struggles. they concluded that the core personal care of teachers corresponds to nurturing the entire character of students as humans. findings also revealed that the teacher’s compensation and benefits are important factors in the positive consideration and factor of staying in the job. most participants expressed dissatisfaction with their current salary, leading to poor resilience and low morale. all participants had thought of finding a new job or opportunity outside their organization that would offer better compensation. what worsens the situation is that teachers receive higher salaries than deaf teachers. this finding supports that of gilpin (2011), who concluded that the difference in teacher wages mostly affected the decision to leave teaching by teachers with less than six years of teaching experience. this finding also reinforces boe, bobbitt, cook, and whitener’s conclusion that turnover decreases as teacher pay rises (as cited in cunningham, 2015). 30 jpair multidisciplinary research (6) the role of difficulty and challenges in deaf teachers’ occupational experiences. teachers inevitably experience negative challenges and difficulties that might lead them to question their desire to stay in the job. participants’ major challenges included the frustration of passing the licensing examination, communication and socialization difficulties with the belonging community, lack of opportunities for training and seminars, and limited job opportunities outside their own organization. hargreaves and fullan (2015) noted that a good investment for quality teaching requires thorough teachers’ preparation and continuous development (p. 3). darling-hammond (2006) concludes that teachers who are fully prepared are better able to promote student achievement than teachers who are not fully prepared, whether formal training or having adequate resources for the job. as darling-hammond, hyler, and gardner (2017) noted, professional development is vital for becoming an effective teacher. throughout their career, teachers improved their self-efficacy perceptions by developing more skills for their jobs. this confirms the findings of cochran-smith (2004) and darlinghammond (2006) that prepared teachers are more able to meet their job demands. this is consistent with suell and piotrowski’s (2006) finding that teachers who are new to a field need to prepare before entering a classroom. teachers needed to know their managers were willing to invest in their teachers’ growth and development (darling-hammond, 2006; ware & kitsantas, 2007). although it was ultimately the teacher’s responsibility to seek career development opportunities, administrators needed to be willing to pay for substitutes and leave time to attend (dunn, 2008). work-related problems are inevitable. teaching deaf children seemed to challenge deaf teachers. participants raised and presented student-factor issues such as comprehension problems, absences, poor performance, and negative behaviors. participants tried to devise effective strategies and classroom management to cope with these student-related issues. classroom challenges and difficulties can affect the ability and efficiency of deaf teachers to develop effective strategies and classroom management to address classroom issues and concerns. this is consistent with stephenson, west, westerlund, and nelson’s (2003) belief that chaos and dysfunction often result from the stress of managing a large number of students’ complex dynamics. the ability to cope with these challenges may determine why some teachers are successful (cochran-smith, 2004). stress and poor stress management are considered a top reason teachers leave the profession (carver-thomas and darling-hammond, 2017). learning 31 international peer reviewed journal to find satisfaction within their limits can be job satisfaction and frustration difference (day, stobart & sammons, 2006). teachers with an understanding of culture and climate are more likely to find ways to manage their classrooms successfully (dunn, 2008).  deaf participants highlighted the problem with barriers between them and the community due to communication and socialization deficits. they appealed to the community to be more responsive and receptive to their existence. they suggested generating programs to enable their participation in societal activities. deaf teachers assumed that being connected to the community they work in and the ability to participate in their programs and activities would yield to progressive and productive community members and affect the well-being of deaf people. participants discussed their frustration in passing the teachers’ licensure exam. they wanted a teaching position in the public school system, and this was only possible by passing the board exam. they could just identify themselves as professionals. two of the participants revealed they tried the licensure examination and failed. they commented that the examination was difficult for them to understand. they sought a modification to suit their special needs in the provisions of senate bill 2118 (2014), also known as “an act declaring filipino sign language as the national sign language of the filipino deaf,” stating and directing the prc to take affirmative action by administering alternative assessment procedures that consider the deaf ‘s conditions and abilities and be language-appropriate and culture-fair to deaf education graduates. this act also directs deped to use affirmative action to recruit deaf persons using fsl (section 4c). it is found that deaf teachers were unaware of the existing procedure in creating a modified licensing examination for deaf graduates and their ability to work in deped. deaf participants experienced this frustration in line with day’s et al. (2006) remarks, “when teachers begin to feel unable to meet their students’ needs, it causes frustration, and they become dissatisfied not only professionally but personally with their jobs.” professional identification and eligibility are integral to the life goals of deaf teachers. conclusion the positive working environment and experience of deaf teachers are influenced by professional identity, personal attribution, perceived accommodation and inclusive practices, relatedness and belonging to significant 32 jpair multidisciplinary research others, support and network, job satisfaction and motivation, and ability to adapt to difficulties and challenges. the occupational well-being and welfare of deaf teachers are guaranteed through provisions of viable measures such as upgrading their education and skills training, providing equitable accommodation and inclusion in the workplace, expanding their support group and network, breaking the negative perceptions about their occupational limitations, expanding access to flexible working opportunities, and ensuring the comprehensive implementation of government’s legal policies and mandates aiming for the development of enhanced occupational opportunities of deaf teachers.  translational research study findings may best be translated into various communication media for information dissemination, if not further awareness or advocacy campaigns. results must be forwarded to relevant philippine national and local government agencies to ensure the welfare and well-being of deaf teachers and proactively intensify the implementation of existing legal provisions that aim to protect and safeguard the rights of deaf people in general. literature cited bagheri, a., & saadati, m. 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(2015). theoretical frameworks, methods, and procedures for conducting phenomenological studies in educational settings. turkish online journal of qualitative inquiry, 6(1), 1-20. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17569/tojqi.59813 https://bit.ly/2fgclfb https://doi.org/10.3200/joer.100.5.303-310 https://doi.org/10.3200/joer.100.5.303-310 https://doi.org/10.17569/tojqi.59813 jpair cover vol 11 single 1 international peer reviewed journal plagiarism and predatory publishing roberto n. padua co-chair, ched-jas twg commission on higher education republic of the philippines abstract the paper tackles the issue of predatory journals and publishers. jeffrey beall (2012), librarian at the university of colorado, coined the term ‘predatory publishers’ and defines them as “... those that unprofessionally exploit the author-pays model of open-access publishing (gold oa) for their own profit.” a socio-economic model for predatory publishing similar to the law of supply and demand in economics is proposed and made as basis for analyzing what can be done to eliminate this unethical practice. the paper concludes that, based on the model, the only way to stop the practice is to strengthen the nation’s higher education quality assurance system in research; institute national research journal accreditation systems and emphasize the value of professionalism and intellectual honesty in the academe. keywords predatory publishing, plagiarism, journal accreditation service introduction with the worldwide web and internet, the world has indeed become one global academic community of scholars with knowledge made available irrespective of spatio-temporal boundaries. open access publishing, established more than ten years ago, helped to generate a social climate that changed academic publishing for expanded worldwide access to latest research at cheaper cost (sanchez, 2012). then, predatory publishers exploited the situation by publishing counterfeit journals or journals of dubious quality and asking authors to pay. predatory publishers abound on-line and in the cyberspace: they are dishonest and aim to lure researchers, espevol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.193 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research cially those desperate and inexperienced authors wanting tenure, with a quick “fix” to their publication problems. these publishers are experts in mimicking the behaviour of legitimate journals and have websites that indeed look as respectable as properly indexed journals. there are faked journals that are willing to accept almost every article submitted for as long as the author is willing to shell out exorbitant fees. with stiff competition in the more respectable and indexed journals, authors opt to publish in these journals because they look legitimate anyway. author j. beall(2012) argued that “ journals that exploit the author-pays model damage scholarly publishing and promote unethical behaviour by scientists”. the academic community knows about this; talks about this; and discusses this phenomenon but the issue stays in the fringes of the academic world as if it were a juicy “gossip” that will remain juicy only if left on its own. just what sort of anomalies befall on the scholarly publishing world with predatory publishing? sanchez (2012) has opened a blog scholarly open access which serve as a forum for discussing predatory publishing and he averred: “some predatory publishers spam researchers, soliciting manuscripts but failing to mention the required author fee. later, after the paper is accepted and published, the authors are invoiced for the fees, typically us$1,800. because the scientists are often asked to sign over their copyright to the work as part of the submission process (against the spirit of open access) they feel unable to withdraw the paper and send it elsewhere.” legitimate authors and scientists feel victimized as evidenced by the hundreds of e-mails received by the blog administrator from victims seeking redress: how to withdraw an article submitted; what to do when their work is plagiarized by the predator; whether a particular publisher is legitimate or not; how to retrieved money solicited by the predators and so on. however, perhaps the most serious adverse impact of predatory publishing in scholarly work is when publishers print flawed, erroneous and low quality research articles read all over the world because quality control and quality assurance are absent. in this paper, we examine the phenomenon of predatory publishing and how it leads to wholesale plagiarism in the academic community. we also propose a socioeconomic model that can serve as basis for analyzing the phenomenon of predatory publishing with the end-in-view of minimizing their negative and adverse impact to the world of scientific research. the paper is mainly descriptive and expository precisely because the goal is simply to generate awareness of the existence of the problem in the academe and in the international community of scholars. 3 international peer reviewed journal a socio-economic model explaining predatory publishing if we are to address the issue of predatory publishing squarely, we need to analyze the situation carefully and understand the intricate interplay and dynamics of the forces that surround it. we claim that predatory publishing exists and appears to be flourishing because of social and economic factors obtaining in the academic world. to shed light on the matter, sanchez (2012) observed that the problem of predatory publishing is most severe in india and nearby countries where journals and publishers emerge every week. they are appearing because of the market need — hundreds of thousands of scientists in india and its neighbouring countries need to get published to earn tenure and promotion. in short, there is a very strong demand for new journals in various disciplines whereas supply is, at least theoretically, artificially limited through the imposition of quality assurance by way of thorough peer-review and by being indexed in either the thomson-reuters or scopus. economically, therefore, the situation can be viewed as a simple supply-demand model. to minimize supply provided by predatory publishers and journals, the law of supply and demand tells us that we should find ways to minimize demand. minimizing demand by providing no incentives i.e. not crediting articles published in non-indexed journals for promotion and tenure purposes, will have very limited impact and cannot succeed in eliminating predatory publishing. in the philippines, for instance, both the researchers/scientists and the authorities responsible for tenure and promotion ignore this provision. if the university officials impose the condition of publishing only in accredited journals on their faculty, the university’s budget suffers because public higher education financing formulae are based on the number of research articles published in international peer-reviewed journals (with no qualification on the quality of the peer-reviewed journals). the problem is not just with the publishers who act as clever businessmen. scientists and researchers themselves are also to blame along with university officials. many are taking pathetic shortcuts and paying for the publication of plagiarized or self-plagiarized work with the university officials abetting in the process. dishonest researchers playing with the system are earning tenure and promotion at the expense of the honest ones. soon, honest scientists and researchers will cease to publish their work because they stand to lose the most in this sorry state of unethical quagmire. when a legitimate researcher’s work is published alongside articles that are plagiarized or of low quality which give conclusions from rather unsound methodologies or manufactured data, the high quality research of the legitimate researcher will be tainted by mere association. the pressure and expectation to publish can be corrupting at several levels. when the threat of losing one’s means of livelihood becomes real (e.g. losing one’s tenure), 4 jpair multidisciplinary research a typical researcher will go through all means just to get published: first, produce a research by manufacturing data or by contracting someone else to do the research. next, search the internet for some predatory publisher/journal who will accept the paper for publication for a fee. finally, submit the “acceptance letter” to university officials as evidence of publication who in turn, uses the instrument to gain larger budget for the university. publication, however, will remain as the single most important criterion for obtaining a tenure in the academe. in other countries, universities require some evidence of journal quality such as impact factors or eigenfactors. corcos(2011) claimed that requiring such evidences need not necessarily eliminate predatory publishing because there are ways to get around these journal metrics. boksa (2012) editor of the journal of psychiatry and neuroscience, a high impact factor journal, believed otherwise. in the philippines, the commission on higher education began a tedious process of accrediting university journals through a journal accreditation service(jas) in order to ensure that high quality university-based journals are made available for faculty publication. university-based journals are easier to monitor by the state in terms of quality (through the mechanism of blind review process) than monitoring predatory publishers (which, to date, can be in the thousands). in order to monitor research journals, it is necessary to ensure that : (a.) there is some form of peer-review with the same standards of quality, and (b.) there is some form of recognition e.g. timeliness, content, and citation analysis (beall, 2012). the other dimension of the model is the social component which can be disjoint from the economic component. social prestige and social influence are two social variables which influence a researcher’s desire to get published, regardless of whether or not he gets monetary rewards from it. a well-published researcher is regarded high in the totem pole of academics and consequently wields considerable influence in academic circles. to majority of the researchers, particularly those who have retired from formal academic work but still do research, these are sufficient motivations to publish. the socio-economic predator-prey model proposed mimics the behaviour of a regular market economy where the predators (publishers) supply the desired service (publication for fee) to the preys (authors) who demand the services. we claim that predatory journals/publishers will cease to exist if there are no demands (preys) for their services. thus, the predators’ existence depends on the preys’ demand for their services. the predators feed on the need of the demanders and so, if such needs are minimized or eliminated, the predators will no longer find their businesses profitable. woodget (2012) rightly stated that “greater awareness of the existence of the problem , namely, the existence of predatory journals and publishers will suck the oxygen out 5 international peer reviewed journal of their trade. figure 1. socio-economic model for predatory publishing figure 1 shows the socio-economic model proposed for portraying the relationship between predator and prey in the context of academic publications. the rate at which predation occurs varies directly as the socio-economic variables found in the characteristics of the prey viz. the more intense are the needs for tenure and promotion , university budgets as well as prestige and recognition by the individual faculty, the more predators will emerge and the greater will be the financial requirements for publication. since all the socio-economic variables appearing as traits of the prey are and will remain as defining characteristics of the academe, the only way to put a stop to predatory publishing is to institute interventions. some the interventions proposed in the past include: the finch report proposals (nature 486, 439; 2012) which makes access to readers open but closed to authors; include only journals with high impact factors and citation counts for consideration ; naming predatory publishers as done by the beall’s report (2012), and others. each of these interventions have unwanted and unintended effects to the community of 6 jpair multidisciplinary research scholars. the latter intervention, that of actually naming the predatory journals and publishers, have limited value because of the fast rising number of predatory publishers. the proposed interventions under our model considers practical implementation issues such as: 1. it is easier for the state or its higher education regulatory bodies to impose journal accreditation systems at the national level and maintain a data base for the accredited journals than to monitor thousands of journals on line. this also allows the country to define its own quality (of research). state normative financing formulae can be modified to include this particular parameter. 2. once a national standard for research journals is established, the universities can define their own quality assurance mechanism to support their growing number of faculty seeking tenure e.g. direct all faculty seeking to publish their work to nationally accredited research journals. the university can, for instance, provide greater weights to articles published in isi/ thomson-reuters indexed journals than to nationally accredited journals, and no points for other types of journals not found within these categories of acceptable journals. 3. to respond to the need for prestige and recognition, national societies and organizations in specific disciplines can sponsor research symposia for all papers published in nationally accredited journals in the disciplines. the state can support activities of these nature by the guilds. 4. strengthening of the guild system implies that the professional societies police their own ranks. the concern for protecting the integrity of a profession is a matter that squarely falls on the societies, organizations and guilds. other considerations in academic research publication publication in reputable and properly indexed journals has become quite difficult with rejection rates ranging from 90 to 95 percent. consequently, neophytes and other promising young scholars are marginalized in the business of publishing new research results. predatory publishers take advantage of this situation by offering guaranteed and quick publication without the hassles of peer-review. the system of peer-review must, therefore, be carefully re-evaluated along this line: how can brilliant starters be given a chance to prove their worth if traditional lenses are used 7 international peer reviewed journal to examine their research outputs? benoit mandelbrot’s (1987) idea of modelling roughness and irregularities in nature as fractal geometry was initially scorned and dismissed as nonsense by traditional mathematicians who believed that the world is a world characterized by regularity and continuity until fractal geometry was proven useful in various settings. mandelbrot himself was a victim of several rejections in his attempt to publish in regular, reputable and respectable journals. this is a crucial point in scientific research because it is a point that unethical and exploitative publishers take advantage of. second, the idea of having a set of journals that belongs to the category of “reputable and proper” is viewed by many as elitist or quality control in disguise. what is truly needed is a quality assurance system that will enable one to say that a “journal is of quality and can sustain such quality”. the key to such a system is in the appointment of respectable scholars in the editorial board: scholars whose expertise and integrity are beyond reproach. a secondary element to this quality assurance system is peer-review by equally competent scholars on the subject matter of research. third, it is important that legitimate authors, researchers and scientists recognize a predatory journal/publisher when presented with one. beall (2012) realizes the difficulty in identifying a predator journal or publisher. predatory publishers use big words, promise quick publication, and have personalized touch with prospective authors (victims). sometimes, fees are not talked about until it is too late to back out. beall (2012) also provides a list of characteristics of predatory publishers which may be useful in spotting them. we remark that some legitimate publishers may also possess some of the characteristics we are quoting from the original list below: 1. the publisher lists insufficient contact information, including contact information that does not clearly state the headquarters location or misrepresents the headquarters location (e.g., through the use of addresses that are actually mail drops). 2. the publisher publishes journals that are excessively broad (e.g.,journal of education) in order to attract more articles and gain more revenue from author fees. 3. the publisher publishes journals that combine two or more fields not normally treated together (e.g.,  international journal of business, humanities and technology). 4. the publisher displays prominent statements that promise rapid publication and/or unusually quick peer review 5. publish papers that are not academic at all, e.g. essays by laypeople or obvious pseudo-science. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research 6. makes frequent announcements of international conferences, seminars and fora on their websites. finally, we maintain that all these issues boil down to the individual scholar and researcher. professionalism, intellectual honesty and a real sense of commitment to his discipline are hallmarks of true scholars. the academic requirement of “publish or perish” should be taken by each academic as an opportunity to further his search for knowledge rather than as a problem that needs solution: good or bad. there will always be opportunistic and enterprising individuals who will take advantage of a perceived demand by turning the situation into a business enterprise. this is as real as the problem of “ghost writers” in the philippines. just as we have provided solutions to the latter problem (see ched order no. 53, s. 2007 prescribing theory development for doctoral dissertations), we can, without doubt, also find a solution to predatory publishing. we are fast losing the breed of scholars in the old tradition of the academe in today’s overly materialistic world where everything is reduced to an economic bottom line. acknowledgment the author acknowledges the help provided by the philippine association of institutions for research president who provided most of the materials about predatory publishing and for bringing the phenomenon to the author’s attention. literature cited «open-access publisher appears to have accepted fake paper from bogus center».  the chronicle of higher education. 2009-06-10.  issn  0009-5982. «predatory publishing». the scientist. beall, j. 2012 beall’s list of predatory publishers 2013 boksa, p. 2012 “comments” (co-editor in chief, journal of psychiatry and neuroscience) butler, declan (2013-03-27).  “investigating journals: the dark side of publishing”. nature 495 (7442): 433–435. 9 international peer reviewed journal carl elliott 2012-06-05 «on predatory publishers: a q&a with jeffrey beall». the chronicle of higher education. commission on higher education ched-memorandum order, s. 2009. “providing a journal accreditation service for philippine higher education institutions” commission on higher education ched-memorandum order s. 2011. “list of category a and category b journals of research in the philippines” gilbert, natasha (2009-06-15) “editor will quit over hoax paper”.  nature news.  doi:10.1038/ news.2009.571. kolata, gina (2013-04-07) «for scientists, an exploding world of pseudo-academia».  the new york times. issn 0362-4331. sanchez, j. 2012 nature ( vol. 489,179) stratford, michael (2012-03-04) “’predatory’ online journals lure scholars who are eager to publish”. the chronicle of higher education. issn 0009-5982. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 13 international peer reviewed journal the appreciation of cryptocurrency: a study on digital asset knowledge among rural bank personnel in the second district of albay province jefferson c. ng https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5356-6548 jeffng0930@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines theresa t. nasser https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-5611 theresatabuenanasser@yahoo.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the covid-19 pandemic is a modern problem brought about by ease in travel, advanced trade and industry, and the like. this global health concern requires solutions to limit face-to-face interactions, such as cryptocurrency. the researcher makes an effort to use less fiat, which results in paperless transactions. with this system already in place, this study examined how rural bank personnel appreciate cryptocurrency. this study used the descriptive research design and an online survey as its data gathering tool. the respondents were regular employees of rural banks in the second district of albay who consented to participate in the vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.824 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:jeffng0930@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-5611?lang=en mailto:theresatabuenanasser@yahoo.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 14 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 study. the statistical methods used in the study were the kendall coefficient of concordance w and chi-square. the findings are the following: the rural banks’ managers were less appreciative of cryptocurrency, and supervisors and office staff felt indecisive about their appreciation. also, there is a significance of agreement among the respondents in terms of knowledge, regardless of rank. in general, the respondents were not ready to understand and accept cryptocurrency. this study recommends further research to involve other professionals in albay. the rural bank personnel may also attend webinars regarding digital assets and cryptocurrency. it also recommends the collaboration of banks to improve cryptocurrency appreciation and related concerns. keywords — social science, cryptocurrency, digital asset, knowledge, rural bank personnel, descriptive, philippines introduction when it comes to the capacity to apply traditional valuation procedures to crypto-assets, there is a healthy amount of skepticism. the extraordinary volatility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has heightened this during the last year. the technology quarterly of the economist magazine claimed in august 2018 that there is no reasonable way to value cryptocurrencies (johnson et al., 2019). however, traditional valuation methodologies and principles remain suitable and applicable to these assets, with a focus on assessing basic worth. such strategies should take into account the assets’ inherent volatility or riskiness, and they’re never more vital than when marketing exuberance and the underlying emotions of greed and fear drive values. the philippines has the second-lowest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world, at 2.9 percent, after only singapore at 3.3 percent. furthermore, by the end of 2015, knowledge concerning cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, had only reached roughly half of the adult population in the united states, implying that it will take another decade before the bulk of customers is aware of its existence (doblas, 2019). while several variables have been researched to lead to adoption, the most common antecedents to explain actual behavior are awareness and attitude, which in this study points to appreciation. this is due in part to a number of technology adoption models and theories that include the identified needs. 15 international peer reviewed journal the purpose of this study was to determine the cryptocurrency appreciation among rural bank personnel in albay’s second district and how this would lead to the province’s eventual adoption of cryptocurrency. this research will be useful in establishing baseline knowledge for determining the parameters that influence the level of success in the implementation of monetary systems like the topic examined. furthermore, the findings will add to useful knowledge about the potential degree of cryptocurrency adoption in developing economies like the philippines based on a variety of factors. framework in the field of information systems (is), technology adoption is a mature stream that has tried to recognize the factors that lead individuals in organizations to try to eventually implement new information technologies (it) in the workplace. according to daniel f., 2011, various theories and models have been proposed to describe the acceptance of technology, the most popular of which are the silva (2015) davis’ technology acceptance model (tam) (1989) and venkatesh et al. (2016) unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut). tam’s basic principle is that the purpose of an individual to try a new technology (intention to use behavior) and the actual use of it (use behavior) are related positively to that user’s perception of how useful the technology is “perceived usefulness” (pu) and how easy it is to use, that is “perceived ease of use” (peu). pu is formally defined as the degree to which an individual believes that using a specific system will boost his or her job performance, while peu is the degree to which an individual believes would be effortless to use an it system. the utaut defines a direct and positive influence of performance expectancy, social norms, and facilitating conditions on the intention to use technology. according to venkatesh et al. (2016), performance expectancy is the degree to which an individual considers using a specific technology useful to their performance. performance expectancy is the degree to which an individual considers using a specific technology useful to their performance. effort expectancy is the degree of ease associated with the use of a particular technology. social influence is the degree to which an individual perceives that others believe that they should use a particular technology. facilitating conditions are the degree to which an individual believes that he or she has the necessary organizational and technical infrastructure to use a particular technology. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the researchers see utaut as a theoretical basis for this study, especially in the formulation of the objectives and in coming up with the answers to the research questions. in general, this study describes the acceptance of cryptocurrency among the rural bank personnel in the second district of albay province, as evidenced by their appreciation of the subject matter. specifically, the direct and positive influences on the respondents’ intention to use the cryptocurrency technology can also be classified into performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and other facilitating conditions. as for the performance expectancy, the respondents’ appreciation of cryptocurrency through knowledge, attitude, and interest is applicable. regarding effort expectancy, the willingness of respondents to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services is applicable. the human factors influencing cryptocurrency appreciation can be classified under the social influence, while the security factors can be classified under other facilitating conditions. the technology acceptance model (tam) also serves as the baseline model for this study’s conceptual framework. with these two theories and models, the framework portrays a classic input-process-output pathway model. the researchers look at the familiarity and knowledge of the bank personnel with cryptocurrency as factors to perceived ease of use of the it system. this study’s data gathering tool identified the respondents’ familiarity and knowledge by answering the most familiar cryptocurrency, token, network, technology, and method for acquiring cryptocurrency and if it does affect the bank personnel’s appreciation of cryptocurrency. objectives of the study the objective of the study is to measure the bank personnel’s appreciation of cryptocurrency among rural bank personnel in the second district of albay province. it aims to (1) evaluate appreciation through rural bank personnel’s knowledge, interest, and attitude towards cryptocurrency. the study also aims to (2) assess the willingness of respondents to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services: bill payments, withdrawal, deposit, and investment. it also (3) identifies the factors influencing cryptocurrency in terms of human and security perspectives. the study also aims to (4) compute the significance of an agreement on the rank order of the respondents’ appreciation, willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems, and factors influencing cryptocurrency appreciation in terms of human and security perspectives and lastly to (5) devise an approach that may help increase the appreciation of cryptocurrency. 17 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study used a descriptive-quantitative research design as the researcher collected quantifiable data from respondents. with this research design, the researcher had the capability to provide clear information on this study and its variables. the researchers focused on the measures of the bank personnel’s appreciation of cryptocurrency using this type of research design. research site the study site was the second district of albay. as of 2020, albay has a population of 1,476,639 recorded by the national nutrition council in the philippines. it has three cities, one of which is the study site, the second district of albay province. as recorded by psa last 2015, albay has 107 banks, according to the philippine statistics authority website, 2018. with the total number of banks, a fraction was identified, locating all rural banks in the second district of albay upon proceeding with the methodology. primary sources of data were the bank personnel from different rural banks in the second district of albay province. the participants were bank personnel of the rural banks, from top management to all staff of the bank, composed of 12 managers, 17 supervisors, and 71 office staff. instrumentation the instrument was in a survey in the form of an online survey form as the primary tool in this study. it included a non-disclosure note to put respondents at ease in providing their answers to the questionnaire. it also contains guidelines to respondents for respondents who are not tech-savvy. survey questionnaires were indicated with the aid of google forms as it neatly presents surveys and automatically presents data collected in a chart format. the questionnaire was answerable by only drop-down, ticking, and selecting options for a respondentfriendly survey form. the responses were then converted into data through google sheets, which the system of google automatically generated, to present them in an organized manner. research ethics protocol the research was not submitted for ethics review because its procedures entail no more than minimal risks, and the population under study is not vulnerable. also, recorded information cannot readily identify the respondents, whether 18 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 directly or indirectly. the online survey form was designed in consideration of the respondent’s rights to confidentiality, voluntariness, and freedom from undue influence. results and discussion cryptocurrency appreciation based on knowledge. the office staff is most knowledgeable on: (1) cryptocurrency, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.55; (2) cryptocurrency wallet/s and exchange/s, 2.48; and (3) cryptocurrency token/s. the managers are most knowledgeable on: (1) cryptocurrency, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.33; (2) cryptocurrency wallet/s and exchange/s, as well as cryptocurrency token/s, both 2.17; and (3) the method/s of acquiring cryptocurrency, 1.92. the supervisors are most knowledgeable on: (1) cryptocurrency, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.59; (2) cryptocurrency wallet/s and exchanges, 2.29; and (3) cryptocurrency token/s, 1.94. as identified in the study of al-amri (2019), knowledge is one of the factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption that must be addressed. these results can also imply the respondents’ appreciation, based on the findings of da silva et al. (2015), that knowledge has an effect on product appreciation. cryptocurrency appreciation is based on attitude. the supervisors have a neutral attitude toward cryptocurrency, with a weighted mean for w1 of 3.12. their appreciation of cryptocurrency based on attitude is shown through the following indicators: (1) the belief that it is possible to transact online using cryptocurrencies, as well as the belief that business transactions will change due to cryptocurrency, both with weighted mean for an indicator of 3.41; (2) the recognition of cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange, 3.00; and (3) the belief that cryptocurrencies can be used in hedging funds, as well as the belief that it is possible that cryptocurrencies will replace monetary regulators and financial intermediaries, both 2.88. the office staff also have a neutral attitude toward cryptocurrency, with a weighted mean for w1 of 3.04. their appreciation of cryptocurrency based on attitude is shown through the following indicators: (1) the belief that it is possible to transact online using cryptocurrencies, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.35; (2) the belief that business transactions will change due to cryptocurrency, 3.24; and (3) the belief that it is possible that cryptocurrencies will replace monetary regulators and financial intermediaries, 2.93. on the other hand, the managers are less likely to appreciate cryptocurrency based on attitude, with a weighted mean for w1 of 2.08. so far, their appreciation 19 international peer reviewed journal of cryptocurrency based on attitude is shown through the following indicators: (1) the belief that it is possible to transact online using cryptocurrencies, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.5; (2) the belief that cryptocurrencies can be used in hedging funds, 2.25; and (3) the recognition of cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange, as well as the belief that business transactions will change due to cryptocurrency, both 2.00. these results partly agree with the inference made by doblas (2019) that the negative attitude of respondents reflects their skepticism and view of cryptocurrencies being risky and thus less attractive as an investment. cryptocurrency appreciation based on interest. all groups are interpreted to be neutral in terms of their appreciation of cryptocurrency based on interest: the supervisors having a weighted mean for w1 of 3.18; the office staff, 3.03; and the managers, 2.39. supervisors and office staff are mostly interested in cryptocurrency as a payment method, with weighted means for an indicator of 3.29 and 3.14, respectively. at the same time, managers are mostly interested in cryptocurrency as knowledge. this neutral interest in cryptocurrency among the respondents can still be implicated in their skepticism and view of such as risky. willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services. in all activities that serve as indicators for the respondents’ willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services, both office staff and supervisors are neutral with weighted means of 3.05 and 3.02, respectively. at the same time, the managers are only slightly willing, with a weighted mean of 2.13. in terms of bill payment, the office staff and supervisors are neutral in their willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services, with weighted means for an indicator of 3.11 and 2.94, respectively. on the other hand, the managers are only slightly willing to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bill payment, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.17. as to cryptocurrency deposits, the supervisors and office staff are neutral in their willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services, with weighted means for an indicator of 3.12 and 3.01, respectively. at the same time, the managers are only slightly willing to adopt cryptocurrency systems in deposits, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.17. in terms of withdrawals, the office staff and supervisors are neutral in their willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services, with weighted means for an indicator of 3.06 and 3.00, respectively. on the other hand, the managers are only slightly willing to adopt cryptocurrency systems in withdrawals, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.08. as to cryptocurrency investments, the office staff and supervisors are neutral in their willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in bank services, both having a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.00. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 on the other hand, the managers are only slightly willing to adopt cryptocurrency systems in investments, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 2.08. the results show that the respondents, who are filipinos, still have a low willingness to adopt cryptocurrency systems in different transactions or activities, such as bills payment, deposits, withdrawals, and investments. this opposes the result of a simple survey by arias-oliva et al. (2019), which, found in her paper, analyzes the key factors for the successful development of a cryptocurrency from a consumer-behavior perspective. using a technology acceptance theoretical framework, we test a model able to explain almost 85% of the intention to use cryptocurrencies. the factors influencing cryptocurrency appreciation in terms of human and security perspectives. for the managers, the human perspective factors that influence their cryptocurrency appreciation are ranked as follows: (1) lack of government support, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.00; (2) ease of use, as well as monetary instability, both 2.75; and (3) usefulness, 2.58. as to the supervisors, the human perspective factors that influence their cryptocurrency appreciation are the following: (1) usefulness, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.47; (2) monetary instability, as well as lack of government support, both 3.41; and (3) ease of use, 3.18. for the office staff, the human perspective factors that influence their cryptocurrency appreciation are ranked as follows: (1) usefulness, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.13; (2) lack of government support, 2.97; (3) monetary instability, 2.94; and (4) ease of use, 3.08. for the managers, the security perspective factors that influence their cryptocurrency appreciation are ranked as follows: (1) financial risk, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.42; (2) security risk, 3.42; and (3) time risk, 3.08. as to the supervisors, the security perspective factors influencing their cryptocurrency appreciation have the same order as the managers. their perceived financial risk has a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.00, 2.94 for security risk, and 2.82 for time risk. the office staff has a ranking of security perspective factors that are different from both the managers and the supervisors. the factors influencing this group’s security perspective factors in their cryptocurrency appreciation are ranked as follows: (1) security risk, with a weighted mean for an indicator of 3.14; (2) financial risk, 3.13; and (3) time risk, 3.11. usefulness is the most common human perspective factor found among the respondents. this factor is validated by the basic principle of the technology acceptance model (tam) that the purpose of an individual to try a new technology and the actual use of it are related positively to the user’s perception of how useful the technology is (perceived usefulness). the unified theory of 21 international peer reviewed journal acceptance and use of technology (utaut), the theoretical basis for this study, also validates this top result on usefulness. one of the direct and positive influences for utaut is performance expectancy, which is the degree to which an individual considers using a technology useful to his or her performance. financial risk, which is the most important security consideration among the manager and supervisor groups, is the possibility of losing money on an investment such as cryptocurrency. on the other hand, more important than the financial risk is the security risk consideration among office staff. in the context of this study, the security risk is the possibility of personal accounts containing money, as well as identifying information, being hacked. the significance of an agreement on the ranks of cryptocurrency appreciation indicators. among the indicators for cryptocurrency appreciation, only knowledge is considered to have significant agreement among the ranking determined by the manager, supervisor, and office staff respondents, based on the result decision on h1 of @0.01. all these groups are interpreted to be slightly knowledgeable on cryptocurrency, with the first two (2) groups both having a weighted mean of 2.02 and the latter having 2.38. the remaining indicators for cryptocurrency appreciation, attitude and interest, are found not to have significant agreements among the ranking determined by all respondents. these are based on the rejected decisions on h1 for both indicators. these results show that across all positions in rural banks of the 2nd district of albay, knowledge is a common area to address to improve literacy on cryptocurrency. at the same time, the attitude and interests of this personnel may be varied and still have to be explored for their possibly multiple and diverse factors. conclusions the following conclusions are drawn: (1) in the study setting, rural bank personnel do not seem to prioritize or give weight to the importance of cryptocurrency. based on their responses, the respondents’ insufficient knowledge of cryptocurrency lessens their appreciation. also noted in this study is the indecisiveness of the respondents as to their attitude toward cryptocurrency. both the insufficient knowledge and indecisiveness in the attitude of these respondents impact their interest in cryptocurrency, further hindering their appreciation of this digital asset and its benefits. managers were most likely to slow down cryptocurrency appreciation by other ranks in their respective rural banks, being the leaders and the deciding bodies of their 22 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 respective firms. managers seem to see no pressure from executive management to require their personnel to acquire knowledge of cryptocurrency. (2) cryptocurrency services are less likely to be adopted by the rural banks in the 2nd district of albay. the managers were less willing compared to other ranks. this may be concluded as part of the generation gap issue, assuming managers were of earlier generations, which makes it harder for managers to figure out the appropriate technology to adopt cryptocurrency services. the managers also treat cryptocurrency as a threat to the banking system as they may have misunderstood the concept of decentralization. (3) the respondents’ uncertain responses on how they view cryptocurrency, along with its human and security risks, show a lack of understanding of cryptocurrency systems. gray areas exist when it comes to cryptocurrency technologies, based on their perspective. (4) the significance of agreement in knowledge among respondents signifies that they see cryptocurrency as just another technology and not something of importance in the future. even with the adoption from some 1st world countries, respondents were not ready to accept cryptocurrency as something to be knowledgeable about. this may be caused by the philippine government’s lack of interest in this topic, that the rural banks need not study this area of the digital asset. the respondents see cryptocurrency knowledge to be less beneficial to them and their firms. translational research to fully appreciate cryptocurrency, the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publication, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit their marketing strategies. additionally, the respondents should consider attending seminars on cryptocurrency topics to further increase their knowledge. a welldevised learning design can amplify cryptocurrency knowledge. in addition, the inclusion of a minor subject on digital assets in the curricula of finance and other finance-related courses shall also be considered. this way, future generations can be equipped with proper awareness when dealing with future monetary systems. for future researchers, cryptocurrency awareness can be first identified within the local community of albay, aside from bank personnel. researchers may also conduct future studies correlating the respondents’ demographic profile on awareness or appreciation of cryptocurrency. narrowing down respondents’ demographics associated with their awareness or appreciation will lead to better 23 international peer reviewed journal measures to address skepticism and other negative concerns about the use of cryptocurrency. future researchers can also recommend better steps to improve cryptocurrency appreciation and awareness from the results of these studies. the rural banks should also look into collaborations with other banks in terms of improving cryptocurrency appreciation among their personnel. with this, rural bank personnel will be able to better appreciate cryptocurrency and will be able to see its full potential as a monetary system. through collaborations, bank personnel may be able to share their expertise and even ideas on new emerging technologies in relation to finance systems. it may highlight the need for other technologies, such as cryptocurrency, for the existing finance system to catch up with the continuous change in society. the future areas of study may look more into management, such as (1) the level of expertise of professionals in terms of cryptocurrency trading; (2) the businesses’ acceptance degree of cryptocurrency; and (3) the lgu’s understanding of cryptocurrency as far as the current state of cryptocurrency is involved in albay, or even further. another area of study may be in health or healthcare, such as (4) the application of cryptocurrency as payment in hospitals. as we move forward, when cryptocurrency is accepted in our society, areas of study may be in finance: (5) the average profit of businesses from cryptocurrency holdings, and information technology, such as (6) the development of applications in handling cryptocurrency. these areas of study are related to business management to add more baseline knowledge and may even lead to practical applications in relation to the discovery of cryptocurrency systems. the researchers propose a seminar or workshop for students and professionals to improve cryptocurrency appreciation. the proposal is a learning design devised by the researcher, which includes complete details such as the rationale, objectives, methodologies, the use of online platforms, logistics, costing, a program of activities, and evaluation of learning intervention. this proposal will definitely help in raising awareness of this new monetary system, especially during this time of the covid-19 pandemic, when we look for alternative payment systems to limit face-to-face interactions across the globe. literature cited al-amri, r., zakaria, n. h., habbal, a., & hassan, s. (2019). cryptocurrency adoption: current stage, opportunities, and open challenges.  international journal of advanced computer research, 9(44), 293-307. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 arias-oliva, m., pelegrín-borondo, j., & matías-clavero, g. (2019, march 18). variables influencing cryptocurrency use: a technology acceptance model in spain. frontiers in psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fpsyg.2019.00475 da silva, o., crilly, n., & hekkert, p. (2015). how people’s appreciation of products is affected by their knowledge of the designers’ intentions. doblas, m. p. (2019). awareness and attitude towards cryptocurrencies in relation to adoption among college students in a private tertiary institution in cagayan de oro city, philippines.  international journal of advanced research and publications, 3(4), 15-19. johnson, r., bufton, j., & daniel, j. (2019). the valuation of crypto-assets minds made for shaping financial services. silva, p. (2015). davis’ technology acceptance model (tam) (1989). information seeking behavior and technology adoption: theories and trends, 205-219. venkatesh, v., thong, j. y., & xu, x. (2016). unified theory of acceptance and use of technology: a synthesis and the road ahead. journal of the association for information systems, 17(5), 328-376. 42 build an artificial coral reef community extension project: an impact study jose b. ballesteros https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2315-6246 joseballesteros537@gmail.com university of saint anthony iriga city, camarines sur, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract coral reefs are ecologically important as they provide shelter and life support to the marine resources, sustain ecological balance, and human existence. coral reef degradation is an ecological problem that needs human intervention and is considered a school’s social responsibility. the usant college of maritime education and college of engineering and architecture rationalized social responsibility in partnership with the bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources (bfar) and the philippine coast guard auxiliary (pcga) and the barangay pararao, balatan, camarines sur, region v, philippines. the researcher used the impact evaluation and study design substantiated by an fgd and underwater diving of bfar marine specialists to ascertain the impacts of the artificial coral reef project in drawing environmental awareness and determine the actual effect of the artificial coral reefs as shelters and spawning sites of fishes. findings reveal that communal participation in safeguarding the vicinity of the reefs emanating at the barangay level is evident; the community folks had gained an understanding of the role of coral reefs in the ecosystem and school of fishes shoaled in the vicinity. thus, this coral reef project drew positive attention, reduced minimalistic attitudes, and increased environmental awareness. the artificial reefs now serve as vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.795 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:joseballesteros537@gmail.com mailto:joseballesteros537@gmail.com mailto:os537@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 4343 international peer reviewed journal natural habitat. active partnership and participation of the stakeholders and the provision of budget are imperative to sustainable project implementation. keywords — ecology, social science, artificial coral reefs, impact evaluation, impact evaluation, and study design, philippines introduction coral reefs are some of the most productive ecosystems on earth that support the marine living organisms at sea that reverberates to the survival and growth of other living organisms on earth. also known as the rainforests of the sea (shannon, 2018; swart, 2013), fishes, corals, lobsters, seahorses, sponges, and sea turtles are only a few of the thousand creatures that rely on reefs for their survival, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, (noaa, 2017). “reefs at risk revisited” (2011) reported that 75% of the coral reefs are at risk from local and global stresses. ninety (90%) of the coral reefs will be in danger by 2030 and nearly all of them by 2020. the drastic increase in temperature (jokiel, 2016; banaguas, 2014) siltation, (banaguas, 2014; white, vogt, & arin, 2000) and the impacts of long terms biophysical conditions (banaguas, 2014), the accumulated human impacts and the combined with current fishing pressures and devastating coral mortality in 2015, have resulted in a degraded coral reef ecosystem state at puakō in west hawaiʹi. changes to resource management are needed to facilitate the recovery of ecosystem functions and services (weijerman et al. 2018). in the philippines, overfishing, destructive fishing methods, and sedimentation have damaged and destroyed many reef areas, white, vogt, & arin, 2000). a study revealed that the manifestations of organic nutrients discharged from streams adjacent to the populated areas in palau may cause a shift in the balance of corals and algae found in shallow barrier reefs, which can be aggravated by intense agriculture, land degradation, and overfishing, (colin, 2009). on this note, the responsibility of rehabilitating and mitigating the impacts of coral reef degradation and how each individual from all walks of life will be a potent factor should be the concern of the government, non-government organizations, schools, and families, and community. schools can share the greatest responsibility as it caters to educating the minds, teaching the hearts, and making a difference (soriano, 1995). 4444 jpair multidisciplinary research schools contribute in two ways; rehabilitative and educative. the former deals with the artificial reef building activity while the latter pertains to the continuous environmental teaching of the community folks who are direct beneficiaries of the project.  the university of saint anthony (usant) is not only concerned with providing quality education to the students but also in reaching out to help the marginalized sectors of the community through its corporate social responsibility initiatives and community extension projects. usant’s community services are not only limited to its adopted barangay but to other barangays, municipality, or towns within the province of camarines sur it serves. it is in this context that the college of maritime education and the college of engineering and architecture decided to rationalize their goals through the build an artificial reef project in pararao, balatan, camarines sur. the project idea emanated from the people of bfar; region v coral reefs are diminishing. the college of maritime education and the college of engineering and architecture, in coordination with the community extension service (ces) office, decided to conduct an ocular inspection in the vicinity to be able to gain an idea on how and what project will be implemented.  the group then found out that the coral reefs in the said place started to vanish. it is in this perspective that the group decided to help the community by building an artificial coral reef to help the small fisherfolks to earn a living. the college of engineering and architecture also envisioned to provide livelihood programs for the people in the place while waiting for the reefs to grow to temporarily address the needs of the people in the place. the said project was realized with the help of the bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources (bfar) and the philippine coast guard auxillary (pcga).   framework the framework displays the elements that contribute to the preservation, rehabilitation, and survival of coral reefs towards sustainable development. the political, legal, technological, economic, environmental, social, and educational factors should lead towards a holistic approach to ecological conservation and balance.   4545 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. conceptual framework there is a need to strike a balance of the factors that affect coral reefs because they are interrelated and symbiotic. the pestle analysis, formerly pest analysis, (morrison, 2007) is a framework or tool that can be used to analyze and monitor the macro-environmental factors that have a profound effect on an organization’s performance. in addition to pestle, there is another e that stands for education, hence a new acronym, which is pestle that applies to the current study. the researcher believes that the political, economic, technological, environmental, social, and legal factors encompass the survival of the coral reefs. any government policies created, be it local or national, leadership styles and priorities, the employment, demographics, education levels, cultural trends and lifestyles, technology, industrialization, legislations, laws, and ordinances are all external forces that may directly or indirectly strike on ecological balance. as water seeks its level, all the impacts of the policies, processes, and practice will succumb to the ocean, as water flows down to seek its level. 4646 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study aims to: ascertain the degree of response of the community folks in the community extension project; determine the impacts of the artificial coral reef project as perceived by the fisherfolks in balatan, camarines sur, and by the divers from the bureau of fisheries and aquatic resource, (bfar), philippines; draw recommendations from the fisherfolks as to how the community can help conserve marine resources.   methodology  research design the study utilized the impact evaluation and study design in order to measure the impact of the artificial coral reef rehabilitation project of the university of saint anthony, iriga city, philippines, following three steps: (1) defining interventionanswers the question: “what are we evaluating,” (2) measuring performance – answers “what and how to measure,” (3) attributing causefactual or counterfactual. according to world bank, as stated by the (ng, 2013), impact evaluation aims to (a) assess changes in the well-being of individuals, households, communities or firms that can be attributed to a particular project, program or policy (b) provides feedback to help improve the design of programs and policies. the impact measures how well the program delivers an intervention and the outcomes. impact evaluation is making causal inferences about the effect of a program on a target population. steps in the determination of impact contextualized by the researcher: observation, inquiry, actual/factual observation, consultation, and evaluation. the observation was conducted to determine the response of the community folks, their extent of participation, and the evidence of actual and communal participation.   an inquiry was made to ascertain whether the attitudes and behaviors of the community folks have changed before and after the implementation of the project. the factual observation was carried out in the actual diving of experts from the bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources (bfar) to determine the effects of the artificial reef environment. consultation with experts from bfar as to the technical aspect; the community officials on the environmental, social, economic, political, and cultural factors and the members of the academe for 4747 international peer reviewed journal educational implications. evaluation of the project measures the outcomes according to the degree of participation of the community folks and the actual effect of the artificial reef as an artificial home of the living organisms at sea. plate no. 1 coral reef model the group tried to identify first a coral reef model, which became the pattern in building the reef. the said model is shown in plate no. 3. from the above model, the usant group started to build the reef by having a dry run on how the reef will be arranged at the seabed as shown in plate no. 4 plate no. 2 onsite preparation 4848 jpair multidisciplinary research after the demonstration, the students and volunteer residents enthusiastically started to dismantle the reef to be loaded in the boat in preparation for the actual reef-building on the seabed. the building of the reef was done by two persons but was assisted by the men who boarded the boat to assist those responsible in loading the hollow blocks in the sea. the hollow blocks were unloaded before they started building the reef underwater. the divers were equipped with diving paraphernalia. plate no. 3 building the coral reefs in may 2019, two more modules were installed in addition to the six modules planted in 2017. surprisingly, the bfar divers revealed the presence of a school of fishes in the artificial reef areas. the environment is calm and green as several varieties of fish were observed shoaling, such as  tulingan  and  sweet lips or plectorhinchus. these fishes find refuge in the artificial reefs as divers find their way into the reefs for ocular inspection. plate no. 4. actual ocular inspection plate no. 4 ^ ƒ˜ ™~œ=l ƒ™œ~–=f ’ —” …ƒ˜ ‰“ ’= = 4949 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the support of the barangay folks was immense as their presence was evident in all meetings, consultations, preparation, and actual installation of the artificial reefs or modules. plate no. 5. the researcher explaining the importance of coral reefs according to one of the community folks, expressing with gratitude, she is thankful for the community extension project that serves as an eye-opener for the people in the community on the plight of the sea, the low fish catch, overfishing, and siltation, and coral reef destruction. plate no. 6. the community folks during the orientation 5050 jpair multidisciplinary research a year after the reefs were built, the key persons on the “build a reef project” visited the place and found out that algae and mosses have become evident. one of the residents commented: “the fisherfolks have observed fishes shoaling in the vicinity of the artificial reefs, indicating that marine life is starting to rebuild itself.” as commented by norma alamo, a resident of pararao, a public school teacher, she overheard from the small fishermen that the “build a reef project” will be of great help, especially to the fisherfolks who are entirely dependent on the marine resources. mrs. alamo disclosed further that the small fishermen are hoping that more artificial reefs will be constructed and installed to put back life into the sea. moreover, based on fgd of the community folks who themselves are fishermen, the impact of the artificial reef project is seen on the change of attitudes of the fisherfolks on marine conservation and protection. people now are more aware of the effects of marine pollution on coral destruction, illegal fishing, and the long term benefit of artificial reefs on sustainable development. livelihood programs for women, environmental teaching for the youth, clean-up drive, advocacy programs are a few of the projects that will be further undertaken by usant based on the recommendations of the local folks. regular visits, documentation using an underwater camera, and installation of at least two more modules are the upcoming projects of the usant community extension office in response to the mandate of higher education to deliver quality extension projects towards inclusivity and sustainable development. conclusions community involvement is pivotal in the effective and efficient delivery of community extension projects; otherwise, this project will be a failure. people’s stewardship, discipline, and collective efforts combined with continuous engagement with partners are key elements of sustainability. the impact of the project is long-term, but reasonable and obvious results are observable in the community folks’ overt behaviors, actual observations, and underwater evidence divulged by authorities. community initiatives such as clean-up drive, women empowerment programs, income-generating projects, environmental awareness campaigns, and a strong political will from the barangay folks, youth participation with parental guidance are essential elements. 5151 international peer reviewed journal translational research the findings of the study can be translated into a documentary manual that will provide an updated record of the existing marine life in balatan, camarines sur. it will also raise awareness of the local folks and enhance the partnership of the university to the different stakeholders (i.e., bfar, phil. coast guard). the impacts of the artificial reefs may not be similar to the natural reefs, but their presence can certainly shelter the marginal fishes and become a fish sanctuary towards sustainable development. acknowledgments the research would like to express his gratitude to the community folks of pararao, balatan, camarines sur, the university of saint anthony community headed by its president and chairman of the board, atty. santiago d. ortega, jr, and atty. butch sd. ortega, jr. engr. editha dacara, dean carlos epres, dr. marilou tino, mrs. evelyn de villa, pcga, bfar, faculty, students, and the participants who gave their all in the realization and optimization of the project. all your efforts shall pave the way towards a sustainable environment now and in the future. literature cited banaguas, g. (2014). impact assessment of climate change of coral reefs in busuanga, palawan, philippines. retrieved from https://rspb. royalsocietypublishing.org burke, l., reytar, k., spalding, m., & perry, a. (2011). reefs at risk revisited. world resources institute. retrieved from https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter. org/handle/20.500.12348/1107 colin, p.l. (2009). marine environment of palau downloaded from https:// coralreefpalau.org hughes, terence p. phase shifts, herbivory, and the resilience of coral reefs to climate change, current biology, vol. 17, issue 4, 20 february 2007, pages 360-365. retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ s0960982207008822 march 10,2020 5252 jpair multidisciplinary research jokiel, p. l. (2015). predicting the impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs: evaluating the assumptions involved. ices journal of marine science, 73(3), 550-557. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0031 morrison, m. (2007). pestle analysis downloaded from https://rapidbi.com ng, m. (2013). impact evaluation and study design to measure effectiveness. global health, university of washington. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2n7pxpu soriano, l. e. (1995).  save mother earth: what schools can do. phoenix publishing house. swart, p. k. (2013). coral reefs: canaries of the sea, rainforests of the oceans. nature education knowledge, 4(3), 5. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3427ubj weijerman, m., gove, j. m., williams, i. d., walsh, w. j., minton, d., & polovina, j. j. (2018). evaluating management strategies to optimise coral reef ecosystem services.  journal of applied ecology,  55(4), 1823-1833. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13105 white, a. t., vogt, h. p., & arin, t. (2000). philippine coral reefs under threat: the economic losses caused by reef destruction.  marine pollution bulletin,  40(7), 598-605. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/s0025326x(00)00022-9 79 international peer reviewed journal factors affecting the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies in english among higher education teachers in lipa city allan d. tipan adtipan222@gmail.com orcid no.: 0000-0001-6771-3476 lipa city colleges, lipa city abstract the study attempted to describe the factors affecting the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies in english among teachers in higher education institutions in lipa city and determine the relationship between the demographic characteristics and their assessments. the study was done during the school year 2010-2011. three higher education institutions in lipa city were selected as the research locale. total enumeration was used as sampling for the study. both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed. the respondents agreed that the factors of context of acquisition, accommodating speech norms and code switching, degree of contact with second language users and level of confidence affect their sociolinguistic competence. likewise, they also agreed that the factors of questioning skills and use of non-verbal communication affect their strategic competencies. variations in terms of the relationships of different demographic characteristics and their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies were also established. a general sense, the teachers’ diverse characteristics generated different points of view on how the factors affect their competencies. this led to the conclusion that they are the ones responsible why the factors influence their competencies. they should be the ones responsible for affecting culture and not culture to affect their language competencies. it is of great importance that teachers should take the initiative to study and systematically use the competencies which they can work on. hei administrators should offer professional development seminars as these are necessary for the effective use of the teachers’ competencies. vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.224 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords competency, sociolinguistic competence, strategic competency, context of acquisition, code switching, confidence questioning skills, non-verbal communication introduction for many years, the philippine economy on one key asset in attracting foreign investors – the filipino competency in the english language. undoubtedly, the philippines although quite a tiny archipelago in southeast asia, owes a big slice of its economic success to the english competency of its people as the country receives worldwide recognition for being a rich source of english speaking global manpower – from skilled laborers to qualified professionals (sjal m. 2008) with this, the demand for better english proficient filipinos gets increasingly more and more important. however reports of the sharp decline in english competencies hover as evidenced by falling school standards. the mass exodus of linguistically skilled professionals compounds the problem. this scenario has become a great challenge to both government and education sector (fernando& asucena 2006). while both sectors are trying their best to address this problem, realities of deteriorating english competencies within the country persist. reports of low employability, failed english competency results using international standards, increasing low performance in licensure examinations, poor comprehension skills, and sub-standard english skills of more than 400, 000 graduates are evidences of low quality of instruction and training in english (fernando& asucena 2006). the philippine government is trying its best to address this problem as bigger fund allocation (fajardo, 2009) is given to improve the quality of english instruction in the country. lipa city is fast becoming an industrial and business center in the southern tagalog region. it is also home to many ofw and business professionals. it is also an important center for education with the numerous establishments of higher educational institutions (heis) which cater to the employment demands of local and foreign industries. major higher educational institutions (heis) of the city include prominent establishments like de la salle lipa, lipa city colleges, and batangas state university among others. these schools have been home to many graduates of different disciplines. given the numerous heis, the city also takes a part on the realities happening within the national setting. concerns of competent graduates who are equipped not only with the specific skills required in their disciplines but also good command of 81 international peer reviewed journal english as it is the language of most local and foreign employment has continuously been a major challenge on their part. while it is claimed that it is possible to deliver meaningful, engaging, tertiarylevel content to all students while supporting their language development needs as english language learners and much effort have been exerted to improve the quality of english language instruction, still, the hei graduates barely seem to achieve maximum competencies in learning the english language. rather, reports showed that the quality of literacy and english language competency continue to deteriorate. results of the yearly licensure examination produce less than fifty percent on almost all disciplines (prc, 2008). furthermore, many of the graduates from the city did not get jobs immediately because of several factors and one of these is lack of competencies in the english language. call centers like teletech and acs which are based in lipa city for example, receive numerous applicants monthly however only a few are hired because of the lack of english competencies. in some industries, human resource offices commonly complain about the quality of applicants who fail to be hired because of their failure to pass interviews and written examinations. some of them lack the ability to express themselves well in english and to engage in meaningful and effective communication. bpap (2007) attributed these to the inadequacy of training in the college years which is in turn complicated by the quality of instruction and learning experiences provided by their mentors. given these realities, teachers of the different higher education institutions in the city feel the lack of success in instruction specifically in teaching english as a second language among their students. they carry the burden of searching for effective formula that will be a solution to this problem. however reports claimed that the biggest reason why such situation exist, is because of poorly trained teachers in english (seameo innotech, 2009), and some of them even prefer the alternate use of both filipino and english inside their classrooms. this is contrary to the specifications of the media of instruction (visconde, c., 2006). furthermore, other subtleties of language teaching like proper choice of words, enunciation, use of higher level questions, gestures and meaningful exchange of communication are not properly delivered. teachers are one of the primary sources of students’ competencies in english. however, the teaching of english is not only confined to teaching the structures of the language but, it is more on teaching the students the ability to use it in actual situations. while technological advancements like the internet, social networks, and textbooks, provide information and knowledge, and serves as an avenue to learn the structures of english as a language; these are the teachers who provide the model to 82 jpair multidisciplinary research transform these information and knowledge into actual speech or communication events along with the proper competencies on how to deliver them. teachers scaffold students’ learning and are encouraged to develop their communication skills. the teachers provide situations and the students respond to those situations. however, communication using english does not mean that information is conveyed only with correct structures of the language but, it requires more complex art and higher competencies. the teaching of english in communication has to be interesting, respectful of individual differences, without biases, meaningful and effective. to do this, a teacher must be an expert not only on grammar skills but also in both sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. sociolinguistic competence means knowing how to use and to respond to language situation appropriately when given the setting, the topic, and the relationships among the people communicating. sociolinguistic competence could be affected by the context of instruction, accommodation of speech norms and code switching, and even the amount of contact with language users. on the other hand, strategic competence refers to knowing how to recognize and repair communication breakdowns, how to work around gaps in one’s knowledge of the language. strategic competencies of teachers could be affected by their ability to handle conversations and work on gaps through the use of questioning skills and non-verbal communication. these are higher level of competencies required of all teachers in order to deliver effective instruction in english. failure to use the language using necessary sociolinguistic and strategic competencies may affect how students learn english. it is important however, to understand fully what causes a teacher to be labeled “unequipped” or “lacking” in the competencies of an ideal teacher. is it the external environment of teachers that cause their failure to develop the desired competence in english; or is it the teachers themselves who have problems that affect their competence? the realities mentioned above prompted the researchers to conduct this study. its purpose is to assess the factors affecting the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies of teachers in higher educational institutions in lipa city. 83 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study pursued the following objectives: 1. find out the demographic profile of the hei teacher-respondents; 2. determine the factors that affect the teachers’ sociolinguistic competence english; 3. determine the factors that affect the strategic competency in english; and, 4. trace the relationship on the responses of the teacher-respondents in the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies in english across the higher educational institutions in lipa city, when grouped according to their profile. methodology research design the survey-correlation design was used for this study. it was deemed fit for the study as the researcher first conducted a survey and correlated the findings to a second purpose. during the survey, the researcher sought the demographic characteristics of the respondents as well as their evaluation of the factors affecting their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. afterwards, the surveyed data about the respondent’s demographic characteristics were correlated with their assessment of the factors affecting their sociolinguistic and strategic competenciesthus, the survey-correlation design. subjects of the study the research respondents were faculty members from three prominent higher education institutions in lipa city. the researchers utilized total enumeration as sampling method for this study. out of the total 150 respondents, 68 or 45.33% came from lipa city colleges, 58 or 38.7 came from de la salle lipa, and 24 or 16% came from the batangas state university satellite campus. to achieve pertinent information, certain inclusion criteria were imposed. the selected participants were all full time faculty members of their respective institution who teach subjects that require english as the medium of communication. this qualification ensured that the participants understand the nature of the competencies being asked in the questionnaire. the researcher however, did not consider as to what particular subjects or courses the teachers handle. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research data gathering and procedure for this research, two types of data were gathered. these included the primary and secondary data types. the primary data were derived from the answers that participants gave using a survey questionnaire. the secondary data, on the other hand, were obtained from published documents and literatures that were relevant and supportive of the findings of the study. with the use of the survey questionnaire and published literatures, this study took on the combined quantitative and qualitative approach of research.  in addition, the researcher also conducted structured interviews among the respondents in order to find out the veracity of the responses and add the gathered information as support for the findings. the survey questionnaire was used as the main data-gathering instrument for this study. the questionnaire was divided into three main sections: the demographic characteristics, the survey proper and the grammar competency test. the demographic characteristics of the respondents surveyed include the respondent’s age, civil status, educational attainment, gender, income, in service trainings, length of service, type, type of collegiate institution, school graduated from, years of teaching experience, and level of proficiency. the survey explored the perception of hei teachers in terms of the factors affecting their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. for the sociolinguistic competence, the factors explored were accommodating speech norms within the context of instruction; context of acquisition; degree of contact with second language users; and their level of confidence. for the strategic competence, the factors assessed were the respondent’s questioning skills, and use of non-verbal communication. to further ensure the veracity of the responses of the teachers, the researcher conducted several classroom observations to see how teachers make use of their strategic competencies. likewise, the researcher also conducted some focused group discussions among students and asked them how their teachers make use of questioning and non-verbal reactions as they teach. the researcher recorded and noted some of the observations in order to support the findings of the study. the questions were structured using the likert format. in this survey type, five choices are provided for every statement. the choices represent the degree of agreement each respondent has on the given statement. the scale below was used to interpret the total responses of all the respondents for every survey question by computing the weighted mean: 85 international peer reviewed journal symbol range                       interpretation 5 4.20 – 5.00              strongly agree 4 3.40 – 4.19                  agree 3 2.60 – 3.39 moderately agree 2 1.80 – 2.59                    disagree        1 1.00 – 1.79                       strongly disagree the likert survey was the selected questionnaire type as this enabled the respondents to answer the survey easily. in addition, this research instrument allowed the research to carry out the quantitative approach effectively with the use of statistics for data interpretation. lastly, the grammar proficiency test is used to determine the competency of teachers in the structures of the english language. the aforesaid test is included since grammar competency serves as one of the most important foundation of sociological and strategic competencies. this means that one would have a difficult time conveying information in english if there is poor knowledge of grammar and lexical structure. the grammar proficiency test has been adapted and modified from several sources. among these sources include the toefl online proficiency test and some are adapted from jonathan maliksi’s efl learning book, 2nd edition. the grammar test was validated using item analysis. five areas of grammar proficiency were tested. these are subject-verb agreement, tenses, diction, preposition and sentence styles. these are reported to be the common areas where errors are oftentimes committed by teachers as they speak in english. to measure grammar proficiency, the scores were gathered and grouped into their specific ranges. the range for grammar proficiency is the following: symbol range                       interpretation 5 49-60 highly proficient 4 37-48 proficient 3 25-36 moderately proficient 2 13-24 less proficient 1 0-12 not proficient 86 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical treatment the total responses for each item were obtained and tabulated, after gathering all the completed questionnaires from the respondents. data was then processed and analyzed using the following statistical tools. 1. frequency distribution. this was used to gather data about the profile of the respondents. 2. ranking. this was used to arrange data in a series in ascending or descending order of importance. in this study, the researchers ranked the items in descending order. 3. weighted mean. this was used to interpret the likert scale representing the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies of the respondents. 4. coefficient correlation. this was used in the validation of the instrument; in determining the degree of relationship between the profiles of the respondents and assessing the factors that affect their competencies. results and discussion 1. demographic profile of the higher education institution (hei) teachers in lipa city the greater part of the research population belong to the ages of 31 – 40, mostly female , married, and graduates of private institutions during their college years . as a requirement for college instructors , majority have finished their masters and doctoral degrees . most of them have also been teaching for 1-8 years and have also undergone in-service trainings in english at about 16-30 hours at a span of 3 years. in terms of their scores in grammar proficiency , most of the respondents were found to be less and moderately proficient in grammar . 2. sociolinguistic factors affecting the teachers’ competencies in english. 2.1. the context of acquisition the respondents agreed that the context of acquisition affects their sociolinguistic competences. specifically, they strongly agreed that the institutional context helps to provide them a clearer identity as professionals and is best achieved when their institution encourage them to use english. the lowest in their assessment is that solidarity and unity are best gained among members of the institution when communication is done in english. 87 international peer reviewed journal the goal of all the heis under study is to prepare their students to be globally competitive professionals. it is part of their accountability and corporate responsibility to provide their students and clients with competencies required by the global market. to become globally competitive, one has to transform its goals into social practices. social practices are transcended to language that afterwards the practice shape identities (chan 2007). language gives the identity of social practice, it gives the identity of culture, it molds the shape of existing statuses of people in society. on the other hand, solidarity and unity are perceived not to be gained by speaking the english language alone as schools contain diverse cultures, beliefs, interests, religions and economic systems. while the english language is contributory to the school success, others find it also as a cause of division among members of the institution. 2.2. degree of contact and input. the respondents agreed that the degree of contact and input affect their sociolinguistic competences. specifically, they attested that the exchanges of information that they encounter daily are comprehensible. they barely agreed on the idea that speaking in english is a living experience within the community. although the use of english is being emphasized in schools subject, other subject areas except filipino and social studies do not have strict rules in using english as their medium of instruction. other teachers on the other hand have difficulty translating tagalog words in english. 2.3. accommodating speech norms and code switching. the respondents considered the addresses, associated topics, and settings of conversation make them shift in the native language. this is when they talk with other members in their community like the janitorial staff, canteen personnel and other individuals whom they encounter in the institution. the reason behind is that oftentimes, the teachers would meet or will be put in situations where there is a separation of functions for their two languages. while teaching, the teachers would interact fully in english, but as they go out of the classrooms, they would eventually meet speakers with whom the use of the native language will better meet the communicative ends or the precision of meaning will be better imparted in the native language. according to the milroys, use of the standard language is associated with high social status dictated by the norm-enforcement mechanisms. individuals from workplaces tend to shift from the standard language 88 jpair multidisciplinary research used in work into the vernacular as this indicates solidarity with local people, customs, and norms. on the other hand, the respondents barely agreed with the idea that they shift to their native language during conversational interaction with students, peers and coworkers based on school rules to use english in communicating with their students and peers. furthermore, the teachers attested that they have no problems with their ability to communicate in english but oftentimes, they shift to the native language as a form of empathy to their acquaintances, who most of the times, are not proficient with the english language. 2.4. level of confidence. the respondents agreed that level of confidence also affects their sociolinguistic competence. primarily, they find that their english language competency is adequate to produce meaningful interaction between them and the people whom they are talking with. herbert marsh (2006), noted academic self-confidence is indeed sometimes separate for specific areas. they tend to remain silent specifically when the topic is (far) different from their expertise. however, they are very loud and eloquent when the topics are of common interest to them. furthermore, the respondents barely agreed that they are comfortable using english whenever they talk with people. this can be attributed to the fact that they have problems with proficiency. as krashen (1981) noted, a speaker must have comprehensible input before he can produce comprehensible output. 3. factors affecting the teachers’ strategic competencies in english. 3.1. questioning skills it was summarized that the teachers agree that their questioning skills affect their strategic competencies in english. they strongly agreed that they see to it that the manner in which they ask questions is appealing enough to create a response. the teachers recognize that it is the quality of questions that elicit the best response and the continuity of communication. appealing questions encourage continued conversation, and help them get more information and the best possible response.  appealing questions also provide opportunities to gain insight into the other person’s feelings thus making the listener more connected with the speaker. 89 international peer reviewed journal the respondents, however barely agreed that the way they ask questions identify the things that their acquaintance would like to see changed, and set the process for problems to be solved. they attested that questions were meant to identify needs and understand more of the situation but not a way to impose status and power. 3.2. non-verbal communication. eye contact proves to be the most important non-verbal factor agreed by the respondents to affect their strategic competences. they maintain eye contact and smile whenever they are talking and shun the idea of avoiding eye contact. the respondents put emphasis on the importance of eye contact as well as smiling to be highly effective. for the teachers, sustained eye contact is a rich dimension of non-verbal reaction that speaks volume. for the speakers, it expresses truth and genuine sincerity and as a listener it means interest and attention. for them when individuals respond with their eyes they allow others to have a sense of their emotional state and increase feelings of communication satisfaction. likewise, the teachers attested that they use smiling as it elicits positive reaction. according to them, they are perceived as likable, happy, friendly, warm and approachable. they shared that the reaction of the people whom they are talking with are more favorable whenever they smile. on the other hand, they do not approve it when their audience avoid eye contact. for them it is a sense of disinterest, avoidance or deviousness. 3.3. critical thinking skills. the respondents strongly agreed that they are likely to try and gain the best possible understanding of a given situation/response based on reasons and evidence. they barely agreed that they are likely to ignore reasons and relevant evidence which may go against their personal beliefs and opinions .this finding showed that teachers are rational whenever they communicate with the members of their community. they value the importance of sound evidence and opinions in their evaluation before responding to a question or problem at hand. this is the very essence of critical thinking. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research 4. correlation between profile and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. 4.1. correlation between age, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies age is significantly related to the respondents’ approval that questioning skills affect their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. the teachers understand that inquiry lies at the heart of every academic endeavor. the art of inquiry as a skill improves through age. this is the reason why the best professors and perhaps the most experienced ones do not want to teach their students the “facts” (unlike the young and aggressive ones) of the discipline so much as they want to help them construct knowledge by asking interesting questions within that discipline. they want their students to develop appreciative inquiry of things. age has no significant relationship with the teacher’s assessment that context of acquisition , degree of contact and input , accommodating speech norms , level of confidence , nonverbal communication and critical thinking skills because these factors are powered by normative pressures . at any given age, the factors will come into the picture as they are dictated by social and cultural constructs. it is up to the teachers to react and make use of their competencies as these factors appear into their communicative events. batstone (2002) classified that language users essentially confront two contexts: communicative and learning. communicative contexts require that the learner use the english or the second language as a tool of sorts for exchanging information and participating in important social and interpersonal functions. learning contexts are those in which input and learner output are fashioned normally with the assistance of an environmental factors. in communicative contexts, learners may or may not be as oriented toward furthering their linguistic development as they would be in a learning context. questioning skill is a communicative context while context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills are learning contexts 4.2. correlation between civil status, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies civil status is significantly related to context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills but not related to the questioning skills. 91 international peer reviewed journal the context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills are learning contexts and questioning skills are communicative contexts. having these, one has to understand that the home (of married and non-married teachers) and the external environment (outside of the institution) of teachers are heavily biased towards learning contexts as they are confronted by the affective variables that are built heavily into social and interpersonal functions. while teachers dedicate all of their time to using their communicative competencies in english inside the school these are sometimes opposed by the family context where the surrounding culture is their native language. the balance is stuck between learning and communicative contexts because participants are asked to agree, in principle, to switch the language that they use for professional functions to the language that they use for social and interpersonal functions. 4.3. correlation between educational attainment and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies educational attainment is significantly related to the assessment of the respondents’ level of confidence but is not significantly related to their assessments of the context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, questioning skills, and non-verbal communication. the respondents agree that given their varying educational attainment, the level of confidence affects their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. this is due to the fact that the level of confidence is part of their internal locus of control while the other factors that include the context of acquisition, and degree of contact and input are part of the external locus of control. a study by rotter (1954) and rotter, chance, and phares (1972) suggested that people generally identify either an internal or external locus of control in their lives. those with an internal locus of control tend to believe in their own ability to control events, whereas people with an external locus of control believe other people or events determine their own circumstances. the essential difference is that self-direction focuses on internal standards of direction for behavior, whereas conformity focuses on externally imposed conditions. level of confidence is a moving force within the respondents are essential in directing whether they would conform or not to the socio-cultural standards set by the institutional context. vitz, p. (1995) noted that self-actualization or fulfillment of one’s potential and accomplishments in the real world affects one’s attitudes. it could be inferred that people who have had a great deal of accomplishments has a higher level of confidence. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, the context of acquisition, degree of contact, accommodating speech norms, questioning skills, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills are external factors which are directly imposed on hei teachers. 4.4. correlation between monthly income, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies monthly income is significantly related with the assessment of context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, questioning skills but is not significantly related to non-verbal communication critical thinking skills. as the majority of the respondents belong to average incomes, they generally agreed that the context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, questioning skills affect their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. the reason behind these is that the aforementioned variables are social constructs that define a person’s prestige or social class. these factors are commonly wound up with identity and with a sense of the community affected by cultural norms rooting from varying degrees of class stratification. people with high income usually belong to high prestige classes and definitely use varying degrees of communicative competence and strategies in their communication. the same is true with the degree of contact and input, in accommodating speech norms and even in questioning skills. usually people in high prestige stratum have higher control and access of communicative events. on the other hand, people in low prestige has limitations as their use of language is only associated with a choice that is gained from within group social identification. on the other hand, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills are not limited by prestige as both are available and applicable at any given situation. 4.5. correlation between in-service training, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies inservice training is related with questioning skills, context of acquisition but not related with the degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, and non-verbal communication. in-service trainings are significant to the factor of questioning skills. trainings are given to fill knowledge and practice gaps within the existing context of instruction. during in-service functions, teachers are equipped with strategies and tools that allow the analysis of problems and situations. in doing so, the teachers are presented with current developments which allow them to make sense of the new concepts that are 93 international peer reviewed journal going to be explained, and, at least, guarantee the interest and, motivation to learn them. it is followed by training, which is more related with instruction where they are presented with clear and structured concepts on how to fill the gaps in knowledge. the last stage of the process is an action that consists of implementing the practice of the acquired knowledge or competency. the teacher’s self-awareness of the gaps within knowledge predetermines her or his communication with the student. the respondents perceived that their in-service training has a significant relationship with the context of acquisition as the influence of the aforesaid training will consequently influence the context. the implication of the training and innovation programs influences the final effects in the teaching practice and ultimately the atmosphere of the school. the teachers assess that their in-service training have no significant relationship with the degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, non-verbal communication and critical thinking. this is partly because the trainings in english that were given to them are very minimal and barely touches the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies. oftentimes, the trainings given were on teaching strategies and linguistic competencies. 4.6. correlation between collegiate institution attended, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies collegiate institution attended is significantly related with context of acquisition but not related with the degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, questioning skills, non-verbal communication and critical thinking skills. this finding elucidates the nature of interdependence between individual learning and social processes in learning and development. the first is that individual development, including higher mental functioning, has its origins in social sources. the individual dimension of consciousness and knowledge are derivative and secondary. from this perspective, the mental functioning of the individual is not simply derived from social interaction; rather, the specific structures and processes revealed by individuals can be traced to their interactions with others. as the teachers who were learners before participate in a broad range of joint activities and internalize the effects of working together, they acquire strategies and knowledge of the world and culture. the learner therefore, comes to an understanding that it is adequate for using the culturally elaborated object in the novel life circumstances and situations he encounters. learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when an individual is 94 jpair multidisciplinary research interacting with people in his environment and peers. thus, learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human, psychological functions and this is the main reason why the collegiate or previous education is very much relative to the context of acquisition. during interviews, the teachers attested that their previous education affected their ways of communication in the sense that those were the days that they were fully trained of their competencies. 4.7. correlation between gender, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies gender is related with context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms, level of confidence, and non-verbal communication in the sense that these factors are socio-cultural normative. meaning, they could contain norms that may invoke comparison of status and social significance between the masculine and feminine gender. the socio-cultural context, for example, could show notions of gender as a social and cultural construct often invoking explanations based on women’s supposed greater status consciousness, greater awareness of the social significance of variants, and concern for politeness. however, this consciousness often invoke women within a context have greater tendencies to “over-report” or “overreact” their usage of communicative competencies. there is also greater tendency for women to use more non-verbal reactions than that of the men and women may defend that such use is a way to achieve status denied to them through other outlets. 4.8. correlation between length of years in service, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies length of years in service is related with accommodating speech norms, questioning skills critical thinking skills but not related to context of acquisition, degree of contact and input and non-verbal communication. length of service is significantly related with strategic competencies but not with the sociolinguistic competences. this could be attributed to the fact that the teachers have been working at an average of 8 or more years. thus, it is perceived that they have already adjusted themselves to the culture and patterns of communication used in their institutional setting. on the other hand, the length of service is of a significant relationship with the strategic competencies because, teachers are exposed to diverse personalities and cultures. the school likewise offers a variety of systemic changes where the teachers are the primary end-user. in this diversity and unexpected changes, teachers have to 95 international peer reviewed journal deal with decisions requiring their strategic competency skills. 4.9. correlation between grammar proficiency, and sociolinguistic and strategic competencies grammar proficiency is significantly related with the level of confidence and not related with context of acquisition, degree of contact and input, accommodating speech norms and code switching, questioning skills, and non-verbal communication. this finding can be best explained by labov’s (1981) definition of linguistic insecurity. this is very common among bilinguals. linguistic insecurity is the anxiety or lack of confidence experienced by speakers and writers who believe that they do not conform to the principles and practices of standard english. oftentimes, linguistic insecurity occurs among people belonging to low prestige status. this linguistic insecurity is shown by the very wide range of stylistic variation used by lower-middle-class speakers, by their great fluctuation within a given stylistic context, by their conscious striving for correctness, and by their strongly negative attitudes towards their native speech pattern. conclusions based on the analysis of data, the respondents agreed that their sociolinguistic competence was significantly affected by the factors of context of acquisition, accommodating speech norms and code switching, degree of contact with second language users, and level of confidence. likewise, the respondents agreed that questioning skills and critical thinking skills and non-verbal communication affect their strategic competence. variations in terms of the relationships of different demographic characteristics and their sociolinguistic and strategic competencies were also established. in a general sense, the teachers’ diverse characteristics generated different points of view on how sociolinguistic and strategic competencies affect their english competencies. it was their diverse characteristics that influence varied psychological, emotional and social perceptions about their competencies. among the pertinent examples are their views that gender and context causes them to do code switching, gender influences their confidence while talking, grammar proficiency influences their confidence, educational attainment influences their questioning skillsamong others. in totality, the teachers need to exert more initiative and self-determination to improve themselves in order to achieve the desired competence. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited batstone, r. 2010 sociocognitive aspects of second language learning and teaching, oxford: oxford university press. business processing association of the philippines (bpap) 2007 average won’t do for philippines bpo industry. http:// bpoindustryphilippines.blogspot.com/2011/12/average-wont-do-forphilippines-bpo.html. chan adrian social interaction design 2009 http://www.gravity7.com/blog/media/2009/09/social-interaction-designbeyond-use.html fajardo, lorelie 2009 the philippine english system http://maricelmar.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/the-philippine-englishsystem/ gumperz j. 1993 discourse strategies. studies in international linguistics. edition 9. cambrifge university press. new york labov w. 2003 the social stratification of english in new york city. 2nd ed. cambridge university press.cambridge, new york marsh h. 2006 reciprocal effects between academic self-concept, self-esteem, achievement, and attainment over seven adolescent years: unidimensional and multidimensional perspectives of self-concept. http://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pubmed/18340036 mills, sarah 2003 gender and politeness. cambridge university press. cambridge, new york 97 international peer reviewed journal milroy, lesley 1980 language and social networks. oxford: blackwell prc. 2008 performance of schools , top performing schools september 2008 let results. http://www.prcboardnews.com/2012/11/performance-of-schoolstop-peforming.html (retrieved, june 2008) rotter, j., chance, j., & phares, j., 1972. applications of a social learning theory of personality. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice hall. vizconde camilla j. 2006 attitudes of student teachers towards the use of english as language of instruction for science and mathematics in the philippines. center for educational research and development (cerd),  university of santo tomas, manila, philippines. http://www.linguistics-journal.com/ november_2006_cjv.php (retrieved, june 2008) vitz, paul 1995 the problem with self-esteem. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/ education/ed0001.html pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-journals; 3) google scholar; 4) index copernicus; 5) scholastica; 6) researchgate; 7) lacriee of france; 8)university library of leipzig, germany; 9) linguist list; and 10) the journaltocs. international peer reviewed journal 35 species diversity of rattan (uay) in selected municipalities in the province of abra, philippines mary joan t. guzman http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7106-2979 maryjoan.guzman@gmail.com abra state institute of science and technology abra, philippines abstract rattan (uay) is known for its commercial use such as furniture and handicrafts species diversity of rattan (uay) in danglas, licuanbaay, lagayan, dagiuoman, a dichotomous key and to assess the species diversity using biological diversity indices. phytochemical analysis of the leaves, roots, stalk of rattan (uay) was done. calamus merrilii, calamus ornatus, calamus microcarpus, and calamus sp. position of the thorns and spines in the plant body, and leaf sizes. phytochemical contents of the stalk, roots, and leaves of rattan (uay) contain the most abundant medicinal properties. biological diversity indices revealed that calamus merrilii, calamus ornatus, calamus microcarpus, and calamus sp. were most abundant species of rattan (uay) found in tubo, dagiuoman, danglas, lagayan and least diverse in baaylicuan. lapat system was the conservation and preservation method of rattan (uay) in tubo and dagiouman, danglas, lagayan, baay sustenance. vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.318 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. jpair multidisciplinary research 36 keywords biodiversity, tingguians, rattan, indigenous, endemic, diversity, species, abra, philippines introduction the global perspective of rattan development emphasized the economic, socio-cultural and ecological importance of rattan to a large number of people in the world. the international network for bamboo and rattan (inbar) & food and agriculture organization (fao) 2000, focused on rattan development and noted the depletion and decline of rattan resources in their natural range of tropical forests in asia and africa due to exploitation, inadequate replenishment, poor forest management and loss of forest habitats. southeast asia dominated the international rattan trade with more than 600 species and 13 genera identified. indonesia is the dominating export country of rattan furniture, mats, plaits and basketwork and china is the dominating import country of rattan canes. vietnam is the third supplier of rattan furniture and basketwork to europe, germany and france. in the philippines, it ranks four in the global export of rattan furniture and basketwork. in the luzon part of the philippines, there are 31 species of rattan and commonly located in mindanao. majority of the genera found are the calamus, daemomorops, korthalsia, and plestocomia. the most diverse among the group is the calamus. there are 45 species, but 32 are endemic, nine species are found in mindanao, and 11 species grow in luzon. daemonorops has 14 species, but 12 are endemic. the korthalsia has only 1 species which is found only in palawan. plestocomia has only 2 species available and 1 is endemic in the country (rivera, n.d)   abra belongs to cordillera administrative region (car) in northern luzon. it is a province of ilocanos and tingguian people. these tingguians are considered to be indigenous, and their lifestyle is very simple and ordinary. their livelihood depends on native animals and plants found in the area. abra is abundant of native plants such as ampupuyat, karimbobet, siksiklat and other edible plants found in the place. some of these plants are once described and identified by some taxonomists. with their researches, they found that some aboriginal plants are good source of dye. however, there are still unknown plants that are yet to be described and identified concerning their nutritional and medicinal uses.           rattan is commonly referred by abrenians as “uay”. it is a climbing palm; it has climbing stems, and leaves covered with thorns or spines, hair, and bristles. it is locally grown in the tropical forest of abra, and it grows much faster than some international peer reviewed journal 37 other tropical woods. the online data about rattan were just limited because information about indigenous plants are mostly found in printed journals or books. based on the interview of the indigenous people in some areas where rattan (uay) is locally grown like licuan-baay, the young shoot tip called “pait” is edible. the “pait” is grilled and seasoned with bagoong; they consider it as an exotic food of tingguian. they claim that its vegetative part can cure ailment and diseases like stomach ache and hypertension primarily because of its bitter taste. the opinion of the people on its medicinal usage is similar to some researcher’s idea that some species of rattan in other countries can be used as medicine for many kinds of body aches. bamboos & rattan resources which are the major commodity in abra are now becoming endangered because of too much harvesting of forest resources for livelihood purposes. indigenous people are unaware of the issue that these plant are vulnerable to endangerment. local government units (lgu) is finding ways of using bamboo and rattan resources to alleviate poverty and protect the environment. hence, they encourage local researches to study on bamboo and rattan. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the species diversity of rattan (uay) in the province of abra. specifically, it sought to characterize the character states of rattan and identify the taxonomic classification, phytochemical analysis and conservation & preservation of rattan in abra. materials and methods materials the materials used in the study were the ff; for identification: one whole plant of rattan (uay) and dissecting microscope, for characterization: leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds of rattan (uay), and dissecting microscope, for phytochemical analysis:1kilo of rattan (uay) leaves, roots & stem, for species diversity: tape measure (50 feet), rope, and scientific calculator and for interview: notebook and pen jpair multidisciplinary research 38 research ethics protocol the researchers made courtesy calls to mayors and community chieftains for the permission to conduct the study. they obtained gratuitous permit from the department of environment and natural resources office. research sites the large number of rattan species and their wide geographic range is matched by great ecological diversity. the knowledge of the population structure, distribution, rate of regeneration, the number of harvestable stems per hectare etc. of each species is essential and forms the basis of an understanding of potential sustainability. a preliminary survey was done through interview to locate where rattan (uay) species are available (figure 1). the researchers had chosen lagayan (light orange), baay-licuan (white), villaviciosa (brown), dagiouman (pink), tubo (blue) and danglas (dark violet). the selected sampling areas were from the municipalities of abra where rattan (uay) is mostly abundant. the length of the sampling sites per sampling area was 10 x 50 m. figure 1. map of abra showing the location of the sources of rattan (uay) international peer reviewed journal 39 interview on conservation and preservation of rattan (uay) the researchers went to the office of denr and conducted an interview regarding the maintenance and conservation of rattan (uay) in the province of abra. they also interviewed folks from the visited places in abra regarding the usefulness, conservation, protection and preservation of rattan (uay) in their municipalities. laboratory works a. identification of rattan (uay) identification of rattan (uay) in myanmar, sulawesi, maliku and papousia were done through survey work and herbarial material but the taxonomic global nomenclatural identification of rattan were compiled in the alice database program (dransfield, 1988). however, in this study, the researchers used the dichotomous key to identify taxonomic classification of rattan (uay) (malabrigo jr. & fernando, 1993). b. description on the morphological characteristics samples of rattan (uay) were gathered and brought in the laboratory for the characterization of species based on the root type, leaf structures, flower, fruit, and seed (simpson, 2010). c. phytochemical analysis in previous researches of rattan, cane anatomy by weiner and liese (1989) show significant differences between genera, groups of species within genera & differences between closely related species as anatomical basis for differing the qualities of rattan. going beyond the characterization of anatomical, phylogeny & demography detail of rattan (uay), the researchers determine the chemical composition of each species of rattan (uay) through phytochemical analysis. plant samples were collected from the study sites. these were brought to saint luis university (slu), baguio city for chemical analysis. d. diversity of rattan (uay) species of rattan (uay) found in the sampling sites were counted and recorded individually to assess the species diversity of rattan (uay). jpair multidisciplinary research 40 research design the descriptive analysis was used in the study. the collection, identification, and the description of species of rattan (uay) in baaylicuan, tubo, daguioman, danglas, lagayan, and villaviciosa were performed. data gathered 1. characterization of the character states of rattan (uay) 2. identification of the taxonomic classification of rattan (uay) 3. phytochemical analysis of the leaves, stems, and roots of rattan (uay) 4. species diversity 4.1. area of sampling sites 4.2. no. of individuals 4.3. diversity indices 5. conservation and preservation of rattan (uay) statistical analysis of data diversity indices such as shannonweiner index, margalef ’s index, and simpson index were used to assess and compare the variety of rattan (uay) in the selected study sites. shannonweiner index (h’) h’=∑ [(ni/n) x in (ni/n)] where; ni= number of individuals or amount of each species n= total number of individuals or amount for the site in= the natural log of the number simpson’s index d= n (n-1) where; n= number of individuals n= number of individuals per site margalef index d= s-1/ log n where; s= number of species per site n= total number of individuals international peer reviewed journal 41 index of similarity (sim) sim= 3∑nc/ ∑ n1+ n2+n3 where; nc= number of familiar species between sites n1= number of species per site results and discussion . in the consultation on rattan development by inbar & fao (2000), there were approximately 600 species of rattan (uay), of which some 10% were commercial species, some are restricted by natural ranges and majority of the world rattan resources were in one country – indonesia. the largest rattan genus is calamus with 370 species. it is predominantly an asian genus & ranges from the indian subcontinent and south china southwards and east through the malaysian region to fiji, vanuatu and tropical and subtropical parts of eastern australia. the remaining rattail genera, daemonorops, ceratolobus, korthalsia, plectocomia, plectocomiopsis,myrialepis, calospatha, pogonotium and are centred in southeast asia and have outliers further eastwards and northwards (uhl & dransfield, 1987; dransfield, 1992a). in the rural areas of the philippines particularly in abra province, the following genera of rattan (uay) were identified; taxonomic classification of rattan (“uay”) kingdom: plantae division: magnoliophyta class: liliopsida (monocots) order: palmacae family: palmae genus: calamus species: merrillii scientific name: calamus merrilii jpair multidisciplinary research 42 figure 2. calamus merrilii the leaves of calamus merrilii are long and slender which are yellow to green in color. the leaflets are about 29 cm long and 0.6 cm wide. the leaves are about 85 inches long. the vines are green when fresh and pale yellow when matured and dried. several thorns and spines are scattered over the plant. the shoot is not bitter. the internodes are about 8.5 cm long and 1.9 cm in diameter. it grows in the virgin forest or secondary thick forest. it is found in licuanbaay, dagiouman, danglas, lagayan and tubo. kingdom: plantae division: magnoliophyta class: liliopsida (monocots) order: palmacae family: palmae genus: calamus species: ornatus scientific name: calamus ornatus international peer reviewed journal 43 figure 3. calamus ornatus the leaves of calamus ornatus are about 184 inches long. the leaflets are about 55 cm; 8.5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide with less numerous spines around the midribs. the shoot is very bitter. the stalk or vines are very tough and flexible which is green to white. the fruit is edible. the internodes are 5.5 cm long and about 1.7 cm in diameter. it is found in tubo, dagiouman, and licuanbaay. kingdom: plantae division: magnoliophyta class: liliopsida (monocots) order: palmacae family: palmae genus: calamus species: sp. scientific name: calamus sp. figure 4. calamus sp. jpair multidisciplinary research 44 the leaves are long and slender about 83 inches long. the leaflets are 115 cm, 8.2 cm long and 0.1 cm wide. the vines are fine from green to pale yellow. the internodes are 6 cm long with 0.4 cm in diameter. it is found in lagayan and danglas. kingdom: plantae division: magnoliophyta class: liliopsida (monocots) order: palmacae family: palmae genus: calamus species: microcarpus scientific name: calamus microcarpus figure 5. calamus microcarpus the leaves are about 33.5 inches long, and leaflets are about 13.5 cm long and 0.9 cm wide. leaflets are in 62 cm. the vines are usually red, very slender about 1.8 cm diameter and internodes are 10 cm long. spines, thorns, are reddish green. the shoot is bitter. it is found in villaviciosa and some parts of abra like lagayan and danglas. the calamus merrilii, calamus ornatus, calamus microcarpus, and calamus sp. are the species of rattan mostly abundant in the province of abra. some species of rattan are known in their local names like “nadao”,”sipat”, and “kugab” in dagiuoman; “matkong and “patkong” in lagayan, danglas, and international peer reviewed journal 45 licuan – baay; “gasagas” in licuanbaay; “damayen”,”nadao” and” paakad” in tubo. based on the taxonomic classification and description of rattan species, calamus is the largest of the 13 known genera and is distributed through the geographic range of rattans in southeast asia (dransfield, 1993). morphological characteristics of rattan (uay) rattan species found in the southeast asia & africa vary in terms of their ecological and morphological characteristics. such variation include, forest type and light requirement, life forms, flowering, pollination and fruit & seed structure (tellu,2005). locally species of rattan (uay) in abra were anatomically characterized as follows; roots figure 6. root structure of calamus merrilii the root of rattan is fibrous, and it is located underground. it’s whitish, brown or black in color. the diameter of the root of c. merrellii is 0.4 cm, c. ornatus is 0.6 cm, c. microcarpus is 0.3 cm, c. sp. is 0.2 cm wide and it is extended. the roots of the different species of rattan (uay) in the six selected municipalities are similar. the size of the roots varies from thin, thick, thicker, and thickest depending on its age. jpair multidisciplinary research 46 figure 7. leaves structure of calamus merrily leaves the leaf of rattan is pointed with numerous spines and thorns. it is pinnately compound, alternate and elongated. it is attached by a leaf sheath into the vines. color varies from dark green, green to light green. the leaflets are alternate, elongated, and spines. the base is cuneate and narrowly acute apex with numerous spines in the entire margin. stem or vines figure 8. stem and vine structure of calamus merrilii international peer reviewed journal 47 the stem and vine structure of calamus merrilii is an elongated, rounded, cylindrical and bilateral in symmetry. it serves as the attachment of leaves to which it clings. it is flexible and durable. it diameter and color differs from green, reddish, pale yellow to white in different species. the stem is determinate that later develops and transforms to flower (hapaxonthic). bud for floral or inflorescence on the side is present. it exhibits exfoliating bark. flower figure 9. flower structure of calamus merrilii the inflorescence has two kinds: a) an inflorescence that bears on the lateral stem with more than once; and b) on the tip that once in a lifetime and after regeneration it will die. inflorescence is scapose, pedicillate, about 4.8 cm long. flowers are dioceous, alternate and actinomorphic. perianth is biseriate that is spiral and campanulate. calyx and corolla are valvate and apopetalous synsepalous. merosity is trimerous with calyx of 0.05 cm in length and 0.1 cm width. stamens are filamentous, uniseriate, staminodia, and didynamous. it is also exerted and alternipetalous. filament is yellowish, elongated and subbasifixed. anther is monothecal, longitudinal and latrose. ovary is positioned inferiorly which is brown in color and circular. the style is located at the center. stigmas are about 3 cm. jpair multidisciplinary research 48 fruits and seeds figure 10. fruit and seed structure of calamus merrilii the unripe fruit is green, and brown, yellow gold, beige plated with green when ripen. the skin is white that covers the pulp of the fruit and the seed is located inside the pulp. the fruit is spherical and drupe. the seed is black, rough and spherical in shape. the description of the morphological characteristics of rattan (uay) observed in the study is similar with the review of the literature by dransfield and sunderland (2002), rattan fruits are often brightly colored (white, yellow, orange or red) and the sarcotesta is also attractive to birds and mammals. birds (e.g. hornbills) and primates are the main dispersers of rattan seeds in both southeast asia and africa with primates and elephants also sharing a preference for the ripe fruit. in the asian taxa, the seed is often covered with a sarcotesta (a fleshy seed coat). incomplete removal of this sarcotesta often results in delayed germination suggesting that it contains some chemical germination inhibitors. cultivation trials on many of the southeast asia species, as well as recent germination trials of the african taxa, have indicated that seeds will germinate under a wide range of light conditions. the resultant seedlings will remain for long periods on the forest floor awaiting sufficient light for them to develop, such as a tree fall (adiwibowo, sulasmi & nisyawati, 2012). rattans can be clustering (clumpforming) or solitary. sustainability of such species relies on recruitment through sexual means, rather than through vegetative means. rattan display two main modes of flowering: hapaxanthy and pleonanthy. international peer reviewed journal 49 phytochemical analysis of calamus ornatus (limuran) table 1. summary of phytochemical results of the roots, stem, leaves of calamus ornatus. preliminary test constituents plant organs stalk leaves roots a.lead acetate test gums, mucilages, glycosides +++ +++ +++ b. fehling’s test carbohydrates,reucing sugars +++ + + c. ferric chloride test tannin and tannin derivatives +++ ++ d.millon’s test proteins & its derivatives +++ ++ ++ test for physiologically active constituents 1. alkaloids 1.1 dragendorff’s test 1.2 mayer’s test -alkaloids -alkaloids + + + + + 2. steroids 2.1 keller-killani 2.2 lieberman-buchard 2.3 kedde test -deoxysugars -unsaturated sterols -unsaturated lactones + + + + 3. anthraquinones 3.1 borntrager’s test 3.2 modified borntrager’s test -anthraquinones -anthraquinones 4. flavonoids 4.1 bate and metcalf 4.2 wilstatterr “cyaniding” -leucoanthocyanins and cyanidin -y-benzopyrene nucleus 5. saponins 5.1 froth test 5.2 leibermann-buchard -saponins -unsaturated sterols and triterpenes + + 6. tannins and polyphenols 6.1 gelatin test 6.2 ferric chloride -tannins -polyphenolic compounds + + 7. cyanogenic glycoside 7.1 guignard test -cyanogenic glycosides legend: (+, ++, +++) – degree of abundance jpair multidisciplinary research 50 phytochemical analysis results show that calamus ornatus contains gums, mucilages, glycosides, carbohydrates, reducing sugars, tannin, tannin derivatives, deoxy sugars, proteins and its derivatives. they are mostly abundant in the stem, but also present in the roots and leaves of rattan. alkaloids are present in the leaves and stalk but absent in the roots. saponins are absent in the leaves and roots but are present in the stem. polyphenol compounds are found in the stem, leaves, and unsaturated sterols and triterpenes are also present in the leaves but absent in the roots. glycosides have been used as antirheumatics and analgesics. tannin may contain active compounds for the treatment of hypertension. alkaloids are potent therapeutic compounds and saponins have beneficial effects on blood levels; they cause reduction, prevention, and reabsorption. they also serve as an antioxidant; it has no sugar which can reduce the risks of cancer and heart diseases and bone loss. polyphenolic compounds can attribute to the antioxidant capacity of the human diet which is much larger than that of vitamins. with the presence of different substances, it can be concluded that rattan (uay) is a medicinal plant. species diversity of the six municipalities of the province of abra table 2. summary of the species diversity indices of the 6 selected municipalities of the province of abra sampling sites villaviciosa dagiuoman baaylicuan tubo lagayan danglas no. of individuals(n) 300 589 542 841 601 613 species richness 1 3 4 4 4 4 shannon -weiner diversity index 0 0.89 0.78 1.32 0.75 0.91 evenness 0 1.73 1.83 2.23 1.67 1.64 simpson’s diversity index 0 0.29 0.38 0.58 0.27 0.36 margalef ’s index 0 1.02 0.74 0.96 0.86 1.16 index of similarity 1.19% international peer reviewed journal 51 table 2 provides the comparison of the species diversity of the six selected municipalities of the province of abra. it shows that tubo has the highest number of individuals (841), and villaviciosa has the least number of individuals (300). the species richness of tubo, lagayan, baaylicuan, and danglas are the same (4) compared to dagiuoman (3) and villaviciosa having the least . as shown in the study, tubo has the highest diversity index in shannonweiner (1.32) and simpson’s diversity index ((0.58) compared to villaviciosa (0) having the least diversity index, and the least evenness of species. however, margalef ’s index shows that danglas has the highest diversity index (1.16) and villaviciosa (0) is said to be the least. the index of similarity is 1.19%, means a less similarity due to the other species of vegetation that are abundant in the selected sampling sites. furthermore, biological diversity indices shows that rattan (uay) is more diverse in tubo compared to dagiuoman, danglas, and lagayan which are less distinct, and licuanbaay having the least diverse. hence, the species diversity could be attributed to the location of the sampling sites, and conserving and preserving the resources of rattan (uay) in the locality. moreover, according to the department of environment and natural resources (denr) among the 27 towns of abra, rattan is found in several municipalities. rattan species are found in the virgin forest of or secondary thick forests of the upland towns and some parts of the lowland areas of abra. likewise, lapat system is observed in tubo and daguioman, which have the greatest species of rattan. danglas, lagayan, and baaylicuan do not practice the lapat system. these municipalities do not practice any conservation measures for rattans (uay) because folks have no idea on rattan (uay) as important in sustaining the ecological balance. lagayan and danglas are sources of commercially-used rattan in the province. baay – licuan has the least number of rattan due to over consumption of the shoot as food. conservation and preservation of rattan (uay) with regards to the maintenance and preservation of rattan, denr is implementing rules and policies. they are patrolling and linking with the local government officials (lgu) and individual cultural communities (icc) to mobilize, and help the office to protect and conserve the resources of rattan. they deputized or give authority to people to safeguard against fire occurrence, hunters and traditional practices that can alter the ecological balance. community resolutions for forest protection and indigenous practices are advocated. jpair multidisciplinary research 52 conclusions the international network for bamboo and rattan (inbar) & food and agriculture organization (fao) 2000, there should be a need to ensure a sustainable supply of rattan through improved and equitable management of rattan around the globe. calamus merrilii, calamus ornatus, calamus microcarpus, and calamus sp. were identified as most abundant species of rattan (uay) in the province of abra. these species had similar characteristics. the shoot of c. ornatus is a source medicinal properties. rattan (uay) in the selected municipalities of the province of abra is abundant in some parts, and less diverse in other parts. it is recommended that humans should conserve and preserve rattan resources. denr should observe proper implementation of the laws regarding the cutting of rattan (uay) to prevent rattan for possible endangerment from the less diverse municipalities. the shoot of rattan is recommended for hypertension, diabetes, and body pains. propagation techniques of rattan (uay) are highly recommended. based on the conservation status from the international union for conservation of nature & natural resources (iucn, 2008), it is necessary to domesticate the species of rattan outside the forest areas. exploitation & development of ntfp’s (non-timber forest products) should be linked with biodiversity conservation through integrating advances in biological technology with sustainable forest product processing. ntfp’s produced products must be established in popular international markets and develop a range of products to meet domestic and local markets but not to limit the depletion of forest resources (jasni, 2004). translational research abra province is endowed with rich species of uay or commonly known as rattan. it is one of its major commodities. these were utilized to make handicrafts and furniture. tourists used to buy abra rattan products, thus, generating income to the abra folks especially those living in the upland areas of abra where rattan species are abundant. native folks used rattan as shelter material and women used them as girdles around their waste. some are making use of the red resins exuded from the fruits as glue and species of calamus ornatus are processed and preserved as food. the shoot is also used as vegetable. there is still continuance of research study on the medicinal properties of calamus ornatus based on its phytochemical analysis. international peer reviewed journal 53 the rattan products of abra were usually advertised during fiestas and festivals where many tourists visit the province and through local/national media as well. the department of trade & industry (dti –abra) encourages also rattan manufacturers of the province to join national/international exhibits of local products in the entire philippines and outside the country. in this way, rattan products of abra had known of its usefulness worldwide thru direct and internet selling like the global network of fair trade organization (ifat). abra state institute of science and technology (asist) is the only state college in the province, establishes a bamboosetum where uay (rattan) are grown and propagated. literature cited adiwibowo a, sulasmi is, nisyawati. (2012).the relationships of forest biodiversity and rattan jernang (deamonorops draco) sustainable harvesting by anak dalam tribe in jambi, sumatra. mbs & uns solo. biodiversitas, vol 13, iss 1, pp. 46-51. doi:10.13057/biodiv/d130109 international network for bamboo & rattan (inbar) and food & agriculture organization (fao).2000. current research issues & prospects for conservation: non-wood forest products. development cooperation agency (sida). volume 14 of fao technical papers. www.fao.org. docrep//003/y2783e/y2783e00.htm international union for conservation of nature & natural resources (iucn).2008. international conference proceedings: the role of ntp’s in poverty alleviation & biodiversity conservation: iucn, ha noi, vietnam, pp. 260 http://www.iucn.org.vn jasni titi kalima. study of calamus occidentalis j.r. witmo & j. dransf. species commercial values & possible utilization. biodiversitas, vol 5, iss 2, 2004 pp. 61-65 http://biodiversitas.mipa.uns.ac id/d/d0502/d050204 pdf. dransfield, j., 1988. prospects for rattan cultivation. in: m.j. balick. the palmtree of life: biology, utilization and conservation. advances in botany 6: 190200 jpair multidisciplinary research 54 dransfield, j., 1992. the rattan of sarawak: royal botanic gardens kew & sarawak forest department pp.213 malabrigo jr., p.l. & fernando, e.s. (1993). “interactive identification and information retrieval on the philippine rattans.” iawa journal – brill online – books & journals. 1993. vol. 14. issue 2. http://www.fao.org/ docrep/article/wfc/xii/0857-b1.htm rivera, m. n. (n.d.) “philippine national report on bamboo and rattan.” inbar int. department of environment and natural resources. ftp://ftp.fao.org/ docrep/fao/010/ah788e/ah788e00.pdf simpson, m.g. 2010. “evolution and diversity of plants”. plant systematics .p. 185 https://www.elsevier.com/books/plant-systematics/ simpson/978-0-12-374380-0 sunderland, t. c.h. & dransfield, j. (2002). species profiles rattans. fao corporate document repository. retrieved from http://www.fao.org docrep/003/y2783e/y2783e05.htm tellu, a. t. (2005). identification keys on rattans (calamus spp.) from central sulawesi based on anatomical structure of stems. uhl,n.w. & dransfield, j, 1987. genera palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of h.e. moore jr. pp 610 the international palm society & the bailey hortorium, kansas weiner, g. & liese, w. 1989. anatomical structures and differences of rattan genera from southeast asia. j. trop. forest science 1:122-132 93 international peer reviewed journal contrastive analysis on ilokano and english personal pronouns rommel v. tabula http://orcid.org 0000-0003-2691-6749 rommeltabula127519@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines constante s. salasac http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2506-8592 tantesalasac@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines abstract pairwise scientific description of foreign and native languages can predict and describe the patterns that may cause learning difficulties. this study explored the descriptions of ilokano personal pronouns in parallel with english and the contrastive structure in these two languages in which personal pronouns occur. using descriptive-ethnographic research design, data were gathered from an informant who substantiated the categorized personal pronouns obtained from reliable materials. results showed that ilokano personal pronouns are structurally independent and incorporated into other parts of speech as suffixes. contrastive analysis further found that ilokano personal pronouns present special characteristics which differ significantly to their english counterparts. firstly, ilokano personal pronouns provide speakers with respectful forms of address in various contexts which is absent in english. secondly, ilokano pronoun suffixes -ak, -ko, and -k are applied to all tenses and moods while english personal vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.313 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research pronouns take the free morpheme in all cases. thirdly, the ilokano subject affects the verb form and the object suffix whereas english verb structure remains unchanged except for the third person singular and the object pronoun. lastly, pronouns are common to all genders in ilokano while this matters in english. thus, ilokano and english personal pronouns manifest parallel characteristics but have distinct differences in some aspects. keywords linguistics, contrastive analysis, ilokano personal pronouns, descriptive-ethnographic design, batac city, philippines introduction language, which is a very complex thing and cannot yet be exactly accounted for by anyone within one wholly consistent and comprehensive theory, is a vehicle for communication. without language, people cannot understand each other. they make use of language for them to be able to communicate with others within their elaborate social and cultural structure. different races speak different languages like danish for denmark, scottish for scots, english for british and americans, spanish for spaniards and latin americans, arabic for arabians and egyptians, filipino for pilipinos, and ilokano for ilocanos. however, language is not solely a language. if a language has its different kinds, it also has its various grammatical structures such as words, phrases, and clauses. in studying words, it is very significant to give distinct focus on the classes of words because they are ultimately symbols. though they are symbolisms of things, they do not represent things at all times. they are spoken sounds or written representation of sounds that people have agreed to stand for something else. thus, by mutual consent, people make anything stand for anything. language as a means of communication is intertwined with culture and the degree by which it is used. it determines the attitude to the function and use of drills, the giving of grammatical explanations, and the value of repetition and learning by heart. hinton (2001) pointed out that language is the key and heart of culture. many people want to learn their own native language to understand their traditional cultural practices and values. hillier (2003) argued that a relationship exists between language, cultural context and usability. the structures of language emanate from interconnected patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive mechanisms (beckner et al., 2009). 95 international peer reviewed journal the skills that a language attempts to develop are presumably those which society thought appropriate language. unacceptable or inappropriate language prevents learners from interacting or communicating satisfactorily with other members of a given community. they may fail to achieve their ends or to communicate and be understood. they may even offend or make themselves ridiculous. these probable scenarios are common to all foreign and second language learners. it is because language and culture are connected in several intimate and dynamic ways. further, language is a product of culture, but simultaneously, the culture is shaped by how the language allows people to view it. hence, an ilocano learning how to use words such as english personal pronouns may commit some of these inevitable language and culture-related errors. it is because ilokano personal pronouns display a number of grammatical particularities and complications not found in its english pronoun counterparts. some of them can only be used in certain circumstances. others may change form depending on surrounding words and their placement in largely unrelated to the placement of the nouns they replace. thus, the study attempts to determine the parallel descriptions of ilokano and english personal pronouns and to ascertain their distinct differences. framework presently, not much has been written on the systematic comparison of pronouns in ilokano and english. however, a brief summary of the works done on problems related to those dealt within the present study are herein presented. these are published researches that compared english with other languages but in different perspectives, to determine whether the results of the comparison between the english native speakers and non-native speakers coincide. kuo (1999) conducted an empirical study of personal pronouns in scientific journal articles. he found that first-person plural pronouns are the most frequently used types of personal pronouns. his further analysis on first-person plural pronouns showed that they can have a number of semantic references and perform multiple functions in the journal article. according to him, the use of second-person, third-person, and indefinite pronouns manifest the intention of the writer to stress solidarity with, and secure cooperation from readers. kitagawa and lehrer (1990) posited that the english personal pronouns you, we, and i  can be used as impersonal pronouns in discourse situations considering structural knowledge and general truths. according to them, the stylistic and 96 jpair multidisciplinary research rhetorical differences among these pronouns follow from their deictic use. kim (2009), on the other hand, presented a corpus-based cross-cultural text analysis on the use of personal pronouns in english and korean texts. his analysis revealed that quantitative and qualitative differences exist in the use of the first person and second person plural forms. he argued that the differences could be due to the syntactic dissimilarities between the two languages or their sociocultural contexts. in 1996, niimura and hayashi examined the english and japanese demonstrative pronouns in reference to traditional grammatical explanations and modern alternative models. they conceived this study as an offshoot of their findings on previous research that advanced japanese learners are problematic with the use of demonstratives in discourse reference. it was yielded in their contrastive analysis that psychological proximity determines the language systems of both english and japanese. however, referent-focus is the critical determinant in english while situation-focus is the overriding factor in japanese. in the same year, garces (1996) explored the rhetorical differences between texts written in english by scholars with different cultural backgrounds. results of the contrastive text-linguistic study revealed an intercultural variation in the rhetorical preferences of academics despite the required relative uniformity of scholarly papers. findings further showed that anglo-american academics use more metatext compared to their spanish-speaking counterparts. it also indicated that anglo-americans tend to be more reader-oriented writers and impose more explicit textual rhetoric. the spanish-speaking writers, however, emphasize propositional content, favor a more objective style of writing and tend towards implicit texts. espinoza (1997), on the other hand, contrasted the passive voice patterns of the simple, continuous, and perfect tenses of spanish and english in scientific prose. she determined the non-corresponding elements that predict difficulties in acquiring spanish as l2 for native english speakers and english as l2 for literal spanish. her analysis revealed that passive voice patterns showed positive transfer between the english and the literal spanish equivalents which were assumed to be easily acquired by both learners. she also discovered that perfect tense patterns displayed a verbatim match in two elements of the english and non-literal spanish counterparts which predicted intermediate difficulty for the learners. however, she found that english continuous patterns demonstrated a correspondence with just one element of the non-literal spanish forms which indicated high difficulty for the two learners. moreover, she noticed that there 97 international peer reviewed journal was no occurrence of correspondence between the english simple tenses and the non-literal spanish forms which also indicated high difficulty for these learners. similarly, tarone, dwyer, gillette and icke (1998) examined the frequency of the active and passive voices of the verb in two astrophysics journal papers. their analysis revolved on the occurrence of we plus an active verb and passive verb forms in both logical argument paper and standard experimental paper. their findings commenced that astrophysics papers in russian texts use passive and active voice equivalent to english language. considering the structure of the logical argument paper, they proposed four rhetorical functions of the passive as contrasted to we plus an active verb. according to tarone et al. (1998), the passive voice indicates standard or established procedure while the we verb form reflects the author’s alternative procedure. the passive voice is used to describe the work of others; in contrast, the we verb form is considered in describing the author’s work. further, the passive describes the proposed studies of the author. lastly, the function of the active or the passive is determined by focus due to textual consideration or discourse emphasis. fontecha and catalan (2003) conducted a contrastive cognitive analysis of the metaphorical usages of particular animal pairs to ascertain whether english and spanish conceptualize them equally. their analysis disclosed that the paired animal examples were indeed metaphorically applied to persons in both languages though they were remarkably different within each language. it was also found that some semantic derogation appeared in the two languages. further, it was observed that the samples analyzed were not equally applied to males and females. the main metaphorical meanings of the male terms connote better qualities compared to those of the female terms. finally, differences exist in the degree and kind of semantic derogation found in both languages. recently, levshina, geeraerts and speelman (2013) demonstrated the common interface of verb and noun classes in contrastive construction grammar. they compared the english and dutch analytic causatives in mapping constructional spaces. it was unveiled in their analyses that an average dutch analytic causative reflects an implicitness and abstract causation with fewer animate as contrasted to english. it was also shown that the languages cut the common conceptual space in authentic manners, although there was a substantial overlapping of the semantic aspects of many english and dutch constructions. however, commonalities exist in the form-meaning mapping between the two languages. both english and dutch constructions with more indirect causes or abstractions are significantly related with animate causes. a correlation between the directness of causation 98 jpair multidisciplinary research and the cross-linguistic hierarchy of affectedness marking was also observed. in like manner, farsi and zarei (2013) investigated the extent of iranian students in committing errors in english relative clauses. central to their investigation was categorizing the types and frequency of errors on the use of english relative clauses. the study revealed that the errors of these learners resulted from interlingual difficulties in l2 acquisition. it also identified problems in distinguishing restrictive from non-restrictive relative clauses. though differences were manifested between english and persian relative clauses, the analysis yielded some teaching pedagogies to increase accuracy in using relative clauses. with these various themes of contrastive studies undertaken by previous researchers, the present study dealt with personal pronouns as the core of the investigation. the paucity of studies on contrastive analysis of personal pronouns necessitated the pursuit of this study. since this research is local and first of its kind, it contributes literatures not only in the area of contrastive linguistics but also in the fields of second language acquisition and mother language education. it also provides an adequate model of comparison and some practical guidelines for esl teachers in determining effective teaching strategies and designing efficient course materials. objective of the study the study aimed to describe the form, function, and distribution of ilokano and english personal pronouns and the environment in which these forms occur. it also delved into the contrastive structure in these two languages in which personal pronouns occur. methodology research setting the study was conducted during the summer of 2013 that is, april to may, in barangay mariit, a community where the early inhabitants of batac had settled. the research site was purposively considered with the assumption that the language of the settlers is seemingly less adulterated. meaning, the language is in some way still genuine and original due to less contact with speakers of other languages. the city of batac, where this community lies, is a fourth-class city in the province of ilocos norte, philippines. it is popularly known as the “home 99 international peer reviewed journal of great leaders” for it is the hometown of many significant figures in the philippine history. famous among them is ferdinand e. marcos, the former philippine president who ruled the country for more than two decades. it is also the birthplace of fr. gregorio aglipay, the founder of philippine independent church, and gen. antonio ricarte, the “father of philippine army”. research design in carrying out this study, the descriptive-ethnographic research design was used to obtain detailed and elaborate description of ilokano personal pronouns. the researchers immersed themselves in the community to gather data for contrastive analysis. accordingly, descriptive-ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork. the researchers usually live among the people who are the subjects of the study, learning the language and participating in everyday life while striving to maintain a degree of objective detachment. the researchers usually cultivate close relationships with informants who can provide specific information on aspects of their cultural life. in this research, the major techniques used in data collection included multiple approaches such as interviews, observations, participant observation and field notes. the study involved the following steps: 1) the researchers made an extensive list of ilokano personal pronouns found in the books of rosal (1982) and widdoes (1950); 2) a key informant woman, aged 91 years old, supplemented the enlisted personal pronouns; 3) these ilokano pronouns were grouped and categorized according to their form, function, and distribution; 4) a contrastive analysis of ilokano and english personal pronouns was made. similarities and differences of both languages were listed down; and 5) a hierarchy of difficulties for ilocano learning english was also prepared. research instrument the ilokano language analyzed in this study is the variety spoken in the speech community of batac city, ilocos norte, philippines. this other half of the old ilocos province is believed as the origin of ilokano dispersing northward and southward. two important books served as instruments in eliciting the data. the first is understanding an exotic language: ilokano authored by dr. nicholas l. rosal (1982). this book presents the word formation and grammar of the ilocano language. the second is dr. howard w. widdoes’ (1950) a brief introduction to the grammar of the ilocano language, which contains common terms and phrases in ilokano. complementing these materials, a note pad was used to write down 100 jpair multidisciplinary research incidental interface of ilokano personal pronouns in the ordinary conversations with the key informant. key informant in coming up with the desired results of the study, the researchers made use of a key informant, who is a 91 years old woman. the identification of the key informant was based on the following criteria: a) must be a native ilokano speaker, whose parents are pure ilocanos; b) must never left the ilocos since birth; c) must be residing in the rural area; and d) must be semi-literate. the nativeness of the ilokano language was the primary concern in the selection of the said informant. hence, such desired characteristics were considered with the belief that these make her less influenced by other languages. for ethical considerations, informed consent was solicited from the key informant by signing an assent form prior to the conduct of the study. the researchers observed the daily activities of the key informant. they elicited data through participant observation and ordinary conversations with her. they recorded incidental occurrences of ilokano personal pronouns during their interactions and added to those gathered from rosal’s (1982) and widdoes’ (1950) books. results and discussion the theoretical analysis of the data consists of two parts. part i presents parallel descriptions of ilokano and english personal pronouns. part ii presents the contrastive of structure in the two languages where personal pronouns occur. descriptions of ilokano and english personal pronouns this portion of the analysis describes the form, function and distribution of personal pronouns and the environments in which these forms occur. the ilokano personal pronouns structurally, ilokano personal pronouns are of two kinds: those that can stand alone like siak, sika, isu, dakami, dakayo, isuda; and those that are incorporated into other parts of speech as suffixes -ak, -ko,and -k.personal pronouns that can stand alone as objects or direct objects provide emphasis and sometimes are used to avoid ambiguity. depending on the context, they may be inclusive of the linking verb ‘to be’ and even imply the nominative complement ‘the one/s’. 101 international peer reviewed journal table 1. ilokano personal pronouns that can stand alone number ilokano personal pronoun english counterpart singular siak i, i am, i am the one. sika you, you are, you are the one. isu he/she/it, he/she/it is, he/she/it is the one. plural dakami (exclusive of a person) we, we are, we are the ones. data (inclusive of a person, spoken to) _ dakayo you, you are, you are the ones. isuda they, they are, they are the ones. when these pronouns imply the nominative complement ‘the one/s’ and are followed by a phrase or clause, ‘ti’ is used to link them to the other parts of the sentence. for instance, ‘sika ti mapan’ (you are the one to go.); and ‘dakami ti ay-ayatem’ (we are the ones you love). as a subject of a sentence or an action verb, a pronoun can take the form of a suffix directly attached to the root. there are three sets of suffixes under this category: -ak, -ko, and -k. the -ak suffix form is used for sentences having a pronoun as a subject and the verb ‘to be’ as the implied predicate. it is used with the ma, ag and um and their verb clusters. table 2. the –ak forms of ilokano personal pronouns ilokano personal pronoun example word formation -ak‘i’ taoak predicate + suffix agsalaak ag verb + suffix umapalak um verb + suffix -ka ‘you’ taoka predicate + suffix agsalaka ag verb + suffix umapalka um verb + suffix -kami ‘we’ (exclusive) taokami predicate + suffix agsalakami ag verb + suffix umapalkami um verb + suffix -tayo ‘we’ (inclusive) taotayo predicate + suffix agsalatayo ag verb + suffix 102 jpair multidisciplinary research umapaltayo um verb + suffix -ta ‘we’ (dual) taota predicate + suffix agsalata ag verb + suffix umapalta um verb + suffix -kayo ‘you’ taokayo predicate + suffix agsalakayo ag verb + suffix umapalkayo um verb + suffix -da ‘they’ taoda predicate + suffix agsalata ag verb + suffix umapalda um verb + suffix the –ak form applies to sentences in which the nominative is an adjective, and the subject is a pronoun. for example, ‘nagaget kayo.’ (you are diligent.). when the sentence has more than one nominative complement or verb, the suffix is added to the last complement of the verb. for instance, ‘nagaget ken natudyokayo.’ (you are diligent and obedient.). the –ko suffix form of subject pronoun is affixed to the family of i verbs. table 3. the –ko forms of ilokano personal pronouns ilokano personal pronoun english counterpart example word formation -ko i isadagko ‘i lean’ i verb + suffix -mo you isadagmo ‘you lean’ i verb + suffix -na he, she, it isadagna ‘he/she/it leans’ i verb + suffix -mi (inclusive) we (inclusive) isadagmi ‘we lean’ i verb + suffix -tayo we isadagtayo ‘we lean’ i verb + suffix -ta (dual) we (dual) isadagta ‘we lean’ i verb + suffix -yo you isadagyo ‘you lean’ i verb + suffix -da they isadagda ‘they lean’ i verb + suffix as illustrated on the table, the –ko forms of ilokano personal pronouns make use of other affixes to indicate the person and number. regardless of this feature, the –ko dependent ilokano personal pronoun is attached to the i verb family. the –k suffix form of ilokano personal pronoun is used for en and an verbs. for example, ‘pakawanek’ (i forgive.) from ‘pakawanen’ (forgive him.) ‘pangalaak’ 103 international peer reviewed journal from ‘pangalaan’ (i get it.) this dependent form of ilokano personal pronouns involves dropping the n from the root and adding the -k suffix. the english personal pronouns francis (1958) classified english pronouns as a separate part of speech because of their morphological difference from nouns. he classified pronouns into eight: i, we, you, he, she, it, they, and who. all of them have inflectional variants, but they do not have the (-es) plural and the (‘s) possessive characteristics of most other nouns. instead, they have forms that are commonly called the objective (or accusative) and the first and second possessives. all these pronouns except who are frequently classed as personal pronouns. it is a distinction borrowed from the grammar of other languages that have other groups of different classes of pronoun. francis (1958) further stated that all these pronouns to some degree, but especially the third person pronouns he, she, it and they, commonly function as noun-substitutes. they can substitute virtually all other nouns in all structures, according to patterns which provide an important classification of nouns. they resemble function words in having little or the linguistic and non-linguistic context in which they occur, to a greater degree than do most other words. table 4. classification of english personal pronouns subjective objective first possessive second possessive i me my mine we us our ours you your yours he him his she her hers it its they them their theirs who who(m) whose from the table, only three of the english personal pronouns i, we, and they have four distinct forms. the rest you, he, she and who have three forms that are variously distributed; and it has two. you and it both double as subjective and objective forms, her as objective and possessive, and his, its and whose as first 104 jpair multidisciplinary research and second possessives. it is possible to describe the members of the pronoun paradigm in terms of stems + inflectional suffixes, but the description is somewhat too complicated (francis, 1958). pronouns are classified by persons. the i and we denote the speaker. both singular and plural you include the person spoken to, but exclude the speaker. he, she, it, and they exclude both speaker and person. these are useful distinctions as in the denoting of we and they as plural, although the term plural has a different sense from plural applied to nouns. thus, the meaning of the noun plural suffix (-es) can be roughly stated as more than one of whatever is denoted by the stem. however, the meaning of we is not more than one i. according to francis (1958), it may be ‘i and you,’ ‘i and he,’ ‘i and you and they,’ or ‘i and my associates,’ etc. the following are the recognized substitute groups in present-day english with some dialectical variations in the assignment of words to the various groups. table 5. dialectical variations of english personal pronouns dialectical variation noun referents he – they man, father, uncle, brother, waiter she – they woman, mother, aunt, sister, waitress it – they house, tree, poem, friendship, complication he/she – they parent, child, artist, teacher, friend he/it – they bull, ram, roaster, buck, steer she/it – they cow, ewe, hen, doe he/she/it – they baby, dog, cat, one it/they – they group, committee, team, gang, class he/she/they – they(or no plural) somebody, someone, anybody, everybody it (no plural) dirt, mathematics, poetry, music they (no singular) pants, scissors, pliers, clothes, people this classification is based chiefly on meaning. hence, personal pronouns are sensitive to changes in the social environment that brings about changes in the referents of nouns. this case is true among occupations formerly restricted to men. comparison and contrast of ilokano and english personal pronouns contrastive analysis aims to present certain types of comparison and contrast between two or more languages. the ilokano and english personal pronouns 105 international peer reviewed journal possess some similarities and differences in terms of form, function, and distribution. this was done in view of the fact that this might have pedagogical implications in the preparation of teaching materials and designing of syllabi for language courses. linguistic interference or negative transfer occurring in second language (l2) learning and use is believed to be the function of structural differences holding between the native and the target language. fisiak (1981) propounded that the attained proficiency in l2 (i.e. the target language) will be some joint function of attained proficiency in l1 (i.e. the native language), training in l1, training in l2, and the structural relationship between l1 and l2. ilokano personal pronouns present unique characteristics which differ significantly to that of english. firstly, the usage patterns exhibit characteristics that may be considered significant social and linguistic in nature. evidently, ilokano personal pronouns provide speakers with respectful forms of address. ‘dakayo’ which means you (plural) or ‘sika’ meaning you (singular) and ‘isuda’ for they (plural) or ‘isu’ for he, she, and it (singular) illustrate the ilocano culture of respect. there are also three forms of first person plural in ilokano to indicate three various situations. tayo form (inclusive) expresses the inclusion of both the speaker and the persons spoken to in the pronoun tayo (we). kami form (exclusive) denotes the exclusion of the person spoken to. ta form indicates the inclusion of just the speaker and one person spoken to. these characteristics of ilokano personal pronouns do not exist in english for it has one form for each of the categories above. however, kuo (1999) posited that first-person plural pronouns can have a number of semantic references and perform multiple functions in the journal article. his findings revealed that the exclusive we was used strategically to refer to writers themselves and the inclusive we to refer to either writers and readers or the discipline as a whole for different communicative purposes.  secondly, there are three sets of ilokano personal suffixes: -ak, -ko, and -k which are applied to all tenses and moods. english personal pronouns take the form of a free morpheme in all cases. the -ak, -ko and -k forms have their restricted environment. the –ak form is used for sentences having pronoun as a subject and the verb to be as the implied predicate, ma-, ag-, and umverbs and their verb clusters, and sentences in which the nominative complement is an adjective and the subject is a pronoun. the –ko form of subject pronoun is affixed to the family of i verbs. the -k suffix is used for en and an verbs. for instance, ‘pakawanek’ (i forgive) from ‘pakawanen’ (to forgive) involves dropping 106 jpair multidisciplinary research the n from the root and adding the -k suffix. in english, the subject of the verb does not change the structure of the verb except for the third person singular and the object pronoun. in the sentence, ‘we like you,’ the object ‘you’ could be substituted with another pronoun object without changing the structure ‘we have.’ kuo (1999) noted in his study that the use of second-person, third-person, and indefinite pronouns manifest the intention of the researcher to stress solidarity with, and secure cooperation from readers. in contrast, the ilokano subject affects both the verb form and the object suffix. the verb forms used in these irregular processes to affixation is that of en and an verbs serving as basic roots like ‘alaen’ (to get) and ‘tulungan’ (to help). lastly, pronouns are common to all genders in ilokano. this linguistic characteristic also applies to many philippine languages and dialects. it also often lends itself to confusion in the use of pronouns in other languages including english. the free pronoun forms in the nominative case duplicate the first syllable to express the idea of being alone as in ‘sisiak’ (i myself ) and ‘siksika’ (you yourself ). this feature of the ilokano personal pronouns is approximately equivalent to the english reflexive pronouns, or the otherwise known ‘self ’ forms. this description is used for emphatic statements both in ilokano and english. conclusions language is a rule-governed behavior and learning a language involves internalizing the rules. however, the ability or inclination to formulate the rules apparently interferes with the performance that is supposed to lead to making the application of the rules automatic. for in the use of personal pronouns, certain rules have to be met in each language. the usage patterns of ilokano personal pronouns exhibit significant social and linguistic characteristics. the ilokano personal pronouns are either independently structured or affixed to other parts of speech. the independent ilokano personal pronouns indicate various situations while the affixed pronouns restrict their own environment and are applied to all tenses and moods. the ilokano and english personal pronouns may have parallel forms, function, and distribution yet they have very distinct differences in several aspects having belonged to a separate set of families. contrastive analysis as a branch of linguistics plays several key roles in the teaching-learning process. it can predict errors for which the teacher could remedy 107 international peer reviewed journal before such errors are fossilized. it also contributes to the designing of syllabi adapted to the classroom situation. furthermore, it helps in the preparation of teaching materials aimed at reducing interlanguage difficulties in l2 acquisition. translational research the researchers view this study as a starting point for further research. several aspects of this study are open to extension and investigation. from the findings, the teachers could gain useful information in predicting and diagnosing a proportion of the l2 errors committed by learners with a common l1. it is on this basis that teachers would organize feedback to the learners and the work to eliminate linguistic interference. disseminating the results would develop cultural advancement programs and create greater language awareness among young individuals. since the department of education prescribed mother tongue in grades 1-3 and apparently materials are lacking, it is imperative to conduct researches along ilokano personal pronouns and other function words. for the time being, the teachers should utilize the research-based descriptions of personal pronouns as materials in teaching ilokano grammar. literature cited beckner, c., blythe, r., bybee, j., christiansen, m. h., croft, w., ellis, n. c., holland, j., ke, j., larsen-freeman, d., & schoenemann, t. 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(2003). semantic derogation in animal metaphor: a contrastive-cognitive analysis of two male/female examples in english and spanish. journal of pragmatics, 35(5), 771-797. retrieved on august 8, 2013 from doi:10.1016/s0378-2166(02)00127-3. francis, w. n. (1958). the structure of american english. new york: ronald press company. garces, c. v. (1996). contrastive esp rhetoric: metatext in spanish-english economics text. english for specific purposes, 15(4), 279-294. retrieved on august 8, 2013 from doi:10.1016/s0889-4906(97)00032-x. hillier, m. (2003). the role of cultural context in multilingual website usability. electronic commerce research and applications, 2(1), 2-14. retrieved on may 10, 2015 from doi:10.1016/s1567-4223(03)00005-x. hinton, l. (2001). language revitalization: an overview. the green book of language revitalization in practice, 3-18. kim, c. k. (2009). personal pronouns in english and korean texts: a corpusbased study in terms of textual interaction. journal of pragmatics, 41(10), 20862099. retrieved on may 10, 2015 from doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2009.03.004. kitagawa, c. & lehrer, a. (1990). impersonal uses of personal pronouns. journal of pragmatics, 14(5), 739-759. retrieved on may 18, 2015 from doi:10.1016/0378-2166(90)90004-w. kuo, c. h. (1999). the use of personal pronouns: role relationships in scientific journal articles. english for specific purposes, 18(2), 121-138. retrieved on may 18, 2015 from doi:10.1016/s0889-4906(97)00058-6. levshina, n., geeraerts, d., & speelman, d. (2013).mapping constructional spaces: a contrastive analysis of english and dutch analytic causatives. linguistics, 51(4), 825-854. retrieved on october 10, 2013 from doi:10.1515/ ling-2013-0028. 109 international peer reviewed journal niimura, t., & hayashi, b. (1996). contrastive analysis of english and japanese demonstratives from the perspective of l1 and l2 acquisition. language sciences, 18(3-4), 881-834. retrieved on august 8, 2013 from doi:10.1016/ s0388-0001(96)00049-6. rosal, n. l. (1982).understanding an exotic language: ilokano. u.s.a: the author. retrieved on january 25, 2013 from http://books.google.com.ph/books/about/ understanding_an_exotic_language.html?id=tltkaaaamaaj&redir_ esc=y tarone, e., dwyer, s., gillette, s., & icke, v. (1998). on the use of the passive and active voice in astrophysics journal papers: with extensions to other languages and other fields. english for specific purposes, 17(1), 113-132. retrieved on august 8, 2013 from doi:10.1016/s0889-4906(97)00032-x. widdoes, h. w. (1950). a brief introduction to the grammar of the ilocano language. manila, philippines: evangelical united brethren church. retrieved on january 25, 2013 from http://books.google.com.ph/books/about/a_brief_ introduction_to_the_grammar_of_t.html?id=nbclaaaamaaj&redir_ esc=y 116 jpair multidisciplinary research signs and symbols in the ati-atihan festival of kalibo, aklan, philippines nedy s. coldovero http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8729-1562 ncoldovero143@gmail.com university of santo tomas españa boulevard, 1015, manila, philippines augusto antonio a. aguila aguitots29@yahoo.com university of santo tomas españa boulevard, 1015, manila, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract festival, or fiesta in the philippine context, is the most anticipated every year in the country since it becomes an indelible part of filipino culture. it is more than just a display of garb and gallantry but is also done to commemorate significant events in local history, to honor the town patron’s feast, or to give thanks for an abundant harvest and blessings received throughout the year. the ati-atihan festival of kalibo, aklan, philippines, was analyzed and interpreted using semiotic analysis. it presented the answers to the various meanings shown in the festival as filmed or videotaped. the paper adopted descriptive-qualitative research employing interpretive criticism. there were various signs found in the festival, which were interpreted to have denotative and connotative meanings and were classified as iconic, indexical, and symbolic. there are activities participated vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.792 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:ncoldovero143@gmail.com 117 international peer reviewed journal by the whole community such as the mass, novenas, processions, beauty pageants, and many others as their way to express their gratitude to god. the festival acts as a social leveler as people from all walks of life throughout the world converge and interact with one another during the celebration. the festival has also come a long way from its humble origins of pagan lore to become a tourism spectacle of pomp and pageantry. keywords — social science, ati-atihan festival, barter in panay, panay island, signs and symbols, semiotics, literature introduction philippine festival or fiesta, as a good and profitable means for local and international tourist attractions, has a great impact on culture, environment, and society. calopez et al. (2011) noted that festival could be sought as a component of alternative tourism’s new-fangled wave, the cause why events are vigorously endorsed and supported by organizations in the tourism industry in various nations. pre-colonial folklore was transmitted in the oral tradition, and panay island has a trove of these tales and history for more than half a millennium. there were the atis (aetas), the malays, and the spaniards. its history includes christianity’s rise leading to the early revolt spanish rule (panay island tour in the western visayas, 2019). with the christianization of the townsfolk, they became devoted to the patron saint, and there is an annual celebration called fiesta coming from the english word “feast.” in panay island, such an event is garbed with preparations and is treasured and renowned. panay island is situated in the western visayas region, which is comprised of the aklan, antique, capiz, and iloilo provinces. panay island before was split into three sakups or districts. the first is irong-irong, which is now the province of iloilo, under the governance of datu paiburong. the second district is hantik, now the province of antique, which was then under datu sumakwel, and the third district is aklan, comprising present-day aklan and capiz, under datu bangkaya. aklan and capiz are now separate provinces. the three districts or sakups were unified, protected against the attacks of the enemy by the confederation of madyaas, founded by the overlordship of the said primogenital and shrewdest bornean datu, datu sumakwel. aklan was under the sakup of datu bangkaya before (aklan provincial information & communications technology office, 2019). 118 jpair multidisciplinary research there is a fascinating verity on the sakup of aklan by datu bangkaya that historians have unnoticed or overlooked. it was firstly the dale of aklan, and the center was kalibo. those days when datu bangkaya governed the place, the people here speak in their own language. they also have different mores, ways of life, and local ethnicity. the aklanons today possess an entrenched pride and allegiance to their district separate from the capizeños. according to parayan, the historical account of parayan that as early as 1433, aklan has a well-ordered government under kalantiaw, who was the 3rd leader of panay and wrote the renowned “kalantiaw code.” it contains eighteen (18) sugo or orders unveiling the high level of civilization, which aklanons had (aklan provincial information & communications technology office, 2019). the province of aklan in panay island is now the center of the ati-atihan festival, one of the many festivals in the country in honor of sto. niño, whom devotees believed as very miraculous as it gives healing catharsis to them, physically and spiritually, especially during the event. nabor (2015) asserts that the ati-ati of kalibo, aklan in honor of the holy child, proves as the yearly ablution of the native’s soul, a psychotic excursion of his mind, a release of his pent-up emotions and instincts through the world of make-believe. the celebrant may look foolish in his black nakedness or pretentious attire, but because of the yearly ritual, he is going through with sincerity, reverence, and a strong, simple belief that he is giving the best he has and that the holy child blesses him in this moment of wildness. the researchers as devotees of the sto. niño, also believe in the miracles the holy child brings, and with the description above, the researchers took an interest in studying the festival. the researchers explored the ati-atihan festival of kalibo, aklan, using semiotic analysis. semiotic focus because there are studies conducted about the festival; however, the researchers found out that there are no semiotic studies. the signs, symbols, and meanings produced and conveyed in the event were analyzed using semiotics. this was focused primarily on tools of meaning analysis. ways of celebrating the feast of sto. niño in the philippines the philippine festival is celebrated every year, and provinces have their ways of commemorating the event—the feast of sto. niño is celebrated in the month of january in different parts of the philippines in honor of the patron saint to pay homage, give tribute, or a thanksgiving for the blessings and bountiful harvests received by his devotees. baclaran phenomenon (2019) noted that the vatican 119 international peer reviewed journal approved a special consent to the philippine church that every 3rd sunday of january is the feast of sto. niño to commemorate because of the high-spirited devotion of filipinos. one particular big celebration of this festival can be seen in kalibo, aklan called ati-atihan which consists of tribal dance, music, accompanied by indigenous costumes and parade along the street. as documented by peterson (2011), there are local beliefs about the ati-atihan festival, but there is no written record for confirmation. the link between religion and the festival came a few years later in 1569, when a thousand residents of kalibo, aklan were baptized by father andres de aguirre. the town of kalibo was once called madyanos and was changed to kalibo, a contraction part of “isa ka libo,” or “one thousand” (de la cruz, 2001 in peterson, 2011). after the baptism and conversion of the one thousand inhabitants, with the spaniards, there was dancing and shouting, “viva kay señor santo niño,” or “long live the santo niño.” the conversion was believed to have occurred on or near the date the ati-atihan festival in january that corresponded with the pre-christian festival honoring the pact made between the atis (aetas) and the malay settlers (peterson, 2011). in cebu, sinulog festival is celebrated in honor also to sto. niño. the grand celebration begins by gathering the devotees at st. rene goupil parish for an evening of worship and celebration. families brought their personal statues of the holy child and placed them on the steps leading up to the altar, creating a sea of sto. niños giving out its blessing to the congregation. the festival begins with the recitation of the holy rosary, which is subsequently followed by the celebration of the first novena mass, which culminates by the dancing and chanting of the centuries-old tradition of the sinulog — the dance for sto. niño performed by the sinulog queens wearing traditional filipino garb, who represent queen juana and dance with the replica of sto. niño in their arms, marking the 16thcentury arrival of christianity in the philippines (patti, 2020). there are dancing performances, which feature colorful costumes, floats, procession, street dancing, music, and storytelling. another is the dinagyang festival in iloilo city, which is celebrated on the 4th weekend of january. the festivities begin with a colorful parade, which makes the streets of iloilo city alive. it is joined with a performance. the celebration becomes livelier with the sound of the drums and the shouting of “viva señor sto. niño” (long the sto. niño and “hala bira” (an akalanon phrase meaning “dispense all means” by the participants. the ilonggo participants used this popular tagline in expressing their affectionate involvement in the event. they 120 jpair multidisciplinary research believe that the sto. niño is very miraculous that through participating in the celebration, they are healed physically and spiritually, while others give thanks for the blessings they received throughout the year and the next years to come (patti, 2020). the sto. niño festivities in tondo and pandacan are celebrated every third sunday of january, which is highlighted in the lakbayaw (lakbay-sayaw) and the buling-buling festival, respectively. it is a celebration of street dancing where participants come in their best attire (araneta, 2017). in pandacan, as documented by noche (2020), the feast coincides with the district’s fiesta, centering on giving thanks to the holy infant for saving pandacan from the spanish cannon siege. the feast is celebrated with the carnival-like atmosphere of the buling buling festival. the highlight is the street dancing. the feast of sto. niño in tondo or the lakbayaw festival, as documented by dacamus (2013), is celebrated with procession and dancing of the devotees on the streets while carrying the images of the sto. niño. there is a pagoda with an old image of sto. niño in it, which leads the procession accompanied by twenty (20) small boats. tourists from different places are attracted and joined the festivity. the beat of the bass drums is heard. the participants wearing colorful costumes do the street dancing and shouting “viva el sto. niño.” two processions are held in this event, passing the major streets of tondo. the first procession is done in the morning while the other is held before the nightfall. the participants in the procession watch the fireworks display after then. the event also features activities such as photo exhibits and pageants. local products, plants, and other crafts are also showcased. though many festivals are celebrated every month, the feast of sto. niño is the most awaited for every province and place celebrating it since it falls in the first month of the year. objectives of the study this study aimed to analyze and interpret the ati-atihan festival using semiotic analysis. specifically, it seeks answers to these objectives: (1) to determine the signs and symbols portrayed in the performance of the festival, (2) to interpret the festival when its signs are classified as iconic, indexical, or symbolic, and (3) to determine the meaning of each sign in the context of connotation and denotation. 121 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the ati-atihan festival of kalibo in aklan, as filmed or videotaped, was read semiotically. there were no participants involved, and this was made possible through qualitative research employing interpretive criticism. interpretive criticism allows the researcher to concentrate on the form of a work of art and to describe the important characteristics of that form in order to improve one’s understanding of the entire work. in this way, the researcher turns attention directly to the signs portrayed in the work itself, helping others see it. semiotics involved the study not only of signs in daily communication but of everything which stood for something else. signs took the forms of sounds, images, objects, words, and gestures. semioticians studied how meanings were made and how reality was represented. a french linguist, ferdinand de saussure, explored the relationship of a word to the meaning of the thing. for him, a sign is a twopronged psychological unit, which connects a mental perception of an object, which he called the signified, to a pattern of sound, which is the signifier (saussure in schneider, 2013). saussure, as noted by atkin (2013), asserted that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary and analytical. in conducting this study, the researchers followed a process under the influence of charles sanders peirce, roland barthes, and umberto eco for the signs and symbols. first, the researchers established the event to be decoded. the researchers briefly described the background of the event and provided a detailed synopsis of the sequence of the event. second, the researchers determined what each sign and symbol means (through analyzing the setting, characters, plot, symbols, etc.). the researchers then classified each sign and symbol as iconic, indexical, or symbolic in nature, and identified the context of each sign based on their denotative and connotative meanings. third, the researchers sketched the overall context in which the signs and symbols appeared. lastly, after identifying all the signs and symbols and developing the answers to various questions, the researchers established concrete words the interpretation and meaning of the event. for charles sanders peirce, an american logician, the relationship of a sign and its object is not essentially arbitrary (hoopes, 2014). also, a sign has three interrelated parts. first is the sign, which is the signifier, for example, a written word or could be an utterance, or a cloud smoke that signals fire, etc. the second one is the object, which is called the signified, for example, the object to where the uttered or written word is connected. third is the interpretant, which is 122 jpair multidisciplinary research the center to the content the sign has as to how we understand the sign. peirce classified the relationship between the sign and the object as iconic, indexical, and symbolic (atkin, 2013). an iconic sign is a sign that has a similarity to what it signifies. an indexical sign is a sign that has a sensory feature; this can be directly visible, smellable, audible, etc. that correlates in space and time with its meaning. a symbolic sign is a sign that signifies a meaning that is totally disconnected from what it denotes. eco (1979) believed that human beings are evolving in a “system of systems of signs.” peirce’s work inspired him. atkin (2013) noted that the theory of eco dealt with non-linguistic and natural signs. these signs signify based on the code or prior learning. eco asserted that a connotation is a sign-function or a semiotic relation consisting of another semiotic relation. he contended that “a sign-function is the correlation between an expression and a content based on a conventionally established code (a system of correlational rules)” (eco, 1979). the notion of eco, especially on the code, is essential, especially in understanding how signs are transmitted, received, interpreted, and decoded. for jakobson (1971), the meaning of the sign is dependent on the code that provides a structure within which the sign makes sense. barthes (1968), however, used the denotative meaning and the connotative meaning in analyzing signs. denotative meaning is the literal meaning of the sign. connotative meaning describes the sign, a subjective cultural or emotional coloration in addition to the denotative meaning. barthes states that “connotation being itself as a system that comprises signifier, signified and as the process which unites the former to the latter.” the researchers’ job is to find out the signs and symbols to come up with gist and possible themes and to explain the meaning to the reader. conducting a semiotic analysis of an event, movie, advertisement, etc., requires the interpreter the knowledge about semiotics for a better understanding of its intrinsic appeal. in analyzing, it requires one to take a careful look at the character, setting, symbol, and other factors influencing it, like the cultural, historical, and social milieu in which it was created. despite the differences between movies, events, advertisements, etc., the aim of a semiotic analysis is, however, constant, and that is to determine the social significance of a given sign. 123 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion ati-atihan festival’s evolution there are many versions of the kalibo ati-atihan festival’s evolution, including recorded tales, facts, historical accounts, legends, and folklore. the first ati-atihan festival of kalibo in aklan occurred during the first celebration of the barter in panay. according to the story (aklan provincial information & communications technology office, 2019), the atis or aetas used to roam in the lowlands of panay island. the bornean king, sultan makatunaw, was cruel. the ten bornean datus headed by datu puti and families escaped the tyrannical dominion of sultan makatunaw. they navigated on a flotilla of ships and reached sirwakan river near san joaquin, iloilo in 1250. datu puti got connected with the atis. the king of the atis, marikudo, and maniwang-tiwang, his queen, received them. the atis were requested to move to the hinterlands and highlands to make way for the borneans. in exchange for the land, the natives were given a chain of pure gold necklace, the golden saduk or a wide-brimmed helmet, and other presents. there was transformation since overtime, the story changed. they later include the coming of the sto. niño. the atis and the borneans had a luxurious celebration. the feast is celebrated every year during the blossoming period of mangoes, around the same period when the purchase was accomplished (aklan provincial information & communications technology office, 2019). the settlers continued to celebrate the feast in later years, especially when marikudo’s ati descendants migrated to the highlands. with the disappearance of the atis, some settlers mimic the atis by painting themselves with black powder. later, the festival was known as ati-atihan festival. biclar (2014) posited that the barter in panay mirrors the “sweetness and light” of the filipinos’ ways of life, and it serves as the exceptional inherent origin of the rich traditions enclosed in filipino culture. as documented by tinagan (2001), the first version was cited in the maragtas of pedro monteclaro, which was concerned with the purchase of the lowlands in panay by the malayan datus of borneo from the native atis (aetas) in the 12th century. a ceremonial act of friendship blossomed between the two groups of people, as manifested by soot-smearing, and painting of bodies and faces with powdered wooden charcoal, uling or almagre. the second version was offered by artemio a. nabor, m.d., a noted aklanon writer, and researcher. he states that skirmishes and strife arose between the atis and the malayan settlers until 124 jpair multidisciplinary research a peace pact hammered out. both parties chose the minuro it akean as the site for the treaty. after then, there was a celebration. this was the start then of this ati-atihan maraynon. the second version was found in the writings of fr. san agustin. in 1570, two main indians of aclan and bahay begged for support from the spaniards under juan de salcedo to help them because the pirates from mindoro were raiding the northern part of panay island. they were successful, and salcedo made a blood compact of friendship with one of the natives of aclan (kalibo), followed by thanksgiving and revelry. salcedo and his men returned to pan-ay, capiz, after then. tinagan (2001) noted that one religious account is the version of msgr. jose e. ituralde, d.p., a former parish priest of kalibo (1950-1958), as documented in his pamphlet, sto. niño cag ate-ate. this folkloric record mentions miracles in ibajay through the intercession of the holy child, where its devotion and honor spread throughout aklan. msgr. ituralde added another folkloric story, which took place in kalibo. an english translation was provided by beny o. tirazona: in 1789, padre fernando de legaspi, the first parish priest of malinao, in his curiosity of the miracles attributed to the sto. niño fiesta of ibajay came to the place to observe the event. while coming home, riding in a boat, he was captured by muslim pirates. the release of fr. de legaspi was considered a miracle of the sto. niño, since muslim pirates seldom release their prisoners. because of this, the friar became a devotee of the holy child or sto. niño and propagated this celebration of ati-atihan here in kalibo, aklan. fr. de legaspi moved the festival’s date in order to concur with the feast day of the sto. niño because of his great devotion to it and to preserve the atimalayan festivities that was already celebrated by the people of kalibo. there are pilgrims who traveled to kalibo and to other four towns to fulfill their panaad (religious vow or devotion) while doing sadsad (street dancing) in imitation of the playful pranks of the holy child. when fr. de legaspi was the parish priest of kalibo (1798-1819), the town experienced an invasion of more than a thousand muslim pirates who were attracted to the legendary white bell of madianos (old name of kalibo) because its powerful ring reached mindoro. they landed on the shores of barangay old buswang and ransacked it. because of the place’s destruction, the local government agreed to build three watchtowers known as balwartes occupied the entry blocks to the town proper, and erected on high grounds that would serve as observation posts. for defense against the pirates, they used outmoded spanish firing cannons with black powder stuffed in barrels and ignited with lighted spindles. the soot-smeared soldiers were victorious and 125 international peer reviewed journal the kalibonhons celebrated by beating the drums in the main streets of kalibo, shouting, “viva kay señor sto. niño, viva!” who they believed helped repel the muslim incursions. the descendants of kalibo imitated the soot-covered soldiers in commemorating the victory that led to the sto. niño ag ati-ati in kalibo. simon mobo reyes, the municipal mayor of kalibo (1912-1916), narrated the event as documented by tinagan (2001). another tale was written by jesus t. peralta, a noted anthropologist who is set during the spanish times related to him in 1963 by roman a. de la cruz, a compelling writer, historian, and dean of aklan journalism. it was said that the bell was given by a radiant lady carrying a child to a priest, who had a church erected in madianos. the bell attracted the muslim pirates, and the town became the subject of continual raids and depredations. the radiant lady told the town’s people to blacken their bodies with soot from pots. on the next occasion they fight the muslims in imitation of the black nazarene to protect the bell. she told them not to allow the bell to be thrown to the river or the sea, for a great calamity will visit them. the next encounter with the pirates was a victorious one for the madianos, and the pirates never came back. the succeeding years, however, saw the datus of the place with growing jealous of the influence of the priests over the people, so they threw the great white bell to the aklan river. in the following years, the town was continually inundated by floods that havoc on the town and the people. to propitiate the radiant lady, the people of aklan organized the annual feast, and supposedly the floods did not plague the people of aklan anymore. during the muslim pirates’ invasion of the town of kalibo, according to digno alba, a member of the kalibo historical society, the people implored the aid of divine providence, especially seeking the intercession of the sto. niño, seen as a little boy strolling along the shores of old buswang, driving away from the intruders. finding victorious and safe from muslim attacks, the kalibonhons believed the sto. niño helped them. from then on, in thanksgiving, they honored the holy child on his feast day. another version, as noted by tinagan (2001), came from a priest who had served the parish of ibajay. he believed that the origin of sto. niño ati-ati occurred in ibajay, aklan, through the miraculous appearance of the statue of the holy child in the form of driftwood of about three feet high caught in the fishing net of a fisherman. he threw the wood in the river, and when he cast his net three times, he caught the same piece of driftwood. he placed the wood in the basket and caught a great quantity of fish. at home, the fisherman threw the wood under the stove and went to sleep but soon awakened by the tiny knocking 126 jpair multidisciplinary research sound and later found out that it came from the driftwood. close scrutiny of the driftwood revealed a crude contour of an image of christ child the king. the following morning, the fisherman brought the driftwood and its glory to the attention of the villagers. they decided to build a chapel of it in their barrio, casia. it became an object of pilgrimage and spread far and wide. later, they brought it to the church in their town. however, the image was gone from the altar, and they found it back in their barrio chapel. this happened several times. the last time it was brought to the town church, they made a vow that every year they would celebrate the sto. niño to honor the christ child the king by smearing their faces and bodies with black soot. the yearly taking out of sto. niño image, which later has been remodeled and painted, and its parading around the town, is always observed and regarded with veneration. the priest who once served in ibajay parish believed that the ibajay story of sto. niño was the real thing. an early version of origin during the spanish era based on the writings of fr. gaspar de san agustin, osa in his “de las conquistas de las islas filipinas,” was when one thousand natives baptized to roman catholicism in 1569. the spaniards and the natives went around the place, beating the drums, dancing, and singing, shouting and greeting one another “viva! kay señor sto. niño! viva!” to celebrate the great event. with all the versions about the festival, from spanish times onward, it has undergone diverse transformations. whatever transformations happened, the center of the celebration is always on the sto. niño, the attendants were dancing in the streets with the participants dressed in colorful ati (aeta) tribal costumes, in groups or individually. all the activities led to “ati-ati,” which means “to pretend to be an ati” in aklanon. it was translated as “ati-atihan” in tagalog, which is now the more popular name of the festival. local historians point out how the people of kalibo simply switched their intention of cavorting, dancing, and beating of drums from the barter-movie three centuries earlier to that of honoring sto. niño. historically and traditionally, as pointed out by tinagan (2001), kalibonhons have always referred to this event the panaad (vow or devotion) to the child jesus. she noted that according to rev. fr. alex acevedo meñez, since spanish time, the sto. niño has always been the center of the celebration, and according to dr. federico oreta icamina, former and longest mayor of kalibo (1959-1980) and locally known as “father of ati-atihan,” the festival also has an emotion, acting powerfully on one’s being. this traditional and religious festival is believed by 127 international peer reviewed journal historians to have started in cebu. tinagan (2001) mentioned that in her book: the sto. niño de cebu, ms. tenazas stressed, “in the philippines, christianity began with the cult of the sto. niño de cebu. the first baptism in the whole archipelago took place in cebu in 1521 before the image of the sto. niño.” as time passes, ati-atihan festival has evolved into social progress affecting the lifestyles of the generations of aklanons, especially the young ones, and aklanons and non-aklanons became witnesses of this. the festival is celebrated annually by five towns of aklan: altavas, ibajay, makato, batan, and kalibo. interpretation the celebration of the ati-atihan festival in the town of kalibo, aklan, persisted through the years as the cultural tradition. tourists from all over the world are attracted and come to the place to enjoy and participate in the celebration. the character consists of goodwill so that there is practically no unpleasantness despite the tumult; reverence, so that in the midst of merrymaking, participants do not forget their submission to the sto. niño or the holy child (tirazona in nabor, 2015). the sto. niño or the holy child played a very important role in the ati-atihan festival, thus bearing in it the kalibo religious zeal of the devotees, especially the people of kalibo. apart from giving the devotees miracles, the sto. niño also gives healing catharsis or purgation. it shows the devotees' acceptance of divine will and destiny. this iconic holy child represents christianity. he is the epitome of all that is childlike, pure, innocent, and joyful. he depicts optimism, cheerfulness, and hope, especially to the devotees. baclaran phenomenon (2019) noted that the sto. niño festivity is a spectacular articulation of the wedding between the christian conviction and the filipino ethnicity. the relic of sto. niño is the foremost christian image in the philippines. he symbolizes the celebration of filipino culture. he portrays a childlike jesus bearing that cheerful look, fully clad in a king’s robe, with a crown, and holding a globe with the cross. he also serves as a reminder to people of the bond between the enigma of religious childhood and the kingdom of god. these inscrutable contrasting rudiments give the devotees a reflective reason to deem and trust sto. niño for protecting them, granting and answering their prayers as attested by many miracles (baclaran phenomenon, 2019). 128 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. a screenshot of the sto. niño, 2019. courtesy: philippine island travel guide, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hvrbfjq4sbw. ati-atihan is a form of public prayer that symbolizes unity and a sort of knot to people of the same faith, convictions, and beliefs as it brings and gathers devotees together in the expression of their faith. it is also a way of remembering the atis (aetas), who are considered the first inhabitants of panay. the event is full of spectacle and reverberation. everybody is involved regardless of age and status in life. the devotees leave their sto. niño with much affection at the foot of the grandstand before the holy mass begins. figure 2. a screenshot of a devotee kissing her sto. niño, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. 129 international peer reviewed journal the devotee becomes the metaphor of filipino strength, hope, stamina, and aspiration. her strong sense of devotion has proven that filipinos can surpass the tests of destiny and can endure the challenges through a tempestuous period in history. to be a devotee of the holy child is not to become childish in faith, but rather, goes further than piousness and petitionary form of relation with the holy child. it calls us to grow and change lives to become disciples of jesus and proclaimers of his kingdom; it calls us to grow in maturity of our faith (baclaran phenomenon, 2019). before the day of the festival, the devotees attend the novena mass of the sto. niño. figure 3. a screenshot of the mass during the festival, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. the mass shows the devotees’ way of thanking god through the holy child for the abundant blessings received. it symbolizes their strong desire to yield greater power both physically and spiritually. the devotees, in exchange for the blessings received, share these blessings to others, especially in times of crisis, because they believe that helping each other could lessen the anxiety and lighten the burden of the affected people. the mass also depicts equalities among people, the common believers, and devotees, for regardless of their status in life, come together on the same intention, and that is to submit petitions, pay homage, give tribute and thanksgiving to only one god through the holy child, whom they worship altogether. after the bishop ends the mass, the town mayor goes up to the grandstand and raises a sto. niño image and shouts, “viva kay señor sto. niño!” and the 130 jpair multidisciplinary research devotees all shout back, “viva! (long live the sto. niño, long live!”). it is the aklanons act of praising the holy child, especially during the festival. it shows the loyalty and devoutness of the devotees to the holy child. it depicts their continuous holding on to the holy child as they profess their faith. figure 4. a screenshot of the mayor raising the holy child, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. after then, the celebrants go to the streets and public plaza to dance in groups. they do the sadsad (street dancing). it is part of the culture that dancing is a sign of praying. it displays the locals’ way of showing cheerfulness, energy, and vitality during special events. as the street dancing goes on, the celebrants shout, “hala bira! pwera pasma!” (let us go on! shake off sickness) an aklanon phrase in which the revelers and devotees keep on going with the festivities all over the town. it shows positivity and healing power to the devotees of the holy child. by shouting the phrase, they pour or dispense all means, rain or shine, life must go on. dancing, as peterson (2011) posited, is asking over for a devotee’s petition to be granted. the spirit of the holy child is stimulated in dancing itself, marking ati-atihan as the locus of spiritual power that catholics in this part of the philippines carry with them throughout the year. 131 international peer reviewed journal figure 5. a screenshot of the dancers in their street dancing, 2020. courtesy: my barrio, my mundo. the participants and the spectators dance to the beat of the drums and other sound-making devices. the sound of the drums and lyres shows the filipinos’ way of expressing happiness. despite the many problems encountered the whole year, they are optimistic enough to move on. it reflects their being strong and hopeful, especially in times of crisis. the sound gives them the assurance that there is still hope ahead, so there is a need to celebrate and enjoy life. the creation of noise is also a means to cast out or drive away pains, disappointments, tragedies, and mishaps that were encountered in the past year and to shield people from encountering the same in the upcoming year. figure 6. a screenshot of the celebrants beating the drums, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research most celebrants, locally termed ati (aeta), go half-naked, with skinsmeared black all over with soot. their existence reminds us that filipinos are strong, robust, enduring, and unwavering. filipinos have somehow proven their toughness and vigor amidst the pandemic and other crisis. sharing, helping each other, and their strong faith are evident. figure 7. a screenshot of the atis (aetas) participating in the event, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. the celebration continues, and during the event, the celebrants color themselves red or white with almagre or with paint, powder, or chalk. the paint symbolizes the period of creativity. it may also indicate a need for solitude, time for hiding in the true color. it depicts newness to every devotee that every year they are most especially renewed physically and spiritually. figure 8. a screenshot of a girl painting her body, 2019. courtesy: philippine island travel guide, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hvrbfjq4sbw. 133 international peer reviewed journal there is democracy in the celebration. there are equality and a pervading spirit of brotherhood. there is a very old parade with the kid and other groups, and when they meet in the streets, they greet each other with the shout of, “viva kay señor sto. niño!”. there is creativity so that despite very limited resources, the locals manage to create costumes from seeds, nuts, shells, raw fibers, leaves, thin cans in wonder to outsiders. the costume manifests conformity or uniformity, the fact that dancers (for each group) were dressed all alike or the same. this depicts identity, belongingness, and oneness for the people of kalibo. figure 9. a screenshot of the dancers/participants on their colorful costume, 2020. courtesy: my barrio, my mundo. other celebrants, on the other hand, don on costumes of all styles and looks of being from rags to regal, from oriental to western, from primitive to the spaceman. dela cruz (1963) opined that the event is a celebration of noise, a contest of costumes, an eruption of the human spirit, a blare in the air, an uninhabited display of human antics. figure 10. a screenshot of the celebrants on their costumes and looks of different styles, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research everyone participates as a dancer in a common joy. the participants or dancers represent the merry locals who are celebrating their faith and joy. they manifest zest and vigor for fun and excitement. as peterson (2011) documented, the ati-atihan festival is billed as the “filipino mardi-gras” on numerous websites. the festival juxtaposes the sacred and the profane as devotees come together in the streets and do the merrymaking. figure 11. a screenshot of the dancers or participants, 2019. courtesy: dan salas aklanon vlog. unlike other festivals, the ati-atihan festival has no choreography. the spectators have the freedom to join the street dancing, which other festivals do not have. the spectators find the attraction and end up smearing their faces and joining the festivities. they connote the aggressive nature of filipinos, who will do everything just to go to the festival and join the merrymaking even they come from far places. it shows the willingness of filipinos to at least lighten their burdens and lessen their worries through mingling and getting connected with each other, despite the trials and problems experienced. they find time to keep their life more meaningful. as peterson (2011) noted that the recent incarnation of the festival as the “filipino mardi gras,” its focus has progressively on enhancing spectacle and attracting more tourists, at the same time keeping and preserving the religious foundation with the sto. niño as the center of the celebration. 135 international peer reviewed journal figure 12. a screenshot of the spectators joining the street dancing, 2020. courtesy: my barrio, my mundo. the celebration is not complete without the celebrants enter the church, kiss the wooden image of the holy child at the altar, and have paeapak or have their back and limbs be massaged with the sto. niño, in which the devotees believed that in doing so, they would experience the healing catharsis, physically and spiritually. it depicts how filipinos amidst crisis like the pandemic experienced, the covid-19, the two devastating typhoons that hit the philippines, typhoon yolanda and typhoon ursula, and the desperations in life these crisis brought, they are still strong and have survived, continue to live and hold on to what they believe could help them in these tumultuous times, their faith to god. figure 13. a screenshot of the sto. niño being rubbed on the body of a devotee, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research the climax of the celebration is a torch procession, which starts at around four o’clock in the afternoon from the cathedral of kalibo and passes through the streets that define the parameter of the town. the procession is the ultimate act of devotion. it shows the bond that exists between the strong faith of the devotees and the blessings the holy child gives to them for the whole year round until the next years to come. figure 14. a screenshot of the devotees during the procession, 2012. courtesy: patrick alcedo, http://search.alexanderstreet.com. one could hear nothing but an endless discordant grating blare of noise accentuated only by the bass of drums. the procession ends at about eight o’clock in the evening back in the church to end the year’s celebration. the time of the day when the festival started and ended symbolizes the filipinos endurance to trials and problems encountered. the festival is celebrated for a week or more, and the devotees continue with the activities. the devotees make a panaad (devotion or vow) that every year they will come back to the place and join the event. it is a proclamation of faith. it reflects the way in which filipinos find themselves in the comfort of their devotion. it also manifests their strong desire to give help to others or share blessings. alcedo (2007 in peterson, 2011) noted that “for any panaad to be legitimately viewed as such, the elements of suffering and transformation should be experienced through one’s own body and be rendered visible every year” (2007: 117). suffering in this context, an act was done to attain an effect, praise god, ensure good health or luck, can be embodied through dancing. 137 international peer reviewed journal after all the activities happened, the silence and peace then reign as the fagged atis (aetas) walk their weary way home, and the world recedes into same normalcy again. the festival interpretation when its signs were classified as iconic, indexical, and symbolic codes the festival displayed various signs and symbols. iconic codes were manifested among the characters who were icons and personifications of meanings. the holy child or the sto. niño symbolized christianity, the healing catharsis of the devotees, who become the metaphor of filipino strength, hope, endurance, and aspiration. the existence of aetas reminds us that filipinos are strong, robust, enduring, and unwavering. the dancers symbolized the merry locals manifesting zest and vigor. and, the spectators connote the aggressive nature of filipinos. indexical signs were also present at the festival. there was a sadsad (street dancing), which is a sign of praying. the paeapak or the rubbing of the sto. niño, to the body of a devotee, paves the way for healing and protection. the procession shows the bond between the strong faith of the devotees and the blessings the holy child gives them. the festival also displayed symbolic codes. the colorful costumes of the dancers symbolized unity and identity while the paint connotes the period of creativity, indicate solitude, and a time for hiding in the true color. it also depicts newness, renewed spirit, and the nature of one’s self. panaad (devotion/vow) is a proclamation of faith. it reflects the way in which filipinos find themselves in the comfort of their devotion. it also manifests their strong desire to give help to others or share blessings. by shouting, “hala bira! pwera pasma!” (let us go on! shake off sickness), the devotees pour or dispense all means, rain or shine, life must go on. “viva kay señor sto. niño, viva!” (“long live the sto. niño, long live!”) shows the devotees’ loyalty and devoutness to the holy child. it depicts their continuous holding on to the holy child as they profess their faith. the sound shows the filipinos’ way of expressing happiness, despite the many problems and gives them the assurance that there is still hope ahead, so there is a need to celebrate and enjoy life. the time of the day when the festival is celebrated symbolizes the filipinos endurance to trials and problems. and the mass symbolizes their strong desire to yield greater power, physically and spiritually. it is the devotees’ way of thanking god through the holy child for the blessings received. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions there were various signs found in the ati-atihan festival, which were interpreted to have denotative and connotative meanings and were classified into three codes as iconic, indexical, or symbolic. in its entirety, the festival reminds every filipino of the values which some of the filipinos may already have forgotten. it reminds people that they need to share the blessings received to the needy, helping them stand to be able to move on again. amidst crisis experienced, especially this pandemic, the covid-19, it only shows the filipino strength, hope, and aspirations. there comes the bayanihan act, which paves the way to heal people as one. with the bayanihan, filipinos do away negativity and help one another for the welfare of everyone. this only shows that filipinos are able to resist and survive the tests of times. the festival symbolized and represented religious devotion, merrymaking, and mimesis. it is now famous as it is regarded as “mother of philippine festivals.” there are activities participated by the whole community such as the mass, novenas, processions, beauty pageants, and many others as their way to express their gratitude to god. it also helps promote tourism and fortifies the religious spirit of the filipinos. it is more than just a display of colorful costumes and dances that are celebrated in commemorating significant events in local history, in honor of the feast day of the patron saint, expressing devotion, or thanksgiving for an abundant harvest and blessings received. it has been known for its religious zeal, distinctiveness, and unrestrained conviviality. the festival acts as a social leveler as people from all walks of life throughout the world converge and interact with one another during the celebration. some of the balikbayans return home to celebrate and muse over the olden times. with these, the festival has come a long way from its humble origins of pagan lore to become a tourism spectacle of pomp and pageantry. acknowledgments dr. patrick alcedo of york university, toronto, canada, for his film about the ati-atihan festival, which i used in the analysis, same to my barrio my mundo, dan salas aklanon vlog, and philippine travel guide, maria imelda nabor, marcela mijares tinagan, roman dela cruz, benny tirazona, and kalibo tourism office; commission on higher education (ched) for the scholarship grant and financial assistance all throughout my ph.d. journey. the university of santo tomas (my dhei); and capiz state university (my shei). 139 international peer reviewed journal literature cited alcedo, p. (2012). ati-atihan: mother of philippine festivals. 22-minute multimedia project of still images, music, and ambient sounds. retrieved from https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/professor-patrick-alcedo-completes-hisnew-film/ alcedo, p. (2007). sacred camp: transgendering faith in a philippine festival.  journal of southeast asian studies,  38(1), 107-132. retrieved from doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022463406000956 apicto – aklan provincial information & communications technology office. retrieved from http://aklan.gov.ph/profile/historical-background/ araneta, s. (2017). sto. niῆo feasts set in tondo, pandacan. retrieved on july 2020 from https://manilastandard.net/mobile/article/226630 atkin, a. (2013). “peirce’s theory of signs.” the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, edward n. zalta (ed.). retrieved on january 2020 from https:// plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/peirce-semiotics/ barthes, r. 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(2011). the ati-atihan festival: its impact to the economy and tourism industry in kalibo, aklan. jpair multidiscip j, 6, 261-274. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3cqhgen https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/professor-patrick-alcedo-completes-his-new-film/ https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/professor-patrick-alcedo-completes-his-new-film/ https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022463406000956 https://manilastandard.net/mobile/article/226630 https://monoskop.org/images/2/2c/barthes_roland_elements_of_semiology_1977.pdf https://monoskop.org/images/2/2c/barthes_roland_elements_of_semiology_1977.pdf https://baclaranphenomenon.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/feast-of-santo-nino-growing-up-in-our-faith/ https://baclaranphenomenon.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/feast-of-santo-nino-growing-up-in-our-faith/ https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v16i1.271 https://bit.ly/3cqhgen https://bit.ly/3cqhgen 140 jpair multidisciplinary research dacumos, jane. lakbayaw festival “santo niño de tondo”. 2013. retrieved on july 2020 from https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/ lakbayaw-festival-santo-nio-de-tondo dan salas aklanon vlog. opening salvo kalibo, ati-atihan. published on november 4, 2019. retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=srzzdsu5dh8&t=3s dela cruz, roman. 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(2020). buling buling festival: history with a high. retrieved on july 2020 from https://manilastandardtoday.com/mobile/article/315649 panay island tour in the western visayas. retrieved august 12, 2019, from https://www.divescotty.com/island-tours/panay-island.php#3 patti, gabriella. (2020). local filipinos celebrate feast of santo niño, where faith and culture intersect. retrieved on july 2020 from https://bit.ly/3mxsift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srzzdsu5dh8&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srzzdsu5dh8&t=3s https://bit.ly/3kwmuku https://bit.ly/33bmkjo https://bit.ly/3kwj3ct https://manilastandardtoday.com/mobile/article/315649 141 international peer reviewed journal peterson, w. (2011). the ati-atihan festival: dancing with the santo niño at the” filipino mardi gras”. asian theatre journal, 28(2), 505-528. retrieved on september 16, 2020 from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/449799/summary philippine travel guide: ati-atihan festival in kalibo. published on march 19, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvrbfjq4sbw saussure, f. d. (1983). course in general linguistics, trans.  r. harris, london: duckworth, 4. retrieved from https://bit.ly/36gp0n6 schneider, f. (2013). a rough guide to the theory of semiotics. retrieved on january 20, 2020 from http://www.politicseastasia.com/studying/guide-tothe-theory-of-semiotics/ tinagan, m. m. r. (2001). viva! kay senor santo niòo, viva!: aklan’s santo niòo ati-atihan festivals. retrieved from http://philippineperformancerepository.upd.edu.ph/id/eprint/382 https://bit.ly/36gp0n6 http://philippineperformance-repository.upd.edu.ph/id/eprint/382 http://philippineperformance-repository.upd.edu.ph/id/eprint/382 cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 144 collaborative learning in small group discussions and its impact on resilience quotient and academic performance emeliza t. estimo eestimo0322@yahoo.com lourdes c. arañador luis g. evidente john b. lacson colleges foundation bacolod, inc. abstract this paper is a quasi-experimental investigation on the impact of collaborative learning (cl) in small group discussions (sgd) on the development of the eight components of resilience quotient (rq) and the academic performance (ap) of students in maritime english classes. using different statistical tools such as mean and standard deviation and t-test for dependent and independent means, the study revealed that students who have a higher academic performance tend to also have a higher rq. evidence also showed that a high level of rq could enhance academic performance and that rq could be developed through constant exposure to small group discussions at a certain period of time. evidence in the study also showed that too much dependence on the teacher as the main source of learning in the traditional approach could lead to some regression or decline on the students’ personal vision thereby lowering their level of resilience. there was also some evidence that vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.159 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 145 the improvement in the level of rq can also be a teacher factor. moreover, it was noticed that working in small groups could give students the opportunity to affirm their personal beliefs and individual capabilities in accomplishing their tasks in the teaching and learning process. keywords collaborative learning, small group discussion, resilience quotient, academic performance introduction pedagogical institutions point to a high degree of academic performance as the ultimate goal of education. over the years, continuous experiments on the use of different teaching strategies have been explored, but as there is no prescriptive method tailored to different groups of students, teachers and those in the academe continue to investigate on what conditions could work best to enhance their students’ academic performance. corollary to this notion, research experiments have revealed strong evidence connecting resilience and academic success. resilience is believed to be a key component of social emotional learning and as being a critical facet of education. this term refers to one’s ability to succeed in school despite adverse conditions such as poverty or abuse. resilience includes components such as confidence, a sense of wellbeing, motivation, an ability to set goals, relationships/connections, and stress management. research shows that resilience can significantly affect school and life outcomes for youth, including academic success, even for students who are faced with great adversity. furthermore, these skills can be learned, measured, and have lasting effects on academic performance. waxman and huang (1997) found out that students who ranked in the 90th percentile on the standardized tests in mathematics were highly resilient, reporting significantly higher levels of task orientation and satisfaction, social self-concept, achievement motivation, and academic self-concept than their counterparts who ranked below the jpair: multidisciplinary journal 146 10th percentile. in another study by scales et al. (2003), it was found out that higher levels of resiliency traits are strongly correlated with higher grade point averages (gpas) among middle and high school students. moreover, in a study on probable candidates for drop outs, reyes and jason (1993) discovered that low risk students reported strong resiliency, an attribute that the high risk students were significantly lacking. hanson and austin (2003), in their own investigation, gathered that nearly every measure of resilience was positively related to concurrent test scores. the highest increases in test scores occurred in schools where the students reported high levels of resilience. considering that resilience is a significant factor in enhancing academic performance, several proponents like scales (2003), waxman and huang (1997), reyes and jason (1993), and hanson and austin (2003) believe that this ability can be learned, measured, and have lasting effects on academic performance. supporting this notion, rutter (1990) tries to propose a connection between collaborative learning and resilience. he claims that students learn best when they are actively involved in the process of learning. in addition, researches made by beckman (1990); chickering and gamson (1991); cooper and associates (1990); goodsell, et al. (1992); johnson and johnson (1989); johnson, johnson, and smith (1991); mckeachie, et al. (1986); slavin (1980;1983); and whitman (1988) report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes. the theory of collaborative learning (also referred to as cooperative learning) assumes that learning is facilitated when direct instruction is removed from the classroom and when students are placed in small groups to work as a team on an assignment or project. collaborative learning changes the traditional classroom structure by reducing competition and increasing cooperation among students. tension and possible hostility between students is diminished, thus raising academic achievement (ornstein & levine, 2007). bernard (1991), in his own investigation, concluded that that classrooms in which students are given an opportunity to respond, engage in cooperative learning environment, and participate in setting goals are more likely to learn and achieve better. all of these characteristics help students international peer reviewed journal 147 develop a sense of belonging and involvement and help reduce the feelings of alienation and disengagement. with that kind of connection in the school, students will have more of a protective shield against the adverse circumstances that life throws at them. objectives of the study the present study advances the use of collaborative learning in small group discussions as an intervention to develop resilience among students in order to improve their academic performance specifically in maritime english. specifically the study was conducted to pursue the following objectives: 1. to describe the performance of the control group and the experimental group in the eight components of resilience quotient before and after the intervention; 2. to determine the existence of a significant difference in the scores of the control group and experimental group in the eight components of resilience quotient before the intervention on the basis of the same groupings (as a whole, between groups of scholars, and between groups of non-scholars); 3. to find a significant difference in the scores of the control group and experimental group in the eight components of resilience quotient after the intervention on the basis of the same groupings (as a whole, between groups of scholars, and between groups of non-scholars); 4. to determine the level of resilience quotient of the control group and experimental group before and after the intervention; 5. to find a significant difference in the mean scores of the control group and experimental group in the pretest and posttest and in the summative test on the basis of the same groupings (as a whole, between groups of scholars, and between groups of non-scholars). materials and methods the present investigation anchors itself on the framework of collaborative learning (cl) (johnson and smith, 1991) particularly in using small group discussions(sgd) as a useful tool in promoting resilience which is believed to be a significant factor in enhancing academic performance. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 148 the teaching and learning environment in the present study is seen as a process or strategy which shows the input variables on one end and the output variables on the other. the input variables are composed of grouping where the classes are divided into the experimental group which was exposed to the cl in sgd environment and the control group which was taught using the traditional method of instruction; the type of students categorized as scholars and non-scholars; and their resilience quotient which was determined before the experiment. with these input variables, the intervention, when administered, is deemed to promote better learning. in this intervention, the collaborative learning environment characterized by the use of small group discussions is implemented with the experimental group while the usual traditional method is to be used with the control group. as an outcome, the intervention is expected to create an impact on both the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of their learning skills. the following diagram illustrates the schematic framework of the concept of this study: fig. 1 the research paradigm showing the input, process, and outcome variables international peer reviewed journal 149 the participants in this study were first year students enrolled in the bachelor of science in marine transportation program of jblcfbacolod for the second semester of sy 2009-2010. four intact sections were selected prior to the experiment where two were randomly assigned as the control groups representing both scholars and nonscholars. the control groups were the classes of bsmt 1-nsa composed of 19 students (scholars) and bsmt 1-granny knot composed of 38 students (non-scholars). another two classes were assigned as the experimental groups. these were bsmt 1-polaris composed of 36 students (scholars) and bsmt 1-fisherman’s bend having 38 students (non-scholars). the selection was made in such a way that the experimental groups match with their control group counterparts in terms of mental ability. this was done on the basis of their weighted average during their first semester with the school. this study employed the quasi-experimental method using the pretest-posttest control group design. all four groups were given the rq test and the pretest prior to the experiment. the experiment lasted eight (8) weeks during which the experimental groups were taught using cooperative learning in small group discussion while the control groups were taught following the traditional strategy. after the 8-week intervention, the same groups were given the post test using the same instrument used in the pretest with some modifications. the rq test was again administered to record their scores in the eight components after the experiment. scores taken from the summative test were also used to further describe the impact of the intervention on the students’ cognitive skills. the instrument on resilience quotient was used (with permission from russell and consulting) to determine the initial rq of the respondents. the instrument has eight components namely: self assurance, personal vision, flexible and adaptable, organized, problem solver, interpersonal competence, socially connected, and proactive. the maximum score for each of the components of rq is 24. the instrument used for the pretest and posttest was a form of an achievement test prepared by the experimental teacher and validated by three other experts in the field. it was intended to measure the academic performance of the participants before and after the intervention. the other instrument used was a summative test consisting of a total of 60 multiple-choice items. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 150 mean was used to determine and compare the scores of the students in the eight components of rq as well as their performance in the pretest, post test, and summative test. frequency and percentage were used to determine how many of the respondents were very resilient, resilient, somewhat resilient, and not very resilient. to compare the scores of the experimental and control groups in the eight components of resilience, the t-test for independent samples was used. results and discussion scores of the control group and the experimental group in the eight components of rq before and after the intervention table 1.a means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the experimental group and control group before and after the intervention (as a whole) components of resilience quotient (rq) experimental control pre post pre post mean sd mean sd mean sd mean sd self assurance 19.41 2.22 20.14 2.27 18.54 2.70 19.11 2.76 personal vision 20.88 2.14 21.01 2.14 20.38 2.69 19.70 3.35 flexible and adaptable 18.99 1.65 19.69 2.21 18.61 2.62 18.81 2.92 organized 17.25 2.57 18.45 2.85 16.35 3.07 17.04 3.40 problem solver 18.93 2.60 19.53 2.83 18.42 3.12 18.63 2.85 interpersonal competence 18.64 3.07 19.47 2.34 18.11 2.76 18.72 3.22 socially connected 20.10 2.66 20.38 2.09 19.12 2.71 19.18 2.86 proactive 20.03 2.31 20.05 2.28 19.67 2.37 18.88 2.69 table 1.a shows that before the intervention, both the experimental and control groups scored highest in the following components: personal vision, socially connected, and proactive. however, both groups scored lowest in the following components: interpersonal competence, organized and problem-solver. for both groups, their low score in the said components could mean that even if they have international peer reviewed journal 151 a high degree of personal vision, social connection, and proactive characteristic, they have not fully adopted a system in accomplishing their tasks and are simply accustomed to receiving lessons as taught to them in a teacher to student routine type of learning. it also appeared that they have not fully developed the skill to work with others as they appeared to be used to learning on their own. data after the intervention reveals that both groups have shown progress in their scores for all the eight components of resilience quotient except for personal vision and proactive in the case of the control group. this could mean that with the intervention, the students in the experimental group have all progressed in all the eight components and have shown a remarkable improvement especially on the three components where they used to have the lowest scores. in other words, they have become more organized, more of a problemsolver, and could now work better with others. in the case of the control group, however, the regression in personal vision and being proactive could be due to their dependence on the teacher as the main source of learning in the traditional environment. table 1.b means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the experimental group and control group before and after the intervention (between groups of scholars) components of resilience quotient (rq) nsa (control group) polaris experimental group pre post pre post mean sd mean sd mean sd mean sd self assurance 20.37 2.01 20.58 2.36 19.47 2.26 20.22 2.33 personal vision 21.79 1.27 21.32 2.43 21.28 1.98 21.08 2.22 flexible and adaptable 19.74 2.90 20.11 2.13 19.22 1.71 20.16 2.25 organized 16.74 3.23 16.42 2.99 17.42 2.82 18.22 2.94 problem solver 20.58 2.19 19.74 2.70 18.86 2.88 19.54 2.95 interpersonal competence 19.47 2.37 20.26 2.23 19.36 2.31 19.92 2.17 socially connected 20.32 2.69 20.79 2.42 20.03 2.58 20.46 1.95 proactive 21.11 1.63 20.00 2.29 20.25 2.43 20.49 2.12 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 152 it could be gleaned from table 1.b that before the intervention, the groups of scholars appeared to have a high level of personal vision and social connection. they are also both proactive in their way of dealing with things. however, both groups show the lowest score on organization. also worth-mentioning is that the nsa group appeared to be better problem solvers than the polaris group. data after the intervention reveals that both groups of scholars appeared to have scored well in all the other six components of rq. it can also be observed though that they remained to have a lower score for being organized and being problem-solvers. this could probably mean that these components of the rq are skills that require a longer time to acquire and develop. it could be possible that given a longer span of time for the intervention, they could also hone these skills to a higher level. comparatively looking at the scores between the two groups, the nsa group appeared to score slightly higher than the polaris group in terms of self-assurance, personal vision, problem solver, interpersonal competence, and socially connected. it is interesting to note, however, that the polaris group (experimental group) scored higher than the nsa group in terms of flexibility and adaptability, and being organized and proactive. this could have resulted from their exposure to collaborative learning in small group discussions where they were made to face adjustments with their peers as they planned and organized their outputs before they were turned over to the teacher or before they are presented and critiqued in front of the class. table 1. b.1 comparative results of the scores of the groups of scholars on the eight components of rq in the pretest and the posttest components of resilience quotient (rq) nsa (control group) polaris (experimental group pretest posttest pretest posttest self assurance 20.37 20.58 19.47 20.22 personal vision 21.79 21.32 21.28 21.08 flexible and adaptable 19.74 20.11 19.22 20.16 international peer reviewed journal 153 organized 16.74 16.42 17.42 18.22 problem solver 20.58 19.74 18.86 19.54 interpersonal competence 19.47 20.26 19.36 19.92 socially connected 20.32 20.79 20.03 20.46 proactive 21.11 20.00 20.25 20.49 table 1.b.1 shows the scores of the groups of scholars on the eight components of the rq before and after the intervention. among the eight components, it can be seen that the nsa group who were taught using the traditional method improved their scores in only four components: self assurance, flexible and adaptable, interpersonal competence, and socially connected. their scores for personal vision, organized, problem-solving, and proactive declined after the intervention. it can be suspected that since they were taught using the teacher-dominant mode of instruction where the teacher dominated the floor for most of the activities, their skills on these aspects were not maximized and not used actively. too much reliance and dependence on the teacher could have created a passive attitude on their part in the teaching-learning process thereby affecting their level of resilience especially on the said components. the group of polaris students, on the other hand, revealed interesting results. it can be seen on the table that except for personal vision, the polaris group (experimental group) showed improvement in all the other seven components of the rq after the experiment. this could mean that the intervention has created a positive impact on their level of resilience. the decline in their score for personal vision could possibly be due to their experience in working with their groups. as they began to work as a team, their perspective could have changed in that they were thinking more in line with their group’s goals rather than just their personal interest in the learning process. continuation of table 1. b.1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 154 table 1.c means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the experimental group and control group before and after the intervention (between groups of non-scholars) components of resilience quotient (rq) granny knot (control group) fisherman’s bend experimental group pre post pre post mean sd mean sd mean sd mean sd self assurance 17.63 2.55 18.37 2.67 19.35 2.21 20.05 2.24 personal vision 19.68 2.94 18.89 3.48 20.49 2.24 20.95 2.08 flexible and adaptable 18.05 2.30 18.16 3.07 18.76 1.59 19.22 2.08 organized 16.16 3.02 17.34 3.59 17.03 2.32 18.68 2.79 problem solver 17.34 2.97 18.08 2.79 19.00 2.33 19.51 2.74 interpersonal competence 17.42 2.72 17.95 3.38 17.95 3.56 19.03 2.46 socially connected 18.53 2.54 18.37 2.75 20.16 2.77 20.30 2.23 proactive 18.95 2.37 18.32 2.73 19.81 2.20 19.62 2.38 for the groups of non-scholars before the intervention, it can be seen that except for personal vision and being socially connected, both groups of non-scholars appeared to have lower scores in all six other components of the rq. if compared with those classified as scholars, the results seemed to point out that students who have a higher academic performance tend to also have a higher rq. it is also worth-mentioning that the groups of non-scholars appeared to have the lowest score on being organized and on interpersonal competence. after the experiment, the experimental group scored higher in all aspects compared to the control group. it is obvious to say then that the group which was exposed to the intervention has completely shown a higher level of resilience than those who were exposed to the traditional method of instruction. it was also interesting to compare the scores of each group in the eight components of rq while looking at their scores in the pretest and posttest. the following table has this data. international peer reviewed journal 155 table 1.c.1 comparative results of the scores of the groups of non-scholars on the eight components of rq in the pretest and the posttest components of resilience quotient (rq) granny knot (control group) fisherman’s bend (experimental group pretest posttest pretest posttest self assurance 17.63 18.37 19.35 20.05 personal vision 19.68 18.89 20.49 20.95 flexible and adaptable 18.05 18.16 18.76 19.22 organized 16.16 17.34 17.03 18.68 problem solver 17.34 18.08 19.00 19.51 interpersonal competence 17.42 17.95 17.95 19.03 socially connected 18.53 18.37 20.16 20.30 proactive 18.95 18.32 19.81 19.62 it can be gathered from the table 1.c.1 that both groups of nonscholars have declined in their level of proactive involvement after the intervention. this lower level of assertiveness could be due to their not being scholarly. in the classroom, whatever the teaching method is, low-performing classes are normally quiet and dependent on the cues given by the teacher especially when exposed to very challenging tasks, so in the present study, the intervention did not really effect a positive change in this aspect. it is interesting to note, however, that the experimental group showed improvement in all the other seven components. in the control group, on the other hand, a decline can also be observed for personal vision and social connectivity. this could again be attributed to too much dependence on teacher instruction and individual responsibility of each student to respond in the learning process. difference in scores of the control group and experimental group in the eight components of rq before the intervention (as a whole, between groups of scholars, and between groups of non-scholars) jpair: multidisciplinary journal 156 table 2.a t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group before the intervention (as a whole) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value expt. self assurance control 73 57 19.41 18.54 2.22 2.70 2.01 128 .047* expt. personal vision control 73 57 20.88 20.39 2.14 2.69 1.16 128 .249 expt. flexible & adaptable control 73 57 18.97 18.61 1.65 2.62 .938 89.61 .351 expt. organized control 73 57 17.25 16.35 2.57 3.07 1.81 128 .073 expt. problem solver control 73 57 18.93 18.42 2.60 3.12 1.02 128 .311 expt. interpersonal competence control 73 57 18.64 18.11 3.07 2.76 1.04 128 .302 expt. socially connected control 73 57 20.06 19.12 2.66 2.71 2.05 128 .042* expt. proactive control 7 57 20.03 19.67 2.31 2.37 .874 128 .384 α< .05, significant * table 2.a reveals that before the intervention, there is a significant difference on the aspect of self assurance and socially connected between the experimental and control group in favor of the experimental group. the scores in the rest of the components are comparable for the two groups. international peer reviewed journal 157 table 2.b t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group before the intervention (between groups of scholars) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value polaris self assurance nsa-1 36 19 19.47 20.37 2.26 2.01 1.45 53 .153 polaris personal vision nsa-1 36 19 21.28 21.79 1.98 1.27 1.161 50.76 .251 polaris flexible & adaptable nsa-1 36 19 19.22 19.74 1.71 2.90 .710 24.76 .484 polaris organized nsa-1 36 19 17.47 16.74 2.82 3.23 .874 53 .386 polaris problem solver nsa-1 36 19 18.86 20.58 2.88 2.19 2.27 53 .027* polaris interpersonal competence nsa-1 36 19 19.36 19.47 2.31 2.37 .171 53 .865 polaris socially connected nsa-1 36 19 20.03 20.32 2.58 2.69 .388 53 .700 polaris proactive nsa-1 36 19 20.25 21.11 2.43 1.63 1.38 53 .175 α< .05, significant * table 2.b shows that before the intervention, the nsa group significantly appeared to be better problem-solvers than the polaris group. for the rest of the components, the two groups showed comparable results. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 158 table 2.c t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group before the intervention (between groups of non-scholars) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value fisherman’s bend self assurance granny knot 37 38 19.35 17.63 2.21 2.55 3.11 73 .003* fisherman’s bend personal vision granny knot 37 38 20.49 19.68 2.24 2.94 1.33 73 .189 fisherman’s bend flexible & adaptable granny knot 37 38 18.76 18.05 1.59 2.30 1.55 65.86 .127 fisherman’s bend organized granny knot 37 38 17.03 16.16 2.32 3.02 1.40 69.24 .166 fisherman’s bend problem solver granny knot 37 38 19.00 17.34 2.33 2.97 2.68 73 .009* fisherman’s bend interpersonal competence granny knot 37 38 17.95 17.42 3.56 2.72 .719 73 .474 fisherman’s bend socially connected granny knot 37 38 20.16 18.53 2.77 2.54 2.66 73 .010* fisherman’s bend proactive granny knot 37 38 19.81 18.95 2.20 2.37 1.64 73 .106 α< .05, significant * data between the groups of non-scholars as revealed in table 2.c showed a significant difference in scores on the following aspects: self-assurance, problem-solver, and socially connected. the significant difference was seen in favor of the experimental group. difference in scores of the control group and experimental group in the eight components of rq after the intervention (as a whole, between groups of scholars, and between groups of non-scholars) international peer reviewed journal 159 table 3.a t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group after the intervention (as a whole) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value expt. self assurance control 74 57 20.14 19.11 2.27 2.76 2.34 129 .021* expt. personal vision control 74 57 21.01 19.70 2.14 3.35 2.58 89.83 .011* expt. flexible & adaptable control 74 57 19.69 18.81 2.21 2.92 1.90 101.03 .060 expt. organized control 74 57 18.45 17.04 2.85 3.40 2.58 129 .011* expt. problem solver control 74 57 19.53 18.63 2.83 2.85 1.79 129 .076 expt. interpersonal competence control 74 57 19.47 18.72 2.34 3.22 1.55 129 .124 expt. socially connected control 74 57 20.38 19.18 2.09 2.86 2.67 98.56 .099 expt. proactive control 74 57 20.05 18.88 2.28 2.69 2.71 129 .008* α< .05, significant * the results appearing in table 3.a show that after the intervention, the experimental group performed significantly higher in self assurance, personal vision, organized, and in being proactive. this can be considered as a remarkable progress because before the intervention, the significant difference was only for the aspects of self-assurance and socially connected. it appears that the intervention has significantly jpair: multidisciplinary journal 160 improved the personal vision, organization, and being proactive of the experimental group. it is noted however, that in socially connected, the experimental and control group have similar performance. it is very apparent that the intervention improved students’ performance on self assurance, personal vision, organized and proactive. the difference in flexibility and adaptability was almost significant (sig. value is .060) in favor of the experimental group. this significant increase in score for self-assurance of the experimental group could mean a higher level of confidence which could be attributed to their improved social connections. working with the group could have given them the opportunity to affirm their personal beliefs and individual capabilities in terms of accomplishing their tasks. moreover, the collaborative environment could have improved their skill to organize and plan their tasks ahead of time. table 3.b t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group after the intervention (between groups of scholars) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value polaris self assurance nsa 37 19 20.22 20.58 2.33 2.36 .548 54 .586 polaris personal vision nsa 37 19 21.08 21.32 2.22 2.43 .363 54 .718 polaris flexible & adaptable nsa 37 19 20.16 20.11 2.25 2.13 .091 54 .928 polaris organized nsa 37 19 18.22 16.42 2.94 2.99 2.15 54 .036* polaris problem solver nsa 37 19 19.54 19.74 2.95 2.70 .242 54 .809 polaris interpersonal competence nsa 37 19 19.92 2026 2.17 2.23 .558 54 .579 international peer reviewed journal 161 polaris socially connected nsa 37 19 20.46 20.79 1.95 2.42 .552 54 .583 polaris proactive nsa 37 19 20.49 20.00 2.12 2.86 .793 54 .431 α< .05, significant * in table 3.b, it can be observed that after the intervention, there is a significant difference in the scores of the groups of scholars in terms of organization. this significant difference is seen in favor of the experimental groupwhich means that their exposure to the intervention has significantly improved their ability to organize their tasks. another interesting observation is that before the intervention, it was found out that the nsa group (control group) significantly appeared to be better problem-solvers than those in the polaris group (experimental group). after the intervention, the difference is not anymore significant. this is a remarkable progress because it appears that as problem-solvers, the experimental group has leveled up with the control group where before they appeared inferior to the control group in terms of this component. table 3.c t-test showing the means and standard deviation in the eight components of rq of the control group and experimental group after the intervention (between groups of non-scholars) components of resilience quotient n mean sd t df sig. value fb self assurance gk 37 38 20.05 18.37 2.24 2.67 2.96 73 .004* fb personal vision gk 37 38 20.95 18.89 2.08 3.48 3.09 73 .003* fb flexible & adaptable gk 37 38 19.22 18.16 2.08 3.07 1.75 65.26 .085 continuation of table 3.b jpair: multidisciplinary journal 162 fb organized gk 37 38 18.66 17.34 2.79 3.59 1.79 73 .077 fb problem solver gk 37 38 19.51 18.08 2.74 2.79 2.24 73 .028* fb interpersonal competence gk 37 38 19.03 17.95 2.46 3.38 1.58 73 .119 fb socially connected gk 37 38 20.30 18.37 2.23 2.75 3.33 73 .001* fb proactive gk 37 38 19.62 18.32 2.38 2.73 2.20 73 .031* α< .05, significant * table 3.c shows interesting results. it can be observed that after the intervention, there is a significant difference in the scores of the groups of non-scholars in terms of personal vision, problem-solver, socially connected, and proactive. for the rest of the components their scores are comparable. it should be remembered that before the intervention, the experimental group of non-scholars significantly appeared to be better than the control group in terms of self-assurance, problemsolving skills, and social connection. after the intervention, they did not only maintain this edge in the said components but also in terms of personal vision and being pro-active. it is clear that the intervention has improved the scope of their resilience. level of resilience quotient (rq) of the control group and experimental group before and after the intervention to determine the level of resilience of the students in the experimental group and the control group, the following descriptions were used: vr (very resilient), r (resilient), sr (somewhat resilient), and nvr (not very resilient). continuation of table 3.c international peer reviewed journal 163 table 4.a level of rq of the control group and the experimental group before the intervention nvr sr r vr total pretest pretest pretest pretest pretest group f % f % f % f % f % control 1 .77 3 2.30 51 39.23 2 1.55 57 43.85 experimental 0 0 2 1.54 67 51.54 4 3.07 73 56.15 total 1 .77 5 3.84 118 90.77 6 4.62 130 100 scholars(polaris) 1 2.6 33 86.8 2 5.3 36 94.7 non-scholars(fb) 1 2.6 34 89.5 2 5.3 37 97.4 total 2 5.2 67 88.15 4 5.3 73 96.05 scholars(nsa-1) 17 89.50 2 10.5 19 100 non-scholars (gk) 1 2.5 3 7.5 34 85.00 38 95 total 1 2.5 3 7.5 51 86.44 2 3.39 57 96.61 note: 4 data are missing in the posttest of the experimental and control and 2 missing data for scholars and non-scholars the result in the pretest reveals that two respondents (1.55%) of the control group are very resilient and 4 (3.07%) of the experimental group are very resilient. majority of the respondents are resilient. these majority is composed of 51 (39.23%) from the control group and 67 (51.54 %) from the experimental group. there are 3 or (2.30%) who are somewhat resilient from the control group and 2 or (1.54%) who are somewhat resilient from the experimental group. only one or (.77%) is not very resilient from the control group and there is none from the experimental group. moreover, it can be observed that for the groups of scholars, two students (5.3%) from polaris appear to be very resilient, 33 (86.8%) are resilient, and one (2.6%) is somewhat resilient. for the nsa group, two (10.5%) appears to be very resilient and 17 (89.50%) are resilient. for the groups of non-scholars, on the other hand, two (5.3%) appear to be very resilient, 34 (89.5%) are resilient, and one (2.6%) is somewhat resilient in the fisherman’s bend group. in the case of granny knot, nobody appears to be very resilient, 34 (85%) are jpair: multidisciplinary journal 164 resilient, three (7.5%) are somewhat resilient, and one (2.5%) appears to be not very resilient. figures appearing in this set of data would be compared later with those gathered after the intervention. table 4.b level of rq of the control group and the experimental group after the intervention nvr sr r vr total posttest posttest posttest posttest posttest group f % f % f % f % f % control 1 .77 5 3.85 44 33.59 7 5.34 57 43.51 experimental 0 0 1 .77 63 48.09 10 7.64 74 56.49 total 1 .77 6 4.62 107 81.68 17 12.98 131 100 scholars(polaris) 1 2.6 30 78.9 6 15.8 37 97.4 non-scholars(fb) 33 86.8 4 10.5 37 97.4 total 1 2.6 63 82.89 10 13.16 74 97.4 scholars(nsa-1) 1 5.3 15 78.9 3 15.8 19 100 non-scholars (gk) 1 2.5 4 10 29 72.9 4 10.0 38 95 total 1 1.69 5 8.47 44 74.58 7 11.86 57 96.61 note: 4 data are missing in the posttest of the experimental and control and 2 missing data for scholars and non-scholars table 4.b reveals that the number of very resilient respondents increases in the posttest for the experimental and the control group although the increase is more in the experimental group. this might be attributed to the intervention used in the experimental group. it is noted however, that in the control group there is still one respondent who is not very resilient. this could be due to the lack of intervention made for this group of students. while looking at the separate data for scholars and non-scholars, some remarkable improvements have been noted especially for both groups of scholars and non-scholars who were exposed to the intervention (polaris and fisherman’s bend). for example, in the polaris group where only two students appeared to be very resilient before the intervention, after the intervention there were already six. in the fisherman’s bend group were there used to be only two students who were very resilient, after the intervention there were already four. the one who used to be just somewhat resilient has now become resilient after the intervention. this means to say that for that short span of time of six weeks of exposure to the intervention, the level of resilience of some students seemed to have improved. it is also important to note the following observations among those in the control groups. first, where there used to be no one in the nsa group who was found to be less than resilient, after exposure to the traditional method, one came out to be just somewhat resilient. this could possibly be attributed to too much dependence on the teacher or for this student to have turned passive about learning since their group has not been subjected to any challenging activity during the actual instruction. meanwhile it was also noted that for the granny knot group, where there used to be no student who was found to be very resilient, after the intervention there have been four. this phenomenon could possibly be attributed to teacher factor. difference in the mean scores of the control group and the experimental group in the pretest and posttest and in the summative test table 5. a t-test showing the means and standard deviations in the pretest, posttest, and summative test of the control group and the experimental group (as a whole) group n mean sd t df sig. value expt. pretest control 76 59 37.07 35.63 5.63 8.07 1.17 99.17 .246 expt. posttest control 76 59 44.82 42.85 5.74 8.39 1.54 97.87 .126 expt. summative control 76 59 62.43 56.27 7.54 9.91 3.97 105.35 .000* the results show that both groups have a similar performance in the pretest and posttest. however, in the summative test, the experimental group performed significantly higher than the control group, revealing a significant impact of the intervention in terms of the summative test results. the comparable results in the posttest could be due to the “freshness” of the items since they were exposed to it for the second time at eight weeks interval only. the instrument for the summative test, on the other hand, was administered to them only once. table 5.b t-test showing the means and standard deviations in the pretest, posttest, and summative test of the control group and the experimental group (between groups of scholars) group n mean sd t df sig. value polaris pretest nsa 38 19 39.61 43.42 4.51 5.37 2.82 55 .007* polaris posttest nsa 38 19 47.42 51.53 3.53 3.75 4.06 55 .000* polaris summative nsa 38 19 39.92 41.32 4.79 3.15 .019 55 .985 it can be observed in table 5.b that the nsa group (control group) has significantly showed a higher scoring ability in both the pretest and posttest. the figures further reveal that their scores in the summative test did not significantly differ. one possible factor why this is so is that of the nsa group’s smaller class size. because the number of students was small, a semi-individualized form of instruction could have been made possible in a teacher-controlled class setting. students could have been given more ample time to interact and to clarify the lessons with the teacher. the comparability of their scores in the rest of the assessments could be an indication that the initial advanced mental ability of both groups is a big factor in determining their success in class. it is worth-noting though that the intervention has significantly improved the degree of resilience of the experimental group especially in terms of organization and problem-solving. international peer reviewed journal 167 table 5.c t-test showing the means and standard deviations in the pretest, posttest, and summative test of the control group and the experimental group (between groups of non-scholars) group n mean sd t df sig. value fb pretest gk 38 40 34.53 31.93 5.53 6.31 1.93 76 .057 fb posttest gk 38 40 42.21 38.73 6.36 6.63 2.37 76 .020* fb summative gk 38 40 36.76 32.45 4.99 4.84 4.10 76 .000* table 5.c reveals very remarkable findings. the figures show that both groups of non-scholars have started off on the same level before the intervention as proved by their scores in the pretest. it is interesting to note, however that after the intervention, the scoring ability of the experimental group appeared significantly higher compared to those in the control group specifically in the posttest and the summative test. this raises a point that the intervention has significantly improved not only the level of resilience of the students but also their academic performance. conclusions students who have a higher academic performance tend to also have a higher resilience quotient (rq). they seem to have their own way of coping with the lessons, so they could readily adapt to the absence or the infusion of any form of intervention. using the collaborative learning approach in small group discussions can enhance the students’ level of resilience to some extent in relation to some of its components. the method also displayed a significant impact on their scores in the tests. this was particularly observed as significant among the groups of non-scholars. initial evidence from this study however revealed that some aspects of resilience, specifically on being organized and being a good problem-solver, take some time jpair: multidisciplinary journal 168 to develop. in the study, it was noted that the limited exposure of the students to the intervention did not really improve the organization and problem-solving components of their rq. it is possible though that given a longer span of time for the intervention, they could also hone these skills to a higher level. evidence in the study also showed that too much dependence on the teacher as the main source of learning in the traditional approach could lead to some regression in personal vision. it could create a passive attitude on the part of the students in the teaching-learning process thereby lowering their level of resilience. the improvement in the level of rq can also be a teacher factor. this was evidenced by the improvement of the control group in some components of the rq even without exposure to the intervention. working with the group could give students the opportunity to affirm their personal beliefs and individual capabilities in terms of accomplishing their tasks. moreover, findings of this study supported the earlier assumptions that using the collaborative learning approach by engaging the students to small group discussions could significantly improve not only the level of resilience of the students but also their academic performance. recommendations based on the findings derived from this study, the following recommendations are given. first, it is important also to capitalize on developing the affective domain of learning by providing a protective work climate between and among the teacher and the students. this means providing a connection which promotes a caring and supportive relationship to promote a more effective learning process. next, the instructors must be a model of resiliency. they should provide more opportunities to students by giving them time in listening and validating their opinions. they must also try to refrain from being too judgmental. they should constantly remind and encourage their students to obtain a high level of academic competence. instructors must highlight the importance of meeting expectations and aiming for achievement. they must put a strong belief in their students’ innate capacities, provide them more challenging tasks, offer them support when needed, focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, and promote international peer reviewed journal 169 a student-centered instruction to encourage individual participation in a collaborative atmosphere. third, there is also a need for instructors to create opportunities for participation and contribution. they should give students power and responsibility by allowing them to work interactively with others in the class, reflect, think critically, and express their opinions openly. while a multitude of studies on collaborative learning have been conducted over the years, it is still best to explore the applicability of this method in different context across disciplines. after all, it is possible that what works in one context may not necessarily apply to another. it would be interesting to find out what other strategies of collaborative learning could work best with the students and which of its attributes could effect problem-solving skills and the ability to be more organized. acknowledgments the researchers would like to acknowledge the authors cited in this study as well as the persons who have served as their motivation to complete this paper. much thanks is extended to the john b. lacson foundation maritime university and to john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod in particular, for the support and motivation they have extended to the faculty and staff researchers which had cultivated a strong research culture in the whole university. literature cited bernard, b. 1991 fostering resiliency in kids. educational leadership, 51(3), 44-48. beckman, m. 1990 “collaborative learning: preparation for the workplace and democracy” college teaching 38(4), 128-133. cooper, j., and associates. 1990 cooperative learning and college instruction. long beach: institute for teaching and learning, california state university jpair: multidisciplinary journal 170 goodsell, a., maher, m., tinto, v, and associates (eds.). 1992 collaborative learning: a sourcebook for higher education. university park: national center on postsecondary teaching, learning, and assessment, pennsylvania state university guskey, t r. 1988 improving student learning in college classrooms. springfield, ill: thomas hanson, t.l. and austin, g. 2003. student health risks, resilience, and academic performance in california: year 2 report, longitudinal analyses. los alamitos, ca: wested. johnson, d. w., johnson, r. t., and smith, k. a. 1991 cooperative learning:increasing college faculty instructional productivity. ashe-fric higher education report no.4. washington, d.c.: school of education and human development, george washington university. neuchterlein & s. weintraub (eds.), risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 181-214). new york: cambridge university press. reyes, o. and jason, l.a. 1993 pilot study examining factors associated with academic success for hispanic high school students. journal of youth and adolescence, 22, 57-71. rutter, m. 1990 psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. in j. rolf, a. masten, d. cicchetti, k. scales, p. c., roehlkepartain, e.c., neal, m., kielsmeier, j.c., & benson, p.l. 2006 the role of developmental assets in predicting academic achievement: a longitudinal study. journal of adolescence,29(5), 692-708. international peer reviewed journal 171 waxman, m. 2003 review of research on educational resilience. ca: center for research on education, diversity & excellence. waxman, h. c. and huang, s.l 1997 classroom instruction and learning environment differences between effective and ineffective urban elementary schools for african american students. urban education, 32(1), 7-44. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 1 determinants of career change: a literature review jeffrey uy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4457-6293 juy@aldar.com aldar properties, abu dhabi, uae originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract a recent study found that 49% of employees had change careers from a wide range of industries. however, most successful career switchers take years to learn new skills, network, and be financially prepared. the study uses the literature review as a means to examine available scientific literature on the demographic characteristics, personal, and organizational factors as determinants of a career change. the content analysis of scientific literature was used. the sources came from research databases such as google scholar, directory of open access journals, pubmed, and other websites. the findings suggest that demographic characteristics, personal, and organizational factors are determinants of a career change. keywords — career change, determinants, literature review, content analysis, united arab emirates, overseas filipinos introduction constant and unexpected shifts characterize the contemporary world of work. as a consequence, jobs are less stable and predictable, and frequency and complexity increase in job transitions (masdonati, fournier, & lahrizi, 2017). according to the integrated model of a career change, organizational and personal vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v42i1.804 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4457-6293 mailto:juy@aldar.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 22 jpair multidisciplinary research 216 jpair multidisciplinary research factors influence an individual’s ability to change careers (cabral, rhodes, & doering, 1985). the philippine government has hailed overseas filipino works (ofws) as “new heroes” (bautista & tamayo, 2020). in a survey from eon insight, the profile of filipinos in the united arab emirates has shifted with an influx of professionals coming in their quest for a better life that plays a major part in the growing economy of the region (de leon, 2019). the recent global pandemic has caused over 1 million overseas filipino works to lose their jobs (aben, 2020). with this, the researcher was inspired to study the determinants of a career change to help individuals who are in the process and planning to change their careers. despite this, there have been limited studies on the determinants of career change of overseas filipinos in the united arab emirates. hence, this paper presents and discusses the published literature and studies that have a direct bearing on the study. objectives of the study this study aimed to understand the determinants of a career change. specifically, the researcher would like to determine the demographic characteristics, personal and organizational factors of a career change and describe the situation of overseas filipino professionals in the united arab emirates. methodology the study uses the literature review to examine available scientific literature on the personal and organizational factors as determinants of a career change. the content analysis of scientific literature was used. the sources came from research databases such as google scholar, directory of open access journals, pubmed, and other websites. content analysis is a method in research used in the social sciences to draw textual inferences (shropshire & kadlec, 2012). the content analysis followed a 5 step procedure: selecting the content to analyze, defining the units ad categories of analysis, developing a set of rules for coding, coding the text according to the rules, analyzing the results, and drawing the conclusions (luo, 2020). in this case, the researcher searched relevant articles using “determinants of career change” as a keyword. about 1,540,000 results were initially found. 33 international peer reviewed journal 217 international peer reviewed journal after completing the initial review, 34 articles were found to have a significant contributor to determinants of a career change and thus, was included as a sample of the study. the websites were selected using the following criteria: reputation, accessibility, content availability, and bibliometrics. the articles were coded in terms of content grouping such as personal factors and organizational factors as determinants of a career change. results and discussion career change career change refers to a transition to a new occupation that is not part of a career progression (rhodes & doering, 1983; lawrence, 1980). as further explained by carless & arnup (2011), a career change can be a change of work position in a different occupation category or field, where new training is undertaken, making the previous skills and responsibilities largely irrelevant. as an example of a career change, ibarra (2004) cited a litigator leaving law to run a non-profit organization or a corporate employee starting his or her own business. to make a clear distinction with a job change, rhodes & doering (1983), according to schyns, torka, & gossling (2007), job change is a transition to a similar job or a job that is part of a normal career path. kurniawan, musa, dipoatmodjo, & nurman (2020) defined readiness as the maturity of an individual from the learning experience to perform certain activities or jobs. they added that readiness is the main capital for someone to do any work, that with this readiness, the maximum results are obtained. readiness is one of the most important factors in employee’s change initiatives (armenakis & fredenberger, 1997; holt, armenakis, field, & harris, 2007). according to el-sabaa (2001); chen et al. (2019), a career is where individuals experience overtime in their evolving sequence of work activities. mckay (2020) viewed career change in many different ways. it could mean switching occupational fields, getting a job with a different employer, or advancing to another position within the same field. the american institute for economic research, as cited by rosato (2015), a career change can be classified as a change in jobs either from the same or different employer or field. a career change can be voluntary (e.g., when a person, at his own free will, decides to change) or involuntary (e.g., the person is laid off and forced to change) (masdonati, fournier, & lahrizi, 2017). they further added that whatever the circumstances, career change is not part of a typical career path. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research 218 jpair multidisciplinary research a recent study made by indeed, cited by fisher (2020), found that 49% of employees had change careers from a wide range of industries. an earlier article from monster (2018) also reported that 59% of working adults were interested in taking the leap based on a survey from the university of phoenix school of business. the article cited seven worst mistakes in making a career change such as making a rash decision, choosing a new career based on salary, not searching the job market in the next field, neglecting your networking, quitting without having another job lined up, going back to school prematurely, and not adjusting the resume for a career change. on the other hand, hannon (2011) stated that the most successful career switchers take years to learn new skills, network, and prepare financially. vigodagadot, baruch, & grimland (2014) also mentioned that one characteristic of modern careers is frequent job changes, either caused by dynamic market conditions, market economics, or initiated by the individual. laponsie (2015) added that second careers might be particularly appealing to older workers who are either ready for a change or who find themselves unemployed but with options in their current field. as cited in her article, about 4.5 million workers between 50 and 70 years of age have second careers, and within the next 5 years, another 21 million are expected to join them. rosato (2015) also contended that older workers who seek career changes are found to be successful when using skills from their previous careers. many people longer assume that work is the central life interest in making career decisions (savickas, 2011) and creating purpose and doing things that matter to families and community (liu, englar-carlson, & minichiello, 2012). baucus & human (1994) revealed in their study that technology-oriented retirees are less likely to get in the entrepreneurial process than managementoriented retirees. technology-oriented retirees are more likely to view departure as involuntary, deriving from starting conditions (e.g., old job or company). on the other hand, retirees with management skills end to view departure as voluntary toward desired end states. preparedness for change refers to an individual’s wish to achieve a higher task demand situated on his or her level of desires schyns, torka, & gossling (2007), which he or she has thought about but has not acted to seek change (schyns , 2004). salmela-aro, mutanen, & vuori (2012) added that career preparedness could be seen as a motivator in the process us individuals adjust to a working environment, make plans, establish intrinsic goals, strive to improve the future, and evaluate opportunities and competencies in achieving these work 55 international peer reviewed journal 219 international peer reviewed journal goals. readiness includes assessments that determine the individual’s degree of preparedness to make a career decision (johnstone, 1999; kulclsar, dobrean, & gati, 2020). lazarides, vijaranta, ranta, & salmela-aro (2017) and vuori & vinokur (2005) added that preparedness for transitions is conceptualized as adolescents’ self-efficacy and inoculation against setbacks. in several studies, a 19-item career transition inventory adapted from fernandez, fouquereau, & heppner (2008) was used to measure readiness, confidence, and decision independence. cit is a well-known measure for assessing perceptions of psychological resources when adults undergo a career change. the 19-item inventory is a french version of the career transition inventory (cti), one of the few currently existing questionnaires specifically designed to assess psychological resources during the career transition process (heppner, multon, & johnston, 1994). heppner (1998) defined transition in terms of (1) task change – a transition from one set of tasks to another set within the same location and same job, (2) position change – a transition in jobs to a different department employer or with the same employer or location, but with only a slight shift in job duties, and (3) occupation change – a shift from one set of duties to a different set that might include a new work setting. most studies indicate that occupations provide the greatest rewards, generate the greatest commitment, and have the most structured career lines (neopolitan, 1980). other researchers focus on three different aspects of career change: input (which refers to the reasons and motives of career change), processes (the experience of change), and output (the outcome of career change) (masdonati, fournier, & lahrizi, 2017). personal factors of career change individuals need to understand themselves if they are to develop a wise career plan (kiongo, 2020). a developed career blueprint includes assessing personality through self-evaluation and communication with others (harris & jones, 1997). in this study, the personal factors that are determinants of career change readiness are discussed in the following sections. personhood is considered the primary determining factor that shapes an individual’s career choice, career development, and career transition experiences (liu, englar-carlson, & minichiello, 2012). personhood refers to the special attributes, attitudes, values, beliefs, and styles that influence how one thinks, feels, and behaves (glas, 2006; liu, englarcarlson, & minichiello, 2012). whatever the kind of transition, it often requires a reorientation of goals, attitudes, identity, vocational routines, and many other 66 jpair multidisciplinary research 220 jpair multidisciplinary research large or subtle changes (ashforth & saks, 1995; fernandez, fouquereau, & heppner, 2008). “people search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems” (holland, 1985a; oleski & subich, 1996). holland further suggested that when individuals change careers, they search for a work environment compatible with their personality structure. personality traits according to the american psychological association (2019), as cited by soutter, bates, & mottus (2020), personality is the characteristic pattern of thoughts, behaviors, and feelings exhibited by individuals that form a core part of one’s motivations, beliefs, values, and attitudes. there is an important role of personality traits in determining an individual’s career satisfaction (tan and yahya, 2011). yet, there have been limited studies on personality and career change, and none that has used the five-factor model as a framework. carless & arnup (2011). the big-five theory on personality traits believed that individual characters could affect their interpretations and reactions to their environment (marchalina, ahmad, & gelaidan, 2020; santos, 2016). it is widely accepted as a robust framework for personality trait conceptualization (lounsbury et al., 2003). the five-factor model (ffm) of personality is an empirical generalization about the covariation of personality traits labeled as neuroticism (n), extraversion (e), openness (o), agreeableness (a), and conscientiousness (c) (john, robins, & pervin, 2010; mccrae & costa, 1999). three appear to be the most relevant to career success from the big five dimension: neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness (judge, higgins, thoresen, & barrick, 1999). openness to experience. costa & mccrae (1992); carless & arnup (2011) referred to openness to experience as a personality dimension characterized by imagination, curiosity, creativity, intelligence, and being open to a range of new experiences. they added that high scores on creativity and risk-taking style were associated with career change (donohue, 2007; kanchier & unruh, 1989). career changers saw their roles as instruments for self-expression and advancement and prepared to take risks to achieve rewards (kanchier & unruh, 1989). extraversion. higgins (2001) explained that extroverts enjoy others’ company, are gregarious, talkative, confident, optimistic, and energetic. they are confident and positive individuals who are likely to initiate and succeed in making a career change. gully & eden (2004) defined general self-efficacy as a belief in the ability 77 international peer reviewed journal 221 international peer reviewed journal to perform across various situations. heppner, multon, & johnson (1994) added that self-efficacy is a key attribute that facilitates career change. on the contrary, carless & arnup (2011) revealed that general self-efficacy was unrelated to a career change. workers are empowered and build confidence when making a successful career change (masdonati, fournier, & lahrizi, 2017). conscientiousness. hom & griffeth (1995) described conscientious individuals as self-disciplined, confident, planned, orderly, reliable, and deliberate. they are more inclined to consider important decisions carefully and less likely to leave their organization carefully than those individuals with low scores in conscientiousness. bozionelos (2004) added that people who score high on conscientiousness should have more work involvement having a sense of duty towards the role they assume. according to meta-analytic studies, bozionelos (2004) further suggested that conscientiousness is the most potent and consistent correlate of job performance across all types of jobs and occupations. neuroticism. individuals who have characteristics that include excessive worry, pessimism, low confidence, and experience negative emotions and score high in neuroticism are people who will be less likely to develop positive attitudes towards their work (bozionelos, 2004). agreeableness. bozionelos (2004) associates agreeableness with altruism, friendliness, and modesty, while a low score in agreeableness includes antagonism, impression management, and selfishness. he further added that people must prioritize relationships with other overwork and career success. demographic factors of career change demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, and human capital variables, including educational attainment, organizational grade, and organizational tenure, influence individuals to consider work and career as life priorities and dedicate personal time and energy to their work (bozionelos, 2004). age. in a study made by carless & arnup (2011), they found that younger individuals were more likely to change occupations than older individuals. this finding is consistent with those of the previous research (blau, 2000; blau and lunz, 1998; harper, 1995). parrado, caner, & wolff (2007) breeden (1993) observed that they become less likely to change careers as people age. their findings revealed that the workers who most often changed careers were less than 30 years old in contrast to older people who have gained substantial investments. the effect of career transitions can be particularly severe for middle-aged men who have been in their profession for many years (liu, englar-carlson, & 88 jpair multidisciplinary research 222 jpair multidisciplinary research minichiello, 2012; evetts, 1996). gender. males are more likely to change careers compared to females (carless & arnup, 2011), which is a contention supported by some studies revealing that males change their careers more frequently than females (parrado, caner, & wolff, 2007). however, carless & arnup (2011) explained that other studies reported no gender differences in intentions to change careers (carless & bernath, 2007; markey & parks, 1989). marital status. carless & arnup (2011) found that marital status does not affect changing careers. such finding is similar to that of blau (2000), blau and lunz (1998), and carless and bernath (1993). some researchers argued that single individuals are more likely to change careers. according to breeden (1993), markey & parks (1989), and parrado, caner, & wolff (2007), married workers are less likely to change careers due to the risks and consequences associated with changing jobs. career transitions often significantly affect a professional’s psychological and social status, relationships within the family, physical health and well-being, and lifestyle (jokisaari, 2003; miller, 2007; liu, englar-carlson, & minichiello, 2012). children. according to carless & arnup (2011), individuals with dependent children are less likely to change occupations. likewise, neopolitan (1980) found that t lack of dependents was an important factor that mid-career individuals nominated as a factor influencing their decision to change careers. on the contrary, griffeth, hom, & gaertner (2000) averred that the number of children is negatively related to job turnover. education. based on human capital theory becker (1962), higher levels of education increase the individuals’ opportunity cost of leaving their career and tend to keep them in the career longer than their less-educated counterparts. more educated workers have a wider range of tasks they can perform and can learn a greater repertoire of job skills via on-the-job training compared to lesseducated individuals. on the contrary, the findings of carless & arnup (2011) revealed that better-educated employees are more likely to change careers than those with limited education. employees with a high level of education are more able to acquire the knowledge and skills required in a new career. organizational factors of career change organizational factors are relevant to the career change process (rhodes & doering, 1983). ben-osaro & osaro (2020) added that career choice is dependent on three categories of factors: extrinsic, intrinsic, and interpersonal. 99 international peer reviewed journal 223 international peer reviewed journal they explained that extrinsic factors are not inherent in the nature of the tasks or of the occupational role. these factors include labor market conditions, employer brands, salaries and income, job security, job availability, good remuneration, and/or prestige of the occupation or job. in this study, job security and salary are selected as determinants of a career change. job satisfaction career satisfaction has been seen as an underlying factor of career success. it has been studied in various contexts such as related to school teacher’s skills and professional accomplishments, role harmony of female physicians, salary and promotions, burnout, career stress of counselor education professionals, organizational support and work pressure of female professionals and managers, career salience and role-management strategies of dual career couples, career mentoring, differences between physicians and psychiatrists, career plateauing, career choice factor for social workers, work-family integration and structural work variables, work-personal life balance of female professionals and managers, career status of female psychologists in medical schools, demographic, human capital, motivational, organizational, and industry/region variables (lounsbury et al., 2003). job satisfaction refers to one’s attitudes toward a job (price, 2002; lee, macphee, & dahinten, 2020). it is the function of the perceived relationship between what an individual wants from his/her job and what an individual perceives it as offering or entailing (locke, 1969; st-jean & duhamel, 2020). on the other hand, job dissatisfaction arises from a lack of congruence between an individual’s work orientation and the benefits of occupation, and results of attraction from a perceived resemblance between the two (neopolitan, 1980). furthermore, for change to occur, discontent with the first occupation and attraction to a second occupation is important but do not cause a change in all cases. neopolitan (1980) further explained that even where there are discontent and attraction, barriers to change are most financial in nature and can discourage or postpone change. in rhodes & doering’s (1983) model of a career change, job dissatisfaction is likely to lead to thoughts about a career change. similarly, blau (2000), blau & lunz (1998), carless & bernath (2007), donohue (2007), and ostroff & clark (2001) found that feeling dissatisfied at work leads to thoughts about changing careers. surprisingly, carless & arnup (2011) found that job dissatisfaction was not an antecedent of a career change. the 38 items abridged job descriptive 1010 jpair multidisciplinary research 224 jpair multidisciplinary research index (jdi) from bowling green state university (bgsu) was used to measure people’s job attitudes toward the present job, job in general, work on a present job, pay, opportunities for promotion, and supervision. researchers of job satisfaction have widely adopted the job descriptive index (jdi) designed by smith, kendall, & hulin (1969) as the instrument to measure five organizational and individual outcomes related to job satisfaction, namely work, pay, co-worker, and supervision. the job descriptive index (jdi) is a popular measure of job satisfaction (stanton et al., 2002; buckley, carreher, & cote, 1992; demeuse, 1985). having a work-life balance and job satisfaction decreases the likelihood of salaried individuals developing the intention to start a business in an innovationdriven economy (st-jean & duhamel, 2020). job security. carless & arnup (2011) found that a lack of job security led to career change. however, lewis & thomas (1987) and doering & rhodes (1989) averred that there is scant evidence to suggest that job security is an antecedent of a career change. salary. a higher salary is not related to a career change (carless & arnup, 2011). similar findings by markey & parks (1989) explaining that seven out of ten workers who voluntarily changed careers reported higher earnings in their new career. promotion. in a survey by the north american workers cited by gurchiek (2008), workers were most likely to change careers if they fail to see advancement opportunities at their current employer. as found in a survey by randstad’s 2015 employer branding survey cited by scale (2015), employees leave jobs for career growth more than money. abdulla, djebarnie, & mellahi (2011) explained that promotion opportunity is a significant determinant of job satisfaction in the uae organizations. given this context, the researcher explored the career change readiness of overseas filipino professionals in the united arab emirates (uae). the following section discusses the situation and living conditions of filipinos working in the uae. overseas filipino professionals in the uae in an article from redvers (2018), millions of expatriate workers from all levels and nationalities are making the oil-rich uae their home. the majority of foreigners are living mainly in the business hubs of two emirates, namely dubai and abu dhabi. dubai is a major tourist destination famous for luxury beach resorts, soaring buildings, and glossy shopping malls. the united arab emirates 1111 international peer reviewed journal 225 international peer reviewed journal (uae) was built with the help of the expatriates. in 1980, the uae was only home to barely one million people, compared to today’s 9.5 million. for years, the uae was known as a place where professionals could earn high salaries and generous packages that included housing, healthcare, education, travel, and cars. expatriates enjoyed a high-end lifestyle, while others took the opportunity to save. filipinos, who are renowned migrants to different parts of the world, are globally recognized in the professional workforce (claver, 2020). according to the philippine statistics authority (2018) in its 2017 survey on overseas filipinos, at any time from april to september 2017, the number of overseas filipino workers (ofws) who worked abroad was estimated at 2.3 million, where 15.3% worked in uae. existing work contracts or those overseas contract workers (ocws) compromised 97% of the total ofws during the period april to september 2017. the rest (3%) worked overseas without contracts. in this survey, calabarzon had the largest proportion of ofws (20.7% of the total ofws) while female ofws (53.7%) were more than male ofws (46.3%). about occupation, 37.6% were in elementary occupations, service and sales workers (18%), plant and machine operators and assemblers (13.7%), craft and related trade workers (11.4%), professionals (8.7%), managers (estimated at 1.1%), and technicians and associate professionals (estimated at 5.8%). in the uae, modernizing the labor market is one of the key areas of government focus. it will require a more competitive and less fragmented labor market to achieve sustainable, private-sector-led growth while meeting the authorities’ objective of employing more nationals in the private sector. such a move ensures that talent is directed to its most productive uses. simultaneously, the authorities are exerting efforts to ensure that the uae continues to attract and retain expatriate talents. based on robert half uae salary guide (2019),  there is an attraction of digital talents from organizations within the middle east through a range of workplace initiatives, such as work environment modernization (86%), training and development (81%), and improved compensation packages (79%). the way the economy grows has become a concern for 37 percent of organizations to remain competitive due to the challenges in looking for qualified talents. the trend for uae businesses is to streamline remuneration packages while retaining the competitive edge that is crucial in attracting and retaining talents. according to parasie & amon (2018), dubai posted its biggest loss in jobs in 2018 since the global financial crisis a decade ago. the high paying positions 1212 jpair multidisciplinary research 226 jpair multidisciplinary research were mainly impacted by this crisis, which was a major contributor in helping turn the desert into a city of huge skyscrapers and populate the country in just a few decades. chris greaves, the managing director of recruitment firm hays in the middle east, said that offering reduced salary as an alternative to widespread restructuring is being implemented by some companies. secondly, it is increasingly prevalent that someone who loses his/her job has to accept a lower salary to secure the next job role. according to his agency’s 2019 salary and employment report, the low energy prices have had a sustained effect on how companies approach and manage their recruitment. of those surveyed, 32% reduced the size of their headcount in 2018 and observed candidates’ selection processes to be much more timeconsuming and rigorous than previous years. organizations identified and hired the most capable talents who have significant value to their business. the survey also suggested that many companies are still finding trading conditions tough, and for these organizations managing their cost base is a top priority. greaves believed that many companies face challenges by not increasing their pricing to their customers to cover the growing cost base of raw materials, licensing and regulatory costs, shipping and transportation, and so on. income is a key factor in deciding to move to the uae. the uae placed fifth for wage growth 19th for economic confidence, 6th for entrepreneurship, 9th for career progression, 22nd for work-life balance, and 26th for job security (the national, 2017). according to gulf news (2017), in a study among more than 300 senior hr professionals in the gulf cooperation council (gcc) region, the most significant areas of focus for the next two decades are retention and talent management. there will be a huge impact caused by substantial investment in artificial intelligence and robotics on ex-pats workforces across the region. they will be rendered redundant, creating a less dense but more productive population (asharq al-awsat, 2018). according to the pricewaterhousecoopers pwc economic bulletin for the middle east, the gulf ’s economies are weak in labor productivity compared to their counterparts due to dependence on low-skilled expatriates’ labor in many economic sectors of gulf countries. a recent study launched by eon insight revealed that more and more professionals are coming into the uae and that the profile of filipinos in the uae has changed significantly (de leon, 2019). the study has estimated 750,000 filipinos in the uae, where 700 filipinos were surveyed from dubai, abu dhabi, sharjah, fujairah, and umm al quwain. the filipino workforce is 1313 international peer reviewed journal 227 international peer reviewed journal no longer dominated by low-skilled laborers, particularly domestic workers, and construction workers. the respondents were mainly from the construction sector, particularly in the engineering and architecture fields, followed by the tourism and hospitality sector, customer service, and health and medical fields. the study further revealed that 64 percent of those randomly surveyed completed a university or college degree in the philippines, with another 7 percent who completed postgraduate studies. in relation to earnings, 37% earned between dh3,000-dh7,999, 18% earned between dh8,000-dh12,999 and 20% earned above dh13,000. in an article from ruiz (2015), michael barney almazar, the director of the commercial department of gulf law in dubai, observed no substantial savings for many ofws despite working for more than five years or investments at worse, in debts. it’s high time for ofws to be guided on how to maximize their stay in the uae. according to del mundo (2019), the face of the filipino worker in the uae is continuously undergoing a tremendous transformation. del mundo further revealed that our typical kabayan working in a technical or created field in the uae is highly skilled and well-educated. p. ofws are now full of hope and vibrant while enjoying life simultaneously. this is now far from the stereotype low-skilled worker of our yesteryears. as dass (2018) surveyed, most of the overseas filipino workers in the uae have become more mindful about their future and prudent with their resources. in the survey conducted by the filipino times, five of 10 will start investing in real estate while another 7 out of 10 ofws have drawn plans to save money and open start-ups here in the uae or back home. in an article by ceniza-levine (2020), the three career trends to watch in the next decade are freelancing, reskilling aligned with the latest technology, and having not to consider retirement age, where you need to manage your money as closely and proactively as you manage your career. according to hays (2019), market momentum is growing when looking ahead to the next 12 months. this is evident from the 67% of employers based in the region who plan to recruit more staff in 2019 and 55% who expect market activity to increase their business. from an employee’s perspective, job security is also less concerned than during the last two years, and instead, a much more significant factor in career progression when considering whether to search for a new job next year or stay with the current employer. 1414 jpair multidisciplinary research 228 jpair multidisciplinary research synthesis from the research articles, the demographic characteristics and personal and organizational factors are determinants of a career change that influence an individual’s ability to change careers. today’s generation, the fourth industrial revolution (ir 4.0), is built upon the digital revolution, where technology and people are connected (alaloul, liew, zawawi, & kennedy, 2020). this revolution has significantly changed the way things are done. in the digital age, career tools are more ubiquitous, candidates have a broader reach, and communication is instantaneous where candidates are expected to articulate clearly what they seek in a position and prepare a polished, concise, and focused statement of the value they provide to their prospective employer (schechter, 2020). the notion of “one life-one career” is no longer relevant (arthur & rousseau, 1996). therefore, there is a need for an individual to be ready for any career change, may it be a transition to a new occupation (rhodes and doering, 1983) (or a change of work position in a different occupation category or field (carless and arnup, 2011) or a transition to a similar job that is part of a normal career path (kurniawan, musa, dipoatmodjo, & nurman, 2020). carless & arnup (2011) explained that a career change is typically undertaken because there is an expectation that various work-life aspects will improve. they faded that career change is caused by anticipation of an improvement in the changeable, instigating factors, namely job security, job satisfaction, and salary. studies from breeden (1993), neopolitan (1980), and smart & peterson (1997) showed that individuals who change careers have higher job satisfaction after the change. surprisingly, despite the importance of career choice in vocational psychology, prominent existing theories (gottfredson, 2002; holland, 1997; super, 1990) do not specify the process of how career-choice readiness develops during adolescence. there is a limited understanding of the determinants of a career change (carless and arnup, 2011). hence, career change is not well understood today (ornstein & isabella, 1993; sullivan, 1999; carless & arnup, 2011). furthermore, ibarra (2004) identified two significant gaps in the literature review on a career change. these gaps are the lack of recent empirical research on a career change and the absence of theory on the determinants and process of non-institutionalized work role transitions. as one of the 20 most stressful things in life, just behind a close friend’s death career change has created challenges for individuals in the 21st century (kulcsar, dobrean, & gati, 2019). therefore, 1515 international peer reviewed journal 229 international peer reviewed journal understanding the determinants of career change is relevant to an individual’s readiness for a career change. literature cited aben, e. 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(2017, september 27). uae 10th best pace for expats to live: hsbc. retrieved from https://bit.ly/36modi3 63 international peer reviewed journal science teachers’ communication behavior, lesson preparation, and examination system mae u. galorport http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7173-9417 maegalorport@gmail.com bukidnon state university bukidnon, philippines abstract science teachers are facilitators of students’ learning. this study investigated the teaching behavior of science teachers in their science classroom as assessed by the college students taking science subjects in bukidnon state university, philippines. specifically, it sought to determine the science teachers’ teaching behavior in the following aspects: 1) communication behavior; 2)lesson preparation; and 3) examination system; and identify an action plan that could be suggested means to strengthen the professional development of biological and physical science teachers. the study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. a questionnaire developed by the researcher and the adviser to survey the science teachers’ teaching behavior and focus group discussion were used to affirm students’ responses and assess other science teachers’ teaching behaviors that were not mentioned in the questionnaire. results showed that college students strongly agree that their science teachers practiced communication behavior at all times. likewise, the students agreed that their science teachers’ teaching behavior in lesson preparation and examination system were practiced most of the time. vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.294 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords science education, science teachers, communication behavior, lesson preparation, examination system, quantitative-qualitative design, bukidnon, philippines introduction teachers are highly capable of helping learners express their inner potential. they are highly skilled in understanding what is going on inside themselves and others. science teachers are also capable of using effective teaching through their creativity to invent engaging learning activities for their students in a little span of time. teachers’ teaching behavior in the classroom could be an external performance of the teaching idea, application of knowledge and teaching skills. moreover, along the process of education, what is done by teachers plays an important factor. teachers should transfer the subject matter to the students effectively. a study on teaching effectiveness was completed by walberg (1990) using the statistical tool, meta-analysis. his study compiled a list of weighted factors which included engaged academic learning time, positive reinforcement utilization and cues including the feedback, co-operative learning activities, classroom atmosphere, morale, higher order questioning, and use of advance organizers. for better understanding on how these factors fit together, another study was conducted by flanders (1970). it showed that the teachers who have positive attitudes toward the world actually employ an important set of facilitating nonverbal cues to encourage student participation and involvement. however, negative attitudes displayed nonverbal behavior designed to discourage and inhibit student involvement (smith, 1981). researchers could predict what type of nonverbal behavior a teacher uses if they know the teacher’s attitude. galloway et al. (1977) developed a non-verbal version of flanders’ system of instructional analysis that serves as useful framework for analyzing teacher’s nonverbal behavior classroom teachers’ teaching behavior indicates a strong positive influence and proximity on students’ enjoyment in their science classes (den brok et al., 2005). according to wentzel (1999), students’ attitude associates with their academic achievement. teachers’ classroom behavior influences students’ academic performance. teachers’ instructional practices and interpersonal relationships with students in the classroom are highlighted as powerful factors in influencing student motivation and performance. 65 international peer reviewed journal teaching behavior in the classroom is one of the issues that teachers face today. since teachers’ behavior is an important factor in learning, it is imperative that both students and teachers work in an atmosphere that maximizes teaching techniques, skills and practices which are conducive to student learning and outcome. teachers and students become shareholders in the educational processes. relations between teachers and students occur rapidly in the classroom. classroom interaction is a process in which teachers and students have a reciprocal effect upon each other through what they say and do in the classroom. the interpersonal interface between teachers and as a group comprises a large part of what happens in the classroom learning environment. a study of good and brophy (1974) indicated that secondary school teachers may have interactions with different students in a day. teachers are not usually aware on what happenned during their interactions with their students. for instance, conversing with the teachers, it is ratified that teachers typically are not conscious on how many questions they have asked their students and what kind of response they delivered. framework to be effective in teaching, cautious and contemplative thought about what a certain teacher is undertaking and the outcome of his or her action on students’ social, academic learning is required. the effect can be lasting, both positive and negative on students’ perceptions of learning. the behavior of the student is a product of the role and teaching approach/strategy of the teacher. in the same way, the systems theory of communication suggests that the teaching style in turn is a product of, and responds to the classroom interactions that the teachers have with their students (fisher, fraser, & cresswell, 1995). bandura (1997) postulated that behaviors are acquired by watching others (the model, teacher, parent, mentor, and friend) who execute the behavior. the performer executes the actions and the learner observes and tries to imitate. teachers are role models whose manners are easily imitated by the observers, the students. whatever the science teachers’ likes or dislikes give value and how they sense about their learning or studies could have a major effect on their students. however, many teachers seldom realized on how they teach, how they act and behave, and how they relate with students can be more vital than what they impart with them. teachers’ attitudes towards their students directly affect students’ attitudes. the way the teachers communicate to their students are in 66 jpair multidisciplinary research turn, influenced by their culture and belief system. teachers’ approaches towards their students must be positive enough to carry along the students. when the students show the expected response, the attached value defines very substantial; the realness of the learning processes in to some extent aspect of education. akinkuolie and orifa (n.d.) pointed out that for science teaching and learning to be interesting and stimulating, there should be motivations on both science teacher and the learner so as to ensure the development of affirmative responses, subsequently maximizing academic achievement. classroom management plays important in the learning and teaching process. apart from discipline problems, teaching process includes variables of planning learning activities, passing between activities, organizing the physical order of the classroom, preparing the learning materials, and using time-keeping as general order. some bsu-college students showed negative feedback expressing their dislikes in the science subject, like “i do not like science subjects,” “i am not good in science,” “i do not like my science teacher.” on the other hand, science teachers also claimed that the students taking natural sciences subjects have very low academic performance; it is evident on the records from the dean’s office of different colleges. many studies have been conducted focusing on teacher’s classroom behavior, but this study will be focusing specifically on college science teacher’s classroom behavior. this study will help teachers employ the appropriate strategies needed to motivate students’ participation and enjoy science subjects as such eventually influence their academic performance. this study centered on bsu-college students at different year levels of science classes. it aimed to investigate the college students’ assessment of the teaching behavior of their science teachers in the classroom. objective of the study this research ascertained the teaching behaviors of science teachers in their science classroom as assessed by the college students taking science subjects. methodology the research design this study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. the quantitative portion is descriptive which involved a survey on the science teachers’ teaching behavior using a questionnaire developed by the researcher and 67 international peer reviewed journal the adviser. the qualitative part was done through focus group discussion (fgd) to affirm students’ responses and assess other science teachers’ teaching behaviors that are not mentioned in the inquiry form. in analyzing the college students’ assessment of the teaching behavior of their science teachers, the mean and standard deviation were used. in testing the difference in the teaching behavior of the science teachers being grouped into biological sciences teachers and physical sciences teachers, the t-test for independent samples at 0.05 confidence level was applied. research instrument the study utilized a research instrument developed by the researcher in collaboration with her adviser to assess teaching behavior of the science teachers. the developed questionnaire contains 40 items to assess the classroom behavior of science teachers, the final form of the questionnaire. the respondents responded using a five-likert scale. the items were arranged into three areas of the science teachers’ teaching manners: communication behavior in science classroom (16 statements); lesson preparation (10 statements); and examination system (10 statements). the questionnaire was tried out to 50-college students. the cronbach’s alpha reliability of the instrument is 0.8373. the responses to the statements range from strongly agree (5) to undecided (1). research setting the study was conducted at bukidnon state university, first semester for the school year 20102011. bukidnon state university is located in the capital town of malaybalay city, bukidnon. the study was conducted at the college of arts and sciences-natural sciences department. the college of arts and sciences consists of four academic departments (language and letters, natural science, social science, and mathematics) and an interdisciplinary studies program. it offers five baccalaureate degree programs namely: the bachelor of arts (ab) majors in economics, sociology, english, and social science; and bachelor of science in mathematics. the respondents using the proper protocol, the researcher asked permission to administer the instrument to the respondents through a letter of request from the president of the university and the dean of graduate school. appropriate communications were also given to the arts and sciences dean, natural science department chairperson and respective science teachers preceding the actual conduct of the 68 jpair multidisciplinary research research instrument. the researcher personally administered the research instruments to the respondents to ensure 100% retrieval. the respondents were oriented as to the intent of the whole study. clarification to the respondents on answering the instrument was explained thoroughly by the researcher. they were given 10 minutes to answer the questionnaire. the respondents were given enough time to reflect about their personal evaluation. they were reminded that there is no right or wrong answers for the latter questionnaires. assurance was given to the respondents as to the confidentiality of their responses as well as their identities. the respondents of this study were college students taking discipline in the natural sciences department in the college of arts and sciences of bukidnon state university for the school year 20102011. there were 5,002 students who are enrolled: 2,179 for physical sciences and 2,823 for biological sciences. most of the college students studying in bukidnon state university were from the different places in bukidnon. majority of them are graduates from the diverse government high schools spread in major cities and municipalities of the province. a good number of these students were children of government employees or farmers which mean that a greater part of the population comes from the middle and/or lower class of the society. table 1. sample respondents from students taking natural sciences subjects cluster natural sciences subjects number of classes number of samples (classes) number of students a physical sciences: general & inorganic chemistry 9 1 50 introduction to college physics/ physics for health sciences 21 1 1 50 50 earth science 13 1 50 astronomy 4 1 50 total 47 5 250 b biological sciences: introduction to biological sciences 55 1 1 1 1 1 50 50 50 50 50 environmental science 12 1 50 1 50 total 67 7 350 69 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the study of welton et al. (2000) supported the results of the present study that carefully organized lessons engage students in what they perceived to be “real science,” thereby reducing reliance on structured behavioral management techniques. oliva and pawlas (2007) pointed out that group participation is essential in effective discussion. teacher should vary stimuli and learning activities as suggested by allen (1967). teachers should focus (keep points in mind), use interactional styles, shift sensory channels and use skills of movement, questions and pausing. providing variation of learning activities moves teachers in the direction of providing individualized instruction that taps the learning styles of students. table 2. comparison of the ratings on the teaching behavior of physical sciences teachers and biological sciences teachers as assessed by their students indicator physical sciences teachers biological sciences teachers t-value p-value significance mean values communication behavior 4.26 4.26 -0.231 0.818 not significance lesson preparation 4.06 4.03 0.836 0.404 not significance examination system 4.16 4.17 -0.158 0.874 not significance overall 4.16 4.15 0.546 0.732 not significance based on the comparison of the ratings on the teaching behavior of physical science teachers and biological science teachers as assessed by their students, the findings mean that there is no difference in the teaching behavior between the biological sciences teachers and the physical sciences teachers. both groups of students (those taking biological sciences and those taking physical sciences) have similar observations on the teaching behaviors of their science teachers. this means the biological sciences teachers and the physical sciences teachers did not differ in their practice of teaching behavior in their sciences classes. the high ratings are given by both groups of students on the teaching behavior of their respective science teachers would show that the students have high regards of the teaching behavior of their science teachers. there are still areas in the teaching behavior of the science teachers that need to be improved and competencies to be enriched. the researcher proposes an action 70 jpair multidisciplinary research plan with this regard. this study investigated only the science teachers’ teaching behavior in their classroom particularly in their communication behavior, lesson preparation and examination system as assessed by the college students taking science subjects. conclusions in the present research, the study of zoller et al. (1997) and craft (2012) have semblance in terms of the variables as the subject respondents and the statistical tools used in the treatment of data. it can be inferred that students have strongly agreed to the communication behavior of their science teachers. however, the students agreed on their science teachers in lesson preparation and examination system as agree. moreover, since the college students have given high rating on the assessment of their science teachers’ teaching behavior, the college students have high regards of their science teachers’ teaching manners. translational research the results of this study will motivate the college science students to participate and enjoy, and appreciate the importance of science lessons. it will also allow them to have an access on different science teachers’ teaching behavior in communication behavior which will provide them ideas on different interpersonal science teachers’ teaching behavior and consider the multi-task individual; lessons preparation which will expose them to different science lessons techniques and presentations; and examination system, which will endow them to different science examination systems. for the faculty members of natural sciences department, the results will provide information considering science teachers’ teaching behavior as a criterion in hiring science teachers. it will also develop the standard of teaching performance of the department’s faculty members. for the college science teachers, the results will suggest a deeper insight on the kind of dealings in terms of communication behavior, lesson preparation, and examination system that they will have to their science students. it will also give them reflections in dealing with different behaviors of science students in such a way that they will be able to carry out those behaviors as front liners of education. thus, knowledge transfer will be maximized. 71 international peer reviewed journal for the science education program, the results will suggest variables that can be studied further to improve the teaching performance of the science teachers in communication behavior, lesson preparation, and examination system as well as the academic performance of science students. for the administrators, the results will help them monitor the policies and programs that could affect the interest of students in learning science. literature cited akinkuolie, a., & orifa, r. teacher characteristics as a correlate of students’ performance in financial accounting. allen, d. w. (1967). micro-teaching, a description. bandura, a. (1997). self-efficacy: the exercise of control. brophy, j. e., & good, t. l. (1974).  teacher-student relationships: causes and consequences. holt, rinehart & winston. craft, s. a. (2012). parents’ experiences with data and decision-making in a response to intervention process. university of florida. den brok, p., fisher, d., & koul, r. (2005). the importance of teacher interpersonal behaviour for secondary science students’ attitudes in kashmir.journal of classroom interaction, 40(2), 5-19. galloway, c. m. (1977). ‘nonverbal’. theory into practice, 16(3) fisher, d., fraser, b., & cresswell, j. (1995). using the” questionnaire on teacher interaction” in the professional development of teachers. australian journal of teacher education, 20(1), 2. flanders, n. a. (1970). analyzing teaching behavior reading, mass: addisonwesley, p.34 72 jpair multidisciplinary research pawlas, g. e., & oliva, p. f. (2007). supervision for today’s schools. wiley global education. walberg, h. j. (1990). productive teaching and instruction, phi delta, kappan, 470-478. welton, e. n., smith, w. s., owens, k. d., & adrian, m. g. (2000). hands-on science as a motivator for children with emotional/behavioral disabilities. journal of elementary science education, 12(2), 33-37. wentzel, k. r. (1999). social-motivational processes and interpersonal relationships: implications for understanding motivation at school. journal of educational psychology, 91(1), 76. zoller, u., ben-chaim, d. and kamm, s. d. (1997), examination-type preferences of college science students and their faculty in israel and usa: a comparative study. school science and mathematics, 97:  3–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1997.tb17334.x 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.276 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. logical intelligence as correlates of academic achievement in advanced algebra of fourth year high school students roar a. callaman orcid no. 0000-0002-5027-3571 roarpatrick@gmail.com f. bustamante national high school davao city, philippines abstract mathematics serves as the basis of modern innovations, discoveries and research studies. students nowadays tend not to apply the concepts of mathematics in the solution of meaningful problems since they were bombarded with the different factors affecting their academic achievement in mathematics. this study was conducted to determine the relationship between intellective and non-intellective factors and the academic achievement of students in advanced algebra. the descriptive correlational method was used to determine the relationship between the achievement test in advanced algebra and the intellective and non-intellective factors which include logical intelligence, family income, number of years spent in school of the head of the family, time allotted in studying mathematics and interest in mathematics. cluster sampling design was used as sampling design; that is, 217 fourth-year high school students of f. bustamante national high school, school year 2011-2012 were taken as respondents. pearson product coefficient of correlation was used to determine the relationship between the variables. while the logical intelligence of senior students was satisfactory, relationship with the academic achievement of students 2 jpair multidisciplinary research was established in the findings at 0.05 level of significance, specifically in the domains of understanding, applying, analyzing and evaluating. keywords mathematics education, logical intelligence, academic achievement, advanced algebra, fourth year high school students, descriptivecorrelational method, davao city, philippines introduction the trends in international mathematics and science study (timss) determine the performance of students in mathematics and science on their final year of secondary high school. the test for all students included general knowledge in mathematics and science. students who were enrolled in advanced courses were given specialized assessment. it can be noted on the result of timss test for the u.s. 12th graders,that students performed below the 21-country international mean on general knowledge in mathematics and science (nces 1998). it was also observed in the 2003 result of the trends in international mathematics and science study (timss) that philippines ranked third from the bottom which gained a mean score of 358 which is below the international average of 495. it simply implies that there was a deterioration in the numerical and qualitative skills of students. despite all these, an alarming remark of filipino students reveals that they only excel in knowledge acquisition but considerably below average in lessons requiring higher order thinking skills (hots). this unlucky state is evident in student’s performance on surveys conducted in the national and international setting about science and mathematics competencies. the study of leongson and limjap (2003) provided that even at the college level, certain logical operations are not fully developed. it also shows that 50% of the college students of balaga polytechnic state college have not fully understood the concept of ratio and proportion. mathematics education is geared towards the development of both the teachers and the students (hidalgo 1995). with this fact, there is a need to identify the factors which will help both the teachers and the students to maximize their performance in mathematics in all levels may it be in elementary, secondary or tertiary. comparing the old national secondary achievement test (nsat) tests for high school seniors in the 1990s with the last nsat in 2004, proficiency in english 3 international peer reviewed journal has improved marginally though science and math worsened. in mathematics, high school seniors have the most difficulty in using formulae to solve problems or to calculate results. the ability to manipulate numbers  and equations (e.g. algebra) is weak. the ability to think conceptually and spatially (i.e. geometry and trigonometry) is even weaker. problem solving using mathematical concepts and established logic and equations are poor. in the local scenario, specifically in the division of davao city, francisco bustamante national high school (fbnhs) ranked 37 out of 69 secondary public schools in the city and had a result of “low mastery” in mathematics in the 2011 result of national achievement test. claiming to the belief that the quality of education is measured by students’ achievement, every educator feels the imperative need to determine the relationship between the intellective and non-intellective factors to the academic achievement of student in advanced algebra. framework gestalt’s views of learning have been integrated in order to come up with acognitive theories. cognitive theories view outside behavior in order to explain the brain-based learning. the concept of how human memory works to promote learning has been studied and considered by the cognitivists. the theory on cognitive flexibility recommends that learners grasp the nature of complexity more readily by being presented with multiple representations of the same information in different contexts. learners develop their mental scaffolding necessary for considering novel applications within their knowledge domain. by confronting the learner with multiple representations of case-events, the cognitive flexibility hypertext fosters the development of knowledge-transfer skills. this theory has a unique emphasis on dealing with complex problem-solving situations (higherorder thinking skills) (graddy 2006). academic performance is related to multiple intelligence theory of gardner (1999) which implies that the pluralistic view of the individuals mind, recognizing many different facets of cognition and acknowledging that every individual have different cognitive strengths and contrasting cognitive styles. the complex view of intelligence states that some finite set of mental processes gives rise to a full range of intelligent human activities. christison (1996) asserted that this intelligence was most completely realized in the process of solving problems in real-life situations. considering these benefits the theory has given 4 jpair multidisciplinary research to educators, it was then the duty of the researcher to modify and reflect on his practices in order to meet the present needs of his learners. based on the theory of multiple intelligence, which was formulated by gardner, the researcher conceptualized that the logical intelligence is one of the factors that could affect academic performance of students in advanced algebra. piaget’s concept of logical thinking (inhelder and piaget, 1958 and 1964), has been studied and popularly utilized extensively for the purpose of science and mathematics teaching at all levels. piaget underscores the need to understand the concept of logical operations. he defines these operations in terms of the actions exhibited in thought as well as in actual execution. these operations are conserved, invariant, and reversible. he claims that learners need to use these operations for them to get to the structure of knowledge and its transformation. ercikan et al., (2005) claimed that students’ mathematics achievement and participation in advanced mathematics courses can be affected by different independent variables that include both student personal and environmental variables. among these variables are students’ attitudes toward mathematics, selfexpectations and the expectations of parents, teachers, and friends , students’ confidence in mathematics ,parents’ highest level of education attained, home support for learning. intellective factors are factors inclined with the intelligence of every individual. logical intelligence is considered as intellective factors since it is one of the intelligences possessed by every individual according to the theory of multiple intelligence of gardner. logical/mathematical intelligence is the power of reasoning whether deductively or inductively. it also uses and identifies intellectual models and links. it is relevant to people who probe into different problems and issue and try toa scientific conclusion (gardner, 1999). the other independent variable is the non-intellective factors which include the following: family income, which denotes to profits and takings of the students’ whole family; number of years in school of the head of the family, which refers to the educational success of the head of the family; family size, which refers to the number of members in the family; interest in mathematics; their attitudes in dealing the math subject and time allocated in studying mathematics in a week. the dependent variable of the study is the academic achievement in advanced algebra in terms of the different domains for learning in the new blooms’ taxonomy. 5 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the purpose of the study is to determine the relationship between intellective and non-intellective factors and the academic achievement of fourth-year high school in advanced algebra. specifically, the study aims to determine the level of logical intelligence of the students; determine the profile of students in the following non-intellective factors in terms of family income, number of years in school of the head of the family, family size, time allotted in studying mathematics, interest in mathematics; determine the level of academic achievement of students in advanced algebra in terms of remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating, overall achievement; determine the significant relationship between logical intelligence and the academic achievement of students in advanced algebra; and determine the relationship between nonintellective factors and academic achievement in advanced algebra. methodology research design the descriptive-correlational method of research was used in this study. descriptive method will give the quantitative and qualitative description of the general level of the students on the different factors presented in this study as well as their level of achievement test result. the achievement test in terms of remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating was correlated with the independent variables which include logical intelligence, family income, number of years spent in school of the head of the family, family size, and time allocated in studying mathematics and interest in mathematics. positive relationship denotes that sets of scores increase or decrease together. negative relationship indicates that as set of score increases, the other set of score decreases. research instrument the following were the research instruments used in the study: 1. logical intelligence test. the logical intelligence test questionnaire was adopted from dr. luca govoni (2006). the content validity was established upon the consultation of experts. the test instrument underwent re-pilot testing, and its internal consistency reliability index was 0.656. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research 2. the personal data questionnaire. the personal data questionnaire for students is a fill in the blank type of eliciting information about the following non-intellective factors: family income, which mean to the total monthly income of the family members; number of years spent in school of the head of the family which refers to the total number of years spent in school of the head of the family from elementary to tertiary level, family size, which refers to the total number of members in the family; time allocated in studying mathematics is the total number of minutes spent by the students in studying mathematics in a week; and interest in mathematics, which refers to the perceived level of interest by the students. the construct validity of the questionnaire was being established upon the consultation of experts, and its reliability was 0.724 after computing its reliability index using the spss 14.0 software. 3. advanced algebra achievement test. this test is for the senior students used to determine the students’ achievement in advanced algebra. table of specification was constructed. the test was developed upon consultation and validation of the experts. this test underwent several processes to accommodate the suggestions of experts. from 50 item test, 5 items were deleted to established its internal consistency reliability. respondents of the study the respondent of this study was the 217 fourth-year students who were currently enrolled in the school year 2011-2012 of francisco bustamante national high school, tibungco davao city, philippines. the researcher obtained an informed consent from the respondents in compliance to research ethics protocol. data gathering procedure the researcher sought first the permission from school administrators to conduct a study by sending formal letters. after the approval to conduct the study, the questionnaires for personal data, logical intelligence and advanced algebra achievement test were administered by the researcher with the help of the class moderators of the respondents. the questionnaires were gathered and collated. the data gathered from the respondents were carefully analyzed on what statistical tools should be used in order to answer the problem statement. the data analysis has been possible with the help of a statistician. data were statistically processed and converted to tabular presentations. tables were analyzed, interpreted and given educational implications. 7 international peer reviewed journal data analysis the data gathered were summarized, translated and analyzed using the following different statistical tools: mean, standard deviation, range, frequency, percentage,pearson r correlation. the statistical computation in this study was done using the spss 14.0 software. all interpretation of the data output was based at α = 0.05 level of significance. results and discussion the level of logical intelligence of the fourth-year students table 1. descriptive statistics of the scores of students in logical intelligence scores description frequency percent 25-30 very high 5 2.3 19-24 high 27 12.4 13-18 moderate 101 46.5  7-12 low 79 36.4 0-6 very low 5 2.3 total 217 100 mean 14.14 moderate standard deviation 4.382 the frequency distribution of the scores of the students in logical intelligence test is presented in table 1. it was observed that the highest score is 27, which was very high while the lowest score was 6, which means very low. it is also showed that the result obtained a mean of 14.44 indicating that the respondents have a moderate level of logical intelligence. this result implies that the respondents answered 40-60% of the items correctly. the students’ profile on the non-intellective factors table 2. non-intellective profile of the senior students family income number of years spent in school of the head of the family family size time allotted in studying interest in mathematics mean 8565.67 9.71 6 39.33 3.03 standard deviation 5610.81 2.66 1.985 43.603 0.796 8 jpair multidisciplinary research family income. it can be observed that it has an average monthly income of $194.63. the result implied that most of the students’ family monthly income was below the poverty line (national statistics coordination board). number of years spent in school of the head of the family. the table showed that the average number of years spent in school of the head of the family of the respondents was 9.71 which means that most of the students’ head of the family were high school graduate. family size. in the same table, the mean family size of the respondent was observed to have 6 members. time allotted in studying. the students’ mean time allotted (minutes) in studying mathematics was shown to be 39.33 per week. the implication is that most of the students spare almost 40 minutes a week in studying mathematics subject. interest in mathematics. in the same table, the mean score of 3.03 for their interest in the mathematics subject was shown which means that the students’ perceived interest in mathematics was moderate. level of academic achievement of students in advanced algebra table 3. level of academic achievement in blooms’ taxonomy domain domain mean sd level remembering 7.203 1.393 high understanding 6.567 3.253 moderate applying 2.953 2.110 low analyzing 1.576 1.505 low evaluating 0.788 0.817 low creating 0.327 0.470 low overall achievement 19.447 6.724 moderate as presented in table 3, the overall mean score of the students in the achievement test in advanced algebra was 19.447 which denote moderate level of 9 international peer reviewed journal achievement. this means that the students answered 40-60% of the items in the achievement test in advanced algebra. the remembering domain of the students in their achievement test in advanced algebra has a mean score of 7.203 which was on a high level. this score implies that the students have a high capacity in recalling learned information. the only domain which achieved a moderate level was understanding domain with a mean score of 6.567. this result indicates that the students have a moderate level in comprehending the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems and stating a problem in one’s own words. on the other hand, majority of the students have poor achievement in applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. the findings denote that the students have a low capability in using the concept in a new scenario, apply what was learned, distinguish between facts and inferences, make judgments about the value of ideas, build a structure or pattern from diverse elements, put components together to form a whole, and create a new meaning. furthermore, this finding implies that most of the students’ higher order thinking skills (hots) on these domains were not fully developed. relationship between the logical intelligence and academic achievement table 4. correlation of logical intelligence and blooms’ taxonomy domain of the academic achievement in advanced algebra intellective factor domains pearson r p value consequence understanding 0.354** 0 ho is rejected applying 0.384** 0 ho is rejected analyzing 0.387** 0 ho is rejected evaluating 0.135* 0.047 ho is rejected over-all 0.425** 0 ho is rejected it can be seen in table 4 that the pearson r value of logical intelligence and the academic achievement in terms of understanding, applying, analyzing and evaluating domain were 0.354, 0.384, 0.387 and 0.135 respectively, with their computed p-value less than 0.05. findings, therefore, suggest the rejection of the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between the logical intelligence and achievement test in terms of understanding, applying, 10 jpair multidisciplinary research analyzing and evaluating domains. this result indicates that as the score of students will increase from these 4 domains, their logical test score will also increase. moreover, if the learners’ rating in logical intelligence increases then they are capable of stating the problem in their own words. they can apply ideas in a new scenario and separate concepts into parts so that its structure may be understood. these learners can differentiate between facts and inferences and can make judgments. on the other hand, the computed pearson r value of remembering domain and creating domain were 0.097 and 0.126 respectively, with the computed p-value 0.156 and 0.063 both greater than 0.05. this result suggests the acceptance of the null hypothesis, which says that there is no significant association among logical intelligences and academic achievement test in terms of remembering and creating domain. furthermore, the same table showed that the over-all achievement scores of the students in advance algebra and logical intelligence test has a positive correlation with a pearson r value of 0.425, with computed p-value of 0 that is less than 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. this implies that an increase in the scores of the students in logical intelligence, their achievement test score will also increase. this result could be supported by the study of ghazi et al. (2011) who concluded that there was a positive correlation between perceived logicalmathematical intelligence and academic achievement of the students. moreover, the study strengthened the study of mcmahon et al. (2004) who revealed that the higher the scores of students on logical-mathematical intelligence were more likely have a high score on achievement in reading. relationship between non-intellective factors and academic achievement among the non-intellective factors in the study, only the years spent in school of the head of the family has a significant correlation with the academic achievement of students. table 5. correlation between years spent in school by the head of the family and academic achievement non-intellective factor domains pearson r p value consequence years spent in school evaluating -0.152* 0.025 ho is rejected over-all 0.033 0.63 ho is accepted 11 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, for the number of years of the head of the family in school, it resulted to negative correlation equal to – 0.152 which means that the higher the number of years of the head of the family spent in schooling, the lower will be the score of their children in synthesizing. however, it can be noted that the relationship between these two variables is small. with this, the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between the number of years spent by the head of the family and academic achievement in terms of synthesizing was rejected. this result could be supported by the study of shaw and brown (1957) who concluded that there was no significant relationship between parents’ educational attainment and the achievement of students. the instrument used in obtaining the students’ interest in mathematics uses likert-scale. it would be better if this is revised into rubrics. also, we must consider other non-intellective factors in the study. conclusions 1. there was a significant relationship between logical intelligence and academic achievement in terms of understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and overall achievement. 2. there was a negative significant relationship between the number of years spent in school by the head of the family and the academic achievement of students in terms of evaluating. literature cited ercikan, k., mccreith, t., & lapointe, v. (2005). factors associated with mathematics achievement and participation in advanced mathematics courses: an examination of gender differences from an international perspective. school science and mathematics, 105(1), 5-14. gardner, h. (1999). intelligence reframed: multiple intelligences for the 21st century. basic books. ghazi, s. r., shahzada, g., gilani, u. s., shabbir, m. n., & rashid, m. (2011). relationship between students’ self perceived multiple intelligences and their academic achievement. international journal of academic research, 3(2). 12 jpair multidisciplinary research leongson, j. a., & limjap, a. a. (2003 january). assessing the mathematics achievement of college freshmen using piaget’s logical operations’. in  hawaii international conference on education in waikiki. mcmahon, s. d., rose, d. s., & parks, m. (2004). multiple intelligences and reading achievement: an examination of the teele inventory of multiple intelligences. the journal of experimental education, 73(1), 41-52. shaw, m. c., & brown, d. j. (1957). scholastic underachievement of bright college students. the personnel and guidance journal, 36(3), 195-199. 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.290 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. on-farm verification of peanut varieties in rainfed and lahar laden areas of pampanga, philippines mary grace b. gatan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6083-0060 mbgatan.mgbg@gmail.com pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga virgilio dm. gonzales http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7476-4703 virgon3000@gmail.com pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga abstract lahar sediment areas represent drought-prone growing ecosystems due to their sandy texture and low organic matter. peanut, a rainfed crop has been a common option in such areas, where yields are usually less than 1.0 t ha-1. hence, on-farm trials were conducted in farmers’ field to introduce and evaluate the drought-resistant varieties in relation to yield performance, reaction to diseases, profitability, farmers’ acceptability and market preference. introduced varieties were the pink-seeded nsic pn11 and red-seeded icgv 99046 which were compared with red-seeded farmers’ variety in wet and dry seasons. varieties were arranged in randomized complete block design of four replicate farms. pod yield of introduced varieties ranged from 2.4 to 3.0 tons/ha, higher than the yield obtained in farmers’ variety (1.7-1.9 tons/ha) in both seasons. icgv 2 jpair multidisciplinary research 99046 recorded the highest yield across two cropping seasons (2.9-3.0 tons/ha). high yield of introduced varieties was associated with greater pod number per plant, higher 100-seed weight, higher shelling percentage, longer number of days to maturity, and resistance to fungal diseases. net farm income from adopting introduced peanut varieties was 123-230% higher than that obtained using farmers’ variety. the growing of conventional farmers’ variety resulted to low benefit cost ratio of less than 1.0 while the use of introduced varieties generated a benefit cost ratio of more than 1.0. red-seeded varieties are predominantly preferred by farmers and market entities. the study demonstrated the advantage of adopting red-seeded icgv 99046 for improving peanut yield, increasing farm income, and acceptability by farmers and market entities. keywords agriculture, on-farm trial, arachis hypogaea, lahar, rainfed, pampanga, philippines introduction at least 80% of the global agricultural land area is rainfed. it is well established that drought causes substantial reduction in the economic yield of crops. water limitation is a major threat to food security, sustainability of production systems, and adversely affects the socio-economic status of 2.6 billion people living in drought-prone areas. people in drought-prone areas represent 43% of the world population, which are engaged in agriculture (saxena & o’toole, 2002). in 2008, africa has only 5% of cultivated lands supported with irrigation, 11% in the americas, and 7% in europe (unesco, n.d.). about 22% of crop lands in southeast asia is irrigated. in 2006, about 19% of crop lands in the philippines is irrigated. due to increasing population, availability of water is a potential threat to agriculture in the future. meanwhile, the lahar sediment areas in central luzon, philippines are typically drought-prone due to mt pinatubo eruption in 1991. provinces affected by lahar sediments include pampanga, tarlac and zambales. most lahar sediments contain at least 87% sand (reyes & neue, 1991) which have been recognized to pose several production constraints in agriculture. the low moisture holding capacity or high infiltration rate makes coarse-textured lahar sediment not economically feasible for irrigation. previous researches have suggested that it would take several decades to restore the fertility of lahar-deposit areas, unless farmers resort to soil amelioration and revegetation with gramineous and leguminous plants (bswm, 3 international peer reviewed journal 2010). in these areas, peanut (arachis hypogea l.) has been a typical rainfed crop where farmers’ yield is about one ton per hectare or lower. peanut yields are generally low and unstable under rainfed conditions, due to unreliable rainfall patterns, with frequent droughts, and to a limited availability and adoption of high-yielding varieties. in rainfed areas, farmers are predominantly resource poor, with small farm size and a limited financial capacity to adopt high-input technologies (saxena & o’toole, 2002). peanut is a major rainfed crop in most of the production systems in south asia and subsaharan africa (serraj et al., 2003). to minimize the effects of drought on crops, drought-tolerant varieties are appropriate farmer-friendly, seed based technology that is simpler and easier to introduce than production technologies that require additional input. however, several factors are involved for farmers’ choice and adoption of any introduced peanut variety. farmers may either adopt or reject any introduced variety depending on its yield advantage over the conventional farmers’ variety, market preference (omot, 2006), farmers’ weed control practices, length of the growing season (craufurd et al., 2000), agro-ecosystem and soil type (santos, 2012). in previous trials conducted in drought-prone peanut growing areas, the pink-seeded nsic pn 11 outyielded the farmer’s variety only in farms free of significant weed population. however, red-seeded varieties are preferred by farmers in pampanga due to higher market demand relative to introduced pinkseeded varieties. in papua new guinea, majority of middlemen and consumers preferred large white kernels, while most growers had no preference regarding seed size and color (omot, 2006). peanut varieties whose growth cycle is longer than the duration of growing season in a specific location either fail to mature or mature at a time the soil is too hard to dig the pods (craufurd et al., 2000). icgv 99046 was recommended in areas with continuous irrigation and clay loam soil type. on the other hand, nsic pn14 was found suitable in rainfed areas with sandy loam soil while the red seeded farmer’s variety performed well in rainfed areas with clay loam soil type (santos, 2012). many peanut varieties have been released and introduced in the philippines, and it is important for farmers to evaluate them on their farm to determine if adopting a new variety would be beneficial (tillman et al., 2012). however, peanut varieties differ in their agro-climatic adaptation. agronomic and yield performance of genotypes may vary from location to location. aside from yield advantage, however, farmers’ acceptance of introduced varieties is dependent on market preferences. there is, therefore, a need to ascertain farmers’ preferences 4 jpair multidisciplinary research on peanut varieties in specific location based on soil type, climatic conditions, cultural practices and market demand. objective of the study this study was conducted to verify and establish the yield performance, and acceptability of both farmers on promising lines/varieties of peanut in droughtprone lahar-sediment farms under rainfed environment. materials and methods selection and identification of farmer-cooperators selection and identification of farmer-cooperators were based on the following criteria: willingness to allocate an area for the trial; willingness to adopt technologies that will be introduced; capability and willingness to extend and share information to other farmers; and accessibility of the farm. identified farmer-cooperators were oriented on the project methodology with emphasis on peanut production prior to the establishment of varietal trials. varieties evaluated agronomic description of peanut varieties evaluated is presented on the table below: variety agronomic characteristics seed size seed color seed number per pod maturity (days) traditional farmers’ variety small red 3 80-90 icgv 99046 medium to large red 2 110-120 nsic pn11 medium to large pink 2 105-115 establishment of on-farm trials one farmer-managed trial was established per municipality. trials were implemented in four peanut growing municipalities namely, magalang, apalit, mabalacat and arayat in pampanga, philippines during the wet season (juneoctober) and dry season (october-january). seeds of introduced varieties, and other production inputs such as fertilizers, inoculants, pesticides were provided to the farmer cooperators. for a given farm, an area measuring about 100-200m2 were allotted for each variety. varieties were arranged in randomized complete 5 international peer reviewed journal block (rcb) design with four replications. one pilot farm per municipality served as one replication or block. data collection reaction to diseases. varietal reaction to major foliar diseases, cercospora leaf spot and rust were recorded at harvest using the rating scale below: scale description 1 no infection 2 1-5% infection 3 6-25% infection 4 26-50% infection 5 more than 50% infection disease rating scale of each variety was converted into corresponding disease reaction by obtaining the average scale per entry for all replications. the final disease rating was determined based on the following: range of average scale final disease reaction 1 immune 2 resistant 3 moderately resistant 4 moderately susceptible 5 highly susceptible agronomic characteristics. the number of days to maturity was recorded from the emergence to the date when at least 75% of the pods had dark brown color with deep ridges. stem length was measured using a meter stick from the randomly selected sample plants. number of seeds per pod was based on 10 randomly selected matured pods from the 10 sample plants. number of pods per plant was the average number of pods per plant at harvest from same 10 random sampled plants used for stem length determination. the 100-seed weight was based on randomly selected 100 seeds from each plot. shelling percentage was computed as the percentage weight of shelled pods from 100-gram pod sample. pod weight per unit area was obtained as the dry weight after drying for three to four days 3-4 days of sun drying. after which, dry weight of harvested mature pods from the area was weighed. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research agronomic data were analyzed using analysis of variance (anova). treatment means were compared using least significant difference (lsd) test. survey on farmers and market preferences pre-tested questionnaire was used to determine preferences of peanut growers and market entities in the top five peanut growing municipalities in pampanga, which include bacolor, arayat, porac, apalit and angeles city. the respondents were peanut growers, peanut vendors and processors. the questionnaires were distributed and retrieved from the respondents. an actual interview to the respondents was conducted to validate their response and clarify points that were deemed inadequate. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. data were collated, tabulated, and analyzed after which were categorized according to their solved percentage. a simple tabular analysis was made consisting of a percentage on the collected data. results and discussion on-farm trials agronomic characteristics, yield components and pod of different varieties both for wet and dry seasons are reflected in tables 1 and 2. during wet season planting, significant differences were noted among peanut varieties in terms of pod yield, yield components and stem length (table 1). nsic pn11 apparently exhibited the longest stem length among varieties. long stem length has an advantage in weed competition. both nsic pn 11 and icgv 99046 consistently obtained higher number of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds and pod yield when compared to the farmers’ variety. the farmers’ variety recorded greater seed number per pod than the introduced varieties. however, nsic pn 11 and icgv 99046 exhibited larger grain size than the farmers’ variety as indicated by their high 100-seed weight. shelling percentage was highest in the red-seeded icgv 99046 among the varieties evaluated. the introduced varieties out yielded farmers’ variety. varietal differences in pod yield reflected variation in pod number per plant, shelling percentage and 100-seed weight. peanut plants grown during the dry season had shorter stem length relative to those grow during the wet season (table 2). there were no varietal differences in stem length, pod number per plant, and shelling percentage during the dry 7 international peer reviewed journal season. however, icgv 99046 recorded the highest pod yield among the varieties. varietal differences in pod yield were associated with genotype variation in 100-seed weight. consistent with wet season trials, introduced peanut varieties recorded higher yields than the conventional farmers’ variety. table 1. agronomic characteristics and yield of peanut varieties in lahar sediment farms during wet season. parameter variety+ farmers variety nsic pn 11 icgv 99046 days to maturity 91.5 104.5 105.0 stem length at harvest (cm) 44.89 c 96.35 a 54.96 b pod number per plant 7.00 b 16.92a 19.25 a seed number per pod 2.3 a 2.0 b 1.7 c weight of 100 seeds (g) 28.0 b 54.0 a 55.0 a shelling percentage (%) 60.0 c 70.0 b 77.0 a pod yield (tons/ha) 1.67 b 2.63 a 3.0 a +means within the same row followed by a common letter are not significantly different at 5% lsd level table 2. agronomic characteristics and yield potential of peanut varieties grown in lahar sediment farms planted during dry season parameter variety+ farmers’ variety nsic pn 11 icgv 99046 days to maturity 95.0 112.0 114.0 stem length at harvest (cm) 43.95 45.70 44.40 pod number per plant 17.4 21.8 21.1 seed number per pod 2.5 a 2.0 b 2.0 b weight of 100 seeds (g) 38.3 c 51.0 b 66.0 a shelling percentage (%) 67.0 71.0 71.0 pod yield (tons/ha) 1.9 c 2.4 b 2.9 a + means within the same row followed by a common letter are not significantly different at 5% lsd level 8 jpair multidisciplinary research the yields recorded (1.7-3.0 t ha-1) were comparable with those reported in papua new guinea for 90-120 day varieties, 1.1-3.2 t ha-1 (saese et al., 2006). however, the recorded yields were higher than those recorded in india, 1.3-1.7 t ha-1 (nigam et al. 2005) in tanzania, 0.6-1.2 t ha-1 (bucheyeki et al., 2008). there were reported on-farm trials indicating that introduced peanut varieties did not exhibit yield advantage over the farmers’ varieties (e.g. saese et al. 2006). in one of the two farmer participatory trials, introduced peanut varieties produced pod yields not significantly different from the farmers’ variety (nigam et al. 2005). however, the farmers were impressed with the introduced variety which gave higher fodder yield with more green leaves, and comparable pod yield and larger seed size than the farmers’ variety despite severe drought conditions in the cropping season (nigam et al. 2005). the advantage of new improved peanut varieties over conventional farmers’ varieties in farmer-participatory trials, however, has been established in droughtprone peanut growing areas (bucheyeki, 2008; nigam et al., 2005; kuniata, 2006; adu-dapaah et al., 2007, dela cruz, 2011). in andhra pradesh, india, for example, icgv 91114 produced significantly higher average pod yield and greater haulm yield by 12% and 25%, respectively over the farmers’ variety, tmv 2 (nigam et al, 2005). in tanzania, pendo (1444 kg ha-1) and johari (1163 kg ha-1) outyielded mamboleo (547 kg ha-1), a farmers’ variety (bucheyeki, 2008). farmer-participated trials in ghana, africa demonstrated the apparent yield advantage of introduced varieties over the common farmers’ variety (adu-dapaah et al., 2007). as with the farming situation in pampanga, the farmers’ variety matured earlier than the improved varieties. early maturing farmers’ variety in ghana yielded about a ton per hectare while the introduced varieties recorded yield of more than 2.0 tons ha-1. the advantage of introduced new varieties was attributed to higher shelling percentage and greater number of pods per plant, high fodder yield and resistance to foliar diseases over the farmers’ variety. in the present trial, the yield advantage of introduced varieties relative to farmers’ variety during wet season was associated with high pod number per plant, greater 100-seed weight and high shelling percentage. during the dry season, differences in pod yield were mainly due to variation in 100-seed weight. two foliar diseases were observed namely, cercospora leaf spot (cls) and peanut rust in both wet (table 3) and dry season trials (table 4). the icgv 99046 and nsic pn11 were noted to be resistant against cls and rust at any cropping season while farmers’ variety was recorded susceptible to both cls and peanut rust. leaf spot and rust diseases are major foliar diseases of peanut. variation in foliar disease reaction among genotypes has been reported 9 international peer reviewed journal elsewhere between short duration and medium duration varieties (saese et al. 2006). medium duration varieties have been shown being consistently resistant to both leaf rust and late leaf spot than short duration varieties. the present study was consistent with the findings of saese et al. (2006) which indicated the susceptibility of the farmers’ variety (92-95 days) when compared to introduced late maturing varieties (105-114 days). meanwhile, the short-duration varieties developed at icrisat have shown 23–411% superior pod yield over local control varieties in the seventh series of international trials across several countries (serraj et al., 2003). while early maturity is a drought escape strategy (i.e. harvesting the crop before the occurrence of detrimental dry spell), early-maturing genotypes usually have shallow root systems aside from their susceptibility to foliar diseases (saese et al. 2006). this makes them more susceptible to intermittent drought grown as a rainyseason crop and with consequent reduction of the yield potential. nevertheless, genotypic differences in rooting depth have been observed in peanut suggesting scope for combining early maturity with an efficient root system (serraj et al., 2003). table 3. reaction to diseases of peanut varieties during wet season foliar disease farmer’s variety nsic pn 11 icgv 99046 disease rating scale+ cercospora leaf spot 4.10 b 1.90 a 1.70 a rust 3.30 b 2.00 a 2.07 a + means within the same row followed by a common letter are not significantly different at 5% lsd level. table 4. reaction to diseases of peanut varieties under lahar sediment areas during dry season. foliar disease farmer’s variety nsic pn 11 icgv 99046 disease rating scale+ cercospora leaf spot 4.2 b 2.3 a 2.0 a rust 3.4 b 2.0 a 2.1 a + means within the same row followed by a common letter are not significantly different at 5% lsd level 10 jpair multidisciplinary research preferences of farmers and market entities based on surveys, most of the farmers prefer red-seeded variety with small to medium seed size consisting of 2-3 seeds per pod (table 5). in addition, they prefer early maturing variety but were willing to use both traditional farmers’ variety and introduced varieties. farmers usually grow peanut from march-june, august and november. however, majority prefer may as the planting month which is the onset of rainy season in pampanga. red-seeded varieties were a common choice due to higher demand in the local market relative to pink seeded varieties. only one out four peanut growers in pampanga preferred the large-seeded varieties. in papua new guinea, however, majority of middlemen and consumers preferred large white kernels, while most growers had no preference one way or the other regarding size and colour (omot, 2006). middlemen ranked size and color the same as consumers, indicating that they are aware of consumer preferences. in pampanga, the common farmers’ variety is an early maturing variety with small, red-colored seeds. during the last decades, most improved varieties introduced are late maturing with large pink seeds. nevertheless, farmers interviewed are divided in relation to choices between traditional and introduced varieties. the red-seeded icgv 99046 should satisfy the preference of both the farmers and market entities. greater proportions of farmers prefer peanut planting at the onset of wet season (may) in pampanga, although planting months have spanned from march to november. this indicates that soil moisture at planting is a dominant factor in planting decisions. in papua new guinea, peanut growers indicated that peanuts planted outside the optimal time produced lower yields. however, some farmers cultivate peanut during the off-season to take advantage of better market demand and prices (wemin et al., 2006). in pampanga, november plantings could have been due to peanut option as a second crop after wet season rice. cost and returns tables 6-8 present the cost and return analysis of red seeded farmers’ variety, nsic pn 11 and icgv 99046 per ha. yield of farmers’ variety is up to 1.7 tons/ha with a total net income of php 28,236.80 (usd 630.29) and a return on investment of 49.7%. on the other hand, the potential yield of nsic pn 11 is 2.7tons/ha while the net income could reach up to php 69,326.00 (usd 1,547.46) and 49.7 roi. with regards to icgv 99046, 154% return on investment is expected from the 3 tons/ha production yield with a net income of php 93,326.00 (usd 2,083.17). 11 international peer reviewed journal table 5. preference of farmers and market on the agronomic characteristics of peanut in pampanga, philippines 1. seed color red pink 87.5% 12.5% 2. seed size small medium large 37.5% 37.5% 25% 3. no. of seeds/ pod 1 2 3 4 37.5% 50% 12.5% 4. maturity (no. of days from planting up to harvest) 90 100 110 120 50% 25% 25% 5. variety traditional introduced 50% 50% 6. month of planting march april may june aug nov 6.25% 6.25% 37.5% 25% 12.5% 12.5% since farmers’ variety is early maturing and can be harvested in three months time, the expected income per month is about php 9,412.27 (usd 210.10). both nsic pn 11 and icgv 99046 are late maturing varieties and were harvested four months after planting were expected to generate a monthly net income of php 17,331.50 (usd 386.86) and php 23,331.50 (usd 520.790), respectively. net farm income from adopting introduced peanut varieties was 123-230% higher than that obtained using farmers’ variety. the use of the conventional farmers’ variety recorded low benefit cost ratio (bcr) of less than 1.0, i.e. usd 0.50 return is expected to be generated for every usd1.00 invested. should the introduced varieties will be grown, bcr computed was greater than 1.0, with icgv 99046 and nsic pn 11 generating a bcr of 1.14 and 1.54, respectively. the higher production cost recorded for the introduced varieties relative to that of farmers’ variety was due to higher seed cost when procuring seeds of introduced varieties (tables 7 and 8 vs. table 6). labor and material cost of peanut production in the present study ranged from usd856-910 per hectare which were fairly similar with the cost in bulgaria, usd 947 (bencheva et al. 2008) but higher than that reported in papua new guinea, usd451 (wemin et. al 2006) and in nigeria, usd125 (adinya, 2009). net returns ranged from 12 jpair multidisciplinary research usd 1, 267-2,083, higher than that reported in bulgaria, usd 172 (bencheva et al. 2008) and in nigeria, usd 7.58 (adinya, 2009). the trials in the present study demonstrated the advantage of adopting improved varieties particularly the red-seeded icgv 99046 in increasing yield and income of peanut farmers. adoption of improved peanut varieties, however, may be hindered by limited access of farmers to high yielding varieties, and inappropriate agronomic practices (rachaputi, 2006). for example, previous dry season trials in bacolor have shown that a drought-resistant variety yielded lower than the farmers’ variety “kalbo” in weedy farms (unpublished data). the introduced variety has shorter plant height and higher harvest index (pod yield/ total dry weight) than the weed taller farmers’ variety with low harvest index. therefore, in farmers’ field where there were significant weeds, the farmers’ variety recorded higher pod yields than introduced drought resistant variety due to its tall plant characteristics. table 6. cost and return analysis on peanut production per hectare of red seeded farmers’ variety during the wet season. item quantity unit rate/unit value php usd php usd i. gross income production/ seed yield (tons/ha) 1,700 kg 50 1.12 85,000 1897.32 ii. expenses operating expenses 1. labor land preparation(plowing, harrowing) 3, 400 contract 3,400 75.89 furrowing 4 mad 500 11.16 2,000 44.64 inoculation/planting 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 hilling-up 10 mad 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 harvesting 25 md 300 6.70 7,500 167.41 stripping 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 irrigation 5 md 300 6.70 1,500 33.48 hauling and drying 5 md 300 6.70 1,500 33.48 total labor cost 24,900 555.80 13 international peer reviewed journal 2. material inputs seeds 120 kg 50 1.12 6,000 133.93 fertilizer 4 bags 1,200 26.79 4,800 107.14 inoculant (100g/50kg of seeds) 2 packs 80 1.79 160 3.57 fuel liters 500.00 2,500 55.80 total material inputs 13,460.0 300.45 land charge* 13, 800.0 308.03 interest on capital** 4,603.2 102.75 total expenses 56,763.2 1267.04 net income 28,236.8 630.29 return of investment (%) 49.70 49.70 benefit cost ratio 0.50 0.50 table 7. cost and return analysis on peanut production per hectare of nsic pn 11 at wet season. item quantity unit rate/unit value i. gross income php usd php usd production/seed yield (tons/ha) 2,600 kg 50 1.12 130,000 2901.79 ii. expenses operating expenses 1. labor land preparation(plowing, harrowing) 3, 400 contract 1 3,400 75.89 furrowing 4 mad 500 11.16 2,000 44.64 inoculation/planting 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 hilling-up 10 mad 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 harvesting 25 md 300 6.70 7,500 167.41 stripping 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 irrigation 5 md 300 6.70 1,500 33.48 14 jpair multidisciplinary research hauling and drying 5 md 300 6.70 1,500 33.48 total labor cost 24,900 555.80 2. material inputs seeds 120 kg 70 ` 8,400 187.50 fertilizer 4 bags 1,200.00 26.79 4,800 107.14 inoculant (100g/50kg of seeds) 2 packs 80 1.79 160 3.57 fuel liters 500 11.16 2,500 55.80 total material inputs 15,860 354.02 land charge* 13, 800 308.03 interest on capital** 6,114 136.47 total expenses 60,674 1,354.33 net income 69,326 1,547.46 return of investment (%) 114.30 114.30 benefit cost ratio 1.14 1.14 table 8. cost and return analysis on peanut production per hectare of icgv 99046 grown during the wet season item quantity unit rate/unit value i. gross income php usd php usd production/seed yield (tons/ha) 3,080 kg 50 154,000 3,437.51 ii. expenses operating expenses 1. labor land preparation(plowing, harrowing) 3, 400 contract 3,400 75.89 furrowing 4 mad 500 11.16 2,000 44.64 inoculation/planting 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 hilling-up 10 mad 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 harvesting 25 md 300 6.70 7,500 167.41 15 international peer reviewed journal stripping 10 md 300 6.70 3,000 66.96 irrigation 5 md 300 6.70 1,500. 33.48 hauling and drying 5 md 300 6.70 1,500 33.48 total labor cost 24,900 555.80 2. material inputs seeds 120 kg 70 1.56 8,400 187.50 fertilizer 4 bags 1,200 26.79 4,800 107.14 inoculant (100g/50kg of seeds) 2 packs 80 1.79 160 3.57 fuel liters 500 11.16 2,500 55.80 total material inputs 15,860 354.02 land charge* 13, 800 308.03 interest on capital** 6,114 136.47 total expenses 60,674 1,354.33 net income 93,326 2083.17 return of investment (%) 154 154 benefit cost ratio 1.54 1.54 this study was delimited on the performance of peanut varieties grown in rainfed and lahar laden areas of pampanga, philippines simply to determine its yield potential, reaction to diseases, profitability, farmers’ acceptability and market preference. conclusions the new peanut varieties (nsic pn 11, icgv 99046) out yielded the farmers’ variety in both wet and dry season croppings in farmers’ fields. pod yield in both seasons was in the order icgv 99046 > nsic pn 11 > farmers’ variety. yield advantage of introduced varieties relative to farmers’ variety during wet season was associated with high pod number per plant, greater 100-seed weight and high shelling percentage. during the dry season, differences in pod yield were mainly due to variation in 100-seed weight. both introduced varieties exhibited resistance to cercospora leaf spot and rust while the farmers’ variety was 16 jpair multidisciplinary research susceptible to such foliar diseases. the introduced varieties were late maturing relative the early maturing farmers’ variety. net farm income computed was one to two-folds higher in introduced peanut varieties compared with that of farmers’ variety. the growing of conventional farmers’ variety resulted to low benefit cost ratio of less than 1.0. benefit cost ratio of more than 1.0 was recorded in introduced peanut varieties. use of icgv 99046 generated usd1.50 return for every usd1.00 invested. red-seeded varieties are predominantly preferred by farmers and market entities. planting months varied among farmers interviewed which commenced from march to november. however, may was the most common month of planting for peanut. five out of ten peanut growers preferred late maturing varieties (100-110 days). this study demonstrated the benefits of adopting the red-seeded icgv 99046 for improving peanut yield, increasing farm income and acceptability by farmers and market entities. acknowledgment the authors expressed their sincerest gratitude to the department of agriculture region iii, philippines for providing financial assistance to this project. literature cited adinya, i. b. (2009). analysis of costs-returns profitability in groundnut marketing in bekwarra local government area cross river state, nigeria. the journal of animal & plant sciences, 19(4), 212-216. adu-dapaah, h. k., asumadu, h., lamptey, j. n. l., haleegoah, j., & asafoadjei, b. (2007). farmer participation in groundnut varietal selection. african crop science society, 8, 1435-1439. bencheva, n., ligeon, c., delikostadinov, s., puppala, n., & jolly, c. (2008). economic and financial analysis of peanut production in bulgaria. journal of central european agriculture, 9(2), 274-282. bucheyeki, t. l., shenkalwa, e. m., mapunda, t. x., & matata, l. w. (2008). on-farm evaluation of promising groundnut varieties for adaptation and 17 international peer reviewed journal adoption in tanzania. african journal of agricultural research, 3(8), 531-536. bureau of soil and water management (bswm). 2010. geographic extent of mt. pinatubo volcanic-ash influenced soils using remote sensing: a time series study on soil formation and development. soilscape 1: 3-20 (available at: http://www.bswm.da.gov.ph/ladaphilippines/newpdfs/2010%20first%20 quarter%20issue.pdf ). retrieved on oct 26, 2014. craufurd, p. q., wheeler, t. r., ellis, r. h., summerfield, r. j., & vara prasad, p. v. (2000). escape and tolerance to high temperature at flowering in groundnut (arachis hypogaea l.). the journal of agricultural science, 135(04), 371-378. dela cruz, r.t. 2011. two promising peanut lines from icrisat recommended as nct entries  @ http://www.bar.gov.ph/barchronicle/2011/june2011_ news3.asp. department of public works and highways – mt. pinatubo emergency project management office (dpwh-mpe-pmo) 1998. final report for pinatubo hazard urgent mitigation project. ii. agricultural development planning for sacobia-bamban river basin. nippon koei co. ltd. – philkoei international, inc. pp. 4-67. kuniata, l. s. (2006). evaluation of peanut varieties suitable for the upper markham valley, papua new guinea. improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. nigam, s. n., aruna, r., giri, d. y., reddy, t. y., subramanyam, k., reddy, b. r. r., & kareem, k. a. (2005). farmer participatory varietal selection in groundnut–a success story in anantapur, andhra pradesh, india. international arachis newsletter, 25, 13-15. omot, n., wilson, t., anzen, j., ramakrishna, a., tomda, y., & geob, t. (2006). progress report on a peanut market study in papua new guinea. improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research rachaputi, r. c. (2006). improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia using integrated management and modelling approaches—overview of aciar project asem 2001/055. improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. reyes, r. y., & neue, h. u. (1991). characterization of the volcanic ejecta from mount pinatubo and its impact on rice production.  philippine journal of crop science, 16(2), 69-73. saese, h., fahey, g., & bafui, j. (2006). evaluation of peanut (arachis hypogaea l.) varieties in the lower markham valley of papua new guinea.improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. saxena, n. p., & o’toole, j. c. (2002). field screening for drought tolerance in crop plants with emphasis on rice proceedings of an international workshop on field screening for drought tolerance in rice 11-14 dec 2000. international crops research institute for the semi-arid tropics. serraj, r., bidinger, f. r., chauhan, y. s., seetharama, n., nigam, s. n., & saxena, n. p. (2003). management of drought in icrisat cereal and legume mandate crops.  water productivity in agriculture: limits and opportunities for improvement, cabi publishing, wallingford, uk, 127œ144. tillman, b. l., gomillion, m. w., mckinney, j., person, g., thomas, w. d., & smith, c. (2012). methods for on-farm testing of peanut varieties in florida with results from 2005? 2009. unesco (undated). irrigated land as percentage of cultivated land, 2008. retrieved on october 10, 2014 from http://www.unesco.org/new/ fileadmin/multimedia/hq/sc/temp/wwap_pdf/irrigated_land_as_a_ percentage_of_cultivated_land.pdf wemin, j. m., ramakrishna, a., geob, t., & rachaputi, r. c. (2006). production, processing, consumption and utilisation of peanut in papua new guinea—a survey of peanut growers.  improving yield and economic viability of peanut production in papua new guinea and australia. 139 international peer reviewed journal abstract finance has been described as a great challenge for every organization and considered the lifeblood of every institution which is used to finance its programs and services. the study determined the best financial management practices and the implementation in the local government unit of cotabato city, mindanao, southern philippines. it also identified the gaps in financial management in its covered local community. interview guides and document analysis were used in the study. using descriptive method, it was found out that the financial management of the local community was properly managed. hence, there was a good financial management in terms of finances of the communities in cotabato city as a basis of receiving the award of the seal of good housekeeping. it has best practices on financial management: a collaborative academic interventions in cotabato city, southern philippines norodin d. salam https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3264-4906 cotabato city state polytechnic college cotabato city, philippines norissalam@yahoo.com.ph marwisa sedik-salam mhar_sedik@yahoo.com.ph cotabato city state polytechnic college cotabato city, philippines originality: 96% • grammar check: 91 • plagiarism: 4 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.568 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:mhar_sedik@yahoo.com.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 140 jpair multidisciplinary research been highly recommended to engage more trainings on the same field with the involvement of the second liner young officials. this study provides empirical data to the agency administrators managing the community. there will also be an identification of strategies to be adapted in the programs for implementation. keywords – financial management, strategies, descriptive design, interventions, philippines introduction one of the greatest challenges of the world today is on difficult recovery of economic deficits due to the ever-increasing desire for wealth by some capitalist and leaders in the modern society (trecker, 1977). as a result, the continuous burden of the third world countries develops their own system of economy. in the global world, there are various established institutions that assist the government for their financial performance. the recently conducted state of the city address boosted the increasing revenue collection of cotabato city, philippines. out of 108 component cities and municipalities, cotabato city emerged as the 4th most competitive city to be included in the top 10 and known as the “center seat of the economy of mindanao.” cotabato city in southern philippines has been the subject of misconception, biases and prejudices being one experiencing violence in many forms. however, it may not be known to most people in the country, that the city has been declared as the 4th most competitive city in the entire philippines. further, it has gained confidence from the investors such that six more shopping malls have been recently established. the city government has been a recipient of the good housekeeping award for three consecutive years already. it has also received other awards such as the child-friendly city award because the city’s environment is relatively safe for children. the study assessed and identified the gaps in the financial management in the local community especially those responsible for the financial transactions with the academic programs through the assistance of on-the-job training students. there will also be an identification of strategies adapted in the programs for implementation and surface the problems encountered with corresponding recommendations for the improvement of the financial reporting. the results of financial management practices are beneficial to the residents of cotabato city as it could mean for a regular efficient delivery of sufficient 141 international peer reviewed journal services, the visitors of the city could safely spend their vacation and attend seminars. the city government of cotabato may benefit from their own financial management practices as they are assured of sustainability in public office which could also give pride for being the credible and accountable public officials; students may be provided with good models of financial management which they could experience and easily verify. moreover, the best practices of the cotabato city government could be an appropriate and realistic springboard for classroom discussion; and the general bank of knowledge for a good model worth sharing to others for them to apply in their own places or local government units. objective of the study the study assessed the financial management of selected local communities in cotabato city to determine its direction and effects to the beneficiaries. framework this study is anchored on the framework of financial management practices conceived by the united nations development program (undp) (2000) which has been affirmed by many of its partner governments and international organizations. figure 1. schematic diagram of the conceptual framework 142 jpair multidisciplinary research the 37 communities of cotabato city are governed by skilled general accounting procedures of the city accounting office responsible in preparing financial reports. the financial management implementers in the local community had used a variety of strategies in delivering to the local communities, these include the issuance of official receipts, bookkeeping, planning and strategies. through this, the program on strengthening of the financial reporting is important alongside with the result of the assessment of this study. it includes those good practices and makes transparent how well financial management are transformed into services, outputs, and outcomes. as a result, good financial housekeeping was established with good feedback from the clienteles. literature financial management services the financial management services implemented by the city government of cotabato based on the record from the government services office include centralized payment, collection and reporting services, oversight of a daily cash flow, disbursement, issuance of tax refunds and other payments, collection of annual payments to the government through financial institutions, and collection of delinquent debts owed to the government. furthermore, finance among the 37 local communities in cotabato city has been its lifeblood which is used to fund its programs and services. it is governed by general accounting procedures of the city accounting office, provided the skills related to finances. the program implementers in the community had used a variety of strategies in delivering the programs to the local communities, this includes the issuance of receipts, bookkeeping, and planning and strategies. sometimes, the local communities have no access to the information of the developments instead they relied only on what they see. through this, the program on strengthening the financial reporting is important alongside with the result of the assessment of this study. challenges confronting financial management decades of analyzing and evaluating performance data have helped financial management understand the tools necessary to maintain solvency. however, the modern-day financial management still poses specific challenges to the department heads. these operating obstacles include record keeping, financial reporting and regulatory compliance. other financial hurdles relate to borrowing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cash_flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cash_flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tax_refund https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=delinquent_debt&action=edit&redlink=1 143 international peer reviewed journal arrangements, financial analysis and operational funding (davidson, 2013). caffrey and armstrong (2013) state that accurate record keeping take the issue seriously, mainly because it understands it all starts from there. an agency that thrives and grows can only convince the outside world if it can correctly record operating transactions. timely financial reporting can also affect the agency in the absence of financial data in a timely manner often face a defiant tone from the community. weak fund raising activities will provide scarcity in the organization. therefore, in the modern economies, raising cash for operating activities is a subject that lies on top of achieving sound financial status. lack of skills in financial analysis can cause the decline of productivity in an agency. by doing so, financial heads can find ways to prop up agency units. on the other hand, no regulatory compliance often creates a dilemma that financial heads must cope with. factors affecting strong financial management the ability to work together as an effective financial management system will depend on the circumstances affecting the supply of, and demand for, strong financial management. three factors that affect the financial management, these are: delayed process, slow systems of structural operations and limited time in data processing; low capability of the key players; and ineffective leadership skills, (ingram, 2011). in addition, there are three factors that affect the demand for financial management, namely: the lack of strong in internal governance, external governance and absence of central government financial frameworks. strong financial management practices the financial management system underpins good government. it does so by ensuring that (internal and external) environment can understand and control how well an agency plans for and implement good financial management. in practice, this means that the right information is provided at the right time to the right people and that the information provided is then considered and used in understanding and controlling the agency (wales, 2013). there are four main practices of financial management: first, the sound budget management; second, evidence of financial controls; third, the consistent value management; and strong governance and regular practice of accountability. each practice consists of certain inter-related activities and made possible solid foundation of the other activities. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research wales also added that budget management means managing the sources of funding and allocating those resources in line with agency priorities. thus, effective budget management happens when priorities are based on a clear understanding of financial performance expectations. financial control follows the rules, processes, and procedures that address risks and assure that financial resources are being recorded and used in the right way, for the right purpose, and at the right time. another strong financial management practice is value management that measures, prioritize and allocates financial resources based on the expected value for service to be derived. value management is sometimes called “performance management.” value management occurs within public entities and throughout the whole government. it includes those practices referred to as “strategic financial management” and makes transparent how well financial management are transformed into services, outputs, and outcomes. lastly, governance and accountability of workers’ roles, responsibilities, delegations, and decision-making structures through which strong financial management can be introduced, practiced, and overseen and is implied in financial management. without structures and processes in an agency to make decisions at the right level, managing financial performance is more difficult and prone to risk (kotloff & burd, 2012). methodology research design this study used the descriptive method on the programs of financial management in the local government unit and its contributions to the achievement of good financial housekeeping. locale of the study the locale of the study was within cotabato city through its different local communities which are implementing projects from the government. cotabato city is called a “city of rivers” because two rivers crisscross in the different parts of the city 13 times; the tamontaka river and rio grande de mindanao. the name was coined from two maguindanaoan words, “kuta” meaning fortress, and “bato” meaning stone. the city has a total land area of 17, 599 hectares and is politically subdivided into 37 local communities. 145 international peer reviewed journal respondents of the study there were 30 respondents of the study, 10 administrators in the local communities, 10 local officials, and 10 beneficiaries. they were chosen using the purposive sampling technique. sampling technique the researchers used the non-probability sampling method. the purposive sampling was applied, there are a total of 30 respondents which were derived from the three groups such as the administrators, local officials, and beneficiaries. research instruments the study utilized the review of records technique to get the historical data of the locality. the documentary review includes the background of the program and its purposes. the key informants interview was also done to know personally the mechanics of the implementation and the challenges of the program implementers in delivering the program. the focus group discussion method was used to surface the data on effects of the program to the beneficiaries. data gathering procedures the researchers personally delivered communication letter to the local community after getting permission from cotabato city mayor with the attention of the director of the city vice mayor. after approval of the letter, the researchers visited directly to the identified respondents with prepared letter and questionnaires. the documents for review of records were secured. the researchers upon securing permission from local government authority scheduled the interview and prepared the materials needed such as tape recorder, ballpen, and notebooks. the researchers also conducted the focus group discussion to the selected beneficiaries and partners with the assurance of the data acquired were treated with utmost confidentiality. statistical treatment of data after all the documents were gathered, the researchers made analyzed the information gathered using the appropriate statistical methods. a statistician was consulted to do the certain task of tabulation. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion profile of the respondents figure 2a. age of the respondents majority of the respondents aged from 41 to 50 years old (50%). lehler (2010) found out that majority of disciplines tend to produce their finest work in their late 20s. kanfer (2004) also added that full work outcomes for middle ages affects workplace motivation for the self and family. figure 2b. sex of the respondents 147 international peer reviewed journal most of the respondents were females with 26 or 97% this is due to financial transactions done by women in the district. according to a new gallup poll, 700 million people or 70% of full-time workers do not feel engaged or emotionally connected at work. that is a staggering number. but of the percentage that does not just go through the motions at work, women have the highest rating. the poll found that 33% of women feel actively engaged, versus 28% of men. intriguingly, women report more work engagement than men do. despite barriers to workplace equality--such as hiring, pay, and promotion. as supported by fondas (2013), women were more likely to feel committed to jobs than men because women use flexible time and work arrangement more than men. flextime improves well-being which makes employees more effective at jobs and also makes it feel more connected towards employers. figure 2c. tribe of the respondents most of the respondents in the local communities were maguindanaon. this was strongly supported by the recent statistics of cotabato city’s profile that comprises the city’s majority population, maguindanao which is about 60%. http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/163007/state-american-workplace.aspx http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/06/women-are-more-likely-than-men-to-be-engaged-in-their-jobs/277107/ http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/06/women-are-more-likely-than-men-to-be-engaged-in-their-jobs/277107/ http://familiesandwork.org/site/research/reports/time_work_flex.pdf 148 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2d. educational attainment of the respondents in this research, it is evident that most of the respondents were high school graduate (15 or 50%) but they possessed good level in arabic education. kaplan university in santa barbara provides high school graduates who are qualified for office clerks and can work different kinds of administrative tasks daily, equipped with a wide skill set as well as the ability to adapt to daily changes in their responsibilities. office clerks typically need communication, computer and general office skills. keep reading to learn more about these abilities, as well as some advanced skills that might be required. figure 3. programs of the local community in developing their financial management 149 international peer reviewed journal this figure shows that the majority responses during the key informant interview that programs in the community were properly observed. it implies that the issues identified above have significantly contributed to the community level. therefore, if the leaders are capacitated, it will further develop their services to the community. thus, the community also becomes progressive. these findings were supported by the situation analysis conducted by us government accountability office that preparing budget plans and regular updating of the expenditures are at the core of economic and public sector reform programs in most nations around the world and evidently the best methods for effective financial management. trecker (1977), explained that regular visit of the monitoring team particularly on the financial performance of an agency can greatly help the financial management of the organization as it assures the proper delivery of social services among recipients. on the other hand, respondents shared during the interview that there had been a slightly low in attending seminars because it required financial counterparts and some participants are being afraid of the requirements given by the speakers. however, other countries despite not attending seminars like south australia secured administrative and employee development through offering financial management capability (fmc) program at university of adelaida that aims to ensure staff with financial responsibilities, supported and developed in effective financial practices that meet organizational requirements (al shami, 2012). best practices adapted by the local community in managing their finances financial management practices are likely to have a marked effect on the financial performance with a vast potential for financial growth. hence, it delves deeper work on budgeting, financial decision and provides a broader perspective by identifying trends in certain aspects of financial decision-making (al shami, 2012). in cotabato city, during the recent search for the seal of good housekeeping, the strong practices applied to achieve the award were: effective planning and leadership, transparency, communicating the vision through consultation, good values in reporting and liquidation as well as technology adaptation. this award gained a positive momentum to the people of cotabato in engaging activities tantamount to economic advancement and stability. as stated by fisher (2009), to have an effective managerial oversight of the finances in an institution, it needs to consider the managing finances in three respects: (a) planning, looking at the future of the agency and ensuring that it will be financially healthy in the 150 jpair multidisciplinary research shortand long-term through strong support of leaders and active involvement of stakeholders, (b) monitoring, keeping an eye on what is happening in the finances and taking action when things deviate from the plan, and (c) reporting, having a comprehensive roadmap of how your unit performed financially in the last period (month, quarter, half year or year) for transparency, using that to make decisions and put plans in place for the next period.” in addition, faith-based is also practiced because it is imbedded in the culture of community. this is related to dr. jabnoun’s (2012) statement that organizations should guide their people as to what is expected from them before they are made responsible for choosing either. as evident, allah (swt) the almighty high guides people as to what is right and wrong before holding them responsible for their deeds. challenges in financial management with the growing pressures for enhanced service delivery and the challenges of budgetary crises and fiscal shocks, the need for improved budget processes and innovative financial management techniques is critical in developing and emerging economies. the local government unit in cotabato city faced the following issues in their daily financial management affairs: data gaps on the amount collected and reported, liquidation of cash disbursement, slow approval of the request budget and lack of skills in analyzing financial reports. the methodology applied in gathering these data was deepened in focus group discussion. this implies that the more transactions held in the day could expect its challenges. thus, the local officials have to find a way for improvements. according to codija (2015), modern-day financial management still poses specific challenges to government unit. these operating obstacles includes issue on accurate record keeping, not presented timely financial reporting, lack of skills in financial sourcing and dilemma on regulatory compliance. other financial hurdles relate to borrowing arrangements, financial analysis and operational funding. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the researchers concluded that there was a good financial management in terms of funding the local government units in cotabato city as a basis of compliance by the modernization program of every government. the seal of good housekeeping applied to and by every city was 151 international peer reviewed journal grounded with sound financial system in the operation of its districts. the strong practices applied to achieve the award were effective planning and leadership, transparency, communicating the vision through consultation, good values in reporting and liquidation as well as technology adaptation. the implication of these efforts provided more preparations to the local officials in managing the affairs of the community. the participants’ experiences in establishing a seal of good financial housekeeping was a great task. they have to use a high diplomatic approaches in working out requirements towards achieving the award. manifestations of opposition they managed especially in dealing with co-workers were supporters of the previous administration. everybody is involved in the process along the way of communicating the vision with clear explanation. translational research given the findings of this study, the need to institutionalize a good financial housekeeping is relevant and applicable to every local community both in urban and rural areas. as such, the findings of this study would create the positive environment of financial management that will lead to a profound advancement in every local government unit. moreover, there has been a ground for crafting a standard system of intervention using what has transpired in this research through sustainable community-based programming that is supported by legislations and public enunciation. the sustainable programming should be transmitted in different levels which served as the continuity of the process. the educators should pursue more innovative and creative advocacy on popularization of good financial management using creative media, information and instructional materials written in local dialect for the community to properly understand the core message. the academe must continue this model of collaboration through replicating into other universities and colleges through conducting trainings and seminars for faculty members and administrators. literature cited al shami, m. 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http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/261/hdr_2000_en.pdf https://www.legalandgeneral.com/existing-customers/with-profits-support/guides-and-factsheets/history-of-ppfm/ https://www.legalandgeneral.com/existing-customers/with-profits-support/guides-and-factsheets/history-of-ppfm/ https://www.legalandgeneral.com/existing-customers/with-profits-support/guides-and-factsheets/history-of-ppfm/ 57 international peer reviewed journal abstract primary caregivers experience intense confusion before and after they receive an official diagnosis of their child with autism spectrum disorder (asd). although the quest to help their child may alleviate some negative feelings, the stress increases when they realize that there is no cure for asd. this study employed a descriptive comparative design which aimed to compare and contrast the struggles of 93 primary caregivers and their coping strategies in terms of gender and their relation to the child with asd in baguio city, benguet and dagupan city, pangasinan. inventory questionnaires were utilized to gather data. using mean analysis and anova, the more prevalent struggles experienced by the primary caregivers are financial and emotional. males experienced financial struggle the more while females experienced emotional. blood-related primary caregivers struggle more with financial and emotional while nonblood related primary caregivers struggle with health. with the struggles they encounter, the more prevalent coping strategies utilized by primary caregivers are problem solving and social support. males utilized problem solving the more while females utilized social support and emotional expression. bloodstruggles and coping of primary caregivers in raising children with autism spectrum disorder william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org 0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan originality: 95% • grammar check: 93 • plagiarism: 5 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.564 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:williamjosebillote@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 58 jpair multidisciplinary research related primary caregivers utilized problem solving more while nonblood-related primary caregivers utilized social support. despite the various struggles primary caregivers encounter, they find ways to cope with them. keywords — psychology, autism spectrum disorder, primary caregivers, children, descriptive comparative, inventory questionnaires, quantitative, baguio city, benguet, dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines introduction many families with children who have autism spectrum disorder (asd) become more stressed than families with typically developing children (padden & james, 2017). worldwide prevalence estimates cases of asd to 62 out of 10,000. while existing estimates are variable, the evidence reviewed does not support differences in pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (pdd-nos) prevalence by geographic region nor of a strong impact of ethnic or socioeconomic factors. thus, experts estimate that 2 to 6 children out of every 1,000 will have asd worldwide (elsabbagh et al., 2012). prevalence studies of asd, conducted by the autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network (2010, cited by the centers for disease control and prevention, 2015) show the estimates to be about 1 in 68 children, 1 in 42 boys, and 1 in 189 girls, indicating that asd is almost 5 times more common among boys than girls. also, studies in asia, europe, and north america have identified individuals with asd with an average prevalence of about 1 % (baio, 2010, cited by the centers for disease control and prevention, 2015) whereas, a study in south korea reported a prevalence of 2.6% (cheon et al., 2011). furthermore, post-industrial countries are also experiencing a trend of rising asd incidence rates. the united kingdom reported in 2012 that there was an increase of 56 % of children with autism in the last five years. while asd is increasing globally, many developing countries are reporting significantly lower rates. in china, it is estimated that 1.1 % in every 1,000 children are diagnosed with autism (maguire, 2013). however, in the philippines, an estimated number of 500,000 children have been diagnosed with this developmental disorder (endowed & kopetz, 2012). thus, asd is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups (baio, 2010, cited by the centers for disease control and prevention, 2015). beyond these statistics are the people who suffer along with those individuals and children who have asd. these people are the primary caregivers – parents, http://autism.emedtv.com/autism/autism.html http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html#glossary 59 international peer reviewed journal siblings, grandparents, and other people who take care and are responsible for these individuals and children with asd. bryden, fletcher, and markoulakis (2012) revealed that primary caregivers struggle in several areas. firstly, families experience financial difficulties due to the hefty price of availing services (e.g., special dietary plans and private lessons) needed by their child with asd. secondly, the health of all members within the family unit can be affected. many experience physical exhaustion and psychological distress (e.g., depression and anxiety) from taking care of their family member with asd. thirdly, families who have a family member diagnosed with asd find it difficult to maintain social relationships because their child with asd cannot act appropriately in public. lastly, family lifestyle may be altered to accommodate the needs of the family member with asd. family members tend to place the needs of their family member with autism above their own needs which in most cases causes familial issues from marital problems to sibling jealousy. early intervention programs heighten the intense pressure to use whatever means possible – including placing the family’s financial future at risk to secure needed special activities or therapies of the child with asd. such activities help those with asd learn to function in a non-autistic environment. these activities include swimming lessons, and social events, but these activities can be expensive. parents can spend hundreds or even thousands of their money annually sending their children to these special activities that are imperative for the social development of their child. they would also have to avail of speech and language therapy, other types of one-on-one therapy and other special interventions. sometimes, children with asd often cannot attend the same classes or schools as regular children because, based on the assessment of professionals, they require different learning environments and instructions. special education (sped) schools, tutors, and teachers can cost families to spend much every month or every year. with the many activities children with asd have to do, it requires primary caregivers to monitor these children around-the-clock to provide needed care. many primary caregivers choose to quit their job and stay home to care for the child with asd. this implies that they have no choice but to use the available funds they have from their previous jobs to suffice the needs of their child with asd. with the various struggles and stresses the primary caregivers are experiencing, previous researchers have found that primary caregivers, families and parents utilize a variety of strategies to cope with struggles related to raising a child with asd. gray (2002) found that the most popular coping strategy of families was support 60 jpair multidisciplinary research from family members. other positive coping strategies included participation in religious and other individual activities. findings of gray (2006) showed that primary caregivers not only participate but also turn to religion for strength and an enlightened perspective on their child’s condition. in addition, glazzard and overall (2012) discovered that in addition to following a structured routine and relying on familial support, parents cope using the following strategies: (a) physically restraining their child with autism; (b) ignoring their child’s behavior and; (c) avoiding certain social situations. the researcher was encouraged to conduct this study due to the following reasons: 1) first, a notable fraction of the global community has asd that translates to a lot of families being affected by the downside of this developmental disability; 2) second, the disorders associated with asd are described to be “highly individualized.” this means that while all people with asd share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways. this means that no two persons with asd have the exact set of traits that translate to no two primary caregivers experiencing the same struggles and utilizing the same coping strategies. hence, the third reason is 3) to determine if the relationship of the primary caregivers to the child with asd brings about a variation in the struggles they encounter and to have a comparative look at the similarities and differences of the coping strategies being utilized by the two groups of primary caregivers. conducting this research will further broaden the current literature regarding this topic – providing the community with a more extensive look into this developmental disability, which in the long run will be a contributing factor to the growing awareness and acceptance of this developmental disability. framework autism spectrum disorder (asd) according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-5 (dsm-5), the diagnostic criteria of asd include: (a) persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts; (b) restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior; (c) presence of symptoms in the early developmental period; (d) presence of symptoms that cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning and; (e) disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability or global developmental delay (american psychiatric association, 2013). 61 international peer reviewed journal struggles of the primary caregivers primary caregivers are faced with various concerns, such as the chronicity of care and disappointing prognosis, the effects on the family system, increased financial problems, lack of independence, the attitudes of the public towards them and their children vis-à-vis the misunderstood nature of the condition, and the very low levels of social support received by primary caregivers (boyd, 2002; gray, 2002; konstantareas & homatidis, 1992; trigonaki, 2002; cited by swanepoel, 2003). subsequently, different struggles arise alongside with raising a child with asd. below are the different struggles primary caregivers experience in raising a child with asd. financial. due to the immediate and continuous need for interventions for children with asd, primary caregivers also have to continuously produce financial resources to pay for them and more likely to lead them having financial problems. according to baker and sharpe (2007), two factors can contribute to the likelihood of financial problems in the family which include the need for the medical, therapeutic and educational interventions, which have their corresponding, and often, high costs. the second is that families with relatively lower income find that their financial needs outstrip their resources. the parents have difficulty dealing with these costs because of the sudden need for resources to pay for interventions (immediately after the diagnosis), facing the possibility of bankruptcy, and foregoing savings so that money is used for day-to-day expenses (gould, 2004). health. health problem is a state in which one is unable to function normally and without pain and/or a person who has a physical condition that is caused by disease. primary caregivers are likewise stressed by the daily hassles caused by caring for a child with asd. meltzer’s (2008) study showed that parents of children with autism experience poorer sleep quality, earlier morning wake time, and shorter sleep duration. parents’ continuous experiences of this quality of sleep over a considerable length of time may result to chronic partial sleep deprivation, which may in turn lead to negative mood and higher levels of stress and fatigue. social. socialization problems experienced by the primary caregivers refer to not becoming active participant in the society. withdrawing from social contacts and activities is a choice that the families find themselves involuntarily making (biordi & nicholson, 2008). this is due to the limitations that their children’s behavior imposes. they find that they cannot participate in routine activities such as going to church or eating out in restaurants because of the disruptions caused by their child with asd. therefore, family life is limited and isolated. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research family. at times, parents become so involved with the child with autism that they get to pay little attention to their spouses and other children. there are instances when it would seem like the whole family and their activities revolve around the child with asd. hence, some researchers have found that, because family life tends to be focused on the child with autism and gets restricted because of the rules and routines of the child, parents feel that it lacks a sense of “normality” (woodgate et al., 2008). emotional. findings from a study by gray (2002) found that caring for a child with autism causes parents to continue experiencing significant emotional distress which includes depression, anxiety, and anger. also, many studies (cuxart, 1995; belchic, 1996; baker, et al., 2003; baker, et al., 2005, cited by brioso, pozo, & sarria, 2011) have examined the emotional adjustment of parents of children with asd. these studies have systematically documented that compared to parents of children with other disorders or with parents of normally developing children, parents of asd children have higher levels of stress. coping of the primary caregivers taking into consideration the purposes of this study, the coping mechanisms and strategies used by primary caregivers in dealing with their struggles in raising a child with asd are presented in the succeeding sections. engagement coping this type of coping attempts to actively manage the stressful situation or event through social support, cognitive restructuring, expression of emotion, and problem solving. according to the study of compas, champion, and reeslund (2005), engagement coping strategies are characterized by direct attempts to influence either the stressor itself or one’s emotions in response to the stressor (primary control coping), or efforts to adapt to the stress by regulating one’s cognitions (secondary control coping). problem solving. raising a child may sometimes lead primary caregivers to construct strategies for altering potentially stressful situations especially those primary caregivers raising a child with asd. this strategy is defined by chinaveh (2013) as the self-directed cognitive-behavioral process by which a person attempts to identify for discovering effective or adaptor solutions for specific problems encountered in everyday living. cognitive restructuring. primary caregivers of children with asd make assumptions about their circumstance that are not true. they might also make 63 international peer reviewed journal literal interpretations about the situation which impedes their ability to make decisions and responses. however, this kind of situation could be managed. in a study conducted by shaker-naeeni, govender, and chowdhury (2014), to avoid this kind of state, cognitive structuring enables the primary caregiver to correct distorted conceptualizations and dysfunctional beliefs. emotional expression. the ability to cope with stressful situations to regulate emotions is pervasive over the course of a primary caregiver of a child with asd. pottie and ingram’s (2008) study revealed that emotional regulation coping or expression of coping may be adaptive for parents when confronting daily stressful events. social support. primary caregivers of children with asd can draw tremendous amount of support from people around them. they can gain support from family, friends, support groups, and professionals. primary caregivers can get cheap and highly accessible support from their family and friends. using one’s existing network is important, and in fact, siegel (2008), an expert in the field of autism claimed that maintaining the fabric of the life one had before diagnosis is more important to one’s longer-term well-being than forsaking it in favor of life as an autism-only mother or father. disengagement coping unlike engagement coping behaviors which are focused on dealing with the stressful situation or one’s emotions, compas, champion, and reeslund (2005) stated that disengagement coping are efforts to distance oneself emotionally, cognitively, and physically from the stressor. below are the specific coping strategies under disengagement coping. problem avoidance. primary caregivers who do not want to face a stressful situation may tend to avoid the stressor. this strategy, as stated by c. k. holahan, moos, c. j. holahan, brennan and schutte (2005), can be described as cognitive and behavioral efforts focused on minimizing, denying or ignoring dealing with a stressful situation. wishful thinking. primary caregivers of children with asd may frequently make judgements influenced by their motivation or based on different factors. they typically hold unrealistic positive beliefs based on their predictions and desire to experience success or to avoid negative outcomes, rather than aspects of the situation. self-criticism. primary caregivers may often make judgements about their situation that ignore the other side of the picture and as a result apply a 64 jpair multidisciplinary research negative bias to their thinking rather than a balanced point of view. however, these negative biases can be considered as self-criticism which is rooted from ill feelings which contribute to low self-esteem going. social withdrawal. some families may choose to be secluded from the rest of the community. some parents explained that being away from people affords them a decent amount of convenience and allows them to avoid awkward incidents that only invite embarrassment (bedesem, boyd, & mancil, 2009). it was revealed, however, that social withdrawal has psychological consequences. at the surface level, parents may have temporarily displaced their concerns, but their unaddressed problems may resurface and bring more stress in the future. objectives of the study the main purpose of this study was to understand the struggles and coping strategies of the primary caregivers in raising their children with autism spectrum disorder (asd). further, the study aimed to identify the prevalent struggles of the primary caregivers and how do they differ in their experiences of struggles in raising their children with asd in terms of gender and relation to the child. also, the study aimed to identify the prevalent coping strategies that primary caregivers utilize in relation to the struggles they experience in raising children with asd in terms of gender and relation to the child. methodology research design this study employed a descriptive comparative design which aimed to compare and contrast the struggles of 93 primary caregivers and their coping strategies in terms of gender and their relation to the child with asd in baguio city, benguet and dagupan city, pangasinan. inventory questionnaires were utilized to gather data. hence, treatment and analysis of the data gathered was accomplished using mean analysis and analysis of variance (anova). research site the study was conducted with the primary caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (asd). the locale of this study was selected from the different schools, clinics, and centers within baguio city and dagupan city, pangasinan which offer services for children with asd. respondents 65 international peer reviewed journal were obtained from easter colleges – special education department, baguio city special education center (sped center), play and say therapy center, a child’s dream foundation, inc., oakridge international school, aces therapy center foundation, inc., and pangasinan center for therapy services (theracare). however, aside from these institutions, there were some that do not cater to children with asd at the moment, but the owners or heads of these institutions referred the researcher to primary caregivers whose information are still in their previous records. participants the sample for the study comprises a total of 93 primary caregivers who were recruited through purposive sampling and snowballing sampling technique. in terms of demographic features, the participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 63. specifically, there were 30 male primary caregivers and 63 female primary caregivers. the ages of male primary caregivers ranged from 18 to 58 whereas, for female primary caregivers, ranged from 19 to 63. consequently, in terms of the primary caregivers’ relation to the child with asd, there were 71 blood-related primary caregivers (grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and cousins) and 22 nonblood-related primary caregivers (nannies). the ages of blood-related primary caregivers ranged from 18 to 63 whereas, for non-blood related primary caregivers, ranged from 19 to 34. instrumentation the questionnaire on struggles is a 50-item self-report that measure the prevalence of the struggles experienced by the primary caregivers in raising their children with asd. the questionnaire on struggles was constructed by the researcher and was content-validated by a co-rater. items in the survey were categorized into 5 categories namely, financial, health, social, family, and emotional. filipino translations were also provided for the items in the tool. the cronbach’s alpha coefficient is equal to 0.88 which shows high internal consistency. consequently, the coping strategies inventory (csi) is a 72-item selfreport which was designed by tobin (1984) to assess how people cope with a specific stressor. items in the tool are categorized into 8 primary subscales namely, problem-solving, cognitive restructuring, social support, emotional expression, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism, and social withdrawal. filipino translations were also provided for the items in the tool. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the csi ranges from 0.71 to 0.94. using the obtained data from the respondents of this study, the cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.63 which shows high internal consistency. results and discussion raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (asd) is a long journey. primary caregivers encounter and experience various struggles along the way. it is difficult to paint a portrait of what it is like to manage the day-to-day life of a child with asd. even when primary caregivers have many options and places to turn for help, the help some primary caregivers are receiving may not yet be adequate. prevalent struggles of the primary caregivers majority of the primary caregivers deemed financial and emotional as their more prevalent struggles than the other areas of struggle, f (2.87, 263.94) = 32.69, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.2534). many people do not know the costs associated with raising a child with asd. diagnosis of asd places a large financial burden on primary caregivers who often pay for expensive treatments out-of-pocket (taylor, 2014). early intervention programs heighten the intense pressure to use whatever means possible – including placing the family’s financial future at risk to secure needed special activities or therapies of the child with asd (baker & sharpe, 2007). the financial challenges of raising a child with asd can be just as equally daunting as the emotional ones or both may also be related with each other. with the high demands of raising a child with asd such as the child’s therapies, schooling and other needs, primary caregivers feel financially drained. this is supported by bashir, khurshid, and qadri (2014) who revealed that primary caregivers of children with asd had suffered financial problems due to the over expenditure of the child’s medication. the primary caregivers are frequently blindsided by the major financial struggles that lie ahead. publicly funded services often provide fewer services than what they desire and insurance often does not cover certain types of therapies, hence, the primary caregivers end up paying huge sums out-of-pocket. during this time, primary caregivers feel anxious or down when times are hard. 67 international peer reviewed journal gender differences in the primary caregivers’ experiences of struggles male primary caregivers experienced financial struggle more than the other areas of struggle, f(2.29, 66.47) = 27.38, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.4643). when people say that a man should be a good provider, what they customarily mean is that he should get a stable job that earns adequate income, one which enables him to provide food, shelter, and the nice things in life to his family. on the other hand, female primary caregivers experienced emotional struggle than the other areas of struggle, f(2.22, 137.67) = 28.39, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.3015). while males provide for the family, females are left with the responsibility of taking care of the child. women provide more care and spend more time with the child with asd. this care includes delegating the tasks related to raising a child with asd and worrying about the child’s health and well-being. research indicates that the brunt of caring falls upon the mother, with fathers helping mainly with supervision rather than physical care or domestic tasks (mcgrath, 2006). differences in the experiences of struggles considering the primary caregivers’ relation to the child with asd in terms of the primary caregivers’ relation to the child with asd, financial and emotional struggles were found to be more experienced by blood-related primary caregivers, f(2.50, 175.10) = 69.69, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.4903). families of children with asd become very supportive of the child’s well-being. it means putting their desires aside and prioritizing whatever services or necessities are needed by their child with asd. they become overwhelmed with the situation and become anxious and depressed if they are not able to do so. on the other hand, health was found to be more experienced by nonblood-related primary caregivers, f(4, 84) = 31.65, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.5796). nonblood-related primary caregivers are employed by a family and given the task to give proper care to the child with asd. they are left with the responsibility to feed the child, put the child to bed, handle unruly behaviors and prioritize the child’s well-being more than their own. while the parents are away, nonblood-related primary caregivers are given the responsibility of raising the child with asd. they focus on the child’s well-being than theirs. their primary concern is the welfare of the child with asd. otherwise, they are accountable should the child with asd suffer more or should anything untoward happen to the child with asd. they have to prevent any health concern of their own that may arise from accepting the responsibility of taking care of a child with asd. otherwise, they have to treat it soonest or it becomes a secondary concern. sometimes, the unnerving 68 jpair multidisciplinary research task of caring for a child who has asd requires special caregiving skills which can be detrimental to the physical health of their caregivers. raina, o’donnell, rosenbaum, brehaut, walter, and russell (2005) found that the most important predictors of health concerns of these children’s caregivers were the behavior of their child and the demands of the task in raising a child with asd such as feeding the child, watching over the child’s hygiene, teaching the child and letting the child sleep. prevalent coping strategies of the primary caregivers problem solving and social support are the more prevalent coping strategies utilized by primary caregivers regardless of gender and primary caregivers’ relation to the child with asd, f(4.93, 453.41) = 493.78, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.8409). several studies report that primary caregivers use problem solving as a coping strategy to help overcome stress associated with raising a young child with an asd (baker-ericzen, brookman-frazee, & stahmer, 2005; montes & halterman, 2008; schieve, blumberg, rice, visser, & boyle, 2007). one way of utilizing problem solving strategy is to analyze the problem of raising a child with asd thoroughly. primary caregivers describe the problem with a specific situation regarding raising a child with asd. after describing they state or list how it could be worse and how it could be better. they would then determine what is keeping the situation of raising the child from getting better. when they have made all these, they would think and propose solutions for the things over which they have control and then plan actions to achieve the desired goal, that is, decreasing or eliminating the stress they experience in raising a child with asd. while primary caregivers would look for solutions to alleviate their present conditions, they also ask the help of others – agencies, organizations, friends, families. primary caregivers will also seek social support from trained professionals who help them by giving moral support and helping them manage their difficult times. gender differences in the primary caregivers’ use of the coping strategies when primary caregivers were classified according to their gender, results indicate that male primary caregivers deemed problem solving as the more prevalent coping strategy, f(3.73, 108.02) = 249.17, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.8913). when faced with struggles, males’ natural reaction will be to think through the problem and offer effective solutions to it. males approach problem solving with less communication. males sometimes tend to hyper-focus on one problem at 69 international peer reviewed journal a time or on a limited number of problems at a time. some of them might have an enhanced ability to separate themselves from problems of raising a child with asd and can intellectually minimize the complexity that may exist to make the problems more manageable. on the other hand, results revealed that female primary caregivers use social support and emotional expression, f(4.64, 287.48) = 413.87, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.8672). females consider a relationship to be strengthened if they disclose their problem to others and express what they feel to them. schieve et al. (2007) found that mothers of children with asd were more expected to seek support groups or others for support in learning about their child’s disability and stress related to their child’s disability. mothers or females who use social media are particularly likely to encounter helpful parenting information while looking at social media content and receive social or emotional support about raising children in general and how they cope with the stress of it (duggan, lenhart, lampe, & ellison, 2015). aside from leaning on social media for support, female primary caregivers often rely on the forms of help from those close to them when they try to solve a problem. differences in the use of coping strategies considering the primary caregivers’ relation to the child with asd blood-related primary caregivers utilize problem solving than the others, f(3.93, 274.60) = 394.06, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.8465). due to love for a family member, blood-related primary caregivers look for solutions as to how they could alleviate the child’s condition. family members are aware of their responsibilities towards their children with special needs, thus, they are doing their best to provide the necessary care their children need. they would be very supportive of their child’s needs and would look for ways to resolve the problem. on the other hand, nonblood-related primary caregivers utilize social support, f(4.54, 95.37) = 254.12, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.9193). since most of these respondents do not have any background of the child’s condition or how to raise the child with asd, they look for people who have the same situation and ask help from them. if needed, they would join associations that will help them be aware of how to help the child with asd. conclusions primary caregivers of children with asd, especially parents and other bloodrelated persons, always struggle more with the financial and emotional areas. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research their zeal to alleviate the child’s condition leads them to the provision of all the possible needs and services even if it means having to spend more than the usual. not being able to meet the needs of the child with asd consequently leads to feelings of worry, anxiety and sometimes even depression. it is best then to ascertain that the financial struggle is successfully overcome as this results to positive feelings and peace of mind hence, a consequent reduction of the emotional struggle. through their prevalent financial struggle, male primary caregivers experience pride and dignity in being able to meet the expectation of them to be capable of providing financially for the family. while as female primary caregivers go through their prevalent emotional struggle, on the other hand, they find joy and meaning through caregiving and child-rearing. unlike blood-related primary caregivers, nonblood-related primary caregivers’ more prevalent struggle in the health area reflects how their acceptance of their social responsibility sometimes lead to health-related sacrifices as long as they are able to help the child with asd and his/her family. the more prevalent coping strategy of problem solving leads to the actual special care and adequate provision for the child’s special needs thereby making the whole family live a happy and satisfying life. social support, as another more prevalent coping strategy, facilitates problem solving during more difficult times and it allows for the opportunity to share the joys of the family after problem solving has become successful. the more prevalent coping strategy in male primary caregivers which is problem solving supports the frequent tendency or desire in males to showcase how strong, competent and strong-willed they are. in contrast, the more prevalent coping strategies in female primary caregivers which are social support and emotional expression confirm previous findings about females with regard to their tendencies to discuss emotions in terms of their relationships problem solving as the prevalent coping strategy utilized by blood-related primary caregivers reflect the filipino value of being family-oriented. members of the family and kins do everything to help a family member. in contrast, the more prevalent coping strategy in nonblood-related primary caregivers which is social support gives them consolation as well as enlightenment that they are not alone. 71 international peer reviewed journal translational research the research can be used as a basis to actualize programs or scholarship grants meant for asd and other neurodevelopmental disorders so that they will have free or low-cost intervention and educational programs. literature cited american psychiatric association. 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https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bqy3cs-fhvuc&oi=fnd&pg=pr7&dq=siegel,+b.+(2008).+getting+the+best+for+your+child+with+autism.+&ots=etki1uy8lv&sig=6uls2usasv94uonh6xrx0z27ujg&redir_esc=y https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bqy3cs-fhvuc&oi=fnd&pg=pr7&dq=siegel,+b.+(2008).+getting+the+best+for+your+child+with+autism.+&ots=etki1uy8lv&sig=6uls2usasv94uonh6xrx0z27ujg&redir_esc=y http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11892/23542 http://www.ohioupsychology.com/files/images/holroyd_lab/manualcoping strategies inventory.pdf http://www.ohioupsychology.com/files/images/holroyd_lab/manualcoping strategies inventory.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732308320112 cover single 56 jpair: multidisciplinary research level of information and education campaign on solid waste management and household practices on solid waste disposal in butuan city fernando t. herrera orcid id 0000-0001-6840-0009 fernan_herrera@yahoo.com lilia z. boyles ian g. miculob saint joseph institute of technology, butuan city, philippines abstract the foundation of good solid waste management is consistent practice that meets international requirements. this study investigates the level of information and education campaign (iec) on solid waste management (swm) conducted by the lgu and other government agencies in butuan city. moreover, it also considered the practices among households of butuan city in relation to solid waste disposal. descriptive survey design was used in this study. using the stratified random sampling, ten (10) communities were selected with households as the main unit of analysis. from eighty-six (86) legitimate communities of butuan city, five (5) communities were randomly selected from each of the rural and urban communities as classified by neda. results revealed that, the level of iec in both rural and urban communities of butuan city was poor. public forum or general assembly, focus group discussion, installation of tarpaulin and other signs, television ad and radio broadcast, house to house information campaign, and school campaign were seldom carried out. lack of institutional support and inadequate provision of garbage disposal points and mass recovery facilities (mrf) from other concerned vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.182 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 57 international peer reviewed journal government agencies, non-government organizations and heis were evident. it was also reported that majority of the households had their own garbage storage bin with considerable number of them having separators for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. some opted to use plastic bags and sacks instead. many of those in rural areas buried their biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste on the ground. a few of those in the urban areas disposed their biodegradable wastes on the available garbage station but burned those non-biodegradable waste materials. some waste materials were sold to scrap shops for monetary considerations. keywords ecology, information and education, management, practices, butuan city introduction the need for a responsive framework on solid waste disposal is one of the major concerns raised by many concerned solid waste professionals in the philippines which highlight the need for efficient information and education campaign on proper solid waste disposal. this framework consolidates the efforts of the different agencies namely: department of health, department of environment and natural resources and other government agencies, private and nongovernment organizations under the commission as articulated in r.a 9003 on solid waste disposal to ensure the protection of the public health and environment. most, if not all, lgus have existing ordinances that deal with solid waste disposal. examples of these are antilittering and anti-dumping ordinances. in most cases, these ordinances deal with a single concern. they do not address the solid waste management concerns of lgus in an integrated manner mainly because these ordinances are formulated without an overall framework for the management of solid waste. worse, these ordinances are seldom strictly enforced. lgus are required under the irr (rule xix, section 4) to legislate appropriate ordinances to aid them in the implementation of their plans. a basic requirement for these ordinances, therefore, is that they should be consistent and in accordance with the provisions of ra 9003. since ra 9003 came into effect only in 2000 and the irr was issued only in january 2002, many 58 jpair: multidisciplinary research lgus have yet to review their existing ordinances and legislations. in view of the above premises, this study is conceptualized. this paper seeks to find out the level of information and education campaign (iec) on solid waste management program as initiated by the local government units (lgu) and the household practices on solid waste disposal among residents of butuan city. moreover, the study endeavors to generate results which will serve as a basis for a more comprehensive intervention program or solid waste management policy framework to include the revisit of ordinances and legislations in butuan city pursuant to the relevant provisions of r.a 9003 and r. a. no. 7160 which explicitly defines the lgu’s roles in the implementation and enforcement of the provisions of this act within their respective jurisdictions. framework one of the biggest challenges in promoting responsive and efficient swm framework is to be able to meaningfully deliver quality public services to communities as articulated in r.a 9003. faced with continued high incidence of waste-related problems, it is imperative to strengthen the role of lgus in service delivery as they explore new approaches for improving their performance. strategies and mechanisms for effective service delivery must take into consideration issues of people’s participation, practices, environmental sustainability and economic and social equity for more longterm results. there is also a need to acquire knowledge, create new structures, and undertake innovative programs that are more responsive to the needs of the communities and develop mechanisms to strengthen education and wide dissemination of relevant information on efficient solid waste disposal as part of an integrated approach to providing relevant and sustainable services to their constituencies (sdwi, 2003). the philippine government has recognized the severity of the solid waste disposal problem in the country and has prioritized the establishment of appropriate measures to address it. the most comprehensive piece of legislation is the republic act (ra) 9003, known as the ecological solid waste management act of 2000, which assigns the primary task of implementation and enforcement to lgus. among other important framework, the act emphasizes the 59 international peer reviewed journal importance of information and education campaign (iec) strategies. r.a 9003 explicitly defines the functions of the lgus along that area to ensure that proper segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste through the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practice in ecological waste management excluding incineration are evident (sdwi, 2003). the following salient literature and related studies present some prevalent conditions, problems in the philippines and other countries on solid waste disposal and advocate its proper practices. viray et al., (2002) reported that every person in metro manila contributed about a kilogram of garbage. as a whole, about 40 m kg of garbage are generated by its 8.5 million people. the government expenditures for garbage disposal in metro manila takes 67% percent of its total budget equal to 523 million pesos. they added that the lack of discipline in garbage disposal of most of the people is the major cause of flooding of the streets during the rainy season which is also happening in caraga, particularly in butuan city. further, they added that the lack of concrete and sustainable plan of proper waste management and the lack of information dissemination on how to sort and reduce wastes at source further aggravates the problem. as solid waste disposal issues gain public awareness, concern has risen about the necessity of iec and the appropriateness of various disposal methods. within our modern scheme of waste management, disposal is the last phase. most people acknowledge that disposal will always be needed (the exception being those advocating zerowaste policies). solid waste professionals realize that the ideal way to reduce the stress on disposal systems is to reduce the amount of waste that is produced. no single solution completely answers the question of what to do with our waste. every community or region has its own unique profile of solid waste. similarly, the attitudes of people in different states and regions of the country vary regarding waste management practices. this is often referred to as the waste management ethic and includes the recycling ethic and litter ethic of a community as subcategories. community diversity and waste diversity are two reasons why no single approach to waste management has been accepted as the best method. since there is no preferred method, every community must create its own best approach to dealing with its waste (heimlich et al., 2005). 60 jpair: multidisciplinary research waste disposal is a necessary part of an integrated system for managing solid waste, one in which waste minimization and recycling initiatives should be prioritized. at the same time, practical and achievable waste disposal improvements are required to reduce the acute public health, environmental, and social impacts caused by existing dumping practices. accurate engineering and other technical data are virtually absent for existing disposal facilities and practices, and an assessment can only be prepared from cursory site observations and verbal site reports. nevertheless, metro manila and all other parts of the philippines must act immediately to improve waste disposal practices and establish sanitary landfill facilities in accordance with ra 9003. until this is achieved, waste dumping will continue to cause serious public health, environmental, and social damage (heimlich et al., 2005). the common problem faced by all the developing countries, especially asia, is the disposal of solid waste & the availability of dumping grounds. as management of solid waste is a crucial & burgeoning issue, developing countries are coming up with several affordable alternatives & exclusive methods of sustainable solid waste management which is cost effective, technically appropriate & socially acceptable solutions to all (www.nswai.com, 2007). the kinds of articles dumped can tell us a great deal about the nature of the society that produced them (smith, 2006). in many areas particularly in developing countries, waste management practices are inadequate. the practice which includes poorly controlled open dumps and illegal roadside dumping, spoil the scenic resources, pollute soil and water resources, and produce potential health hazards. illegal dumping is a social problem as much as a physical one because many people are simply disposing their waste as inexpensively and as often quickly as possible. they may not see dumping their trash as environmental problem. if nothing else, this is tremendous waste of resources; much of what is dumped could be recycled or used. in areas where dumping has been reduced, the keys have been awareness, education and alternatives. environmental problems of unsafe unsanitary dumping of waste are made known to people through education programs, and funds are provided for cleanup and inexpensive collection and recycle of trash at sites of 61 international peer reviewed journal origin (botkin and keller, 2006). according to viray et al, (2002) garbage disposal has three major steps. these are the collection, transfer -station, and the disposal. collection starts from trucks collecting garbage from house to house. the transfer-station is the place where garbage collected were weighed and deodorized. disposal is the last stage where the trailer truck carrying the deodorized garbage to the disposal site to the dispose the garbage. the collection trucks in metro manila alone served many cities with a total land area of 638.06 square kilometers of which the estimated total population in 1995 is 9,087,600 persons, 1,697 communities, 1,567,665 households and total of 177 private, public and talipapa markets. the wastes being thrown per year have slight changes depending on the season and place the study was conducted. the 1982 study results indicated 100% change for samples are collected at the curbside residence. the 1988 research has a total of 99.96% based from the collection vehicles en route to the disposal site. the 1992 study results had a total of 99.69% of solid wastes where samples came directly from households and were not subjected to any street scavenging. this study when the weather was generally fair with light rain shower in some afternoons. the 1997 study indicated that 3,402 samples were collected from 9 categories of generation sources from 9 ample areas of manila, quezon city, makati and parañaque. the prediction for the year 2010 based on the study will have an increased waste collection rate from 65% in 1997 to 83% and an increased rate of recycling from 6% to 10%. viray et al. (2002) reported the minimum standards and requirements for segregation and storage of solid waste pending collection as follows: • there shall be a separate container for each type of waste from all sources: provided, that in the case of bulky waste, it will suffice that the same collected and placed in a separate designed area; and • the solid waste container depending on its use shall be properly marked or identified for on-site collection as ‘compostable”, “non-recycleable”, or “special waste”, or any other classification as may be determined by the commission. 62 jpair: multidisciplinary research after segregation, recycling is one of the first waste reduction methods that hospitals use when beginning a waste handling program because it is less complex and less technical than other waste management initiatives (hagland, 1993 as cited by cox , 1997). green (1992) as cited by cox (1997) stated that recycling items such as paper aluminum, silver and cardboard can be effective. he added that setting goals can reduce the total amount of solid waste generated also is important in limiting superfluous supplies use. education is the information-dissemination component of any swm system where all sectors of society are informed of their roles and responsibilities in waste management. public awareness about swm can be triggered by the tri-media (tv, radio, and print media). seminars, workshops, and speakers’bureau are some other examples of how solid waste management can be promoted to the public. to effectively implement and enforce ra 9003, lgu officials need to know or be familiar with the law’s provisions and irr. unfortunately, this is presently not the case. many lgu officials and even lgu staff, who are directly responsible for solid waste management, remain unfamiliar with their responsibilities because of insufficient or inadequate information dissemination (sdwi, 2003). solid waste disposal has been considered to become a high priority due to the health and environmental risks associated with waste (roht, et al., 1985). however, this can be prevented if sound management practices combined with high level public awareness through information and education campaign are being done. the following case studies had proved that awareness among the public and proper practices contributes a big factor on solid waste disposal management. in guimaras island, a solid waste management system (swm) was implemented in the mid 1990’s to reduce solid waste through building government-community partnerships. with assistance from the canadian urban institute (cui), in collaboration with various stakeholders and communities there was an increased information dissemination eliciting public awareness and participation in local governance processes within the community. aside from this there was also an improvement in regards to information sharing with the national government and private sectors which forested transparency and accountability in local government priority setting, budgeting, 63 international peer reviewed journal and service delivery of the island. furthermore, a good relationship between the community groups was also developed through the creation of task forces and lastly, implementation of demonstration projects resulted in the reduction of solid waste and a shift in environment of guimaras island. a case study was also made in thailand wherein public awareness done through information and education campaign was the most vital element to promote waste separation at the source for recyclable materials and for disposing of these materials properly. not only this, awareness also assists in the implementation of user charges, as the community learns of their environmental responsibility as well as to trust government initiatives. partnership between the government, communities, and private business were also vital for the success of solid waste management. in this case, the government is responsible for the collection and selling of recyclable materials, and communities are responsible to separate waste at source and dispose of recyclables properly in plastic bags on the assigned days of the week, while private businesses are responsible demanding recycled materials as well as for integrating the buying activities with the government store. objectives of the study this study espouses the following objectives: 1. to determine the level of information and education campaign (iec) on solid waste management (swm) conducted by the lgu and other government agencies in butuan city, and, 2. to determine the practices among households of butuan city in relation to solid waste disposal. materials and methods basically, the study utilized the descriptive survey design with households from the randomly selected communities of butuan city as the main unit of analysis. to further validate the data or information derived from the household respondents, the method of triangulation was employed such as in-depth interview with key informants who are 64 jpair: multidisciplinary research focal persons of the lgus and other agencies under the commission (such as department of environment and natural resources / environment management bureau). more precisely, the following are salient methodologies to carry out the objectives of the study. a) identification of respondent lgus and agencies using the stratified random sampling, ten (10) communities were selected with households as the main respondents or unit of analysis. from eighty-six (86) legitimate communities of butuan city, five (5) communities were randomly selected from each of the rural and urban communities as classified by neda. for triangulation purposes, key informant agencies were selected through multi-stage sampling for the interview. selected key personnel from denr, emb, doh and lgu officials being the lead agencies that comprise the national solid waste management commission were selected from each level. b) social/community preparation the actual field survey was set out by a community or social preparation through communication sent to the city health officer, city administrator and community chieftain from randomly selected five(5) rural and five(5) urban communities of butuan city informing them about the study. this was followed by a site visit in the communities included in the study to obtain profile and initial data of swm facilities. c) validation & pilot-testing of the research instruments the survey instrument of this study was divided into three categories: personal information of the household representative, extent of iec on solid waste management and household practices on solid waste disposal. based on the initial data obtained from the site visit and interview with community officials, the instrument was further improved. content and logical validity were assessed by experts on swm and statisticians from caraga state university and saint joseph institute of technology. 65 international peer reviewed journal enumerators’ training and pilot test was conducted on march 26, 2010 participated by twelve (12) enumerators, the statistician, and the research team to level off understanding on the items of the questionnaire (appendix __ training design & attendance sheet). thirty (30) households were systematically sampled from baan riverside, butuan city as respondents in the pilot test. baan riverside, aside of not being included in the list of respondent communities, is the only community of butuan with mass recovery facility (mrf). with the 30 pilot data, internal consistency of the instrument was determined to analyze the reliability of the instruments. using the cronbach alpha, an overall coefficient of 0.789 was obtained which indicates a high reliability of the instrument. more specifically, the following reliability coefficients were obtained from each part of the instrument used: on methods of iec is 0.777, on content of iec is 0.818, on support and other technologies is 0.431 and on solid waste disposal practices is 0.845. d) key informant interview interview with the focal persons of the agencies and lgu focal persons was set before the actual conduct. other than the constructed interview schedule, collection of existing files and documents (such as brochure, magazines, approved proposal of programs, accomplishment report, etc.) and use of voice recorder and other documentation equipment were employed. simultaneous with the interview with the lgu focal person, ocular survey was conducted using the checklist and documentation of the existing facilities of the lgu. e) household survey from each of the respondent communities, two puroks were randomly chosen where five (5) household respondents were taken by systematic sampling from the list obtained from the community. a list of replacement was prepared prior to the actual interview in case the household respondent was not made accessible during the actual survey. the completed questionnaire was reviewed by the research leader at the end of the day to ensure that all data needed were included. 66 jpair: multidisciplinary research theorem 9.2 of walpole, et.al (1993) was used in the determination of the sample size. the formula is: n = ( zα/2 σ) 2 /α where n is the sample size, α is the acceptable level of error equal to 0.05, σ is the standard deviation of the result of the pilot test equal to 0.5915, and zα/ is the z value leaving an area of α/2 to the right curve equal to 1.96. thus, the computed sample size n is 537.6 or 538 households. the following table is the distribution of the household respondents in the eightyfive (85) puroks randomly chosen. table 1. distribution of community and household respondents included in the study community total no. of puroks total no. of households selected no. of puroks selected no. of households a. urban 1. ampayon 16 2,426 14 130 2. baan km.3 25 2,008 12 104 3. fort poyohon 11 1,014 10 61 4. leon kilat 5 42 4 10 5. sikatuna 4 28 4 10 sub-total 61 5,518 44 310 b. rural 6. cabcabon 7 415 6 26 7. datu silongan 7 129 4 16 8. tungao 34 1,172 10 71 9. lemon 5 395 10 24 10.obrero 11 1,989 11 106 sub-total 64 4,100 41 248 overall 125 9,618 85 558 source: city planning office, butuan city as of april 2010 results and discussion analysis of data was employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. quantitative method includes the descriptive statistics and 67 international peer reviewed journal exploratory data analysis. more precise techniques were identified according to the type and level of measurement of the data gathered. the level of iec dissemination was measured in terms of frequency of occurrence and quality of implementation along the areas of method/strategy of iec, coverage of iec and in the institutional and technology support. the frequency of occurrence was quantified as shown: descriptive rating qualitative description method of iec coverage of iec support 5 always applied (a) always covered (a) always available (a) 4 often applied (o) often covered (o) often available (o) 3 sometimes applied (s) sometimes covered (s) sometimes available(s) 2 seldom applied (se) seldom covered (se) seldom available (se) 1 never applied (n) never covered (n) never available (n) while the computed mean was described using the following distribution: mean range method of iec coverage of iec support 4.51 5.00 always applied (a) always covered (a) always available (a) 3.51 4.50 often applied (o) often covered (o) often available (o) 2.51 3.50 sometimes applied (s) sometimes covered (s) sometimes available(s) 1.51 2.50 seldom applied (se) seldom covered (se) seldom available (se) 1.00 1.50 never applied (n) never covered (n) never available (n) on the other hand, quantification and scoring on the nature of iec were based on the maximum number of appropriate information provided by the respondents. they are as follows: 68 jpair: multidisciplinary research a. on the methods of iec methods score/wt. public information thru meetings 5 focus group discussion 3 flyers and newsletters 3 tarpaulin and signs 3 instructional materials 3 television ad 3 radio broadcast 3 house-to-house information campaign 3 school campaign 3 others 3 total 32 b. on the content of iec content / coverage score/wt. 1. republic act on solid waste management 3 2. city ordinance on solid waste management 3 3. community ordinance on solid waste management 3 4. waste management problems 3 5. benefits of proper solid waste management 3 6. concepts of re-use, recyle and reduce (3r’s) 3 7. composting 3 8. toxic wastes, hazardous wastes, infectious wastes 3 9. proper management of estuaries and can 3 total 27 69 international peer reviewed journal c. on the institutional and technology support support score/wt. 1. support from other agencies 5 2. household modeling technique 3 3. monitoring and evaluation of residents 6 total 14 scores were taken relative to the responses obtained. scores of every respondent in a, b and c were converted to percentages and their mean was obtained to describe extent of iec as perceived by the individual respondent on the quality of implementation. finally, mean p was transmuted to equivalent 5-point scaling to summarize the description on the extent of iec using the frequency of occurrence (measured in 5-point likert scale) and quality of implementation (scores converted in p). the percentage p was transmuted to values tp in the interval [1,5] using the following transmutation: tp = 1.00 for p<1%, and tp =1+4p for p≥1%. thus, the extent of iec is described using the scaling from 1 to 5 with mean range interpreted as follows: mean range extent of iec 4.51 5.00 very high 3.51 4.50 high 2.51 3.50 moderate 1.51 2.50 low 1.00 1.50 very low a. socio-demographic profile table 2 shows that the majority (74.9%) of the respondents in both rural and urban communities were female. greater proportion of male respondents was obtained from urban communities. on the city level, most of the respondents were 36 to 50 years old. this indicates the age trend which symmetrically or uniformly decreases in both sides of this modal age – below and above it. the age profile in 70 jpair: multidisciplinary research the city level is consistent in both rural and urban communities. only 0.5% in the entire communities accounted for respondents with no schooling while a very minimal (1.1%) finished any advanced program. about 18.1% and 17.2% finished high school and college courses, respectively. in terms of occupation, 48.6% of the total respondents had no job while 20.40% were self-employed. very few were government employees (5.0%) and professionals (4.3%). looking at their monthly income, most (42.1%) of them had no income in their own. this is consistent from the report on the respondents’ occupation status which reveals that most of them have no occupation. a considerable number (37.6%) of the respondents had a monthly income below p5,000 while 16.7% had an income between p5,001 to p20,000.00. only 3.6% of the entire respondents had a monthly income above p20,000.00. in terms of the number of siblings, most (44.4%) of them had only three (3) or less number of children while 11.1% had no siblings. rural brarangay respondents had lower number of respondents without siblings compared to the urban community respondents. respondents with more than 7 siblings were lowest in number for both in urban and rural areas. table 2. socio-demographic profile of the respondents in the rural and urban communities variables categories rural urban total freq % freq % freq % sex female 194 78.2 224 72.3 418 74.9 male 54 21.8 85 27.4 139 24.9 age 20 yrs & below 3 1.2 14 4.5 17 3 21-35 yrs 69 27.8 85 27.4 154 27.6 36-50 yrs 92 37.1 107 34.5 199 35.7 51-65 yrs 56 22.6 84 27.1 140 25.1 above 65 yrs 28 11.3 20 6.5 48 8.6 71 international peer reviewed journal educational attainment no schooling 3 1.2 0 0.0 3 0.5 elementary level 28 11.3 21 6.8 49 8.8 elementary graduate 12 4.8 34 11.0 46 8.2 high school level 60 24.2 67 21.6 127 22.8 high school graduate 41 16.5 60 19.4 101 18.1 vocational 6 2.4 1 0.3 7 1.3 college level 57 23.0 66 21.3 123 22.0 college graduate 39 15.7 57 18.4 96 17.2 masteral 2 0.8 4 1.3 6 1.1 occupation none 114 46.0 157 50.6 271 48.6 enterpreneur 14 5.6 22 7.1 36 6.5 self-employed 66 26.6 48 15.5 114 20.4 hired services 27 10.9 26 8.4 15 2.7 skilled-worker 10 4.0 22 7.1 32.0 5.7 professionals 9 3.6 15 4.8 24.0 4.3 government employee 8 3.2 20 6.5 28.0 5.0 monthly income none 104 41.9 131 42.3 235 42.1 less than p500 1 0.4 10 3.2 11 2.0 p501 – p1,000 9 3.6 14 4.5 23 4.1 p1,001 – p 5,000 90 36.3 86 27.7 176 31.5 p5,001 – p10,000 27 10.9 36 11.6 63 11.3 p 10,000 – p 20,000 10 4.0 20 6.5 30 5.4 more than p 20,000 7 2.8 13 4.2 20 3.6 number of siblings none 20 8.1 42 13.5 62 11.1 3 or less 112 45.2 136 43.9 248 44.4 4 – 7 101 40.7 110 35.5 211 37.8 more than 7 15 6.0 22 7.1 37 6.6 position in community member 219 88.3 288 92.9 507 90.9 officer 29 11.7 22 7.1 51 9.1 finally, the majority of the respondents were community residents who are plain members; only about 9.1% were community or purok officials. a greater proportion of community officials in the rural communities participated in the study. 72 jpair: multidisciplinary research b. methods on swm information and education campaign (iec) table 3 shows the summary of the responses on the methods applied and status in the information and education campaign (iec) on solid waste management (swm). there were six (6) methods confirmed by the residents utilized in the dissemination of the swm in the city level, namely; public information through meeting, focus group discussion, tarpaulin and signs, television and radio broadcast, house-to-house information campaign, and school campaign. as to the frequency of application in the citywide context, iec through meetings was sometimes applied while the rest of the methods were just seldom applied. this trend is consistent in both rural and urban communities except for the focus group discussion and school which were identified to be applied in a higher level in the rural areas (sometimes applied) than in the urban areas (seldom applied). it is worth noting that the public meeting yielded the highest mean rating in terms of frequency of application. as to the nature of meetings conducted, data revealed that it was during general assembly on regular schedule that swm was presented and discussed. this activity was more prevalent in the rural areas as indicated by the majority (63.7%) of the responses. special meeting with concerned citizens such as businessmen or local proprietors was also evident method in iec as confirmed by a substantial number of responses (28.1%). next to the public meeting is the focus group discussion which was noted to be occasionally applied in rural communities but seldom on urban areas. about 65.7% of the respondents in rural communities confirmed that swm information and education campaign was carried out through discussion with the purok president than through open forum. next to the focus group discussion is school campaign. accordingly, this method was occasionally applied in rural communities but seldom applied in urban areas. it can be seen that most of the respondents in both rural(47.6%) and urban (31.00%) communities admitted that such method was simply reinforced by concerned teachers. while the above methods for swm information and education campaign had varying status, the following methods were found to be consistent and were seldom applied. such methods were as follows: 73 international peer reviewed journal installation of tarpaulin and signs, television ad and radio broadcast, and house to house information campaign. in an interview conducted with seven (7) lgu officials and three(3) personnel of the department of environment and natural resources (denr) and two (2) from environment management bureau (emb), they both confirmed that iec in butuan city was not sustained. they both further confirmed that municipalities and/or communities outside butuan city were given more priorities in the implementation of iec program.(municipal beruela, esperanza, socoro and magallanes and hinatuan, endorsed to national level as entry for zero waste competition. table 3. summary of responses in the methods and status on swm information and education campaign methods of iec rural urban total mean stdev mean stdev mean stdev public information thru meetings 3.08 (s) 1.24 2.82 (s) 1.28 2.94 (s) 1.27 additional information freq % freq % freq % general assembly on regular schedule 158 63.7 89 32.2 259 46.5 special meeting with concerned residents 68 27.4 101 29.0 157 28.1 meeting of community officials only 32 12.9 57 18.4 89 15.9 no appropriate effort for iec 26 10.5 20 6.5 46 8.2 focus group discussion 2.67 (s) 1.37 2.20 (se) 1.29 2.41 (se) 0.45 additional information freq % freq % freq % open forum in general assembly 17 6.9 48 15.5 65 11.6 discussion with the purok pres. 163 65.7 119 38.4 282 50.5 problem with solid wastes 0 0.0 16 5.2 16 2.9 flyers, newsletters & ims 1.47 (n) 1.06 1.18 (n) 0.60 1.31 (n) 0.85 additional information freq % freq % freq % 74 jpair: multidisciplinary research distributed the community council proceedings 22 8.9 18 5.8 40 7.2 flyers posted 19 7.7 4 1.3 23 4.1 school & community distributed flyers 16 6.5 2 0.6 18 3.2 xerox copy of swm materials 38 15.3 23 7.4 61 10.9 tarpaulin and signs 1.77 (se) 1.25 1.90 (se) 1.14 1.84 (se) 1.19 additional information freq % freq % freq % clear/easily remembered content 64 25.8 141 45.5 205 36.7 written on easily noticed locations 24 9.7 8 2.6 32 5.7 posted instruction 8 3.2 1 0.3 9 1.6 television ad & radio broadcast 2.07 (se) 1.38 2.00 (se) 1.29 2.03 (se) 1.33 additional information freq % freq % freq % news & advertisement 51 20.6 27 8.7 78 14.0 tv patrol world & other international programs 87 35.1 87 28.1 174 31.2 local & national programs 38 15.3 87 28.1 125 22.4 bombo radio 81 32.7 103 33.2 184 33.0 house-to-house information campaign 2.28 (se) 1.55 2.03 (se) 1.33 2.14 (se) 1.44 additional information freq % freq % freq % performed by community officials 74 29.8 70 22.6 144 25.8 purok officials reinforcing 44 17.7 47 15.2 91 16.3 motivated by activities 7 2.8 31 10.0 38 6.8 school campaign 2.60 (s) 1.58 1.97 (se) 1.27 2.25 (se) 1.45 additional information freq % freq % freq % strict implementation in school 35 14.1 9 2.9 44 7.9 teachers reinforcement 118 47.6 96 31.0 214 38.4 advocacy projects/programs 22 8.9 21 6.8 43 7.7 others 1.19 (n) 0.63 1.25 (n) 0.77 1.22 (n) 0.71 75 international peer reviewed journal additional information freq % freq % freq % pahina with fines of p50/p20 28 11.3 29 9.4 57 10.2 reminders from community officials 6 2.4 10 3.2 16 2.9 agreed on lgu’s spearheading swm campaign 247 99.6 310 100 557 99.8 c. application of methods of iec of swm figure 1 shows the summary of the level of application of the methods of iec in the city of butuan. overall analysis shows that the methods identified were seldom applied in the city in the iec of swm as evidenced by a higher proportion of responses obtained in low level of iec in both rural and urban communities. 76 jpair: multidisciplinary research level rural urban total f % f % f % very high 1 0.4 0 0 1 0.18 high 22 8.87 2 0.65 24 4.3 moderate 73 29.4 98 31.6 171 30.6 low 141 56.9 158 51 299 53.6 very low 11 4.44 52 16.8 63 11.3 statistics mean stdev 2.45 (low) 0.68 2.17 (low) 0.61 2.29 (low) 0.66 figure 1. level of application of methods used in information and education campaign data further reveal that application of the methods of iec (figure 1) in the rural communities had a higher mean rating than in the urban areas though the level may be not significantly different. higher variability in the mean ratings was obtained in the rural areas than in the urban and overall data. d. topics covered in the iec of swm table 4 shows the different topics covered in the iec of swm in the city of butuan – the frequency and nature of iec coverage. analysis of the data reveals nine (9) specific contents in the iec of swm, namely: republic act on swm, city ordinance on swm, community ordinance on swm, waste management problem, benefits of proper swm, concepts of 3rs, composting, toxic hazardous and infectious waste, and proper management of estuaries and canals. in both rural and urban communities, topics such as city ordinance on swm, community ordinance on swm, waste management problem, and benefits of proper swm were moderately or occasionally covered in the iec. during the iec, majority (59.3%) of the respondents attested that information about the city ordinance was made known occasionally. however, it only covered an issue in relation to the city ordinance being the sole basis of crafting a community ordinance (b.o.). others (8.4%) had only learned through experiences and learning from school. another information noted as occasionally covered was 77 international peer reviewed journal the information on community ordinance. it was through recurring offense and subsequent fines that concerned respondents (14.5%) had known about the community ordinance. this case was more prevalent in rural communities than in urban communities. some (16.3%) were saying that b.o. was merely crafted and believed to not conform to the city ordinance. others (26.9%) were aware of the b.o. or b.o. being introduced only after when they were asked fines for improper solid waste disposal. only 18.1 % of the respondents said there was an ordinance but not fully implemented. other areas occasionally covered in the iec as attested by the respondents were on waste management problems. majority (67%) believed that the absence of swm facilities was the major factor attributed to the waste problems. this was followed by improper solid waste disposal. majority (88.7%) from rural areas and the greater number (49.7%) from urban claimed such was true. some (22.2%), however, gave their negative feedback indicating that waste management problem was partly caused by some complacent garbage collectors. they said that some garbage collectors did not regularly accomplish their expected tasks in collecting the waste, even those waste deposited in some designated depository areas. meanwhile, information on republic acts on swm, concepts of 3rs, composting, toxic hazardous and infectious wastes and proper management of estuaries and canals were seldom covered. as related by most of the respondents from both rural (38.3%) and urban (27.1%) communities, they learned the republic act on swm through concerned lgus. some (15.2%), however, happened to learn the ra from other sources within the community. very few (7.9%) admitted they have used their initiatives to learn said ra in their own. the concept of 3rs (reduce, re-use, recycle), on the other hand, was seldom covered in the iec. only 16.4% of the overall households were saying they never knew the concepts of 3rs but were, in their own initiatives and judgment, selling reusable wastes for monetary considerations. some (6.1%) were using the waste materials for decors and households uses instead of throwing them away. it should be noted that though proper management of estuaries and canals was not very evident in iec, several advocacies for drainage management were initiated by the lgu in the local level such as scheduling in the cleaning of canal near common laundry area and 78 jpair: multidisciplinary research outsourcing services to maintain drainage and canals. the residents were made to understand that solid wastes may cause blockage in the drainage. further, they were informed that regular cleaning of canals can prevent propagation of mosquitoes in the area. table 4. summary of responses on the coverage of swm information and education campaign information on content rural urban total mean stdev mean stdev mean stdev republic act on swm 2.20 (se) 1.46 2.13(se) 1.39 2.16(se) 1.42 additional information freq % freq % freq % lgu presented to/informed residents 95 38.3 84 27.1 179 32.1 learned from other source within community 16 6.5 69 22.3 85 15.2 personal effort/initiative 20 8.1 24 7.7 44 7.9 city ordinance on swm 2.53 (s) 1.40 2.56 (s) 1.33 2.55 (s) 1.36 additional information freq % freq % freq % implemented bill fo violation p50/p300 33 13.3 27 8.7 60 10.8 city ordinance as basis for bo 133 53.6 198 63.9 331 59.3 information from experience & school 29 11.7 18 5.8 47 8.4 community ordinance on swm 2.87 (s) 1.30 2.87 (s) 1.27 2.87 (s) 1.28 additional information freq % freq % freq % fine as to nature & frequency of offense 51 20.6 30 9.7 81 14.5 implemented own crafted bo 72 29.0 19 6.1 91 16.3 aware of fines for improper swd 47 19.0 103 33.2 150 26.9 city ordinance in community implementation 13 5.2 74 23.9 87 15.6 presence of bo but not implemented 47 19.0 54 17.4 101 18.1 waste management problem 3.08 (s) 1.29 3.07 (s) 1.22 3.08 (s) 1.25 additional information freq % freq % freq % 79 international peer reviewed journal absence/inadequate swm facilities 220 88.7 154 49.7 374 67.0 improper swm 161 64.9 107 34.5 268 48.0 negligence of residents & scavengers 83 33.5 54 17.4 137 24.6 complacency of garbage collectors 52 21.0 72 23.2 124 22.2 benefits of proper swm 2.60 (s) 1.32 2.77 (s) 1.32 2.70 (s) 1.32 additional information freq % freq % freq % income from direct selling of reusable wastes 163 65.6 136 44.0 299 53.6 fertilizer generation 67 27.0 13 4.2 80 14.3 savings & livelihood opportunity 39 15.7 34 11.0 73 13.1 healthy environment & people 5 2.0 55 17.7 60 10.8 concepts of 3rs 2.33 (se) 1.33 2.39 (se) 1.46 2.37 (se) 1.40 additional information freq % freq % freq % selling reusable wastes 43 17.2 49 15.7 91.33 16.4 converting biodegrable to fertilizer/humus 4 1.6 3 1.0 7 1.3 recycling for decors & household uses 7 2.8 27 8.7 34 6.1 healthy environment from reduced wastes 4 1.6 41 13.2 45 8.1 composting 2.42 (se) 1.50 1.60 (se) 1.13 1.96 (se) 1.37 additional information freq % freq % freq % for generating fertilizer 12 4.8 3 1.0 15 2.7 separating wastes for composting 185 74.6 90 29.0 275 49.3 toxic, hazardous & infectious wastes 2.15 (se) 1.26 2.04 (se) 1.14 2.08 (se) 1.19 additional information freq % freq % freq % bury to dispose 60 24.2 50 16.1 110 19.7 keep away from children 76 30.6 54 17.4 130 23.3 incorrect practices 144 58.1 98 31.6 242 43.4 80 jpair: multidisciplinary research proper mgt of estuaries & canals 2.37 (se) 1.46 1.89 (se) 1.38 2.10 (se) 1.44 additional information freq % freq % freq % drainage blocked with solid wastes 95 38.3 22 7.1 117 21.0 advocacy programs for drainage mgt 64 25.8 21 6.8 85 15.2 regular cleaning prevents mosquito 65 26.2 78 25.2 143 25.6 level rural urban total f % f % f % very high 7 2.8 1 0.3 8 1.4 high 83 33.5 46 14.8 129 23.1 moderate 94 37.9 130 41.9 224 40.1 low 58 23.4 121 39.0 179 32.1 very low 6 2.4 12 3.9 18 3.2 statistics mean stdev 3.15 (moderate) 0.82 2.70 (moderate) 0.74 2.90 (moderate) 0.81 figure 2. level of content coverage in the information and education campaign 81 international peer reviewed journal e. institutional support and other technologies in the swm iec results on the extent of institutional support and technologies in the swm information and education campaign are shown on table 5. very few (10.80%) of those from urban communities (7.10%) and from rural communities (15.3%) admitted that the level of support from other organizations involving most of the heis and other government and non-government sectors were seldom demonstrated. approximately 31.5% from rural and 18.7% from urban also said that support from government line agencies such as dswd, dot, denr, city health and doh was also seldom demonstrated. however, many(32.60%) of the respondents especially those from urban areas (37.70%) consented that a few of heis in the city donated garbage cans and that they were taught on proper segregation of wastes at home on occasional basis. in terms of monitoring and evaluation, this support was not as well so evident from among the concerned households which is also similar among the kagawad /bhw/cvo. many of these households claimed that this support was seldom evident. considerable number (11.1%) of the respondents said that part of what they have done as support was demonstrated whenever competition on cleanest house and purok was initiated in their own community. 82 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 5. summary of responses on the institutional support and other technologies in the swm information and education campaign institutional support & other technologies rural urban total mean stdev mean stdev mean stdev support from other organizations 1.60 (se) 1.10 1.85 (se) 1.37 1.74 (se) 1.26 additional information freq % freq % freq % higher education institutions fsuu,sjit,butuan doctors,xavier university,csu 38 15.3 22 7.1 60 10.8 government line agencies dswd, dot, denr, city health, doh 78 31.5 58 18.7 136 24.4 non-government organizations – religious sector, women’s organization, water district 9 3.6 51 16.5 60 10.8 household modeling technique 2.36 (se) 1.39 2.77 (s) 1.40 2.59 (s) 1.41 additional information freq % freq % freq % fsuu students immersed in every household teaching swm and donated garbage can 55 22.2 26 8.4 81 14.5 children taught with segregation of wastes at home 65 26.2 117 37.7 182 32.6 practiced swm at home segregation and recycling 11 4.4 82 26.5 93 16.7 monitoring and evaluation of residents 2.05 (se) 1.27 2.09 (se) 1.33 2.07 (se) 1.30 additional information freq % freq % freq % cleanest house/purok competition 38 15.3 24 7.7 62 11.1 community survey by kagawad/ bhw/cvo 123 49.6 138 44.5 261 46.8 other institutions surveyed swm such as city health, fsuu & school in the community 32 12.9 22 7.1 54 9.7 83 international peer reviewed journal level rural urban total f % f % f % very high 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 high 4 1.6 10 3.2 14 2.5 moderate 54 21.8 92 29.7 146 26.2 low 135 54.4 142 45.8 277 49.6 very low 55 22.2 66 21.3 121 21.7 statistics mean stdev 1.99 (low) 0.82 2.08 (low) 0.74 2.04 (low) 0.81 figure 3. level of available support and other technologies in information and education campaign 84 jpair: multidisciplinary research level rural urban total f % f % f % very high 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 high 4 1.6 10 3.2 14 2.5 moderate 54 21.8 92 29.7 146 26.2 low 135 54.4 142 45.8 277 49.6 very low 55 22.2 66 21.3 121 21.7 statistics mean stdev 2.64 (moderate) 0.44 2.36 (moderate) 0.45 2.49 (moderate) 0.46 figure 3. summary on the level of information and education campaign on solid waste management f. household practices on solid waste disposal table 6 presents the household practices on solid waste disposal in both selected rural and urban areas. it can be gleaned that majority (95.70%) of the residents from both 85 international peer reviewed journal urban and rural communities had storage bin most (48.60%) of whom have separators for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. the majority of the household respondents (58.2%) claimed they were separating biodegradable wastes from non-biodegrable wastes despite the non-availability of their own storage bin with separators. among those with storage bin, majority of the household respondents living in both rural(50.0%) and urban (68.40%) communities were using plastic bags; the rest (about 43%) were using sacks. a considerable number (21.30%) of those who admitted have no storage bin buried their biodegradable wastes in the ground. those who live in urban areas, instead of burying the nonbiodegradable wastes in the ground (as some who are in rural areas are practicing), were selling the wastes materials to scrap shop to earn money. in addition, the majority admitted that the amount of waste disposed daily weighed approximately from 1-5 kg which was more prevalent in rural areas (80.20%). very few of those living in rural areas (35.9%) were aware that the community they are living in has garbage stations. unlike in urban areas, majority (68.10%) of the households were aware that garbage station is made available in their own community. however, despite this level of awareness of the garbage stations, only 18.1% in rural areas had thrown their wastes in the designated garbage station while 44.8% did so in urban areas. among those who did not throw their waste at the designated community garbage stations, majority (67.3%) from rural areas preferred compost pit. as to the means of transporting solid wastes, many (38.10%) of them were hiking to transport their waste at their designated community garbage stations. some (34.40 %) of them from both rural and urban areas preferred open dumping. a considerable number (20.80%) of households living in urban areas were dependent on the garbage collector. 86 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 6. household practices on the storage of solid waste areas rural urban total freq % freq % freq % has storage bin in house for garbage 232 82.9 302 97.4 534 95.7 storage bin with separator (biodegradable from non-biodegrable) 117 41.8 154 49.7 271 48.6 type of storage bin used * metal bin 2 0.71 8 2.58 10 1.79 * individual plastic bin 26 9.29 41 13.2 67 12 * plastic bag 140 50.0 212 68.4 352 63.1 * house containers drum 17 6.07 16 5.16 33 5.91 * communal drum 9 3.21 2 0.65 11 1.97 * concrete bin 3 1.07 8 2.58 11 1.97 * containers roll-on/roll-off 8 2.86 0 0 8 1.43 * sack 110 39.3 128 41.3 238 42.7 * others (basket, ice bucket, cartoon, gallon, pail) 9 3.21 13 4.19 22 3.95 separated biodegradable wastes from nonbiodegrable wastes 149 53.2 176 56.8 325 58.2 storage of biodegrable wastes * placing in available storage bin in community 38 13.6 54 17.4 92 16.5 * throwing to the river 2 0.71 7 2.26 9 1.61 * burying in the ground 72 25.7 47 15.2 119 21.3 * using as fertilizer 27 9.64 65 21 92 16.5 * burning 26 9.29 39 12.6 65 11.6 * none at all (disposing to garbage truck/ collector in the community) 11 3.93 25 8.06 36 6.45 storage of non-biodegrable wastes * placing in available storage bin in community 42 15 34 11 76 13.6 * burying in the ground 83 29.6 33 10.6 116 20.8 * burning 26 9.29 63 20.3 89 15.9 * selling to scrap shop 51 18.2 159 51.3 210 37.6 * recycling 10 3.57 17 5.48 27 4.84 * none at all (disposing to scrappers/child scavengers or garbage collectors) 9 3.21 38 12.3 47 8.42 87 international peer reviewed journal areas rural urban total freq % freq % freq % aware that community has garbage station 89 35.9 211 68.1 300 53.8 disposed solid wastes to community garbage station 45 18.1 139 44.8 184 33 means of transporting solid wastes to community garbage station * using wheel barrows 4 1.61 0 0 4 0.72 * using push cart 22 8.87 1 0.32 23 4.12 * through vehicles/sikad 15 6.05 29 9.35 44 7.89 * hand-carry and hiking 49 19.8 118 38.1 167 29.9 * through garbage collector 5 2.02 9 2.9 14 2.51 disposal of solid wastes other than in the community garbage station * open dumping 88 35.5 104 33.5 192 34.4 * controlled tipping(with occasional soil cover) 11 4.4 2 0.6 13 2.3 * sanitary landfill (with daily cover) 12 4.8 3 1.0 15 2.7 * burning on site/backyard 12 4.8 2 0.6 14 2.5 * compost pit 167 67.3 92 29.7 259 46.4 * garbage collector/truck 42 16.9 74 23.9 116 20.8 88 jpair: multidisciplinary research amount of wastes rural urban total freq % freq % freq % below 1kg 29 11.7 118 38.1 147 26.3 1-5 kg 199 80.2 167 53.9 366 65.6 6-10kg 16 6.45 20 6.45 36 6.45 more than 10 kg 4 1.61 5 1.61 9 1.61 figure 4. the estimated amount of household solid wastes stored daily g. frequency of solid waste disposal majority of the respondents (38.7%) from both rural and urban areas disposed their solid wastes, which had an average of 1-5kg a day, once a week. only 28.5% from both rural and urban areas said they disposed their wastes once a day. rural areas had the highest frequency in terms of daily disposal while urban areas had the highest in terms of weekly waste disposal. 89 international peer reviewed journal frequency of disposal rural urban total f % f % f % once a day 69 27.8 90 29 159 28.5 twice a week 48 19.4 30 9.68 78 14 every other day 21 8.47 17 5.48 38 6.81 once a week 56 22.6 160 51.6 216 38.7 depends on the garbage truck 40 16.1 11 3.55 51 9.14 five times a week 2 0.81 0 0 2 0.36 three times a week 12 4.84 2 0.65 14 2.51 figure 5. frequency of solid wastes disposal among households amount of wastes rural urban total f % f % f % below 1kg 63 25.4 97 31.3 160 28.7 1-5 kg 176 71 143 46.1 319 57.2 6-10kg 7 2.82 46 14.8 53 9.5 more than 10 kg 2 0.81 24 7.74 26 4.66 figure 6. estimated amount of household solid wastes disposed daily 90 jpair: multidisciplinary research synthesis 1. on the level of iec 1.1 as to the frequency of application in both rural and urban communities, iec through meetings was sometimes applied while the rest of the methods such as: focus group discussion, installation of tarpaulin and other signs, television ad and radio broadcast, house-tohouse information campaign, school campaign, were seldom applied. this trend was consistent in both rural and urban communities except for the focus group discussion and school campaign which were applied in a higher level in the rural areas (sometimes applied) than in the urban areas (seldom applied). it is worth noting that the public meeting yielded the highest mean rating in terms of frequency of application. 2. as to the nature of meetings conducted, it was during general assembly on regular schedule that swm was presented and discussed. this activity was more prevalent in the rural areas as indicated by the majority (63.7%) of the responses. special meeting with concerned citizens such as businessmen or local proprietors was also evident method in iec as confirmed by a substantial number of responses (28.1%). this result is also consistent in the context of rural and urban communities. 3. on the coverage of iec, parameters or topics such as city ordinance on swm, community ordinance on swm, waste management problem, and benefits of proper swm were moderately or occasionally covered or discussed. 4. as to institutional support and other technologies in the iec, very few (10.80%) of the respondents, especially those from urban communities (7.10%), admitted that the level of support from other organizations involving most of the heis and other government and non-government sectors were seldom demonstrated. however, many (32.60%) of the respondents especially those from urban areas (37.70%) said that a few of heis in the city donated garbage cans and that they were taught on proper segregation of wastes at home on occasional basis. in terms of monitoring and evaluation, this support was not as well so evident from among the concerned households which was 91 international peer reviewed journal also similar among the kagawad /bhw/cvo wherein many of these households declared that this support is seldom evident. 5. as to household practices in solid waste disposal, results revealed that majority (95.70%) of the residents from both urban and rural communities have storage bin most (48.60%) of whom are with separators for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. the majority of the household respondents claimed they were separating biodegradable wastes from non-biodegradable wastes despite the non-availability of their own storage bin with separators. among those with storage bin, majority of the household respondents living in both rural (50.0%) and urban (68.40%) communities were using plastic bags; the rest (about 43%) were using sacks. 6. a considerable number (21.30%) of those who admitted have no storage bin buried their biodegradable wastes in the ground. those who live in urban areas, instead of burying the non-biodegradable wastes in the ground (as some who are in rural areas are practicing) were selling the wastes materials to scrap shop to earn money. in addition, the majority admitted that the amount of waste disposed daily was ranging from 1-5 kg, which was more prevalent in rural areas (80.20%). 7. very few of those living in rural areas (35.9%) were aware that the community they are living in has garbage disposal point. unlike in urban areas, majority (68.10%) of the households were aware that garbage disposal point is made available in their own community. however, despite the availability of the garbage facility, most (44.8%) of those in urban areas did not throw their waste in the designated garbage disposal point. among those who did not throw their waste at the designated community garbage point, majority from rural areas preferred compost pit. 8. as to the means of transporting solid wastes, many (38.10%) of them were hiking to transport their waste at their designated community garbage point. some (34.40 %) of them from both rural and urban areas preferred open dumping. a considerable number (20.80%) of households living in urban areas were dependent on the garbage collector. 92 jpair: multidisciplinary research conclusions 1. overall, the level of iec in both rural and urban communities of butuan city was poor. data provide evidence that methods such as public forum or general assembly, focus group discussion, installation of tarpaulin and other signs, television ad and radio broadcast, house to house information campaign, and school campaign were seldom carried out. 2. lack of institutional support and inadequate provision of garbage disposal points and mass recovery facilities (mrf) from other concerned government agencies, non-government organizations and heis were evident. 3. majority of the households had their own garbage storage bin with considerable number of them having separators for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. some opted to use plastic bags and sacks instead. many of those in rural areas buried their biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste on the ground. a few of those in the urban areas disposed their bio-degradable wastes on the available garbage station but burned those non-biodegradable waste materials while some were sold to scrap shops. recommendations 1. it is imperative to revisit and strengthen the role of lead agencies (denr, cenro, emb, doh and lgus) and develop an integrated solid waste management plan and sustainable implementation in the city . strategies and mechanisms for effective service delivery must take into consideration issues and concerns encountered, people’s participation, practices, environmental sustainability and economic and social equity for more longterm results. 2. collaborative efforts form different government and private agencies should be encouraged to properly manage the waste with most efforts being made to reduce the final volumes and to generate sufficient funds for waste management. if most of the waste could be diverted for material and resource recovery, then a substantial reduction in final volumes of waste could be achieved and the recovered material and resources could be utilized to generate revenue to fund 93 international peer reviewed journal waste management. this forms the premise for integrated solid waste management (iswm) system based on 3r (reduce, reuse and recycle) principle. iswm system must be well received by local authorities. it has been shown that with appropriate segregation and recycling system significant quantity of waste can be diverted from landfills and converted into resource. 3. local government units in collaboration with other sectors, heis government line agencies to develop strategic development plan or mechanisms (e.g. competition, provision of rewards for most clean community) to further push or motivate concerned residents to observe proper waste disposal. 4. similar studies be conducted in other communities especially those along agusan river and hospital premises in butuan city. literature cited hagland, m. 1993 generating environmental challenges of the 90s. health forum. heimlich et al. 2005 waste management: towards a sustainable society. o.p. kharbanda and e.a stallworthy. hd 4482 k5. 1990 republic act no. 9003 2000 ecological solid waste management act. republic act no. 7160 roles and functions of lgu as key units responsible for implementing or enforcing the solid waste management program. sdwi 2003 urbanization and the paradigms for change in solid waste management, viloria, l. and m.l. rebullida, dpa center for integrative and development studies (cids), university of the philippines. 94 jpair: multidisciplinary research viray et al. 2002 waste disposal : management and practice , td 791 s58 http:// geic.hq.unu.edu/env/files/inncomm%20report/case%20 study%208%20 philippines.pdf www.nswai.com, 2007 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the philippines  has experienced over 40 years of internal armed conflict in the southern island of mindanao, as the resident muslim population continues to demand self-determination. hence, this study aimed to locate and explore frameworks on building peace initiatives and conflict tools resolution as the symbolic rites of procedures. specifically, it sought to: 1) understand the meaning of peacebuilding and reconciliation in the context of post-conflict settings; 2) define extremism; 3) determine the role of division of lanao del sur 1, deped-armm in preventing extremism, and 4) determine how education can counter religious extremism. using documentary analysis method, data were obtained and collected from the mindanao state university (msu) system library, the armed forces of the philippines, the philippine national police, the department of education (deped-armm), the department of social welfare division of lanao del sur 1, deped-armm: its vital role in peacebuilding and reconciliation in the post-conflict settings sahanee m. sumagayan sahaneesumagayan2018@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1416-7018 assistant schools division superintendent division of lanao del sur 1 barangay datu saber, marawi city originality: 95% • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 5 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.569 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:sahaneesumagayan2018@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 155 international peer reviewed journal and development (dswd), the philippine national red cross (pnrc), and bangon marawi task force. there were six (6) key informants interviewed by the researcher. based on the nature of the study, no statistical treatment of data gathered was done. this is the limitation of the study. findings revealed that peacebuilding facilitates the establishment of durable  peace and prevents the recurrence of violence through reconciliation, education, institutional and political building for economic transformation. the division of lanao del sur 1, deped-armm recommends that the government should create an independent commission  to highlight measurable progress and determine the benchmarks that these programs have met.   keywords — social science, peacebuilding, extremism, documentary analysis, lanao del sur, philippines introduction reconciliation, as a peacebuilding activity for social reconstruction, gained recognition in academic policy circles for potentially rebuilding broken relationship during the outbreak of war, establishing institutional mechanisms in dealing with human rights atrocities focusing on victim’s right to truth and justice, as well as an avenue for long-term development  strategies for divided societies. for those engaged in peacebuilding, reconciliation has been an expanding concept including justice measures, accountability processes, and the rule of law in divided societies in which all strategies receive international support (sriram, 2010). the advantages of international tribunals over local courts include that they will not have capacity issues, procedural standards will be followed, accusations of ‘victor’s justice’ cannot be made, and they are not vulnerable to intimidation. however, one of the main criticisms against international tribunals is the lack of enforcement mechanism. tribunals can indict suspected perpetrators of atrocities and can issue arrest warrants, but are dependent on national governments to apprehend them. another criticism is that they are often removed from the countries concerned and, therefore, local people feel little connection to them, and they focus on retribution which can undermine local efforts for restorative justice and reconciliation. another consideration, particularly for ad hoc tribunals, is the huge cost and time involved (bloomfield, 2006). finally, war crimes tribunals can help establish 156 jpair multidisciplinary research the guilt of individual perpetrators, but may not establish broader societal patterns of criminal behavior. this was the practice in rwanda and the former yugoslavia is a solid proof showing the importance given to these processes. for instance, the creation of international tribunals and judicial sector reform is widely supported by international agents as quite essential to reconciliation. academicians studying divided societies state that reconciliation can meet everyday needs of those living in peacebuilding (eastmond, 2010) through interethnic dialogue, social empowerment deliberative democracy, and ideational culture as well as non-state factors that can foster legitimacy to peace operation. projecting peacebuilding through the reconciliation can contribute to liberal peace critique, a discussion on contemporary peacebuilding that looks at the legitimacy of liberal peacebuilding in post-war societies, the nature of liberal state building as a peacebuilding strategy and the excessive focus on “fragile state” as a threat to international security (paris, newman, & richmond, 2009). reconciliation contributes to liberal peace debates by critically looking into the negative impact of state-centric security in justice, truth, repair and reconciliation (conteh-morgan, 2005). it has been reported that the philippines has experienced four decades of internal armed conflict in the country, particularly in the southern island of mindanao, as the resident muslim population continues to demand selfdetermination. since the late 1960s, the conflict between muslim separatists and the christian-dominated government has killed approximately 160,000 people and displaced more than two million (berkley center for religion, peace, and world affairs, 2013). after a decade-long peace process, the philippine government and the muslim separatists, the moro islamic liberation front (milf) signed a final comprehensive agreement on the bangsamoro (cab) on march 2014 moving the conflict into a transition period toward the establishment of a new autonomous political entity called “bangsamoro.” the bangsamoro basic law (bbl) is the legal basis for this new entity. after the bbl’s approval by the philippine congress, it is expected that public referendum will be conducted to determine and finalize the areas to be included in the territory of the bangsamoro government. parallel to this concept, the philippine government recognizes the need and importance of peace education, particularly, in mindanao. the efforts of the government, through the office of the presidential adviser on the peace process (opapp), has laid a strong foundation at the policy level for peace education. through opapp’s advocacy and assistance, a policy instrument has been developed over the years. the national leadership issued executive order 157 international peer reviewed journal no. 570, institutionalizing peace education in the basic education curriculum and teachers in 2006 to strengthen peace education in the country. the response of the department of education was conducted to implement a nationwide consultation on peace education and the subsequent issuance of deped memo no. 469 series of 2008 which states that all teacher courses and activities in the special topics be part of teacher education curriculum. the emerging focus now is on honing the teachers with skills, values and perspective needed to ensure that peace should be taught in the classroom and integrated in student activities. the national government is doing its best to solve this conflict within the framework of the philippine constitution. yet, the armed conflict continues as the years go by (bush & saltarelli, 2000). many lives have been lost and substantial national resources are wasted. mindanao is a sleeping economic giant sedated by ongoing-armed conflict that affects the entire island, and the whole nation. the mindanao peace educators, particularly in deped region xii, are being used for conflict resolution and for promoting better christian-muslim relations. the overall framework of education for a culture of peace has six dimensions: 1) dismantling the culture of war, 2) living with justice and compassion, 3) building cultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity, 4) promoting human rights and responsibilities, 5) living with harmony with the earth, and 6) cultivating inner peace. framework the study is anchored on wilner and dubouloz (2011) who explained the stages in transformative behavior theory. it points out the critical importance of taking action in the transformative learning process because it involves not only a sense of empowerment, but also a critical understanding of ways in which social relations and culture have shaped an individual’s beliefs and feelings, and eventually the development of strategies for a transformed behavior in quotidian activities. as a transformative phenomenon, radicalization happens suddenly or over a period through the trigger phase, the process of change phase and the outcome phase. moghaddam (2005) uses the metaphor of a narrowing staircase to describe the path of  terrorism. we look at this phenomenon similarly to  progress from fundamental to extremism, to radicalism, to terrorism. the staircase progressively narrows as fewer people are persuaded to climb to the top, and commit acts of violence. 158 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. the staircase to terrorism (moghaddan 2005) educators must have the appropriate tools to recognize, understand and address the psych-social factors that may lead to any stage in the path to terrorism. hence, teachers and community members must recognize the push and pull factors toward radicalization to ensure a safe-learning environment for students. the second theory cited by the researcher is known as the track 6 approach. it is a strategy for inclusive peacebuilding. it emphasized that in many countries, the government, civil society, and local communities often act separately to address problems they face (interpeace, 2017). the integrated track 6 approach helps ensure that high-level policies reflect local  realities and benefit from local knowledge. they help establish processes of change that connect local communities, civil society, government, and international community-an approach we call track 6. in the peacebuilding field, initiatives that involve government  officials and other high-level decision-makers refer to as tract 1. initiatives that work with influential actors from civil society also refer as track 2. those that engaged with local population at the community and grassroots level is named track 3. interspace works across all levels of society, connecting the three tracks 1+2+3=6. figure 2. conceptual framework of the theory known as track 6 approach 159 international peer reviewed journal the third theory is the realistic conflict developed by levine and camphbell (1972). it explains that ethnocentrism and outgroup stem from competition or conflict resources, such as territory, employment, and material benefits, or threat to the intergroup access to or possibility of attainment of these resources, such as rank, prestige or status (tajfel, 1982). this theory is functional and argues that ethnocentrism is useful for reaching a goal. if the intergroup cooperation is essential to meet the goal, then intergroup harmony would emerge. reviewing experimental studies, turner, hogg, oakes, reicher, and wetherell (1987) argued between intragroup and intergroup centeredness. thus, people tend to give more importance to their groups when it is under threat. objective of the study the general objective of the study is to understand the meaning of peacebuilding and reconciliation in the context of post-conflict settings. specifically, it sought: 1) to understand the meaning of extremism, 2) identify the ways wherein education can counter religious extremism; 3) identify the role of deped-armm division of lanao del sur 1 in preventing extremism. methodology research design    the study utilized documentary analysis. according to scott (1990), there are four formulated quality control criteria for handling documentary sources: 1) authenticity refers to whether the evidence is genuine and from impeccable sources; 2) credibility refers to whether the evidence is typical of its kind, 3) representative refers to whether the documents consulted are representatives of the totality of the relevant documents, and 4) meaning refers to whether the evidence is clear and comprehensible. based on the nature of the study, no statistical treatment of data gathered was done. hence, the researcher found it that by summing up these principles and processes. the documentary analysis is the most appropriate method in this particular study moreover, often documentary evidence is combine with data from interviews and observation to minimize bias and establish credibility. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research research setting  the study was conducted in marawi city, the capital city province of lanao del sur, philippines located in central mindanao. it is a fourth class city and according to the 2015 census by the philippine statistics authority, it has a population of 201,785 people. marawi was formerly known as dansalan. some historians said it served as the capital of the moro province, then later of the lone lanao province before it divided into lanao del norte and lanao del sur. marawi got its charter in 1940. the charter of old dansalan municipality was conceived by the philippine commonwealth president manuel l. quezon and assemblyman, then later senator tomas l. cabili. the revision of the official name from dansalan to marawi was through the congressional amendment of the charter in 1956 sponsored by senator domocao alonto. this embodied by republic act no. 1552 dated june 16, 1956. parliamentary bill no. 261 in the defunct batasang pambansa, which was sponsored by late assemblyman jamail m. dianalan, proposed the renaming of the city as “islamic city of marawi.” the division of lanao del sur 1, department of education of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (deped-armm) was among the divisions created under act no. 14, which was recently amended by muslim mindanao autonomy act no. 279 on august 3, 2010. the office of the division of lanao del sur 1 is located at datu saber, marawi city. due to the marawi siege in 2017, they transferred to hold their office located at poblacion, saguiaran, and lanao del sur. based on the report of their planning officer ii, the division has thirty-seven (37) districts strategically located in the province of lanao del sur. some municipalities are being divided into two or three districts to ensure smooth administration and supervision of the school operations. 161 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. map of lanao del sur research ethics prior to the actual conduct of the study, a letter of request was prepared addressed to concerned agencies to conduct study and to gather the necessary documents and interview with the respondents. it was made clear to them that whatever kind of documents they will provide shall be treated utmost confidentiality. there were six (6) key informants identified prior to official notification in a form of request letter addressed to each informant. the semi unstructured informal interview was utilized as a preliminary step to generate ideas about the subject being investigated. this method was utilized to enhance the reliability and validity outcome of the study. data gathering and analysis after collecting the data, the researcher has categorized the data into two categories: 1) documents obtained from the different head of agencies in marawi city like situational reports, proceedings of conference, workshops and executive 162 jpair multidisciplinary research orders, memoranda, newspapers, departmental libraries, bulletin on health, economics, employment, economic growth, housing population census reports, and problem on education reported by school officials, and 2) personal interviews to some selected persons knowledgeable on the subject matter like the armed forces of the philippines, the philippine national police (pnp), court officials, academicians, traditional, ulama leaders and among others. the researcher also utilized the secondary data to uncover in-depth understanding of the context. results and discussion understand the meaning of peacebuilding and reconciliation in the context of post-conflict settings peacebuilding is an intervention designed to prevent the resumption of violent conflict by creating sustainable peace. peacebuilding activities address the root cause of violence and create a societal expectation of peaceful conflict resolution and stabilize society politically and socio-economically. some activities included in peacebuilding vary depending on the situation and agent of peacebuilding. successful peacebuilding can also create good environment enhancing durable peace, reconcile opponents, prevent conflict from re-starting, integrate civil society create the rule of law and address underlying structural and social issue. researchers and practitioners also found out that peacebuilding is most effective and durable when it relies upon the local conceptions of peace and the underlying dynamics (de coning, 2013). the approach of literacy by pope john paul ii (1980) recommended that rather than measuring the results, evaluation should be seen as a tool for learning and feedback. he emphasized that given the nature of contemporary armed conflict, peacebuilding faces four main challenges. first, it must transform the international culture, which accepts, and promote the goal sale of weapons. second, peacebuilding approach must take a very long-term view to build enduring peace. third, peacebuilding must take a broader, more comprehensive view of the people and contexts which produce conflict. fourth, people must focus on preventing minor conflicts from escalating into open warfare (lederach, 1997). he added that a focus on reconciliation recognizes that conflicts are essentially a type of relationship. it also allows to address the psychological components of conflict through categorization of peacebuilding among the peacebuilding fields of many scholars. on the other hand, reconciliation as adapted by most contemporary postconflict countries. it is a process that aims to heal the past trauma experience 163 international peer reviewed journal through forgiveness and public apology to restore the relationship. this concept of reconciliation has earned notable recognition in international politics and has become the focus of discourse in scholarly debates (meierhenrich, 2008; moon, 2004). reconciliation has been defined in various ways. meirchenrich proposed a systematized concept of reconciliation as accommodation of former adversaries through mutually conciliatory means, requiring both forgiveness and mercy. bloomfield defines reconciliation as an over-arching process, which includes the search for truth, justice, forgiveness and healing to find ways alongside with enemies (2004:12). other authors, however, said that the prospects for radically transforming social structures through education are continually hindered by poorly conceived reforms and continuing disparities like the south africa’s school system (jansen & taylor, 2003). meaning of extremism and how education counters religious extremism extremism means the belief in a support for ideas that are very far to what most people considered correct or reasonable. “extremism,” thus, refers to the beliefs and actions of people who support or use violence to achieve ideological, religious or political goals (fbi.gov, n.d.). this includes terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and sectarian violence. typically, “violent extremism” also identifies an enemy or enemies, who is/are the object/s of hatred and violence. the conceptual core of extremism is that it is an ideologically motivate resort to the use of violence, commonly based on conspiracy theories (unesco, 2017). on terrorism aspect, it refers to a particular strategy adopted to achieve political goal, which is singularly the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear (byman, chalk, hoffman, rosenau, & brannan., 2001). in the philippines, the radicalization of muslim communities is rooted to survive, both physically and culturally, and has been shaped by the reaction to the impact of the “intrusive” west. this perceived intrusion couched in terms of modernization and globalization may have brought technology, profitable trade, and economic development, but the rural’s and urban’s poorest have not benefited. the gap between the rich and poor has widened and globalization is seen as a threat to people and culture imposition of western “descent,” consumptionoriented market values that disregard and destroy traditional values. in this sense, muslim communities are radicalizing in proportion to their failure to “modernize” themselves relative to their environment modernization which can be traumatic, particularly, if forced. the transformation away from tradition puts societies under deep distress. in muslim areas such as thailand 164 jpair multidisciplinary research and the philippines, our freedom is at risk from internal conflicts with central government to take a new level and complicated by the war on terror. the radicalization of muslim groups, the expansion of an extremist religious interpretation of islam (by isis, boko, haram, jemaah islamiyah and other terrorist organizations) does not help us. we are at risk from within and from without. efforts to prevent violent extremism must be considered within a holistic framework (tang, 2017). in an article, entitled “our marawi” building a better and strong marawi city from the ashes of war stressed on a competent, clean and accountable governance by the lgus and other provinces of armm as one important intervention. efficient and responsive services by the various government agencies in the region will project an image of a caring and generous government, which serves as an effective shield against violent extremism and radicalism. in addition to the above interventions, the following measures are recommended: 1) a multispectral community engagement of suspected terrorist and their sympathizers by local government official’s secular and islamic religious schools; and 2) muslim and christian religious organizations, sultans and other traditional leaders and civil society organizations as community support groups for modernization and peacebuilding. these community groups should develop and implement programs and activities (e.g. seminars, conferences, training, discussion groups, other related social events) to promote religious moderation, intercultural understanding, inter-faith relations and a culture of peace (mindanao gold star daily, 2017). these groups may collectively initiate constructive interaction or reconciliatory moves to win the terrorists and their sympathizers. mindanao state university (msu) should spread efforts along this line by serving on the dialogue center, in-charge of conceptualizing and coordinating the implementation of programs and activities that provide moderating or soothing peacebuilding openings for fundamentalist or extremist views. the marawi siege conveys one clear message: it is a part of a bigger problem-the contemporary moro armed struggle. many of the maute and abu sayyaf fighters who attacked marawi were former members of milf and mnlf who were disillusioned with what they saw as a slow or dismal progress in the implementation of a signed peace agreement (iqbal, 2017). to prevent its repartitioning, marawi and lanao del sur, and the philippine government has to find a creative approach to implement fully its peace agreements with the milf and mnlf. the proposed basic law and federalism options are not contradictory alternative political solutions. 165 international peer reviewed journal both options can be ingeniously link complementary to form an inclusive and progressive peace package (muslim, 2017) supporting this intervention programs. in relation to this development, the responses of peacebuilders community in mindanao reported that for the past two years, they had trained 288 volunteers for peace and reconciliation. the primary goal is to seek innovative ways to create time and a place to address, integrate, and embrace the painful past and shared future as means of dealing with the present (marawi crisis perspective and action plan, 2017). on islamic approaches to reconciliation, many of the concepts associated with transitional justice-truth, accountability, justice(retribution) and compensation for victims found in islam. there is close alignment between islamic law and transitional justice approaches that seek to foster reconciliation. however, in practice, victims of atrocities in muslim-majority countries seldom see justice after conflicts. this has been attributed to the problem of weak governance, absence of rule of law and low levels of human development in such countries, rather than islamic legal thinking (worden, ross, parker, & azar, 2011). role of deped-armm division of lanao del sur 1 in preventing extremism the role of education in preventing violent extremism and de-radicalizing young people has only recently gained global acceptance. in the report of the united nations security council also emphasized in its resolution no. 2178 & 2250 which notably highlights the need for “quality education for peace that equips youth with the ability to engage constructively in civic structures and inclusive political processes and call on “all relevant actors to constitute mechanisms to promote a culture of peace, tolerance, intellectual and interreligious dialogue that involves youth and discourage their participation in acts of violence, terrorism and all forms of discrimination” (un security council, 2015). the executive board decision 197 of unesco reported that violent extremism can be prevented through education. it seeks to strengthen the capacities of national education systems (egg. policies, teachers, and educational contents) to appropriately and effectively contribute to national prevention efforts. this includes equipping learners of all ages and notably young women and men with the knowledge, values, attitudes and behaviors, which foster responsible global citizenship critical thinking, empathy and the ability to take action against violent extremism. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research in the case of justice murray sinclair, chairman of the truth and reconciliation commission, he emphasized in his message during the world indigenous people’s conference on education held in canada on august 25, 2017, “it was the educational system that has contributed to this problem in our country and it is the educational system we believe that is going to get us out of this” (watters, 2015). in our country, the philippine government and its national and international development partners need to recognize that education is the early warning barometer by which conflict can be measured. wider social tensions or divisions are frequently reflected in the classroom, in teaching and in distribution of educational resources. analysis of the education sector alongside other traditional conflict assessment mechanisms can provide a ‘fragility’ lens through which to plan, manage and implement tolerant, inclusive, quality education programmers. these education programmers need to build resilience and social cohesion rather than creating divisions and conflicts (unesco, 2015). conclusions based on the various types of documents gathered and analyzed, the following conclusions are drawn: 1) after post-conflict settings in rebuilding and reconciliation must be done in a peaceful non-violent manner where the government and stakeholders and concerned agencies play a vital role to effectively implement their policy and programs enhancing to have better way of life; 2. understanding that education is a strong tool in preventing extremism through tracing our past history, cultures, traditions, customs, and beliefs. we can do this by conducting an in-depth study based on our curricula offerings in both public and private schools, including the madrasah schools. school administrators, curriculum developers, policy makers and other experts on the field can be tapped to help formulate an action plan program that will address the problem and its recurrence. given the continuing and exponential rise in religious extremism, one must ask why so many gabble effects. one reason is that a long-term approach such as education cannot have immediate effects, and non-formal programs are difficult to assess because randomized trials are problematic in education. to be effective, the right kind of educational measures will have to run their course to make a difference. furthermore, the researcher has formulated some implications to highlight the findings of the study by applying complexity to the process of 167 international peer reviewed journal pursuing sustainable peace. in this study, pursuing sustainable peace refers to all actions undertaken by the international community and local actors that work towards consolidating and maintaining the peace in a given social system. change and conflict are normal and necessary, and sustaining peace should, thus, not be so much about stimulating change and facilitating constructive conflict. the government serves as the guardians of human rights and help contribute to peacebuilding and reconciliation (meyer, 2003).    like social reconciliation, reintegration for former combatants is also crucial to the success of any peacebuilding (bowd, & özerdem, 2013). in addition, the government  must develop anti-terrorism measures and maximize its effort to the ideology of radical extremism. as long as such ideology is alive, there is no guarantee that terrorists will not strike again (ansary, 2008). translational research with the approval of the department of education of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (deped-armm), the findings will be disseminated through the conduct of seminar-workshops, conferences, symposia, dialogue where school administrators, policy makers, educational planners, stakeholders and other representatives of the society to design a program to prevent extremism and radicalism through education. the output of these activities shall be published in national and international journals, magazines, newspapers, and radio broadcast and television to magnify the issue. finally, modules or manuals will be prepared by the school administrators of the division of lanao del sur 1, deped-armm which serve as their guide in their teaching methods and strategies in ensuring effective teaching-learning process on the part of their students. policy recommendation to prevent violent extremism and radicalism: 1. in line with the philippine government policy program to counter extremism, it is recommended that the deped-armm should adopt a comprehensive policy framework to prevent and counter violent extremism upon which national, regional and local government units can develop and coordinate long-term programs for prevention and short-term programs for mitigation. 2. the need to understand deeply the value of islamic moderation (wassatiyyah) 168 jpair multidisciplinary research in muslim communities is very important. hence, the administration of the deped-armm should coordinate with the government and cooperate with the civil society, educational institutions and religious networks to spread the message of inclusive muslim beliefs to young people. 3. the deped-armm administration should develop materials so that leaders in formal and informal education system can ensure that all young people understand how extremist groups operate and the negative effects of young extremist groups in themselves, their families and their communities. 4. design a program that will promote a high-quality and moderate islamic education sector. this should include facilitating the adaption of common supervision, accreditation, and standardization of the curricula to ensure that the teaching and learning are consistent with the mainstream islamic philosophy. 5. keep the public school system secular and use it as a platform for building inclusive culture, mutual trust, and understanding of unity in diversity. 6. the administration of deped-armm should provide young people with genuine opportunities for accessible quality education, both in the basic and collegiate levels for them to get job employment here and abroad. 7. create a working committee to provide programs for young people who show signs of post-traumatic syndrome after exposure to violence and conflict. formative and summative evaluation of the activities conducted must be recorded for analysis and future references. 8. it is highly recommended to the administration of deped-armm that a program be designed for high-quality and contextually-appropriate delivery of government services in areas at high-risk of extremism, particularly education and health services. 9. the need to increase public and private investments with programs to attract business towards job creation especially, in areas at high-risk of extremism. 10. an effective intervention program must be designed to facilitate the rehabilitation and integration of the people who were previously involved in extremist groups and to ensure that all young people will understand (both in schools and out-of-school youth) how extremist groups operate as well as the negative effects of joining extremist groups to their lives. 169 international peer reviewed journal literature cited ansary, a. f. 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(2017). foreword. unesco. retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco. org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf un security council resolution 2250, adopted in december 2015”(pdf). united nations. retrieved from http://unoy.org/wp-content/uploads/scr2250.pdf united nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation  (unesco). (2017). preventing violent extremism through education. retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf http://unoy.org/wp-content/uploads/scr-2250.pdf 173 international peer reviewed journal unesco (2017). preventing violent extremism through education. retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf watters, h. 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(2011). analyzing post-conflict justice and islamic law. united states institute of peace.   retrieved from https:// scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=worden%2c+s .%2c+ross%2c+s.%2c+parker%2c+w.%2c+%26+azar%2c+s.+%28 2011%29.+analyzing+post-conflict+justice+and+islamic+law.+&btng= http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610x.2011.561472 https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=worden%2c+s.%2c+ross%2c+s.%2c+parker%2c+w.%2c+%26+azar%2c+s.+%282011%29.+analyzing+post-conflict+justice+and+islamic+law.+&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=worden%2c+s.%2c+ross%2c+s.%2c+parker%2c+w.%2c+%26+azar%2c+s.+%282011%29.+analyzing+post-conflict+justice+and+islamic+law.+&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=worden%2c+s.%2c+ross%2c+s.%2c+parker%2c+w.%2c+%26+azar%2c+s.+%282011%29.+analyzing+post-conflict+justice+and+islamic+law.+&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=worden%2c+s.%2c+ross%2c+s.%2c+parker%2c+w.%2c+%26+azar%2c+s.+%282011%29.+analyzing+post-conflict+justice+and+islamic+law.+&btng 29 international peer reviewed journal abstract in the modern time, urban legends become unique and valuable stories in the community. these are living people’s testimony about their experiences with mix magical and mundane elements in an overall context of realistic narrations. the primary concern of this paper was to analyze and evaluate the elements of magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends. the study is a critical literary analysis conducted within the context of descriptive research. the tool used in critiquing the hiligaynon urban legends was magic realism. the result of the study showed that hiligaynon urban legends have the elements of magic realism, such as fantastical elements, real-world setting, plenitude, hybridity, and mystery. also, the culture, belief and tradition of the region shaped the elements of magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends. these could be evident in the plots, characters, themes and settings of the stories. the study concludes that there is a  genre  of magical or unreal elements in every hiligaynon urban legend. the study recommends that the school may use hiligaynon urban legends as materials in teaching regional literature for the students to recognize the beauty of their oral tradition. keywords literary critical analysis, magic realism, hiligaynon urban legends, social and cultural research, chmsc-alijis, negros occidental, philippines magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends ruth garcia tribunal http:// orcid.org/0000-0001-9856-3933  rgt052282@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis bacolod city, philippines vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.326 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction the philippines has a great and vast oral tradition. thus, our cultural information was passed on from one generation to the next by storytellers. the forms of oral tradition include poetry, folktales, and proverbs as well as magical spells, religious instructions, and recollections of the past. in the modern time, the lasting power of oral tradition would still be very evident despite the fact that there is the prevalence of radio, television, newspapers and internet. the stories of maria labo, the mysterious death of julie vega, bongbong marcos is a clone and the robinsons’ half-human half-snake urban legends or modern folkloric stories are contemporary legends. they are the representation that affect the lives of the people in a particular place where the stories are told. consequently, these stories are accepted as true whether the truth is known or not. brunvand (2012) defines an urban legend as a strong basic story-appeal, a foundation in actual belief, and a meaningful message or moral. in his book “the vanishing hitchhiker”, he stated that “urban legends are too good to be true. they are unverified and too coincidental to interpret as literal truth.” rogers (2011) claimed that magic realism tells its stories through the viewpoint of people who live in our world and experience a dissimilar authenticity that we consider unusual. he also added that magic realism cannot be speculative based on guesses or ideas about what might happen or be true rather than on facts. however, not all urban legends are unreal; some of them came from real life stories of the people in the community. with the use of magic realism in critiquing the modern oral tradition, the researcher believes that hiligaynon urban legends could be appreciated by the students especially the bsed major in english who deal with critical literary analysis. as much as we give importance in the recording of the folklores and folktales of our ancestors, urban legends should also be given emphasis as they are the offspring of our rich oral tradition. the spread of urban legends in our community would show that oral traditions have not disappeared. indeed, their settings may change, but their power and use remain. 31 international peer reviewed journal framework the study used the concept of magic realism in examining and analyzing the hiligaynon urban legends. magic realism has originated in the early twentieth century and was defined by franz roh (1995) as a new form of art. he also added that magic realism is a sequential assessment of artistic styles prior to the new form. indeed, magic realism was placed determinedly between indistinct sensuality and extremely ordered schematics because it could be supernatural, fantastic or magical. magic and magical are created in specific cultural contexts. it follows that magic realism and magical realism have as many forms of magic and the magical in them as the number of cultural contexts in which these works are produced throughout the world (bowers, 2004). this contemporary folklore purports to be true despite the unusual and extraordinary events, settings and characters in the story. for instance, an urban legend with a witch in a story of magical realism is not a fantasy element but a demonstration of the reality of people who believe in it and have real experiences with witches. in relation to this, zamora and faris (1995) said that texts labeled magical realist upon cultural systems that are no less real than those upon that traditional literary realism draws (1995). they also claim that the primary narratives may be myths, legends, rituals and practices that bind communities together. indeed, the narratives would show that people enjoy stories such as urban legends which demonstrate common denominators in culture and tradition within a particular community. subsequently, leal (1995) said, “a writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it to discover what is mysterious in things and in human acts”. he also added that magic realism is an attitude towards the reality that can be expressed in cultured forms, close or open structures like the hiligaynon urban legends. magical realism in urban legends portrays the real world of people whose reality is different from others. with this, magic realism in urban legends is the finding of the unexplained connection amid man and his situations. in all cases and ways, bowers (2004), leal (1995), roh (1995), and zamora and faris (1995) stressed the beauty of magic realism in literature. magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends provide evidence on how the regional oral tradition amazingly evolved from generation to generation. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the primary concern of this study was to examine and analyze the urban legends that deal with various aspects of the life of hiligaynon speaking people of what is ordinary, reality, fantasy or supernatural. specifically, the study sought to: 1) to identify the elements of magic realism, such as fantastical elements, realworld setting, plenitude, hybridity, and mystery, in hiligaynon urban legends; 2) to discuss the cultural influences that have shaped the use of magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends; and 3) to examine and analyze the elements of magic realism in the plot, characters, themes and setting in the stories. methodology research design the study used critical literary analysis. this method is used to interpret the literary materials to make them more comprehensible to the readers. questions about images, symbols, characters, plot, setting, and theme can be answered through this process (garcia, 2000). using this method, the researcher logically developed and presented sufficient evidence from the texts to show the elements of magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends. also, the researcher showed a systematic analysis of the external structure and profound structure of the passages and classifies the elements of magic in the stories. specifically, in this study, magic realism was used by the researcher to analyze and examine the connection of hiligaynon urban legends to the culture, belief, and tradition of hiligaynon speaking people. the research procedure in completing the study, the researcher followed the following steps: the researcher conducted the study entitled “hiligaynon urban legends: a compilation”. then, the researcher used the identified urban legends. passages from the stories were highlighted to guide the researcher to identify important ideas encompassed in urban legends. after that, second and third readings of the same stories were done. this time, repeated ideas were tabulated for identifying the themes. next, a consultation was made with fellow teachers, students, and literary enthusiasts to verify the concepts or ideas. subsequently, the themes were identified and the works were re-read to verify the existence of the ideas. lastly, the characters, settings, and plots were reexamined to show how the elements of 33 international peer reviewed journal magic realism in the identified hiligaynon urban legends affect the development of the stories. in reading the gathered hiligaynon urban legends, the researcher was guided by the assumption that there is magic realism embedded in the stories. the researcher considered the idea of interpreting the theme of magic realism by exploring the meaning of the passages in the stories based on how she interpreted and understood the texts. results and discussion magic realism in the story “amaranhig sang la castellana, negros occidental” (native zombie in la castellana, negros occidental) every culture has a memorable kind of literature. in the visayas region of the philippines, the story of zombies or amaranhig, as the locals would call them is an example. in “pedro penduko”, amaranhig is defined as a vampire who failed to transfer his monstrosity to a member of the family. this causes him to rise from his grave to kill humans by biting their necks. scott (1994) described amaranhig to have canine fangs. a person attacked by this local zombie could only escape by running in zigzag direction or by climbing a tree. amaranhig has a stiff body. the monster can only walk in straight direction and cannot climb trees. also, bodies of water are good hiding places because amaranhig is afraid of waters. the magical elements in the story were so apparent. the character and actions of amaranhig show fantastic elements as it portrays fantastical events in a real setting (zamora, 1995). for instance, the dead body moved inside the coffin, rose and walked to the direction of the stairs of his house. he sat there as if he has life again. thus, the people who claimed to have witnessed it were shocked at the same time afraid. the character and the actions of amaranhig have a fantasy trait which shows that magic realism is present in this urban legend. subsequently, the event when the amaranhig asked for water also shows fantastic element. it is a magical realism because a dead man cannot be thirsty and has no ability to drink water. those who witnessed the event claimed that it was true because the son of amaranhig gave him water to drink. on the day they buried the body of amaranhig, the family intentionally did it face down. he would not rise from his grave then. until now, people in la castellana believe that the buried amaranhig has never rested because he is still alive under the ground. consequently, the face-down position of his body would 34 jpair multidisciplinary research let him dig the earth continuously every time he feels the urge to rise from his grave. moreover, the story of amaranhig in la castellana, negros occidental also gives a different definition to this monstrous creature. according to the local folks, amaranhig is not as hideous as the local vampire (aswang) or zombie. in some amaranhig stories in the place, they die for days then rise from death if they are not able to transfer their being amaranhig to any member of the family. they never do harm to the people around them as what scott (1994) defined and the tv show “pedro pendoko” showed. they just usually sit down or walk around their houses. the researcher then believed that being amaranhig in la castellana is a situation of a cursed family member. an ancestor in the past was cursed not to have the chance to rest in his old age no matter how sick, tired or old he was. if a member of the family, particularly the first-born child claimed the curse, he could take a rest. as he lived his life, he could act as an ordinary individual without extraordinary abilities. only that, he will be a zombie unless, another member of the family claims the curse. this situation will continue to happen from generation to generation in the family. moreover, people claimed that this event happened in hacienda malaga, in la castellana, negros occidental. with this, the element of real-world setting is evident. the subsistence of fantasy elements in the real-world provides the basis for magical realism. people do not attempt to invent a new world in the story, but reveal the magical elements in this real-world in the real-time, as in the urban legend of amaranhig. in the urban legend of amaranhig in la castellana, negros occidental, the dual world of magical realism and the supernatural dominions merge with the ordinary and recognizable world. magic realism in the story “babayi nga gin yanggaw sa hinigaran” (a woman inflected to be a native vampire in hinigaran) the aswang also known as vampire of the philippines is considered to be the most prolific hideous monster in philippine folklore. as a matter of fact, the term “aswang” refers to various types of creatures that belong in these monsters (miller, 2007). similar to aswang is ek-ek or wakwak. miller described it as a bird-like human. this hideous monster turns into large birds or bats and lurks at night. the ek-ek is named because this monster produces an “ek-ek-ek” sound when attacking its victim. the wakwak is named because it emits sound of “wak-wak35 international peer reviewed journal wak” when it flies. in negros occidental, this monster is locally known as tiktik as it also produces a dull tik-tik-tik sound at night. local stories would tell that being an aswang runs in the family. therefore, parents transfer their monstrosity to their children. another way of transferring the atrocity of aswang is through “yanggaw”. yanggaw is an ilonggo term which means eerie “infliction” that can transform a normal human being into one of the horrific aswang. the movie “yanggaw”, that stared ronnie lazaro (junior) and aleera montalla (amor), defined the word yanggaw. junior’s daughter, amor, returned from another barrio with a mysterious illness. eventually, amor degenerated into a rabid and murderous aswang at night. the story of a woman named syvel, who worked as a local gambling collector, in hinigaran, negros occidental is an example of yanggaw. in an interview made by a local radio station in hinigaran, syvel claimed that an old man whispered to her the numbers he wanted to bet in stl (small time lottery). after that, she started to feel an unexplained illness in her body. when she went to an albularyo (local quack doctor), he said that an aswang inflicted or yanggaw her to be like them. she then connected her encounter with the old man to the claim of the albularyo. she said that while the old man was whispering to her the numbers, she felt his saliva in her ear. it is a local belief among hiligaynon speaking people that if an aswang intentionally placed his saliva in the ear of a human being, that person will turn into a horrific aswang. the person experienced an eerie infliction or yanggaw. thus, magic realism is very much apparent in this situation; the sense of mystery in this magic realist urban legend tends to intensify the level of events. moreover, the element of plentitude is also present in the process of inflicting the victim to become aswang (zamora, 1995). syvel and her family claimed that she tried to fight the yanggaw, especially, when she already had the urge to taste the human blood. it became the reason why she was very sick. at this moment, her parents decided to take her home as the albularyo said, “you should not stay in the place of your husband where the aswang had inflicted you”. also, the event when syvel’s saliva would enormously fall from her mouth to her whole body shows one of the characteristics of aswang. her husband would even claim that the saliva was glued to the wall. this event shows fantastic element because the story maintains the reliable tone of the objective report (zamora, 1995). 36 jpair multidisciplinary research the element of real-world setting could be applied in the event when the tiktik attacked the house of syvel as it happened in the real-world (zamora, 1995). people in ubay claimed that the tiktik who inflicted syvel bothered them the whole night. also, they ran after the tiktik to protect syvel. people said that the tiktik jumped and hopped from one roof to another. he even hid from the trees. the tiktik did not succeed to get syvel. so after three days, he went back to the place of syvel with two other tiktiks. the people opened their lights and stayed outside their houses, so the attacking tiktiks were not able to enter the place of ubay. eventually, syvel died because the tiktik who inflicted her did an orasyon (an evil’s prayer). according to the local residents, the tiktik chose to kill her because he cannot get her and make her as their own. this event shows a sense of mystery and fantasy. magic realism in “ang istorya ni tan juan araneta” (the story of tan juan araneta) a sugar planter named general juan araneta or locally known as tan juan made a big mark in the history of negros occidental. aside from being the extolling local hero of the province, tan juan also became the center of some urban legends. literary, tan juan has three famous urban legends that have fantastic and magical elements. his ability to know the activities of his obreros (farm workers) even though he was in his mansion the whole day shows his magical characteristic. his obreros would often be shocked every time tan juan knew that they did not follow what he ordered. they were confused how he knew their activities at the farm even though he was in his mansion the whole day. this fantastic element in the character of tan juan became the real experience of his obreros with him; thus, it gives a realistic tone. he had a magical robe from the sulta of kanla-on (king of encantos who lives in mt. kanla-on) that could transport him anywhere he wanted. also, he had a horse named requito that had extraordinary abilities. also, tan juan could easily disappear every time he rides his horse. lastly, the golden robe of tan juan gives him the ability to be in a place he desired. tan juan’s magical robe and horse show a strong sense of magic realism. 37 international peer reviewed journal magic realism in “ang tawo nga man-og sa gaisano mall sang bacolod city (the half-human half-snake in gaisano mall in bacolod city) in the philippines, the story about twin snake or human being giving birth to a snake is not new. the visayan epic amaya shows this kind of story in the philippine folktale. in the modern time, the urban legend of a human snake in gaisano mall in bacolod city became famous in the 90’s. the locals believe that the human snake brings luck to his family. in the story of “the half-human half-snake in gaisano mall in bacolod city”, the people claimed that the family brings the human snake in any branches of gaisano malls that do not earn big. thus, most people say that the human snake permanently stays in the basement of gaisano mall in the downtown area of bacolod city. people also believe that every time the human snake is hungry, he will pick one unlucky, beautiful young lady that is using the mall’s dressing room. the floor is said to open, sending the lady into the dark basement, where the human snake dwells, and he will eat her. in some version of the stories, the snake rapes the lady before eating her. other stories say that the human snake sometimes free some of his victims with the promise that they will not tell the story to anyone. this urban legend has an obvious spice of magic realism. though, on the outside, the story has no magical features, the character of the human snake breaks the rules of our real-world by attributing to it a fantastic element (zamora, 1995). also, the story gives accurate details of the real-world setting. it tells the people about the reference of the human snake, the family where he belongs and the place where he stays. the action of the human snake eating or abusing his victims would turn out to be an abnormal occurrence. still, everything is conveyed in a real setting. magic realism in “ang tatlo ka misteryoso nga puno sa highway sang silay” (the three mysterious trees in the highway of silay city) the belief in the existence of supernatural powers and beings has a big part in the philippine oral tradition. hiligaynon people also share a vast part of this tradition. in negros occidental, many people believe that the three bubog trees in the highway of silay city are the legendary home of the encantos or the enchanted ones. old people refer the encantos as elementals; they are as old as the trees, mountains, and rivers. in another popular belief, they are known as the fallen angels who revolted with lucifier against god. when god exiled them from heaven, they continued to live on earth sharing the world with the mortals. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research locals believe that the encantos could show themselves in whatever form they want, human or not. moreover, their ability to appear as humans gives them the avenue to interact and communicate with the mortals. if they are in human form, their peculiar characteristic is the lack of the philtrum, the indentation below the nose and above the upper lip. thus, the presence of the encantos might be out of this world but reportedly true by the people who encountered them. indeed, the story of “the three mysterious trees in the highway of silay city segments magic realism. the encantos in this story share the world with human beings, but they live in another dimension of the world. the situation explains that a place that we consider land with the houses, plantation and street could be a body of water or sea in their world. this supernatural belief could be the reason why most drivers who survived in the rampant vehicular accidents in front of the three mysterious trees would always claim that they saw a huge luxury ship crossing the highway. the vessel with its sound and lights distracted the drivers that led them to a deadly accident. the presence of the human world and the encantos in one setting, but with different dimensions shows the element of hybridity. it mixes multiple planes of reality or inharmonious grounds of such opposites (zamora, 1995). consequently, there is the shaking of the houses near the small river every time the ship passes. there is also the road-shaped dried part of the sugarcane plantation that started from the mysterious trees and ended to mt. kanla-on. these two occurrences could be clear evidence that the things we see in our world are not the same as of the encantos, even though we share the same planet. the mysterious element of fantasy could also be evident in the story. every time a person passes by the trees at 12:00 noon, he could smell delicious food. they even say that the smell could also be the same as the food which mortals eat. also, people could hear the sound of someone washing the plates. this situation shows that the encantos live like the individuals in another dimension. also, they die as there are young, old, female and male encantos. consequently, the three trees represent their palace, church, and hospital. the old people living in the area claim that some of them had the chance to see the real images of the mysterious trees. in the story, the element of real-world setting could be evident in the account when the encantos bought the ten mercedes benz. old people in the area even claimed that they saw the cars passed by the street and vanished as the cars approached the three mysterious trees. in the modern time, when the owner of 39 international peer reviewed journal the sugarcane planned to make the plantation into a subdivision, a man with a bag full of money went to the office of the construction firm. according to the people who witnessed the event, the man bought the area where the mysterious trees are located to be sure that the company would not cut the trees as part of the development. after his meeting with the manager, he went to the mercedes benz, in just a blink of an eye, according to the security guard, the man and the car vanished in front of the building. magic realism in “ang milagro ni san vicente ferrer sang brgy. vito, sagay” (the miracle of san vicente ferrer of brgy. vito, sagay) in a country where there is a very strong christian faith like the philippines, stories about the miraculous saints become ordinary. in barangay vito, sagay city, negros occidental, saint vicente ferrer becomes the hope of the people who are weary and sick. people in the island go to barangay vito hoping to have miracles from saint vicente ferrer. locals would do “patapak”, a vernacular which means to be stepped. they would bow their heads in front of the statue of saint vicente ferrer. the person in charge would hold the sculpture of the saint so his feet could step on the head or body of the sick people. they do this practice as their panata (promise) to seek healing from the saint. people claimed that saint vicente ferrer healed them because of their belief (panata). with this, the element of magical realism would be evident in this story. the sick people became well again after they do patapak and pray for the help of saint vicente ferrer. consequently, more people go to vito church. medicine and science are not considered important because the people’s faith already healed them. this part of the story has fantastic element as the character of saint vicente ferrer does miraculous things to the people in what it claims real-world setting (zamora, 1995). also, in the event in the story when a wood tried to follow the boat of the fisherman and his wife, the magical element is shown. they got rid of the wood, but it continued to shadow them until they decided to bring it home. in this situation, a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe. moreover, this urban legend was categorized as magical realism when the wood turned into the statue of saint vicente ferrer. the miraculous events confused the people so they just simply explained that the miracles are from god and saint vicente ferrer is god’s way to help the weary and sick people. the stories that i heard became a part of my growing-up years. they give an immense influence to my life. as these stories lead me to the belief that human 40 jpair multidisciplinary research beings are not the only ones living in this world, i become conscious of the ways i deal with the unseen world. for instance, if i am new to a place, i utter the words “tabi tabi” which means “excuse me” so the elementals that i could not see will not harm me. i personally believe that these elementals are evil and capricious all the time. they would never consider the fact that human beings could not see them. thus, they harm us if we hurt them unaware. moreover, these contemporary folklores clearly and vividly explain the beautiful cultural belief of hiligaynon people. indeed, the hiligaynon urban legends could make a different mark compared to the urban legends of other regions in the country. also, a strong sense of magical elements is common in hiligaynon urban legends, which shows that hiligaynon speaking people have unique ways of explaining and understanding a particular phenomenon. subsequently, this study shows a very important discovery in most mythical characters. first, amaranhig in hiligaynon setting is not an aswang who was not able to transfer his being aswang to a member of his family. instead, he is just an ordinary person who never harms other people. his ancestor who did bad things to another person cursed him not to have peaceful death, unless someone is willing to take the curse. second, the idea of yanggaw is common among hiligaynon urban legends. most hiligaynon people would say to bring suwa or calamansi every time they attend a fiesta. if they squeeze calamansi on the food they are eating, they could see if it is a human body. you can be inflicted to be an aswang by eating the food that the aswang prepared or by saliva that the aswang will intentionally put inside a person’s ear. third, most hiligaynon speaking people believe that the king of the encantos is the sulta of kanla-on. thus, most albularyos or quack doctors go to the mountain to pray. another point is that supernatural beings with extraordinary powers could be a part of the world where mortals move. anyone who believes in god also believes in evil. the story prepared me to be more prayerful and more conscious of the things i do. a person may not know that he is facing an amaranhig, an aswang or even an encanto. the lessons i get from these stories make me realize that there is evil and prayers are the best weapons god has given to us. fourth, the human snake would show to us that hiligaynon speaking people have a unique way on how to explain the source of the wealth of the people. it is very easy to say that these people work hard to achieve success. but in the urban legends, the dark side of the rich family was discussed: connecting the source of 41 international peer reviewed journal their wealth to the evil and hideous son who eats and rapes his victim. lastly, in times of trouble and difficulties like experiencing a terrible illness, it would be a natural response to seek religious help. god sent his prophets to help us with our need. those who are weary and weak tend to find strength from god. thus, people go to miraculous churches to find refuge. the story of saint vicente ferrer could open the eyes of the people that god continues to make ways on how to help us and make us realize that his love is overflowing. cultural context in hiligaynon urban legends the urban legends of hiligaynon speaking people give an immense influence to the way they life. as these stories lead them to the belief that human beings are not the only ones living in this world, they become conscious of the ways they deal with the unseen world. for instance, if someone is new to a place, he utters the words “tabi tabi” which means excuse me so the elementals which i could not see will not harm me. i personally believe that these elementals are evil and capricious all the time. they would never consider the fact that human beings could not see them. thus, they harm us if we hurt them unaware. this kind of practice is a part of hiligaynon culture that was passed from one generation to another. moreover, these contemporary folklore clearly and vividly explain the beautiful cultural belief of hiligaynon people. indeed, the hiligaynon urban legends could make a different mark compared to the urban legends of other regions in the country. in addition, a very strong sense of magical elements are common in hiligaynon urban legends, this simply shows that hiligaynon people have unique ways of explaining and understanding a particular phenomenon. subsequently, this study shows a very important discovery in most mythical characters. first, amaranhig in hiligaynon setting is not an aswang who was not able to transfer his being aswang to a member of his family. instead, he is just an ordinary person who never harm other people. his ancestor who did bad things to another person cursed him not to have peaceful death unless, someone is willing to take the curse. second, the idea of yanggaw is common among hiligaynon urban legends. most hiligaynon people would say to bring suwa or calamansi every time they attend a fiesta so they would know if the food they are eating is a body of a human. you can be inflected to be an aswang by eating the food that the aswang prepared or by saliva that the aswang will intentionally put inside the ear. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research third, most hiligaynon people who believe that the king of the encantos is the sulta of kanla-on. thus most albolaryo (quack doctors) go to the mountains to pray. another point, supernatural beings with extraordinary powers could be a part of the world where mortals move. anyone who believes in god also believes in evil. this made me more prayerful and more conscious of the things i do. no one could know that the person he is facing is in fact, an amaranhig, an aswang or even an encanto. the lessons i get from these stories make me realize that evil is around and prayers are the best weapons god has given to us. fourth, the human snake would show to us that hiligaynon people has very unique way on how to explain the source of the wealth of rich people. it is very easy to say that these people work hard to achieve success. but in the urban legends, the dark side of the rich family was discussed: connecting the source of their wealth to the evil and hideous son who eats and raped his victim. lastly, in times of trouble and difficulties like experiencing a terrible illness, it would be a natural response to seek religious help. god sent his prophets to help us with our need. those who are weary and weak tend to find strength from god. thus, people go to miraculous churches to find refuge. the story of saint vicente ferrer could open the eyes of the people that god continues to make ways on how to help us and make us realize that his love is overflowing. conclusions the elements of magic realism such as fantastical elements, real-world setting, plenitude, meta-fiction, and mystery, are evident in hiligaynon urban legends. second, there is a strong cultural influences which have shaped the elements of magic realism in hiligaynon urban legends. lastly, in the examination and analyzes the elements of magic realism are used in the plot, characters, themes and setting in the stories. literature cited bowers, m. a. (2004). magic(al) realism (the new critical idiom). routledge. new york, usa. brunvand, j.h. (2012). encyclopedia of urban legends: vol 1-2. abc-clio, llc inc., california, usa. 43 international peer reviewed journal garcia, j. n. c. (2000).the likhaan book of the philippines criticism 19921997. u.p creative writing center and the university of the philippines press. leal, l. (1995). “magic realism in spanish american literature”. magical realism: theory, history, community. ed. lois parkinson zamora and wendy b. faris. durham, n.c.: duke up. miller, a. (2007). magic creatures and non-human. retrieved: december 23, 2014. http://www.mysiquijor.com/magiccreatures.html. rogers, b. h. (2011). what is magical realism, really.  retrieved from www. writing-world. com/sf/realism. shtml. roh, f. (1995). “magic realism: post-expressionism.” magic realism: theory, history, community. ed. lois parkinson zamora and wendy b. faris. durham, n.c.: duke up. scott, william henry (1994). barangay: sixteenth century philippines culture and society. ateneo de manila university press. quezon city. zamora, l. p. and faris, w. b. (1995). magical realism: theory, history, community. duke university press. usa. 83 international peer reviewed journal cultural tourism in kilicao, daraga, albay, philippines for community development vicente b. fernandez http://orcid.org/0000-00w-8194761 vincefernandez1@yahoo.com bicol college sagpon, daraga, albay originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract cultural tourism has a significant contribution to the economic growth of the community. the study aimed to (1) establish the residents’ awareness of cultural tourism for community development in terms of (a) arts, (b) customs, and (c) traditions 2.) determine the benefits of cultural tourism in kilicao along the variables mentioned above (3) analyze the challenges encountered by the residents in developing the cultural tourism in the community, and 4.) recommend programs to promote and develop cultural tourism in the community. the study employed the qualitative research method, and the focused-group discussion and interview were used to understand the fundamental reasons, opinions, and motivations. the findings revealed that the residents have expressed enthusiasm to actively participate and cooperate to promote the cultural tourism in the community; there were benefits to the residents; the residents have encountered challenges, such as lack of knowledge, financial constraints, and accessibility issues; and programs were being offered towards community development. as recommended, tourism planning for the promotion should be done through community awareness programs. the local government unit should also allocate funds with the help of the different agencies for its sustainability. vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.773 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, cultural tourism, promotion, sustainability, community introduction cultural tourism is widely perceived as an economic development tool for the local community, providing factors that may improve quality of life such as employment and investment opportunities, tax revenues, restaurants, accommodation services, natural and cultural attractions, festivals, and outdoor recreation opportunities. also, cultural tourism is international travel directed towards experiencing local arts, heritage, landscapes, traditions, and lifestyles. cultural tourism research has also grown rapidly, particularly in fields such as cultural consumption, cultural motivations, heritage conservation, cultural tourism economics, anthropology, and the relationship with the creative economy. thus, promotion is the tool for informing potential consumers about the qualities of the products offered that will help achieve and secure greater sales (richards, 2018). it is designed to inform the target market about the offered product through advertisements online and commercials on television. bicol region is a famous haven for tourist destinations. with bountiful beach resorts and other eye-catching locations, it has been a constant pick for travelers worldwide. even local tourists and trekkers are still curious and attracted to the variety of tourist destinations in bicol. there are beaches, natural parks, and other historical, religious, and archeological sites. among the provinces in the bicol region, albay is one of the most pleasing and popular. from festivals to spicy cuisines, attractions, and the nearly perfect cone-shaped active mayon volcano, and culture make albay a top tourist destination. the province of albay has fifteen municipalities, each and every municipality offers an aesthetic site and rich resources. however, there is still a quite unexplored area in the said province, which is the barangay kilicao that has a rich cultural heritage and scenic spots. the researcher chooses kilicao in daraga, albay so that the community would benefit through sustainable cultural tourism. likewise, the researcher wants to turn the natural resources that abound in the community to enhance a tourist destination by developing the diversity and uniqueness offered by the municipality of daraga. based on the census of population (2015), daraga is a first-class municipality in albay. it is located in the southern part of mayon volcano bounded by the towns of camalig, guinobatan, and legazpi city. kilicao is the nearest barangay 85 international peer reviewed journal to the foot of the active volcano. the barangay has seven zones with an adjacent area, which is the sitio matagbac. it has a total land area of 2, 088 hectares. as of 2007, there is a total population of 10, 319 who widely speak daraganon, a bicol sub-dialect. the barangay tourism and cultural officer of kilicao has been promoting the area as a place with its unique cuisines, delicacies, such as the famous “suman sa ibus,” customs and traditions, forests, rivers, and hills and atv for the sports enthusiasts. the barangay’s major industries are agriculture, handicrafts, such as, ‘sinamay’ derived from banana fiber. the researcher selects this concept of tourism because, as tourism enthusiasts, it is also significant to look for a credible tourist site that has the potential to introduce to the local and foreign visitors. it is worthy of being promoted, and since it has the potentials and qualifications to be developed. the researcher undoubtedly believes that its rich culture and beliefs, and also the mesmerizing natural view will surely satisfy tourists on its high possibility. the slopes of mount mayon would also be the best and ideal place to adventure and let tourists feel the stunning essence of nature they commonly look for. the researcher looks forward to its success due to its capability to become a perfect tourist destination worthy of development. objectives of the study the general objective of this study was to create awareness of cultural tourism among the residents in kilicao, daraga, albay as the basis for community development. specifically, it aimed to establish the residents’ awareness on cultural tourism for community development in terms of arts, customs, and traditions; determine the benefits of cultural tourism in kilicao along with the aforementioned variables; analyze the challenges encountered by the residents in developing the cultural tourism in the community, and recommend programs to promote and develop the cultural tourism in the community. nayomi and gnanapala (2015) pointed out that tourism was considered as one of the largest and fastest developing sectors of the world. its high growth and development rates brought considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, infrastructure development, employment generation, regional development, economic multiplier effects, and introduction of new management and educational experience actively affect various sectors of the economy, which could positively be affected to the social and economic development of the country. however, the industry also generated a number of other negative socio-economic 86 jpair multidisciplinary research and cultural impacts on local communities. therefore, the study considered the main social and economic impacts on the local community through tourism development in the kandalama area of sri lanka. the study identified that the community had developed positive attitudes about tourism development, and the community was accepted tourism as a major income source through active and passive participation. according to alshboul (2016), research on community involvement in development had shifted from a conventional to a more sustainable form of tourism. sustainable tourism aimed to engage the local communities in its planning, development, and management. thus, various efforts had been made to promote community participation and cooperation and translate it from concept to practice for community development. on the other hand, croes and semrad (2015) applied the cultural tourism typology of mckercher and estimated the economic relevance of cultural tourism to the context of a small island destination tourist market. the authors viewed that small island destinations could be confronted with environmental constraints that restrained the traditional small island tourism development model based on sun, sand, and sea. the results of the study indicated that mckercher’s typology could provide more refined results when incorporating the purpose of a trip, and those cultural tourists could be a lucrative market for destinations to pursue given the results of an economic input-output model. likewise, aref, gill, and aref (2009) made the case on the role of local communities for tourism development. this study attempted to highlight the role of tourism development and how communities could develop tourism in the local area. the concepts of community and community development had been important for local tourism development. the implication of this study arose from the fact that little research was carried out on the interaction between communities and local tourism. theoretically, the findings of this study enriched knowledge concerning the local tourism industry. likewise, brida, disegna, and osti (2011) made the case on the residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts and how they affected their attitudes towards local tourism policies. the findings revealed that residents’ perceptions of economic, environmental, and socio-cultural impacts affected their support of local tourism policies. residents who perceived tourism impacts positively were more willing to support future tourism development policies. chang et al. (2018) also made a point to what extent tourism impacts affected indigenous hosts’ support of alternatives for tourism plans. the authors ranked the effects of socio-culture, economic, and environmental tourism impacts. the 87 international peer reviewed journal findings suggested that culture-related impacts most improve indigenous residents’ tourism development support. the residents expected economic impacts on both the regional and local scales. hence, this study contributed essential information to the understanding of tourism impacts from an indigenous perspective. on one of the aspects of cultural tourism, eringa and zhou (2015) investigated how a relatively unknown town that was elected as the cultural capital of europe to attract more tourists from around the world. it was found that visual material could help to frame the experience in all three stages. for that reason, destinations should have employed some kind of visual identity system management to package the city’s image into a clear brand. on the aspect of eco-tourism, jalani (2012) examined the local community’s views on its impact and importance on the natural resources to the tourism industry. the result of the study revealed that undoubtedly the tourism industry in the area had been a source of income for most of the householders due to the growing number of visitors in the area. furthermore, it led to the change of livelihood among local people due to higher compensation offered by the tourism industry. however, environmental protection was seen as least of the enumerated positive impacts against work opportunity and city development. nevertheless, residents had a high level of awareness and involvement in the protection of the environment. thus, the concept of ecotourism was very evident from the local government and park coordinators but did not entirely transcend to all sectors in the community. filipinos had a strong spirituality as manifested in the study conducted by resurreccion and mansukhani (2009) that filipino adolescents defined spirituality in terms of faith, personal relationship with god, and positive character, and describe spiritual persons as having faith in god, morality, positive personal qualities, a positive sense of self, spiritual connectedness, transcendent and relational sources of happiness, ability to solve problems, and a sense of wellbeing. likewise, according to international academic forum (2010), the profound sense of piety and religiosity in the bicol region could be seen in the way people viewed the roles and functions of the catholic faith in their lives. thus, people performed rituals and devoutly showed their faith by practicing penance to evoke pity and sympathy from god. such a platform served as the ground for devotion to christ and saints. according to gonzales (2017) proposed a feasible action plan that could be taken to address the identified challenges that center on inauthentic and unsustainable tourism products. the author examined the challenges that the https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/ron-r.-resurreccion/116323144 https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/roseann-mansukhani/117848331 88 jpair multidisciplinary research cultural tourism sector faced in relation to the growing eco-tourism capital. it further argued that the government tourism policies had a direct impact on the level of cultural tourism development of a region. also, it affected the tourism orientations of both the tourist and the service provider. brolan et al. (2014) showed how families sought a folk healer before seeking primary healthcare across the philippines. intellectual impairment was perceived by some filipinos to be caused by supernatural forces, and that socio-cultural constructs of intellectual disability probably influenced the health outcomes in the area. in addition, according to stuart (2003), in the rural areas, by tradition and because of chronic economic constraints, the faith healers or the so-called ‘albularyos’ were the general practitioners of health care. as with other healers, there was usually a history of a healer in the family-line, their healing a continuum of a “calling,” the power or ability bestowed by a supernatural being, often, attributed to the holy spirit. years of patience and study brought the healers into a familiarity with the lore, rituals, and modalities of diagnosis and healing, the prayers, ‘bulong and orasyon,’ and the use of herbal medicinal plants. to support the basic needs of filipinos, they were regarded as hardworking people. bande and villas (2019) investigated the folk beliefs and practices of bagong farmers of san roque in northern samar. unlike in other parts of the country where the plant was primarily utilized for pig feeding, it was served during special occasions like christmas and new year. these occasions were preceded by folk practices unique to the community. in a different study, gonzales (2017) aimed to determine the importance of conducting festivals in the different areas in batangas province. the study revealed that the festival helped in the preservation of local culture and traditions. those who belonged in the high and average class, had a more positive response than those in the lower class. festivals could help recreate the town’s image to get on the tourism map, where it helped the tourism industry of the specific area like batangas by extending the tourism season. every development that happened in the province gave them the opportunity for life improvement. festivals provided identity to the people that nourished the filipino culture and strengthened the economic benefits through hard work and perseverance of the batanguenos to be known their festivals worldwide. abocejo (2015) assessed the competitiveness of cebu’s tourism industry visa-vis the central visayas and the rest of the philippines on cultural development. by examining relevant tourism indicators, the study investigated and analyzed the status, challenges, and sustainability of cebu’s tourism industry amidst the 89 international peer reviewed journal highly competitive tourism environment in the visayas and across the country. the findings revealed that its diverse historical and natural resources strengthened cebu’s tourism competitiveness, rich cultural milieu, established land, sea, and air transport infrastructure, presence of hotels and resorts, and a thriving industrial and manufacturing economy. in addition, according to nolasco and cruz (2016), tourism had benefits not just for travelers, but also to the local economy. since the bicol region had natural and cultural attractions, it was a potential travel destination. this allowed travel enthusiasts to get more information about various tourist attractions. these authors analyzed the effectiveness of delivering information sources, such as web advertisement and desktop publishing, for tourist promotion in the bicol region. specifically, it determined the status of tourism and identified common forms of promotions for tourism development. based on the findings of the total foreign visitors in the country, only 9.14% visited bicol region in 2014. hence, domestic tourists showed a high percentage against foreign visitors, with 25.7%. brochures with ez maps are the most commonly used desktop publishing materials, websites and social media for web advertisements. thus, there was a need to re-evaluate promotional activities by the department of tourism (dot) and other agencies. adoption suggestive features for creative desktop publishing materials and web services could be considered to increase tourist visitors. this study would benefit the barangay council of kilicao and other various sectors. the result of the study will contribute to the idea of conceptualizing plans and programs regarding the tourism destinations in this community. this will serve as an aid in making plans about developing the destination as a tourist destination. the department of tourism, particularly the regional office of bicol (region v) would gain insights that there are still undiscovered and undeveloped, but potential tourist destinations in daraga, albay other than the famous cagsawa ruins. this would further benefit the tourism department as it faces structural advantages in addressing the weaknesses and even threats to tourism development. it will also help the local residents and tourists coming from different parts of the country and outside the philippines. it will provide them information about the destination, and in addition, it will give them perceptions about this place and appreciation of the attraction. this study will not just be beneficial to the locals and tourists but also the educators and students, especially those who are taking tourism management as their chosen program. this will help them gain knowledge and widen their understanding of the destination. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, this will be beneficial to both the researcher and future researchers. the outcome of the study is effective to use as a source of new information. it would encourage others to conduct research on the area. lastly, this study shall promote the tourism industry not just in kilicao, daraga, albay, but also in the whole bicol region. methodology research design this section presents the discussion of the research design and methodology along with the procedure employed in data gathering and the process used in assessing the data to be gathered. the study employed a qualitative research design in gathering relevant information about the study. the focused-group discussion and interview were utilized in gathering vital responses. research site the study was conducted at barangay kilicao in the municipality of daraga, albay. participants the participants were the three (3) barangay officials and fifteen residents. the chairperson on the tourism council, along with the barangay captain and another councilor, participated in the study. also, the fifteen individuals were the residents of the barangay from the different zones served as the respondents of the study. data gathering procedure the researcher sought permission from the office of the barangay captain of kilicao in daraga, albay, to conduct the study. upon approval, the researcher requested the barangay secretary to get the list of the residents involved in the tourism council together with the in-charge barangay officials. the researcher conducted the focused-group discussion at a place and time convenient to the participants. the gathered information was collated and was analyzed. 91 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the barangay officials revealed that on the aspect of spirituality as part of the culture and tradition, the residents had a strong devotion to almighty god as the giver of life. according to the accounts of the elders, “sa pagkaka-alam naming ang mga naninirahan ditto ay may matinding pananalig sa pong maykapal”. (in our own understanding, the residents had a strong faith in god. as stated by the elders, “ang kilicao ay galling sa salitang licao na ibig sabihin ang pamayanan ay iniligtas sa matinding baha ng santong michael archangel noong unang panahon” (kilicao came from the word ‘licao’ the entire community was spared from the havoc of the great flood long time ago, and eventually saved the residents from its devastation in the intervention of the saint michael de archangel, the barangay patron saint). they celebrated fiesta every year in the last week of september in honor of their patron saint, flores de mayo, and santacruzan in honor of the virgin mary. these annual celebrations and festivities, as commonly practiced all over the country, were considered as a way of thanksgiving as part of the tradition, thus showcasing a unique filipino spirit and warm hospitality. according to the participants, they were able to share the blessings they received by welcoming every visitor in their homes to be part of the celebration. through this practice, they established rapport and eventually built friendships among individuals in the community. hence, cooperation and camaraderie were always present in every activity. another statement was given by the residents, the people believed in faith healing on the extent of observance of the folk medical practices, such as, santigwar, paninibang and pag-orasyon usually performed by elders with the power to cure sick people. these forms of faith healing as part of common practices during the primitive era were still present up to the present time, especially those individuals who were able to afford medical attention due to poverty. on account of the faith healers, they could not treat an individual who sought a cure for such illness unless he or she had a strong faith in god as a giver of life. in the form of gratitude, individuals who received healing offered gifts, such as, food items, cash and other things voluntarily. faith healers did not require people to pay any amount unless they had the willingness to share so that it violated their pledge to help people who needed healing from them. hon. gerald b. llorca, the barangay councilor who was in-charged for the tourism office, “nakakita kami ng isang bagay na hugis palaka sa isang lugar sa barangay nag sabi ng mga matatanda ito ay ngbigay ng swerte sa kanila” (they 92 jpair multidisciplinary research found a structure that formed like a big white frog the outskirts of the barangay, and through the information from the elders it brought lucks to the residents). the residents still practiced the ‘tabi, tabi’ when traversing roads not being frequently visited in giving respects to the unseen creatures and spirits. as understood, cultural tourism includes the livelihood activities of the residents to sustain their daily needs. foreign and even local tourists expressed their desire to understand the lifestyles and experience the simple life in the barrio. according to the tourism and cultural officer, the barangay’s major industries were on agriculture, handicrafts, and other work activities. majority of the residents engaged in farming such as rice, root crops, vegetables, and coconut production. hence, the barangay council started their projects on organic vegetable production in all the seven zones of the barangay in response to the need for the scarcity of food supply. the council had created such a project in response to the booming farm tourism industry. the residents also had ventured on the handicraft industry, such as ‘sinamay’ derived from banana fiber for the production of different finished products being sold to the local and even foreign markets. in the community’s food production sector, the barangay council had been promoting the area as a place with its unique cuisines and delicacies, such as the famous “suman sa ibus.” the council had organized the group of individuals to hold an annual festival on this unique food item as uniquely produced in the barangay. on the other hand, according to the respondents, they believed that cultural tourism would be beneficial to the residents. these things could have led to job creation for community development. it could draw local and foreign tourists to visit the barangay and experience many good things about the cultural, spiritual, and social aspects of life in the local settings. in addition, the respondents had encountered challenges in the aspect of cultural tourism, such as lack of knowledge, financial constraints, and accessibility issues. despite these challenges, the respondents had expressed their interest in learning and understanding all the aspects of cultural tourism through measures and intervention programs for community development. a potential tourist site was defined as a site that was possible for tourism. in addition, tourism planning, according to the barangay officials and residents on cultural tourism, should be done by the responsible tourism personnel, meetings, and community awareness that can help, such as carrying capacity of the programs and implementation of rules and regulations concerning cultural tourism. 93 international peer reviewed journal conclusions this study’s general objective was to create awareness on cultural tourism among the residents as a basis for community development. based on the findings, the residents had expressed enthusiasm to participate actively and cooperate to promote cultural tourism in the community. there were benefits to the residents from the different aspects of cultural tourism. the residents had encountered challenges, such as lack of knowledge, financial constraints, and accessibility issues, and programs that were offered towards community development. translational research the findings of this study should be translated through a journal article for international publications or brochures. recommendations based on the conclusions, tourism planning for the promotion should be done through a community awareness program. the implementation of plans and programs concerning cultural tourism should be present in the line-up plans of the barangay as well as the local government unit, and the local government unit should allocate funds with the help of the different agencies for its sustainability. literature cited abocejo, f. t. 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(2003). the healers: albularyos, hilot, medicos, faith healers. retrieved from www.stuartexchange.com https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1182 https://bit.ly/3e57mmj https://bit.ly/3e57mmj https://bit.ly/2xeiov8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2018.03.005 http://www.stuartexchange.com cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 267 rhodium interaction with human nrg1 gene of schizophrenia rukhsana nawaz rukshar.gul@gmail.com dr. panjwani center for molecular medicine and drug research, iccbs, university of karachi erum zahir erum_zahir@hotmail.com departments of chemistry, university of karachi, karachi, pakistan fatima shad kaneez ftmshad@yahoo.com human physiology, pap rsb institute of health sciences, university brunei darussalam, jalan tungku link, brunei darussalam abstract rhodium (ii) acetate [rh2 (o2cch3)4] could be used as an indicator for single nucleotide polymorphism (snps) involved in the onset of schizophrenia. rhodium (rh1) has affinity to make covalent interactions with neuregulin (nrg1) gene at snps mutation. binding effects of rh1 has been studied under different molar concentrations at different time periods. in this study we used rh1 to evaluate its interaction with nrg1 gene in schizophrenic patients of pakistan. rh-nrg1 adduct were amplified by pcr and visualized on agarose gel electrophoresis. here vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.164 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 268 we show rh1 binding with nrg1 gene was inhibited with increasing concentration ranges from 0.5 -3 µm. it has been noted that upon binding with nrg1 gene rh1 decreased the mobility and intensity of the dna bands. noticeably rh1 didn’t inhibit the activity of mun1 restriction enzyme having specific caaa cleavage site. after the digestion of nrg1 gene having snps mutation combining with rh1 proves its covalent binding only with guanine or thymine and not with adenine or cytosine. this is a novel study that shows rhodium can covalently binds with human dsdna and can inhibit its amplification. the effect of rh1 to target different snps mutations (normally occurs in genetic diseases such as schizophrenia) can be identified by using this technique. there are variations between human populations, so a snp allele that is common in one geographical or ethnic group may be much rarer in another, and rh1 can act as a useful tool to identify snps of schizophrenic genes. keywords pakistani population, schizophrenia, single nucleotide polymorphism (snp), neuregulin (nrg1), rhodium (rh) introduction schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and multifactorial brain disorder. nrg1 gene with snps mutation shows the increase risk for schizophrenia. neuregulin (nrg1) is the strongest leading schizophrenia susceptibility gene. nrg1 was first implicated in schizophrenia in an icelandic population (stefansson, h, et al., 2002).human nrg1 gene is located on chromosome 8p22-13 and is approximately 1.2 mb long including more than 30 exons and several large introns (paul j.h., amanda, j.l., 2006). recently 13 snps have been typed for schizophrenia in nrg1 gene(m gardner, et al., 2006; amanda j. law et al., 2006) previous studies have shown dna international peer reviewed journal 269 interactions with heavy metals such as zinc (zn), rhodium (rh) and copper (cu) (katsuyuki, a. abdus, s., 2002; rahman m.d.m, et al., 2008) early studies have demonstrated that interaction of rhodium occurred only with poly adenine but not with poly guanine or poly cytosine (j.l. bear jr, et al., 1975; j.l. bear 1986; e. tselepi-kalouli, et al., 1990 ). studies done on rh using l121 cell line have revealed that rhodium could be used as an anti-tumor metal when they form adduct with carboxylate (r.a. howard, et al., 1979).metal based anti-tumor drugs play very beneficial role in identifying biological activities (helen, t, et al., 2003), such as to detect mismatch base pairs, to identify single nucleotide polymorphism (snps) mutations and in cancers. adducts are also important for understanding the mechanism of the biological activities of antipsychotic agents. recently it has been shown that rh has the ability to recognized mismatch base pairs in double stranded dna molecule (dsdna) and detected snps within the genome. this provided the general approach to the discovery of snps in amplified regions of the dsdna (jonathan, r.h, et al., 2004; henrik junicke, et al., 2003). the purpose of this study was to explore rhodium’s covalent attachment with nrg1 gene. since rhodium has ability to target double stranded dna by forming various covalent adducts, our study can be useful in the synthesis of rhodium based antipsychotics drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. in this study we have selected the single nucleotide polymorphism (snps) primer (rs3924999, g38a) for nrg1 gene (yang, j.z, et al., 2003). interaction between nrg1 and rhodium acetate were investigated under different molar ratio at different time durations as detect rhodium binding effect with nrg1 gene, mun1 restriction enzyme was used to cleaved nrg1 gene and to check the binding of rhodium whether it bound with g, c or a. the purpose of this study is to explore rhodium’s covalent attachment with nrg1 gene. as rhodium has ability to target double stranded dna by forming various covalent adducts. our study can be useful in the synthesis of rhodium based antipsychotics drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 270 fig. 1. structure and atom numbering of rhodium adduct (helen, et al., 2003) international peer reviewed journal 271 experimental method dna extraction venous blood samples werecollected from identified subjects after getting human ethic approval from jinnah post graduate medical centre (jpmc) hospital. the samples were stored in 3 % edta solution in falcon tubes for 3 hrs. genomic dna was extracted using the phenol–chloroform method as described previously (debomoy k. lahiri and bill schnabel. 1993). concentration of dna was determined by using uv absorbance at 260 and 280 nm. the ratio of 260/280 nm was 1.76 which is close to 1.8. preparation of rh (l) adduct with human nrg1 gene the isolated human dna was combined with rhodium. rhodium acetate was purchased from (merck& co. inc., u.s). nrg1 gene was prepared for rh(1) binding at the concentration of µm (5, 3, 1, 0.5, 0.1) and nm (10, 5, 1, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.1) were dissolved in 1mm sodium phosphate buffer at ph 7 containing 3mm nacl2. the reaction mixture was incubated at 37 ◦c for 24, 48 and 72 hours in dark as to protect from light-induced disturbance during the incubation (md. masudur rahman, et al., 2007). preparations of pcr mixture for rhodium treated dna adduct we used two sets of dna sample. one set was treated with rhodium but not used for pcr to serve as control. the sequence of the primer was as follows for the rs3924999: forward primer sequence are 5`actggtttcacaccgaaggac 3`, and reverse sequence 5` ccaagatgagatccattttcgc 3` (yang et al., 2003)while other set was treated with rhodium and used for pcr reaction, we have used snps primer (rs3924999) for pcr reaction. pcr reactions were performed in 0.2 ml pcr tubes contained a reaction volume of 50ul (1x pcr buffer, 1.5mm mgcl2, 10mm primer forward and reverse, 100um of dntps, 3 u of taq polymerase and 200ng/ul template of human genomic dna). pcr conditions used for amplification of nrg1 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 272 gene includes an initial denaturation at 94◦c for 5 min, followed by 35 cycles at 94◦c for 30 sec, 55–62◦c for 40 sec, 72◦c for 1 min, and a final elongation at 72◦c for 10 min. rs3924999 was designed to amplify 246bp. after the pcr amplification these samples were run on gel to determine the change in mobility and intensity of the dna adduct. all the dna samples were incubated with rhodium adduct for 24, 48 and 72 hrs and the binding reaction were carried out with iµm dna and plus rh at different molar concentration as described earlier. digestion of the adducts by restriction enzymes the digestion reaction was carried out by incubating the pcr adduct product snp rs3924999) samples with muni restriction enzyme at 37oc for 4 hrs and tru1i at 55oc for 4 hrs, both enzymes were purchased from fermentas (international inc, canada). the pcr adduct products were run in 2% (w/v) agarose gel in tris borate edta (tbe) buffer. the gel electrophoresis was carried out at 80 v for 1 hr and 45 minutes and washed with milli q water for 10 minutes to visualize the dna the gel photographs were taken by gel doc system (alpha innotech flour chemtm). results and discussion rhodium metal was used to make adduct by combining it with genomic dna and nrg1 gene as to see whether these adducts changes their inhibitory properties (dna replication, dna band intensity and mobility) with time and concentration. the effects of these adduct with non-amplified, amplified and digested products were investigated. we observed slow dna bands movement in non-amplified adduct with an increase rhodium concentration (from 10 nm to 5 µm). there were no changes found in the dna band intensity after 24 hrs. incubation (fig. 2a). however, longer incubation (72 hrs) with high levels of rh-acetate leads to decreased band intensity (fig. 2b). these results clearly illustrated the potency of rhodium’s inhibitory actions that start at 1nm and can reach maximally at 5µm. this indicates a time dependent rh binding affinity towards the neuregulin gene 1. on the other hand only decreased band intensity was observed in amplified international peer reviewed journal 273 adduct after 24 hrs of incubation with rh-acetate with no changes in band movements (fig. 3a). present result shows an inhibition of dna bands with increasing concentration of rh-acetate. for example bands strength decreases from 0.1 nm 100 nm concentrations and gradually disappears at 0.5 µm – 5 µm after 48 hrs of incubation (fig. 3b). complete disappearance of the bands were observed after 72 hrs of incubation at 5 nm and onwards (fig 3c). amplified adducts were digested with restriction enzyme mun1 that has a capability to cleave the dna at caaa sequence. the result showed bands after digestion with mun1 from 0.1 nm to 3 nm confirmed the binding of rhodium with g and not with c or a (fig. 4). dna-rhodium adduct samples (without pcr) fig. 2(a & b). agarose gel electrophoresis exhibit interaction between rhodium acetate and genomic dna (non amplified) in tbe buffer at ph 8, incubated for 24hrs at 37◦c. lane 1 untreated (native) dna, lanes 2 to 12 are for rhodium dna complex at different concentrations. fig. 2a. 24 hrs incubated samples without pcr fig. 2b. 72 hrs incubated samples without pcr native = dna without treated rhodium jpair: multidisciplinary journal 274 dna-rhodium adduct samples with pcr fig. 3 (a, b & c ) 2% agarose gel of the pcr product (246bp) of nrg1 gene. lane l corresponds to molecular marker of 100 bp; native lane indicates the amplified product of nrg1 without treated rh. lane 2 to 12 rhodium treated amplified product of nrg1 gene. fig. 3a. after 24 hrs incubation with pcr samples (snp rs3924999) fig. 3b. after 48 hrs of incubation fig. 3c. 72 hrs incubated pcr samples l= ladder (known sequence marker) native = dna without treated with rhodium international peer reviewed journal 275 restriction digestion in fig.4 rhodium treated amplified product (72hrs incubated) were digested with mun1 restriction enzyme. lane 1 to 12 exhibits rhodium acetate treated samples while lane 13 shows native sample (without rhodium). rhodium is a transitional metal and a member of platinum group. previous studies have revealed the interaction of rh1 form complexes with plasmid dna and confirmed their binding effects on the mobility dependent on conformations (h.m. ushay, et al., 1981; s.e. sherman, s.j. lippard., 1987; g.l. cohen, t al., 1979). rh upon binding with the plasmid dna changes the circular closed confirmation (ccc) to the open confirmation (oc) with decreased mobility in gel electrophoresis. as rh has ability to make covalent bond with the nucleotides many studies shows that rh1 can be used as an anti-tumor agent for the treatment of cancer (r.a. howard, et al., 1979). jonathan and colleagues 2004 has revealed that rh1 is the best target agent for the detection of mismatch base pairs in genomic dna (helen, t, et al., 2003). earlier studies on rh also revealed that rh is used to induce inhibitory effects on dna amplification by using plasmid dna (md. masudur rahman, et al., 2007). this can be taken in account for high binding affinity of the metal with dna regardless of the source (plasmid, genomic dna or oligonucleotides). the present study emphasize on the time dependent reaction of rh binding with human nrg1 gene period. further study has fig. 4. digested pcr product after 72 hrs incubation l = ladder (known sequence of dna) native = dna without treated rhodium jpair: multidisciplinary journal 276 extended to visualize its binding effects on the replication of nrg1 and on endonuclease activity. here two types of rh-nrg1 adduct has been prepared. the first group contains a non amplified nrg1 gene whereas; the second group contains an amplified nrg1 gene. both groups received same treatments including incubation times (24, 48 and 72hrs) and rh concentration (0.1 nm – 5 µm). gel electrophoresis was carried out for the visualization of the rh and nrg1 interaction at different concentratiheon and incubation time. representative gel images shown are in fig.2 in which the rh -dna adduct was allowed to move in electric filed toward anode, the mobility was slow (fig. 2a and 2b) and band intensity decreased. these results indicated that rhodium binding with genomic dna increases with increase the rh1 concentration and reaction time (24 and 72 hrs). this study suggests at rhodium acetate complex has positive charge which neutralized the negatively charged po4 group of the dna there by resulting in stable complex formation and decreased mobility as described in previous study (ali arslantas, et al., 2007). fig.3 shows that 246bp amplified product of nrg1 gene was inhibited by rh1 at different concentrations. amount of the amplified product of nrg1 gene decreased with increased the amount of rh1 at different reaction times. fig.3a 24 hrs incubated pcr adduct rhodium slightly affect the dna replication but changes the mobility and intensity of dna bands with increasing rhodium concentration. fig.3b shows the 48hrs incubation bands from 0.l up to 100nm concentration, which get lighter and gradually disappeared at 500nm onwards, indicating that dna amplification is inhibited with increasing incubation time. in fig.3c after 72 hrs incubated samples the amplification was inhibited by rhodium from lower concentration of 5nm onwards and gradually disappeared. in this study we also investigated the interaction of human genomic dna with rhodium acetate and found covalent interaction with dna at nucleotide mismatch site (cytosine and adenine) when digested with muni enzyme which acts on cutting sites caaa. our results exhibited heterozygous mutation on agarose gel showing 3 bands (one allele mutation) instead of 4 bans (two allele mutations) confirmed that rhodium didn’t have binding site for adenine and cytosine. it seems that rhodium bind with specific bases of the dna and inhibited pcr amplification. these results confirm international peer reviewed journal 277 earlier experiments indicating that rhodium acetate bind with guanine rather than adenine and cytosine (mun1i has binding site at caaa). literature indicates when rhodium bind with dna it prevents the dna to replicate as it interacts with n7 and o6 of guanine forming the rhodium adduct. this adduct breaks the hydrogen bond especially at o6 position in the dna structure (10). this study clearly demonstrated that rh complexes neutralized the negative charge dna which further inhibited the dna amplification due to covalent bond formation with guanine or cytosine bases at position n7 and o6. acknowledgment we gratefully acknowledge dr. sonia siddiqui for her constant support regarding the paper writing. funding for this study was provided by higher education commission (hec) of pakistan. the hec had no role in study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and the decision to submit the paper for publication. literature cited bear jr., j.l., h.b. gray, l. rainen, i.m. chang, r. howard, g. serio, a.p. kimball, cancer chemother. rep. 59 (1975) 611–620. bear, j.l. rhodium compounds for antitumor use, in precious metals 1985, in: e.d. zysk, j.a. bonucci, (eds.), international precious metals, proceedings of the ninth international precious metals institute conference, allentown, pa, 1986, pp. 337–344. arslantas, a., devrim, a. k., & necefoglu, h. (2007). the interaction of sheep genomic dna with a cobalt (ii) complex containing p-nitrobenzoate and n, n-diethylnicotinamide ligands. international journal of molecular sciences, 8(12), 1225-1233. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 278 chifotides, h.t., k.m. koshlap, l.m. prez, and k.r. dunbar. 2003. novel binding interactions of the dna fragment d(pgpg) cross-linked by the antitumor active compound tetrakis (carboxylato) dirhodium (ii,ii) j. am. chem. soc., 125 (35), 10714-10724. cohen, g.l., w.r. bauer, j.k. barton, s.j. lippard, science 203 (1979) 1014– 1016. gardner, m., a. gonzález-neira, o. lao, f. calafell, j. bertranpetit and d. comas., 2006. extreme population differences across neuregulin 1 gene, with implications for association studies extreme population differences across neuregulin 1 gene: molecular psychiatry 11, 6675. helen, t., chifotides., karl, m., koshlap, l., prez, m., kim, r., 2003. novel binding interactions of the dna fragment d(pgpg) cross-linked by the antitumor active compound tetrakis(. carboxylato) dirhodium(ii,ii). j. am. chem. soc., 125(35), 10714-10724. howard, r.a., a.p. kimball, j.l. bear, cancer res. 39 (1979) 2568–2573. jonathan, r.h., m.d., johnson., jacqueline, k., barton., 2004. single-nucleotide polymorphism discovery by targeted dna photo cleavage. pnas, 101(39). junicke, h., j.r. hart, j. kisko, o. glebov, i.r. kirsch, and j.k. barton., 2003 a rhodium (iii) comples for high affinity dna base pair mismatch recognition. pnas 100(7): 3737–3742 katsuyuki, a., s. abdus, 2002 interligand interactions affecting specific metal bonding to nucleic acid bases. a case of [rh2(oac)4], [rh2(hnoccf3)4], and [rh2(oac)2(hnoccf3)2] toward purine nucleobases and nucleosides. inorganica chimica acta 339, 427-437. lahiri, d.k. and b. schnabel. international peer reviewed journal 279 1993 dna isolation by a rapid method from human blood samples: effects of mgcl, edta, storage time, and temperature on dna yield and quality. biochemical genetics, 31(7-8): 321-328. law, a.j., et al., 2006 neuregulin 1 transcripts are differentially expressed in schizophrenia and regulated by 5_ snps associated with the disease. pnas, 103(17): 6747–6752. paul j.h., amanda, j.l., 2006. neuregulin 1 and schizophrenia: genetics, gene expression, and neurobiology. biological psychiatric 60(2), 132-140. rahman m.d.m., komatsu, j., shinji, k., akira, m., 2008. attachment of heavy metal to dna molecules for rapid analysis. ieee 2, 775-777. rahman, md. m., h. yasuda, s. katsura, a. mizuno, 2007. inhibition of endonuclease cleavage and dna replication of e. coli plasmid by the antitumor rhodium(ii) complex. archives of biochemistry and biophysics 464 (2007) 28–35). stefansson, h., sigurdsson, e., steinthorsdottir, v., bjornsdottir, s., sigmundsson, t., ghosh, s., brynjolfsson, j., gunnarsdottir, s., ivarsson, o., chou, t.t., hjaltason, o., birgisdottir, b., jonsson, h., gudnadottir, v.g., gudmundsdottir, e., bjornsson, a., ingvarsson, b., ingason, a., sigfusson, s., hardardottir, h., harvey, r.p., lai, d., zhou, m., brunner, d., mutel, v., gonzalo, a., lemke, g., sainz, j., johannesson, g., andresson, t., gudbjartsson, d., manolescu, a., frigge, m.l., gurney, m.e., kong, a., gulcher, j.r., petursson, h., stefansson, k., 2002. neuregulin 1 and susceptibility to schizophrenia. am. j. hum. genet. 71(4), 877–892. sherman, s.e., s.j. lippard, chem. rev. 87 (1987) 1153. tselepi-kalouli, e., n. katsaros, j. inorg. biochem. 40 (1990) 95–102. (16). ushay, h.m., t.d. tullius, s.j. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 280 lippard, biochemistry 20 (1981) 3744–3748. yang, j.z., si, t.m., ruan, y., ling, y.s, han, y.h., wang, x.l., zhou, m., zhang, h.y., kong, q.m., liu, c., zhang, d.r., yu, y.q., liu, s.z., ju, g.z., shu, l., ma, d.l., zhang, d., 2003. association study of neuregulin 1 gene with schizophrenia. molecular psychiatry 8, 706–709. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research self-efficacy and academic performance in algebra among first-year private non–sectarian high school students lolly jean c. simbulas orcid no. 0000-0002-7483-5911 lollyjeansimbulas@gmail.com university of the immaculate conception davao city, philippines abstract the determinants of students’ academic performance caught the attention of many scholars for many years now. among other factors, self-efficacy proved to be an important predictor of academic performance. in an educational context, self-efficacy refers to students’ expectations about their ability to complete academic tasks successfully. learners, who are unsure of their ability to complete the task, often give up when they encounter difficulties. this study tested the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performances in algebra among first-year private non-sectarian high school students. the research design was descriptivecorrelation survey method that utilizes a modified tool in algebra self-efficacy scale in order to gather data from 163 first-year students from different high schools in davao city. the academic performance measured in this study was based on students’ third-quarter grades. data were treated using mean and pearson product moment coefficient of correlation. the results of the study indicated that the level of students’ self–efficacy on motivational strategies, cognitive strategies, resource management, and self-regulated learning is high. furthermore, students’ level on academic performance in algebra is satisfactory. self-efficacy was not significantly related to academic performance in algebra. vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.281 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 47 international peer reviewed journal the study recommends using a standardized test in algebra to measure students’ academic performance and with a bigger sample proportionate to the population of each school. keywords mathematics education, self–efficacy, academic performance, algebra, first year students, private non-sectarian, descriptive-correlational design, davao city, philippines introduction one of the most common goals of educational institutions and educators is to nurture the students’ self-direction and personal efficacy. thus creating a favorable atmosphere for active learning is a necessity since it is a social place for development and growth for learners. they should be engaged in specific strategies that offer them opportunities to make decisions; process information effectively and become more reflective about their thinking and learning process. to respond to this call, educational institutions prepare the learners of adapting systems that help them engage in the self-regulated learning. zimmerman (1990) described self-regulated students as those who are automatically aware of their knowledge and ability to apprehend, control, and use their thinking process. they are confident, independent, and active participants of their learning process through the use of meta-cognitive strategies (risemberg & zimmerman 1992; zimmerman & martinez-puns 1988). a self-regulated learner is capable of using specified strategies to achieve individual’s academic goals on the basis of self-efficacy perceptions (zimmerman 1989). self-efficacy beliefs determine how an individual think, feel, behave and motivate themselves. it also refers to the confidence an individual have in their abilities in order to be successful in a given task (bandura 1997). according to the social cognitive theory, one of the most important factors that influence academic performance and achievement is self-efficacy. the study showed that students may perform poorly on a given tasks not certainly because the absence of the required ability to succeed, but because they lack confidence in their capabilities (shkullaku, 2013). many studies have been carried out about self-efficacy and academic performance. scholars have reported that self-efficacy is a good predictor of math performance. chemers, hu, and garcia (2001) reported that students with higher self–efficacy strive longer periods and use more efficient problemsolving strategies than those with lower self–efficacy. the proponents further 48 jpair multidisciplinary research claimed that self–efficacy is seen to be related to the achievement of students in mathematical analysis. sullivan and guerra (2007) found out those students in good academic performance tend to have high self-efficacy compared to those students under academic probation. in the same way, ferla et al. (2009) claimed that the academic self-efficacy is the better predictor for academic performance. the study of al-harthy et al. (2010) revealed a significant positive relationship between students’ self-efficacy and total scores. self-efficacy was found out to be the strongest predictor of students’ total score as demonstrated in the path analysis. here in the philippines, there are a number of students who lack the command of stimulus in the learning field and experience low achievement in their field (santos, 2000). we can see the importance and emphasis given by our government to the two-core subjects: math and science. however, the philippine education has shown significant decline in terms of students’ performance. in the trends in international mathematics and science study (timss), testing the national performance of 13 – year – old students, philippines ranked third from the bottom in 2003. our country’s profile in its own achievement test reflects what is reported by the timss result. department of education (deped) reported that almost 66.7% of the country’s high schools performed poorly in the 2011 national achievement test (nat). this national scenario of students’ poor performance is not far from the performance of high school students from private secondary schools in davao city. as revealed by the department of education report, it shows that in davao region, the poor performance of high school students from private schools was marked by the low over-all mean percentage score of 34.80% in the 2011-2012 national achievement test in mathematics. it is in this framework that the researcher is encouraged to determine factors affecting students’ academic performance. however, this study focused only on one possible factor – the academic self-efficacy and one mathematics area – the algebra. furthermore, the researcher is encouraged to determine the relationship of self-efficacy and academic performance in algebra among first-year high school students. framework this study is anchored on bandura’s social cognitive theory, which states, “students with high self-efficacy regarding the academic matter would lead to 49 international peer reviewed journal greater success. it is believed that the higher the sense of efficaciousness the greater the effort, persistence and resilience; those with more efficacious beliefs make things happen. this makes sense intuitively and is supported by other studies as well (chapmann et al., 1990; pintrich et al., 1994).” pintrich (1999) said that self-efficacy and learning strategies have been found to be related with academic performance. high achiever students utilize more self-regulated learning strategies compared to low achiever students. likewise, schunk (1983) expressed that having high-self-efficacy beliefs sustains task involvement. on the other hand, a lower sense of efficacy leads to less persistence, which lowers the level performance. the statements paint a clear picture of the role of self-efficacy perceptions in achievement. higher self-efficacy leads to the behavior that is most consistent with success in overcoming the challenges in school. moreover, pajares and miller’s (1994) study revealed that the actual students’ ability to solve mathematics problems was predicted by the students’ judgments of their ability to solve those problems. similar to pajares and miller’s study, the present study considers the selfefficacy construct to be meditative tool that might strengthen other factors, which could also help students during the learning process. however, this study is limited only to private non-sectarian high schools. in this study, the independent variable is the self–efficacy in algebra on motivational strategies, cognitive strategies, resource management, and selfregulated learning. the dependent variable is the academic performance of the first-year high school students on polynomials, linear equations and inequalities. objectives of the study this study described the level of self–efficacy and academic performance in algebra. it also determined the relationship between self–efficacy and academic performance of first-year high school students. methodology this study made use of a descriptive-correlational survey method. it is descriptive in nature since it assessed the level of students’ self–efficacy in algebra. at the same time, this study is a correlational since it determines whether selfefficacy has a relationship to the students’ academic performance in algebra. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research one hundred sixty-three first-year high school students were selected from 5 private non-sectarian high schools of davao city. cluster sampling technique was used in determining the sample size in which every class/section was considered as one group and was randomly selected. the data were gathered through revised questionnaire in algebra self–efficacy scale, which was patterned in the study, entitled “assessing mathematics selfefficacy of diverse students from secondary schools in auckland: implications for academic achievement.” it was modified to ensure that it fitted the academic and local setting. it underwent a validation process by selected mathematics teachers with a validation rating of 4.35. as part of the research ethics protocol, a letter of permission was sought from respective vice president of academic affairs and principals for the conduct of the study. two months before the administration of the self-efficacy questionnaire, the math teachers were asked to keep track of students’ academic performance on polynomials, linear equations, and inequalities. this role of the teacher was very significant since students’ rating for the three topics was the basis of their academic performance. before the administration of the questionnaire, informed consent was obtained from the respondents. the questionnaire was administered by the researcher with the help of the respondents’ adviser and math teachers. confidentiality of the responses was strictly observed. collation of the responses followed after the retrieval of the questionnaire. data were treated using mean and pearson product moment coefficient of correlation. the analyses of data were done using statistical software. descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. mean was used to describe students’ self– efficacy in algebra and level of academic performance. pearson product moment coefficient of correlation was used to determine the relationship between self– efficacy in algebra and academic performance of the participants. results and discussion level of students’ self-efficacy table 1 summarizes the mean of the four areas of self–efficacy. the computed analyses showed the mean scores of the four areas of self–efficacy range from 3.67 – 4.0 on a 5-point scale. the values indicate that students’ self–efficacy is high. that means that the students are behaviorally active participants of their learning. in this particular inquiry, respondents’ exhibit high belief in facilitating their learning, such as finishing their assignments on time, taking down notes during 51 international peer reviewed journal class session. furthermore, students find time going to the library and getting information about their lessons, participate in class discussion and interactions, and ask clarification about their lessons in algebra. they highly believe that when motivated to study hard, they can understand the different concepts presented to them, answer the most complex problems, master the skills taught to them quickly, and work on their assignment independently. this result is parallel to the point of view of schunk (1983) that having highself-efficacy beliefs sustains task involvement and were more likely participate in class in the academic area. the statements paint a clear picture of the role of self-efficacy perceptions in achievement. higher self-efficacy leads to the behavior that is most consistent with success in overcoming the challenges in school. table 1. level of self–efficacy of first-year high school students self–efficacy mean description motivational strategies 3.70 high cognitive strategies 3.78 high resource management 3.67 high self – regulated learning 4.00 high overall self efficacy 3.66 high level of students’ performance in algebra the academic performance measured in this study was limited only to three topics, namely: the polynomials, linear equations, and inequalities. the result showed that the topic linear equations obtained the highest mean score of 82.93, followed by inequalities with 82.56 and polynomials with 81.94. the values indicate that students’ achievement is satisfactory. comparing this result to students’ level of self-efficacy conforms to the viewpoint of tschannen – moran and hoy (1998) that self–efficacy has to do with self–perception of competence, but it is not the real level of competence. this was very evident in this study. while respondents reported high levels of self–efficacy, the level of performance attainment is only satisfactory. in the same way, schunk (1994) says that high self-efficacy will not create competent performances in the absence of requisite skills. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. level of the mathematics achievement of first-year high school students area of mathematics achievement mean score description polynomials 81.94 satisfactory linear equations 82.93 satisfactory inequalities 82.56 satisfactory overall achievement 82.55 satisfactory correlation between students’ self – efficacy and academic performance in algebra tested for this purpose is the null hypothesis that the self-efficacy is not associated significantly with academic performance in algebra among first year private non – sectarian high school students. the pearson r was used to measure the relationship of the two variables at 0.05 level of significance. the computed r for the motivational strategies was –0.049 (p-value = .531), -0.128 (p-value = .104) for the cognitive strategies, 0.121 (p-value = .124) for the resource management and for the self – regulated learning was –0.040 (p-value = .611). all r values have a negligible correlation interpretation. furthermore, the probability values of all indicators are found not significant. the overall values of academic performance and self–efficacy in algebra are being correlated with computed r equal to -0.030 that has a quantitative interpretation of negligible negative correlation and with a probability value of .708. result revealed that the self-efficacy is not related significantly with the respondents’ academic performance based on the results, this study cannot claim that self–efficacy in algebra affects the students’ academic performance. it negates the claims of the previous studies. the results revealed that participants had high levels of algebra selfefficacy, and believed in their capability to achieve their goals in algebra. however, the high level of student self-efficacy in algebra did not translate into academic achievement. among reasons mentioned by researchers for inconsistencies between self-efficacy and students’ achievement are with respect to the source of self-efficacy information, importance of the assigned task, and the presence or absence of abilities required to accomplish the task. bandura (2001) highlighted the importance of mastery learning as the major means of developing skills. he states that while efficacy can improve motivation, students cannot produce “newfangled performances” if the sub-skills for the exercise of individual activity are absent (bandura, 1997). 53 international peer reviewed journal this result agrees to the study of lee (2009), investigating the factorial structure of three math self-constructs (math self-concept, math self-efficacy and math anxiety) in predicting math performance, results reveals that asian countries like korea and japan, shows low math self-concept and math self-efficacy and high math anxiety despite of the fact that their scores in math performance is high. it further suggests that math performance is not affected by the level of math self-constructs of the students which was evident in this study that students’ high self-efficacy, as one of the math self-constructs, did not produce high level of academic performance in algebra. conclusions this study investigated the relationship between self–efficacy and academic performance in algebra among first-year high school students. the result of the study showed that the level of self–efficacy of all areas is high. furthermore, the students’ academic performance is satisfactory. in this study, the computed r values suggest no relationship between self–efficacy and academic performance of the students. the result negates the claim of most of the studies that self-efficacy affect students’ academic performances. their high self-efficacy did not translate into academic achievement. schunk (1994) says that the high self-efficacy will not create competent performances in the absence of requisite skills. recommendation based on 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(1990). self-regulated learning and academic achievement: an overview. educational psychologist, 25(1), 3-17. zimmerman, b. j., & martinez-pons, m. (1988). construct validation of a strategy model of student self-regulated learning.  journal of educational psychology, 80(3), 284. zimmerman, b. j. (1989). a social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. journal of educational psychology, 81(3), 329. 53 isang pagsisiyasat sa mga akdang pampanitikan sa ikaapat na antas ng batsilyer ng elementarya at edukasyon sa paglinang ng mga pilosopiyang likas at pagpapahalagang moral na ginagamit sa pagtuturo sa pamantasan ng cabuyao rommel mallari http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0751-3696 rdmallari5@gmail.com pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines edwin paming http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3104-1927 pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract ang pag-aaral na ito ay isasagawa upang maalaman ang “isang pagsisiyasat sa mga akdang pampanitikan sa ikaapat na antas ng batsilyer ng elementarya at edukasyon sa paglinang ng mga pilosopiyang likas at pagpapahalagang moral na ginagamit sa pagtuturo sa pamantasan ng cabuyao.” lahat ng tao ay may natatanging karanasan sa buhay at ang karanasang ito ang siyang batayan ng kanilang pananaw sa mundo. ang kanilang pananaw sa mundo ang siya ring bumubuo sa kanilang pilosopiya. kaya ang pilosopiya ay walang iba kundi ang kabuluhan ng daigdig para sa tao. ito ang kanyang pagpapaliwanang at vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v42i1.808 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0751-3696 mailto:rdmallari5@gmail.com mailto:dmallari5@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3104-1927 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 5454 jpair multidisciplinary research pagpapakahulugan sa mga pangyayari sa buong sanlibutan. keywords — pagsisiyasat, pampanitikan, moral panimula ang mananaliksik ay gagamit ng deskriptibong pamamaraan sa pananaliksik at papandawin ang mga katiyakang suliranin kagaya ng mga sumusunod 1. gagamitan ng pakikipagpanayam pangangalap ng mga katanungan para sa mga respondenteng mag-aaral at guro. 2. ihahanda ang mga balidasyon para sa mga katanungan. 3. pagtitibayin ang mga katanungan sa pag-uugali at kilos ng mga magiging kalahok. 4. pakasusuriin ang mga datos sa pamamagitan ng bilango “frequency counts”at mga itutumbas na kaantasan, gayundin ang kukuhanin na bahagdan sa bawat talaan. 5. gagamitan ng chi-square ang pilosopiyang buhay ng mga taong-bayan ay matutunghayan sa kanilang literatura o panitikan, maging ito man ay isinulat o salim-bibig. nakahabi ang karanasan at pag-iisip ng mga tao sa kanilang mga mito, at leyenda o alamat, tula, epiko, awit, paniniwala, bugtong, seremonya, kaugalian, katutubongsayaw, salawikain, kasabihan, aporismo, dung-aw, kuwentong-bayan, nobela, sarsuwela, pasyon, komedya, kurido, duplo, senakulo, dula, balagtasan, atbp. ang mga pilosopikong pagninilaynilay ng mga kasalukuyang dalub-aral at manunulat, mga dalubgurong pilosopiya at iba’tibang dalubhasaan at pamantasan sa bansa ay siyang mayamang bukal ng mga pag-iisip at pananaw. sa pamamagitan ng pakikipanayam sa matatandang katutubo tungkol sa kanilang mga karanasan at pananaw sa mundo ay makahihinuhang katutubong pilosopiya sa buhay ng mga taong-bayan. mahihinuha ang paraan ng pag-iisip ng isang tao mula sa kanyang mga salita at mga kilos sa pagkatang mga salita at mga kilos ay mga bunga ng kaisipang-tao. kaya sa pamamagitan ng pagmumunimuni’t pag-aanalisa sa mga wika at kaugalian ng mga filipino ay malalaman ang kaisipang filipino. research design ang pananaliksik ay bibigyang pansin sa pamamagitan ng makabuluhang pagsisiyasat ng pag-aaral, upang makapagbigay ng impormasyon tungkol sa konseptong pagpapahalagang moral at pilosopiyang likas sa mga pilipino, na maaaring hangarin mula sa mga akdang pampanitikan at tuloy maisagawa ito nang mabisa. 5555 international peer reviewed journal ayon kay best, ang pananaliksik ay naglalarawan at nagpapakahulugan. ito ay may kinalaman sa ugnayan ng mga kalagayang umiiral, mga gawaing nananatili, mga paniniwala at prosesong isinasagawa, ang bisang nadarama o mga kalarang patuloy na pinauunlad.. gagamit din ng pakikipanayam, pagmamasid at pangangalap ng mga katanunganang mananaliksik sa mga respondent upang matiyak ang katotohanan ng kanilang kasagutan sa palatanungang ipinasagot sa kanila. lagom 1. uri ng panitikan na hinango sa batayang aklat at sa mga karagdagang babasahin ang kinawiwilihan ng mga mag-aaral at gurong nag tuturo nito; • sa limampung mag-aaral na sumagot para sa pagsisiyasat na ito, may sagot na lubos na kinawiwilihan sa uri ng panitikan na pabula, bugtong, alamat at kwento/maikling katha. sa pangkalahatan, nakakuha ng grand mean na 3.28 na nangangahulugang kinawiwilihan ng mga mag-aaral ang mga uri ng panitikan na ginagamit ng mga guro. 2. mga kinawiwilihang uri ng panitikan, anu-anong pagpapahalagang moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino ang nahinuha ng mga mag-aaral; • sa limampung mag-aaral na sumagot para sa pagsisiyasat na ito, may sagot na lubos na kinalulugdan sa uri ng babasahing pampanitikan na katatawanan, iba’t-ibang laro at pag-ibig. sa pangkalahatan, nakakuha ng grand mean na 3.35 na nagiinterpreta ng kinalulugdan ng mga mag-aaral ang mga uri ng babasahing pampanitikan. 3. mga pamamaraan na ginagamit ng guro upang maging mabisa ang pagtuturo ng panitikan at mapalutang ang pagpapahalagang moral na dapat matutuhan sa mga akdang pinag-aaralan; • ang grand mean sa paraang ginagamit ng guro upang maging epektibo ang pagtuturo ng panitikan ay 3.72 na nagiinterpreta ng lubos na kinalulugdan. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na kinalulugdan ng mga mag-aaral sa ika-apat na antas ng batsilyer sa elementarya ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ang mga pamamaraang ginagawa ng mga guro upang maging epiktibo ang pagtuturo ng panitikan. 4. pagpapahalagang moral at kalipunan ng mga pananaw tungkol sa kalikasan ng buhay; 5656 jpair multidisciplinary research 4.1 katapatan • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa katapatan sa ika-apat ng taon sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.625 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagiging matapat. 4.2 pagiging magalang • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagiging magalang sa ika-apat ng taon sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.685 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagiging magalang. 4.3 pagiging matulungin at pakikisama • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagiging matulungin at pakikisama sa ika-apat ng taon sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.53 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagiging matulungin at pakikisama. 4.4 pagiging masunurin • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagiging pagiging masunurin sa ika-apat ng taon sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.60 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga magaaral ng batsilyer n edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagiging masunurin. 4.5 malasakit sa kapwa • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa 5757 international peer reviewed journal malasakit sa kapwa sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.73 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng batsilyer ng edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang malasakit sa kapwa. 4.6 pagtanggap ng pagkatalo • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagtanggap ng pagkatalo sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.64 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng batsilyer ng edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagtanggap ng pagkatalo. 4.7 pagmamahal sa bansa • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagmamahal sa bansa sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.41 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng batsilyer ng edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang pagmamahal sa bansa. 4.8 tiwala sa sarili • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa tiwala sa sarili sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.56 na nangangahulugang lubos na isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng batsilyer ng edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao ang tiwala sa sarili. 4.10/5 pagiging malinis at maayos • nagpapakita ng mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa pagiging malinis at maayos sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon ay may grand mean na 3.56 na nangangahulugang 5858 jpair multidisciplinary research isinasagawa. nagpapahiwatig ito na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ng batsilyer ng edukasyon ng pamantasan ng cabuyao angpagiging malinis at maayos. 5. uri ng panitikan ang mabisang nakakaantig sa pananaw ng moralidad ng mga mag-aaral; 5.1 talaan ng mga pagpapahalang pilipinong moral • mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral ay may grand mean na 3.664 na nangangahulugang lubos na kinawiwilihan. nagpapahiwatig ito na ang mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na antas sa batsilyer ng elementarya ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ay lubos na kinawiwilihan ang mga talaan ng mga pagpapahalagang moral. 5.2 mga pilosopiyang likas para sa mga pilipinong mag-aaral • mga kalinangang pilosopiyang likas sa mga pilipinong mag-aaral na siyang kinaangkinan ng pagpapahalagang moral na naituro na ng mga guro ay may grand mean na 4.116 na nangangahulugang sumasangayon. nagpapahiwatig ito na ang mga mag-aaral sa ika-apat na antas sa batsilyer ng elementarya ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ay sumasang-ayon ang mga mga pilosopiyang likas para sa mga pilipinong mag-aaral. 6. malaman ang kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral ng mga mag-aaral; • nagpapakita ng signipikong kauganayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral. sa katapatan at pagiging magalang ay may signipikong kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral batay sa pagiging matulungin, pagiging masunurin, malasakit sa kapwa, pagtanggap ng pagkatalo, pagmamahal sa bansa, tiwala sa sarili, pagiging masipag at pagiging malinis at maayos. 7. malaman ang kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino na mga nahinuha ng mga mag-aaral; • nagpapakita ng signipikong kauganayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilsopiyang pilipino. sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino, ay 5959 international peer reviewed journal may signipikong kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino. ito ay nangangahulugan na may relasyon ang pagsagot ng mga mag-aaral sa ika apat na antas ng batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao sa mga librong ginagamit ng mga guro sa pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino. 8. malaman ang kaugnayan ng pagpapahalagang moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino ng mga mag-aaral. • nagpapakita ng signipikong kauganayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral. may signipikong kaugnayan ng pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino batay sa katapatan at pagiging magalang, pagiging matulungin, pagiging masunurin, malasakit sa kapwa, pagtanggap ng pagkatalo, pagmamahal sa bansa, tiwala sa sarili, pagiging masipag at pagiging malinis at maayos. nagpapakita rin na lahat ng null hypothesis ay didapat tanggapin at nagpapakita na may kaugnayan ang kaliskasang pilosopiyang pilipino sa pilipinong moral. ito ay nangangahulugan na walang relasyon ang pagsagot ng mga mag-aaral sa ika apat na antas ng batsilyer ng elementarya ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao sa mga librong ginagamit ng mga guro sa pampanitikan sa pagpapahalaga ng pilipinong moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino. konklusyon 1. pinakamarami sa mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ay sumagot ng lubos na kinawiwilihan ang pabula, alamat, bugtong at kwento/maikling katha. sa pangkalahatan ay sumagot ng kinawiwilihan ang mga uri ng panitikan. 2. lubos na kinalulugdan ng mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na antas sa batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao uri ng babasahing pampanitikan na katatawanan, iba’t-ibang laro at pag-ibig; samantalang kinalulugdan ng mga mag-aaral ang iba pang uri ng babasahing pampanitikan. 3. lubos na kinalulugdan ang sagot ng mga mag-aaral sa paraang ginagamit ng guro upang maging epektibo ang pagtuturo ng panitikan. ito ay nangangahulugang lubos na kinalulugdan ng mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na antas ng batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ang mga paraang ginagamit ng guro upang maging epektibo sa pagtuturo ng panitikan 6060 jpair multidisciplinary research 4. lubos na isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na antas ng batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao ang mga pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa mga akdang pampanitikan na maaring isagawa ng mga mag-aaral batay sa katapatan, pagiging magalang, pagiging matulungin at pakikisama, pagiging masunurin, malasakit sa kapwa, pagtanggap ng pagkatalo, pagmamahal sa bansa, tiwala sa sarili at pagiging masipag; samantala isinasagawa ng mga mag-aaral ang ma pagpapahalagang pilipino na matatagpuan sa akdang pampanitikan batay sa pagiging malinis at maayos. 5. lubos na kinawiwilihan ng mga mag-aaral ang mga pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral na napupuot na aral sa akdang pampanitikan. ito ay nangangahulugang lubos na kinawiwilihan ng mga mag-aaral sa ika-apat na antas ng batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao. habang sa mga pilosopiyang likas ay may resultang sumasang-ayon. ito ay nangangahulugang sumasang-ayon ng mga mag-aaral sa ika-apat na antas ng batsilyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao sa mga kalikasang pilisopiyang pilipino. 6. may signipikong kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral batay sa katatapatan, pagiging magalang, pagiging matulungin, pagiging masunurin, malasakit sa kapwa, pagtanggap ng pagkatalo, pagmamahal sa bansa, tiwala sa sarili, pagiging masipag at pagiging malinis at maayos. 7. may signipikong kaugnayan ng akdang pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino. ito ay nangangahulugan na may relasyon ang pagsagot ng mga mag-aaral sa ika apat na antas ng batsileyer ng edukasyon sa pamantasan ng cabuyao sa mga librong ginagamit ng mga guro sa pampanitikan sa kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino. 8. may signipikong kaugnayan ng pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino batay sa katapatan at pagiging magalang, pagiging matulungin, pagiging masunurin, malasakit sa kapwa, pagtanggap ng pagkatalo, pagmamahal sa bansa, tiwala sa sarili, pagiging masipag at pagiging malinis at maayos.   rekomendasyon 1. ang mga guro ay nararapat na gabayan ang mga mag-aaral sa pagpapayaman ng kanilang kaalaman sa pampanitikan lalong lalo na sa pagpapahalagang 6161 international peer reviewed journal pilipinong moral sa kadahilanang ang mga mag-aaral sa pagsisiyasat na ito ay magiging guro na isang taon mula ngayon. 2. mahalaga ding mabigyang-pansin ng guro ang pagpili ng uri ng babasahin pampanitikan, hindi lamang puro katatawanan, iba’t-ibang laro ta pag-ibig datapwat pumili ng mga babasahing maraming mapupulot na aral. sana rin ay lubusang maisagawa ang pagiging malinis at maayos ng isang mag-aaral. 3. kailangang mabigyang motibasyon at hikayatin ng guro ang mga magaaral sa pagtangkilik sa pagbabasa ng mga akdang pampanitikan lalo na ang maka-relihiyon. 4. ang pagiging malikhain ng guro sa pagtuturo ng panitikan ay napakahalagang salik sa pagkatuto at kasanayan ng mga mag-aaral sa pagharap sa mga sitwasyon sa realidad. 5. mahalaga rin kung magkakaroon ng patuloy na ugnayan at komunikasyon ang guro sa mga magulang ng mga mag-aaral upang maparating ang kahalagahan ng kanilang suporta upang maging matagumpay ang mga magaaral sa kanilang mga pagpupunyagi. 6. ang pagsasagawa ng seminar o workshop na makatutulong upang mapalago pa ang kaalaman ng mga mag-aaral sa akdang pampanitikan, pagpapahalagang pilipinong moral at kalikasang pilosopiyang pilipino.   literature cited linio a. honorio, panitikan at kristyanismong pilipino, 1977 alejandro g. abadilla, panitikan, 1974 dr. ramon c. reyes, moral reflection, 1987 saligang batas 1987, artikulo 14 dr. florentino t. timbreza, 1982, pilisopiyang pilipino dr. ramon c. reyes, dalubguro ng pilosopiya sa pamantasang ateneo de manila, 1985 ( uri ng pagtuklas sa pananaw ng pilipino) dr. emerito s. quito, 1987, aklat-pampilosopiya sa pambansang wika sa pinamagatang “pilosopiyang sa diwa filipino” 6262 jpair multidisciplinary research leonardo n. mercado, paraan ng pag-iisip at pag-uugali ng mga taong bayan (applied filipino philosophy), 1977 dr. manuel b. dy, ang mga pilipino ay may kasaysayan (philosophy of man: selected readings), 1986 dr. romualdo abulad, dalubguro ng pilosopiya sa pamantasang de la salle, pilosopiyang pilipino ay ang kabuuan o kalipunan ng lahat ng akda, contemporary filipino philosophy, 1988 fr. quintin terrenal, svd, pilipinong palaisip at palaaral ang gumagawa ng kanikanilang pag-aaral at pananaliksik tungkol sa diwa’t pagkatao ng pilipino, 1984 dr. florentino hornedo, towards and hermeneutics of pagmamahal and pagumura, 1997 leovino garcia, the meaning of human being (konsepto ng kalooban sa pamamagitan ng konsepto ng kalooban), 1997 albert alejo, tao po! tuloy! 1990 cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 106 macrobenthic composition of sea water associated with seagrass in east and west portions of the igang bay, nueva valencia, guimaras mary jean l. de la cruz june raymund peter flores melchor m. magramo christy madas marlon terunez jblfmu-arevalo, ilo-ilo city, philippines abstract the macrobenthic invertebrates are associated with seagrass communities in east and west at the igang bay, nueva valencia, guimaras. seven groups were found in west igang which includes the hard coral, gastropod, bivalve, soft coral, starfish, limpet, hermit crab and cowrie while eight groups composed of bivalve, gastropod, snail, cowrie, hard coral, hermit crab and sponge were found in the seagrass community of east igang. results show that gastropod was the dominating group in both sites. the hard coral group was the most frequent to occur in west igang while the gastropod in east igang was frequently observed. common groups in both sites were hard coral, gastropod, bivalve, and cowrie. west igang had higher diversity of macrobenthos (h’ = 0.608) than the east igang with (h’ = 0.513). both sites have sandy, silty-muddy type of substrates although some portions of west igang were rocky. salinity ranged vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.156 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 107 from 28 to 30 parts per thousand and temperature from 20.67 to 32.67 degrees celsius. water depth recorded ranged from 0.43 to 0.60 meters. the higher variability of substrates in west igang probably promoted the higher diversity of macrobenthic groups in the area suitable for different attachments and mobility along with denser growth of seagrass in the said site. keywords seagrass, igang bay, macrobenthic invertebrates, hard corals, gastropod, bivalve introduction macrofauna or macrobenthos are the largest benthic animals associated with the marine water bottom sediment. benthic animals are classified into three ecological categorie, viz., infauna and epifauna, based on where they thrive relative to the substrate. the infauna are those that live wholly or partly within the substrate which includes many clams and worms polychaetes as well as other invertebrates which usually dominate communities in soft substrates and are most diverse and abundant in subtidal regions. few are found in hard substrate communities with rock-boring clams being one example. the epifauna are those animals living on or attached to the seafloor which encompass about 80% of the larger zoobenthos. epifauna include corals, barnacles, mussels, many starfish and sponges. these animals are present on all substrate types but are particularly richly developed on hard substrates and are most abundant and diverse in rocky intertidal areas and coral reefs. a third category include animals hat live in association with the seafloor but also swim temporarily above it and include prawns and crabs and flatfish such as sole ( parsons and lally, 1997). the macrobenthic composition of a particular area traditionally gives baseline information along with valuable insights on the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of a benthic community. as concerns on the consequences of effluent discharges heighten, the benths are now looked upon as probable indicators of environmental changes (rees et. al. 1991). jpair: multidisciplinary journal 108 the balanced ecological conditions with a diverse flora and fauna characterize a pristine environment. in such an environment of stable condition, conservative species are traditionally regarded as the competitive dominant and are usually the first ones affected by perturbation. benthic community assemblages are composed of organisms with diverse functional groups defined by feeding types, mobility and method of food capture, reproductive modes, life history patterns and physiological adaptations to environmental conditions (kennish, 1994). this diversity along with limited mobility, close association with the sediment substrate and ease of quantitative sampling are all good indicators of healthy habitat to benthic organisms. information from macrobenthic studies, i.e., shifts in population and community parameters has a history of use in monitoring programs (kemp et. al., 2005), assessment of water quality (che and morton, 1991) and pollution effects (grizzle and penniman, 1991 provide baseline information on impacts of human associated activities such as fishing activities (thrush and dayton, 2002), dumping of sewage sludge (lopez gappa et al., 1990 and recovery after cessation of dumping (moore and rodger, 1991). studies on benthos in the philippines are expanding in scope, these studies focus on associated fish and/or characteristics of certain islands or reefs (estacion et al., 1993) to taxonomy (palpal-latoc 1996), community assemblages (mequila et al., 2004) and oil spill impacts. framework benthic fauna in the world conatin cosmopolitan genera and species occupy similar ecological niches. their distribution is affected by various physical factors. no single variable is controlling, rather influence can be heightened or lessened depending on their combination (maurer et al., 1978). it has been shown that the substratum is a significant factor influencing benthic diversity (li and gao, 1989). at the berg river estuary, distribution and seasonal abundance of invertebrate macrofauna was closely tied to sediment characteristics and vegetation cover (kalejta and hockey, 1991). the benthos of gastropod group at the berg river estuary were restricted to certain sediment types favouring a coarse sediment. salinity can be international peer reviewed journal 109 factor in determining the distribution of benthic organism. freshwater, marine and estuarine benthos all play similar ecological function, but the composition can be quite different (coumo and zinn 1997). as a response of stenohaline species to reduce salinity, a reduction in the number of marine macrofauna toward the estuaries can be expected. gage, 1972 in maurer et al., 1978 concluded that salinity was more influential in controlling the distribution of brackish macrofauna than sediment type in shallow water but at greater depths, the reverse was true. waves are the main reason for water movement (levinton, 2001), especially in the intertidal area of the sea. its effect can reach up to a maximum depth of 10-20 meters wherein sand is moved. these vertical disturbances to the water surface can cause resuspension of the finegrained sediments, extend the intertidal zone and influence mixing of atmospheric gases and penetration of light (li and gao, 1989 (. in shallow, enclosed inlets, the tides play role in the periodic movement of water. the dynamic physical environment is rarely considered in relation to faunal community despite the role played by tidal currents in influencing the nature of the bottom substrate. warwick and uncles, 1980 in their work on the birstol cahnnel, were able to directly correlate faunal type and tidal stress. frascari et al., (2002) attributed the dominance of mollusks and a polychaete in the shallow areas of the fattibelo lagoon to continue oxygenation of tidal currents and wave motion. such findings are relevant to initial understanding of physical control of community structure and function. biotic predations, such as predation and competition can also play a role in controlling community structure. it has been reported that in eutrophical site, predation is not a major controlling factor of community structure. however, in non-eutrophicated site, it could be an important factor controlling abundance at least of some faunal components. berge and valderhaug (1983) studied the effect of epibenthic macropredators in a low-energy subtidal eutrophicated habitat of the oslofjord, in an attempt to verify and elucidate previous findngs and concluded that macropredators are not important in determining community structure in sediments, exerting a small controlling effect on the densities of the macrofauna. their conclusion was contrary to findings of alongi and christofferson (1992) who concluded that epibenthic predation, along with several jpair: multidisciplinary journal 110 other factors such as low food availability, periodic disturbance by tidal effects, etc. to be one of the major regulators in the distribution, abundance and structure of benthic infaunal assemblages in the great barrier reef. objectives of the study the present study aims to investigate the macrofauna composition associated with seagrass communities in west and east portions of igang bay nueva valencia, guimaras. a monitoring study of the seagrass communities in the said sites started on april 2008 and is still ongoing until april 2010. however, a faunal composition associated on east and west igang bay seagrass communities has never been conducted. this study will provide insights on the habitat health of the seagrass communities in igang bay. specifically, the determination of faunal composition of the macrobenthos in east and west igang bay seagrass communities and the physical factors like the substrate type, temperature, salinity, and water depth will be addressed. materials and methods the study was conducted in the seagrass communities of east and west igang bay where the monitoring study is conducted. three 50-meter transects with a distance of 50 meters from each transect were laid in each site. from each transect, 3 points at 5, 25 and 45 were sampled by placing 1 m x 1 m quadrat in each point. the macrobenthic animals found inside the quadrat was recorded and the numbers were counted. the physico-chemical parameters were noted such as the temperature at each point at the mid-water depth. water samples were taken for salinity and substrate types were characterized and noted. the degree of vegetation was described and recorded. the macrobenthic animals present in every quadrat were identified and recorded according to their groups (i.e., bivalves, corals, gastropods, starfish, sea urchin, sea cucumbers, crabs, shrimps, sponges). the relative abundance, frequency, dominance and important values of every group of macrobenthos and the indices of diversity and similarity of macrobenthos of one site to the other were international peer reviewed journal 111 determined using the following formulas (odum, 1971): relative density = number of individual organism per group x 100 total sampled area (9 square meter) relative frequency = number of occurrence of each group x 100 total number of occurrences of all groups relative dominance = number of individual organism per group x 100 total number of all individuals importance value = relative density + relative frequency + relative dominance index of diversity (shannon index of general diversity h’) = ∑ (ni/n) log (ni/n) where: ni = importance value for each group n = total of importance values index of similarity (s) = 2c / a + b where: a = number of groups in east igang b = number of groups in west igang c = number of groups common to both sites results and discussion eight groups of macrobenthos were found to occur in the seagrass community of west igang which include the hard coral, gastropods, bivalves, soft coral, starfish, limpet, hermit crab and cowrie (table 1) while only seven groups were recorded in east igang that include the bivalves, gastropods, snail, cowrie, hard coral, hermit crab and sponge (table 2). common to both sites were bivalves, gastropods, hard coral, hermit crab and cowrie while soft coral, starfish and kimpet were observed in west igang and but not found in east igang. on the other hand, snail and sponge were not sampled in west igang igang which were not observed in west igang (table 4). jpair: multidisciplinary journal 112 table 1. macrobenthic components found associated with seagrass community in west igang, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras groups rel. density rel. frequency rel. dominance importance values hard coral 31.85 29.67 31.84 93.369 gastropod 36.96 21.34 36.94 95.241 bivalve 24.53 24.37 24.52 73.419 soft coral 2.40 7.20 2.40 11.995 starfish 1.89 7.20 1.89 10.985 limpet 0.51 3.03 0.51 4.040 hermit crab 0.51 3.03 0.51 4.040 cowrie 1.39 4.17 1.39 6.944 among groups in west igang, the gastropods were found to be most abundant and dominant with a relative density of 36.96% and relative dominance of 36.94% while hard coral was most frequent to occur in sampled points with relative frequency of 29.67%. least abundant, frequent and dominant groups were exhibited by the limpet and hermit crab with values of 0.51%, 3.03% and 0.51%, respectively. most important group observed was the gastropod with importance value of 95.241 while limpet and hermit crab with 4.040 were least important groups in west igang )table 1). in east igang, the bivalve was found to be the most abundant group with 55.28% while most frequent and dominant group was gastropod with values of 40.00% and 40.39%, respectively. sponge was found to be the least important group observed in east igang with a value of 4.046 while the gastropod was the most important group of all with value of 106.997 (table 2). international peer reviewed journal 113 table 2. macrobenthic components found associated with seagrass community in east igang bay, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras groups rel. density rel. frequency rel. dominance importance values bivalve 55.28 24.44 36.03 99.402 gastropod 21.13 40.00 40.39 106.997 snail 2.90 8.89 2.90 18.335 cowrie 4.94 8.15 4.94 19.845 hard coral 7.04 8.89 7.04 26.610 hermit crab 7.96 8.89 7.96 24.758 sponge 0.74 0.74 0.74 4.046 comparing the indices of sites, west igang was found to be relatively more diverse in terms of macrobenthic organisms associated with seagrass community with an index of 0.608 than east igang with 0.513 (table 3, figure 1). index of similarity of these macrobenthos between the two sites is relatively high with a value of 0.667 (table 3). table 3. indices of diversity and similarity of macrobenthic components associated with seagrass communities in west and east igang bay, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras indices west igang east igang diversity index )h’) 0.608 0.513 similarity index (s) 0.667 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 114 figure 1. index of diversity of macrobenthos associated with seagrass communities in west and east igang bay, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras table 4. groups of macrobenthos associated with seagrass communities in west and east igang bay, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras groups west igang east igang hard coral gastropod bivalve soft coral starfish limpet hermit crab cowrie sponge snail international peer reviewed journal 115 the physico-chemical parameters were observed to be variable between two sites especially in temperatures. however, higher salinity was recorded in west igang. type of substrates was relatively similar between sites with occurrence of occasional rocky bottom in west igang (table 5). table 5. physico-chemical parameters recorded in west and east igang bay, villa igang, nueva valencia, guimaras physico-chemical factors west igang east igang temperature (oc) surface 30.67 32.67 bottom 31.00 30.83 salinity (ppt.) 30.00 28.67 water depth (m) 0.43 0.60 substrate rocky, sandy, silty-muddy in transect 1 sandy, silty-muddy conclusions some of the macrobenthos observed in west igang but were not included in the sampled points were the sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sand dollar, sponges and snail. starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and soft corals were observed in east igang. degree of vegetation was relatively high in both sites. starfish was observed to be relatively more abundant outside the sampled points in west igang than east igang. the same observation was inherent in sponges, soft and hard corals. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 116 literature cited alongi, d.m. and p. christofferson. 1992 benthic infauna and organism-sediment relationship in a shallow, tropical coastal area: influence of outwelled mangrove detritus and physical disturbance. mar. ecol. prog. ser. 8: 229245. berge, j.a. and v.a. valderhaug. 1983 effect of epibenthic macropredators on community structure in subtidal, organically enriched sediments in the inner oslofjord. mar. ecol. prog. 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miller, r.i.e. newell, m.r. roman, e. m. smith and j.c. stevenson. 2005 eutrophication of the chesapeake bay: historical trends and ecological interactions. mar. ecol. prog. ser. 303: 1-29. kennish, m.j. 1994 practical handbook of marine science (2nd ed). crc press, boca raton, florida. levinton, j. 2001 marine biology: function, biodiversity, ecology (2nd edition). oxford university press. new york.: 697 p. li, f. and s. gao. 1989 the relationship between environment and benthic diversity in the chianjian estuary and adjacent bays. asian mar. biol. 6: 19-29. maurer, d. and w. leatham. 1981 polychaete feeding guilds from georges bank usa. mar. biol. 62: 161-171. maurer, d., l. watling, p. kinner, w. leatham and c. wethe. 1978 benthic assemblages of delaware bay. mar. biol. 45: 65-78. mequila, a.t., g.e. genito and w.l. campos. 2004 large scale distribution of macroand meiofaunal assemblages in the visayan sea. upv j. of nat. sci. 9 (1): 54-69. moore, d.c. and g.k. rodger. 1991 recovery of a sewage sludge dumping ground. ii. macrobenthic community. mar. ecol. prog. ser. 75: 301-308. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 118 odum, e. p. 1971 fundametals of ecology. third edition. w. b. saunders company: west washington square philadelphia, pa. palpal-latoc, v.s. 1996 the polychaete fauna of panay. national museum papers volume 6, no.1.: 58 p. parsons, t. r and c. m. lalli. 1997 biological oceanography: an introduction. second edition. butterworth_heinemann linacre house, jordan hill, oxford ox2 8dp. rees, h.l., c. heip, m. vincx and m.m. parker. 1991 benthic communities: use in point-source discharges. international council for the exploration of the sea: techniques in marine environmental sciences 16.: 69 p. thrush, s.f. and d.k. dayton. 2002 disturbance to marine benthic habitats by trawling and dredging: implications for marine biodiversity. annu. rev. ecol. syst. 33: 449-473. warwick, r.m. and r.j. uncles. 1980 distribution of benthic macrofauna associations in the bristol channel in relation to tidal stress. mar. ecol. prog. ser. 3: 97103. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover single 152 jpair: multidisciplinary research development of solid waste recovery model for a university using system dynamics ryan b. laytani orcid no. 0000-0003-2191-3872 rlaytani@gmail.com benedict b. banquil rlaytani@gmail.com bbbanquil@gmail.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines abstract a solid waste recovery model for a university is developed using system dynamics (sd). this model specifically focuses on cyclical cause-and-effect relationships about the solid waste system in university of cebu. dynamic behavior of three recovery policies, i.e. policy 1: recycling, policy 2: composting, and policy 3: recycling and composting, is analyzed in the model using different field information and justified assumption. a software package called vensim® is likewise utilized in designing the modeling structure, mapping the formulated equation, and performing the computer simulation. vensim® is further used in generating graphics illustrating the system’s behavior during the first ten years of policy implementation, i.e. 2012-2022. timeseries graphs suggest policy 3 as most appropriate to be implemented in the university. among the three policies, policy 3 sets the least residual waste, greatest fund savings, and earliest break-even in the entire phase of simulation. policy 3 is also the most environmentally effective, economically profitable, and socially acceptable among the three policies. although policy 3 entails an investment in setting a materials recovery facility (mrf), simulation results showed that it can be regained within 4.25 years of mrf productivity. this paper also vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.187 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 153 international peer reviewed journal recommends measures for model improvement and suggests initial strategies for policy implementation. keywords composting; materials recovery facility; ra 9003; recovery; recycling; solid waste management; system dynamics; university of cebu; vermicomposting introduction ineffective solid waste collection and unsanitary disposal facility are perennial problems in most urban areas around the world today. such problems have worsened in areas where rates of economic development and population growth exceed their carrying capacities and resource capabilities. affluent lifestyles like continued consumption of products having higher proportions of non-biodegradable material further aggravate the waste problems. in the philippines, the lack of guidelines in properly managing such wastes has led to the conceptualization of ra 9003 or the ecological solid waste management act of 2000. ra 9003 is a law that provides sound waste management programs, creates institutional mechanisms and incentives, declares prohibited acts and penalties, and appropriates waste management funds. it ensures proper segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment, and disposal of solid waste using the best practices defined in ecological waste management. the law also promotes a paradigm of recovering wastes that are actually considered as resources situated only in wrong places. ra 9003 stipulates mandatory targets in diverting solid waste from its ultimate disposal to various dumpsites and landfills in the country. most solid wastes in cebu city, dubbed as the second most significant metropolitan center in the philippines, are disposed at the 17-hectare inayawan dumpsite (sunstar cebu, 2011). the dumpsite was designed as a sanitary landfill but ended up as an open dumpsite whose operations lack considerations regarding environmental, health, and safety standards. its current operation is actually a violation of section 37 of ra 9003 that prohibits the use of open dumpsites in the country. the cebu city government cannot immediately close the said facility, which is already operating beyond the designed capacity, due to difficulty in establishing its suitable replacement. 154 jpair: multidisciplinary research many local government units (lgus) have failed to accomplish certain provisions in ra 9003, especially those involving targets and deadlines, because of insufficient capacity from local organization and weak determination from elected officials. as implementing agency, lgus are mandated to operate an effective waste management system but failed due to inadequate administrative, financial, and technical capacities. this scenario worsens when no local officials are given sanctions for failing to comply with some ra 9003 provisions. certain sections in ra 9003 discuss the responsibilities of educational institutions in achieving an effective solid waste management. section 21 mandates these institutions to segregate and store the solid waste according to compostable, non-recyclable, recyclable, and special. section 45 provides incentives and financial assistances to the institutions if they implement innovative recovery activities. section 56 further requires the institutions to strengthen the integration of resource conservation and recovery topics into their academic curriculum. university of cebu is a co-educational, non-sectarian, and private academic institution in cebu city, philippines that was established in 1964 (uc, 2010). through the leadership of atty. august w. go, the university now has four campuses namely uc-main, uc-banilad, uclm (lapu-lapu–mandaue), and uc-metc (maritime education and training center). uc is primarily committed in providing genuine education that instills the principles of humanity, nationalism, and academic excellence to the community. waste segregation is the only visible management strategy implemented in university of cebu (uc). many of its stakeholders are still not segregating their waste properly despite the presence of “biodegradable” and “non-biodegradable” bins inside the university. as a result, commingled wastes are often collected by community and city government waste trucks for disposal to inayawan dumpsite. uc does not also have a materials recovery facility (mrf) that can serve as composting, recycling, and transfer stations for different solid waste generated among its stakeholders. system dynamics (sd) is a system thinking method that provides comprehensive explanation on influential characteristics of a certain element with the other elements in a complex system (forrester, 155 international peer reviewed journal 1961). an element can be best understood if its relationships with the other elements and interactions with the other systems are analyzed thoroughly rather than assessing each element separately. studies concerning system dynamics generally aimed in understanding the causes of a dynamic problem, and in searching for policies that serve as solutions to minimize the adverse impacts of such problem. jay forrester of massachusetts institute of technology (usa) introduced system dynamics in mid-1950s as a modeling tool whose origin can be traced from engineering control and information feedback systems (forrester, 1961). sd is primarily intended for long-term decision-making analyses regarding industrial management problems. forrester revolutionized this concept to understand the root causes of undesirable outcomes in a system, and to control or eliminate them through implementation of new policies. sd currently evolves as a scientific method in addressing complex problems involving business, environmental, political, and socio-economic feedback systems. mathematical modeling like system dynamics constitutes the foundation of computer modeling (nirmalakhandan, 2002). advancement of high-speed hardware and programming language enables computers to store and calculate large volumes of data faster than any known manual procedures. simulated results are further presented in different forms according to established objectives of the model. despite such advancement, computer-based mathematical model remains a demanding task where only subject experts with advanced programming skills can grasp its principles. a new set of software packages that helps subject experts with minimal programming skills became available in early 1990s (nirmalakhandan, 2002). such packages are known as software authoring tools that support experts/authors to create computerbased mathematical model through merely linking objects with predetermined equations and constants. the tools are rich with built-in features to ensure modeling interactivity like user-friendly interfaces for data entry, preprogrammed mathematical functions for calculation, and post-processing programs for graphical simulation. causal loop diagram (cld) is a fundamental tool applied in system dynamics to capture major feedback mechanisms of the developed model. such diagram serves as preliminary sketches about different 156 jpair: multidisciplinary research causal hypotheses involving the solid waste system of a university. cld also simplifies the model representation through visualizing first the variable relationship before transforming it into a stock and flow diagram with the aid of software authoring tools like vensim®, stella®, and powersim®. objective of the study this paper is generally aimed in developing a solid waste recovery model for a university using system dynamics. the paper is also envisioned to analyze the dynamic behavior of waste recovery policies, recommend measures for improving the developed model, and suggest initial strategies for implementing the selected policy. materials and methods concepts of system dynamics is applied to simulate the dynamic behavior of cyclical cause-and-effect relationships regarding the solid waste system of a university. the framework of the study is divided into four phases as presented in fig. 1. preliminary phase discusses different problems and objectives of this paper. it also reviews information concerning solid waste management and system dynamics. model conceptualization phase characterizes the system, boundary, and surrounding about the solid waste generated in a university. this characterization is illustrated in the conceptualized causal loop diagram illustrated in fig. 2. model construction phase translates the causal loop diagram into a stock-and-flow diagram shown in fig. 3 using a software authoring tool called vensim®. this phase also modifies the model through continued calibration and simulation until achieving a set of acceptable and realistic time-series graphs. finally, model analysis phase analyzes significance of these graphs and selects the most suitable waste recovery policy to be implemented in the university. this phase also recommends measures for model improvement and suggests initial strategies for policy implementation. 157 international peer reviewed journal fig. 1. framework of the study. 158 jpair: multidisciplinary research fig. 2. causal loop diagram of a system dynamics model for solid waste recovery in a university fig. 3. structure of system dynamics model for solid waste recovery in a university 159 international peer reviewed journal alternative methods are applied to quantify modeling variables whose data are not readily available in university of cebu. one of these methods is establishing realistic assumptions that can substantially yields reliable and sensible results. the authors utilized such procedure considering it will take longer time to build a highly sophisticated model only to find the required data are not available, or the problem is already addressed using simpler methods barely before the model is completed. in this connection, the authors conducted an extensive inquiry over the internet to obtain literatures that give reasonable values for variables in the model. specifications about the developed sd model are presented in table 1. the table includes names of different modeling variables whose initial values and constants are determined using field information and justified assumption. these numerical values are encoded in vensim® software package, and are used in modeling calibration and simulation. the table also includes units of these variables to ensure dimensional consistency in the formulated equation. table 1. specifications of system dynamics model for solid waste recovery. variable name initial value/ constant unit stock regular class student population 17,774 capita stock summer class student population 4,572 capita stock school employee population 538 capita stock generated solid waste 0 ton stock solid waste management fund -200,000 php time step dta 0.125 year flow growing regular class student population n.a.b capita/ year flow growing summer class student population n.a. capita/ year flow growing school employee population n.a. capita/ year flow generating solid waste n.a. ton/year flow segregating recyclable waste n.a. ton/year flow composting solid waste n.a. ton/year 160 jpair: multidisciplinary research flow disposing solid waste n.a. ton/year flow selling recyclable material n.a. php/year flow selling compost n.a. php/year flow paying operation cost 25000 php/year flow paying transportation and tipping cost 100000 php/year flow receiving budget n.a. php/year auxiliary regular class student population growth factor 0.05 dmnl/ year auxiliary summer class student population growth factor 0.05 dmnl/ year auxiliary school employee population growth factor 0.05 dmnl/ year auxiliary regular class student waste generation factor 0.0095 ton/ capita/ year auxiliary summer class student waste generation factor 0.0018 ton/ capita/ year auxiliary school employee waste generation factor 0.0115 ton/ capita/ year auxiliary fractional recyclable factor 0.70 (rp 1)c 0.00 (rp 2) 0.70 (rp 3) dmnl/ year auxiliary fractional compostable factor 0.00 (rp 1) 0.16 (rp 2) 0.16 (rp 3) dmnl/ year auxiliary fractional disposable factor 0.30 (rp 1) 0.84 (rp 2) 0.14 (rp 3) dmnl/ year auxiliary recyclable to recycled material factor 1 dmnl auxiliary time parameter 1 1 year auxiliary fractional plastic material 0.475 dmnl auxiliary fractional paper material 0.475 dmnl auxiliary fractional other recyclable material 0.05 dmnl auxiliary unit selling price of plastic material 10000 php/ton auxiliary unit selling price of paper material 2500 php/ton auxiliary unit selling price of recyclable material 35000 php/ton auxiliary revenue from plastic material n.a. php auxiliary revenue from paper material n.a. php auxiliary revenue from other recyclable material n.a. php 161 international peer reviewed journal auxiliary total revenue from recycled material n.a. php auxiliary revenue from recyclable material growth factor 0.02 dmnl/ year auxiliary revenue from compost growth factor 0.02 dmnl/ year auxiliary revenue from compost n.a. php auxiliary unit compost cost 6000 php/ton auxiliary solid waste management budget 150000 php/year auxiliary annual interest rate from the bank 0.07 dmnl auxiliary savings of solid waste management fund n.a. php auxiliary compostable material n.a. ton auxiliary compostable to compost factor 1.67d dmnl auxiliary compost n.a. ton auxiliary time parameter 2 1 year auxiliary residual waste n.a. ton auxiliary disposable to unmanaged factor 1 dmnl auxiliary time parameter 3 1 year auxiliary residual waste transported to inayawan dumpsite n.a. ton auxiliary “generated solid waste transported to mrf in uc-metc” n.a. ton a a smaller dt gives more accurate results. b n.a. means not applicable. c rp means recovery policy. d dti (2009) assumed that 150 kg of compostable material and 2 kg of worms will be changed to 90 kg of compost. for model simplification, the author further assumed that 1.50 tons of compostable material will be converted to 0.90 ton of vermicompost. this will eventually result to a “compostable to compost factor” of 1.67. model formulation in system dynamics is a process of translating modeling structures into equations. it basically deals with transforming informal qualitative concepts to formal quantitative representations of a particular system. in this connection, the equations enumerated in table 2 correspond to real processes about the solid waste system in university of cebu. these equations are likewise checked for dimensional consistency and extreme case validity. 162 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 2. formulated equations in the system dynamics model for solid waste recovery. name equation regular class student population =integ(growing regular class student population, 17744) summer class student population =integ(growing summer class student population, 4572) school employee population =integ(growing employee population, 538) =integ(generating solid waste-segregating recyclable waste-composting solid waste-disposing solid waste, 0) solid waste management fund =integ(receiving budget+selling compost+selling recyclable material-paying transportation and tipping cost-paying operation cost,-200000) growing regular class student population = regular class student population*regular class student population growth factor growing summer class student population =summer class student population*summer class student population growth factor growing school employee population =school employee population*employee population growth factor generating solid waste =(regular class student population*regular class student waste generation factor)+(summer class student population*summer class student waste generation factor)+(employee population*employee waste generation factor) segregating recyclable waste =fractional recyclable factor*generated solid waste composting solid waste =fractional compostable factor*generated solid waste disposing solid waste =fractional disposable factor*generated solid waste selling recyclable material = revenue from recyclable material growth factor*total revenue from recycled material selling compost =revenue from compost*revenue from compost growth factor receiving budget =solid waste management budget revenue from plastic material =fractional plastic material*recycled material*unit selling price of plastic material revenue from paper material =fractional paper material*recycled material*unit selling price of paper material 163 international peer reviewed journal revenue from other recyclable material =fractional other recyclable material*recycled material*unit selling price of recyclable material total revenue from recycled material =revenue from plastic material+revenue from paper material+revenue from other recyclable material revenue from compost =compost*unit compost cost savings of solid waste management fund =solid waste management fund+solid waste management fund*annual interest rate from the bank compostable waste =composting solid waste*time parameter 2 compost =compostable waste/compostable to compost factor residual waste =disposing solid waste*disposable to unmanaged factor*time parameter 3 residual waste transported to inayawan dumpsite =residual waste “generated solid waste transported to mrf in uc-metc” =generated solid waste results and discussion simulated amount of residual waste is one of the two determining factors utilized in this paper for selecting the most appropriate waste recovery policy. based from fig. 4, policy 3 (recycling and composting) exhibits the slowest increase and generates the least residual waste among the three policies. it further presents no signs of initial exponential growth from the entire period of simulation. these findings suggest policy 3 as most appropriate to be implemented in the university. graphical pattern of policy 1 (recycling) indicates relatively no signs of initial exponential growth within the ten-year period, while policy 2 (composting) exhibits such sign at the start of fifth year of simulation. this scenario is attributed to low percentage of compostable materials comprising only 16% of generated solid waste in a university waste stream. additionally, the recovered 70% of generated solid waste that is assumed as recyclable material can reduce more residual waste over time compared to composting. 164 jpair: multidisciplinary research policy 3 (recycling and composting) generates the least residual waste with approximately 40 tons during the last simulation year compared to 85 tons in policy 1 (recycling), and 240 tons in policy 2 (composting). this is primarily attributed to combined reduction effect of both recycling and composting measures where 86% of generated solid waste, i.e. 16% compostable and 70% recyclable materials, can be potentially recovered from disposal to inayawan dumpsite. fig. 4. simulated amount of residual waste under three policies. another determining factor in selecting the most appropriate waste recovery policy is simulated savings of solid waste management (swm) fund. according to fig. 5, policy 3 (recycling and composting) attains the earliest break-even from the proposed php 200,000.00 investment of setting a materials recovery facility (mrf). this scenario is predicted to happen around 4.25 years after implementing the policy. policy 3 (recycling and composting) also generates the highest savings at nearly php 370,000.00 during its tenth year of implementation. these results served as another evidences implying this policy as most appropriate to be implemented in the university. fig. 5 further shows policy 2 (composting) as last to reach the break-even at approximately 6.5 years after its implementation. this residual waste 400 300 200 100 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 32 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 time (year) to n residual waste : policy 1: recycling 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 residual waste : policy 2: composting 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 residual waste : policy 3: recycling and composting 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 165 international peer reviewed journal scenario happens because policy 2 has the lowest recovery percentage and lowest selling price, i.e 16% of generated solid waste and php 6,000 per ton respectively. policy 1 (recycling) landed second in reaching the break-even, which occurs around 4.75 years, with 70% of generated solid waste sold as recyclable material at php 7,687.50 weighted price per ton. policy 1 (recycling) and policy 3 (recycling and composting) both reaches the break-even during their fourth year of implementation. with additional savings from selling compost, policy 3 (recycling and composting) is only ahead by approximately 0.5 year. exponential growth patterns of both policies suggest that their savings gap increases over time. this result implies policy 3 (recycling and composting) will become even more profitable compared to policy 1 (recycling) with respect to time. fig. 5. simulated savings of solid waste management fund under three policies. implementation of policy 3 can give several benefits to the environment, universities, lgus, industries, and communities. it can indirectly protect our environment through saving finite natural resources, conserving nonrenewable fossil fuel, lowering greenhouse savings of solid waste management fund 400,000 200,000 0 -200,000 -400,000 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 time (year) p hp savings of solid waste management fund : policy 1: recycling 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 savings of solid waste management fund : policy 2: composting 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 savings of solid waste management fund : policy 3: recycling and composting 3 3 3 3 3 3 166 jpair: multidisciplinary research gas emission, and lessening adverse pollution impact. policy 3 can also aid universities in complying different regulations on solid waste management specifically ra 9003. aside from this compliance, policy 3 can assist universities and buy-back centers in generating revenue from selling recovered materials. agricultural sectors can further generate revenue from decreased production cost due to application of high-quality vermicompost as cheaper alternative to inorganic fertilizers. policy 3 can further help lgus, industries, and communities in stretching landfill lifespan, reducing waste management cost, reducing energy consumption, decreasing production cost, creating job opportunities, enhancing life quality, and improving public health and sanitation. conclusions the developed sd model can facilitate a simulated environment about recovering solid waste in a university. using vensim® software, it can generate rough estimates of waste quantity and potential revenue that are sufficient enough to plan an institutional waste recovery policy and allow investment to proceed for policy implementation. in the model, all input variables are quantitative giving definite parameters to various elements in a solid waste system. exclusion of qualitative variables is done to provide users more time in analyzing the dynamic behavior of a system rather than evaluating the methodological validity to quantify such variables. with this scenario, critical discussions are now directly focused on various benefits and costs of implementing such policy in the university. analyzing the dynamic behavior of waste recovery policies is relatively easy since all their respective time-series graphs show no signs of oscillation. in the model, only goal-seeking and initial exponential growth patterns are observed from graphs of two solid waste elements selected for simulation. time-series graphs showing policy behavior from 2012 to 2022 suggest policy 3 (recycling and composting) as most appropriate to be implemented in the university. this policy sets the least residual waste, greatest fund savings, and earliest break-even in the entire phase of simulation. policy 3 is likewise the most environmentally effective, economically profitable, 167 international peer reviewed journal and socially acceptable among the three policies analyzed in this paper. improvement measures are recommended to make a more comprehensive modeling structure and reliable simulation result. inclusion of additional swm elements in the modeling structure can improve its comprehensiveness, e.g. revenue from selling handicrafts made of recyclable material, and selling earthworms (eudrilus euginiae) as cock feeds or fish baits. utilization of more actual data can also improve the reliability of results especially in simulating the swm fund savings. this option may require financial support from university’s top management in conducting a solid waste characterization that determines the composition of recyclable, compostable, and residual waste. formal validation is another improvement measure recommended to be done in the developed sd model. this procedure establishes the ability of a model to replicate the dynamic behavior of a real solid waste system through comparing predicted values from the model and observed values from the university. associated statistics such as coefficient of determination (r2) are typically utilized to measure the variability, otherwise known as “goodness of fit”, of these two sets of information. in this manner, the developed sd model will be verified to check the consistency of simulation output and actual field information. initial strategies about policy 3 implementation are also recommended in this paper. top management of uc is thus suggested to provide foundation in implementing the selected policy especially on financing the materials recovery facility. although this entails an investment in the part of uc, simulation result shows it can be recovered within 4.25 years of mrf productivity. the management is also recommended to adopt its 8th institutional goal, i.e. developing programs that promote environmental awareness among its stakeholders and inspires them in achieving sustainable development in their respective communities. with this goal, the management is further recommended in upholding its 6th core value, i.e. environmental stewardship that protects the right of an individual to live a balanced and healthful ecology. 168 jpair: multidisciplinary research acknowledgments the author is thankful to atty. augusto w. go and chancellor candice g. gotianuy for extending their financial support in accomplishing this paper. the author is also grateful to prof. abescar g. base jr., mrs. ma. teresa t. jochin, mr. robert s. osabel, dr. ma. salud m. de los santos, dr. mauro allan p. amparado, dr. rosielyn d. tan, engr. allan r. navarro, engr. ma. nila r. sabal, engr. mark n. abadiano, mrs. ma. elena o. agravante, and engr. ellen may z. reynes for sharing their constructive criticism and technical expertise in improving this paper. literature cited dti (department of trade and industry, philippines) 2009 starting a business: vermicomposting. a brochure made by the bureau of micro, small, and medium enterprise development (bmsmed). makati city, philippines.<http://www.dti.gov.ph/ uploads/downloadablefiles/sab_vermicomposting _09. pdf> (accessed 10.30.11). forrester, j.w. 1961 industrial dynamics. the mit press, massachusetts, united states of america. nirmalakhandan, n. 2002 modeling tools for environmental engineers and scientists. crc press, florida, united states of america sunstar cebu 2011 editorial: plan to close inayawan dumpsite <http://www. sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/ 2011/03/18/ editorial-planclose-inayawan-dumpsite-145597> (accessed 04.29.11). uc (university of cebu) 2010 faculty manual. university of cebu, cebu city, philippines. jpair cover vol 11 single 49 international peer reviewed journal the use of model making in teaching human organ systems joyce b. molino magtolis orcid no. 0000-0002-8747-2507 jbm_jn@yahoo.com leyte normal university tacloban city, philippines abstract teaching science is a dynamic process. along with the advancement of technology, the methodology of the teaching process must be innovative to adapt to the current trends of education. teachers then are prompted with perseverance to the task of providing innovative answers to modern need of the science curriculum. this quasi experimental study aimed to determine the effect of model making as a tool in teaching selected human body systems. the study was conducted to a total of 102 university freshmen enrolled in biological sciences. pre-test, post-test and interview guide were conducted to gather the data. analysis on the pre-test and post-test scores revealed a significant improvement on the performance of the students. furthermore, the group when exposed to the model making activity showed a significant mean difference between the pre-test and the post-test scores. the feedback of the students indicated that the model making activity made the learning process more challenging and interesting. results showed that with model making, the teaching of selected human organ systems is effective. model making, therefore, could be an alternative teaching technique to enhance students’ creative thinking and better understanding of the concept. keywords education model making, teaching technique, human organ systems, quasi-experimental design, philippines vol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.197 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction science teaching is a dynamic process. with the advancement of technology, the methodology of the teaching process must be innovative to adapt to the current trends in education. teaching biology like other sciences is challenged by attempts to incorporate in classroom instructions the contemporary ideas in science and issues that affect the learners as in the report of studies conducted by reiss & tunicliffe, (2001), procop and francovicova (2006), özsevgeç (2007), boo, (2007), bahar etal., (2008), ҫimer (2012) and magtolis (2013). teachers then are prompted with perseverance to the task of providing innovative answers to modern need of the science curriculum (ҫepni etal., 2004; barbero etal., 2008; procop etal., 2009; özsevgeç etal., 2012). in agreement with other educators that teaching biology today should gear on being effective by stimulating the learners to develop better attitudes to gain an indepth understanding of the science concepts as established in the studies of hedi & harackiewiez (2000) and procop etal. (2007). literature reveals studies that were conducted to explore on varied alternative teaching methods that may be employed in teaching biology concepts (ҫepni etal., 2004; barbero, etal., 2008; procop, etal., 2009; özsevgeç etal., 2012). in most cases, students tend to be passive learners of rote memorization and enumeration. researchers like tekkaya (2001) and cimer (2004) reported reasons that led students to learn the material through memorization. these include overloaded biology curricula and nature of biological science which include many abstract concepts, events topics and facts. ҫimer (2004) and ҫepni etal., (2004) also supplemented that teacher’ styles of biology teaching and teaching methods and techniques are also factors that affect students’ learning biology. hence, students enrolled in biology cannot help but look at the subject as one full of tedious memorization. from this perspective, it appears that students whose interest is not on memorization get bored. consequently, the students’ performance is affected. because of their importance and the difficulty of the subject, science teachers seek for alternative teaching approaches in their teaching (ҫepni etal., 2006). in the same study of ҫimer (2004) it reported on some students’ suggestions on what they think could make biology learning effective. the turkish students suggested various strategies or techniques like teaching biology through the use of visual materials. the participants also indicated that they should see what they are learning. further, they stated that in biology, if the teachers use various visual teaching and learning materials and tools such as figures, models, computer simulations, videos and real – life objects both teaching and learning of biology may become more effective (ҫimer 51 international peer reviewed journal 2004, 2007 cited in ҫimer, 2012). pagar (2001) mentioned in his study that models and modeling were essential in learning science. so much so that using models in teaching has provided a wide range of tools to enhance student learning. biology is the study of life as defined by authors. however, the study of biology is not only about the different forms of living things; it also teaches us to ask, explain, and understand natural occurrences. thus, this study explored the effect of model making as a strategy for helping students to understand biological concepts better. this made use in particular the body systems, specifically, the digestive, circulatory, excretory, and respiratory systems. human organ systems were reported to be one biology topics that students find difficulty with along with photosynthesis, cellular respiration, cell division and gene and chromosomes (ҫepni et al., 2004; magtolis, 2013). the use of model making in the teaching of selected human organ systems could be beneficial to the biology teachers to enhance their lessons and to reinforce facts and principles. through model making, the students will be able to build upon what they know, represent concepts in their minds and organize ideas. hence, the learning process will be enhanced and with added interest they will be able to apply the concepts learned to their daily activities. to a certain degree, the study showed how much of the strategy model making can facilitate the learning of the basic biological concepts. this study will develop a teaching device that will help the teacher and the students in the learning process, as well as put life and interest into what is so often a dead study of life. framework the current trend of education is the application of the learned concepts in addition to the student-centred teaching as a shift from teacher-centred learning environment. studies show that effective science teachers use a variety of instructional strategies, teaching skills and instructional materials within a given lesson (ҫimer, 2004). as opposed to lecturing the whole period, these teachers may begin with a demonstration, move on to a brief lecture, conduct a hands-on activity and end with a review of major points. the quality of their instruction is evidenced by the amount of student engagement as reflected by the amount of student learning that occurs. a number of researches have established that regardless of students’ intellectual ability benefit from the implementation of a good teaching strategy (cimer, 2004). the findings of chiappetta’s study (1998) also agreed that exemplary science teachers use these skills frequently to give students concrete examples, ensuring the opportunity to construct understanding. in addition to, dillon (2008) reported that 52 jpair multidisciplinary research students need to see what they are learning or to experiment with what is being taught because biology include may abstract. the same was reported by ҫimer (2007) and joyce (2000) that when students engage in practice work, they can test, rethink and reconstruct their ideas and thoughts thus enabling the students to learn the topic through various cognitive activities. therefore, it was suggested that teaching through practical work in biology lessons might make biology teaching and learning more effective. various studies about models and its implications had been conducted. one of such is by keating, t. et.al., (2002) implied that by engaging students in model building activities can quickly compare their existing understanding with their model and then re-evaluate their understanding based upon feedback from their interactions with their model. and that this process is facilitated when students are provided activities that engage students in direct experiences with the concepts under study (keating, t. et.al., 2002). this is due in part because educators have recognized that model based reasoning can facilitate the development of mathematical – scientific understanding of the natural world (keating, t. et.al., 2002). the study of pagar (2001) concluded that the use of modeling in physics instruction significantly improves the performance of the problem solver. selley’s (2002) findings on his study have implications for the teaching of all science theory, but especially for conveying the purpose of models and the process of modeling. in his study, he asserted that the most versatile and powerful of the iconic models currently employed in the physical sciences is the particulate model for matter. in another study conducted by reuter and perrin (1999), the effectiveness of dynamic computer simulation models for helping students understand ecological interrelationships and students’ attitudes toward technology was explored. this study concluded that simulation software is very valuable in many disciplines, including biology. model was also used in the study by inman (1999), where students constructed the three dimensional topographical model and concluded that the students comments were positive about their experience. it is said that the future of man rests upon his ability to apply the achievements of science. this being the case, it is of utmost importance that the youth be thoroughly schooled in the principles of science so that they may properly understand and contribute to this progress. in this future ventures a leading part will be played by our teachers of science. for this reason the teacher of the life sciences should have a clear understanding on the basis for his profession and a command of the facts of science as well as the ability to encourage and inspire the students who study under his direction. 53 international peer reviewed journal objectives the major thrust of this study was to test the use of model making in teaching selected human organ systems. specifically, it endeavoured to find out the effect of model making approach in the academic achievement of students on the human organ systems and its advantages and disadvantages based on their perceived experiences. methodology this study employed the quasi experimental method of research using the pre test – post test design. it involved two classes, both experimental groups, of teacher education students of leyte normal university taking biological science with the approval of the university. the respondents were oriented on the purpose of the study and were assured of strict confidentiality of their responses. the researcher-made test served as the pre test and post test which was utilized to test the effectiveness of the use of model making in teaching organ systems. this was composed of 80 – item multiple choice tests with 20 questions for each selected human organ system. the table of specification and item analysis were made to validate the content of the instrument. the interview guide questions were formulated to get feedback of the students about the model making activity with its validity established by colleagues in the field of biology education based on its relevance, clarity and understandability (ҫimer, 2004). revisions were made based on their comments and suggestions. the model making activity was incorporated in a lesson sequence which contained a series of lesson plans. the activity consists of the drawings and procedures (illustrations were adapted from the body book by wyne, p.j. and donald m. silver, 1993) to guide both the students and the teacher. the lessons in the lesson sequence are the digestive (lesson 1), circulatory (lesson 2), respiratory (lesson 3) and excretory systems (lesson 4) with model making as a learning task. a try out lesson on the skeletal system was conducted to orient the students to the whole process. the lesson sequence, containing the four lesson plans with the model making activities, was also subjected for validation. this was carried out in the two classes taught by the same teacher (ҫimer, 2004). the two classes received the treatment of model making activity, in addition to the lecture style of teaching biology concepts. however, the model making activity in each class was done alternately. while class a was introduced to the first lesson with model making approach, class b was introduced to the first lesson with no model making approach. instead, the first lesson in class b was taught with the usual way of teaching the topic. in other words, model making 54 jpair multidisciplinary research activity was employed in the first lesson for class a but not for class b. hence, class a was the experimental group while class b was the control group for lessons 1 and 3. then, for the second lesson, class b made the model. therefore in the lesson 2 and 4, class a was the control group while class b was the experimental group. the class was then divided into groups of four members for the model making activity. five students in each class were chosen purposively based on the pre test results. on the basis of the transcribed answers from the individual audio – tape recorded interview and researcher’s observations, the model making procedures were looked into. the pre test scores within the class were compared using the independent samples t-test. the paired samples t-test was used to compare the pre test and post test results between the two classes. effectiveness of the model making approach the effectiveness of the model making approach in teaching selected human body systems were determined through the lesson sequence involving freshmen education students of leyte normal university. the pre test and post test results and the recorded interviews provided the data whereupon the assessments of the model making were based. a. pre test and post test results the mean pre test scores of the two groups are shown in table 1. table 1. mean pre-test scores of class 1 and class 2 on the four tests in selected human body systems. subtest class a (n=49) class b (n=42) computed t value p valuemean standarddeviation mean standard deviation l1 6.2 1.97 7.0 2.75 1.635 0.106ns l2 6.7 2.24 6.6 2.47 0.255 0.799ns l3 8.6 2.23 8.7 3.07 0.256 0.798 ns l4 8.0 1.97 7.6 1.91 0.923 0.358 ns l1+l3 14.73 3.03 14.19 3.08 0.783 0.436 ns l2+l4 14.69 3.04 14.19 3.08 0.847 0.399 ns ns -not significant 55 international peer reviewed journal as reflected in the table, the performance of class a in the second and fourth subtests is higher with a minimal difference compared to class b. on the other hand, class a performed better than class b in the first and third subtests. the result of the t-test for independent samples revealed that the pre test scores of the two classes did not differ significantly since the p-value of the four subtests were higher than 0.05. therefore, the pre test mean scores on the four subtests between the two groups were comparable. consequently, table 1 showed that the two groups were assumed to be equivalent in terms of their knowledge on the selected human body systems taught before these classes were exposed to the model making approach in teaching selected human organ systems. in the same manner, the study conducted by ҫepni etal., (2006) also established the respondents’ present knowledge that was very close to each other and there was not a statistical difference between the groups before the treatment was conducted. their purpose was to investigate the effects of computer based assisted instruction material (caim) related to photosynthesis topic on students’ cognitive development, misconceptions and attitudes. it is important to know what prior knowledge students bring to a learning environment in order to help them construct new knowledge (tsai, 2000; ҫepni etal., 2006). the mean post test scores of the two classes are shown in the next table. table 2. mean post test scores for l1-l3 and l2-l4 of the experimental and control groups. lesson l1 – l3 l2 – l4 experimental (class a) control (class b) experimental (class a) control (class b) mean 31.90 19.07 30.81 17.24 standard deviation 3.809 4.386 4.718 3.503 computed t-value 14.931 15.705 p-value 0.000** 0.000** ** highly significant 56 jpair multidisciplinary research the result of the post test scores of the experimental group and control groups is reflected in table 2. in the two lessons l1 (digestive) and l3 (respiratory), the experimental group was class a, which received the treatment of model making activity, and class b was the control group, which was not exposed to the treatment. as shown, the mean post test score of the experimental group is significantly higher in terms of these lessons than the post test score obtained by the control group. when the t-test was applied, the post test mean scores differed significantly since the p-value associated to the computed tvalue of 14.931 is much less than ∂ = 0.01. conversely, class a was the control group while class b was the experimental group for lessons 2 (circulatory) and 4 (excretory) systems respectively. it is shown in the table using the t-test that the post test score of class b is significantly higher in terms of these lessons than the score obtained by class a. the students in the experimental groups performed better by gaining higher post test scores than the students in the control group. hence, table 2 supports the effectiveness of the model making approach in the two classes. the paired samples t-test was used to analyze the pre test and post test scores within each class. this was to verify if the mean difference in the mean scores between the pre test and the post test scores of the two classes was significant. the next table shows the result. table 3. paired sample t-test group pretest posttest t – value p-value mean differencemean standard deviation mean standard deviation class a e=l1+l3 c=l2+l4 14.73 14.69 3.033 3.043 31.90 17.24 3.809 3.503 27.613 5.294 0.000** 0.000** 17.17 2.55 class b c=l1+l3 e=l2+l4 14.19 14.19 3.078 3.078 19.07 30.81 4.386 4.718 6.084 21.616 0.000** 0.000** 4.88 16.62 ** highly significant as can be gleaned from the table, the two groups post highly significant post test results taking into account the lessons with model making activity. the pre test and post test scores of class a revealed an increase in the mean difference for lessons 1 and 3, the lessons with model making activity. in the same manner, class b performed 57 international peer reviewed journal better in lessons 2 and 4 where model making activity was employed in teaching the lessons. the application of the model making approach yielded a better performance of the students. the mean difference evidently shows a steep increase in the lessons with model making than the lessons with no model making activity. this observation is true to both classes. with this, table 3 also supports the effectiveness of model making approach in teaching the selected human organ systems. studies in literature indicated that for students to learn more effectively teachers should make biology lessons interesting and attractive (cimer, 2004; cepni etal., 2006). b. interview responses the use of this approach helped the students understand the lesson better as disclosed in their responses. the interview revealed that most of the students’ responses and comments were confirmatory towards the model making approach in teaching selected human body systems. the models made by the students as the output of model making activity are also shown in the subsequent figures. on digestive system. “the model helped me understand the lesson better. i came to know the structures and its functions. the different organs of the digestive system are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus. the liver and the pancreas are the accessory organs. the mouth serves as the entrance of food. it contains the teeth, tongue and salivary glands which cut, tear, push and moisten the food. the esophagus is the passageway of food from the mouth to the stomach. the stomach squeezes, grinds and twist the food. mechanical and chemical digestion of food takes place in the stomach. in the small intestine complete digestion of food takes place. the large intestine absorbs large amount of water and eliminates undigested food through the rectum and out of the anus. the accessory organs release enzymes that help in the chemical digestion of food.” “through the model, i could now trace what happens to the food in each organ as it passes from one organ to another. also the digestive juices and accessory organs that aid the process. the food in its simplest form will be absorbed to the blood stream and be distributed to all parts of the body. the undigested food will do to the large intestine where large amount of water will be reabsorbed. the undigested food will be eliminated out of the body through the rectum and anus.” 58 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. model making on digestive system. “i find the model making activity enjoyable and challenging to come up with the model and follow the instruction. it encourages us to think.”. “it develop teamwork at the same time learning together” on circulatory system. “the model made me understand the lesson easily through its structures. the heart has 3 structures, the septum, valves and chambers. septum is a flap of tissues that separates the heart into two sides – right and left sides. the right side collects deoxygenated blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs. the left side collects oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to the body. the valves prevent the backflow of blood.” “it gave me the idea on how blood circulates in the body as well as the structures of the heart. the blood from all parts of the body enters to the right atrium passes to the right ventricle, to the pulmonary artery then to the lungs. then the oxygenated blood from the lungs enters to the left atrium, to the left ventricle, to the aorta and to all parts of the body where oxygen is delivered and carbon dioxide is collected. and the blood continues to circulate.” “i can picture out now the flow of blood and need not imagine anymore.” 59 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. model making on circulatory system. “it was difficult at first but the instructions enlightened us with what to do and helped us overcome the difficulty” “it gave us challenge to construct the model.” on respiratory system. “the model helped me understand more about its organs and where will air pass through. the air passes through the structure of the respiratory system which are the nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and the alveoli.” “the model illustrates the path of the air and how the organs are like, arranged and structured inside the body.” figure 3. model making on respiratory system. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research “it was exciting and enjoyable because i know i will gain more information about the system”. “it was easier because there were few pieces we need to connect and the instruction was clear enough.” on excretory system. “it made me realize how urine is formed. urine is formed through filtration. blood enters through the renal artery then to the kidney. inside the kidney are the arterioles, glamerulus, bowman’s capsule, loop of henle, nephron, capillaries and renal vein. from the kidney, urine will pass through to the ureter, which transports the urine to urinary bladder. then the urine will pass out of the body through the urethra.” “during the discussion, the model helped me visualize the structure of the urinary system and its location in the body. the structures of the kidney are the cortex, outer section, medulla the middle section and the pelvis the inner section. the cortex, contain nephron, the filtering unit, containing the bowman’s capsule and the loop of henle. the pelvis is where the collecting tubules come together.” figure 4. model making on excretory system. “the following of instruction and putting the pieces together was challenging.” “it was easy because the instruction was clear and the parts were not too complicated.” “it was enjoyable and worthwhile. i didn’t need to imagine anymore.” “it was fun working with group.” as observed, model making activity encouraged involvement of students. students jumped into work enthusiastically. this result illustrated that the activity influenced students’ attitudes towards the lesson in a positive way. it is believed that the enthusiasm was evident because the students loved to use their hands and created 61 international peer reviewed journal structures with their group mates. this observation supports the findings of the study of ҫimer (2004) and ҫepni etal., 2006. aside of having the students work and cooperate in small groups, the model making activity also supported the use of higher levels of thinking when they made the models (lyon,2002). as part of the activity, they must discuss and describe each as a part of the model. the assembling of the pieces together and oral explanation encourage the students to do higher level thinking. bloom’s taxonomy tells that asking the students to evaluate, synthesize, analyze and apply what they know requires higher level of thinking skills than just understanding the basic knowledge. as the students use higher level thinking skills and so their intellectual behaviour is being developed (lyon, 2002). the enthusiastic learning went on in the classroom for the whole duration of the treatment. the students’ high performance in the post test of the lessons with the treatment and the feedback of the students have proven that model making is an approach that may be employed in teaching selected human organ systems. the study conducted separately by keating (2002), pagar (2001) and selly (2000) also concluded that the use of model making activity significantly improved the performance of the students. as a whole the results in this study supported the effectiveness of model making approach. likewise, it pointed out that students in the class exposed to model making activity tended to perform better and achieve more compared to the performance of those who were not into model making activity. moreover, model making activity is another teaching tool that may help students develop better attitude towards the subject and improve their academic performance. as cited in the work of cimer, (2004) previous researchers also promote teachers’ using visual materials like pictures, posters, models and computers in the lessons, which were found to be effective for making the lessons attractive and interesting for students. further, recent studies have indicated that students remember best those ideas or concepts that are presented in a way to relate their sensory channels like audio and visual representations, pictures, charts, models and multimedia (cimer, 2004). also, teaching with visual materials can provide more concrete meaning to words, show connections and relationships among ideas explicitly, provide a useful channel of communication and strong verbal messages in students (cimer, 2004; 2007). in the end this makes their biology learning more effective (cimer, 2004). conclusion literature have reported various studies recommending a certain alternative teaching approach or material under study to be more influential to the students’ 62 jpair multidisciplinary research attitudes and on students’ academic achievement than the regular way of teaching the lesson (kali, 2000; tsai, 2000; keating, 2002; ҫepni etal., 2006; dillon, 2008; barbero etal., 2008). similarly, this recent study concerning the effects of model making activity on students’ achievement also supports the above mentioned authors. the results showed that the two classes involved are comparable in terms of their knowledge on the selected human organ systems used in the study. comparing the results, it generated a significant difference between the pre test and post test scores between the control and experimental groups. the students performed better and achieved more when exposed to the lessons with model making activity. the outcome of the interview reveals a challenge and interest in the learning process of the students. the students also made positive feedbacks concerning the model making approach as it has challenged them to think while enjoying as they construct the model. the activity has made the learning process interesting. however, these feedbacks are not adequate enough to argue that the activity have changed students’ attitudes towards biology lessons. on the basis of the students’ feedback, the clarity of the instructions in making the model have been revised and improved. another important point that needs to be taken into account is that the model making activities are time consuming. thus, taking into consideration the lesson time for biology (ҫimer, 2012), the study suggests that teachers need to be definite in carrying out the allotted time. in the light of these findings, it may be said therefore that model making is an effective tool in teaching selected human organ systems. furthermore, model making approach may be used as a tool in teaching selected concepts in biology as it challenges and encourages better academic performance in students in addition to the usual way of teaching the lesson. however, this conclusion is limited to the number of respondents used in this study. future studies may be designed to a bigger number of respondents for more comprehensive results. recommendation the study suggests that the students’ interest is aroused and they tend to learn more when model making approach is applied in the teaching of selected human organ systems. model making may then be applied by teachers in the life sciences to encourage and inspire the students under their care. it is then another teaching technique to enhance students’ creative thinking and for them to attain a better understanding of the concepts. furthermore, it is also recommended that the model making activity be developed to teach all the human organ systems. similar studies may be designed to enrich the results of this study. 63 international peer 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google.com.ph/scholar?start=0&q=is+biology+boring%3f+student+attitu des+toward+biology&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_vis=1 67 international peer reviewed journal project 2061 1990 science for all americans. oxford university press, inc. selley, nicholas j. 2000. “students spontaneous use of a particulate model for dissolution”, journal of the australian science research in science education research association. 30(4). talisayon, vivien etal. 2001 science, mathematics and technology literacy for the 21st century. quezon city philippines. tekkaya, c., özkan, ö., & sungur, s. 2001 biology concepts perceived as difficult by turkish high school students. journal of hacettepe university education faculty 21: 145-150. tsai, c. 2000 enhancing science instruction: the use of “conflict maps”. international journal of science education, 22 (3): 285 – 302. retrieved on september 24, 2013 from score-education.org/media/3671/review_of_research.pdf tunnicliffe, s. & reiss, m. 2001 students’ understanding about human organs and organ systems. research in science education 31: 383-399. retrieved on april 07, 2012 from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/a:1013116228261 wyne, p.j. and donald m. silver 1993 the body book. usa. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research improved composting through fermented activators pet roey l. pascual orcid no.: 0000-0001-9919-5263 petroey262301@yahoo.com cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus barili, cebu, philippines abstract composts are important components in improving or restoring soil fertility. however, it takes long time for it to prepare and buying starter cultures of beneficial microorganisms to speed-up composting can be expensive. thus, a study was conducted to quantify microorganisms from the different fermented activators and em using pca, determine the duration of compost maturity, percent recovery of compost, and nutrient content and ph of compost as affected by different fermented activators and em. significant lower temperature were registered on the compost (30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract) applied with commercial effective microorganism (em) from five to eight weeks of composting than those applied with fermented activators and tap water. such is a sign of earlier maturity. meanwhile, application of fermented swamp cabbage juice alone improved the percent recovery of compost by 0.36 times (46.70%) compared to those applied with tap water only (34.33%). furthermore, application of commercial em and fermented swamp cabbage juice alone also improved the nutrient contents (n, p2o5 and k2o) of the compost after four and eight weeks of composting. keywords agriculture, composting, fermented activators, experimental research, philippines vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.221 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 25 international peer reviewed journal introduction compost used as soil amendment provides nutrients, support beneficial soil life, reduces soil diseases, increases water retention in sandy soils, add drainage to clay soils, and promotes weed and erosion control (hospitals for a healthy environment, 2007). with continuous increase in price of crude oil in the international market, price increase of chemicals has continued to rise. this increases the demand for good quality compost that can either supplement or substitute chemical fertilizer inputs (cobb and rosenfield, 1991). compost production, however, is far from sustainable mainly because it relies heavily on chicken manure and other animal waste materials. lignocellulosic waste such as grass clippings, twigs and leaves make up 44.5% of the typical municipal solid waste in the philippines (delos santos, 2009) making it a good prospect for composting. sadly, conventional composting takes three to four months before it can be used as farm input. one of those technologies to accelerate composting is the use of effective microorganism (em). it contains various organic acids due to the presence of lactic acid bacteria and other beneficial microorganisms, which have strong sterilizing compound that suppresses harmful microorganisms and enhances decomposition of organic matter. without beneficial microorganisms, indigenous microbes in the soil will facilitate the decomposition of available organic materials that may produce phytotoxic substances which hinder seed and plant development (diver, 2001). however, buying starter cultures of beneficial microorganisms can be expensive for farmers thus there is a need to create fermented activators out of readily available materials hence this study. objectives of the study the study evaluates the efficiency of the swamp cabbage and the golden snail singly and in combination as different fermented activators in accelerating composting process. specifically, it determines the duration of compost maturity, percent recovery and nutrient content and ph of compost as affected by fermented activators and em®. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research materials and methods sample collection each compost component was grouped together according to browns: low nitrogen content dried corn (zea mays) stalks; greens: high nitrogen content kakawate (gliricidia sepium) leaves and phosphorus and potassium source, banana (musa balbisiana) bract. after collection of compost materials, they were shredded into particles having approximately 2-5cm in length to increase the surface area of the materials. the lignocellulosic waste combination of 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract served as the test compost for study. preliminary experiments showed that the lignocellulosic waste combination of 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract produced the highest percent nitrogen and phosphorus in the compost product. swamp cabbages with green leaves were used while those that show yellow discoloration were discarded. these were cut approximately 50cm from the tip. for golden snail, only the live ones were used. preparation of activator and fermentation the compost activators were prepared through anaerobic fermentation using swamp cabbage alone, golden snail alone and 1 part swamp cabbage + 1 part golden snail (w/w). the freshly collected swamp cabbages were chopped to about 10cm while fresh golden snails were crushed. from these materials, 2kg each of chopped swamp cabbage alone, crushed golden snail alone and 1kg of chopped swamp cabbage + 1kg of crushed golden snail were placed in three individual identical buckets and added with 0.67 kg molasses. then it was covered and allowed to ferment for one month. the fermented extract produced was diluted with water and molasses at a ratio of 1l extract: 1l molasses: 48l tap water following the procedure of salapare (2008). commercial em activation commercial em was available in a dormant state and required activation before application. activation was done by the addition of 45l of water to 3l of dormant em according to the specified dilution of the commercial em. the solution was placed in a clean plastic drum (50l capacity) covered and allowed to ferment for one week. 27 international peer reviewed journal experimental design and treatments a completely randomized design (crd) with three replications was used. the following fermented activators served as treatments: t0 – control (tap water) t1 – fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden snail) t2 – fscj alone (fermented swamp cabbage juice) t3 – 1 part fcgs + 1 part fscj (w/w) t4 – commercial em t5 – compost manure (cow manure) all fermented activators and em were applied one week after activation. the remaining activated fermented activators and em, however, were used only up to 30 days before they were replaced with a newly activated fermented activators and em. for activated em, a rule of thumb is 30 days longevity.however, its peak efficacy occurs at about 14 to 16 days (futuretechtoday, 2004). composting procedure the compost materials were placed in compost basin measuring 70cm diameter and 30cm depth. a distance of 30cm between basins was maintained. all materials were mixed according to the specified ratio to total 10 kg and was soaked in 10l treatment solution overnight and completely covered with plastic sheet to prevent excessive evaporation of water. turning over the pile was done weekly up to the seventh week to provide adequate aeration and obtain uniform rate of decomposition. all the compost materials were harvested after eight weeks of decomposition. data gathered quantification of microorganisms one liter sample from each activated fermented activators and em were brought to techno lab analytical group, inc., cebu city, philippines for microbial analysis using aerobic plate count (pca). analysis was done from activation until four weeks of storage to determine the longevity of activated fermented activators and em. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research a sufficient quantity of culture medium was prepared to fill the number of plates needed for counting the number of samples desired. the medium was placed in a water bath (42°c-45°c) and it was made certain that the medium was mixed before pouring by gently swirling the bottle or flask so as to avoid foaming. a range of three to four dilutions that is suspected to yield plates ranging 30 to 300 colonies per plate was selected. from each of these dilutions, after thorough mixing, 1.0ml aliquot was transferred to the labeled sterile plates. after distribution of inocula, approximately 15 to 20ml of molten agar medium was poured, the inoculum was then distributed by swirling counter clockwise the plate three to five times, and the medium was allowed to solidify then the plates were inverted for incubation at 25°c to 28°c for four to seven days. the dilutions which exhibit 30 to 300 colonies were determined. the number of bacteria was calculated. the number of colonies appearing on the replicate plates was averaged and the mean of the colony number was multiplied by the reciprocal of the dilution. compost maturity the maturity of the compost was determined by monitoring the compost temperature and ph. initial and weekly temperature and ph were gathered to monitor the composting process. temperature and ph readings, using digital thermometer and ph meter, were taken at the center of the pile, approximately 15cm from the surface. according to rynk (1992), at optimal composting condition, decomposition of organic matter proceeds through three phases: the mesophilic (40oc and above), thermophilic phase (55oc and above), and maturation phase (cooling down). maturity of compost was also based on percent organic matter (om). compost is defined as any product of plant and/or animal origin that has undergone decomposition through biological, chemical and/or any other process as long as the original materials are no longer recognizable, free from plant or animal pathogens, soil-like in texture, contains not less than 20% organic matter (om.) oven-dry basis and can supply nutrients to plants (fpa, 1996). percent recovery from the 10kg of fresh materials, the decomposed materials were weighed to determine the percent recovery of the compost fertilizer. the percentage recovery was computed as follows: 29 international peer reviewed journal recovery (%) nutrient analysis and ph of compost on the fourth, sixth and eighth week of composting, approximately 100g fresh compost was taken from each treatment in composite and brought to the bureau of soils, mandaue experimental station, mandaue city, cebu, philippines for nutrient analysis. percent organic matter was analyzed using walkey-black method, total nitrogen using kjeldhal method and phosphorus using vanadomolybdate method, while the total potassium was analyzed using flame photometer method. also, the ph of the compost was determined as well as the c:n ratio of the compost was computed. statistical analysis raw data were gathered and analyzed using analysis of variance (anova) for a completely randomized design (crd) to test the significant differences among the treatments. comparison among means was done using duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) to determine the specific significant differences among treatment means. results and discussion although effective microorganism (em) mechanisms are not yet clearly understood, they are still popularly used in composting and farming technologies (hiraoka, 2002). the microbial population colony forming unit (cfu)/ml in fermented activators and em upon activation until four weeks of storage are presented in table 1. populations of microorganisms are observed to increase with storage time among all activated fermented activators and em. the highest population of microorganisms was observed in commercial em at 2.12 x 103, 7.96 x 104, 1.2 x 106 and 2.50 x 106 cfu/ml upon activation, after one, two and three weeks of storage, respectively. generally, it is expected that the commercial em contains higher initial amount of microorganisms as it already contains photosynthesis bacteria. however, after four weeks of storage, the highest microbial population was observed in 1 part fermented crushed golden snail and 1 part fermented swamp cabbage juice at 1.77 x 109 cfu/ml. amino acids such that of golden snails promote growth of beneficial microorganisms (the gardeners network, 2008). moreover, this may also 30 jpair multidisciplinary research be true with fermented swamp cabbage juice from ipomoea aquatica; leaves are also very rich in proteins, carotenes and amino acids like aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, leucine, tyrosine, lysine, histidine and arginine (prasad et al., 2007). table 1. microbial population (cfu/ml) in different fermented activators and em upon activation until four weeks of storage treatment initial week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 e1 – fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden snail) at 2% concentration 59 2.29 x 103 1.5 x 104 7.8 x 104 6.8 x 106 e2 – fscj alone (fermented swamp cabbage juice) at 2% concentration 7 640 9.0 x 103 7.0 x 105 1.2 x 109 e3 – 1 part fcgs + 1 part fscj at 2% concentration 62 480 3.9 x 104 8.3 x 104 1.77 x 109 e4 – commercial em (bioem) at 6% concentration 2.12 x 103 7.96 x 104 1.2 x 106 2.50 x 106 1.35 x 109 mean 562 2.07 x 104 3.15 x 104 8.40 x 105 1.08 x 109 the weekly temperature of compost pile as affected by application of different fermented activators and em is presented in table 2 and their appearances on the fourth and eighth week shown figure 1. significant differences in temperature were immediately noted from one week until termination or eight weeks of composting. also at eight weeks, appearance of compost fits the von post scale under moderately decomposed refusal. from the first week until the compost was harvested, compost manure had significantly lower temperatures compared to the rest of the compost pile regardless of fermented activators and em used. on the other hand, compost pile applied with commercial em had comparable temperature to those applied with fermented activators (fermented crushed golden snail alone, fermented swamp cabbage juice alone and 1 part fcgs + 1 part fscj) and tap water from the first week up to the fourth week. however, significantly lower temperatures were registered on those compost pile applied with commercial em from the fifth up to the eighth week of composting compared to those applied with activated fermented activators and tap water. this is a sign of early compost maturity for compost applied with commercial 31 international peer reviewed journal em. moreover, temperature of compost pile applied with fermented activators was comparable to those applied with tap water from first to eighth week of composting. presented in figure 2 is the weekly variation of temperature of compost pile applied with different fermented activators and em. generally, in all compost piles regardless of fermented activators, em and material, temperature was lowest at the start of composting, highest after two weeks and declined until the eighth week of composting. according to trautmann (2007), compost heat is produced as a byproduct of microbial breakdown of organic materials. also at second week until three weeks of composting, in compost pile containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract regardless of fermented activators and em, fungi were observed at the upper surface of the compost. as reported by trautmann and olynciw (1996), fungal species are numerous during both mesophilic and thermophilic phases of composting. most fungi live in the outer layer of compost when temperatures are high. moreover, according to rynk (1992), at optimal composting condition, decomposition of organic matter proceeds through three phases: the mesophilic (400c and above), thermophilic phase (550c and above), and maturation phase (cooling down). however, throughout the entire process of composting, temperature measurements were all below 40oc in all compost piles regardless of substrate, fermented activators and em. similar low temperatures were also noted by salapare (2008) on composting rice straw. this may be attributed to two things, (1) the amount of browns in the medium (30%) as carbon source which may not be sufficient to support microbial growth. according to rynk (1992), carbon provides both energy source and the basic building block making up about 50% of the mass of microbial cells. (2) the size of pile. according to trautmann (2007), the heat production in compost depends on the size of the pile, its moisture content, aeration and c:n ratio. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research ta bl e 2. w ee kl y te m pe ra tu re (o c ) o f c om po st p ile a s aff ec te d by a pp lic at io n of d iff er en t f er m en te d ac tiv at or s an d e m t r e at m e n t in it ia l w e e k 1 w e e k 2 w e e k 3 w e e k 4 w e e k 5 w e e k 6 w e e k 7 w e e k 8 t 0 – c on tr ol ( ta p w at er ) 28 .0 6 31 .1 0a 33 .2 3b 31 .1 0a 31 .1 6a b 30 .9 0a 30 .2 3a 30 .2 0a 28 .9 3a t 1 – c g sa a a lo ne (c ru sh ed g ol de n sn ai l a m in o a ci d) 28 .2 3 30 .8 0a 34 .4 3a b 30 .9 3a 30 .7 6a b 30 .6 7a 30 .4 0a 29 .7 6a 28 .9 6a t 2 – fs c j al on e (f er m en te d sw am p c ab ba ge ju ic e) 28 .2 3 31 .5 0a 33 .0 3b 30 .8 0a 30 .8 3a b 30 .6 3a 30 .3 3a 29 .7 3a 28 .8 6a b t 3 – 1 pa rt c g sa a + 1 pa rt f sc j 28 .1 0 30 .8 6a 34 .7 6a 30 .9 3a 31 .2 3a 31 .0 3a 30 .1 3a 29 .7 6a 29 .0 3a t 4 – c om m er ci al e m (b io e m ) 28 .2 3 31 .3 6a 32 .8 0a b 30 .3 3a 30 .1 0b 29 .7 6b 29 .3 6b 29 .1 0b 28 .6 3b t 5 c om po st m an ur e (c ow m an ur e) 28 .2 0 28 .4 0b 30 .3 3c 28 .7 3b 28 .7 0c 28 .3 3c 28 .3 0c 28 .2 3c 28 .2 0c m ea n 28 .1 7 30 .6 7 33 .0 9 30 .4 7 30 .4 6 30 .2 2 29 .7 9 29 .4 6 28 .7 6 c .v . ( % ) 0. 50 1. 31 2. 30 2. 05 1. 90 1. 48 1. 30 0. 94 0. 50 33 international peer reviewed journal means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using duncan multiple range test (dmrt) figure 1. general appearance of compost after four (top) and eight (bottom) weeks of composting as affected by different fermented activators and em (left to right – t0, t1, t2, t3, t4 and t5) legend: t0 – control (tap water) t1 – fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden) t2 – fscj (fermented swamp cabbage juice) t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj t4 – commercial em t5 compost manure (cow manure) 34 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. weekly variation of temperature of compost pile applied with different fermented activators and em. different letters indicate significant differences among weekly temperatures at p ≤ 0.05 determined by duncans multiple range test. legend: t0 – control (tap water) t1 – fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden snail) t2 – fscj (fermented swamp cabbage juice) t3 – 1 part fcgs + 1 part fscj t4 – commercial em t5 compost manure (cow manure) 35 international peer reviewed journal the weekly ph of compost pile as affected by the application of different fermented activators and em is presented in table 3. the initial and weekly ph of compost manure significantly differ from the compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract regardless of fermented activators and em application. the initial ph of the compost manure was significantly higher up to the third week of ph reading. however, at fourth to eight week of composting, the compost manure had significantly lower ph compared to the compost containing30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract regardless of fermented activators and em application. the most acidic ph was all recorded on compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract and applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone at the start of composting up to the third week at 5.16, 5.86, 5.96 and 6.06, respectively. these, however, were comparable to the compost containing the same compost component applied with fermented activators (fermented crushed golden snail and 1 part fermented crushed golden snail + 1 part fermented swamp cabbage juice) during the initial reading, to fermented crushed golden snail alone on the first week and to fermented crushed golden snail and commercial em on the second and third week. according to cobb and resenfield (1991), in the early stages of composting, the acids often accumulate which results in drop of ph. the resulting drop in ph encourages the growth of fungi and the breakdown of lignin and cellulose. usually, the organic acids become broken down further during the composting process. moreover, all compost piles were near ph 7 regardless of material, fermented activators and em application during the fourth up to the eight week of composting. at acidic ph (during the second and third week), fungal growth was observed in all compost pile (figure 3), except for compost manure. according to trautmann and olynciw (1996), in compost, fungi are important because they break down tough debris, enabling bacteria to continue the decomposition process once most of the cellulose has been exhausted. they spread and grow vigorously by producing many cells and filaments, andthey can attack organic residues that are too dry, acidic, or low in nitrogen for bacterial decomposition. the weekly variation of ph across all compost piles containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract applied with different fermented activators and em revealed an increasing ph level with the lowest ph during initial reading, except for those applied with tap water only, and highest readings on the eighth week. according to richard and trautmann (2007), ph can be used to follow composting and drop of ph generally occurs during the early stages of composting due to the accumulation of acids in the compost. for the compost manure, however, no significant variation in ph was observed from initial up to the eight week of ph 36 jpair multidisciplinary research reading. all initial ph readings were based on the ph of fermented activators, em and of the tap water applied. thus, a neutral ph reading was observed initially for the compost pile applied with tap water and acidic ph were then noted on the first up to the third week of composting (figure 4). furthermore, across all compost piles from the first to eighth week of composting regardless of material, fermented activators and em, the ph range was from 5.86 to 8.09. a ph between 5.5 and 8.5 is optimal for compost microorganisms (cobb and rosenfield, 1991). percent recovery of compost was highest in compost manure (68%) followed by compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone (46.70%). salapare (2008) also reported increased percent recovery (41.67) with the application of fermented golasiman extract on rice straw compost. this, however, is not significantly different to the compost of same material and applied with commercial em at 37%. on the other hand, percent recovery of those applied with commercial em was not significantly different from the rest of the compost applied with fermented activators and tap water (table 4). these findings are supported by acevedo (2006) who revealed that there are no differences in the efficiency in composting process neither on compost quality between inoculated compost using commercial em nor those that are not. the same was reported by salapare (2008) that application of 2% golasiman extract as compost activator was comparable to using commercial em of the same concentration. table 3. weekly ph of compost pile as affected by application of different fermented activators and em treatment initial week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 t0 – control (tap water) 7.23a 6.90ab 6.86b 6.90ab 7.52e 7.47d 7.43ab 7.70ab 7.97b t1– fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden snail) 5.26c 6.10cd 6.13cd 6.20c 7.60d 7.52c 7.44a 7.63b 7.83d t2– fscj alone (fermented swamp cabbage juice) 5.16c 5.86d 5.96d 6.06c 7.70b 7.56b 7.42bc 7.65ab 7.88c t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj 4.96c 6.53bc 6.56bc 6.73b 7.89a 7.65a 7.41c 7.75a 8.09a 37 international peer reviewed journal reading. all initial ph readings were based on the ph of fermented activators, em and of the tap water applied. thus, a neutral ph reading was observed initially for the compost pile applied with tap water and acidic ph were then noted on the first up to the third week of composting (figure 4). furthermore, across all compost piles from the first to eighth week of composting regardless of material, fermented activators and em, the ph range was from 5.86 to 8.09. a ph between 5.5 and 8.5 is optimal for compost microorganisms (cobb and rosenfield, 1991). percent recovery of compost was highest in compost manure (68%) followed by compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone (46.70%). salapare (2008) also reported increased percent recovery (41.67) with the application of fermented golasiman extract on rice straw compost. this, however, is not significantly different to the compost of same material and applied with commercial em at 37%. on the other hand, percent recovery of those applied with commercial em was not significantly different from the rest of the compost applied with fermented activators and tap water (table 4). these findings are supported by acevedo (2006) who revealed that there are no differences in the efficiency in composting process neither on compost quality between inoculated compost using commercial em nor those that are not. the same was reported by salapare (2008) that application of 2% golasiman extract as compost activator was comparable to using commercial em of the same concentration. table 3. weekly ph of compost pile as affected by application of different fermented activators and em treatment initial week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 t0 – control (tap water) 7.23a 6.90ab 6.86b 6.90ab 7.52e 7.47d 7.43ab 7.70ab 7.97b t1– fcgs alone (fermented crushed golden snail) 5.26c 6.10cd 6.13cd 6.20c 7.60d 7.52c 7.44a 7.63b 7.83d t2– fscj alone (fermented swamp cabbage juice) 5.16c 5.86d 5.96d 6.06c 7.70b 7.56b 7.42bc 7.65ab 7.88c t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj 4.96c 6.53bc 6.56bc 6.73b 7.89a 7.65a 7.41c 7.75a 8.09a t4 – commercial em (bioem) 5.93b 6.36c 6.40bcd 6.46bc 7.67c 7.51c 7.37d 7.63b 7.90c t5 compost manure (cow manure) 7.23a 7.30a 7.33a 7.36a 7.47f 7.36e 7.26e 7.25c 7.24e mean 5.96 6.50 6.54 6.61 7.64 7.51 7.38 7.60 7.81 c.v. (%) 2.82 3.96 3.87 4.15 0.16 0.13 0.13 0.71 0.31 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using duncan multiple range test (dmrt) figure 3. fungal growth after two weeks of composting on compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract (p2o5 and k2o source) the nutrient analysis and ph of the different compost piles on the fourth, sixth and eighth week of composting is shown in table 5. results revealed that at four weeks of composting, percent nitrogen (total n of air dry materials) and phosphorus (total p2o5 of air dry materials) are highest in compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract applied with commercial em at 2.00% and 0.72%, respectively. on the other hand, percent potassium (total k2o of air dry materials) is highest on the compost containing the same component and applied 38 jpair multidisciplinary research with fermented swamp cabbage juice (1.60%). moreover, both ph and percent organic matter among different compost materials and fermented activators were generally within the values of a typical compost pile reported by pauwels, as cited by van haute and van haute (2007) and fpa (1996). on the sixth week of composting, percent nitrogen (total n of air dry materials) and phosphorus (total p2o5 of air dry materials) are highest in compost of the same compost materials and applied with only tap water at 1.36% and 0.51%, respectively. similar value was also recorded on the phosphorus (total p2o5 of air dry materials) content of compost with the same compost materials and applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone (0.58%). furthermore, the same compost materials applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone had the highest potassium (total k2o of air dry materials) content of 1.48%. figure 4. weekly variation of ph of compost pile applied with different fermented activators and em. different letters indicate significant differences among weekly ph at p ≤ 0.05 determined by duncans multiple range test. 39 international peer reviewed journal legend: t0 – control (tap water) t1 – fcgsalone (fermented crushed golden snail) t2 – fscj (fermented swamp cabbage juice) t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj t4 – commercial em t5 – compost manure (cow manure) table 4. percent compost recovery as affected by application of different fermented activators and em treatment initial weight (kg) final weight (kg) percent recovery (%) t0 – control (tap water) 10 3.43 34.33 c t1 – fcgsaa (fermented crushed golden snail) 10 3.33 33.33 c t2 – fscj (fermented swamp cabbage juice) 10 4.67 46.70 b t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj 10 3.16 31.66 c t4 – commercial em (bioem) 10 3.70 37.00 bc t5 compost manure (cow manure) 10 6.80 68.00a mean 10 4.18 41.83 c.v. (%) 15.80 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using duncan multiple range test (dmrt) on the eight week, the same compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone had the highest potassium (total k2o of air dry materials) content of 3.00 and nitrogen (total n of air dry materials) content of 1.12. on the other hand, phosphorus (total p2o5 of air dry materials) content was highest in compost with the same compost materials and applied with commercial em at 0.61%. this increased nutrient content with the application of fermented swamp cabbage juice alone could be attributed the 40 jpair multidisciplinary research nutrient supplied by the plant extract into the compost. according to carandang (2003), bionutrients in the form of fermented plant extracts can improve soil fertility, and in this case, fertility of compost. from four to eight weeks, nitrogen (total n of air dry materials) contents were greatly reduced with the duration of composting. similar reduction of nitrogen content with duration of composting were also reported by salapare (2008) on rice straw compost applied with 2% golasiman extract as compost activator. organic nitrogen sources provide a natural “time release” that makes them at a rate comparable to the rate of growth of microorganisms in the compost, so they are utilized efficiently (richard and trautmann, 2007). in general, maturity of compost is accompanied by the decline in microbial population, thus, also the decline in nitrogen content. nitrate is the form that can be moved out by leaching or lost by denitrification. the conversion of ammonium to nitrate and the conversion of nitrate to n gases are both microbial processes (sawyer, 2007).  table 5. nutrient analysis and ph of composite compost samples as affected by fermented activators and em application after four, six and eight weeks treatment ph % oc (air dry) % n (air dry) % p2o5 (air dry) % k2o (air dry) c:n ratio fourth week t0 – control (tap water) 7.52 22.70 1.43 0.51 1.19 15.87:1 t1 – fcgsalone 7.60 18.66 1.26 0.53 1.37 14.81:1 t2 – fscj alone 7.70 20.34 1.52 0.51 1.60 13.38:1 t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj 7.89 20.34 1.68 0.60 1.44 12.11:1 t4 – commercial em (bioem) 7.67 20.69 2.00 0.72 1.37 10.34:1 t5 compost manure (cow manure) 7.47 19.18 1.34 0.49 0.36 14.31:1 mean 7.64 20.31 1.53 0.56 1.22 13.28:1 sixth week t0 – control (tap water) 7.43 24.36 1.36 0.58 1.21 17.91:1 t1 – fcgsalone 7.44 23.22 1.05 0.56 1.30 22.12:1 t2 – fscj alone 7.42 22.93 0.80 0.58 1.48 28.67:1 t3 – 1 part fcgs+ 1 part fscj 7.41 23.63 1.12 0.54 1.33 21.10:1 t4 – commercial em (bioem) 7.37 23.63 1.07 0.56 1.29 22.08:1 41 international peer reviewed journal t5 compost manure (cow manure) 7.26 18.31 1.05 0.49 0.49 17.44:1 mean 7.35 22.68 1.07 0.55 1.18 21.19:1 eighth week t0 – control (tap water) 7.97 24.36 0.92 0.53 1.75 26.47:1 t1 – fcgsalone 7.83 21.04 0.92 0.41 2.35 22.86:1 t2 – fscj alone 7.88 24.33 1.12 0.51 3.00 21.72:1 t3 – 1 part fcgs + 1 part fscj 8.09 24.33 0.68 0.46 2.50 35.78:1 t4 – commercial em (bioem) 7.90 23.63 0.70 0.61 2.15 33.76:1 t5 compost manure (cow manure) 7.24 20.46 0.64 0.56 0.49 31.97:1 mean 7.81 23.02 0.72 0.51 2.04 31.97:1 conclusions commercial em produced the most number of microorganisms upon activation until three weeks of storage. however, for four weeks of storage, the use of 1 part fermented crushed golden snail and 1 part fermented swamp cabbage juice is more favorable for microbial growth. moreover, significantly lower temperature was registered on the compost applied with commercial em from the fifth up to the eight week of composting which is a sign of earlier compost maturity. also, application of fermented squash cabbage juice alone improved the percent recovery of compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract and application of commercial em and fermented swamp cabbage juice alone improved the nutrient contents (n, p2o5 and k2o) of the compost after four and eight week. therefore, application of fermented swamp cabbage juice alone is recommended for improved percent recovery of compost containing 30% browns + 30% greens + 40% banana bract. furthermore, application of commercial em and fermented swamp cabbage juice alone is needed for improved the nutrient contents (n, p2o5 and k2o) of the compost after four and eight weeks of composting. acknowledgments the author would like to express his utmost gratitude to the department of science and technology – science education institute for the financial support and philippine council for agriculture, aquatic and natural resources, research and 42 jpair multidisciplinary research development (pcaarrd) – institution development division (idd) for their invaluable help and assistance. literature cited carandang, g. 2003 grow your own beneficial indigenous microorganism. retrieved on may 12, 2010 at http://www.whatcom.wsu.edu/aq/compost/. cobb, k. and j. rosenfield 1991 municipal compost management. cornel university waste management institute.retrieved on may 11, 2010 at www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost. delos santos, c.t. 2009 leguminous and non-leguminous materials as nitrogen sources in organic fertilizer production. unpublished masters thesis. central luzon state university, science city of muñoz, nueva ecija, philippines. p 25 diver, s. 2001 nature farming and effective microorganisms. rhizosphere ii: publications resource list and web links from steve diver. retrieved on may 11, 2010 at http://ncatark.uark.edu/~steved/nature-farm_em.html. fpa. 1996 memorandum circular no. 96-08. retrieved on may 22, 2010 at http:// fpa.da.gov.ph/mc%209608.pdf. futuretechtoday 2004 introduction to em effective micro-organisms. retrieved on january 21, 2010 at www.futuretechtoday.com hospitals for healthy environment 2007 the medical university of south carolina and the king country (washington). solid waste division inc. prasad, n.k., g.r. shivamurthy and s.m. aradhya 2007 ipomoea aquatica, an underutilized green leafy vegetable: a review. int. j. bot. 4: 123-129. 43 international peer reviewed journal richard, t.c. and n.m. trautmann. 2007 monitoring compost ph. cornell composting, science and engineering. retrieved on october 12, 2011 at http://www.compostcss.cornell.edu/ rynk, r. 1992 on farm composting handbook, northeast regional agricultural engineering service salapare, e.v. 2008 fermented golasiman (portulaca oleracea l.) extract as compost activator in rice straw decomposition. unpublished masters thesis, institute of graduate studies, central luzon state university, science city of muñoz, nueva ecija, philippines. p 106. sawyer, j. 2007. nitrogen loss: how does it happen. department of agronomy, iowa state university. integrated crop management news. 498(10): 148-149 trautmann, n. 2007 compost physics. cornell composting science and engineering. cornell university, ithaca, new york website. retrieved on october 12, 2011 at http://www.compost.css.cornell.edu/compostphysics.html. trautmann, n. and e. olynciw 1996 compost microorganisms. cornell university, ithaca, new york website. retrieved on october 12, 211 at http://compost.css.cornell.edu/microorg. van haute, j. and l.q. van haute 2007 growing rich, tasty veggies in harmony with nature. ecological gardening with focus on the philippines. d’wheelbarrow farm, cavite. my backyard garden publications, las pinas city, philippines. vol 1: 71-85 von post scale for assessing peat decomposition. retrieved on may 17, 2010 at http://www.science.ulst.ac.uk/vft/vonpost.htm. jpair cover vol 11 single 10 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 11 · january 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v11i1.194 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. formal and informal institutions in wal-mart case josé g. vargas-hernández orcid no. 0000-0003-0938-4197 jvargas2006@gmail.com university center for economic and managerial sciences university of guadalajara, méxico abstract this paper analyzes the strategies which are followed by wal-mart in different parts of the world from the viewpoint of theories of institutions, property rights and agency. the analysis of the questions what happens to these firms when they are in countries with high corruption index? it could answer this question in light of the theory of institutions, the theory of property rights and the theory of the agency. this paper specifically focuses on finding out if the above theories are applicable. the analysis concludes that the same firm adopts a different strategy in each place even if is in conflict with their values at home. keywords agent, financial incentives, regulatory pillar, principal. introduction according to the main page of wal-mart sam walton (29 march 1918 05 april 1992) opened his first store in rogers, arkansas in 1962. in 1991, cifra and walmart teamed up to bring more places its “low prices every day “(wal-mart, 2012; alonso, 2012; el universal, 2012). in 1997, according to the story posted on the front page of this store, jeronimo arango decided to pursue other projects and walmart acquired all of the shares of cifra. in addition to “our commitment section” of the same web page mentions that wal-mart de mexico and central america is 11 international peer reviewed journal a company dedicated to the trade sector operating in six countries: costa rica, el salvador, guatemala, honduras, mexico and nicaragua. wal-mart has a wide variety of formats, including discount stores (bodega aurrerá express, family pantries and pali), supermarkets (superama, supertiendas paiz, pantry don juan, la union and más x menos), wineries (mi bodega aurrerá, maxi bodega and bodega aurrerá), hypermarkets (wal-mart, hiper paiz e hipermás), membership warehouse clubs (sam’s club and clubco), clothing stores (suburbia), restaurants (vips, el portón and ragazzi) and banco walmart (wal-mart, 2012). on april 27, 2012 el universal published an article in which it is mentioned that in the last 10 years wal-mart reported increases of 10% in sales annually. between 2009 and 2010 the number of units of wal-mart jumped from one 1, 466 to 2, 279. this jump is mainly due to the merger of its operations with subsidiaries in central america. it added that to date, mexico compounds 87% of wal-mart’s income to the parent, and the remaining 13% get it from central america (el universal, april 27, 2012, pgr and investigate the case wal-mart sfp). in the first quarter of 2012 sales in mexico, according to the mexican stock exchange, have been $ 96,901,609.00, which represents $ 72,761,097.00 more than its nearest competitor called soriana (mexican stock exchange, 2012). calculating a herfindahl indicator with data from the mexican stock exchange in mexico, it is concluded that acts in an oligopolistic market in which the leader is precisely wal-mart (own calculation). as illustrated in figure 1 sales represent 63% of sales from its competitors. figure 1: sales-market share source: own elaboration with data from this year, 2012, wal-mart plans to invest 19 billion pesos and open between 410 and 436 stores in mexico and central america. but the scandal reached to wal-mart 12 jpair multidisciplinary research on 21 april 2012, when new york times, declared: “wal-mart sent investigators to mexico city, and within days was found evidence of widespread corruption. they found a paper trail of hundreds of suspicious payments totaling more than $ 24 million. they also found documents showing that senior executives of wal-mart de mexico not only knew of the payments, but had taken steps to hide to the wal-mart headquarters in bentonville, arkansas. in a confidential report to his superiors, the principal investigator of wal-mart, a former fbi special agent, summarized his initial findings this way: “there is a reasonable suspicion to believe that the mexican and u.s. laws have been violated.” it is clear that these are $ 24 million dollars (the new york times, 30 de abril de 2012, 21). with this, the prosecution conducted by the public ministry (ministerio público) said that would request information to united states (u.s.) to analyze the case walmart. in addition the national banking and securities commission (comisión nacional bancaria y de valores, cnbv) does not conduct any investigation to the bank or the issuing wal-mart, because the underlying issue about the alleged bribe payments made by the retailer to expand in mexico, it said it is not competence for the financial authority (el universal, 2012). to vary, milenio (2012) reports that wal-mart announced that it will cooperate unreservedly with mexican authorities, so shall make available the information on permits and licenses of their units in the country. in connection with the alleged bribes given for expansion in mexico, wal-mart established yesterday in a statement to the mexican stock exchange a process to ensure that requests and petitions from the authorities are responded. framework a theoretical framework of agency theory, theory of institutions-based and property rights can be shaped by many authors but there is going to be treated only a few starting with north (1990). north (1990) defines institution as any human being that designs restrictions to shape their interactions then it follows that it can be observed those informal institutions and of course it speaks of formal organizations, these formal institutions however, their development becomes even more complicated relationship of cooperation to achieve good results in the firm. north himself comments that institutions serve as guide to action for people, then it follows that decisions will be limited by them, think first in informal institutions. in informal institutions there is no written code of ethics but the most important is framed as a set of values which are not leveraged but generate a significant competitive advantage, since it reduces the cost of monitoring even at zero. this is 13 international peer reviewed journal mainly because the principal is expected to put their wealth in reliable hands. who entrust their money to a person who has a criminal record for theft? who entrusted the care of their home to someone who has a reputation for incendiary? for obvious reasons, the principals have strong incentives to select either the type of people who would trust their money. the agent to whom it is delegated the responsibility of capital, not only is holding the principal’s capital, but also control of the firm. so, the agent also will be careful not to incur a serious offense against society according to the ethics of the firm globally. north (1990) also mentions how important formal institutions are. formal institutions are laws that have already been created before, as examples mention the u.s. constitution. when violating the laws one would challenge the authorities in charge of enforcing them, therefore somebody violating the laws must face the penalties depending on the severity of the penalty. institutions according to north (1990) should not be confused with the organizations, including organizations as political bodies, which are released different types of associations like political parties, unions, family farms, cooperatives, rural production, etc. are included there too corporate bodies such as churches, clubs, sports associations, etc., and finally also it includes educational agencies between which are mentioned: elementary, middle, high schools, universities, vocal training centers, etc. then it can be concluded that organizations are groups of people associated with a common purpose to achieve a particular goal, while as already above, so to speak institutions are the rules of both formal and informal action. so the institutional framework influences the creation and evolution of each company and on the other organizations also generates changes in institutions. although north (1990) says that institutions are a creation of human beings is also evolving together. north also suggests that when taken as limiting institutions to make decisions that will reach uniformities generate less uncertainty as to the conditions to be presented by external decisions, these limitations can be linked with past decisions and future. for an institutional analysis is necessary to analyze two important aspects of human behavior. these aspects are motivation and decrypt the environment (north 1990). is important to notice that motivation can come in any way, such as ambition, the need or just by simple altruism, and secondly to decipher the environment is quite complicated because the same company may be subject to different cultural areas depending of the operation zones. for example if there is a successful business in the united states of america and moves to north korea and observed that the success it had in the u.s. is not in this new country, why? just for the environment in which it develops, something similar happens with informal institutions of a firm 14 jpair multidisciplinary research when it develops in different geographical areas. this is mainly because individuals process information differently depending on the culture in which they were developed (north 1990). that bias can be remedied or rather can be reduced with formal institutions, of which it is noted, are derived property rights. north (1990) mentions those formal institutions in developed countries and judicial systems, the body of law, agents such as lawyers and mediators all neutrals are more complete and reduce uncertainty to a large extent. moreover in developing countries formal institutions are weak because there is ambiguity as to legal doctrine and even worse not know how the court system works. north (1990) argues that the institutional framework provides guidelines for building knowledge and skills, and that management will be the deciding factor for the long-term development of a society. a theory closely linked as already mentioned is that of property rights on this can summon barzel (1989) mentioned that these rights of individuals over resources mainly consist of three aspects. mainly the first is to have the right to consume the resource. the second is to obtain revenue from them and the third is the ability to transfer these resources. this concept is closely related to transaction costs, yet these transaction costs are defined as the economic costs associated with the transfer, capture and protection of rights. eggertsson (1990) notes that organizations and institutions are not immutable, organizations and institutions vary with time and place, with political arrangements and structures of property rights, with the technologies used, physical qualities of resources and services exchanged. this observation has much resemblance to the conclusions reached with north (1990). it is clear that the institutions are changing according to time and place, for example it is said that formal institutions are stronger in developed countries and weaker in developing countries and therefore will not have the same development either in the same time or in the same place. eggertsson (1990) refers to the rights of people to use the resources and property rights. the rights of people to use the resources, i.e., property rights, in any society are supported by protocol forces, social custom, ostracism, and are also compatible with the formal laws that are backed by the state’s power of coercion. speaking of this very fact mahoney (2005) says that the enforcement of intellectual property includes exclude others from the use of scarce resources. the exclusive proprietary calls expensive measures and the tracing of resources and compliance with property rights. the economic value of the exclusive rights of ownership depends, ceteris paribus, on the costs of enforcing those rights. that is, the costs of the exclusion of others, which ultimately depends on coercion. the exclusive rights enforcement is usually undertaken by both individual owners and the state 15 international peer reviewed journal (mahoney 2005:183). to further clarify the concepts used in this work, it is important to cite peng definitions e.g. talking about the vision based on the institutions he says that a perspective del leader holds that in addition to the conditions at the firm and industry, firms also have to take into account major influences from sources such as state and society to plan the strategy (peng 2006:93). in another interesting definition of institution, peng says that it is a humanly planned restrictions that structure interaction of people, known informally as the rules of the game (peng 2006:93) the definition of institutional framework is a framework of formal and informal institutions that govern the behavior of the individual and the firm (peng 2006:93). following is given a definition of more formal institutions, as institutions consist of laws, regulations and rules (peng 2006:93). another important definition is the regulatory pillar: as the formal rules, laws and regulations influence the behavior of individuals and firms (peng 2006:93). now it is necessary to know which means informal institutions: institutions represented by norms, cultures and ethics (peng 2006:93). the author says that the training is the pillar formative as the values , beliefs and norms of other relevant players influence the behavior of individuals and firms (peng 2006: 93). in this paper the word standard is a term that means the prevailing practice of the major players affecting individuals and focus firms (peng 2006:94). cognitive pillar is understood as cognitive understanding of internal values and beliefs that are taken for granted and that guide the behavior of individuals and firms (peng 2006:94). when it is said that transaction costs are thought in terms of costs associated with economic transactions, or more broadly, the costs of doing business (peng 2006:94). opportunism is mentioned as a term meaning the particular search of a benefit with fraud (peng 2006:94). peng mentioned the word ethics referring to the rules, principles and standards of conduct governing the behavior of the individual or firm (peng 2006:94). ethical relativism means the relative thinking that ethical standards vary significantly around the world and that there is no universal consensus about ethical and unethical behavior (peng 2006:107). the phrase referring to ethical imperialism refers to imperialist thinking that personal ethical standards should be applied universally around the world (peng 2006:107). and a word to be used continuously is corruption which means: the abuse of public power for private gain, usually in the form of bribes (peng 2006:109). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study analyzes the strategies of wal-mart in countries with high corruption index reviewed from the theories of institution, property rights and agency. methodology in this paper it is used the exploratory method, since it gives a broad overview of various publications, as well as a careful analysis of the theories that are involved in this case. information was taken from major newspapers in the country and other internationals as the case of the new york times, where important news unfolded about the issue. the issue is discussed in the light of the theory of institutions, the resource-based theory and the agency theory. there is described what some authors have written on the matter of these theories, besides giving views to apply these theories to the particular case, but this could be expanded a bit more when it is considered that it is a case that can be repeated many times in countries similar to mexico. all of this in order to give some views on the issue and propose appropriate ways to apply existing theories successfully in firms around the world. application of the theory to the case as suggested by the agency theory, it should be taken some steps to reduce the asymmetry of information between principal and agent, which in this case would be at the corporate level, although it were not related to the executive director general, but to the executive group in mexico. there is a quite serious failure of governance mechanisms, as several decisions were made without regard to the owners and the board. also failed economic incentive system, because it did not regulated communication between the agent and principal, so emphatic on this issue exceeded the thought of berle and means (1932) when they wanted to be the agent as the driving force behind the direction. berle and means (1932) also mentioned a very important point in saying that a control group outside owners can make profit diversions. if wal-mart was made indirectly by choosing an option which was evident in the executive group in mexico, in search of economic incentives to increase sales in the country, as mentioned at the beginning, representing 87% of sales perhaps they thought that their election would benefit the agent-principal however incurring in corruption dumb prestige for the firm. 17 international peer reviewed journal the case has to be analyzed from the point of view of the theory of institutions that is closely linked to property rights. it is seen that formal rules were violated and the informal rules also, as mentioned disrepute decision came as a result of dirty, first expected that informal institutions were the basis for a principal-agent relationship properly, based on the pillar formation agent. what would have happened if the agent values were sufficiently large to yield to corruption? possibly wal-mart’s success would not be as overwhelming as the statistics show. what happened to the formal institutions?, taking as a base the explanation of pang, the pillar regulator did nothing to prevent this type of petty corruption and worse only be sent to inform that solicited information. institutions seem not work in mexico, what informal institutions in the u.s.? the new york times reported on april 21 had not taken action regarding bribes, had not notified anyone, and mentions that wal-mart is deliberately concealed information from corrupt acts. as seen for the case, wal-mart touches many points in business theory such as theory of institutions where it is clear that the institutions in mexico are very poor both formal and informal. since the law shields these practices while that people who are in the municipal powers and governors tend to tarnish their reputation with widespread corruption. the ethical imperialism is a myth in this case, but rather applied ethical relativism. transaction costs were high in this case to settle by having to pay a bribe. and now comes to light when all this also has to pay a fine in the u.s. at least, it seems very difficult here that the government takes enforcement action. the rule to follow was to do everything possible to violate ethics although, not surprisingly, wal-mart continues its expansion and its market share to become even stronger. conclusions and recommendations the main business strategy that was used in wal-mart was based on institutions, particularly applying ethical relativism. as it is well known, this firm enjoys a reputation in the u.s. ethics one would think that wal-mart acts under ethical imperialism framework for the role of culture, however it did not happen. it is therefore concluded that companies that do not operate under this same strategy will be at a disadvantage which prevent its market positioning. the main recommendation is, although it may sounds sad, take advantage of all those conditions that allow the company to grow, market positioning and include swot analysis also the institutional framework, although this represents a breach of the rule which would have to be respected in home. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited alonso r, o. s. 2012 el universal. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://www.eluniversal. com.mx barstown, d. 2012 the new york times. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://www. nytimes.com barzel, y. 1989 economic analysis of property rights. cambridge: cambridge university press. berle, a. a. and means 1932 the modern corporation and private property. new york: ny: macmillan. cnn 2012 cnn en español. recuperado el 21 de mayo de 2012, de http://mexico. cnn.com corruption, t. i. (2012). transparency international the global coalition against corruption. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http:// www.transparency.org eggertsson, t. 1990 economic behavior and institutions. cambridge: cambridge university press. el universal (02 de mayo de 2012). el universal. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://www.eluniversal.com.mx el universal 2012 pgr and investigate the case walmart sfp. el universal. mahoney, j. 2005 economic foundations of strategy. illinois: university of illinois at urbanachampaign college of bussines. mexican stock exchange 2012 the new york times. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://bmv. com.mx 19 international peer reviewed journal milenio. (26 de abril de 2012). milenio. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://www. milenio.com north, d. c. 1990 institutions, institutional change and economic performance. cambridge: cambridge university press. peng, m. w. 2010 estrategia global. méxico, d.f.: cenage learning. the new york times 2012 the new york times. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://topics. nytimes.com wal-mart 2012 walmart de mexico y centroamerica. recuperado el 13 de mayo de 2012, de http://www.walmartmexico.com pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 17 international peer reviewed journal satire in merlinda bobis’ banana heart summer sherill a. gilbas http://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4764-1633 sheriillgilbas@gmail.com the graduate school, university of santo tomas españa, manila, philippines sorsogon state college sorsogon city, philippines abstract hornedo, a literature icon asserts that “a piece of literature documents the world and the worldview of its author.” accordingly, some literary pieces can provide information on the socio-political and cultural background of a certain society. anchored on this premise, this paper aimed to identify the aesthetics of satire in merlinda bobis’ banana heart summer. it also sought to unveil the novel’s message and the author’s manner of criticizing the novel’s social setup. specifically, it sought to describe the novel’s theme, tone, structure and style, as well as the socio-political and cultural aspects using food as primary trope. the paper also aimed to present the reality frame of the depicted societal problems of the filipinos in general and those of bicolanos in particular. the formalist theory was applied in the treatment of material, which is a satire, and being so, the researcher also applied defamiliarization theory, through devices such as tropes and social realism, as it forms part of the aesthetics of satire that can help identify the ideology behind the author’s work. the researcher grouped the identified satirical techniques into five: exaggeration, incongruity, parody, reversal, and defamiliarization. in conclusion, this paper asserts that bobis wrote the material for the readers to see the flaws of the society; alongside, she also implicitly offers a solution or presents the possibility of curing the social ills highlighted in the novel. vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.309 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords literature, aesthetics of satire, defamiliarization, banana heart summer, bicolanos, filipinos, formalist-contextual analysis, philippines introduction in her hagkus twentieth-century bikol women writers (2003:149), paz verdades m. santos describes merlinda carullo bobis as “the most prolific, most awarded, and most skilled of all the bikol women writers and the youngest of the region’s new balyanas or female writers”. in some of her works, bobis, who was born in what is now the city of tabaco, in the first district of albay, on november 25, 1959, she expresses and exhibits her double otherness as bikol and as woman. she also highlights the deconstruction of both the urban/rural and male/female binaries and presents further such contrasts. santos further describes bobis as: as a novelist, she brings the bikol woman writer to the postmodern, posttheory era of the ‘90’s while keeping aware of her roots and of her gender. (p.148) besides writing, bobis also paints, reads, sings, and performs. she sings and dances her prose and drama; in fact, she has performed in australia, philippines, us, spain, france and china. as a filipino-australian writer, she publishes in three languages across multiple genres, with her works receiving recognition from award-giving organizations in the philippines and abroad. some of the various awards she has received are prix italia, the steel rudd award for the best published collection of australian short stories, the philippine national book award, and the australian writers’ guild award. in this paper, the researcher mapped out the bikol writers both male and female and considered that among them, bobis is a standout because of her multinational and international awards and her works cover all genres from poetry to prose. although the list of bikol writers was trimmed down to those writing in english, bobis remains significant as she writes in three languages—bicol, filipino, and english. aside from such an impeccable accomplishment, bobis is also included in the list of bikol writers writing both poetry and prose including play or drama. all the above-mentioned feats justify that bobis is undoubtedly a multiawarded, multilingual writer across genres, hence, encouraging the researcher to choose bobis and her work (the novel, in particular) as the subject of her study. 19 international peer reviewed journal to date, bobis has received four major awards in the philippines for her collection of poetry. in australia, her collection of poetry was published as summer was a fast train without terminals, which was shortlisted in the poetry book of the year award. alongside her poetry, bobis is also into drama and play, where she has also proven her prowess. for example, her one-act play, ms. serena serenata was recognized by the carlos palanca awards committee. in addition, rita’s lullaby, a radio drama, received three awards in australia such as ian reed foundation prize, australian writer’s guild award and prix italia or international award. bobis’ epic poem, (daragang magayon, cantata) was also named finalist in the australian classical music award. equally outstanding are bobis’ fictional works which have also garnered various awards since 1997, having received 12 awards for her short stories and novels, each with six awards. these short stories and novels were published when she was already working in australia as a creative writing professor in wollongong university where she also had a scholarship to pursue her doctorate degree in creative writing. it was after her eleven years of teaching in the different institutions in the philippines. on the third year of her doctorate program, she applied for a teaching job at wollongong university, where she is still working as a creative writing professor. two of her novels, banana heart summer and fish-hair woman are explicitly and implicitly set in the rural areas of the bikol region, remedios street and iraya. bicol or bicolandia, is one of the 17 regions of the philippines; it consists six provinces, namely albay, camarines norte, camarines sur, catanduanes, masbate, and sorsogon. the other novel, the solemn lantern maker is set in the heart of metro manila, an urban area. the settings of these novels provide not only cultural information but also actual social and political circumstances, which prove relevant to the plot structure. the first of the three novels, banana heart summer, suggests a bright scene and light tone yet filled with latent meanings. the whole novel is packed with signs and metaphors that stir the reader’s senses. for example, the novel explicitly mentions food, but one reading it critically could explore on the suggestive meaning of these details. bobis skillfully and purposefully weaves cookery with such sequence of events in the neighborhood among the townsfolk. the solemn lantern maker and fish-hair woman, manifest the same level of bobis’ craftsmanship; however, both works are of darker color and serious tones, revealing serious societal issues such as child prostitution, militarization, 20 jpair multidisciplinary research total war, urban poverty, and political connivance of the philippines with other countries. bobis’ themes in her novels and this paper’s material reflect the major problem of poverty. it is also the main concern of the association of southeast asian nations (asean). this regional grouping aims to alleviate the problem of poverty in particular. the extreme poverty conference held in bangkok in april 2015, assembled global and regional intellectuals to confer about the latest issues on poverty in asia. the keynote speaker stephen o’connell, usaid’s chief economist discusses the conference’ objective which is “to improve the well-being of the extreme poor and protect the less poor from shocks that might pull them into extreme poverty and to produce a policy briefer identifying the most efficient and sustainable approaches to improving the well-being of the extreme poor” (the asia foundation, 2015). this analysis aimed to reveal bobis’ criticism particularly of the ugliness of the filipinos’ hospitality, particularly that of the bicolanos. according to lumbera (1997:58), reading a literary work requires one to “engage with its language as the social practice of individuals, groups and institutions.” he refers to philippine literature as that which “may be produced in the capital city of manila and in the different urban centers and rural outposts, even in foreign land where descendants of filipino migrants use english or any of the languages of the philippines to create works that tell about their lives and aspirations”. this goes to show that the novels—though written in another country and a foreign language—may still serve as a good source of material on philippine studies. furthermore, lumbera says: the forms used by filipino authors may be indigenous or borrowed from other cultures, and these may range from popular pieces addressed to mass audiences to highly sophisticated works intended for the intellectual elite. (p. 2) indeed, novels are intended to arouse emotions by allowing readers to make intellectual discoveries of ideals creatively embedded in the writer’s artistry through thematic presentation, form, style, and general structure of the work. these discoveries also lead them to decipher ideas which can enlighten, inspire or simply inform them accordingly. xi tian (2014) concludes in his study, uncertain satire in modern chinese fiction and drama: 1930-1949 that the people in china may find difficulty in expressing their complaints in politics through traditional media like books and 21 international peer reviewed journal newspapers. his ideas are expressed in the following excerpts: but the internet and satire provide them a platform to vent their grievances and receive immediate responses from others. the instability of satirical triangle becomes even more obvious in today’s satire, which is mixed with laughter, anger, carelessness and other emotions, simultaneously blurring the boundaries between satirists and the reader and even inviting unexpected satirized objects.(183) the above idea conforms to the objectives of this paper, which is to identify the satirical tropes used in the novel under study. banana heart summer is a philippine novel written to expose the follies of the society through the technique of defamiliarization. in his book essays on the philippine novel in english, galdon (1985) enumerates women writers who have played significant roles in the development of philippine writing in english. in the same work, he identifies nostalgia as one of the more frequent themes of contemporary philippine writers in english. in addition, he has observed that philippine writing often highlights the idyllic nostalgia or longing for home in the provinces which he considers either gentle or bitterly satiric. specifically, lumbera defines nostalgia this way: nostalgia is the melancholy longing for home, or the wistful and often sentimental yearning for a real or romanticized past that cannot be regained. it is often characterized by innocence, even by naivete in ironic conjunction with manipulative cleverness, authentic simplicity and a quality of frustrated aspiration which characterizes dreamland (pp. 96-97) it is safe to say that most of the expatriate writers from rizal to carlos bulosan, gilda cordero fernando, ninotcha rosca and the contemporary novelists such as jessica hagedorn and miguel syjuco use satire through nostalgic approach in their writings. abrams (1999:275) defines satire as “the literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward its attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation”. satire differs from comic since the latter evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself; a satire ridicules and uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt that exists outside the work itself. the aesthetics of satire can be identified through the theme and tone. furthermore, abrams explains the aesthetics of satire in the following statements: 22 jpair multidisciplinary research satire occurs as an incidental element within many works whose overall mode is not satiric-in a certain character or situation, or in an interpolated passage of ironic commentary on some aspect of the human condition or of contemporary society. the most common indirect form is that of a fictional narrative, in which the objects of the satire are characters who make themselves and their opinions ridiculous or obnoxious by what they think, say, and do, and are sometimes made even more ridiculous by the author’s comments and narrative style. (p.277) theme and tone are considered valuable factors of aesthetics. abrams (1999:170) defines theme as the “general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader”. on the other hand, tone, according to abrams (1999:218) by quoting i.a. richards, is “the expression of a literary speaker’s attitude to his listener”. the tone of an utterance reflects the speaker’s sense of how he or she stands towards his or her audience or listener and in the case of written piece, the reader. in an article published in ad veritatem (2011), sy-ng concludes that by studying the novel in a lacanian framework, the literary work is elevated from philippine to universal culture. specifically, sy-ng writes: unveiling the unconscious discourse in banana heart summer allows the text’s meaning to come to fullness. through a lacanian analysis, the reader is able to see that underneath the diversity of the characters’ experiences is a shared experience of self-fortification. the lacanian analysis of the intrinsic complexities of the psyche as it engages the realm of the interpersonal and the social brings unity and cohesion among seemingly dispersed elements present in the plot. (2001: 257) the pattern of the food tropes in the novel gives the different characters and subplots interconnection. as fernandez discusses in her article published in philippine studies (1988), filipino food is shaped by history and society; it consists of a malay matrix, with the melded and blended influences from china and india, spain and america. fernandez also cites the anthropologist naomichi ishige, who said “eating is the act of ingesting the environment.” in her article, “what is dietary culture” she explains that eating is similar to ingesting culture because the most permanent traces left by foreign cultures on philippine life is food. 23 international peer reviewed journal sy-ng’s, fernandez’ and ishige’s articles are relevant to this paper given that they underscore food as a trope; critically, this trope can be used to analyze the material at hand. the present study also employed freudian and lacanian psychoanalysis in the interpretation of the material in order to decipher the signification of food and other tropes as well as the representation of the characters in the novel. in her article, humor in alejandro roces’ fiction, (2013) sy points out that humor is used as a form of ridiculing filipino vice particularly cockfight. she stresses that filipinos are fond of gambling as a form of entertainment. sy bases these claims on roces’ work we filipinos are mild drinkers, of cocks and hens, of cocks and kings, of cocks and battle cocks, which, according to her, employs an apparently light tone that allows readers to understand the folly of the characters, making them appear amusing rather than annoying. the same thing holds true in the use of jokes, which, could be “half-meant”, considering the truth that jokes are meant to convey. in his article in ideals and ideals: essays in filipino cognitive history (2001), hornedo discusses that political jokes imply and reflect the society’s aspiration. he also stresses that humor is dependent on one’s culture and that jokes are embedded in culture and even history. for instance, during marcos regime, the subjects of ridicule were those who had power, such as the president and his first lady. the political undertones in jokes such as these manifest the filipinos’ dissatisfaction and disappointment with the marcoses as the country’s leaders during that period. undeniably, filipinos are inclined to using humor as a form of defense mechanism, so they may reasonably cope with their frustrations and hardships. however, this “art” of ridiculing their follies through humor is exclusive to filipinos themselves. the asian travellers’ handbook published by asia week cautions foreigners about it, saying: do laugh when filipinos tell jokes about themselves and their country, as they often do, but don’t reciprocate by doing the same thing for that may cause nationalistic hackles. in a nutshell, the statement asserts that we are offended when others make fun of us or a family member. on a similar note, we are offended when a foreigner makes fun of our country. aside from jokes, filipinos are also fond of playing with words and acronyms that can only be understood by those familiar with the philippine culture. an 24 jpair multidisciplinary research article published in sunstar daily on september 26, 1997 mentions some “special acronyms” such as pal for plane always late rather than philippine airlines and mba for manager by accident instead of masters of business administration. some terms referring to filipino street foods have peculiar reasoning for their names like “adidas” for the barbequed chicken feet which was taken from a brand of shoes; and “isol”, the chicken butt, is named as “shakespeare” for the locally pronounced word, “pu-wet” (poet). the above-cited literature and studies strengthen the idea that a novel, at a certain point, has a particular message to tell. in the various researches and studies made on philippine novel, nothing provides readings on the side of satirical tropes particularly defamiliarization. in this paper, the point of contention is to identify the message of bobis in the banana heart summer through the techniques and devices of satire. in so doing, the structure, theme, tone and tropes were the subjects of analysis to reveal the presupposition that bobis is a satirist. this is the gap that this study hopes to bridge. framework this paper employed hornedo’s (2002:42) idea that “to an extent, the artist is an artifact of culture, and what art discloses is not an individual consciousness but a narrative larger than the individual’s personal narrative of himself.” hornedo’s statement asserts that a piece of literature reflects the worldview of its writer, which is the result of his/her personal experiences, basically rooted from culture. as stated by geertz (1973:448), “culture consists of the ensemble of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves”. he concludes that cultural studies involve the investigative description and construction of the relational signifieds which lie hidden behind the signifiers that constitute our daily interactions within our societies. thus, it is possible to affirm that culture is a rational manifestation distinctive of humans and human communities. in addition to hornedo’s idea, abrams (1953) literary theories on the relationships between the text and the writer (expressive) and the text and the reader/critique (pragmatic) strengthened the researcher’s claim that bobis is a satirist. the expressive theory views literature as something to be appreciated, contemplated on, and observed, in which the critic’s task is to examine it according to its own terms as established by the work itself. the true meaning and significance of a novel, according to colayco (1957) “is derived from the suggestions and cumulative views evolved from symbolism and adjustment, and 25 international peer reviewed journal enrichment of meaning at all points through style, pattern, plot, tone and every element that enters the makeup of a novel.” the researcher, therefore, anchored this paper’s argument on the idea that bobis is a satirist, a filipino expatriate writer, who also considers herself as a transnational of australia. her novels are reflective of how she views philippine society in general and the bicolanos in particular. through the aesthetics of satire, this paper sought to disclose that bobis writes about her society for its people to recognize the need to change and the problems that arise from the negative patterns of behavior. through her works, bobis induces calls for change that may emanate from the people who may see themselves being implicitly represented by the characters in the novels. in this paper, the researcher utilized the formalist-contextualist approach to analyze the novel’s characters, theme, tone, structure, language, and local color. abrams (1999:102) explains that formalism is a type of literary theory and analysis which originated in moscow and st. petersburg in the second decade of this century. it views literature primarily as a specialized mode of language, and proposes a fundamental opposition between the literary use of language and the ordinary, “practical’ use of language. the literariness of the text is thereby attained through the distinctive features of the form. form and structure as employed in this paper refers to the principle that determines how the work is ordered and organized. food in the novel is the primary trope in the defamiliarization techniques the researcher employed to identify and trace the cultural and socio-political journey of the setting of the novel. likewise, the reality frame yielded through the deciphered societal problems was discussed to reveal the identity of the community in the novel. this study therefore was based on this premise. objectives of the study this paper aimed to identify the aesthetics of satire in merlinda bobis’ novel, banana heart summer. the researcher intended to unravel the literary devices used to reveal the themes of the stories focused on the filipinos in general and bicolanos in particular. specifically, this paper sought to answer how the novel can be described in terms of characters, structure and style, theme, tone, and the use of food’s representation and signification. it was also undertaken to reveal the philippine societal problems that can be identified in the novels using the aesthetics of satire thereby revealing its socio-cultural aspects. finally, the 26 jpair multidisciplinary research researcher sought to propose the filipino and bicolano types of satire based from the discerned reality frames of the said novel. methodology this study, a descriptive-qualitative research, used the formalist-contextual analysis as method. specifically, the method involved content analysis with the use of satire in the novel as the main contention of this paper. this content analysis focused on the thematic interpretation through the aesthetics of satire, humor, sarcasm, ridicule, hyperbole, and similar literary conceits to point out the societal issues and problems in the novel. the researcher also considered reader-response criticism to discern the main trope, food, in bobis’ work. some technical devices in defamiliarization such as magic realism and social realism were also used to decipher the objects of satire. moreover, freudian and lacanian psychoanalyses were employed as interpretative tools in unveiling the characters’ representation and name symbols. results and discussion published simultaneously in australia and manila in 2005, and in the united states in 2009, bobis’ banana heart summer is a novel about food and love. divided into three parts-“the heart of the matter”; “the spleen of the matter”; and “becoming a heart”, the novel traces nenita’s coming of age in 50 chapters, each a discourse on local cuisine. nenita’s (or nining’s) experiences with food (both the cooking and the eating) are woven together with the love stories of the folk on remedios street. the novel offers awareness of the different types of poverty and issues brought along by the socio-historical and political problems where acceptance and forgiveness still prevail. overview of the novel set in the summer of 1960s, the novel has nenita as its main character. based on the story, nenita’s eyes widen at the sight of nana dora’s deep-fried caramelized bananas; her behavior seems like that of just another 12-year-old girl. nenita believes in the myth of banana heart which she believed could to appease the hunger of her family as told by nana dora herself. being the eldest, she tries to compensate for her father’s being jobless but she gets her mother’s rage in return. maring beats nenita even for a simple mistake which nining considers as 27 international peer reviewed journal a sign of her lihi as she is conceiving her seventh child. as the story progresses, nenita witnesses the latest wares of the calcium man, the latest duet between the local patsy cline (miss vv) and roy orbison (mang gusting), manolito ching’s perfect hair, her father’s stolen tongue and finally, her mother’s latest lecture on dignity and the whims of her other five younger siblings. as the summer days heat up, nenita’s simple pleasures of her childhood peel away, revealing the complex hearts of adults. she moves out of the tiny attic filled with seven other sleeping bodies to begin working as a maid for the valenzuela family. though living only next door, nenita’s new role as the breadwinner changes the family dynamic. though immersed in her work, nenita continues to witness such events in the neighborhood, including miss vv’s pregnancy with a married man, mang gusting’s infidelity, the suicide of tio anding after mr. ching terminates him from his job, manolito’s guavas peeking from his shorts, the mayor’s corruption during the eruption of the volcano, gable junior’s first taste of imported corned beef where he got his welts, and the burial of their stillborn baby sister, marinella. ralph mckenna, the american friend of ms. vv’s father, dr. valenzuela, offers to marry miss vv. they take nining to america where she grows up and learns that there is no secret ingredient to obtaining acceptance, affection or answers—she can only try to forgive. the tropes in the novel as part of her aesthetics, bobis uses trope in this novel. trope or figurative thought is defined in the columbia dictionary of modern literary and cultural criticism as the usage that diverges from the norm. as one of the tropes used in the novel, food takes the role of expressing norms of the characters and the community as a whole. according to mojares (2002), a complex story can be told from the meals in philippine history. citing fernandez (1993) saying that cooking does not happen in midair or by whim, mojares asserts that this story exists in real time and place, since it is shaped by real persons and occasions. hence, bobis’ novel about food carries signification of cultural tradition represented by every meal. food is ever-present throughout banana heart summer as it plays an important cultural and psychological role in the story. hunger is central to nenita’s world and being. food is used as a subject-matter set against the background of love as a human emotion. love and food—associated with “hunger”—are two sides of the 28 jpair multidisciplinary research same coin. the novel explores what hunger is in the social context. accordingly, hefner describes hunger as that which we all experience. in addition, he describes it as “the greatest leveler of humankind, if it wishes to be leveled. but how and whether we appease it always restores the social order”. each of the stories begins sweetly only to be edged with bitterness towards the end of the novel. the transitions in these stories should not be viewed entirely without sorrow; instead, they must be seen as an inevitable growth as characters begin to approach understanding of their lives. for nenita, everything has a flavor and every flavor has its purpose. bitterness holds as much importance as its counterpart. however, it is in the mixing of the two that our deepest longings are confronted. to quote the narrator: -because hunger is always unsightly. it’s our gut hanging out, unkempt like unassuaged love. we see it in someone else and instinctively we grab at our stomachs, then quickly withdraw our hands, knowing we have betrayed ourselves (p.187). one of the characters, nana dora, is described similar to the jackfruit, which is “too prickly outside but sweet inside, but only if she was ripe enough to entertain your intrusions” (p.9) the preparation of the shredded heart in coconut milk is also aptly described: it must be the right heart, it must be the soft core of the right heart, it must be the yellowish part of the soft core of the right heart (p.10). nenita also has assumptions that the devil ate her father’s tongue by cooking it in mushroom sauce, a similar method spaniards follow in cooking ox tongue. the idea comes into her thoughts after her mother beats her, and her father keeps his silence as he always does, more likely after he lost his job. the “devil” refers to gable’s employer who terminates his job after finding cheaper labor for the extension of his house. the palitaw, or the floated one, carries a similar impression with those who eat it, such as the floating faith of tiya coring, the mother of basilio profundo. in the text, palitaw is likened to faith, as seen in the following excerpt: faith always floats, keeps us afloat. as it is in swimming, so it is in cooking, so it is in falling in love. we always believe we’ll rise to the surface. faith is too 29 international peer reviewed journal light to stay down, and it smells. we can’t hide it (p. 20). further, this part of the novel describes that floating faith makes us brave and endure consequences. dignity is also explained as may be lean but more filling than faith. in the seventh and eighth chapters, seaweed salad” and the “calcium man with pili nut husk on the side” and the chapter titled, “halo-halo: mix-mixed intentions” foretell the ideas on dignity and pride. the narrator recounts, “mother said pride is a sin, but dignity is a savior”. the smoky coconut chicken in green papayas is used to present the strangeness behind an attempt to make the smell, taste, texture, or look of nature ‘better’. in addition, the narrator states that the heart of the matter offends the palate, and when it does not offend, it scares. thus, the text concludes, “so we arm ourselves with herbs and spices, and we consider ourselves improved as a species” (p. 49). this is similar to how each person lives and pretends as somebody else or has made-up identity. the art of preserving is likened to the preparation and preservation of the taste of acharra, or preserved shredded and soaked green papayas in vinegar. for example, maria corazon alano is described based on the speculations of the narrator as having an experiment of her new version of preserving domestic harmony. the text reads: when in her heart, a wife decides that she’s no longer one, not by her husband’s decree or imputation, then she becomes playful. without leaving, she can be single again, a maiden, a girl. the sense of old self can be recovered and preserved, where it had been adultered or diminished (p. 218). the strange synthesis of cookery, tales, and of human interaction is the dominant metaphorical theme of the novel, which, categorically speaking, appeals more to the intellect rather than to the senses. this appeal can be discerned amid the strewn metaphors that frequently appear in the novel. the novel also attempts to establish a literary continuity between food preparation, consumption, and human relations and to present the facets of human relationships that can be explained creatively and understood in terms of food. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research analysis of the banana heart summer 1. characters the characters in the first novel are semi-pathetic individuals seeking and aiming for hope, love, and acceptance. the narrator, both the 12-year-old nining and the forty-year-old nenita, longs for maternal love and acceptance, and after 29 years of working abroad, she longs for her country and hometown. her mother, marina and father gable are also trying hard to find their proper places and responsibility for their children. her mother’s dignity is shattered by her inability to feed her family that may have caused her violent rage towards nenita. gable, is said to have his tongue eaten by the devil, hence his silence on whatever occurs in the house. another character, nana dora, the cook, relies on some myths to sustain her hope of having her husband tasyo back. her husband left her because she failed to give him a child. after many years he follows nana dora, he sells seafoods which he peddles as “calcium, vitamins”, possibly to seek for another chance that he has never had. violeta valenzuela or miss vv, nining’s mistress is the most beautiful among the ladies on remedios street. she falls in love and gets pregnant by a married man. she eventually marries the man (ralph mckenna) who offers to save the grace of “concepcion immaculada”. ralph mckenna is an american who is old enough to be ms. vv’s father. another character, basilio profundo, the bachelor who offers his love, through his mother’s “floating faith” or palitaw, to miss vv but never wins her heart. basilio is outsmarted by mang gusting, a married man, who is helplessly trapped in a marriage with tiya asun, who finds liberty in the delicacies that she prepares, making twists in the recipes and ingredients but with a deeper purpose of wanting to keep her marriage alive. moreover, through the narrator’s encounter with manolito ching described as the spanish-chinese mestizo and the heir to the fortunes of the richest businessman in town, nenita confirms the bitter reality of being poor. she narrates, “the poorest are whipped by the poor, and the poor are whipped by the rich, even without them lifting a finger“ (p.31). though the richest in the town, manolito seems unhappy having busy parents, mr. ching and seṅora ching, who are respectively busy with getting richer and with personal effects like jewelry and dresses. the family of mang anding is considered the poorest in their street. after losing his job during a volcanic eruption, his wife being ill while his twins 31 international peer reviewed journal have nothing to eat, he commits suicide. through his act, the reader views mang anding’s helplessness as being very evident in his character; his family eventually receives help and full generosity of the neighbors during his wake and funeral. juanito guapito, the 18-year-old son of tiya miling, elopes with tiya viring.. the two women are both storeowners who find rivalry not only in their stores but also in juanito’s heart. tiya viring is a “frozen delight” or spinster old enough to be her lover’s mother and would be ready to be with someone just “not to miss the last trip”. when they elope, they go to the fringe garden of boy hapon, who is rarely seen in the neighborhood thus the speculations of coming from nowhere and the one who invoked the volcanos’ eruption. later in the novel, nining learns that boy hapon is an ordinary person just like her, the twins chichi and bebet and the other folks in the neighborhood and inside his hut is collection of romance pocketbooks. boy hapon also tells her that his mother worked for the japanese which explains his looks; that is also the reason why others don’t like him there. critically speaking, one can say that every character, in general, aims for his or her particular desires. the novel presents each of them as being unsatisfied with what he or she has. the characters expect for something. borrowing freud’s concepts, lacan declares that the unconscious is structured like a language; therefore linguistics and semiotics may be used to study it. 2. structure and style in this paper, structure refers to the presentation of the story. it is the manner by which the author presents the chronology of events. style, according to abrams (1999: 303) “is the manner of linguistic expression in prose or verseas how speakers or writers say whatever it is that they say.” the story is told in the first-person point of view by a 40-year-old migrant worker named nenita. her tale traces her life’s events when she was only 12 years old, in her hometown, longing for the love of her mother. the 12-yearold nenita, based on the 40-year-old narrator’s tales, aims to be of worth to her family particularly to her mother by being a good cook and literally a food provider. it was when she heard of the myth of the banana heart and decided to get hold of it. nenita enumerates her townsfolk and describes each character while revealing how these characters are interrelated. in so doing, she vividly describes every dish representing each character and the manner of preparing it. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research nenita’s description of each character is full of innocence of a child (e.g. how she narrates that babies come out from armpits after hearing her parents gasping for air from the vent). such can be discerned from the following excerpts: -to hold her tightly at night, whispering over and over again, i love you maring, i love you. then a baby always arrived from the armpit (p.71) -which clung to the waist of our father who clung to our mother and whispered, i love you, i love you, while she kept her face turned away, breathing precious air from the vent (p.73-74) after narrating an event, the narrator fast-forwards to present events such as when she recounts the evening when her brother suddenly got hungry after listening to the “predictable breathing” that came from the other side of the mat. specifically, nenita shifts to this: this was a story that he would tell me years later in his weary letters, which always asked whether i could send the family’s a little bit of help (p. 202.) the narrator also talks about falling in love at a very young age. she describes her ability and inability to understand things as a child. when manolito volunteers to climb the guava tree, nining and chichi see his “two guavas” peeking out from his shorts. two guavas, two guavas, she said swallowing a fresh burst of giggles. i looked up. my cheeks were on fire. was it a fruit of a vegetable? up there, manolito chong’s shorts were too shorts indeed. (p. 122) but how can i save that twelve-year-old from these arguments? of course i love my own? even today, it takes great effort to believe myself (p.131). i could climb any tree at my time (p. 132). the narrative also reveals the child’s lack of ability to understand the difference between ‘stolen and the bought taste’. that summer i was twelve, lihi made sense. mother vented her spleen on me because she was pregnant, and she couldn’t help it. today, twenty years later, 33 international peer reviewed journal and so far away from home, i understand and i forgive (p. 103). 3. theme in the book, material poverty coexists alongside spiritual poverty. the former functions as a dual role that fuels nenita’s endless pursuit of maternal love. the novel depicts an aching need for acceptance and love in the lives of those who live on remedios street during that summer. the dramas of other characters’ relationship and love help the narrator as she struggles to satisfy her need to establish a relationship with her abusive mother. undeniably, most characters are individuals who are eternally searching for inner peace. the nourishment of body and soul is the most sought-after idea in the novel as the narrator and other characters long for satisfaction and fulfilment of their desires. for example, nenita’s longing for her mother maring’s maternal love is nenita’s motivation to seek for a local and eventually foreign employment at a young age. maring’s yearning for the acceptance of her parents and society for marrying a mason is seen through her personal idea of dignity and pride. miss vv’s decision to marry a man old enough to be her father could represent a refuge for the love that she can never have. nana dora’s beliefs in myths could be attributed to her desires such as her husband’s coming home. 4. tone tone or intonation refers to the expression of a literary speaker towards his reader or listener. abrams discusses tone further in the following statements: the tone of a speech can be described as critical or approving, formal or intimate, outspoken or reticent, solemn or playful, arrogant or prayerful, angry or loving, serious or ironic, condescending or obsequious, and so on through numberless possible nuances of relationship and attitude both to object and auditor. (abrams:1999: 218) the entire novel is literarily written even with its obvious attempt to break conventions in writing given bobis” inclination to touches of satire. the satires are evident in the use of various metaphors throughout the narrative; these metaphors sounds loving but have serious meaning that requires readers to understand the undertones more deeply. the author also resorts to writing on serious subjects in lighter tone making the readers feel light rather than bored or scared. the nostalgic pattern of the narrator’s recounting her experiences reflects her actual 34 jpair multidisciplinary research childhood involvements in the neighborhood that have led to her coming of age and full understanding of her life and those of others. note in these lines, where the narrator talks about how nining’s siblings quarrel over pork knuckles, nining’s innocence reveals a certain reality with her mistress: claro began to cry. nilo chanted, “greedy, greedy!” the two youngest joined in, banging their hands on the table. “stop acting like pigs! mother screamed. junior giggled. ‘no, we’re notthis is pig, he said under his breath, then bit the flesh hanging from the knuckle. (229-230) you see, right after her loss, tiya miling began speaking in tongues, inventing fresh terminology for ‘that evil woman who stole my son”. i must admit i was confused when i overheard something about teeth, as they shuffled cards. “please, what’s “a woman with loose molars”? i asked my mistress. violeta valenzuela could not answer. her face was torn between laughter and guilt, neither of which i understood. loose morals. she could not enlighten me about my confused consonants. she searched my face for any sign of accusation. (p.145) the excerpts above simply disclose social problems like poverty, gambling, gossiping and morality issues. hunger may cause people to be greedy and at the same disrespectful. the issue of talking about others behind their back while playing cards is inherent in the barrio folks. thus, when nining innocently asks for the meaning of “woman with loose molars”, her mistress feels guilty of being one. the aesthetics of satire in the novel what is satire? satire is a form of literature, which, according to hornedo, is just like ode, lyric, panegyric, elegy, lampoon, caricature, comedy, tragedy, and romance. a satire primarily seeks to ridicule or criticize any subject, idea, institution or mankind in general. however, the satirist also seeks to expose some representative vices that are considered threat or harmful in the society. in addition, a satire aims to point out human behavior that is despicable and hence, needs to be changed. the goal of a satire can be either destruction or reform but mainly for the general benefit or betterment of humanity as a whole. in general, there are two identified satirical styles—direct and indirect. a direct satire is that which is directly stated; an indirect one is communicated or 35 international peer reviewed journal implied through characters in a situation. the two well-known types of satire are the horatian, described as intended for fun which is light-hearted, and the juvenalian, the bitter, attacking and angry in nature. beckson and ganz (1960) explain that the treatment and attitude rather than the subject matter mark the presence of satire. satirical techniques and devices there is a variety of satirical techniques and devices which can be used to comment on or criticize a particular subject or character. some of them are irony, hyperbole, paradox, palindrome, oxymoron, magic realism and social realism. in addition to these, defamiliarization is also a technical satirical device like tropes and conceits. as a technique, defamiliarization uses devices like tropes, metaphors, magic realism, and social realism to present ideas in an unfamiliar artistic form purposively to stimulate fresh perception. viktor shklovsky (1993), one of the main voices behind a way of thinking about literature which is known today as russian formalism, is concerned more with the notion of literariness. according to him, literariness is the result of working language so that it “makes strange” or interrupts our habituated or automatic perception of the word. by interrupting our automatic perception of the word in this way, the reader is forced to make extra effort to determine the meaning of the text and in so doing, the reader’s wonder of the world is re-enlivened. hence, defamiliarization can be defined as the technique by which the author seeks to re-enliven the naturally inquisitive and literally awesome gaze of the child in the reader. as applied in literature, defamiliarization works in three levels: language, content, and literary forms. needless to say, the entire novel applies these three levels. with regard to the novel’s tone, the narrative is evidently told in a way that the reader will become apathetic towards the characters, except towards the narrator who innocently tells of her experiences as a child. the following are the various satirical tropes readers can identify in the novel. for clarity, they are presented according to type: 1. exaggeration exaggeration aims to represent something beyond the ordinary and make it appear ridiculous so that the readers can identify the subjected flaws of the individual or society as a whole. under exaggeration are caricature and burlesque. the former exaggerates physical features or traits while the latter deals with the exaggeration of style through language or action. hyperbole and farce may also 36 jpair multidisciplinary research be classified under this type since both utilize exaggeration through language and situations. to illustrate exaggeration, here are a few excerpts from the novel, in which the narrator describes tiyo anding and tiya asun’s family as the poorest in the street. the narrator also compares their family’s nothingness to theirs: i wondered what they ate; their house hardly smelled of cooking. we had been eating more –water-than-rice gruel for a week after my father’s and, of course, her husband’s sacking. i wondered what non-smelling thing boiled in tiya asun’s pots. in my heart i knew that her family felt it toothe esophagus lengthening, i mean. and as they were poorer than us, perhaps other parts inevitably followed suitthe tongue, the cheeks, and the eyes, perhaps stretching towards the earth, as if they were already being pulled into their graves. (26) the excerpts above suggest that the narrator compares hunger to how poverty reeks in their street. the description of tiya asun, having no breasts, no hips, no brows and little hair added to the exaggerated faces of scarcity in all levels— material and physical. another form of exaggeration is shown in the character of seṅora ching. she is a full–blooded spaniard who wears mantilla, a lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb called a peineta, popular with women in spain. the narrator describes senora ching in the following lines when she catches the narrator holding a bottle of an ube jam in their kitchen. she wore an emerald silk robe with red dragons—she had a penchant for firebreathing things—and the most beautiful tortoiseshell comb with gold studs, angled gracefully on the side of her low chignon. (38) a full-blooded spaniard, married with a chinese creates a disaster in the line of fashion. this form of satirical caricature is somewhat similar to rizal’s doṅa victorina. likewise, her act of screaming because she sees a thief in the 12-yearold girl holding a bottle of jam inside her own kitchen is indeed an exaggeration. 2. incongruity incongruity is used to present things or ideas that are absurd or out of place. included in this second group are irony, oxymoron, metaphor, and paradox. the actual intent of irony is to express the opposite meaning of words. there are four 37 international peer reviewed journal types of irony; verbal, which is simply an inversion of meaning; dramatic, when the words or actions carry another meaning in contrast between the speaker/ character and its audience/reader; socratic, or feigning or pretending ignorance to achieve its intended effect over an opponent; and situational, the type which is dependent on the inconsistency between purpose and results. both oxymoron and paradox use contradiction of something through language and action to present the real idea or situation. one example of ironic circumstance in the novel is shown during the volcanic eruption, which the residents of remedios street found ordinary, and being so, it will not stop the celebration of their fiesta. that foreign aid will abound and will be the subject of politician’s corruption is a known fact, and so applied in the novel, local canned goods shall be labelled with their names and the imported ones will go to the black market to allow the industry of the already rich businessmen to flourish. by businessmen, the novel refers to those who are closely related to the mayor. the “one eruption, one mansion” is said to be the likely epitaph on the mayor’s tomb when he dies. the time of calamity turns out as a prosperous time for the residents and the greedy politicians. the locals are able to taste foreign products from the black market, so little do they know that those goods were supposed to be given to them for free. the generosity of the neighborhood when mang anding commits suicide is another example of incongruity. the novel implies that his family is the poorest yet nobody offers help. it is during his wake and funeral when everybody becomes ‘helpful”. the chings family give five hundred pesos, for the funeral services. whatever help the family received during the wake and funeral will never bring back mang anding’s life; ironically, their help will bury him instead. 3. parody the third group, parody, is used to ridicule the original through imitation of a usually serious piece of work. travesty falls under this group; it presents a usually religious subject playfully reducing it to the lowest level of mockery. chapter 42 of the novel is entitled cosido: soup of immaculada concepcion. a sour soup, cocido is what one sees in front of mang gusting alano and miss vv while they discuss about the unwanted pregnancy that results from their illicit affair. in their conversation, the characters use “folk aphorisms” so that nining will not understand the subject of their conversation. note how the narrator uses biblical characters’ names to refer to themselves. note in the following lines: 38 jpair multidisciplinary research but we can’tyou can’t have thatthat concepcion immaculada, even ifif saint joseph loves mary.( 213) saint joseph will always love marybut i’m sorry, i can’t..(214) i wish saint joseph were dead. ( 215) indeed, the holy figure of mama mary, who conceived without sin, is used to relate to miss vv’s unwanted pregnancy. the statement also suggests a blasphemy as one of the characters wishes for the death of a saint joseph, referring to the married man’s inability to leave his wife and give his name to the unborn child. the same is true in the following line: i only want to cook good, i only want to eat good, i only want to be good. (14) the above line shows the words that nining tells to herself as her own novena instead of actual catholic prayer in her intention to help and put food onto the family’s table. the novena is mentioned in the novel as a repetitive prayer, which nining recites while being beaten by her mother. 4. reversal reversal focuses on the use of order of things or ideas such as a hierarchical order or events. palindrome, the use of a word, phrase or number that reads the same backward or forward can be identified under this fourth group. the reversal in the novel is evident in the character of nining. she is just 12 years old, yet she already wants to help feed the family. her first earning amounting to four pesos is even higher than the last wage her father brought home after he had lost his job. nenita can think better and decide more sensibly than his father whose tongue was “eaten by the devil” according to the narrative. when nining innocently asks for the meaning of “woman with loose molars”, her mistress felt guilty of being one, “a woman with loose morals”. the position of the two letters in both words creates confusion between the words themselves, yet the paranoia is obvious to a person who knows better but has failed to act accordingly. 39 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the novel boasts of numerous satirical tropes intended to ridicule the follies and foibles of society. the idea of child labor and child abuse is just one of the issues in the reality frame which the novel discloses. at 12 years old, nining is forced to stop attending school and volunteers to help the family by working as a maid. in return, she receives her mother’s rage with slaps and blows that hurt her, and one time even burns her skin. afterwards, she feeds her. this instance is accepted by nining as part of her mother’s lihi which later on she understands as a defense mechanism disguised as dignity. the problems of illicit affair, corruption, and rampant moral degradation made through gossips among the neighborhood are just some of the issues unraveled in the novel using metaphorical representations of food. bobis’ intentional use of defamiliarization opens the reader to the possibility of understanding the culture of the community represented by the novel’s setting. the aesthetics of satire intends to create realization on the reader’s point of view to appreciate the work of fiction and at the same time to be mindful of the biting realities of life. the entire novel is full of lines that reveal thoughtful concerns presented in a way that the reader shall find amusing yet needs to be changed. the bicolanos are filipinos whose ideas and ideals may emanate from their inherent desires and their promulgation rooted from the type of culture that they have. just as rizal’s novels satirize the filipino’s characters and attitudes against spaniards, bobis’ novel also aims to call for a change and positivity amidst the cultural idiocies of the filipinos particularly bicolanos. the researcher, therefore, recommends that creative writing be treated with purpose. literature is not just for entertainment; more so, it is supposed to suggest, inform, and educate, and must serve their worth if taught well in institutions. literature should not just instill critical thinking in the readers but also stir their emotions to respond to the call for change as bobis’ work highly encourages. translational research with the technological advancement in today’s society, the current trend demands the function, access and application of literature through the worldwide web or commonly called “internet”. the present generation called “digital natives” can easily manipulate and grasp ideas from the available internet sources. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research most of these digital natives easily get bored with books, and seldom devote time in reading. through various representation of ideas employing technology, information may instill attraction to the learners. this paper also recommends the use of popular culture specifically satirical comic strips similar to the japanese manga. manga in japanese means “flowing words” or “undisciplined words”, an ancient art that has been used as a form of entertainment (simon, 2003). the satirical comic strips may be an example of an innovative media that can be accessible not only in the philippines but also in the global community. literature cited abrams, m.h. (1953). the mirror and the lamp: romantic theory and the critical tradition. oxford: oxford university press inc. abrams m.h. (1999). a glossary of literary terms: seventh edition. cornell. cornell university. bobis, m. (2005). banana heart summer. pasig city, philippines: anvil publishing inc.. clifford, g. (1973). the interpretation of cultures. new york: basic, 412-453. colayco, c. (1957). the novelist: a portrait painter. unitas, 30 (4), 840-848. santos, p.v.m (2003). hagkus: twentieth century bikol women writers: de la salle university press, inc. fernandez, d. (1988). culture ingested: notes on the indigenization of food. philippine studies, 36 (2), 219-232 hornedo f.h. (2001). ideas and ideals: essays in filipino cognitive history. manila, philippines: ust publishing house. hornedo, f.h.(2002). pagpapakatao and other essays in contemporary philosophy and literature of ideas. manila, philippines: ust publishing house. 41 international peer reviewed journal lumbera, b. (1997). revaluation 1997: essays on philippine literature, cinema & popular culture. manila, philippines: ust publishing house. makaryk, i.r.ed. (1993). encyclopedia of contemporary literary theory: approaches, scholars, terms. canada, university of toronto press inc. simon, b. (2003). manga. urban dictionary. retrieved from http://www. urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=manga retrieved on april 11, 2015. sy-ng, mcb. (2011). the heart of the matter: a lacanian unveiling of the unconscious discourse in banana heart summer. ad veritatem, 1 (1), 239 257. sy mb.( 2013). humor in alejandro roces’ fiction. iamure international journal of literature, philosophy and religion. 4, (june), 85-98 tian, x. (2014) uncertain satire in modern chinese fiction and drama: 19301949 retrieved from http://escholarship.org./uc/item/1g94d1hb the asia foundation (2015). the asia foundation’s jaime faustino participates in usaid-uncdf extreme poverty conference. retrieved from http:// asiafoundation.org/news/2015/04/the-asia-foundations-jaime-faustinoparticipates-in-usaid-uncdf-extreme-poverty-conference/ 106 jpair multidisciplinary research cooperative learning style develops social skills in mathematics of college freshmen students maria emely cristy s. mayordomo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8414-9918 mariaemelycristy.mayordomo05@gmail.com tagum doctors college, inc. tagum city, philippines abstract most of the students isolate or compete themselves in learning mathematics, sitting alone and struggling in understanding the materials or solve the assigned problems (davidson, 1990). cooperative learning in mathematics is an effective tool for meeting the individual needs of students. the relationship of students might have developed and shared common goals as they interact with each other. this study focuses on determining students’ perception on the effects of cooperative learning style in enhancing the social skills of students. the researcher used descriptive-correlational design in gathering information and material evidence relating to cooperative learning and social skills of the students. questionnaire was used and administered to 44 students of tagum doctors college, inc. as the respondents of the study. the researcher uses the following statistical tools: mean, t-test, and pearson product – moment coefficient of correlation. the result shows that cooperative learning enhances the social skills of the students. there was a high correlation between cooperative learning and social skills of the students. this study concludes that the more the students engaged in cooperative learning, the higher the level the students develop their social skills. keywords education, cooperative learning, jigsaw, think-pair-share, learning together, social skills, peer relational skills, self-management, academic vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.297 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 107 international peer reviewed journal skills, compliance skills, descriptive-correlation design, tagum city, philippines introduction learning mathematics is self-sacrificing. almost all-new learning builds on what has been learned in the previous. if students failed to attend some lessons, subsequently, lessons would become harder to learn. all students are capable of identifying their weaknesses and strengths in their knowledge of their lessons. nolting (2011) said that students can develop their mathematics grades if they take the time to recognize their strengths and challenges in learning mathematics. they will find success in themselves if they increase their strengths and look for solutions to their challenges in learning math. slow learners in contrast, cannot do this for themselves, which for them could be frustrating and leads to a feeling of unable to deal with it. slow learners need to identify their confusions in the mathematics classrooms. students who committed a mathematical error lead to failure in understanding mathematical concepts. the resulting misunderstanding puts students to discouragement, absenteeism, and behavioral problem, which have been recognized in the school. students’ interaction as they learn together may vary in three basic ways: students will do their best to compete with others, work individually to achieve goals without minding other students, or share common interest in each other’s learning. with the three interactions, competition is the most dominant. roger and johnson (1994) said that it may cause conflict between students for there is a winner and a loser. this aggressive expectation is already widespread when students enter school and gets bigger and stronger as time goes by. students’ learning can be more meaningful if they are willing to open their heads together to achieve the goal of learning through small cooperative groups in classrooms. failure of many students can be reduced if this is done. the positive side of peer pressure can be used so that schooling can be fun and enjoyable. one of the hardest things to do for students in learning mathematics is working on their own exercises, seatwork, and assignments, in which some of them perform well and some are not. they become worried. some of the characteristics of mathematics anxious students are inattentiveness, excessive absences, general non-performance, laziness, neither understood nor willing to try to understand. mathematics anxious students are those who felt they were making efforts to learn mathematics, but have seen no improvement in their efforts. these students must be helped to develop confidence and hope for their 108 jpair multidisciplinary research future if they want to experience any degree of success. in tagum city, cooperative learning in mathematics is not commonly used where students are taught directly by the teachers. much of the time is dedicated to help teachers in putting together suitable connections between students and materials (textbooks, curriculum programs) and spent on how the teacher should interact with students, but not on how students should interact with one another. webb (2009) said that only small amount of learners have personally examined and indicate types of interaction that arise among students while learning mathematics in a small group. students are eager to continue in engaging themselves in problem-solving behavior and contribute to a higher level of achievement if they are given timely, enough and clear details to construct a clearer understanding of the problem. however, cohen (1994) claimed that whether the emphasis is on the individual learner or on the percentage of students, it is the occurrence of work-related interactions that is associated to theoretical and attainment improvements in mathematics, science, and writing activities. webb and cohen’s researches are evidently different based on the types of tasks given to students. webb’s interaction has an interdependent group for they cannot complete the task without the input of at least one person from the other. cohen’s interaction happened among fellows in the group working dependently with each other on the organization necessary to answer the work assignments of students. sometimes, cooperative learning is misinterpreted or misused. there are students who defined it as copying directly the assignments of their classmates through personal interaction. it is by having a group study of which only one talks or discusses the topic assigned to the group. thus, teachers must explain to their students the differences in interactions that may occur whether it is in a high or low level cooperation. according to hertz-lazarowitz (2008), cooperative learning must consist of tasks that promote a higher reasoning and thinking interactions to the students. this requires students to talk and share ideas to produce a group product. framework this study was anchored on social interdependence theory by kurt koffka (1990) and kurt lewin (1940) that states, “a way social interdependence is organized by determining who individuals interact with and thus, determines outcomes.” cooperative efforts are based on fundamental enthusiasm produced 109 international peer reviewed journal by interpersonal influences and cooperative desires to accomplish a significant goal. there is emphasis on interactive ideas dealing with what happens among individuals. thus, learning is an individual’s effort in internalizing the concepts, rules, and general principles that may be useful in a practical real-world context. learning is a development of presenting students the values of more trained members (cited by d. johnsons & r. johnsons, 2005). students learn better when they work together in small groups and get actively involved in constructing knowledge. potthast (1999) said that cooperative learning practices lead to a higher achievement, more efficient and effective processing and exchange of information, increased productivity, positive relationships among students, and greater development of trust than do competitive and/or individualistic learning experiences (as cited by hennessy and evans, 2006). there are several analysis comparing achievement results to students taught by competitive, individualistic and cooperative learning methods. in general, these studies demonstrated that an average student taught with cooperative learning performs better than the average student taught with competitive and individualistic methods. this was strongly supported by sharan (1994) who stated that cooperative learning (i.e. jigsaw, learning together, thinkpair-share, group investigation, student teams achievement divisions, and teamsgames-tournaments) is a basic term that is used to describe an instructional arrangement for teaching academic and collaborative skills to small, mixed groups of students. it is deemed highly desirable because of its tendency to reduce peer competition and isolation, and to promote academic achievement and positive interrelationships. the national council of teachers of math (nctm, 1995) said that there are many styles in cooperative learning, which students work cooperatively. students must be provided with opportunities to work cooperatively in large and small groups to solve significant problems that arise out of their experiences (as cited by j. m. furner and d. d. kumar). cooperative learning is the independent variable, which had the following indicators: jigsaw, think-pair-share, and learning together. the dependent variable is social skills, which had a different dimension, peer-relational skills, self-management skills, academic skills and compliance skills. the moderating variables of this study which affect both variables are the age and sex of the respondents. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the students’ perception on the effects of cooperative learning in enhancing social skills of the students. this investigation determined the profile of the respondents; the extent of cooperative learning to the students; and the level of social skills among students. the researcher also aimed to identify the significant differences in the social skills of the students when grouped according to age and sex and the significant relationships between the two variables. methodology the researcher employed the descriptive-correlation design in conducting the cooperative learning and social skills of the students. the respondents were the first-year students of tagum doctors college, inc. with mathematics subjects. random sampling was used to determine the 44 out of 63 students who were given a questionnaire of the study. the researcher had developed a non-parametric scale, a five-point rating scale that guided the respondents in answering the questions: 5 – very high; 4 – high; 3 – moderate; 2 – low; and, 1 – very low. during data gathering procedure, the researcher had sought first permission to conduct this study from ma. emilia n. alegre, rn., the president of tagum doctors college, inc. the researcher surveyed samples of questionnaires from related studies (theses) and the internet. the researcher considered the sufficiency of the items of the questionnaire to cover all aspects of the problem and to provide answers to specific questions under the statement of the problem. the questionnaire was validated by the panelists of the study. after the validation of the questionnaire, a pilot testing was conducted. a week after, the researcher informed the selected students that they will be given a series of group work activities for two months. one week after giving the activities, the researcher distributed the survey questionnaires to students personally and retrieved them after answering the questions. the researcher used the following statistical tools in analyzing and interpreting the data collected: frequency distribution and percentage to determine the profile of the study. average weighted means determined the extent of cooperative learning and level of social skills of the students. one-way analysis of variance (anova) determined the significant difference in social skills among students when grouped according to age and t-test to determine the significant difference in social skills among students when grouped according to sex. pearson product – 111 international peer reviewed journal moment coefficient of correlation was used to establish a relationship between the cooperative learning and social skills of the students, and z-test to test the significance of the obtained r. results and discussion profile of the respondents forty-four students were requested to give their perception on the cooperative learning and social skills of the students through the researchermade questionnaire. majority of the respondents were female which had a percentage of 68.18 and 31.82 percent of the respondents were males. in terms of sex, the proportion of the respondents differs from 36.36 percent, thus, the opinions of the respondents in both sexes were considered. in research, gender has concentrated on girls’ and boys’ involvement in science in general, in physics instruction, and in mathematics instruction. pauli and lipowsky (2007) state that in research literature, specifically on mathematics instruction, girls and boys are the most focused verbal interactions with teachers in class (as cited by v. jurik et al., 2013). table 1. extent of cooperative learning of the students style mean descriptive rating jigsaw 3.84 high think-pair-share 4.23 very high learning together 3.94 high overall mean 4.00 high table 1 shows the level of cooperative learning style as to the weighted means obtained from the responses of students. think-pair-share had a weighted mean of 4.23 or very high. in jigsaw, it had a weighted mean of 3.84 and in learning together, had a weighted mean of 3.94 which both had a descriptive rating of high. the overall weighted mean in the level of cooperative learning of the students was 4.00 with a descriptive rating of high. jigsaw is a cooperative learning style of which each student must give his idea effectively within the group to complete the puzzle and magic squares given to them. learning together is a style of cooperative learning wherein students are put into a group band to ask them to collaborate for they will report and will be given a group grade. think-pair-share is a style of which students will 112 jpair multidisciplinary research contribute ideas, listen to their partners, and encourage discussion to evaluate group procedure in solving a given problem. the extent of cooperative learning style was clearly manifested in most cases; thus, think-pair-share had the highest mean among the three. the result implies that students pair with their partner to share their responses to the given problem to the whole class. they were able to give chances to their pair to speak and listen to them. denzine (1999) states that a think-pair-share structure gives all students the opportunity to discuss their ideas (as cited by mcnamara, judith and larkin, ingrid k. and beatson, amanda, 2010). it also enhances the student’s skill in oral communication as they express their ideas to other students. the more active students took the lead of verbalizing the thinking process, the more learning they account for listening to their partner’s ideas. jigsaw had the lowest weighted mean in the level of cooperative learning styles. the result revealed that students were not able to get ideas, listen and discuss with their group. they were not able also to encourage some interactions within the team in solving problems given in the puzzle or magic square since they are focusing in solving to accomplish the puzzle or magic square given. social skills have five dimensions. these are peer relational skills (complimenting others, offering help or assistance, inviting peers to play, taking perspective of others), self-management skills (controlling temper, following rules, compromising conflict situations), academic skills (completing work independently, listening to the teacher’s directions, producing acceptable quality work), and compliance skills (following directions, following rules, using free time appropriately) (gresham, sugai, & horner, 2001; gumpel, 2007). table 2. level of social skills of the students social skills mean descriptive rating peer relational skills 3.60 high self-management skills 3.75 high academic skills 3.78 high compliance skills 3.88 high overall mean 3.75 high in the level of social skills among college students, the highest weighted mean was the compliance skills, which means that students are working with their own group, discussing the problems without disturbing others and follow teacher’s directions. they also use their free time in discussing the given problem to their 113 international peer reviewed journal own group. peer relational skills got the lowest weighted mean of 3.60 with a descriptive rating of high. it was found out that students had a little difficulty in encouraging their groupmates to participate and use people’s name. curtis (2003) states that in secondary school, students are encouraged to use nametags or seat plan and know something about their schoolmates to create a positive school climate. students can directly look at the person who is talking and make contacts with their mates (as cited by bremer & smith, 2004). the result found out that there was no significant difference in the social skills of the students when analyzed by sex. this implies that students can still develop their social skills regardless of their sex. when groups are maximally heterogeneous, the other essential elements are met, students tend to interact and achieve in a way and at a level that are rarely found in other instructional strategies. this means that the social skills of students do not depend on their sex. however, this result contradicts to the study of er (2014) that male students choose to study alone because it is easier and more comfortable to them than female students. as he cited in his study, men are more autonomous than women. they are competitive-oriented, which made them not to cooperate and, thus, affect their relationship with their classmates. table 3. significant relationship between cooperative learning style and social skills of the students variable mean computedt-value computed z-value tabular z-value decision interpretation cooperative learning style 4.00 0.650 5.55 1.645 ho rejected significant social skills 3.75 table 3 shows the result of the correlation on the significance of the relationship between students’ perception on cooperative learning style and social skills. the computed average weighted mean of the responses of the students in cooperative learning style was 4.00. the responses of the students in the social skills made an average weighted mean of 3.75. the computed value of r was 0.650 which means that there was a high correlation between the two variables. to test the significance of the relationship, the z-test was used. the computed value of z was 5.55 which was greater than the tabular value of z at 0.05 level of significance. therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. this means that there 114 jpair multidisciplinary research was a significant relationship between cooperative learning style and social skills of the students. according to magnesio and davis (2010), there is a positive outcome of using cooperative learning that improves academic performance as well as enhanced the social skills of the students. social skills are necessary for successful cooperative groups. we have developed several short skill-building stations to encourage students to learn, discuss, and practice social skills. conclusions the findings of the study show a high level of cooperative learning style that gives a high-level skill of students. it was also found out that there was no significant difference on the level of social skills of the students when grouped according to sex. in the study conducted by loredana and duduciuc (2011), females confirmed a higher nonverbal correctness than males and more hesitant in joining outside school recreational attachment with peers from their student groups. thus, the skills of students develop even if they are grouped heterogeneously. there was a significant relationship between cooperative learning style and social skills of students. garfield (1993) said that cooperative learning includes a lot of different activities that may be used in several ways to a college statistics class. these actions offer ways for students to be more involved in learning and develop enhanced skills by working together. translational research increased use of cooperative learning method is one of the most visible changes in mathematics education nowadays. in fact, it is more effective than traditional methods in teaching mathematics. it creates enjoyable experiences from the students while learning. teachers are encouraged to use cooperative learning as one of their strategies in teaching mathematics because it develops and enhances the social skills of the students, not only in mathematics subjects but also with the others. in this study, a lot of activities and worksheets were given to the students. a teacher must understand first the cooperative learning style that he/she will impose to the students so that students will know what to do in their activity. as per observation, after giving all the activities given to the students, they learn to interact with different types of people regardless of their sex, ages and races, they 115 international peer reviewed journal were able to give their knowledge and ideas to their peers. they work together and most especially they actively participated not only in the classroom participation, but also to the activities done by the school. literature cited bremer, c. d., & smith, j. (2004). teaching social skills. addressing trends and developments in secondary education and transition, 5. cohen, e. g. (1994). restructuring the classroom: conditions for productive small groups. review of educational research, 64(1), 1-35. er, s. (2014) cooperative learning in elt classes: the attitudes of students towards cooperative learning in elt classes. international online journal of education and teaching vol. 1, no. 2. furner, j. and kumar, d. (2007) the mathematics and science integration argument: a stand for teacher education. eurasia journal of mathematics, science & technology education, 2007, 3(3), 185-189 garfield, j. (1993). teaching statistics using small-group cooperative learning. journal of statistics education, 1(1), 1-9. gresham, f. m., sugai, g., & horner, r. h. (2001). interpreting outcomes of social skills training for students with high-incidence disabilities. exceptional children, 67(3), 331-344. gumpel, t. p. (2007). are social competence difficulties caused by performance or acquisition deficits? the importance of self‐regulatory mechanisms. psychology in the schools, 44(4), 351-372. hennessy, d., & evans, r. (2006). small-group learning in the community college classroom. the community college enterprise, 12(1), 93-109. hertz-lazarowitz, r. (2008). beyond the classroom and into the community: the role of the teacher in expanding the pedagogy of cooperation. in  the teacher’s role in implementing cooperative learning in the classroom (pp. 38-55). springer us. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research johnson, d. w., & johnson, r. t. (2005). new developments in social interdependence theory.  genetic, social, and general psychology monographs,131(4), 285-358. jurik, v., gröschner, a., & seidel, t. (2013). how student characteristics affect girls’ and boys’ verbal engagement in physics instruction.  learning and instruction, 23, 33-42. loredana, i. v. a. n., & duduciuc, a. (2011). social skills, nonverbal sensitivity and academic success. the key role of centrality in student networks for higher grades achievement.  revista de cercetare şi intervenţie socială, (33), 151-166. magnesio, s., & davis, b. h. (2010). a novice teacher fosters social competence with cooperative learning. childhood education, 86(4), 216-221. mcnamara, judith and larkin, ingrid k. and beatson, amanda (2010) using poster presentations as assessment of work integrated learning. in: proceedings of the australian collaborative education network national conference, 29 september ‐ 1 october 2010, curtin university of technology, perth. nolting, p. d. (2011). math study skills workbook. cengage learning. roger, t., & johnson, d. w. (1994). an overview of cooperative learning. creativity and collaborative learning. sharan, s. e. (1994).  handbook of cooperative learning methods. greenwood press/greenwood publishing group. webb, n. m. (2009). the teacher’s role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. british journal of educational psychology, 79(1), 1-28. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research application of amino acids on philippine native tomato (lycopersicon esculentum l.) grown under flood condition kent marcial l. catubis orcid no.: 0000-0001-5256-2716 kentcatubis@gmail.com cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus, barili, cebu, philippines brenda a. granada orcid no.: 0000-0002-6201-5385 brenda.granada@yahoo.com city agriculture office, naga city, cebu james b. morales orcid no.: 0000-0002-4410-1503 tal_ong10000@yahoo.com roger r. alferez orcid no.: 0000-0001-7199-8469 dong3965@gmail.com jovie g. saramosing orcid no.: 0000-0001-9962-5948 joviesaramosing@yahoo.com raymund a. asentista orcid no.: 0000-0003-4852-3890 raymund_asentista@yahoo.com pet roey l. pascual orcid no.: 0000-0001-9919-5263 cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus, barili, cebu, philippines vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.225 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 99 international peer reviewed journal abstract flooding is the most important abiotic stress in the tropical and subtropical regions that negatively affects terrestrial plant growth and productivity and even leading to plant death. amino acid accumulation, on the other hand, may serve as defense during stress resulting to tolerance among others. thus, a study was conducted to determine the growth, root length and number of leaves produced by philippine native tomato as affected by different levels of amino acid under varying durations of flooding. data were statistically analyzed through analysis of variance (anova) for randomized complete block design (rcbd). comparisons among means were done using duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt). shoot growth was increased with application of amino acids (100 ppm) after both flooding conditions (three and six days) at 3.28cm and 7.47cm, respectively. moreover, no amino acid application or minimal amino acid application (100 ppm) produced the most number of leaves on unflooded and minimally flooded conditions (three days only). on root length, longer roots were produced by plants without amino acid (12.68 cm) or lesser amino acid (100 ppm) at 9.43 cm, while flooding had no significant effect on root length. these results clearly indicate the value of exogenous amino acid (100 ppm) application mainly on shoot growth of tomato. furthermore, exogenous amino acid application is deemed necessary because even in both number of leaves and root length where results are comparable to without amino acid application, no negative effect was observed. keywords agriculture, flooding, amino acid, philippine native tomato introduction flooding, which includes soil waterlogging and submergence is one of the most frequent and extensive abiotic stresses that negatively affect terrestrial plant. in tropical and subtropical regions, severe crop losses are caused by prolonged seasonal rainfall. excess water produces anoxic soil conditions within a few hours (gambrell and patrick, 1978). climate change is likely to cause an increase in the occurrence of heavy rains leading to flooding of agricultural lands (vidoz et al., 2010). the main cause of damage under waterlogging is oxygen deprivation, which affect nutrient and water uptake, so the plants show wilting even when surrounded by excess of water (sairam et al., 2008). the 104-fold decrease in the gas diffusion rate in water compared to air negatively affects oxygen supply, and causes accumulation of ethylene 100 jpair multidisciplinary research in submerged tissues. it is ethylene production and entrapment that trigger a number of plant responses to flooding and submergence. these responses vary with plant species, and include epinasty, hyponastic growth, shoot elongation, aerenchyma formation and adventitious root development (vidoz et al., 2010). tomato (lycopersiconesculentum l.) is one of the most important vegetable crops in the world. it is the second most important vegetable crop, from an economic perspective, after potato, and the fresh tomato trade has increased by 45% in the last five years. however, it is highly flood-sensitive (vidoz et al., 2010). philippine native tomato variety is believed to tolerate and adapt mild abiotic stresses such as flooding and drought as it has been suggested that physiological and molecular studies of the mechanisms of anoxia tolerance in wild or native plants that still possess long-term anoxia-tolerance are more likely to provide evidence of physiological mechanisms than studies of crop plants (crawford and braendle, 1996). furthermore, applications of amino acids are also known to improve tolerance of particular crops to some abiotic stresses. amino acids such as threonine serve as defense mechanism during stress; serine increases stress tolerance and forms humic compounds; valine increases drought tolerance and seed establishment; isoleucine increases tolerance to saline stress; leucine increases saline tolerance and pollen germination; and histidine regulates root development and stress tolerance (agrihortiplantbooster, as cited by agustin, 2009). these amino acids are readily available through commercial amino acid tablet in the market. thus, a study that uses amino acid on native tomatoes under flooded condition is deemed necessary in understanding both the extent of tolerance of native tomato to flooding and the effects of exogenous amino acid application on flood tolerance of tomato. materials and methods sowing of seeds philippine native tomato variety was used. all healthy and vigorous seeds of tomatoes were sown in a sowing box. it has an average height of 3783 cm at flowering, containing branches ranging from two to seven upon flowering and is viny (creeping). it normally flowers 3053 days after transplanting and yields up to 0.231.3 tons/ha. the philippine native tomato used in the study is shown in figure 1 and additional images are shown as plates. 101 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. philippine native tomato with its recognizable parts: (a) leaves (b) flowers (c) fruit and (d) cross-section fruits transplanting of seedlings transplanting of native tomato seedlings was done one week after sowing, placing two healthy plants per bottle by using forcep. preparation of amino acid commercial amino acid tablet (superior amino acid 2222) was used. the tablets were crushed into powder using mortar and pestle. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research each tablet has the following amino acids with corresponding amount: table 1. amount of amino acids per one superior amino acid 2222 tablet amino acids amount per tablet (mg) amino acids amount per tablet (mg) tryptophan 40 cystine 30 valine 130 tyrosine 70 threonine 109 histidine 40 isoleucine 130 proline 130 leucine 240 glutamine 388 lysine 159 aspartic acid 239 phenylalanine 89 serine 100 methionine 40 glycine 69 arginine 120 alanine 99 the treatments were achieved by dissolving 100 mg of superior amino acid 2222 powder in one liter water (100 ppm) and dissolving 200 mg of the same tablet in one liter water (200 ppm) applied only once, one week after transplanting or one week prior to imposition of flooding. preparation of growth medium twenty seven clean transparent bottles with 500 ml capacity were used. each bottle was filled with 50ml of composite vermi-compost medium produced by cebu technological university – barili campus. experimental design and field layout a 3x3 factorial experiment arranged in randomized complete block design (rcbd) with three replications was used in the study. treatments were formulated by the researchers to probe the level of amino acids that will elicit favorable response of tomatoes. no previous study was used to come-up with the range of amino acids used. 103 international peer reviewed journal the treatments were as follows: factor a – amino acid a0 – control (no amino acid) a1 – 100 ppm amino acid immediately after flooding a2 – 200 ppm amino acid immediately after flooding factor b – flooding f0 – control (no flooding) f1 – flooding for three days up to 5 cm from the base of the plant two weeks from transplanting f2 – flooding for six days up to 5 cm from the base of the plant two weeks from transplanting irrigation after flooding, soil moisture content was maintained at normal using 4 in 1 soil survey instrument kc300 ph meter. data gathered shoot growth shoot growth (cm) was measured as the difference between the existing plant height and the initial plant height. root length root length (cm) was measured from the origin of top most root emergence up to the tip of the longest root. this was done during the termination of the study. number of leaves number of leaves was done by counting the number of true opened leaves during the first, second (termination) week after exposure to flooding. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical analysis data were recorded, tabulated, consolidated and statistically analyzed through analysis of variance (anova) for randomized complete block design (rcbd). comparisons among means were done using duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) to determine the specific significant differences among treatments. results and discussion plants treated with 100 ppm amino acid showed promising result in flooded condition (both three and six days) as it produced the highest shoot growth among all treatments and its number of leaves and root length was comparable to plants with no amino acid treatments.on the other hand, plants exposed to flooding for about six days and treated with amino acid at 200 ppm exhibited some mortality. shoot growth (one week after flooding) table 2 shows that for individual effect, only amino acid level significantly influenced shoot growth, the highest of which is with the application of 100 ppm amino acid. furthermore, significant interaction was also noted on the results, it revealed that the highest growth was observed on flooded plants (3 days) and applied with 100 ppm amino acids. pascualet al. (2013) reported that leaf length of pechay was increased 1.77 times when applied with fermented activators and em solution. both of which are known to contain substantial amount of amino acid. furthermore, this may attributed to proline accumulation wherein plants subjected to stress show accumulation of proline and other amino acids (rai, 2002) which contributes to osmotic adjustments and tolerance to plants exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions (claussen, 2004). however, excessive amount (200 ppm) may be more harmful than beneficial to plants. 105 international peer reviewed journal table 2. shoot growth (cm) as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding one week after flooding amino acids (ppm) flooding (number of days) mean 0 3 6 0 2.37b 2.10b 2.47b 2.31b 100 2.25b 4.12a 3.47ab 3.28a 200 2.17b 2.65ab 0.00c 1.61b mean 2.26 2.96 1.98 2.40 means not sharing letter in common differ significantly by duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 5% level. number of leaves (one week after flooding) a decrease in the number of leaves was observed upon application of increased amino acid (200 ppm) or prolonged flooding (six days). this indicates that flooding to three days will not significantly affect the capacity of the native tomato plants to develop leaves and amino acid application (100 ppm) does not improve nor negatively affect that plant development capacity as shown in figure 2. shoot growth (upon termination) upon termination (table 3 and plate 1), for individual effect, both amino acid level and flooding duration significantly influenced shoot growth, the highest of which is with the application of 100 ppm amino acid and the least are those subjected to flooding for six days. furthermore, significant interaction was also noted, it revealed that highest shoot growth was observed on flooded plants (six days) applied with 100 ppm amino acids. this implies the value of amino acid application on plants exposed to flood conditions. rai (2002) reported that amino acid such as proline accumulation aids in k+ accumulation in vigna radiate cultures. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research means not sharing letter in common differ significantly by duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 5% level. figure 2. number of leaves as affected by different level of amino acids (a) and duration of flooding (b) one week after flooding legend: factor a factor b a0 – control (no amino acid) f0 – control (no flooding) a1 – 100 ppm amino acid immediately f1 – flooding for three days up to 5 cm from the after flooding base of the plant two weeks from transplanting a2 – 200 ppm amino acid immediately f2 flooding for six days up to 5 cm from the base after flooding of the plant two weeks from transplanting table 3. shoot growth (cm) as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding upon termination of the study amino acids (ppm) flooding (number of days) mean 0 3 6 0 5.52ab 4.22b 5.63ab 5.12b 100 7.93a 6.80ab 7.67a 7.47a 200 7.95a 6.90ab 0.00c 4.95b mean 7.13a 5.97ab 4.43b 5.85 means not sharing letter in common differ significantly by duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 5% level. 107 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. shoot growth as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding upon termination root length (during termination) with respect to root length during termination (table 4 and plate 2), longest roots was on plants without amino acid application under flooded condition (14.85cm), while the shortest were recorded on those applied with 200ppm and flooded for three days (7.27cm). this gives us an idea that native tomatoes shows flood resistance since flood susceptible plants do not change its vertical root distribution (sairam, et al., 2008). moreover, this also gives a good insight on the influence of amino acid application on flood tolerance since it yielded to shorter root system. this maybe because amino acid increased the adaptive mechanism of the plant as new roots replace the function of the original root system (jackson and drew, 1984) thus no further increase in root length were observed. under flooded conditions, plant roots are in a state of hypoxia, their metabolic activity is inhibited and atp production decreased (saglio et al., 1980). the decreased atp production restricts the supply of energy for root growth, thus reducing vegetative growth (liao and lin, 2001). 108 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. root length (cm) as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding upon termination of the study amino acids (ppm) flooding (number of days) mean 0 3 6 0 11.35ab 11.83ab 14.85a 12.68a 100 7.30b 10.00ab 11.00ab 9.43ab 200 11.67ab 7.27b 0.00c 6.31b mean 10.11 9.70 8.62 9.47 means not sharing letter in common differ significantly by duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 5% level. figure 4. root length as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding upon termination number of leaves (upon termination) there is a decrease in the number of leaves under varying flooding levels as presented in figure 3. plants under three days of flooding two weeks from transplanting were comparable to plants without flood stress as highest number of leaves appeared but plants under six days of flooding got the lowest number of leaves. this may be due to the negative influence of flooding to the plant (vidoz et al., 2010). on the 109 international peer reviewed journal other hand, plants treated with 100 ppm of amino acid got the highest number of leaves but were comparable to plants without amino acid application which is higher compared to plants with 200 ppm of amino acid. this is supported on the study on pechay (brassica pekinensis l.) in which number of leaves were increased by 0.78 times as applied by commercial em or fermented activators containing amino acids (pascual et. al., 2013). means not sharing letter in common differ significantly by duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 5% level. figure 3. number of leaves as affected by different level of amino acids and duration of flooding upon termination legend: factor a factor b a0 – control (no amino acid) f0 – control (no flooding) a1 – 100 ppm amino acid immediately f1 – flooding for three days up to 5 cm from the after flooding base of the plant two weeks from transplanting a2 – 200 ppm amino acid immediately f2 flooding for six days up to 5 cm from the base after flooding of the plant two weeks from transplanting conclusions flooding affects the growth, root length and number of leaves formation of philippine native tomato at three and six days. on the other hand, application of amino acid (100 ppm) provides promising beneficial effects especially on shoot growth without negatively affecting root growth and development of leaves. further 110 jpair multidisciplinary research studies should be conducted considering lower amounts of amino acids. it is also recommended that long term effect of incorporation of amino acids and extending observation period till fruiting and harvesting stage to examine effect of amino acids to fruits be studied. literature cited agustin, a.m.l. 2009 utilization of home-made fish amino acid (faa) as organic fertilizer supplement to vermicompost in the production of lettuce (lactuca sativa l.). unpublished undergraduate thesis, central luzon state university, muňoz nueva ecija, philippines. p 46 claussen, w. 2004 proline as a measure of stress in tomato plants. plant science 168 (2005) 241-248. http://biolab.ecnu.edu.cn/bkjx/kc/zwslxsy/news/manage/upload/ upfiles/20111121124930.pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 crawford, r.m.m., braendle, r., 1996 oxygen deprivation stress in a changing environment. j. exp. bot. 47: 145159. http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/2/145.full.pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 gambrell, r.p. and patrick, w.h. 1978. chemical and microbiological properties of anaerobic soils and sediments, in plant life in anaerobic environments, ann arbor sci. publ., ann arbor, mi, u.s.a. pp. 375423. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/ etd-060199-194649/unrestricted/references.pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 jackson, m.b. and drew, m.c. 1984. effects of flooding on growth and metabolism of herbaceous plants. flooding and plant growth. pp. 47-128. academic press, orlando. http://www.plantstress.com/articles/up_waterlogging_files/waterlogtolbioplant08.pdf. visited on: september 24, 2013 111 international peer reviewed journal liao, c.t., and lin, c.h. 2000. physiological adaptation of crop plants to flooding stress. proc. natl. sci. counc. roc (b) vol. 25, no. 3, 2001. pp 148-157. http://www.plantstress. com/articles/waterlogging_m/crop%20tolerance%20review%202001. pdfvisited on: september 15, 2013 pascual, p.r., jarwar, a.d., and nitural, p.s. 2013 fertilizer, fermented activators, and em utilization in pechay (brassica pekinensis l.) production.pak.j.agril.engg.vet.sci. 2013, 29 (1): 56-69. www.sau.edu.pk/sau_journal/2013/vol2013/006.pdf. visited on: october 05, 2013 rai, v.k. 2002 role of amino acids in plant responses to stress. biologia plantarum 45 (4): 481-487. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/ a%3a1022308229759#page-1visited on: october 1, 2013 saglio, p.h., raymond, p. and pradet, a. 1980 metabolic activity and energy charge of excised maize root tips under anoxia. plant physiol., 66: 1053-1057. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/pmc440788/pdf/plntphys00529-0039.pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 sairam, r.k., kumutha, d., ezhilmathi, k., deshmukh, p.s., and srivastava, g.c. 2008. physiology and biochemistry of waterlogging tolerance in plants. biologia plantarum 52 (3): 401412, 2008. http://www. plantstress.com/articles/up_waterlogging_files/waterlogtol-bioplant08. pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 vidoz, m.l., loreti, e., mensuali, a., alpi, a., and perata, p., 2010 hormonal interplay during adventitious root formation in flooded tomato plants. the plant journal (2010) 63, 551-562. http://web1.sssup. it/pubblicazioni/ugov_files/305679_2010%20vidoz%20plant%20j. pdfvisited on: september 24, 2013 101 international peer reviewed journal converting malfunctioned fully automatic (electro-mechanical driven) to semiautomatic washing machine manuel a. bajet,jr. manuelbajet@gmail.com orcid no. 0000-0002-7545-971 nelson a. bajet nelsonbajet@gmail.com orcid no. 0000-0001-5853-3983 oswald t. tolentino otolentino1017@gmail.com orcid no. 0000-0001-9430-9751 university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines abstract this study converted a damaged fully automatic washing machine into a semi -automatic washing machine. conversion of the machine was done due to unavailability of its electronic spare parts in the local market and to recycle the equipment. thus, the study explored the conversion the washing machine that can be shared to the local technician to enhance their knowledge, skills and minimize environmental waste. it involved dismantling and rewiring, identifying the terminal leads of the motors, and testing recycled parts. replacement of unserviceable part was done to turn into operation the said machine. findings disclosed that the automatic washing machine converted into a semi-automatic have the similar operation cycles. vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.216 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research the only difference between the two washing machines was the controls and sequence of washing. in semiautomatic washing machine, it requires human intervention to control and to add and drain water. cost incurred in converting the malfunction automatic washing machine into a semi-automatic function was much cheaper than buying a brand new one. keywords: discarded electronics, washing machine, semi-automatic, vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines introduction washing clothes have been a long-time practised by people across the globe to keep oneself tidy. thousands of years, people washed their clothes by beating them against wood and rocks or by using their own hands which somehow a primitive approach. however, over the years, the primitive way of washing clothes had been changed. the development of advanced technologies or state-of-the–art facilities are now made available to people such as the use of washing machine. technologies make life of many individuals very easy when doing certain job such as washing of clothes. the development of commercial laundry machine started way back in the 1850’s. after that, several brands of washing machines came to market. improvements in washing technology came very fast. part of inventor’s development was the washing and wringing machine. the machine was semi-automatic to fully automatic electromechanical or microcontrollers made up the cartridge that programmed the different operation cycle. the technology of washing machine played an increasing important role in the world economy and not by households alone (maxwell, 1982). washing machine is a term mostly applied only to machines that use water. it is different from dry cleaning which uses alternative cleaning fluids and is performed by specialist businesses or ultrasonic cleaners. washing entails immersing, dipping, rubbing, or scrubbing in water accompanied by detergent or bleach. the simplest machines may agitate clothes in water while switched on. automatic machines may fill, empty, wash, spin and heat in a cycle. most washing machines remove substantial amounts of water from the laundry at the end of a wash cycle but do not completely dry clothes (jefferson, 2013). stabber industries released the system 2000 washing machine in 1994, which is the only top-loading, horizontal-axis washer to be manufactured in the united states. the hexagonal tub spins like a front-loading machine, only using about third of the water as conventional top-loaders. this factor has led to an energy star rating for its high efficiency. 103 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, james dyson, a british inventor launched in 2000 the cro1 contra rotator, a type of washing machine with two cylinders rotating in opposite directions. it was claimed that this design reduced the wash time and produced cleaner washing than a single cylinder machine. in 2004, there was the launch of the cro2, which was the first washing machine to gain the british allergy foundation seal of approval. however, neither of the “contrarotator’’ machines are now in production as they were too expensive to manufacture (jefferson, 2013). moreover, boscolo and stebili (1980) and cheng et al.( 2001) had introduced a new sensing device and motor for washing machines. the new method proposed remote sensing of pressure inside the wash load of domestic washing machines via a wireless data acquisition system. intelligent and fozzy logic based controllers for washing machines were also successfully introduced since the 90s and quickly gained sizable market share top-loading electro-mechanical is a fully automatic washing machine. automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. also, automation is a step beyond mechanization. it greatly helped human operators with less muscular requirements at work thus, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well (monroe, 2012). though automation plays an increasingly important role in the world’s economy and daily experience, it has both advantages and disadvantages to the users. advantages of automation include replacing human operators in tasks that involve hard physical or monotonous work and tasks done in a dangerous environment. obviously, it performs tasks which are beyond human capabilities of size, weight, speed endurance and others therefore, an economy improves. however, automation or mechanization increased unemployment rate due to machines replacing humans and putting those humans out of their jobs, technical limitation, security threats or vulnerability, unpredictable development costs and high initial cost (selsor, 2013). at present, it is very tangible that philippines is trying to be globally competitive but not yet fully advance when it comes to automation. nevertheless, the use of technology is now adopted by many people both in rural and urban communities. but, using the technology gave problems to users like in the case of washing machine. if the equipment will be destroyed sometimes it becomes disposable due to unavailability of its spare parts in the local market. thus, making equipment a garbage. however, filipinos are truly gifted as innovators that they have converted some technologies. it is because of the scarcity of resources, financial limitations they have or to increase and extend the usability of certain equipment. conversion made includes 104 jpair multidisciplinary research motorcycle into tricycle and a damaged rice cooker into a modified cooking stove using charcoal. the concept of conversion done by filipinos is not just to improve or extend the functionality of a good or damaged equipment. it is also an opportunity to have a lucrative business as local entrepreneurs and earning income from what they are converting. also, converting damage equipment into a useful one adheres the idea on recycle, reuse and at the same time reducing garbage in the community. inspired by the creativity and innovativeness of filipinos, researchers conducted this study to find solutions to a malfunctioned electronic controlled top-loading washing machine. further, conversions was done because of unavailability of its spare part in the local market. hence, conversion of malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine into a semiautomatic operation was conducted. objectives of the study this study aims to look for a way to convert a malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine into a semiautomatic function. primarily, to gain knowledge on how to convert the machine in order provide new knowledge and skills of a local technician the proper procedures through trainings. also to inculcate among the concept of recycling, maintaining, repairing and converting washing machine to minimized environmental waste. framework the conceptual model showing the variables for the development of the project which guided this study is depicted below in the form of paradigm. the input includes the ideas on converting on design and developing fully automatic to semiautomatic washing machine, the billing of supplies and materials used, tools and equipment needed and alternative ideas from the study. the throughput involved the designing, developing, and rewiring the electrical connection of a washing machine utilizing old malfunctioned and discarded one. 105 international peer reviewed journal the output of the study is the completed semi-automatic washing machine. the study revolved around the paradigm related literature in 1998, the application of complex mechanical action as well as spinning during the wetting phase was considered to lead to a reduction of suds volume by 2-31 and to savings of 100 to 50 wh per cycle ( due to reduced heating).in 2005, the european commission specifically considered the use of advanced motors as a good option to further improve the mechanical action (faberi et al., 2007). in 2005, 09% of all washing machines in the eu were expected to contain at least some sort of simple mechanical (friction or high pressure) shock absorbers. more sophisticated absorbers, capable of detecting an unbalance of the load, were applied to 5% of marketed machine ( faberi et al., 2007). this development, it is even more important that washing machines also have a sensor capable of estimating the weight of the laundry load and which is able to automatically adjust programme duration, energy and water consumption accordingly. a half loaded machine would theoretically lead to a reduction of 50% of electricity and water consumption compared to a full load. under real-world conditions, a reduction of about 15 to 20% can be achieved through load sensors. load control features should be accompanied by an eye-catching visual indication in case of failure, to prevent full-load setting as default for long periods (josephy et al., 2011) 106 jpair multidisciplinary research fully automatic electronics driven washing machine is the latest edition by technology. manufacturer claim that it is blessed with easier operation methods and zero maintenance costs of its some of the advantages. more efficient and it can wash as well as dry simultaneously and is an excellent option for all those who have little time to spare for the washing purposes. it will transfer the clothes from the washer to dryer without any manual efforts.( aqua, 2013). whirlpool corporation introduced in 2001 the calypso, the first vertical-axis high efficiency washing machine to be top-loading cleaning. a wash plate at the bottom nutated or has a special wobbling motion that bounce, shakes, and tosses the laundry around. simultaneously, water containing detergent was sprayed on the laundry. the machine proved to be good at cleaning, but gained a bad reputation due to frequent breakdowns and destruction of laundry. the washer was recalled with a class-action lawsuit and pulled off the market ( tabler, 2012). manufacturer clamour in zero maintenance costs.( aqua, 2012). this may be true, when no spare parts of an electronic controlled machine is locally available. in cases where in no spare parts available, conversion of a fully automatic to semiautomatic washing machine can be done substituting some spare parts. hence converting is much cheaper and need only a less amount to most of the consumer in the developing countries like the philippines. converting an electronically driven to semiautomatic washing machine instead of buying a new one is also minimizing solid waste. materials and methods this study utilized the discarded and or malfunctioned fully automatic electronically driven top-loaded washing machine for converting it into a semiautomatic operation. conversion of the equipment was done due to unavailability of its electronic spare parts in the local market because these types of machine is a product in developed countries. a project type of research was used in the conduct of this study. materials utilized includes the motors and electrical wiring of the malfunctioned washing machine. dismantling and rewiring was done to identify the terminal leads of the motors followed by testing recycled parts to evaluate its usability. replacement of unserviceable part was also done to turn into operation the sample equipment used in the study. 107 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion automatic washing machine used cartridges to program different wash cycles. this system, called the “keymatic”, used plastic cartridges with key-like slots and ridges around the edges. the cartridge was inserted into a slot on the machine, and a mechanical reader operated the machine accordingly. the system did not commercially succeed because it offered no real advantages over the conventional program dial, and the cartridges were prone to getting lost. in hindsight, it can be seen as a marketing gimmick rather than offering any really useful functionality (jefferson, 2013). further, jefferson (2013) disclosed that automatic washing machine is dependent on electromechanical timer controls to sequence the washing and extraction process. electromechanical timers consist of a series of cams on a common shaft driven by a small electric motor via a reduction gearbox. at the appropriate time in the wash cycle, each cam actuates a switch to engage or disengage a particular part of the machine. figure 2. malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine before conversion despite the high cost of automatic washers, manufacturers had difficulty in meeting the demand. an example of fully automatic electromechanical driven washing machine is showed in figure 3. 108 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. the electrical diagram of fully automatic washing machine semi-automatic washing machine a semi-automatic machine requires the user to intervene at one or two points in the wash cycle. some machines included two tubs: one with an agitator or impeller for washing, plus another tub for water extraction or centrifugal rinsing some are single tubes the model in the showed in figure 4 figure 4. electrical diagram on the conversion of malfunctioned washing machine into semi-automatic operation the primary objective of this study was to convert the malfunctioned fully automatic washing into semi-automatic operation and to make it functional. the electromechanical cam of the machine is no longer capable to perform. in order that the malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine will be used again. this part was replaced as shown in figures 7 to 9. 109 international peer reviewed journal conversion process convention began by disassembling housing frame of the washing machine. this is necessary for all the electronic and electrical wiring to be visualized. the next step was examining the electronic control panel. if found that no available spare parts to substitute, then decision to convert into semiautomatic operation can be done. figure 5 figure 6 testing individual components re installation of the housing individual testing-individual testing of the main component is necessary to identify the worn out and functional part. first, test on the motor as the heart of the machine was done. followed by the test for grounded, shorted, and open windings. also, checking of the capacitor was done to determine if it was still in good condition. further, the main component was also tested using the multi-tester. after testing, all mentioned parts were found to be in good condition thus, the motor was energized and measured on its ampere rating to check if it’s high. other testing conducted includes verifying if the bearing/ bushing were in good condition. another component for testing was the solenoid and the mechanical component of the machine. if all the testing conducted found to be operational, then it warrants the conversion as the component and converting of the machine continues. expenditure at this point was at the ranged of php 2500 to php 3000. additional gadgets purchased in the conversion process toggle switches. there are two toggle switches needed. it selects or chooses on what operation that the washing machine will execute, whether it is to wash or spin 110 jpair multidisciplinary research cycle operation. the second switch is for the drain motor that will drain the water from the tub. spin drier cycle timera part of the converted washing machine that limits the operating time of the spin drier. readjustment the time of drying period was done manually. it will control the dry cycle spins at very fast speed of up to several hundred revolutions per minute, wringing as much water as possible from the clothes. wash cycle timer is a part of a converted washing machine that limits the washing time and to vary the rotation from forward to reverse. also, it was used to readjust the time of washing by manually setting the number of minutes in operation. it will use to control the agitator motion to move the clothes through the water at the tub. figure 7 figure 8 figure 9 toggle switch spin dry cycle timer wash cycle timer iii assembling of malfunctioned washing machine into semiautomatic operation to assemble the machine into semiautomatic washing machine, the researchers were guided to follow the working diagram as shown in figure 3. however, before any reinstallation of each component will be made, body repair of the malfunction washing machine and repainting should be done. the following diagram is the procedures followed during the conversion process: 111 international peer reviewed journal service cord. this is an electrical device used as a path for flow of current to the machine. provide at least three meters size number 16 stranded wires and connect to the other end which is a heavy duty male plug. the one line terminal will be connected to one terminal of the toggle switch while the other line of the cord will be connected to the common terminal of the wash/drier motor. wash and drier circuit – is a part of a washing machine attached to the motor assembly to the original set up. space was provided in mounting the wash and dryer timer and the toggle switch. lay outing of the wire connection of the motor was also performed. the circuit for wash and the dryer is separated. the toggle switch was used to select the operation for use. the timer used to limit the washing and spinning the dryer time and to vary the rotation from forward to reverse. to re-adjust the operating time, it was done manually by setting the number of minutes in operation. drain plug motor – is used to reinstall the motor to its original location in the converted washing machine. it is a separate circuit that operates only when removing the water after washing and during spin drying. all joints and connection must be insulated with an electrical tape. developed semi-automatic washing machine a fully automatic washer requires the user to put the clothes in, and returns them to you clean and dry whether a top-loading or front loading, semi-automatic machine, by contrast, requires that a human control and oversee the process of adding and draining water. aside from that, the basic principle is the same: moving clothes around in water and detergent until they are clean, spinning them until they are partly dried. most, if not all, semiautomatic machines are a top-loading which means that the user is the one that puts the clothes in the top of the machine. toploading washer whether automatic or semiautomatic use an agitator, which stands up in the center of the wash basin and designed to move clothes in and out of the water. in some semiautomatic machines like the study, the wash tub is a double layer unit, with an outer tub that holds water and inner tube that has holes in it to allow water to drain out. other machines have two tubs, one for washing and a perforated basket for spin-drying. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 10. dry run after the rewiring to semiautomatic operation figure 11. actual appearance of converted malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine into a semiautomatic operation operation in using a semiautomatic machine starting a load. to start a load of laundry using a semiautomatic machine, the first step is to add clothes and detergent. then, using a tap or hose, add enough water at the desired temperature to fill the wash tub. the agitator, in the center of the wash tub, spins about three fourth of the way around, and then does the same in the opposite direction. this motion pulls clothes down into the water, which then work their way back up until they get pulled back down by the agitator. 113 international peer reviewed journal the rinse cycle. once the cycle is finished, the user needs to manually drain the water from the wash tub. the next step is to add clean water for rinsing, up to the correct water level as specified for your washer. after adding water, restart the washer. it will use the same agitator motion to move the clothes through the water, rinsing the dirty water and soap away and leaving your clothes clean. spin drying. the spin dry cycle of a semiautomatic washer uses centrifugal force. the pressure generated when the inner drum or wash basket spins to squeeze excess water from the clothes. the dry cycle spins at a very fast speed of up to several hundred revolutions per minute (rpm), wringing as much water as possible from the clothes. in a machine with a single, double-layer tub, the user is required the drain the water from the wash tub before starting the drying cycle. in twotub units, you will need to move the clothes from the wash tub into the drying basket before starting the spin drying. when the drying cycle is complete, hang the clothes to finish drying. conclusions the study provides skills of local technicians in converting the machine. assembling the machine into semiautomatic operation, dismantling, body repair and repainting was done. the motor from malfunctioned washing machine as well as its wirings and components were recycled after found usable for converting the machine into a semi-automatic operation. however, other parts needed for conversion was purchased to make a malfunctioned washing machine into a functional one. the converted washing machine has similar operation cycles of the original or the fully automatic top loaded washing machine. on the other hand, similar principles was noted on the moving clothes around the water and detergent soap and on spinning until clothes are partly dry. however, there was difference on the controls and sequence of washing machine. in the newly converted washing machine, it requires human intervention such as adding and draining water. further, the semiautomatic washing machine unlike most fully automatic where most of the components were made out of plastic materials. thus, rust formation is minimized. the newly converted semi-automatic washing machine is ideal not only domestic purposes but for local businessmen engaged in laundry business. finally, malfunctioned fully automatic washing machine can be converted into semiautomatic washing machine by utilizing most of its parts in the conversion process. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research recommendations automatic washing machine used cartridge to program the different operation cycles. it is relied on electromechanical timer control or sequence the washing and extraction process. its cam actuates a switch to engage or disengage a particular part of the machine. it is true that manufacturers clamour that machine is zero maintenance costs, but it may be true if spare parts are available in the locality. however, due to no available spare parts, there is a need to convert these machines into semiautomatic, by substituting the electronics cartridge cam controls with toggle switches, wash cycle and spin drier cycle timers. literature cited aea 2009. discussion report: eu ecolabel for washing machines, september 2009,aea consulting group, http://www.endseurope.com/docs 90922a. pdf aqua, e. 2013. ifb 6.0 kg top load washing machine aw60-205t is fully automatic… www homeshop 18.com>…>fully automatic machine bocolo, a. and s. stibelli 1988. a new sensing device for washing machines, ieee trans. ind. appl,. vol.24 issue 3, pp499-502 cheng,w.,h. zhiwei, and g. jinian, 2001. the application of a novel motor in washing machines,” proc, 5th int. conf. electr, mach.syst. (icems), vol. 2, pp.1030-1033 defra 2009. reducing the environmental impact of clothes cleaning-bio intelligence service in collaboration with giraffe and intertek, a research report completed for the department for environment,food and rural affairs,december 2009, http//randd.defra.gov.uk/document. aspx?document-evo419_8628_frp.pdf 115 international peer reviewed journal faberi, s.: presutto, m;stamminger,r.; r., sciadoni, r. 2007. preparatory studies for eco-design requirements of eups ( tender ren/ di/40-2005 ),lot 14: domesticwashing machines and diswashers final report, draft version, tasks 1-2 www.ecowet-domestic. org jefferson, g. 2013. full-automatic/ buy elewctronics in multan/ electronics store i multan… www abdullahelectronics.com/fully auto jefferson, g. 2013 how to wash your clothes.9 steps_wikihow www. wikihow.com>… >housekeeping>cleaning>laundry josephy, b.: bush, e.; nipkow, j., attali, s. 2011 washing machines, key criteria for best available technology (bat), toplen international services (paris, france), http://www.topen.eu/ uploads/file/039_barbara_josephy_final washing.pdf maxwell, l. 1982 history of washing machine.inventors.about com/od/wstartinvention/a/ washing machine htm selsor, n. 2013. industrialautomation/selsor.www.selsor.com/application/industrial automation. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. international peer reviewed journal 105 keywords education, congregation of st. paul university quezon city (spc), structuration theory, institutional history, st. paul university tuguegarao, philippines introduction being the premier catholic country in asia, the philippines is a home to many religious congregations since the spanish regime. included in the primary mission of these congregations is to spread the teachings of the catholic church through various apostolic works, one of which is through education. until now, the charisms of these congregations pervade the various places in the country. many were written about the histories of these catholic congregations and the schools that they established. their histories are a significant part of the history of education and essential elements in the study of philippine history. the arrival of the new religious congregations in the country with the purpose of either establishing works of charity or assisting their brother congregations here also ushered in the founding of more catholic private schools. the role of religious women during this period in the light of the furtherance of catholic education should be cited such as: the icm sisters (1910) who joined the cicms, the holy spirit sisters (1912) who joined the svds, the sisters of st. paul of chartres (1904), the benedictine sisters (1906), the franciscan missionaries of mary (1912), and the good shepherd sisters (1912). their schools eventually opened aided greatly in promoting and strengthening the catholic faith among the youth. (sunga et. al., 1999; schumacher, 1979) many of these religious catholic women congregations devoted their apostolic works in establishing schools to guide the people in understanding and following the teachings of the church. thus, it can be surmised that education was perceived by these religious congregations as an effective instrument in fighting ignorance and in alleviating the poor condition of the people. the history of the missions of the congregation of the sisters of st. paul of chartres (spc) in the philippines has influenced the lives of many filipinos from 1904 up to present. the dedication and determination of the sisters of the spc congregation have been instrumental in ushering god’s love to many filipinos. their works are worthy to be written as part and parcel of the history of our nation. jpair multidisciplinary research 106 founded in france by father louis chauvet in 1696, the spc is devoted to their three-fold mission of education, health care, and pastoral ministry among the underprivileged. for the sisters, their mission to propagate catholic education in the philippines began in that year, 1904. not long after, three more paulinian schools were established during the american period. these schools were colegio san pablo (st. paul university in tuguegarao) in 1907, st. paul’s institution (st. paul university in manila) in 1911, and san nicolas college (st. paul university in surigao). in 1946, after the destruction of numerous schools during the war, spc sisters founded st. paul school of nursing (st. paul college in iloilo) and st. paul college in quezon city. cagayan is the northernmost province of eastern luzon. together with isabela, batanes, quirino, nueva vizcaya, they comprise region 2. it is a valley bounded by the sierra madre mountain range to the east, the cordillera mountain range to the west, the caraballo mountain range to the south, and the babuyan channel to the north. it is watered by the ibanag river that is popularly called the cagayan river and by the magat river which are both geographically extended all the way to the pacific ocean. cagayan, as one of the provinces of region 2, has twenty-nine (29) towns. these towns are abulug, alcala, al-lacapan, amulung, aparri, baggao, ballesteros, buguey, calayan, camalaniugan, claveria, enrile, faire, gattaran, gonzaga, iguig, lal-lo, langangan, lasam, pamplona, peñablanca, piat, rizal, sanchez-mira, santa ana, santo niño, solana, tuao, and tuguegarao. tuguegarao is the present capital town of cagayan as well as region 2’s regional capital. it is located in the southern part of the province and has an area of 14,480 hectares with 49 barangays. according to the first census taken in 1746, the population of tuguegarao was 6,328, and in 1918, the population reached the 19,168 mark (castillet, 1960). in 1983, it has a population of 73,529 from which 40,929 were registered voters (cagayan, 1983). tuguegarao had an annual income of p4, 140,917.10 ($57,972,839.41) which made it the only first class town of cagayan with a sub-classification of first class b (cagayan, 1983). the social life of cagayan is best seen in tuguegarao. in spite of the low standard of living in its rural areas as is the case in most barrios of the philippines, government agencies such as the agricultural credit and cooperative administrative (accfa) and the food and agricultural organization (fao). furthermore, the international cooperative administration (ica) and the farmers’ cooperative and marketing associations (facoma) have made headway in their mission to help the filipino farmers (castillet, 1960). international peer reviewed journal 107 in the 1980s, tuguegarao was the busiest and most progressive town in region 2. it was not only the capital of cagayan but also the seat of the regional administrative machinery, the regional development council. it was a home to two universities, the saint paul university tuguegrao (sput) and the cagayan state university. relevant to this study are theses, dissertations, and books on the histories of educational institutions in the philippines. some of these are the: history of university of santo tomas, history of de la salle university, history of centro escolar university, and history of adamson university.2 historiography on these catholic congregations and their educational mission are essential pieces in the writing of the history of the philippines. these studies, however, would differ in the use of a framework. today seems the appropriate time to write the history of the educational ministry of this congregation, particularly that of st. paul university in tuguegarao (sput). sput influenced many of the filipinos, the cagayanons in particular, who have embraced the congregation’s maxim: caritas christi urget nos. this study will help the administrators, faculty, staff, students, and even parents of st. paul university tuguegarao in understanding and appreciating the transformation of their school from college to a university through the years. the interplay of the structures and agency that shaped an institution across time will guide the stakeholders in their decision-making. framework the theory applied to this study is the structuration theory of anthony giddens. this social science has been utilized to study the nature of the construction and organization of societies. it focuses on the understanding of human agency and its interactions with society within the realm of time and space. in sociology, school is a kind of social institution that has a function to perform. as an institution, its role is to regulate behavior within its confines, and perhaps also to control social behavior in society. rules define institutions, and they also are the means through which those institutions have their influence on individuals (guy, 1999). the time-space element entails a historiography on the results of the interplay between agents and structures across time. giddens examines the school as “an example of time-space regionalization and a specific locale, for the school emphasizes a particular type of social routine” (tucker, 1998). jpair multidisciplinary research 108 structuration theory has the following elements: agent, agency, agency and power, structure, structuration, the duality of structure, forms of an institution, and the time-space element (giddens, 1984). the agents or the people under study are the administrators, faculty, and students of st. paul university tuguegarao present during the scope of this study. agents who are intelligently interact with structure “produce and reproduce structure within the praxis of their social life, and that the structural properties are at the same time the constraining and enabling media of action” (albano, et. al, 2010; giddens, 1984). the agency of the agents refers to their motivations and activities. the power that emanates from the congregation of the sisters of st. paul of chartres is the source of authority to the administrators of sput. the rules and resources that form parts of structures have been subjected to scrutiny and interpretation through archival research supported by secondary sources. according to giddens (1984), “rules and resources recursively involved in institutions; institutions by definition are the more enduring features of social life”.the rules in this research are in the forms of vision-mission, school objectives, organization of the school, and school policies; while the resources are the physical assets and sources of income of the sput. these rules and resources, and sput’s contributions to the society are products of the interaction of agents and structures across time and space, or their structuration. the interactions of the key agents which produced and reproduced rules and resources, starting from the establishment of the school up to the granting of the university status, have been researched, organized and interpreted. the study will help the administrators, faculty, staff, students, and even parents of st. paul university tuguegarao to understand and appreciate the catholic educational thrusts and the transformation of their school from college to a university through the years. the interplay of the structures and agency that shaped an institution across time will guide the stakeholders in their decisionmaking. finally, the study is a modest contribution to the educational history of st. paul university tuguegarao, an academic institution founded and being administered by a catholic congregation of religious women in the philippines. objective of the study the primary objective is to write a comprehensive study on the history of the educational ministry of the congregation, particularly that of st. paul university in tuguegarao, philippines which influenced many of the filipinos, the cagayanons in particular, who have embraced the congregation’s maxim: international peer reviewed journal 109 caritas christi urget nos. methodology historical method was employed in this research. the narrative-analytical method and giddens’ structuration theory were utilized in the narration and interpretation of data. the narrative part was focused on the phenomenon of every element of the theory as it unfolded while the analysis part identified the perspective from which the study was anchored. pertinent documents were examined. the narrative-analysis method used went beyond an examination of pertinent documents and instead considered the interactions of agents and structures across time and place in order to present a reliable account of the growth and development of st. paul university tuguegarao from a college status in 1949 to a university status in 1982. these were done through reading primary and secondary sources. the historical or documentary methods in data collection of primary and secondary sources included a collection of data, collation and systematizing, describing, and then analysis and interpretation. the researcher gathered data through archival research on the institutional history of st. paul university tuguegarao consisting of manuscripts, diary, annuals, souvenir programs, monographs, certificates, memorandums, faculty and student handbooks. also included are the letters, statutes, school organs, programs and invitations, prospectus and pertinent records from the different offices. the researcher also conducted interviews to key persons who had direct experiences during the transition of the school from college to university. the method used in the interviews was qualitative oral history thus open-ended questions were constructed. the information from the interviewee supplemented and corroborated the data retrieved from archival research. former school presidents, faculty members, students, and staff were interviewed with informed consent. their interviews were recorded and transcribed. results and discussion st. paul university tuguegarao’s institutional structure the president of the st. paul university tuguegarao does not have any fixed term of service. their assignments were cascaded from the spc provincial down to them, and the sisters were committed to obeying by virtue of their vow of obedience. they do not have a fixed-term appointment because most of the time, jpair multidisciplinary research 110 emergent missions were just too many yet their numbers were insufficient. at first, the superior of the convent was also the president of the school. sr. andrea de jesus pasion, spc was the president of the school and the superior of the local community as well in 1949. she was the president and superior of the spc local community when shoji (former name of the school) became st. paul college of tuguegarao (spct). sput adopted the shared-authority concept in 1972, separating the administration of the academic community. sr. julie piere mapanao, spc was the superior of the religious community while sr. pura de sacre coeur belmonte, spc was the first president of the school. a board of trustee made up of fifteen religious and lay persons became the highest policymaking body for the academic affairs. eventually, the energetic sr. benjamine de jesus ponce, spc, was appointed as the president of the school when spct became st. paul university of tuguegarao (sput) in 1982. during the early years of the school’s operation, the sisters took both roles as teachers and administrators. when the population increased, they asked for the help of the sisters in other local communities to teach in their school. the table shows the list of sisters who were assigned as presidents of sput and the priests who served as school’s chaplains from 1948to 2004. in 1933, the priests of the congregation of the immaculate heart of mary (cicm)3 took over the chaplaincy of the school. in 1973, secular priests replaced them because cicm clerics had to attend to the schools that they had established. table 1. st. paul college tuguegaro’s heads/presidents and chaplains (19482004) school heads/presidents chaplains 1948-1950-sr. andrea de jesus pasion, spc 1950-1951-fr. louis leger, cicm 1950-1954-sr. virginie marie de manuel, spc 1953-1960-fr. maxel soenen, cicm 1954-1956-sr. sr. caritas de jesus manapat, spc 1960-1962-fr. thomas letschert, cicm 1956-1960-sr. mary elizabeth lincuna, spc 1962-1968-fr. clement daelman, cicm 1960-1963-sr. marie alexis de jesus pacis, spc 1968-fr. john antonissen, cicm 1963-1968-sr. aloysius of the sacred heart of pacis, spc 1968-1971-fr. james termeer, cicm 1971-1972-fr. henk van vugt, cicm 1968-1974-sr. pura du sacre coeur belmonte, spc 1973-fr. rogelio cortez 1977-1987-sr. benjamine de jesus ponce, spc 1974-1976-msgr. domingo mallo 1987-2004-sr. mary angela barrios, spc 1982-1992-fr. dante dela cruz source: panaddamman: paulinian anthology of memories from a glorious past. st. paul university philippines, tuguegarao city (2007), p. 33. international peer reviewed journal 111 transition period to university status the key agents of spct underwent series of meetings and planning for the elevation of the school status. the minutes of these meetings were forwarded to the provincial house for consultation, comments, and later on, approval of the superior. rev. mother marie de la croix javelosa, spc, the philippine provincial superior from 1978 to 1989, visited tuguegarao on 11 february 1979 for a board meeting. the superior’s endorsement of the plan to change the status of the school from college to university seemed to have been won when sr. benjamine de jesus ponce, spc4 presented the problems of the school during their board meeting. sr. ponce, spc had earlier informed the stakeholders that the proposal was under study by the higher-ups.5 section iv-b of the minutes of the board meeting recorded: “***university status: …as in the previous minutes, this topic went through a serious consideration and discernment from the group as this involved a challenging responsibility on the part of the school with its consequent problems on increased population vs. competent faculty and a desirable quality output. the main problem is how to make that university a catholic university. mother marie requested again the group to study the issue further before launching into it.”6 upon the request of the provincial superior, sr. ponce, spc made an honest assessment as she reviewed the congregation’s book of life and statutes (spc book of life, 1988). she wanted to know if the change in status of st. paul college of tuguegarao to a university was still within the context of the mission of the sisters of st. paul of chartres. sr. ponce, spc based her decision on rule # 40 and rule # 54 of the congregation’s book of life and statutes. shesincerely believed that the elevation of st. paul college of tuguegarao to a university was a pressing need of not only in tuguegarao but also of the cagayanons. rule # 40apostolic witnesses …the community is open to the needs of the world and, in all simplicity, endeavors to meet them (col. 4:6). rule # 54apostolate and adaptation jpair multidisciplinary research 112 …continuous adaptation is a concern of the congregation. superiors and sisters listen to the plea of the church expressed by the hierarchy and endeavor to respond in line with their specific purpose. (spc book of life, 1984) reading the congregation’s book of life and statutes convinced the president that their congregation should respond to the needs of the people if they desire to be relevant. the innovations of the readjustments, sr. ponce added, were requirements for a better adaptation to the times. she knew the project would entail great sacrifices and challenge their apostolic enthusiasm. the work of the present then, as well as the new foundations to be laid should meet both contemporary and future needs of evangelization through higher education. personnel of st. paul university tuguegarao (sput) table 2. number of school personnel from 1974-19827 (kkindergarten, eelementary, hshigh school, c-college, gs-graduate school, o other courses, ) academic year religious8 lay k e hs c gs o k e hs c gs o 1974-1975 1 2 2 9 3 5 15 17 40 3 1975-1976 1 2 2 14 2 3 16 15 41 3 1976-1977 1 3 2 14 4 2 17 16 43 2 1 1977-1978 1 3 2 16 4 4 19 17 57 9 1978-1979 2 4 2 10 2 6 2 21 16 49 7 1979-1980 1 3 3 11 1 3 23 13 67 10 1980-1981 1 3 2 12 1 3 23 16 68 10 1981-1982 3 2 12 3 28 15 75 9 eight years before st. paul college tuguegarao (spct) became st. paul university tuguegarao (sput), the sisters gradually delegated some school offices to lay personnel. since they were applying for accreditation and university status as well, they hired lay faculty whose qualifications were what they needed to pass. unqualified sisters assigned as administrators and faculty would be transferred to other apostolic works of the congregation and be replaced by someone whose academic degree meets the minimum qualification. international peer reviewed journal 113 in compliance with the rules set by the private school system in the philippines specified in the manual of regulations for private schools (mrps)9, sput should conform in every way. the manual was revised periodically to adapt to the needs of the time. for acquiring administrators and faculty, the manual of regulations specified minimum qualifications. the following minimum qualifications for administrative, supervisory heads, and faculty were at this moment prescribed (mrps, 1970): 1. for aprincipal of primary and or/intermediate schools, graduation from a junior normal course with three years of successful teaching experience in the elementary grades. 2. for a principal of secondary schools-graduation from the four-year education course leading to the degree of bachelor of science in education with three years of successful teaching experience in the high school. 3. college dean-possession of post-graduate degree with at least one year of successful teaching experience. 4. college faculty: a. for junior college subjects-holders of bachelor degrees, to teach largely in the major field. b. for senior college subjects holders of graduate degrees, to teach largely in the major field. c. for graduate courses and professional schools holders of graduate degrees preferably doctorate degrees or persons who have made outstanding achievements in the profession in the arts, letters, and sciences, or special fields. in 1979, sr. ponce, spc, then president of the school, reviewed these requirements. she assured the provincial superior of her strong belief that their faculty development program, before they applied for university status, had been designed in such a way that the growth in population will be provided for in terms of manpower resources (ponce, spc, 1979). in the study of sr. mary nathaniel rocero, spc (1973) on the faculty development in st. paul schools and the recruitment process among faculty, she generalized that the teachers were recruited mainly from among dropin applicants who hand-carried their letters of application. twenty-eight spc schools participated including st. paul college of tuguegarao in the said study, friends of the faculty and the faculty themselves were influential recruiters for they were credible resources of information. a common practice among st. paul schools was to recruit their teachers from st. paul colleges.10 in the case jpair multidisciplinary research 114 of st. paul university tuguegarao, in 1972, there were 22 teachers who were st. paul graduates or 10% of the population of teachers (rocero, spc, 1973). this practice of recruitment was seen in different perspectives (rocero, spc, 1973): whether this so-called “in-breeding” is beneficial or not is rather debatable. while these alumni may be depended upon for their loyalty, the school might be perpetuating its weaknesses, or might be missing an enrichment of ideas gained from graduates of other schools. in any case, some administrators express satisfaction from this recruitment practice. before 1973, most common practices in the selection process of the faculty in st. paul schools were preliminary interview, assessment of the transcript of records, demonstration teaching, and evaluation of curriculum vitae (rocero, spc, 1973). college faculty works best in the tasks they are most qualified. their academic background and training are good foundations once employed in the teaching profession. among st. paul schools that sr. rocero, spc studied in 1973, more than three-fifths from the teachers in all academic levels possess the qualifications as per bureau requirements. there were more than 78% of the teachers were oriented on school philosophy, policies, rules and regulations, school calendar, and calendar of activities. a turnover of 22% of the entire teaching force was registered for school year 1971-1972, while about half of those who were taken in for the vacated posts were fresh college graduates. in the same school year, a turnover of 37% for all administrators was registered. almost half of the respondents attributed teacher separation to seeking greener pasture while one-fifth to poor performance and another one-fifth to passing civil service examination. salary scales were decided mainly by the administration. the salaries for college teachers range from p43 to p65 per subject, with bureau regular of p5 per hour, a little less than half of the schools would be below standard if teaching hours were limited to 18. however, the bureau had temporarily allowed 24 teaching hours a week (rocero, spc, 1973). the university status was an achievement, not only for the sisters and faculty, but also to the students and their parents as well. having a university in tuguegarao was a great help to the students and parents because they will no longer spend money to study in manila or in other provinces located farther from the region. international peer reviewed journal 115 meeting the requirements for university status the change of school status was not only a change in the name, but also a progression to greater challenges and responsibilities in the academe. this was the primary reason for the creation of various academic accrediting agencies such as paascu and faap. in 1979, the director of private schools, his technical staff, and the representatives of various educational institutions, drafted the seventh edition of the manual of regulations for private schools (mrps) (sarmiento iii, 2006; mrps 7th ed., 1970). based on this document, a private school may assume the name of school, institute, academy, junior college, college, and university. however, no academic institution shall be called a “university” unless and until it shall have fulfilled the legal requisites under sec. 3 of commonwealth act no. 180 (mrps 7th ed., 1970) section 3 of this act says (fabella, 1967): no institution shall call itself or be called a university, unless and until it shall have fulfilled the following requisites in addition to those that may be prescribed by the secretary of public instruction: 1. the operation of a recognized post-graduate course in liberal arts and sciences or education, leading to the master’s degree; 2. the operation of a four-year under-graduate course in liberal arts and sciences; 3. the operation of at least three professional colleges; 4. the possession and maintenance of a professionally administered library of at least ten thousand bound volumes of collegiate books. provided, however, that the operation of a recognized post-graduate course in liberal arts and sciences or education, leading to the master’s degree shall not be required of universities recognized as such prior to the approval of this act.” the said provisions compelled the sisters of spc to look into whether spct could meet the requirements for a university status or if the school still would need time and experience before venturing in a herculean task. the provincial superior asked sr. ponce, spc on spct’s readiness to offer degrees for both men and women in various fields. sr. ponce, spc replied with an assurance that the school could become a university because they had already established many courses and had recently accepted male students. sr. ponce, spc was confident that the school’s curricular offerings would suffice. even the director jpair multidisciplinary research 116 of the ministry of education and culture (mec),11 had already then confirmed that the curricular offerings of the school were sufficient to qualify them for a university status. spct course offerings were as follows: courses offerings of spct in 197912 (coeducation in all levels) graduate school: doctor of philosophy in education (ph.d.) major in educational management master of arts in education (m.a.) major in english, pilipino (sic), administration and supervision, guidance and counseling master of arts in home economics (m.a.h.e.) master in business administration (m.b.a.) college: bachelor of science in social work (b.s.s.w.) bachelor of science in psychology (b.s. psycho) bachelor of science in mathematics (b.s. math) bachelor of science in guidance (b.s. guidance) bachelor of science in chemistry (b.s. chem) (applied for) bachelor of science in education (b.s.e.) major in english, pilipino (sic), mathematics, and general science bachelor of science in elementary education (b.s.e.ed.) bachelor of arts (a.b.) major in economics and pilipino (sic) bachelor of science in nursing (b.s.n.) bachelor of science in business administration (b.s.b.a.) major in accounting, economics, banking, finance, management bachelor of science in foods and nutrition (b.s.f.n.) dietetic technology (d.tech) associate in arts (a.a.) two-year junior secretarial (j.s.) high school – secondary education grade schoolelementary education international peer reviewed journal 117 pre-schoolkindergarten special coursespiano, culinary arts, ballet, garment, trades, typing in addition to the legal requisites stated in sec. 3 of commonwealth act no. 180, the mrps 7th edition also had other requirements before an application for university status shall be considered. sec. 3, 31a requires that “the undergraduate course in liberal arts and sciences and the professional colleges mentioned in the law must possess full government recognition.” the said section highlights that these courses “must show strength in the arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences.” spct had already complied with these requirements since earning level ii accreditation in 1967 for its programs in education, liberal arts and commerce. the course offerings as evaluated by sr. ponce, spc were enough to qualify them for a university status. the other legal requirements (sec. 3, 31b-k) had been fulfilled by spct during its application for paascu accreditation in 1961. previously, dr. antonio dumlao,13 director of the bureau of higher education, mec manila was invited by sr. ponce to address the spct candidates for graduation of march 1978. dr. dumlao was glad of the newly built shed connecting the college building to the high school department. he also commended the construction of the new bsfn and bsn buildings. up until that point, spct president had yet to mention the school’s application for a university status. it was a surprise to all when dr. dumlao remarked, “sister benjamine, just a little more improvement here and there and you can qualify for a university. when it comes to quality of instruction and physical facilities you are the best in region 2.” (ponce, spc, 1979). however, there was one more issue spct had to answer the issue of secularization. secularization means that more laity/seculars must take up more prominent positions in the running of the school. secularization was also a problem encountered by the spc congregation in their mission in france. it can be recalled that the relations of the spc sisters with the seculars were in friendly condition before, during, and after the second world war. however, the spc sisters were always dignified and reserved in dealing with the seculars. the government had imposed the secularization to public and private offices including school administration. the expansion to university status would mean toleration of the congregation to secularize. back then, there were only a few lay administrators in spct because the sisters headed most of the departments of the school. these departments and the assigned sisters were the following (ponce jpair multidisciplinary research 118 spc, 1979): educationsr. julie therese tecson, dean nursingsr. ma. bernardita quiñon, dean bsfnsr. priscilla manalang, dean bs courses and a.b.sr. chantal de joseph goyena, dean guidance counselorsr. marie andre la madrid high school principalsr. mary andrew bartolome grade school principalsr. luisa maria chaves in response to the secularization issue, sr. ponce, spc had a strong conviction that the congregation should have no reason to fear about the involvement of lay administrators. she believed that the conflicts between the congregation and lay administrators could be avoided as long as the sisters hold the key positions in the school. the president was confident that the tranquil daring will not cause the entire spc congregation “to secularize”, as long as the community remains as it is. they need lay administrators to give them feedback on their operations in cagayan (ponce, spc, 1979). in tracking the road to university status, for sr. ponce de jesus, spc, the spct administrators should find out the experiences of other private catholic universities in the country such as ateneo de manila and de la salle universities. the jesuits priests and la salle brothers had worked with lay administrators in the operation of their respective universities. if these universities could have done it, what more for spct whose lay administrators were paulinians through and through. the hope of achieving university status was not only significant to the sisters but to the cagayanons too. it will ease the burdens of sending the students to distant schools with high tuition fees and expensive miscellaneous. in the interim of 1980, spct’s application for a five-year bachelor of science in civil engineering (bsce) degree was approved for operation. the approval essentially expanded the school’s course offerings. this course in engineering was the first of its kind in the line-up of spct courses. it was classified as science or technology as per requirement laid down by the mrps 7th edition. two years later, on 15 january 1982, the charter for university status was signed by the mec minister through the recommendation of the director of the bureau of higher education (spc philippine echoes, 1979). the thirty-three years of being a college had ended, and a new structure was launched to serve its international peer reviewed journal 119 beneficiaries the cagayanons. from then on, spct became st. paul university tuguegrao (sput) the first catholic university in the region. on 30 january 1982, during the conferment of doctorate degree, honoris causa, to minister juan ponce enrile, most rev. teodulfo domingo and rev. mother marie javelosa, spc, the proclamation of the university status by the mec minister took place. the charter was formally presented to the school president, sr. benjamine ponce, spc whose zeal in her mission made her a recipient of the outstanding women educator in the philippines awarded on 14 september 1982.14 forging towards the fulfillment of its vision-missions, sput intensively prepared for the third paascu re-survey of the three college programs in march 1982.on march 30, sister benjamine de jesus ponce, spc, was formally installed as the first president of sput. in 1983, sr. ponce, spc, became the recipient of the papal award in the archdiocese of tuguegarao, second to sr. leona payumo, spc. constant growth of course offerings had followed one after the other. the opening of bachelor of science in secretarial administration (bssa) program and st. paul university was chosen as one of the pilot schools to experiment the new integrated teacher education program (spc philippine echoes, 1997). as a member of the archdiocesan catholic private schools, sput shared in the diocesan apostolate of providing catholic education to public schools. in view of this, religious education course was introduced in 1985 to train and prepare rural-based theology teachers and catechists. the spu credit cooperative was formed on 8 february 1988, to help the faculty, office and maintenance staff with their financial needs. after six months, on july 16, sister mary angela barrios was formally installed president, concurrently serving as president of st. paul college quezon city. sr. barrios, spc, fully aware of the mission of the spc, would recall how she continued the services of her predecessors (personal communication, 27 december 2012): “imagine, 20 years in st. paul quezon city in total. serving sixteen years and another four years simultaneously in tuguegarao. but as i counted, a total of 36 years both schools combined. every saturday, i would be either in the plane or a public ride --going home to quezon city or on the way back in tuguegarao.” jpair multidisciplinary research 120 with the new school president and new school name, sput underwent a fourth paascu re-survey and earned a level iii accredited status in february 1989. the sput graduate school programs since its first opening in 1971 had already established its competitiveness among other schools. graduate school programs in m.a. in administration and supervision were opened to help meet the labor force requirements of the region as tuguegarao being the regional center. in 1977, the spct graduate school subsequently offered ph.d. programs leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy in education (ph.d.) major in educational management. this was accomplished in consortium with the graduate school of the university of santo tomas (ust). the spct graduate school became independent in 1978. conclusions the phenomenal ascent of a st. paul school in tuguegarao can be attributed to the careful planning of the administrators who considered in their decisionmaking the vision-mission of the congregation’s education apostolate including other essential factors such as the lay involvement, accreditations to deliver quality service, and openness to the help extended by townspeople. thus, the experience of sput/spup is a good example for other st. paul schools to emulate. basing the historiography in the framework of anthony giddens’ structuration theory, sput’s academic structure was used to reproduce other social structures. through the years, from colegio san pablo to shoji, from shoji to spct, from spct to sput, the spc sisters, together with the faculty and students, were faithful to their mission. the interplay of events between sput’s administrators, faculty and students with the rules and resources they participated in and established were substantial elements in the growth and development of the school. indeed, the interactions and the reproduction of vision-missions, objectives, and policies across time-space, only succeed through “the knowledgeable application and reapplication of rules and resources by actors in situated social contexts” (giddens, 1979; tucker, 1998). the motivation that flows from the hierarchy of the church strengthened the agents of st. paul college tuguegarao to continue its structure, with some modifications to suit the need of time, as a catholic academic institution. international peer reviewed journal 121 translational research the desire to serve the people of tuguegarao and region 2-cagayan valley more effectively propelled the spct administration to open more courses and degrees leading to its transformation into a university.this undertaking could stimulate further studies on the history of one of the spus schools, written perhaps, from another theoretical framework. st. paul university tuguegarao is presently the lead school among six st. paul schools included in st. paul university system (spus). the successful interactions among administrators, faculty and staff with the structures that they participated and recreated could serve as a guide to other schools that aspire to render quality education. school should create rules and policies that would answer the needs of societies with proper consultations from its stakeholders. a stanza of the paulinian song, taken from the vision-mission of the congregation, highlights the vision-mission of the spc’s educational apostolate: “at st. paul university we uphold: academic excellence and christian formation as a means for total formation of the youth to be enlightened persons, filipinos, christian leaders, paulinians for christ in service of the poor and community. as i go through life i will hold on fast my christian heritage of faith; the fatherhood of god. man’s dignity and passion for truth imbued with pauline principles, “caritas christi urget nos”. then i’ll live each day in self-surrender eve challenged to share my human giftedness in selfless leadership to give my life, my all, my talents that we may live in god’s love.”(spup student handbook 2011 edition) literature cited albano, r., masino, g., maggi, b. the relevance of giddens’ structuration theory for organizational research: tao digital library (2010). retrieved on april 29, 2015 from http://amsacta.unibo.it/2774/1/ relevancegiddensstructurationtheory.pdf. cagayan: 400 years quadricentennial celebration, establishment of the civil government of cagayan 1593-1983, a section on tuguegarao. castillet, e. d. r. (1960). cagayan province and her people. santa ana, jpair multidisciplinary research 122 manila: community publishers. fabella, g. jr. & yballe, j. b. (1967). private schools in the philippines: a handbook on higher education. quezon city: belfiel enterprises. giddens, a. (1979). central problems in social theories: action, structure, and contradiction in social analysis. berkeley: university of california press. ________________ (1984). the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. berkeley, ca: university of california press. retrieved on april 25, 2015 from http://goo.gl/caeeor guy, p. b. (1999). institutional theory in political science: the new institutionalism. london and new york: pinter. letter to rev. mother marie de la croix javelosa, spc (spc provincial superior in the philippines) from sister benjamine ponce, spc (president of st. paul college tuguegarao) on july 9, 1979. manual of regulations for private schools 7th edition1970. the republic of the philippines, department of education, bureau of private schools. panaddamman: paulinian anthology of memories from a glorious past. st. paul university philippines, tuguegarao city (2007). report of the survey of st. paul college of tuguegarao in view of the accreditation (april 6, 1961). report on school: st. paul college tuguegarao 1975-1982. rocero, m. n., spc (1973). faculty developments in st. paul schools. a dissertation presented to the faculty of the graduate school, the university of santo tomas, august, 1973 (unpublished thesis). sarmiento iii, u. p. (2006). education law and the private schools: a practical guide for educational leaders and policy makers, 2006 expanded revised edition. quezon city, philippines: central books. international peer reviewed journal 123 schumacher, j. n., s.j (1979). readings in philippine church history; loyola school of theology. quezon city: ateneo de manila university. spc book of life and statutes (1988). rome: sisters of st. paul of chartres, spc philippine echoes: sisters of st. paul of chartres vol. ii no. 1, april 1997. manila, philippines: spc education apostolate. spup student handbook 2011 edition. talamayan, d. d. (1990). the state of the archdiocese of tuguegarao for the quinquennium’s 1985-1990: report to the holy see. archdiocese of tuguegarao. tucker, k. h. (1998). anthony giddens and modern social theory. london: sage publications. interviews sr. mary angela barrios, spc on 27 december 2012 at the spc vigil house, tikling, taytay, rizal sr. nildamasirag, sp on 13 june 2014 at the office of the president, st. paul university of quezon city mrs. madelyn edubaladmenor (former student and faculty of st. paul university tuguegarao) on 3 july 2014 at st. paul university quezon city endnotes i retrieved from www.intl.educ.cuhk.edu.hk/exchange_rate_regime/index. phd?cid=1 on july 17, 2015. inter-bank trading was suspended. the “guided” rate was phased out in favor of a controlled, floating effective rate (wcy 1984, p.64) jpair multidisciplinary research 124 ii examples of books, dissertations, and theses on educational institutions are: books: 1. villaroel, fidel, o.p. (2012). a history of the university of santo tomas: four centuries of higher education in the philippines.manila: u.s.t. publishing house. (two volumes) 2. torres, jose victor z. (2007). in transition: the university of santo tomas during the american colonial period (1898-1935). manila: ust publishing house (this was dr. torres’s dissertation presented to the graduate school of the university of santo tomas). 3. torres, jose victor z. (2013). a wartime legacy: the university of santo tomas during the second world war, 1941-1945.manila: ust publishing house. 4. churchill, bernardita r. and de la goza, rolando, c.m. (1993). adamson university: a history (1932-1992). manila: adamson university press. theses: 1. jimenez, jose victor d. (1992).the de la salle college, 1911-1941: an institutional history.m.a. thesis in history, ust. 2. castro, leonila s. (1997). an institutional history of centro escolar de señoritas, 19071941.m.a. thesis in history, ust. iii cicm arrived in nueva vizcaya in 1908. in cagayan, they were assigned at the ermita de san jacinto (1950-1976), annafunan (1950-2000), rizal (1953-1984), and san jacinto seminary (1956-1959). after the jesuits closed the ateneo de tuguegarao, bishop teodulfo domingo asked them to open a school for boys in 1965 which evolved as the university of st. louis tuguegarao. (panaddamman: archdiocese of tuguegarao) iv then president of st. paul college of tuguegarao from 1977 to 1987 v letter of sister benjamine ponce, spc (president of st. paul college tuguegarao) to rev. mother marie de la croix javelosa, spc (spc provincial superior in the philippines) on july 9, 1979. all local communities of spc congregation have an obligation to submit copies of reports to the provincial house. the philippine provincial was first located in manila, then transferred to quezon city in 1931, and again transferred to antipolo in 1961. the provincial house in antipolowas named our lady of chartres convent (olcc) that also housed the congregation’s archives. vi letter of sister benjamine ponce, spc (president of st. paul college international peer reviewed journal 125 tuguegarao) to rev. mother marie de la croix javelosa, spc (spc provincial superior in the philippines) on july 9, 1979. vii the primary sources of data in this table were the annual reports of st. paul university tuguegarao that the school sent to the provincial house from 1974 to 1982. viii the archdiocesan schools in tuguegarao had chaplains who took care of the spiritual needs of the students and the members of the faculty. the regional capital, government schools and non-sectarian institutions had requested for catholic chaplains. (archbishop talamayan, p. 75) ix the mrps 7th edition had been repealed by section 103 of the 8th edition or 1992 manual of regulations for private schools. x report of the survey of st. paul college of tuguegarao in view of the accreditation (april 6, 1961). xi the department of education and culture (dec) was created in 1972 by virtue of proclamation 1081 and was changed into ministry of education and culture (mec) in 1978 by virtue of p.d. no. 1397. under mec, there were thirteen regional offices created and major organizational changes implemented in the educational system. later in 1982, mec was changed to ministry of education culture and sports (mecs) by virtue of the educational act of 1982. mecs became the department of education, culture and sports (decs) in 1987 by virtue of executive order no. 117. decs practically remained unchanged until 1994 when the commission on higher education (ched), and in 1995 when the technical education and skills development authority (tesda) were established to supervise tertiary degree programs and non-degree technical-vocational programs, respectively. (official website: department of education, retrieved from http://www. deped.gov.ph retrieved on june 25, 2014.) xii letter of sister benjamine ponce, spc to rev. mother marie de la croix javelosa, spc on july 9, 1979. jpair multidisciplinary research 126 xiii atty. antonio g. dumlao was the director of bureau of higher education from 1975 to 1986. xiv but such achievements of sput was once again tested when exactly one month after the award given to sr. ponce, a cyclonic typhoon “welling” hit tuguegarao in 1982 and badly damaged the school. once more, another calamity had struck the school that untimely occurred during the years when the school had to catapult in the fulfillment of its vision-mission in the region. just like what the sisters, faculty and staff did in the past, they face the trials together and slowly re-organized the school. 17 international peer reviewed journal soybean-genistein as endocrine disruptor on estrous cyclicity and ovarian follicular development in albino rats (rattus norvegicus) geraldine c. sanchez orcid no.: 0000-0003-4628-227x gengsanchez923@gmail.com ronaldo d. dizon aris f. miclat orcid no.: 0000-0003-3749-8570 aris.miclat@gmail.com institute of veterinary medicine and zootechnics pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga maria fe s. bulao orcid no.: 0000-0002-6049-3885 mariafesimbulanbulao88@gmail.com julia a. eggert orcid no.: 0000-0003-1350-8420 jaegger@clemson.edu college of health, education and human development, edwards hall, clemson university, clemson, south carolina u.s.a. 29631 vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.209 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife. one example of endocrine disruptor is phytoestrogen which is a group of naturally occurring compounds that have been reported to cause fertility problems in animals. the major phytoestrogen in soy products is genistein, which has potent estrogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo. previous findings have demonstrated that the control of primordial follicle development and subsequent folliculogenesis appears to be mediated by local production and action of specific paracrine factors. preliminary studies also have shown that steroid hormones like estrogen play a critical role in the onset of primordial follicle assembly. these findings led us to further look into the effects of genistein on estrous cyclicity and ovarian folliculogenesis specifically on pre-antral and antral follicular development including their possible effects on ovarian morphometry of sexually matured female albino rats. the objectives of the study was to determine the effects of genistein on estrous cyclicity and ovarian folliculogenesis specifically on pre-antral and antral follicular development including their possible effects on ovarian and uterine morphometry of sexually matured female albino rats. furthermore, the study elucidated its effect on the apoptosis of granulose and theca cells resulting to follicular atresia. a total of 24 female albino rats approximately 2-3 months of age of almost the same size were used in this study. the treatments were: control (t0) distilled water, 8 mg/kg body weight genistein (t1), 12.5 mg/kg body weight genistein (t2) and 16 mg/kg body weight genistein (t3). estrous cyclicity was determined using vaginal cytology. the experimental animals were sacrificed after five weeks and their ovaries and uterus were collected. ovarian tissues were subjected to paraffin technique for tne microscopic examination. all data gathered were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (anova) and significant differences among treatments were analyzed using least significant difference (lsd). results showed an increased length of proestrus and estrus period in treated rats, metestrus on the first week of treatment and diestrus on the second week of treatment period. in terms of antral and preantral follicles, rats treated with genistein have greater mean number compared with the control and the mean number of non-atretic follicles was high in the control group and t4 . genistein treated rats at 12.6 and 16 mg/kg body weight have greater mean number of preantral and antral follicles as compared with those treated at 8 mg/kg body weight and the control. genistein in soybean has endocrine disruption effect by altering estrous cyclicity and ovarian folliculogenesis but it has no adverse effect on heart and respiratory rates as well as on body temperature. 19 international peer reviewed journal keywords antral follicle, estrous cycle, genistein, ovary and soybean introduction there is a considerable concern on endocrine disruptors which are chemicals that interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife (www. niehs.nih.gov,2000)[2]. one example of endocrine disruptors is phytoestrogen which is a group of naturally occurring compounds that have been reported to cause fertility problems in animals. of particular concern is genistein, the major phytoestrogen in soy products, which has potent estrogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo (diel, 2001). it can bind to the estrogen receptor to induce estrogen-like effects in animals, humans and cultured cells (liu, 2006). the possibility that some chemicals may disrupt the endocrine systems in humans and animals has received considerable attention in the scientific and public community. endocrine disruption is on the agenda of many experts’ groups, steering committees and panels of governmental organizations, industry, and academia throughout the world. because the disturbance of the endocrine system is a very sensitive topic, scientific findings or observations are often controversially discussed among scientists, environmentalists, and authorities (lintelmann, 2003). soy and products derived from soy, such as soya milk, tofu, tempeh, soy flour, soy sauce, taho and isoflavone supplements, are being consumed in increasing quantities by humans. similarly, high quantities are used as a feed ingredient for laboratory, companion and food animals (brown, 2001). although enormous progress has been made in understanding the events and regulation of the later stages of ovarian follicular development, the early stages of development, to a large extent and particularly in large mammals, remain a mystery. mechanisms that regulate the initiation of follicular growth and the ensuing growth and differentiation of preantral follicles are of considerable interest, since their elucidation is a prerequisite to use of the primordial pool to enhance reproductive efficiency in domestic animals, humans, and endangered species (fortune [15]2003). the study of kouki (2003) on the effects of neonatal treatment with phytoestrogens, genistein and daidzein, on sex difference in female rat brain function obtain findings in genistein treated groups that ovaries were smaller and contained no corpora lutea. ovaries from daidzein treated females were also small. moreover, the study of flyn (2000) on the effect of genistein in sexually dimorphic behavior of rats revealed findings of decreased in average weight per live pup at birth. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research high amounts of isoflavones given to newborn rats resulted in disturbance of estrous cyclicity at a very early stage of life (delclos, 2009). experimental data from cell cultures and whole animal studies showed that such concentrations had strong estrogenic effects (mueller, 2004). previous research and preliminary studies have demonstrated that the control of primordial follicle development and subsequent folliculogenesis appears to be mediated by local production and action of specific paracrine factors involving theca cells, granulose cells, and the oocyte. preliminary studies also have shown that steroid hormones like estrogen play a critical role in the onset of primordial follicle assembly (skinner[30] 2008). these findings led us to further look into the effects of genistein on estrous cyclicity and ovarian folliculogenesis specifically on pre-antral and antral follicular development including their possible effects on ovarian morphometry of sexually matured female albino rats. also, the effect of genistein on cellular changes particularly on apoptosis of granulose and theca cells resulting to follicular atresia was investigated. objectives of the study the general objective of the study was to elucidate the effects of genistein on estrous cyclicity and ovarian follicular development using rats as the animal model. specifically, it aimed to determine genistein’s effects on: 1. different stages of the estrous cycle; 2. body temperature, heart and respiratory rates; 3. gross changes in the heart, liver, lungs and kidney; 4. body weights; 5. uterine morphometry (horn length and width); 6. ovarian morphometry (length, width, weight) 7. antral and pre-antral follicles 8. atretic and non-atretic follicles 21 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods experimental animals a total of 24 female albino rats approximately 2-3 months of age of almost the same size were used in this study. they were caged individually in 6 x 6 x 8 inches cage and were given one-week acclimatization period prior to the conduct of the study. the experimental rats were housed at the animal research laboratory of the institute of veterinary medicine and zootechnics at room temperature with a relative humidity of at least 30 % and not exceeding 70 % measured with the use of a digital thermometer (cdrking, 2010). the heart rate, respiratory rate and rectal temperature were taken every other day to avoid additional stress on the rats. body weights were taken using a triple beam balance (ohaus). preparation and administration of genistein genistein was purchased from xi’an feida bio-tech co., ltd, china with a purity of 95 %. in preparing dosages of genistein powder, the manufacturer’s prescription was used. moreover, the dosage used by zhou (2008) which is 12.5 mg/kg body weight were adopted in the study to serve as baseline for dosage determination. genistein powder was dissolved in normal saline solution and was administered to rats subcutaneously using a glass syringe. monitoring of estrous cycle in determining the estrous cyclicity of rats, the protocol of reyes (2006) was adopted. data on estrous cycle was taken two weeks before the start of the study (d0) until the rats were sacrificed. daily monitoring of estrous cycle was done through microscopic examination of sample vaginal smear. the estrus stage was determined by the presence of abundant cornified cells in the smear. the rats were sacrificed through cervical dislocation a week after the two (2) weeks treatment period when they were at the diestrus stage. collection, gross examination and processing of ovaries, uterus and other visceral organs the experimental animals were sacrificed after five weeks and their ovaries and uterus were collected. the ovaries, uterus, heart, lungs, liver and kidney were observed 22 jpair multidisciplinary research for gross changes. with the use of a digital weighing scale, the ovaries were weighed and the length and width were measured. the collected ovaries, uterus and lungs with gross lesions were then preserved in ten percent (10%) formalin solution and were brought to histopathology laboratory of university of the philippines, los baños, laguna for processing using the paraffin technique. the thickness of the ovarian section used in this study was 5 microns (sanchez, 2005) and the processed tissues were stained using hematoxylin and eosin (h & e). microscopic examination of processed tissues processed ovarian, uterine and lung tissues were examined using a microscope at 100 x magnification. pre-antral, antral, atretic, and non-atretic follicles were identified and quantified on the ovaries. the uterine and lung tissues were observed for histopathological lesions. experimental design and treatments a complete randomized design was used in this study. the experimental animals were randomly distributed in four treatments with six replications per treatment by means of draw lots. the treatments were as follows: t1 – distilled water (control) t2 – 8 mg/kg body weight genistein t3 – 12.5 mg/kg body weight genistein t4 – 16 mg/kg body weight genistein results and discussion length of proestrus period the proestrus stage is composed of nucleated epithelial cells and can be seen for a period of 12 14 hours in a 5-day estrous cycle. this could be increased or decreased depending on several factors such as stress and hormonal problems. and at this stage the female rat make acceptance to the male at the end of the phase (www.lssu.edu)[3] as reflected in table 1, the proestrus stage was observed on the average, for a period of once a week for the control. those treated with genistein showed an increased in their proestrus stage especially during the second week of treatment period. it also appears that although t2 received a dose of 8mg/kg body weight of 23 international peer reviewed journal genistein only, it had an increase of 0.17 days proestrus stage during the first week of treatment period. on the second week of treatment, t2 maintained its proestrus stage of 1.17 days however, for t3 which have received a dose of 12.5 mg/kg body weight of genistein and t4 with 16 mg/kg body weight of genistein, showed an increase of 0.6 and 0.67 days, respectively. on the withdrawal of genistein, all of the treatments resume on their once a week average proestrus stage. the increased in the proestrus stage during the second week of treatment best describes that genistein is highly absorbed and elicited its effect to prolong the estrous cycle by increasing this stage on t2, t3 and t4. since the monitoring of estrous cycle was done only on a per day basis, the exact proestrus length in terms of hours (hr) was not observed by the researcher. table 1. length of proestrus during pre-treatment, first week of treatment, second week of treatment and post-treatment period (days)ns treatment pre-treatment 1st week 2 nd week posttreatment t1 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 t2 1.00 1.17 1.17 1.00 t3 1.00 1.00 1.60 1.00 t4 1.00 1.00 1.67 1.00 nsnot significantly different (p>0.05) length of estrus period estrus stage is characterized by the presence of 75% nucleated epithelial cells and 25 % cornified cells on the vaginal smear. this could be observed for a period of 12 – 27 hours in a 5-day estrous cycle. estrus can be detected when the vulva becomes slightly swollen and the vagina becomes dry in contrast to the usual moist pink. female rats in heat are hyperactive and brace themselves when touched. the ears quiver when they are stroked on the head or back, and touching the pelvic region induces a posture termed lordosis, in which the head and rump are raised and the back is arched downward. as shown in table 2, there were differences in the length of estrus period of rats treated with genistein compared with the control (t1). on post treatment, all treatments showed significant difference showing longer estrus for t3. treatment 1 showed longer estrus in the first week only but not on the second week. t2 exhibited an increase in estrus length during the first and second week of treatment with 24 jpair multidisciplinary research genistein compared during the pre-treatment period .on the withdrawal of genistein, a slight increase in estrus length was also noted. the effect on t3 exhibited more during the post treatment period which exhibited longer estrus than the other treatments. for the control (t1), it could be noted that a slight increase in estrus length from 1 at pre-treatment to 2 days on the first week of treatment period as shown in table 2, was observed during the time that the other rats were treated with genistein. this could be explained by the presence of the vomeronasal organ present in rats which primarily detect pheromones that specialize in non-volatile chemicals found in the urine and other secretions. the introduction of genistein on the other rats by means of the vomeronasal organ of the control rats shoot up a separate pathway to the accessory olfactory bulbs, and from there to the amygdala, then to both the preoptic area and the hypothalamus, which are areas known to be involved in reproductive behavior (brennan, 2001). based on the findings of this study, an increased in estrus length as shown in treatments 1, 2 and 3 during the first and second week of treatment is due to the action of genistein, which mimicks the hormone estrogen in the body. this finding is significant in prolonging the estrus period on the average by 1.5 days longer than the normal estrus length of 1.0 day only in female rats. thus, soybean-genistein prolongs and enhances sexual receptivity and sexual activity. this breakthrough could help in addressing fertility problems both in animals and human beings. women who are on their menopausal stage may have exogenous source of estrogen as in this case, the genistein present in soybeans which could help in the prevention of vaginal dryness thus improving sexual activity. further study on this aspect is therefore necessary. table 2. length of estrus during pre-treatment, first week of treatment, second week of treatment and post-treatment period (days) treatment pre-treatment 1st week 2nd week post-treatment t1 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00d t2 1.00 2.16 1.83 2.67c t3 1.00 1.50 1.67 3.17a t4 1.00 2.50 2.17 2.83b means having different superscripts are significantly different at (p<0.05) 25 international peer reviewed journal length of metestrus period the metestrus stage is characterized by the presence of many leukocytes with nucleated and cornified cells in a vaginal smear. it can be observed for a period of 21 hours in a 5-day estrous cycle and the female rat is observed with no male acceptance. as revealed in table 3, there was an increased in the length of metestrus stage of treated rats. during the first week of treatment period, t2, t3 and t4 gained an increase of 0.83, 1.17 and 1, days, respectively. on the second week of treatment and post treatment periods, there was a general decrease in the length of metestrus compared during the first week. the increase on the metestrus stage during the first week of treatment can be associated to the effect of genistein administration. however, the increase of 0.5 day metestrus stage on the control (t1) during the second week of treatment period was just normal to meet the normal 5-7 days length of estrous cycle and can be compared to a slight decrease on the metestrus stage of treated rats as affected by genistein. also, the long metestrus period during the post-treatment period of treated rats is correlated to the increase in average estrus length of treated rats on the same period. table 3. length of metestrus during pre-treatment, first week of treatment, second week of treatment and post-treatment period (days) treatment pre-treatment 1st week 2nd week post-treatment t1 1.00 1.00d 1.00 1.00 t2 1.00 1.83c 1.17 1.00 t3 1.00 2.17a 1.60 1.00 t4 1.00 2.00b 1.67 1.00 means with different superscript in the same column are significantly different (p<0.05) length of diestrus period diestrus stage is characterized by the presence of leukocytes in a vaginal smear and this can be observed for a period of 57 hours in a 5-day estrous cycle. during this stage, the female rat has no male acceptance. as shown in table 4, the length of diestrus period prior to genistein treatment (pretreatment period) revealed same length of all treatments with a mean of 4. however, on the 1st and second week of treatment, there was a marked decrease in diestrus 26 jpair multidisciplinary research length of treated rats as compared with the control (t1) and the whole pre-treatment period except for t3 which showed longer diestrus of 4.4 days. furthermore, on the post-treatment period, an increase of 0.67 day was again observed in the control (t1) while a decrease of 0.33 day on t1, 1.73 on t2 and 0.33 day on t3. this could be explained by an increase in the proestrus, estrus and metestrus stage of rats will result to a decrease on the length of diestrus stage. a decrease on the proestrus, estrus and metestrus stage also result to an increase on the length of diestrus stage of rats and vice versa. table 4. length of diestrus during pre-treatment, first week of treatment, second week of treatment and post-treatment period (days) treat-ment pre-treatment 1st week 2nd week post-treatment t1 4.00 3.00a 3.33 4.00a t2 4.00 1.83ab 3.00 2.67ab t3 4.00 2.17ac 4.40 2.67ab t4 4.00 1.50ad 2.83 2.5ad means with different superscript are different at (>0.05). mean body temperature as revealed in table 5, the rectal temperature values obtained from treatment 1, 2 and 3 were within the normal temperature of rats which indicate absence of hyperthermia post genistein treatment. table 5. mean body temperature (°c)ns treatment 1st week 2nd week t1 36.7 36.9 t2 36.8 36.9 t3 36.7 36.9 t4 36.5 36.9 nsnot significantly different at (p>0.05). 27 international peer reviewed journal effects on heart rate and gross appearance as shown in table 5, there is a decreased in the heart rate of rats during the 2nd week of treatment although their values fall on the normal range. in the study of al nakkash (2010), genistein had no effect on the weights of heart and heart-to-body ratio. moreover, fat pad significantly decreased heart rate and pulse pressure. no pathological gross lesions were found in the heart. table 5. mean heart rate (beat/minute)ns treatment 1st wk 2nd wk t1 346 298 t2 346 296 t3 348 292 t4 349 280 nsnot significantly different at (p<0.05). effects on respiratory rates, gross and microscopic appearance of the lungs as revealed in table 6, there was no significant difference noted among treatments during the first and second week of treatment although it appears that during the second week, the respiratory rates fall until the termination of the study. however, the values obtained are still within the normal range. pathological gross lesions were found on the lungs of t1 and t2 wherein they were pale, hard and granulomatous. sneezing was also observed on rats during the second week of treatment period. microscopically, the lungs have numerous neutrophils, hemorrhage and congestion which is suggestive of pulmonary emphysema. the study of yellayi (2002) determined that genistein treatment suppressed immune system function. genistein-treated mice might have produced lower amounts of antibodies following administration and it might have contributed to the gross lesions found in the lungs. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. mean respiratory rate (breaths/minute)ns treatment 1st week 2nd week t1 91.0 89.2 t2 91.0 88.7 t3 91.0 89.4 t4 92.0 88.4 ns-not significantly different at (p>0.05) body weights shown in table 8 is the mean body weight of mice. during the first week, there was no significant difference noted among treatments but on the second week, there was a reduction in the body weight of treated group and the untreated remained to have the heaviest weight. this suggests that genistein influence the body weight of rats. table 8. mean body weights (grams) treatment 1st week 2nd week t1 244 261a t2 253 242ab t3 222 209bc t4 222 210b means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different at (p<0.05) level. length of uterine horn, gross and microscopic appearance reflected in table 9 is the length of the uterine horn. statistical analysis revealed that t3 exhibited the longest left horn. generally, the increased in the uterine length of treated rats as compared to the control is suggestive of uterine hypertrophy. also on microscopic examination , treated rats exhibited hemorrhages, congestion and hypercellularity of the myometrium and endometrium. 29 international peer reviewed journal table 9. length of the uterine horn (mm) treatment right horn left horn t1 27.5 23.7bd t2 30.7 26.0b t3 32.5 29.0a t4 29.0 25.5bc means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different at p (< 0.05) level. width of the uterine horns as shown in table 10, there is no difference on the width of the left and right uterine horns among treatments. table 10. width of the uterine horns (mm)ns treatment 1st week 2nd wk t1 2.33 2.33 t2 2.67 2.67 t3 3.00 3.00 t4 2.67 2.67 ns-not significantly different at (p>0.05) mean ovarian length revealed in table 11 are the length of the right and left ovaries showing no significant difference among the treatment groups. table 11. mean ovarian length(mm)ns treatment right ovary left ovary t1 6.5 6.0 t2 5.8 5.5 t3 5.2 4.7 t4 5.5 4.8 ns-not significantly different at (p>0.05) 30 jpair multidisciplinary research mean ovarian width table 12 presents the mean width of the right and left ovaries. it appears that there was no significant difference among treatments in the right ovary but there was among the left showing a reduction in the width of the treated group especially the one that received the highest amount of genistein. at (p<0.01). table 12. mean ovarian width (mm)ns treatment right ovary left ovary t1 5.83 5.67a t2 5.33 5.00ab t3 4.67 4.17b t4 5.00 3.67c means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different at (p<0.05) level. mean ovarian weight shown in table 13 is the mean ovarian weight. there was no significant difference among the treatments in the right ovary but there was in the left ovary at (p<0.01). all treated animals manifested much lower ovarian weight which implies that genistein affects ovarian weight. table 13. mean ovarian weight (grams) treatment right ovary left ovary t1 0.063 0.059b t2 0.057 0.054ab t3 0.050 0.045a t4 0.054 0.035a means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different at (p<0.05) level. 31 international peer reviewed journal mean preantral and antral follicles shown in table 14 are the mean pre-antral and antral follicles showing significant difference (p < 0.05) in the mean number of pre-antral follicles of treated groups compared with the control. the highest number of pre-antral follicles was observed in t4 followed by t3, t2 and t1.in terms of antral follicles, there was no significant difference among treatments which implies that genistein affects only growing follicles. zhuang (2010) in their study in genistein treated rats showed a higher percentage of primordial follicles by 4 months of age and a greater number of surviving follicles at 15  months of age compared to a control group (p  <  0.05). in addition, vaginal cytology showed that age-dependent cessation of regular estrus was delayed for 2 months in genistein-treated group than control group which suggest that genistein alters rat ovarian follicular development and increases the number of surviving follicles, which may prolong ovarian reproductive life. table 14. mean pre-antral and antral follicles (grams) treatment pre-antral antral t1 1.83cd 11.5 t2 1.80c 10.4 t3 6.17b 12.0 t4 8.17a 12.5 means with different superscripts in the same column are significantly different at (p<0.05) mean number of atretic and non-atretic follicles as reflected in table 15, untreated rats had the least number of pre-antral follicles that underwent apoptosis of granulose and theca cells. however, among the treated rats, findings revealed that t3 had the highest mean number of 1.83 followed by t1 with mean number of 1.4 and t4 with mean number of 1.33. furthermore, t3 had the highest mean ratio of atretic to antral follicles of 0.15 followed by t2 with a mean ratio of 0.13 and t3 with mean ratio of 0.11. this indicates that for every 100 antrals, 15 became atretic in t3, 13 in t2 and 11 in t4. the control (t1) got the least with 10 atretic follicles for every 100 antrals. statistical analysis revealed no significant at difference at (p<0.05). in terms of the mean number of non-atretic 32 jpair multidisciplinary research antral follicles, there was also no difference noted among treatments showing t4 to contain the most number of non-atretic follicles. the results of this study show that genistein alters the rat ovarian follicular development resulting to higher number of surviving follicles. pubertal genistein treatment can possibly lead to follicular atresia. however, genistein treatment at old stages of rats increases the number of surviving follicles as obtained from the results of the study of zhuang (2010) because at this stage, estrogen level is triggered by different factors. table 15. mean number of atretic and non-atretic follicles treatment atretic non atretic t1 1.00 10.50 t2 1.40 9.00 t3 1.83 10.20 t4 1.33 11.17 conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following are concluded: 1. genistein exerted effects even at the lowest dosage of 8 mg/kg body weight of rats. 2. genistein altered the estrous cyclicity of rats. the length of estrus was increased in treated rats while that of diestrus decreased. 3. genistein causes atrophy of the ovaries. 4. genistein has weight reducing effects. 5. there are no adverse effects on the vital signs. 6. rats treated with genistein have greater mean number of pre-antral and antral follicles as compared with the control. recommendations a. do hormonal assays specifically on the level of endogenous estrogen present per rats b. do clinical trial trials in livestock as well as human beings particularly those with fertility problems. c. the effects of genistein on cholesterol level 33 international peer reviewed journal d. the actual amount of genistein absorbed and metabolize by body tissues e. the frequency of vaginal discharge collection in order to evaluate the exact length of estrus stage in terms of hours f. the effects of genistein on different ages of rats g. the effects of genistein in male reproductive tract. literature cited al-nakkash l, markus b, batia l, prozialeck w and broderick l. 2010 “genistein induces estrogen-like effects in ovariectomized rats but fails to increase cardiac glut4 and oxidative stress.”jmed food (6):1369-75 bp 2000 ‘’endocrine disruptors’’ human reproduction.yahoo appl [ internet] national institute of environmental health sciences – national institute of health. 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[cited 2010 july 23], 34 jpair multidisciplinary research delclos k, weis c, bucci t. 2009 “overlapping but distinct effects of genistein and ethinyl estradiol (ee(2)) in female sprague-dawley rats in multigenerational reproductive and chronic toxicity studies’’, reprod toxicol 27: 117-132. diel p, smolnikar k, schulz t, laudenbach-leschowski u, michna h, vollmer g. 2001 ’’phytoestrogens and carcinogenesis-differential effects of genistein in experimental models of normal and malignant rat endometrium.’’hum reprod 16:9971006. flynn k, ferguson s, delclos b, newbold r. 2000 “effects of genistein exposure on sexually dimorphic behaviors in rats’’. 55: 311319. fortune j. 2003 ‘’the early stages of follicular development: activation of primordial follicles and growth of preantral follicles.’’anim reprod sci. 78(3-4):135-63. kezele p and skinner m. 2003 ’’regulation of ovarian primordial follicle assembly and development by estrogen and progesterone: endocrine model of follicle assembly’’,google appl [internet]. [cited 2010 august 11].endocrinology144, 3329–3337. available from:http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/144/8/3329. kouki t, kishitake m, okamoto m, oosuka i, takebe m, yamanouchi k. 2003 ”effects of neonatal treatment with phytoestrogens, genistein and daidzein, on sex difference in female rat brain function: estrous cycle and lordosis’’horm behav 44:140-145. lintelmann j, katayama a, kurihara n, shore l, wenzel a. 2003 “endocrine disruptors in the environment’’, iupac, pure and applied chemistry 75, 631–681. liu h, zhang c, ge c, liu j 2007 ’’effects of daidzein on mrna expression of gonadotropin receptors and p450 aromatase in ovarian follicles of white silky fowls. asian-australias’’ j. anim. sci. 20:1827–1831. 35 international peer reviewed journal mueller s, simon s, chae k, metzler m korach k 2004 ‘’phytoestrogens and their human metabolites show distinct agonistic and antagonistic properties on estrogen receptor alpha (er alpha) and er beta in human cells’’ toxicol sci 80: 14-25. reyes b, bautista n, tanquilut n, leung a, sanchez g, tsukamura h, maeda k. 2006 ‘’anti-diabetic potentials of momordica charantia and andrographis paniculata and their effects on estrus cyclicity of alloxan-induced diabetic rats’’ elsevier journal of ethnopharmacology 105: 196-200. sanchez g, palabasan c, acosta j, leung a, reyes 2005 “the effects of sinta ( andrograhis paniculata), neem ( azadirachta indica), makabuhay ( tinospora rumphii) and mill (aloe barbadensis) on ovarian follicular development in rats ( rattus norvegicus)’’, psas proceedings: recent development in animal production. setchell k, clerici c, lephart e, cole s, heenan c, castellani d. 2005 “s-equol, a potent ligand for estrogen receptor, is the exclusive enantiomeric form of the soy isoflavone metabolite produced by human intestinal bacterial flora’’am j clin nutr.; 81:1072–1079. skinner mk,. 2008 “glial derived neurotrophic factor promotes the ovarian primordial to primary transition’’reproduction 135: 671-682. yellayi s, naaz a, szewczykowski m, sato t, woods j, chang j, segre m, allred cd, helferich w, cooke p 2002 ”the phytoestrogen genistein induces thymic and immune changes: a human health concern?” google appl [internet]. [cited 2010 august 15]society for endocrinology, great britain. pnas 99 7616–7621. online version via http://www.endocrinology.org. zhou s, hu y, zhang b, teng z, gan h, yang z, wang q, huan m, mei q. 2008 “dose-dependent absorption, metabolism, and excretion of genistein in rats” j. agric. food chem., 56 (18): 8354–8359. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research zhuang x, fu y, xu j, kong x, chen z and luo l. 2001 “effects of genistein on ovarian follicular development and ovarian life span in rats’’google appl [internet]. [cited 2011 march 2] elsevier b.v. 10: 1016. online version via http://www.scie ncedirect.com,2001. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 63 weaving language and learning in negotiating for meaning regina via g. garcia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8948-4985 reginavia.garcia@cvsc.edu.ph compostela valley state college compostela valley province, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract achieving understanding of interlocutors in an english classroom is essential in successful communication, learning, and second language acquisition. through these interactions, interlocutors can negotiate meaning by changing the linguistic form, conversational structure, and message content, or all three. this qualitative content analysis research focuses on the interactions produced between teacher and student or between the students themselves with the use of michael long’s negotiation for meaning (nfm). the research, conducted in compostela valley state college main campus, involved five (5) sections of first-year college students enrolled in general education 2 purposive communication along with their respective instructors. interactions throughout the class were recorded and then transcribed for further analysis. according to the findings, three (3) signals from nfm are primarily utilized to achieve meaning; comprehension check, clarification request, and confirmation check. these signals functioned in the interaction through eliciting understanding, correcting, probing, recalling, and clarifying. the most used signal was a clarification request, and the most used function of these signals is understanding. the findings suggest that the negotiation in the interaction mostly required previous utterances to be clarified and that the main goal of negotiation is to achieve comprehension of the meaning being negotiated. vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.796 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:reginavia.garcia@cvsc.edu.ph mailto:reginavia.garcia@cvsc.edu.ph mailto:cia@cvsc.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 6464 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords social science, negotiation for meaning, linguistics, classroom interaction, qualitative content analysis; philippines introduction communication is an essential tool for a functioning society, even more so in a classroom. it is within these four walls where students are cultivated and nurtured to freely express their ideas, learnings, and sentiments through words. however, struggles in communication are evident in today’s educational institutions, specifically in english classrooms, where one of the greatest challenges is to have students express their thoughts in a comprehensible manner. according to zhiping and paramasivam (2013), students suffer from anxiety in relation to communication apprehension and fear of negative evaluation. students become fearful of committing mistakes as they communicate with their teachers and peers through english. making errors using the target language has become an embarrassing situation in some cultures, such as indonesia, china, and other oriental countries (budianto, 2010). thus, during an english class, they resort to using their mother tongue, disregarding the use of the target language in order to practice effective communication. as reflected in okada’s (2015) study, japanese international students studying in the united states of america experienced language anxiety. the students felt anxious during provoking situations involving tasks related to processing and output. a japanese native learning english as a second language had experience anxiety during the learning process (matsumoto, 1989). for the students to make the most of their study, it is important to reduce the fear of negative evaluation. furthermore, as the years of learning the english language progressed, the anxiety experienced by students increased. according to eladi (2016), students studying english language and literature at cumhuriyet university in turkey experienced a moderate level of anxiety, and it was later observed their language anxiety levels did not decrease. in the philippines, english teaching and learning have been successful; however, it is facing new challenges (wa-mbaleka, 2014). if not properly handled, the negative effect will have visible repercussions. thus, awareness of the english language as an international language throughout the world is vital. in college, the use of english is given importance since it is considered as the universal language which most societies use to communicate. consequently, teachers are left in a quandary as to how to effectively teach students to communicate properly 6565 international peer reviewed journal through english to produce understandable sentences. it has been suggested by farangis (2013) that classroom activities should mimic real-life use of the language. added to that, teachers should create opportunities for students, which can, in turn, promote individual learning opportunities. the practice is the best way to learn (norton, 2013). for students to communicate through the use of the english language, practice and opportunities should be present. to promote the students’ language learning, a better understanding of the interaction process is essential. language learning does not arise through interaction but in interaction. long’s (1981) negotiation for meaning focuses on interaction as a method that can be applied in a natural classroom setting. interaction provides students ample opportunities to achieve an understanding of the input as well as encouraging the production of output. negotiation was a method of promoting comprehension. negotiation can also present opportunities for modification of output and feedback focused on form (wei, 2012). thus, exploring conversations and communication processes in an english classroom can improve a students’ speaking ability through the practice of negotiation for meaning. as a teacher, the researcher wants not only to teach my students how to use the english language properly but also to ease, even as far as remove, their fear when it comes to speaking in english. during her class in speech and oral communication, she asked her students, “how are you?” and the class has five to eight students eager to answer the question. however, when she informs them to speak in english since she is handling an english class, the students’ eager faces soon disappeared, and they slowly lower their hands. the researchers often get a comment “bisaya lang, ma’am, dili mi ka kaya, ulaw ma’am” (can we speak in bisaya, ma’am? we can’t do it. we don’t want to be embarrassed, ma’am). a simple and basic question that can easily be answered in english proves to be a struggle for some of her students. an english classroom should be a space for students to freely express themselves because they feel it is necessary rather than it is a task which they are assigned to do. it should be a place where their inhibitions in using the english language are minimal, and self-expression is a priority. thus, analyzing and utilizing strategies to help my students express their thoughts using the english language is essential for my practice as my students’ teacher and motivator. 6666 jpair multidisciplinary research framework this study was viewed through the lens of long’s (1980) interaction hypothesis, also known as negotiation for meaning (nfm), which holds the belief that interactional conversation produces conversational and linguistic modifications in a discourse which, in turn, facilitates acquisition which provides input essential to the students. as farangis (2013) explained, the interactional conversation is a method of negotiation which involves communication through an exchange of two or more people. long (1981) said that comprehensible input is important for language learning, and the effectiveness is increased when students or nns enter negotiation for meaning. negotiation for meaning is further defined as the process in which nns and competent speakers or ns provide and interpret signals of comprehension. in long’s study, the interaction between ns and nns, as well as nns and nns, avoid and repair lapses in their conversation by making changes through either the linguistic form, conversational structure, and message content, or all three. for nfm, hatch (1978) believes that students and interlocutors modify and reconstruct their interaction to reach an understanding. thus, students can understand words and grammatical structures beyond their level of competence. in addition, pica (1996) discussed that interlocutors negotiate by anticipating possible problems in communication such as performing clarification questions and checking each other’s comprehension, identifying communication problems for each other, and repairing the problems by using signals and reformulations. when an nns or ns struggles during a conversation, there are signals that assist them during their negotiation for meaning. according to pica (1985), there are several signals, such as confirmation checks, clarification requests, comprehension checks, self-repetitions, and other-repetitions. the above lenses were believed to be significant support and guide in this study since the main objective was to know how nfm was utilized by the teachers and students. it was ellis and barkhuize (2005) who stated that joint effort is crucial when speakers try to solve misunderstandings for successful communication to occur and that the participants are focused on resolving a communication problem as opposed to the free flow of conversation during an exchange of information. hence, ellis’ (1998) concept about meaning was proper to be negotiated, not just transferred from one person to another. overall, this added to the belief that interaction is important in order to 6767 international peer reviewed journal learn and communicate using the english language. thus, human interaction is when two or more people engage in reciprocal action. this action may be verbal or nonverbal. therefore, for the purpose of teaching a language, teachers mainly focus on verbal interaction or communicative interaction (cummins, 1994). objective of the study the study aimed to understand different methods in negotiation for meaning in compostela valley state college main campus’ purposive communication classes. specifically, this study sought to answer the questions (1) to determine the linguistic signals used in negotiating for meaning in an english language classroom; and (2) to identify linguistic signals function in the negotiation for meaning in an english language classroom. methodology research design the research design used in this study was the qualitative content analysis method. this was used to determine how teachers and students used signals to cope with the breakdown in communication in order to achieve an understanding. according to hsieh and shannon (2005), qualitative content analysis is a research method practice through subjectively interpreting the content through a systematic classification process. it focuses on the characteristics of language as communication with attention to the content or contextual meaning of the text. it is a data analysis technique within a rule guided research process, and the research process is bound to common research standards (mayring, 2014). qualitative content analysis allows researchers to understand social reality in a subjective yet, specific manner and explore the meanings underlying physical messages. the greatest advantage of qualitative content analysis is that it is a hands-on approach to research (forman & damschroder, 2007). it looks at communication directly; thus, it focuses on the central characteristic of social interaction. qualitative content analysis was anchored on the signals presented by long (1980). through this, the researcher was able to categorize the signals used during the negotiation for meaning by both the students and teachers. 6868 jpair multidisciplinary research participants this study was conducted in a class of first-year students attending compostela valley state college – main campus and was enrolled in the subject of purposive communication. specifically, the focus was on four (4) sections only. the participants’ interaction through the use of the english language was observed. they were suitable participants of this study, as most of them are k-12 program graduates. this assessed their learnings as well as the effectiveness of the k-12 program. in addition, three (3) english teachers under cvsc’s college of teacher education who teach purposive communication in the respective sections were also participants and part of the class observation and voice recording. they fit participants of this study since they were at the frontlines of teaching students using the english language. for the inclusion criteria of student participants, first, they must have graduated from their secondary education or the alternative learning system currently attending compostela valley state college main campus since the focus of the study was first-year college students of the said institution. second, they must be enrolled in purposive communication, as this is a general education class that uses english as the main language for communication and interaction. lastly, the first language must be bisaya or tagalog. instrumentation before proceeding with the study, a letter asking for permission to conduct the study was written to the college president, a letter asking for permission to gather data regarding the sections and teachers of purposive communication was written to the college program head, and a consent form was secured from the participants and teachers. after obtaining the necessary documents, the study was introduced to the participants. the study was conducted for one (1) month, for the first two weeks, the researcher joined the class and observed the natural interaction between students and teachers. the schedule for class observation was two (2) meetings per section at one hour and thirty minutes each week for classes conducted twice a week and three (3) meetings per section at one hour each week for classes conducted a week thrice a week. details and information from the observation were recorded in the observation log. simultaneously, during the class observation, a voice recorder was also present to record the interactions in class. the main method of data collection was classroom observation since it is the most effective method of capturing the interaction between teachers and students. 6969 international peer reviewed journal to ensure the trustworthiness of the study, the researcher employed the strategies essential in qualitative research. qualitative researchers must consider that dependability, credibility, transferability, and confirmability as trustworthiness criteria to ensure the precision of qualitative findings. furthermore, the goal of trustworthiness is to support the argument that the findings are worth paying attention to. dependability refers to the issue of reliability. it employs methods that present the idea that the work is repeated, in the same context, with the same methods, with the same participants, similar results would be obtained (shenton, 2004). lincoln and guba (1985) gives emphasis to the notion that dependability relates to the study’s credibility and demonstration of the former ensures the latter. thus, credibility can be secured through overlapping methods such as the focus group and individual interview. to address it directly, the study should be done meticulously to enable future researchers to repeat the work but not necessarily gain the same results; hence, an audit trail must be implemented. in this study, an audit trail was utilized to establish dependability. furthermore, the data was analyzed and approved for validity. the researcher describes the research steps taken from the beginning of the study to the development and reporting of the results (lincoln and guba, 1985). credibility is one of the key criteria which seeks to ensure that the study measures or tests are what is actually intended for. this deals with the questions “how congruent are the findings with reality?” (merriam, 1998). to establish the precision of the research, the researcher can apply methods establishing credibility through prolonged engagement, persistent observation, triangulation, and member check (lincoln and guba, 1985). in this study, the data was validated. it solidifies the data since an expert verified the data. transferability is concerned with the study’s ability to be applied to different situations (merriam, 1998). the results of qualitative research can be transferred to other contexts with other respondents. a researcher can implement transferability through the thick description and purposeful sampling. the thick description refers to describing not just the behavior and experiences, but the context as well, in order for a holistic understanding by an outsider (lincoln and guba, 1985). purposeful sampling is where the researcher provides a detailed description of the study, and participants are selected based on the criteria grounded on the research question. in addition, according to schutt (2018), it will assist the researcher to focus on the participants who are particularly exposed to the issues being studied. in this study, purposeful sampling will be implemented. the participants of the study were students taking up purposive communication, which involves the use 7070 jpair multidisciplinary research of the english language in communication. the teachers selected as participants were english subject teachers who were also using english as a medium of teaching. confirmability refers to making sure the steps taken to conduct the study is to help ensure that the findings are the authentic results of the experiences and ideas of the participants, rather than the preferences of the researcher (shenton, 2004). this can be established by validating the data which the researcher has done. it aided to prove that the study’s results accurately portray the participants’ responses. according to orb, eisenhauer, and wynaden (2001), the challenges that come along with qualitative research can be alleviated by having an awareness and use of establishing ethical principles, namely autonomy, beneficence, and justice. this can be established through informed consent, which means participants exercise their rights as autonomous persons to voluntarily accept or decline to participate in the study (orb et al. 2000). in this study, consent will be acquired from the student participants and teacher participants. the participants will also have the option to withdraw from participating in the study without any repercussions. beneficence refers to doing good for others and preventing harm, which means researchers have the moral obligation to oversee the potential consequences of revealing participants’ identities (orb et al. 2000). hence, using a pseudonym is highly recommended. in addition, participants should be made aware of how the results will be published. a method to practice beneficence is an audit trail for the benefit of other researchers as well (streubert & carpenter, 1999). in this study, participants will be informed of the details of the study. furthermore, they will be given pseudonyms. justice refers to equal share and fairness. it is the duty of the researcher to recognize the vulnerability of the participants and their contributions to the study (orb et al. 2000). in this study, participants will be given credit for their involvement. results and discussion the study investigated the turn-taking produced between english instructors and their students or between students engaged in activities within the classroom environment in order to determine what signals in negotiation for meaning were used and how these signals facilitated negotiation for meaning. 7171 international peer reviewed journal qualitative content analysis was used in this approach anchored by michael long’s negotiation for meaning theory. the research questions of this study were aimed towards enumerating the linguistic signals used in negotiating for meaning in an english language classroom as well as understanding how these linguistic signals facilitated the negotiation for meaning in an english language classroom. in this study, the linguistic signals used in negotiation for meaning in an english language classroom were clarification requests, confirmation checks, and comprehension check. these signals facilitate negotiation for meaning by allowing native speaker and non-native speakers to inquire and asses statements in interactions whether or not they understand it or now. one of the conversational processes that facilitate sla is a negotiation for meaning since it lets the students work to understand the expressed meaning in the l2. as stated by long (1996): i would like to suggest that negotiation for meaning, and especially negotiation work that triggers interactional adjustments by the ns or more competent interlocutor, facilitates acquisition because it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selective attention and output in productive ways. therefore, if the interaction contains forms and structures which are beyond the nns’s current level of competence, then sla is facilitated. the signals used in repairing a communication breakdown during an interaction between the teacher and student or student and student in a classroom were clarification requests, confirmation check, and comprehension check. the most used signal is comprehension check, followed by clarification request then, confirmation check. since the teacher is motivated for the students to learn during the class discussion, the teacher often verifies if the students understood the topic through comprehension check. these signals facilitated five functions, namely probing, clarifying, understanding, correcting, and recalling. conclusions with the given results, the researcher concluded that negotiation for meaning facilitates sla by the teachers’ or students’ need to modify utterances where the interactions used signals. thus, this encourages the teacher and students to use signals as well to facilitate interaction toward achieving meaning, and the interaction process of negotiation is a way for learners to gain access to the language being learned. 7272 jpair multidisciplinary research sla is facilitated through negotiation for meaning because speakers negotiated solutions to communication failures. thus, the signals used negotiated incomprehensible input to become comprehensible, which then facilitates sla. in this study, the five functions that are facilitated by the signals in negotiation for meaning are probing, clarifying, understanding, correcting, and reminding. having gone through the k-12 program, some students still struggle to use the english language in the classroom. literature cited budianto, l. 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(2012). an introduction to conversational interaction and second language acquisition.  english linguistic research,  1(1), 111-117. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2t5trjb 153 international peer reviewed journal glocalized experiential learning infused resource package in earth and life science raphael kevin i. nagal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5790-4938 kevzcruize007@gmail.com deped aklan, district of libacao poblacion, libacao, aklan, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study aimed towards the development and evaluation of glocalized experiential learning-infused resource package in earth and life science. the study used the educational design research method and involved the generation of a learning resource package. participants of the study include the grade 11 students of lnfvhs, s.y. 2019-2020, as well as learning experts. both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered for the study. qualitative data came from focus group discussions, while quantitative data came from the results of the bioenergetics test and learning material evaluation form. the least mastered competencies generated were the cell, photosynthetic reactions, and acquisition and utilization of energy. from this result, a glocalized experiential learning infused resource package was developed consisting of three learning materials based on the least mastered concepts--two (2) print materials (learner’s material and teacher’s guide) and one (1) non-print (video-based module). the resource package was rated as very acceptable (3.70 for learner’s material, 3.65 for teacher’s guide, and 3.62 for the video-based module). the study revealed that when learning materials were glocalized, contextualized, and infused with vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.778 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research experiential learning activities, learners were more likely to be engaged in learning the concepts. the learning package developed helped in encouraging independent learning and a good source of supplemental learning material for grade 11 and other grade levels. keywords — education, glocalization, learner’s material, teacher’s guide, video-based module, science performance, experiential learning, resource package, bioenergetics introduction glocalized experiential learning materials in the k to 12 program is very scant. although the program attempts to create an impeccable activitybased curriculum, it still needs the help of glocalized activity-based learning materials. the department of education’s learning resource management and development system (lrmds) portal does not have any learning materials for earth and life science. the use of glocalized experiential learning in teaching science subjects is proven to improve critical thinking skills and independent learning leading to the attainment of competencies in the said subject. earth and life science are one of the core subject’s mandatory for all the tracks in the k to 12 program. earth and life science is a compulsory subject in the national curriculum. being the center of the said curriculum, it is necessary to provide enough support in improving the teaching-learning processes of the students for them to be ready in their chosen career. the philippines ranked in the low 70s in the 2018 programme for international student assessment (pisa), a student assessment of 15-yearold learners across 79 countries done by the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd). in the said assessment, the philippines ranks last among 79 countries in reading comprehension and also ends up in the low 70s in mathematics and science (trinidad, 2020). the national achievement test (nat) results of the students in libacao national forestry vocational high school, as well as in the division of aklan, revealed that the science and math scores are the lowest among the subjects being assessed (department of education, division of aklan, 2018). science is a subject that is best learned through handson and actual experience. it has been observed that students lack this aspect of learning. the module created by the researcher is rooted in experiential learning theory. this theory emphasized that through experiences, in various forms, the student can best understand and retain the topics being discussed. 155 international peer reviewed journal republic act no. 10533, made into law last may 15, 2013, mandates the deped to develop an enhanced basic education curriculum that is both contextualized and global (official gazzette, 2013). glocalization is the simultaneous occurrence of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies in contemporary social, political, and economic systems. the term is a linguistic hybrid of globalization and localization (robertson, 2013). the learning module that this study produced follows this same principle, which is creating a learning material in earth and life science contextualized to the local senior high school learners in the philippines, and which can also be tailored to global learners as a whole. anchored to experiential learning theory (elt), most of the activitybased instructions in the validated module tried to accommodate differentiated learning strategies of every learner. the activities encourage the learner to explore his surroundings and relate it to the targeted topics of the subject. the learning package would pave the way towards innovative success in the educational advancement of the k to 12 program. hence, this study focused on the development of glocalized experiential learning infused learning resource package in earth and life science to enhance the experiential learning of the students and, thus, enhance their mastery of the skills on the targeted competencies. this research would serve as a first step in encouraging the development of other eltinfused modules not just in earth and life science but also in other subjects. framework this study was anchored on the experiential learning theory (elt). elt provides a holistic model of the learning process and a multilinear model of adult development, both of which are consistent with what we know about how people learn, grow, and develop. the theory is called “experiential learning” to emphasize the central role that experience plays in the learning process. taking into consideration that the materials developed addressed the least-mastered concepts in bioenergetics, the addie model was used as a guide in the development process. the addie model is the generic process traditionally used by instructional designers and training developers. the five phases—analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation—represent a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools. the research followed this scheme. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. conceptual framework of the study figure 1 shows the schematic flow of the variables of the study. the conceptual framework of the study was based on the addie model. the first box, assessment of the grade 11 students’ least-mastered skills in bioenergetics, determined the concepts in bioenergetics as the topics of the learning package developed. the next step, development of glocalized experiential learning infused resource package, included the design, implementation, and testing of the developed learning package. finally, the polishing of the prototype modules leading to the final revised resource package in earth and life science. objectives of the study generally, this study was conducted to develop a glocalized experiential learning-infused resource package in earth and life science (bioenergetics) for grade 11. specifically, the researcher sought to answer the following research questions: (1) what are the least-mastered competencies of students in earth and life science? (2) what can a resource package be developed to address the needs of the students in enhancing their learning experiences? (3) how acceptable is the developed print resource package such as learners’ material and teacher’s guide as evaluated by the senior high school students and learning experts in terms of (a) physical aspects; (b) learning outcomes; (c) earth and life science content and processes; (d) experiential learning activities; (e) evaluation procedure; and (f ) relevance of the learning material in enhancing the experiential learning level of students? (4) how acceptable is the developed non-print resource package as evaluated by the senior high school students and learning experts in terms of (a) content quality, (b) instructional quality, and (c) technical quality? 157 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study employed the educational design research method and involved the generation of a learning resource package in earth and life sciences. both quantitative interpretation of data and thematic analysis of qualitative data were used as the basis for the development of the resource package. educational design research is defined as the systematic analysis, design, and evaluation of educational interventions with the dual aim of generating research-based solutions for complex problems in educational practice and advancing knowledge about the characteristics of these interventions and the processes of designing and developing them (plomp, 2013). the addie model of phases of curriculum designing was utilized in the development of the learning resource package. the major phases were the following: (a) analysis phase, (b) design phase, c) development phase, (d) implementation phase, and (e) evaluation phase. research site the study was conducted in libacao national forestry vocational high school (lnfvhs), poblacion, libacao, aklan. the assessment of least-mastered concepts, the fgd protocol for the learning experts and students, as well as the evaluation of the learning resources was conducted in the same school. pilot testing of the modules was also conducted at lnfvhs, poblacion, libacao, aklan. figure 2. map of aklan province (left) and map of poblacion, libacao (right) 158 jpair multidisciplinary research participants the participants of this study included the thirty (30) grade 11 students of the libacao national forestry vocational high school, inclusive of all tracks and strand offerings in the senior high school curriculum, enrolled in the current school year 2019-2020, as well as thirty (30) learning experts (science teachers, lrmds coordinators, textbook writers, and ict experts). thirty (30) grade 11 students were the respondents in assessing the leastmastered competencies. ten (10) students from the thirty (30) respondents were chosen as key informants using criterion sampling to join the focused group discussion (fgd) during the evaluation phase. they were able to meet these criteria: a.) the student is verbose; b.) and able to share his/her experience regarding the topics very well. all respondents were the ones who evaluated the learner’s material and the video-based module. thirty (30) experts evaluated the teacher’s guide. ten (10) of the learning experts were chosen using purposive sampling to join the focused group discussion (fgd) during the implementation and evaluation phases of the study. the experts were composed of textbook writers, science teachers, lrmds coordinators, and ict experts. the same fgd key informants evaluated the video-based module and the learner’s material. instrumentation there were five (5) data gathering instruments used in this study: (a) the researcher-made test, (b) fgd protocol for learning experts, (c) fgd protocol for students, (d) learning material evaluation form (lmef) for print materials, and (e) learning material evaluation form (lmef) for non-print material. a. the researcher-made test. the researcher-made test was used during the analysis phase to determine the students’ least-mastered skills in bioenergetics. there were five competencies where the 50-item multiplechoice test was generated from: (1) explain how cells carry out functions required for life (cellular structure and function); (2) explain how photosynthetic organisms use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form energy-rich compounds (photosynthetic reactions); (3) trace the energy flow from the environment to the cells (energy flow); (4) describe how organisms obtain and utilize energy (acquisition and utilization of energy); and, (5) recognize that organisms require energy to carry out functions required for life (life processes). the results of the test revealed the competencies to be used in the creation of the proposed 159 international peer reviewed journal learning package. initially, there were 60 items of multiple-choice questions created using a table of specifications (tos) (appendix b): twelve (12) items per competency. the kr-20 was the reliability test used in identifying the final tos and the 50 questions. after validation and reliability testing, a total of 50 item test questions were created from the original test. this number was equally divided among the five learning competencies under bioenergetics. validity. the instrument used in this research underwent content validation by a jury composed of five (5) members who were selected based on their expertise in research and test construction to ensure the validity of the test questions, fgd protocols, and evaluation forms. the jury was requested by the researcher to evaluate the format, wording, and content of the instruments. the researcher made sure that the suggestions, comments, and recommendations made by the jury were considered in the revision of the questionnaire to guarantee the suitability of the questions for data collection. reliability. after validating the contents of the instrument, a reliability test was done. for the researcher-made test for least-mastered bioenergetics competency, a dry run was conducted to one section of the grade 11 students. the results of the test underwent item analysis, and from the original 60-item multiple-choice questions, it went down to an improved 50-item test. kr20 was used and yielded to an r-value of 0.768. b. the learning material evaluation form (lmef) for print modules. the learning material evaluation form (lmef) for print modules was used to assess the acceptability level of the print materials. this was adapted from navejas’ (2017) dissertation integration of pedagogical content knowledge (pck) in the learning module on mathematics in the modern world. the teacher’s guide was evaluated by the learning experts while the learner’s material was evaluated by both the students and the learning experts. the lmef evaluated the following aspects of a good learning resource material: (a)physical aspects,(b) learning outcomes, (c) earth and life science content and processes, (d) instructional design, (e) learning activities, (f ) evaluation procedure, and, (g) relevance of the learning material in enhancing the experiential learning level of students. c. learning material evaluation form (lmef) for non-print modules. the learning material evaluation form (lmef) for non-print modules was used to evaluate the video-based module. this was adapted from 160 jpair multidisciplinary research the department of education’s learning resource management and development system (deped lrmds) quality assurance form for non-print materials. although there were three (3) video-based modules created, they were evaluated as one entity. the respondents were both the students and the learning experts. it evaluated the following criteria of a good learning resource material: (a) content quality, (b) instructional quality, and (c) technical quality. d. focused group discussion (fgd) protocol for experts. the fgd protocol for experts was divided into three parts: (1) introduction, (2) preliminary questions, and (3) learning material specific questions. this was used during the evaluation phase of the study. this was administered to the learning experts. e. focused group discussion (fgd) protocol for students. the fgd protocol was divided into three parts: (1) introduction, (2) preliminary questions, and (3) learning material specific questions. this was used during the evaluation phase of the study. this was administered to the students. research ethics protocol a letter of consent and a waiver were given to the participants to read and sign, stating that all data will remain confidential and that it was purely voluntary and that they may withdraw their participation anytime without penalty. utmost confidentiality of their identity and the data gathered were given importance. the reporting of findings was done as a result of groups and not the results of individuals. the fgd key informants were also informed that their real names were replaced with aliases. for student participants below the legal age, a parent’s consent was given for their parents to sign. proper citations were made for references and tools lifted from literature and other researches. data collection at the onset of the study, a letter of request was sent to the schools division superintendent of deped, division of aklan, to lay down the purpose of the study. all participants were oriented as to the rationale of the study. consent and waivers were required by the respondents. the conduct of the study commenced a week after the letter of approval from the granting agency. a researcher-made test on the concepts under bioenergetics was administered to the students to determine which competency should be used in developing 161 international peer reviewed journal the learning package. once the least-mastered competencies were identified, designing and development of the print and non-print learning materials started. after the learning materials were created, pilot implementation of the learning package was conducted to one section of the grade 11 students. the students were given the learner’s material a week prior to the conduct of the actual lecture for them to read in advance. the experts were given both the learner’s material and teacher’s guide prior to the lecture-discussion. ten (10) learning experts oversaw the conduct of the learner’s material and video-based module. to evaluate the teacher’s guide, one (1) teacher, handling earth and life sciences subject, was asked to conduct the learning package to another section. the demonstration teacher has also seen the conduct of the learning package by the researcher to the other section prior to the return-demonstration. thirty (30) learning experts oversaw the conduct of the teacher’s guide. an initial evaluation of the resource package was conducted. ten (10) randomly selected students and ten (10) learning experts were chosen to evaluate both the learner’s material and video-based module. ten (10) learning experts evaluated the teacher’s guide. after the learning material evaluation form (lmef) were collected, all information (both qualitative and quantitative) were encoded, tabulated, and interpreted. after determining the results of the evaluation, focused group discussion using the fgd protocol was conducted to both students and experts who evaluated the learning package. there were two sessions: one for the experts and one for the students. the discussions served as the basis for the validation of the data they provided on the lmef. the researcher used an audio-recorder to document the information shared by the key informants. after the interview, the notes were transcribed then translated from akeanon (the mode of the language used by the informants) to english. revisions on the learning package were made based on the suggestions, recommendations, and comments of the evaluators and fgd informants. the final evaluation of the resource package was then conducted using the same lmef for print and non-print materials. thirty (30) randomly selected students and ten (10) learning experts were chosen to evaluate both the learner’s material and video-based module. thirty (30) learning experts evaluated the teacher’s guide. using the addie model, the following activities took place in every step of the instructional design model. 162 jpair multidisciplinary research analysis phase. this phase commenced with creating a researcher-made test with a table of specifications (tos) to determine the least-mastered concepts in bioenergetics. after finalizing the researcher-made test through validity and reliability testing, it was administered to one section of the grade 11 students. the results are then encoded, tabulated, and expressed in mean raw scores per competency. the results with mean raw scores of 6.00 and below were determined as least-mastered competencies. once the least-mastered competencies were identified, setting up of timeline for the duration of the rest of the phases of the addie model started. design phase. the design phase started with research on the pedagogical considerations of the learning resource package. the result of the teachermade test determined the competencies to be included in the learning resource package. considerations on how the concepts of the learning resource package were placed in the materials were noted. setting-up of the learner’s material, teacher’s guide, and video-based module were also done taking note of its instructional, visual, auditory, and technical design. the sequencing of the contents of the print materials were also done in this phase. scripts, storyboard, and content knowledge were drafted for both the print and non-print materials. since the print materials mimic the deped’s guidelines, the features of good learning material were based on the mandatory features, as suggested by deped division of aklan memorandum no. 411, s. 2018 (aklan literature and arts teachers convention aklatcon 2018). the memorandum provides the guidelines of a standard module. the mandatory components of the non-print modules mentioned in the memorandum are as follows: title page, overview/ introduction, pre-assessment, general and specific objectives, curriculum guide reference code and duration, content, summary, external links (for enrichment), post-assessment, and references. additional guidelines recommended by the lrmds regarding the content of the material suggests that the discussion should be in a conversational manner. the source materials should be rephrased without grossly changing information. the diagrams should be labeled. important terms should be highlighted. grammatical errors should be monitored and corrected. pictures should be owned by the author or lrmds bank or from the public domain but properly cited. proper color coding for subjects must be observed by placing a box at the upper right corner, and the target grade level identifier. for science, the color code is orange. 163 international peer reviewed journal for non-print modules, specifically for videos, the same memorandum provided guidelines. the videos must be educational in nature and must follow the curriculum guide on the chosen subject area and grade level. content must be suitable for the target user’s level of development. the videos must use original music, theme songs, and related songs or may utilize audios from the public domain. the films must be subtitled in grammatically correct english. the learning resource package designed consisted of the print resource package. the print resource package includes the learner’s material and the teacher’s guide, while the non-print resource package includes the video-based module. development phase. during this phase, the assembly of the parts of the learning resource package were done. video-recording, screen-casting, dubbing, and video-editing of the non-print material were executed in this phase. glocalization in both the print and non-print materials is integrated through (1)the use of mother tongue language (akeanon) in the video-based module; (2) using localized and indigenized materials in the experimentations and other experiential learning activities of both the teacher’s guide and learner’s material; and, (3) integrating a universal language (english) in both the print and non-print materials. the use of varied activities emphasizing the experiential learning, multiple intelligences, and differentiated strategies were seen in the elaboration and extension parts of the print materials. the use of mobile phones, the internet, and the camera in print materials, as well as the use of video in the non-print material, integrates ict in the learning package. to assess student outcomes, pretests and posttests with answer keys were embedded in every chapter and a summative test at the end of the print materials. for ease in printing the pictures as visual aids during teaching, “printables” were added at the end of every chapter of the teacher’s guide. the cover and chapter design of non-print materials were originally designed and created by the researcher. pictures and knowledge contents are taken from public domains were properly cited in the references. the print materials were printed back-to-back using a4 bond paper bounded on the left side with a staple wire. the video-based module is in mp4 format, created and edited using freeware: ezvid for screen-casting and movavi for editing. implementation phase. during this phase, the conduct of the classes using the learning resource package was done. prior to the pilot implementation of the developed module, the orientation of the participants was conducted in accordance with the ethical considerations of this study. the students were 164 jpair multidisciplinary research provided with the learner’s material one (1) week in advance for them to read and study during their vacant time. at the same time, the learning experts were given copies of both the learner’s material and teacher’s guide for them to preevaluate. after the researcher conducted a teaching demonstration to one (1) section of the grade 11 students, a return-demonstration teacher conducted the learning resource package to another section. the research adviser and the learning experts oversaw the conduct of the classes by the researcher and the return-demonstration teacher. evaluation phase. after the demonstration teaching of the researcher, the learning experts and students evaluated the learner’s material and video-based module using the learning material evaluation form (lmef). after the teaching return-demonstration of the demonstration teacher, the experts evaluated the teacher’s guide using the same lmef. thirty (30) students were chosen from the one (1) section to evaluate the learner’s material and video-based module. after analysis of the results of the evaluation, focused group discussion (fgd) was conducted to each set of evaluators to confirm their evaluations and to solicit additional comments and suggestions. based on the results of the fgd and lmef, the learning resource package was revised accordingly. the final evaluation of the learning resource package was then conducted to the revised materials. to ascertain the validity of qualitative data, triangulation was conducted in this study. creswell and creswell (2017) defined triangulation as a procedure to seek convergence of data from multiple sources. these are usually done through member checking, thick description, peer reviews, and external audits. in this research, member checking was done by conducting focus group discussions with participants after the pilot implementation of the learning materials. the external audit was done by having the qualitative data evaluated by science experts not involved in the study. figure 3 shows the summary of the activities in the five stages of the addie model used in this study. 165 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. the data gathering procedure statistical techniques the data collected were treated in two ways. quantitative data was obtained from the results of the researcher-made test and the learning material evaluation form (lmef). a statistical package for the social sciences (spss) version 2.0 166 jpair multidisciplinary research software was used to compute the data. descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used. thematic analysis of the result of the fgd protocols and the written comments and suggestions of the evaluators were used as the qualitative results for the validation of the learning resource. finally, consolidation of interpretations of the results was used as a basis for the final revision of the learning resource package. raw scores in the test were totaled, tabulated, and expressed in mean per intended competency or skill. since there were 5 competencies and a total of 50item test questions, there was a maximum raw score of ten (10) per competency. these were the interpretations for the test: mean score interpretation 8.01-10.00 highly mastered 6.01-8.00 satisfactorily mastered 6.00 and below least mastered the researcher also utilized the learning material evaluation form (lmef) to determine the acceptability level of the learning package. this was reported in mean for every criterion. a four-point likert scale was used to measure their levels. responses for each item of the questionnaire were given scores and interpretations as follows: descriptive rating score range description interpretation excellent (e) 4 3.51-4.00 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards good (g) 3 2.51-3.50 acceptable the learning material has very satisfactorily met the standards fair (f) 2 1.51-2.50 moderately acceptable the learning material has satisfactorily met the standards poor (p) 1 1.00-1.50 barely acceptable the learning material has fairly met the standards 167 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion least mastered competencies in bioenergetics out of the five (5) competencies, three (3) competencies were identified as least mastered. these competencies were: explain how cells carry out functions required for life (m=5.15, sd=2.41); explain how photosynthetic organisms use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form energy-rich compounds (m=4.05, sd=1.76); and, describe how organisms obtain and utilize energy (m=4.20, sd=1.74). the other two (2) competencies, which were: trace the energy flow from the environment to the cells (m=7.15, sd=1.50), and recognize that organisms require energy to carry out functions required for life (m=7.00, sd=1.56), were interpreted as satisfactorily mastered. table 1. least-mastered competencies of students in bioenergetics topic competency (the students will be able to…) mean (n=20) standard deviation interpretation the cell …explain how cells carry out functions required for life 5.15 2.41 least mastered photosynthetic reactions …explain how photosynthetic organisms use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form energy-rich compounds 4.05 1.76 least mastered energy flow …trace the energy flow from the environment to the cells 7.15 1.50 satisfactorily mastered acquisition & utilization of energy …describe how organisms obtain and utilize energy 4.20 1.74 least mastered life processes …recognize that organisms require energy to carry out functions required for life 7.00 1.56 satisfactorily mastered legend: 8.01-10.00 (highly mastered); 6.01-8.00 (satisfactorily mastered); 6.00 and below (least mastered) the result of the study partially conforms with that of parker et al. (2012), indicating that the common misconceptions in bioenergetics were the competencies explain how photosynthetic organisms use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form energy-rich compounds and describe how organisms obtain and utilize energy. in this study, the same competencies were 168 jpair multidisciplinary research generated as the least mastered with the addition of the competency explain how cells carry out functions required for life. this implies that misconceptions in a certain topic often negatively affects the learner’s mastery of the topic’s competency. during focused group discussions among the students and experts, the following themes were generated as reasons why the three (3) concepts were least mastered: skipped lessons, teacher’s lack of content mastery, unavailability of instructional materials, insufficient experiential learning, unstimulating nature and unfamiliar terminologies. skipped lesson. during focused group discussion, the students revealed that the identified least-mastered concepts in bioenergetics were usually skipped during their classes in junior high school. they were only given a summary of the concepts on the said topics. teacher’s lack of content mastery. during the fgd with the experts, one of the reasons why teachers skip topics or lessons in science is primarily because of the teachers’ lack of competence on the said topics themselves. unavailability of instructional materials. another reason for the leastmastered competency, according to the experts, is the unavailability of instructional materials for hands-on activities. both experts and students have only experienced a few of them in the form of textbooks and some traditional manila paper as visual aids. insufficient experiential learning. although experiential learning has been experienced by students and experts in forms of field trips; activities outside the classroom; integration of multiple intelligences in science such as role-play, dances and songs; and, laboratory experimentations; most informants claimed that there were less hands-on activities during the discussions of topics in bioenergetics. experts believe that additional instructional materials should be integrated when discussing science concepts. they also added that hands-on activities were affected by the lack of available equipment and instructional materials. unstimulating nature and unfamiliar terminologies. another reason why the three competencies (the cell, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration) were generated as the least-mastered competencies is because of the nature and level of difficulty of the concepts themselves. the concepts, according to the students and most experts, are boring and contains a lot of incomprehensible terminologies. in general, most students and experts agree that the three least-mastered competencies have concepts with unfamiliar terminologies and uncommon formulas. the experts believe that appropriate modifications to their strategies should be made to make sure understanding of these concepts. 169 international peer reviewed journal the glocalized experiential learning infused resource package there were three (3) learning materials developed after the identification of the least-mastered competencies in bioenergetics. there were two (2) print materials, namely, the teacher’s guide and the learner’s material. the non-print material was the video-based module. the learning materials have the same content knowledge based on the results of the researcher-made test. the topics in the learning package are (1) the cell, (2) photosynthetic reactions, and (3) acquisition and utilization of energy. glocalization and experiential learning theory were the focus in designing and developing the said glocalized experiential learning-infused resource package in earth and life science. the assembly of parts of the learning resource package, typing, lay outing, cover and chapter designing, binding, video recording, screen-casting, dubbing, and video editing were executed by the researcher. glocalization in both the print and non-print materials is integrated through (1) the use of mother tongue language (akeanon) in the video-based module; (2) using localized and indigenized materials in the experimentations and other experiential learning activities of both the teacher’s guide and learner’s material; and, (3) integrating a universal language (english) in both the print and non-print materials. the use of varied activities emphasizing experiential learning, multiple intelligences, and differentiated strategies were seen in the elaboration and extension parts of the print materials. the use of mobile phones, the internet, and the camera in the print material, as well as the use of video in the non-print material, integrates ict in the learning package. to assess student outcomes, pretests and posttests with answer keys were embedded in every chapter and a summative test at the end of the print materials. for ease in printing the pictures as visual aids during teaching, “printables” were added at the end of every chapter of the teacher’s guide. the cover and chapter design of non-print materials were originally designed and created by the researcher. pictures and knowledge contents are taken from public domains were properly cited in the references. revisions of the learning resource package for bioenergetics were based on the results of initial evaluations as well as the qualitative findings from focused group discussions. aside from technicalities and a few contextual errors, only additional page components were added to the nonprint materials. there was a major revamp on the musicality of the video-based module to meet the demands as suggested during the fgd. 170 jpair multidisciplinary research a. learner’s material the learner’s material was printed back-to-back using a4 bond paper bounded on the left side with a staple wire. a spine containing the title and the type of learning material hides the binding. the text font is times new roman, size 12, and line spacing at 2pt. learner’s material was written in a conversational manner. it has a total of 42 pages. b. teacher’s guide the teacher’s guide was printed back-to-back using a4 bond paper bounded on the left side with a staple wire. a spine containing the title and the type of learning material hides the binding. the text font is times new roman, size 12, and line spacing at 2pt. the teacher’s guide was written similarly to a detailed lesson plan. the design mimics that of the learner’s material but with a few differences, including the font colors of the cover and chapter pages. there was no separate page for the answer key as the answers were already written at the bottom of every test and activities. the initially developed teacher’s guide was modified and added with other pages based on the suggestions during the focused group discussions and during the preoral defense. it has a total of 58 pages. c. video-based module the video-based module is in mp4 format, created and edited using freeware: ezvid for screen-casting and movavi for editing. the script of this nonprint material was written in a conversational manner. this was intended to supplement the learner’s material during the lesson for further retention. the content of the video-based module is similar to the content of the learner’s material and teacher’s guide except that the concepts are in audio-video format. changes in its technical quality were applied based on the suggestions from the fgd. 171 international peer reviewed journal table 2. major features of the learning resource package features learner’s material teacher’s guide video-based module cover page about the developer’s page / introductory video title page / graphic introduction copyright page 172 jpair multidisciplinary research features learner’s material teacher’s guide video-based module knowledge checker / graphic illustrations assessment the features of a good learning material used in this study were based on the mandatory features, as suggested by deped division of aklan memorandum no. 411, s. 2018 (aklan literature and arts teachers convention aklatcon 2018). the memorandum provides the guidelines of a standard module. the mandatory components of the nonprint modules mentioned in the memorandum are as follows: title page, overview/introduction, pre-assessment, general and specific objectives, curriculum guide reference code and duration, content, summary, external links (for enrichment), post-assessment, and references. the san diego community college district (2015) also released the basic components of a good module. according to their guidelines, “…this type of customization creates a learning path that meets the needs of individual learners.” each module consists of 7 components. these are (1) pre-assessment; (2) learning objectives; (3) assigned reading; (4) assigned writing; (5) exercise/ activities; (6) for further study; and, (7) assessment. additional guidelines recommended by the lrmds regarding the content of the material suggests that the discussion should be in a conversational manner. the source materials should be rephrased without grossly changing information. the diagrams should be labeled. important terms should be highlighted. grammatical errors should be monitored and corrected. pictures should be owned by the author or lrmds bank or from the public domain but properly cited. proper color coding for subjects must be observed by placing a box at the upper right corner, and the target grade level identifier. for science, the color code is orange. 173 international peer reviewed journal for non-print modules, specifically for videos, the same memorandum provided guidelines. the videos must be educational in nature and follow the curriculum guide on the chosen subject area and grade level. content must be suitable for the target user’s level. the videos must use original music, theme songs, and related songs or may utilize audios from the public domain. the films must be subtitled in grammatically correct english. according to cerezo merchán et al. (2017), some guidelines must be followed in creating a video. this study suggested considering the needs of people with sensory disabilities during the processes of audiovisual preproduction, production, and post-production to improve the level of accessibility of audiovisual works. the average attention span continues to shrink, so the shorter the video, the better. a quality microphone is needed, and it should be recorded in high-resolution 720p or hd, which has a resolution of 1280x720. a widescreen 16:9 ratio must be used. giving audience click-to-play control over the videos is the polite thing to do. the aforementioned guidelines were taken into consideration in creating the print and non-print learning materials in this study. acceptability of the print resource package the print resource package includes the learner’s material and the teacher’s guide. a. learner’s material tables 2 summarizes the acceptability of the learner’s material in terms of physical aspects, learning outcomes, earth and life science content and processes, experiential learning activities, evaluation procedure, and relevance of the material to experiential learning. the learner’s material was evaluated by thirty (30) students and ten (10) learning experts. the total weighted mean of the learner’s material in all criteria was rated at 3.70(sd=0.054), which is very acceptable. as interpreted, the value means that the learning material has excellently met the standards. 174 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. over-all summary of acceptability of the developed learner’s material criteria weighted mean sd description interpretation physical aspects 3.80 0.162 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards learning outcomes 3.66 0.163 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards earth and life science content and processes 3.69 0.182 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards experiential learning activities 3.68 0.153 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards evaluation procedure 3.66 0.198 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards relevance of the material to experiential learning 3.73 0.090 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards total weighted mean: 3.70 0.054 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards legend: 3.51-4.00 (very acceptable); 2.51-3.50 (acceptable); 1.51-2.50 (moderately acceptable) 1.00-1.50 (barely acceptable) during focused group discussions among the students and experts, the following were the common themes generated for the qualitative aspects of the learner’s material: physical properties; design and layout; assessment formatting; and, learning activities. physical properties. a student and an expert mentioned that the cover should be more durable than its current state and should be changed to at least a board paper. design and layout. this aspect has the biggest bulk of comments and suggestions from the students and experts. most of the comments are on the formatting of texts and pictures. some students commented about the font layout and design. areas for improvement for the pictures, diagrams, and illustrations were also noted by the experts. other experts also noted some layout errors in the learner’s material and provided some recommendations. assessment formatting. this theme is focused on the informants’ comments and suggestions about the formulation of questions in the assessment part of the learner’s material. the comments were mostly on the posttests. one student also 175 international peer reviewed journal noted the conceptual error in one of the posttests. one of the experts in the fgd was able to attend a seminar about the formulation of multiple-choice questions. learning activities. this theme refers to the comments and suggestions of the informants regarding the embedded various learning activities of the learner’s material. most comments are positive. another student commented about the stand-alone quality of the learner’s material and its ability to promote independent learning. b. teacher’s guide table 3 summarizes the acceptability of the teacher’s guide in terms of physical aspects, learning outcomes, earth and life science content and processes, experiential learning activities, evaluation procedure, and relevance of the material to experiential learning. the teacher’s guide was evaluated by thirty (30) learning experts. the total weighted mean of the teacher’s guide in all criteria was rated at 3.65 (sd=0.079), which is very acceptable. as interpreted, the value means that the learning material has excellently met the standards. table 4. over-all summary of acceptability of the developed teacher’s guide criteria weighted mean (n=30) sd description interpretation physical aspects 3.70 0.179 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards learning outcomes 3.76 0.152 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards earth and life science content and processes 3.68 0.172 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards experiential learning activities 3.55 0.051 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards evaluation procedure 3.58 0.088 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards relevance of the material to experiential learning 3.61 0.153 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards total weighted mean: 3.65 0.079 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards legend: 3.51-4.00 (very acceptable) 2.51-3.50 (acceptable) 1.51-2.50 (moderately acceptable) 1.00-1.50 (barely acceptable) 176 jpair multidisciplinary research during focused group discussions among the experts, the following were the common themes generated for the qualitative aspects of the teacher’s guide: similarity to comments for the learner’s material; additional layout and design suggestions; and, comprehensiveness of the teacher’s guide. similarity to comments for the learner’s material. all comments for the teacher’s guide came from the experts only. the experts mentioned the same suggestions they had for the learner’s material in terms of physical properties, design and layout, and assessment formatting. additional layout and design suggestions. on top of the comments and suggestions for layout and design of the learner’s material, additional comments were noted by the experts. one of the experts mentioned that there should be a modification of the design of the teacher’s guide from the learner’s material. an ict expert also suggested removing the “glow” effects of the chapter title pages. comprehensiveness of the teacher’s guide. the learning experts noted the completeness of the teacher’s guide in the teaching-learning process. experts said that the tg is more detailed. the information is not overloaded but still complete. the acceptability levels of the print resource package conform with tanespinar and ballado’s (2017) research that the learning package were rated very high by both teachers and students even though there were some areas for improvement. this confirms that despite how impeccable an instructional material looks like, there are always suggestions on how it should be finalized. revision is a necessary part of the entire process of product development. instructional materials provide ideas and practices which frame classroom activities to be as smooth as possible. thus, validation among experts and users is essential. acceptability of the non-print resource package the non-print resource package generated from this study is the videobased module. table 4 summarizes the acceptability of the video-based module in terms of content quality, instructional quality, and technical quality. the video-based module was evaluated by thirty (30) students and ten (10) learning experts. the total weighted mean of the video-based module in all criteria was rated at 3.62 (sd=0.143), which is very acceptable. as interpreted, the value means that the learning material has excellently met the standards. 177 international peer reviewed journal table5. over-all summary of acceptability of the developed video-based module criteria weighted mean (n=30) sd description interpretation content quality 3.76 0.152 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards instructional quality 3.62 0.148 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards technical quality 3.48 0.152 acceptable the learning material has very satisfactorily met the standards total weighted mean: 3.62 0.143 very acceptable the learning material has excellently met the standards legend: 3.51-4.00 (very acceptable) 2.51-3.50 (acceptable) 1.51-2.50 (moderately acceptable) 1.00-1.50(barely acceptable) during focused group discussions among the experts, the following were the common themes generated for the qualitative aspects of the video-based module: audio quality, video quality, and video-based module as supplemental and independent learning material. audio quality. the audio quality of the video-based module was rated as the lowest criterion in the acceptability survey for non-print materials. both the students and the experts agreed that improvements should be done on the narration and the musicality of the material. for the background music sans narration, both sets of informants agreed that instrumental music should be used as background. based on these comments, an expert provided suggestions as to where to download good audio materials. video quality. the animations, illustrations, and other properties of the videos were commented by the informants. experts suggested that the animations and illustrations should be in synchrony with the narratives. for better video editing experience, one informant suggested a freeware. aside from the windows moviemaker and ezvid, the expert suggested movavi. video-based module as supplemental and independent learning material. both sets of informants agreed that the video-based module is good complementary learning material for the teacher’s guide and learner’s material. the material is also a stand-alone that a student can learn independently using only the video. to further strengthen the video-based module’s ability to enhance the learning 178 jpair multidisciplinary research of concepts and mastery of competencies, informants suggested adding captions or subtitles so that students can follow through the narration. the acceptability level of the non-print resource package agrees with the study conducted by chong et al. (2005). this study revealed that despite the fact that the video-based module produced conformed to the requirements of students in terms of contents, instructional, and technical quality, it is believed that it still has some room for improvement, especially on the audio and video quality. this also concurs with the study of larawan (2013) as the developed non-print resource package is an effective and flexible instructional material that helps students learn the lessons seamlessly. conclusions the study aimed towards the development and evaluation of glocalized experiential learning-infused resource package in earth and life science. experiential learning is theorized to improve students’ mastery of the competencies in earth and life sciences, specifically the concepts in bioenergetics. based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn. most students in grade 11 of libacao national forestry vocational high school have difficulties in three (3) out of the five (5) competencies in bioenergetics. these competencies were: explain how cells carry out functions required for life; explain how photosynthetic organisms use light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form energy-rich compounds; and describe how organisms obtain and utilize energy. the difficulties were mainly due to both teacher and learner factors. these include the fact that the identified least mastered concepts were oftentimes skipped by teachers during their elementary and junior high school years. the teachers’ reasons for skipping the lessons include low mastery of the concepts and misalignment of teaching loads to non-science major teachers. other reasons for the low mastery levels of students include unavailability of instructional materials for the said concepts, insufficient experiential learning activities, the boring nature of the topics, and the unfamiliar terminologies associated with the concepts. when learning materials are glocalized, contextualized, and infused with experiential learning activities, learners are more likely to be engaged in learning the concepts. furthermore, conversational manner of teaching, as well as the use of varied learning materials to supplement traditional teaching methods, are proven to enhance understanding of the topics. teachers aided with the 179 international peer reviewed journal teacher’s guide find it easier to impart knowledge and master the competencies themselves. lastly, video-based modules are the best response to address the needs of 21st century-learners who are more visual when it comes to learning. the learning package helps in encouraging independent learning and also a good source of supplemental learning material not just for grade 11 but also for other grade levels. the overall rating of both the print and non-print resource package were very high or very acceptable to both the experts and the users. with the resource package’s handiness, engaging designs, ease of comprehension, learning activities that are simple and easy to follow, and the fact that the package is both stand-alone and complementary would likely improve the participant’s experiential learning and thus, enhance their mastery of the competencies under bioenergetics. therefore, developing a glocalized experiential learning-infused resource package in earth and life science with the aforementioned features could significantly improve the students’ performance in bioenergetics. translational research the study was able to create three instructional materials in science, namely learner’s material, teacher’s guide, and the video-based module. these products will pave the way towards the development of other resource packages not just in science but also in other subjects. the materials are undergoing a copyright process at the national library to be followed by its mass production and distribution among heis and beis. aside from hard copies, digital copies are also being reproduced. literature cited chong, j. l. s., yunos, j. m., spahat, g., & onn, k. u. t. t. h. (2005). the development and evaluation of an e-module for pneumatics technology.  malaysian j. instructional technology. 2 (3): 25,  33. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ojdxc4 creswell, j. w., & creswell, j. d. (2017). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. sage publications. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2zhznb9 https://bit.ly/2ojdxc4 https://bit.ly/2zhznb9 https://bit.ly/2zhznb9 180 jpair multidisciplinary research department of education, division of aklan. (2018, november 23) d.o. #411, s. 2018: aklan literature and arts teachers’ convention (aklatcon 2018). retrieved from http://depedaklan.org/documents/aklan-literature-and-artsteachers-convention-ak11232018140041.pdf instructional design. (2019). addie model. retrieved from instructional design. org https://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/addie/ larawan, l. (2013). acceptability of teacher-made modules in production management. international journal of managerial studies and research, 1(2), 10-22. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3gcznue cerezo merchán, b., de higes andino, i., galán, e., & arnau roselló, r. (2017). montaje audiovisual e integración de la audiodescripción en la producción documental estudio de caso del documental vidas olímpicas.  intralinea, 2017, num. 19, p. 1-17. retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10550/64773 official gazzette. (2013). republic act 10533. retrieved from https://www. officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/15/republic-act-no-10533/ parker, j. m., anderson, c. w., heidemann, m., merrill, j., merritt, b., richmond, g., & urban-lurain, m. (2012). exploring undergraduates’ understanding of photosynthesis using diagnostic question clusters.  cbe—life sciences education,  11(1), 47-57. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.1107-0054 robertson, r. (2013). a relatively autobiographical intervention.  global themes and local variations in organization and management: perspectives on glocalization, 25. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xdbdgy tan-espinar, m. j. f., & ballado, r. s. (2017). content validity and acceptability of a developed worktext in basic mathematics 2.  asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 5(1). retrieved from https://bit.ly/3jppdbe trinidad, j.e. (2020). material resources, school climate, and achievement variations in the philippines: insights from pisa 2018. international journal of educational development 75(1). retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijedudev.2020.102174 http://depedaklan.org/documents/aklan-literature-and-arts-teachers-convention-ak11232018140041.pdf http://depedaklan.org/documents/aklan-literature-and-arts-teachers-convention-ak11232018140041.pdf https://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/addie/ http://hdl.handle.net/10550/64773 https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/15/republic-act-no-10533/ https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/15/republic-act-no-10533/ https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-07-0054 https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-07-0054 https://bit.ly/3jppdbe 142 jpair multidisciplinary research social networking business: finding the e-commerce niche for the aspiring cebu city entrepreneurs in the era of the new normal antoniette m. almaden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-7501 antoniettealmaden@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university cebu city, philippines marie love elizabeth y. sombilon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5887-2210 marielovesombilon@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university cebu city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract social networking is one of the most active web-based activities that have become so extensive in the philippines, dedicated and committed to helping startups to make the first steps in business direction. the purpose of this study is to evaluate the current status and underlying motives why the majority of the cebu city residents transitioned to online business sellers, also to identify the positive and negative influences of e-commerce using the social networking platforms in the new normal. the survey questionnaire was administered to cebu city online sellers regardless of its type and size of business. triangulation mixed method design was used to creatively integrate qualitative and quantitative vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.793 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 143 international peer reviewed journal approaches obtained from sampling and in-depth interviews of respondents. the positive influences of e-commerce for the aspiring entrepreneurs were identified: additional income and encouraged productivity while on quarantine, it lessened the anxiety and diverted the negative thoughts brought by the coronavirus pandemic, and increased selling skills. the study discovered that 65.69% of the cebu city online sellers used and recommended the social media platform, facebook, as the most effective social networking site for aspiring entrepreneurs to start for business and reach a great number of people from diverse backgrounds easily and quickly. keywords — business, e-commerce, cebu city online sellers, triangulation mixed method design, philippines introduction the rise of the trendy technology within the twenty-first century became the most important breakthrough of all time. individuals will currently purchase things with simply the tip of fingers, order food, book hotels, and transportation, individuals will currently access to a bank account with the assistance of online banking and even search its favorite brand online. certainly, the convenience of those online platforms helped individual life simply, particularly within the era of the new normal. the discovery of the coronavirus (sars-cov-2) and the spread of covid-19 have led many governments to take drastic measures. the lockdown of large parts of society and economic life has come as an exogenous shock to many economic actors, not least innovative startups. (kuckertz, 2020). the rapid outbreak of the coronavirus presents an alarming crisis that the world is grappling with. the first quarter this year, when the philippine department of health reported and confirmed the first local transmission case of covid-19 in the country with a 38-year-old female chinese national (who, 2020), as virus knows no borders, it resulted the lockdowns in of the major cities that crippled businesses big and small in the country. as strict confinement measures implemented nationwide, cebu city mayor edgardo labella declared an enhanced community quarantine (ecq) status, directed all residents of cebu city to stay at home, and movement outside their home shall be allowed only for the purpose of accessing basic necessities. in effect, some business establishments were ordered close while establishments 144 jpair multidisciplinary research classified as essential goods like food manufacturers or suppliers, public markets, supermarkets, groceries, bakeshops, convenience stores, and others were allowed to operate until scheduled curfew time (eo64, 2020). henceforth, the e-commerce industry using the different social networking platforms available, e.g., facebook, instagram, wechat, twitter, and etc. have churned out its growth, which became a trend, helped individuals of cebu city transitioned to an online seller. entrepreneurship can reduce the negative effects of the crisis, such as the covid-19 pandemic, has shown that current thinking about the relationship between entrepreneurship and crises has been shaped, for better or worse, by how we as researchers define and classify crises, by the crisis concepts and related segments of the crisis event sequence we have focused on or had access to, as well as the contexts we study and the methods employed. we have learned that whether and how entrepreneurs respond to a crisis may depend on several factors including experience, stage of business development, the type or stage of the crisis impacting on the business, and resources, both in terms of how the resource is utilized as well as the suitability of resources for the stage of the crisis (doern, williams, & vorley, 2019). business competition among companies has led to major changes. thus, companies must be responsive to the business strategy implemented by competitors and create business opportunities that can generate profits. one way is to implement a blue ocean strategy that allows businesses to create a niche market to get out the red ocean competition so that competition becomes irrelevant (hanifah, 2015). smes are a respected source of employment and future development prospects for many countries across the globe. therefore, for sustainability in today’s competitive and over-advertised marketplace, firms need to identify and specify their potential market place, and it is crucial and essential for smes to be more focused on their target market and to identify their potential market to save marketing budgets and be able to face the global challenge (kumar, 2015). objective of the study the main thrust of the study is to evaluate the current status and underlying motives why the majority of the cebu city residents transitioned to online business sellers during the quarantine period. 145 international peer reviewed journal specifically, it aims to answer the following objectives, (1) to describe the characteristics of the respondents, (2) to determine how new normal affect cebu city residents that influenced the majority to transition to an online business seller, (3) to find positive and negative influences of e-commerce using the social networking platforms that could be identified during the quarantine period, and (4) to design a social networking platform that could be recommended for the aspiring cebu city entrepreneurs. methodology research design the study used the triangulation mixed method design to creatively integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches obtained from a convenience sampling technique to determine the cebu city online sellers, which were considered representative of the total population. also, an in-depth interview was conducted to verify valuable information for the development of the study. respondents researchers administered the online survey to the 102 online sellers through google form, which were considered representative of the cebu city online seller’s total population. the following is the summary of the respondent’s demographic profile gathered from the first set of the online survey questionnaire: qualitative approach survey results in-depth interviews 146 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1: the demographic composition of sample used (n = 102 respondents) demographic characteristics n percentage (%) gender female 69 67.65% male 33 32.35% age 25 – 34 years old 53 52% 18 – 24 years old 31 30.40% 35 – 44 years old 13 12.70% 45 – 54 years old 4 3.90% under 18 years old 1 1% civil status single (never married) 72 70.60% married, or in a domestic partnership 29 28.40% annulled 1 1% location (top 5 barangay level) barangay tisa 11 10.80% barangay punta princesa 8 7.80% barangay guadalupe 6 5.90% barangay sambag i 6 5.90% barangay labangon 5 4.90% educational level completed (top 3 highest degree completed) bachelor’s degree (e.g. ba, bs) 64 62.70% some college, no degree 18 17.60% less than a high school diploma 8 7.80% results and discussion demographics is one of the most important factors affecting entrepreneurship, job creation, and innovation, which change shapes all issues that occupy most economic discussion during the era of the new normal such as education, employment policy, taxes, technological changes, and more. about 67.65% of the cebu city online sellers constituted to the female group, which are emerging as dominant sellers on social commerce sites as collaborative shopping tools and 147 international peer reviewed journal local language interfaces such as chat, videos, and live in-app telecast that attracts a new wave of customers from smaller towns to cities. most empirical studies find a peak age for business creation. the general consensus of the study discovered that about 52% of the cebu city online sellers concentrated to the age group of 25 to 34 years old, who were recognized presumably unfettered, willing to take risks, have low discount rates, and are undeterred from challenging established ways of doing things. moreover, about 70.60% of the single (never married) group identified as the highest number of the cebu city online seller’s population, which were categorically considered to have more friends and bigger social networks than married, and annulled people do. cebu city is the first-class, highly urbanized city of the island of cebu with a total population of 922,611 people, making it the fifth-most populated city in the visayas. as the city comprised of 80 barangays, the researchers discovered that about 10.80% of the cebu city online sellers were residing from barangay tisa, and followed by barangay punta princesa with 7.80% ranked as second, and barangay guadalupe and barangay sambag i both with 5.90% as the third populated online sellers of cebu city. the majority of the cebu city online sellers, about 62.70% were a bachelor’s degree holder, 17.60% of respondents identified as some college level, and about 7.80% of less than some high school diploma respondents. there were also about 3.90% of respondents who completed the associate degree and master’s degree. conclusively, 66.70% of the online seller’s academic background were not related to business. table 2. consolidated descriptive statistics for the cebu city online sellers respondents n % employment status (top 3 current employment status) employed full time (40 or more hours per week) 40 39.20% self-employed 17 16.70% student 14 13.70 the era of the new normal is continuously changing. there were many employed workers facing new challenges from the different interventions such as work suspension, flexible work arrangements in non-essential sectors, work continuance in essential sectors, and enforced the rule of law. given these 148 jpair multidisciplinary research interventions, employees have resulted in other problems or issues, i.e., a decline in revenues of sectors and closure of some businesses included in the ban, reduction of income for those working in included sectors, and no income for those in the “no work no pay” sectors. also, public transport is not available and need to ensure social distancing, which made these employed workers resort to other means and transitioned them to an online business seller. there were about 8.80% of individuals were classified as unemployed and currently looking for work, and 7.80% are classified as employed part-time status who joined the bandwagon of online sellers in cebu city. the researchers have discovered that about 33% identified cebu city online sellers were employed workers that worked in the private sector, 14% constituted to both the non-profit and government organization, and 25% classified as not employed online sellers. table 3. respondents’ monthly income during the quarantine period respondents n % financial status: current monthly income (top 3 highest monthly income) less than 10,000 pesos 42 41.20% 11,000 – 20, 000 pesos 24 23.50% above 50,000 pesos 19 18.60% while the amelioration fund of the department of labor and employment is worth php 1.5 billion, which can cover 300,000 workers. the unconditional cash transfer has an appropriation of php 36 billion under the 2020 general appropriations act, which covers 10 million individuals (neda, 2020). the 41.20% was identified to the cluster of the non-employed online sellers, while 23.50% was classified as employed online sellers. the group with a monthly income above 50,000 pesos were identified as individuals who already have an existing business and expanded their business activity online. considering the government support and aside from doing online business, there were still individuals struggling for their day-to-day expenses, some of the online sellers also resorted to freelance jobs like teaching and tutorial services, creative designs, and some extended their source of income through live in-app gigs/entertainment telecast and vending on streets. 149 international peer reviewed journal business market opportunities for the online sellers of cebu city: no matter how the covid-19 pandemic made a huge stressor shaking up the psyche, triggering the fears and uncertainties of the sugboanons, there were also opportunities in some areas seeing an unexpected rise in demand which transitioned them to an online seller. caterers/food providers there has been a surge in demand for home delivery with more and more people staying indoors and practicing social distancing, which made the 45% of the online sellers as caterers or providers for comfort food like pastry, food trays, packed meals, vegetables, seafood and meat, and among others. delivery services like grab, lalamove, maxim, and angkas are all experiencing increased demand for their services as well. increase demand for hand sanitation/face mask/air purifier and others the crisis has created a sudden demand for hand sanitizers, face masks, etc. among businesses, hospitals, and personal consumers. about 29.41% of the online sellers offer and focus on selling the personal protective essentials and constituted the 44.10% described as the retailing and wholesaling business of these quarantine essentials, while 37.30% were privately-owned business. in effect, 52.90% of the online seller in cebu city offered the same products in the market during the covid-19 pandemic. hardware stores were seeing unprecedented demand for tools and hardware supplies as consumers in self-isolation used the time to complete home improvement projects. and with most active hubs closed and the virus keeping everyone indoors, consumers were turning to home equipment, exercise bikes, weights, and personal fitness trackers and other gear to stay fit while confined. which made the 7.84% online sellers engaged in a buy and sell activity for their old stuff. the researchers discovered that 65.69 % of the online sellers used facebook in selling their products and reaching their market easily, while 34.31% solely used instagram. and the majority of them joined business groups like facebook market, let’s eat bai, mangaon ta bai, cebu online tindahan, cebu buy and sell, punta princesa market, cebu market market, and among others, as it was convenient in reaching their market easily and it is a low-cost marketing strategy which makes it ideal for small to medium businesses with a limited marketing budget. also, facebook is a place where online sellers can upload pictures and 150 jpair multidisciplinary research videos from businesses with fewer photography skills required. it can’t all be sunshine and rainbows in the online industry, and like the other social platforms, instagram does have some drawbacks for brands. primary challenge why few online sellers did not highly recommend instagram for the reason that it required great photography skills in order to captivate the audience and jumpstart engagements. table 3 revealed the top 3 reasons why cebu city online sellers decided to engage in online business. on the query: are there any positive and negative influences of e-commerce using the social networking platforms that could be identified during the quarantine period? table 4. reasons why cebu city online sellers decided to engaged in online business positive influences frequency percentage rank additional income and encouraged productivity while on quarantine. 65 63.70% 1 st it lessened the anxiety and diverted the negative thoughts brought by the coronavirus pandemic. 27 26.50% 2nd passion or love doing business online, thus increased selling skills 10 9.80% 3rd respondents who shared a portion of the 9.80% said that they always wanted to have a business, but were scared to take the first step. and since everything is already online, they ventured out, saw it explode in potential, and leveraged their online profile into business relationships and contacts. in effect, about 94.10% of the online sellers attested that having their online business honestly helped them cope up with their financial difficulties and their day-to-day function during the pandemic. as many people discovered newfound hope in online selling amid the harsh disruption of covid-19, there were also few negative influences of e-commerce that made online sellers uncertain from pursuing their online business in the future; that is, the ever-changing sales tax landscape placed more compliance obligations to online businesses. as the government agency, bir announced that persons or entities engaged in business or earning income from “digital transactions through the use of any electronic platforms and media, and other digital means” are required to register and be “tax compliant.” (manila bulletin, 2020). secondly, the ripple effect on the supply chain was being felt by 151 international peer reviewed journal manufacturers all the way to the end-users, which resulted in limited inventory, frustrated customers, and worst canceled orders. the last set of questionnaire was only a formal validation of the prevalent impacts of e-commerce to the online sellers of cebu city. based on the gathered data conducted, the researchers discovered that 65.69% of the online sellers used and recommended the social networking platform, facebook, as the most effective social networking site for aspiring entrepreneurs to start for business and reach a great number of people from diverse background easily and quickly. this cluster also confirmed that they still want to pursue doing online business even after the pandemic. conclusions the covid-19 pandemic has had a colossal impact on the ways that we tend to live, work, socialize, and shop. several customers were avoiding going to the stores, malls, and in any public places over the last few months. the new normal we’re all living in additionally represents an opportunity for e-commerce. a lot of people were buying online than ever before, and industries that have historically struggled to break into e-commerce were seeing new growth. and this trend is ready to continue, with e-commerce penetration rates set to rise even after the global crisis – coronavirus pandemic. a niche is merely a smaller and a lot of specific section of a bigger market, hence, aspiring entrepreneurs much choose and understand their niche is essential if they need to draw in the proper customers to the e-commerce store. choosing a niche means online sellers can focus on a specific market group with less competition. counterintuitive though it may seem, this can actually lead to higher revenue than trying to do too many things all at once. focusing on a niche market also gives the online sellers the opportunity to get to know their customers base on a deeper level. knowing their target market inside and out is one of the most critical keys to ecommerce success. and finally, when online sellers choose their niche, they must start by considering what they care about, starting with their passions and interests is paramount. market demand, potential profitability, availability of products, and their competition must also be considered. 152 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of the study may be translated to various social networking platforms for the integration of both online and offline experiences for customers and brand relationships during the era of the new normal, if not, further brand awareness with inbound marketing strategy must be reinforced to increase social media engagements. effective alternative methods such as regular content production, infographics and visual content, multimedia, demos, free trials, samples, interactive content, remarketing, email tagline, industry publications, guest blogging, referral programs, local or industry partnerships, community involvement may be used in the brand awareness drive. recommendation it is recommended that social media platform, facebook, as the niche for the aspiring entrepreneurs of cebu city to start for business and reach a great number of people from diverse background easily and quickly, supported with safety and security in mind. also, the infusion of other social networking sites like youtube and mobile application may be worth exploring for the following valuable reasons, (1) to increase business patrons through the help of vloggers, and; (2) cebuano online sellers may expand their business exposure through leb app, the first cebuano app for food and delivery services, created to support the local entrepreneurs of metro cebu. literature cited doern, r., williams, n., & vorley, t. (2019). special issue on entrepreneurship and crises: business as usual? an introduction and review of the literature.  entrepreneurship & regional development,  31(5-6), 400-412. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1541590 kuckertz, a., brändle, l., gaudig, a., hinderer, s., reyes, c. a. m., prochotta, a., ... & berger, e. s. (2020). startups in times of crisis–a rapid response to the covid-19 pandemic. journal of business venturing insights, e00169. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00169 https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1541590 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00169 153 international peer reviewed journal world health organization (2020)  who, coronavirus disease (covid‐19) outbreak, retrieved from  www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novelcoronavirus-2019 hanifah, h., setyawati, a., & octaviani, r. d. (2015). the implementation of blue ocean strategy to create a market niche.  jurnal manajemen transportasi & logistik,  2(2), -198. retrieved from doi:  http://dx.doi. org/10.25292/j.mtl.v2i2.118 kumar, v., & singh, h. (2015). a conceptual framework of niche marketing as blue ocean strategy for sme’s in dehradun.  international journal in management & social science, 3(12), 269-277. retrieved from http://www. indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmss&volume=3&issue=12&artic le=032 neda, (2020). addressing the social and economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic. retrieved from https://bit.ly/30pyisz http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.25292/j.mtl.v2i2.118 http://dx.doi.org/10.25292/j.mtl.v2i2.118 http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmss&volume=3&issue=12&article=032 http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmss&volume=3&issue=12&article=032 http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmss&volume=3&issue=12&article=032 international peer reviewed journal 55 design and development of electric motor controller trainer: an instructional device manuel a. bajet, jr. http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7545-971 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines rogelio c. hidalgo http://orcid.org 0000-0002-4917-1797 rogeliohidalgo2014@gmail.com ilocos sur polytechnic state college santiago campus, ilocos sur nelson a. bajet http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5853-3983 nelsonbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines abstract quality education largely depends on the availability of instructional gadgets and equipment which form collectively as facilities in any learning institutions. developing improvised electric motor controller trainer as an instructional device similar to the commercial ones which will be utilized to reinforce laboratory shop vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.319 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines jpair multidisciplinary research 56 setting. the study used project and developmental method of research; planning, designing and product development testing and revisions were implemented. the descriptiveevaluative research was employed in evaluating the level of acceptability. the newly-developed electric motor controller trainer can do the different activities as compared to the commercial ones: a) start-stop-push button control; b) start-stop fullvoltage starter with alarm silencing; c) multiple push button stations; d) jog motor control; e) forward reverse motor control (electrical interlocking); f ) automatic forward and reverse motion with limit switches; g) wye-delta reduced voltage starter; and h) two stages sequential control. the level of acceptability of the trainer is generally assessed by the respondents as very much acceptable in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability, and safety. packaging and affordability of the device should be endorsed to the department of education for the k-12 curriculum purposes. keywords – technology education, performance, bsit, r and d, project and developmental research, ilocos sur, philippines introduction japan is the first country in asia to achieve technology modernization followed by other asian tigers such as korea, taiwan, singapore, malaysia, china, and india. all these asian tigers exert a developmental model which is characterized by ‘endogenous’ modernity and economic nationalism largely driven by, longterm economic vision and strong political leadership (jalil, 2010). china as well, waved a school curriculum reform since 2002 (lingbiao, 2004). a transition from knowledge delivery to student development took place. the school curriculum encouraged more inquiry learning and problem solving to change student learning from a receptive to an active way. teachers as well, are encouraged to be more facilitative and interactive in teaching and learning process. thailand’s chronic problems that global megatrends affect are social inequality, unsustainable country development and education separated from learners’ way of life (niramitchainont, 2013). the roles of educators in thai social reform are to improve the new education system and develop learners to acquire global competency. technical and technological education as an area in the philippine overall manpower and human resources development program, has a crucial role international peer reviewed journal 57 in providing individuals’ skills to be technically equip in consonance to the requirement not just by the philippine economy, but as well as to be globally competitive. national development education is considered effective if it is geared towards preparing and training young individuals with the relevant knowledge, skills and right attitude embedded in their chosen academic courses. also, it must be responsive along technical and technological advantage that would certainly contribute in accelerating productivity and countryside development. as to statistics, it showed that as of january 2013, some 37.94 million persons were employed and classified as the labor force which comprised 92.9% of the total employment rate (national statistics office, 2013). translating the above figure, it disclosed that there is a wide demand on the number of skilled workers to expanding industries in the local market alone and expectedly, the same in the global industry. consequently, there is now a big challenge among technological institutions in the philippines aside from the fact that they have a crucial role in moulding or developing the skills and abilities of students. this is implemented for students to not just to get a job, but to have a better job in the future. along this line, technological institutions should provide graduates who are globally competitive. constant revision and improvement of educational facilities are indeed necessary to be done. current popular criticism which hurled against technical and technological education is the mismatch of graduates to the needs of industry in terms of skills and quality of performance. several industries and companies had claimed that school training is inadequate to their needs and that they are compelled to invest by retraining hired workers just to meet their needs and expectations. instructional materials used in teaching are essential in motivating students to learn effectively. likewise, they are used to enhance the curriculum being taught. that is, the technology actually changes the way the teacher is planning or delivering information to his students (jacks, 2004). looking into the present trends among local industries, most equipment are driven by electric motors. industries and commercial establishments would cease to function without properly designed, installed, maintained and controlled electric motors because electric motors are responsible for a huge portion of commercial and industrial processes. the electric motor control system must be designed and installed to provide the correct sequence of operations for the driven equipment. an electric motor control is a device or a group of devices that controls or governs the performance of an electric motor. it is also used for starting and jpair multidisciplinary research 58 stopping a motor, selecting forward and reverse rotation, selecting and regulating speed, limiting the torque and protecting against overload and faults. a motor controller can be manual or automatic in function. for industrial plants and other industrial sites, the industrial electrician is incharge of electrical equipment and other types of electric motor controls, from installation to repair and/ or replacement. an industrial electrician is a skilled individual who specializes installation and maintenance of electrical devices and components e.g. electric motor controls installation for manufacturing or production of factories. for individual who wants to become a competent industrial electrician, he should be trained first at a training institution that offers electrical technology course. however, the schools must have adequate instructional materials, devices, and equipment needed in teaching. instructional materials are important in teaching because they support student learning. for instance, a worksheet may provide a trainee with good opportunities to enhance a new skill he learned from the class. this process helps the student develop his skills through adequate exposure to instructional materials. students taking up electrical technology are criticizing the lack of sufficient laboratory instructional materials especially in electrical motor control activities. the persistent problem of non-availability or inadequacy of instructional materials, devices and equipment in teaching electrical technology program has been a great concern of a teacher/instructor. thus, the researcher wants to design and construct a motor control trainer which will provide students with the proper information that they need in the connection of the different motor control circuits. motor control is often taught with symbols and circuit/wiring diagrams drawn on the blackboard or a manila paper without any hands-on wiring but with this proposed motor control trainer, teachers/instructors can teach students with real devices and wirings and not merely using the imagination. the need to innovate is paramount as innovative products from other asean countries will enter the local market (lugtu, 2013). companies need to invest in research and development, market research, and production of new technologies. framework according holt (2012), the use of motor control circuits is an effective way to minimize cost through the use of smaller wires and reduced-amperage devices to motor controlling. motor control circuits are often connected to lower voltages international peer reviewed journal 59 than the motor they control for operational safety and maintenance personnel. a motor control circuit is composed of a switch (or group of switches) and a motor. motors are often controlled by computerized control systems, solid-state logic controls, or programmable logic controllers (plcs), but basics of control systems still apply. hands-on learning is very important in technical and vocational courses for the actual experiences of students. a trainer is one of the instructional devices that is used in the hands-on learning or individualized learning. fernandez (2010) designed and developed an instructional device for the individualized trainer in auto lighting system. the trainer is helpful in providing the students the necessary knowledge in auto lighting system. the study was done through an actual research in the classroom with the experimental subjects. the quasi-experimental method using one-group pre-test and posttest design was employed given the limitation in the size of the experimental subjects. while the design may not suffice to counter all threats to internal validity, the researcher believes that any significant difference between the pre-test and post test performance of the experimental subjects was indicative of the effectiveness of the trainer. dvoracek (2006) designed an ignition coil driver which is a combination of suitable charging circuit that changes a 4uf capacitor to 380v. if the small capacitor becomes fully charged, sufficient current that flows to the gate stops, thus, preventing the scr from remaining in the on state if the switch is held down. a 10 mega ohms resistor is connected across the capacitor to discharge it once the switch is released. this prepares for the next firing. while the scr is turned on, it connects the main capacitor to the primary of the ignition coil. the voltage across the primary rises to 380v, thus, storing the energy from the capacitor as strong magnetic field. once the capacitor is discharged, the voltage falls back to zero and this magnetic field begins collapsing. during this collapse, a reverse polarity to the initial charging current is formed, known as a fly back. this pulse is returned to the capacitor and charges it back up via a 400v fast diode connected backward across the scr. this fly back pulse is expected to be around 700v. while the scr is on state, this process continues until the energy is taken from the secondary in the form of an arc or commonly referred to as the park. this pulsed nature of the changing circuit ensures that there is always a time when no electricity is flowing, thus, allowing the scr to switch off. according to shrivastava, rawat and agrawal (2012), regulating motion is important in industrial atomization. various types of motors (ac, dc, servo jpair multidisciplinary research 60 or stepper) are utilized based on their applications. among these motors, the dc motors are commonly used because of their easy control system. on the other hand, the pulse width modulation (pwm) is the best among the different control methods for dc motor armature voltage control method. single-phase induction motors are commonly used in various applications (singh & giri, 2012). any development in its performance can contribute to great savings in electrical energy consumption. a cyclo-converter fed variable frequency motor is typical example of such improvement. a cyclo-converter is a device that converts ac power at one frequency into ac power of an adjustable, but lower frequency without any direct current, or dc, stage in between. it can also be considered as a static frequency charger and typically contains siliconcontrolled rectifiers. these studies conducted are mentioned because of their similarities to some aspects as a guidepost in the conduct of the study. however, the main framework of this study is anchored on the theory of innovation by sundbo (2003) which takes place in either a new element or a new combination of elements. as applied to the present study, it aimed to develop, construct and validate an instructional device. thus, this trainer facilitates the transfer of learning process and also to assist the learning activities among students. additionally, it helps minimize the problem of inadequate instructional device and equipment that facilitates the teaching-learning process. problem novel solution figure 1. the paradigm objectives of the study the study aimed to design and develop a trainer of electric motor control to simulate the various motor control circuits that can be used as an instructional device to enhance the electrical technology teaching and learning process. specifically, it aimed to: 1) test the different applications of the electric motor controller trainer in the following exercises: a) start-stop push button station, international peer reviewed journal 61 b) jogging, c) reverse-forward, d) application limit switches, e) application of timers, and f ) wye-delta; 2) evaluate the respondents’ level of acceptability of the proposed instructional device in terms of the following aspects: usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, and reliability; and 3) evaluate the fabrication cost of the trainer device. methodology the study used project and developmental method of research including planning and designing, gathering of materials, product development, testing and revisions. the researchers developed a functional trainer in a motor controller that can be used by students in different applications and connections of motor controls. the descriptive-evaluative type of research was also employed in evaluating the level of acceptability of the research output in terms of its usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety. the questionnaires contain operations based on usefulness, effectiveness, functionality and reliability of the project. the likert scale was also utilized in the study. the device was assessed by 20 experts in electric motor controller coming from the different technical schools, colleges, universities, and different industries of ilocos sur: tagudin institute of science and technology, ilocos sur polytechnic college, university of northern philippines, builders institute of technology, ilocos sur electric cooperative, and tesda ilocos sur. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. they were purposively selected considering their expertise on this particular field of study. the data were gathered through their responses, and were tallied and treated statistically. results and discussion technical description of electric motor controller trainer the development of electric motor control trainer is a modified representation of the electric motor control trainer found or existing in the market. the newly designed electric motor control trainer has multiple functions like the commercial ones e.g. full voltage starting, reversing motors with various interlocking circuits, jogging, wye-delta starting and many other common circuits as direct on/off switching, monitor lamp operation and fault indication. jpair multidisciplinary research 62 the connections between the components were made by using standard wires intended for motor control which is connected to the terminal blocks. this will allow the students to make quick and precise connections. starting the motor is one main purpose of a motor control circuit. several methods can be employed depending on the requirements of the circuit. the simplest method is across-the –line starting. this is accomplished by connecting the motor directly to the power line. in some situations, it may require the motor to start at low speed and accelerate to full speed over some period of time. in some cases, it may be necessary to limit the amount of current or torque during the starting point. the main function of the electric motor controller is to halt the motor. the easiest way is to disconnect the motor from the power line and permit it to stop. sometimes, it requires that the motor be stopped more quickly, or it could also happen that a brake holds load when the motor is stopped. meanwhile, jogging and inching are methods employed to move a motor with short jabs or power to move a motor load into some desired positions. the difference between the two is that jogging is done by momentarily connecting the motor to full line voltage while inching is done by momentarily connecting the motor to reduced voltage. control systems require variable speed. there are several ways to accomplish variable speed. one of the most common is with variable frequency control for alternating current motors, or by regulating the voltage applied to the armature and fields of a direct motor. another method may involve the use of a direct current clutch. the basic function of most control systems is to protect both the circuit components and the motor. on the other hand, fuses and circuit breakers are used for circuit protection, while for motor protection, overload relays are used. one of the important factors being considered in many control circuits is the voltage spikes or surges produced by collapsing magnetic fields which usually happens when power to the coil of a relay or contactor is shut down. these can induce voltage spikes that are hundreds of volts which can also damage electric components linked to the power line. it is very important to consider the voltage spikes for they have a vital role in computer controlled devices such as programmable logic controllers and measuring instruments used in detecting temperature, pressure, among others. hence, surge protection is very relevant. international peer reviewed journal 63 figure 2. electric motor controller trainer an instructional device the newly designed motor controller can be used as an optional motor load. a simulated electric motor load can be constructed by connecting three lamps sockets to form a wye or delta connections. figure 3. student is performing “start-stop, full-voltage starter with alarm silencing” at the newly constructed trainer jpair multidisciplinary research 64 table 1. level of acceptability of the electric motor controller trainer indicator mean dr a. indicators along usefulness average 4.85 vma b. indicators along effectiveness average 5.00 vma c. indicators along functionality average 4.93 vma d. indicators along reliability average 4.86 vma e. indicators along safety average 5.00 vma overall 4.93 vma legend: 4.50-5.00 very much acceptable (vma) 3.50-4.49 much acceptable (ma) 2.50-3.49 acceptable (a) 1.00-1.49 not acceptable (na) the overall result of the assessment made by the respondents on the acceptability of the trainer is generally interpreted as very much acceptable in all indicators with an overall weighted mean of 4.93. these findings imply that the trainer is very much acceptable as an instructional device for facilitating the process on concepts of the different activities or connections application and troubleshooting in motor controller lessons. fabrication cost of the trainer the cost of fabricating the trainer is php 25,620.00 (595 usd) and the labor cost is php 1,500.00 (34 usd) which sums to php 27,120.00 (630 usd). hence, it has a greater markup selling price compared with the commercial ones from php60, 000.00 (1395 usd) to php 120,000.00 (2790 usd). the cost is considered as commercially competitive considering the technical and economic advantages, safety features and varied teaching-learning activities with the use of this trainer. international peer reviewed journal 65 conclusions the electric motor control trainer has multiple functions such as full voltage starting, reversing motors with various interlocking circuits, jogging, wye-delta starting and many other common circuits as direct on/off switching, monitor lamp operation and fault indication. the laboratory exercises are connected to full voltage, it is necessary that students must practice safety at all times in performing these exercises. the instructor should be asked each time before power is applied to the circuit. power should be turned off each time before making changes to the circuit. the different circuits controlled by push button switches and magnetic contactors that are installed on the motor controller trainer; a) lamp controlled by normally open (no) push button switch, b) lamp controlled by normally close (nc) push button switch, c) lamp controlled by two normally open (no) push button switch, d) two lamps controlled by a dual acting push button switch, e)two lamps controlled by time delay relay tr and, f ) two lamps controlled by magnetic contactors c. the designed electric motor controller trainer can do the different exercises or activities like start-stop push button control, start-stop fullvoltage starter with alarm silencing, multiple push button stations, jog motor control, forward reverse motor control ( electrical interlocking), automatic forward and reverse motion with limit switches, wye-delta reduced voltage starter, and two stages sequential control. the level of acceptability of the trainer in terms of usefulness is generally assessed by the respondents as very much acceptable in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability, and safety with an average weighted mean of 4.85, 4.93, 4.86, and 5.00 respectively. although all the parameters indicators in the usefulness are rated as very much acceptable, the highest rating is on usefulness in the field of electrical technology specifically in three phase motor lessons with a weighted mean of 5.00 and as interpreted as very much acceptable. literature cited dvoracek, r. (2006) ignition coil driver. retrieved from http://users. silenceisdefeat.net/~lgtngstk/sites/circuits/ignition_coil_driver/ignition_ coil_driver.htm jpair multidisciplinary research 66 holt, m. (2012) guide to understanding basic motor control. retrieved from http://www.mikeholt.com/instructor2/img/product/pdf/1300222487sample.pdf fernandez, j. (2010). ‘individualized trainer in auto lighting system’, in proceedings of the international conference on education for sustainable development in technical and vocational education and training 2010, ed. c plan staff college for technician education, cpsc, manila, pp.208-217, viewed 26 nov 2014, <http://iveta2010.cpsctech.org/downloads/materials/ full%20papers/25.%20individualized%20trainer-fernandez.pdf>. jacks, r. 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(2003). innovation and strategic reflexivity: an evolutionary approach applied to services. the international handbook on innovation, 97-114. about 556 results (0.61 seconds). cover single with doi 188 jpair: multidisciplinary research teaching practices promoting communication opportunities in the language class samuel s. poliden junglesam777@gmail.com benguet state university, la trinidad, benguet, philippines abstract the study investigated the teaching practices that promote communication opportunities in the language class. four teaching practices, six language functions and preferred error correction method were observed, recorded and analyzed using weighted means, frequency counts, percentages, ranks and the cochran q-test. findings revealed that building on prior knowledge and communitarian teachings were predominantly used followed by multiple representations and protracted language event, the least. eliciting, on the other hand was commonly used by the english teachers in engaging the students in classroom proceedings followed by evaluating, sociating, directing and organizing. the most preferred methods of correcting errors were for the teacher to point out the error and provide the correct form; and to explain why the utterance is incorrect. the study showed that teachers use varied teaching practices to provide communication opportunities for students. the study recommends that: (1) the use of multiple representations and protracted language event should also be utilized by teachers to provide students with varied activities and to develop with confidence their communication skills; (2) activities given to students should be more challenging to encourage them to ask questions that develop their critical thinking; 3) teachers should adopt more implicit error identification techniques for students to reflect on and repair their own errors. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.8 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 189 international peer reviewed journal keywords communication opportunities, teaching practices, teaching functions, error correction introduction the current trends in teaching english as a second language stress the importance of providing learners with opportunities for real and meaningful communication. this motivated the researcher to study the teaching practices promoting communication opportunities in the language class. indeed, the natural way to learn a language is to use it, not just study it. in other words, english teachers teach the language not by focusing on the language itself, but by using it to talk about other things, particularly in real life situations and for academic purposes. this is a simple fact that lies at the heart of the reform of english language teaching. english teachers must fulfill what kasper as cited by cruz (2002) calls the main objective of teaching english as a second language. that is, students should be able to use the english language as a means of acquiring knowledge, in the process engaging in the active analysis, interpretation, critique and synthesis of information presented in english. today, language students are considered successful if they can communicate effectively in their second or foreign language, whereas two decades ago the accuracy of the language produced would most likely be the major criterion contributing to the judgment of a student’s success or failure (richards & rodgers, 1987). these developments in language teaching the promotion of “functional” or “communicative” ability have moved from the goal of accurate form toward a focus on fluency and communicative effectiveness. this study will then inculcate in the minds of the language teachers that communication in the classroom should mirror the authentic communication that occurs in the real world. it should also encourage informal, unrehearsed use of language along with a relaxed classroom environment. this is because communication in language classes is an important link in the process of students’ learning and thinking development. it provides a foundation for the development of other language skills. as students talk about themselves and their 190 jpair: multidisciplinary research experiences, they are learning to organize their thinking and to focus their ideas (lyle 1993). it is subsequently important to provide opportunities for oral communication to continue to grow in the language class. before students achieve proficiency in reading and writing, oral communication is one of the important means of learning and of acquiring knowledge. throughout life, oral language skills remain essential for communication of ideas and intelligent conversation. concomitant to the development of the communication skills of the students inside the language class is the growth in their confidence when communicating in a wide variety of social contexts to a wide variety of audiences. one of the most effective ways to facilitate oral communication is to take into account the background and everyday life experiences of the students. proficiency in oral communication is central to all learning, critically useful to the individual in all areas of life, and is a developmental process in which skills acquired early serve as a foundation for subsequent learning activities. the idea that communication could and should take place in the language class becomes more and more popular. with changes in practice come changes in roles and responsibilities. the role of the language teacher is no longer supposed to be that of the drill leader. instead, the teacher is charged with providing language learners opportunities for communication, that is, opportunities to use the language in contexts other than memorized dialogues and pattern practices. this study will also shed light on the kind of teaching practices teachers will utilize to promote communication opportunities for students. in this context, teachers would be able to devise language activities to enhance/negotiate meaning with their students. moreover, language teachers take into account that learners learn in many ways and that the use of different teaching practices should be considered thus deviating from the traditional lecture method where the classroom setting is dominated by the teacher talk thereby depriving their students to use the second language. results of this study will enlighten language teachers to treat errors with tact and understanding to avoid a stigmatic effect on the learners. thus, it is important to know how linguistic errors be handled by 191 international peer reviewed journal language teachers as preferred by their students. findings of this study will help principals, head teachers, chairs of departments and administrators to evaluate language teachers on the variety of language practices they use in the classroom to create active participation in language class activities that would stimulate critical thinking thus creating opportunities for communication and interaction. framework there are a number of theories and models for educational research on teaching practices to address effective learning. this study focused on the teaching practices, teaching functions, and preference of students on error treatment by teachers. teaching practices/strategies individual differences play an important role in learning. hence, the kinds of teaching practices used in the classroom that accomplish both course content goals and active engagement on the part of students depend on the teacher. building prior knowledge. building on prior knowledge is an overall approach to teaching in which teachers work to connect students’ lives to school themes. nearly every effective lesson design model suggests that one of the first tasks of the teacher in the instructional event is the activation of prior knowledge. activation of prior knowledge serves as an important tool for the construction of meaning. this background knowledge can also serve to help students interpret new cultural information or contrast that information with values and practices common to their own culture. it means that the teacher’s teaching should mirror the cultural background of the students. teachers must also understand what students already know so they may build on the knowledge students have. 192 jpair: multidisciplinary research schema building is related to one’s ability to interpret text meaningfully. schemata are the fundamental elements upon which all information processing depends and rumelhart (1977) calls them the building blocks of cognition. brown and yule (1983) also point out that background knowledge can guide and influence the comprehension process. he added that comprehension outcome is based on the previous knowledge of similar texts. that is, if the reader regularly reads a newspaper and is aware of all the events and issues either locally, nationally or internationally, then comprehension would be easier. communtarian teaching. communtarian teaching practice is the first teaching practice uncovered by the qualitative research synthesis which was related to, but extended well beyond, what is commonly known as cooperative learning or collaborative learning. communtarian teaching practice provides increased time for communication and promotes the give and take necessary for negotiating meaning. it also opens the door for the students to engage themselves in communicative activities. it enhances language learning even when no student in a group has strong proficiency in english because it improves not only the learners’ language skills but also allows them an opportunity to share their cultural frame with other students (téllez, & waxman, 2005). one reason why communtarian teaching practice or cooperative learning provides increased time for communication and promotes the give and take necessary for negotiating meaning is that group members assume that they constantly assess their own speeches or actions in relation to that of their partners. this is because conversation is a collaborative enterprise that makes demands on both partners. hence, negotiation and repair play a part in all interaction and are unique forms of language behavior involving non-native speakers. many experimental (and most often quantitative) studies have demonstrated the positive effects of cooperative learning among english language learners (ells) (calderon, hertz-lazarowitz, & slavin, 1998). they generally believed that interactional learning 193 international peer reviewed journal encouraged a strong form of social cooperation and discourse. multiple representations. multiple representations rely heavily on the use of graphic organizers, juxtaposed text and images, films and other multimedia equipment. english teachers who use multiple representations help the students to remember easily vocabulary when they have acquired it by figuring out its meaning when watching a video, seeing the teacher act out words, or matching new vocabulary with pictures or real objects set in a meaningful context. the use of multiple representations can enhance what learners read by reading and interpreting visuals accurately, and by creating their own related visuals. vacca and vacca (1993) believe that when students learn how to use and construct graphic representations, they are in control of a study strategy that allows them to identify what parts of a text are important, how ideas and concepts are encountered, and where they can find specific information to support more important ideas. learners need to see these relationships and learn how to link ideas. when students use graphics while studying a concept, they build these links. visuals provide a wealth of information that both reinforces and supplements text content. the ability to read, interpret, and construct graphic displays is of growing importance in an increasingly visual world as students interact more with computers and electronic texts which often rely heavily on graphic interfaces and graphic aids. since visuals are found frequently in all types of expository text materials, and since they provide an abundance of text-related information, the need for instructional activities that help students understand and use them seems clear. protracted language events. protracted language events are strategies in which teachers work to maximize verbal activity. in other words, language can be learned through its use. that is, effective second language instruction must be built upon lengthy dialogues, referred to in this paper as protracted 194 jpair: multidisciplinary research language events. this concept is similar to gallimore and goldenberg’s (1992) instructional conversations in language learning class. role-playing and simulations in class can be an excellent way to engage students. a well-constructed role-playing or simulation exercise can emphasize the real world and require students to become deeply involved in a topic. this teaching strategy would make students learn best when they have ample opportunities to internalize meanings before they have to produce them. teacher talk and teaching functions as used in this study, teaching functions refer to teacher acts in urging the learners to participate in class discussion. the figure below describes the different acts a teacher does in the process of teaching (bowers, 1980). category description responding sociating organizing directing presenting evaluating eliciting any act directly sought by the utterance of another speaker, such as answering a question any act not contributing directly to the teaching/learning task, but rather to the establishment or maintenance of interpersonal relationships. any act that serves to structure the learning task or environment without contributing to the teaching/learning task itself. any act encouraging nonverbal activity as an integral part of the teaching/learning process. any act presenting information of direct relevance to the learning task. any act that rates another verbal act positively or negatively. any act designed to produce a verbal response from another person. figure 1. bowers’ (1980) categories for analyzing classroom interaction hughes (1959) described seven categories of teacher-talk: controlling, imposing, facilitating, developing content, responding, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity. 195 international peer reviewed journal controlling empowers the teacher to structure, regulate, set standards, judge, or otherwise control learner behavior. in imposing, the teacher moralizes, gives help without asking, appraises, and imposes himself into the situation rather than employing a routine. a teacher also checks for information, clarifies procedures and demonstrates procedures when he does facilitating. developing content gives authority to the teacher to stimulate, clarify, summarize, evaluate, answer questions, agree or otherwise develop content for learning while responding makes the teacher to clarify learner problems, interpret situations or feelings, and/or respond to learners in terms of content and learner’s effort to learn. in positive affectivity, the teacher encourages, praises, gives recognition, offers solace, or shows positive regard for learners while in negative affectivity, the teacher admonishes, reprimands, accuses, threatens, ignores or shows negative regard for learners. brown (1994), on the other hand, gave similar descriptions of teachertalk but suggests that teacher-talk undergoes through a continuum of directive to non-directive methods: controlling, directing, managing, facilitating and resourcing. according to brown, controlling is focused on simply organizing the class hours. e.g. “you have 15 minutes to discuss the problems reflected in the story. after which, five minutes will be given in presenting your output. directing is also keeping the process of interaction flowing smoothly and efficiently to bring uniqueness in communicative skills. e.g. in her essay “three days to see”, helen keller enumerated the things she will do in three days while she can see. if you are put in the same situation, where the optometrist tells you that you will only have three days left to use your sight, how will you spend these days? managing is simply planning the lessons, modules, activities but allowing each learner to be creative within the parameters set. e.g. before you defend your propositions in front, submit to me first your written arguments. in facilitating, the teacher capitalizes on intrinsic motivation allowing students to discover language, by using it pragmatically rather than telling about the language while resourcing implies the students to take initiative to go to the teacher (for advice or counsel) 196 jpair: multidisciplinary research allowing them to proceed with their own linguistic development. brown (1994) claims that the key to interactive teaching is to play toward the non-directive end of the continuum, gradually enabling students to move from their roles of total dependence (upon the teacher, the textbook, etc.) to relatively total independence. the proficiency level of the class will determine to some extent, which roles will dominate. but when at the lowest levels, some interaction can take place and the teacher’s role must be one that releases the students to try things for themselves. linguistic errors and error treatment error treatment has been very controversial issue in language teaching (allwright and bailey, 1991). the way errors are treated differs in approaches and methods of teaching. learner’s age, proficiency level, and goals are some of the examples that determine how a teacher should treat errors. (brown, 1994). from a teacher’s and student’s perspectives, there also appear to exist numerous factors involved in this regard. some teachers might think that correcting errors would lead students to pay more attention to form so that students can gain accuracy to a greater extent in their interlanguage. others may believe that error treatment should be avoided because of their fear that it will certainly inhibit students from communicating freely. on the other hand, some students might well be concerned about their linguistic performance in terms of correctness. they may have a preference for feedback from their teachers over no treatment. other students may place priority on fluency so that teachers’ frequent interruption would discourage them to get across what they mean in target language (tl). error correction has been treated differently. celce-murcia (1991) points out six variables that grammar teaching has to consider: age, proficiency level, educational background, language skills, register, and needs and goals. based on the six variables, esl/efl instructors would make a decision on the degree to which form is focused with a group of students. murcia asserted that it would be safe to say that age is an important variable in that whether grammar should be taught 197 international peer reviewed journal implicitly or explicitly depend on the learner’s age. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the teaching strategies that promote communication opportunities of freshman students in the language class at benguet state university. materials and methods research design this study used descriptive – survey method and language class observation to record and videotape class proceedings to determine the teaching practices and teaching patterns of the english teachers. four teaching practices from the meta-synthesis of qualitative research on effective teaching practices for english language learners were observed in the english classes. bowers’ model (1980) was used to determine which teaching functions enhance communication opportunities for students. a questionnaire was administered to determine the students’ preference for error correction. locale and time of the study this study was confined to freshmen english classes at the department of humanities, college of arts and sciences, benguet state university. freshmen english classes came from the eight degree programs representing the eight colleges in the university: bachelor of science in agriculture (ca), bachelor of science in information technology (cas), bachelor of science in agricultural engineering (ceat), bachelor of science in forestry (cof), bachelor of science in home economics (chet), bachelor of science in nursing (cn), bachelor in secondary education (cte) and doctor of veterinary medicine (cvm) who were enrolled during the school year 2009-2010 at the benguet state university, la trinidad, benguet philippines. 198 jpair: multidisciplinary research data collection instruments classroom proceedings of the english teachers were observed and recorded to analyze their teaching practices. the model of bowers was employed to determine the teaching functions of teachers. a questionnaire on the students’ preferred method of correcting their errors was administered to the student – respondents. a five-point scale was used to describe the students’ preference in treating their errors: 5 – strongly agree; 4 – moderately agree; 3 – agree; 2 – slightly agree; 1 – do not agree. treatment of data data gathered were summarized, analyzed and cross-tabulated. summary statistics like weighted means, frequency counts, percentages, ranks and cochran q-test were used to analyze the teaching strategies and teaching functions of the english teachers. to analyze the preferred error correction of the students, t-test, frequency and rank were likewise used. results and discussion summary of teaching practices by english teachers table 1 shows the teaching practices the english teachers used in the language class. the table illustrates that building on prior knowledge and communtarian teaching practice were predominantly used followed by multiple representations. protracted learning was the least teaching practice. the findings reveal that building on prior knowledge is an overall approach to teaching in which teachers work to associate students’ lives or experiences to school themes. in almost all lessons, the teachers involved prior knowledge of students before starting the lesson proper and the importance of interaction between the students and the teachers and among the students themselves. communitarian teaching is also a manner of instruction built around community while protracted language event is a strategy in 199 international peer reviewed journal which teachers work to maximize verbal activity. the use of multiple representations is a method designed to support language lessons with objects and indices. table 1. teaching practices used by english teachers teaching practices n percent rank building on prior knowledge 18 100 1.5 communtarian 18 100 1.5 multiple representations 15 83.3 3 protracted language 9 50.0 4 qc = 19.059* prob. = >0.01 *significant statistically, the findings of the study reveal that there is a significant difference in the teaching practices the english teachers used. hence, the hypothesis that there is a difference in the teaching practices the english teachers used is accepted. the english teachers adopted what is termed as communicative approach to english language teaching following the general trend in the field of second language teaching and learning, moving away from methods that emphasize the memorization of grammatical rules and extensive use of drills and pattern practice and toward methods which emphasize meaningful communication in the second language. classroom activity is less teacher-dominated but more learnercentered. the findings strengthen the role of the teachers in the classroom which is more facilitative than directive, allowing students a greater share of the conversational turns than a traditional initiate – respond – evaluate (ire) interaction pattern. these findings are in congruence with widdowson (1978) who distinguishes between expression rules which govern the learner’s use of the language and are developed when the learner is engaged in communication and reference rules which represent the learner’s knowledge of the system of the second language and are learned in classroom situations where the focus is on correct form. 200 jpair: multidisciplinary research teaching functions of teachers this portion of the study presents the analysis of the teaching functions using bowers’ categories. it points out or identifies the functions of teacher behaviour in the process of teaching. it also determines which of the teaching functions promote communication. bowers’ (1980) teaching categories consist of responding, sociating, organizing, directing, presenting, evaluating, and eliciting. in summary, the study shows that classroom interaction is dominated by eliciting followed by evaluating and sociating. that is, asking question inside the language class has the bulk of initiating communication between and among the learners and the teachers. at times, most students are passive hence eliciting is indisputably an effective tool to engage them in class discussion. this reflects the relatively high priority of teachers in conducting more language activities and establishing good rapport with the students. consequently, responding was not used by the teacher since there was no question students asked. the findings indicate that as teachers evaluate students’ performances, they tend to make a move to socialize by praising their performance. this may be considered important in a language classroom to create an environment conducive for learning. the findings also corroborate with hughes (1959) who described seven categories of teacher-talk: controlling, imposing, facilitating, developing content, responding, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity. controlling empowers the teacher to structure, regulate, set standards, judge, or otherwise control learner behavior. in imposing, the teacher moralizes, gives help without asking, appraises, and imposes himself into the situation rather than employing a routine. a teacher also checks for information, clarifies procedures and demonstrates procedures when he does facilitating. developing content gives authority to the teacher to stimulate, clarify, summarize, evaluate, answer questions, agree or otherwise develop content for learning while responding makes the teacher to clarify learner problems, interpret situations or feelings, and/or respond to learners in terms of content and learner’s effort to learn. 201 international peer reviewed journal in positive affectivity, the teacher encourages, praises, gives recognition, offers solace, or shows positive regard for learners while in negative affectivity, the teacher admonishes, reprimands, accuses, threatens, ignores or shows negative regard for learners. summary of the teaching functions table 2 encapsulates the teaching functions used by the teachers in the classroom. table 2. summary of teaching functions using bowers’ categories example 1 example 2 example 3 example 4 example 5 example 6 eliciting eliciting sociating eliciting presenting eliciting presenting sociating eliciting directing directing presenting directing presenting presenting presenting eliciting organizing sociating organizing organizing evaluating organizing directing organizing directing directing sociating evaluating evaluating evaluating evaluating evaluating sociating sociating while these teaching functions used in the language class are intertwined with each other, eliciting is predominantly the first teaching function employed by the teachers in the class to initiate communication between and among students and the teachers as means of presenting the lesson. on the other hand, evaluating and sociating are also the teaching functions used by the teachers to end their classes. the rest of the teaching functions are interchangeably used in the classroom depending on the classroom lesson and class activities. responding was not initiated by the teachers because there was no question from the students for the teachers while organizing is not also used by the teacher in example 4. this may be associated to the behavior of the students where they do not generally have the courage to ask questions even they did not understand the lesson. when presenting the lesson, the teacher uses series of questions. 202 jpair: multidisciplinary research initially, after presenting the lesson, the teacher directs and organizes the class activities. in general, the last function of the teacher is always evaluating students’ activities which are usually followed by sociating. according to hughes (1959), one of the functions of teacher talk is positive affectivity which means that the teacher praises, gives recognition or shows positive regards for learners’ performance. in summary, there is a pattern the teacher uses in the classroom. the teacher presents the lesson in a series of questions or putting the class in a conducive mood. then the teacher organizes and directs class activities. in the process of interaction, the teacher evaluates students’ activities using positive affectivity. this pattern is in contrary to the traditional classroom interactions of initiate – respond – evaluate (ire) discourse pattern. (mehan, 1979). mehan has described traditional classroom interactions as an initiate – respond – evaluate (ire) discourse pattern. in this pattern, teachers initiate a discussion topic, most frequently by posing a question, to which students are expected to respond, and teachers then evaluate students’ responses. the ire pattern has been labelled as “monologic discourse pattern” (alexander, 2006), in which teachers take turns at will, decide on what topics are important to discuss, decide who will talk and for how long, and interject their responses and interpretations controlling the pace and direction of the discussion. teachers in traditional discourse patterns dominate classroom discussions, speaking more than fifty percent of the time, control the direction of the discussion by asking particular types of questions, and endorse the responses of particular students that align with what has been predetermined to be important or correct. preferred error correction method of the learners this section dealt with the students’ preferred method of correcting their errors in the language class. table 3 reveals the learners’ preferred method of correcting their errors in class. the table shows that the students strongly agree for teachers to point out the error and provide the correct form with a mean score of 4.32. ranked second is for teachers to explain why the utterance is incorrect with a mean of 4.18 followed by to correct the error immediately (4.02). 203 international peer reviewed journal the least methods of error correction were to give hint which might enable the student to notice the error and self-correct and present the correct form when repeating all or part of the students’ utterance with a mean of 3.92 each. last in rank is to delay the correction of errors (after class) with 2.19. table 3. students’ preferred error correction method correction method xw de rank t-value prob. t corrects the error immediately 4.02 ma 3 24.843* <0.5 t delays the correction of errors (after class) 2.19 sa 6 17.216* <0.05 t gives a hint which might enable s to notice the error and self-correct 3.92 ma 4.5 26.275* <0.05 t explains why the utterance is incorrect. 4.18 ma 2 31.856* <0.05 t points out the error and provides the correct form 4.32 ma 1 42.354* <0.05 t presents the correct form when repeating all or part of the s’s utterance. 3.92 ma 4.5 25.415* <0.05 *significant the findings show that when the english teachers give out their feedbacks on errors, they are not judging but supporting their students. this means that when students’ errors occur, they can remodel it by saying it correctly, paraphrase it by saying it in different ways, or prepare a grammar lesson at the end of a class for students (mantello, 1997). errors are invariably a demonstration of originality, creativity and intelligence. errors show that students are motivated to learn new things. students who commit errors are not only creative; they also demonstrate that they are intelligent learners. students’ errors come from positive and negative transfer from the mother tongue. they come from false analogy and overgeneralization of rules and patterns. they come from attempts to simplify the input to reduce the strain of working memory. in short, errors are the outward manifestation of an 204 jpair: multidisciplinary research inwardly active mind. students’ errors are signs of learning and depending on the types of errors and situations, teachers need to offer students the correct ways or usages of the language, and students have the rights to know. teacher needs to know when, what, and how to correct a student’s error, but it is also easy to get carried away and lose the focus. conclusions in connection with the findings of this study, the following conclusions were formulated: teachers use varied teaching practices to provide communication opportunities for students. teaching functions of teachers follow certain patterns for better comprehension of lessons and to engage the students in class activities/discussion. treatment of errors in the class is a significant tool for teachers to consider in enhancing communication opportunities. recommendations based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the researcher recommends that: since building prior knowledge and communitarian teaching practices are commonly used by teachers, the use of multiple representations and protracted language learning should also be utilized by teachers thereby providing students with varied activities to develop with confidence their communication skills. responding was the least of teachers’ functions. in this context, activities/tasks given to the students should be more challenging to encourage students to ask questions that develop their critical thinking and to enhance interaction with the teacher. teachers should avoid putting answers directly on students’ errors, but adopt more implicit error identification techniques for students to reflect on and repair their own errors. similar research on communication opportunities in the language classroom should be conducted to determine the trend of teaching practices, teaching functions, and students’ preferred correction method. 205 international peer reviewed journal literature cited alexander, r. 2006 towards dialogic teaching: rethinking classroom talk (3rd ed.). cambridge, uk: dialogos. allwright, d. and k. bailey 1991 focus on the language classroom: an introduction to classroom research for language teachers. cambridge: cambridge university press. bowers, r. 1980 verbal behavior in the language teaching classroom. ph.d. thesis, university of reading. brown, h. d. 1994 teaching by principle. london: prentice – hall regents. brown, g. and g. yule 1983 teaching the spoken language. cambridge: cambridge university press. calderon, m., r. hertz-lazarowitz and r. slavin 1998 effects of cooperative integrated reading and composition on students making the transition from spanish to english reading. elementary school journal, 99(2). celce-murcia, m. 1991 grammar pedagogy in second and foreign language teaching. new york: cambridge university press. cruz, i. 2002 philippine star. national daily newspaper. gallimore, r., and c. n. goldenberg 1992 tracking the developmental path of teachers and learners: a vygotskyan perspective. in f.k. oser, a. dick, & j-l. patry 206 jpair: multidisciplinary research (eds.), effective and responsible teaching: the new synthesis. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. hughes, m. m. 1959 assessment of the quality of teaching in elementary schools. utah university press, utah. lyle, s. 1993 an investigation into ways in which children talk themselves into meaning. language and education. mantello, m. 1997 error correction in the l2 classroom, canadian modern language review (vol.54, no. 1). http://www.utpjournals. com/jour.ihtml?lp=product/cmlr/541/541_tcl_mantello.html mehan, h. 1979 learning lessons: social organization in the classroom. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. richards, j. c. and t. s. rodgers 1987 through the looking glass: trends and directions in language teaching. relc journal. rumelhart, d.e. 1977 towards an interactive model of reading. in attention and performance, s. dionic (ed). hillside, erlbaum. academic press. téllez, k. and h. waxman 2005 a meta-synthesis of qualitative research on effective teaching practices for english language learners in j.m. norris & l. ortega (eds.), synthesizing research on language learning and teaching. philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. vacca, r.t., &j. l. vacca 1993 content area reading. new york: harper collins publishers. 207 international peer reviewed journal widdowson, h. g. 1978 teaching language as communication. london: oxford university press. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 13 international peer reviewed journal teaching practices of mathematics teachers in selected public and private elementary schools jay m. magno orcid no. 0000-0003-1396-9809 jaymagno2011@gmail.com daniel r. aguinaldo national high school davao city, philippines abstract teaching practices comprise instructional teaching principles and methods. instructional teaching method depends mostly to the skill and information that is found or influenced by the enthusiasm of the teacher. this study was conducted to determine teaching practices and problems encountered in the public and private elementary schools. further, it sought to find out the following: a) mathematics teachers’ socio-demographic profile; b) their usual teaching practices; c) the problems they encountered; d) the trainings they need; and e) the training plan for mathematics teachers. descriptive research design was used in the study. data were collected from the 15 participants. they were the selected elementary mathematics teachers. survey questionnaire was utilized to find out the demographic profile for the teachers, the usual teaching practices, the problems encountered and the training needs assessment. the data gathered were summarized, translated, analyzed and matched with the result of the focus group discussion. it was found out that lack of more comprehensive trainings among teachers with the new trends of teaching methodologies and strategies and insufficient resources and funding; negative views about seminars and trainings and the scarcity of trainings conducted within their reach and capacity were revealed in both focus group discussion and in the results of the vol. 17 · july 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v17i1.277 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research survey conducted. based on the results, the design was formulated to address the problems as identified. the researcher recommends that school administrators should utilize the training design proposed. keywords mathematics education, demographic profile, training design, teaching practices, teaching methodologies, descriptive design, philippines introduction mathematics teacher in the present is experiencing key changes not only in what mathematics content they teach, but also in the way they teach. knowing that mathematics consisted of ideas needed to be memorized or mastered relatively by group of students who were taught using a lecture method. nowadays teachers teach more demanding mathematics to various audiences with the use of active learning approaches made to increase understanding. this is a great dispute with the national council of teachers of mathematics (nctm) (dickey, 1997). in the field of education, every teacher should possess a very wide range of perceptive of a concept to be able to significantly share the idea to the students. studies dealing with the areas of difficulty in mathematics assume that only teachers have the knowledge and students are the only parties having troubles (levenberg & ophir, 2001). ). on the other hand, in a study made by lawrenz (1986) about inservice elementary school teachers’ knowing of some physical science concepts, it was revealed that as some of the errors committed by teachers were due to lack of content knowledge, others were a sign of serious misconceptions. so, teachers, similar to any other learners, do carry on some problems and misconceptions. in great britain, pupils are lagging behind in mathematics compared with other countries because there are no enough primary school teachers have a proper grasp of the subject. there are less mathematically capable teachers in primary school. the crisis means many of the pupils depart primary school without receiving to grips with the fundamentals (haris, 2012). currently, the educational system of the philippines is faced by some issues that need to be addressed in order to build up the delivery of education to the most number of the population. the educational system of the philippines in the present is faced by some issues that need to be answered in order to develop the delivery of education to the most number of the population. one of this is the quality and ease of access of education to its stakeholders. unquestionably, the philippines government, despite its insufficiency of giving some basic services to 15 international peer reviewed journal its citizens, is doing its best to supply the essentials of basic schooling to its people for free to give quality education to all learners. however, with the different struggles facing the public schools, its instruction is delayed. even public school teachers are competent to teach. it was revealed that the shortage of instructional materials, inadequate facilities and lack of training for professional growth hindered them to execute at their best. private schools also experienced the same problem. private schools have to exert more endeavours to encourage a good number of enrolments to assure their survival (durban, 2012). in davao city, the poor performance of elementary pupils in the national achievement test it was observed in the past couple of years. according to sunstar davao (2011), davao city ranked 151st in the national elementary achievement test in the same subject. furthermore, it was stated that a child aptitude for math is 12 percent inherited, and the rest is from the environment their teachers. based on the above mentioned situations the poor performance of the students in the elementary level could also be attributed to how the teacher teaches them which refers to the teaching methodologies and strategies. the main concern therefore, is the teachers. hence, the researcher was prompted to consider identifying the problems they have encountered including their common teaching practices then further consider results as a basis for identifying an intervention to solve this problem. objective of the study the study aims to identify training program needs of elementary mathematics teachers. methodology the study made use of the descriptive research design to identify the common teaching practices and problems encountered by the elementary mathematics teachers. the informants in this study were the selected elementary mathematics teachers. they were from the different public and private elementary schools of the first congressional district, davao city. specifically, as informants of the survey, 15 teachers, five each from the three selected public and private elementary schools of the first congressional district, davao city. furthermore, six (6) other from public and 6 from private school teachers were invited to 16 jpair multidisciplinary research attend a focus group discussion. hence, there are 30 informants for the study and 12 for the focus group discussion with an overall of 42 informants. the data gathering instrument that was used in this study is consists of four parts namely; the teachers’ demographic profile, usual teaching practices checklist, problems encountered checklist and an open-ended question to identify the training needs. the second part which was a checklist used to determine the usual teaching practices of mathematics teacher. the checklist has two parts; the first part is a checklist for teaching methodology practices, and the second part is a checklist for teaching strategies practices. results and discussion the socio-demographic profile of the mathematics teachers in public and private elementary schools table 1. responses of key informants from the survey questionnaire about the socio-demographic profile of the mathematics teachers in the public and private schools profile school type public private mean descriptive interpretation mean descriptive interpretation distance from home to school 4.1333 3.1 km to five kilometers 3.9333 3.1 km to five kilometers monthly income 3.7333 above 20,000 up to 25,000 2.8000 above 15,000 up to 20,000 age 4.9333 40 to 44 years old 3.3333 35 to 39 years old educational attainment 2.4667 with masters’ degree 2.4667 with masters’ degree number of teaching years 3.6000 15 to 19 years of experience 2.4667 10 to 14 years of experience as observed, at an average, the distance of schools from home is similar for both the public and private school teachers which range from 3.1 kilometers to 5 17 international peer reviewed journal kilometers. educational attainment for both groups of teachers was also the same which is at least holders of master’s degree program. from the table, it could be seen that distance from home to school and the educational attainment, at an average is the same form both groups, the private and public school teachers which imply that the two factors will never affect the differences about their views in line with the teaching practices of mathematics teachers. the factors that would probably have an effect on their responses would be ages, number of years in teaching experiences and their monthly income. public school teachers also have a tendency to stay longer in service than those in the private as implied by their number of years of teaching experience in the school which could be brought about by their monthly income in which the public school teachers got higher income compared to those in the private schools. the difference between their monthly incomes is almost p5,000.00 (114 usd). that is, 20 to 25 (455-568 usd) thousand pesos monthly income for public school teachers and 15 to 20 thousand pesos only for the private school teachers. the average age of teachers from the private schools ranges from 35 to 39 years old while for public school teacher is from 40 to 44 years old. at an average, the respondents were found to be teaching at the grade five level with average teaching years of experience as 15 to 19 and 10-14 years for the public and private school teachers respectively. the socio-demographic profile of teachers can be associated with maslow theory of a need hierarchy which proposed that people have higher-order and lower-order needs. in egypt, according to sabry (2010) the significance of pay increase goes afar its impact on the income of public school teachers. pay increase for professional workers, such as teachers, is also pertinent to the psychological theory regarding fulfilment and motivation. several psychological theories sought to know the basic configuration of human needs as they related to the workplace. the common teaching practices of mathematics teachers in the public and private schools. from table 2, it could be observed that the most common methods considered to be often used by public and private school teachers are the lecture method, learning by doing and problem solving. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. the common teaching practices of mathematics teachers in the public and private elementary schools of the first congressional district in davao city teaching practices school type public private mean number of times practiced mean number of times practiced methods lecture 4.00 often 4.07 often inductive 3.33 sometimes 3.73 sometimes deductive 3.13 sometimes 3.47 sometimes analyticalsynthetic 3.33 sometimes 2.80 sometimes project 2.93 sometimes 2.33 seldom brain storming 3.47 sometimes 3.33 sometimes discovery 3.36 sometimes 3.40 sometimes learning by doing 4.00 often 4.33 often problem solving 4.27 often 4.47 often inquiry method 3.40 sometimes 2.93 sometimes strategy think-pair-share 3.73 often 3.93 often number tiles 3.20 sometimes 3.60 often block modeling 3.53 often 4.67 always mnemonics 2.53 sometimes 2.27 seldom accelerated or individualized math 3.20 sometimes 3.33 sometimes small group discussion 3.53 often 3.33 sometimes jigsaw 2.80 sometimes 2.73 sometimes math games 3.33 sometimes 3.47 sometimes ict integrated 2.53 sometimes 2.40 seldom math journals 2.60 sometimes 2.26 seldom among the common problems usually observed by mathematics teachers both in the private and public schools as implied in the participants’ responses in the survey questionnaires are observed in table 3.3. it can be seen that lack of students’ interaction which may be brought about by the negative attitude of students towards the methods of teaching used, lack of students’ reading comprehension abilities, weak foundation of students, unavailability of instructional materials, lack of time for class preparation, overloaded class schedules, destructive learning environment, and students retentive memory. 19 international peer reviewed journal some of these problems that teachers encountered in the philippines also happen in africa. according to thakrar, wolfenden, & zinn (2009) overcrowded classrooms, very few trained teachers, lack of schoolbooks and few toilets, often without separation between boys and girls are some of the problems facing primary school students in sub-saharan africa. a statistical examination of school and teaching resources in the region by the unesco institute for statistics (uis) highlights these challenges which weaken children’s chances to succeed in their studies. table 3. the problems encountered by mathematics teachers in the public and private elementary schools of the first congressional district in davao city problems school type public private mean number of times observed mean number of times observed overcrowded classrooms 3.9333 very often (51 to 75% 0f the times observed) 1.2667 not all (not observed) lack of students’ interaction 3.0667 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 2.5333 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) negative attitude of students 3.0000 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 3.7333 very often (51 to 75% 0f the times observed) lack of students’ reading comprehension 3.4000 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 3.6000 very often (51 to 75% 0f the times observed) students’ weak foundation 3.5333 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 2.8000 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) lack of time in class preparation 2.8000 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 2.8000 often (26 to 50% 0f the times observed) lack instructional material 2.5333 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 1.3333 not at all (not observed) overloaded class schedule 2.7333 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 1.4000 not at all (not observed) lack of students’ retention on the subject matter 3.9333 very often (51 to 75% 0f the times observed) 2.9333 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) destructive environment 3.2000 often(26 to 50% 0f the times observed) 2.0000 seldom(1 to 25% 0f the times observed) 20 jpair multidisciplinary research training needs among the training needs that were identified from the responses of the public school teachers in the survey questionnaires include trainings about strategies that will help arouse pupil’s participation especially to pupils below average, math literacy particularly the use of singaporean method, australian math orientation and strategies in teaching problem solving. teachers from the private schools identified the incorporation of reading strategies in teaching how to understand problems in math, special trainings on how to ignite students to ask questions, and similar to the concerns of the public school teachers are the training about new strategies in teaching math particularly the singaporean approach. teacher professional development happens in the framework of lifelong learning with experiences over an extensive stage of time contributing to teachers’ knowledge of, values about and attitudes towards mathematics teaching and learning. according to the study of carroll (2005), professional development was professed by the teachers to occur through interaction with significant others. the results suggest that teachers benefit from professional development programs that value the understandings and affective factors that teacher bring to the task, and that help teachers to mirror on their experiences. moreover, according to national education association (2012), professional development must be required throughout the career of education support professionals. it should provide the same opportunities for these employees to acquire and enhance the knowledge and skills important to their positions and job performance and should assure that suitable education employees have a key voice at every part of setting up, implementation, and evaluation. the total informants of the study were 30 public and private elementary math teachers from the first congressional district of davao city only and complete enumeration design was used. since only one congressional district was taken as informants, inclusion of second and third district of davao city would be advised to further validate the result of the study. conclusions from the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) most of the stakeholders viewed that they are not fully aware with the correct implementation of their frequent teaching practices considering their limitations in terms of budget and time; 2) lack of more comprehensive trainings among teachers in 21 international peer reviewed journal line with the new trends of teaching methodologies and strategies; 3) insufficient resources and funding; negative views about seminars and trainings and the scarcity of trainings conducted within their reach and capacity; 4) low monthly income from among the private school teachers could be considered as factors affecting their teaching practices; and 5) teachers’ training program is needed to address issues related to the teaching practices of mathematics teachers of the selected public and private elementary schools of the first congressional district of davao city. literature cited carroll, j. (2005). developing effective teachers of mathematics: factors contributing to development in mathematics education for primary school teachers. dickey, e. m. (1997). challenges of teaching mathematics today: how can school leaders help?. nassp bulletin, 81(586), 1-10. durban, j. m., & catalan, r. d. (2012). issues and concerns of philippine education through the years. issues, 1(2). sabry, m. (2010). longitudinal effects of pay increase on teachers job satisfaction: a motivational perspective.  the journal of international social research, 3(10), 1-21. sunstar davao (2011). davao is 151st in math national achievement. retrieved from: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/local-news/2011/11/18/davao%20 151st-math%20national-achievement-test-191340 thakrar, j., wolfenden, f., & zinn, d. (2009). harnessing open educational resources to the challenges of teacher education in sub-saharan africa.  the international review of research in open and distance learning, 10(4). national education association (2012). providing ongoing professional development. cover single 95 international peer reviewed journal development of a sugar free chewy candy utilizing pili pulp flour and oil geraldine f. de jesus orcid id 0000-0001-6367-553x gigidejesus95@yahoo.com concepcion j. cambaliza sofia v. catabian sorsogon state college, philippines abstract the development of a sugar free chewy candy is formulated as an additional product of pili utilizing the pili pulp oil and flour. this is considered to be a non caloric food since no sugar was added to the product,but aspartame was used instead.a total of 20 panelists evaluated the sample using a 9 hedonic scale method. two trials were made, one with the addition of sugar syrup which is termed as low calorie and the other is without the addition of sugar syrup thus termed as a sugar free chewy candy. comparative test result revealed that the former was rated as like slightly and the later as like moderately. nutrition information was computed based on the nutritional content of the raw materials used, and the following were obtained at 50g per serving or approximately 10 pieces of the product. calories 80, calories from fat 15, total fat 1.4g with daily value of 2%, transfat 0g, saturated fat 1g with 5% dv, cholesterol 13.6g with 5% dv, sodium 94 mg with 4%dv. the total carbohydrates is 10g, 4%dv, dietary fiber is 0, sugar 0, protein 7.5g. others were vitamin a 1%,vitamin c 2%, calcium 25% and iron 1%. keywords sugar free, chewy candy, pili pulp oil, pili flour, low calorie, non caloric food vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.183 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 96 jpair: multidisciplinary research introduction the bicol region is known for its “pili” products. they say that your trip in bicol will never be completed unless you have tasted pili. it is scientifically known as canariumovatum. it is considered one of the most abundant plants in sorsogon city. in 2005, they produced 2,574 metric tons of pili nuts of the 4,462 tons produced from the region. (pna features 2010).before,pili are served in the table as appetizer and others are being sold as candied pili. nowadays various products can already be made from this fruit utilizing almost all its parts. this study is supplementary to the completed research of catabian and detera (2002), entitled “developing pili pulp baked products” and cambaliza et al (2009), the utilization of pili pulp flour and pili pulp oil in cookery. many food preparations today invariably make use of sugar and similar products as components necessary for flavor enhancement. because of this, demand for sugar increases in food processing industries particularly in the field of confectionery. humans, naturally have an appetite for sugary things. in excess, it adds up to surplus calories, which can contribute to weight gain. in order to lose weight, the total calories from foods, especially those with lots from sugar must be decreased (henkel 2009). in the past, most of the hard and chewy candies sold are added with artificial color and flavor with very minimal nutritive value (de leon 1992). nowadays, varieties of candies are being developed. sugar free, low calorie, fiber rich,are only some description of this. consumers can walk into any mass retailer, grocery or drug store and find an array of sugar free products, from dairy based hard candies with sophisticated flavor combinations to chocolate bars choked full of nougat, caramel and nuts. this development is due to the demand of a far more healthy food. many became conscious of the kind of food that they are buying. others would even compute for the calorie content, verify for the nutrition facts, and others are thoroughly looking for a sugar free label. it is termed sugar free since the total amount of sugar added is replaced by an aspartame or sugar substitute that contains zerocalories. aside from this, the other ingredients used in this study such as milk 97 international peer reviewed journal powders, pili pulp flour, pili oil and eggs have no sugar content. another significant feature of our product is the addition of pili oil and pili pulp flour which is supplementary beneficial since the former is considered an unsaturated fat with while the latter is fiber rich, not to mention the other food nutrients from the raw materials used. framework with the utilization of pili oil and pili pulp flour, cambaliza et al(2009) in their completed research entitled “development of pili flour and oil” were able to prepare 10 recipes; 7 of which utilized pili flour and 3 used the pili pulp oil. to name some of these products are pilichoco drops, mayonnaise dressing, muffins and cookies. in the same manner, the study of pelea et al (2001) also aimed to develop technologies on the utilization of pili oil for dressing, fish canning, frying oil and margarine manufacture. results of their study showed that pili oil mayonnaise had no significant difference from olive oil mayonnaise relative to most sensory characteristics. in addition to this, analysis was conducted by dost region v comparing pili oil with olive oil. results showed that pili pulp oil has more beta carotene, a known source of vitamin a, caroteneoids, tocopherols (vitamin e) and phytosterols. these substances are antioxidants that protect cells from oxidation and neutralize unstable free radicals.aside from this, pili pulp oil is also a good source of protein, iodine and calcium. (dost). likewise, yee of sorsogon city, was able to produce organic oil from pili pulp which is suitable for culinary purposes, salad dressing, shortening, for canned sardines and other food preparations. not only this, according to her the oil is suitable for people with delicate skin and are health conscious because it is organic and contains an antiaging element that prevents wrinkled acne and pimples. there are also numerous uses of pili oil and pili pulp aside from utilizing it in food processing. in a feasibility study conducted by aquino et al (2006), the pili nut shell was used as a cheaper biodegradable alternative to synthetic adhesives. the hard stony shell of the pili seed is also used in cooking, for which it makes an excellent fuel (coronel 1996). on the other hand, synthetic sweeteners, another ingredient used in 98 jpair: multidisciplinary research making sugar free chewy candy are non caloric sweeteners; they add sweetness without adding energy value, which is desirable in body weight reduction and diabetic diets. as such, synthetic sweeteners are aptly referred to as non nutritive sweeteners. to dramatize the functions of sugar in food preparation, it would be interesting to observe the effects of using artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute in standard recipes of frozen desserts, candies cookies and many more. in addition, the american dietetic association (ada) recently evaluated aspartame and its effects on weight, appetite and desire for sweetness. they reaffirmed the conclusion of regulatory and scientific authorities that the artificial sweetener is not associated with the adverse effects for the general population including hypersensitivity reactions, elevated methanol or brain cancers. in 1980, the fda convened a public board of inquiry (pboi) consisting of independent advisors charged with examining the purported relationship between aspartame and brain cancer. the pboi concluded that aspartame does not cause brain damage, but it recommended against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about cancer in laboratory rats. a u.s. fda task force team investigated allegations of errors in the preapproval research conducted by the manufacturer, and found only minor discrepancies that did not affect the study outcomes. moreover, the american dental association (ada), representing well over 100,000 professionals and experts in the field of dentistry and dental health, also agrees that sugar-free foods do not promote tooth decay. the ada has officially acknowledged this conclusion in their policy statement “role of sugar-free foods and medications in maintaining good oral health.” some consumers are hesitant to buy sugar free candies because they are thinking that it would have lesser sweet taste considering that it is a sugar free product. this was verified on the study of miller (2009) regarding the preference of consumer on sugar free candies. a sample of 100 people in the uk, and 129 in australia were put to the test with different fruit and mint-flavored candies. a similar test was conducted in spain with 154 respondents. the method in all the tests was a paired comparison between the sugar-free candy and the sugar version, both being produced with the same manufacturing recipe and flavor. the sugar free candy was preferred because of its lower 99 international peer reviewed journal sweetness, higher flavor intensity and more appropriate flavor, lower stickiness and better mouth feel. mentioning all the beneficial qualities and health effects of an artificial sweetener as well as the utilization of the pili oil and pili pulp flour, this has prompted the researchers to develop a sugar free, fiber rich chewy candy which will cater not only health conscious individuals, but also children and those with diabetes and suffering from obesity. moreover, more research studies were conducted using pili oil and pulp in many food variations yet none of which has developed a sugar free candy utilizing pili pulp oil and pili flour. objectives of the study this study aims to develop a sugar free, fiber rich chewy candy utilizing pili pulp flour and pili oil, compute for the nutrition information of sugar free chewy candy and to determine the acceptability of the product through sensory evaluation. materials and methods the study was developed utilizing the pili pulp oil and pili flour in making sugar free candy. a total batch weight of 1000grams was made which yielded 750 grams of candy or 75% output. total time incurred from the preparation of materials until the packing of the finished product was 80 minutes. figure 1 shows the processing of sugar free chewy candy. the first step is to sift all the dry ingredients such as the milk powders, pili pulp flour and the sugar substitute followed by the weighing of all the ingredients; an accurate and calibrated weighing scale is desired in measuring the ingredients since inexact measurement will greatly affect the quality of the product. the dry ingredients were mixed together in a mixing bowl and transferred to a blender. the pili oil and water are added to the mixture andosterized for at least 5-7 minutes or just enough that the ingredients were well blended. the blender should be opened once in a while to scrape off the sides to remove smear and spillages. the next step is to transfer the homogenized mixture into a clean saucepan and add the beaten eggs. 100 jpair: multidisciplinary research figure 1. steps in processing of sugar free chewy candy the batch was cooked at 118-120°c for 20 to 25 minutes with constant stirring. after reaching the desired time and temperature, the product will be spread in a cooling table then rolled and cut into desired pieces. approximately, chewy candy should weigh at least 5.0±0.5 grams per piece. the product will be wrapped and packed in a polyethylene bag by 50’s and stored under favorable conditions. the finished product was stored for one week before conducting the sensory evaluation test to determine if the sugar free chewy candy is acceptable. the hedonic scale method is used in this study; these were presented singly and rated on a scale where 9 categories range from dislike extremely to like extremely. results showed that overall acceptability of sugar free chewy candy was rated as like moderately. 101 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion this research is conducted in two trials. the first trial is a chewy candy with the addition of sugar syrup usually called a low calorie candy since the sugar used is a non sweetener. three treatments were made with different variations of pili,oil, milk powders and pili pulp flour. among the three trials, t1 was best preferred by the panelists and overall acceptability resulted as like slightly using the 9 scale hedonic scale. the second trial was done without the addition of sugar syrup.this product is termed sugar free since glucose was eliminated that makes the product zero calorie. the formulation for t1 was used in this trial but with the addition of eggs. three treatments were done. overall acceptability as evaluated by the panelists was also like moderately. based on the results of the comparison test between the two samples, the chewy candy without the sugar syrup or sugar free,was best preferred with an overall acceptability rated as like moderately. tables 1 and 2 below shows the result of the evaluation for low calorie candies, tables 3 and 4 indicate the results for sugar free chewy candy and table 5 present the comparison test between the two samples. table 1. grams and percentage of three treatments made for chewy candy with sugar syrup ingredients t1 t2 t3 % grams % grams % grams pili oil 4.8 25g 4.8 25g 4.8 25g non nutritive sweetener 1.0 5g 1.0 5g 1.0 5g milk powders 55.8 290g 52 270g 47 245g pili pulp flour 5.8 30g 9.6 50g 14.6 75g water 28.8 150g 28.8 150g 28.8 150g sugar syrup 3.8 20g 3.8 20g 3.8 20g yield 70 364g 69 360 67 348 102 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 1 show the grams and percentage of the three treatments made for chewy candy with sugar syrup. total batch weight made for the three treatments is 520 grams, however, the total output for t1 is 364 grams showing a 70% yield, 360 with 69% for t2 and 348 grams, 67% output for t3. percentage value of pili oil,non nutritive sweetener, water and sugar syrup is constant at 4.8%, 1%, 28.8% and 3.8% respectively, while pili pulp flour and milk powders have different variations. table 2. sensory evaluation result for chewy candy with sugar syrup 9 hedonic scale t1 t2 t3 like extremely (9) like very much (8) like moderately (7) × like slightly (6) × × neither like nor dislike (5) dislike slightly (4 ) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) table 2 shows the result of the sensory evaluation for chewy candy with sugar syrup. twenty (20) panelists evaluated the sample using a 9 point hedonic scale. overall acceptability of the product demonstrated that 11 preferred t1 and rated it as like moderately while 4 and 5 panelists favored for t2 and t3, respectively, which is ranked as like slightly. 103 international peer reviewed journal table 3. grams and percentage of three treatments made for chewy candy without sugar syrup ingredients t1 t2 t3 % grams % grams % grams pili oil 4.3 25g 4.3 25g 4.3 25g non nutritive sweetener 1.0 5g 1.0 5g 1.0 5g milk powders 51.8 290g 48.3 270g 43.8 245g pili pulp flour 5.4 30g 8.9 50g 13.4 75g water 26.8 150g 26.8 150g 26.8 150g eggs 10.7 60g 10.7 60g 10.7 60g yield 75 420g 73 410 70 390 table 3 demonstrates the grams and percentage of the three treatments made for chewy candy without sugar syrup. total batch weight made for each of the three treatments is 560 grams. total output for t1 is 420 grams showing a 75% yield, 410 with 73% for t2 and 390 grams, 70% output for t3.the percentage value of pili oil, non nutritive sweetener, and water and sugar syrup is constant at 4.3%, 1%, 26.8% and 10.7% respectively, while pili pulp flour and milk powders have different variations. t1 was highlighted since this was the best preferred by the panelists compared to t2 and t3. table 4. sensory evaluation result for chewy candy without sugar syrup 9 hedonic scale t1 t2 t3 like extremely (9) like very much (8) like moderately (7) × like slightly (6) × × 104 jpair: multidisciplinary research neither like nor dislike (5) dislike slightly (4 ) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) table 4 illustrates the outcome of the sensory evaluation for chewy candy without sugar syrup. as rated by the panelists, overall acceptability of the product showed that 10 preferred t1 and rated it as like moderately while 5 panelists favored for t2 and t3 which is ranked as like slightly. table5. comparative test between chewy candy with and without sugar syrup product color aroma texture taste overall acceptability t1* like moderately (7) like slightly (6) neither like or dislike (5) like slightly (6) like slightly 6 t2** like moderately (7) like moderately (7) like slightly (6) like moderately (7) like moderately (6.75) * low calorie chewy candy ** sugar free chewy candy table 5 demonstrates the comparison between the low calorie chewy candy and sugar free. although both products used a sugar substitute which is aspartame, still there are differences in some of the physical attributes such as the aroma, taste and texture. overall acceptability shows that t2 is best preferred. 105 international peer reviewed journal table 6. nutrition information of the sugar free chewy nutrition facts serving size 10 pieces (50g) amount per serving calories from fat 15 calories 80 % daily values* total fat 1.4 2% saturated fat 1g 5% cholesterol 13.6mg 5% sodium 94mg 4% total carbohydrate 10g 4% dietary fiber 0g 0% sugars 0g other carbohydrate 0g protein 7.5g vitamin a 1% vitamin c 2% calcium 25% iron 1% * percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. table 6 shows the computed nutrition facts of sugar free chewy candy.the computation was based on the nutritional contents of the raw materials used such as the pili oil and flour, eggs, milk powders and the non-sweetener. serving size is approximately 10 pieces, which is equivalent to 50 grams. the percent daily values are based on 2000 calorie diet. 106 jpair: multidisciplinary research conclusions result of this study shows that a sugar free, fiber rich chewy candy can be developed using a non sweetener, pili pulp oil and flour . the computed nutrition information/ facts confirmed that the product is indeed sugar free. comparative test shows that the panelists preferred best the sugar free rather than the low calorie chewy candy. recommendations for this product to be out in the market, it is recommended that chemical and microbial analysis be first conducted to ensure that the product is safe to consume. after which, a consumer test maybe conducted to strengthen the overall acceptability of the product. at the same time, a shelf life study may also be made by storing samples in different conditions. once the results of the above studies are satisfactorily met, production may ensue. literature cited catabian and detera 2009 completed research entitled “ acceptability, shelf life and microbiological analysis of pili pulp baked food products.” cambaliza, janer,habla anddetera 2009 completed research entitled utilization of pilipulp f l o u r and oil in cookery. henkel, j. 2009 sugar substitutes: americans opt for sweetness and lite. american journal on foods. geiselman, p.j., et al. 2009 effects of gum chewing on specific macronutrient and total caloric intake in an afternoon snack (abst. 101.3). experimental biology 2009, new orleans (april 19). 107 international peer reviewed journal pelea, n. and m.a. oronan 2002 bicol univ., legaspi city (philippines).utilization of pili oil in processing. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 75 challenges of small and medium enterprise towards progress leslie ann u. gamundoy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8416-0225 leslieannuntalan@gmail.com pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines remedios j. bucal rembucal@yahoo.com pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines flordeliza s. em liza.em083068@gmail.com pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the major concern of this study is to identify the challenges of small and medium enterprises towards progress in pulo in the city of cabuyao, laguna, philippines as assessed by the business ownerrespondents. by understanding their challenges, it is expected to improve the competitiveness of smes, and that eventually, they will grow and expand their businesses. when it comes to the nature of the business, the service type is the most commonly used by the medium enterprise business-owners with the least capitalization of 11,000 and up and with a capacity of 11 years of business operations. they all agreed that they encounter some difficulties in availing funds because of lots of requirements in loan applications for business. they are also amenable to growing stiff vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v42i1.804 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8416-0225 mailto:leslieannuntalan@gmail.com mailto:rembucal@yahoo.com mailto:liza.em083068@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 7676 jpair multidisciplinary research competition that arises among the unregistered enterprises because of much cheaper offered products to the market. in this case, some smes have failed to compete with the micro-businesses. they all disagree on the perception that the focus on giving support is intended only for micro-enterprises, same as the lgu for the insufficient fund to support in promoting more the sme sector. keywords — small and medium enterprises, progress, challenges, descriptive, philippines introduction small and medium enterprises (smes) are considered the engines of growth in developing countries. in developed countries, smes have historically played a vital role in creating jobs, spurring innovations, and creating new products, thus contributed to economic vitality and growth. emezie (2014) stated that small and medium enterprises in both advanced and developing countries cover a heterogeneous group of production units of diverse size, organization, managerial capacity, and technological level and sophistication. while in the advanced countries, they tend to be homogeneous (varying mainly in terms of firm size and technology), and in the third world, they are characterized by the coexistence of both very small craft-type enterprises in the informal economy and small and medium businesses in the organized sectors. their sophistication in terms of the level of organization and management and technological capabilities is largely affected by the stage of development and level of industrialization of a country. it is generally believed that at t h e early stages of development, small enterprises are predominantly craft-based, located mainly in rural areas to respond to local demand. at higher stages of development, these enterprises grow into or are replaced by modern small businesses with larger market potential and better quality of products; while at the most advanced level of development (the case of the advanced countries), the small enterprises are generally replaced by medium and large ones to reap the benefits of economies of scale. small and medium enterprises (smes) have gained increasing recognition in national and international discussions. in the philippines, its importance paved the way for the passage of two major laws that govern the promotion of smes: republic act (ra) 6977 or the magna carta for small enterprises, as amended by ra 8289, and ra 9178, better known as the barangay micro business enterprises (bmbes) act of 2002. 7777 international peer reviewed journal the crucial role in the growth of the philippine economy is discussed by leano (2006). accordingly, the philippine government has embarked upon a comprehensive and integrated strategy for the sustainable growth and development of smes in the country. the philippine strategy encompasses all critical factors – like technology, product development, finance, training, and marketing. admittedly from the bureau of small and medium enterprise development of the department of trade and industry, the philippine government has consistently extended support to smes by creating an enabling environment for them to realize their full potential in the blueprint for national development. the role of smes in the philippines is not limited to the simple creation of wealth or capital. these enterprises are also vital in correcting regional disparity by introducing new industries in the countryside and stimulating the local labor market. smes are more likely to be labor-intensive and thus provide jobs to wherever these are located. in this sense, they bring more balanced growth of the regional economy and equity in income distribution (watanabe et al., 2015). the characteristics of smes in the philippines are not different from other countries. in small businesses, they employ one or more functional supervisors who take care of production, sales, or finance. the owner-manager is not actively engaged in production but performs tasks related to the direction and leadership of the output without help from specialized staff. it is not rare that the supervisor is also the business owner. a small firm also owns multi-functional technical tools and equipment operated by workers with basic technical skills. in most cases, there is a single product line produced in small quantities (watanabe et al., 2015). there are different reasons why, in some countries, smes and entrepreneurship development are on a higher or lesser level of development. the most important factors influencing performance include enterprise size and age. they are more important than strategy and the owner’s entrepreneurial characteristics. the number of employees is important for the activity and performance of managers and companies; more research is needed before reaching final conclusions (lussier & sonfield, 2015). business failure, like business creation, is a part of a dynamic, healthy market. in the eu (european university), most bankruptcies are caused by late payments or other objective problems, i.e., by honest failures without any fraud attempted by the entrepreneur (european commission, 2013). in addition, second starters are more successful and survive longer than average start-ups; they grow faster and employ more workers (stam et al., 2015). digital technologies have become cheaper and more accessible and they change the communication and marketing practices, as well as the interaction 7878 jpair multidisciplinary research with the marketplace. these changes diminish the barriers of smes to adopt new technologies and enhance their strategic position in the global marketplace (stankovska et al., 2016). in contrast, little has been done to examine the underperformance factors of newly established smes. philippine businesses are categorized by asset size and by the number of employees. the small and medium enterprises (smes) refer to any business activity/enterprise engaged in industry, agri-business/services, whether single proprietorship, cooperative, partnership, or corporation whose total assets, inclusive of those arising from loans but exclusive of the land on which the particular business entity’s office, plant, and equipment are situated. they must have value falling under the following categories: by asset size: small: p3, 000, 000 – p15, 000, 000 medium: p 15,000,001 – 100,000,000 by number of employees: small: 1099 employees medium: 100-199 employees in cabuyao, laguna, this metropolis known as the “enterprise city” in laguna has now opened its negosyo center (nc). this 59th business hub put up by the department of trade and industry (dti) in the calabarzon region comprises the provinces of cavite, laguna, batangas, rizal, and quezon. mia angeline cortez, public information officer of dti calabarzon, told the philippine news agency on wednesday here that the negosyo center is now housed at the 3rd floor of the cabuyao retail plaza following the trade department’s partnership agreement with the city government over the weekend. this city’s negosyo center is the 12th one-stop-shop business center established in laguna after pagsanjan, binan city, los banos, santa rosa city, calamba city, victoria, san pedro city, san pablo city, santa maria, alaminos and santa cruz. dti calabarzon regional director marilou toledo said they are very happy with the full support and cooperation of cabuyao “to our programs as our way to develop smes and generate employment”. for her part, dti laguna director susan palo said cabuyao has the biggest negosyo center office in laguna so far, “having complete facilities such as training room and reception area.” (radyo natin, 2017). 7979 international peer reviewed journal cabuyao and dti officials are now engaging the current and aspiring entrepreneurs to visit the center and know more about the available services and training programs. the establishment of negosyo center is prescribed under the “go negosyo law” or republic act 10644, which mandates the creation of these centers in all provinces, cities, and municipalities. negosyo center serves as one-stop-shop offering services for micro, small and medium entrepreneurs, including the facilitation requirements and ease of doing business and in accessing information essential for smes growth. some negosyo center services include accepting and facilitating all new registration and renewal application of smes, including an application for barangay micro business enterprise (bmbe), assisting msmes in meeting regulatory requirements to start and maintain the business, providing information and services in training, financing, marketing, and other areas as may be required by smes and facilitating access to grants and other forms of financial assistance. framework finance gap theory the finance gap theory, as postulated by bolton (1971), states that the components-knowledge gap and supply gap are the two sets of challenges faced by smes. bolton points out that smes lack knowledge about available sources of external finance and that once these are determined, smes have trouble satisfying the loan requirements from the external financier. furthermore, external financiers do not understand the entrepreneur and their small and their small business venturing. this means that the only possible way that smes can raise capital is through personal savings, friends, and family members. additionally, since both their venture capital and sales value are small compared to operating costs, they face challenges in maintaining the business resulting in the eventual collapse of the smes. resource dependency theory the central premise of the resource dependency theory by salancik and pfeffer (1978) is the relationship between a firm and set stakeholders in the business environment. nevertheless, the focus is on the firm’s ability to access resources from other stakeholders in the business environment and describes how resource scarcities force firms to pursue new innovations that use alternative resources. the theory further postulates that smes’ survival depends on the firm’s ability 8080 jpair multidisciplinary research to acquire and retain resources from stakeholders within the task environment (dunn, 2008). the theory suggests that firms must aim to reduce or increase their level of dependency on other external actors through alliance and joint ventures. in addition, the theory can be interpreted to explain how smes might pursue direct and indirect markets of internationalization to reduce exposure to home markets, which may be undesirable due to high market saturation, production costs and instead focus on other more attractive national markets (guo & acar, 2005). the input block includes the business profile such as the nature of the business, capitalization, years of operation, and business structure. it also indicates the challenges encountered contributory to progress of smes in terms of access to finance, connectivity to markets and conformance to standards, and enabling business environment. also contained are the problems encountered in coping challenges towards the progress of their business and remedial measures that should be undertaken by the smes. under the process block, it represents the tools to attain the results of the study, like data analysis on business profile and assessed challenges. the researchers used the survey questionnaire, which was distributed to smes business-owner respondents for data collection, analysis, and organization. the study covered the challenges encountered by the sme business ownerrespondents as these will be contributory towards the progress of smes in their business-like in a particular barangay wherein business operations. objectives of the study the purpose of this study is to identify the challenges of small and medium enterprises towards progress in barangay pulo in the city of cabuyao, laguna, as assessed by the business ownerrespondents. by understanding their challenges, it is expected to improve the competitiveness of smes and that eventually, they will grow and expand their businesses. methodology research design the study focused on the challenges of smes towards progress in barangay pulo, city of cabuyao, laguna, philippines. the researchers used the descriptive method of research to assess the challenges of smes. the quantitative research method entails collecting data from the participants of the study through surveys, 8181 international peer reviewed journal experiments, and quasi-experiments. the method of analysis of data is by using statistical techniques. quantitative research methods offer reliable information as it involves the use of a large sample which enhances the reliability of the results generated. population sampling and sampling techniques the population of the study consisted of 10 medium enterprises and 28 small enterprises at pulo, city of cabuyao laguna. the researchers considered purposive sampling as the best technique to select the respondents, which included owners and managers of smes. purposive sampling involves selecting respondents in regards to their position in the target population. in this case, the target populations are the managers or owners of the organization since they have the details of the challenges they are facing that hinder progress or growth of their business. the sampling method is to be considered as it satisfies the inclusion criteria of the participation process. the sample is obtained from the list of registered smes from the business process licensing office of the city government of cabuyao (2018). instrumentation and validation in order to gain insights into the construction of the questionnaire, the researchers read methods of research books to gain insights into the preparation of questionnaires, and also theses and dissertations to see how questionnaires are constructed. the questionnaire constructed in this study was based on the insights from the study conducted by emezie (2017) and also from the manufacturing summit (2016). there are two sets of questionnaires, one is structured questionnaires to be used for interviews, and the other one is the survey questionnaire to be answered by the respondents. after the questionnaire was constructed, it was presented to the experts for correction for validation of the instrument. the researchers also conducted pre-surveys to the respondents. their suggestions for the improvement of the questionnaire were incorporated in the questionnaires. after incorporating the desired changes, the questionnaire was given to the language editor for editing. those who participated in the validation of the questionnaire were excluded from the final respondents of the study. 8282 jpair multidisciplinary research data gathering procedure the researchers made a self-structured questionnaire to be utilized for statistical computation, analysis, and interpretation of data. this study was conducted in the city of cabuyao, laguna, involving the smes. statistical treatment of data percentage and frequency distribution were used to describe the business profile of the selected sme ownerrespondents of the study in terms of nature of the business, capitalization, years of operation, and business structure. since the options to the items of the questionnaire were assigned points, the weighted mean was viewed as the best measure for a central tendency. the options to the items of the questionnaires were interpreted as follows with the corresponding intervals. results and discussion according to shaughnessy and zechmeister (2014), tables provide a more precise description of the results, and figures make it easier to see trends or patterns in the data. the highest and least figures or findings of the study are normally highlighted in the textual interpretation. data from these tables are integrated into the textual discussion. table 1. nature of business of the smes owners nature of business frequency percentage rank service type 10 59% 1 merchandising 6 36% 2 manufacturing 1 5% 3 total 17 100% shown in table 1 are the results on the different types of business for which the service type achieved at a frequency of 10 with 59% as ranked 1; while the lowest frequency attained is the manufacturing type of business which 5% as ranked 3. this simply means that the service type of business is the most indemand and considered as an alternative source of income. 8383 international peer reviewed journal table 2. on business structure business structure frequency percentage rank small 7 41% 2 medium 10 59% 1 total 17 100% as reflected in table 2, it showed that medium business structure got a frequency of 10 with 59%, which ranked 1. the result implies that most of the enterprises started progressing their business from small to medium until such time it becomes bigger. table 3. capitalization capitalization frequency percentage rank 11,000-20,005,500 16 90% 1 20,005,501 40,000,000 1 10% 2 total 17 100% table 3 manifested that majority of the business capitalization had ranged from 11,000 to 20,005,500 with the frequency of 16 with 90% as ranked the only one who got a capitalization of more than 20,005,501 with 10% as ranked 2. this only indicates that the majority of the business capitalization belongs to the medium enterprises. table 4. years of operation years of operation frequency percentage rank 1-11 10 59% 1 12-23 6 35% 2 24-35 0 36-47 0 48-59 1 6% 3 total 17 100% for the above table on years of operation, it shows that the most number of years of operation is 1-11 years with a frequency of 10 with 59% ranked 1. this 8484 jpair multidisciplinary research simply means that majority of the businesses which belong to medium enterprise has reached the peak of their operations in 10 years time. table 5. access to finance access to finance weighted mean interpretation 1. funds are available, but smes find these difficult to access because of stringent and voluminous requirements as well as the slow processing time for their loan applications. 2.76 agree 2. smes find it difficult to borrow funds from banks because of collateral requirements. 2.35 agree 3. smes find the minimum loan requirement and short repayment period restrictive. 2.35 agree 4. smes in several regions do not have capacity for financial management. 2.06 agree over-all mean 2.38 agree legend: 3.50-4.00 strongly agree; 2.50 -3.49 agree 1.50-2.00 disagree; 1.49-below strongly disagree with regard to the challenges of smes in terms of access to finance, the business-owner respondents gave their points of views that the highest weighted mean achieved of 2.76, which was verbally interpreted as agree falls under the indicator which states that “funds are available, but smes find this difficult to access because of stringent and voluminous requirements as well as the slow processing time for their loan applications.” on the other side, the least weighted mean attained of 2.06 with a verbal interpretation of agree states the indicator that “smes in several regions do not have the capacity for financial management.” therefore the over-all weighted mean result is 2.38, which was verbally interpreted as agree. this signifies that although there are available funds to support their business, they find it hard to comply with all of the requirements in the loan application. 8585 international peer reviewed journal table 6. connectivity to markets connectivity to markets weighted mean interpretation 1. smes are not proactive in seeking markets and responding to market needs. 2.00 disagree 2. stiff competition from unregistered enterprises and cheap imports are eroding the smes market share. 2.65 agree 3. most smes do not have access to market hubs where their products could be displayed or sold. 2.18 agree 4. smes have limited capacity for product development and design. 2.18 agree over-all mean 2.25 agree legend: 3.50-4.00 strongly agree; 2.50 -3.49 agree 1.50-2.00 disagree; 1.49-below strongly disagree based on the assessments of sme business-owner respondents, the grand mean achieved was 2.25with a verbal interpretation of agree. the highest weighted mean got of 2.65 with a verbal interpretation of agreeing falls on the indicator “stiff competition from unregistered enterprise and cheap imports are eroding the smes market share.” on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean was 2.00 on the indicator which stated that “smes are not proactive in seeking markets and responding market need,” and this was verbally interpreted as disagree. this result connotes that the smes owners are facing great competition and conflicts with unregistered enterprises because their less expensive products serve as obstacles to the success or growth of the sme owners. this idea is suggested by samar (2011) that smes contribute to setting new design trends, developing contemporary products, and bringing them to the marketplace ahead of the competition. they become channels for innovation to develop indigenous or appropriate technology, which may be developed into a pioneering technological breakthrough. the smes are agents for an effective increase of the value-added in final goods that are processed and marketed by large manufacturing firms. 8686 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. enabling business environment enabling business environment weighted mean interpretation 1. there is inadequate support for start-up enterprises. 2.06 disagree 2. business development is too focused on micro enterprise development with little attention, given the concerns of small and medium enterprises. 2.24 disagree 3. lgus lack of capacity to support and promote the sme sector. 2.24 disagree 4. people are not entrepreneurial and prefer to be employed instead of putting up their own business 2.18 disagree over-all mean 2.18 disagree legend: 3.50-4.00 strongly agree; 2.50 -3.49 agree 1.50-2.00 disagree; 1.49-below strongly disagree as to the assessment of the business-owner respondents in terms of enabling business environment, the overall mean of 2.18 was achieved with a verbal interpretation of disagree. there appeared the tie results of 2.24 with both verbal interpretations of disagreeing to the indicators like “business development is too focused on micro enterprise development with little attention given the concerns of small and medium enterprise” and “lgus lack of capacity to support and promote the sme sectors.” on the other hand, the least mean obtained was 2.06, which was verbally interpreted as disagree in the indicator “there is inadequate support to start-up enterprise.” this can be a good indication that small and medium enterprises are aware of the support given by the lgus, and they are agreeable that most of the people in barangay pulo are positive to be ready to engage themselves in business. as stated by laylo (2018) that major developments on sme, specifically on social enterprises, were revisited and analyzed. it also looked into how they sustained, supported, and nurtured the philippines’s overall economic landscape. extensive data were collected from relevant agencies in public and private sectors, after which they were analyzed parallel to existing literature, i.e., theories, model, and concepts. this emphasizes the bmbe act (barangay micro business enterprise) that encourages the formation and growth of bmbe by granting them incentives and other benefits such as exemption from income tax, exemption from the minimum wage. 8787 international peer reviewed journal the go negosyo act promotes doing business and facilitates access to services for msmes through the negosyo centers. the philippine business registry that their system allows sole proprietorship to register their business names with dti. and last is the environmental compliance of business operations that provides the guide for smes to adopt appropriate waste disposal and a lot of environmental measures, and compliance remains the issue. conclusions based on the findings summarized, the researchers arrived at the following conclusions: (1) that when it comes to the nature of the business, the service type is the most commonly used by the medium enterprise business-owners with the least capitalization of 11,000 and up and with a capacity of 11 years of business operations. (2) that is based on the assessments of the smes business-owner respondents. they all agreed that they encounter some difficulties in availing funds because of lots of requirements in loan applications for business. they are also amenable to growing stiff competition that arises among the unregistered enterprises because of much cheaper offered products to the market. in this case, some smes have failed to compete with the micro-businesses. they all disagree on the perception that the focus on giving support is intended only for micro-enterprises, same as the lgu for the insufficient fund to support in promoting more the sme sector. literature cited bolton (1971). international business and economics research journal. retrieved from www. researchgate.net/publication) emezie, s. (2017). prospects and challenges of smes in 21st century africa. retrieved from https://bit.ly/33yvwaw guo, c., & acar, m. (2005). understanding collaboration among nonprofit organizations: combining resource dependency, institutional, and network perspectives.  nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly,  34(3), 340-361. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764005275411 laylo, a. (2018). macro-level enabling conditions for the formation of social business enterprises in the philippines.  asia pacific journal of 8888 jpair multidisciplinary research innovation and entrepreneurship. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/ apjie-12-2017-0044 leano, r. m. (2006). smes in the philippines. cacci journal, 3, 1-10. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3m8hzll lussier, r. n., & sonfield, m. c. (2015). “micro” versus “small” family businesses: a multinational analysis. journal of small business and enterprise development. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-02-2015-0029 salancik, g. r., & pfeffer, j. (1978). a social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design.  administrative science quarterly, 224-253. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/2392563 samar, e. d. (2011). revisiting the smes in the philippines: challenges and issues. philosophy of doctorate, 1-16. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3ocqrbz shaughnessy, j. j. zechmeister j (2014) research methods in psychology. retrieved from https://bit.ly/37wspqi stam, e. (2015). entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional policy: a sympathetic critique.  european planning studies,  23(9), 1759-1769. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2015.1061484 stankovska, i., josimovski, s., & edwards, c. (2016). digital channels diminish sme barriers: the case of the uk.  economic research-ekonomska istraživanja, 29(1), 217-232. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2kejfbk watanabe, t., itabashi, m., shimada, y., tanaka, s., ito, y., ajioka, y., ... & ishihara, s. (2015). japanese society for cancer of the colon and rectum (jsccr) guidelines 2014 for treatment of colorectal cancer. international journal of clinical oncology,  20(2), 207-239. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2vwjyc9 19 international peer reviewed journal fillers, mime and self-repetitions as most frequently used communication strategies in oral expositions rommel v. tabula http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2691-6749 rommeltabula127519@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines aris s. balagtas http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5378-8186 arisbalagtas75@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines myra eugenia s. castillo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3388-3316 myra.sulicipan.castillo@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines abstract achieving competence in an oral communication situation has always been the ultimate goal of both teacher and students in an esl classroom. long years of schooling and prolonged exposure to speech communication had empowered students’ speaking ability, but anxieties still emerge in their oral expositions. this exploratory study investigated the communication strategies of students in overcoming communication anxieties in their oral expositions. it also delved into the factors affecting their communication anxieties. using laurilla’s (2003) vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.291 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research categories of communication strategies, data were obtained from the 25 third year bs tourism management students of the mariano marcos state university, philippines chosen through systematic random sampling. transcriptions of their videotaped oral expositions were analyzed in terms of the frequency of occurrence of specific communication strategies. interview was also utilized to support gathered quantitative data. results revealed that the most common strategies of students in managing their communication anxieties during their oral expositions included fillers, mime, self-repetition, self-repair, and mumbling. it also disclosed that attitude toward language learning, motivation in learning the language, and socio-economic status are the factors that would affect communication anxieties. keywords linguistics, communication strategies, descriptive design, batac city, philippines introduction when students are asked to expound a theme for at least two to three minutes in an oral exposition, they find difficulties in expressing their views. however, when they are requested to write an essay for about 150-300 words in length, they could effortlessly come up with one that is longer. in speaking, students tend to feel anxious to express their insights eloquently on an assigned topic; whereas, in writing, they can express their viewpoints spontaneously. given this scenario, students may pose a problem in speaking activities since there are some courses that require speaking as a form of assessment. for example, in mariano marcos state university, the terminal activities or requirements for tourism management students enrolled in ca 3 or business communication subject are oral presentation and mock job interview. in assessing the speaking performance of the students, they are required to think sharply and express confidently their opinions about a given topic. interactive survival in an age marked by exponential change necessitates the development of oral communication skills. in fact, this is the main goal of language teaching and learning since then. communication strategies are rooted in understanding its nature as both informational and relational between distinct human beings. this means that the information exchange in communication is simultaneously a goal-oriented act that ideally maintains and enhances the relationship in which it occurs. to achieve this end, poliden (2012) suggested that language learners should be provided with varied activities utilizing multiple 21 international peer reviewed journal representations and protracted language event. learner’s exposure to challenging tasks develops language proficiency and critical thinking which transcend learning objectives and prepare them to engage in real life communicative goals and situations. communication strategies play a vital role in oral language learning. willems (1987), argues that communication strategies allow the language learners to develop a feeling of being able to do something with the language and thus derive motivation in language learning. according to laurilla (2003), communication strategies are used as coping mechanisms to overcome speech anxieties and difficulties in interacting with another person. through communication strategies, speakers are motivated to fluently and accurately express their points of view using the target language. zare (2010), on the other hand, states that communication strategies emphasize the process of communication through conversation and getting meaning across or clarifying what the speaker intended. similarly, somsai and intaraprasert (2011) assert that language learners can significantly improve their communicative competence by developing their ability to use communication strategies to cope with face-to-face oral communication problems. communication strategies are thus utilized by speakers when they are faced with some problems or difficulties regarding their conversations or when confronted with misunderstanding by a cospeaker. in actual interaction, communication strategies exploit one’s linguistic or communicative knowledge to remain in the conversation. to date, studies investigating communication strategies focus mostly on efl speaking courses with students of varied linguistic backgrounds. in the philippines, there is a paucity of researches on communication strategies and the factors affecting students’ communication anxieties. moreover, none of these local researches investigated an ilocano community application of a framework used in studies that have shown results from a general philippine perspective and a western point of view. addressing this concern, several literature and studies related to the present study were reviewed to provide empirical and scientific bases in explaining common observations on communication strategies used to overcome speech anxieties. framework the concept of communication strategies was proposed by selinker in 1972. he defines it as the offshoot of a learner’s effort to verbalize meaning 22 jpair multidisciplinary research in an extemporaneous speaking through a restricted target language system. since then, the consensus of its correct definition has been the subject of much scholarly discussions among researchers. there are those who define it in the interindividual or interactional perspective and consider it as elements of discourse. others view it in the intra-individual or psychological perspective and regard it as internal and individual plans that language learners employ to solve their oral communication problems. tarone (1980) asserts that communication strategies are mutual attempts of two individuals to agree on the meaning in situations where they do not seem to share requisite meaning structures. in like manner, faerch and kasper (1983) claim communication strategies are potentially conscious plans for solving linguistic difficulties in achieving a specific communicative goal. jamshidnejad (2011) concludes that the usage of communication strategies enables language learners to promote accuracy level of their target language aside from the negotiation of meaning. however, canale (1981) argues communication strategies as verbal and non-verbal strategies that may be called into action to enhance the effectiveness of communication and to compensate communication breakdowns due to performance variables and insufficient competence. further, nakatani and goh (2007) view communication strategies as tactics adopted by esl students to solve oral communication problems. moreover, huang (2010) regard communication strategies as language learner’s problem-solving behavior in the process of target language communication. despite the widespread disagreement in the research literature about the exact nature of communication strategies, it boils down to the idea that communication strategies are utilized to bridge the gap between the linguistic knowledge of the language learner and that of the target language interlocutor in actual communication situations so as to avoid communication disruptions. in other words, communication strategies enable the language learners to compensate for their target language deficiencies, enhance interaction in the target language, and develop communicative competence (huang, 2010). most literature on communication strategies embodies similar and overlapping taxonomies. in japan, nakatani (2006) developed the oral communication strategy inventory to identify the strategies that facilitate efl learners’ oral communication. in 2010, he found that social-affective, fluency-oriented, and negotiation of meaning strategies could enhance learners’ communicative ability; while message abandonment and less active listener strategies characterize low proficient learners or ineffective speakers. 23 international peer reviewed journal using the same instrument nakatani (2006) developed, huang (2010) investigated the factors influencing the oral communication strategies of technological university students in taiwan. results revealed that students most often employed message reduction and alternation strategies, and least often employed message abandonment strategies. furthermore, students’ selfperceived oral proficiency, motivation in speaking english and the frequency of speaking english outside the classroom were significantly related with the use of oral communication strategies. nevertheless, english proficiency and gender did not have any effect on the use of oral communication strategies. moreover, the frequency of speaking english outside the classroom and motivation in speaking english were the powerful predictors of the use of oral communication strategies among this group of learners. lam (2010) ascertained the effects of strategy instruction on strategy use and task performance of low-proficiency and high-proficiency students at the same course level in hong kong. he discovered that strategy instruction was associated with the overall higher reported strategy and increased use of resourcing by low-proficiency students than their high-proficiency counterparts. qualitative analysis demonstrated that many low-proficiency students deployed resourcing to understand others, to understand the tasks, to generate ideas, and to generate language. jamshidnejad (2011) explored how a group of persian learners of english literature and translation develop the accuracy level of their target language in oral communication. the study disclosed that the participants utilized repairing, self-accuracy check, retrieval, verbal strategy markers, and requesting help for negotiation of form to promote language accuracy in their utterances. it also indicated that the frequency of strategies employed to promote the accuracy level of language in communication is more than those for maintaining the flow of conversation and those for promoting meaning transfer. bei (2012) conducted a focused investigation into the immediate effects of oral narrative task repetition by two adult efl learners of intermediate and high proficiency. the participants performed a narrative speaking task after watching a cartoon video clip and repeated their performance three times, followed by a retrospective report in an interview. results disclosed that the repetition of narrative tasks increased fluency and accuracy while complexity was the least sensitive to the practice effect. it was also found that the learners had generally correct self-perception of their performances, which was the interaction of enhanced repeated performance, fatigue, and their proficiency levels. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research the present study was drawn from laurilla (2003) who determined which linguistic features from the taxonomy of communication strategies by dornyei and scott (1997) most commonly occurred in the students’ speeches; and find out how the students processed the speaking task as they produced the communication output. this framework for the study of communication strategies that she extracted from dornyei and scott (1997) is a local application of the descriptions of communication strategies and analyses of students’ oral performances. according to laurilla (2003), communication strategies have previously been theorized as coping strategies or devices employed during discourse in an effort to handle difficulties or breakdowns in communication. in her study, she found out that fillers, mime and self-repetitions were the most frequently used communication strategies by advanced oral communication students. however, their paralinguistic mannerisms did not all enhance the clarity of their message but functioned as markers of anxiety or biding for time, and hence were considered processing time strategies. what matters most in all mentioned situations is the use of communication strategies as coping mechanisms of language learners. however, the factors that impede their success in oral communication were not investigated in these studies. hence, this study probed the most commonly used strategies in managing speech anxieties and the factors account for in managing communication apprehensions during oral expositions. objectives of the study the study aimed to categorize the communication strategies in the oral expositions of bachelor of science in tourism management (bstm) students of the mariano marcos state university during the first semester of academic year 2013-2014. specifically, it determined the most commonly used communication strategies of students in overcoming their communication anxieties in their oral expositions. it also ascertained the factors affecting their communication anxieties. methodology research design in the course of the study, the researchers utilized the descriptive design 25 international peer reviewed journal of research. moreover, it made use of the mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative research process. the use of qualitative and quantitative data was valuable in order to give a fuller and richer picture of the participants’ experiences on communication strategies. research setting the study was conducted during the first and second weeks of september 2013. the researchers videotaped the participants’ oral expositions which they delivered at the reading center, college of arts and sciences, mariano marcos state university, batac city, philippines. the participants’ videotaped and/or recorded speeches were transcribed and analyzed. crosschecking of the data or verification of the accuracy of the transcription was done by three raters who are experts in the field through analyzing the written transcriptions and watching the taped presentations. the researchers examined the transcripts, coded or highlighted the utterances that typified each communication strategy, and tabulated the frequency of occurrence of strategies that appeared in the transcript and videotape. research instrument the categories of communication strategies conceptualized by laurilla (2003) served as an instrument for the analysis in the present study. the communication strategies are subcategorized into three, namely: direct strategies; interactional strategies; and indirect strategies. direct strategies deal with the target language while interactional strategies involve the use of the target language in interactions. both pertain to problems of resource-deficit and other deficits that are own [speaker] performance related, and other [audience] performance related. on the other hand, indirect strategies contain other performance-related mechanisms to achieve competence such as processing time related problems. laurilla(2003) listed examples under each category and subcategory to operationalize the description. she constructed this instrument to facilitate encoding of results from the videotapes and transcriptions. frequency counts of the occurrences of the common communication strategies were made and used as a basis for analyzing the aspects of speech. other aspects of the research involved searching for commonalities, themes, differences, and variances. respondents of the study the participants of the study were the 25 third year bs in tourism management students. they were enrolled in ca 3 (business communication) during the first 26 jpair multidisciplinary research semester of school year 2013-2014 at mariano marcos state university, batac city, philippines. they were chosen through systematic random sampling. their ages ranged from 18-20. each student delivered a three minute persuasive speech on the topic of their choice. since this study concerned in investigating the communication strategies of speakers, the researchers videoed the participants while delivering their speeches. a consent from them was solicited a week before the conduct of the study. they were assured that the videotaped speeches would be used for the attainment of the objectives of the study. further, that their recorded speeches would be transcribed and analyzed for purpose of accuracy. results and discussion to make sense of the data from the transcriptions and the crosschecking with the video, the researchers utilized laurilla’s (2003) categories of communication strategies. table 1 presents the typical utterances that were coded as instances of each communication strategy. table 1. communication strategies and some examples categories examples use of fillers ummmmm…/ahh…/uhh…/ammmmm… mime licking lips, hands clasped throughout speech, swallowing everytime he/she pauses, excessive roaming of eyes self-repetition it is… it is… it is becoming/thinking it’s a joke… thinking it’s a joke self-repair i croute… i quote/everything you… whenever you mumbling swallowing or muttering an inaudible word restructuring and i’d like to see… (totally changes what student wanted to say) so not everybody can afford… self-rephrasing we don’t have… all the globe subscribers don’t have… verbal strategy markers “what do you call that?”/ “this means that…”/ use of “well…” and “so…” message of replacement but everything you --whenever you hear a word…/ the next time to drink cow --think cow’s milk… omission as far as consumed emission which causes [gap] this is because… (leaving one sentence unfinished and carrying on as if it was fully said 27 international peer reviewed journal circumlocution studies show that horsepower […] it means that, for example, one liter of gasoline to… (sort of paraphrasing) code switching after you pala… ay… sorry! (filipino-english) approximation i will support… i will convince you that karate or selfdefense… (changing or qualifying support to convince) use of similar sounding words if you wanna… or if you don’t want to… unintended pregnancies (to substitute for the word unwanted pregnancies)/… children exhibiting misbehavior (to substitute for the word misbehavior table 1 shows which communication strategies were present in the students’ speeches. fourteen strategies emerged in their utterances. this includes fillers, mime, self-repetition, self-repair, mumbling, restructuring, self-rephrasing, verbal strategy marker, message replacement, omission, circumlocution, code switching, approximation, and use of similar sounding words. more than merely considering these as errors, they were treated as communication strategies that l2 learners used to manage their difficulties or goals for the speaking task. as laurilla (2003) mentioned, communication strategies were characterized by problem-orientedness and consciousness. none of the students asked for help from their classmates; therefore, interactional strategies were excluded from the study. table 2 exhibits the frequency of occurrence of each type of communication strategy that was verbalized by each speaker. it was found out that the frequency of occurrence of verbalized communication strategies varied for each student. the top five most frequently occurring were fillers (534), mime (250), and self-repetition (192). the rest of the communication strategies have fewer occurrences. this finding confirms the study of laurilla (2003) that fillers, mime and self-repetitions were the most frequently used communication strategies by advanced oral communication students. further, this seems to support the findings of jamshidnejad (2011) that repairing, own accuracy check, retrieval, verbal strategy markers, and requesting help for negotiation of form are the common communication strategies of efl learners to promote accuracy in their interactions. the table also indicates that although fillers were the most frequently occurring communication strategy, 4 out of the 25 speakers verbalized very few instances of this particular strategy. moreover, the use of similar sounding words, approximation, and code-switching are the least communication strategies used in their oral expositions. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research ta bl e 2. c at eg or iz at io n of c om m un ic at io n st ra te gi es u se d by th e re sp on de nt s in th ei r or al e xp os iti on s st ra te gy r 1 r 2 r 3 r 4 r 5 r 6 r 7 r 8 r 9 r 10 r 11 r 12 r 13 r 14 r 15 r 16 r 17 r 18 r 19 r 20 r 21 r 22 r 23 r 24 r 25 t o l u se o f fi lle rs 26 18 29 16 31 14 39 9 54 17 39 8 33 13 15 13 11 6 14 5 11 23 26 28 36 53 4 m im e 32 7 3 7 5 17 30 6 14 13 12 7 9 5 15 4 11 7 30 8 3 5 25 0 se lfre pe tit io n 10 5 12 15 3 5 11 7 3 7 15 5 6 5 32 7 3 8 13 1 3 9 5 2 19 2 se lfre pa ir 3 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 2 5 2 3 5 2 2 2 70 m um bl in g 10 9 1 2 2 7 4 2 1 38 r es tr uc tu ri ng 1 2 3 1 1 2 4 4 4 4 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 36 se lfre ph ra si ng 5 2 1 10 3 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 34 v er ba l s tr at eg y m ar ke rs 2 1 5 1 1 2 4 9 1 1 1 1 29 m es sa ge re pl ac em en t 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 19 o m is si on 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 c ir cu m lo cu tio n 2 2 2 2 2 10 c od e sw itc hi ng 1 2 2 2 1 8 a pp ro xi m at io n 2 1 1 4 u se o f s im ila r so un di ng w or ds 1 1 2 t o t a l 89 45 42 47 75 49 54 27 10 4 29 73 47 74 34 50 51 40 14 27 48 21 68 43 40 50 1, 24 0 29 international peer reviewed journal table 3 categorizes the 14 relevant communication strategies in terms of their frequency of occurrence and their relative distribution according to laurilla’s (2003) framework. table 3. ranking and distribution of the 14 common strategies strategy total percentage direct strategy: resource deficit 1. mime (non-linguistic) 250 20.16 2. mumbling 38 3.06 3. restructuring 36 2.90 4. message replacement 19 1.53 5. omission 14 1.13 6. circumlocution 10 0.81 7. code switching 8 0.65 8. approximation 4 0.32 9. use of similar sounding words 2 0.16 indirect strategy: processing time 10. use of fillers 534 43.06 11. self-repetition 192 15.48 indirect strategy: own performance 12. verbal strategy markers 29 2.34 13. self-repair 70 5.65 14. self-rephrasing 34 2.74 total 1,240 100% the top three communication strategies were fillers (43.06%), self-repetition (15.48%) which are both concerned with processing time, and mime (20.16%) which is non-linguistic but a direct strategy focusing on resource deficit. the rest of the communication strategies occurred with less frequency. the high frequency of occurrence of these communication strategies suggests that the students were under a state of communication apprehension because the task was graded. speaking in front of an audience that would be rating their performance also contributed to their speaking anxiety. unlike in informal speaking contexts, the level and kind of communication anxiety in graded performances was far greater. if students were given opportunities to limit their communication apprehension 30 jpair multidisciplinary research or anxiety, it might have been a different case. in an in-depth interview with the students, it emerged from their responses that attitude toward english language, motivation in learning the language, and socio-economic status are the factors that might have affected their communication apprehensions or anxieties. in the study of nakatani (2006), the frequency of speaking english outside the classroom and motivation in speaking english were the powerful predictors of the use of oral communication strategies among japanese language learners. francis and miller (2007) further found that students use elements of communication-orientation motivation, intrapersonal communication, guided visualization, skills training, physical self-regulation, preparation, practice, humor, and a combination approach to managing their own apprehension. however, tipan’s (2008) study contradicts the above findings because his investigation revealed that acquisition context, speech norms accommodation and code switching, degree of contact with l2 speakers, and confidence level affect language competencies. it could be deduced, therefore, that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are vital in the development of accuracy and fluency in oral communication. hence, motivation leads the students to the attainment of their desired goal in communicative competence. these perceptions reflected on how much effort the students exerted when preparing for their speech, but more so during the actual performance. while it was true that the majority of them really prepared, some tended to perform just to comply with the requirement. as a result, they ended up getting more anxious, given the negative preconceived notions they harbored about the subject. quantitative interpretation was not done since this study did not aim to correlate the communication strategies with these factors. since the study focused only on the oral expositions of tourism management students who were enrolled in ca 3 within mariano marcos state university, the results of the study may not apply to students of other ca 3 classes of other universities or fields at mmsu. the following are the scope and limitations of the study: 1. it analyzed only 25 speech samples from ca 3 class. 2. the length of the transcriptions varied according to the intelligibility of the recordings. hence, the inaudible parts were discarded, so not all utterances were accounted for. 3. an attempt at establishing inter-rater reliability was made by re-viewing the recorded speeches. however, inter-rater reliability for the purpose of doing another evaluation was not done due to time constraints. 31 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the goal of the language educators or communication arts teachers is to equip students with the necessary linguistic and communicative competencies needed in different situations that they can find themselves immersed into. achieving this goal involves some level of fluency, accuracy, appropriacy and efficacy. the results of the study revealed that fillers, mime, and self-repetitions were the most frequently used communication strategies of the students. since these strategies were clearly signs of how the students managed communication apprehension, the study again demonstrated how dornyei and scott (1997) described the nature of communication strategies. they are language devices for problem management, and are coping mechanisms for difficulties in l2 learning. translational research the results of this study would provide language teachers in the selection of instructional materials, teaching strategies and evaluation techniques to insure the effectiveness and efficiency of classroom instruction. as such, the identified communication strategies are useful tools for the language teachers in designing speech activities to enhance students’ communicative competence. these activities involve utilizing popular media and immersing students with tasks that integrate the four macro-skills in language learning. complementing listening skill with speaking opportunities to reading and writing lessons creates interactive possibilities and encompasses different strengths of the students. engaging the students with challenging activities where they can develop their creativity, artistry and resourcefulness would allow them to renew and increase their interest in learning the english language and to minimize the verbalization of coping strategies. literature cited bei, g. x. (2012). effects of immediate repetition in l2 speaking tasks: a focused study. english language teaching, 6(1), p11. canale, m. (1981).  from communicative competence to communicative pedagogy. centre de recherchesen éducation franco-ontarienne, 32 jpair multidisciplinary research institutd’étudespédagogiques de l’ontario= the ontario institute for studies in education. dörnyei, z., & scott, m. l. (1997). communication strategies in a second language: definitions and taxonomies. language learning, 47(1), 173-210. faerch, c., & kasper, g. (eds.). (1983). strategies in interlanguage communication. longman. francis, t. a., & miller, m. t. (2007). communication apprehension: levels of first–generation college students at 2–year institutions.  community college journal of research and practice, 32(1), 38-55. huang, c. (2010). exploring factors affecting the use of oral communication strategies. lunghwa university of science and technology. jamshidnejad, a. (2011). developing accuracy by using oral communication strategies in efl interactions.  journal of language teaching and research, 2(3), 530-536. lam, w. y. (2010). implementing communication strategy instruction in the esl oral classroom: what do low-proficiency learners tell us?. tesl canada journal, 27(2), 11. laurilla, m.a.r. (2003). characterizing student speech at the collegiate level: the case of dlsu-manila’s engltri and orcosci classes. tanglaw, 9(1): 32-46, de la salle university, manila, philippines. nakatani, y. (2006). developing an oral communication strategy inventory. the modern language journal, 90(2), 151-168. nakatani, y., & goh, c. (2007). a review of oral communication strategies: focus on interactionist and psycholinguistic perspectives. language learner strategies, 30, 207-228. poliden, s. s. (2012). teaching practices promoting communication opportunities in the language class. jpair multidisciplinary research, 9(1), 8. 33 international peer reviewed journal selinker, l. (1972). interlanguage.  iral-international review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 10(1-4), 209-232. somsai, s., & intaraprasert, c. (2011). strategies for coping with face-to-face oral communication problems employed by thai university students majoring in english. gema online™ journal of language studies, 11(3), 83-96. tarone, e. (1980). communication strategies, foreigner talk, and repair in interlanguage 1. language learning, 30(2), 417-428. tipan, a. d. (2013). the factors affecting the sociolinguistic and strategic competencies in english among teachers in higher education teachers in lipa city. jpair multidisciplinary research, 13(1). willems, g. m. (1987). communication strategies and their significance in foreign language teaching. system, 15(3), 351-364. zare, p. (2010). an investigation into language learning strategy use and gender among iranian undergraduate language learners.  world applied sciences journal, 11(10), 1238-1247. 73 international peer reviewed journal dry matter partitioning of bunch and runner type peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application mary grace b. gatan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6083-0060 mbgatan.mbgb@gmail.com pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga virgilio dm. gonzales http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7476-4703 virgon3000@gmail.com pampanga agricultural college magalang, pampanga abstract peanut (arachis hypogea) is a protein-rich and oil-laden food legume. farmers in the region commonly grow peanut at dry season because during the wet season, upper part of peanut is prioritized instead of pod formation resulting to low yield. one way of increasing yield is suppression of shoot growth through paclobutrazol application. the exrperiment was conducted in pampanga, philippines following three-factor factorial randomized complete block design to determine dry matter partitioning of different types of peanut relative to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application. each treatment was replicated thrice. vol. 18 · october 2014 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v18i1.295 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research data were analyzed under analysis of variance and honest significant difference test was used to compare treatment means. results reveal that paclobutrazol levels reduced stem length of runner and bunch by 36.37% and 65.64% one month after application. likewise, paclobutrazol levels reduced leaf and stem dry mass of the runner by 20.94% and 19.87%, respectively. runner with 75mg/l paclobutrazol obtained 58.09% increase in harvest index. the crop growth rate and distribution index of runner increased by 20.72% and 32.56% across levels and methods of paclobutrazol application. increasing level of paclobutrazol increased total pod dry mass of runner by 26.29%. keywords agriculture, dry matter partitioning, arachis hypogaea, paclobutrazol, experimental, philippines introduction about 95% of the peanut areas in the country are planting low yielding bunch type variety during dry season. farmers are concern in finding means on how to increase their production particularly at wet season. peanut can be classified as runner or bunch type. the runner peanut type is characterized by prostrate stems and branches, late maturity and large pods and seeds produced along the leaf axils of prostrate, side branches above the ground. on the other hand, bunch type of peanut has upright stems, early maturity and small pods and seeds produced mainly in the nodes below the ground (palomar, 1998). at present, plant growth retardants are applied to reduce unwanted shoot growth without lowering plant productivity (rademacher, 2000). these plant growth regulators play a role in many physiological processes associated with growth and development of plants (thakur & thakur, 1993). paclobutrazol, a triazole compound are mainly used as growth retardants and also stress protectants in many crop plants (fletcher et al., 2000). the effects of triazoles on hormonal changes, photosynthetic rate, enzyme activities and yield components were reported by zhou and ye (1996). in 2011, tang et al., stated that paclobutrazol treatment reduced pod number, productivity per plant and yield of peanut relative to the control. paclobutrazol also reduced the plant height and lateral branch of peanut while increasing the number of branches and number of pod per plant, rate of filled pod and oil content of seed. moreover, peanut applied with paclobutrazol resulted to the reduction of stem length. while the dry matter of pods, the economic index, the sink size/source, number of pods per plant and the pod weight per plant were 75 international peer reviewed journal increased (chen et al., 2010) paclobutrazol at 150 mg/l applied at blossoming stage inhibited the growth of the main stems and branches but the number of pods per plant and percentage of filled pods were increased resulting to increase in yield (yu et al., 2009). the application of paclobutrazol at blooming stage of peanut inhibited the height of plant, increase stem diameter, promote the pod filling percentage, hence increased the yield and income. the optimum amount of paclobutrazol was 500g/m-2 (liang et al., 1995). zheng (2008) reported that 15% paclobutrazol could effectively inhibit the growth of peanut plants and promote more pods and mature pods leading to high yield. the 15% paclobutrazol effectively controlled the growth of aboveground part of peanut plants and led to the highest yield. peanut seed treated with paclobutrazol with a concentration of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg respectively, can make the root volume of peanut plant increase by 91.43% and 31.93%, and make the total root surface areas increase of 41.45% and 31.93%, respectively. the spray concentration of 100mg/kg of water can make the main stem shorten and make the branches shorten of 13.2 cm. the spray concentration of 50 mg/kg can produce high pod yield (4518 kg/m-2), compared with 3756 kg/m-2 in ck (tao et al., 2000). during wet season planting, upper part of peanut is prioritized at the expense of pod formation resulting to low yield. one feasible way of increasing pod yield is the suppression of shoot growth through paclobutrazol application to enhance photosynthate partitioning to subterrranean peanut pods. however, literature is meager as regards to differences in dry matter partitioning between runner and bunch type relative to paclobutrazol application. in addition, this study will be of great help to our peanut growers to increase their yield and will give them encouragement to plant even wet season, hence this study was conducted. objectives of the study this experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different levels and methods of paclobutrazol to different types of peanut. specifically, it aimed to determine the monthly changes in stem length, leaf dry mass, and stem dry mass; dry matter partitioning, crop growth rate, pod growth rate, distribution index; total dry mass and harvest index. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research materials and methods the study was conducted during the wet season planting of peanut, june to october 2013 in pampanga, philippines. experimental crop the varieties of peanut that were used represented the two types, runner and bunch. runner (asha) – this variety was developed by icrisat. the seed yield averaged 3.0-3.5t/ha and is harvested 121-122 days after planting. its plant height ranged from 55.9-74.15cm with a shelling percentage of 71.9% during wet season and 74.2% at dry season. the weight of 100 seeds is 71.9-74.2g. it is large seeded variety with pink seed color. bunch (farmers’ variety) – this variety was developed by bpi. days to flower is from 23-20 days after planting, and its plant height ranged from 41-64cm. the seed yield averaged 1.0-1.5 t/ha. it is harvested 80-90 days after planting depending on the season. it is small seeded variety, having three seeds per pod with red seed color. experimental design and treatments the experimental area was laid out following the procedure in three-factor factorial randomized complete block design (rcbd) factor-factorial. each treatment combination was replicated three times. the following were the three factors involved in the study. factor a (type of peanut) t1 – runner type (asha) t2 – bunch type (farmers variety) factor b (levels of paclobutrazol, pbz) l1 – control (pure water) l2 – 75mg pbz per liter of water l3 – 150mg pbz per liter of water l4 – 225mg pbz per liter of water 77 international peer reviewed journal factor c (method of application) a1 – foliar a2 – drench experimental area a total area of 646m2 was used in conducting the experiment. the area accommodated the 16 treatment combinations including the border plants. each plot measures 2m in width and 5m in length comprising of four rows spaced 0.5 m apart. an alleyway of one meter between replications was provided for ease in placing stakes, plot tags, data gathering, weeding and harvesting. border ridge was provided to prevent seepage in case rains occur after paclobutrazol application. land preparation the area was thoroughly prepared by plowing two times alternately followed by two harrowing to obtain fine tilth that is essential to achieve good germination. after the final harrowing, the field was furrowed at a distance of 50cm. soil sample collection and analysis soil samples were collected before the conduct of the experiment as basis of fertilizer application. the soil samples were pulverized; air dried and mix thoroughly to make a composite soil sample and this was brought to the soils laboratory at san fernando, pampanga for soil analysis. fertilizer application as recommended in the result of soil analysis, calcium nitrate at the rate of 0.645g/hill which is equivalent to 12.9g/m2or 8.3kg for the whole area was applied basally. in addition to calcium nitrate, 32.3kg of organic fertilizer was also applied for the 646m2 or 50g/m2.both organic fertilizer and calcium nitrate were applied uniformly along the rows and was covered with 2-3 cm layer of soil prior to planting. inoculation peanut seeds were inoculated with rhizobium at the rate of 100g/50kg of seeds. this was done by coating the seeds with inoculant using water at least two hours before planting. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research planting and thinning planting was done by sowing two seeds per hill. thinning was done 10 days after planting. a total of 10 plants were maintained per linear meter. the distance between hills is 10cm and 50cm between furrows. the plant population density was 20 plants/m2. irrigation irrigation was done immediately after sowing. generally, peanut needs water critically during flowering and podding stages. irrigation was done three times throughout the experimental period. during these stages, the soil is too dry, and plants show signs of wilting. cultivation and weeding hilling-up was done only during flowering stage to cover the shallow pegs. in addition, weeding was done manually and regularly until flowering stage. application of paclobutrazol paclobutrazol was applied using two methods namely, foliar and drenching application following the different levels specified in the treatment. the solution was sprayed to the plants during the peak of flowering which is about 30-40 days after planting for the asha variety and 25-30 days after planting for the farmers’ variety. destructive sampling and drying destructive sampling was carried in four occasions at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after planting in runner (asha) and 30, 60 and 90 in the farmers’ variety. ten sample plants were harvested per plot. all plant samples were separated into stems, leaves and pod components. component plant parts were sun-dried. once dried, the data on dry matter yield components was collected and recorded. data collection, computation and analysis 1. stem length (cm). this is the distance from the ground level to the tip of the main stem of plant samples selected at random from each plot at 30,60, and 120 days after planting. 2. dry mass of leaves, stem and pods a. leaf dry mass was weighed for four occasions such as 30, 60, 90 and 79 international peer reviewed journal 120dap b. stem dry mass was weighed for four occasions at 30, 60, 90 and 120dap c. pod dry mass was weighed for two occasions at 60 and 120dap for runner (asha) and 60 and 90dap for bunch (farmer’s variety). pods refer to the immature and mature fruits, including the swelled ovary tip at least twice the peg diameter to the fully expanded, immature and mature fruits. 3. crop growth rate (cgr). this was measured using the formula below: cgr = tdmt2-tdmt1 t2-t1 where tdmt2 = total dry mass at harvest (120dap for asha and 90dap for farmers’ variety) tdmt1 = total dry mass at 60dap (both for runner and bunch) t2 = number of days at harvest t1 = 60dap (both for asha and farmers’ variety) 4. pod growth rate (pgr). this was computed using the formula as follows: pgr = pdmt2-pdmt1 t2-t1 where pdmt2 = pod dry mass at harvest (120dap for asha and 90dap for farmers’ variety) pdmt1 = pod dry mass at 60dap (both for asha and farmers’ variety) t2 = number of days at harvest t1 = 60dap (both for asha and farmers’ variety) 5. distribution index. it was measured by dividing the organ growth rate by crop growth rate simply as: di = ogr cgr where ogr = organ growth rate (pods) cgr = crop growth rate 80 jpair multidisciplinary research 6. harvest index. this was computed by simply separating the biological (yb) and the economic yield (ye) of the sample plants. this was determined using this formula: hi = ye yb where ye = economic yield (fruits/pods) yb = biological yield (leaves and stem) statistical analysis all collected data were subjected to statistical analysis under analysis of variance (anova) using a statistical tool for agricultural research (star) software. honest significant difference (hsd) test was used to compare treatment means. results and discussion vegetative growth stem length variation as to the type of peanut in terms of stem length was recorded (figures 1 and 2). farmers’ variety obtained the longest stem length throughout the experimental period (30 to 90dap) compared to asha. untreated plants continuously obtained the longest length throughout the study period. no significant difference was noted among levels of pbz prior to application (30dap). the inhibitory effect of paclobutrazol on stem length of the two varieties could only be observed commencing at 60dap where a corresponding reduction in stem length was attained as the level of paclobutrazol increases (figures 3, 4 and 5). this may be due to the constant number of the nodes, and the length of the internodes are shortened particularly at the base of the plant which could be beneficial for the peg to penetrate into the soil. the findings confirm with the report of chen et al. (2010) that paclobutrazol application resulted to reduction of stem length in peanut. methods of paclobutrazol application exhibited significant variation in asha at 120dap only where drench application considerably decreased stem length (figures 6 and 7). the result confirms with the statement of hampton and 81 international peer reviewed journal hebblethwaitez (1985) that drench application was more effective in inhibiting stem length than foliar spray simply because drench method indicates that the chemical is readily translocated in the xylem. figure 1. stem length of runner (asha) and bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut across levels and method of paclobutrazol application *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. figure 2. the two varieties used in the study at harvest 82 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. stem length of asha (a, runner) and farmers’ variety (b, bunch) in relation to levels of paclobutrazol across two methods of application figure 4. harvested runner (asha) plants applied with different levels of paclobutrazol at 120dap figure 5. harvested bunch (farmers’ variety) type applied with different levels of pbz at 90dap 83 international peer reviewed journal figure 6. stem length of asha as affected by methods of paclobutrazol application *means within a column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5%hsd level figure 7. plants with pbz using (a1) foliar and (a2) drench method at harvest dry mass of leaves no significant variation among varieties of peanut was recorded from 30dap to 60dap (figure 8). at 90dap, farmers’ variety significantly exhibited the lower leaf dry mass compared to asha. this may because during this stage some of the leaves of the farmer’s variety have dried and fallen. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research the leaf dry mass of asha was significantly influenced by different levels of paclobutrazol at 60dap (figure 9a) where leaf dry mass reduction was observed with increasing levels of paclobutrazol. untreated plants managed to maintain its high leaf dry mass from 30, 60 and 120dap but not on 90dap. no significant effect on leaf dry mass of farmers’ variety was noted in relation to levels of paclobutrazol throughout the sampling period (figure 9b). paclobutrazol applied in both varieties using any method did not give variation to leaf dry mass except at 90dap (figure 10). figure 8. leaf dry mass of runner (asha) and bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut as affected by levels and methods of paclobutrazol application *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level figure 9. leaf dry mass of asha (a, runner) and farmers’ variety (b, bunch) in relation to levels of paclobutrazol across two methods of application 85 international peer reviewed journal figure 10. leaf dry mass of peanut as affected by method of paclobutrazol application across two varieties and levels of paclobutrazol application *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level stem dry mass data on stem dry mass, one month after treatment application showed significant results (table 1). asha obtained high stem dry mass compared to farmers’ variety. varietal differences particularly agronomic characteristics are one of the contributing factors resulting to high stem dry mass. neither paclobutrazol levels nor methods of application affected stem dry mass. the stem length of asha and farmers’ variety ranges from 55.9-74.2cm and 41.0-64.0cm, respectively. table 1. stem dry mass (g) of the runner (asha) and bunch the (farmers’ variety) type of peanut at 60 dap across levels and methods of paclobutrazol application variety mean t1–runner (asha) 162.33 a t2 –bunch (farmers’ variety) 135.42 b *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. in asha, untreated plants produced the highest stem dry mass at 120 dap (table 2) but apparently reduced with drench application of pbz at 150mg/l of water. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. stem dry mass (g) of runner (asha) as affected by levels and method of paclobutrazol application at 120 dap levels of paclobutrazol methods of application mean m 1 (foliar) m 2 (drench) l1– control 657.33 a 452.00ab 554.67 l2– 75mg/l of water 493.33 ab 498.67ab 496.00 l3– 150mg/l of water 528.00 ab 446.33b 487.17 l4– 225mg/l of water 461.33 ab 613.33ab 514.83 mean 534.99 502.58 513.17 *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. dry matter partitioning crop growth rate the crop growth rate (cgr) of different varieties of peanut showed significant variation (table 3a). asha achieved higher crop growth rate compared to farmers’ variety. there was no effect on levels of paclobutrazol and method of application on cgr. table 3a. crop growth rate of runner (asha) and bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut in relation levels and methods of paclobutrazol application variety mean t1–runner (asha) 18.02 a t2 –bunch (farmer’s variety) 12.86 b *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. the crop growth rate and distribution index of asha type applied with paclobutrazol are higher compared to farmers’ variety (table 3b). as the level of paclobutrazol increases, there was a corresponding increase in the cgr of asha. application of paclobutrazol between 75-150mg/l slightly increased the cgr 87 international peer reviewed journal of farmers’ variety. paclobutrazol application increased the distribution index of asha almost two times higher than the farmers’ variety. in addition, pbz application slightly reduced distribution index of farmers’ variety lower than the untreated. table 3b. crop growth rate and distribution index of different types of peanut in relation to levels of paclobutrazol level of paclobutrazol crop growth rate distribution index runner (asha) bunch (farmers’ variety) runner (asha) bunch (farmers’ variety) l1 – control (pure water) 16.41 11.09 0.43 0.29 l2 – 75mg/l of water 17.84 14.15 0.57 0.27 l3 – 150mg/l of water 17.99 15.03 0.52 0.26 l4 – 225mg/l of water 19.81 11.11 0.46 0.26 mean 18.01 12.85 0.50 0.27 pod growth rate neither, paclobutrazol (pbz) levels nor methods of application affected the pod growth rate. asha considerably obtained higher pod growth rate compared to farmers’ variety which could be related to its high crop growth rate (table 4). table 4. pod growth rate of runner (asha) and bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application treatment mean t1–runner (asha) 8.79 a t2 –bunch (farmer’s variety) 3.36 b *means within a column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research distribution index asha significantly attained higher distribution index compared to farmers’ variety (table 5). high distribution index was greatly related to the allocation of the plant for the pod growth at the expense of the vegetative parts. in addition, neither levels of paclobutrazol nor methods of application influenced the distribution index. table 5. distribution index of runner (asha) and the bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application variety mean t1–runner (asha) 0.495 a t2 –bunch (farmers’ variety) 0.270 b *means within a column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. total dry mass and harvest index total dry mass paclobutrazol affected the total dry mass of peanut one month after treatment application (60dap) (table 6a). the data revealed that the total dry mass decreased continuously when the level of paclobutrazol increases across varieties and methods of application. reduction in total dry mass can be possibly credited to the inhibiting effect of paclobutrazol on gibberellin biosynthesis (hartman et al., 1990). likewise, neither varieties used nor methods of application influenced total dry mass. table 6a. total dry mass (g) at 60dap applied with different levels of paclobutrazol across types of peanut and method of paclobutrazol application levels of paclobutrazol mean l1– control (pure water) 388.64 a l2– 75mg/l of water 330.61 ab l3– 150mg/l of water 290.37 b l4– 225mg/l of water 286.46 b * means within a column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. 89 international peer reviewed journal total dry mass of asha and farmers’ variety at 90dap varied significantly (table 6b). asha obtained high total dry mass almost two folds higher than the farmers’ variety. the difference in dry mass in asha may be attributed to its high photosynthetic efficiency, thus contribute to the total dry mass. table 6b. total dry mass (g) of runner (asha) and bunch (farmers’ variety) type of peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application treatment mean t1–runner (asha) 1,371.84 a t2 –bunch (farmers’ variety) 729.17 b *means within a column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. harvest index levels of paclobutrazol (pbz) significantly increased harvest index of asha but never in farmers’ variety (table 7). asha with paclobutrazol at 75mg/l obtained the highest harvest index. this indicates that pbz application tend to increase dry matter increment to pods in runner but not in bunch type. the data further revealed that application of pbz beyond 75mg/l resulted to decreasing harvest index in asha regardless of the method of application. harvest index of farmers’ variety was not altered by paclobutrazol level nor the method of application. in fact, there was a tendency for harvest index of farmers’ variety to decrease when pbz was applied. increasing level of paclobutrazol consistently increased the final total dry mass of asha while the total dry mass of farmers’ variety continuously decreased when the level of pbz went beyond 75mg/l. table 7. harvest index and final total dry mass of different types of peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application level of paclobutrazol harvest index mean** total dry mass runner (asha) bunch (farmers’ variety) runner (asha) bunch (farmers’ variety) l1 – control (pure water) 0.315 c 0.425ab 0.370b 1,328.2 751.3 90 jpair multidisciplinary research l2 – 75mg/l of water 0.498 a 0.397bc 0.448a 1,362.0 758.0 l3 – 150mg/l of water 0.412 abc 0.387bc 0.399ab 1,373.8 736.0 l4 – 225mg/l of water 0.380 bc 0.365bc 0.372b 1,423.3 671.3 mean 0.401 0.393 47.01 1,371.8 729.15 **level means having the same letter (a-b) are not significantly different at 5% hsd level. ***type and level means having the same letter (a-b) are not significantly different at 5% hsd level. this study was delimited on the dry matter partitioning of bunch (farmers’ variety) and runner type (asha) of peanut including the monthly changes in stem length, leaf and steam dry mass, crop and pod growth rate, distribution index; total dry mass and harvest index in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application under field experiment. conclusions pbz levels regardless of method of application reduced stem length. however, pbz levels reduced leaf and stem dry mass only in asha but not on the farmers’ variety. asha with pbz at 75mg/l obtained the highest harvest index. the crop growth rate, pod growth rate and distribution index of asha increased across levels and methods of pbz application. increasing level of pbz increased total dry mass and number of pods of asha. on the other hand, increasing levels of pbz resulted to reduction in total dry mass of farmers’ variety. acknowledgments the authors expressed their sincerest gratitude to the pampanga agricultural college and agricultural training institute – region iii, philippines for providing financial assistance to this research endeavor. 91 international peer reviewed journal literature cited chen, h. l., huang, j. t., li, q. h., qiu, g. q., li, s. p., & xie, z. q. 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(2009). 1, yu xin-chun 1, shen guan-wang 1, hu jian-tao 1, peng bao-hong 2, yan de-yuan 1 (1. research institute of agricultural sciences in xinyang, xinyang, henan 464000, china; 2. meteorological bureau in xinyang, xinyang, henan 464000, china); application effect of paclobutrazol on peanut [j]. tianjin agricultural sciences, 1. palomar, m.k. 1998, peanut in the philippine food system: a macro study. in: peanut in local and global food systems series report no. 1, rhoades. r, pi and nazarea, v. copi, department of anthropology, university of georgia, usa. rademacher, w. 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uniconazole of winter rape (brassica napus l.). j. plant growth rel., 15, 69-73. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research predictors of outstanding performance of basic education teachers bonimar a. tominez http://orcid.org 0000-0001-6372-7539 bonimarafallatominez0508@gmail.com nueva vizcaya state university nueva vizcaya, philippines leila m. dela cruz http://orcid.org 0000-0001-9070-2628 leilamdelacruz@gmail.com nueva vizcaya state university nueva vizcaya, philippines abstract basic education teachers play a vital role in the attainment of quality education in the country; they build the educational foundation of young minds. this study determined the teaching performance of basic education teachers in the division of nueva vizcaya using the ncbts framework as an evaluation tool. the descriptive-inferential design was employed in this study. data were statistically analyzed through frequency counts, means, t-test, f-test, post hoc test, correlation procedures and multiple regressions. teachers with family responsibilities manifest a higher teaching performance in dealing with diverse learners, the community and their own personal and professional advancements. teachers with higher teaching position demonstrate a higher teaching performance in providing a safe learning environment, addressing individual differences, communicating learning goals, and evaluating learning outcomes. teachers with higher salary grade reflect a higher teaching performance by serving as a role model to their pupils, establishing standards of learner’s behavior, vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.314 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 111 international peer reviewed journal designing instructional activities for diverse learners to attain high standards of learning, and maximizing learning through appropriate evaluation procedures. the remarkable teaching performance of teachers in domains of social regard for learning, learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum, and planning, assessing and reporting was strongly predicted by their high salary grade. teachers’ gender predicted their excellent performance in dealing with the multiplicity of learners. keywords education, basic education teachers, teaching performance domains, demographic variables, descriptive-inferential design, nueva vizcaya, philippines introduction education is the key to a nation’s success. it sets the foundation of a strong country in honing the critical and creative individuals who are in the best position to handle the issues and conflicts that confront the fast changing society. the decisive and ingenious mentality of these persons helps strengthen the nation’s quality of life. in the pursuit of excellent education, there is a need to revisit and reinforce every component of the educational system to ensure that significant and meaningful learning is attained. appropriate and adequate instructional tools and processes that support the curriculum lead to effective teaching. an effective teacher, too, is elemental to high-quality teaching. quality education occurs when a teacher believes that every learner develops at his own phase and is capable of achieving success. an effective teacher accommodates the different needs of his learners employing varied techniques and procedures and presenting new materials that engage and challenge pupils to accomplish tasks at their personal best. an effective teacher sets high expectations based on his pupils’ standard of learning and behavior and helps them realize their highest possibilities. having a methodical understanding of his instructional content and skills, he enthused in his pupils a love of learning. he provides a secured and systematic environment that motivates his pupils achieve their potentials. an effective teacher offers regular feedback on his pupils’ performance and gives them important information to evaluate the impact of his teaching (ashiedu & scott-ladd, 2012). 112 jpair multidisciplinary research a teacher is one key component in the learning of his pupils. the teacher’s personal approach is the prime factor that creates the climate and his daily mood makes the weather. a teacher possesses an incredible power to make a learner’s life despondent or joyous. he can be an instrument of torture or inspiration, can disgrace or humor, harm or heal, or can even cultivate or dehumanize a pupil. therefore, he must strive to work towards achieving a high-level of teaching performance. for once a teacher attains a superior performance; he is in perfect situation to cope up with the demands of the challenging society (ginnot, 1993). however, when a teacher performs ineffectively, he does not only fail to achieve his performance standards but may also influence the performance of others. hence, the teacher’s low performance may have an unconstructive impact upon the school’s reputation in the community, the achievement of his pupils, the performance of other teaching personnel and the management of the school (wragg, 1984). in the philippines, effective teaching matters. hence, the national competency-based teacher standards (ncbts) framework was designed by the department of education (deped) to allow a teacher evaluate his own performance against the competency standards to determine his strengths and weaknesses for him to fully function as an effective facilitator of learning. as an integrated framework, the ncbts identifies a variety of dimensions of effective teaching to help all types of learners learn the different instructional goals in the curriculum. this minimizes uncertainty about what effective teaching is. further, this framework presents an enhanced direction for all teacher advancement programs and projects rising from their area to a higher coverage (deped, 2009). because of the complexity of teaching and individual variation among teachers, effective teaching is not like a “one size fits all” shirt. to be effective, a teacher must fare well in the seven aspects of teaching such as social regard for learning, learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum, planning, assessing and reporting, community linkages and, personal growth & professional development. if quality education is to be achieved, research-based knowledge must then be produced to come up with sources of articulation and focus for development amongst the frontliners of education. in order to contribute to the country’s quest for quality education, the researchers were impelled to conduct this study to verify the performance of basic education teachers of the division of nueva vizcaya using the ncbts framework. 113 international peer reviewed journal framework effective teaching has two critical dimensions: intent and achievement. an effective teacher is one who brings about intended learning outcomes. he must be prepared in the five areas of competence to be successful in bringing about intended learning outcomes. the teacher competence includes command of theoretical knowledge about learning and human behavior, display of attitudes that foster learning and genuine human relationships, command of knowledge in the subject matter to be taught, and control of teaching skills that facilitate learning and personal practice knowledge (cooper, 1999). effective teaching is a mixture of appropriate academic tools and processes, classroom management approaches and practices that mutually set the environment for quality teaching-learning which leaves an encouraging impact on learner’s achievement (guinnot, 1993). thus, an effective teacher successfully uses various representations and explanations of ideas to capture key concepts and connect them with pupil’s previous knowledge. he develops varied plans which reflect understanding of how pupils learn and permit them to progress at their own phase to be successful in learning. he knows when and how to utilize current and appropriate educational technology to maximize learning. an effective teacher employs multiple teaching and learning procedures to engage pupils in active learning avenues that promote the advancement of critical thinking, problem solving and performance competence that aid pupils to assume accountability for identifying and using instructional resources (cooper, 1999). effective teaching is the upshot of a grouping of several noticeable factors. accordingly, the teacher must have a sound background on the subject matter areas coupled with an eagerness to learn more. further, the teacher must learn about trial and error learning, reward and punishment, insight, conditioning, reduction of anxiety, practice, suggestions, motivations, readiness, proactive and retroactive inhibition, and knowledge of learning theory. moreover, the teacher must have a repertoire of teaching techniques and strategies. amidst these variables, the teacher must maintain a comprehensible view of the situation for him to follow the most appropriate design of action (pintrich, mckeachie & lin, 1987). in a study entitled the differential antecedents of self-efficacy beliefs of novice and experienced teachers, tschannen-moran and hoy (2007) presented their conclusions that teacher’s demographics such as age, gender, race, teaching experience, school level and teaching setting were not associated with the teachers’ 114 jpair multidisciplinary research sense of efficacy. these factors have not been found to be strong predictors of teacher effectiveness. however, the teaching resources of rookie teachers was strongly related to their sense of self-efficacy while the support and involvement of parents and the community were weakly related to the experienced teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. in this study, the performance of basic education teachers was established specifically looking into the association among identified teacher variables and the factors that are influential to their performance. the teachers’ demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, highest educational attainment, length of service in the teaching profession, grade level assignment, school assignment, district where school assignment belongs, teaching position and teaching status of teachers were presumed to be related with their teaching performance in the domains such as social regard for learning; learning environment; diversity of learners; curriculum; planning; assessing and reporting; community linkages; and, personal growth and professional development. objectives of the study this research determined the teaching performance of public school elementary teachers in the northern part of the division of nueva vizcaya, philippines. specifically, it described the demographic profile of teachers; the level of their teaching performance; the significant difference on the level of teaching performance when they are grouped according to their demographic variables; the significant relationship between the level of teaching performance and their demographic variables; and, the factors that predict their level of teaching performance. methodology this research employed the descriptive-inferential study. the descriptive research describes, analyzes and interprets the situations that presently exist. the inferential study investigates the extent to which different variables are associated with each other and which demographic variables explain the teaching performance of the teachers. this study was conducted at the college of teacher education of the nueva vizcaya state university bayombong, nueva vizcaya, philippines and in the different elementary schools of the deped, division of 115 international peer reviewed journal nueva vizcaya. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from the respondents. stratified proportionate random sampling was utilized to determine the sample of the study. the slovin formula was used to determine the sample size with 68 basic education teachers who served as respondents. a structured questionnaire composed of two parts was employed. the first part contained the demographic profile of the teachers. the second part was a standardized rating scale that determined the teachers’ teaching performance. their overall performance was derived from their self-assessment and the evaluation made by their principals. descriptive statistics (frequency counts, means) was used to describe the profile of the teachers. inferential statistics such as the t-test, f-test or analysis of variance (anova) and the post-hoc test using the scheffe method were utilized to compare the means of two or more groups; correlation procedures were used to determine if two sets of variables are correlated; and regressions analysis were employed to determine the factors that predict the teaching performance of the teachers. results and discussion basic education teachers’ profile in the study site, the teaching profession is dominated by teachers who are in their middle adulthood, female and married. almost all of the teachers are pursuing graduate studies and have spent more than a decade in the teaching profession. majority of the teachers were assigned to teach at the intermediate level in the schools that serve as field study areas of pre-service teachers. a good number of teachers come from districts 1 and 2 with teacher 3 position. all hold a permanent status and are compensated with salary grade 13. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research level of teaching performance table 1. level of teaching performance of teachers as evaluated by themselves and their principals domains teachers principals overall mean mean mean 1 social regard for learning 4.651 4.776 4.714 2 learning environment 4.654 4.691 4.673 3 diversity of learners 4.579 4.687 4.633 4 curriculum 4.669 4.708 4.689 5 planning, assessing and reporting 4.640 4.706 4.673 6 community linkages 4.350 4.451 4.401 7 personal growth and professional development 4.737 4.662 4.700 mean 4.620 4.682 4.640 descriptive rating outstanding outstanding outstanding legend: 4.21-5.00 outstanding 3.41-4.20 very satisfactory 2.61-3.40 satisfactory 1.81-2.60 fair 1.00-1.80 poor the above table reflects that basic education teachers manifested an outstanding performance as indicated by an overall mean of 4.640. the overall teaching performance of teachers in the different domains is as follows: social regard for learning (m = 4.714); learning environment (m = 4.673); diversity of learners (m = 4.633); curriculum (m = 4.689); planning, assessing and reporting (m = 4.673); community linkages (m = 4.401); and personal growth and professional development (m = 4.700). these indicate that, in the study site, teachers strongly uphold excellence in becoming role models to their learners in giving value to learning and in driving them to exert more efforts to learn. they exceptionally address the individual differences of their learners by engaging them to various learning experiences in a safe and conducive environment to ensure that high standards of learning and desired learning goals are fully attained. the teachers highly consider the elements of the teaching-learning process which include their knowledge of subject matter, teaching methods, the learning process, experiences 117 international peer reviewed journal and instructional materials in translating the curricular goals and objectives to their learners. the teachers admirably focused on the utilization of evaluation results in revising or improving teaching-learning process and activities and giving accurate feedbacks on learner’s actual achievement and behavior. the teachers agreeably linked classroom activities to the learners’ experiences and aspirations in their homes and communities. the teachers extremely value having a high personal regard for the teaching profession through their quest for professional development in order to equip themselves with the recent development and innovations in education so as to better contribute to the quality of education in the country. generally, basic education teachers exceedingly perform their tasks as good examples to their learners by providing meaningful and satisfying learning experiences when dealing with diverse learners and facilitating better learning that greatly ensures quality output. findings are strongly supported by arends’ (2011) idea when he explained that, to be effective, teachers must have a better control of the subject matter; must carry out a repertoire of best practices, have attitudes and skills needed for problem solving and reflection, and regard teaching as a lifelong process. in his book qualities of effective teachers, stronge (2007) clarified that effective teachers can inspire their pupils by encouraging them to be accountable for their own learning, keeping a prearranged learning environment, setting high standards, giving appropriate challenges, and offering reinforcement and encouragement during tasks. moreover, effective teachers believe that all learners can learn. this belief leads them to have a thorough knowledge about their pupils, their subject and themselves. additionally, the philippine code of ethics for teachers requires values that a teacher should possess: responsibility, professional conduct and integrity. as to responsibility, the teacher is accountable to god, to the state and to posterity. he must endeavor to be valuable of his profession. he is expected to uphold national discipline and morality, reasonable racial pride, deference for laws, international goodwill and love of country and independent way of life. as to professional conduct, the teacher must constantly attempt to advance himself professionally in sustaining a professional outlook to the teaching profession and in his dealings with his peers. the teacher must try to be professionally acceptable, responsive, and understanding and gives criticisms gainfully in dealing with his students. permeated by the character of professional loyalty, shared confidence, devotion and love for one another, he recognizes that the interests of pupils are his primordial concern. as to integrity, the teacher must be a commendable example for his peers to be proud of and for the public to be enlightened with. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research difference on the teachers’ level of teaching performance when grouped according to demographic variables table 2. difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to marital status domains marital status t-test n mean descriptive value t-value significance diversity of learners married 66 4.6391 outstanding 5.0285 0.0000** single 2 4.4500 outstanding community linkages married 66 4.4132 outstanding 4.3334 0.0488* single 2 4.0000 very satisfactory personal growth and professional development married 66 4.8750 outstanding 3.9181 0.0027** single 2 4.6962 outstanding over-all married 66 4.6441 outstanding 2.6930 0.0326* single 2 4.5350 outstanding *0.05 level of significance **0.01 level of significance table 2 shows that, among the identified demographic variables, there is a significant difference on the level of teaching performance of the teachers in terms of diversity of learners (t=5.0285), community linkages (t=4.3334), and personal growth and professional development (t=3.9181) and overall level (t=2.6930) when grouped according to marital status. this implies that the level of teaching performance of the teachers in terms of diversity of learners, community linkages, and personal growth and professional development of the in-service teachers who are married is higher as compared to those who are single. findings further imply that teachers with family responsibilities had better understanding on the reality that, in their classrooms, they are dealing with learners who have different interests, attitudes and motivations. further, these teachers fully recognized the partnership between the school and the community thus, creating a better connection in developing the children to become future builders of the nations. additionally, married teachers highly consider personal and professional growth and development as a way to contribute to the quality of education in the country. stronge, ward & grant (2011) proposed that a fruitful and encouraging classroom is the product of the teacher’s reflection on pupil’s academic as well 119 international peer reviewed journal as his interpersonal and personal needs. effective teachers, regardless of marital status, respect their pupils as individuals. they know the learners both formally and informally by giving recognition of their personality, learning styles and needs, likes and dislikes and personal circumstances that may influence behavior and performance in school. they constantly display respect and understanding along with equality regarding sex, race, and upbringings. table 3. difference in the level of teaching performance of the teachers when grouped according to highest educational attainment domain highest educational attainment anova n mean descriptive value f-value significance curriculum bs 5 4.7420 outstanding 2.6930 0.0437* with ms/med units 49 4.6400 outstanding ms/med 14 4.8507 outstanding   there is a significant difference on the level of teaching performance of the teachers in terms of curriculum (f=2.6930) when grouped according to the highest educational attainment. this further shows that the level of teaching performance in terms of curriculum of teachers with ms/med degree is significantly higher than those with units in ms/med. this indicates that teachers who pursued their graduate studies have better teaching performance as compared to those with master’s units only. to support, ross, cousins & gadalla (1996) revealed that teachers with a postgraduate degrees tend to manifest higher teaching performance than those who do not possess any advanced degree due to the fact that professional advancement contributes to the achievement of new instructional skills and the escalation of teachers’ positive reception of the effectiveness of new techniques. additionally, stronge (2007) mentioned that teachers with better-specialized preparation can afford pupils with more varied opportunities to learn. he further expounded that effective teachers advance in their education; they study and grow professionally because they want to model to their pupils that education and learning are important. they serve as influential examples of all-time learners to their pupils as they find ways to advance professionally. highly prepared teachers recognize how pupils learn and how they must be taught. additionally, their understanding of pedagogy makes them better able to distinguish individual pupil needs and modify their teaching to enhance overall pupil outcome. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, goldhaber and weber (1996) concluded in their research that teachers who earned their master’s degrees are equally effective with those who did not have advanced degrees. likewise, stronge (2007) found out that teachers who are not properly equipped to teach have little understanding of how pupils grow, learn, and develop, or how to deal with learning variations. teachers with less or no teaching preparation constantly have difficulties in the different aspects of teaching such as developing subject matters, managing classrooms, motivating pupils, and employing teaching strategies. they are incompetent of predicting pupil knowledge and possible difficulties as well as in planning and readdressing the topic to meet the needs of the pupils. table 4. difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to district where school assignment belongs domain district where school belongs anova n mean descriptive value f-value significance diversity of learners district 1 17 4.6341 outstanding 2.2805 0.0877* district 2 28 4.6046 outstanding district 3 6 4.4100 outstanding district 4 17 4.7594 outstanding table 4 shows that there is a significant difference on the level of teaching performance of the teachers in terms of diversity of learners (f=2.2805) when grouped according to the district where the school assignment belongs. this implies that those who were positioned in district 1 manifested a higher teaching performance as compared to those who were deployed in district 4. this entails that in the teaching-learning process, the provision of a supportive learning environment is a necessity in order to meet the diverse learning styles and needs of the learners. westberg & archambault (1997) supported this when they said that teachers in schools recognized as providing specialized instructional experiences for gifted learners reported involvement in and utilization of wideranging professional advancements related to the specific instructional needs of gifted learners. peart & campbell (1999) also found in their study that teachers who create an encouraging and affectionate school climate have a propensity to be more effective and they are intentionally aware of their pupils’ diverse needs. they further concluded that teachers in effective schools surpass a plain respectful relationship to a compassionate relationship with their pupils. 121 international peer reviewed journal table 5. difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to teaching position domains teaching position anova n mean descriptive value f-value significance learning environment teacher 1 6 4.4800 outstanding 2.4576 0.0427* teacher 2 6 4.6900 outstanding teacher 3 41 4.6290 outstanding mt 1 5 4.8700 outstanding mt 2 9 4.9089 outstanding spet 1 1 4.5000 outstanding   diversity of learners teacher 1 6 4.4100 outstanding 2.6798 0.0295* teacher 2 6 4.6450 outstanding teacher 3 41 4.5893 outstanding mt 1 5 4.8260 outstanding mt 2 9 4.8744 outstanding spet 1 1 4.5900 outstanding curriculum teacher 1 6 4.4150 outstanding 2.7344 0.0269* teacher 2 6 4.7617 outstanding teacher 3 41 4.6580 outstanding mt 1 5 4.8880 outstanding mt 2 9 4.8522 outstanding spet 1 1 4.8300 outstanding   table 5 shows that the level of teaching performance in terms of learning environment of teachers occupying a teacher 1 and 3 positions is lower as compared to those who are positioned as master teacher 1 and 2 (f=2.4576). this indicates that the level of teaching performance in terms of learning environment of those with teacher positions is significantly lower as compared to the ones with master teacher positions. further, the level of teaching performance in terms of diversity of learners of teachers occupying a master teacher 2 position is significantly higher as compared to those occupying teacher 1 and 2 positions (f=2.6798). the level of teaching performance in terms of diversity of learners of teachers occupying master teacher 1 position is significantly higher as compared to those occupying a teacher 1 position. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, the level of teaching performance in terms of curriculum of teachers occupying a teacher 1 position is significantly lower as compared to those occupying teacher 2, teacher 3, master teacher 1, and master teacher 2 positions (f=2.7344). this indicates that among all the teaching positions, teachers occupying teacher 1 position are of the lowest level. this further implies that the level of teaching performance in terms of curriculum of those occupying master teacher 2 position is significantly higher as compared to the ones with teacher 3 position. the above findings are supported by stronge (2007) when he pointed out that veteran teachers differ from novice teachers because they have mastered their expertise through their actual practice in the classroom, real-life experiences, and time spent in teaching. these experienced teachers have a wide collection of ways to supervise their pupils and to fashion meaningful and significant lessons. they are experts who have a thorough knowledge of their pedagogical content and the pupils they teach. they use well-organized planning strategies, carry out interactive decision making, and demonstrate effective classroom management skills. through experience, effective teachers become flexible and adaptable; they are able to improvise. table 5.1 post-hoc test on the difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to teaching position domains teaching position mean difference significance learning environment teacher 1 mt 1 -0.3900 0.0306* teacher 1 mt 2 -0.3880 0.0122* teacher 3 mt 2 -0.2390 0.0232* diversity of learners teacher 1 mt 1 -0.4160 0.0189* teacher 1 mt 2 -0.4360 0.0043** teacher 3 mt 2 -0.2567 0.0131* curriculum teacher 1 teacher 2 -0.3467 0.0272* teacher 1 teacher 3 -0.2430 0.0402* teacher 1 mt 1 -0.4730 0.0046** teacher 1 mt 2 -0.4350 0.0023** teacher 3 mt 2 -0.1920 0.0445* *0.05 level of significance **0.01 level of significance 123 international peer reviewed journal the post-hoc test shows that teachers with master teacher 1-2 positions significantly exceed those teachers with teacher 1-3 positions in domains such as learning environment and diversity of learners. however, those teachers with teacher 3 position perform better than those with teacher 1 position in terms of curriculum. this implies that teachers with higher teaching positions excellently provide an environment that is conducive for better learning and remarkably give considerations to the different needs and interest of their learners. additionally, they are in a better position to provide quality instruction in terms of pedagogical content. in a study entitled experienced teachers: their constructs of effective teaching, covino & iwanicki (1996) noted that more experienced teachers are predisposed to exhibit better planning skills, including a more controlled presentation of their teaching materials. similarly, veteran teachers tend to recognize their pupils’ precondition skills, learning styles, learning needs, and interest more adept than beginning teachers. table 6. difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to salary grade domains salary grade anova n mean descriptive value f-value significance learning environment sg11 6 4.4800 outstanding 3.0627 0.0227* sg12 6 4.6900 outstanding sg13 41 4.6290 outstanding sg14 1 4.5000 outstanding sg18 5 4.8700 outstanding sg19 9 4.9089 outstanding   diversity of learners sg11 6 4.4100 outstanding 3.4038 0.0139* sg12 6 4.6450 outstanding sg13 41 4.5893 outstanding sg14 1 4.5900 outstanding sg18 5 4.8260 outstanding sg19 9 4.8744 outstanding curriculum sg11 6 4.4150 outstanding 3.3489 0.0150* sg12 6 4.7617 outstanding sg13 41 4.6580 outstanding sg14 1 4.8300 outstanding sg18 5 4.8880 outstanding sg19 9 4.8522 outstanding   *0.05 level of significance 124 jpair multidisciplinary research the above table reflects that the level of teaching performance in terms of learning environment of teachers with salary grade 11 is significantly lower than those with salary grade 18 and salary grade 19. the level of teaching performance of those with salary grade 13 is significantly lower as compared to those with salary grade 19. further, the level of teaching performance in terms of diversity of learners of teachers with salary grade 11 is significantly lower as compared to those with salary grade 18 and salary grade 19. the level of teaching performance of those with salary grade 13 is significantly lower as compared to those with salary grade 19. additionally, the level of teaching performance in terms of curriculum of teachers with salary grade 11 is significantly lower as compared to those with salary grades 12, 13, 18, and 19. this indicates that among the salary grades, inservice teachers with salary grade 11 have the lowest level of teaching performance. table 6.1 post-hoc test on the difference in the level of teaching performance of teachers when grouped according to teaching position domains salary grade mean difference significance learning environment sg11 sg18 -0.3900 0.0286* sg11 sg19 -0.4289 0.0062** sg13 sg19 -0.2829 0.0094** diversity of learners sg11 sg18 -0.4160 0.0181* sg11 sg19 -0.4644 0.0028** sg13 sg19 -0.2852 0.0079** curriculum sg11 sg12 -0.3467 0.0276* sg11 sg13 -0.2471 0.0374* sg11 sg18 -0.4730 0.0047** sg11 sg19 -0.4372 0.0028** *0.05 level of significance ** 0.01 level of significance the post-hoc test shows that teachers with higher salary grade perform better than those who were compensated with lower salary grade. the ncbts framework articulated that, in the domain of learning environment, the teacher must provide a fair learning ambiance where learners are fairly treated, respected and appreciated and to give an equal opportunity to learn and to excel. in terms of diversity of learners, the teacher must create a variety of 125 international peer reviewed journal learning experiences to allow learners with diverse capabilities and backgrounds to grow and develop in many different aspects in order to attain the learning standards. in terms of community linkages, the teacher must institute a learning milieu that responds to the aspirations of the community. moreover, in terms of personal growth and professional development, the teacher must take necessary steps in her professional advancement to ensure that she constantly improves her pedagogical content and skills (deped, 2009). morine-dershimer (1989) also explained that classroom diversity requires teachers to make adaptations in their instructional plans to contain the learning needs of individual learners and thus uphold the learning of all pupils. adaptations such as specific activities designed to support learner’s expression of personal experiences, feelings, and opinions connected to the subject matter can accommodate individual differences, celebrate multiplicity, and contribute to successful pupil achievement. these activities allow teachers to tailor their instructions to realize a better fit for all learners relationship between the basic education teachers’ level of teaching performance and demographic variables table 7. relationship between the demographic profile and the level of teaching performance of the in-service teachers demographic variables social regard of learning learning environment diversity of learners curriculum planning, assessing, reporting overall teaching position pearson correlation 0.211 0.312** 0.353** 0.348** 0.279* 0.278* sig. (2-tailed) 0.084 0.010 0.003 0.004 0.021 0.022 salary grade pearson correlation 0.245* 0.383** 0.400** 0.348** 0.317** 0.310* sig. (2-tailed) 0.044 0.001 0.001 0.004 0.008 0.010 *0.05 level of significance **0.01 level of significance table 7 shows that there is a significant relationship between the teaching position and the level of teaching performance in terms of learning environment (r = 0.312), diversity of learners (r = 0.353), curriculum (r = 0.348), planning, assessing & reporting (r = 0.279) and overall performance (r = 0.278). this indicates that the 126 jpair multidisciplinary research higher the teaching position of the teacher, the higher the teaching performance in terms of learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum, planning, assessing & reporting and their overall performance. further, there is a significant relationship between the teachers’ salary grade and their level of teaching performance in terms of social regard to learning (r = 0.245), learning environment (r = 0.383), diversity of learners (r = 0.400), curriculum (r = 0.348), planning, assessing & reporting (r = 0.317) and overall performance (r = 0.310). this implies that the higher the salary grade of the teachers, the higher the level of teaching performance in domains such as social regard to learning, learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum, planning, assessing & reporting and their overall performance. regardless of any variable, ko, sammons and bakkum (2013) suggested that teacher effectiveness must be focused on pupil outcomes, teacher behavior and classroom processes that uphold better learner outcomes. they further specified that effective teachers are clear about instructional goals, knowledgeable about curriculum content and the strategies for teaching; use instructional materials to enrich and clarify content; communicate expectations for the students to achieve; address learner’s needs, interest and higher level cognitive objectives; provide appropriate feedback to monitor learner’s understanding; and, accept responsibility for learner outcomes. predictors of basic education teachers’ level of teaching performance from among the seven (7) domains of teaching performance, five (5) came out to be predicted by two (2) demographic variables such as salary grade and gender. table 8. factors that predict the level of teaching performance of teachers variables beta in t significance salary grade 0.0280 2.0560 0.0437* constant 4.6048 72.8150 0.0000 predictors in the model: (constant), salary dependent variable: social regard for learning salary grade 0.0464 3.3633 0.0013** constant 4.4927 70.2367 0.0000 predictors in the model: (constant), salary 127 international peer reviewed journal dependent variable: learning environment salary grade 0.0510 4.0423 0.0003** gender 0.2097 2.1421 0.0359* constant 4.0423 20.4351 0.0000 dependent variable: diversity of learners 0.0394 3.0150 0.0036** 4.5369 74.9101 0.0000 predictors in the model: (constant), salary dependent variable: curriculum salary grade 0.0402 2.7130 0.0085** constant 4.5163 65.6988 0.0000 predictors in the model: (constant), salary dependent variable: planning, assessing and reporting **0.01 level of significance *0.05 level of significance as shown in table 8, the level of performance of teachers in terms of social regard for learning is equal to 4.6048 + 0.0280 (salary grade). this reveals that the salary grade of teachers is a predictor of their outstanding teaching performance. this further implies that the teachers’ outstanding teaching performance in the domain of social regard for learning is explained by the high salary grade they received. further, the level of performance of teachers in terms of learning environment is equal to 4.4927 + 0.0464 (salary grade). this shows that the salary grade of teachers is a predictor of their outstanding teaching performance. this further reveals that the teachers’ outstanding teaching performance in the domain of learning environment is strongly predicted by their salary grade. additionally, the level of performance of teachers in terms of diversity of learners is equal to 4.0423 + 0.2097 (gender) +.0510 (salary grade). this implies that the salary grade and the gender of teachers are predictors of their remarkable teaching performance. this implies that the teachers’ outstanding performance is predicted by their gender and salary grade. furthermore, the level of performance of teachers in terms of curriculum is equal to 4.5369 + 0.0394 (salary grade). this reveals that the salary grade of 128 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers is a predictor of their outstanding teaching performance. moreover, the level of performance of teachers in terms of planning, assessing and reporting is equal to 4.5163 + 0.0402 (salary grade). this indicates that the salary grade of teachers is a predictor of their excellent teaching performance. in this study, the salary grade and gender of teachers are powerful predictors of their outstanding teaching performance. in support, loeb and page (2000) concluded that teachers who receive higher salaries extensively improve their learners’ academic performance. further, ross, cousins and gadalla (1996) predicted that the effect on preparedness on teacher effectiveness is stronger in male teachers due to the reality that men have an overconfident dependence on the control of prudence to precisely predict the effect from cause. however, the effect of student involvement on teacher effectiveness would be stronger for female teachers because women recognize nurturing of children as the most important motivation for access to the teaching profession. in contrast, hanushek and rivkin (2007) stated that there is a minute proof to propose that teachers who received high salaries are systematically more effective. moreover, ferguson and womack (1993) established a conclusion that coursework in teacher education made a constructive difference in teaching performance and a more influential predictor of teacher effectiveness than measures of content expertise. rice (2003) also emphasized that teacher experience had a constructive effect on teacher efficacy specifically indicating that the “learning by doing” outcome is most evident in the first few years of teaching. similarly, stronge (2007) pointed out that the amount of coursework in education is one strong predictor of teaching performance. monk (1994) also concluded that a teacher’s pedagogical preparation reflected a positive effect on student achievement and educational coursework appears to have a substantive value-added influence on student learning. finally, darling-hammond, chung & frelow (2002) concluded that the teacher’s “sense of preparedness was the strongest predictor of teaching effectiveness”. conclusions the basic education teachers in the study site are relatively young adults who are in the working stage, female and with family responsibilities. having rendered more than one decade in the teaching profession, they have felt the need to upgrade their pedagogical skills hence, their pursuit for higher degrees. as mentors to their successors, these teachers were assigned to teach at the 129 international peer reviewed journal intermediate level. most are from districts 1 and 2 holding teacher 3 position. they enjoy a permanent status and are remunerated with monthly compensation of salary grade 13. the basic education teachers strongly uphold excellence in becoming good examples to their learners; remarkably focus on the significance of providing an authentic environment within which diverse learners can fit into the different learning activities and labor towards attaining high principles of achievement. they excellently facilitate learning by recognizing and respecting individual differences and designing equitable sets of instructional activities to guarantee that all learners can attain preferred learning goals. they highly consider the elements of the teaching-learning process that drive learners to realize the curricular goals and objectives and to reach high standards of learning. they admirably focus on the use of assessment data to plan, revise, integrate and implement assessment procedures in the teaching-learning experiences and to provide feedback on the learner’s actual achievement and behavior. they sensibly link classroom activities to the aspirations and experiences of the pupils in their homes and communities. they extremely value that of attaining a high personal view for the teaching profession, concern for professional advancement, and continually grow in and with the profession. teachers with family responsibilities manifest a superior teaching performance in dealing with diverse learners, the community and their own personal and professional advancements. teachers who were master’s degree holders and were assigned in bayombong districts exhibit better teaching performance when dealing with the totality of the teaching-learning process. teachers who held the position of master teacher and were compensated with higher remuneration display a higher teaching performance in creating an authentic learning environment, respecting individual differences, and pedagogical content. teachers with higher teaching position demonstrate a higher teaching performance in providing a safe learning environment, addressing individual differences, communicating learning goals, and evaluating learning outcomes. teachers with higher salary grade reflect a higher teaching performance by serving as a role model to their pupils, establishing standards of learner’s behavior, designing instructional activities for diverse learners to attain high standards of learning, and maximizing learning through appropriate evaluation procedures. the remarkable teaching performance of teachers in domains such as social regard for learning, learning environment, diversity of learners, curriculum, and planning, assessing and reporting was strongly predicted by their high salary 130 jpair multidisciplinary research grade. teachers’ gender predicted their excellent performance in dealing with the multiplicity of learners. translational research with the recognized factors that correlate and explain the performance of basic education teachers, the deped authorities can craft and implement development programs and interventions that will offer an opportunity for their teachers to advance personally and professionally for them to better facilitate quality instruction to the pupils or end-users; 2) tei administrators and faculty members can review and reinforce their teacher education programs by strictly conforming to the mandates of the commission of higher education to better prepare and sharpen pre-service teachers with preferred competencies such as knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that they can dwell on when they go through the teaching profession; and 3) classroom teachers can now carry out quality teaching to their clienteles by keeping themselves updated with the modern innovations of education and teaching approaches that will further advance their teaching performance. literature cited arends, r. i. (2011). learning to teach. random house, inc.: new york. ashiedu, j. a., & scott-ladd, b. d. (2012). understanding teacher attraction and retention drivers: addressing teacher shortages. australian journal of teacher education, 37(11), n11. cooper, j. m. (1999). the teacher as a decision-maker. j, 1-19. covino, e. a., & iwanicki, e. f. (1996). experienced teachers: their constructs of effective teaching. journal of personnel evaluation in education, 10(4), 325363. darling-hammond, l., chung, r., & frelow, f. (2002). variation in teacher preparation: how well do different pathways prepare teachers to teach? journal of teacher education, 53, 286-301. 131 international peer reviewed journal department of education (2009) the national competency-based teacher standards. mentors town: teachers for the 21st century-the most comprehensive education resource in the philippine setting. posted on july 5, 2009. retrieved on july 18, 2013 from http://saicebrian.wordpress. com/2009/07/05/national-competency-based-teacher-standards-ncbts/ ferguson, p., & womack, s. t. (1993). the impact of subject matter and education coursework on teaching performance. journal of teacher education, 44(1), 55-63. ginnot, h. (1993). teacher and child. goldhaber, d. d. & brewer, d. j. (1996). evaluating the effect of teacher degree level on educational performance. educational resources information center. retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed406400.pdf on november 22, 2013. hanushek e. a. & rivkin, s. g. (2007). pay, working conditions, and teacher quality. the future of children vol. 17, no. 1: 69-86. ko, y. o. j., sammons, p., & bakkum, l. (2013). effective teaching: a review of research and evidence. loeb, s. & page, m. e. (2000). examining the link between teacher wages and student outcomes: the importance of alternative labor market opportunities and non-pecuniary variation. review of economics and statistics 82, no. 3: 393-408. morine-dershimer, greta g. (1989) pre-service teachers’ conceptions of content and pedagogy: measuring growth in reflective, pedagogical decision-making. journal of teacher education. retrieved on november 4, 2013 from http://jte.sagepub.com/content/40/5/46.short monk, d. h. (1994). subject area preparation of secondary mathematics and science teachers and student achievement. economics of education review, 13(2), 125-145. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research peart, n. a., & campbell, f. a. (1999). at-risk students’s perceptions of teacher effectiveness. journal for a just and caring education, 5(3), 269-84. pintrich, p. r., mckeachie, w. j., & lin, y. g. (1987). teaching a course in learning to learn. teaching of psychology, 14(2), 81-86. rice, j. k. (2003).  teacher quality: understanding the effectiveness of teacher attributes. economic policy institute, 1660 l street, nw, suite 1200, washington, dc 20035. ross, j. a., cousins, j. b. & gadalla, t. (1996). within-teacher predictors of teacher efficacy. teaching and teacher education, 12(4), 385-400. stronge, j. h. (2007). qualities of effective teachers. ascd. stronge, j. h., ward, t. j., & grant, l. w. (2011). what makes good teachers good? a cross-case analysis of the connection between teacher effectiveness and student achievement. journal of teacher education 62(4), 339-355. the philippine code of ethics for professional teachers. retrieved on august 20, 2014 from http://teachercodes.iiep.unesco.org/teachercodes/codes/asia/ philippines.pdf tschannen-moran m. & hoy, a. w. (2007). the differential antecedents of self-efficacy beliefs of novice and experienced teachers. teaching and teacher education. elsevier. westberg, k. l., & archambault, f. x. (1997). a multi-site case study of successful classroom practices for high ability students. gifted child quarterly, 41(1), 42-51. wragg, e. c. (ed.). (1984). classroom teaching skills: the research findings of the teacher education project. psychology press. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 119 attitudes of high school students towards sex: implications to sex education and guidance fructuoso c. baliton totsbaliton_67@yahoo.com deped, division of leyte (eastern visayas) abstract a major source of sexual learning is sex education classes in school (levy 1992). in the absence of effective sex education, the immature adolescent must make major decisions without adequate knowledge (bjorklund 1998). this descriptive surveycorrelation method of research was undertaken to come up with findings on attitude towards sex of villaba national high school students. it was also its purpose that this study may be instrumental in the proper guidance of the said students particularly in the area of adolescent sexuality. simple frequency counts were used to determine their attitude towardss the various aspects of sexual relationships and average scores determined their attitude towards the ten aspects of sexual relationships. z-test was used to test the null hypothesis which states that, “there is no significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships,” at the significance level of 0.05. this research finally concluded that there are differences between the attitudes of boys and girls vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.157 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 120 towards the various aspects of sexual relationships particularly on courtship, petting, pre-marital sex, and trial marriage or live-in. z-test established a significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships. keywords attitude towards sex, sex education, instruction and guidance, adolescent sexuality, sexual relationships. introduction current issues on sex behavior are drawing interest and curiosity from among the present generation, especially among those who claim to be “liberated” people. the subject is almost in every issue of mass media and communication either in print, in picture, or over the air. most adolescents are capable of and quickly become curious about the physical aspects of sex but few of them achieve the degree of emotional maturity that keep indulgence in the physical aspects of sex from causing them serious anxieties and conflicts (gallagher 1983). the adolescent-youth period is critical in the field of sexual adjustments because it is at this period that the initial venture in forming emotional attachments to the opposite sex begins. the adolescent’s first love may be intense, consuming, almost overpowering; no doubt its intensity is in part a matter of lack of experience. the conflict between organic drives and the sex mores is not confined to the adolescent period. it is a lifelong struggle. in the absence of effective sex education, the immature adolescent must make major decisions without adequate knowledge (bjorklund 1998). a major source of sexual learning is sex education classes in school and the problem of sex instruction is made doubly difficult because on one hand so many adults are not sufficiently well adjusted sexually themselves to talk objectively and unemotionally about sex; on the other hand, there is even at the adult level a great amount of ignorance of even the simplest facts of sexual functioning (levy 1992). the department of education of the philippines is mandated by republic act 9155, otherwise known as the “governance of basic international peer reviewed journal 121 education act of 2001,” that the principals, school administrators and teachers-in-charge (collectively referred to as school heads) must exercise instructional leadership and sound administrative management of the school. as an instructional leader, therefore, the researcher believes that the school has a great and challenging role in the clarification of values to help clear out the haze of confusion and doubts, particularly on sexual relationships as this touches the core of individual’s personality. the youth of today needs information as they go through formation, particularly on matters of sex. data on their attitude towards sexual relationships would be a great help in diagnosing weaknesses and strengths on the subject of sex. this study was undertaken in order to come up with findings on attitude towards sex of junior and senior students of villaba national high school (vnhs), division of leyte, region viii (eastern visayas), of the department of education. hopefully the results of this study may be instrumental in the proper guidance of the said students particularly in the area of adolescent sexuality. the findings in this study may guide students on how to deal with problems concerning sex, particularly the juniors and the seniors of vnhs. with it, the writer hopes to provide the school with some data on the attitude towards sex of the students, thus helping the teachers, the guidance counselor, and parents diagnose youngsters in order to guide them properly. objectives of the study 1. to determine the attitudes of junior and senior students of vnhs toward the following aspects of sexual relationships which are courtship, going steady, dating, passionate kissing, necking, petting, pre-marital sex, free love or promiscuity, trial marriage or living-in, and extra-marital affairs; and, 2. to determine whether there exists a significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 122 materials and methods the respondents of this study were the third year and the fourth year students of vnhs during school year 2008 – 2009. there were 73 boys and 99 girls or a total of 172 students. a data-gathering questionnaire which was adapted from the instrument used by sister m. carmela (1981) was prepared by the writer. it contained fifty (50) items divided equally into ten (10) aspects of sexual relationships which are courtship, going steady, dating, passionate kissing, necking, petting, pre-marital sex, free love or promiscuity, trial marriage or living-in, and extra-marital affairs. each question asked for a feeling or belief about a particular behavior in certain situations involving sexual relationships. the respondents indicated their answers by writing the appropriate letter from the set of responses provided according to what they honestly feel or believe in as follows: a (all right), d (dangerous), or w (wrong). [in interpreting the respondents’ responses, codes were utilized. coding was done to facilitate the analysis of the data.] a scale value of the preferred responses was established. the following were the scale value for each item: 4 permissive (the attitude that puts no restrictions to any sexual behavior). 3 liberal (the attitude that considers sex as something to be enjoyed as long as it does not put one into trouble). 2 healthy (the attitude that considers sex as a vital part of being a human being which may enhance or distort the personality of an individual depending on the kind of relationship he/she has with others). 1 conservative (the attitude that considers sex as something tolerated with uncomfortable feelings.). 0 scrupulous (the attitude that considers sex bad or dirty). the descriptive survey-correlation method of research was used in this study. the questionnaire was used to gather the data. data collection was undertaken personally by the researcher using the instrument adapted for the study. the distribution of the questionnaires international peer reviewed journal 123 was made on march 10 – 14, 2009 during the health education classes of the respondents. the retrieval was done at the end of their class sessions. simple frequency counts were used to determine their attitude towards the ten aspects of sexual relationships. [courtship, going steady, dating, passionate kissing, necking, petting, pre-marital sex, free love or promiscuity, trial marriage or living-in, and extra-marital affairs.] average scores determined their attitude towards the ten aspects of sexual relationships. since each of the fifty (50) items in the questionnaire contained a healthy answer, and that the healthy answer had a value of 2, so respondents with a total score near 100 or an average score near 2 was considered to have more or less a healthy attitude towards sex. the following limits were established to classify the average scores: 2.46 – above permissive 2.16 – 2.45 liberal 1.86 – 2.15 healthy 1.56 – 1.85 conservative 1.55 – below scrupulous in testing the null hypothesis which states that, “there is no significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships,” the z – test was used that was tested at the significance level of 0.05 results and discussion on attitude towards the various aspects of sexual relationships tables 1.1 to 1.10 present the attitude of junior and senior students of vnhs towards the various aspects of sexual relationships. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 124 table 1.1: attitude towards courtship statements responses attitudes boys girls if those involved are unmarried persons who exercise precautions so as not to lead each other into sexual intimacies. allright healthy healthy if those involved persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies. wrong dangerous healthy liberal if unmarried persons spend it in secluded and dimly lit places where they could be alone with each other. dangerous healthy healthy if the unmarried persons spend it in the company of a number of people. allright healthy healthy if it is showered over/by a person who is married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy it can be gleaned from table 1.1 that boys have healthy attitude towards all of the situations involving courtship while girls have liberal attitudes if those involved persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies by indicating a dangerous answer to that particular situation. table 1.2: attitude toward going steady statements responses attitudes boys girls if those involved are unmarried persons who exercise precautions so as not to lead each other into sexual intimacies. allright healthy healthy if those involved unmarried persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies. dangerous liberal liberal if being done by/with a person married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy if being done by unmarried persons looking for a life partner. allright healthy healthy if being done by adolescents who desire to be alone with each other. dangeous healthy healthy international peer reviewed journal 125 table 1.2 shows that both boys and girls have indicated a dangerous answer if those involved persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies. the classified attitude for such an answer is liberal. their attitude towards going steady in the other situations are healthy. table 1.3: attitude towards dating statements responses attitudes boys girls if those involved are unmarried persons who exercise precautions so as not to lead each other into sexual intimacies. all right healthy healthy if those involved unmarried persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies. dangerous liberal liberal if the unmarried persons spend it in secluded and dimly lit places where they could be alone with each other. dangerous healthy healthy if the unmarried persons spend it in the company of a number of people. all right healthy healthy if it is done with/by a person who is married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy table 1.3 shows that both boys and girls have indicated a dangerous answer if those involved persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies. the classified attitude for such an answer is liberal. their attitude towards dating in the other situations are healthy. table 1.4: attitude towards passionate kissing statements responses attitudes boys girls if done by unmarried persons. dangerous healthy healthy if done by husband and wife. all right healthy healthy if done with/by a person married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy between steadies. dangerous healthy healthy between persons who have officially arranged to get married to each other. all right healthy healthy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 126 as shown in table 1.4, the attitudes of the respondents toward passionate kissing are healthy in all of the situations. table 1.5: attitude towards necking statements responses attitudes boys girls between persons not married to each other. dangerous liberal liberal if done by/to a person married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy if done by husband and wife. all right healthy healthy between steadies. dangerous liberal liberal between persons who have arranged to get married to each other. all right liberal liberal table 1.5 shows that the respondents have liberal attitude towards necking if it is done between persons not married to each other and between steadies by indicating dangerous answers, and between persons who have officially arranged to get married to each other by indicating an all right answer. if necking is done by/to a person married to somebody else, the respondents indicated a wrong answer which is a healthy attitude. also, the indicated all right as an answer if necking is done between husband and wife is a healthy attitude. table 1.6: attitude towards petting statements responses attitudes boys girls if done by person not married to each other. wrong healthy healthy if done by husband and wife. all right healthy healthy if done by/to person who is married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy between steadies. dangerous healthy liberal between persons who have arranged to get married to each other. all right liberal liberal international peer reviewed journal 127 table 1.6 illustrates that boys have healthy attitudes in the first four situations involving petting but they have a liberal attitude if it is done between persons who have arranged to get married to each other by indicating an all right answer. in addition to the liberal attitude of girls toward the same situation, they have indicated a dangerous answer if petting is done between steadies which is also a liberal attitude. table 1.7: attitude towards pre-marital sex statements responses attitudes boys girls if done by person not married to each other. wrong healthy healthy if done by husband and wife. all right healthy healthy if done by/to person who is married to somebody else. wrong healthy healthy between steadies. wrong healthy healthy between persons who have arranged to get married to each other. all right permissive healthy as shown in table 1.7, the boys have a permissive attitude towards pre-marital sex if it is done between persons preparing for marriage by indicating all right as an answer while they have a healthy attitude towards the other situations. meanwhile, the girls have healthy attitude towards pre-marital sex in all of the situations. table 1.8: attitude towards free love statements responses attitudes boys girls for those not ready for marriage. wrong healthy healthy if one wants to do so as he/she pleases. wrong healthy healthy if one does it for fun. wrong healthy healthy if it is for financial/economic reason. wrong healthy healthy if one is searching for the right marriage partner. wrong healthy healthy as shown in table 1.8, the attitudes of the respondents toward free love are healthy by indicating wrong answers in all of the situations. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 128 table 1.9: attitude towards trial marriage or live-in statements responses attitudes boys girls for those not ready for marriage. wrong healthy healthy if one wants to be free in case he/she does not want the partner anymore. wrong healthy healthy if those involved want to test each other. dangerous wrong liberal healthy if there is intention to marry each other later. all right permissive permissive if it is for fun. wrong healthy healthy it can be gleaned from table 1.9 that the respondents have healthy attitude towards trial marriage or live-in for those not yet ready for marriage, if one wants to be free in case he/she does not want the partner anymore, and if it is for fun by indicating wrong answers to the situations. they have a permissive attitude if there is intention to marry each other by indicating an all right answer to the situation. however, if those involved want to test each other, the boys have liberal attitudes by indicating a dangerous answer while the girls have healthy attitudes by indicating a wrong answer to the situation. table 1.10: attitude towards extra-marital affairs statements responses attitudes boys girls if it is for financial/economic reason. wrong healthy healthy if husband and wife agree on it. wrong healthy healthy if one wants to have a child. wrong healthy healthy if it is for fun. wrong healthy healthy if it is to satisfy an emotional/psychological need wrong healthy healthy table 1.10 illustrates that the attitudes of the respondents toward extra-marital affairs are healthy by indicating wrong answers to all of the situations. international peer reviewed journal 129 on attitude towards the ten aspects of sexual relationships shown in table 2 are the attitudes of junior and senior students of vnhs toward the ten aspects of sexual relationships. table 2: the attitudes of junior and senior students of vnhs toward the ten aspects of sexual relationships attitudes boys girls difference frequency percentage frequency percentage healthy 15 20.55 31 31.31 (10.76) liberal 34 46.57 51 51.52 (4.95) permissive 24 32.88 17 17.17 15.71 totals 73 100 99 100 the data shows that 15 or 20.55 percent of boys and 31 or 31.31 percent of girls have healthy attitude towards the ten aspects of sexual relationships. thirty-four or 46.57 percent and 51 or 51.52 percent of boys and girls, respectively, have liberal attitudes. there are 24 or 32.88 percent boys and 17 or 17.17 percent girls who have permissive attitudes. the overall pattern so far indicates that the liberal attitude has the highest frequency and/or percentage for both boys and girls respondents. on differences between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships table 3 presents the differences between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships. table 3: differences between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships data boys girls mean scores 2.38 2.26 standard deviations 0.26 0.21 number of cases 73 99 z – test 3.24 interpretation significant jpair: multidisciplinary journal 130 the data suggest that there is a significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships since the absolute value of computed z at the significant level of 0.05 is greater than the critical region z, which is 1.64. the null hypothesis which states that, “there is no significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships,” is therefore, rejected. conclusions as established by the results of the study, this research finally concluded that the following are the differences between the attitudes of boys and girls toward the various aspects of sexual relationships. on courtship, boys have healthy attitudes, if those involved persons exercise no restrictions on sexual intimacies, while girls have liberal attitudes. if petting is done between steadies, boys have healthy attitudes while girls have liberal attitudes. boys have permissive attitude towards pre-marital sex, if it is done between persons preparing for marriage, while girls have healthy attitudes. on trial marriage or live-in, boys have liberal attitudes while girls have healthy attitudes if those involved want to test each other. the significant difference between the attitudes of boys and girls on the ten aspects of sexual relationships is on the ranking of the different attitudes in terms of frequency or percentage. liberal attitude has the highest number for the boys, followed by permissive attitude, and healthy attitude. for the girls, on the other hand, the liberal attitude is followed by healthy attitude, then, permissive attitude. the difference in terms of percentage is also significant with permissive attitude in favor of the boys. healthy attitude are in favor of the girls and liberal attitude. the researcher recommends that further investigation be made particularly on the following: (1) the causes of less shared sex attitudes in comparison to more shared sex attitudes; (2) the factors that may have caused prevailing sex permissiveness; and, (3) the factors that may have caused a significant difference of sex attitudes between boys and girls. international peer reviewed journal 131 implications to sex education and guidance the findings of this study seem to imply certain directions for sex education and guidance for the junior and senior students of villaba national high school, which are the following: 1. since 24 or 32.88% of boys and 17 or 17.17% of girls were considered having permissive attitudes which the researcher considers as far from being healthy, there is a need to guide and instruct them religiously towards healthy sex values. 2. since there is a difference of 15.71% on the permissive attitude in favor of the boys, therefore they need more attention than the girls on the areas of sex values. 3. effective school year 2009 – 2010 the researcher will designate two guidance counselors a male teacher for the boys and a female teacher for the girls. literature cited best, j. w. 1990 research in education. new jersey: prentice-hall, inc. bjorklund, d 1998 straight or gay? medical aspects of human sexuality, 93-98. carmela, sister m. (cabactulan, j. n.) 1981 the sex attitudes of male and female high school students in leyte: rural and urban cases. unpublished thesis, leyte state college, tacloban city. gallagher, r. 1993 understanding your son’s adolescence. boton: little brown and company. levy, m. r. 1992 life and health: targeting wellness. new york: mc-grawhill, inc. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 132 morgan, c. t. 1997 attitudes and prejudices, a brief introduction to psychology. new york: mcgraw-hill book company. republic act 9155 2001 an act instituting a frame work of governance for basic education, establishing authority and accountability, renaming the department of education, culture and sports as the department of education, and for other purposes. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research development and utilization of a modified resonator tube apparatus for sound wave experiments alweilland q. bello orcid no.: 0000-0002-2298-3939 alwielland@gmail.com natural sciences department, bukidnon state university fortich street, malaybalay city, 8700 bukidnon, philippines abstract acoustic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which in-phase sound waves combine together to produce maximum amplitude; on the other hand, out-of-phase sound waves cancel each other to produce minimum amplitude. the purpose of this study is to investigate and demonstrate this phenomenon with the use of a reliable device. this study requires a modified resonator tube apparatus to be developed and fabricated from locally-available materials for the purpose of demonstrating resonance and normal modes of sound waves. air column length versus harmonic number (l vs n) and frequency versus harmonic number (f vs n) experiments were performed together with open-pipe and stopped-pipe procedures. for l vs n experiments, deduced value of speed of sound is 337.79±0.94 m/s at 760 hz for open-pipe taken at 29°c; and 357.72±9.34 m/s at 412 hz for stopped-pipe taken at 25°c. for f vs n experiments, deduced value of speed of sound is 337.09±5.98 m/s at 2.30 m for open-pipe taken at 25°c; and 345.92±5.55 m/s at 1.60 m for stopped-pipe taken at 30°c. results had shown that the modified resonator tube apparatus is accurate and precise within 5% margin of error. therefore, the apparatus is a reliable device in demonstrating acoustic resonance phenomenon in the physics classroom setting. keywords physics, sound waves, resonance, normal modes, experimental method, philippines vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.222 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 45 international peer reviewed journal introduction there are several classroom demonstrations and laboratory activities concerning wave motion in general and sound waves in particular. inman (2006) performed a standing-wave experiment with a guitar; in which, standing waves could be produced on a vibrating string by plucking a guitar string which is fixed at both ends. lopresto (2005) introduced a correction factor for resonance experiments involving a quarterwave tube. froehle (2006) utilized the resonance of sound waves being produced by a tuning fork and extending tube in order to deduce the outdoor temperature. glass-tube resonance apparatus has been widely used as the conventional apparatus in demonstrating and performing resonance and normal modes experiments. however, we can only perform and obtain stopped-pipe results by using this type of resonance apparatus. the experimenter needs to secure himself a complete set of expensive tuning forks to perform the experiments. water spillage due to leaky rubber tubes, poor tube fittings and cracked glass tubes are commonly experienced by students who repeatedly use this kind of resonance apparatus in the laboratory. moreover, a teacher who wishes to bring the entire setup with him has to give extra caution to avoid breakage during transportation. pasco scientific, inc. came up with the economy resonance tube model wa9495 (pasco scientific, 2005). acoustic resonance could be demonstrated inside the resonance tube without the need for water. even though the resonance tube is made up of cardboard material, the necessary accessory devices such as sine-wave generator and open-type speaker are to be bought separately and are very much expensive compared to the resonance tube itself. the entire resonance tube setup would not function without the necessary accessory devices. objectives of the study the main objective of this study is to construct a modified resonator tube apparatus in order to demonstrate and perform experiments in wave propagation and normal modes for open and stopped pipes. the specific objectives are the following: a. to verify the relationship between air column length and harmonic number of normal modes produced by a discrete frequency; b. to verify the relationship between frequency and harmonic number of normal modes produced by a selected discrete frequency; and c. to compare the deduced speed of sound waves to the standard speed of sound waves obtained at room temperature. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the procedures of construction and experimentation using the modified resonator tube apparatus are discussed in this chapter. we designed the apparatus with the use of locally available materials through innovative improvisations. experimental design figure 1 shows the block diagram of experimental set-up. portable music player stores and plays discrete sound frequencies in mp3 format. this signal is amplified by a power amplifier and passes the amplified signal to three open-type speakers. each speaker delivers sound signal through its corresponding pvc tube set-up, which is made up of an inner and outer tube. an acrylic cap is placed to cover either edge of the inner tube when performing stopped-pipe experiments. figure 1. block diagram of the modified resonator tube apparatus. frequency signals frequency signals are discretely generated, pre-recorded and stored to a music player device. room temperature is measured using a digital thermometer. table 1 shows the frequencies that were predicted for a tube length of 240 cm. 47 international peer reviewed journal table 1. number of harmonics and corresponding frequencies of sound for both open-pipe and stopped-pipe experiments as taken at room temperature of 300k and air column length of 240 cm. number of harmonics frequency (hz) open-pipe stopped-pipe 1 72.6 36.3 2 145.2 72.6 3 217.7 108.85 4 290.3 145.15 5 362.8 181.4 6 435.4 217.7 7 507.9 253.95 8 580.5 290.25 9 653.1 326.55 10 725.6 362.8 table 1 shows the following normal modes and corresponding frequencies. taking the speed of sound at 300k as 348.3 m/s, the first harmonic for the fulllength of 240 cm occurs at 72.6 hz. to observe ten harmonics for both open-pipe and stopped-pipe of length 240 cm, the frequency to be used must be in the range of 35 hz to 750 hz. music player device an mp3 player is designated as store-and-play device for discrete frequencies of sound which are recorded in mp3 format. this is only an accessory to the project and the experimenters do not manufacture one but just purchase it commercially. power amplifier a 750mw power amplifier served as an accessory device to boost the sound signal coming from the mp4 unit. the output volume of sound can be adjusted using the volume control of the power amplifier. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research speaker setups we used three pieces of 3-inch diameter, hi-fi midrange speakers with 8ω impedance and 30w maximum power output to drive sound frequencies into the pvc pipes. each of the speakers is mounted to a 14 cm x 14 cm plyboard square so that the speaker can stand vertically opposite to the edge of the pvc pipe. the plyboard square is mounted to a support base on the wooden platform to guarantee firm footing. since there is no plyboard covering around the back of the speaker, therefore we call it an open-type speaker. resonator tube setups the improvised apparatus is made up of three pvc tube set-ups with different diameters; namely, tube set-up 1, tube set-up 2 and tube set-up 3. the inner and outer tubes are 123 cm long each. wooden platform a wooden platform is designed to support the entire setup in place. it is made of 45 cm x 150 cm, ½-inch thick marine plyboard. each of the speakers is mounted to a wooden base while the horse clamps that will hold the pvc pipes are mounted on the board by using wood screws and washers. construction procedure the entire apparatus is practically designed in a way that the parts could be conveniently assembled and disassembled. the following steps of constructing the apparatus are described in the following procedures: a thin-walled 10-feet long pvc pipe is purchased from a hardware store. the pvc pipe was cut into two 123c m-long segments by using a hacksaw. one tube segment was assigned as the outer tube while the other tube was assigned as the inner tube. a 3-mm wide gap was cut along one side of the inner tube by using a wood file. epoxy was applied on the gap edges and held them together for a minute until the epoxy dried and the joined edges hardened. epoxy residues were removed from the tube surface by using sandpaper. a tape measure was placed on the surface of the inner tube. the inner tube was slowly inserted into the outer tube. tube set-ups were mounted on the wooden platform with the use of horse clamps and wood screws. 49 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. fully-operational modified resonator tube apparatus. figure 3. project accessories: power amplifier, speaker setups and mp3 player. experimental procedure the resonator tube apparatus is useful in performing a variety of experiments on resonance and normal modes. two sets of experimental procedures are being implemented to obtain results, namely, open-pipe and stopped-pipe experiments. room temperature is measured at the start and end of an experiment by using a 100°c glass thermometer. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research air column length vs harmonic number experiment the following steps are procedures being done in performing air column length vs harmonic number experiments: for open-pipe procedure, room temperature was recorded first at the start of every experiment. both inner and outer tubes were free to resonate without obstruction. a speaker set-up was placed closer to an open edge of the resonator tube. a frequency of sound was selected and played using the music player. sound intensity was set to minimum by adjusting the volume control of the amplifier. the inner tube was slowly pulled from the outer tube edge until the loudest “hum” is produced. the gained length of inner tube was recorded as indicated by the tape measure plus the fix length of the outer tube. the inner tube was pulled continuously to obtain longer lengths that correspond to loud “hums” being produced. these lengths were recorded correspond to different harmonic numbers. entire procedure was repeated in 5 trials. for stopped-pipe procedure, record the room temperature at the start of every experiment. one edge of the inner tube was covered with an acrylic cap. the speaker set-up was placed closer to an open edge of the resonator tube. frequency of sound was selected and played using the music player. sound intensity was set to minimum by adjusting the volume control of the amplifier. the inner tube was slowly pulled from the outer tube edge until the loudest “hum” is produced. the gained length of inner tube was recorded as indicated by the tape measure plus the fix length of the outer tube. the inner tube was continuously pulled to obtain longer lengths that correspond to loud “hums” being produced. these lengths were recorded correspond to different harmonic numbers. entire procedure was repeated in 5 trials. frequency vs harmonic number experiment the following steps are procedures being done in performing air frequency vs harmonic number experiments. for open-pipe procedure, room temperature was recorded first at the start of every experiment. both inner and outer tubes were free to resonate without obstruction. a speaker set-up was placed closer to an open edge of the resonator tube. sound intensity was set to minimum by adjusting the volume control of the amplifier. tube set-up was set into a fixed length. resonant frequencies were selected by pressing the select button of the music player. resonance occurred as a selected frequency produced loud “hum” through the tube set-up. additional frequencies were obtained as we select further in the music player. these resonant frequencies were recorded 51 international peer reviewed journal corresponding to different harmonic numbers. entire procedure was repeated in 5 trials. for stopped-pipe procedure, room temperature was recorded first at the start of every experiment. one edge of the inner tube was covered with an acrylic cap. the speaker set-up was placed closer to an open edge of the resonator tube. sound intensity was set to minimum by adjusting the volume control of the amplifier. tube set-up was set into a fixed length by adjusting the inner tube. the acrylic cap served as rigid boundary for sound waves to bounce back toward the open edge of the outer tube. resonant frequencies were selected by pressing the select button of the music player. resonance occurred as a selected frequency produced loud “hum” through the tube set-up. additional frequencies were obtained as we select further in the music player. these resonant frequencies were recorded corresponding to different harmonic numbers. entire procedure was repeated in 5 trials. as to critique the procedures described in this study, the procedures are developed in a trial-and-error basis until optimized results are obtained. systematic and random errors are kept within 5% margin of error to ensure high reliability of the apparatus. resulting data will be treated with error propagation techniques. results and discussion actual experiments are done by using the entire resonator tube apparatus. the researcher used root 5.18 software to plot the data points and obtain corresponding graphs. air column length vs harmonic number figure 4 shows the superimposed open-pipe l vs n plots obtained from tube setup 1 by using frequencies f1 = 760 hz, f2 = 766 hz and f3 = 770 hz, respectively. individual plots in figure 4 represent the data shown in tables a.1, a.2, and a.3, respectively. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 4. air column length vs number of harmonics for open-pipe using frequencies f1 = 760 hz, f2 = 766 hz and f3 = 770 hz, respectively. the deduced speed of sound is 337.79±0.94 m/s for f1 = 760 hz, 332.09±1.39 m/s for f2 = 766 hz, and 333.53±1.52 m/s for f3 = 770 hz, respectively. the margins of error obtained are 3.34 % for f1 = 760 hz, 4.17 % for f2 = 766 hz, and 3.92 % for f3 = 770 hz, respectively. figure 5 shows the superimposed stopped-pipe l vs n plots obtained from tube setup 1 by using frequencies f1 = 412 hz, f2 = 414 hz and f3 = 416 hz, respectively. figure 5. air column length vs number of harmonics for stopped-pipe using frequencies f1 = 412 hz, f2 = 414 hz and f3 = 416 hz, respectively. 53 international peer reviewed journal the deduced speed of sound is 357.72±9.34 m/s for f1 = 412 hz, 349.43±5.67 m/s for f2 = 414 hz, and 337.67±17.07 m/s for f3 = 416 hz, respectively. the % errors obtained are 3.05 % for f1 = 412 hz, 0.83 % for f2 = 414 hz, and 2.73 % for f3 = 416 hz, respectively. frequency vs harmonic number figure 6 shows the superimposed open-pipe f vs n plots obtained from tube setup 1 by using air column length l1 = 2.3 m, l2 = 2.35 m and l3 = 2.4 m, respectively. figure 6. frequency vs number of harmonics for open-pipe using air column lengths l1 = 2.3 m, l2 = 2.35 m and l3 = 2.4 m, respectively. the deduced speed of sound is 337.09±5.98 m/s for l1 = 2.30 m, 339.02±3.94 m/s for l2 = 2.35 m, and 340.80±3.09 m/s for l3 = 2.40 m, respectively. the % errors obtained are 2.89 % for l1 = 2.30 m, 2.50 % for l2 = 2.35 m, and 1.98 % for l3 = 2.40 m, respectively. figure 7 shows the superimposed stopped-pipe f vs n plots obtained from tube setup 1 by using air column length l1 = 1.6 m, l2 = 1.7 m and l3 = 1.8 m, respectively. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 7. frequency vs number of harmonics for stopped-pipe using air column lengths l1 = 1.6 m, l2 = 1.7 m and l3 = 1.8 m, respectively. the deduced value of speed of sound is 345.92±5.55 m/s for l1 = 1.60 m, 351.05±3.48 m/s for l2 = 1.70 m, and 348.35±4.40 m/s for l3 = 1.80 m, respectively. the % errors obtained are 1.18 % for l1 = 1.60 m, 1.13 % for l2 = 1.70 m, and 0.35 % for l3 = 1.80 m, respectively. conclusions a resonator tube apparatus is constructed from pvc tubes and other locally available materials. this special project is intended for resonance experiments and classroom demonstrations. experiments on the calculation of the speed of sound such as air column length vs harmonic number and frequency vs harmonic number are performed using this apparatus. frequencies of 760 hz, 766 hz and 770 hz are used to produce five numbers of harmonics in the open-pipe experiments while frequencies of 412 hz, 414 hz and 416 hz are used to produce ten numbers of harmonics. the room temperature is recorded for both open-pipe and stopped-pipe procedures. results of the experiments show linear relationship between air column length and harmonic number and between frequency and harmonic number. this linear relationship is shown in both open-pipe and stopped-pipe procedures. 55 international peer reviewed journal recommendations the percent error on the calculated speed of sound obtained from any experiment did not exceed 4.17 %. therefore the resonator tube apparatus is recommended for classroom demonstrations and laboratory activities. since the apparatus has two more tube set-ups to spare, any interested student could continue the experiments using these tube set-ups provided that an optimized amplifier is used. moreover, the apparatus could be modified using preformed tubes of different materials (i.e. glass, metal). digital function generator that can produce continuous frequency signals could replace the mp3 player for optimal results. literature cited adobe audition version 1.5 retrieved at http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/adobeaudition1.5.html boslaugh, s. and watters p.a. 2008. statistics in a nutshell: a desktop quick reference 1st ed. sebastopol: o’reilly inc. fletcher, n.h. and t.d. rossing 1999 the physics of musical instruments, 2nd ed. (springer, new york), p. 200. froehle, p., 2006 “finding the outdoor temperature using a tuning fork and resonance”, the physics teacher vol. 44, oct. pp. 358-359. ginsberg scientific, inc., resonance tube apparatus vertical 7-1806, http://www.ginsbergscientific.com/0cat_details01.asp?cid=3182. inman, f. w. 2006 “a standing-wave experiment with a guitar”, the physics teacher vol. 44, oct. 2006 pp. 465-468. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research lopresto, m. c. 2005 “measuring end correction for a quarter-wave tube”, the physics teacher vol. 43, sept. 2005 p. 50. minitab version 16.1.0.0 available at http://www.minitab.com/en-us/default.aspx pasco scientific, inc., economy resonance tube wa-9495, retrieved at http://store.pasco. com root 5.18 data analysis framework software available at http://root.cern.ch/ drupal/ serway and faughn 1992 college physics, 3rd ed. (harcourt brace college publisher), pp. 464467. subong, p. e. jr. 2005 statistics for research 1st ed. manila: rex book store, inc. walker, j. s. 2002 physics (prentice hall, upper saddle river, nj, 2002), p. 424. ward’s natural science, inc., resonance apparatus 16 v 051, http://wardsci.com/product.asp_q_ pn_e_ig0012358_a_resonance+apparatus. root 5.18 data analysis framework software available at http://root.cern.ch/drupal/ young, h. d. and roger a. f. sear and zemansky’s 2008 university physics with modern physics 12th ed. san francisco: addisonwesley publishing 76 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract mangrove forests are indigenous to tropical as well as subtropical regions worldwide. mangrove soil is a rich source of plastic-degrading bacteria but no local study has been done to support its potential benefits. this study was conducted to assess the suitability of an improvised nutrient medium for the isolation of plastic-degrading bacteria from mangrove soil obtained from silonay eco-mangrove reserve, calapan city, philippines. forty-two (42) winogradsky column wc), the first 21 wc contain mineral salt medium and the remaining 21 contain sea salt medium. plastic samples were observed for 36 days by comparing the initial and final weights. wc with mineral salt medium showed the most changes in the final plastic weight while the seawater medium winogradsky column showed less plastic weight changes. laboratory test showed that plastic degrading bacteria that were gram-negative were citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp. the study showed that mangrove soil in calapan city, oriental mindoro is a rich source of biodegrading bacteria. the use of improvised nutrient medium solves the degradability of plastics in mangrove soil from eco-mangrove reserve in calapan city, oriental mindoro philippines jermaine ritzchelle d. marquez http://orcid.org 000-0003-1319-0491 jrmarquez2790@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology-calapan city campus masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines originality: 98% • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 2 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.565 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 77 international peer reviewed journal unavailability of expensive materials and can be used in exploring the potential use of identified bacteria for future work in biotechnology. further studies need to be done to investigate other bacterial species aside from identified bacteria that can biodegrade plastics. keywords — biological science, winogradsky, plastic-degrading bacteria, improvised nutrient medium, philippines introduction one of the major environmental threats is the least rate of degradation or non-biodegradability of the organic materials under natural condition, e.g. plastics. the plastics of various forms such as nylon, polycarbonate, polyethyleneterephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene, polytetraflouro ethylene, polyurethane and polyvinyl are continuously used in our day-to-day life. plastic materials are commonly used in food, clothing, shelter, transportation, construction, medical and recreation industries worldwide. being sturdy and durable, they resist biodegradation. the very slow decomposition process contributes to pollution (kathiresan, 2003). plastic grocery bags can clog sewer pipes, create stagnant water, an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes which have the potential to spread diseases (edugreen, 2005; environmental literacy council, 2005; irin, 2005a; irin, 2005b). degradable plastics are plastics designed to undergo a change in their chemical structure under specific environmental conditions resulting to a loss of some properties in a period of time (gemini, tennakoon, weerasekara, & nandasena, 2006). oxo-biodegradable plastic is polyolefin plastic, a stable polymer consisting of long chains of ethylene monomers or polyethylene (pe) to which has been added amounts of metal salts to speed up the natural degradation process. the degradation process is shortened from hundreds of years to years and/ or months of degradation. with the use of these degradable plastics, pollution may be minimized since it can be degraded in a short period of time. environmental degradation of polyethylene (pe) is a combined action of light, heat and microbial activity. scientists recognize that pe cannot be easily degraded by microorganisms. to hasten biodegradation, pe is blended with starch and then added biodegradable additives and photo-initiators. despite attempts to enhance the biodegradation of pe mixtures, their biodegradability is 78 jpair multidisciplinary research still very low (tokiwa, calabia, ugwu, & aiba, 2009). in recent years, there has been renewed interest in the degradation of plastics by bacteria and fungi. some microorganism such as bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes are involved in the degradation of both natural and synthetic plastics. most of these microbes naturally thrive in soil. the biodegradation of plastics proceeds actively under different soil conditions according to their properties, because the microorganism responsible for the degradation differs from each other and they have their own ideal growth conditions (gemini, et al., 2006). wool and cole (1991) believe that “the natural environment, whether in laboratory or field tests, with solid or aquatic system, must favor the degradation of readily decayed natural materials such as carbohydrates, lipids and proteins.” this study was conceptualized in search of cheap alternatives to commercial mineral enriched media for isolating plastic-degrading bacteria. also, this study established baseline data for future research on biodegrading bacteria in mangrove soil. objectives of the study the study was conducted to assess the suitability of an improvised enriched medium for the isolation of plastic-degrading bacteria from mangrove soil obtained from silonay mangrove reserve, calapan city. specifically, this study was conducted to: 1) isolate plastic-degrading bacteria from mangrove soil using winogradsky columns and to a) describe the colony characteristics of plasticdegrading bacteria isolated from the winogradsky column using the 2 growth media; b) determine the staining and morphological characteristics of various plastic-degrading bacteria isolated from the winogradsky column using the 2 growth media; and c) establish the identity of the isolated plastic-degrading bacteria based on its biochemical properties; 2. determine the rate of plastic degradation of the 2 growth media (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium) from mangrove soil; and 3) determine the incubation period with the highest rate of plastic degradation of the 2 growth media (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium) from mangrove soil. methodology a two by seven (2 x 7) factorial experiment in completely randomized design (crd) was used in this study. factor a was the growth media while 79 international peer reviewed journal factor b was the incubation period. each treatment was replicated three times. the different treatment combination is presented in table 1 while the treatments assignments are as follows: factor a – growth media a1 – mineral salt water a2 – seawater factor b – incubation period b1 – 3 days after incubation b2 – 6 days after incubation b3 – 12 days after incubation b4 – 18 days after incubation b5 – 24 days after incubation b6 – 30 days after incubation b7 – 36 days after incubation table 1. treatment combinations which were used in the conduct of the study growth media(a) incubation period (b) b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 a1 a1b1 a1b2 a1b3 a1b4 a1b5 a1b6 a1b7 a2 a2b1 a2b2 a2b3 a2b4 a2b5 a2b6 a2b7 legend: a1b1 – mineral salt with pe incubated for 3 days; a1b2 mineral salt with pe incubated for 6 days; a1b3 mineral salt with pe incubated for 12 days; a1b4 mineral salt with pe incubated for 18 days; a1b5 mineral salt with pe incubated for 24 days; a1b6 mineral salt with pe incubated for 30 days ; a1b7 mineral salt with pe incubated for 36 days ; a2b1 – sea water with pe incubated for 3 days; a2b2 sea water with pe incubated for 6 days; a2b3 sea water with pe incubated for 12 days; a2b4 sea water with pe incubated for 18 days; a2b4 sea water with pe incubated for 24 days; a2b4 sea water with pe incubated for 30 days; a2b4 sea water with pe incubated for 36 days. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research preparation of winogradsky columns soil samples and seawater from silonay mangrove reserve in calapan city, oriental mindoro were collected in a plastic bucket. fortytwo glass (42) containers were dried after washing with soap and water. to prepare the winogradsky columns, each glass container was filled with mangrove soil up to 2/3 level. forty-two (42) were labelled according to treatment combination. seawater (200ml) was then added to each glass container labeled for a2. mineral salt medium (200ml) was also added to each glass containers assigned for a1. to prepare a carbon-less mineral salt solution (enriched medium) for growing plastic-degrading bacteria, magnesium sulfate (1.25ml), calcium sulfate (0.2grams), ammonium sulfate (1gram) and ferric chloride (1.8ml) were mixed in 250ml distilled water in a plastic soda bottle. the ph of the solution was then adjusted to ph 6.8 to 7.2 by stepwise addition of 0.1n sodium hydroxide guided by a ph meter. finally, 250ml of the final solution was added to glass containers assigned for a1. preparation of polyethylene (pe) plastic samples in preparing the plastic samples, forty-two (42) 6cm x 6cm samples were cut out from used grocery or sando bags (oxo-biodegradable plastics). each sample was placed in the 42 glass containers. using a digital precision scale, initial dry weights were obtained and recorded. wire loops were prepared to serve as plungers to keep the samples immersed in the liquid portion of the winogradsky columns. plastic samples were immersed in the liquid portion of the appropriate winogradsky column using the insulated wire loops. the columns were stored in a cool, dry, partially lit area for thirty-six days (36 days). after the incubation period, the plastic samples were retrieved, washed and air dried. final weights were obtained using digital precision scale. the seventh plastic sample in each replicated media sample was transferred to a sterile tube and brought to the bacteriology lab for further studies. table 2. chemicals used for preparing the improvised mineral salt medium chemicals chemical formula description concentration amount/ volume magnesium sulfate mgso4 clear liquid 200 mg per ml = 2.5g per 10 ml 1.25 ml calcium sulfate caso4 white crystalline powder -0.02 gram 81 international peer reviewed journal ammonium sulfate (nh4)2so4 off-white powder -1 gram ferric chloride fecl 3 brown-black liquid 0.028 mg per ml 1.8 ml sodium hydroxide naoh solid, whitish pellets 0.1 milliequivalents per liter 4 grams hydrochloric acid hcl clear, colorless liquid 0.1 milliequivalents per liter 968 ml distilled water, add 32 ml of muriatic acid precautions: label properly. keep out of reach of children. store in a cool, dry place. preparation of acid or base solutions must be performed by a knowledgeable adult. to avoid risk of violent chemical reactions, do not add or pour water directly to acids or bases nor mix acids and bases directly. when accidentally placed in contact with skin and eyes, wash with copious amounts of water. see a physician immediately. purpose of naoh for preparing a carbon-less mineral salt solution for growing plastic-degrading bacteria; purpose of hcl for adjusting the ph of the enriched medium to achieve ph 7.0±0.2 isolation and identification of plastic-degrading bacteria one hundred milliliters (100 ml) of mineral salt medium was sterilized in an autoclave at 15psi for 20 minutes. using sterile scissors, a 1cmx1cm –piece was cut from the plastic sample, inoculated in the medium and then incubated at 37 0c for 2 days.  after the incubation period, small amounts of liquid portion of the inoculum were swabbed onto blood agar plate (bap) and macconkey plates.   the swabbed plates were incubated at 37 0c for 2 days.   after the incubation period, the colony morphologies were observed. grams staining of the isolates were performed.  the isolates were then subjected to biochemical tests to establish the identity of microorganisms.    all observations were recorded. data gathering procedure descriptive-quantitative was used in the study. the data were gathered through combined description and quantification of bacteria inoculated and isolated as well as the rate of plastic degradation using the two growth media which were clearly discuss as follows. 1. description of the bacteria inoculated/isolated by identifying and categorizing different bacterial colonies based on varied appearance and morphology (form and structure). a. colony shape and size round, irregular, punctiform (tiny) b. margin edge entire (smooth), undulate (wavy), lobate (lobed) 82 jpair multidisciplinary research c. elevation convex, flat, raised d. color color + opaque, translucent, shiny or dull e. texture moist or dry (rough) 2. rate of plastic degradation (%) using the 2 growth media (mineral salts water and seawater) per incubation period. weighing of each plastic film was done in each incubation to compute for the rate of degradation. the degradation rates of each plastic were computed using the formula derived from the research done by ángeles-lópez, gutiérrezmayen, velasco-pérez, beltrán-villavicencio, vázquez-morillas, and canoblanco, (2011). the average degradation was determined and pictures were taken for documentation. in addition, a graph for the rate of plastic degradation was done to determine the highest degradation rate of biodegradable plastic. the data that were collected, organized, encoded, and analyzed using glm procedure of the analysis of variance (anova) of the two (2) factor factorial in completely randomized design (crd). mean comparison for the significant differences among treatment combination was further analyzed using the duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) at 1% and 5% level of significance. results and discussion isolation of plastic-degrading bacteria from mangrove soil using winogradsky columns a. citrobacter fruendii it is a gram-negative bacterium which is a straight rod, occurring both singly and in pairs. it has approximately one (1) micrometer in diameter and 2.0 – 6.0 micrometers in length. it is usually motile by the presence of peritrichous flagella. citrobacter spp. grow readily on ordinary media. at 24 hours, colonies on nutrient agar are generally 2-4 millimeters in diameter, smooth, low, convex and moist. they usually appear translucent or opaque and gray with a shiny surface and an entire edge. mucoid or rough strains may occur occasionally. colonies which slowly ferment lactose can resemble salmonella colonies on enteric media. 83 international peer reviewed journal c. freundii is responsible for reducing nitrate to nitric oxide to nitrogen gas in the environment. this conversion is an important and crucial stage in the nitrogen cycle and also help in recycling of nitrogen. citrobacter freundii has also been investigated for biodegradation of tannic acid which is usually present in the water tends to coat anything else that is placed in the water, metals, plastics, or even viruses. thus, it helps in degrading some layers of plastics (yirka, 2013). table 3. macroscopic appearance of citrobacter fruendii criteria characteristics gram stains: gram-negative. morphology: straight rods, occurring singly and in pairs. size: 1 micrometer in diameter by 2.0-6.0 micrometers in length. motility: motile capsules: none. spores: none. b. enterobacter agglomerans it is a gram-negative bacteria and approximately 0.6-1.0 micrometers in diameter and 1.2-3.0 micrometers in length. in general, the strains from environmental sources grow better at 20-30 0c, whereas strains from clinical sources grow better at 37 0c. colonial morphology differs greatly among  enterobacter  spp. ranging from smooth, irregularly round to rough “cauliflower” type colonies. enterobacter has a wide range of applications, from aiding in plant growth to degrading polyethylene. it has the ability to degrade polyethylene which is the most common plastic and has long been classified as one of the main pollutants of the planet and found in the gut of worms dubbed plastic-eating worms (j. yang, y. yang, wu, zhao & jiang, 2014). this bacterium is the main contributor to the ability of these worms to break down polyethylene. research in this particular area has been limited, but could offer a solution to the growing problem of increased plastic deposition on the planet. enterobacter also works alongside with other bacteria in the gut of these worms to break down the plastic, similar to the gut bacteria found in humans. this discovery offers another benefit of enterobacter which can help to limit the expansion of plastic waste in the future. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. macroscopic appearance of enterobacter agglomerans criteria characteristics gram stains: gram-negative. morphology: straight rods size: diameter of 0.6-1.0 micrometers length of 1.2-3.0 micrometers motility: some are motile by four to six peritrichous flagella. spores: none. c. pseudomonas spp. this kind of bacteria is a gram-negative which is straight or slightly curved rods, but is not helical. its size is 0.5-1.0 micrometers in diameter and 1.5-5.0 micrometers in length. some colonies produce water-soluble pigment pyoverdin or pyocyanin that fluoresce white to beige under uv light. other non-flourescent soluble and insoluble, pigments exist. they do not produce prosthecae and are not surrounded by sheaths. nanda, sahu, and abraham (2010) reported that pseudomonas spp. are predominant in nature and are often found to survive in nutrient deficient ecosystems with their versatile metabolism. hence, they would be able to utilize polyethylene amended in the nutrient medium as carbon and energy source when basal nutrients in the medium are exhausted. in addition, kathiresan (2003) also reported that pseudomonas spp. degraded the plastic up to 8.16% and 20.5% of degradation was observed anaerobically.  table 5. macroscopic appearance of pseudomonas spp. criteria characteristics gram stains: gram-negative morphology: straight or slightly curved rods, but not helical. size: diameter of 0.5-1.0 micrometers length of 1.5-5.0 micrometers. motility: almost all are motile but some are non-motile. capsules: none. spores: none. based on the results of the grams staining, colony morphology and biochemical tests, the microorganism identified and isolated from the improvised nutrient winogradsky column (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium) 85 international peer reviewed journal was citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp. these results can be associated that mangrove soil can be used as medium for plastic degradation. this result conforms to the findings of kathiresan (2003) and kathiresan and bingham (2001) who mentioned and discussed that mangrove soil is known to be a rich source of plastic biodegrading bacteria. the use of growth media in mangrove soil gives the opportunity to isolate and culture them in the laboratory. the results of the present study may open opportunities for future work in the field of biotechnology. with the limitations in the availability of expensive materials, local home-made version can be an attractive option in exploring the potential use of citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp. as plastic degrading agent. in addition, it may now be possible to propagate biodegrading strains of the said bacteria in the laboratory particularly the possible genetic engineering of citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp and other bacteria that specifically degrade plastics. rate of plastic degradation in the 2 growth media (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium) from mangrove soil a. plastic weight as influenced by type of medium plastic weight prior to the incubation was determined to facilitate the easy determination of the plastic degradability rate in each incubation period. in addition results of the analysis were also presented in table 4 and table 5. results revealed that the plastic weight before incubating the plastic in the two media are comparable (p>0.05). likewise, the weight of the plastics after 36 days of incubation was also recorded and found out that the growth medium did not significantly (p>0.05) affect the final plastics weight (table 4 and table 6) after incubation. this result implies that since the incubated and isolated bacteria in the two test media were found to be similar, then it can be deduced that both medium has the ability to degrade some layers of the plastic used in the study (i.e. due to the decrease in plastic weight after incubation). however, though similar, the lower plastic weight of samples using mineral salt medium (i.e. improvised nutrient medium) after incubation cannot be taken for granted. results can be associated with the fact that the biodegradation of plastics continues actively under different soil conditions according to their properties, because the microorganism responsible for the degradation differs 86 jpair multidisciplinary research from each other and they have their own ideal growth conditions (gemini et al., 2006) that indeed affects the plastic degradability using the two test medium. table 6. plastic weight (mg) as affected by two (2) growth media medium plastic weight before incubation plastic weight after incubation mineral salt medium 51.048a 44.667a sea salt medium 51.905a 47.524a legend: means within column with the same superscript are comparable (p>0.05). table 7. anova for plastic weight before incubation source of variation df ss ms f value pr>f model 14 923.809524 65.986395 1.21ns 0.3206 media 1 85.7142857 85.7142857 1.58 ns 0.2198 time 6 257.1428571 42.8571429 0.79 ns 0.5864 media*time 6 580.9523810 96.8253968 1.78 ns 0.1405 error 27 1466.666667 54.320988 corrected total 41 2390.476190 table 8. anova for plastic weight after incubation source of variation df ss ms f value pr>f model 14 1646.511905 117.607993 2.61* 0.0158 media 1 85.714286 85.714286 1.90ns 0.1792 time 6 1007.619048 167.936508 3.73** 0.0079 media*time 6 550.285714 91.714286 2.03ns 0.0955 error 27 1217.107143 45.072042 corrected total 41 2863.619048 b. plastic weight as influenced by incubation period the plastic weight in each incubation period was also determined and analyzed and was presented in table 9. results revealed that the plastic weight at incubation period of 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 days has significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to the weight of plastics incubated at 30 and 36 days (table 10). these results suggest that the incubation period can be correlated to the plastic weight wherein the longer the incubation period resulted to the increase in the degradability of the plastic material, thus reduces the final weight. 87 international peer reviewed journal these findings are in line with the findings of orhan, hrenović, and büyükgüngör (2004) who reported that incubation period indeed plays a vital role in the degradability rate of different plastic materials. in addition, gemini et al., (2006); kathiresan (2003); and kathiresan and bingham (2001) also discussed the mechanisms which play significant role in the degradability of plastic materials such as physical damage due to the microorganisms and the biochemical effects from the extracellular materials produced by the microbial activity. moreover, the rate of degradation is also affected by environmental factors such as moisture, temperature and biological activity (orhan et al., 2004). table 9. plastic weight (mg) as affected by different incubation period incubation period mean 3 days 51.667a 6 days 50.000a 12 days 51.500a 18 days 45.500ab 24 days 45.333ab 30 days 39.500b 36 days 39.167b legend: means within column with different superscript are significantly different (p>0.01). table 10. plastic weight as affected by different incubation period winogradsky column incubation period (days) weight in milligrams replication 1 replication 2 replication 3 initial final intial final intial final mineral salt water (a1) 3 50 50 50 50 60 60 6 40 40 40 40 50 50 12 70 66 60 56 50 47 18 50 46 60 54 50 46 24 60 53 50 44 60 53 30 50 43 40 34 50 43 36 50 42 50 40 50 41 88 jpair multidisciplinary research salt water medium (a2) 3 60 60 40 40 50 50 6 60 60 50 50 60 60 12 60 56 40 37 50 47 18 50 46 40 36 50 45 24 50 44 50 44 40 34 30 40 34 50 42 50 41 36 40 33 40 32 60 47 incubation period with the highest rate of plastic degradation of the 2 growth media (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium) from mangrove soil. the incubation period with the highest rate of plastic degradation of the two growth media from mangrove soil was shown in table 11. result shows that the highest degradation rate in percentage was recorded at 12 days of incubation period regardless of growth media. in mineral salt medium, the highest rate of plastic degradation is 30.55%, while in sea salt medium, the highest rate of plastic degradation is 27.78%. these results suggest that in the 12th day of incubation period, the growth of bacteria increases and, therefore, their activity on degradation increases. as the period of incubation increases, the growth rate of bacteria slows down, therefore, the rate of degradation decreases since some composition of plastics like waxes, lignin, phthalates, bisphenol a, polyphenols, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, tetrabromobisphenol a and other lowly digestible components takes time to degrade (talsness, andrade, kuriyama, taylor, & vom saal, 2009). in addition, from the four popular ways as discussed by several researchers (gemini et al., 2006; orhan et al., 2004; albertsson, andersson, s. o., & kalsson, 1986) where plastic may be degraded (i.e. chemical, thermal-, photo-, and bio-degradation), biodegradation using different bacterial growth media was tested to be the most effective strategy to degrade different components of plastics and was also proven in previous studies conducted. with these results, the dissemination of this information to different localities that have immediate access along seashore with available mangrove soil (i.e. that was proven to contain different bacteria that helps degrade plastics) can possibly improve its utilization as bacterial growth medium to fasten the degradability of plastic and to reduce water and air pollution in the province. 89 international peer reviewed journal table 11. degradability rate (%) of plastic from the 2 growth media at the different incubation period degradability rate (%) incubation period (days) mineral salt medium sea salt medium 12 30.55 27.78 18 27.78 27.22 24 25.92 25.96 30 24.99 25.56 36 22.22 24.07 conclusions the isolated bacteria found in the growth media were native to the site of plastics disposal and showed a considerable rate of degradability under natural conditions, yet they also displayed biodegradation in laboratory conditions on synthetic media (i.e. mineral salt medium and sea salt medium). this result provides opportunities that these microbes can be used in both natural and artificial conditions for the degradation of the plastic material. the growth media did not significantly affect the weight of plastic before and after incubation. on the contrary, the period of incubation greatly affects the degradation process of the plastic material. the highest rate of degradation was observed at 12 days of incubation period and found out that as the incubation period increases, the growth rate of bacteria slows down, therefore, the rate of degradation decreases. the bacteria citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp. that are found in the mangrove soil are best grown on the mineral salt medium than sea salt medium. in addition, it may now be possible to propagate biodegrading strains of the said bacteria in the laboratory particularly, the possible genetic engineering of citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp and other bacteria that specifically degrade plastics. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated into various media of communication for information dissemination, if not, further awareness campaign. further studies can be done on the effect of biodegrading bacteria 90 jpair multidisciplinary research present in the mangrove soil in terms of how fast the degradation rate of specific bacteria. comparison of the different mangrove soils found in the different area of calapan city that may help future studies in determining the best biodegrading bacteria that might be grown synthetically to aid in the plastic and air pollution in the province. lastly, further studies can be done on the effects of the life span, growth and activity of the bacteria citrobacter fruendii, enterobacter agglomerans, pseudomonas aeruginosa and arizona spp. which can be found in mangrove soil in terms of the degradation rate of plastics. literature cited albertsson, a. c., andersson, s. o., & karlsson, s. 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(2014). evidence of polyethylene biodegradation by bacterial strains from the guts of plasticeating waxworms.  environmental science & technology,  48(23), 1377613784. doi: 10.1021/es504038a yirka, t. (2013). the disadvantages of dehydrated foods. demand media, inc. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2 c5&q=yirka%2c+t.+%282013%29+the+disadvantages+of+dehydrated +foods&btng= https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=yirka%2c+t.+%282013%29+the+disadvantages+of+dehydrated+foods&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=yirka%2c+t.+%282013%29+the+disadvantages+of+dehydrated+foods&btng https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=yirka%2c+t.+%282013%29+the+disadvantages+of+dehydrated+foods&btng 52 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 bicol college property management system for bachelor of science in hospitality management students: mock hotel operation joan f. pavia http://orcid.org/0009-0005-4118-703x jfpavia28@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines kervey mar jush bonilla http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4587-3289 kervbonilla@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines wilken john b. cordovilla http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1011-4138 wjcordovilla@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines john reysel n. pama eselpama@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9389-256x bicol college daraga, albay, philippines ceejee l. baula http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6271-1946 baula33@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.820 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:jfpavia28@gmail.com 53 international peer reviewed journal eugene o bermejo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5626-6161 eobermejo80@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract bicol college hospitality management department uses third-party software to assess students through the practical exam. using third-party software makes it difficult for the hospitality management department in terms of flexibility, availability, and scheduling. this study is for bicol college property management system for bachelor of science in hospitality management students: mock hotel operation aimed to answer this problem. it has the ability to perform different automated processes of how a hotel is being managed, similar to the third-party software they are using. however, a lot more features have been added, like the technology of radio frequency identification (rfid). the four phases of rapid application development (rad) helped the researchers to gather enough information to conduct this study successfully. the collection of data focused on three categories: overall design, functionality, and user friendliness. to test the developed system, the researchers conducted a demonstration, beta testing, and distributed questionnaires with the participants based on a quantitative method. the researchers received positive feedback from the participants. in conclusion, the researchers met and filled the gaps in this study. they had also proven that they successfully met their general and specific objectives. keywords — science and technology, property management system (pms), mock hotel operation, hospitality management, quantitative, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/ mailto:eobermejo80@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 54 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 introduction the history of the hotel industry goes back to ancient times; a  hotel  is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. the hotel industry is an important part of the broader service economy, as it caters to consumers that require overnight lodging. although there are significant variances in scope, it is strongly related to the travel and hospitality industries(hollander, 2022). in germany and europe, gasthofzumrotenbärenis the oldest documented hotel. the hotel’s foundations stretch back to 1120 when the house of zähringen dukes founded the town of freiburg. the hotel is germany’s oldest guesthouse in the beautiful area between the schwabentor (swabian gate) and the cathedral in freiburg’s old town(gasthofzumrotenbären,n.d.). in asia, nishiyamaonsenkeiunkan is a japanese hot spring hotel in hayakawa, yamanashi prefecture. the hotel was originally founded in 705 ad by fujiwara mahito. in 2011, the hotel was named the world’s oldest hotel by the guinness book of world records. the keiunkan is located at the base of the akaishi mountains in central honshū, japan. for over 1,300 years, it has been operated by fifty-two generations of the same family (hospitalitynet, 2016). in the philippines, the manila hotel is a historic five-star hotel with 550 rooms located along manila bay in manila, philippines. the hotel is the country’s oldest premier hotel, founded in 1909along with malacañang palace, the official residence of the president of the philippines, and opened on july 4, 1912, to commemorate american independence (the manila hotel story, 2021). over the last decade, computer technology has played a significant role in the tourism and hospitality industry. technology has assisted in lowering costs, increasing operational efficiency, and improving services and customer experience. improved communication, reservation, and guest service systems can benefit customers and businesses. the internet has had a significant impact on the tourism and hospitality industry. this includes looking at pictures and reading reviews from previous visitors. it is essential for a company to effectively use online advertising, social networking sites, blogs, and online purchasing to help its guests. the use of technology in the tourism and hospitality industry has sped up operations and made travel more enjoyable as well as efficient. technology can benefit not only large chain hotels but also the other smaller businesses in the industry(entre technology services, 2018). the first property management systems for the hospitality industry were introduced to the market in the early 1980s. nowadays, it has evolved into a comprehensive software application critical in hotels for achieving goals such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lodging 55 international peer reviewed journal coordinating front-office operational functions, sales and planning, and reporting. hotel operations such as guest bookings, guest information, reservations, room management, point of sale, accounts receivable, sales and marketing, human resource, maintenance, and quality management are all automated by the system(hospitalitynet, 2003). hospitality management is a significant course/program for students who aspire to be competitive hoteliers. bicol college in daragaalbay offers this bachelor’s course to its students. the bicol college hospitality department has many different approaches in terms of educating students. one of these approaches is how they assess the student’s in their practical exam. the department uses software where the students perform on how to effectively use the software. however, hospitality management uses the software only for trials. it is third-party software that they avail in a certain. with this challenge in mind, what if hospitality management has software where its students can perform and practice their hands-on skills without risks like exposing valuable data such as; student personal information and staffs information? the researcher aims to develop a functioning system that will be used to evaluate and assess the thirdyear students taking the bachelor of science in hospitality management at bicol college daraga, albay. enhance their raw skills and for them to engage in a new way of utilizing technology in their studies. utilizing technology in the student’s studies will give them a better experience and hands-on practical practices in this specific course/program. framework the researchers chose to develop a system that will serve as a learning material for the students of the hospitality management department of bicol college. the developed system will be put to good use within the institution as a new teaching and learning method. the researchers determined the variables necessary during the study in order to create a favorable system for the hospitality management department. then, the researchers conducted meetings, interviews, and surveys to gather input from the faculty and the students. as a result, the researchers aim to design and develop a hotel property management system for the bicol college hospitality management department. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 figure 1. input-process-output model the major components of the study’s conceptual framework are presented in the input-process-output model. objectives of the study this study aimed to design and develop a property management system: mock hotel operation for third-year students of the hospitality management department enrolled in the bachelor of science in hospitality management course/program. the system accepts data from the user to explore the system. this system generates reports and prints them as results. this study was integrated with rfid technology, and limited information can be stored in rfid cards. users are categorized depending on their respective position as hoteliers. its specific objectives include the following: create a registration system for guests of a mock hotel with rfid integration, design a registration process for check-in and check-out, create a billing system for the guest/client, and generate a printable guest folio and billing. 57 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the researchers chose the quantitative method for collecting data in this study. quantitativeresearch involves the collection of numerical data that can be ranked, measured, or classified using statistical methods. it aids in the identification of patterns or connections, as well as the formulation of generalizations. this type of research is useful for determining the quantity, amount, frequency, or scope of something. this approach helped the researcher to determine the perspective of the target participants. research respondents the researchers coordinated with the hospitality management department of bicol college and asked for their help in this study. the program chair, mrs. meryjoy p. mesa, and the researchers decided that the target participants in the study will be third-year college students enrolled in the bachelor of science in hospitality management at bicol college, daragaalbay only. table 1. computation for number of respondents using stratified sampling female respondents = (bshm 3rd year female student population x = 60%) 80% = (25 x .60). 80 = (15) .80 = 12 bshm 3rd year female students male respondents = male student population x 40%)80% = (19 x .40) .80 = (7.6) .80 = 6.08 or 6 bshm 3rd year male students total respondents = female respondents + male respondents = 12 bshm 3rd year female students + 6 bshm 3rd year male students = 18 bshm 3rd year students requirements planning the researchers conducted a meeting with the program chairwoman of hospitality management to discuss the current difficulties of not having their own property management system, which is primarily used by third-year students as a learning material in hotel management. the researchers planned and identified the requirements for the research study after the meeting. in 58 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 finalization, the researchers asked for approval from the program chairwoman, research professor, and research adviser to conduct the study with the aim of solving the problem. user design the components of user design are divided into three parts, namely, prototyping, refinement, and testing. the researchers developed and sent a prototype to the participants for testing and feedback. the feedback is then collected to make the necessary changes and refinements. the complete cooperation of the hospitality management faculty and students is needed to fix errors during the development. construction after addressing the problems and making the needed changes during the user design phase, the researchers that develop the system work together with the participants to make sure everything is working as intended without errors and to come across that will satisfy and meet the hospitality management faculty and students’ expectation and the research objectives. cutover in this phase, the researchers finalized their developed system for implementation. it comes with a demonstration, beta testing, trial and error, and a user guide. the researchers coordinated with the hospitality management department for this phase to happen. instrumentation the researchers aimed to determine the perception of the respondent’s based on the overall design, functionality, and user friendliness of the system. the researchers distributed a questionnaire that is answerable by strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree after the beta test of the system. the researchers chose rapid application development (rad) because of its advantages. the key benefit of a rad approach is fast project turnaround, making it an attractive choice for the researchers to work in a fast-paced environment in developing the system of this study. this rapid pace is made possible by rad’s focus on minimizing the planning stage and maximizing prototype development. 59 international peer reviewed journal demonstration the researchers set up a schedule where they can demonstrate the system that they have developed. the researchers coordinated with the third-year students of hospitality management to participate in the demonstration. during the demonstration, the researchers provided the participants with a copy of the user manual for their guidelines for using the system. the researchers also set up a google meeting to present a tutorial to the participants online. data collection after the beta test, the researchers created a google form where they uploaded the survey questionnaires. the questionnaires are divided into three categories: overall design, functionality, and user friendliness. each category consists of questions with a 5-point likert scale response. the aim was to determine the respondent’s perception based on the categories above. the participants were given two hours to fill in the survey anonymously. the survey was conducted online on may 5, 2022, starting at 3 pm to 5 pm. ethics consideration in regard to their involvement in this study, the participants will not be subjected to harm in any way. prior to the study, permission was requested for the respondents to answer the questionnaire. in addition, the protection of privacy was assured, and the response would be treated with confidentiality. results and discussion the researchers conducted a beta test to check whether the system would pass the standards of the users and meet its objectives. the aim was to determine the perception of the participants in terms of using the developed system. they had sessions of beta testing. first, they created a video tutorial. second, they set up a meeting with the participants to demonstrate the system in person. third, the participants themselves tested and used the system. with this approach, the researchers would know if the system has any problems. they collected their data through google forms online. the researchers developed a web-based program. the users enthusiastically tried out the system and were amazed by its functionalities. several users asked for an in-depth explanation of the system’s function during the exploration of the system. after the system was completely tested, the researchers provided a 60 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 questionnaire (24) about the overall design, functionality, and user friendliness. the questions were carefully organized to cover the entire system. the beta testing of the system was successful as its overall functionality and design satisfied the target users with a full understanding of the study’s main objectives. questions contained in the questionnaire are (24). researchers have confidence that user satisfaction with the system is the best answer in demonstrating the system. the interviewees tested and reviewed the whole system. the survey mainly focused on the overall design, functionality, and userfriendliness of the system. the results were calculated and given a detailed interpretation using a 5-point scale. the researchers can easily determine whether they achieve their objectives in the system by dividing the categories into three parts. the first category in the questionnaire is about the overall design of the system that discusses the components and the interface. the overall design focuses on layout, user interface, and other visual imagery to make the website more aesthetically appealing and user-friendly. the overall mean is 4.48, which means the overall design is “agree”; infunctionality,the category analyzes the performance of the system, and the overall mean is 4.07, “agree”; in user-friendliness is about how easy the users are able to operate the system with an overall mean of 4.47 which is “agree.” this indicates that all of the respondents are satisfied with the overall performance of the system. technology has been commonly used for almost everything in today’s time. numerous research findings highlight that utilizing technology in work, business, and studies has became an advantage. the automated process became more efficient compared to a manual process. the use of a property management system (pms) is critical to the success of a hotel. a system that simplifies front desk workflows will result in a more seamless guest experience. according to abukhalifeh and pratt (2022), hotel property management system is defined as a collection of application programs that directly relate to hotel front and back-office activities, such as revenue management, reservation management, room and rate assignment, check-in and out control, guest accounting, folio management, account settlement, and room status management. this study focused on developing a hotel property management system with functionalities similar to a five-star hotel. according to them, data availability and accessibility are vital for people working in the hospitality business.the aim of the journal, composed by priyadharshiniand catherine joy(2021), is to cover all procedures that take place in residential hotels. this implemented application 61 international peer reviewed journal covered all the operations from personnel management to booking, floors, offices, and room type management. this study aimed to illustrate how data/information is handled in hotels.the impact of mobile hotel reservation system on continuous intention to use in jordan is an article first published online on february 23, 2020, by sufiankhwaldeh attempts to fill this gap by investigating the relationships between several technology-organization-environment variables at aqaba fivestar hotels in jordan, specifically relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, top management support, firm size, technology competence, competitive pressure, critical mass, information intensity, age, gender, educational level, personal income, and work position in enhancing perceived usefulness, and the latter on a continuous basis. trinidad (2020) explains the bsc in hospitality management program of host training establishments in the national capital region” was designed to give students a chance to supplement their academic education with practical knowledge, capabilities, and desired attitudes while receiving hands-on experience at recognized host training establishments. this study was conducted within the premises of the polytechnic university of the philippines. the objectives of this study are to identify the implementation student internship program in the philippines (sipp) in terms of training, obligations/responsibilities, and the training plan of the host training establishment (hte) for the bachelor of science in hospitality management program in the philippines’ national capital region; to evaluate the amount of advancement in the workplace, industry-wide, and industry sector technical abilities as evaluated by student interns, faculty/ sipp coordinators, and hotel internship coordinators.then also, this program is crucial since it allows for the building of history databases when a guest checks out, which can then be utilized as a valuable marketing tool. according to benckendorffet al. (2019), databases may be utilized for research and marketing. koh and hassim (2021) designed to develop a hotel reservation management system for hotel time located in johor bahru, malaysia. the hotel currently features hotel information on its blogspot site. without a suitable reservation system, they depended on third-party hotel platform reservations. hotel time is having difficulty due to the lack of its booking system. the hotel earns lower revenues since it must pay a fee to the external booking platform each time a client makes a reservation. habade (2021), conducted at mio university in kenya, focused on investigating the application, information aspects, integration, and staff usability of the property management system on quality service delivery in the rooms 62 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 division of selected hotels in nairobi county, kenya. the study used descriptive and explanatory research designs. the study focused on star-rated (1-5) hotels in nairobi county that had been using pms for at least two years. targeted hotels were stratified based on star ratings, and one hotel was chosen from each layer using simple random sampling techniques. in the study by tunjungsari and arianty (2020), the qualitative exploratory technique, a literature study, and in-depth interviews with four properties are used. since the perspectives employed are from the property’s partners, the effects are typically suitable. however, it is a new trend in the tourist business that should be recognized and leveraged to maximize the chance for partners to increase the quality of the service. furthermore, the property should be high quality, as depicted on the virtual hotel operator website. hossainet al. (2019) cited that a website was developed for travelers and tourism management. the study was conducted at daffodil international university, dhaka, bangladesh. the researcher created this system to build and enhance tourism types that give guests more opportunities to collaborate and widen their understanding of other cultures, habits, lifestyles, traditional knowledge, and beliefs. the main objectives are to help tourism management manage guest reservations and other hotel activities.moraitis (2018) focused on designing and developing a “property management system” software suite for hotels. he conducted this study to identify and create a unique cloud-based property management system, utilizing the most recent accessible technologies and documenting its creation and development processes. the respondents of the said study are hotel buyers. this implemented system has a vital role. through manual workloads into automated processes, hotel stakeholders will encourage to upgrade their strategies. according to maria et al. (2018), it is to analyze the impact of the usage of fidelio opera property management system in transcorp hilton abuja. based on this, researchers developed questions to determine whether the property management system helped the hotel by making available and accessible required data for its daily transactions, thereby improving service delivery for the best services to guests. to carry it out, they adopted the qualitative research questionnaire method to examine if the fidelio property management system aids decision-making at transcorp hilton hotel abuja for competitive advantage. prarthana (2017) focused on automating the old process of manual hotel work. this study benefited the hotel and fulfilled the client’s request; to have a useable and practical management system that includes an online reservation 63 international peer reviewed journal system, a user management system, food and beverage operations, room management system status, check-in and check-out transactions, banquet operations management, and content management system for report generation. the system also allows for control of the data rates, transaction details, and report details. lastly, the effects of computer reservation systems on the operations of travel agencies (felicen&ylagan, 2016). they conducted this study to identify the effect of using a computer reservation system among travel agencies in terms of the technical, human, and financial aspects. the descriptive method of research was used with managers and users/staff of 20 travel agencies as participants of the study. conclusions this research aimed to create a system for bachelor of science in hospitality management students at bicol college, daragaalbay. based on a quantitative analysis of the standard practices in software development, it can be concluded that the observations and coordination with the participants are important factors in designing and developing software. the results came with positive feedback from the participants of the study, indicating that the potential of utilizing technology in the academics of the students has more advantages than disadvantages. technology has advantages and disadvantages in our daily life, using technology, work, study, and business. through the study, the researchers aimed to create a system that can be used as a learning material by the hospitality management department at bicol college. by conducting this study, the researchers gained more knowledge in their perspective program. the researchers had met their general and specific objectives. they can create a registration system for the guest/client with the radio frequency identification (rfid) integration, they have been able to design a registration process for check-in and check-out that is fully functional, they have been able to create a billing system for the guest/client that produces an accurate result, and lastly, they had been able to set the system to generate printable guest folio and billing without any difficulties. the developed system can only be used offline, per the panelist’s suggestion. for future use and implementations, the researchers suggest that the developed system be uploaded online to be flexible to use, whether offline or online, for future researchers that will use this study as a reference. it will be recommended 64 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 by the current researchers to improve the buttons and add functions and features to the system, like adding other departments of a hotel that is not included in this study. this study has been able to help the hospitality management department and hospitality management students. this study gave hospitality management the system to be used in their program. this study also helped them by introducing a new technology which is radio frequency identification (rfid). in conclusion, this study became useful to the following people that had been a part of this journey: researchers, the college of computer studies (ccs) dean, the hospitality management (hm) department, the hospitality management program chair, the research professor, the research adviser, panelist, instrument validator and lastly the hospitality management students. translational research the findings of the study will be a necessity to the hospitality management department and hospitality management students. also, the system’s implementation will provide a better understanding to utilize in their program. eventually, it can be translated as a reference for upcoming studies. literature cited abukhalifeh, a. n., & pratt, t. j. 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(2020). the impact of virtual hotel operator toward local accommodation in denpasar, bali, indonesia. in the 2nd international conference on tourism and entrepreneurship (icte) 2020 (p. 1698). 96 jpair multidisciplinary research personal characteristics and personality-temperament traits and its implications to effective leadership in organizations rowel g. olila http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-7460 rowelolila@gmail.com aurora state college of technology baler, aurora, philippines originality: 100 grammarly: 100 plagiarism: 0 abstract trait leadership theory is an integrated pattern of personal characteristics that reflects a range of individual differences and fosters consistent leader effectiveness across various groups and organizational situations. a leader would lead people following his personality characteristics and traits. this quantitative-correlational research investigated the significant difference in the personal characteristics and personality-temperament traits of the 141 educators from the public and private schools in aurora, philippines. a questionnaire was used to describe the personal characteristics of the respondents. the prevailing traits among the respondents were assessed using a checklist. the research utilized statistical techniques such as frequency count, percentages, and chi-square test. analyzed data revealed that a majority of the educators had a choleric temperament. furthermore, personalitytemperament traits of the educator varied significantly when they were grouped by gender (χ2 = 48.674), age (χ2 = 45.240), civil status (χ2 = 15.047), educational attainment (χ2 = 50.752), and length of service (χ2 = 15.960). thus, the educators are ambitious and leader-like, and that personal characteristics were significant factors in differentiating the respondents’ personality-temperament traits. vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.774 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-7460 mailto:rowelolila@gmail.com 97 international peer reviewed journal keywords — education, personality temperament, chi-square, descriptivecorrelational design, philippines. introduction the challenges of an ever-changing educational landscape have prompted education to operate and respond, as it never did before. the continuous discovery of knowledge in the field of education brought by changing societal conditions required the field of education to respond proactively. technological advancements, changes in educational laws and policies, societal inequality, changing demographics, and the call for commitment and accountability are some of the many factors affecting educational leadership and effectiveness. it becomes necessary for educators to possess the skills, attitude, and dispositions to effectively deal with these challenges and continue to operate despite challenges and adversities. leadership is a moral endeavor since it involves a complicated relationship of control, power, and influence between a leader and subordinates. personality in direction is essential to effect change. personality temperament and traits determine leadership style (easly, 2019). leadership styles vary among individuals. it involves a web of a pattern of personal characteristics that allows individual differences to emerge. leadership styles encourage effectiveness among leaders in various groups and organizations (zacarro, kemp, & bader, 2004). interestingly, temperament and personality are used interchangeably. temperament and personality have evolved—the greeks in describing a person’s character utilized taxonomies. plato focused on anxiety and impulsivity. hippocates and galen used the four elements of empedocles’ doctrine as they try to explain individual characteristics. from these, individual differences based on the four humors (choler, melancholy, phlegm, and blood) (fruehstorfer, 2010). allport (1961) defined temperament as the “characteristics phenomena of an individual’s nature.” it includes emotional stimulation susceptibility, quality of response, and mood. temperament is the “how” of behavior. personality answers the “what” of behavior. but theorists did not distinguish personality from temperament. for them, it means the same thing (eysenck & eysenck, 1991; & gray, 1991). with the mounting pressure of changing educational landscape, educational leaders must recognize that change is adopted to ensure the relevance and responsiveness of education even in these trying times. what defines leadership 98 jpair multidisciplinary research is a leader’s personality temperament (avelino & sanchez, 1996). it is the conglomeration of the overt and covert behavior and a reflection of the inner self. personal characteristics and personality traits predict leadership effectiveness (eagly, karau, & makhijani, 1995; judge, et al., 2002; mumford, campion, & morgeson, 2007). successful leaders vary in styles, strategies, traits, dispositions, and attitudes that remarkably contribute to their leadership effectiveness. an understanding of these predictors can induce effective measures that can help organizations improve their policies, program for teacher hiring, and development) as well as practices leading to institutional effectiveness (derue et al., 2011). the personality is the outcome of the influences of an individual’s experiences, but the genetic endowment determines an individual’s temperament. (rothbart, ahadi, & evans, 2000). regardless of the outcome of these experiences, these adult personalities will gain dominance and a determinant of transformational leadership styles. these eventually lead to customer satisfaction and resource optimization (chang, 2010). leadership and temperament have direct correlations (mumford, zaccaro, harding, fleishman, & reiter-palmon, 1993). extraversion correlates highest with leadership emergence, and this trait—an indication of boldness—has a substantial heritable component (judge, bono, ilies, & gerhardt, 2000). the perception of followers regarding the leadership qualities of another is dependent on the observable characteristics of leaders. personality differences may reflect stable phenotypic or even genotypic variation (dall, houston, & mcnamara, 2004). personality has implications for effective leadership in organizations. character is a component of personality (leonard, 1997). the individual’s personality is a consequence of genetics, self-image, life experiences, attitude, and choices about those experiences, and friends (oni, 2001). on the other hand, temperament influences personal and social development. the research established a strong relationship between school leadership and behavior, teachers’ practices, beliefs, and attitudes. school leadership’s impact is indirect and mitigated through the teachers’ actions (peña-lópez, 2019). personality, intelligence, age, experience, company size, and growth, prevailing culture in the organization, and policies, are some of the many factors involved in holding a managerial position and performing a leadership role. predictors like age, educational background, and job history are also confounding factors (furnham & crump, 2015). 99 international peer reviewed journal this research was conducted based on the identified gaps among existing literature related to the problems identified. this research describes, analyzes, and interprets the personal characteristics and personality-temperament traits of educators in selected private and public educational institutions in the province of aurora. in this research, these are the determining factors of effective leadership in organizations. framework this research is primarily anchored on the leader-trait paradigm and temperament/personality theories. during the first half of the 20th century, there is a dominant notion that individuals possess certain qualities or traits that led to their emergence of leadership positions and their effectiveness as leaders. there was a wide range of literature review made in the past, but all those yielded inconsistent results, resulting in the abandonment by many of this line of leadership research (reichard, riggio, guerin, oliver, gottfried, & gottfried, 2011). further, reichard et al. (2011) claimed that prior theory and research had demonstrated the relationship between personality and transformational leadership. judge and bono (2000) discuss the relationship between character and transformational leadership. extraversion should be positively related to transformational leadership because the latter requires articulation and emotional expressiveness as well as dominance and sociability. furthermore, they demonstrated that due to the empathic nature of the individualized consideration component of transformational leadership, this type of leadership would also be positively associated with agreeableness. judge et al. (2002) found that extraversion and agreeableness confidently predicted transformational leadership, while neuroticism and conscientiousness were unrelated. openness to experience was positively related to transformational leadership. when controlling for other personality predictors, this indicates a weaker relationship. adolescent extraversion is related to adult leadership while controlling for the influence of intelligence (reichard et al. 2011). mann (1959) emphasized that personality traits are used to distinguish leaders from non-leaders. he used the personality variables (intelligence, adjustment, extraversion-introversion, dominance, masculinity-femininity, conservatism, and interpersonal sensitivity. he identifies the relationship of an individual’s personality to his behavior or status in groups. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research goff (2003) identified a set of personal traits using the leadership trait theory. it attempts to explain distinctive characteristics in leader effectiveness. according to him, personality traits, when observed and identified, can associate the potential of a leader. the personality can determine an individual’s leadership traits. practice, training, and experience can help develop these characteristics. according to trait theory, leadership traits are required to an individual as part of his or her personality, and these characteristics can be refined to be a thriving leader in the college and the community. anderson (1991) tries to describe the differences in sex-role traits. based on his findings, there are no significant differences reported between the respondents involved in the study. lahaye (2012) carefully distinguish the differences between the traits (temperament, personality, and character) that influence leadership. the combinations of the traits that are inborn or natural to an individual affect his/her behavior subconsciously. this refers to temperament. character is the real self, the result of one’s natural disposition modified by childhood training like education, and internalization of personal factors that includes underlying attitudes, beliefs, principles, and motivations). the outward expression of self constitutes the individual’s personality, which may or may not be the same as one’s character and depends on how genuine a person is. to summarize, the combination of inborn traits refers to the temperament; character is the “civilized” temperament, and personality is the face one shows to others. la haye emphasizes the role of personal characteristics, especially the sex of an individual. according to him, it also affects temperament, particularly in the realm of emotions. the heart of temperament theory, as first conceived by hippocrates over twenty-four years ago, divides people into four basic categories: sanguine, choleric, melancholy, and phlegmatic. each temperament type has strengths and weaknesses that form a distinct part of his make up throughout life. warm and buoyant, are the distinguishing characteristics of a sanguine, likewise enjoying, and lively. in making decisions, what predominates them are feelings instead of reflections. sanguine can enjoy oneself. through his highspirited conversation, sanguine can lift the spirits of everyone. a fascinating storyteller, warm, emotional nature helps relive the experiences as the sanguine tells it. on the other hand, the distinguishing characteristics of choleric are hot, quick, active, practical, strong-willed, self-sufficient, and very independent. he tends to be decisive and opinionated, finding it easy to make decisions for himself 101 international peer reviewed journal and others. choleric is an extrovert but is not nearly so intense. they thrive on activity. with the choleric’s unfathomable ideas, and ambitions, he stimulates his environment, instead of being stimulated by it. a choleric is capable of making effective decisions in an instant and can plan meaningful projects. with a practical and keen mind, it allows him to work under pressure. never swayed of what others think, but maintains an absolute stand on issues related to social injustice or subversive situation. choleric is not frightened by adversities; in fact, they tend to encourage him. he dodged determination usually allows him to succeed where others have failed. the least developed from among the temperament of the choleric is the emotional nature. he does not easily sympathize nor show compassion. the choleric tends to look at the goal using intuitive appraisal, failing to recognize the eventuality of pitfalls and obstacles along the way. once started, the sanguine can employ tyrannical force, especially among people who stand in his way toward his goal. choleric is the domineering type, bossy, and does not hesitate to use people to accomplish his ends. melancholy, for la haye, is the richest of all temperaments. he is an analytical, self-sacrificing, talented, perfectionist with a compassionate nature. the melancholy enjoys fine arts more than anyone does. he is prone to be a natural introvert. a variety of mood is due to the dominance of feelings among the melancholic. melancholic acts more extroverted during the heights of ecstasy, gloomy, depressed, and withdrawn, and can be quite antagonistic at times. his exceptional analytical ability causes him to diagnose accurately the obstacles and dangers of any project he has a part in planning. the exact opposite of the choleric, who rarely anticipates problems and remains positive that whatever crises may arise, he can easily cope. being calm, cool, slow, and having a well-balanced temperament are the characteristics of the phlegmatic. they avoid involvement, especially happy, unexcited, and pleasant experiences. despite the circumstances around him, phlegmatic remains undisturbed and never seems agitated, no matter what. phlegmatic has a skillful combination of abilities. usually, he avoids violence. he is the type of individual who can have a crowd of people “in stitches,” yet never cracks a smile. he maintains a positive approach to life, possessing the unique capability for seeing something humorous in others and the things they do. he has a good retentive mind and is capable of being an excellent imitator. phlegmatic seldom convey his true feelings. his being competent and efficient will become apparent only when aroused to action. a competent leader, but will never volunteer on his own. a peacemaker that can assuage others. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research interestingly, research on the relationship between traits and leadership is long and complicated (bass & bass, 2008; zaccaro, dubrow, & kolze, 2018). objectives of the study numerous researches were made establishing relationship demographic variables, personality traits, and leadership effectiveness, as well as its implications to the organizational success (khuda bakhsh, hussain & mohsin, 2015; sun youn, 2014; sogunro, 1999; ibukun, oyewole & abe, 2011; bell, rvanniekerk & nel, 2015; abdullah, omar, and rashid, 2013). the research investigated the (1) personal characteristics of the respondents in terms of gender, age, civil status, educational attainment, and length of service, (2) the respondent’s personality temperament and, (3) the relationship between the respondent’s personalitytemperament traits to their profile variables (mumford et al., 2000). methodology research design the questionnaire and the checklist are the primary instruments for gathering data. the study assessed the personal characteristics of educators and their prevailing personality temperament traits. to validate the results of the investigation, the researcher interviewed among its respondents. data gathered were analyzed and interpreted using statistical tools appropriate to the nature and scope of this research. the study may help discover the relationship between personal factors and personality traits that promote leadership, energy, and passion in organizations. the findings of this research can serve as bases for policy formulation, teacher training, hiring policies, and research. participants the research involves educators as participants. they were from the selected educational institutions in the province of aurora, philippines. their positions range from administrators, academic heads, and classroom teachers. one hundred thirty-nine (139) respondents participated in the survey. the participants rated the personality-temperament survey form. 103 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the research used the questionnaire as a vital tool in the gathering of data. the survey contains two parts. to describe the respondents’ characteristics, the first part of the questionnaire gathers information dealing with their profiles. the personal characteristics were identified based on the reviewed literature related to the study. the researcher adopted the personality-temperament traits survey assessment following the four temperaments (lahaye, 1984). to determine the respondents’ scores, only the 3’s, 4’s, & 5’s in each section were added. the 1 or 2 scores are no longer applicable to the overall scoring in each division. the totals were written at the bottom of each appropriate chapter. the part with the highest score is the respondents’ primary temperament, and the second-highest score is their secondary temperament. this study considered the primary personality of educators in the province of aurora, philippines. the questionnaire was pretested. the researcher conducted an unstructured interview to validate the data inputs collected from the survey and identify the implications of the results to the effective leadership in the organization. data collection the questionnaire was pre-tested supplemented by evaluations, comments, and recommendations from the population, which was used as samples to validate and test the reliability of the data gathering instrument. the people who participated in the pre-testing of the survey instrument did not participate in the actual data gathering. the researcher tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted the results to answer the objectives of the study. the research used statistical tools and techniques to ensure the valid and systematic presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data. these tools include frequency and percentage (to describe the relationship of a part to whole), and chi-square test (to determine the relationship of the profile to the respondents’ personality temperaments). 104 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussions data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed. the testing of the hypothesis was set at .05 level of significance. table 1. descriptive summary of the educators’ personality temperament traits personality temperament profile frequency percentage sanguine temperament 11 7.91 choleric temperament 117 84.17 melancholy temperament 11 7.91 total 139 100.00 results revealed the majority of the respondents were female (79.86%), with a mean age of 34.69. the majority of the respondents were married (58.27%), with some units earned in their master’s degree program (80.58%). participants have an average length of service of 9.65 years. the majority of the educators, (117 or 84.17%), had a choleric temperament; (11 or 7.91% had a sanguine temperament); and another 11 or 7.91% had a melancholy character. traits like stress tolerance, emotional stability, and self-confidence proved to be the best predictors of principal effectiveness (bakhsh, hussain & mohsin, 2015) associated with educational and career success to different degrees between countries and genders (sun youn, 2014). further, to ensure synergy that ensures outcomes, both the personality characteristics of both the leader and the led are mutually complementary and instrumental to leadership effectiveness (sogunro, 1999). 105 international peer reviewed journal table 2. chi-square (χ2) test comparison of personality-temperament traits and the profile variables of the respondents profile variables computed t-value d.f. critical value at α .05 verbal interpretation gender 48.674 2 5.991 significant age 45.240 4 9.488 significant civil status 15.047 2 5.991 significant educational attainment 50.752 2 5.991 significant length of service 15.960 6 12.592 significant as per statistical computations, the personality-temperament traits of the respondents significantly varies when it comes to gender (χ2 = 48.674), age (χ2 = 45.240), civil status (χ2 = 15.047), educational attainment (χ2 = 50.752), and length of service (χ2 = 15.960). choleric and sanguine temperaments characterize the male respondents, while choleric and melancholy temperaments characterize the female respondents. the personality-temperament traits of the educator significantly vary with sex. the computed χ2 value of 48.674 was more significant than the critical importance of 5.991 with 2 degrees of freedom. the result was contrary to the findings of ibukun, oyewole, and abe (2011), stating that when it comes to leadership effectiveness, the male and female has no significant difference. educators with higher educational attainment are choleric and sanguine. those with lower educational attainment tended to be choleric and melancholic. choleric temperament is the dominant characteristic among the single educators, while choleric, sanguine, and melancholy temperaments characterize some married educators. as per civil status and educational attainment, a computed χ2 values of 15.047 and 50.752 denote a significant difference since these values were higher than the critical importance of 5.991 with 2 degrees of freedom. choleric and sanguine temperaments characterized the younger educators, while the choleric and melancholy temperaments are more evident among older educators. when grouped by age, the computed χ2 value of 45.240 also denoted a significant difference in the educator’s personality-temperament traits since this was greater than the critical importance of 9.488 with 4 degrees of freedom. age is also substantial in leadership effectiveness (ibukun, oyewole & abe, 2011). 106 jpair multidisciplinary research educators with longer years of experience tended to have a dominant choleric temperament. those who are new in the service are choleric, sanguine, and melancholic. when grouped by length of service, the personality-temperament traits of the educator varied significantly. the computed χ2 value of 15.960 was more significant than the critical importance of 12.592 with degrees of freedom set at 6. that year of experience is vital in determining leadership effectiveness (ibukun, oyewole & abe, 2011). after a careful analysis of data, it was revealed that there is a significant relationship between the respondents’ personality-temperament traits and personal characteristics (khuda bakhsh, hussain, & mohsin, 2015). in differentiating the educators’ personality-temperament characteristics, the personal characteristics (gender, age, civil status, educational attainment, and length of service) were significant factors. effectiveness has a positive and meaningful relationship with gender, age, and education (bell, rvanniekerk, and nel, 2015). personality is a substantial and positive predictor of an employee’s commitment to the organization (abdullah, omar, and rashid 2013). when it comes to its implications to effective leadership in organizations, private institutions dominate the higher education institutions (hei’s) in the philippines. a significant number of publicly funded colleges and universities are also in place. program offerings range from an undergraduate degree, associate/ diploma, and graduate degrees. the period of study ranges from four (4) years, five (5), six (6) years, and eight (8). it varies depending on the nature of the program being pursued. traditionally, the school year begins in june to march, with two semesters in a school year. but with the majority shifting to the new school calendar (august-may), educational leaders continue to respond to the challenges brought by time. among the higher education’s institutions in the province of aurora, only the state college, the aurora state college of technology, shifted to the new school calendar from august-may. all private institutions remain in the old school calendar june-march. the choice between the old and new calendars cannot be used as a measure of flexibility and responsiveness. the commission on higher education gives schools the freedom to decide and choose whatever scheme will work for them. in the province of aurora, private higher education institutions dominate the educational landscape. the mount carmel college-baler, mount carmel colege-casiguran, the wesleyan university-philippines, maria aurora, aurora, and the lyceum of the east-aurora. there is only one state college in the province, the aurora state college of technology. generally, these private higher education 107 international peer reviewed journal institutions offer business, teacher education, criminology, social sciences, and other related disciplines. only the aurora state college of technology offers technology-oriented courses in the field of engineering, information technology, industrial technology, forestry and environmental management, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, hotel and restaurant management, and graduate programs. only the lone state college (ascot) offers a graduate program in education, educational management, public administration, business management, environmental management, and agriculture. some private hei’s offer a graduate program, but merely a collaboration with the mother school. this is to make graduate education accessible to all. all the different hei’s perform the tri-focal functions of instruction, research, and extension. wesleyan university-philippines, maria aurora campus, is one of the best criminology schools in the philippines. it was ranked 29 among the 32 schools in the philippines in 2018, and rank 49 among the 70 schools in the philippines. it was also recognized as a top-performing school in criminology licensure examination in region 3. as for aurora state college of technology, it produced top notchers in the field of education (top 6, september 2016) and in fisheries licensure exam 7th place (october 2017). its bachelor of secondary education was recognized as top 89 among the 2087 schools in the philippines in the 2019 licensure examination for teachers. all its programs with licensure examination continue to perform above the national passing percentage. mount carmel college-baler and casiguran continue to excel in the field of education, with a high passing percentage in the licensure examination conducted every year the same with lyceum university-aurora. conclusions findings revealed that personal characteristics are significant factors in differentiating the respondents’ personality-temperament traits (lee & ohtake, 2012). educators are choleric. as they assume their respective roles in the organization, they are fundamentally ambitious and leader-like-the distinguishing characteristics of individuals with a choleric temperament (olila, 2012). results revealed factors implicative to leadership effectiveness in organizations. higher education institutions perform the tri-focal functions of instruction, research, and extension. the higher education institutions included in this research were recognized in their respective programs. they continue to perform above the national passing percentage in the different licensure examinations 108 jpair multidisciplinary research of their respective courses. the recognition and individual performances in the licensure examinations can be attributed to the effective leadership of educators. their temperaments motivate the organization and everyone to contribute to the organization’s success and excel with the positive implication of temperament to leadership effectiveness, teacher training, the practice of the teaching profession, and hiring policies to be maintained and strengthened. the factors investigated in this study be included in future research related to improving institutional effectiveness in educational institutions. in the process, educators can improve their leadership practices, which can significantly impact their institution’s performance. schools should consider the demographic variables in the formulation of development programs and training and find the personality trait measures along with other valid indicators, as a way to improve teacher-hiring decisions. 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(2018). leader traits and attributes. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3dgsrek http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/51/43023606.pdf http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/51/43023606.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.04.005 https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.122 https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.122 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f107179199900500303 https://bit.ly/3dgsrek 177 international peer reviewed journal antioxidant and antistaphylococcal activity of topical fucoidan gel from sargassum oligocystum montagne richie g. bayuran http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6045-6240 bianrenshi.rb@gmail.com saint gabriel college institutional research and development office aklan, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract brown seaweed is one of the algal species that has been used as food, a source of nutritional supplements, and formulated for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes. this study evaluated the antioxidant and antistaphylococcal activities of topical fucoidan gel (tfg) from sargassum oligocystum. a completely randomized design was used, and the experimental protocol includes extraction, lyophilization, and characterization, quality testing, and biological assay. physicochemical tests suggested that the lyophilized fucoidan is comparable with the properties of pharmaceutical-grade fucoidan. ftir characterization revealed that fucoidan spectra contain the key functional groups, the sulfate groups, and polysaccharide chains. the formulated topical fucoidan gel also conforms to the selected minimum standards conducted for semi-solid preparation. analysis of variance of antioxidant and antistaphylococcal assays showed that there was a significant difference in the median inhibitory concentration (ic50) and inhibitory zone (iz) among treatments at the p<.01 respectively. scheffe vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.731 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 178 jpair multidisciplinary research test confirmed that the ic50 of treatment pairs ascorbic acid (aa) -tgf, aalyophilized fucoidan (lf), and tfg-lf were insignificant, which means they are comparable. consequently, the iz of mupirocin 15ug/ml and tfg 45ug/ml has no significant difference, and it’s inhibitory zones on s. aureus are comparable. thus, the results suggested that lyophilized fucoidan from s. oligocystum is a potential alternative antioxidant and antistaphylococcal agent. keywords – applied science, antioxidant, antistaphylococcal, dpph assay, disc diffusion method, philippines introduction cosmetic is a formulated product intended to be applied topically to the body for the enhancement and restoration of personal appearance. its formulation involves knowledge of the physicochemical properties of active and inactive ingredients that need skills in the manufacturing process considering their delivery system. cosmetic industries employ the formulation of antiaging topical preparations to combat the harmful free radicals that damage the cells. external factors can also lead to the formation of these free radicals like eating of processed foods, exposure to environmental pollutants, and even absorption of hazardous chemical compounds from topical preparations. the human body is capable of producing antioxidant compounds that can combat the harmful effect of these reactive oxygen species (ros), but when this ros outcasts the natural antioxidant of the body, then cellular and metabolic processes are affected. with such, the aging process of the cells becomes rapid than cellular regeneration. antibacterial resistance is recently a major health issue in society. the increase in the rate of antibacterial resistance dominates the rate of recovery from infection and the rate of discovery of new and effective medicines. a skin infection caused by staphylococcus aureus can progress to the formation of furuncles, carbuncles, and skin abscesses. s. aureus is the commonly identified agent responsible for skin and soft tissue infections (mccaig, mcdonald, mandal, & jernigan, 2006).  it invades open wound, and when growth becomes uncontrollable, secondary complications may arise and will enter the systemic circulation that can lead to a serious condition like sepsis. plants, animal tissues, mollusks, and marine species have been used as a source of active compounds in the cosmetic industry. interestingly, seaweed or macro alga is one of the marine species with diverse biological activities and 179 international peer reviewed journal are the rich source of phytochemical compounds with remarkable medicinal potential. (dhargalkar & pereira, 2005). studies suggested that some bioactive compounds isolated from marine organisms had shown to exhibit anti-infective activity against bacteria (ragupathu raja kannan, 2010), virus (rowley et al., 2002) and fungus (arumugam, kannan, arivuselvan, & anantharaman, 2010). likewise, some compounds have cellular activity in killing cancer cells (numata, 1991) and protecting normal cells as an antioxidant (athiperumalsamy, 2010). also, it has an anti-inflammatory (hua et al., 2004) and antidiabetic (gokce & haznedaroglu, 2008) properties. macro algae consist of sulfated polysaccharides like fucoidan, which have a medicinal impact and valuable in developing new pharmaceutical alternatives (menelo, rayel, & daisy, 2012). fucoidan (marudhupandi & kuma, 2014 and 2013) from seaweeds exhibit antioxidant (duan, zhang, li, & wang, 2006; kuda, tsunekawa, goto, & araki, 2005; lim, cheung, ooi, & ang, 2002; park et al., 2004) and antibacterial (demirel, yilmaz-koz, karabay-yavasoglu, ozdemir, & sukatar, 2009) activities. thus, seaweeds can be a promising source of pharmaceutical and cosmetic alternatives. framework fucoidan is composed of fucose-sulfated polysaccharide with a high molecular weight, which is freely soluble in water. the high molecular weight and water-solubility properties of fucoidan were considered to be responsible for delaying cell aging, suppressing cancer cell growth (lemieszek and rzeski, 2012), counteracting the oxidizing effects of free radicals and inhibiting bacterial growth. physicochemical testing and ftir characterization were employed to identify the presence of essential functional groups like sulfate and polysaccharides. these structure combinations were known to exert the antioxidant effect on harmful free radicals. 180 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. conceptual framework of the study objectives of the study this study evaluates the antioxidant and antistaphylococcal activities of fucoidan topical gel from sargassum oligocystum. specifically, this study aims to evaluate: (1) the percentage yield of fucoidan; (2) the physicochemical properties of fucoidan; (3) the functional groups present in fucoidan under fourier transform infrared (fitr) spectroscopy; (4) the characteristics of topical fucoidan gel based on the selected minimum test requirements for semi-solid pharmaceutical preparation; (5) the median inhibitory concentration (ic50) of the control and treatments using dpph free radical scavenging assay; (6) the extent on the inhibition zone (iz) of the control and treatments on the growth of s. aureus using paper-disc diffusion method; and (7) the significant difference between the ic50 and iz of topical fucoidan gel and the positive control. methodology research design this study utilized an experimental and completely randomized design for antioxidants and an antistaphylococcal assay of fucoidan topical gel from s. oligocystum. in post-test, the only control group was used in assessing the free radical scavenging capacity and inhibition of s. aureus growth of different treatments. 181 international peer reviewed journal sample collection mature and fresh s. oligocystum were collected from the subtidal zone of brgy. basiao, ivisan, capiz, through the assistance of fisherman. the whole plant was stored in a clear, wide-mouth glass bottle for macroscopic analysis and specific algal authentication through the guidance of aqua culturist of the aquaculture department of southeast asian fisheries and development center, (aqd/seafdec) region vi. the authentication of algae was based on physical characterization using the following parameters: holdfast discoid, stem, primary to secondary branches, vesicles, and receptacles. experimental procedure extraction of fucoidan. s. oligocystum samples were washed thoroughly using a continuous stream of tap water to remove dirt and sands, followed by washing of distilled water and were air-dried for one week. algae were milled into a fine powder using an electric granulator. four kilograms of powdered samples were soaked in 8000 ml distilled water and heated over the electro thermostatic automated water-bath for 4 hours at 80oc (jehan et al., 2010 and guevarra, 2004). suction filtration was applied to separate the algal residues, and the filtrate was transferred to a glass container. the samples were kept at 2-8oc inside the icejacketed thermostat box and transported to aqd/seafdec for lyophilization. percentage yield determination. the weight of the lyophilized powder, which was previously measured using an analytical balance, was divided by the weight of algae samples and multiplied by 100. physicochemical evaluation of fucoidan. the color, odor, taste, form, ph of 1% solution, and solubility in polar and nonpolar solvents of lyophilized powder were enumerated under physical tests. carbohydrate, sulfate, and polysaccharide tests were identified under chemical properties. ftir characterization. characterization of lyophilized powder was performed using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and compared with the reference standard fucoidan (pharmaceutical and food grade) at 650-4000cm1 frequency range. (soehono et al., 2014). the quality of the lyophilized powder, including the reference standard, was compared against agilent pectin internal standard in the attenuated total reflection library of the ftir spectrometer (agilent technologies). formulation of fucoidan gel. distilled water was heated over the thermostat mechanical stirrer at a temperature of 80oc (soehono et al., 2014) with 100 revolutions per minute (rpm) stirring for five minutes. xanthan gum was gradually 182 jpair multidisciplinary research sprinkled over the stirring water and allowed to swell until a homogenous gel-like mixture formed. in a mortar, fucoidan was levigated with distilled water until a paste-like consistency developed. titanium dioxide was added to the fucoidan paste and triturated continuously until homogenously mixed. the fucoidantitanium dioxide mixture was then added to the xanthan gum gel. lemon-tea tree oil mixture was added to the gel and stirred for one minute. the prepared gel was transferred to a filling machine and dispensed to a gel container. the finished product was labeled accordingly. minimum tests for the quality of fucoidan topical gel. the color, odor, taste, form, ph of 1% fucoidan topical gel solution, miscibility in polar and nonpolar solvents, bacterial count, spreadability, and viscosity were tested. antioxidant assay. the free radical scavenging activity was based on the inhibition of the stable 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (dpph) free radical. one (1) ml of 0.1 mmol/l solution of dpph in ethanol solution was added to 3 ml solution of lyophilized fucoidan (lf) and topical fucoidan gel (tfg) at concentrations of 5, 10, 25 and 50 αg/ml). these solutions were incubated further at room temperature, and after 30 minutes, the absorbance of each solution was recorded at 517 nm. ascorbic acid (vitamin c) was used as a reference standard following the same concentration of the lf and tfg for comparing the extent of the free radical scavenging capacity of the treatments. the percentage inhibition activity was calculated using the formula [(a0–a1)/a0] x 100, where a0 is the absorbance of the dpph solution as the control, and a1 is the absorbance of the treatment/ standard. median inhibitory concentration (ic 50) value was calculated from the equation of line obtained by plotting a graph of concentration (αg/ml) versus % inhibition (nasrin, 2013) using microsoft excel. ethical consideration. prior to the collection of s. aureus from human skin, the researchers sought approval from the institution of ethics research committee through the completion of the ethics form for a faculty research project. collection, culture, isolation, identification, and confirmation of s. aureus. the test microorganism, s. aureus was obtained from human skin through the wet swabbing method. the swabbed microorganism was cultured, isolated, and identified by inoculating in the mannitol salt agar (msa). the msa is a selective agar medium, and the formation of yellow isolates (sharp and searcy, 2006) confirmed the identity of the s. aureus. gram staining was also used to reconfirm the identity of s. aureus. the yellow isolates were then suspended in a trypticase soy broth (tsb) and incubated to 18 hours before testing. the 18hour s. aureus culture was standardized using the mcfarland standard, which 183 international peer reviewed journal is equivalent to 106 ucfu/ml of 0.5 mcfarland standard (akinpelu, abioye, aiyegoro, akinpelu, & okoh, 2015).  antistaphylococcal assay. the paper disc diffusion method was used to measure the antibacterial activity (rasmavar et al., 2014 and guevarra, 2005). doxycycline disc (30ug/disc) and mupirocin cream (2%w/w) were the positive antibiotic disc, and commercial cream used respectively. the cream was diluted with water to quantify the equivalent amount of active ingredient parallel to the three treatments of lf and ffh (15ug/disc, 30ug/disc, and 45ug/disc) by using ratio-proportion and dilution technique. ten microliters of treatments and mupirocin cream dilutions were used to wet the standardized and sterilized 6-mm whatman filter paper discs, whereas ten microliters of topical gel base were used as a negative control. the paper discs were applied on the surface of the inoculated plates, not closer than 15 mm from the edge of the agar plate, and far enough from each other to prevent overlapping of zones of inhibition using a sterile forceps. the agar plates were inverted and placed in an incubator at 36.5°c and incubated for 24 hours (guevara, 2005). antibacterial assay was performed by measuring the diameter of the inhibition zone (iz) around the discs. the assay was repeated trice. antibacterial activity was expressed in terms of the mean inhibition zone in diameters (mm) produced by different treatments with positive and negative controls. the zones of inhibition were determined using a digital vernier caliper with the corresponding inferences: <10mm (inactive), 1013mm (partially active), 14-19mm (active), and >19mm (very active). data analysis the median inhibitory concentration for antioxidant assay and zone of inhibition for antistaphylococcal assay were analyzed using statistical package for social science (spss) version 23.0.0.0 through analysis of variance to compare the significant difference. post-hoc scheffe test was used to confirm further where the differences occurred between treatments. statistical significance was set at p-value ≤ .01. results and discussion there were 263.20 grams of lyophilized fucoidan obtained from 4000 grams of s. oligocystum samples equivalent to 6.58% w/w yield. the amount of fucoidan depends on the habitat, type of species, and method extraction. fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that is soluble in water and remains stable up to 80oc (soehono et al., 2014). 184 jpair multidisciplinary research physicochemical tests in table 1 show that the color of pharmaceutical-grade fucoidan and lyophilized fucoidan differs in terms of color and ph. s. oligocystum is a highly pigmented alga with dark spots. the ph difference depends on the type of algal source since the pharmaceutical grade was extracted from kelp. table 1. physical properties of lyophilized fucoidan physical test pharmaceutical grade fucoidan lyophilized fucoidan color light brown brown odor fishy fishy taste salty salty form powder powder ph 7.67 7.05 solubility in water freely-soluble (1:10) freely-soluble (1:10) solubility in ethanol insoluble insoluble chemical identification tests in table 2 reflect that fucoidan is composed of sulfate and polysaccharides. it reveals that fucoidan is a carbohydrate by nature, and it contains glycosidic linkages that stabilize the key functional groups responsible for its bioactivity. the physical and chemical properties of fucoidan obtained from s. oligocystum played a significant role in the formulation of topical gel. fucoidan possessed polar characteristics, and it can be incorporated in a hydrogel base to ensure good delivery. table 2. chemical properties of lyophilized fucoidan chemical test constituent detected standard result experimental result molisch carbohydrate purple ring purple ring bacl2 sulfate white precipitate white precipitate lugol polysaccharide blue-black solution blue-black coloration figure 2 detects the specific vibrations and stretch of different functional groups of fucoidan under the ftir spectrometer through the reference sensing of the pectin library internal standard observed at wavenumber 3400-3500cm-1. the spectra of standard fucoidan and lyophilized fucoidan are identical. 185 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. ftir spectra of standard fucoidan, lyophilized fucoidan, and internal standard based on the ftir spectra, the different functional groups present in fucoidan under the ftir spectrum. the presence of oh group in the monosaccharide monomer is observed at 3300-3400cm-1, an aliphatic c–h at 2900cm-1, a c=o stretch for acetate at 1700cm-1 (zayed et al., 2016). the c-o-c bending vibrations in the glycosidic linkage is observed at the region 700-1000cm-1 (fernando et al., 2017). the glycosidic linkage stretch c–o–c and c–o–h are distinct between 1600 cm-1and 1000 cm-1. the signals near to 1600 cm-1and 1500 cm-1are produced by the asymmetric and symmetric stretch vibration of c-o-o of uronic acid (marques, vilanova, mourão, & fernàndezbusquets, 2016, cuib et al., 2004). the presence of s=o stretching of the sulfate group is noted as a weak band at 1000cm-1 (peranginangin & saepudin, 2016). therefore, the distinct band stretch of polysaccharide at 1000–3400cm-1 and sulfate at 1000 cm-1 is an indication that it is a sulfated polysaccharide. these are the essential functional moieties that can affect cell division and blood vessel formation (lemieszek and rzeski, 2012). minimum test requirements for topical fucoidan gel as a semi-solid pharmaceutical preparation in table 3 shows that tfg has a white-opaque viscid gel-like property, which was miscible both in water and alcohol. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. minimum test requirements for topical fucoidan gel (tfg) parameter result color white odor citrus transparency opaque form gel consistency viscous bacterial count not detected miscibility in water miscible with small globules on the surface of the liquid miscibility in ethanol miscible spreadability 6.02 cm ± 0.05 % spreadability difference 5.64% (mupirocin ointment) ; 9.06% (vitamin e cream) viscosity 1342.67 mpa.s ± 0.33 % viscosity difference 14.22% mupirocin ointment) ; 18.06% (vitamin e cream) figure 3 shows that 5.64% and 9.06% are the spreadability difference of tfg (topical fucoidan gel) compared to mup (mupirocin) and vite (vitamin e), respectively. this shows that the ability of tfg to spread is closely related to mup. this relationship can also be attributed to the spreadability comparison of the mupirocin-topical gel base (mup-tgb) since the consistency of tfg depends entirely on the characteristic flow of tgb. figure 3. spreadability of mupirocin ointment, vitamin e cream, topical fucoidan gel, and topical gel base 187 international peer reviewed journal figure 4 reveals that 14.22% and 18.06% are the viscosity difference of tfg (topical fucoidan gel) compared to mup (mupirocin) and vite (vitamin e), respectively. this reveals that the consistency of tfg is closely related to mup. this relationship can also be attributed to the viscosity comparison of the mupirocin-topical gel base (mup-tgb) since the consistency of tfg depends entirely on the characteristic flow of tgb. consequently, no bacterial growth was detected when subjected to microbial count analysis. figure 4. the viscosity of treatment pair vite-tfg (vitamin e cream vs. topical fucoidan gel), mup-tfg (mupirocin vs. topical fucoidan gel), vitetgb (vitamin e cream vs. topical gel base) and mup-tgb (mupirocin vs. topical gel base) figure 5 reveals the average median inhibitory concentration (ic50) of different treatments which was evaluated using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (dpph) free radical scavenging assay. it shows that aa (x=̅19.00±0.02) has the lowest ic50, followed by tfg (x=̅20.73±0.07), lf (x=̅22.48±0.02) and tgb (x=̅38.86±1.36). figure 5: average median inhibitory concentration (ug/ml) of aa (ascorbic acid), tfg (topical fucoidan gel), lf (lyophilized fucoidan) and tgb (topical gel base) on dpph free radical 188 jpair multidisciplinary research one-way analysis of variance in table 4 reveals that there was a significant difference in the ic50 among treatments at the p<.01 level [f(3, 8) = 182.3406, p = 1.05e-7]. post-hoc scheffe test reveals that the ic50 of treatment pair aatgf, aa-lf and tfg-lf are insignificant, which means they are comparable. table 4. analysis of variance of median inhibitory concentration (ic50) of four treatments (ascorbic acid, topical fucoidan gel, lyophilized fucoidan and topical gel base) ss df ms f sig between groups within groups total 757.1555 11.0731 768.2286 3 8 11 252.3852 1.3841 182.3406 1.05e-7 p<0.01 dpph is a free radical and popularly used as a model to assess the antioxidant capacity in a relatively short time-frame compared with other methods. the dpph radical is scavenged through the donation of hydrogen by the antioxidant to form a stable dpph-h molecule. the dpph carries similar key functional groups such as -oh and -oso 3h groups. the excess -oh groups are replaced by the -oso3h groups, thus scavenging effect or inhibition of oxidation is exhibited. in the present study, it showed that lyophilized fucoidan and topical fucoidan gel have strong scavenging activities on dpph radicals at a dosage of 22.48ug/ml±0.02 and 20.73ug/ml±0.07 which may be attributed due to the high sulfate content interlinked in the polysaccharide backbone. in relation to the present study, zhang et al. (2003) and athiperumalsami et al. (2010) relate the antioxidant activity  and the sulfated polysaccharide content from porphyra haitanesis extract, the higher the sulfated polysaccharide contents, the stronger the antioxidant activity. in this study, part of the chemical identification test was the detection of the presence of sulfate and polysaccharides, then further reconfirmed through ftir characterization where sulfate and polysaccharides formed vibration stretch detected within wavenumber 3400-3500cm-1. figure 6 shows the average inhibition zone on s. aureus growth of doxycycline, mupirocin, tgf, tgb and distilled water which were evaluated using a paper-disc diffusion assay. the highest to lowest izs were observed from doxycycline (x=̅24.48±0.13), mup45ug/disc (x=̅22.69±0.37), mup30ug/disc (x=̅20.83±0.09), mup15ug/disc (x=̅19.18±0.19), followed by tfg45ug/disc (x=̅19.43±0.08), tfg 30ug/disc (x=̅15.84±0.20), tfg 15ug/disc (x=̅12.83±0.32), http://www.scialert.net/asci/result.php?searchin=keywords&cat=&ascicat=all&submit=search&keyword=antioxidant+activity 189 international peer reviewed journal tgb (x=̅7.95±0.03) and distilled water 0.01ml/disc (x=̅6.04±0.01). figure 6: average inhibition zone (mm) of dox (doxycycline), m (mupirocin) 45-30-15ug/disc, tfg (topical fucoidan gel) 45-30-15ug/disc, lf (lyophilized fucoidan) 45-30-15ug/disc, tgb (topical gel base) and dw (distilled water) one-way analysis of variance in table 5 reveals that there was a significant difference in the iz among nine treatments at the p<.01 level [f(8, 18) = 2099.9222, p = 1.11e-16]. post-hoc scheffe test in table 11 explains that the iz of mupirocin 15ug/ml and topical fucoidan gel 45ug/ml has no significant difference. thus, the inhibitory zones on s. aureus between mup15ug/ml and tfg45ug/ml are comparable. however, tfg45ug/disc has the least significant difference when compared to mup30ug/disc. table 5. analysis of variance of the inhibitory zone (iz) of nine treatments (doxycycline, mupirocin 45-30-15ug/disc, topical fucoidan gel 45-30-15ug/disc, topical gel base and distilled water) ss df ms f sig between groups within groups total 989.2101 2.0395 991.2496 8 18 26 123.6513 0.1133 1091.3076 1.11e-16 p<0.01 one-way analysis of variance in table 6 reveals that there was a significant difference in the iz among nine treatments at the p<.01 level [f(8, 18) = 1091.3076, p = 1.11e-16]. post-hoc scheffe test in table 13 depicts that the iz of three lf treatments has a significant difference when compared to dox and mup. thus, the results in the antistaphyloccocal activity of lyophilized fucoidan 190 jpair multidisciplinary research are not comparable to the positive control. however, lf15ug/disc has the least significant difference when compared to the tgb. table 6: analysis of variance of the inhibitory zone (iz) of nine treatments (doxycycline, mupirocin 45-30-15ug/disc, lyophilized fucoidan 45-30-15ug/ disc, topical gel base, and distilled water) ss df ms f sig between groups within groups total 1169.6193 1.2532 1170.8725 8 18 26 146.2024 0.0696 2,099.9222 1.11e-16 p<0.01 fucoidan is a complex sulfated polysaccharide that is found in the cell walls of several edible brown algae like fucus vesiculosus (choi, jang, & cha, 2015), sargassum fulvellum, s. kjellmanianum, l. angustata, l. angustata var. longissima, l. japonica, ecklonia cava, and eisenia bicyclis. ale et al. (2011) tested sulfated polysaccharide brown algal species its bioactivities and noted that the high concentration of polysaccharides in these species is responsible for its antimicrobial properties (choi, jang, & cha, 2015, qin et al., 2013 and horikawa, noro, & kamei, 1999). tfg formula contains a mixture of lemon-tea tree oil as odor enhancing agents and known to exert antioxidant and antibacterial activities (frassinetti et al., 2011 and kim et al., 2004). lemon-tea tree oil and fucoidan co-synergized each other when in the formulation as reflected in their average ic50: tfg (x=̅20.73) lyophilized fucoidan (x=̅22.48) and topical gel base (x=̅38.86). numerically, the combined lyophilized and topical gel base in the topical fucoidan gel has a lower ic50, which means that the lower the concentration of ic50, the stronger is the free radical scavenging activity. consequently, the addition of methylparaben which was used as a preservative enhances the antistaphylococcal activity of lyophilized fucoidan, as seen in the iz of tfg 45ug/disc (x=̅19.43) which is comparable to mup15ug/disc. pharmaceutical additives or excipients are needed to improve the aesthetic appeal of the formulated product. citrus scent was considered because it is the scent of choice in masking the fishy smell of fucoidan (robbins, 2018). therefore, the topical gel base served as the reference for evaluating the influence of these additives in the activity of fucoidan as a component of base formulation and finished product, respectively. 191 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the gathered findings and results of the study, topical fucoidan gel is a potential antioxidant agent at a dose of 20.73ug/ml based on free radical scavenging activity and as an antistaphylococcal agent at a dose of 45ug/disc on s. aureus. translational research the findings of this research is helpful in the realization of the preservation of brown algae and its habitat because the results showed that the fucoidan from s. oligocystum is a potential antioxidant and antistaphylococcal alternative. likewise, the results must be forwarded to relevant health research agencies for them to perform different replicates utilizing different bacterial strains and conduct molecular rearrangement of fucoidan to enhance its biological activities better. recommendations the researcher would like to recommend the use of other free radicals for antioxidant assay and other skin pathogenic bacteria for antibacterial assay to establish an additional scope of biological and bacteriological activities using the local algal source which is s. oligocystum. literature cited akinpelu, d. a., abioye, e. o., aiyegoro, o. a., akinpelu, o. f., & okoh, a. i. 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(2016). physicochemical and biological characterization of fucoidan from fucus vesiculosus purified by dye affinity chromatography.  marine drugs,  14(4), 79. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.3390/md14040079 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-0896(02)00241-9 http://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.01129-06 https://doi.org/10.3390/md14040079 https://doi.org/10.3390/md14040079 116 jpair multidisciplinary research climate change awareness of the community officials in the municipality of saint bernard, southern leyte: gear towards vulnerability and adaption gary c. garcia garychmich@yahoo.com.ph orcid no. 0000-0001-6528-2967 southern leyte state university-san juan campus, 6611 san juan, southern leyte, philippines abstract eastern visayas is constantly experiencing a series of calamities since the tragic mudslide in the community of guinsaugon saint bernard, southern leyte in 2006. as a result, the state of calamity declared in almost every part the country due to heavy rains that devastated agriculture, livestock and properties. this study was conducted to assess the level of the community officials’ related awareness on climate change, more particular on its cause and effect, thought and belief, and the course of action through community ordinances related to climate change. the study utilizes the descriptive survey method of research. data was analyzed and interpreted using weighted mean and percentages to describe the level of awareness of the elected officials towards climate change. majority agreed that climate change is happening and presently affecting the people in the community. thought of respondents towards climate change is highly coupled with religious thinking. actual state of affairs (situation) is the priority of the community officials leading to the inaccurate expectation of the long term effect of climate change. community officials’ awareness vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.217 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 117 international peer reviewed journal on the causes and effect of climate change is observable but limited on vulnerability and adaptation. thus, additional exposure and depth understanding on climate change is recommended. keywords climate change, awareness, political and social responsibilities, descriptive-survey, saint bernard, southern leyte, philippines introduction climate change is an area that is currently in dire need of a wide range of publicity and other measures in order to mitigate its effect on the society (ekpho, ekpho, 2011). the philippines has experienced temperature spikes brought about by climate change. it has been observed that warming is experienced most in the northern and southern regions of the country while metro manila has warmed less than most parts. hot days and hot nights have become more frequent than before. extreme weather events have also occurred more frequently since 1980. these include deadly and damaging typhoons, floods, landslides, severe el niño and la niña events, drought, and forest fires. adversely affected sectors include agriculture, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and health (the eastern visayas climate project forum, 2012). eastern visayas is constantly experiencing a series of calamity since the tragic mudslide in the community of guinsaugon, saint bernard, southern leyte in 2006. first quarter of 2012, the state of calamity once again was declared in the municipality due to heavy rains that devastated agriculture, livestock and properties. for purposes of the revised penal code, the community chieftain, youth council members and members of peace and order committee in each barangay shall be deemed as persons in authority in their jurisdictions (the local government code of the philippines, section 38). servant-leadership incorporates the ideals of empowerment, total quality, team building, and participatory management, and the service ethic into a leadership philosophy. in the words of the greenleaf center for servant-leadership (1997, p. 4), this model of leadership emphasizes “increased service to others; a holistic approach to work; promoting a sense of community; and the sharing of power in decision making.” servant-leaders must be valueand character-driven people who are performance and process oriented. a servant-leader may be defined as a leader whose primary purpose for leading is to serve others by investing in their development and well being for the benefit of accomplishing tasks and goals for the common good. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research good leaders know how to protect the community in times of disaster, with the ability to guide his people to overcome problems. for this, community officials are expected to be aware more of the recent events and issues that have implication in the life of its people. framework vulnerability = degree to which a system or species is susceptible or unable to cope with adverse effect of climate change. climate change adaptation = an adjustment in natural or human system in response to actual or expected climate stimuli or their effects which moderate harm or exploits benefit opportunities. objectives of the study this study intends to assess the level of awareness of the community officials’ related awareness on climate change, more particular on its cause and effect, thought and belief, and the course of action through community ordinances related to climate change. result will be utilized as baseline information for vulnerability and adaptation. 119 international peer reviewed journal methodology the study utilized the descriptive survey method of research. the proponents personally administered the conduct of the survey with elected officials of the selective coastal and upland communities in the municipality of saint bernard as respondents. data was analyzed and interpreted using weighted mean, percentages, to describe the level of awareness of the elected officials towards climate change. the researcher presents the proposal before the municipal council meeting and secured permissions from the local government unit through the municipal mayor. results and discussion demographic profile of the community officials as observed in table 1, more than half of the respondents are male, 72% are married. as to their educational background, 32 are able to attend/finished secondary course, 23 in college, and 12 in elementary. the respondents are composed of 8 community captains, 43 community officials, 6 youth council chairman, and 10 youth councilors. majority are in less than one year experience in terms of service. table 1. the demographic profile of the community officials sex male female 43 24 civil status single married separated widow 14 48 2 3 age 15-17 18-33 34-49 50-65 over 65 3 13 29 22 1 highest level of education no formal elementary secondary college 0 12 32 23 number of years in the community less than one year 1-19 years 20-39 years over 40 years 10 25 32 current position brgy. chairman brgy. councilor sk chairman sk councilor 8 43 6 10 number of years in service less than one year 1-19 years 20-39 years over 40 years 37 17 5 8 120 jpair multidisciplinary research community officials level of awareness on climate change as reflected in item 2, all of the community officials have heard about climate change. most (33%) signifies that they learned climate change through watching television, 19% from school, 13% from news paper, 12% through conversation with family members, 9% from internet, 8% from a book and another 6% from word of mouth. kapoor (2011) in his study entitled “awareness of the rural people about environment protection through mass media” exposed that television and radio were the most preferred information tools in environmental awareness, utilized by 39.5% and 26 % of the respondents respectively. table 2. the community official awareness on climate change. 1. had you heard about climate change? frequency percentage 1.1 yes 67 100% 1.2 no 0 0% 2. how did you hear about climate change? 2.1 searching the internet 6 9% 2.2 at school 13 19% 2.3 at home (through conversations with family members) 8 12% 2.4 from a tv program 22 33% 2.5 from a book 5 7% 2.6 from a newspaper 9 13% 2.7 word of mouth 4 6% 2.8 i have never heard about it 67 100% thought on climate change table 3 shows respondents thought on climate change. as shown in item 1, 97 % agreed that the government has already consulted community officials in identifying areas of concern about climate change. more than 80 % are of the same mind in items 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 that climate change is happening, presently affecting the people in the community, and every individual can do something to adopt climate change. the majority of the respondents agreed that living for today is more important than worrying about the effects of climate change in 50 years. 121 international peer reviewed journal the last decade has been marked by growing public concern and widespread media coverage surrounding the possibility of global warming due to an increased green house effect. to a significant degree, the effectiveness with which society responds to this possibility depends on how well it is understood by the individual citizen (bostrom, morgan, fischhoff, read, 1994). despite of, majority are in favor in item 2.5 that climate change will reduce the quality of life of children in the future. responses in items 2.6 and 2.7 reflect strong religious implication. hence, 42% of the respondents agree in the statements; there is religious significance to climate change and climate change is a natural occurrence. captivatingly, respondents’ responses on item 5.2 of table 3 suggest that they need more information/knowledge on how to stop climate change. table 3. community officials thought on climate change thought on climate change a d n 1. the local government has already consulted us to enable us to identify our areas of concern about climate change. 65 0 2 2. what are your thoughts about the following statements about climate change? 2.1 climate change is happening 59 3 5 2.2 climate change is affecting the people of this community already 60 2 5 2.3 every individual can do something to adapt to climate change 55 2 10 2.4 living for today is more important than worrying about the effects of climate change in 50 years time 39 17 11 2.5 climate change will reduce the quality of life of my children & grandchildren in the future 57 6 4 2.6 there is religious significance to climate change 28 19 20 2.7 climate change is a natural occurrence 28 28 11 2.8 i am seriously concerned with what climate change may bring 50 6 1 3. what do you think are the causes of climate change f % rank 3.1 burning fossils eg coal, gas, oil, petrol 46 69% 2 3.2 deforestation (kaingin, logging) 54 81% 1 3.3 don’t know 0 0% 4 3.4 other (please note all ideas) 3.4.1 improper disposal of garbage and waste materials 6 9% 3 122 jpair multidisciplinary research 4. how is global climate change negatively impacting your quality of life? f % rank 4.1 high fuel prices 19 28% 4 4.2 high energy costs 24 36% 3 4.3 high commodity cost 28 42% 2 4.4 drought conditions affect crop yield (rice, camote, etc.) 38 57% 1 4.5 fires threaten home and/or business 9 13% 6 4.6 family pressure to alter lifestyle 5 7% 7 4.7 job loss due to low crop yield 15 22% 5 5. which statement describes your position best f % rank 5.1 i am well-informed what i personally can do to stop climate change 22 33% 2 5.2 i am not very well-informed but i would like to learn how i can help to stop climate change 44 66% 1 5.3 i believe that climate change problem is exaggerated and it doesn’t need urgent solution (at least my personal participation is not needed at all) 1 1% 3 community ordinances related to climate change table 4 shows the distribution of existing community ordinances related to climate change ranked according to the number of times reflected in the questionnaire. rank 1 is the ordinance on solid waste management; total log band, reforestation, and illegal fishing tied in rank 2; followed by (rank 3) the ordinance regulating rice farmers not to burn rice straws, panicles and the like; next is rank 4, coastal resource management; rank 5 anti smoking; rank 6 illegal quarrying; and the last are the clean and green ordinance. “massive land conversion, long-term deforestation, mining in island ecosystems and forests and lack of solid waste management are just some of the culprits,” tcrp disaster risk reduction and management expert miguel magalang said. climate change and philippine forests are directly linked to each other. changes in climate are affecting the forests and its ability to deliver its environmental services. in the same manner, degradation of the forest resources results to emission of carbon dioxide (co2) in the atmosphere which contributes to climate change (the journal of environmental science and management, 2010). 123 international peer reviewed journal table 4. the list of existing local ordinances on climate change ordinances frequency rank 1. solid waste management / ra 9003 38 1 2. total log band and reforestation 27 2 3. protection of fish sanctuary, illegal fishing 27 2 4. regulating the rice farmers not to burn rice straws, panicles and others 13 3 5. coastal resource management 10 4 6. anti smoking /ra 8749 8 5 7. illegal quarrying 7 6 8. clean and green 5 7 most respondents signify that they learned climate change through watching television. result shows that the government has already consulted community officials in identifying areas of concern about climate change. majority agreed that climate change is happening and presently affecting the people in the community. they believed that every individual can do something to adopt climate change. however, equivalent to 58% agreed that living for today is more important than worrying about the effects of climate change in 50 years. despite of, majority are in favor that climate change will reduce the quality of life of children in the future. many of them agreed that there is religious significance to climate change and climate change is a natural occurrence. rank 1 in the list of existing community ordinances related to climate change is the ordinance on solid waste management followed by total log band, reforestation, and illegal fishing. conclusions community officials’ awareness on the causes and effect of climate change is observable but limited on vulnerability and adaptation. their thought towards climate change is highly coupled with religious thinking. actual state of affairs (situation) is the priority of the community officials leading to the inaccurate expectation of the long term effect of climate change. related ordinances such as solid waste management, total log band, reforestation, and illegal fishing are in accord with the concept of climate change. generally, results established baseline information on community officials’ appreciation and approaches on climate change in relation to the concept vulnerability is equal to exposure plus adaptability. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research recommendations climate change is a worldwide fear international leader should initiate appropriate action to prevent catastrophe that would be brought by this circumstance. thus, the need of community officials on additional exposure and depth understanding on the vulnerability and adaptation specifically, on how to stop or to minimize the effect of climate change was very obvious. it is recommended that there should be a series of orientation seminar on climate change vulnerability and adaptation for community officials. institutionalization of the process of greenhouse inventory, particularly among the government agencies concerned and greater involvement of the academe through related studies on adaptation and vulnerability under climate change conditions are suggested. at the institutional level, the philippines were one of the earliest countries to recognize the importance of a systematic institutional response to the problem of climate change (la viña, 2008). the national government has adopted a national framework on climate change and is about (as of 15 june 2011) to adopt a new national climate change action plan, policy issuances that take into account both domestic law as well as the recent developments in the unfccc. this illustrates that the philippines does not see the emerging international regime on climate change as an imposition but as a welcome development (la viña, dulce, sano, 2011). literature cited bostrom, a., e. roth, m. g. morgan, b. fischhoff and l. lave 1994 risk analysis, volume 14, no. 6, 1994. retrieved on august 2012 from http://goo.gl/7ry04 ekpho, i.j. and u.i. ekpho 2011 assessing the level of climate change awareness among secondary school teachers in calabar municipality, nigeria: implication for management effectiveness. journal of humanities and social science, volume 1. no. 3 la viña, a. 2008 addressing climate change in the philippines: an integrated adaptation mitigation approach, philippine climate change policy: mitigation and adaptation measures. experts dialogue, the university of the philippines law center, u.p. diliman. 125 international peer reviewed journal la viña, a., j. c. dulce and n. saño 2011 national and global energy governance: issues, linkages and challenges in the philippines. retrieved on june 2012 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley. com /doi/10.1111/j.1758 5899.2011.00134.x/full kapoor, n. 2011 awareness of the rural people about environment protection through mass media, international conference on chemical, biological and environment sciences (iccebs’2011) bangkok. retrieved on august 2012 from http:// psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/1211545.pdf section 38 2000 the local government code of the philippines. retrieved on may 2012 from www.doe.gov.ph/cc/ccp.htm. 2010 science and society: understanding global climate change and setting local actions in eastern visayas. retrieved on may 2012 from https://sites. google.com/site/evclimateforum/project-definition the journal of environmental science and management 2010 retrieved on august 2012 from www.journals.uplb.edu.ph/index.php/ jesam pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. cover single with doi 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.19 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. learning for jobs: flexible learning in vocational education and training jana petnuchová jana.petnuchova@stuba.sk roman hrmo institute of engineering pedagogy faculty of materials science trnava, slovak republic abstract the article describes importance of vocational education and training (vet) which can play a central role in preparing young people for work, developing the skills of adults and responding to the labour market needs of the economy. the aim of this article is to highlight the definitions and understandings of vocational education and training (vet). countries are now giving the long-neglected topic of vocational education and training dramatically increased profiles, reflecting recognition of its economic function. the aim of this article is to highlight the definitions and understandings of vocational education and training (vet). personal philosophy of learning is based on a person´s own fundamental values. it should provide answers to the following questions: why should i study continuously? where will success leads to and who will be beneficiaries? will it be enough if i benefit from process myself or do i want to help other people to succeed? keywords education, vocational education and training, vocational teacher and trainer, labour market, qualification 2 jpair: multidisciplinary research introduction new information and communication technologies exceed the traditional framework of the learning process. learning and education can no longer be viewed as a ritual that one performs only in the earlier part of life.ict are being used to cross the barriers of age ,time and space, bringing lifelong learning to all. people of all ages, in all places and in all different environmental contexts are learning all the time. therefore, regardless of what activities are performing-they comprise the learning society (queeney, 1995). knowledge is a valuable foundation of all social and cultural development. however, information society in itself is not sufficiently challenging to provide a goal for which we should strive. only knowledge is not enough. humanity is more important than mere knowledge. the key issue in education is no longer the amount of knowledge learned, but the ability to use knowledge and know-how. in order to be able to find the essential knowledge among the information overload and to be able to apply it in other contexts, people have to learn the necessary skills. knowledge and know/how alone, they are not enough. information and knowledge can be taught, but skills need to be learned. the constantly changing environment makes the task even more challenging. instead of one uninterrupted educational chain before entering the labour market, education in the learning society is a continues process (korhonen 1997). many countries are recognizing that good initial vocational education and training has a major contribution to make to economic competitiveness. many of unskilled jobs which existed in oecd ( organization for economic co-operation and development )countries a generation ago are fast disappearing, either because they have been replaced by technology or because these countries cannot compete with less developed countries on labor costs. instead, oecd countries need to compete on the quality of goods and service they provide. that requires a well-skilled labor force, with a range of midd-level trade, technical and professional skills alongside those high-level skills associated with university education. more often than not, those skills are delivered through vocational programmes (field et al., 2010). 3 international peer reviewed journal vocational education and training (vet) can play a central role in preparing young people for work, developing skills of adults and responding to the labor-market needs o the economy. it means building a foundation of basic and transferable skills into vocational qualifications, to reflect a world career flux and development rather than one job for life. it means renewal of the career guidance profession to deliver active guidance for all young leaders, well-informed by knowledge of the labour market and vocational as well as academic pathways. it means ensuring that teachers and trainers in vet programmes have up-to–date industry experience (oecd, 2009). initial vet is designed to fill the gap providing the needed skills, and research has shown that it can yield good economic returns from the public investment involved. countries with strong initial vet programmes, like germany, have been relatively successful in tackling youth employment. historically, many vocational programmes were conceived as a stepping stone to a single target occupation. but increasing educational opportunities have challenged this. more and more young people, including students in vocational programmes, now expect to enter tertiary and other postsecondary education. for example; one quarter of dutch upper secondary vocational students continue into tertiary vet, and around three-quarters of korean upper secondary vocational students do so (oecd, 2010). among general academic skills, numeracy and literacy are of increasing importance in the labour market, and weaknesses in these fields are very common those in vocational programmes. vet programmes need to give sufficient weight to these skills, and students should be systematically assessed at the point of entry to vocational programmes as to ensure a basic minimum of skills and identify those in need targeted support (eurostat,2002). in a review of adult education and vocational training in europe, tuijnman draws on a range of studies carried out throughout europe to identify general trends in european training, and while he states that countries are moving in different directions, the one common trend he identifies is the marked quantitative growth in vocational education and training (vet). thus, the concerns of governments and employers alike about 4 jpair: multidisciplinary research vocational training have been reflected by an increased investment into this area, a number of european studies have argued that economic success depends on having a competitive high-tech industry, and that previous underinvestment into vet have undermined european efforts to respond to changing economic conditions, thus most european countries are now placing a heavy emphasis on policies to improve job training“(tuijman, 1992). learning for future faced with challenges such as intensified global competition, high numbers of low-skilled workers and an ageing population, vocational education and training (vet) is vital to prepare individuals for today’s society and ensure europe’s future competitiveness and innovation. the necessity of lifelong learning is not merely a matter of political will. it involves more aspects than the will to enhance the civilization of all the citizens. it is also question of changes in the working life and the challenges business enterprises. the entire industrialized world continues to live in an extremely rapid pace of change. parallel to the persistently high unemployment rate, many areas of european industry are suffering from a tremendous shortage of skilled employees. the skills and knowledge of those employees who have been engaged in working life for a long time are not sufficient for more demanding tasks. on the other hand, the basic education of children and young people does not sufficiently encourage them to find out how they should learn to learn (markkula, suurla, 2000). personal philosophy of learning is based on a person´s own fundamental values. it should provide answers to the following questions: why should i study continuously? where will success lead to and who will be beneficiaries? will it be enough if i benefit from process myself or do i want to help other people to succeed? (markkula, suurla, 2000). this kind of learning, which could be called maintenance learning, is discussed by the club of rome in their book “no limits to learning” which was published in 1979 and is considered the basic volume on the principle of lifelong learning. traditionally, societies and individuals have adopted this idea of maintenance of learning, which is only 5 international peer reviewed journal interrupted by short period of reform (botkin, 1979). the philosophy of lifelong learning is not only about learning itself but also about development in learning. preparation for the unexpected makes learning more effective both for individuals and society. although it has often been said that learning should be enjoyable, the learners’ ´ duties and responsibilities for the development of their own skills and the expansion of their scope of thinking are equal importance. learning is more effective if it is a goal-oriented. the goal and career choices, even the meaning of life can changeand perhaps they should change – during the course of a person´ life. therefore the policies lifelong learning should be re-assessed at regular intervals (schneeberger, 2007). if a person learns to learn in early childhood the capacity of learning will be tremendous enhanced. learning begins at birth, and the first four years of life are said to be the most essential for the development of learning capacity, the idea of lifelong learning challenges us to put our learning potential to better use. people aged 65 or more could still learn effectively and pass on their experiences by advising others and doing creative work (hagström, 1997). as a consequence of educational reforms and developing knowledge society, there are more initiatives and opportunities to learn in various contexts, participating in processes of change. the importance of assessing and recognizing the achievements of nonformal and informal learning has, therefore, increased in this context. education policy makers emphasize the necessity of raising the quality and prestige o vocational education and training (vet), which is highly dependent on the qualification and competence of vocational teachers. the course of development processes in vet has caused changes in the roles of vocational teachers, making their pedagogical activity more complex and requiring them to make self-supporting decisions. teachers are therefore, being encouraged to continuously develop their competences. it is important stress, that knowledge, skills and abilities are not gained for life, and they need to be permanently renewed throughout the care of a teacher (field et al., 2010). 6 jpair: multidisciplinary research vocational education and training on 22 september 2005 in copenhagen (oecd 2005), the chief civil servants of education ministries from across the oecd opened a twoday discussion. their agenda was wide-ranging. they have been asked to identify their most important policy priority in education in the coming years. the answer they gave surprised many, for it was neither schools nor universities, but in fact, vocational training and education (vet). three factors stand out as reasons for growing interest of policy makers in vet: economics, strains in the system and previous neglect. • economics-since oecd countries cannot compete with less developed countries on labour costs, they need to compete in terms of the quality of goods and services they provide. that means highly skilled labour force, technical and professional skills alongside those high-level skills associated with university education (field et al., 2010). • strains – there are strains in vet system. one of them is the lack of workplace training places, and another is the lack of trainers. in some countries the rapid expansion of tertiary education has undermined school-based vet. for example in the united states a new terminology of career and technical education has replaced vocational education and training“to reflect an orientation towards a career rather than a single occupation (cedefop, 2008). • vet has been reglected .challenging issues like how to go about teaching practical skills, or the rapid expansion of tertiary programmes, have received limited attention. the perceived low status of vet has therefore also been a barrier to engagement in the sector and how it has been viewed analytically. one object of this review is to remedy this past neglect (ludvig, pfeiffer, 2005). vocational education and training (vet) includes education and 7 international peer reviewed journal training programmes designed for, and typically to a particular job or type of job. it normally involves practical training as well as the learning or relevant theory. it is distinct from (academic) educationfor example in mathematics, which is relevant to a very wide range of jobs. education and training for some high level professions such as medicine and law meets the definition even though they are not normally described as vet. initial vet includes programmes mainly designed for and used by young people (under 30) at the beginning of their career and commonly before entering the labour market. it includes many upper secondary and tertiary programmes. continuing vet is all other sorts of vet, including enterprise training of employees and training provided specially for those who have lost their job (oecd, 2010). philosophy of vet the philosophy of lifelong learning is not only about learning itself but also about development in learning. preparation for the unexpected makes learning more effective both for individuals and society. although it has often been said that learning should be enjoyable, the learners ‘duties and responsibilities for the development o their own skills and the expansion o their scope o thinking are o equal importance. learning is more effective if it is a goal-oriented. the goal and career choices, even the meaning o life can change and perhaps they should change – during the course o a person´life.therefore the policies lifelong learning should be re-assessed at regular intervals (markkula, suurla, 2000). if a person learns to learn in early childhood the capacity of learning will be tremendous enhanced. learning begins at birth, and the first four years of life are said to be the most essential for the development of learning capacity, the idea of lifelong learning challenges us to put our learning potential to better use. people aged 65 or more could still learn effectively and pass on their experiences by advising others and doing creative work. (hagström, 1997). 8 jpair: multidisciplinary research as a consequence of educational reforms and developing knowledge society, there are more initiatives and opportunities to learn in various contexts, participating in processes of change. the importance of assessing and recognizing the achievements of nonformal and informal learning has, therefore, increased in this context. education policy makers emphasize the necessity of raising the quality and prestige of vocational education and training (vet).which is highly dependent on the qualification and competence o vocational teachers. the course of development processes in vet has caused changes in the roles of vocational teachers, making their pedagogical activity more complex and requiring them to make self-supporting decisions. teachers are therefore, being encouraged to continuously develop their competences. it is important stress, that knowledge, skills and abilities are not gained for life, and they need to be permanently renewed throughout the care of a teacher (kézdi, 2006). learning is the systematic acquisition of new skills in a structured environment, resulting in a positive transformation of a person´s behavior .working is the utilization of skills .learning therefore leads to working, and working leads to learning when workers realize that they lack particular skills necessary for their job. so this is a nutshell lifelong learning. an interest element in this definition is that learning is linked with context. recent studies show that only context-based learning is effective (botkin, 1979). cross p. and the dutch professor m.boekaerts emphasizes that learning is far more than teaching. learning is about making connections“. especially cognitive learning strategies, rehearsal, elaboration and organization (the what of learning) and met cognitive learning startegies, planning, monitoring, and selfregulation (the how of learning) are important connections. experimental connections are necessary to assure that students conduct an active lifelong conversation between experience and learning (queeney, 1995). do we need general skills? various studies highlight the importance of general content in the curriculum. in modern economies an increasing number of jobs, including blue-collar jobs, require sound generic skills. a study from 9 international peer reviewed journal the united states (levy, 2003) suggests that technological change has made problem solving and complex communication skills much more important in the labour market. the development of these skills is underpinned by good literacy and numeracy skills (levy, murname, 2004). labor markets change rapidly and often unpredictably. as virtually all workers will need to acquire new skills during their career, literacy and numeracy are particularly valuable in the long run (kezdi, 2006).strong literacy and numeracy skills are associated with better performance on the labour market. for some students in vet programmes, very weak basic skills are a serious difficulty. basic skills problems are widespread, damaging, often unrecognized, but remediable. it follows that there is a very strong argument for systematically assessing the literacy and numeracy skills of students at the point of entry to vocational programmes so as to identify people in need of support. in belgium, for example, jobseekers complete a quick-scan test and, if it necessary, are directed to adult basic education centers (basic skills agency, 1997). in many countries, surveys show that employers strongly value soft skills, such as the ability to work team, communication skills and work discipline. in austria for example a survey found that the lack of soft skills, such as reliability and adequate manners, was a common reason for rejecting apprenticeship applicants (schneeberger, 2007). other skills, such entrepreneurship, are highly relevant to many occupations to which vet leads, but have been often neglected in traditional vocational programmes.some countries have recognized the importance of entrepreneurial skills and have created programmes in this area. in belgium the flemish agency for entrepreneurial training (syntra vlaanderen) aims to stimulate enterpreneurship.it offers a range of training programmes, including courses in business management, entrepreneurial training as part of apprenticeships, and specific entrepreneurial training at isced 4 (the international standard classification of education) level (field et al.,2010). yet the importance of traditional skills has not declined. moreover, people do not master them as well as one might think. as the international adult literacy survey (ials) showed, more than a quarter of all adults in oecd countries do not have adequate skills 10 jpair: multidisciplinary research to function in today’s complex society. while the survey focused on people’s ability to understand and use texts and illustrated documents, it revealed that far more was at stake. the massive influx of electronic tools onto the market has made writing and reading the most important skills anyone should possess. paradoxically, the internet revolution, electronic mail and global information flows are turning reading and writing into skills that no-one can do without, be it to search an internet site or to apply for a job by e-mail. the range of absolutely essential core skills has broadened from cognitive skills, whether developed in initial education or elsewhere, the ability to handle information and to use a computer, and knowledge of one or more foreign languages. in addition to these basic skills, there are others that are sometimes described as new and that give people control over their future in society and in the work-place. but these new competencies do not replace traditional skills; they complement and extend them, well beyond the world of work. team-working, problem-solving and ict (information and communication technology) skills are helping people to play a full role in society and exercise their rights and duties as citizens. the ials (institute of advanced legal studies) showed a worrying correlation between economic inequality and different levels of literacy. promoting basic skills has always been key to individual and collective success, and the odds are that this applies to the new competencies too (pont, werquin, 2000). eu ( european union) level activities are being developed to address priority areas in each of the different levels of education and training – early childhood, school, higher, vocational and adult education – based on these overall aims. these include, for example, expanding opportunities for learning mobility or enhancing partnerships between education and training institutions and the broader society. other actions are relevant to all levels of education, such as promoting multilingualism, innovation, creativity and adoption of ict (information and communication technology). the benchmarks for 2020 are: • at least 95% of children between the age of four and the age for starting compulsory primary education should participate in 11 international peer reviewed journal early childhood education; • the share of 15-years old with insufficient abilities in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15%; • the share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 10%; • the share of 30-34 year olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40%; • an average of at least 15 % of adults (age group 25-64) should participate in lifelong learning (ec, 2009). conclusion to move closer to a knowledge-based society, europe needs an innovation strategy to foster investment in, and the quality of human capital. more effective use of resources, a future �oriented style of vet and new approaches to learning in schools and at work are essential ingredients of such a strategy. special attention needs to be given to key competences, including ict literacy, learning partnerships and the creation o learning-conductive environments in all settings. to move forward, governments should identify the key issues such an innovation strategy, supported by public-private partnerships and agreements on innovation pacts with social partners and stakeholders. on 9 of june 2010, the european commission presented a 10 year vision for the future of vocational education and training in the communication. a new impetus for european cooperation in vocational education and training to support the europe 2020 strategy. it includes: • ensuring access to training and qualifications is flexible and open at all stages of life • promoting mobility to make it easier to gain experience abroad, or in a different sector of the economy • ensuring the highest possible quality of education and training • providing more opportunities for disadvantaged groups such as school drop-outs, the low-skilled and unemployed, people with migrant backgrounds and the disabled • nurturing creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking in 12 jpair: multidisciplinary research students the economies of oecd countries need specific occupational skills in professional, managerial and technical jobs, in expanding fields such as health care, as well as in traditional trades like electricians. vocational education and training (vet) systems, which supply these skills, are now under intensive scrutiny to determine if they can deliver the skills required, and ensure that they adapt to fast-changing needs (oecd,2011). literature cited botkin,w,j., mahdi,m.e. 1979 no limts to learning: bridging the human gap, new york. pergamon press. basic skills agency 1997 staying the course. the relationship between basic skills support and drop out, retentation and achievement in further education colleges. basic skills agency,london. cedefop 2008 future skills needs in europe-meduim term-forecast ,office for official publications of the european communities,luxembourg. eurostat 2002 european social statistics, continuing vocational training survey (cvts2),luxemburg. field,s. kuczera , m. 2010 learning for jobs.synthetic report of the oecd reviews of vocational education and traninig.oecd. fokiené, a. duvekot, r., gross, m., lepanjuuri, a., keurulainen, h., gudzuka, s. 2000 vocational teachers–lifelong learners.in :assessment of prior 13 international peer reviewed journal learning in vocatonal teacher education.handbook for assessors. leonardo da vinci project “transfer of innovative methodology for teachers´ prior learning“.no .llp-ldv-toillt-ooo4. tallina : printing house: baltic print & banners hagstrom, a. 1997 the joy of learning. implementing lifelong learning in the learning society; report of the theme conference of the european year of lifelong learning, espoo and rovaniemi, finland, 16-20 june 1996 report 8. helsinki. isbn -9789529789061i. kézdi,g. 2006 not only transition.the reasons for declining returns to vocational education.cerge_ei. korhonen,k. educating engineers of the 21.st century-the challenges of higher 1997 education in finland.helsinki. levy,f., r.j.murnane, 2004 education and the changing job market.educational leadership. vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 80-83. ludvig,v., f. pfeiffer 2005 abschreibungsraten allgemeiner und beruflicher ausbildungsinhalte, zew discussion paper. markkula,m., r.suurla 2000 passioin to learnbenchmarking good lifelong practice. (9). espoo: international association for continuing engineering education (iacee), dipoli, finland oecd 2009 education at the glance.oecd paris. oecd 2010 designing local skills strategies.oecd,paris. 14 jpair: multidisciplinary research oecd 2011 access to participation,education and progress.oecd. pont, b., werquin ,p. 2000 literacy in a thousand words, the oecd observer no. 223. schneeberger, a. 2007 hemmende und fornderde faktoren der lehrlingsufnahme, ergenisse einer lehrbetriebsbefragung,ibw-bildung and wirthschaft no 41. tuijman,a.c. 1992 the expansion of adult education and trainig in europe,trends and issuses.international review of education 38. quintini g.,manfredi,t. going separate ways?school-to-work transition in the united states and europe.oecd social,employment and migration working paper no.90,oedc,paris.2009. queeney,d,s. 1995 assessing needs in continuing education-an essential tool for quality improvement.1.st .edition,jossey-bass inc.,publishers. http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learningpolicy/ framework_en.htm pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. cover single with doi 54 jpair: multidisciplinary research psycholinguistic extracts and socio-cultural imprints in job application discourses: a genre analysis emmanuel j. songcuan don mariano marcos memorial state university abstract genres represent purposive and staged ways of communicating in a culture and enacting a range of important institutional practices. genre studies have paved the way for understanding the way discourse is used in academic, professional, and institutional contexts. this paper analyzed the psycholinguistic realization and drew out socio-cultural imprints in the construction of application letter and résumé in the philippine setting. qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in the analysis of job application documents representing different professions to determine the generic structure and the linguistic features of the moves and strategies that accomplish the communicative functions of the genres. employers’ group survey and job interview extracts were also used to cross-validate and provide snapshots on the interpretations made. a seven-move and a five-move generic structure occurring in a flexible sequence define the composition of job application letter and résumé, respectively. the construction of these two types of discourse is influenced and constrained by the applicant’s psycholinguistic repertoire, professional background, and socio-cultural milieu. a genre-based pedagogy is recommended to sensitize filipinos of the existing genres and textlinguistic variations in the workplace. keywords discourse analysis, genre analysis, letter of application, résumé vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.15 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 55 international peer reviewed journal introduction discourses may appear to occur in a random pattern at its surface, but researches have documented highly patterned forms of language use which do not only organize language itself but also structure thoughts and construct societies and social activities. it is in response to this notion that this research focused on discovering language patterns in workplace environments particularly on job application discourses is conceptualized. as bakhtin argued, “learning genres is a fundamental part of language development, and it is our ability to predict the compositional structure and length of genres that enable us to communicate” (in derewianka, 2003). notwithstanding, job application is an institutionalized social activity whose import is seen in light of the need for the rendering of service as part of a society’s economic activities. given the significance of an acquired language competence in the world of employment, it is imperative for schools to produce graduate-applicants who are competitive particularly in the area of communication. peel (2000) underscored the need to produce graduates who are literate and can communicate. this is parallel to ventola’s (1987, 2000) assertion that the lack of knowing how to conduct linguistically (and non-linguistically) basic social communications may result in rejection of the new host society. unfortunately, teaching applicants how to hurdle the job application stage is not a simple matter of teaching the parts, the formats, and showing some idealized samples but more importantly, in making learners understand the intricacies in the construction of the genres. the problem, as fagan (2008) notes, is the want of empirically derived discipline-specific genre exemplars to be used in the l2 writing classroom. moreover, not many of the resources point out explicitly and exactly what the elements in the text are, why some elements are chosen, and how these elements are assembled. with genre and corpus analyses at its methodological core utilizing authentic corpora for functional description of language use, the current research situates job applicants to see the construction and interpretive process at work and get them used to the special and specific genre features (popken in kiloran, 2009) as practiced by 56 jpair: multidisciplinary research different professions and society, as well as to describe the cultural practices and norms embedded in writing application letters and résumés. specifically, it identified (a) the elements and the sequence order of the moves observed in the genres under study; (b) the strategies used to realize the moves; (c) the similarities and/or variations in the generic structure of the application documents across profession; (d) the linguistic features and dominant syntactic patterns used; and (e) the communicative functions such linguistic features perform in accomplishing the purposes of the identified moves and strategies. framework the present study is anchored on the concept of genre and corpus analyses informed by views drawn from english for specific purposes, systemic-functional linguistics, new rhetoric and contrastive rhetoric analysis, ethnography of communication, pragmatics of language and theories of face and politeness, schema theory, corpus linguistics, and psychology of communication. the term genre was first used in esp context by tarone et al. (in flowerdew and dudley-evans, 2002) establishing the principle that within the conventions of the genre studied, it was the writer’s communicative purpose that governs choice at the grammatical and lexical levels. flowerdew & dudley-evans (2002) extend the concept of genre analysis stating that it involves exploring established but not necessarily codified conventions. accordingly, the focus of the process is to help students orient themselves to the english language demands they encounter in their studies or professions. meanwhile, systemic-functional linguistics (halliday, 1975, 1978, 1994) espouses the role of language in the social construction of life. this theory posits that language is systemic, that is, it offers systems of choices in language and the user draws upon language resources to accomplish a rhetorical act revealing the functional nature of language. on the other hand, new rhetoric focuses more on the detailed analyses of the social and cultural contexts in which genres occur, with an emphasis on social purposes, or actions, that these genres fulfill. the emphasis, freedman and medway (1994) stressed, is on the fluid and dynamic character of genres, and how they evolve and change 57 international peer reviewed journal over time. rather than attempting linguistic analysis for descriptions, hyon (1996, 2001) remarked that the concern of new rhetoric is less with the potential of genre for teaching patterns of text organization and language, and more with helping university students understand the social functions of genres. littlefair (in riley and reedy, 2000), likewise, believes that teachers’ sure knowledge of genre and register provides them with linguistic tools with which to examine the texts used in the classroom, and serves to enhance their understanding of why, where, and when language learners need support. furthermore, the concept of genre assumes that there is a recurrent feature that exists and built within the textual structure of written or spoken texts. anchored to this notion is the seminal work of swales’ (1990) stating: “a genre comprises of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes…” following a sociological perspective, bhatia (1993) cautions that a text is not to be taken as a complete object possessing meaning of its own; rather, it is to be regarded as an ongoing process of negotiation in the context of social roles, group purposes, professional and organizational preferences, and even cultural constraints. corollary to this is the bakhtinian theory commonly tied to a cognitive theory known as schema theory. human consciousness, bartlett says, processes information by means of “template-matching”: new “incoming” information is compared and accommodated to a template that is permanently stored in memory. these schematic templates are seen as a “combined standard against which all subsequent changes of posture are measured before they enter consciousness” (in keunen, 2000). meanwhile, a literature search done suggests that a considerable body of researches has already been conducted along the lines of discourse analysis specifically genre studies. landmark seminal papers include those of swales (1981; 1990) on the structure of academic and scientific writing; bhatia (1993) on sales promotion letters and the legal profession; sacks, schegloff and jefferson’s (1973, 1979, 1986) and schegloff et al. (2002) on the structure and organization of everyday conversations and talk-in interactions; labov and waletzsky (in cameron, 2001) on the pattern of oral narratives, and propp on the descriptive morphology of folktales. likewise, in many other 58 jpair: multidisciplinary research disciplines and cultural settings, there, too, have been established overall structures and sequential patterns of moves operating in said discourse communities. these include studies research articles (ruiying, 2003); service encounters (hasan, 1995; ventola, 1987, 2000); academic lectures and academic writing (eniko, 2000; flowerdew, 2000, cheng, 2008); newspaper law reports (badger, 2003; editorial articles (flowerdew, 2004); business reports, letters of negotiation and transactions (pinto dos santos, 2002; crosling and ward, 2002; jung 2004; yeung, 2007), transactional letter writing (okamura & shaw, 2000), mobile phone conversations (weilenmann, 2003) and application essays and letters (bhatia, 1993; connor, davis and de rycker, 1995; upton and connor, 2001; henry and roseberry, 2001; al-ali, 2006; ding, 2007)--all of which have established patterns that again prove the conventional unfolding of genres although some studies found flexible and variable generic structuring. meanwhile, the ethnographic approach adds an external variable in analyzing communication stressing the cultural specificity of rules of communication and the totality of factors needing description. in doing this, hymes (1962, 1971) lists eight components to be holistically described in a communication event: situation (setting or locale), participants (speaker, addressee), end (purposes, goals, outcome), act sequences (message form and content), key (tone, manner), instrumentalities (channel or mode: spoken, written, variety of language), norms (norms of interpretation and interaction), and genres (categories). related to this, brown and levinson (1987) theorized about politeness strategies which are employed to save the hearers’ face (a concept first created in 1963 by erving goffman defining face as a mask that changes depending on the audience and the social interaction) when face threatening acts are inevitable or desired. these include bald on record, negative politeness, positive politeness, and off-record-indirect strategies. furthermore, analytical practice in discourse analysis has evolved into one which is interdisciplinary. this is in light of the fact that human communication is a complex process which cannot be adequately captured using just one frame of reference. in the field of linguistics, another type of analysis comes in the form of identifying certain 59 international peer reviewed journal specific features of language with certain types of writing or styles known as corpus analysis or corpus linguistics, or the study of language based on examples of ‘real life’ language use. corpus provides a broad and naturalistic sample rather than a contrived data elicited under artificial conditions (mcenery & wilson, 2001). meanwhile, the contribution of psychology in genre analysis is built in the tactical aspect of genre construction. this means that although there is an organizational constraint implicitly imposed in the structure of a genre, an individual has strategic choices in order to execute his or her intention. in the language teaching jargon, this is known as strategy, a sub-move serving a typical communicative intention which is always subservient to the overall communicative purpose of the genre (bhatia, 1993). yet, aside from the linguistic, sociological, and psychological analytic frames that are involved in the analysis of genre, the relationship between linguistic communication and culture should also be considered. accordingly, these patterns and list, often meaningless, can be made more beneficial by showing their communicative functions such as how modals and hedges are used persuasively in different socio-cultural contexts. conrad (2002) opines that corpus-based studies of grammar have the potential to revolutionize the teaching of grammar by being more focused on conditions of use taking into account functional descriptions and frequency information, as well as an analysis of students’ needs. overall, the theoretical framework captures how the moves and strategies in the letter of application and résumé define, organize, and communicate the social and cultural expectations embedded in the genre and with an end-view of educating esl/efl writers to reader’s expectations and enculturating them to the target discourse community. objectives of the study this study aimed at determining the genre and textlinguistic features of application letters and résumés across professions, investigating how language is manipulated to meet the purposes of those texts, describing the social and cultural embeddings in writing 60 jpair: multidisciplinary research them in philippine context and comparing it with other cultures. materials and methods one hundred texts from different workplaces representing 10 professions were analyzed for their generic and textual features using qualitative and quantitative methods. using an instrument patterned after bhatia’s (1993), upton and connor’s (2001), and henry and roseberry’s (2001), the different genre moves and move sequences were identified and coded for their occurrence. afterwards, the obligatory and the optional moves were identified as a basis for making the conclusion as to which moves are considered genre-defining. after the coding and identification of the moves and strategies, the whole corpus was processed for an arithmetical count of the items using microsoft word count and anthony’s (2007) antconc 3.2.1 concordance software. thereafter, syntactic categorization was done by classifying and framing particular linguistic categories in a matrix. the high frequency count and ranking results observed for some lexicons were further subjected to concordance and cluster analyses and explained in terms of their role in realizing the communicative and rhetorical function of the moves and strategies. on the other hand, the employers’ perceptions on the importance of moves were processed using weighted mean, and subsequently matched with the applicants’ perception on the obligatoriness of said moves using percentage. moreover, interview extracts were presented as vignettes to support the statistical analyses. this is to build a genre and register typology of job application discourses capturing the psychology and pragmatics of communicating as well as explicating the possible recursion and variation of different generic elements and the demarcating sociocultural differences among the texts studied. the analysis done was informed using hymes’ ethnography of communication framework. 61 international peer reviewed journal results and discussions a. generic elements and allowable sequence order in job application documents based on the analysis done, a 7-part schematic structure appeared as the generic formula of an application letter in the philippine context. this is shown in table 1 showing the obligatory elements (highlighted) and the other optional elements. table 1. obligatory and optional moves in an application letter moves % (n=100) generic structure potential 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 opening greetings personal identification identifying source of information/referring to job ads introducing candidature/applying for the position stating reasons for applying stating availability promoting the candidate stipulating terms and conditions of employment enclosing documents naming references identifying other institutions where application is sent using pressure tactic soliciting response/ indicating desire for interview polite ending signing off 98 31 27 47 94 16 4 91 8 81 3 0 0 89 61 94 obligatory optional optional optional obligatory optional optional obligatory optional obligatory optional optional* optional obligatory obligatory obligatory note: a 50% occurrence is used as criterion for determining the importance of a strategy in a move * highlighted moves are considered obligatory *highly specific to department of education the above obligatory elements showed similarity with the three foreign models reviewed on what could be considered as genericdefining moves across cultures namely: move 1 (opening), move 5 (introducing candidature), move 8 (promoting the candidate), move 14 (soliciting response), move 15 (polite ending), and move 16 (signing off). this means that for an application letter to be effective and serve 62 jpair: multidisciplinary research its purpose, it must be opened formally and its nature stated, the candidate is promoted, a response is sought, it must be ended in a polite manner, and it must be closed formally. on the other hand, the differences noted are: 1) the obligatory stature of move 10 (enclosing documents) which was not compulsory in henry and roseberry’s (2001) model; 2) the non-obligatory stature of move 4 (identifying source of information) which was obligatory in bhatia’s (1993) and upton and connor’s (2001) models; and 3) the absence of move 13 (using pressure tactic) which was present in bhatia’s model. thus, the seven (7) “must have” moves define the generic structure potential of the application letter in the philippine context consistent to hasan’s (1995) conception of obligatory elements as a criterion for defining whether texts are complete or incomplete. the existence of this template is also supported by data showing a high correspondence (i.e., 75% match) between the employers’ perception and the applicants’ written letters in terms of the relevance and obligatoriness assigned on the different moves. notwithstanding, two other moves move 4 (identifying source of information) and move 6 (stating reasons for applying) can be considered obligatory depending on the “context of situation”. in this case, the two moves deemed “important” by employers are included in the letter only when it is not felt to negatively affect one’s application. on the other hand, five (5) moves constitute the genre-defining structure of the résumé. table 2 shows the obligatory (highlighted) moves and the optional moves. 63 international peer reviewed journal table 2. obligatory and optional moves in a résumé moves in a résumé % (n=100) generic structure potential 1. identification of self 2. detailing contact 3. stating candidature 4. stating reasons 5. previewing qualifications 6. promoting the candidate 7. providing personal information 8. stipulating terms and conditions 9. stating availability 10. providing/offering references 11. attesting information given 12. claiming ownership 13. detailing contact in case of emergency 100 98 7 30 9 100 72 1 1 72 12 15 1 obligatory obligatory optional optional optional obligatory obligatory optional optional obligatory optional optional optional note: a 50% occurrence is used as criterion for determining the importance of a strategy in a move * highlighted moves are considered obligatory the data suggest that for a résumé to be effective and functional, the candidate must present himself/herself, give details for contacting him/ her, state his/her educational and professional qualifications and other related experiences, provide relevant personal information, and offer references. b. dominant strategies used to realize the moves of the job application texts observed as obligatory among the psycholinguistic strategies are the listing of educational qualifications (64%) and the listing of relevant experiences, skills and abilities and how these were obtained (57%) for move 8 (promoting the candidature). on the one hand, observed as a dominant strategy for move 15 (soliciting response) is asking for an interview/ favorable response (85%). 64 jpair: multidisciplinary research the use of such strategies implies that many filipino professionals recognize the purpose of the self-promotion move and know how to exploit this move to their advantage by maximizing exposure in a limited discourse environment. statistically, the applicants devoted more space to promote their candidature based on the 9,460 computer word count for move 8 which constitutes 54.94% of the total 17,308 words in the whole corpus. specifically, more space was allotted to the listing of experiences, skills, and abilities (n=4,058) followed by listing of educational qualifications (n=1,924), demonstrating confidence of the skills and abilities acquired from experience and education (n=1,012), naming and describing the job/s held (n=993), and citing the benefits to be gained by the company if the applicant is hired (n=870). this word count result implies that both form and substance matter in a communication that aims to persuade by apportioning a substantial space to more important information. but while there is a good percentage in the samples (91%) which promoted candidature, there is a considerable percentage (9%) having used the document simply as a transmittal letter. this is similar to what bhatia (1993) observed in the letters he analyzed noting that 80% of his asian subjects made no effort to convince the readers of the applicants’ worth. but the reason for this non-promotion of candidature, at least in the philippine context, is not without a cause. employing a content analysis of the classified ads section of two national dailies, only 53.57% of the 112 ads used as references in this study solicited the submission of a letter compared to 92.86% which required a résumé. this documentary analysis is further validated by the employers’ expressed preference for credentials to be used for shortlisting applicants ranking the résumé or curriculum vitae as first in the order of importance (100%). this is followed by transcript of records (80%), application letter (53.33%), certificates and proofs of relevant trainings (20%), exams (13.33%), and professional eligibility (13.33%). interestingly, the low expectation for an application letter as surveyed is captured in the following light: that the letter is required for formality’s sake only (26.67%). yet, even if the submission of the letter is seen for purposes of formality, this perception reveals the phatic function of the language in the whole gamut of job application as a social practice. just as some communications are done not to focus 65 international peer reviewed journal on the message (i.e., the transactional function), the writing of a letter is aimed at preserving existing social structures, that is, as part of institutional ritual conducted by a “literate culture”. in addition, the letter, if well-staged, can showcase the applicant’s linguistic competence, and one’s ability to clearly identify skills, values, interests, and other personal attributes which are among the core strengths and ‘differentiating factors’ being looked into by screeners. this reading is validated by the high statistical index of the surveyed employers (93.33%) who admitted using the document, when provided, as bases for shortlisting candidates and inferring from it the applicant’s ability to summarize key points (100%), command of the language (93.33%), matching skills (86.66%), presentation skills (66.66%), and even politeness (60%) and handwriting (6%). indeed, image-building (through self-analysis of strengths and weaknesses) can be a reason for the obligatory inclusion of move 8 (promoting the candidate) in the genre in the same way that employers put premium to this move particularly on the listing of educational and professional qualifications (wx=1.73) and relevant experience, skills, and abilities (wx=1.60), describing these two strategies as “very important” pieces of information to be included. the above findings, then, put the filipinos similar to those in english cultures (clyne in kaplan, n.d.) who tend to stress the written language as main medium of effective communication as well as emphasize concreteness and reasoning. notwithstanding, two (2) other strategies not listed in the coding frame emerged and prove to be potential differences between english cultures and philippine culture. these are rationalizing the recognized lack in skill, knowledge, experience, and other measures of competence as required in the job (12%); and begging for the job (3%). move 14 (soliciting response), meanwhile, invites the reader to take action on the application. this is done in three ways: a) inviting a favorable response and asking for an interview (85%), b) offering to provide further information (5%), and/or c) detailing contact (28%). these strategies are employed to expedite communication and bring the application to the next process by asking for an interview. similar to the application letter, in the résumé are the listing of educational/professional qualification (98%), listing relevant experiences 66 jpair: multidisciplinary research such as trainings/seminars/workshops (63%), and presenting past and present jobs held ( 94%) in move 6 (promoting the candidate) which are found to be dominant among the psycholinguistic strategies. these strategies are perceived important since educational qualification is an entry requirement in many jobs. the trainings received, meanwhile, show how a perceived lack of formal education is supplemented to give the idea of continual upgrading and keeping abreast with the demands of the time and the profession. c. similarities and variations of moves across professions and cultures factoring profession as a variable in comparing the staging of the different moves, four (4) moves appeared obligatory to specific disciplines wherein it can be said that the profession’s communication style and preferences are encoded in the genre. these are move 2 (greetings) perceived to be important for inclusion by the legal (50%), medical (50%), and medical-educational professionals (50%); move 3 (identification of self) deemed important by the editors (50%); move 6 (stating reasons for applying) which appeared significant to administrative officers (50%) and lawyers (50%); and move 9 (stipulating terms) which is relevant to the group of managers (70%). situational contexts and subculture seem to operate in these specific professions such as hierarchical orientation, presence of an advertisement to be responded, perceived power or (over)qualification, and institutional preference/idiosyncrasies that make different professions put relative importance on some moves and strategies. these contextual factors reveal the distinct thought patterns of the filipinos involving a range of psycholinguistic and socio-cultural strategies encoded at the lexico-grammatical level to achieve the transactional and interpersonal functions of the genre. this observation reiterates swales’ conception (1990) that what shapes the genre is the communicative purpose and the perpetuation made by members of the professional community; and as bhatia (1993) explains, the expectations within the specialist circles put limit on certain kinds of meaning and the positioning of certain elements. 67 international peer reviewed journal moreover, three sets of move patterns have been observed to exhibit variability in their sequencing namely: a) moves 3-10 (53 deviant cases) with high interchangeability in the sequence of moves 3-5 (12 cases), moves 4-5 (9 cases), moves 5-8 (10 cases), and moves 8-10 (7 cases); b) moves 9-15 (11 deviant cases) with high interchangeability in the sequence of moves 10-14 (9 cases); and c) moves 14-15 (9 deviant cases). this means that except for moves 1 (opening), 2 (greetings), and 16 (signing off), all the moves can be rearranged. this pattern is similar to the observed sequence variations in the moves of the foreign models particularly for moves 4 and 5, and moves 8, 9, and 10. all the above findings prove that the application letter genre does not follow a straightjacket ordering of the moves similar to other genres (see ventola, 1987/2000; flowerdew & dudley-evans, 2002; ruiying & allison, 2003). moreover, filipino applicants can be said to exercise more freedom in their presentation of the different moves when constructing the genre. albeit, the observed differences in the move sequences can be explained by the theoretical concept of interplay and interaction forwarded by bakhtin (n.d.) as well as miller (1994), freedman (1999), and miller & shepherd (2004), that genre rule does not create a binding constraint. instead, human agents continually enact genres, and can challenge and change these genres. this is to say that creativity is possible everywhere. anent to this, the dynamism observed in the study can be ascribed to differences in terms of the linguistic ability of the filipinos (with english as a second language only) and may be influenced by one’s specialization/profession and cultural uniqueness, hence, the variation in the sequential presentation of some textual elements compared to what bhatia (1993), henry and roseberry (2001), and upton and connor (2001) found out in their studies. along this observation, language and culture have been identified in this research as determiners in disturbing and shaping the application genre among the filipinos with the inclusion of greetings (31%), identification of self (27%), and polite ending (61%). on the other hand, among the marked sociolinguistic strategies in realizing the purpose of the application letter are solidarity enforcement and form foregrounding in move 2 (greetings); conflict-avoidance/ indirect politeness, information presupposition, adversarial glorification and 68 jpair: multidisciplinary research approbation in move 5 (introducing candidature); off-record politeness strategy and adversarial glorification and approbation in move 6 (stating reasons for applying); self-glorification, approbation (mentioning and highlighting), sparkling generality, repackaging, begging or underdog psychology in move 8 (promoting the candidate); topic avoidance and shifting, negotiating for flexibility, and negative politeness in move 9 (stipulating terms and conditions); self-glorification in move 14 (soliciting response) and negative politeness in move 15 (polite ending). meanwhile, the marked sociolinguistic strategies in the résumé include adversarial glorification and approbation in move 4 (stating reasons), and self glorification in move 5 (previewing qualifications). indeed, the aforementioned moves and strategies have evolved not only to make the purpose of the genre clearer, but, by modifying the conventions, the intention is achieved most effectively by allowing culturally constrained and specific ways of interacting, in this case, reflecting solidarity, religiosity, hospitality, bestowing deference and an ‘unassuming’ coyness as a way of narrowing social distance. pragmatically-speaking, the application letter provides a voice and focus which can negotiate and control the direction of communication in a highly-structured, asymmetrical, and dominating workplace environment. the application letter may not be the document on which hiring decision may rest but one can sell himself/herself through it similar to what ads do for products and ideas in a space-limited discourse environment. these conclusions support what riley and reedy (2000) contended that conventional mode of interacting oils the wheels of human intercourse constrained by highly context-specific modes of communicating. littlefair (in riley and reedy, 2000) captured this essence articulating the idea that “a writer chooses a genre which is suitable for his or her purpose and expresses details of the communication in a register and style of language which is inevitably constrained by the immediate situation. d. communicative functions of the observed linguistic features in accomplishing the purpose of the genre because the letter genre is limited in its form and content, it has 69 international peer reviewed journal to be written pragmatically forceful and must be sociolinguistically appropriate. this purpose is achieved through the use of linguistic structures (lexical and syntactic) that ensure acceptability. lexically, the application letter is a highly predictable genre. most prominent in the corpus is the use of “i” communicatively serving as a “lexical connector” and giving the sentences and the whole text a sense of cohesion. this finding is similar to henry and roseberry’s (2001) study that reveals not only the “generic-ness” and crosscultural similarity of the application letter genre but also suggests the existence of a predictable lexical composition of the said text. this is worth highlighting in english writing classes in terms of the role of pronominal reference (and other lexical ties) as a cohesive device (see halliday and hasan, 1976; henry and roseberry, 2001). the “i” point-of-view is most pronounced in move 5 (introducing candidature), move 8 (promoting the candidate), and move 14 (soliciting response) fulfilling extensive transactional and interpersonal functions. this inference is supported by a computer count of the number of words used in staging these moves. notwithstanding, while the “i” appeared frequently (n=832) so that the text seemed to appear as a selfcentered presentation, the writers mitigated it with the use of modal auxiliary verbs (e.g., would, can, may, should, could) as well modal lexical/ mental cognition/affective verbs (e.g., believe, feel, think). the “i” is also observed to combine with carefully planned syntactic devices such as non-thematization and passivization techniques, that is, the use of phrases (participial, prepositional) and clauses (conditionals, subordinate) in an anticipatory staging as well as fta-reducing defocalization of the “i” through subject-operator inversion, nominalization, third person point-ofview, and use of non-referential it-cleft. all these are done to soften the impact of an otherwise egotistic “i”. these linguistic renditions exemplify halliday’s (1975, 1978, 1985) systemic-functional linguistics espousing that in constructing a text, the user draws upon language resources to accomplish a rhetorical act. this is also consonant with what christie (1999) and christie & martin (1997/2000) averred that when people use language, they: a) make choices within the linguistic systems; and b) represent ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings. following the argument, then, that successful communication 70 jpair: multidisciplinary research depends on the parties sharing background knowledge and assumptions, the above textures of the text emerged to ensure a smooth flow of communication and achieve the desired ‘linguistic consequences’. in the case of application letters, this is reflected in the words used and syntactic choices described above and in the use of face-saving strategies namely positive politeness ‘solidarity enforcement strategy’ (i.e., used to build up or intensify solidarity between participants), negative politeness ‘conflict avoidance strategy’ (i.e., used to reduce the force of disagreement), and ‘off record strategy’ (i.e., nonconventionally indirect disagreement) similar to what jung (2005) found out in korean business correspondence. such textualization is part of the linguistic strategy better known as hedging which salager-meyer (1993, 2001) explains as being employed in the communication process in order to guarantee a certain level of acceptability while maintaining the existing balance (or hierarchy) of human relations. here, with the writer limited in making a straightforward presentation and because of the asymmetrical tenor of the discourse – the letter is so constructed to reflect social functions but with a strong bargaining latitude through the use of politeness strategies (brown and levinson, 1987). as a whole, the requirement and utility of job application documents indicate the existence of what may be called as ‘ritual’ in the linguistically-driven world of employment in the philippines particularly in professions where english is deemed relevant. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn: application letters and résumés in the philippine context, follow a predictable generic structure similar to the western and other south asian cultural patterns but occurring in a dynamic and more flexible sequence pattern and variations across professions. said genres are responsive to creative maneuverings depending on the perceived constraints of writing and influenced by the writer’s linguistic proficiency, professional orientation, and cultural compass. comparing 71 international peer reviewed journal the above findings with the foreign studies reviewed, philippine languages and culture can be said to influence the construction of the application letter with the inclusion of greetings, identification of self, identifying other agencies where application is sent, and polite ending as moves and solidarity enforcement, topic avoidance, adversarial glorification and approbation, sparkling generality, rationalizing and repackaging, and begging or underdog psychology as strategies. these identified moves and strategies reveal the character of the filipinos namely a) putting premium on interpersonal relationship by strongly foregrounding form through the use of positive and negative politeness strategies; b) adoption of culturally-dictated institutional preferences in job hiring; c) adoption of non-confrontational stance in a communication encounter and coyness for up-front negotiations; and d) exhibiting personal and emotional involvement as well as religiosity and over bestowing of deference. also, the use of extra moves and wordiness in the letters reflect the verbose nature of philippine languages. these forms of linguistic and cultural conceptions of communication are encoded in the application letter and ‘nativized’ as a genre written in the english language. likewise, situational contexts and the operating subculture in specific professions such as hierarchical orientation, presence of an advertisement, perceived power or qualification and position, and institutional preferences/idiosyncrasies are among the factors influencing the importance consigned by the different professions on some moves and strategies—in order to maintain the social structure and ethos of the said professions. peripherally, the résumé has a higher utility compared to the application letter based on the employer’s perceived importance of these documents. however, the use of the application letter (as a formality requirement) and the continued submission of letter by applicants are indicative of the “phatic” function of the letter done to preserve the existing social structures and ritual required in the literate culture of filipinos. pragmatically, the application letter provides a window for showcasing one’s linguistic ability and allows voice and focus which can negotiate in a highly-structured, asymmetrical, and dominating social environment. interestingly, most filipinos recognize the value 72 jpair: multidisciplinary research of the application letter for self-promotion and know how to advertise themselves using universal and culture-specific strategies as well as linguistic devices in the lexical, syntactic, and discourse levels that help realize the communicative functions of the application letter and résumé. however, some moves and strategies need highlighting in the english classroom since some of the samples analyzed failed to manifest sociolinguistic competence. some moves and strategies as well as linguistic structures were used ineffectively and inappropriately that led to the commission of face-threatening acts and increased the risk of rejection. recommendations in light of the import of job application as an institutional and social practice, and the conclusions drawn from this research, the following are recommended: first, that genre-interested researchers and theorists explore further the textual and pragmatic relationship of job application genres by identifying how the written documents exert influence and control the interview procedure. likewise, a more comprehensive cross-cultural contrastive analysis be done to further explore the role of culture in workplace communication and gain a full understanding of the role of language in the success of application. furthermore, researchers are also encouraged to study students’ writing of job application discourses within a controlled environment. this is to explore students’ degree of knowledge and sensitization of the said genres and to determine differential effects of explicit teaching of the genres in ushering employment. all these are suggested in light of the objective of popularizing genre teaching as language pedagogy. second, that esl teachers and job placement consultants familiarize applicants of the composition of the genre and train them how to draft the genres to maximize the pragmatic force of the texts and minimize socio-cultural repercussions. third, that esl materials writers and esp practitioners incorporate, through consciousness-raising strategy, the “beyond-the-form” structures that are usually difficult to acquire in esl/efl contexts. this will sensitize students to the sociolinguistic and semantic 73 international peer reviewed journal blueprints, and pragmatic devices and help them gain some control over the language forms that are socio-culturally appropriate and pragmatically persuasive at a given level of formality all in an effort to maintain interpersonal relationships, conform to existing sociocultural structures, and achieve personal objectives. fourth, that language specialists and trainers revisit the pedagogical applications of the discourse properties of the genres studied herein, which include the formal and functional lexico-grammatical structures, semantic features, and organizational aspects. these shall be funneled as inputs during trainings of grassroot teachers in order to upgrade the latter’s linguistic knowledge base. and fifth, that esl teaching as a whole incorporate the concept of genre teaching in the philippine educational system. this genre-based pedagogy is presented as a model (see figure 1) informed by historical, social, cultural, economic, and political factors. given the bilingual education policy of the country where english plays a specialized function, the language curriculum must be made more responsive to societal needs. it must reflect national development goals and industry needs and it must be sensitive to emerging employment patterns forced by shifting globalization trends. among the skills to be developed include the ability to use language appropriately for a particular purpose and audience and the ability to demonstrate self-awareness, self-promotion, action-planning, matching, decision-making, and negotiating skills. to do this, curriculum planners, materials writers, and language practitioners must view language teaching through a multiand interdisciplinary perspective that includes the areas of linguistics, sociology, psychology, applied linguistics, literary theory, cultural studies, anthropology, and communication and sieve from them a more meaningful and functional language pedagogy. specifically, this can be done by conducting and/or assembling discourse-based studies and using different types of activities/texts in a society particularly those which exist in the workplace environment. these studies and texts must include among others 1) knowledge on how language varies in context, purpose, audience, and content; 2) knowledge of linguistic structures, features varieties of written / spoken english and the multifunctionality of linguistic items; 3) knowledge of language organization, cultural and linguistic patterns; 74 jpair: multidisciplinary research and 4) knowledge of organizational structure and how to adapt to organizational subculture and its norms, attitudes, values. all these insights of ‘real world’ discourses must be brought into the classroom (reflected in the language syllabus) in terms of the content (language and society), situation (business and corporate encounters), tasks (applying for a job), skills (spoken and written), materials (authentic texts) as well as using genre-inspired methods and activities that capture the society as a literate and linguistically-driven environment. this kind of pedagogy will sensitize the learners to the outside environment as well as meet their pragmatic needs both as students and later as professionals. indeed, for esp teachers, knowledge of the moves, strategies, and the corresponding linguistic structures (though narrow-angled in focus) would make them better teachers towards helping their students wade through the competitive and linguistically-demanding world of employment. such genre-based and functionally-focused teaching can help bridge and transform today’s students into becoming employed and productive citizens of tomorrow. 75 international peer reviewed journal fig. 1. proposed paradigm on genre teaching in language pedagogy 76 jpair: multidisciplinary research literature cited al-ali, m. 2006 genre-pragmatic strategies in english letter-of-application writing of jordanian arabic--english bilinguals. international journal of bilingual education and bilingualism, 9(1), 119-139. eric #: ej742495. anthony, l. 2007 antconc (forwindows). 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location in mobile-phone conversations” environment and planning a 35(9) 1589 – 1605 yeung. l 2007 in search of commonalities: some linguistic and rhetorical features of business reports as a genre english for specific purposes, 26(2), 156-179 37 international peer reviewed journal development of energy saving multi-fuel cooking stove jesus garcia manuel a. bajet, jr. orcid no.0000-0002-7545-9719 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan city,ilocos sur, philippines abstract the philippines is typical of many developing countries where the majority of the population has low income. with the present economic crisis happening due to the increase of oil prices, housewives are very much worried in budgeting family expenditures. they find hard to budget the day to day needs of the family. thus, the need to design and develop a low consuming, multiple feed cooking stove, yet comparably performs with liquefied petroleum gas (lpg), kerosene and electric stove, would somehow ease the day to day expenditure. energy saver multi-fed cooking stove was structured and made up of scrap iron bars sheet and a pipe welded together. it has a chimney and an ash tray. multifuel in the sense that it can be fuelled with firewood, charcoal like corn cobs, tobacco stalks, and others which were usually burned when the farmers lack knowledge in making use into fertilizer. qualitative testing was done in cooking different food was done to identify the cooking fuel consumption. using firewood is more economical in cooking with rice, vegetable dishes, boiling of fruits and root crops. while cooking meat and frying fish, charcoal is also more economical. in cooking different foods, it is significantly different from one another of fuel material. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of cooking different foods. furthermore, cooking different foods is significantly different in all cooking stoves like lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stove. vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.210 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords conserve energy develop multi-feed cooking stove vigan city. ilocos sur, philippines introduction the philippines is a nation with more than 7,000 islands. the larger islands are mountainous. much of the land is clad in the forest where bamboo and huge varieties of trees are grown. unfortunately, the country’s rich resources have been restlessly plundered. logging companies have filled millions with hardwood trees for fire wood causing problems with soil erosion and flood that destroy the environment and farmlands. about half of the population earn their living by farming, growing rice, sugarcane, pineapples, bananas, coconut, corn and tobacco. the economy is based mainly on agriculture and timber production. the philippines is typical of many developing countries where the majority of the population has low income, and the middle class is small. survey in 1995 there were 12,821,000 households in the philippines with 57% in the lowest income bracket (less than 5000 pesos/month). unfortunately, household survey combines 57% of the population into one income category, limiting a more detailed understanding of fuel choice relative to income level. nonetheless, the household survey provides some valuable insights into the fuel choices made by the general populace. (samson r., 2000) currently, the fuel requirement of 55% of the rural poor is supplied by firewood, with another 25% of the requirement through biomass residues as the philippines landscape is becoming increasingly agricultural residues for their fuel supply instead of firewood and charcoal. biomass residues seem to be quite popular across all income bracket in rural areas due to their availability. pelletized biomass enables more efficient combustion relative to other biomass forms and makes fuel convenient to transport and store for consumers. significant improvement in pelleting technologies (samson, 2000) and small cook stove suitable for burning these fuels are under development (reed & larson, 1996). for this reason, the researchers conceived to design and develop multi-fuel cooking stove to help minimize cutting down of trees for firewood. multiple fuel in the sense that it can be fuelled with a firewood, charcoal, farm and environmental wastes like corncobs and tobacco stalks which are usually burned off when farmers lack knowledge in making these into organic fertilizer. with the present economic crisis happening in the country, due to the fact increase of oil prices, this technology will help the people every much. housewives 39 international peer reviewed journal are very much worried in budgeting the family’s expenditures. they find hard to budget the day to day needs of the family. thus, the need to design and develop a low consuming, multiple feed cooking stove, yet comparably performs with lpg, kerosene and electric stove, would somehow ease the day to day expenditures. in highly technological society where mass production provides an unending supply of identical products, there is a genuine pleasure in creating something that is one of a kind. it is for this reason that the researchers, who are craftsmen by vocation, want to design and develop a bio mass cooking stove. moreover, the researchers, who are also technology educators, believe that the educational system is geared toward technology. framework household surveys were conducted in the philippines to explore fuel choice in 1989, and in 1995 (samson et al. 2000), the surveys suggest that increasing agricultural land base, ongoing deforestation of the uplands, and population urbanization have an important influence on household fuel use pattern. the surveys indicate and increasing trend of lpg users and lpg consumption, and an overall decline in biomass use. kerosene consumption also rose between the two surveys, although the number of users remained somewhat constant, and the use of kerosene for direct cooking applications comprised only about 1/3rd of its total use. in the biomass sector, fuel wood use declined by 51% and biomass residue use increased by 43%. overall biomass use decreased by 15% on a tonnage basis over the 6 years. the widespread availability of electricity in the philippines appears to have had minimal impact in cooking fuel choice to date. during the 6 year period, charcoal consumption dropped dramatically by 51 percent, again explain by samson et.al. charcoal use is becoming less common as a primary cooking fuel, mainly for grilling. according to the surveys, approximately 90.6% biomass residues used for fuel are self-collected or gathered the annual consumption of biomass residues per capital rose from 46.4 kg (1989) to 53.9 kg. electricity, lpg, and kerosene are becoming more popular fuel sources in the philippines. between 1989 and 1995 the household utilization and the amount consumed of each of these fuels rose significantly. on a household scale, use of both lpg and kerosene increased 26% per year between 1989 and 1995. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this research work aimed to make the design, fabrication and production of a multi-fuel cooking stove. further, it sought to provide a locally available technology which will work effectively and efficiently that comparatively performs to lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stove. the main objectives, the following specific objectives were realized: 1. fabricate the housing assembly, chimney, feeding spout, ash tray including the charcoal holder and ash screen separator. 2. test the cooking consumption using firewood charcoal, corncobs and tobacco stalks. 3. emphasize the economic advantage of the proposed gadget vis-a-vis the lpg, kerosene, clay, and electric stove. methodology this study used the experimental type of research in three phases: phase 1 design and fabrication of multi-fuel cooking stove. the research on multi-fuel cooking stove was conceptualized for cooking food using firewood, charcoal, corncobs, and tobacco stalks. as the working drawing complete, the scrap materials were prepared taken from the junk shops or the market. such gadget can also be fabricated in rural areas provided a welding machine is available. upon completion of the gadget, testing was undertaken. feedbacks from technology adaptors served as refinement for the gadget. upon completion of the revision, the suggestions and innovations were incorporated into the gadget. phase 2 focused on qualitative testing with fuel material to identify cooking consumption using firewood, charcoal, corncobs and tobacco stocks. phase 3 dealt on economic comparison of the proposal gadget with the lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stoves. results and discussion after several trials and feedback of the technology adaptors, cooking food of ideal size of 6 to 7 members of the family consumption of the energy saver multi41 international peer reviewed journal fed cooking stove is much economical compared with the lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stoves. result of qualitative test of different cooked food to identify cooking material average consumption is presented in table 1. it highlights these following observations. the stove passed through qualitative test with the different fuel materials to identify the cooking consumption using the lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stoves. below are the results of anova testing for significant difference between and among fuel materials. table 1. average cooking consumption of the multi-fuel cooking food firewood charcoal corncobs tabacco t r i a l s 1 2 3 ave 1 2 3 ave 1 2 3 ave 1 2 3 ave rice .75 .8 .7 .75 .20 .25 .30 .25 1.0 1.25 1.3 1.183 1.5 1.6 1.55 1.55 vegetable dishes .80 .65 .7 .716 .30 .35 .35 .316 1.0 1.3 1.35 1.216 1.6 1.5 1.7 1.6 meat 1.30 1.4 1.35 1.35 .40 .45 .50 .466 1.50 1.55 1.60 1.55 2.6 2.8 2.75 2.71 boiling .50 .60 .55 .55 .20 .25 .25 .23 1.25 1.0 1.3 1.166 1.10 1.20 1.10 1.1 frying .50 .40 .45 .45 .15 .18 .17 .166 .75 .65 .70 .70 .50 .45 .55 .516 the table showed that using the multi-fuel stove, cooking with rice, vegetables dishes, boiling of fruits and root crops using firewood is more economical as compared to other fuel materials. while cooking meat and frying fish and meat using charcoal is also more economical. table 2. results of anova testing for significant differences in cooking rice between and among other fuel materials source of variation degrees of freedom sum of squares mean of squares f-computed f-tabular different fuel 3 2.83 0.94 125.33* 4.07 experimental error 8 0.06 0.0075 total 11 significant at 0.05 level in the table, it determines whether in cooking rice there exists a significant difference between and among other fuel materials. the f-ratio of 4.07 is significant at .05 probability level. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly 42 jpair multidisciplinary research different in terms of cooking rice. result of scheffe test is significantly different in pairwise mean of all the fuel materials. table 3. result of anova testing for significant differences in cooking meat between and among other fuel materials source of variation degrees of freedom sum of squares mean of squares f-computed f-tabular different fuel 3 7.82 2.61 1.044 4.07 experimental error 8 0.02 0.0025 total 11 significant at 5 percent level in the table, it determines whether in cooking meat there exists a significant difference between and among other fuel materials. the f-ratio of 4.07 is significant at .05 probability level. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of cooking meat. result of scheffe test reveals a significantly different pair wise mean of all the fuel materials. table 4. result of anova testing for significant difference in cooking vegetables dishes between and among other fuel materials source of variation degrees of freedom sum of squares mean of squares f-computed f-tabular different fuel 3 2.78 0.93 71.54 4.07 experimental error 8 0.1 0.013 total 11 significant at 5 percent level in the table, there is a significant difference between and among other fuel materials. the f-ratio of 4.07 is a significantly at .05 probability level. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of cooking vegetable 43 international peer reviewed journal dishes. result of scheffe test is significantly different in pair wise mean of all the fuel materials. table 5. result of anova testing for significant difference in frying dishes between and among other fuel materials source of variation degrees of freedom sum of squares mean of squares f-computed f-tabular different fuel 3 0.43 0.14 368.42 4.07 experimental error 8 0.003 0.00038 total 11 significant at 5 percent level there exists a significant difference between and among other fuel materials. the f-ratio of 4.07 is significantly at .05 probability level. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of frying dishes. result of scheffe test is significantly different in pairwise mean of all the fuel materials. table 6. results of anova testing for significant difference in boiling fruits or root crops between and among other fuel materials source of variation degrees of freedom sum of squares mean of squares f-computed f-tabular different fuel 3 1.85 0.62 70.45 4.07 experimental error 8 0.07 0.0088 total 11 significant at 5 percent level in the table, there exists a significant difference between and among other fuel materials. the f-ratio of 4.07 is significant at .05 probability level. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of boiling fruits or root crops. result of scheffe test is significantly different in pairwise mean of all the fuel materials. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research a. economic comparison the stove also passed through qualitative test with the different expenditures to identify the cooking expenses compared to lpg, kerosene, stove clay stove, and electric stove. table 7. result of anova testing for significant differences in cooking rice between and among other cooking stoves sources of variations degree of freedom sum of squares mean of square f-computed f-tabular different cooking stove 4 357.6 89.4 40.64 3.48 experimental error 10 22 2.2 total 14 significant at 5% level the table gleans whether in cooking rice, there is a significant difference between and among other cooking stove. the f-ratio of 3.48 is significant at 0.05 probability level. this implies that all the cooking stoves like electric, clay, lpg stove are significantly different in terms of cooking rice. the result of scheffe test is significantly different in pairwise mean of all the cooking stove except the clay stove versus esmc. table 8. result of anova testing for significant differences in cooking meat between and among other cooking stoves sources of variations degree of freedom sum of squares mean of square f-computed f-tabular different cooking stove 4 357.6 89.4 34.38* 3.48 experimental error 10 26 2.2 total 14 significant at 5% level the table showed that cooking meat is significantly different in all of the cooking stoves. result of scheffe test is significantly different in pairwise mean of all the cooking stove except the clay stove versus esmc as in cooking with rice. 45 international peer reviewed journal table 9. result of anova testing for significant difference in cooking vegetables ilocano dishes between and among other cooking stove sources of variations degree of freedom sum of squares mean of square f-computed f-tabular different cooking stove 4 357.6 89.4 34.38* 3.48 experimental error 10 26 2.2 total 14 significant at 5% level the table implies that all the cooking stoves are significantly different in terms of cooking. and when test with scheffe again, significantly different in pairwise mean of all the cooking stove except in the clay stove versus esmc’s which is not significant from one another. table 10. result of anova testing for significant difference in boiling fruits between and among other cooking stoves cooking stove average consumption in pesos for the three trials rice veg. dishes meat boiling frying escms 5 5 10 0.5 3 lpg stove 18 18 23 17 5 kerosine stove 15 15 20 14 4 clay stove 7 7 12 6 4 electric stove 13 13 18 12 4 significant at 5% level again, the table implies that all the cooking stoves are significantly different in terms of boiling fruit. scheffe test is significantly different in all the cooking stoves except the clay stove versus the esmcs which is found not significant. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research table 11. result of anova testing for significant difference in frying between and among other cooking stove sources of variations degree of freedom sum of squares mean of square f-computed f-tabular different cooking stove 4 320.4 80.1 69.65* 3.48 experimental error 10 11.5 1.15 total 14 significant at 5% level furthermore, the table shows that all the cooking stoves are significantly different in terms of frying. when test on scheffe, a significant resulted in pairwise mean of all the cooking stove except esmcs versus lpg. table 12. result of three trials in cooking different foods using different cooking stoves cooking stove average consumption in pesos for the three trials rice veg. dishes meat boiling frying escms 5 5 10 0.5 3 lpg stove 18 18 23 17 5 kerosene stove 15 15 20 14 4 clay stove 7 7 12 6 4 electric stove 13 13 18 12 4 it can be seen that all cooking stoves when compared to the esmcs, it is more economical in terms of consumption in cooking different foods. 47 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the designed cooking stove was structured and made up of scrap iron, g.i. sheet, bars and pipes welded together. it has a chimney and an ash tray. it can be fuelled firewood, farm waste and others found in the locality. the stove is more economical in terms of expenses with cooking the different food as compared to lpg, kerosene, electric and clay stove. the designed cooking stove helps minimize in cutting firewood that causes soil erosion and flood that destroys the environment. recommendation the developed multi-fuel cooking stove should be introduced to the urban and rural areas, for it is more economical compared to other cooking stoves specifically the clay stove. farmers must be oriented that their farm wastes will not be thrown to garbage or burned off. when not done for organic fertilizer, they will sell for fuelling the said cooking stove or in similar. literature cited international energy agency 2010 world energy outlook 2010. international energy agency, paris htt/www. world energy outlook.org/2010.asp mc dermott,mat 2008 new biomass cookstoves significantly reduce fuel requirements, indoor air pollution.www. treehugger.com/green-food/ new-biomass-cookstoves significantly reduce fuel. reed,t.& r. larzon 1996 a wood-gas for developing countries, http//www ikweb.com/enuff/public html/ti.htm. samson,r., p. daxbug,m.drisdelle & c.lapionte 2000 “assessment of delletized biofuels”. perd program, natural resources canada, contrast 23348-8-31 45/001/s0. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research smith, k. r. and haigler, e. 2008 cobenefits on climate mitigation and health protection in energy system: scoping methods: annual review of public health, 29 (1). 11-25 doi: 10.1146/annurev. publichealth.29.020907.090759 venkataraman, c., sagar, a.,d. habib; g, lam, n. and smith, k.r. 2010 “the indian national initiative for advanced biomass cookstoves.” the benefits of clean combustion” energy for sustainable development, 14(2) 63-72 doi; 10.1016/j. esl. 2010,04.005 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 281 parental attachment and proactive attitude among adolescents tanzila nabeel tanzilanabeel@gmail.com allama iqbal open university huma zafar humaalvi_gem@yahoo.com international islamic university islamabad, pakistan abstract the purpose of the research was to study the relationship between parental attachment and proactive attitude among adolescents. for this purpose, a sample of 600 adolescents was selected through stratified random sampling technique from different schools and colleges of rawalpindi and islamabad, pakistan. the adolescents’ ages were grouped into three categories; students belonging to early adolescence (13-14 years) students belonging to middle adolescence (15 to 17 years) and students belonging to late adolescence (18 to 19 years). a short demographic sheet for the adolescents was used to get information on their ages, gender and institutional affiliation. the study consisted of two phases. phase i dealt with determining the psychometric properties of the scales and pilot study and phase ii consisted on the main study. statistical analyses revealed positive correlation between parental attachment and proactive attitude at moderate level among adolescents. on comparing the gender based differences on the proactive attitude, female adolescent’s scores were vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.165 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 282 comparatively higher on proactive attitude scale as compared to the male adolescents. results further revealed that adolescents belonging to late adolescence group showed more proactive attitude as compared to the adolescents categorized as early and middle adolescence group. moreover, adolescents belonging to upper socio-economic status were more proactive than adolescents belonging to middle and low socioeconomic status. keywords parental attachment, proactive attitude introduction adolescence is a developmental period when multiple transitions occur. substantial changes occur in physical, hormonal, familial, relational, educational domains and social behavior within a relatively short period of time. most notable changes occur in the nature of social interactions. there is a popular stereotype that adolescence is a stage in life that consists of increased conflict, and defiance to traditional social values and standards (caissy, 1994; hall, 1916). however, this stereotype applies to a small percentage of early adolescents. many theoretical frameworks lay stress on parents-child interaction in the process of socialization. these include psychoanalytic theory, social learning theory, and social cognition theory. many researchers link socialization process with parent-child relationship(bowlby, 1969/1982; ainsworth, 1989; eisenberg & valiente, 2002; grusec, davidov, & lundell, 2002) and family processes in the development of proactive attitude (eisenberg and fabes, 1998). proactive behavior refers to “intrinsically motivated voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals” (eisenberg and mussen 1989, 3). this voluntary act that is intended to benefit another person includes sharing, helping, comforting, rescuing, and cooperation. proactive attitude is a personality characteristic which has various facets such as resourcefulness, responsibility, values, and vision. it has implications for motivation and action. the proactive person takes international peer reviewed journal 283 responsibility for his or her own growth and possesses a potential to improve oneself and one’s environment. the socialization of proactive development progresses through the dynamic interaction between children and their parents. it has also been found that attachment between parent and child harnesses an environment where values are better socialized and accepted (eisenberg & valiente 2002), thus, promoting proactive attitudes and positive outcomes. there are links between parental affection and children’s proactive characteristics (e.g., clark & ladd, 2000), although exceptions also exist (e.g., davidov & grusec, 2006). contrarily, adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ close involvement in their lives has predicted higher rates of engaging in voluntary community work in early adulthood (zaff et al., 2003). attachment theorists state that secure attachment relationships supporting proactive development are through internal working models of attachment relationships (mikulciner & shaver, 2005). maternal openness and encouragement of emotional expressivity have been associated with proactive attitude (e.g., eisenberg, fabes, & murphy, 1996; eisenberg, fabes, schaller, carlo, & miller, 1991; eisenberg et al., 1992; garner, 2003). authoritative parenting support proactive attitude by encouraging children to be more caring for others (hastings et al., 2000). likewise, maternal authoritative style predicted more proactive attitude responses for girls (hastings, rubin, & derose, 2005). other studies indicate that for girls who had been more inhibited, early maternal authoritarianism predicted more proactive responses (hastings, rubin, mielcarek, & kennedy, 2002). maternal sensitivity to children facilitates proactive development in children (robinson, zahn-waxler, and colleagues, 1994). researchers have not focused as much attention on the roles of fathers in the proactive development of children as compared to mothers, although some studies do suggest that paternal influences may contribute to children’s proactive development (e.g., dekovic & janssens, 1992; janssens & gerris, 1992; sturgess, dunn, & davies, 2001). there are links between age, gender, socialization, and proactive attitude among adolescents. researches indicate that proactive and moral behavior increases with age (eisenberg, 1986; kohlberg, 1976; piaget, 1932/1965). hence, it should be assumed that adolescents would show more proactive jpair: multidisciplinary journal 284 behavior than they did when they were children. however there is stability in elementary school-age children’s proactive attitude (zhou et al., 2002), specially in adolescents’ proactive attitude toward peers (wentzel, barry, & caldwell, 2004). gender is one of the most consistent correlates of proactive attitude. studies confirm the early emergence of sex differences favoring girls in the expression of nurturing attitudes toward others in need (zahn-waxler, robinson et al., 1992) and socialization experiences (robinson, zahn-waxler, & emde, 1994). however, observational techniques as compared to questionnaire reports provide less consistent evidence regarding sex differences in proactive characteristics (eisenberg & fabes, 1998; grusec, goodnow, & cohen, 1996; hastings, rubin, & derose, 2005; zhou et al., 2002). studies have also shown that children from poor families having lower income or job status, are less proactive than children from more privileged homes (e.g., haapasalo, tremblay, boulerice, & vitaron, 2000; lichter, shanahan, & gardner, 2002). these effects may be due to the nonavailability of proactive role models, stressful experiences that increase children’s self-focused concern, or socioeconomic status differences in parental socialization. thus, the links between lower socioeconomic status and lower proactive development may be mediated by maladaptive parental socialization. several researchers have suggested that children and adolescents in more collectivist cultures are more empathic, altruistic and cooperative than children in individualist cultures (e.g., knight et al., 1982; zaff et al., 2003) however disconfirming results have also been reported (for e.g; carlo, koller, eisenberg, da silva, & frohlich, 1996; pilgrim & rueda-riedle, 2002). cultural differences in parental socialization in the development of proactive tendencies may be found (knight et al., 1982; whiting & whiting, 1975). securely attached children are more proactive specially when their mothers and fathers are more authoritative than authoritarian in their style; make use of gentler control techniques; use reasoning and provide explanations; are sensitive to their children’s needs; and support their children’s experience and regulation of emotions. children are more proactive when they come from secure homes; have friendly relationships with their siblings; and have good experience. international peer reviewed journal 285 the concept of proactive attitude is extremely important in furthering research in a number of fields, including education, social work, criminal justice and law. for this purpose its psychological foundations and theoretical understanding is needed to draw practical implications. objectives of the study the study was designed to achieve the following objectives: (1) determine proactive attitude among adolescents; (2) find out the relationship of proactive attitude of adolescents and their attachment with fathers; (3) find out the relationship of proactive attitude of adolescents and their attachment with mothers; (4)analyze the relationship between parental attachment and proactive attitude among adolescents; and, (5) find out the effects of socioeconomic status on the development of proactive attitude among adolescents. materials and method sample a total of 600 adolescents (male n = 300 and female n = 300) were taken from different schools and colleges of rawalpindi and islamabad (pakistan) as participants of this study. three categories of educational institutions were taken (urdu medium institutions, government institutions and english medium private institutions). simple random sampling was chosen for selecting the sample. the adolescents’ ages were grouped into three categories; adolescents belonging to early adolescence (13-14 years) adolescents belonging to middle adolescence (15 to 17 years) and adolescents belonging to late adolescence (18 to 19 years). the sample was further divide to three socioeconomic classes i.e. upper, middle and lower on the basis of demographic data family income. instruments the following scales were used for the study: 1. subscales (mother attachment scale and father attachment scale) of the inventory of parent and peer attachment (armsden and greenberg, 1987) jpair: multidisciplinary journal 286 2. proactive attitude scale (schwarzer, 1999) 3. a demographic sheet for adolescents (it required information regarding adolescents’ age, gender and institutional affiliation) table 1. alpha reliability coefficients of the mother attachment scale, father attachment scale and proactive attitude scales no. of items alpha reliability coefficients mother attachment scale 8 .87 father attachment scale 8 .87 proactive attitude scale 8 .55 table 1 indicates the alpha reliability coefficients of mother attachment scale, father attachment scale and proactive attitude scale. the alpha reliability coefficient of mother attachment scale, father attachment scale and proactive attitude scale is .87, .87 and .55 respectively which is quite satisfactory. table 2. mean scores and sd of adolescents on mother attachment scale, father attachment scale and proactive attitude scale (n=600) scales mean sd mother attachment scale 99.8 13.6 father attachment scale 98.5 13.9 proactive attitude scale 22.7 3.81 table 2 indicates the mean scores and standard deviation of adolescents on mother attachment scale, father attachment scale and proactive attitude scale which are m = 99.8 and sd = 13.6; m =98.5 and sd = 13.9; and m =22.7 and sd =3.81 respectively. international peer reviewed journal 287 inventory of parent and peer attachment (armsden & greenberg, 1987) it was originally developed to measure emotional attachment in adolescents. its purpose is to measure the positive and negative affective and cognitive dimensions of adolescents’ relationships with their parents and peers. specifically, the inventory of parent and peer attachment (ippa) taps into how well these figures serve as sources of psychological security. based on bowlby’s theory of attachment (1969), three broad dimensions are assessed: degree of mutual trust; quality of communication; and extent of alienation and anger. two subscales of the inventory of parent and peer attachment were utilized for this study. the first subscale measures attachment to mother, or the degree to which the respondent feels he has a close and positive relationship with his mother. the second subscale measures attachment to father, or the degree to which the respondent feels he has a close and positive relationship with his father. ippa is a self-report measure. it consists of 25 items for the mother, 25 items for the father, and 25 items for the peer to which participants respond using a five-point likert scale (in which 1 = never, 2 = seldom, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, and 5 = always). the ippa is scored by reverse scoring the negatively phrased items and then summing the response values in each section. the items to be reversed scored for mother attachment scale are 3, 6, 8, 9, 8, 11, 14, 17, 18, and 23. the items to be reversed scored for father attachment scale are 3, 6, 8, 9, 8, 11, 14, 17, 18, and 23. high score on the scale is indicative of secure attachment. armsden and greenberg (1987) reported cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients of 0.87 for mother attachment and 0.89 for father attachment. armsden and greenberg (1987) reported three week test retest reliability coefficients for the original version of the ippa-r of 0.93 for parent attachment (mothers and fathers rated together). as far as validity of ippa is concerned, armsden and greenberg (1987) reported that parent attachment scores were significantly related to indicators of family environment, family and social self-concepts, and the tendency to seek the support of parents when needed. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 288 proactive attitude scale (schwarzer, 1999) the proactive attitude scale was employed for the current study. it is a self-report measure intended to assess the individual’s tendency to perform proactive attitudes. it is a parsimonious self-administered scale consisting of 8 items. it is designed for the general adult population (including adolescents). the administration of the scale requires approximately 4 minutes. responses are made on a 4 point scale (1= not at all true; 2 = barely true; 3 = moderately true; 4 = exactly true). a composite score is yielded by summing up the responses of all 8 items. a high score on the scale indicates that a person has high proactive attitude and a low score on this scale indicates a person’s low proactive attitude. procedure after determining the sample and instruments for the current study, informed consent forms were distributed to the students and a pilot study was conducted. boys and girls were both asked to complete mother attachment scale, father attachment scale, and proactive attitude scale. additionally, they were asked to complete a demographic sheet indicating their age, gender and institutional affiliation. the data collected for the pilot study provided a sound understanding of the variables and showed the direction of the study. however, for the main study the sample size was increased. the purpose of the study as well as the testing procedure was conveyed to the subjects. the subjects were ensured about the confidentiality and security of data. hence the data was collected for the main study. the research goals were accomplished by measuring and analyzing parental attachment and proactive attitude among adolescents. data analysis procedures in this study, analyses were performed using the spss version 13.0. quantitative research methods were used to analyze the collected data. descriptive analysis, independent sample t-test, and pearson product correlation have been applied for data analyses. to measure international peer reviewed journal 289 the variance between groups an anova was used. in addition, the variability within each age category was evaluated using each group’s standard deviations. results and discussion table 3. correlation between mother attachment, father attachment and proactive attitude scale (n=600) scales proactive attitude scale r mother attachment scale .528** father attachment scale .523** **p < 0.01 the above table shows a moderate positive correlation among mother attachment, father attachment and proactive attitude. table 4. mean scores, sd, t and p values of the adolescents’ scores (male, n =300 and female, n=300) on proactive attitude scale (n=600) according to gender differences scale male (n= 300) female (n = 300) t p m sd m sd proactive attitude scale 22.12 3.97 23.28 3.55 3.77 .000 df = 2, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 290 the above table shows that female students scored higher as compared to male students on proactive attitude scale (n=600). table 5. mean scores and standard deviation showing differences with respect to age groups on proactive attitude scale (n=600) scale 13&14 years early ( n =34) 15 & 17years middle (n=120) 18 & 19 years late (n=446) f m sd m sd m sd proactive attitude scale 22.02 4.16 22.45 4.21 22.82 3.66 .999 df= 2 , **p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 the above table shows that late adolescent group scored higher as compared to early and middle adolescent group on proactive attitude scale. table 6. one way anova indicating mean scores and standard deviation on proactive attitude scale of the three groups of adolescents categorized according to low, middle, and high socio-economic status (n=600) scale group i low ses (n=172) group ii middle ses(n=239) group iii upper ses (n =189) f m sd m sd m sd proactive attitude scale 21.33 3.73 22.45 3.79 24.26 3.33 .000 df =2 **p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01 the above table shows that adolescents from upper socio-economic international peer reviewed journal 291 status scored higher as compared to adolescent from middle and low socio-economic status on proactive attitude scale. the present study was designed to examine the relationship between emotional attachment of adolescents with their mothers and fathers and development of proactive attitude among them. additionally, proactive attitude in adolescents with respect to age, gender and socio-economic status have been considered. previous research suggest that parent-child relationship play a pivotal role in the development of adolescents’ proactive attitudes (eisenberg & fabes, 1998; eberly & montemayor, 1998) and various dimensions of parenting practices predict positive outcomes in children (lapsley 1996; carlo et al. 1999; eisenberg & valiente, 2002). a number of interesting results emerged from our analyses. first the current research findings are consistent with earlier researches that positive development is promoted by the extent, the child is attached with his/her father or mother. mikulincer and shaver (2003, 2007) found that a secure person feels beneficial effects on emotion regulation, which is central to mental health, social adjustment, and social attitudes and values, and thereby promotes proactive behavior. many developmental studies on proactive attitude document that it increases with age (radke-yarrow et al., 1983; eisenberg & fabes, 1998; pratt, skoe, & arnold, 2004). adolescence is a period in life that involves developmental changes. these developmental changes are different with respect to gender. the development of different trajectories in males and females are described in the current research. the study investigated the role of proactive attitude among male and female students. to examine gender differences, independent t-test was conducted. female students reported higher levels of proactive attitude than their male counterparts. one variable that is often related to proactive attitude is gender. research on the relationship between gender and proactive attitude has produced mixed results when comparing males and females. in the current study, males, on average, reported lower proactive attitude than females. across many studies, girls and women have been found to be more proactive than boys and men. for example, peers and teachers have been found to describe preschool-age, kindergarten-age, and jpair: multidisciplinary journal 292 elementary school-age girls as more proactive than boys (côté, tremblay, nagin, zoccolillo, & vitaro, 2002; hastings, zahn-waxler, robinson, usher, & bridges, 2000; keane & calkins, 2004). culture is also one of the determining factors in the development of proactive behavior among children. likewise, parents from low socioeconomic status are less responsive than parents from higher socioeconomic status groups (e.g., knight, kagan, & buriel, 1982). the present study contributes to our understanding of the relationship between parental attachment, and proactive attitude in adolescents. proactive attitude is influenced by many factors. however, to acquire a complete picture of proactive attitude among adolescents, it is imperative to explore beyond the variables of age and gender. this study also focused on socio-economic status. the age related changes in proactive attitude were determined using an anova. it has been found that scores on proactive attitude for both males and females began to progressively rise after lower and middle adolescence. the current study found high levels of proactive attitude in college students when compared to elementary and high school students. hence, the trends in proactive attitude with respect to age groups can be found from the current research findings. the results are consistent with the majority of findings discussed previously. a major task of adolescents is preparation for adulthood. indeed, culture hinges on how effective this preparation is (larson, wilson, brown, furstenberg & verma, 2002). high scores of female student in the current study are indicating that trends are changing and due importance is given to males as well as females in the process of socialization. proactive attitude as a variable in this context needs to be explored extensively as differences may exist in the socialization of male and female adolescents in different cultures. socio-economic status has been found to influence and affect a person’s proactive attitude. several studies have reported significant findings regarding the effects of socioeconomic status (ses) on proactive attitude (burbach, fox, & nicholson, 2004). the current research suggests that individuals with a higher ses have higher levels of proactive attitude than individuals who have a lower ses. parental absence, unemployment of parents, family’s economic condition and resources international peer reviewed journal 293 contributes to the depletion of children’s proactive attitude. likewise, fathers and mother’s higher levels of education and higher levels of family income can be other contributing factors that provide higher quality home environments for their children and thereby inculcating positive outcomes in their children. in order to address some of these issues, further research is needed. there were a number of variables that could have impacted the results. the study revealed that parental attachment is positively related to the development and enhancement of pro social attitude among students. findings of the current study support earlier researches. in order to study the relationship of mother attachment, father attachment and pro social attitude among students, scores on the scales were correlated. the analyses showed a moderate positive correlation among the variables used in the current study. some researches indicate that proactive attitude increases from early to late adolescence (eisenberg & fabes, 1998). the current study supports previous researches in which proactive attitude has been found to be higher in late adolescence as compared to early adolescence. however, more researches are needed to explore the developmental trajectory of proactive attitude, as well as the ways in which adolescents may differ in their development of proactive attitude conclusion mother and father attachment both are linked to proactive attitude among adolescents. overall female adolescents are more proactive than male adolescents. proactive attitude increases with due course of time as the current study demonstrates that late adolescents have high proactive attitude as compared to early and middle adolescents. moreover, high proactive attitude is found in adolescents belonging to upper socio-economic status as compared to adolescents belonging to middle and low socio-economic status. recommendations there were a number of variables that could have potentially influenced the validity of the study. because of a limited time frame, jpair: multidisciplinary journal 294 students could only be surveyed between the hours of eight and two. therefore, time of day could have had an influence on the demeanor of the students, causing possible misrepresentations of their true proactive attitude. perhaps the most influential limitation of this study is that the participants involved were students who may not have acknowledged the importance of the study and therefore, not taken it seriously. finally, adolescents are generally eager to please as well as be helpful. this eagerness may have influenced them to respond with more desirable answers. in light of all these assumptions, the possible limitations are to be expected. study on proactive attitude in adolescents was desirable since the body of research is lacking in this area. this current study has contributed data on mother attachment, father attachment and proactive attitude among adolescents; however there are some more limitations that must be considered. keeping in view the limitations following suggestions are made: 1. a nation-wide sample from educational institutions in pakistan should be taken in further studies so 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guthrie, i. k., murphy, b. c., pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research from quezon to bulacan: tracing the origin of baliwag buntal hat aldrine v. guevarra http://orcid.org 0000-0002-5740-4984 avguevarra28@gmail.com university of santo tomas graduate school manila, philippines abstract known as one of the top exporters of buntal hats, baliwag is famous for having a buntal festival every month of may, the municipal seal bears a buntal hat and the town’s flag carrier, the baliwag transit, inc. carries with it the buntal hat as well. however, despite the importance of the industry to the local economy, the material, which is buntal fiber is coming from quezon province. this paper traces the origin of baliwag buntal hat industry in the province of bulacan. the study was conducted to determine the historical origin of baliwag buntal and establish connection between the town of baliwag and the province of quezon, identifying the factors and circumstances on how buntal hat became one of bulacan’s traditional crafts and the symbol of the municipality of baliwag. the methods employed are historical and descriptive and adopted the local and oral history. the historical tracing of the towns of sariaya and lucban are known to have wide areas of buri palm plantation, wherein buntal fibers are being extracted. also, the technology of weaving hats is best practiced in many towns of quezon. baliwag also manages to carve a name on hat weaving, exporting hats abroad and creating economic potentials for the people, primarily due to the expansion, experimentation and even lamentation of the baliwagueños. the connection provides potentials and possibilities for both baliwag and quezon. vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.310 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 43 international peer reviewed journal keywords economic history, local history, baliwag, buntal hat, baliwag, philippines introduction this paper traces the origin of buntal hat manufacturing of baliwag and how it became famous even though the materials are coming from sariaya. how the transfer of materials enrich the weaving style of the baliwagueños that eventually defined the town’s identity. traditional crafts defined a particular locale, its culture and way of life. for the baliwagueños, tracing the origin of one of their traditional crafts will provide a sense of identity. over the years and across the globe, the use of hats and its evolution have created a cultural and economic advantage to the manufacturers and the client. in the case of baliwag hat industry, it created a cultural identity of the town and at the same time provided for an economic boost to the manufacturers and the weavers. baliwag is exporting hats in united states, australia and italy with the balibuntal straw hat co. providing for 5,000 weavers, wherein 3,500 are from baliwag (villacorte, 1970). from coconut husks to abaca, from fibers and threads, and from colors and prints, philippine weaving is a cultural knowledge in the entire archipelago. give a filipino a material to work on, and an array of different crafts will sure to find a place in every corner of the house or every aspect of human activity. everywhere, you can find the abundance of trees and plants that produce materials that defined a particular group of people and place. that is how we work, and that is how we depended much on our environment. bulacan is a home to many traditional crafts, providing income to people and at the same time defining the economic and cultural orientation of the place. for example, malolos city is known for singkaban1 and puni (leaf weaving), a craft is very similar to palaspas weaving. san miguel is famous for burdadong prutas (fruit carving) and pabalat ng pastilyas the town is also famous for pastillas delicacy. santa maria is famed for estopadong burda (stuffed embroidery), a dress for religious images. bocaue introduced tiniban (banana arch with lamp) used for decorating streets during fiestas and festivities. in baliwag, the municipality is known to have nurtured two traditional crafts – bone in-laid furniture, furniture engraved with carabao bones and balibuntal hat or baliwag buntal hat. of the two traditional crafts of baliwag, the buntal hat weaving provides an interesting story behind its success. the main material, which is buntal fiber from the buri 44 jpair multidisciplinary research tree (coryphaelata roxb) is obtained from quezon province, but it is in baliwag that made these raw materials into creative handicrafts that soon made a mark. this goes to show that the production of the buntal fiber started in sariaya and tayabas in quezon while the buntal hat weaving industry flourished in baliwag, bulacan way back the pre-war years. the introduction of the hat weaving industry made of buntal fiber turned half of the hat weavers in baliwag and neighboring barrios to the making of buntal hats instead of bamboo hats. buntal hats were then being exported as “bangkok hats” although none is shipped from the port of bangkok (buri profile, 2012). framework this study used the structuration theory of anthony giddens in identifying the relationship of the agent (as an actor) and the agency (action of the actor) in tracing the origin of buntal hat industry of baliwag. it focuses on the understanding of the agent and the interactions with social institutions within the realm of time and space (evardone & de viana, 2013). the interaction, therefore, creates structures or set of rules. for giddens, structures are rules and resources, recursively implicated in the reproduction of social systems. thus, we define structures as dual; they have on one hand a virtual existence in the minds of actors, on the other hand a real existence in the world of resources (giddens, 1984). the agents’ actions are shaped by social “structures”, but the structures features of social systems are the outcome of the human action. actors and social systems have to be seen as interdependent elements in duality: the object of investigation for the social sciences ‘is either the experience of the individual actor, nor the existence of any form of social totality, but social practices ordered across space and time. these practices are reproduced in and through the events of conscious human actors, but they are, at the same time, the very conditions which make such activities possible. neither single actions nor social systems can be isolated from the larger social process. the structural properties of social systems are both medium and outcome of the practices that constitute the system (giddens, 1982). in tracing the origin of buntal hat weaving in baliwag, the element of time and space refers to the history and geographical setting. the place where the materials are coming from does not prohibit the interaction, but rather the circumstances present in quezon and baliwag defined the interactions which 45 international peer reviewed journal create the connection that later on creates the existing rules today. “the requisite of time and space in social systems always has to be examined historically, in terms of the bounded knowledgeability of human action,” (giddens, 1981). the first and the second waves of buntal weaving in baliwag were determined by the different actions of the actors and in return also shaped the existing rules that govern the industry and the ways of life of the baliwagueño. at the height of the production of buntal hats, according to mrs. bautista, “there is no any household that does not have a weaver or two” and “no one is allowed to go out without finishing a round of weaving” (bautista, personal communication, january 17, 2014). a strict set of new rules grounded their activities. the agents’ act is defined by the set of rules that was created as a result of previous actions, that for giddens, “in daily life, human actors both reproduce and create practices that are informed by and help to form the structures of social being (wilkie & bartoy, 2000). the significance of the research is to determine the historical background of how the buntal hat industry started in baliwag and how the material which is abundant in quezon managed to reached bulacan that eventually created an image for the baliwagueṅos. it is also important as a contribution to the growing historiography on local and oral history that is slowly gaining popularity among historians. objective of the study this study traces the historical origin of the baliwag buntal hat industry that eventually made the town economically progressive and well known despite the material for weaving comes from the southern parts of the philippines. methodology this research utilized the narrative and descriptive methodology to outline the events which led to the connection between baliwag and quezon. at the same time, an analytical approach was used to establish the historical account. primary sources like municipal and government records were used together with oral and local history. the research area covered the municipalities of baliwag, sariaya and lucban. for the oral history, two respondents were interviewed that provided for the significant information. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers 46 jpair multidisciplinary research obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. mrs. rosie bautista, baliwag tourism office was interviewed on january 17, 2014 at the old municipal building in baliwag, bulacan. she was the adopted daughter of the villiones family of sariaya, quezon who started the baliwag straw hat that made its name during the 1960’s. she continued the villones business and is credited for the buntal hat festival of baliwag. the other respondent was mrs. susana cabelles of sariaya, quezon. she was the granddaughter of the villiones that adopted mrs. rosie bautista of baliwag. the interview was conducted on june 14, 2014. the respondents are considered knowledgeable in the history of buntal industry in their respective areas and their information proved vital in establishing the connection of their own buntal industries. results and discussion the buri tree: centennial plant the availability of materials sustains an industry; this is how it usually works. an analysis of the buri tree will help us understand the value it provides both economically and culturally. a palm tree is very similar to coconut in terms of function and purpose. buri, of the family palmae, is one of the palms in the philippines with multiple uses. it is considered to be the third most important palm in the country, after coconut and nipa palm (brink & escobin, 2003). the roots can produce a sprout called ubod that is edible for human consumption. the trunk provides log, and the entire petiole and leaves have specific functions. buri can survive 70 to 100 years and, for this reason, it is known as the centennial plant by many rural people. buri palm has many domestic and industrial economic uses, making it well known in the local and international markets. buntal fiber is the chief raw product and has a variety of uses. buri is second to coconut and comparable to nipa in terms of economic and industrial importance. the palm is not endemic in the philippines but can also be found in indonesia, thailand, malaysia and in the island of madagascar. in the philippines, quezon, marinduque and palawan buri trees are found (buri profile, 2012).it is the largest, and the most common palm found in the philippines. it has a straight trunk with a diameter of 1 m and a height of 20 m. it has large, round fan-shaped leaves. the outer part is split into 100 narrow segments. the petiole measures 2 3 m long with its two margins 47 international peer reviewed journal aligned with black spines. the plant lives up to more than 30 years during the collection of large quantities of starch in the trunk. the two known varieties of buri are the red or “linbahon” and the white or”iupisan”. these two are differentiated by the color of the petioles. buri trees bear fruits then die. buri grows throughout the philippines at low and medium altitudes. it is cultivated in some provinces, but in some areas buri grows naturally and abundantly, as shown in figure 1: figure 1. reference-guide map of palm growing zones 48 jpair multidisciplinary research figures 2& 3. a young buri (left) and full grown buri (right) june 14, 2014 – sariaya, quezon. the material called buntal fiber as mentioned in the previous discussion, from the buri tree, several materials can be extracted – buri, raffia and a buntal fiber. each one has a specific usage, but in the course of the study, the buntal fiber which is the main material for buntal hat is the focus of the analysis. the process of extracting a buntal fiber is a rather slow and sometimes painful process. although extracting fiber today is being done with the procedure called “retting”, it is still the traditional method of hand-pulling that is being carried out today. according to ms. rosie bautista, the reason why buntal hats are crafted beautifully and commanded high price in the market is because the entire process from extracting to weaving is done with the “labor of love”, a very long and tedious process to finish one hat (personal communication, 2014). on an average, they can finish 1 to two hats a week with the division of labor and the prices ranges from 1,000 and above depending on the design. the price is different when the hats are made in quezon with prices ranging from 450 and above. in abroad, the price ranges from 200-300 us dollars per hat. the palms from which the fibers are to be extracted must be from seven to ten years old buri tree. the stem must be at least 6 feet in length and are cut twice a year and from 3 to six stems are cut in a single cutting of a palm tree. the stems are cut square at the base; the leaves are removed from the top leaving the petiole 49 international peer reviewed journal usually about 5 feet long, and the torns are removed from the edges. about 6 inches of the skin from the two corner sides of the lower part of the stalks are peeled off exposing the fibers and the pulp. these exposed parts are thoroughly beaten with the blade of a bolo until the fibers are separated in bunches (on the occasion of the beating or striking the stalk, the fibers are called buntal which is a tagalog word for strike or beat).then, a strip of skin on the upper side is pulled away from the end exposing the top part of the fiber. after which, the stem is tied on a post or a tree. the stripper selects the fibers and pulp from the beaten end, varying with the strength and dexterity and condition of the stem, and slowly but steadily pulls out the fiber. from 1 to five fibers are obtained at a pulling according to dexterity, strength and condition of the stem. the best stem yields three bundles of fibers of a size of a thumb and the poorest is half thumb size. a stripper can extract from 4 to six bundles depending on the condition of the stem. the curing takes place at once, exposing the fiber without treatment will have a discoloring effect, usually turning brown instead of pure white. figure 4. a local stripper is extracting the buntal fiber from the petiole of a buri tree. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 5. the author is showing the extracted buntal fiber from the petiole of a buri tree during a fieldwork in sariaya, quezon dated june 14, 2014.2 from quezon to bulacan: identifying events and circumstances the municipality of baliwag in the province of bulacan is a first-class municipality located in the southern part of the central luzon plain., 50 kilometers northeast of manila. today, baliwag is not considered anymore as an agrarian arcadia: baliwag now is the commercial capital of east of bulacan (de manila, 1999). however, even before baliwag gained economic growth, the town is already inhabited with several enterprises that include weaving of cloth called habing baliwag like panyong baliwag and tapis baliwag. the municipality likewise prided itself upon its footwear cottage industry, commonly known as chineleria and zapateria along with kutseros and musikeros. two other dependable sources of income were the bakery and the pottery. however, from the depths of baliwag industries, it was the buntal hat that the town became famous. a story of expansion, experimentation and lamentation – the first wave the story of baliwag buntal hat industry was one of (1) commercial expansion, (2) experimentation and (3) lamentation (villacorte, 1985). the historical origin of buntal hat from quezon to bulacan can be traced in two waves, the first was sometime between 1907 and 1909 mariano deveza, an uncle of juan 51 international peer reviewed journal racelis’3from lucban, quezon brought to baliwag some bundles of tough and coarse buntal fiber from lucban. the merchant mariano deveza wanted to introduce buntal weaving in baliwag. during that period, lucban was the sole producer of buntal hat, and the demand was so high they could not cope up with the production. this was what they referred to as commercial expansion of buntal hat and baliwag became the recipient of such blessing. baliwag during that time was already making hats made of bamboo, but those hats are commonly used for farming chores, it is more of a “farmer’s hat”. the commercial expansion continued with mrs. dolores maniquis, a friend of the racelis experimented tough buntal fibers. using a wooden roller called “iluhan,” she tried to soften the tough and coarse fiber into fine pliable straws. the process of softening the fiber is a meticulous method. each bundle of fiber called “meresa” is placed on a wooden roller, and there is a specific number of rolls that should be made to soften the straw. if the rolling exceeds the number required, the straw becomes brittle. the number of rolling depends on the kind of buntal straw. by 1910, hat weaving had become a booming cottage industry in baliwag. in almost every house, there was a weaver or two. as the industry grew, specialization inevitably set in and improved production method became a standard practice. in the early specialization stage, four persons are sufficient to finish the hat. there was the initial weaver who could take care of the hats crown or head, called “panimula” and there was another who would make the brim. the third weaver would finish and close the brim; a process called “panauli” while the fourth would bleach the yellowish finished product to make it more attractive and costlier. it is said that one can be called a weaver if she can finish two or more hats a week (takahashi, 1969). this was the experimentation period of baliwag buntal industry. since then, buntal hat became a major dollar-earning export in the 1920’s. passed off as panama hat and bangkok hat, the industry suffered a major setback because of cutthroat competition from china. it is said that sometime in the 1923 the chinese in hong kong hired filipino weavers to work there. having learned the fibers, in the manner of speaking, the chinese begun to mass produce “balibuntal” with material imported from the philippines. this was the first lamentation stage of the industry. before the war, to lessen the effect of stiff competition coming from china, rep. antonio villarama introduced a bill banning the importation of buntal fiber, although the bill did not pass in the legislation, but it caught fire which will eventually bear fruit some years back. it was only after the war that the buntal hat industry started to thrive anew. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research a story of expansion, experimentation and lamentation – the second wave after the war, the buntal hat industry begun to thrive anew. the second wave slowly took its form once again from an unlikely source, quezon province, this time from brothers vicente and joaquin villones, a prominent family from sariaya, who operates buntal fiber extraction and buntal weaving. mr. joaquin villones married a baliwagueña named ester villiones, the granddaughter of mrs. dolores maniquis or impong dolores as she was commonly called. impong dolores popularized buntal weaving in the early stage of the industry sometime in 1907-1909, during the first wave.4 this establishes a connection between the first waves of buntal hat industry in baliwag and was continued sometime in the 1960’s with the villones that was credited for the second wave of buntal hat industry. this is the new era of commercial expansion with a growing number of weaver and international contacts. the villones started the company balibuntal straw hat, which accounted for the one-fourth total production of the 40,000 hats manufactured a month in baliwag alone. they had 5,000 weaver-suppliers and 3,500 are from baliwag, and the rest are coming from other towns of bulacan like pulilan and san ildefonso including the province of pampanga and nueva ecija. as the towns’ foremost buntal hat exporter, villones was grossing at least 1 million a year and exporting to the countries like united states, australia, mexico and italy. today, mrs. rosie bautista, the adopted daughter of mr. and mrs. joaquin villones, with her gratitude to the family that nourished her, continued the historic and cultural origin of the product that eventually shaped and influenced the economic and cultural life of the people of baliwag. to continue with the industries’ experimentation era, mrs. rosie bautista even tapped the services of the inmates in the bulacan provincial jail as weavers to augment the demands when needed. looking at where the industry is today, as mentioned in the interview, the lack of local government’s support and with the influx of chinese hats entering our local markets, the competition becomes difficult. she further continued that buntal hat weaving in baliwag “is a dying industry” but her hopes are high despite lamenting on the current situation of buntal hat. roads that facilitated the transfer of materials roads played a crucial role in the transfer of materials for quezon and baliwag. with the different historical periods, the study must consider identifying road networks and other possible routes before the construction of the north luzon 53 international peer reviewed journal expressway (nlex) and the south luzon expressway (slex) must be analyzed. first is the construction of the manila-dagupan railways north line and then eventually south line connecting the southern parts of the philippines. on august 6, 1875, a royal order was published governing the granting of concessions to construct and operate railways in the philippine islands, and in 1876, there was a report available in manila on the general plan of railways for the island of luzon by eduardo lopez navarro, an engineer of the department of public works (mcintyre, 1907): lines of the north: from manila to dagupan by way of tarlac. from dagupan to laoag by way of the coast. from san fernando to iba by way of subic. from bigaa to tuguegarao by way of baliuag and cabanatuan (mcintyre, 1907). lines of the south: from manila to taal by way of calamba, to albay by way of santa cruz and nueva caceres. on september 13, 1931, the first bicol train is put into operation. before the end of the decade, on may 8, 1938, the unified system of railroad from san fernando, la union in the north to legazpi in the south was formally inaugurated. aside from the train system of the spanish and american period, other road networks were utilized, namely: the marcos highway (1963) and the manila east road, a 123.3 kilometers of road that connects laguna and quezon region to manila, and from metro manila to the north, it is connected via mcarthur highway constructed in 1928, also known as the manila north road and the daang maharlika (the pan-philippine highway), that connects manila to bulacan and further into baliwag. the series of road networks facilitated the movement of people and the transportation of “ideas” and materials as it was applied to quezon and bulacan, it is simply making economic activities of the two provinces more efficient. along the networks of roads are potential markets for finished products, availability of weavers along the way and many other opportunities. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 6. map route of the manila-dagupan railways showing the tracks from manila to san fernando, la union passing through baliwag and manila to bicol area passing through quezon. the structure of buntal hat weaving in baliwag like most native industries, hat making is unorganized. it is carried on almost entirely by the individual, independent and alone; from the purchase of the raw materials in the market place down to the sale of the finished hat. there are some instances where a woman of some means and a large area or house keeps several girls as weavers. there was no real division of labor; each hat maker cuts 55 international peer reviewed journal her strands, works on the top, brim and polishes it to finish. there are no shops or factories; no exact wages paid; it is more of a verbal agreement between the weaver and the manufacturer and is paid depending on the number of hats done. the work is done almost exclusively by the female members of the family and is a household duty. much the same as the spinning and weaving or needle work of our grandmothers. to say how many hours a day or how many days a week a woman makes hat would be impossible. that would depend on the amount of work a mother has to do other than weaving. weaving depends greatly on the desire to weave or just to sit down in idleness (villando, 1917). hat making is best in the rainy season or during night time because the weather is colder. fiber tends to become brittle when expose to a hot weather condition and is finer and pliable in cooler areas. this is one of the main reasons why weaving in baliwag flourished as compared to places in southern philippines; it is much colder in baliwag. if weather condition does not permit, weaver usually has moist cloth beside them to rub the fiber from time to time to keep the moist while weaving. in baliwag, weaving is done mostly in barrios and farm land areas (applegate, 1902). in the period of 1960’s to the 1980’s, according to mrs. bautista as recorded in her interview, almost every house has a weaver and no one can go to school or even play without finishing a round of weaving. it has become a mandatory work for them, and the crafts are being passed on to others for the craft to continue. today with the growing demand for buntal hat locally and abroad, weaving is being done in a more structured way, and male weavers are becoming available. weavers are also being hired in the neighboring towns of baliwag. conclusions the baliwag buntal hat is a story of commercial expansion, experimentation and lamentation. the circumstances around the origin of buntal hat industry from quezon to bulacan are a vital proof of the determination of the people to progress economically. at the time when lucban could not supply the growing demands for manufactured buntal hats, the transfer of materials and the innovative attitude of the baliwagueño provided the economic activities and opportunities for the people as they embraced the craft that made them known as the premier buntal hat makers. the first and second waves of the buntal hat weaving that happened in baliwag came from an unlikely source and a sociological activity of inter-marriage that 56 jpair multidisciplinary research sealed the bond between the two localities. both possessed a story of commercial expansion, experimentation and lamentation, but despite the challenges, the craft survived and expanded. in between the interplays of events, structures were set up, which include transportation system and road networks to ensure a faster and efficient way of transporting valuable materials. the creation of rules and laws to safeguard the interest of the weavers and the manufacturers were put into place and were properly implemented. as time progress and the concept of wearing hats gradually diminish among the locals, the demand slowly shifted to the international markets like the united states of america, canada, italy, among others, a new hope for the hat makers arrives. the craft is slowly “dying” and the technology of weaving is not properly transferred to the younger generations. the future looks dim especially with the growing competition to foreign brands. however, as the story of baliwag buntal hat industry, it will always be a story of commercial expansion, experimentation and lamentation. translational resesrch tracing the roots of a particular economic activity can further give an idea of how the people embraced the way of life and means of livelihood. it can add more ways on how to maintain or develop the technology. in the case of baliwag buntal hat, the local government unit can make laws on how to strengthen the local industry by trying to plant buri tree or look for other materials as a substitute for buntal fiber, or even look for other suppliers to lessen the impact of competition. making more opportunities to the manufacturers, both for the materials and the finished product, can boost further the industry. competition is very stiff, especially coming from china, who uses buntal fiber and synthetics as materials. the article serves as an educational material for the weavers to go back again to how the industry started and progress. literature cited applegate, m. (1902). “hat manufacture in calasiao and baliwag.” manila: beyer ethnography paper no. 263. brink, m. & escobin, r.p. plant resources of south-east asia no. 17: fibre plants. leiden, netherlands: backhuys publishers (2003). 57 international peer reviewed journal evardone, s. & de viana, a. “phoenix of the north: a historical inquiry on the beginnings of st. paul university in tuguegarao (1907-1949).” spuqc journal, vol. 6, s.y. 2013-2014. de manila, q. (1999). “baliwag the almost city.” philippine graphics. [fida] fiber industry development authority.(2012). buri profile 2012. [fida] fiber industry development authority.2006a. buri/buntal/raffia fact sheet. quezon city, philippines: fiber industry development authority. [fida] fiber industry development authority.2006b. fiber industry development authority. [fmb] forest management bureau. 2000. philippine forestry statistics. quezon city, philippines: department of environment and natural resources. “some familiar philippine palms that produce high food value and tigok.” research information system on ecosystem, vol. 22, no. 1, january-april 2010. department of environment and natural resources. giddens, a. (1984). the constitution of society: outline of the structuration theory. mcintyre, f. (1907). railroads in the philippine islands.  the annals of the american academy of political and social science, 30(1), 52-61. philippine buri industry. quezon city, philippines: fiber industry development authority. takahashi, a. (1969).  land and peasants in central luzon: socio-economic structure of a bulacan village  (no. 4). tokyo: institute of developing economies. villando, s. (1917). “the lukban buntal hat industry.” manila: beyer ethnography paper: tagalog paper no. 259. villacorte, r. e. (1985). baliwag then and now. manila: pilipino star printing 58 jpair multidisciplinary research co., inc. _____________ (1970) . baliwag then and now. manila: pilipino star printing co., inc. wilkie, l. a., & bartoy, k. m. (2000). a critical archaeology revisited1.current anthropology, 41(5), 747-777. ______________. (1982). profiles and critiques in social theory. london: mcmillan press, ltd. hiyas: mgaunangsiningngbulacan. (2008). cultural center of the philippines. ______________. (1981). a contemporary critique of historical materialism, vol. 1 power, property and the state. london: the macmillan press, ltd. __________________. (1977). baliwag then and now. manila: pilipino star printing co., inc. endnotes 1 singkaban is a decorative arch made of bamboo that is used as decorations during town fiestas. 2 the author conducted a fieldwork in lucban and sariaya in quezon province to document how buntal fiber/straw is extracted from the petiole of the buri tree. part of the fieldwork is to identify the similarities and differences of a lucbanon and baliwagueño style of weaving. 3 juan racelis was elected municipal president of baliwag in 1912, he hailed from lucban, quezon. 4 the story of the villiones family, credited as the one who spearheaded the second wave of the buntal hat industry in baliwag was a product of an interview done with mrs. rosie bautista, the baliwag tourism officer and adopted daughter of the villiones family and susana masilangcaballes of sari59 international peer reviewed journal aya, granddaughter of vicente villones. the interviews were conducted on january 17, 2014 and june 14, 2014 respectively. international peer reviewed journal 127 growth and yield performances of tubigan rice varieties under abra, philippines conditions milandro b. edwin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9614-7434 milandroedwin43@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences and technology abra, philippines abstract increased rice production through the use of high yielding varieties is a rice varieties which was conducted for wet and dry growing seasons at abra state institute of sciences and technology, lagangilang, abra, philippines was aimed to determine their growth and yield performances of tubigan rice varieties under per panicle, length of panicle, harvest index, weight of 1000 seeds and yield grains. nsic rc158 outranked the other varieties in yield probably because it harvest index and yield per hectare of 6.4 tons/ha. nsic rc160 was the tallest at maturity and produced the longest panicle. nsic rc156 produced the highest production of lowland rice in abra, which was 3.48 t/ha (philrice & bas, 2002). nsic rc158 could be grown by rice farmers in irrigated lowland condition in abra because it exceeded the average yield of the check variety nsic rc160 and found acceptable to consumers. vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.323 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. jpair multidisciplinary research 128 keywords – agricultural science, tubigan rice varieties, growth and yield, experimental design, abra, philippines introduction in 1990, paddy rice accounted for 27 percent of value added in agriculture and 3.5 percent of gnp. the yield per hectare is low as compared to other asian countries, like in indonesia, gedagal and bogor putih cultivars which produced 2.99 tons/ha at plant spacing 20x20 cm. in eastern india, the yield of rajlaxmi is 7100 kg/ha and in pakistan, brri dhan 34 showed a grain yield of 4.5 tons per hectare. in thailand, paddy rice production is 6 tons per hectare. as of 2010, the fifth largest rice producer in the world and the second biggest rice exporter is vietnam. using improved varieties in southwestern nigeria, the yield increase was 37.8%. however, the mean yield is still considerably low, although improved rice technology had led to a 19.45 increase in rice production. this scenario is similar with the findings in the philippines that a 50.5% increase was obtained for irrigated areas (pablico, 2007). rice is the number one crop grown in the province of abra where 72.64% of abreños are planting rice (department of agriculture, 1998). it is also considered as the number one food crop of filipinos and produced extensively in different parts of the country especially in luzon, the western visayas, southern mindanao, and central mindanao. in 1989, nearly 9.5 billion tons of rough rice were produced. add the recent statistics of rice in abra. the authors may get those in the website of bureau of agricultural statistics. different lowland rice varieties were introduced to rice farmers in abra, but some were not performing well. high performing varieties must be considered and adapted to increase rice production. there is a need to search and identify potential rice varieties in a particular environment. high yielding varieties were already developed, but there’s a need to conduct adaptability trials to identify the best variety in terms of growth and yield. studies should be undertaken on the different aspects of rice culture like suitability test to attain the aim of farmers, which is to produce the maximum yield. using adapted varieties and high yielding varieties is one of the answers to the challenge for increased food production and self-sufficiency. according to padolina (2009), psb rc4, psb rc10, psb rc54, nsic 124h, nsic rc132h, nsic rc122, rc128, rc144, rc156, rc158, rc160, and rc168h have average yields ranging from 4.6 to 6.0 t/ha for inbreds; 5.7 international peer reviewed journal 129 to 7.1 t/ha for hybrids, with maturity ranging from 104-122 days. these rice varieties have good eating quality. (the paragraph is appropriate under results and discussion section). according to philrice (2002), abra’s rice production is 3.12 tons/ha for modern varieties; 3. 48 tons/ha for irrigated and 2.20 tons/ha for lowland rainfed and 1.23 tons/ha for modern varieties. based on the study of pablico (2007), nsic rc 158 yields an average of 7.036 tons/hectare. there is then an increase of 3.55 tons/hectare produced by rice farmers in abra in case this variety will be grown, hence, this study was conducted to prove it. objectives of the study the general aim of the study was to determine the performance of six tubigan rice varieties selected. specifically, the study was done to: specific objectives percentage of completion milestones y1 y2 y3 1. identify the best tubigan rice variety under lagangilang, abra condition in terms of growth and yield. 50% 50% 100% tubigan rice growth and yield in the field evaluated. best variety identified. yield determined 2. select and recommend best varieties to rice farmers in abra. 100% best varieties selected and recommended to farmers for planting. methodology the wet season cropping started in june 2011 and terminated on october, 2011 while dry season cropping of the study started on january, 2012 and ended on april, 2012. the study was conducted at the asist rice r & d experimental area. preparation of planting materials the area used in sowing the seeds was prepared by plowing and harrowing twice at one week interval, then seedbeds were constructed using the wet bed method. the seeds of the different varieties were sown separately in the seedbed. proper care and maintenance were done in growing the rice seedlings until ready jpair multidisciplinary research 130 for transplanting. rate of fertilizer applied was based on soil analysis conducted with a recommendation of 60-30-30. each block measuring 1.5 meter by 32.8 meter is divided into six, where the six varieties were planted. the treatments were the following: v1 nsic rc-130 v2 nsic rc-138 v3 nsic rc-154 v4 nsic rc-156 v5 nsic rc-158 v6 nsic rc-160 (check) cultural management practices land preparation. the area was plowed and harrowed with an interval of 14 days to ensure proper decomposition of weeds in the area. complete fertilizer (14-14-14) was applied before transplanting by broadcasting to the plots. transplanting. seedlings were uprooted carefully to minimize damage, and each variety was bundled separately in convenient sizes for easy transplanting. seedlings of each variety were transplanted in each designated plot with three seedlings per hill following the straight row method spaced at 20 x 20 cm between hills and rows. replanting was done a week after transplanting. weeding. there was hand weeding when weeds were observed during the growing period after the rice plants have recovered. the plots were kept free of weeds. pests and diseases control. there was strict pest population monitoring at peak vegetative stage, reproductive stage up to maturity. recommended cultural management practices were followed to ensure good crop stand and development. harvesting. harvesting was done manually when almost all the grains in the panicles turned yellow. manual threshing was properly done separately for the different varieties. threshed rough rice of the different cultivars were sun-dried for two to three days having a moisture content of 14% and winnowed. international peer reviewed journal 131 data collection the following data were properly gathered: 1. the number of days from sowing to maturity. counting started from the time of sowing up to the time grains are ripe. 2. the height measured at maturity (cm). a day before harvest, the height of ten sample hills per plot were measured with the use of a meter stick starting from the base of the plant extending up to the panicle tip. 3. the number of productive tillers per hill. ten sample hills were counted at random. rice plants that produced panicles were counted. 4. the length of panicle at harvest (cm). these data were taken from panicle base to panicle tip at the time of harvest. 5. the number of filled and unfilled grains per panicle. the number of filled and unfilled grains per panicle were counted using ten sample panicles taken at random. 6. the weight of 1,000 filled grains (g). one thousand seeds were randomly selected after oven drying at about 14% moisture content and weighed using a digital balance. 7. the harvest index (%). these data were taken from three sample hills per treatment which were uprooted at harvest then dried and weighed and computed using the following formula: economic yield hi %) = biological yield where : biological yield includes vegetative parts and the panicle figure 1. the experimental treatments at maturity jpair multidisciplinary research 132 8. the grain yield per plot (kg). these data were taken by winnowing the spikelets after drying to approximately 14% moisture content. only the filled spikelets were weighed per treatment. 9. the grain yield per ha (kg). these data were taken by converting the grain yield per plot into hectare by using the formula: yield (kg./ha.) = yield in kg./5 m2 plot x 2000 plots *assuming that there are 2,000 plots in one hectare of the area 10. the observed incidence of pests and diseases. an evaluation was taken during peak vegetative stage, reproductive stage and a week before harvest. the following rating scale was used to evaluate resistance of rice varieties to pest: rating scale description remarks 1 1 – 10% of plants per plot are infected resistant (r) 3 11-20% of plants per plot are infected moderately resistant (mr) 5 21-30% of plants per plot are infected intermediate (i) 7 31-60% of plants per plot are infected moderately susceptible (ms) 8 61% and above of plants per plot are infected susceptible (s) evaluation of the severity of diseases was being observed from the plants from the center row. computation on the % infection was determined using the formula. % infection = no. of plants infected x 100 total no. of plants the following rating scale was used: rating scale description remarks 1 0-5% infection resistant (r) 3 6-10 % infection moderately resistant (mr) 5 11-15% infection intermediate (i) 7 16-25% infection moderately susceptible (ms) 9 26% infection susceptible (s) international peer reviewed journal 133 11. consumer acceptability of cooked rice. rice samples were cooked for acceptability. cooked rice was assessed by 10 farmers and 10 students as the panelist on the general acceptability of cooked rice. varieties by at least 75% acceptability of the panelists were considered acceptable. data analysis data were statistically analyzed using the analysis of variance in randomized complete block design (rcbd), least significant difference (lsd) and duncan’s multiple range test. results and discussion maturity high significant differences were observed among the cultivars on the number of days to maturity based on the analysis of variance. the mean differences of all the varieties when compared showed significant differences with the check variety. nsic rc156 was the earliest variety to mature (103 days). in varying number of days, the following cultivars reached maturity after nsic rc 156 had matured: nsic rc 160, nsic rc 130 and nsic rc 154, nsic rc 138. nsic rc 158 was the latest to reach maturity requiring 114 days. this finding is more or less the same as the statement of pablico (2007), that nsic rc 158 matures in 113 days. the earlier ripening of some varieties tested was affected by their varietal differences; others had shorter life span and attained physiological maturity stage earlier than the other cultivars. plant height at maturity, the height of plants among the varieties tested revealed significant differences based on anova. nsic rc 160 was significantly the tallest among the six cultivars with a height of 9.77 cm and significantly different to the other varieties except nsic rc 158. the shortest subspecies was observed in nsic rc 154 with a mean of 88.84 cm. the significant variation in plant height could be affected by their genetic variation. similar finding was found out in indonesia that the plant heights of six cultivars differed significantly at harvest time (yazid & budi, 2013). jpair multidisciplinary research 134 productive tillers it was observed that nsic rc158 produced the highest number of shoots among varieties with a mean of 24 shoots. as such, the number of the former and nsic rc130 which produced the lowest number is significantly different to the check variety. the significant differences could be affected by the fact that high yielding varieties (hyv’s) have relatively high tillering capacity (de datta, 1981). filled and unfilled grains the six varieties evaluated did not significantly differ in terms of the number of filled grains per panicle produced (table 1). this implies that the different varieties have produced more or less the same number of filled panicles in the study. table 1. average number of filled and unfilled grains per panicle of the different varieties. treatment full grains unfilled grains* nsic rc 130 111 20 nsic rc 138 114 18 nsic rc 154 114 26* nsic rc 156 108 32* nsic rc158 121 24 nsic rc 160 118 18 cv (%) 2.38 based on observed means. * the mean difference is significant at the .05 level lsd. analysis of variance revealed high significant differences in the number of unfilled grains per panicle among the different tubigan rice varieties tested. nsic rc 156 had the highest number of empty grains followed by nsic rc 154 (table 1). the number of empty grains they produced was significantly different compared to nsic rc 160 which is the check variety. nsic rc 158, nsic rc 130, nsic rc 160 and nsic rc 138 had statistically similar number of unfilled grains per panicle. this finding could be affected by the agronomic characteristics of the varieties. international peer reviewed journal 135 incidence of pests and diseases the different tubigan rice varieties tested were observed as pest resistant to stem borers and rice bugs in particular and disease resistant specifically in rice blasts and leaf blight evaluated during the peak vegetative, reproductive and ripening stages. this finding agrees with the idea of pablico (2007), agriculture business week (2009) and pcarrd (2003) that these varieties are resistant to pests and diseases. table 2. incidence of pests and diseases of the different varieties treatments reaction to stemborer and rice bugs reaction to rice blast and blight nsic rc 130 1 1 nsic rc 138 1 1 nsic rc 154 1 1 nsic rc 156 1 1 nsic rc158 1 1 nsic rc 160 1 1 1 resistant length of panicle the analysis of variance on the length of panicle showed high significant differences among the treatments. nsic rc 130, nsic rc 138 and nsic rc 156 had produced panicle significantly different to that of the check variety (nsic rc 160) as seen in figure 2. nsic rc 154 and nsic rc 158 were not significantly different from the farmers’ variety. they have produced more or less in the same length of panicles. the significant differences in panicle length among the tubigan rice varieties could be attributed to their genetic make-up. jpair multidisciplinary research 136 figure 2. average length of panicle (cm) based on observed means. * the mean difference is significant at the .05 level lsd. weight of 1000 seeds highly significant differences among the varieties tested were observed based on the analysis of variance. nsic rc 159 being the genotype that has the longest maturity had the heaviest grain weight. this supports the idea of onaga, asea, lamo, kikafunda, and bigirwa (2012) in uganda that heavier grains have greater dry matter accumulation before heading because of longer vegetative growth. nsic rc 130, nsic rc 154 and nsic rc 156 produced the lightest weight of seeds that were significantly different to nsic rc 160 (check variety) (figure 3). based on the finding, it may be inferred that the bigger the seeds, the greater the weight. international peer reviewed journal 137 table 3. the performance of the different varieties in the different parameters varieties parameters n si c r c 13 0 n si c r c 13 8 n si c r c 15 4 n si c r c 15 6 n si c r c 15 8 n si c r c 16 0 no. of days to mature 108a 110b 108a 103c 114d 106c height of plants and maturity (cm) 89.41 ab 89a 88.84a 89.73ab 94.58bc 96.77c no. of productive tillers per hill 16 b 18b 17b 18b 24a 18b no. of filled grains per panicle 111 b 114b 114b 108b 121a 118b no. of unfilled grains per panicle 20 b 18a 26c 32a 24c 18a length of panicle (cm) 22.94c 23.32b 24.67ab 22.29c 25.59a 25.62a weight of 1000 seeds (g) 16.20b 19.15ab 16.73b 17.30b 20.71a 20.08a note: means with the same letter are not significant at the 0.05 level lsd. harvest index nsic rc 158 had the highest harvest index with a mean of 44. all the varieties were significantly different from the harvest index produced by the check variety (nsic rc 160). the lowest harvest index was being obtained from the nsic rc 156 (34.49). based on the observation, the tubigan rice varieties have high harvest index which means that they are efficient partitioners of photosynthetic products. the significant variations are due to the characteristics of each variety that include number of filled grains, length of panicle and weight of grains. grain yield highly significant differences in yield per plot and per hectare were determined among the tubigan varieties of rice tested. nsic rc 158 gave the highest yield of 3.22 kg per 5 m2 with 6440 kg per ha which is 1.83% higher than nsic rc 160 (check variety) because it had produced more productive tillers, number of filled grains, long panicles and high harvest index. as priya and joel (2009) had revealed, plant yield is correlated with the number of tillers, the number of productive tillers, number of primary branches per panicle and number of grains per panicle. this coincides with the statement of pablico (2007) stating jpair multidisciplinary research 138 that nsic rc158 had superior yields averaging 7,036 kg/ha when transplanted. the yield of nsic rc 138, nsic rc 154 and nsic rc 130 were statistically similar (table 3). comparing the result of the study with that of the statement of pcarrd, the yield of nsic rc 130 and nsic rc 138 in the study were quite lower with the average national yield. nsic rc 156 had the lowest yield of 1.80 kg per 5 m2 or with 3600 kg per hectare because it produced the least number of filled grains per panicle, shortest panicle, and lowest harvest index determined. this contradicts with the statement of agriculture business week that nsic rc 156 yields 7,191 kg/ha. as stated by hasan, hossain, salim, anwar and azad (2002), that farmers choose a variety due to its high yield potential, large size panicle, low shattering tendency of grain and good appearance. the yield of all the varieties exceeded the average production of lowland rice in abra, which is 3.48 t/ha (philrice & bas, 2002). the productivity grains of cultivars is probably related to genetic potential (onaga, asea, lamo, kikafunda, & bigirwa, 2012). table 4. average yield of the different varieties treatment mean yield/plot*(kg) yield/hectare (kg) nsic rc 130 1.95cd 3900 nsic rc 138 2.35cb 4700 nsic rc 154 2.15cd 4300 nsic rc 156 1.80d 3600 nsic rc158 3.22a 6440 nsic rc 160 2.72b 5440 cv (%) 13.75 *means of the same letter are not significantly different at 0.05 level lsd figure 3. acceptability of newly cooked and left-overnight rice international peer reviewed journal 139 consumer acceptability shown in figure 3 is the percentage consumer acceptability of both newly cooked and left overnight cooked rice of the different varieties tested. twenty farmers, housewives, and students were chosen as the testing panel to determine the acceptability of cooked rice. the result showed that all the tubigan rice varieties tested by the panel were accepted in terms of their eating quality, whether these are newly cooked or as leftover. conclusions the following conclusions were drawn based on the following findings: 1) tubigan rice varieties had significant differences in terms of plant height, maturity, number of days to ripen, number of productive tillers, number of unfilled grains, length of panicle, weight of seeds, harvest index and yield, 2)the varieties were also found resistant to pest and diseases; and 3) nsic rc 158 produced the highest yield that is even more than the farmers’ variety which is nsic rc 160 and surpassed the average production of lowland rice in abra of 3.38 t/ha. translational research the nsic rc 158 rice variety is recommended to be used by farmers because it produced favorable yield, produce more productive tillers, filled grains, produced longer panicles, high harvest index and is accepted by consumers. with these characteristics, it should be grown by farmers in the philippines as well as farmers of other countries with similar climate. when this variety is not available, the check variety nsic rc 160 could still be used because it also gave favorable yield. literature cited agriculture business week. (2009). new rice inbred varieties needed. retrieved from http://www.agribusinessweek.com/new-rice-inbred-varieties-needed de datta, s. k. (1981). principles and practices of rice production. int. rice res. inst.. hasan m.s., s.m. a. hossain, m. salim, m.p. anwar, a.k.m. azad. 2002. jpair multidisciplinary research 140 response of hybrid rice varieties to the application methods of urea supergranules and prilled urea. pakistan journal of biological sciences, vol 5, iss 7, pp 746-748. onaga, g., asea, g., lamo, j., kikafunda, j., & bigirwa, g. (2012). comparison of response to nitrogen between upland nericas and ita (oryza sativa) rice varieties. journal of agricultural science, 4(6), p197. pablico, s. 2007. nsic releases nine new rice varieties. last updated ( monday, 07 may 2007 ) http://www.philrice.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=287&itemid=2 pcarrd. (2003). nsic-approved rice varieties. retrieved from http://www. pcaard.dost.gov.ph/home/journal/index.php?option=com_content&task=vie w&id=625&itemid=748 philrice and bureau of agricultural statistics. (2002). philippine rice statistics 1970-2002 vol. i. philrice. p. 5 priya, a. a., & joel, a. j. (2009). grain yield response of rice cultivars under upland condition. electronic journal of plant breeding, 1(1), 6-11. the department of agriculture. (1998). agricultural profile of abra. published by the office of the provincial agriculture office www.abra.gov.p yazid, i. i., & budi, i. s. (2013). result of six local upland rice cultivars of east kalimantan at different plant spacing. international journal of science and engineering, 4(2), 66-68. 89 revisiting employment vulnerability index using principal component analysis glecil joy l. dalupo anakgwapo14319@gmail.com southern leyte state university— san juan campus san juan, philippines gary d. garcia garychmich@yahoo.com.ph southern leyte state university— san juan campus san juan, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the share of workers in vulnerable employment is directly linked to the share of people living in poverty. the statement recalls why understanding the employment vulnerability index (evi) of a nation based on the present situations is very relevant. in view of that, the international labor organization (ilo) designed a parameter to predict the possible increase or decrease of the employment vulnerability index. however, the said formula does not capture the general issue of employment vulnerability, specifically in terms of the principal component. hence this study was purposely conducted to develop a unique formula in computing evi as a form of resolution in the development of vulnerability indices using the principal component analysis. the principal component analysis develops indicators of vulnerability in employment using the vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.797 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:anakgwapo14319@gmail.com mailto:garychmich@yahoo.com.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 9090 jpair multidisciplinary research united nations development program (undp) data. the results identified two principal components that determine 82.60% of the variance of employment vulnerability. the generated formula concludes that the employment vulnerability index is a function of types of employment and unemployment rate. types of employment included the employment in agriculture and employment in services, and unemployment rate comprised of employment to population ratio, unemployment labor force, unemployment youth, and labor force participation. further, types of employment should be given more emphasis when it comes to evi plan than unemployment rate hence, type of employment shows greater influence to evi with 66.30% compared to unemployment rate with only 33.70%. keywords — social science, types of employment unemployment rate, evi ranking, philippines introduction the concept of vulnerability was used for the analysis of environmental risks and hazards as well as for demographic  and economic conditions. the united nations development programme of the economic commission for latin america and the caribbean (undp-eclac)  considers that vulnerability and poverty are converging phenomena, describing, among other things, that “the current social scenario simultaneously records an increasing uncertainty regarding work as the main way of building the future of persons and their families (mac donald & simioni, 2000) concerning on vulnerability, the international labor organization (ilo) designed a parameter to predict the possible increase or decrease of the employment vulnerability index (evi). in the said model, the share of vulnerable employment is calculated as the sum of contributing family workers and own‐ account workers as a percentage of total employment. generally, based on this formula, evi was considered as a function of employment. employment, as defined by the parliament of australia (2003) and azpitarte (2012), is an effective barrier against abject poverty, so being excluded from employment brings with it significant financial concerns for individuals and their families. in terms of the growth of poverty and social exclusion, welfare agencies are quick to point to the problems imposed by unemployment and labor market disadvantage. 9191 international peer reviewed journal in relation to this, dutiro (2010) reported that unemployment is a growing problem over the past decade, the narrow and broad unemployment rates have increased from 22.5% to 29.0% and from 29.7% to 38.5%, respectively.  however, the latest edition of the world employment and social outlook compiled by the international labour organization (2018) recounted that global unemployment in 2018 remains at a similar level to 2917. peaking at 5.9% in 2009, the world unemployment rate started slowly decreasing. after 2014, it has essentially stabilized around the 5.5% mark, with the total number of estimated unemployed persons exceeding 192 million. going back to the ilo concept on evi, these reports indicate concerns on employment vulnerability. similarly, garzon-duque et al. (2017) identified the following conditions as evidence of employment vulnerability: accentuation of productive heterogeneity that affects the occupation, the segmentation of the work and greater precariousness, employment deregulation (or flexibilization) without unemployment insurance, the reduction of the quantitative weight of unions, and the sustained growth of labor informality, especially for city workers. finally, the share of workers in vulnerable employment is directly linked to the share of people living in poverty (human, 2009 ). the statement recalls why understanding the employment vulnerability index (evi) of a nation based on the present situations is very relevant. moreover, the ilo formula for calculating evi does not capture the general issue of employment vulnerability, specifically in terms of the principal component. hence this study was proposed to develop a unique formula in computing evi as a form of resolution in the development of vulnerability indices. framework the concept of this study was anchored on the theoretical reduction. in the twentieth century, most philosophers considered the question of the reduction of theories to be prior to the question of the reduction of entities or phenomena. the reduction was primarily understood to be a way to unify the sciences. the general goal of a theoretical reduction is to promote the  unity of science. all of these models provide some sense in which science may become more unified. for sciences may become unified by being expressed in the same language. this allows one to see that there is only one language that is required to express all truths in the theories. sciences may also become unified when the laws of one theory are shown to be derivable from those of another theory. this allows one to 9292 jpair multidisciplinary research see that there is only one basic set of principles that are required to account for the other truths in the theories. finally, sciences may become unified when the observations explained by one theory are shown to be also explainable by another theory (ney, 2008). similarly, the original evi was a weighted composite index constructed using spatial statistical analysis of 2006 census data. the index was developed from an initial theoretical and empirical conceptualization of the drivers and indicators of employment vulnerability. the summary indicator measured a suburb’s potential for increasing joblessness or employment vulnerability rather than the actual level of joblessness or vulnerability (mitchel, 2015). from this, the ilo developed another formula in calculating evi in which the share of vulnerable employment is calculated as the sum of contributing family workers and own‐account workers as a percentage of total employment. from the cited scenario, a formula/model which will be considered as a general reference in measuring the employment vulnerability index of a country was developed. the general concept was to revisit the existing evi formula and identify variables that were considered in the calculation of evi to form new formulas in the simplest form. only identified variables with available data common to all countries from undp data banks were included in the data analysis. the developed model was considered unique due to its composition of parameters in which principal components were derived from the selected variables using principal component analysis. the pca provides the related factor loadings for the identified indicators in which results were used to develop a simple weighted index. objectives of the study this study was purposely conducted to develop a unique formula in computing employment vulnerability index (evi) as a form of resolution in the development of vulnerability indices using principal component analysis since the international labor organization (ilo) designed a parameter to predict the possible increase or decrease of the employment vulnerability that does not capture the general issue of employment vulnerability in terms of principal components; thus, this study is conducted. 9393 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design this study utilized descriptive design to describe the generated data and to generate an index using six (6) indicators of employment vulnerability. the utilization of secondary data from the united nations development program (undp) for the discovery of useful information was applied; hence, it should be cleaned and free from error to ensure the validity of the results. the variables include employment in services consists of wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels; transport, storage, and communications; financing, insurance, real estate, and business services; and community, social, and personal services, employment in agriculture consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, employment to population ratio which is calculated by dividing the number of people employed by the total number of people of working age, unemployment labor force defined as the share of the labor force that is jobless, unemployment youth defined as the share of the youth that is jobless and labor force participation rate which is a measure of an economy’s active workforce. instrumentation the scree plot and the eigen analysis of the principal component analysis were used to reduce the variables into few components without losing any valuable information. thus, a new indicator was determined that was used as a new component for the ranking. data analysis after the generated pc, the employment vulnerability index was derived by computing the sum of the product of the factor loading, and the scores are computed for each component. and lastly, the computed sum of each component and ranked the country according to scores. results and discussion the scree plot of the components of employment vulnerability the figure below showed that there are two (2) principal components that will determine the variability of the components. thus, it is supported by the eigen analysis result in table 1 that 82.60% of the variance will be explained by the two components identified. 9494 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. scree plot of the components of employment vulnerability table 1. eigen analysis of the correlation matrix eigenvalue 3.2834 1.6709 0.9289 0.0598 0.0554 0.0016 proportion 0.547 0.278 0.155 0.010 0.009 0.000 cumulative 0.547 0.826 0.981 0.990 1.000 1.000 factor loading of the principal components based on table 2, which is the result of the pca, there are two components of employment vulnerability, which will determine 82.60% of the variance. the two components were identified as type of employment, which includes employment in services and agriculture, and another is the unemployment rate, which is comprised of employment to population ratio, unemployment of labor force, and youth and labor force participation. 9595 international peer reviewed journal table 2. factor loading of the principal components variable pc1 pc2 employment in services -0.321 -0.605 employment in agriculture 0.305 0.617 employment to population ratio -0.497 0.150 unemployment (labor force) 0.413 -0.374 unemployment (youth) 0.445 -0.298 labor force participation -0.434 0.046 principal component model the generated formula concludes that the employment vulnerability index is a function of types of employment and unemployment rate. pc 1 (type of employment) pc1 = (-0.605*employment in services) + (0.617*employment in agriculture) the results show that the types of employment is a function of employment in services and agriculture. it implies that the decrease of employment in services determines an increase in the type of employment, and the increase in employment in agriculture determines an increase in the type of employment and vice versa. pc 2 (unemployment rate) pc2 = (-0.497*employment to population ratio) + (0.413*unemployment (labor force)) + (0.445*unemployment (youth)) – (0.434*labor force participation) unemployment rate is a function of employment to population ratio, unemployment labor force, and youth and labor force participation. the equation implies that the increase of employment to population ratio and labor force participation determines decreases in unemployment rate. otherwise, an increase in unemployment on both the labor force and the youth determines an increase in the unemployment rate. 9696 jpair multidisciplinary research scores according to identified components table 3 showed the indicators of employment vulnerability of different countries. on the first indicator, which is the type of employment, hong kong scored the highest among the countries while bosnia and herzegovina qatar scored highest in the unemployment rate. table 3. country’s scores according to identified components country type of employment unemployment rate afghanistan -1.49102 0.80622 albania -0.66191 1.57884 algeria -0.02624 2.16260 angola -0.91920 -1.08279 argentina 1.35183 0.59749 armenia -0.26061 2.00046 australia 1.36751 -0.52768 austria 1.07948 -0.25982 azerbaijan -0.36907 -0.66363 bahamas 1.51454 -0.24877 bahrain 0.97221 -1.82220 bangladesh -0.66915 -0.01608 barbados 1.34822 0.36514 belarus 0.61008 -1.38389 belgium 1.37172 0.80446 belize 0.79387 -0.38399 benin -0.81617 -1.61178 bhutan -1.28857 -1.10334 bolivia (plurinational state of ) -0.05514 -1.21252 bosnia and herzegovina 0.07802 4.28512 botswana 0.25639 0.97376 brazil 0.89570 0.90539 brunei darussalam 1.52357 -0.01532 bulgaria 0.86255 0.51961 burkina faso -0.41186 -0.75064 burundi -2.95042 -2.45535 9797 international peer reviewed journal country type of employment unemployment rate cabo verde -1.79532 0.45845 cambodia -0.17746 -3.16938 cameroon -1.55851 -1.73792 canada 1.38498 -0.50154 central african republic -2.79918 -1.11562 chad -2.79255 -1.11557 chile 0.87642 -0.04994 china 0.33351 -1.02834 colombia 0.62636 -0.44696 comoros -1.35425 1.02668 congo -0.71374 -0.04492 congo (democratic republic of the) -2.69193 -1.54394 costa rica 0.87582 0.53237 côte d’ivoire 0.86075 1.51886 croatia 0.57816 -0.22081 cuba 1.37896 0.50796 cyprus 0.78783 -0.53423 czechia -0.72818 -0.52891 denmark 1.37654 -0.41394 djibouti -0.42693 -0.07859 dominican republic 0.88727 -0.71691 ecuador 0.06477 -0.95173 egypt -0.03225 2.20536 el salvador 0.42570 -0.46174 equatorial guinea -1.33556 0.10154 eritrea -2.67686 -1.85556 estonia 0.97161 -0.21011 eswatini (kingdom of ) -2.03695 3.77580 ethiopia -1.89775 -2.21078 fiji -0.45885 0.28313 finland 1.20059 0.55094 france 1.31508 1.02293 9898 jpair multidisciplinary research country type of employment unemployment rate gabon -0.56490 2.70534 gambia 0.15335 0.29306 georgia -0.51067 0.42636 germany 1.19396 -0.58935 ghana -0.54803 -2.13366 greece 0.96681 2.98325 guatemala -0.14311 -0.83277 guinea -1.79230 -0.85071 guinea-bissau -2.65215 -1.08111 guyana 0.55886 1.12143 haiti -0.52332 0.86616 honduras -0.10033 -1.07711 hong kong, china (sar) 1.67843 -0.53261 hungary 0.90292 0.04464 iceland 1.38860 -2.06836 india -0.94874 0.08961 indonesia -0.26182 -0.67843 iran (islamic republic of ) 0.18045 2.44744 iraq 0.47632 1.38322 ireland 1.21566 -0.03515 israel 1.50308 -0.79001 italy 1.08008 2.17579 jamaica 0.61130 0.55887 japan 1.12286 -0.71763 jordan 1.07586 3.34322 kazakhstan 0.47873 -1.40124 kenya -0.40462 0.47997 korea (democratic people’s rep. of ) -2.08214 -1.93353 korea (republic of ) 1.07104 -0.60435 kuwait 1.08972 -1.12745 kyrgyzstan -0.03285 -0.00532 lao people’s democratic republic -1.53260 -2.54117 9999 international peer reviewed journal country type of employment unemployment rate latvia 0.95414 0.29876 lebanon 1.29881 1.10304 lesotho 0.29975 2.39172 liberia -0.60647 -0.42716 libya 0.60707 2.78661 lithuania 0.90775 -0.01862 luxembourg 1.67120 0.19287 madagascar -2.22796 -3.05909 malawi -2.76242 -1.65391 malaysia 0.66190 -0.78912 maldives 0.93004 -0.63913 mali -1.29580 -0.66089 malta 1.42897 0.09037 mauritania -2.24904 1.35280 mauritius 0.90473 0.49568 mexico 0.59622 -0.66121 moldova (republic of ) -0.23711 1.19166 mongolia -0.13708 0.26894 montenegro 1.12648 2.47994 morocco -0.53718 1.28462 mozambique -2.02067 1.42103 myanmar -1.12227 -1.42514 namibia 0.39799 2.60717 nepal -2.04839 -2.72603 netherlands 1.46753 -0.63676 new zealand 1.11443 -0.95911 nicaragua -0.04067 -0.95161 niger -2.24483 -2.67129 nigeria -0.25036 0.40729 norway 1.38558 -0.71871 oman 0.58054 1.34104 pakistan -0.90776 -0.01344 100100 jpair multidisciplinary research country type of employment unemployment rate palestine, state of 0.68058 4.15228 panama 0.71674 -0.65366 papua new guinea 0.73784 -1.52093 paraguay 0.34677 -0.96680 peru 0.06478 -1.83127 philippines 0.14070 -0.77555 poland 0.56609 0.14896 portugal 0.96499 0.70029 qatar 0.35336 -3.35903 romania -0.03466 0.57722 russian federation 0.91016 -0.34209 rwanda -1.76639 -3.11842 saint lucia 0.73301 1.86926 saint vincent and the grenadines 1.36209 1.31248 samoa 1.32051 2.59191 sao tome and principe 0.73181 1.27163 saudi arabia 1.06441 0.97548 senegal -1.41752 -0.23886 serbia 0.31844 1.89897 sierra leone -1.38618 -0.20859 singapore 1.58744 -1.48391 slovakia 0.83302 0.29062 slovenia 0.83603 0.30427 solomon islands -1.98573 -1.73184 somalia -2.81967 0.96402 south africa 1.07827 3.96102 south sudan -2.00803 -0.37424 spain 1.27411 2.11335 sri lanka -0.13528 0.53176 sudan -1.38498 2.17354 suriname 1.21144 0.74256 sweden 1.43560 -0.15291 101101 international peer reviewed journal country type of employment unemployment rate switzerland 1.27049 -1.06552 syrian arab republic -0.14312 3.04171 tajikistan -1.20843 0.58607 tanzania (united republic of ) -1.71397 -2.72129 thailand -0.37269 -1.53446 the former yugoslav republic of macedonia 0.29675 3.12201 timor-leste 0.27025 1.35658 togo -0.48717 -2.32282 tonga -0.58420 -0.87853 trinidad and tobago 1.08188 -0.43707 tunisia 0.05752 2.62111 turkey 0.22444 1.34046 turkmenistan 0.28348 -1.02686 uganda -1.86581 -1.71849 ukraine 0.51367 1.07357 united arab emirates 0.89026 -2.42796 united kingdom 1.46994 -0.49531 united states 1.42535 -0.52512 uruguay 1.03971 0.13229 uzbekistan -0.23954 -0.37911 vanuatu -1.61334 -1.11344 venezuela (bolivarian republic of ) 0.82881 -0.01899 viet nam -0.88728 -2.19708 yemen -0.71795 2.82763 zambia -1.16504 -1.02993 zimbabwe -1.85376 -2.15955 102102 jpair multidisciplinary research weights of the indices weights of indices are computed by getting the percentage of the proportion of each component index weight type of employment 66.30% unemployment rate 33.70% total 100.00% evi equation type of employment*66.30%)+(unemployment rate*33.70%) the combination of components as predictor variables is quite useful in employment vulnerability. further, the generated formula determines which variables are the strongest predictors or contributed much in terms of influences in employment vulnerability. among the two identified major components on evi, types of employment shows greater influence, with 66.30% compared to the unemployment rate with only 33.70%. correspondingly, baum et al. (2013) reported that the employment vulnerability index (evi) is an indicator that identifies those suburbs that have higher proportions of the types of jobs thought to be at risk in the current economic climate. ranking based weighted indices the new ranking in terms of the employment vulnerability index of different countries is shown in table 4 based on the unified index. the top 5 countries with high employment vulnerability are south africa, palestine, jordan, samoa & greece. 103103 international peer reviewed journal table 5. country’s ranking based on the weighted indices country employment vulnerability index rank south africa 2.04976 1 palestine, state of 1.850543 2 jordan 1.83996 3 samoa 1.748972 4 greece 1.646347 5 montenegro 1.582599 6 spain 1.556931 7 bosnia and herzegovina 1.495809 8 italy 1.449332 9 saint vincent and the grenadines 1.345372 10 libya 1.341574 11 the former yugoslav republic of macedonia 1.248862 12 lebanon 1.232837 13 france 1.216626 14 belgium 1.180555 15 luxembourg 1.173004 16 namibia 1.142483 17 saint lucia 1.115927 18 argentina 1.097621 19 cuba 1.08543 20 côte d’ivoire 1.08253 21 suriname 1.053425 22 saudi arabia 1.034442 23 barbados 1.016925 24 brunei darussalam 1.004965 25 lesotho 1.004742 26 finland 0.98166 27 malta 0.97786 28 iran (islamic republic of ) 0.944425 29 104104 jpair multidisciplinary research country employment vulnerability index rank hong kong, china (sar) 0.933311 30 syrian arab republic 0.930165 31 tunisia 0.921448 32 bahamas 0.920304 33 sao tome and principe 0.913728 34 sweden 0.900269 35 brazil 0.898965 36 portugal 0.875784 37 serbia 0.851081 38 oman 0.836832 39 united kingdom 0.807651 40 ireland 0.794138 41 iraq 0.781944 42 denmark 0.773152 43 united states 0.768043 44 mauritius 0.766881 45 costa rica 0.760075 46 netherlands 0.758385 47 canada 0.749223 48 guyana 0.74845 49 bulgaria 0.746979 50 uruguay 0.733911 51 latvia 0.733281 52 israel 0.730312 53 australia 0.728827 54 egypt 0.721826 55 algeria 0.711398 56 ukraine 0.702357 57 norway 0.676436 58 slovenia 0.65683 59 105105 international peer reviewed journal country employment vulnerability index rank slovakia 0.650231 60 timor-leste 0.636342 61 austria 0.628135 62 hungary 0.613681 63 turkey 0.600541 64 lithuania 0.595561 65 jamaica 0.59363 66 germany 0.592984 67 estonia 0.573372 68 trinidad and tobago 0.569999 69 chile 0.564234 70 singapore 0.552397 71 venezuela (bolivarian republic of ) 0.543104 72 gabon 0.537175 73 korea (republic of ) 0.506433 74 japan 0.502615 75 armenia 0.501373 76 botswana 0.498145 77 russian federation 0.488148 78 switzerland 0.483256 79 yemen 0.476912 80 poland 0.425518 81 new zealand 0.415645 82 maldives 0.401231 83 belize 0.396931 84 dominican republic 0.346659 85 kuwait 0.342533 86 cyprus 0.342294 87 croatia 0.308905 88 colombia 0.26465 89 106106 jpair multidisciplinary research country employment vulnerability index rank panama 0.254916 90 moldova (republic of ) 0.244388 91 iceland 0.223602 92 gambia 0.200434 93 malaysia 0.172905 94 mexico 0.172467 95 romania 0.171543 96 el salvador 0.126636 97 albania 0.093221 98 sri lanka 0.089511 99 morocco 0.076762 100 bahrain 0.030495 101 mongolia -0.00026 102 papua new guinea -0.02337 103 kyrgyzstan -0.02357 104 nigeria -0.02873 105 haiti -0.05506 106 belarus -0.06189 107 eswatini (kingdom of ) -0.07805 108 paraguay -0.0959 109 kenya -0.10651 110 china -0.12544 111 kazakhstan -0.15482 112 turkmenistan -0.15811 113 philippines -0.16808 114 sudan -0.18576 115 georgia -0.19489 116 fiji -0.2088 117 united arab emirates -0.22798 118 ecuador -0.27779 119 107107 international peer reviewed journal country employment vulnerability index rank uzbekistan -0.28657 120 djibouti -0.30954 121 nicaragua -0.34766 122 guatemala -0.37553 123 indonesia -0.40221 124 honduras -0.4295 125 bolivia (plurinational state of ) -0.44518 126 bangladesh -0.44906 127 azerbaijan -0.46833 128 congo -0.48835 129 burkina faso -0.52603 130 liberia -0.54604 131 comoros -0.55188 132 peru -0.57419 133 india -0.59881 134 tajikistan -0.60368 135 pakistan -0.60638 136 czechia -0.66103 137 tonga -0.68339 138 afghanistan -0.71685 139 thailand -0.7642 140 equatorial guinea -0.85126 141 mozambique -0.86082 142 qatar -0.89771 143 angola -0.97433 144 sierra leone -0.98933 145 senegal -1.02031 146 mauritania -1.03522 147 cabo verde -1.0358 148 mali -1.08183 149 108108 jpair multidisciplinary research country employment vulnerability index rank ghana -1.08238 150 benin -1.08429 151 togo -1.10578 152 zambia -1.11951 153 cambodia -1.18574 154 myanmar -1.22434 155 bhutan -1.22615 156 viet nam -1.32868 157 vanuatu -1.44487 158 south sudan -1.45744 159 guinea -1.47498 160 somalia -1.54456 161 cameroon -1.61897 162 uganda -1.81617 163 lao people’s democratic republic -1.87249 164 solomon islands -1.90017 165 zimbabwe -1.95681 166 ethiopia -2.00324 167 korea (democratic people’s rep. of ) -2.03206 168 tanzania (united republic of ) -2.05344 169 guinea-bissau -2.12271 170 rwanda -2.22203 171 chad -2.22741 172 central african republic -2.23182 173 nepal -2.27676 174 congo (democratic republic of the) -2.30506 175 niger -2.38855 176 malawi -2.38885 177 eritrea -2.40008 178 madagascar -2.50805 179 burundi -2.78358 180 109109 international peer reviewed journal conclusion calculation of employment vulnerability index using the newly generated formula that focuses on determining the strongest predictors or contribution in increasing and decreasing the employment vulnerability index changes the world evi ranking. further, types of employment should be given more emphasis when it comes to evi plan than the unemployment rate; hence, the type of employment shows greater influence with 66.30% compared to the unemployment rate with only 33.70%. literature cited anderson, b. 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(2009). development report:“overcoming barriers: human mobility and development”. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3cetzxp 142 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract a short story as a literary genre mirrors life, which touches the emotions of the readers. this study employs qualitative analysis using the inspirational stories of francis j. kong, namely: scarred hands, sweet success, the most important ingredient in service, false conclusions, and sweet revenge. the characters’ responses to various incidents were analyzed and compiled from consolidated opinions and feelings to assure that contextual presentation is considerable. internal conflicts of francis j. kong’s stories are choices between optimism and pessimism, determination and resignation, egoism and altruism, being impulsive and restrained, as well as tranquility and turmoil. meanwhile, external conflicts are options between trust and wealth, positivity and negativity, declination and approval, indifference and concern, ill-mannered and gracious. these conflicts, textual analysis of the short stories of francis j. kong elmira c. rodriguez http://orcid.org 0000-0003-1358-8440 elmirarodriguez@jrmsu.edu.ph jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus tampilisan, zamboanga del norte chorla q. napigkit http://orcid.org 0000-0002-5765-1440 chorlanapigkit@jrmsu.edu.ph jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.778 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:elmirarodriguez@jrmsu.edu. http://orcid.org mailto:chorlanapigkit@jrmsu.edu.ph 143 international peer reviewed journal resolutions, and morale are believed to boost readers’ strength, confidence, and collaboration. the main characters’ choices demonstrate the values of creative thinking, acting, sharing constructive outlook, and rekindling the hearts that relates to the readers’ experiences and perspectives. resolutions narrated are directed towards acceptance of failure and defeat conceptualized through selfrealization from a conventional perspective. the moral lessons commonly constitute the virtue of acclimatizing the essence of goodness and reverence of life, as the outgrowth of building one’s strength, values, and faith in god would translate an epitome of humanity. keywords — conflict, resolution, moral, francis j. kong, short stories, qualitative method, philippines introduction textual analysis is a methodology involving interpreting the words, images, or pictures found in texts to obtain knowledge on how people make sense of and convey perceptions of existence and experiences (allen, 2017). critical scrutiny on the elements of a piece of literature is a process that creates an appreciation and understanding of a literary genre. short story analysis, for example, is an avenue to challenge a reader’s comprehension, activates critical thinking, and touches the emotion of the reader. as a literary genre, the short story displays unique characteristics resembling unity of effect and impression that would deliver ideas influential in understanding the essence of living. short story analysis is seldom studied. it can valuably shape one’s knowledge, skills, and values as well as an avenue to equip one’s fluency in vocabulary, comprehension, and higher-order thinking. congruently, it is a valuable teaching tool to enhance the students’ speaking and writing skills, as well as their critical and emotional intelligence by sharing opinions and feelings that would lead towards self-development. conflict, resolution, and moral lessons are potential elements for short story analysis. in this instance, the inspirational stories of francis j. kong are believed to be an advertently precious contribution to enrich one’s range of learning and mold humanity. he is a success story writer applauded in his craftsmanship. his exemplary achievements evident in his numerous national and international distinctions received to mark his unique way of dealing with life. a book author, businessman, columnist, broadcaster, and inspirational speaker, kong’s 144 jpair multidisciplinary research biographical sketch challenged the researchers to examine and evaluate his literary works of best interest in terms of conflict, resolution, and moral lesson as he transcribed his imagination into writing. framework this study is anchored on linguistic and stylistic categories suggested by leech and short (2013) being analytical and independent crafts, yet, crossbred genre connected with multihued points of intention, displaying eluding definitions to uncover the minds of the readers as they enjoy reading and at the same time eventually learning the skills in speaking, writing and thinking and at the same time the skill to apprehend events in the future. figure 1. schematic diagram of the study figure 1 illustrates the schematic diagram of the study. inner circle enclosed the selected short stories of francis j. kong entitled “inspirational short stories.” the three outer circles are the basis of the story analyses. 145 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study in reference to the short stories chosen for analyses, this study aimed to analyze the conflict, the resolution, and the moral lesson that relieve the struggles of the main character’s role in the story’s flow. further, it is geared to connect to the readers’ emotions and values and, more aptly, to develop the critical thinking skill among the readers. methodology this study employs qualitative research based on the gathering of consolidated ideas and feelings cropped from the content of each story in terms of conflict, resolution, and moral lesson. the primary source of data is taken the book “inspirational stories” of francis j. kong, titled scarred hands, sweet success, the most important ingredient in service, false conclusions, and sweet revenge. to organize information towards concrete analyses, series of investigations in the selection of the literary pieces were repeatedly done to assure that the textual presentation would be agreeably considered as extracted from students’ opinions and feelings at the same time consulted to experts to prove the depth of the study. significant lines were quoted and compiled in summary notes as extracted from interested parties to the concave commonality of opinions focused on the character’s social and emotional responses to incidents that happened. conclusions were drawn inclusive to the indicators included. the implications were raised to give strength and value that would translate humanity’s epitome in relevance to connect sensitively with others. results and discussion the analyses and interpretation of the stories were done according to conflict classified as internal and external, between the main character against himself and between the main characters against other characters. the resolution stressed the unfolding solution on complicated issues, and the moral lesson expressed the values emphasized, leading to prove the impact of the study. story no. 1, scarred hands,” brings to the reality of god’s presence in every life, for in times of needs god so provide. worrying for death to come was portrayed by a crying child in a house with a feeling of yearning to live. it indicates an internal conflict as the character cried for help in a dreadful situation 146 jpair multidisciplinary research inside the burning house, afraid to die, seemingly hopeless, and losing the courage and trust in god. in contrast, the external conflict is shown when the boy at a public hearing met persons vying over his custody, leading to an implication that money cannot buy persons’ trust and confidence. it also caters to how to build a better understanding of the world of trickery. that one can harvest the fruit of honesty by planting goodness in his heart. it made a strong resolution to the internal conflict, reflecting tears for help inside the burning house as he was saved. the external conflict observed at the public hearing for adoption when the crowd began to wonder why his choice was unexpectedly observed of picking the simplest man who was interested in his adoption as he pronounced that the farmer is the best among them all. it implies that the boy needs no amount or luxury but the value of a man, the poor farmer who saved him when he was about to burn. it implies further god’s pains on earth to the point of saving men from sins, thus “salvation is about… his scars people are healed.” notably, the moral lesson derived from the story can be a common ground that being selflessly good to others at any time is a virtue that is most likely appreciated. its implication denotes to inspire and shape one’s continuous courage and faith in god to end up successful and productive. story no. 2, “sweet success,” displays the character’s failures by trying to apprehend things in life but instead met several failures. it reflects the business venture that after a series of failures, the main character became an ownerproducer of hershey chocolate. the internal conflict lay when the main character met multiple failures in business despite numerous attempts of endeavors. the external conflict lies in the sadness of milton as his wife cannot give him a child. with a mind filled with positive thoughts, he can overcome sadness by a diverted thought on the battle that lies between the couple’s problem to arrest conflict, which brings to the reality that failure is not the end, but it is a challenge to fight for more. the resolution invokes learning towards failure with an open thought that any conflict is not fatal. the character’s courage led him to the best strategies in defining the formula for success and the power of discipline to fight against upsetting situations and solving the gaps in between. the moral is manifested in extended patience and acceptance of failures as a means to secure a venture for sustainability. in any way, success could be sweeter after experiencing struggles. its implication constitutes that continuous courage in organizing situations and religiously work will be prized with the triumph over the tests of time. story no. 3, “the most important ingredient in service,” shows the main character’s genuine concern on others. the simple incident that happened to the hotel employee towards his client’s disdained him becoming the manager in 147 international peer reviewed journal the couple’s 5-star hotel specially built for him out of his kindness. the internal conflict is seen when he felt the burden of the couple’s situation as observed on his conscientious sympathy on the clients’ situation with the extent of self sacrifice by offering his quarter to the visitors since the hotel rooms had been fully occupied. the external conflict is reflected when the couple was denied for room accommodation. the resolution has been noted when the couple perceived him a man of a special kind by offering such rare opportunity by which effect lead him to the best destiny as he never expects to be the manager of their red stoned 5-star hotel, named astoria hotel in the usa specially made for him by the couple to manage. the morale crafted is quoted from the line kindness begets kindness through genuine service with a heart. the implication is noticeably expressed on the employee’s inspiring values cleaving him unexpected merit of a congruent joy towards his true service. story no. 4, “false conclusion,” expounds the main character’s attitude of biased accusation, which brought him to embarrassment. he easily raised his voice and got mad at upsetting situations. in an instant, he accused others of using his calculator but later noticed it inside his office table drawer. another embarrassing moment was when he sent his high-tech computer for repair, which did not function as a computer service center with heightened emotion. it was demanding to be treated with the immediacy only to find out that his gadget has no problem. maybe it was unplugged as he manipulated the gadget. the internal conflict lies in his uncontrolled emotion and self-centeredness without considering reasons. external conflict is evident in his indifference towards the people around him. a resolution describes his realization of the consequence of his acts that diligence in investigating things and patience in finding the cause of a problem will bring one to the right conclusion. the moral is hinted on the idea that “one must not jump into conclusion and not blow one’s top without listening to reasons to minimize conflicts and intrigues that would redound to humiliation.” the implication defines the importance of listening to reasons, being consultative, and weighing the bane and the boon to come up with a fair decision. story no. 5, “sweet revenge,” divulged the misery of the main character being naïve and inexperienced. he received many unpleasant memories with the bullies around his workplace, targeting him too often into ridicule and humiliation. his being passive and forgiving despite the ills and inhuman treatments finally mellowed their conscience and figured him to be a man good trait. the internal conflict reflects the main self-keeping character of being resistance over his coworker’s indecent manners he inescapably faced most often. the external conflict 148 jpair multidisciplinary research observed displayed the inevitable moods of the people around him, which did not cause him to retaliate. it inferred that those who appear weaker and stand lower are the usual subjects of bullying. the resolution led to qualifying the bullies’ manifestations of lack of knowledge, skill, and values of being human. they noticed the weaker party with no avenge, staying cool, and through his prayers in silence for the bullies caused them a self-constructive direction to understand the value of respect. the moral lesson implies that the more one shares a good heart to those who pained him is a laudable act of winning every time one bears it. thus, the implication on resisting to pains, out of discrimination and leaving revenge on god’s wrath merit a positive value of major considerations and can be an instrument of better chance to penetrate the lives of the bullies as its effects will redound to the consequence of their deeds. students generally opined that based on the stories deliberated in this study to be good as much as possible is a manifestation of keeping a healthy mind commendable to convey better relationship towards any human entity or even to lower forms of animals. others commented that since conflict is inevitable to surface in any undertakings, an immediate resolution to pacify like situations is a better option to end up confronting problems and mend relationships. hence, there is a necessity to educate and constantly re-educate humanity to the best values in life to minimize actions that would result in conflicting situations. although, in some cases, there is a need to argue to come up with the best result, such that brannagan and oriol (2014) suggested that making conflict resolution is necessary as a part of the training. on the other side, schroeder (2014) placed forward the suggestion that so much focus on being polite may impede learning as students may withdraw from voicing an alternate view. it is perhaps shading importance on the values of reading literature that would promote a better understanding of ourselves and others’ value. according to eagleton (2011), faith in the morally educational literature persisted and made english literature a more appropriate source for moral instruction and less remote from life than the classics. in the stories of francis j. kong, the general implication substantiated a commonality depicting a central foundation that would translate humanity’s epitome towards the outgrowth of building one’s strength and values as well as the sensitive connection to others’ lives. his success stories have inspired many readers that even relate to their own experiences and encourage them to crave for the true, the good, and the beautiful. 149 international peer reviewed journal summary of findings story no. 1 “scarred hands.” the internal and external conflicts as felt by the main character on a dreadful situation inside a burning house and at a public hearing over interested persons’ drive for his custody after he was saved from the incident led a decision that made the calm and soft mood of the court. the resolution affected the society’s atmosphere by his decision to pick the simplest man, the farmer with scarred hands for his adoption over the other prominent persons who wished his custody. the moral lesson derived is practically leading to a common ground that being selflessly good to others is a virtue worthy of appreciation. it inspires and shapes the courage to help others and engulf oneself with faith in god. story no. 2 “sweet success.” external and internal conflicts are observed when the main character met multiple failures despite numerous attempts of endeavors and on his yearning for a child by which his wife cannot give. a constructive thinker, he diverted his thought on the battle to arrest conflicts, which brought him to the reality that failure is not the end, but it is a challenge to fight for more. the resolution invokes that any failure is not fatal as he kept experimenting with new formulas in his business and finally succeeded. of course, these were coupled with the power of discipline to fight against upsetting situations and solving the gaps in between. the morale applies to extended patience and acceptance of failures as good manifestations to venture life for sustainability and success could be sweeter after experiencing failures. his move made him a bigger family in his firm and became known to the world with his tasteful chocolates. its implication denotes that continuous courage in organizing situations and religious work will end up in triumph over the tests of time. story no. 3 “the most important ingredient in service.” the character was initially refused as he offered his room to the couple that night as the hotel ran short of bed space until he was able to convince them for security reasons. the internal conflict is seen over his conscientious sympathy on the clients’ situation with the extent of selfsacrifice by offering his room to the visitors. the external conflict is reflected when the couple was denied room accommodation at the front desk. the resolution has been noted when the couple perceived him of a special kind which opportune him to the best destiny as he never expects to be the manager of the red stone 5-star hotel, named astoria hotel in the usa built years after, specially made for him by the couple to manage. the morale crafted is kindness begets kindness through genuine service. it implies an expression of 150 jpair multidisciplinary research man’s inspiring values that will merit a congruent joy to true service recipients. story no. 4 “false conclusion.” the main character usually met arguments in his workplace because of his being vindictive and inconsiderate. he complained about his high-tech computer brought to the computer service center for repairing the arguments sprouted with anger with the computer technician due to his demand to deal with him with immediacy. the gadget was operational but was unplugged as he manipulated the gadget. internal and external conflicts depicted his uncontrolled emotional responses, self-centeredness, and indifference towards him. it led him a resolution to his problem upon his realization of the consequence of his acts. that, diligence in investigating things and patience in finding the cause of a problem will top up to the right conclusion. the moral is, “one must not jump into conclusion without listening to reasons to minimize conflicts and intrigues that would redound to humiliation.” the implication is to listen to reasons and be consultative and be accountable for any act to settle towards a fair decision. story no. 5 “sweet revenge.” his co-workers often bullied the main character due to his lack of experience in the job. he received numerous ridicule and humiliation, but his being considerate and forgiving despite the negative attitude around finally neutralized their conscience and perceived him to be a person of good character. the external conflict reflects the main character’s resistance over the indecency he faced holding his strength towards retaliation. the resolution is transparent in his still coolness and expressive silent prayers, which effectively led to a self-constructive direction to a bullied man. the moral lesson suggests that the more one wears a good heart, the more he expects to win every time he bears the pain. to the bullies, their acts are manifestations of a lack of knowledge, skill, and values of being human. thus, resistance to pain, out of bullying and discrimination, and leaving revenge on god’s wrath, can be an instrument of strength and boost confidence. it implies that one should not plant revenge inside but instead wear a forgiving heart and culture oneself with options that would generate a meaningful life that is displayed in the behavior of the main character. conclusion this context demonstrates the aspects of creative thinking, sharing constructive outlook, and rekindling the hearts that relates to the readers’ experiences and perspectives. these are a good contribution to effective learning strategies in winning life. conclusively, the author’s emerging internal and external conflicts are expressed from a psychological and sociological point of 151 international peer reviewed journal view. the conventional attributes narrated in the resolutions are directed towards acceptance of failure and defeat conceptualized through self-realization, which finally commensurate one’s pattern of self-control and life’s choice. based on further analyses of the stories, the moral lessons constitute values that would translate the virtue of acclimatizing god’s essence of goodness and faith. thus, biblically, actions performed by godly means assure the luck to conform towards one’s satisfaction, a feeling of fulfillment, and even an afterthought of eternal happiness. translational research this study’s findings may be best translated into illustrational books, storytelling books, or posters that could be displayed in the reading corners of a classroom for the students to have easy access to it. it may further teach them how to be successful in life and overcome the struggles and obstacles that hinder their success. recommendations based on the analyses of the selected short stories of francis j. kong as to conflict, resolution, and moral lesson, it is then recommended that story analysis via conflict, resolution, and related literary elements may enhance students’ critical thinking contributory to the 21st-century skills. crafting the moral and implication in a literary genre is a good springboard to conceptualize the best directions in life. furthermore, researches are suggested for replication to augment the culture of literary analysis for the best advantage. literature cited allen, m. (2017). textual analysis. the sage encyclopedia of communication research methods. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978148338141.n623 brannagan, k. b., & oriol, m. (2014). a model for orientation and mentoring of online adjunct faculty in nursing. nursing education perspectives, 35(2), 128-130. retrieved from https://goo.gl/tzrkxj eagleton, t. (2011).  literary theory: an introduction. john wiley & sons. retrieved from https://goo.gl/hdbfzn https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978148338141.n623 https://goo.gl/tzrkxj https://goo.gl/hdbfzn 152 jpair multidisciplinary research kong, f. j. (n.d.). francis j. kong biography. retrieved from https://franciskong. com/about schroeder, j. (2014). literature review: conflict resolution in post-secondary online education. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2g7iycl short, m. h., & leech, g. n. (2013). style in fiction: a linguistic introduction to english fictional prose. routledge. retrieved from https://goo.gl/6jmghs https://franciskong.com/about https://franciskong.com/about https://goo.gl/6jmghs cover single with doi 284 jpair: multidisciplinary research modular instruction in biology: it’s effect on students’ performance archel a. bedaure archelbedaure@yahoo.com carlos hilado memorial state collegecollege of fisheries negros occidental, philippines abstract this investigation ascertained the effect of modular instruction on the performance in biology of freshmen fishery students at the carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) college of fisheries during the second semester of the school year 2009-2010. experimental research using the pre test, post test control group design was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. participants were grouped into the experimental and the control groups. the experimental group was exposed to modular instruction while the control group was exposed to lecture-discussion approach. the pre-test performances of both experimental and control groups were fair. the post-test performance of the experimental group taught by modular instruction was superior while that of the control group taught by lecture-discussion was very good. a significant difference was found between the pre test of the modular and lecture-discussion groups in favor of the latter group. a significant difference was found between the post test results of the control group in favor of the experimental group. significant differences were found between the pre tests and post -tests of the experimental and control groups hence, modular instruction was better than the lecture -discussion approach in effecting students’ performance in biology. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.2 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 285 international peer reviewed journal keywords modular instruction, students’ performance, pretest, post-test, control group, experimental group, lecture-discussion introduction one of a teacher’s most challenging tasks is to accommodate teaching or instruction to the individual differences of students. given the diversity of students, elliott, et al. (2000) believed that most of the methods or techniques that teachers use to provide appropriate levels of instruction have serious drawbacks. for instance, ability groups in which students remain in heterogeneous classes can work to the disadvantage of the far advanced or below-performing students. group-based mastery learning, on the other hand, does not require permanent ability groups of students; one danger here is that in the traditional class period, corrective instruction can slow down the entire class. one important issue is matching tasks to students’ abilities, or vice versa.teachers must adapt instruction to the students’ level of knowledge and development, motivate them to learn, and manage their behavior. consequently, for instruction and learning to become effective, the teacher must be concerned with: the quality of instruction which means that instruction must make sense to the students; the appropriate strategy to use; the incentive to the students for them to learn; and sufficient time for learning to occur. whatever approach a teacher uses should have certain important features to be effective, among which are: a clear focus and explicit learning outcomes that students understand and are held accountable for learning; material or materials presented in a manner that elicits active inquiry and interest; guidance provided by the teacher as students interact with new materials or tasks; and feedback about the quality of students’ learning. one instructional strategy which has recently gained popularity is modular instruction. according to goldschmid and goldschmid (1992), a module is a self-contained independent unit of a planned series of learning activities designed to help a student accomplish certain welldefined objectives. the learner is able to proceed at his own rate and choose his own learning mode. ideally, a module should include a pre286 jpair: multidisciplinary research test, objectives, criteria for success, instructional activities, a post-test, and remedial instruction. generally considered as one very important area of study is the world of natural science, one component of which is biology. today, many innovations have been made to enhance the teaching of science including biology. one of its primary concerns is on the research-based direction for instructional refinements. revision as an endless developmental process requires a large extent of producing instructional materials in bringing about the desired learning outcome. anchored on this developmental process, tertiary education or post secondary schooling referred to in the education act of 1982 as higher education leading to a degree in specific profession or discipline, recognizes a growing realization that it is best to provide students a variety of learning situations rather than attempt to develop a standard method of instruction for all courses. to properly address the need for instructional innovation, this study is intended to focus on modular instruction in biology and determine its effect on students’ performance. further, to facilitate the inquiry into the effectiveness of modular instruction, the study aimed to determine whether the use of module in biology would show positive results as compared to the lecture-discussion approach in teaching. framework of the study this research work is anchored on a number of theories or ideas on the efficacy of instruction by leading educators worldwide discussed hereunder. ornstein (1992) averred that teacher behavior and teaching methods consistently relate to student’s achievement, although different teacher behavior and teaching methods have different effect on different students, grades, subjects, classroom groups, and school settings. in order to facilitate learning, he further believed, the teacher must learn to match an instructional method with its appropriate tasks with the students’ abilities and background knowledge. success in matching or in the choice of the most appropriate strategy can be judged by student’s performance. this view is supported by elliott, et al. (2000), he believed that 287 international peer reviewed journal effective teachers must have a wide range of activities and strategies in their instructional repertoire for interacting with students and facilitating learning. such strategy may involve or include lectures, questioning, problem-solving, practice and drill, and the like. although teachers can use different approaches, effective teaching has common features. what the teacher does is to adapt instruction or “match the mix” between student aptitudes and the method and materials used. according to riasat 2005, the key element, he said, is mastery learning, for it is this goal that all other means are intended to achieve. mastery learning is tied closely to the quality of instruction and must be considered in the light of individual learners. do the students understand what they are to learn and how are they to learn it? it is the answer to this question that illustrates the interaction between students’ ability and quality of instructions and curricular material. since schools are highly verbal, ability to understand is linked to language ability and reading comprehension. modifying instruction by using a variety of techniques tutorial, group, text, and media can benefit students’ comprehension. based on the southeast asian ministers of education regional center for educational innovation and technology (seameo innotech), as cited by mijares, 2008, the idea of using modules as a strategy for learning within the context of education is relatively recent. one of its functions is to upgrade content of the text where old materials are replaced with updated information. it is used to cater individual differences in learning. a variety of instructional activities are used to optimize learning on given topics. it provides an avenue for active participation where students learn by doing. each is actively involved in manipulating the instructional materials. this form of instruction is usually successful in courses that stress acquisition of knowledge. berliner (2007) also discussed the implication of academic achievement as one of the variables that educational psychologists have found to be important in classroom teaching which include the time teachers allocate to instruction, the amount of content they cover, the percent of time that students are engaged in learning, the congruence between what is taught and what is tested, and the ability of the teacher to give clear directions, provide feedback, hold students accountable for their behavior, and create a 288 jpair: multidisciplinary research warm, democratic atmosphere for learning. these findings suggest a continuing process of innovations on instructional materials, as further cited by mijares, 2008. in contribution to this guiding principle on instructional innovations, the researcher attempted to study the effect of modular instruction in biology on freshmen fishery students’ performance. she designed a module for use by modular instruction. she theorized that by using modular instruction in teaching biology to students in an experimental setting, she would be able to determine its effect on students’ performance and thereby determine its worth as an instructional strategy. the usual method used by teachers in teaching the subject – lecture discussion, was to be the control variable. to provide a vivid presentation of the direction of the study, the schematic diagram illustrating the framework of the study is hereby reflected. objectives of the study it specifically sought to: establish the pre-test performance of the freshmen students on modular instruction and on lecture-discussion approach; establish the post-test performance of both groups; determine the significance of differences between the pre-test as well as the post-test performance of both groups; determine the significance of the difference between the pre-test and post-test performance of the modular group; and finally, determine the significance of the 289 international peer reviewed journal difference between the pre-test and the post-test performance of the lecture-discussion group. hypothesis the following hypotheses were advanced: 1. there is no significant difference between the pre test performance of students on modular instruction and those on the lecture -discussion approach. 2. there is no significant difference between the post test performance of students on modular instruction and those on the lecture -discussion approach. 3. there is no significant difference between the pre and post test performance of the modular group. 4. there is no significant difference between the pre and post test performance of the lecture discussion group. materials and methods the focus of this investigation is to determine the effect of modular instruction in biology towards the performance of freshmen students of chmsc-binalbagan campus. accordingly, this investigation uses the experimental type of research. this design uses the treatment variable in the experimental group and the usual way of doing things (lecture discussion), in the control group. before the treatment, a pre-test was made, and after the treatment, a post-test to ensure that results can be attributed to the treatment only. the participants of this investigation were the 66 freshmen students of chmsc-binalbagan campus who were taking up foundations of biological science course during the second semester of the school year 2oo9-2010. in equating the two groups, the grade of the participants in natural science 1 subject was taken from their first semester’s record filed in the registrar’s office of chmsc-binalbagan campus. the natural science 1 grades of the students were used as valid marks and as bases in equating the two participating groups. 290 jpair: multidisciplinary research the grade in natural science 1 of each group was arranged from highest to lowest. the students with highest and lowest grades were eliminated. there were 33 respondents from experimental group ( modular) and 33 from the control group (lecture-discussion approach) who have equal means and were identified as subjects for this research. to ensure its validity, the same treatment of data was used in dichotomizing the grade in natural science 1 of the two groups. to determine the level of performance of the two groups in terms of theoretical knowledge, the mean scores equivalent were computed based on the approved grading system of the college, as stated in circular no. 15, series 1961. this grading system is reflected as follows: score grade equivalent description 27-30 1.0 excellent 24-26 1.5-1.1 superior 21-23 2.0-1.6 very good 18-20 2.5-2.1 good 15-17 3.0-2.6 fair the grade ranges from 3.0 to 2.6 are rated fair; from 2.5 to 2.1 are rated good; the grade of 2.0 to 1.6 are rated very good; from 1.5 to 1.1 are given the equivalent rating of superior; and, 1.0 is rated excellent. the researcher employed other statistical tools to treat the gathered data to equate the two groups on the basis of grade in natural science 1 and age, the means and standard deviations of the students were computed. to test the significance of the difference between the means of independent samples, the t-test was used. in equating the two groups in age, the exact dates of birth of the subjects were taken from the birth certificates of students filed in the registrars office of carlos hilado memorial state college-binalbagan campus. the ages of students in each group were arranged from youngest to oldest. treatment was made by eliminating those who were very young and those who were very old. median or the middlemost value 291 international peer reviewed journal was used by the researcher in dichotomizing ages. table 1 shows the number of respondents, the means, the standard deviation and the probability test value on the basis of their grade in natural science 1. table 1. comparison of the experimental and control groups as to grade in natural science 1 group n mean sd t-alpha t-prob experimental 33 1.76 0.21 0.05 0.31 control 33 1.82 0.24 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha as reflected in table 1, the results show that the modular group has a mean of 1.76 with a standard deviation of 0.21, while the control group obtained a mean of 1.82 with a standard deviation of 0.24. when the results of the two groups were computed, it yielded a probability test value of 0.31 which is higher at .05 level of significance. since there is no significant difference between the two groups, this result shows that they were equated as to their average grade in natural science 1. table 2 shows the comparison of the means, standard deviations, standard error of the difference between means and the critical ratio of the two groups in age. the exact dates of birth of the students were taken from their birth certificates submitted at the registrar’s office. table 2. comparison of the experimental and control groups as to age group n mean sd t-alpha p-value experimental 33 18.00 1.03 0.05 0.34 control 33 17.76 1.00 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha 292 jpair: multidisciplinary research as shown in table 2, the mean score of the modular group is 18 and the standard deviation is 1.03, while the control group got a mean of 17.76 with a standard deviation of 1. 00. the probability test value of 0.34 is greater at .05 level of significance which means that two groups are considered equal in age. the test instrument used in the study was a researcher-made questionnaire. the items in the questionnaire were based on the course contents of the identified topics in biology. for the appropriateness of use, a face validation was made together with the validation of the proposed module as assessed by the jurors. after the validation, the test instrument was revised. a test-retest method was conducted to the 33 college students who were not the subjects of the study and with the same characteristics as the actual respondents. table 3. reliability test using pearson r correlation post test pre test pearson correlation .728 p-value .000 n 33 correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed). based on the result of pearson r correlation, given the p-value of 0.00 which is less than 0.05 revealing a significant result, implies that there is a significant relationship between the members of the dry run group which means the questionnaire established high reliability. at the onset of the experiment, the freshmen students who were to participate in the study were grouped into the control and experimental groups. they were equated on the basis of their grades in natural science 1 and age. their means and standard deviations were computed and the significance between means was tested through the t-test. no significant difference were found between the experimental and control groups when they were compared as to grade and as to age, so they were 293 international peer reviewed journal equated. after they were equated, both groups were briefed and were given careful instructions on procedures to be observed as follows: a. modular instruction (experimental group). at the start of the experiment, the students were given the direction on how to use the module. each student was provided with a material. since this teaching strategy is an individualized instruction, the module was designed for effective self-learning. students progress according to their own pace. the instructional material begins with an introduction, general and specific objectives. the module also presented program requirements or the prerequisite knowledge and learning skills, the time frame, the learning episodes and the procedure on how to use the module. furthermore, the material provides the basic information and fundamental development of theoretical and conceptual skills. included in the module are exercises and individual and group activities. topics are presented in small segments where the learner can answer each bit in the lesson before going to the next learning task. the module begins with a pre test and ends with a post test to check students mastery of the concepts and skills developed within the lesson. a pre-test of 30-items were given to the students before they go through the activities. they were made to write their responses on a separate answer sheet. the score obtained in the pre-test determined their learning needs while the post-test described their delayed recall and mastery of the lesson. before the start of the study, the students in modular group were briefed as to the purpose of the experiment, strict implementation and safe keeping of the modules for the validity of the results. they were also urged to cooperate to the fullest to avoid possible leakage of information which can spoil the experiment. to avoid such, the module was distributed to every student gradually based on the topic or as the time needs. the post test was checked by the students with the presence of the teacher, using the key to correction found at the last pages of the module. after which, the lessons in the module has started and ended with learning activities and exercises which were designed to assess the students learning skills. 294 jpair: multidisciplinary research b. lecture-discussion approach (control group). the control group was teacher-directed. the teacher gave a brief introduction about the contents of the topic and suggested various reference books and textbooks for students’ use. students were then required to go through the relevant pages of these books and come prepared for discussion of the topics on a specified day. the topic of discussion was announced to the students well in advance. the teacher motivated the students and guided their thinking. the comprehension of the class was promoted through lectures and discussion using chalk and board and other teaching media such as dlp projector. they were directed to take down notes while the teacher did lectures and discussions. the control of time and the span of the lesson were dependent on the teacher. students learning were measured through class participation, individual and group activities and daily quizzes. the students were given their own photocopies of the handouts which contain textual information if necessary especially when they are required to answer their assignments. they were asked to copy the written instructions on the blackboard. the reference materials and the sequence of lessons used by the teacher were also the same as those students in the experimental group except on the design of the instructional material used. the same quizzes, pre and post-experiment and periodic tests were given to the two groups of students except on the use of modules. figure 2 shows the schedule of the pre tests and post tests, interval of days, weeks and the number of months it took for the conduct of the experiment. the legend consists of different colors which correspond to the schedule of implementation shown in the chart. november december january week m t w th f m t w th f m t w th f 1 9 11 13 2 16 18 20 3 23 25 27 4 2 4 5 7 9 11 295 international peer reviewed journal 6 16 17 7 2 8 5 7 9 9 12 figure 2. gantt chart for the pre-test and post-test performance of the experimental and control groups total number of days: 22 meetings. legend: = pretest and post-test in lessons 1-6 in biology = implementation of module in biology (21 hours from november 9, 2009 to january 12, 2010.) as shown in the figure, at the start of the 2nd semester, the implementation of modular instruction in biology started on november 9, 2009. the pre –test of the two groups was given on that day, the post – test was given after the completion of the six lessons. there were 21 meetings or 21 hours spent for the experiment which maximized the required number of hours and days for the mid-term of the 2nd semester. biology is offered to the freshmen business management students in the second semester for three (3) hours or for three (3) meetings per week. as indicated in the chart, january 14 and 15, 2010 were scheduled for the mid-term exam based on the college calendar. statistical treatment 1. to determine the level of the pre-test and post-test performance of freshmen fishery students on modular instruction and lecture-discussion approach made use of the mean and standard deviation. 2. to determine the significant difference in the pre-test and posttest performance between freshmen fishery students on modular instruction and those on lecture-discussion approach made use 296 jpair: multidisciplinary research of the t-test for independent sample. 3. to determine the significant difference between the pre and post test performance of the experimental group, the t-test was used for independent sample. 4. to determine the significant difference between the pre and post-test performance of the lecture-discussion (control) group, the t-test was used for independent sample. results and discussion 1. the pre-test performance of students using modular instruction in terms of theoretical knowledge in lessons 1-6 is lower compared to the mean observed in the pre-test performance of the control group. the pre-test performance of both groups was interpreted as fair. the mean scores equivalent were computed based on the approved grading system of the college, as stated in circular no. 15, series 1961. table 4. level of pre-test performance of the experimental and control groups ________________________________________________________ treatment m interpretation sd _______________________________________________________ modular 2.95 fair .24121 lecture-discussion 2.80 fair .25510 ________________________________________________________ as reflected in the table, the performance of the participants in terms of theoretical knowledge shows that the experimental group got a mean of 2.95 which described their performance as fair in the pre-test, while the control group obtained a mean of 2.8 which also described their performance as fair in the pre-test. this shows that the two groups similarly performed in the pre-test. psychological and educational testing depends almost entirely upon the phenomenon of individual differences and therefore upon variance. the significance of any score is ordinarily its usefulness in placement of a person somewhere in the group. the standard deviation 297 international peer reviewed journal therefore describes the spread or scatter of a certain sample from a point of reference which is usually the mean. the standard deviation of both groups show a certain extent of homogeneity as they are not too far spread, the difference between the standard deviations of both being approximately 0.05. it may also be further observed from their mean grades that the lecture – discussion group scored higher and obtained a better rating in the pre – test than the modular group even if the verbal descriptions of their scores are the same. 2. the post-test performance of students using modular instruction in terms of theoretical knowledge in lessons 1-6 was superior while the post test performance of students on lecture discussion was very good. students on modular instruction performed better than the students taught using the lecture-discussion approach. table 5. level of post-test performance of the experimental and control groups a post – test was administered to the participants in the study after 22 days of the experiment, which period constituted the mid – term period of the semester in which the study was conducted. __________________________________________________ treatment m interpretation sd __________________________________________________ modular 1.50 superior .30825 lecture-discussion 1.90 very good .33400 __________________________________________________ table 5, shows that the experimental group got a mean of 1.5 which described their performance as superior, while the control group obtained a mean of 1.9 which described their performance as very good. this shows that the experimental group performed better than the control group. based on these results, it can be seen that modular instruction brought about better performance and therefore better learning of students than the lecture – discussion approach. 298 jpair: multidisciplinary research 3. the null hypothesis stating that there is no significant difference on the pre-test performance between the modular and lecturediscussion group was rejected, since results showed a significant difference between the two groups. as shown in table 6, when the pre-tests of the two groups in lessons 1-6 were compared, the computed probability value is lesser than the 0.05 level, indicating that the difference was in favor of the lecture – discussion group who had the higher mean score, indicating that their prior knowledge was better than that of the experimental group prior to the experiment. this result, led the researcher to reject the hypothesis, which stated that no significant difference exists between the pre – test performance of the modular and the lecture discussion groups. table 6. difference in the pre test performance between the students on modular instruction and lecture discussion. group df m sd t-value t-prob interpretation decision modular 2.95 .24 64 2.777 .007 significant reject null hypothesis lecture discussion 2.80 .25 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha 4. the null hypothesis stating that there is no significant difference on the post-test performance of the modular and lecture-discussion group was rejected, since results showed a significant difference between the two groups. table 7 shows the computed t value of – 4.711 at df 64 at .05 level, the result yielded a significant difference in favor of the experimental group. this means that the group taught by the modular approach performed better than the group taught by the lecture-discussion 299 international peer reviewed journal method on the basis of the post-test results pertaining to lessons 1-6. in addition, the results also revealed the effectiveness of the modules augmenting instruction and improving the theoretical knowledge of the learners. this module provided for both the teacher and students varied activities required in designing novel materials for instruction. this learning package comprises concepts, activities both for theoretical and manipulative skills. every activity is provided with strategic procedure at the end of every lesson. its component has concretized pretty well the principle of allowing each student to proceed at his/her own pace. in this study, the use of module was considered as reinforcement in teaching biology. with the help of the teacher and modules, every student was provided with wider opportunities to learn in terms of theoretical knowledge in lessons 1-6. table 7. difference in the post-test performance between the students on modular instruction and lecture discussion. group df m sd t-value t-prob interpretation decision modular 1.5 .31 64 -4.711 .000 significant reject null hypothesis lecture discussion 1.9 .33 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha in addition, the results also revealed the effectiveness of the modules augmenting instruction and improving the theoretical knowledge of the learners. this module provided for both the teacher and students varied activities required in designing novel materials for instruction. this learning package comprises concepts, activities both for theoretical and manipulative skills. every activity is provided with strategic procedure at the end of every lesson. its component has concretized pretty well the principle of allowing each student to proceed at his/her own pace. in this study, the use of module was considered as reinforcement 300 jpair: multidisciplinary research in teaching biology. with the help of the teacher and modules, every student was provided with wider opportunities to learn in terms of theoretical knowledge in lessons 1-6. based on this result, hypothesis 2 which postulated that no significant difference exists between the two compared groups was rejected. 5. the null hypothesis stating that there is no significant difference between the pre and post-test performance of the modular group was rejected, since results showed a significant difference between the two tests. as shown in table 8, results of the statistical analysis on the pretest and post-test of the experimental group by the use of the t – test yielded the t – value of 20.992 with df at 64, at .05 level, this indicated a significant difference in favor of the post – test, affirming the improvement in the performance of the students in biology who were taught by modular instruction in lessons 1-6. table 8. difference in the pre-test and post-test performance of experimental group type of test df m sd t-value t-prob interpretation decision pre-test 2.95 .24 64 20.992 .000 significant reject null hypothesis post-test 1.5 .31 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha these findings further revealed that the experimental group learned better after the intervention of modules in terms of theoretical knowledge. students learned better with the use of modules since they were provided with sequential topics and activities wherein previous topics could be reviewed many times as they wanted. the concepts and theories were well defined with illustrations and concrete examples in 301 international peer reviewed journal terms of graphical representations of vague ideas. the teacher took over when confusions arose. questions were entertained to cater to query and immediate reinforcement was then established. through the help of a module, absenteeism with valid reasons was solved since all the topics discussed could be read and understood even without the teacher. this finding led to the rejection of hypothesis 3 which stated that no significant difference exists between the pre – test and post – test performance of the experimental group. 6. the null hypothesis stating that there is no significant difference between the pre and post-test performance of the lecture-discussion group was rejected, since results showed a significant difference between the two tests. table 9. difference in the pre-test and post-test performance of the control group type of test df m sd t-value t-prob interpretation decision pre-test 2.8 .26 64 12.136 .000 significant reject null hypothesis post-test 1.9 .33 p < .05 significant at .05 alpha as shown in table 9, the computed t – value arrived at was 12.136 with df of 64 at .05 level, this value indicated a significant difference between the two groups. this means that there was improvement in the performance of the students in biology from the pre – test to the post – test. based on the pre-test and post-test results in theoretical knowledge from lessons 1-6, the control group has shown improvement after the lecture discussion method. this means that this method of teaching also offered good results. the teacher in the lecture-discussion method provided the control group available perspective about the subject 302 jpair: multidisciplinary research matter in times of difficulties. the teacher illustrated clear examples for the students who needed vivid and concrete examples and ideas. students in this group were provided with handouts and lectures to clarify abstract and complex ideas into simple form. the handouts contained textual information with the same topics as the experimental group. based on the obtained result, hypothesis 4 which postulated that no significant difference exists between the pre – test and post – test performance of the control was rejected. altogether, biology teachers involving the module represent well the emerging nontraditional and unconventional teaching styles. this type of instruction easily breaks the space-time syndrome closely related to traditional teaching of biology –in which both the teacher and students stayed together in the classroom, at the same time in order that the teaching-learning process can conveniently proceed. under the modular instruction, students can continue learning by themselves even without the presence of the teacher. a study conducted by silkwood (2000) contradicts with the findings of mijares, agpaoa, cenarosa, solano, and haneghan where his findings imply no significant difference between the modular taught section and the traditionally taught section. the performance of the two groups failed to be statistically significant and gave no support on the effectiveness of modular teaching method while the study conducted by maximo as cited by mijares (2008), agpaoa (2006), riasat (2005), cenarosa (2005), solano (2003), and haneghan as cited by halpern (2002) which concentrated on the development of modules focused on their respective specification which aimed to achieve quality education, supports the findings of this research study. they found out that experimental group obtained better performance than the control group in their post-test mean score results. this suggests that modular instruction is far better than the traditional methods of teaching. 303 international peer reviewed journal conclusions both the experimental and control groups were similar with fair performance on the pre-test. the modular group performed better in the post test than the control group. the post-test results confirmed the advantage of using modular instruction over lecturediscussion approach in teaching biology. this result led the researcher to conclude that using the modular instruction in biology brings about better students’ performance than using the lecture-discussion method since modular instruction allows students to learn at their own pace and according to their individual capacities. generally, modular instruction is a more effective teaching-learning process for biology course compared to lecture-discussion method since modular instruction provides students with an opportunity to learn at their own pace and according to their ability level and need. in spite of the fact that students in the modular approach outscored the students working in the lecture-discussion method, there are still factors to be considered on the performance of students like their background regarding the basic knowledge of the subject. recommendations it is hoped that this teaching-learning innovation would give ideas to teachers to help them design instructional modules to produce quality graduates both in education and technology courses. furthermore, the insights which the students may gain from experience can be translated into a more sensitive understanding of the learning process. literature cited agpaoa, r. c. 2006 “the effects of modular instruction in teaching physics on the achievement of college freshmen” (masteral thesis, philippine christian university, manila,). cenarosa, n. s. 2005 “modular instruction: it’s influence on the mathematics 304 jpair: multidisciplinary research achievement of high performing pupils” (masteral thesis, university of san agustin, iloilo city). chanco, c. r. 2002 biological science. pasay city: christine r. chanco, c. elliott, s. n. 2000 educational psychology. new york; mcgraw-hill co.. halpern, d. f. (ed.) 2002 enhancing thinking skills in the sciences and mathematics. hillsdale, new jersey: east baum,. mijares, c. d. 2009 “modular instruction in the enhancement of students’ performance in drafting”. unpublished dissertation, chmsc,. riasat, a. 2005 development and effectiveness of modular teaching in biology at secondary level from http://prr.hec.gov.pk retrieved february 7, 2010. seameo innotech handbook, 2000 60 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 implementation of learning continuity plan: a basis for a sustainable development program joyce n. rabor https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3831-7607 joyce.rabor@deped.gov.ph banlic elementary school-division of calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines evangeline s. barredo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6048-8229 evangeline.barredo@g.batstate-u.edu.ph batangas state university – arasof calamba, laguna, philippines kathreen merwin n. opinio https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-3246 kathreenmerwin.opinio.001@deped.gov.ph banlic elementary school-division of calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines virgilio d. carmona https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4206-450x virgilio.carmona@deped.gov.ph banlic elementary school-division of calamba city calamba, laguna, philippines originality: 95% • grammar check: 97% • plagiarism: 5% vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.570 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3831-7607 mailto:joyce.rabor@deped.gov.ph https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6048-8229 mailto:evangeline.barredo@g.batstate-u.edu.ph https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-3246 mailto:kathreenmerwin.opinio.001@deped.gov.ph https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4206-450x mailto:virgilio.carmona@deped.gov.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 61 international peer reviewed journal abstract the basic education learning continuity plan (be-lcp) ensures that students’ learning progresses even amidst a pandemic. it is also focused on improving the quality of basic education with enhanced teacher performance and improved mastery of learning competencies on the part of the learners. this research aimed to determine the extent of the implementation of the belcp and the challenges encountered in aligning the four strategic thrusts in the new normal education. furthermore, the respondents of the study are the sixty (60) teachers of banlic elementary school, division of calamba city. the researchers used the descriptive method and the researcher-made questionnaire as the main data gathering tool. weighted mean, frequency count, percentage, ranking, and one-way anova are the statistical tools used in analyzing the data gathered. the results revealed that despite the challenges encountered, most of the respondents represent a high extent of lcp implementation along with the four strategic thrusts. thus, age, educational background, length of service, and relevant training have a significant relationship in the implementation of advancing hand holding initiatives and amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units; consequently, age and length of service have a significant correlation on appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions. based on the conclusion drawn from the study, a proposed development program was crafted to enhance the implementation of the be-lcp. keywords —  education, learning continuity plan, strategic thrusts, implementation, calamba city, descriptive design, philippines introduction the covid-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our lives, including school closures. more than 160 countries have mandated temporary school closures, leaving 1.2 billion children and youth out of school, with 28 million learners in the philippines, without any resort to continuing with their education face-to-face (unesco, 2020). undoubtedly, there has been a negative impact on the education system in the country because of covid-19 and extended lockdowns. in addition, the strain of continued social isolation, lack of schooling, and reduced provisions has taken its toll, as it has across the world. as lockdown restrictions are here 62 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 to stay, for the time being, educators and parents must provide some form of education for their children and students. additionally, extended school closures may cause a loss of learning in the short term and further loss of human capital and diminished economic opportunities in the long term. to help mitigate the loss of learning, many countries are pursuing options to utilize remote learning to manage and cope with the crisis (mundial, 2020). online learning has been popular in singapore since it allows students to learn and access information according to their needs. compared to traditional classes, online learning offers more interactive materials that allow students to easily access information and provide feedback. to meet the different needs in learning, most established colleges have incorporated online learning into their teaching. according to studies, many college students have had online learning experiences, either totally online or through hybrid models that mix face-to-face learning with an online component (guan et al., 2015). likewise, the indonesian government promotes learning through technology-enhanced learning. responses to the covid-19 pandemic have created opportunities to incorporate more technology into teaching. moving to a more integrated learning environment, on the other hand, will necessitate policy changes in infrastructure, teaching and learning quality, and cyber safety and security, among other things (world bank, 2020). recognizing the digital divide, the article (chang, 2020) mentioned that thailand’s government created the remote learning foundation, which assists the ministry of education in launching distance teaching and learning courses via  televised broadcasts. the national broadcasting and telecommunications commission (nbtc) has agreed to run instructional programs throughout its seventeen channels for students to access education. while the broadcast approach allows kids in rural thailand and families from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to obtain instruction during the lockdown, students’ families must still have a digital cable box to see the channels. as stipulated by batubara (2021), the problems faced by students and teachers in the implementation of such continuing education, many factors can be focused on, such as learning in unfamiliar times and seasons, the use of devices and gadgets that they are not used to, technological issues that they have only now focused on and lack of guidance for children to study. some of these factors affect learning and the effectiveness of education. this change will affect their skills and ability. because of this change, these affecting factors will be difficult to focus on even if it is needed now for education to continue. therefore, it is necessary to https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-thailand-to-launch-nationwide-distance-learning-for-students-in-high-risk 63 international peer reviewed journal intensify the existence of criteria and policies for this new normal setting. with this change, the operational requirements in the school and the implementation of the curriculum for the regular class need to be changed to keep pace with and meet the needs of the students and the school. the transformation of education does not mean it is insurmountable. different goals have been developed and intended for children’s skills and competencies to be developed even as change takes place. achieve goals for students to see the target learning outcomes. nonetheless, the educational system has changed the set-up schedule and teaching and learning methods. time to identify the needs of students when it comes to learning whatever aspect locally or nationwide will be realized. after all, what is taught in school or education in a normal setting is like real-life applying what you know to prepare students to apply what they learned for real-world events. there is almost no difference just being set up in the new normal way, so we need a more rigorous and orderly plan for quality learning even if we are in the new normal setting. as indicated in cahapay (2020) study, “collaboration is the most important at these difficult times.” this indicates that we should help form the postcovid-19 education, stepping into the new normal. he also recommends that the opportunity and challenges presented be grasped and taken into a serious concern. the challenge herewith is how to provide and deliver quality education amidst exceptional times and to what extent we will become prepared if another crisis comes. on the other hand, as mentioned in an article (education responses to covid-19, 2020), learning and collaborating in an online environment might not come naturally to teachers and students. in considering policy responses to the school closures, policymakers need to consider ways such as; (1) balance digital with screen-free activities. students’ health is likely to suffer because of substituting classroom hours with online learning. lectures can be shortened and combined with non-digital learning activities. (2) keep a pulse on students’ emotional health. the context of the virus and school closures can be unsettling and disorientating for students. technological solutions need to find a way to provide connection, interaction, and support while learning is happening, particularly in a time of uncertainty. (3) access to devices. students are more likely to have access to smartphones than laptops at home, where more students might be than devices. governments could lend laptops or provide alternative resources (printed work booklets). (4) manage access to it infrastructure. having all students connected simultaneously may be a problem in some places, and access to it infrastructure 64 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 should also be monitored to provide good access to all, perhaps within certain time frames. the philippine government, in collaboration with the department of education (deped), developed deped order no. 012, s. 2020, titled adoption of the basic education learning continuity plan (be-lcp) for the school year 2020-2021, in response to the need to continue education despite the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 crisis. further analysis of data on basic education and the epidemiological status was also considered (cahapay, 2020). it will help education because the result will produce a variety of methods that can be used for continuing education. there were discussions with education stakeholders such as lawmakers, basic education committees, executives from the various departments and field offices, and the general public. a series of online surveys of more than the required respondents, such as parents and learners and teachers, on their readiness for remote education, were also conducted. the inputs from the discussions, surveys, and analyses were unified in planning the framework. furthermore, school learning continuity plan has already made significant strides in education access and is pivoting to shift its focus on quality. it continues to support all efforts toward healing the nation by remaining committed to the goal of delivering accessible, quality, liberating, and safe basic education services amid these critical times. this period of new normal shall be approached with patriotism, compassion, and sensitivity so that the learning process will not be a burden for parents, children, and teachers but a ray of hope amidst the crisis. deped calls on the whole nation to preserve the “bayanihan” spirit as it ensures that the education of millions of filipino learners will continue (department of education, 2021.). in line with this, the public elementary school in cluster 1, division of calamba city, laguna is one of the affected schools that strive to continue to offer excellent education during the pandemic by adopting the learning continuity plan as a guide in delivering educational services. as the school year 2020-2021 ends, there is a need to assess the implementation of the school be-lcp so that the needs and gaps will be addressed, adjustments will be made, and appropriate actions and interventions will be a plan in preparation for the opening of the school year 2021-2022. thus, the researcher aimed to assess the extent of the implementation and challenges encountered by the be-lcp based on the strategic thrusts: focus and intervention, hand-holding initiatives, defined technical assistance; and appraising stakeholders targeting the goals of excellence, empowerment, and efficiency. this sought to create a sustainable development plan to ensure learners’ 65 international peer reviewed journal safe, effective, and efficient delivery of the most essential learning competencies (melc). it also operationalized part of the lcp as a comprehensive plan in response to the new normal in education. this research aided the strategic planning and coordination with the stakeholders to develop comprehensive content as per deped guidelines. additionally, trying to give a better education as the goal of teachers to provide appropriate knowledge for the students despite the challenging crisis was of great help too. lastly, the result of the study provided a long-term solution to the call for inclusive education. this also presented timely solutions to the global quest to attain education. framework the study was anchored on the department of education (2021), which focuses on improving the quality of basic education in region 4a with enhanced teacher performance and improved mastery of learning competencies on the part of the learners. specifically, the framework has four strategic thrusts: focus and intervention, hand-holding initiatives, technical assistance, and appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions targeting the goals of excellence, empowerment, and efficiency. in this context, the prolonged closure of schools due to the covid-19 crisis has transformed stakeholders’ relationships with both schools and learning content. although some students continued their education, many were deprived of adequate opportunities and often lacked essential services and tools such as technological equipment or learning support services. objectives of the study the study aimed at assess the implementation of the learning continuity plan of banlic elementary school. likewise, this also crafted sustainable development plan to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the “most essential learning competencies (melc)” even amidst a pandemic. specifically, the study sought to achieve the following objectives: (1) describe the respondent’s profile in terms of age; educational background; length of service; and number of relevant training attended, (2) determine the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan along with the following strategic thrusts: aligning focus and intervention, advancing hand holding initiatives; amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units and; appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions, (3) 66 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 determine the relationship between the respondent’s profile and the extent of implementation of lcp strategic thrusts, (4) identify the challenges encountered in the implementation of the school learning continuity plan, and (5) create a sustainable development program on the learning continuity plan. methodology research design the researchers utilized the descriptive method in checking the extent of the challenges encountered in the implementation of lcp and the extent of the schools’ initiatives to avert those challenges. furthermore, the researchers collected quantitative data. this method provided a better understanding of research problems and sought informative interviews from the respondents. research site the study was conducted at banlic elementary school, calamba east 5 district, division of calamba city, laguna. banlic elementary school is an iso certified large school with 60 teachers, one (1) administrative assistant, (2) two utility men, and one (1) security guard as the working force. seven (7) buildings with 36 classrooms as teaching and learning areas and one (1) principal’s office with 2,291 sq. m land area catering 2,517 learners. this school was chosen as the beneficiaries of the crafted development program because the researchers were one of the staff and administrators of this institution. respondents the researchers involved sixty (60) teachers of banlic elementary school, division of calamba city, laguna, as the participants of the study who assessed the implementation of the school learning continuity plan. a purposive sampling technique was used to determine the respondents. instrumentation the researchers used a survey questionnaire in conducting the study. to enrich the data gathered, interviews and documentary analysis were likewise used. the survey questionnaire was composed of four parts (1) demographic profile of the respondents, (2) extent of implementation of learning continuity plan along with the following strategic thrusts, (3) relationship extent of implementation 67 international peer reviewed journal of learning continuity plan and the respondent’s profile, and (4) challenges encountered in the implementation of the school learning continuity plan. the questionnaire was evaluated by some experts in education for further comments and approval, after which all suggestions for improvement noted with necessary corrections were incorporated in the final draft. enough copies were prepared for the respondents of the study. to check the reliability of the interview and test questionnaire, cronbach’s alpha test was also administered in the study. research ethics ethical considerations were applied to the whole process of this study. the researchers gave a letter to the principal to inform them of an overview of the whole program and seek permission to administer the study and interview what the study was about, who was undertaking the study, the benefits of the research, and what was exactly involved for the participant. then, the researchers also seek permission from the teacher-respondents to become part of the study. statistical techniques the questionnaire was administered, and the interview was conducted based on the approved permits. weighted mean, frequency count, percentage, ranking, and one-way anova are the statistical tool used in analyzing the data gathered. results and discussion demographic profile of the respondents age the data revealed that 16 or 26.7 percent of the respondents have 21-30, 3140, and 41-50. this is followed by teachers having an age bracket of 41-50 years old with a frequency of 11 or 18.2 percent. on the other hand, only 1 respondent, or 21.7 percent, was above 61 years old. furthermore, it can be deduced from the findings that most of the respondents were middle-aged adults.  alufohai and ibhafidon (2015) conducted a study on selected public senior secondary schools that showed that middle-aged teachers between the ages of 36 to 48 years old were more effective at producing higher student scores than younger and older teachers. on the other hand, the study of sivasakthi and muthumanickam (2012) reveals that young teachers (below 30 years of age), mature or middleaged teachers of 30-40 years, and older teachers above 40 years old do not differ significantly in their effectiveness in teaching or performing additional tasks. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 educational background the data revealed that most of the respondents, 28 or 46.6 percent possess ma units. it was followed by teachers who are college graduates with a frequency of 24 or 40.0 percent. meanwhile, teachers who are ma graduates and with doctorate units with frequencies of four (4) or 6.7 percent. in contrast, none of the respondents finished their doctorate degree. continuing education helps to improve professional practices. this was highlighted by the study of dixon and ward (2015). years in service the result implies that teacher-respondents with 5-10 years in service got the highest frequency of 17 or 28.3 percent. this is followed by teachers with 11-15 years in service with a frequency of 13 or 21.7 percent. while teachers with 0-5 years in service with a frequency of 10 or 16.7 percent. there is 8 or 13.3 percent of teachers with 21-25 years in service, 7 or 11.7 are 16-20 years in service, and those teachers who have rendered 26-30 years in service have the least number among the respondents with the frequency of 5 or 8.3 percent. the fundamental notion of podolsky et al. (2019) emphasizes that the effectiveness of a teacher is positively associated with the years of their teaching experience. this could mean that teachers’ experience can be a key factor affecting the extent of the lcp implementation. relevant trainings attended the result revealed that 19 or 31.7 percent of the respondents attended 1315 relevant training while 14 or 23.4 percent attended 1-3 relevant training. moreover, 11 or 18.3 percent of the respondents attended 7-9 training, and 8 or 13.3% attended 4-6 and 10-12 relevant training, respectively. according to a study by soe (2018), training and development is a process designed to enhance the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes of educators so that they might, in turn, improve the learning of students. thus, this denotes that training teachers are more likely to lead to diversity in practice at all levels of instruction. the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan along with the following strategic thrusts: focus and intervention the findings showed that the teacherrespondents greatly focused on “ensuring a safe distribution and retrieval of modules by adhering to doh, iatf 69 international peer reviewed journal and drrm safety protocols and measures.” this manifested by a 4.42 weighted mean and ranked as 1. moreover, “attend an orientation about the involvement and participation in the lcp” obtained the lowest weighted mean of 3.68. as part of the philippines’ shortand long-term strategies, secretary briones (2020) introduced the be-lcp as a guideline for the department on how to deliver education during the time of the covid-19 pandemic while ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of all learners, teachers, and personnel of deped as the top priority. the result implies that the respondents adhered, committed, and complied with the directive to protect our learners, teachers, and personnel’ safety, health, and well-being and prevent further transmission of covid-19. moreover, communications play a major role in implementing the be-lcp, but it can be challenging because of the quarantine restrictions. though the results revealed a high extent of “attend an orientation about the involvement and participation in the lcp” it obtained the lowest weighted mean of 3.68. a study from anne arundel county public schools (2020) states that collaborative decision making  (cdm) provides a framework for educators, parents, students, and community representatives to solve problems and support student achievement and success. it is a proactive approach that emphasizes early intervention, evidence-based practices, collaborative teaming, and ongoing progress monitoring.  cdm fosters best practices in adult and student learning, collaboration, and problem-solving to achieve the desired results. to sum up, the teacher respondents assessed the extent of the implementation of the learning continuity plan in terms of aligning focus and intervention as present with a high extent as shown by a composite mean of 4.09. the result could be attributed to the teachers’ beliefs that aligning focus and intervention is vital so that the learning continuity plan will be successful. despite the pandemic, they know that their main goal is to deliver quality education among learners. table 1. the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan in terms of aligning focus and intervention the teachers… mean vi 1. ensure a safe distribution and retrieval of modules by adhering to doh, iatf, and drrm safety protocols and measures. 4.42 he 2. accomplish and check weekly home learning plan using slms as references and has considered the learning competencies, key concepts/ essential understandings, and the learning tasks/formative assessments needed to track the learner’s progress 4.23 he 3. prepare lesson exemplars, learning management systems, and learning resources aligned with the available matrix of curriculum standards 4.18 he 70 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 4. map out learners’ context, their learning condition, and potential home learning facilitators 4.15 he 5. orient parents and learners about the different learning pathways, enrolment procedures, school calendar, approach to gaining access to learning packets and resources, school protocol and health measures, and communication with teachers 4.10 he 6. monitor learners’ progress and set up a timely feedback mechanism 4.10 he 7. design appropriate assessment and evaluation tools 4.08 he 8. determine and plan for the learning modalities/pathways appropriate for each learner. 4.05 he 9. prepare the list of priority improvement areas (pias) and participate in the needs assessment to implement the crafted lcp. 3.87 he 10. attend an orientation about the involvement and participation in the lcp. 3.68 he composite mean 4.09 he legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 -5.00 very high extent 3.50 4.49 high extent 2.50 3.49 moderate extent 1.50 2.49 slight extent 1.00 1.49 not at all hand holding initiatives as shown in the table, respondents show a high extent in attending webinars about assessment and evaluation techniques for the modality. the obtained weighted mean of 4.28 suggests that the respondent’s manifest adherence to the training assistance provided by the department of education. it was mentioned in the deped national lcp (2020) that teachers and school leaders shall be capacitated to implement and manage the adoption of multi-modal learning delivery models based on their technology resources map, readiness assessment results, and implementation plans. the overall result revealed that the lcp of banlic es had implemented advancing hand holding initiatives with a high extent and a weighted mean of 3.94. capacity-building programs implemented addressed the curriculum requirements in terms of essential learning competencies and content and pedagogy and assessment. these will complement the learning resources already available through the deped lr portal, deped commons, and other lr portals and resources that may be made available by education partners. 71 international peer reviewed journal table 2. the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan in terms of advancing hand holding initiatives the teachers… mean vi 1. attend webinars about assessment and evaluation techniques for the modality 4.28 he 2. participate in seminars/workshops about current trends and practices in curriculum and pedagogy 4.22 he 3. implement programs and activities that are anchored on the deped vision and mission and its four core values 4.00 he 4. inform stakeholders to participate in school programs that are necessary for learners 4.00 he 5. match the provided teachers’ training on curriculum content and instructional strategies 3.93 he 6. uses age-appropriate and localized materials based on the needs of the learners 3.92 he 7. provides differentiated activities among learners, especially when giving follow-up lessons. 3.85 he 8. design learning materials that show higher levels of learning 3.83 he 9. conduct individual or collaborative research based on needs assessment 3.70 he 10. create a class/school website or learning management system 3.65 he composite mean 3.94 he legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 -5.00 very high extent 3.50 4.49 high extent 2.50 3.49 moderate extent 1.50 2.49 slight extent 1.00 1.49 not at all technical assistance the finding denotes that the respondents have a high extent of consulting teams who will provide the technical assistance (ta) and support needed with a weighted mean of 4.12. this implies that the extent of the implementation of the be-lcp recognized the importance of technical assistance as deemed necessary to ensure effective program implementation to achieve higher or better learning outcomes. this recognized that it impacts performance and the general welfare of the people in the organization. it was stated in the study of magcanas (2019) that technical assistance help, guidance, or supports “teachers” to be more effective in the performance of their functions. it is also conducted to help, solve problems, improve performance, get results, and gather data for policy formulation. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 on the other hand, creating a class/school website or learning management system got the lowest weighted mean of 3.65. the challenges in the shift moving from the traditional classroom to a blended learning classroom can be recognized. as mentioned in the study by reischl and toro (2018), both teacher and student strive for more self-directed learning opportunities using technology. the idea of the networked student and the networked teacher “promotes inquiry-based learning and digital literacy, empowers the learning, and offers flexibility as new technologies emerge.” to sum up, the teacher respondents assessed the extent of implementing the learning continuity plan in terms of amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units as present with a high extent as shown by a composite mean of 3.83. the result could be attributed to the beliefs of the teachers that there should be an effort to train teachers in identifying and assisting children under vulnerable conditions. moreover, support mechanisms shall be established for teachers, school leaders, parents, and learners. table 3. the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan in terms of amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units the teachers… mean vi 1. consult teams who will provide the technical assistance (ta) and support needed 4.12 he 2. monitor the outcomes of the activities and process the insights and learnings gained by the learners involved in the activity 3.93 he 3. documenting, record – keeping and reporting the activities and agreements in the lac sessions 3.92 he 4. provide interventions (if necessary) 3.92 he 5. conduct follow up and remediation 3.87 he 6. create an individual monitoring plan for learners who are not able to master the intended most essential competencies 3.77 he 7. monitor learners’ progress and set up a timely feedback mechanism 3.77 he 8. track learners’ progress and monitors the completeness of the submitted output 3.72 he 9. utilize online platforms to conduct online kumustahan/ give follow-up lessons with his/her students. 3.65 he 10. assist parents in administering the modules and learning activity sheet 3.68 he composite mean 3.83 he legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 -5.00 very high extent 3.50 4.49 high extent 2.50 3.49 moderate extent 1.50 2.49 slight extent 1.00 1.49 not at all 73 international peer reviewed journal appraising stakeholders as seen in the table below, the teacher assessed “establish a network of communication between students and parents” as a high extent with a weighted mean of 4.18. while “present school needs assessment to stakeholders” got the lowest weighted mean of 3.78. the overall result revealed that the extent of the implementation of the lcp in terms of appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions is highly evident, with a weighted mean of 3.94. although ensuring health protocols and continuity of education is very costly, the department of education (deped) maintained that there are enough resources to fund implementing the basic education learning continuity plan (belcp) this upcoming school year. deped cited further that the special education fund (sef) is sourced from real property taxes that are collected by the local government that can finance the be-lcp. moreover, deped also recognized the importance of brigada eskwela and oplan balik eskwela; these partnership initiatives of deped prepare the school opening and fully assist the preparation of stakeholders in the roll-out of the be-lcp. table 4. the extent of implementation of the learning continuity plan in terms of appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions the teachers… mean vi 1. establish a network of communication between students and parents 4.18 he 2. use of technology as a tool for collaboration with teachers, learners, and parents 4.12 he 3. consult teachers, pupils, parents, and stakeholders to participate in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, programs, projects, and activities 4.05 he 4. capacitate school officials, teachers, home learning facilitators, and lgus to deliver the different learning modalities and learning packages/packets. 3.92 he 5. develop and implement projects and interventions with partner institutions and individuals. 3.90 he 6. push for increased assistance from stakeholders 3.90 he 7. post infographics and other materials online to attract stakeholders 3.83 he 74 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 8. ensure collaborative engagement with stakeholders to achieve lcp 3.82 he 9. present school needs assessment to stakeholders 3.78 he composite mean 3.94 he legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 -5.00 very high extent 3.50 4.49 high extent 2.50 3.49 moderate extent 1.50 2.49 slight extent 1.00 1.49 not at all comparison of the extent of implementation of learning continuity plan when grouped according to respondent’s profile age as shown in table 5, the computed f-value of age in the four strategic thrusts are 3.672, 3.431, 3.561, and 4.113. the p-value ranging from 0.005 to 0.014 is less than a 0.05 level of significance that rejects the null hypothesis. thus, there is a significant difference in the extent of the implementation of the lcp when grouped according to age. it indicates that the age of the respondents affects the implementation of the lcp. the age of teachers affects their ability to develop and formulate a plan or program that will help students and schools tůmová (2012). when it comes to a teacher’s career, age affects the job and assigned tasks. the age-based volume of knowledge has increased over time, and the capacity to compile and analyze things that need to change in the education system. table 5. comparison on the extent of implementation of learning continuity plan when grouped according to age variables fvalue p-value decision on ho vi focus and intervention 3.672 0.010 reject ho significant hand holding initiatives 3.431 0.014 reject ho significant technical assistance 3.561 0.012 reject ho significant appraising stakeholders 4.113 0.005 reject ho significant p<0.05 75 international peer reviewed journal educational background table 6 showed that the computed f-value of educational background in the four strategic thrusts was 0.500, 1.679, 0.600 and 0.218. the obtained p-value ranging from 0.182 to 0.884 is greater than the 0.05 level of significance that failed to reject the null hypothesis. thus, there is no significant difference in the extent of the implementation of the lcp when grouped according to educational background. it indicates that regardless of the educational background of the respondents, the extent of the lcp implementation is the same. the outcome of the projects and the problems that need to be solved will depend on the capacity and background of the teacher to address the needs. especially when it comes to curriculum or lessons needed for the education system in timely approaches (nevenglosky & cale, 2019). the desired goal can be achieved when it comes to this aspect to assist in the collaboration and support of an organization to advance education. table 6. comparison of the extent of implementation of learning continuity plan when grouped according to educational background variables f value p-value decision on ho vi focus and intervention 0.500 0.684 failed to reject ho not significant advancing hand holding initiatives 1.679 0.182 failed to reject ho not significant technical assistance 0.600 0.618 failed to reject ho not significant appraising stakeholders 0.218 0.884 failed to reject ho not significant p<0.05 length of service the table shows that the computed f-value of age in the four strategic thrusts are 4.037, 2.805, 3.540, and 3.646. the p-value ranging from 0.003 to 0.025 is less than a 0.05 level of significance that rejects the null hypothesis. thus, there is a significant difference in the extent of the implementation of the lcp when grouped according to the length of service. it indicates that the years in service of the respondents affect the implementation of the lcp. developing and creating a program for education based on the curriculum for school plans to pursue education is not that easy to meet. however, it can help teachers’ length of service depending on their involvement (mandukwini, 2016). it may be that experienced or so-called teachers with sufficient teaching experience and methodologies in 76 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 approaches and techniques can help design a curriculum or continuing education plan, while there may be teachers who do not have sufficient experience but do not be able to provide information and insights. however, any teachers can give time on learning these and can be used as an advantage to improve education. table 7. comparison of the extent of implementation of learning continuity plan when grouped according to length of service variables f value p-value decision on ho vi focus and intervention 4.037 0.003 reject ho significant advancing hand holding initiatives 2.805 0.025 reject ho significant technical assistance 3.540 0.008 reject ho significant appraising stakeholders 3.646 0.006 reject ho significant p<0.05 relevant training table 8 revealed that the computed f-value of relevant training in the four strategic thrusts were 1.298, 1.134, 0.930, and 1.199. the p-value range from 0.282 to 0.454 was greater than the 0.05 level of significance, which failed to reject the null hypothesis. thus, there is no significant difference in the extent of the implementation of the lcp when grouped according to relevant training. it indicates that regardless of the number of training attended by the respondents, the extent of the lcp implementation is the same. applying the training is one of the factors that affect and help the teaching or performance of a teacher’s work for the benefit of the students (boudersa, 2016). training, workshops, and seminars play a major role in educators’ further honing their ability to deliver and provide innovative and better teaching methods, researching, and preparing for strategic needs. professional development may serve as the key to progress to any plan of action of the teachers for the students. 77 international peer reviewed journal table 8. comparison of the extent of implementation of learning continuity plan when grouped according to relevant trainings attended variables f value p-value decision on ho verbal interpretation focus and intervention 1.298 0.282 failed to reject ho not significant advancing hand holding initiatives 1.134 0.275 failed to reject ho not significant technical assistance 0.930 0.454 failed to reject ho not significant appraising stakeholders 1.199 0.322 failed to reject ho not significant p<0.05 challenges encountered in the implementation of the school learning continuity plan focus and intervention some study reveals that challenges encountered in creating and modifying protocols in this new normal regarding the variation of modalities in teaching and learning need to be implemented (arrieta & sudarsana, 2021). due to adjustments to the usual routine of strategies in teaching and learning as to schedules, modes, and other matters, the problems faced today need to be addressed so that students can continue learning. based on the conducted interview, most of the school funds were used to reproduce modules and other learning materials. it is challenging for the school to acquire or purchase thermal scanners, alcohol, mats, sanitation, and health kits, for both teachers and learners. they are also asked what interventions/ they used to cope-up with the challenges, and they narrate that adopt-a-school programs under republic act 8525 or partnerships with the private companies have been an essential tool to provide the needs of the school, such as upgrading existing facilities, provision of books, publications, instructional materials; and health kits which the school mooe cannot cover. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 table 9. challenges encountered in the implementation of learning continuity plan in terms of aligning focus and intervention the teachers… mean verbal interpretation 1. implementing iatf guidelines such as social distancing, wearing face masks, etc. 4.18 serious 2. orienting the parents on the roles and responsibilities of parents and learning facilitators 3.92 serious 3. training support on crafting lesson exemplars, weekly home learning plan (whlp), appropriate assessment and evaluation tools aligned with the available matrix of curriculum standards 3.83 serious 4. awareness of the objectives and policy about involvement and participation in the lcp. 3.82 serious 5. preparing needs assessment that is aligned to priority improvement areas (pias) 3.75 serious 6. mapping out learners’ condition, teachers’ capacity, and potential home learning facilitators 3.73 serious 7. crafting of plans and submitting documents, reports, and accomplishments as required in ppas 3.73 serious 8. selecting appropriate learning modalities/pathways plan for each learner 3.70 serious composite mean 3.83 serious legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 5.00 very serious 3.50 4.49 serious 2.50 3.49 moderate serious 1.502.49 less serious 1.00 1.49 not serious advancing hand holding initiatives today’s educational pathways need to be addressed with adequate intervention to keep students learning to not fall behind. cortezano et al. (2021) stated that those instances in implementing the continuity plan need to meet so that even in a pandemic, the things to be done in school can be resolved for continuous operation and learning. even though some components do not affect the plan for continuing education, it still needs to be demonstrated and implemented. based on the conducted interview, assisting parents in administering the modules and learning activity sheet is the most challenging for the teacher respondents since some parents do not have stable internet connections to access the video guides for the lesson. some parents send queries after working hours or even late at night 79 international peer reviewed journal since it is the only time they are available. table 10. challenges encountered in the implementation of learning continuity plan in terms of advancing hand holding initiatives the teachers… mean verbal interpretation 1. assisting parents in administering the modules and learning activity sheet 4.13 serious 2. establishing a network of communication between students and parents 4.12 serious 3. facilitating the delivery of the modular distance learning process 4.05 serious 4. crafting localized learning materials that show a higher level of learning 4.00 serious 5. attending and scheduling training/webinars, and meetings one at a time 3.92 serious 6. accomplishing 100% implementation of the programs and projects in the proposed lcp activities. 3.92 serious 7. resource availability such as materials, technical, and human resources that the school needs during proposed lcp activities 3.87 serious 8. conducting research based on needs assessment 3.68 serious composite mean 3.96 serious legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 5.00 very serious 3.50 4.49 serious 2.50 3.49 moderate serious 1.502.49 less serious 1.00 1.49 not serious technical assistance due to the crisis today, we are facing the needs of children that cannot be met since, at this point, there are limited and constrained opportunities (huber & helm, 2020). data shows that it is difficult for students to receive or see the need for education, including communication, location, environmental conditions, and learning conditions. to overcome this situation, there’s a need for stakeholders and teachers to participate in cooperation for the betterment of the school and the students. to monitor what the students have learned to what extent and what else needs to be studied needs a clear purpose of the plan and dissemination, transparency, and adequate communication. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 table 11. challenges encountered in the implementation of learning continuity plan in terms of amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units mean verbal interpretation 1. tracking learners’ progress and monitoring the completeness of the submitted output 4.20 serious 2. keeping learners’ documents and records. 4.20 serious monitoring learning outcomes 4.13 serious 3. contacting the parents/ students to give instructions and follow-up 4.13 serious 4. utilizing online platforms to provide intervention, online kumustahan/ give follow-up lessons to learners. 4.08 serious 5. training, coaching, and technical assistance to the teacher about partnership planning, joint problem solving, and resource mobilization 3.97 serious 6. setting up a feedback mechanism 3.97 serious 7. creating individual monitoring plan for learners who are not able to master the intended most essential competencies 3.93 serious composite mean 4.08 serious legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 5.00 very serious 3.50 4.49 serious 2.50 3.49 moderate serious 1.502.49 less serious 1.00 1.49 not serious amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units table 12 revealed that challenges encountered in implementing a learning continuity plan in terms of appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions are serious, as shown in the table. in times of unforeseen circumstances, there are many obstacles to education, but it is necessary to develop a plan of action to continue it. creed and morpeth (2014) cited that students’ learning should not be compromised because of the pandemic’s unforeseen circumstances. cognizant of that, the school allotted funds for implementing health protocols, such as buying temperature scanners, alcohol dispensers, and power hoses to disinfect the school premises. however, the funds are not enough to sustain the needs. fortunately, some schools received donations from their stakeholders which can be used for following health protocol purposes. there are many possible sources and resources for the advancement or continuous process 81 international peer reviewed journal in education; all that is needed is proper planning appropriate to the situation and good implementation to accomplish it. additionally, in the study by sampat (2020), it was expounded that the school must keep records of the agreements between the donors and donations from the latter. he also emphasized that schools should sustain other programs and projects to show that schools could effectively and efficiently manage the resources resulting in more donors and active stakeholders. table 12. challenges encountered in the implementation of learning continuity plan in terms of appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions mean verbal interpretation 1. present school needs assessment to stakeholders 4.02 serious 2. request support from the lgu on the implementation of health protocols 4.02 serious 3. allot funds for purchasing health equipment such as thermal scanners, alcohol dispensers, etc 4.02 serious 4. establish projects and interventions with partner institutions and individuals. 4.02 serious 5. consult teachers, pupils, parents, and stakeholders to participate in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating policies, programs, projects, and activities. 4.02 serious 6. capacitate school officials, teachers, home learning facilitators, and lgus on the delivery of the different learning modalities and learning packages/packets 4.02 serious 7. involve the barangay functionaries in the distribution and retrieval of modules/output 3.98 serious 8. ensure collaborative engagement with stakeholders to achieve lcp 3.97 serious 9. post infographic and other materials online to attract stakeholders 3.93 serious composite mean 4.00 serious legend: range verbal interpretation 4.50 5.00 very serious 3.50 4.49 serious 2.50 3.49 moderate serious 1.502.49 less serious 1.00 1.49 not serious 82 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 conclusions based on the accumulated findings, the following conclusions were drawn. (1) most of the respondents are 21-30, 31-40, and 41-50, with 05 years of teaching experience, with ma units, and 3-15 relevant trainings. (2) majority of the respondents represent a high extent of lcp implementation along with the four strategic thrusts, which are aligning focus and intervention; advancing hand holding initiatives, amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units, and; appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions. (3) age and years of service have a significant difference in the extent of implementation of the be-lcp. while the educational background and relevant training do not have a significant difference in the implementation of the be-lcp. (4) majority of the respondents signify those challenges encountered in implementing the learning continuity plan in terms of the four strategic thrusts are serious. (5) the proposed development program may enhance the implementation of the belcp in banlic elementary school. recommendations based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the researcher recommended the following:  (1) the extent of the implementation of the belcp in banlic elementary school promotes positive outcomes; thus, the lcp should be sustained and maintained by the school administrators with the support of the staff and stakeholders.  (2) the administrator should focus on proper orientation and training, planning, coaching, and provide technical assistance to the teachers in assisting parents in administering the modules and learning activity sheet, tracking learners’ progress, and monitoring the completeness of the submitted output and present school needs assessment to stakeholders. (4) schools should utilize the proposed sustainable development plan as it aims to uplift schools’ performance and deliver quality education.  (5) similar study maybe is conducted with the inclusion of students and parents to assess the implementation of the be-lcp, a bigger sample size, and more school samples. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for publication, newsletter, radio, social media, and others for information dissemination and to revisit institutional policies. the researchers developed a 83 international peer reviewed journal proposed development plan for the four strategic thrusts: aligning focus and intervention, advancing hand holding initiatives, amplifying defined technical assistance to target delivery units and appraising stakeholders on the progress of interventions. it aims to identify what activities are needed after determining the appropriate learning delivery modality and ensure that students’ learning progresses even amidst unexpected events. this development program is evidence-based, results-based, and learner-centered. it can also be translated by revisiting the implementation of the be-lcp, indicating objectives, schedule, venue/ online platforms, budget, and the person(s) responsible. additionally, this study benefits curriculum developers, administrators, teachers, and pupils in planning and improving quality education amidst pandemics. literature cited alufohai, p. j., & ibhafidon, h. e. 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(2020). the world bank education global practice guidance note: remote learning & covid-19. https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/globalcoalition 37 international peer reviewed journal management skills of professional engineers in the industry and the academe in the samar island: basis for formulating a management manual bienvinido c. balanlay, jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1755-040x jobalanlay@gmail.com university of eastern philippines philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study was conducted to determine the management skills of professional engineers in the industry and in the academe in the samar island: basis for formulating a management manual. the personality traits among the five factors ‘conscientiousness’ was more dominant and were rated as ‘high extent. problem-solving skills were rated ‘very good,’ and management performance was rated ‘very satisfactory.’ the relationship between socio-demographic profile and management skills, in terms of administrative and leadership skills, were found ‘significant.’ the relationship between socio-demographic profile and management performance, planning, and controlling were found ‘significant.’ the relationship between personality traits and management skills, leadership, and problem-solving skills dominate and were highly significant in management skills. at the same time, conscientiousness and agreeableness were highly ‘significant’ in personality traits. between personality traits and management vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.789 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org 38 jpair multidisciplinary research performance: openness – planning, directing, and influencing; conscientiousness – planning; extraversion – directing; in agreeableness – planning and influencing were found significantly related, and in neuroticism – all parameters were found ‘not significant.’ test difference in management skills and performance between professional engineers in industry and academe; conceptual skills were found ‘significant.’ keywords — engineering, personality traits, management skills, management performance, descriptive-correlational method, philippines introduction management skills are an important component of educational leader and manager competencies. there are two ways of forming a skill: imitating and practicing. practice is the most effective. to develop a skill, learners have to do practical assignments following the four skill formation steps, dealing with practical things, and practice in real situations. it is necessary to have systems of practical assignments for the learners to practice during the learning, demonstration schools where they can learn real experiences and practice their skills. in the 21st century, educational managers and leaders have to master the skills to lead 21st century schools. in particular, they need ict and english skills to use ict in their management job and need to update with new knowledge (loc, 2010). salvador (2000) studied the managerial skills practiced by the elementary school heads in the division of zambales: its impact on teachers’ morale. findings showed that the managerial skills of school head-respondents in planning, personnel management, supervision, human and public relations, and decisionmaking skills were adequate as perceived by themselves and adequate as perceived by the teachers, which partly moderate influence on the managerial skills executed by the school heads. management comes in when professionals handle people. and to manage these people is a tough thing. lopez (1999) reported that the managerial skills and personal development needs of the radio facility supervisors are adequate in the areas of skills, namely: technical skills, human relation, and conceptual, while they were rated only “adequate” by the non-supervisors on the same areas. andjelkovic (2017) stated that conceptual skills might not be attainable when vision loss occurred. riemer (2002) also added that communication skills are an 39 international peer reviewed journal essential component in the education of engineering students to facilitate not just students’ education but also to prepare them for their future careers. nowadays, it seems that management skills are not important anymore in improving and developing managerial aspects in the industry and the academe. management is routinely understood to be accomplishing work through the expenditure of resources. more rigorously, management is the science of employing resources efficiently in the accomplishment of a goal. the classic functions of management are planning, directing, organizing, staffing, controlling, and coordinating (richman, 2012). escobar (2007) studied the management skills, professionalism, and performance of educational managers in selected campuses of cavite state university system and university of rizal system. findings revealed that controlling, organizing, and human relation skills in terms of instruction were significantly affected by the performance of the educational managers. likewise, organizing also affects the performance of educational managers in terms of research and extension. and in the production only in the length of service were significantly affected. lastly, as to the hypothesis stating that management skills, professionalism, and profile of the respondents singly in combination affect their performance was “sustained.” musingafi (2014) also studied on applying management theory into practice at secondary school in zimbabwe: teachers impressions of classical management functions at mapakomhere day secondary school in masvingo. the school headmaster provides leadership by delegating duties and responsibilities to staff and by motivating them. the school management is also responsible for staffing, involving assessing, appointing, evaluating, and developing the employees at work in the school. and lastly, there controlling, which all about monitoring and evaluation to ensure that everything is in the right direction to ensure the attainment of set goals. all these classical management functions were found to be useful and practiced at mapakomhere rural day secondary school in masvingo district. engineers need to be influential. at all levels of an organization, engineers should play a significant role in driving innovations that will benefit customers and increase profits. engineers are trained to innovate, but unfortunately, many have not learned the skills necessary to influence others and to develop ideas that increase profits. engineers, then, need to know how to articulate their thoughts so that others will be inspired to build on them. they need to learn how to drive projects and ideas to create innovations that customers will value. the following are seven (7) reasons why technical professionals need leadership 40 jpair multidisciplinary research skills: (1) technical acumen alone is not influential, (2) leadership is not just for managers, (3) engineers lead projects, (4) engineers can guide less-experienced peers, (5) engineers need to help their managers’ business succeed, (6) engineers can influence decision-makers in their organizations, and (7) everyone should be interested in building the character (morse et al., 2014). management skills can be a success or a failure. that is why the continuing professional development (cpd) act of 2016 is being enacted through r.a. 10912. the cpd ensures the enhancement of skills of professionals by attending training and seminars. management skills form the vehicle by which management strategy, management practice, tools and techniques, personality attributes, and style work to produce effective outcomes in organizations. management skills, in other words, are the building blocks upon which effective management rests. it is how managers translate their style, strategy, and favorite tools or techniques into practice (whetten, cameron, & woods, 2007). management is a challenging job. it requires certain skills to be accomplished, and it is such a challenge. thus, essential skills that every manager needs for doing better management are called as managerial skills. according to katz, there are three managerial skills, viz.: conceptual skills, human relations skills, and technical skills. however, the degree (amount) of these skills required varies (changes) from levels of management and from an organization to an organization. these include conceptual skills, human relations skills, technical skills, communication skills, administrative skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and decisionmaking skills (akrani, 2011). management skills are behavioral and not personality attributes or stylistic tendencies. it has sets of actions performed by an individual that leads to certain outcomes. almandeel (2014) conducted a study to determine the impact of employees’ personality traits in perceiving leadership styles and organizational attitude in saudi banking context. the findings indicated that high conscientiousness (c) has an influence on increasing job satisfaction while the personality traits of high neuroticism (n) and high conscientiousness (c) have a positive and negative impact on turnover intention, respectively. the relationship between conscientiousness (c) and job satisfaction is positively mediated by perceived transactional leadership style. bauer & mcadams (2004) assumed the existence of two kinds of approaches to growth and personality development – extrinsic and intrinsic. extrinsic development is primarily cognitive and revolves around one’s ability to think complexly about one’s life http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-management-definitions-meaning.html http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-to-managerial-economics.html http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/05/levels-of-management-top-middle-and.html 41 international peer reviewed journal goals, whereas intrinsic development is primarily emotional and revolves around one’s ability to feel better one’s life. de guzman (2000) believed that personality traits and leadership skills are vital to the competence of the principals in leading their subordinates. amponsah and asamani (2015) recommended that school managers should endeavor to know the traits of their subordinates and apply the appropriate leadership styles when dealing with them to bring about good interpersonal relationships and satisfaction at the workplace. in the study of wishmath, s., orr, d., and zhong, m. (2014) to determine the student perception of problem-solving skills, they reported that students increased communication skills, awareness of the importance of problem-solving skills in their major, and significantly increased confidence in their problem-solving abilities. they demonstrated a strong awareness of how the skills they acquired transfer to both academic and real-world environments. a similar definition is expressed by follet that management is the art of getting things done through people. this statement calls attention to the fact that managers achieve organizational goals by arranging for others to perform whatever tasks may be necessary – not by performing the tasks themselves (stoner & freeman, 1992). managing people can be a difficult one, especially if one does not have the needed skills. possessing these skills is necessary for the success of an institution or a company. it is observed that there are engineers who are managers in the industry and the academe. it is in this context that the researcher wants to know the management skills of professional engineers in the industry and the academe in the samar island: basis for the formulating a management manual. hence, this study was made. objectives of the study the study determines the management skills of professional engineers in the industry and in the academe in samar island: basis for formulating a management manual. specifically, it seeks to: (1) determine the personality traits of the professional engineers in terms of: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism; (2) assess the level of management skills of the professional engineers in the industry and in the academe in terms of: conceptual skills, human relation skills, technical skills, communication skills, administrative skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and decision42 jpair multidisciplinary research making skills; (3) find out the management performance of the professional engineers in the industry and in the academe, in terms of: planning, directing, influencing, and controlling; (4) determine the significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile of professional engineers and management skills; (5) determine the significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile of professional engineers and management performance; (6) determine the significant relationship between personality traits and management skills; (7) determine the significant relationship between personality traits and management performance; (8) determine the significant relationship between management skills and management performance; (9) determine the significant difference in management skills between the professional engineers in the industry and in the academe; and (10) determine the significant difference in management performance between the professional engineers in the industry and in the academe. methodology research design this study used a descriptive correlational method of research. descriptive method was used to determine the personality traits; the level of management skills in terms of conceptual skills, human relations skills, technical skills, communication skills, administrative skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills; and management performance in terms of planning, directing, influencing, and controlling. the correlational method was used to identify the significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile and management skills; the significant relationship between the sociodemographic profile and management performance; the significant relationship between personality traits and management skills; the significant relationship between personality traits and management performance; the significant relationship between management skills and management performance. likewise, the significant difference in management skills between the professional engineers in the industry and the academe; and significant difference in management performance between the professional engineers in the industry and the academe. participants the participants of this study include the forty-five (45) professional engineers in the academe in the four (4) state universities and colleges (sucs), 43 international peer reviewed journal namely: university of eastern philippines (uep) system, northwest samar state university (nwssu) system, samar state university (ssu), and eastern samar state university (essu) system. likewise, in the industry which includes ninety-seven (97) professional engineers working in the department of public works and highways (dpwh), national irrigation and administrations (nia), provincial engineering office (peo), municipal engineering office (meo), electrical cooperative (eo) and construction industry. this will be conducted during 2018. similarly, the nineteen (19) immediate supervisors and the three hundred seventy-eight (378) staff and/or fifth year engineering students (bsae, bsce, bsee, and bsme) were also respondents of this study. this is to elicit data on the personality traits, management skills, and management performance of the professional engineers. instrumentation the study utilized two sets of a questionnaire to gather the necessary data. the first set is intended for the professional engineer respondents. it consists of four parts. part i contains the socio-demographic profile of the professionalengineer respondents such as position, seminars/training attended, educational attainment, and work experience; part ii focused on the personality traits in terms of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism; part iii constitutes the management skills in terms of conceptual skills, human relations skills, technical skills, communication skills, administrative skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills; and part four was the management performance which contains planning, directing, influencing, and controlling. the second set of questionnaires was intended for the immediate supervisor and students/stakeholders. it consisted of three parts. the first part was the personality traits of professional engineers; the second parts were the management skills, which consists of conceptual skills, human relations skills, technical skills, communication skills, administrative skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills; and the third part was the management function which consists of planning, directing, influencing, and controlling. the data on the “big five” personality traits were measured. the study used the neo-ffi personality inventory, the neo-ffi, which consists of 60 selfreport items. the scores produce a dimensional profile of the five personality traits; this part of the questionnaire was designed to take about 15 minutes to 44 jpair multidisciplinary research fill out. participants were instructed to evaluate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with each statement on a five-point likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). a measure of overall personality type was found by calculating the means of each personality dimension; means of the openness to experience sub-scale (o), means of the conscientiousness sub-scale (c), means of the extraversion sub-scale (e), means of the agreeableness subscale (a) and means of the neuroticism sub-scale (n). then, the grand mean was ranked based on their results, as to the management skills the following scale and interpretation statement on a five-point likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). and to the management performance in terms of planning, directing, influencing, and controlling the following scale and interpretation statement on a five-point likert scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (outstanding). the data and information were gathered using questionnaires. part i of the questionnaire is the socio-demographic profile of the respondents; part ii is the personality traits patterned from almandeel (2014); part iii is the management skills such as conceptual skills and technical skills patterned from nohay (2001), human relations skills patterned from lopez (1999), communication skills and problem-solving skills patterned from whetten, cameron, and woods (2007), administrative skills patterned from lopez (1999), leadership skills and decisionmaking skills patterned from salvador (2000); and part iv is the management performance in terms of planning patterned from salvador (2000), directing and controlling patterned from mg2351, and influencing patterned from tld consultancy ltd (2012). the instrument was reviewed by the adviser to suit to the present study. these questionnaires were subjected to critiquing by experts on instrumentation in the locality. to ensure the validity and reliability of the instruments, these were pretested to professional engineers who were in the academe and industry, particularly in the nearby island, the leyte island. this was done to help the researcher determine their correctness and reliability in eliciting the needed data sets. the revised and improved instruments were the ones administered to the respondents. data gathering procedure the gathering of the data was done in the following procedure: (a) the researcher asked permission from the dean of graduate studies to conduct and distribute the questionnaire. upon approval, the researcher personally distributed and administered the research questionnaire to the respondents, and (b) then 45 international peer reviewed journal after conducting and retrieving the questionnaires answered by the respondents, the responses were gathered, tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted. statistical analysis the data gathered were scored, tallied, tabulated, and analyzed based on frequency counts and percentages and weighted mean. pearson’s correlation coefficient r was adopted to find a significant relationship between the dependent and independent variables. t-test was used to find the significant difference in management performance and management skills between the professional engineers in the industry and the academe. statistical packages for the social sciences (spss) software was used in the analysis of this study. a 0.05 margin of error level was used in testing the hypothesis. results and discussion as to the level of personality traits of the professional engineers, the findings revealed that among the five factors, ‘conscientiousness’ was more dominant personality traits and was rated as ‘high extent.’ this means that the professional engineers did their work thoroughly, achieved their aims and purpose through hard work, and they kept their properties clean and tidy. this is similar to the study of tenedero (2016), which affirms that openness and extraversion were ‘high extent’ in the immediate supervisors. this is also affirmed in the study of almandeel (2014) that high conscientiousness (c) of leadership style which influences on increasing job satisfaction and transformational or transactional. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. level of personality traits of the professional engineers item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation o (openness) s/he likes to dive in daydreaming. 3.12 average extent 2.67 average extent 2.89 average extent when s/he gets a true way to do something, s/he continues on the way through. 4.09 high extent 3.73 high extent 3.91 high extent s/he tends to appreciate artistic works and landscapes. 4.40 very high extent 4.44 very high extent 4.42 very high extent s/he thinks that listening to debate has no benefit except confusing and misleading ideas. 2.94 high extent 2.79 average extent 2.87 average extent reading poetry does not attract him/her. 3.20 average extent 3.03 average extent 3.12 average extent s/he often seeks a lot to experience new dishes. 3.82 high extent 3.44 high extent 3.63 high extent s/he rarely notices that environmental changes could impact on my mode. 3.74 high extent 3.43 high extent 3.59 high extent s/he has few artistic interests. 3.62 high extent 3.12 average extent 3.37 average extent s/he thinks religion is important to guide his manners. 4.31 very high extent 4.03 high extent 4.17 high extent s/he likes reading a lot. 3.19 average extent 3.34 average extent 3.26 average extent s/he enjoys contemplating abstract theories and ideas. 3.98 high extent 4.20 very high extent 4.09 high extent it is easy to make him/her laugh. 4.17 high extent 4.71 very high extent 4.44 very high extent grand mean 3.65 high extent 47 international peer reviewed journal item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation c (conscientiousness) s/he keeps his/her properties clean and tidy. 4.27 very high extent 4.45 very high extent 4.36 very high extent s/he is keen on achieving his/her tasks on time. 4.41 very high extent 4.10 high extent 4.25 very high extent s/he thinks s/he does not keep discipline well. 2.85 average extent 2.63 average extent 2.74 average extent s/he takes care of achieving s/he works accurately. 4.20 very high extent 4.27 very high extent 4.23 very high extent s/he tends to plan his/her aims to achieve his/her ambitions. 4.26 very high extent 3.99 high extent 4.12 high extent s/he wastes much time before performing any work. 2.56 low extent 1.98 low extent 2.27 low extent s/he works hard to achieve his/ her aims. 4.30 very high extent 4.31 very high extent 4.31 very high extent if s/he is committed to his work, s/he perseveres until the task is finished. 4.21 very high extent 4.36 very high extent 4.29 very high extent s/he may let others’ trust down. 3.00 average extent 2.95 average extent 2.97 average extent s/he is productive and finishes his/her work well 4.34 very high extent 4.34 very high extent 4.34 very high extent s/he is organized 3.91 high extent 4.19 high extent 4.05 high extent s/he will use circumventing techniques to achieve what s/he wants when necessary. 3.91 high extent 3.98 high extent 3.95 high extent grand mean 3.82 high extent 48 jpair multidisciplinary research item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation e (extraversion) s/he likes people to get around herself/himself. 3.88 high extent 3.39 average extent 3.64 high extent funny situation excites him/ her and s/he cannot control her/ his self. 3.58 high extent 3.62 high extent 3.60 high extent s/he considers herself/himself annoying. 2.50 average extent 2.08 low extent 2.29 low extent s/he enjoys talking to others. 4.14 high extent 3.47 high extent 3.80 high extent s/he tends to active places (i.e., shopping center, entertainment cities, etc.) 2.98 average extent 2.79 average extent 2.88 average extent s/he prefers to do things alone. 3.66 high extent 3.95 high extent 3.80 high extent s/he usually feel energetic and active. 4.23 very high extent 4.27 very high extent 4.25 very high extent s/he is pessimistic in general. 3.35 average extent 2.95 average extent 3.15 average extent his/her life runs very quickly. 3.68 high extent 3.26 high extent 3.47 high extent s/he is a person full of energy. 4.15 high extent 4.38 very high extent 4.27 very high extent s/he prefers to do his/her work by him/herself, instead of leading others 3.54 high extent 3.86 high extent 3.70 high extent s/he prefers to do things efficiently. 4.27 very high extent 4.39 very high extent 4.33 very high extent grand mean 3.61 high extent 49 international peer reviewed journal item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation an (agreeableness) s/he tries to be nice with everyone s/he meets. 4.25 very high extent 3.98 high extent 4.12 high extent s/he makes a lot of debate with his/her family and at work. 2.75 average extent 2.90 average extent 2.82 average extent some people think that s/he is selfish and conceited. 2.71 average extent 2.11 low extent 2.41 low extent s/he prefers cooperating with others to competing them. 3.58 high extent 3.84 high extent 3.71 high extent s/he tends to doubt others’ intentions. 3.17 average extent 2.86 average extent 3.01 average extent it is easy to take advantage of him/her with his/her awareness. 3.17 average extent 2.73 average extent 2.95 average extent almost everyone knows him/her and likes him/her. 3.57 high extent 3.90 high extent 3.73 high extent s/he is usually described as a cold yet responsible person 3.81 high extent 3.96 high extent 3.89 high extent s/he adheres to her/his opinions strictly. 3.61 high extent 3.90 high extent 3.75 high extent s/he takes care of others’ feelings and pains 4.37 very high extent 4.27 very high extent 4.32 very high extent s/he expresses herself/himself feeling to others even if negative ones 3.34 average extent 3.27 average extent 3.31 average extent s/he is a deep thinker. 4.13 high extent 4.21 very high extent 4.17 high extent grand mean 3.50 high extent 50 jpair multidisciplinary research item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation n(neuroticism) s/he considers her/himself a tense person. 2.99 average extent 2.56 low extent 2.78 average extent s/he feels that s/he is less social status than others. 2.64 average extent 2.38 low extent 2.51 low extent sometimes s/he feels depressed if s/he is in stressful conditions. 3.60 high extent 3.05 average extent 3.33 average extent s/he rarely feels lonely or depressed. 3.21 average extent 2.45 low extent 2.83 average extent s/he feels nervous and worries a lot. 2.85 average extent 2.63 average extent 2.74 average extent s/he sometimes feels valueless. 3.01 average extent 2.30 low extent 2.66 average extent s/he rarely feels afraid or worries. 2.95 average extent 2.83 average extent 2.89 average extent s/he sometimes gets angry about how others deal with him/her. 3.32 average extent 3.28 average extent 3.30 average extent s/he may feel low energetic when matters get worse. 3.10 average extent 2.34 low extent 2.72 average extent s/he rarely feels depressed or sad. 3.12 average extent 2.79 average extent 2.96 average extent s/he need help from others to solve his/her problems. 3.64 high extent 3.28 average extent 3.46 high extent sometimes s/he feels shy and inhibited. 3.77 high extent 3.27 average extent 3.52 high extent grand mean 3.03 average extent the level of management skills of the professional engineers in the industry and the academe got a computed average grand mean of 4.09, interpreted as “very good.’ professional engineers recognized the effort of the students/stakeholders when the assigned task was done well by allowing students/stakeholders to present their problems. these findings are similar to the study of shuayto (2013), the management skills desired by business school deans and employees: an empirical investigation was prioritizing skills and designing coursework to incorporate topranked skills viewed as most important by business and industry leaders. 51 international peer reviewed journal table 2. level of management skills of the professional engineer respondents in the industry and the academe item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation a. conceptual skills. 1. possessing endurance & emotional balance. 4.15 very good 3.98 very good 4.07 very good 2. observing promptness in performing official functions. 4.26 excel-lent 4.19 very good 4.23 excel-lent 3. wearing appropriate attire. 4.33 excel-lent 4.23 excellent 4.28 excel-lent 4. communicating ideas clearly and correctly. 4.26 excel-lent 4.22 excellent 4.24 excel-lent 5. showing sensitivity to students/stakeholders’ needs. 4.11 very good 3.98 very good 4.05 very good 6. confronting students/ stakeholders tactfully. 3.87 very good 3.87 very good 3.87 very good grand mean 4.12 very good academe industry average mean b. human relation skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. keeps informed on how stakeholders are thinking and feeling. 4.11 very good 4.20 excellent 4.15 very good 2. encourages others to express their ideas and opinions. 4.22 excel-lent 4.11 very good 4.16 very good 3. listens with understanding and purpose. 4.06 very good 3.73 very good 3.90 very good 4. accepts criticisms from others. 4.22 excel-lent 3.86 very good 4.04 very good 5. handles questions promptly. 4.31 excel-lent 4.20 excellent 4.25 excel-lent 6. informs students/ stakeholders on changes in policies and procedures affecting their work. 4.18 very good 4.12 very good 4.15 very good 52 jpair multidisciplinary research 7. recognizes and appreciates stakeholder accomplishments and exemplary performance. 4.18 very good 4.13 very good 4.15 very good 8. explain the “why” of decisions. 4.34 excel-lent 4.20 excellent 4.27 excel-lent 9. makes a significant contribution to the meeting. 3.97 very good 3.87 very good 3.92 very good 10. expresses self-clearly and efficiently in writing and speaking. 4.15 very good 4.09 very good 4.12 very good 11. tactfully explains to people that their department is not a separate entity but is a part of the whole organization. 3.96 very good 3.81 very good 3.88 very good 12. encourages students/ stakeholders to get together and work on common problems. 4.29 excel-lent 4.22 excellent 4.26 excel-lent 13. inspires students/ stakeholders to contribute their ideas for the good of the company. 4.47 excel-lent 4.33 excellent 4.40 excel-lent 14. welcomes related interference with other departments. 4.21 excel-lent 3.99 very good 4.10 very good 15. disseminates to people worthwhile things learned from other departments. 4.18 very good 4.07 very good 4.12 very good 16. enlighten students/ stakeholders that competition is related to excellence. 3.74 very good 3.76 very good 3.75 very good 17. emphasizes cooperation as an instrument of a cohesive and successful organization. 4.26 excel-lent 4.05 very good 4.15 very good 53 international peer reviewed journal 18. defines a job assigned to a group to develop in their challenge and efficiency. 4.19 very good 3.96 very good 4.08 very good 19. invokes students/ stakeholders in getting work objectives and schedules. 3.93 very good 3.96 very good 3.94 very good 20. consults the group on important matters before implementation. 4.49 excel-lent 4.23 excellent 4.36 excel-lent grand mean 4.11 very good c. technical skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. developing plans for the organization using the latest and appropriate technology. 4.12 very good 4.21 excellent 4.16 very good 2. scheduling of activities, assigning workload, and other related activities. 4.34 excel-lent 4.26 excellent 4.30 excel-lent 3. problem-solving. 4.22 excel-lent 4.29 excellent 4.26 excel-lent 4. developing a competency-based implementation strategy. 4.10 very good 4.14 very good 4.12 very good 5. communicating plans and activities to the c o e n g i n e e r s / c o l league. 4.07 very good 4.19 very good 4.13 very good 6. preparing audio-visual resources during meetings and seminars. 3.93 very good 3.78 very good 3.85 very good 7. advising students/ stakeholders on their career plans. 3.93 very good 3.80 very good 3.86 very good 8. applying various concepts of vocational instruction to supervising personnel. 3.82 very good 3.60 very good 3.71 very good 54 jpair multidisciplinary research 9. use of information c o m m u n i c a t i o n technology (ict) in carrying out managerial tasks. 3.88 very good 3.73 very good 3.80 very good 10. use of educational technology (i.e., ohp, multimedia, slide projector, etc.) 4.09 very good 3.60 very good 3.84 very good grand mean 4.00 very good d. communication skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. i or s/he can speak english fluently. 3.93 very good 3.75 very good 3.84 very good 2. i or s/he can write english effectively. 4.05 very good 3.95 very good 4.00 very good 3. i or s/he can speak other foreign languages aside from english. 2.18 fair 1.76 poor 1.97 fair 4. i or s/he can write another foreign language proficiently aside from english. 1.74 poor 1.65 poor 1.69 poor 5. i or s/he can use vocabulary which is understood by the clientele 3.82 very good 3.86 very good 3.84 very good 6. i or s/he can use several bodily gestures to convey meaning. 3.89 very good 3.64 very good 3.76 very good 7. gives clear directions and explanations. 4.11 very good 4.22 excellent 4.16 very good 8. motivate the students/ stakeholders to ask questions. 4.10 very good 4.15 very good 4.12 very good 9. i or s/he can use questions that lead students/stakeholders to analyze, synthesize, and think critically. 3.94 very good 4.02 very good 3.98 very good 55 international peer reviewed journal 10. ask students/stakeholders to elaborate on answers or ideas. 3.88 very good 3.97 very good 3.92 very good 11. provides feedback to clientele on their performance. 3.83 very good 3.88 very good 3.86 very good grand mean 3.56 very good e. administrative skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. checks a yearly action plan. 3.97 very good 3.87 very good 3.92 very good 2. plans with students/ stakeholders’ activities and make decisions. 4.16 very good 3.98 very good 4.07 very good 3. recognizes students’/ stakeholders’ abilities and achievements. 4.15 very good 4.08 very good 4.12 very good 4. ensures that the office is implemented. 4.09 very good 4.16 very good 4.12 very good 5. accepts the fact that students/stakeholders have problems that may affect their work. 4.00 very good 4.01 very good 4.00 very good 6. builds teamwork among students/ stakeholders. 4.29 excel-lent 4.28 excellent 4.28 excel-lent 7. inspires students/ stakeholders to work hard towards their goal. 4.27 excel-lent 4.23 excellent 4.25 excel-lent 8. tries to solve problems brought to them by the students/stakeholders. 4.14 very good 4.14 very good 4.14 very good 9. lets students/ stakeholders know exactly what is expected of them. 3.97 very good 4.07 very good 4.02 very good 10. consults students/ stakeholders on important matters concerning the activities. 4.15 very good 4.23 excellent 4.19 very good 56 jpair multidisciplinary research 11. gives constructive feedback about every activity. 3.91 very good 4.11 very good 4.01 very good 12. sends or recommend students/ stakeholders to relevant in-service training seminars or workshop. 3.94 very good 3.92 very good 3.93 very good 13. resolves students/ stakeholder complaints and grievances. 3.91 very good 3.95 very good 3.93 very good 14. allows reactions/ suggestions/ feedback from the students/ stakeholder. 4.17 very good 4.22 excellent 4.19 very good 15. listens attentively to all problems met by my colleague. 4.15 very good 4.28 excellent 4.22 excel-lent 16. disseminates pertinent information regarding memoranda, routers, and other forms of written communications. 4.14 very good 4.22 excellent 4.18 very good 17. evaluates students’/ stakeholders’ performance accurately. 3.97 very good 4.15 very good 4.06 very good 18. provides immediate feedback on students/ stakeholders’ performance. 4.07 very good 4.17 very good 4.12 very good 19. says “thank you” to students/ stakeholders who perform well in assigned tasks. 4.37 excel-lent 4.65 excellent 4.51 excel-lent grand mean 4.12 very good f. leadership skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. reasonably implement-ting bureau policies and regulations. 4.19 very good 4.10 very good 4.15 very good 2. acting with authority. 4.17 very good 4.14 very good 4.15 very good 57 international peer reviewed journal 3. allowing students/ stakeholders to present their problems. 4.21 excel-lent 4.36 excel-lent 4.28 excel-lent 4. attending to reports and correspondence. 4.22 excel-lent 4.24 excel-lent 4.23 excel-lent 5. discharging effectively the routine functions of the office. 3.99 very good 4.22 excel-lent 4.11 very good 6. consulting students/ stakeholders and colleagues on controversial matters. 4.12 very good 3.99 very good 4.06 very good grand mean 4.16 very good g. problem-solving skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. can identify the problem. 4.35 excel-lent 4.37 excel-lent 4.36 excel-lent 2. explore alternatives. 4.39 excel-lent 4.35 excel-lent 4.37 excel-lent 3. select alternatives. 4.29 excel-lent 4.37 excel-lent 4.33 excel-lent 4. implement the solutions. 4.42 excel-lent 4.45 excel-lent 4.44 excel-lent 5. evaluate the situation. 4.40 excel-lent 4.40 excel-lent 4.40 excel-lent grand mean 4.38 excellent h. decision-making skills weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. conducts a thorough investigation before the decision is made. 4.27 excel-lent 4.30 excel-lent 4.28 excel-lent 2. executes fairness in dealing with students/ stakeholder complaints. 4.32 excel-lent 4.23 excel-lent 4.27 excel-lent 3. involves students/ stakeholders in deciding for agency development. 4.30 excel-lent 4.11 very good 4.21 excel-lent 4. considers alternative for a wiser decision. 4.39 excel-lent 4.33 excel-lent 4.36 excel-lent 58 jpair multidisciplinary research 5. reserves the right for the final decision on issues in the conflict. 4.29 excel-lent 4.11 very good 4.21 excel-lent grand mean 4.27 excellent average grand mean 4.09 very good the level of management performance of the professional engineers got a computed average grand mean of 4.17 interpreted as “very satisfactory.” this means that professional engineers planned their activities and ensured coordination based on the institutions/agency’s mission statement and objectives/ thrust. as postulated by escobar (2007), the management skills of educational managers in terms of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling was found to be ‘high.’ this is also confirmed to the study of musingafi (2014) that classical management functions were found to be useful and practiced at mapakomhere rural day secondary school in masvingo district. table 3. level of management performance of the professional engineer respondents in the industry and the academe item academe industry over-all mean weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation a. planning. 1. plans activities based on agency mission statement and objectives/ thrust. 4.35 outstanding 4.38 outstanding 4.36 outstanding 2. plans activities based on the strengths and weaknesses of the agency/company. 4.16 very satisfactory 4.22 outstanding 4.19 very satisfactory 3. seeks engineers’/ supervisors’ participation in planning. 4.25 outstanding 4.30 outstanding 4.27 outstanding 4. considers feedback to reinforce planning 4.20 outstanding 4.24 outstanding 4.22 outstanding 5. values suggestions from supervisor and engineer in charge. 4.34 outstanding 4.32 outstanding 4.33 outstanding 59 international peer reviewed journal 6. sees to it that the plans of the agency/company are clearly understood by engineers in charge. 4.29 outstanding 4.45 outstanding 4.37 outstanding 7. plans are within the budget. 4.15 very satisfactory 4.42 outstanding 4.29 outstanding 8. plans use smart (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). 4.22 outstanding 4.30 outstanding 4.26 outstanding grand mean 4.29 outstanding b. directing weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. initiates action with his/her staff/ stakeholders / students. 4.24 outstanding 4.34 outstanding 4.29 outstanding 2. ensures coordination in the agency or company. 4.33 outstanding 4.47 outstanding 4.40 outstanding 3. improves efficiency. 4.17 very satisfactory 4.54 outstanding 4.36 outstanding 4. facilitates change. 4.16 very satisfactory 4.38 outstanding 4.27 outstanding 5. assists stability and growth. 4.25 outstanding 4.35 outstanding 4.30 outstanding grand mean 4.32 outstanding c. influencing weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. i or s/he often delegates important tasks to others even when there is a risk that i or s/he will be personally criticized if they are not done well. 3.97 very satisfactory 3.82 very satisfactory 3.89 very satisfactory 2. i or s/he puts forward lots of ideas and plans. 3.99 very satisfactory 4.15 very satisfactory 4.07 very satisfactory 60 jpair multidisciplinary research 3. i or s/he is willing to be persuaded by others 3.93 very satisfactory 3.92 very satisfactory 3.93 very satisfactory 4. i or s/he often provides detailed plans to show how a task should be done. 4.07 very satisfactory 4.24 outstanding 4.16 very satisfactory 5. i or s/he often suggests alternatives to the proposals which others have made. 4.16 very satisfactory 4.18 very satisfactory 4.17 very satisfactory 6. i or s/he shows sympathy towards others when they have difficulties. 4.19 very satisfactory 4.29 outstanding 4.24 outstanding 7. if others become angry or upset, i or s/he tries/ tries to listen with understanding. 4.12 very satisfactory 4.26 outstanding 4.19 very satisfactory 8. i or s/he defends my or his/her ideas energetically. 3.91 very satisfactory 4.20 outstanding 4.06 very satisfactory 9. i or s/he often helps others to get a hearing. 3.76 very satisfactory 4.14 very satisfactory 3.95 very satisfactory 10. i or s/he frequently disregard the ideas of others in favor of my or his/her responses. 3.33 satisfactory 3.21 satisfactory 3.27 satisfactory 11. i or s/he usually accept criticism without becoming defensive. 3.91 very satisfactory 3.86 very satisfactory 3.88 very satisfactory 12. i or s/he presents my or his/her ideas in a very organized way. 4.02 very satisfactory 4.07 very satisfactory 4.05 very satisfactory 13. i or s/he does not pretend to be confident when in fact i or s/he feel uncertain. 3.73 very satisfactory 3.99 very satisfactory 3.86 very satisfactory 14. i or s/he frequently draw attention to inconsistencies in the ideas of others. 3.65 very satisfactory 3.79 very satisfactory 3.73 very satisfactory 61 international peer reviewed journal 15. i or s/he often puts a lot of energy into arguing about what i or s/ he does. 3.55 very satisfactory 3.63 very satisfactory 3.59 very satisfactory grand mean 3.94 very satisfactory d. controlling weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation weighted mean interpretation 1. tailored to plans and positions. 4.09 very satisfactory 3.89 very satisfactory 3.99 very satisfactory 2. tailored to individual managers and their responsibilities. 4.02 very satisfactory 3.94 very satisfactory 3.98 very satisfactory 3. pointed up exceptions as critical points. 4.03 very satisfactory 4.04 very satisfactory 4.03 very satisfactory 4. objective focused. 4.32 outstanding 4.33 outstanding 4.32 outstanding 5. flexible in giving orders. 4.20 outstanding 4.24 outstanding 4.22 outstanding 6. economical. 4.13 very satisfactory 4.29 outstanding 4.21 outstanding 7. lead to corrective actions. 4.24 outstanding 4.26 outstanding 4.25 outstanding grand mean 4.14 very satisfactory average grand mean 4.17 very satisfactory the relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the professional engineers in terms of position, and management skills in terms of administrative, leadership, and decision-making skills, was found ‘significant’; as to the seminars/training attended – both technical and problem-solving skills were found significantly related; in educational attainment, only administrative skills were found significant; and about work experience – the human relation, communication, and leadership skills, it was found ‘significant.’ it was confirmed in the study of yossef and rakha (2017) that there is a high level of efficiency on personal and administrative skills for managerial leadership on administrative creativity. this means that professional engineers listen with understanding and purpose, give clear directions and explanations to subordinates or students, and allow presenting their problems, which affirm to the study of escobar (2007) 62 jpair multidisciplinary research length of service were significantly affected in the production. likewise, in the study of nohay (2001) showed that administrative service is significant to managerial skills. table 4. test of relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the professional engineers and management skills demographic profile parameters management skills d ec is io n m ak in g sk ill s pr ob le m -s ol vi ng sk ill s le ad er sh ip s ki lls a dm in is tr at iv e sk ill s c om m un ic at io n sk ill s te ch ni ca l s ki lls h um an r el at io n sk ill s c on ce pt ua l sk ill s position pearson r s i g n i f i cance in t e r p re tation 0.7230 0.0030 sign. 0.1000 0.0932 not sign. 0.291 0.005 sign. -0.593 0.001 sign. 0.101 0.0934 not sig. 0.074 0.333 not sig. 0.0734 0.242 not sig. 0.0823 0.423 not sig. seminars/ training attended pearson r s i g n i f i cance in t e r p re tation 0.101 0.32 not sig. 0.397 0.004 sign. 0.0745 0.3333 n o t sig. -0.098 0.3333 n o t sig. 0.0989 0.342 n o t sig. 0.293 0.024 sign. 0.101 0.092 n o t sig. 0.101 0.0928 not sig. educational attainment pearson r s i g n i f i cance in t e r p re tation 0.1020 0.333 not sig. 0.0742 0.381 not sig. 0.0093 0.356 not sig. 0.339 0.0112 sign. 0.102 0.088 not sig. 0.092 0.310 not sig. -0.092 0.310 not sig. 0.088 0.129 not sig. work experience pearson r s i g n i f i cance in t e r p re tation 0.1111 0.423 not sig. 0.0870 0.362 not sig. 0.492 0.011 sign. 0.107 0.1133 not sig. 0.581 0.0345 sign. 0.1011 0.338 not sig. 0.581 0.001 sign. 0.1002 0.0899 not sig. * not significant ** significant as to the relationship between a socio-demographic profile in terms of positions, and management performance, in terms of planning and control, it was found ‘significant’; about the seminars/training attended, the management performance in terms of planning, directing, and controlling was found ‘significant’; in terms of educational attainment, all the parameters were found ‘not significant’; while work experience, planning and controlling were found 63 international peer reviewed journal ‘significant.’ these findings are similar to the study of escobar (2007) in which she found controlling significantly related to the management skills, professionalism, and performance of educational managers. also, these findings were confirmed by salvador (2000), who postulated that there were no significant relationships or differences when grouped as to age, sex, educational attainment, years in service, and civil status. furthermore, this affirms with the study of escobar (2007) were the educational manager rendered ten years of service. also, this was confirmed by the study of musingafi (2014) that classical management functions were found to be useful and practiced. table 5. test of relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the professional engineers and management performance demographic profile parameters management performance pl an ni ng d ir ec tin g in flu en ci ng c on tr ol lin g position pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.523 0.011 sig. 0.109 0.422 not sig. 0.101 0.109 not sig. 0.532 0.002 sig. seminars/ training attended pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation -0.523 0.022 sig. 0.523 0.001 sig. 0.117 0.194 not sig. 0.723 0.004 sig. educational attainment pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.123 0.320 not sig. 0.121 0.423 not sig. 0.099 0.352 not sig. 0.121 0.400 not sig. work experience pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.523 0.004 sig. 0.092 0.323 not sig. 0.103 0.222 not sig. 0.523 0.008 sig. * not significant ** significant the relationship between personality traits and management skills, in openness technical, and problem-solving skills, was found ‘significant.’ conscientiousness types of personality traits found out that conceptual, human relation, communication, administrative, and leadership skills were ‘significant.’ in extraversion, leadership and problem-solving skills were found significant. as to the agreeableness, conceptual, human relation, leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making skills were found ‘significant.’ in the neuroticism, only 64 jpair multidisciplinary research communication skills were found to be ‘significant.’ this was confirmed in the study of tenedero (2016) that openness is significantly related to occupational competence and professional and personal characteristics. this also revealed in the study of almandeel (2014) that high conscientiousness has great influence in increasing job satisfaction, likewise, noted that the bank employees had been described as having low stability with feelings of anger and depression, which leads them to interpret neutral situations as threats and exaggerate minor frustrations as serious difficulties; they also have trouble controlling their emotions. this is also by the study of de guzman (2000) that personality traits and leadership skills of the private school principals in leading their subordinates are greatly influenced by their attitude and behavior. table 6. test of relationship between the personality traits and management skills personality traits parameters management skills d ec is io n m ak in g sk ill s pr ob le m -s ol vi ng sk ill s l ea de rs hi p sk ill s a dm in is tr at iv e sk ill s c om m un ic at io n sk ill s te ch ni ca l s ki lls h um an r el at io n sk ill s c on ce pt ua l s ki lls openness pearson r significance interpretation 0.109 0.422 not sig. -0.338 0.012 sign. 0.118 0.066 not sign 0.385 0.440 not sign 0.111 0.084 not sign 0.408 0.002 sign. -0.076 0.286 not sign 0.026 0.714 not sign conscientiousness pearson r significance interpretation 0.103 0.244 not sign 0.1003 0.424 not sign 0.294 0.033 sign. 0.398 0.043 sign. 0.463 0.008 sign. 0.101 0.444 not sign -0.485 0.021 sign. 0.583 0.002 sign. extraversion pearson r significance interpretation 0.0591 0.491 not sign 0.181 0.045 sign. 0.724 0.003 sign. 0.083 0.440 not sign 0.111 0.090 not sign 0.0834 0.452 not sign 0.109 0.243 not sign 0.103 0.310 not sign agreeableness pearson r significance interpretation 0.498 0.0111 sign. 0.545 0.000 sign. 0.399 0.0222 sign. 0.103 0.356. not sign 0.088 0.429 not sign 0.0634 0.309 not sign -0.395 0.0231 sign. 0.392 0.034 sign. neuroticism pearson r significance interpretation 0.110 0.434 not sign 0.044 0.398 not sign 0.0835 0.424 not sign 0.09 0.44 not sign -0.422 0.0042 sign. 0.121 0.0831 not sign 0.102 0.320 not sign 0.0984 0.329 not sign * not significant ** significant 65 international peer reviewed journal as to the relationship between personality traits and management performance; in openness planning, directing, and influencing found ‘significant’; conscientiousness planning was significant to personality traits; about extraversion, directing was found ‘significant’; in agreeableness, – planning and influencing were found significantly related, and as to the neuroticism all of the parameters in management performance were ‘not significant.’ this result is confirmed by the study of tenedero (2016) that the personality types and performance of the immediate supervisor showing openness is significantly related to occupational competence and professional, personal characteristics, and help-seeking behavior is much helpful in dealing with their duties, particularly on management areas of occupation. furthermore, this study is anchored to the study of de guzman (2000) that the competence of the principals in leading their subordinates is greatly influenced by their attitude and behavior. table 7. test of relationship between the personality traits and management performance personality traits parameters management performance pl an ni ng d ir ec tin g in flu en ci ng c on tr ol lin g openness pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.387 0.032 significant -0.338 0.012 significant 0.288 0.044 significant 0.099 0.390 not significant conscientiousness pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.398 0.002 significant 0.098 0.0882 not significant 0.111 0.352 not significant 0.0888 0.422 not significant extraversion pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.1012 0.2353 not significant 0.777 0.004 significant 0.121 0.091 not significant 0.0981 0.352 not significant agreeableness pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.339 0.021 significant 0.111 0.345 not significant 0.434 0.005 significant 0.111 0.315 not significant neuroticism pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.109 0.498 not significant 0.121 0.581 not significant 0.003 0.420 not significant 0.099 0.540 not significant * not significant ** significant 66 jpair multidisciplinary research in the test of the relationship between management skills and management performance, findings revealed that conceptual, human relation, communication, administrative, and problem-solving skills were ‘significant’ to management performance in terms of planning; in directing, findings revealed that technical skills and administrative skills were ‘significant’; about influencing, findings showed that communication, administrative, and leadership skills were ‘significantly’ related to management performance; and as to control, it was found that all the parameters in management skills were ‘not significantly’ related by management performance in terms of controlling. this finding is similar to the study of escobar (2007) that management skills, professionalism, and profile of the respondents in combination affect their performance. likewise, this affirms to the study of musingafi (2014) classical management functions in the educational management processes, namely: planning, organizing, directing, staffing, and controlling were useful and practiced at mapakomhere rural day secondary school in masvingo district and that controlling in terms of monitoring and evaluation can ensure the right direction in the attainment of set goals. 67 international peer reviewed journal table 8. test of relationship between the management skills and management performance management skills parameters management performance pl an ni ng d ir ec tin g in flu en ci ng c on tr ol lin g conceptual skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.245 0.002 sig. 0.088 0.310 not sig. 0.082 0.231 not sig. 0.110 0.250 not sig. human relation skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.330 0.021 sig. 0.1090 0.0831 not sig. 0.1111 0.423 not sig. 0.0883 0.245 not sig. technical skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.092 0.352 not sig. 0.421 0.003 sig. 0.083 0.309 not sig. 0.1011 0.1049 not sig. communication skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.492 0.004 sig. 0.0913 0.333 not sig. 0.472 0.005 sig. 0.092 0.0949 not sig. administrative skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.294 0.004 sig. -0.293 0.0133 sig. 0.3952 0.008 sig. 0.107 0.0634 not sig. leadership skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.101 0.255 not sig. 0.0835 0.424 not sig. 0.399 0.002 sig. 0.0882 0.245 not sig. problems solving skills pearson r significance interpretation 0.337 0.008 sig. -0.012 0.398 not sig. 0.100 0.0934 not sig. 0.104 0.4223 not sig. decision making skills pearson r sig.(2-tailed) interpretation 0.103 0.099 not sig. 0.0591 0.491 not sig. 0.011 0.523 not sig. 0.038 0.510 not sig. * not significant ** significant as to the significant difference in management skills between professional engineers in the industry and the academe, it was found out that conceptual skills were interpreted ‘significant.’ this means that professional engineers in the academe or industry differed in their ability to coordinate and integrate organizations’ interests and activities, in communicating ideas clearly and 68 jpair multidisciplinary research correctly, in wearing appropriate attire, and promptness in performing official functions. this was confirmed to the study of shuayto (2013) that “soft skills” vs. “hard skills” are significantly different in the mean rating of the importance among the prospective employers of mba graduates. nohay’s (2001) study revealed that managerial skills were significantly different from the profile of the administrator in terms of age, educational attainment, experience, and in-service education. table 9. test of difference between the management skills between the professional engineers in the industry and the academe management skills group mean t-stat. sig. interpretation conceptual skills industryacademe 3.64 4.13 -4.726 0.036 significant human relation skills industryacademe 4.07 4.15 -0.668 0.505 not significant technical skills industryacademe 3.96 3.87 0.749 0.455 not significant communication skills industryacademe 3.38 3.49 -1.038 0.301 not significant administrative skills industry academe 4.02 3.97 0.480 0.632 not significant leadership skills industryacademe 4.00 4.00 -0.016 0.988 not significant problems solving skills industryacademe 4.21 4.24 -0.294 0.769 not significant decision making skills industryacademe 4.28 4.30 -0.123 0.902 not significant about the significant difference in management performance between professional engineers in the industry and the academe, findings revealed that all the parameters in management performance were interpreted ‘not significant.’ this means that the management performance of the professional engineers in the industry was not different from the management performance in the academe. this finding is similar to the study of poso (2007) that the level of competence as rated by the civil engineers found out to be ‘not significant.’ this also affirmed in the study of escobar (2007) that management skills, professionalism, and profile of the educational managers were found “sustained” in combination affect their performance. 69 international peer reviewed journal table 10. test of difference between the management performance between the professional engineers in the industry and the academe management performance group mean t-stat. sig. interpretation planning industry academe 4.26 4.23 0.274 0.784 not significant directing industry academe 4.23 4.12 0.878 0.382 not significant influencing industry academe 3.79 3.71 0.756 0.446 not significant controlling industry academe 3.99 4.04 -0.464 0.643 not significant conclusion professional engineers’ personality traits ‘conscientiousness’ is rated as ‘high extent.’ this implies that professional engineers keep their properties clean and tidy, keen on achieving tasks on time, and work hard to achieve their aims, committed to their work, productive, and finishes tasks well, and they are organized, and they use circumventing techniques to achieve what they want. the majority of professional engineers are ‘very good’ in management skills. this implies that respondents recognized the effort of the students/stakeholders when the assigned task performed well and by allowing students/stakeholders to present their problems. the majority of the professional engineers were ‘very satisfactory’ in management performance. this implies that management performance in terms of planning, directing, influencing, and controlling are very satisfactorily. there is a significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the professional engineers and their management skills; it is significantly related to socio-demographic profile and management performance. as to the relationship between socio-demographic profile and management, the performance was found out significant. about the relationship between personality traits and management skills, it was found to be significant. regarding the relationship between personality traits and management performance, some parameters were found significant. management skills findings revealed that it was significantly related to management performance. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research there is a significant difference between the two groups in management skills between professional engineers in terms of conceptual skills. this implies that the professional engineers in the academe or industry differ in their ability to coordinate and integrate organizations’ interests and activities, in communicating ideas clearly and correctly, in wearing appropriate attire, and promptness in performing official functions. there is no significant difference in management performance between professional engineers in the industry and the academe. this implies that all the parameters in management performance were interpreted as ‘not significant.’ this only means that the management performance of the professional engineers in the industry is not different from the management performance in the academe. translational research part of this study is the formulation of the theory called ‘triangulation management theory.’ the focus is the professional engineers’ management skills and management performance, and personality traits. also, this study may help the institution to provide a career or development plan. the management skills, management performance, and personality traits, be part of the curriculum of engineering, specifically in the syllabus of the subject involved in engineering management and construction management. encourage professional engineers to become members in organizations outside their respective institutions because this has something to do with their skills and performances. professional engineers should have the ability to coordinate and integrate organizations’ interests and activities, communicate ideas clearly and correctly, wear appropriate attire, and prompt in performing official functions. pursue advanced education specifically in line with management so that professional engineers can gain knowledge and embrace new ideas in performing duties and responsibilities. specifically, for industry, administrative skills should further be enhanced since it was the most highly significant among the parameters in management performance. likewise, it is suggested that the industry should further coordinate and integrate organizations’ interests and activities, in communicating ideas clearly and correctly, in wearing appropriate attire, and promptness in performing official functions. lastly, add some variables in management performance, for example, delegating and staffing. 71 international peer reviewed journal literature cited akrani, g. 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(2017). efficiency of personal and administrative skills for managerial leadership on administrative creativity at najran university.  journal of education and practice,  8(6), 113-122. retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1133016 https://bit.ly/2dmgcvq https://bit.ly/3hruwii https://bit.ly/3hruwii https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1133016 90 jpair multidisciplinary research jigsaw technique in learning physics and problem-solving dimensions of senior high school students  giovanni pelobillo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8725-258x giovanni_pelobillo@umindanao.edu.ph university of mindanao davao city, philippines originality: 100 • grammar check: 95 • plagiarism: 0 abstract physics was perceived as a difficult subject with in dire need for cooperative learning and problem-solving skills rubric modified from jennifer docktor, namely, useful description, physics approach, the specific application of physics, mathematical procedures, and logical progression. this study aimed to determine and describe the effectiveness of jigsaw technique in physics learning and problem-solving skills which employed pretest-posttest and quasi-experimental research design with a 95% confidence level. there were two groups included in the study as control and the experimental group which received jigsaw technique and traditional teaching respectively as treatment. independent samples t-test results showed the use of jigsaw technique as cooperative learning has a statistical difference on the post-test and post-rubric scores against the control group with the large effect size in which the students showed a proficient performance in learning physics and problem-solving skills with the common use of useful description and physics approach. there is no significant difference on the prevol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.577 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 91 international peer reviewed journal test and pre-rubric scores between the control and experimental group with the p-value of 0.772 and 0.019. moreover, this study revealed that the experimental group struggled with mathematical procedures and logical progression posting low percentage gain. overall this study concludes that students’ exposure to jigsaw technique improved physics learning. keywords — physics education, problem-solving skills, jigsaw technique, quasi-experimental, davao city, philippines introduction one of the problems encountered by science educators whether in college or high school is the student’s negative impact on physics, which is perhaps the most fundamentally important, as well as the most feared and accepted as the most difficult. it is noted that physics is abstract as it involves mathematics to qualify statements. as stated by mekonnen (2014), the performance of nigerian students’ ordinary level physics was generally and consistently poor over the years. physics educators in the university of mindanao raise the problem that physics is difficult because of its academic demands to learning which strains and slows technological breakthrough. this means a course perceived difficulty can overshadow its importance in the practical world. there is an urgent need to improve teaching physics and classroom environment because heitzmann (2008) emphasized that classroom climate influences motivation and the role of students in the learning process. undoubtedly, the most popular teaching strategy used in physics courses is lecturing though it has the advantage to relay a large amount of information, but it may not effectively be used when students engage in groups in active learning. this is supported by the statement of capanis and garwin (as cited by amadalo & musasia, 2016) that lecture method provides limited or no success in understanding, to say, physics as science should provide dynamic work groups for active learning. physics provides students’ engagement in solving problems furthermore, according to hsu (as cited by docktor, 2009), the primary goal of physics weather in college or high school are learning its concepts, principles, and problem-solving skills. in the study of ho and boo (2007) on the effectiveness of cooperative learning in physics classroom, it pointed out students demonstrated facets of understanding as seen in journal entries on how the learn cooperatively in electricity concepts. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research the study by guido (2013) showed that students with a negative attitude towards physics were less motivated for class engagement. about guido’s study, it is believed that based on the experience of teachers, they can conduct effective classroom activities to enable female students’ classroom participation. problemsolving is a fundamental part of physics learning, but many teachers find out students solve problems, not in their level of proficiency. cooperative learning is more than having students work in groups: it is a fundamental shift from teacher as an information provider and sole source of truth, to a teacher as facilitator. cooperative groups differ in relative emphasis on group vs. individual reward structures and in their reliance on different kinds of interdependence to produce cooperation (e.g., a) student team learning approach developed by slavin in 1989; b) the circles of learning method developed by johnson and johnson in 1975; c) the jigsaw method of aronson and patnoe in 1997 and; d) groups investigation technique of sharan and sharan in 1976). at present this study focuses on the assessment of jigsaw technique, in physics learning and problemsolving skills. aronson and patnoe (as cited by azmin, 2015) explained that jigsaw technique is a highly structured cooperative learning method as the content of the lesson is subdivided into different parts and then given to groups who would explain to each other their results as a whole, after grouping the students into a specific topic. several groups of researchers have examined the effects of jigsaw technique. the jigsaw technique is more useful for teaching than lectures; the superiority of this technique lies in its enhancement of the learning experience and the provocation of the students’ interest in physics (jafariyan, matlabi, esmaeili, & kianmehr, 2017) which is recommended as cooperative learning in teaching physics. by research conducted in davao city, the jigsaw approach as a cooperative learning strategy is an effective tool in improving the problemsolving skills in physics of a college student (limjuco, & gravino, 2012). the learner in the expert group in jigsaw develops personal attributes that lead to higher order thinking skills with positive attitude and motivation, especially in problem solving. also, the students who have positive attitudes towards physics have motivation for class engagement (guido et al., 2013). in related the study, ramani (2012) cited that, shared activities with peers provide children with opportunities to learn, practice, and develop their communicative, interactive, and social skills. also, when students involved in cooperative learning, it leads to the development of higher level thinking skills, positive attitudes toward learning and greater motivation. however, there has been a scarcity of research on how jigsaw technique affects the students’ five 93 international peer reviewed journal dimensions of problem-solving skills. in the effort of finding answers to this study, it aims to determine the effect of jigsaw technique on problem-solving skills and test scores in physics. also, this study aids in understanding the factors affecting problem-solving skills. thus it is to interpret, analyze and explain problem-solving skills and test scores between two groups with its purpose to help teachers, students, parents, school administrators and researchers thereby, to serve as a basis for educational and curriculum revisit and reformulation in realizing the importance of physics teaching and learning framework problem-solving is important in learning physics. hence, many teaching methods can be utilized for problem solving. according to gök and sýlay (2010), cooperative group problem-solving was performed because it is effective in teaching the complex skill and it is also practical as it makes the complex problem to be solved easier with a chance to share problem-solving strategies within groups. to this, several theories have been proposed by researchers to explain cooperative learning. johnson, (2003) explained the social interdependence theory as a way of structuring goals which determines how individuals interact that turn into the groups’ outcomes. social interdependence theory has essential elements: positive interdependence, individual accountability, and personal responsibility for promoting interaction, appropriate use of social skills, group processing and conditions for competition and individualistic efforts. furthermore, social interdependence theory tends to promote greater efforts to achieve, more positive relationships, and greater psychological health than do competitive or individualistic efforts. furthermore, the power of cooperation has been shown to depend on the presence of clear, positive interdependence (which includes individual accountability) that result in promotive interaction (which includes appropriate use of social skills and group processing). these results provide strong confirmation of social interdependence theory, as the validating research encompasses considerable diversity and generalizability (johnson, 2003) cooperative learning is also based on the cognitive theory as a process of thinking and learning which glorified studies of piaget (1965) and vygotsky (1978). in the social development perspective, slavin and johnson (as cited by tran, 2013) social interaction needs to be encouraged in the process of learning because if the social interaction or group interaction does not exist, students may not reach any shared goals or achievement. learners construct knowledge 94 jpair multidisciplinary research socially, based on their current or past knowledge, through social interaction rather than by observing it objectively (vygotsky, 1978). piaget, (1965) explained that teachers need to assess learners’ current level of cognitive strengths and weaknesses to apply appropriate teaching approaches and the teaching strategy also needs to be personalized to help students gain opportunities to interact with others on learning tasks. also, slavin and others (1996) believed that students could not learn much from others if there is no social interaction in learning. furthermore, there can be no cognitive conflicts, related arguments, balancing situations or high-quality learning without social interaction thus highlighting the social learning theory by albert bandura in 1971 that correlates behavioral theories and how it affects their retention, attention, production, and motivation. schunk (as cited by tran, 2013) noted that the major premise of social learning theory is that learners can improve their knowledge and retention by observing and modeling the desired behaviors, attitudes and reactions of others, and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. bandura (1977) added that the major premise of social learning theory is that learners can improve their knowledge and retention by observing and modeling the desired behaviors, attitudes and reactions of others and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. thus, utilizing this framework based on cooperative learning theory and the diagram shown in figure 1 will examine how it affects their physics problem-solving skills, and test scores. figure 1. framework diagram 95 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the effect of jigsaw technique on problemsolving skills and test scores in physics. specifically, it sought to describe and infer (1) the normalized percentage gain of mean test scores of the control and experimental groups (2) the normalized percentage gain of mean rubric scores of the control and experimental groups; and (3) the difference and effect size in the post-test scores and post-rubric scores between control and experimental groups with a 95% confidence level. methodology this section presents methods to be used in gathering the data among the respondents. it includes research design, research subjects, research instruments, data gathering procedures and statistical treatment. research design this study employed quasi-experimental design utilizing descriptive and inferential technique to generate verbal descriptions of the means of rubric and test scores as emphasized by creswell (2012), and to give decision of the significant difference as noted by adeyemi (2009), thus to compare the performance of two groups in problem-solving skills, and test scores. the researchers gathered the results taken from the instruments of the control and experimental groups to address the research questions. control group is assumed as lecture method. thus, it does not receive the treatment, and the researcher has to take existing groups rather than drawing random samples that emphasize accurate (quantitative) measure of the outcomes (gray, 2009). hence, the experimental group received the treatment as jigsaw technique in cooperative learning that is assumed to determine its effect on problem-solving skills and test scores in a 2-week duration of the study. research participants based on the annual enrollment, stem (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) strand come with 16 sections. 100 students were included and divided into two as control and experimental group, posting 13.33% of the entire population. they were purposively selected based on the physics teacher’s feedback on their performances and academic scores, and this was supported 96 jpair multidisciplinary research and validated based on the pre-test, and pre-rubric scores between two groups in which they do not vary. to say, not statistically significant with the p value of 0.772 and 0.019 respectively, which is more than α=0.05. research instruments the researcher used ten analytical multiple choice questions and one problem question on electric fields and forces (see appendix 1). the data on test scores and problem-solving dimension rubric (see appendix 2) which was modified from docktor (2009) with five dimensions were gathered from multiple choice questions and one problem question respectively. the five dimensions were: useful description or the process of organizing information visually, symbolically or in writing, physics approach or the process of selecting physics concepts in solving problems, specific application of physics or the process of applying physics concepts to specific problems, mathematical procedures or the process of problem-solving mathematically to obtain target quantities, and logical progression or the process of communicating, and evaluating the solution for consistency. hence, it aided in the effective analysis between control and experimental groups. further, the ten items multiple choice, one problem question and modified physics problem-solving rubric based on the k12 curriculum were validated by the research experts and advisers. this guaranteed that the multiple choice questions and problem-solving rubric are appropriate and correct. the instruments underwent reliability test which gathered 20 grade 12 stem students at the university of mindanao to test and retest the instruments. the cronbach alpha was used to infer reliability results furthermore saunders and others (2008) emphasized that the reliability of valid instruments ensures a strong and consistent finding under different conditions. the 10 multiple choice questions and, problem-solving rubric have the cronbach coefficient of 0.77 (high), and 0.980 (very high) respectively which was interpreted based on the following: 1.0 (perfect); 0.81-0.99 (very high); 0.61-0.80 (high); 0.41-0.60 (moderate); 0.21-0.40 (low); and 0.01-0.20 (negligible correlation). thus the instruments were reliable because the threshold of the cronbach’s alpha is 0.7 and above according to taber (2017). farrell & heller (n.d.) emphasized that an instrument was developed in the form of a rubric for assessing written solutions to physics problems along five aspects. to say, it calls for a need to assess student’s problem-solving skills through the use of the rubric to quantify specific behavior to convey meaningful scoring. 97 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedures the original title of this study was checked, revised and rechecked by the research panelists to maintain conformity on the subject of research. after the approval to the conducted research was given, a letter to the office of the basic education school principal was sent to allow the researcher to conduct the study to the identified sections of grade 12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) strand. the researcher, after had been permitted by the school principal, conducted the study at the university of mindanao, davao city. the validated multiple choices and the problem question made by the researcher were distributed to the identified respondents to be compiled. the multiple choice and problem question were retrieved by the researcher. after the collection of the data, the results were gathered and subjected to the following statistical analysis. ethical considerations the participants agreed for voluntary representation of the study with confidentiality of the identity and the classroom they belong. the questionnaire did not include gathering the personal details such as the names and section they belong. names of the participants and respective groups may only be revealed when asked by the research panelists and examiners, and with the assurance, it will not be exposed to anyone in public. all the participants were provided with the copy of the results of their signed informed request and consent to conduct the study which was conducted before the researcher obtained an ethics clearance from the ethics review committee. statistical analysis the researchers mainly used inferential and descriptive statistics to analyze the data. mean percentage gain scores by hake (1999) were used to determining the assessment of the respondents regarding their test and rubric scores by the following interpretation: 0-30% (low gain), 31%-70% (medium gain) and 71%-100% (high gain). independent samples t-test was used in comparing two sample means from different population regarding the same variables namely: post-test scores and post-rubric scores. hence, to determine its effect size by cohen (1988) which is based on the following interpretation for cohen’s d: 0.2 (small effect size), 0.5 (medium effect size) and 0.8 (large effect size). 98 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion pre-test and post-test scores table 1. normalized percentage gain of mean test scores groups mean % gain pre-test post-test control 2.8 4.14 18.61 experimental 2.88 7.3 62.08 it can be seen that students displayed a need for improvement in the pre-test scores of the control and experimental groups are 2.80 and 2.88 respectively. this shows that the students did not demonstrate a clear and thorough understanding of the topic to say, the students have little or no prior knowledge. this result shows a relation the study of yimmer and ellerton (2006 in ali abdullah, & saim, n.d.), which stated: without metacognitive monitoring, students are less likely to take one of the many paths available to them and are almost certainly less likely to arrive at an elegant mathematical solution. kruger and dunning (as cited by bogdanović et al. 2015) claim that students with good metacognition demonstrate good academic performance compared to students with poor metacognition. the finding shows a need for metacognitive knowledge as it is useful to answer questions. the table shows that the means of post-test scores of the control and experimental groups are far from each other posting 4.14 and 7.3 respectively. furthermore, the experimental group gained 6.21 points (62.08%) after the treatment on the average than the control group with an increase of 1.86 points (18.61%). this indicates that students scored with proficiency because of jigsaw technique as cooperative learning. in the related study of koc and others (2010), it revealed jigsaw cooperative learning is more powerful in students’ achievement than individual learning. the result in the post-test scores is supported by the research of khan (2016), that the 9th-grade students gained an increase in academic performance which found the jigsaw cooperative learning to be effective. however, bassem and hadi (2014) argued that learning mathematics and physics requires reading textbooks to gain conceptual knowledge, solving problems using reasoning and applying formula besides planning and carrying out laboratory experiment. thus the control group still learns through lecture method. 99 international peer reviewed journal pre-rubric and post-rubric scores table 2. normalized percentage gain of mean rubric scores problem-solving dimensions control experimental prescores postscores percentage gain pre-scores post-scores percentage gain useful description 1.48 2.86 39.20 1.49 4.08 73.79 physics approach 2.32 2.42 3.73 2.58 4.36 73.55 specific application of physics 0.74 0.6 -3.29 1 2.76 44.00 mathematical procedures 0.62 1.12 11.42 0.9 2.13 30.00 logical progression 0.5 0.96 10.22 1.02 2.1 27.14 overall 1.13 1.59 11.89 1.39 3.1 47.37 the control group with 0.59 points (11.89%) as the gain score seemed to be lower than the experimental group (2.37 points) with 47.37% gain based on the overall. it is apparent from the result that students lack mathematical skill needed in solving problems in physics with index agreement of 45.8% (139 students) as shown in the research of reddy and panacharoensawad (2017). this explains that teachers as a part of the institution should provide methods to engage learners with opportunities for collaboration and communication between themselves for meaningful learning. moreover, cooperative learning has gained praises from teachers as a learning method in education. it appears that students have low scores in mathematical procedures as shown in the percentage gain of the control and experimental groups posting 11.42% and 30% respectively, to say, the students are less likely to communicate the correct answer based on the logical progression which showed low percentage gain. thus, the scores indicate that mathematical procedures and logical progression seem to have little improvement after the treatment. group work can sometimes yield to the unsuccessful operation or unproductive responses due to many aspects. for instance, kurr and brunn (as cited by sofroniou & poutos, 2016) emphasized that less capable members could sometimes leave the task to others to accomplish, making the capable members put less effort in doing all work. however, working in groups can increase the positive attitudes and performance of students in learning physics as this is supported to the study of gambari and yusuf (2014) that students established a better performance taught in cooperative learning than the traditional method of teaching. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research useful description and physics approach was greatly influenced as the students were engaged in cooperative learning with its percentage gain of 73.79% (high gain) and 73.55% (high gain) respectively. this applies to the study of snetinova & koupilova (2012) of the student’s difficulties in solving physics problems; they used one rating scale question about the strategies of the students when solving physics problems. it showed that one of the most mentioned strategies was the rolodex equation matching in which the student selects an equation based on the list of known and unknowns which links the useful description. based on the result in the experimental group, the physics approach gained high which implied that students become aware of what equations to use and how the object was described to process the problem statement. further, it implies the judgment of selecting physics concepts in solving problems. it supported the research of gaigher, rogan, and braun (2006) that a broad conceptual understanding develops as a network of links between concrete situations (physical objects and events) and physics principles, at the same time, problem-solving skill develops as the ability to link a particular concrete situation with appropriate physics principles. thus, it resonates with physics learning through problem solving. difference and effect size in post-test and post-rubric scores table 3. independent samples t-test and effect size on post-test and rubric scores between groups t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference std. error difference effect size (cohen’s d) post test -6.393 82.289 9.25e-09 3.16000 0.49426 1.409 post rubric -11.793 77.399 5.81e-19 1.51600 0.12856 2.681 consequently, the means of pre-test and rubric scores have closer values with each other. furthermore, the problem-solving skills of the students are almost the same. independent samples t-test showed that there is an extremely significant difference on the post-test and post-rubric scores between control and experimental groups posting the p value of 0.000 and 0.000 respectively because it is less than the alpha level of 0.05. further, students under treatment gained 3.16 points on the post-test (d=1.409) and 1.516 points on post-rubric (d=2.681) scores on average because the effect size is large. this means that the students performed 101 international peer reviewed journal with proficiency in learning physics and problem-solving skills. the result of this investigation implied that jigsaw technique as collaborative learning improved the performance of students. undoubtedly, kibirige & lehong (2016) emphasized that learners are treated differently in cooperative teaching when compared to the traditional chalk-and-talk classrooms: learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning which occurs through experiences. the findings underscored the usefulness of collaboration between learners and facilitators as they communicate that put emphasis on critical reflection and processing information of the problem statement. conclusion the grade 12 (stem) senior high school students of the university of mindanao showed a proficient performance as they learn physics through problem-solving in jigsaw technique. further, students received a constructive analysis from their groupmates as a way of understanding the problem statement and verifying the physics concepts applied when finding equations to say, useful description, and physics approach were commonly used. hence, it agreed to the theories of cooperative learning set by bandura (1977), johnson (2003) and piaget (1965). as shown and indicated on the findings, the study suggests the need to use different cooperative learning strategies aside from jigsaw technique for achieving meaningful problem-solving skills in physics because students whether in control and experimental group had little improvement in mathematical procedures. this is supported by the statement of redish and kuo (2015) that math in science is different because physics represents meanings about the physical systems rather than expressing abstract relationships. hence, with distinct semiotics-the way meaning is translated into symbols. it is significant for teachers to educate students on the difference of the use of “math in math” and “math in physics.” thus, it calls for curriculum developers in reformulating this statement into learning competencies on the difference between math and physics. translational research the findings of this study could be translated into paper presentations, newsletters, radio, research conference, and other forms of media for information dissemination. through this study, science and/or engineering teachers could 102 jpair multidisciplinary research improve physics problem-solving assessment and teaching practices in the classroom and intervention and enhancement program under stem to increase interest in taking physics related courses in college. further, it could be translated as a basis for constructing better problem sets for meaningful assessment. by the collaboration stem education experts, and professionals in culture-focus or any other discipline, it might be translated into further studies to gain useful knowledge for teachers about how students solve problems in specific community, gender, etc. appendix 1: multiple choice questions and problem question 1. a conductor is distinguished from an insulator with the same number of atoms by the number of: a. nearly free atoms b. electrons c. nearly free electrons d. protons e. molecules 2. a small object has charge q. charge q is removed from it and placed on a second small object. the two objects are placed 1 m apart. for the force that each object exerts on the other to be a maximum, q should be: a. 2q b. q c. q/2 d. q/4 e. 0 3. two identical conducting spheres a and b carry an equal charge. they are separated by a distance much larger than their diameters. a third identical conducting sphere c is uncharged. sphere c is first touched to a, then to b, and finally removed. as a result, the electrostatic force between a and b, which was originally f , becomes: a. f/2 b. f/4 c. 3f/8 d. f/16 e. 0 103 international peer reviewed journal 4. an electric field is most directly related to: a. the momentum of a test charge b. the kinetic energy of a test charge c. the potential energy of a test charge d. the force acting on a test charge e. the charge carried by a test charge 5. experimenter a uses a test charge q0 and experimenter b uses a test charge 2q0 to measure an electric field produced by stationary charges. a finds a field that is: a. the same in both magnitude and direction as the field found by b b. greater in magnitude than the field found by b c. less in magnitude than the field found by b d. opposite in direction to the field found by b 6. a charged point particle is placed at the center of a spherical gaussian surface. the electric flux is changed if: a. the sphere is replaced by a cube of the same volume b. the sphere is replaced by a cube of one-tenth the volume c. the point charge is moved off center (but still inside the original sphere) d. the point charge is moved to just outside the sphere 7. which drawing correctly shows where the charges reside when they are in equilibrium? a. a b. b c. c d. d 8. the outer surface of the cardboard center of a paper towel roll: a. is a possible gaussian surface b. cannot be a gaussian surface because it encloses no charge c. cannot be a gaussian surface since it is an insulator d. cannot be a gaussian surface because it is not a closed surface 9. a point particle with charge q is placed inside the cube but not at its center. the electric flux through any one side of the cube: a. is zero b. is q/ϵ 104 jpair multidisciplinary research c. is q/4ϵ d. cannot be computed using gauss’ law 10. the figure below shows the electric field lines in a region of space containing two small charged spheres (y and z). then: a. y is negative and z is positive b. the magnitude of the electric field is the same everywhere c. the electric field is the strongest midway between y and z d. the electric field is not zero anywhere (except infinitely far from the spheres) problem question: charge q 1 = 7.00 µc is at the origin, and charge q2 = –5.00 µc is on the x-axis, 0.300 m from the origin. 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(1978). interaction between learning and development. readings on the development of children. https://doi.org/10.1016/s00063495(96)79572-3 149 international peer reviewed journal influence of language learning strategies to the english proficiency test performance of college students harieth c. cawagdan – cuarto http://orcid.org 0000-0001-8040-4918 hariethcawagdancuarto@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology, philippines emelinda e. rivera http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7325-6144 mindoro state college of agriculture and technology, philippines masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines 5200 originality: 100 • grammar check: 97 • plagiarism: 0 abstract learning of english as second and even foreign language has been stressed out in all levels of education. thus, teachers and researchers have been focusing on describing externally observable behaviors of language learners, followed by attempts to label categorized strategic behaviors and link them to language proficiency. this descriptive correlational study aimed to describe the extent of learners’ use of the language learning strategies (lls) and determine its relationship with the english proficiency test performance of college students (n=82). the oxford’s strategy inventory language learning (sill) and a standardized college english proficiency test were the main instruments of the study. results showed that memory, metacognitive, cognitive, compensation, organizing and evaluation and affective learning strategies do not significantly vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.580 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 150 jpair multidisciplinary research affect students’ english proficiency test performance; whereas social learning strategies is a strong predictor of students’ english proficiency test performance. this research provides a basis for utilizing social learning strategies as an intervention for improving students’ english proficiency. keywords — english as a second and foreign language, language learning strategies, english proficiency, oxford’s strategy inventory language learning (sill), descriptive correlation, philippines introduction the english language has been requisite to global competitiveness. for decades now, it is a necessity for people to speak english if they are to enter a global workforce. thus, learning of english as second and even foreign language has been stressed out in all levels of education. the fact that english is used as an alternative form of communication for countries where english is not the national language cannot be denied. in fact, some major examples include the member nations of asean countries (toomnan, 2015). the universities around the world highlight the strengthening of the teaching-learning process of the language. hence, teachers and researchers, since the 1970s have been focusing on describing externally observable behaviors of language learners, followed by attempts to label strategic behaviors and ultimately categorize those strategic behaviors and link them to language proficiency (zare, 2012). language proficiency is one of the traits of a good language learner, which will enable the english language learners (ells) to communicate well with diverse populations around the world. the study conducted by rao (2012) shows that english proficiency has a significantly positive effect on chinese students’ strategy use. language learning strategies (lls) refer to the actions learners employ to improve the development of their language learning skills. it has been taken by many practitioners and scholars as an effective and workable component of the language learning process (fewell, 2010). this has been illustrated as “special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information”. moreover, lls is also taken as processes which are consciously selected by learners that may result to activities that enhance students’ learning of a foreign language (zare, 2012). several past research works have investigated the influence of language learning strategies on the english proficiency of language learners (kamalizad, & jalilzadeh, 2011; han, 2015). the 151 international peer reviewed journal study conducted by syaifulloh (2017) reveals that lls used by the indonesian efl college students such as memory, compensation, affective and social strategies have a weak correlation with their english proficiency. on the other hand, english proficiency is highly correlated with cognitive and metacognitive strategies. learning strategies are identified and categorized by educators and researchers according to how the learners employ them in the process of language learning. however, many categorizations indicate relatively significant similarities which may be attributed to similar observations and findings but different methods of data gathering (chamot, 2004; griffiths, 2004; zare, 2012). thus, different taxonomies of lls are formulated. some of the widely known and accepted taxonomies are the memory strategies, metacognitive and cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, organizing and evaluating strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies. memory strategies are sometimes called mnemonics which are used by learners to make mental connections that will allow new information, most often vocabulary, to enter and remain in long-term memory. metacognitive strategies reflect those expressions of an executive function, strategies. these involve planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, observing one’s production or comprehension, correcting your own mistakes, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed. furthermore, cognitive strategies are focusing mainly on repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, keyword, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, and inferencing. compensation strategies are used to achieve his intended meaning on becoming aware of the problems arising during the planning phase of an utterance due to the user’s linguistic shortcomings (ljungberg, 2011). on the other hand, socio-affective strategies include cooperation and question for clarification (chamot, 2004; fewell, 2010; ljungberg, 2011; zare, 2012; zewdie, 2015). since researchers have formulated various lls, an inventory of strategies has been formulated. the strategy inventory for language learning (sill) has been widely used in eliciting the language learning used. it is a structured questionnaire, aiming to assess how often learners employ specific language learning strategies. also, sill equips teachers with the strategy profile of their students and uncovers to learners the kinds of strategies they resort to when learning english as a second or foreign language (kazamia, 2010). 152 jpair multidisciplinary research furthermore, the use of llss is found out to be meaningfully related to language proficiency. many researchers have already found out a significant relationship with the learners’ use of lls with better performance in second language learning. the correlation they found cannot be neglected as it provides valuable information for teachers to design appropriate teaching methods to students with different language proficiencies (shek & cheung, 2013). hence, the knowledge of lls for students learning english as a second language, such as the setting in the philippines, can provide appropriate training which may improve their proficiency. framework this study is anchored on the theory developed by wenden and rubin (1987) that second (l2) and foreign language (fl) learning strategies are operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to reach his learning goal. this was supported by griffiths (2004) that language learning strategies as a language teaching and learning tool are highly effective in carrying out overall language learning. in the same view, liang (2009) that the proper use of learning strategies leads to the overall improvement of overall l2 or fl proficiency as well as specific language skills. learners must be aware of the different classification of lls that they may employ that is by their age, gender, and current communication skill. objectives of the study the purpose of this study is to describe the extent of learners’ use of the lls and the english proficiency of college students. it also tried to determine the relationship between the use of the given lss and the students’ performance in college english proficiency test. methodology this study used the descriptive-correlational method of research. a total of 82 college students were chosen as the respondents of the study using the stratified random sampling technique. a standardized questionnaire which is the strategy inventory language learning (sill) (oxford, 1989) was used to describe the extent of use of use of language learning strategies. the college 153 international peer reviewed journal proficiency test was used as the research instrument for measuring the students’ english proficiency. this was content validated by english language experts and has undergone reliability test. it has a reliability coefficient of cronbach alpha of 0.92, described as highly reliable. frequency count, mean and pearson’s r of variance were used as statistical tools for analyzing and interpreting the data gathered in this study. the study was limited to the use of language learning strategies defined in sill by oxford (1989). other learning strategies for learning english as a foreign language or as a second language were not included in the study. results and discussion use of language learning strategies regarding the use of memory strategies, results showed that respondents use it moderately in language learning as indicated by the overall mean of 3.24. data further revealed that item number three (rank 1) which states that i connect the sound of a new sl word and an image or picture of the word to help me remember the word, obtained the highest mean score of 3.57, described as high. on the other hand, item number 6 (rank 9), which states i use flashcards to remember new sl words, gained the lowest mean score of 2.51, described as moderate. based on the finding, it can be inferred that students remember sl words they encountered when there are actual preset pictures of the words, and not merely when they are the ones to create a picture or mental image of an sl word heard or read. this may be a result of frequent use of powerpoint (ppt) presentations in english subjects. in turn, the students ask for the softcopy of the ppt which they print out or open in their electronic gadgets for review and reference. thus, lessening their opportunities for writing notes based on their memory. this result is consistent with those found by griffiths (2004) who found out that pictures and other visual materials are efficient aids in language learning. this also conforms to the studies of chen (2015), chiu (2014) and yang (2007) which showed that the learners utilized memory strategies more frequently. moreover, according to lee and heinz (2016), memory strategies can help students remember language elements, but they need to be tied with the meaning, otherwise it may lead to the unsuccessful acquisition of new words. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1.1. mean perception on the level of the use of memory strategies items mean rank description i think of relationships between what i already know and new things i learn in the sl. 3.46 3 moderate i use new sl words in a sentence, so i can remember them. 3.45 4 moderate i connect the sound of a new sl word and an image or picture of the word to help me remember the word. 3.57 1 high i remember a new sl word by making a mental picture of a situation in which the word might be used. 3.55 2 high i use rhymes to remember new sl words. 3.16 6.5 moderate i use flashcards to remember new sl words. 2.51 9 moderate i physically act out new sl words. 2.99 8 moderate i review sl lessons often. 3.16 6.5 moderate i remember new sl words or phrases by remembering their location on the page, on the board, or on a street sign. 3.34 5 moderate overall mean: 3.24 description: moderate results, tend to show that item number 6 (rank 1) which states, i watch sl language tv shows spoken in sl or go to movies spoken in sl, got the highest mean score of 3.65, described as high. likewise, item number 13 which states, i try not to translate word for word gained the lowest mean score of 3.27, described as moderate. respondents use moderate level of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in language learning as indicated by the overall mean of 3.40. based on this finding, it implies that respondents enjoy english movies. however, it seems that they do not rely much on the complete dialogue for getting the translation of the conversations in the movie, rather, they find a familiar sl word and relate the actions with it to generalize what is happening in each scene. the findings conform to liang’s (2009) that adults learn grammar better than children and tend to apply it in more sophisticated situations. moreover, it also conforms chen’s (2015) findings that metacognitive strategies were less frequently used by the learners which indicate that they lack english learning motivation. on the other hand, it contradicts the study conducted by lee and heinz (2016) which showed that the metacognitive strategies are frequently used as effective strategies. these strategies help the learners in planning, directing and organizing for their language learning. 155 international peer reviewed journal table 1.2. mean perception on the level of use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies items mean rank description i say or write new sl words several times. 3.30 12.5 moderate i try to talk like native sl speakers. 3.32 10 moderate i practice the sounds of sl. 3.46 4 moderate i use the sl words i know in different ways. 3.45 5 moderate i start conversations in the sl. 3.30 12.5 moderate i watch sl language tv shows spoken in sl or go to movies spoken in sl. 3.65 1 high i read for pleasure in the sl. 3.37 8 moderate i write notes, messages, letters, or reports in the sl. 3.54 2 high i first skim an sl passage (read the passage quickly) then go back and read carefully. 3.41 6 moderate i look for words in my language that are similar to new words in the sl. 3.39 7 moderate i try to find patterns in the sl. 3.38 8 moderate i find the meaning of an sl word by dividing it into parts that i understand. 3.34 9 moderate i try not to translate word for word. 3.27 14 moderate i make summaries of information that i hear or read in the sl. 3.52 3 high overall mean: 3.40 description: moderate among the indicators, item number 6 (rank 1) which states, if i can’t think of an sl word, i use a word or phrase that means the same thing, obtained the highest mean score of 3.63, described as high. similarly, item number 4 which states, i read sl without looking up every new word, got the lowest mean score of 2.99, described as moderate. respondents employ moderate level of compensation strategies as indicated by the overall mean score of 3.67. the finding implies that the students do not see a need for using reference materials to find the meaning of the new words they encounter. this may also imply that the interest of the respondents in developing their vocabulary is low. this can be attributed to the study of song and cheng (2009) which showed that compensation strategies were the most frequently used by the learners. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1.3. mean perception on the level of use of compensation strategies items mean rank description to understand unfamiliar sl words, i make guesses. 3.45 3 moderate when i can’t think of a word during a conversation in the sl, i use gestures. 3.59 2 high i make up new words if i do not know the right ones in the sl. 3.24 5 moderate i read sl without looking up every new word. 2.99 6 moderate i try to guess what the other person will say next in the sl. 3.34 4 moderate if i can’t think of an sl word, i use a word or phrase that means the same thing. 3.63 1 high overall mean: 3.37 description: moderate the results showed that item number 4 (rank 1) which states, i try to find out how to be a better learner of sl, gained the highest mean score of 3.93, described as high. on the other hand, item number 5 (rank 9) which states, i plan my schedule, so i will have enough time to study sl, got the lowest mean score of 3.05, described as moderate. the respondents use a high level of organization and evaluation strategies to learn the language as indicated by the overall mean of 3.54. the finding implies that respondents are aware that they can become a better user of sl through on their own. however, the interest in making the enhancement and corrective measures on their learning is gleaned to do not equal their awareness of methods they know. this finding agrees with rao’s (2012) which posited that these learning strategies are the foundation for self-monitoring and self-direction of the learners. table 1.4. mean perception on the level of use of organizing and evaluation strategies items mean rank description i try to find as many ways as i can to use my sl. 3.55 6 high i notice my sl mistakes and use that information to help me do better. 3.80 2 high i pay attention when someone is speaking sl. 3.79 3 high 157 international peer reviewed journal i try to find out how to be a better learner of sl. 3.93 1 high i plan my schedule so i will have enough time to study sl. 3.05 9 moderate i look for people i can talk to in sl. 3.17 8 moderate i look for opportunities to read as much as possible in sl. 3.39 7 moderate i have clear goals for improving my sl skills. 3.59 4.5 high i think about my progress in learning sl. 3.59 4.5 high overall mean: 3.54 description: high from the findings, item number 2 (rank 1) which states, i encourage myself to speak english even when i am afraid of making a mistake, obtained the highest mean score of 3.84, described as high. however, item number 5 which states, i write down my feelings in a language learning diary, got the lowest mean score of 2.76, described as moderate. respondents use moderate level of affective strategy to learn language as indicated by the overall mean of 3.34. this is maybe because there is the existence of high tolerance of communication mistakes given to them by instructors. the finding moreover implies that the respondents got a high level of confidence in speaking sl that they do not see a need for additional outlet for their feelings and emotion regarding the development in the use of language. in the study conducted by chu (2012), results showed that the second most frequently used strategy is the affective strategy. moreover, this contradicts the result of the study conducted by chen (2015) which reveals that the least strategy used by students was affective strategy because many students are worried that people may correct the mistakes they made in learning english. table 1.5. mean perception on the level of use of affective strategies items mean rank description i try to relax whenever i feel afraid of using sl. 3.40 3 moderate i encourage myself to speak english even when i am afraid of making a mistake. 3.84 1 high i reward myself or treat when i do well in english. 3.33 4 moderate i notice if i am tense or nervous when i am studying or using english. 3.56 2 high i write down my feelings in a language learning diary. 2.76 6 moderate i talk to someone else about how i feel when i am learning english. 3.13 5 moderate overall mean: 3.34 description: moderate 158 jpair multidisciplinary research results showed that item number 1 (rank 1) which states, if i do not understand something in english, i ask the other person to slow down or say it again, obtained the highest mean score of 3.73, described as high. likewise, item number 4 which states, i practice english with other students, got the lowest mean score of 3.41, described as moderate. data revealed that respondents employ a high level of social learning strategy in language learning as indicated by the overall mean of 3.57. based on this finding, it can be inferred that students are comfortable with the only people requiring them to use sl in communicating, who are their instructors. active participation in classrooms enable the students to learn through interaction with others. this finding coincides to the study of rao (2012) which states that the students can learn directly from each other during negotiation. this also conforms to the studies conducted by green and oxford (1995), politzer and mcgroarty (1985), rao (2002) and wharton (2000). table 1.6. mean perception on the level of use of social learning strategies items mean rank description if i do not understand something in english, i ask the other person to slow down or say it again. 3.73 1 high i ask english speakers to correct me when i talk. 3.46 5 moderate i practice english with other students. 3.41 6 moderate i ask for help from english speakers. 3.55 4 high i ask questions in english. 3.57 3 high i try to learn about the culture of english speakers. 3.67 2 high overall mean: 3.57 description: high level of english proficiency as reflected from the results, there were 39 (47.6%) who obtained grades of 74 and below. thirty-one (37.8%) of the students got grades of 75 – 79 while ten (12.2%) obtained 80 – 84, and two (2.4%) got 85 – 89 marks. none of the students got a grade of 90 and above. students achieved low performance in english as borne out of the mean grade of 75.00. moreover, results showed that the students need remediation in the use of appropriate verb tenses and subject and verb agreement. thus, this means that the respondents are not proficient in english. this conforms to the study of nayan and jusoff (2009) which showed that some of the students 159 international peer reviewed journal still possess problems in the usage of subject-verb agreement. with this, it is recommended that remedial actions should be taken to help them to function well in english. table 2. respondents’ level of proficiency in english performance frequency percentage 90 and above 0 0.0 85 89 2 2.4 80 84 10 12.2 75 79 31 37.8 74 and below 39 47.6 mean: 75.00 description: low relationship between language learning strategies and english proficiency among the language learning strategies, only social learning strategy (p-value=0.024) has a significant relationship with the students’ proficiency test. this means that communicating with peers and classmates help the students considerably in becoming proficient in english. moreover, the coefficient of determination (r2) indicates that 69.39% of the variance in the students’ english proficiency test performance is attributed to the extent of use of social learning strategy of the students. on the other hand, memory, cognitive and metacognitive, compensation, organizing and evaluation, and affective strategies were deemed to be not significant in the students’ english proficiency test performance. this contradicts the study conducted by chu (2012) which showed that there was a high correlation between the five learning strategies (memory, compensation, cognitive, metacognitive and social) and student’s english academic achievement. affective strategies showed moderate correlation but it was the second most frequently used strategy by the learners. moreover, in the study of song and cheng (2009), memory and retrieval strategies showed a significant effect on language test performance which also conforms to the study of purpura’s (1999). 160 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. correlational analysis of language learning strategies and students’ english proficiency test performance iv: language learning strategies dv: english proficiency test performance r value r2 p-value result memory strategy 0.127 0.0161 0.257 not significant cognitive and metacognitive strategy 0.175 0.0306 0.115 not significant compensation strategy -0.30 0.09 0.79 not significant organizing and evaluation strategy 0.137 0.0188 0.221 not significant affective strategy 0.117 0.0137 0.295 not significant social learning strategy 0.833 0.6939 0.024 significant conclusions college students practice a high level of social learning strategy. however, their feedback on the use of memory, cognitive and metacognitive, compensation, organizing and evaluation, and affective strategies, respectively, suggest reluctance on the use of these strategies. regarding the english proficiency test, respondents have shown a low level of performance. moreover, it can be seen that social learning strategy is significantly related to the students’ english proficiency. translational research a self-learning instructional material (sim) emphasizing on social learning strategy was developed and has been initially utilized by the first year students of the college. literature cited chamot, a. u. 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(2015). an investigation of language learning strategy use in an esp context: hotel management students in focus, 47. retrieved from https://goo.gl/l6szq9 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15434311laq0303_2 https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00117 32 jpair multidisciplinary research barangay anti-drug abuse council’s (badac) drug clearing program: basis for the development of community rehabilitation program for drug surrenderees saerel b. rebusquillo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7149-3998 saerelrebusquillo@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the social and medical problems of drug abuse are a matter of increasing global concern. the government, through its joint efforts with the concerned agencies, the authorities, and criminal justice professionals, sought to find solutions to address the problems on illegal drugs. unfortunately, until now, it has not been solved. the war on drugs became an unending process of killings and repeated use of drugs. this study aimed to evaluate the extent of implementation of the barangay drug clearing program and the problems encountered in albay province. to facilitate the study, the researcher used descriptive method of research. the respondents of the study were the barangay officials, drug surrenderees, and police officers in the two selected municipalities and city in the second district of albay. the statistical techniques used in the study were weighted arithmetic mean, kruskal wallis h, and mann whitney u. the survey questionnaire was used to facilitate the collection of data from the respondents. data revealed that the pre-operation phase, operation phase, vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.770 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:saerelrebusquillo@gmail.com 33 international peer reviewed journal and post-operation phase of badac’s drug clearing program are implemented. however, the topmost problem encountered is the lack of rehabilitation facilities. thus, the program of badac is functional through the active participation of the barangay officials, but inevitable problems occur in its implementation. keywords — criminology, implementation, drug abuse, drug surrenderees, descriptive method, philippines introduction illegal drug use is a major problem and a global concern. the menace of drug abuse has eaten deep into the fabrics of society (oluremi fareo, 2012). the widespread consumption of drugs leads to a more complex dilemma around the world. the impact of drugs in society is becoming more severe than imagined. degenhardt and hall (2012) defined illicit drugs as “drugs for which nonmedical use has been prohibited by international drug control treaties for half a century because they are believed to present unacceptable risks of addiction to users. while for strang et al. (2012), illicit drugs are harmful to the society because it adversely affects the public health, breeds the occurrence of crimes, and affects the family and the breakdown of the community. the united nations office on drugs and crime (2017) estimated that 1 in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one drug in 2014. the growing population of drug users is roughly the equivalent of the combined populations of france, germany, italy, and the united kingdom, though a substantial amount has grown to a global population. cejes and etis (2016) cited that typical drug users have a dominant age group of 20 to 28 years old, having a ratio of 10:1 of male versus female, usually unemployed and educational attainment of high school level. most were living in urban areas and have taken different kinds of illegal drugs. drugs target the youth in their most productive years. as a consequence, drug abuse can easily convert a vibrant source of productivity into a burden on society. lyman (2013) stressed that the extent of global involvement in the illicit drug trade illustrates the magnitude of the problem because many countries play a major role in furnishing dangerous drugs. in south america, the three andean nations of colombia, peru, and bolivia are the most active cocaand cocaine-producing countries in the world. shockingly, the us government seems powerless to attack the supply of drugs (bennett, 2016). additionally, chen et 34 jpair multidisciplinary research al. (2013) stated that the golden triangle, composed of myanmar, laos, and thailand, produced heroin and smuggled it in chinese territory. it was notably recorded that there are 1.14 million registered addicts in china, and heroin is the most commonly abused drug. drug-related crimes are much of a concern, and the association of illegal drugs to public health issues was very alarming. the growing problem of illegal drugs created numerous international drug policies that prohibit the production, transportation, sale, and the use of illegal drugs. indeed, supply control and demand reduction are the goals of drug policies. in the study of madsen (2012), he discussed that the enactment of anti-drug policies gained its forced execution in the year 1970. in the study of ford and saville (2017), they found out that criminalization and incarceration of people who use drugs mainly from the impoverished society remain their primary response in almost all the members of the united nations. the death penalty is retained in most countries. they hardly recommend the changing of drug policies, which is urgently needed in society. tharanga (2016) believed that abstinence and prohibition policies are not the only way to address the problems on illegal drugs and the treatment of alcohol and illegal drug abuse. they suggested in their studies the adoption of harm reduction strategy that targets reducing the damage caused to the individual’s health and controlling adverse consequences that result from the adoption of risk practices. however, according to youngers (2014), the bloody war on drugs in colombia and mexico challenged the prevailing international drug control policies. colombia adopted the recommendation of the international community and yet did not achieve the desired results. the countries in latin america wanted to promote drug policy reform. bolivia is the first country to denounce and return to reservation of coca leaf despite strong objection from the united states and russia. bolivian’s new constitution recognizes the right to use coca for traditional and legal purposes. since the declaration of president nixon of the war on drugs, the u.s government took hold to dictate policies throughout the region. but the war on drugs has not given the results they hoped for. cartels have grown in strength, and numerous lives were sacrificed. even the united states continues to advocate a “tough on drugs,” as the legalization of the use of marijuana in their state resulted in credibility problem among the latin american government. latin america wanted reform to drug laws by decriminalizing possession for personal use and ensure proportionality in the sentence by reducing the unjustly high sentences. in ecuador, its government is finally adopting a new penal code that will promote evidence-based treatments. 35 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, in asia, the issues on illegal drugs are seemingly problematic. in the study conducted of yi et al. (2017) in the countries of cambodia, indonesia, laos, malaysia, myanmar, the philippines, singapore, thailand, and vietnam, it was found out that the countries of philippines, indonesia and laos had a high prevalence of illicit drug use specifically, the college students. the drug war in the philippines and indonesia resulted in thousands of individuals killed, and most of them crowding the prisons of our correctional system (mutiarin, tomaro, & almarez, 2019). tanguay et al. (2015) state that the detention of people who use drugs in compulsory centers in the name of treatment is common in cambodia, china, indonesia, lao pdr, malaysia, myanmar, philippines, thailand, and vietnam. the expansion of such practices has been costly, has not generated positive health outcomes, and has not reduced supply or demand for illicit drugs. law enforcement plays a major role in enforcing drug policies. alexandris polomarkakis (2017) stated in his study that law enforcement had been the prevalent choice insofar as drug control is concerned. it is used to alleviate the harmful effects drugs have on people and society in general. the results of his study revealed that drug law enforcement associated costs outweigh its benefits. he found that law enforcement exacerbates and increases the harm to users, worsens public health levels, and reproduces social exclusion and division. in the crime control strategy, law enforcement has consequently failed to achieve its goals. one good example is the increasing number of drug suspects killed in drug operations in the philippines. recently, the killing of the minor kian delos santos placed the police and their operations in public scrutiny. police claimed that the boy was a drug runner and used to sell 10 grams of shabu or 18,000 a day before he was killed. fan (2013) mentioned that the british government’s recent drug strategy, “reducing demand, restricting supply, and building recovery: supporting people to live a drug-free life of 2010, focused on recovery to drug addiction. abstinence from illicit drugs will promote recovery to drug addiction. recovery is a new means of treating addiction. research commissioned for the treatment effectiveness review initiated by the minister of health brian mowhinney in the mid-1990s showed that abstaining from illicit drugs showed positive results. the study of firesheets, francis, barnum, and rolf (2012) emphasized the important role of the community in its grassroots level in the success of substance abuse prevention efforts. using an interactive systems framework, the community helped in promoting the adoption of evidence-based substance abuse prevention 36 jpair multidisciplinary research practices. the community interacted and got involved in the program, attaining more effective results in preventing substance abuse. also, cox et al. (2017) stated that community involvement is needed to address the problems of drug abuse and criminalities. there is a necessity for the willingness of the police to engage the community in resolving crimes, prevention, and control. community engagement in this global problem must be achieved. strict implementation of policies regarding the use of illegal drugs was published in every nation, yet its proliferation is still in progress. in the philippines, programs developed by the agencies concerned were implemented, but until now, their objective in eradicating drug use in the country is not yet attained. despite the unpleasant effects of illegal drugs on an individual and the community, rampant use is still observed. the cooperation of the community, particularly those on the grassroots level, is the key to the eradication of illegal drugs in the country. drug use as a national problem can be resolved at the barangay level. according to the philippine statistics authority (2015), the philippines is composed of 42,036 barangays. these barangays and their constituents are more knowledgeable about the issues and concerns in their communities. illegal drug activities are happening in the neighborhoods, and they are most likely to know first. therefore, the barangay as the basic political unit of the government, can be the source of primary information and act as the first line of defense in combatting the illegal drug problem and criminalities in the community. with this idea, the aim for the nationwide eradication of illegal drugs leads to the creation of the barangay anti-drug abuse council (badac) in all the barangays nationwide. the badac leads in drug prevention and control in the community on the grassroots level the barangay. memorandum circular no. 2015-63 addressed to provincial governors, city, municipal mayors, and punong barangays stated the need to revitalize the badac in the drug clearing operations. it was issued to emphasize to local authorities their principal responsibilities support all government efforts to address peace and order, particularly to curb illegal drugs and other substances. the badacs were deputized and empowered to plan and implement strategic policies and evaluate programs and projects on drug prevention and control, given the political and police powers of the barangay to administer the affairs of the community. with the given mandate and responsibility, the burden of implementing the program is in the hands of the local officials to attain a drug-free community. likewise, sanctions for those who will not support the creation of badacs were enumerated in the memorandum. 37 international peer reviewed journal in albay, where the study was conducted, 105 barangays out of 720 barangays in 18 municipalities are affected by this social problem according to the police report conducted by albay provincial police office. with the relentless campaign against illegal drugs, it was revealed that several barangays in albay province are really affected by this social menace. in fact, statistics show that during the start of the campaign against illegal drugs in 2016, thousands of drug surrenderees, whether users and pushers, surrendered to the police. the watch list provided by the badac were given to the police to monitor the drug users and pushers in the barangay. based on a police report prepared by albay provincial police office, there was a total of 26, 011 drug surrenderees who personally appeared in police stations from october 2016-august 2017. however, those who surrendered returned to their illegal drug activities after a few months and led to the bloody war on drugs. according to representative aleta suarez, it was evidenced by the growing number of prisoners in jails and prison cells due to drug-related crimes. buy-bust operations and arrest of drug personalities are conducted by the police. a total of 241 operations were conducted in albay by the police. kasurog bicol (2016) reported that the number three target drug personality in albay province was killed in a buy-bust operation. notwithstanding the actions taken by the police in cooperation with the barangays, the province is still affected by illegal drugs. arguelles (2017) stated that drug problems remain in albay. thirty-seven (37) villages in the province are not yet cleared despite the efforts of the government to address the problems of illegal drugs. arthur gomez, albay police spokesperson, said that among the barangays considered to be still drug-affected were 16 villages in legazpi city; seven in tabaco city; six in guinobatan; three in oas; two in daraga; and one each in the municipalities of pio duran and sto. domingo and ligao city. these are all under the evaluation of pdea. also, the provincial police office update on drugs as of september 2017 stated that there were ten uncleared barangays in the province out of 105 barangays declared as drug-affected. in the second district of albay, camalig was 100% cleared while daraga had two barangays uncleared out of five affected barangays, and in legaspi city, five barangays out of 16 affected barangays were uncleared. despite the declaration of pdea that the barangays in the second district were almost a hundred percent cleared, illegal drugs are not totally suppressed. the question is raised whether the barangays are totally cleared from the ill-effects of drugs. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research as the barangays were declared clear from illegal drugs, maintaining their status as a great challenge on the part of the barangay officials. however, the dangerous drug board, as the policy-making body of the philippine drug enforcement agency issued a board regulation no. 3 for the strengthening of the implementation of the drug clearing program through the badac. the board regulation provides guidelines for implementing the barangay drug clearing program. hence, this study assessed the level of implementation of the drug clearing program under the badac of selected barangays in the third district of albay. likewise, it determined the level of compliance in adherence to the directives given by the government in curbing the illegal drugs starting from the grassroots level of criminality and addiction. this study aimed to show the status and condition of drug clearing programs and the extent of implementation to resolve the problems on illegal drugs, specifically the selected barangays in the second district of albay. this study sought to take a look if the barangay level approach is the best approach in eradicating drug use in the community. it aimed to assess the programs given to the drug surrenderees so as not to return to their illegal activities. framework lyman and potter (2014) cited that social disorganization theory was one of the popular explanations for drug abuse. it addressed its links with poverty, social disorganization, and feeling of hopelessness. it explained that racial prejudice, low socioeconomic status, lack of positive self-esteem, and uncharitable surroundings linked them to drug use and poverty. the changing environment and the inequality experienced by the people lead them to the consumption of drugs. it can be noted that the environment plays a significant role in how an individual view the world they lived in. people forget their life situations whenever they use drugs and, for a long time, became a habit that cannot be controlled. this theory supported the present study because drug use is a social problem and occurring in an environment, specifically in a barangay. the presence of illegal drugs in the community leads to a disorganized society and can be addressed by changing its structure to a more productive and drug-free community. drug use and the involvement of the community to criminalities can be prevented by implementing programs that can help the people abstain from illegal drugs and alleviate their current situation in terms of poverty. this theory can help to form 39 international peer reviewed journal strategies that can prevent criminalities in disadvantaged communities. this is very useful in formulating recommendations and possible measures to help drug users in the community fight the harmful effects of drugs. developing a socially disorganized community into an organized one by giving the people a positive outlook in life and valuable support from the community can be a resilient factor to engage in drug use and criminality. the factors that led to the disorganization of society can be addressed by providing the people equal opportunities and show their worth in their community. objectives of the study the study aimed to evaluate the level of implementation of the barangay drug abuse clearing program of barangay anti-drug abuse council implemented by the selected barangays of the second district of albay province. this served as the basis for the development of community rehabilitation programs at the barangay level for drug surrenderees. specifically, it sought to answer the following objectives: (1) to evaluate the level of implementation of the barangay drug clearing program in selected barangays of the second district of albay in terms of a. illegal drug prevention information drive (pre-operation phase); conduct of drug clearing operation (operation phase); status of the barangay after drug clearing operation (post-operation phase); and (2) to evaluate the level of effectiveness of the drug clearing programs implemented by barangay antidrug abuse council (badac) of the selected barangays in the second district of albay province methodology research design a descriptive survey method of research was used to facilitate the study. this research design was favored in gathering significant data from the responses given by the respondents. furthermore, this research method is appropriate to the nature of the study that aimed to provide a systematic description of a phenomenon through the response of the respondents using a closed structured questionnaire. research site the study was conducted in the second district of albay, where the city of c-a and the municipalities of m-a and m-b are located. there were three 40 jpair multidisciplinary research barangays selected from each municipality and the city. they were chosen as research locale of the study because the philippine national police identified them as having the largest number of drug surrenderees and most likely rampant problem on illegal drugs in albay. the location of the study was also considered since these places are classified as urban areas. participants respondents of the study were the barangay officials, drug surrenderees, and police officers of the municipalities and city in the second district of albay. complete enumeration was used in the study. there were 70 barangay officials, 45 police officers in city “c-a,” 30 police officers in the municipality “m-a,” and 32 police officers in the municipality “m-b.” with respect to drug surrenderee respondents, 51 from city “c-a,” 25 from municipality “m-a,” and 18 from municipality “m-b.” there was a total of nine (9) barangays in the two municipalities and one city. hence, there were 70 barangay officials, 94 drug surrenderees, and 107 pnp members from the two municipalities and the city, with a grand total of 271 respondents. they were considered as respondents because they gave first-hand information needed for the study, and they are deemed knowledgeable and competent to provide the necessary data. the barangay officials who were tasked to implement the program and the drug surrenderees who underwent the drug clearing program in their respective barangays gave valuable information critically needed in the research. the police officers were also knowledgeable and experienced about the operation of badac because the chief of police of the station acts as the adviser of the council. they were selected from the two municipalities and one city of the second district of albay. the survey was conducted in the three barangays of city “ca” (brgy. c-a1, brgy. c-a2, and brgy. c-a3); three barangays in municipality “m-a” (brgy. m-a1, brgy. m-a2, and brgy. m-a3); and three barangays in municipality “mb” (brgy. m-b1, brgy. m-b2, and brgy. m-b3). the study considered the identified drug-affected barangays as a priority in selecting the research environment so as to accurately evaluate the implementation of the drug clearing program. the barangay official respondents of the study were most likely male who had finished their baccalaureate degree and have an average age of 33, and the majority of them were barangay councilors, while the pnp respondents were dominated by males who finished their baccalaureate degree, which is a minimum requirement for entering the police service, and with the average age of 36. meanwhile, the drug surrenderee respondents were most 41 international peer reviewed journal likely males; the majority finished their secondary education and have diverse occupations. they have an average age of 38. instrumentation the response of the respondents was gathered through a closed structured questionnaire, which was validated by the faculty of the college of criminal justice and some of the stakeholders were it was distributed, more likely the pnp and the barangay officials. the first part of the questionnaire included the level of implementation of the programs of badac from the pre-operation phase to the post-operation phase, and the second part is the level of effectiveness of the drug clearing program by the barangay anti-drug abuse council. before the questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, the researcher sought first the approval of the research ethics committee in the institute of graduate studies. the research was approved and recommended for the distribution of the questionnaires to the respective respondents. the researcher guaranteed the confidentiality and privacy of the respondents through the informed consent and privacy impact assessment (pia) following the pattern issued by the institute of graduate studies and research. likewise, the researcher sought approval from the mayors of the different municipalities to conduct research and from the respective barangay captains of each barangay. data collection weighted arithmetic mean was used in evaluating the level of implementation of the barangay drug clearing program and the level of effectiveness of the drug clearing program by the barangay anti-drug abuse council to have a drugcleared community. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion level of implementation of the drug clearing program of badac. this part shows that the programs for the pre-operation phase of badac in the second district of albay were implemented and widely observed specifically by the barangay officials and the pnp. the respondents said that the seminars and drug education were routinely conducted in their barangays to prevent the use of illegal drugs. this strategy helped in raising awareness through information dissemination regarding the ill effects of illegal drugs. the dangerous drugs board stressed that the strategy seeks to discourage users and future abusers from using illegal drugs and continuously abuse themselves. the respondents also believed that the barangay officials are highly coordinating with the pnp, as evidenced by the positive response given by the drug surrenderees. suspicious activities were immediately reported to the police and acted upon by them. it can be seen that the barangay officials and pnp respondents have a relatively positive response as compared to the drug surrenderee respondents. the table further shows that there is somehow a difference in the responses of the drug surrenderees, barangay officials, and the pnp. as can be observed, the drug surrenderees revealed the inconsistency in the implementation of the program. these findings are in consonance with the statement of alexandris polomarkakis (2017) that law enforcement plays a major role in enforcing drug policies. it is a prevalent choice when fighting against criminalities and drug control. the police officers are specifically employed to maintain peace and order in the community, and part of their responsibilities is to alleviate the harmful effects of drugs to the general public. however, the setting up of referral desk where drug dependents are endorsed to authorized representatives of the dangerous drugs board and organization of groups that combat illegal drugs through house clusters were perceived by the barangay officials and the drug surrenderees as not consistently implemented. the lack of community involvement impedes the implementation of the preoperation phase in terms of house clusters wherein the community’s cooperation is necessary. community involvement at the grassroots level plays an essential role in combatting illegal drug use and abuse, and the success of prevention efforts relied upon it ( firesheets, francis, barnum, & rolf, 2012); cox et al., 2017). the respondents from the barangays seem to lack the capability to endorse drug surrenderees because the endorsements do not originate from the barangay 43 international peer reviewed journal officials but through the municipal anti-drug abuse council (madac) as stated by the barangay captain respondents of the study. the drug surrenderees perceived that it was implemented, but the services of the program were not received by them. table 1. respondents’ assessment of the pre-operation phase of badac pre-operation wm barangay officials drug surrenderees pnp total descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm 1. barangay officials conduct an anti-illegal drug seminar where they discuss how to avoid illegal drugs. 3.84 implemented 3.66 implemented 4.07 implemented 3.87 implemented 2. barangay officials coordinate with the police in reporting suspicious activities in the barangay. 3.81 implemented 3.57 implemented 4.07 implemented 3.83 implemented 3. barangay officials identified the puroks and sitios where illegal drug transactions were being used. 4.11 implemented 3.23 implemented, but not consistently 3.86 implemented 3.71 implemented 4. barangay officials identified the house clusters affected by illegal drugs. 3.73 implemented 3.32 implemented, but not consistently 4.03 implemented 3.70 implemented 5. barangay officials report the selling and use of illegal drugs to the pdea. 3.68 implemented 3.34 implemented, but not consistently 3.96 implemented 3.67 implemented 6. barangay officials identified the puroks and sitios where illegal drug transactions were being conducted. 3.61 implemented 3.24 implemented, but not consistently 4.02 implemented 3.65 implemented 7. barangay officials organize groups, each one assigned with a leader, aiming to combat illegal drugs in the barangay through house clusters. 3.69 implemented 3.34 implemented, but not consistently 3.86 implemented 3.63 implemented 8. barangay officials put up a referral desk where drug dependents are endorsed to authorized representatives of the dangerous drugs board. 3.27 implemented, but not consistently 3.22 implemented, but not consistently 3.71 implemented 3.43 implemented overall 3.72 implemented 3.37 implemented, but not consistently 3.95 implemented 3.69 implemented legend: lower higher verbal description 1.00 1.80 not implemented at all 1.81 2.60 barely implemented 2.61 3.40 implemented, but not consistently 3.41 4.20 implemented 4.21 5.00 effectively implemented likewise, the drug surrenderees rated the pre-operation phase of the badac as not consistently implemented because not all of the programs were provided to them. satisfaction was not felt by the drug surrenderee respondents in terms of 44 jpair multidisciplinary research organization of house clusters, the designation of cluster leaders, and consistency in identifying puroks where illegal transactions involving drugs were made. as to the operation phase of badac, it revealed that the barangay officials coordinate with the pnp and actively participate in the implementation of the badac programs. the respondents answered that the implementation of buybust operations and raids are regularly conducted in their barangay. they believed that peace and order are maintained in the community during the course of the operations. it was also consistently shown that law enforcement actively participates in the conduct of drug clearing in the operation phase through the consolidated efforts of the barangay officials and the pnp. similar responses can be observed in the respondents’ assessment of the operation phase. this result of the operation phase can be supported by the data recorded by the albay provincial police office, where 241 drug operations were conducted in the province in a year, 26, 011 personally surrendered to the police, and 297 were arrested. the dilg memorandum 2015-63 emphasized that the “operation phase” is the actual implementation of the drug supply and demand reduction strategies in the most drug-affected barangays. non-availability of drug supply in the community and the active participation of the barangay officials are essential elements to achieve a drug-cleared community. 45 international peer reviewed journal table 2. respondents’ assessment of the operation phase of badac operation wm barangay officials drug surrenderees pnp total descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm 1. barangay officials witnessed buybust operations and drug raids in the barangay. 3.54 implemented 3.49 implemented 4.18 implemented 3.77 implemented 2. barangay officials maintain peace and order by conducting anti-illegal drug operations prescribed by the pnp and pdea. 3.52 implemented 3.57 implemented 4.01 implemented 3.73 implemented 3. barangay officials assist pnp and pdea authorities in their operations. 3.55 implemented 3.47 implemented 4.04 implemented 3.71 implemented 4. barangay officials process applications for voluntary and compulsory rehabilitation of drug surrenderees. 3.54 implemented 3.39 implemented, but not consistently 4.07 implemented 3.70 implemented overall 3.54 implemented 3.48 implemented 4.07 implemented 3.73 implemented legend: lower higher verbal description 1.00 1.80 not implemented at all 1.81 2.60 barely implemented 2.61 3.40 implemented, but not consistently 3.41 4.20 implemented 4.21 5.00 effectively implemented the post-operation phase of badac is implemented as perceived by the barangay officials and the drug surrenderees who shared the same evaluation. however, inconsistent implementation of the programs of the badac was observed by the respondents. they said that clean-up drives and other pro-environment activities, followed by the organization of competitive games such as basketball, volleyball, etc. to promote physical and mental development of barangay residents are being practiced in the barangay. these activities are the basic rehabilitation activities done in their barangay, helping those drug surrenderees to turn away from the negative impact of drugs in their lives. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research counseling programs as an important part of the rehabilitation program were not consistently implemented as perceived by the respondents. it was not given considerable attention to their implementation. according to sharma (2017), aftercare must be given to the drug surrenderees undergoing treatment so that relapse and recurrence must be avoided. recovery management empowers them to understand their condition, teaches them how to cope with triggers and stress, and manage the symptoms. significantly, it reduces the risk of relapse and re-hospitalization after they receive treatment. these findings are supported by oluremi fareo (2012), who recommended that effective counseling programs can solve the problem of drug users. he added that drug control counseling centers and the employment of qualified health counselors to help drug surrenderees cope with the problem must be established. livelihood programs were also rated as implemented, although not consistently, wherein the technical education and skill development authority (tesda) give free skills training to drug surrenderees in order to give employment opportunities and source of livelihood. these programs are found to be effective in achieving recovery for drug surrenderees. however, lack of coordination of the barangay officials with tesda and appropriate agencies in the implementation of livelihood programs resulted to lower assessments by the drug surrenderees. religious activities, one of the components of the holistic approach in achieving recovery, were given lower assessments by drug surrenderees and found inconsistently implemented. connolly and granfield (2017) gave emphasis on the association of faith-based organizations to cater to the spiritual aspect of the drug surrenderees. their participation with the street ministry and faith-based organizations can develop their much-needed recovery capital to improve their life condition. religious involvement is significantly associated with a lower likelihood of illegal drug use. the more likely the individual is attached to religious activities, the more the person is not associated with the use of illegal drugs (edlund et al., 2010). food for work program was implemented in some of the barangays but was not consistently given to the drug surrenderees. this will greatly help in the rehabilitation process if it is implemented properly. 47 international peer reviewed journal table 3. respondents’ assessment of the post-operation phase of badac post-operation wm barangay officials drug surrenderees pnp total descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning 1. barangay officials involve drug surrenderees in clean-up drives and other pro-environment activities. 3.46 implemented 3.29 implemented, but not consistently 4.01 implemented 3.62 implemented 2. barangay officials organize and sponsor competitive games such as basketball, volleyball, etc. to promote the physical and mental development of barangay residents. 3.21 implemented, but not consistently 3.47 implemented 3.93 implemented 3.58 implemented 3. barangay officials coordinate with the church in order to encourage religious activities like regular church attendance. 3.43 implemented 3.29 implemented, but not consistently 3.80 implemented 3.53 implemented 4. barangay officials conduct an anti-illegal drug seminar. 3.39 implemented, but not consistently 3.41 implemented 3.70 implemented 3.52 implemented 5. barangay officials provide income opportunities for drug surrenderees by selling souvenirs and decorative items. 3.20 implemented, but not consistently 3.37 implemented, but not consistently 3.82 implemented 3.51 implemented 6. barangay officials endorse drug surrenderees as players for athletic competitions such as the “congressional cup.” 3.09 implemented, but not consistently 3.33 implemented, but not consistently 3.84 implemented 3.47 implemented 7. the barangay captain provides livelihood programs for drug surrenderees, such as the “food for work.” 3.06 implemented, but not consistently 3.24 implemented, but not consistently 3.83 implemented 3.43 implemented 8. barangay officials regularly call zone meetings for drug surrenderees. 3.11 implemented, but not consistently 3.34 implemented, but not consistently 3.72 implemented 3.43 implemented 9. barangay officials regularly conduct house-to-house visits to monitor activities of drug surrenderees. 3.11 implemented, but not consistently 3.18 implemented, but not consistently 3.73 implemented 3.38 implemented, but not consistently 10. barangay officials in coordination with licensed counselors sponsor counseling programs in order to guide drug dependents towards recovery. 2.96 implemented, but not consistently 3.06 implemented, but not consistently 3.81 implemented 3.33 implemented, but not consistently overall 3.20 implemented, but not consistently 3.30 implemented, but not consistently 3.82 implemented 3.48 implemented legend: lower higher verbal description 1.00 1.80 not implemented at all 1.81 2.60 barely implemented 2.61 3.40 implemented, but not consistently 3.41 4.20 implemented 4.21 5.00 effectively implemented 48 jpair multidisciplinary research evaluation of the effectiveness of the drug clearing program by the badac this section reveals the respondents’ assessment of the level of effectiveness of the programs of the badac. the respondents assessed that all the indicators were effective. the positive assessment is focused on the involvement of the drugsurrenderees in the clean and green and other pro-environment activities, the conduct of regular drug awareness and prevention seminars in their barangay, and the engagement of the drug surrenderees in the sports activities. these activities are directly concentrated on the individual improvements of surrenderees because olmstead (2016) said that when people participate in sports, they are given more mental than physical health benefits, such as the ability to focus, a boost of self-confidence, socialization with a network of people, and the acquisition of important morals and values like camaraderie and goodwill. rambaree, mousavi, and ahmadi (2018) added that sports protect the youth from getting engaged in the use of illegal drugs, thus promoting a healthy lifestyle for them. counseling programs are also perceived by the respondents as effective in the rehabilitation of drug surrenderees. it agrees with the study of timpson et al. (2016), which stressed that the recovery of the drug surrenderees must be a priority. they also said that internal motivation, peer support, social networks, and daily structure are integral in supporting individuals to achieve recovery. hence, the drug surrenderees must have a consistent view of their own recovery outcomes and benefits to become a reformed individual. engagement in religious activities is also seen as an effective program in eradicating illegal drugs. it is in accord with the study of al-omari, hamed, and abu tariah (2015), which found out that drug surrenderees need divine intervention in the recovery process of the drug users. it serves as a protector from drug and alcohol abuse in the future. the respondents believed in the effectiveness of the program, but continuous support was not maintained. effectiveness can be attained by the continuous implementation of the program to determine its strengths and weaknesses. it conforms to the statement of lurigio (2011) that programs administered to drug users should be routinely examined by outside evaluators to determine whether services are being implemented as planned and to measure the overall impact of services. evaluation of program impact must include a variety of outcome measures such as treatment retention, desistence from criminal activities, length of time to relapse and re-arrest, development of vocational skills, employment, social, psychological and family functioning, reliance on social agencies, physical and emotional health. 49 international peer reviewed journal table 4. level of effectiveness of the drug clearing programs level of effectiveness wm barangay officials drug surrenderees overalldescriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning wm descriptive meaning 1. involving drug surrenderees in the clean and green and other pro-environment projects. 3.39 very effective 2.97 effective 3.15 effective 2. regularly conducting drug awareness and prevention seminars in the barangay. 3.09 effective 3.16 effective 3.13 effective 3. organizing athletic competitions like basketball, volleyball, board games, etc. to engage barangay youth. 3.30 very effective 3.01 effective 3.13 effective 4. implementing the barangay-based rehabilitation program. 3.26 very effective 2.98 effective 3.10 effective 5. coordinating with the pnp in the anti-illegal drug campaign. 3.30 very effective 2.94 effective 3.09 effective 6. conducting counseling programs designed specifically for drug surrenderees. 3.16 effective 3.00 effective 3.07 effective 7. conducting seminars aimed at spreading awareness among barangay residents on the effects of illegal drugs to themselves and to the community. 3.17 effective 2.98 effective 3.06 effective 8. conducting regular mass/religious services every sunday. 3.21 effective 2.94 effective 3.05 effective 9. forming groups aimed at combatting illegal drugs in the barangay. 3.14 effective 2.96 effective 3.04 effective 10. regularly conducting home visits to drug surrenderees in order to monitor their activities. 3.11 effective 2.93 effective 3.01 effective overall 3.21 effective 2.99 effective 3.08 effective legend: lower higher verbal description 1.00 1.75 not effective at all 1.76 2.50 somewhat effective 2.51 3.25 effective 3.26 4.00 very effective conclusions the drug clearing program under the pre-operation phase, operation phase, and post-operation phase is being implemented. the barangay officials are active, and the programs are functional, specifically in the pre-operation and operation phases. however, the programs for post-operation are not given enough consideration because of the varying responses of the drug surrenderees. somehow, the drug surrenderees are not fully satisfied with the implementation of the programs. the badac programs were found effective as the barangay officials are following the memorandum set by the dilg and the guidelines established by the ddb. the programs being implemented also showed to be 50 jpair multidisciplinary research effective in terms of the clean and green projects, seminars and drug education, and organization of sports activities. maintenance and sustainability of the program must be attained subjected to recommendations by the researcher. the community involvement helped a lot in dealing with the problems of illegal drugs. combating the ill-effects of drugs must be the responsibility of the community as a whole, not only by the government or law enforcement. the grassroots problems that started in the community must also be resolved in the also at the bottom level of the society. translational research the findings and recommendations of the study are highly suggested for the monitoring and continuous activity of the drug surrenderees in the community. the program must be forwarded to the agencies concerned for funding and realization of the activities proposed. improvement of the program and further evaluation is necessary based on the need of the drug surrenderees. the program may be made useful in the achievement of a drug-cleared community. recommendations resolving the maintenance and sustainability of the program, the researcher formulated a barangay-based rehabilitation program for drug surrenderees that aims to strengthen and improve the rehabilitation process conducted by the barangay anti-drug abuse council. this program will be useful since the anti-drug campaign is still in progress. the general objective of the program is to continuously implement the post-operation phase of the badac in the areas which the barangay officials did not give emphasis to the program. in addition, this program is a therapeutic community modality program (tcmp)-inspired. the said program is implemented by the bureau of jail management and penology (bjmp) to their respective inmates in jail. since it was a community-based program that aims to resolve the problems of rehabilitation facilities, the researcher believes that it can also be applied to the drug surrenderees. an example of a program of activities for drug surrenderees is offered by the researcher to have a clear goal of what is to be done by the implementers and the drug surrenderees as the beneficiary of the program. sources of funds can be shouldered by the government agencies concerned, and the period of 51 international peer reviewed journal rehabilitation can last up to 3 to 6 months, depending on the need for the drug surrenderees for rehabilitation. community-based rehabilitation program for drug surrenderees areas of rehabilitation for drug surrenderees objectives person involved/ agencies concerned strategies sources of fund counseling programs a. repair the damages to the drug surrenderee brought about by the use of illegal drugs. b. treat depression and disorders brought about the use of illegal drugs. c. regain their self-esteem and trust in society. d. improve the psychological and emotional well-being of the drug surrenderees. rural health unit department of social welfare and development (dswd) therapeutic community worker a. one-to-one dialogue between the drug surrenderee and counselor to know the predicaments of the person b. assessment of the current situation of the drug surrenderee and recommendation of measures for individual recovery c. involvement of family in the counseling programs to feel their love and support to their family member d. one-on-one and group counseling with drug surrenderees doh dswd ngo’s livelihood & skills development a. provide additional knowledge and skills training that will help the drug surrenderee to become a productive citizen of the community. b. offer vocational courses to drug surrenderees that will be of great help to their reintegration into the society. c. provide livelihood opportunities to the family of surrenderees undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in the community. d. cultivate and enhance one’s capacity to become productive and self-worthy. the local government unit (lgu) technical education and skills development authority in coordination with the barangay officials a. seminars on how to create a small business that will help them gain income on their own b. an offering of vocational courses of their interest like welding, rug making, automotive and other courses offered by tesda c. providing small capital to drug surrenderees to be used in running a small business in order to provide for their family through cooperatives. d. requiring them to participate in the programs offered to the drug surrenderees lgus tesda ngo’s cooperatives educational support a. provide an opportunity to the drug surrenderees to continue their schooling b. divert their attention to learning rather than the use of drugs. alternative learning system(als) technical education and skills development authority (tesda) a. requiring the drug surrenderees to enroll in als to finish their elementary and secondary education b. an offering of vocational courses to drug surrenderees deped tesda lgu’s ngo’s drug awareness and prevention education a. instill awareness regarding the ill-effects of drugs for the drug surrenderees b. widen the knowledge and understanding of drug surrenderees about illegal drugs. c. educate the drug surrenderees to say no to illegal drugs. the barangay officials the philippine national police (pnp) the philippine drug enforcement agency (pdea) a. distribution of pamphlets and leaflets in the barangay tackling about the dangers of illegal drugs b. conduct of drug awareness and prevention seminar in the barangay c. drug education seminar especially to the children and the youth pnp, pdea ngos lgus 52 jpair multidisciplinary research areas of rehabilitation for drug surrenderees objectives person involved/ agencies concerned strategies sources of fund spiritual engagement a. enhance the personal and spiritual well-being of the drug surrenderees. b. teach the value of the teachings of god in relation to our life and as nourishment to the soul. c. strengthen the presence of god in their daily lives. religious organizations and ministry a. participation in the recitation of prayers b. conduct of bible study by sharing the word of god to the drug surrenderee and citing important bible verses for reflections c. religious gatherings at least once a week faith-based organizations like couples for christ and parish renewal experience (prex) knights of columbus 7th day adventist catholic church born again ngo’s engagement in sports activities a. develop their physical wellbeing. barangay officials a. basketball competition in the barangay b. engagement of the drug surrenderees in daily exercises solicitation letters from the government officials chosen clean-up drives and proenvironment activities a. support the campaign in nurturing and caring for mother nature. b. strengthen the clean and green projects. c. provide food and income to the families of drug surrenderees. department of environmental and natural resources (denr) barangay officials and other support agencies a. conduct of clean-up drives in the barangay like cleaning canals b. imposing waste segregation in their homes c. planting of fruit-bearing trees and vegetables in their established gardens and planting area in the barangay acknowledgments the researcher would like to acknowledge the people behind this accomplishment. to the funding agency that made this research possible, commission on higher education (ched), my dhei, manuel s. enverga university foundation, particularly to my adviser, henedina a. lagumen, ph.d. and the panel of experts who contributed a lot in my research, and the beloved institution of the researcher, the bicol college, particularly to the president, maria luz t. macasinag, dba for inspiring me to finish this publication. i express my sincerest gratitude to all of you. literature cited albay provincial police office. 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(2014). a turning point for drug policy. nacla report on the americas, 47(2): 21-27. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839 .2014.11721846 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(11)61674-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(11)61674-7 https://www.globalissues.org/news/2016/06/24/22267 https://www.globalissues.org/news/2016/06/24/22267 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-017-0096-3 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-017-0096-3 https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2014.11721846 https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2014.11721846 international peer reviewed journal 83 vol. 20 · march 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v20i1.320 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by aja registrars, inc. device; ignition coil and spark plug testing instrument allan q. guillermo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1109-1265 allanshiela@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan, philippines manuel a. bajet, jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7545-971 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan, ilocos sur,philippines dominador f. tolentino http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8601-7484 adoretolentino@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan, philippines abstract technological modernization and invention have brought convenience that can be used to determine the condition of an ignition coil through high voltage output and also spark plug through visible spark. it made use of project and the making of the design for the device, constructing the device and testing the device functionality through actual observation. group of experts coming jpair multidisciplinary research 84 from the automotive and electronic sectors evaluated the effectiveness of the automotive testing instrument. a five-point likert scale was used to find the mean product and the descriptive rating in terms of usefulness, effectives, functionality, reliability and safety. the results of the study revealed that the output voltage and frequency are directly proportional to the resistance of network ra, but inversely proportional to resistance network rb in the circuit. the output frequency is directly proportional to the output voltage. the evaluation of the group of experts in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety was rated excellent respectively. the device is an instrument for automotive technicians in testing ignition coil and spark plugs. the researchers recommended further study about the device for its safety because based on the result it has the least rating among the different standards although it was evaluated as “excellent.” keywords – engineering, development, ignition, spark plug, testing instrument, r and d, vigan city, philippines introduction technological modernization and invention have brought convenience and satisfaction for the family. with the influence of these inventions, life has become fulfilling. man-made appliances have considerably lessened the burden of everyday household chores. appliances are electrical and mechanical “household help”. they, too, give amusement to our lives. however, these breakthroughs could not have been possible if not for the miracles brought about by the different electronic components used in these appliances or equipment. yes, without these little wonders, this advancement in technology is not possible. thus, life in this wonderful world could have been different. if we look around, it is not difficult to identify the usefulness of the different inventions. hafizin (2013), conducted a study entitled “design and development of a portable spark plug tester for motorcycle”. the main purpose of his study is to design and develop a spark plug tester for motorcycle user to test the spark plug and ignition wire connectivity to minimized the risk of high voltage shock that the mechanic my receive in testing. he considered ignition system as one of the most important parts of the motorcycle. and, if trouble occurs in the system, the engine will not start due to failure in the combustion process. improper use of tool by the motorcycle users in diagnosing the condition of spark plugs was international peer reviewed journal 85 observed and that made him think of developing the aforementioned testing instrument.  arredondo (2009) stated in his article that using a multimeter in ohms mode does not guarantee accuracy in diagnosing an ignition coil either bad or in good condition. he further emphasized that using the said method of testing is useless. however, he suggested the dynamic spark test as one of the best methods in determining the condition of an ignition coil. in automotive technology, electricity finds its use in several applications such as starting the engine, creating the sparks that ignites the compressed gasoline air mixture, supplying current or charging the battery, operating the lights, horn, airconditioner, radio, electric gauges, among others. an automotive ignition coil boosts up the amount of voltage sufficient for it to create a spark that jumps across the spark plug gap that ignites the fuelair mixture. ignition coil and spark plugs like any other component parts are prone to failure. one way of determining the condition of an ignition coil is to use an ohmmeter to measure the internal winding resistance. however, there are times that the internal resistance may fall within an acceptable range. the technician may get confused due to this situation and might conclude that the problem is not due to the coil, and therefore, spends a great deal of time in the diagnostic process. it is also possible replacing other functional parts until it becomes exhausted and would need replacing the ignition coil. to eliminate this kind of situation, it is important to have an accurate method and instrument in testing. also, because ignition coil deteriorate in a progressive manner in which they become weaker and weaker, it is not only desirable to determine whether or not a coil remains to its acceptable amount of internal resistance but also its capability of boosting a high amount of voltage sufficient to cause a spark to occur and how strong the spark is. the trouble of the ignition system may not only be due to defective ignition coil but also may be due to fouled spark plugs it is also desirable to ascertain the accuracy of testing the condition of spark plugs. the normal way of determining the condition of the spark plug according to william and donald (1993) is to conduct a spark test by removing the spark plug and connecting it to the ground part of the engine and notice the intensity of spark. the high amount of voltage is created during this method of testing and the technician might receive electrical shock if some safety precautions were not observed. accordingly there exists today a need for an ignition coil testing device that would promote safety and can verify with certainty whether or not a coil is defective. jpair multidisciplinary research 86 objective of the study the researchers aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the ignition coil and spark plug testing instrument designed to test the condition of the ignition coil and spark plugs. this project may help automotive mechanics to determine the condition of the ignition coil and spark plug with ease and satisfaction. this state-of-the-art technology further eliminates probability that automotive technicians be harmed with the high amount of voltage created by the ignition coil and spark plugs during testing. framework figure 1. the experimental paradigm as illustrated in the experimental paradigm, the construction of the two in one device ignition coil and spark plug testing device is based on the design, assembling of the instruments. the proper operation of the said device was also observed through series of experimentation. the relationship in the amount resistance, voltage and frequency that governs the proper operation of the device was recorded and analyzed. evaluation of the assembled instrument was done by international peer reviewed journal 87 electronics and automotive experts in the college of technology and the college of teacher education university of northern philippines. feedback experts were incorporated to improve its usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety. alternating current is a type of current that reverses the direction a number of times per second. in the 60 cycle current, the direction of current flow is reversed 120 times per second. pulsating current is also a type of current that flows intermittently, that is at the first instant the current flows from zero to maximum and back to zero value. at the second instant, no current flow (zero value). at the third instant, there is current flow again with the same value of the first instant. this process is repeated. a transformer cannot be used in a direct current because direct current flows continuously through the coils producing a constant amount of field flux embraced by the circuit. so, there will be no cutting of magnetic lines of force by the coils. hence, alternating current is used in the transformer to produce electromagnetic induction (storr, 1999-2014). according to fluke (1997), voltmeters or multimeters with other input impedances need to be connected with external shunt or a correction factor to have an accurate measurement. higher impedance voltmeters or multimeters are provided with a shunt, and lower impedance voltmeters or multimeters should have correction factors. applicable formulas follow: a. the given formula below is used to determine the value of an external shunt resistor (meter impedance >10 mω): rs =rm x 10 rm– 10 where: rs = shunt resistance in mω rm = voltmeter input impedance in mω (>10 mω) example: if rm = 20 mω, rs = 20 x 10 20-10 = 200 10 = 2.0 mω jpair multidisciplinary research 88 b. the next formula is applicable calculating a correction factor (meter impedance <10 mω): cf = 1.11 + rm 1.11 x rm where: cf=correction factor (actual multiplier for meter reading) rm = voltmeter input impedance in mω example: if rm = 1 mω, cf = 1.11 + 1 1.11 x 1 = 2.11 1.11 =1.901 therefore: meter readings of 0.526 volts correspond to an input of: 0.526 x 1.901 = 1 or 1 kv. dvoracek (2006) designed an ignition coil driver which is a combination of suitable charging circuit that charges a 4uf capacitor to 380v. based on figure 1, when fire switch is short of, small current run through the gate of the scr to turn it on, by way of a 1k current limiting resistor and a small capacitor for debouching purposes.  if the small capacitor becomes fully charged, enough current flow to the gate stops, thus, limiting the scr from residual in the “on” state if the switch is held down.  a ten mega ohms resistor is connected across the capacitor to discharge it once the switch is open. this prepares it for the next switching process. while the scr is energized, it activates the main capacitor to the primary of the ignition coil.   the voltage across the primary increases to 380v, thus, storing the energy from the capacitor as a sufficient magnetic field.  once the capacitor is discharged, the voltage falls back to zero, and this magnetic field begins collapsing.  at that moment, reverse polarity to the initial charging current is created, known as a “flyback”.  this pulse goes back to the capacitor and charges it back up via a 400v fast diode connected backward across the scr.   this flyback pulse is anticipated to be around 700v.   while the scr is in the on state, this process continues until the energy is transferred from primary to secondary of the transformer. the pulsed nature of the charging circuit guaranteed that there is always time when no electricity is flowing, thus, allowing the scr to switch off. international peer reviewed journal 89 figure 2. ignition coil driver by robert dvoracek a similar device was designed by seltzman (2005) based on figure 2. he used 555 timer and three 2n3055 switching transistors to provide a variable frequency, variable voltage inputs to an automotive ignition coil. when supplied with 12v input, it normally creates up to 25kv at the coil’s resonant frequency (8 khz). if the input voltage is increased up to 24 volts, the output voltage will also increase for up to 50kv. however, the switching transistors will be burned out due to excessive input. at utmost output, the coil will create 3-5cm plasma arcs. capacitors are rated at 50v and resistors also rated 1/2w, 5% tolerance. the output frequency to the coil is controlled by vr1; output voltage is controlled by vr2. v+ is connected to pin 3 on the 5v regulator. figure 3. ignition coil driver by seltzman jpair multidisciplinary research 90 momename (2008) posted the mini power inverter and he used scr to be the major part electronics, referring to the schematic diagram (figure 4). the device performs as an oscillator generator 400hz that generates up to 300v with an input of 12v and current 0.8a. the only problem in his circuit is that, it might latch in the switching state if the load excessive or if there is a short at the output, wherein protection must be provided at the input line in the form of a fuse. it would generate for up to 400hz with an input of 6v inverted to 300 volts using ten watts transformer. figure 4. mini power inverter by momename another device was also designed by roon (2011) (see figure 5). he invented basic ac inverter circuit which is more complicated circuit than of the device made by momename. the ic 555 was utilized to produce the frequency, and then, enlarge with transistor npn and pnp number  tip41  and  tip42  that drives the coil transformer. it generates an output of about 120v to 230v at frequency 50hz. by having r4 that controls the circuit during operation. voltage supply of about 5v to 15v is sufficient enough for the device to operate. international peer reviewed journal 91 figure 5. dc to ac inverter by roon according to storr (1999), one simple and easy way to control the speed of a motor is to regulate the amount of voltage across its terminals and this could be possible using “pulse width modulation” or pwm. the circuit controls the motor with a series of “on-off” pulses and varying the duty cycle, the fraction of time that the output voltage is “on” compared to when it is “off” of the pulses while keeping the frequency constant. the applied power is controlled by varying the pulses, thus, varying the average dc voltage applied to the motor terminals. by altering/modulating the timing of the pulses the speed of the motor is controlled, i.e. the longer the pulse is “on”, the faster the motor will rotate and likewise, the shorter the pulse is “on” the slower the motor will rotate. therefore, the wider the pulse width, the more average voltage applied to the motor terminals and the stronger the magnetic flux inside the armature windings and the faster the motor will rotate (see figure 6). jpair multidisciplinary research 92 figure 6. pulse width modulated waveform the use of pulse width modulation to control a small motor has the advantage since the power loss in the switching transistor is small because the transistor is either fully “on” or fully “off”. as a result, the switching transistor has a much reduced power dissipation giving it a linear type of control which results in better speed stability. meanwhile, bajet and garcia (2013) designed and developed an energy saver multi-fed cooking stove, made up of scrap iron bars sheet, and a pipe welded together. the multi-fuel cooking stove can be fuelled with firewood, charcoal, farm wastes like corncobs, tobacco stalks, and others, which were usually burned off when the farmers lack knowledge in making use into fertilizer. further, the researcher found out that in cooking different food, it is significantly different among fuel materials used. this implies that all the fuel materials are significantly different in terms of cooking different food. furthermore, cooking different food is significantly different in all cooking stoves like lpg, kerosene, clay and electric stove. bajet and bajet (2013) in their study entitled, “design and development of domestic refrigeration trainer”, disclosed an advancement in the teaching and learning process and the principle operations. it is easy to understand the different connection of electric circuitry in the mechanical components. the trainer can also present the four phases of refrigerant cycle.its design focuses on skills training approach to aid the beginner student in an easy and comprehensive way of learning the trade in a very limited time that servicing and repair are in his hands. international peer reviewed journal 93 on the study of bajet (2013) in design and development of fish natural convection drying facility, its performance and characterization as a natural convection dryer for stunted tilapia were tested. parameters in the study were air temperature, relative humidity, drying chamber, moisture content, drying time, capacity and rate. findings disclosed that drying rate was noted at the highest during first two hours interval with an average drying rate of 7.20 grams per minute. average drying rate after the tree trials was 2.63 grams per minute. the moisture content of the samples was reduced from 92.86%75.23% during the 20 hours of drying and weights of fish samples were also reduced from 20 to 15 kilograms. further, results on relative humidity were higher at the upper trays compared with the lower trays. the return of investment was 72% and has a payback period of 0.05 year. materials and methods the study used the experimental method of research. it was accomplished through identifying the needed materials type of circuit, designing a desirable circuit for the assembling of the oscillator circuit and the voltage divider circuit, device, testing and evaluation of experts in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety. the researcher conducted observation and analysis on the amount of resistance, voltage and frequency. a rating scale was used to evaluate the ignition coil and spark plug testing device usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability, and safety. the designed testing instrument was validated by the experts along electronics and automotive technology through validation form. in evaluating the acceptability of the device along usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety, the researcher with the assistance of the research committee, devise the rating scale which is used to rate the designed tester based from the given standards as given below: numerical rating descriptive rating 4.20 – 5.00 excellent 3.40 – 4.19 very good 2.60 – 3.39 good 1.80 – 2.59 fair 1.00 – 1.79 poor jpair multidisciplinary research 94 the data were treated statistically with the use the mean to describe the evaluation scores of the respondents. results and discussion description of the device the device constructed in this study consists of two independent circuits that will perform as an oscillator and voltage divider. the oscillator circuit contains different electronic components that will affect each other as an oscillator/ circuit that will convert the direction of current flow from a direct current into a pulsating current using direct current source which is the 12v dc battery. the frequency of the oscillator circuit output can be adjusted to its desired frequency through the use of the variable resistor. as the name implies, the device can be used to test or determine the condition of an ignition coil and spark plug using the correct setting. resistor r1 combined to the “top” part of the potentiometer, vr1 represent the resistive network of ra. while the “bottom” part of the potentiometer added to r2 represent the resistive network of rb above. the two in4005 diodes were used to protect the electronic circuit from the inductive loading of the ignition coil. the ignition coil to be tested using the device creates large amount of output voltage and this cannot be read by an ordinary voltmeter. the researcher developed a voltage divider circuit used to minimize the high amount of voltage in the secondary output of the ignition coil to be tested for the digital voltmeter to read its actual output voltage (see figure 7). figure 7. voltage divider network of the spark plug and ignition coil testing instrument international peer reviewed journal 95 the circuit is just a combination of two resistors in shunt connection. the vin is connected to the high voltage output of the ignition coil to be tested and vout is connected to a suitable digital voltmeter. based on the designed circuit for the voltage divider, vin is unknown because we cannot determine the voltage output of the ignition coil by just using an ordinary vom alone. the circuit resistance is computed using the following formula: vin = r1+r2xvout r2 the resistor values on the voltage divider circuit is computed as follows vin = ? r1 = 33kω r2 = 33ω vin = 33,000 + 33xvout 33 = 1,001 ω x vout if the reading of the specified vom is 20v it should be multiplied into approximately 1000v and therefore, the actual reading or the voltage coming from the high voltage output of the ignition coil being tested is about 20 kilovolts. notes on safety and operation of the two in one ignition coil and spark plug testing instrument 1. do not use the device around explosive gas, vapor, or dust. 2. do not use the device if it operates abnormally. protection may impair. when in doubt have the device serviced. 3. do not use this device to measure high voltage on power distribution systems. 4. do not attempt touch the spark plug and ignition coil while testing it. 5. make sure that the connections are firmly attached. 6. make sure that the battery source is disconnected before putting the spark plug on the socket. 7. follow the instructions in the user’s manual on how to use the device properly. 8. do not drop the device. jpair multidisciplinary research 96 the condition of the spark plug can be determined through the following color indicators: 1. straight bluish white spark – indicates that the spark plug is in good condition. 2. reddish orange and intermittent spark – indicates that the spark plug is weak. 3. no spark – indicates that the spark plug is open. device setting in testing spark plug and ignition coil minimum to mid – ideal for testing ignition coil and spark plug minimum to maximum – ideal for testing ignition coil spark plug gap distance .025 inch for two-stroke engine. .035 inchfor four-stroke engine. the ignition coil must able to produce a voltage from 20 and above to conclude that it is in good condition and must vary its voltage output when the frequency adjuster is adjusted from minimum to maximum. if unconvinced, prove it by disconnecting the high tension wire connection from the port and place it near the port of about ¾ of an inch using insulated long nose pliers to see the visible spark. the device must be turned off before attempting to do this method of testing. table 1. the cost of the different supplies and materials needed in fabricating the two in one device, ignition coil and spark plug testing device quantity unit description unit/ price amount 2pcs. perforated board $0.91 $1.82 1 pc. ne555 ic $1.93 $1.93 1 pc. variable resistor $1.47 $1.47 6 pcs. ¼ watt carbon composition resistor $0.41 $0.41 1 pc. 2 watts carbon composition resistor $0.23 $0.23 4pcs. diodes $0.68 $0.68 2pcs ceramic capacitor $0.45 $0.45 1pc. electrolytic cpacitor $0.34 $0.34 2pcs n-channel mosfet $9.53 $9.53 1pc. push button switch $0.79 $0.79 international peer reviewed journal 97 1pc selector switch $0.91 $0.91 1pc. ignition coil $13.61 $13.61 2 m aluminium angle bar $3.40 $3.40 3 box bolt and nut $2.04 $2.04 1pc. dc indicator lamp $0.68 $0.68 2 sq.ft. plastic fiber $7.71 $7.71 1 pc. dt830 digital tester $5.67 $5.67 3 pairs port and connector $2.72 $2.72 3 m automotive wires $1.36 $1.36 2pcs. sticker paper $0.23 $0.23 1pc. variable resistor handle $0.34 $0.34 1pc circular bolt washer $0.23 $0.23 2 m soldering lead $0.91 $0.91 1pc. ic socket $0.79 $0.79 total $54.98.00 the total expenditure in construction is more efficient and practical as compared with having the two testing instruments individually, the ignition coil testing instrument and spark plug testing instrument. steps and procedures in assembling the ignition coil and spark plug testing device 1. prepare all needed materials in assembling the testing device. 2. assembling the oscillator circuit. 3. assembling the voltage divider circuit. 4. fabricating the container box of the testing device. 5. fastened the oscillator circuit to its proper position inside the container box through the use of bolts and screws. 6. fastened the built-in ignition coil inside the container box near below the spark plug socket 7. fastened the voltage divider circuit inside the container box. 8. fastened switches, ports, and other control components of the circuit. 9. fastened the digital voltmeter inside the facing the hole provided for its monitor. 10. connect one of the oscillator output terminals to the common terminal lead of the selector switch. 11. connect the positive primary terminal of the built-in ignition coil to the selector switch. jpair multidisciplinary research 98 12. connect the positive primary terminal port to the other terminal lead of the selector switch. 13. connect the output terminal of the voltage divider circuit to the digital voltmeter. 14. connect the input terminal of the voltage divider to the high voltage port of the device. 15. connect all ground connections of the circuit. 16. secure all wire connections with electrical tape/insulator. 17. label the parts and controls of the testing device. 18. testing the device. table 2. relationships on the amount of resistance, frequency and voltage in three different settings. knob setting resistance (ω) frequency (hz) voltage (v) ra rb minimum 652ω 170.3kω 570 hz 2.4 mid 44.9kω 123.2 kω 1,530 hz 14.6 maximum 89.9kω 81.0 kω 2,560 hz 20.2 the amount of voltage is directly proportional to the amount of frequency output and inversely proportional to the resistance. furthermore, when frequency and voltage changes in value, there is also variation in the amount resistance applied to the oscillator circuit. this implies that the electromagnetic induction of the ignition coil either the built-in or the ignition coil to be tested vary. therefore, the high output voltage of an ignition coil and as well as the spark of the spark plug must vary according to the desired setting of the user. the measured resistance of 170kω at minimum and voltage output of 2.4v are inversely proportional, but voltage is directly proportional to the amount of frequency of 570hz. the measured resistance of 81kω in minimum setting has an output voltage of 20.2v. international peer reviewed journal 99 table 3. the evaluation of experts in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality reliability, and safety. a. usefulness mean descriptive rating 1. the device can be used in ignition system troubleshooting. 4.6 excellent 2. it is useful in teaching automotive students in determining the trouble of an ignition coil and spark plug. 4.5 excellent 3. it is easy to transfer to another place. 4.3 excellent 4. it saves time and effort on the part of any automotive technicians. 4.6 excellent 5. it is useful in the field of automotive electricity. 4.7 excellent sub-mean 4.54 excellent b. effectiveness     1. it can operate in each of the selected settings. 4.6 excellent 2. when it is used to test the ignition coil, it can show its actual output voltage digitally. 4.6 excellent 3. unopened spark plug creates spark when it is being tested depending on frequency setting. 4.6 excellent 4. it is interesting and accurate in testing the condition of spark plug and ignition coil. 4.6 excellent sub-mean 4.6 excellent c. functionality     1. it is easy to operate. 4.7 excellent 2. it can perform to test spark plug accurately. 4.7 excellent 3. it can perform to test ignition coil accurately. 4.7 excellent 4. the labels of its parts are simple and easy to understand 4.4 excellent 5. controllable in different frequencies. 4.6 excellent submean 4.62 excellent d. reliability     1. it can able operate for a long period. 4.2 excellent 2. there is no failure/s observed in the proper operation of the device. 4.3 excellent 3. it contains the standard on auto electrical wiring system components/parts. 4.3 excellent 4. the different parts of the device are arranged logically. 4.2 excellent sub-mean 4.25 excellent jpair multidisciplinary research 100 e. safety     1. the device is properly made. 4.2 excellent 2. there is a user’s manual in using the device. 4.2 excellent 3. there are safety precautions in using the device. 4.3 excellent 4. the device promotes safety through its design and construction. 4.3 excellent 5. the components and controls of the device are properly labeled. 4.3 excellent 6. it provides comfort and convenience. 4.4 excellent 7. the device wire connections are properly insulated, and it prevents electrical hazard. 4.4 excellent sub-mean 4.3 excellent grand mean 4.46 excellent based on the data, the device is very useful according to the group of respondents. this implies that the automotive and electronics experts noticed the device as useful in testing the condition of ignition coil and spark plug based on characteristics and features. due to the unique characteristics and feature of the device, experts also find the device useful in teaching automotive students about the principles of operation of ignition coil and spark plug. therefore, the device was rated excellent but with a rating reflected in the table tends to imply further that there is a need to improve the device in terms of its portability. on the other hand, the device was also excellent in terms of its effectiveness. it would also imply that the group of respondents finds the device effective in determining the trouble of an ignition coil and spark plug. however, a constant thread of the figure shown in the table tends to imply further that there is more to improve for it to be completely effective because it does not meet a perfect rating. along functionality, the device was also rated excellent and this would also mean that the group of evaluators found the device functional as it can be operated simply and it can perform according to its desired function. however, based on its rating, it tends to imply that there is a need to improve the label of parts and control and the frequency stability of the device while operating. the device was also rated excellent along reliability which means that it is reliable to use as a device instrument in testing the condition of an ignition coil and spark plug. hence, based on the rating given, it would imply that there is more to improve in its operation though there is no failure during the test of the device. besides, the researchers might have to strive more to observe the international peer reviewed journal 101 weaknesses of the device and turn them to a possible effective solution for it to be completely reliable. moreover, the device was also rated excellent along safety. it would also imply that the device can be used safely to test ignition coil and spark plug. though it is rated excellent, there’s more to improve on construction or the way it is made and a more precise user manual might be provided for the user. however, the researchers did not find any risk of using the device as long as the user is familiar with all the safety precautions and the user’s manual is provided. however, with the rating given as the mean, it further implies that there is a need of improvement regarding safety. in general, the findings entail that the device is very much acceptable to use as an instrument to test the condition of an ignition coil and spark plug though there is more to improve about the device as described in each of the standard that evaluates the researchers’ output. conclusions the results of the study revealed that the output voltage and frequency are directly proportional to the resistance of network ra, but inversely proportional to resistance network rb in the circuit. the output frequency is directly proportional to the output voltage. on the other hand, the results show that it is a valid and acceptable instrument in determining the troubles of ignition coil and spark plugs. however, there is more to improve about the device from the given standards. translational research the constructed testing device promoted safer and more accurate method of testing condition of an ignition coil and spark plugs to automotive technicians. this study serves as a form of encouragement for instructors to design testing instruments as well as teaching devices featuring their field of specialization. they also utilize this as an instructional device in teaching the principle operation of an ignition coil and spark plug. moreover, the findings of this study did not only provide information but also inspired other instructors who are trying to produce state-of-the-art technologies which are needed in the industry and upgrade the quality of teaching and learning. lastly, the output of the study reinforced and developed the skills of students in determining the condition of an ignition coil and spark plugs. jpair multidisciplinary research 102 literature cited  arredondo, a. (2009) how to test 2-wire coil-on plug (cop) ignition coils. retrieved from, http://easyautodiagnostics.com/misc-index/two-wire-copcoil-tests-3 bajet jr, m. a. (2013). design and development of fish natural convection drying facility.  jpair multidisciplinary research,  12(1) http://philair.ph/ publication/index.php/jpair/article/view/211 bajet jr, m. a. & bajet, n. a (2014) development of domestic refrigerator trainer: an instructional material for beginner technician.  jpair multidisciplinary research, 16(1). dvoracek, r. (2006). ignition coil driver. retrieved from http://users. silenceisdefeat.net/~lgtngstk/sites/circuits/ignition_coil_driver/ignition_ coil_driver.htm garcia, j. & bajet jr. m. a. (2013) development of energy saving multi-fuel cooking stove. jpair multidisciplinary research, 12(1). http://www.philair. ph/publication/index.php/index/search/titles?searchpage=4 fluke, (1997) 80k-40 high voltage probe. retrieved from http://media.fluke. com/documents/80k40___iseng0900.pdf hafizin, h. (2013). design and development of a portable spark plug tester for motorcycle user. momename, (2008) scr mini power inverter. retrieved from http://www. eleccircuit.com/scr-mini-power-inverter/ seltzman, a. (2005). ignition coil driver.rtf technologies. retrieved from, http://www.rtftechnologies.org/emtech/coil-driver.htm storr, w. (1999 – 2014) basic electronics tutorials retrieved from http://www. electronics-tutorials.ws/blog/pulse-width-modulation.html international peer reviewed journal 103 storr, w. (1999 – 2015) basic electronics tutorials retrieved from http://www. electronics-tutorials.ws/transformer/transformer-basics.html william c. & donald a. (1993). automotive mechanics 11th edition. quezon city: mc. graw-hill book co.. 65 international peer reviewed journalvol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.212 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. effects of different levels of zinc in the performance and meat zinc contents of broilers maria fe s. bulao orcid no. 0000-0002-6049-3885 fesimbulan@yahoo.com pampanga agricultural college magalang,pampanga sonia p.acda university of the philippines los baños, college, laguna geraldine c. sanchez orcid no. 0000-0003-4628-227x gengsanchez@yahoo.com pampanga agricultural college magalang,pampanga abstract zinc is one of the most deficient microminerals. for poultry, nrc (1994) recommended 40 ppm only but, commercial feeds contain more than 100 ppm resulting to toxicity. zinc oxide is commonly used inorganic forticant but, its safety is questionable compared to organic counterpart. generally, the study aimed to determine the effects of different levels of zinc oxide and zinc methionine in the performance of broilers and their meat content at 36 and 42 days. to address the latter, two experiments (experiment 1, zinc oxide and experiment 2, zinc methionine) were conducted and gathered data were analysed using anova. results showed that in both experiments, the performance and meat zinc contents were not affected but, the parts were affected showing highest zinc content in the liver, followed by the thigh and legs, and the wings. lowest amount was noted in the breast. fortification, up to 36 days of feeding was found to be enough. in fortification programs, it is recommended to use organic minerals. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords animal nutrition, fortification, meat, zinc, philippines introduction zinc is the most ubiquitous and metabolically active of all the trace minerals in the body. it is a co-factor or activator of more than 200 enzymes, participates in all major biochemical pathways and plays multiple roles in the perpetuation and expression of gene including transcription of dna, translation of rna and cell division. in addition, it facilitates the folding of proteins into three-dimensional configurations called “zinc fingers” that enable them to carry out their biological activity (klasing1998; holtz and brown, 2004). the us national research council (nrc) in 1994 set 40 mg/kg as the minimum requirement for zinc in poultry, but commercial feeds contain more than 100 mg/ kg regardless of the kind. however, the concentrations of zinc being used in the feed industry also vary. zinc oxide as one of the commonly used inorganic form and usually prepared in much higher concentration compared to their organic counterpart. its feed grade has 72-81% zinc while its analytical grade is 79.6% (wedekind and baker, 1990). the organic or chelated zinc contains as low as 16% zinc only. in food fortification programs, feed grade zinc oxide is commonly utilized as forticant (shrimpton et al. 2005). since it is inorganic, its relative safety is questionable because of the possibility of either acute or chronic toxicity (reilly, 2004). in addition, like other inorganic forms of zinc, zinc oxide is less bioavailable. it can be antagonized by other substances in the system like phytate and eventually excreted. this is one of the probable reasons why inorganic minerals are prepared in much higher concentration. although counteracted by antagonists, the assumption is that a small amount of the inorganic mineral may still be left to carry out its function. because of these controversies, organic or chelated minerals were launched in the market. some are using amino acids as ligand aside from the usual metal ions since the utilization of which will add up to the protein content of the diet. in this study, the ligand of the organic zinc is hmbta (2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butanoic acid) which is considered as an organic acid and not an amino acid. in the body, it is converted to lmethionine making it a methionine precursor (yi et al., 2007). nrc (1994) recommends only 40 ppm of zinc in poultry diet regardless of its kind. since zinc has antagonistic, acute or chronic toxicity effect, feed manufacturers and food fortifiers should be properly guided. in order to deal with this problem, the present study was done to determine the optimum level/s of either inorganic (in the form of zinc oxide) or organic (in the form of zinc methionine) zinc that would 67 international peer reviewed journal serve as a guide for food and feed manufacturers particularly for commercial chicken production. objectives of the study generally, the study aimed to determine the effects of the different levels of zinc oxide and zinc methionine on the performance and meat zinc contents of broilers. specifically, it aimed to: 1. determine the effects of zinc on production parameters such as feed intake, body weight, body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency. 2. determine the effects of zinc on the zinc contents of the different meat cuts at 36 and 42 days of harvest. 3. compare the meat zinc contents at 36 and 42 days of harvest. materials and methods acquisition of test materials two zinc preparations were used in the study. zinc oxide containing 81.4% zinc and zinc methionine containing 16% zinc with purity of ninety nine percent (99%) and one hundred percent (100%), respectively. other feed ingredients like corn, soybean meal, soybean protein concentrate, fishmeal, etc were purchased and stored in a refrigerated (4°c) stock room until they were used in mixing the diets. experiment 1. zinc oxide a total of two hundred thirty (230) day-old straight run cobb broiler chicks were randomly distributed into four treatments following a completely randomized design (crd) in 8 stainless cages with 16 birds per cage. each treatment was replicated twice and, the dietary treatments were as followed: treatment description treatment 1 control diet, without additional zinc oxide treatment 2 diet with 40 ppm zinc oxide (32.23 ppm zinc) treatment 3 diet with 80 ppm zinc oxide (64.47 ppm zinc) treatment 4 diet with 120 ppm zinc oxide ( 96.70ppm zinc) 68 jpair multidisciplinary research experimental diets the broiler booster, starter and finisher diets (table 1) were formulated following the nrc’s (1994) recommendation to contain 22.89%, 20.14% and 18.23% crude protein (cp) and 3000 metabolizable energy (me kcal/kg), respectively. feeding trial the day-old broiler chicks were brooded in a stainless cage measuring 114.3 x 114.3 cm for three (3) weeks. chicks were fed booster feed for twenty (20) days and from 21 to 28 days, starter feeds was offered. similarly, the birds were also transferred to eight (8) floor cages measuring 1.5 x 0.5 meters on the 22nd day. on the 29th and 42 day, finisher feeds was offered. feeds and water was made available to the birds at all times. table 1. ingredient composition (%) and calculated nutrient content of the basal diet ingredients booster starter finisher corn 61.1 64.5 54.4 soybean meal 28.0 27.5 28.3 soybean protein 5.0 2.8 28.3 wheat bran 6.9 limestone 1.5 1.5 1.3 continued.. calcium phosphate 1.4 1.3 1.0 salt 0.2 0.2 0.2 vitamin premix1 0.1 0.1 0.1 mineral premix2 0.1 0.1 0.1 methionine 0.2 0.1 0.1 choline chloride 0.1 0.1 0.1 soybean oil 2.2 1.8 7.4 calculated nutrient content crude protein (%) 22.89 20.14 18.23 metabolizable energy(kcal/kg) 3005.00 3004.00 3003.00 lysine (%) 1.20 1.00 0.94 zn(ppm)3 35.16 36.36 38.32 69 international peer reviewed journal 1 vitamin premix provided the following per kg of diet: vitamin a: 5000 iu; vitamin d 500 iu; vitamin e: 20 iu; vitamin k1: 1 mg; thiamin: 1.8 mg; riboflavin 5.4 mg; niacin: 27 mg; vitamin b: 4.2 mg; vitamin b12: 0.03 mg; folic acid: 0.55 mg; biotin: 0.16 mg; ca pantothenate: 10 mg 2 trace mineral premix supplied the following per kg of diet: cuso4.5h2o 34.9 mg, mnso4.h2o 207.2 mg, na2 seo3 0.4 mg, and feso4.7h2o 442.5 mg. 3the computed zinc contents of the basal diets obtained from the different zinc contents of the ingredients. zinc oxide (81.4% zinc) or zinc methionine (16% zinc) was added at 40 ppm, 80 ppm and 120 ppm in the different treatments to contain 32.23 ppm, 64.47 ppm and 96.70 ppm for treatments 2, 3 and 4 of experiment 1, respectively. for experiment 2, the computed values were only 6.4, 12.8, and 19.2 ppm for treatments 2, 3 and 4, respectively. to compute the production performance of the broilers such as feed intake, body weight, body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency, daily recording was observed. to determine the zinc contents of the birds at thirty six (36) and forty two (42) days, three to four birds from each replicate were obtained to determine the zinc contents of the different prime cuts namely: thigh and legs, wings, breast, and liver. parameters gathered production parameters initial body weight and body weight gain. the average initial body weight for each replicate and each treatment was determined by dividing the total group weight by the number of birds in each lot. the average cumulative body weight during the booster, starter and finisher periods were obtained by subtracting the initial weight from their corresponding body weights on the growth stages mentioned. feed intake. the amount of feeds given each day from day 1 until the harvest was recorded and the amount of leftover feeds weighed every three (3) days were used as subtrahend to the total amount of feeds offered to birds for a period of three (3) days. however, the total feed intake was presented on a weekly basis. feed conversion efficiency. the average cumulative feed efficiency of the birds in each replicate was calculated by dividing the average cumulative feed consumption by their respective average body weight gain. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research zinc contents of meat the zinc contents of the different meat prime cuts were obtained at ages thirty six (36) and forty two (42) days and were analyzed for zinc content using atomic absorption spectrometer (perkin elmer 2000). experiment 2. zinc methionine experimental design and birds the experimental design, number of birds used and replications were similar to that in experiment 1 except for the source of zinc. the four (4) treatments are as follows: treatment description treatment 1 control diet, without additional zinc treatment 2 diet with 40 ppm zinc methionine (6.4 ppm zinc) treatment 3 diet with 80 ppm zinc methionine (12.8 ppm zinc) treatment 4 diet with 120 ppm zinc methionine (19.2 ppm zinc) treatment 1 in this experiment utilized the same control group used in experiment 1. experimental diet ingredient composition and nutrient content of diets were the same as that in experiment 1 except that zinc methionine was used instead of zn oxide. since the zinc content of zinc methionine was 16%, and the purity was 100% with the inclusion of 40 mg, 80 mg, and 120 mg of zinc methionine, the additional zinc content of the diets were 6.4 ppm for treatment 2, 12.8 ppm for treatment 3 and 19.2 ppm for treatment 4. feeding trial same procedural management was followed as in experiment 1. parameters gathered 71 international peer reviewed journal all data gathered in this experiment were similar to that in experiment results and discussions experiment 1. zinc oxide production performance table 2 presents the cumulative production performance of broilers fed diets with different levels of zinc oxide. results showed no significant differences on the feed intake, body weight, body weight gain as well as feed efficiency. table 2. cumulative production performance of broilers fed diets with different levels of zinc oxide parameters treatment 1 2 3 4 feed intake(g) ns 20 days 839.0 892.0 942.0 872.0 28 days 1845.0 2061.0 2346.0 2057.0 42 days 3661.0 4015.0 4196.0 3855.0 body weight(g) ns initial 44.0 43.1 42.7 41.8 20 days 539.0 638.0 646.0 547.0 28 days 1039.0 1083.0 1120.0 1052.0 42 days 2159.0 2053.0 2342.0 2122.0 body weight gain(g) ns 20 days 495.0 595.0 605.0 505.0 28 days 995.0 1040.0 1078.0 1010.0 42 days 2115.0 2010.0 2300.0 2080.0 fcr ns 20 days 1.71 1.51 1.56 1.74 28 days 1.86 1.98 2.17 1.94 42 days 1.74 1.99 1.82 1.88 nsnot significantly different (p>0.05). 72 jpair multidisciplinary research zinc dose ranging from 32.23 to 96.70 ppm zinc oxide did not influence the feed intake of the birds. holtz and brown (2004) also observed a decrease in food intake in the early stage of zinc depletion. in humans, the onset of observed anorexia is still unknown but, there is a suggestion of alteration in amino acid transport and in metabolism through the blood-brain barrier as well as the, the synthesis of certain neurotransmitters which affect appetite. browning et al. (1998) had a hypothesis regarding the effect of zinc deficiency in inducing anorexia. they claimed that there was a decrease in the concentration of a potent appetite stimulant known as neuropeptide y (npy). on the contrary, lee et al. (1998) found that, npy system appears to be intact postsynaptically. it is possible that zinc deficiency impairs the processing of the npy, losing its affinity for its receptors and an eventual decreased in food intake. in the present study, the dosage of zinc oxide used did not affect the body weight or the body weight gain of the broilers as shown in table 2. the findings of the present study were contrary to the findings of carlson (2004) who found an improvement of 7.85% in adg of early weaned pigs (<21 d) and 8.3% for pigs weaned after 22 days. fuller et al. (1960) as cited by carlson (2004) hypothesized that the growth response after feeding the animal with 2,000 to 3,000 ppm of zinc oxide maybe due to the antimicrobial action of the mineral and its ability to reduce the turnover of the intestinal cells, leaving more nutrients available for absorption. e.coli, the primary cause of post weaning scours in piglets, is one of the most sensitive bacteria to zinc oxide (owusu-aseidu et al., 2003). in this study, inclusion of 120 ppm did not show superiority when it comes to antibacterial action because all treatments appeared to have similar results. this is contrary to the findings of nys et al. (1999) as cited by reilly (2004) with zinc sulphate at a rate of 25 to 45 ppm. favourable result was attained in terms of feed intake and body weight gain after feeding the chicks with zinc sulphate. there was an improvement in the two parameters measured after supplementing the diet with 25 to 45 ppm of dietary zinc but, beyond that level, no effect was noted. the two dosages used (64.47 96.7 ppm) in the study was higher than the inclusion of 45 ppm (nys et al., 1999) and 55 ppm (young et al., 1958) to achieve normal growth in chicken particularly between 10 to 21 days. generally, the study agrees to the statement of wedekind et al. (1992) that zinc dietary concentrations of 45 to 95 ppm and 117 and 867 ppm had no effect on growth of 22 day -old chicks. birds fed a ration without zinc performed comparably with those fed with varying concentration of zinc oxide. this can be attributed to the adjustment in the fractional zinc absorption in response to levels of dietary intake. in human, it was found out that reduction of zinc intake to a very low level would increase absorption 73 international peer reviewed journal by 25 to 93%. however, doubling the zinc intake reduced fractional intake to 21%. generally, the lower the zinc intake, the higher the rate of fractional zinc absorption (reilly, 2004). since there was no significant difference in the fcr, it shows that the control group are more efficient in converting a kilogram of feeds to a kilogram gain in body weight than the other groups. the negative zinc balance mentioned by reilly (2004) due to inadequate dietary zinc intake especially if it is prolonged was not observed in the present study probably because forty two (42) days were not yet too long for the birds to manifest such effect. meat zinc content table 3 shows the zinc content of the different meat parts at days 36 and 42. it appeared that there is no significant difference between treatments in both collection periods but, it showed variation in zinc content at different parts. table 3. meat zinc (ppm) content of broilers fed zinc oxide treatmentns meat parts mean thigh and legs wings breast liver day 36 1 42.6a 50.0a 28.7b 93.5c 53.7 2 55.3a 49.7a 37.0b 96.0b 59.5 3 41.1a 52.8a 29.1b 102.4c 56.4 4 51.2a 45.9a 31.2b 89.0c 54.3 57.9a 45.6a 27.8b 90.0c day 42 1 57.9a 45.6a 27.8b 90.0c 55.3 2 55.6a 43.3a 36.7b 101.5c 59.3 3 54.0a 50.9a 33.1b 88.1c 56.5 4 66.0a 51.2a 29.8b 83.0c 57.5 means with different superscripts within the same row are significantly different from each other at (p< 0.05). nsnot significantly different at (p>0.05) if there is an increased in dietary intake, there will be a corresponding increase in endogenous fecal zinc (efz) and decrease in absorption (reilly, 2004). there is a 74 jpair multidisciplinary research possibility then that those treatments that have received 80 and 120 ppm of zinc just resulted to the circumstance mentioned. the homeostatic mechanism of maintaining zinc in the body is not yet enough to replace the zinc losses in the integument such as the hair and nails, in the semen and menstrual blood (mcanena, 2004). note that there is no storage pool or nutritional reserve that has been identified in zinc so; humans are relatively dependent upon a constant renewed supply of the metal (strain and cashman, 2002). it is therefore, imperative to determine the dosage enough to meet the need of zinc oxide inclusion in the diet since there was no difference noted among treatments. the results also show that an inclusion of 40 ppm or a total of 32.23 ppm of zinc oxide in a corn soy ration is enough to fortify chicken meat either harvested at 36 or 42 days. as previously mentioned, there was a significant difference in the zinc contents of the meat parts showing the liver to be consistently higher in both collection periods compared to other meat parts. the thigh and legs and wings manifested the same amount of zinc. lowest zinc content was noted in the breast. reilly (2004) considered food fortification to have the potential to be a costeffective and sustainable method for improving dietary zinc intakes on a national level in countries where zinc deficiency is endemic. the procedure is expected to be acceptable to consumers since it can be introduced without changes in existing food consumption practices. rosado (2003) enumerated some of the considerations in the selection of suitable food vehicle in food fortification which include; it should be centrally processed, commonly used and contains minimum components which could interfere with zinc bioavailability. with these criteria, it shows that chicken meat meet al.l the requirements to be a good food vehicle considering that most people from all walks of life and religious beliefs consume chicken. note that chicken meat and meat products are important sources of both protein and lipids including the minerals it contains. the pooled mean zinc content at 36 and 42 days of harvest regardless of treatments are shown in table 4. it shows that at 36 day of harvest, the liver manifested the highest zinc content of 95.22 ppm followed by 49. 6 ppm in the wings, 47.55 in the thigh and legs and the least was noted in the breast with 31.5 ppm. note that all of the nutrients pass through the liver through its vascular function of storing and filtering blood. it has also metabolic functions concerned with the majority of the metabolic systems of the body, and also involve in the secretory and excretory functions that are responsible for forming the bile that flows through the bile ducts into the git tract (guyton and hall, 1998). with these functions of the liver, it is then possible that the highest concentration of zinc can be derived from this organ. 75 international peer reviewed journal unlike other chicken meat parts, the breast is generally less influenced by all the diets used. this has been proven by the current study for it shows that the zinc content of the breast meat regardless of the mineral inclusion were generally lower. on the other hand, the thigh and legs and wing parts generally have high zinc contents next to the liver. it had been observed that these parts, with the skin attached to them are fatty/ oily in nature before the samples were ashed compared to that of the breast. the exact mechanism of zinc deposition on these parts is not yet fully understood. one of the probabilities is that the fatty/oily substance derived from the skin contains a lot of zinc. in addition, since these are very movable organs and possibly synthesize a lot of protein, the content of zinc is alos possibly high because the mineral is involved in the proper folding of proteins. note that one of the manifestations of zinc deficiency is a skin problem both in animals and humans. at day 42, the same observations on the amount of zinc in each meat part were also noted. it reveals in table 3 that at day 42, the thigh and legs contain more zinc than the wings with 58.4 ppm and 47.8 ppm, respectively. however, statistically, they are still comparable. meanwhile, the liver had the highest zinc of 90.65 ppm and the lowest was that of the breast with 31.9ppm. since statistical analysis revealed that there is no difference between the meat parts at days 36 and 42 as revealed in table 4, this shows that generally, 36 day feeding period is enough to feed the chickens with zinc oxide. in a number of current fortification programmes, zinc oxide is commonly used because it is relatively easily absorbed, no organoleptic qualities which may affect the taste or colour of the carrier food. it is cheap but, the bioavailability is low (reilly, 2004). table 4. mean zinc content of broilers fed zinc oxide (pooled from 36 and 42 days, in ppm) time of collection meat parts ns total zinc content (ppm)thigh and legs wings breast liver meat at 36 days 47.6 49.6 31.5 95.2 55.97 meat at 42 days 58.4 47.8 31.9 90.65 57.19 nsnot significantly different (p> 0.05) based on the result of the study shown in the table above, the thigh and legs and wings have high zinc contents. this is very important because these chicken parts are being served in many food establishments worldwide thus, the goal of fortification then can be successful. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research experiment 2. zinc methionine table 5 shows the cumulative production performance of broilers fed with different levels of zinc methionine. like the previous experiment, the different inclusion rates of zinc methionine in the ration did not affect the production performance of the broilers in terms of feed intake, body weight, body weight gain and fcr. table 5. the cumulative production performance of broilers fed diets with different levels of zinc methionine parameters treatment 1 2 3 4 feed intake(g) ns 20 days 839.0 926.0 854.0 876.0 28 days 1845.0 1922.0 1956.0 1903.0 42 days 3661.0 3866.0 4092.0 3730.0 body weight(g) ns initial 44.0 41.9 43.5 43.7 20 days 539.0 572.0 548.0 549.0 28 days 1039.0 1098.0 1048.0 969.0 42 days 2159.0 2052.0 2108.0 2064.0 body weight gain(g)ns 20 days 495.0 530.0 505.0 504.0 28 days 995.0 1056.0 1007.0 925.0 42 days 2115.0 2011.0 2065.0 2020.0 feed conversion efficiency 20 days 1.74 1.74 1.68 1.75 28 days 1.86 1.82 1.95 2.00 42 days 1.75 1.92 1.98 1.83 ns-not significantly different (p>0.05). in this study, the levels of zinc used were far lower than the 40 ppm recommendation of nrc (1994), 45 ppm of nys et al. (1999) as cited by reilly (2004) and 55 ppm of young et al. (1958) that claimed to cause normal growth in chicken. the present study utilized 16% zinc in the form of zinc methionine. the similar results of treatment 1 with other treatments in the performances mentioned can be attributed to the adjustment in the fractional zinc absorption in 77 international peer reviewed journal response to levels of dietary levels as mentioned in the previous experiment that in general, the lower the intake, the higher rate of fractional zinc absorption or vice versa (reilly, 2004). the body weight and weight gain of broilers fed zinc methionine can be associated to the hypothesis made by fuller et al. (1960) as cited by carlson (2005) that growth response is due to the antimicrobial action of the mineral and its ability to reduce the turnover of the intestinal cells thus leaving more nutrients available for absorption. richards et al. (2006) studied the effect of zinc methionine using nucleotide analog (brdu) that would permanently label the dna at the first day of life of the intestinal cells of broilers. seven days later, it was found out that those birds that were not given supplemental zinc have few positively stained cells in the intestine which mean that all of the absorptive cells died whereas those that received 40 ppm zinc methionine showed many positively stained cells indicating reduction in the rate of cellular turnover. summers (1991) and cantl et al. (1996) as cited by richards et al. (2006) stated that the gut tissues require approximately 30% of the total energy in a broiler diet and, much of that used just to repopulate absorptive cells of the small intestine. if intestinal cell turn over will be slowed by feeding zinc adequate diet, there will be a reduction in the nutritional requirements of gut resulting in more free energy and nutrients for growth. in addition to the antimicrobial effect of zinc, the other factors that would enhance growth are the provision of more nutrients available for absorption that would reduce intestinal turnover and the methionine content of zinc methionine that adds additional protein (yi et al. 2007). carlson (2004) and other researchers found out that when they used organic zinc in nursery pig diets post-weaning, the ligand binding or source has little effect on growth improvement with an average increase of 3.1% only. carlson (2004) also cited that there are numerous researchers that show pigs fed lower concentrations of organic zinc forms have similar growth stimulation as fed 3,000 ppm zn as zno (ward et al., 1996; de rodas et al., 1999; mullan and souza, 2003). on the other hand, mccalla et al. (1999) reported that lower concentrations of organic zinc from a zn amino acid complex did not support the same growth performance response as nursery pigs fed 3,000 ppm zinc oxide up to 34-d post weaning. carlson et al. (2004) further cited the statement of de rodas et al. (1999) that the growth performance response seems to be dependent on the complexity of the overall diet formulation for the nursery pigs. in the present study, the fcr were almost within the standard range for broilers although it shows that zinc methionine did not influence the said parameter. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research meat zinc content table 6 presents the zinc contents of broilers fed zinc methionine at days 36 and 42. just like the previous experiment, no significant difference was noted in the amount of zinc in the different treatments although treatment 3 manifested the highest numerical content of zinc. it reflects that an additional 12.8 ppm, of zinc methionine in a corn-soy diet will be enough to fortify chicken meat in a period as short as 36 days. this result agrees to the many claims that organic mineral particularly zinc is highly bioavailable (fremaut, 2003) and equates more closely to that of amino acid with 90-95% (leeson, 2004). the meat parts showed differences reflecting highest zinc content in the liver, followed by the thigh and legs and wings. the lowest amount was noted in the breast. at day 42, it shows that 12.8 ppm of zinc methionine is not enough to maintain the high concentration of zinc in the liver and wings although there was a little bit increased in the zinc content of the thigh and legs and breast. this can be attributed to the possible increased in the endogenous excretion of the trace element which is considered as inevitable, obligatory losses that are in turn attributed to the maintenance of metabolism especially if the dietary supply is deficient or just adequate. probably, 12.8 ppm of zinc methionine is just enough until 36 days to meet the zinc requirement of the animal. the presence of high zinc content in the thigh and legs of treatment 4 at 42 days is not yet fully known although, the association of the skin and its zinc content can be considered. table 6. meat zinc (ppm) content of broilers fed zinc methionine treatment meat parts mean thigh and legs wings breast liver day 36 t 1 42.6a 50.0b 28.7c 93.5d 54.5 t2 55.3a 42.9b 29.8c 85.4d 52.4 t3 41.1a 46.9b 30.6c 98.4d 57.3 t4 51.2a 46.2b 28.2c 97.0d 54.4 day42 t1 57.9a 45.6b 27.8c 90.0d 55.3 t2 61.3a 45.0b 37.2c 75.8d 54.7 t3 56.9a 45.1b 27.6c 96.8d 58.0 t4 64.7a 41.5b 35.6c 107.7d 60.9 means with different superscripts within the same row are significantly different from each other at (p<0.05). 79 international peer reviewed journal it shows that in order to meet the requirements of the chicken up to 42 days and increase the zinc content of the meat, an additional 6.4 ppm of zinc methionine or a total of 19.2 ppm is needed in a corn-soy diet. table 7 revealed that fortification up to 36 days is enough in broilers the zinc content of the meat at 36 days are comparable to those of 42 days. although there is no difference in the zinc content between treatments, it can be depicted from treatment 3 that an inclusion rate of 12.8 ppm of zinc methionine is just enough to meet the metabolic needs of the body but would not allow more zinc deposition in the meat as compared if it 19.2 ppm. table 7. mean zinc content of meat (pooled from 36 and 42 days, in ppm) of broilers fed zinc methionine time of collection ns meat parts total zinc content (ppm)thigh and legs wings breast liver mean at 36 days 47.6 46.5 29.3 93.6 57.2 mean at 42 days 60.2 44.3 32.0 92.6 55.9 ns –not significantly different at (p>0.05). reilly, (2004) stated that to increase zinc intake, there should be dietary diversification and modification and one of which is by eating meat rich in zinc. what makes it possible for the zinc methionine to be added in the ration at a much lower inclusion rate is that, the methionine itself is a promoter for zinc absorption. the methionine is a low molecular weight organic substance (reilly, 2004) that can pass readily through the intestine with ease. conclusions based on the results of the study, the following are therefore, concluded: the production performances of broilers were not affected by different levels of zinc oxide and zinc methionine. at 36 and 42 days of harvest, the different levels of zinc oxide did not affect the amount of meat zinc. however, the meat parts were affected showing higher concentration in the liver, similar concentration in the wings, in the thigh and legs and the least amount was noted in the breast. the zinc contents of the meat parts were similar at 36 and 42 days of harvest. for broilers fed zinc methionine, they manifested the same observations as those birds received zinc oxide 80 jpair multidisciplinary research at 36 and 42 days of harvest. on the meat parts, the zinc content of the thigh and legs was higher than that of the wings. the zinc contents of the pooled zinc content of meat parts at 36 and 42 days were also similar. recommendations based on the conclusions of the study, the following are therefore recommended: 1. animal nutritionists should consider the form of zinc to be used in the formulation of rations for broilers. a ration which requires a much lesser inclusion in the diet but will give the same performance expected is recommended as observed in experiment 2. 2. feed broilers with zinc fortified feeds for 36 days only. acknowledgements profound gratitude is hereby extended to the commission on higher education, searca, and national taiwan university for supporting this study. literature cited browning,jd,r.s mac donald, w.h.thorton, and bl o’dell 1998 reduced food intake in zinc deficient rats is normalized by megestrol acetate but not by insulin like growth factor-1.j nutrition 128: 136-42. carlson, m.s., c.a. boren, c.a., c. wu., c.e. huntington, c.e bollinger, d.w., and t.l. veum 2004 evaluation of various inclusion rates of organic zinc either as polysaccharide or proteinate complex on the growth performance, plasma, and excretion of nursery pigs. journal of animal science.82:1359:1366 de rodas, b.z., c.v. maxwell, d.c brown, m.e. davis, z.b johnson, and t.m. fakler 1999 effect of diet complexity and supplemental zinc amino acid complexes on performance of nursery pigs. journal of animal science 77 (supp.1):177(abstr.) fremaut, d. 2003 trace mineral proteinates in modern pig production: reducing mineral excretion 81 international peer reviewed journal without sacrificing performance. in: nutritional biotechnology in the feed and food industries. alltech 19th annual symposium. nottingham university press. nottingham, u.k, pp 171-178 guyton. a.c and j.e.hall 1996 textbook of medical physiology. ninth edition, w. b. saunders company, philadelphia, p.a. holtz, c and k. brown 2004 overview of zinc absorption.. food and nutrition bulletin, 25(1) ,(supplement 2): 99-122 klasing, k.c 1998 comparative avian nutrition, cab international 198 madison avenue, new york, ny 10016-4314, usa lee r.g, t.m. rains, p.c tovar, j.l. beverly and nf. shay 1998 zinc deficiency increases hypothalamic neuropeptide y and neuropeptide y mrna levels and does not block neuropeptide y-induce feeding in rats, j nutr128:1218-23 leeson, s 2004 trace mineral requirements of poultry-validity of the nrc recommendations. department of animal and poultry science, university of guelph, guelph, ontario, n1g 2w1 mcanena, l. 2004 lessons in human mineral nutrition: what can we learn? northern ireland center for diet and health, university of ulster mccalla,j.m, d.d.gallaher, l.j.johnson, m.h.whitney, and g.c.shurson 1999 evaluation of the optimal growth promoting level of dietary zinc from a zinc amino acid complex for weanling pigs. journal of animal science 77 (suppl.1):64 (abstr.) mullan, b. and d. souza 2003 the role of organic minerals in modern pig production. re-defining mineral nutrition.nottingham university press.pages 89-98. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research owusu-aseidu, a., c. m. nyachoti, r.r.marquardt 2003 response of early-weaned pigs to an enterotoxigenic escherichia coli (k88) challenge when fed diets containing spray-dried porcine plasma or pea protein isolate plus egg yolk antibody, zinc oxide, fumaric acid or antibiotic. journal of animal science 81: 1790-1798 reilly, c. 2004 the nutritional trace metals. blackwell publishing ltd., kolam information service pvt,ltd, pondicherry, india. pp 82-109 richards, j.d, m. v. anon and j. j dibner 2006 the physiological benefits of feeding organic trace minerals to poultry and ruminants. novus international, inc. st. charles, mo, usa. pages 14-19 rosado, j.l. 2003 zinc and copper: proposed fortification levels and recommended zinc compounds. school of natural sciences, university of queretaro, mexico. american society for nutritonal sciences. downloaded from jn.nutrition. org at swets 76861023 on march 22, 2010. shrimpton, r.r, gros, i. d hill, m. young 2005 zinc deficiency: what are the most appropriate interventions?bmj 330:347349, doi:10.1136/bmj 330:7487-347.center for international child health, institute of child health, london wc1n1eh, nutrition section, programme division, unicef, new york, usa, health section, programme division, unicef strain and cashman 2002 minerals and trace elements in: introduction to human nutrition. editors,gibney,mj,vorster,hh and kok, fj us-nrc 1994 nutrient requirements of poultry. ninth revised edition..national academy press, washington,d.c. pp 3-34,61-81 ward, r.d, t. l., g.a, asche, g.f. louis, and d.s.pollman 1996 zinc-methionine improves growth performance of starter pigs. journal of animal science 74 (supp.1):303 (abstr) 83 international peer reviewed journal pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. wedekind, k.j and d. h.baker 1990 zinc bioavailability in feed-grade sources of zinc. journal of animal science 68:684-689 wedekind, k. j., d. e. hortin, d. h. hortin and d.e. hortin,d. h. baker 1992 methodology for assessing zinc biovailability: efficacy estimates for zinc methionine, zinc sulphate and zinc oxide. journal of animal science 70:178187 yi, g.f, c.a., atwell., j.a. hume, j.j, dibner, c.d. knight, and j. d. 1958 richards. determining the methionine activity of mintrex organic trace minerals in broiler chicks by using radiolabel tracing or growth assay1. poultry science 86:877-887 young, r.j., h.m.edwards and m.b. gillis 1958 studies on zinc in poultry nutrition, 2. zinc requirement and deficiency symptoms of chicks. poultry science, 37:100-1107 cover single 169 international peer reviewed journal vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.188 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. performance evaluation of schools division in mindanao: education for all 2015 gee marie s. binag orcid id 0000-0002-6253-3166 brilliantme_sy@yahoo.com agusan del sur state college of agriculture and technology, 8506 ,bunawan, agusan del sur, philippines rec e. eguia orcid id 0000-0002-3145-3454 usepcgbemintal@gmail.com university of southeastern philippines, obrero davao city, philippines abstract the study was conducted to evaluate the technical and productivity performance of school divisions in mindanao from the period of 20022010. the mean profile of input and output variables was computed using mean the technical and allocative efficiency scores and total factor productivity were calculated using dea with output orientation while the sources of inefficiency of the schools divisions were calculated using the tobit regression and the significance of the difference were calculated using spss version 16. based on the findings among 48 school divisions in mindanao 10 of these have achieved full technical efficiency level. meanwhile, 38 schools division were least efficient due to lack of factors inputs like number of male and female enrollees, desk, classrooms and mooe. a component of the productivity change is due more technological and total factor productivity changes with efficiency changes providing a gap. at 5 percent level of significance, there were significant differences 170 jpair: multidisciplinary research in the technical efficiency and allocative efficiency scores of the school division when grouped according to regions where they belong. thus, the study revealed that number of the desk and teachers were the sources of inefficiencies of the school divisions. keywords technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, productivity, index, performance evaluation, mindanao, philippines introduction one of the fundamental human rights of every citizen is getting access to education. this right has been denied particularly below the poverty line in many developing countries of the world. according to caoile (2007) and maligalig (2008), education is a major part of national development policy. the trends in basic education statistics suggested that the country faces challenges in meeting the education for all targets and millennium development goals (mdgs) for basic education. in achieving the goal of universal access to education, there are still many challenges that must be met in fully realizing the millennium development goals (mdg) 2 targets. some of the major challenges facing in particular the basic education are mentioned below. the philippines is currently running one of the largest primary education sectors in the world, but the organizational capacity to run such a huge primary education system has indeed been a big challenge for any such country in the world. insufficient instructional time, inadequate number of classrooms, desk and teaching staff, low teacher effectiveness, lack of sufficient teaching – learning materials, and lack of adequately trained manpower to manage such a large education system may be identified as some of the major constraints facing the country’s primary education system (dpe, 2006). eradicating high incidence of poverty has been one of the biggest challenges on the way of achieving the mdg 2 targets. low incentives for attending schools vis-a-vis acute poverty in the families keep children away from the schools as they have to engage in earning for their living. this contributes to low attendance rate and high drop-out rate. moreover, the socio-economic condition in many of these school 171 international peer reviewed journal communities is quite low. usually, this affects the support of parents to the learning of the school age children as well as to the whole school which generally contributes to absenteeism, dropping out, truancy, illnesses, and inattentiveness in class. thus, linkages between infrastructure and education have already been established. improved roads and transportation have major implications for enrolment ratios – especially for girls (particularly living in the rural areas) enrolment and attendance rate. many of the government schools are too far away or too crowded discouraging the parents sending their children to school. it is especially true in the case of girl students and in the rural areas. along with “education for all”, the philippines is also committed to pursuing eight time-bound and specific targets under the millennium declaration which it signed on september 2000. the declaration, in general, aims to reduce poverty by half in 2015 (22.65 percent proportion of the population below poverty incidence and 12.15 percent below subsistence incidence by 2015). with the adoption of the declaration, the philippines likewise affirmed its commitment to the millennium development goals (mdg) geared towards reducing poverty, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. this goal have been mainstreamed in the country’s medium term philippine development plan (mtpdp) 2004-2010 including policies and plans related to children, access to primary education and gender equality. specifically, part iv of the mtpdp focused on “education and youth opportunity.” however, despite the legal mechanisms, budget prioritization and increased access, philippine education has been dogged with issues. among the issues that needs to be resolved but have improved lately include the high dropout rates, high number of repeaters, low passing grades, lack of a particular language skills, failure to adequately respond and address the needs of people with special needs, overcrowded classrooms and poor teacher performances. these problems in turn resulted to a considerable number of illiterate filipinos, out of school youths and graduates who are not prepared for work. basic education spending remains the top priority of the government with the department of education receiving the biggest share of budget among government agencies. in spite of this, the budget level 172 jpair: multidisciplinary research remains insufficient to address resource shortages and respond to the growing number of school-age children. despite of this, intensified efforts of the department of education to provide sufficient education resources and enhance the learning environment through the provision of more classrooms and the creation of more teacher items, shortages in classrooms and teachers still persist in many areas. this is mainly due to continuous increase in student enrolment and poor system of allocating resource, resulting in inequalities among public schools. in view of this, therefore, private sector assistance and support is being sought to address the perennial problem of insufficient basic education facilities such as classroom and chairs. to further strengthen the performance of department of education particularly in mindanao, thus this study would evaluate the efficiency levels of the schools division in the achieving primary education or education for all. such study will be analyze whether these school division use maximum utilization of the resources, whether they meet their targets, and to suggest ways on how to improve their performance. objectives of the study this study aims to evaluate the performance of school divisions in mindanao: education for all in 2015. thus, this study attempts to determine the efficiency and productivity growth of school divisions in the implementation of basic education in the context of mdgs 2015 in mindanao regions. materials and methods this study used quantitative methods of estimating the efficiency scores and sources of inefficiencies of schools divisions in six regions in mindanao. data envelopment analysis (dea), a nonparametric approach was used in calculating the efficiency scores. in calculating technical efficiency scores, constant return to scale (crs) under the assumption of an output oriented model was used while for allocative efficiency scores(crs) under the assumption of an input oriented model was used. dea uses data observations to evaluate directly the relative 173 international peer reviewed journal performance of a set of decision making units, in a multi input–multi output context. at first, it was mainly developed to evaluate the relative efficiency of firms by transforming multiple inputs into multiple outputs, making minimal prior assumptions about the shape of the production possibility set, but inferring information from the data set. the conventional definition of efficiency can be traced through farrell (1957), the first publication that made the dea methodology popular and introduced it into the operation research world was charneset al. (1978). subsequently, dea has been applied to evaluate the relative performance of medical services, as in nyman and bricker (1989), or of educational institutions, as in charneset al. (1981). it has also been applied in the private sector, as in the valuation of banks, in charneset al. (1990). a thorough review of the theory and applications related to dea can be found in coelliet al. (1998), while an extensive bibliography is reported in the survey articles by seiford (1996) and taveres (2002). the method used in the study is the model known dea, develop by charneset. al (1978) and banker et al. (1989). dea is a method used for the measurement of efficiency in cases where multiple input and output factors are observed and when it is not possible to turn these into one aggregate input or output factor. since 1978, thousands of articles have been published using this analysis technique in various fields. this method is especially adequate to evaluate the efficiency of non-profit of entities that operate outside the market since for them the measure of efficiency such as income and profitability do not work satisfactorily. two main reasons being that these entities are not focused on obtaining profits, and the main source of finances does not come from the sale of goods and services. dea provides a comparative efficiency indicator of the units evaluate. the units analyzed are called decision –making units (dmus). in dea, the relative efficiency of a dmu is defined as the ratio of the total weighted output to the total weighted input. if the homogeneity is maintained, the outputs and inputs can be expressed in any unit of measurement. in contrast to the traditional parametric production function, where a specific predefined functional form is assumed to apply each observation, dea makes no assumptions about the form of the 174 jpair: multidisciplinary research production function. the actual inputs and outputs observed are used to estimate a benchmark production frontier. for this reason, the efficiency indicator obtained is relative, since it is elaborated by referring to the rest of the dmus. dea allows each dmu to choose the vectors of input and output weights which maximize its own ratio weighted output to weighted input, subject to the constraint that the weight vector chosen by the kth. dmu should not allow any dmu is judge according to standard set by itself. there are available computer programs that carry out the calculation process. sources of data secondary data were used in the study in order to compare the efficiency performance of the school division mindanao over a period of 9 years. the data were obtained from the school profile and performance indicators of the school from the database of department of education regional offices in all regions of mindanao. these data were likewise subjected to validation with the same reports gathered from the different reports from the regional office of the department of education. data that were gathered primarily pertain to the input variables the key performance indicators the data covered 9 periods, from calendar year 2002-2010. research locale the subjects of the study are the school divisions in mindanao region. the school divisions of region 9, 10, 11, 12, armm, and caraga region are under the supervision of the department of education regional director. schools division of region 9 the figure 3 below showed the schools divisions in region 9 which is composed of eight schools divisions namely dapitan, dipolog,isabela, pagadian, zamboanga city, zamboang del sur, zamboanga del norte, and zamboanga sibugay. 175 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. map locations of school divisions in region 9 source: www.google.com schools division in region 10 figure 4 below is the map location of school divisions in region 10. it composes of 9 school divisions namely bukidnon, cagayan de oro, camiguin, gingoog, iligan, lanao del norte, misamis occidental, misamis oriental and ozamis. figure 4. map location of school divisions of region 10 source: www.google.com 176 jpair: multidisciplinary research school division of region 11 region 11 is found in southern mindanao. it shows in figure 5 the location map of all school divisions in region 11 namely, compostella valley, davao city, davao del sur, davao del norte, davao oriental, panabo, digos city and tagum. figure 5. location map of school division in region 11 source: www.google.com school division in region 12 figure 6 showed the map location of all school division in region 12. it composed of eight school divisions namely cotabato, general santos, kidapawan, koronadal, north cotabato, sarangani, south cotabato and sultan kudarat. figure 6 location maps of school divisions in region 12 source: www.google.com 177 international peer reviewed journal school division in caraga region caraga region as shown in figure 7 below composed of eight school division namely, agusan del sur, agusan del norte, bislig, butuan city, siargao, surigao city, surigao del sur and surigao del norte. figure 7. location maps of school divisions in caraga region source: www.google.com school divisions in armm region armm region is composed of seven school division namely, basilan, lanaodel sur i, lanao del sur ii, maguindanao, marawi city, sulu and tawi-tawi. figure 8. location maps of schools division in armm region source: www.google.com 178 jpair: multidisciplinary research the first step in conducting this study is to inform the principal wherein the researcher who actually teach for proper protocol. after this, the researcher read some literature review to get all the indicators used in the department of education for identification of the variables to be used in the study. thereafter, a consolidation of these data was done. the purpose of constructing a conceptual model that was comprehensively represented the understanding of efficiency and productivity growth of the schools division in mindanao regions in the implementation of mdg 2015 particularly goal 2 to be access to primary education. next, the variables were validated by the adviser after which the researcher called the different regional offices to ask permission if the researcher can access the data recorded in the databank or database. at the onset, the researcher met with the different director of the department of education in region 9, 10, 11, 12, caraga and armm. the directors scrutinized the rationale as well as the objectives and the significance of the study and the resulting conceptual framework will then be subjected to criticism with the help of several experts in the field in the department of education. the researcher made a letter to the respective chairman of the division in research and development to have access on the data to be used in the study. to get the data on mooe, the researcher went to department of education manila in the department of budget. data from 2002 to 2010 on the identified variables were culled, sorted and tabulated. this data were then processed using the software on data envelopment analysis by the technical assistance with the adviser. analysis and interpretation of results were processed from outputs of dea. data analysis problems 1 and 2 were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, frequency, and percentage) with the use of spss version 16. problem 3 was analyzed using the dea and software to be used deap version 2.1 was utilized to calculate the technical and allocative efficiencies of the schools division in mindanao region. furthermore, problem 4 the 179 international peer reviewed journal productivity growth was likewise calculated using malmquist total factor productivity index, an extension of dea. problem number 4 was analyzing using analysis of variance to determine if there is a significant difference between variables used in the study. to determine whether what factors that would affect the inefficiency of the school divisions among regions, tobit regression was used through eviews version 3. results and discussion profile factor inputs in mindanao the findings above showed that of all the schools division in mindanao region, bukidnon registered as the highest mean in all factor inputs like number of male enrollees, number of female enrollees, number of desk, number of classrooms and number of teachers. on the other hand the division who had the lowest mean in factor inputs is the city division of dapitan city. this implies that bukidnon had increased their number of female enrollees and male enrollees because of the number of desk, classrooms and teachers. the department of education in dapitan should increase their number of male and female enrollees, number of teachers, desk and classrooms. profile factor outputs of mindanao by school division based on the above findings it was found out that of all the schools division in mindanao, the city division of davao city had the highest mean in terms of a number of male enrollees, number of female enrollees, number of desk, number of classrooms and number of teachers. it implies that this division had used the allocated budget properly in constructing desk and classrooms and employed most number of teachers that are why there are an increased number of male and female enrollees throughout the period from 2002-2010. meanwhile, the division of dipolog city had the lowest mean in factor inputs like in number of male enrollees, number of female enrollees, number of desk, number of classroom, and number of teacher. it implies that there something wrong in the development planning in 180 jpair: multidisciplinary research this division. it suggest that the allocation of budget in the physical resources needed in this division. technical efficiency of schools division in mindanao the te scores of the 48 schools division in mindanao were calculated with the number of male enrollees, number of female enrollees, number of desk, number of classroom and number of teachers as the input variables. adopting the output orientation, the te scores indicate the potential to increase the quantities of outputs used in producing given quantities of inputs. dea-generated outputs on te are shown in appendix g. summary of technical efficiency of mindanao the table below presented the mean technical efficiency scores of 6 regions of mindanao namely region 9, region 10, region 11, region 12, caraga region. based on the result among 6 regions only region 9 achieved full technical efficiency level in the year 2006 and least efficient in the year 2002 with their(te= .983). region 10 has achieved the highest te (.997) scores but least efficient during the period of 2002. compare to other results, region 11 have reached the highest te (.991) scores in the year 2006 and least efficient in 2009. meanwhile, region 12 did not reached full te throughout the 8 periods have achieved only te of .997 but least efficient in 2006. caraga region have achieved the mean of te ( .997) same year with region 11 and 12, on the other hand, all schools division understudy in region 12 did not fully achieved the te in the year 2003 3 with their te (.986) score. moreover, what happened in armm region has only reached .989 te scores with least mean average on the year of 2002. in general view of the mean average of mean scores from 2002-2010 from all regions, it can be observed that no one of the regions achieved full technical efficiency level. nonetheless, three of the regions in mindanao have achieved the highest te of .992 these are the region 9, 12 and caraga while the region 10 stands as second to the highest rank when it comes to the te score and this is region 10. on the other hand, region 11 rank 3rd with the te scores of .978 and the least te among the regions 181 international peer reviewed journal is armm. this implies that regional office of the department of education in armm region should look over the school improvement and annual improvement plan to determine which among the factor inputs that should be increased in order to attain the education for all in armm region likewise with other regions. however, according to the report of ibon it was stated that adequate funding is needed to attain efa goals, a requirement which has become a problem of the education sector as foreign debt servicing, remains to be a priority over the past several administrations. furthermore, the report said this year that still this year the budget is insufficient to address the shortages in schools facilities and classrooms since it is originally intended to fund the additional two years in elementary level. the government aims to acquire only 18,000 new classrooms out of 152 needed, 10,000 new teachers out of 103, 599 shortage, and only 32 million new textbooks out of 95 million shortage . table 1. summary of technical efficiency of mindanao allocative efficiency of schools division of mindanao a decision making unit (dmu) is said to be allocatively efficient when for a certain level of production, inputs are used in the proportion which maximizes the cost of production, given input prices (scrcssp, 1997). in this study, allocative efficiencies of the 48 schools division in mindanao region were calculated using the two output variables2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 region 9 0.983 0.992 0.985 0.993 1.000 0.997 0.990 0.998 0.992 0.992 region 10 0.997 0.996 0.984 0.992 0.976 0.985 0.993 0.978 0.982 0.987 region 11 0.969 0.981 0.982 0.972 0.991 0.987 0.981 0.968 0.979 0.978 region 12 0.987 0.986 0.996 0.995 0.997 0.996 0.994 0.994 0.990 0.992 caraga region 0.996 0.989 0.986 0.995 0.997 0.994 0.993 0.987 0.988 0.992 armm region 0.863 0.908 0.864 0.955 0.944 0.934 0.989 0.983 0.961 0.933 regions efficiency score mean 182 jpair: multidisciplinary research number of male graduates and number of female graduates and five inputs variablesnumber of male enrollees, number of female enrollees, number of desk, number of classrooms and number of teacher. dea generated outputs found in appendix h. figure 9. summary of mean average of 6 regions in mindanao region summary of allocative efficiency of mindanao the table below presented the mean allocative efficiency scores of 6 regions of mindanao namely region 9, region 10, region 11, region 12, caraga region. based on the result among 6 regions no one did not achieve full achieved full allocative efficiency level . thorough out the period region 9 achieve highest ae (.295) in the year 2009 and least efficient in the year 2008 with their (ae= .008). region 10 has achieved the highest ae (.365) scores but least efficient during the period of 2003. compare to other results, region 11 have reached the highest ae (.277) scores in the year 2006 and least efficient in 2003 with ae of .076 meanwhile, region 12 did not reached full ae throughout the 8 periods have achieved only ae of .239 but least efficient in 2003 with ae score of .040. caraga region have achieved the mean of ae of ( .293) in the year 2009 and least efficient with ae score of .076. moreover, what happened in armm region has only reached .261 ae 183 international peer reviewed journal scores with least mean average on the year of 2002. in general view of the mean average of mean scores from 2002-2010 from all regions, it can be observed that no one of the regions achieved full allocative efficiency level. nonetheless two of the regions in mindanao have achieved the highest ae of .339 these are the region 9 and 10 while the caraga stands as second to the highest rank when it comes to the ae (.299) score. on the other hand, armm region rank 3rd with the ae scores of .243 and the least ae among the regions is region 12 with ae of .200. table 2. summary of allocative efficiency of regions of mindanao figure 10. summary of allocative efficiency of regions of mindanao 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 region 9 0.225 0.238 0.376 0.177 0.177 0.008 0.295 0.226 0.339 region 10 0.133 0.131 0.365 0.276 0.150 0.159 0.292 0.216 0.339 region 11 0.076 0.090 0.277 0.240 0.240 0.187 0.254 0.230 0.200 region 12 0.040 0.126 0.210 0.140 0.140 0.061 0.239 0.203 0.269 caraga region 0.134 0.167 0.238 0.123 0.123 0.076 0.293 0.246 0.299 armm region 0.029 0.150 0.174 0.116 0.115 0.115 0.051 0.261 0.243 regions allocative efficiency mean 184 jpair: multidisciplinary research productivity change of schools division in mindanao productivity growth of the school division was estimated by calculating and examined by calculating the malmquist total factor productivity (tfp) indexes. changes in the average schools division productivity and its components (i.e technical change and efficiency change) for all schools divisions in the data set and for each schools division are reported in table . the result indicate that over the period of 2002-2009 time period there has been a rather low productivity growth (tfpch) of approximately .9% per year for schools divisions in mindanao region under study. this growth was primarily attributed to technology improvement (techch) of .7% juxtaposed the very minimal regression in efficiency by .2%. productivity efficiency of schools division in region 9 on a year to year performance, the schools division in region 9 exhibited positive productivity growth throughout the 8 years. among 8 divisions in region 9 the highest productivity growth (tfpch=1.021) with the biggest ascent occurring in 2002 at 1by 3.2 % contributed solely by techch . it can be recalled that zamboanga del sur. divisions were fully technically efficient during the period from 2002 to 2010 thus any change in the tfp during these years were purely due to techch contributions. the tfp growth in 2002 could be attributed to the increased of quantity of factor inputs like number of male and female enrollees, number of desk, classrooms and teachers to increase the number of male and female graduates. the second in rank when it comes to the productivity growth is isabela city tfpch ( 1.016) this is brought about by technological change (1.008) by an efficiency improvement of ( effch=1.262) that occurred in the said year. the performance of dapitan city divisions ranked both third with the productive performance of (tfpch= 1.009) such technical change is (techch=1.008) with an efficiency change of (effch= 1.003). among the eight divisions in region zamboanga sibugay is the least 185 international peer reviewed journal productive when it comes to the performance in achieving access to primary education due to tfpch= .995). this implies that they should increase the utilization of the factors inputs to increase the number of male and female graduates as one of the indicators in achieving education for all. figure 11. productivity growth of region 9 productivity growth of region 10 in region 10, the city division has the highest productivity growth from the period of 2002-2010 is lanao del norte (tfpch=1.055) with 5.5 % growth per year due to the efficiency improved of 5.2 % . the second in rank is cagayan de oro city and the least productive division is camiguin (tfpch=.998) this is due to 99.4 % technological regression with least efficiency change (effch=.994). productivity growth of region 11 as we can glean in the graph, davao city has experienced productivity growth among all the division in region 1. the growth is brought about by improvement in efficiency effch (1.001) and coupled with positive shift in technology (1.026). the least productive in this region is the city division of panabo city due to the technological 186 jpair: multidisciplinary research regress of 1.001 with an improvement of (effch= .992). figure 12. productivity growth of region 10 figure 13. productivity growth of region 11 187 international peer reviewed journal productivity growth of region 12 the highest productivity growth performance was registered by the division of kidapawan from the period of 2002-2010 (15%). this was brought about by improvement in efficiency (effch= .998) coupled with positive shift in technology (techch= 1.019). though kidapawan is only second in rank have achieved full technical efficiency from the period of 2002-2010 still there is an improvement in the achieving education for all when it comes to the number of male and female graduates. figure 14. productivity growth of region 12 productivity growth of caraga region the actual performance of the schools division in caraga region was shown in the figure. it can be observe that the most productive division is surigao city ( 9.6% percent per year with an improvement of technological change of (1.087) with the contribution of an improvement of efficiency of 1.005. the least productive division are agusan del sur and agusan del norte. 188 jpair: multidisciplinary research figure 15. productivity growth of caraga region productivity growth of armm region the highest productivity growth performance was registered by lanaodel sur ii through the period of 2002-2010 (812%). this was brought about by improvement in efficiency (effch= 1.1) coupled with positive shift in technology (techch= 1.015 ). figure 16. productivity growth of armm region 189 international peer reviewed journal difference in the efficiency score of schools division in mindanao all schools divisions in mindanao region are clustered by region for purposes of evaluating the performance of schools division in utilizing the factor inputs to attain the education for all. all the schools division was manage by district supervisors, school principal and teacher-in-charge. to determine whether or not there is a significant difference in the efficiency scores of school divisions in mindanao when group by region, analysis of variance was undertaken. output are found in the appendix j. difference in the technical efficiency of schools division it was presented in the table to determine if there is a significant difference of among schools division when group by region. based on the result the technical efficiency (te=.01 scores of schools of all schools divisions from period of 2002 showed a significance difference as well as in the year 2003 the te= .001 showed a significance difference when it comes to the technical efficiency scores among school division when group by region. it was shown in the appendix the pos hoc analysis. base on the result to in the year 2002 te score between caraga and armm showed a significance difference of .043. on the other hand, in the year 2004 the te scores between region 9 and armm showed a significance difference with a sig. value of .017. there is also significance difference between region 10 and armm with as sig value of .010. while the result between region 11 and armm is showed also a significance difference with a sig value of .017 likewise the result of between region 12 and armm it also showed a significance difference with a sig value of .016 as well the result between armm and caraga showed a significance difference with a sig value of .016. 190 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 3. difference in the technical efficiency of schools division te region mean square f sig. remark te 2002region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9829 .9961 .9691 .9873 .9958 .8629 3.530 .010 significant te 2003 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9921 .9956 .9813 .9904 .9888 .9076 1.598 .181 not significant te 2004 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9852 .9852 .9821 .9964 .9860 .8636 5.258 .001 significant te 2005 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9930 .9904 .9723 .9947 .9954 .9545 2.033 .092 not significant te 2006 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9999 .9767 .9912 .9970 .9966 .9842 1.300 .280 not significant te 2007 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9999 .9767 .9912 .9970 .9966 .9435 .951 .458 not significant 191 international peer reviewed journal te 2008 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9969 .9847 .9870 .9961 .9936 .9342 .087 .551 not significant te 2009 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9898 .9932 .9790 .9942 .9950 .9892 1.730 .147 not significant te 2010 -region 9 region 10 region 11 region 12 caraga armm .9915 .9843 .9794 .9896 .9813 .9609 .807 .551 not significant difference in the allocative schools division all schools divisions in mindanao region are clustered by region for purposes of evaluating the performance of schools division in utilizing the factor output to attain the education for all. all the schools distribution of the mooe by schools divisions were decided by department of budget and finance in the main office of department of education in pasig city, manila manage by district supervisors, school principal and teacher-in-charge. to determine whether or not there is a significant difference in the allocative efficiency scores of school divisions in mindanao when group by region, analysis of variance was undertaken. output is found in the appendix. based on the result the allocative efficiency scores in the year 2005 showed a significance difference with a sig value of .005 in their allocative efficiency score of schools divisions when group by region. post hoc analysis was done using the spss, the result showed that there is a significance difference on the allocative efficiency score between region 9 and armm with a sig value of .033. on the other hand, there is also significance difference when it comes to the ae 192 jpair: multidisciplinary research among schools division when group by region with sig. value of .038 and .033 sig value between armm and region 9 while between armm and region 10 showed a significance difference with sig. value of .038. sources of inefficiency of schools division table supplies the sources of inefficiency of the schools division in region x during the period of 2002 using tobit regression. the logarithmic value on the number of male enrollees and number of female enrollees are found to show statistical significance at alpla level of .05 . furthermore the number of desk , classroom and teachers showed also significance difference at alpha level .10. the statement translates that in every male and female enrollees added to the number of male and female graduates by the schools divisions through male and female enrollees will increase its efficiency by 15 percent for male and 16 percent for female. on the other hand, every added to the number of male enrollees will increase efficiency by 1.5 percent. on the other hand another translation state that every added of number of classroom it will increase efficiency by 22.4 % percent. on the other hand, the statement translates that in every classrooms and desk added to the number of male and female graduates by the schools divisions through number of classrooms will increase its efficiency by 22.4 percent for number of classrooms and 56.2 percent for female. this observation is consistent to the findings of some authors that efficiency performance of a firm is associated to its production performance. while increasing the input entails additional resources in the part of the firm which adversely affects its efficiency performance. 193 international peer reviewed journal table 4. sources of inefficiencies of schools division in mindanao region variables coefficient standard error z-values p-value constant .9666616 0.019400 9.797* 0.0000*** log(number of male enrollees) 0.0000157 0.00000557 2.82 0.0048*** log(number of female enrollees) 0.0000160 0.00000504 -3.18* 0.0015*** log(number of classrooms) 0.000224 0.000108 2.07 0.0380 log(number of desk) -0.00000562 0.00000326 -1.72 0.0847 log(number of teacher) -0.000145 0.00008378 -1.72 0.0842 log-likelihood 60.02 se 0.167 *significant at 0.05 alpha *significant at 0.10 alpha conclusion based on the data set used and on the foregoing findings made on the technical and allocative efficiencies and the productivity growth and the significance difference on the te and ae scores of schools division in mindano the following conclusions are drawn: 1. the technical efficiency of a schools division in region 9 is linked to its production performance which refers to the number of male and female graduates as basis for the performance of the schools when it comes to the full implementation of access to primary education or education for all. as manifested by the result in region 9, it emerged as one of the only three technically efficient 194 jpair: multidisciplinary research schools divisions out of the 8 divisions others under investigation. the least efficient school division such as isabela city ranked last in actual output performance, both in the number of male and female graduates through technology services. in region 10 iligan city ranked 1st consistently from the period of 2002-2010 based on their te. camiguin have shown difficulty in achieving full technical efficiency and ranked as last among others division in region 10. in the case of region 11, there were two schools division exhibit full te from the period of 2002-2010 these are but not as good as the performance of tagum city ranked last in all divisions. general santos city and sarangani showed full technical efficiency thorough out the period. while in the case caraga region, agusan del sur and butuan city have reached full te and the least efficient school division is bislig city. in armm region the it can be concluded based on the result among the city divisions, only maguindanao exhibit full te throughout the period. meanwhile, the city division of lanao del norte is the least efficient schools division when it comes the te scores presented in the table. in general view of the mean average of mean scores from 2002-2010 from all regions, it can be observed that no one of the regions achieved full technical efficiency level. nonetheless, three of the regions in mindanao have achieved the highest te of .992 these are the region 9, 12 and caraga while the region 10 stands as second to the highest rank when it comes to the te score and this is region 10. on the other hand, region 11 rank 3rd with the te scores of .978 and the least te among the regions is armm. this implies that regional office of the department of education in armm region should look over the school improvement and annual improvement plan to determine which among the factor inputs that should be increased in order to attained the education for all in armm region likewise with other regions. 2. among all the schools division under investigation were efficient in mooe budget utilization in some years of operation as manifested by the result. in general view of the mean average of mean scores from 2002-2010 from all regions, it can be observed that no one of the regions achieved full allocative efficiency 195 international peer reviewed journal level. nonetheless two of the regions in mindanao have achieved the highest ae of .339 these are the region 9 and 10 while the caraga stands as second to the highest rank when it comes to the ae (.299) score. on the other hand, armm region rank 3rd with the ae scores of .243 and the least ae among the regions is region 12 with ae of .200. most of the schools efficiently utilized their mooe budget in proportion that minimized the cost of production in the period of the study (2002-2010). 3. growth and regression in productivity were observed among the schools division in all regions of mindanao in the 9-year period of the study. components of the productivity change are due more to technological (techch) and total factor productivity changes (tfpch) with efficiency changes (effch) providing a gap. 4. based on the result, there is a significant difference in terms of technical efficiency when grouped by region. there is also a significant difference when it comes to allocative efficiency among school divisions when grouped also by region. 5. improved technical efficiency is obtained by increasing the number of male and male enrollees, desk, classrooms and teachers a through technology services. recommendations based on the conclusions, the following recommendations are given: 1. considering that out of the 48 schools divisions only 10 proved to be both technically efficient and 40 schools division did not achieved full technical efficient, it is important that best practices, improvement plan and annual improvement plan of 10 schools division should be shared among other schools divisions. 2. provincial, municipal and local government units among the efficient schools divisions should open their development plan in education sector especially the allocation of budgets shared by this agency to let other divisions informed and applied its practices. for those 40 schools divisions who have difficulty in achieving the full technical efficient should revisit their school 196 jpair: multidisciplinary research improvement plan and annual improvement plan and make a thorough monitoring and evaluations of the accomplishments of different schools divisions. the head of the different schools divisions should devise strategies and approaches that will improve program implementation. specifically, schools division should endeavor to increase the number of male and female enrollees, number of desk, classrooms and teachers because it was found out that efficiency of 10 schools divisions is influenced by their performance. since no one of the schools division achieve full allocative efficiency thus, the need to improve government spending on basic education remains a priority, it must be done with deliberate steps towards fiscal discipline especially on efficient utilization of the basic education budget. it is to be emphasized that increasing the budget does not necessarily translate to expected outcomes. thus, it is imperative that the deped continue to effectively and efficiently utilize resources within budget constraints and institutionalize cost-saving measures. which know the real needs of the communities should be strengthened and empowered as indispensable partner in education reforms. it is high time that the local school board be made a true catalyst for change at the local level. this requires making its processes more transparent and membership more inclusive especially to those who are supposed to benefit from the special education fund (sef). 3. the government must also improve the demand side, i.e., improving the economic conditions of household for them to afford basic education while at the same time looking at ways on how to reduce its cost. 4. the conditional cash transfer aptly called the pantawid pampilyang pilipino program (4ps) of the incumbent administration is a good start for easing the burden of the hidden cost of education among families especially the poor. however, mechanism should be in-place so that the cash assistance is really used for the benefit of the children. this requires regular monitoring of household beneficiaries with special focus on learner beneficiaries. while one conditionality is the 85% 197 international peer reviewed journal attendance rate per month of learner beneficiaries, this should also include providing parent literacy program. 5. revisit the accomplishments of the targets if efa, and make a good intervention to increase the factors inputs such number of desk, classroom, teachers, and male and female enrollees that would conduct of efficiency and productivity evaluations of all the schools division starting within the schools, municipal, regional and national would improve their operation thus leading them to achieve their full potentials. 6. moreover, related studies may be conducted, using the findings in this study as benchmark, specifically to include other variables which are considered important aspects of the schools divisions operation. 7. within the education bureaucracy, greater attention and support should be given to the level where actual teaching-learning process takes place, which may either be the formal school or non-formal. the school should be seen as the focus and the locus of educational development and must thus get the attention it deserves from its primary stakeholders – the principal, teachers, students, youth, parents and the community as well as the higher administrative level. 8. it is also necessary for the deped to exercise greater oversight role over its content, methodology and development plan of the education for all. to effect a comprehensive quality assurance, the department of education in all regions in mindanao in collaboration with the provincial and local government units, should promote a well designed and unified pre-service – inservice educational program dovetailed to the actual needs of schools, teachers and managers especially in achieving mdg 2 which is the access to primary education. literature cited banker, r.d., a. charnes, and w.w. cooper 1984 “some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis.” management science 30(9): 1078-1092. 198 jpair: multidisciplinary research banker, r.d., a. charnes, and w.w. cooper 1984 “some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis.” management science 30(9): 1078-1092. caoile, rodriguez r. 2007 the philippines country case study. country profile commissioned for the education for all global monitoring report 2008. education for all by 2015: will we make it. unesco. charnes, a. and w.w. cooper. 1990 “data envelopment 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boston: kluwer academic publishers. charnes, a., w.w. cooper, and e. rhodes 1978 “measuring the efficiency of decision making units.” european journal of operational research 2(6): 429-444. coelli, t 1998 “a guide to deap version 2.1: data envelopment analysis (computer)program” centre for efficiency and productivity analysis, university of england, armidale, nsw, 2351 australia. retrieved february 6, 2007 fromhttp://www.owlnet. rice.edu/-econ380/deap.pdf dpe 2006 baseline report of second primary education development programme (pedp ii), directorate of primary education, mopme, gob, june 2006 haque, a h m sadique, (1997). adult education in bangladesh: recent innovations, asia literacy regional forum, may 5-9, manila, philippines farrell, m.j. 1957 “the measurement of productive efficiency.” journal of the royal statistical society, series a, general, 120(3): 253-282. maligalig, d. and j.r. albert. 2008 ensuring a more evidence-based policy for basic education. policy notes no. 2008-03. makati city: philippine institute for development studies, april. seiford, l. and r. thrall 1990 recent developments in dea : the mathematical programming approach to frontier analysis. cover single with doi 123 international peer reviewed journal automated class scheduling system jeralyn m. gamale edward c. anuta zina d. sayson mar_m_a@hotmail.com bohol island state university, main campus c.p.g. avenue, tagbilaran city, bohol, philippines abstract the study tested the functionality of automated class scheduling system in terms of speed, data handling, accuracy, security, stability and adaptability in making class schedules. this study was conducted in bohol island state university main campus, tagbilaran city during the second semester of school year 2010-2011. the respondents of this study were the 6 expert instructors in the field of computer programming. they tested and evaluated the functionality of the program in terms of its design, accuracy, data handling, security, stability and adaptability. another 8 instructors who are in charge of making class schedules determined the functionality of the system in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, stability and adaptability of the software. separate set of questionnaires were given to two groups of respondents. the study concluded that the manual and the automated class scheduling systems are both functional. however, the automated system is more functional because of its extra features which solve the primary problems in creating class schedules. keywords class scheduling system, scheduling software, automated class schedule vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.11 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 124 jpair: multidisciplinary research introduction one of the remarkable and much known products of technology advancement is the conversion of manually-operated system into automated system. automation produces a great impact in the lives of man, particularly in the field of industry, business, medicine, and education. bohol island state university main campus as an educational institution offers services to the clientele more particularly the students, community and stakeholders. the primary operations of the school are non-stop starting from pre-enrolment up to the post-graduation activities. these activities require money, labor force and time. it is a fact that arranging class schedules, instructor’s load and room utilization for the students and faculty in every department is one of the many activities that each department heads must prepare before classes start. but the school used the manual way of preparing the class schedule. with the manual system, more time and labor force is required to plot, arrange, and revise the class schedules, room utilization and instructors’ load provided by the department heads. with these problems, the researchers had come up an idea of creating an automated class scheduling system using mysql database and php programming language. through this advancement, errors in operations have been minimized and time and manpower have been conserved. objectives of the study this study aims to design an automated class scheduling system and test its functionality in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, security, stability and adaptability in making class schedules. this study was conducted in bohol island state university main campus, tagbilaran city during the second semester of school year 2010-2011. 125 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods 1. resources mysql database was used for the database of the program. it was being incorporated with php and html programming languages for the graphic user interface. 2. hardware and software requirements the program can be installed in a windows operating system or higher. a physical memory requirement of at least 512 mb memory with at least 20 mb of free disk space is also required. 3. operating procedures figure 1.administrator log-in form this is the administrator login form. before the administrator can login, he must enter the username and password which are predefined or preset in the system’s database. after the administrator has login, he can add another user of the system in the users tab and have an equal power with him as administrator. 126 jpair: multidisciplinary research figure 2. home page figure 2 is the home page. after the administrator has login, this page appears. accessibility to all the other tabs which corresponds to the different pages of the system, such as the system tab, instructor tab, students tab, schedules tab, users tab, notifications tab, schedule conflicts, and help tab starts here. figure 3. instructors schedule 127 international peer reviewed journal figure 3 shows the schedule of the instructor. this schedule is based on the schedule made in the section tab. all the subjects handled by the instructor will be displayed here with their corresponding units. the time and the room that the instructor conduct his class will also be displayed. the schedules displayed in this page is already conflictfree. figure 4. room schedule this page helps one to view the schedule of different rooms. the instructors who are handling specific subjects on certain rooms are listed. one cannot create, edit or update the schedule except for the one in charge to make the schedule. this schedule is based on the schedules of the instructors and the section. the room schedule is automatically created with the section and instructors’ schedule. 128 jpair: multidisciplinary research figure 5. section schedules figure 5 shows the section schedules wherein can create, edit or update schedule of the selected section of classes. the black-colored boxes that appear in the schedule side represent the conflicting data either a conflict with the room to be used or with the instructor who is handling the subject. if the back tab is clicked, schedule that has no conflicts between the room and the instructors will be displayed. thus the schedule presented provides final accommodation of room and final assignment of instructor. operations manual after a correct user name and password has been entered into the system, the user can perform any of the functions that follow: adding a new user. go to the ‘home’ then click on the ‘user’ button and click the ‘new user’ to add a new user. fill up the required details for the new user and save. edit the user details. go to the ‘home’ then click on the ‘user’ 129 international peer reviewed journal button and click the user you want to update. fill up the new details for the user and save. remove a user. go to the ‘home’ then click on the ‘user’ button and click the user you want to remove. click the ‘delete user’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the user. adding a new course. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the ‘new course’ to add a new course. fill up the required details and save. update a course. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the ‘course’ you want to update. fill up the new details for the course and save. remove a course. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the ‘course’ you want to remove. click the ‘delete course’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the course. adding a new section. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the course where you want to add a new section. click the ‘new section’ button to add a new section under the course selected. fill up the required details for the new section and save. update a section. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the course where you want to update a section. click the section that you want to update under the course selected. fill up the new details for the section and save. remove a section. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click the course where you want to remove a section. click the section that you want to remove under the course selected. click the ‘delete section’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the section. adding a new department. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course 130 jpair: multidisciplinary research tab as default and click on any courses displayed. viewing the course details, click on the word ‘department’ to view the department list. click the ‘new department’ button to add a new department. fill up the required details for the new department and save. update a department. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click on any courses displayed. viewing the course details, click on the word ‘department’ to view the department list. click the department that you want to update. fill up the new details for the department and save. remove a department. go to the ‘system’, viewing the course tab as default and click on any courses displayed. viewing the course details, click on the word ‘department’ to view the department list. click the department that you want to be removed. click the ‘delete department’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the department. adding a new subject. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘subject’ tab to view the subject list. click the ‘new subject’ to add a new subject. fill up the required details for the new subject and save. update a subject. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘subject’ tab to view the subject list. click the subject that you want to update. fill up the new details for the subject and save. remove a subject. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘subject’ tab to view the subject list. click the subject that you want to be removed. click the ‘delete subject’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the subject. adding a new room. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click the ‘new room’ to add a new room. fill up the required details for the new room and save. update a room. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click the room that you want to update. fill up the 131 international peer reviewed journal new details for the room and save. remove a room. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click the room that you want to be removed. click the ‘delete room’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the room. adding a new building.. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click on any room in the room list, click on the word ‘building’ to view the building list. click the ‘new building’ button to add a new building. fill up the required details for the new building and save. update a building. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click on any room in the room list, click on the word ‘building’ to view the building list. click the building that you want to update. fill up the new details for the building and save. remove a building. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘room’ tab to view the room list. click on any room in the room list, click on the word ‘building’ to view the building list. click the department that you want to be removed. click the ‘delete department’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the department. adding a subject in each course go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘checklist’ tab to view the course list. select a course where you want to add a new subject. select the school year to view the semester list. viewing the semester list, click the ‘new checklist subject’ button to add a subject under the semester selected. fill up the required details for the subjects and save. update a subject in each course go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘checklist’ tab to view the course list. select an course where you want to update a subjects. select the school year to view the semester list. viewing the semester list, click the subject that you want to update under the semester selected. fill up the new details for the subjects and save. 132 jpair: multidisciplinary research remove a subject in each course. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘checklist’ tab to view the course list. select an course where you want to remove a subjects. select the school year to view the semester list. viewing the semester list, click the subject that you want to remove under the semester selected. click the ‘delete checklist subject’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the subject. adding and information in the checklist. go to the ‘system’ and click on the ‘checklist’ tab to view the course list. click on the ‘information’ tab and fill up the required information then save. adding a new instructor. go to the ‘instructor’ to view the instructor list. click the ‘new instructor’ to add a new instructor. fill up the required details for the new instructor and save. update an instructor. go to the ‘instructor’ to view the instructor list. click the instructor that you want to update. fill up the new details for the instructor and save. remove an instructor. go to the ‘instructor’ to view the instructor list. click the instructor that you want to remove. click the ‘delete instructor’ button, a confirmation box will pop-up and click ‘proceed’ to remove the instructor. adding a class schedule. go to the ‘schedule’, viewing the section tab as default and click a section that you want to add new class schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to add the class schedule. to add a class schedule, click on the subject available below the section detail box. select an instructor for the subject and a room for the class schedule. select the time schedule in the time table by highlighting the cell. click the ‘schedule (lec)’ button for the lecture schedule and ‘schedule (lab)’ for the laboratory schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. update a class schedule. go to the ‘schedule’, viewing the section tab as default and click a section that you want to update a class 133 international peer reviewed journal schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to update a class schedule. to update a class schedule doubleclick on the subject in the time table where you want to update. select a new instructor to change the instructor and a new room for the new schedule. select a new time schedule in the time table by highlighting a new cell. click the ‘update (lec)’ to update the lecture schedule and ‘update (lab)’ for the laboratory schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. remove a class schedule. go to the ‘schedule’, viewing the section tab as default and click a section that you want to remove a class schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to remove a class schedule. to remove a class schedule doubleclick on the subject in the time table where you want to remove. and click the ‘delete’ button to remove the schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. viewing and printing an instructor’s schedule. go to the ‘schedule’ and click the ‘instructor’ tab. showing the instructor list, click on the instructor that you want to view a schedule. select a semester that you want to view the schedule of the instructor. select a type of schedule that you want to view. click the ‘print schedule’ button to have a printout copy of the instructor schedule. viewing and printing a room schedule. go to the ‘schedule’ and click the ‘room’ tab. showing the room list, click on the room that you want to view a schedule. select a semester that you want to view the schedule of the room. select a type of schedule that you want to view. click the ‘print schedule’ button to have a printout copy of the room schedule. adding an exam schedule.go to the ‘schedule’ and click the ‘exam’ tab. click a section that you want to add an exam schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to add the exam schedule. to add a exam schedule click on the subject available below the section detail box. select an instructor for the subject and a room for the class schedule. select the time schedule 134 jpair: multidisciplinary research in the time table by highlighting the cell. click the ‘schedule (exam)’ button for the exam schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. update an exam schedule. go to the ‘schedule’ and click the ‘exam’ tab. click a section that you want to update an exam schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to update a exam schedule. to update a exam schedule double-click on the subject in the time table where you want to update. select a new instructor to change the instructor and a new room for the new schedule. select a new time schedule in the time table by highlighting a new cell. click the ‘update (exam)’ to update the exam schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. remove an exam schedule. go to the ‘schedule’ and click the ‘exam’ tab. click a section that you want to remove an exam schedule. after selecting a section, now select the semester where you want to remove a exam schedule. to remove a exam schedule double-click on the subject in the time table where you want to remove. and click the ‘delete’ button to remove the schedule. to go back to the subject list click the ‘back’ button. results and discussion the respondents who are in charge of making the class schedules are serving as instructors in the institution for about 5 years and below. the range of the number of years they experienced in making schedules is from 1 to 6 years. from the respondents’ data, it was found out that 100% of them experienced conflicting schedules that are hard to check and consumes more materials such as papers, pencils, and others as the topmost problem being encountered during the preparation of their respective class schedules using the manual system. the expert respondents rated the functionality of the automated class scheduling systems in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, stability and adaptability as “very good”. based on the data gathered from the 8 respondents, the average weighted mean for the functionality of the two systems in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, stability 135 international peer reviewed journal and adaptability are shown below: a. automated. the average weighted mean is 3.779 which is described as “very good”. b. manual. the average weighted mean is 2.602 which is described as “good”. the study found out that there is a significant difference between the automated class scheduling system and the manual class scheduling system in terms of their functionality and acceptability level. this is attested with the average weighted mean of 3.19 or good (based on the experts’ perception) and 3.779 or very good (based on the respondents’ perception) for the automated system and 2.602 or good (based on the respondents’ perception) for the manual system. it was found out there was no single item for the manual class scheduling system that was being rated higher than the automated class scheduling system. conclusions the manual system is adaptable and useful in the making of class schedules. however, the automated class scheduling system is more functional because of the distinctive performance in the aspect of speed, project design, accuracy and stability of the system in the preparation of class schedules, room schedules and instructors’ load. with these features, the automated system can really solve the primary problems being encountered during the class schedule preparation. recommendations 1. add ‘school year’ and ‘term’ in the database for easy retrieval of data on the specific school year and term being entered by the user. 2. enhance the code of the program that will improve its aesthetics. 3. it must be used in other campuses of bohol island state university provided that there is an orientation conducted to the end-users on how to operate the system. 136 jpair: multidisciplinary research literature cited anderson, d. 2006 management information systems: solving business problems with information technology. (4th ed.). new york: mcgrawhill irwin.(http://www.articlecube.com) online databases scheduling for group classes. http:/www.appointmentquest.com/scheduling/education/group_ classes class scheduling. http:/www.redicker.com/class_scheduling_software.html online schedule of classes.(n.d.). http:/www.schedule.berkeley.edu/about.html employee scheduling – online.(n.d.). http:/whentowork.com software. http://www.plantautomation.com/article.mvc/an-overview-ofproduction-scheduling-software-0001 http://www.its.qmul.ac.uk/mail/thunderbird/identities.html http://altmedworld.net/holistic-medicine-course-hmd-program.htm http://altmedworld.net/membership.htm http://www.amccindia.com/modeofpayment.aspx http://www.stepbystep-nursery.net/rooms.htm http://bearcatbaseball.com/ 137 international peer reviewed journal http://www.hempfieldsoccerclub.org/rptscores.html http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/?u=grwilson5&s=lacros se&t=c http://www.finduniversity.ph/universities/bohol-island-stateuniversi... http://www.htc.com/us/mobile/sprint/hero/02e_tools.09.4.html http://www.plantautomation.com/article.mvc/an-overview-ofproduction-scheduling http://www.articlecube.com pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 199 international peer reviewed journal teacher support on students’ attitude toward research writing jayson s. digamon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1739-4395 jayson212012@gmail.com gingoog city comprehensive national high school gingoog city, philippines jerome n. de la peňa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3031-5444 jdelapena@liceo.edu.ph liceo de cagayan university cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract discussions on research writing have always been associated with the teachers’ role in influencing students’ attitudes to pursue it. this study determined the teachers’ role in students’ attitudes toward research writing. this study was focused on the 124 grade 12 students of gingoog city comprehensive national high school, gingoog city, who took up practical research 2 subject using the mixed explanatory methodology research design. with descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis, the influence of teacher support on students’ attitudes toward research writing was examined. the results revealed that students in their research writing experienced strong teacher support. likewise, it was shown that teacher support directly impacts students’ attitudes toward research. the study vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.821 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 200 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 concluded that while other factors may affect students’ attitudes toward research writing, the teacher factor was among the most significant. this further implies the need for teachers to provide students with holistic support, specifically instructional, to handle the subject effectively and sustain the students’ interest in writing their papers. keywords — research writing, teacher support, mixed explanatory, philippines introduction the focus on research writing in the philippine basic education has been unprecedented as the educational system revamped of the curriculum known as the k to 12 that was implemented under the enhanced basic education act of 2013, or republic act no. 10533, signed on may 15, 2013. the curriculum for senior high school includes different research subjects. one of which is practical research. with the attention of the academe shifting to research writing, researchers have two diametrical findings concerning students’ attitudes towards research writing. some studies found that students regard research as challenging and thus have a positive disposition toward it (adebule, 2013). on the other hand, other studies noted that students’ attitude toward writing scholarly outputs, such as research papers, is generally not positive (chiang, 2012; huwari & aziz, 2011). some studies reveal that students don’t appreciate the essence of research writing and regard it as difficult and dull. thus, students feel anxious and eventually do not engage in the rigors of research writing, resulting in a lack of knowledge in basic research (shaukat et al., 2014). moreover, such anxiety hinders them from performing well in the subject and their belief in developing critical writing skills (erkan & saban, 2011; sanders-reio, alexander, reio jr., & newman, 2014; woodrow, 2011). to produce quality research outputs and eventually increase students’ academic performance in research subjects, teachers stand at the forefront of leading such causes. when teachers fail to extend adequate support to students, there is the possibility that students develop negative attitudes toward research writing (huh, 2007). as research teachers, the researchers observed that students’ attitude in doing research tasks fluctuates to varying degrees. considering the above premise, the 201 international peer reviewed journal researchers attempt to explain the teacher’s role. moreover, this study hopes to establish the hypothesis that students’ attitude toward research writing is the outcome of teacher-related factors. the results hold to extol the pivotal role of teachers in addressing students’ apprehension in the seemingly negatively coated research subject. framework students’ attitude toward writing refers to the amount of engagement invested into writing which encompasses students’ commitment to the entire writing process (mcclenny, 2010). such disposition may be hindered by intervening factors that induce anxiety. there are many definitions of writing anxiety. specifically, hassan (2001) defined it as a tendency to avoid writing situations or tasks requiring writing outputs, especially when they are subjected to evaluation. moreover, topuzkanamis (2015) described writing anxiety as the apprehension a person feels toward a writing task. thus, silva, mcmartin-miller, pelaez-moralez, and lin (2012) emphasized that knowing how to improve students writing ability by addressing factors that make students apprehensive about writing is an essential endeavor for researchers. what makes students’ attitudes toward research writing poorly? onwuegbuzie (2003) found several factors that increase students’ regard in a research methods course. these are the amount of work required, the amount of material covered, test taking, the difficulty of the material covered in class, and preparing individual research projects. pinca et al. (2014) found that students have a negative attitude toward research writing because they lack knowledge and orientation. it triggers their stress which leads them to ignore the activity. hence, a positive attitude must be established as it is one of the critical components in the conduct of successful research writing for students to persist despite difficulties (wise, 2013) knowledge of research writing is critical when conducting the said scholarly work. the literature review of alhumidi and uba (2017) stressed that research is new to students and has many questions in their minds. hence, a lack of the basic concepts of research can make students unmotivated, for they do not possess the foundation that facilitates the easy construction of paper for submission. when students know about doing research, they are driven to make it even without the teachers’ instruction and discussion. lack of knowledge tends to wane students’ interest and affect their output (alhumidi & uba, 2017). 202 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the development of writing skills among students starts from recognizing teachers’ role in accomplishing a research output (kuo, 2011; kuo & chiu, 2009). the same authors discovered a strong link between teacher-student interaction and the ability to achieve a given writing task. therefore, it can be deduced that teacher competence matters not only in a research class but also in teacher support, as evidenced by the degree to which the teacher provides students with a comfortable atmosphere free from anxiety and worries. in the study of butt and shams (2013), it was revealed that teachers are expected to involve in conducting research through deep evaluation and orientation about research methods, analysis, and discussion. reading others’ research is vital in learning, for teachers can teach students the proper format or writing of research. that is why, before teachers teach and handle students in a research writing class, they will have to equip themselves better through a teacher training program or do their research project (butt & sams, 2013). when teachers do not meet students’ need for support, students’ attitude toward the writing tasks becomes affected (sanders-reio et al., 2014; hongisto & sormunen, 2012). most likely, students who have negative impressions towards their writing work tend to develop a distaste for the subject which demands writing outputs (latif, 2007). hence, it can be deduced that the amount of scaffolding by the teacher is commensurate with the expected performance in accomplishing the outputs in a research subject. belgrave and jules (2015); memarpour et al. (2015); magio et al. (2015) asseverated that for students to have a better research project, teachers should provide interesting strategies and methods. it is generally proven that students nowadays do not listen when they don’t see the activities or lessons as captivating. thus, teachers’ instructional and emotional support is needed so that students do not feel anxious about doing research projects. clarifying instruction and methods and giving guidance are ways teachers can support students. ultimately, when students see that teachers do not show explicit interest in teaching the subject, students’ focus and attitude tend to decrease. students’ attitudes toward research writing have been deemed an outcome of teacher support (sanders-reio et al., 2014; latiff, 2007). objectives of the study this study investigated the role of teachers on students’ attitudes toward research writing in practical research 2 subject. further, it aimed to, (1) determine 203 international peer reviewed journal how students assess the teacher’s support in writing the research paper, (2) identify the student’s attitude toward the research subject, and (3) describe the teacher support on students’ attitudes toward research writing. methodology the study employed the probability sampling design specifically the simple random technique in the selection of the participants with the use of the slovin formula. the respondents of this study were the 124 grade 12 students of gingoog city comprehensive national high school who took up practical research 2. to gather the data needed to answer the research questions, the researchers utilized questionnaires to complement with focus group discussion. the fgd was a corroborative tool for analyzing data gathered from quantitative means. after conforming to all ethical considerations of the research, the researcher floated the questionnaires. the tools were retrieved after the specified time given to the students. a focus group discussion (fgd) was conducted with 12 select student respondents (six students from each track) as a culminating task of the datagathering procedure. it was held in the audio-visual room to avoid interruptions in the recording and to provide an ambiance conducive to questioning and honest responses. this researcher used modified questionnaire instruments. instrument a determined the extent of teacher support. instrument b specified students’ attitudes toward research writing. all questions in the questionnaires come from the concepts discussed in the literature review. survey questionnaires were piloted and subjected to a reliability test using spss 20. the reliability coefficient was .866 for teacher support and .756 for attitude toward research writing. the researcher informed and secured permission from the school authorities to gather information from the students. after obtaining the necessary permissions, the questionnaires were floated to the target sample. after that, the data were tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted. for problem numbers 1 and 2, the researcher used descriptive statistics analysis such as the mean, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation distribution to determine the extent of student knowledge of research writing, teacher support, and student’s attitude towards research writing. for problem number 3, simple linear regression was utilized to determine the impact of the independent variables on the dependent variable. 204 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 all statistical treatments were carried out through the program spss 20. results and discussion problem 1. how do students assess their teacher’s support in writing the research paper? looking at the seven indicators, the students strongly agreed on two, which emphasized that they found their research advisers as teachers who adequately taught them the technicalities of research writing and gave them good examples (m=1.49,1.48; sd=.681, .704). all the rest of the indicators received positive responses as all students agreed to statements relevant to the teachers’ capacity to support the students in doing the scholarly task. these descriptive results categorically imply that the students experienced strong teacher support in their research. a focus group discussion (fgd) was conducted to verify the quantitative information gathered through the questionnaires. one student said, “i would say my teacher is good and competent.” it reflects the students’ response to indicator 1, my research adviser was able to explain the overall structure of the research clearly (m=1.49; sd=.681). when the researcher made a follow-up question on how the teacher showed competence in guiding the students, one replied, “the teacher gave us research writing guide by chapter.” it supports the students’ affirmative response to indicator 5, the textbook/ teaching materials of my research adviser program were useful (m=1.70; sd=.675). one qualitative data says, “the teacher discussed how the research process is done, gave us the chapter’s guide, required us to submit the manuscript, checked and returned it to us for editing. we did this process in all the chapters of the research paper.” it proves the teacher’s way of planning the procedures of the research process that students can easily deal with, as reflected in indicator 4, my research adviser provided clear instruction on the writing of each section of the research (m=1.54; sd=.729). since students in this study perceived their teacher support as strong, hongisto and sormunen (2012) indicated that one of the many reasons why students often get confused and anxious in research writing is that they are not provided with enough teacher support which can help them do their task observing right processes. typically, when the research adviser cannot show their passion or interest, and does not produce materials for conducting the research paper, students are not attracted to research writing and will not be interested in pursuing it (belgave & jules, 2015). 205 international peer reviewed journal problem 2. how do students perceive their attitude toward research writing? most respondents (96 %) had a positive attitude toward research writing (m=1.52, sd=0.48). looking at the eight indicators, the students strongly agreed on indicator number 1, research is essential for me, which obtained the highest rating (m=1.32; sd=.549). qualitative response supports the finding as one student said, “i think research writing is important because i can learn new things i have never known before.” it reflects the rating on indicator 10, research can expand knowledge (m=1.35; sd=.653) which students strongly agreed. as revealed in the study of wise (2013), students having a positive attitude toward research writing enables them to solve problems quickly and finish their research on time. a positive attitude is one of the key components for the students to strive and persist despite the difficulties. though numerous positive responses pertinent to their attitude toward research writing, the researcher wants to note that some students in the fgd stressed that research writing sometimes is burdensome. a student remarked, “many times, i was scolded by my parents because i could not attend to my assigned household chores or i always went home late.” another advanced, “i always had to do overtime after the end of the class.” the indicators reveal that some students regarded research writing as a waste of time (m=1.65; sd=.699). memarpour et al. (2015) confirmed that students tend to regard research writing as unimportant and attempt to abandon the work because the work and processes give them problems. nonetheless, the study of bandele and adebulel (2013) asserted that some students view research subjects positively out of a sense of enjoyment and challenge. they advanced the idea that to sustain that kind of attitude of students. the teachers must captivate them by employing interesting strategies and methods, considering that students nowadays have a minimal listening attention span. nonetheless, bandele and adebulel (2013) asserted that some students view research subjects positively out of satisfaction, which boosts their motivation to write research. problem 3. does teacher support significantly impact their attitude toward research writing? another purpose of this study was to determine whether teacher support impacts the students’ attitude toward research writing. linear regression (lr) was used to compute the degree of impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable. the r2 value indicates that the regression model taking the variable teacher support as the predictor positively explains the variation of students’ attitudes 206 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 towards research writing. the model is statistically significant given the p (0.000). it means that for every unit increase in teacher support, students’ attitude toward research writing also increases by about 33.6 %. the model is summarized with this equation: arw= .710+.503ts. thus, the regression model rejects the null hypothesis, which means that teachers’ support as perceived by the students impacts their attitude towards research writing. teachers’ support is essential in developing the students’ attitudes toward research. when teachers possess enough instructional competence to support students’ research writing needs, students will also have a positive attitude in doing the task, develop their potential and willingness to listen and cooperate with their teacher in the research paper. it can also make their research strong (butt & shams, 2013). the possibility of crafting a haphazard research output can also be attributed to the lack of support given by teachers. belgrave and jules (2015) asserted that the best papers naturally come from students who are motivated and appropriately guided by research advisers. conclusions research is an essential yardstick of the quality of the school. some students love research, while others do not. numerous factors may explain students’ perception of research writing and their drive to pursue its completion. this study concluded that the teacher factor has a strong bearing on students’ attitudes toward research. it reflects teachers’ importance in ensuring that the schools produce quality research outputs. the teacher’s crucial role in instilling in our students a love for research, as it is a helpful tool not only for their development but for the bigger society, should not be undermined. therefore, teachers need to be conscious of providing students with holistic support, specifically instructional, to possess the sufficient motivation to sustain their interest in writing their papers. how they provide the necessary support depends upon them equipping themselves with the technical aspect of the scholarly work. it further emphasized the need for teachers to advance their capabilities before they can hope to motivate students to write. 207 international peer reviewed journal recommendations the researchers arrived at the following recommendations for the entities: to the school administrators: (1) encourage teachers, especially teachers assigned to teach research subjects, to pursue higher studies. (2) if warranted, assign teachers with strong research backgrounds to handle research subjects. (3) provide inservice training for teachers on research writing. future researchers: (1) make or follow up research concerning students’ attitudes toward research writing considering other variables. literature cited alhumidi, h. a., & uba, s. y. (2017). arabic language teachers’ engagement with published educational research in kuwait’s secondary schools. international journal of higher education, 6(2), 20-30. bandele, s., & adebulel, s. (2013). patterns of university graduating students attitude to research work. international journal of educational research and technology, 4(3), 98-103. belgrave, k. l., & jules, j. e. (2015). students’ attitudes towards research: applying best practice principles through a student-centred approach. butt, i. h., & shams, j. a. (2020). master in education student attitudes towards research: a comparison between two public sector universities in punjab. south asian studies, 28(1). chiang, y. n. (2012). perfectionism and efl writing anxiety in mathematicsand-science-gifted senior high school girls.  english teaching & learning, 36(1). erkan, d. y., & saban, a. i̇. (2011). writing performance relative to writing apprehension, self-efficacy in writing, and attitudes towards writing: a correlational study in turkish tertiary-level efl.  the asian efl journal quarterly march 2011 volume 13, issue, 13(1), 164-192. hassan, b. a. (2001). the relationship of writing apprehension and selfesteem to the writing quality and quantity of efl university students. 208 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 hongisto, h., & sormunen, e. (2010). the challenges of the first research paper: observing students and the teacher in the secondary school.  practising information literacy: bringing theories of learning, practice and information literacy together, 95. hu, s., kuh, g. d., & gayles, j. g. (2007). engaging undergraduate students in research activities: are research universities doing a better job?. innovative higher education, 32, 167-177. huwari, i. f., & abd aziz, n. h. (2011). writing apprehension in english among jordanian postgraduate students at universiti utara malaysia (uum). academic research international, 1(2), 190. kuo, y. h. (2011). applying a proposal guideline in mentoring english major undergraduate researchers in taiwan. online submission, 9(1), 76-82. kuo, y. h., & chiu, j. (2009). mentoring undergraduates in their research proposal writing: efl students in taiwan. the mentor. latif, m. a. (2007). the factors accounting for the egyptian efl university students’ negative writing affect. essex graduate student papers in language & linguistics, 9(7), 57-82. magio, k. o., borrego, a. a., & valdez, m. v. (2015). research knowledge and its application among tourism graduate students: an assessment of critical issues. american journal of tourism research, 4(1), 1-12. mcclenny, c. s. (2010). disposition to write: relationships with writing performance. memarpour, m., fard, a. p., & ghasemi, r. (2015). evaluation of attitude to, knowledge of and barriers toward research among medical science students. asia pacific family medicine, 14(1), 1-7. onwuegbuzie, a. j. (2003). modeling statistics achievement among graduate students. educational and psychological measurement, 63(6), 1020-1038. sanders-reio, j., alexander, p. a., reio jr, t. g., & newman, i. (2014). do students’ beliefs about writing relate to their writing self-efficacy, apprehension, and performance?. learning and instruction, 33, 1-11. 209 international peer reviewed journal shaukat, s., siddiquah, a., abiodullah, m., & akbar, r. a. (2014). postgraduate students’ attitudes towards research. bulletin of education and research, 36(1), 111-122. silva, t., mcmartin-miller, c., pelaez-morales, c., & lin, m. (2012). scholarship on l2 writing in 2011: the year in review. slw news. topuzkanamis, e. (2015). the effect of teaching writing strategies on turkish language teaching department freshman students’ writing apprehension/ yazma stratejileri ogretiminin turkce ogretmenligi birinci sinif ogrencilerinin yazma kaygisina etkisi.  journal of language and literature education, (13), 97-111. woodrow, l. (2011). college english writing affect: self-efficacy and anxiety. system, 39(4), 510-522. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 1 vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.150 jpair multidisciplinary journal players of the agribusiness system and their problems: philippine case studies nida abarquezilupa na_ilupa@yahoo.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines abstract the main purpose of this paper is to present problems of the players in the agribusiness system to help us better understand the challenges they have to deal with to remain dynamic, viable and profitable as important contributors to the health of the industry where they belong. the study used the descriptive method. a collection of 59 case studies actually conducted and successfully defended by agribusiness students were coded and used as samples in studying the different industry players. each case study was written and analyzed as an output of a practicum to complete their bs agribusiness management degree. the students immersed themselves, observed the actual operations of these different players and at the same time gathered related data. results showed that the problems encountered were production, marketing, personnel, finance, administration and extension. the study concludes that each industry player belongs to a specific agribusiness subsystem and performs a particular or multiple roles in the industry. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 2 keywords agribusiness players, agribusiness system; and management problems introduction agribusiness known as the food and fiber system, plays a very important role in a country’s economy. it is a large and complicated system starting with the many activities of the farm input suppliers, the agricultural production activities of farms, the processing, and then marketing and distribution of agricultural products to the ultimate consumers. agribusiness worldwide represents approximately one-fourth of the total world economic production and provides employment for nearly half the population on earth (rawlins, 1998). data and statistics from “project jobs fit: the dole 2020 vision”, a recent labor market study conducted by the philippine department of labor and employment (dole), predicts that agribusiness will emerge as a key employment generator in the next five to ten years. in each of the different agricultural industries like vegetable, poultry, livestock, fruit, cereal and grains and many others, numerous firms are involved even before the start of agricultural production in the farm up to the point of bringing each agricultural commodity to the final consumer. many services are needed in agriculture, such as transportation, storage, refrigeration, credit, finance and insurance. input manufacturers furnish the production agriculturalist with supplies and equipment needed to produce and protect crops. government agencies inspect and grade agricultural products to ensure quality and safety. hundreds of agribusiness trade organizations, commodity organizations, committees and conferences educate, promote, advertise, coordinate and lobby for their agricultural products. science, research, engineering, and education help improve agribusiness (smith et al., 1991). manalili, head of the agro-industrial development program of searca at uplb, in her 2001 paper: agribusiness management towards strengthening agricultural development and trade noted that the economic developments of agricultural based economies are greatly anchored on the growth and survival of their agribusiness international peer reviewed journal 3 sectors. agribusiness plays a crucial role as it absorbs agricultural surpluses and at the same time meets the needs of both the urban and rural populations through its value added activities. it has likewise been viewed as the vital link between agriculture and industries and as such is similarly seen as the vehicle for agro-industrial development and consequently economic growth (www.mcc.cmu.ac.th/agbus/isam/ others/downloadpdf.asp?...pdf) drilon (1971) stressed one very important feature of agribusiness: the viability of an industry is traceable to the viability of the firms that form part of the industry. the industry could be expanded and moved forward only if the firms in it are able to do so. the industry’s posture is shaped by the strength or weakness and by the life or death of the firms in the industry. thus, probing into the problems confronting these agribusiness players including their possible causes can help us better understand the challenges they have to deal with to remain dynamic, viable and profitable as important contributors to the health of the industry where they belong. framework the first step in diagnosing and analyzing the problems of these players is first to know their respective roles under the big picture of the agribusiness system, particularly by looking at the subsystem components or sector where they fit in. agribusiness before was considered sectorally simply as made up of the whole of agriculture and a portion of the industrial sector which contains the sources of farm supplies for the producers of farm products. later on, it was defined by davis and goldberg in 1957 as the sum total of all operations involved in the manufacture and distribution of farm supplies; production operations on the farm; and the storage, processing and distribution of the resulting farm commodities and items made from them (davis and goldberg as cited by ricketts and rawlins 2001). it was then translated into a three-part agribusiness system made up of the agricultural input sector,the production sector and the processing-manufacturing sector. the agricultural input provides farmers and ranchers with feed, seed, credit, machinery, fuel, chemicals. the middle part of agribusiness is the production sector that uses the products of the input industries to jpair: multidisciplinary journal 4 produce raw agricultural and livestock commodities. the commodities they produce are sold to processors and food manufacturers in the processing-manufacturing sector. the processing-manufacturing sector includes all the individuals and firms that process agricultural commodities, manufacture food products and distribute and retail food products of the consumer (seperich et al., 1994). the economic importance of these three sectors is described as follows: a large increase in the farm sector efficiency is directly attributable to the input sector. improving varieties of seed and feed, farm machinery and equipment, and the facilitating services offered to the farmers help improve the output-input ratio. at the hub of the agribusiness system is the farm production sector. as this sector grows in size, level of output and efficiency, the other sectors of agribusiness are directly affected. the health of this sector has a vital and direct impact on the financial well being of the input supply and output sectors of agribusiness. the final sector in the food production and distribution system is the output sector. this sector is responsible for the transformation of the raw farm output into a final consumer product at the retail level. it is the largest of the three sectors in the food system (downey and erickson, 1987) colleges in india offering agribusiness management degree provided another way of categorizing the sectors. agribusiness system with forward and backward linkages consists of the following four major sectors: agricultural input, agricultural production, agricultural processing or manufacturing and agricultural marketing or distribution sector which add value to the agricultural produce. (www.mbandiacareer.com/.../agribusiness-management htm-india). manalili further considered the concept of agribusiness to include the primary production of agricultural produce; the upstream economic activities (production and distribution of all inputs and services used in on-farm production); the documentation industries (processing, manufacturing, transportation and related services); and the transformation of raw agricultural produce into finished products either for domestic consumption or export. rickets and rawlins had introduced another one important sector. within the big picture of agribusiness system are agribusiness companies that provide input supplies to production agriculturalists international peer reviewed journal 5 (producers and farmers). the production agriculturalists produce food and fiber, and the output is taken by agribusiness companies which process, market, and distribute the agricultural products. many other support services,such as research, education, and finance are also involved (rickets and rawlins 2001). according to these authors the support or agriservices sector of the agriculture industry is concerned with researching new and better ways to produce and market food and to protect food producers and consumers, and with providing special, custom-type services to all the other phases of agriculture. the major emphasis of public agriservices includes research, education, communication and regulation while private agriservices have three major areas available to the agricultural industry: financial services, trade associations, and agricultural cooperatives. dr. ngaruko of the open university of tanzania also described agribusiness, being the food and fiber industry as the chain of industries directly and indirectly involved in the production, transformation and provision of food, fiber, chemicals and pharmaceutical substrates. the primary roles in this chain include: primary production of commodities such as food grains;processing of commodities e.g. milling;inputs supply to the primary and tertiary sectors; retail and wholesale;and service provision such as education, banking and technical advice. (www.out.ac.tz/current/course%20outlines/fbm/obs405.pdf). the authors of the book,agribusiness management: systems approach, further described the agribusiness system as an area composed of production, processing, marketing, supply chain management and strategic alliances (dy et al., 2005). the next step after identifying the roles that each player performs in the agribusiness system is to further examine specific management functional areas within the individual organization where problems are encountered. this is reflected by the type of organization structure. a functional structure organizes employees around specific knowledge or other resources. employees with marketing expertise are grouped into a marketing unit, those with production skills are located in manufacturing, engineers are found in product development and so on. organizations with functional structures are typically centralized to coordinate their activities effectively. coordination jpair: multidisciplinary journal 6 through standardization of work processes is the most common form of coordination in a functional structure (mcshane and von glinow, 2000). organization brings together in one department everyone engaged in one activity or several related activities that are called functions. for example, an organization divided by functions might have separate manufacturing, marketing, finance, human relations and sales department. the marketing function for example, commonly consists of sales, promotion, distribution, and market research activities (stoner et al., 2005). in departmentalization by function, the activities of the organization are divided into primary functions to be performed: manufacturing/ engineering (production), marketing, research and development, employee relations (personnel) and finance. this arrangement has the advantage of specialization and concentration of similar activities within a departmental unit. it is the most prevalent form and is seen not only in business enterprises but in hospitals, government agencies, and many other kinds of organizations (kast, f and rosenzweig, 1986). the tasks that every business needs to do to succeed were enumerated as follows: 1) human resources ensures the business has the best staff for the job and that they are able to work effectively in a safe environment; 2) finance will keep a record of all money coming in and going out of the business. they have responsibility for securing finances for future expansion and paying staff and suppliers; 3) administration ensure the smooth running of the business on a day-to-day basis including security, health and safety; 4) operations have the task of producing the goods or service in the most efficient way. this is done by making best use of the business’s staff, machinery, building and raw materials; 5) marketing and sales will try and maximize the level of sales by carrying out market research and promoting the goods or service through a motivated sales team; 6) customer service will help the customer before and after a sale has been made by providing information, giving advice, providing credit facilities, delivering goods and providing after-sales support; and 7) research and development will help the business remain competitive by developing new goods and services and updating the existing ones. similarly, agribusiness players also have their own functional international peer reviewed journal 7 departments depending on the type of role they perform. the management functions are implemented through the use of the various skills, principles, and tools that have become part of the professional agribusiness manager’s knowledge and ability. to be successful, the agribusiness manager must apply this functional knowledge and ability to each of the four basic areas of the agribusiness: that is, financial management and planning, marketing and selling, production and operations, and personnel or the human dimension (downey and erickson 1987). figure 1. the schematic diagram of the study objectives of the study the paper intended to look into the problems of players of the agribusiness system. specifically, it sought to answer the following objectives: (a) to determine actual roles performed by these industry players; (b) to show specific relationships among players within the same subsystem and among players from different subsystems; (c) to identify the management functional areas of the firms where the problems were encountered; (d) to identify what are some these problems and be aware of their possible causes. the study postulates that each agribusiness player performs a specific role in the agribusiness • input • production • processing • marketing • support • production • marketing • personnel • finance • r and d • and others • problems • causes jpair: multidisciplinary journal 8 system and problems with causes may occur in any of the management functional areas regardless of the organizational structure. materials and methods the study used the descriptive method. to completely understand these agribusiness players, a collection of 59 case studies actually conducted and successfully defended by agribusiness students who graduated during the academic years 2009 until 2011 from the department of agribusiness management, college of agriculture, mindanao state university, main campus in marawi city, were used as samples in studying the different industry players. it should be emphasized that case materials of the department of agribusiness management, msu main campus are for classroom discussions only and not to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of administrative problems. each case study is being written and analyzed as an output of the summer on the job trainings. the students immersed themselves, observed the actual operations of these different players and at the same time gathered related data. each case is being supervised by an assigned adviser and defended in front of panelists as a requirement to complete their bachelor of science in agribusiness management degree. to hide the identity of the industry players, the cases are coded. furthermore, the cases available depended on the players that accommodated the students and finally each case author can only suggest a chosen alternative as a solution to a specific problem but has no authority to impose it on the player for implementation. results and discussion the findings revealed that each of the players performs varied roles/functions. the input subsystem players provide inputs to farm producers of livestock, poultry and crops. an input manufacturer may also provide raw materials to its satellite plants and tooling partners. the production subsystem players engage in actual farm production activities and at the same time it is a supplier of raw material to an input manufacturer. a hog producer may not purchase international peer reviewed journal 9 but opt to manufacture own feed requirements. the processing subsystem players process the products of the production subsystem and sell it for direct consumption or sell to other processors for further processing. a product processor may also produce its own raw material for processing or produce inputs for its farm growers. a player in the marketing subsystem buys the product of farm producers, owns it and sells it without necessarily transforming or further processing the products. the players in the support subsystem provide assistance to farm producers and agriculture in general for its growth and sustainability in terms of research, extension, training and development, technology, information and financing. they produce inputs like seeds and planting materials for the production subsystem. examining relationships among players disclosed the following results. an input manufacturer needs an input distributor to market its product while an input distributor needs an input manufacturer for products to sell. a major input manufacturer needs a tooling partner to help its processing activities because it is expensive to maintain its own processing plant. on the other hand the tooling partner needs the major input producer to maximize use of its existing processing equipments and facilities. although players in the production subsystem have their own farms but still they need contract growers to meet their targeted production requirements. the contract growers also need the big producers to be assured of markets for their produce. on the other hand, interdependence among players of different subsystems also exists. if there is a shortage of raw material for feed processing for ex. corn, the input manufacturer needs corn producers or corn traders. a crop producer may supply raw materials to an input processor such as corn and cassava. the farm producers need to establish relationship with contract buyers such as exporters and retailers to be assured of markets for their produce. processors to be assured of raw materials to be processed need to establish relationships with contract growers aside from having their own farms. a cooperative processor may establish a rice mill and offer milling services to members and other farmer producers for a fee. a vegetable marketer needs vegetable growers and traders for product to sell to customers. at the same time it needs institutional buyers and retailers as its market. the players in the support subsystem are needed by farm producers for assistance in jpair: multidisciplinary journal 10 terms of research, extension, training and development, information, logistics and financing. while support subsystem players also need the farm producers to serve as beneficiaries of their researches and extension services, training and to attain the very purpose why they are created or established. the problems encountered were production, marketing, personnel, finance, administration and one additional function is extension on the part of the support subsystem. production/operations problems of the players include delayed or shortage of raw materials; augmenting current production rate; plantlets contamination; attaining production target; spread of diseases; increased mortality rate of animals, plantlets and useful fungus; proper herd management; minimizing product rejects & utilization of these rejects; slow egg sizing operation; decreasing yield, malfunctions of machines; speeding up operation; and delayed data collection. personnel/human resource problems are concerned with minimum workers performance; unfavorable working attitudes and low skills of personnel; attaining effective and efficient task performance; and stopping unfavorable conduct of workers. marketing problems dealt with beating competition; speeding up product distribution and delivery; boosting product quality and popularity to enter new markets; sustainability of product supply; meeting orders on time; and maintaining product quality. administration problems focused on providing safe working environment; checking on the employees’ complaints against the manager; exploring new opportunities; improving supervision of operation and how to maximize performance among workers. finance problems had to do with speeding up loan collections from borrowers and limited budget. and extension problems are concerned with introducing a new technology; helping producers increase production and teaching them to process their products; and to facilitate continuous implementation of government programs. looking at the causes of the different problem disclosed the following findings. production/operations related problems are caused by having only few suppliers of raw materials; limited resources such as land and management skills; spread of diseases; less know how of workers on certain processes; malfunctions of equipment and machines; uncommitted workers; workers disregarding sop; international peer reviewed journal 11 incorrect plantation and herd management practices; overlapping of functions; lack of specialist; wrong choice of varieties; limited facilities, equipments, machines, and working space; presence of rejects every production cycle; misunderstood instructions; soil acidity and salinity; poor farm to mill access facilities; unfavorable terrain; irregular attendance of workers, low farm production of raw material; and inefficient performance of hired workers. marketing problems are generated by the presence of better known competitors; non-strategic location; competitor with better products; product shortage; orders not delivered on time; and improper handling of products. personnel/human resource problems are caused by unsatisfied workers complaining against poor management-worker relationship, lack of positive motivation and tenure insecurity; workers’ deviation and disregard of operation standards; rush of tasks to satisfy overtime; violation of company rules; workers demanding salary increase; overlapping of tasks; lack of educational qualification; workers lack of skills; and unfavorable conduct of workers. administration problems are triggered by occurrence of accidents; no specific task assignment; manager’s unfavorable behavior; scarcity of resources; supervisor’s education-position mismatch and overlapping of duties. finance problems are caused by borrower’s lack of knowledge on how to gain more profit and be able to pay; and limited budget that limits the ability to purchase a much needed vehicle. and finally the sources of extension problems are underutilized potential of the area; clients’ unfamiliarity with a new technology; and presence of pest infestation. conclusions and recommendations based on the different case studies presented, the following conclusions and recommendations were derived: 1. each of the industry players belongs to a specific agribusiness subsystem and performs a particular role or carries out a combination of roles in the industry where they operate. despite the multifaceted point of view of agribusiness, diverse interests and individual uniqueness, each of the players recognize the need to perform their roles effectively and efficiently because of the significance, contribution, and impact of roles to make the subsystem where they belong more jpair: multidisciplinary journal 12 effective and efficient. any positive contribution they make will benefit the other agribusiness subsystems that directly or indirectly need them and the whole agribusiness system as well. to reiterate, the industry’s performance is caused by the strength and weaknesses and its posture is shaped by the life or death of the agribusiness firms within the industry 2. interdependence among players within the same subsystem and interdependence among players from the different subsystems exist. players within each subsystem and players of the different subsystems need to recognize the importance and impact of this interdependence considering that each player needs business partners or strategic alliances to survive. the players need to reinforce and support existing partners for their mutual benefits and for the growth and viability of the industry where they belong. already established relationships need to be strengthened while new strategic alliances local or foreign need to be explored because of opportunities that either local production or globalization has to offer. 3. similar with other organizations, each of the players has to meet head-on problems in one or combination of the basic functional areas of management. these problems serve as challenges to agribusiness decision makers and need serious attention in order for their ventures to remain viable and profitable. to face these problems, agribusiness decision makers must be equipped with the management principles and knowledge including entrepreneurial skills. agribusinesses firms being diversified and unique also require unique application of managerial abilities and skills. and finally to make good decisions each decision maker needs to be well-informed of the status, developments, updates including forecasts of the industry where they align themselves. the decisions they make in solving these problems may affect their performance affecting also other firms in the industries where they operate as a whole. 4. the problems of the players are caused by either external or internal factors or a combination of both. internal factors causing problems can be controlled while impact of external factors can be minimized. agribusiness players need to constantly evaluate their performance,checking internal capabilities against the challenges of the external environment by using swot analysis. the swot international peer reviewed journal 13 analysis classifies the internal aspects of the company as strengths or weaknesses and the external situational factors as opportunities or threats. strengths can serve as a foundation for building a competitive advantage, and weaknesses may hinder it. by understanding these four aspects of its situation, a firm can better leverage its strengths, correct its weaknesses, capitalize on golden opportunities, and deter potentially devastating threats (www.netmba.com/strategy/swot/). literature cited downey, w and erickson, s. 1987 agribusiness management, university of wisconsin, madison: mcgraw-hill drilon, j. 1971 introduction to agribusiness management (agribusiness management resource material), hong kong: serasia limited. dy, r et al. 2005 agribusiness management: a systems approach, uplb philippines: searca publications. kast, f and rosenzweig, j. 1986 organization and management, usa: mcgraw-hill, inc. mc. shane, s & von glinow, m. 2000 organizational behavior: emerging realities for work place revolution, singapore: mcgraw-hills company. obs405 introduction to agribusiness management, (course outline) (www.out.ac.tz/current/course%20outlines/fbm/obs405.pdf). date retrieved: july 31, 2011 rawlins, o. 1998 introduction to agribusiness, 3rd edition, murfreesboro, tenn.: middle tennessee state university jpair: multidisciplinary journal 14 ricketts, c and rawlins, o. 2001 introduction to agribusiness, usa: delmar thomson learning. seperich, g, woolverton, m and beierlin, j. 1994 introduction to agribusiness marketing, nj: prentic hall career and technology. smith, m, underwood, j and baltman, m. 1991 careers in agribusiness and industry, danville. ill:interstate printers and publishers. stoner, j, freeman, e and gilbert, d. 2005 management, singapore: pearson education asia pte ltd. www.mcc.cmu.ac.th/agbus/isam/others/downloadpdf.asp?...pdf, 2011 agribusiness management towards strengthening agricultural development and trade, date retrieved: august 1, 2011 www.mbandiacareer.com/.../agribusiness-management htm-india, agribusiness colleges in india, date retrieved: august 1, 2011 www.netmba.com/strategy/swot/swot analysis, date retrieved: october 22, 2011 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100630278352/nursing-out-agribusiness-in-as-top-job-generator, philippine daily inquirer, nursing out, agribusiness in as top job generator, kristine alave, date retrieved: october 5, 2011 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research young criminologists in the teaching practice: plight and aspirations paulino v. pioquinto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1009-6371 pioks_gohan@yahoo.com.ph university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines reynaldo o. cuizon university of mindanao davao city, philippines mauro allan p. amparado https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2742-2508 mapamparado@gmail.com university of cebu lapu-lapu and mandaue mandaue city, cebu, philippines originality: 98% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 2% abstract this phenomenological study ascertained the plight and aspirations of young criminologists who were engaged in teaching practice. two research questions were answered: (1) what is the plight of young criminologists in the teaching practice; and (2) what are the aspirations of young criminologists in the teaching practice? it involved ten research informants presently employed with higher education institutions (heis) within central visayas, philippines. the collection of information techniques used were in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. the research participants shared their plight in the teaching vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.647 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 23 international peer reviewed journal practice and their aspirations in their career. nine themes surfaced in this study: low confidence, difficulties in oral and written communication, a teacher by accident, lack of preparation for teaching practice, job satisfaction, professional status, technical skills, professional & personal growth, and support to enhance teaching competence. keywords — criminologists, teaching practice, teaching competence, plight, aspirations, philippines introduction talking with friends and colleagues in the academe and our active involvement in evaluating heis offering criminal justice education, we realized the significance of the criminal justice education: policies and standards for the criminology program, specifically article i, section 1, which stipulated that the mission of the criminology program is to provide graduates who are morally upright and professionally competent in law enforcement, crime prevention, crime detection and investigation, and custody and rehabilitation of offenders, among others. it further emphasizes that the heis are envisioned as significant educational institutions actively and continually involved in producing graduates who have the knowledge and skills in addressing the problems of criminality in the country and the competence to meet the challenges of globalization in the field of criminology (cmo no. 21, 2005). to achieve this mission statement, we are convinced that major areas should be given more emphasis, like but not limited to the quality of instruction, the laboratory facilities and equipment, the library holdings and other important services, most importantly on the preparation of young criminologists for a teaching career. teachers as instructional experts are expected to be credible facilitators who bring the real world in the classroom and lead learners to the real world, ensuring the essence of learning by doing among students. such contextualization, experiential methods and aims of learning affirm that teaching is related to learning (corpuz & locido, 2008; piantanida & garman, 2009). framework there has been a substantial theoretical and practical shift of emphasis, mostly in mainstream education, towards acknowledging that teachers are 24 jpair multidisciplinary research among the principal components of any pedagogical program. in the past ten years, a burgeoning research base has increasingly shown that teachers are among the most important players influencing student achievement, holding the key to sealing the gaps in students’ achievement outcomes (goldhaber, 2002; sanders, 2000). anchored on david mcclelland’s acquired needs theory, an individual may have a predominant need that triggers or develops an aspiration to achieve, to affiliate and to have power. mcclelland theorized that a strong need for achievement – the drive to succeed or excel – includes the individual’s performance of their work tasks. the needs of one indicate his plight. thus, those in intense plight are motivated to take any challenge, to compete, and to perform in work situations (schermerhorn, 2007). alexander & fuller (2005) believes that “few educators, economists, or politicians would argue with the contention that all things being equal, highly qualified teachers produce greater student achievement than comparatively qualified teachers.” various studies on criminal justice education have been conducted in asia. in an investigation in india, khan & unnithan discovered that there are several key similarities and differences in comparison to the us criminal justice education. they raised four questions which emerged from the comparison: the national government’s influence over criminal justice education; the gap between academic education and job‐related training; the influence of level of economic development on crime‐related education; and, the circumstances surrounding the influence of outsiders and outside agencies on criminal justice education (2008). but very few studies have focused on young criminologists in the teaching practice. hence, the researchers were motivated to investigate this phenomenon. objectives of the study this phenomenological study aimed to come up with qualitative analyses of the experiences and suggestions that were solicited from young criminologists for them to be well-equipped as teachers in the criminology education program. two research questions were answered: (1) what is the plight of young criminologists in the teaching practice; and (2) what are the aspirations of young criminologists in the teaching practice? 25 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the phenomenological design was utilized in this study. the purpose of the phenomenological interview is to attain a first-person description of some specified domain of experience. the researcher becomes the learner, and the participant who has the experience becomes the expert. therefore, the interview becomes a conversation with the participants leading in the discussions of particular experiences in whatever way he/she chooses (demarrais, 2004). research site we selected ten young criminologists as research participants who have been actively involved in teaching practice, in any of the higher education institutions offering criminology education program, for at least one (1) year but not more than three (3) years. we have intentionally chosen young criminologists as research participants in this phenomenological study because they are young professionals engaged in teaching and possess no prior training and preparations for the teaching career. in addition, they have very limited pedagogical skills. the participants represented the different higher education institutions (heis) offering criminology education program in the major cities and provinces of cebu, bohol and negros oriental. the participants were a combination of male and female faculty and selected by employing the purposive sampling technique. the participants were classified into two (2) sets. the first set was for the indepth interview consisting of three (3) young criminologists and the second set was composed of seven (7) young criminologists for the focused group discussion. for purposes of confidentiality, the study participants have pseudonyms as presented in table 1. data collection we utilized an interview guide to bring together the experiences, plight, and aspirations of young criminologists who were engaged in teaching. it was utilized in both in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. the interview guide was submitted first to the panelists for content validation and approval prior to the actual conduct of interviews. upon the approval of the participants to be part of the study, they were asked to answer questions personally presented by the researchers within 60-90 minutes. a consent form was signed first by the informant before an interview was conducted. with their prior approval, the interview was audio-recorded. this 26 jpair multidisciplinary research helped the researchers to analyze the exact words and to keep the informants’ statements in context. the informant participation was voluntary. the decision to join or not to join did not affect their current or future relations with any institution, agency, or any person. the informants were informed that they could withdraw from the study anytime. if feeling stressed during the study, they could choose to stop. they may also skip personal questions. if they withdraw, they were assured that the data collected are to be returned or destroyed, whichever the participants preferred. the researcher used a tape recorder along with a notebook to record notes from the interview and focus group discussion as suggested by boyce & neale (2006). data analysis the researchers reviewed the notes and audio recordings. the informants’ responses were analyzed with the intention of recognizing important themes. in sorting out and categorizing using the coding system of the recurring themes, the researchers compared and contrasted responses, and link up information to unverified criteria (colton and covert, 2007 as cited by cuizon, 2013). the audio-recorded interactions were transcribed, interpreted and analyzed. we established the result by presenting the information gathered in a matrix form as shown in table 2 for the themes and core ideas on the plight of young criminologists, and table 3 for the themes and core ideas on the aspirations of young criminologists. table 1. distribution of participants’ information pseudonym gender location individual interview lombroso male negros oriental goddard female tagbilaran city osborn female mandaue city focus group discussion p1 male tagbilaran city p2 male dumaguete city p3 male tagbilaran city p4 female tagbilaran city p5 male cebu city p6 female cebu city p7 male cebu city 27 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the presentation of information gathered was outlined using three classifications. the first was the general which means at least 50% of the participants mentioned the item in their response during the interview or focused group discussion; the second classification was the type which means that at least 25 to 49% mentioned the item and finally the third classification was the variant which means that less than 25% mentioned the item. the research questions were answered using major themes (amparo, 2011). the plight of young criminologists in the teaching practice taken from the information gathered on the plight of young criminologists in the teaching practice, there were seven main themes which surfaced, and we categorized those themes as personal and professional plights which are presented in table 2. these themes facilitated us to decide which core ideas to describe. low confidence our informants uncovered that they experienced difficulties and had an apprehension towards their teaching career from the very first day they stepped inside their classrooms. up to the present, there were times that they felt uncomfortable. that is because of their very limited knowledge, skills, experiences and insecurities with regards to teaching. the statements revealed in this segment were all about the issue on their low self-confidence. some of them expressed that in most cases they encountered awkward feelings considering that their students’ age is almost like their age. the feelings experienced by the young criminologists having low selfconfidence in teaching were expected especially those who were not trained to become teachers. bauml (2014) emphasized teachers who actively participated in planning meetings during the first year of teaching would accumulate knowledge on curriculum, pedagogy, and professional contexts. findings showed that both participation and collaboration with colleagues on planning meetings were centered on the teachers’ knowledge development and sense of efficacy as new teachers who would develop and increase their self-confidence. additionally, teachers equipped with teaching programs felt significantly better prepared across most dimensions than those who entered teaching without preparation. the extent to which teachers felt well prepared when they entered teaching are significantly correlated with their sense of teaching efficacy, their 28 jpair multidisciplinary research sense of responsibility for student learning, and their plans to remain in teaching (darling-hammond, chung, & frelow, 2002). difficulties in oral and written communication the participants admitted that in many instances inside the classroom, they experienced problems on their lack of capability in expounding and elaborating further the lessons for the day and the giving of examples and scenarios on the topics being discussed. the predicament encountered also includes difficulty in the construction of test questionnaires due to lack of oral and written communication skills. table 2. themes and core ideas on the plight of young criminologists in teaching practice (personal plight) major themes frequency of responses core ideas personal plight low confidence general awkward feelingsage gap typical no trust capability issue physical appearance variant boring and not interestingan inefficient and ineffective teacher difficulties in oral and written general not fluent oral communication problem not able to elaborate variant written communication problem teacher by accident general did not expect never a plan don’t know what to do variant quit teaching keep on studying feel insecure 29 international peer reviewed journal table 3. themes and core ideas on the plight of young criminologists in teaching practice (professional plight) major themes frequency of responses core ideas professional plight lack of preparation for teaching practice general no knowledge and skills in teaching methodology no background on techniques in teaching not adequately prepared difficulty in delivering the topics typical difficulty in instilling discipline compliance on paper works variant hard to deal and cope with so many pressures encounter hard headed and stubborn students job satisfaction general when they say “thank you” passed the board examination variant great time in our class become members of the tri-bureau professional status general enrolled in a master’s degree low income variant employment status politics in loading and selection limited skills developed during college days technical skills general lack of laboratory facilities and equipment limited supplies in consumable materials no specialization training variant last priority in outside/industry exposure limited laboratory activity professional and personal growth general finish master’s and doctoral degree tenured status model and best teacher to become a dean typical to have a happy and successful family life variant develop expertise in forensic science high salary package support to enhance teaching competence general improve students’ oral and communication skills complete laboratory facilities technology-driven instruction typical more financial support from the administration complete and updated library collections learn and adopt new teaching methodologies variant produce higher board examination passing percentage less teaching preparation 30 jpair multidisciplinary research teacher by accident the study participants shared that in the early years of their teaching, they did not know what to do inside the classroom. the informants added and narrated that when they started to teach, a lot of difficulties were encountered considering that they do not have industry experience and their knowledge acquired were only based from the information shared to them by their mentors. to reinforce the previous learnings gained from the school and mentors, they read and studied their reference materials/books. if there were topics that they did not understand, it triggered and developed into insecurities and thoughts to quit teaching. lack of preparation for teaching practice the informants revealed that one of the major plights they were in was the feeling that they were not fully prepared for the teaching practice. they did not undergo formal training acquiring the pedagogical knowledge and skills. chong, choy & wong (2008) stated that the teacher requires the basic and advanced skills and knowledge on lesson preparation, discussion facilitation, classroom management, student care, and student assessment. we agree with chong, choy & wong regarding these competencies required of teachers. however, aside from this, we believe that the teaching practice goes beyond classroom performance. teaching is not just a profession but a mission, hence, teachers are teachers twenty-five hours a day, eight days a week and thirteen months per year. apart from these weaknesses, the study participants found themselves at the middle of nowhere in terms of doing research, mentoring the students, and extending oneself in the service of the people in the community, which are all considered as part of the total mission of one who is in the teaching profession. similar to the study of amparado, bediña & agbay (2017), teaching staff requires the following training needs: preparation of syllabus and modules (2.94), developing teaching materials and tools for instruction (2.85), research and other application of research methodologies (2.84), and time & financial management (2.83). job satisfaction though the young criminologists had encountered several obstacles in their teaching practice, on the other hand, they were also challenged and inspired by some career episodes that kept them to hang around and go on with the selfsacrificing journey of their professional plight. some of our study informants shared that the most rewarding part of their career, which gave them the feeling 31 international peer reviewed journal of great satisfaction, was when their students said to them “thank you for the knowledge” and most especially when they passed the criminologist licensure examination. professional status most of the informants were consistent and agreed that they need to pursue and finish a master’s degree in order to have an assured and more stable career in teaching. technical skills the study participants honestly admitted on their lack of confidence in handling technical courses due to lack of exposures, orientation, and training. the situation greatly affects their teaching performance and motivation. according to campbell and pritchard in 1976, job performance is a function of ability and motivation. performance is regarded as almost any behavior, which is directed toward task or goal accomplishment. good performance among employees in an organization has many implications such as high motivation, outstanding abilities, good organizational climate and infrastructure, and excellent leadership that can sustain rapport, productivity and good relationship among staff. teachers need information and training to feel more confident and effectively teach in inclusive classrooms and differentiate instruction (jenkins & yoshimura, 2010; ross, 2002; schleicher, 2011). professional and personal growth majority of the study participants aimed and wished the following: to pursue and finish their graduate studies, to have permanent employment status, to become a good mentor, to be qualified and become a college dean, to have a successful and happy family life, develop expertise or become a forensic specialist, and to be recognized for their efforts, and receive a high compensation package. young criminologists who serve as teachers to students are a novice in terms of industry experience and translating concepts and theories to real-life situations. it is with this premise that relevant education and skills are essential to augment this gap. the university is sending the young criminologists to graduate studies for them to finish their master’s degree. on the other hand, efforts are made by the university to expose the young criminologists to various entities that will increase their skills acquisition. in the philippine setting, young criminologists who serve as teachers may be new graduates from their four-year college degree. they are hired by various 32 jpair multidisciplinary research universities to supply the academe with the needed manpower who shall teach the student population taking up the bachelor of science in criminology degree. because of this scenario, continuing education is a must with frequent exposures to industry-based skills. moreover, the master of science in criminal justice degree allows them to master the theories and concepts in the discipline. it also enhances their research skills and teaches them various teaching methods and strategies. teachers and the instruction imparted are the keystones to educational reforms and the need for more exact standards of instructions that leads to greater demand for teacher preparedness. schlauch (2003) discusses the significance of teacher education and preparation, and the impact that teachers and instruction have on students and the nation. according to dodge-quick (2011), self-efficacy is noted as personal judgment concerning one’s abilities to carry out and perform as expected. support to enhance teaching competence the second and the last identified major theme under the aspirations of young criminologists in teaching practice was on their desire to attain quality education in the field of criminology and criminal justice. quality education should be advocated through continuous improvement on the core areas of the criminology and criminal justice education program like the faculty, instruction, library, and the laboratory areas to meet or exceed the minimum standards as required by government agencies and instrumentalities. concerned individuals need to submit for quality assurance through accreditation. hence, the criminology program will be able to develop a formalized structure of continuous improvement, positively impact the teaching strategies (teacher-learner relationship), produce competent graduates, gives prestige to the school, provide guidance for parents and students in the choice of criminology school, and avail of financial assistance from the government. conclusion there are nine themes which emerged in this study. these nine themes are low confidence, difficulties in oral and written communication, a teacher by accident, lack of preparation for teaching practice, job satisfaction, professional status, technical skills, professional and personal growth, and support to enhance teaching competence. these themes are closely related. these themes can be regrouped into three major categories which are all contributing factors to their 33 international peer reviewed journal performance as young teachers. this includes motivation to sustain their teaching profession, the capability to deliver what expected of them, and the opportunity to grow and develop as professionals and individuals. the findings of this study are not generalizable beyond the 10 research informants. future researches may be conducted, exploring the plight and aspirations of young criminologists in the teaching practice with another group of informants in order to substantiate the findings. future researches may also be considered as researchers to ascertain the plight and aspirations of young criminologists in the teaching practice in other parts of the country and to enhance the knowledge base as well as address the issues, and concerns related to the present study. furthermore, research may be conducted to re-interview some of the research informants in the present study to see whether their views and perceptions have changed over time. in addition, researches may be done to discover the students’ and school administrators’ observations on the plight and aspirations of young criminologists in the teaching practice to authenticate the findings of this investigation. translational research the findings of this study can be translated as a training and development manual for the human resource department and the college of criminal justice. the manual may consist of five sections in the aspects of continuing education, research, industry immersion, teaching methodologies and strategies, and sustainable extension programs. the human resource director, the dean of the college of criminal justice and the faculty members, shall craft policies related to these aspects in order to equip the young criminologists who serve as faculty in the department. the manual shall serve as a guide to develop the young criminologists and shall be evaluated on a periodic basis. literature cited alexander, c.d., & fuller, e. 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(2000). value-added assessment from student achievement data: opportunities and hurdles create national evaluation institute july 21, 2000. journal of personnel evaluation in education, 14(4), 329-339. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1013008006096 schacter, j. (2001). teacher performance-based accountability: why, what and how. retrieved march, 27, 2003. retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar. org/37ba/a325d25ee53f171515289b38ca3da6aedabc.pdf schermerhorn, j. r. (2007).  exploring management: in modules. recording for the blind & dyslexic. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xdikyt schleicher, a. (2011). lessons from the world on effective teaching and learning environments. journal of teacher education, 62(2), 202-221. doi: 10.1177/0022487110386966. https://goo.gl/tqw9d1 https://goo.gl/tqw9d1 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f004005991004200504 https://goo.gl/7jkshn https://goo.gl/7jkshn https://goo.gl/f46ikm https://goo.gl/f46ikm https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1013008006096 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/37ba/a325d25ee53f171515289b38ca3da6aedabc.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/37ba/a325d25ee53f171515289b38ca3da6aedabc.pdf https://bit.ly/2xdikyt 1 international peer reviewed journal abstract in many parts of the world, qualitative research is still new. this can be evidenced in the limited number of qualitative research theses, dissertations, and journal article publications in asian higher education institutions and journals. in fact, many institutions hardly offer qualitative research courses in their graduate programs. however, qualitative research is steadily growing. more and more people in many different fields are embracing it. looking at the historical foundation of qualitative research, it is important to recognize the first publication of a qualitative research design by glaser and strauss (1967) half a century ago. this book is generally accepted as the pioneering work in the field of qualitative research. this manuscript presents an overview of what the classical grounded theory by these two pillars of qualitative research is all about and examples of grounded theory: a practical overview of the glaserian school carlos biaggi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0276-6275 carlos.biaggi@meu.edu.lb middle east university sabtieh, lebanon safary wa-mbaleka https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7292-1058 wa-mbalekas@aiias.edu adventist international institute of advanced studies cavite, philippines originality: 98 • grammar check: 98 • plagiarism: 2 vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.573 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0276-6275 mailto:leif.hongisto@meu.edu.lb https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7292-1058 mailto:wa-mbalekas@aiias.edu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research how to implement it effectively in carrying out a research study. this manuscript is intended to provide a practical understanding of grounded theory for novice qualitative researchers and a refresher for experienced ones. keywords — grounded theory, glaser, qualitative research, philippines introduction glaser and strauss (1967) created the grounded theory (gt) methodology as a methodology to generate theory from data generated from the qualitative research methods. this was meant to be a response to the ‘grand theorists’ of that time (holton & walsh, 2017). in the 50 years since its initial use by glaser and strauss, gt has become the most used qualitative research design in the world (bryant & charmaz, 2010; birks & mills, 2015) or so do many claims. however, the methodology has been misunderstood and misrepresented (charmaz, 2014), leaving novice researchers confused and disoriented. hence, the purpose of this paper is to describe the main characteristics of gt, with the aim of assisting researchers wishing to use the methodology for the first time. as we describe different aspects of the methodology, we will illustrate it with our own journey and experience from using it. in the following sections, we will describe gt as a research design, the most frequently used types and sources of data, and options for data analysis and treatment. then, we will offer conclusions and recommendations for successful use of grounded theory. defining grounded theory as a research design glaser and strauss define grounded theory as “the discovery of theory from data–systematically obtained and analyzed in social research” (1967, p. 1). it involves a “systematic, inductive, and comparative approach for conducting an inquiry for the purpose of constructing theory” (bryant & charmaz, 2010, p. 1). even though today the term gt is also used to describe a method used to analyze data, the true key goal of gt is to generate a theory grounded in the data (urquhart, 2013). therefore, based on its purpose, gt is primarily a research design, as well as a method of data analysis. part of the confusion is due to differences in the application of the methodology between the two creators (glaser and strauss), and subsequent differences in researchers that followed. hence, it is important to understand the key differences between gt schools. in this section, we describe and distinguish 3 international peer reviewed journal between the different gt schools. next, we compare the procedures used in the two main schools. then, we briefly explain for which studies gt is suitable, and the key characteristics of a theory. and finally, we address a debated issue, the positioning of the researcher. gt schools bryant and charmaz (2010) suggest that the different current variations of gt can be classified into three main schools: the glaserian, the strauss and corbin, and the constructivist schools. the glaserian, and strauss and corbin schools began due to a split between the founders of gt based on methodological and theoretical differences (bryan & charmaz, 2010). strauss and corbin (1990) offered a conditional matrix to help the conceptualization process, thus proposing a more formulistic methodology. the matrix is “an analytic device to stimulate analysts’ thinking about the relationships between macro and micro conditions/consequences both to each other and to process” (strauss & corbin, 1998, p. 181). on the other hand, glaser (2002; 2013) claims to lead the traditional school (following the original 1967 methodology), arguing that the researcher should let the theory emerge freely from the raw data without the use of any restrictive formula. later, strauss and corbin (1998), and corbin and strauss (2008) clarified that their paradigm or perspective is only one of many that can be applied. the third school, the constructivist school, proposes that theory is to be mutually constructed by participants and the researcher, focusing on the interpretative and discursive elements of social experiences and meaning (charmaz, 2005; clarke, 2005). glaser (2002b) contends that charmaz (2000) collected her data over a protracted period, and hence constructivist data is simply another type of data. interestingly, while some authors (e.g., birks & mills, 2015; mills, bonner, & francis, 2006) advocate philosophical differences underpinning each school, others (e.g., charmaz, 2006; glaser, 2005; urquhart, 2013) suggest that gt is philosophy-neutral, and recommend looking at it “as a container into which any content can be poured… rather than seeking an inherent philosophical bias that may or may not be present in the method” (urquhart, 2013). for glaser (2005), the philosophical debate reduces the potential of gt. nevertheless, to have an idea of the assumed philosophical differences, some researchers place the glaserian school as critical realist (within post-positivism), the strauss and corbin school as interpretivist (with influences of pragmatism and symbolic interactionism), and the constructivist school as its name indicates (e.g., annells, 4 jpair multidisciplinary research 1996; birks & mills, 2015; madill et al., 2000). critical realist ontology assumes that “reality can never be perfectly apprehended” (burrell & morgan, as cited in brand, 2009, p. 438), and hence the best possible understanding is achieved through critical consideration. interpretivist ontology assumes that humans impose perceptions into the world, thus creating reality (morgan & smircich, 1980), while constructivist assumes local and specific constructed realities (guba & lincoln, 1994). characteristics of the glaserian school following the glaserian school, urquhart et al. (2010) and urquhart (2013) describe gt as having four key characteristics: theory building is its purpose; ignorance of preconceived ideas, constant comparison, and theoretical sampling. the purpose is theory building. the primary purpose of gt as used by glaser and strauss (1967) was the development of theory grounded in qualitative data. thus, while secondary goals may be achieved through gt (such as qualitative data analysis), the key objective is theory building. while other qualitative designs such as phenomenology emphasize the lived and subjective experiences of participants and report data in a fairly raw form, gt is concerned with the theoretical statements that are abstracted from those experiences (suddaby, 2006). researchers, therefore, need to have theoretical sensitivity (urquhart, 2013); that is, the ability to immerse in the field, ideas, and context where theory is being sought (glaser, 1978), because it enables them to conceptualize the theory within the data. this is critical since a study that claims to use gt but does not result in a theory is not a gt study. theoretical sensitivity is the researchers’ “openness to new or unexpected interpretations of the data, the skill with which they combine literature, data, and experience, and their attention to subtleties of meaning” (suddaby, 2006, p. 640). in other words, theoretical sensitivity is “the ability to see relevant data and to reflect upon empirical data material with the help of theoretical terms” (kelle, 2005, para.11) in the process of theory building. ignoring preconceived ideas. the second characteristic, ignoring preconceived theoretical ideas, has brought much controversy. glaser’s (1992) dictum is to ignore literature in the substantive field of inquiry until the theory is developed from data has advanced enough to relate to existing literature. the reason for this dictum is to assist the researcher in preventing existing theories 5 international peer reviewed journal from contaminating, stifling, or impeding the generation of categories from the data. it is based on this assumption that in gt studies, the existing literature is one of the sources of data and usually no theoretical framework should be used before the beginning of the study. glaser (2013) proposes, “when using gt, forget what you are supposed to find and just see what you are finding” (p. 5). a gt theory should be “free of preconceived frameworks of any kind” (holton, as cited in glaser, 2013, p. 5). similarly, urquhart (2013) recommends allowing “the data to tell its own story in the first instance, build a theory, [and] then, subsequently, engage your theory with the theory[ies] that you thought you might impose initially. you can then see if your emergent theory confirms or challenges existing theories” (p. 17). likewise, suddaby (2006) points that there is a danger that prior knowledge may “force the researcher into testing hypotheses, either overtly or unconsciously, rather than directly observing” (p. 635). however, he explains that there is no justification for the ignorance of existing knowledge. hence, suddaby (2006) suggests reviewing several substantive areas (rather than reviewing research that focuses on a particular substantive area), being “aware of the possibility that you are being influenced by preexisting conceptualizations of your subject area” (p. 635), while unleashing new theory (rather than elaborating existing theory). in addition, he recommends researchers to continuously remind themselves that observations are a “function of both who you are and what you hope to see” in the study under exploration (suddaby, 2006, p. 635). we propose you ignore the literature in your substantive area of study until your theory is developed. then, use the extant literature as a source of data from which to theoretically sample. constant comparison. thirdly, the process of analysis and conceptualization is achieved through constant comparison—the iterative process of deriving categories and more abstract classifications through comparison (bryant & charmaz, 2010). every piece of data is compared with existing concepts to determine if it enhances existing categories, forms a new category, or links two of them (urquhart et al., 2010). by iteratively comparing incidents, codes, categories, and a categories’ properties and dimensions, the level of abstraction increases until the theory emerges (birks & mills, 2015). since constant comparison means simultaneously collecting and analyzing data, it violates the positivist separation between data collection and analysis (suddaby, 2006). “it is the constant comparison of the different conceptual levels of data analysis that drives theoretical sampling and the ongoing generation or collection of 6 jpair multidisciplinary research data” (birks & mills, 2015, p. 94). the possibility of comparing the data of one interview with the data of another interview, and at the same time being able to conduct an additional interview yields a tremendous result in the development of codes and categories for the theory. in addition, the emergent theory is compared with the literature, and “constantly modified until it is fit, relevant, and adaptable… until the point of theoretical saturation” (fukofuka, 2012, p. 53). theoretical saturation is achieved when “the researcher sees similar instances over and over again… [becoming] empirically confident that a category is saturated” (glaser & strauss, 1967, p. 61). theoretical saturation also signals the stopping of theoretical sampling for a given category (birks & mills, 2015). hence, data collection stops after enough data has been collected to build a convincing theory (morse & field, 1995). suddaby (2006) argues that the signals of repetition and confirmation of conceptual categories are pragmatic and depend on both the study’s context and the researcher’s theoretical sensitivity. the glaserian approach embarks on three types of comparison (glaser & strauss, 1967; holton, 2007; evans, 2013). first, by comparing incidents with incidents, concepts emerge. second, from the comparison of concepts with more incidents, categories emerge (a higher theoretical development, densification, and saturation). third, theoretical integration results by comparing categories to categories. in the glaserian approach, constant comparison relies on an inductive-deductive mix (evans, 2013; glaser, 1978, 1992). while inductive analysis refers to extrapolating patterns from across individual cases to build conceptual categories (bryant & charmaz, 2010), deduction refers to a careful “grounded deduction based on an induced category, which directs the researcher on where to go next for data… (theoretical sampling) for comparative purposes” (elliott & higgins, 2012, p. 1). thus, the deduction serves induction (elliott & higgins, 2012). glaser (2012) encourages researchers to be patient because constant comparison will eventually yield fruit. according to him, “patterns are always there and will emerge, usually faster than expected, especially if the researcher starts with field notes and then coding the data immediately and then uses emergent questions from the coding to see if the codes work with relevance and fit” (p. 4). hence, researchers need to be “open to what is really going on”, tolerant to ambiguity, to reduce the “‘what ought to be’ to ‘what is’” (glaser, 2012, p. 5). according to glaser (2012), when researchers suspend suppositions to see what is actually there, they experience joy and energy. 7 international peer reviewed journal theoretical sampling. finally, the fourth key characteristic of gt is theoretical sampling, meaning that the next data source and the final sample size are determined analytically by the theory under construction (andrade, 2009). unique to gt, theoretical sampling ensures that the process of theory generation is emergent (birks & mills, 2015). glaser and strauss (1967) defined theoretical sampling as “the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them to develop his theory as it emerges” (p. 45). since theoretical sampling means that the theory under construction determines the next data to be collected, it violates the positivist notion that data is collected by a priori hypotheses (suddaby, 2006). in traditional sampling strategies, the sample (what, who, where, how, when) is decided as part of the planning stage. however, since the goal of gt is to develop theory from the data, the emerging theory informs the researcher the what (data), who and how many (participants), where, how, and when to collect data (birks & mills, 2015). hence, theoretical sampling is highly related to the researcher’s theoretical sensitivity. birks and mills (2011) propose that in gt the process of data collection starts with purposeful sampling, and then continues with intercalated stages of constant comparative analysis (that generates theory) and theoretical sampling. however, glaser & holton (2007) propose to simply collect any data from the substantive area of interest (though starting with an expert can be helpful), keeping coding ‘open’ until the core category emerges. for them, theoretical sampling begins after the core category has been identified. similarly, charmaz (2006) claims that theoretical sampling begins after the development of categories. procedures in gt following different gt schools, there are different gt canons and procedures available (e.g., corbin & strauss, 1990; urquhart, 2007). here, after a brief reference to the corbin and strauss school, we unpack the procedures of the glaserian school. corbin and strauss (1990) offer detailed procedures that are summarized in 11 canons. these are: 1) concurrent data collection and analysis allow directing the researcher to the next interview or document through theoretical sampling, as well as capturing all relevant dimensions of the topic. however, concepts need to be repeatedly present to be retained. 2) the basic unit of analysis is the concepts, not the raw data. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research 3) “categories must be developed and related” (corbin & strauss, 1990, p. 7). groups of concepts form higher level and more abstract categories, the cornerstones of the theory. this abstraction is achieved by the concept’s properties, dimensions, conditions, interaction, and consequences. in turn, categories are related to form the theory. 4) theoretical sampling is done “in term of concepts, their properties, dimensions, and variations” (corbin & strauss, 1990, p. 8), allowing representativeness of concepts (conditions, interaction, consequences, and variations), and consistency of indicators. 5) constant comparison, the search for similarities and differences, guards against bias and render greater precision, and consistency. 6) patterns and variations must be sought. 7) the theory must have some sort of process, whether in terms of stages, action, or flexibility. 8) theoretical memos allow keeping track of categories, hypothesis, and emerging questions; thus, providing a solid base for reporting. 9) relationships between categories should be developed and confirmed. hypotheses should be revised during the research process, seeking to retain or disregard them. 10) consulting other researchers or working in teams allows testing out concepts and relationships. 11) “broader structural conditions must be analyzed” (corbin & strauss, 1990, p. 11), such as economic, cultural, political, and social contexts. corbin and strauss (1990) recognize the risk of being labeled as formalistic and sectarian, but prefer to offer the above-mentioned procedures going beyond the original glaser and strauss’ (1967) canons. on the other hand, the glaserian school claims to remain true to the original glaser and strauss (1967) canons. one of its proponents, urquhart (2007), offers five guidelines for gt: 1) if a research design insists on a literature review being conducted before the research is carried out, then conduct a literature review as orientation. hence, the literature review should be of related (and not substantive) areas, to prevent from forcing the data to fit existing theories (glaser, 2007). 2) code directly for the theory. the coding should not describe superficial themes, but should be theory-centered. 9 international peer reviewed journal 3) use theoretical memos. memos should be used as theoretical insights of the relationships among variables. 4) build the theory and compare it with other theories. the emergent theory should be compared with existing theories to guarantee novelty. 5) clearly label the procedures. a clear chain of procedures from data to theory must support the outcome. glaser (1978; 1998) also offers a set of procedures. his chain of procedures is formed by inputs and outputs. while the inputs are collecting, coding, and analyzing the data, the outputs are categorizing, memoing, sorting, and writing the theory. in the input process, the researcher is expected to collect and simultaneously code and analyze the data. during this period, the researcher is expected not to read any literature in the substantive area. such an approach helps the researcher prevent being influenced by the existing literature, which could contaminate the data analysis. in the output phase, the researcher develops categories by linking open codes (see selective coding below), and writes his/her insights in memos. theoretical memos are the “written records of a researcher’s thinking during the process of undertaking a grounded theory study” (birks & mills, 2015, p. 10). memos are the ideas that impact the researcher’s mind while collecting and analyzing data that are useful for theory generation (glaser & strauss, 1967). since memos help to generate codes and categories (saldaña, 2009), they are important in data analysis as they help shift from description to abstract conceptualization (glaser, 1978). glaser (1978) recommends starting to sort the codes anywhere and sort everything as it relates to the core category. further, he suggests to write more memos while sorting and include them in the sorting, as a way to emerge new relationships between categories (theoretical codes), as well as reach density and saturation. as for each memo, “‘where does it fit in?’ the fitting action occurs by constantly questioning and comparing each idea to the emerging outline, as the analyst moves back and forth between outline and ideas as he sorts” (glaser, 1978, p. 123). the researcher sorts and sorts the memos again and again until he or she finally discovers the core category. glaser (1998) suggests sorting of memos in a way to create the outline of the write-up report, dividing it into sections, paragraphs, and even sentences. the last step of the output phase is about writing the theory. following glaser (1978, 1998), the writing starts with a first draft in which the theory is 10 jpair multidisciplinary research explained without seeking grammatical perfection and style. then, the literature is explored, analyzed, categorized, and intertwined into the writing. the literature may not be revered but it should be incorporated as more data into the analysis. it should be used to determine the place of the emergent theory within the existing body of knowledge. after several steps of rewriting, editing, and improving, the final body of the grounded theory manuscript can emerge as a result. while reading a grounded theory paper, be reminded that every element of the gt—every category, dimension, and property—introduced must be based on the sources of data used. the credibility of the theory should be won by its integration, relevance and workability, not by an illustration used as if it were proof. the assumption of the reader, he should be advised, is that all concepts are grounded and that this massive grounding effort could not be shown in writing. also, that as grounded they are not proven; they are only suggested. the theory is an integrated set of hypotheses, not of findings. proofs are not the point. (glaser, 1978, p. 134) in the written report of a gt study, the researcher should mainly concentrate on explaining the theory, giving limited space to illustrations. hence, the reader should be informed that the grounding endeavor will be briefly exemplified. in addition, the reader should understand that “grounded” means suggestions, but not proof (glaser, 1978). therefore, the goal of a gt report is not to show how hypotheses were reached, but to modestly present the emergent theory. the theory may be viewed as a “‘slice’ of a growing theory” (glaser, 1978, p. 141) from which the reader may benefit or further expand. lastly, a gt written report should intend to favor conceptual meaning over illustration. for this purpose, we recommend following glaser’s (1998) two rules of writing a gt report. first, he recommends to “think theoretical codes, write substantive codes” (glaser, 1998, p. 197). hence, theoretical codes should be implied in the writing. second, “try to always relate concept to concept instead of concept to people, which lowers the conceptual level” (glaser, 1998, p. 197). thus, the report should focus on concepts rather than on people. suitability of grounded theory method in their argument, birks and mills (2011) argued that gt is appropriate when the purpose of the study is theory building—especially when there is a 11 international peer reviewed journal paucity of research literature in this area (see also glaser, 1978, 2007; glaser & strauss, 1967; suddaby, 2006). furthermore, gt allows the researcher to use theoretical memos to raise the level of abstraction from description to theoretical completeness. birk and mills (2011) argued that gt is appropriate when “the inherent process is embedded in the research situation that is likely to be explicated by the grounded theory methods” (p. 16). in gt, the researcher is expected to go beyond the description of data into the realm of theory with explanatory power (see glaser & strauss, 1967; strauss & corbin, 1990). characteristics of a theory in gt, theories must meet the requirements of fitness, workability, relevance, and modifiability (glaser, 1978, 1998): 1. fitness: the theory must emerge from the data, must be modified by the data, and therefore must fit the data. 2. workability: the theory “should be able to explain what happened, predict what will happen and interpret what is happening in an area of substantive or formal inquiry” (glaser, 1978, p. 4). 3. relevance: the theory should be relevant for explaining, interpreting, and predicting reality. “it deals with the main concerns of the participants involved. . . . [evoking] instant grab” (glaser, 1998, p. 18). 4. modifiability: the theory must be flexible enough to be modified as new data demands and new light about the new theory emerges. there are two types of theories that can result from a gt study (corbin & strauss, 2015): substantive and formal theory. while substantive theories explain particular phenomena in specific areas (charmaz, 2006), formal theories deal with generic issues, are more abstract, and are applicable in a much wider range of disciplines (strauss & corbin, 1998). formal theories explain core categories void of people, time, and space (glaser, 2006). for instance, a theory that explains how to become an accountant or a nurse is a substantive theory while a theory that explains how to become a professional in any field is a formal theory (corbin & strauss, 2015). hence, most grounded theories are substantive. for instance, in biaggi’s (2014) doctoral dissertation, the gt study offered a theory of unethical behavior derived from the perceptions of the leaders of seventh-day adventist organizations (substantive area). however, the theory was compared with literature from other substantive areas, such as business and management. therefore, as a result of that comparison and of the level of abstraction reached, 12 jpair multidisciplinary research the theory moved from substantive to formal theory (in this paper biaggi’s thesis will be used to illustrate some concepts). positioning birks and mills (2011) recommend gt researchers to position themselves in terms of philosophy, knowledge of the subject matter, findings expected, and concerns or fears (see also brand, 2009; crane, 1999; suddaby, 2006). since the last three elements are comparably easy, we will develop only the first one; that is, the philosophical positioning. the researcher should compare different philosophical (or paradigm) typologies used in the respective discipline, and choose his or her philosophical positioning from those available. after analyzing three paradigm typologies (burrell & morgan, 1979; crotty, 1998; guba & lincoln, 1994), biaggi (2014) decided to use crotty’s (1998) typology, because of its flexibility. crotty (1998) offers a table with four elements: epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology, and methods (see table 1 below). for crotty (1998), the methods are the procedures selected to collect and analyze data, and the methodology is “the strategy, plan of action, process or design lying behind the choice and use of particular methods and linking the choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes” (p. 3). for him, the theoretical perspective is “the philosophical stance informing the methodology and thus providing a context for the process and grounding its logic and criteria” (crotty, 1998, p. 3). last, epistemology is “the theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical perspective and thereby in the methodology” (crotty, 1998, p. 3), the “how we know what we know” (p. 8). from crotty’s perspective, all these elements come together to explain the philosophical underpinning of a gt study. table 1. positioning from the philosophical perspective epistemology theoretical perspective methodology methods objectivism constructionism subjectivism (and their variants) positivism (and postpositivism) interpretivism • symbolic interactionism • phenomenology • hermeneutics experimental research survey research ethnography phenomenological research sampling measurement and scaling questionnaire observation • participant • non-participant 13 international peer reviewed journal epistemology theoretical perspective methodology methods critical inquiry feminism postmodernism etc. grounded theory heuristic inquiry action research discourse analysis feminist standpoint research etc. interview focus group case study life history narrative visual ethnographic methods statistical analysis data reduction-n theme identification comparative analysis cognitive mapping interpretative methods document analysis content analysis conversation analysis etc. note: from the foundations of social research: meaning and perspective in the research process (p. 5), by m. crotty, 1998, sidney, australia: allen & unwin. while guba and lincoln (1994) argue that each paradigm allows only a reduced set of methodologies, for crotty (1998), any paradigm (that he subdivides into epistemologies intertwined with their corresponding theoretical perspectives) can use any methodology and method(s). crotty argues that in combining the four elements, the only restrictions relate to the fact that positivism (and postpositivism) is objectivist, phenomenology is constructionist, and postmodernism cannot be objectivist. this idea seems to correspond with proponents of the glaserian school of gt, who claim that gt is merely a tool that can be used independently of the researcher’s philosophical underpinnings (see glaser, 2005; urquhart, 2013). for example, in biaggi’s (2014) dissertation, the philosophical positioning was described as follows (p. 38): from crotty’s (1998) epistemologies, i embrace an objectivist epistemology. i believe that “things exist as meaningful entities independently of consciousness and experience, that they have truth and meaning residing in them as objects (‘objective’ truth and meaning, therefore), and that 14 jpair multidisciplinary research careful (scientific?) research can attain that objective truth and meaning” (crotty, 1998, pp. 5-6). god created everything that exists, knows it all, and gives us the opportunity to know some of it (prov 1:7; 2:6; gnt). hence, as a result of earnestly seeking god’s wisdom, god can help humans understand “what is right, just, and fair” (2:9), and that knowledge holds power to “prevent . . . [people] from doing the wrong thing” (2:12). from crotty’s (1998) theoretical perspectives, i uphold a post-positivist perspective. since we are fallible and imperfect humans, our findings must remain as probably true, until the day when god reveals the definite truth. as such, “assertions about reality must nonetheless be subjected as far as possible to critical consideration in an attempt to achieve the best possible understanding” (brand, 2009, p. 438). types and sources of data in gt, “all is data” (glaser, 2007, p. 1). thus, any information that is useful for developing the emergent theory should be included as data. this paper describes three sources of data commonly used in gt: interviews, literature, and survey. interviews interviews are the principal method of data collection used in gt (birks & mills, 2015). as recommended by birks and mills (2011), the interviews should be flexible, varying in content and format within and between interviews. since “less structure is better from the perspective of following where the conversation takes you” (birks & mills, 2015, p. 75), the interviews are recommended to be unstructured. glaser (2013) argued, “preconceived interview guides and questionnaires block emergence with a pre-framed thought about the way it should be” (p. 4). in addition, reflecting and taking notes help correct mistakes in subsequent interviews (birks & mills, 2015). the interviews can be synchronous, by telephone, or video conference (scott, 2011)., and can be one-on-one or by groups (hernandez, 2011). though glaser (1998) normally opposes the recording of interviews (for being inefficient and preventing a focus on conceptualization), he acknowledges situations where it can be the only way to collect data (nilsson, 2011). we took birks and mills’s (2011) advice for novice researchers and fully recorded the interviews. as it is recommended in most qualitative research studies, audio-recording an interview helps the researcher focus on the actual interview, knowing that a device is 15 international peer reviewed journal recording. it also helps with transcription, which is done verbatim. however, the researcher should be aware that it can be more difficult to code from transcripts than it is from field notes; the former can bury the patterns in their detail. in addition, the mixing of qda (qualitative data analysis) and gt methodologies has the effect of downgrading and eroding the gt goal of conceptual theory (glaser & holton, 2004). if possible, it is important to cite authors in the field of study who call for in-depth interviews. for instance, biaggi’s (2014) study answered calls of some researchers in the business ethics discipline (e.g., badaracco & webb, 1995; brand, 2009; poole, 2009) who suggest greater attention to questions that are answerable within a qualitative approach, taking into consideration the situated and contextual nature of business ethics knowledge. in addition, this study answered calls to more transactional and constructed findings, more than collecting a “limited, truncated and artificially concise response” (brand, 2009, p. 447). after interviewing 30 young managers, badaracco and webb (1995) suggested the use of in-depth interviews rather than questionnaires “for understanding the role of business ethics in organizations and for making it more effective” (p. 25). similarly, in the subfield of corporate codes of ethics, some researchers give credit to in-depth interviews (bryman, 2003; helin & sandstrom, 2007; kitson, 1996; schwartz, 2001; snell, chak, & chu, 1999). brand (2009) also highlights some of the advantages of in-depth interviews for business ethics research: (a) allow the researchers to raise issues that were not expected and that would not have been included in a closed-question questionnaire, (b) enable to grasp the context of responses, (c) permit insights into a respondent’s perceptions and analysis, (d) offer seeing complexities and nuances, (e) allows capturing significant penumbra of the interaction—the way a respondent reacts to a question, (f ) enable probing misunderstandings (cultural or language), and (g) offer a broader picture of the respondent’s understanding of a matter. interview questions should not be guided by the literature review, but should intend to seek the participants’ ideas (glaser, 1998). thus, the use of fairly unstructured and neutral questions is critical to ensure that data collection is guided by the data and not by preconceived ideas (elliott & higgins, 2012). interview questions can then progressively become more theoretically focused as categories emerge (higgins, 2007). thus, the inductive approach is assured (glaser, 1998). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research literature review as data since glaser (2007) argues that “all is data” (p. 1), the literature review is also considered data. in gt, literature is not revered, and its relevance for the theory is treated as with any other type of data (glaser, 1998). theoretical sampling and subsequent analysis guide the selection of the relevant literature to be used as data (birks & mills, 2015), leading to a possible increase in its use as the study advances (dick, 2000). glaser (1998) is very strong in arguing that in gt, the literature review in the substantive field should not be done until the new theory has emerged. at that stage, the literature is “woven into the theory as more data for constant comparison” (glaser, 1998, p. 67). the existing literature is, therefore, not used as a foundational piece as seen in most research studies. it is used to develop the emergent theory. some gt experts argue that knowledge of existing literature is needed (suddaby, 2006 urquhart, 2007). to prevent forcing the emerging theory to fit existing theories, suddaby (2006) proposes reviewing several disciplines that reflect the topic under study, instead of focusing on a single substantive area. on the other hand, glaser (1998) strongly recommends not doing a literature review in the substantive discipline until the grounded theory has emerged for six reasons. first, existing concepts that may not be relevant to the emergent theory may affect the researcher. second, irrelevant problems may derail the researcher from what is important. third, the researcher may begin speculating about relationships that may not fit the data, neglecting that gt provides its own interpretations. fourth, the experts in the field may awe the researcher, hence diminishing his or her theory-building ability. fifth, the researcher may begin using existing jargon instead of using the emergent theory’s jargon; thus jeopardizing his or her theoretical sensitivity. last, since relevant literature is only known after the new theory emerges, precious time may be wasted reviewing the wrong literature. following the glaserian school, we recommend that the relevant literature is determined after the gt emerges, and be used as additional data for constant comparison purposes, as proposed by glaser (1978, 1998). besides, since in a gt, “theory is readily modifiable” (glaser, 1998, p. 77), literature indeed helps to develop new categories and properties. glaser (1998) suggests that the writer should “show yet more properties of categories, inaccuracies, supports, a broader view, syntheses and transcendencies” (p. 207). conducting a thorough literature review before building the new theory from other sources of data, as is done in other research designs, is therefore not advantageous to the gt researcher. 17 international peer reviewed journal survey a survey can also be used for data collection, although this method may not be too common to many qualitative researchers. for example, a researcher that finds an emerging category in his or her study may decide to run a short survey on that category. surveys might also be helpful for use in theoretical sampling. however, it may not be advised in the early stages of gt, because it can preconceive the researcher (as explained above). data analysis and treatment in gt, the aim of discovery and generation of “new categories and their properties, instead of being forced to use received concepts” (glaser, 1998, p. 133) is achieved through the method of constant comparison. “constantly comparing develops in the analyst a clear, focused flexibility to keep transcending his own and other analyses until he theoretically saturates his problem” (glaser, 1978, p. 15). this section describes coding methods, units of analysis, the core category, and the ethical considerations relevant to a gt study. coding methods there are six different coding methods used in gt (open, initial, selective, axial, focused, and theoretical coding). even though different gt authorities use these methods differently, most of them agree in using three coding phases. these phases are described in table 2. although there are different methods available, we will describe glaser’s (1978) open, selective, and theoretical coding methods. table 2. coding phases and coding methods initial coding intermediate coding advanced coding glaser & strauss (1967) coding and comparing incidents integrating categories and properties delimiting the theory glaser (1978) open coding selective coding theoretical coding strauss & corbin (1990, 1998) open coding axial coding selective coding charmaz (2006) initial coding focused coding theoretical coding note: from grounded theory: a practical guide (p. 116), by m. birks & j. mills, 2011, london, uk: sage. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research open coding is the initial data splitting into code segments (saldaña, 2009), with the aim of comparing incidents (glaser & strauss, 1967). glaser (1978) describes it as “coding the data every way possible” (p. 56), with the objective of not closing any possible future direction that the theory may take (urquhart, 2013). these initial codes point to what is important, and suggest directions for analysis (urquhart, 2013). most key gt proponents recommend a line-byline first round of coding, as a means of freeing from preconceptions (charmaz, 2006; glaser, 1978; strauss, 1987). glaser (1998) recommends asking the data the questions, “‘what category does this incident indicate?’ or ‘what property of what category does this incident indicate?’ and lastly ‘what is the participant’s main concern?’ as categories get generated, the next incidents are compared to the category which yields properties of the category” (p. 140). these questions help the researcher to keep his or her theoretical sensitivity, to move beyond description, and to focus on patterns that produce codes (holton, 2007). for example, we will show one transcript snippet and the open code assigned from biaggi’s (2014) study. be aware that all transcripts are verbatim, and that syntax or grammar mistakes were intentionally not fixed. and it is sad. we have many cases which it is not, how to say, addressed at all. people speak behind the hand. but some of them are still in function, and nobody goes deep to clarify those things, because also leaders like more the peace than to be challenged or challenge others. (fn, vol. 4, p. 6) this piece of data was considered a code segment, and it was initially assigned the open code nobody is willing to speak/challenge, a code that we previously thought to possibly help develop a category of the process of misbehavior. codes are called in vivo when it contains words quoted from the participants; which help to minimize being influenced by literature, and keep the focus on their perspectives (elliott & higgins, 2012). the use of in vivo codes and the suspension of the review of literature until the theory has emerged to help keep the view of the participants throughout data analysis (elliott & higgins, 2012). later in the analysis, when the grounded concepts begin emerging, the initial codes are modified, refined, and verified, so that the best fitting concepts are selected (elliott & higgins, 2012). in the example given above, the code was later refined into an organizational culture/overlooked, a code that would help develop a category of the antecedents of misbehavior, rather than the process. the objective of selective coding is to link codes to emerging categories that will eventually contribute to the theory (glaser, 1978). hence, open codes are 19 international peer reviewed journal grouped into categories and subcategories, or into properties and dimensions of categories, according to the research problem (urquhart, 2013). glaser (1978) recommends staying within the boundaries of the discipline when coding not to be led away from the research problem. for urquhart (2013), selective coding starts when no more new open codes are found, and themes start to emerge which may rearrange the data in different ways, raising the analysis from a descriptive to a more abstract form. the constant comparison of categories and their relationships ensure that they are fit and relevant for both previous and new data (glaser, 1978). continuing with the example of the previous paragraph, the open code overlooked became one of the codes grouped under the label lack of policy enforcement, which became one of the three properties of organizational culture, one of the four subcategories of the category opportunity. the objective of theoretical coding is theoretical integration; that is, “the pulling together of the abstract theoretical scheme into a final grounded theory” (birks & mills, 2015, p. 176). thus, theoretical coding involves connecting the different categories (urquhart, 2013). theoretical memos play a critical role in this coding phase, as the researcher grasps and takes notes of links between the codes and categories (urquhart, 2013). again, to ensure a gt, this process is not linear but requires returning to previous coding stages (birks & mills, 2015). though glaser (2005b) recommends using any relevant theoretical code from any discipline, urquhart (2013) recommends researchers to create their own coding families, while remaining true to the data. in addition, charmaz (2006) recommends that the researcher be especially aware of preconceived theories, be objective, and reflective during theoretical coding, to refrain from forcing categories to fit existing theories, as well as moving beyond description into theorizing. relationships between categories can be found in other categories, the literature, and coding families (urquhart, 2013). first, a category may be actually conceptualizing a relationship between other categories. second, literature may aid in providing links between categories. urquhart (2013) offers an interesting list of semantic relationships that may help in the linking of categories: “is a kind of, is a part of/a place in, is a way to, is used for, is a reason for, is a stage of, is a result/cause of, is a place for, is a characteristic of ” (p. 43). third, glaser’s (1978, 2005) coding families may aid in relating categories to each other (e.g.,, process, dimension, type, strategy, frames, and causal families). during the sorting of the theoretical memos, theoretical codes in biaggi’s (2014) study emerged in the form of propositions. for instance, the relationship between self-control (the core category), and rationalizations (one of the categories of antecedents of 20 jpair multidisciplinary research misbehavior) emerged as enables healthy (based on theoretical memo 751). thus, the proposition self-control enables healthy rationalizations was created. glaser (1978) suggests “in all 10 to 15 codes are typically enough for a monograph on a parsimonious substantive theory. . . . over coding is unnecessary. too many codes dilute the impact of core and near core ones, and add only minor variations” (p. 71). biaggi’s (2014) gt had 11 theoretical codes and propositions. units of analysis normally, there are three units of analysis: concepts, categories, and propositions (see figure 1). concepts are the conceptual labels used in initial open coding. categories are the higher order and more abstract codes that similar group concepts generated during the selective coding phase in preparation for the emergence of the new theory. after theoretical coding, propositions describe conceptual relationships between categories and their concepts, as well as relationships between categories. figure 1. units of analysis and coding methods. note. from grounded theory: a practical guide (p. 13), by m. birks & j. mills, 2011, london, uk: sage. 21 international peer reviewed journal identifying the core category in gt, the solution to a problem under study becomes the core category. how the participants resolve their main concern is often the core category. grounded theory tries to understand the action in a substantive area from the point of view of the actors involved. this understanding revolves around the main concern of the participants whose behavior continually resolves their concern. their continual resolving is the core variable. it is the prime mover of most of the behavior seen and talked about in a substantive area. it is what is going on! it emerges as the overriding pattern. (glaser, 1998, p. 115) how do we determine which variable is the core category? glaser (1978) offers 11-items criteria to identify the core category. table 3 provides a summary of these 11 items. they are exemplified in biaggi’s (2014) study below. table 3. criteria to discover the core category criteria definition 1. centrality it “is related to as many other categories and their properties as possible and more than other candidates for the care [sic] category . . . . it indicates that it accounts for a large portion of the variation in a pattern of behavior” (glaser, 1978, p. 95). 2. frequent reoccurrence “by its frequent reoccurrence [sic] it comes to be seen as a stable pattern and becomes more and more related to other variables” (glaser, 1978, p. 95). 3. longer saturation “it takes more time to saturate the core category than other categories” (glaser, 1978, p. 95). 4. quick connections “it relates meaningfully and easily to other categories. these connections need not be forced [sic], rather their realization comes quick and richly” (glaser, 1978, p. 95). 5. grabbing implication for formal theory “a core category in a substantive study has clear and grabbing implication for formal theory” (glaser, 1978, p. 95). 6. carry-through “it does not lead to dead ends in the theory nor leave the analyst high and dry, rather it gets him through the analyses of the processes he is working on, by its relevance and explanatory power” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). 7. completely variable “its frequent relations to other categories makes [sic] it highly dependently variable in degree, dimension and type. conditions vary it easily. it is readily modifiable though these dependent variations” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). 22 jpair multidisciplinary research 8. dimension of the problem “while accounting for variation in the problematic behavior, a core category is also a dimension of the problem. thus, in part, it explains itself and its own variation” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). 9. prevent not-fitting core core categories “tend to prevent two other sources of establishing a core which is not grounded, but without grounding could easily occur: (1) sociological interest and (2) deductive, logical elaboration. these two sources can easily lead to core categories that do not fit the data” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). 10. appears to be everywhere “the analyst begins to see the core category in all relations, whether grounded or not, because it has so much grab and explanatory power. this logical switch must be guarded against, while taking it simultaneously as a positive indicator of the core” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). 11. theoretical code “the core category can be any kind of theoretical code: a process, a condition, two dimensions, a consequence and so forth.” (glaser, 1978, p. 96). note: from theoretical sensitivity: advances in the methodology of grounded theory, by b. g. glaser, 1978, mill valley, ca: sociology. in biaggi’s (2014) study, the category “self-control” for instance fulfilled glaser’s (1978) 11-items criteria for core categories seen in table 3. first, selfcontrol played a central role, connecting with all other categories while accounting for the larger portion of variation in the latent pattern of misbehavior. second, since self-control continuously reoccurred in the data that it became a constant pattern that increasingly related to other categories. third, it required a longer time to saturate than the rest of the categories. fourth, its relationship with other categories emerged easily and meaningfully. fifth, the theory of self-control could easily be extended to become a formal theory of how individuals make value-laden choices in general. sixth, it helped to carry-through the research process, because it was relevant and worked to describe what was happening in the field. seventh, the variability of self-control depended upon variations on other categories. eight, while self-control explained why misbehavior occurred, it was also part of misbehavior. misbehavior happens because the individual chose to misbehave. ninth, the emergence of self-control as core category prevented the emergence of less-fitting core categories such as culture, or organizational factors. tenth, after self-control emerged as the core category, it started recurring 23 international peer reviewed journal everywhere in the data analysis. last, self-control was a theoretical code formed by two dimensions. therefore, self-control was the core category was considered the core category. conclusions it is our hope that this manuscript has helped make gt a little clearer for those interested in it, especially those new to gt. just like most innovations, the first product may not always come with the clearest instructions. this is true also with the glaserian gt for many people. this manuscript is an attempt to clarify important gt concepts for qualitative researchers to understand gt better and thus implement it more effectively and efficiently. this manuscript is in no way exhaustive in the discussion of gt, although we consider it a good overview. readers are therefore encouraged to dig deeper by reading pillars of gt depending on the gt school they find interesting and attractive to them. we encourage qualitative researchers to follow the guidelines of gt carefully when conducting a gt study as it has specific traits unique to it, not found in other qualitative research designs. without proper reading, learning, and understanding of gt, researchers should preferably avoid using it because such an undertaking could lead to an unfounded gt report. readers of this manuscript are also encouraged to read published gt studies in reputable journals such as the qualitative report and grounded theory review: an international journal. literature cited andrade, a. d. 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(1999). codes of ethics in hong kong: their adoption and impact in the run-up to the 1997 transition of sovereignty to china. journal of business ethics, 22(4), 281-309. doi:10.1023/a: 1006043320926 strauss, a. l. (1987). qualitative analysis for social scientists. new york, ny: cambridge university press. https://goo.gl/cepr6w strauss, a. l., & corbin, j. m. (1990). basics of qualitative research: grounded theory procedures and techniques. thousand oaks, ca: sage. https://goo.gl/ ywqqkq strauss, a. l., & corbin, j. m. (1998). basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage. https://goo.gl/xcxmzx suddaby, r. (2006). from the editors: what grounded theory is not. academy of management journal, 49(4), 633-642. https://doi.org/10.5465/ amj.2006.22083020 urquhart, c. (2007). the evolving nature of grounded theory method: the case of information systems discipline. in a. bryant & k. charmaz (eds.), the sage handbook of grounded theory (pp. 339-359). london, uk: sage. retrieved from https://goo.gl/1vjzd2 urquhart, c. (2013). grounded theory for qualitative research: a practical guide. los angeles, ca: sage. retrieved from https://goo.gl/kqsa52 urquhart, c., brice, a., cooper, j., spink, s., & thomas, r. (2010). evaluating the development of virtual communities of practice that support evidence based practice. evidence based library and information practice, 5(1), 48-63. https://doi.org/10.18438/b8z628 https://goo.gl/cepr6w https://goo.gl/ywqqkq https://goo.gl/ywqqkq https://goo.gl/xcxmzx https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2006.22083020 https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2006.22083020 https://goo.gl/1vjzd2 https://goo.gl/kqsa52 https://doi.org/10.18438/b8z628 81 international peer reviewed journal broiler performance and meat quality in response to different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements alex f. jaya http//orcid.org/0000-0002-2228-023x aljay.jrmsutc@gmail.com jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus, znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract the study determined the production performance and meat quality of broilers using different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements. four hundred fifty broiler chicks were randomly distributed to fifteen dietary treatments. five birds in each treatment were used for meat quality evaluation following a 3 x 5 factorial in completely randomized design (crd). no significant differences were observed in the production performance of broilers supplemented with different kinds of bio-organic fertilizers except average daily gain and final live weight. broilers supplemented with higher levels of bio-organic supplements including antibiotic significantly affected the production performance except for average daily water intake and dressing percentage. feed cost per kilogram of broiler produced, feed cost per average daily gain and return above feed, chicks and supplement costs were not significantly affected by the different kinds of bio-organic supplements but significantly affected by the different levels of bioorganic supplements. meat quality was significantly affected by the different kinds of bioorganic supplements except for taste and overall acceptability but was not significantly affected by increasing the levels of bio-organic supplements vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.651 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:aljay.jrmsutc@gmail.com 82 jpair multidisciplinary research including those broilers supplemented with antibiotics in the drinking water. better production performance was observed on broilers supplemented with different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water but did not affect the meat quality. keywords — broiler, production, meat quality, bio-organic supplements, performance evaluation, philippines introduction the increasing population poses an increasing demand for food. the world’s quest for food security and economic development is being obscured by environmental threats, i.e., climate change and global warming (lester & hodges, d. m. 2008). according to the philippine statistics authority, the poultry subsector has increased its production by  5.45 percent  this year. it contributed  18.44 percent  to the total agricultural production. chicken, chicken eggs and duck eggs contributed much to the increased. the gross value of poultry production at current prices amounted to php 56.1 billion, higher by 19.19 percent over the last year’s earnings. despite the level of sophistication, it has achieved, the local industry is still faced with problems that deter its further development. the philippine broiler industry is now faced with the challenge of beefing up production through importation of chicken meat and chicken meat cuts contend pcaard. chang in 2007 stressed out that the philippine broiler industry must aim for more efficient systems of production and marketing, and the government must provide an environment conducive to productivity improvement. poultry is the fastest growing agricultural subsector, especially in developing countries (mottet and temio, 2017). it makes a substantial contribution to food security and nutrition providing energy protein and essential micro-nutrients to humans with short production cycles and the ability to convert a wide range of agri-food by-products and wastes into meat and eggs edible by humans. the 2016 global industry trend rarobank international in barcelona spain predicted that 65% of global protein demand growth is in asia. asian chicken production is 30-50% more expensive as brazilian production (muldez, 2016) poultry experts and industry key players forecasted that poultry consumption would grow around 27 percent or 28 million tons by 2023. this growth is subsequently generated in asia (pelayo casanova, 2016). however, even of a vast 83 international peer reviewed journal and fast truck of modern poultry industry, food safety and quality issues are of great constraint. integrity and ethics in production with the aid of an external audit gain importance stressing on the wide information awareness on reducing antibiotic supplementation among poultry species. “antibiotic-free production has many challenges, but it is not going away according to muldez (2016) report on global trend rarobank international. one of the shortcomings in the industry is the reality of so many food scandals-because dishonest companies were not punished and if not companies are not strictly supervised. however, according to mottet and tempio, 2017, poultry represents a threat to human health especially as a vector of infectious diseases and because of its role in antimicrobial resistance aside from its significant impact to natural resource depletion and climate change-inducing practices in feed production. in response, the philippine government through its policy-making bodies promulgated the philippine organic agriculture act of 2010 or the republic act 10068. this act encouraged farmers and stakeholders to promote organic farming thereby prohibiting the use of chemically promulgated and synthetically made farm inputs. this further emphasizes a natural way of farming by using indigenous and locally available resources in the production of goods and services most wanted by consumers. the issue complicates upon the persuasive public awareness on the effects of antibiotics on human health. thus, alternative bio-organic supplements were explored to lessen if not eliminate antibiotic and its derivatives in animal diets. limited studies if any have been done on the use of bio-organic water supplements on the production performance and meat quality of broilers fed with commercial ration. hence, the study was conducted. objectives of the study generally, the study was conducted to determine production performance and meat quality of broilers fed with commercial ration supplemented with different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements. specifically, the study will answer the following points (1) determine the average daily feed intake, average daily gain, average daily water intake and average feed conversion efficiency, average final live weight, average dressing percentage of broiler fed with commercial rations supplemented with different kinds and levels of bioorganic supplements; (2)compute the average feed cost per kilogram of broiler 84 jpair multidisciplinary research produced, feed cost per average daily gain of broiler and return above feed cost, chick and supplement costs of broilers fed with commercial ration supplemented with different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements; (3)compare the effects of supplementing different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements on meat quality in terms of color, odor, texture, tenderness, juiciness, and taste and overall acceptability. methodology research design this study made use of an experimental type of research design with 15 experimental units laid-out in two (2) factorial design. research site the study was conducted from january 4 to may 4, 2015, at the poultry project of jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus, znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. instrumentation facilities such as incandescent bulbs, brooding and rearing pens, feeding trough and waterers, weighing scale, wood shavings, old newspapers (as bedding materials) and record book were provided and were used in the study. a total of 450 broiler chicks were used in this study. design and treatments three kinds (factor a) and five levels (factor b) of bio-organic supplements resulting in 15 treatment combinations were considered in the study. thirty (30) birds were assigned to each treatment with ten birds representing a replication making a total of four hundred fifty (450) randomly arranged in a 3 x 5 factorial completely randomized design (crd). the components of factor a consisted of three kinds of bio-organic supplements: and factor b consisted of 5 levels of bioorganic supplements: 0, 5, 10, and 15 ml per liter of water except treatment 2 (5 ml of antibiotic per liter of water). 85 international peer reviewed journal the treatment combinations were as follows: table 1. treatment combinations of the study showing the different factors (a & b) considered in the study treatment no. factor a kinds of bio-organic supplements factor b levels of bio-organic supplements t1 ffj 0 t2 ffj 5 ml antibiotic/liter of water t3 ffj 5 ml/liter of water t4 ffj 10 ml/liter of water t5 ffj 15ml/liter of water t6 fpj 0 t7 fpj 5 ml antibiotic/liter of water t8 fpj 5 ml/liter of water t9 fpj 10 ml/liter of water t10 fpj 15ml/liter of water t11 imo 0 t12 imo 5 ml antibiotic/liter of water t13 imo 5 ml/liter of water t14 imo 10 ml/liter of water t15 imo 15ml/liter of water the different kinds of bio-organic supplements were prepared using the standard procedures of the bureau of agricultural research – department of agriculture. brooding management an hour before stocking, installed bulbs were turned on. when the chicks arrived, they were provided with dextrose powder dissolved in the water. an hour later, they were given with chick booster mash sprinkled on the newspaper matting. to determine whether the environmental temperature of the brooder was comfortable to the chicks, their behaviors were observed. when the chicks get crowded under near the source of heat, the temperature was cold and the height of the bulbs was reduced. when the chicks moved to the periphery and away from the source of heat, the temperature was too high and the bulbs were 86 jpair multidisciplinary research raised. as soon as the chicks are able to withstand the ambient temperature, the bulbs were permanently raised to a height of five feet from the flooring and served as a source of light at night. feeding management the feeding program of the animal science unity, broiler project was followed. chick booster mash was given during the first two weeks. on the third and fourth week, the birds were fed with broiler starter crumble. shifting from one class of feed to another was done gradually. medication program a dextrose solution was given a few hours upon arrival of chicks. for treatment 2, the antibiotic was given on the first three days and the 24th up to the 26th day. ncd b1 b1 was administered intranasal when chicks were seven days old. vitamins adek were given after vaccination. in treatments 2, 4 and 5, the medications of chicks were substituted with bio-organic supplements with the rate of 5 ml, 10 ml and 15 per liter of water, respectively. the control treatment was not supplemented with antibiotic and bio-organic supplements. the treatment preparations were given in the morning and in the afternoon. meat quality evaluation meat quality was evaluated utilizing the breast part of the carcass. the meat samples were oven-cooked and were placed on coded plates for the evaluation of color, taste, juiciness, odor/smell, tenderness, texture and overall acceptability. meat quality was evaluated through a hedonic rating scale by the testing panel. the testing panel was composed of ten (10) persons; five (5) men and five (5) women, all of whom were experts from tesda and major trained students who were non-smokers and drinkers. data collected production performance. the initial and final weights of the experimental birds were obtained and recorded. feed consumed was determined by weighting the feeds given and feed refused. the different parameters that were used to evaluate the production and profitability performance of the broiler fed with commercial ration supplemented with different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water were computed as follows: 87 international peer reviewed journal 1. average daily feed intake adfi= average feed consumed feeding period (days) 2. average daily water intake adwi= average water consumed feeding period (days) 3. average daily gain adg= average weight gain feeding period (days) 4. average feed conversion efficiency adfi= average feed consumed feeding period (days) 5. average final live weight aflw= live weight/replication birds/replication 6. average dressing percentage adp= average dressed weight x 100 average final live weight profitability performance the following were used to evaluate the profitability performance of broiler: 1. feed cost per kilogram of broiler produced (p/kg). 2. feed cost per average daily gain (p/g/d) this was computed by dividing the cost of feed given by the computed average daily gain. adg= final weight – initial weight feeding period 88 jpair multidisciplinary research 3. return above feed, chicks and supplement cost (php) this was determined by subtracting the price of feed, chicks and supplement cost from the assumed sales of broilers. rafccsc=sales-[(purchase period of feeds, chicks and supplement)] meat quality data on color, odor, taste, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability were gathered using the hedonic rating scale by the testing panel statistical analysis treatment effects on the production performance and meat quality were analyzed based on the procedure of analysis of variance (anova) in a 3 x 5 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design (crd). duncan’s multiple range test was used to determine statistical differences between treatment means. production performance of broilers. the average daily feed, average daily water, average daily gain, average final live weight and average dressing percentage of broiler chicken supplemented with different kinds of the bio-organic supplement is shown in table 1 revealed no significant differences between kinds of bioorganic supplements except for average daily gain of broilers. birds supplemented with fermented plant juice had the highest average daily gain significantly with the mean score of 53.19 (g/d), followed by birds supplemented with indigenous microorganism with the mean score of 51.38 (g/d). the lowest was obtained by birds supplemented with fermented fruit juice with a mean score of 50.84 (g/d). the result implied that the supplementation of the different kinds of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water affected the average daily gain. in terms of the levels of supplementation, statistical analysis indicated significant differences among means in almost all production parameters considered except for average daily water intake and dressing percentage. birds supplemented with antibiotic and different kinds of bio-organic supplements had higher average daily feed intake, average daily gain, average final live weight, and better feed conversion efficiency compared to those broilers with no supplementation. the results implied that the supplementation of the different kinds of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water affected these production parameters except for average daily water intake and dressing percentage. 89 international peer reviewed journal there were no interaction effects between the kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements in terms of product performance. the average feed cost per average daily gain of broilers was not influenced by the interaction between the different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements. results and discussion table 2. production performance of broilers supplemented with different kinds of –bio-organic supplements (factor a) kinds of bio-organic supplements parameters average daily feed intake (g/d) average daily water intake (g/d) average daily gain (g/d) feed conversion efficiency (g/d) average final live weight (kg) average dressing percentage (%) ffj 88.50 243.88 50.04b 1.77 1.55 72.44 fpj 89.96 255.85 53.19a 1.72 1.64 69.66 imo 91.37 247.22 51.38b 1.80 1.59 70.15 f-test ns ns ** ns ns ns cv (%) 4.62 11.6 5.54 6.47 6.28 5.16 90 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. production performance of broilers supplemented with different kinds of –bio-organic supplements (factor b) levels of bioorganic supplements parameters average daily feed intake (g/d) average daily water intake (ml/l) average daily gain (g/d) feed conversion efficiency (g/d) average final live weight (kg) average dressing percentage (%) 0 (no supplementation 5 ml of bioorganic supplement/liter of water 5 ml of bioorganic 10 ml of bioorganic supplement/liter of water 15 ml of bioorganic supplement/liter of water 97.45a 88. 51b 86.88c 90.79b 86.31c 226.52 252.50 251.11 261.83 252.96 43.55b 53.37a 53.64a 54.14a 52.97a 2.24b 1.66a 1.61a 1.67a 1.63a 1.35b 1.66a 1.65a 1.67a 1.63a 67.42 71.99 71.37 72.26 70.70 f-test ** ns ** ** ** ns cv (%) 4.62 11.6 5.54 6.47 6.28 5.16 profitability performance of broilers. the average feed cost (php) per kilogram of broiler produced, average feed cost per average daily gain (php/g/d) the return above feed, chick and supplement cost (php) of broilers supplemented with different kinds of bio-organic supplements in drinking water is shown in table 3. analysis of variance (anova) revealed no significant differences between kinds of bio-organic supplements in these parameters. the result implied that the supplementation of the different kinds of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water did not affect the profitability performance of broilers. in terms of the levels of supplements, statistical analysis indicated significant differences among treatment means. the birds with antibiotic and different levels of bio-organic supplements had significantly higher average feed cost per 91 international peer reviewed journal kilogram of broiler produced, lower average fed cost for average daily gain and higher return above feed cost, and chicks cost and supplement the cost of broilers. these suggest that the level of supplementation influenced the return above feed, chicks and supplement costs. there were no interaction effects between the kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements in terms of profitability performance of broilers. table 4. profitability performance of broilers supplemented with different kinds of bio-organic supplements (factor a) kinds of bio-organic supplements parameters average feed cost per kilogram of broiler (php) average feed cost per average daily gain (php) return above feed chick and supplement costs (php) ffj fpj imo 88.53 85.97 90.07 1.64 1.55 1.67 48.68 49.85 50.71 f-test ns ns ns cv (%) 6.39 10.18 13.34 table 5. profitability performance of broilers supplemented with different kinds of bio-organic supplements (factor b) kinds of bio-organic supplements parameters return above feed cost per kilogram of broiler produced (php) return above feed cost per average daily gain (php) return above feed chicks and supplement cost (php) 0 5 5 10 15 112.28b 82.89a 80.72a 83.78a 81.28a 2.08b 1.54a 1.50a 1.56a 1.50a 25.85 52.46 57.02 53.58 50.35 f-test ** ** ** cv (%) 6.39 6.41 10.18 92 jpair multidisciplinary research meat quality. the sensory evaluation of color, taste, tenderness, juiciness, texture, odor and overall acceptability is shown in table 5. analysis of variance (anova) revealed significant differed between kinds of bio-organic supplements in terms of color, juiciness, texture and odor. the results implied that supplementation of different kinds of bio-organic supplements had affected then attributes of the meat of broilers. however, no significant differences were obtained for the taste, tenderness and overall acceptability of the meat of broilers which implied that the supplementation of the different kinds of bio-organic supplements did not affect the meat taste, tenderness and overall acceptability of the meat of broilers. in terms of the levels of supplementation, statistical analysis indicated no significant differences among treatment means. there suggest that the levels of supplementation of bio-organic supplements did not affect the meat quality of broilers. table 6. sensory attributes of broilers supplemented with different levels of bio-organic supplements sensory attributes kinds of bio-organic supplements color taste tenderness juiciness texture odor over-all ac-ceptability ffj fpj imo 6.74b 6.92b 7.30a 7.16 7.02 7.41 7.16 7.54 7.38 6.52b 7.30a 7.38a 7.04b 7.46a 7.48a 6.92b 7.26a 7.38a 7.36 7.50 7.72 f-test ** ns ns ** ** ** ns cv (%) 15.59 14.12 12.73 13.43 12.27 12.4 12.63 table 7. meat quality of broilers supplemented with different levels of bioorganic supplements (factor b) sensory attributes kinds of bio-organic supplements color taste tenderness juiciness texture odor over-all acceptability 0 5 5 10 15 6.50 7.17 7.03 7.15 7.08 6.90 7.18 6.97 7.40 7.53 7.17 7.53 7.20 7.40 7.50 6.90 7.10 6.90 7.07 7.37 7.00 7.43 7.33 7.40 7.47 6.90 7.33 7.10 7.30 7.30 7.10 7.57 7.73 7.57 7.67 f-test ns ns ns ns ns ns ns cv (%) 15.59 14.12 12.73 13.43 12.27 12.4 12.63 93 international peer reviewed journal conclusion based on the results of the study, better production performance was observed on broilers supplemented with different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements in the drinking water. the quality of the broiler meat was not affected by the supplementation of the different kinds and levels of bio-organic fertilizers except for texture, odor, color and juiciness. recommendation it is therefore recommended to the broiler grower to use different kinds and levels of bio-organic supplements to improve performance without affecting the quality of the broiler meat but still meeting the nutritional needs of the birds and safe to humans. translational research the result of this study could give information to the farmers as to the most effective level and kind of bio-organic supplements to be used in broiler production. the university’s extension office could reproduce brochures and farmer’s production guide for technology dissemination and transfer. literature cited chang, h. s. (2007). overview of the world broiler industry: implications for the philippines. asian journal of agriculture and development, 4(2), 67-82. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2tugvjc lester, g. e., & hodges, d. m. (2008). antioxidants associated with fruit senescence and human health: novel orange-fleshed non-netted honeydew melon genotype comparisons following different seasonal productions and cold storage durations. postharvest biology and technology, 48(3), 347-354. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2007.11.008 mottet, a., & tempio, g. (2017). global poultry production: current state and future outlook and challenges.  world’s poultry science journal,  73(2), 245-256. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/s0043933917000071 https://bit.ly/2tugvjc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2007.11.008 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0043933917000071 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0043933917000071 94 jpair multidisciplinary research muldez, n., (2016) global industry trend rarobank international, barcelona spain. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2eiyrpr pcaard poultry information network. retrieved from http://www.pcaarrd. dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/poultry/index.php?option=com_content&t ask=view&id=76&itemid=110 philippine statistics authority. performance of philippine agriculture,. retrieved at: https://psa.gov.ph/ppa-main/livestock-poultry https://bit.ly/2eiyrpr http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/poultry/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&itemid=110 http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/poultry/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&itemid=110 http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/poultry/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&itemid=110 https://psa.gov.ph/ppa-main/livestock-poultry 133 international peer reviewed journal the maranao streamers and tarpaulins as tools of communication: an ethnographic study monara hamiydah m. maruhom http://orcid.org 0000-0003-1809-0940 monarahamiydah2015@gmail.com mindanao state university system marawi city, philippines abstract an organization is a conglomeration of individual cultural practices and not just a system of human beings acting and interacting with one another in their society. understanding the maranao practice of displaying streamers locally called bidangan and tarpaulin provides people with a better picture of how these cultural practices affect their way of life. the study aimed mainly to comprehend the history and origin of this set of flags. participant-observation qualitative technique was employed to closely observe how the streamers are displayed for various occasions. personal random interviews were conducted to individuals who are knowledgeable on the subject matter. the study found that the maranao folk have continued to maintain their native culture, traditions, customs and way of life. the results of this study will serve as a basis for developing a policy framework to educate the maranao society on the proper use of streamers in the preservation of their remarkable traditional culture.       keywords social science, streamers/tarpaulin, preservation of maranao culture, communication, marawi, philippines                   vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.315 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction based on maranao progeny, racial stock, material culture with arab, india, malaysian and chinese influence their culture including brunei (s. m. hadji abdul racman, personal communication, september 16, 2014). according to hadji abdul racman, the display of maranao flags was adopted from the culture of brunei which symbolizes power and authority. their national emblem of brunei is featured prominently on the flags of brunei. it is commonly used as “panji” or panji-oanji negara brunei darusaalam.  it is a design of all elements; the rest are red. the wings symbolize protection of justice, tranquility, prosperity, and peace. below these is the crescent, a symbol of islam, the state religion of brunei. side hands indicate the government duty is to preserve and promote the welfare of the citizens and to protect the people. on the material culture aspect, they were influenced by the chinese. one good example that influences its origin on their traditional/political leadership is intermarriages among maranao folk which is dictated to maintain close family ties and keep family’s wealth similar to the chinese. on racial origin, they are mixed breed of malaysian, indonesian, some with arab, indian and chinese. as to influence on religion, islam was introduced to the area by muslim missionaries and traders from the middle east, india, and malay regions of brunei kingdom in early 10th to 13th century. this was supported by hadji abdul racman (2014) on “assessment on the traditional writers and authors: analysis and findings on the coming of islam in the philippines,” a paper presented in the university of southern mindanao, cotabato city in 2014. the maranao folk, popularly known as “lake dwellers”, is one of the thirteen ethnolinguistic groups of muslims. one of their traditional practices is the display of set of flags called isa ka labo-an or what the bruneian called panji di rajah, royal flags. literally, it refers to the set of flags or various sizes, shapes and colors which are displayed during kalilang, festivities like weddings and coronation. figuratively, isa ka labo-an symbolizes power and prestige of the titled groups: sultans and bailabi (queen) since they have the exclusive rights to display these set of flags. a significant component of this display is the streamers called bidangan. literally, it means to unfold or to announce. it is a piece of white cloth with a message that is hanged horizontally in the streets or in the facade of buildings and houses and even on trees and bamboos to announce a particular event. a researcher from the university of the philippines (up) accompanied by dr. minang sharief, former director of msu-pre university center main campus 135 international peer reviewed journal marawi city who visited the mindanao state university-main campus, shared his experiences on his way to marawi. it usually takes an hour by van or fx (asian utility vehicle) from iligan to marawi. passing by the towns of balo-i, pantar and saguiaran, one cannot help but notice banners everywhere. some of these announce early campaigns for politicians who intend to run for a post during election. others contain congratulatory messages coming from the families of the achievers. banners and streamers are not just for election campaigns exclusive in marawi and the rest of lanao del sur. it is an everyday part of life. marawi has a multitude of these banners and streamers on various messages from board passers, bar passers, hajj delegates, weddings, birthdays, and even to coronation of the sultans. for the maranao folk, expressing such way of greetings is part of their culture that has been going on, since the times of their genealogical history and the fourteen sultanates of lanao. their penchant for art has even made it to mainstream outdoor advertising greetings and bolos kano lanao del sur. framework in the conduct of the study, the reinforcement theory of johnson (2000) and calhoun (1994) was considered. the theory of johnson states that culture is the sum total of symbols, ideas, form of expression, and materials products associated with a system. it is a dynamic medium through which societies create a collective way of life reflected in such things as beliefs, values, music, literature, art, dance, science, religious ritual and technology. calhoun (1994) emphasized that culture is learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts, language and symbols that are constantly communicated among the people who share a common way of life. an important consequence of culture within society is ethnocentrism which is the tendency to use group ways of doing things as the yardstick for judging others. everybody learns that the ways of the group they belong are good, right, proper, and even superior to other ways of life. as sumner (1906) concluded, “one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and related with reference to it.” according to him, ethnocentrism has both positive and negative consequences. on the positive side, it creates group loyalty. on the negative side, ethnocentrism can lead to discrimination against people whose ways differ from others. by analyzing the mentioned definitions and ideas on culture, symbol is one of the important things that a particular group of people share the same 136 jpair multidisciplinary research culture. the maranao folk are popularly noted for being verbal as evidenced by the different types of streamers, billboards and tarpaulins hanged and posted all over the city of marawi and the province of lanao del sur, philippines where they are dominant. this is supported by reports from national statistics office dated september 2002. the current population of marawi is 177,391 broken down as follows: maranao96.18%; bisaya, 1.29%; cebuano, 1.14%; tagalog, 0.29%; and ilonggo, 0.14%.  according to the report of the tourism office in marawi city, philippines, approximately 90 percent of the maranao families use streamers/tarpaulins on special occasions as part of their culture to honor people. marawi city is tagged as the city of streamers. houses, commercial or residential and even offices are always posted with tarpaulins and streamers. one can seldom see houses and buildings with no tarpaulins. for the maranao folk, it is like nothing happens if the achievements of their kins and comrades are not made known in public through streamers or tarpaulins. for instance, if somebody is to be enthroned as a sultan, the public must be informed at least two weeks before the occasion by hanging streamers and posting tarpaulins otherwise his enthronement is considered illegitimate or null. likewise, if someone passed a certain board examination, greetings through this medium is everywhere, otherwise, rumors will spread all over the place that he did not pass the said examination. so streamers and tarpaulins are very important media in confirming any kind of achievements among the maranao folk (sultan bacolod, personal communication, march 12, 2015). domain of inquiry enabler the main purpose of this study is to describe the maranao concept of communication through streamers and tarpaulins. specifically, the study pursues the following objectives: 1) to describe the cultural and historical functions of the display of streamers and tarpaulins in the traditional maranao society; 2) to determine the changes and adaptations on the use of streamers and tarpaulins; 3) to describe the maranao traditional system of communication; 4) to identify what are the positive and negative impacts display of streamers and tarpaulins as practice by the maranaos, and 5) to design a policy guidelines for the proper use of streamers and tarpaulins. 137 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the researcher employed the descriptive design particularly ethnographic qualitative approach.using participant-observation technique of data collection, the researcher examined closely how the streamers are displayed by the sponsors and on what occasions. research site the study was conducted in marawi city and lanao del sur, philippines which is the origin or beginning of maranao genealogy as revealed in the “a socio-cultural analysis of radia indarapatra: a maranao folk narrative” (madale, 1981). the narrative as a genealogy (salsila) is one of the two basic references in tracing one’s descent line called “sa dorog a bangensa” (one chain of royal descent line). activities and festivities mentioned in the narrative are revived or replay during the significant social gatherings and occasions as believed to have happened in the past. considering the nature of the research work and to ensure a better understanding about maranao culture, the researcher also included the role of an institution such as the mindanao state university in main campus which has a department on research and extension. it was noted that when dr. macapado a. muslim al-hajj was appointed as 6th regular president of the university, the institution has played a significant role in terms of research and preservation as well as the utilization of such practice as an approach in making it more functional. the university has done a tremendous role in the conduct of research on mindanao culture, history and the arts including studies on multiculturalism, politics and good governance. participants the researcher employed the unstructured interviewed among the persons the so-called “keepers of traditions” like the members of the elders, sultans, datus and baes including scholars who are knowledgeable on the subject. before the interviewed was conducted a letter of permission was prepared by the researcher which was given to the informants. this was done in order to determine the sample size in qualitative data for further interpretation and analysis of data gathered. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion      the maranao traditional and modern systems of communication line 1960 of the indarapatra narrative describes the pageantry of the kaliling (festivities) with the display of flags of multi-colors, sizes and shapes, which are collectively called isa ka labo-ai. the display of this set of flags is an indication of rank and honor and prestige, since the only pegawedan has an exclusive use and display of flags. there is also a taritib in the display of flags, for example, if the dopo (rectangular flag) is display to the pegawedan, of the boat, it indicates that the user belongs to the pegawedan, however, if the same flag is displayed at the stern of the boat, the user is identified with the lower stratum in the local hierarchy. the narrative also revealed that the pakaradian ago kalilang (games and amusements) as well as the festivities mentioned in the narrative are revived by the maranaos during significant occasions like weddings, coronations, and among others, were believed to have happened in the past. as such, the displayed of flags during festivities are riawat (based) (madale, 1978: 194). along this concept, the researcher have conducted an interviewed with prominent people who are knowledgeable on the traditional practices display of flags as part of their remarkable culture. the respondents include the so-called “keepers of traditions “like the members of the “elders”, sultans, datus and baes including scholars who are involved in this particular activities. according to the first informant (datu), there are many ways of expressing their appreciation to honor their graduates or persons who made great achievements where their community is proud of. they do it by way of performing the so-called tagongko in a form of a parade or entourage music played by male musicians dressed in their festive fineries. the informant further emphasized that the main purpose for playing tagongko is a sign of welcoming dignitaries, guests and visitors invited to attend to this particular event such as wedding celebrations. maranao flags are usually displayed both sides of the road where players pass by. guests and visitors are ahead of the tagongko players. usually, tagongko is also played in ceremonies called kalilang which usually lasts a week or more.  the head of the family/relatives /friends and the sultans, datus and baes in their community support the activities because of their maratabat in giving due recognition to the honoree.   the messages in the streamers, tarpaulins, billboards, facebook, instagram, twitter and websites all speak and reflect his (datu) sacrifices and achievements 139 international peer reviewed journal that need to be conveyed to his community of one brotherhood, united in blood, aspirations and in one faith which he tenaciously hold on, practice and will defend no matter what at all cost. the maranao, his ethnic identity which is further strengthen with his faith in islam makes him survive against all odds just like any order filipinos who cross new boundaries to attain the “impossible dream”. parade of various flags with komentai one of the most prominent material cultures of the maranao folk is the set of flags, erected and displayed on very important occasions. this set of flags is collectively called isa ka labo-ay. in the past, only those who belong and support the pagawidan clan could display this. figure 1.flags and symbols of the royal sultanates of ranao (royal panji pictures of bobby timonera courtesy of abdul aziz dimapunong) the komentai is a small triangular flag (figure 1).  the sequence of many komentai can be attached to the ends of the sambolayan or to the rigging of boats or can be displayed across the streets or inside and outside the houses.  140 jpair multidisciplinary research the following are samples of streamers and tarpaulins displayed in marawi city, philippines. figure 2. coronation of hadja sittie potre rodi mindalano as bai-alabisa  marantao (descendant of bokwa, moriatao pamanay) figure 3.  congratulating prof. noralaine rogon-rasul for defending her ph.d. degree; omar hussien barang rande for passing the cpa board examination; and sahania tuan gundarangin masacal sumndato-amito for passing let board examination. 141 international peer reviewed journal figure 4.display of various tarpaulins congratulating enthronement of a sultan, passing the bar examinations, nursing, cpa, coronation as bai-alabi complimented by their family and clan figure 5.display of tarpaulins congratulating pres gamal mala as sultan cabugatansa dansalan, bai yashifah casimra for finishing a doctorate degree in nursing 142 jpair multidisciplinary research another occasion that the researcher has observed is the construction of “arko” (arch) along the road with all the flags displayed. on top of this arch, the players play kulintang as an additional attraction signifying that the event being celebrated is one of its kind done only by those who can afford it and are not considered wealthy and powerful.  kulintang is a modern term for an incident instrument form of music composed on a row small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically accompanied by larger suspended gongs and drums. kulintag music can be used for communicating long distance messages from one village or longhouse to another called apad, these renditions mimic the normal speaking tones of the maguindanao, creating a specific message. the researcher found out the following lessons worthy of emulation and preservation: 1) the streamer is a chronicle of events, and a salsila, genealogy of people who were able to preserve their rich oral tradition, history, culture, arts and religion islam; 2) it conveys various messages reflecting/announcing the different phases/faces of life, sacrifices, death, joy as well as celebrations whether it be a wedding, passing the bar/board examinations, or merely to mark an anniversary; 3) the scripts used also reflect the shift from kirim to madrasa--a living testimony of culture change and peaceful adaptation; 4) it symbolizes the spirit of helping one another as well as the virtue of unity--ethnicity and religion of islam; 5) it recorded the death of local and distinguished personalities like hshim salamat, rashid lucman, domocao alonto and many others who had great contributions to enhance peace and development; 6) it is an embodiment of the character of an ideal maranao, his tenacity and persistence capability to preserve and defend his identity, and religiously as a distinct people; 7) the vitality and survival of his extraordinary tradition practice only among maranao folk will continue. its discontinuity as a living tradition (if ever) will greatly depend on creativity and adaptation to survive against all odds; 8) the establishment of mindanao state university system main campus with the mission of “integrating the national communities into the national body politic” has added further in the preservation of identity.  macionis (1997) emphasized that changes in societies and patterns of interaction are constantly taking place. these changes in society are often related to changes in the culture of a group of people. social change is a natural and inevitable part of every society. it happens everywhere although the rate of change varies from one place to another. the researcher identified certain characteristics of socio-cultural change and one of those is that social change generates controversy. social change is 143 international peer reviewed journal complex and can bring both positive and negative results. some changes are more important than others. some changes have consequences, whereas others generate significant changes and impact to people. because of these ideas, sociocultural changes have both positive and negative effects on the society as in the case of streamers and tarpaulins. it depends upon how the maranao folk used them as a tool of communication. streamers and tarpaulins as a tool of communication among the maranao folk demonstrate the ways of giving recognition to their family and everybody whom they care for particularly their nearest kin and loved ones like friends and colleagues. they want to support whatever good achievements anybody from their family achieved as part of their remarkable traditional practices. they also share these to their comrades and even distant relatives. oftentimes, the use of streamers and tarpaulins is not the only medium in expressing their support, gratitude, recognition and their commitment to the achievement and success of the people who are close to them. with the advent of modern technology, the social media, local cable-television and even leading national tv networks are now being utilized. the maranao folk are proud people and very expensive. grand weddings of prominent families/ clans and traditional leadership enthronement are shown to the public through television networks. by these, it implies that streamers and tarpaulins bring strong camaraderie, cooperation and solidarity among the maranaos. among the positive impacts of streamers and tarpaulins to maranao society based on the observations and interviews conducted by the researcher are as follows: 1) it strengthens strong family ties and solidarity among maranao folk. of all the institutions, the family is most important (vega,  prieto&  carreon, 2006). the family is the toughest institution in the maranao culture. it is in fact, the institution to which everyone owes his/her humanity (mead, 1982); 2) ensures mutual support, camaraderie and cooperation among the maranaos. the maranaos want to support and  share the happiness, feelings and even, friends and associates, aside from their families; 3) it encourages maranao students, youth, professionals and everybody to strive and work harder because all their achievements will be given due  recognition. greetings using streamers and other print media are good motivating factors; 4) streamers and tarpaulins are important in maranaos’ ways of life. madale (1978) said that  the use of streamers and tarpaulins is one way to guide their students and incoming generation to let them understand better the preservation of maranao culture; 5) the use of streamers and tarpaulins enhance to promote and attract tourists who are 144 jpair multidisciplinary research coming to the city of marawi and the province of lanao del sur as a showcase window for the preservation of maranao culture; 6) the display of streamers and tarpaulins paves the way to trace their  descent lines /genealogy of their respective clans enhancing to ensure solidarity and unity to tighten their families ties; 7) due to modern technology,  even the members of families/relatives/friends who are working in foreign countries are well-informed of the current events that are happening in their country because of the display of streamers and tarpaulins which are posted on facebook and other social media; 8) education in lanao is inevitably the most valued wealth among maranao folk. education is considered a glorious wealth for every maranao family. this is manifested in the hundreds of streamers and tarpaulins found almost every corner. every family has the pride to announce to the community the significance of passing the bar examination and other licensure examinations. this pride is contributed by mindanao state university to continue offering quality education to the maranao folk. negative impacts the negative impacts of using the media are as follows: 1) streamers and tarpaulins cause financial constraints to  some or many maranao families. poor families will look for ways and means to have at least one especially when the family pride is at stake. one informant said they are also obliged to rent a car and join the convoy to meet their son who had successfully passed the bar examination; 2) too much use of streamers and tarpaulins implies that maranaos are showy and braggy people. most maranaos are practicing muslims and one of the four major muslims in the philippines. islam strictly prohibits boasting and bragging because these are practices of the hypocrites; 3) streamers and tarpaulins are often used extravagantly. anything that is too much and extravagant is haram (unlawful) in islam. islam commands muslims to be moderate; 4) pictures of women are nowadays printed on tarpaulins. islam strictly prohibits public display of women’s pictures. tarpaulins with women’s pictures are being hand and posted everywhere in marawi city and lanao del sur; 5) streamers and tarpaulins become sore eyes around new and old streamers are displayed, posted, hanged everywhere, in offices, houses, trees, streets, electric posts, multicabs and even pedicabs; 6) from an outsider’s perspective, the tradition could be interpreted as an  “extravagant” display of culture that has economic disadvantages; 7) it may be seen as an “institution” that encourages “inter-ethnic” competition among maranaos; 8) it may reflect the value of “kapangila-ilan” showy, a drain into one’s pocket; and 9) it breeds misunderstanding among  families/clans tantamount to develop a  grudge between and among them, just because of displaying the 145 international peer reviewed journal streamers and tarpaulins. according to a professor in msu main campus, it happened because of their maratabat culture. there are many instances that streamers and tarpaulins are used extravagantly and this is only a waste of money and resources. in cases for instance that the traditional title is to be enthroned to the clan’s choice, but if somebody opposes and wants to be enthroned, competition over streamers and tarpaulins in terms of attractiveness and quantity occurs. by this, even poor relatives are compelled to donate a streamer or a tarpaulin. this is one of the worst impacts of “patalbugan” and “paramihan” that entail waste of money. one of the serious effects of this is unnecessary extravagant which is impractical. this kind of practice is non-islamic in nature because allah (swt) does not like extravagant especially compelling poor relatives to donate something that is beyond their means. allah (swt) does not put the burden to the incapacitated.  sometimes, streamers and tarpaulins cause misunderstanding and even grudge among clan members and relatives. for instance, if someone passed the bar examination or any other board examinations, all the family names of the two grandfathers and two grandmothers must be clearly written in the streamers or tarpaulins otherwise relatives whose family name is not included in the greetings will boycott the thanksgiving party (kandori) or any celebration. so, streamers and tarpaulins are very important media of confirming any kind of achievements among the maranao folk (sultan bacolodan, personal communication, january 12, 2015). uses of streamers and tarpaulins based on the personal interviews conducted by the researcher, streamers and tarpaulins are used in any particular occasions or events such as enthronement of sultans, datus and baes; dialaga kandori (betrothal ceremonies); weddings ceremonies; arrival of pilgrims from the holy land kingdom of saudi arabia; cum laude or honor graduates; promotion to higher positions like division superintendent of schools; appointment to new positions like custom collectors; board examination passers like  let examinations; masteral and phd graduates; candidates who won during the elections; school batch reunions like the msu-ils; grand reunions of family and clans; greetings to the graduates; welcoming the holy month of ramadhan; ediul fitr and eidul ah-ha greetings; proclaimed candidates for elections; welcoming dignitaries, guests and visitors; birthday celebrations party; condolences greetings the death of loved ones; and advertisement of their business establishments. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions in a society like that of the maranao folk which characterized as closely-knit and clannish, where daily newspapers do not thrive, the streamers and tarpaulins exist and survive because they (streamers) serve the purpose more than what a daily newspaper reports. streamers are unique in character which is distinctly maranao. it has a vibrant life. it serves to reconnect individuals, friends, and relatives in times of crisis, death, and joyful celebrations. these practices are part of living dynamic traditional practices that reflect the significance and importance of displaying/posting the streamers and tarpaulins. it further strengthens the concept of “kapamagogopa”, helping or sharing one another, and “kapagisa-isa” unity culture. although many changes occurred based on its processes, but still it has persisted. it is more than a mirror which reflects events either joyful or sadness that occurred in the past and perhaps events which maybe happen in the future that will bring lasting and progress to the maranao society. translational research the results of the study serve as an eye-opener to design policy guidelines to enhance economic way and the proper use of the streamers and tarpaulins in the preservation of their remarkable traditional cultural practices in the maranao society. the researcher coordinated with the office of the provincial and city tourism offices  to organize a task force team to conduct a study as to the number of families/clans who are using streamers and tarpaulins to announce or inform the society about the achievements and good performances of their family members and/or relatives and friends. one way to realize this  endeavor is to coordinate with the tourism offices in the province of lanao del sur to produce instructional materials  ina form of brochures, leaflets, and advertisements through  tri-media (television/ radiobroadcast and print) to educate the users of displaying streamers and tarpaulins. the religious leaders can also be included in the task force team to help in designing guidelines as to its limitations based on the teaching of islam concepts on the proper use of streamers and tarpaulins. the community of high school administrators could also be tapped to help the dissemination of information as to the proper use of streamers and tarpaulins 147 international peer reviewed journal for special occasions like passing the bar/board examinations, enthronement of sultans, coronations of baes, birthday celebrations, weddings, kandori party, paganamaranao, welcoming dignitaries, guests and visitors during graduation days and other special events. a streamer is like a chronicle of events which unfolds each day. furthermore, streamers are repository of truth, justice and equality under one flag, one countryunited in spirit and one aspiration-peace.  literature cited calhoun, c. (1994). social theory and the politics of identity (pp. 9-36). blackwell. dy jr, m. b. the economic structure of society: habermas’s reconstruction of historical materialism. contemporary social philosophy, 19. johnson, a. g. (2000).  the blackwell dictionary of sociology: a user’s guide to sociological language. wiley-blackwell. macionis, j. j. (2015). sociology.pearson higher ed. madale, n. t. (1981). a socio-cultural analysis of radiaindarapatra: a maranao folk narrative.  doctoral dissertation, university of the philippines, diliman, philippines. mead, h.g. (1982). the individual and the social self-unpublished works of george herbert, edited with an introduction by david l. miller, chicago and london, university of chicago press. racman, hadji abdul, prof. sohayle m. (2014).tracing the coming of islam to the philippine-chinese centrist concept. and assessment on the traditional writers and authors: analysis and findings on the coming of islam in the philippines. paper presented in the university of southern mindanao, cotabato city. sumner, w. g. (1906). folkways: a study of the sociological importance of usages, 148 jpair multidisciplinary research madale, n. t. (1978). myth, symbolism and national unity: the case of the sarimanok. mindanao journal, 4, 153. vega,  v. nelia g. prieto,  myrna l. carreon (2006). social dimensions of education. quezon citylorimar publishing, inc.lorimar pub. http:// books.google.com.ph/books/about/social_dimensions_of_education. html?hl=tl&id=pautpwaacaaj cover single 108 jpair: multidisciplinary research common sleeping related problems and illnesses of persons who stayed within geopathic stress zone jeremias l. convocar orcid id 0000-0002-6489-5881 jeremiasconvocar@yahoo.com west visayas state university, philippines abstract the study attempted to determine the common sleeping related problems and illnesses among persons who stayed for a period of time within geopathic stress (gs) zone. this descriptive research was conducted in november 2008 to april 2009 among conveniently and purposely selected home and office occupants in the third district of the province of iloilo, philippines who after having been surveyed using the y-rod dowsing tool were found exposed within gs zone. the study used a self-made data gathering instrument based on several internet published theories and researches on problems and illnesses indirectly caused by gs. the study revealed that persons who stayed by seating or sleeping with their parts of bodies exposed within gs zone for a period of time commonly experienced the following: (a) seating: frequent waking with feeling of tiredness, tingling and numbness of feet, fatigue in the morning and restless sleep; migraine, rheumatism, nervousness and high blood. (b) heads: insomnia, frequent waking with feeling of tiredness and fatigue in the morning; migraine, nervousness, and demonic attacked. (c) chests: tingling and numbness of hands, frequent waking with feeling of tiredness, insomnia and fatigue in the morning; cardiovascular circulation problem, asthma, and migraine. (d) abdomens: tingling and numbness of feet, insomnia and fatigue in the morning; rheumatism, migraine, and nervousness. (e) extremities: tingling and numbness of feet, insomnia and fatigue in the morning; arthritis, migraine, and nervousness. vol. 10 · october 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v10i1.184 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 109 international peer reviewed journal keywords health, sleeping problems, geopathic stress zone, descriptive research, iloilo, philippines, geopathic, stress, freeing, zone, persons, health introduction people are more aware than ever of their health. unfortunately, there are some natural effects which can be extremely harmful to the immune system and over which we have no control, such as geopathic stress (gs). if you think of the earth as a giant electromagnet, gs occurs when waves of radiation seep from the earth’s core and bisect other natural electromagnetic phenomena such as swift flowing underground streams, mineral concentrations on fault lines. the negative earth rays become harmful as they rise through the buildings affecting the body’s natural biorhythm and causing sick building syndrome (life techno, 2008). in addition, gs is the effect of detrimental earth and electromagnetic radiation on the health of your body (health wise, 2008). when a house or structure is built over earth natural magnetic energy line, it causes them to be split up into component rays. the noxious rays is damaging to health. thus, over a period of time, the body’s resistance can be affected, leading to stress and subsequent illness (less stress, 2009). furthermore, cowan (2001), emphasized that gs passing through the beds of people will suffer ill-health-post viral fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, necrotizing facilities (the flesh eating bacteria), demonic attack, and others. saunders (2008) added that gs can contribute to a number of physical and mental ailments and can also be the cause of “gs syndrome” or others call it “sick building syndrome”. these symptoms can range from feeling tired, sick, poor quality sleep, low immune system, feeling cold and, more seriously, depression, infertility, arthritis, and cancer. as affirmed, if one cannot feel the energy, then a simple detection instrument is a pair of dowsing rods or a pendulum. likewise, the rods or pendulum can be asked to point the direction of the line (taylor, 2000). it is one of the most effective ways to check for hidden earth grids is dowsing, which in turn will show where the gs is concentrated (saunders, 2008) as recommended, the y rod is the traditional tool 110 jpair: multidisciplinary research commonly used by water dowser and is still favored by many dowsers both professional and amateur (geomancy org., 2008). conversely, gs can do untold damage to both physical and mental health (moonslippers, 2008). that is why the proponent of this study wanted people to know all about them and what they can do to avoid or neutralize their potential harmful effect this study is anchored on cowan's (2001) position that intersections of earth grids (hartmann lines) which result to gs zone are very difficult to monitor scientifically. hence, the inability of scientists to understand which dowsers (bio-locators) would find possibly the same to be the cause of sleeping and health problems of people. does staying within gs zones for a period of time caused sleeping problems and illnesses? this question must be answered. hence, this study was conducted. framework gs has been found to be the most common factor in most serious and long-term illnesses, and psychological conditions. research suggests that 85% of people that are suffering ill health are sleeping in a geopathically stressed area (fengshui tips, 2009). the term “geopathic stress” (gs) is used to describe negative energies or harmful earth ray. it emanates from the earth and causes discomfort and ill health to those living above it (creightmore, 2007). it can cause serious health problems for people who stay over them for a long period of time (craddock, 2008). the stress lines vibrating at up to 250 hz can be created when this natural earth energy (which normally vibrates at a very low 8 hz) encounters weak electromagnetic fields around underground water veins, mineral deposits, radiation sources, caves or fault lines near the surface (zimbio, 2008). according to hartmann, the worst place that a person can sleep or work is over a hartmann knot where two hartmann lines cross. the harmful radiation is intensified at this juncture. the lines form a grid around the earth running north to south appear approximately every 6 feet 6 inches and the east to west approximately every 8 feet 2 inches and extend to a height of 60 to 600 feet (mercola com., 2008). 111 international peer reviewed journal in over 70 years german medical studies (feng shui insight, 2008) have indicated that exposure over a period of time over gs zone may correspond to chronic health problems particularly the incidence of cancer. recognition that gs slows or even blocks medical treatment has resulted in european practice of assessing cancer patient beds at home for gs. widespread research now indicates that gs may be one of the causes of degenerative illnesses. several studies showed how a high level of correlation between major illnesses and sleeping or working over an area of gs. some of the symptoms of gs include: fatigue, weak immune system, depression, nervousness, loss of appetite, poor digestion, allergies, insomnia, circulation problems, muscle cramps, and grinding teeth. likewise, children are especially sensitive to gs. bed wetting and continuous crying by babies may occur (life technology, 2008). early work with gs dates back to the 1920s in germany. cancer rates were shown to be higher in the vicinity of water veins, which are running streams located 150 to 300 feet underground. these underground streams are one of the main factors in distorting otherwise healthy earth energies (zimbio, 2008). in comparison, the medical officer of health (in quigley, 2008) noted that he had been in fifty-four houses and, in each one, the beds had stood on the lines von pohl had drawn on his map. subsequent work by dowsers, mainly in germany, has refined and expanded von pohl’s work. likewise, quigley (2008) cited that the notorious cancer beds, in which many german dowsers routinely check, are found to overlie veins of underground water, usually coinciding with other energy lines which various dowsers ascribe to one or other of the systems of lines known as the curry grid and the hartmann grid. according to quigley, symptoms of gs can vary considerably from sleeplessness, irritability and emotional upset at one end of the scale, to serious illness, (including cancer), in animals and humans, at the other. 112 jpair: multidisciplinary research a b c d e figure 2. examples of cancer beds figure 2 shows examples of cancer beds, located over dowsable underground streams: a. twenty-seven-year-old man admitted to mental hospital after nine months sleeping in this bed; b. fifty-three-year-old woman died of cancer of the liver; c. thirty-eight-year-old woman died of cancer throughout her body; d. a typical cancer site, the crossing of black streams; and e. an unaffected bed. in the present day, gs has been linked to cancer. studies conducted by doctors in small towns throughout europe (in earth transitions, 2008) found that virtually every person who contracted cancer had been sleeping in a gs zone. findings have also linked sleeping in a gs zone to sudden infant death syndrome, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. some in the alternative healing community theorize that up to 80% of all illness can be related to sleeping in a gs zone. if your baby or child is always scrunched up to one side of the crib or bed, check for gs. babies and children can sense it and instinctively try to move away from the source other potential problems due to gs zone included cardiovascular deficiency, attention deficit disorder, immune deficiency disorders, and chronic fatigue. some lesser effects of influence are chronic body pains, headaches, sudden signs of physical aging, irritability, and restless sleep. it is also a common factor in cases of infertility and miscarriages. the major issue is an increase risk of cancer. while gs zone may not directly cause cancer, it weakens the body and makes it much more likely to acquire cancer. studies have shown that over 85% of patients who die from cancer had regular exposure to gs zones 113 international peer reviewed journal (cancer fighting strategy, 2008). shakura (in gabriel, 1999) explained that gs has been found to be the common factor in many serious and minor illnesses and psychological conditions, especially those conditions in which the immune system is severely compromised. cardiovascular deficiency, attention deficit disorder, immune deficiency disorders, chronic fatigue, and cancer, are samples of chronic gs influence. some lesser effects of influence are chronic body pains, headaches, sudden signs of physical aging, irritability, and restless sleep. it is also a common factor in cases of infertility and miscarriages, learning difficulties, behavioral problems and neurological disabilities in children. when the home or work place of the affected person is neutralized, the gs conditions resolve themselves and the body begins to heal. conversely, gs apparently does not cause any illness, but lowers one’s immunity, exerting a weak, but continuous stress on deoxyribonucleic acid (dna). pohl, bachler, hovman, and gordon and other researchers and doctors (in egby, 2008), have found illnesses associated to gs. although these conditions must not be thought to be caused by harmful earth rays, but develop as a result of the breakdown of the body’s natural functioning and lowering the immune system like cancer, aids, arthritis, rheumatism, asthma, migraine, insomnia, many stomach, kidney, bladder, liver, and gallbladder disorders, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, heart conditions, diabetes, sinusitis, uterus and adrenals conditions, thrombosis, eyes, ears and teeth disorders, inflammations, varicose veins, leukemia, emotional and mental disorders. there is strong evidence that links earth rays with suicide, divorce, depression, stress, high blood pressure, and alcoholism. pohl, bachler, hovman, and gordon and other researchers and doctors (in egby, 2008) provided strong evidence on the adverse effect of long exposure to gs zone on human health. according to fengshui pathway (2008), gs is detected by dowsing. likewise, graves (2008) justifies that the main advantage of dowsing (especially in ‘multi-level’ systems) are cheapness, flexibility, and simplicity of the techniques and tools almost all types of dowsing tools can be ‘knocked up’ in a matter of minutes from things lying around the home or workshop. zimbio (2008) adds that monitoring 114 jpair: multidisciplinary research the movements and behavior of these dowsing tools reveal the places in which gs is strongest. all scientists measure gs with instruments by taking a dowser along to locate the radiation initially. today, dowsing is accepted and practiced by more and more people including medical practitioners, and dowsing for water has been the most accepted. dowsing areas for gs can be learned in a matter of minutes using rods, a pendulum, or the muscle test even though some dowsers tell you it will take years to learn (vaastu shastra, 2009). professor hans dieter betz (professor of physics, munich university) headed a team of scientists that investigated the ability of dowsers to find underground drinkable supplies, taking them to 10 different countries and, on the advice of dowsers, sank some 2,000 wells with a very high success rate. in sri lanka, where the geological conditions are said to be difficult, some 691 wells were drilled, based on the advice of dowsers, with a 96% success rate (craddock, 2000). finally, gs zones are identified by using a technique called “dowsing.” this technique is historically well-known as a reliable way to find underground streams when drilling for a water source. the same dowsing techniques can be used to locate all the energy sources affecting a particular environment and eliminating and/or neutralizing the effects that lead to gs zone (nurturing hand massage, 2009). grave (2008) and other researchers and medical practitioners provided strong evidences on the reliability of the use of dowsing rod in locating underground water springs which is also the location of gs zones. objectives of the study the study was conducted to determine the common sleeping related problems and illnesses of persons who stayed within gs zone for a period of time among purposely and conveniently selected home and office occupants in the third district of the province of iloilo, philippines. 115 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods the investigation determined the common sleeping related problems and illnesses of persons who sit or sleep within gs zone. the descriptive research was used in the study. according to gay (1996) descriptive research involves collecting data to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subjects of the study. it determines and represents the way things are. the independent variablewas the exposure to gs gone, while the dependent variable was their common sleeping related problems and illnesses classified as to their parts of body directly exposed. the respondents of the study were selected home and office occupants in the third district of the province of iloilo, philippines. they were identified positively staying within the gs zone for a period of time. respondents were classified as to their nature of exposure, either sleeping or sitting. further, if the respondents were sleeping, they would be classified as to what part of the body was exposed. the convenience and purposive non-random sampling method was employed in the selection of the respondents of this study. occasionally, a sample was selected randomly, not for reasons of generalizability, but rather to increase credibility of the findings. patton (in gay, 1996) refers to this procedure as purposive random sampling. the actual number of observations to be made (or the actual number of people to be interviewed) is rarely specified in advance. such decisions are made as the study progresses. of 171 respondents in the study, 45 (26.32%) stayed by sitting and 126 (73.68%) stayed by sleeping within gs zone. of 126 respondents who stayed by sleeping within gs zone, 29 (23.01) were males and 97 (76.99%) were females. as to length of sleeping within gs zone, 56 (44.44%) were short (2 years and below) and 70 (55.56%) were long (3 years and above). as to parts of the body exposed within gs zone, 68 (53.97%) were heads, 16 (12.70%) were chests, 24 (19.04) were abdomens, and 18 (14.295) were lower extremities. of the 45 respondents who stayed by sitting within gs zone, 0 (0%) were less than 20 years, and 45 (100%) were 20 and above years of age. as to sex, 4 (8.88%) were males and 41 (91.11%) were females; and 32 (71.11%) were short (2 years and below) and 13 (28.89%) were long (3 116 jpair: multidisciplinary research years and above). the data gathering instrument employed in this study were selfconstructed interview questionnaires that elicited personal data, sleeping problems and common illnesses of persons who stayed by sitting or sleeping for a period of time within gs zone. for further refinement, the questionnaires were submitted for content validation to selected medical practitioners, psychologists, and english editors. the questionnaires consisted of three parts namely: personal information, common sleeping related problems, and illnesses. on the hand, dowsing tool was used in locating gs zone. sleeping related problems. the self-constructed data gathering instruments based on several internet published theories and researches on sleeping problems caused by staying within gs zone was utilized in this study. the questionnaire consists of 7 items and the respondents were requested to check either yes or no depending on his or her choice. an open ended question was provided in the later part for other problems not included in the list. common illnesses. likewise, the self-constructed data gathering instrument was utilized in determining the respondents’ common illnesses attributed to sleeping for a period of time within gs zone. the questionnaire consists of 9 items with an open ended question. dowsing tool. the researcher used dowsing rod in locating gs zone. as affirmed, detecting gs zone has become possible with dowsing tool. the instrument has been accepted historically to detect the detrimental forces in a house. dowsing rods provide accurate result if the perimeter of a sick building preferably external is checked using l and y dowsing rods. dowsing rod helps to locate gs zone or area in a matter of minutes. today, it has been practiced by most medical and non-medical practitioners (vaastu shastra, 2010). in this study, the ydowsing rod made of bamboo splints connected to y-shaped twigs of guava were used in locating gs zone. the dowser holds the y-shaped rod with one short end of y in each hand and the long end of the y pointing forward. exercising a slight outward pull on the forks of the y to keep the end under tension the dowser steadily walks over the area in a regular grid pattern, carefully covering the entire area of bed to be searched. the rod points down when the dowser passes over the earth grids or near the searched hartmann 117 international peer reviewed journal knots showing the spot or location of gs zone (readers and root workers, 2009). moreover, graves (2008) explains that the main advantage of dowsing (especially in ‘multi-level’ systems) are cheapness, flexibility, and simplicity of the techniques and tools and almost all types of dowsing tools can be ‘knocked up’ in a matter of minutes from things lying around the home or workshop. moreover, experts tried many instruments, some are very expensive, but none have proved as consistently, reliable, accurate or as quick as a human dowser (earth transition, 2008). permission to conduct the survey among the residents of the community were sought from the office of their respective community captains and municipal mayors. initial survey of the location of gs zone was done using y-dowsing rod among bed rooms, classrooms and offices were undertaken. likewise, layout sketches were prepared to show the direction and intersection of earth grids lines and the location of seats or beds of occupants for the evaluation of gs zone exposure. further evaluations were undertaken to validate the reliability of the data gathered in the survey. the researchers personally dowsed the area, administered the questionnaires and interviewed the prospective informants. a tape recorder was used during the interview and digital camera for photo documentation. the questionnaires were gathered and data were classified, analyzed, and interpreted. the data gathered for the study were subjected to certain computer-processed statistics. percentage analysis. percentage analysis was used in ascertaining the proportion of the respondents’ sleeping problems belonging to a particular group. rank. the ranking was used to determine the common sleeping related problems or illnesses of persons who stayed in by seats or sleep over gs zone. 118 jpair: multidisciplinary research results and discussion initially, the common sleeping problems and illnesses of persons who stayed within gs zone were determined in this study. the obtained percentages and corresponding rank were used in the analysis. common sleeping related problems and illnesses of persons who stayed by sitting within gs zone. the results revealed that persons whose seats were within gs zone commonly experienced frequently waking with feeling of tiredness (f=29, %=64.44, rank=1) was most common, tingling and numbness of hands and feet (f=28, %=62.22, rank=2) comes next, and fatigue in the morning (f=25, %=55.55, rank=3) follows the sleeping related problems. these findings corroborate the findings of studies cited from dragon yoga academy (2009), that typical indications of gs include feeling of rundown and exhaustion, insomnia, restless sleep, night cramps, feeling colds, tingling and numbness of hands and feet, and fatigue in the morning. as to illnesses, the findings revealed that among the fifteen illnesses, migraine or persistent headache (f=24, %=53.33, rank 1) was the most common, rheumatism (f=22, %=48.88, rank=2) comes next, and the nervousness and high blood (f=16, %=35.55, rank=3) follow illnesses experienced by persons who stayed by sitting over gs zone. these findings support feng shui tips (2009) statement that spending long period of time over a detrimental area or gs zone produces a stress reaction in the human body. this is the same as stress produced by any other means. likewise, craddock (2000) adds that the effect is gradual, involving a slow deterioration in health. the body becomes more and more debilitated by the on-going effect of the stress and the person becomes ill. blood pressure may remain inappropriately raised; excess acid may be produced by the stomach, leading to stomach ulcers; decreased activity by white blood cells will lead to less effective resistance to viruses and bacteria. the person may have difficulty in sleeping as the body is on continuous alert. in this situation the body becomes undermined reducing resistance to colds and flu and more serious illnesses such as cancer. furthermore, the findings of the present research was further clarified by the general and simple conclusion from extensive research 119 international peer reviewed journal that gs is the imbalance of positive ion fields that are present in many different forms in a given space (pure energy solution, 2009). as affirmed, positive ion fields created by noxious frequencies from underground flowing water and earth magnetic grid lines, seismic fault lines, all sources of positive ion earth radiation were referred to gs ( orgone effects australia, 2010). common sleeping and health related problems of persons whose heads were exposed within gs zone when the respondents’ heads were exposed within gs zone during sleep the findings revealed that they mostly experienced insomnia or restless sleep (f=67, %=98.55, rank=1), frequent waking with feeling of tiredness (f=61, %=89.70, rank=2) comes next, and fatigue in the morning (f=57, %=83.82, rank=3) follows. however, as to illnesses, they commonly experienced migraine or persistent headache (f=41, %=60.29, rank=1); nervousness (f=22, 5=32.35, r=2) comes next, and demon attacked or possessed (f=12, %=17.60, rank=3) follows when their heads were exposed to the said zone while sleeping. the findings are supported by saunders (2008) who stated that gs can both contribute to a number of physical and mental ailments with symptoms ranging from feeling tired, sick, poor quality sleep, low immune system, feeling cold and, more seriously, depression and cancer. conversely, the present study upholds existing theories that persons whose heads were exposed within gs zone would most likely be susceptible to demon attacked or possessed. moonslippers (2008) maintain the findings stating that gs zone act as ‘roads’ or ‘tract’ for earth bound ghost, spirits and entities and this in itself can obviously cause problems for whoever lives in the path of one of this lines. likewise, cowan (2001) statement that gs passing through the beds of people will suffer demonic attack was also affirmed in this study. common sleeping and health related problems of persons whose chests were exposed within gs zone as to chest were exposed within gs zone while sleeping, they commonly experience tingling and numbness in hands (f=13, %=81.25, 120 jpair: multidisciplinary research rank=1); frequent waking with feeling of tiredness (f=12, %=75.00, rank=2) come next; insomnia or restless sleep and fatigue in the morning (f=11, %=68.75, rank=3.5) comes next. on the other hand, their most common illnesses when their chests were exposed within the said zone was cardiovascular system problem (f=8, %=50.00, rank=1), asthma (f=7, %=43.50, rank=2) comes next, and migraine or persistent headache (f=6, %=37.50, rank=3) follows. the findings when chest of victims were exposed within gs zone was supported and clarified by emr labs (1996-12011) explaining that positive ionization of blood increased its serotonin release significantly. likewise, authorities affirms that positive ion fields created by noxious frequencies from underground flowing water and earth magnetic grid lines, seismic fault lines, all sources of positive ion earth radiation were referred to gs (orgone effects australia, 2010). common sleeping and health related problems of persons whose abdomens were exposed within gs zone when respondents abdomens were exposed within gs zone while sleeping they commonly experienced tingling and numbness in feet (f=20, %=83.33, rank=1), insomnia or restless sleep and frequent waking with feeling of tiredness (f=15, %=62.5, rank=2.5) rank next and fatigue in the morning (f=11, %=45.83, rank=3) follows. however, when their abdomen were exposed over the said zone while sleeping, their most common illness was rheumatism (f=17, %=70.83, rank=1); migraine or persistent headache (f=8, %=33.33, rank=2) comes next, and nervousness (f=6, %=25, rank=3); follows. the findings affirm creightmore's (2007) statements that typical indications of gs also includes resistance to appropriate treatment, a feeling of rundown and exhaustion, depression, insomnia, restless sleep, night cramps, feeling cold, tingling and numbness of hands and feet, and fatigue in the morning. common sleeping and health problems of person whose extremities were exposed within gs zone finally, when their lower extremities were exposed to gs zone during their sleep, they commonly experienced tingling and numbness 121 international peer reviewed journal in feet (f=12, %=66.6, rank=1); insomnia or restless sleep (f=10, %=55.55, rank=2) comes next; and frequently waking with feeling of tiredness (f=9, %=50.00, rank=3) follows. on the other hand, when a person’s lower extremities were exposed within gs zone while sleeping, the most common illness was arthritis (f=11, %=61.11, rank=1); migraine or persistent headache (f=8, %=44.4, rank=2) comes next; and nervousness (f=7, %=38.8, rank=3) follows. these findings are consistent to pohl, bachler, hovman, and gordon and other researchers and doctors, findings (in egby, 2008) which found that illnesses like, arthritis, and rheumatism were associated to gs. likewise, several studies cited in life technology (2009) which showed a high level of correlation between major illnesses and sleeping or working over an area of gs was also supported by the present findings. moreover, the results of present study on the effect of gs on human health strengthens and validates the findings of a large scale observations and researches of scientists from austria, germany, usa, switzerland, england, canada, and france (2009) showed that: (1) depending on the longetivity, the nature, and location of human being within the gs zone, various illnesses set in, affecting body organs and disrupting their functions. (2) the most common illnesses are ecological, cardio-vascular, neuropsychological nature as well as disrupting of the motor functions of the body. if the entire body is within the gs zone, it affects the entire system, including joints, circulation of blood to the brain, causes sclerosis, sores, which do not heal, etc. (3) there exists a period of time, after which human organism becomes misbalanced, leading to further development of pathological condition and, eventually, death. (4) all people in gs zone have one thing in common, and that is their complete insensitivity to any kind of treatment. it is practically impossible to heal person living within a gs zone. conclusions in view of the foregoing findings, the following conclusions were drawn: 122 jpair: multidisciplinary research 1. persons who stayed in seats or sleep for a long period of time within gs zone would most likely to experience or acquire chronic health problems like insomnia, feeling rundown or exhausted, migraine, rheumatism, nervousness, asthma, arthritis, and cancer. 2. it appears that common chronic and persistent health problems and illnesses like migraine, nervousness, cardiovascular circulation problems, asthma, rheumatism, arthritis, cancer were attributed to direct and long exposure of one’s body to gs zone 3. it appears that parts of the human body directly exposed within gs zone for a period of time would most likely affected by gs. 4. the nature or type of health problems or illnesses mostly experienced by geopathically stressed person seem to depend on the parts of their body directly exposed on gs zone. recommendations based on the aforementioned findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are presented: 1. seats or beds of persons found exposed within gs zone in this study should be moved away in order to avoid from the possible adverse effect of gs on their health. 2. knowledge about the gs phenomenon should be properly disseminated to increase the awareness of the public on the existence of gs and its possible effect on human health 3. alternative medical solutions must be adopted among persons who suffered from chronic health problems like migraine, nervousness, demonic attacked, asthma, rheumatism, arthritis, cancer and the like. their beds or seats where they stayed must be surveyed in order to ensure that their illnesses were not attributed to gs. 123 international peer reviewed journal literature cited austria, germany, usa, switzerland, england, canada, & france 2009 retrieved march 5, 2009 from http://www.pyramidoflife.com/ eng/geopathic_zones.html/#1 cancer fighting strategy 2008 retrieved august 8, 2008 from http://www. cancerfightingstrategies .com/index.htl cowan, d. 2001 retrieved april 5, 2008 from http://www.britishdowsers.org/ eeg site/archivearticle/aud2001_issuehyperlink “http:// www.britishdowsers.org/eeg_site/archive/articles/aud2001_ issue_21/is”_21/is%20your%20bed%20making %20you%20ill. htm craddock, p. 2000 retrieved june 15, 2008 from http://www.healthyandwise. co.uk/geopathic.htm. creightmore, r. 2007 retrieved june 8, 2007 from http://www.landandspirit.net/ html. earth transition 2008 retrieved september 24, 2008 from http://earthtransitions.com/ earth-healing/geopathic-stress-q-a.htmlgeopathic_stress. html. egby, r. 2008 retrieved august 23, 2008 from http://www.angelfire.com/ in/ healing/dowsing.html. feng shui insight 2008 retrieved february 23, 2008 from http://www.fengshuiinsight. 124 jpair: multidisciplinary research com/geopathic.htm. fengshui pathway 2010 retrieved july 18, 2010 from http://www.fengshuipathway. co.uk/geo pathic-stress.html. fengshui tips 2009 retrieved october 3, 2009 from http://www.fengshuitips. co.uk/geopathic_stress.htm gay, l.r. 1996 educational research: competencies of analysis and application. (4th ed.). new york: macmillan publishing graves, t. 2008 retrieved june 18, 2008 from http:/cc.msnscache. com/cache.aspx? q=4149289242390&lang+en healthwise 2008 retrieved august 5, 2008 from: http://www.healthyandwise. co.uk/toc.htm less stress 2009 retrieved august 5, 2009 from http://www.lessstress.ie/). life technology 2008 retrieved february 15, 2008 from http://www.lifetechnology. org/geoclear.htm mercola com. 2008 retrieved september 15, 2008 from http://articles.mercola.com/ sites/articles/archive/2008/06/12/should-you-hyperlink “http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/12/ s h o u l d y o u p r o t e c t y o u r s e l f f r o m e a r t h r a d i a t i o n . aspx”protect-yourself-from-earth-radiation.aspx moonslippers 125 international peer reviewed journal 2008 retrieved october 25, 2008 from http://www.moonslipper. com/spider-map.html nurturing hand massage 2009 retrieved february 15, 2009 from http:// nurturinghandsmassagehyperlink “http:// nurturinghandsmassageandwellnesscenter.com/ and well nesscenter.com/homehealth.html orgone effects australia 2010 retrieved march 5, 2010 from http://www.orgoneffectsaustralia. com/news.html pure energy solution 2009 http://www.pureenergysolutions.com.au/useful-information/ geopathic-stress-what-is-it/ quigley, j. 2008 retrieved august 28, 2008 from http;//www.cosmictraveler. com/page19.htm readers and root workers 2009 retrieved november 5, 2009 from http://readersandrootworkers. org/index. php?title= category:dowsing %2c_doodlebugging %2c_and_water_witching saunders, t. 2008 retrieved november 12, 2008 from http://www. healthilluminationproducts .com/page/1403263 taylor, j. 2000 retrieved december 5, 2008 from http://www.waterdowsing. co.uk/geopathic%20stress.htm vaastu shastra 2009 retrieved february 5, 2009 from http://www.vaastu-shastra.com/ what-is-geopathic-stress.html 126 jpair: multidisciplinary research zimbio 2008 retrieved march 27, 2008 from http://www.zimbio.com/ environmen /articles/114/geopathic +stress+hyperlink “http://www.zimbio.com/environment/articles/114/geopathic +stress+tutorial+7”tutorial+7 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 172 management foundations and global readiness index of school heads of the philippines fructuoso c. baliton totsbaliton_67@yahoo.com deped, division of leyte (eastern visayas) abstract an understanding of personality contributes to an understanding of organizational behavior in that we expect a predictable interplay between an individual’s personality and his or her tendency to behave in certain ways (jacob 1995). most organizations today must achieve high performance in the context of a competitive and complex global environment (porter 1998). this descriptive surveycorrelation method of research aimed to determine whether the management foundations of secondary school heads were related to their global readiness index. the findings of this study may serve as a basis to take their strong personal characteristics as skills that should be nurtured and to take their good points as starting points to consider where and how to further pursue the development of their managerial skills and competencies. this may also serve as a feedback to work hard to grow and develop continually in the management foundations considering that their successes as 21st century managers may well rest on an initial awareness of the importance of these basic vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.160 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 173 management foundations and that they must be comfortable with the global economy and the global diversity that it holds. chi-square established that their management foundations are not significantly related to their global readiness index. keywords – management, personal characteristics, globalization, global awareness and cultural sensitivity introduction management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizational resources. these functions of management form a framework for managerial action (schermerhorn 1999). in what has become a classic study of management behavior, henry mintzberg (1989) moved beyond this functional description and identified three sets of roles namely: 1) interpersonal roles, 2) informational roles, and 3) decisional roles that managers must be prepared to perform on a daily basis. essential to these roles and to all managerial work are good interpersonal relationships with a wide variety of people, both inside and outside the organization (kotter 1982). managers are formally responsible for supporting the work efforts of other people. anyone who serves as a manager or team leader assumes a unique responsibility for work that is accomplished largely through the efforts of other people. the result is a very demanding and complicated job that has been described by researchers in the following terms(schermerhorn, hunt, and osborn2000).managers work long hours. a work week of more than the standard 40 hours is typical. the length of the work week tends to increase as one advance to higher managerial levels; heads of organizations often work the longest hours. managers are busy people. their work is intense and involves doing many different things on any given work day. the busy day of a manager includes a shifting mix of incidents that require attention, with the number of incidents being greatest for lower-level managers. managers are often interrupted. their work is fragmented jpair: multidisciplinary journal 174 and variable. interruptions are frequent, and many tasks must be completed quickly. managers work mostly with other people. in fact, they spend little time working alone. time spent with others includes working with bosses, peers, subordinates, subordinates of their subordinates, as well as outsiders, such as customers, suppliers, and the like. managers are communicators. in general, managers spend a lot of time getting, giving, and processing information. their work is often face-to-face verbal communication that takes place during formal and informal meetings. higher level managers typically spend more time in scheduled meetings that do lower level managers. the department of education of the philippines is mandated by republic act 9155, otherwise known as the “governance of basic education act of 2001,” that the principals, school administrators and teachers-in-charge (collectively referred to as school heads) must exercise instructional leadership and sound administrative management of the school. moreover, the mission statement of the medium-term development plan for basic education declares: we shall decentralize educational management so that the school becomes the focus for enhancing initiative, creativity, innovation and effectiveness. our efforts at educational quality improvement shall originate from the school and redound to its own benefit and that of the community. subsequently, the department of education further defined decentralization to mean: promotion of school-based management; transfer of authority and decision-making from central and regional offices to the divisions and schools; sharing education management responsibilities with other stakeholders; and devolution of education functions. in other words, decentralization gives school heads and other movers of the school decision-making power, where previously, such power rested only on central, regional and division level officials. power given to the schools in such that decision-making will be made by all those who are closely involved with resolving the challenges of the individual schools, so that the specific needs of the students will be served more effectively. educational institutions that are managed by the school heads are not exempted from the concept of globalization. just as today’s international peer reviewed journal 175 organizations need managers with global awareness and cultural sensitivity so do schools need school heads who must know how to deal with people from other countries and cultures. personality is an important attribute in management. it represents the overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others. an understanding of personality contributes to an understanding of organizational behavior in that we expect a predictable interplay between an individual’s personality and his or her tendency to behave in certain ways (jacob 1995). to demonstrate leadership qualities, to develop a culture of peace and respect for cultural diversity in oneself, and to implement policies that promote a culture of peace and respect for cultural diversity are but few management attribute profile or characteristics from among the competency framework for southeast asian school heads developed by the southeast asian ministers of education organization (seameo) on 23 october 2009. most organizations today must achieve high performance in the context of a competitive and complex global environment (porter 1998). a global manager has the international awareness and cultural sensitivity needed to work well across national borders (moran and riesenberger 1999) and according to houlder (1996), experienced international managers indicate that a “global mindset” of cultural adaptability, patience, flexibility, and tolerance are indispensable. school heads must understand first their own personal characteristics and culture in order to work well with people from different cultures hence this assessment on their self-described management foundations profile and to establish a baseline measurement of their readiness to participate in the global work environment. this study aimed at finding out whether the management foundations of public secondary school heads of the philippines were related to their global readiness index or the extent of their readiness to participate in the global work environment. the findings of this study may serve as a basis for this group of public secondary school heads of the philippines to take their strong jpair: multidisciplinary journal 176 personal characteristics as skills that should be nurtured by them and to take their good points, but still have room to grow, as starting points to consider where and how to further pursue the development of their managerial skills and competencies. this may also serve as a feedback for all public secondary school heads of the philippines to work hard to grow and develop continually in the management foundations considering that their successes as 21st century managers may well rest on an initial awareness of the importance of these basic management foundations as well as a willingness to strive continually to strengthen them throughout their work career and for them to be aware that to be successful in the 21st century work environment, they must be comfortable with the global economy and the global diversity that it holds. finally, for the bureau of secondary education of the department of education to consider the findings of this study as a partial basis for assessment of the personal characteristics and the readiness to participate in the global work environment of public secondary school heads. objectives of the study specifically, this study sought answers to the following objectives: 1. to describe the management foundations of public secondary school heads of the philippines in each of the following personal characteristics: resistance to stress, tolerance for uncertainty, social objectivity, inner work standard, stamina, adaptability, selfconfidence, self-objectivity, introspection, and entrepreneurism; 2. to determine their global readiness index in terms of the following dimensions: global mindset, global knowledge, and global work skills; and, 3. to determine significant relationships between their management foundations and their global readiness index. international peer reviewed journal 177 materials and methods figure 1 presents the data of the respondents by region. figure 1: data of the respondents by region region total national capital region 6 region i 10 region ii 6 region iii 12 region iv-a 8 region iv-b 10 region v 24 region vi 24 region viii 44 region ix 4 region xi 2 region xii 2 region xiii 6 total 158 figure 2 presents the data of the respondents by position/ designation. figure 2: data of the respondents by position/designation position / designation total secondary school principal iv 8 secondary school principal iii 22 secondary school principal ii 28 secondary school principal i 82 head teacher iii 6 head teacher ii 4 head teacher i 4 teacher in-charge/teacher iii 4 total 158 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 178 the respondents of this study were 60 male and 98 female or a total of 158 public secondary school heads of the philippines which comprises 65.83% of the total population of 240. these are the school heads who have returned the questionnaire to the researcher. a set of data-gathering questionnaire which is composed of two parts was prepared by the writer. part i of the questionnaire measured the management foundations profile of the respondents in each of the following personal characteristics: resistance to stress, tolerance for uncertainty, social objectivity, inner work standard, stamina, adaptability, self-confidence, self-objectivity, introspection, and entrepreneurism which was adapted from the a 21st century manager assessment instrument of schermerhorn, hunt, and osborn (2000). the items on the list are recommended by the american assembly of collegiate schools of business as skills and personal characteristics that should be nurtured in college and university students of business administration. the researcher believes that the same items should also be nurtured in the public secondary school heads as their skills and personal characteristics. it was determined by requesting them to rate themselves on theirpersonal characteristics using this scale: s = strong, i am very confident with this one. g = good, but i still have room to grow. w = weak, i really need work on this one. ? = unsure, i just don’t know. one point is given to each strong answer, and ½ point for each good answer. no points for weak and unsure answers. the total score is the management foundations profile of each respondent which was interpreted using the following table: 7.5 10 = strong 5.0 7.49 = good 2.5 4.49 = weak 0.5 2.49 = unsure international peer reviewed journal 179 part ii of the questionnaire measured their global readiness index or the extent of their readiness to participate in the global work environment in terms of the following dimensions: global mindset, global knowledge, and global work skills. this was adapted from the global readiness index instrument of schermerhorn, hunt, and osborn (2000) which they developed from “is your company really global,” business week (december 1, 1997). it was determined by requesting them to measure their readiness to participate in the global work environment. the respondents rated themselves on each of the ten items to establish a baseline measurement of their readiness to participate in the global work environment by using the following scale: 5 = very good 4 = good 3 = acceptable 2 = poor 1 = very poor their scores were developed as follows: the average score of items 1, 2, 3, and 4 is the global mind-set score of each respondent which was interpreted using the following table: 4.26 5.0 = very good 3.26 4.25 = good 2.26 3.25 = acceptable 1.26 2.25 = poor 1.0 1.25 = very poor the average score of items 5, 6, and 7; and the average score of items 8, 9, and 10 are the global knowledge score and the global work skills score, respectively,of each respondent which was interpreted using the following table: 4.34 5.0 = very good 3.34 4.33 = good jpair: multidisciplinary journal 180 2.34 3.33 = acceptable 1.34 2.33 = poor 1.0 1.33 = very poor in interpreting the overall global readiness index of each respondent, codes were utilized. coding was done to facilitate the analysis of the data. the dimension having the highest code was considered the index of the respondents or the extent of their readiness to participate in the global work environment. the descriptive survey-correlation method of research was used in this study using a questionnaire to collect data. permission to gather the data was secured from the national association of public secondary schools of the philippines (napssphil) executive board and the distribution of questionnaire has been undertaken personally by the researcher, who was the chair of the secretariat, during the first day and the registration of participants to the 2nd napssphil public secondaryschool heads’ congress at puerto princesa city, palawan on january 20 – 22, 2010. the retrieval of the questionnaires lasted until the end of the closing ceremony on january 22, 2010. frequency counts determined their profile in each of the ten personal characteristics and the extent of their readiness to participate in the global work environment. average scores determined the overall profile of both variables. chi-square was used in testing the null hypothesis that there are no significant relationships between their management foundations profile and their global readiness index that was tested at the 0.05 level of significance. results and discussion on the management foundations profile of public secondary school heads of the philippines table 1 shows the management foundations profile of public secondary school heads of the philippines. international peer reviewed journal 181 table 1: the management foundations profile of public secondary school heads of the philippines strong good total personal characteristics f % f % f % resistance to stress 86 54.43 72 45.57 158 100 tolerance for uncertainty 52 32.91 106 67.09 158 100 social objectivity 64 40.51 94 59.49 158 100 inner work standards 72 45.57 86 54.43 158 100 stamina 92 58.23 66 41.77 158 100 adaptability 106 67.09 52 32.91 158 100 self-confidence 86 54.43 72 45.57 158 100 self-objectivity 80 50.63 78 49.37 158 100 introspection 94 59.49 64 40.51 158 100 entrepreneurism 76 48.10 82 51.90 158 100 overall profile 86 54.43 72 45.57 158 100 it can be gleaned from table 1 that majority of the respondents have strong management foundations profile on the following personal characteristics: resistance to stress (54.43%), stamina (58.23%), adaptability (67.09%), self-confidence (54.43%), self-objectivity (50.63%), and introspection (59.49%). on the other hand, the majority of them have good management foundations profile on the personal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 182 characteristics of tolerance for uncertainty (67.09%), social objectivity (59.49%), inner work standards (54.43%), and entrepreneurism (51.90%). overall, the profile shows that majority or 54.43% of the respondents have strong management foundations profile while the 45.57% of them have good management foundations profile. the findings of this study resembles to the investigation of salgado (1997), as cited by greenberg and baron (1999), that examined the relationship between the standing of the big five dimensions of personality and job performance. the results were clear: high degrees of consciousness and emotional stability were associated with high degrees of performance across all occupational groups and all measures of performance. on the global readiness index or the extent of readiness to participate in the global work environment of public secondary school heads of the philippines table 2 shows the global readiness index or the extent of readiness to participate in the global work environment of public secondary school heads of the philippines. table 2: the global readiness index or the extent of readiness to participate in the global work environment of public secondary school heads of the philippines very good good acceptable total dimensions f % f % f % f % global mind-set 82 51.90 72 45.57 4 2.53 158 100 global knowledge 42 26.58 74 46.84 42 26.58 158 100 international peer reviewed journal 183 global work skills 54 34.18 78 49.37 26 16.45 158 100 overall index 54 34.18 90 56.96 14 8.86 158 100 table 2 revealed that majority of the respondents or 51.90% of them indicated that they have a very good global mind-set to participate in the global work environment. in the other two dimensions, however, only 26.58% and 34.18% of them have indicated that they have a very good global knowledge and global work skills readiness index, respectively. almost one half of them have indicated to have a good global mind-set (45.57%), global knowledge (46.84%), and global work skills (49.37%) readiness to participate in the global work environment. the other respondents indicated to have an acceptable global mind-set (2.53%), global knowledge (26.58%), and global work skills (16.45%) readiness index. the overall index shows that majority or 56.96% of the respondents have good global readiness index. only 34.18% of them have very good global readiness index while 8.86% of them have acceptable global readiness index. the chi-square established that there are no significant relationships between the management foundations profile and the global readiness index of public secondary school heads since the obtained value of x, which is 2.742, is lesser than the tabular/critical value of x at the 0.05 level of significance of 5.991. the null hypothesis that there are no significant relationships between the management foundations and the global readiness index of public secondary school heads, therefore, is accepted. the non significant relationships between the management foundations and the global readiness index of public secondary school heads imply that it does not follow that if they have strong management foundations they also have very good global readiness index. continuation of table 2 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 184 conclusions this research finally concluded that majority of the respondents are very confident with their ability to get work done even under stressful condition; to sustain long work hours; to be flexible and adapt to changes; to be consistently decisive and display one’s personal presence; to evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses and to understand one’s motives and skills to a job; and to learn from experience, awareness, and self-study. in their ability to get work done even under ambiguous and uncertain conditions; to act free of racial, ethnic, gender, and other prejudices or biases; to personally set and work to high-performance standards; and to address problems and take advantage of opportunities for constructive change majority of the respondents are confident but believe that they still have room to grow. this research also concluded that while public secondary school heads are very comfortable to receive and respect cultural differences they are only comfortable in continuing quest to know and learn more about other nations and cultures as well as in allowing themselves to work effectively across cultures. the management foundations of public secondary school heads of the philippines are not significantly related to their global readiness index or the extent of their readiness to participate in the global work environment. literature cited competency framework for southeast asian school heads developed for the learntech multi-modal flexible learning action research project, version: 23 october 2009. greenberg, jerald and robert a. baron 1999 behavior in organizations understanding and managing the human side of work, 7th edition. new jersey: prentice hall. houlder, v. 1996 foreign culture shocks,financial times (march 22, 1996), p.12, as cited byschermerhorn, hunt, and osborn. international peer reviewed journal 185 jacob, r. 1995 the resurrection of michael dell,fortune (august 1995), p. 117, as cited byschermerhorn, hunt, and osborn. kotter, john p. 1982 “what effective general managers really do,” harvard business review, 60 (november/december 1982): 161, as cited by mintzberg, mintzberg, henry 1989 management. new york: free press. moran, r. and j. riesenberger 1999 making globalization work: solutions for implementation. new york: mcgraw-hill. porter, m. 1998 the competitive advantage of nations, competitive advantage, and competitive strategy. new york: the free press. republic act 9155 2001 an act instituting a frame work of governance for basic education, establishing authority and accountability, renaming the department of education, culture and sports as the department of education, and for other purposes. salgado, j. f. 1997 the five-factor model of personality and job performance in the european community. journal of applied psychology, 82, 30-43, as cited by greenberg and baron schermerhorn, john r. 1999 management, sixth edition. new york: wiley & sons, inc. schermerhorn, john r., james g. hunt, and richard n. osborn 2000 organizational behavior, seventhedition.new york: john wiley & sons, inc. 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.219 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. legal perspective on civil remedies in the malaysian securities industry asmah laili hj yeon orcid no.: 0000-0002-3159-6973 asmah485@uum.edu.my college of law, government and international studies universiti utara malaysia, malaysia abstract malaysia’s capital market has performed well in 2009 and this is reflected from the malaysia’s biggest rise of capital in the form of maxis bhd’s rm11.2 billion of initial public offering in 2009. nevertheless, self-interests may create behaviors that pose risks to the safety of investors and the integrity of markets. therefore, the malaysian securities commission (sc) implemented a civil action against the offender of securities crimes in order to protect investors and to cover losses faced by investors because of securities crimes. the objective of this paper is to discuss and analyze the law and enforcement of civil action in securities industry in malaysia. this is a legal research and involved examining legal data such as statutes and court cases. the capital markets and services act 2007(cmsa 2007) regulate matters relating to the activities, markets and intermediaries in the capital markets. the cmsa 2007 provides provisions relating to civil remedies to the victims of securities crimes and further empowers the sc to enforce administrative and civil actions. the analysis on enforcement of civil actions of sc shows that the outcome of the said strategy is very encouraging and accepted well by the industry player. keywords – securities law, civil action, legal research, malaysia 2 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction in the global scenario, the last two decades have marked the notable ascent of capital markets in the functioning of the global economy. in 1990, global equity market capitalization amounted to only usd10.4 trillion and was less than half the size of the world economy (iosco, 2009). at its peak in 2007, global equity market capitalisation had risen six-fold to usd64.6 trillion, about 1.17 times nominal global gdp. malaysia’s capital market has performed well in 2009 despite the lingering effects of the global financial crisis and ensuing economic downturn. this is reflected from the malaysia’s biggest capital-raising exercise ever, in the form of maxis bhd’s rm11.2 billion initial public offering in 2009 (maxis annual report, 2010) the securities commission (sc) is the main regulator of securities and futures markets in malaysia and has been entrusted to several functions under the securities commission act 1993 (sca 1993). among others, the sc is to advise the minister and regulate on all matters relating to securities and derivatives market; ensure provisions of securities law are complied with; regulate the take-over and merger of companies and matters relating to unit trust schemes and others. under the capital markets and services act 2007 (cmsa 2007), there are two ways on how investors of securities markets been protected under the law. the traditional way is using criminal sanction against the securities crimes offenders and civil sanction is another method used by the sc to provide remedies to the victim of the crime. hence, the objective of this paper is to discuss and analyze the law and enforcement of civil action in securities industry in malaysia. section 199 to 201 of cmsa 2007 provides provisions relating to civil remedies to the victims of securities, crimes and further, section 354 to 361 of the cmsa 2007 give power to the securities commission to enforce administrative and civil actions. securities markets crimes under the cmsa 2007 before the writer goes further to discuss on the issue of civil action by the sc, it is vital to clarify some matters in relation to the securities crimes. according to cmsa 2007, there are eight main types of market misconduct or prohibited conduct in securities market i.e. false trading (s. 175(1)), market rigging transactions (s. 175(2)), stock market manipulation (s. 176), false or misleading statements (s. 177), fraudulently inducing persons to deal in securities (s. 178), use of manipulative and deceptive devices (s. 179), dissemination of information about illegal transactions (s. 181) and insider trading (s. 188). the conventional way on how to combat these crimes is by using the strategy of criminal sanctions where under section 182 a person 3 international peer reviewed journal who contravenes section 175, 176, 177, 178, 181 or 188 commits an offence and on conviction the offender could be imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years and fined of not less than one million ringgit. research findings by asmah and faridahwati (2011) showed that offenders of securities crimes in malaysia are a company’s insider such as director, finance officer, executive officer and company’s staffs. the typical offences committed include false statement, misappropriation of company’s assets, fraudulent act in the sale and purchase of securities and others. further, according to the finding of the research shows that in 2009, the sc successfully bring 16 cases to the court of justice, and in the year of 2008 only 12 cases, 11 cases in 2007, 9 cases in 2006 and 11 cases in 2005. criminal sanction is the conventional way used by most of the regulators in the global markets to combat white collar crime especially in securities markets. simultaneously, regulators adopted the civil action strategy to compensate victims of securities industry as to create greater investors’ confidence to the markets. the strength of securities market is based on investor confidence and market integrity. civil action by the securities commission under the cmsa 2007 the duties of sc are to seek and promote confidence in the integrity of securities market. investors must be assured they are protected from misleading, manipulative or fraudulent practices. they want to have recourse to justice and know that wrongdoers will be held accountable. section 200 of cmsa 2007 empower the sc to institute civil proceedings in court against the offender of securities crimes whether or not that person has been charged with the offence or whether or not a contravention has been proved in a prosecution. if the sc considers that it is in the public interest to do so the sc will institute civil action against the offender in order to (a) recover an amount which should not exceed three times the gross amount of pecuniary gain made or loss avoided by the criminal; and (b) claim penalty in such amount as the court considers appropriate having regard to the severity or gravity of the offence being the amount not exceeding one million ringgit. further, in insider trading offences the sc may institute civil action if it considers that it is in the public interest to do so against or any other person involved in the contravention to (a) recover an amount equal to three times the amount being the difference between the price at which the securities were acquired/disposed, or agreed to acquired/disposed by the insider or the other person, and the price at which they would have been likely to have been acquired/disposed at the time of the acquisition/ disposal or agreement, if the information had been generally available; and (b) claim 4 jpair multidisciplinary research civil penalty in such amount as the court considers appropriate having regard to the seriousness of the contravention, being an amount not more than one million ringgit.1 the effectiveness of the strategy can be witnessed in the swisscash case. the landmark settlement of rm30 million in relations to the swisscash investment scam was a major achievement in this regard.2 this is by far the largest settlement in the history of malaysia’s capital market and the money will be used to compensate victims of the scam. further in another case, the sc took an action against a company director following civil enforcement by sc, the high court ordered kenneth vun, the former managing director and shareholder of ftec resources bhd, to repay the company rm2.4 million of ipo proceeds that he used for his personal benefit.3 in the other scenario, on 29 march 2011 the sc entered into a settlement with mr heah sieu lay in the sum of rm77,576 when he agreed, without admission of liability to make the payment. this sum constituted a disgorgement of twice the profits arising from alleged irregularities in his trading of nexnews berhad shares between 4 may 2007 and 10 may 2007. this settlement followed the sc’s proposed proceedings under section 89e and 90(1) of the securities industry act 1983.4 on 29 march 2011 the sc entered into a settlement with mr tan kong han in the sum of rm24,760 when he agreed, without admission of liability to make the payment. this sum constituted a disgorgement of twice the profits arising from alleged irregularities in his trading of nexnews berhad shares between 3 may 2007 and 17 august 2007. this settlement followed the sc’s proposed proceedings under section 89e and 90(1) of the securities industry act 1983.5 the sc also entered into a settlement on 22 march 2011 with kanesan a/l veluppillai in the sum of rm98,247 when he agreed, without admission of liability to make the payment. this sum constituted a disgorgement of three times the profits arising from alleged irregularities in his trading of nexnews berhad shares between 3 may 2007 and 10 may 2007. this settlement followed the sc’s proposed proceedings under section 89e and 90(1) of the securities industry act 1983.6 1 refer to section 201(5) and (6) of the cmsa 2007 2 zarinah anwar (2009). “sustaining confidence and trust in our capital market”. the edge weekly, 28 december 2009. also can be found at http://www.sc.com.my/main.asp?pageid=371&menuid 3 sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ 4 sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ 5 sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ 6 sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ 5 international peer reviewed journal framework looking at the above cases, it is important to note that an amount recovered by the sc in an action under section 200 of cmsa 2007 should be applied in the following manner. firstly, the amount is to reimburse the sc for all costs of the investigation and proceedings. secondly, to compensate persons who have suffered loss or damage as a result of the offence. if the sc considers it is not practicable to compensate the victim because of the difficulty of ascertaining or notifying the victim, the amount obtain will be paid to the capital markets compensation fund (cmcf) or retain by the sc to defray the costs of regulating the capital market with the approval of the minister. the civil proceedings can commenced at any time within twelve years from (a) the date on which the cause of action accrued or (b) the date on which the commission or the person who instituted the proceedings. the cmcf as mentioned above is managed and administered by the corporation.7 the corporation have all powers in performing its functions including a) establish processes and procedures which are fair, reasonable and transparent to determine claims for compensation; (b) pay out compensation; (c) petition the winding up of a relevant person; (d) determine the financial and operational condition of a relevant person and the likelihood of the relevant person triggering an event of default; (e) determine, charge, collect and receive contributions, levies, fees and other payments from relevant persons or claimants and expend the same in furtherance of all or any of the functions of the corporation; (f ) take any action in respect of its function in managing and administering the cmcf. the cmcf consist of the following sources (a) monies provided to the capital market compensation fund by the commission; (b) monies provided to the capital market compensation fund by the relevant stock exchange and derivatives exchange;  (c) contributions made by the capital market development fund;   (d) contributions made by a relevant person as provided for under section 160; (e) interest and profits accruing from time to time from the investment of the capital market compensation fund; (f ) any sum of money borrowed by the corporation pursuant to subsection 142(2); (g) monies recovered by or on behalf of the corporation in the exercise of a right of action conferred under this part; (h) monies paid by an insurer under a contract of insurance or indemnity entered into by the corporation under section 170 of this part; and (i) all other monies lawfully paid into the capital market compensation fund pursuant to this act or any other guidelines issued by the commission (section 159, cmsa 2007). the corporation is empowered to credit all direct operating income to the fund, and charge against the fund, all 7 section 142(1) of cmsa 2007. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research expenses and costs incurred by the corporation in managing the fund. before the amendment of cmsa 2007 in the year of 2011, the payments out of compensation fund (previously, bursa malaysia is the administrator of the fund) can be used for (a) the amount of all claims, including costs, allowed by the relevant stock exchange; (b) all legal and other expenses incurred in investigating or defending claims made to cf; (c) all premiums payable in respect of contracts of insurance or indemnity entered into by the relevant stock exchange; (d) all expenses incurred in the administration of the cf including remuneration and allowances of any persons employed by the relevant stock exchange; and (e) all other monies payable out of the cf in accordance to the law.8 in addition, this fund also can be used for compensating the person suffering the monetary loss at any particular time because of (a) a defalcation or because of fraudulent misuse of monies or other property, by a director, officer, employee or representative of a holder of a capital markets services license who carries on the business of dealing in securities that is at that time a participating organizations or (b) an insolvency of participating organization.9 after the amendment in 2011, the corporation is assigned with the tasks to make rules to be approved by the sc governing the proper administration of the corporation and the cmcf. the rules include among others the scope and category of claimants who are eligible to make claim from the cmcf, the manner in which claims are to be made; the manner in which claims are to be determined and awarded by the corporation and others.10 recovery of loss or damages by victim the cmsa 2007 also gives rights to victims of securities crimes to claim damages. section 199 and 201 states that a person who suffers loss or damages by reason of or by relying on the conduct of another person who has committed securities offences, may recover the amount of loss or damages by instituting civil proceedings against the other person, whether or not the other person has been charged with an offence in respect of the crime. loss and damages includes an unrealized loss or gain, in the price or value of securities of a corporation being the difference between (a) the price or value of securities in a transaction in connection with which the person claims to have suffered loss or damages, and (b) the price which would have been the likely price of the securities in the transaction , or the value which it is likely that such securities would have had at the time of that transaction, if the contravention had 8 section 144 of the cmsa 2007 9 section 152 of the cmsa 2007 10 refer to section 165 (3) of the cmsa 2007. 7 international peer reviewed journal not occurred. in the case of insider trading, section 201(3) provides that where an insider acquired/disposed or agreed to acquire/dispose or procured another person to acquire/dispose or agree to acquire/dispose securities from a person (bonafide seller/ buyer) who did not possess the information, the seller or buyer may by civil action against the insider or any other person involved in the act, recover, as loss or damages suffered by the buyer, the difference between (a) the price at which the securities were acquired/disposed and (b) the price at which the securities would have been likely to have been acquired/disposed at the time of the acquisition/disposal or agreement if the information had been generally available. administrative and civil actions under cmsa 2007 under section 354 of the cmsa 2007, the sc can take action against any person who contravenes provisions in the cmsa or fails to comply with, observe, enforce or give effect to (i) the rules of a stock exchange, approved clearing house or central depository; (ii) any written notice, guidelines issued or condition imposed by the sc; or (iii) any rule of a recognized self-regulatory organization. a person here includes an exchange holding company, a stock exchange, a central depository, an approved clearing house, a participant, a participating organization, a depository participant and others as stated in section 354 (2) of the cmsa 2007. if any of the persons has committed a breach and the sc is satisfied that it is appropriate to take action against that person, the sc may take any or more of the following actions: (a) direct the person in breach to comply with, observe, enforce or give effect to such rules, provisions, written notice, condition or guideline; (b) impose a penalty in proportion to the severity or gravity of the to any other person in breach but in any event not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit; (c) reprimand the person in breach; (d) require the person in to take such steps as the sc may direct to remedy the breach or to mitigate the effect of such breach including making restitution to any other person aggrieved by such breach; (e) in the case of a breach of provisions in cmsa or guidelines issued, the sc can refuse to accept or consider any submission relating to the above matter; (f ) in the case of a promoter or a director of a corporation, in addition to the actions that may be taken under item (a) to (e) as above, the actions may be taken by the sc are (1) impose a moratorium on, or prohibit any trading of or any dealing in the corporation’s securities or in any other securities which the sc thinks fit by the promoter or director; (2) issue a public statement to the effect that in the sc’s opinion, the retention of the office by the director is prejudicial to the public interest. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research it is interesting to note that the cmsa 2007 provides several methods to safeguard the industry securities transactions. the questions now are whether these strategies being implemented by the regulator or not is another issue to consider and to what extent is the responsibility of market’s participants themselves to uphold law and regulations also. if every participant is a law abiding person, of course there is no need for the regulator to introduce different types of strategy to combat unethical and illegal conduct in the securities market. in relation to action in paragraph (d) as above, the sc in determining whether or not restitution is to be made by a person in breach will based on the criteria: (a) the profits that have accrued to such person in breach; or (b) whether one or more persons have suffered loss or been otherwise adversely affected as a result of the breach. section 354 (8) provides the sc may sue a person who fails to pay penalty (paragraph (b)) as a civil debt due to the government of malaysia and further under subsection (9) mentioned about the sc may sue a person who fails to pay restitution (paragraph (d)) for a civil debt due to the persons aggrieved by the breach. this strategy is not only to serve as a punishment to the offender but also give protection to the victims of unethical conducts in securities markets. section 356 of the cmsa 2007 authorizes the sc to take action against the licensed person who is in breach of any securities laws, written notice, guidelines, any condition or restriction granted under the cmsa 2007. the sc also can take action against licensed holder who jeopardize the interests of clients of the licensed person or be prejudicial to the public interests. type of actions taken by the sc is similar to section 354 above. objectives of the study the objective of this paper is to examine and discuss the civil remedy strategies in the malaysian securities industry law. methodology this is a qualitative legal research paper. according to mahdi zahraa (1998) a legal research is a fresh, diligent, systematic, inquiry or investigation of the factual data and/or theoretical concepts of the rules and principles of a particular legal issue in an attempt to discover, revise or improve the relevant concepts, theories, principles and applications. the source of legal data is from primary and secondary sources. the researcher analyses provisions of statutes, court cases, articles, books and tertiary data which are relevant to the research paper. the scope of discussion is based on the 9 international peer reviewed journal capital markets and services act 2007. the researcher also examines selected cases in relation to civil remedy in the capital markets. the data were analyzed using an analytical and critical analysis (walker, 1980) and in addition, content analysis were used by applying judicial interpretation method which includes literal rule, golden rule, mischief rule and purposive rule especially in regards to primary data. discussion the writer elaborates on selected cases involving action taken under section 356. in 2010, the sc has taken action against mayban investment management sdn. bhd. (a capital markets services licence holder carrying out dealing in securities and fund management) because of breach of section 356(1) of the capital markets and services act 2007 (“cmsa”). the brief description of the misconduct are (a) failure to comply with several requirements of the cmsa, the guidelines on compliance function for fund managers (“compliance guidelines”) including having adequate measures to safeguard clients’ assets, and policies and procedures to address conflicts of interest situations; and (b) board of directors’ failure to put in place adequate internal controls and policies and procedures to ensure compliance with all laws, regulations, guidelines and code of conduct. the company has to pay penalty of rm100,000. in 2011, the case of hwang dbs investment bank berhad (“hdbsib”)11 (a capital markets services licence holder carrying out dealing in securities and advising on corporate finance) has breach of section 356 of the capital markets and services act 2007 for failure to comply with the securities commission’s guidelines on prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing for capital market intermediaries (“aml guidelines”) and guidelines on market conduct and business practices for stockbrokers and licensed representatives (“market conduct guidelines”). description of misconduct includes (a) failure to identify and report suspicious transactions; (b) failure to take reasonable steps to minimise hdbsib exposure to money laundering risk; and (c) failure to conduct enhanced customer due diligence (“cdd”) on ‘high risk’ clients. the action taken against the company are (1) reprimand; (2) penalty of rm250,000; and (3) directive to develop and implement a comprehensive anti-money laundering training programme for its staff. besides the provisions, section 357 imposes civil liability to the person in contravention of the securities laws where a person who suffers loss or damages by relying on the conduct of another person who has contravened any securities 11 sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ 10 jpair multidisciplinary research regulations may recover the amount of the loss or damage by instituting civil proceedings. the sc also may recover loss or damage for the purpose of public interests by instituting civil proceedings against the person who has contravened any securities regulations whether or not the person has been charged with an offence or not. the limitation period for such action may be begun at any time within six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued or the date on which the victim became aware of the contravention whichever is the later.12 the strategy taken by the government of malaysia to include civil sanction as part of the method to protect investors’ interest is admittedly an effective tool and an investor's friendly strategy. the regulation model was adopted from the united states and it becomes one of the alternatives strategy used by the sc to combat securities crimes in malaysia. the sc has yet to use aggressively the civil sanctions strategy compared to criminal sanctions. this can be evidenced from the statistic published by the sc in 2008 to 2011 (up to the month of april 2011), only 13 civil action cases compared to criminal prosecution which involved more than 70 cases. but looking at the statistics on civil actions taken by the sc, the trend now becomes more positive where in 2008 and 2009 only 1 case per year but in 2009 it goes up to 7 cases and 2011 ( in 4 months period) 5 cases already taken action by the sc. further, in the case of administrative actions, evidence shows that action in paragraph (d) of sections 354 and 356 of the cmsa is not taken at all by the sc. in the period of 2008 to 2011, there are 32 cases involving in administrative action taken by the sc but restitution is not one of the actions adopted by the sc against the person in breach. most of these cases involved payment of penalty, reprimand and suspension or revocation of license. the writer is of the view that the sc should take more effort to materialize whatever strategy provided by the law especially if it is to give benefits to the investors. if investors have confidence in the market then it will boost the malaysian economy. conclusion as a conclusion, we may say that over the past year, the sc has focused its efforts on promoting confidence and trust in malaysia’s capital market, and on helping the market to function efficiently, providing lower financing cost while remaining resilient. 12 section 358 of the cmsa 2007 11 international peer reviewed journal recommendation therefore, there is a need to review corporate governance issues including institutions that have regulatory duties, intermediaries and professionals that have fiduciary obligations to put their customers’ interests ahead of their own, market venues that need to maintain a transparent, fair and orderly trading environment and boards of directors who need to exercise greater stewardship and ensure a fair deal for all their stakeholders. in this regard, there is still a sense that the private sector has not really absorbed the value of ethical conduct and responsibility to other stakeholders. preventing a recurrence of a financial crisis requires not only reforms to financial regulation but more importantly, a change in the mindset of market participants. it is important that all participants of the industry work together to achieve positive changes in the attitudes of all stakeholders in line with public expectations. literature cited asmah l. & faridahwati 2011 pelaksanaan kerangka perundangan penzahiran dalam pasaran industri sekuriti di kalangan pemegang-pemegang lesen di malaysia. laporan akhir yang dibiayai oleh frgs, kementerian pengajian tinggi malaysia 2011. ilbs 2011 the capital markets and services act 2007 (act 671). kuala lumpur: ilbs. ilbs. 2010 the securities commission act 1993 (act 498). kuala lumpur: ilbs. iosco 2009 the annual report. refer to the website of sc.com.my zarinah a. & kar m.t. 2003 “building a framework for corporate transparency: challenges for global capital markets and the malaysian experience”. international accountant, issue 18, february 2003. zarinah a. 2009 “sustaining confidence and trust in our capital market”. the edge weekly, 12 jpair multidisciplinary research 28 december 2009. also can be found at http://www.sc.com.my/main. asp?pageid=371&menuid mahdi z. 1998. research methods for postgraduate overseas students, glasgow: univision press pp 17. maxis 2010 maxis annual report 2010. kuala lumpur. sc enforcement : civil action 2010 at http://www.sc.com.my/ sc enforcement : civil action 2011 at http://www.sc.com.my/ shanti, g. 2010 capital market laws of malaysia. selangor: lexis nexis. shanty r., oasco, j. & anil, j. 2010 concise principles of company law in malaysia (2nd ed.). selangor: lexis nexis. sharif a.s., singh, a., ahmad, r. & jalal, j. 2009 strenghthening governance in asia-pasific. myths, realities and paradoxes. india: macmillan publishers. malloy, f. t. 2003 “regulation, compliance and the firm”. 76 temp.l.rev. 451. malloy, f. t. 2005 “corporate decision making: disclosure stories”. 32 fla.st.u.l. rev.617. florida state university law review.florida state university law review. winter, 2005. mahmood, n. r. 2005 “managing corporate responsibility and crisis through fairness, transparency and accountability”. ucapan disampaikan dalam asia corporate governance conference 2005, kuala lumpur. 13 international peer reviewed journal reed, s., storehead & corley 2005 the legal & regulatory environment of business (13th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill. walker, d. 1980 the oxford companion law. oxford: clarendon press pp 837. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-journals; 3) google scholar; 4) index copernicus; 5) scholastica; 6) researchgate; 7) lacriee of france; 8)university library of leipzig, germany; 9) linguist list; and 10) the journaltocs. 93 international peer reviewed journal abstract number theory, a branch of pure mathematics, is crucial in cryptographic algorithms. many cryptographic systems depend heavily on some topics of number theory. one of these topics is the linear congruence. in cryptography, the concept of linear congruence is used to directly underpin public key cryptosystems during the process of ciphering and deciphering codes. thus, linear congruence plays a very important role in cryptography. this paper aims to develop an alternative method and generalized solutions for solving linear congruence ax ≡ b (mod n). this study utilized expository-developmental research method. as a result, the alternative method considered two cases: (1) when (a,n) = 1 and (2) when (a,n) > 1. the basic idea of the method is to convert the given congruence ax ≡ b (mod n) to ax = b + kn for some k, reduce modulus n by interchanging a and n, simplify the new congruence and perform the process recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. the advantage on generalized solutions of linear congruence ax ≡ b (mod n) for large modulus n polemer m. cuarto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5507-3640 polemath@yahoo.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 1 vol. 31 · january 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v31i1.566 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 94 jpair multidisciplinary research of this method over the existing approaches is that it can solve congruence even for large modulus n with much more efficiency. generalized solution of linear congruence ax ≡ b (mod n) considering both cases was obtained in this study. keywords – number theory, cryptography, expository-developmental research, philippines introduction in the global information economy, personal data have become the fuel, driving much of current online activity (united nations, 2016). day-by-day, large amount of data are transmitted, stored and collected across the globe enabled by massive improvements in computing and communication power. protecting these data and privacy rights online is a significant and increasingly urgent challenge for policymakers. thus, the use of cryptography has become popular and vital. linear congruence plays a very important role in cryptographic system. it is widely used in the encryption and decryption of codes in public key cryptosystems like the rivest shamir adlemann (rsa) system (ashioba & yoro, 2014; gupta, srivastava, & singh, 2012). because of this, numerous researchers and mathematics educators have been interested in studying and developing methods for solving linear congruence ax ≡ b (mod n). a standard method of solving linear congruence involves the use of multiplicative inverse of a modulo n (ore, 1988; burton, 1989). using this method, multiplying the linear congruence ax ≡ b(mod n) through by the factor a-1 gives x = ba-1 (mod n). however, finding multiplicative inverse for large number is quite difficult, thus using this method will also take time in finding the congruence classes (koddoura, 2006). another method used to solve linear congruence is an approach which translates the given congruence into diophantine equation ax + by = c to solve linear congruence and solve using extended euclidean algorithm. however, according to gold (1995), using diophantine equations in finding congruence classes for ax ≡ b (mod n) require at most log 2(b) iterations, or in the case a<n, 1+log2(a) iterations. remodulization method, a novel solution for linear congruence was introduced by (gold & tucker, 1995), which characterizes the conditions under which solutions exists and then determines the solution space. this novel method 95 international peer reviewed journal relates the solutions space of cx ≡ b (mod n) to the euler function c rather than of b. this allows one to develop an alternative efficient approa ch to encryption and decryption of codes in public key cryptosystems. however, this method is not that efficient for large modulus n since characterizing the conditions under which solutions exists for large n is a cumbersome task. an algebraic method for solving linear congruence was introduced in 2014. this method translates the linear congruence into a algebraic linear equation x = b+nq, where b is the residue, n is the modulus and q is any arbitrary integer. after translating into linear equation, the equation is then solved algebraically (cuarto, 2014; cuarto 2015). although there are existing approaches developed, finding solutions to congruence still remain pedagogically difficult especially on the part of the students. this is because the methods make use of complex algorithms. thus, in this paper, the researcher aimed to develop an alternative method for solving congruence class ax ≡ b (mod n) that does not use an exhaustive, gradual and incremental method which invites a definite risk of computation complexity. this study aimed to generalize solution of linear congruence ax ≡ b(mod n). specifically, the study sought to: 1. determine an alternative method for solving linear congruence ax ≡ b(mod n) for large modulus n considering case when (a,n) = 1 and when (a,n) > 1; 2. validate the developed alternative method using formal proof and illustrative examples. the results of this study are deemed important for mathematics students, instructors, computer programmers as well as future researchers. using the developed alternative method, mathematics students especially the beginners who are taking up number theory can easily solve problems on linear congruence since it uses the concept of algebraic principles which every mathematics student is familiar with. utilizing the algorithm presented in this paper will help them realize that mathematics can be made simpler because the method does not make use of complex notations and operations which other algorithms do. likewise, this would benefit mathematics instructors and professors for this may serve as a reference material in teaching the concept of congruence in number theory. similarly, the result of this study can help those in the field of cryptography because the concept of linear congruence is used in ciphering and deciphering codes for network security and others. this algorithm could also give programmers insights in developing a program based on this technique that can automatically solve problems on linear congruence. this study would also provide input for 96 jpair multidisciplinary research future researchers who will conduct studies on development of other number theory-based cryptosystem. framework this paper was built on the following definitions, theorems and properties which will be used further in the development of this paper. these were taken from several readings of the works of adams (2010), burger (2006), stein (2008), benjamin and brown (2009), rose (2010), rosen (2011) and wall (2010). definition 1. a congruence is a linear equation involving congruent relations. let n be a fixed positive number. two integers a and b are said to be congruent modulo n, symbolized by a ≡ b(mod n) if n divides the difference a – b; that is, provided that a – b = kn for some integer k. congruences may be viewed as a generalized form of equality, in the sense that its behavior with respect to addition and multiplication is similar to ordinary equality (=). some of the basic properties of equality that carry over to congruences appear in the following theorem. definition 2. a congruence class [a] n is the set of all integers that have the same remainder as a when divided by n. if a linear congruence ax ≡ b(mod n) has a particular solution, it has an infinite number of solutions. thus, the complete congruence class solutions can be expressed as [x0]n where x0 is a particular solutions and n is the modulus. theorem 1. in modular arithmetic, if a and b are any integers and n is a positive integers, then the congruence ax b (mod n) has a solution for x if and only if the greatest common divisor of a and n (denoted by gcd (a,n)) is a factor of b. theorem 2. the congruence ax b (mod n), n ≠ 0, with gcd(a,n) = d|b, has d distinct solutions. theorem 3. if a b(mod n) then b = a + nq for some integer q, and conversely. theorem 4. for any integers a and b, and positive integer n, a ≡ a (mod n). proof: n|(a − a) since 0 is divisible by any integer. therefore, a ≡ a (mod n). theorem 5. for any integers a and b, and positive integer n, if a ≡ b (mod n), then b ≡ a (mod n). proof: if a ≡ b(mod n) then n|(b − a). therefore, n|(−1)(b − a) or n|(a − b). therefore, b ≡ a (mod n). theorem 6. for any integers a and b, and positive integer n, if a ≡ b (mod n) and b ≡ c (mod n) then a ≡ c (mod n). 97 international peer reviewed journal proof: if a ≡ b (mod n) and b ≡ c (mod n), then n|(b−a) and n|(c−b). using the linear combination theorem, n|(b − a + c − b) or n|(c − a). thus, a ≡ c (mod n). theorem 7. if a ≡b (mod n), then b = a + nk for some integer k, and conversely. proof: if a ≡ b (mod n) then by definition n|(b − a). therefore, b − a = nk for some k. thus b = a + nk. conversely if b = a + nk, then b−a = nk and so n|(b−a) and hence a ≡ b (mod n), then b = a + nk. theorem 8. if a ≡ b (mod n) then a and b leave the same remainder when divided by n. proof: suppose a ≡ b (mod n). then by theorem 6, b = a + nk. if a leaves the remainder r when divided by n, we have a = nk + r with 0 ≤ r. theorem 9. if a ≡ b (mod n) and c ≡ d (mod n), then a + c ≡ b + d (mod n). proof: using theorem 6, b = a + nk 1 and d = c + nk 2 . then adding equalities, we get b + d = a + c + nk 1 + nk 2 = a + c + n(k 1 + k 2 ). this shows that a + c ≡ b + d (mod n) by theorem 6. theorem 10. if a ≡ b (mod n) and c ≡ d (mod n), then ac ≡ bd (mod n). proof: using theorem 6, b = a + nk 1 and d = c + nk2. by multiplying, we get bd = (a + nk 1 )(c + nk 2 ) = ac + nak 2 + nck 1 + n 2 k 1 k 2 . thus, bd = ac + n(ak 2 + ck 1 + nk 1 k 2 ), and so ac ≡ bd (mod n), by theorem 6. theorem 11. if a ≡ b (mod n), and c is a positive integer, then, ca ≡ cb (mod cn). proof: since n|(b − a), we have cn|c(b − a) or cn|(cb − ca). these definitions and theorems were used in establishing a formal mathematical proof of the alternative method for solving linear congruence specifically for large modulus n. methodology the study is expository research in nature, thus, the resources found in the library and electronic resources was used in the conduct of the study. expository research is a research that gives detailed solutions and exposes it using set of words that is understandable to the readers (roxas & reyes, 2013). this study will focus on the development of an alternative method for solving congruence classes for ax ≡ b (mod n). the method was subjected through a series of trials and computations before arriving at generalized solutions. this was validated through a formal proof and illustrative examples. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research for a better understanding of the study, related concepts were discussed in the preliminaries. these concepts are definition, theorems and properties related to linear congruence. several articles and related studies from general references, books, journals and internet sources were reviewed and cited to establish a systematic and mathematical analysis of the topic. the presentation of every topic are systematic and illustrative in order for the students and general readers to comprehend easily what is being discussed. for the purpose of clarifying concepts in the research study, experts in the field and colleagues in the academe were consulted to be able to present the topic more clearly and understandable results and discussion the subsequent sections are systematically structured as follows: first, the steps of the developed alternative method for solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) as well as its proof were presented, then some illustrative examples in cases when a and n have greatest common divisor equal to 1 and when a and n have greatest common divisor greater than 1 were also provided. a shorter version of the solutions using the alternative method is also given after each illustrative example to simplify the computations. discussion on the development of linear congruence solver is also presented in the succeeding section. alternative method for solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) linear congruence in the form ax b (mod n) can be expressed to a linear equation in the form x = b + nq, where b is a residue, n is the modulus and q is an arbitrary integer. from this, the idea of solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) algebraically emanated. the basic idea of the method is to express the given congruence to linear equation and reduce the modulus recursively until arriving at a congruence that is trivial to solve. existing methods work well when the modulus n is not large. however, for large n, the methods become useless as the solution becomes more exhaustive. the advantage of the alternative method is that it can solve linear congruence ax b (mod n) even for large n. the alternative method considered two cases: case 1: when (a,n) = 1 and case 2: when (a,n) > 1. the steps in solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) using the developed alternative method is as follows: 99 international peer reviewed journal case 1: when (a,n) = 1 step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. simplify and solve the new congruence nk -b (mod a). perform this step recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. step 4. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x0 = to solve the given congruence. case 2: when (a,n) > 1 step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. simplify and solve the new congruence nk -b (mod a). perform this step recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. step 4. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x0 = to solve the given congruence. if x0 is a particular solution to the ax b (mod n), then the complete congruence class solution is given by: x0, x0 + , x0 + , . . . , x0 + where d = (a,n). proof of the alternative method for solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) this section provides validity of the developed alternative method for solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) by showing the theorems as well as its proof. step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. theorem 1. in modular arithmetic, if a and b are any integers and n is a positive integer, then the congruence ax b (mod n) has a solution for x if and only if d (the greatest common divisor of a and n) is a factor of b. proof: let b be an integer and d is (a,n). by theorem 3, ax = b + ny for some integer y. by subtraction property of equality, ax – ny = b which is a linear diophantine equation. if d divides b, then the diophantine equation has solution, so the congruence has solutions. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk for some integer k. theorem 3. if a b (mod n), then b = a + nk for some integer k, and conversely. proof: if a ≡ b mod n then by definition n|(b − a). therefore, b − a = nk for some k. thus b = a + nk. conversely if b = a + nk, then b−a = nk and so n|(b−a) and hence a ≡ b mod n then b = a + nk. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. simplify and solve the new congruence nk -b (mod a). perform this step recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. proposition 1. let a, b, n and x be positive integers, then ax b (mod n) is congruent to nk -b (mod a) for some integer k. proof. if ax b (mod n), then by theorem 3, ax = b + nk for some integer k. thus, ax b = nk, by subtraction property of equality and nk = ax – b, by symmetric property of equality. by theorem 3, nk -b (mod a). step 5. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x = (b + nk)/a to solve the given congruence. proposition 2. let a, b, n and k be positive integers, then the solution to x b (mod n) is given by x = (b + nk)/a. proof. by theorem 3, ax b (mod n) is congruent to ax = b + nk for some integer k. by division property of equality, x = (b + nk)/a. case 1: when (a,n) = 1 illustrative example 1 solve the linear congruence 11x 42(mod 101). step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. to check the solvability of the given congruence, we use theorem 1 which is previously stated in the preliminaries. in modular arithmetic, if a and b are any integers and n is a positive integer, then the congruence ax b (mod n) has a solution for x if and only if d (the greatest common divisor of a and n) is a factor of b. if d|b, then, it has d mutually incongruent solutions modulo n. 101 international peer reviewed journal since the greatest common divisor of 11 and 101 is 1, which is a factor of 42, the linear congruence 11x 42(mod 101) has a unique solution. note: in case when a and n are relatively prime, the given congruence always has a unique solution since 1 divides any value of b. thus, there is no need to check solvability condition. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk. the linear congruence 11x 42(mod 101) when converted to linear equation is given as : 11x = 42 + 101k. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. 11x = 42 + 101k 11x – 42 = 101k 101k = -42 + 11x 101k = -42 (mod 11) step 4. simplify and solve the new congruence nk -b (mod a). perform step 3 and 4 recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. 101k = -42 (mod 11) 2k = 2 (mod 11) since this congruence can be easily solved now, there is no need to repeat step 3 and 4 process. k = 1(mod 11) step 5. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x = (b + nk)/a to solve the given congruence. x = (b + nk)/a x = [42 + 101(1)] / 11 x = (42 + 101) / 11 x = 143 / 11 x = 13 thus, the congruence class solution of 11x 42(mod 101) is [13]101. a shorter version of the solution of 11x 42(mod 101) is given below: 11x 42(mod 101) 11x = 42 + 101k converting to linear equation 101k = -42 (mod 11) interchanging a and n 102 jpair multidisciplinary research 2k = 2 (mod 11) simplifying the congruence k = 1(mod 11) solving the congruence in terms of k x = (b + nk)/a x = [42 + 101(1)] / 11 substituting values to the general solution x = 13 simplifying the equation x = [13] 101 the congruence class solution of 11x 42(mod 101). illustrative example 2 solve the linear congruence 35x 67(mod 509). step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. since a and n are relatively prime, the given congruence always has a unique solution since 1 divides any value of b. thus, there is no need to check solvability condition. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk the linear congruence 35x 67(mod 509) when converted to linear equation is given as: 35x = 67 + 509k. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. 35x = 67 + 509k 35x – 67 = 509k 509k = -67 + 35x 509k = -67 (mod 35) step 4. simplify and solve the new congruence nk -b (mod a). perform step 3 and 4 recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. 509k = -67 (mod 35) 19k = 3 (mod 35) since this congruence is still complex, there is a need to repeat step 3 and 4 process. 19k = 3 (mod 35) 19k = 3 + 35k 1 19k -3 = 35k1 35q1 = -3 + 19q 103 international peer reviewed journal 35k1 = -3 (mod 19) 16k1 = 16 (mod 19) k1 = 1 (mod 19) 19k = 3 + 35k1 19k = 3 + 35(1) 19k = 3 + 35 19k = 38 k = 2 step 5. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x = (b + nk)/a to solve the given congruence. x = (b + nk)/a x = [67 + 509(2)] / 35 x = (67 + 1018) / 35 x = 1085 / 35 x = 31 thus, the congruence class solution of 35x 67(mod 509) is [31]509. a shorter version of the solution of 35x 67(mod 509) is given below: 35x 67(mod 509) 35x = 67 + 509k converting to linear equation 509k = -67 (mod 35) interchanging a and n 19k = 3 (mod 35) simplifying the congruence 19k = 3 + 35k 1 converting to linear equation 35k1 = -3 (mod 19) interchanging a and n 16k1 = 16 (mod 19) simplifying the congruence k1 = 1 (mod 19) 19k = 3 + 35q1 solving the congruence in terms of k k = 2 x = (b + nk)/a x = [67 + 509(2)] / 35 substituting values to the general solution x = 31 simplifying the equation x = [31] 509 the solution of 35x 67(mod 509). 104 jpair multidisciplinary research case 2: when (a,n) >1 illustrative example 1 solve the linear congruence 14x 35(mod 301). step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. to check the solvability of the given congruence, we use theorem 1 which is previously stated in the preliminaries. in modular arithmetic, if a and b are any integers and n is a positive integer, then the congruence ax b (mod n) has a solution for x if and only if d (the greatest common divisor of a and n) is a factor of b. if d|b, then, it has d mutually incongruent solutions modulo n. to find the greatest common divisor of a and n, use the euclidean algorithm. gcd of 14 and 301 301 = 14*21 + 7 14 = 7*2 + 0 (14,301) = 7 since the greatest common divisor of 14 and 301 is 7, which is a factor of 35, the linear congruence 14x 35(mod 301) has exactly 7 congruence class solutions modulo n. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk. the linear congruence 14x 35(mod 301) when converted to linear equation is given as: 14x = 35 + 301k. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. 14x = 35 + 301k 14x – 35 = 301k 301k = -35 + 14x 301k = -35 (mod 14) step 4. simplify and solve the new congruence nk =-b (mod a). perform step 3 and 4 recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. 301k = -35 (mod 14) 7k = 7 (mod 2) 105 international peer reviewed journal since this congruence can be easily solved now, there is no need to repeat step 3 and 4 process. k = 1(mod 2) step 5. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x = (b + nk)/a to solve the given congruence. x = (b + nk)/a x = [35 + 301(1)] / 14 x = (35 + 301) / 14 x = 336 / 11 x = 24 one congruence class solution of 14x 35(mod 301) is [24]101. if x is a solution, then a complete congruence class solution is: x, x + n/d, x + 2n/d, . . ., x + (d-1)n/d where d = (a, n). therefore, the complete congruence class solution to 14x 35(mod 301) is [24]301, [67]301, [110]301, [153]301, [196]301, [239]301, and [282]301. a shorter version of the solution of 14x 35(mod 301) is presented below: (14, 301) = 7 finding the gcd 7 is a factor of 35 checking solvability 14x = 35 + 301k converting to linear equation 301k = -35 (mod 14) interchanging a and n 7k = 7 (mod 2) simplifying the congruence k = 1 (mod 2) solving the congruence in terms of k x = (b + nk)/a x = [35 + 301(1)] / 14 substituting values to the general solution x = 24 simplifying the equation x = [24] 301 the congruence class solution of 14x 35(mod 301). the complete set of congruence class solutions are: [24]301, [67]301, [110]301, [153]301, [196]301, [239]301, and [282]301. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research illustrative example 2 solve the linear congruence 48x 36(mod 138). step 1. check the solvability of the given linear congruence. to check the solvability of the given congruence, we use theorem 1 which is previously stated in the preliminaries. in modular arithmetic, if a and b are any integers and n is a positive integer, then the congruence ax b (mod n) has a solution for x if and only if d (the greatest common divisor of a and n) is a factor of b. if d|b, then, it has d mutually incongruent solutions modulo n. to find the greatest common divisor of a and n, use the euclidean algorithm. gcd of 48 and 138 138 = 48*2 + 42 48 = 42*1 + 6 42 = 6*7 + 0 (48, 138) = 6 since the greatest common divisor of 48 and 138 is 6, which is a factor of 36, the linear congruence 48x 36(mod 138) has exactly 6 congruence class solutions modulo n. step 2. convert the given linear congruence ax b (mod n) into linear equation ax = b + nk. the linear congruence 48x 36(mod 138) when converted to linear equation is given as: 48x = 36 + 138k. step 3. reduce the modulus n by interchanging a and n algebraically. 48x = 36 + 138k 48x – 36 = 138k 138k = -36 + 48x 138k = -36 (mod 48) step 4. simplify and solve the new congruence nk =-b (mod a). perform step 3 and 4 recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. 138k = -36 (mod 48) 42k = 12 (mod 8) 107 international peer reviewed journal 7k = 2 (mod 8) 7k = 2 + 8k1 8k1 = -2 (mod 7) k1 = 5 (mod 7) 7k = 2 + 8k1 7k = 2 + 8(5) 7k = 2 + 40 7k = 42 q = 6 step 5. substitute the values of a, b, n and k to the equation x = (b + nk)/a to solve the given congruence. x = (b + nk)/a x = [36 + 138(6)] / 48 x = (36 + 828) / 48 x = 864 / 48 x = 18 one congruence class solution of 48x 36(mod 138) is [18]138. if x is a solution, then a complete congruence class solution is: x, x + n/d, x + 2n/d, . . ., x + (d-1)n/d where d = (a, n). therefore, the complete congruence class solutions to 48x 36(mod 138) are [18]138, [41]138, [64]138, [87]138, [110]138, and [133]138. a shorter version of the solution of 48x 36 (mod 138) is presented below: (48, 138) = 6 finding the gcd 6 is a factor of 36 checking solvability 48x = 36 + 138k converting to linear equation 138k = -36 (mod 48) interchanging a and n 42k = 12 (mod 8) simplifying the congruence 7k = 2 (mod 8) k = 6 (mod 8) solving the congruence in terms of k x = (b + nk)/a x = [36 + 138(6)] / 48 substituting values to the general solution x = 18 simplifying the equation x = [18] 138 the congruence class solution of 48x 36 (mod 138). 108 jpair multidisciplinary research the complete set of congruence class solutions are: [18]138, [41]138, [64]138, [87]138, [110]138, and [133]138. conclusions an easier alternative method for solving linear congruence ax b (mod n) considering two cases: (1) when (a,n) = 1 and (2) when (a,n) > 1 was developed. the basic idea of the method is to convert the given congruence ax ≡ b (mod n) to ax = b + kn for some k, reduce modulus n by interchanging a and n, simplify the new congruence and perform the process recursively until obtaining a congruence that is trivial to solve. the advantage of this method over the existing approaches is that it can solve congruence even for large modulus n with much more efficiency. generalized solution of linear congruence ax ≡ b (mod n) considering both cases was obtained in this study. future researchers can also conduct study on the development of easier alternative methods for solving other types of congruences such as linear congruence ax + by c (mod n), system of linear congruences, quadratic congruence and other non-linear congruences. this research was used as a mathematical basis for developing a computer program that automatically solves linear congruence problems in a step by step fashion which is currently being used in teaching and learning the concept of linear congruence in number theory classes. 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https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5&q=wall%2c+e.+%282010%29.+elementary+number+theory+&btng=#d=gs_cit&p=&u=%2fscholar%3fq%3dinfo%3agwx_u2ezyzej%3ascholar.google.com%2f%26output%3dcite%26scirp%3d0%26hl%3den 144 jpair multidisciplinary research effect determination of kaaraman ko, iwaras ko: a community extension program ronnie b. rubi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8689-8995 ronbrubz@gmail.com bicol state college of applied sciences technology peñafrancia ave., naga city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract kaaraman ko, iwaras ko is a community-based technology education extended by the college anchored to the cmo 52 s. 2016. this study is an assessment of the aforementioned program. kaaraman ko, iwaras ko was aimed to educate and capacitate the beneficiaries with applied technology skills in (a) food processing, bread, and pastry production, (b) garment technology and (c) household wiring and electrical installation. the study determined the effect of the program on the beneficiaries’ personal development, on the beneficiaries’ adoption of the skills they acquired from the training, and on augmenting the family income of the beneficiaries. mixed-method of research was utilized in the study. surveys and focus group discussion (fgd) was used to collect data. results show that of the 70 beneficiaries that adopted the skills they learned from the program, four (4) started a small business, eleven (11) used the skills they learned to seek employment and fifty-five (55) applied it at home or in personal use. on average, the participants agree (3.52) that the program has helped them to have a better personality development and they also agree (3.29) that their stress was reduced. the participants strongly agree (3.51) that the program has helped increase their family’s income. vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.655 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8689-8995?lang=en mailto:ronbrubz@gmail.com 145 international peer reviewed journal keywords — social science, skills training, effect determination, mixedmethod, naga city. introduction self-sufficiency and unemployment are just two of the several issues that the world is trying to address. unemployment can lead to financial debt, low selfesteem, and feelings of guilt (audhoe, hoving, sluiter, & frings-dresen, 2010). one possible solution to these problems is through skills training. internationally, different countries have their ways of capacitating their citizens. the european commission (eu) proposed a package, the youth guarantee, which offers its youth jobs, education and training. this program is to be implemented by the member countries (patache, 2015). european governments have invested in vocational education and training (vet) systems for school drop-outs to help them address the skills required by the economies (gatt and faurschou, 2016). hungary offers bachelor of science in technical trainer course, which enables the students to combine theoretical and practical work in their field of specialization (toth and pentelenyi, 2013). britain has a reconstructed program for vocational education and training (vet) that is hinged on mindfulness-based intervention (mbi’s) (hyland, 2014). romanian government conducts training for their small and medium entrepreneurs (sme’s) in a way that can influence their productivity level in the future (turcut, 2016). in uzbekistan, corporations have a demand for skilled employees. to meet the demands, corporations partner with academies and training centers to train the future workforce (damoc, 2017). spain offers its vet system and has undergone modernization since 1990. their vet system continues to evolve up to 2013 and is being offered to their citizens in 2015 (marhuenda-fluixa, salva, navas, & abietar, 2015). the european policymakers want to tap the global market for highly skilled workers (mahroum, 2001), and other countries are training their people to be globally competitive, skills wise. in africa, students of higher education in nigeria are suggested to be exposed in the idea of career adaptability skills to give them confidence in entering the labor market (ebenehi, rashid and bakar, 2016). south africa has expanded public works programmes (epwp) that provide trainings and employment opportunities to its beneficiaries (hlatshwayo, 2017). these are all done by different governments to help their people fight back against poverty. in asia, singapore has a successful and quality technical education and training (their version of vocational education training). it has a high participation 146 jpair multidisciplinary research rate and is being provided by their institute of technical education (yek and penny, 2006). malaysia has a vocational education that is rooted and emphasized in manual agricultural and crafts. since the independence of malaysia, their vocational education has continued to grow (mustapha, 2017). research of mahjid and razzak (2005) proposes an open distance learning (odl), for vocational training due to the lack of availability of vocational and technical network in pakistan. thailand’s post-1992 curriculum trains its students to carry-out skillsbased activities that deals with practical work experiences and basic knowledge to prepare them for their careers (charoensap, 2017). in the philippines, skills’ training is also offered to people. the technical education and skills authority (tesda) is the lead agency providing the trainings, but other agencies like state colleges and universities also provide skills training. one such state college is the bicol state college of applied sciences and technology (biscast). as a higher education, it is mandated to help the community in the form of extension services as stipulated in the republic act of 7722. biscast implements extension programs that address the issues of the public. the school coordinates with its stakeholders for the better implementation of the program. the site was chosen based on a needs assessment survey conducted among the parents-teachers-association (pta) of the laboratory high school of biscast. the result of the assessment showed that the parents of the laboratory high school students coming from naga city needed and will benefit the most from this program, hence the selection of naga city as the program site. from the trainings offered, food processing and pastry production has the highest percentage participants that signified interest in joining the training, (42.86%), seconded by garment technology, (15.59%), third is beauty care, (hair treatment, manicure, and pedicure) (14.29%), fourth is electricity wiring and installation (13.53%) and last is arts and crafts (bag making and others using recycled materials) (13.53 %). from the result, only the top 3 were selected for implementation due to budget constraints. a delay in the signing of the memorandum of agreement (moa), between the trainers of beauty care and program proponents resulted in the offering of electrical wiring and installation training instead. from the 133 participants in the survey, 70 had actually gone through with the trainings. of the 70 participants, 41 or 58.57% participated in the food and pastry production, 12 or 17.14% joined in the garment technology training, while 17 or 24.29%, trained in electrical wiring and installation. 147 international peer reviewed journal the program was conducted through a series of lectures, demonstration of the trainer, followed by hands-on-activity and an assessment of the trainees’ grasp of the concept by individual demonstration. evaluating the effects of the extension programs offers insights as to whether it worked or not and how it can be improved. the assessment can also be used as a guide to other future extension projects with similar objectives. the program was aimed to equip the beneficiaries with the skills that can improve their quality of life. findings from the initial monitoring of the program show that the following after effects are attributed to the program: 1) beneficiaries of the program attained employment in different institutions, 2) beneficiaries that are also teachers of alternative learning system (als) adopted the program; they conducted the same training program in their respective communities, 3) beneficiaries were provided with business opportunities. the program was implemented in 2017. the effect assessment was done a year, or after the end of the project to determine if the project had a positive effect on the community, hence the conduct of this study. objectives of the study the study aims to evaluate the effect of the kaaraman ko, iwaras ko: a technology livelihood education for community extension program, specifically in: a) the beneficiaries’ personal development, b) the beneficiaries’ adoption of the skills they learned from the training, c) and if the program helped augment the beneficiaries’ family income. methodology conceptualization laboratory high school pta of biscast approached the laboratory high school supervisor for assistance in the conduct of livelihood trainings for their members. a survey was conducted to the members of the pta on what trainings needed to help them in augmenting their family income. the result showed that the following trainings: food processing and pastry production, garment technology, and electrical wiring and installation were the ones with the most number of interest. the trainings were conducted and evaluated by the faculties of biscast. 148 jpair multidisciplinary research research design a mixed-method research style was utilized in the study. data gathering was done through surveys, focus group discussions (fgds), document review, direct observations and interviews with the project beneficiaries as well as with the extensionists. research site the study was undertaken in naga city, camarines sur, philippines. the needs assessment showed that parents from naga city would benefit the most from this program. also, the majority of the beneficiaries came from naga city; logistically, it was sound that the trainings were held in naga city. participants the respondents of the study are the beneficiaries of the kaaraman ko, iwaras ko : a community extension program. it is composed of household heads and out of school youths coming from the different barangays in naga city. majority of the participants were female (72.86%). with the exception of 3 males, all other participants in food processing and pastry production were female. in the garment technology training, it was composed of all female trainees, while the electrical and wiring installation training was an all-male trainee. majority of the trainees were aged 39. the youngest trainee is a female, aged 19, an out-of-school youth, and the oldest is also a female, aged 67, a household wife. instrumentation thirty beneficiaries participated in the validation of the questionnaire. the trial respondents’ responses were analyzed and its measure of reliability was determined using cronbach’s alpha. according to sekaran (2005), if the cronbach’s alpha is less than 0.6, this means that the instrument used has low reliability. if the alpha value is within 0.7 and above, the instrument is acceptable. in this study, the internal consistency reliability coefficients (cronbach’s alpha) for the scales used were all above the level of 0.7, which is acceptable for the analysis. the validated questionnaire was then used to gather information and data. the questionnaire is composed of four parts. it includes the profile of the respondents, assessment of the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes of the respondents and open-ended questions about the effect of the program on the living condition of the respondents. 149 international peer reviewed journal all targeted respondents were informed about the purpose and importance of the study and that honest answers would serve well for the study. results and discussion this part discusses the participants’ adoption and over-all assessment of the program. adoption of the skills learned table 1. number of adopters of each skills training under the kaaraman ko, iwaras ko extension program training no. of beneficiaries adoption business employment home/personal use 1. food processing, bread and pastry production 41 2 6 33 2. garment technology 12 2 4 6 3. electricity wirings and installation 17 1 16 total 70 4 11 55 percentage 100 % 5.71 % 15.71 % 78.57 % table 1 shows the number of adopters of each skills training under the kaaraman ko, iwaras ko extension program. for food processing, bread and pastry production, there were 41 beneficiaries. two beneficiaries adopted the training by selling processed food like mushroom chicharon and processed goods, six beneficiaries used their learned skills to gain employment, and the rest of the beneficiaries applied the skills they learned by using it at home. for garment technology: of the 12 beneficiaries, two applied the skills in a small business of tailoring gowns and dresses and cloth repair jobs, four beneficiaries used their learned skills for job opportunities and the other six used the skills in their homes. for electricity wirings and installation: one out of the 17 beneficiaries used the learned skill for employment purposes while the rest of the beneficiaries applied their skills at home. as shown in table 1, 5.71 % of the total beneficiaries engaged in a small business venture, 15. 71 % of the beneficiaries used the skills for employment 150 jpair multidisciplinary research and 78.51% of the beneficiaries used the skills at home. only a small percentage of the beneficiaries start a viable business using the skills they learned from the program. according to the result of the interview, a possible reason for this small percentage is that the beneficiaries do not have enough capital. some of the beneficiaries do not have enough money to sustain their basic needs; more so in opening a business. nevertheless, the program provided business opportunities especially on food processing and bread and pastry production. evidence of this is the bech’s frappes and delights in magsaysay avenue, naga city where they sell frappes and other delicacies like leche flan, maja blanca and others. dean (2016) cited that a person who has the skills aligned to the trending employability opportunities is more likely to have a job than those who are skilled but not in need. to ensure that the beneficiaries would have the opportunities for employment once they finished the training, a needs assessment was first conducted before implementing the program. after completing the program, 6 of the 8 beneficiaries who earned their national competency ii (nc ii) used their nc ii certificates and acquired skills for employment. the six beneficiaries used to be just volunteers in an alternative learning school (als) but are now regular employees of the department of education (deped). during the interview with ma’am ma. elena c. alinday, one of the beneficiaries of the program, she gave her thanks to biscast for implementing the program because the skills she learned from the program helped her to be employed in deped as a teacher. the skills she learned, were used in the skill demonstration that is part of the hiring process of deped. also, the als teachers who finished the skills training on bread and pastry production adopted the training by teaching twelve (12) students in bread and pastry production and passing the assessment for nc ii in bread and pastry production. based on the gathered responses from the beneficiaries, the reason they joined the training programs under kaaraman ko, iwaras ko, is that they wanted to learn the skills provided by the program and apply it to their homes. hence, there is a high percentage for the adoption of skills for home or personal use. 151 international peer reviewed journal program’s help in augmenting the beneficiaries’ family income table 2. augmentation of the family income of the beneficiaries indicators the program helps you by: frequency amount saving in the daily expenses 55 php. 200.00 / week increase in income 15 average of php. 500.00/ month table 2 shows the way the program helped in the augmentation of the family income of the beneficiaries. the program helped the beneficiaries in saving from their daily expenses, 55 beneficiaries claimed that on an average, they save php. 200.00 weekly and 15 beneficiaries have an increase of income worth php. 500.00 on a monthly average. beneficiaries’ personal development based from the results, the respondents agree (3.94 weighted mean) that their stress was reduced and they strongly agree that they now put more value on the skills that they have and put it into good use to earn extra income. these two factors, stress reduction and skills were valuing boosted their self-esteem and contributed to their personal development. table 3. effect of the program on personal development effect indicators weighted mean verbal interpretation rank contribution of family development in the community 3.06 agree 3 reduced stress. 3.29 agree 2 skills valuing 3.94 strongly agree 1 152 jpair multidisciplinary research assessment of the extension program table 2. assessment of the effect of kaaraman ko, iwaras ko: an extension program effect indicators weighted mean verbal interpretation rank acquired knowledge 1. awareness of different skills that may provide employment 3.9 strongly agree 1 2. increase family’s household income 3.51 strongly agree 3 3. learning through experience 3.56 strongly agree 2 acquired skills 1. sustain the family’s basic needs 3.68 agree 1 2. providing family monetary savings 3.04 agree 3 3. personality development 3.52 agree 2 acquired attitudes 1. contribution of family development in the community 3.06 agree 3 2. reduce stress. 3.29 agree 2 3. skills valuing 3.94 strongly agree 1 composite mean 3.5 strongly agree legend: 3.50–4.00 strongly agree; 2.50–3.49agree; 1.50–2.49 disagree; 1.00–1.49 strongly disagree table 2 shows the assessment of the effect of kaaraman ko, iwaras ko: a community extension program. the overall assessment was high as revealed by the composite mean value of 3.5, which means the respondents “strongly agree” that the program has a positive effect on their lives. in terms of acquired knowledge, “awareness of different skills that may provide employment” (3.9) was ranked first, while “increase in the family’s household income” was ranked last. this shows that the respondents were aware of what skills they should acquire so they would have more job opportunities. this is supported by the 153 international peer reviewed journal paper of el mansour and dean (2016), which states that a person who has the skills aligned to the trending employability opportunities is more likely to have a job than those who are skilled but not in need. “increase in the family’s household income” was ranked last; in terms of acquired skills, “sustaining the family’s basic needs” (3.68) was ranked first and “providing family monetary savings” (3.04) was ranked last; in terms of acquired attitudes, “skills valuing” (3.94) was ranked first, while “contribution of my family development in the community” (3.06) was last in the ranking. the performance of the beneficiaries was evaluated by demonstrating the skills they acquired. this showed that learning by experience is an effective way of teaching technology skills. kolb (2014), cites that experiential learning is a powerful and proven approach to teaching and learning. people learn best through experience. in terms of acquired skills, “sustain the family’s basic needs” was first in rank. this showed that the respondents give priority in providing for the basic needs of their families. the program taught them skills that gave some of the beneficiary’s better chances in employment, while other beneficiaries used those skills to earn extra income by putting up viable small enterprises. this is supported by the responses of the beneficiaries in the focused group discussions and interviews which says that they have generated income by using the skills they acquired from the project training activities. ranke third in terms of acquired skills is “providing the family of monetary savings.” according to the accumulated responses, after they finished the training, their weekly family income increased by php. 500.00. in terms of acquired attitudes, “skills valuing” ranked first. people had the skills but didn’t know how to earn with it. in kaaraman ko, iwaras ko program, the beneficiaries were trained in various technical skills. they were taught how important a skilled person is in the industry. in terms of employment, companies and institutions hire individuals that have the necessary skills. so, it is an edge if you do have the skills needed in the industry. the training projects of the program addressed the need for skilled individuals in some of the industries in the philippines. last in rank in terms of acquired attitudes is the “contribution of family development in the community.” this may be a result of how the people were raised. some people were groomed in a way that they focus only on their life and doesn’t realize that they are part of the community. thus, they don’t realize how important they are in the community’s development and nation building. overall, the participants strongly agree (3.5) that the extension program has a positive effect in their lives in terms of acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes, and augmenting the household income. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions based on the results of the study, it can be said that the program brought a positive effect on the life of the beneficiaries. 1) their personal development improved due to the reduction in stress, and a boost in self-esteem because they can now better provide for their families. 2) the beneficiaries applied the skills they learned from the program by putting up small businesses, using it as a means for employment, or applying it in their homes. 3) because of the application of the skills they learned, the families of the beneficiaries are earning an extra php500.00 monthly. recommendation with the positive results of the assessment, it is recommended to (1) conduct skills training program to other communities in the country; (2) establish a capability training program like bookkeeping, which will help the beneficiaries in accounting the income generated from their business; (3) collaborate with industries that could offer employment for the beneficiaries; and (4) the program could also be linked to the local government units of different municipalities. the lgu’s could provide the initial capital to the beneficiaries for them to start their small business, or at the least, the lgu’s can match the beneficiaries to companies looking for their particular set of skills. another important thing to note, for future reference, is to secure in advance the documents and procure the materials needed for the program, to minimize the delay of the implementation of the program. translational research the essentials of the program could be distilled down to three pamphlets, one pamphlet for dress-making, one for baking and one for electrical wiring. the pamphlets will be composed of easy to understand instructions and, if needed, some illustrations to better help in understanding the concepts. these would be disseminated to different communities to give them an initial idea on what the program is all about. the pamphlets can also serve as their initial guide if they want to venture in at least one of the three disciplines that is being taught in the program. 155 international peer reviewed journal 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(2013). 40 years of technical teacher training in hungary. international journal of engineering pedagogy (ijep), vol 3. http:// dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v3is2.2459 https://doi https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2435.00170 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2435.00170 https://doi.org/10.14710/jmsni.v1i1.1368 https://doi.org/10.14710/jmsni.v1i1.1368 https://goo.gl/hli6te https://goo.gl/vjbe3f http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v3is2.2459 http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v3is2.2459 157 international peer reviewed journal turcut, m. l. (2016). investing in job training in romania. annals of faculty of economics, 1(1), 435-443. retrieved from https://goo.gl/7o56mj yek, t. m. & penney, d. (2006). curriculum as praxis: ensuring quality technical education in singapore for the 21st century. education policy analysis archives, 14(26). retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa. v14n26.2006 https://goo.gl/7o56mj http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v14n26.2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v14n26.2006 cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 56 computer-assisted collaborative learning and academic performance emeliza t. estimo eestimo0322@yahoo.com research coordinator john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod, inc. abstract for the continuing search for effective teaching methodology in maritime english instruction, this paper examines the effect of the computerassisted collaborative learning (cacl) method on the academic performance of maritime students in terms of their scores in the summative test, pretest and post test, and midterm examination. the study used the experimental design. a series of cacl-based modules covering the midterm topics which were enriched from the existing instructor’s guide for maritime english were tested with two experimental groups of students against two other classes who were exposed to the traditional method (tm) of instruction. the four groups of students were categorized into academic achievers and non-academic achievers. findings revealed a significant improvement on the academic performance of all groups after their separate exposure to the two methods. results from the midterm exam and the summative test further revealed that there is no significant difference on the academic performance of the groups of academically advanced students. for the groups of non-achievers, however, those who vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.153 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 57 were exposed to the cacl method had significantly scored higher than those who were taught using the traditional method. keywords collaborative learning, computerassisted instruction, academic performance introduction the present era demands for a high degree of literacy on the diverse roles of the computer even in the field of education. technological advancement and computer literacy were viewed as impediment to the role of manpower in the workplace and treated as a threat in learning institutions as they may have an adverse effect on the learning process and the study habits of learners. we have arrived at the period of technological evolution where computers are seen as a useful tool for learning and instruction. as we embrace the changes that go with time, so must we welcome new technology as a tool for learning and discover how we can maximize instruction by putting this technology into use. for many years, teaching maritime english has been a challenging task for language teachers. acquiring a high level of expertise in language teaching is not really as difficult as getting adequate knowledge of the complexities of seafaring and the realities in the field. issues on expertise in language teaching was always with authenticity of the content of instruction. language teaching is not anymore treated as acquiring language skills in isolation but as a tool for bringing out the best in the learner in his chosen field by using language skills that are relevant to his own needs as a future seafarer. for a maritime english teacher, it is an added challenge to teach the course with limited resources and instructional materials; more so, because teaching the course requires a high degree of authenticity as students need to be exposed to learning materials and experiences which are very close to realities on board. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 58 framework johnson and smiths (1991) framework of collaborative learning as well as those of de corte’s (1996); lehtinen, hakkarainen & lipponen’s (1998); verschaffel, lowyck, de corte, dhert & vandeput’s (1998) framework on computer-supported collaborative learning provide support to the concept of this paper. collaborative or cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. students in a cooperative or collaborative atmosphere work in teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that include the following elements: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing. positive interdependence is the perception that a student is linked with others in a way so that he/she cannot succeed unless they do (and vice versa), that is, their work benefits him/her and his/her work benefits them. it promotes a situation in which students work together in small groups to maximize the learning of all members, sharing their resources, providing mutual support, and celebrating their joint success. individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual student is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the individual. it is important that the group knows who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in completing the assignment. it is also important that group members know that they cannot “hitch-hike” on the work of others. the purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her right. students learn together so that they can subsequently perform better as individuals. once teachers establish positive interdependence, they need to maximize the opportunity for students to promote each other’s success by helping, assisting, supporting, encouraging, and praising each other’s efforts to learn through face-to-face promotive interaction. accountability to peers, ability to influence each other’s reasoning and conclusions, social modeling, social support, and interpersonal rewards all increase as the face-to-face interaction among group members increase. persons must also be taught the social skills for high quality cooperation and be motivated to use them. international peer reviewed journal 59 leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills have to be taught just as purposefully and precisely as academic skills. group processing exists when group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships. groups need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change. students must also be given the time and procedures for analyzing how well their learning groups are functioning and the extent to which students are employing their social skills to help all group members to achieve and to maintain effective working relationships within the group. computer-assisted instruction, on the other hand, refers to the form of instruction where a wide extent of computer-generated materials is used to enhance instruction. according to slavin (2003), computers are being used to expand the learning experience in different subjects in classrooms. they can be used to teach new skills or to help improve comprehension of subjects that students have difficulty learning. using both frameworks as a point of reference, this study proposes an instructional model which illustrates how computer-assisted collaborative learning can be integrated in the instructor’s guide of activities in maritime english. the proposed format maximizes the use of teacher and student-made computer-generated materials as a tool for instruction. these materials are enriched with computer-generated audio-visual attachments such as pictures, animated diagrams, audiorecorded materials, and other varied graphic aids such as tables/ matrices and different types of graphs and charts referred to by burton, moore, and holmes (2001) as “hypermedia”, the term which involves the use of animation, sound, or video which is added to the text. hypermedia systems are constructed in a way to represent how a human thinks (kearsley 1998). burton et al. (2001) found hypermedia systems well suited to support problem-solving efforts. the proposed instructional format comprises the following steps: (1) warming up; (2) introduction of the topic; (3) objective setting; (4) vocabulary input; (5) collaborative activity; (6) production phase; (7) output presentation; and (8) evaluation. the following diagram illustrates the concept of the study: jpair: multidisciplinary journal 60 fig 1. schematic diagram of the conceptual framework objectives of the study the study aims to look at computer-assisted collaborative learning model within the perspective of a classroom in a teachinglearning environment where the teacher and the students perform their respective roles in a collaborative atmosphere. moreover, the study seeks to offer a possible solution to certain difficulties encountered by the maritime english teacher in the classroom, specifically on instruction and acquisition of instructional materials. hence, its main purpose is to propose a format which illustrates how the computer-assisted collaborative learning model can be applied in the instructor’s guide of activities in the maritime english course. this study also aims to find out if, when tested, if this model can be a useful method in teaching maritime english. input variables computer-assisted collaborative learning outcomes academic perpormance of students pre-test and post test summative quiz periodic exam warming up introduction to the topic objective setting vocabulary input collaborative activity production evaluation output presentation and critiquing grouping • experimental • control types of students • achievers • non-achievers international peer reviewed journal 61 materials and methods the quasi-experimental method was used in this study. specifically, this study used the nonequivalent control group design which involves two groups: control group and experimental group. for the purpose of this study, two experimental groups who were exposed to the computer-assisted collaborative learning (cacl) model and two control groups who were taught using the traditional method of instruction (tm) were selected. all groups were given a pretest and a posttest. since the study is classroom-based, the groups were not randomly assigned. the main objective of the experiment was to find out whether or not the cacl model will make a significant improvement in the performance of students and whether or not there would be a significant difference between the academic performances of those who were exposed to the model and those who remain to be taught using the traditional method of instruction. a series of modules was designed based on the existing instructor’s guide on maritime english prepared prior to the conduct of the study. the strategies/instructor’s guide of these modules were patterned based on the proposed computer-assisted collaborative learning model which is composed of the following steps: 1) warming up, 2) introduction of the topic, 3) objective setting, 4) vocabulary input, 5) collaborative activity, 6) production, 7) output presentation and critiquing, and 8) evaluation. a total of five modules were prepared and used in the study. to determine the students’ scores in the pretest and post test,a 50-item multiple choice test was used. the instrument covered the following topics: ship movements, types of marine engines, ship’s maintenance, auxiliary machinery, and maritime safety. also included in the questionnaire were certain language topics like causal verbs, compound nouns, infinitives, and gerunds. another instrument used in the study was the summative test. it is a compilation of tests given at the end of every week. these tests were taken from the manual of exercises for maritime english, a compiled set of exercises authored by the teachers in the languages area of jblcf-bacolod. these tests had been critiqued and validated by experts teaching the same subject. the entire test was equivalent to 80 points. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 62 the last instrument used in gathering the data for this study was the mid-term exam questionnaire. this was a 50-item multiple-choice test on the topics covered for the mid-term. like the other instruments, this questionnaire was also edited, validated, and approved by the subject area head for languages prior to its administration. to find out if there had been a significant improvement on the academic performance of the control groups who were exposed to the traditional method (tm) and the experimental groups who were exposed to the computer-assisted collaborative learning (cacl) after the experiment, the t-test for dependent means was used. to test if there had been a significant difference on the academic performance of the two groups after their separate exposure to the two methods, the t-test for independent meanswas applied. both statistical analyses were done with the help of a statistician through the computer-based spss program. the computer-assisted collaborative learning model the computer-assisted collaborative learning (cacl) model can be applied as a useful method of instruction in maritime english. this model has been designed based on an intensive review of related studies and literature. the prepared design was then integrated into the column for strategies/instructor’s guide for maritime english and was tested with two classes which were assigned as the experimental groups of this study. the proposed format is composed of the following: step 1: warming up. the first step allows the students to tune themselves in to the activities that are set ahead. a warm-up activity may include a game, a discussion of a related past or recent incident or report, a picture description, or a provoking question for a brainstorming exercise which is appropriate to or which could create a smooth connection to the topic that will be presented next. the materials needed as “warmers” are all prepared in advance and presented as computer-generated audio-visual materials. this part of the format may take 5-10 minutes. to illustrate this point, a vocabulary game is shown on the following pages: international peer reviewed journal 63 step 2: introduction of the topic. this is the second step in the procedure. here the teacher spells out the target language lesson in relation to a content topic. for example, the use of personal pronouns in relation to ship’s organization. a smooth transition from the “warmer” used in the first step to this step must be ensured by the teacher. step 3: objective setting. in the third step, the teacher introduces the objectives of the lesson. it is to be remembered that these objectives coordinate with the objectives specified in the instructor’s guide for maritime english. the next slide (figure 3) shows how step 2 and step 3 can be done. fig 2. example step 1: warming-up activity fig 3. example of step 2 and 3: introducing the topic jpair: multidisciplinary journal 64 step 4: vocabulary input. this step introduces salient terminologies related to the content (maritime) topic. examples for the language input can be extracted from these terms. this step can be done by using varied vocabulary building strategies such as using context clues, word puzzles, question and answer activity, and many others. the slide on the next page (figure 4) illustrates how this step could be done. as seen on the example, the terms were unfolded using context clues as a strategy in building up vocabulary. step 5: collaborative activity. this step is the heart of the process. instead of the usual board-talk and lecture method, the students, having been divided into small groups, are given activities to read and discuss within their groups. the activities given to the groups may be varied based on the topics that need to be covered for a certain period of time. in grouping, students are classified according to their mental capacity and are equally distributed. in each group, a leader and a scribe are assigned. the leader facilitates the discussion and sees to it that every member is given equal chance to share his ideas. the scribe takes note of everything that transpires during the discussion. the following pictures show the students in their collaborative activity: fig 4. example of step 4: vocabulary input international peer reviewed journal 65 step 6: production. prior to the group activity, each group is instructed to bring their own laptops which they should use during the production phase. in this phase, each group was required to produce a computer-generated presentation of the topic/activity assigned to them. a computer-generated presentation, in this context, is a simple output in power-point form with attachments downloaded from online sources such as pictures, videos, animated diagrams, graphs, charts, or any form of graphic aid which can help “visualize” the concepts covered in their topic assignment. after the actual preparation of the initial work in the classroom, the group may be given two more days to prepare their outputs and to have them ready for presentation the following meeting. it is to be emphasized that in this phase, the students work closely with the subject instructor in case assistance and advice is needed. in the conduct of the group activity, the subject instructor goes around to check on the initial outputs of the different groups. should more time be needed, s/he should be ready and open to entertain the students for professional advice. she may offer his/her suggestions for a better output. the following pictures show some samples of the students’ outputs: fig 5. pictures of students in their collaborative activity jpair: multidisciplinary journal 66 slide 1 of figure 6 shows a sample output of one group given this problem: “create a graphical presentation showing how maritime english has evolved. use the notes provided on page 6 of your handout.” shown on slide 2 is another group’s presentation of the difference in the use of terms and phrases between general english and maritime english. on slide 3 was a game created by another group in line with their assigned topic, “ship’s maintenance”. the game, as seen on slide 3 of figure 6 is inspired by the famous television game show “who wants to be a millionaire.” this output is interesting because it was created complete with sound and visual effects. finally, slide 4 is another fig 6. sample outputs of students after the collaborative activity 1 2 43 international peer reviewed journal 67 group’s visualization of the “steps in building a ship”. this output presents the steps in the form of a flowchart. step 7: output presentation and critiquing. in this step, all groups are tasked to present their group outputs in front of the class using their own laptops. for this purpose, an lcd projector and auxiliary sound device can be set up in advance. these devices will project all added materials the students may have added in their presentation. a conducive venue and atmosphere must be set for this purpose. critiquing may be done by the entire class. comments, questions, and reactions will be facilitated by the subject instructor. contents of the presentations will also be confirmed based on the handout given out to the entire class prior to the activity. moreover, the subject teacher as well as the whole class should provide suggestions for the improvement of the outputs presented. all groups will be asked to revise and improve their computer-generated outputs based on the suggestions made and to submit these materials at a specific deadline. figure 7. below shows the students in their output presentation. all groups are given a fixed time allotment to present their work. fig 7. pictures of students in their output presentation jpair: multidisciplinary journal 68 step 8: evaluation. the final step of the proposed format is done to test or evaluate the extent of understanding of the entire class on the topics presented. this can be done by giving varied types of evaluative activities such as short quizzes, summative tests, quiz bees, oral recitation, or interactive discussion with the subject instructor. results and discussion academic performance before and after the intervention the first aim of the study was to find out if there had been a significant improvement on the academic performance of the students after their exposure to the computer-assisted collaborative learning (cacl) model in comparison with those classes taught using the traditional approach to teaching. table 1 below shows the data for the groups of achievers (bsmt 1-polaris and bsmt 1-nsa) and nonachievers (bsmt 1-half hitch and bsmt 1-marline spike). table 1 pretest and post test results group n mean sd sig. (2-tailed) interpretation bsmt 1-pol (cacl) 38 pre 39.6053 .73 .000* significant post 47.4211 .57 bsmt-nsa (tm) 19 pre 43.4211 1.23 .000* significant post 51.5263 .86 bsmt 1-hh (cacl) 40 pre 34.5263 5.53 .000* significant post 42.2105 6.36 bsmt 1-ms (tm) 42 pre 31.9250 6.31 .000* significant post 38.7250 6.63 data shown in table 1 reveal a significant improvement on the academic performance of the students in terms of their pretest and post test for both control and experimental groups. the mean score of bsmt 1-polaris in the pretest was 39.6053 which significantly international peer reviewed journal 69 increased to 47.4211 in the post test. moreover, the mean score of bsmt 1-half hitch which was 34.5263 in the pretest increased to 42.2105 in the post-test. both groups were exposed to computer-assisted collaborative learning model before they were given the post test. meanwhile, bsmt 1-nsa and bsmt 1-marline spike also showed a significant improvement in their mean scores after they were exposed to the traditional method of instruction. it can be surmised then that while the cacl model had significantly improved the academic performance of the experimental groups after the intervention, the traditional method had also significantly improved the academic performance of the control groups in the traditional setting. traditional method (tm) vs. computer-assisted collaborative learning (cacl) the second concern of this paper was to determine if there had been a significant difference between the academic performance of the experimental groups and the control groups of students classified as achievers and non-achievers after their separate exposure to the two methods. to find out which method has more significantly improved the academic performance of students, data from the results of the mid-term examination, the summative test, and the post test were further analyzed using the t-test for independent means. results of these analyses are shown in table 2, 3, and 4 respectively. table 2. examination results of the control and experimental groups group n mean sd sig. (2-tailed) interpretation bsmt 1-pol (cacl) 38 39.9211 4.78952 .194 not significant bsmt 1-nsa (tm) 19 41.3158 3.14559 bsmt 1-hh (cacl) 40 36.7632 4.98882 .000* significant bsmt 1-ms (tm) 42 32.4500 4.83550 jpair: multidisciplinary journal 70 data from table 2 reveals that the difference in the scores of the academic achievers (bsmt 1-nsa and bsmt 1-polaris) in the control and experimental groups was not significant. the data indicates that bsmt 1-polaris had performed as better as the bsmt 1-nsa group in terms of their scores in the mid-term exam. table 2 further reveals a significant difference on the academic performance between the groups of non-academic achievers (bsmt 1-half hitch and bsmt 1-marline spike) in terms of their mid-term examination results. students from bsmt 1-half hitch who were exposed to the cacl method showed a significant advantage in terms of their mean score over those from bsmt 1-marline spike who were exposed to the traditional method of instruction. based on this evidence, we can then say that the cacl method has been found more effective than the tm method in terms of the students’ academic performance of the groups of non-achievers as measured by their examination results. this could mean that exposing the students who are not academically advanced to computer-generated materials and providing them opportunity to work collaboratively with their classmates and their teacher could significantly improve their ability to score in the exam. the same case can be observed in table 3 below on the basis of the students’ summative test results. table 3 summative test results of the control and experimental groups group n mean sd sig. (2-tailed) interpretation bsmt 1-pol (cacl) 38 66.8158 5.20839 .983 not significant bsmt 1-nsa (tm) 19 66.8421 4.03131 bsmt 1-hh (cacl) 40 58.0526 6.97465 .000* significant bsmt 1-ms (tm) 42 51.2500 7.63847 an extended analysis of the post test results revealed a significant difference between the academic performance of the experimental group and the control group of students classified as achievers and noninternational peer reviewed journal 71 achievers. between the groups of academic achievers (bsmt 1-polaris and bsmt 1-nsa), students who were exposed to the traditional method (bsmt 1-nsa) significantly performed better than those who were exposed to the computer-assisted collaborative learning (bsmt 1-polaris). a possible explanation for this was the disadvantage on the latter in terms of number of students in the class. bsmt 1-polaris was composed of 38 students while bsmt 1-nsa only had 19 cadets. the lesser number of students in the bsmt 1-nsa group could have favored them to focus more on the lesson and to be given adequate time to individually interact with the teacher who provided most of the instruction. data for this are shown in the following table. table 4. post test results of the control and experimental groups group n mean sd sig. (2-tailed) interpretation bsmt 1-pol (cacl) 38 47.4211 3.533080 .000 significant bsmt 1-nsa (tm) 19 51.5263 3.74712 bsmt 1-hh (cacl) 40 42.2105 6.35507 .020 significant bsmt 1-ms (tm) 42 38.7250 6.62933 this was not the case, however with the two other groups of nonacademic achievers (bsmt 1-half hitch and bsmt 1-marline spike). although the difference in their academic performance as measured by their post test results was found to be significant, this significant difference worked in favor of bsmt 1-half hitch who were exposed to the cacl model of instruction. it seems to tell that the cacl method appeared to be more effective to classes composed of non-achievers rather than those who are already academically advanced. to sum up, findings from the study revealed that the control groups for both academic achievers and non-achievers have significantly benefited from the traditional method. moreover, both classes of achievers and non-achievers who were exposed to the cacl method have also significantly improved in their academic performance. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 72 results from the mid-term examination and the summative test revealed a non-significant difference on the academic performance of academically advanced students after their separate exposure to the traditional method and the computer-assisted collaborative learning method. for the groups of non-achievers, however, it was revealed that the students who were exposed to the cacl method have significantly scored higher than those who were taught using the traditional method. data from the post test, on the other hand, revealed a significant difference on the academic performance between the groups of academic achievers and between the groups of non-achievers after their separate exposure to the traditional method and the computerassisted collaborative learning method. the significant difference on the ability to score in the post test between the groups of academic achievers worked in favor of those in the control group who were exposed to the traditional method. this finding was attributed to the lesser number of students in the control group which made the instruction more accessible and interactive. the ideal number of students in the control group also favored the students in that they could discuss more closely with the teacher who provided most of the clarifications through the prevailing use of the lecture-discussion method which characterizes the traditional method of instruction. on the contrary, the significant difference on the ability to score in the post test between the groups of non-achievers worked in favor of those who were exposed to the computer-assisted collaborative learning model (experimental group). from this finding, it could be derived that less proficient students in terms of their academic performance could benefit more from instruction if they are made to work and learn cooperatively with their classmates through a computer-assisted form of instruction. the use of graphically presented materials could also improve their ability to understand the lessons well rather than when these materials are presented to them in pure textual form. conclusions teaching is a continuous journey for discovering new methods or a combination of methods that could work best with the kind of learners international peer reviewed journal 73 that we have in class. as there is no exact prescription for what could work best with our students, teachers should continuously find ways to make learning as effective as possible. as landow (1999) has put it, “educators are required to incorporate new methods of teaching in the classroom in order to properly challenge and stimulate students”. technology has been widely accepted as a useful tool in the teaching and learning process. there has been a growing need for customizing learning in a specific area, enriching learning with communication and connections with others beyond the classroom, offering new learning opportunities, and helping students experience the main value of learning by using knowledge and abilities in real-world situations to improve the future of technology in the classroom. computer-based or computer-assisted instruction plays an extremely important role in the students’ lives. it may not be able to solve all learning problems, but it could make learning more interactive, it could improve the learning atmosphere, and it could develop social roles as the learners are made to work and learn collaboratively with the rest of the students in class and with the teacher. mcgrath, et al. (2007) pointed out that introducing hypermedia into the collaborative learning environment may lead to improve attitudes, motivation, understanding, and responsibility for one’s own learning. it could also enhance their awareness of the realities of life in which they will find themselves later. computer-based education has clearly enhanced the classroom environment through extensive technological opportunities that provide students with a wealth of information on particular topics, while instantly examining students’ feedback and establishing areas requiring improvement. computer-assisted collaborative learning is not something that we should refuse because it is expensive for the administration and requires a higher level of computer literacy among the teachers. even with limited resources, teachers could make a difference in their students’ academic performance if they could devote extra time to “befriend the net” and look for interesting materials which could be useful for him/her. we have come to an era when everything is so advanced and where information can be accessed with just a push of a button or by just pressing a few keys on the keyboard. it would be a lot of waste if we allow ourselves to be held back just because we refuse jpair: multidisciplinary journal 74 to embrace technology with an open mind or just because we think it entails a lot of work and we are constrained with time. landow (1997) points out a good argument for this: “the way teachers are taught to use computer to facilitate learning determines if technology will be a success in the students’ achievements.” quality instruction always entails a lot of hard work. we cannot just sit comfortably and let the usual routine take its course and expect for a miracle to work overnight with our students because it really does not work that way. as teachers, we need to advance as the world around us rapidly progresses with our students keeping pace with it. acknowledgments the researcher owes a lot to the experts and authors cited in this paper and for all the valuable insights that had provided a strong framework to what this study proposes. she also extends her gratitude to the administration of jblcf-bacolod for the moral support as well as to her colleagues in the languages area for their professional assistance in validating the instruments used in this study and for their inputs. finally, the researcher expresses her appreciation to all the classes who have consented to be part of this endeavor. literature cited hakkarainen, k., s.järvelä, l.lipponen, & e.lehtinen 1998 culture of collaboration in computer-supported learning: finnish perspectives. journal of interactive learning research, 9, 271-287. hakkarainen, k. & m. sintonen, 2000 the interrogative model of inquiry and computer-supported collaborative learning, science & education 11: 25. johnson, d.w., r.t. johnson and k.a. smith 1991 cooperative learning: increasing college faculty instructional productivity, ashe-eric higher education report no. 4, george washington university,. international peer reviewed journal 75 kearsley, g. 1998 authoring considerations for hypertext. educational technology, 28, (11), 21-24. landow, g. p. 1999 course assignments using hypertext: the example of intermedia. journal of research on computing in education, 21,(3), 349-365. slavin, r. e. 2003 educational psychology: theory and practice (7thed.). boston: boston allyn and bacon. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 14 · october 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v14i1.232 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. fostering management education for professional integrity: the case of university centre for economic and managerial sciences, university of guadalajara josé g. vargas-hernández orcid no.: 0000-0003-0938-4197 jvargas2006@gmail.com university of guadalajara méxico professional integrity is an improvement concept to the actual values, virtues and meaning for managerial capabilities and attitudes to assume any professional task. this paper is aimed to analyze a case of management education for professional integrity at the university centre for economic and managerial sciences, university of guadalajara, mexico. the research method employed is the ethnographic, documental and life’s histories, complemented with field work supported by in-depth interviews and analyzed using a comparative method. the outcomes of the research on the application in management education demonstrate that the drama of economic efficiency is centered on a dysfunctional professional integrity. this paper provides a sound professional philosophy that empowers professionals to act with integrity, increases the probability for long-term success and professional fulfilment. the results provide also the basis to develop a code of conduct and regulation policies to sustain management education for professional integrity which, can positively impact on business culture through influencing the behavior of key actors. keywords – management, integrity, leadership effectiveness, management education, managerial integrity, professional integrity development, descriptive design, mexico 2 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction professional integrity is an improvement concept to the actual values and virtues as meaningful managerial capabilities and attitudes to assume any professional task. the objective of this paper is to analyze the importance of professional integrity as the improvement concept and ethics in the development of professionals in administration and management sciences. the paper also presents some suggestions of ethical and integrity program based in professional integrity that can lead the manager to a more ethical and humanistic practice based on a case at university centre for economic and managerial sciences, university of guadalajara. economic and political conditions of the globalization processes carry with them the elements toward the multinational integration which implies a higher professional competitiveness. professionals have to be prepared for a global market constrained by time and resources for their basic developments. thus, there is a need for optimizing the resources applied to the development of the new professionals. the most important change facing the new demands of education is the task of personal and professional integrity formation for the performance of citizenship and productive capabilities. llano (1997) makes reference to a divorce between professional formation and the real labor market as the product of nonexistent but necessary synchronization, between the graduated professionals from universities and technological institutes and the requirements of employers that have resulted to be devastating for the social responsibility that the organizations must fulfill. the manager’s success in the provision of services to individuals and society depends to a certain extent in the degree of knowledge, skills and experiences obtained in the classroom and the professional performance. moreover, it depends on the achieved level of personal qualities development that distinguishes him/her as an individual, such as the professional integrity, independence, ethics, and so forth (aicpa, 1980: 16). there is a peremptory need to recover credibility, integrity and respect in the management profession through a truth reconstruction of the ethical and integrity fundamentals. professional formation and development in management sciences conducted in universities must specify the required behaviors for the professional integrity. the formation of professional integrity at university programs, more than the added value must be the inherent value expected to grant to the organizations and society as a whole. integrity is important to build a good society, a reason that makes necessary to define with precision the origin and sense of the term. adler and bird (1988) 3 international peer reviewed journal and srivastva and associates (1988) describe integrity with an emphasis on congruence, consistency, morality, universality and concern for others. kerr (1988: 126-127) lists the ten commandments of executive integrity. covey (1992) describes integrity as honestly matching words and feelings with thoughts and actions for the good of others. a key component of integrity is the consistency between actions and words. integrity is defined by the webster’s new world dictionary (1994) as: “1. the quality or state of being complete; unbroken condition; wholeness; entirety; 2. the quality or state of being unimpaired; perfect condition; soundness; and 3. the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity”. integrity is a state or condition of being whole, complete, unbroken, unimpaired, sound, perfect condition. the word integrity suggests the wholeness of the person in such a way that can be said that a person with integrity whole as human being. the term integrity refers to honesty, playing by the rules and not necessarily following the rules, which means setting aside in situations where people may be victimized. becker (1998) conceptually distinguishes integrity from honesty and fairness. however, the empirical research conducted by hooijberg and lane (2005) shows those managers and their direct reports, peers, and bosses do not distinguish integrity from honesty and fairness. integrity in the context of other values that are in the eye of the beholder is an implicit model to evaluate the meaning of integrity (jensen, 2009; jensen, granger and erhard, 2010). becker (1998) found no standard definition of integrity because it is treated as synonymous with other values such as honesty and fairness, which makes very difficult to measure it. integrity means honesty or stating what one really thinks even if the honest person runs the risk of hurting relationships and getting the organization in trouble. the condition of integrity must emerge at the heart of the person, people and organizations as the distinctive seal in all actions, decisions, and determinations. simons (1999) defines behavioral integrity (bi) as the perceived degree of congruence between the values expressed by words and those expressed through action. integrity is primarily a formal relation one has to oneself. integrity refers to the wholeness, intactness or purity of a thing, meanings that are sometimes, applied to people (cox, la caze and levine, 2005). “what is it to be a person of integrity? ordinary discourse about integrity involves two fundamental intuitions: first, that integrity is primarily a formal relation one has to oneself or between parts or aspects of one’s self; and second, that integrity is connected in an important way to 4 jpair multidisciplinary research acting morally, in other words, there are some substantive or normative constraints on what it is to act with integrity. how these two intuitions can be incorporated into a consistent theory of integrity is not obvious, and most accounts of integrity tend to focus on one of these intuitions to the detriment of the other.” (cox, la caze, and levine, 2005). erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010) combine the two intuitions of integrity developed by cox, la caze, and levine (2005), the second becoming a logical implication of the first, in one consistent theory. integrity is the integration of self, the maintenance of identity and standing for something. personal integrity, defined as honoring one’s word, becomes predictable with first-hand reliable and accurate information (erhard, et al., 2007). integrity is the base to trust to people because it guarantees the subject consistency in making decisions and in how he/ she relates to others. trust and ethics are terms related to the concept of integrity. integrity is a guarantee of being ready to repair any threat to honesty. integrity is defined as honoring one’s word in a positive model developed by erhard, jensen and zaffron (2008) revealing the causal link between integrity and performance. there is not a consistent and validated framework of integrity. erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010) define integrity as: a state or condition of being whole, complete, unbroken, unimpaired, sound, perfect condition. personal integrity has to do with the wholeness and completeness of that person’s word. personal integrity is one of the personal qualities. the oxford dictionary (2011) defines integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”, “the state of being whole and undivided”. integrity has different meanings to different respondents. integrity is for an individual, group, or organization as honoring one’s word. at an individual level, integrity is the matter of that person’s word “being whole and complete”. personal integrity has to do with the wholeness and completeness of that person’s word (erhard, jensen and zaffron, 2010). a person’s word may consist of what is said, known, expected, is said is so, stands for, and the social moral, group ethical and governmental legal standards. integrity is a matter of a human entity’s word being whole and complete. one’s word is not a matter of being obligated or not, being willing or not willing to fulfil the expectations of others. to be a person of integrity is honoring one’s word and not a matter of keeping one’s word. simons (2002) defines integrity as keeping one’s word. honoring one’s word is defined by erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010) as keeping or not keeping the word on time when it is impossible, saying to everyone impacted if the conditions are not met and cleaning up any consequences. 5 international peer reviewed journal keeping the word is doing what it is said will be done and on time. keeping the word is doing what it is known to do and doing the way it was meant to be done, and on time, unless it has been said it would know so doing what others expect to be done. it is congruent to define integrity to the capability to rationalize without interest’s influences or particular sensations. considered as a positive phenomenon, independent of normative value judgments, integrity is defined as honoring one’s word. honoring the one’s word to oneself provides a solid foundation for self-discipline as a way to maintain one whole and complete as a person that empowers him/her to deal with the matter with integrity. one may create trust by others when honoring one’s word although fails to keep one’s word. honoring the word maintains integrity when it is not possible or appropriate to keep the word or to choose not to keep the word. the concept of integrity as honoring one’s word includes a way to maintain integrity when one is for any reason not going to keep one’s word. integrity is a guarantee of being ready to repair any threat to honesty. however, for kaizer and hogan (2010), integrity is a moral attribution that we place on the behavior of another person, in such a way that integrity is in the eyes of the beholder rather than consistency of that person’s words and actions. argyris (1991) contends that people consistently act inconsistently; unaware of the contradiction between the way they think they are acting and the way they really act. simons (1999) argues that behavioral integrity is the perceived degree of congruence between the values expressed by words and those expressed through action that he terms “word action”. however, while keeping the words is not always possible, honoring the word, and thus, to be a person of integrity, whole and complete, is always possible. honoring one’s word when failing to keep it provides a behavior that can generate substantial benefits. it is the interpretation of one’s body, emotions and thoughts in the own words that are said, which ultimately defines who is one is for self. authenticity means being and acting consistent with which you hold yourself out to be for others, and who you hold yourself to be for yourself. being authentic is “being willing to discover, confront, and tell the truth about your in authenticities” (erhard, and jensen and zaffron, 2009). argyris (1991) argues that “people consistently act inconsistently; unaware of the contradiction between their espoused theory and their theory-in-use, between the way they think they are acting, and the way they really act.” for a group or organizational entity, erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010) define integrity as that group’s or organization’s word being whole and complete. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research organizational integrity as any human system is an organization that honors whole and complete its word to its members and to outsiders. respondents refuse to answer questions related to identify integrity issues and behaviors of managers lacking integrity besides the difficulties to observe and rate them. honoring one’s word to another creates a whole and complete relationship. one’s word is constituted by what literally one person says in words, in the “speaking” of his/her actions and in what these actions say to others. being inintegrity leaves one person whole and complete outside or inside the relationship with other person who may be out-of integrity. shakespeare (1914) said, “this above all: to thine own self be true, it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans’t not be false to any man.” when one is true to one’s word, which is being true to one’s self, one cannot be but true to any man. being in-integrity allows one person to continue to be effective and workable in the relationship with other or others. the terms integrity, morality, ethics, and legality are confused by the common usage. morality, ethics and legality exist in a normative realm of virtues while integrity exists in a positive real. erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010:1) distinguish the domain of integrity “as the objective state or condition of an object, system, person, group, or organizational entity.” integrity is within the positive realm and its domain is one of the objective state or condition. the virtue phenomena of morality and ethics are related to integrity as a positive phenomenon. the oxford dictionary (2011) defines morals as “standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable to do”. morality exists in the social virtue domain in the normative realm. morality is the generally accepted standards of what is desirable and undesirable; of right and wrong conduct, and what is considered by that society as good behavior and what is considered bad behavior of a person, group, or entity. integrity cannot be falsified because it is, by its own nature, the truthiness, what avoids the fragmentation of persons and the cracking down of moral strengthens. the oxford dictionary (2011) defines ethics as “moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior”. ethics refers to the set of values and behaviors defined by society as desirable in such a way that any action can be judged as “good or bad” (pojman, 1995). ethics exists in the group virtue domain in the normative realm. ethics is defined as in a given group (the benefits of inclusion in which group a person, sub-group, or entity enjoys), ethics is the agreed on standards of what is desirable and undesirable; of right and wrong conduct; of what is considered by that group as good and bad behavior of a person, sub7 international peer reviewed journal group, or entity that is a member of the group, and may include defined bases for discipline, including exclusion. integrity as the condition of being whole and complete is a necessary condition for workability. workability is defined as the state or condition that constitutes the available opportunity for something or somebody or a group or an organization to function, operate or behave to produce an intended outcome, i.e., to be effective; or the state or condition that determines the opportunity set from which someone or a group or an organization can choose outcomes, or design or construct for outcomes (erhard, jensen and zaffron, 2010). the resultant level of workability determines the available opportunity set for superior performance. integrity provides access for superior performance and competitive advantage for individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. erhard, jensen and zaffron (2010) conclude that the way in which integrity is defined for individuals, groups and organizations reveals the impact of integrity on workability and trustworthiness, and consequently on performance. variations in personal behavior depending on situations may be interpreted as lack of integrity. lack of integrity is compatible with a multiplicity of interests that are in collision among each other. lack of integrity implies a gap between what is said and what is thought, between what is considered a proper conduct and what is finally done, between what is morally fair and what it appears to result from pressure of circumstances. the lack of integrity goes beyond and has effects far away the sphere of the specific activity in each organization, even impact the society’s rules of the game. personal as well as professional integrity in firms declines more and more in an environment of global economy, leading to a decrease in performance. moral and ethical values may guide human action and interactions shaping professional integrity and determining performance. professional integrity derives its substance from the fundamental goals or mission of the profession (mcdowell, d., 2010). legality exists in governmental virtue domain in the normative realm. legality is defined as the system of laws and regulations of right and wrong behavior that are enforceable by the state (federal, state, or local governmental body in the u.s.) through the exercise of its policing powers and judicial process, with the threat and use of penalties, including its monopoly on the right to use physical violence. honoring the standards of the three virtue phenomena of morality, ethics and legality and its relationships with performance, including being complete as a person and the quality of life, raises the likelihood to shape human behavior. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research framework one of the first documents that treat on professional integrity is the hippocratic oath. the thesis behind is that professionals have to aspire for excellence. personal integrity is directly related to professional integrity. personal integrity and professional integrity are generally interdependent and compatible. professional integrity is related to, but different from personal integrity. professional integrity is an attribute although philosophically the term integrity relates to general character. professional integrity derives its substance from the fundamental goals or mission of the profession (mcdowell d. 2010) professional integrity is sustained on the principle of moral integrity and ethical principles centered in transparency, honesty, sincerity, moral consciousness, loyalty, truthiness and reality in the functions performed adhered to legality. professional integrity is the set of principles and commitments to improve the results of the manager’s activities, to maximize autonomy, to create relationships characterized by integrity, the ethical practice, social justice and team work. different aspects of professional integrity are derived from the basic functions of each profession. the professional integrity includes the role-specific obligations and responsibilities of a particular profession. well-established professions often spell out and stand on the role-specific principles of professional integrity. professional integrity derives its substance from the mission and fundamental goals of the profession. where the stakes for society are so high, professional integrity must be first over personal loyalties of friendships. professional integrity is based on value integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all that we do. when a professional commits himself/herself to “integrity first” is that he or she understands the importance of both personal integrity and professional integrity, and through his/her efforts to keep them compatible, he or she best provides the crucial professional functions and activities to the society. a clash between personal integrity and professional integrity leads to integrity dilemmas which are present in some situations such as for example a professional refuse to participate on moral grounds because it is not morally obligatory even though it is legally permitted. in any professional role it may be possible to live up to high standards of competence and conduct but not to sustain professional integrity outside the professional realm and context by living entirely different, opposed, conflicting or contradictory moral values in private life. it reveals a direct conflict between personal integrity and professional integrity. culpable incompetence is clearly violation of professional integrity. 9 international peer reviewed journal at the times when professional integrity is most valuable, there is an excuse to avoid the obligation to be in integrity. to be in professional integrity when it is most valuable to others, means to bear the costs. professional integrity may be sacrificed to avoid some costs imposed on others, such as to protect institutional reputation. based on integrity, it is build the personal reputation, and also as an extension the institutional reputation, when these are liberated according to the integrity criteria. the value of good reputation has been manifested several times in management. with violations of the public trust by actions of authority are serious breaches of professional integrity. when the stakes are so high in a profession, the breach of professional integrity could be devastating to society. mayor challenges to professional integrity are the misuse of science, research and evidence in policymaking (mcdowell, d. 2010). the concept of professional integrity is separated from normative concepts to understand it as a “purely positive phenomenon that plays a foundational role” in economic performance. the issue of competence is directly relevant to professional integrity. the duties of competent professionals can be carried out by professional practices, functions and actions constrained by moral, ethical and legal restraints on professional integrity. “ethical implies conformity with an elaborated, ideal code of moral principles, sometimes, specifically, with the code of a particular profession” (webster’s new world dictionary). the codes of conduct support the profession’s conception of professional integrity. a code of professional ethics (hernández, silvestri, and álvarez, 2007) allows to norm a more ethical and humanistic professional practice and the commitment with individuals and society, the actions that must be guided not only by the speculation but for the necessity to act with justice, responsibility, discretion, honesty, etc. a myopic vision of professional integrity and ethic is reduced to a catalogue of things that are good and that are bad, and that there are not considered under a wider vision as the set of principles that serve to the human beings to achieve perfection and plenitude which is an arduous task. changes on environment and the actual life can originate the loss of a clear vision of the limits between the honest and what is not, where it finishes the dignity and where begins the non-dignity and what are the moral principles that must rule professional behavior. professional integrity is formed by social responsibility and some other social elements that professionals inherit to maintain high standards of competence and conduct in the entire full range of professional activities and not just for themselves. professional integrity has as an effect a major consistency of one 10 jpair multidisciplinary research person on himself/herself and produces greater social cohesion. honest members of society strengthen the links of the structure and make advancements toward the own end, the common good. professional integrity involves competences shared by all members of the profession and joint responsibilities for conduct. integrity in communication is the pillar in trusting interpersonal networks building as a condition for the cooperation among human beings. professionalism professionalism has integrity as the essential and defining element. professionalism is an ethical movement defined by essential elements of professional good will and good doing and reflects on values, actions and curricular implications. professionalism as an aspect of a person’s life is an attribute of integrity. managerial integrity organizational activities include regular issues of professional managerial integrity (thompson et al., 2008) professional management integrity is defined as a “leadership competency and measures it using co-worker ratings of observed ethical behavior” (sic). professional managers displaying integrity are more concerned about the welfare of others (brown & trevino, 2006). managerial integrity acknowledges responsiveness among one another, receptivity and creative efforts to understand other’s perspectives while at the same time articulating their own (levinson, 1988: 318). perceived managerial integrity is central to managers – stakeholder’s relations as it is for leaders in the role of leader-follower relations, although it is questionable as to what extent integrity is important for various stakeholders. a manager would like to be able to look at themselves as someone who has integrity, is fair and honest. kerr (1988) argues about the difference between the conceptual work on integrity and the realities faced by management practitioners. kerr truly explored the meaning of integrity for real managers. as kerr (1988: 138) states that the author’s prescriptions about how to behave with ethics and integrity, were far away from the managerial practice in everyday organizational life. when the mistakes and incompetency of managers are buried instead of being exposed and removed from their practice, the managerial authorities fall short of their responsibilities to the mission and goals of the profession. managers act with 11 international peer reviewed journal integrity to stay true to themselves (levinson, 1988: 268). the environment under which the role of management takes place includes managerial integrity, honesty and in safeguarding the integrity of the management system. trust may create a “transformation in relational logic” which produces differential interaction effects for personal and professional integrity trust and capability trust (bigley and mcallister, 2002) in professionals. professional managers must have high integrity in order to be trusted by other stakeholders, as leaders by followers. there are negative as well as the positive effects on public managerial integrity caused by the introduction of businesslike methods in the public service kolthoff, huberts, and heuvel (2003). however, global perceptions of supervisor integrity are a function of discrete, and primarily destructive, supervisor behaviors (craig and gustafson 1998, p.134). moral philosophers agreed that integrity is linked to personality psychology and also allport (1937) recognized this connection which can be measured directly through integrity testing. in organizational life, managerial integrity and other related competencies can be measured and evaluated through structured interviews, background checks, assessment centers, and other methods such as high-fidelity simulations and strategically designed assessment exercises that are other more valid and reliable methods for measuring integrity. little effort has been made to link ethical theory to management behavior (fritzche and becker (1984: 166). becker (1998: 159) suggests obtaining assessments of integrity from supervisors or peers because integrity tests invoke social desirability responses with an emphasis on action. one important instrument to assess managerial integrity is the diamond of managerial integrity model was developed by kaptein (2003) to assess and improve the integrity of managers. leslie & fleenor (1998) reported 24 popular assessment instruments that are similar in content to other competency instruments used by organizations that were compared and analyzed by kaiser and hogan (2010) who found several weaknesses centered on the lack of clarification of the integrity domain. moreover, the instruments define low integrity by the absence of high integrity rather than by the presence of devious behaviours, and were found used for rating the integrity of managers only focusing on the positive desirable integrity construct but not on a lack of integrity or unethical behaviour. minor breaches of integrity are not rated as violations against serious violations of integrity that are usually covert. however, kaiser and hogan (2010) measure managerial integrity framed by personality theory to identify the integrity of managers, drawing on the concepts 12 jpair multidisciplinary research of reputation and the influence of “weak” situations on the expression of darkside tendencies. according to kaiser and hogan (2010) self-assessments of managerial integrity are dubious sources of information because the manipulation and deceit of persons lacking integrity. managers who lack integrity hardly recognize themselves as that and observers may identify questionable integrity behaviors of managers. thus, subordinates are likely to be prime and best source of information about the personal and professional integrity of managers (brown & trevino, 2006). kaiser and hogan (2010) found that competency ratings do not identify managers with integrity issues. ratings of an integrity competency are heavily skewed favoring managers who receive high ratings for integrity and are unlikely to identify managerial misconduct. respondents refuse to answer questions related to identify integrity issues and behaviors of managers lacking integrity besides the difficulties to observe and rate them. firms may be concerned with effectively preventing declines in managerial integrity. erhard, jensen, and zaffron (2007) assume that the decision of a firm to appoint a previous ceo, relies to a greater extent on firm-specific information on personal and professional integrity. in the case of the integrity of the previous ceo, firms promote an insider and hire an outsider in the case of a former dishonest ceo. however, it is not enough to be trusted in terms of managerial integrity to predict ocb. ratings of managerial integrity always favor managers and rarely identify the ones who may lack integrity. kaiser and hogan (2010) contend that competency ratings are unlikely to identify managerial integrity issues. they propose an alternative method, referred as the dubious reputation approach, to identify managers with potential integrity problems focusing on the lower level of the integrity, not relying on ratings of observed behavior but estimating the likelihood those managerial engagements in unethical behaviors. ratings focused on the undesirable behaviors of the integrity domain of managers may identify their integrity problems. the dubious reputation approach involves personal integrity evaluations of the dark side of managers’ personalities. this method proves to identify and assess levels of managerial integrity and effective competency. the epitome of the dubious reputation method developed by kaiser and hogan (2010) is the perceived leader integrity scale (plis) developed by craig and gustafson (1998) which identifies low integrity of managers. an empirical research conducted by kaiser and hogan (2011) found that the plis yielded variability and higher incidence of low scores of managerial integrity than the integrity competency scale. perceived integrity as a variable is more highly 13 international peer reviewed journal correlated with consideration than initiating structure. also the research concluded that as the strongest predictor, perceived integrity as a variable is more highly correlated to perceived effectiveness. this result is consistent with the notion that integrity is concerned with the needs and rights of other people. integrity and performance the ontological law of integrity states that “to the degree that integrity is diminished, the opportunity for performance (the opportunity set) is diminished” (erhard, jensen and zaffron, 2010). there is a relationship between integrity and performance, where integrity is a necessary condition for performance. integrity not only exists as a virtue but rather than as a necessary condition for performance. performance is defined as “the manner in which something or somebody functions, operates, or behaves; the effectiveness of the way somebody does his or her job” (encarta dictionary, 2004). to maintain management performance centered in the human and ethical values is always an issue that requires being subject to pressures and tensions for the same nature of the management profession. perceptions of the manager’s integrity determine how much to trust the manager which, in turn, influences attitudes and performance. competency models that include integrity as a dimension are used by organizations to identify managerial performance capabilities (boyatzis, 1982) use subordinate ratings focusing on behaviors to evaluate the integrity of managers. perceptions of manager’s behavioral integrity created collective trust and were related to customer satisfaction and profitability which translated into higher performance (mclean parks, 1997). behavioral ratings of observed ethical behavior by co-workers measures integrity defined as a leadership competency suggests that only a small proportion of managers may have integrity issues without distinguishing highfrom low-performing managers (kaiser and hogan, 2010). when nobody has an incentive to invest in firm-specific knowledge, the managerial integrity drops and consequently the performance of the firm, such as the case of external hires who step up the regression of integrity in firms (rost et al., 2008). regression of integrity in firms may result in the prevalence of outside hires. when followers believe their leader cannot be trusted because the leader is perceived not to have integrity, they divert energy diminishing work performance (mayer and gavin, 1999). assuming that the integrity of the previous ceo has no effects on performance, erhard, jensen and zaffron, (2007) found that the 14 jpair multidisciplinary research managerial integrity of a former ceo pays off improving the performance of a firm at the time when the leadership change is stable. kaiser and hogan (2010) conducted an empirical study of ratings on a competency-based integrity scale with psychometric properties to test the expectation that few managers are rated as lacking integrity, to prove that ratings of integrity fail to identify individuals at the low level and not predict managerial performance. the integrity competency analysis use subordinate ratings of integrity to predict overall performance. subordinate ratings of a professional managerial integrity competency are consistent with performance ratings in organizations. results of a research conducted by kaiser and hogan (2010) show that ratings on the integrity competency are unrelated to managerial performance. the proposed method by kaiser and hogan (2010) based on subordinate expectations about the likelihood that professional managers would misbehave and have unethically behaviors suggests that a larger proportion of managers may have professional integrity issues without distinctions performance. kaiser and hogan (2010) found in their empirical research that manager’s competency integrity is highly correlated with building talent showing concern for subordinates, although does not distinguish the level of management performance concluding that integrity competency does not predict performance. this finding is consistent with the definition of integrity as sensitivity for the needs and rights of other people. the empirical research conducted by kaiser and hogan (2010) found that the levels of manager’s integrity is not correlated with the level of performance. this finding contradicts the research showing that personal integrity is a prerequisite for effective leadership. integrity and leadership effectiveness regarding integrity, most leaders follow a more machiavellian view in which a prince should appear a man of integrity (machiavelli, 1981: 101). integrity as other values has an impact on effectiveness. the argument that leaders need integrity to function effectively is supported by covey (1992:61 and 108), who contends that followers become guarded of leaders with low level of integrity. there are few empirical studies conducted to explore the role that integrity plays in leadership effectiveness. there is a lack of empirical research to analyze the relationship between integrity, leadership behaviors and effectiveness. the study of the impact that integrity has for effectiveness has not been clarified because integrity is to a greater or lesser extent being perceived as more effective 15 international peer reviewed journal when having honesty and fairness. few empirical studies examine the relationship between integrity and leader effectiveness but not the impact integrity has on leader effectiveness. what may be good for the sense of integrity may not improve effectiveness. direct reports have association between integrity and leadership effectiveness and are concerned about indicators of integrity of managers because of the need for consistent behavior (staw, et al., 1980). the assumption that integrity has a positive effect on leader and organizational effectiveness is questionable when research on leadership emphasizes behavioral approaches rather than integrity and actions that lack integrity can lead to success (jackall, 1988). morgan (1989) developed a leadership assessment scales on integrity to analyze the relationship to leader effectiveness and found that integrity as a variable is related to trust. trust reflects the integrity or capability of another party, thus trust in a leader’s integrity may inspire followers because of the leader’s adherence to certain values (mcallister, 1995). research on integrity and leadership effectiveness suggests a positive relationship. badaracco and ellsworth (1990) and covey (1992) argue integrity has an impact for leadership effectiveness. followers believing in the integrity of their leaders are more comfortable engaging in risky behaviors (mayer, davis, & schoorman, 1995). hooijberg, hunt and dodge (1997) call for the role of integrity as a value in leadership research. craig and gustafson (1998) developed the perceived leader integrity scale (plis) to measure employee’s perceptions of their leader’s integrity and job satisfaction and found positive correlation. craig and gustafson (1998) provide a large pool of items. the global indicators of integrity (craig and gustafson, 1998: 134) account for 81% of the variance in perceptions of integrity. becker (1998: 160) argues high personal integrity make excellent candidates for leadership positions. simons (1999) used the concept of behavioral integrity and leader effectiveness and found that there is a significant positive correlation between perceived integrity and leader effectiveness. morrison (2001: 65) states that integrity is necessary for managers to engender the goodwill and trust required for an effective leadership. parry and proctor-thomson (2002) revised the plis to analyze the relationship. integrity is a cognitive form operating via different processes on outcomes such as the organizational citizenship behaviour (ocb). thus, dirks and skarlicki (2004) argue that integrity may be a predictor of ocb and the leader may be seen as being with high integrity. this idea, according to the authors implies that integrity predicts employee ocb although the main effects for benevolence and 16 jpair multidisciplinary research integrity on ocb were not significant at low and moderate levels, however the authors found that when benevolence is high the relationship between integrity and ocb is positive. mayer and davis’ (1999) trustworthiness scales assess trust in managers in terms of integrity and benevolence. behavioral integrity and competence impact trust, although salam (2000) argues that integrity and competence are not sufficient to increase trust for other parties. hooijberg and lane (2005) examine the impact integrity has on people’s perceptions of effectiveness and found that integrity has a small relevance for leadership effectiveness. to test the relationship between leadership behaviors, integrity, and managerial effectiveness, hooijberg and lane, n (2005) included in his research values associated with integrity and values in conflict with integrity. hooijberg and lane (2005) reported that is partially confirmed for all evaluators that integrity has a positive association with effectiveness for managers and their peers. however, between integrity and direct reports or bosses’ perceptions of effectiveness, they did not find a significant association between integrity and effectiveness. the results show a statistically significant association for the managers themselves and their peers, but there is no statistically significant association between integrity and effectiveness for the direct reports and bosses. their results also confirm that bosses associate goal-oriented behaviors had the strongest association, but not integrity with leadership effectiveness. these values have a stronger association with effectiveness than integrity, honesty, and fairness do. integrity affects perceptions of managerial effectiveness when managers strongly associate being goal-oriented, monitoring and facilitation. perceived competence and integrity are character-based factors make individuals willing to take the risk toward a common goal. goal-oriented behaviors of managers are associated with effectiveness, but not integrity. integrity as a key ingredient for effectiveness may be hard to maintain. competency ratings of integrity are not capable to identify managers who may lack integrity because there is an assumption that managers are at risk for misbehaving. competency rating methods assume integrity in terms of desirable observed ethical behaviors in such a way that to identify managerial integrity underestimates the number of managers with integrity issues. definitively, when an organization is led by managerial integrity, interior life develops with integrity and generates an exemplar effect for all involved in the activities. kaiser and hogan (2010) suggest that organizations conducting character and integrity audits consider other alternative approaches for detecting integrity 17 international peer reviewed journal such as simulations, assessment centers, enhanced background checks, specially designed interviews and rely on more than just competency ratings of integrity. there is the possibility to replace competency ratings with ratings based on the dubious reputation methods, the plis scale is in the public domain, by focusing on subordinates’ expectations or create hybrid scales. the plis scale, a measure of the dubious reputation method identifies managers’ integrity at the unethical end of the continuum. the dubious reputation analysis use subordinate ratings of integrity to predict ratings of job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. kaiser and hogan (2010) propose the dubious reputation method to evaluate the integrity of managers based on expectations that managers behave unethically. the dubious reputation method is intended to replace the competency ratings to identify and evaluate the integrity of managers. results of using plis are consistent with prior findings that leader integrity is determinant of leadership perceptions. integrity and ethics concern one’s relationships with other people. the absence of ethics and integrity precluded leadership. hooijberg and lane, (2005) examine the impact of some values including integrity on leadership behaviors and effectiveness finding that the value of integrity has a significant impact on effectiveness. the findings of hooijberg, r. and lane, n (2005) do not support the notion that integrity is essential for leadership. they did not find a statistically significant association between integrity and effectiveness personal integrity also plays a central role in transformational as well as charismatic leadership highlighted by research. thus, personal integrity is a prerequisite for leadership (cohen, 2009). followers’ perceptions of a leader’s integrity are related to transformational leadership (parry & proctor-thomson, 2002). however, competency ratings do not measure low level of personal and managerial integrity because leadership research focuses on positive qualities (padilla, hogan & kaiser, 2007). objectives of the study the study aims to determine the importance of professional integrity as improved concept and ethics in the development of professionals in administration and management sciences. 18 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the hypothesis of this research considers that there are some economic, social and cultural factors which appear to pressure management education to far outweigh to maintain professional integrity. this hypothesis is proved empirically confirmed by the finding that significant importance is placed on the professional’s reputation for integrity, economic efficiency strength, organizational social capital, and a compliance ethical culture. this paper outlines an approach in which professional integrity in management education is understood in the context of honesty, as having an ethical background, building trust and maintaining credibility. the research method employed is the ethnographic, documental and life’s histories, complemented with field work supported by in-depth interviews and analyzed using a comparative method. participants described several dimensions of professional integrity in management education. discussion focuses on integrity as the basic principle of professionalism in management education to guide complex ethical reasoning, as well as the need for creating and sustaining professional integrity environments through ethical modelling and relational behaviours promoted by integrity as the essential element. this methodology puts in evidence that there is an urgent need to develop a model to approach professional integrity in economic and managerial careers. information units involving teachers and students to determine the existence of program content oriented toward teaching ethics and professional integrity in the administration major at the university level as well as the existence of behavior codes as a frame of reference (paladino, debeljuh & del bosco 2005). results indicated that all the teachers coincide in affirming the need to incorporate a transversal program axis that would permeate the curriculum, oriented toward teaching ethics and professional integrity in the administration schools. therefore, the study recommended setting up cooperation networks to implement common axes for teaching ethics at the national universities. the outcomes of the research on the application in management education demonstrate that the drama of economic efficiency is centered on a dysfunctional professional integrity. this paper provides a sound professional philosophy that empowers professionals to act with integrity, increases the probability for long-term success and professional fulfilment. the chapter offers practitioners, managers, leaders, skills and moral frameworks of professional integrity that can be shared across and within professions, and used to compare and evaluate 19 international peer reviewed journal their professional practice. the results provide also the basis to develop a code of conduct and regulation policies to sustain management education for professional integrity which, can positively impact on business culture through influencing the behavior of key actors. results and discussion in general, there is a consensus that now a days it is required for professionals with the capacity to live and share in harmony with others, sociability, self-control, professional integrity and adaptability in cultural diversity. to develop this type of professional, it is necessary to institute, teach and share with an example the values of the organization to the personnel on the basis of congruence between the word and the action of executives. the teaching of ethical professional based on the integrity must consider teaching at the university as an educative responsibility to satisfy the professional development programs. the ultimate end of any educative process is that human being achieve its plenitude to be capable to build everyday a more fair and equalitarian society where justice, tolerance and participation and of course, respect to others must prevail over any other interest. being that, the economic progress will be possible on the behalf of human being’s integrity. personal sustainable development and success require getting, restoring and maintaining professional integrity. to restore and maintain professional integrity behavior for individuals, groups and organizations where it doesn’t exist or it has been diminished requires a development program of professional integrity. as it has been signaled by batteman y snell (2001) ethics programs must be based on integrity and to go beyond to avoid illegality, to worry for the law, but also to inculcate on the people a personal responsibility for ethical behavior. ethical problems based on personal integrity, besides the legal aspects consider necessary to inculcate in the student personal responsibility for his/her ethical behavior. behaviors are manifestations and expressions of a value scale. as humboldt had said “if we want to have professionals with ethics, we have to teach to be and how to be.” professional development must inculcate the habits of professional integrity, in such a way to create confidence that those habits of professional integrity will be practiced by these same individuals when they become licensed professionals. however, determination to work in an ethical way and to be an integrity person is an individual process. the teaching of professional ethics and integrity is a factor 20 jpair multidisciplinary research contributed to an elemental human development in the global realm (kliksberg, 2002 and etkin, 1993). professional ethics determine the essential bases of behaviors, to make decisions on the grounds of moral values and professional acts and keep on the relationship with vocation. the business ethics has an incidence in professional integrity. in this way, institutions of higher education must attend the specific needs of professional formation and development that society merits to guarantee the positioning of professionals in labor markets. learning models must integrate a holistic vision of professional managerial integrity formation and development, the institutions of higher education must foster formation and development of professional integrity of organizational administration according to the existent needs, achieving the requests why they were created. the characteristics of professional integrity as part of the graduate profile of universities must be screened by the mechanisms of personnel selection of organizations and vice versa, according to the environment needs. it is required the existence of a major coordination between business organizations and the university to have an incidence in the formation and development of the managerial cadres in educative institutions as a product of this synchronization. it has been under the study the need to achieve some changes centered on the formation and development of professional integrity in the professional practice (rodríguez ordoñez, 2004). the components of the professional’s moral integrity and their influence in the development of activities such as the academic formation and how it complements with learned values in the family nucleus which will generate in the professional an indisputable added value. professional integrity of the manager’s action in the development of competencies and capabilities are related to corporate social responsibility (csr) that has a fundamental part in corporate governance. an analysis of professional integrity and values across cultures and their interrelationships to increase or reduce human welfare is a new field of research. in this sense, managers constantly associate integrity with honesty, merit and fairness but differ with other values. in some training situations penalties for tolerating lapses of integrity may be ameliorated, the same which may be fully enforced in the professional context. however, professional integrity must be so crucial in training situations where the stakes are not too high and some failures may be tolerated. management’s curriculum must be oriented towards the future and enriched to include student’s development in a systematic and ordered way of attitudes, attributes and personal qualities, such as professional integrity and independence, among others. all of these must be aligned with the concept of 21 international peer reviewed journal integral development, moreover because they are consubstantial to the successful practice of the profession (aicpa, 1980: 16). implications for management education professions exist to serve society’s needs through professionals using morally decent means to provide values and services. professionals in administration and management must effectively cultivate an image of personal integrity. when integrity-based trust in management professionals is high, organizations that espouse ethical and moral values are more willing to trust more important and crucial responsibilities and activities. the professional ethical principles give substance to different forms of professional behavior included in the actions, such as how to focus justice to human beings, responsibility in performance of professional activities, discretion in information management and honesty in each one of his/her actions. an individual maintains professional integrity as long as he/she remains uncorrupted. professionals that distort essential service functions to society toward unreasonable profits, power, or greed may lose the trust and respect of their communities. the character-based perspective focusing on concerns about the managerial integrity, suggests that the referent trust predicts the response or concern toward a specific individual integrity. in the case of conflicting duties, professional integrity tells us that the highest duty is to avoid harming others. simons (1999) “proposes that the divergence between words and deeds has profound costs as it renders managers untrustworthy and undermines their credibility and their ability to use their words to influence the actions of their subordinates.” the manager must have and show absolute mental independence and criteria regarding any interest, which can be considered incompatible with integrity and objectivity principles that can be affected without an application of autonomous and neutral criteria. the most important and significant aspects of management’s professional services towards clients, customers and general public, cannot be defined as knowledge and experiences but in less precise terms, such as professional integrity, sense, wise, perception, imagination, circumspection, service to others, professional stability, personal benefits, professional honesty, respect to personal dignity, vocation, and so forth. beyond the technological and financial aspects, the management’s professional service must have as a central axis his/her action and behavior toward other human beings. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research a reconstruction of professional ethics and integrity is necessary to recover credibility and respect of management’s profession. according to the competencies of knowing to be and knowing to share, the attitudes, values, qualities, habits and dispositions imprinted in the citizens and professionals’ character, make managers as builders of a better society. conclusions society provides the necessary resources and opportunities for carrying out the professional integrity functions, the authority to act on its behalf and the autonomy required to provide social trust. failures of social trust are related to breaches of professional integrity. violations of the trust based on the relationship and on the authority to act on behalf of the entire society, are serious breaches of professional integrity. to refuse a professional assignment in such a way that breaks faith with all other members of the profession and the social interest constitutes a first-order violation of professional integrity. it is the equivalent of a manager abandoning managerial assignments that can be devastating to an organization and society. manager’s professional reputation and integrity in his/her relationships to other persons and stakeholder groups are important. the commitment to social welfare and preservation of environment is getting anchored in all managerial and economic fields’ professions. to value integrity as a relevant aspect to individuals, it is possible to work effectively for personal goodness and for the common good. recommendations recommendations for assessing professional managerial integrity in practice must urge the professional managers to consider the prevalence and impact of managerial misconduct. all the professions and management are not the exception, are ruled under social principles of honesty, integrity and collective responsibility that must be developed at the workplace. integrity and responsibility must be part of the manager’s professional life. this means that a good professional must know his / her legal, labor and entrepreneurial limitations which are aligned with the ethical values 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marucot pamantasan ng cabuyao city of cabuyao, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this study provides a framework for determining board exam probabilistic performances of students through the identification and analysis of indicators that affect student board exam performances. the design and development of the framework are governed by the theoretical and empirical study of factors related to student profiles, academic metrics, and academic support services metrics. the formulation of factors and considerations for the framework revolves around the identification of causal items affecting board exam performance of examinees. the factors are tested for their perceived causative and relational effects as drawn from related studies and literature. moreover, this study provides a framework that addresses the issues related to managing board examination course offerings via consideration of university policies, practices, priorities, and programs. keywords — social science, board examination, analytics, philippines vol. 42 · october 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v42i1.806 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2121 international peer reviewed journal introduction the philippine commission on higher education (ched), in coordination with the professional regulatory commission (prc), sees the critical role of state licensure board examinations in continually enforcing quality assurance administrations in the higher education institutions (heis). the board examinations are among the major gauges for measuring the quality of education for heis. the heis in the country generally have been noted to be delivering poorly citing their dismal performances in the board examinations. the standards and quality assurance metrics of heis are highly related to their performances in the board exams. thus, an hei’s provision of due diligence on enhancing board exam performances in its program offerings could be considered among the ways through which the hei is seriously upgrading its delivery of educational services (acosta & acosta, 2016). to enhance board examination performances, school administrators need to address the myriad of issues affecting the institution and the individual students. and as such, the board exam performances are just reflective of the quality of educational and co-curricular services the heis are providing their students (cresswell, 2000; sreekanth, 2006). the philippines is said to have heis which do not perform satisfactorily in licensure examinations. consequently, the graduates of the country’s heis are deemed less competent as compared to graduates in the international arena (acosta & acosta, 2016). the pamantasan ng cabuyao (pnc) was created under the municipal ordinance 2003-059 approved on april 16, 2003, by the then municipality of cabuyao sanggunian under the leadership of mayor proceso “etok” aguillo. the philippine republic act 7160 (an act providing for local government code of 1991) provides for the empowerment and strengthening of local government units like the city of cabuyao. with the strengthening of the local government units comes devolution of certain services which were previously centrally governed (ra 7160, 1991). the provision of public education is among the devolved services of the national government to the local government units. the devolution of education has led to the creation of local colleges and universities (lucs). in the philippines settings, the city or municipal lucs are funded and operated by their respective city or municipality, while the provincial lucs are funded and operated by their respective provincial government. thus, it can be indicated that the state of a locally-funded hei depends mostly on the 2222 jpair multidisciplinary research ability and/or willingness of the concerned local government units to fund the various operations of the luc. most likely, municipalities and provinces with low incomes will not be able to sufficiently fund their local heis. and the very poor localities do not even have lucs to fund and operate, given the intricacies of several government and accreditation and international quality education compliances (dayrit, 2005). while there may have many shortcomings, public heis are still the choice of the majority of the citizens of the country (dayrit, 2005) due to the equitability they provide. the government support accorded to lucs provide for financial stability, which may translate to disengagement with commercialization. private educational institutions need to go through the rigors of commercial viability to sustain their operations. on the other hand, lucs get their funding from the local government, and financial costs to students are kept at very minimal levels. currently, some lucs also coordinate with the national government in providing free tertiary education (ra 10931). in this manner, lucs are provided greater opportunities to offer exception not only intuition but also in other state fees. further, they could also offer financial assistance and scholarships according to set criteria. with being a government arm, lucs are seen as able to access the very vast network of infrastructure and support services made available by the national government. but there are drawbacks in the luc framework of operations. government units are very much regulated that needed procurements need to undergo the rigors of government procurement laws. compliance with these procurement regulations could usually take much longer and thus are seen as non-responsive enough to the current needs of the government units such as lucs. table 1 shows a summary of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for public heis. framework the inputs include knowledge inputs from an interview of school key informants and personnel/officers, library and internet research, and survey. the bulk of the knowledge inputs were on the current state of public schools in the country in general (e.g., assessing school board examination needs, requirements, and applicable technologies, especially in the public sector educational services) and assessment levels of respondents on various factors involving board examination matters. the processes of the research include the assessment of different knowledge inputs. the library and internet research was used for the review of related literature 2323 international peer reviewed journal and studies. the data from interviews were used for identifying problems, school board examination preparation processes, and best practices. the responses from the survey through a questionnaire were used for the identification of specific board examination needs assessment for public heis leading to the identification of the specifications for the board examination data analytics system design and development framework; and the output is a board examination data analytics system framework for the pnc, as well as factors to be considered in calibrating policies and procedures regarding board examination concerns within the university. further proposed enhancements for board examination concerns are part of the output. the study has as its scope the design and development of a data analytics system framework for determining board exam probability of success or failure of students of pnc. the system framework was designed according to the specifications set in systems development, frameworks for educational designs, and approaches in data analytics. a lot of public heis need to cope with what resources are available for their schools. oftentimes, resources are just barely enough to meet minimum requirements. there are even areas in which these minimum requirements are have not complied. it is not the intent of this study to provide a systematic framework for board examination analytics that would implement or recommend educational services that would cater to a state-of-the-art or high-end educational facilities, technologies, or learning management systems. further, this study does 2424 jpair multidisciplinary research not intend to identify and promote materials, processes, tools, equipment, and management models on the mere basis of being the latest, the most popular, the most in-demand, or the most sophisticated. rather, this study is intended to develop a system whose framework is anchored on educational services that are cost-effective but not sacrificing quality, standards, and the environment. and the foremost consideration is the perceived suitability of the system framework in the lcu environment, vis-à-vis the board examination concerns. methodology research design the methods used in developing the framework and the system which consists of the fusion of systems analysis and design methodologies and data analytics methodologies. included in the chapter are the research design, the research population and sampling, the sampling technique, the respondents of the study, the data-gathering procedure, the data analysis plan, the technical study, the research instruments used, and the statistical treatment of data. the mixed method of research was used in this study. this is considered to be appropriate in this type of study because it combines the elements of qualitative and quantitative approaches. the researchers used this method to overcome the restrictions of a single design study. the method purports to: (1) explain and interpret, (2) explore a phenomenon, (3) develop and test a new instrument, (4) serve a theoretical perspective, and (5) address a question at different levels. (schoonenboom & johnson, 2017). the researchers carefully planned the studies.  one major consideration is the timing of the quantitative and qualitative components.  depending on the goals of each stage/component, the phases of data collection can be either sequential or concurrent.  when sequential, the first phase of data collection can help to inform the second phase, or the second phase can be used to aid in the interpretation of data collected in the first phase (schoonenboom & jonson, 2017). this research study uses purposive sampling. the purposive sampling is to be used to gather assessment levels of key informants: 1) most recent board examination based passers who had first-hand experiences on the various aspects of board examination preparations, and 2) licensed faculty members who handle board examination-based courses. 2525 international peer reviewed journal the concerned licensed university faculty members handling board-based programs and the most recent passers of their respective board examinations among the graduates of the university were asked to provide their responses through a survey questionnaire. their evaluation and responses revolved around 1) personal and academic profiles and 2) the levels of assessment on perceived priorities, personal preparations and competencies, institutional support and preparations, and 3) the level of adherence to board course examination preparations. they were asked about their level of assessments of the different measures addressing board examination preparations. also, the profiles of the respondents and the current state of the university related to activities prior to the conduct of the board examination were sought through the questionnaire. the research used internet and library resource materials to gather preliminary data to help in the determination of the requirements for educational board examination needs assessment, the factors involved in the facility management, and technology management aspects of school operations. these materials were also used in the review of literature related to the study. the literature review provides the practical and theoretical background needed in the formulation of the analytical procedures for enhancing educational services with considerations on different aspects of school management like manpower, materials, methodologies, and machines/equipment. the stated aspects of educational management will be evaluated via a research survey questionnaire. the questionnaire consists of statements with which the respondents provided their corresponding responses reflecting their level of agreement or disagreement, their level of perception on the sufficiency of some school services & facility components, or their level of perception as to the suitability of policies, procedures, practices and/or various supports related to board examination preparations in the lcu context. each of the statements carries a nominal rating, as well as a numerical rating. incorporated in the questionnaire are items that asked for ranking, identification, specification, and/or respondent selection. items that require ranking are listed and were ranked by the respondents, with the item that must have the highest rank getting the ranking of (1) one. the succeeding items will be ranked two and so forth, respectively. the identification and specification are mostly structured in multiple-choice format, while selections are structured in single choice format. listed in the identification and specification choices are items that were picked from various surveyed related literature. the respondent is allowed to identify or specify other items beyond those that are listed. the bulk of 2626 jpair multidisciplinary research the items are grouped into categories and sub-categories and are to be answered through the respondents’ choice, which reflects their level of assessment on each item presented. for scaling the responses, a 1 to 5 likert scale was used to indicate the level of assessment and/or agreement of respondents on each item or statement. a rating of 1 has a nominal rating, which signifies the respondent’s highest agreement, while a rating of 5 has a nominal rating, which signifies the respondent’s lowest agreement on a particular item being presented. any other rating between 1 and 5 corresponds to its respective nominal rating as implied. table 2 shows the scale of the responses. table 2. scale for responses numerical rating 1 2 3 4 5 nominal rating very strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree very strongly disagree the above ratings may also be interpreted accordingly below very sufficient sufficient moderately sufficient insufficient very insufficient very suitable/ applicable suitable/ applicable moderately suitable unsuitable/ not applicable very unsuitable/ not applicable excellent very good fair poor very poor the ordinal data obtained from the survey questionnaire will be classified and subject to analysis according to a likert scale consisting of 5 (5) response categories, which range from a high numerical rating of one (1) to a rating of five (5). a distribution-fitting approach will be applied in order to analyze the collected data and categorize the various criteria. for identifying multiple responses, the respondents may choose none, one or more than one response. each of the responses will be evaluated through percentages. for identifying priorities, the ranking will be implemented wherein respondents are presented with ten choices with which they were asked to rank the highest priority with the numerical rank of 1 (one). all the succeeding items will be provided with numerical rankings in succession until the numerical rank of 10 (ten), which is deemed as the least priority. 2727 international peer reviewed journal population and sample for various assessment levels, the respondents of the study were the licensed university faculty and staff handling board-based courses and the most recent passers of board examinations of the university. the respondents helped identify the factors, requirements, and specifications for the board exam data analytics framework and for a guide in calibrating university policies and practices related to board examination preparations. data gathering procedures to gather information needed for the research, the researcher undertook library and internet researches that included related articles, journals, documents, and books. also, the researcher interviewed some key personnel and students related to heis about school board examination preparations, operations, practices, and problems encountered. the researcher administered survey questionnaires, which were answered by licensed faculty and board examination passers. the data gathered included the following: 1) practices and problems encountered by school administrators and staff regarding board examinations, 2) best practices, processes, and policies that will enhance board examination preparations and analytics; 3) assessment levels of faculty members handling board-based programs; 4) assessment levels of most recent passers of their respective board examinations. instrumentation the researchers used as research instruments library research, internet research, questionnaire, and interview. the said data gathering tools will help the researchers identifying the specifications for designing and developing the system. library research includes gathering data from books, journals, articles, forms, magazines, published and unpublished studies. internet research includes information from documents, handbooks, related laws, journals, and articles from websites. interview. an interview is an official meeting in which one or more persons. the interview involves activities like asking questions, seeking consultation, or evaluation of the school processes, practices, problem areas, and challenges related to their board examinations. the persons interviewed were the registrar, administrators (who have a keen knowledge of respective aspects of board 2828 jpair multidisciplinary research examination-related policies and implementations), staff and officers who are involved in school administration, as well as personnel involved or have experienced board examination administration and/or preparations. also, the study sought the following personnel or offices as key informants in providing the needed data and statistics: 1) office of the university registrar, 2) information technology department, 3) office of student affairs and guidance and counselling office, 4) respective college dean’s offices, and 5) human resource office. questionnaire. the questionnaire set is most frequently comprised of a concise, pre-planned set of questions designed to yield specific information regarding profiles, hospital data, assessment levels, ranking, listing, and identification of items related to board examination preparations. the questionnaire used was validated prior to actual use. validation was be undertaken by subjecting the questionnaire to concerned personnel or client who is not part of the actual respondents. the questionnaire covers both profiles and responses, mostly in a structured format. qualitative data is incorporated into the questionnaire through an open-ended question, which seeks additional suggestions, ideas, or comments from respondents. the qualitative data enabled the respondents to add freely other items that they deem are to be included in their responses. the frequency distribution of each of the ranked, specified, listed, or selected items shall be computed. the item with the lowest mean is considered the highest-ranked, and the succeeding lower means are the items which second, third, and so on in the ranking. for specified, listed, or selected items, those with the highest frequency counts are considered as the answers which reflect the collective agreement of respondents towards particular items. statistical treatment of data the data collected were evaluated and studied. the statistical tools that were needed for the data are for the determination of the frequency, ranking, mean, weighted mean, and percentages. the mean values for assessment levels were computed. the percentage was used to indicate distributions. 2929 international peer reviewed journal table 3. the mean values and verbal interpretations for assessment levels mean values verbal interpretation remarks 1.0-1.5 excellent to be considered as factors1.51-1.99 very satisfactory 2.0-2.50 satisfactory 2.51-2.99 fair not to be considered as factors 3.0-3.50 unsatisfactory 3.51-3.99 very unsatisfactory 4.0-4.50 poor 4.51 -5.0 very poor the arithmetic mean values were computed for a whole section or for each category in a section. descriptions and treatment would be provided onto items with both highest and lowest mean values. items with the highest mean ranks and frequencies among listed, identified, or selected items (except for nominal data like names, locations, etc.) will likewise be considered in the system development. factor analysis was to be used to identify the significant factors. items with a factor loading of 0.5 or higher were be considered as significant factors; for factors to be considered in the design and development of a proposed board examination metrics framework for public heis the items are tested for spearman rank correlation. among the factors to be tested are those items that pertain to personal preparedness (personal factors), management of school preparations for board examinations (institutional factors), and adherence to board examination best practices (adherence factors). the factors will be tested at the confidence level of 95%, where the p-value is significant at 0.05 (p-value < α < 0.05). table 4. degree of relationship correlation coefficient (r) degree of relationship 0.00 – 0.20 negligible relationship 0.21 – 0.40 low relationship 0.41 – 0.60 moderate relationship 0.61 – 0.80 high relationship 0.81 – 1.0 very high relationship the analysis of variance (anova) will be used to determine if there are significant differences in the current board examination preparation metrics 3030 jpair multidisciplinary research between respondents from high board exam passing rate programs and those from low (below national passing average) passing rate programs. also, the anova will be used to test differences among the different levels of school preparations and the factors that determine current levels of student preparedness, profiles, and related metrics. results and discussion the results are presented and discussed with reference to the aim of the study, which was to determine the suitable board examination analytics framework for pnc. presented are the following: 1) challenges in calibrating policies and procedures for board examinations, 2) factors that determine the probability of success in board examinations, 3) analytical tools to calculate probable outcomes of board examinees, 4) board examination analytics framework, and 5) policies and procedures for improving board examination performances. the presentations, altogether with narratives on statistical results, form the basis for the design and development of the board examination analytics framework for public pnc. a guideline for calibrating policies and procedures for enhancing the board examination preparations is presented as well. challenges in calibrating policies and procedures for board examinations institutional initiatives aimed at calibrating policies and procedures for board examination concerns need to be thoroughly guided so as to be more effective. the hit and miss approach to calibrating policies and procedures may not only yield unsatisfactory results. they could also be detrimental to the pnc in terms of greater costs, wasted opportunities, and undesirable conditions like worsened board examination outcomes. to date, board exam results in the university have been inconsistently going up and down despite several measures put in place. calibrating policies and procedures in the university are aimed at the university to sustain not only above national mark passing rates but also 100% passing rates across all board courses. the university has calibrated its policies and procedures for board examination programs over time. these calibrations include pre-determining student competencies during admission processing of prospective students, the institution of monetary rewards for highly successful examinees, competency appraisals after two years of coursework within the university, additional qualifying examinations, barring graduates from taking the examination if appraised too 3131 international peer reviewed journal unfit to pass the exam, provision of university-based in-house reviews, upgrades in prospective student admissions to board-based programs and curricular appraisals which were indirectly aimed to enhance board examination outcomes. with these calibrations came some positive yields in the passing rates of its graduates. however, directly attributing these calibrations to the positive yields is a sweeping generalization. foremost consideration must be on determining with higher probability the factors that enhance board examination performances. per analysis of perceived board exam priority needs of respondents, the areas which show the need for calibration for the university may be culled from the respondents’ priority of areas of concern for board examination preparations. table xxx shows the respondents’ priority areas of concern for board examination preparations. the top two areas, 1) personal motivation and will and 2) strong family/friend support for the academic pursuit, are outside the domain of the university services since they are well within the individual respondent’s circumstances. however, the university may still be able to reach out to the students in various engagements like counseling, career guidance, and programs that nurture secondary social support such as peer groups, sports & recreation, values formation, hobbies, and advocacies. a study among secondary students reveals that the school has a very crucial role in terms of reaching to the overarching need of students to greater motivations like in self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction, and setting of academic achievement levels (diseth, danielsen, & somdrum, 2012). thus, the foremost challenge in calibrating policies and practices onboard examination is on how to motivate the students to achieve more in the board examinations. other challenges include policies and practices that could improve the competency of the teaching staff and the enhancement of the curricula to reflect the needed integration of various board examination concerns. further, the provision of policies and practices for board examination reviews and integration of review modules and mock board examinations could instill institutional emphasis on reviews and other terminal responsibilities of the university towards its prospective licensure examinees. 3232 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. ranking of respondents’ areas of concern for board examinations rank mean rank areas of concern 1 2.87 personal motivation and will 2 4.38 strong family/friend support for the academic pursuit 3 4.57 competency of teaching staff 4 4.60 appropriate curricula for the field of study 5 5.02 board examination reviews after graduation 6 5.30 integration of board examination review modules and/or mock board examinations into the curriculum 7 5.75 financial support systems (scholarships, tuition fee discounts, low costs of schooling, etc.) 8 5.85 availability of board exam review materials 9 6.19 appropriate facilities (library, laboratories, study halls, simulation rooms, etc.) 10 6.91 purchase/upgrade of equipment/machines/tools needed for academic studies factors that determine the probability of success in board examinations for a lot of schools, the success or failure of examinees in a board examination is mostly a guessing game wherein examinees and even school administrators struggle in finding clues regarding their would-be performance outcomes in various board examinations. however, the more successful schools have their strategic plans, practices, and policies regarding board examination concerns reviewed and reformed, if needed (quiambao et al., 2015). student and faculty profiles table 1 shows the frequency counts and percentages of the respondents according to sex, category, passing rate, and frequency of taking the board examination until they have successfully passed. the majority of the respondents are females (56.6%), while males account for 43.4%. most of the respondents (51 or 96.2%) indicated that they scored above their respective board examination batch’s national passing rate. also, most of the respondents (92.4%) indicated that they were able to pass their respective board examinations on just their first take. students who passed the board examination contribute to the overall passing mark of their respective academic institutions computed as the number of passers over the number of students who took the examination, dubbed as the 3333 international peer reviewed journal institutional passing rate. the institutional passing rate is weighed against the national passing rate, which is the number of students who passed the exam over the number of students who took the exam nationwide. one of the performance measures undertaken by institutions is to evaluate their institutional passing rate, whether it is above or below the national passing rate. one of the ways the philippine government, through the ched, regulates the academic institutions is by requiring individual institutions to have institutional passing rates that are above the national passing rate. for instance, under the bs nursing program, failure to achieve an institutional passing rate which is above the national passing rate for three (3) consecutive years could mean revocation of the license of the institution to continually offer the affected academic program (ched memorandum order no. 14, series of 2009). table 2. distribution of the respondents according to sex, passing rate and order of taking of the board until passing frequency totals passing rate, % male [43.4%] female [56.6%] % above national rate below national rate faculty 10 15 25 47.2 23 (92%) 2 (3.77%) student 13 15 28 52.8 28 (100%) 0 (0.0%) total 23 30 53 100 51 (96.2%) 2 (3.77%) first take 20 29 49 92.4 49 (92.4%) 1 (1.91%) second take 2 0 2 3.7 2 (3.7%) 0 (0.0%) third take 1 1 2 3.7 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.91%) table 3 shows the distribution of the respondents according to their educational degree programs. most of the respondents were from the bs nursing program then followed by the engineering programs and bs accountancy (both with 11 or 20.8%). 3434 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. distribution of respondents according to degree program program frequency percent beed (elementary education) 1 1.9 bs accountancy 11 20.8 bs ece (electronics and communications engineering) 10 18.9 bs nursing 16 30.2 bs psychology 9 17.0 bse (education) 5 9.4 bsee (electrical engineering) 1 1.9 total 53 100 table 3 shows the distribution of the respondents according to their general weighted average (gwa) in their respective college programs. a big bulk of the respondents (19 or 35.8%) indicated having gwa within the range of 1.75-1.99. this range falls within the satisfactory mark. combined with respondents with outstanding and very satisfactory ratings, it can be deduced that the majority of both the student and faculty respondents belong to the high academic achievers’ range. in scientific studies, grades, either at collegiate or high school levels, are said to be significant predictors for the academic achievements of students, including the board examinations. that is, those who perform better academically in high school or in college course works have a greater probability of achieving successful results in board examinations. generally, there are too many involved competencies, traits, and attitudinal attachments towards achievements of good grades (ong, palompon, & bañico, 2012; gohara et al., 2011). table 4. distribution of college gwa of the respondents grade range nominal description frequency percent 1.0-1.24 excellent 2 3.8 1.25-1.49 outstanding 5 9.4 1.5-1.74 very satisfactory 7 13.2 1.75-1.99 satisfactory 19 35.8 2.0-2.24 good 8 15.1 2.0-2.25 fair 1 1.9 2.25-2.49 fair 8 15.1 2.5-2.74 poor 2 3.8 2.75-3.0 very poor 1 1.9 total 53 100 3535 international peer reviewed journal table 4 shows the distribution of the respondents according to their high school gwa. the majority of the respondents (24 or 45.3% and 11 or 20.8%) indicated having gwa within the range of 86-90 and 91-95, respectively. their gwas also fall within satisfactory and very satisfactory marks. table 5. distribution of high school gwa of the respondents range frequency percent nominal description 96-100 3 5.7 excellent 91-95 11 20.8 very satisfactory 86-90 24 45.3 satisfactory 81-85 13 24.5 fair 76-80 2 3.8 poor total 53 100 table 5 shows the distribution of the respondents according to the classification of their high school from where they graduated. the majority of the respondents (28 or 52.8%) came from public high schools. the majority of the faculty respondents (14 or 56%) indicated coming from private high schools, whereas the majority of the students (60.72%) indicated coming from public high schools. this indicates that the majority of the graduates of the university cater to students coming from the public high schools within the community. further, this is also indicative that the students came mostly from low-income levels. table 6. distribution of the respondents according to hs classification frequency percent faculty, % students, % private 14 (56%) 11 (44%) 25 47.2 public 11 (39.28) 17 (60.72%) 28 52.8 total 53 100 when asked about the degree of alignment of their respective degree programs with their filed/s of interest, 25 or 47.2% indicated that they are aligned. nineteen (19) or 35.8% indicated perfect alignment. for those who indicated perfect alignment, 18 passed the exam on the first take and 19 got scores above the national passing rate for their respective batch of examination. for those who indicated alignment, 24 passed the exam on the first take, and 23 got scores 3636 jpair multidisciplinary research above the national passing rate for their respective batch of examination. the data somehow indicates congruence of alignment of interest to pass on the first take and to achieving scores above the national passing rate. a study by shellito et al. (2010) shows that one’s degree of interest provides a clue as to satisfactory achievement at certain endeavors. interest plays a key role in providing a positive attitude towards work, research activity, or even academic pursuits. table 6 shows the distribution of the respondents according to the perceived alignment of their degree program with their field/s of interest, the number of takes until passed, and passing rate. table 7. distribution of the respondents according to program alignment takes until passed passing rate freq., % 1st 2nd 3rd above nat’l below nat’l perfectly aligned 19 35.8 18 1 0 19 0 aligned 25 47.2 24 1 1 23 2 somehow aligned 8 15.1 8 0 0 7 1 not aligned 1 1.9 0 0 1 0 1 totals, % 53 100 50 2 1 49 (92.5%) 4 (7.7%) while personal motivation and strong support from family and friends rank high in the perception of respondents as the primary keys for successfully passing the board examination, it is still a common notion that the college or university from where the examinees finished their respective degrees makes for a big factor for such success. licensure examinations are aimed at testing the individual competencies of the examinees after their degree completion towards readiness in the professional labor market (goldhaber, & hansen, 2010). colleges and universities build a critical knowledge base, rudimentary skills & know-how, experiential insights, analytical thinking, and attitudinal traits on their students. throughout the years of residency, the holistic education provided by schools matters a lot to the students since these were weighed against numerous academic and non-academic endeavors (raymond, 2001). thus, it could be said that the quality of educational services matters so much in the outcomes of examinees in the board examinations. 3737 international peer reviewed journal table 8. kendall’s tau-b correlation between alignment and student competencies align code psc_ave aligncode correlation coefficient 1.000 .085 sig. (2-tailed) . .436 psc_ave correlation coefficient .085 1.000 sig. (2-tailed) .436 . n 53 student, faculty, and school preparations for board examination per review of critical literature, all circumstantial factors contribute to an individual person’s performances, especially with regards to board examinations. generally, the factors that affect or correlate with boarding examination performances can be grouped as either: 1) personal preparedness and competency factors or 2) institutional support and adherence to best practices factors. table 9. level of agreement on personal preparedness for board examination (grand mean = 1.94) logistical and setting (overall mean = 1.92) means pp2 i organized well my time-space to suit well for the board exam preparations. 1.74 pp3 i organized well my study space to suit well for the board exam preparations. 1.77 pp1 i have sufficient access to lecture and review materials for the board exam. 1.92 pp5 i was able to prioritize the board exam preparations over other concerns like family household chores, trips, dates, etc. 2.00 pp4 i ate healthy and brain-stimulating foods for the board exam preparations. 2.19 emotional, physical and mental (overall mean = 1.88) pp8 i prepared myself to be physically, mentally and emotionally fit for the board exam. 1.51 pp10 i did not have serious medical illness/es prior to the board exam. 1.70 pp6 i practiced answering old board exams very well. 1.83 pp7 i went through the rigors of mock board exams seriously. 2.00 pp9 i went through almost over eight hours daily of serious reviews during the month prior to the board exam. 2.25 operational (overall mean = 2.03) 3838 jpair multidisciplinary research pp12 i prepared all the needed paper requirements for the board exam. 1.38 pp13 i stayed in a house/place wherein i could devote my whole time studying/reviewing for the board exam. 1.94 pp11 at times, i reviewed with a study group/peers. 2.15 pp15 family and household concerns were taken care of by other members of the family so that i could concentrate on my board exam preparations. 2.26 pp14 i rid myself of most of the household chores and responsibilities at least three weeks before the exam. 2.40 the result of the respondents’ perceptions regarding their level of agreement on factors that matter on board examinations reveals the major significant factors. for personal preparedness factors, the factors regarding emotional, physical, and mental fitness factors rank the highest (1.88 overall means). physical, mental, and emotional fitness for the board examinations (1.51) ranks the highest. for operational factors, the preparation of the needed paper requirements for the board examination ranks the highest overall (1.38) among all personal preparedness factors. table 9 shows the level of agreement of the respondents regarding the institutional preparedness for the board examinations. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) there is a perceived high concern on enhancing personal motivation and will (2.87 mean rank), strengthening family and/or friend support on academic pursuits (4.38 mean rank), scaling up the competency of teaching staff (4.57 mean rank)and upgrading the curriculum (4.60 mean rank). (2) there is a perceived moderate level of preparedness for board examinations at student levels (personal preparedness = 1.94, personal level of competencies = 2.29respective means) and institutional levels (institutional preparedness = 2.65, institutional support for board examinations = 2.58 and adherence to board examination preparations best practices = 2.88). (3) the tools needed for board examination data analytics include the tools for a) data-gathering, b) data-cleansing, c) data storage & retrieval, d) basic and advanced statistical tools and, e) tools for supporting artificial and business intelligence; and (4) the data analytics system framework consists of a) aggregation of structured and unstructured data, 2) generation 3939 international peer reviewed journal of significant factors via several statistical methods, 3) weighting of significant methods towards the production of the probability of board examination passing index and, 5) enhancements of all the data analytics processes through artificial and business intelligence approaches. literature cited acosta, a. s., & acosta, i. c. 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(2010). american board of surgery examinations: can we identify surgery residency applicants and residents who will pass the examinations on the first attempt?.  the american journal of surgery,  199(2), 216-222. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2009.03.006 4141 international peer reviewed journal sreekanth, y. (2006, november). public examination-means or ends of evaluation. in  paper presented at the meeting of the asia-pacific educational research association. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3qembgv 113 international peer reviewed journal reducing patient waiting time in radiology: a structural equation modelling analysis mark m. alipio https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8360-0287 markalipiorrt@gmail.com ama university online education (ama oed) davao city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract short patient waiting time is an important marker of effective healthcare service delivery. however, radiology, a first-line diagnostic specialty, is currently challenged in providing prompt care to patients owing to the complexity of its administrative process and increasing patient demand. this study sought to develop a framework for reducing patient waiting time in radiology departments of 10 government hospitals in the philippines. a total of 350 radiology patients in november 2019 participated, and survey questionnaires were used to elicit data. using structural equation modeling, the study reported that healthcare providers’ punctuality had the greatest impact on patient waiting time. administrative processes completely mediate the effects of patient flow on patient waiting time; however, administrative processes partially mediate healthcare provider attitude on patient waiting time. based on the developed framework, reducing patient waiting time in radiology can be achieved by increasing the punctuality of the healthcare providers, managing workers’ attitudes, and administrative and patient workflow systems’ efficiency. keywords — health, patient waiting time, radiology, cross-sectional, philippines vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.775 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction radiology departments play a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of various pathological conditions. the diversity of services provided, such as but not limited to general x-ray, computed tomography (ct), nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, and cancer units, makes these departments a very complex system to run. to heed this complexity, maximum efficiency of imaging is paramount, particularly in the case of trauma and cancer, whereby patients often present with vague clinical history. the faster the procedures are performed on these patients, the quicker the diseases and other critical conditions can be identified, and the better the prognosis. despite this notion, there are problems concerning lengthy waiting times in the radiology departments. targets proposed by both the government mandate of the national health service (nhs) constitution and independent cancer taskforce have increased pressure on departments to ensure patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to non-emergency treatment (doh, 2009). moreover, a maximum 6-week target for any diagnostic test is imposed on those highly suspected of having cancer (doh, 2009). however, recent nhs statistics from january 2017 highlight that 14,600 (1.7%) patients are currently required to wait longer than six weeks (england & improvement, 2015), a figure above the operational standard of 1% (nhs england, 2017). similar concerns have been raised in denmark, where less than half of head and neck cancer patients are currently being treated in the required timeframe (lyhne et al., 2013). the royal college of radiologists (rcr) have raised their concerns regarding waiting times in the united kingdom (uk) x-ray. they acknowledge the crucial role of x-ray in the diagnostic process with 23,054,170 x-rays performed during 2013–2014 (rcr, 2016), and highlight the pressures on departments from growing public expectation to deliver x-rays faster. such expectation has resulted from the recent publication of delays in receiving radiology examinations and results, leading to prolonged diagnosis and treatment (rcr, 2016). a similar public expectation has been encountered in the us, where patients are expecting a swift diagnosis and where patients perceive immediate imaging and prompt diagnosis as their ‘best treatment’ (larson, 2010). patient-focus groups have found waiting times a key patient concern with regards to the quality of their care (stokes, spalluto, & omary, 2016). other studies have also highlighted x-ray waiting times as directly affecting the patient’s quality of care. lyon and reeves (2006) investigated reasons for high, ‘did-not-attend’ (dna) rates in uk x-ray via a telephone questionnaire. lengthy 115 international peer reviewed journal waiting times to initial x-ray appointment were claimed to significantly increase dna rates as the illness had either resolved or worsened to warrant attendance at the emergency department (ed). this issue has also been raised in a recent australian study of ed attendance, where patients’ reasoning for attending ed rather than the gp surgery was the respective waiting times to access these services (unwin, kinsman, & rigby, 2016). blomberg, brulin, andertun, and rydh (2010) found lengthy waiting times in radiology to significantly impact patients’ perceptions of quality of care in sweden, following a cross-sectional study. moreover, longer waiting times pose a significant problem in many areas of medicine. waiting times impact the quality of care, inconveniences the patient, increases the cost of care, and has material consequences on the medical issues the patient faces (oostrom, einav, & finkelstein, 2017). a study by byrne, barrett, and bhatia (2015) demonstrated the effect of wait times in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (nsclc). biopsies from patients in a newfoundland center who required ct guided lung biopsies in 2009 were compared to biopsies taken in 2011 as there were significantly shorter wait times in 2011. the authors showed longer wait times correlated with an increase in the tumor size and stage found on imaging, which worsens the prognosis of nsclc. similarly, jensen, nellemann, and overgaard (2007) showed that wait times negatively impacted disease course in the context of head and neck cancers. in this cohort, the authors compared initial diagnostic scans with the treatment planning scan of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer, and measured changes in tumor volume and disease stage. the average wait time was four weeks, with a range of 5 to 95 days, and most (62%) of the patients had an increase in tumor size. many others developed severe tumor growth complications, including new lymph node metastases (20% of patients) and progression in the tmn classification (10% of patients). wait times have an economic impact as well. a report by barua, rovere, and skinner (2010) estimated that 973,505 canadians waited an average of 10.6 weeks to access treatments in 2016 and that on average each patient lost between $1,759 to $5,360, depending on whether the analysis only included loss of work hours or included loss of weekends and evenings as well. the total estimate borne by individuals waiting for treatment is between $1.7 billion or $5.2 billion. this total estimate from the report does not include the cost of loss of productivity in the family members of the patients, and also does not include mental anguish or worsening medical issues (esmail, 2013). in the philippines and indonesia, prompt care from medical specialists has been hampered because of long waiting times and inefficient appointment systems 116 jpair multidisciplinary research (dacanay & rodolfo, 2005; mardiah & basri, 2013). this issue is primarily observed in the hospital emergency departments, including the radiology services, which are vital in alleviating the acute conditions of the patients. previous reports mentioned that public hospitals in the southeast asian countries such as laos, malaysia, myanmar, philippines, singapore, thailand, and vietnam, are challenged to address the overcrowding issue as there is an upsurge in the number of patients from far-flung areas seeking medical care (ahmad, khairatul, & farnaza, 2017; conrad, 2013). the same reports mentioned that more than eight million die each year in the country. from this distribution, three out of five are due to poor-quality care, which includes inadequate medical consultation and long patient waiting times. therefore, providing prompt access to critical medical services such as diagnostic radiology procedures is of paramount importance. several studies have been made to analyze the factors affecting patient waiting times in hospital departments, especially in the radiology area. the punctuality of healthcare providers was found to influence patient waiting time (onwuzu, ugwuja, & adejoh, 2014). it was reported that the two most common factors leading to long waiting times in hospitals were poor patient flow, and negative healthcare provider attitudes (rohleder et al., 2011; oche & adamu, 2013). however, the relationship between these variables remains inconclusive as previous studies reported that waiting times are significantly related to administrative processes (jaakkimainen et al., 2014; storm-versloot et al., 2014). these administrative processes, in turn, were significant correlates of patient flow and attitudes of attending healthcare professionals (johnson, & russell, 2015; naiker, fitzgerald, dulhunty, & rosemann, 2018). for instance, although patient waiting time is affected by patient flow management and healthcare provider attitudes, the administrative processes’ efficiency is still the primary concern (johnson, & russell, 2015). moreover, patient flow management and healthcare provider attitudes do not influence administrative processes when administrative processes are not organized (naiker et al., 2018). the queuing theory in healthcare posited that delays in waiting in line are caused by various punctuality dimensions of healthcare providers and workflow management (mehandiratta, 2011). it was also suggested that healthcare provider attitudes had a direct impact on patient waiting time (mehandiratta, 2011). despite the various theoretical models of patient waiting time, a framework has not been formulated to analyze its underlying constructs. also, there seems to be an inconclusive proposition about the relationship of the variables considered, which spurred the interest to test the mediation effect of administrative processes on the correlation of patient waiting time. exploring the underlying dimensions 117 international peer reviewed journal that affect patient waiting time is essential in the formulation of efficient queuing systems and monitoring of the quality of healthcare services provided to the patients. given the need to continuously upgrade the workflow system in the hospital, especially in the radiology department where the patients seek most of the services, the necessity to provide immediate medical care to patients, and the rapid demand of healthcare services in the philippines, a theoretical framework that identifies the factors affecting patient waiting and the relationships among these factors, is vital to develop. framework based on the underlying constructs in the previous literature (mehandiratta, 2011; jaakkimainen et al., 2014; onwuzu et al., 2014; storm-versloot et al., 2014; johnson, & russell, 2015; naiker et al., 2018). a conceptual model is presented for patient waiting time in figure 1. as shown, the constructs of healthcare provider attitudes and patient flow directly influence patient waiting time. these relationships are mediated by the construct of administrative processes, which has a direct influence on patient waiting time. the conceptual model also shows that the construct of punctuality of healthcare providers has a direct impact on patient waiting time. figure 1. conceptual model of patient waiting time 118 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study aims to develop a framework for reducing patient waiting time in radiology based on the identified gaps and ambiguity in the dimensions of patient waiting time. specifically, it aims to determine the magnitude of influence of healthcare provider attitudes and patient flow on administrative processes and patient waiting time and the extent of administrative processes and punctuality of healthcare providers’ effects on patient waiting time. the study also aims to know if administrative processes mediate the relationships between healthcare provider attitudes and patient waiting time and between patient flow and patient waiting time. methodology research design, setting, and respondents the present study utilized a cross-sectional survey design in an attempt to explore the conceptual model of patient waiting time. this study was conducted in november 2019 in 10 public hospitals in southern philippines. of the ten public hospitals, six were identified as level 1, two were level 2, and two were level 3. the hospitals were selected based on the availability of radiology services. a total of 350 patients in the radiology department of the surveyed hospitals were conveniently sampled. a response rate of 100.0% was obtained after all of the study samples returned the questionnaire without missing data. measures the constructs of healthcare provider attitudes, administrative processes, and patient flow were measured using the service quality scale (johnson & russell, 2015). the healthcare provider attitudes dimension consisted of 10 items, while the dimensions of administrative processes and patient flow were both composed of seven items. the construct of punctuality of healthcare providers was measured using one item, “how punctual are the healthcare providers when you seek medical care from them?”. each of the items in the constructs was rated on a five-point likert scale, with ‘5’ being the highest and ‘1’ being the lowest. the patient waiting time was measured based on the time in minutes a patient waits in a medical facility before being attended by healthcare providers for treatment or consultation. this time was computed by subtracting when the patient arrives in the radiology department from the time the healthcare provider attends the 119 international peer reviewed journal same patients’ needs. to account for the reliability of the tool, the questionnaire was pilot tested to 30 patients, and the results revealed that the instrument had adequate internal consistency (cronbach alpha=0.921). in compliance with the declaration of helsinki, the respondents were given informed consent before the administration of the survey questionnaire to the actual study sample. written in the consent was the benefits of the respondents in participating in the study and associated risks. the respondents were fully aware that the questionnaire’s answers will be used entirely for the investigation results. moreover, they were given the autonomy to answer the items in the survey questionnaires. all of the answers and names of the respondents were treated with the utmost confidentiality. data analysis spss version 21 and amos version 23 software was used to analyze the collected data. healthcare provider attitudes, administrative processes, patient flow, punctuality of healthcare provider, and patient waiting time were descriptively analyzed using mean and standard deviation (sd). with the conceptual model of the study, a structural equation modeling (sem) was conducted to determine the hypothesized relationships between healthcare provider attitudes, administrative processes, patient flow, punctuality of healthcare provider, and patient waiting time. sem allows calculations of the regression coefficients and evaluation of total, direct, and indirect effects of correlated variables. goodnessof-fit of the conceptual model was evaluated using chi-square statistics, and root mean squared error of approximation (rmsea), goodness-of-fit index (gfi), normal fit index (nfi), comparative fit index (cfi). to indicate a good model fit, the rmsea should be close to zero, while the gfi, nfi, and cfi should be at least 0.95 (hu & bentler, 1999). results and discussion table 1 presents the mean, standard deviation (sd), and verbal description of the study variables. the healthcare provider attitudes variable obtained a mean score of 3.99 and sd of 0.42 with a descriptive equivalent of high. this result implies that the respondents are often satisfied with the accommodation, courtesy, and information given by the healthcare providers in the radiology department. the administrative processes variable obtained a mean score of 3.95 and sd of 0.41 with a descriptive equivalent of high. this result implies that 120 jpair multidisciplinary research the respondents are often satisfied with the convenience of accessing healthcare services in the radiology department. the patient flow variable obtained a mean score of 4.00 and sd of 0.43 with a descriptive equivalent of high. this result implies that the respondents are often informed regarding their wait time before and after the medical care visit. previous studies noted the importance of positive healthcare provider attitudes in the holistic patient-centered treatment approach in health management (chahal & mehta, 2013; naidu, 2009). the level of interpersonal skills, communication, courtesy, and empathy of the healthcare providers directly influences patients’ satisfaction with the healthcare services given (naidu, 2009). moreover, the convenience, promptness, and accessibility of healthcare services merited exploration and were observed to affect the health-seeking behavior of the patients needing medical care (russell, johnson, & white, 2015). the healthcare provider variable’s punctuality obtained a mean score of 3.33 and sd of 1.39 with a descriptive equivalent of moderate. this result implies that the healthcare providers are sometimes punctual in delivering the healthcare services in the radiology department as perceived by the respondents. the punctuality of a healthcare worker is a sign of respect for the patient’s time and professionalism (azizam & shamsuddin, 2015). in the practice of radiology, punctuality of radiation workers is essential because the information given by the diagnostic examinations such as general x-ray and computed tomography serves as a guide for other clinical departments such as orthopedics and internal medicine (e.g., surgeons ask for x-ray findings as a guide for the treatment of fractured bone); hence, timely and quick conduct of the procedures is warranted. the mean patient waiting time in minutes was 89.31, with an sd of 50.40. this result implies that an average patient waits 89.31 minutes in the radiology department before being attended by a healthcare provider. this value is slightly higher compared to the waiting time in an outpatient department in a nigerian tertiary hospital (oche & adamu, 2013) and general radiography department in kenya (muchuki, 2019) but lower compared to the general outpatient department of two hospitals in ethiopia (belayneh, woldie, berhanu, & tamiru, 2017). 121 international peer reviewed journal table 1. descriptive statistics of study variables variables mean sd verbal descriptiona healthcare provider attitudes 3.99 0.42 high administrative processes 3.95 0.41 high patient flow 4.00 0.43 high punctuality of healthcare provider 3.33 1.39 moderate patient waiting time (minutes) 89.31 50.40 note. a=4.20-5.00=very high; 3.40-4.19=high; 2.60-3.39=moderate; 1.80-2.59=low; 1.00-1.79=very low the variables of the conceptual model obtained the following values: chisquare statistics=75.508 (p<0.001, df=4), rmsea=0.02, gfi=0.96, nfi=0.97, and cfi=0.96. all of the values satisfied the criteria of a good model fit (table 2). table 2. goodness of fit measures of conceptual model indices criterion model fit value rmsea <0.05 0.02 gfi >0.95 0.96 nfi >0.95 0.97 cfi >0.95 0.96 the results of the analysis of the conceptual model are shown in figure 2. as shown, the following were statistically significant: patient waiting time paths in the punctuality of healthcare providers (p<0.001), healthcare provider attitudes (p<0.001), administrative processes (p<0.001), and patient flow (p<0.001); administrative paths in the healthcare provider attitudes (p<0.001) and patient flow (p<0.001). 122 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. path diagram for the conceptual model table 3 shows the standardized direct effect estimates, standardized indirect effect estimates, standardized total effect estimates, and squared multiple correlations among the variables of the conceptual model. the patient flow had the highest direct effect on administrative processes as manifested by a path coefficient of 0.91, followed by healthcare provider attitudes with a path coefficient of 0.30. the direction of influence of patient flow and healthcare provider attitudes on administrative processes was positive which implies that when the patients are well informed regarding their wait time before and after the medical care visit and properly accommodated by the healthcare providers, they find ease and comfort in accessing healthcare services in the radiology department. these results are consistent with the previous studies. however, the surveyed departments were different, which reported that administrative processes were significant correlates of patient flow and attitudes of attending healthcare professionals (johnson, & russell, 2015; naiker et al., 2018). in the radiology department context, the findings highlight the significance of organized patient flow systems and positive workers’ attitudes to the attainment of convenient processing of patients’ requests. 123 international peer reviewed journal the healthcare provider’s punctuality had the highest direct effect on patient waiting time, as manifested by a path coefficient of -0.64, followed by administrative processes with a path coefficient of -0.37. the direction of influence of punctuality of healthcare providers on patient waiting time was negative, which implies that when the patients perceive the healthcare providers as punctual in delivering healthcare services on time, they get the medical care from the health providers in shorter waiting time. although the previous report focused on medical clinics, it concurred with the present study, which describes how healthcare providers’ punctuality significantly influences patient waiting time (onwuzu et al., 2014). therefore, the role of punctuality in healthcare delivery should not be undermined because it has the most considerable influence on patient waiting time based on the analysis. the patient flow had a direct effect on patient waiting time with a path coefficient of -0.14 and a total effect of -0.48 when added to the indirect effect of the administrative processes (-0.34). the healthcare provider attitudes had a direct on patient waiting time with a path coefficient of -0.29 and a total effect of -0.40 when added to the indirect effect of the administrative processes (-0.11). patient flow and healthcare provider attitudes explained 92% of the administrative processes. in contrast, patient flow, healthcare provider attitudes, punctuality of healthcare provider, and administrative processes explained 68% of the patient waiting time variance. because this is the first exploration of the conceptual model of patient waiting time in the philippines, it was difficult to compare the present results with other literature. there is no existing structural model that could explain patient waiting time to the knowledge of the author. however, previous studies reported that the variance in patient waiting time could be explained by the punctuality of hospital staff, accessibility of healthcare services, and promptness of healthcare providers (belayneh et al., 2017; jaakkimainen et al., 2014; onwuzu et al., 2014). nevertheless, the present study showed that patient waiting time could be explicated by multiple variables associated with the healthcare provider and patient workflow management. this study emphasizes the importance of efficient patient flow and administrative processes, positive healthcare provider attitudes, and punctuality of workers on reducing the waiting times of the patients in radiology departments. a mediation analysis was further conducted to test if administrative processes mediate the relationships between healthcare provider attitudes and patient waiting time, and between patient flow and patient waiting time. according to the results in figure 2 and table 3, patient flow, as an independent variable, affects the administrative processes (mediator), positively and significantly 124 jpair multidisciplinary research (b=0.91, p<0.001). without the administrative processes, patient flow negatively and significantly affects patient waiting time (b=-0.48, p<0.001). however, when the administrative processes variable is included in the model, it was found that patient flow has no significant direct effect on patient waiting time (b=-0.14, p>0.05). in contrast, administrative processes have a negative and significant effect on patient waiting time (b=-0.37, p<0.001). this result indicates that administrative processes completely mediate the effects of patient flow on patient waiting time. in other words, patient flow indirectly contributed via the administrative processes to explain the variation in patient waiting time. the study suggests that patients who are well informed about their wait time and who experience efficient management during the given waiting times seem to experience convenience in accessing healthcare services from the radiology department, which might reduce their waiting time. for instance, efficient patient flow management does not affect patient waiting time without observing organized and timely administrative processes. on the other hand, the healthcare provider attitude, as an independent variable, affects the administrative processes (mediator), positively and significantly (b=0.91, p<0.001). without the administrative processes, the healthcare provider’s attitude negatively and significantly affects patient waiting time (b=-0.29, p<0.001). when the administrative processes variable is included in the model, it was found that the healthcare provider attitude has a negative and significant direct effect on patient waiting time (b=-0.29, p>0.05). in contrast, administrative processes have a negative and significant effect on patient waiting time (b=-0.37, p<0.001). this finding indicates that administrative processes partially mediate the effects of healthcare provider attitude on patient waiting time. in other words, healthcare provider attitude contributes directly to explain the variation in patient waiting time and indirectly via the administrative processes. the study suggests that situations, where healthcare providers show positive work attitudes towards the patients, might lead to a systematic delivery of healthcare services, which in turn reduces the time the patients wait before being attended by healthcare providers. 125 international peer reviewed journal table 3. maximum likelihood estimates of the variables endogenous variables exogenous variables standardized direct effect standardized indirect effect standardized total effect smc administrative processes patient flow 0.91*** 0.91*** 0.92 healthcare provider attitudes 0.30*** 0.30*** patient waiting time patient flow -0.14 -0.34*** -0.48*** 0.68 healthcare provider attitudes -0.29*** -0.11*** -0.40*** punctuality of healthcare provider -0.64*** -0.64*** administrative processes -0.37*** -0.37*** note. *** p <0.001. conclusions this study successfully developed a framework for reducing patient waiting time in radiology. based on the structural framework, patient flow and healthcare provider attitudes explained 92% of the variance in the administrative processes, while patient flow, healthcare provider attitudes, punctuality of healthcare provider, and administrative processes explained 68% of the patient waiting time variance. the patient flow had the greatest direct effect on administrative processes, while punctuality of healthcare providers had the greatest direct effect on patient waiting time. the framework also depicted that administrative processes completely mediate the effects of patient flow on patient waiting time; however, administrative processes partially mediate the effects of healthcare provider attitude on patient waiting time. finally, the framework showed that to reduce patient waiting time in radiology, punctuality of the healthcare providers should be increased, workers’ attitudes should be managed, and the efficiency of the administrative and patient workflow systems should be improved. despite the results of the study, several limitations were noted for improvement. first, the study was cross-sectional, and the results were not generalizable to the population at different time points. a longitudinal study may be conducted to provide a more accurate analysis of the conceptual model. second, the study was only limited to public hospitals in southern philippines, and the results are difficult to generalize the hospitals in other regions of the 126 jpair multidisciplinary research country. although the study noted several limitations, to the best of authors’ knowledge, it is the first to explore the conceptual model of patient waiting time in radiology departments of public healthcare facilities in the philippines. moreover, it is the only study that provides empirical evidence on the mediating effect of administrative processes on the relationships between healthcare provider attitudes and patient waiting time and between patient flow and patient waiting time. translational research several implications are drawn based on the results of the study. action plans should be developed and geared towards increasing the punctuality of the healthcare providers, managing workers’ attitudes, and increasing the efficiency of the administrative and patient workflow systems, in order to reduce the waiting times of the patients in the radiology departments. in particular, quality assurance approaches should focus on improving the organization of administrative processes to substantially reduce the waiting times of the patients availing radiological services in the hospital. a continuous monitoring scheme for the punctuality of the healthcare providers should be dedicated to providing prompt healthcare services delivery to the patients. literature cited ahmad, b. a., khairatul, k., & farnaza, a. 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(2016). why are we waiting? patients’ perspectives for accessing emergency department services with non-urgent complaints. international emergency nursing, 29, 3-8. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2016.09.003 https://bit.ly/2afjv5g https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-02-2014-0074 https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-02-2014-0074 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2016.04.022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2012-201099 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2012-201099 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2016.09.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2016.09.003 209 international peer reviewed journal higher leap: learning area coordinators’ leadership approaches and faculty performance in a philippine university john robby robiños https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7051-7764 johnrobby21_0987@yahoo.com university of perpetual help – molino molino 3, bacoor city, cavite, philippines romelia j. perez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8870-1770 jpromelia89@yahoo.com university of perpetual help – molino molino 3, bacoor city, cavite, philippines edelina jonas https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3731-4014 enavallasca@yahoo.com university of perpetual help – molino molino 3, bacoor city, cavite, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract leadership is a connection between those who aim to influence and those who choose to be influenced and follow. leaders at all levels practice definite patterns and systems that guide them to perform at their best. the descriptivecorrelational study was conducted to identify the most common leadership vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.659 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:johnrobby21_0987@yahoo.com mailto:jpromelia89@yahoo.com mailto:enavallasca@yahoo.com 210 jpair multidisciplinary research approaches of learning area coordinators and determine its association with their faculty performance rating. seventy – six senior high school faculty members were randomly selected to answer an adopted leadership practices inventory instrument developed by kouzes and posner. the survey questionnaire measured the learning area coordinators’ level of application of the five leadership approaches. faculty performance evaluation was also retrieved. data analysis was carried out using the chi-square test of correlation. the study findings revealed that learning area coordinators apply the five leadership approaches (modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart) very frequently. furthermore, about 70% of faculty performed from very satisfactorily to outstanding. among these leadership approaches, it is modeling the way, challenging the process and encouraging the heart that was associated, x2 (15, 76 = 27.91, 33.66 and 33.11) =24.99, p<.05) to faculty performance evaluation. based on the findings, recommendations that would enhance and develop leadership styles and practices are given. keywords – higher leap, learning area coordinators, leadership approaches, faculty performance, philippines introduction currently, educational organizations face various challenges in leadership practices (sirisookslip, ariratana, and ngang, 2014). this problem might be due to different ranking styles, diverse pedagogical approaches, distinct school cultures, and various management considerations. educational leaders can utilize two different leadership model (mulford, 2003) or two management styles (brown and owusu, 2014), and even varied leadership methods such as democratic, laissez-faire, authoritarian, transactional, emotional, inspirational, distributed leadership and transformational (aunga & masare, 2017; minadzi & boadu, 2016; player, 2014; drobot & roşu, 2012; hardman, 2011; and adeyemi, 2010). in asean countries, malaysia enables school leaders to take responsibility and to act and view leadership practices as transformational and distributed (jones, adams, hwee joo, muniandy, perera, & harris, 2015). moreover, the leaders in schools in indonesia has a role as a father who is expected to set good examples. indonesian leaders are probable to show compassion while using a more paternalistic leadership style (irawanto, 2009). with these distinguishable accounts, confusion arises in the school environment including ordering and commanding among the teachers and administrators. 211 international peer reviewed journal according to boyce as cited by lazaro (2011), as the world of work continues to change at a rapid pace, different organizations and top management must investigate alternative means of developing the skills and abilities needed by leaders such as principals, learning area coordinators, discipline coordinators, and even teachers. this action of enhancing leaders’ abilities and influencing the way a person feels will lead to a successful realization of goals in a dynamic organization (ibrahim, 2014; and akerele, 2007). positions such as learning coordinators and faculty both play a significant role in the educational society; they must imbibe and adhere towards the understanding of their institution’s quality policy statements, philosophy, vision, and mission. the study suggested that to be an effective school leader, direction and purpose to a happy, goal oriented and the productive school must be given consideration (masare, 2017). but how this thought possible if conflict ascends in the school settings? how one could manifest the school’s standards if the learning coordinator’s leadership practices did not meet his teachers’ stimulus to perform at his best. symeonidis (2015) mentioned that to influence teachers, factors such as professional freedom, just supervision, and participation in educational decision-making should be given. the improvement of the employees’ performance is a significantly important aim in which the leader tries to achieve through several actions and considerations (emmanouil, osia, and paraskevi-ioanna, 2014). a countless challenge on universities to uphold and improve their programs and services are the demand of 21st-century benchmark and association of south east asian nation (asean) countries. however, the real challenge is no longer how to improve but more so how to sustain and continually improve. what leadership approach matters? the oecd (2001) claimed that school improvement movement of the past 20 years had put a great emphasis on the role of effective school leaders which is vital to the achievement of the demands from the macro to micro level to large-scale sustainable education reform. school head’s leadership style and teachers’ beliefs, routine, professional growth, classroom engagement, and other job-related attitudes were connected (minadzi & boadu, 2016; hardman, 2011; and adeyemi, 2010). effective educational leaders could develop the capacity of the school to enhance students’ learning and teachers’ motivation and performance (daley, guarino, and santibanez, 2016). in singapore, principals play an active role in enhancing the middle management team. they are expected to empower heads of departments with direct instructional roles when teachers, staff, and students are more accustomed to the change (ng, 2015). learning area coordinators, 212 jpair multidisciplinary research therefore, may affect their teachers’ performance by implementing effective leadership style to develop the capacity of the school in different key result areas such as instruction, objectives, organization, staffing, community outreach program, research, student services and the like. according to ibrahim (2014), a few leadership practices can influence the way teachers will perform their tasks. learning coordinators leadership styles significantly impact teacher job satisfaction and motivation to develop them and accomplish well. the study investigates the relationship of teachers’ performance, and the leadership approaches that their learning area coordinator utilizes. the researchers, who work with learning area coordinators are intrinsically motivated to embark on this study since it is timely to recommend ways to improve coordinators’ leadership styles. the study had been conducted in the university of perpetual help molino campus, the university that envisions itself in developing filipino citizen as a great leader committed to becoming helpers of god with great character for nation-building. framework the researchers anchored the study on feidler’s contingency model. the model encapsulates the matching of leadership approach to a certain situation. this model states that there are no best practices of leadership. instead, a leader’s success and effectiveness are based on how he/she adjust to a certain situation and challenges (bello, 2015). the researchers believe that when teachers are in a critical encounter, he/she must be guided appropriately and must receive the best assistance as possible. learning coordinators must properly set the right leadership practice and approach during the given situation. with this guidance, better performance is undeniably in a great position. employees are the most significant assets of the organization and the most noteworthy source of competitive advantage, thus having the best systems in guiding and managing a human resource is of high importance (player, 2014). the researchers emphasized that when teachers are correctly directed by their learning area coordinator’s best examples and leadership practices, the school community will undeniably perform very well. 213 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study through a systematic research inquiry, an attempt is made to ascertain the relationship of faculty performance and learning area coordinators’ leadership approaches. the study specifically sought to answer the following questions: (1) to identify the most commonly used leadership approaches of the different learning area coordinators of the senior high school department; (2) to determine the level of job performance among teachers; and (3) to compare the significant relationship between teacher’s performance rating and the leadership approaches of their learning area coordinators. methodology research design the goal of the study is to identify the different leadership approaches of the learning area coordinators’ and the teachers’ year-end rating. descriptive method and correlational research design were used. researchers obtained measures of association to study the relations existing to two variables which are not manipulated (vogt & johnson, 2011). research site the research was conducted in the university of perpetual help molino campus, particularly in the senior high school of the basic education department. the department was chosen because the two researchers work directly with the faculty and learning area coordinators of the mentioned department. participants the study includes 93 faculty members of the senior high school department in a university in cavite, philippines for the school year 2017 – 2018. seventy – six sample teacher – respondents were determined using raosoft sample size calculator with a 5% margin of error and 95% confidence level. instrumentation the main instrument in gathering and collecting the desired data was an adopted inquiry form developed by james m. kouzes and barry z. posner (lazaro, 2011). the questionnaire is all about the leadership practices inventory 214 jpair multidisciplinary research (lpi). the reliabilities for the lpi, as measured by cronbach alpha coefficients (α = 0.810, 0.901, 0.843, 0.825 and 0.898) are consistently strong (posner, 2016). it is composed of two parts; part i dealt with faculty year-end performance evaluation for school year 2017 – 2018. part ii is made up of thirty questions which asked their perception on how often their learning area coordinators practice the following leadership approaches; (a) modeling the way, (b) inspiring a shared vision, (c) challenging the process, (d) enabling others to act, and (e) encouraging the heart. data gathering procedure to be able to gather data, researchers submitted an approval letter to the administrators of the university. human resource department provided the faculty performance evaluation. in the distribution, the entire respondents were requested to answer the leadership inventory form after the in-service training given to faculty. the researchers personally administered the research instrument to the respondents, and the results were collected, tallied, tabulated and submitted for statistical treatment with the guidance of statistician. data analysis the following statistical techniques were used to ensure accuracy and reliability of results in the analysis and interpretation of the data: (1) percentage, (2) mean (3) standard deviation and (4) chi-square test. results and discussion learning area coordinators’ leadership approaches there were 76 faculty members involved in the research study. nine (9) learning area coordinators were evaluated based on the degree they practiced the five leadership approaches. 215 international peer reviewed journal table 1. modeling the way as leadership approach use by the learning area coordinators department mean sd interpretation abm 8.19 1.90 usually english & research 9.32 0.80 almost always fcl & philosophy 8.28 0.46 very frequently filipino 7.45 1.41 usually humss 7.80 1.18 usually mathematics 8.33 0.81 very frequently peh, arts & design 8.28 0.79 usually science 9.20 0.68 almost always tvl 9.17 1.06 almost always overall 8.45 1.07 very frequently table 1 presented that english and research coordinator (m = 9.32, sd = 0.80), science coordinator (m = 9.20, sd = 0.68) and tvl coordinator (m = 9.17, sd = 1.06) almost always practiced modeling the way. meanwhile, two (2) coordinators used the leadership approach very frequently, they were math coordinator (m = 8.33, sd = 0.81) and fcl & philosophy coordinator (m = 8.28, sd = 0.46). the overall mean of 8.45 with sd = 1.07 indicated that the learning area coordinators, in general, are very frequent in setting themselves as a good example to teachers. findings may imply that area coordinators are acquainted and aware with the importance of giving voice clearly and authentically to team values and directions through setting themselves as good examples. such a leader is a role model for the followers, and his behaviors are idealized by them (aydin, sarier & uysal, 2013). table 2. inspiring a shared vision as leadership approach use by the learning area coordinators department mean sd interpretation abm 8.53 1.87 very frequently english & research 9.76 0.41 almost always fcl & philosophy 8.36 0.53 very frequently filipino 6.93 2.23 fairly often humss 7.20 1.06 fairly often mathematics 8.33 1.33 very frequently peh, arts & design 8.39 0.96 very frequently science 9.29 0.61 almost always tvl 8.87 1.14 very frequently overall 8.53 1.36 very frequently 216 jpair multidisciplinary research it can be gleaned from table 2 that english and research coordinator (m = 9.76, sd = 0.41) and science coordinator (m = 9.29, sd = 0.61) almost always practice inspiring a common vision. furthermore, tvl, abm, peh & arts and design, fcl & philosophy and mathematics coordinators use it very frequently. however, two (2) coordinators from filipino and humss department fairly often exercise the stated leadership approach. the computed overall mean was 8.53, indicating that in general the coordinators very frequently use inspiring a shared vision style. according to aydin (2013), leaders identify and set high objectives, create a team spirit and can repetitively encourage others to make an action. likewise, in path-goal theory, as cited by jay (2014), leaders in school do clarify and set goals together with the subordinates which will eventually inspire them to find the best path for achieving these set goals. the role may also remove barriers to better performance and promote cohesiveness and effort of the team. another vital purpose of leadership is that goals must be shared, whereby leaders and followers focus on the common good and commit to the philosophy, vision, mission, and values of the school. shared obligations lead to sincerity and faith in the organizational system, and climate as faculty learn to transcend self – interest for the sake of the institution (smith, 2016). table 3. challenging the process as leadership approach use by the learning area coordinators department mean sd interpretation abm 7.75 2.29 usually english & research 9.40 0.64 almost always fcl & philosophy 8.28 0.71 very frequently filipino 7.45 1.43 usually humss 6.50 0.84 fairly often mathematics 8.52 0.85 very frequently peh, arts & design 8.03 1.07 usually science 8.98 0.99 very frequently tvl 8.83 1.39 very frequently overall 8.33 1.30 very frequently based on table 3, only english and research coordinator practice almost always the approach of challenging the process with the computed mean of 9.40 and a standard deviation of 0.64. meanwhile, four (4) coordinators very frequently use the same approach, they were science coordinator (m = 8.98, sd 217 international peer reviewed journal = 0.99), tvl coordinator (m = 8.83, sd = 1.39, mathematics coordinator (m = 8.52, sd = 0.85) and fcl and philosophy coordinator (m = 8.28, sd = 0.71). the rest of the coordinators were evaluated by teachers as those who usually and fairly often use the approach of challenging the progression. the calculated general mean of 8.33 with the standard deviation of 1.30, overall, shows that coordinators are very frequent in using the leadership style of challenging the process. school leaders must be willing to take risks to provide and deliver a stimulus for change and innovation. such transformation and innovation are vital and dynamic part and plays a fundamental role in effective leadership and well community (smith, 2016). table 4. enabling others to act as leadership approach use by the learning area coordinators department mean sd interpretation abm 8.31 1.99 very frequently english & research 9.75 0.34 almost always fcl & philosophy 8.83 0.42 very frequently filipino 6.88 2.15 fairly often humss 7.22 1.04 fairly often mathematics 9.02 0.77 very frequently peh, arts & design 9.06 0.85 very frequently science 9.48 0.74 almost always tvl 9.39 1.13 almost always overall 8.79 1.36 very frequently table 4 shows that learning area coordinators of english and research department (m = 9.75, sd = 0.34), science department (m = 9.48, sd = 0.74) and tvl area (m = 9.39, sd = 1.13) almost always use the approach of enabling others to act. the rest were either very frequent (peh, arts and design, m = 9.06, sd = 0.85), (mathematics, m = 9.02, sd = 0.77), (fcl & philosophy, m = 8.83, sd = 0.42) and (abm, m = 8.31, sd = 1.99) or fairly often (humss, m = 7.22, sd = 1.04) and (filipino, m = 6.88, sd = 2.15). in general, coordinators are very frequent in using the leadership style of empowering others to perform (overall mean = 8.79, sd = 1.36). finding is supported by smith (2016) which affirms that followers should be motivated to achieve more than the original planned tasks and functions. learning area coordinators as leaders must encourage teachers to be innovative, analytic and creative. followers challenge on 218 jpair multidisciplinary research the issues of the discovery of new ideas, methods and the production of creative solutions to problems. table 5. encouraging the heart as leadership approach use by the learning area coordinators department mean sd interpretation abm 8.72 1.92 very frequently english & research 9.94 0.18 almost always fcl & philosophy 8.67 0.61 very frequently filipino 7.48 1.53 usually humss 7.68 0.89 usually mathematics 9.05 0.78 very frequently peh, arts & design 8.92 0.66 very frequently science 9.70 0.58 almost always tvl 9.46 1.03 almost always overall 8.97 1.14 very frequently the result from table 5 presents that coordinators of english & research, science and tvl department almost always encourage the heart of the teachers with calculated means equal to 9.94 (sd = 0.18), 9.70 (sd = 0.58) and 9.46 (sd = 1.03) respectively. meanwhile, mathematics (m = 9.05, sd = 0.78), peh, arts & design (m = 8.92, sd = 0.66), abm (m = 8.72, sd = 1.92) and fcl & philosophy (m = 8.67, sd = 0.61) learning area coordinators utilize the same approach very frequently. others, humss (m = 7.68, sd = 0.89) and filipino (m = 7.48, sd = 1.53), practice it usually. the overall mean of 8.97 (sd = 1.14) establishes that coordinators are likewise very frequent in encouraging their teachers. it implies that coordinators uplift teachers’ spirits and draw them upward. leaders have characteristics of inspiring and motivating their followers to be part of their success. inspiration should be a common trait among leaders (smith, 2016). faculty performance evaluation there were 76 faculty members involved in the research study. faculty performance evaluation is presented using figure 3 below. 219 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. faculty year-end performance rating sy 2017 – 2018 it can be gleaned from figure 3 that 56% (43), of teachers, were very satisfactory, 25% (19) satisfactory, and 16% (12) excellent. only 3% (2) received a fair evaluation. the result may imply that most of the teachers did it very well and even outstanding during the year-end faculty evaluation. therefore, it is evident that schools need effective administrators, as leaders, who are proactive in their deportment and approaches resulting to an increased teachers’ job satisfaction, better performance and strengthened commitment to perform and be part of attaining the school’s vision (alam, 2017). significant association between faculty performance and learning area coordinators’ leadership approaches table 6. the result of chi-square test on learning area coordinators’ leadership approaches and faculty performance evaluation 220 jpair multidisciplinary research based on table 6, modeling the way, x2 (15, 76 = 27.91) = 24.99, p<.05), challenging the process x2 (15, 76 = 33.67) = 24.99, p<.05), and encouraging the heart x2 (15, 76 = 33.11) = 24.99, p<.05), were associated to faculty performance evaluation. with these results, the hypothesis that “learning area coordinators’ leadership styles such as modeling the way, challenging the process and encouraging the heart have no significant association between faculty performance” were rejected. on the other hand, the x2 value of 28.50 and 27.14 were both less than its critical value of 28.86. with these results the hypothesis that “inspiring a shared vision and enabling others to act, as both leadership approaches, have no significant association with faculty performance” were accepted. the result may imply that the integration of different leadership approaches such as setting oneself as a commendable example, motivating others and encouraging teachers’ motives are important in developing outstanding teachers. there is evidence that an integrated leadership approach has a beneficial effect on both teacher job satisfaction and school performance (smith, 2016). furthermore, rachman, putrawan & suryadi (2018) concluded that leadership styles have direct positive effects on teachers’ performance. an occurrence of variation and changes to teacher’s performance has been directly significantly affected by a variety of leadership styles. there is a relationship between leadership styles and school effectiveness (tatlah & iqbal, 2012). in general, the result confirms how the fidler’s contingency model works, senior high school learning area coordinators exercise and utilize the five leadership approaches very frequently especially when needed which ensued to teacher’s creditable performance. overall, the coordinators of english and research, science and tvl departments almost always utilize these approaches to lead their area. based on the faculty evaluation, about 70% were very good and excellent. this may present that teachers were highly motivated to achieve objectives at their best because they are assured that learning area coordinators are equipped with the best leadership ready when sudden challenges or unexpected changes occur. the results also show that modeling the way, challenging the process and encouraging the heart were the leadership approaches that are most likely associated with faculty performance rating. conclusions leaders who set themselves as good examples, inspire others with mutual goals, challenge members to do at their best, give followers opportunity to perform 221 international peer reviewed journal power and discretion and recognize others through giving commendations are the five leadership approaches that are most common to senior high school learning area coordinators. these styles are evident since the faculty, in general, evaluated the coordinators based on the frequency of delivery and utilization of the approaches as very frequent. additionally, the researchers concluded that the senior high school faculty members are generally performing from very well to outstanding. thus, it is highly recommended that higher leadership enhancement and advancement program (leap) must be crafted to deliver greater chances for both teachers and coordinators to explore a more advanced and comprehensive trainings that will give complex opportunities in terms of content orientation, pedagogies relative to students’ authentic learning and all other key areas including research and institutional citizenship. lastly, based on the results, it was noted that approaches such as modeling the way, challenging the process and encouraging the heart are positively related to teachers’ performance. it is, therefore, significant to heighten and strengthen approaches that will clarify and complement leaders’ values to the ideals of the university. learning area coordinators must align their actions with the institution’s shared values. administrators must learn to give opportunities that will drive teachers to innovate and grow, and constantly improve that will generate a more depth achievement whether from wins or learning from their mistakes. similarly, school leaders must recognize everyone’s contribution to the attainment of success, to create a spirit of oneness and to produce extraordinary results. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for local and international publications, newsletters, social media, and other media for information dissemination. additionally, both the external and internal stakeholders might be able to translate the paper into a more comprehensive administrative policy and advanced leadership programs that could generate cooperative trusts, research of similar studies and a more in-depth understanding of the context. finally, it can be translated through sharing this with the institution’s employees to present and clarify the administrative policies in the workplace. 222 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited adeyemi, t. o. 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(2011).  dictionary of statistics & methodology: a nontechnical guide for the social sciences. sage. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2syejjh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.474 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.474 https://bit.ly/2syejjh https://bit.ly/2syejjh cover single with doi 153 international peer reviewed journal vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.9 published online: august 2012 americanizing the sulu sultanate: fragrance/nightmare of u.s. foreign policy (circa 1898) michael vincent p. caceres mikey_vpc@yahoo.com zamboanga state college of marine sciences and technology zamboanga city, philippines abstract when the war broke out between spain and the united states, the spaniards had fought only with wooden ships against modern american warships. this event was known as the battle of manila where it made the united states a world super power. the filipinos fought side by side with the americans against spanish colonialism. there was a sense of euphoria a certain scent of fragrance on the interference of the united states as a new player in the asia pacific region. when the treaty of paris was concluded between spain and the united states on december 10, 1898 it finally gave the u.s. government an access to enter the philippines. the presence of the americans in sulu was regarded as a new form of colonialism better known as imperialism in the modern age of west america. it affected the status of the sultanate and weakening the century old institution in the east. the coming of the americans can be considered both as a form of blessing and cursed. the united states, represented by its military and civilian governors introduced policies that affected the entire sultanate in almost its entire political facet. the paper looked into the strategic programs and designs that made their campaigned in sulu either as a success or a failure coated with fragrance of promises on one side and nightmare on the other side. keywords imperialism, treaty, assimilation and land grabbing jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 154 jpair: multidisciplinary research introduction it was on may 1, 1898 that admiral dewey destroyed the spanish fleet in the bay of cavite. the combined efforts of americans and emilio aguinaldo on august 13 pacified manila against the spaniards. this alliance entered by the philippines and those from the united states was not recognized by the american government after the signing of the treaty of paris on december 10, 1898. “…the muslims did not know that the treaty of paris which had ceded the philippine archipelago to the american, include their land as well” (ccp encyclopedia of philippine arts, vol. 11, 1994). the american authorities believed that those americans who participated in the signing of alliances between the philippines and the united states do not have the mandate from the american authorities to do so. the treaty ended the three century rule of spain in the philippines (333 years) and the rise of new found imperialist from west america. 1 the treaty as also signified the culmination of the war between spain and the united states (e. aguilar, 1994). this agreement was approved by rear admiral dewey, who asked only for the occupation of manila by the american forces. however, it luck the signature of president mckinley.” 2one of the principal considerations of the treaty was to define the territorial limit of the philippines to be ceded to the united state from spain. 3 the treaty of paris gave the united states government an access to occupy the philippines. eventually, found them penetrating the interior of mindanao. the american government, like spanish authorities, put up their own version of moro campaign in sulu. on january 1, 1899, emilio aguinaldo proposed to congress that the republican government be given the power and authority to negotiate with the moro of sulu and mindanao on establishing national solidarity and respect regardless of beliefs and traditions (majul, 1999.370). on november 16, 1899, zamboanga was occupied by the american naval forces and the neighboring muslims flocked to the town for trading and petty business. this event signaled american grand planed on pacifying the philippines. since the american occupation, the condition in sulu turned to worst. this can be described by a letter of kiram ii informing the governor of sulu that while he was in singapore his subjects were in turmoil because of the armed conflict 155 international peer reviewed journal among them (majul, 1999.370). it provided armed conflict and feuds among local communities. “the rise of internal conflicts such as the kadatuan (datus), kahadjian (religious leaders), kabanuwahan (local leaders), and the ambarayat (masses) struggle against each other seeking to get american favors and support (tan, 2005.xxxviii).” kiram ii informed to governor sweet, on the current situation in jolo. below is the report on local conflict related to bandit, that if he resists, he should be killed (tan, 2005.23). 1. there had been so many people killed by the soldiers of jolo; these were women, children, the old who were unarmed and not the relatives of the bandits, deprived of their livestock. moreover, the market on the other side which was attacked by the soldiers witnessed people killed as well as wounded. they were also unarmed. 2. in the month of ramadan, five good people, followers of panglima bandahala, were pursued by the soldiers and killed at sea in buhangin putih (white sand). they were unarmed and were all killed. 3. people like imbang and his two companions, who were tending their fishing nets, were accosted by the soldiers. one was killed, and two were wounded. 4. within the month of ramadan, isad, in tayungan mosque was killed by nasilim, the secretary in bual, for being armed with a barung. 5. sattamari was arrested by the soldiers in an island and upon reaching pitugu was likked for resisting arrest. 6. within the month of ramadan, abu, an old man, sisy years old, was plowing his farm with a weapon for protection against the outlaws. he was met by the soldiers and killed. i was told by the wife who escaped to the island of tulayan. the letter appealed to the governor and to his men to stay within the jolo fortification as well in fort bakud. the event was referring to the current armed conflict among the taosugs, that the “arm conflict in europe was far different from sulu”, stressed by kiram ii. the governor was also informed that these troubles were not coming from the 156 jpair: multidisciplinary research sultanate but from lawless elements. this should take effect until such time condition would be pacified (surat 17 see tan, 2005, 42). weakening of the sultanate and the moro resistance the “benevolent assimilation” was issued by president mckinley on december 21, 1898. the proclamation was the first official indication of american policy regarding the philippines. the proclamation stressed the intention of the united states to stay in the philippines. it should exercise american power over the filipinos. 4the period from 1898 to 1903 was five years of american military operation and government in tawi-tawi. colonel sydney a. cloman was the first military commander and military governor of tawi-tawi. the outbreak of the war in the philippines gave the idea to the united states to take advantage of the situation. the power of the sultan lay mostly on the strength of the datu. alliances of some datus to the americans strengthened american position in sulu for this would mean that the alliance of every datu as well the sultan would weaken the sultanate. the americans were successful in taking over the walled city of jolo in 1899 the series of battles continued from the brave tausug of sulu. this provided no option for local leaders but to be submissive to the americans. muslim sentiments in sulu further felt against the american administration. an example of this sentiment was in 1902, kiram ii asking the governor of sulu, colonel sweet for help for the use of the boat and if not available at least riffles expecting that this should be provided in the same way the spaniards did (surat 75 see tan, 2005.214). however, his request was not granted completely. in 1903, kiram ii, explained to the governor general of the philippines on the money that he received from major scott was not enough. this caused the sultan humiliation in his territory. sultan kiram-ii, further expressed his sentiments (surat 82 see tan, 2005. 234): before i own the land and sea in the archipelago an eagle in the cage appreciating whatever is your offer to me. at first you gave me $5 a month and late $500 still it is not enough looking at my lifestyle as the sultan. 157 international peer reviewed journal you are my elder, and as an eagle i am waiting for my food because i have no income and no resources. the political pressure exerted by the american authorities left the sultan with no option but to give up his power. sultan jamalul kiram ii gave his temporal power to colonial america under the carpenter agreement in 1915 (abubakar, 2007.3). this symbolic gesture marked the sulu sultanate’s existence from 1450 and lasted to 1915. however, resistance against the american authorities continued in 1913 like the battle of bud bagsak and again in 1951 kamlun uprising. the american invasion to sulu without a clear manifestation on the declaration of war was a violation of article 1, section 8 of the american constitution. the invasion and occupation was done through the “bates treaty” as a way of friendship (julkarnain, 2010).5on june 9, 1921 the neighboring sultan and other 57 prominent sulu muslim leaders petitioned the united states appealing for the full restoration of the independence of sulu sultanate, and reiterated strongly with greater patriotic fervor a resolution for independence and selfdetermination of political which was placed the official record of the united states congress in 1926 was the “declaration of rights and purpose (julkarnain, 2010). a conservative estimate of deaths from the abrogation of the bates agreement in 1904 to the end of wood’s tenure as governor in 1906 puts muslim dead at 3, 000 and americans at 70. the most sensational attack wood ordered was the battle of bud dajo in sulu. balking on the peso cedula tax imposed by the americans and the american sovereignty this implied, 1, 000 muslims (men, women and children) grouped by the crater of the extinct volcano dajo hill, armed with no more than krises, spears, bolos, and a few rifles. opposite them were 800 crack american soldiers, equipped with the most modern weapons in the american arsenal. the result was of course expected. the muslims were annihilated, 158 jpair: multidisciplinary research with only 21 americans killed. leonard wood was convinced that deaths and killings were the only means to take mindanao-sulu. the battle of bud dajo was in itself insignificant, militarily speaking; its principal purpose was to serve as a lesson to muslims that there was no alternative to resistance but death. wood’s successor, tasker h. bliss, continued the same armed policy of his predecessor, as can be seen from the many military expeditions ordered across moroland during his term (salgada see abinates, sn. 17-19). when john pershing, who would later become an american hero of world war i, assumed the reins of governorship of moroland, he introduced a measure that sent the muslims into a war footing. this was the disarmament order of september 8, 1911, wherein it was declared “unlawful to any person within the moro province to acquire, possess or have the custody of any rifle, musket, carbine, shotgun, revolver, pistol or other deadly weapon (salgada see abinates, sn. 19). in a parallel moved to prevent the eventual annexation and incorporation of mindanao and sulu to the body politic of the philippines under the proposed 1935 philippine constitution as mandated by the tydings-mcduffie law, otherwise known as the philippine independence act of 1934 providing for a 10-year transition period as commonwealth government before the final grant of selfgovernment to the philippines, on march 18, 1935, a historic assembly of more than 100 maranao leaders passed a strongly-worded manifesto known as the dansalan declaration addressed to the united states president vehemently opposing the annexation of moro homeland to the republic of the philippines upon proclamation of its independence and self-government on july 4, 1946 in compliance with the tydingsmcduffie law. despite the petition of the 57 prominent sulu muslim leaders on june 9, 1921 and the declaration of rights and purposes in 1924 159 international peer reviewed journal signed by sultan jamalul kiram ii for the sultanate of sulu to be either made a permanent american territory or to remain as constitutional sultanate. the sultanates of sulu and mindanao were incorporated to the philippine republic when the government of the united states granted independence on july 4, 1946 (julkarnain, 2010). the moro fought for home and country, for freedom to pursue their religion and the way of life, and for liberty to rove the seas which so ever they would, for over three hundred years they made a shambles of spain moro policy. expert guerilla fighters, the muslims exacted a heavy toll of casualties…they fought ferociously, and their usual tactic was to wear down their attackers, obliging them gradually to withdraw,” (gowing, 1977.12). bates treaty: the united states foreign policy (1899) the americans later controlled the sultanate of sulu and abandoned its earlier policy of “noninterference” on the belief the sultan was unable to govern (kiefer, 2003.3). the united states immediately implemented its colonial policy in the philippines that would ensure united states objectives in the far east. the u.s. government planned to come up with a separate treaty to the sultanate of sulu. aside from the operation of the moro province some special arrangements were also made with the sultan of sulu. the first was the bates agreement in 1899 wherein the sultan acknowledged the sovereignty of the us government, and his capacity as the spiritual head of islam in his realm was in turn recognized by the us government (b.r. rodil, 2004.26). the american government appointed general john c. bates to negotiate a treaty with the sultan by which the muslims and americans could co-exist peacefully. brigadier general john bates (assigned in the american war and cuban campaigned) was commissioned on this project. it was through the effort of gen. john c. bates, the americans were able to conclude a treaty with the sultanate to station their forces in sulu (orendain, 1984.91). “the bates treaty, provided (agoncilloguerrero, 1977. 221); “the sovereignty of the united states of the whole archipelago of jolo and its independencies are declared and acknowledged” that the “rights and dignities of 160 jpair: multidisciplinary research his highness the sultan and his datos shall be fully respected,” that the muslims “shall not be interfered on account of their religion,” and that no one shall prosecute on account of his religious beliefs”. john c. bates concluded a treaty with sultan jamalul kiram ii in august 1899 (bates treaty), which made the sulu sultanate a protected state of the united states. it was through the effort of gen. john c. bates, the americans were able to conclude a treaty with the sultanate to station their forces in sulu (orendain, 1984.105). the treaty was ambiguous in its nature and made it appear that the sultan was unable to understand international legal matters. the bates was a reflection of american foreign policies, which expressed its intention on the suppression of piracy and slavery and at the same time recognizing the sultan’s power in sulu (salman, 2001.69. article iv of the bates treaty concluded between the united states of america and the sultanate of sulu on august 20, 1899 states; “any person can purchase land in the archipelago of jolo and hold same by consent of the sultan and coming to a satisfactory agreement with the owner of the land; and such purchase shall immediately be registered in the proper office of the united state government “the united states will not sell the island of jolo or any other island of the jolo archipelago to any foreign nation without the consent of the sultan of jolo.”-article xiv of the bates treaty. the bates treaty had a total of 15 articles that tackled united states role in sulu including the sovereign power over the sulu archipelago, though american authorities respected the rights and dignities of the sultan and the datus. the sultan and his datus agreed to cooperate in the suppression of piracy. the american government agreed to pay the sultan and his leading men monthly salaries in mexican dollars ranging from $15 to$250. in 1900, kiram ii informed brig. gen. john bates that the spaniards returned siasi to him and the american government should not deny this to him. at the same time asking what 161 international peer reviewed journal was due based on the recapitulation at the soonest possible time (surat 85 see tan, 2005.252). later it abrogated the bates treaty on march 2, 1904 because of the inability of the sultan to suppress resistance.6 paduka mahasari maulana sultan of sulu and the colonel of regiment no.23 entered into provisions on john bates and the sultan in sulu. the agreement could be revised from time to time. for examples, if a taosug committed a crime against fellow taosug or other nations within the jurisdiction of american soldiers, he must be surrendered to an american judge. a crime committed by a taosug to fellow taosug outside the american jurisdiction, the sultan should render justice (surat 53 see tan, 2005.154).7 schurman-taft commissions (1900) the first philippine commission also called the schurman commission by jacob schurman as chairman. the participation of rear admiral george dewey, major general elwell otis, dean worcester and charles denby served as members. they arrived in sulu in may 1899 and discussed the 1878 treaty (of spain) and the bates treaty in 1899. one of the many unresolved issues was on slavery, which was started by spain. issues on colonialism and slavery on the philippines took shape in the form of race, labor, and progress (salman, 2001.4). it was mckinley who denounced slavery on october 4, 1900 as inhuman and yet sulu was still practicing the century old tradition. in 1901, kiram ii informed maj. gen. arthur macarthur on the delivery of the ordered bullets to be delivered by the kat balaguiar company and therefore seeking permission for the transport of these bullets (surat 84 see tan, 2005.245). on november 4, 1901, the sedition law was enacted by the philippine commission. it expressed that any advocacy of independence was punishable. whether by peaceful or forcible means, death penalty or long imprisonment should be imposed. from schurman commission, mckinley appointed the second philippine commission (also called the taft commission) with william howard taft as chairman. this was in preparation of the groundwork for the gradual filipinization of the government. jamalul kiram ii confirmed to the philippine commission in 1908, the $500 monthly budget was received by the sultan. it further 162 jpair: multidisciplinary research informed that the budget was not enough to support his children and wife. moro province and the department of sulu and mindanao (1913) it was during the time of sultan jamalul kiram ii when the mindanao settlement took effect. the american colonizers encouraged the coming of the christian settlers. by 1903, the moro province was created by the philippine commission act no. 787 and general leonard wood became its first governor. when the moro province constituted as workable government unit, its legislative councils on october 29, 1903 created municipalities in the moro province (kurais, 1979.85). reorganization was made in the act 2408 in the philippine commission on september 1, 1914 in this new setup; tawi-tawi was gradually integrated into the philippine commission scheme. the battles in sulu continued in bud dajo in 1906 and bud bagsak in 1913 as the last resistance against colonial america in sulu. the philippine commission created the department of mindanao and sulu in 1913 and lasted in 1920. its first civilian governor was frank carpenter who introduced the policy of attraction. in 1915 governor carpenter entered in an agreement recognized the sultan as spiritual leader of the muslims in sulu archipelago.8 on december 20, 1930 the five districts were created namely cotabato, lanao, davao, sulu and zamboanga and by the act 2309 provinces of agusan and bukidnon were included in the new setup. 9 the jones law in 1916 intensified the filipinization of moro land by increasing the number of natives from the north (abubakar, 2007.5).” it also enacted in 1916 to give representation to the muslims in the national legislature, and it was hadji butu who represented sulu from 1916-1931. in may 1919, the last treaty was signed between the sultan of sulu and the united states. it renounced its temporal sovereignty within the philippines including their claim to lands (ututalum-hedjazi, 2002. 106). some muslims desired to incorporate the philippines, sulu in particular to the united states. series of initiatives and petitions were made by muslim prominent leaders in sulu in 1921. in 1924, “declaration of rights” was sent by the group of muslim datus at the united states congress. by 1935, maranao datus requested president roosevelt for the continuation of american rule or 163 international peer reviewed journal to grant them separate independence. this petition was signed by 121 maranao datu at dansalan in marawi city (turner, 1992.126). in 1926, the coming of the christian families from cebu to settle in tawi-tawi took placed. the second wave for mindanao settlement was to offer land to the huks, the philippine communists in luzon (mercado, 2002.312). sultan jamalul kiram ii replaced hadji buto as senator from 1932 to 1934 for the district of sulu and mindanao. sultan kiram ii died on june 7, 1936. having become uncomfortable with the continuing exercise by traditional moro leaders, chief among them was the sultan of sulu, of lead roles in the resolution of conflicts among their people; the american government insisted that the sultan signed the memorandum of agreement between the governor-general of the philippine islands and the sultan of sulu-the second arrangement. in 1914, the moro province was abolished and the department of mindanao and sulu which had jurisdiction not only the former moro province but also over the special province of agusan (b.r. rodil ,2004.27). from commonwealth to the new republic (1935) sydney a. cloman became the first governor of tawi-tawi and was the commanding officer of the us 23rd infantry contingent of 185 officers who were ordered to occupy and govern tawi-tawi (kurais, 1971.91). after cloman, lieutenant jose tando (one of the heroes in bataan in world war ii) administered tawi-tawi and achieved a relatively peaceful taw-tawi. during his incumbency in the thirties, there was a relative peace and order in tawi-tawi. in 1932, the first election was held in the province of sulu which the sama of tawitawi and other communities of the sulu archipelago experienced the membership of the house representative of the philippines. the american controlled bicameral legislature where wazir (prime minister) hadji butu abdul baqui accepted the appointment as senator in december 1915 representing sulu. his appointment was made possible through governor general francis burton harrison, reappointed in 1928 by governor general henry stympson making him as the first filipino muslim parliamentarian. senator hadji buto, sponsored the bill on the creation of the philippine military academy, 164 jpair: multidisciplinary research philippine naval academy and military training to all colleges and schools in the philippines. the commonwealth of the philippines was inaugurated on november 15, 1935. after the death of sultan jamalul kiram ii in 1936, there was no male heir to the throne. this prompted a great dilemma creating a vacuum in the sultanate. a number of claimants came out since 1936 to the present claiming as the legitimate heir. however it simply worsens the condition. the law that made land grabbing legal (1935) the quirino-recto colonization act” also known as the legislative act no. 4197 enacted on february 12, 1935 (ocampo, 2010). constituting the core of the philippine land property system, the regalian doctrine has been and is still enshrined in the philippine constitution of 1935, 1973 and 1987. with it, the state declares right to classify it for purposes of proper disposition to its citizens. thus, lands classified as alienable, and disposable may be owned privately and title to themselves, by individuals or corporations; a land forest areas, bodies of water, and so on which were described as inalienable and nondisposable are state-owned and are not open to private ownership. they may; however be lease for a specified period (b.r. rodil, 2004.30). the republic of the philippines inherited the regalian doctrine from spain, as it also adopted hook, line and sinker all laws affecting land and other natural resources enacted and implemented by the american colonizers (b.r. rodil, 2004.30). following the tenth philippine legislature first session begun and held at the city of manila on monday, the sixteenth day of july, nineteen hundred and thirty-four. an act to facilitate and promote the occupation and cultivation of public land at present unoccupied by the establishment of settlement districts, appropriate the sum of one million pesos 165 international peer reviewed journal for the said purpose, and for other purposes was passed. it was enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the philippines in legislature assembled and by the authority of the same.10 the american administration major general leonard wood (1903-1906) was named the first military governor of the moro province which included all non christian areas in mindanao and sulu. he was followed brigadier general tasker h. bliss (1906-1909) then by the brigadier general john pershing ward administration as headmenbut only with authorization from the american district governor (civil governor) frank w. carpenter (tan.xxx71). the us congress passed, the jones act of 1916 replaced the philippines bill of 1902. part of the government reorganization that followed was the creation of the bureau of non-christian tribes (1917-1936) not the same entity as that headed by dr. barrows (b.r. rodil, 2004.28). in 1912, gen. john pershing made zamboanga as the autonomous city through the legislative council of the moro province it was through the effort of gen. john c. bates, the americans were able to conclude a treaty with the sultanate to station their forces in sulu (orendain, 1984.91). in 1921, the bureau of nonchristian tribe took over of the role of the department of mindanao and sulu. in 1922, hadji muhammad kurais of south ubian, datu muhammad maulana of tandubas, tuan salip masdal of balimbing, datu halun sakilan of bonggao, datu amilbangsa ulanhutan of simunul, and datu jaafar salapuddin of sibutu were appointed municipal district presidents under the new bureau of nonchristians tribes. all were replaced in 1924, except datu jaafar who served until 1932 (tan, 2001.171). commonwealth act no. 75 (24 october 1936) abolished the bureau of non-christian tribes. all the powers of the bureau were conferred upon the secretary of the interior. also, the position of commissioner for mindanao and sulu was created with the rank and salary of undersecretary of the department of the interior (b.r. rodil, 2004.28). in 1906, act no. 167 (20 june 1906) on compulsory education for children of school age, not less than seven and not older than 13 years 166 jpair: multidisciplinary research old, was implemented in the moro province (b.r. rodil, 2004.61). in 1913, 1,825 moros and 525 pagans were enrolled in the public schools of the moro province. in 1918, the enrollment of the moros in the five provinces (of sulu, zamboanga, cotabato, lanao, davao) had increased to 8,421 and pagan pupils to 3,129 (b.r. rodil, 2004.61). in 1914, public schools were established in tawitawi. primary grade was set up in south ubian, tandubas, bonggao, simunul, and sitangkai (tan, 2001.171). a girl’s dormitory managed by a christian filipino matron and financed by american ladies in new york was established in 1916 in jolo. this contributed substantially in breaking down moro prejudice against sending their daughters to school (b.r. rodil, 2004.61). the first christian settlement was established in batubatu in 1926. the first protestant mission to operate in sulu and tawi-tawi was the christian and missionary alliance with their boat ministry among the sama. the first school to operate was the notre dame in bongao under fr. george dion, omi, who later opened another branch in ungus matata. subsequently, several notre dame high schools were established: in sibutu under fr. gerard rixhon, in cagayan de sulu under fr. maurice a. hemann, in tongkalang under fr. henri lavallee, and in tabawan under fr. leopold gregoire (tan, 2001.171). from 1903 to 1936, moro lives lost from the fighting were estimated by the americans to be 15,000 to 20,000 (b.r. rodil, 2004. 60). economic development in 1900s from marine economy sulu shifted to the agricultural economy to sustain the demands of the western powers till the advent of american imperialism. american policy towards slavery affected the sultanate of sulu as an institution. its survival primarily depended on its man power specifically on slavery. when piracy ceased, both the sultan and the datu lost their income. the practice of slavery was not only common in sulu but also in other southeast asian kingdoms. the operation of piracy by the sulus mostly occurred within the philippines, probably from the visayas islands of the philippines, and at the end of the nineteenth century, from the highlands of mindanao (salman, 2001.54). during the american occupation more and more of these slaves were seeking freedom and the most common means was 167 international peer reviewed journal to escape. on october 4, 1900 mckinley denounced slavery and yet he recognized slavery in sulu. efforts were exerted for the abolishment of the slavery system in mindanao. in 1901 jamalul kiram ii negotiated to the governor general, regarding the opium contract he entered into since the time of the spaniards that, kapitan tiana (chinese trader) was to operate the opium trade and shall remit the dues and pay the levy of five pieces and thirty pesos (surat 11 see tan, 2005, 24). in 1902, kiram ii requested the governor of sulu for the lease on the opium trade in jolo. the chinese paid three hundred pesos (p 300) a month. they were willing to pay exactly same about like the chinese if granted (surat 69 see tan, 2005 198). in 1903, the legislative council enacted act. no. 8 making the ownership of slaves a crime punishable for twenty years of imprisonment (umehara and bautista, 2004. 40). in 1903, kiram informed governor sweet on the lease of palawan for 50 years to a. torrey an american trade (surat 36 see tan, 2005.90). by 1911, the logging industry came to tawi-tawi which was started by william schuck, a german factor who held a rank of rajah (superior datu) in the sultanate of sulu, a rank awarded to him by sultan jamalul kiram (kurais, 1979.88). tawi-tawi’s first national office was the bureau of customs with a sub-port in sitangkay. mr. percy machlin was the first custom official designated as deputy collector of customs, and he remained in that post until the 1920’s (kurais, 1979.88). concluding note the coming of the americans in the philippines was of no accident, it was not even a coincidence to establish political programs and designs in sulu. their interference to the political affairs of sulu was part of their mandate to control all political entities around the world for the preservation of their power. the reshaping of the political affairs of the sultanate with the promised of abundance was a perfumed of hope, but in reality it was a nightmare in the preservation of the sultan’s power which eventually collapsed and ceased to exist. it will remain a debate whether the united sates intervention in sulu was successful or not. what is certain, they controlled the sultan through false promises which formed part of the changing landscape of sulu. 168 jpair: multidisciplinary research (endnotes) 1treaty of peace between the united states and spain; december 10, 1898 the united states of america and her majesty the queen regent of spain, in the name of her august son don alfonso xiii, desiring to end the state of war now existing between the two countries, have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries: the president of the united states, william r. day, cushman k. davis, william p. frye, george gray, and whitelaw reid, citizens of the united states; and her majesty the queen regent of spain, don eugenio montero rios, president of the senate, don buenaventura de abarzuza, senator of the kingdom and ex-minister of the crown; don jose de garnica, deputy of the cortes and associate justice of the supreme court; don wenceslao ramirez de villa-urrutia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at brussels, and don rafael cerero, general of division;who, having assembled in paris, and having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have, after discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following articles: article iii. spain cedes to the united states the archipelago known as the philippine islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line: the united states will pay to spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. article v. the united states will, upon the signature of the present treaty, send back to spain, at its own cost, the spanish soldiers taken as prisoners of war on the capture of manila by the american forces. the arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them. spain will, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, proceed to evacuate the philippines, as well as the island of guam, on terms similar to those agreed upon by the commissioners appointed to arrange for the evacuation of porto rico and other islands in the west indies, under the protocol of august 12, 1898, which is to continue in force till its provisions are completely executed. article viii. in conformity with the provisions of articles i, ii, and iii of this treaty, spain relinquishes in cuba, and cedes in porto rico and other islands in the west indies, in the island of guam, and in 169 international peer reviewed journal the philippine archipelago, all the buildings, wharves, barracks, forts, structures, public highways and other immovable property which, in conformity with law, belong to the public domain, and as such belong to the crown of spain. 1. the independence of the philippines shall be proclaimed; 2. a federal republic , a government with provisional members named by emilio aguinaldo shall be established; 3. this government shall recognize the temporary intervention of the american and european commissioners designated by admiral dewey; 4. it shall recognize american protectorate under the same condition as those that will be made in cuba; 5. philippine ports will be opened to international trade; 6. precautionary measures shall be taken against the chinese immigration in order that it will not harm the livelihood of the natives; 7. the existing corrupt (sic) judiciary system shall be reformed and, in the meanwhile, the administration of justice shall be entrusted to competent european judges; 8. complete freedom of the press and of association shall be proclaimed; 9. general religious toleration shall be established; measures shall be adopted for the abolition and expulsion of the religious orders which have demoralized the present civil administrations; 10. measures for the exploitation of the natural resources of the country shall be adopted; 11. development of the wealth of the country shall be facilitated by the construction of roads and railways 12. existing hindrances to industrial enterprises and the heavy taxes on foreign capital shall be lifted; 13. the new government shall maintain public order and impose rules to prevent all reprisals against spaniards; 3regalian doctrine/ generally, under this concept, private title to land must be traced to some grant, express or implied, from the spanish crown or its successors, the american colonial government, 170 jpair: multidisciplinary research and thereafter, the philippine republic in a broad sense, the term refers to royal rights, or those rights to which the king has by virtue of his prerogatives. the theory of jure regalia was therefore nothing more than a natural fruit of conquest. the 1973 constitution reiterated the regalian doctrine as follows-section 8. all lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources of the philippines belong to the state. with the exception of agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, or resettlement lands of the public domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploration, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than development of water power, in which cases, beneficial use may by the measure and the limit of the grant. the 1987 provision had its roots in the 1935 constitution which provides— section 1. all agricultural timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy and other natural resources of the philippines belong to the state, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the philippines or to corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to any existing right, grant, lease, or concession at the time of the inauguration of the government established under this constitution. natural resources, with the exception of public agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for another twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant. 4executive mansion, washington, december 21, 1898 (http://filipino.biz.ph/history/benevolent.html/ accessed april 11, 2011) 171 international peer reviewed journal the destruction of the spanish fleet in the harbor of manila by the united states naval squadron commanded by rear-admiral dewey, followed by the reduction of the city and the surrender of the spanish forces, practically effected the conquest of the philippine islands and the suspension of the spanish sovereignty therein. with the signature of the treaty of peace between the united states and spain by their respective plenipotentiaries at paris on the 10th instant, and as a result of the victories of american arms, the future control, disposition, and government of the philippine islands are ceded to the united states. in the fulfillment of the rights of sovereignty thus acquired and the responsible obligations of government thus assumed, the actual occupation and administration of the entire group of the philippine islands becomes immediately necessary, and the military government heretofore maintained by the united states in the city, harbor, and bay of manila is to be extended with all possible dispatch to the whole of the ceded territory. finally, it should be the earnest wish and paramount aim of the military administration to win the confidence, respect, and affection of the inhabitants of the philippines by assuring them in every possible way that full measure of individual rights and liberties which is the heritage of free peoples, and by proving to them that the mission of the united states is one of benevolent assimilation substituting the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule. in the fulfillment of this high mission, supporting the temperate administration of affairs for the greatest good of the governed, there must be sedulously maintained the strong arm of authority, to repress disturbance and to overcome all obstacles to the bestowal of the blessings of good and stable government upon the people of the philippine islands under the free flag of the united states. 5be invaded and occupied eventually by the american force without a separate declaration of war by the u.s congress as explicitly required in the american constitution (1787), which prohibits a war of conquest, unless actually invaded, to wit: “to declare war, grant letters of marquee and reprisal and make rules concerning captures on land and water.” and’’ to define such and punish piracies and felonies committed on the law of nation.”article i, section 8 of the 1787 u.s constitution. article i, section 8 (10). “no state shall, without 172 jpair: multidisciplinary research the consent of congress, any duty of , keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in imminent danger as will not admit delay.’’-article i, section 10(3) 6agreement between general john c. bates, united states army and the sutan of sulu, together with certain sulu chiefs, signed at jolo, august 20, 1899 (excerpt from ututalum-hedjazi (2002). the rise and fall of the sulu islamic empire (1675-1919). 137). between brig. gen. john c. bates, representing the united states, of the one part, and his highness the sultan of jolo. the dato rajah muda, the dato attik, and the dato calbi, and the dato joakanain, of the other part, it being understood that this agreement will be in full force only when approved by the governor of the philippine islands and confirmed by the president of the united states, and will be subject to future modifications by the mutual consent of the parties and interest.. article i. the sovereignty of the united states over the whole archipelago of jolo and its dependencies is declared and acknowledged, article ii. the united states flag will be used in the archipelago of jolo and its land and sea. article iii. the rights and dignities of his highness the sultan and his datos shall be fully respected; the moros shall not be interfered with on account of their religion; all their religious customs shall be respected; and no one will be prosecuted on account on his religion. article iv. while the unites states may occupy and control such points in the archipelago of jolo as public interests seem to demand, encroachment will not be made up in the lands immediately about the residence of his highness the sultan, unless military necessity requires such occupation in case of war with foreign power; and where the property of individuals is taken, due compensation will be made in each case. any person can purchased land in the archipelago of jolo and hold the same by obtaining the consent of the sultan and coming to a satisfactory agreement with the owner of the land; and such purchase shall immediately be resigned in the proper office of the united states government. 173 international peer reviewed journal article v. all trade in domestic products of the archipelago of jolo, when carried by the sultan and his people with any part of the philippine islands and when conducted under american flag, shall be free, unlimited, and undutiable. article vi. the sultan of jolo shall be allowed to communicate direct with the governor general of the philippines islands in making complaint against the commanding officer of jolo or against any naval commander. article vii. the introduction of firearms and war material is forbidden except under specific authority of the governor general of the philippine islands. article viii. piracy must be suppressed, and the sultan and his datos agree to heartily cooperate with the united states authority to that end, and to make everithing possible effort to arrest and bring to justice all persons engaged in piracy. article x. where crimes and offenses are committed by moros against moros, the government of sultan will bring to trial and punishment the criminals and offenders, who will be delivered to the government of the sultan by the united states authorities if in their possession. in all other cases persons charged with crimes and offences will be delivered to the united states authorities for trial and punishment. article x. any slave in the archipelago of jolo shall have the right to purchase freedom by paying to the master the usual market value. article xi. in case of any trouble with the subjects of the sultan, the american authorities in the islands will be instructed to make careful investigation before resorting to harsh measures, as in most cases serious trouble can thus be avoided. article xii. at present, americans or foreigners wishing to go into the country should state their wishes to the moro authorities and ask for an escort but it is hoped that this will become unnecessary as we know each other better. article xiii. the united states will give full protection to the sultan and his subjects in case any foreign nations should attempt to impose upon them. article xiv. the united states will not sell the island of jolo or any other island of the jolo archipelago to any foreign nation without 174 jpair: multidisciplinary research the consent of the sultan of jolo. article xv. the united states government will pay the following monthly salaries: mexican dollars to the sultan 250 to dato rajah muda 75 to dato attik 60 to dato calbi 75 to dato joakanain 75 to dato puyo 60 to dato amir hussin 60 to hadji butu 50 to hadib mura 40 to serif saguin 15 signed in triplicate, in english and sulu, at jolo, this 20th day of august, a.d. 1899 (13th arabuil abil 1317). (signed) j.c. bates brigadier general, united states volunteers (sgd) the sultan or jolo (sgd) dato rajah muda (sgd) dato attik (sgd) dato calbi (sgd) dato joakanain 7shortly after the sneak invasion and occupation of the sultanate of sulu by the american forces, the sultan of sulu was pressured to sign an acknowledge otherwise referred to as the bates treaty, wherein he was asked to acknowledge the sovereignty of the united state over the sultanate of sulu which only officially and documentarily negated its sale and cession to the united state by spain under the december 10, 1898 treaty of paris. the bates treaty is the most authentic and valid do0cument which explicitly attests and confirms that the sultanate of sulu still belong to the propriety right of the sultan of sulk up to the present since the bates treaty was abrogated by the united state president without the concurrence and consent of the other party in interest… (julkarnain, 2010). 175 international peer reviewed journal 8memorandum of agreement between the government of the philippine islands and the sultan of sulu being the complete renunciation by the latter of his pretensions of sovereignity and determination of his satus zamboanga, march 22, 1915 (excerpt from ututalum-hedjazi (2002). the rise and fall of the sulu islamic empire (1675-1919). 140) (noteprior to american occupation the sultanate of sulu had been for more than 400 years an independent sovereignty; during the latter portion of the spanish regime the sultanate had partially relinquished the exercise of that sovereignty as to foreign relations and to a lesser degree as concerned the port of jolo and the four other points occupied by spanish military garrisons; a temporalsovereignty, partial but nevertheless de facto, existed and was recognized by the bates treaty in the term “government of the sultan,” to which the american authorities were by that agreement required to turn over and trial cases “ where crimes and offenses are committed by moros against moros” (art ix). (the abrogation of the bates treaty was premised upon other matters than the de jure sovereignty of the sultan, who subsequently neither by conquest or otherwise lost or relinquished his claims to sovereignty so far as concerned internal affairs of government of the sulu archipelago until he signed this agreement of march 22, 1915, at zamboanga.) copy of the agreement of august 20, 1899, between gen. john c. bates, united states army, and the sultan of sulu (the bates treaty) also herewith. the government of the philippine islands department of mindanao and sulu, office of the government zamboanga p.i., march 22, 1915 memorandum .the governor of the department of mindanao and sulu, frank w. carpenter, duly authorized by his excellency the governor general and the sultan of sulu, hadji mohammad jamalul kiram, together with the officers of the government, as well as various councilors of the sultan, after due discussion of the declarations of 176 jpair: multidisciplinary research the governor general and president of the philippine commission, luke e. wright, and the said sultan of sulu, and their respective associates, in certain hearings held in manila on july 19, 20, and 26, 1904, following the abrogation of the so –called bates treaty by the president of the united states, march 21, 1904, reach the following mutual understanding of the result of said hearings : whereas the sultan of sulu is titular spiritual head of the mohammedan church in the sulu archipelago, with all the rights and privileges which under the government of the united states of america may be exercised by such an ecclesiastical authority, and subject to the same limitations which apply to the supreme spiritual heads of all other religions existing in american territory, including the right to solicit and receive voluntary popular contributions for the support of the clergy, rites, and other necessary lawful expenses of an ecclesiastical character. the sultan of sulu, on his own account and in behalf of his adherents and people in the sulu archipelago and elsewhere within american territory, without any reservation or limitation whatsoever, ratifies and confirms his recognition of the sovereignty of the united states of america, and the exercise by his excellency the governor general and the representatives of that government in mindanao and sulu of all the attributes of sovereign government that are exercised elsewhere in american territory and dependencies, including the adjudication by government courts or its other duly authorized officers of all civil and criminal causes falling within the laws and orders of the government. the sultan of sulu and his adherents and people of the mohammedans faith shall have the same religious freedom had by the adherents of all other religious creed, the practice of which is not in violation of the basic principles of the laws of the united states of america. in testimony of the above mutual understanding we, the undersigned, the governor of the department of mindanao and sulu and the sultan of sulu, do herby affix our signature in permanent record thereof. (signed)hadji mohammad jamalul kiram sultan of sulu (signed) frank w. carpenter department governor witnesses to above: 177 international peer reviewed journal (signed) dato rajamuda (signed) peter e. traub colonel, united states army district chief, philippine constabulary (signed) hadji butu special assistant to the provincial governor of sulu (signed) dato mohammad (signed) isidro vamenta department secretary (signed) abdullah awang secretary to sultan (signed) paciano reyes department attorney (signed) hadji mohammad (signed) guy n. rohrer governor province of sulu (signed) panglima tahil (signed) h. gulama rasul aiddecamp of the department governor 9sulu sultanate was unilaterally and unconstitutionally joined with mindanao sultanate by virtue of philippines commission act no. 2408 notwithstanding these officially documented attestations and declarations of top american officials that mindanao and sulu were not component part of the philippine islands. the americans continued the unlawful occupation and position of american sovereignty over the sultanate of sulu and proceeded to create the department of mindanao and sulu by virtue of philippines commission act no. 2408 providing for temporary government of mindanao and sulu as a separate political subdivision from the philippines islands known as department of mindanao and sulu without the express consent of their reigning sultans, their royal datus and their respective adherents and in contravention to the universal right of peoples to self-determination as enshrined in the law of nations and specifically article iv, section 3 of the united states 1787 constitution which explicitly states that; “new states maybe admitted by the congress into the union; but no 178 jpair: multidisciplinary research new states shall be formed or created within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states without the consent of the states concerned as well as the congress” (julkarnain, 2010). 10section 1. six months after the approval of this act and from time to time thereafter, the director of lands, with the concurrence of the directors of forestry, plant industry, health and public works, shall recommend to the governor-general the reservation of tracts of public land of not less than three hundred hectares each, taking into consideration their conditions as regards fertility, accessibility, proximity to markets, and sanitation and hygiene, for the establishment of such settlement districts as may be approved by the governorgeneral, subject to the conditions hereinafter specified. section 2. immediately upon the reservation of settlement district by the governor-general, the director of lands shall order the same to be surveyed and subdivided into four-hectare lots. upon receipt by the governor-general of the certificate of the director of lands that a settlement district has been properly surveyed and subdivided into lots, the said governor-general, by proclamation or executive order, shall declare said district open for settlement and shall turn the administration thereof over to the secretary of labor. the secretary of labor shall in due time announce and publish the lots surveyed in the vernacular of the province in which said districts are located, and in two newspapers, one in english and the other in spanish of general circulation in the philippine islands. section 3. any citizen of the philippine islands or of the united states, over the age of twenty-one years, who has the other qualifications required by existing law of homestead applicants may apply to the secretary of labor for the occupation and cultivation of four lots of the land subdivided as provided in the next preceding section. when a reasonable number of applications has been received and the secretary of labor is satisfied with regard to the good faith of the applicants and their capacity to property cultivate the land applied for, said secretary shall address a request for the preparation for cultivation of said lots to the director of plant industry, who shall order the lots included in the approved applications to be cleared and broken. as soon as the 179 international peer reviewed journal lots applied for have been cleared and broken or when an applicant is ready to take possession immediately, the secretary of labor shall place the applicants concerned in possession of said lots. the secretary of labor may, if he deems it necessary, provide for the construction of a suitable house for each applicant and his family, which houses shall be built at a cost not to exceed fifty pesos each, and he may also turn over to the applicants one carabao for each lot applied for, as well as the agricultural implements and the seeds required by the applicants for the first crop year, in the judgment of the director of plant industry. the secretary of labor may also grant to each applicant a loan not to exceed two hundred pesos during the first year of occupation, which shall be paid in periodical monthly payments and shall be repaid beginning with the first harvest, with interest at the rate of four per centum per annum: provided, that naturalized citizens shall not be entitled to the benefits of this act until five years after the date of their naturalization. section 4. the secretary of labor shall concentrate as many settlers as possible on contiguous land in a locality, organizing them into settlements in such manner that the government aid and cooperative action between them shall be easiest and most effective. whenever such settlements are founded, the secretary of labor may, if he should deem it advisable, set aside a suitable portion of the lands selected for town sites and the necessary area for roads, schools and other public necessities. sec. 5. the secretary of labor is authorized to appoint for each district or for two or more contiguous districts a superintendent with a salary not to exceed thirty-six hundred pesos per annum and such additional personnel as may from time to time be approved by the governor-general, on recommendation of the secretary of labor. when necessary, the secretary of labor may also provide for the construction of a house for the office and residence of the superintendent, at a cost not to exceed one hundred pesos. section 6. each applicant shall state in his application: (a) that he binds himself to cultivate and plant not less than sixty per centum of the area of the land applied for and assigned to him, to such crops or products as the district superintendent, with the advice of the director of plant industry, may prescribe; (b) that in case he should be declared 180 jpair: multidisciplinary research incompetent to engage in agriculture, or for any other good reason, his application may be cancelled, in which case his rights and interest in the land assigned to him under the provisions hereof shall revert to the government; (c) that he, his successors or assigns, will not sell, assign or transfer the land awarded to him to any person not a citizen of the philippine islands or the united states; and (d) that he will strictly comply with the regulations and by-laws of the settlement and with the orders and instructions issued from time to time by the superintendent thereof. section 7. whenever in the judgment of the district superintendent the number of settlers in any of the settlement districts established hereunder warrants it, it shall be his duty to establish therein an organization whereby a cooperative spirit and action can be easily encouraged among the occupants and through which government aid can be efficiently extended to them, and for this purpose he may, with the approval of the secretary of labor, purchase tractors, agricultural implements, draft animals and other equipment, to be used under his administration and control or under those of his authorized representative, for tilling the land and, in general, for carrying on such work as the individual settlers cannot carry on unaided, with their own resources and of their own initiative. in the performance of this duty, the settlement district superintendent shall to the greatest extent possible employ as laborers the settlers of the respective districts at such wages as are generally paid by agricultural concerns in the locality. in case the laborers are the settlers themselves, they shall be paid only the portion of their wages considered necessary for the subsistence of each and his family, and the balance shall be retained and credited as payment on their indebtedness to the settlement. the district superintendent shall debit each settler with the cost of the survey, clearing, and breaking of the land he occupies, including all expenses defrayed by the government for the construction of his house, the cost of the carabaos and implements issued to him or purchased on his account, and the unpaid balance of the two hundred pesos he received in accordance with section three thereof, plus a sum equivalent to four per centum per annum of the money spent by the government on his lots. the total sum so charged to each settler shall be paid by him in ten equal annual installments, beginning on april first of the fifth year of 181 international peer reviewed journal occupation of the lots concerned. section 8. in order to facilitate the sale of the produce of the settlements established under this act, the settlement superintendent, whenever it is possible and advisable, may, with the approval of the secretary of labor, provide for the construction in the district of a warehouse for storing the produce and shall in every possible way aid in securing the most favorable prices for the same. to this end, the settlement superintendent is authorized to grant loans to the settlers pending the sale of the produce belonging to them, on the security of their warehouse receipts, not to exceed fifty per centum of the current market price of the produce stored, after deducting the expense of transportation to the market. such warehouses shall be managed as nearly as possible like bonded warehouses. any money lent to the settler under the provisions of this section shall be used for paying his indebtedness to the settlement or for such other purposes as may be approved by the secretary of labor or his authorized representative. from the proceeds of the sale of the of the produce of any settler, the district superintendent shall retain such sum as may be necessary to pay his indebtedness to the government, in such manner as he secretary of labor may prescribe. section 9. as soon as the conditions of a settlement district permit it, the superintendent thereof shall promote among settlers the organization of a corporation under the corporation law for the purchase and administration of the government property and equipment such as warehouses, buildings, tractors and other agricultural machinery, and draft animals, used in the settlement, and to this end the settlement district superintendent shall direct each settler to invest annually, after paying his indebtedness, part of his income in stock of said corporation. the money derived from such investments shall be used for the purchase of the government property and equipment on the installment plan, as above provided. when said property and equipment shall been fully paid for, the superintendent shall surrender the same to the corporation. section 10. to foster or insure the success of a settlement district, the director of lands, on recommendation of the secretary of labor, shall grant title to the property applied for the settler, subject to the following terms which the applicant must accept under oath: 182 jpair: multidisciplinary research (a.) the settler must, during the time that he occupies the land, cultivate at least sixty per centum of the area thereof each year. the heirs and assigns of the applicant shall likewise be subject to these conditions. (b.) beginning on april first of the fifth year after the occupation of the land, the settler, his heirs and assigns, shall refund to the settlement district superintendent, in ten equal annual installments, the expenses incurred in surveying, clearing, and breaking the land, and the cost of the house, carabaos, implements, and seeds furnished to him, with interest at the rate of four per centum per annum. (c.) in case any occupant , his heirs and assigns, should without good reason fail to cultivate at least sixty per centum of the area of the land occupied by him or them for three consecutive years during their occupation, before having completely paid their indebtedness in accordance with the next preceding paragraphs, unless prevented by force majeure, the title to the said land shall, after due investigation by the settlement district superintendent , be revoked and the property shall revert to the government of the philippine islands, and the settler, his heirs and assigns, may thereafter continue to occupy the land as lessees, subject to the condition specified in paragraphs (a) and (b), upon payment of a monthly rental of fifty centavos per hectare from and after the date of the revocation of the title, and in case the settler, his heirs or assigns, fail to pay such rental for two consecutive months, the secretary of labor may eject him or them, without need of any judicial proceedings. however, the settler shall be entitled to have his rights restored to him upon payment of his indebtedness. (d.) any transfer of the land and any contract relative to it shall be approved by the secretary of labor and recorded in the office of the local register of deeds, subject to the conditions prescribed in this act. any sale of the land shall be null and void unless the settler, his heirs or assigns, have paid the entire indebtedness to the government before the transfer is made in accordance with this section. section 11. the secretary of labor is hereby authorized to promulgate such regulations and by-laws for the settlement as may be necessary to properly enforce the provisions of this act. the settlement district superintendent shall also be authorized to request the assistance of the bureaus of public works, plant industry, animal industry, forestry, 183 international peer reviewed journal and commerce in connection with the direction and supervision of the cultivation of the district, the construction of buildings and roads, the care of the draft animals, the sale of the produce, and in any other form or manner insuring the success of the settlements provided for in this act. section 12. the secretary of labor, with the approval of the governorgeneral, is hereby authorized to make the necessary readjustment in the personnel and activities of the bureaus and executive departments concerned in order to bring such personnel under the jurisdiction of the secretary of labor, in which case, and until the legislature shall provide otherwise, the salaries and expenses of the personnel transferred shall be paid out of the appropriation made in this act. section 13. the sum of one million pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the insular treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the purposes of this act, in accordance with the provisions of the next following section and with such rules and regulations as the secretary of labor, with the approval of the governor-general, may prescribe. section 14. the fund created by this act shall be under the control of the secretary of labor who, through his representatives, shall have charge of all disbursements there from, of the amount thereof, and of all transactions concerning the establishment of the settlement districts herein authorized, and all refunds of expenses incurred in laying out, clearing, plowing, and surveying the land, and the cost of the houses, carabaos, agricultural implements, and seeds furnished to the settlers, with interest at the rate of four per centum per annum, and all other collections that may be received from the settlement districts shall constitute a special fund which shall be available for disbursement in the same manner and for the same purposes for which the original fund authorized in the next preceding section was established. section 15. no settlement superintendent shall engage in any private business within the settlement in which there shall be transactions with the settlers. section 16. upon the express or implicit approval of this act by the president of the united states, as provided in the act of congress approved on august twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled “an act to declare the purpose of the people of the united 184 jpair: multidisciplinary research states as to the future political status of the people of the philippine islands, and to provide a more autonomous government for those islands.” the governor-general shall so announce forthwith, by means of a proclamation, and this act shall take effect on the date of such proclamation. for one thing, president manuel l. quezon did not show enough respect for the customs and culture of the muslims. the americans, in fact, had accepted as laws of the land a codification of certain muslim customs and traditions. but quezon did not want any of these, arguing that all filipinos are equal. there was to be no exception to the universal laws and customs of the nation. he laid down his policy in a speech to lanao moros on june 6, 1936 (salgada see abinates, sn.24). quezon and his associates likewise followed the land policies of their american predecessors. plantations were encouraged and more american and japanese entrepreneurs came to establish plantations. mindanao became a real haven for huge abaca, rubber, coconut, pineapple and other plantations, for the benefit especially of foreign owners. the huge size of japanese land holdings, for example, “could easily be gleaned from the fact that no less than 231, 700 hectares of japanese agriculture lands mostly located in davao, were confiscated and transferred by the americans to the philippine government by the of the war” (salgada see abinates, sn.25). of course, the problem would have been solved by breaking up tenancy in the visayas and luzon as the farmers demanded. but the local elite would not let go of their haciendas. they had been accustomed to the good life, amassing wealth at the cost of the tenants’ sweat, that it was unthinkable they would divest themselves of their lands. for them, the answer lies in mindanao. to defuse unrest in luzon and the visayas, the excess peasants were to be brought to the “land of promise”. never mind if in the process the lumads and muslims get disposed of their lands. the important thing is that there is peace in the visayas and luzon, and the landlords’ land remains intact (salgada see abinates, sn.22). 185 international peer reviewed journal literature cited abubakar, asiri j. 2007 persistent themes in the history of the sulus. paper presented at the national conference on the history and culture of the tausug, ateneo de zamboanga university. de la costa , horacio s.j 1967 asia and the philippines. solidaridad publishing house, manila, philippines. fatwas islamiyah: islamic verdicts vol. 5 2002 darussalam. riyadh. f. landa jocano 2001 filipino prehistory: rediscovering precolonial heritage. punland research house inc., metro manila, philippines. george,t.j.s. 1980 revolt in mindanao: the rise of islam in the philippine politics. oxford university press. jimenez, jose victor 2004 the birth of filipino historical interpretation: rizal’s annotation to morga’s sucessos de las islas filipinas see, ad veritatem ust graduate journal. manila. kiefer, thomas m. 2003 ”the tausug polity and the sultanate of sulu: a segmentary state in the southern philippines”. people of the current sulu studies revisited. national commission for culture and the arts, manila. kurais, muhammand ii 1979 the history of twai-tawi and its people. msu sulu college of technology and oceanography, bungao, tawi-tawi. 186 jpair: multidisciplinary research majul, cesar adib 1999 muslims in the philippines. university of the philippines press, diliman, quezon city. mulder, neils 1999 filipino images: culture of the public world. new day publishers salman, michael 2001 the embarrassment of slavery: controversies over bondage and nationalism in the american colonial philippines. admu press. saleeby, najeeb m 1963 the history of sulu. filipinana book guild. tan, samuel k. 2005 surat sug: letters of sultanate of sulu, vol. i. national historical institute, manila. tuban rita 1994 a genealogy of the sulu sultanate. philippine studies vol. 42, no. 1. ateneo de manila university. accessed www. philippinestudies.net/ october 05, 2010. ututalum, sururul-ain and abdulkarim hedjazi 2002 the rise and fall of the sulu islamic empire: 1675-1919. professional press, chapel hill, nc., u.s. ututalum, sururulain and abdul-karim hedjazi 2003 the genealogy of the sulu royal families. professional press, chapel hill. zafra, nicolas 1974 the colonization of the philippines and the beginnings of the spanish city of manila. national historical commission. manila, philippines. 187 international peer reviewed journal electronics http:www//islamic-world.net/khalifah/khalifahp.htm/accessed february 27, 2007. http://tripatlas.com/list_of_sultans_of_sulu/ accessed september 28, 2010 http://www.britannica.com/ebchecked/topic/257679/hayam-wuruk/ accessed september 28, 2010 zhongli, guo (2002). “a state in present-day malaysia” date 03-31-02 http” //www.asiawind.com/forums/read.php/943/ baguinda/ bagindah/accessed february 27, 2007. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research cooperative-collaborative learning in enhancing creative writing performance dandy g. acuin http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2652-9012 dandyacuin1981@gmail.com leyte national high schoolsenior high school tacloban city, philippines mona lisa d. petallana modpetallana@yahoo.com leyte national high schoolsenior high school tacloban city, philippines geraldine c. esperas esperasgeraldine46@gmail.com leyte national high schoolsenior high school tacloban city, philippines originality: 99 • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 1 abstract writing is among the communication skills covered in both filipino and english language teaching that every learner should develop at any level of education in the philippines. however, teaching creative writing skills continues to be a very challenging task for teachers. it is a challenge, therefore, for teachers to motivate students to write. more so, it is a challenge for students to write vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.581 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 165 international peer reviewed journal creatively. using the action research design, this study aimed to test and examine the effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative learning using the specific strategy, team pair solo, in enhancing their creative writing skills. triangulation is also used in this study to examine, verify, and cross-check the data at different angles such as observation, analysis of the pre and post writing composition, and from the interviews of the students. the finding shows positive effects of cooperativecollaborative learning in enhancing creative writing performance among the students. it is recommended that cooperative-collaborative learning strategy (team pair solo) should be used in teaching to enhance the creative writing skills of students. it is further recommended that other cooperative-collaborative learning strategies be studied for the same purpose. keywords — cooperative-collaborative learning, creative writing, action research design, learning styles, strategies and outcome, philippines introduction writing is one of the important parts of communication skills that every student should develop at any level of education. nowadays, writing has a huge part in every student’s life, starting with the simplest content to the most complex writing pieces. they are asked to craft different types of essays, research papers and other kinds of creative writing tasks. it is a skill that students will need for the future that is why it is vital to develop. unfortunately, majority of the students still fail to improve their writing skills even after finishing schools (anderson, 2017). in the philippines, students are expected to cultivate their writing skills, both in filipino and english language. however, developing writing skills is also a problem for teachers and students in the country. according to villafuerte and bernales (2008), writing a composition continues to be a problem at any level of education in the philippines. teachers have problems in motivating students to write a composition and more so to students on how to write it. consequently, to address the matter, many scholars promote the use of cooperative-collaborative learning strategy in teaching because of its effectiveness in enhancing students’ performance. cooperative-collaborative learning is defined as a teaching method where the students work together as a team in the assigned task while the teacher acts as a facilitator. d.w. johnson, r.t. johnson, and smith (2006) believe that cooperative learning can improve student’s performance compared to the conventional method of teaching. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research the study is undertaken to test the effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative learning strategy in enhancing creative writing skills. furthermore, the study validates the importance of cooperative-collaborative in enhancing students’ performance in creative writing among the grade 12 students of leyte national high schoolsenior high, tacloban city, philippines. framework lev vygotsky (1980) believes that students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually. he also added that when a student is at a particular task, and provided with appropriate assistance (scaffolding), it will give the students enough boost to achieve the task. once the student masters the task, the scaffolding can then be removed and then the students will be able to complete the task again on their own. the study is composed of three phases: the pre-writing assessment, cooperative-collaborative learning (team pair solo) and the post writing assessment phase. the researcher administered a pre-writing to students involved in the study to determine the level of writing skills of each student in the filipino language. the result of this served as the baseline of heterogeneous grouping. the cooperative-collaborative learning (team pair solo) strategy was then administered as an intervention. finally, the post-writing assessment was conducted to determine the progress of the students in their written output. figure 1. research paradigm 167 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative learning in creative writing composition among students of section 12 makabansa of leyte national high schoolsenior high school, tacloban city, s.y. 2017-2018. the study also sought to: 1) determine the level of writing skills of the students before and after teaching the composition using the cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy based on 1.1 focus and detail; 1.2 organizations; 1.3 writer’s voice; 1.4 choosing appropriate words; 1.5 structures, grammars, punctuation, and spelling; 2) test the effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy in enhancing the students writing skills based on the grade of their composition before and after teaching the composition; and, 3) identify the strengths and weaknesses of the cooperative-collaborative strategy (team pair solo) learning based on the attitude and perspectives of the students. methodology research design this study is an action research which consist of process of planning, conducting, observation and reflection as proposed by fraenkel and wallen (1993). this study also used triangulation to examine data at different angles such as observation of participants, review of compositions and interview of the participants. participants of the study together with the researchers, forty-two (42) students of grade 12 makabansa of leyte national high school-senior high school, tacloban city of s.y 2017-2018 were involved in this study. for focus group discussion (fgd), ten (10) students were selected using random sampling. instrumentation the proposed writing marking guide (rubrics) of santos, jocson and perez (2016) using five criteria as follows: 1.) focus and detail, 2.) organization, 3.) voice of the writer, 4.) choice of appropriate words, and 5.) structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling was used in reviewing and marking the composition of the students. each criterion is given 10 points as the highest score, 6 points 168 jpair multidisciplinary research in succession, followed by 3 points and the lowest points is 1. the score each student gets in their composition was given the corresponding grade based on the latest deped department order (d.o. # 8 s. 2015). the grades obtained by each student are grouped into the following description; 1.) outstanding (90-100), 2.) very satisfactory (85-89), 3.) satisfactory (80-84), 4.) fairly satisfactory (7579) at. 5.) did not meet expectation (below 75), it is still in compliance with the order of order as 8 series 2015. the content and activities of the lesson plan done by the researcher were consulted by the head teacher of the general academic strand and two teachers teaching filipino for evaluation. the practice of writing the persuasive texts used by the researcher is reflected in the curriculum guide of the subject pagbasa at pagsusuri ng iba’t ibang teksto tungo sa pananaliksik. the review focused on the writing compositions written by the students before and after teaching the composition using the cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) strategy of learning. a self-made questionnaire was used for focus group discussion. data collection students were tested on a writing composition cycle composed of pre-writing assessment and post-writing assessment using the cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) strategy of learning. the result of the pre-writing assessment was the basis of the grouping of students to form the heterogeneous grouping. the focus group discussion was then conducted to test and validate the results of the students’ compositions. five students were selected for focus group discussion using random sampling. data analysis frequency count and percentages were used in this study. results and discussion the level of writing skills of students before and after teaching the composition using the cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy 169 international peer reviewed journal table 1. level of writing skills before teaching the creative composition using cooperativecollaborative (team pair solo) criteria total score mean grade description focus and detail 159 37.90 69% did not meet expectation organization 91 21.70 65% did not meet expectation writers voice 134 31.90 67% did not meet expectation choosing appropriate words 127 30.20 67% did not meet expectation structure, grammars, punctuations, and spelling 131 31.20 67% did not meet expectation table 1 shows the results of the writing skill level analysis before teaching the composition using cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategies. the table shows that all the criteria are in the description of “did not meet expectation.” the result shows the poor writing performance of the students in the individual writing output. the individual task has a low effect on students’ writing performance. the result is supported by the findings of the study by storch (2005) stating that students who had worked in pairs had produced better texts than texts written by individuals in terms of complexity, accuracy and fluency. johnson et al. (2006) performed a meta-analysis of 168 studies comparing cooperative learning to competitive learning and individualistic learning among college students. they found that cooperative learning produced greater academic achievement than both competitive learning and individualistic learning across the studies. table 2. level of writing skills after teaching the creative composition using cooperativecollaborative (team pair solo) criteria total score mean grade description focus and detail 313 74.50 84% satisfactory organization 283 67.40 79% fairly satisfactory writers voice 339 80.70 87% very satisfactory choosing appropriate words 338 80.50 87% very satisfactory structures, grammars, punctuation, and spelling 265 63.10 76% fairly satisfactory 170 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2 shows the result of the writing skill level analysis on the students’ writing composition after teaching the composition using the cooperativecollaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy. the table shows that focus and details are in the satisfactory description. the writer’s voice and choosing the appropriate words are in the very satisfactory description. while the critical organizations and structures, grammars, punctuation, and spelling are in the fairly satisfactory description. the result shows a significant increase in the students’ performance after the integration of the cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy. this result is in agreement with the findings of the study of gokhale (1995) that students who participated in collaborative learning had performed significantly better than students who studied individually. the result is also supported by a study conducted by kagan and high (2002) which showed that students performed better in writing when cooperative learning was incorporated in the classroom. in the study of keshavarz, shahrokhi, and negad (2014), the implementation of cooperative learning in writing has been proven to produce positive effects in students’ learning in writing. table 3. effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) in enhancing the students writing skills based on the grade of their composition before and after teaching the composition description grading scale number of students percentage before after before after outstanding 90-100 0 10 23.81% 23.81% very satisfactory 85-89 0 10 23.81% 23.81% satisfactory 80-84 2 15 35.71% 35.71% fairly satisfactory 75-79 7 7 16.67% 16.67% did not meet expectation below 75 33 0 0 0% total 42 42 100% 100% table 3 shows that most of the students involved in the study before teaching the composition or the pre-writing are included in the “did not meet expectation” description with 33 and 78.57% of the total. the fairly satisfactory description comprises a total of seven (7) students and a percentage of 16.67% satisfactory description with two (2) counts and a percentage of 4.76%. no students got a score that is included in the outstanding and very satisfactory 171 international peer reviewed journal description. this table also shows the significant increase in the grades of students after teaching the composition or the post-writing using that strategy. after teaching the composition using team pair solo, none of the students have earned or been included in the “did not meet expectation” description. the result shows that students performed significantly better after the integration of cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy. this result affirms with the learning theory of vygotsky (1980) that students have the capability of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually.  the result is also supported in the study of siddique and singh (2016) that cooperative learning strategy is effective in enhancing students’ essay writing skills. strengths and weaknesses of the cooperative-collaborative strategy (team pair solo) learning based on the attitude and perspective of the students in the focus group discussion (fgd), the first question; 1.) has the strategy/ activity helped you in enhancing your writing skills? all students answered “yes” as a positive response to a group activity. in the second question; 2.) how did the strategy/activity help you with your writing skills? almost everyone involved said that they have added and given a new idea of their knowledge of the subject through collaborative sharing of knowledge. the third question; 3.) are there problems you face in writing your creative composition using cooperativecollaborative (team pair solo) strategy? participants have two responses. four (4) said nothing because all the members cooperated well. six (6) answered there is because of different ideas but at the end they find ways to find a solution and in the end agrees on the topic. the result conforms to the idea of bruner (1985) that cooperative learning methods improve problem-solving strategies because the students are confronted with different views and opinion of the given situation. the peer support system makes it possible for the learner to internalize both external knowledge and critical thinking skills. harmer (2001) also believes that writing in groups is effective. students found the activity motivating in terms of the writing itself. conclusion based on the results of this study, the cooperative-collaborative strategy has been effective in enhancing the writing skills of the students in developing a creative composition that conforms to the responses of the students in the 172 jpair multidisciplinary research fgd. students had an increase of grades in their composition after teaching the composition using cooperative-collaborative (team pair solo) learning strategy. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to teachers to incorporate cooperative-collaborative learning (team pair solo) strategy in teaching especially in enhancing creative writing skills. furthermore, other cooperative-collaborative learning strategies may be used in enhancing creative writing skills. this study will also contribute to the existing body of literature in affirming the effectiveness of using of cooperative-collaborative learning strategy in enhancing students’ performance. this study may also be presented as a topic during leap session or inset training of teachers. acknowledgement the researchers would like to thank the department of education of the philippines for funding this research through the basic education research fund (berf). gratitude is also due to dr. ramil uytico, deped regional director-region viii and dr. thelma c. quitalig, division superintendenttacloban city division for their considerable academic support and highest encouragement they had given to the researchers. literature cited anderson, s. (march 30, 2017). common writing challenges high-school students encounter and ways to help them. retrieved from https://goo. gl/seh483 bruner, j. (1985). vygotsky: an historical and conceptual perspective. culture, communication, and cognition: vygotskian perspectives, 21-34. london: cambridge university press. retrieved from https://goo.gl/9wjrhs fraenkel, j., & wallen, n. (1993). how to design and evaluate research in education: 8th edition. mc graw hill inc. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ sw84dh https://goo.gl/seh483 https://goo.gl/seh483 https://goo.gl/9wjrhs https://goo.gl/sw84dh https://goo.gl/sw84dh 173 international peer reviewed journal gokhale, a. (1995). collaborative learning enhances critical thinking. journal of technology education. retrieved from https://goo.gl/v8spgm harmer, j. (2001). the practice of english language teaching. london/new york. retrieved from https://goo.gl/xqyd76 johnson, d.w., johnson, r.t., and smith, k.a. (2006). active learning: cooperation in the university classroom (3rd  edition). edina, mn: interaction. retrieved from https://goo.gl/yvvxrb kagan, s. & high, j. (2002). kagan structures for english language learners. kagan online magazine. retrieved from http: www.kaganonline.com keshavars, s.m. shahrokhi, m. & talebi negad, m.r. (2014). the effect of cooperative learning techniques on promoting writing skill of iranian efl learners. international journal of language learning and applied linguistics world (isllalw: www.ijllalw.org https://goo.gl/ikect6) santos c., jocson s. d., & perez, a. j. (2016). filipino sa piling larangakademic:patnubay ng guro. pasig city: depedblr. retrieved from http://depedligaocity.net/fil_tgtvl_final_v3_060816.pdf siddique, m. & singh, m. (2016). effectiveness of cooperative learning in enhancing students’ essay writing skills in pakistani colleges. international journal of humanities and social science invention. retrieved from www. ijhhsi.org/v5(8)version-3/l0508036870.pdf storch, n. (2005). collaborative writing: product, process, and students’ reflections. journal of second language writing, 14(3), 153–173. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2005.05.002 villafuerte, p., at bernales, j. (2008). pagtuturo ng/sa filipino: mga teorya at praktika. valenzuela city: mutya publishing house. inc. http://koha.nlp. gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-isbddetail.pl?bib=410370 vygotsky, l. (1980).  mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. cambridge: harvard university press. retrieved from https://goo. gl/oebr2o https://goo.gl/xqyd76 https://goo.gl/yvvxrb http://www.kaganonline.com http://www.ijllalw.org https://goo.gl/ikect6 http://depedligaocity.net/fil_tgtvl_final_v3_060816.pdf http://www.ijhhsi.org/v5(8)version-3/l0508036870.pdf http://www.ijhhsi.org/v5(8)version-3/l0508036870.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2005.05.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2005.05.002 http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-isbddetail.pl?bib=410370 http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-isbddetail.pl?bib=410370 https://goo.gl/oebr2o https://goo.gl/oebr2o 1 international peer reviewed journal the lived experiences of beginning teachers: an odyssey marissa d. mendoza http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1626-9250 mmendoza@psu.palawan.edu.ph palawan state university puerto princesa city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the attrition rates for beginning teachers have been high and widespread, which oftentimes resulted in a teacher shortage. this qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of beginning teachers during their first three years in teaching. specifically, it digs a deeper understanding of the challenges beginning teachers face, such as classroom management, support received, differentiated instruction, and unexpected expectations. an in-depth interview was conducted to ten beginning junior high school teachers from public and private schools within deped puerto princesa. member checking was done to validate the accuracy of the data and to establish credibility. the four constructs of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were considered to substantiate trustworthiness. the study reveals that beginning teachers are mostly challenged by the behavior of the students in classroom management; get the needed support from their administrators, colleagues, students’ parents, and immediate families; find difficulty in differentiating instruction to address learner’s differences; and are overwhelmed by the enormous amount of paperwork, extracurricular assignments and teaching subjects not in line with their specialization. likewise, salary, lack of training and orientation, work environment, and vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.787 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:mmendoza@psu.palawan.edu.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research workload emerged as minor themes. thus, beginning teachers’ found their first three years as challenging, overwhelming, shocking, tiring, difficult, stressful, and struggle yet wonderful, exciting, fun, colorful, rewarding, and fulfilling. keywords — education, beginning teachers, lived experiences, phenomenological study, philippines introduction teaching is a complex and challenging profession, but a prestigious one and the noblest of all, yet some teachers are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. ironic, indeed! this is factual, alarming, and widespread. in brazil, “society recognizes the social role of the teacher, more than that of the support staff, but the salaries and working conditions discourage young people from going into the profession. the average salary of teachers with higher education is 35% less than that of other professionals with the same level of education.” (brazil, confederação nacional dos trabalhadores em educação cnte); similarly, the american federation of teachers (aft) reported that “teachers and education support personnel are not accorded the respect that other professions with similar qualifications are in the u.s.”; in the philippines, “teachers and education workers are underpaid and overworked.” (philippines, alliance of concerned teachers act) (symeonidis, 2015). the question is: why do people go into teaching, despite the complexities and the challenges of the profession? teachers come into the profession for different reasons in different country contexts, in differing economic circumstances and with varying expectations of the rewards and challenges of the role. common to all, however, is a need for appreciation, autonomy, and affiliation the latitude and discretion to exercise professional judgment, together with recognition and endorsement for such initiative and a sense of belonging to a cadre of likeminded people whose interests and motivations one share. the place of these within a hierarchy of needs varies country by country depending on an essential infrastructure of safety, security, working conditions, resourcing, and adequate remuneration (macbeath, 2012). beginning teachers struggled to negotiate the paradox of loving the idea of being a teacher, but not necessarily like the work as a teacher. they often function in a mode of sustained experimentation. the responsibility of being a professional educator can, in fact, be most daunting to the novice teacher who must, with a 3 international peer reviewed journal seemingly intense urgency, cater to an array of professional responsibilities while becoming acclimatized to measures of accountability (cherubini, 2008). as stated by stansbury and zimmerman (2000), the attrition rate for beginning teachers has always been extremely high, nearly a third of novice teachers are leaving the profession within their first three years. at the school-wide level, high teacher turnover drains energy and resources as well, requiring that administrators and teaching colleagues constantly focus on bringing newcomers up to speed on everything. at the same time, of course, their departure further exacerbates existing teacher shortages. the philippines is also among the countries that are experiencing a constant turnover of its teachers, especially at the basic education level. low salary, workload, and long hours of work, lack of challenge, and personal circumstances are among the reasons why they do not stay long on the job. in many cases, they end up getting better salaries as domestics in other countries. another reason given is that teaching leaves the teacher “emotionally drained.” some leave because they feel that the teaching profession is less attractive than other professions or that they feel they do not have much control over the work environment. (braid, 2015). these factors affecting beginning teachers’ attitudes towards teaching are widespread and do not exempt the department of education – puerto princesa. the issuance of deped order no. 43, s. 2017 also known as teacher induction program policy and deped order no. 35, s. 2016 also known as the learning action cell (lac) as a k to 12 basic education program schoolbased continuing professional development strategy for the improvement of teaching and learning, recognizes the fact that beginning teachers need to be supported through continuing professional development and progress. both are anchored on the principle of lifelong learning and the agency’s commitment to developing teachers’ potential for the improvement of practice and learner achievement. framework this phenomenological study adapted the stages of development of teachers by dubble (1998) and the five phases of beginning teachers’ attitude towards teaching by moir (1999). dubble’s theory of teacher development highlights the experiences and growth of beginning teachers from their first year of teaching (neonate) until their eighth year, where they become a seasoned one. however, 4 jpair multidisciplinary research only the first two stages of teacher development of this theory were adapted and modified to suit the framework of the study. moir’s five phases are the by-product of her long years of providing assistance to thousands of beginning teachers in the university of california, sta, cruz. it vividly describes the attitude of beginning teachers as they confront the challenges in their day to day experience in the classroom. objectives of the study the purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of beginning teachers during their first three years in teaching. specifically, this aims to dig a deeper understanding of the challenges beginning teachers face such as managing a classroom of diverse learners, the kind of support received from the administration, colleagues, students’ parents and immediate family, differentiation of instruction to address individual needs and in dealing with the enormous amount of unexpected expectations required of the teaching profession. methodology research design this study is qualitative phenomenological in nature, which deals with life experiences as it is lived. the focus is toward illuminating details and seemingly trivial aspects within the experience that may be taken for granted in our lives, with a goal of creating meaning and achieving a sense of understanding (shahbazian, 2015). phenomenology is the most appropriate method to use since the purpose of the study is to explore the lived experiences of beginning teachers as they enter the world of teaching. moreover, this method best represents the interpretation of their experiences, perceptions, perspectives, understandings, and feelings of how it is to be a beginner. in particular, the conduct of this study was viewed from the standpoint of an external researcher --which means that she is not part of the community and phenomena being studied. in like manner to achieve impartiality, the researcher adopted the “etic” approach, which viewed the phenomena from the lens of an outsider. 5 international peer reviewed journal research site this phenomenological study was conducted in the department of education division of puerto princesa. puerto princesa is classified as a highly urbanized city and has been densely populated since then. the growth in population resulted in more enrollees which, in turn, require the hiring of additional teachers to cater to the needs of the increasing student population. deped puerto princesa has a total of 2,525 teachers both in public and private schools. each year the department is hiring newly qualified teachers -- those who are licensed ones and whose qualifications meet the existing vacant position. fresh graduates who are about to take the licensure examinations are sometimes hired by private schools to fill the immediate need of teacher shortage. participants the participants in this study are ten beginning junior high school teachers who are in their first, second, and third years of teaching. beginning teachers as defined are those teachers in their first, second, and third years of teaching (brubaker, 2016). five males and five females make up the composition of research participants; six are from public schools, and four are from private schools. they were purposely selected from schools that have a greater number of beginners and whose principal allowed the conduct of the study and has a willing beginning teacher to be a participant. data gathering procedure the researcher sought permission from the schools division superintendent to conduct the study in the division. upon approval, the consent of the principal of the identified school was also secured. afterward, the researcher was given a chance to meet and talk with the prospective participants, where she presented the informed consent for their perusal and approval. in addition, the procedures to be done during the conduct of interviews were discussed and explained thoroughly to avoid confusion on their part. rapport was established during this meeting, and the venue for the conduct of the interview was agreed upon. an in-depth interview was conducted to 10 purposely selected and willing participants about the challenges they face as they start their teaching career. interviews were scheduled during the participants’ free time to avoid disruption of classes. the chosen venue for most of the interviews was in a neutral ground -- that is outside the school premises, so that participants will be able to share their thoughts freely without the worry of being listened to by other school personnel. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research each participant was interviewed individually until the needed information is saturated, which lasted from an hour but not exceeding two hours. a set of guide questions was used during the conduct of the interview, but flexibility as to the sequencing of questions was adapted to suit the situation at hand. follow up questions were asked to clarify points of interest and to probe further the expressed experiences. the interview proceedings were audio and video recorded to capture the exact words of the participants in describing their experiences. the recorded interview proceedings were transcribed, coded, and interpreted. the three phases of the data management, according to merriam and tisdell (2015): data preparation, data identification, and data manipulation, were used during the analysis of the transcript. member checking was done to validate the accuracy of the data and to authenticate the interview transcript. the four constructs of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were employed to validate trustworthiness. ethical consideration adherence to ethical standards was strictly observed throughout the conduct of the study. prior to the conduct of the interview, the researcher prepared informed consent to the participants. this discussed in detail concerns regarding the recording of the interview through video and tape recorder, the strict confidentiality of the participants’ identity, and the proper management and treatment of data. utmost care in handling the gathered data was observed, pseudonyms were used, and no single information is included that would lead to the identity of the participants. results and discussion classroom management most of the participants found the attitude of the students as the most challenging part in classroom management, but it is of different aspects and varying levels such as students’ garrulousness; noisiness when they fight each other; addiction to gadget and games; fidgetiness; close-mindedness that makes giving advise difficultly; followed by absenteeism due to mobile games (students frequents computer shops); and giving assessment since it is a heterogeneous class. the experiences of the participants are similar to the result of the study conducted by headden (2014), which says that almost all new teachers struggle 7 international peer reviewed journal in one way or another. most commonly, they wrestle with classroom management and student behavior. likewise, abdurrahman (2016), reveals that beginning teachers have classroom management problems and are having difficulties in finding a way to approach students’ problematic behaviors. this indicates that beginning teachers are struggling in classroom management and in dealing with students’ attitudes and behavior not only in the local scene but also in the global scene. support received administrator. most participants are supported by their administrators (principals), in the following manner: class observations and post-conference afterward; attendance to seminars related to their field; encouragement to enroll in the graduate studies; to read more references to enhance knowledge; apply for promotion; and free lodging. only a participant does not get the support of her principal but was assisted by the master teacher in their department. this experience is similar to the results of the study conducted by headden (2014), where participants reflected through personal experience that their first year(s) were made more challenging by the lack of support they received from administrators. quite simply, teachers don’t think the people they work for care about them or their efforts to improve. in like manner, the same sentiment is reflected in the study of ozturk & yıldırım (2013) where about 30% of the teacher participants usually or always had principals or supervisors who were not sympathetic listeners trying to understand them --that principals did not nurture an environment encouraging new teachers. colleagues. generally, the foremost support that participants get from their colleagues is in working out and accomplishing the different school forms aside from the moral support as indicated by five participants, and two said that they were helped with computing grades. the study of dickson et al. (2014) said that there is much evidence in the literature that gaining support from colleagues, feeling socially comfortable and having both personal and professional support from colleagues is critical in the first years of a teacher’s journey, as well as for teacher retention. on the other hand, three participants expressed that friction and conflict are felt and unavoidable in their place. the participants’ experience is similar to what barth (2006), said that educators become one another’s adversaries through competition. they become competitors for scarce resources and recognition. the guiding principles of competition are, “the better you look, the worse i look,” and “the worse you look, the better i look.” no wonder, so 8 jpair multidisciplinary research many educators root for the failure of their peers rather than assist with their success. students’ parents. four participants said that students’ parents are very supportive and that they asked about their child’s performance in school. when it comes to school projects and school activities, the parents are always there. sapungan & sapungan (2016) says that many parents, whose children are currently enrolled in a particular school, are enormously concerned, more often being active to assist in their child’s classroom, constantly communicating with their child’s teachers, assisting with their homework, getting involved with school projects and discussing their child’s individual academic strengths and weaknesses with teachers. similarly, three participants said that parents are also supportive, but only a few attend homeroom meetings. the participants’ experience is supported by dickson et al. (2014) study which reveals that some teachers talked of the apathy which they felt some parents exhibited in terms of communication and attendance at meetings, only seeing a small number of the parents, numerous times, and finding this a challenge to deal with. on the other hand, two participants said that some parents are very supportive, they asked about their child’s performance in class, but most of the parents just shrug it off and that they are difficult to reach out especially if their child has a problem. they even blame the teachers for their child’s mishap. one participant’s experience is quite different from the others, for he encountered hostile parents during his first year of teaching; being compared to the previous adviser of the students, and parents seldom attend classroom meetings. the study of sapungan and sapungan (2016) says that regrettably, there are also some, if not many, parents who are quite passive in their child’s education. some of them are not directly involved. sadly speaking, some parents have obvious manifestations of their “i don’t care” attitude. neither are they visible in the school premises and get involved in the desired goals of the school where their children are getting what they need most for life. immediate family. most participants have all-out support from their families --from a simple gesture of preparing food so that they can do their paperwork to having an internet connection installed at home for research purposes. karataş and karaman, (2013) state that the family is another support provider novice teachers identified in the study and that support from the family was more likely to predict high levels of perceived efficacy in general. however, one participant has a less supportive family because there were times that he could not send his financial support due to the low salary. this is in contrast to what anastasiu 9 international peer reviewed journal (2012) said that the family is the best and adequate group to satisfy the needs and that is because it is involved at all levels --biological, psychological and social but also because its primary group structure gives it a huge advantage over the other agents of socialization, such as school or the peer group. differentiated instruction the participants admitted that differentiating instruction is difficult to do, but they are doing the best they can to effect learning among the students. the diversity of the students’ background and capability to learn, and the heterogeneous groupings made teaching more challenging. common to all is that they analyze first the background and demographic profile of their students to know them better and to find the most appropriate approach; translate difficult english words to filipino for students to have a better understanding of the lesson; video presentation using the cartoon to capture and sustain the attention and interest of the students; re-teach and conduct make-up class for slow learners to catch up with the lesson; use spiral progression and relate the lessons to real-life experiences, and have the fast and slow learner sit together. the participants’ experiences are supported by brubaker’s study (2016) states that one of the greatest areas of challenge experienced by the beginning teachers is in differentiating instruction for the various learning needs of their students. moreover, cherubini’s (2008) study says that the participants admitted that they struggled with focusing on student development and achievement. they experienced a great deal of stress, catering to students’ learning abilities. unexpected expectation beginning teachers are given the same workload and other job-related functions just like the veterans, though they are still in the adjustment period. aside from teaching their field of specialization, they were also given other subjects to handle, which requires a lot of preparation. moreover, all of them are class advisers and are given other tasks and responsibilities such as learners’ information system (lis) coordinator, screening officer for athletes in the city meet, boy scout of the philippines (bsp) coordinator, choir coordinator, the board of director secretary, guidance designate, school paper coach, trainer/coach in almost all school-related activities, journalism technical adviser, and emceeing in school-related activities, mtap reviewer, school nurse, focal person for the voucher program of the senior high school students, grammarian, and research adviser. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research all these extra-curricular assignments surprised the beginners and somehow affected their attitude towards teaching. as one participant said, “parang ayaw ko na magturo [feel like i do not want to teach anymore].” similarly, their experiences are also experienced by other beginners in the field as these studies abroad confirm beltman and price (2011), teachers were at greater risk of losing their commitment to and motivation for teaching with heavy workloads; nahal (2010) teaching is a lot more work than expected; brubaker (2016) the participants confirmed that they were unaware and somewhat surprised at the amount of expectations outside of teaching and struggle most of all with the unexpected expectations of the teaching profession; ozturk & yıldırım (2013) found non-instructional duties tiring. emerging themes as the analysis of data progressed, additional themes emerged, aside from the four major themes already identified at the start of the study. emerging themes are expressed using descriptive words to have a clear picture of how it is to be a beginner in the world of teaching. adjectives like challenging, overwhelming, shocking, wonderful, struggle, exciting, fun, colorful, tiring, difficult, rewarding, stressful, and fulfilling vividly represent the participants’ initial years in the profession. challenging. the participants are particularly challenged by students’ attitudes towards their studies, school forms, different monthly activities, new lessons, appropriate strategies to address learner’s differences, adjustment to students’ capability, lack of books and other instructional materials, and loads of paperwork. tiring yet fulfilling. participants find lesson planning, paperwork, frequent school activities, attendance to meetings and seminars, beating deadlines, and numerous workload tiring but fulfilled when they see progress in their students’ scholastic performance and when their efforts are recognized and appreciated by the students and other stakeholders. other emerging minor themes further analysis of the data led to the identification of these other emerging minor themes. the mentioned of these minor themes made them noteworthy. salary. it is both a motivation to do their best in teaching and stay in the current work, and a motivation to seek transfer to a higher paying agency for their salary is low. 11 international peer reviewed journal lack of training and orientation. this is very crucial to beginning teachers, for it will help them to properly execute the task expected from them. participants said that they did not have a proper orientation on how things are done in the school, including the ins and outs in the bureau and other pertinent matters relative to teaching. working environment. this is as important as the other factors to make the first years of the beginners a pleasant one. a healthy working environment makes a person motivated and dedicated to his work while the opposite one discourages a person. the physical environment, including the school personnel as well as the students, may make one’s stay comfortable or miserable. it was found out that some of the participants’ environment is not that pleasant and is not promoting a harmonious relationship. workload. it was found out as one of the struggles that make the job more challenging. five of the participants are given extra load and are teaching other subjects, not in line with their field of specialization. this they say add to the already bulk of work to be done for they have to study the subjects again to teach it with confidence. as stated by a participant, “struggle po talaga everyday [it is really a struggle everyday].” conclusions managing a classroom of diverse learners is considered a problem encountered by most of the participants. although of varying intensity and gravity, it has a significant effect on the beginning teacher’s way of handling concerns in the classroom. this adds up to the already challenging nature of the profession— making the beginners’ grope to find the most appropriate approach to address the issues at hand. at times this challenge left the beginner in surprise if not disoriented, which has a significant consequence in the performance of duty. generally speaking, beginning teachers get the all-out support of their principals, colleagues, students’ parents, and their immediate families except in some cases. the support given to them is significant for it will sustain their enthusiasm for effecting change among the lives of their students. moreover, this will keep the fire burning to persevere despite the complexities and the struggles encountered every day. this support system makes them confident that whatever happens, they have someone to lean on, and this thought makes them brave to face each day without fear. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research the participants find differentiating instruction a struggle ---they have an objective in mind, but the challenge lies on how to make learning effective considering the varied personalities of the learners. the diversity and peculiarities of the learners make the task more challenging, for they have to exhaust all possible means to make learning takes place without pressure. though overwhelmed the determination and dedication to impart knowledge in the best that they can is there. differentiating instruction is like cooking a dish that one has to mix all possible ingredients to make it palatable to different taste buds, yet all will find it delicious. in teaching, the teacher has to exhaust all possible means to make learning takes place, considering the uniqueness of each learner. participants are surprised and shocked that aside from teaching their field of specialization, they have to also teach other subjects and perform other tasks. these they said consumed much of their time for they have to study, prepare lessons, research, and juggle the hours between teaching and doing other assignments. adding to this is the bulk of paperwork to comply and submit on time which they failed to do at times because of lack of orientation about its what’s, when’s, and how’s. the enormous number of tasks to be done drowns the poor beginner that at times made them say, “parang ayaw ko na magturo [feel like i do not want to teach anymore].” the salary which does not receive a special mention in the reviewed studies and literature has been a concern by some of the participants. this made them decide to transfer to a better paying agency. as fuel is to vehicle salary is for teachers --for this does not only finance their personal needs but of their learners as well who are indirectly benefited by it through the instructional materials that they purchase from their own pockets. this somehow contributes to their financial burdens. equally worth noting is the working environment --the very atmosphere where the hours and days of beginning teachers are spent. though most of them are in the calmer environment, others are in the hot seat brought about by their autocrat administrator, unsupportive colleagues, and hostile parents. this definitely impacts teaching and makes them agitated, that affects their well-being. their journey has been challenging, overwhelming, tiring, exhausting, frustrating and a struggle was yet fulfilling and rewarding. this is because of the insurmountable duties and responsibilities attached to the profession and the expectations they have for themselves. likewise, meeting and living up to the trust and confidence of the community because they are “maestro” and “maestra” --whom the public entrusts the future of the learners. these tiring 13 international peer reviewed journal and challenging situations made them vulnerable at times, but a simple gesture of appreciation and a tap on the back rekindles the desire to be the molder of the future of yesterday’s dream --who are equipped not only with skills and knowledge but also of proper values and attitudes. translational research the result of this study could be translated through a journal article for international publication and other media to promote a heightened awareness of the plight of beginning teachers so that appropriate intervention could be done by concerned authorities. moreover, the results could be considered by deped personnel and other school administrators to revisit the policies concerning beginning teachers to enhance the support system extended to them. literature cited abdurrahman, k. o. c. a. problems of novice teachers: challenges vs. support. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.31578/jebs.v1i2.22 anastasiu, i. (2012). the social functions of the family. euromentor journal, 3(2), 1. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3khnuz1 barth, r. s. (2006). improving relationships within the schoolhouse. educational leadership, 63(6), 8. retrieved from https://bit.ly/33wnt4m beltman, s., mansfield, c., & price, a. (2011). thriving not just surviving: a review of research on teacher resilience.  educational research review,  6(3), 185-207. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2011.09.001 braid, f. (2015). teachers and our state of education. manila bulletin. retrieved from https://bit.ly/30tdxvo brubaker, w. m. (2016). a teacher’s journey: a phenomenological analysis of the lived experience of beginning teachers. retrieved from https:// digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/education_etd/167 https://doi.org/10.31578/jebs.v1i2.22 https://bit.ly/3khnuz1 https://bit.ly/33wnt4m https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2011.09.001 14 jpair multidisciplinary research cherubini, l. (2008). a grounded theory analysis of beginning teachers’ experiences: illuminating leadership capacities.  international journal of teacher leadership, 1(1), 22-38. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3kphbyi dickson, m., riddlebarger, j., stringer, p., tennant, l., & kennetz, k. (2014). challenges faced by emirati novice teachers. near and middle eastern journal of research in education, 2014(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.5339/nmejre.2014.4 kahn, d., dubble, s. l., & pendleton, d. r. (1999). the whole-school montessori handbook for teachers and administrators. retrieved from https://bit.ly/31kzlwz headden, s. (2014). beginners in the classroom: what the changing demographics of teaching mean for schools, students, and society. carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching. retrieved from https://bit. ly/31qbmor karataş, p., & karaman, a. c. (2013). challenges faced by novice language teachers: support, identity, and pedagogy in the initial years of teaching. the international journal of research in teacher education, 4(3), 10-23. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2cstfcc macbeath, j. (2012).  future of teaching profession. brussels: education international. https://bit.ly/30tbkqi merriam, s. b., & tisdell, e. j. (2015). qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. john wiley & sons. retrieved from https://bit.ly/347vgwl moir, e. (1999). the stages of a teacher’s first year. a better beginning, supporting and mentoring new teachers. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ddqspf nahal, s. p. (2010). voices from the field: perspectives of first-year teachers on the disconnect between teacher preparation programs and the realities of the classroom.  research in higher education journal,  8, 1. retrieved from https://bit.ly/31hbvsu https://doi.org/10.5339/nmejre.2014.4 https://bit.ly/31kzlwz https://bit.ly/31qbmor https://bit.ly/31qbmor https://bit.ly/2cstfcc https://bit.ly/30tbkqi https://bit.ly/2ddqspf https://bit.ly/31hbvsu 15 international peer reviewed journal ozturk, m., & yildirim, a. (2013). adaptation challenges of novice teachers. hacettepe üniversitesi eğitim fakültesi dergisi, 28(28-1), 294-307. retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/hunefd/issue/7789/101848 sapungan, g. m., & sapungan, r. m. (2014). parental involvement in child’s education: importance, barriers and benefits. asian journal of management sciences & education, 3(2), 23-43. retrieved from https://bit.ly/31kb4r3 shahbazian, m. implementing vancouver school of doing phenomenology in research. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3ft63kw stansbury, k., & zimmerman, j. (2000). lifelines to the classroom: designing support for beginning teachers. knowledge brief. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/31jwtsu symeonidis, v. (2015). the status of teachers and the teaching profession. education international research institute: belgium. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2xvp544 57 international peer reviewed journal effect of first language component-bridging program (flc-bp) approach on secondary students’ macro skills filemon a. pamittan orcid no.: 0000-0001-7746-9139 filemonapamittan@gmail.com nueva vizcaya state university bayombong, nueva vizcaya, philippines abstract the first language component-bridging program (flc-bp) methodology calls for teaching the skills in reading, writing and math concepts in the first language. one major principle of flc-bp is a child’s cultural model of the world which helps him process perceptual information, understand concepts and form new ones. new concepts and skills are built on existing knowledge and structures rather than bypassing them by using a rote memorization methodology. the study was undertaken to find out the effects of the first language component-bridging program on the performance of junior high school learners in their four macro skills. the study adopted the quasi experimental design, specifically the pre-test posttest control group factorial design. three sections of junior high school students were utilized as respondents and assigned to tagalog-english, iloko-english, and english-english teaching approaches. after four months of study, the researcher found out that students exposed to the english-english approach indicated a high level of performance in listening, moderate in speaking and reading and low in writing skill. the tagalog-english and iloko-english showed a high level of performance in listening. tagalog-english indicated a high level of performance in speaking and reading and moderate in writing. the iloko-english students were moderate in speaking, reading and writing skills. furthermore, english-only used as a medium of vol. 13 · august 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v13i1.223 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research instruction is not the best solution to learn to speak and use english as the ladder to success. hence, the researcher recommended the use of first language to improve the performance of students in learning. keywords socio linguistics, first language component-bridging program, mother tongue based-multilingual education, macro skills, factorial design, philippines introduction the department of education pursues to improve the quality of basic education in the philippines. the newest initiative is the k to 12 basic education curriculum where the child’s first language is used as the primary medium of instruction from preschool to grade 3. the mother tongue is the main vehicle to teach mastery and understanding of all subjects. this gives birth to the mother tongue basedmultilingual education (mtb-mle). the bilingual policy of 1974 mandates the use of the first language (l1) to teach comprehension and understanding and the three core subjects science, math and english. this mode of instruction has long been introduced and practiced in ifugao of the cordilleras since 1985. in addition to this, a lot of researches were already conducted with the use of first language in education. to mention a few were the ilo-ilo experiments (1948-1959 and 1961-1964), rizal experiment (1960-1966). there were comprehensive studies conducted in relation to the bilingual policy like the first language exponent-bridging program which was first introduced in ifugao province on 1986-1993; the lingua franca education project was launched in sy 1999-2001 (baguingan, 1999) mandated by decs memo no. 144 s.1999 and later expanded with the inclusion of more schools and more languages through decs memo no. 243 s. 2000; and the culture-responsive curriculum for indigenous people-third elementary education project (ccip-teep) case study from 2003 to 2007 (labrador, 2010). the results of these studies show that when teachers use the child’s mother tongue, the latter learn to read more quickly; learn better in math and science; and improve in cognitive skills. they also participate more actively in classes when the mother tongue was used as a medium of instruction. furthermore, children who have learned to read and write in their first language learn to speak, read and write in the second and third languages more quickly. overall, those who begin school in their first language with careful bridging with the two languages emerge as more competent in all areas of study than children who do not. 59 international peer reviewed journal in consonance with the findings of these studies, the department of education order 74 was issued on july 14, 2009 which institutionalized the mother tonguebased multilingual education (mtb-mle). mle is grounded on the lessons and findings of various local initiatives and international findings in basic education validating the superiority of the child’s first language or mother tongue in reforming and advancing learning outcomes and promoting education for all (efa). with these transformations in basic education, from the very first flcbp to mtb-mle and found effective, the researcher adopted the concept and tried out to junior high school learners. framework this study was based on theoretical principles of teaching and learning a second language. to maximize the use of the second language, the learner must be made aware of its basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (krashen, 1982, 1991), and anchored to house bill no. 3719 known as multilingual education and literacy bill authored by rep. magtanggol t. gunigundo of the 2nd district of valenzuela city. communication requires the use of the language proficiency in both oral and written. the ability to read as well as to write is developed after the learner has acquired a fair knowledge of listening and speaking skills. speaking and writing are two modes of communication that must be integrated in the classrooms. they know that when they write, they also read (white, 1981 and nunan, 1991). moreover, the k to 12 basic education program aims to produce filipino graduates who are holistically-developed with the 21st century skills prepared for higher education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship (seameo innotech, 2012). with the above theories and principles of language learning, the researcher conceptualized the framework of the study as reflected in figure 1 wherein three teaching approaches: the tagalog-english, iloko-english, and english-english were tested for their effectiveness in developing the english proficiency of students along the four macro skills namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing. in addition, the researcher foresees the effects of prior knowledge as covariance like national achievement test (nat) results in english. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. research flow objectives of the study this study was conducted to determine the effect of first language componentbridging program (flc-bp) on the performance of junior high school learners in their four macro skills. it aimed to assess students’ performance in their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills using mtb-mle as a methodology. methodology experimental design the quasi experimental design, specifically the pre-test post-test control group factorial design was adopted in the study. three groups of teaching strategies: tagalog-english, iloko-english, and english-english were tested for effectiveness along the four macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing considering the national achievement test (nat) results in english as covariance. 61 international peer reviewed journal subjects in the study the study was conducted in one of the public high schools in the division of nueva vizcaya from august to november, 2012. three intact classes were chosen from the 15 sections intended for grade 7 students. the selection of these 3 classes was based on the results of the qualifying examination. the examination was personally administered by the researcher to avoid some doubts and suspicions as to the validity and reliability of the test. it was a 90 multiple choice item covering the four macro skills. after administering the test, the researcher collated all the results of the examination and computed the calculated weighted mean ratings of the different sections, after which, the three classes which had the closest weighted mean ratings were chosen as the direct respondents of the research. after determining the three intact classes for the study, the researcher had conducted a draw lots method to assign which treatment should be given to each section. section magiting was assigned as treatment 1 (all english), section pluto was assigned as treatment 2 (tagalog-english) and section malikhain was treatment 3 (iloko-english). these three selected classes had 30 – 45 students each and were randomly assigned to the three teaching strategies. research instruments the study used the following instruments. a qualifying examination, a 90-item examination designed to identify 3 comparable classes for the experiment. a pretest and post-test, a 60 multiple choice item that focused on the four macro skills. the examination was intended for one hour. the listening skill was a 15 item test which required the students to listen carefully as the teacher read the text or played the recorder from which the text was recorded. the other three macro skills: speaking, reading, and writing skills had also 15 items each respectively. in addition, the quarterly kit was given by the department of education (deped). the kit contained the outlined lessons that served as guides for grade seven teachers. the same kit was translated to other languages such as iloko and tagalog. the kits were also used in the experimental treatments. experimental treatments the three treatments used in the study were as follows: treatment 1: all english. the researcher used the english language as a medium 62 jpair multidisciplinary research of instruction for the whole duration of the class. discussions, questions, and answers coming from the students were strictly all english. treatment 2: tagalog-english. this time, the researcher conducted the lesson in tagalog for the first 25 minutes and the second half in english. the 10 minutes remaining was used for evaluation. the evaluation was in english. treatment 3: iloko-english. the researcher used the iloko language in explaining the lesson for the first 25 minutes. then, the next 25 minutes was done in english. the 10 minutes remaining was utilized for evaluation, in english. the content coverage, time frame, examination were all the same, only the translated lectures for the discussion were unique from each strategies. the lessons taught were based from the quarterly kit given by the department of education (deped). the kit contained the outlined lessons that served as guides for grade seven teachers during the year. statistical tools the statistical tools used in the study were descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, mean, standard deviation and ranks to determine the demographic profile of the respondents; mean and standard deviation to determine the level of performance of the respondents in the pre-test and post-test. inferential methods were used such as ancova, to determine differences on the post-test scores of each respondent group subjected to the mtb-ble strategies; omega squared (w2) to calculate the measure of association for the ancova; and the bonferonni procedures to conduct pairwise comparisons following significant main effect. results and discussion profile of the respondents the respondents were within the normal age of regular grade vii students with an average age of 12.54 years old, and female dominated. as to the type of elementary school, 97.3% of the respondents were graduates of public schools and 2.7% from private schools. majority of the respondents’ parents were college graduates and their fathers’ occupations were mostly drivers and carpenters. most mothers were housekeepers. presence of reading materials, 97.3% of the respondents owned books, 77.5% newspapers, 79.3% magazines, 73.0% had comics and almost all of them owned mass communication materials at home. the respondents used tagalog and iloko as their home language. 63 international peer reviewed journal performance of the respondents in the four macro skills before the study table 1 reflects the performance level of the respondents along the four macro skills. the over-all performance is a moderate level which further implied that at the start of the conduct of the study, the students had a stock knowledge already in almost all the macro skills from their earlier exposures to the english subjects in their elementary levels. however, the other implication was that skills were found wanting. although the over-all level of the three groups were all moderate, class individual scores revealed that the tagalog-english group ranked number one in all the macro skills followed by the iloko-english group which ranked second, and third was the all english group. this data gave us a concrete picture that the students in the tagalog-english group had better preparation over the two groups. this was shown by their grade vi english grades which were high. such grades showed that students assigned in the tagalog-english group were exposed to a variety of activities in regard to or related to the four macro skills over the other groups, the all english and the iloko-english. from the observations made by the researcher during the conduct of the study, some students in the tagalog-english group exhibited impulsive and quick response to problem-solving tasks. they competed as to who should be the first to answer questions without mulling over the question. a few students however, were reflective and carefully considered alternative hypothesis. these students responded more slowly to the tasks but, they were more accurate. on the other hand, students in the iloko-english group preferred to work by themselves independently. they were self-motivated and happy to choose the learning tasks for themselves. they were committed to the tasks and persisted at it until completion. other students were found to be distracted, and needed others to create and devise stimulating learning situations for them. meanwhile, the students in the all english group were risk-takers. they were observed to be more likely to guess and speculate about the learning task. they preferred to take chances and preferred situations, lacking in the spirit of working harder, consequently outcomes were uncertain. other students of this group however, were observed to be cautious students and felt uncomfortable in risky situations, and so they devised different strategies to make sure the answers were accurate. some students preferred to learn to work in groups or in pairs. this happened most of the time in the classroom. most students preferred the social situation involving discussion while they worked. the insight to this observation is to maximize the strategy of cooperative learning. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. performance levels of the respondents in the four macro skills based on the pre-test result experimental group particulars macro skills listening speaking reading writing overall all english mean 7.51 6.51 8.63 5.03 27.68 sd 2.20 3.29 2.31 1.72 6.82 description moderate moderate moderate low moderate tagalog-english mean 8.91 7.66 8.69 7.14 32.40 sd 2.50 2.13 2.13 2.16 5.89 description moderate moderate moderate moderate moderate iloko-english mean 7.68 6.73 8.10 5.56 28.07 sd 2.37 3.20 2.22 2.27 6.79 description moderate moderate moderate low moderate performance of the respondents in the four macro skills after the study generally, the two groups of respondents were within the high level of performance in their listening skill after going through the intervention strategy. the overall performance level of the respondents in the speaking test was within the moderate level. the respondents were generally within the moderate level of performance in the reading skill indicated by the mean scores. moreover, the performance level in the writing skill of the group of respondents treated with the tagalog-english was within the moderate level while the groups treated with iloko-english and all-english were within the low level. for the overall performance in the macro skills based on their post test results, the respondents exposed to all english had moderate performance level; while the groups of respondents exposed to tagalog-english and iloko-english fell within the high level of performance. overall, the two group respondents’ scores were within the high level of performance in all the macro skills in english after the experiment. 65 international peer reviewed journal table 2. performance levels of the respondents in the four macro skills based on the post-test result experimental group particulars macro skills listening speaking reading writing total all english mean 9.6286 7.5714 8.4286 6.0857 31.7143 sd 2.4142 2.9032 1.7027 2.6830 6.7544 description high moderate moderate low moderate tagalogenglish mean 12.1429 10.4286 10.0571 8.6286 41.2571 sd 2.3407 1.6321 1.9242 2.0876 5.5378 description high high high moderate high iloko-english mean 11.3171 9.2195 9.1707 7.5122 37.2195 sd 1.7810 2.5151 2.0360 2.0630 5.7901 description high moderate moderate moderate high comparison of the performance levels of the respondents in the four macro skills based on the gain score and english score in nat as covariance the table presents the comparison of the performance levels of the respondents in the four macro skills based on the gain scores and english scores in nat as covariance. the discussion is focused on how the respondents fairly performed after carrying out the mother tongue based-multilingual education (mtb-mle) curriculum, through the structured approach, the first language componentbridging program (flc-bp). the national achievement test was used as covariance for the ancova to determine the effect of the teaching strategies in the achievement levels of the students in the different macro skills in english: listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. ancova of the gain scores of the respondents when subjected to various treatments in mtb-mle and the effect of their national achievement test (english) as covariance experimental group univariate analysis of covariance n mean sd computed f-value significant level w 2 listening all english 35 2.11 2.11 5.939 0.004* 8%tagalog-english 35 3.23a= b= c 1.83 iloko-english 41 3.63b = c> a 1.92 speaking all english 35 1.06 2.98 5.120 0.008* 7%tagalog-english 35 2.77b = c> a 2.10 iloko-english 41 2.49b = c> a 2.17 reading all english 35 -0.20 2.15 8.975 0.000* 12%tagalog-english 35 1.37b = c> a 1.29 ilokano-english 41 1.07b = c> a 1.46 writing all english 35 1.06 2.30 1.928 0.150 2%tagalog-english 35 1.49 1.82 iloko-english 41 1.95 1.97 overall (macro skills) all english 35 4.03 4.84 19.223 0.000* 25%tagalog-english 35 8.86b = c> a 3.07 iloko-english 41 9.15b = c> a 3.74 listening skill. table 3 displayed the comparison of the performance levels of the students in the different macro skills when subjected to flc-bp approach, all english, tagalog-english and iloko-english. the data revealed that the group of students taught in the iloko-english had the highest mean gain scores in the listening test with the gain scores of 3.63; tagalog-english with gain scores of 3.23. the group of students taught using theall english displayed the least increase in the listening skill test. 67 international peer reviewed journal the ancova also revealed a significant difference in the performance levels of the students in the listening skill when exposed to the flc-bp as indicated by the computed value of f (2, 110) = 5.939, p = 0.004. this means that the students differed in performance when treated with the following strategies: all english, tagalog-english and iloko-english. however, only 8% (w2 =0.08) of the total variance in the listening skill was accounted for by the three flc-bp strategies controlling effect of english nat score. moreover, the pairwise comparisons using bonferroni procedure was conducted to determine which strategy had a significant effect on the listening achievement of the students. the results show that tagalog-english and all english had no significant difference in the performance levels of the students in the listening skill. this means that the students taught in the all english had the same listening performance as the group of students taught in the tagalog-english. the group of students taught in the iloko-english performed significantly better in the listening test than the students taught in the all english. the students on the other hand, taught in the tagalogenglish and the iloko-english did not show any significant difference between them in their performance in the listening test. the above findings showed that the students taught in their mother tongue performed significantly better in the four macro skills in english. using iloko and tagalog as media of instruction developed the capabilities of the students in their listening skills. the most logical explanation for this finding was that the students who were exposed to the flc-bp, an approach which implements the mtb-mle curriculum was supported cognitively by their first language, like comprehension was untangled and only language skill in english remained to be the only difficulty. two principles seem to be suggested by these data. first, mother tongue strategies for education are best suited to settings where there is a high degree of both linguistic homogeneity and monolingualism. second, students can be effectively educated in a second language if and only if they speak that language well when they begin school (walter and trammel, 2010). it is also noted that using the language the child understandsthe child’s first language, or mother tongue-for teaching lessons, not only enables the child to immediately master curriculum content, but also in the process it affirms the value of the child and his/her cultural and language heritage. additionally, because filipino and english are taught as subjects, learning skills that are built using the child’s mother tongue are easily applied to the acquisition of filipino and english. speaking skill. it was mentioned earlier that the group of students exposed to tagalog-english had the highest increase, followed by the group of students exposed in iloko-english. the all english group displayed the least increase. the results of 68 jpair multidisciplinary research ancova, f (2, 110) = 5.120, p = 0.008 further revealed that the three groups differed significantly in their performance in the speaking skill with 7% (w2 =0.07) of the total variance in the speaking skill accounted for by the three treatments, controlling effect of the english nat score. pairwise comparison was also utilized to determine further which pair of variables produced significant differences among the three groups. the group of students taught in the all english and the tagalog-english differed significantly in their scores in the speaking skill test. this means that the group of students exposed to the tagalog-english performed significantly better in the speaking skill over the group of students taught in the all english. there was also significant difference between the performance of the students taught in the all english and the iloko-english; hence, students taught in the iloko-english performed significantly better than the students taught in the all english. there was no significant difference between the speaking performance of the students exposed to tagalog-english and iloko-english. the table further indicates that the respondents in the speaking skill subjected to the treatments with nat score in english as covariance revealed that there was no significant difference between the tagalog-english and the iloko-english as media of instruction in the performance level of the two groups. the flc-bp approach worked consistently well to contribute to the self-esteem of students in their significant performance and their esteem manifested itself in my observation notes that they were vibrant in their class participation. they expressed their insights like pros devoid of apprehensions. students who recited and learned in their first language were trained to think more likely to help themselves learn to speak a second language because language skills that are developed well in a first language are transferrable to a second language. moreover, mastering the first language cognitively promotes cognitive development needed to more easily learn a second language. reading skill. the ancova, f(2, 110) = 8.975, p = 0.000, revealed that the three groups of students differed significantly in their reading skill performance when exposed to the two teaching strategies, 12% (w2 =0.12) of the total variance in the reading skill was accounted for by the treatments controlling effect of english nat score. this means that the strategies used had a significant effect in the reading skill of the students with nat score in english as covariance. furthermore, to determine the pairs of groups that have significant differences, pairwise comparisons using bonferroni procedure was conducted. the results revealed that there was a significant difference in the reading performance of the students exposed in the tagalog-english and the all english as indicated by the significant level of 0.000. the same finding was also obtained in the comparison of the performance of the group taught in the ilokoenglish and the all english as indicated by the significant level of 0.006. this means 69 international peer reviewed journal that the students taught using tagalog-english or iloko-english have significantly better reading performance than the students taught in the all english. moreover, students taught in tagalog-english and iloko english did not differ significantly in their reading performance as indicated by the significant level of 0.987. this means that the treatment using a diglot language simultaneously was significantly better over the mandated method of teaching english, the immersion approach. prior knowledge and thinking strategies come through the texts whenever one uses his mother tongue to process both old and new information. these two types of information better enhance the experimental groups’ understanding of the text. using a diglot strategy, the first difficulty in the reading process, understanding and comprehension is dissipated by the use of the first language; when this is cleared the challenge of comprehension is cleared. the remaining difficulty is to put the gained understanding and comprehension into the target language. using the all english offers no help, because a reader who is a non-english speaker has to grapple with two skills: cognitive and linguistic skills. these two skills are well knotted, as that of a knotted sewing thread. unless one wounds the knotted thread, he can use it functionally to thread a needle. this is the analogy of the flc-bp. writing skill. table 3 showed the result of the ancova, f (2, 110) = 1.928, p = 0.150 revealed that there was no significant difference in the writing performance of the groups of students taught in the treatments: tagalog-english, iloko-english, and all english. this means that the groups of students taught in the tagalog-english, iloko-english and all english had similar performance in their writing skills. the table further revealed that writing skill was the most difficult and most ignored among the four macro skills. hedge (1988) stressed that writing poses a great problem among students who speak english as a foreign language. this is because effective writing requires a degree of organization in the development of ideas and information. it also requires a degree of accuracy so there is no ambiguity. a substantial body of evidence, supported by my observations, indicates that students never try their best to write. first, they do not have a stock of english vocabulary that will make them want to write. another difficulty of students in writing is due to the lack of interest. when students find their minds snap and altogether stop to even begin the activity. they may have ideas, but they have no words in english with which to give meaning to these ideas. however, writing should not be neglected. it is essential that students have the freedom to express their thoughts and bring out their ideas. they can be encouraged to write in their first language and into english. writing in their first language can spring out creative ideas put into good form because through their first language there is a smooth flow of words to authentically express them. through the first language, 70 jpair multidisciplinary research all of what they want to say is easily put into words. after working substance, they can now put the same substance to english albeit with difficulty. but never mind, the more important thing is that the flc-bp triggers a creative mind. overall macro skills. it was presented earlier in this chapter that the students taught in tagalog-english had the highest post-test mean score in the four overall macro skills with the mean score of 41.26; followed by the group of students taught in iloko-english (mean = 37.22); and the group of students taught in all english had the lowest post-test mean score (mean = 31.71). when the gain scores (increase) were compared, the group of students taught in iloko-english recorded the highest increase with their mean increase of 9.15; followed by the group of students taught in tagalog-english with the mean increase of 8.86; and the group of students exposed to all english had the least gain score of 4.03. the ancova determined if the three groups exposed to the strategies performed significantly in their overall macro skills. the value, f (2, 110) = 19.223, p = 0.000 revealed that there was a significant difference in the performance of the students in macro skills. this means that the flc-bp approach used had an effect in the performance of the students. however, about 25% (w2 =0.25) of the total variance in the macro skills was accounted for by the three strategies (mtb-mle) controlling effect of english nat score. further, study revealed that there was a significant difference in the overall macro skills performance of the students when subjected to all english and tagalogenglish indicated by the significant level of 0.000. the groups of students subjected to all english and iloko-english differed significantly in their overall macro skills as revealed by the p = 0.000. students taught in tagalog-english and iloko-english performed better in their macro skills than the students exposed to all english as strategy. from the above discussions, the medium of instruction is significantly related to students’ performance in the four macro skills in english. the two groups of students taught in the flc-bp performed higher in their listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills, and even in the writing skills scoring higher over the immersion class, the all english class. their overall significant macro skills performance over the all english using their home language meaningfully for a variety of purposes, gained comprehension and understanding via the first language, as this same skill made them overcome their feeling of insecurity and inferiority. 71 international peer reviewed journal test for significant interaction effects table 4 showed the ancova of the achievement of the respondents exposed to the macro skills (factor a) and subjected to mtb-mle strategies (factor b) with english score in nat as covariance. the interaction between the macro skills and the approaches did not differ significantly. this means that there was not enough evidence to conclude that the students in the different macro skills and the teaching strategies on the use of mtb-mle had a significant interaction effect in their achievements in english. table 4. summary table for the ancova on the macro skills achievement level of the students (factor a) subjected to mtb-mle strategies (factor b) with english score in nat as covariance sources sum of squares degree of freedom mean square f-ratio significant level macro skills (a) 725.293 3 241.764 50.359 0.000* mtb-mle strategies (b) 394.960 2 197.480 41.135 0.000* mtb-ble*macro skills 17.975 6 2.996 0.624 0.711 error 2069.135 431 4.801 total 40740.000 444 corrected total 3248.108 443 * significant test for (factor a) differences. the results of ancova on the macro skills revealed that there was a significant difference in the achievement levels of the students in the different macro skills. this means that some groups of students performed significantly better than the other groups. to determine the pair of means that were significant, the pairwise comparisons using bonferroni procedure was utilized. the results are displayed in table 5. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. pairwise comparisons using bonferroni procedure of the achievement of the respondents in english subjected to macro skills with english nat score as covariance pairwise comparisons mean difference standard error significant level listening (11.027) vs speaking (9.070) 1.956 0.295 0.00* listening (11.027) vs reading (9.216) 1.811 0.295 0.00* listening (11.027) vs writing (7.406) 3.621 0.295 0.00* speaking (9.070) vs reading (9.216) -0.146 0.295 1.00 speaking (9.070) vs writing (7.406) 1.664 0.295 0.00* reading (9.216) vs writing (7.406) 1.810 0.295 0.00* * – significant numbers in parentheses are adjusted means evaluated at covariance appeared in the model: english nat scores = 28.6486 the table showed that the performance of the students in the listening skill was significantly the highest in the hierarchy of the four macro skills; speaking skill second, reading skill third and writing skill the least. the finding further revealed that the respondents displayed desirable characteristics of being good listeners rather than as a speaker, a reader or a writer. this attitude may be attributed to the fact that students today like to listen to rock and love songs, telenovelas, and dramas in their homes. the performance may have been influenced by this behaviour at home. test for (factor b) differences. the students differed significantly in their achievement in english when subjected to the two approaches. this finding was revealed by the computed f-ratio of 41.135 with p = 0.00, controlled by the effect of english nat scores as covariance. this means that at least one pair of the three classes is significantly different from the other group (factor b). there remains the task of knowing which pair of means significantly differs using pairwise comparisons with the aid of bonferroni procedure. the results of the test are presented in table 6. 73 international peer reviewed journal table 6. pairwise comparisons using bonferroni procedure of the achievement of the respondents in english subjected to mtb-ble strategies with english nat score as covariance pairwise comparisons mean difference standard error significant level all english (7.915) vs tagalog-english (10.271) -2.355 0.262 0.00* all english (7.915) vs iloko-english (9.353) 1.438 0.254 0.00* tagalog-english (10.271)vs iloko-english (9.353) 0.917 0.255 0.10 * – significant numbers in parentheses are adjusted means evaluated at covariance appeared in the model: english nat scores = 28.6486 table 6 revealed that there was a significant difference in the achievement of the students subjected to the tagalog-english and the all english. students exposed to the tagalog-english performed significantly better than the students exposed to the all english. it was found out that the students taught in iloko-english had significantly higher achievement in english than the students taught in the all english. the table further showed that the students taught in tagalog-english and ilokoenglish did not differ significantly in their english achievement. this means that the flc-bp approach of the tagalog-english and iloko-english had nearly the same effect in the english performance of the students. students taught in these approaches performed significantly better than the students taught in the immersion, the all english. this means that if the students were taught using the same approach, the flc-bp, their performances in the macro skills would still be closely similar. this indicates that when iloko-english was used by students as mother tongue or first language and tagalog-english as their wider language of communication influenced by media, this study had shown the researcher that the principles of the flc-bp can be expanded into the lingua franca, be it a regional language or even a national language. presidential commission on educational reform (pcer) stated that the poor quality of education stemmed from the mismatch of pedagogy and mode of instruction. to find a solution to address the problem, a research on the flc-bp was launched in region 02 and car through a moa (1999) signed between the former secretary of education, the late bro. andrew gonzalez and former president of the nvsu, dr. marcelo m. roguel to conduct the study in region 02 under the auspice of the 74 jpair multidisciplinary research lingua franca program to be conducted by dr. gloria d. baguingan, proponent of the flc-bp, using three languages in region 02 and lubuagan, car. this program was run for two years, 1999-2001. the flc-bp approach is a success story in region 02 and lubuagan, car. department order 74, series 2009, institutionalizing mtb-mle signed by jesli a. lapus, secretary of the department of education cited notably the lingua franca program and lubuagan first language affirming the benefits and relevance of mle. the lingua franca and lubuagan program, were all programs of the nvsu as stipulated in the moa. these researches were the bases of the deped 74 recommendations to use the mother tongue from grades 1 3. studies in the lingua franca project and lubuagan first language component showed that students learn more effectively when they have developed proficiency in their first language. if students are literate in their first language, they know how language works. first language proficiency provides an excellent foundation for learning a second language. if students are proficient in their cognitive ability through their first language, this ability will carry them to gain the same in a second language. for example, they already know about guessing the meaning of a word from contexts, they will know how to predict meaning to form a text; when they know about text structure, they will know about the purposes of the different types of texts, and most importantly they will feel confident as readers and writers. when literacy is well developed in first language learning, a second language is a much easier process. students who are successful second language learners are usually very proficient in their first language. it is less usual for them to be a successful second language learners when they have little knowledge and ability in their first language. conclusions in the light of the findings, the following conclusions are presented. first, all respondents indicated a moderate level of performance in listening, speaking and reading in the administered pre-test before undergoing the treatments. however, they indicated a low level in the writing skills. second, all respondents indicated a high level of performance in the listening skill but for the immersion group, they were moderate in speaking, reading and low in writing skill after they were subjected to the flc-bp treatment. meanwhile, the tagalog-english group significantly showed a high level of performance in speaking and reading and moderate in the writing skill, and for the iloko-english, they were moderate in speaking, reading and writing skills. furthermore, a significant difference was noted in the achievement of the students exposed to the locally initiated approach, the flc-bp over the standard, 75 international peer reviewed journal the immersion approach. there were also significant differences noted on the performance levels of the students in the overall macro skills controlled by the effect of national achievement test (nat) english results for the flc-bp classes. on the other hand, there was no significant interaction noted between the teaching strategies (mtb-mle) and the different macro skills in the achievement of the students in english with english nat scores as covariate. recommendations the overwhelming majority of students will forever struggle with english as a foreign language if the approach to learn it is not redirected. students will always feel alienated in their classrooms where they are required to speak english. they learn very little and enjoy the learning process even less. they will fail examinations and eventually drop out. the use of the english-only as moi in schools in important subjects, english, math and science may also explain why students revert to illiteracy as soon as they drop out of schools. they have been taught to be literate in english through rote memorization. english-only as moi therefore, is not the best solution to learn to speak and use english as the ladder to success in college. the use of the first language will not only improve the quality of education but will also be the tool for learning and improving the learning of english. based on the major findings of the two approaches used to teach the macro skills in english, grade vii and conclusions drawn from it, the following recommendations are offered. first, ra 10157 which provides the use of the mother tongue to end in grade vi and this research was implemented for grade vii, this study nevertheless pointed out that using the flc-bp over the immersion approach enhanced significantly students’ performance in the macro skills. on the basis of this research, the flcbp is recommended as a tool for improving students skills in language over the immersion approach. if not adopted for a total classroom moi, it is recommended for remediation. next, within the local context, an approach must be based upon a systematic, theoretically grounded practice and must be approved by the community as viable and practical; in the case of the flc-bp, this approach had been endorsed by neda, 2006 for region wide and nationwide use. the flc-bp can be recommended for use as a methodology on the basis of this study: 1) teachers can adopt the methodology to enhance students’ active participation in the classroom but must undergo the training; 2) administrators should be given orientation and explore various methods in order to monitor teachers’ activities in the flc-bp approach; 3) curriculum 76 jpair multidisciplinary research planners should have a think tank group from the multi-sectoral society to plan curriculum for the region, division, district and school level; 4 ) a close cooperation between parents and students to sit together to help students in their requirements in school, especially so if the flc-bp approach is used; inevitably when this approach is used language and culture intertwined in the content of curriculum; thus wisdom of parents are called for. in addition, the department of education should provide the necessary teaching materials like newly updated books, supplementary reading materials and teaching aids to implement fully k to 12 curriculums. english teachers of grade vii on the basis of the significant gain scores obtained by the research should continue using the first language component-bridging program (flc-bp), an approach which implements mtb-mle in their classrooms to develop the macro skills of the students. moreover, english teachers should undergo extensive in-service trainings and workshops on how to implement mother tongue based-multilingual education (mtb-mle) curriculum. english teachers should motivate themselves to take advanced courses in english to acquire knowledge in the recent development of the english language. english is a growing language. this move will enhance their competence in teaching the subject. furthermore, similar study should be conducted including other related factors that have effects on the development of the macro skills of the students. tagalogiloko-english will be included as one strategy in the experimental set up. instructional materials using the principles of the flc-bp methodology should be offered to institutions as one of the choices teachers can buy from. to date, the only moi available in the field of teaching english is the immersion approach. the flc-bp is an innovative approach that leaps frog students’ performance in the macro skills. literature cited baguingan, g. 1999 demise of indigenous language spells death to creative thinking and ethnic authenticity. paper presented at 12th world congress of applied linguistics, tokyo, japan, august 1-6, 1999. decs (department of education, culture and sports) 1999 memo no. 144 s. 1999. lingua franca education project. retrieved october 10, 2011 from http://www.deped.gov.ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceimg/ dm%20no%20144%20s%20199 9.pdf. 77 international peer reviewed journal decs (department of education, culture and sports) 2000 memo no. 243 s. 2000. training workshop batch 2 on the lingua franca education project. retrieved october10, 2011 from http://www.deped.gov. ph/cpanel/uploads/issuance img/dm%20no%20243 %20 s%202000.pdf deped (department of education) 2009 order no. 74 2009. institutionalizing mothertongue-based multilingual education (mle).retrieved october 10, 2011 from http://www.deped.gov. ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceimg/do%20no.%2074,%20s.% 202009.pdf deped (department of education) 2011 order no. 90 s. 2011. guidelines on the utilization of downloaded funds for materials development and production of mother tongue-based multilingual education (mtb-mle) program. deped (department of education) 2012 k12 teacher’s guide. grade 7 english. first quarter deped (department of education) 2012 learner’s manual. grade 7 english. quarters 12 hedge, t. 1988 writing. oxford: oxford university press. krashen, s. 1982 principles and practice in second language acquisition. oxford: pergamon krashen, s. 1991 bilingual education: a focus on current research. occasional papers in bilingual education 3. washington dc: national clearinghouse for bilingual education. labrador, v. 2010 deped promotes the use of mother tongue in classrooms. source: sunstar davao, lorenzo e. mendoza, sunday, april 18, 2010 *http://www.deped. gov.ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceimg/enclosure%201.pdf 78 jpair multidisciplinary research nunan, d. 1991 language teaching methodology: a textbook for teachers, prentice hall international, london. nunan, d. 1997 listening in language learning. paper presented at the korea tesol convention, kyongju, korea, october 1997. seameo innotech 2012 k to 12 toolkit, reference guide for teacher educators, school administrators and teachers walter, s. and trammel, k. 2010 “the kom experimental mother tongue education project report for 2010”.mlenetwork.org/content/kom-experimental-mother-tongueeducationproject-report-2010 walter, s. l. 2011 mother tongue-based education in developing countries: some emerging insights. retrieved october 13, 2011 fromhttp://www.education fasttrack.org/media/library/blog/steve-walter mothertongueinsights.pdf white, r.v. 1981 approaches to writing, guideline 6, 1-11, reprinted in m.h. longand j.c. richards (eds.), methodology in tesol: a book of readings. newyork: newbury house/harper and row, pp. 298-304. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed/aggregated by the following agencies: 1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; 2) philippine e-journals; 3) google scholar; 4) index copernicus; 5) scholastica; 6) researchgate; 7) lacriee of france; 8)university library of leipzig, germany; 9) linguist list; and 10) the journaltocs. 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.324 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. effect of different levels of paclobutrazol on the yield of asha and farmers’ variety of peanut mary grace b. gatan http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6083-0060 mbgatan.mgbg@gmail.com pampanga state agricultural university magalang, pampanga virgilio dm. gonzales http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7476-4703 virgon3000@gmail.com pampanga state agricultural university magalang, pampanga abstract peanut (arachis hypogaea) is commonly grown during the dry season and most farmers used the native variety. growth retardants such as paclobutrazol (pbz) was found to increase yield of some important crops. a study was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of paclobutrazol on the peanut yield of asha and farmers’ variety during the wet season. the experimental area was laid out using randomized complete block design (rcbd) factorial. treatments were replicated thrice. data were analyzed by analysis of variance (anova) and the honest significant difference (hsd) test was used to compare treatment means. the increasing level of pbz increased the number of pods of asha by 29.97% while the most number of seeds was obtained from farmers’ variety. applied pbz asha at 150mg/l recorded the highest shelling percentage that is 16.19% higher when compared to the untreated. paclobutrazol application 2 jpair multidisciplinary research significantly increased seed yield of asha and farmers’ variety by 43.34% and 20.86% at 150mg/l and 75mg/l, respectively. the increase in yield was due to the observed reduction in plant height and stem growth which possibly enhanced assimilate partitioning to pods. asha applied with pbz at 150mg/l obtained the highest seed yield of 4.2 tons/ha. keywords — agriculture, yield, peanut, paclobutrazol, experimental design, pampanga, philippines introduction about 95% of the peanut areas in the country are planted with the native low yielding variety. in the country, farmers are concern in finding means on how to increase peanut production. paclobutrazol, a plant growth retardant is usually applied to some important crops to reduce unwanted shoot growth without lowering plant productivity. plant growth regulators play a vital role in many physiological processes associated with growth and development of plants (p. s. thakur & a. thakur, 1993). paclobutrazol was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the triazoles, which are the most highly active class of growth retardants. paclobutrazol is commonly known as pp333tm, cultartm,paclotm, and bonzi. it is effective on a wide range of plants species, including several bulbous and woody plants, which are not proved sensitive to other retardants (purohit, 1985). paclobutrazol is a xylem-mobile, and, therefore, effective retardation relies primarily on uptake of the chemical via the roots. because triazoles chemicals can be transported in the xylem, they may be absorbed by the leaves, but cannot be moved out of the leaves to other parts of the plant. the most consistent effect of paclobutrazol on growth retardation is that it can induce additional effects such as an increase in ear or grain number or modification in canopy structure. paclobutrazol have been reported to reduce the sterol levels of plant tissues. the functional role of sterols in membranes and the regulatory properties of the brassinosteroids may contribute to the spectrum of effects that these growth retardants can exert under certain conditions. because of this, paclobutrazol is very active at low rates it is applied at the rate of 2 to 90 ppm. paclobutrazol is a post-emergence growth regulator and is applied anytime after the emergence of target plants. effects may not be noticeable for up to eighteen months. growth retardants such as paclobutrazol are sometimes called anti gibberellins because 3 international peer reviewed journal they inhibit gibberellin biosynthesis which reduces gibberellin levels and causes a decrease in shoot growth (hartmann, kester & davies jr. 1990). paclobutrazol reduce plant growth by inhibiting the microsomal oxidation of kaurene, kaurenol, and kaurenal, which is catalyzed by kaurene oxidase, a cytochrome p-450 oxidase (davis, steffens, sankhla, 1988;izumi, kamiya, sakurai, oshio & takahashi, 1985). in addition to blocking gibberellin biosynthesis, paclobutrazol have been shown to inhibit sterol biosynthesis (haughan, burden, lenton & goad, 1989), reduce aba (wang, sun, ji & faust, 1987), ethylene (sauerbrey, grossman & jung, 1988) and indole – 3–acetic acid ( law & hamilton, 1989); an increase cytokinin content (izumi et al., 1988). the effects of triazoles particularly the paclobutrazol on hormonal changes, photosynthetic rate, enzyme activities and yield components was reported by zhou and ye (1996). paclobutrazol is an inhibitor of endogenous gibberellin synthesis by preventing the oxidation of ent-kaurene to ent-kaurenol, a precursor of gibberellic acid. paclobutrazol applied with 100-200 ppm at the early pod filling of the peanut stage showed the greatest increase in pod and seed yields compared to that of untreated or with 400 ppm paclobutrazol. the number of pods m-2pod reached 370g/m2 that is due to the gain in podding rates during the early flowering stage resulting in the alteration of the distribution of assimilates from the foliage to the pods. in addition, photosynthetic potentials, such as chlorophyll contents, efficiencies of photosystem ii and co2 assimilation rates, were improved by the paclobutrazol treatment (senoo & isoda, 2003). in 2011, xiumei et al., stated that the paclobutrazol treatment reduced pod number, productivity per plant and yield of peanuts relative to the control. according to chen et al., (2010), paclobutrazol also reduced the peanut plant height and lateral branch while increasing the number of branches and number of pod per plant, rate of filled pod and oil content of seed. in addition, reported that peanut applied with paclobutrazol resulted in the reduction of stem length. paclobutrazol at 150 mg/l applied at blossoming stage inhibited the growth of the main stems and branches. however, the number of pods per plant and percentage of filled pods were increased resulting to increase in yield (ming-hui, 2009). the application of paclobutrazol at blooming stage of peanut inhibited the height of a plant and promoted the pod filling percentage, hence increased the yield and income. the optimum amount of paclobutrazol was 500g/m-2(liang, senlin, zhizhong & zheng chen, 1995). zheng (2008) reported that 15% 4 jpair multidisciplinary research paclobutrazol could effectively inhibit the growth of peanut plants and promote more pods and mature pods leading to high yield. the 15% paclobutrazol effectively controlled the growth of above-ground part of peanut plants and led to the highest yield. the spray concentration of 50 mg/kg of paclobutrazol can produce high pod yield (4518 kg/m-2), compared with 3756 kg/m-2 in ck (tao, zhang, chen & zhang, 2000). soaking the seeds with different concentrations of paclobutrazol delayed germination of seeds, decreased germination rate and plant height of peanut. at harvest, the number of pods, the rate of plump pod and the yield of peanut were higher in the paclobutrazol treatment than that in the control. the highest peanut yield was found in 150mg/l paclobutrazol, which reached 3806.3 kg/m-2 and 12.6% higher than the control (runmei, li & chen, 2004). moreover, qiankai, huashou, jianzhang and shuiyuan (2010) reported that paclobutrazol solutions applied at a rate of 75-100mg/l at blossoming stage, significantly inhibited the main stems and branches while the number of pods per plant and filled pods increased. the frequent paclobutrazol application could decrease the number of pods per plant, the rate of filled pods and yield, and it could also increase the number of young and the unfilled pods (hailing, 2011). low yield is one of the problems encountered by farmers during wet season planting because the upper portion of peanut is prioritized at the expense of pod formation. one possible solution to this problem is through the use of paclobutrazol. the pbz is believed to improve yield thereby increasing farmers production and profit. in addition, research particularly on the effect of various levels of pbz on different varieties of peanut is limited. thus, this study was conducted. objectives of the study the study was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of paclobutrazol to peanut varieties particularly on yield. specifically, it aimed to determine the days to flower and maturity; pod number per plant; seed number/ pod; weight of 100 seed; shelling percentage and seed yield/hectare. materials and methods the study was conducted during the wet season planting of peanut, may to october 2013 in pampanga, philippines using asha and farmers’ variety of 5 international peer reviewed journal peanut. the following are the characteristics of the varieties used. asha is a variety developed by icrisat. the seed yield averaged 3.0-3.5t/ha and is harvested 121-122 days after planting. its plant height ranged from 55.974.15cm with a shelling percentage of 71.9% during wet season and 74.2% in the dry season. the weight of 100 seeds is 71.9-74.2g. it is large seeded variety with pink seed color. farmers’ variety was developed by bpi and is also known locally as “kalbo”. days to flower is from 23-20 days after planting, and its plant height ranged from 41-64cm. the seed yield averaged 1.0-1.5 t/ha. it is harvested 80-90 days after planting depending on the season. it is small seeded variety, having three seeds per pod with red seed color. the experimental area was laid out following the procedure in three-factor factorial randomized complete block design (rcbd) factor-factorial. each treatment combination was replicated three times. the following were the two factors involved in the study. factor a (peanut variety) t1 –asha t2 –farmers variety factor b (levels of paclobutrazol, pbz) l1 – control (pure water) l2 – 75mg pbz per liter of water l3 – 150mg pbz per liter of water l4 – 225mg pbz per liter of water a total area of 342m2 was used in conducting the experiment having eight treatment combinations including the border plants. each plot measures 2m in width and 5m in length comprising of four rows spaced 0.5 m apart. an alleyway of one meter between replications was provided for ease in placing stakes, plot tags, data gathering, weeding, and harvesting. border ridge was provided to prevent seepage in case rains occur after paclobutrazol application. the area was thoroughly prepared by plowing two times alternately followed by two harrowing to obtain fine tilth that is essential to achieve good germination. after the final harrowing, the field was furrowed at a distance of 50cm. soil samples were collected before the conduct of the experiment as the basis of fertilizer application. the soil samples were pulverized; air dried and mixed 6 jpair multidisciplinary research thoroughly to make a composite soil sample, and this was brought to the soils laboratory at san fernando, pampanga for soil analysis. based from the result, the type of soil is sandy loam. calcium nitrate at the rate of 0.645g/hill that is equivalent to 12.9g/m2 was applied basally prior to planting. in addition to calcium nitrate, organic fertilizer was also applied at a rate of 50g/m2. both organic fertilizer and calcium nitrate were applied uniformly along the rows and was covered with 2-3 cm layer of soil. peanut seeds were inoculated with rhizobium at the rate of 100g/50kg of seeds. inoculation was done by coating the seeds with inoculant using water at least two hours before planting. two seeds were planted per hill. thinning was done ten days after planting. ten plants were maintained per linear meter. the distance between hills is 10cm and 50cm between furrows. plants were watered immediately after sowing to enhance gernmination. watering was provided three times throughout the experimental period so that soil will not be too dry and prevent wilting of the plants. hilling-up was done only during the flowering stage to cover the shallow pegs. weeding was also done manually and regularly until the flowering stage. paclobutrazol was applied following the different levels specified in the treatment. the solution was sprayed to the plants during the peak of flowering that is about 30-40 days after planting for the asha variety and 25-30 days after planting for the farmers’ variety. harvesting of peanut depended on the maturity indices of each variety used. peanut were harvested when the leaves show signs of maturity by the change of color from green to slightly yellow and more than 75% of the pods per plant have ridges and when the inner side of the shell have dark venations. the asha and farmers’ variety were harvested 120dap and 90dap, respectively. harvesting was done manually. sun drying was done immediately after harvesting. peanuts were exposed to sunlight for five days depending on the weather condition. data collection and computation 1. days to flower. this was counted and recorded as the number of days from emergence to that day when 50% of the plants in a row have produced their first open flower. 2. days to maturity. this was counted and recorded as the number of days from emergence, and at least 75% of the pods show signs of maturity (dark brown pods with deep ridges) for peanut. 7 international peer reviewed journal 3. number of pods per plant. this was determined by the average number of pods per plant at harvest using the ten randomly sample plants. 4. number of seeds per pod. this was counted as the number of seeds obtained from 10 randomly selected mature pods from the 10 sample plants. 5. weight of 100 seeds. this was done by selecting at random 100 seeds from each plot, and it will be recorded the weight in grams. 6. shelling percentage. this was obtained by weighing 100-gram unshelled pod samples from each plot. shell the sample pods and weight the cleaned seeds. shelling percentage is the weight of shelled beans from the 100gram pod sample. 7. seed yield/hectare. the clean seed yield from 1m2 of each plot was weighed and recorded, and the computed final seed yield from one m2 served as a basis for computing the seed yield in tons/ha. statistical analysis all data were subjected to statistical analysis to analysis of variance (anova). honest significant difference (hsd) test was used to compare treatment means. results and discussion days to flower as shown in table 1, a noticeable difference in days to flower was observed. farmer’s variety produced flowers approximately five days earlier compared to asha. early flowering is one of the distinct characteristics of an early maturing variety such as the farmers’ variety. neither paclobutrazol (pbz) levels nor the method of paclobutrazol application influenced the number of days to flower. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. days to flower of asha and farmers’ variety of peanut in relation to levels of paclobutrazol application. variety mean t1– asha 28.38 b t2 – farmers’variety 23.58 a *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. days to maturity significant variations were noted among treatments. asha exhibited the longest day to mature. its maturity is longer (120dap) when compared to farmers’ variety (90dap) simply because its pod filling period is longer, and it is large seeded. late maturing is one of the distinct characteristics of asha. there is no effect of pbz levels on days to maturity across varieties. number of pods per plant at harvest paclobutrazol application significantly affected the number of pods per plant of the two varieties of peanut (table 2a). asha evidently produced 46% more pods compared to farmers’ variety. figure 1a. farmers’ variety during flowering stage figure 1b. asha during flowering stage 9 international peer reviewed journal table 2a. number of pods per plant of asha and farmers’ variety of peanut in relation to the levels of paclobutrazol application. variety mean t1– asha 29.16 b t2 – farmers’ variety 19.75 a *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. paclobutrazol treatments increased the number of pods per plant in two varieties of peanut. (table 2b). at least 75mg/l of pbz is needed to increase the number of pods per plant. in other studies, application of paclobutrazol effectively inhibit peanut growth but can produce more pods resulting in high yield (zheng, 2008). this increased in pod number is due to pbz application that could shorten basal internodes. the shortened basal internodes should result to early emerging pegs proximal to ground penetration for pod formation. table 2b. number of pods per plant applied with different levels of paclobutrazol across types of peanut application. levels of paclobutrazol mean l1– control (pure water) 20.82 b l2– 75mg/l of water 26.17 a l3– 150mg/l of water 27.06 a l4– 225mg/l of water 23.76 ab *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. table 2c. number of pods per plant at harvest as affected by different levels ofpaclobutrazol across varieties of peanut. levels of paclobutrazol mean** l1– control 20.82 b l2– 75mg/l of water 26.17 a l3– 150mg/l of water 27.05 a l4– 225mg/l of water 23.76 ab * means having the same letter are not significantly different at 5% hsd level. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research number of seeds per pod at harvest there was varietal variation in the number of seeds per pod across levels of pbz application (table 3). asha is two seeded per pod while farmers’ variety is approximately three seeded. the findings confirm with the agronomic characteristics of the varieties used that asha is two-seeded while farmers’ variety is three seeded. table 3. number of seeds per pod at harvest of asha and farmers’ variety of peanut in relation to levels paclobutrazol application variety mean t1– asha 2.00 b t2 – farmers’ variety 2.80 a *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. weight of 100 seeds asha produced the heavier weight, more than two folds than the farmers’ variety (table 4). this can be possibly attributed to the longer pod filling period of asha resulting to larger seed. on the other hand, farmers’ variety obtained the lightest seed mass due to its small size and shorter filling period, as farmers’ variety is an early maturing genotype (90 days vs. 120 days in asha). table 4. weight of 100 seeds at harvest of asha and farmers’variety of peanut in relation to levels of paclobutrazol application variety mean t1– asha 80.08 a t2 – farmers’ variety 35.42 b *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. shelling percentage the shelling percentage of asha and farmers’ variety showed significant difference (table 5a). asha obtained shelling percentage heavier than the farmers’ variety. 11 international peer reviewed journal table 5a. shelling percentage of asha and farmer’s variety of peanut in relation to levels and methods of paclobutrazol application. variety mean t1– asha 77.21 a t2 – farmers’ variety 72.59 b *means within the column followed by a common letter is not significantly different at 5% hsd level. table 5b showed an interaction effect among varieties of peanut and paclobutrazol application. asha applied at 150mg/l of pbz obtained the highest shelling percentage. regardless of pbz levels, farmers’ variety attained low shelling percentage and were comparable with the untreated. table 5b. shelling percentage of peanut as affected by varieties of peanut of paclobutrazol application. variety of peanut level of paclobutrazol mean asha l1control 74.50 b l275mg/l 76.33 ab l3150mg/l 80.00 a l4225mg/l 78.00 ab farmers’ variety l1control 73.00 b l275mg/l 73.33 b l3150mg/l 72.67 b l4225mg/l 71.33 b *variety and level means having the same letter (a-b) are not significantly different at 5% hsd level. computed seed yield per hectare levels of paclobutrazol significantly increased the seed yield of the two varieties of peanut (table 6). application of pbz in asha at any rate considerably increased yield but highest when applied at the rate of 150mg/l. in farmer’s variety, it appears that seed yield tended to increase yield at 75mg/l. it is believed that peanut applied with paclobutrazol altered dry matter distribution towards the growth seed resulting in increased yield. the photosynthetic potentials such 12 jpair multidisciplinary research as chlorophyll contents, efficiencies of photosystem ii and co2 assimilation rates were improved through pbz application at the proper concentration (senoo & isoda, 2003). table 6. seed yield (ton/ha) of asha and farmer’s variety type of peanut in relation to levels of paclobutrazol. level of paclobutrazol variety of peanut mean**asha farmer’s variety l1– control 2.93 bc 2.78bc 2.86b l2– 75mg/l of water 3.62 ab 3.36abc 3.49a l3– 150mg/l of water 4.20 a 2.65c 3.42a l4– 225mg/l of water 3.52 ab 2.61c 3.07ab *level means having the same letter (a-c) are not significantly different at 5% level under hsd. **variety and level means with the same letter (a-b) are not significantly different at 5% level conclusion the increasing level of pbz increased number of pods of asha. the most number of seeds was obtained from farmers’ variety. asha applied with pbz at 150mg/l recorded the highest shelling percentage. paclobutrazol application significantly increased seed yield of asha and farmers’ variety at 150mg/l. translational research at present, the country is 60-70% import-dependent on peanut and this is because of the limited supply and availability of improved peanut varieties that known to be high yielding, large seeded and resistant to major fungal diseases. through this study, the production yield of peanut is enhanced through appropriate levels of pbz application. as a result, this will lead to a sufficient and continuous supply of peanut in the country that will also provide additional income to farmers and peanut growers. 13 international peer reviewed journal acknowledgments the authors expressed their sincerest thanks to the pampanga state agricultural university and agricultural training institute – region iii, philippines for providing financial assistance to this research endeavor. literature cited chen, h. l., huang, j. t., li, q. h., qiu, g. q., li, s. p., & xie, z. q. 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(2009). 1, yu xin-chun 1, shen guan-wang 1, hu jian-tao 1, peng bao-hong 2, yan de-yuan 1 (1. research institute of agricultural sciences in xinyang, xinyang, henan 464000, china; 2. meteorological bureau in xinyang, xinyang, henan 464000, china); application effect of paclobutrazol on peanut [j]. tianjin agricultural sciences, 1. qiankai, t., huashou, l., jianzhang, c., & shuiyuan, l. (2010). effects of paclobutrazol on agronomical characteristics and its yields of peanut. chinese agricultural science bulletin, 8, 032. runmei, p. e. i. (2004). 1, li yangrui~ 2, chen nianping~ 3 (1the editorial office of journal, guangxi university, nanning 530005, china; 2guangxi academy of agricultural sciences, nanning 530007, china; 3agricultural college, guangxi university, nanning 530005, china); effects of paclobutrazol on germination and growth of peanut [j]. journal of guangxi agricultural and biological science, 2. purohit, s. s. (ed.). 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(1987). effect of paclobutrazol on water stress-induced abscisic acid in apple seedling leaves.  plant physiology,84(4), 1051-1054. xiumei, t., chao, l., ruichun, z., jing, j., zhuqiang, h., liangqiong, h., ... & ronghua, t. (2011). comparative studies on the chemical regulation of peanuts by paclobutrazol, mepiquat chloride and chlorocholine chloride. journal of southern agriculture, 42(6), 603-605. zheng, m. 2008. application of three plant growth regulators to peanut production.subtropical agriculture research. zhou, w., & ye, q. (1996). physiological and yield effects of uniconazole on winter rape (brassica napus l.).  journal of plant growth regulation,  15(2), 69-73. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research development and evaluation of nipa (nypa fruticans) vinegar powder mario a. de castro jr. http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7412-5725 mariodecastro787@gmail.com mimaropa food innovation center mindoro state college of agriculture and technology, calapan city campus masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines originality: 100 • grammar check: 97 • plagiarism: 0 abstract due to emerging technologies, the improvization of products is a new trend. spray drying is a new technology that transforms a product in liquid phase into a dry particulate powder. this study investigated the possibility of developing powder out of nipa vinegar with ideal physicochemical properties and high recovery percentage. a single process schedule design was applied in the nipa vinegar during spray drying. three formulations of the added carrier were applied (f150%, f225% and f3-12.50%). the sensory characteristics of the spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations were analyzed and compared using organoleptic evaluation score card utilized by food experts. the ph level, total soluble solids (tss) and solubility test of the three samples were also measured. results showed that nipa vinegar with 12.50% of the added carrier is the preferred sample by the respondents and has the fastest solubility rate. however, it has the lowest recovery percentage. on the other hand, the nipa vinegar with 50% added carrier has the highest recovery percentage. the three samples have consistent ph vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.578 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 111 international peer reviewed journal value and changes were only observed in nipa vinegar with 50% added carrier. further studies should be conducted to optimize the production quality of spraydried nipa vinegar. keywords — food processing, nipa vinegar, ph level, quality attributes, recovery percentage, total soluble solids (tss), spray drying, mimaropa food innovation center, philippines introduction commonly, vinegar is processed through alcoholic and subsequent acetic fermentation of several sugary and starchy materials such as fruits, malt, and sugar cane juice. vinegar has been used for antiseptic purposes and acts as medicine for aches and gastric problems. traditionally, it also acts as a preservative or condiment for food that provides a good market for it. domestic utilization is limited, but it is used in large quantities in restaurants, clubs, and canteens, and by the caterers (mokhtar, zakaria, soon, ariff, latiff, & campus, 2016). nipa (nypa fruticans wurmb) is a high sugar-yielding palm that can be found along coastal areas, river estuaries and mangrove forests with brackish water environments. by removing the infructescence of this plant, it is possible to collect a sugar-rich sap from its stalk on a daily basis for a minimum of 60 days in the philippines and up to 340 days in malaysia. moreover, nipa sap production ranges from 0.5 to 2.5 l/palm/day with an average sugar content of 16.4 w/v%. traditionally, production of nipa sap vinegar involves fermentation of alcohol using yeast and consequently transforming it to acetic acid by the presence of aerobic bacteria (nguyen, sethapokin, rabemanolontsoa, minami, kawamoto, & saka, 2016). nipa (nypa fruticans) is a monoecious palm with special characteristics. contrast to usual palms like coconut (cocos nucifera) and oil palm (elaeis guineensis), it thrives in river estuaries and brackish water environment in which salt and fresh water mingle. nipa lacks an upright stem, trunks and becomes fully developed at the height of about 1m. nipa palms abundantly grow in southeast asia, northward to the philippines, ryukyu islands and southward to north queensland. the largest natural nipa stands are found in indonesia (700 000 ha), papua new guinea (500 000 ha) and philippines (8 000 ha) (tamunaidu, matsui, okimori, & saka, 2013). 112 jpair multidisciplinary research nipa palm vinegar (npv) is produced by the fermentation of “nira,” a nipa palm alcoholic beverage. it is commonly consumed throughout east asia and usually taken before meals and at bedtime by adding to drinking water (yusoff, et al., 2015). chemical components of nipa sap include sucrose, glucose, fructose, and minor amounts of organic and inorganic compounds. these constituents were used for various purposes but the juice is collected limitedly by local communities for their traditional use without many industrial applications. the underutilized nipa sap could, thus, be a good raw material for acetic acid production (nguyen et al., 2016). spray drying is the process of transformation of a product in liquid phase into a dry particulate powder. the liquid is atomized into droplets, subjected to a high temperature and dried through contact with air. during this process, the solvent is evaporated, and droplets are reduced. ensuring the shelf-life of the product, reducing biological degradation, easy handling and low transportation costs, are the advantages of spray-drying. obtaining a product with appropriate properties in terms of ph, water activity, solubility, moisture content, nutritional composition, hygroscopicity, glass transition temperature, color and fluidity and others, etc. is the principle of spray drying technology (patel, chen, lin, & adhikari, 2009). the development of new products undergoes a series of procedures. sensory aims to characterize and measure sensory attributes and differences among the products. it may be defined as the examination of the organoleptic characteristics of a product by the sense organs and, hence, its importance in the evaluation of the final product (guiné, almeida, correia, & gonçalves, 2015). objectives of the study the study aimed to produce and evaluate spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations in terms of the physicochemical properties and quality attributes prior to the set process schedule. specifically, it aimed to evaluate the ph level, solubility test and total soluble solids (tss) of the three formulations of spraydried nipa vinegar before and after spray drying; to describe and compare the quality attributes in terms of taste and aroma of the three formulations; to determine and compare the recovery percentage of the three formulations using a single process schedule design. 113 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods i. product preparation initial checking of ph and tss of nipa vinegar: a. raw materials: nipa vinegar b. tools and equipment: casserole, mixing bowl and weighing scale, ph meter, and refractometer c. procedure 1. transfer the nipa vinegar in a clean container and filtered using a fine mesh sifter to eliminate other unwanted residue or material 2. with the use of a ph meter check the acidity level of the pure nipa vinegar. 3. using a refractometer check the tss value of the pure nipa vinegar. 4. record all the gathered data in the production report form. ii. product formulation and spray drying a. raw materials: pure nipa vinegar and maltodextrin b. equipment: spray dryer ten liters of pure nipa vinegar were added with certain percentage of maltodextrin. three formulations were made in each sample before subjected to spray drying using a single process schedule design. table 1. three formulations of nipa vinegar and maltodextrin using as single process schedule design formulation 1 formulation 2 formulation 3 added carrier 50% 25% 12.50% inlet temperature 200 c 200 c 200 c outlet temperature 150 c 150 c 150 c pressure setting 500 psi 500 psi 500 psi iii. product assessment • research design a. production analysis and physicochemical analyses spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations were made to assess the production performance in terms of percentage of recovery and solubility test. basic physicochemical analyses were conducted to test the ph level and tss value of the three formulations. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research b. sensorial analysis sensory evaluation is the process of using our senses (taste, smell, touch, sight) and applying them to determine the acceptability of foods. the three formulations of spray-dried nipa vinegar (f1, f2, f3) was subjected to sensory evaluation. in this study, purposive sampling technique was adopted to choose the panelists. thirty (30) evaluators who are food experts were chosen to evaluate the products. each evaluator was subjected to allergy test and their consent was assured before the conduct of the product evaluation in accordance to the ethical procedures being observed by the center. figure. 1 obtained nipa vinegar powder in three formulations, f150% added carrier, f225% of the added carrier and f312.50% of added carrier figure. 2 utilization of the three formulations of nipa vinegar powder for sensory evaluation 115 international peer reviewed journal table 2. organoleptic score card for the characteristics of spray-dried nipa vinegar rating description aroma taste 5 nipa vinegar like nipa vinegar like 4 slightly nipa vinegar like slightly nipa vinegar like 3 average nipa vinegar like average nipa vinegar like 2 slightly not nipa vinegar like slightly not nipa vinegar like 1 not nipa vinegar like not nipa vinegar like figure. 3 spray-dried nipa vinegar development and evaluation framework figure 3 shows the development and evaluation framework of spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations. results and discussion a. production analysis table 3. recovery percentage of spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations using a single process schedule design formula inlet outlet pressure recovery percentage f1 200 c 150c 500 psi 43.20% f2 200 c 150c 500 psi 25% f3 200 c 150c 500 psi 10% table 3 shows the recovery percentage of the three formulations of spraydried nipa vinegar in a single process schedule design. it can be noted in table 3 that there are differences in the percentage of recovery in each formulation. formulation 1 with 50% of the added carrier had 116 jpair multidisciplinary research the highest recovery percentage of 43.20%, followed by formulation 2 with 25% of added maltodextrin got 25% of recovery. on the other hand, formulation 3 with 12.50% carrier got the lowest percentage of recovery with 10% value. this implies that the amount of added maltodextrin and inlet temperature setting in each sample affects the yield quality of the final product. these findings support the study of koç and kaymak-ertekin (2014) which reveals that atomizing airflow and inlet air temperature had more effect than feed temperature and feed flow rate on the physical properties of spray-dried maltodextrin. it also conforms to the findings of jittanit, niti-att and techanuntachaikul (2010) reveals that the drying air temperature and md (maltodextrin) content had significant influence on the product quality in terms of recovery. table 4. solubility test of spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations temperatures f1 f2 f3 time suspended remarks time suspended remarks time suspended remarks 90 c 58 sec. slowest 53 sec average 49 sec. fastest 28 c 1 min. and 3 sec. average 1 min. and 5 sec. slowest 59 sec fastest 10 c 2 min. and 32 sec. average 2 min and 49 sec slowest 2 min and 20 sec fastest the solubility rates of each sample were determined by measuring the time of suspension of a 10-gram spray-dried sample of ( f1, f2, and f3) in a 125 ml of water with three different temperatures (warm, cold and hot). the data in table 4, reveals that f3 sample has the fastest solubility rate in three temperatures of water under constant stirring as evidenced by its recorded time of suspension with 49 seconds at 90˚ c, 59 seconds at 28 c and 2 minutes and 20 seconds at 10 c. average suspension rate was recorded for f1 sample in both colder and warmer temperatures with 1 minute and 3 seconds at 28 c and 2 minutes and 32 seconds of time suspension for 10 c. on the other hand f2 is at its average suspension rate at 90 c with 53 seconds of time dissolution. however, the slowest suspension rate was observed in f2 and f3 samples. for the warmer temperature, f2 was recorded at 1 minute and 5 seconds while in the colder temperature it was recorded at 2 minutes and 49 seconds of suspension rate. on the other hand, f1 was determined slowest suspension with the recorded time of 58 seconds at the water temperature of 90˚ c. 117 international peer reviewed journal this implies that the hotter the water temperature, the faster the suspension rate of spray-dried products. it was also found out that f3 sample having 12.50% of the added carrier has the fastest dissolution performance in three different temperatures as compared to f2 with 25% and f1 with 50% of added carrier. the findings conform to the citation of phisut (2012) that an increased maltodextrin concentration did not cause a reduction in powder solubility. this variation may be attributed to the fact that maltodextrin has a superior water solubility. similar to the study of  chuaychan and benjakul in 2016 reveals that with the increasing maltodextrin proportions, the resulting powders showed an increase in yields.   according to cano-chauca, stringheta, ramos, and cal-vidal (2005), high solubility in water is one of the good physical properties of maltodextrin which makes it a good carrier for spray drying. grabowski, truong, and daubert (2006) also reported that as the amount of maltodextrin increases the water solubility index of sweet potato powder also increases. b. physicochemical analysis figure. 4 ph level of nipa vinegar in pure extract and with added carrier differences in terms of the ph level of the three samples were determined by measuring the initial temperatures of pure nipa vinegar. two trials of ph measurement were conducted in each sample to get the average ph levels using milwaukee ph 600. it can be gleaned in figure 3 that, changes in the ph level of formulations 2 and 3 in both pure extracts and with added carrier was not observed. as evidenced by its same ph value of 3.1 respectively both described as strongly acidic. on 118 jpair multidisciplinary research the other hand changes in the acidity level was observed in formulation 1 as evidenced by its ph value of 3.1 in the pure extract, while 3.2 ph was obtained after the addition of carrier. this implies that the pure extracts of the three samples had a consistent ph value before it was added with maltodextrin. a change in the level of acidity was only observed in formulation 1 with 50% added carrier. formula 2 with 25% and formula 3 with 12.50% of the added carrier does not affect the ph level as compared to its value in its pure extract form. this finding can be explained by the study of kothakota, kumar, kumar, juvvi, rao, and kautkar (2014) entitled, “characteristics of spray-dried dahi powder with maltodextrin as an adjunct.” the study reveals that the moisture content, acidity, and hygroscopicity decreases with increasing maltodextrin (md) aid in spray-dried dahi powder but the values of ph and acidity remain constant during spray drying process by increasing maltodextrin (md) aid. similarly, in the study of ekpong, phomkong, and onsaard (2016) stated that increasing the maltodextrin content resulted in a lighter color, with a decrease in redness and yellowness. likewise, the total acidity decreased with increasing maltodextrin. table 5. total soluble solids (tss) value of nipa vinegar formulations nipa vinegar pure extract nipa vinegar with added carrier f1 4.53 ºbx 37.6 ºbx f2 4.40 ºbx 24 ºbx f3 4.48 ºbx 16 ºbx it can be noted in table 5 that changes in the total soluble solids was observed after each addition of maltodextrin. formulation 1 has the highest tss value of 37.6 ºbx after the addition of 50% of carrier. followed by formulation 2 with 25% added carrier with its tss value of 24 ºbx on the other hand formulation 3 had the weakest changes after adding 12.50% of maltodextrin with its tss value of 16 ºbx. it implies that the amount of the added carrier affects the natural tss value of the nipa vinegar. c. sensorial evaluation fig. 5 presents the sensorial profiles of the three formulations of the product tested: f1 –nipa vinegar with 50% carrier, f2 nipa vinegar with 25% carrier and f3 nipa vinegar with 12.50% of added carrier. 119 international peer reviewed journal figure 5. sensorial profiles of the evaluated spray-dried nipa vinegar in three formulations 120 jpair multidisciplinary research the results in figure 5 confirm that formulation 3 (nipa vinegar with 12.50% of added carrier) is the preferred sample by the respondents. f3 got the highest mean scores of 4.31 and 4.45 respectively both described as slightly nipa vinegar like in terms of its aroma and taste. however, f2 (nipa vinegar with 25% added carrier) got the higher scores in terms of its aroma and taste as evidenced by its mean scores of 3.03 and 3.09 respectively, both described as average nipa vinegar. on the other hand, f1 (nipa vinegar with 50% added carrier) was confirmed as less valued with the lowest scores in all the attributes evaluated as evidenced by its mean scores of 2.25 and 2.31, respectively both described as slightly not vinegar like. comparing the three formulations in regards to the overall assessment of the developed product, f3 sample (nipa vinegar with12.50% added carrier) is the most acceptable among the three formulations with the mean score of 4.38 respectively described as slightly nipa vinegar like. it was followed by f2 (nipa vinegar with 25% maltodextrin) with a score of 3.06 described as average nipa vinegar like. this implies that the lower the amount of the added carrier in the nipa vinegar retains much of the quality attributes such as taste and aroma. this conforms to the findings of that md (maltodextrin) also facilitates retention of some food properties such as nutrients, color, anthocyanin, and flavor during drying and storage process. translational research the findings of this study could be translated into a food processing utility model that can be adopted by the msmes (micro, small, and medium enterprises) in the food processing sector specifically to those who are engaged in nipa vinegar production in the mimaropa region and other parts of the philippines. conclusion with the utilization of the three formulations and the application of the established single process schedule design, the production and evaluation of spray-dried nipa vinegar has become possible in this investigation. the developed nipa vinegar powder using formulation 3 is of good aroma and taste and acidity level that is comparable to the pure nipa vinegar in liquid form, the dissolution 121 international peer reviewed journal performance was also excellent for hot, warm and cold temperature. however, the percentage of recovery is at its minimum level among the three formulations. it is believed that this study will be able to contribute to the innovative utilization of our locally produced nipa vinegar for product development and agri-product promotion through value adding. the study could help the local nipa farmers and nipa vinegar producers in the different parts of the philippines specifically in the mimaropa region to increase their profit out of innovative nipa vinegar production, likewise the micro, small and medium enterprises or small food processors may engage themselves in value adding product by utilizing indigenous material in the region with the use of the dost high impact technology solutions – food processing equipment namely: spray dryer, vacuum fryer, water retort and freeze dryer through mimaropa food innovation center. it is recommended that further study should be conducted to optimize the production quality of spray-dried nipa vinegar. nutrients analysis and other laboratory tests should be taken into consideration in the optimization process to develop marketable quality of spray-dried products. consumer acceptability test in a wide range of dishes is also encouraged to create a quality market opportunity for the product. literature cited cano-chauca, m., stringheta, p.c., ramos, a.m. and cal-vidal, j. (2005). effect of the carriers on the microstructure of mango powder obtained by spray drying and its functional characterization. innovative food science and emerging technologies 6: 420428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ifset.2005.05.003 chuaychan, s. and benjakul s. (2016). effect of maltodextrin on characteristics and antioxidative activity of spray-dried powder of gelatin and gelatin hydrolysate from scales of spotted golden goatfish, journal of food science and technology, 53(9), 3583-3592. doi: 10.1007/s13197-016-2340-7 ekpong, a., phomkong, w., & onsaard, e. 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(2012). spray drying technique of fruit juice powder. international food research journal, 19(4), 1297–1306. https://goo.gl/nraxp6 tamunaidu, p., matsui, n., okimori, y., & saka, s. (2013). nipa (nypa fruticans) sap as a potential feedstock for ethanol production. kyoto university research information repository, 52, 96–102. retrieved from http://hdl.handle. net/2433/174338 yusoff, n. a., ahmad, m., al-hindi, b., widyawati, t., yam, m. f., mahmud, r., … faculty, m. (2015). aqueous extract of nypa fruticans wurmb. vinegar alleviates postprandial hyperglycemia in normoglycemic rats : nutrients, 7, 7012–7026. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7085320 56 jpair multidisciplinary research text and context of the blaan’s folk literature neva bersamen benito http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9850-3893 nev.benito@gmail.com southern baptist college national highway bialong, mlang, north cotabato originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract blaans are one of the tribes that reside in mindanao archipelago in the philippines. this study collected, transcribed, classified, and analyzed blaan folk literature in the barangays of sinapulan and eday in the municipality of columbio, sultan kudarat. this also sought to identify the context that brought about the folk literature’s citation and identified the beliefs and practices embedded in these literary texts. these blaan oral literature were transcribed and translated in cebuano or filipino by the informants and analyzed using alan dundes’ theory of analyzing folklorethrough its text, and context. the gathered blaan folk literature was classified as occasional songs, work songs, and prose narratives depicting legends, and creation stories. it was also found out that the folk literature was recited during important occasions like weddings, tribal assemblies either as a form of entertainment or a form of reminder for the members in the importance of tribal peace and unity as well as their role in protecting nature and their environment. this study also revealed that blaan folk literature embodies the tribe’s values and ideals like generosity, courage, bravery, and traditions like the giving of dowry to their intended bride. they also valued vol. 40 · march 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v40i1.771 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:nev.benito@gmail.com 57 international peer reviewed journal nature and believed the supreme being, they call dwata but whose traits are like the christian god. keywords — qualitative research, blaan folk literature, blaan beliefs, and practices, philippines introduction the philippines is a culturally diverse country with an estimated 14 17 million indigenous peoples (ips) belonging to 110 ethnolinguistic groups. they are mainly concentrated in northern luzon (cordillera administrative region, 33%) and mindanao (61%), with some groups in the visayas area. in recognition of this diversity and under the framework of national unity and development, the philippine constitution mandates state recognition, protection, promotion, and fulfillment of the rights of the indigenous peoples. further, republic act 8371, also known as the “indigenous peoples rights act” (act, 1997) recognizes the right of the ips to manage their ancestral domains; ipra has now become the cornerstone of current national policy on ips (united nations development program, 2013). according to an article entitled ‘oral literature in the digital age,‘ “oral literature are in decline as a result of a cultural focus on literacy, combined with the disappearance of minority languages” (turin, wheeler, & wilkinson, 2013). given this scenario, there is now the danger that these indigenous people living in our country will somehow forget their own culture and tradition. there were a lot of articles mentioned the importance of folk literature and or the oral tradition in the preservation of culture and tradition. one of which is foley (2011), who pointed out that “oral tradition was humankind’s first technology of communication.” in her essay, fleming (2018) gave emphasis on the importance of understanding the “historical context behind a work’s creation” to better understand a particular literary work. to her, highlighting the historical as well as the social context can give the readers a better understanding and appreciation of the narrative. she added that in analyzing historical or social events, the context could help readers understand what motivates people to behave as they did. “folktales mirror the cultural values held collectively by the people in each society” (amali, 2014). this research clearly states the function of folktales in educating children. another research by suwanpratest (2016) claims that folktales from countries like korea, thailand, myanmar, indonesia, china, and japan, which have the same motif 58 jpair multidisciplinary research the snail, have presented cultural values that can be used in the field of education, advertising, and tourism. in the philippines, there is a decline in the appreciation of folk literature. it was noted that most of the studies conducted on the folk literature in davao city, all of which are unpublished and therefore considered grey literature, focused on the collection, transcription, and analysis of the folk literature in terms of values and educational implications. why the blaans? in his book “philippine language groups,” llamzon (1978) cited blaans among the language groups in the philippines out of the 28 groups he featured. in the census of the year 1960, the number of blaan nativespeakers were 94,738, but in the year 1970, this number decreased to 51,638. ere 94,738. while there was no extensive collection and study of the folk literature in columbio, sultan kudarat in mindanao, the researcher thought of responding to some of the recommendations mentioned by previous researches by retrieving and collecting the folk literature of the blaans. framework “folklore is universal: there has always been folklore, and in all likelihood, there will always be folklore. as long as humans interact and in the course of so doing employ traditional forms of communication, folklorists will continue to have golden opportunities to study folklore” (dundes, 1969). dundes and bronner (2007) also claimed that folklore is an invaluable reflection of a particular culture’s conditions and values. dundes (1980) in his book interpreting folklore, stated that folk is any group of people who share at least one common factor, no matter what linking factor that is it may be a common occupation, language or religion. he also proposed that any given folklore, regardless of its genre, may be analyzed into three (3) categories, namely, through its texture, its text, and its context. for dundes, the texture is the language the specific phonemes and morphemes used. in verbal forms of folklore, textural features are linguistic features like rhyme, alliteration, stress, pitch, juncture, tone, and onomatopoeia. the second category is the text itself. the “text of an item is the version of it,” according to dundes. and the third category is the context. the context of any folklore is the specific social situation by which said item is actually used. 59 international peer reviewed journal this study, however, did not dwell on the texture of the gathered folklore because the researcher relied only on the translation. however, she established the categories, like the way it was rendered, whether it was sung or recited. she also paid great attention to the context, like how the community uses the gathered oral literature and how these embody their values, beliefs, and traditions. objectives of the study this study aimed to collect, transcribe, classify and analyze the oral literature of the blaans in barangays sinapulan and eday in the municipality of columbio, sultan kudarat. specifically, it attempts to answer the following objectives, (1) identify the types of blaan folk literature are found in barangays sinapulan, and eday in the municipality of columbio, sultan kudarat, (2) discover the contexts of blaan folk literature recited, and (3) identify the beliefs and practices are manifested by these blaan folk literature. methodology research design this study is qualitative in nature employing ethnography and textual analysis. alsop (2013) highlighted the role of ethnography in english studies, particularly in two (2) disciplines, namely: travel writing and audience response criticism. in this study, ethnography is utilized during the collection, transcription, and translation of data. the researcher, with the help of the gatekeepers and personnel from the national commission on indigenous peoples (ncip), conducted several visitations to the place and meetings with the identified informants. the validation of the data analysis was done by the community as well. as an outsider, the researcher did not inject her subjective observation since she depended only on the information given to her by the informants. the textual analysis was done after the transcription and translation were done. textual analysis, according to bauer, bicquelet, and suerdem (2014), “involves reading any artifacts ‘showing designed texture’ of a symbol system and reflecting regularities in social practices.” in this study, the researcher attempted to look at the life-world of the blaan, their everyday activities, and practices, through the texts drawn from their folk literature. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research participants the study was made possible through informants’ help from the two (2) barangays, namely sinapulan and eday of the municipality of columbio, sultan kudarat. the informants were residents of the two (2) barangays mentioned. the researcher asked the help of the barangay captains of barangays sinapulan and eday, as well as their barangay councilors and their barangay tribal leaders to assist her in her research by recommending people, especially the elderly in their respective barangay, who know and still can recall any native song, legend, myth, proverb, riddles and the like. with the help of the barangay captain of barangay sinapulan, the researcher was able to retrieve songs from a church pastor of the alliance of church of god and the indigenous people’s mandatory representative (ipmr) of the said barangay. to transcribe and translate the folk literature, she also sought the help of the wife of the former barangay captain of barangay sinapulan, and the formerly identified key informants. in barangay eday, the researcher sought the help of its barangay captain and its barangay secretary, who served as gatekeepers of the community. they introduced her to one of the elders of barangay eday, who was, in turn, helped by his cousin in recounting blaan stories. the researcher was able to get three (3) stories from these two elders and record it on video. aside from these two elders, the researcher was also able to meet and interview the tribal dancer and singer of barangay eday, who shared a song to the researcher with the accompaniment of her tribal guitar called “fuglung” complete with blaan attire. the transcriptionists of the recorded collection were the barangay secretary and a day center teacher of barangay eday. research procedure the researcher complied with the process set by the national commission on indigenous peoples (ncip) based on ncip administrative order number 1, series of 2012 entitled “the indigenous knowledge systems and practices (iksps) and customary laws research and documentation guidelines of 2012”. she first went to the national commission on indigenous peoples (ncip) office in poblacion isulan, sultan kudarat, on june 29, 2017, since the municipality of columbio is under the jurisdiction of said ncip office. she sent a letter to the ncip provincial officer on july 3, 2017, informing him of the researcher’s intent to study blaan folk literature in the municipality 61 international peer reviewed journal of columbio, sultan kudarat. the provincial officer instructed the researcher of the process she has to go through based on the ncip administrative order no. 1, series of 2012. on july 27, 2017, the researcher had her first consultation meeting with the tribal leaders and barangay officials in barangays sinapulan and eday, together with the ncip team. the second consultation meeting and drafting of the memorandum of agreement were done with the same barangay officials and tribal leaders on august 8, 2017, by the researcher with three (3) ncip personnel. a memorandum of agreement (moa) was signed on august 17, 2017, between the researcher, the ncip with its region xii regional director represented by the provincial legal officer of ncip isulan, who went with her in the area and translated the said memorandum of agreement in cebuano language and explained to the tribal and barangay leaders all its content. the researcher started collecting the texts on december 19, 2017, soon after getting hold of the notarized memorandum of agreement. it should be noted that the collection and recording of the text were immediately followed by the transcription and translation of the text. these two processes were done collaboratively by the chanter/singer and the transcriptionist and the translator. the informants translated the texts in cebuano and tagalog from their original blaan texts. because the researcher was limited in understanding the blaan language, she also conducted a validation of the analysis through a meeting with the community with the help of the ncip personnel. finally, a compliance certificate was given to the researcher by the national commission on indigenous peoples (ncip) region 12 on august 28, 2018. textual analysis in analyzing the gathered texts, the researcher re-encoded and categorized the transcribed and translated texts. for the texts gathered from barangay sinapulan, the original blaan texts were translated to cebuano by the informants themselves. for the texts gathered in barangay eday, the blaan texts were translated to tagalog by the informants since they are used to speaking tagalog. then she read the texts again to analyze their literary elements. for instance, the songs were analyzed by looking at their sense and structure, i. e. lines in a stanza and chorus, persona, and images. the researcher could not analyze the sound element because she was dependent on the translation. for the story, the researcher analyzed its narrative elements like characters, setting, conflict, and theme. in the instances of the 62 jpair multidisciplinary research creation story, the researcher looked for a similar version in other researches. in analyzing the context in which the texts are sung or recited, the researcher asked the informants which occasions these texts are used. they were also asked to explain how the recitation was done and if the text had a specific function to the community. using textual analysis, the researcher re-read the texts gathered to look for traditions, beliefs, and practices, and highlighted lines from the song and sentences or paragraphs from the stories that discuss blaan’s values, beliefs, and practices. ethical consideration the researcher observed the ethical requirements in conducting studies among the indigenous people. she sought the necessary permission by complying with the prescribed free, prior informed consent (fpic) protocol defined by the national commission on indigenous peoples (ncip). she also ensured the confidentiality of the names of the informants by not naming them in the text. she also validated her results with the community to ensure that what is contained in this study are in consonance with the information they have shared with the researcher. validation was done through a meeting called for by the ncip and was attended by representatives of the two barangays. they were their respective barangay captains, their indigenous people mandatory representatives (ipmr), their barangay sectaries, and the informants themselves. the original blaan texts, as well as their translated version in cebuano and tagalog, were re-read to them by the researcher. the representatives were asked to comment if the texts read to them were correct. the two barangay captains of sinapulan and eday were asked to sign in the validation form provided by the ncip after all have signified the correctness of the texts. results and discussions the researcher was able to gather seven (7) folk songs and three (3) narratives. these are: ‘fais,’ which is a wedding song, two versions of ‘kastifun’ or a song for tribal gatherings, ‘amyak ago de solko’ and ‘bunga ng la bugal,’ examples of work songs, ’kafwe banwu’ and ‘kulo se bong tay kdon,’ examples of worship songs. the three (3) narratives were the legend of the deer, the legend of the chicken, and the creation story. 63 international peer reviewed journal the song ‘fais”, talks about a male persona wooing his lady love, falls under courtship and wedding songs of eugenio (2007); the songs “kastifun”, “kulo se bong tay kdon” and “kafwe banwu” can fall under occasional songs. “kastifun” technically means ‘gathering’ invokes the listeners to promote unity and peace among themselves. “kulo se bong tay kdon”, on the other hand, is a worship song, and it reflects the tribe’s gradual assimilation with the settlers. it can be noted that in this song, there is a line that mentioned golgotha, which reflects the christian teachings of the church. “kafwe banwu,” is still a worship song that talks about their god, dwata as the creator. the other two songs could be considered as work songs; these are “amyak ago de solko” and “bunga ng ‘la bugal.” the song “amyak ago de solko” has something to do with a persona hunting for a ‘kalaw,’ a kind of bird and the song ‘bunga ng “la bugal,” another work song, in which the persona goes beyond appreciating the beauty of his place and exhorts the listeners of his song to stop mining. the term ‘la bugal’ is from ‘la bugal’ blaan tribal association which is a known blaan organization. the other three texts fall under prose narratives as what lumbera and lumbera (1982) called. these are the legends of the deer and the chicken, and their creation story. in the two legends, it depicted the tribe’s closeness to nature. both stories show how hunting animals like deer and chicken used to be closed to humans, were punished because of some offenses and were since then being hunted for human consumption. their own version of the creation story tells the readers about the opposing forces of the good and the bad, but the good god’s idea was given more credit. mabel cook cole (1916) in her book entitled ‘philippine folktales’, mentioned a blaan creation story and names like “melu”, “fiuweigh,” “diwata,” and “saweigh” were also present similar to the ones collected by the researcher. the study revealed that blaan folk literature is recited during wedding celebrations, during their gatherings, just like the municipality’s annual festival, some for entertainment purposes, and some were intended on worship service. on the other hand, the narratives were written a long time ago when blaans still practice hunting as a way of finding food. it was also found that blaan songs and stories are reflective of blaan’s own values, beliefs, and practices. that blaans value generosity. this act of generosity is manifested when one gives his/ her most treasured possession, shares his/her own blessings to others, or gives himself selflessly so others will have a better life. blaans also value valor and courage. they fight for their rights, go out to one’s comfort zone even if this could mean discomfort and inconvenience, and try 64 jpair multidisciplinary research to resist something that is forbidden are traits of people that show bravery and courage. but their valor is tempered because they are also willing to dialogue or “kasfala” as a way of resolving conflicts. in terms of tradition, they still believe in “dwata” as their creator and other supernatural beings. they have a close relationship with nature, and they love animals. the findings mentioned above were also validated by a diary published by fr. peter geremiah, pime, a missionary priest assigned in the parish of columbio for 32 years in his diary entitled ‘dreams and bloodstains,‘ (geremiah, 1987). conclusions blaans have their own collection of folk songs and narratives that are recited for certain occasions. these songs and narratives are reflective of their beliefs, values, and practices. these songs are recited on certain occasions like weddings, municipal festivals, entertainment and worship service. their narratives were written a long time ago, which reflect their way of life during that time when their ancestors used to hunt for food. these folk songs and narratives are good examples of literary pieces which can possibly be shared among the pupils and students alike, especially in mindanao where majority of the indigenous people reside. blaans too, along with other tribes in the country, has a unique culture, tradition, and beliefs that need to be documented before all of these become extinct. translational research the findings of this literary criticism can be translated into a textbook so later on can be of help in the community within the region and even in the whole country, especially in the field of k-12 program of the department of education. the textbook drawn can be evaluated by the authorities concerned for acceptability and impact. literature cited act, i. p. r. 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(2013). human development report. https://bit.ly/3eshlta http://www.ijssh.org/vol6/759-h21.pdf http://www.ijssh.org/vol6/759-h21.pdf http://bit.ly/2vey3yb 140 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 the rise of start up of young entrepreneurs in time of covid-19 pandemic in the economic growth center of legazpi city sheila mae a. llamasares https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7660-6773 sheilamaellamasares@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract microbusinesses are booming nationwide, including in legazpi. small enterprises closed, personnel resigned at historical rates, and the global supply chains were disrupted during the pandemic. disaster-prone areas struggled with covid-19’s economic and regulatory limitations. the government’s aid isn’t enough to support a family, notably in lockdown areas. some young people began businesses to survive this epidemic situation. this qualitative research investigated how to create an intervention program to help start-up young entrepreneurs overcome the covid-19 pandemic crisis. if legazpi city’s five growth centers—bigaa, bitano, capantawan, washington, and taysan—could surmount their young entrepreneurs’ challenges, economic activity would rise, as would businesses. the results proved that making a profit drives the respondents. according to the findings, most young entrepreneurs have difficulty accessing capital. this study is vital to humanity’s survival in the current crisis. thus, the proposed intervention program must focus on either exploring or implementing vol. 51 · january 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v51i1.613 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 141 international peer reviewed journal innovative forms of marketing or a more refined version of an already successful business strategy to solve the young entrepreneurs’ struggles with access to capital that would be alleviated if these laws were universally applied. keywords —  entrepreneurship, proposed intervention program, profit, challenges, young entrepreneur, micro-scale business, qualitative, philippines introduction small and medium-sized businesses (smb), which account for more than 90% of all firms globally, have been particularly affected by the global health crisis. while some firms experienced unheard-of growth, several others temporarily and permanently shuttered their doors. among the categories most severely affected by the economic effects of the pandemic, online microbusiness ownership increased the fastest after the outbreak. 26 percent of all new microbusinesses have black owners, up from 15% prior to the epidemic. similar to this, the percentage of new microbusiness starts controlled by women increased from 48% to 57%. additionally, the percentage of those without a college degree choosing microbusinesses increased from 36% to 44% (impact lab, 2020). microbusinesses are booming nationwide in legazpi. small enterprises closed, personnel resigned at historical rates, and global supply chains were disrupted during the pandemic. this study covers the 2020 pandemic. the researcher surveyed over 5,000 business owners in 23 nations—almost three-quarters of the worldwide gdp. most entrepreneurs struggle with significant challenges. entrepreneurs in the poll withstood the recession by being agile, adaptive, and open to new opportunities. strength was theirs. after the pandemic, they received government help, gave back to society, and planned for development. entrepreneurs lost 12% due to the pandemic. self-care and social support help entrepreneurs work. five post-covid economy trends, policy recommendations for how entrepreneurs and smes can benefit from these trends (digitization, a focus on the “local,” inclusive business models, and building personal and business resilience), and five practical steps entrepreneurs can take to protect their health conclude the report (stephan et al., 2021). another study helped msmes survive the covid-19 pandemic. exploratory, descriptive analysis is used in this investigation. a thinking framework arranges idea descriptions. the outcomes wanted covid-19 to empower msmes. financing, raw materials, it infrastructure, umkm credit restructuring, and training can help msmes succeed. second, the covid-19 pandemic will 142 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 impact msmes’ worldwide market competitiveness. if the government helps msmes through the crisis, they’ll recover quickly. msme firms can use internet marketing to display their unique inventions, creative packaging, and distinctive products. msme empowerment was one of this study’s interventions for young start-up entrepreneurs. if the “go negosyo act of 2014” works, entrepreneurs will obtain loans or subsidies to test marketing, raw materials, target clients, and more (affandi, 2020). entrepreneurs risk business. data informs entrepreneurs. entrepreneurs reflect. entrepreneurs create companies. his adapts. entrepreneurs must trust someone who doesn’t always trust them. business decisions should be wiser. due to diverse viewpoints and needs, he may eventually be unable to satisfy everyone. business owners want their needs satisfied. start-ups prefer slow growth. consider delivery logistics when making important business decisions. understand your organization. they need to be well-trained. business is challenging. the young entrepreneur’s problems will be explained by the researcher. pandemic-related plan for young entrepreneurs. entrepreneurs can establish and grow profitable businesses with a proper marketing approach. the community will benefit initially since people won’t have to go as far to get food. if legazpi’s barangays promote local entrepreneurs, everyone can survive. the town becomes more prosperous with decreased unemployment, fewer government assistance recipients, and more work and enterprise. bmbe incentives and benefits underpin our study. a “barangay micro business enterprise,” or bmbe, is a corporation that manufactures, processes, trades, or provides services with assets under three million pesos (p3,000,000.00), including loans but not the land on which its office, plant, and equipment are located. let’s assume all legazpi city barangays strongly execute republic act no. 9178 and support microbusinesses. that will stimulate new startups, which will strengthen the city’s economy. adding jobs slowly lowered philippine unemployment. businesses will adopt it. the community can reduce poverty and unemployment, and companies will profit more. finally, legazpi city’s dti may provide startup funding and advice. the negosyo center program assists msmes and other small businesses in getting resources. republic act no. 10644, the “go negosyo act,” encourages msmes to increase philippine employment (drilon et al., 2022). this project aims to help young entrepreneurs cope with covid-19. the community chairman and legazpi city department of trade and industry must support the intervention program to improve the philippine economy and create jobs. their pandemic marketing. it inspires entrepreneurs. 143 international peer reviewed journal this research will hold small business seminars, workshops, and activities. if the community chairman and dti legazpi city support these measures, more firms will be formed, creating jobs, and boosting the philippines’ economy. framework this study was based on five theories the disruptive innovation theory by clayton christensen; the innovation theory of the entrepreneur by joseph schumpeter; the economic entrepreneurship theory by richard cantillon; opportunity-based entrepreneurship theory by peter drucker; and lastly, the resource-based entrepreneurship theory by jay barney. the first theory pertains to disruptive innovation theory, which describes how a new market entrant can disrupt established businesses. in this study, the new entrants refer to the young entrepreneurs who engage in business during the covid-19 pandemic. according to christensen, disruptive innovation occurs when a smaller company, usually with fewer resources, challenges an established corporation (commonly referred to as “incumbent” by getting into the market at the bottom and staying there to grow up-market. this process usually takes several steps, such as (a) incumbent businesses innovate and develop their products or services to appeal to their most demanding and profitable customers, ignoring the needs of those down market, (b) entrants target this overlooked market segment, and gain traction by meeting their needs at a lower cost than what the incumbent offers; (c) incumbents do not respond to the new entrant, focusing on their more profitable segments, (d) when a new entrant begins to attract a large number of the incumbent business’s mainstream customers, disruption occurs (larson, 2016). by this method, the young entrepreneur slowly engages in business activity, and little by little, the consumers tend to buy their products more often than the incumbents. the second theory is the famous innovation theory of entrepreneurship, which joseph schumpeter proposed. schumpeter assumes a situation in which a closed capitalist economy is in a steady state. he held that innovators and entrepreneurs were responsible for bringing about progressive change in economies by breaking the economy out of its cyclical ruts. disequilibrium results from the entrepreneurs’ actions because they disrupt the normal flow of things. any country’s rapid economic growth is attributed to its entrepreneurs’ innovations. the entrepreneur, whom schumpeter defined as “not a man of ordinary managerial ability but one who introduces something entirely new,” 144 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 was tasked with bringing about new combinations of the factors of production. joseph a. schumpeter put forth the innovation theory of profit, which holds that a business can be profitable by introducing new and valuable innovations. in other words, according to the innovation theory of profit, an entrepreneur’s primary duty is to introduce innovations and is rewarded monetarily for this. in schumpeter’s view, innovation is any action an entrepreneur takes to either decrease his product’s total cost of production or raise consumer demand for it. there is a connection between the present investigation and schumpeter’s theory of innovation since introducing new products and services during a pandemic significantly impacts the city’s economic hubs. as a result of the pandemic, old business owners will see a decline in profits due to the new marketing strategies implemented by young business owners. the third theory, economic entrepreneurship theory, states that entrepreneurship has far-reaching consequences for more than just the business world. in cantillon’s view, entrepreneurs perform double duties as “producers” and “exchangers.” a business owner’s decision has far-reaching consequences for collecting raw materials transformed into a finished good. cantillon argued that anyone with a source of variable income, from panhandlers to restaurant owners, is engaging in entrepreneurial activity. what sets his theory apart from others in entrepreneurship theory (larson, 2016)? in line with richard cantillon’s theory of entrepreneurship, young business owners helped alleviate the economic crisis caused by the pandemic by keeping their operations afloat and prices low for consumers, notably those who had lost their employment and were unemployed now without a means of support. the fourth theory “defines entrepreneur and entrepreneurship,” which implies that an entrepreneur is someone who “constantly searches for, responds to, and capitalizes on change, contradicting schumpeter’s theory, which defines entrepreneurship as change, emphasizing a broad conceptual framework (larson, 2016). the researcher in this study is looking for marketing innovations among young business owners so that they can thrive during a pandemic, which is probably related to the opportunity-based of peter drucker’s work. explains why chances can materialize during times of distress. the young business owners see this as a chance to branch out and start their own companies, which will one day help them support their families. the last theory is the resourced based entrepreneur theory. according to this theory, entrepreneurs can only launch and sustain their businesses with access to capital. start-ups need more than just time and money to succeed; entrepreneurs also need access to other tools. the theory’s primary goal is to 145 international peer reviewed journal improve one’s capabilities by highlighting the significance of material, social, and human resources (larson, 2016). according to the resource-based theory, having access to adequate resources is crucial for successfully launching a new firm. launching a company with just your own time and money is impossible. if they have more connections or social acquaintances, it will be easier for them to reach the people they want to sell their food, ready-to-wear, cosmetics, and other products too, increasing the likelihood that they will sell to them. this entrepreneur can benefit from taking courses like community livelihood and those offered by the department of trade and industry (dti). objectives of the study generally, this research aimed to show the rise of young entrepreneurs during the covid-19 pandemic in the economic growth centers of legazpi city. specifically, this research sought to: (1) determine the profile of the young entrepreneur based on a. highest educational attainment, b. source of capitalization, c. relevant training, d. amount of capitalization, e., kind of business, f. classification according to net worth, g. lgu registration. (2) determine the motivating factor in engaging in entrepreneurial activity. (3) identify the challenges encountered by the young entrepreneur during the covid-19 pandemic, along with marketing, financing, and logistical and technological. (4) propose an intervention program for young start-up entrepreneurs according to republic act 2014, also known as the “go negosyo act 2014.” methodology research design the study used qualitative type of research, which is a method that is known for providing information that is both pertinent and accurate. the researcher administered a survey-made questionnaire which is correlated to the rise of startup of young entrepreneurs in time of covid-19 pandemic in the economic growth center of the young entrepreneurs in the communities of community bigaa, bitano, capantawan, washington, and taysan in legazpi city to learn more about how these individuals managed to keep their companies afloat and thrive despite the presence of the covid-19 pandemic. after thoroughly undergoing the study, the researcher suggested intervention programs for young start-up entrepreneurs to succeed in running small businesses. after receiving approval of the proposed intervention plan after a month be implemented. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 respondents the respondents of this study are young entrepreneurs from the five economic growth centers of legazpi city, such as community bitano, bigaa, capantawan, washington, and taysan. the researcher chose the respondents based on the community records of entrepreneurs with business permits. the focus of the study is the young entrepreneurs, which are part of generation z, ranging from the age of 10 to 25. still, the researcher only includes entrepreneurs ranging from 18 to 25 years old, for they are allowed to apply for a business permit. the respondents also encountered difficulties in their business during the covid-19 pandemic, which is why the researcher is eager to give solutions to the problems that the respondents experienced by proposing an intervention program to them. instrumentation the researcher used the questionnaire they created on their own to collect the responses from the respondents. the questionnaire survey has three sections in total. the respondents’ demographic profile included the highest educational attainment, source of capitalization, relevant training, amount of capitalization, type of business, company classification based on net worth, and lgu registration. the second section discussed the elements that motivate individuals to engage in entrepreneurial activity or enterprise. the final section, the third one, discusses the challenges young business owners encountered during the covid-19 pandemic. the fact that the respondents are responsible for filling it out on their own without the assistance of an interviewer is what gives rise to the term “self-administered.” this survey questionnaire served as the basis for drafting the proposed intervention program, which will undoubtedly mirror the scenario they experienced as a result of this study. as a result of this study, their small-scale business succeeded after participating in the intervention program described before. research ethics protocol in no uncertain terms, every respondent was made aware that their participation was entirely voluntary. in addition, respondents were assured that the confidentiality of their names and the names of their respective communities would be maintained. during the survey, the respondents confirmed that no personally identifying information (such as their names) was requested from them in any capacity. in addition, it was made clear to every person who took 147 international peer reviewed journal part that they could obtain a copy of the final tally if that is something they would like to do. data gathering procedure after acquiring all the formal permission that the researcher had from the graduate school and the locale where the data is collected, the researcher delved into the gathering of the data needed on the profile, seminars/training attended on business, type of business chosen, problems encountered, marketing strategy and source of capital of the respondents through answering the survey questionnaire that the researcher distributes in one month. next retrieving of survey questionnaires; the allotted time is one month, depending on the respondents’ availability. the researcher used the following month for analyzing and tabulating the survey questionnaire result. lastly, another month is intended for the preparation of the propose intervention programs for the respondents coming from the five economic growth centers of legazpi city, namely community bitano, bigaa, capantawan, washington, and taysan, with the help of the community officials headed by the community chairman and department of trade and industry in legazpi city. statistical analysis there are four (4) preliminary steps or phases that need to be carried out: (phase 1) the administration of survey questionnaires to the young entrepreneurs who participated in the research; (phase 2) the monitoring and retrieval of the survey questionnaires; (phase 3) the analysis and tabulation of the results of the survey questionnaires; and (phase 4) the analysis of the results. the researchers will examine the effects of developing an intervention program for young entrepreneurs just getting their businesses off the ground in legazpi city’s five economic growth centers. results and discussion this part presents the results of the survey, analysis, and interpretation of the data on the start up young entrepreneurs during the covid-19 pandemic in the economic growth center of legazpi city: a. highest educational attainment, b. source of capitalization, c. relevant training, d. amount of capitalization, e. kind of business, f. classification according to net worth, and g. lgu registration. likewise, the perceptions of the two groups of respondents determined the motivating factor in engaging in entrepreneurial activity, and identified the 148 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 challenges encountered by the young entrepreneur during the covid-19 pandemic along with: a. marketing, b. financing, c. logistical, d. technological; and proposed an intervention program for young start-up entrepreneurs in accordance with republic act 2014, also known as the “go negosyo act 2014.” highest educational attainment based on the findings of this study, almost half (48.87%) of the people who participated, which comes out to approximately 43 different people, have a degree from an accredited institution or university. some persons had completed high school, accounting for 36.36% of respondents and roughly 32 people. the respondents who have completed elementary school make up around 14.77% of the total, which amounts to 13 people, demonstrating that those who had completed higher levels of education have a more significant propensity to launch their firms to meet their monetary obligations. relevant training according to the findings, 59.09% of respondents, which equals 52 persons, obtained their capital from salary, indicating that most business owners also work in some capacity. tesda training, dti training, community livelihood, and online training are all study components that were looked into. seventy percent of respondents have yet to finish the abovementioned training; the majority had only completed the community livelihood training, demonstrating that 62 respondents did not participate in any activity. source of capital the survey results revealed that the amount of capitalization held by the respondents ranges between 1,000 and 3,000 pesos. there are around 52 people, corresponding to the percentage of total respondents who have this amount of capital invested in their business operation. some respondents have a beginning capital of four thousand to seven thousand dollars, accounting for roughly 31.82%, or 28 respondents. last but not least, the capitalization ranges from 8,000 to 10,000, which amounts to approximately 9.09%, or about eight people alone. kind of business according to the survey, the respondents engaged in the food business, delivery business, rtw business /thrift business, and others. among the four types, 77% of the respondents run food businesses, which is equal to 68 149 international peer reviewed journal people out of the total number of respondents. some are into rtw business with 7.95%, about seven persons out of the total population. the remaining respondents are into other businesses, which is approximately 14.78%, or 13 out of 88, which is the total number of respondents. classification of business according to the information acquired, 59.09% of the respondents, around 52 individuals, are involved in the micro-scale business, indicating that their starting capital ranges from approximately 1,000 to 3,000 pesos. while the remaining 40.91%, or 36 people, are involved in small-scale industries, their capital investments range from 4,000 to 7,000 and 8,000 to 10,000, respectively. business permit the local government unit (lgu) registration consists of the following permits; the dti permit, the community permit, the bureau of internal revenue (bir) permit, and the mayor’s permit. fifty-two respondents, approximately 59.09% in total, have community authorization. the remaining respondents, which is 40.91%, or 36 individuals, need permission to operate their businesses. motivational factors according to the information gathered, the desire to make a profit is the crucial factor that leads young business owners to start their enterprises, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. this assertion was made based on the information gathered. the fact that the total weighted mean has a value of 3.68 demonstrates this, and it is the first indicator with which most respondents had considerable agreement. a total of 3.33 twm is attributed to the second sign, passion. the third indicator is the individual’s progress, which is approximately 3.27 based on the data. the level of satisfaction is the fourth indication, and it currently has a value of 3.52. the final metric, which goes by the name of achievement, shares the exact value of 3.52 as the fourth, called satisfaction. it’s possible to figure out from the fact that the respondents provided a mean score of 3.46 that they all concurred that one of the reasons stated below is their main inspiration for operating a business. problems encountered the study included questions about a lack of capital, competitors, customers, effective time management, marketing and advertising, and management of marketing and advertising time. based on the weighted mean, which is 150 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 51 • january 2023 approximately 2.68, which frequently means problematic in the likert scale below, which means that all of the participants experienced the majority of the cited problems, but the most common problem was a lack of capital, which a mean of 3.63, which indicates that it is highly problematic according to the scale presented. the second challenge that the respondents face is the high number of competitors, which, given that the twm for this issue is 3.09 indicates that excessive competitors will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in profitability. the third issue concerns customers with the twm 2.44, which means it is challenging to get customers during the pandemic due to the restrictions imposed by the interagency task force’s health protocols, making it more difficult for businesses to profit. (iatf). because lockdowns have been established, they can only serve those within their community. because of the schedule of the opening of markets per community with 2.04 twm, the respondents reported that time management was the fourth challenge due to the system. in conclusion, the covid-19 limits make it very difficult for them to engage in marketing and advertising. as a result, the respondents tend to reduce the price of their products to make them more affordable for their customers as one of the strategies for selling their products with a twm of 1.95, which is rarely observed. conclusion the study focused on creating an intervention program for young start-up entrepreneurs that will eventually solve the problems they encountered during the covid-19 pandemic. if their young entrepreneur covered all obstacles to business activity, this would lead to increased economic activities in the five growth centers of legazpi city, namely bigaa, bitano, capantawan, washington, and taysan. if those problems occurred is addressed later, they will significantly affect our society and community as well loss of profit means unstable financial sources for all entrepreneurs, not only the young ones. suppose the government, which the dti and community represent, will not support micro and smallscale businesses in our province. in that case, it leads to other problems like unemployment, poverty, shortage of essential commodities, and price hikes which are likely to happen if those young entrepreneurs are troubled and not supported by the government. solving recent problems in their businesses will serve as a guide to other young entrepreneurs who wants to run their own business. more companies will put up more opportunities for jobless or unemployed citizens. helping young entrepreneurs handle those problems develops their entrepreneurial skills and increases their profits. the proposed intervention 151 international peer reviewed journal program will tackle new marketing or even existing effective business strategies. the greatest number of respondents answered that their biggest problem is the need for more capital. republic act 10644, republic act 9178, and republic act 9501 also offer a subsidy to start small businesses from community livelihood subsidy. laws enjoyed by most of our young entrepreneurs have their problems with needing more capital solved. translational research this study proposed an intervention program for young start-up entrepreneurs with the following exits such as new marketing for small-scale businesses, new knowledge or innovations in teaching small-scale business to students, establishing a new business, job opportunities with the support coming from the community and dti legazpi city through subsidy which is part of the go negosyo act 2014 implementation. literature cited affandi, a., sarwani, a. s., erlangga, h., siagian, a. o., purwanto, a., effendy, a. a., & juhaeri, g. (2020). optimization of msmes empowerment in facing competition in the global market during the covid-19 pandemic time. systematic reviews in pharmacy, 11(11), 1506-1515. drilon, f., nazareno, r. p., yabes, o. g., & de venecia, j. (2002, november 13). republic act no. 9178: govph. official gazette of the republic of the philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2002/11/13/republic-actno-9178/ impact lab. (2020). here are the top 10 nations enjoying the fastest growth in small businesses – and why it matters. https://www.impactlab.com/ category/startup-2/ larson, c. (2016). disruptive innovation theory: what it is & 4 key concepts. harvard business school. stephan, u., zbierowski, p., pérez-luño, a., klausen, a., cabañas, m. a., barki, e., ... & zahid, m. (2021). entrepreneurship during the covid-19 pandemic: a global study of entrepreneurs’ challenges, resilience, and wellbeing. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2002/11/13/republic-act-no-9178/ https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2002/11/13/republic-act-no-9178/ 74 jpair multidisciplinary research evaluation of the peace and order and public safety plan: its relation to the crime prevention priority issues of the province of albay domingo c. breva jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4528-2112 domingobrevajr@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract peace is described as an environment where individuals and communities are able to develop their potentials fully and attain progress and freely exercise their rights with due regard for the others while being equally mindful of their responsibilities. the peace and order and public safety plan is a three-year plan consisting of programs and activities to promote peace and order and public safety in a particular locality and consolidated integrated area/community public safety plan of the cities and municipalities within the province as specified in dilgmc no. 2015-128. a quantitative descriptive approach was used to examine the relevance and effectiveness of the pops plan in addressing the problems of criminality in the province of albay. members of the community, police officers of the province, and barangay officials were the respondents. results revealed that the peace and order councils’ action on the efforts of the government to address the crime problems is relevant. with this belief, the respondents participate in the effective implementation of the poc’s pops plan to address this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.790 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4528-2112 75 international peer reviewed journal the problems of criminality. hence, it is recommended that the policy planners of the government should seek criminological knowledge from criminologists in formulating dependable peace and order and public safety plan. keywords — peace and order, public safety, operational plan, crime prevention, social control, quantitative descriptive approach, philippines introduction the quality of nations upon which peace must be founded if it is to last must be an equality of rights; the guarantees exchanged must neither recognize nor imply a difference between big and small nations, between those that are powerful and those that are weak. right must be based on a common strength, not upon the individual strength of the nations upon whose concert peace will depend. equality of resources, of course, cannot be, nor any other sort of equality, not gained in the ordinary peaceful and legitimate development of the people themselves. but no one asks or expects anything more than an equality of right. mankind is looking for freedom of life, not for equipoises of power. and there is a deeper thing involved than even equality of right among the organized nation. no peace can last, or ought to last, which do not recognize and accept the principle that governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that no right anywhere exists to hand people about from sovereignty as if they were property. former u.s. president woodrow wilson (1917) declared that any peace which does not recognize and accept this principle would inevitably be upset. it will not rest upon the affections or the convictions of mankind. the ferment of spirit of whole populations will fight subtly and consistently against it, and all the world will emphasize. the world can be at peace only if its life is stable, and there can be no stability where the will is rebellion, where there is no tranquility of spirit and sense of justice, o f f r e e d o m , a n d o f r i g h t ” ( knock, 2019). merez (2018) reported that around 1.5 million families were victims of common crimes during the first quarter of 2018, social weather stations (sws) survey revealed. the survey conducted on march 23 to 27, 2018, showed that 6.6 percent of filipino families reported victimization by crimes such as robbery, break-ins, carnapping or car theft, and physical violence within the past six months. the majority of the incidents resulted in the loss of property such as street robbery, burglary or break-ins, and carnapping. in december 2017, around 76 jpair multidisciplinary research 1.1 million families, or 4.6 percent, were victimized by street robbery. the philippines comparatively has a high crime rate among its neighbors in asia. illegal weapons are widespread; as a result, violent crime is common; its capital was once regarded as the kidnapping capital of the said region. most of the vulnerable targets were foreigners, which commonly involve prostitution, victimized by gangsters, money changing tricks, and credit card fraud. volunteer workers, missionaries, and tourists have been the favorite targets of kidnappers (merez, 2018). ordinary break-ins are also a problem. in fact, some foreigners have had their house broken into the very first night they stayed there. another c o m m o n c r i m e i s m u r d e r , which often is committed, especially when under the influence of alcohol. guns can be purchased anywhere—the majority of the population in mindanao own guns. meanwhile, police statistics indicate an average of 130 auto thefts in the nation’s capital every month. one of the primary reasons for the spread of this social disorganization was due to the culture of distrust of authorities because of the belief that they were behind the crimes and possible reprisal (merez, 2018). bicol region, particularly in albay province, the albay police provincial office, suffered a longtime struggle to curtail the operation of the most notorious criminal group that is responsible for several cases of extortion, robbery, murder, and rape in the locality. the concepcion criminal group is the tarnished gunfor-hire group involved in various crimes in albay and some parts of the bicol region. the said group is armed with high powered firearms and of several calibers. another crime that made a shock in the local news was the incident of a murdered public-school teacher in the municipality of pio duran in albay. the incident happened in the elementary school where the victim is teaching. the suspect is a grade 12 student whom they called “the teen killer.” the teacher suffered 21 stab wounds, which caused her instantaneous death. the gruesome killing shook the different agencies of the government responsible for the maintenance of peace and order. another incident was the killing of two radio announcers in the same month when the victim, joey llana, was shot dead while on his way to catch his early morning radio program. according to the reports by the albay police provincial office, unidentified gunmen ambushed the broadcaster around 4:45 am along the alternate road in daraga of the same province. police said llana, 43, was shot 14 times with a .45-caliber gun and a 9mm pistol as he was maneuvering his 77 international peer reviewed journal car out of his garage in brgy. peñafrancia when he was attacked. another is the stabbing to death of the philippine star correspondent, celso amo. the incidents coincided with a police report that the nationwide crime rate has dropped and the most recent that shuddered the peaceful living of the province was the left and right killings that involved politicians and a former police provincial director who was linked to an illegal activity during his term and ties between the organized crime groups in the province. this study was formulated to evaluate the relevance the peace and order and public safety plan and its relation to the crime prevention priority issues of the province of albay. the philippine constitution emphasized the prime duty of the government. article 2, section 5 states that the maintenance of peace and order, protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all people of the blessings of democracy (leong, 2013). the above provision of the 1987 constitution mandates that state shall pursue the maintenance of peace and order, the promotion of life, liberty, and property, and the promotion of general welfare of the common good. another reason why this study was conducted was to assess whether this mandate is observed effectively by government officials at the provincial level. the political stability and economic prosperity become attainable, and the people truly enjoy the “blessings of independence and democracy only when peace and order, security and a life of dignity are established and maintained. president wilson (1917) added that it will be absolutely necessary that a force is created as a guarantor of the permanency of the settlement so much greater than the force of any nation now engaged or any alliance thereto formed or projected, that no nation, no probable combination of nations, could face or withstand it. peace should be made secure by the organized major force of mankind (wilson, 1917). politicians and elected government officials who are in power have a great role to be played in the maintenance of peace and order. article ii, section 11 of the philippine constitution, declaration of principles and state policies, provides that “the state values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect of human rights.” these include civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights as enumerated in other provisions of the constitution like article iii (bill of rights) and article xiii (social justice and human rights) (leong, 2013). the effectiveness of an organization such as the local government is determined by the competence of its officials and volunteers in knowing the law. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research the local government code of 1991 (ra 7160) developed the power to the local government units and provided much of the legal basis for what provinces and their official do. however, they must follow the correct laws, rules, and procedures and respect the human rights of suspected offenders. true enough, the m a i n t e n a n c e o f p e a c e a n d o r d e r a n d promotion of public safety in every corner of the society rests primarily not with the national government but on the local government with the help of the local police. in this aspect, the peace and order council of every province like albay and the local police offices come into one action. pursuant to section 116 of republic act no. 7160, otherwise known as the local government code of the philippines, the peace and order council (poc) is a government platform for stronger collaboration between the local government unit, law enforcement, and community to fight against criminality, illegal drugs, insurgency, and violent extremism. it institutionalizes harmony and enabling environment among its members to effectively implement peace and order and public safety activities that promote volunteerism in the community and intensifies advocacy and preventive education. according to the department of interior and local government, the pops plan is comprised of: assessment of local strategic tracks or the mission and vision of the lgu; peace and order situation of the lgu; significant community safety challenges defying laws of the lgu; objectives, strategies, targets, indicators, and baseline data; and policies, programs, projects, services and activities recommended for the lgu. it is required by the dilg to strengthen peace and order in all lgus amid the all-out war against illegal drugs in the country and to ensure the sustained and focused protection of villagers from crimes, emergencies, and natural and manmade disasters. like the other studies conducted, there is a need to focus primarily on the evaluation of the effectiveness, implementation, enforcement, etc. of the agencies tasked to implement the operational plans of the government to lessen or to eradicate the crime incidence in the community. it is necessary to evaluate the parliamentary body created through the mandate of the constitution and organized by the efforts of the executive branch to formulate local peace and order and public safety plan that will serve as the pipeline of the enforcement action of the linked agencies to the poc. hence, the key question in this study is how relevant the action plan of the provincial peace and order council is to control criminality. although peace and order have received significant attention from scholars, little research exists that examines the relevance of the peace and 79 international peer reviewed journal order council to address the anti-criminality efforts of the government. although bicol region recorded more than 30 percent decline in index crime based on the available data given to the researcher from 1st to 2nd quarter this year, the result is still far different from the target of the organization and the expectation of the community. the index crime rate in albay province is down by 24% in the same period that year. according to senior insp. ma. luisa calubaquib, pro 5 spokesperson, the result was through the intensified police presence in the community. in the study of ríos (2015), they revealed that increases in the criminal presence and violent crime reduce economic diversification, increase sector concentration, and diminish economic complexity. albay province is the home of the ongoing most scenic airport in the country’s background by the majestic mt. mayon volcano, the world’s most perfect cone of its kind. it started during the aquino administration, and until today, it has not yet been operational based on the target year of operation due to several factors. one event that was most appalling happened in 2018 when suspected members of the new people’s army (npa) burned at least 11 heavy equipment used in the construction of the bicol international airport in daraga town in albay province. local economists projected that the construction of the said airport would produce and attract investors to boost the local economy. the negative effects of violence in economic growth are not only explained by reductions in investments, outflows of human capital, or increased production costs but by changes in the productive composition of an area (ríos, 2015). the province of albay is strategically located at the center of the bicol region. legazpi city, also in albay, is called the gateway city of bicol and the regional center. in the province, there are three cities, namely: lagazpi city, ligao, and tabaco. it has fifteen (15) municipalities as follows: bacacay, camalig, daraga, guinobatan, jovellar, libon, malilipot, malinao, manito, oas, pio duran, polangui, rapu-rapu, sto. domingo, and tiwi. the study evaluated the peace and order and public safety plan and its relation to the crime prevention priority issues of the province of albay to develop a proposed bill for the institutionalization and reorganization of the peace and order council in the philippines by utilizing the synergy of partnerships involving the philippine national police, the people, the local government leaders, and all other concerned sectors to create a security umbrella with the internal and external environment as the target. this aimed to establish a highly competent peace and order council to ensure accountability and to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its members and units in the 80 jpair multidisciplinary research performance of their function and reorganization of the peace and order council. the study aimed to evaluate the peace and order and public safety plan and its relation to the crime prevention priority issues of the province of albay. this served as the basis for writing a bill for the institutionalization and reorganization of the peace and order council in the philippines. specifically, it sought answers to the following objectives: to assess the relevance of the peace and order council’s action against criminality as perceived by community, police officers, and barangay officials along with the issue on drug abuse; crimes against property; and crimes against persons; to evaluate the level of participation of the three groups of respondents in the implementation of peace and order council’s action against criminality along with the issue on drug abuse; crimes against property; crimes against persons; and to assess the effectiveness of the poc’s peace and order and public safety plan in addressing the problems of criminality as perceived by the three groups of respondents along with the issue on drug abuse; crimes against property; crimes against persons. methodology the descriptive survey method of research was utilized. this research design was preferred in gathering the significant data from the respondents since it provides a systematic description, measurement, and analysis of the data, situation, or phenomenon, particularly on the peace and order and public safety plan and its relation to the crime prevention priority issues of the province of albay. the researcher used a closedstructured questionnaire as the main data gathering instrument. parts i to iii of the survey questionnaire were patterned from the department of interior and local government peace and order and public safety planning guidebook and to the three-year pops plan (cy 2015-2018). the questionnaire was divided into four (4) parts. the first part assessed the relevance of the peace and order council’s action against criminality as perceived by community, police officers, and barangay officials. the second part evaluated the level of participation of the three groups of respondents in the implementation of the peace and order council’s action against criminality. part iii assessed the effectiveness of the poc’s peace and order and public safety plan in addressing the problems of criminality as perceived by the three groups of respondents. meanwhile, the fourth and last parts examined the hindrances encountered by the implementing agencies on the effective implementation of the peace and order and public safety plan. 81 international peer reviewed journal to ensure the validity and reliability of the research instrument, the researcher looked for four (4) persons not included in the respondents of the study. one of them is from the provincial officer who is familiar with pops plan, a police officer from a municipality who was not included in the research environment, a research professor, and someone who has knowledge in statistics. these people somehow helped the researcher established the face validity of the research instrument. then to further ensure the reliability and validity of the instrument, the researcher distributed sample questionnaires to individuals who can validate the content. six samples were distributed to the key persons of the units of the public safety and emergency management office in albay. nine were distributed to the albay provincial police office, and ten to the members of the community. these people were not included as the respondents of the study. this helped the researcher to further improve the research instrument. before the actual administration of the survey questionnaire, the researcher asked permission from the governor, provincial director of the albay police provincial office, chiefs of police of the cities, and selected municipalities. after permission was secured, the researcher personally contacted the identified r e s p o n d e n t s a n d d i s t r i b u t e d t h e questionnaire. respondents who were not available have made the researcher returned on the date scheduled by the head of the office. the researcher guaranteed the confidentiality and privacy of the respondents through the informed consent and privacy impact assessment (pia) following the pattern issued by the institute of graduate studies and research. likewise, the researcher sought approval from the governor, police provincial director, and chief of police of the different municipalities to conduct research. voluntariness of the respondents was considered in this research. before soliciting their necessary answers using the survey questionnaire, the researcher secured first their consent to determine the respondents’ willingness, cooperation, and voluntariness to provide appropriate answers. results and discussion after the said processes and protocols, the researcher distributed the instrument to the respondents, and all the data were retrieved, tallied, and interpreted accordingly. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. the relevance of the peace and order council’s action against criminality in terms of the issue on drug abuse issue on drug abuse barangay officials police community members total wm qd wm qd wm qd wm qd conduct of anti-illegal drug operation 3.65 relevant 4.51 very relevant 4.20 relevant 4.12 relevant development of community-based surveillance and monitoring system of drug personalities 3.91 relevant 4.31 very relevant 3.96 relevant 4.06 relevant identification of drug personalities 3.85 relevant 4.49 very relevant 4.41 very relevant 4.25 very relevant strengthening of anti-illegal drug advocacy 3.68 relevant 4.55 very relevant 4.15 relevant 4.13 relevant conduct of “oplan tokhang” on low value target 2.80 moderately relevant 4.31 very relevant 2.33 slightly relevant 3.15 moderately relevant conduct of “oplan tokhang” on high value target 4.24 very relevant 4.68 very relevant 4.53 very relevant 4.48 very relevant conduct of barangay drug clearing operation 3.57 relevant 4.59 very relevant 3.70 relevant 3.95 relevant house to house visitation 4.08 relevant 4.64 very relevant 4.07 relevant 4.26 very relevant conduct of antidangerous drug summit 4.84 very relevant 4.56 very relevant 4.00 relevant 4.47 very relevant school symposium 4.00 relevant 4.72 very relevant 4.08 relevant 4.27 very relevant implementation of oplan tambuli (police service on wheels) 3.69 relevant 4.48 very relevant 3.78 relevant 3.99 relevant average mean 3.85 relevant 4.53 very relevant 3.93 relevant 4.10 relevant legend: 4.21-5.00 very relevant 1.81-2.60 slightly relevant 3.41-4.20 relevant 1.00-1.80 not relevant 2.61-3.40 moderately relevant the findings revealed that the poc’s actions relative to the issue of drug abuse are relevant, which obtained an average weighted mean of 4.10. in line with 83 international peer reviewed journal this, the nationwide survey conducted last quarter of 2018 by the social weather station (2018) regarding the satisfaction with the campaign of the government against illegal drugs unsurprisingly garnered an excellent rating. meanwhile, the conduct of “oplan tokhang” on a high-value target is very relevant as well as the conduct of the anti-dangerous drug summit. the conduct of the school symposium on the issue of drug abuse is also a very relevant program. these findings are somehow supported by the statements of fed et al. (2019) that prevention programs and awareness campaigns can play a vital role in reducing substance abuse. symposia are crucial in the dissemination of cannabis information to staff at social services, treatment facilities, schools, health care, correctional facilities, and nongovernmental organizations (ngos). apparently, youths are depicted as a central category in every anti-illegal drug symposium material, so it is paramount for every forum to involve all youths being the most susceptible to this problem (seear & fraser, 2014). on the relentless anti-illegal drug campaign of the duterte administration and as experienced and observed by the philippine drug enforcement agency, symposia on the dangers of illegal drugs in schools can be taxing and irregular and not enough. the best way to educate the youth about illegal drugs is to include it in the school curriculum (mena, 2015). corollary to this, the department of education of the philippines structured a national drug education program or (ndep) that aims a holistic approach in preventing and eliminating the menace of drugs by means of incorporating the drug education program to the present curriculum of the learners under the department (mena, 2017). similar to this, senate bill no. 1149 or the youth drug abuse resistance education and prevention program (y-dare) act filed by villanueva targets to educate the youth on the personal and social consequences of substance abuse and drug dependency. this a similar program adopted by the technical education and skills development authority (tesda) in coordination with the department of education (deped) and other concerned agencies. the integration of illegal drug lessons in every curriculum will surely make a difference in how the youths react on the use of drugs being on the neophyte stage, whose curiosity makes them tries everything on the trend that needs to be experienced. furthermore, as suggested in the study of mansson and ekendahl (2015), symposia should have an overall scientific framing. it was concluded that there is proof of the negative effects of illegal drugs to make it more interesting on the part of the intended audience and to have an impact on their perception of drugs. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, they perceived the conduct of “oplan tokhang” on low-value targets as the least relevant. the findings imply that targeting big-time criminals or suspects should be given much focus rather than targeting smalltime suspects only. it is a sad fact, however, that many suspects who belong to the lowest social class have been the target of tokhang operations and have actually been killed while big-time syndicates are still free and continue to operate in the country (philippines: lacson to pnp, pdea: let street pushers lead to big-time drug suppliers, 2018). this finding implies and calls for attention to the policymakers and implementers to focus on the grassroots level of social problems in the country to attain the objective of a drug-free philippines. based on the law of unodc (2019) suggested that the stakeholders should practice active and effective cooperation and a joint approach in taking action against drug production and cross-border trafficking of drugs or the supply suppression. table 2 presents the respondents’ perceptions of the relevance of the peace and order council’s action against criminality in terms of the issue of crime against property. as revealed by the data, the actions regarding the issue of crimes against property are perceived to be very relevant, which got an average weighted mean of 4.31. to them, the conduct of regular checkpoints and encouraging community crime reporting are significant actions that are being conducted by the poc. this means patrolling in the community helps in preventing the commission of crimes against property. true enough, theft, robbery, larceny, burglary, or other criminal intent could be minimized when would-be suspects are aware of the regular checkpoint. likewise, the participation of the community through crime reporting would give a signal to the would-be suspects or criminals that it will not be easy to carry out their plan. 85 international peer reviewed journal table 2. relevance of the peace and order council’s action against criminality in terms of issue on crime against property issue on crime against property barangay officials police community members total wm qd wm qd wm qd wm qd enhancement of police presence 3.93 relevant 4.64 very relevant 4.53 very relevant 4.37 very relevant conduct of regular checkpoint 4.51 very relevant 4.73 very relevant 4.56 very relevant 4.60 very relevant forging partnership with the local civil security units 3.90 relevant 4.72 very relevant 4.28 very relevant 4.30 very relevant strengthening of advocacy on reduction of crimes against property 3.55 relevant 4.61 very relevant 4.35 very relevant 4.17 relevant encouraging community crime reporting 4.34 very relevant 4.72 very relevant 4.69 very relevant 4.59 very relevant information dissemination on the latest modus operandi 3.88 relevant 4.70 very relevant 3.46 relevant 4.01 relevant intensification of crime solving effort to make an impact to crime reduction 3.74 relevant 4.58 very relevant 4.26 very relevant 4.19 relevant inspection of junkshops 3.72 relevant 4.72 very relevant 4.58 very relevant 4.34 very relevant inspection of business offering preowned items 4.26 very relevant 4.69 very relevant 4.45 very relevant 4.47 very relevant implementation of oplan tambuli (police service wheels) 3.69 relevant 4.65 very relevant 3.82 relevant 4.05 relevant average mean 3.95 relevant 4.68 very relevant 4.30 very relevant 4.31 very relevant legend: 4.21-5.00 very relevant 1.81-2.60 slightly relevant 3.41-4.20 relevant 1.00-1.80 not relevant 2.61-3.40 moderately relevant 86 jpair multidisciplinary research this is embedded in the principle of pro-active policing, which includes police surveillance of an area where crimes have been occurring in the effort to catch perpetrators in the act. proactive policing is distinguished from reactive policing, wherein the government authorities move into action after crimes have already occurred, and the perpetrators are sought (lippke, 2017). this study reflects the sentiments of the respondents with regard to how relevant the actions of the government are to prevent the commission of a crime. they prefer and feel safer to see police in every corner of the streets who are actively doing their job to prevent crime from happening. this means, based on their observation, substantial increases in police patrol and presence can indeed cause modest reductions in crime and more impressive reductions in disorder within high crime locations. the study conducted by tk (2014) revealed that community policing had had a great impact on police service delivery. its popularity is reflected in demand for community policing programs among the people and the importance accorded to it by political leaders and policymakers. conclusion based on the data gathered from the three sets of respondents, the following conclusions are arrived at: the peace and order council’s action against criminality in terms of the issue of drug abuse was found relevant, which includes the conduct of “oplan tokhang” on high-value target, anti-dangerous drug summit, and school symposium. very relevant actions to address the issue of crimes against property are the conduct of regular checkpoints and community crime reporting. in terms of the issue of the increasing number of crimes against persons, an increase of police presence, promotion of the spirit of volunteerism to encourage people to become agents of positive change, and enhancement of police productivity are the most relevant. therefore, the relevance of every anti-criminality program should be based on the actual situation of the community. all stakeholders should be consulted before, during, and after the formulation of anti-criminality policy. any program will not come into success without the full cooperation and inclusion of the members of the community. 87 international peer reviewed journal literature cited knock, t. (2019). to end all wars, new edition: woodrow wilson and the quest for a new world order. princeton university press. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/32mcyhv lippke, r. l. (2017). a limited defense of what some will regard as entrapment. leg, 23, 283. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3gvnfgq mansson, j., & ekendahl, m. (2015). protecting prohibition: the role of swedish information symposia in keeping cannabis a high-profile problem.  contemporary drug problems,  42(3), 209-225. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0091450915599348 merez, a (2018). 1.5 million filipino families fell victim to common crimes: sws. abs-cbn news retrieved from https://news.abs-cbn.com/ news/06/21/18/15-million-filipino-families-fell-victim-to-common-crimessws unodc (2019). implementation of all international drug policy commitments. united nation office on drugs and crime. vienna austria. retrieved from: https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/cnd/2019_ministerial_ declaration/19-v1905795_e_ebook.pdf rıos, v. (2015). the impact of crime and violence on economic sector diversity.  unpublished manuscript,  87, 92-99. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3jekue2 seear, k., & fraser, s. (2014). the addict as victim: producing the ‘problem ‘of addiction in australian victims of crime compensation laws.  international journal of drug policy,  25(5), 826-835. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.02.016 walker, s. e., & archbold, c. a. (2018). the new world of police accountability. sage publications. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2cv0ulf wilson, w. (1917). peace without victory. pww, 40, 533-39. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2exzy0p https://bit.ly/32mcyhv https://bit.ly/32mcyhv https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0091450915599348 https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/21/18/15-million-filipino-families-fell-victim-to-common-crimes-sws https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/21/18/15-million-filipino-families-fell-victim-to-common-crimes-sws https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/21/18/15-million-filipino-families-fell-victim-to-common-crimes-sws https://bit.ly/3jekue2 https://bit.ly/3jekue2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.02.016 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.02.016 https://bit.ly/2cv0ulf https://bit.ly/2exzy0p 72 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers performance in relation to pupils academic achievement in kabankalan city marjon c. malacapay https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9564-1286 mcmalacapay@gmail.com central philippines state university (cpsu)-sipalay campus sipalay city, negros occidental, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract teacher’s performance in relation to pupils’ academic achievement is a quantitative type of research that utilized the descriptive-correlational design. the study aimed to determine the relationship between teachers’ performance in terms of teaching-learning process, pupils’ outcome, community involvement, and professional growth to their pupils’ academic achievement. the researcher distributed a two-part survey questionnaire to the teachers (n=117) covering their demographic profile, and the four performance indicators, while only the second part was distributed to the observers/raters. the researcher then utilized descriptive and inferential statistics for data analysis. young female teachers, mostly teacher-i, between a 1-5 year in service, receiving six to ten thousand pesos (p6,000-10,000) monthly net income and had 21-30 accumulated training hours dominated the population. also, findings showed that teachers performed very satisfactory, but pupils only performed satisfactorily in terms of academics. moreover, the teaching-learning process and pupils’ outcome have significant relationships on teachers’ length of service. a significant difference vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.630 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 73 international peer reviewed journal was only found in rural and urban teachers’ community involvement. lastly, a significant relationship on pupils’ academic achievement was only found on teachers’ community involvement. therefore, among the performance indicators, teachers’ community involvement solely affects pupils’ academic performance but they least prioritize it. keywords — basic education, teachers’ performance, academic achievement, descriptive-correlational, kabankalan city, philippines introduction performance evaluation measures the progress of employees based on job responsibilities. this is done to provide solutions for career advancement (sawchuk, 2015). in the academe, the best way to do this is to look at teachers’ onthe-job performance since effective teachers produce better performing students (yoon, duncan, lee, scarloss, & shapley 2007, cheruvalath, 2012; education, 2018). in the study conducted by unicef on eastern and southern africa (esa), they found out that teachers’ quality is low (martin, 2018). in lebanon, 50 percent of teachers are not qualified (buckland, 2004) and in nigeria, ijov, hemen, austin, and akinyemi (2016) they recommended that schools should employ competent and qualified teachers. in the 2017 pisa result, a triennial international survey which evaluates education systems worldwide revealed that thailand and indonesia’s educational system continue to remain in the bottom while singapore is in the lead (sheng, 2017). thai students’ low rank was due to thai teachers’ higher-order thinking questioning struggle and poor command of the english language. indonesian students, on the other hand, had a high number of low performers due to teachers’ absenteeism (sheany, 2017) while singapore’s lead was due to the country’s initiative known as c2015 which focuses on student’s disposition development, confidence level, self-directed, and active citizen (ministry of education singapore, 2008a). in the philippines, numerous studies on teacher’s performance were conducted. a 2015 study of punongbayan, & bauyon (2015) as an example, assessed the instructional performance of one state university in the philippines. findings showed that teachers performed very good as perceived by themselves but only satisfactory according to their students. the study focused on tertiary teachers only, and students and teachers themselves were the raters. if noticed, 74 jpair multidisciplinary research this does not involve external raters such as parents. the researcher believed that it is a must to conduct a study that correlates teachers’ performance and pupil’s academic achievement because according to mangiante (2011), teachers make a difference in students’ academic growth. framework the study is in line to the social learning theory of bandura (1977) which states that children learn as they observe other people. in school, teachers are considered models from whom pupils learn. objectives of the study the study determined the relationship between teachers’ performance and pupils’ academic achievement. specifically, it described teachers’: (1) demographic profile as to age, sex, length of service, position, net income and training/ seminars attended; (2) level of teachers’ performance when grouped according to teaching-learning process, pupils’ outcome, community involvement, and professional growth and development; (3) level of pupils’ academic achievement; (4) significant relationship between performance and demographic profile of teacher-respondents; (5) significant difference between teachers’ performance when categorize into rural and urban schools, and public and private schools; and (6) significant relationship between teachers’ performance and pupils’ academic achievement. methodology research design this quantitative type of research utilized the descriptive-correlational design and employed the survey method to obtain information. participants the 117 teachers specifically 36 came from rural, 59 from urban, and 22 from private schools identified handling grades 4 to 6 pupils became respondents. they rated themselves, by 5 peers, 5 pupils, 5 parents, and 1 school head. a total of 1,640 perceptions were gathered. schools including the school heads, teachers, pupils, and parents who refused to answer were not forced due to ethical 75 international peer reviewed journal consideration. rather, the researcher decided not to count them on the number of respondents. instrumentation the researcher utilized a 20-item self-made survey questionnaire patterned from the individual performance commitment and review form (ipcrf) and competency-based performance assessment test (cb-past) of the department of education and utilized the progress report card (form 137) as the basis of pupils’ academic achievement. it also adopted the ipcrf rating scale and interpretation (4.500-5.000 – outstanding, 3.500-4.499very satisfactory, 2.500-3.499satisfactory, 1.5002.499unsatisfactory, and below 1.499poor), and the grade bracketing and interpretations from pupils’ report card 75 to 79 (fairly satisfactory), 80 to 84 (satisfactory), 85 to 89 (very satisfactory), and 90 to 100(outstanding). the survey questionnaire was written in english and developed into a likerttype questionnaire. it was composed of 2 parts: demographic profile and teachers’ performance indicators. the demographic profile includes the participant’s name, school, type of school, age, sex, length of service, position, net income, relevant training/seminars attended, and the general average of pupils on the subject/s handled. the performance indicators were categorized into the teaching-learning process, the pupil’s outcome, community involvement, and professional growth. validity and reliability of the research instruments the survey instrument scored excellent (4.74) after criterion validity and very high (0.99) coefficient after administering reliability tests. data gathering procedure the two-month data gathering started by sending letters to the division superintendent, private school administrators, district supervisors, and principals of kabankalan city and last to the respondents. data analyses procedure the data gathered were analyzed using frequency distribution and percentages for teachers’ demographic profile, mean for pupil’s academic achievement, and pearson-product moment correlation and t-test for significant relationships and difference between variables. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion demographic profile of elementary teachers table 1. age distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage age rural urban private total (in years) f % f % f % f % 21-30 12 29 16 38 14 33 42 36 31-40 17 42 15 38 8 20 40 34 41-50 5 23 17 77 0 0 22 19 51-60 1 8 11 92 0 0 12 10 61 & above 0 0 1 100 0 0 1 1 total 35 60 22 117 100 it shows that 36% of the respondents ages between 21 to 30 (r= 29%, u= 38%, p= 33%), 34% ages 31 to 40 (r=42%, u= 38%, p= 20%), 19% ages 41 to 50 (r= 23%, u= 17%, p= 0%), 10% ages 51 to 60 (r= 8%, u= 92%, p= 0%), and only 1% ages 61 years and above (r= 0%, u= 100%, p= 0%). table 2. sex distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage sex rural urban private total f % f % f % f % male 8 30 10 37 9 33 27 23 female 27 30 50 56 13 14 90 77 total 35 60 22 117 100 it shows that 77% (r=30%, u= 56%, p= 14%) of teachers, mostly from urban schools, were female while 23% (r=30%, u= 37%, p= 33%) were male teachers. 77 international peer reviewed journal table 3. length of service distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage length of service (in years) rural urban private total f % f % f % f % 1-5 16 36 13 29 15 35 44 38 6-10 7 32 9 41 6 27 22 19 11-15 4 25 11 69 1 6 16 14 16-20 4 31 9 69 0 0 13 11 21-25 2 18 9 82 0 0 11 9 26-30 2 29 5 71 0 0 7 6 31 & above 1 25 4 75 0 0 5 3 total 35 60 22 117 100 it shows that 38% (r= 36%, u= 29%, p= 35%) of teachers are 1-5 years in service, 19% (r= 32%, u= 41%, p= 27%) are 6-10 years, 14% are 11-15 years, 11% (r= 31%, u= 69%, p= 0%) are 16-20 years, 9% (r= 18%, u= 82%, p= 0%) are 21-25 years, 6% (r= 29%, u= 71%, p= 7%) are 26-30 years and 3% (r= 25%, u= 75%, p= 0%) are 31 years and above in service. table 4. position distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage position rural urban private total f % f % f % f % teacher i 30 38 28 35 22 27 80 68 teacher ii 1 11 8 72 0 0 9 8 teacher iii 1 7 14 93 0 0 15 13 master teacher i 3 27 8 73 0 0 11 9 master teacher ii 0 0 2 100 0 0 2 2 total 35 60 22 117 100 it shows that 68% (r=38%, u= 35%, p= 27%) are teacher i, 13% (r=7%, u= 93%, p= 0%) are teacher iii, 9% (r= 27%, u= 73%, p= 0%) are master teacher i, 8% (r= 11%, u= 72%, p= 0%) are teacher ii, and 2% (r= 0%, u= 100%, p= 0%) are master teacher ii. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. net income distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage net income rural urban private total (in thousands) f % f % f % f % 1-5 3 23 9 69 1 8 13 10 6-10 6 18 15 45 12 37 33 28 11-15 9 31 12 41 8 28 29 25 16-20 13 45 15 52 1 3 29 25 21-25 4 40 6 60 0 0 10 9 26-30 0 0 2 100 0 0 2 2 31-35 0 0 1 100 0 0 1 1 total 35 60 22 117 100 it shows that 28% (r= 18%, u= 45%, p= 37%) of teachers have a 6-10 thousand pesos monthly net income, 25% (r= 31%, u= 41%, p= 28%) has an 11-15 thousand pesos, 25% (r= 45%, u= 52%, p= 3%) has a 16-20 thousand pesos, 9% (r= 40%, u= 60%, p= 0%) has a 21-25 thousand pesos, 2% (r= 0%, u= 100%, p= 0%) has a 26-30 thousand pesos, and 1% (r= 0%, u= 100%, p= 0%) of them has a monthly net income of 31-35 thousand pesos. table 6. training hours distribution of elementary teachers in frequency counts and percentage training rural urban private total hours f % f % f % f % 1-10 0 0 12 63 7 37 19 16 11-20 10 36 9 32 9 32 28 24 21-30 5 17 20 66 5 17 30 25 31-40 5 42 6 50 1 8 12 10 41-50 7 54 6 46 0 0 13 11 51-60 5 60 4 40 0 0 9 9 61 & above 3 50 3 50 0 0 6 5 total 35 60 22 117 100 79 international peer reviewed journal it shows that 25% (r= 17%, u= 66%, p= 17%) of them spent an accumulated 21-30 hours training, 24% (r= 36%, u= 32%, p= 32%) spent 1120 hours, 16% (r= 0%, u= 63%, p= 37%) spent 1-10 hours, 11% (r= 54%, u= 46%, p= 0%) spent 41-50 hours, 9% (r= 60%, u= 40%, p= 0%) spent 51-60 hours training, and 5% (r= 50%, u= 50%, p= 0%) spent an accumulated 61 and above hours of training. table 7. mean of the performance level of private, rural, and urban teachers school teaching-learning process (tlp) pupils outcome (po) community involvement (ci) professional growth (pg) as a whole private 4.51 4.58 4.36 4.54 4.5 rural 4.51 4.59 4.65 4.58 4.58 urban 4.38 4.39 4.3 4.4 4.37 total 4.44 4.49 4.42 4.48 4.46 having a grand mean of 4.58, rural school teachers lead by outstandingly performing in four indicators (tlp= 4.51, po= 4.59, ci= 4.65, pg= 4.58), followed by private school teachers (4.5) with three outstanding performances (tlp= 4.51, po= 4.58, ci= 4.36, pg= 4.54) except for community (very satisfactory), and last is an urban school which with a 4.37 mean and performed very satisfactorily (tlp= 4.51, po= 4.58, ci= 4.36, pg= 4.54). noticeably pupils’ outcome was teachers’ top priority (po= 4.49, pg= 4.48, tlp= 4.41, ci= 4.42) while community involvement was their least priority. table 8. mean of pupils academic performance level academic performance mean interpretation private 2.60 satisfactory rural 2.57 satisfactory urban 2.44 satisfactory grand mean 2.51 satisfactory it shows that pupils perform satisfactorily (2.51) in their academics wherein private school pupils lead at 2.60 means, followed by rural (2.57), and urban pupils (2.44) respectively. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research table 9. the relationship between the teachers’ performance and age teachinglearning process pupils outcome community involvement professional growth as a whole corr. coef. 0.087 0.136 0.006 0.054 0.068 p-value 0.351 0.144 0.948 0.567 0.468 decision accept ho accept ho accept ho accept ho accept ho interpretation ns ns ns ns ns legend: ns not significant utilizing pearson-product moment correlation, teachers’ performance in teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .087, p-value = .351), pupils’ outcome (corr. coef. = .136, p-value = .144), community involvement (corr. coef. = .006, p-value = .948), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .054, p-value = .567) have no significant relationship on age. as a whole, teachers’ age and performance has no significant relationship (corr. coef. = .068, p-value = .468). it implies that age is just a number. being old or young does not guarantee high performance. age effects are small and non-linear, therefore, most likely, an inverted u-shaped relationship exists between age and job performance (rad, 2014; hedge & borman 2012). table 10. the difference between the teachers’ performance in terms of sex performance indicators t-test result p-value decision interpretation teaching-learning process 0.397 0.692 accept ho not significant pupils outcome 0.972 0.333 accept ho not significant community involvement 1.089 0.278 accept ho not significant professional growth 1.026 0.307 accept ho not significant as a whole 0.959 0.34 accept ho not significant utilizing the t-test, teachers’ performance in teaching-learning process (t test = .397, p-value = .692), pupils’ outcome (t test = .972, p-value = .333), community involvement (t test = 1.089, p-value = .278), and professional growth (t test = 1.026, p-value = .307) have no significant difference towards sex. as a whole, teachers’ sex and performance has no significant difference (t test = .959, p-value = .34). 81 international peer reviewed journal it implies that one’s sex is not superior to the other. the findings of this study also agree with the assertion of azim, haque, and chowdhury (2013) that performance has no meaningful association between genders. table 11. exhibited the relationship between teachers’ performance and length of service length of service teaching-learning process pupils outcome community involvement professional growth as a whole corr. coef. 0.239** 0.238** 0.18 0.157 0.206* p-value 0.01 0.01 0.052 0.091 0.026 decision reject ho reject ho accept ho accept ho reject ho interpretation significant significant not significant not significant significant utilizing pearson-product moment correlation, teachers’ performance in teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .239**, p-value = .01), and pupils’ outcome (corr. coef. = .238**, p-value = .333) reject the hypothesis which shows a significant relationship on their length of service. while performance in community involvement (corr. coef. = .18, p-value = .052), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .157, p-value = .091) have no significant relationship. as a whole, teachers’ length of service and performance has a significant relationship (corr. coef. = .206*, p-value = .026). it implies that a seasoned or a new entrant teacher may have an equal teaching performance and productivity. wayne and youngs (2003) also asserted positive effects of experience on teacher’s quality as they became more dedicated and devoted to the service. by virtue of their length of time and stay in the teaching service, they acquire more experiences. table 12. the relationship between teachers’ performance and position position teaching-learning process pupils outcome community involvement professional growth as a whole corr. coef. 0.071 0.134 0.098 0.141 0.148 p-value 0.445 0.149 0.294 0.13 0.112 decision accept ho accept ho accept ho accept ho accept ho interpretation not significant not significant not significant not significant not significant 82 jpair multidisciplinary research utilizing the pearson-product moment correlation, teachers’ performance in teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .71, p-value = .445), pupils’ outcome (corr. coef. = .134 p-value = .149), community involvement (corr. coef. = .098, p-value = .294), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .141, p-value = .13) have no significant relationship towards position. as a whole, teachers’ performance and position has no significant relationship (corr. coef. = .148, p-value = .112). it implies that employees’ position either high or low does not define their performance productivity. job performance only determines the organizational performance rather than job titles (position) which therefore displayed a weak connection (bakotić, 2016). table 13. the relationship between teachers’ performance and net income. income teaching-learning process pupils outcome community involvement professional growth corr. coef. 0.057 0.013 0.038 0.089 p-value 0.545 0.893 0.682 0.341 decision accept ho accept ho accept ho accept ho utilizing pearson-product moment correlation, teachers’ performance on teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .057, p-value = .545), pupils’ outcome (corr. coef. = .013 p-value = .893), community involvement (corr. coef. = .038, p-value = .682), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .089, p-value = .341) have no significant relationship on their net income. as a whole, with a .048 correlation coefficient and a p-value of .605, net income has no significance on teachers’ performance. it implies that teachers net income either high or average does not define their performance productivity. quality of work is due to the effect of intrinsic motivation of employees according to gunawan and amalia (2015). table 14. the relationship between teachers’ performance and training training hours teaching-learning process pupils outcome community involvement professional growth corr. coef. 0.174 0.264** 0.005 0.152 p-value 0.061 0.004 0.961 0.101 decision accept ho reject ho accept ho accept ho interpretation not significant significant not significant not significant 83 international peer reviewed journal utilizing the pearson-product moment correlation, teachers’ performance on teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .174, p-value = .061), community involvement (corr. coef. = .005, p-value = .961), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .152, p-value = .101) shows no significant relationship on training hours. hence, a significant relationship between teachers’ training hours and pupils’ outcome was elucidated (corr. coef. = .264, p-value = .00). as a whole, the length of training hours spent has no significant relationship on teachers’ performance (corr. coef. = .113, p-value = .153). it implies that teachers who had spent more training hours than others do not guarantee excellent teaching performance. teacher’s training generally has little influence on productivity only that it adds effectiveness to their teaching (harris, 2011). table 15. the performance difference between rural and urban public-school teachers teachers’ performance indicators test result p-value decision interpretation teaching-learning process 1.099 0.337 accept ho not significant pupils’ outcome 2.164 0.12 accept ho not significant community involvement 4.32 0.016 reject ho significant professional growth 1.575 0.212 accept ho not significant as a whole 2.351 0.1 accept ho not significant the result on the table shows that teaching-learning process (t-test = 1.099, p-value = .337), pupils’ outcome (t-test = 2.164, p-value = .120), and professional growth (t-test = 1.575, p-value = .212) showed no significant difference but had a significant difference in terms of community involvement (t-test = 4.320, p-value = .016). as a whole, evidently, with a 2.351 t-test result and a p-value of .100, research showed that urban teacher has no significant difference on rural school teachers. it implies that the topographical assignment does not influence one’s performance. in the study of mahmood, nudrat, and asdaque (2011) entitled comparative analysis on job performance and satisfaction of secondary school teachers in urban and rural schools; they also found no significant difference between school locations and performance. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research table 16. the difference between the teachers’ performance as to public and private schools. teachers’ performance indicators test result p-value decision interpretation teaching-learning process 0.724 0.47 accept ho not significant pupils’ outcome 0.976 0.331 accept ho not significant community involvement 0.48 0.632 accept ho not significant professional growth 0.565 0.566 accept ho not significant as a whole 0.441 0.66 accept ho not significant the result on the table shows the teaching-learning process (t-test = .724, p-value = .470), pupils’ outcome (t-test = .976, p-value = .331), community involvement (t-test = .480, p-value = .632) and professional growth (t-test = .575, p-value = .566) showed no significant difference. this further implied that as a whole, evidently, with a 0.441 t-test result and a p-value of .660, research showed no significant difference between the performance of teachers in public or private schools. it implies that a state (public) school teacher or private school teacher are the same in terms of teaching performance is the concern. the result is in contrast to the findings of bassey, bisong, isangedighi, and ubi (2011) that teachers in private schools are superior to their counterparts in public schools in teaching as well as in formative and summative evaluation. table 17. the relationship between teachers’ performance and pupils’ academic achievement. teachers’ performance corr. coef. p-value decision interpretation teaching-learning process 0.11 0.236 accept ho not significant pupils outcome 0.146 0.116 accept ho not significant community involvement 0.205* 0.026 reject ho significant professional growth 0.139 0.134 accept ho not significant as a whole 0.156 0.094 accept ho not significant 85 international peer reviewed journal table shows the relationship between teachers’ performance and pupils’ academic achievement through pearson-product moment correlation. the result on the teaching-learning process (corr. coef. = .11, p-value = .236), pupils’ outcome (corr. coef. = .146, p-value = .116), and professional growth (corr. coef. = .139, p-value = .134) showed no significant relationship, but showed a significant relationship between teacher’s community involvement (corr. coef. = .205, p-value = .026) on pupils’ academic achievement. furthermore, accepting the hypothesis, as a whole, having a 0.156 correlation coefficient and a 0.094 p-value, no significant relationship was found between the performance of teachers and pupils’ academic achievement. it implies that the overall performance of a teacher may not directly show on their pupils’ academic achievement. buddin and zamarro (2010) also asserted that teachers are important determinants of student’s achievement, but there was no direct connection between the traditionally assumed measures of teacher effectiveness and student achievement over time.  conclusion in conclusion, teachers’ age is just a number, one’s sex is not superior to the other, seasoned and new entrants may have the same performance level, small net income does not associate low performance, and long training hours may not guarantee a performing teacher. furthermore, teachers’ topographical assignment does not make one better than the other or vice-versa. it also does not make any difference towards instructional delivery, assessment pedagogy, and continuous professional development. teachers from rural, urban, and private schools only differ, and most of them overlooked the important contribution of community involvement and even became their least priority based on the result of this study, it is the only performance indicator that certainly affects the performance of the pupils. translational research the result of this study may be translated by school administrators into an action plan regarding strengthening their policy towards a teacher-community relationship. it may also be used as the basis of crafting a strategic plan by capacitating/enhancing teachers’ community involvement. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited azim, m. t., haque, m. m., & chowdhury, r. a. 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(2007). reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement. issues & answers. rel 2007-no. 033.  regional educational laboratory southwest (nj1). retrieved from https://goo. gl/2o4hqk https://goo.gl/nhffse https://goo.gl/v2w9yg https://goo.gl/v2w9yg https://doi.org/10.3102%2f00346543073001089 46 jpair multidisciplinary research occupational needs of adolescents with disabilities: a case of rural community in the philippines karl jerick lim http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3911-6097 karljerick22@gmail.com southwestern university phinma mandaue city, philippines deborah nissi nuñez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9256-2275 nunezdeborah.cdu@gmail.com southwestern university phinma cebu city, philippines sergio sarza jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4049-5565 stsarzajr@gmail.com southwestern university phinma cebu city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract occupational needs refer to an individual’s need to engage in meaningful occupations throughout his/her day-to-day life. certain external factors may influence an adolescent’s occupational need, including socio-economic factors, current health status, cultural beliefs or institutional environment, health education, and medical resources. in third-world countries, occupational needs vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.663 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3911-6097 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9256-2275 http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4049-5565 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 47 international peer reviewed journal are apparent and have reduced opportunities to acquire work or participate in leisure participation/exploration for clients who have a physical impairment in the community leading to unsatisfied well-being. in addition, adolescents with disabilities may find it challenging to perform their daily occupations. the researchers aimed to identify the occupational needs of adolescents with disabilities currently attending therapy services in the argao community-based project. the study utilized a convenience sampling technique and was conducted in a rural community in argao cebu with eight participants. the researcher collected data through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. the narratives were then transcribed and analyzed to come up with the top occupational needs of the adolescents. several themes emerged based on the adolescents’ narratives on their occupational needs. the themes included: sustaining role, values, priorities, essential occupational performance, and belonging to a group. the researchers found an interdependence between the themes. an occupational therapy program was then proposed to meet the said needs. keywords — social science, adolescents with special needs, communitybased rehabilitation, health, occupational needs, occupational therapy, wellbeing, and persons with disability (pwds) introduction occupational performance is an individual’s daily performance in their activities of daily living (adl’s), instrumental activities of daily living (iadl’s), work, and leisure. these are habitually or routinely done by an independent individual including bathing, dressing, functional mobility, driving and community mobility, health management, and maintenance (american journal of occupational therapy, 2020). in third world countries, occupational needs are apparent and have reduced opportunities to acquire work or participation in leisure participation/exploration for clients who have a physical impairment in the community that leads to unsatisfied well-being (krefting, 1992). occupational opportunities in western countries vary from developed countries to developing countries. most developed countries have advanced technology and a variety of occupational opportunities for pwds. compared to developing countries, data shows that pwds are at a downside in terms of educational achievement and labor market results (magallona & datangel, 2011). 48 jpair multidisciplinary research the world health organization set in motion community-based rehabilitation around the world to provide a strategy to increase entry to rehabilitation services to the people in the community, but it has changed briskly in multi-sectoral approach to matching the community-based growth (magallona & datangel, 2011). structured rehabilitation services for clients in rural areas are unattainable by the fact that people are isolated and have complex disabilities. the lack of facilities and equipment, trained specialists, volunteers, and personnel in rural areas in the philippines makes the services unavailable. due to financial constraints, people in rural areas have difficulty availing themselves of rehabilitation services that would lead to having secondary disabilities (boyle et al., 2017). community-based rehabilitation is a strategy for community development aimed at strengthening the health and well-being of pwd and their families and ensuring their integration and participation in the community (grandisson et al., 2014). the community-based rehabilitation and training centre (cbrdtc) approach to cbr is based on the understanding of the people with disabilities in their lives as a result of their impairment, attitudes, and beliefs. the issues that outcome from negative perspectives like the absence of social acknowledgment, absence of chances for money, awareness, and education, should be settled if people with disabilities are to have equivalent opportunities and achieve full participation (tjandrakusuma, 2002). based on this understanding, cbrdtc describes cbr as a set of “efforts to change community behaviors (attitude, knowledge, and skills) to enable community members to improve their understanding about disability issues (socio-economic, socio-cultural, medical, psychological, etc.), to be involved in the disability prevention activities and to provide a positive environment (physical, psychological, socio-cultural, economic, etc.) to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities.” occupational therapy is based on the principle that involvement in significant activities of daily living that are necessary for each individual’s health and well-being. community-based rehabilitation centers should continue providing forefront agendas to occupational therapists around the philippines. community-based occupational therapists are versatile in most aspects of providing the client’s goal for the therapy. their main objective is to assist clients to obtain their desired occupations and routines with satisfaction and ease. the occupational therapist holds up to anyone from infants to geriatrics in promoting mental health services to all with or without a disability. therapists are guided by the american occupational therapy association (aota) with 49 international peer reviewed journal their different approaches, such as create, promote, establish, restore, maintain, modify, and prevent in helping all outpatients (american journal of occupational therapy, 2020). in a different labored environment, such as a community-based rehabilitation center, occupational therapists create a contextual experience that would enhance performance, can promote different strategies used in daily activities, can establish skills and abilities that can be developed, can restore old skills and abilities, can modify current contextual demands to support performance, and can prevent progression of a barrier that hinders an individual from functioning (delos reyes, 2018). a qualitative exploration by the american journal of occupational therapy, despite the current barriers in rural areas, reduced motivation and impaired selfawareness. a structured process in which the therapists, clients, and significant others/guardians work hand in hand in participating in increasing goal setting and goal-directed rehabilitation services in the community (doig et al. 2009). according to cayetano and elkins (2016), patients with disabilities whose opportunities and inclusion in the community are a continuous struggle? the philippines have limited assets on new and updated rehabilitation programs, and the philippines government is looking into new and different ways to provide quality services to its rural areas (punwar, 1994). no current studies can confirm the number of occupational therapists working in community-based rehabilitation centers around the philippines. according to delos reyes (2018), the philippines has been experiencing a shortage of occupational therapists, and this is due to heightened demand for our services around the country and rising numbers of children and adults with disabilities and filipinos who are aging. in the same study, paot inc. predicted that there should be at least 5000 available registered occupational therapists in the country by 2025 to cater to all the occupational needs of clients with disabilities (delos reyes, 2018). american occupational therapy association, despite the changing demands, occupational therapists must continue providing quality services and meeting these needs to help find their sense of self, purpose, and meaning in their occupational performance and role competence (lloyd & lee williams, 2010). the philippine academy of occupational therapy identifies issues currently by our profession that are consistent with our 5 key roadmap goals for “career advocacy, professional regulations, research training, curriculum development, and faculty development.” such five main roadmap goals are embodied in our new unifying tangible goal raising the occupational therapist ratio by 2025 to 0.400.50 per 10,000 filipinos. concerning this study, the agenda is for occupational 50 jpair multidisciplinary research therapy practice patterns in the provinces/rural areas outside metro manila. it is believed that these issues at present are greatly valuable in achieving our targets in the roadmaps (philippine academy of occupational therapy, 2015). national unified health research agenda, 2017-2022, envisioned six themes making the research priorities, such as “responsive health system, research to enhance and extend healthy lives, holistic approaches to health and wellness, health resiliency, global competitiveness and innovation in health, and research inequality and health.” each theme has corresponding research areas and explanation that aims to guide the reader to regulate the type of research that may be under a specific theme. the theme of this research is about equality and health on disability in rural areas of the philippines and the geographical isolation and disadvantages of rural areas in the philippines. this type of research theme would provide evidence to allow the health system to react to the health needs of vulnerable populations and neglected society and develop new approaches for patients with disabilities. as of 2015, current data shows that the philippines is 21.6% on the national poverty line. the philippines ranked third in asia, whose people are living in poverty. poverty, inconsistent healthcare services, and unavailable access to care are the main challenges in performing functional activities of daily living of patients with disabilities. the total population of the philippines is 109 million filipino citizens residing based on worldometer, rendering the new statistics from the united nations. the population of the philippines is equal to 14.1% of the entire world population of the country’s 109 million citizens; 1.44 million or 1.57% are disabled, based on the 2010 population and housing census. region iv-a, with 193 thousand pwds, had the highest number of pwds among 17 provinces, while the cordillera administrative region (car) had the lowest number of pwds, with 26 thousand. more males accounted for 50.9% of overall pwd in 2010, compared to females, with an impairment figure of 49.1%. for every five (5) pwds, one (18.9%) was between 0 and 14 years of age, three (59%) were in the working-age category (15-64 years of age), and one (22.1%) was 65 years of age and over (the philippine population management program, 2017). functional failure is recognized by the world health organization as a public health, civil rights, and biodiversity concern. many disabled people experience obstacles to obtaining health services and appropriate rehabilitation services. patients with disabilities often encounter racism, inequality, and disparities with ease. disability affects both men and women, most especially living in rural areas. as underlined in the who global disability action plan 2014-2021, disability is 51 international peer reviewed journal a priority because of its higher prevalence in lower-income countries and because disability and poverty reinforce and perpetuate one another. in reaction to the passage of the republic act 11228, which provides for compulsory coverage of philhealth for all persons with disabilities (pwds), the initial proposals for implementation of the law by the state entity philippine health insurance corporation (philhealth) continue with the elaboration of its specific rules and regulations. the new law amending the magna carta for pwds was signed by president rodrigo r. duterte on february 22, 2019, and entered into force on march 19, 2019. philhealth had the mandate to create special services that meet the particular needs of pwds for health and development. on the other side, philhealth is vigorously lobbying, claiming that apart from the facility, the opb kit often includes free prescriptions and diagnostics and laboratories such as chest x-ray, lipid profile, complete blood count, urinalysis, fecalysis, sputum microscopy, fasting blood sugar, among other; including medicines for asthma, acute gastroenteritis, upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection. the philippine government promotes the readiness and involvement of pwds in mainstream society by emphasizing the value of their rehabilitation, self-development, and self-reliance, as laid out in the constitution and the magna carta for disabled persons. some of its prominent attempts to expand employment opportunities for pwds include the design and implementation of training programs to support work preparation, the distribution of vacancies in many government agencies, and the development of competitive incentives for private entities to hire pwds. to discuss the significant public health challenges of the twenty-first century, including overcoming a broad range of health inequalities faced by many people worldwide, conventional community-based participatory research (cbpr) approaches have developed and extended with a modern methodological framework. cbpr is neither a research technique nor a research design per se. cbpr is a paradigm for occupational therapy used in preparing, creating, executing, analyzing, and disseminating group studies. most academic researchers conducted studies of populations considered to be “at-risk” in that they are marked by high unemployment, low social resources, high poverty rate, and low educational attainment; therefore, such groups often experience significant inequalities in health outcomes (jull et al., 2017; marella et al., 2018). to illustrate the complexity in another way in another way that is true to the 52 jpair multidisciplinary research nation of physical, mental, and social health is to consider the range of prevention organizations this is, those organizations that are committed to preventing some aspect of present existence that is deemed counterproductive to personal, community, or world health. types of prevention such organization address often include prevention of poverty; prevention of illness such as cancer, hiv/aids, stds, tuberculosis, obesity-related disorder, non-communicable disorder, and mental illness; prevention of work-related illness or accidents; prevention of behaviors such as suicide, drug, alcohol, or other substance abuse; family, sexual, and youth as suicide, drug, alcohol, or other substance abuse; family, sexual, and youth terrorism; as well as pollution and ecological degradation. this approach addressed a preventive approach in a way that would closely compatible with the based on a wide variety of preventive medicine literature. studies had defined this approach as “the application of western medical and social science to prevent disease, prolong life, and promote health in the community through intercepting disease processes.” this new approach is occupation-focused; is also applicable to populations, communities, and individuals; and is aimed at reducing not only the experience of physical and mental illness but also a social and occupational illness that may or may not manifest in medically related conditions. based on medical, epidemiological, behavioral, social, and/or occupational science, it accepts that people influence the state of their health through what they do. the approach supplies information for the other approaches, as well as being a platform of intervention in its own right. based on research, it is undertaken to test the truth or strength of associations that can then be applied to advise or intervention strategies. the information can be reductionist or holistic depending on the best type of research to elicit particular forms of knowledge. a holistic occupational-focused approach could be useful for any of those issues and would be new to public health practitioners but complementary to or extending other forms of prevention that they commonly use. occupational therapists have a surprisingly long history of interest in prevention. this approach applies to populations and communities as well as individuals and is aimed at promoting physical, mental, social, and occupational health and well-being for all people across the world, as well as those in need of medical or mainstream health practitioner intervention. an integrated, multi-professional, holistic approach utilizing overlapping strategies to functional health and well-being, the approach is complementary to and informed by medical science but is based to a greater extent on behavioral, social, and environmental science. these encompass health education, community development, empowerment and justice, prevention, 53 international peer reviewed journal and economics and politics. patients with a disability can improve their health and lengthen life through what they do when it is oriented towards maximizing potential within many environments; enhances the feeling of satisfaction; provides meaning, purpose, and belonging; and meets basic health needs. the approach holds its central belief that people are occupational beings and that occupation should be a source of health as nature intended. it would be possible to improve physical, mental, social, and occupational health and wellbeing by maximizing opportunities and maintaining or developing environments with diverse possibilities to meet the differing and equally valuable capacities of all patients with disabilities. this approach promotes a holistic understanding of occupation for well-being. people need information and assistance about what they should do towards reaching such a stable because the promotion of health goes beyond lifestyle based on known health behavior. physical, mental, social, and occupational well-being across the world should be the primary focus of government, health professions, and others. the principle of this approach holds that health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health and that this can be attained through doing. recently, there is only limited attention given to how socio-economic-political decisions affect the promotion of health and well-being through what people do, and it is held that understanding at the highest level needs to be increased. occupational therapist interest may also reflect the wider attention to health promotion that has occurred alongside similar beliefs and approaches about life in the wider community. the wellness movement that emerged in the early 1960s is one of those. 54, 55 incorporating health promotion into ordinary life is the obvious way to go if health is deemed the desirable byproduct. that point to exploration and incorporation of ways of doing, being, becoming, and belonging that are the means to both survival needs and health and well-being. the positive or negative aspects of doing, being, becoming, and belonging need to be explicated to the world at large. to enable and empower towards improvement in health and well-being can take multiple forms. it might include coaching, encouraging, facilitating, guiding, listening, promoting, or reflecting. this might involve mass media campaigns or action to highlight issues of legislation that disempower or disable. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the researcher aimed to identify the current health status and occupational needs of the participants. specifically, the study aimed to (1) ask the occupational profile and what they do with their everyday life, (2) identify the health status of the participants, and (3) determine their occupational needs. methodology research design the researcher conducted a qualitative study utilizing facts about behaviors in response to different influences in health and occupational needs by emphasizing the client’s current health status through interviews. this study would describe the social phenomenon about the occupational needs of clients who are pwd in argao city. research site the site of the study would be conducted inside the participants’ respective homes at argao, cebu. this facility was founded in 1990 when an outbreak spread globally and caused many fatalities in argao, and one doctor established the facility to attend to them. up to date, this establishment is still providing health care services to the people of argao. respondents the researchers conducted a study on pwd in a community-based rehabilitative center in argao city. the number of respondents is 8. respondents should be above the legal age, male/female, who has or has not yet received occupational therapy intervention, and should be willing to take part in this study. inclusion criteria respondents should be an inpatient/outpatient of a community-based rehabilitation center, lives in argao cebu city, male or female, ages 30 years old to 70 years old, pwds who had not attended ot services in the swu argao cbr project, and willing to take part in this study. exclusion criteria respondents should not be having any cognitive impairment, pwds 55 international peer reviewed journal attending ot services in the swu argao cbr project, clients living outside argao city, and ages below 30 years old. data saturation the study utilizes a convenience sampling technique. this study would not need statistical means to regulate the number of respondents to gather. instead, it would be regulating the sample through saturation. sampling design the convenience sampling technique was utilized in this study to obtain an adequate number of targeted respondents. instrumentation the materials used in this study were a recorder, pen and paper, and a semistructured questionnaire. ethical considerations this study project subscribes to the ethical principles of the conduct of study involving human subjects mandated by the philippine health research board and relevant national and international organizations. this study was granted authorization to implement by the southwestern university phinma institutional review board with the authorization number 201920-005. informed consent forms were provided, verbally explained, and signed by the respondents before the start of involvement in the study. study plan and data collection firstly, the researcher sends a transmittal letter to the center in argao to ask for authorization to conduct a study and ask for the consent of the participants. after the participants filled up the demographic information form, there would be an introduction and orientation about the study and its main purpose. then, there would be a one-on-one interview with the participants with an open-ended question provided to gather their outlook, insight, and opinion about their occupational needs. lastly, the researcher would analyze the gathered data. data processing and analysis creswell’s research design on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (creswell, 2012) was utilized in analyzing the gathered data from the 56 jpair multidisciplinary research participants. the study falls under a grounded theory (charmaz, 2006; corbin & strauss, 2014), where its design is based on the society where the client lives. the researcher obtains general and theoretical information based on the client’s action, process, or interaction based on the perspective of the participants. the following are the sequence of the method of the study: 1. review the proposal’s expectations of the participants. confirm if participants are knowledgeable about the study. if there are questions about the study, present the basic attributes of the study. 2. the researcher observes, takes notes on the behavior of each client, and records in a semi-structured and unstructured way during the activities on site. the observation should be open-ended to allow each participant to provide personal views. 3. the researcher interviews one-on-one with each participant or in a group interview. during the interview, unstructured and open-ended questions are limited and used to extract opinions from each participant. 4. the researcher, during the actual procedure, investigates qualitative documents such as official reports or personal documents such as diaries, letters, emails, etc. 5. the researcher summarizes steps 2, 3 & 4 to extract the main problem that is currently affecting their health and well-being, leading to their occupational needs. results and discussion all respondents were pwd’s aged thirty-two to sixty-three who lived in argao cebu and had not received occupational therapy services. the participants shared several themes on their occupational needs, including (1) essential occupational performance where there are seven participants fall under the theme, (2) values and priorities where 8 participants fall under the theme, (3) sustaining role where only four participants fall under this theme and (4) belonging to a group where 4 participants fall under this theme. essential occupational performance wilcock (1999) and hitch et al. (2014) perceive that if an individual interacts with others and with their environment, they develop an identity derived from their society, making that individual do essential occupation or occupational performance. for respondents 1 to 4, 6 to 8, they expressed that their current 57 international peer reviewed journal occupations are due to newly established routines after they were disabled by their conditions limiting them to complete previous routines. values and priorities in this theme, patients with disabilities refine their values and rethink their priorities to prepare themselves for a new transformation to their new role. over time, this continuously changes depending on how patients with disability reflect and sees their future having the disability. for respondents, 1 to 8 participants in an important role that they value and priorities such as health, family, and work. sustaining role this theme refers to patients with disabilities being true to themselves, that people are required to spend time thinking and reflecting on themselves. this would help an individual describe and sustain their role in the community or society. for respondents 1 to 4, constantly rethinking their lives and reflecting on what to do for them to survive on a day-to-day basis. belonging to a group this theme discussed how a person with a disability joins their community to share the same values and foster a sense of belongingness to a group. for respondents, 6 to 8 expressed their concern about their government not providing support groups for them to join or to be part of and having limited medical services offered. table 1. coding of themes participants significant statement formed meaning cluster / themes 1 gusto kog mga exercise nga maka ayo’g dali sa akong right nga kamot ug right nga tiil para maka balik nako’g trabaho. the client is committed to going back to work by exercise. values and priorities lisod e kompleto ang akong mga bulahatonun sama sa pag ilis ug pag lakaw sa gikan ari padong maskig asa nga dili ko mahadlok ma tumba the client had difficulty in changing clothes and walking essential occupational performance mao jod ning akong paagi para ma buhi ko how the client survives sustaining role ang importante para nako ron kay akong panglawas kay baskog para dili ko mabaldado tibuog sa akong kinabuhi the client values health values and priorities 58 jpair multidisciplinary research participants significant statement formed meaning cluster / themes 2 gusto kog mga aktibidad nga maka tabang nako maka balik isa ka katabang the client is eager to go back to work values and priorities if naa koy buhaton ako ra bantayon ako kaugalingon nga dili ma dakdak or ma tagak sa salug the client is conscious about the environment and current health condition sustaining role mag luto ko, mang hugas ug plato human nako kaon, laba sa akong sanina ug palit pod ug mga kaylangan sa balay dira sa among mercado the client does occupational performance essential occupational performance akong kalusogan jod nako akong gi prayoridad ron para mabuhi ko matagadlaw adlaw ug para pod maka kompleto nako akong mga bulatonun client priorities self to complete desire tasks values and priorities ning lahi akong paglanataw sa kinabuhi kau sauna ako ray mag lihok lihok ari sa amoa nga wala koy gipa mati nga puypuy. the client rethink and reflects the current role sustaining role wala akoy mga mithi ug mga prayoridad nga madasig sa komunidad tungod kay wala kami mga programa nga nagsuporta kanato o naghatag kahibalo ug edukasyon alang sa atong kahimsog encouraged the community to provide support. 3 gusto nako magtrabaho pag-usab ingon usa ka magtatambag sa among barangay ug mabawi ang normal nga gimbuhaton sa akong mga kamot aron madumala ang akong negosyo dinhi sa balay the client wants to be back to work. values and priorities mo mata ko, unya ma ligo, mo kaon, ug mag lakaw lakaw clients routines essential occupational performance ug karon bago naman akong mga rutina ug lahi napod akong papel sa kalibutan sigad na stroke ko. client values health sustaining role 4 gusto ko ma baskog balik para wala koy puypuy ma bati taga luto nako client values health values and priorities mo maka kog alas ocho sa butag, maligo dayon ko ug mag ilis ug sanina, kaon sa buntag, hapin ug gabie, mag exercise pod ko ug usahay mag lakaw lakaw sa gawas. the client engages with new routines. essential occupational performance ako ni sila buhaton kaylangan pako maningkamot para mahuman nakog sakto client works hard to survive sustaining role nakapausab kini sa akong panan-aw sa kinabuhi ug sa akong naandan clients outlook in life had changed sustaining role akong kahimsog, akong mama ug ako negosyo client values family, health, and job performance values and priorities 59 international peer reviewed journal participants significant statement formed meaning cluster / themes 5 gusto ko maka balik ug trabaho bilang isa ka vulcanizer. the client wants to go back to work. values and priorities lisod kaayo makita nako akong kaugalingon nga ingani ko. dili nako ma buhat akong trabaho sauna nga volcanicer. client values previous role. values and priorities importante ni para maka sugakod me kuyog sa akong paris. the client looks at partner as an important factor in surviving. 6 gusto ko maka trabaho balik isa’g ka konstracksyon work para maka hatag kos among mga kinahanglan sa akong pamilya the client wants to work to be able to provide for the family. values and priorities lisud kaayo gikan sa sinugdanan tungod kay dili ko mapalihok ang akong nag-una nga kamot sa kompleto nga mga buluhaton sama sa pagputol sa karne, utanon, ug mga prutas the client had difficulty in performing certain tasks essential occupational performance among gobyerno ari kay walay mga programa para namo the client’s environment had nothing to provide. belonging to a group ako amahan ako jod nang trabaho ug obligasyon mo hatag ug pinansyal nga suporta. the client wants to go back to work again essential occupational performance 7 gusto ko maka trabaho balik isa’g ka konstracksyon work para maka hatag kos among mga kinahanglan sa akong pamilya the client wants to go back to work again. values and priorities maglisod nakog slice ug mga karni if ma abot na ug 10 minuti=os or lapas kay maka fell na dayon ug puypuy the client performs tasks longer than usual. essential occupational performance wala gitugutan ni argao nga labing maayo nga serbisyo sa kahimsog the client values cooking. belonging to a group 8 guto ko maka lakaw balik ug tarong ug sakto nga dili ko mahadlok ma tagak the client values cooking. values and priorities lisod para nako mo lihok sa mga bulatonun nga kaylangan mo abri ug sudlanan nga kaylangan mo liso ug kontainer nga lingin ug ambri’g purtahan the client had difficulty moving from one place to another. essential occupational performance magluto ko ug maminaw ug radyo ug limpyo sa balay the client engages in these routines every day. essential occupational performance wala kay tungod walay me suport group ari nga maka share me sa among kaguol sa among kahimsog ug among kalisod panagadlaw the client’s community had no support group for them. belonging to a group 60 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. proposed guidelines for ot program themes activities persons involved expected output 1. values and priorities 1. scheduling of tasks from monday to sunday occupational therapist improved organization and time management skills to ensure occupational balance and maintain positive mental health. 2. essential occupational performance 1. leisure exploration occupational therapist increased positive attitudes and social participation in activities can develop from being in a social environment where others are actively participating in the same occupations. (o’sullivan & hocking 2006). additionally, this also presents an opportunity for increased socialization, creation of social supports, and development of a sense of community (causey-upton, 2015; o’sullivan & hocking, 2006; watt & konnert, 2007; van’t leven & jonsson, 2002). hence, participating in support groups with similar interests can not only promote positive mental health but can also help the adolescent build meaningful interpersonal relationships necessary for personal growth. 3. belonging to a group 1. introduction of non-contact sports activities: • badminton • table tennis • javelin throw • shot put • archery 2. introduction to fitness activities: • home exercises • jump rope challenge • zumba • weight-lifting • aerobics occupational therapist sufficient evidence now exists for the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of clinical depression. exercise has a moderate reducing effect on state and trait anxiety and can improve physical self-perceptions and, in some cases, global self-esteem. also, there is now good evidence that aerobic and resistance exercise enhances mood states (fox, 2007). regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions (cdc, 2020) 4. sustaining role 1. job exploration community social worker increased opportunities for employment necessary for sustaining and maintaining other occupations. 61 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the interviews with patients with disabilities in argao cebu and themes that emerged, the study found out that essential occupational performance, values, and priorities, sustaining role and belonging to a group are interrelated in the totality of a patient with a disability. if one is affected, the other three (3) will be affected as well, making an individual have occupational needs with their occupational performance and daily routine. this study showed that there are challenges for the development and implementation of cbr programs in argao cebu, with the evolving environment and the demands of services. they are an improved methodology or techniques to execute cbr programs, funding for cbr activities, and dissemination of information about cbr services. recommendations these study results could be used to acquire knowledge and recognize the occupational needs of adolescents with disabilities in the community-based rehabilitative project in argao cebu. in that way, we can collaborate with the adolescents and explore different leisure activities that can be done at home to promote healthy use of their free time. activities may include dance and musical activities, arts & crafts, gardening & landscaping, needlework activities (crochet, knitting, & sewing). facilitate routine building among adolescents by asking them to lay out their current routines. the adolescents will then identify which activities they want to keep, remove and add to their daily routine. facilitate a workshop on habit identification. the adolescent will sort out current positive and negative habits to bring self-awareness. the occupational therapist will then provide a habit training workshop and introduce the 4-step model in habit training. to the occupational therapy profession, this study could be used for reference for planning and providing appropriate interventions that will enhance the well-being and health of these clients with disabilities. for further studies, increasing the sample size to acquire more remarkable data/information that might appear as a new theme. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited american journal of occupational therapy. 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several electronic payment options are available, including mobile wallets, bank cards, and mobile banking. electronic payments are quick and efficient, and the fund transfer occurs instantly. electronic payments are quickly gaining popularity in the philippines, giving students a secure and practical means to pay for enrolment fees and other educational costs as schools adopt alternative learning techniques. the purpose of this research is to determine the status of electronic payment in the selected private higher education institutions (pheis) in the second district of albay and propose a systematic model that heis can adopt to lessen the costs and risks of handling cash transactions. the study used a mixed method, the qualitative and quantitative research design, to analyze and hence boost the validity of the data. according to the data presented, the gcash vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.571 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 141 international peer reviewed journal application is one of the most used applications when paying online. it is more accessible and less hassle to use. furthermore, using the kendall coefficient of concordance, the perception of the selected private heis has shown a significant correlation to each other, resulting in a rare use based on the data analysis. the selected private institutions currently take electronic payments. still, they have not yet thought about giving students and parents the most control over those payments online, and schools are still adapting electronic payment systems. keywords — electronic payment system, mobile technology, online transaction, mixed method research design, private higher education institutions, albay, philippines introduction the era of digital payments is expanding quickly. from its birth in the early 1990s to its widespread use today, we have reached a stage where it is almost impossible to envision a world without digital payments. people may now instantly learn about events worldwide thanks to technological improvements (tseng & wei, 2020). in this circumstance, the cell phone is crucial. it is a tool for staying in touch, exchanging knowledge, shopping, having fun, and, most importantly, receiving internet services (tseng & wei, 2020; zheng et al., 2019). companies that use e-banking services (sardana & singhania, 2018) transact more swiftly than those that do not due to the efficiency of e-banking operations. as a result, their method of transaction is becoming more dependable and fast (alalwan et al., 2017). the growth of the internet and mobile devices has resulted in a significant change in consumer behavior. consumers now utilize digital media to share personal information with businesses, communicate with them, shop online, and access new internet services. a number of factors, including the simplicity of financial transactions and the ability to access capital resources more quickly and securely than with cash, have propelled the use of online payment systems ahead of systems based on physical money. cheque payments will largely be replaced by electronic payments, but cash-based payments will still be used to a significant extent. although improvements and innovations in electronic payment systems have been made possible by technological advancement, some drawbacks of the adoption of cashless payments include security-related problems, non-it-savvy users, and phishing emails. we may anticipate continued expansion of mobile 142 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 payments globally, perhaps even surpassing payments made with credit and debit cards, particularly to all the ease and security offered by mobile electronic payment systems. however, a number of obstacles have been discovered to the acceptance of this payment method; thus, specific steps should be made to ensure this industry has a promising future. the advanced research projects agency network (arpanet) laid the technical groundwork for the modern internet. it served as the test bed for many areas of internetworking technology development and testing and acted as the central backbone during the development of the internet.  tim bernerslee created a network of websites and pages that could be linked together by hyperlinks, thereby opening the door for the implementation of digital payments. the rapid use of mobile technology and online e-commerce helps to give rise to ground-breaking advances in the field of secure payment systems, which lead to a variety of digital payment methods. digital payments have significantly increased across all types of devices, particularly mobile devices, as a result of the explosive rise in online banking, shopping, and other services, as well as technological advancement. around 950 million people used mobile payment transactions globally in 2019, claims statista (de best, 2020). by 2023, it is anticipated that this figure will soar to an amazing 1.31 billion users. therefore, it makes logical that more and more businesses are trying to join the bandwagon. many significant companies have set up their payment platforms in one way or another, providing secure and practical ways for customers to buy their products and securing their position in the annals of digital payments. contactless payments were already a popular payment option before the covid-19 epidemic caused severe health and economic catastrophe. as the businesses reopened, they had to take into account the hygienic clients and adjust to the new social distance standard. during the coronavirus crisis, digital payments have been keeping economies running and helping people reduce contact with the virus. the ability to advance their business while assuring safety to combat the coronavirus pandemic has made contactless payments a crucial solution for all enterprises. major businesses that provide cashless solutions have excelled as a result of the enormous rise in demand for contactless payments. the covid-19 pandemic’s negative impacts are currently thought to be effectively combated by businesses using contactless payments. the same seems to be suggested by the world health organization (who). the who states that contactless payments should be used whenever possible to reduce the risk of transmission. the pandemic has already resulted in a major drop in enrolment throughout the world, particularly in the philippines. a significant proportion of kids 143 international peer reviewed journal from private schools switched to public schools at this time. before the start of the academic year 2020–2021, it was predicted that 250,539 pupils would migrate from private to public schools, according to statistics acquired by the department of education (deped). deped revealed that over 380,000 pupils made the decision to switch from a private to a public school for the academic year beginning in august 2020.  according to deped secretary leonor briones, private schools have been impacted by the recession because parents who lost their employment are no longer able to support their children’s education. additionally, more schools started accepting electronic payments when the pandemic hit to accommodate parents and students who were unable to visit the school in person. cash transactions still predominate in the philippines despite the recent growth of the electronic payment (e-payment) industry. the low population of banks in the nation is one element influencing this slow growth rate (remo, 2018, cited in, raon et al., 2021). however, considering the high incidence of mobile phone usage in the nation, electronic transactions have a lot of promise. to increase the use of e-payments in the nation, businesses must address this issue and work to increase consumer awareness and trust. according to the bangko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp) financial inclusion survey 2017, most filipinos still have no bank account due to failure to maintain the balance needed for these accounts. bsp reports that only 15.8 m, or 22.6 percent of the total population, own a bank account, mainly driven by a perceived lack of need, necessary documents, and high cost. however, only a few users from this population utilize banking’s digital features due to the lack of awareness and trust in terms of security (lopez, 2018). the bsp aims to change these figures and increase digital banking usage by 20 percent by 2020. it is simpler for filipinos to use digital payment platforms because most e-payment systems in the philippines do not require a bank account and are easily accessible utilizing mobile phone systems like gcash and paymaya. although it has lagged behind its neighbors in adopting digital payment, the philippines is rapidly catching up. most e-payment systems in the philippines can be accessed using mobile phones without a bank account. using digital payment platforms is made simpler for filipinos by programs like gcash and paymaya. e-payment solutions, which do not require bank accounts, have great potential in a lowbank country like the philippines. data from the bsp shows that in 2018, more filipinos adopted e-wallets or e-payment systems than credit cards. filipinos have the opportunity to conduct digital financial transactions without actual currency or credit cards, thanks to platforms like gcash and paymaya (zoleta, 2021). 144 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 as the globe grapples with the corona virus disease or covid-19 pandemic, regarded as the most serious global health outbreak humans have ever encountered, technology’s importance grows in the province of albay. in every aspect of life, the unprecedented pandemic poses a challenge that will change the course of history. at worst, the aforementioned worldwide crisis has wreaked havoc, produced widespread commotion, and put the global management system to the test. the new payment procedure, or so-called e-payment system, which represents a significant departure from the conventional payment technique, is one of the largest transformations that parents and students must deal with today. nonetheless, despite and in spite of the pandemic, many schools in albay are making combined and concerted efforts to provide convenient and efficient transactions for students. their businesses can continue under the new normal due to this innovation. one of the popular company recovery methods encouraged by the government is the use of digital payments. going on to business recovery, modern literature has stressed how important digital transformation is for companies to survive in the new normal. the preceding growth circumstances of the firms, which may influence the adoption of digital payment, have received just a pittance of attention. assistance and support for comparatively younger businesses must be focused on achieving and maintaining recovery since they are more likely to implement digital payments. being a graduate student of bicol college, the researcher believes that this study may indirectly benefit the students and the school administrations in terms of the utilization of a standard electronic payment system which is the primary objective of this study. with the increasing number of students who use electronic payment systems, the result of this study may also indirectly propose a systematic model that private heis can adopt to lessen the cost and risks of handling cash transactions. as of this writing, the researcher does not find any local studies related to electronic payment systems. in this instance, this study may be the very first study about electronic payment systems in the province of albay. framework various theories on payment systems have been presented in numerous studies that are capable of describing both traditional and electronic forms of payment. however, changes are constant and at full tilt. this study is embedded in the technology acceptance model (tam) by davis (1989) (silva, 2015). it models the understanding of how individuals comprehend and apply technology. 145 international peer reviewed journal the model advanced an understanding of a number of variables that are affecting their choice of when and how they will significantly adopt new technologies. it posits that there are two factors that determine whether a computer system will be accepted by its potential users: (1) perceived usefulness (pu) and (2) perceived ease of use (peu).  the formal definition of peu is the degree to which a person believes that using an it system would be simple, and the formal definition of pu is the degree to which a person believes that using a certain system will increase his or her performance at work. the traditional input-process-output pathway model, which the researcher uses as a baseline for this study’s conceptual framework, is known as tam. the researcher looks at how frequently respondents use electronic payment systems. by responding to questions on the most popular electronic payment systems, such as bank transactions, mobile transactions, and online transactions, the data collection method for this study was able to determine how frequently respondents utilized electronic payment systems. tam extends the idea of “perceived usefulness” to incorporate more and more aspects to explain how a user “perceives” “usefulness,” with a general focus on the individual “user” of a computer, ignoring the fundamentally social processes of is development and implementation, where more technology is unquestionably better, as well as the social repercussions of is use. according to lunceford, the paradigm of perceived utility and usability ignores other concerns, such as cost and structural requirements, that push people to adopt the technology. the technology acceptance model (tam) has been widely used as a framework to assess user attitudes toward adopting technology across a variety of disciplines, including the financial arena. tam variants have also been suggested and used to gauge user attitudes toward the use of a number of it-based services. the validity of tam and other extensions and revisions as a tool for examining and forecasting consumer information technology acceptance has been proven by a substantial body of later research (taylor & todd, 1995; geffen & straub, 2000). relevant to the given theories, the diffusion of innovations theory also supported the study to further understand the new ideas regarding technology spread. it is an explanation of how, why, and how quickly new ideas and technologies spread. everett rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized the theory in his book diffusion of innovations; the book was first published in 1962 and is now in its fifth edition (2003). according to rogers, diffusion is how an innovation spreads through time among the members of a 146 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 social system. the origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and multiple span disciplines. according to rogers, the innovation itself, adopters, communication routes, time, and social structure are the five primary factors that affect how quickly a new concept spreads. social capital is crucial to this process. to perpetuate itself, innovation needs to be extensively used. there is a point where an innovation hits critical mass within the rate of adoption. this juncture, according to management consultants at the consulting firm regis mckenna inc., is where early adopters and the early majority meet. the “marketing chasm” is the transition between widespread (self-sustaining) adoption and niche appeal. potential adopters assess an innovation based on its relative advantage (the perceived efficiency gains compared to existing tools or procedures), compatibility with the existing system, complexity or learning curve, trialability or testability, the potential for reinvention (using the tool for initially unintended purposes), and observed effects. these characteristics interact and are assessed collectively. for instance, innovation can be exceedingly difficult, which lowers the likelihood that it would be adopted and spread, but it might also be very compatible with a significant benefit over existing technologies. potential adopters may nonetheless use the invention despite the steep learning curve. other aspects of inventions have also been identified by studies, but they are less typical than the ones rogers has mentioned. the innovation’s adoption may be impacted by the innovation’s hazy boundaries. it is simpler to embrace inventions that have a small core and a vast peripheral. less hazardous innovations are simpler to embrace because the potential damage from a failure integration is smaller. even when they offer a significant relative advantage, innovations that disturb everyday chores may not be accepted due to the increased volatility. similarly, inventions that simplify activities are more likely to be embraced. knowledge requirements, closely related to relative complexity, are the ability barrier to use created by the innovation’s difficulties. the likelihood of adoption can be increased even when there are strict knowledge requirements with the help of previous adopters or other sources. a new idea, service, or product does not suddenly become popular — it does not happen instantly across all people in a social system. customers who adopt innovations more quickly have different characteristics than those who adopt innovations later, claims research. thus, it is crucial for marketers to comprehend the traits of each sector that may either facilitate or impede the acceptance of an innovation. 147 international peer reviewed journal the diffusion of innovation theory served as a theoretical basis for this study, especially in the formulation of the objectives and in coming up with the answers to research questions. the diffusion of innovation theory is the most appropriate theory to be the baseline for this study as it explains that the characteristics of innovation are the nature of the diffusion of innovation, where the characteristics of innovation determine the successful use of technology. all products do not have the same possibilities for consumer acceptance, some products can become popular in just one night while others require a very long time to receive or even never be widely accepted by consumers. innovation characteristics determine the speed of the innovation adoption process at the farmer’s level as technology users. the speed of the adoption of innovation is determined by several factors, such as communication channels, characteristic features of social systems, promotional activities, and the role of communicators. when a person or organization decides to accept a certain innovation, both favorable and unfavorable results are possible. rogers claims that more research is necessary for this area due to the innovation’s skewed optimistic perspective. rogers divides repercussions into three categories: good versus bad, immediate versus indirect, and expected versus unexpected. objectives of study the objectives of the study are to (1) assess the utilization of a standard electronic payment system among private higher education institutions in the province of albay, (2) evaluate the frequency of electronic payment methods utilized by the respondents, (3) determine the status of electronic payment of the private heis in the province of albay in terms of bank transaction, mobile transaction, and online transaction, (4) infer the significant agreement among private heis based on the abovementioned variables, (5) identify the challenges met by the respondents on the adaption of an electronic payment system, and (6) propose a systematic model that can be adopted by private heis to lessen the costs and risks of handling cash transactions. methodology research design the study used a descriptive correlational research design since the study describes the variables and the correlations that develop naturally between and 148 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 among them. to fully understand this study, data analysis and interpretation of this research will also be conducted. the researcher was able to give detailed explanations of the study and its variables using this research design. research site there are three districts in albay, and the study was conducted in albay’s second district. 36 approved private heis in albay have been identified by ched rov. the selected private heis are the following; forbes college inc., bicol college, and computer arts and technology college inc. research respondents the primary sources of data were the cashier and students that utilized electronic payment systems to pay their tuition fees. a total of 45 respondents among the selected private higher education institutions in the second district of albay province such as; (1 cashier and 14 students) bicol college (respondent a), (1 cashier and 14 students) computer arts and technological college, inc. (respondent b) and (1 cashier and 14 students) forbes college (respondent c). instrumentation the instrument was a survey questionnaire form as the primary tool in this study. the research instrument contains close-ended questions that aim to answer the specific objectives of the study. it was divided into three parts. part one dealt with the electronic payment method utilized by the respondents. part two on determining the status of the electronic payment system among the selected private higher education institutions in albay province using the likert scale with the corresponding descriptive ratings: (4) always, (3) sometimes, (2) rarely, and (1) never. the third part deals with the challenges met in the adaptation of electronic payment systems. although the study tool was self-made, the researcher conducted research using related papers and requested opinions and suggestions for the survey questionnaire from the statistician, panel members, and adviser. data gathering the researcher requested the total number of students that used the electronic payment system and conducted data gathering for the study to proceed. it was in the form of a letter and was personally given to the respective heis for formality. in two heis, the researcher had trouble getting responses, so she followed up on her request. when the researcher’s request was granted, the researcher started to 149 international peer reviewed journal disseminate the survey questionnaire to the respondents that used an electronic payment system and retrieved it. after this, the data were processed, tallied, tabulated, and then ready for analysis. sampling technique both primary and secondary data were used by the researcher. the respondents’ responses to survey questionnaires provided the primary data. secondary sources of data included studies connected to the primary source, including published journals, the internet, google scholar, other research, and news. data analysis the researcher used percentage and ranking, weighted mean, the kendall coefficient of concordance (w) to interpret the study’s findings. to interpret the data gathered based on the researcher’s analysis, the researcher will personally carry out the tabulation. the statistician and research adviser will provide assistance and support for these procedures. research ethics protocol all participants were advised that their participation was voluntary. partakers were also assured that their identity and the names of the departments they work for would remain confidential. it was explained to the participants that the questionnaire is completely anonymous and does not include questions asking for personal details, such as participants or names of department heads. names of the departments that the authors approached may only be revealed, if necessary, to examiners during the presentation of the paper to the administration; other than this, information will not be revealed to anyone else, and it will not be available to the public and will not be stated in this paper. also, all participants were advised that they would be provided with a copy of the collected results on request. result and discussion the data below shows the status of the electronic payment system among selected private heis. since mobile transactions rank first, it is obvious that they are the most practical form of payment. bank transaction comes in at number two, and online transaction at number three. the respondents consisted of 3 cashiers and 42 students (1 cashier and 14 students per school) who evaluated 150 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the frequency of electronic payment methods. with a frequency of 17, bank transactions ranked second with a percentage of 32.08, mobile transactions ranked first with a frequency of 28 and a percentage of 52.83, and online transactions ranked third with a frequency of 8 and a percentage of 15.09, respectively as seen on table 1. table 1. frequency of electronic payment system among selected private heis payment method frequency percentage (%) rank bank transaction 17 32.08 2 mobile transaction 28 52.83 1 online transaction 8 15.09 3 according to the study of goyal et al. (2012), one of the benefits of mobile transactions is the anywhere/anytime characteristics of mobile services. mobile is almost always with the customer. as such it can be used over a vast geographical area. the customer does not need to go to a branch or atm to use the bank’s services. according to research, the number of people entering a bank branch has significantly decreased since atms were installed. with mobile services, a bank will need to hire even fewer employees as people will no longer need to visit bank branches apart from certain occasions. as identified in the study of liébana-cabanillas et al.  (2020), among the benefits of the use of mobile payment are speed of payment, the convenience of storage of large numbers of loyalty cards in the mobile, and even the ability to customize promotions to the purchasing behavior of the user. this provides the consumer with a more satisfactory and dynamic shopping experience. the availability of mobile payments can also become a factor in deciding whether to buy from one brand/store or another. the frequency of electronic payment method utilized by the respondents the respondents consisted of 3 cashiers and 42 students (1 cashier and 14 students per school) who evaluated the frequency of electronic payment methods. with a frequency of 17, bank transactions ranked second with a percentage of 32.08, while mobile transactions ranked first with a frequency of 28 and a percentage of 52.83, and online transactions ranked third with a frequency of 8 and a percentage of 15.09, respectively as seen on table 1. as identified in the study of liébana-cabanillas et al.  (2020), among the benefits of the use of mobile payment are speed of payment, the convenience https://sciprofiles.com/profile/520610 https://sciprofiles.com/profile/520610 151 international peer reviewed journal of storage of large numbers of loyalty cards in the mobile, and even the ability to customize promotions to the purchasing behavior of the user. this provides the consumer with a more satisfactory and dynamic shopping experience, and the availability of mobile payments can also become a factor in the decision of whether to buy from one brand/store or another. table 2. status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent a) n = 15 4 3 2 1 f wm f wm f wm f wm twm a.i indicators 1. bank transaction a. cheques 1 .27 2 .40 4 .53 8 .53 1.73 r b. debit & credit card 3 .80 3 .60 3 .40 6 .40 2.20 r c. other remittances 1 .27 3 .60 5 .67 6 .40 1.94 r 2. mobile transaction 1.96 r a. gcash 7 1.87 2 .40 3 .40 3 .20 2.87 s b. paymaya 0 0 2 .40 3 .40 10 .67 1.47 n c. paypal 1 .27 1 .20 3 .40 10 .67 1.54 r 3. online transaction 1.96 r a. amazon pay 0 0 2 .40 4 .53 9 .60 1.53 r b. netbank 0 0 1 .20 4 .53 10 .67 1.40 n c. authorized.net 0 0 2 .40 3 .40 10 .67 1.47 n 1.47 n legend: 4 – always 3 – sometimes 2 – rarely 1 – never status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent a) using the likert’s scale method, the respondents choose among the several options that best align with their view on the status of the electronic payment system in their respective schools. for the primary analysis, it was calculated descriptive statistics (frequency and weighted mean) for the aggregate data. the means were interpreted as follows: 4 – always, 3 – sometimes, 2 – rarely, and 1 – never (see table 2). bank transactions, mobile transactions, and online transactions are the indicators the researcher uses to know the status of electronic payment systems among selected private heis. respondent a is rarely using bank transactions and mobile transactions, having the same total weighted mean of 1.96, while online transactions garnered a total weighted mean of 1.47 which resulted in never (see table 2). 152 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the philippine financial system is undergoing a period of technological innovations. the changes include a significant increase in alternative formal channels for delivering financial services, such as a bank, mobile, and online transactions. the use of mobile phones and the quick growth of commerce are both results of advances in wireless technology which is why it is the most commonly used by students and parents to pay for their school fees. table 3. status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent b) n = 15 4 3 2 1 indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm twm a.i 1. bank transaction a. cheques 0 0 5 1.00 2 .27 8 .53 1.80 r b. debit & credit card 2 .53 4 .80 1 .13 3 .20 1.66 r c. other remittances 1 .27 6 1.20 4 .53 4 .27 2.27 r 2. mobile transaction 1.91 r a. gcash 7 1.87 5 1.00 2 .27 1 .02 3.16 s b. paymaya 1 0 2 .40 3 .40 9 .60 1.67 r c. paypal 1 .27 3 .60 3 .40 8 .53 1.80 r 3. online transaction 2.21 r a. amazon pay 1 .27 2 .40 5 .67 7 .47 1.81 r b. netbank 1 .27 4 .80 3 .40 7 .47 1.94 r c. authorized.net 1 .27 3 .60 3 .40 8 .53 1.80 r 1.85 r legend: 4 – always 3 – sometimes 2 – rarely 1 – never status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent b) respondent b rarely uses bank transactions (twm 1.91), mobile transactions (twm 2.21), and online transactions (twm 1.85). even though the twm of each is not the same, it all falls to adjusted interpretation that results in rare (see table 3). for respondent b, there is still a lack of trust in digital payments. some do not yet feel safe using this as they do not trust the internet and the perceived security risks. technology trust is an asset that every business need to focus on, especially when innovation is introduced. this is also something that needs to be analyzed and taken care of daily as trust, once lost, is difficult to recover. literature indicates wide availability of research and publications focused on various aspects of trust. 153 international peer reviewed journal technology trust aspects from the perspective of digital payment methods taking a system-oriented approach to address digital trust drivers in digital planet report 2017, where poland was ranked the s country with a deficit of technological trust. the author has decided to investigate the level of technology trust among the focus group identified among the faculty of management of warsaw university students. different authors use various definitions of technological trust to explain the conditions of such an approach. to meet the research goal, the author has defined technological trust as the expectation of efficiency, reliability, and effectiveness of technical devices and systems from the perspective of people who have created the given technology, information systems of material objects, etc. the most important aspect of adopting digital channels to carry on payment transactions is gathering relevant trust among users. from this perspective, it is valuable to identify such factors related to technological trust that would allow determining what drives users the most to make one payment method leading over the other ones. in an era when emerging payment methods and the development and adaptation of mobile technology are introduced, it is beneficial to know what characteristics might increase the popularity of payment methods as well as what factors might raise the common technological trust that, in the final state, also might finally replace existing or unpopular payment methods. table 4. status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent c) n = 15 4 3 2 1 indicators f wm f wm f wm f wm twm a.i 1. bank transaction a. cheques 10 2.67 5 1.00 0 0 0 0 3.67 a b. debit & credit card 8 2.13 1 .20 0 0 0 0 2.33 r c. other remittances 7 1.87 3 .60 3 .40 2 .13 3.00 s 2. mobile transaction 3.00 s a. gcash 13 3.47 1 .20 1 .13 0 0 3.80 a b. paymaya 2 .53 5 1.00 4 .53 4 .27 2.33 r c. paypal 3 .80 6 1.20 3 .40 3 .20 2.60 s 3. online transaction 2.91 s a. amazon pay 2 .53 2 .40 3 .40 8 .53 1.86 r b. netbank 4 1.07 1 .20 3 .27 8 .53 2.07 r c. authorized.net 1 .27 3 .60 3 .40 8 .53 2.46 n 1.80 r legend: 4 – always 3 – sometimes 2 – rarely 1 – never 154 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 status of electronic payment system of pheis (respondent c) on the other hand, respondent c uses bank transaction (twm 3.00) and mobile transaction (twm 2.91) results in sometimes, while online transaction (twm 1.80) is used rarely (see table 4). electronic payments eliminate several risks of counterfeit money and robbery of cash. moreover, it also reduces costs of security, withdrawing cash from banks, transporting, and counting. as noted by david et al. (2016) “despite the growing importance of the debit card in most developed countries, there are relatively few academic studies that analyze the impact of such evolution on demand for cash.” in contrast to respondents a and b, respondent c “always” used checks as a means of payment. the other remittance center is used “sometimes,” whereas debit and credit cards are only “rarely” used. you don’t need to carry much cash while paying using checks, which is one of their benefits. checks make it easier to manage your finances. your canceled checks or a list of canceled checks will be returned to you by your bank. also, the outcome shows that respondent c has always used gcash. you can download the gcash app on any gadget, including your tablet or smartphone. wherever you are, you may use it to transfer or receive money, pay bills, and buy goods and services. you can send money to any of our partner banks in real-time. according to globe telecom, gcash has facilitated financial transactions for its 33 million registered customers. and with more than 73,000 partner businesses in the nation, it has changed how filipinos transact. table 5. summary of status on electronic payment system among the selected private heis respondents a respondents b respondents c indicators twm ai twm ai twm ai awm a.i bank transaction 1.96 r 1.91 r 3.00 s 2.29 r mobile transaction 1.96 r 2.21 r 2.91 s 2.36 r online transaction 1.47 n 1.85 r 1.80 r 1.71 r to summarize the result from the table above, respondent a uses bank transaction and mobile transaction rarely, while for online transactions, respondent a resulted to never. however, respondent b falls to only one result that rarely uses all the above-mentioned indicators. respondent c uses bank transactions and mobile transaction sometimes and online transactions, resulting in rarely. combining the result of each respondent, the adjusted interpretation falls too rarely. 155 international peer reviewed journal there are multiple reasons why many people continue to prefer and demand cash. and not all of them are reasons for practicality or usage. instead, the reasons are more personal, such as the immediacy and feeling of money or the difficulties of accepting and enabling digital payments. table 6. significant agreement met by the respondents on electronic payment system respondents a respondents b respondents c indicators rating rank rating rank rating rank ∑x ∑x2 1. bank transaction 1.96 1.5 1.91 2 3.00 1 4.5 20.25 2. mobile transaction 1.96 1.5 2.21 1 2.91 2 4.5 20.25 3. online transaction 1.96 3 1.85 3 1.80 3 9 81 the researcher uses t-test to see if there is a relation between those three private heis. the computed t is 9, and the tabulated t is 1%, according to the book of guilford. using the kendall coefficient of concordance, the value is constant at 2.58, which is a high result. the tabular t and computed t are high; therefore, the hypothesis is rejected. since the perception of the three private heis is correlated to each other, it resulted in a rare user base on the data. table 7. challenges met by the respondents on the adaptation of electronic payment system challenges frequency rank 1. privacy risk 23 3 2. inadequate security 10 7 3. technological illiteracy 7 10 4. internet requirement 29 2 5. additional charge 32 1 6. cost of fraud 5 11 7. hacker’s activity 14 4 8. limited services 10 7 9. lack of support system 10 7 10. limitations on amount and time 11 5 11. others 8 9 156 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 before we can completely proceed to digital payment, it is inevitable to experience difficulties in changing and applying the new mode of payment, especially if it is online. the researcher gathered data to see the challenges met by the respondents in adapting to the electronic payment system. based on table 7, all the challenges were listed, and privacy risks are one of the few, and it is ranked at number three. respondents know the need to put their personal information online, risking their privacy. inadequate security is ranked at number seven due to the weak security of some online payments. technological illiteracy is ranked at number ten. not everyone can easily use and understand technologies. also, some online payments are not user-friendly and can confuse the user. internet requirement is ranked at number two since not all students have wi-fi and money to buy prepaid load for mobile data. it is a challenge for most of the respondents because not everyone has the means to pay online. additional charge is ranked at number one. this is the common problem of every respondent due to not everyone has the extra money to pay for additional charges when using online payment. the cost of fraud was ranked at number eleven since online scams are everywhere. hacker’s activity was ranked at number four. it is more likely to happen in the respondents when hacker’s hacks the account and gets some money. limited services and lack of support system are both ranked at number seven. if the respondents have other queries, they cannot get an immediate answer. limitations on amount and time were ranked at number five. same on the latter ranking, there is a limitation when paying online. others ranked at number nine. conclusion according to the respondents’ results and the three indications, mobile transaction is the most convenient and user-friendly of the three measures. due to the fact that some businesses do not take personal checks and that you must personally deliver them, bank transactions come in second, while online transactions come in last. as you must use computer desktop, this last indicator is less convenient and inconveniences the respondents. according to the results of the responses from selected private heis, electronic payment systems are rarely used. it indicates that schools are adapting the e-payment system. the gcash app is included under “mobile transaction” in the data that has been supplied. one of the most popular applications for internet payments. it is easier to use and more readily available. information being asked 157 international peer reviewed journal is limited, and you just have to log in using a mobile number, which the majority of individuals, especially students, already own mobile devices. because not all students have the extra funds to add to their budget to cover additional expenses, additional charges are the respondents’ top problem. since the perception of the three private heis has shown to have a significant correlation with each other, it resulted in a rare use base on the data analysis. the three institutions currently take electronic payments, but they haven’t yet thought about how to give students and parents the most control over those payments online. translational research proposed a systematic model to lessen the cost and risks in the utilization of a standard electronic payment system among private higher education institutions in the province of albay. given its inconvenience, the researcher proposes a systematic model that private heis can adopt. providing payment details has been a focus for innovators for some time. as described in this study, the ability to provide payment details on a one-time basis and subsequently to reference those during a secure user authentication process (e.g. pin entry, fingerprint scan, or increasingly in the future other biometric authentication methods) significantly improves user experience. it reduces friction in making purchases while maintaining an adequate level of security. literature cited alalwan, a. a., dwivedi, y. k., & rana, n. p. (2017). factors influencing adoption of mobile banking by jordanian bank customers: extending utaut2 with trust. international journal of information management, 37(3), 99-110. david, b., abel, f., & patrick, w. (2016). debit card and demand for cash. journal of banking & finance, 73, 55-66. de best, r. (2020). mobile payments worldwide-statistics & facts.  statista, november, 10. geffen, d., straub, d. w., & boudreu, m. c. (2000). structural equation modeling and regression. in association for information systems (pp. 2-78). 158 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 goyal, v., pandey, u. s., & batra, s. (2012). mobile banking in india: practices, challenges and security issues.  international journal of advanced trends in computer science and engineering, 1(2). liébana-cabanillas, f., garcía-maroto, i., muñoz-leiva, f., & ramos-de-luna, i. (2020). mobile payment adoption in the age of digital transformation: the case of apple pay. sustainability, 12(13), 5443. lopez, m. l. (2018). bsp check shows most filipinos unbanked. retrieved from business world online website: https://www. bworldonline. com/bsp-checkshows-most-filipinos-unbanked. raon, c. j. b., de leon, m. v., & dui, r. (2021). adoption of e-payment systems in the philippines. jurnal ilmu komunikasi, 18(1), 123-136. sardana, v., & singhania, s. (2018). digital technology in the realm of banking: a review of literature.  international journal of research in finance and management, 1(2), 28-32. silva, p. (2015). davis’ technology acceptance model (tam)(1989). information seeking behavior and technology adoption: theories and trends, 205-219. taylor, s., & todd, p. a. (1995). understanding information technology usage: a test of competing models. information systems research, 6(2), 144-176. tseng, c. h., & wei, l. f. (2020). the efficiency of mobile media richness across different stages of online consumer behavior. international journal of information management, 50, 353-364. zheng, x., men, j., yang, f., & gong, x. (2019). understanding impulse buying in mobile commerce: an investigation into hedonic and utilitarian browsing. international journal of information management, 48, 151-160. zoleta, v. (2021). battle of the brands paymaya vs gcash: which mobile wallet app is right for you? moneymax. http://bit.ly/3mjh0oz 60 jpair multidisciplinary research occupation of household heads as correlate of child care practices of low-income households jean n. guillasper http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2244-1056 jeanguillasper@neust.edu.ph nueva ecija university of science and technology nueva ecija, philippines abstract child care is considered as an integral part of society’s health. this study was conducted to determine the child care practices of households with very low socio-economic status in singalat, palayan city, nueva ecija, philippines. the researcher utilized the descriptive method of research coupled with questionnaire as a tool for data gathering. the respondents were chosen by means of purposive sampling technique and the data gathered were treated with frequency and percentage distribution, weighted mean and pearson product moment correlation. the results showed that the respondents were living in a mixed neighborhood; houses were built in light and cheap materials, poorly constructed, unpainted and dilapidated. the majority of the household heads were unskilled workers while some were employed as blue collar workers or engaged in manual labor that receives an hourly rate of pay, high school graduates with 0-1 or few facilities with monthly family income of p1,000.00 (23 usd) and below. the socio-economic classification of the respondents falls under e or “very low socio-economic classification” with a score of 7-14 based on mores-sec classification of households. child care practices in terms of nutrition, hygiene, disease prevention and health restoration were “very often accomplished” by the respondents. the “occupation” of household heads plays a vital role in the delivery of child care among the family respondents. occupation vol. 19 · january 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v19i1.311 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 61 international peer reviewed journal means income, while income would mean food, shelter, clothing, medicine or health and other basic necessities of a growing child. keywords social science, child care practices, socio-economic status, descriptive-survey, nueva ecija, philippines introduction quality child care matters for children especially for those who belong to lowincome. in fact, this remains a critical issue worldwide. low-income children are less likely to have access to quality child care than those children from affluent families. however, in an african country (shlay, tran, weinraub & harmon, 2005), the delivery of quality child care must include three conditions such as desirability, availability, and affordability. in the study made by cattan (1991) which was conducted in usa, he found out that the major reason for having difficulty in child care is unemployment among americans. it is also indicated that lack of affordable quality child care was one of the reasons why there are estimated 1.1 million young mothers who did not seek or hold employment in the previous years based on the data from the national longitudinal survey of youth. likewise, burchinal (1999) revealed that children display more optimal cognitive and social development due to better-quality care than those children who experienced lower-quality care although the associations tend to be modest. on the other hand, child development is associated with child care. in the philippines, reaching the poorest is the key goal where the existence of publicly funded child care centers is available that accounts to 86% of villages, but it only covers almost 39% of the age-eligible population. it is also noted that nutrition services cover 80% of the population preferably children (engle et al., 2011). malnutrition is closely related to child care practices. in a rural area in bangladesh, malnutrition is common during a famine year. the important determinants of malnutrition include family income, mother’s education, sex and birth order of children. it is also apparent that family income and mothers’ education correlate to child malnutrition. hence, the importance of education among women as one of the long-term policy measures to improve nutritional status of children is emphasized (bairagi, 1980). similarly, many households with children in india were at high risk of malnutrition since they have experienced food insecurity. ninety-eight percent of children consumed cereal products 2 to 3 times per day, while the frequency 62 jpair multidisciplinary research of consumption of meat and milk products, fruits and vegetables was below the indian council of medical research recommendation. the diets of poor income groups were deficient in several nutrients, such as energy, vitamin a, calcium, riboflavin, and iron (nnakwe & yegammia, 2002). on the other hand, immunization as part of the child care practices was evident in afghanistan. the most successful and cost-effective health interventions among children in third world countries is child immunization. fully immunized children in afghanistan accounted to 84.5% in the center and 60.7% in the rural area. this may be due to the effective partnership among various sectors that promote the immunization program (hemat, takano, kizuki, & mashal 2009). proper child care results to a better child health and contributes to the overall health status of the community. philippines, being a third world country which majority of the families belongs to the low socio-economic class, pose a big challenge to render effective child-rearing practices. family income plays a vital role in child care because it could mean better food consumption, good health and sanitation. range, naved, and bhattarai (1997) pointed out that child care capacity depends, to some extent, on the availability of food in the household and access to health services. child care is a multifaceted set of behaviors that encompasses child feeding practices, promotion of safe and healthy environment, providing adequate health care, psychosocial and emotional support. care giving behaviors and access to food and health services contribute to child nutrition. mostly, proper child nourishment can be achieved through a combination of resources such as enough budget, skills and knowledge. specific care behaviors could be seen as a dimension of “skills and knowledge” that is applied by households in the production of child nutrition. families are embedded with a crucial role of providing care for their children, and whatever socio-economic struggles may hinder it, genuine care must prevail for the betterment and welfare of their children. peterson and green (2009) identified some of the many essential roles for a healthy family which include the provision of resources, nurturance and support, life skills development and maintenance, and management of the family system. according to peterson and green, children have the most basic needs in terms of food, clothing and shelter that parents need to provide. as such, they must also provide comfort and warmth, physical, emotional, educational and social development for their children. likewise, upholding discipline and enforcing behavioral standards are other responsibilities that can be considered as equally important to the basic needs of children. similarities and differences in child care practices varied which 63 international peer reviewed journal may be due to cultural differences, implementation of programs related to child care and interpretation of the existing policies worldwide. but since child care is one of the top priorities across the globe, it is important to note the achieving quality child care can only be attained through proper education of mothers or carers, employment, sound government policy on child care focusing on the financially challenged sector of the government and well implemented and sustainable programs on child care. in global aspect, child care had undergone significant changes through the help of the world health organization (who) millennium development goals. in the philippines, there was no available published literature that shows the correlation between the occupation of household heads and the childcare practices among low-income households. this is the reason this study was formulated and published. however, this study was different from the studies cited in terms of location, respondents, instruments and the statistical tools used. since philippines is included in the list of developing countries, the researcher would like to make an empirical findings of childcare practices of the filipino families who belonged to the low-income households. how they manage to deliver quality childcare despite the fact that they belong to the poverty threshold is the main issue that the researcher wants to convey. the findings will further inspire the readers about the uniqueness of filipino families on how to handle family matters despite the adversities in life. framework the theoretical framework of this study was anchored on the principles employed by sister callista roy’s adaptation model (andrews & roy, 1991). roy’s adaptation model sees individual as a set of interrelated systems, biological, psychological and social. in this model, the individual tries to maintain a balance between each of these systems and the outside world. however, there is no absolute level of balance. according to roy, we all strive to live within a bond where we can cope adequately. this band will be unique to an individual. the adaptation level is the range of adaptability within which the individual can deal effectively with new experiences. moreover, according to roy (1991), adaptation is a process and outcome that resulted from an individual’s awareness and choice to integrate with his environment. an individual is a biopsychosocial adaptive system that continuously undergoes a feedback cycle of input (stimuli), throughput (control 64 jpair multidisciplinary research process), and output (behaviors and adaptive responses). all adaptive behaviors contribute to health and an individual’s response to a stimulus is categorized in several different modes. the “role function” of roy’s adaptation model is the mode that was given emphasis in this study. role function is determined by the need for social integrity and refers to the performance of duties based on the given position within the society. through this study, the researcher identified the adaptive responses of families in the local community in terms of child caring practices despite the fact that they belong to a very low socio-economic class. the philippines, in accordance with the millenium development goals (mdg) is committed to reducing poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation (mdg # 1) (psa-nscb). this specific mdg was anchored from the millenium development goals set by the united nations development programme made in 2000 where 189 nations convened and promised the same. according to statistics, even though poverty rates have been halved between 1990 to 2010, there were still 1.2 billion people who still live in extreme poverty. about a quarter of children under five years old were estimated to be stunted or shown to have inadequate height for their age. likewise, 162 million young children are still suffering from chronic undernutrition which is quite unacceptable. moreover, in 2011-2013, there were about 173 million worldwide who suffered from chronic hunger than in 1990-1992 (undp). in the philippines, there are some indigenous practices on child healthcare based on the study conducted by ramos (2012). the mothers of manobomatigsalug tribe also practice breastfeeding by allowing their babies to take the first yellowish milk called colostrum which contains immunizing effect among infants. when the baby reaches one year old, he is weaned out from breastfeeding and begin to introduce solid foods like egg, cassava and sweet potato. mothers with insufficient milk practiced mixed feeding by giving water from boiled rice as an alternative food supplement for infants. child care is an umbrella term referring to any form of non-parental care that occurs on a regular basis. nontraditional attitudes toward childbearing of mothers, gender roles and participation of women in the labor force use more hours of non-maternal care and more formal care than those with more traditional views. however, the ability to sustain employment may affect child care choices of these mothers (huston, chang & gennetian, 2002). 65 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study the study aimed to determine the relationship between the child care practices and the occupation of household heads with low socio-economic status of singalat, palayan city, nueva ecija, philippines. methodology research design the researcher utilized the descriptive method of research coupled with questionnaire. in this study, the questionnaire used by the researcher is composed of two parts; the first part includes the socio-economic profile of the respondents using the market and opinion research society of the philippines (mores) indicators of socio-economic classification (sec) of households by virola, addawe and querubin (2007) and the second part is composed of child care practices of households that is classified as with very low socio-economicstatus. research site the research was conducted in the local community of singalat, palayan city where 243 or 80% of households with children 0-12 years old served as the respondents of the study. singalat is located north-west of the city of palayan. it is approximately 418.71 hectares with geographical landmarks consisting of flatlands and hills. singalat has a total of 303 households as per record from the national statistics office of cabanatuan city, nueva ecija. instrumentation the instrument utilized by the researcher is the structured questionnaire that consisted sets of questions that will be answered by the participants on a given format. the first part of the questionnaire was adopted from the market and opinion research society (mores) of the philippines by virola et al. (2007) while the second part is a self-made questionnaire about the child care practices of the households with low socio-economic status of singalat, palayan city. it was initially drafted as a result of several readings and consultations. the draft was presented to the office of the vice president for research of the nueva ecija university of science and technology for comments and validation. afterwards, the researcher revised the questionnaire and incorporated all suggestions that came out after the validation. after which the researcher conducted the pilot testing 66 jpair multidisciplinary research of the questionnaire among the 10 households of singalat that are not included as samples of the study. the instruments were easily understood and answered by the respondents with ease and comfort indicating that it is acceptable, reliable and valid in nature. research ethics protocol in the administration of the questionnaire, the researcher sought permission from the ethics review board of the university by presenting the informed consent form of the respondents and letter of request to the community captain for the administration of the questionnaires. clearance was issued by the ethics review board on june 13, 2011 after the detailed evaluation process. questionnaires were distributed to the respondents which involved 243 or 80% of the total population upon the approval of the barangay captain. the researcher allowed a period of two months for the retrieval of the questionnaires. data collection and statistical technique to determine the socio-economic classification of the respondents, the researcher adopted the market and opinion research society of the philippines (mores) socio-economic classification (sec) of households (virola et al., 2007). the indicators for the mores-sec of households are presented below: socio-economic classification ab – 30 – 35 points higher socio-economic class c1 or upper c – 25 – 29 points higher middle socio-economic class c2 or broad c – 20 -24 points lower middle socio-economic class d – 15 – 19 points low socio-economic class e – 7 – 14 points very low socio-economic class mode of scoring of the indicators for the mores-sec of households mores-sec indicators maximum points neighborhood 5 home durability 5 outdoor quality 5 67 international peer reviewed journal occupation of the household head 5 educational attainment of the household head 5 facilities in the home 5 household income 5 total 35 the child care practices of the respondents were determined using frequency and percentage distribution and weighted mean and the data acquired was interpreted using the likert-five point scale as shown below: weights descriptive interpretation degree of response 5 excellent 4.50 – 5.00 4 satisfactory 3.50 – 4.49 3 acceptable 2.50 – 3.49 2 fair 1.50 – 2.49 1 poor 1.49 – 1.00 the significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the child caring practices was determined using pearson product moment correlation. results and discussion child care practice is a dynamic process that promotes quality of life among children. the role of parents to their children includes safe and secured environment, providing the basic necessities such as food, education, shelter, health, love, and sound relationship among family members. proper child care practice is anchored on the premise that it is a must for parents to provide these necessities to promote an optimum level of growth and development to their children. thus, the socio-economic profile of the respondents is one of the determinants in the delivery of quality childcare among families who belonged to the low-income households. socio-economic profile of the respondents the socio-economic profile of the respondents includes the neighborhood, home durability, outdoor quality, occupation of the household head, educational 68 jpair multidisciplinary research attainment and household income based on the market and opinion research society (mores) of the philippines socio-economic (sec) indicators. neighborhood. there were 135 or 55.56% of the respondents lived in a “mixed neighborhood with predominantly small houses”; 103 or 42.39% lived in a “generally slum district” while there were 5 or 2.06% lived in a “large and small houses.”singalat, palayan city is located in anurban area that is classified as a typical barrio with small houses. according to sirgy and cornwell (2002),contentment with the social and economic features of the neighborhood play a role in the fulfillment of the house and home, neighborhood and the community that feeds into life satisfaction. home durability. more than half or 51.85% of houses were“made of light and cheap materials and were poorly constructed”; 96 or 39.51% were “temporary structures/barong barong” and 21 or 8.64 percent were “made of light and heavy materials.”the findings may indicate that the structures of houses were not durable and safe. durability of home is important to ensure the safety of the family especially of a growing child.most of the time, children spend 8090% of their time indoors and the possibilities of acquiring health risks may be found at home, in schools and in the environment. housing quality served as an important component of health disparities around the world as it has been acknowledged for quite some time that there is a probable relationship between housing and health inequality particularly within the inner city neighborhoods (patrick et al., 2004). outdoor quality. houses were “unpainted and dilapidated” which comprised of 163 or 67.08%; 74 or 30.45% were “generally unpainted and in need of major repairs” while there were only 6 or 2.47%that were “painted but may need of major repairs.” lack of monetary resources was the main reason of the respondents why they were not able to repair their houses. ideally, home environment should be safe for children but patrick et al. (2004) pointed out that home environment can be characterized as an important source of fetal and early childhood exposures to biological, chemical and physical agents as well as a strategic opportunity for intervention. in the past decades, many studies have linked housing-related factors and health, and it is noteworthy that we have learned about how to make home a healthier place to live in. occupation of household heads. the majority or 51.85% of the household heads were “unskilled” workers while there were 117 or 48.15% employed in blue collar jobs. household heads were minimum wage earners who in some instances do not augment or provide and sustain the family’s necessities like food. 69 international peer reviewed journal the primary means by which we organize the world in which we live is the occupation. occupation is related to food that illustrates the richness of dayto-day living (hasselkus, 2006). nevertheless, it appeared that family income is strongly related to children’s ability and achievement—their emotional outcomes. children who live in extreme poverty or who live below the poverty line for multiple years appear, all other things being equal, to suffer the worst outcomes. further, it is found out that lower rates of school completion were evident among children who experienced poverty during their preschool and early school years than children and adolescents who experienced poverty only in later years (brooks-gunn & duncan, 1997). educational attainment of household heads. more than half or 53.50% attained high school level (some high school), and 113 or 46.50% were elementary level (some elementary school) only. the educational background of the respondents could be the main reason of fewer opportunities to find a stable job that could serve as a source of income. the findings may indicate that education plays a role in income since low-level of education can be associated with poor economic and psychological outcome that includes poor income, much lesser social support and networking. fox et al. (1995) found out that mothers who had lower educational attainment had less positive parenting practices concerning nurturing and discipline. facilities at home. the majority or 58.44% of the respondents have “0-1 facility”; 97 or 39.92% have “2-4 facilities” and 4 or 1.65 percent have “5-7 facilities” at home. the findings can be attributed from the fact that having enough facilities at home is not the priority of the household head since they were just minimum wage earners who can only provide the basic necessities of their family such as food. household income. the maximum household income of the respondents was p1, 000 (23 usd). 00 and below which comprised 148 or 60.91% of the total respondents. meanwhile, 95 or 39.09% of the respondents were earning between p1, 001-p2, 500.00 (23-57 usd). both were earning below the poverty line. poverty line means the minimum income required to meet the food requirements and other non-food basic needs (national statistics office, 2011).it is argued in the study of mcloyd (2008) that poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent, and involved parenting and render parents more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of negative life events. hence, to foster positive socio-emotional development in economically deprived children, attention is given to the mechanisms by which parents’ social 70 jpair multidisciplinary research networks reduce emotional strain, lessen the tendency toward punitive, coercive, and inconsistent parenting behavior. socio-economic classification of the respondents table 1 below presents the socio-economic classification of the respondents based on the market and opinion research society (mores) of the philippines indicators of socio-economic classification (sec) of households (virola et al., 2007). table 1. socio-economic classification of the respondents socio-economic indicators score/points socio-economic classification neighborhood 1.60 very low socio-economic class home durability 2.69 outdoor quality 1.35 occupation of the household head 1.50 educational attainment of the household head 1.59 facilities in the home 1.43 household income 1.39 total 11.55 the total score garnered 11.55 which indicate that singalat is classified as a community with “very low socio-economic class” based on the mores-sec indicators of virola et al. (2007). child care practices of households the child care practices of households include nutrition, hygiene, disease prevention and health restoration. 1.1 nutrition. nutrition is one of the health care practices of the respondents. the result showed that children “always” eat meals three times a day and parents preferred to breastfeed their babies. “very often” the family served fish and vegetables as primary viand and encouraged children to avoid eating junk foods. “often” they offered meat and poultry, instant noodles, and canned goods like sardines as their primary viand they also give milk formula in feeding their babies. on the other hand, they “sometimes” preferred cow’s and carabao’s milk in feeding their children.the average weighted mean revealed 3.55, interpreted as “very often”, the finding revealed that although they belonged to the very 71 international peer reviewed journal low socio-economic class, parents are trying their very best to provide food for children that meet the nutritional requirements of a growing child. proper nutrition will help ensure the child’s normal growth and development and will help him grow to his complete potential. in the study conducted in india by sharma and kanani (2006), they found out that there were some deleterious practices in child caregiving specifically in terms of nutrition. some respondents give prelacteals, delayed initiation of breastfeeding, and some exclusively breastfed their babies <3 months. however, there were some who actively feed their children and usedanganwadi services. the deleterious child care practices of the respondents resulted in low-calorie intake (<40% rda) and a high prevalence of undernutrition which accounts to 56-64%.in six subsaharan african countries and four indian states, griffiths, madise, whitworth and matthews (2004) determined the importance of individual and household level predictors of child nutritional status, which include age, the size of a child at birth, prolonged breastfeeding, recent diarrhea episodes and maternal education as predictors of low weight for age z-scores across regions. it can be noted that breastfeeding is essential in sustaining the nutritional needs of the child that could contribute to proper nutrition. hence, the prevalence of undernourished children will be lessened. the result revealed that there is a significant difference in the household or community level variance in weight of children for age z-scores. likewise, the impact of the geographical context differs by socio-economic status of the household. the study of srivastava and sandhu (2007) revealed that about 50.5% of the children were stunted (height) for age z score (haz<-2sd) and 25.5% were underweight for age z score (waz<-2sd), but wasting was low that accounts to 3%. almost all positive complementary feeding (cf) practices and nutritional status of the children were significantly associated. on the other hand, infant and child feeding index (icfi) was found to be insignificant while maternal education is the most significant factor and associated significantly with icfi. essential nutrients are crucial for a growing child. variety of nutrient-dense foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat, fish, adequate calories are some of the requirements for children to grow and develop properly. the growth and health of children depend on the way they eat during childhood, adolescence period and for the rest of their lives. inadequate nutrition may cause delayed puberty, short stature, nutrient deficiencies and dehydration, menstrual irregularities, poor bone health, increased risk of injuries, poor academic 72 jpair multidisciplinary research performance and increased risk of eating disorders. educating children about the importance of good nutrition during childhood will serve as the foundation for a more fulfilling and healthier life (wilson, 2014). erinosho, dixon, young, brotman, and hayman (2011) said that the critical time to establish nutrition habits to prevent obesity is during early childhood. in the united states, children spend more time outside of their homes where dietary intakes are not being monitored. in 2005 and 2006, nutrition practices or dietary intakes of group child-care centers in new york city were assessed to determine if they meet the nutrition recommendations for children. the study revealed that almost all centers were providing beverages and food that are recommended by the national guidelines that include reduced-fat milk, 100% fruit juice, and whole grains. no centers provided soda, but some of the centers provided higher-fat milk and sugar-sweetened beverages while drinking water is available in classrooms of only half of the centers. further, <50% of children ate at least half of the daily recommended intake for each of five main food groups, with only 17% of children eating at least half of the daily recommended intake for vegetables and only 5% of children eating at least half of the daily recommended intake for vitamin e. li, darling, maurice, barker, and grummer-strawn(2005) said that 71.4% of children had been breastfed by their mothers, at three months (42.5% of infants were exclusively breastfed) and 51.5% were also breastfed to some extent. however, these rates dropped to 13.3% and 35.2% at six months. at one year, only 16.1% were receiving breast milk. as part of the childcare practices in terms of nutrition, the breastfeeding rates varied depending upon the socio-economic 1.2 hygiene. the respondents “always” bathed their children daily, cleansed the cord of the newborn with 70% isopropyl alcohol, applied or placed “bigkis” at the cord stump and brushed the teeth of children three times daily. however, “very often” they used antibacterial soap for bathing their children and they “sometimes” used detergent soap for bathing their children if the antibacterial soap is not available. this activity or childcare practices of family respondents were observed within the period of one month as part of the community immersion of the researcher. respondents never neglected the importance of appropriate body hygiene for their children. proper hygiene is being taught to children at an early age. likewise, hygiene should not be restricted to the body alone; it needs to be maintained in our surroundings as well. mackintosh, marsh and schroeder (2002) studied the poverty alleviation and nutrition program (panp) 73 international peer reviewed journal in vietnam. they found out that mothers “often” wash their hands as part of the hygienic practices in childcare. more so, children can be easily influenced by their parents, caregivers and peers in performing personal hygiene. 1.3 disease prevention. the respondents “always” go to the health centers for the completion of vaccines of their children and “very often” children were provided with vitamin supplements (from the health centers). regular visits to the health center for consultation was “often” done by the respondents. the respondents have enough knowledge on how to prevent the occurrence of diseases among children. the parents or the respondents are very enthusiastic for the health promotion and disease prevention of children by obtaining immunizations from the health centers, giving vitamin supplements and regular visit or consultation to health centers as needed. the core service of pediatrics is the well-child care. however, it is not surprising that preventive care services that are supposedly provided do not meet the needs of families especially those with vulnerable children. parents show dissatisfaction due to failing of recommended preventive care services which supposedly reflect the quality of child health supervision among physician and parents. hence, there are many unmet needs among children and families. thus, “well-child care” is only applicable to fewer children (schor, 2004). the immunization coverage as part of the childcare practice in baltimore showed that 80% by the age of 3 months made an ageappropriate preventive health visit, but at the age of 7 months only less than 40% had a preventive visit. infants received dpt1 on time were twice likely to be up-to-date by 24 months of age. likewise, 71% for dpt1, 39% for dpt3 and 53% for measles – mumps – rubella vaccine were also documented (guyer, et al., 1994). the findings show that although the respondents have age-appropriate preventive visits, many young infants were still under-immunized. furthermore, vaccination among children plays an important role in disease prevention. in fact, in this study, the majority of the respondents sent their children to community health centers to obtain vaccination for their children. on the other hand, the study of gellin, maibach, and marcuse (2000) revealed that 87% of the respondents deemed immunization as an extremely important action that parents can take to keep their children well. the overall respondents’ rating on immunization was high, and the minority was held important misconceptions. the most important source of information on immunizations was the healthcare providers. likewise, as part of childcare practice, childhood consultation during the episode of illness may depend on the social classes. an 74 jpair multidisciplinary research increased rate of consultation was documented among social classes belonging to i-ii to classes iv-v (class i as the highest and class v as the lowest). children belonging to social classes iv-v more frequently consulted for the reason of illnesses than children from classes i-ii (rate ratio 1.23; 1.5 to 1.30). classes iv-v also had significantly higher consultation rates for minor, moderate and serious illnesses and higher home visiting rates with the rate ratio of 2.00; 1.81 to 2.18). preventive consultation in children for social classes iv-v were lower than those children from social classes i-ii (rate ratio 0.95; 0.86 to 1.05) (saxena, majeed, & jones,1999). furthermore, the immunization status of children in the study conducted by adeladza (2009) showed significant predictor of a child’s linear growth in the study area. immunized children were less likely to be malnourished than non-immunized children (p<0.05), an association that remained significant even after controlling for the confounding effect of child’s age. 1.4 health restoration. the respondents “very often” used generic drugs in treating disease and preferred to seek treatment from medical professionals. on the other hand, some of the respondents “often” used medicinal plants in treating disease and preferred to seek treatment from “herbolaryos”. respondents valued the importance of medical professional care in terms of health restoration. on the other hand, consulting “herbolaryos” was their last option or alternative in providing treatment to their child’s illness. pandey et al. (2002) stated that seeking healthcare to qualified health professionals during illness is commonly practiced in bengal, india. qualified health professionals are consulted more often though parents traveled longer distances. common health problems are diarrhea, acute respiratory infections among 530 children (263 boys and 267 girls). the use of alternative medicine or consultation to “herbolaryos” can no longer be ignored nowadays since it became part of the way of life of filipinos even before. use of alternative medicine (am) is also one of the practices in any part of the world. this was proven in the study conducted by spigelblatt, laîné-ammara, pless, and guyver (1994) where they found out that 208 or 11% of children previously consulted alternative medicine (am), the mothers of these children are educated and also tended to use am. 75 international peer reviewed journal significant relationship between the profile and the child care practices of the households with very low socio-economic class table 2. relationship between the profile and the child care practices of the respondents household profile child care practices interpretation neighborhood 0.01 negligible correlation home durability 0.09 negligible correlation outdoor quality 0.09 negligible correlation occupation of the household head 0.29 slight correlation educational attainment of the household head 0.11 negligible correlation facilities in the home -0.07 negligible correlation household income negligible correlation the data revealed a “slight correlation” between the child care practices of households with a correlational value of 0.29. this finding may be attributedtothe occupation that the household head have. hence, the slight correlation of the occupation of the household head between child care practices has been noted. socio-economic status (ses) according to luster and okagaki (2005), represents the major source of indirect and direct influence on child development as well as on parenting practices. bradley and corwyn (2002) stated that one of the most widely studied constructs in social sciences is the socio-economic status (ses). ses includes quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. most findings of researches on ses are associated with a wide array of health, cognitive, and socio-emotional outcomes in children with an impact from birth to adulthood. ses has multiple levels of impact on the well-being of children including both family and neighborhood. the effects of ses are moderated by child’s characteristics, family characteristics, and external support systems. the study made use of the data gathered from the respondents in 2011. the study wanted to assess whether the socio-economic status affects the child care practices of the households of singalat, palayan city. for this purpose, the researcher used the 2011 population census of the said community coming from the national statistics office of nueva ecija. it was observed that the socioeconomic profile of a certain community such as neighborhood, home durability, 76 jpair multidisciplinary research outdoor quality, occupation of the household head, educational attainment of the household head, facilities in the home and household income are important factors in determining the child care practices of families in the community. it should be noted that there are also some factors that needto be considered in determining the child care practices such availability and accessibility to healthcare services and willingness of the respondents to avail the free healthcare services provided in the community. conclusions the respondents based on the market opinion and research society mores) of the philippines socio-economic classification (sec) indicator falls under the classification as with “very low”socio-economic class. the local community is a typical barrio composed of small houses, located in slum areas that are not quite accessible to health care services and community resources. the structures of houses were unpainted and dilapidated which are not durable and safe, due to lack of financial resources. the household heads were unskilled workers. majority of them finished elementary and high school levels earning below the poverty line with no adequate facilities at home. it is noteworthy that acceptable child care practices in terms of nutrition, hygiene, disease prevention and health restoration were employed by the households although they were classified as with very low socio-economic status. significant correlation between occupation of household heads and child care practices were found. this means families with better sources tend to provide better child care practices. the respondents, in general, valued the importance of an effective child rearing that maintains and enhanced the health status of children. crucial role in enhancing productivity of the community by valuing the importance of proper child care was identified by the respondents. translational research the results of this study would provide adequate information on how families belonging to the low socio-economic status deliver quality child care despite their economic standing. intrinsically, the child care practices employed by the households are beneficial strategies to improve and maintain the health status of children especially those who belonged in the third world countries. child care practices integrated with the nursing curriculum are employed during the community immersion of the students where the direct participation 77 international peer reviewed journal of each household in the community is solicited, thereby, creating interactive participation of the community people. nutrition, hygiene, disease prevention and health restoration are integral part of child care and considered as the primary tasks of every parent regardless of their economic status. engagement of households in these tasks develops their potential as effective and resourceful individuals that enable to utilize the available resources in the community that sustain the health needs of their children. effective utilization of the available health services in the community is the key of each household to attain the maximum level of health for their children. further, the result of the study was disseminated to the city health office (cho) of palayan city, nueva ecija. massive information campaign and program implementation on proper child rearing and proper nutrition were implemented by the cho and the college of nursing of nueva ecija university of science and technology, as a result, 50% increase in immunization, 50% decrease in malnutrition, hygienic practices and decline in the occurrence of disease among children were observed for the past two years (2013-2014). acknowledgement the researcher would like to extend her deepest appreciation to dr. hilario c. ortiz for providing the financial assistance of this publication. literature 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(1994). the use of alternative medicine by children. pediatrics, 94(6), 811-814. 81 international peer reviewed journal the philippine statistics authority. poverty threshold in nueva ecija, region iii. national statistical coordination board. http://nscb.gov.ph/poverty/ defaultnew.asp. dateaccessed: august 8, 2011. united nations millennium declaration. http://www.nscb.gov.ph/stats/mdg/ default.asp. date accessed: march 2, 2015. virola, r. a., addawe, m. b., & querubin, m. i. t. (2007). trends and characteristics of the middle-income class in the philippines: is it expanding or shrinking. manila: national statistical coordination board. women and socio-economic status. american psychological association. https:// www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/. date accessed: november 15, 2012. cover single with doi 106 jpair: multidisciplinary research employability of teacher education graduates of an asian public university helen bihag-boholano hibihag08@gmail.com associate dean, college of teacher education cebu normal university abstract the employability of graduates from an institution is very important to note. it is through education and proper training that one may get a decent job after graduation. this study intends to show the employability of teacher education graduates in an asian public university. the methodological approach was both quantitative and qualitative. interviews were semi-structured and used a standard set of questions; however graduates were encouraged and motivated to share stories and explain how and why they had arrived at their conclusions and to describe any relevant experiences in the workplace. the findings reveal that the graduates who specialized in english, mathematics and sciences are academically talented and motivated group with considerable aspirations to be the teaching model. the study also highlights that science majors are the most employable graduates while mathematics majors able to handle other learning areas such as computer education and economics. many mathematics major graduates can diversify further through postgraduate studies, either into research or advanced courses in mathematics in order to be promoted an also for professional and academic growth. it is therefore concluded that there are three top priorities in the workplace for graduates, these includes: challenging/interesting work, a high salary and professional growth. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.12 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 107 international peer reviewed journal keywords teacher education graduates, asian public university, employability, workplace introduction the study focused on the employability of the english, mathematics and sciences graduates of the college of teacher education in cebu normal university. it is through education and proper training that one may get a job after graduation. education is formal schooling before the first job. many educators will attest to the effectiveness of learning if the students are able to apply them in everyday living. there is a very strong competition of having a job after graduation. in hills, robertson, walker, adey, and nixon (2003) as cited in de guzman and de castro (2008), a role of the higher education sector is to supply suitably skilled graduates to the workplace. in most cases, students will enroll in any higher institution to gain and acquire new knowledge and skills that is applicable in the workplace. the responsibility of university/college in training students is not limited to imparting academic skills. the development of employability skills in teacher education institutions requires members of the academe to have informed knowledge of current industry practice and an awareness of how different workplaces are structured and function. teaching skills, as well as knowledge, means that faculty members are required to move beyond traditional lecturing and use a range of teaching methods (commonwealth of australia, 2007). as well as teaching ‘about’ particular skills, professors can model those skills and develop them through the teaching methodologies they use. certain courses, such as science or information technology, have always had a strong practical component, in both teaching and assessment, yet increasingly universities are encouraging the use of different teaching methodologies to develop graduate attributes in their students (commonwealth of australia, 2007). employability in teaching depends on many factors such as educational qualification, academic performance, communication skills, technology skills and demonstration skills. warraich (2008) stressed that graduates will have to develop market oriented skills 108 jpair: multidisciplinary research to meet the challenging as well as changing needs of the employers. graduates have to improve their communication skills, attitude in problem solving and decision making, information literacy, technology skills, presentation skills and proficiency in english language. the employability of graduates has become an aim that governments around the world have, to varying extents, imposed on national higher education systems (yorke, 2006). this interest in employability reflects an acceptance of human capital theory (becker, 1975). under human capital theory, the task of government is to foster conditions that encourage growth in the stock of human capital, since this is seen as vital to the performance of knowledge based economies in a globalized society. it is, however, given little attention in other societies, many of which prefer to consider the ‘work-readiness’ of graduates as a means of guaranteeing economic competitiveness in an increasingly global market-place (little, 2003). the main objective of the study is to determine the percentage of employment of the cnu graduates and the factors that influence the employability of the teacher education graduates. framework education and training providers have a statutory duty to evaluate their own activities and participate in external evaluations. evaluation is used to collect data in support of education policy decisions and as a background for informationand performance-based steering. according to levin (1989), skills are earned through education. the major function of schools is to prepare workers to meet the labor demand and skills requirement. education therefore should design curricula that prepare workers for job compatibility. the implication of this theory is that educational institutions should design curricula for “social efficiency” by preparing workers for the existing economic stability. smith et al (2000) mentioned that employability has been used as a performance indicator for higher education institutions. according to hills, robertson, walker, adey, and nixon (2003) in de guzman (2008) a role of the higher education sector is to supply suitably skilled graduates to the workplace. the growing awareness of employability 109 international peer reviewed journal in higher education is viable in the context of the development of a knowledge based economy, a more diverse student intake, and changes in the nature of graduate employment (harvey, locke & morey, 2002; kimani, 2005; shah et al, 2004) as cited in de guzman (2008). for employers, a general ‘graduates’ (heqc, 1997) appears to be deemed to be sufficient, which should be understood to include the possession of general dispositions, qualities and skills. (purcell and pitcher, 1996, noted that for many years over 40% of advertisements for ‘graduate jobs’ had been more or less indifferent to applicants’ subject of study. students, therefore according to yorke (2006) will develop their employability in ways that reflect their particular circumstances. it might be hoped that they would become ‘capable’ in the sense outlined by stephenson (1998): capable people have confidence in their ability to: 1. take effective and appropriate action; 2. explain what they are seeking to achieve; 3. live and work effectively with others, and 4. continue to learn from their experiences, both as individuals and in association with others, in a diverse and changing society. [. . .] the higher education institutions (heis) in the philippines (public and private institutions) are aware that today’s employers are looking for more than just a degree qualification. academic qualifications alone no longer guarantee that an individual will get a job. school/ colleges and universities should be a place where students grow intellectually (cognitive competence), morally (character education), socially (interpersonal skills), and personally (self-reliant, selfconfident, resilient and a lifelong learner). according to the dole in the philippines, the unemployment, which had averaged about 4.5 percent during the 1970s, increased drastically following the economic crises of the early 1980s, peaking in early 1989 at 11.4 percent. in matching theory, labor market ‘failure’ on the part of individual graduates – unemployment or underutilization of graduate-level skills in employment -reflects mismatches between graduates and employers which may come about for a number of reasons (mason, 2006). for example, coles and smith (1998) emphasize that in a random matching model mismatches between job-seekers and employers may arise because of imperfect information, resulting in time and search costs for prospective partners to obtain information about better 110 jpair: multidisciplinary research matches. according to mason (2006), in a recent investigation of labor market mismatches in the netherlands, allen and van der velden (2001) find that ‘education-job mismatches’ (individuals holding jobs for which their formal qualifications are higher or lower than required) do not correspond closely with ‘skill-job mismatches’ (individuals holding jobs for which their skills are above or below those required). materials and methods the study conducted includes the graduates of the college of teacher education in the bachelor of secondary education from academic year 2008-2010. the methodological approach was both quantitative and qualitative. interviews were semi-structured and used a standard set of questions; however graduates were encouraged to share stories and explain how and why they had arrived at their conclusions and to describe any relevant experiences. most interviews were face-to-face and most were one-on-one. some of this was through face book especially if they were not in cebu city. for the graduate questionnaire, the most used standard breaks include year of graduation, field of specialization, degree program attended, economic sector in which employed, employment status and special skills that makes them competitive in the workplace. the generated tables formed the basis for data analysis and interpretations. 111 international peer reviewed journal r es u lt s a n d d is c u s s io n ta bl e 1. n um be r of c n u g ra d ua te s em pl oy ed a s te ac he rs in th e pu bl ic s ch oo ls 20 08 20 09 20 10 d eg re e p ro gr am & m aj or n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p u b li c s ch oo l s ys te m ) % n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p u b li c s ch oo l s ys te m ) % n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p u b li c s ch oo l s ys te m ) % b se d s ci en ce 52 41 78 .8 5% b se d p hy si ca l sc ie nc e 18 9 50 % b se d p hy si ca l sc ie nc e 13 4 30 .7 7% b se d b io lo gi ca l sc ie nc es 26 15 57 .6 9% b se d b io lo gi ca l sc ie nc es 19 8 42 .1 % b se d m at he m at ic s 62 48 77 .4 2% 60 34 56 .6 7% 52 21 40 .3 8% b se d e ng lis h 72 53 73 .6 1% 72 37 51 .3 9% 84 33 39 .2 9% o th er f ie ld o f sp ec ia liz at io n (s oc ia l s ci en ce s, m a p e h , f ili pi no ) 48 10 20 .8 3% 54 14 25 .9 3% 48 8 16 .6 7% 112 jpair: multidisciplinary research to gather in-depth information on employability of the cnu-cte graduates, e-groups was retrieved and the researcher communicated the respondents personally, via phone call or face book. structured interviews was conducted and the interviews sought respondents’ views on definitions of employability; learning, teaching and assessment of employment-related skills and knowledge; employer involvement with programs of study; student work experience; and other employability initiatives. the findings revealed that in 2008, science majors have the greatest employability rate in the public schools. out of 52 graduates 41 or 78.85% of them were employed in the public high schools. with the science majors, all respondents acknowledged that they were competitive in the workplace especially in terms of teaching strategies, creating, producing and using instructional materials which are innovative in nature. table 1 also shows that mathematics majors also have high employability rate which is 77.42%. aside from teaching mathematics, some of them were also assigned as computer education teacher and economics. bsed math graduates possess knowledge and skills that will enable them to make a contribution beyond other subject areas particularly where a combination of analytic, numerical and communication skills are valued (hibberd et. al, 2006). additionally many mathematics major graduates can diversify further through postgraduate studies, either into research in universities or advanced courses towards specialist employment opportunities within many industrial and commercial sectors as mention by hibbard in 2006. in 2004, 24% of all mathematics graduates went into further study and another 11% combined both employment with study (hibberd et. al, 2006). furthermore, table 1 reveals that bsed english majors are also employable. there are good in communication skills and are trainable. 73.61% of them were in the public schools. according to brennan et al. (2003) the employability of english graduates is rather poor light; at six months after graduation over half of english graduates were in full-time paid employment but this was below the proportions for all english major graduates. based on interviews with the graduates employers can easily distinguish between graduates in english and graduates in other arts and social science subjects. one recent study 113 international peer reviewed journal of six large graduate employers reported that employers felt that arts and humanities graduates could lack certain essential skills (teamwork and project work with presentation elements) compared to english majors graduates (brennan, 2003).. conversely, other field of specialization such as filipino, music, arts, physical education and health and social sciences have low employment rate as teacher in both public and private school. most of them were employed as call center agents. out of the 48 graduates in 2008, only 10 or 20.83% were teachers in the public schools. table 1 also discloses that in 2009, that the highest rates of employment as teachers in the public schools were the biological science majors. it was followed by the mathematics majors then physical science majors. this implies that teachers specializing in english, mathematics and science have high hope to be employed as teachers than those other field of specialization. english proficiency, as well as the degree of this knowledge plays a significant role on employment characteristics. as shown in table 1, the same trends were observed from 20082010. bsed science majors were mostly employed in the public schools. this entails that they are academically talented and motivated group with considerable aspirations. as cited in verhaest and omey (2009), wetch (1970) argues that education and skill possession produce two effects-------more pay and more productivity. he is in effect saying that education creates work effects which enable workers to more productivity in terms of speed and quality of work which in turn translates to more pay, because there is greater knowledge and proficiency in understanding specific tasks within the context of the work organization. mathematics and english are second and third, respectively. the education and training provided to teachers should not only focus on familiarizing them with various instructional models. but it should also put emphasis on deepening their understanding of the mathematical content, their interpretations of the mathematical content in the context of facilitating meaningful learning, their knowledge of learners’ conceptions and learning difficulties (shulman, 1986). there is strong evidence supporting the need for teachers to have rich mathematical content knowledge and deep understanding 114 jpair: multidisciplinary research (brown & borko, 1992, p. 209). many studies prove teachers trait are related to student achievements. montalvo et al. (2007) stressed that students will put forth greater effort and demonstrate a higher degree of persistence if they like their teachers. in the study of wayne and youngs (2003), they found out that teacher quality in their analysis of studies, examined the characteristics of effective teachers and their link to student effectiveness. it was found out that basic skill, attitude and behaviors were very important to be employed, while competence was seriously considered in the supplementary education industry. still, other filed of specialization were the least number of teachers employed in the public schools. it is revealed in the study that most of them were employed in the company and other establishment. chou (2011) stressed that the employable skills required for the supplementary education industry were mainly represented by work enthusiasm, responsiveness, proactive approach, optimism, and communicative competence, interest in teaching, caring, patience and a good expressive ability. as a mathematics community there is an increasing call to enhance, to better articulate and evidence the skills that are, or could be developed in the study of mathematics-based program (golden, 2008). 115 international peer reviewed journal ta bl e 2. n um be r of c n u g ra d ua te s em pl oy ed a s te ac he rs in th e pr iv at e sc ho ol s 20 08 20 09 20 10 d eg re e p ro gr am & m aj or n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p ri va te s ch oo l) % n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p ri va te s ch oo l) % n o. o f g ra d u at es em p lo ye d (p ri va te s ch oo l) % b se d s ci en ce 52 8 15 .3 8% b se d p hy si ca l sc ie nc e 18 6 33 .3 3% b se d p hy si ca l sc ie nc e 13 6 46 .1 5% b se d b io lo gi ca l sc ie nc es 26 8 30 .7 6% b se d b io lo gi ca l sc ie nc es 19 8 42 .1 % b se d m at he m at ic s 62 10 16 .1 3% 60 17 28 .3 3% 52 21 40 .3 8% b se d e ng lis h 72 11 15 .2 8% 72 22 30 .5 6% 84 39 46 .4 3% o th er f ie ld o f sp ec ia liz at io n (s oc ia l s ci en ce s, m a p e h , f ili pi no ) 48 7 14 .5 8% 54 11 20 .3 7% 48 9 18 .7 5% 116 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 2 reveals the percentage of employment of cnu graduates employed in the private schools. in the year 2008, out of 62 bsed mathematics graduates 10 or 16.13% of them were employed in the private schools. a degree in mathematics does not train for a specific job rather it gives a range of skills which enable teachers to enter any of a wide range of careers. it is therefore a versatile qualification. a number of studies found that teachers’ years of experience positively correlate with students’ achievement. in the study of betts, zau and rice (2003 as cited by ogbonnaya and osiki (2007) reported that teachers’ experience significantly correlates with students’ achievement in mathematics. it is followed by science majors and then english majors. written and oral communication skills and critical thinking are just some of the strengths mentioned by english graduates themselves which will qualify them to be employed in private sectors. verhaest and omey as cited by chou (2011) believed that excessive investment in education could influence the accumulation of working experience [13]. from the perspective of the human capital theory, the holder of a college degree is believed to have greater resources and higher productivity than general and vocational high school graduates in labor force utilization and work adjustment (chou, 2011). as shown in table 2, other field of specialization (social sciences, mapeh, filipino) had the lowest number of teachers employed in the private schools. the job a graduate might hold six months after completing his or her studies is very often one that the graduate would not consider as permanent, or one that is a ‘real’ first destination (brennan, 2003). the main sectors for these graduates are business, consultancy and research, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, community, social and personal services. most of the bsed biological and physical science majors were employed in the private schools in 2009. of the 44 graduates, 14 of them or 31.82% were teachers in the private schools. through faceto-face interview, the respondents confirmed that professional and personal development was given by the school administrators to them. the trend is different, second highest percentage of employment as teachers in the private school in 2009 was the english majors. the program for english majors is designed to lay a foundation for careers in writing, teaching, scholarship, and research, as well as for many 117 international peer reviewed journal other types of position in the business and professional world where skills in communication, creative, critical, or analytical writing, public relations, editorial skills, advertising, or the like are required. on the other hand, 28.33% of the bsed math graduates were also employed in the private schools. according to those who are employed in call centers and other establishments, searching for employment starts way before graduation for most of the graduates. the period of seeking employment sometimes lasted for 3-6 months. in 2010, most of the english majors were employed in the private schools. because english majors have learned how to write, analyze material, and communicate effectively, and are good problem solvers, they work in private schools and are highly appreciated. a large-scale audit presents summary data at national level which do not account for provincial and local variations in teacher employment policy and planning. science majors are employable followed by the mathematics majors. hill, rowan and ball (2005) found that teachers’ specialized mathematical knowledge was significantly related to student achievement. still the least number of graduates employed is other field of specialization (social sciences, mapeh, and filipino) which is only 18.75%. teachers in the private schools after the employment contract will transfer to public schools for security purposes. table 3: abilities, competencies and skills acquired by the cnu graduates 118 jpair: multidisciplinary research the use of professional knowledge and skills acquired during studies was a very important factor in job satisfaction. table 3 presents the abilities, competencies and skills acquired by the cnu graduates and was developed in the workplace. most of the graduates are hardworking and trainable. mathematics majors confirmed that their superior usually commented on the hard work and perseverance they have showed in the workplace. most of the graduates are excellent in written and oral communication skills. conclusions in conclusion, the study presented the percentage of employment of cebu normal university graduates who are employed as teachers in both public and private schools. the study showed that the bachelor of secondary education with specialization in science, mathematics and english were mostly employed as teachers. they acquired enough abilities, competencies and skills needed to be competitive in the workplace. the qualifications should provide teachers with the necessary amount of subject content and skills to become effective in their classrooms. furthermore, the findings reveal that the cebu normal university graduates who specialized in english, mathematics and sciences are academically talented and motivated group with considerable aspirations. the study also discloses that these graduates are employed as teachers in both public and private institution. many of them who are employed in the private schools want to transfer to the public schools for security of tenure reasons. the study also highlights that science majors are the most employed graduates while mathematics majors able to handle other learning areas such as computer education and economics. as revealed in the study there three top priorities in the workplace for graduates, these includes: challenging/interesting work, a high salary and professional growth. literature cited allen, j. and r. van der velden 2001 educational mismatches versus skill mismatches: effects on wages, job satisfaction and on-the-job search, oxford economic papers, 3 (2001), pp. 434-452. 119 international peer reviewed journal becker, g.s. 1975 human capital. chicago: chicago university press. betts, j. r., a. c zau & l.a.rice, 2003 determinants of student achievement: new evidence from san diego. san francisco, ca: public policy institute of california. brennan, j. 2003 the english degree & graduate careers brennan j., b. johnston, b. little, t. shah, a. woodley 2001 the employment of uk graduates: comparisons with europe and japan, bristol: hefce (01/38). www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/ hefce/2001/01_38.htm) brown, c. a., & h. borko, 1992 becoming a mathematics teacher. in d. a. grouws (ed.), handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning: a project of the national council of teachers and mathematics (pp. 209-237). new york: macmillan coles, m. and e. smith 1998 marketplaces and matching, international economic review, 39 (1), pp. 239-255. collias, k., e. pajak & d. rigden 2000 one cannot teach what one does not know: training teachers in the united states who know their subjects and know how to teach their subjects. retrieved from http://www.c-b-e.org/pdf/ onecannotteach.pdf. chou, c.m. and c. h. shen 2004 analysis on employment conditions of business and technical workforce. bulletin of educational research, 50, 2, 147178. 120 jpair: multidisciplinary research chou, c. 2011 where to be a teacher? the demands of the supplementary education industry de guzman, a. and de castro, b. 2008 employment and employability profile of a select group of filipino college graduates. golden, k. 2008 developing graduate and employability skills within a mathematical sciences programme harvey, l., w. locke, a. morey 2002 enhancing employability, recognizing diversity. london: universities uk-csu. hibberd 2006 a response to the royal society paper: science higher education in 2015 and beyond – call for evidence hill, h. c., b. rowan & d. l. ball 2005 effects of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching on student achievement. american educational research journal, 42(2), 371-406. levin, j. a., a. rogers, m. waugh & k. smith 1989 observations on educational electronic networks: appropriate activities for learning. the computing teacher, 16(may), 17-21. little, b. 2003 international perspectives on graduate employability. briefing paper. york. the higher education academy. http://www. heacademy.ac.uk/search, date accessed 25th may 2006. mason 2006 employability skills initiatives in higher education: what effects do they have on graduate labour market outcomes? 121 international peer reviewed journal purcell, k. and j. pitcher 1996 great expectations: the new diversity of graduate skills and aspirations. coventry: institute for employment research, university of warwick. shulman, l. s. 1986 those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching. educational researcher, 15, 4-14. stephenson, j. 1998 the concept of capability and its importance in higher education. in stephenson, j. and yorke, m. (eds.) capability and quality in higher education. london: kogan page, 1-13. verhaest, d. and omey, e. 2009 the relation between formal education and skill acquisition in young workers’ first job warraich, n. f. 2008 lis graduates employability needs and expectations of the library information science (lis) curriculum at the university of the punjab (pu): an appraisal of the pakistani lis professionals. world library and information congress. wayne, a. m., and youngs, p. 2003 teacher characteristics and student achievement gains: a review. review of educational research yorke, m the employability research and publications advisory board reviews all higher education academy employability. yorke, m. and p. knight 2006 (reprinted) embedding employability into the curriculum. york, higher education academy. 122 jpair: multidisciplinary research online databases http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/ id116_employability_in_higher_education_336.pdf http://www.dest.gov.au/highered/bihecc http://maths.sci.shu.ac.uk/conferencepapers/23june2008/ pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 1 international peer reviewed journal evaluating iraqi primary efl curriculum and textbooks muna mohammed abbas alkhateeb munaalkhteeb2003@gmail.com orcid no.: 0000-0002-4644-3144 jamia millia islamia new delhi,india abstract a textbook is an organized collection of designed material. in iraq, “iraq opportunities” series from third till sixth primary grades, activity book, teacher’s book, and curriculum document, were all prescribed by the ministry of education. in order to determine whether textbooks writers are currently meeting the educational objectives, certain units of the four books being analyzed in terms of a range of effective criteria derived from relevant sections of the curriculum document. to achieve this, the researcher evaluated the curriculum document, the textbooks, teacher’s book and activity books to find out whether they match with the expected standards according to nation’s principles. from the analysis, we have gotten the language content is generally consistent with the grades 3-6 curriculum document objectives. keywords nation’s twenty principles, curriculum document, efl teaching materials, primary curriculum and textbook in iraq vol. 12 · march 2013 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v12i1.213 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction what role do textbooks and materials play in language learning/teaching, particularly in delivering a curriculum? richards (2001) says that careful selection of the right textbook and materials is a pre-requisite for fulfillment of curriculum goals. in recent years, there has been a lot of debate throughout the elt profession on the actual role of materials in teaching english as a second/foreign language. arguments have encompassed both the potential and the limitations of materials for guiding students through the learning process and curriculum as well as the needs and preferences of teachers who are using textbooks. other issues that have arisen in recent years include textbook design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the authenticity of materials in terms of their representation of language, and the appropriateness of subject matter, and cultural components. whether or not one accepts the value of textbooks, it must surely be appropriate to the learners for whom they are being used. it is, therefore, essential that we apply a wide variety of relevant and contextually appropriate criteria for the evaluation of the textbooks that we use in language classrooms. hutchinson and torres (1994) argue that the textbook has a vital and positive role to play in the teaching and learning process, especially during periods of change. “textbooks survive and prosper primarily because they are the most convenient means of providing the structure that the teaching-learning systemparticularly the system of change-require”(ibid :317). the situation has shown us that problems do exist with teaching materials, yet the necessity of the textbook cannot be neglected. the situation also implies that, as teachers, it is important for us to evaluate, select and adapt teaching materials to meet teaching and students’ learning needs, in order to maximize learning potentials. sheldon (1988) suggests that textbooks do not only represent the visible heart of any elt programme, but also offer considerable advantages for both students and the teachers when they are being used in esl/efl classrooms. cunnigsworth (1995) suggest that potential, which textbooks have, in serving several additional roles in elt curriculum, is an advantage. he argues that textbooks are an effective resource for self directed learning, an effective source for presentational material, a source of ideas and activities, a reference source for students, a syllabus where they reflect predetermined learning objectives, and support for less experienced teachers who are yet to gain confidence. in addition to that, hycroft (1998) states that one of the primary advantage of using textbooks is that they are psychologically essential for students since their progress and achievement can be measured concretely when we use them. 3 international peer reviewed journal rea-dickins and germaine (1994:4) state that “evaluation is an intrinsic part of teaching and learning”. evaluation plays a key role in education and it is important for the teacher since it can provide valuable information for the future going of classroom practice, the planning of courses and management of learning tasks by students. finally, evaluation is essential for the use of instructional materials such as textbooks. cunningsworth (1995:7) suggests that we should ensure that “careful selection is made, and that the materials selected closely reflect [the needs of the learners and] the aims, methods and values of the teaching program”. one other reason for textbook evaluation is that it can be very useful in teachers’ development and professional growth. ellis (1997) suggests that textbook evaluation helps teachers go beyond impressionistic assessments and it helps them to acquire useful, accurate, systematic and contextual insights into the overall nature of textbook material. if one accepts the value of textbooks in elt, then it must surely be with the qualification that they are of an acceptable level of quality, usefulness, and appropriateness for the context and people with whom they are being used. in the literature, the subject of textbook evaluation is not particularly extensive. preeminent theorists in the field of elt textbook design and analysis such as williams (1983), sheldon (1988), brown (1995), cunningsworth (1995) and all agree, for instance, that evaluation checklists should have some criteria pertaining to the physical characteristics of textbooks such as layout, organizational, and logistical characteristics. other important criteria that should be incorporated are those that assess a textbook’s methodology, aims, and approaches and the degree to which a set of materials is not only teachable, but also fits the needs of the individual teacher’s approach as well as the organization’s overall curriculum. richards (2001) further talks about the role of materials in delivering a curriculum by saying that materials provide the syllabus for a programme and help unify instruction, i.e., when all pupils learn and are tested in the same material. with carefully developed materials, as richards says, what pupils are presented with is built on sound learning theory, and information is presented at a suitable pace. as hutchinson (1987) points out, materials evaluation do not only serves the immediate practical aim of selecting teaching materials, but also plays a critical role in developing teacher’s awareness in a number of ways, which are teachers being able to analyze their own presuppositions about the nature of language and learning, forcing teachers to set their prerequisites and helping them to see materials as an essential part of the whole teaching/ learning situation. the textbooks and materials in iraq were prescribed by the ministry of education; teachers have no voice in their selection, unlike many other efl countries where teachers are able to make a choice, e.g. in taiwan. the aim here is to see whether 4 jpair multidisciplinary research the textbooks and other materials fulfill the curriculum goals which stated in the curriculum document and the programme objectives, especially those related to developing learners’ communicative competence since they seem to be more difficult to implement, and the textbooks/materials mainly focus on practicing forms. the main two general curriculum goals mentioned in the curriculum ask to develop learner’s communicative and linguistic competence in using english fluently and accurately, and to develop learner’s self-learning and motivation to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. part of the teacher’s book objectives, pupils have to be able to express opinions about themselves, topics in different courses, understand and discuss longer texts, and give reasons for their opinions. the textbook “iraq opportunities” was suggested and distributed to the primary schools all over iraq by ministry of education (moe) to be used in 2007 2008 academic year. it is hoped that this study will be a preliminary evaluation of the mentioned textbook and it is also expected that the results of this evaluation study will reveal the areas that need to be revised and improved in that particular efl textbook and the main supporting material, i.e, teacher’s book. furthermore, it is hoped that this study will raise the awareness of textbook writers in considering various criteria for the development of esl/efl textbooks for all. the objective of the study this work is conducted to achieve the following important and main objective: to examine the curriculum and textbooks of primary schools and its correspondence to educational objectives. an analysis of the content was carried to find out how the content works towards the fulfillment of the curriculum components. methodology in order to determine whether textbooks writers are currently meeting these expectations, certain units of the textbooks being analyzed in terms of a range of effectiveness criteria derived from an overview of relevant sections of the curriculum document. we will take textbooks for third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades, activity book for each grade, teacher’s book, the ministry of education has chosen for teachers to use, and curriculum document. many educationists have set different criteria for evaluating materials (e.g., cunningsworth, 1995; nation, 1996; richards, 2001; crawford, 2002; nation and macalister 2010). in his book curriculum design, nation (1996) (see the appendix) very usefully states twenty general principles based on sla research and theory that he says will help in guiding teaching and designing 5 international peer reviewed journal language courses, regardless of age or level. these are related to four areas: planning content, selecting content, ordering content, and finally presenting content. below i did not discuss all nation’s criteria, but only those that can be matched with the textbooks and other materials. this study is limited to english textbooks and one of the teaching materials, i.e. teacher’s book that are used in grades thee, four, five, and six . therefore, conclusions need to be verified by conducting similar studies at different levels (intermediate and secondary) in iraq. results and discussion first, the principles of selection state: a course should include a roughly even balance of meaningfocused input, language-focused learning, meaningfocused output and fluency activities. (nation, 1996:36) the texts are generally, songs, chants and puzzles, and made up of segments of language introduced in earlier dialogue snippets (with, sometimes, the addition of vocabulary and/ or structures that have not been introduced earlier). in general, communication is confined to a series of illustrations in association with a dialogue include situations that can aid comprehension of the text and encourage reading, as pictures themselves have to be ‘read’. the use of illustrative style may facilitate comprehension and encourage textbook use. so far as all four of these textbooks series are concerned, is the fact that the authors often use the illustrations to reinforce meaning. this can be seen in the excerpts below where students learn how to exchange information in the form of questions and answers. pictures, songs, and linguistic language games cover more than 75% of the books. the pace of the courses are very gentle, ensuring the pupils will be able to understand and, most importantly, to use the basic introductory elements of english. the materials are written according to a carefully graded structural and communicative syllabus covering topics that are of interest to children of this age. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research another principle states the following: a language course should progressively cover useful language items, skills, and strategies (nation, 1996: 34) grade 6: -what lessons have we got today? -today, we’ve got maths and english. -and tomorrow we’ve got art and religion. -my favourite lessons are english and music -what are your favourite lessons? -my favourite lessons are arabic and science. -i like tuesdays. pupil’s book 4, unit 2, p.8 this criterion tells us that the textbooks present useful vocabulary and structures that pupils need at there different stages, as well as the teachers’ books which list a number of skills and strategies, e. g., telling a story and guessing words from context. the next principle states that language ‘focus of the course needs to be on the generalisable features of the language.’ (nation, 1996: 34) this principle relates to how we help pupils learn the strategies so that they can use them later on to learn by themselves. for example, nation mentions, instead of teaching pupils just to answer questions after reading, we can teach them how to guess words from context and how to predict events from reading a few lines of a situation, dialogue or a story. this criterion is met as discussed in the teacher’s book above. the last principle under this category states that: a language course should provide the best possible coverage of language in use through the inclusion of items that occur frequently in the language, so that learners get the best return for their learning effort. (nation, 1996: 34) 7 international peer reviewed journal this applies to the list of vocabulary items and structures where the textbooks should include the most frequent ones in the language so that learners benefit from learning them. examining the textbooks revealed that they include high frequency of animals, places, home, etc., and low frequency vocabulary of hobbies, tricks, etc. for example, 15% of the pupil’s book 4 (grade six) is presented in the form of study boxes which help the teacher to focus on certain lexical structures that are presented in listen and read activity. they are either presented as pictures, dialogues or words divided into categories. they also help pupils with pronunciation, rhythm, word stress and intonation. the next category is related to ordering, and it includes the teaching of language items should take account of the most favourable sequencing of these items and should take accounts of when the learners are most ready to learn them. (nation, 1996: 34) this means that we should provide learners with structures that move from the simple to the most complex ones. structures, for example, move from imperatives, demonstrative pronouns, then to more complex. teachers start with the present simple tense, which is usually acquired first, then move on to the present continuous tense and then the progressive. for example, present simple i’m (miss nadia); prepositions: in, on, under; plurals; modal can: i can see a (cat); interrogative: can you see a (cat)?; wh-questions: what can you see(in the picture)?where’s the (book)?; prepositions: near, on, in, under; adverb now; imperatives: come here, look; demonstrative adjective: that; present continuous am (eating). the next principle states that the course should help the learners to make the most effective use of previous knowledge. (nation, 1996: 34) this criterion can be seen in the textbook as most of the topics are already presented to pupils during their studies in their science or geography classes in their ll such as ‘animals’, ‘holidays’, etc. in six grade textbook 4, unit 13 talks about the weather: 8 jpair multidisciplinary research excerpt 2: -today our science lesson is about the weather. -what’s the weather like in winter? -spring is my favourite season. it’s often windy. it’s sometimes sunny. -it isn’t usually cold. -i prefer the autumn. it isn’t very hot. it’s often cloudy. the language items are presented through listening and reading exercises and then offering consolidation and further practice through games, songs, projects and other activities. textbooks build upon the vocabulary and structures taught in the earlier levels. the next principle says that the items in a language course should be sequenced so that items which are learned together have appositive effect on each other for learning and so that interference effects are avoided. (nation, 1996: 34) the teacher can present the simple vocabulary first separately and through repetition students can learn them easily. the criterion is met with the curriculum guidelines because pupils have started to learn english from grade three and they know ,for example, the difference between ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ or ‘black’ and ‘white’, ‘big’ and ‘small’ and here they learn the comparatives. according to grade 4 textbook,it starts with presenting wh-questions and definite articles followed by imperatives like sit down, stand up, close, open, and then it introduces the possessive (s). the order seems to comply with nation’s (1996) suggestion that structures should be introduced in their order of acquisition according to sla research, that is, when pupils are at the right stage to acquire them which is in accordance with bailey, madden, and krashen’s (1974) study, second language learners acquire some structures later than others. for example, possessive are acquired later than both definite articles and imperatives. additional prepared materials such as the activity book provide exercises/activities to practice structures, vocabulary, and spelling. it begins with essential directional practice through enjoyable but structured line drawing activities accustom pupils to write from left to right. pupils are not expected to read whole words at this stage; reading skills will be covered in the following year of the series. 9 international peer reviewed journal finally, learners should have increasingly spaced, repeated opportunities to retrieve and give attention to wanted items in a variety of contexts. (nation, 1996: 34) the criterion in the textbooks includes revision units after every four units. also, it revises materials and structures introduced to pupils in previous grade levels. for grade four, iraq opportunities, the syllabus is designed and graded, presenting language items through the media of listening exercises, games, songs and other activities. activities throughout the book contain much in-built recycling, and there is regular revision of all vocabulary and structures introduced. the chosen topics include identity, family, home, food, clothes, numbers and animals. nation’s criteria were used to give the reader a sense of what they are and whether they are fulfilled in the textbooks/materials. for planning, there is one principle and it is related to curriculum design : the selection, ordering, presentation, and assessment of the material in a language course should be based on a careful consideration of the learners and their needs, the teaching conditions, and the time and resources available. (nation, 1996: 34) nation includes the need to consider the environment before designing a specific curriculum, where environmental analysis covers three important factors: the teachers, the learners, and the situation. the last area is presentation. the next principle states that as much as possible, the learners should be interested and excited about learning the language and they should come to value this learning. (nation, 1996: 34) this criterion did not match as the textbooks are full of controlled and guided activities where learners are not left to choose what they would like to say. they are not challenged on the kind of tasks and exercises presented in the textbooks of the four grade levels. this can be seen more in the first two grades 3 & 4 as the exercises in the activity book are controlled and do not allow pupils to choose what or when to talk, although the iraqi curriculum goals stress on improving both linguistic and communicative competencies. here, the focus is on the two skills listening and speaking, although pre-reading and pre-writing activities are introduced through the activity book. overall, the tasks and activities are likely to be so similar from one unit to the next particularly for grades 3 & 4. although each of the textbooks claims to include an integrated skills focus, most of the tasks and activities involved listening, speaking, copying letters, and filling in missing letters and words. however, it does not mean that all the skills are presented at the same time and equally. in the early stages of language learning (grades 3 & 4), oral skills are more important than written ones but little by little the importance of written skills is raised, so it could be argued that in the later stages of primary education (grades 5 & 6), there would be more emphasis on writing and reading, but during the early stages there is more emphasis on listening and speaking. this also being emphasized in nation’s principle of presentation: the learners should be pushed to produce the language in speaking and writing over a range of discourse types. (nation,1996:43) although the activities vary (e. g., listen and read, ask and answer, listen, read and match, play, read and write, find the words, trace, draw, match, and sing) and learners have the chance to develop basic skills and practice speaking in pairs, they are made for one reason: to practice the language, as the focus is always on a specific form to be practiced, but have not to go beyond that. this represents a present/ practice/produce (ppp) technique. this technique can be used in a weak clt, where the teacher presents structures and functions and then practices them with pupils who are then given opportunities to produce the same structures and functions in meaning-focused activities. for example, for grade 3, book1, activities are graded from simple, controlled activities to more guided ones. for example, in the unit called ‘introductions and instructions’ pupils practice saying the phrases ‘hello, i am laila’ and ‘hello, i am faisal’. then the same characters are introduced in the exercise using the same words. this ends with an activity where pupils have to look at the picture story in an attempt to make them contextualize the lesson by asking them simple questions. activities vary (e. g., listen and point, say, listen and point, trace, draw, match, and sing, and learners have the chance to develop further basic skills. activities in the textbook are mainly function-focused with the purpose of helping pupils master fluency and accuracy in the target language. 11 international peer reviewed journal the next principle relates to the target language ‘as much time as possible should be spent using and focusing on the second language.’ (nation, 1996: 34) this criterion relates to what goes on in the classroom and the time that the teacher should devote during activities to explain and use the second/foreign language with his/her pupils. another principle of nation’s is that a course should be presented so that the learners have the most favourable attitudes to the language, to users of the language, to the teacher’s skill in teaching the language, and to their chance of success in learning the language. (nation, 1996: 34) the teacher’s book asks teachers not to over-correct pupils and to change the base of the lesson, so pupils do not get bored. it asks teachers to use more interesting activities where pupils can solve the puzzles and feel confident about themselves. the next principle relates to feedback: learners should receive helpful feedback which will allow them to improve the quality of their language use. (nation, 1996: 34) this criterion refers to feedback given by the teacher or other pupils and it meets the teacher’s book which asks teachers to let pupils work individually, then compare their answers with their partners or work in pairs. some of the exercises in the textbook also allow pupils to interact together where they get feedback from each other. finally, there should be opportunity for learners to work with the learning material in ways that most suit their individual leaning style. (nation, 1996: 34) 12 jpair multidisciplinary research in the teacher’s book and the textbook activities vary in what pupils are asked to (e. g., complete, draw and colour, say, trace, colour and match), whether these activities are done individually or in pairs or groups. each of the teachers’ books includes information on lesson staging which takes the form of a reinforcement of the materials order presented in the textbook. we can see, on the other hand, from the analysis of the teacher’s book there is: • no discussion of why the materials are organized as they are; • no discussion of the different ways of presenting materials (e.g., preteaching some of the vocabulary); • no discussion of the distinction between controlled and free practices; • no discussion of ways in which the new language can be introduced and the meaning clarified; • almost no discussion of potential areas of difficulty for learners, typical learner errors, or of when it is appropriate to correct learner errors and how error correction can be approached, just they have been asked to not overcorrect pupils; • there is no clear indication of how to set up, run and timing activities or how to ensure that all learners are given an opportunity to contribute (without putting them under inappropriate pressure); • there is no indication of how to modulate praise and avoid negative criticism; • no inbuilt flexibility that allows teachers with differing levels of experience and expertise to deal with the materials in different ways. the curriculum goals state that the main goal of iraqi efl curriculum is to develop learners’ communicative and linguistic competence in using english fluently and accurately (curriculum document, 2006:6). the document describes a cltbased learner-centred method where focus on accuracy is stated in the competencies and objectives, and fluency is stated in the standards and benchmarks, and they include the integration of the four language skills to promote students’ effective and accurate communication. even though textbooks and activity books provide exercises and activities to develop both pupils’ accuracy and fluency, the amount of exercises that focus on accuracy for its own sake are considerably more numerous compared to those that are meaning oriented. the teacher’s book strengthens this tendency by asking teachers to plan their lessons with the use of present, practice and produce model. at the presentation stage, teachers introduce new knowledge to learners including language structures and vocabulary. the second stage is to practice under 13 international peer reviewed journal “the controlled conditions or directed activities” where teachers are the leaders in the practice and learners should practice many times. the last stage is production which is about transfer of learning to a new situation to ensure that learners have memorized and understood what they have practiced. in the end, teachers transfer to learners their knowledge of grammar and learners have to memorize in order to perform in a specific new context. the language content of the four books is generally consistent with the grades 3-6 curriculum document objectives in an overall sense. most of the tasks and activities in the four textbook series are directly relevant to the main teaching points. they are, generally, involving routine, repetitive verbal drilling, which are presented as games, songs and chants. although the curriculum document guidelines recommend that teaching should promote pupils listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, understanding cultivate communicative ability, which includes various activities, different types of text, and interesting, practical lively topics and themes. although the activity books, as well as the pupils’ books, introduce structures and notions/functions, the exercises/activities help students practice linguistic forms more than functions/communicative acts. different topics give context and meaning to activities in the activity book and help to introduce structures and notions/ functions in a meaningful context. most of the textbooks’ exercises focus mainly on forms, which are for practicing the language. for example, pupils listen to words in the plural that are written with their pictures and have to decide whether the words are plurals or singulars. this is appropriate to children who are starting to learn the language and need a lot of practice. these exercises try to put the language in context to make it meaningful and easier for young learners, e. g., students fill in letters to form words and are provided with pictures and examples to guide them through the exercises. the exercises in the textbooks 3 &4, although they suit the pupils’ levels, do not seem to involve pupils in writing freely to express themselves. johnstone (1994) argues that there is a need to give young learners the chance to be creative with language. most of the exercises are either controlled or guided and do not require much thinking in doing them. for example, to practice vocabulary, sixth grade pupils are provided with a short text with pictures and they have to substitute the pictures with words. students do not need to understand the text to guess the missing words. it would take more effort and thinking to guess the word from context and this might be better in helping to remember it. as a result, the analysis of the textbook, teacher’s book as well as the curriculum document state a weak version of communicative language teaching approach and showed the textbooks to be focusing on accuracy more than fluency. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusion the above evaluation criteria showed a programme implementation that is weak version of communicative language teaching approach, providing learners with form-focused activities that involved controlled and guided production as well as communicative activities that involved free production. this was in accordance with the iraqi curriculum where some of the benchmarks for the primary stage are communicative, intended to develop students’ fluency, e. g., tell and retell a dialogue or a story, sing while the competencies and objectives are form-focused to develop accuracy, e. g., talk, comprehend, categorize objects and match. programme objectives stated in the teachers’ books for the four primary grades include, e. g. understand, repeat, express opinion, discuss, express ability, aiming for a communicative language teaching approach of focusing on both structure and communication. “iraq opportunities” textbook has some notable characteristics. as for notable characteristic, for example, the teacher’s book contains guides about how the textbook can be used to the utmost advantage of the students. the activities incorporate individual pair and group work. it also reflects a multi-skills syllabus, and it manages to integrate the four language skills without neglecting other important aspects of elt such as vocabulary development. with respect to content, content of the textbook is generally realistic. moreover, it is interesting, challenging and motivating. there are sufficient varieties in the subject and content of the textbook. despite its strengths points, “iraq opportunities” has also some negative characteristics. grammar points and vocabulary items are not introduced in motivating and realistic context. many of the activities are repetitive, failed to neither encourage truly meaningful practice, promote realistic discourse, nor lead to the internalization of language. literature cited bailey, n., madden, c., krashen, s. 1974 “is there a natural sequence in adult second language learning?”. language learning, 24(2), 235-243. brewster, j.,ellis, g., girard, d. 2004 the primary english teacher’s guide (2nd ed.), essex: pearson education limited. brown, j. 1995 the elements of language curriculum. heinle and heinle publishers. 15 international peer reviewed journal crawford, j.c. 2002 “the role of materials in the language classroom: finding the balance”. in j. richards, renandya, w. (eds. ), methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. cambridge: cambridge university press. cunningsworth, a. 1984 evaluating and selecting efl teaching materials. london: heinemann educational books. ------------------------1995 choosing your coursebook. oxford: heinemann. ellis, r. 1984 classroom second language development. a study of classroom interaction and language acquisition. oxford: pergamon press. --------- 1992 second language acquisition and language pedagogy. clevedon: multilingual matters limited. hutchinson, t. 1987 “what is underneath? an interactive view of the material evaluation”. in l. e sheldon (ed.), elt textbooks and materials: problems in evaluation and development, (pp. 37-44), oxford: modern english publications. hutchinson,t. &torres,e. 1994 “the textbook as agent of change”.elt journal,48(4) hycroft, j. 1998 an introduction to english language teaching. longman. johnstone, r. 1994 teaching modern languages at primary school: approaches and implications. scottish council for research in education. nation, p. 1996 language curriculum design. wellington, new zealand: english language institute occasional publication no. 16. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research nation, i. s. p. & macalister j. 2010 language curriculum design. new york & london: routledge. readicckens pp, germaine k. 1994 evaluation in canadlin and widdowson (ed.). oxford university press. richards, j. 2001 curriculum development in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. savignon, s. 1997 communicative competence: theory and classroom practice, texts and contexts in second language learning (2nd ed.). new york: the mcgrawhill companies, inc. sheldon,l.e. 1988 “evaluating elt textbooks and materials”.elt journal, 42(4) the higher committee for english department 2006 syllabus design. iraq: ministry of education. williams, d. 1983 “developing criteria for textbook evaluation”. in elt j., 37: 3. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1) public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; (4) google scholar; (5) index copernicus; (6) scholastica; (7) researchgate; (8) lacriee of france; and, (9) university library of leipzig, germany. 95 international peer reviewed journal solid waste management and disaster preparedness of at-risk municipalities of zamboanga del norte evangeline a. mansanadez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com jrmsu-tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract the by-product of every human activity is waste. the government initiative of “tapat ko, linis ko” and “basura ko, tapon ko” calls for every filipino to be responsible for managing their solid wastes to prevent disaster properly. this survey aimed to determine the solid waste management and disaster preparedness of at-risk municipalities of zamboanga del norte. a descriptive method of research using a questionnaire-checklist was employed to the respondents who were considered by the purposive sampling technique. data gathered were treated using a frequency count. findings revealed that household waste makes up the largest bulk of waste. the majority of households have compost pit dug in the backyards as a dumping site, while government sites were used as open dumping areas of wastes generated from business establishments and offices operating in the town commercial areas. the conduct of regular monitoring of garbage disposal, checking of municipal dump site condition, and unclogging of canals littered with dumped garbage is the common solid waste management practices and flash floods disaster preparedness. their ldrrmc team and volunteers are prepared, equipped with the necessary facilities as well as functional equipment, vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.652 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 mailto:evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com 96 jpair multidisciplinary research and readily on-call in the event natural disaster occurs as perceived by all groups of respondents. keywords — waste disposal, waste management practices, disaster prevention introduction the philippines, located on both the typhoon belt and the so-called pacific ring of fire (an area given to geologic fault-lines, earthquakes, and intense volcanic activity), is host to multiple natural hazards that have made it among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. the climate of the philippines is tropical and is strongly affected by monsoon or rain-bearing winds. on the average, about 20 typhoons occur annually, with june to november averaging approximately 3 typhoons strike per month. weather condition nowadays is already unpredictable due to extreme climate change. this phenomenon is attributed by the anthropogenic activities as they go along with the aim of making a living that is more easy, immediate and comfortable. one of the many factors that caused this change is improper waste management. castillo and otoma (2013) stated that waste generations by residents in the philippines, especially in the urban areas, have accelerated recently due to fast pace industrialization, urbanization, and population growth. because of the indiscriminating destruction on lives and property and the economic setback natural disasters bring about to its victims, researches focusing on the solid waste management practices of the private citizens and the disaster preparedness of the ldrrmc, with the assistance of the barangay and local government officials need to be conducted. it is hoped that the university, in its extension services would be able to assist the concerned agencies in educating the private citizens as well as putting in place strategies for proper waste disposal to avert flash floods and landslides. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the following objectives (1) the commercial and household bulk of biodegradable, compostable, reusable wastes, nonrecyclable and special waste generation per municipality; (2) how these wastes were managed and disposed of in accordance with the local disaster risk 97 international peer reviewed journal reduction and management council plans; (3) the conditions of collection, storage, processing, disposal, operating methods, techniques, practices in solid waste management, and (4) the perceived disaster preparedness of at-risk municipalities of zamboanga del norte. findings will serve as baseline information for the community people as well as a challenge to all concerned local government officials in pursuing and in enhancing what have been started to mitigate or reduce possible destruction to lives and property brought about by natural disasters. framework this study is anchored on republic act 9003 briefly known as the “ecological solid waste management act of 2000, specifically “ an act providing for an ecological solid waste management program, creating the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declaring certain acts prohibited and providing penalties, appropriating funds, therefore, and for other purposes.” r.a.9003 provides ten (10) policies intended for systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management, as stipulated in section 2, on the declaration of policies. this law mandates the local government units as primarily responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the provisions of the “ecological solid waste management act of 2000 within their respective jurisdictions. among other provisions, r a 9003 mandates the organization of a municipal waste management board that shall prepare, submit and implement a plan for the safe and sanitary management of solid waste generated in areas under their geographic and political coverage. this is composed of one (1) representative of the sangguniang bayan, preferably chairpersons of either the committees on environment or health; president of the association of barangay councils in the municipality; chairperson of the sangguniang kabataan federation; and a representative from non-government organizations whose principal purpose is to promote recycling and the protection of air and water quality. smith’s (1984) contingency rules theory has contributed to the conceptualization of this research. he utilizes the idea of cognitive schemas, expectations about the attributes that a given person or policy will have or expectancies about the consequences of behaving in a particular manner. these schemata function as contingency rules that both shape the way something is viewed and structure behavior. smith suggests that rules and schemata explain persuasion better than the 98 jpair multidisciplinary research traditional concept of attitude. according to smith’s contingency rules theory, rules are used to create responses to persuasive messages. self-evaluative rules are associated with our self-concept and our image. adaptive rules are those that will apply effectively in a particular situation – the rules most likely to generate a positive outcome. behavioral contingency rules are contextual. in some situations, certain consequences are considered and certain rules are activated which guide behavior. in other situations, other rules are activated. external threats and rewards are meaningful only if they apply to one’s personal goals. this theory is closely related to the current study since it intends to study the organizational managers leading people to attain organizational goals by applying rules intended to create positive responses which translate into productive results. through effective management and guidance, people will be guided and be encouraged to practice proper waste management, thus, reducing risks of vulnerable municipalities in the province of zamboanga del norte. the interplay of variables considered in the study is shown in the venn diagram that follows, in which waste management, the major construction is reflected as the focal point of this study along with the waste management practices classified into dumping in landfills, burning, recycling, segregating and composting. the extent of management of wastes by the local government was assumed to have something to do with the disaster preparedness of the ldrrmc in the municipalities studied. figure 1. the conceptual framework of the study 99 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design a descriptive method of research particularly surveys technique was used to test the claim of this study utilizing a translated researcher-made questionnaire to the 281 lgu officials, business sector and community people of the municipalities under study. it is descriptive in purpose, gathering salient information on the solid waste management and disaster preparedness of at-risk municipalities of zamboanga del norte as perceived by the above-mentioned respondents of the study. research site this study was conducted in the five (5) selected at-risk municipalities of zamboanga del norte, namely; leon b. postigo, salug, liloy, labason and gutalac. these municipalities were considered because of its proximity to the university and most of the students of the institution are coming from the abovementioned municipalities. participants the respondents of the study were the local government unit, business sector and the community people who were considered by purposive sampling technique. instrumentation this study made use of a translated researcher-made questionnaire which was developed based on the salient citations on solid waste management act of 2000 substantiated with semi-structured interview questions in order to draw out important information which could have been left out in the questionnaire. the instrument was submitted to the university’s research experts who are holders of doctorate degree for its validity. an interview was done right after the respondents had done answering the questionnaire. the reliability test was not computed since the instrument did not contain a rating scale in analyzing the respondents’ answers. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion waste generation and waste management practices the municipalities surveyed disclosed that the large part of waste generated from the households is biodegradable, particularly food and kitchen wastes, which can slowly be destroyed and broken down into very small parts by natural processes and by bacteria. other household wastes such as leaves swept from backyards, grass, and manure of domesticated animals, which are all compostable are no longer included in the wastes being disposed of for garbage collection. these are compostable wastes, which are either thrown in the household’s compost pit or are just plainly dumped in one place in the backyard, as the common local practice. reusable wastes such as plastic bottles, tetra pack and other plastic containers and paper products, are usually generated from stores, small and medium enterprise business establishments, and usually from schools and offices. even if paper and can wastes are reusable, these wastes are not segregated as such. the survey found that liloy and labason are the municipalities employing special waste generation from hospitals and clinic, such as pet bottles, syringes, gauze and the like. accordingly, these wastes are placed in separate containers and disposed of accordingly. on the average, the bulk of wastes generated from households, office and business establishments is 1-2 kgs a day, but liloy posted the highest, approximately 5-6 kgs of waste a day. this can be attributed to the number of business establishments, schools, as well as public and private offices operating in fatima and baybay liloy areas, the two commercial areas in town. the result is similar to the result of the study conducted by bernardo (2008) which revealed that the households generated an average of 3.2 kg of solid waste per day. the types of wastes commonly generated are food/kitchen wastes, papers, pet bottles, metals, and cans, boxes/cartons, glass bottles, cellophane/ plastics, and yard/garden wastes. the respondents segregate their wastes and rely on garbage collection by the government. the collection is done twice daily, except sundays, and household members bring their garbage when the garbage truck arrives. however, there are those who dump their garbage in nondesignated pick-up points, usually in the corner of the street. additionally, ultra (2013) in her study also revealed that kitchen wastes ranked first among the solid wastes generated by the sample households of the barangays under study because the majority of them preferred to prepare and cook their food. kitchen wastes were mostly produced by households with large families and high income while 101 international peer reviewed journal plastics were with small families having low income. it is evident that the type of waste generated by households differed by size and income. table 1. waste disposed of home and offices wastes disposed of homes and offices a b c d e total f % f % f % f % f % f % food/kitchen wastes 6 13 10 18 8 14 9 16 7 11 40 14.0 metals 2 4 2 4 5 8 3 5 2 3 14 5.0 glass and bottles 5 11 5 9 6 10 5 9 5 7 26 9.0 clothes/garments/ textiles 1 2 2 4 5 8 2 4 5 7 15 5.0 liquid wastes 4 7 2 3 2 4 6 9 14 5.0 nylon wastes 7 15 5 9 2 3 1 2 6 9 21 7.0 papers and other paper products 8 17 7 13 10 17 9 16 10 15 44 16.0 cans and other steel products 5 11 8 15 9 15 7 13 6 9 35 12.0 plastic bottles and other plastic containers 9 19 6 11 5 8 8 14 10 15 38 14.0 positron-emission tomography (pet) bottles 1 2 1 2 3 5 5 2.0 animal manure 1 2 1 2 2 1.0 cellophanes & other tetra pack containers 3 6 2 3 1 2 4 6 10 4.0 others 4 9 2 4 3 5 6 11 2 3 17 6.0 total 47 54 59 55 66 281 100% 2. in terms of the waste disposal method in terms of waste disposal, the majority of residents disclosed that they have compost pits dug in their backyards, where household wastes are dumped; yet, others do not practice waste recycling and proper disposal of garbage. this is very evident when one takes a look at drainage canals which are choked up with cellophane and other wastes. those who answered the questionnaire identified their waste management practice as limited to segregation of waste for the periodic collection by the municipal garbage truck. 7 percent of the respondents reported that they usually burn their household wastes. if and when the burning of wastes, such as paper and other combustible materials becomes a matter of practice, the possibility of it causing fire cannot be discounted. accordingly, 102 jpair multidisciplinary research they pointed out that their municipal landfills are government lands, and at least a kilometer away from populated areas. in terms of the barangay and local waste management educational awareness on waste management policies, 90% of the respondents indicated that they have no idea if there had been activities conducted pertaining to waste management practices. however, 22% of the respondents named the teachers as those who deliver information drive on waste management. this response tends to indicate that the residents’ extent of waste management awareness heavily depended on what they may have learned in schools, as well as their actual household practices. in connection to this findings, the results of the study conducted by nwofe (2015) indicates that the waste dump sites (designated and non-designated) on the major streets and several open spaces are left unattended for long periods such that the rubbish heaps; encroach on the roads thereby limiting the road users access, generate serious air pollution issues, constitute significant nuisance when blown over by winds, and distorts the aesthetic view of the metropolis. the results also show that the composition of the wastes in the metropolis is heterogeneous because it contains both biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials such as e-waste, plastic, polythene materials, hospital wastes, and hair designers wastes amongst others. his study strongly recommends that ebonyi state environmental protection agency (ebsepa) be made to sit up on their functions while government should strongly consider introducing “waste to energy” as a way of curbing the menace of waste management and simultaneously solving the energy needs of the state. on the other hand, the results of the study of okalebo, opata, &amp; mwasi (2014) emerged that a centralized neighbourhood form of composting rather than home backyard composting is preferred by the respondents. mutavchi (2012) suggested, waste should be seen as goods, and not wasted in landfills. this is in keeping with the recently introduced way of considering solid waste as regular goods, which in the financial term is the equality principle. this principle suggests that if wastes are properly recycled, both the environment and the marginalized sector’s quality of life will eventually be improved. as such, strong collaboration between the concerned agencies and the community people is of utmost importance. until such time the culture of proper waste segregation and disposal become ingrained in the community people, littering and clogging of drainage canal will remain to be a common sight in commercial and residential areas. proper waste management practice potentially averts natural disasters such as epidemic outbreak and flash floods. 103 international peer reviewed journal table 2. waste disposal practices of the respondents in the selected municipalities of zamboanga del norte waste disposal practices a b c d e total f % f % f % f % f % f % dumping in landfills 7 35 1 7 2 11 3 19 2 13 15 18.0 composting 4 20 7 50 4 22 3 19 5 31 23 27.0 burning 3 15 2 14 3 17 3 19 2 13 13 15.0 segregating 5 25 4 29 6 33 7 43 3 18 25 30.0 recycling 1 5 3 17 4 25 8 10.0 total 20 14 18 16 16 84 100% 3. in terms of solid waste management practices of at-risk municipalities the commonality on waste management practice tends to be the conduct of the regular municipal monitoring of garbage disposal and the checking of dump site condition, unclogging of the canal, while the enforcement of municipal ordinances pertaining to waste management practices is applied infrequently. the result disclosed that the ldrrmc in each municipality studied tend to help prevent the occurrence of flash floods. this further disclosed that they showed preparedness in times of disaster. anent to this, lamond, bhattacharya, and bloch (2012) claimed that management of waste was seen to be important to be adopted as part of a wide integrated flood management programme. they added that waste management could be an effective response to flood risk but, in order to remain successful, it requires that sufficient commitment and engagement can be mobilised in the long term. on the other hand, the study of azuelo, barbado, &amp; reyes (2016) disclosed that the existing swm strategies with the highest percentages of existence in the twelve (12) municipalities were the provision of a number of trucks in transporting solid wastes and knowledge on waste segregation conducted at every household/establishment. only availability of technology for composting was considered more effective and can be adopted in all municipalities. they suggested that better solid waste management may be fully attained through the involvement, political will and commitment of the implementers in the implementation of politically passed resolutions and undertaking of their initiatives that will stimulate active participation of the community. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research the result of the study conducted by gequinto (2017) showed that solid waste management practices are implemented to a great extent. among the practices, waste collection got the highest composite mean particularly on the promotion of 3rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) in the collection of waste. he added that waste recycling and waste treatment obtained the lowest composite mean. in terms of waste recycling, establishing a partnership with local or private business for a recyclable recovery program was to a moderate extent. waste treatment particularly neutralization of acid bases was also of moderate extent. he recommended strengthening of public-private partnership (ppp) on the recycling and treatment of wastes. table 3. waste management monitoring of the municipality waste management monitoring of the municipality a b c d e total f % f % f % f % f % f % 1. conducting educational forum 5 22 5 19 6 21 6 18 7 44 29 23.0 2.regular monitoring of garbage disposal 4 18 9 34 7 24 5 15 4 25 29 23.0 3. regular checking of dump site condition. 3 14 6 23 6 21 4 12 1 6 20 16.0 4. unclogging of drainage 4 18 2 8 3 10 5 15 2 13 16 13.0 5. enforcement of municipal ordinance 3 14 2 8 4 14 4 12 1 6 14 11.0 6. sanctions for violators of municipal ordinance 3 14 1 4 1 3 3 9 8 6.0 7. cleaning or fogging of canals for disease prevention 1 4 1 3 5 15 1 6 8 6.0 8. other practices 1 3 1 3 2 2.0 total 22 26 29 33 16 126 100% 105 international peer reviewed journal 4. perceived disaster preparedness of at-risk municipalities the perception of the respondents was also determined on the preparedness of the local risk reduction and management council in disaster prevention and response in eventualities of flash flood and fire. the highest percentage of the distribution of respondents, across the five municipalities, declared that the ldrrmc team in their municipalities are ready to respond in the events disasters happen and that to their knowledge, the ldrrmc is equipped with the necessary facilities and that these are ready and functional anytime needed. as pradhan and qing (2018) declared that preparedness is the key, and that priority should be accorded to integrating disaster contingency planning in national and city level waste management strategies as well as mainstreaming waste management issues within broader disaster preparedness and response plans and actions. results of the study of shay, combs, salvesen, detrizio, &amp; horney (2014) suggest that emergency managers are aware that improved communication with residents could improve preparedness. residents cite clear priorities in the types of information they want from emergency managers, including where and when to evacuate, how to maintain safe water and sanitation during a disaster, and how to prepare their property for a disaster. attention should be given to identifying vulnerable groups and providing them with information about preparing disaster plans and related topics. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. preparedness of the local disaster risk reduction and management council (ldrrmc) preparedness of the ldrrmc a b c d e total f % f % f % f % f % f % 1. can immediately respond to emergency calls during disaster seven (7) days a week. 5 17 8 29 7 37 10 24 3 14 33 24.0 2. equipped with all the necessary facilities such as fire truck, fire extinguisher, rubber boat, speed boat, life jacket, rope, flashlights, personal protective gear, etc. 5 17 10 37 5 26 6 15 2 10 28 20.0 3. lacks the necessary facilities for natural and man-made disasters that hinder their response capability 4 14 5 19 1 5 3 7 3 14 16 12.0 4. their facilities for rescue are readily available and functional in times of disaster 6 21 2 7 4 21 7 17 5 24 24 18.0 5. their facilities and equipment are periodically checked and closely monitored for functionality 2 7 1 4 1 5 5 12 4 19 13 9.0 6. some of the facilities and equipment for rescue are not functional. 1 3 1 2 3 14 5 4.0 7. visibility of the rescue team in their respective offices is always observed. 5 17 1 4 7 17 1 5 14 10.0 8. loose coordination of the different members of the ldrrmc may hinder readiness for prevention and rescue. 1 3 1 5 2 5 4 3.0 total 29 27 19 41 21 137 100% 107 international peer reviewed journal conclusions composting and recycling of wastes are not yet widely practiced by the community people as well as the local government. the conduct of the regular municipal monitoring of garbage disposal, the checking of dump site condition and unclogging of the canal are the common waste management practices and disaster preparedness in case of flash floods by the municipalities studied. the community people in each municipality perceived that their respective ldrrmc’s are prepared to respond to the possible occurrence of natural disasters. translational research the findings of this study can be translated into a basis of strengthening the municipal ordinance of creating sanctions or imposing a bigger penalty to violators of ra 9003, known as ecological solid waste management act of 2000 for its strict implementation. recommendations in light of the findings, the following recommendations are offered (1) the municipal government should consider allocating budget to fund programs and activities aimed at educating community people on proper waste management practices and recycling of waste materials into saleable and income generating commodities. facilities and equipment for waste management need to be reassessed and be given priority in the annual procurement plan of the local government; (2) ndrrmc joint mc no.2014-1 provides for the ldrrm officer, along with the staff in that office to be responsible for: (1) administration and training; (2) research and planning; and (3) operations and warning. anent to this, the ldrrmc needs to partner with agencies, preferably tertiary educational institutions for research and extension services along waste disposal, management, disaster mitigation and preparedness; (3) in the same vein, it is also strongly recommended that the ldrrmc partner with the department of agriculture for possible funding and extension services for educational programs on composting of biodegradable wastes and organic farming. also, to make maximum use of recyclable wastes, the ldrrmc, in collaboration with the mswd are encouraged to organize women’s cooperatives and to enable 108 jpair multidisciplinary research the women to establish cottage industries and find a market for their recycled products. literature cited azuelo, m. c. c., barbado, l. n., &amp; reyes, l. m. l. (2016). assessment of solid waste management strategies in camarines norte, philippines. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 4(4). retrieved from https:// goo.gl/xzhxk6 bayanihan july 16, 2011. mgb identifies geohazard areas in zambo peninsula. retrieved from http://bayanihan.org/2011/07/16/mgb-identifiesgeohazard-areas-in-zambo-peninsula/ bernardo, e. c. (2008). solid‐waste management practices of households in manila, philippines. annals of the new york academy of sciences, 1140(1), 420-424. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1454.016 castillo, a. l., & otoma, s. (2013). status of solid waste management in the philippines. in  proceedings of the annual conference of japan society of material cycles and waste management the 24th annual conference of japan society of material cycles and waste management  (p. 677). japan society of material cycles and waste management. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.14912/jsmcwm.24.0_677 gequinto, a. c. (2017). solid waste management practices of select state universities in calabarzon, philippines. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 5(1), 1-8. retrieved from https://goo.gl/sxtsml lamond, j., bhattacharya, n., & bloch, r. (2012). the role of solid waste management as a response to urban flood risk in developing countries, a case study analysis. wit transactions on ecology and the environment, 159, 193204. retrieved from https://goo.gl/lgkcjn mutavchi, v. (2012). solid waste management based on cost-benefit analysis using the wamed model  (doctoral dissertation, linnaeus university press). retrieved from https://goo.gl/9wrmqs https://doi.org/10.14912/jsmcwm.24.0_677 https://doi.org/10.14912/jsmcwm.24.0_677 https://goo.gl/lgkcjn https://goo.gl/9wrmqs 109 international peer reviewed journal nwofe, p. a. (2015). management and disposal of municipal solid wastes in abakaliki metropolis, ebonyi state, nigeria. international journal of scientific research in environmental sciences, 3(3), 107. retrieved from https://goo.gl/iy2otd okalebo, s. e., opata, g. p., &amp; mwasi, b. n. (2014). an analysis of the household solid waste generation patterns and prevailing management practices in eldoret town, kenya. international journal of agricultural policy and research, 2(2), 076-089. retrieved from https://goo.gl/47p28z pradhan, m., & qing, x. u. (2018). building resilience through disaster waste management—un environment’s experiences and approaches. retrieved from https://goo.gl/pmbh32 shay, e., combs, t., salvesen, d., detrizio, d., &amp; horney, j. a. (2014). assessing disaster preparedness of officials and residents in two north carolina counties. j geogr nat disaster, 4(125), 2167-0587. retrieved from https://goo.gl/as2mbu ultra, c. i., &amp; ultra, a. a. (2013). solid waste management practices of households in the university of eastern philippines. journal of energy technologies and policy, 3(11). retrieved from https://goo.gl/utp45y https://goo.gl/iy2otd https://goo.gl/pmbh32 90 jpair multidisciplinary research teacher education graduates’ performance as predictor of licensure examination for teachers results aileen b. esmeralda http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7694-9365 esmeraldaaileenburgos@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college negros occidental, philippines janet perez-espinosa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4967-5917 espinosajanet83@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college negros occidental, philippines abstract high percentage of passers in the licensure examination for teachers (let) indicates the competence of the teacher education program (tep) graduates of state colleges and universities. licensure tests are usually one of the several criteria necessary to qualify an entry into the teaching profession. this government examination is designed to identify professionals who have the desired level of competency to teach basic education. the study determined the extent of implementation of the tep of carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) in relation to the academic achievement and performance of graduates in the let. the descriptive correlational method specifically documentary analysis, with the mean, pearson product moment (ppm) and anova were used in this study. findings revealed that the teacher education program of chmsc was vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.330 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 91 international peer reviewed journal well implemented. this concludes that the bachelor in elementary education (beed) group showed greater confidence in academics, indicating the need to enhance the level of academic preparation of the bsed group underscoring general education and major subjects during pre-service years. it further revealed that a significant relationship existed between the let performance and the academic achievement of the beed graduates. this means that the teacher graduates’ academic performance is a significant predictor in the let. keywords education, academic achievement, licensure examination, talisay city, philippines introduction teacher education programs (teps) play a crucial role in the preparation of globally competitive teachers empowered with exemplary professional and personal characteristics, equipped with knowledge, skills and attitude necessary in transferring learning to the students. there is no perfect ingredient or one best way to produce instant well balanced teacher educators during the pre-service years (usher & pajares, 2008). with this, an analysis of the teacher education program, pre-service teachers’ knowledge, creativity, flexibility and ability to transfer their learning to practical teaching experiences has to be given utmost importance. the focus of this investigation is to determine the extent of implementation of the teacher education program of chmsc in relation to the academic achievement and performance of graduates in the licensure examination for teachers. subjects of the study were the beed and bsed graduates from sy 2011 to 2013.respondents of the study were the regular faculty of instruction the college of education and the pre-service teachers of sy 20122013. like most teacher education programs, carlos hilado memorial state college offers bachelor of secondary education (bsed) and bachelor in elementary education (beed).the bsed specializes english, mathematics, physical science, technology and livelihood education (tle), and music, arts, physical education, and health(mapeh), while the beed offers specialization in general education, early childhood, home economics, and special education. students in these programs undergo four years of academic preparation in teaching consisting of general and professional education as well as major courses that provide the needed concentration in a particular discipline. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research the four-year academic preparations of teacher education students are capped with a clinical experience known as pre-service teaching – the most suitable vehicle for preparing pre-service teachers for the world of work. during this time, students are exposed to practical field experiences, practice teaching and real classroom interactions under the close supervision of a competent and seasoned professional teacher inside the classroom.the students who have completed academic preparations and pre-service teaching are then the finished products of many factors that have strongly molded them into better teachers. they learn to appraise themselves both socially and academically in terms of attitude towards other people. academic preparations and pre-service teaching will be gauged by performance statistics from the licensure examination for teachers. the professionalization of teachers requires teacher education be of the highest quality standards and strong enough to respond to the needs of a fast changing society (pd n0.1006). the policy goal was promulgated to ensure that all school children have access to skillful teachers who are products of high quality teacher education program. as a teacher education institution, chmsc believes that the educational system today should respond to the needs of a fast changing society through introducing a system of effective teaching strategies to improve the teachinglearning process. thus, it strives to commit itself to quality education and academic excellence through improved standards and policies to be able to achieve high performance in the licensure examination. at present, the college of education of chmsc enjoys the prestige of being awarded the level 3 accredited status by the accrediting agency of chartered colleges and universities of the philippines (aaccup).the beed program was awarded second top performing school in the national level, and likewise, one of its graduates was one of the top 10 in the let. to find out what else could be done to improve the program, and produce more quality teacher graduates, the study was conducted to assess the performance in the licensure examination for the teacher education program graduates of chmsc. framework the study on the extent of implementation of the teacher education program of carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc), academic achievement and performance of graduates in the licensure examination for teachers was anchored on the selfefficacy theory popularized by albert bandura. in this 93 international peer reviewed journal theory he stated that one can successfully engage in specific academic tasks and achieve a passing grade and meet the requirements to be evaluated at a level that is specific to the outcome domain (bandura, 1986).thus, in the academic setting in the college of education of chmsc, students’ confidence in academics will be evaluated if these academic tasks will be carried out in preparation for similar tasks like the licensure examination. to find out if the academic achievement of the graduates contributed to their performance in the licensure examination, their academic grades in the components of general education, professional education and major subjects were analyzed. to find out the factors that influenced their performance in academics, the implementation of the teacher education program was assessed by the faculty members of the college of education and the preservice teachers who are currently enrolled in sy 2012-2013.the assessment of the program implementation was correlated to the academic achievement of the graduates and performance in the licensure examinations. presidential decree no. 1006 states “no one can be appointed to a regular teaching profession unless he passed the let”. this decree places the teacher on the same level with other professionals because of the many responsibilities expected of him. certification examination has been conducted to provide licensing graduates of specific courses for the professional practice. licensing is a way of assuring that practitioners meet the minimum qualifications required for the proper practice in their area of training. such test adequately assesses the particular domain that it intends to measure, its scores should be significantly related to other indices of the individual’s past training. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the extent of implementation of the teacher education program of chmsc in terms of instructional goals and objectives, curriculum, teaching methodology and instructional resources. it also aimed to find out the significant difference between the level of program implementation and academic achievement and the significant relationship between the different components in academics and let performance of the beed and bsed graduates. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the researcher employed the descriptive-correlational method as it deals with conditions that exist, practices that prevails, and beliefs or points of view that are held. to find the level of the performance of the beed and bsed graduates in the licensure examination, it was interpreted in the scale as follows: 100 – 80.2 “very high”; 80.1 -60.4 “high”; 60.3 -41.6 “average”; 40.5 -20.8 “low” and 20.7 and below “very low. it was hypothesized that the academic achievement of the beed and bsed let takers is significantly related to their performance in let. the specific technique used was a documentary analysis since investigation made used of the data on the let performance of graduates that were obtained from the professional regulation commission in manila. the data on the graduates’ academic achievements were sourced from the registrar’s office where their grades since first year until fourth year were tallied and tabulated for statistical treatment. the study was conducted at the chmsc, main campus located at mabini street, talisay city, negros occidental, philippines that offers beed and bsed programs. the subjects of the study composed the 788 beed and bsed student graduates from 2011 to 2013. the regular faculty members of the teacher education program and the pre-service teachers of sy 2012-2013 were the respondents of the study. the study made use of a researcher-made questionnaire that has been validated by the panel of experts under the teacher education program. the instrument is designed to determine the extent of implementation of the teacher education program in the areas of instructional goals and objectives, curriculum, teaching methodology and instructional resources. during the data gathering procedure, the researchers sought permission to conduct this study from the college president. when approved, the questionnaires were forwarded to the dean of the college of education and were distributed to the regular faculty of instruction of the department and likewise to the pre-service teachers. the questionnaire is a checklist type with five possible responses where the respondents are to rate the extent of implementation of the teacher education program. the researcher used the following tools in analyzing and interpreting the data collected. average weighted mean was used to determine the level of implementation of the teacher education program and the graduates’ academic performance. one-way analysis of variance (anova) and pearson product moment coefficient of correlation (ppm) were utilized in the study. 95 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion in determining the extent of implementation of the program, the faculty of instruction and the pre-service teachers assessed the provision of instructional services offered by the teacher education program. table 1. extent of implementation of the teacher education program level of implementation variable instructional goals and objectives curriculum teaching methodology instructional resources bsed n std. deviation mean 4.3229 4.4064 4.3136 4.1621 140 140 140 140 .44871 .42565 .44499 .59209 interpretation beed mean 4.5453 4.6020 4.5327 4.2933 n 150 150 150 150 std. deviation .33789 .28177 .30947 .43576 interpretation faculty mean 4.6703 4.6622 4.5622 4.4197 n 37 37 37 37 std. deviation .43196 .39885 .49461 .55803 interpretation as a whole mean 4.4642 4.5251 4.4422 4.2515 n 327 327 327 327 std. deviation .41841 .37684 .40954 .52735 interpretation scale 1.00 – 1.79 vle 1.80 – 2.59 le 2.60 – 3.39 he 3.40 – 4.19 he 4.20 – 5.00 vhe 96 jpair multidisciplinary research it can be gleaned from the table that the extent of implementation as perceived by the respondents indicate that all the respondents believe that the teacher education program of the institution as to the areas covered is well implemented having reached the “very high” implementation level. the faculty, on the other hand, feels that the teacher education program is stronger in its implementation in the areas of instructional goals and objectives and curriculum. this may be attributed to the well delineated and articulated vision, mission, goals and objectives of the college of education and the adherence to the policies and standards of ched pertaining to the teacher education curriculum. these findings imply that chmsc is complying with the new ched reform agenda which emphasizes that all teachers of core subjects will be highly qualified, licensed, demonstrate subject competency, vertically articulated on the subject area taught, and pursuing a graduate degree. teacher education institutions should evaluate the existing teacher licensure program and require teacher candidates to demonstrate mastery learning reflecting college level study (the teaching commission, 2004). to address this requirement, the graduates’ academic mean rating in general education, professional education and major subjects were tabulated. level of academic achievement of the teacher education graduates for 2011-2013 general academic subjects the level of academic achievement of the graduates had resulted to a “very good” performance in general in the three school years of assessment from 2011 to 2013. table 2. academic performance according to year and by program year program acad gen ed acad prof ed acad major 2011 bsed mean 1.9979 1.8699 2.0027 n 159 159 159 std. deviation .17342 .18015 .25861 beed mean 1.9165 1.7839 1.8995 n 184 184 184 std. deviation .14414 .18277 .14112 total mean 1.9542 1.8238 1.9473 n 343 343 343 std. deviation .16329 .18631 .21027 97 international peer reviewed journal 2012 bsed mean 1.9908 1.8137 1.9646 n 173 173 173 std. deviation .17827 .17466 .24496 beed mean 1.9360 1.7187 1.9009 n 164 164 164 std. deviation .14215 .15110 .13288 total mean 1.9641 1.7674 1.9336 n 337 337 337 std. deviation .16378 .17017 .20075 2013 bsed mean 2.0681 1.8575 1.9636 n 67 67 67 std. deviation .16887 .18065 .22724 beed mean 2.0195 1.8468 1.9717 n 41 41 41 std. deviation .13773 .15343 .13887 total mean 2.0496 1.8534 1.9667 n 108 108 108 std. deviation .15887 .17017 .19768 total bsed mean 2.0066 1.8434 1.9796 n 399 399 399 std. deviation .17657 .17938 .24779 beed mean 1.9356 1.7630 1.9077 n 389 389 389 std. deviation .14547 .17192 .13886 total mean 1.9715 1.8037 1.9441 n 788 788 788 std. deviation .16572 .18017 .20458 it is therefore then necessary that evaluation of teachers’ performance in the classroom occur at many points on the teaching continuum, at various times throughout a school year, and for a variety of purposes. the teaching skills and content knowledge of teachers should be routinely observed in the classroom and evaluated throughout their career. academic professional subjects the level of academic achievement in professional subjects of the students’ respondents both the bsed and beed had resulted to a “very good” performance in general. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research major academic subjects the level of academic achievement in major subjects of the students’ respondents had resulted to a “very good” performance level in general. a new round of studies focused on year-to-year improvements in student achievement. these studies implicitly provided better controls for student background and preparation by isolating individual student improvements in achievement. they provided some evidence for differences in teacher qualifications affecting student achievement gains. for example, ferguson (1991) found that scores on the teacher licensing test in texas—which measures reading and writing skills as well as a limited body of professional knowledge—accounted for 20-25 percent of the variation across districts in student average test scores, controlling for teachers’ experience, student-teacher ratio, and percentage of teachers with master’s degrees. ehrenberg and brewer (1995) found that the teacher test scores on a verbal aptitude test were associated with higher gains in student scores although the results varied by school level and students’ racial/ethnic status. using data from the 1998 national educational longitudinal study (nels), rowan, chiang, and miller (1997) found that mathematics achievement was directly affected by a survey measure of teachers’ mathematics knowledge, suggesting that teacher scores on subject matter tests may relate to student achievement as well. a few studies that examined pedagogical knowledge tests found that higher teacher scores were also related to higher student test performance, although many of these were dated (1979 or earlier). level of performance of graduates in the licensure examinations for teachers general education subjects table 4 is presented to visualize the performance in the licensure examination for teachers by year takers. mean grade was used to treat the data. the level on general education subject’s performance in let of the students’ respondents had a “high” passing mark . to explain this observation, it could be said that the course syllabus in ge subjects in their undergraduate classes could have been completely covered. it might also be possible that the syllabus used by the instructors cover the lesson/topics prescribed by the commission on higher education reform agenda. which could be possible materials used by the professional regulation commission in preparing the let questions. 99 international peer reviewed journal table 3. level of performance in let by year and by program year program let gen ed let prof ed let major 2011 bsed mean 71.2264 70.9245 70.3899 n 159 159 159 std. deviation 6.89425 8.32683 7.46037 beed mean 70.1793 71.1576 74.0924 n 184 184 184 std. deviation 7.20014 7.76585 6.38878 total mean 70.6647 71.0496 72.3761 n 343 343 343 std. deviation 7.06909 8.01974 7.13948 2012 bsed mean 73.1214 73.9711 71.4682 n 173 173 173 std. deviation 7.91174 7.69659 8.16084 beed mean 76.8720 77.3110 77.6667 n 164 164 57 std. deviation 3.81015 4.71074 2.97809 total mean 74.9466 75.5964 73.0043 n 337 337 230 std. deviation 6.52765 6.62452 7.70612 2013 bsed mean 77.1791 70.9552 73.4328 n 67 67 67 std. deviation 5.59200 8.66975 6.03832 beed mean 76.0488 75.0488 n 41 41 std. deviation 4.69548 5.03960 total mean 76.7500 72.5093 73.4328 n 108 108 67 std. deviation 5.27580 7.73570 6.03832 total bsed mean 73.0476 72.2506 71.3684 n 399 399 399 std. deviation 7.43685 8.23782 7.61756 beed mean 73.6195 74.1620 74.9378 n 389 389 241 std. deviation 6.59774 6.99573 5.95891 total mean 73.3299 73.1942 72.7125 n 788 788 640 std. deviation 7.03650 7.70462 7.24392 100 jpair multidisciplinary research legend: (100-80.2 = very high; 80.1-60.4 = high; 60.3-41.6 = average; 40.5 – 20.8 = low; 20.7below = very low) professional subjects the level on professional subject’s performance in let of the students’ had resulted to “high” passing mark. major subjects the group of examinees in terms of general ratings, the bsed and the beed takers obtained “high”passing marks. beed garnered higher percentage than the bsed. this implies the adequacy of the preparation of the teacher graduate takers both in the pre service education (college level) and let review before taking the let. strauss and sawyer (1986) reported a modest and positive relationship between teachers’ performance on the national teacher examination (nte) and district average nte scores, after controlling for size, wealth, racial/ethnic composition, and number of students interested in postsecondary education in the district. aaronson, barrow and sander (2007) looks at teacher quality and student achievement in chicago public schools. their study uses a gains score approach with controls for student and teacher fixed effects. the results show strong effects of teachers on student achievement, but traditional measures of teacher qualifications like education, experience, and credential type have little effect on classroom results. koedel and betts (2007) use a value-added gains model to look at student achievement of elementary students in san diego. like several of the other studies, they find that teacher quality is an important predictor of student achievement, but measured teacher qualifications (experience, quality of undergraduate college, education level, and college major) have little effect on student achievement. differences in the implementation of instructional services there are significant differences in the implementation of the teacher education program in terms of instructional goals and objectives, curriculum, teaching methodology and instructional resources and academic performance of the graduates. both the faculty of instruction and the beed respondents have higher assessment in all of the four areas compared to the bsed group. in academics, the strength of both graduates was found to be on the professional 101 international peer reviewed journal education subjects while general education and major subjects are components that need to be strengthened by the program implementers. table 4. significant difference in the implementation of the teacher education program anova sum of squares df mean square f sig. instructional goals and objectives between groups 5.355 2 2.678 16.776 .000 within groups 51.716 324 .160 total 57.071 326 curriculum between groups 3.554 2 1.777 13.470 .000 within groups 42.741 324 .132 total 46.294 326 teaching methodology between groups 4.076 2 2.038 13.051 .000 within groups 50.601 324 .156 total 54.678 326 instructional resources between groups 2.428 2 1.214 4.457 .012 within groups 88.233 324 .272 total 90.661 326 relationship between the let performance of the beed graduates and the academic performance an important factor to consider that affects the teacher education graduates’ performance in the let is the general education subjects, professional subjects and major subjects’ performance. the pearson product moment of correlation was used to treat the data. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research looking into the figures in table5, the academic achievement of the let takers graduates’ in beed is significantly related to their performance in let because the computed value reaches the required tabular values at 0.01 level. the researcher accepted the null hypothesis stating that there is a significant relationship between the let performance and the academic achievement of the beed graduates. this means that the teacher graduates’ performance is significant predictor of their performance in let. it shows that whether the students obtained high or low academic performance, their let performance is affected. relationship between the let performance of the bsed graduates and the academic performance an important factor to consider that affects the teacher education graduates’ performance in the let is the general education subjects, professional subjects and major subjects’ performance. the pearson product moment of correlation was used to treat the data. table 6. relationship between academic achievement of the bsed and licensure examination for teachers academic achievement let r-value significance decision -.488** p < .01 reject ho relationship between the let performance of the beed graduates and the academic performance an important factor that affects the let performance of teacher education graduates is their academic achievement in the general, professional and major subjects during the pre-service years. to find out the relationship of these variables, the pearson product moment of correlation was used to treat the data. the result showed that the academic achievement of the beed let takers is significantly related to their performance in let because the computed value reaches the required tabular values at 0.01 level. the researcher accepted the null hypothesis stating that there is a significant relationship between the let performance and the academic achievement of the beed graduates. this means that the teacher graduates’ academic performance is a predictor of their let performance. 103 international peer reviewed journal relationship between the let performance of the bsed graduates and the academic performance another important factor affecting the teacher education graduates’ performance in the let is their academic achievement in general, professional and major subjects during the pre-service years. to confirm the relationships of these variables, the pearson product moment of correlation was used to treat the data. table 7. significant relationship between academic achievement of the bsed and licensure examination for teacher academic achievement let r-value significance decision -.488** p < .01 reject ho the table shows that the academic achievement of the bsed let takers is significantly related to their performance in let because the computed value reaches the required tabular values at 0.01 level. the researcher accepted the null hypothesis stating that there is a significant relationship between the academic achievement and let performance of the graduates. this means that the teacher graduates’ academic performance during their pre-service years predict their performance in let. conclusions the extent of implementation of the teacher education program of chmsc is well implemented having reached the “very high” extent. on the other hand, the respondents as a whole feels that the teacher education program is stronger in its implementation in the areas of instructional goals and objectives and curriculum, teaching methodology and instructional goals. this may be attributed to the well delineated and articulated vision, mission, goals and objectives of the college of education and the adherence to the policies and standards of ched pertaining to the teacher education curriculum. the level on general education subject’s performance of the beed and bsed in let had a “high” passing mark. meanwhile, the level of professional subject’s performance in let had resulted also “high” passing mark. the two group of 104 jpair multidisciplinary research examinees in terms of general ratings, the bsed and the beed takers obtained higher percentage passing marks. further, the academic achievement of the two groups of let takers is significantly related to their performance in let. this means that the teacher graduate’s academic performance is a predictor of their let performance. the only national assessment which can be used to gauge the quality output of an accredited teacher education institution is the licensure examination for teachers. the high percentage of let passer’s indicates the competence of graduates who are the finish products of a well-aligned teacher education program. in the research investigation, findings revealed that correlational issues exist between program implementation and students’ academic achievement. in the same manner, performance in academics also determines let results. this implies that the success in let begins from how the teacher education program is implemented going to the academic preparation of the students and involving teachers who have majored in the subject they teach. the same is true with teachers who have considerable experience in teaching. those who have longer teaching experience in the subject they teach are likely to make a greater contribution to the students learning (fallon, 2003).the more the students learn important facts, concepts, best practices and principles in teaching and learning, the more chances of hurdling licensure examinations. translational research a major component in screening prospective teachers is the licensure examination. it is a way of assuring that practitioners meet the minimum qualifications required for proper practice in the teaching profession. even mc allister (2013) mentioned that licensure determines teacher candidates who are equipped with knowledge and skills deemed important to transfer learning. licensure establishes a floor, but it does not ensure excellent practice. an ideal teacher education program requires vertically aligned teacher recruits possessing sterling personal and professional characteristics in imbued with knowledge, skills and highly committed attitude would undoubtedly produce quality teacher graduates who will become future gatekeepers to the road of excellence. in this investigation, several factors were considered to arrive at a conclusionthat is the more the teacher education students are academically prepared; the more likely they will succeed in let. 105 international peer reviewed journal literature cited aaronson, d., barrow, l., & sander, w. (2007). teachers and student achievement in the chicago public high schools. journal of labor economics,25(1), 95-135. bandura, a. (1986).  social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. prentice-hall, inc. cmo #30. s. 2004. revised policies and standards for undergraduate teacher education curriculum. ehrenberg, r. g., & brewer, d. j. (1995). did teachers’ verbal ability and race matter in the 1960s? coleman revisited. economics of education review,14(1), 1-21. fallon, d. (2003). case study of a paradigm shift the value of focusing on instruction.  education commission of the states. richmond, virginia. november, 12. ferguson, r. f. (1991). paying for public education: new evidence on how and why money matters. harv. j. on legis., 28, 465. koedel, c., & betts, j. r. (2007).  re-examining the role of teacher quality in the educational production function  (pp. 2007-03). national center on performance incentives, vanderbilt, peabody college. mc allister, p. (2013). where we stand in teacher qualityhttp://www.ets.org/ media/education_topics/pdf/teacherquality.pdf presidential decree no. 1006. provision for the professionalization of teachers, regulating their practice in the philippines and other purposes rowan, b., chiang, f. s., & miller, r. j. (1997). using research on employees’ performance to study the effects of teachers on students’ achievement. sociology of education, 256-284. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research the teaching commission. (2004) tending at risk. a call to action (new york: the teaching commission, 40-1.http://www.ets.org/media/education_ topics/pdf/teacherquality.pdf usher, e. l., & pajares, f. (2008). sources of self-efficacy in school: critical review of the literature and future directions. review of educational research,78(4), 751-796. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research project smarter as an intervention towards intensifying action research competencies of basic education teachers polemer m. cuarto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5507-3640 polemath@yahoo.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology calapan city campus originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract in the era of educational reforms, action research becomes highly relevant especially in basic education as this gives the teachers and the school leaders the opportunity to revisit and improve their educational practice. these explanatory sequential mixed methods study sought to investigate the effectiveness of project smarter in intensifying the action research competencies of basic education teachers. forty basic education teacher-participants (n=40) were subjected to project smarter’s ten-day training intervention. participants were pretested prior to the intervention to determine their entry knowledge on action research and were administered posttest to determine the knowledge gained through the intervention. quantitative results revealed that participants performed significantly better from introductory to intermediate level of action research knowledge before and after the project smarter intervention. to further validate the results, a qualitative phase where eight basic education teachers (n=8) were interviewed regarding their views and experiences as participants of the vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.648 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 37 international peer reviewed journal project smarter. the phenomenological inquiry yielded three essential themes: ready to act: becoming action researchers, armed to teach: becoming teachers of research and trained to train: becoming research trainers. these essential themes signified how the project had impacted the participants as teacher-researchers, research teachers and trainers. implications and recommendations are provided for higher education institutions, concerned government institutions as well as project implementers to consider to make project initiatives like project smarter successful and sustainable. keywords — action research, project smarter (statistical methods and action research training for educators and researchers), intervention, mixed methods explanatory sequential research design, philippines introduction research in education is indispensable. research plays a key role in shaping the quality of education the students received from schools. through research, teachers are able to gain a better understanding of the pressing problem they encounter in their day-to-day classroom instruction which leads to the formulation of solution-intervention towards the improvement of educational practices. with this, students are benefitted as the primary end-users of the findings and outputs of every educational research undertaking. in the worldwide educational system, research is considered to be the soul of education and learning (department of education, 2016). aiming to provide solutions to many current problems, research is vital, and necessary part of modern education as this brings about the generation of new knowledge (migosi, muola & maithya, 2012; koshy, 2005). according to todd (2010), in order to improve and develop teaching, research into classrooms is needed. as educational practitioners, it is vital to know what actually happens in our classroom, how learners behave, what learners think, what educational practices we should revisit, what interventions we should develop and the effect of this intervention to students’ learning. these all could lead to the conduct of action researches. action research in education presents many benefits not only for the learners and educators but for the educational system as well. this is a tool used by education practitioners to discover strategies for improving teaching practices (sagor, 2010; mills, 2001; sikula, 1996; andrew and johnson, 2012; mctaggart, 38 jpair multidisciplinary research 1997). it bridges the gap between theory and practice, between academic research and day to day applications in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern (de zeeuw, 2003; brudbury, 2005). it provides educators with new knowledge about how to improve educational practices or resolve significant problems happening in schools and in the classroom setting whether to test a new instructional strategy, assess a new curriculum or evaluate existing educational practices (connor et al, 2006; stringer, 2008; hine, 2013; kidd & kral, 2005; nolen & putten, 2007; bogdan). it is also a valuable experience for educators since when they do action research, they become leaders, researchers and decision makers (connor et al., 2006; sax & fisher, 2001). in malaysia (meeran & osman, 2013) and the philippines (department of education, 2016), the inculcation of action research culture has been fostered at the primary and secondary levels. novice teachers are encouraged to embark on researches related to their teaching in order to improve their practices as well as students’ learning (meeran and osman (2013). in singapore, the government is promoting action research in schools. however, studies revealed that singaporean teachers need to be equipped with the conceptual and methodological skills in conducting action research (soh, 2006). on the other hand, the teacher’s lack of research expertise or skills has a knock-on effect causing further problems. a teacher who has little experience or knowledge about research may design or conduct research with low reliability and validity, e.g., the research may not actually produce findings which address the targeted research topic (todd, 2010; somekh, 2006). because of these problems, the research is also likely to have low publishability which could also mean low research productivity (lertputtarak, 2008; migosi, muola, & maithya, 2012). also, in the course of doing action research, it is important for researchers to understand statistical data analysis so that they can be informed, evaluate the credibility and usefulness of information, and make appropriate decisions. proper use of statistics will make one’s results and findings more accurate, more believable and more useful (brown & saunders, 2007). in addition, an essential component of ensuring data integrity is the accurate and appropriate analysis of research findings (begum & ahmed, 2015). improper data analyses may lead to misleading scientific findings and may result in a negative view of scientific research (begum & ahmed, 2015; shephard, 2002). in the same way, improper statistical methods may result in incorrect and invalid conclusions which leads to unethical practice (ali & bhaskar, 2016; bhalerao, 2011; gardenier & resnik, 2002). 39 international peer reviewed journal doing action research is now making a trend especially in the basic education wherein teachers are encouraged to do action research in order to provide a solution to the teaching and learning problems and difficulties they encountered in the classroom level. results of training need assessment conducted to onehundred fifty basic education teachers revealed that the majority of teachers are not equipped with the technical know-how of doing and writing action research as well as statistical data analysis. these learning gaps form the basis for designing and developing a research capacity building activity which will serve as a platform for mentoring basic education teachers to become action researchers. project smarter: statistical methods and action research training for educators and researchers is a project initiative of the research and extension unit of the mindoro state college of agriculture and technology which aims to provide an advanced training course on statistical data analysis and action research to educators and researchers in the province of oriental mindoro. this training course aims to help educators in analyzing the assessment results, student work samples and other performance data in order to identify and address learning difficulties and academic needs which could lead to an action research study and eventually make them competent action researchers. objectives of the study this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of project smarter in intensifying the action research competencies of the basic education teachers. specifically, this aimed to (1) assess the action research competencies of basic education teacher-participants before and after the project smarter intervention; (2) compare the action research competency score of the teacher participants before and after the project smarter intervention; (3) compare the mean gain score of the teacher-participants when grouped according to teaching positions, length of service, and specialization; and (4) analyze the views and experiences of the participants regarding the effectiveness of project smarter. methodology research design this study utilized creswell’s mixed method approach specifically the explanatory sequential mixed methods design. in explanatory designs, qualitative 40 jpair multidisciplinary research analyses are used to give a clear picture of the quantitative analyses (almaki, 2016). in this study, qualitative data will be used to support the findings of the first quantitative data to have a clearer picture of the problem being investigated. figure 1. sequential mixed methods design (creswell & clark, 2007) figure 2. a visual model of the data gathering procedure for mixed methods sequential explanatory design adapted from creswell, 2007) research site this research project was conducted at mindoro state college of agriculture and technology calapan city campus, the only state college in the province of oriental mindoro. participants the research participants were basic education teachers from different public secondary schools in the department of education calapan city and oriental mindoro division. participants were chosen using the multi-stage random sampling technique. in the quantitative phase, one-hundred fifty (n=150) basic 41 international peer reviewed journal education teachers responded to the training needs assessment on action research. forty (n=40) teachers were chosen to participate in the project smarter who answered the pretest and posttest and underwent the intervention program. as to the demographic profile, the forty participants were composed of: 70% with at least 10 years of teaching experience, 30% below ten years of teaching experience; 55% holding t1 to t3 position and 45% mt1 to mt2 position; 80% mathematics major and 20% sciences major; and 65% bachelor’s degree graduate and 35% master’s degree graduate. in the qualitative phase, eight (n=8) teachers were selected from the 40 participants in the first phase to participate in the semi-structured interview. instrumentation data were collected through a survey questionnaire. the self-structured survey questionnaire which dealt on training needs assessment on action research was based on the analysis of related literature and other secondary data sources (siniscalco & auriat, 2005; meadows, 2003; acosta & acosta, 2017). it was composed of competencies on action research where respondents were asked to rate their level of knowledge from 1 to 5 ranging from very low to very high level. this was validated by a panel of research experts in the college. this was administered online through google form for an easy and convenient way of data collection. the result was used as input for developing a capability building design for action research. a self-structured test on action research in the form of objective and essay type of questions was also administered to the research participants before and after the participants underwent the ten-day intervention through project smarter. data gathered were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical techniques using spss software. descriptive statistics such as frequency, standard deviation, and weighted mean were calculated for the training needs assessment as well as the performance of the participants in the pretest and posttest on action research. on the other hand, t-test for correlated means was used for determining the effectiveness of the project smarter in intensifying the action research competencies of the participants. qualitative phase the primary source of data in the qualitative phase was the responses of the selected participants in the interview that provides access to the perceptions and experiences of the participants on the problem being investigated. semi42 jpair multidisciplinary research structured interviews were done among the respondents which include key questions which allow both the interviewer and interview to elaborate the questions and responses for a more detailed explanation of the problem being investigated. the qualitative phase was designed to strengthen the results of the quantitative phase. (creswell & clark, 2006). the following steps were observed in the analysis of the qualitative data: transcription of data, coding the data by segmenting, comparing and labeling the text, identifying the themes by comparing and grouping similar codes, and analyzing the themes by reviewing the data within the themes until an understanding of each theme was reached (creswell & clark, 2006; ivankova & stick, 2007; leech & onwuegbuzie, 2007; olive, 2014; franklin, 1997). ethical considerations for ethical research considerations, the researcher secured the informed consent of the participants by explaining in detail the purpose of the study and asking their consent to or decline in participating voluntarily. the researcher also considered the ethics of confidentiality and anonymity by using the results for the sole purpose of the study and by not disclosing the names and identity of the research participants. this research has been reviewed and approved by the college research council during the in-house research review and evaluation. results and discussion pretest and posttest performance on action research of the participants frequency and percentage distribution present the classification of the research participants before and after the implementation of project smarter. as per classification, the majority of the participants have an introductory knowledge of action research prior to the intervention. this implies the need for a research capability building design to improve their knowledge and skills on the conduct of action research. however, after the intervention, there was a remarkable increase in the number of research participants belonging to the intermediate level, although there are few participants who are still at the introductory level. 43 international peer reviewed journal table 1. frequency and percentage distribution of the performance on action research of the participants before and after the implementation of project smarter performance pretest posttest frequency percentage (%) frequency percentage (%) 81-100 (advanced) 0 0 8 20 51-80 (intermediate) 5 12.5 27 67.5 0-50 (introductory) 35 87.5 5 12.5 = 37.5 s = 0.12 = 67.5 s = 0.15 difference between pretest and posttest performance of the research participants in order to investigate the effectiveness of project smarter in intensifying the action research competencies of the participants, t-test analysis for correlated means was conducted. results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest performance on action research of the participants (t =14.272, p=.000). results suggest that project smarter is an effective intervention in improving the competencies of the participants in doing and writing action research. this is very evident in the participants’ workshop outputs like gap analysis and critical thinking tool in identifying and defining the action research problem in their workplace; problem tree, opportunity tree and decision making model in developing alternative courses of action; action plan in selecting a course of action; monitoring and evaluation tool in studying the courses of action as well as action research proposals and review of complete action research report. table 2. t-test analysis of the difference between the pretest and posttest performance on action research variables mean mean difference standard deviation t p-value result pretest 37.5 40.0 12.07 14.272 .000 significant posttest 67.5 14.44 44 jpair multidisciplinary research difference in the mean gain scores on action research across length of service, teaching position, field of specialization and highest educational attainment t-test analysis for independent means was conducted to determine the difference in the mean gain across some selected variables. results showed that the mean gain scores on action research through project smarter across the length of service (t=1.74, p=.093), teaching position (t=0.144, p=.886), the field of specialization (t=0.461, p=.654) and highest educational attainment (t=1.262, p=.216). it means that the participants regardless of the length of service (whether less than or greater than 10 years of teaching experience), teaching position (whether teacher or master teacher position), field of specialization (whether mathematics or sciences) and highest educational attainment (whether bachelor’s degree or master’s degree graduate) have improved and enhanced their action research competencies through the project smarter. table 3. t-test analysis of the difference in the mean gain scores on action research across length of service, teaching position, field of specialization and highest educational attainment variables average mean gain mean difference standard deviation t pvalue result length of service <10 years 28.35 6.65 13.22 1.74 .093 not sig-nificant>10 years 35.00 10.00 teaching position t1 to t3 30.09 0.57 13.52 0.144 .886 not sig-nificantmt1 to mt2 30.66 11.76 field of specialization mathematics 30.81 2.31 12.74 0.461 .654 not sig-nificantsciences 28.50 12.68 highest educational attainment bsed graduate 28.61 4.96 13.25 1.262 .216 not sig-nificantmaed graduate 33.57 11.01 views and experiences of the participants on the perceived effectiveness of the project smarter qualitative evidence through articulations and verbalizations of the participants in this phenomenological inquiry revealed three themes related to the perceived effectiveness of the project smarter namely: ready to act: becoming 45 international peer reviewed journal action researchers, armed to teach: becoming teachers of research and trained to train: becoming research trainers. ready to act: becoming action researchers doing action research is now encouraged in basic education institutions. however, the results of the training needs assessment showed that teachers lack basic knowledge in conducting action research because of lack of research capability trainings given to them. thus, one of the primary objectives of the project smarter is to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills which prepare them to become action researchers. thus, one measure to assess the effectiveness of the project is to know how the training helps the participants to become competent in doing and writing action research. confirmatory statements related to this are verbalized by the participants: “even before i participate the project smarter, i have lots of action research problem in mind but these all end up to proposals because after finishing drafts of the proposal, i am lost in the context. i don’t know what to do next because i am not knowledgeable about the research process since i am not yet pursuing a master’s degree or even attending training on this. this training helped me to have a deeper understanding of action research and its process and made me ready to complete my first action research paper.” -p4 “all things are difficult before it comes easy and which is indeed applicable in the case of action research. because most of the time, when it comes to doing action research, the common notion is that it is difficult to do. it is because we are not yet skilled in doing it. this project of minscat really made us skilled in doing action research because the training activities and workshops are really designed for beginners like us. kudos to minscat and the proponents of this project!”-p5 “when it comes to new knowledge, this project has given us a lot of new knowledge and ideas especially on the conduct of action research which has prepared us to do and write action research which can solve immediate problems in our respective institutions”-p7 the statements of the participants show the need for research capacity building activities in the basic education sector for the teachers to be equipped 46 jpair multidisciplinary research with the skills in conducting action research. this evidenced by the lack of technical know-how of research of the teacher participants as the majority of them have no research experience and have weak prior knowledge of research. however, project smarter have equipped them with the necessary skills to conduct action research as evidenced by their ability to design, conduct and write action research paper through the mentoring program. armed to teach: becoming teachers of research aside from conducting action research, basic education teachers especially those in the senior high school department are given teaching loads specifically practical research 1 and 2 and other research-related subjects. however, teachers of these subjects may have a little background on research or may have no research experience since the conduct of action research has just been introduced to them by the department of education. thus, one of the possible impacts of the project is to see how the training helps the participants as teachers of research. the accounts of the participants support this: “honestly speaking, i am teaching research and statistics subjects, but i do feel that what i am sharing them is not enough to equip them to become competent in research. we lacked trainings. this training gave us, research teachers, the opportunity to become competent research teachers because the knowledge shared to us by the trainers who are really experts in the field. truly, project smarter really made us smarter when it comes to research.-p1 “the good thing about this ten-day training is that it made me confident to teach practical research to my students. i know that this will benefit them a lot especially the approaches and techniques i learned that they could use as student researchers and even in their future research endeavors”-p3 “i am not teaching research, but this training served as a good start in our career as research teachers because this has taught us lots of knowledge which we can share to our students if ever we will be given research subjects in the future.”-p2 “even i have graduated master’s degree; i have a lot of things learned from the training which i can use in teaching my practical research subject. this training benefits those research teachers a lot.”-p10 47 international peer reviewed journal “this training is a great help for me since i am teaching practical research subject in senior high school. the workshop activities can be adopted as learning activities for teaching most topics in the subject.”-p9 the statements of the participants elucidate how the mentoring program has helped them in acquiring strategies and techniques in teaching research subjects in the k-12 curriculum. their experiences during the project smarter has honed their capability not only to do action research but to teach research to high school students. trained to train: becoming research trainers from the interview of the participants, basic education teachers are seldom given opportunities to attend research training. several reasons were identified like research training are expensive and most in-service trainings focus on curriculum enhancement, teaching strategies and the like but not action research. thus, training the participants to become research trainer even in their in-service training activities is a measure of the attainment of the objective of the project smarter to reach a larger community of teachers being trained to conduct research. the verbalization of the participants affirmed this: “in this training, i realized that trainings and seminars conducted by heis are different. the trainers are experts in the field and what they shared to us are new to us and very comprehensive. this training does not only make us action researchers but even trainers of research someday. i will definitely share this with my co-teachers.”-p6 “this training has a great impact on me because i learned a lot which i can share to my colleagues so that they will also be equipped in conducting action research.” -p4 “i have learned so many things from this training most especially because the trainers taught us to step by step process of action research which is good for beginners in research like us. i will share the inputs of this training to my colleagues when i get back to school so that all of us can do action research”.-p8 48 jpair multidisciplinary research the project smarter intervention has also contributed impact to the participants by gaining insights, skills and training design which they can use as research trainers. the knowledge and expertise shared by the resource persons have strengthened their capability to mentor other teachers who are beginners in the field of research. conclusions the following were the conclusions derived from the study, (1) the basic education teachers have minimal knowledge and experience in designing, conducting and writing action research prior to the intervention; (2) project smarter intervention has remarkably improved the action research competencies of the participants from introductory to a more advanced researcher; (3) regardless of the teaching position, length of service, field of specialization and highest educational attainment, project smarter has been successful in its objective of equipping the participants with the knowledge and skills on the process of doing and writing action research; and (4) being ready and trained to become action researchers, research teachers and trainers are vital points that signify how the project smarter has helped the participants in their journey towards their research endeavors. translational research this research project was used as a basis for conducting an extension program to the basic education teachers designed to improve their competencies on conducting and writing action research utilizing the training design and materials of the project smarter. recommendations action research is now among the agenda in the basic education sector. hence, the successful implementation of the project smarter aimed at helping the department of education in the realization of this research agenda served as the basis for crafting implications and recommendations fully addressed to various stakeholders: hei project implementers and partner institutions for effective and sustainable implementation of training interventions like project smarter. 49 international peer reviewed journal first, in terms of training design, project implementers should conduct a needs assessment prior to the conduct of any training intervention to ensure that training content fits the specific needs of the participants and maximize the benefits of the training. second, in terms of training delivery, close monitoring and evaluation of the project are highly recommended to ensure that training activities are being done as designed and to craft alternative measures as deemed necessary. third, partner institutions like the department of education should take an active part and support especially in granting of incentives to participants which can include but not limited to service credits, financial incentives, and others. fourth, project implementers should recognize the outstanding achievement of its participants in the training activities to motivate them to always perform at their best. lastly, both the project implementers and the partner institutions should have a strong partnership agreement through the signing of memorandum of agreement for successful and effective implementation of the project. furthermore, state universities and colleges (sucs) may also conduct a similar project for the basic education teachers in their locale. future researchers may also study on adopting other mentoring approaches like e-mentoring in intensifying teachers’ action research competencies. lastly, it is recommended that an impact assessment of this project be done over a three-five year period for validation of the results. literature cited acosta, i. c., & acosta, a. s. 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(2010). why do action research. in  action research workshop. perak matriculation college, feb 5th–6th. retrieved from https://goo.gl/m8dgve 1 international peer reviewed journal nurse turnover: implication on health care delivery joyce c. bisnar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-9582 joycealiver@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city philippines kathleya grace n. pegarro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2997-7929 kathpegarro19@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract nurse turnover is a major problem to all health care organizations because of its strong effects on client outcomes, motivation to work, job dissatisfaction and provision of quality patient care. the study aimed to determine the implication/ effects of nurse’s turnover on healthcare delivery. mixed method and descriptive research design were employed, and the census was used in the selection of the participants. a validated selfmade questionnaire, focus group discussion and key informant interview was utilized to gather the empirical data required. the study revealed that there was a decrease nurse turnover rate in the government hospital and an increase in private hospitals due to low salary, no/ less fringe benefits, poor/no health insurance coverage, better benefits and compensation package offered by other hospitals/countries and lower patient ratio. however, with the increase or decrease in the turnover rate, health care delivery in relation vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.626 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-9582 mailto:joycealiver@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2997-7929%20 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research to the identified five (5) key areas of nurses’ responsibility are still affected due to increased nurse-client ratio, interpersonal relationship, stressful environment and attitudes of the millennial nurses. further, the majority of the participants are millennials and they outnumbered the generation x and baby boomers who created a generation gap in terms of health care delivery. this shift in attitude poses a great challenge for hospitals to retain millennials because they are growing in numbers and are replacing baby boomers and generation x. thus, hospitals had to learn, adjust and develop management strategies to accommodate and understand the unique style and attitudes of the millennials for retention. keywords nursing, nurse turnover, push and pull factor, descriptive design, cotabato city, philippines. introduction while nursing is one of the fastest growing profession (united states department of labor, 2018), there is an alarmingly high rate of nurse turnover and shortage. according to yeates (2010), nurse shortages associated with globalization had hugely increased the hiring, migration, and mobility of nurse in all countries. reports showed that nurse turnover had increased worldwide to 17.2% in 2015 from 16.4% in 2014 (solutions, 2016). additionally, world health organization (who) estimated a shortage of 4.3 million nurses globally and will continue to worsen with projected deficits of about 57% from 2020 to 2025, twigg and mccullough (2014). the 2017 rn survey strongly suggests generous change in the nursing workforce causes the workforce and the progression of baby boomers retirement (amn healthcare, 2017) resulting to decreased performance in the workplace because skilled nurses and experts are replaced with newbies, and inexperienced (wieck and moss, 2015) causing nurse stressed, burned out, job dissatisfaction and turnover (mchugh and ma, 2014)thus affecting quality healthcare delivery and adverse client outcomes, texas health and human services (2012). the increasing demand and shortage of nurses pushed developed and high–income countries to do mass hiring of educated and well-trained nurses from low and middle-income countries such as the philippines which resulted in the depletion of the country’s most experienced and well-qualified nurses, (dimaya,   mcewen,  curry, and  bradley, 2012; dywili, bonner, & o’brien, 2013). further, push and pull factors such as low salaries, lack of benefits package, high client-nurse ratios, lack of opportunities and professional growth, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=dimaya%20rm%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23249411 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=mcewen%20mk%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23249411 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=curry%20la%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23249411 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=bradley%20eh%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23249411 3 international peer reviewed journal and compensation package (asegid,  belachew, and  yimam, 2014, mchugh and ma, 2014) influenced nurses to leave. philippine overseas employment administration (poea) reported that there is an increasing migration of nurses every year from 15,655 in 2012 to 16,444 in 2013 and 19,815 in 2014. (asian journal, 2016) causing a significant problem to all healthcare organizations because of its strong effects to client outcomes, motivation to work, job dissatisfaction, and provision of quality patient care, (roche, duffield, homer, buchan and dimitrelis, 2014; masselink & lee, 2010). this global phenomenon is an excellent challenge to all healthcare organization and solutions are essential and critical to prevent the worsening of adverse health outcomes. nurses deliver health care services in many and varied settings armed with competencies they developed from school and workplace guided by the core competencies standards for nursing practice (also known as the key areas of nurses responsibility). this standard requires nurses to utilize their knowledge and judgment to assess clients and family health needs, provide care and support to manage their health. several studies on the effects of nurse turnover is well discussed and documented, however, it is focused more on its cost to health care system without considering its impact on delivery of health care services in terms of the five (5) critical areas of nurse’s responsibility on safe and quality care, health education, communication, collaboration and teamwork, and records management thus this study (lazarte, 2016). framework abraham maslow hierarchy of needs (1970) is a motivational theory composed of five classes of human needs depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid in ascending order, which ranges from physiologic needs through safety, belonging, and esteem, to self-actualization (mathes, 1981). in this theory, maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied before one can move on the higher levels. as each lower-level need is satisfied, the person will aim to go to the next higher demand until it is satisfied. considering maslow‘s hierarchy of needs theory in relation to nurses turnover, one can assert that nurses need better salaries, fringe benefits, insurance benefits, recognition, and good interpersonal relationship with the members of the healthcare team for them to achieve selfactualization needs. the implication of this theory to the study is that, if nurse’s needs are met and are satisfied with their work then they will be motivated to stay in the institution/ organization. https://www.hindawi.com/43810642/ https://www.hindawi.com/63419096/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0897189717301234 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0897189717301234 4 jpair multidisciplinary research another theory in relation to the study is vroom`s expectancy motivation theory. his theory is based on the belief that an employees’ effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (vroom, 1964). the theory emphasizes that employees will perform their best and put more effort into their work equal to what they expect in return such as pay increase, recognition, additional benefits and opportunities for promotion. if employees will not be compensated and personal and professional growth opportunities will not be provided in return for their hard work, they will put little effort and eventually leave their work and look for new opportunities from other organization. vroom’s expectancy theory can also be associated with maslow`s hierarchy of needs. maslow is used to describing which and what particular outcomes individuals can be motivated and vroom described whether individuals would act based on their experience and expectations. objectives of the study the following objectives have been framed to guide the research to (1) determine the nurse’s turnover rate for the past five years, (2) determine the push and pull of nurse turnover, (3) determine and analyze the implication of nurse’s turnover on healthcare delivery in terms of (a) safe and quality nursing care, (b) health education (c) communication (d) collaboration and teamwork (e) records management and (4) find out the actions taken by the institutions in addressing the implications of nurse turnover. methodology research design this study employed a mixed method and descriptive research design as it described, discussed and analyzed the push and pull factor of nurse turnover, its implication on healthcare delivery. further, the researchers determine the actions and interventions taken by the institution to address the problems on the push and pull factors of nurse and the implication on health care delivery. research site the study was conducted in cotabato regional and medical center and other private hospitals in cotabato city such as notre dame hospital and school of midwifery, cotabato puericulture center and general hospital foundation inc. 5 international peer reviewed journal cotabato regional and medical center (crmc) which is the only governmentowned hospital in cotabato city with 400-bed capacity whose vision and mission is to be the center of excellence thru delivery of quality, affordable, equitable and sustainable specialized health care services in partnership with all stakeholders towards customer satisfaction. it is located in front of mall of alnor along sinsuat avenue. notre dame hospital and school of midwifery is a secondary hospital with 100-bed capacity located parallel to cotabato regional and medical center. it is owned and managed by the dominican sisters whose vision and mission are to commit to compassionate human resource formation while pursuing effective and efficient healthcare management. while cotabato puericulture center and general hospital foundation inc. were formerly known as cotabato puericulture center and maternity and children hospital inc.is a semi-private primary hospital with 30-bed capacity and is located at the heart of the city, in front of cotabato city plaza. participants the participants of the study are the 97 senior nurses and supervisors of the general, obstetrics-gynecology, and pediatricmedicine who have been working from the three (3) identified hospitals for more than two (2) years, 51 of which are from hospital a, 30 from hospital b and 16 from hospital c while hospital d refused to participate in the study thus they are excluded. the qualitative data was collected from the 23 senior nurses and supervisors through focus group discussion and three chief nurses of the three (3) hospitals through an interview. sampling technique census was used in the selection of the participants. a total of 97 participants including all senior nurses, supervisors and chief nurses who have been working in the three (3) identified hospitals for 2 years or more participated in the study. fifty-one (51) are from hospital a, thirty (30) from hospital b and sixteen (16) from hospital c. instrumentation the instruments used for data gathering is a self-made questionnaire checked and validated by experts with a rating of 4.3 out of 5 points score which means very good. the comments or suggestions to improve the paper were incorporated 6 jpair multidisciplinary research into the instruments. the said questionnaire is composed of three (3) parts. part i pertains to the demographic profile of the participants. part ii consisted of the questions that determined the push and pull of nurse turnover and the participants were asked to answer the questions using the following scale: 2-yes; 1-no. part iii is composed of items that pertain to the implications of nurse turnover on healthcare delivery. the data was collected through interview and focus group discussion of senior nurses, and supervisors and part iv seeks to find out the actions/ interventions taken by the institution in addressing the push and pull factor of nurses’ turnover and the implication on health care delivery. it is composed of questions which were answered by three chief nurses from the three (3) selected hospitals as key informants. data gathering procedure initially, a survey was done to determine the number of senior nurses, supervisors and chief nurses of the four (4) hospitals. upon approval of the study by the university research council, a letter of permission was submitted to hospitals a, b, c, and d administrators for the conduct of the research and the researcher sought approval from the research ethics board. once approved, the actual conduct of the study commenced with a letter of permission to the participants stating the purpose and benefits of the study and their right to refuse to participate once they feel that their right is violated. the validated survey questionnaire was distributed and retrieved personally by the researcher considering strict confidentiality and anonymity. the researchers did a one on one interview to the three (3) chief nurses as key informants and focus group discussion to the senior nurses and supervisors. the data gathered was tallied and tabulated. consultation with the statistician was made for the computation and other statistical treatment needed for the interpretation and analysis of the data collected. ethical considerations the participants were informed that their participation was voluntary and was assured that the researcher would maintain the confidentiality and anonymity of the data with the departments and their hospital of affiliation. the result of the research was presented to the university the research panel, validators and public without mentioning the hospital of affiliation instead a letter in the alphabet such as abc was designated as a representation of each hospital to ensure that confidentiality is practiced and maintained. the chief nurses of the hospital and participants were informed that they would be provided with a copy of the results 7 international peer reviewed journal for their perusal and reference. the researchers obtained an ethics clearance from the ethics review committee and signed the informed consent from the participants. statistical analysis the quantitative data gathered was tallied, tabulated and treated with descriptive statistics. in depth analysis was done through the formulation of themes and patterns for the qualitative data to validate and expound the quantitative data gathered. tallying, interpretation, and analysis of the data were done with the help of the statistician. the qualitative data were transcribed, analyzed, and integrated with the quantitative data. results and discussion findings of this study are presented in a descriptive and tabular form, analyzed and interpreted to answer the research objectives. data were gathered to determine the push and pull factors of nurse turnover; it’s the implication on health care delivery and the actions or interventions taken by the institution to address the implication of nurse turnover. nurse turnover rate for the past 5 years figure 1 and 2 show the nurse turnover rate of the hospitals. increase in nurse turnover rate is significantly high with hospital b and decreasing in hospital a. figure 1. nurse turnover rate for the past 5 years 8 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. frequency distribution of nurse turnover per year profile of the participants the profile of the participants includes the age, gender, hospital of affiliation, position, and the number of years working in the hospital. table 1 presents the demographic profile of the participants. in terms of age, majority or 79. 4 % of them are millennials while only 6.2% are baby boomers and out of the 97 nurse-participants, 67 or 69.1% of them are female while 30 or 30.9% are male. on hospital of affiliation, the majority of them came from hospital a (52.6%) which is a government hospital, followed by hospital b (30.9%) and hospital c (16.5%), both are private hospitals. (79.4%) of the participants are senior nurses while the rest are supervisors (20.6%). in terms of the number of years working in the hospital, the majority of them have been working for at least 3 – 6 years (54.6%) followed by 7 – 9 years of service (9.3%) and those who have been there for 20 years and above (8.2%). their mean number of years working in the hospital is 7.35 or 7 years. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 1. demographic profile of the respondents profile f % age millennials( 22-37 years old) 77 79.4 generation x ( 38-53 years old) 14 14.4 baby boomers (5472 years old ) 6 6.2 gender female 67 69.1 male 30 30.9 hospital of affiliation hospital a 51 52.6 hospital b 30 30.9 hospital c 16 16.5 position senior nurse 77 79.4 supervisor 20 20.6 number of years working in the hospital 2 years and below 2 2.1 3 – 6 years 53 54.6 7 – 9 years 9 9.3 10 – 12 years 6 6.2 13 – 15 years 6 6.2 16 – 19 years 4 4.1 20 years and above 8 8.2 mean no. of years working in the hospital: 7.35 or 7 years total 97 100.0 table 2 presents the push and pull factors of nurse turnovers. the participants were made to answer a yes or no questions to determine their reasons for leaving/staying at their current workplace. in terms of the push factors, most of the them stated that low salary (highest of 77.3%), non-competitive fringe benefits (74.2%), no overtime (73.2%), poor/no health insurance coverage (72.2%), and work overload, as well as stressful working environment (69.1%), were their top reasons for leaving their current workplace. while majority answered no to no hazard pay as a push factor (72.2%). 10 jpair multidisciplinary research on the pull factors, most of the nurses stated that better benefits and compensation package (highest of 79.4%), influence from peers and relatives (72.2%), lower nurse-patient ratio (70.1%), chance to upgrade nursing skills (61.9%) and higher salary (60.8%) were their top reasons of staying in their current workplace. table 2. push and pull factors of nurse turnover push and pull factors yes no push factors f % f % 1. low salary 75 77.3 22 22.7 2. no overtime 71 73.2 26 26.8 3. poor/ no health insurance coverage 70 72.2 27 27.8 4. work overload and stressful working environment 67 69.1 30 30.9 5. slow promotion 57 58.8 40 41.2 6. limited opportunities for professional development 60 61.9 37 38.1 7. non-competitive fringe benefits 72 74.2 25 25.8 8. socio-economic situation 62 63.9 35 36.1 9. no hazard pay 27 27.8 70 72.2 pull factors 1. higher salary 59 60.8 38 39.2 2. better benefits and compensation package 77 79.4 20 20.6 3. lower nurse-patient ratio 68 70.1 29 29.9 4. more options in working hours 54 55.7 43 44.3 5. a chance to upgrade nursing skills 60 61.9 37 38.1 6. opportunity for the family to migrate 48 49.5 49 50.5 7. opportunity to travel and learn other cultures 55 56.7 42 43.3 8. influence from peers and relatives 70 72.2 27 27.8 9. advanced technology 58 59.8 39 40.2 10. better socio-political and economic stability 53 54.6 44 45.4 implications of nurse turnover on health care delivery in terms of the safe and quality nursing care, nurse turnovers would result in less time spent to perform bedside care and basic nursing procedures (highest of 67%), lack of focus on the demands or needs of patients and their family 11 international peer reviewed journal members (59.8%) increased risk of nosocomial infections as well as delayed discharges (both at 58.8%) and delayed nurse’s response to clients /watcher’s call as well as increased client’s wait time for diagnostic tests/procedures (both at 57.7%). however, the results reveal that nurse turnover would not result in increased client’s complaints on nursing care provided (53.6%) and less/ no time for nurses to detect complications (51.5%). in terms of health education, nurse turnover would result in inadequate individual client’s health education (highest of 55.7%), less time or no time to provide specific group health education (54.6%) and insufficient time to give health education to clients and family (50.5%). in terms of communication and collaboration, nurse turnovers would result in lack /no time for nurses communicate with the client and members of the family (highest of 61.9%),and problems/ conditions are not addressed in a timely manner as well as inadequate nurse’s education on how client’s and family will take care of their illness or injury (both at 58.8%). in terms of records management, nurse turnovers would result in failure of the nurses to document some important client information as well as less or no time to discuss clients’ condition with members of the health care team (highest both at 59.8%) and mismanagement of nurses of client’s records. however, the results reveal that nurse turnover would not result in increased risk for inaccurate information (53.6%) and poor referral to members of the healthcare team (50.5%). 12 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. the implication of nurse turnover on health care delivery the implication of nurse turnover on health care delivery yes no safe and quality nursing care f % f % 1. less time spent to perform bedside care and basic nursing procedures 65 67.0 32 33.0 2. increase/ risks in medication error 55 56.7 42 43.3 3. decrease efficiency and effectiveness of nursing care 51 52.6 46 47.4 4. delayed nurse’s response to clients /watcher’s call 56 57.7 41 42.3 5. increase the client’s complaints on nursing care provided 45 46.4 52 53.6 6. increased risk of nosocomial infections 57 58.8 40 41.2 7. delayed discharges 57 58.8 40 41.2 8. increased client’s wait time for diagnostic tests/procedures 56 57.7 41 42.3 9. lack of focus on the demands or needs of patients and their family members 10. less/ no time for nurses to detect complications 58 47 59.8 48.5 50 39 40.2 51.5 11. increase the incidence of complications and/or adverse events during the hospitalization 55 56.7 42 43.3 health education 12. insufficient time to give health education to clients and family 49 50.5 48 49.5 13.. inadequate individual client’s health education 54 55.7 43 44.3 14. less time or no time to provide a specific group health education 53 54.6 44 45.4 15. inadequate nurse’s education on how client’s and the family will take care of their illness or injury 57 58.8 40 41.2 communication, teamwork and collaboration 16. problems/ conditions are not addressed in a timely manner 57 58.8 40 41.2 17. lack /no time for nurses communicate with the client and members of the family 60 61.9 37 38.1 18. increase staff communication problem 49 50.5 49 50.5 19. failure of the nurses to communicate clients condition to significant health team members 56 57.7 41 42.3 20. poor referral to members of the healthcare team 48 49.5 49 50.5 21. less or no time to discuss clients condition with members of the health care team. 58 59.8 39 40.2 records management 22. mismanagement of nurses of client’s records 53 54.6 44 45.4 23. failure of the nurses to document some important client information 58 59.8 39 40.2 24. increase risk for inaccurate information 45 46.4 52 53.6 13 international peer reviewed journal qualitative data table 3 reveals the implication of nurse turnover on health care delivery. the implication of nurse turnover on health care delivery was observed through four domains namely the safe and quality nursing care, health education, communication, teamwork and collaboration and records management. despite the decreasing nurse turnover rate in hospital a (government hospital), still there occur issues, concerns and problems in health care delivery brought about by the increasing nurse-client ratio which is 1:30-40. however, in hospital b and c, there was an increasing turnover rate especially in the last two years due to hiring in the government hospital and to look for better directions in their careers and opportunities abroad. though they have a 1:10 to 1:12 nurse-patient ratio, they still have problems in delivering quality health care brought about by the constant change of nurses from highly experienced to no experience nurses. the most common issues and concerns identified and it’s implication on healthcare delivery discussed during the fgd, key informant interview, validation and the result of the study revealed that, first, senior nurses and supervisors verbalized 1:12 nurse-patient is not followed, problems such as medication errors, no time for bedside care, documentation on the care given to clients is lacking, health education is given in passing and nurses are focused on paper works rather than client care. additionally, the change in the curriculum to k-12 program created a great impact on the development of student nurses’ skills since they are not allowed to give intravenous medications thus affecting their confidence in drug administration when they are hired as staff nurses resulting to medication errors. second, newly hired nurses are hesitant and afraid to perform basic nursing procedures because the clinical instructors handling them during their student years are not aggressive in letting them perform procedures in their related learning experience (rle). third, relationship with co-nurses is affected especially when the nurse is lazy and absents themselves during their scheduled shift. fourth, millennial nurse’s attitude and values towards work. they always complain of easy fatigability, no/ lack self-confidence to perform procedures such as administration of iv medication, no/ lack decision making, no command and initiative at work, do not provide clients a thorough explanation on the procedures they performed and medications they administer and lack / non provision of tender loving care to clients which created a gap with generation x and baby boomers. as verbalized by the senior nurses and nurse supervisors millennials 14 jpair multidisciplinary research are not open to comments, suggestions and they hate to be reprimanded. once reprimanded, they take it personally and decides to leave work. in addition, millennials do not want to stay in one place because they wanted to explore other ventures to satisfy their curiosity. fifth, the orientation of new nurses and the transfer of areas of assignment without orientation. as suggested by senior nurses, area orientation period should be lengthened to 2 months to ensure that new nurses have learned and developed their skills. re-orientation should be done, when nurses are transferred to other departments, although they are familiar with the routine activities, nurses need to know and understand that each client have different needs and concerns and each department has its own standard operating procedures to ensure the delivery of quality health care services. allowing them to adjust to the new environment will boost their morale and confidence in doing their tasks resulting in job satisfaction and good client outcomes. to address the issues and concerns on the errors and committed mistakes, the hospital has policies, guidelines and hospital protocols to hand to prevent its occurrence and recurrence. the private hospitals (b and c) motivate nurses to stay in the hospital by developing a good interpersonal relationship with the nurses, giving them more options in terms of duty scheduling, increasing their salaries and enhancing their benefits. if they cannot stay long, they are encouraged to finish their contract before they leave and in return, they are given a certificate of employment and recommendation to work in other hospitals or abroad. while nursing continues to be one of the fastest growing professions, there is an alarmingly high rate of nurse turnover and the increasing demand of nurses by other institutions and countries is brought about by aging nursing workforce and many baby boomers are nearing retirement (haddad and butler, 2018). in this present study, the result revealed that most of the participants are millennials or between the age of 22 to 37 years, have worked in the hospital for 3 to 6 years and they outnumbered the generation x and baby boomers who have worked for more than 15 years. auerbach, buerhaus, and staiger (2017) presented that the baby-boomer registered nurses (rns), the largest segment of the rn workforce from 1981 to 2012, are now retiring and the millennials who are entering the nurse workforce has double the rate of the boomer, however, they rarely intend to stay with one employer for their entire career or possibly even more than a few years, costanza, badger, fraser, severt and gade (2012). as agreed by kovner, brewer, fatehi & jun (2014) about 17.5% of new nurses leave their first job within one year of starting their careers. https://www.healthaffairs.org/author/auerbach%2c+david+i https://www.healthaffairs.org/author/buerhaus%2c+peter+i https://www.healthaffairs.org/author/staiger%2c+douglas+o 15 international peer reviewed journal on nurse turnover, there was an increased rate in private hospitals and a decrease in government hospitals in the last three years. in contrast to these findings, chien and yick (2016) stated that nurse turnover rate in private hospitals are low or decrease because nurses are moderately stressed and satisfied with their work environment and relationships. however, during the focus group discussion and key informant interview the participants verbalized that nurses in private hospitals experienced almost the same stress with those working in government brought about by the constant changing of nurses. nurses who are still on the stage of learning and developing their skills are obliged to mentor the newly hired nurses since experts and seasoned nurses left the hospitals. the difference in salary and fringe benefits are the most common noticeable reasons why nurses go and not stress. although work overload and the stressful environment is one of the top five push factors of nurse turnover, its impact is not as high as that of low salary and no/fewer fringe benefits. as agreed by lorenzo, galvez‐tan, icamina, & javier (2013) push factors include low salary, no overtime or hazard pay, poor health insurance coverage, work overload or the stressful working environment. additionally, the world health organization (2017) stated that nurses sought better wages, improved working conditions and the higher standard of living not present in their native countries. however, it has been observed that there is a different idea on the result of the push and pulls factor. lower salary is the number one push factor while a higher wage is the fifth pull factor. nevertheless, still, it is one of the five identified factors of `nurse turnover. nurse turnover as mentioned is a significant problem by all healthcare organization because of its adverse effects on quality healthcare delivery and client outcomes. what is unique in this study is, it emphasizes and focuses more on the impact of nurse turnover on the five (5) of the eleven (11) critical areas of nurse’s responsibilities rather than the operational costs as other researches and studies did. the five key areas of responsibilities identified are safe and quality nursing care, health education, communication, teamwork and collaboration, and records management. on safe and quality nursing care, the study revealed that nurse turnover resulted in less time spent to perform bedside care and necessary nursing procedures, lack of focus on the demands or needs of clients and their family members, delayed discharges, delayed nurse’s response to clients/watcher’s call, increased client’s wait time for diagnostic tests/procedures and is agreed upon by the chief nurses, supervisors and senior nurses during interview, focus group discussion. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research further, the interview revealed that staff nurses commonly committed medication errors in contrast to the result of the survey as the least problem for safe and quality care. bolandianbafghi, salimi, rassouli, faraji, and sarebanhassanbadin (2017) accounted for medication errors to stress, nurse’s burnout, and job dissatisfaction as a result of understaffing caused by the increase in nurse turnover. health education is essential in nursing for it will help improve the health status of individual client and their family, especially in a culturally diverse community such as cotabato city. unfortunately, nurse turnover resulted in inadequate nurse’s education on how clients and family will take care of their illness or injury, insufficient and insufficient time to give health education to individual client and their family. these findings of the study are agreed and validated by supervisors and senior nurses that ward nurses lack/no time to explain the importance of nursing procedures performed. although they feed client with little information, it is not enough for clients to understand considering the cultural diversity in the place. as raingruber (2013) cited health education are activities that seek to inform individual client on the nature and causes of health and illness, and it motivates them to accept behavioral change by influencing their values, attitudes, and beliefs. nevertheless, it did not materialize in the present study. relative to health education, communication is an essential factor for the success of the outcome of individualized client care. according to kourkouta and papathanasiou (2014) and vertino (2014), communication plays an essential role throughout the client’s healthcare experience, and great responsibility falls on nurses. they must be able to relay information especially during periods of intense stress. the problem in communication was seen in the present study, nurses recognized the importance of communication but due to increased workload, they lack or no time to communicate with the clients and their family and less or no time to discuss client’s condition thus problems are not appropriately addressed. increase staff communication problem was also mentioned during the focus group discussion and validation, although it is the least identified problem in the survey. this problem is due to the attitude of the millennials such as they are lazy to perform the task given to them because they quickly get tired, stressed and burnout, no/ lack decision making, and initiative at work thus affecting quality client care and satisfaction. institute for healthcare communication (2011) and nacioglu (2016) stated that the client’s perception of the quality healthcare they received is highly dependent on the quality of interaction with the healthcare team. 17 international peer reviewed journal collaboration and teamwork are noticeable in all hospitals. participants verbalized that they seldom experienced problems regarding communication and referral to other healthcare team members thus it is the least problem identified in the survey. the healthcare team members are cooperatively working together, using the proper referral system to formulate and carry out plans for client care, (o’daniel and rosenstein, 2011). as observed majority of local healthcare providers in the philippines are still using the paper-based records, which poses challenges for nurses because it does not only affect their primary function to client care but also their ability to manage their task/work efficiently (wood, 2015) with increased workload brought about by nurse-client ratio, nurses fail to document some vital client information and mismanaged client’s records. according to luthuli and kalusopa (2017), medical record mismanagement can result in delays in delivering necessary medical treatment and incorrect diagnosis. although problem on misdiagnosis due to records mismanagement was not experienced, still the hospitals are taking significant steps to prevent its occurrence. the hospitals motivated them through salary increase though it is not that competitive with other institution, developing a good interpersonal relationship, enhancing nurses’ benefits and more options regarding duty schedule to retain nurses. the responses of the participants are agreed upon by that, improving the work environment for nurses makes it easier for hospitals to reduce turnover and retain them because a negative work environment may lead to job dissatisfaction and nurse’s burnout which may have an adverse effect on client outcomes. additionally, it may also result in more turnover as departments become understaffed and more nurses will experience burnout (nantsupawat, kunaviktikul, nantsupawat, wichaikhum, thienthong, & poghosyan, 2017 and kerfoot, 2015). more importantly, the hospital shifted from practical nursing to modified primary nursing. this is done to enhance quality individualized client care. in cases of errors, issues, and problems, it is easy for the nurse manager to identify who is held accountable. according to thompson (2018) the primary nurse designs a complete care plan for every client under his care, thus the nurse is responsible, and there no ambiguity about that is accountable for the client’s care plans. however, thompson (2018) stated that when hospitals try to implement primary care nursing system without the necessary resources, they may not be able to meet their expectations especially if the primary care nurse is given responsibility to a specific client and could not focus due to scheduling issues and nurse-client ratio, this will compromise the therapeutic relationship with their 18 jpair multidisciplinary research client. due to the lack of workforce to do primary nursing, the hospitals in the study modified the primary nursing by integrating and combining primary nursing along with practical nursing. nurses are assigned to specific clients to perform all necessary nursing procedures except for vital signs taking and monitoring, measuring intake and output and documentation because it is done by nursing aids and charge nurses respectively. conclusions the findings of the study revealed that nurse turnover is continuously increasing in private hospitals which are brought about by low salary, no/less fringe benefits, poor / no health insurance coverage, no overtime pay, better opportunities and compensation package offered by other hospitals and lower nurse-client ratio as validated in the qualitative data gathered. further, the study found out that most of the participants are millennial which resulted in generation gap with seasoned nurses thus affecting healthcare delivery. this shift in attitude poses an excellent challenge for hospitals to retain millennials because they are growing in numbers and are replacing baby boomers and generation x. based on the result of the study, the researchers therefore conclude that increased or decreased nurse turnover dramatically affects health care delivery in terms of safe and quality nursing care, health education, communication, teamwork and collaboration and records management which is brought about by nurse-patient ratio, stressful environment, interpersonal relationships, nurses attitude and experiences specifically of the millennials, school where they graduated and their foundation during their school days. thus, it is essential for hospitals to learn, adjust and develop their management strategies to accommodate and understand the unique style and attitudes of the millennials to retain them and prepare them from novice to expert translational research the result of the study could be utilized or used as a reference for international publications and other forms of information dissemination such as articles, journals or newsletters. the persons or group of people who are significant in the success in healthcare delivery might look into the result of the study and review their policies that may address their problems regarding health care delivery, 19 international peer reviewed journal strengthen and enhance existing systems that are most useful to improve better and quality 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(2010). the globalization of nurse migration: policy issues and responses.  international labour review,  149(4), 423-440. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913x.2010.00096.x http://www.jblearning.com/catalog/9781284094749/ http://www.dshs.texas.gov/chs/cnws/ http://work.chron.com/role-primary-nurse-15191.html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.05.015 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.05.015 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm https://goo.gl/sm7cz8 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913x.2010.00096.x 106 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 assessment of the philippine national police (pnp) human rights development program (hrdp) in protecting the community from abuse in tabaco city, albay, philippines manny b. macabeo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9218-0533 macabeomanny8@gmail.com bicol college albay, daraga, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract enforcing the law serves as the key function of the police officer to maintain peace and order, thus, ensuring strict conformance with human rights. this study was conducted to assess the implementation of the pnp human rights development program in tabaco city, albay, philippines, along with institutional policy development, capability building on human rights protection, prevention and control measures on abuse of human rights, and strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance. it also identified the problems encountered and formulated an action plan that aims to further enhance the implementation of the program. the personnel assigned at the pnp human rights development program in tabaco city selected community officials, and members of the community were the respondents of the study. hence, the study revealed that the vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.642 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 107 international peer reviewed journal community and other partner stakeholders have understood and accepted the principles of the programs implemented. therefore, the primary objectives of the pnp in gaining the trust and confidence of the community were achieved. the study recommends the sustainability of the program through inculcating greater social responsibility, intervening appropriately, and acquiring useful and timely information for implementation of anti-human rights abuse programs which shall be continuously participated by the community with enhanced multisectoral collaboration to achieve a safer community free from abuse. keywords — social science, human rights development program, philippine national police, protection, descriptive, tabaco city, philippines introduction the vision of comprehensive policing, well-defined as effective, official, and humane, would continue as a vision only until and unless the police organizations are well-accomplished and well-resourced by the respective governments. only the promulgation of a police code of conduct and morals, human rights advocacies, evaluation, and oversight instruments will help to improve the overall human rights records and performance of the police, except that their basic rights will continue to be overlooked, unmet, and satisfied (cerillo et al., 2020). the universal declaration of human rights (udhr) was conscripted by the united nations. the udhr was embraced, alongside the genocide convention and the convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, by the un in response to the disastrous and awful abuses of human rights during world war ii. the united nations charter, an agreement, was made to define what roles, powers, and duties the united nations is permitted to exercise in dealing with global relations. human rights in the philippines are related to the notion and use of human rights in the philippines. the idea of human rights relates primarily to the political and civil rights of an individual living under the motives of the 1987 philippines constitution. these are a defensible set of privileges that agree on moral standards for members of the social race but are not limited to an explicit community or nationality. membership in the human race is the single requirement to achieve these rights. human rights and distinct area-specific agreements of international laws are generally admissible as they relate to the entire human race, notwithstanding biological location. 108 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 in the philippines, the philippine national police, in response to the un declaration of human rights, has accepted numerous measures and efforts to develop human rights operations. the pnp is the major law enforcement organization that aids the support of the government as part of their trial. it safeguards human rights protection and promotes the same. this is crucial in understanding how their practice should characterize human dignity and in the campaign for every individual’s right. given this, loi 55/07 (“pamana”) on december 7, 2007, of the pnp, which has crafted an hrdp, was issued. this helps as the outline for accomplishment on human rights that the agency intends to undertake to safeguard the security of the community. the campaign for human rights is the main production area of the pnp-itp. the transformation of this program reforms the pnp geared toward a more capable, effective, and credible police force (pnp loi pamana, 2007). primarily, the study was conducted in tabaco city, albay. with the thorough investigation into human rights development program implementation, it has been observed that no fund was allocated exclusively for human rights desk, no police commissioned officer (pco) was designated in human rights desk, and no proper training thus, the capacity of designated hrd pncos which caused a delay of submission of reports. through this, it is expected that the police officers can help formulate an action plan to improve human rights programs not only in tabaco city but in the entire bicol region. to this end, this study is beneficial to the community, the pnp organization with its personnel, human rights advocates, local government units, students, and future researchers. framework to assess the effectiveness of the pnp unit, this study looked into the implementation of the hrdp along with institutional policy development, capability building on human rights protection, prevention, and control measures on abuse of human rights, and strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance. this study also identified the problems encountered in the implementation of the hrdp. the study was anchored on the empirical international relations (ir) theory of william r. thompson (2018), which established three comprehensive statements about why human rights abuses occurred. overall, human rights specialists have prepared three large-scale theoretical statements: human rights abuses are a way for an uncontrolled state, especially the executive branch 109 international peer reviewed journal and its agents, to try to control individuals and hold on to power. this theory was supported by implementation theory and program evaluation theory. the implementation theory provides an organized procedure for planning an information discussion procedure followed by a provision rule that leads to provision decisions that are ideal for some pre-specified performance metric. its objectives were to look for any given performance metric, whether or not there was an information exchange method and a provision rule that accomplished ideal allocation for that metric when the users had secluded data and were strategic. for the present study, the practice of implementation theory provided the researchers the gauge to look into the conduct of the human rights development program in tabaco city. by understanding the best practices and finding ways towards improvement, the researchers formulated ways of promoting more human rights advocates and performed better in their implementation of the same. this philosophy was reinforced by the evaluation theory of smith and scriven (mertens & wilson, 2012). the evaluation theory is the characteristic that replicates our rationale for how and why we engage in evaluation. its purpose is for evaluation validation, accountability, monitoring, or improvement and development. theories provide direction in defining the purposes of evaluations as well as in describing what we study as acceptable proof for making conclusions in an evaluation. these theories are relevant in the present study, which assesses the program implementation of human rights. these theories contribute to its objectives primarily in assessing the program implementation and identifying the problems encountered by tabaco city. this leads to an action plan that will sustain and maintain the program and prevent human rights abuse. it delivers further content to the theory of prevention of human rights violations, looks for actual means through which to prevent violations, and focuses on the role of stakeholders. therefore, the human rights prevention theory was crafted as researchers’ theory. this human rights prevention theory will prevent violations and strengthen the protection of human rights. objectives of the study the study aims to assess the pnp human rights development program in protecting the community from abuse in tabaco city. further, this study determined the impact of the program. in the end, an action plan was proposed to enhance. specifically, it assesses the implementation human rights development 110 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 program (hrdp) along with institutional policy development; capability building on human rights protection; prevention and control measures against violation of human rights; and strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance. likewise, it identifies the problems encountered by tabaco city in the implementation of the human rights development program. methodology research design the study used the descriptive quantitative research method. the quantitative data was for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables. in this study, the researcher primarily assessed the implementation of the human rights development program and identified the problems encountered. research site this study was conducted in tabaco city, philippines. tabaco city is a 4th class component city in albay, philippines. according to the 2020 census, it has a population of 140,961 people. tabaco city has a 117.1 km2 total area composed of 47 communities. respondents the respondents from tabaco city police station were 27 personnel who were directly assigned to the implementation of the human rights development program. further, other respondents were 30 community officials and 44 members. the poblacion area was chosen because these are the areas where the majority of the pnp was deployed for day-to-day interaction, and the bulk of the population is concentrated in this area. instrumentation to answer the objectives of the study, the researcher used a questionnaire to gather the data. the first part of the questionnaire was about the implementation of the human rights development program, and the second part was about the problems encountered. the study used a likert-type of survey questionnaire that gave the respondents three (4) choices of answers on the effectiveness of the implementation of the program with the following scale values: high implemented-3.50-4.00, moderately implemented-2.50-3.49, implemented-1.50-2.49 and not implementation-0.50-1.49. two questionnaires 111 international peer reviewed journal were distributed to the respondents. the first questionnaire was categorized for the pnp personnel and the second for the community officials. the sets of questionnaires were made to able the researcher to gather the data applicable to the respondents. data collection in the gathering of the data, the researcher sought permission from the adviser to research the implementation human rights development program in tabaco city. right after, the researcher also sought permission from the chief of police of tabaco cps and the community captain to conduct the research. the researcher personally approached and distributed the questionnaires to the respondents. each participant was formally introduced to the purposes of the study and ensured strict confidentiality of the data gathered. ethics protocol to ensure that there were no ethical issues in this research, this research is voluntary and the researcher provided a consent letter to freely answer the questionnaire. further, the anonymity of the respondents was observed. maintaining the dignity of the respondents using carefully selecting the words in the questions was of great importance in this study. finally, the researcher ensures that the study is independent and impartial in providing all the data. results and discussion implementation of the pnp human rights development program the pnp, in its stated purpose of upholding and evolving the foundation of human rights, had drawn up the hrdp to assist as a design for action on human rights, which the organization wishes to accomplish when the police have been overcome with a better request for the security of the community and the rightsbased policing that comes with it. institutional policy development in this component of the hrdp, its primary objective was to examine, and craft policy agenda in police operations attuned to the developing matters of human rights protection. the regular review and updating of police operational procedures with the human rights component were one of the main activities directed by the philippine national police under this component. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 1. institutional policy development indicators pnp ai 1. regular review and apprising of police operational procedures with hr mechanisms. 3.60 hi 2. assessment and apprising of the regular np examinations to identify subjects’ trends for violating human rights. 3.44 mi 3. conduct reviews on hr policy and standards monitoring. 3.48 mi 4. monitoring and maintaining records of cases containing violations of human rights allegedly committed by government and nongovernment actors. 3.56 hi 5. implementation of a glossary of detailed human rights violations that may be committed by the police. 3.32 mi total 3.48 mi legend: 4-highly implemented, 3-moderately implemented; 2implemented 1-not implementation based on the results, the level of implementation of the institutional policy development on human rights is moderately implemented, as observed by the pnp respondents, with a general weighted mean of 2.48. this implies that the pnp monitors and updates the policy and procedure and develops a governmental program on human rights. further, it shows that the monitoring and maintaining of records/files are hereby performed. the study of mariager and madsen (2018) investigated the new danish military manual based on the human security approach of kaldor and chinkin. the manual desires to integrate a flexible human rights method, which demands that it relate the clearest and intended rule to the condition. it must integrate the style as a general rule for how the interaction between hrl and ihl must be carried out and, through its plan of related rules. likewise, collantes-celador and schwandner-sievers, (2019) also show the excessive character of the police organization in peace and state-building efforts as they are important instruments and uphold human rights. capability building on human rights protection the purpose of the pnp’s capability-building of the pnp to police officers was to improve and cultivate skills and competency in human rights awareness as well as to accept and hold the principles of human rights. its main activity was to raise awareness and understanding of human rights. this protection emphasized 113 international peer reviewed journal the competence building and services development of the members of the pnp to become promoters, community organizers, and human rights advocates. table 2. capability building on human rights protection indicators pnp ai 1. enrichment of capability of police investigators. 3.68 hi 2. conduct special training programs on hr components for pnp personnel. 3.60 hi 3. improvement of police trainers in hr advocacy and ongoing legal education. 3.60 hi 4. establishing and making eligibilities for hr personnel based on capabilities and direct participation in hr advocacy. 3.64 hi 5. send pnp personnel in skills and competency training that will enhance their capabilities and increase awareness of hr advocacy. 3.64 hi total 3.63 hi legend: 4-highly implemented, 3-moderately implemented; 2implemented 1-not implementation based on the results, the level of capability building in human rights was highly implemented, with a total weighted mean of 2.63. it implies that the pnp personnel in tabaco city were aware and knowledgeable about the program and human rights activities. ichim (2019) says that building the capacities of human rights protectors plays a significant role in determining their security. she suggested that more can be done to increase the effectiveness of capacity building and its function to empower defenders. kenny and clarke (2010) say that the dominance of capacity building can be drawn back to sociological ideas derived from lead policy making. these are active citizenship, agency, and civil society. hence, the norms that highlight capacity building in development programs are directly associated with that genealogy. prevention and control measures against violation of human rights the prevention and control measures against violation of human rights now place more significance on the development of the internal and external targets – the member of the pnp organization and the community. its objective was to decrease the number of human rights abuses and address the legal processes for the violations committed. this prevention and control were conducted to support the police-community partnership, promote and generate the tone of a 114 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 citizen-police partnership, and pursue the collaboration and active support of the community. based on the results, the level of implementation under the prevention and control of human rights was highly implemented by the pnp and community and moderately implemented by the community officials. this implies that the program on prevention and control of human rights was organized and was regularly conducted. likewise, the community officials were aware of the human rights activities implemented through the community human rights action centers (bhrac) program at the community level. it further implies that the pnp was increasingly promoting community participation as a critical component of a successful human rights development program. for maiese (2004), to keep human rights is to guarantee that the community accepts humane treatment since governmental structures that defend human rights are thought to decrease the risk of world battles, and all countries have a role in upholding universal respect for human rights. according to hubert and weiss, humanitarian intervention is essential to protect human rights and uphold peace. internationally, we are affecting the conception that governments have not only an adverse responsibility to respect human rights but also an optimistic responsibility to maintain these rights and protect people. further, johnson and falcetta (2018) also show that human rights law creates, empowers, and forms current practices of public control, often with significant and far-reaching penalties. table 3. prevention and control measures against violation of human rights indicators pnp ai bo ai c ai 1. improvement and delivery of information, education, and communication materials about human rights. 3.60 hi 3.41 mi 3.58 hi 2. the pnp increases public cognizance of hr advocacy through information dissemination. 3.48 mi 3.59 hi 3.49 mi 3. conduct of record of pups and surprise/random inspections of police stations to check custodial facilities. 3.56 hi 3.28 mi 3.47 mi 115 international peer reviewed journal 4. strengthen the capability of the pnp and the communities to respond efficiently to reporting human rights abuses. 3.64 hi 3.50 hi 3.60 hi 5. strong linkage with chr and other agencies in the monitoring of cases of human rights abuses. 3.52 hi 3.28 mi 3.53 hi total 3.56 hi 3.41 mi 3.53 hi legend: 4-highly implemented, 3-moderately implemented; 2implemented 1-not implementation strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance in multi-sectoral cooperation, the philippine national police’s primary objective was to improve and enrich the strong linkage between the organization, national government agencies and organization, the commission on human rights, stakeholders, and the community in pursuit of the campaign, protection, and success of human rights principles in the philippines. table 4. strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance indicators pnp ai bo ai c ai 1. conduct dialogues and human rights-driven activities with different sectors. 3.52 hi 3.53 hi 3.47 mi 2. partnership towards advancing the cause of human rights with the lgu, chr, ngos, community officials and the community. 3.68 hi 3.50 hi 3.37 mi 3. strong coordination with cjs pillars in quest of justice for the victim of hr abuses. 3.52 hi 3.38 mi 3.49 mi 4. creation of continuing information exchange between the pnp and international and local organizations for the improvement of hr. 3.52 hi 3.22 mi 3.51 hi 116 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 5. strong linkage with the different sectoral groups in reporting human rights abuses 3.64 hi 3.47 hi 3.63 hi total 3.58 hi 3.42 mi 3.49 mi legend: 4-highly implemented, 3-moderately implemented; 2implemented 1-not implementation the data reveal that these activities were highly implemented by the pnp and moderately implemented by the community officials and community. this implies that partnerships and collaboration between the pnp and other agencies have been established. as a result, it contributed to the improvement of the human rights situation in tabaco city primarily through the enhancement of the association between the chr and pnp, on the one hand, and local communities and civil society organizations, on the other hand, on the common effort to promote human rights. through community engagement and cooperation, it builds harmonious relationships between communities with related human rights concerns. the pnp and the community exchanged strategic information and resources, engaged in collective actions, and strengthened their capacity to secure human rights and promote community-led improvement. problems encountered by tabaco city in the implementation of the human rights development program in this study, the researcher identified twenty (20) problems that met the conduct of hrdp in tabaco city. these problems were categorized into the four variables used in this study. these problems were rated by the respondents through the checklist. institutional policy development table 2a presents the results of the problem encountered in institutional policy development as perceived by the pnp respondents. the results show that the personnel from tabaco city police station perceived that lacking facilities and equipment in hrdp and custodial facilities was the primary problem encountered in the program, with a frequency of 10 among the 26 respondents. 117 international peer reviewed journal table 5. problem encountered on institutional policy development indicators pnp rank 1. lack of facilities and equipment in the human rights protection desk and custodial facility. 10 1 2. lack of standard systems and procedures from other support agencies relative to the human rights program 9 2 3. inadequate programs of other support agencies for human rights advocacy 8 3 4. too many directives and policies from higher headquarters. 5 4 5. low implementation of the directive and policies of the program. 4 5 this implies that policy is important in the protection of the community from abuse. importantly, the policy communicates internally and externally and reflects the operational policies and procedures to respond in preventing and protecting the community from abuse. like collantes-celador and schwandnersievers (2019) and calubaquib and tilman (2019), it discusses the difficulties of a general lack of policy coherence. capability building on human rights protection based on the results, it was revealed that the depleted number of personnel to conduct and manage the hrdp was the main problem encountered by the pnp respondents. insufficient implementation of organizational strategies and practices will be brought in as a result of unsatisfactory personnel. according to takwi (2012, cited in engetou, 2017), this can be seen in the organization policy on staffing. the purpose of the personnel approach naturally concerns developing means of handling individuals that will support the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. likewise, the accomplishment of organizations can extend on credited to competence and quality personnel. no organization and resources can survive without competent and qualified manpower (az research consult, 2023). 118 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 6. problems encountered on capability building on human rights protection indicators pnp rank 1. depleted some personnel to conduct and manage the human rights development program. 11 1 2. abrupt reassignment of the designated personnel. 10 2 3. those assigned at human rights desk are not dedicated and inadequately trained. 7 3 4. lack of awareness of human rights concepts and processes. 6 4 5. no proper turnover of documents of the personnel. 5 5 prevention and control measures against violation of human rights as perceived by the pnp respondents, the data shows a lack of financial resources to conduct the program was their main problem, with a frequency of 9. moreover, among the 29 respondents that represented the community officials, the lack of a sustainable information drive that instills awareness in human rights advocacy was the main problem they had met, with a frequency of 13. lastly, as perceived by the 43 community respondents, the main problem encountered was the “no sustainability of the program,” with a frequency of 16. table 7. problems encountered on prevention and control measures against violation of human rights indicators pnp rank bo rank c rank 1. there is poor governance, violation of human rights, and the rule of law 4 5 8 4 15 2 2. lack of sustainable information drive that instills awareness of human rights advocacy. 6 3.5 13 1 7 5 3. there is marginalization and discrimination among the population in the delivery of basic human rights services. 6 3.5 5 5 8 4 4. lack of financial resources to conduct the program. 9 1 9 3 13 3 5. no sustainability in the program. 8 2 10 2 16 1 119 international peer reviewed journal nolan (2014) states that a human rights-based approach to budgeting is described as allocating resources in a way that puts people first. however, for its program sustainability, winkler and williams (2017) state the human rights community, together with the sectoral groups, had been involved in the discussions for the new development agenda. further, according to broberg and sano (2017), to have a clear consideration of the human rights-based approach to development, new and appreciated opportunities for providing development support should be given. strengthening of partnership and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance as perceived by the pnp respondents, the lack of cooperation between the community and other sectors is the main problem encountered in the cooperation of multi-sectors, as indicated by the respondents. moreover, based on the responses of the community officials respondents, the main problem encountered in the implementation of the program is the unfamiliarity of the community and other sectors, with a frequency of 12 out of 29 respondents. however, multi-sector collaborations can answer general difficulties, for they can exercise more influence in an organization (axner, n.d.). the awareness of the implementation of human rights has been inadequate for the lawful endorsement of human rights treaties. since this is a requirement for execution in strategy and practice, this must be operationalized, especially to be understood by the community (council of europe, 2016). table 8. problems encountered in strengthening partnerships and cooperation with multi-sectoral organizations for human rights compliance indicators pnp rank bo rank c rank 1. weak partnership with community linkages to support the human rights development program. 3 5 9 3.5 17 3 2. the strained relationship between the chr and pnp is due to statements of the current administration. 9 3 8 5 18 1.5 3. lack of cooperation between the community and other sectors. 11 1 9 3.5 16 4.5 120 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 4. lack of participation of the community and other sectors in the implementation of human rights advocacy. 10 2 10 2 16 4.5 5. the unfamiliarity of the community and other sectors of the program. 6 4 12 1 18 1.5 conclusion from the salient findings, the study concluded that the development of human rights has often been matched by practice. there is rising harmony that the prevention and protection of human rights are imperative. to achieve these goals, the pnp and the community have recognized a series of activities and initiatives both to bring an end to human rights abuses and to create an atmosphere in which they will be accepted and respected. in achieving the goals of program implementation, acceptance and understanding on the part of the pnp, community, and stakeholders must be established. community participation and multi-sectoral collaboration were evident in attaining zero recorded cases of human rights abuse in the locality where the study was conducted. the primary objectives of the pnp in gaining the confidence and self-reliance of the community were achieved. human rights generate situations essential for sustainable development. unsustainable human rights activities decrease partnerships with stakeholders and lessen the awareness and knowledge of the community in hrdp and human rights as a whole. further, the action plan will deliver a strong and user-friendly guide to the pnp organizations and government to maintain the program implementation and protect the community from abuse. the action plan will serve as a tool to ensure sustainability and meet its objectives set for the conduct of hrdp. recommendations in light of the conclusion of the study, this study recommends that the pnp may sustain and maintain the implementation of the activities by inculcating greater social responsibility, intervening appropriately, and acquiring useful and timely information for the planning and implementation of anti-human rights abuse programs and communication activities. the pnp and local human 121 international peer reviewed journal rights council may conduct monitoring and evaluation in implementing the program and strong community partnerships. provide excellent opportunities for the police and the community to discuss issues of concern to the broader community through discussion on police policies and procedures, especially as they relate to the internal accounting system and the prevention of police misconduct. furthermore, the pnp, local human rights council, and human rights advocates may conduct an awareness campaign to educate police personnel and members of the community to enable constructive participation in addressing the problems of safety and security and resolve conflict between and within community groups in a manner that enhances peace and stability. translational research the findings of this study could be translated into an action plan which focuses on human rights education and development programs to address the pressing problems encountered. this will be endorsed through a diverse scope of institutional and education campaigns. these opportunities are values and attitudes that will uphold human rights culture through the development of values and attitudes that maintain human rights. the implementation of this action plan will help both the pnp and the local community. literature cited axner, m. (n.d.). developing multisector collaborations. http://bit.ly/3yq6b1j az research consult, (2023). the impact of capacity building on organization success. http://bit.ly/3mvhxdx broberg, m., & sano, h. o. (2018). strengths and weaknesses in a human rightsbased approach to international development–an analysis of a rights-based approach to development assistance based on practical experiences.  the international journal of human rights, 22(5), 664-680. calubaquib, c., & tilman, n. (2019). regaining dignity and social inclusion: street homelessness in manila and strategies from below.  journal of vincentian social action, 4(1), 11. cerillo, a. c. jr, calandria, r.p., and marribay j. (2020). human rights development program in legazpi city. public safety officer senior executive 122 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 course (psosec) class 2019-02. camp general mariano n castañeda, silang, cavite. collantes-celador, g., & schwandner-sievers, s. (2019). introduction to special section on ‘police reform and human rights in the western balkans’.  the international journal of human rights, 23(4), 447-453. council of europe. (2016). promoting human rights at local and regional levels. https://rm.coe.int/168071b33b engetou, m. (2017). impact of insufficient personnel on organizational performance. ichim, i. (2019).  the capacity building of human rights defenders and (dis) empowerment: an analysis of current practice (no. 6). working paper. johnson, p., & falcetta, s. (2018). human rights as social control. available at ssrn 3233609. kenny, s., & clarke, m. (eds.). (2010). challenging capacity building: comparative perspectives. springer. maiese, m. (2004). human rights protection. found july 15, 2014. mariager, l., & madsen, m. b. (2018). the danish military manual and new wars. mertens, d. m., & wilson, a. t. (2018). program evaluation theory and practice. guilford publications. nolan, a. (2014). briefing paper 3: human rights budgeting. retrieved from https://www.scottishhumanrights.com/media/1909/hrbw-paper-3-vfinal. pdf philippine national police. (2007). letter of instructions 55/07 (“pamana”) or the pnp human rights development program. thompson, w. r. (ed.). (2018). the oxford encyclopedia of empirical international relations theory. oxford university press. winkler, i. t., & williams, c. (2017). the sustainable development goals and human rights: a critical early review.  the international journal of human rights, 21(8), 1023-1028. cover vol 7 copy international peer reviewed journal 15 education for sustainable development as strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation: a literature review donna lou e. neri donnaevasco@yahoo.com university college sedaya international kuala lumpur, malaysia abstract the world health organization (2003) stated that there is growing evidence that changes in the global climate will have profound effects on the well-being of citizens in countries throughout the world. the “business as usual” frame of mind in dealing with this phenomenon is no longer feasible. rather, there is a great need for a “sense of urgency” to empower and actively involve every individual to adapt and to mitigate the worsening of climate change. a great number of studies show that the leadership of the educational system in developed countries for more than 2 decades has been successful in promoting environmental sustainability. some of these studies are reviewed and documented in this paper so that vulnerable countries may learn and benchmark from their experiences. keywords education, sustainable development, climate change vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.151 jpair multidisciplinary journal jpair: multidisciplinary journal 16 introduction climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, pre cipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). climate change might result from natural factors and processes or from human activities. the term “climate change” is often used inter changeably with the term global warming. global warming refers to an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the earth’s surface, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns. however, rising temperatures are just one aspect of climate change (us epa, 2010). climate change is real. one can easily see and feel its impact all around the globe. for instance, flooding is becoming a more common occurrence. birds are nesting earlier, animals are moving territories, the duration and range of seasons is changing. every day, the reporting on climate change highlights the risks and alerts people to measures they can take to both mitigate and adapt. some countries have a choice of media, a choice of funding and a choice of strategies to cope with climate change. however, other countries are less fortunate. for the vast majority of people, the impact of climate change means an increased risk of losing their homes and livelihoods, more disease, less security and sometimes death. children in the world’s poorest communities are the most vulnerable. they are already seeing the impacts of climate change through malnutrition, disease, poverty, inequality and increasing risk of conflict – and ultimately an increase in child mortality rates. according to the world health organization (who, 2008), it will be the young and the poor in developing countries that will suffer the earliest and the hardest. another fact is that climate change is a global issue. hence, addressing it is a shared responsibility. care international (2009) reported that the world’s poorest countries and the most vulnerable people will bear the brunt of climate change. failure to act will render the environments of millions of children and their families even more hazardous. many poor people already live in fragile climates, where food and clean water are scarce and shelter inadequate – climate change will exacerbate this fragility. the children – particularly those in africa and asia – are already facing a future in which it appears likely that international peer reviewed journal 17 disasters will increase in number and become more intense, where economic growth will falter and incomes fall, where disease outbreaks will be more frequent, clean water and good sanitation harder to secure, and habitats and communities less stable (confalonieri, et al., 2007). moreover, many developing countries have poor infrastructure and lack the technologies that could help them cope with a changing climate, such as flood defences and early warning systems. thus, they are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change and their children are the most vulnerable of all. the potential impact on children has been a critical missing element from the debate about climate change. while there is a growing body of literature on the links between climate change and vulnerability, particularly in relation to the impact of natural disasters, research and advocacy activity on climate change and children specifically is less developed (unicef for uk committee, 2008). the examples of the currently unfolding environmental and human impacts of climate change outlined above are striking enough. however, projections of future climate change suggest that the worse is yet to come. the intergovernmental panel for climate change (ipcc, 2008) scenarios indicate that a warming of 2–3 degrees across the globe is likely within the next 50 years – largely the result of greenhouse gases already in the earth’s atmosphere. thereafter, levels of potential warming are likely to be significantly influenced by the levels of greenhouse gas over the coming years. such scenarios predict rising sea levels to threaten large cities in africa and the densely populated river deltas of the ganges and mekong. more so, the glacier melting is likely to disrupt water supplies in asia and latin america. in the 2006 united states climate action report, it was stated that health impacts will be disproportionately greater in vulnerable populations. globally, people at greatest risk include the very young, the elderly, and the medically infirm. low-income countries and areas where undernutrition is widespread, education is poor, and infrastructures are weak will have the most difficulty adapting to climate change and related health hazards. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 18 framework in answer to this pressing need to adapt, the united nations framework convention on climate change (unfccc, 2007) proposed that more can be done to limit human contributions to further climate change. more can also be done to support the poorest and most vulnerable to cope with the likely increase in global temperature and its effects. the likely impacts of climate change compel each individual to act, both to minimize the projected increase in global temperature and to build the resilience of nations and communities to withstand its effects. one very significant strategy is to mainstream climate changerelated lessons in education from pre-school to tertiary level of education (selby, 2008 and namsouk, 2008). a concrete example of this is the united states’ “climate change education program” headed by the national science foundation (nsf). the vision of the climate change education (cce) program is a society that can effectively weigh the scientific evidence as it confronts the challenges ahead, while developing an innovative scientific and technical workforce that can advance the knowledge of human-climate interactions and develop solutions for a sustainable, prosperous future. to achieve this vision, the nsf supports activities to develop more effective models and resources for formal and informal climate change education and training that integrate interdisciplinary climate research and current understanding of how people learn. nsf also supports efforts to establish or enhance mechanisms that help to disseminate, scaleup, or increase utilization of effective practices for climate change education. protecting human health is the “bottom line” of climate change strategies. climate change can no longer be considered simply an environmental or developmental issue. more importantly, it puts at risk the protection and improvement of human health and well-being. a greater appreciation of the human health dimensions of climate change is necessary for both the development of effective policy and the mobilization of public engagement. strengthening of public health services needs to be a central component of adaptation to climate change. the international health international peer reviewed journal 19 community already has a wealth of experience in protecting people from climate-sensitive hazards, and proven, cost-effective health interventions are already available to counter the most urgent of these. broadening the coverage of available interventions would greatly improve health now. coupled with forward planning, it would also reduce vulnerability to climate changes as they unfold in the future (who, 2008). some degree of future climate change will occur regardless of future greenhouse gas emissions. adapting to or coping with climate change will therefore become necessary in certain regions and for certain socioeconomic and environmental systems. the need for adaptation may be increased by growing populations in areas vulnerable to extreme events. however, according to the ipcc, “adaptation alone is not expected to cope with all the projected effects of climate change, and especially not over the long term as most impacts increase in magnitude”(undp, 2008). hence, education is now considered a vital means of reducing vulnerability and increasing adaptive capacity to climate change. a vast majority of studies and literature already talked about strategies to combat climate change health impacts through legislative and technical programmes. however, there is a dearth of data venturing on utilizing education as an effective strategy for empowering every individual to cope with and prevent potential health effects of climate change (selby, 2008; namsuk, 2008). it is in this light that this study is conducted. this research will try to look into the possibility of tapping the educational system, from the pre-school to the basic education, to the secondary and tertiary levels, as well as post-graduate and graduate studies, in the capacity-building to combat the ill-effects of climate change. objectives of the study this paper explored the various educational strategies on climate change adaptation and mitigation from the pre-school up to the graduate school. in particular, this described the experiences, as well as, the best practices on environmental education and education for sustainable development among educational institutions in developed countries. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 20 jpair multidisciplinary journal materials and methods this study utilized the descriptive-analytic research design aided by content analysis of the reviewed literature. educational strategies related to combating climate change, whether adaptation or mitigation strategies, are documented in this paper. both online and printed literatures were explored and organized. data gathered were then analyzed according to the different themes identified. results and discussion environmental education (ee) versus education sustainable development (esd) the world movement for environmental education (ee) first started in the early 1960’s after several experiences of environmental problems. ten years later (1972), during the united nations conference on the human environment in stockholm, governments of member countries issued a declaration. the declaration highlighted that education in environmental matters, for the younger generation as well as adults, is essential for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in protecting and improving the environment in its full human dimension (as cited by venkataraman, 2008). in 1975, 3 years after the declaration, the united nations held an international workshop on environmental education in belgrade. its culminating document, called the belgrade charter, contained the global framework for ee, asserting that it is an active process which will ultimately lead to a society that has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones. for 20 years after the stockholm conference, ee programs developed slowly due to the lack of teachers and professors trained in ecology and multidisciplinary teaching styles. fortunately, at present, there is already an explosion in ee programs. while ee programs initially focused on environmental cleanup and good waste management practices, schools, colleges and universities are beginning to embrace elements of ee with increasing numbers, emphasizing environmentalism as a core principle of their education. international peer reviewed journal 21 in united kingdom, for example, the national curriculum for primary and secondary levels includes education for sustainable development. in india, organizations such as the indian environmental society are actively involved in establishing public and school ee programs and a national green corps. in the united states, the environmental protection agency’s office of environmental education and organizations like the national environmental education foundation have accelerated curriculum development and professional development for teachers. as a result, primary, secondary, and higher education have been increasing efforts to integrate environmental topics across curricula and as real-world applications of scientific principles. however, in 2002, the united nations promoted another framework called education for sustainable development (esd). it further declared 2005-2014 as the decade for education for sustainable development (esd) and highlighted the difference between ee and esd. as defined, ee is a well-established discipline focusing on humankind’s relationship with the natural environment and on ways to conserved and preserve it and properly steward its resources. esd, on the other hand, encompasses ee but sets it in a broader context of socio-cultural factors and the socio-political issues of equity, poverty, democracy, and quality of life. according to the united nations, esd equally addresses all three pillars of sustainable developmentsociety, environment, and economywith culture as an essential additional and underlying dimension. by embracing these elements in a holistic and integrated manner, esd enables individuals to fully develop the knowledge, perspectives, values, and skills necessary to take part in decisions to improve the quality of life. the question now facing the educational community is how can esd be translated into practice so that it can be effective in transforming society to a more sustainable future? the unesco (united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization) in 2006 pointed out that the traditional educational structure acts as an obstacle to esd. they argued that sustainability is not just another issue to be added to an over-crowded curriculum. instead, sustainability must be viewed as a gateway to a different view of curriculum, of pedagogy, of organizational change, of policy and particularly of ethos. at the same time, the effect of patterns of unjpair: multidisciplinary journal 22 sustainability on the current and future prospects is so pressing that the response of higher education should not be predicated only on the integration of sustainability into higher education because this invites a limited, adaptive response. according to venkataraman (2009), people needed to see the relationship the other way aroundthat is, the necessary transformation of higher education towards the integrative and more whole state implied by a systemic view of sustainability in education and society. the problem on nature-deficit disorder and videophilia among children author and child psychologist, richard louv (2005) was the first to coin the term and to diagnose america’s children as having “naturedeficit disorder”. the term refers to a child’s alienation from the natural environment. louv was not alone in this assessment. in 2006, pergams and zaradic added the concept of “videophilia”, which is defined as the human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media (entertainment options such as television, video games and the internet). this was concurred by many educators who have witnessed firsthand the difference between children nowadays and children 30 years ago (bartels, 2008; stevenson 2010; lougheed, 2008; and blum, 2008). according to these authors, not long ago, kids commonly spent after-school hours and summer vacations playing carefree in the woods, fields, hills and water. today, however, most children are busy with electronic games and demanding schedules of structured activities. per observation, this circumstance is not only happening in the americas and europe, but all around the globe. even in developing and poor countries, this is a common everyday scenario, for as long as people can afford to have televisions, video games and the internet. thus, there is a pervasive and fundamental shift away from nature-based recreation. nature conservancy chief scientist, peter kareiva (as cited in lougheed, 2008), suggested that this shift could well be the most serious environmental threat facing the world today. if a substantial proportion of the population has little or no direct interaction with pristine natural environments as children, how will that affect their lifelong attitude toward such places? how will they come to regard the value of environmental science or policy? international peer reviewed journal 23 kareiva wrote further that the fate of biodiversity and ecosystems depends on political and individual choices. if people never experience nature and have negligible understanding of the services that nature provides, it is unlikely that people will choose a sustainable future. cornell university psychologists, wells and lekies (2006) found out that when children become truly engaged with the natural world at a young age, the experience is likely to stay with them in a powerful way shaping their subsequent environmental path. moreover, they noted that the lifelong impact was more profound when the engagement with nature was spontaneous and unstructured, as characterized by the general unpredictability of pursuits such as huntings, fishing, or simply wandering around a forest. wallace (2008) added that by helping children experience the natural world, they are also moulded as future stewards of the earth. starting young: the children and the environment there are a number of ways to teach children about nature conservation and to increase their environmental awareness as it relates to home and school. integrating nature appreciation in the daily school and home activities is a good start (cline and leuvan, 2009). pre-school teachers may simply take the kids outside for a walk in the park, let them play in the stream or appreciate animals in a farm. these kids may also be involved in tree planting and gardening. any activity done “outside with nature” may do as long as these children appreciated and enjoyed communing with nature (clarke, 2010; stevenson, 2010). elementary teachers, on the other hand, can show the older children how others have assumed responsibility to claim a role as an environmental advocate. there are many true stories of young heroes who made serious commitments to saving the environment (lange, 2009; cole 2009; slater 2007; blum 2008; henderson, 2007). driven by internal passions, these “earth angels” (children guardians of the earth), “enviropreneurs” (children who raise money for environmental causes), and “green kids” (children who think of new ways to save resources, promote environmental education and innovative applications) are unstoppable in their determination to make a difference in their communities, regions, and in some cases, globally. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 24 behind many of the “green kids” are teachers who have inspired grades 4-12 students to turn anxiousness about an uncertain future into understanding and finally to transfer knowledge into positive actions than can have small or large scale results. these stories provide actual examples that can be read in class, which demonstrates that environmental stewardship is not just something an adult should be concerned about. in fact, an 11-year old child was quoted saying, “you don’t have to be an adult to make a difference!” from the true stories shared, the kids were able to figure out the need to save the environment, brain-stormed ideas for solutions to the problem, found creative ways to raise money and to increase public awareness on climate change. environmental issues also offer a good opportunity to begin discussions in science, current events, economics, politics, geography, and research. freitag (as cited by blum, 2008), another conservationist, aptly stated that there may be some direct, short term benefit in the money raised or some land saved because children learned to love the environment, but the real payoff may come 50 years later. investing in kidsintroducing them to the beauty of natureis investing in the people who will be making the decisions about how the environment will look in the future. a model middle school in september 2006, sidwell’s middle school in washington dc, where the 2 daughters of president obama are enrolled, received a platinum rating from the us green building council (usgbc). it is the first k-12 school in the united states to have a leed platinum rating and the first leed platinum building in the district of columbia (goffman, 2009). primarily, the building was constructed following the leed standards. the leed (leadership in energy & environmental design) rating system is a voluntary standards & certification program created in 1993 by the us green building council. it is the industry standard for rating high-performance green buildings. leed awards credits for green building attributes including strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, & indoor environmental quality. there are four levels of certification; the certified, silver, gold, & platinum. international peer reviewed journal 25 according to the school head, sidwell wanted to integrate environmental stewardship into teaching and life, keeping with its quaker philosophy. the construction of the leed platinum middle school building has sparked a renewed interest in integrating environmental stewardship into their curriculum. below are some examples of how the building has impacted what goes on in and out of the classroom. sidwell friends school environmental sustainability student activities 1. middle school student advisory projects during the 20072008 academic year, several advisories explored how sidwell friends treats its stormwater run-off, how drinking water is treated, and where the trash goes. 2. dc environmental inventory for the past several years, 8th graders have worked to find out how healthy washington, dc’s environment is. students interviewed scientists, regulators, and enforcers, visited city facilities, took photographs, and wrote up their research. 3. ap environmental science students conduct labs including comparing water quality in the on-campus biology pond to water in a nearby tributary, studying the invertebrate biodiversity in the soil on the green roof, and comparing stormwater runoff from the green roof with runoff from the conventional roof. 4. 8th grade environmental science students participate in labs in which they measure and compare nitrogen and phosphorus levels in various levels of the wetland and in the basement holding tank, and learn the valuable role that wetlands play in purifying water. 5. 8th grade english students engage in reading, writing and thinking about a variety of environmental texts which have sparked communal social action and make connections between the building’s systems and the world outside the building. 6. middle school environmental challenges invite students to reduce their carbon footprint. several challenges are posted jpair: multidisciplinary journal 26 each trimester and students of all ages are encouraged to participate. at the end of the year, the pounds of carbon saved are calculated. 7. green housekeeping the goal of the housekeeping program is to maintain a healthy learning environment. the focus is on cleaning for health, not just appearance. all contracted cleaning staff receive training on green cleaning prior to and during their employment. they use energy-efficient equipment with less environmental impact—low moisture processes, quieter operation, higher filtration, and lower emissions. their cleaning service provider uses green seal certified cleaning products, 100% recycled paper towels and tissues. 8. recycling allows them to reduce the burdens on the environment as a result of both solid waste disposal and the extraction of the natural raw materials. they recycle mixed paper, cardboard, cans, glass, and type 1 (pete) and 2 (hdpe) plastics. 9. additionally, they use a solar-powered trash compactor on their wisconsin avenue campus that operates on 100% solar energy. while its footprint is the same as an ordinary trash receptacle, its capacity is five times greater. this increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. 10. green food service sidwell friends' commitment to environmental stewardship extends to their cafeterias. the food service provider is dedicated to reducing food waste and selecting regional vendors as much as possible to reduce the impact of long distance deliveries on natural resources and promote food safety and integrity. figure 1. examples of school-related environmental sustainability activities. sidwell friends school has become a model institution which schools around the world can emulate. it just illustrated how an academic institution may teach and involve children in sustaining the environment, at the same time ensuring their future. even at young international peer reviewed journal 27 ages, the way children and young people view the environment, and themselves in relation to it, will play a vital role in fighting climate change. towards “cool” colleges and universities all across north america, colleges and universities are taking steps to green their campuses (chiras, 2010). green is not a new color in college campuses. for the past 2 decades, many colleges and universities have started environmental sustainability initiatives such as recycling waste and other measures to reduce their impact on the environment. today’s green movement is much deeper and greener, aimed at creating a sustainable future. over 600 colleges in the united states have joined the campus climate challenge which was started to reduce their contribution to global warming. they are buying renewable energy and implementing energy-efficiency measures that lower their carbon emissions as part of their university policy. they are also building new classrooms and other facilities to much higher, more energy-efficient standards using green building materials often thanks to student insistence (hattam, 2007; underwood, 2007; whittelsey, 2009). so, although the united states government did not ratify the kyoto protocol, most of its citizens, through colleges and universities have taken big steps toward saving the environment. noteworthy to mention is its annual search for top 10 “cool schools” which started in 2007 (hartog, 2008). the top schools earned points in ten categories, namely; policies for building, energy, food, investment, procurement, and transportation, curriculum, environmental activism, waste management, and overall commitment to sustainability. a perfect score in every area would give a school 100 points. the eco league schools prided themselves on integrating experiential learning into the curriculum from backpacking trips to analyses of “leave no trace” ethics and how education can affect avalanche safety. they are also actively pursuing environmental studies, of which a great number of scholarships are offered. college of the atlantic has started paying to offset all its greenhouse-gas emissions. green mountain college now gets more than half its jpair: multidisciplinary journal 28 electricity from generators powered by methane from dairy cow waste. the northland college students voted to tax themselves $20 per semester to fund clean-energy projects (ecoleague.org). also in a league of their own are the 10 university of california campuses. with 220,000 students and 170,000 faculty and staff, the uc system has the ecological footprint of a large city. efforts to reduce that footprint one campus at a time mean the system now leads the higher education pack in making big green changes. at uc berkeley, for example, campus dining options are 65 percent vegetarian, reducing the use of resource-intensive meat-based meals. (pound for pound, more energy, water, and land go into producing meat than vegetables.) harvests from uc davis’ olive trees that once left oil slicks on bike paths have been put to better use in a line of award-winning olive oils. meanwhile, uc santa cruz has offset 100 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions since, and four of ucla’s high-rise dorms now have solarpowered water heaters. farther south, uc san diego generates 7.4 megawatts of its electricity (10 to 15 percent of its total energy) using renewable sources including methane-powered fuel cells, solar, and wind (universityofcalifornia.edu). another environmental-friendly action is the development of “eco-dorms”. schools around the globe have taken to greening campus housing with innovations such as renewable energy, recycled building materials, and composting facilities. in 2008, 318 students at california’s pitter college moved into a new residence hall that has rooftop gardens, solar panels, and low-flow showers and toilets. most building materials, including lumber and metal, came from within 200 miles of the campus. at kentucky’s berea college, 50 to 100 students live in the ecovillage, a group of apartments and learning facilities built around a perm culture food forest (where food grows among trees instead of on a cleared swath of land), vegetable gardens, and a wastewater-recycling system. international peer reviewed journal 29 university of coloradoboulder environmental policy purpose: in keeping with its mission, cu-boulder is committed to providing an educational model for fiscally sound, environmentally responsible stewardship of the campus and its resources. the institution intends to maintain its reputation as a proactive leader in the environmental sciences and campus sustainability. the campus values choices and decisions that reduce the environmental impacts of its actions. compliance with the law is required. environmental education and participation in campus environmental programs are encouraged. policy statement: cu-boulder strives to proactively manage how it impacts the environment, while responsibly managing the resources provided to the campus. as a leader in environmental issues, ucb’s policy is to be responsible in protecting the environment and natural resources. we are committed to: • complying with sound environmental practices, including the commitment to meet or exceed applicable legal and other requirements. • properly managing wastes and pollution. • managing our processes, our materials and our people in a way that considers the environmental impacts associated with our actions. • striving for continual improvement in our environmental management system. date: august 18, 2004 approved by: richard l. byyny, chancellor author: director of environmental health & safety figure 2. sample of a university environmental sustainability policy. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 30 in 2000, the university of colorado (cu) became the first u.s. university to buy renewable energy credits. today the mile-high school supports local offset projects. cu does more than buy its way out of carbon guilt, however. the buffaloes have also made strides in reducing emissions produced in the first place. eighty percent of students commuted car free since 2007. another highlight is on transportation wherein the tuition covers city bus passes and loaner bikes. most campus shuttles, or buff buses, run on biodiesel. implications to education the united nations recognizes education as a tool for addressing human development, health care, environmental sustainability, human values and human rights issues. anghay and japos (2009) concluded in their study on worldwide patterns of education across human development indicators that education is a major component of wellbeing and is used to measure economic development and quality of life. given this vital role in global development, it is very important to explore the implications of education in reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts. based on the literature, management of the impacts of climate change should be two-pronged: adaptation and mitigation. however, many scientists recommended that adaptation should be prioritized first, but must go hand in hand with mitigation measures (bo, 2010). both require political will and technological know-how. therefore, whatever actions will be planned in the educational system for the management of impacts of climate change, they should be enforced from top management up to the bottom. if there is no political support by the educational leaders, these plans may be bound to fail. prior to planning, a review of existing adaptive mechanisms is necessary. the adaptation plan is intended to increase the resilience or the capacity to cope with current and future climate change. adaptation may be anticipatory or reactive, the former being preventive and the latter spontaneous. hence, for a comprehensive plan, it may be important to develop both anticipatory and reactive adaptation plans. according to lacanilao (2009), there is hardly anything the people can do to prevent climate change, but people can increase chances of survival through a paradigm shift in education and research. it international peer reviewed journal 31 means, a “transition from a crisis/symptom mode to a prevention/cure mode” of problem solving. moreover, lucido (2009) emphasized that education must now take a radical turn. education must no longer be confined to teaching the basic and specialized disciplines, but it has to integrate values and lifestyle changes among all its stakeholders. it must not relate only to personal and professional development, but it has to relate as to how people should live to make their present and future sustainable. this is what encompasses education for sustainable development (esd). esd was already endorsed at the highest political levels during the world summit in 2002. the landmark declaration at johannesburg states that sustainable development is built on 3 interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars. these are economic development, social development and environmental protection, which must be established at the local, national, regional and global levels. given the established relationship among socio-economic, health and environment in this study, it may be imperative to shift from the traditional education framework and adopt the esd framework. as aptly expressed by lucido (2009), only a visionary approach to education, like esd, can reorient mankind to better understand their present roles in addressing the complex and interdependent problems that threatened the future. esd seeks to empower people to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. the goal of unesco, being the lead agency for esd, is to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and training. as a catalytic process for social change, esd seeks to fosterthrough education, training, and public awarenessthe values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. this means that esd involves learning how to make decisions that balance and integrate the long term future of the economy/ natural environment/ peoples’ wellbeing now and in the future. as a visionary approach, esd seeks to help people to better understand the world in which they live, and to face the future with hope and confidence. in particular, esd established linkages across poverty alleviation, human rights, peace and security, cultural diversity, biodiversity, food security, clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, preservation of jpair: multidisciplinary journal 32 the environment and sustainable use of natural resources. foremost, t view seeks a better quality of life for everyone now and for the generations to come (esd primer). given this framework for “meaningful learning”, educational systems around the world may opt to start necessary transformations towards achieving environmental sustainability. only after this shift of pedagogy, of curriculum, of organizational structure, of policy and of ethos, will “meaningful learning” may occur. this important shift must happen immediately, no matter how difficult it will be. cruz (as cited by bo, 2010), emphasized the need to act and be decisive as “inaction now will be costlier and indecision now will mean harder decisions in the future”. conclusions data revealed that many educational institutions (low, middle, and tertiary schools) in highly developed countries such as the usa and european countries have started their “go green” campaigns for a decade or more. their environmental sustainability initiatives are reflected in the institutions’ policies, programs and student activities in and out of the classroom. led by the school administrators, faculty, personnel and students have been actively involved in these environmental initiatives. clearly, they have been successful in arousing the interests of the stakeholders in loving and caring for the environment. from the experiences of these educational institutions in developed countries, it can be deduced that the educational sector at any level (international, regional, national, and local) is an excellent avenue for the promotion of environmental sustainability among its stakeholders and even to others. the education for sustainability development (esd) framework promoted by unesco may be an appropriate means to the urgent need of paradigm shift and the integration of environmental sustainability in the educational system. international peer reviewed journal 33 recommendations based on the conclusions, the following are recommended: 1. heads/managers of the educational sector must lead in the fight against climate change. a “pro-active” stance must be initiated more than a “reactive” stance. the esd model of the unesco may be the guiding framework of the educational institutions in initiating steps towards a sustainable future. the educational institutions’ plan (short-term or long-term) for environmental sustainability must be reflected in the school or university policies and may even be integrated in the vision, mission, goals, and objectives (vmgos) for better grounding. these policies will then be the basis for the integration of ecology lessons/ activities in and out of the classroom. aside from curriculum and instruction integration, related activities on exposure and risk reduction as well as development of coping capacity may also be integrated in student services and curriculum extension. integration of environmental education may start from the earliest time a child enters school (preschool) up to graduate school. the earlier a child understands the relationship between man and environment, the better. 2. both teaching and non-teaching personnel must undergo seminars and trainings related to environmental sustainability and climate change issues to better understand the problem and to facilitate change. the transformation process may not be as easy as it seems, therefore, advocacy and capability building are very essential. these education personnel have vital roles to influence both the students and community members. 3. school facilities (canteens, dorms, farms, gardens, etc.) and teaching laboratories may be renovated following the standards of energy and environment conservation, that is, if the school can afford. however, these standards for energy and environment conservation may be utilized for building of future teaching facilities. 4. research is another significant area for the implementation of the environmental sustainability plan. first, the research unit of the school or university must adopt an ecology-friendly agenda jpair: multidisciplinary journal 34 or must prioritized climate change issues in the research agenda. secondly, research findings related to the environment should then be disseminated to the community and to the concern groups to facilitate utilization of research findings. 5. the academic institutions must partner, work hand in hand and collaborate with the local and national government in the fight for climate change. it is also essential to build partnership across sectors (civil society, media, business and industry, tourism, etc.). the educational sector has the potential to influence political leaders through lobbying in policy-making and decision-making regarding environmental issues. literature cited care international. 2009 climate vulnerability and capacity analysis handbook. 1st edition. may 2009. www.careclimatechange.org clarke, kevin. 2010 go outside and play. u s catholic journal. 75(4):39, april 2010. confalonieri, u., b. menne, r. akhtar, k.l. ebi, m. hauengue, r.s. kovats, b. revich and a. woodward, 2007 human health. climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. contribution of working group ii to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on 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www.climatescience.gov unicef for uk committee. 2008 our climate, our children, our responsibility . the implications of climate change for the world’s children. international peer reviewed journal 37 unicef uk climate change report 2008.www.unicef.org. uk/climatechange. united states environmental protection agency (us epa). 2010 climate change indicators in the united states. april 2010. www.epa.gov/climatechange/indicators.html world health organization. 2010 data and statistics. retrieved april 8, 2010 from the who homepage: http://www.who.int/research/en/ world health organization. 2008 climate change and health report by the secretariat. 16 january 2008. world health organization. 2003 new book demonstrates how climate change impacts on health. news release retrieved april 8, 2010 from the who homepage: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ releases/2003/pr91/en/ pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 131 international peer reviewed journal martial arts among the bangsamoro muslim: history, tradition, culture, and religion morad sabdullah umpa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4230-5331 msumpa594@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city 9700 philippines originality:95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract in islām, there are four fundamental factors of social development and change – personality, tradition, accident, and people. the qur’an says: “verily never will god change the condition of a people until they change it themselves [with their souls]. (q-13:11). therefore, the researcher’s aim is assessing the integration of islāmic values in the teaching of martial arts in the youth for them be good followers of islām thru inculcation in their minds and their behavior the real sense of a true muslim. essentially, this study is descriptive, which aimed mainly to serve as an exposition on the religion, traditional culture, and history of the muslims in the philippines and their implication relevance to martial arts. the various data collected through in-depth study, interview and observation showed that islām prepares people to be a fruitful citizen in the society. it also aimed for the total development of man not only in the religious aspect. thus, martial arts play a vital role in islām not just as a means of self-defense, but as vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.634 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 132 jpair multidisciplinary research a system of ethics. man and fighting are by nature intimately related; in fact, history shows that they are inseparable. locally, the bangsamoro has a very rich historical foundation in martial arts that is directly derivable from the roots of islāmic propagation. and as man became civilized, hand-to-hand fighting also became specialized and humanized and, gradually. thus, the term martial art is recognized today as a specialized field of knowledge which should be inculcated together with education for the total development of the new generations leading to a society imbued with rich morality. keywords — martial arts, history, tradition, culture, religion, total development of man, morality. introduction the history of martial arts is as old as the history of the human race. it is the history concerning not only of the whole strategy of war science but the history of the development of man’s instinct for survival. because ever since man has thought of protecting himself from the dangers around him, he has tried to find out the devices to make himself stronger and mightier. along with these centuries-old martial arts, history is that of islām. the latter is not only a religion; it is a way of life. it is an all-embracing system of life that covers all aspects of human existence, including martial arts. islām is not just spiritual, it calls for action. so the muslim must implement allāh’s vicegerency on them on earth, but they cannot do it with just prayer and supplication. they must seek the way, method or manner by which that trusteeship of the earth to them by god [allāh] can be implemented. the bangsamoro, in general, are dominantly [if not natural] martial artist people because their religion and culture, even if not intended, have martial arts functions and values; in fact, their religion exhorts them to learn the martial arts, and most of their traditional lifeways, games, music, dances, some beliefs, and practices would enhance if not develop a martial capacity. moreover, while resisting foreign domination for more than three centuries, they have acquired strong martial tradition from the best martial arts/civilized fighting school ever, the school of experience. (alilaya, 1973) to clarify this concept, the life of the prophet muhammad [peace and blessings be upon him] is a very good proof. he was born an orphan. he was a portrait of hardship, but the rigors of life only molded him into a strong and 133 international peer reviewed journal consummate person. he was so trustworthy that even the people who hated him to the bone did not dare call him a liar. he was so mighty that he was the complete master of himself. muhammad was the paramount exemplar of civilized or humanized fighting. he demonstrated throughout his life the perfect fusion of love, composure, and tranquility of mind while fighting; he was arguably the best embodiment of an ideal frame of mind in the oriental martial arts. (an-nadawi, 1993). the success of muhammad was the triumph of righteousness. his formula for reform, his maxim for justice, his guiding star in life, and his might that would prevail over all odds were “lā ilāha illa allāh” [there is no god but allāh]. the prophet had never gone to formal schooling, but he was a consummate embodiment of theory and action in his time, because he possessed the basics of all knowledge and skills: physical capability, mental and spiritual stability, sincerity, self-contentment, patience, concentration, good manners, and right conduct; he had eliminated the “sins of the heart” and the “vices of the tongue” (al-ghazzali, 1278 ah). framework a common saying in martial arts is trained both “internal and external.” the training involving the eyes, arms, feet, body, and stances refers to external training, while internal training involves the mind, heart, breathing, strength, and spirit. the latter is where the islāmic teachings mainly find its relativity, while the history of islām is to the former. the following are the basic component of martial arts: discipline, stances, application, and weapons. then, meditation can be used to develop focus, mental clarity and act as the basis for training. in many martial arts systems, meditation is considered to be an important component of basic training (ahsan, 1971). these learning areas of martial focus on the development of responsible and worthy home membership. it provides activities that emphasize the development of desirable work attitudes, basic work skills, and habits and the production of useful articles through learning situations relevant to everyday chores at home, school, and community. then in islam, we have islāmic education command not to forget to train the body, mind, and heart in pursuit of attaining even the least level of prophet muhammad’s embodiment of a developed human being. thus, during the lifetime of caliph ‘umar ibn al-khattāb ordered that children be taught swimming, horse-riding, military arts. (el kardani, 1989). 134 jpair multidisciplinary research finally, comes the bangsamoro people who were mainly, if not all, subscribers of islām having a very rich foundation in martial arts as evidenced by the historical records of their struggle. objectives of the study this study aimed to describe the bangsamoro martial arts and to evaluate the ancient bangsamoro traditional culture, with a view of examining and analyzing the validity of the integration of islāmic values in the teaching of martial arts, so that the young generation can learn the teachings of islām not only through enrolling in the ‘arabic schools, but, instead, they can acquire the needed education in the western-oriented medium of instruction as well. in essence, the purpose of this study was to look at different aspects of how we regard the mind and body relationship in the martial arts, how we develop this relationship, how we can feed back what we have learned into the training and our daily lives? which are all for the objective of reaching total development of man. methodology research design this study utilized the descriptive and/or qualitative research design. the method was used to gather necessary data including textual information, interview, and observation of various techniques used in martial arts. the purpose is (i) to gather data martial arts in autonomous region in muslim mindanao, (ii) to collect various techniques and tactics of the bangsamoro martial arts, (iii) to get relevant information about history, tradition, culture, and religion of the bangsamoro martial arts. research site initially, this study began upon the queries which the world organizer of martial arts (woma) regarding the bangsamoro martial arts presented to the researcher. after accumulation of resources to answer them, he was offered to enroll in their educational institution and therein he realized this research thru the means of an online medium. as broad as the topic seems, the study was heavily centered in lanao del sur of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm). this for without a doubt is because armm is the home of the bangsamoro which they defended valiantly and successfully from the years of invasion from different oppressors. 135 international peer reviewed journal participants for being a muslim scholar and a martial artist at the same time, the researcher was ecstatic for the fruition of this study as he was able to get in contact with the variety of styles in the field of self-defense. presently, there are about over 50 clubs in the whole province of lanao del sur who were part of the woma – armm. although mainly dominated by meranaos, the said organization has masters and disciples who are maguindanaon, tausug, kalagan and other muslim dominated tribes in the philippines that were brought together and united under the name of martial arts and islām. among the participants also were prominent ulamā and traditional leaders of the bangsamoro people, specifically that of meranaos. the researcher interacted with them for the enrichment of the historical texts found by the former in the books and journals of some of the libraries situated in lanao del sur. instrumentation the data gathering for this study was done through an in-depth study and reading of available literature including internet references; utilizing existing records as the major tool, and direct personal interviews with selected informants who are expert in the problem. the main instrument used was a set of questionnaires. before the questionnaire was distributed to the respondents of the participating clubs, a letter of permission was sent. when permission was granted, a collection of data was started immediately. letter of request for the instructors to patiently answer the questions was distributed along with the questionnaires. the researcher personally delivered the questionnaires to the respondents in their respective clubs. results and discussion islām in the philippines the periods following the demise of the prophet muhammad led to the expansion of islām to europe, africa, and southeast asia. in southeast asia, islām was spread throughout the world by three methods. first, is thru the muslim traders in the course of their commerce; second, thru learned men who set out from india and ‘arabia to preach and deliver the message of islām; and lastly, thru holy war. (alilaya, 1973) islām first obtained a firm footing in southeast asia in north sumatra via the trade route from india and the west. being the main trading center of the area, 136 jpair multidisciplinary research malacca became the great stronghold of the faith, from where it spread out. islām influence then intensified and reached as far as ancient malaysia which in turn would expand in the yet to be found in the philippines (cesar, 1973). in the early 14th century, the strength of the sulu sultānate was enhanced by malay leaders who helped the natives in developing politically, economically, and religiously. rajah baguinda is one of those sumatran princes that came to the philippines in 1390 together with a group of learned men in islām. islām taught the natives the concept of monotheism. this enlightened them on the absolute oneness of god and emphasized to them the quality of an islāmic nation [ummah] described by the holy qur’ān, as a single nation [q-21:92]. this concept refers to the fraternal bond binding them all as a single body emphasizing the importance of brotherhood kinship in islām. their adherence to the islāmic faith changed the destiny of their fragmented society to a single nation, the islāmic ummah. before the arrival of foreign colonizers to the philippines, muslims enjoyed full independence as they already had a well-organized form of government, the sultānate, which attained various achievements at the height of its power. the sultān served as both political and religious leaders, protector and defender of islām, following the islāmic political system of no separation between church and state. as a religious leader, the sultān was called shadow of god in the earth [zillullahi fil ardh], based on the islāmic political point a view that man, particularly a leader, is the vicegerent of god. bangsamoro bangsamoro is literally translated into “moro nation.” almost all moro lives in mindanao and other parts of the southern philippines. for this, mindanao is considered the homeland of the moro people. with the coming of the spaniards and the american, the bangsamoro declined. both colonial powers incorporated the independent bangsa islām into the philippines state, reducing the power of the sultān, especially during the american regime. muslims had successfully resisted the spanish colonizers, especially in the mindanao region, but it cost them a lot. those natives who settled in luzon and visayas fell to the hands of the spaniards after few attempts of resistance; the muslim continued to defend their nation, people, and religion (cesar, 1973). spain made use of different propaganda to win the war and name-calling is one of them. the muslims of mindanao were branded with the name moros, 137 international peer reviewed journal which is primarily negative. they were used synonymously with terms such as pirates, barbarians, juramentados, and others. however, muslims in the philippines have used since then the term moro as the rallying point for the unification of the different native communities that adheres to the teachings of islām. using the important principle of brotherhood in islām, those different tribes were consolidated into one body or nation that would amplify their strength and force against any entity that tries to put them under foreign sovereignty. starting from the spanish colonization up until the american regime even to this very moment, moros have remained faithful to islām. when there is imminent danger of foreign invasion, the muslims resorts to jihād to defend their faith. this deepening islāmic awareness has become the mobilizing factor that fuses the different moro tribes into a single nation as part of the islāmic universal concept of ummah islāmiyyah. the right to self-determination is the right of peoples everywhere to determine their political status freely and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development freely. the right to self-determination has political, economic, social and cultural aspects. for the right to be fully effective, the realization of the political, economic, social and cultural sovereignty of peoples is crucial. selfdetermination is a continuing process where people continue to make choices to achieve human security and to fulfill human needs. (lingga, 2007) as early as the middle part of the 15th century, the bangsamoro people are already experienced in statehood and governance. there were already states and governments having diplomatic and trade relations with other countries like china in sulu, tawi-tawi and the islands of basilan and palawan by the time the spanish conquistadors arrived in the philippines, the muslims of mindanao, had already established their own. this goes to show that islām stands on record as the first political institution, the first institutional religion, the first educational system and the first civilization in the philippines and that its economy was far advanced than those of the other indigenous communities. but before the bangsamoro could fully grow into full nation-statehood, a series of foreign colonial interventions came their way. the bangsamoro region is what is known popularly as the home of the muslim filipinos. this land includes the provinces of basilan, cotabato, davao del sur, lanao del norte, lanao del sur, maguindanao, palawan, sarangani, south cotabato, sultan kudarat, sulu, tawi-tawi, zamboanga del sur, and zamboanga sibugay. the cities of cotabato, dapitan, dipolog, general santos, iligan, 138 jpair multidisciplinary research marawi, pagadian, isabela, puerto princesa, and zamboanga are also included in part. the martial arts the word martial means “to do with war” and martial arts are ways of fighting and training to fight. some of the first martial arts were designed to kill or harm opponents. others were invented to help people defend themselves from attackers. this is called self-defense. man and fighting are by nature intimately related; in fact, history shows that they are inseparable. scholars in martial arts have advanced that hand-to-hand fighting is as old as the human species, and its early form was crude and savage. but as man became civilized, hand-to-hand fighting also became specialized and humanized and, gradually, more sophisticated and involved into what is now known as the “martial arts.” with advancement in civilization, man has devised ways and means to facilitate his activities, invented tools to make work easier and developed more advanced skills in barehand fighting and weaponry. thus, in the modern world, the term martial art is used to mean civilized special skills in barehand fighting and/or weaponry. the martial art is one of the products of civilization. thus, the martial arts is a “beautiful’ way of fighting; it is civilized fighting; a harmonious blending of scientific or highly effective fighting skills with good manners and right conduct, through a civilized [philosophical, religious, ideological] martial way (alilaya, 1973). the martial arts, therefore, are inseparable from the values of discipline, willpower, humility, cleanliness, and sincerity. in their highest forms, the martial arts involve love, composure, and tranquility of mind while in the state of fighting. the martial arts is one of the manifestations of the degree of physical and spiritual refinement a person has attained. initially, after man had experienced the bitterness of fighting and wars or any event that involved violent struggle, the effort to tame or educate his natural tendency to fight could have been suppressive, as perhaps exemplified by the biblical commandment “thou shall not kill,” revealed unto prophet moses more than three thousand years ago. but when humanity realized that it was impractical to altogether eliminate the instinct of man to fight, it approved of the tendency of individuals or group of individuals to prepare for situations that called for attack and defense. thus the beginning of the science of civilized warfare or military arts. as humanity advanced in time and developed in civilization, religious and philosophical concepts were eventually adopted as controlling parameters of the 139 international peer reviewed journal martial psyche of man. oriental scholars agree that the earliest of these controls was set [accidentally] by the indian buddhist monk named boddhidharma. in the middle east, we can single out a few: moses, david, solomon, and even the famous warriors trained by the bani makhzūm of the quraysh ‘arabs, the zoroastrianism devoted rulers of the sassanids in persia. in the seventh century a.d., the muslims believe that the best among the best embodiments of spiritual stability, warfare, religiosity, and leadership has appeared in the person of prophet muhammad (this belief is further strengthened by michael hart’s the one hundred, a list of one hundred most influential people in the history of mankind; muhammad ranked first.). but almost six centuries after the first patriarch of buddhism, shakyamuni buddha, and about five centuries before buddhism’s 28th patriarch, boddhidharma, the paramount example of “nonviolent resistance” [probably, the most ideal form of civilized or humanized fighting –compare this also with aikido’s “non-violent” approaches to combat] was seen in the person of jesus. boddhidharma, jesus, muhammad, and virtually all the prominent martial artists in the orient, have a common denominator [although they differ in degrees]: religiosity, spiritual stability, and physical capability. (alilaya, 1973) in a similar light, the obligatory five times daily [salāt] ritual prayer help stimulate the soul and the body which greatly aids in trying to achieve such profound wisdom which clearly emphasized by perfecting and conditioning the body and obtaining a high level of fitness. then follows the ritual duty of pilgrimage [hajj], demanding a great deal of physical and mental effort. indeed, islām mandates harmony of “a sound mind in the sound body.” bangsamoro martial arts refers to the meeting of ancient and newer fighting methods devised in the philippines, the most popular of which is known as arnis. this was initially realized as the filipino people developed battle skills being a direct result of their ever-changing circumstances. they learned out of necessity how to prioritize, allocate and utilize common resources in combative situations. they have been heavily influenced by the phenomenon of the cultural and linguistic mixture. some of the specific mechanisms responsible for this are wars, political and social systems, technology, trade, and practicality. the native tribes focused on combat with sticks, knives, swords, spears, and bows and arrows, while practicing unarmed combat forms. originally, kuntaw traces its roots back 1500 years to ancient china. trading ships between the philippines and indonesia are presumed to have introduced chinese kun-tao, kun means fist and tao: a way of; thus kuntao signifies a way of 140 jpair multidisciplinary research the fist. the muslims adopted it and made kuntaw a secretive art taught to the bangsamoro people and thus kuntaw can be traced back to the southern filipino island of mindanao which is predominantly muslim. kuntaw has incorporated techniques from silat, and some forms even changed their name from kuntaw to silat. styles which combine both kuntaw and silat together are sometimes called kuntaw silat. (alilaya, 1973) in the 15th century, silat was used extensively to keep treason and colonialism at bay. the one who practices silat begins and ends his practice by submitting to allāh. he worships and fears none but allāh the most glorious one. therefore, the pesilat has never been the aggressor but merely a defender. as the pesilat matures, his exercises are no longer physical but more spiritual and metaphysical. and ultimately, the bangsamoro of the southern philippines was in fact never subjugated by the spaniards and the americans using only with their bladed tools out of scarce and more natural resources. martial arts originating from the far east is impressed with deep mystical and spiritual foundations coupled with the doctrines and philosophical beliefs of confucianism, buddhism, taoism, and islām. islām aroused the appetite of its followers to practice and excel in wu shu [military arts in chinese], as a sacred practice. this is reflected in a famous islāmic proverb; some consider it a saying of the prophet muhammad, inspiring muslims to “seek knowledge, even in china.” during the “battle of trench” in 625 ce, the prophet showed an example of how this principle is applied. he adopted a stratagem put forward by salmān al-fārisi, to defend madīnah by constructing a defensive trench surrounding the city. such a plan was totally unknown to the ‘arabs but was commonly used by the sasanids in persia. (an-nadawi, 1993) in 651 ce during the tang dynasty, a delegation was sent to china by caliph ‘uthmān ibn ‘affān [644-656 ce] from madīnah, led by sa’d ibn abī waqqās, from banī zuhrah, the clan of āminah daughter of wahb, mother of the prophet muhammad, who arrived at the port of guangzhai to deliver the peaceful message of islām. sa’d was one of the most courageous warriors and commanders. he was known as one of the best archers in history. accordingly, he never missed his target. before sa’d journeyed to china, he had engaged in many battles along with many prominent companions like alī bin abī tālib, a skilfull swordsman, who was honored with a famous sabre “dzul fiqar,” by the prophet who exclaimed: “no sword can match dzul fiqar, and no young warrior can compare to alī. alī was honored with the title “asad allāh” [the lion of god] for demonstrating exceptional bravery in his courageous fighting 141 international peer reviewed journal skills and his spectacular swordsmanship. his mastery in swordsmanship gained him popularity and a tremendous influence on the muslim ummah [nation]. starting from morocco to north-western china, early muslims practiced what was called as the art of stick fighting of alī’ or known more popularly as “alī’s stick.” (khamouch, 2007). a frame of mind involved in martial arts is known with various names: wushin [“nothingness” or “no-mind-ness”] in chinese kung fu [gung fu]; “fighting without fighting” in jeet-kune-do; “prajna immovable” in japanese swordsmanship; “mind like the moon reflected in still water” in karate; “love” or “harmony with the universal ki [life force]’ in aikido; “lā hawla wa lā quwwata illa billah” [there is no way and power except allāh’s] in islāmic silat, and may be known as “daa kandowadowa” [literally, no hesitation] in the fighting psychology of the muslims in the philippines. it requires the absence of fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, lust, envy, covetousness, pride [arrogance], and vanity in one who is fighting. (alilaya, 1973) a classic example in islāmic history of one whose appropriate frame of mind has spilled out in combat. during a lull in the battle of uhud [march 22, 625], there was one quraysh who has been harboring a pledge to kill the prophet because of the humiliation of his son in the battle of badr, one year and a week earlier. the man, named ubayy bin khalaf, mounted on a large and powerful horse, rushed out to challenge the prophet for single combat. “ubayy ibn khalaf was approaching the prophet on his horse. he saw the companions move out of the way. he saw the prophet waiting for him, and grudgingly he admired the man he had seen out to kill. the prophet was wearing two coats of mail. he wore a chain helmet, the side-flaps of which covered his cheeks. his sword rested in its sheath, tucked into a leather belt, and in his right hand, he held his spear. ubayy noticed the powerful, broad strong enough to break a spear in two. the prophet looked at magnificent sight.” (ibn hisham, 1995) the fact that the prophet muhammad was one of the strongest muslims during his time was not popularly known even among muslims. he was only mentioned always as being the mastermind, but there were very little records shows his valor and strength in the field of battle. his great strength together with the fact of his being divinely selected makes him a formable opponent he would probe to anybody. however, as ubayy was had just killed a muslim, his spirits were high and he was undaunted by the prophet’s presence. (akram, 2009) “as ubayy reached the prophet, he pulled up his horse. he was in no hurry. not for a moment doubting that muhammad would await his attack, he took 142 jpair multidisciplinary research his own time overdrawing his sword. and then suddenly it was too late, for the prophet raised his spear and struck at the upper part of ubayy’s chest. ubayy tried to duck but was not quick enough. the spear struck him on the right shoulder, near the base of the neck. it was mind wound but ubayy fell off his horse, and in the fall broke a rib. before the prophet could strike again, ubayy had risen and turned tail, running screaming towards his comrades. they stopped him and asked how he had fared, to which ubayy replied in a trembling voice, “by allāh, muhammad has killed me.” (ibn hisham, 1995) the lā hawla wa lā quwwata illa billāh [“there is no way and power except allah’s], is a couple of steps higher than “no-mind-ness” or full determination. it is “oneness” [in the sense of being vicegerent] with the maker/source of all material and spiritual existence; it uses ihklās [intuitive sincerity/innocence/nondualism/way of nature [sunnatullah] -“no-mind-ness” and focused thought are just portions of theseto attain a level where one can spontaneously actualize or “physically manifest” the power of allāh. in effect, an attacker or an adversary actually goes against nature [and who could stand against nature?] or against the maker/source of nature, thus causing either gradual or instant destruction to himself. (alilaya, 1973) every human being needs martial arts or civilized fighting for this reason: chances to be attacked and the necessity threat for defense are indelible from worldly existence. thus to neglect the cultivation of martial arts [or civilized fighting] is either to remain abject to violent oppression, injustice, and chaos or follow the ways of barbarism-the excessive and unjustified use of force-in defending oneself. in either case, life becomes miserable. the moro wars for more than three centuries of resistance to foreign intruders, the muslims in the philippines have accumulated rich traditions in martial. since 1521 when lapu-lapu [who is believed to be a muslim] brought ferdinand magellan his knees in the battle of limasawa, through the carnage of lamitan, balangingi island, marawi, bud dajo, bud bagsak, up to the present century, the muslims in the philippines have been fighting the metamorphic forces of colonialism and imperialism. thus they have acquired legacy in fighting from the best martial art school throughout history, the school of experience. but unlike the barbarians who have developed crude and savage ways of fighting from their harsh ecology and unrefined ways, the muslims in the philippines have been refined by their islāmic culture. (alilaya, 1973) 143 international peer reviewed journal the numerous expeditions of the spaniards supported by the conquered natives to the muslim lands in the philippines, the frequent raids of the muslims on places already controlled by the spaniards and the muslims from about the coming of legaspi in 1565 to the last days of spanish dominations in the philippines, have been lumped together by some historian under the heading “moro wars.” the moro wars, in addition to their being deadly and devastating, were encounters of agility, power, endurance, timing, courage, determination, patience, organization and skills in hand-to-hand combat. in these contests for supremacy, both the spaniards and the muslims did really win and lose. the muslims were able to preserve their way of life at the expense of peace and lagging behind in virtually all aspects of modern development; while the spaniards were able to demonstrate their “crusading spirit” at the expense of spoiling their gains in the visayas and luzon. moro fighting and the martial arts it is a historical fact that the muslims were influenced by the culture of the great hindu-malayan empires of sri vijayan [7th-14th century a.d.] and madjapahit [13th16th century a.d.] sri vijayan and madjapahit malays according to reports were skilled warriors, farmers, and seamen. (inosanto, 1982) the ternatans and borneans, who may have already received training in martial art of silat which is believed to be developed in the state of malacca as early as the eleventh century a.d. (mustaffa, ahmad, & wong 1978), were closely related to the royal families of sulu and maguindanao, and were having strong trade and cultural interactions long before the coming of the spaniards to the philippines. the spaniards could be threatened by the martial arts sophistications of the muslims in the philippines from their interactions with the ternatans; in fact, one of the reasons of the spaniards’ mercenary expedition to maguindanao in 1521 was to drive away the ternatans who have knowledge in warfare (majul, 1973) which, by this time, was virtually in the form of martial arts. by implication, the chinese who have studied and developed their martial arts for more than 4,000 years (ming and kung, 1985) particularly in the art of chi kung [internal kung fu], must have a significant contribution to the fighting, the capacity of the muslims. it was learned from chinese sources that as early as the last quarter of the thirteenth century, the suluans and the chinese were already having a progressive trade. often times, the suluans would detain some chinese, for fear of not coming back to trade again, until the latter’s trading vessels would call back to sulu (majul, 1973). chances were high that these detained chinese belong 144 jpair multidisciplinary research to the elite, and hence, would be possessed with training in martial arts as it is an integral part of their norms. moreover, there was an exodus of chinese to the philippine islands, possibly via sulu during the height of the manchu invasion of china in the 12th century a.d. (inosanto, 1982). perhaps, more important than their learning from other peoples who have a rich heritage in martial arts was their accumulated practical learning synthesized from centuries of fighting invaders. along with this belief, the author propounds that the martial skill of the muslims was continuously honed by their resistance to foreign invaders while they hold fast to their way of life and their religion of islām. spirituality and fighting among the oriental martial artists, it is an undisputed fact that the highest stage in the cultivation of fighting skill could only be attained after the physical techniques are fused with spirituality. this could not be surprising to those who have some degree of intimacy with the martial arts, because fighting cannot be really effectively performed with mere muscles; it should have appropriate courage and concentration, things which can be only obtained in abundance, from most religions and/or philosophical concepts. in southeast asia, for example, it has been an open secret that accomplished practitioners and masters moro, malaysian, and indonesian martial arts [silat] are deeply spiritual. (inosanto, 1982) but this is not exclusive to the orientals. a glean from the religious history of the middle east can show that the fusion of spirituality, fighting, and extraordinary endurance was attained by the semitic prophets: moses, david, solomon, jesus, and muhammad. a reading on the scriptures of judaism, christianity, and islām will inform us of the defeat of the pharaoh and his mighty army by prophet moses and the israelites, the slaying of goliath by david, the superhuman endurance of jesus during his death march to calvary, the decisive defeat of the more than one thousand-man well-equipped army of the quraysh ‘arabs in the “battle of badr” by just a little over three hundred ill-equipped muslims. but perhaps, the most extraordinary example of the fusion between spirituality and fighting was demonstrated by prophet david when ‘he slew the syrians of seven thousand men which fought in chariots and forty thousand footmen, and killed shophach the captain of the host’... divine intervention was a determining factor of this event, but the point is that these people had demonstrated uncommon courage, determination and psycho-physical stability which were undoubtfully derived from their being religious. (alilaya, 1973) 145 international peer reviewed journal the muslims, aside from their prophet muhammad, had also known other fine embodiments of fighting and spirituality, a few of them: hamzah, the “lion of allāh”; alī, ‘umar, ibn al’ās, khālid ibn al-walīd, the “sword of allāh” and salāhuddin al-ayyobī [saladdin], the conqueror of the mongols. self-control is the best measure of spirituality in martial arts, and the muslims believe that an exemplar of this was demonstrated by prophet muhammad when the about 10,000 strong muslim armies triumphantly entered makkah in the 10th of ramadhān in the 8th year of hijrah. (an-nadawi, 1993) in spite the strength at his disposal, he freely forgave the makkans; the people who had caused untold miseries on him and the early muslims. this was also described by lyn-pole in this manner; “the day of muhammad’s greatest triumph was also his grandest victory over himself.” in the “middle ages,” christian europe has also known the fine embodiments of physical skill in combat and the psychological stability derived from the religion of christianity through the knights of the crusades. in the orient, it is believed that the kshatriya [warrior class] of india, the shaolin warrior monks of china and the “night warriors” of medieval japan [not the ones we see in the movies], the hwarang do of the silla dynasty in korea, and the elite warriors of the hindu-malayan empire of sri-vijaya were also “spiritualized.” in the southern philippines, during the later half of the nineteenth century [decline of the sultānates], another fine embodiment of religion and physical skills in combat had emerged; the early sabīrs. distinct from all other world religions, islām exhorts its believer to learn and cultivate the martial arts to be used only in the way of allāh [jihād fī sabīlillāh]. the religion itself is inseparable from martial arts; most of its religious rituals, even if not intended, have martial art functions and values. these functions and values, largely in terms of mental and psychological stability. when islām reached the philippines, it brought with it an indelible agent of purification and liberation. the paganistic culture of the people which came into contact with islām was educated and, gradually, its harām [prohibited] aspects were eliminated and supplanted with islāmic values. the long process of islāmization, which was believed by scholars to have begun with the existence of the first muslim settlement or community in sulu sometime in the last quarter of the thirteenth century or even earlier [about two hundred ninety years before miguel lopez de legaspi reached, in 1565, a part of the territory now claimed by the philippine state], resulted in the physical, moral and spiritual transformation of the muslims as an independent people in the ummah islāmiyyah [islāmic 146 jpair multidisciplinary research community] in the malay world. (majul, 1973) this event explains why they fought and died for their islāmic ideology during the period of colonialism in their homeland. islām and the martial arts the word ‘islām’ is derived from the ‘arabic root ‘silm’ which means, among other things, peace, purity, submission to the will of god and obedience to his laws. (abdalati, 1975) however, islām is not only a religion but a way of life [dīn] built upon its principles. islām is the “all-pervasive law which governs all that comprise the universe, which regulates all that is in the heavens and the earth, from the tiniest speck of dust to the magnificent galaxy”(dimaro, 1989), it governs all aspects of human existence; politics, law, economics, the sciences, military actions and all other human endeavors, including martial arts. islām, the way of life of muslims must be observed in all daily activities, ranging from the simplest personal purification to having an interrelationship with other people. obedience to divine guidance is obligatory to every muslim because it is the only valid basis of judging the value of human action. as a book of divine guidance, the qur’ān was revealed as a criterion of right and wrong. and allāh promises that whosoever follow his guidance, “there shall be no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.” (q-3:4) the islāmic belief system is anchored on the belief that god is the creator, sustainer and sovereign lord of the whole creation. everything originates from god and everyone is responsible to him. man, being god’s vicegerent [khalīfah] on earth is accountable to all his actions. if he does well, he will be rewarded; if he does evil he will be meted the corresponding punishment. among the meanings of what allāh has said in the holy qur’ān: “whose doeth good an atom’s weight will see it then, and whoso doeth evil an atom’s weight will see it then.” (holy qur’ān, 99:7/8) the prophet has said in this manner: “every one of you is a guardian and everyone will be asked about his subjects.” (al-bukhari, 1981) muslims who are true to their religion must be efficient workers for “allāh likes those who perform their duty into perfection” as the prophet said. in fact, it is the consensus of muslim scholars that the proper performance of islāmic rituals as prayer [salāt] and fasting [saum] is already training for discipline and efficiency. islāmic prayer and basic principles of martial arts worship [ibādāt] is the essence of all islāmic activities including learning the martial arts. prayer in islām is the chief of all worships because it is the best way of instilling a consciousness of allāh. 147 international peer reviewed journal the objective of martial arts is humanized ways of self-defense through a system of mental and physical training. for the muslim, prayer should be the backbone of that training. however, unlike the hard school of martial art, and the strenuous movements in western athletics, the self-defense training in islāmic prayer is not apparent to one who is used to irreplaceable waste of energy and development of bodily organs. a muslim who is sufficiently trained in the correct performance of islāmic prayer provides protection against mental and physical stress. a muslim considers it as the ultimate cure to all forms of human ailment. (alilaya, 1973) in the performance of islāmic prayer, the physical actions are slow and not forceful. the movements are parallel to the movements in the soft school of martial arts where energy is conserved rather than wasted. practitioners of the soft school concentrate on breathing flow, control and circulation of their internal body energy rather than giving attention to the activity of their muscles. similarly, in spite of the movements, while praying, a muslim can focus all his actions, thinking, and feeling to the presence of allāh. at the time of fighting, tremendous energy of the muslim, most probably accumulated and conserved in prayers and other religious devotions is released, proof, which explains why in the pious act of jihād fī sabīlillah, they can conquer odds. conclusions in the light of the important findings of the study, the researcher formulates the theory that, generally, the bangsamoro are martial. this could be inspired by at least one of the following: their religion, their culture and traditional lifeways; their historical experiences; and, their legacy from other peoples who have a rich heritage in martial arts –the chinese, malays, and indians. from this theory, three corollaries could be derived: one, in general, the psyche of the bangsamoro is religiously and patriotically martial. this could probably help explain why their religion, history, and traditions must be heavily considered in dealing with them. two, the resistance of the bangsamoro which lasted for more than three centuries against the spanish menace was also made possible by their capacity in fighting. dr. majul argued that political organization that was relatively more advanced than those of the other inhabitants of the country, and the natural tendency of the muslims to resist any form of outside dominations, galvanized by their will to defend their way of life, were responsible for the people’s remarkable resistance to more than three centuries of spanish menace. while that leaves virtually no room 148 jpair multidisciplinary research for argument, it must be further said that without the inherent capacity of the muslims to fight, such a feat is not likely possible; any tendency to resist colonial domination in the era of colonialism also depends on the capacity to fight. translational research this research was translated into meranao dialect and debuted as a book in the meranao vernacular. its first copies were given to the public for free as customarily observed by the researcher. the researcher also intends to publish the book in the english language. the book format of this research was mainly a historical manuscript with diagrams serving as manual to those who want to learn the martial art style of the researcher, taekwondo, in their own. this would be a huge contributor to the attainment of the totality of man’s development. literature cited abdalati, h. (1975). islām in focus. maryland; international graphics printing services. ahsan, m. (1971). islām: faith and practice. chesterfield: derbyshire print. akram, a. i. (2009).  sword of allah: khalid bin al-waleed his life & campaigns. adam publishers. retrieved from https://goo.gl/y7yk7w alilaya, a. i. (1973). the martial arts and the muslims in the philippines. mindanao islamics journal (vol. 4, no. 1) al-ghazzali, abu hamid mohammad ibn mohammad. ihya ulum addin. almat’baatul misriyyah. 1278 ah. an-nadawi, abul hasan ali. siratu khatamin nabiyyin. mawsuat ar-risalah, bierut 1993. cesar, a. m. (1973). muslims in the philippines. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ x8f2vz dimaro, m.l. (1989). state and government: an islamic perspective. mindanao islamic journal (vol. 2, no. 1). https://goo.gl/y7yk7w https://goo.gl/x8f2vz https://goo.gl/x8f2vz 149 international peer reviewed journal el kardani, muhammad fathi (1898). the philosophy of physical education in islam: islam today. journal of the islamic educational, scientific and cultural organization (isesco). july 1989 ibn hisham, abi muhammad abdul malik, siratun nabawiyyah. darus sahabah litturas, 1995. inosanto, d. (1982).  absorb what is useful. know now publishing company. retrieved from https://goo.gl/4gvewp khamouch, master muhammad. (2007) 1001 years of missing martial arts. foundation for science technology and civilisation. retrieved from https:// goo.gl/c1tnuc lingga, a. s. m. (2007). self-determination and peace in mindanao.  internet: http://www. yonip. com/main/articles/selfdetermination% 20and% 20peace% 20in,  20. retrieved from https://goo. gl/xmgdhk mustaffa, k., ahmad, k., & wong, k. k. (1978).  silat melayu the malay art of attack and defence/ku ahmad bin ku mustaffa, wong kiew kit. oxford university. retrieved from https://goo.gl/mjytxw https://goo.gl/4gvewp https://goo.gl/c1tnuc https://goo.gl/c1tnuc https://goo.gl/xmgdhk https://goo.gl/xmgdhk https://goo.gl/mjytxw cover single with doi 138 jpair: multidisciplinary research vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.10 published online: august 2012 college academic performance of teacher education students in a state university of northern philippines juanita b. pascua juanita16_pascua@yahoo.com jane d. navalta leila m. dela cruz julius s. valderama nvsu.edu.ph nueva vizcaya state university nueva vizcaya, philippines abstract the study determined the factors that influence the college academic performance of the respondents. this study used the descriptive and correlational survey methods of research with document scanning. it was found that gender and degree/course of the respondents were not significant factors in college academic performance; hs gpa was a significant factor that influences college academic performance; admission test score in english and science had no significant relationship on the college academic performance but in mathematics, however, the higher the overall admission test score, the higher is the college academic performance; male respondents did not differ in college academic performance when compared with their female counterparts and the beed respondents did not differ in college academic performance when compared with their bsie and bsed counterparts; and there was no significant difference between admission test scores in general information and science when compared with their academic performance; however, when grouped jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 139 international peer reviewed journal according to admission test in english, those who obtained average and above average scores performed better in college than those who got failing and below average scores while in mathematics, those who obtained average and above average scores performed better in college than those who failed and got below average scores. keywords academic performance, grade point average, admission test score introduction college life is nothing more than a tough challenge to beat. it entails rigorous academic work that would separate the “chaffs” from the “grains,” the “able and “unable.” it’s a whole new world that high school graduates who are dreaming to finish a degree would enter with much excitement and apprehension. in order to thrive in college, freshmen acquaint themselves with strategies that would help them survive their university years. these strategies are boosted by the quality of basic education that they bring with them in the university. facility in the tool subjects mathematics, english and science provide the incoming college students the necessary knowledge, skills as well as the relevant attitudes in beating the rigors of academic work. as students push themselves towards achieving their goals, their ability and proficiency in dealing with every academic endeavor, may give them an edge over those with lesser ability and lower in proficiency level. predictors of a freshmen’s survival in university education needs to be determined. these may provide decisions on classifying freshmen students and fitting them to courses that suits their abilities and inclinations. framework grade point average (gpa) as one of the main factors associated with the admission test result of student measures how well one is doing in his academic studies. it is the average obtained by dividing the total quality hours for course for which one is registered for any 140 jpair: multidisciplinary research state or period of time. gpa ensures that a student’s performance is easily understood by many institutions around the world that rely on gpa in the assessment of the performance of students prior to, and during their course of studies. all good grading systems recognize and reward multi-skilled students. under gpa, performance in a given set of courses summarizes overall performance (tru.ca/policy/allpolicy. html). high school gpa is considered a reliable gauge of future college achievement because it measures academic performance over a fouryear period. students in college preparation classes gain familiarity by studying some of the same liberal arts classes they will encounter in college, including english and the social sciences. similar approaches to teaching that rely on lectures, tests, term papers, labs and final exams also make the transition to college classes easier (briggs, 2011). moreover, admission test scores (ats) measures a high school chance of academic success on their college studies. the educational testing service (ets) also claims that the test measures not just how capable individuals answer questions but how they will perform in the academic world (http//:www.philippineeducation.edu). students can take the scholastic admission test (sat) subject test to show colleges their mastery of specific subjects like english, history and social science, mathematics, science and language. the sat subject test gives students an additional opportunity to distinguish themselves and showcase their skills in a particular subject area (http//:www. collegeboard.com/parents/tests/testing overview/2194html). objective of the study the study was conducted to determine the factors that influence the college academic performance of the respondents. materials and methods the study used the descriptive and correlational survey methods of research with document scanning. the descriptive part described the demographic profile of the respondents, and the level of college academic performance. correlation procedure was used to determine 141 international peer reviewed journal the relationship between the demographic profile variables and the level of college academic performance of the respondents. comparative analysis was used to determine the differences between selected demographic profile variables and the level of college academic performance of the respondents. document scanning was used to gather the profile of the respondents. results and discussion demographic profile of the respondents gender the table shows that out of 211 respondents, there were 167 (79.15%) male and only 44 (20.85%) female respondents. most of the respondents were male. table 1. demographic profile of the respondents demographic profile frequency percent gender female 114 79.72 male 29 20.28 total 143 100.00 degree/course beed 65 45.45 bsie 10 6.99 bsed mapeh 18 12.59 bsed gs 13 9.09 bsed tle 5 3.50 bsed eng 32 22.38 total 143 100.00 hs gpa 75.00 79.99 8 5.60 80.00 84.99 54 37.76 142 jpair: multidisciplinary research 85.00 89.99 65 45.45 90.00 94.99 15 10.49 95.00 and above 1 0.70 total 143 100.00 degree/course the data show that 97 (45.97%) of the respondents belonged to beed, 45 (21.33%) were bsed english majors, 24 (11.37%) were bsed mapeh majors and 18 (8.54%) bsed general science, 15 (7.11%) bsie, and 12 (5.695) were bsed tle majors. majority of the respondents were beed students. hs gpa based on table 1, 67 (44.37%) of the respondents obtained a high school grade point average ranging from 85.00 89.99; 55 (36.42%) got an average ranging from 80.00 84.99; 19 (12.58%) obtained a gpa of 90.00 94.99; nine (5.96%) got 75.00 79.99; and only one (0.66%) obtained a hs gpa of 95.00 and above. most of the respondents got a hs gpa ranging from 85.00 89.99. it implies that the college advisers concerned followed admission requirements except for few cases. level of admission test score of the respondents general information as presented in table 2, 78 (54.55%) of the respondents belonged to the average group; 47 (32.87%) were above average; 14 (9.79%) obtained scores under below average category; and only 4 (2.79%) were superior. majority of the respondents got an average admission test score in general information. english based on the table, 93 (65.03%) of the respondents got below average 143 international peer reviewed journal scores in admission test; 40 (27.97%) obtained average scores; 7 (4.90%) failed; and only 3 (2.10%) got above average scores. more than half of the respondents got below average admission test scores in english. science table 2 shows that 87 (60.84%) out of 143 respondents belonged to score range below average; 44 (30.77%) obtained average scores; 8 (5.59%) failed; and only 4 (2.80%) got above average scores in science component of the admission test. most of the respondents got below average scores in science. mathematics it could be gleaned on the table that, 77 (53.85%) obtained below average scores in mathematics component of the admission test; 43 (30.07%) failed; 20 (13.99%) got scores under average category; and 3 (2.09%) obtained above average scores. almost one-half of the respondents got below average scores in mathematics component of the admission test. table 2. level of admission test score of the respondents level of admission test score frequency percent general information below average 14 9.79 average 78 54.55 above average 47 32.87 superior 4 2.79 total 143 100.00 english failed 7 4.90 below average 93 65.03 average 40 27.97 above average 3 2.10 144 jpair: multidisciplinary research total 143 100.00 science failed 8 5.59 below average 87 60.84 average 44 30.77 above average 4 2.80 total 143 100.00 math failed 43 30.07 below average 77 53.85 average 20 13.99 above average 3 2.09 total 143 100.00 legend: general information english science math failed 0-9 0-19 0-13 0-11 below average 10-14 20-29 14-20 12-17 average 15-19 30-39 21-27 18-23 above average 20-24 40-49 28-34 24-29 superior 25-29 level of college academic performance of the respondents english out of 143 respondents, 66 (46.15%) got a college gpa of 2.00-2.49 which was described as good in their english subjects; 40 (27.97%) obtained a college gpa range of 2.5 – 3.00, described as fair; 31 (21.68%) belonged to gpa range of 1.50-1.99 which was described as very good; and 6 (1.00 1.49) obtained a gpa of 1.00-1.49 which was excellent. 145 international peer reviewed journal table 3. level of college academic performance of the respondents college gpa frequency percent english 1.00 1.49 6 4.20 1.50 1.99 31 21.68 2.00 2.49 66 46.15 2.50 3.00 40 27.97 total 143 100.00 science 1.00 1.49 2 1.40 1.50 1.99 13 9.09 2.00 2.49 56 39.16 2.50 3.00 72 50.35 total 143 100.00 math 1.00 1.49 5 3.50 1.50 1.99 8 5.59 2.00 2.49 30 20.98 2.50 3.00 100 69.93 total 143 100.00 overall gpa 1.00 1.49 5 3.50 1.50 1.99 22 15.38 2.00 2.49 78 54.55 2.50 3.00 38 26.57 total 143 100.00 legend: college gpa qualitative description 1.00 1.49 excellent 1.50 – 1.99 very good 146 jpair: multidisciplinary research 2.00 2.49 good 2.50 – 3.00 fair most of the respondents were described as good in their college academic performance, specifically in english subjects. science seventy-two (50.35%) of the respondents obtained a gpa of 2.50 3.00 in science described as fair; 56 (39.16%) got 2.00-2.49 gpa which was evaluated as good; 13 (9.09%) obtained 1.50-1.99 gpa which was noted as very good; and only 2 (1.40%) were evaluated as excellent with gpa of 1.00-1.49. the data imply that most of the respondents got only a grade of fair in science subjects. mathematics it could be noted from the table that 100 (69.93%) of the respondents got a college gpa in mathematics ranging from 2.50 3.00 described as fair; 30 (20.98%) got a gpa of 2.00-2.49 which was evaluated as good; 8 (5.59%) obtained a gpa of 1.50 1.99 which was noted as very good; and 5 (3.50%) got a pa ranging from 1.00-1.49 which was evaluated as excellent. the data connote that most of the respondents got only fair marks in mathematics subjects. overall gpa the data indicated that 78 (54.55%) of the respondents obtained an overall gpa of 2.00 2.49 which was noted as good; 38 (26.57%) obtained a rating of fair under the gpa range from 2.50 3.00; 22 (15.38%) obtained a overall gpa of 1.50 1.99 which was evaluated as very good; and 5 (3.50%) got an excellent overall gpa of 1.00 1.49. this data imply that more than one-half of the respondents obtained an overall gpa which was evaluated as good. this further implies that the respondents are good in english, science, and mathematics. 147 international peer reviewed journal relationship between college academic performance and the demographic profile variables of the respondents table 4 presents the relationship between college academic performance specifically in english, science and mathematics and the demographic profile variables of the respondents. table 4. relationship between college academic performance and the demographic profile variables of the respondents gpa in college (college academic performance) r sig* gender 0.009 0.904 degree/course -0.048 0.498 hs gpa -0.310 < 0.001 admission test scores general information -0.035 0.618 english -0.093 0.190 science 0.044 0.537 mathematics -0.188 0.008 total -0.246 0.001 * .05 level of significance as presented in table 4, the computed r value -0.310 indicated that there is significant relationship between college academic performance and high school grade point average. based from the result, the null hypothesis was rejected. the result further implied that the higher the hs gpa, the higher is the gpa in college/ college academic performance. the result of the study supports the findings of briggs (2011), that grades accurately predict college gpa than standardized tests regardless of the quality or type of high school. although standardized tests are used to estimate the performance of incoming freshman, grades attained over a four-year period in high-school most closely align with those over four years of college. these numbers are similar 148 jpair: multidisciplinary research regardless of academic discipline or major. moreover, the result of the study of comeaux (2005) suggests that students with high gpas in high school tend to get high gpas in college. likewise, niu and tienda (2009) in their study, found that high school class rank is a better predictor of college performance than standardized test scores. in mathematics, the obtained r value -0.188 indicated that there was significant relationship between college academic performance and admission test score in mathematics. it could be inferred that the higher the admission test scores in mathematics the higher is the gpa in college. the overall computed r value -0.246 indicated significant relationship between the college academic performance and overall admission test score. this further indicated that the higher the overall admission test score, the higher is the college academic performance. admission test scores (ats) measures a high school chance of academic success on their college studies. the educational testing service (ets) also claims that the test measures not just how capable individuals answer questions but how they will perform in the academic world (http//:www.philippineeducation.edu). difference on the college academic performance when grouped according to demographic profile variables table 5 presents the test of difference on the college academic performance when grouped according to gender, degree/course, hs gpa, and admission test scores. based on table 5, the result indicated the test of difference on the college academic performance when grouped according to the admission test scores in general information, english, science and mathematics. 149 international peer reviewed journal table 5. difference on the college academic performance when grouped according to demographic profile variables demographic profile variables mean sd t / f sig gender male 2.241 0.355 0.015 0.904 female 2.252 0.540 degree/course beed 2.251 0.638 2.011 0.079 bsie 2.339 0.287 bsed -mapeh 2.422 0.324 bsed – general science 1.999 0.411 bsed –tle 2.474 0.271 bsed –english 2.180 0.300 admission test score general information failed 2.173 0.261 1.781 0.134 below average 2.378 0.303 average 2.324 0.650 average and above average 2.131 0.349 english failed 2.202 0.273 3.212 0.024 below average 2.343 0.596 average and above average 2.086 0.394 science failed 2.213 0.266 0.176 0.913 below average 2.247 0.291 average 2.287 0.851 above average 2.226 0.578 150 jpair: multidisciplinary research mathematics failed 2.307 0.660 4.206 0.007 below average 2.268 0.292 average and above average 2.020 0.399 english. the computed t value of 3.212 indicated significant difference on the college academic performance of the respondents. the respondents whose scores are with failed category differ in their academic performance compared with those in the average and above average category. respondents who scored under below average differ significantly in their college academic performance than those whose scores belong to average and above average scores category. in general, respondents who obtained average and above average admission test scores in english, performed better in college than those who got failing and below average scores. this could be true since english is commonly used as medium of instruction in the classroom except for filipino subjects. mathematics. based on the computed t value of 4.206, it indicated significant difference in college academic performance when grouped according to admission test scores in mathematics. respondents who failed and got average scores in mathematics admission test differ in their college academic performance; those who got average scores differ in their academic performance with those who obtained above average scores. those who got below average scores differ significantly with those who obtained average scores those who obtained average scores differ in their college academic performance with those whose scores are above average. generally, respondents who obtained average and above average scores in mathematics component of the admission test, performed better in college than those who failed and got below average scores. 151 international peer reviewed journal conclusions based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: high school grade point average was a significant factor that influences college academic performance of the respondents. the higher the hs gpa, the higher is the gpa in college/college academic performance. in mathematics admission test score, the higher the overall admission test score, the higher is the college academic performance. admission test scores of respondents in general information, and science, did not differ as compared to their college academic performance. however, when grouped according to admission test score in english, respondents who obtained average and above average scores performed better in college than those who got failing and below average scores. in mathematics admission test score, respondents who obtained average and above average scores performed better in college than those who failed and got below average scores. recommendations based on the results of the study, the following recommendations are given: 1. the college of teacher education screening committee should adhere to the quality standards of admission and retention set for education students. 2. there is a need to further review the items included in the admission test given by the university testing center to really determine what course or specialization is suited to the student concerned. 3. further study is recommended and to consider other variables which could be perceived to be directly affecting the college academic performance of the students and to be conducted in a wider scope. 152 jpair: multidisciplinary research literature cited briggs, j. 2011 high school grades and college performance. retrieved on june from http://www.ehow.com/about_6308320_high-schoolgrades-college performance.html comeaux, e. 2005 predictors of academic achievement among student-athletes in the united states sports academy “america’s sports university”. retrieved on june 2011 from http://www. thesportjournal.org/article/predictors-academic-achievementamong-student-athletes-revenue-producing-sp niu, s. x. and m. tienda 2009 testing, ranking and college performance: does high school matter? princeton university. niu@princeton.edu, tienda@ princeton.edu the relative predictive validity of act scores and high school grades in making college admission decisions. 2011 retrieved on june from http://www.act.org/research/ policymakers/ pdf/ predictivevalidity.pdf online databases tru.ca/policy/allpolicy.html http//:www.collegeboard.com/parents/tests/testing overview/2194html http//:www.philippineeducation.edu pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research the manifestation of socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the teaching and non-teaching personnel in the philippines: an ethnographic inquiry ruby d. tagocon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6191-7424 ruby.tagocon@ustp.edu.ph university of science and technology of southern philippines claveria cagayan de oro city, philippines ismael n. talili ismael.talili@ustp.edu.ph university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 99 • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 1 abstract communication is immensely dynamic in the 21st century as evidenced by the fast-changing communication mechanisms. however, global trends show that oral communication skills are still considered among the most desired skills that employers are seeking in the workplace. thus, there is a need to explore the manifestation of the socio-cultural components of the personnel, namely: behavior, attitude, and etiquette in their oral communication practices particularly the informal manner, as the components bear a significance when vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.574 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:ismael.talili@ustp.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 31 international peer reviewed journal they engage in such form of communication interaction. direct observations of thirty-eight episodes of the teaching and non-teaching interactions of the personnel were noted followed by a focus group discussion with seven selected personnel that validated the results of the observed manifestation of their sociocultural components and likewise explored other underlying factors that shaped and developed their socio-cultural components. behavior (facial expressions) and etiquette (voice tone) components mainly dominated in their interactions, yet the attitude component is also significant to them. the manifestation of these components is situational given their respective upbringing during childhood as a major perceived aspect that established these components. a desirable manifestation of these components is encouraged when engaging in informal oral communication interactions so to become a competent communicator in the workplace. keywords: technology communication management, socio-cultural components, informal oral communication, direct observations, focus group discussion, philippines introduction throughout the 21st century, communication has been drastically dynamic, making human connection fast and easy in the global context through the aid of various communication tools. communication shapes and is shaped by a range of contexts such as geographically co-located work as examined in the mission of international communication association (ica). the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) recognizes the prevalence of intercultural dialogue which has now become an inevitable reality in today’s modern society. furthermore, global trends show that communication skills specifically oral communication skills are considered among the top and most desired skills that employers are looking for in the workplace (rittiman, 2015; rapacon, 2015; & jackson, 2014). indeed, communication is highly indispensable in any context. global competitiveness and increased knowledge sharing have accelerated the importance of oral communication skills where it dominates assurance of learning standards (jackson, 2014). as society becomes more globally connected, the ability to communicate across cultural boundaries has gained increasing prominence (matthews & thakkar, 2012). however, the ability to communicate effectively does not come easily to many people; indeed, it is a skill that requires practice (agarwal & garg, 2012). 32 jpair multidisciplinary research informal communication in organizations is highly important considering its many benefits including the development of new interpersonal relationships, awareness of others’ activities, and information exchange (yuan, setlock, cosley, & fussell, 2013). in addition, temby, sandall, cooksey, and hickey (2016) found that informal communication is an essential factor in facilitating inter-agency collaboration. informal communication in work settings is defined as voluntary talk that does not have to solely work or task focused (fay, 2011). furthermore, zhao (2012) concluded that this type of communication provides opportunities among employees for exchanging work-relevant information, initiating potential collaboration, maintaining awareness of workplace context; and supports social functions such as transmission of office culture and maintenance of common ground and a feeling of connectedness between co-workers. conversely, omilion-hodges and baker (2014) emphasized that employees regularly discussing their work experiences with those outside the organization make everyday talk within the organization shapes its identity while employing powerful effects on external perceptions. on the contrary, baker and warren (2015) found out the existence of clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities in an organization as a nuisance to considered, constructive, and collaborative conversations. similarly, as pointed out by baker (2015), others inhibit conversations although some conversations support organization enhancement. nevertheless, baker and warren (2016) pointed out that the interactions which enable people to work together are experienced through dialogue and conversation, both direct and indirect and using a variety of means and formats. conversations – formal and informal, simple and detailed, short and long – shape and reflect the culture or organizations and the teams and groups within them as attested by the authors. however, a need to conduct further research in the field of oral communication is still called for considering the limited researches in this area (crosling & ward, 2002; brink & costigan, 2015; rhoades, 2016; & siriwardane & durden, 2014). similarly, the international federation of communication associations (ifca) claimed that there is a very limited exchange of communications research between both developed and developing countries. moreover, there is a compelling gap in soft communication skills in the entry-level workforce as claimed by gibson and sodeman (2014) and mahasneh & thabet (2015). furthermore, laurie brenner, a published author in career trend, revealed that lack of listening, questioning and feedback are among the top communication problems in the workplace that create misunderstandings and confusion. thus, the aforementioned arguments 33 international peer reviewed journal are clear indicators of the need to further explore the socio-cultural factors of oral communication in the workplace. moreover, studies reported that cultural diversity serves as a challenge in oral communication (lum, dowedoff, bradley, kerekes, & valeo, 2014; marra, king, & holmes, 2014; henderson, barker, & mak, 2016). several studies have also shown the influence of diverse socio-cultural factors (e.g., language, attitudes, norms, values, and beliefs) in communication (uyanne & oti, 2012; zamanzadeh rassouli, abbaszadeh, nikanfar, alavi-majd, & ghahramanian, 2014; & gut, wilczewski, & gorbaniuk, 2017). the employees who compose the organization’s workforce possess diverse socio-cultural backgrounds which affect the way they communicate especially in informal communication that is done casually. ismail, tuspekova, and mustaffa (2018) emphasized that investigating oral communication in relation to one’s self and the scope that molds one’s attitude towards a language is deemed important. hence, given the aforementioned premises, socio-cultural factors indeed play a crucial role in the informal oral communication practices in the workplace setting. in the university of science and technology of southern philippines – claveria which is currently absorbing the transition from being a former state college for 33 years to being a university, the practice of informal oral communication is very evident as this form of communication dominates in all units and offices. however, it has been observed that the personnel both teaching and non-teaching possess varying ways in their informal oral communication practices which at times, a shared understanding is not met which affect the work output. unlike the formal type of communication which is composed of formal communication channels based on the individual’s role in the organization (nwogbaga, nwankwo, & onwa, 2015), the informal oral communication form is being done voluntarily in the workplace like chatting with a colleague or transacting official matters in an informal way of oral communication. moreover, nwogbaga et al. (2015) emphasized that the informal communication is not managed or planned in any organized fashion but based on social contexts and emotional disposition. rather, it is more relaxed, casual and tends to be spread by word-of-mouth quickly throughout a department or organization because it is not restricted to approvals and an established path of distribution. similarly, oteyza, balmoria, and sabularse (2018) pointed out that good communication climate in an organization promotes relationship building aside from being a means of transferring ideas and information. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research a workplace filled with diverse attitudes, behaviors, and etiquettes of the personnel that manifest their informal oral communication interactions may not often promote a shared understanding and may also lead to a chaotic workplace unless the personnel is empowered to appreciate the significance of communication competence towards good rapport with everyone in the workplace. this concept will prove that a person’s attitude, behavior, and etiquette can still be enhanced when knowledge and awareness on communication competence be instilled particularly when engaging in informal oral communication interactions in the workplace that will eventually build and sustain a good rapport as a claim in this study. it is on this premise that the study aims to explore the manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel; manner of manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel; perceived factors that shape and develop the socio-cultural components of the personnel when they engage in informal oral communication practices...and the perceptions of the personnel in their engagement in informal oral communication interactions. framework the study is anchored on safina’s investigation of socio-cultural competence and crosling and ward’s study on the forms of oral communication practices. safina (2014) investigated the stages and methods of socio-cultural competence forming which is considered to be a complex phenomenon. this include linguistic-cultural – knowledge of lexical items with the socio-cultural semantics (e.g., greeting, forms of address, and farewell, in oral and written speech); sociolinguistic – knowledge of the language features of social classes, different generations, genders, social groups; and cultural component – knowledge of cultural peculiarities of english-speaking countries, their habits, traditions, standards of behavior, etiquette and the ability to understand and use them appropriately in the communication process, while remaining a carrier of another culture. this study focused only on the cultural component aspect particularly on behavior and etiquette including the attitude of the personnel which will be explored as to how these factors manifest their informal oral communication practices. moreover, a study of crosling and ward (2002) in oral communication examined the forms of communication practices such as making informal work35 international peer reviewed journal related discussions, following instructions, giving feedback, and engaging in informal social conversation. moreover, the researcher added following up on work-related matters as a form of communication practice. these forms of informal oral communication practices were adopted in the study. figure 1. the research paradigm hence, safina and crosling and wards’ studies served as anchors that guided in conducting the study. as such, the manifestation of socio-cultural components on the informal oral communication practices of the personnel at ustp-claveria is determined. adopting safina’s socio-cultural components and crosling and ward’s forms of communication practices could lead to an enhanced and enriched communication in the workplace with focus on the informal oral communication practices. objectives of the study the study explored the manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel at university of science and technology of southern philippines – claveria. it sought to explore the following: 1) manner of manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel specifically when making informal work-related discussions, following instructions, giving 36 jpair multidisciplinary research feedback, engaging in informal social conversation, and following up on workrelated matters; 2) perceived factors that shape and develop the socio-cultural components of the personnel when they engage in informal oral communication practices; and 3) the perceptions of the personnel in their engagement in informal oral communication interactions. the textual data gathered through direct observations on the manifestation of the socio-cultural components of the personnel in the pre-determined communication interaction episodes were used in validating further the observed primary components that dominated in their communication interactions through a focus group discussion. moreover, the data gathered in the focus group discussion were used as bases for analysis on the manner of the informal oral communication interactions of the personnel given their diverse behavior, attitude, and etiquette. methodology the collection of data immediately started first with thirty-eight (38) direct observations of episodes in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel. the researcher conducted direct observations for two months and two weeks which started in the fourth week of october 2017 until the first week of january 2018. the researcher utilized the non-participant observation technique. each observation of episode was recorded through the use of an episodic observation log. the researcher took down notes of each of the observations indicating the date of observation, time and duration, participants involved, topic(s) discussed, scenario and the observations of the socio-cultural components, namely: attitude, behavior, and etiquette of the respective personnel during the conversation. the observation log contains reflective notes about what the researcher has realized or learned from the communication transactions observed. this act in qualitative research is called memoing. after obtaining the direct observations, the researcher coded the textual observations using the nvivo 10 software, a qualitative data analysis tool. through the nodes that “provide ‘ simple to work  with structure’ for creating codes and discovering themes (zamawe, 2015; p. 3)”, the thematic analysis was carefully accomplished. the coded observations and themes of the observed manifestation of the socio-cultural components of the personnel in their informal oral communication interactions were then used by the researcher in the formulation of questions for the focus group discussion. 37 international peer reviewed journal before the conduct of fgd, the researcher drafted a letter of request to conduct the fgd to select teaching and non-teaching personnel of ustp claveria addressed to the university chancellor which was acted upon by the officer-in-charge. once approved, the informed consent was then sent by the researcher to seven selected university employees representing the teaching, and non-teaching personnel who favorably responded to join the focus group. as soon as the number of target participants was achieved, the fgd was set according to the convenience of all individuals involved. prior to the conduct of fgd, the researcher oriented the participants first on the ground rules during the duration of the discussion. the purpose of the study was also discussed briefly to them including the core constructs considered in the study. meanwhile, the discussion was led by the researcher who acted as a facilitator at the same time with an interview guide questions to the participants along with an audio and video recorders that captured the whole process of the fgd specifically the verbatim statements of the participants. the discussion took an hour, and the documentation was transcribed for three to five days. for the results analysis, coding and thematic analysis for qualitative data were applied by the researcher using the nvivo 10 software. results and discussion the study explored the manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel at the university of science and technology of southern philippines – claveria. it sought to explore the following: 1) manner of manifestation of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel specifically when making informal work-related discussions, following instructions, giving feedback, engaging in informal social conversation, and following up on workrelated matters; 2) perceived factors that shape and develop the socio-cultural components of the personnel when they engage in informal oral communication practices; and 3) the perceptions of the personnel in their engagement in informal oral communication interactions. the researcher found out that conversing with colleagues freely and sharing their ideas on work-related matters is a common episode when the personnel are engaged in informal work-related discussions and informal social conversations. yet, the conversations were not smooth sailing at times when discussing workrelated matters as observed. moreover, the researcher also recognized a friendly 38 jpair multidisciplinary research demeanor when the personnel are engaged in conversations that involve following instructions, making informal work-related discussions, and giving feedback through their facial expression, gestures, and voice tone during the interaction as observed as well as for being comfortable with one another by the personnel when talking. in addition, the researcher also observed that the personnel were being relaxed in a manner most of the time when engaged in informal social conversation and talks involving work-related matters since they can casually talk and express themselves in these types of interactions. the manner of responding to a given situation per experience is a factor that matters to the personnel. they attested that attitude is the major factor that matters most in their communication interactions. as clear in the following perspectives from the personnel, discourses on attitude and why it matters in informal oral communication interactions: attitude is the most important aspect and supposedly should also be the factor above all that every front liner should possess. unfortunately, attitude causes hindrance sometimes to communicate with our co-employees and to the students as well because we cannot read a person’s mind and for who he or she really is (participant 1, non-teaching personnel). our behavior and etiquette are products of our mindset – our attitude. i always believe that the attitude is raw and you cannot, i mean you can fake a times, but again and again, along the way, you will go back because the foundation of your behavior is fake (participant 2, nonteaching personnel). even myself, i have an attitude that will really show up at times when us girls tend to have a hormonal imbalance, and it is a big factor because when that day comes, you cannot control it. it will really come out no matter if you are in the workplace (participant 3, teaching personnel). attitude is already innate in us (participant 6, teaching personnel) communication between the boss (laughs a bit) and me because it is also necessary that you as the subordinate will also be approached in a proper way, thereby establishing a good working relationship (participant 7, non-teaching personnel). 39 international peer reviewed journal hence, the importance of a favorable attitude during interactions is significant (d’souza, devi, & sheilini, 2013; shankar, dubey, balasubramanium, & dwivedi, 2013; savio & george, 2013). moreover, the rawness of attitude is drawn from the attributes of attitudes like “sincerity and sympathy” which had the most effect in communication (pournamdar, shameli, & shahrakipour, 2017). on the other hand, the researcher found out that non-verbal cues serve as indicators of the mood of the personnel during an interaction which relies upon the type of interaction or topic that they engaged with. it mainly showed when verifying work-related instructions where a confused and inquiring facial expression emerged, during informal social conversations where a smiling and happy facial expressions were displayed, and serious or calm facial expressions appeared mostly when giving feedback, following up on work-related matters, and making informal work-related discussions. in addition, the researcher observed that the manifestation of eye contact was not constantly displayed all the time since some personnel were also occupied with other tasks and they are looking somewhere while thinking as they engage in the conversation. meanwhile, the researcher noted hand gestures when the personnel were emphasizing a point during the conversation as support to their statements to aid in reaching an understanding related to a topic being discussed. it manifested in following instructions, making informal workrelated discussions, and giving feedback. the researcher also noticed a pause in talking when the personnel engaged in informal social conversation, informal work-related discussion, and giving feedback. the researcher also noted that listening emerged where feedback is involved in the conversation and when the topic interests the personnel during informal social conversations. the observed behaviors that emerged in the episodes relied upon the kind of situation that the personnel encounter and their respective duties in the workplace as attested by the participants. indeed, behavior conveys meanings and intentions that are rationally free of deception and alteration as shown in interpersonal relationships (leathers & eaves, 2015). moreover, the manifestations of behavior in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel affirmed that the reliance on direct observation and careful description of behavior are the most important characteristics of human behavior approach (feldman, 2013). the observed behaviors that emerged in the episodes determine the mood of the personnel in the conversation as evidenced by the following perspectives from the participants: 40 jpair multidisciplinary research mostly some of the students, their first impression immediately when a frontline staff is not smiling is that the personnel is strict (participant 1, non-teaching personnel). a teacher is often expected to be always smiling, or even when a student says “hi” or make greetings, a smile is expected (participant 3, teaching personnel). when you are extremely pressured to accomplish and finish things, you are being rushed to these things, and you tend to somehow be heightened due to being pressured which will somehow change your behavior. for me as a teacher, this is not the only thing that i am doing because i tend to check papers whenever i have free time and i tend to prepare for my lessons, and i need to divide my time, allocate a small amount of time for another task. somehow, it makes you alter your behavior, proper behavior, and etiquette as a professional (participant 4, teaching personnel) sometimes due to plenty of tasks, you get stressed which causes change in your behavior (participant 6, teaching personnel). the foregoing perspectives indicate that behavior which is a nonverbal part of communication conveys meanings and intentions that are rationally free of deception and alteration as shown in interpersonal relationships (leather & eaves, 2015). moreover, the manifestations of behavior in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel affirmed that the reliance on direct observation and careful description of behavior are the most important characteristics of human behavior approach (feldman, 2013). the researcher majority observed varying voice tones while talking in the episodes of informal oral communication practices ranging from mild/soft, moderate to loud voice tone. it mainly indicated the etiquette factor of the personnel in their informal oral communication conversations. however, flaws in the manifestations of proper voice tone and etiquette can happen which relied upon the kind of situation that they encounter and other factors which can trigger a raise in voice tone as attested by the participants. the researcher also noticed that politeness emerged when following instructions and making informal work-related discussions while being professional was manifested in following 41 international peer reviewed journal instructions and giving feedback which holds true in the observations. hence, the situation itself influence the etiquette of the personnel which is culturally and situationally variable (snowden & glenny, 2014). moreover, lack of etiquette as demonstrated by the raise in voice tone could certainly lead to a negative result as pointed out by beresford (2014). however, flaws in the manifestations of proper voice tone and etiquette can happen as evidenced by the following perspectives from the personnel: i observe proper voice tone, but then it depends upon the approach of the student or a client since there are clients who suddenly raise their voice in which we misinterpret their approach. in response, you as a front liner will get offended (participant 1, non-teaching personnel). usually, we cannot avoid that there are people who are different like just what ma’am (participant 1) said when you just wonder why the person suddenly raises his or her voice when in fact, you are just trying to ask something. we have to approach in a proper way. we should always be polite especially when asking questions so that the personnel concerned will provide what we ask. we should choose to be proper in delivering our statements even though there are attitude problems of other people. my point is if someone asks a question in a proper manner, it should be responded in a proper manner too rather than yelling immediately as a response (participant 3, teaching personnel). during meetings, what i have observed was that voices are raising and we, who heard it were like “are they okay?”. “what happened?” (participant 4, teaching personnel). your voice tone will also rise especially during the conduct of orientation program to the students since they cannot help to also make their own “barrio” discussions, thereby not listening anymore to the speaker. we cannot avoid that since it is part of our life being a front liner. (participant 5, teaching personnel). when your ego is hurt, sometimes a raise in voice tone cannot be avoided especially if the manner of approach is too much for you to handle (participant 7, non-teaching personnel). 42 jpair multidisciplinary research the foregoing perspectives illustrate that situation influence the etiquette of the personnel which is culturally and situationally variable (snowden & glenny, 2014). moreover, lack of etiquette as demonstrated by the raise in voice tone could certainly lead to a negative result as pointed out by beresford (2014). the manifestation of the socio-cultural components of the personnel in their informal oral communication practices were mainly rooted from their childhood upbringing in the family. it is the foundation of their character and for the person that they are. the following perspectives from the personnel participants summed up the main foundation which shaped and developed their informal oral communication practices: our parents raised us in accordance with what matters most to them – the honor/praise that they get from other people in raising us their children. the honor in terms of raising us their children to be good and proper and disciplined despite hardships (participant 1, non-teaching personnel). i am very less in emotions. i do not listen to my emotions because i was brought up in a very strict kind of family, very disciplined (participant 2, teaching personnel). one reason why i am not hesitant or afraid to approach anybody regardless of their respective position as long as it is done in a proper way and regardless if the personnel has a strict attitude is because my mother taught me to remember that if i did not do anything wrong, i should not be afraid because i have no fault (participant 3, teaching personnel). our family is the very first factor that influences our attitude as we grow up and the very foundation of molding us as an individual which i can attest through my parents who constantly guide me and the rest of us, their children (participant 6, teaching personnel). my parents taught us their children to respect and be polite. to shape and develop our personality particularly in the way we communicate and interact with other people, it should start at home (participant 7, nonteaching personnel). 43 international peer reviewed journal the foregoing perspectives indicate that an individual’s learning and values formation along with the guidance of elders such as parents is developed from childhood where internalization and processing of the information gained from communication with other people happen as exemplified in vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (panhwar, ansari, & ansari, 2016). on the other hand, the inner qualities of a person are also considered one of the factors that shape and develop the informal oral communication practices of the personnel. considering the daily engagement of the personnel participants in informal oral communication interactions in the workplace, a mix of experience and observations that they had were drawn from them to which the character has been summed up as a factor that molds their informal oral communication interactions as evidenced in the following perspectives: even if a child has been taught a lot and guided in his or her learning at home, it will still boil down to who he or she really is as a person (participant 3, teaching personnel). i know my attitude. i know how i behave in this context or in this situation but, i should develop my character based on what should be perceived of me especially that i am a teacher (participant 4, teaching personnel). a character holds true as one of the perceived factors because we all want to show our life to others. moreover, character is the main factor that can be seen easily by people (participant 6, teaching personnel). the foregoing perspectives boils down to stressing one’s qualities and self-awareness towards increasing the communication competence (lim & park, 2014). furthermore, shaping and developing a person’s informal oral communication practices can also be attributed through the events or instances encountered in one’s life. it emphasizes that one’s communication practices are honed through negative experiences which challenges one to overcome it. it emphasizes the importance of interactions as experienced through dialogue and conversation (baker & warren, 2016). meanwhile, education is also considered by the personnel as an outside factor that shaped and developed an individual’s informal oral communication practices. being educated mainly enhances the individual’s ability to relate with people through communication interaction with others (mcquail & windahl, 2015). 44 jpair multidisciplinary research the engagement of the personnel in their informal oral communication interactions is mainly perceived on a case-to-case basis. it boils down to the kind of situation that they encounter. as the participants constantly engaged in informal oral communication interactions in the workplace, they attested that the manifestations of attitude, behavior, and etiquette are indeed present in the informal oral communication interactions with emphasis on the behavior and etiquette. in their sharing of thoughts and ideas, some participants respectively attested the importance of attitude and the product of attitude which is one’s behavior. statements on the manifestations of these socio-cultural components in informal oral communication interactions emerged: as a front liner, mindset should be observed at all times. as a front liner, you should be cool. an individual should be flexible per experience. in the office, if i will respond to my boss in a way that she will not definitely like, conflict between us will certainly arise often (participant 1, nonteaching personnel). i’m not so really focused on the behavior. i just simply express but not so much on observing how i use my senses. i am very less in emotions. i always work for this reason (points to his head), reason and reason (participant 2, non-teaching personnel). usually, in a workplace, a person is expected to be aware of the three (attitude, behavior, and etiquette) because these three factors respectively go along with each other. otherwise, there will be an imbalance and people will regard you differently because there are only two descriptionsgood and bad, especially for teachers, not just in terms of how good you are in delivering the lessons but also on how you are going to communicate with your students. (participant 3, teaching personnel). for me, behavior and etiquette go together. it cannot be separated. it depends on the situation that you are in especially when you are pressured. i have once experienced, the ones we had ma’am (referring to the facilitator), with the budgetary requirements, in which i always come by here and then i had to come back again to fix the supporting documents that need changes. when you are extremely pressured to accomplish and finish things, you are being rushed to these things and you tend to somehow 45 international peer reviewed journal be heightened due to the pressure, it will somehow change your behavior. somehow, the situation itself alter the behavior and etiquette of the person as a professional when pressured (participant 4, teaching personnel). it makes your voice tone rise especially with the students who are coming to the office for their inc’s. your voice tone will also rise especially during the conduct of orientation program to the students since they cannot help to also make their own “barrio” discussions, thereby not listening anymore to the speaker (participant 6, teaching personnel). sometimes, when you are approached immediately, and you are directly given instructions like “hey, do this,” i become frightened and will immediately respond like “huh?” (participant 7, non-teaching personnel). meanwhile, the participants attested that establishing a good relationship and linkage was the main advantage when they engage in informal oral communication interactions in the workplace. delivery of service to clienteles was also found to be another advantage. nonetheless, there are a number of downfalls somehow when engaging in informal oral communication interactions like distancing oneself from other people, the need for personal space, becoming disrespectful to other people, and adjustment when faced with people with negative socio-cultural components. conclusions the socio-cultural components in the study are crucial aspects of the informal oral communication practices of the personnel. behavior and etiquette as the dominant elements that were observed and manifested in all of the informal oral communication practices of the personnel affirmed the fact that one’s conduct and decorum are easily recognized in oral communication interactions. the attitude element implied that one’s behavior and etiquette are the manifestations resulting from one’s attitude or mindset when engaging in any informal oral communication interactions. on the other hand, the perceived engagement of the personnel in their informal oral communication interactions is situational as it greatly relies upon the scenario that they encounter. in other words, a favorable manifestation of the three components may not be constantly demonstrated 46 jpair multidisciplinary research when engaging in informal oral communication interactions given that nobody is perfect. however, the study wanted to impart that being a part of an academic institution workforce, one should observe a desirable behavior, attitude, and etiquette when engaging in informal oral communication interactions in the workplace as the workforce creates an image for the university in one way or another. setbacks may happen at times in the communication process but the manifestation of the socio-cultural components in it can be positively enhanced by being a competent communicator. recommendations policies such as workplace communication protocols with an emphasis in informal oral communication indicating courtesy, tact, and respect to everybody in the workplace and activities such as seminar-workshops or trainings relative to communication competence and personality enhancement should be crafted and implemented through the human resource management unit of the university. the foregoing recommendations are believed to enhance and enrich the informal oral communication practices of the personnel in the workplace especially that the ustp system is applying for international standards evaluation particularly the international organization standard (iso) for its quality of service and clientele satisfaction. on the other hand, the teaching and non-teaching personnel should also be guided to be aware of the manifestations of their attitude, behavior, and etiquette in their informal oral communication practices to maintain a good relationship with their colleagues and promote a shared understanding in the workplace. for the students, they should observe good practices in their informal oral communication and be aware on the manifestations of their attitude, behavior, and etiquette when talking especially when transacting to the different offices in the university. by doing so, it will give them an edge when they become employed. lastly, further research and exploration should be done on the manifestations of the socio-cultural components in the informal oral communication practices of the personnel using bigger samples and wider 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(2012).  informal workplace communication–what roles can microblogging play in it?. the pennsylvania state university. retrieved 26 june 2017, from https://goo.gl/em8tg1 https://goo.gl/em8tg1 31 international peer reviewed journal vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.334 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract funds, whether from government or generated by institutions from other sources are the lifeblood of institutional development. since there is never an end to development and improvement, fund sourcing and allocation are continuing concerns of every educational institution. the study determined the financial variables and productivity of sucs in region vi. the study aimed to determine the a) institutional profile of the 11 sucs in region vi, b) profile of financial managers of sucs in region vi, c) budgetary allocation based on the general appropriations act (gaa) and income from the special trust fund (stf), and d) how these financial resources are utilized for the operation. descriptive method of research was employed and data were analyzed through frequency count and percentage mean. study revealed that 11 sucs in region vi shared a common vision of becoming the center excellence, research, extension, and production with a mission of producing globally competitive graduates. the west visayas state university (wvsu) had the biggest budgetary allocation from gaa, and got the highest earnings in school fees. a similar pattern of expenditures had been adopted by the 11 sucs in region vi. the sucs in the region foresee their respective institutions as center of excellence. fiscal managers had upgraded their educational qualifications. faculty members have conducted extension, income generating projects and published researches. fiscal managers of sucs fiscal administration variables and productivity of state universities and colleges in western visayas, philippines nilo d. delfin http://orcid.org 0000-0001-91234563 delfin.nilo13@gmail.com capiz state university, philippines 32 jpair multidisciplinary research in region vi should think and implement strategic plans to increase budgetary allocations to meet the demands of necessary expenditures vital to the attainment of quality education. keywords – fiscal administration, sucs productivity, descriptive research, western visayas, philippines introduction the management of an institution demands ingenuity in the allocation of its resources, both human and material. the proper management, mobilization, and utilization of resources result to efficient service. gallagher and andrews (1997) stated that like doctors, finance managers check the health of the business by running a test – to see whether the firm’s performance is within the normal range of a company of its type. if it is not, the financial managers run more tests to see what if anything is wrong. the compelling necessity to prioritize needs and allocate resources is an economic reality that can never be ignored, much less done away with it. mikesell (2013) pointed out that the executive budget document delivers financial plan for the government, provides a clear statement of the policy visions that shaped the plan, tells the legislature and the public what enactment of the plan would bring, and provides an archive of information about the government and its agencies. operations management is the process of managing the resources required to produce the organization’s goods and services. like all managers, operations managers plan, organize, lead, and control. however, unlike other managers, operations managers focus on the direct production resources of a firm, often called the 5 ps of operations management: people, plants, parts, process, and planning and control systems (dessler, 2001). as stated by vanhorne (2000), the modern-day financial manager is instrumental to a company’s success. as cash flows beat through the organization, this individual is at the heart of what is happening. he must be practically involved in operations, marketing, and the company’s overall strategy. since financial management had been introduced in the government a long time ago, very minimal researches on this area had been done. there seems to exist an urgent need to review and assess present financial programs and/or developing new systems of financial management, particularly, in state universities and colleges in region vi, philippines. the study was focused on financial 33 international peer reviewed journal management, specifically, on how much of government funds are allocated for the educational institutions, how much are earned from other sources, and how efficient the system of raising and spending money. financial utilization affects the level of productivity. danny bolton (2000) noted that states must do more than provide a major phase of finding. according to him, what is needed is a coherent direction or philosophy in the school of finance system so that money will truly matters in public education. seeing resource-reallocation as the key to “teaching all students to high standards,” olden and arhchibald (2000), advised school-district leaders to create new, more effective sets of educational strategies that match students’ needs and staff members’ capabilities; cooperate with unions to make teacher contracts more flexible; provide schools with lump-sum, zero-based budgets; and create a pot of professional-development money from reallocated resources. framework the study was anchored on some concepts and principles as well as theories in fiscal management. one of the principles that should be remembered is that managers must allocate resources in such a way that planned objectives are efficiently satisfied. it was also anchored on the theory on the operations management which is concerned essentially in using method for production and operations control. in this area of applied management, some of the more useful techniques include inventory control models, material handling procedure, purchasing systems, production scheduling systems and cost control processes. program managers are obviously concerned with the delivery of services according to plan. financial managers are simultaneously concerned with maintaining internal control, defined as the methods and procedures within the agency established to safeguard assets, check the accuracy and reliability of financial and other data to promote operational efficiency and encourage adherence to the prescribed policies and procedures of the agency (mikesell, 2013). objective of the study the study aimed to analyze fiscal administration variables such as budget allocations to support the academic and non-academic functions, programs, and projects as they relate to the quadro-dimension functions and productivity 34 jpair multidisciplinary research of graduates and percentage of board passers of sucs in western visayas, philippines. methodology research setting the study covered the 11 state universities and colleges (sucs) in the provinces of aklan, antique, capiz, guimaras, iloilo and negros occidental, all in region vi. in aklan, there was only the aklan state university located in the town of banga; in antique, the polytechnic state college of antique (psca) located in the municipality of sibalom; in capiz, the panay state polytechnic college (pspc) with three units located in pontevedra, mambusao, and roxas city; in guimaras, guimaras state collge (gsc) located in the town of buenavista; in iloilo, the iloilo state college of fisheries (iscf) in barotac viejo; the northern iloilo polytechnic state college (nipsc) in estancia; the western visayas college of science and technology (wvcst); the west visayas state university (wvsu) in lapaz, iloilo city; and in negros occidental, the carlos hilado memorial state college (chmsc) in talisay city, the northern negros state college of science and technology (nonescost) in sagay city and the negros state college of agriculture (nsca) in kabankalan. respondents of the study the study utilized 81 respondents consisted of the presidents, chancellors, campus administrators, vice presidents for finance and administration, accountants, budget officers, finance officers and registrars of the eleven state universities and colleges including their satellite campuses. they were chosen as respondents of the study because the investigator believes that these officers are in the best position to supply information regarding financial administration variables. as key officers of their respective institutions, they are expected to know the organization’s income, budget, and expenditures and the administration of their financial affairs. categorization of variables the study used mean in determining the variable categories for size of enrollment, size of teaching personnel, non-teaching personnel, and budgetary allocation. the mean is one of the measures used to describe the central tendency of a large data set. it uses the values of all the data points in the population or 35 international peer reviewed journal sample size. the sum of the data items are divided by the number of data items. the formula for mean according to downie and health (1984): where: _ x = mean ∑x = summation of raw scores n = number of respondents the size of enrollment refers to the number of students enrolled in the universities and colleges. this was categorized as follows: small = if below the mean medium = if within the mean big = if above the mean the size of teaching personnel refers to the number of teachers teaching in sucs on a full-time and part-time basis. categories were: small = if below the mean medium = if within the mean big = if above the mean the size of non-teaching personnel refers to a number of support employees in the sucs on working on a casual, contractual, and full-time basis. categories included were: small = if below the mean medium = if within the mean big = if above the mean the size of budgetary allocation from the gaa refers to the amount released by dbm for suc institutions. this variable was categorized as follows: 36 jpair multidisciplinary research small = if below the mean medium = if within the mean big = if above the mean gender refers to whether the respondents are male or female. age refers to the entire period of life or existence of respondents. age groups in years are: 20-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50-59; and 60 and up. academic preparation refers to the degree completed by the respondents. it will be categorized as bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate. instrumentation a self-made questionnaire was the main instrument used to gather the needed data. the researcher administered the instrument to the chief executive and finance officers of the organizations concerned. before its administration, it was subjected to scrutiny and evaluation of the panel of experts for face and content validation. the members rated each item according to their strength in measuring the respondents’ responses to the schools’ financial administration variables. data collection the researcher secured a written permission to administer the questionnaire from the president of each respondent institution. this was then distributed to the presidents, chancellors, campus administrators, vice-presidents for finance and administration, accountants, budget officers, finance officers and registrars in the 11 sucs. other data gathered were from the secondary sources such as the gaa from the dbm, stf from the fmo of the respective sucs, while the list of enrollees was taken from the ched. the variables were income, budget allocation, and expenditures for the programs and functions of the school. data analysis the basis of data analysis was on the identified relevant variables that influence the productivity of the study area using mean, percentage, frequency and rank order. results and discussion the study revealed that the 11 sucs in the region shared a vision of becoming the center of excellence for instruction, research, extension, and production 37 international peer reviewed journal services providing a venue to develop one’s potential for a more productive, selfreliant and self-sufficient life. they also operate on a mutual mission of producing quality and globally competitive graduates in education, science and technology. likewise, they work on a common goal of enhancing the students’ intellectual capacity, technical skills, and creative talents by offering quality and improved academic, vocational and technical courses to fully equip their graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary for the improvement of their quality of life. panay state polytechnic college (pspc) had the biggest faculty size, followed by west visayas state university (wvsu), northern iloilo polytechnic state college (nipsc) and western visayas college of science and technology (wvcst). northern negros state college of science and technology (nonescost) had the smallest. for the non-teaching personnel, the highest number was from wvsu followed by pspc and nipsc and the smallest was in nonescost. for the student population, pspc had the largest followed by wvsu, and then nsca; the smallest students population was in gsc (see table 1). table 1. size of population of the 11 suc’s in region vi in terms of academic, non-academic personnel and students. institutions academic personnel size rank nonacademic personnel size rank students size rank asu 285 big 5 126 small 6 6664 big 4 chmsc 231 small 7 116 small 7 3984 small 8 gsc 92 small 10 85 small 9 1464 small 11 iscof 236 small 6 140 big 4 5170 small 6 nsca 118 small 9 51 small 10 2531 small 9 nipsc 402 big 3 177 big 3 7894 big 3 nonescost 56 small 11 30 small 11 2139 small 10 pspc 476 big 1 186 big 2 9841 big 1 psca 193 small 8 127 small 5 5067 small 7 wvsct 295 big 4 86 small 8 5798 big 5 wvsu 466 big 2 318 big 1 9222 big 2 total 2850 1442 59744 mean 259 131 5434 pspc, wvsu, psca, asu and nipsc had the highest number of curricular offerings ranging from eight (8) courses to 27 as shown in table 2. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. academic programs offered by the 11 suc’s in region vi institutions academic programs offered total rank asu agriculture, education, fisheries, forestry, graduate school, arts and sciences, veterinary medicine, bs home technology 8 4 chmsc commerce, education, graduate school 3 10.5 gsc computer secretarial, education, graduate school 3 10.5 iscof computer science, education, fisheries, graduate school, agriculture, forestry 6 6 nsca agriculture, education, fisheries, forestry, graduate school 5 8 nipsc agriculture, computer science, education, engineering, fisheries, graduate school, arts and sciences, commerce 8 4 nonescost agriculture, computer science, education, fisheries, graduate school 5 8 pspc agriculture, computer science, education, engineering, forestry, graduate school, veterinary medicine, fisheries, nursing, criminology, architecture 27 1 psca commerce, education, engineering, graduate school, arts and sciences, agriculture, computer science, fisheries 8 4 wvcst education, engineering, graduate school, arts and sciences, computer science 5 8 wvsu agriculture, education, forestry, graduate school, arts and sciences, medicine, nursing, mass communication, pescar, etc. 20 2 total 98 financial managers in the sucs were mostly females and married, have served their college for 21-25 years, and had administrative experience of 5-9 years. majority were bachelor degree holders, with a monthly salary between php19, 000.00 (413 usd) – php 24, 000.00 (522 usd). as to the budget allocation from the gaa, wvsu had the biggest budget allocation of php 275, 534.00 (5,990 usd) followed by pspc, iscof, and the wvcst. it was also the biggest earning suc in the region, followed by wvcst and iscof. gsc had the lowest income generated from tuition and other fees. this conforms to the study conducted by rothstein (2001) on 39 international peer reviewed journal resource-allocation patterns in chicago schools that the use of school-based budgeting found relatively consistent spending patterns across groups of schools. table 3. summary of pasuc vi total budgetary allocation from general appropriations act cy 2000, 2001 and 2002 (in million) school 2001 and 2002 cy 2002 size increment/ decrement % asu 111,232,000.00 112,918,000.00 big 1.52 chmsc 57,965,000.00 24,059,000.00 small -58.49 gsc 14,796,000.00 small nsca 26,472,000.00 small iscof 44,723,000.00 137,819,000.00 big 208.16 nipsc 62,138,000.00 127,762,000.00 big 105.61 nonescost 18,121,000.00 18,040,000.00 small -4.67 pspc 136,508,000.00 149,249,000.00 big 9.33 psca 38,615,000.00 65,218,000.00 small 68.89 wvsct 96,379,000.00 133,723,000.00 big 38.75 wvsu 173,812,000.00 275,564,000.00 big 58.54 only eight sucs had submitted some of their programs for accreditation. wvsu and pspc had the highest program/course accredited to level ii while nsca had no program accredited. for the last five years, wvsu had the uppermost number of graduates, followed by nonescost, pspc, psca, and chms. nipsc and gsc had the lowest graduates turn out. wvsu had the highest board passers in almost all programs. as to the average number of the researches published, psca, pspc, iscof and wvsu had the uppermost researches conducted and published. wvsu had the maximum extension projects conducted, followed by nonescost, pspc, and iscof. psca had the highest igps, followed by asu, pspc, nsca, and nonescost. gsc had no igp. the 11 sucs in the region had the same pattern of expenditures from the gaa and stf. the budget from the gaa was utilized to finance the programs and projects such as gaas, support to operation of advanced education, higher education services, secondary education services, research, and extension. likewise, part of the budget had been used to finance projects such as building construction, repair, and equipment outlay. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. the pattern of financial utilization and program for the operation of the suc’s in region vi project activity personal service current operating expenditures maintenance & other operating expense capital outlays a. programs i. general administration and support general administration and support services p13,324,000.00 p11,147,000.00 ii. support to operations auxiliary service 6,638,000.00 290,000.00 iii. operations advanced education services 3,465,000.00 491,000.00 higher education services 57,621,000.00 3,108,000.00 p1,121,000.00 secondary education services 25,020,000.00 651,000.00 research services 606,000.00 286,000.00 extension services 1,409,000.00 331,000.00 b. projects i. locally funded project (s) building and structure outlay repair of related subjects bldg. (pilar campus) 1,000,000.00 construction/repair/renovation of school buildings & facilities 10,000,000.00 total new appropriations p108,083.00 p16,304,000.00 p12,121,000.00 spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that budgetary allocation was correlated significantly with the variables tested. traditional performance budget presents the cost of performing measurable accomplishment units during the budget year, so the budget process has the dual role of providing funds and establishing performance objectives (mikesell, 2013). supplemental budget was highly significantly correlated with the number of graduates and survival rates and stf collection. the number of academic personnel was significantly correlated with the number of extension projects 41 international peer reviewed journal conducted, and was highly significantly correlated with the number of programs offered, student population, survival rate and a number of graduates. the number of non-academic personnel was highly and significantly correlated with the number of programs offered, a number of extension projects and researches conducted; student population and a number of graduates were significantly interconnected with the survival rate. for input, results revealed that budgetary allocation was significantly correlated with the supplement budget and significantly correlated with the number of academic and non-academic personnel. outputs like the number of programs offered was significantly correlated with the student population, a number of extension projects and researches conducted; however, it was only significantly correlated with the number of graduates produced. this was supported by a study on “understanding faculty productivity: standards and benchmarks for colleges” conducted by middaugh (2001) which states that a substantial financial support gives rise to explosive growth in research activity. the student population was correlated significantly with the survival rate, the number of researches conducted, the number of graduates turned out, and the number of projects conducted. the number of graduates was not interconnected with the igp, but significantly related with the survival rate. this implied that the higher the number of students enrolled, the bigger is the stf collected, therefore, programs offered and projects conducted become viable and sustainable. the results further showed that there was an adequate number of faculty to handle the teaching loads proportionate to the number of programs offered and number of students and graduates. likewise, the faculty and non-academic personnel are adequate enough to answer the needs of the programs offered, as well as the extension projects and research conducted. it can be noted that input to igps had nothing to do with any other output. the survival rate is quite high; the number of those who started the course was almost equal to the number of those who graduated. as to problems encountered by the sucs in region vi, there was a congress’ cut down of a budget, late dbm release of allocation, and insufficient funding which were considered the most pressing problems of the administrators. some managers reflected unforeseen contingencies needing funds such as a problem, while others considered graft and corruption, incompetent personnel, and political intervention as problems. the research was limited to the study of fiscal management variables associated with productivity in the state universities and colleges in region vi. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the sucs in the region foresee their respective institutions as center of excellence for instruction, research, extension as well as production, with the mission of producing quality and globally competitive graduates fully equipped with knowledge and skills necessary for the improvement of their quality of life. majority of the fiscal managers had upgraded their educational qualifications. larger institutions get higher budgetary allocations. the number of faculty and non-teaching personnel and the size of the student population are fiscal variables for general appropriations. faculty members have conducted extension, income-generating projects and published researches despite the meager budget allocation. income from tuition and other fees served as a good source of revenue which augments funding from the government. their funds were utilized in the same way as the fund from the gaa, following the itemization set by budgeting rules and regulations. insufficient funding due to the ever decreasing budgetary allocations as support to the operation of sucs in region vi continues to be the pressing problem for fiscal managers. this was supported by picus (2000) who stated that resource allocation is only one component of a productive system. other important ingredients include incentives for improved student and school performance, development of a public sector version of “venture capital” to pay for comprehensive school-restructuring program, and a more market-based budgeting environment featuring privatized school-choice options. translational research the outcome of the study may be translated into use by administrators and finance officers of sucs in the region as a blue print since this is the first study conducted in the region for planning, control, and drawing up financial strategies and policies. this could assess the financial administration, programs, and productivity level of their units. literature cited bolton, d. g. (2000). critical issues in school governance. school business affairs. 66, 4-6, 8-12, 14, 16-17. dessler, g., starke, f. a., & cyr, d. j. (2001). management: leading people and 43 international peer reviewed journal organizations in the 21st century. upper saddle river, nj: prentice hall. gallagher, t. j., & andrew, j. d. (1997). financial management: principles and practice. prentice hall. middaugh, m. f. (2001).  understanding faculty productivity: standards and benchmarks for colleges and universities. john wiley & sons. mikesell, j. (2013). fiscal administration. cengage learning. odden, a. s. archibald (2000). the possibilities of resources reallocation. principal leadership. 1, 31, 27-32. picus, l. (2001). how schools allocate and use their resources. eric digest series. rothstein, r. (2001). closing the gap: how the federal government can equalize school spending between the states.  american school board journal, 188(5), 22-25. vanhorne, j. c. (2000).  fundamentals of financial management. prentice hall books. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.395 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract hypertension (hpn) is the elevation of arterial blood pressure with a systolic pressure of 140 mmhg or greater and a diastolic pressure of 90mmhg or more. the study aimed to determine the compliance on medication regimen among unit heads or unit managers. the study utilized the descriptive-correlational research design to determine the relationships between variables. the participants were the 46 unit heads/unit managers chosen by means of purposive sampling. questionnaire was the main tool for data gathering. the data were analyzed using percentage distribution, weighted mean, standard deviation, pearson moment correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. the findings revealed that majority of the respondents had a monthly income of 16,000 (364 usd) to 20,000 (455 usd), have 4 to 6 children, chairpersons of a department in a government agency, and has antihypertensive medications for less than a year up to five years. likewise, majority of the participants were diagnosed with stage 2 hpn and currently taking two types of antihypertensive medications. majority strongly agreed on the information about hypertension. lifestyles regarding diet as well as attitude are predictors for compliance to antihypertensive medication. keywords— health education, diet, attitude, compliance, medication regimen, hypertensive, descriptive-correlational, marawi city diet and attitude as predictors to the compliance on medication regimen among hypertensive unit heads/unit managers athena jalaliyah b. derico-lawi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8199-9543 athenajbdlawi@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines 131 international peer reviewed journal introduction according to world health rankings, the hypertension death rate per 100,000 age standardized estonia is ranked first at 73.73% and the philippines ranked eleventh at 38.20% (world health organization, 2014). one of the most important modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease and peripheral vascular disease is hypertension (smeltzer, bare, hinkle, cheever, townsend, & gould, 2004). health care professionals identify and treat patients with hypertension, they also promote a healthy lifestyle and preventive strategies to decrease the prevalence of hypertension in the general population. hypertension is the fifth among the prime causes of morbidity and fifth among the leading causes of mortality in ipho lanao del sur in the year 2002 (social watch philippines, 2007). the treatment of hypertension does not call for any heroic measure: regular checking of the blood pressure, a few painless changes in one’s eating and living habits, and taking the prescribed medication every day. if hypertension is detected and treated on time, hypertension should not stop a person from his normal and productive life. all that is required are determination and close doctorpatient cooperation (wolff, 2008). patients with hypertension (i-search) gained further insights into national and regional blood pressure control and antihypertensive pharmacotherapy prescribed in cardiology practice. a total of 22,282 patients with hypertension from 26 countries were enrolled in 20052006. a total of 18,652 patients were treated (mean age, 63.0±11.4 years; 52.2% male; mean body mass index, 28.9 kg/m2). mean systolic blood pressure was at 148.2±19.8 mm hg and diastolic blood pressure was at 86.7±11.6 mm hg. blood pressure was controlled in 8.3% of diabetic and 25.3% of nondiabetic patients (21.2% overall) with particularly good control rates in north and latin america (28.0% and 30.6%, respectively). a total of 31.2% of patients were treated with 1, 39.7% with 2, and 29.1% with ≥3 drugs. β-blockers were being used most frequently (47.9%), in both monotherapy and combination therapy despite low numbers of patients with respective compelling indications for their use. the present data illustrate the potential for an improvement of blood pressure treatment and control in daily cardiology practice (bramlage et al., 2010). 132 jpair multidisciplinary research framework the framework of the study was adopted from the health promotion model by nola j. pender (pender, murdaugh, & parsons, 2006). it states that man has the capacity for reflective self-awareness, including the assessment of his competencies. the man also seeks to regulate his behavior. it also states that health professionals are the important part of the interpersonal environment of individuals, and they may influence the individuals over time. this theory on health promotion is very relevant to the study as it gives focus on the health promoting behavior of a person which is to have a healthy diet, follow a regular medical consultation to his attending physician, and to comply with the prescribed antihypertensive maintenance medications to prevent health complications. objectives of the study the objective of this study is to determine the lifestyle of the hypertensive unit heads/managers of marawi city as predictor to their compliance on medication regimen. methodology the study utilized a descriptive-correlational research design to describe the independent variables such as the level of knowledge on hypertension, perception on the effects of medication and lifestyle of the respondents regarding diet, physical activity, and emotional aspect as well as the participant’s attitude towards medical consultation. the study is conducted in marawi city. purposive sampling is used in obtaining the participants who are heads of units and diagnosed hypertensive with maintenance medications prescribed by their physicians. the study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire in data collection after a dry run/try out and yields 80% reliability. the 46 participants of the study were obtained after signing an informed consent. the statistical tools used in the study are frequency and percentage distribution to determine the respondents’ profile, weighted mean and standard deviation to compute for various items on the independent and dependent variables. pearson product moment correlation coefficient was also used to correlate the variables and multiple regression analysis to determine whether the profile of the participants intervene on the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. 133 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the results of the study show that the respondents sometimes take their antihypertensive medication because of the following reasons: 1) they are very busy in their work, and 2) they have less knowledge on the effect of taking their medications regularly as mentioned by the respondents during the interview. it also means that the participants of the study take their medications only if it is available at home. according to longmore, wilkinson and rajagopalan (2004), it is important to be committed to taking antihypertensive medication everyday as most people do not have symptoms from high blood pressure. if proper diet is being followed and accompanied with regular consultation or medical check-up, then compliance to medication will be achieved. table 1. extent of compliance to medication among hypertensive heads of units indicator mean standard deviation qualitative response taking of anti-hypertensive medications religiously 3.28 1.05 sometimes the respondents of the study sometimes eat proper diet. it is because they eat calories, eat more spicy foods and food high in carbohydrates and they eat more of the non-nutrient food group. foods high in cholesterol will thicken the blood with fat, and forces the heart to work harder raising the blood pressure (american heart association, 2008). high blood pressure can cause damage to the heart as it forces the heart to work harder. a diet high in saturated fat, obesity and lack of exercise can put a person at risk. they all contribute to the increase in cholesterol and blood fats/lipids that clog or block coronary arteries (hutchinson, 2003). it is also noted that respondents sometimes do physical activity. it is because they do not have regular exercise, they ride their vehicles in going to and from the office, and they usually spend their time in their desk most of the time. another cause of hypertension is the lack of exercise, the occupation disorder of so many who spend their working life behind desks, factory benches, or the wheel of a car (wolff, 2008). this implies that the respondents do not maintain a regular physical activity. generally, it appears that increased exercise level is associated with reducing blood pressure, increased levels of plasma high-density lipoprotein (hdl), and lower plasma value of cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein (ldl) (nowak & handford, 2005). 134 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. relationship of lifestyle in terms of diet and their compliance to medication among hypertensive heads of units lifestyle r interpretation to relationship tc result interpretation conclusion diet vs 0.294 moderate 2.063 > 2.017 reject significant diet is a compliance positive ho factor for on correlation compliance medication on medication table 3 attitude towards medical consultation among hypertensive unit heads/unit managers indicator weighted mean standard deviation qualitative description a visit to attending physician regularly 2.91 0.94 sometimes the heads of units involved in the study sometimes have clinic visit to their physicians which means that the heads of units visit or consult a doctor every after three months. further, heads of units sometimes go for medical consultation due to the following reasons: hectic schedule, lack of consciousness on health, distance from where the doctors have their clinic, and long waiting before seeing the physician due to many clients. the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the respondent’s lifestyle regarding diet and the attitude towards medical consultation to the compliance on medication among heads of units. fifteen studies showed an association between patients’ negative attitude towards therapy (e.g. depression, anxiety, fear or anger about the illness) and their compliance. there were studies reporting that children and adult treatment make them feel stigmatized or feel pressured because they are not as normal as their friends or classmates or officemates. therefore, negative attitude towards therapy should be viewed as a strong predictor of poor compliance (jin, sklar, oh & li, 2008). moreover, attitude towards medical consultation among meranao individuals become nullified because of the reason that they have to wait for some hours before the physician can attend to their needs. 135 international peer reviewed journal conclusion the unit heads/managers were diagnosed as hypertensive stage 2 hypertension with systolic pressure ranging from 160 to 179mm hg and a diastolic pressure of 100-109 mm hg. majority of them did not follow the prescribed medication regimen due to the reason of taking the medication only if it is available. they occasionally made consultation to their physicians with an interval of three months. diet as part of their lifestyle showed to be significant with their compliance to the medication regimen of the unit heads/managers. majority (60.87 %) of the unit heads/managers found to be compliant on the treatment regimen prescribed by their physician as evidenced by following the prescribed diet, regular consultation and regular intake of the prescribed antihypertensive medicines. translational research the findings of this study would serve as the basis in the formulation of a comprehensive health programs for the unit heads/managers in a form of health education through trainings and seminar that may include management of hypertension and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. the dietary approaches to stop hypertension (dash), regular consultation/medical check-ups, and taking of antihypertensive maintenance medications have to be intensified worldwide. literature cited american heart association (2008). retrieved on july 08, 2016 from http:// www.heart.org/heartorg/ bramlage, p., böhm, m., volpe, m., khan, b. v., paar, w. d., tebbe, u., & thoenes, m. (2010). a global perspective on blood pressure treatment and control in a referred cohort of hypertensive patients. the journal of clinical hypertension, 12(9), 666-677. hutchinson, j. (2003). reader’s digest. asia’s heart failure are you at risk? volume 80. no. 480. petaling jaya. malaysia 136 jpair multidisciplinary research jin, j., sklar, g. e., oh, v. m. s., & li, s. c. (2008). factors affecting therapeutic compliance: a review from the patient’s perspective.therapeutics and clinical risk management, 4(1), 269. longmore, m., wilkinson ib, and rajagopalan. (2004). oxford handbook of clinical medicine. oxford university press. united states of america nowak, t. j. &handford g.s.. (2005). pathophysiology. concepts and applications for health care professionals. third edition. mcgraw hill companies, incorporated. higher education. newyork. united states of america. pender, n. j., murdaugh, c. l., & parsons, m. a. (2006). health promotion in nursing practice. smeltzer, s. c., bare, b. g., hinkle, j. l., cheever, k. h., townsend, m. c., & gould, b. (2004). brunner &suddarth’s text book of medical surgical nursing, 10th editions. lippincott, williams& wilkins. social watch philippines 2007 report. retrieved on august 6, 2016 from http:// www.socialwatch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/en/missingtargets.pdf wolff, h. p. (2008). your health guide speaking of high blood pressure. a comprehensive guide for hypertension and their partners. first indian edition. sterling publishers private limited. okhla industrial area. phase ii. new delhi-110020 world health organization. (2014) retrieved on august 6, 2016 from http:// www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/philippines-hypertension 59 international peer reviewed journal quality characteristics of nutri-fried noodles made from sweet potato tubers and tops ipomea batatas geraldine f. de jesus geraldinefdejesus95@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines shirley g. dicen shirleygdicen21@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines maria crisanta m. jarque crisantamj@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines abstract noodles made from sweet potato can be a healthier alternative to commercially produced ones since it is rich in vitamins and minerals. the product has no artificial preservatives, and the sweetness of its taste comes naturally from the sugar content of the camote tubers. the project is the second phase of a study on the development of nutri-noodles made from the tubers and tops of sweet potato. the study determined the physicochemical and microbial analysis and shelf-life of the product and verify its acceptability through quantitative testing. the sample was submitted to department of science and technology region v for analysis and the results were: 6.53% moisture, 0.13% free fatty acids and <150 cfu/g of yeast and mold count. moreover, nutrition facts were also computed, calories is 231, total fat= 4%, cholesterol= 0%, sodium= 4%, total carbohydrate= 6%, vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.379 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research dietary fiber= 28%, magnesium =13% and vitamin b6= 12%. the shelf-life of the product is six months stored at room temperature. the nutri-fried noodles were served with vegetable toppings, and as rated by the panelists the result was liked very much. after analyzing the quality characteristics of the product, it is recommended that the sample is ready for production and marketing. keywords — marketing, quality, fried noodles, sweet potato, shelf-life, consumer testing, sorsogon, philippines introduction food safety is an urgent concern in the development and production of food products. it is defined as the assurance that the food will not cause harm to the consumer once it is prepared or eaten according to its intended use (codex alimentarius, 1999). its importance is clearly reflected in the food safety act of 2013 also known as ra 10611 (congress of the philippines). the act ensures that consumer health is protected by strengthening food safety regulatory system in the country. integral to food safety is the determination of shelf-life and physicochemical and microbial analysis. consumer testing, on the other hand, supports the acceptability of the food product. the study is the second phase of a study on the development of nutri-fried camote noodles. noodles made from camote is significantly rich in vitamins, potassium and electrolytes, thus, it is a healthy alternative to other noodles found in the market. nonetheless, food safety must be taken into account before producing the noodles and making them commercially available. the safety of the product, nutri-fried camote noodles can be determined through verification of its quality characteristics which comprises its physical, chemical, biological and microbiological components (usda national nutrient database). through these processes, presence of microorganisms such as listeria monocytogenes and other toxins is known. furthermore, the shelf-life determination is essential during the development of food to assure both its safety and quality. the codex alimentarius 1999 defines shelf-life as the period during which a food product maintains its microbiological safety. furthermore, it determines the suitability of food at a specified storage temperature and handling conditions. physico-chemical and microbial analysis and shelf-life determination are used in conducting researches related to food safety and product development. in the study of agu and okoli (2014), the physico-chemical, sensory and 61 international peer reviewed journal microbiological assessment were used as the basis for product development in the biscuit industry. in another related research on sweet potato noodles, the effect of composite flours consisting of wheat and sweet potato flour on physicochemical and sensory properties of instant noodles was also studied. shelf-life testing was further conducted to the dried instant noodles to determine its mold growth, texture, flavor and moisture content, (taneya, biswas, & ud-din, 2014). to find out the desirable qualities of eight varieties of sri lankan rice and the quality characteristics of noodles made from these rice, their physicochemical properties were also investigated (fari, rajapaksa, & ranaweera, 2011). in a study related to wheat noodles and unripe banana flour, the physiochemical, textural, cooking and sensory qualities of dried noodles were investigated (ritthiruangdej, parnbankled, donchedee & wongsagonsup, 2011). through these processes, the dietary fiber content of unripe banana flour was also found. on one hand, consumer testing is often used to determine the acceptability of the product. singh-ackbarali and maharaja (2014) clearly pointed out that consumer testing is an approach which is participated by untrained individuals representing the population of end-product users. it is used to measure liking, preference, purchase intent, and consumption patterns that help in understanding product acceptance and consumer behavior. furthermore, sensory evaluation is a process of passing a considered opinion with the use of the human senses on the object of the study. as a tool, it is of vast use in research and product development, consumer acceptance and even surveys. it is also important in grading and standardization storage studies and product attribute analysis. although, there are technological advances that made it possible for test procedures to determine product quality, there is still desired information which cannot be measured other than by human senses (gatchalian & de leon, 1992). correlation studies between human judgments and objective test have been continuously evaluated to guarantee that there will be no shift in human perception with time. while chemical and physical measures are available for routine tests of product quality, some attributes are still measurable only by the use of sensory evaluation. objectives of the study the development of nutri-fried camote noodles was completed in the first phase of the study. the second phase aimed to evaluate the quality characteristics of nutri-fried noodles made from sweet potato tubers and tops. specifically, 62 jpair multidisciplinary research this study aimed to determine: 1) the physico-chemical and microbial analysis of nutri-fried noodles; 2) product stability through shelf-life study; and 3) consumer’s acceptability of the product. materials and methods for physico-chemical and microbial analysis, the nutri-fried camote noodles were packed in a 500g low density polyethylene film and forwarded to department of science and technology (dost) region v. the % moisture and %free fatty acid ffa using tm-ch-005 with reference to aoac 930.04 19th ed and tm-ch-020 reference to aoac 940.28, 19th ed respectively were analyzed. likewise, yeast and mold count were examined. the method used was tm-m-013 with reference to aoac 997.02 19h ed. the basis for identifying the parameters used is the codex standard for instant noodles, (codex stan 249-2006). the nutritional value of food depends on its nutrient content and the bioavailability of these nutrients. food composition is determined by proximate analysis of carbohydrate, lipid and protein contents, and measurement of individual vitamins and minerals using standardized techniques. in computing for the nutrition information, the derived nutrient of each ingredient was radioed and summed up according to its weight in the formula. furthermore, the percentage daily value was calculated by dividing the actual quantity by the appropriate recommended dietary intake or daily reference value. the reference to such computation can be found in the general labeling requirements of the united states food and drug administration (usfda). moreover, ingredient listing was also part of the nutrition facts panel. raw materials used were arranged in sequence from its calculated weight in a decreasing manner. in determining the shelf-life of the product, samples are packed in 100 gram, 4x6 low-density polyethylene film and stored inside a display cabinet under a room temperature. a total of 60 packs were prepared, and samples were evaluated every two months. sensory evaluation was used as a tool for measuring the product’s characteristic and acceptability. this notion is accustomed to knowing the product attributes and quality levels in the degree of reference of the panelists. the statistical treatment employed in this research is 9 point hedonic scale, also known as degree-of-liking scale which is used in determining product preference by consumers. this is so far the most widely used scale to measure food acceptability (peryam & pilgrim). 63 international peer reviewed journal in evaluating the shelf-life, 20 persons were chosen as laboratory panelists composed of students, teaching, and nonteaching personnel of sorsogon state college, sorsogon city campus. the panelists were selected considering the following factors and characteristics: 1. interest. panelists should exhibit interest to the product to be evaluated. a willing participant can effectively provide a sound judgment because attention is given to the product. 2. health. panel members should not only be interested with the evaluation, but they should be healthy. health problems such as chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis can affect senses, thus, compromise the result of the sensory evaluation. 3. integrity. the validity of the result strongly depends on the integrity of the panelists. it is important that answers to evaluation reflect honesty and openness of the evaluators. on the other hand, consumer testing was conducted in three local communities in sorsogon city, namely, bibincahan, balogo, and pangpang. the researchers communicated with the heads of the three target communities to inform and ask their permission to administer consumer testing. a positive response was given, and the testing and evaluation were conducted in the local community halls of balogo and bibincahan and pangpang heath center. a total of 300 respondents (mostly household mothers and children) evaluated the product using a 9-point hedonic scale. the evaluation sheet was translated to the local vernacular so that it can be easily understood by the respondents. during the consumer testing, the researchers briefly introduced the product to be evaluated and explained the hedonic scale. the nutri -fried camote noodles were prepared with sautéed chicken and vegetable toppings. it was placed in shallow disposable cups with sealable plastic cover. since the respondents were not given any training on sensory evaluation, they were only asked to taste the product according to their preferences. identification of product characteristics or discrimination of the specified product attributes is not to be asked of to consumer panels. hence, more often than not, a consumer panel is mainly utilized to measure product acceptability or preference (mccormick, 1978). a score sheet was distributed to each of the respondents with the following preferences: 64 jpair multidisciplinary research (9) like extremely (gustuhununun) (8) like very much (gustuhunon) (7) like moderately (gusto) (6) like slightly (medyo gusto lang) (5) neither like nor dislike (lain gusto, lain man habo) (4) dislike slightly (medyo habo) (3) dislike moderately (habo) (2) dislike very much (habuunon) (1) dislike extremely (habuununon) after the consumer testing, the result of the evaluation was tabulated and computed. weighted mean was used as the statistical tool in the study. results and discussion physico-chemical and microbial analysis based on the codex alimentarius standard for fried noodles (2006), the parameters needed for the product are %moisture, % free fatty acids and yeast and mold count. as gleaned in the table, the results were still within the range of the required limit, 6.53%, 0.13% and <150 respectively. table 1. result of chemical and microbial analysis for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato sample sample description parameters results method used camote noodles brown camote noodles packed in pe bag moisture % 6.53 (*max 10%) tm-ch-005 with reference to aoac 930.04, 19th ed free fatty acid ffa % 0.13 (*max 2.0) tm-ch-020 with reference to aoac 940.28, 19th ed yeast and mold count (ym count plate, petrifilm 25c, 5 days) <150 cfu*/ g(*max 1000) tm-ch-013 with reference to aoac 997.02, 19th ed * codex alimentarius standard for fried noodles (2006) 65 international peer reviewed journal the computation (see table 2) was based on the nutritional content of the raw materials used such as all-purpose flour, camote flour, camote tops and salt. the serving size is 100 grams. the result of the computed nutrition information provides evidence that the product is healthy and nutritious. table 2. nutrition information of nutri fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato nutrition facts serving size 100g serving per container amount per serving calories from fat 0 calories 231 % daily values* total fat 2.44g 4% saturated fat 0.36g 2% cholesterol 0mg 0% sodium 82mg 4% total carbohydrate 17g 6% dietary fiber 7g 28% sugars 0g protein 4.5g vitamin a 0% vitamin c 0% calcium0% vitamin b6 12% magnesium 13% iron 6% vitamin 0% * percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research product stability and shelf-life studies table 3 shows the result of the shelf-life studies of the product. freshly produced samples (four days after they were cooked) were used during the initial evaluation. sensory evaluation was held at the food microbiology laboratory, food service management building. the chosen panelists evaluated the product in terms of its physical attributes such as taste, aroma, flavor and texture. in the hedonic scale method, the stimuli (actual samples or food names) are presented singly and are evaluated on a scale where the 9 categories range from “dislike extremely” to “like extremely.” (peryam & pilgrim, 1957). through this method, the panelists’ preference and overall acceptability are determined. since the product is freshly made, the likelihood of acceptability is higher as seen in the result. table 3. sensory evaluation result for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato (initial evaluation) 9 hedonic scale color aroma taste texture overall acceptability like extremely (9) 10 (90) 8 (72) 15 (135) 10 (90) like very much (8) 10 (80) 12 (96) 5 (40) 10 (80) like moderately (7) like slightly (6) neither like nor dislike (5) dislike slightly (4) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) 8.5 8.4 8.75 8.5 8.535 it can be gleaned in the table the number of respondents who rated the sample for color and texture were just the same as the initial evaluation. however, for aroma, seven ranked the product as “like extremely” while thirteen rated it as “liked very much. likewise, the value gained for taste is 8.70. as rated by the twenty panelists, the overall acceptability of the product is 8.5125 which is equivalent to “like very much”. 67 international peer reviewed journal table 4. sensory evaluation result for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato (60 days) 9 hedonic scale color aroma taste texture overall acceptability like extremely (9) 10 (90) 7 (63) 14 (126) 10 (90) like very much (8) 10 (80) 13 (104) 6 (48) 10 (80) like moderately (7) like slightly (6) neither like nor dislike (5) dislike slightly (4) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) 8.5 8.35 8.70 8.5 8.5125 table 5 illustrates the outcome of the sensory evaluation of the product after 120 days. the texture has retained its rating as “like very much.” however, other attributes such as the color, aroma and taste have diminished compared to the result of the previous months. the final acceptability rate of the sample was 8.4, 8.3 and 8.5 for color, aroma and taste respectively. nonetheless, the overall acceptability of the product after four months is still “like very much.” similar to the 60 days evaluation, the result shows that the product is still acceptable. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. sensory evaluation result for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato (120 days) 9 hedonic scale color aroma taste texture overall acceptability like extremely (9) 8 (72) 6 (54) 10 (90) 10 (90) like very much (8) 12 (96) 14 (112) 10 (80) 10 (80) like moderately (7) like slightly (6) neither like nor dislike (5) dislike slightly (4) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) 8.4 8.3 8.5 8.5 8.425 table 6 shows the result of the shelf-life study of the camote noodles after 180 days. it is noted that almost all the organoleptic attributes of the product do not conform to the specifications set for the sample. fifteen among the twenty panelists have rated the sample as like slightly, thus, the overall acceptability is 7.7 equivalent to like moderately. the result of this physical attributes gives an end to the shelf-life of the camote noodles. aside from these comments were distinguished by the panelists such as oily taste, light in color, slightly rancid, off smell and difficult to chew. these attributes can be explained by many causes since shelf-life is influenced by several factors. these attributes can be categorized as intrinsic or extrinsic. the noodles after 180 days have both exhibited intrinsic and extrinsic traits. intrinsic factors are the properties of the final product which include the water activity (aw) (available water), ph value and total acidity, type of acid, redox potential (eh) and available oxygen (international food standard, 1993). on 69 international peer reviewed journal the other hand, the extrinsic factors are the properties of the environment where the noodles were stored. table 6. sensory evaluation result for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato (180 days) 9 hedonic scale color aroma taste texture overall acceptability like extremely (9) 6 (54) 5 (45) 5 (45) 8 (72) like very much (8) 10 (80) 5 (40) 7 (56) 6 (48) like moderately (7) 5 (35) 8 (56) like slightly (6) 4 (24) 5 (30) 6 (36) neither like nor dislike(5) dislike slightly (4) dislike moderately (3) dislike very much (2) dislike extremely (1) 7.9 7.5 7.85 7.7 7.762 table 7. summary of evaluation evaluation period overall acceptability interpretation initial evaluation 8.535 like very much after 2 months 8.5125 like very much after 4 months 8.425 like very much after 6 months 7.762 like moderately table 8 illustrates the result of the chemical analysis of camote noodles. this test was conducted at the food microbiology laboratory using moisture analyzer and ph meter for moisture and ph analysis. the result of the test in the sixth month indicates that there is an increase by 0.69 for moisture and 0.7 for ph. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research noodles with high moisture content can cause deterioration during storage and can easily attract mold, bacteria and insects. physical deteriorative changes are primarily caused by moisture migration. as explained by kilcast and subramaniam (2000), the physical changes in packaging materials along with chemical reactions can affect a food shelf-life. in the long run, storage can cause changes in permeability influencing the in-pack equilibrium which may result to microbiological and chemical effects. these changes may lead to migration of external volatiles into the food giving rise to the development of taint. table 8. result of chemical analysis for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato analysis two months four months six months % moisture 6.50 6.51 7.2 ph 5.5 5.5 6.2 consumer testing table 9 demonstrates the sensory evaluation for consumer acceptance testing of nutri-fried noodles using 9-point hedonic scale to determine the degree of likeness and dislikeness of the product. it was done in three local communities of sorsogon, namely, bibincahan, pangpang and balogo with one hundred (100) respondents each. table 9. sensory evaluation for nutri-fried noodles utilizing tubers and tops of sweet potato 9 hedonic scale value brgy. bibincahan brgy. pang pang brgy. balogo overall acceptability like extremely (gustuhununun) 9 29(261) 35(315) 40(360) like very much (gustuhunun) 8 32(256) 35(280) 34(272) like moderately (gusto) 7 35(245) 28(196) 26(182) like slightly (medyo gusto lang) 6 4(24) 2(12) 71 international peer reviewed journal neither like nor dislike (lain gusto lain man habo) 5 dislike slightly (medyo habo) 4 dislike moderately (habo) 3 dislike very much (habuunun) 2 dislike extremely ( habuununon) 1 7.86 8.03 8.4 8.01 consumer testing is one of the most important activities in product development to determine the response of consumers. resurreccion (1998) states that the most important purpose of consumer affective tests is to assess personal response by current and potential customers of a product, product ideas or specific product characteristics. the 9-point hedonic scale is a technique that will verify if the nutri-fried noodles is acceptable to the consumers. conclusion the research revealed that sweet potato tubers and tops can be made into a nutri-fried noodles. based on the different tests conducted, the sample submitted to department of science and technology region v shows that the nutri-fried camote noodles has 6.53% moisture, 0.12 free fatty acid,150 cfu/g yeast and mold count. the computed nutrition information of the product also showed that it is healthier than the commonly consumed noodles in the market. it has no sugar content, zero cholesterol and rich in fiber content. the result of the sensory evaluation also implies that the maximum shelf-life of camote noodles is up to six (6) months. furthermore, it was found out that the product is “like very much,” by the consumers after conducting consumer testing to 300 respondents in three 72 jpair multidisciplinary research communities in sorsogon city, philippines. the nutri-fried camote noodles is highly marketable as evidenced by the “like very much” evaluation made by respondents. production can be started immediately and initial commercialization shall be in the three local communities where testing was made. literature cited agu, h. o., & okoli, n. a. (2014). physico-chemical, sensory, and microbiological assessments of wheat-based biscuit improved with beniseed and unripe plantain.  food science & nutrition,  2(5), 464–469. http://doi.org/10.1002/ fsn3.135 codex alimentarius (1999). http://www.codexalimentarius.org congress of the philippines (2012). republic act 10611 (food safety act 2013). fari, m.j.m, d. rajapaksa and k.k.d.s. ranaweera (2011). quality characteristics of noodles made from selected varieties of sri lankan rice with different physicochemical characteristics. journal of the national science foundation of sri lanka, volume 39, issue 1. gatchalian m.m. and sonia de leon (1992). introduction to food technology. manila: merriam & webster bookstore, inc. international food standard, 1993. kilcast, david and persis subramaniam (eds.) (2000). the stability and shelf-life of food. cambridge: woodhead publishing limited. retrieved from http://store. elsevier.com/the-stability-and-shelf-life-of-food/isbn-9781855735002/ mccormick and co. (1978). general guide to sensory evaluation. usa: hunt valley. peryam, d. r., & pilgrim, f. j. (1957). hedonic scale method of measuring food preferences. food technology. 73 international peer reviewed journal resurreccion, a. v. (1998).  consumer sensory testing for product development. aspen publishers. ritthiruangdej, p., parnbankled, s., donchedee, s., & wongsagonsup, r. (2011). physical, chemical, textural and sensory properties of dried wheat noodles supplemented with unripe banana flour. singh-ackbarali, d., & maharaj, r. (2014). sensory evaluation as a tool in determining acceptability of innovative products developed by undergraduate students in food science and technology at the university of trinidad and tobago. journal of curriculum and teaching, 3(1), p10. taneya m. l. j. , m. m. h. biswas and m. shams-ud-din (2014). the studies on the preparation of instant noodles from wheat flour supplementing with sweet potato flour. j. bangladesh agril. univ. 12(1): 135–142. united states department of agriculture (usda). national nutrient database. retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ 80 jpair multidisciplinary research vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.391 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. pekemon: a mobile application for detecting fake money roselie b. alday http://orcid.org 0000-0003-4789-3558 rbalday@lpubatangas,edu.ph lyceum of the philippines university batangas city, philippines jelyn g. andal http://orcid.org 0000-00020670-5218 jelynandal@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university guloditaas, batangas city,batangas micah c. ilagan http://orcid.org 0000-00032075-9236 micahilagan712@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university sabang, puerto galera,oriental mindoro niña daniela a. meliton http://orcid.org 0000-00017404-0775 danielameliton@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university alvinvillesubd.,taguan, candelaria, quezon marnely s. mercado http://orcid.org 0000-00031395-6717 marnelymercado@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university kumintangibaba, batangas city,batangas 81 international peer reviewed journal abstract banko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp) released and redesigned/new philippine peso bills last december 2010 in accordance to stop the proliferation of counterfeit money, but circulation of fake money continues. the project developed a mobile application that will help detect fake new philippine bills by using an algorithm in a mobile application. the researchers devised a tool in detecting fake money by distinguishing between genuine and counterfeit philippine peso bills using built-in phone camera. the method used in detecting fake money was image segmentation using sobel edge detection algorithm. it converted the image to grayscale and detected two kinds of edges in an image: vertical direction edges and horizontal direction edges. after the image was converted, it counts the number of white pixels which had been the basis to determine if it is fake or not. the mobile application is available for android operating system only. the programming language that the researchers used is java. the application resulted to 50% 70% accuracy in detecting fake bills because it uses a phone camera for detection instead of ultra violet light. it is recommended that the design be enhanced by adding more functionality such as sending a message to the office of banko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp) if the money is detected as fake. keywords – technology, image segmentation, mobile application, sobel edge detection algorithm, philippines introduction fake money is circulating in the philippines such as cebu city, taguig city, pasay city, and manila. while there are some fake money dealers who got arrested, still, there are people who got fooled by these dealers even if there are many machines available to detect fake bill, such as counterfeit money detector, currency validator, and counterfeit detector pen with reusable uv led light (philstar.com, february 2014, inquirer.net, april 2014 & gmanetwork.com, march 2013). to stop the proliferation of counterfeit money, banko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp) released and redesigned/new philippine peso bills last december 2010. the regular practice of central bank in changing the designs of their money is intended to protect the currency against counterfeiters by making it difficult and costly for them to produce exact copies. the new designed money has unique features but 82 jpair multidisciplinary research still fake money dealers are smart to think of ways to fake even the newly designed money. with the possible proliferation of counterfeit money in the country, it is best to be familiar with the security features of genuine bank notes and detect the fake ones. it is for this reason that, the authors developed a mobile application that may use as a counterfeit money detector. the application used photos taken by the cellphone camera and apply the sobel edge detection algorithm for determining counterfeit money using image segmentation. if counterfeit money detector is installed to mobile phones, a large proportion of the population that relies only on cash transactions will get an accessible and handy detector on their phones that will allow them to check the bill. framework ways of detecting fake money there are 2 ways of detecting fake money: [1] manually, and [2] by ultraviolet light. manual figure 1. security features according to malic and malabrigo (2010), there are security features which can be easily recognized by the public without the use of special instruments. these are the “look,” “feel,” and “tilt” elements in the notes, as enumerated: (1) embossed prints: the embossed or raised print nature of the ink deposition combined with the quality of cotton-based paper gives the traditional banknote a unique tactile effect that makes it the first and the most important line of defense against counterfeiting. this can be felt over the words “republika ng pilipinas,” denominational value in text, signatures, and value panels particularly, the one located at the lower right corner of the bill can be observed; (2) asymmetric serial number: alphanumeric characters at the lower left and upper right corners of the note bearing one or two prefix letters and six to seven digits, with font increasing figure 2.4.2 home/menu screen = 83 international peer reviewed journal in size and thickness; (3) security fibers: visible red and blue fibers embedded on the paper and randomly scattered on the face and back of the note; (4) watermark: shadow image of the portrait with the highlighted denomination value that is particularly seen against the light from either side of the blank space on the note; (5) see-through mark: the pre-hispanic script (baybayin) at the lower right corner of the face of the note slightly above the value panel. this is seen in complete form only when the note is viewed against the light. this script means “pilipino”; (6) concealed value: the denominational value superimposed at the smaller version portrait at the upper left portion of the note. this becomes clearly visible when the note is rotated 45 degrees and slightly titled; (7) security thread (embedded or windowed): embedded thread that runs vertically across the width of 20-and 50-peso notes when viewed against light. also, the stitch-like metallic thread on the 100, 200, 500 and 1000-peso notes which changes color from red to green and bears the clear text of “bsp” and the denominational value on the obverse and “bsp” on the reverse, both in repeated series; (8) optically variable device (ovd) patch: found only in 500 and 1000-peso notes, this patch is a reflective foil, bearing the image of the blue-napped parrot for 500-peso, while clam with south sea pearl for 1000-peso, changes color from red to green when the note is rotated 90 degrees; and (9) optically variable ink (ovi): found only in the 1000peso note; this embossed denominational value at the lower right corner of the face of the note changes color from green to blue when viewed at different angles. ultraviolet security features recognizable by professional cash handlers/bank tellers with the use of magnifying lens or ultraviolet light. examples are fluorescent features and micro printing. in relation to the ultraviolet light, bolo, (2008) stated that the uv light technology was chosen over other technologies because it is the most commonly used bill authenticity detector. also, studies show that the ultraviolet light can scan fluorescent fibers of the bill, enabling the user to verify the authenticity of the bill accurately. this was also supported in the study of sanjana, diwakar and sharma (2012) showed that embedding fluorescent fiber into the paper, or printing ultra-violet ink onto the paper, creates a form of optical verification easily used at counters, checkouts, etc. by exposing the note to ultra-violet light, the ink or fiber fluoresce, revealing a colored pattern not visible under natural light. still fake money dealers are smart to think of ways to fake even the newly designed money. with the possible proliferation of counterfeit money in the country, it is best to be familiar with the security features of genuine bank notes and detect the fake ones. it is for this reason that, the authors developed a mobile application that may use as a counterfeit money detector. the application used photos taken by the cellphone camera and apply the sobel edge detection algorithm for determining counterfeit money using image segmentation. if counterfeit money detector is installed to mobile phones, a large proportion of the population that relies only on cash transactions will get an accessible and handy detector on their phones that will allow them to check the bill. framework ways of detecting fake money there are 2 ways of detecting fake money: [1] manually, and [2] by ultraviolet light. manual figure 1. security features according to malic and malabrigo (2010), there are security features which can be easily recognized by the public without the use of special instruments. these are the “look,” “feel,” and “tilt” elements in the notes, as enumerated: (1) embossed prints: the embossed or raised print nature of the ink deposition combined with the quality of cotton-based paper gives the traditional banknote a unique tactile effect that makes it the first and the most important line of defense against counterfeiting. this can be felt over the words “republika ng pilipinas,” denominational value in text, signatures, and value panels particularly, the one located at the lower right corner of the bill can be observed; (2) asymmetric serial number: alphanumeric characters at the lower left and upper right corners of the note bearing one or two prefix letters and six to seven digits, with font increasing figure 2.4.2 home/menu screen 84 jpair multidisciplinary research edge detection figure 2. edge detection (source: maini & aggarwal, 2009) edge detection refers to the process of identifying and locating sharp discontinuities in an image. the discontinuities are abrupt changes in pixel intensity which characterize boundaries of objects in a scene. there are an extremely large number of edge detection operators available, each designed to be sensitive to certain types of edges. the geometry of the operator determines a characteristic direction in which it is most sensitive to edges. operators can be optimized to look for horizontal, vertical, or diagonal edges. edge detection is difficult in noisy images, since both the noise and the edges contain high frequency content (maini & aggarwal, 2009). in addition, kumar and saxena (2013) introduced that edge detection is a welldeveloped field on its own with image processing. edge detection is basically image segmentation technique, divides spatial domain, on which the image is defined, into meaningful parts or regions. edges characterize boundaries and are therefore a problem of fundamental importance in image processing. edges typically occur on the boundary between two different regions in an image. sobel operator is a discrete differentiation operator used to compute an approximation of the gradient of image intensity function for edge detection. at each pixel of an image, sobel operator gives either the corresponding gradient vector or normal to the vector. it convolves the input image with kernel and computes the gradient magnitude and direction. edge detection is one of the most frequently used techniques in digital image processing. the boundaries of object surfaces in a scene often lead to oriented localized changes in intensity of an image, called edges. this observation combined with a commonly held belief that edge detection is the first step in image segmentation, has fueled a long search for a good edge detection algorithm to use in image processing. edge detection techniques transform images to edge images benefiting from the changes of grey tones in the images. the sobel detection: the sobel operator performs a 2-d spatial gradient measurement on an image and so emphasizes regions of high spatial frequency that correspond to edges. typically 85 international peer reviewed journal it is used to find the approximate absolute gradient magnitude at each point in an input grayscale image. in theory at least, the operator consists of a pair of 3x3 convolution kernels (senthilkumaran & rajesh, 2009). chaudhary and gulati (2013), says that edge detection in images significantly reduces the amount of data and filters out useless information, while preserving the important structural properties in an image. the sobel edge detection method is introduced by sobel in 1970. the sobel method of edge detection for image segmentation finds edges using the sobel approximation to the derivative. it precedes the edges at those points where the gradient is highest. the sobel technique performs a 2-d spatial gradient quantity on an image and so highlights regions of high spatial frequency that correspond to edges. in general it is used to find the estimated absolute gradient magnitude at each point in an input grayscale image. based on the study of gupta and mazumdar (2013) of international journal of computer science and management research (ijcsmr), compared to other edge operator, sobel has two main advantages: because of the introduction of the average factor, it has some smoothing effect to the random noise of the image. also, because it is the differential of two rows or two columns, the elements of the edge on both sides has been enhanced, so that the edge seems thick and bright. meanwhile, vincent and folorunso (2009) said that the sobel edge detector uses a pair of 3 x 3 convolution masks, one estimating gradient in the x-direction and the other estimating gradient in y–direction. the sobel detector is incredibly sensitive to noise in pictures, it effectively highlight them as edges. hence, sobel operator is recommended in massive data communication found in data transfer. another source, juneja and sandhu (2009), showed the method of locating an edge as a characteristic of the “gradient filter” family of edge detection filters and includes the sobel method. the sobel method finds edges using the sobel approximation to the derivative. it returns edges at those points where the gradient of the image is maximum. sobel operator provides both differencing and smoothing, it detects part of the edges in the image. image segmentation based on the study of kumar and pandey (2013), digital image processing image segmentation is an essential step for image analysis. the image segmentation separates an image into its components parts and its objects. segmentation algorithms for image are generally based on the discontinuity and similarity image intensity values. discontinuity which is based on the abrupt changes in intensity and similarity is based on the partitioning of images into the 86 jpair multidisciplinary research regions. edge detection is a part of the image segmentation. the effectiveness of many images processing depends upon the perfection of detecting meaningful edges. it is one of the techniques for detecting intensity discontinuity in digital images. the process of classifying and placing sharp discontinuities in an image is called edge detection. these discontinuities are immediate changes into pixel concentration which distinguish boundaries of objects.” the first step in an image analysis is to segment the image. segmentation subdivides an image into its constituent parts or objects. the level to which this subdivision is carried depends on the problem being viewed. sometimes the need to segment the object from the background is to read the image correctly and identify the content of the image, for this reason there are two techniques of segmentation, discontinuity detection technique and similarity detection technique. in the first technique, one approach is to partition an image based on abrupt changes in gray-level image. the second technique is based on the threshold and region growing. (al-amri, kalyankar & khamitkar, 2010) from the article of kato and pong (2006), image segmentation is an important early vision task where pixels with similar features are grouped into homogeneous regions. a broadly used class of models is the so-called cartoon model, which has been extensively studied from both probabilistic and variational viewpoints. the model assumes that the real world scene consists of a set of regions whose observed low-level features changes slowly, but across the boundary between them, these features change abruptly. objective of the study the study aimed to: 1) develop a mobile application that will help detect fake new philippine bills; 2) use sobel edge detection algorithm in image segmentation; 3) devise a tool in detecting fake money; and 4) distinguish between genuine and counterfeit philippine bills using built-in phone camera. methodology mobile apps are designed with consideration for the demands and constraints of the devices and also to take advantage of any specialized capabilities they have. this program runs on a handheld device, has a “smart” operating system, supports standalone software and can connect to the internet via wi-fi or a wireless carrier network. 87 international peer reviewed journal the method used in detecting fake money was image segmentation using sobel edge detection algorithm. it converted the image to grayscale and detected two kinds of edges in an image: vertical direction edges and horizontal direction edges. after the image was converted, it counts the number of white edges. this mobile application is available for android operating system only. the programming language that the researchers used is java. as the main objective of this paper is to detect counterfeit philippine peso bills, the application was built in eclipse where sobel edge detection algorithm will help detect the counterfeit money through image segmentation. bank notes are available in values of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 and these notes have the same size. this role was played by the camera phone which captures the whole bill at once. with the aid of a high definition camera, the application will implement sobel edge detection on the image, and count the white pixels. this application has the ability to distinguish if the peso bill was counterfeit or genuine. though there are different smart machines that are available to detect counterfeit bills, this mobile application is more portable and accessible to use. results and discussion pekemon is a mobile application that will help determine if the bill is genuine or counterfeit. it will use the device’s camera and memory to perform its actions by implementing the sobel edge detection algorithm on the image, and count the white pixels of the bill to determine whether it is genuine or counterfeit. the users can detect fake money with the use of the camera of their mobile phones, android as their operating system (kitkat and lollipop only), also through the use of sobel edge detecting algorithm in image segmentation. this mobile application has 50% to 70% accuracy in detecting fake bills. the definite use of sobel edge detection algorithm is by converting the captured image of the bill into a binary image consisting of black and white pixels showing that white pixels represent the edges of the image and the elements of the image. in this manner the converted image through the use of sobel might be processed to count the number of white pixels of the image which will be the basis of determining if the bill is genuine or fake. based on the tests that we had conducted, we found out that each genuine bills has greater white pixels than the counterfeit one. through the help of another application which we implemented the use of sobel edge detection algorithm, and count the white pixels. this process guided us in having the average white pixel count in each bill. after having samples and tests on each bill, we came up with 88 jpair multidisciplinary research the accuracy percentage of each bill. for the 20 and 50 peso bills, 70% to 90% accurate. while on the 100, 200, and 500 peso bills, 50% to 70% accurate. and lastly, 30% to 50% accurate for 1000 peso bill. this application has limitations. crumpled money is not advisable for detection of the app. one should not take pictures on dark areas, therefore, proper lighting is required. the device’s camera must be 8 megapixels and above, and has auto-focus. be sure to focus on the bill before capturing the image. also, never use a blurred image in the detection process. the intended users of this application are those who have android operating system, kitkat and lollipop versions only. conclusion this mobile application was created to provide big or small establishments an easy way to detect counterfeit money with the use of their android phones. this study differs from other counterfeit money detector app in which they used uv light for detection. compared to our research, we used sobel edge detection algorithm in image segmentation to detect counterfeit money. users simply have to capture an image of the money, and the application will automatically detect whether the money is counterfeit or genuine. recommendations the study can be a reference for future researchers who are into developing mobile application projects using eclipse as their ide. furthermore, it is recommended that the design be enhanced by adding more functionalities such as sending a message to the office of banko sentral ng pilipinas (bsp) if the money detected is fake. literature cited al-amri, s. s., kalyankar, n. v., & khamitkar, s. d. (2010). image segmentation by using edge detection. international journal on computer science and engineering, 2(3), 804-807. bolo, j. m. (2008). microcontroller-based bill-to-coin changer with uv lightdependent counterfeit sensor. 89 international peer reviewed journal chaudhary, a., & gulati, t. (2013). segmenting digital images using edge detection.methods, 2(5), 319-323. gupta, s., & mazumdar, s. g. (2013). sobel edge detection algorithm. international journal of computer science and management research, 2(2), p1578-1583. juneja, m., & sandhu, p. s. (2009). performance evaluation of edge detection techniques for images in spatial domain. methodology, 1(5), 614-621. kato, z., & pong, t. c. (2006). a markov random field image segmentation model for color textured images. image and vision computing, 24(10), 1103-1114 kumar, m., & saxena, r. (2013). algorithm and technique on various edge detection: a survey. signal & image processing, 4(3), 65. kumar, s., & pandey, p. (2013). fpga implementation of image segmentation by using edge detection based on sobel edge operator. international journal of research in engineering and technology (ijret), 2(10), 198203. maini, r., & aggarwal, h. (2009). study and comparison of various image edge detection techniques. international journal of image processing (ijip), 3(1), 1-11. csc journals, kuala lumpur malaysia. malic, m. g., malabrigo, n. (2010). the bangko sentral ng pilipinas’ new generation currency notes: safeguarding the integrity of the philippine currency. bangkosentral review. (pp. 26-34). sanjana, m., diwakar, m., & sharma, a. (2012). an automated recognition of fake or destroyed indian currency notes in machine vision.  int. j. comput. sci. manag. stud, 12, 53-60. senthilkumaran, n., & rajesh, r. (2009). edge detection techniques for image segmentation–a survey of soft computing approaches.international journal of recent trends in engineering, 1(2). 90 jpair multidisciplinary research vincent, o. r., & folorunso, o. (2009, june). a descriptive algorithm for sobel image edge detection. in proceedings of informing science & it education conference (insite) (vol. 40, pp. 97-107). appendices figure 2.4.1 application drawer figure 2.4.2 home/menu screen figure 2.4.3 office lens camera figure 2.4.4 image segmentation 86 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract different electronic gadgets and devices nowadays exist and develop rapidly with the latest trends and technology. gadgets have specific functions based on people’s interests or needs in communication, transportation, music, and entertainment. the electronic drum is one of these gadgets that music enthusiasts would surely want to have. the study aimed to fabricate or assemble an electronic drum using raw materials which is locally available. the study used the experimental and project method. it was accomplished by fabricating the edrum module based on the circuit design of admir salahovic. the processes include the use of the toner transfer method in making the printed circuit board; programming the microcontroller; the construction of the different triggers with the use of locally available materials and testing the device’s functionality. the study concludes that the locally fabricated electronic drum trigger-module found on the internet as a do-it-yourself project using locally available materials works; it answers the queries of how electronic musical instrument works and what it is made of. the researcher and students are capable to build complicated electronic devices with the theories and skills learned behind it. it is recommended to enhance some of the trigger pads for a professional-like electronic drum kit. locally fabricated electronic drum trigger-module julius moises s. albalos http:// orcid.org/0000-0003-4481-8392 jamrooh2778@gmail.com university of northern philippines, vigan, ilocos sur, philippines vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.355 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 87 international peer reviewed journal keywords – technology, electronic drum, fabrication, drum triggers, experimental and project method, philippines introduction technology gives ease, comfort, security, entertainment, and other things that help people’s day-to-day living. the term technology has multiple definitions. some define technology as both material and immaterial entities created by mental and physical efforts to achieve value. this can also refer to machineries, tools, instruments used in communication, transportation and construction. meanwhile, arthur (2009) describes technology as “means to fulfill a human purpose.” the reproduction of sounds nowadays is developed from analog to digital signals. music contains different sounds produced not by a traditional acoustic music instruments, but rather a digitally processed. digitization accomplishes many of the same things just like the gramophone: music storage and retrieval are greatly facilitated, though this time it is not simply music as sounds, but music as bits – the combinations of zeros and ones. these digits are more portable, more easily disseminated than ever before. however, it is not just storage and retrieval that have changed but the production as well. anyone who recalls television programs from the 1970s or earlier might also remember that the soundtracks usually featured orchestral music, attributed to a composer in the program’s credits. in those previous days, television, film, advertising, and all music were written by a person, perhaps, orchestrated by another; parts were copied and distributed to orchestral musicians, often employed by major television and film studios, and the music was recorded for each program and edited to fit the specific program. now, however, music can be realized by a single person with a home studio consisting of a computer and few electronic musical instruments. no performance required; indeed, there is no “performance” in a conventional sense (taylor, 2001). the production of digitally processed music involves the conversion of acoustic instruments into electronic or electric. the musical telegraph is one of the first electric musical instruments existed in 1876. it was invented by elisha gray where steel reeds produce oscillations through electromagnets being transmitted over a telegraphy line. other inventions of gray, which also involved vibration and magnetic field to produce audible oscillations is a loudspeaker device (chadabe, 2000). 88 jpair multidisciplinary research in 1971, luciano invented an electronic instrument for simulating the sound effects produced by a piano, comprising an electronic generator adapted to generate an electrical signal of constant or substantially constant amplitude, and electrical switching means connected to the generator and adapted (upon operation of a key associated therewith) to cause the signal from the generator to be applied to an output of the instrument. the amplitude of the signal at the output being representative of the time taken for the switching means to move from an inoperative to an operative condition. electronic musical instruments typically generate processed sound and could simulate virtually the musical instruments. vibrations produced by striking an element will be translated into electric signal. such instrument includes percussions and electronic drums which are increasingly becoming popular with the modern musical groups (bozzio, 1987). the electronic drum nowadays is popularly used in different musical events and recordings. unfortunately, the cost of these electronic drums in the market is very high that an average musician or a beginner could not afford to have. the design, development and fabrication of this device requires an in depth knowledge and skills in the advance electronics technology. to address this problem, the researcher attempted to come up with a locally fabricated electronic drum trigger and module with the use of his knowledge and skills in electronics technology. framework figure 1. the conceptual framework the input includes the main source of the e-drum module design (admir salahovic, 2009), and the materials needed in his website. the triggers were out of 89 international peer reviewed journal available materials in the market and others were scrap based from the ideas of the researcher and from the different ideas on the internet. the processes involved the pcb design, where the researcher used the toner transfer method, programming the pic microcontroller, assembly of the module and the construction of the different triggers. the history of the electronic drums the first electronic drum is said to be created by a drummer of the moody blues, graeme edge together with a professor at sussex university, brian groves and was used in the song “procession” in 1971. pollard industries released the first commercial electronic drum, pollard syndrum, in 1976. it caught the attention of many drummers and percussionists, but it was a financial failure that led the company into a monetary loss. the commercial electronic drum set production was continued by the simmon’s company in 1978 and its famous product sds-5 was released in 1981. this electronic drum gained its prominence during the 80’s where this was used by famous bands and artists in the pop/rock and synth-pop groups such as duran duran, spandau ballet and shock. other companies, roland and yamaha, started selling their own electronic drum versions the following years. the drum pads used were rubber-coated the same as that of today’s kits. it is velocity sensitive and with single multiple-layered sound samples. the td-10 model was introduced by roland in 1997. the innovations made in this model are: 1) it provides a sound for the drums or pads to trigger themselves and not through instrument sound samples. instead of rubber-coated pads, they used mesh-head pads made from double layer woven mesh fibers. roland called their innovative electronic drum sets as v-drums (rule & fisher, 2015). it was found in the study of harvey (2002) that online search for information and navigations engages learners, creates more meaningful tasks and increases the intrinsic motivation of the students. moreover, according to elliott (2005), doit-yourself (diy) is chosen by people for the fun of creation, to learn and to get something that cannot be bought because it is too specialized. making something on your own allows you to customize, and when it’s done, the fun and pride of accomplishing it will always be there. doing it yourself is not exactly what others think as to save money. the use of available materials or junk materials, yes it could be, but the main reason why do90 jpair multidisciplinary research it-yourself is to learn new skills or mastery that displays your talent or technical know-how. objective of the study the study aimed to fabricate an electronic drum out of locally available materials. materials and methods the study utilized the project and experimental method of research in assembling the electronics drum trigger-module. device fabrication a. materials bill of materials analog board qty part-refs value qty part-refs value resistors resistors 2 r1,r2 220 8 r1,r11,r21,r31,r41,r51,r61,r71 47k 3 r3,r16,r21 1k 16 r2,r3,r12,r13,r22,r23,r32,r33,r43,r5 2,r53,r62,r63,r72,r73 100k 3 r4,r15,r17 10k 8 r4,r14,r24,r34,r44,r54,r64,r74 1k 12 r5-r14,r18,r19 100 capacitors 1 r20 2k2 16 c1,c2,c11,c12,c21,c22,c31,c32,c41,c 42,c51,c52,c61,c62,c71, c72 100nf capacitors 2 c101,c102 1uf 2 c1, c2 22pf ic 1 c3 1000uf 2 u1,u2 lm324 10 c4,c5,c7,c8,c10c15 100nf diodes 2 c6, c9 8 d1,d11,d21,d31,d41,d51,d61,d71 bat85 ic 8 d2,d12,d22,d32,d42,d52,d62,d72 1n4148 1 u1 pic16f877-20 miscellaneous 1 u2 78l05 8 p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8 100k 1 u3 78l08 1 u4 max232 1 u5 4051 diodes 3 d1,d4,d5 led 2 d2,d3 1n4148 miscellaneous 1 lcd1 16x2 1 1 10k lin 4 s1 – s4 pushbutton 1 x1 20mhz figure 2. materials of the electronic drum trigger-module 91 international peer reviewed journal there are two major parts of the trigger-module: 1) the digital board which is the brain of the device, consists of the programmable interface controller (pic), microcontroller, pic16f877, 10-bit low power processor, analog-todigital converter. this converts the signals from the analog board into a musical instrument digital interface (midi) signal through a programmed code. the same pic microcontroller was used by malhotra and seethalakshmi (2013) in their “automatic meter reading and theft control system by using gsm” and karnavas and liagkos (2012), "development of a practical low-cost µc based brushless dc motor controller using proteus". second is the analog board consists of the lm324 low power quad operational amplifier. this regulates the input signal coming from the piezo electric transducer and maintain the output voltage for the a/d converter. the circuit: 92 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. schematic diagram of the module the schematic diagram shows circuit connections of the different electronic components used in the module. this allows further understanding on how the module works. this also serves as a guide in the fabrication and troubleshooting. the analog circuit used operational amplifier circuit that regulates and controls the signal input coming from the piezo electric transducers. the output of this circuit will then be fed to the input of the digital circuit consisted of the brain of the device, the pic16f877 ic. the microcontroller then translates the signal into midi signals, a signal that is accepted by a sound device (i.e. musical keyboard) or a software in a personal computer (i.e. addictive drums). the settings, parameters, vu meters can be viewed through a 16x2 lcd connected to the output of the microcontroller. 93 international peer reviewed journal pcb fabrication: figure 4. analog printed circuit board this figure shows the design of the printed circuit board of the analog circuitry used in the study. figure 5. motherboard printed circuit board the figure shows the design of the printed circuit board of the motherboard or the digital board used in the study. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research the pcb designs were downloaded from the website of admir salahovic. toner transfer technique was utilized in the fabrication. the pcb designs were printed in a photo paper using a laser jet printer and then transferred to the copper clad board (ccb) by heating with pressure through a flat iron. this technique is similar to the us patent “electro (stato) graphic method using reactive toners” by uyttendaele, de beeck, leenders and tavernier (1996) where they fixed the toner particles in the final substrate by heat or by heat and pressure. component placement and soldering the different components or parts were carefully placed and soldered into the printed circuit boards following the schematic diagram and the lay-out. pic programming using picpgm software and jdm programmer the peripheral interface controller, pic16f877a, is a 10-bit, 8-channel analog to digital converter enhanced flash microcontroller. this is the brain of the device. it converts the analog signal from the hit of the pads containing the piezo electric transducer into a musical instrument digital interface (midi) signal that triggers the midi notes of an electronic musical sound device or instrument. the microcontroller’s function can be set by a program code that is designed by a programmer. the author of the module, admir salahovic, provided his code on his website that was transferred or programmed into the microcontroller using a picpgm software available in the internet. a programming device or instrument, jdm programmer, was also fabricated for this purpose. it serves as the device that links the microcontroller to the computer for programming the code. 95 international peer reviewed journal final assembly of the trigger module figure 6. trigger module the figure shows the final assembly of the module. all the necessary parts and components were wired and encased in a scrapped vcd case. the researcher as much as possible made use of scrap materials available to reduce the cost of the project. b. hi-hat pedal construction using optical device figure 7. hi-hat trigger pedal 96 jpair multidisciplinary research a hi-hat is a pair of cymbals that clashes using a hi-hat pedal. it produces high frequency note or pitch. the hi-hat pedal is a drum device that shifts the “hi-hat” cymbals. this shifts the operation of the cymbal from close-open or vice versa operated by foot. the hi hat trigger pedal as shown in figure 7, was improvised from a plywood designed to mimic the real one. a circuitry that involves the production of the trigger signal for hi-hat operation includes a light dependent resistor (ldr) and a light emitting diode (led). when the pedal is pressed, the light from the led will be blocked causing the ldr to change its resistance value. in 1997, robert weil invented a foot operated signal controller with lighted visual reference. it is a typical rocker pedal linked to a variable resistor which controls the leds and audio signal. kick drum pedal assembly figure 8. kick drum trigger pad a bass drum is a low note or low pitch frequency-producing drum. it is usually paddled by a beater by hand or foot. the kick drum, therefore, is a bass drum paddled by foot using a pedal. the kick drum pedal in the study is a real kick drum pedal only with an improvised beater and the trigger pad. the pad is made of rubber and foam placed in a designed plywood casing. the piezo electric transducer is sandwich 97 international peer reviewed journal between the foam and the rubber. the beater was an improvised bent metal rod. toshinori yamashita (1988) invented an electronic bass drum with integral supports where he properly reinforced the pedal for different type of drummers that could withstand the force of a beater. trigger pads assembly/fabrication figure 9. trigger pads a drum set is composed basically of a snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, bell, and cymbals. electronic drums use trigger pads for each operation of the drums. the trigger pads were designed by the researcher based on the different concepts found on the internet and the availability of the materials. the snare and toms trigger pads used in the study were made out of a 10-inch pvc pipe, aluminum flat bar, mesh screen, sponge foam and the piezoelectric transducers. the hi-hat and bell pad were made out of a plastic chopping board with a foam cover as a cushion to prevent excessive noise when hit. the cymbals were out of screen cover of pots with the piezo element located beneath it. electronic drum pads include a vibration responsive plate mounted on a cushion with a thin buffer pad on its upper surface to provide the player the feel of natural drumhead. the supporting structure or frame also provides insulation of unnecessary vibrations to the vibration plate (hoshino, 1984). 98 jpair multidisciplinary research operation and testing the device was tested functional with all the features and operations. the presence of the signal triggering the sound module/pc when striking the drum pads is a manifestation that the device is working. when the trigger pads are struck, the piezoelectric transducers embedded to the pads will produce small electrical signal proportional to the hitting strength. the signal is then fed to the e-drum module that translates the signal into digital codes that correspond to the midi notes in the sound module (electronic keyboard or personal computer). piezoelectric pickups are provided to each drum pad and the output of which is connected to an envelope-extracting circuit where the extracted signal will be converted by an analog-to-digital converter into which is fed to a computer processing unit that feeds a tone designation signal to a tone generator. together with a parameter data, it produces the corresponding drum sound (uchiyama, nakamura & tsutsumi, 1988). bozzio (1987) stated that the electronic drum can also be used as an entirely different type of percussion instrument than a drum. it can also simulate cymbal that produces cymbal bell note, ping or ride note and crash. the generated signals correspond to a midi note. when translated by a drum sound producing module, midi note c corresponds to a bass drum sound, d for snare drum and so on as indicated in figure 10 midi key assignments. figure 10. midi key assignments 99 international peer reviewed journal the device’s lcd worked as it displays necessary information, operations, parameters, vu meter for each channel, etc. as calibrated using the control buttons. startup screen when opening the device, a message or characters will be displayed in the lcd called the startup screen. it should display the programmer/inventor’s name and then the version of the firmware used. vu-meters after the startup screen, vu meter display will appear. this shows input signal level for each channel when the pads are hit. vu meters is the same as signal level meters. it measures or display the strength of the signal. parameters pushing the buttons will take the device into the setting mode or the parameters. the parameter settings include: 1. velocity curve this sets the ratio of the striking force and the volume output. this is set to linear wherein the force of the hit or striking the pad corresponds to the volume of the sound. meaning, it is just like hitting an acoustic drum that, when the strike is soft, it produces also a soft sound but when the hit or strike is hard, the sound is loud. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research 2. threshold this sets the level of the input signal where the e-drum starts to respond. this is the onset level where the module detects that a pad is hit. this is the setting for the sensitivity of the trigger pads. 3. retrigger the setting determines how fast e-drum consider or respond to another hit. this sets the electronic drum to simulate drum rolls. every hit counts or being responded by the module no matter how fast the drummer hits the pad just like the acoustic drums. 4. crosstalk this parameter will be set to prevent false triggering from the vibrations caused by the rack or in between pads. the piezo elements are vibration triggered. they produce an output by vibrations. the sensitivity of these piezos may cause them to trigger easily. to avoid unnecessary trigger or sound, crosstalk function will do the job. it prevents cross triggering, or triggering nearby pads. 5. note assign a setting which designates a midi note to a specific channel. the output of the device is a midi signal that triggers a specific note in an electronic musical instrument such as the electronic keyboard. each channel or pad can be assigned to a note preferred. the key assignments is presented in figure 10. 101 international peer reviewed journal the snare dual piezo triggering feature where it contains two piezoelectric transducers in one drum pad splits into two zones. one note will be triggered when the specific zone is hit. the device functioned well with the feature. hihat pedal was made of optical sensor, a light emitting diode (led) and a light dependent resistor (ldr). this triggers the hi-hat cymbals. the kick drum pedal is an original pedal, but a beater was fabricated along with the pad. the different parameter of the signal attenuation and operation was controllable. the overall functionality of the device was excellent and was proven to be operational. uchiyama, nakamura and tsutsumi (1988) claimed that an electronic musical instrument is a means of converting analog to digital signal where vibrations detected will be converted to a digital code that triggers a tone generating module. the electric signal produced by a member producing signal when struck (piezoelectric transducers) is being controlled with an operational amplifier that is fed to an analog to digital converter. the analog to digital converter includes a microcomputer that processes the signal with certain parameters and generates a tone as an output. the device was tested by students, experts in the field of electronics technology and musicians. the device was used by musicians in a live band performance and works well with it. the acceptability was very high assessed with good performance, the great possibility of use in band performances, and the marketability. conclusions the study showed the functionality of a do-it-yourself project found on the internet. all the parameters of the device works or functions as designed. the acceptability of the device’s performance is very high and positive marketability. however, selling the device is strictly prohibited by the developer who quoted in the forum “edrum project is for personal use only. you cannot make a profit, or sell it”. the researcher gained a lot of information and skills in fabricating the device, such as how the device works where most of us who sees such device wonder how, how it is built, and the theories behind it. this also encourages students who are 102 jpair multidisciplinary research also electronics and music enthusiasts to build their own gadget. it also serves as a sample project in analog to digital conversion and microcontroller programming. translational research the device can be used as an instructional material in electronics technology as it dealt with the application of analog and digital devices, and microcontroller programming. the processes undertaken during the construction or fabrication will serve as a guide for the students to follow the techniques in the fabrication of the printed circuit board, programming and construction of a complicated electronic device. the device can also be used in entertainment as a working drum set and a trigger to electronic musical instruments. it can also be used in exhibits as a locally fabricated device that will serve as a motivation for researchers and enthusiasts to develop or fabricate their own device. literature cited arthur, w. b. (2009).  the nature of technology: what it is and how it evolves. simon and schuster. bozzio, t. (1987). “electronic drum” .us patent no. 4700602. october 20, 1987 chadabe, j. (2000). the electronic century part i: beginnings. electronic musician. elliott, r. (2005) (esp). “why do-it-yourself ”. retrieved from http://sound. westhost.com/why-diy.htm harvey, s. (2002). nonfiction inquiry: using real reading and writing to explore the world. language arts, 80(1), 1. hoshino, y. (1984). pad for electronics drum. us patent no. 4581972 a. japan. hoshino gakki co.,ltd karnavas, y. l., & liagkos, c. l. development of a practical low-cost µc based brushless dc motor controller using proteus. 103 international peer reviewed journal luciano, p. (1971).  u.s. patent no. 3,590,130. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office. malhotra, p. r., & seethalakshmi, d. r. (2013). automatic meter reading and theft control system by using gsm.  international journal of engineering and technology (ijet), 5, 806-810. rule, g. & fisher, s. 2015. v-drums history: how roland became the biggest drum company in the world. retrieved from http://www.rolandus.com/ community/roland_users_group/107 salahovic, a. (2009). edrum trigger-midi converter. retrieved from www. edrum.info taylor, t. (2001). “strange sounds: music, technology and culture”, routledge, 270 madison ave, new york ny 10016 uchiyama, s., nakamura, k. & tsutsumi, k. (1988). electronic drum instrument. us patent no. 4781097. november 1, 1988. uyttendaele, c., de beeck, w. o., leenders, l., & tavernier, s. (1996).u.s. patent no. 5,558,969. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office. weil, r. p. (1997). u.s. patent no. 5,659,145. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office. yamashita, t. (1988). u.s. patent no. 4,732,070. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office. 11 international peer reviewed journal vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.386 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract female circumcision refers to the procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female external genital organs. the reasons for doing this vary but it is commonly observed in places where muslims predominate. the study is intended to determine: 1) the rate of females who had undergone female circumcision in madrasah school compared to those who went to english schools, 2) the prevalence rate of female circumcision among meranaos, and 3) the practices and experiences of women who have undergone fc. the study utilized a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods using a designed questionnaire, interview and focus group discussions with the respondents. the results showed that more girls who were studying in madrasah have undergone this practice compared to the number of girls who are in western or english schools. it also showed that the prevalence rate of this practice is indeed high in the rural areas, which is 86%. the practice of fc is performed either during fridays, holidays or mondays and thursdays. each mentioned day has meanings and there are certain procedures and instructions being followed in doing the practice. in conclusion, religious justification remains the strong reason why fc is still rampantly performed in the different rural areas of lanao del sur, philippines. women who study in madrasah school experienced higher number of female circumcision compared to western or english schools salmah lao manaloconbasher http://orcid.org 0000-0002-1558-2395 salmahbasher2@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines 12 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — sociology, female circumcision, functionalities, qualitative research, quantitative research, lanao del sur, philippines introduction in the philippines, female circumcision (fc) is known to take place particularly among muslim women of the yakan tribes in basilan (calsalin, 2008). although no study has yet been published about the practice of fc among the meranao in southern philippines, conversations with many adults in the area have confirmed the occurrence of fc. the practice of circumcision among some of the female minorities in the southern philippines has been considered a taboo subject partly because of the conservative culture of the locals especially when it comes to sensitive parts of a female’s body. the practice of fc or popularly known as female genital mutilation (fgm) went unnoticed except for recognition of its cultural value to various communities where it is being practiced. recently, the practice has attracted the attention of many individuals, agencies, institutions, leaders, educators, health workers and many other people coming from different sectors of society as a public health issue within the context of reproductive health due to the complications that are known to be precipitated by the practice (who, 2013). additionally, this practice has been one of the concerns of many researchers as many people think that it is against human rights since those affected children are innocent; they cannot understand the nature and basis of this practice and may even consider it as a traumatic experience. in the broad context of reproductive health, fgm or fc, which is then term used in the study, is a literal translation from the meranao term ‘’turi,’’ which is the collective name given to several traditional practices that involve the cutting of female genitals. unlike male circumcision, which reduces the risk of heterosexually acquired hiv infection in men by approximately 60% (who, 2013), female circumcision has no known health benefits. according to who (2001), an estimated of 100-140 million women and young girls in the world have undergone some forms of female genital mutilation. this practice affects far more women than previously thought. recent analysis revealed that some three million girls and women are cut each year in the african continent (sub-saharan africa, egypt, and sudan). this is also prevalent in some countries in asia and the middle east and among certain immigrant communities in north america and europe, certain immigrant communities in north america and europe (unicef, 2009). 13 international peer reviewed journal in the philippines, there is no data showing the number of females who had undergone female circumcision as well as the number of children who are at risk of undergoing the procedure. however, there is a study about the performance of female circumcision among the yakan (calsalin, 2008), which states that in the philippines, female circumcision is also being carried out by the yakan tribe of basilan. results showed that all respondents have common beliefs regarding female circumcision including cleanliness reason, dignity, honor, and religious duty. they also believe that this practice should be done because it is stated in the hadith (words of mohammad s.a.w), written in one of the ayahs (pages) of the holy quran. female circumcision for them is obligatory since it is sunnah (the way the prophet lived it) to practice it, with the holy quran as their basis. in performing female circumcision, the yakan tribe practiced the scraping technique using a non-pointed knife. this technique employs scraping labia majora until it becomes erythematous or inflamed; however, the labia majora should not bleed. a tawal (whispered prayer) is uttered to the child which marks the end of the practice. however, this finding was contrary to the ideas of many muslim leaders as accordingly, the interpretation pertaining to the sunnah of the prophet was not true since what is written in the sunnah is only the cleansing of a female body part. indeed, it is not mentioned in the sunnah if the female’s genital organ should be circumcised or mutilated. additionally, many muslim leaders have condemned this practice. this is often erroneously linked to islam and is practiced in some communities where islam predominates. some muslims consider that islam demands the practice to ensure spiritual purity, although many islamic scholars disagree with this stating that female circumcision is not mentioned in the qur’an. however, it is clearly a ritual practice that predates the prophet mohammad and islamic religion. although meranaos are often perceived as a cultural society that supports fc generally as a practice, there appears to be lack of studies that explore the impact of fc on social context on meranao attitudes toward the practice. moreover, the educational aspect of this group of people must also be considered to determine its influence to the performance of this practice. indeed, through education, this group of people may understand the nature and consequence of this practice. against this background, this paper aimed to explore the nature of this practice, the procedures that were being followed, the beliefs and practices underlying it, the perceptions of muslim religious personages about the practice, the perceptions of meranao males about the practice of female circumcision, and the experiences of meranao females who have undergone the procedure and complications they 14 jpair multidisciplinary research have experienced. in addition, the implications of this practice to the physical, social, psychological, sexual and spiritual aspects are included in the study. framework an important theory that has influenced this paper is the functionalism theory of durkheim (1960), which interprets each part of the society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society. according to the functionalist perspective of sociology, each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society’s stability and functions as a whole. functionalism, (or structural functionalism) is the perspective in sociology according to which society consists of different but related parts, each of which serves a particular purpose (crossman, n.d.). from this perspective, disorganization in the system, such as deviant behavior, leads to change because societal components must adjust to achieve stability. when one part of the system is not working or is dysfunctional, it affects all other parts and creates social problems, which eventually lead to social change. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine: 1) the rate of the girls who had undergone female circumcision in madrasah school compared to those who went to english schools, 2) the prevalence rate of female circumcision among meranaos, 3) the procedures being followed in doing the practice, and 4) the experiences of females who have undergone the procedure. methodology research design the study utilized two approaches, namely, quantitative and qualitative methods. the type of data that these methods generated were field notes, transcripts, audio and video recordings. the in-depth interview is useful when sensitive topics such as female circumcision are being explored. focus group discussions using open-ended and semi-structured questions were used to elicit data on the procedures being followed in performing female circumcision and the experiences of women who have undergone the procedure. the important points 15 international peer reviewed journal relating to answering the research questions were grouped together and those that carried similar information were grouped differently. the information obtained from the interview questions were used to formulate themes that were used in subsequent data analysis. lastly, direct observation as a qualitative method of collecting data to gain a more detached perspective of the procedure so as not to bias the observation. the researcher did not set out to develop a theory about female circumcision, prove or disprove a certain theory about female circumcision. rather the research was primarily descriptive in nature, with the researcher having an open mind as to what conclusions may be drawn based on data gathered and facts gleaned. while the study is mainly descriptive, certain inferences based on nuances in how the respondents answered the questions, were also utilized to draw conclusions about the research topic. participants and settings the province of lanao del sur is located in the central part of southern philippines. this province is located in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm) divided into two districts, the first district and second district. each district composes different municipalities and almost 100% of the population are meranaos. the municipalities that served as the settings of the study were lumbatan, lumbayanague, and dumalondong. six local communities from these municipalities were selected where sample respondents were drawn. these municipalities are geographically located in the hinterlands of the province of lanao del sur, southeast of lake lanao and farthest from the capital, marawi city. hence, the viewpoints of the residents through the respondents in the study may be considered typical of traditional meranao culture and religious beliefs. purposive sampling method was used in selecting the 30 females who have undergone circumcision. in determining the prevalence rate of female circumcision, a total number of population of girls 15 years and above form the six local municipalities was determined and a survey was done to know their involvement in the said practice. cormack and benton (2000) suggest that qualitative researchers use a small selective sample, because of the in-depth nature of the study and the analysis of data required. as the researcher intends to acquire a purposive sample, there were some inclusion criteria. for the females, regardless of their educational attainment and marital status, they must have finished the entire ceremony of female circumcision and must be 15 years old and above. all the respondents must 16 jpair multidisciplinary research belong to the meranao tribe and must be residents of lanao del sur. exclusion criteria are those female who refused to be interviewed and those who cannot remember the experience of undergoing the procedure. to test the validity of the research instrument, pilot study was conducted to individuals who were not part of the study but share similar characteristics. data collection frequency and percentage were used in the presentation and analysis of the data. the qualitative aspect of the study on the other hand, required one-on-one in-depth interviews, using open-ended questions that inquired about the bases of the respondents in selecting answers to each question. another round of focus group discussions for the female was also done. this was done to validate their answers and avoid errors in interpretation by the researcher. to avoid misquoting or misinterpreting the responses of the participants, the final transcripts of the interviews were repeated to them in the local meranao dialect for final validation. ethics protocol the study used informed consent from the respondents and applied confidentiality of information. there were letters of permission personally handed to superiors/leaders in the gathering of data. for minors, permission was secured from their parents. as for the adults, their consent to be involved in the research was considered adequate. data analysis descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to describe the rate of the girls who had undergone female circumcision and who attended madrasah school compared to those who went to english schools and the prevalence rate of female circumcision among meranaos. data analysis on the qualitative component of the study was based on the responses gathered after the distribution of the questionnaires and structured interviews. 17 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion table 1. frequency and percentage distribution of female respondents in terms of type of education attended females f % madrasah educated elementary high school subtotal english educated total 26 86.6 2 6.6 28 93.3 2 6.6 30 100 the data give credence to the assumption in this study pertaining to female circumcision being more common to females who have attained a madrasah education than those who have obtained education with western influence. statistics about the number of girls circumcised in the different municipalities of lanao del sur every year are very hard to access. this is because there are no records on the numbers of girls circumcised by the manunuris. in most cases, this practice is done in rural areas with poor accessibility and also because it is conducted under cover. this study is the first attempt in investigating the number of fc cases in the study setting. in africa, particularly in kisii and kurias communities, the prevalence rate of fgm is very high which is 96% (oloo, wanjiru, & newell-jones, n.d.). information revealed that the prevalence rate of female circumcision in the different municipalities of lanao del sur is 86.8%. the information further revealed that in the year 2013 in lumbatan, 453 females out of a total of 505, 89.6% were circumcised. on the other hand, in lumbayanague, 331 (87.9%) out of a total of 377 girls (87.79%) were circumcised while in dumalondong, 519 (83.8%) girls were circumcised out of 619 girls. it also disclosed that 86.85 of all women in the three municipalities in lanao del sur were circumcised. gele, bo and sundby (2013) found out that 97% of their study participants had experienced female circumcision with no age difference. to determine the respondents’ practices related to female circumcision (fc), the researcher needs to know how the procedure was being conducted; the procedure refers to the steps followed when the process of female circumcision is done on young girls. majority of the manunuris (73.3%) practice the type 1a (as 18 jpair multidisciplinary research classified by who) wherein a needle is used to prick the clitoris and subsequently, removing a small portion of the clitoral tissue, which is believed to be the source of sexual pleasure for women. pricking and the removal of some clitoral tissues last for approximately five minutes while for type 1v (pricking of the clitoris), the process lasts roughly three minutes. the other 8 (26.6%) manunuris practice simple pricking of the clitoris and making it bleed. in egypt, the prevailing pattern of female genital mutilation is partial or total removal of the clitoris and is usually connected to entering adulthood to young girls becoming grownups (el hadi, 2000). according to unicef (2009), girls’ and women’s perception about fgm differ widely across countries in which the highest level of support can be found in gambia, guinea, egypt, mali, sierra leone and somalia where more than half of the female population thinks the practice should continue. the practices of female circumcision among meranaos the information and analysis on the practices of the respondents on fc was based on the interviews and discussions with the women respondents who were circumcised. some of the respondents said that the best day to perform female circumcision varies depending on the preference of the individual manunuri. five of the respondents believed that it is better to perform circumcision to a girl during friday which is a holy day for muslims and right after she leaves the mosque for the friday prayer congregation since she is still considered ‘clean’ and, thus, this will earn the girl more blessings from allah. however, half of the respondents were not certain if friday is the best day to perform circumcision. they suggested that the best day is during muslim holy days like eid’l fitr or eid’l adha. according to them, there is no preferred day of doing the practice and what is more important is the comfort of the manunuri and the child’s mother. it is important to note that half of the respondents believed that it is better to perform circumcision to girls during mondays or thursdays because these days are considered ‘soft’ days. monday is believed to be the start of a productive week and thursday serves as the transition day from being busy to relaxation period. hence, choosing these days are symbolic, monday which implies that performing circumcision means starting to instill islam as religion to the child and thursday means ending the bad behavior. the whole process starts when the girl together with her parents or close relatives arrive at the designated place either in the house of the manunuri (the one who performs female circumcision) or in the girl’s house. according to the 30 women respondents who were circumcised, the girl should be bathed or 19 international peer reviewed journal washed in a ritual cleansing before the procedure takes place to purify her. the manunuri pours water onto the girl’s head while uttering a prayer “peace be upon you, oh pure water, you are indeed pure. purify the body and soul of (name of the girl) as she is leaving a misguided religion and entering the religion of prophet mohammad which is islam”. the girl is instructed to drink the running water that was poured onto her head. after the prayer, the manunuri asks the child to answer her questions, “do you want to embrace the islam way of life?” do you promise to abandon all your bad deeds and promise to enter into a religion that will save you from doing any harm?” these questions are asked thrice to which the girl must give an affirmative answer each time. the manunuri then prays for blessings of allah on the girl. after taking a bath and doing ablution (a special spiritual purification done by washing the face, arms, feet, and by wiping the head with water), the child is required to wear a clean dress preferably her most beautiful dress. many of the respondents said that landap (a meranao hand-woven clothe) could be worn if available since the procedure signifies marrying the girl-child to her religion, thus, instilling loyalty and faithfulness on the child. the process of ritual cleansing varies depending on the individual manunuri. majority of the female who participated in the study claimed that the girl should be bathed and should perform ablution before she is considered ‘pure’ for circumcision. only few who mentioned that there is no need for the child to perform ablution since the child is considered clean already after taking a bath. this gives an impression that among the meranaos, spiritual purification is more important than physical hygiene in performing fc. oloo, wanjiru and newelljones (n.d.) mentioned that the need to control a woman’s sexual desire before marriage was reported to be another reason for the practice. according to abusharaf (2013), women in sudan often express their fears of divorce and psychological punishment from their husbands if they are not circumcised or circumcised after delivery. some participants (88%) of asekunolarinmoye and amusan (2008) mentioned traditional excisors as operators of the procedure or the one doing the procedure, while 7.8% revealed health workers as the perpetrators of the this practice. complications that were identified to be related to fgm were different types of infections including utis, genitourinary tract infections, abscess formation and septicemia or even hiv infection (iavazzo, sardi, & gkegkes, 2013). the following are the materials used that were mentioned by the respondents: 1) a clean piece of cloth spread on the floor or mattress for the girl to lie down on; 2) a needle used as the cutting/piercing object; 3) a bag of rice to be given to the 20 jpair multidisciplinary research manunuri as a gift; and 4) a cotton to apply pressure to the pierced area after the procedure. the needle used during the procedure will not be used for other girls who will also undergo the same procedure, but this should not be thrown away and should be kept for future purposes such as in sewing clothes. this indicates that the respondents had knowledgedeficiency in terms of the transmission of blood-borne diseases like hepatitis. at least two people must be present during the procedure who will serve as witnesses and human restraints as the same time. this people will hold the girl’s arms and feet to avoid unnecessary movements. when all the materials are ready, the ceremony starts. the girl is made to lie down on the mattress with her arms and legs restrained by the witnesses. according to mackie (2000), female circumcision is usually initiated and arranged by the girl’s family, mostly by the mother and close female relatives, and it happens between shortly after infancy to before the onset of puberty and is rarely, on the eve of marriage or after birth of the first child.  the manunuri who performs the work sits in front of the girl and starts the procedure either by pricking the clitoris and making it bleed or by pricking and removing some tissues of the clitoris. direct pressure using cotton is then applied on the bleeding area. a prayer is uttered to the right ear of the child after the procedure for good luck and to remind her of the significance of undergoing the procedure and that is, the girl is now married to her religion and ready for her role in society. instructions are given to the parents of the child regarding what activities are needed to be avoided like making the girl stay indoors for 3 days to prevent her from stepping on ‘unclean’ or filthy substances like animal dung or feces. this is believed to keep the girl pure and to prevent ‘evil’ from entering her body. one of the women respondents said, “i was not allowed to go out for 3 days for fear that evil may enter my body as i was in a state where evil is attracted to blood.” there are two effects of fc as mentioned by the female respondents, positive and negative effects. the positive responses that were mentioned were chastity, obedience, faithfulness and being conservative. they also mentioned increased confidence in dealing with other people in the community and being active in the different social activities. the negative consequences were bleeding, infection, pain and urinary tract infection. according to shell-duncan and hernlund (2000), female genital mutilation may cause scar formation that may contribute to obstructed labor and hemorrhage that may result to from tearing of scar tissue. in somalia, there is the continuation of support for the performance of type i circumcision as it is claimed not to be detrimental to women’s’ health, while 21 international peer reviewed journal there is a quite large rejection of pharaonic circumcision which is referring to the removal of clitoris and labia minora while the labia majora is sewn closed and leaving a small opening for urination and release of menstrual blood (dawood, 2005). conclusion in conclusion, female circumcision (fc) is rampantly being practiced especially in the rural and marginalized areas in lanao del sur as shown by the prevalence rate (86%) of fc in the municipalities of lumbatan, lumbayanague and sultan dumalondong. more girls who are studying in madrasah (arabic education) had undergone female circumcision compared to girls who are in western education. this implies that fc is perceived as a practice with religious justification. circumcised meranao women with ages ranging from 15 years old and above, mostly married, and with all of them having been educated in the madrasah were also chosen as respondents of the study. the female respondents explained the practice of female circumcision based on their experiences. they have different views and meanings concerning the preferred day in performing fc. a procedure is being followed in doing the practice making it a symbolic activity of letting the girl be married to her religion, which emblematizes establishment of commitment and faithfulness to islam. despite the fact that the respondents knew the consequences of fc, religious beliefs serve as their main reason for undergoing fc. translational research topics relating to female circumcision may be integrated into the values education subject of pupils during the elementary and secondary years. additionally, as shown by the fact that majority of the women respondents have all been educated in the madrasah, the topic relating to fc be integrated into the subjects being undertaken in the madrasah. educators, religious leaders, health workers may help educate the public about the issue on fc and its stand in islamic perspective. education will be the starting point towards the elimination of the practice. through education, the public will be empowered to educate others in matters relating to fc. female religious leaders may need to include in their teachings the islamic views pertaining to fc, as this is the most considered justification why this practice is still rampantly occurring in the rural areas. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited abusharaf, r. m. (ed.). (2013).  female circumcision: multicultural perspectives. university of pennsylvania press. asekun-olarinmoye, e. o., & amusan, o. a. (2008). the impact of health education on attitudes towards female genital mutilation (fgm) in a rural nigerian community. the european journal of contraception & reproductive health care, 13(3), 289-297. benton, d. c., & cormack, d. f. (2000). reviewing and evaluating the literature. the research process in nursing. oxford: blackwell science. calsalin, s. a. (2008).female circumcision among yakan in basilan, philippines. retrieved on august 10, 2016 from http://som.adzu.edu.ph/research/ abstract.php?id=590 crossman, a. functionalism theory. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com. ph/scholar?hl=en&q=crossman%2c+a.+functionalism+theory.+&btng= dawood, al-amin (2005). pharaonic circumcision (infibulation) al-amin dawood, ph.d. retrieved on august 22, 2016 from http://goo.gl/s8kxep durkheim, e. (1960). sociology.  essays on sociology and philosophy by emile durkheim et al. new york: harper torchbooks, 376-85. el hadi, a. a. (2000). female genital mutilation in egypt.  african women’s health, 145-166. gele, a. a., bø, b. p., & sundby, j. (2013). have we made progress in somalia after 30 years of interventions? attitudes toward female circumcision among people in the hargeisa district. bmc research notes,6(1), 1. iavazzo, c., sardi, t. a., & gkegkes, i. d. (2013). female genital mutilation and infections: a systematic review of the clinical evidence. archives of gynecology and obstetrics, 287(6), 1137-1149. 23 international peer reviewed journal mackie, g. (2000). female genital cutting: the beginning of the end.  female” circumcision” in africa: culture, controversy, and change. boulder, colorado, lynne rienner, 253-282. national organization of circumcision information resource centers. (2012) questions about female circumcision. retrieved on nov 2, 2013 from http://goo.gl/wek09o oloo, h., wanjiru, m., & newell-jones, k. a. t. y. female genital mutilation practices in kenya. shell-duncan, b., & hernlund, y. (2000).  female” circumcision” in africa: culture, controversy, and change. lynne rienner publishers. unicef (2009) female genital mutilation/ cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of dynamic of change. retrieved on october 10, 2013 from http://goo.gl/sle10i united nations (2012). united nations bans female genital mutilation. retrieved on january 3, 2014 from http://goo.gl/slcpyp world health organization (2001) female genital mutilation: a students’ guide. retrieved on nov 2, 2013 from http://goo.gl/nuumuk world health organization (2013). female genital mutilation. retrieved on nov 2, 2013 from http://goo.gl/vyaobm 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.375 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. empirical evidence of iso 9000:2008 certification practices on operational performance of kenya seed company kipkorir sitienei chris simon http://orcid.org/0000-00024515-3401 kipkorircss@gmail.com kenyatta university, nairobi city, kenya abednego sengwer http://orcid.org/0000-00026344-777x asengwer@gmail.com kenya seed company limited, eldoret town, kenya abstract kenya seed company has adopted organizational practices in line with iso 9000:2008. the study analyzed the effect of iso 9000:2008 certification practices of leadership, continual process improvement, people involvement, customer focus and mutual beneficial supplier relationship on operational performance of kenya seed company, kenya. the objective of the study was to determine the effect of these practices on operational performance. anchored on stakeholder’s management theory, the study used descriptive research design, stratified random sampling, a target population of 132 and a sample size of 99 respondents. data was collected using a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were determined. it was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and presented using frequency distribution tables. the iso 9000:2008 practices had effects to a great extent and contributed to 65.6% of the variation in operational performance. the coefficients of y-intercept and these variables were significantly different from 0 because their p values were less than 0.05. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research the hypothesis “there is no significant relationship between iso 9000:2008 certification practices and operational performance” was rejected. the mutual beneficial supplier relationship showed a negative gradient. there is the need for the company to assess the company’s engagement with suppliers. keywords — total quality management, iso 9000:2008 certification practices, operational performance, kenya seed, company, descriptive research design, kenya, africa introduction there is still much debate on iso certification on organizational performance. a literature review revealed that iso 9000 certification on performance remains theoretical and contradictory (lewis, pun & lalla, 2006; benner & tushman, 2001). iso certification is positively associated with the organizational performance as argued by escanciano, fernandez and vasquez (2001); terziovski et al., (2003); briscoe, fawcett and todd (2005); naveh and marcus (2005); corbett, sancho and kirsch (2005); nanda (2005); sadikoglu & olcay (2014). scholars who share contrary view include, feng, martinez, gusmaroli, wang, zhou, chen, yu, iglesias pedraz and kircher (2008). those who link iso certification and expenses regarding reorganization of firm’s process include dick (2000). cesare, essa, saveria and giovanni (2011) argue that leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. dimitriades (2000) points out that, through involvement in organizational activities, employees are encouraged to perform functions such as information processing, problem-solving and decision-making. muteti (2014) affirms that continuous improvement is a key driving force behind most effective and efficient organizations and jumpstart of critical processes. he further argues that without active involvement of everyone in the organization, and provision of the required resources and support from top management, improved performance in any organization cannot be successful. anderson and sohal (1999) assert that customer focus enhances financial performance of organizations. suppliers who are committed to quality are vital in ensuring that customer satisfaction is a priority up and down the chain of distribution. laosirihongthong, teh, and adebanjo (2013) carried out a study in asean countries of indonesia, malaysia, philippines, thailand, and vietnam. the findings indicated that leadership of the organizations is likely 3 international peer reviewed journal to concentrate on their external (customers and suppliers) rather than internal (employees) partners. according to terlaak and king (2001), the arguments by researchers have been unsuccessful in establishing an underlying association between documentation and progress in operational performance. most previous studies undertaken on iso certification and total quality management have focused on the implementation and challenges of iso certification in organizations. other researchers have investigated the concept of standardization of quality (iso 9000 certification) in relation to the implementation of tqm. studies which directly or indirectly link iso certification to performance include researches carried out by arumugam, ooi and fong (2008). bichanga and warwinu (2013) did a study on the effectiveness of iso 9001:2008 certifications on service delivery of public universities in kenya. the findings indicated that iso certification influence streamlining of processes (enrollment processes, payment services, registration, allocation of rooms, medical services, timetable and examination results). this, in turn, will affect service delivery, cocurricular activities, teaching facilities and flexibility to dynamic market demands in that order. types of research which investigated iso certification and total quality management about to the performance of businesses have yielded inconsistent and contradictory results. sadikoglu and olcay (2014) found out that iso 9000 certified companies which pursue a cost leadership strategy will ultimately improve the internal and external quality of organizational products, reduce waste and duplication of effort. the studies which do not associate iso certification with performance include those done by sun (2000), naveh and marcus (2004), han, chen and ebrahimpour (2007). singels, ruël, and van de water (2001) found no link between iso 9000 and organizational performance among australian and dutch firms. wayhan, kirche and khumawala (2002) discovered that iso 9000 had no effect on financial performance. our intention was to link iso 9000:2008 and organizational performance. kenya seed company was chosen because the institution is entrusted with the production of quality seeds and little research has been conducted there. the iso 9000:2008 practices were the focus of the study because they are considered management practices at kenya seed company limited. information concerning the effect of these practices is useful. the hypothesis was tested, at α = 0.05 level of significance, to determine if there is no significant relationship between iso 9000:2008 certification practices and organizational performance. the purpose of the test was to determine whether increases or decreases in one variable or 4 jpair multidisciplinary research factor significantly lead to increases or decreases in the other variables or factors. leadership, continual process improvement, people involvement, customer focus and mutual beneficial supplier relationship are iso 9000:2008 certification practices which are linked to the stakeholders’ management theory. framework the stakeholder management theory was advanced by edward freeman in 1984. the theory states that attributes of power, urgency and legitimacy constitute the claims of stakeholders. the first two serve the moral and legal interest of genuine stakeholders which managers must pay attention to. according to andriof, waddock, husted and rahman (2002), the theory promotes the value of the outcomes of decisions made by the stakeholders, establish their expectations, protecting them from being deprived and subsequently, deliver higher returns to shareholders. the theory, therefore, presents methods for identifying and managing stakeholders. clarkson (1995) points out that an organization fails if it continuously dissatisfies key stakeholders. the opposite leads to reduced costs and affects performance. the impact of major stakeholders is felt in firms’ performance and decision-making. the theory acknowledges the role of every stakeholder in enabling organizations to meet its goals. leaders, customer, suppliers and people, interact and the mutual relationship is beneficial to an organization. stakeholder theory implies that an organization should be more accountable and transparent. it is because there is a need for new, responsive and interactive relationships with stakeholders. they have to be identified through their genuine interests in the firm rather than the firm’s interest in them. therefore, establishing obligations to them enable firms to achieve success. the research has important theoretical implications. the practical outcome of investigating iso 9000:2008 certification practices relate to timely delivery, inventory, employee turnover rates, reliability and quality of products and or services. objectives of the study the study aimed to: 1) find out the effect of leadership on operational performance; 2) determine the effect of continual process improvement on operational performance; 3) investigate the effect of people involvement on operational performance; 4) determine the effect of customer focus on 5 international peer reviewed journal operational performance; and 5) determine the effect of mutual beneficial supplier relationship on operational performance. methodology the study used descriptive research design because it made it necessary for us to provide answers to objectives and information related to iso certification practices as argued by kothari (2006), mugenda and mugenda (2003) and cooper and schindler (2003). stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used because of being appropriate for the study. the score of cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the reliability of research instrument. a commonly accepted alpha (α) value which is between 0.6 0.7 indicates acceptable reliability and above 0.8 shows good reliability as argued by cronbach and richard (2004). regression model was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. regression model was considered appropriate for the study because of its ability to test the nature of the influence of independent variables on a dependent variable. the model was; y= a +bx1+bx2+ bx3+ bx4 + b x5 where y= operational performance x1= leadership x2= continual process improvement x3= people involvement x4= customer focus x5= mutual beneficial supplier relationship multiple regression analysis with the aid of statistical package for social science (spss version 20) was used. the hypotheses “there is no significant relationship between iso 9000:2008 certification practices and operational performance” was tested at α = 0.05 level of significance. the study used researchers’ designed tables to present data. research site kenya seed company limited is located in transzoia county, kenya. the county covers an area of 2,495.5 square kilometres, 1,900 meters above sea level, with 818,757 people (2009 census). it borders the republic of uganda to 6 jpair multidisciplinary research the west, bungoma and kakamega countries to the south, west pokot, elgeyo marakwet and uasin gishu counties to the southeast. its latitude is 0º 52’ and 10 18’ north of the equator and the longitude is 34º 38’’ and 350 23’ east of the greenwich meridian. the headquarters of kenya seed company is kitale town which is 1.02° north and 350 00’ east participants the target population of the study comprised of 132 employees of kenya seed company drawn from the top, middle and low levels of management. a sample size of 99 was randomly selected using simple random sampling. results and discussion table 1. reliability analysis using spss version 20 variable reliability statistics cronbach’s alpha no of items leadership 0.771 9 continual process improvement 0.878 9 people involvement 0.819 9 customer focus 0.728 7 mutual beneficial supplier relationship 0.832 7 average 0.806 8 source: research data (2015) the analysis displayed alpha scores of 0.771, 0.878, 0.819, 0.728 and 0.832 for leadership, continual process improvement, people involvement, customer focus and mutual beneficial supplier relationship respectively, whose average is 0.806. the research instrument was reliable for use in data collection. table 2: extent to which leadership influences level of productivity extent frequency percent mean median mode std. deviation little extent 4 4.7 3.92 4.00 4.00 0.67 moderate extent 11 12.7 great extent 59 68.6 very great extent 12 14 total 86 100 3.92 4.00 4.00 0.67 source: research data (2015) 7 international peer reviewed journal to some great extent, leadership has a great influence on productivity rate. hence, the operational performance of kenya seed company. further findings indicated that leaders have developed plans which support on-time delivery of goods to customers. additionally, leaders monitor quality systems and procedures as well as reviewing quality management system at planned intervals of time. it is meant to enhance quality, the rate of production, ensure continuity, adequacy and effectiveness of production. we found out that top management of the company makes sure that quality policies are communicated well to the recipients. this creates a culture of commitment. we used measures of central tendency to ease summary of data and dispersion to estimate the degree of variability regarding the leadership variable. the results of the analysis indicate that; n = 86, m= 3.92, sd=0.67. the mean of 3.92 indicates that leadership influences the level of productivity. this is confirmed by small standard deviation of 0.67, which implies that leadership style didn’t vary quite significantly. table 3. extent to which continuous process improvement influence level of defects extent frequency percent mean median mode std. deviation moderate extent 2 2.3 4.05 4.00 4.00 0.3 great extent 78 90.7 very great extent 6 7.0 total 86 100 4.05 4.00 4.00 0.3 source: research data (2015) continuous process improvement influences company’s operational performance to some great extent. we found out that the company is flexible enough to react quickly to opportunities. periodical training of employees improves their productivity leading to improve on-time delivery. the company has set time limits regarding delivery of products leading to customer satisfaction. we also found out that continuous improvement process provided an opportunity for the company to develop new quality products. measures of central tendency enabled us to summarize data and dispersion to determine the degree of variability of continuous process improvement on the level of defects. the results of the analysis indicate that; n = 86, m= 4.05, sd=0.3. the mean of 4.05 is an indicator that continuous process improvement influence level of defects. the small standard deviation shows that there is little fluctuation in processing hence few fault products. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. extent to which employee involvement influence on-time-delivery extent frequency percent mean median mode std. deviation moderate extent 21 24.4 3.97 4.00 4.00 0.68 great extent 47 54.7 very great extent 18 20.9 total 86 100 3.97 4.00 4.00 0.68 source: research data (2015) involvement of people influences on-time delivery and subsequently, operational performance. it will lead to the understanding of roles, responsibility, improved innovation & creativity, motivation, lower defects and commitment towards enhancing organizations productivity in terms of quality of production and customer satisfaction. the company values participation of stakeholders and involvement of clients facilitates sharing of knowledge and experiences. measures of central tendency enabled us to summarize data and dispersion to determine the degree of variability of employee involvement on-time delivery. the results of the analysis indicate that; n = 86, m= 3.97, sd=0.68. the mean of 3.97, signals that when employees are involved, on time delivery of products and services improves significantly. the small standard deviation shows that participation leads positive relationship. table 5. extent to which customer focus influence customer satisfaction extent frequency percent mean median mode std. deviation moderate extent 10 11.6 4.01 4.00 4.00 0.5 great extent 65 75.6 very great extent 11 12.8 total 86 100 4.01 4.00 4.00 0.5 source: research data (2015) customer focus influences operational performance of the kenya seed company to a great extent. the findings indicated that the company used customer complaints as inputs to improve the company's processes. this implies that the principle of customer focus and aligning of activities to meet the needs of customers influence operational performance. the findings indicated that a focus on the customer without realigning organization’s services and activities isn’t enough. in the analysis; n = 86, m= 3.97, sd=0.68. the mean of 4.01 and 9 international peer reviewed journal a standard deviation of 0.37 show that there is no significant variation between customer focus and customer satisfaction. table 6: extent to which mutual beneficial supplier relationship influences the cost of quality extent frequency percent mean median mode std. deviation moderate extent 1 1.2 4.13 4.00 4.00 0.37 great extent 73 84.8 very great extent 12 14 total 86 100 4.13 4.00 4.00 0.37 source: research data (2015) mutual beneficial supplier relationship influences cost of quality to a great extent leads to value creation, flexibility and quick joint response to changing market or customer needs and expectations. suppliers are actively involved in process of development of new products and company’s quality training. the company normally selects suppliers on the basis of their performance in quality inputs and service delivery rather than price. iso certification has ensured that suppliers deliver products and services which meet  standards of the company. the analysis indicate that; n = 86, m= 4.13, sd=0.37.these results indicated that cost of quality does not vary highly from the mean. mutual beneficial supplier relationship influences the cost of quality. table 7. extent to which performance indicators measure operational performance operational performance measures g re at ly de cr ea se d d ec re as in g c on st an t im p ro ve d g re at ly im p ro ve d timely delivery 0(0%) 0(0%) 9(10.5%) 50(58.1%) 27(31.4%) reliability of products/ services 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(4.7%) 64(74.4%) 18(20.9%) quality of products/ services 0(0%) 0(0%) 13(15.1%) 27(31.4%) 46(53.5%) inventory turnover 0(0%) 0(0%) 15(17.4%) 14(16.3%) 57(66.3%) employees’ organizational commitment 0(0%) 0(0%) 16(18.6%) 43(50.0%) 27(31.4%) 10 jpair multidisciplinary research employees’ turnover rate 0(0%) 3(3.5%) 11(12.8%) 38(44.2%) 34(39.5%) latest technological innovations in new product 0(0%) 0(0%) 21(24.4%) 53(61.6%) 12(14.0%) number of successful new product/service introductions 0(0%) 0(0%) 38(44.2%) 38(44.2%) 10(11.6%) speed of new product development 0(0%) 0(0%) 25(29.1%) 61(70.9%) 0(0%) customer satisfaction 0(0%) 2(2.3%) 31(36.0%) 42(48.8%) 11(12.8%) customer complaints 44 (51.2%) 17(19.8%) 24(27.9 %) 1(1.2%) 0(0%) profits of the company 0(0%) 0(0%) 14(16.3%) 69(80.2%) 3(3.5%) sales of the company 0(0%) 0(0%) 17(19.8%) 54(62.8%) 15(17.4%) source: research data (2015) inventory turnover, quality of products/services, timely delivery, and employees’ turnover rate has greatly improved. reliability of products/services, employees’ organizational commitment, sales of the company and technological innovations in new product have registered great improvement. profits of the company, customer satisfaction, quick development and introduction of new products indicated an upward trend. customer complaints had greatly reduced. table 8. regression analysis (coefficient of determination) of iso 9000: 2008 certification practices on operational performance using spss version 20 model r r square adjusted r square std. error of the estimate 0.810 0.656 0.635 0.17118 predictors: (constant), mutual beneficial supplier relationship, continual process improvement, leadership, customer focus, people involvement source: research data (2015) coefficient of determination (r2) is 0.656; therefore, about 65.6% of the variation in operational performance of kenya seed company is explained by leadership, continual process improvement, people involvement, customer focus and mutual beneficial supplier relationship. about 34.4% of the variation is explained by other factors not covered by the study. 11 international peer reviewed journal table 9. regression analysis (coefficients) of iso 9000: 2008 certification practices on operational performance using spss version 20 model unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. correlations b std. error beta zeroorder partial part (constant) 2.012 0.394 5.108 0.000 leadership 0.170 0.081 0.230 2.087 0.040 0.638 0.227 0.137 continual process improvement 0.341 0.091 0.280 3.744 0.000 0.475 0.386 0.245 people involvement 0.234 0.108 0.355 2.166 0.033 0.418 0.235 0.142 customer focus 0.249 0.121 0.307 2.062 0.042 0.289 0.225 0.135 mutual beneficial supplier relationship -0.531 0.077 -0.689 -6.859 0.000 -0.202 -0.609 -0.450 dependent variable: operational performance source: research data (2015) using an alpha of 0.05, the coefficient (t-statistics) of leadership is 2.087. this is significantly different from 0 because its p-value (0.040) is less than 0.05.  the coefficient (t-statistics) of  continuous process improvement (3.744) is significantly different from 0 because its p value of 0.000 is less than 0.05.  the coefficient (t-statistics) of  people involvement (2.166) is  significantly different from 0 because its p value of 0.033 is less than 0.05. the coefficient (t-statistics) of customer focus (2.062) is significantly different from 0 because its p value of 0.042 is less than 0.05. the coefficient (t-statistics) of mutual beneficial supplier relationship (-6.859) is significantly different from 0 because its p value of 0.000 is less than 0.05. likewise, the intercept (2.012) is significantly different from 0 at alpha level 0.05 because its p value (0.000) is less than 0.05. the hypothesis “there is no significant relationship between so 9000: 2008 certification practices on operational performance” was rejected. conclusion iso 9000:2008 certification practices enhance leaders’ commitment to development of plans, communication of quality policies, and guiding teams in 12 jpair multidisciplinary research adhering to these policies. the principle of leadership leads to on-time delivery of goods to costumers, enhance company’s level of productivity, quality and effectiveness. moreover, iso 9000 certification makes leaders to discharge their roles effectively supporting effecient processes to achieve organization’s objectives. therefore, leadership influences operational performance. continuous process improvement enhances company’s flexibility to react to turbulent operating environment hence higher performance. employee involvement leads to increased commitment, better understanding of roles, knowledge sharing, problem solving, innovativeness, creativity and subsequently increased operational performance. customer focus determine alignment of activities, operations to meet customer needs and faster response to market opportunities. it also creates a platform whereby the customer can give their feedback on quality and delivery. mutual beneficial supplier relationship has led to timely delivery of goods by suppliers to the target customers. the company selects suppliers based on quality and delivery rather than simply price. it has resulted into creation of value, optimization of costs and resources and response to customer needs & expectations. literature cited anderson, m., & sohal ,a.s (1999). a study of the relationship between quality management practices and performance in small businesses, international journal of quality 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(2011). why do companies choose to be iso 9000 certified and what is the relationship between certification and innovation? an empirical analysis for luxembourg. corbett, c. j., montes-sancho, m. j., & kirsch, d. a. (2005). the financial impact of iso 9000 certification in the united states: an empirical analysis. management science, 51(7), 1046-1059. cooper, d. r., & schindler, p. s. (2003). business research methods (8th edn.). new york: mcgraw-hill. cronbach, l., & richard, k. (2004). coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. psychometrics, 16(3), 297-334. dick, g. p. m (2000) “iso 9000 certification benefits, reality or myth?”, the tqm magazine, vol. 12 iss: 6, pp.365 371 dimitriades, z. s. (2000). total involvement in quality management. team performance management: an international journal, 6(7/8), 117-122. dow, d., samson, d., & ford, s. (1999). exploding the myth: do all quality management practices contribute to superior quality performance? production and operations management, 8(1), 1–27. escanciano, c., fernandez, e., & vasquez, c. ( 2001). influence f iso 9000 certification on the progress of spanish industry towards tqm, international journal of quality & reliability management, 18(5), 481-894. feng, s., martinez, c., gusmaroli, g., wang, y., zhou, , f., chen, l., yu, l., iglesias pedraz, j. m., & kircher, s. (2008). coordinated regulation of arabidopsisthaliana development by light and gibberellins. nature, 451(5), 475–479. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research han, s. b., chen, s. k., & ebrahimpour, m. (2007). the impact of iso 9000 on tqm and business performance. the journal of business and economic studies, 13(2), 1. kong, s. m. (2010). causal effects of registration efforts on business performance of iso 9001-certified companies in the malaysian construction industry using sem (doctoral dissertation, open university malaysia). kothari, c. r. (2006). research methods: methods and techniques (3rd ed.). new delhi: new age international publishers. laosirihongthong, t., teh, p. l., & adebanjo, d. (2013). revisiting quality management and performance. industrial management & data systems, 113(7), 990-1006. lewis, w. g., pun, k. f., & lalla, t. r. (2006). empirical investigation of the hard and soft criteria of tqm in iso 9001 certified small and medium-sized enterprises. international journal of quality & reliability management, 23(8), 11-27. mugenda, o. m., & mugenda, a. g. (2003). research methods; quantitative & qualitative approaches. nairobi: acts press. muteti, a. (2014).continuous improvement and operational performance of small and medium sized manufacturing firms in kenya (mba thesis, university of nairobi, kenya). naveh, e., & marcus, a. (2005). achieving competitive advantage through implementing a replicable management standard: installing and using iso 9000. journal of operations management, 24(1), 1-26. naveh, e., & marcus, a. a. (2004). when does the iso 9000 quality assurance standard lead to performance improvement? assimilation and going beyond. engineering management, ieee transactions on, 51(3), 352-363. ngige, c. n. (2006). influence of b rand equity assets on consumer purchase choices: the case of breastfeeding pillows in nairobi (mba thesis, university of nairobi, kenya). 15 international peer reviewed journal nadia, b., & amit, b. (2005). an overview of continuous improvement: from the past to the present. management decision, 43(5), 761-771. rahman, s. s., waddock, s., andriof, j., & husted, b. (2002). unfolding stakeholder thinking: theory, responsibility and engagement riillo, c. a. f, essa, s.c, mangiarotti,g (2011). why do companies choose to be iso 9000 certified and what is the relationship between certification and innovation? an empirical analysis for luxembourg sadikoglu, e., & olcay, h. (2014). the effects of total quality management practices on performance and the reasons of and the barriers to tqm practices in turkey. advances in decision sciences, 2014. singels, j., ruël, g., & van de water, h. (2001). iso 9000 series-certification and performance. international journal of quality & reliability management, 18(1), 62-75. sun, h. (2000). total quality management, iso 9000 certification and performance improvement. international journal of quality & reliability management, 17(2), 168-179. terlaak, a. & king, a. (2006). the effect of certification with the iso 9000 quality management standard: a signaling approach. journal of economic behavior and organization, 60 (4): 579-602 terziovski, m., power, d., & sohal, a. s. (2003). the longitudinal effects of the iso 9000 certification process on business performance. european journal of operational research, 146(3), 580-595. wayhan, v. b., kirche, e. t., & khumawala, b. m. (2002). iso 9000 certification: the financial performance implications. total quality management, 13(2), 217-231. zaccaro, s. j., rittman, a. l., & marks, m. a. (2001). team leadership. the leadership quarterly, 12(4), 451 – 483. cover single with doi 269 international peer reviewed journal the six-month internship training program for medical laboratory science education: an initial evaluation anacleta p. valdez citadel a. panganiban kevin roi l. lumanglas katreen a. calingasan roxanne s. divino pearl janine p. guico glenn s. montalbo jhejiel m. pronobe researchlybat @yahoo.com college of allied medical professions, lyceum of the philippines university, capitol site batangas city abstract in 2006, the commission on higher education (ched) released ched memorandum order (cmo) no. 14 which changed the duration of internship training program to six months as opposed to the previous memorandum order, cmo no. 27 s. 1998 which required a one-year internship schedule for medical laboratory science (mls) students. thirty-eight graduates of cmo no. 14 s. 2006 from lyceum of the philippines university-batangas and 13 chief medical technologists (cmt) or senior medical laboratory staff from identified affiliatehospitals were surveyed about their perception on the attainment of the objectives, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the said program. results show that objectives were achieved even if the duration of the training period was shortened. the graduate-respondents favored the vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.3 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 270 jpair: multidisciplinary research 6-month internship training program while the cmt preferred the one year timetable. this study can be used as a pilot study for other higher education institutions implementing the same cmo and can be used as a basis for a curricular reform by assessing the different parameters that were identified in order to enhance further the sixmonth internship training program in producing globally competitive medical laboratory scientists. keywords internship training program, medical laboratory science, curriculum improvement, memorandum order, interns, affiliating hospital introduction the development of an effective curriculum guide is a multistep, ongoing, and cyclical process. the process progresses from evaluating the existing program, to designing an improved program, to implementing a new program and back to evaluating the revised program. during the last decades, effectiveness of curriculum change has been evaluated although questions that emerged on the competencies of medical professionals affected by the curriculum change is a complex one and cannot be answered by a single outcome study (peeraer 2009). according to researches, curricular reform is mainly affected by the internationalization in higher education. likic (2005) stated in his works that the process has established itself as a pivotal concept and dominant driving force that can mainly influence the reform processes and shapes academic communities worldwide. moreover, the process is creating an awareness of the importance and value of an intercultural and international dimension in higher education. as mentioned earlier, evaluation of the revised program is one of the most important course of action done when curriculum change is to be implemented. one of the main reasons is that it is a chance for practitioners to test for themselves that their plan is working as well as the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the said intervention. evaluation is based on evidence or data which are systematically obtained from those who are participating in the 271 international peer reviewed journal program by different methods such as surveys, interviews, analysis of documents, and performing a background check. the results gathered from these will be the basis of evaluation (shackman 1999). the medical laboratory science (mls) program is one of the health science programs in the philippines offered in various higher education institutions. it is a program that aims to develop competent medical laboratory scientists and to meet the demands for competent manpower in the healthcare service with the use of highly innovative technologies (cmo no. 14, 2006). its curriculum is based on the memorandum order mandated by the ched which is composed of a school-based learning focused on the different principles employed in the discipline and importantly on the critical and analytical thinking abilities of the learner. furthermore, the curriculum has an internship training program geared on developing the entry-level competencies of graduates (green 2011). in the year 1998, the ched initially released a memorandum order which is cmo no. 8 also known as the “updated policies and standards for medical technology education” which states the different requirements needed by an institution should it want to offer a bachelor in medical laboratory science program. later in that year as well, another memorandum order was released which is cmo no. 27 known as “curriculum for the common 2-year associate in health science education,” which is a program that will prepare students as they enter to the practice of health services. these memorandum orders serve as the first bases of different schools offering medical laboratory science education. in 2006, the ched mandated the implementation of memorandum order no. 14 for medical technology education. the cmo is a revised account of the previous memorandum order and became the basis for most of the schools offering the said program. this study determined the degree of attainment of the six-month internship training program objectives. it also identified the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the new program which will serve as the basis for further studies and formulation of plan of action for curriculum modification that is most suitable to learners for the development of the necessary core competencies needed in the practice of the profession. 272 jpair: multidisciplinary research materials and method research design the descriptive research design was used. the proponents formulated a self-structured, open-ended survey questionnaire relating to the evaluation of the six-month internship training program. the questionnaire was divided into two parts: first was on the degree of attainment of the objectives of the program and the second part was on the respondent’s perceived strengths, weaknesses of the program and recommendations for the improvement of implementation. the questionnaire was validated by the office of the dean of the college of medical technology of our lady of fatima university together with ten randomly selected individuals from the target population. a focus group discussion and analysis of available documents were also conducted to validate the responses. these were pen recorded and summarized. participants there were two groups of respondents: first, the graduates of the cmo no. 14 of the lpu-batangas, batch 2010 and 2011 and the chief medical technologists or the senior medical laboratory staff of the hospitals where lpu interns were affiliated. statistical analysis statistical tools that were used are weighted mean, frequency, distribution, and percentage. results and discussion ched memorandum order no. 14 also known as the “policies, standards and guidelines for bachelor of science in medical laboratory science were implemented in 2006. the improvements and changes done in this curriculum were the results of curriculum benchmarking studies that were conducted internationally. 273 international peer reviewed journal a thorough review of the old curriculum and the new cmo showed several modifications. one of which was the change in the nomenclature of the program from bachelor of science in medical technology to bachelor in medical laboratory science program. another significant modification in the cmo was the courses required for the program. in the old curriculum, qualitative chemistry and quantitative chemistry were offered as separate subjects with 5 units each. with the present cmo these two courses were joined together as a 5-unit course now termed analytical chemistry. furthermore, the following core courses were added: basic statistics, introduction to medical technology with science, technology and society, and principles and strategies in health education. pharmacology and cytogenetics were offered as new professional courses. laboratory management was previously incorporated in medical technology laws and ethics (3 units) but now offered as separate courses (2 units and 3 units respectively). there were also changes in the nomenclature of some courses namely: clinical microscopy which is now known as analysis of urine and other body fluids and blood banking to immunohematology. another major change was the duration of the internship training of the senior students. based on the previous curriculum, the internship training program entails 12 months in the fourth level. in the new cmo, the 12 months was shortened to six months that require going on-duty at 40 hours per week in 27 weeks with total minimum training hours in the clinical laboratory of 1080 hours. the 1080 hours were divided as follows in the different sections of the laboratory: clinical chemistry (230 hrs.), hematology (120 hrs.), blood bank (150 hrs.), immunology and serology (100 hrs.), bacteriology (150 hrs.), clinical microscopy and parasitology (230 hrs.) and histopathology and cytology (100 hrs.). results of the survey showed 38 graduate-respondents of batch 2010 and 2011 and 13 cmt from the affiliate hospitals namely: mary mediatrix medical center (mmmc), daniel mercado medical center (dmmc), veterans memorial medical center (vmmc), national children’s hospital (nch), and philippine heart center (phc) participated in the study. likert scale was used in assessing the degree of attainment of the 274 jpair: multidisciplinary research objectives of the training program. the scale used the following ranges and verbal interpretation to assess the overall degree of attainment: 4.50-5.00 = great extent (grt); 3.50-4.49 = moderate extent (mod); 2.50-3.49 = less extent (lss); 1.50-2.49 = lesser extent (lsr); 1.00-1.49 = did not agree (not). the responses on the open-ended questions on the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the internship training program implementation as well as recommendations were validated with a focus group discussion and analysis of documents available. table 1 presents how the respondents perceived the degree of attainment of the objectives of the six-month internship training program. table 1. perceptions of the respondents on the degree of attainment of the objectives of the mls six-month internship training program objectives of the 6-month internship training program (cmo # 14 s. 2006) weighted mean graduate respondents rank verbal interpretation weighted mean chief med tech rank verbal interpretation 1) enhance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for a member of the health care delivery team who with precision and accuracy performs the clinical laboratory physician in the proper diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. 4.37 2 mod 4.33 1 mod 275 international peer reviewed journal 2.) develop among students a wellrounded personality with a healthy outlook and oriented towards intelligent, ethical, and active participation in professional as well as community welfare activities. 4.35 3 mod 4.23 3 mod 3.) develop critical thinking skills that will enable them to participate in research endeavors/ activities and respond to challenges of the profession. 4.32 4 mod 4.15 4 mod 4.) develop humane and competent medical technologists who are globally competitive, and committed to serve the health needs in both local and international communities 4.39 1 mod 4.25 2 mod average 4.35 mod 4.25 mod data in table 1 show that both the graduate-respondents (weighted mean of 4.35) and the cmt (weighted mean of 4.25) agree to moderate extent that the different objectives of the six-month internship training program were achieved. they differ only on the ranking of how these objectives were met. the graduate-respondents believed that the training program greatly helped them to become humane and competent medical technologists who are globally capable and committed to serve the health needs in both local and international communities. this particular objective was ranked first with a mean value of 4.39. second in rank (mean of 4.37) was on enhancing their knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed to become effective and efficient members of the healthcare team. this pertains to the competencies they should develop during the training period so they 276 jpair: multidisciplinary research can perform laboratory tests with accuracy and precision and help in the proper diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. on the other hand, this particular objective ranked first among the cmt. the training officers felt that they have exerted their best effort in helping the students develop the core competencies expected of an entry-level medical laboratory scientist in the practice of the profession. these claims were validated by the documents showing the results of the performance evaluation in both written and practical examinations that were conducted during the internship training period. likewise, the graduates claimed that they were able to put into practice what they have learned in their professional courses while at school. surprisingly, results showed that both groups of respondents agree that the following objectives ranked third and fourth in their mean values: the development of well-rounded personality with a healthy outlook and orientation towards intelligent, ethical, and active participation in professional as well as community welfare activities and the development of critical thinking skills that will enable them to participate in research activities and respond to challenges of the profession. these were validated through the research outputs that the graduates were able to produce most especially in areas where the research work entails data gathering in the clinical laboratory. in addition, the interns were able to participate in different community extension services that require the use of different laboratory tests in the medical and dental activities of hospital as well as the school. these results can call the attention of the curriculum developer and educators thus may serve as guide in planning for curriculum improvement to address the weak areas. table 2 presents the respondents’ perceived strengths of the sixmonth internship training program. 277 international peer reviewed journal table 2. perceived strengths of the six-month internship training program areas responses of graduate-respondents (no. of responses/total no. of respondents) responses of the cmt 1. duration and quality of internship training  interns learn to manage their time efficiently because of the specific number of training hours required in rotating in the different sections of the clinical laboratory. (30/38)  the interns felt that the duration of the training in the clinical laboratory gave them enough time to go back to the school and spend the remaining six months to review for the board examinations (22/38)  on the theoretical aspect of the training, the cmt felt that the required training hours is enough to develop the competencies needed for the students to help them pass the board examinations (12/13) 2. training staff  the training staffs are more focused on mentoring the interns rather than giving them extra works or errands that are not related to internship training. (29/38)  because of the limited time, the staff follows the schedule of the lectures that should be conducted within the 6 months rotation. (25/38)  since the training entails only 6 months, the mt staff involved in training the interns can spend the other 6 months in attending continuing professional education programs so they can be updated also in the practice of the profession. (10/13)  the medical staff involved in training can maximize the time allotted for the lecture since they have to follow the policies embodied in the training program. (12/13) 3. financial expenses  it entails lesser expenses on the part of the interns especially on the affiliation fees and payment for the boarding house. (38/38)  lesser expenses on the part of the students since they will be paying their affiliation fees for 6 months only instead of 12 months. (12/13) on the perceived strengths of the six-month internship training program, majority (79%) of the graduate-respondents believed that they were able to manage their time efficiently given the required specific number of training hours per section in the clinical laboratory. moreover, they claimed that they (58%) had sufficient time to go 278 jpair: multidisciplinary research back to school for the seminars and review classes conducted by the clinical instructor and invited resource speakers in preparation for the licensure examinations. likewise, the cmt (92%) claimed that because of the shortened number of weeks of rotation per section, they strictly follow the policies and guidelines of the internship training program stated in the memorandum order thus, the lectures and mentoring were conducted as what they reported in the documents the staff submitted to the technical committee members and ched assessors who evaluated the program and the clinical laboratory during the accreditation of the program and facility that is being used by both parties in the training of the interns. similarly, many of the cmt (77%) cited that one advantage of the new training program was that they will have the opportunity to also attend continuing professional education activities during the latter half of the year when there are no interns training in the laboratory. these conferences and seminars will update and enhance their leadership and management skills so they can deliver effectively their role as training officers. on the other hand, both groups of respondents (100%) agreed that the six-month training program entails lesser expenses on the part of the students. these include the affiliation fees, transportation expenses, board and lodging and their daily allowances during the six months training in the hospital especially for interns who are living far from the assigned hospital. table 3 portrays the perceptions of the respondents on the weaknesses of the six-month internship training program. 279 international peer reviewed journal table 3. perceived weaknesses of the mls six-month internship training program areas responses of graduate-respondents responses of the cmt 1. duration and quality of internship training  the interns were not given the opportunity to be rotated in other hospitals. (35/38)  the number of contact hours is not sufficient to learn all the tests in the different sections of the clinical laboratory. (28/38)  the shortened duration of training is not enough to develop their confidence in performing different laboratory examinations. (29/38)  limited exposure to different types of patients and laboratory tests being requested and done. (20/38)  the training hours is not enough to teach everything that the interns need to known in all the different sections of the clinical laboratory. (8/13)  limited exposure to different types of patients and their needs. (10/13)  their orientation of their role in the hospital is also affected since the interns will be training for 6 months only. (10/13) 2. training staff  because of the limited time, the staff is not able to teach all they want to teach the interns especially on complicated test procedures and trouble shooting of the equipments when technical problems happen in the laboratory. (20/38)  because of the time constraint, the training staff felt that they cannot deliver the expectations of the interns and the teachers from the school where the interns came from. (8/13) 3. financial expenses no identified weakness no identified weakness data in table 3 showed that both groups of respondents have almost the same perceived weaknesses which focused on the shortened number of months of rotation in the hospital. because of the nature of the new program, a lot of the activities which they used to carry out during the one-year program were also modified. one of these is the chance to be assigned in other hospitals. almost all (92%) of the graduate-respondents complained of not having been able to rotate in other hospitals due to the shortened period. both groups of respondents felt that the rotation in different hospitals will help the students develop the necessary knowledge, skills and values in the practice of the profession. to be sent in two or three different hospitals 280 jpair: multidisciplinary research especially if the assignment is a mixture of private and public rotation, the interns will have the chance to immerse themselves in different clinical situations and different approaches. the opportunity to learn is greater when exposed in different hospitals because of the different methodologies and approaches that the medical technology staffs use in the day to day activities and situations they face in the hospitals where they work. in effect, the graduate-respondents perceived that the shortened duration of training is not enough to develop their confidence in performing different laboratory examinations. times run so fast, that even if the number of contact hours is the same as that in the one-year program, the cmt (62%) perceived that the training hours is not enough to teach everything that the interns need to know in all the different sections of the clinical laboratory thus they feel that they were not able to meet the expectations of the clinical instructors as well as the students. furthermore, the cmt (10/13) claimed that the interns lost the opportunity to learn other clinical cases that entails different clinical laboratory tests especially seasonal diseases since the training starts in november and ends in april. they claimed that if the training is for one year then there is great chance to see and learn clinical diseases that are common during the months of may to october. they perceived that this kind of experience will help the students see and experience the actual clinical cases which they read on the books. the responses of the cmt and the graduate-respondents on the perceived weakness all point out to the limited number of months of the training program because in planning their program the senior medical technologists assigned in training the interns were more oriented on working on the one-year training program. moreover, both groups of respondents claimed that the financial aspect involved in training was not seen as weakness but was perceived as one of the advantages of the new curriculum. table 4 presents the recommendations of the respondents on how the present program can be improved. 281 international peer reviewed journal table 4. recommendations of the respondents on the mls six-month internship training program recommendations of the graduaterespondents recommendations of the senior medical technologists involved in the training program retain the six-months internship training program but there is a need to have better planning of those involved in training like the chief medical technologists of the different hospitals and the clinical supervisor of the school so that a better program can be formulated. (38/38) it is also recommended that the six months can be divided into 2 or 3 programs such that the interns may be able to rotate in two or three different hospitals for better exposure and experiences. (36/38) some (15/38) of the graduate-respondents recommended that the six months be focused on hospital duties only and the pull out for seminars in school be given another period after the internship training so they can also have time to rest after their hospital duties and further lessen the expenses. some of the cmt (5/13) recommended to go back to the one-year internship training program. many of the respondents (9/13) are very much open to retain the six months duration and strongly recommend that a planning workshop can be done together with the clinical instructor or supervisors of the schools so that they can come up with a better and concrete program that will really address the needs of the interns in preparation for the board examinations and the practice of the profession in the future. to lessen the pull-out of interns from the hospital duties for seminars in school. the schedule for the seminars be programmed after the training so the interns can focus on their responsibilities and assignments in the laboratory at the same time the medical technology staff they can fully monitor the activities of the interns on rotation. data on table 4 revealed different points of view when it comes to recommendations on how the six-month internship training program can be improved based on the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the program. while all the graduate-respondents agree that the six months can be retained but with some modifications in terms of approaches in planning the schedule of rotation, all of them recommended to increase the number of hospitals where they can be assigned so they can have varied experiences in the different types of management and leadership of the senior medical technologists and the approaches in the clinical setting. in contrast, the cmt vary in their recommendations. some (38%) believe that the one-year training program is better than the six-month program. however, many (90%) are open to the idea of coming up 282 jpair: multidisciplinary research with a better planning by the interns coordinators and training officers of the different hospitals so a well-defined program can be formulated and may guide them in the implementation and evaluation. on the other hand, both groups agree that the pull-out of interns from their hospital duties to school activities and seminars be lessened or be assigned a different schedule after the six months of training. conclusion the objectives of the six-month internship training program embodied in cmo no. 14 series of 2006 were realized to a moderate extent. there were strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of the modified program which need to be addressed. the recommendations warrant consideration to improve its implementation. literature cited ched 1998 cmo no. 08 “update of policies standards for medical technology education” [online], available: www.ched.gov. ph. ched 1998 cmo no. 27 “curriculum for common 2-year associate in health science education (ahse)”[online], available: www. ched.gov.ph. ched 2006 cmo no. 14 “policies, standards and g u i d e l i n e s f o r medical technology education” [online], available: w w w . ched.gov.ph. likic, r., t. dusek and d. horvat 2005 analysis and prospects for curricular reform of medical schools in southeast europe. medical education, 39, 833-840. 283 international peer reviewed journal green, b., and p. graybeal 2011 an exploratory study of the effect of professional internships on students’ perception of the importance of employment traits. journal of education for business. 86, 100-110. peeraer, g., b. de winter, a. muijtjens, r. remmen, l. bossaert, and r.a. scherbier 2009 evaluating the effectiveness of curriculum change. is there a difference between graduating curricula? medical teacher, 31, e64-e68. shackman, g. 1999 evaluation: a beginners’ guide. the global social change research project.amnesty international. http://www.amnesty. org/en/library/in for/pol32/003/1999. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 1 international peer reviewed journal tourists’ satisfaction and its’ challenges on natural attractions in a rural area jesszon b. cano https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-033x jesszon.cano@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines arlinda n. ramasola https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6632-1913 arlinda.ramasola@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines kingie g. micabalo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4179-2086 kmicabalo@uc.edu.ph university of cebu – lapu-lapu & mandaue cebu city, cebu, philippines leo l. simangca leo.simangca@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines may amor d. gucor mayamor.gucor@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines lilanie m. olaso lilanie.olaso@bisu.edu.ph bohol island state university – candijay candijay, bohol, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.660 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the tourism industry’s impact on the philippines’ economy, the department of tourism, the philippines’ tourism’s primary agency, has aggressively promoted the philippines as a tourist destination with several promotional and marketing strategies. this study assessed the satisfaction of the tourists on different attributes in natural attractions. two hundred thirty tourists took part in this study. the instruments are made up of three parts. part 1 pertains to the respondents’ profile, part 2 contains items on determining the tourists’ satisfaction, and part 3 pertains to the guests’ challenges. the gathered data were treated statistically using frequency, simple percentage, weighted mean, and rank. tourists had expressed their satisfaction with the different factors they experienced. however, tourists also encountered some problems while visiting the tourist sites. the information on service quality gaps could help tourist destination managers diagnose where performance improvement can best be targeted. the management needs a relatively stable labor force to allow the internalization of service standards. keywords — business management, tourists’ satisfaction, descriptive method, philippines introduction the decision to travel to a certain tourist destination depends on a collection of determining factors ranging from the economic or environmental to those of a sociological nature. the identification and relative weight of each of them is one of the core issues in tourism research since they are critical to its success or failure in a specific location. in particular, the tourist demand theory seeks to obtain a numerical measure of the influence of some selected determinants on the destination appeal to establish which are the most relevant ones (li et al., 2005; song & witt, 2000). tourism is one of the factors used in developing the country’s economic level, especially the developing countries. the more tourists were visiting, the higher the country’s income. the economic level of the locals in tourism area management will also increase. the tourism products that need attention in developing tourism areas are tourist attractions, facilities, and accessibility. the tourist attraction is the main factor that motivates the tourist to visit an area. the attraction of a destination reflects the visitor’s sense and opinion related a destination’s ability to satisfy their needs (ginting, 2018). 3 international peer reviewed journal according to the world travel and tourism council (2009), the tourism industry has managed to generate a gross income of u.s. $ 3.5 trillion, which is expected to increase to the u.s. $ 7.0 trillion by 2025. with the estimation of one billion tourists traveling worldwide by 2023, the tourism industry is becoming a key driver of socio-economic progress, contributing to developing countries’ economic growth, including the philippines. in the philippines, tourism is the second largest industry after the manufacturing sector contributes to economic growth. in 2008, records showed that a total of 22.5 million tourists came to travel in the country, generating a national income of php49.6 billion. with the impact contributed by the tourism industry to the philippines’ economy, the department of tourism, the primary agency of the philippines’ tourism, has aggressively promoted the philippines as a tourist destination with several promotional and marketing strategies. for example, the theme “it’s more fun in the philippines” continues to be the slogan for all advertising types at the international level. in the province of bohol, the department of tourism develop the untapped potential and promote tourism in the province. “behold bohol” was promoted aggressively across the country from early 2008. simultaneously, the department of tourism announces the product niche, especially with elements that include eco-tourism and adventure sports to the long-haul travelers. for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (mice). the sector continues to be given special attention by the department of tourism (henderson, 2011). promoting through such events would certainly be meaningless if they do not cater to tourists’ tastes or contribute to their journey’s fulfillment. various studies have shown that tourists who are satisfied with their visit will come back or recommend it to others (fabinyi, 2010). according to the study of akama et al. (2003), kenya’s national parks form the pillar of the country’s tourism industry. over one million international tourists visit kenya annually to partake in wildlife safari and other forms of nature-based tourism. however, in recent years, the country’s tourism industry has shown increasing signs of poor performance, especially in international tourists’ volume visiting the national parks. several reasons have been postulated as possible causes of this poor performance. they include the presumed degradation and reduction of the quality of the wildlife parks’ tourist products, a deteriorating security situation in the country, and poor infrastructure. however, most of these suggestions are not based on empirical research. this study investigates one of these arguments (i.e., reducing the parks’ tourist product quality as it relates to visitor satisfaction) using the case study of tsavo west national park. 4 jpair multidisciplinary research the servqual service quality attributes were used to measure the quality of services and overall visitor satisfaction with the park’s tourist products and services. a total of 200 international tourists were interviewed, and interestingly, an overwhelming majority of the tourists (over 70%) indicated that they had a satisfactory experience. thus, based on the tourists’ responses, one may argue that the park offers a quality tourist product at least for tsavo west’s case. in this regard, the study contends that there are probably exogenous factors responsible for the current decline and poor performance of the kenya tourism industry. a reduction of the quality of the parks’ tourist products is not a determinant of such decline. moreover, in 2015, the asean economic community (aec) will be fully implemented. to pave the way for thailand to be the tourism hub of southeast asia, it is important to study factors affecting tourist satisfaction. this study’s emphasizes a northern province in thailand, chiang mai, where there are many natural and cultural attractions. the significant factors are identified using statistical techniques. the data is obtained from a satisfaction survey developed and distributed randomly to foreign tourists who visit chiang mai. the quantitative data is then analyzed using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis to identify significant factors. the result indicates that the most significant factor affecting the overall satisfaction is the cost of staying, and other significant factors are hospitality, attractions and accessibility, and infrastructure. also, policy recommendations are presented in the paper (suanmali, 2014). thus, a detailed study on the satisfaction of their visit to bohol, specifically in candijay, should be conducted. therefore, this study’s main objective is to describe tourists’ satisfaction in visiting tourist attractions in candijay to help the parties develop the appropriate tourism promotion strategy. this paper seeks to measure the tourists’ satisfaction with their experiences on the tourist attractions in candijay. as hospitality instructors of bohol island state university candijay campus, the researchers desired to distinguish a practical solution or plan to the gaps in the tourists’ experiences and their expectations during their visits to the tourist attractions in candijay bohol. moreover, the researchers aspired to employ practical applications to solve any identified problems and get deeper insights about responding to tourist’s satisfaction regarding different aspects of the tourist attractions. this is to look forward to more beneficial outcomes and ensure better information, which will eventually help tourist attractions managers plan for the future. furthermore, the researchers strongly believe that providing exceptional services is an excellent factor to achieve tourist satisfaction at a peak level. 5 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study assessed the tourists’ satisfaction with their experiences during their visits to the tourist attractions in candijay, bohol, in the year 2020. specifically, it answers the: (1) profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, civil status, mode of transportation, employment status, traveler type, & primary reason to visit; (2) level of satisfaction of the tourists about the different factors of tourism attractions in terms of accessibility, physical environment, social and cultural environment, visitor control and protection procedures, commercial considerations, and tourism staff; and (3) challenges encountered by the tourists concerning different factors of the tourism attractions. methodology research design the study utilized a descriptive method using the semi-researcher-made tool to determine the tourists’ level of satisfaction with their experiences during their visit to the tourist attractions in candijay, bohol. research site the study was conducted on the tourist attractions in candijay, such as cadapdapan rice terraces, can-umantad falls, and canawa cold spring. the respondents of this study are both local and international tourists. cadapdapan rice terraces cover few hectares of the mountain slopes of barangay cadapdapan and being irrigated by the waters from cadapdapan river. the same river system flows down to can-umantad falls. just below cadapdapan rice terraces, at least 15 minutes trek down, is can-umantad falls, the most iconic attraction of candijay. can-umantad falls is regarded as the tallest waterfalls in the entire province of bohol. the cascade lies along the cadapdapan river that supplies irrigation to the rice terraces nested above it before flowing downstream. can-umantad falls and the nearby spring pools are owned and managed by eleuterio’s canumantad falls and rice terraces resort inc. it is open to the public every day from 7 am to 5 pm. the entrance fee is p20 per person; the parking fee is p10 for a motorbike and p20 for private cars. canawa cold spring is the natural gem that candijay, bohol had. the name is from the local term, “cawa,” which means a “pan.” the spring looks like a 6 jpair multidisciplinary research perfect shape of a pan. and this where the “canawa cold spring” being called. many locals have said that they have tried to swim deep down, but no one has ever touched the bottom of the spring. even the water source remains a big doubt for many since it has not yet been discovered where the cold spring comes from. the place has several cottages and built a concrete channel for the water to pass through. the mainspring pool is in its natural state and didn’t do any renovation. but the concrete canal where the water pass-through has been a beneficial thing for the kids, especially for those that can’t swim. respondents this study used lottery or fishbowl sampling in selecting respondents. two hundred thirty (230) tourists in three (3) natural attractions in candijay, bohol, took part in this study. instrumentation the questionnaire was adapted from the study of salleh et al. (2013) entitled “tourist satisfaction in malaysia. the said instrument is made up of three parts. part 1 pertains to the respondents’ profile. part 2 contains items on determining the tourists’ level of satisfaction in different tourist attractions, and part 3 pertains to the tourists’ challenges about the various factors of the tourist attractions. the natural attractions’ holistic attributes were evaluated by the tourists using the scales indicated below. range categorical responses interpretation 3.26 – 4.00 very satisfied (vs) manifests high contentment of the actual visit of the natural attractions 2.51 – 3.25 moderately satisfied (ms) manifests contentment of the actual visit of the natural attractions 1.76 – 2.50 less satisfied (ls) manifests very little contentment of the actual visit of the natural attractions 1.00 – 1.75 not satisfied (ns) manifests no contentment of the actual visit of the natural attractions 7 international peer reviewed journal data gathering a letter of approval was coursed through the municipal mayor of candijay for approval and forwarded to the barangay captain. upon receiving the approval, research survey questionnaires were administered to foreign and local tourists. after gathering data from foreign and local tourists, these were processed, analyzed, and interpreted. data were treated statistically using frequency count and percentage for the respondents’ profile. the problems encountered weighted mean for the tourists’ satisfaction and rank for the tourists’ problems. results and discussions table 1. profile of the respondents (n=230) profile frequency percentage i. age 18-24 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 125 79 21 3 2 54.30 34.30 9.10 1.30 .90 ii. sex male female 131 99 57.00 43.00 iii. civil status single 181 78.70 married 45 19.60 widow/widower 4 1.70 iv. country of origin philippines spain france switzerland greece united states england 219 4 3 1 1 1 1 95.22 1.75 1.31 .43 .43 .43 .43 v. mode of transportation private motorcycle 147 63.90 public motorcycle 21 9.10 rented motorcycle 20 8.70 8 jpair multidisciplinary research profile frequency percentage rented car 16 7.00 private car 24 10.40 walking 2 .90 vi. employment status employed 110 47.80 self-employed 22 9.60 unemployed 15 6.50 retired 1 .40 student 82 35.70 vii. traveler type families 68 29.60 couples 40 17.40 solo 11 4.80 business 4 1.70 friends 107 46.50 viii. primary reason to visit leisure/fun 112 48.70 sightseeing 17 7.40 event 9 3.90 business 4 1.70 swimming 88 38.30 ix. destination can-umantad water falls canawa cold spring 128 102 55.66 44.34 the highest proportion (54.30%) of the respondents belonged to 18-24 years old. natural attractions entice young adults to travel as they have a common desire to explore a new destination. concerning the sex, the data shows that more than half (57.0%) of the respondents were males, while females only comprise 43%. this data implies that males are more adventurous and have less fear of traveling in remote areas. more than two-thirds (78.70%) of the respondents’ civil status were singles, and less than one-third (19.60%) were married. the data shows that singles have more time to travel as they have less priority than a married person. 9 international peer reviewed journal almost all the respondents are local tourists (i.e., filipino), with the highest proportion of 95.22%. on the other hand, only one respondent is coming from switzerland, greece, the united states, and england, which comprises only .43% in the aspect of country of origin. this is an obvious result since the destination are located in the philippines. only a few foreign tourists visited the tourist destination because it’s still unknown, especially on social media, and the place is not yet fully developed. in transportation mode, more than half of the respondents (63.90%) used private motorcycles in visiting a tourist attraction in candijay as it is more convenient and hassle-free than using other means. the highest proportion of the respondents (47.80 %) were employed. it implies that those who have an income source can spend money to visit tourist attractions and willing to pay any possible expenses while visiting the destination. most tourists are accompanied by their friends with the highest proportion of 46.50% with the purpose of leisure/fun as indicated in the table (48.70%). this data implies that a type of tourist who will visit natural attractions, especially in rural areas, wants to enjoy nature’s beauty with a trail on it, together with their friends. they have more time, energy, and craving for this kind of experience. and lastly, can-umantad water falls was often visited both to the local and foreign tourists (55.66%) than the canawa cold spring, which comprises 44.34%. this means that the can-umantad water falls is more attractive, and the site and services rendered by the staff were exceptional in that it keeps the tourists to revisit and promote the places to others. table 2. level of satisfaction of the tourists about the different factors of tourism attraction indicators mean interpretation i. accessibility 1. easy to comply with entry requirements (e.g., entrance fees, etc.) 2. state of maintenance of traffic signs and symbols 3. availability and easy access to parking services at destination 4. traffic congestion of vehicles on entry and exit 5. congestion of people 3.69 3.23 3.34 3.32 3.35 very satisfied moderately satisfied very satisfied very satisfied very satisfied aggregate mean 3.39 very satisfied 10 jpair multidisciplinary research indicators mean interpretation ii. physical environment 1. quality of landscape and natural areas 2. equipment and infrastructure safety 3. level of noise 4. air quality 5. state of cleanliness 3.52 3.20 3.37 3.62 3.47 very satisfied moderately satisfied very satisfied very satisfied very satisfied aggregate mean 3.43 very satisfied iii. visitor control and protection procedures 1. treatment by officials during an inspection procedures 3.31 very satisfied 2. sense of security 3.31 very satisfied 3. protection services 3.28 very satisfied 4. policy implementation 3.39 very satisfied 5. visitor management 3.22 moderately satisfied aggregate mean 3.30 very satisfied iv. commercial considerations 1. working days and opening hours of shops and facilities 3.39 very satisfied 2. attractions and activities (diversity, quality) 3.34 very satisfied 3. availability of public services 3.31 very satisfied 4. local products and crafts 3.14 moderately satisfied 5. affordability of the tourist product needs 3.30 very satisfied aggregate mean 3.30 very satisfied v. tourism staff 1. general attitude 3.54 very satisfied 2. language skills 3.35 very satisfied 3. level of knowledge 3.56 very satisfied 4. proper grooming 3.19 moderately satisfied 5. public relation & management 3.38 very satisfied aggregate mean overall aggregate mean 3.40 3.36 very satisfied very satisfied the overall aggregate mean of 3.36 denotes that the tourists were very satisfied, especially on the accessibility, physical environment, visitor control & protection procedures, and the tourism staff. except for commercial considerations, which are moderately satisfied, but the overall impression was still very satisfied. it indicates 11 international peer reviewed journal that the management which handles the tourism sites in candijay, bohol, had good stewardship of different tourist destinations. in the aspect of accessibility, the data in table 2 reveals that the respondents were very satisfied, as indicated by the aggregate mean of 3.39. the data implies that the respondents encountered easy access in complying with the entry requirements (e.g., entrance fees, etc.) with the legibility of traffic signs and symbols. the parking services at the destination were also accessible for the tourist. the congestion of people was adequately handled, minimizing traffic congestion, especially in the entry and exit areas. as with the physical environment, the respondents were also very satisfied, as revealed by the aggregate mean of 3.43. especially in air quality, with the highest weighted mean of 3.62, followed by the landscape and natural areas (3.52). this data shows that the maintenance workers and the natural attractions’ management maintained and preserved the attractions’ natural beauty, which is the tourists’ core purpose in visiting the destination. in visitor control and protection procedures, the aggregate mean was 3.30, very satisfied, uncommonly in policy implementation with the highest weighted mean of 3.39. it shows that the management could implement the policy and protocols to ensure the tourists who visited the natural attractions. and have no records of wounded or injured tourists while in the area of the tourism sites. as to commercial considerations, tourists who visited the destinations were very satisfied with the aggregate mean of 3.30. most especially in working days and opening hours of shops and facilities with the highest weighted mean of 3.39. it means that the small businesses like shops and stores near or within the tourist sites could provide the tourists’ needs to their preferred time. and lastly, in the tourism staff aspect, the tourists were also very satisfied with the aggregate mean of 3.40. particularly in the part of level knowledge (3.56), it denotes that the tourism staff in candijay, bohol, were trained and oriented on what and how to answer the tourists’ query, especially regarding the common questions asked. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. challenges encountered by the tourists concerning different factors of the tourism attractions indicators frequency percentage rank 1. road condition. 181 78.70 1 2. excessive entrance fee. 68 29.57 2 3. high prices of food & beverage. 68 29.57 2 4. high cost of transport. 67 29.13 3 5. no transport facility. 66 28.70 4 6. insufficient safety and security. 65 28.26 5 7. poor service. 63 27.39 6 8. poor accommodation. 57 24.78 7 9. insufficient infrastructural and supra-structural facilities. 57 24.78 7 10. improper disposal of solid waste. 55 23.91 8 11. sanitary condition. 49 21.30 9 12. lack of organizational setup and other recreational facilities. 49 21.30 9 13. overcrowded. 45 19.57 10 14. physical isolation and inaccessibility. 43 18.70 11 15. unwanted expenses. 40 17.39 12 16. information gap. 40 17.39 12 17. pollution. 36 15.65 13 18. environmental degradation. 36 15.65 13 19. unplanned and haphazard growth op tourist spots. 35 15.22 14 20. cheating habit of internal transport. 34 14.78 15 table 3 shows that the respondents usually encounter the road conditions’ challenges with the highest rank among the tourists’ 20 challenges. it was a problem for the tourists as they travel from the highway to the tourist sites where the place is not yet fully developed, especially the sites located in remote areas. moreover, excessive entrance fee and high prices of food & beverage got the 2nd rank. tourists often complained about this matter as they asked for payment for the entrance fee and another for environmental costs. 13 international peer reviewed journal additionally, the small businesses’ prices within and near the tourist sites were high. they took advantage of the difficulty of finding a lower cost to the highway area because of the road condition and the distance from it. they also take advantage of the foreign tourist who had buying power for expensive products and can affect the local tourists in buying such products. and the 3rd rank lands on the aspect of the high cost of transport. out of these challenges encountered by the tourist shows the lack of government attachment to the local tourist spots. this result was supported by the study of ballantyne et al. (2009), which denotes that the important challenges that need to focus on it are the infrastructure in oman (52%)which need to reformatting to be modern and attractive. the respondents believe that the government needs to support the tourism sector and focus on it. the private sector experiences and restrictions to deal with the tourists need to look at it as a challenge and find solutions by cooperating with the government. also, the lack of commitment by tourist operators in oman discourages tourists from coming to oman because it is one of the challenges that need to be studied and its solutions. that is why tourists preferred to use a private motorcycle rather than a public motorcycle (i.e., habal-habal) to save money as they take advantage of foreign and local tourists. moreover, it is an adverse effect on the poor road condition of tourist sites. lack of strategic alignment between tourists’ expectations and needs is a key area of concern. it needs mutually beneficial relationships between the tourism industry’s challenges and services to meet these needs and reach a high level of customer satisfaction (edwards et al., 2008). conclusions tourists had expressed their satisfaction with the different factors that they experienced, especially in accessibility, physical environment, visitor control & protection procedures, commercial considerations, and tourism staff. however, tourists also encountered some challenges while visiting tourist spots related to payments or fees. the information on service quality gaps could help tourism site managers diagnose where performance improvement can best be targeted. to achieve quality experience, establishments need a relatively stable labor force to allow the internalization of service standards. thus, tourist site management’s low performance will negatively impact the quality of service and an organization’s desired competitiveness. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the study’s findings may be best translated to the local government unit in candijay, bohol, in response to the memorandum of agreement to conduct research activities to attain comprehensive land use planning of the municipality. the results must be explicitly forwarded to the local tourism office and municipal planning and development office to gear towards assessing the tourists’ experiences on the tourist attractions in candijay, including their problems concerning their access to the tourist sites. additionally, the output will help them develop their comprehensive land use plan, especially in the area of tourism development. literature cited ballantyne, r., hughes, k., & ritchie, b. w. (2009). meeting the needs of tourists: the role and function of australian visitor information centers. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 26(8), 778-794. edwards, d., griffin, t., & hayllar, b. (2008). urban tourism research: developing a plan. annals of tourism research, 35(4), 1032-1052. fabinyi, m. (2010). the intensification of fishing and the rise of tourism: competing for coastal livelihoods in the philippines’ calamianes islands. human ecology, 38(3), 415-427. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10745-010-9329-z. ginting, n. (2018). implementation of tourism concept in developing natural tourist attraction at parbaba village, toba’s caldera. in iop conference series: earth and environmental science (vol. 126, no. 1, p. 012160). iop publishing. retrieved from https://iopscience.iop.org/ article/10.1088/1755-1315/126/1/012160/meta. henderson, j. c. (2011). tourism development and politics in the philippines. tourismos, 6(2). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2pou5yj. salleh, m., omar, k., yaakop, a. y., & mahmmod, a. r. (2013). tourist satisfaction in malaysia.  international journal of business and social science, 4(5). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2oxtbsa. https://bit.ly/2oxtbsa 15 international peer reviewed journal suanmali, s. (2014). factors affecting tourist satisfaction: an empirical study in the northern part of thailand. in  shs web of conferences  (vol. 12, p. 01027). edp sciences. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1051/ shsconf/20141201027. song, h., & witt, s. (2000). tourism demand modelling and forecasting: modern econometric approaches. oxford: pergamon. retrieved from https://bit. ly/3ltvfxl. world travel and tourism council (2009). the travel; and tourism competitiveness report 2009. retrieved from https://bit.ly/38golr2. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research lexical error as common interference in students’ translations using l2 carwin p. murillo rainechristian@gmail.com http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9519-9125 mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city, philippines abstract achieving proficiency in writing can only be achieved through successful dealing with content, audience, purpose, word choice, mechanics, syntax and grammar. mastering any of these areas can be difficult and it takes years of practice and much hard work. the study aimed to analyze the lexico-mechanical elements in students’ translations. the results showed that majority of the students committed error as a kind of interference than mistake. of the two writing elements (lexical and mechanical) considered in the study, the students committed error mostly in lexical element than mechanical. the occurrence of lexical errors is caused by the inappropriateness of the words used in the content that gives meaning. out of 40 students, 19 committed interference and eight were very much interfered. interference is present in the students’ translations since majority of the students use cebuano as l1 which is different from l2 concerning the various lexical and mechanical elements. as a result, l1 interference is common in their written english. the study concludes that the difference in written discourse patterns which include the lexical and mechanical elements cause the interference in the composition of the students. keywords – applied linguistics, contrastive rhetoric analysis, editorial, translations, descriptive research design, philippines vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.383 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 123 international peer reviewed journal introduction contrastive rhetoric analysis investigates the differences between pairs (or small sets) of languages against the background of similarities and with the purpose of providing input to applied discipline such as foreign language teaching and translation studies (kaplan, 1966). moreover, contrastive rhetoric is the study of how person’s first language and culture influence his or her writing in a second language. contrastive rhetoric has provided insights into students’ problems with adjusting to english rhetoric by supplying information about the rhetoric used by other cultures, that is, non-english cultures. there have been studies that conjectured on how learners are being considered proficient in learning a language which include the correct spelling of words and the choice of words in writing a composition to make it more efficient and comprehensive towards the readers. extensive researches had also been done in the area of english language and its indicators as to how it has been acquired proficiently from the environment (bhela, 1999; asgari & mustapha, 2011; dich & pedersen, 2013; ebrahimi, 2015). it is very important that english educators determine and improve students’ proficiency and manageability in choosing words in writing a composition, and even in translating a composition to express their thoughts. hence, texts are considered not merely as static products but as functional parts of dynamic cultural contexts (connor 2002). the appropriate choice of words and spelling in writing has been considered as part of the indicators to be proficient in writing. however, l1 has been interfering in the process of writing a composition as much as translating a composition. in fact, dich and pedersen (2013) assumed that the transparency of l1 orthography influences the amount of hesitation in spelling that is why learners of the target language commit mistakes. moreover, fender (2008) during his study in the spelling knowledge found out that arab learners in english scored significantly lower in the spelling test because of the l1 interference. muhammed and ameen (2014) also stated that the idea that will be transferred from l1 to l2 in the translation process is a major problem of english as a foreign language to the learners. consequently, tabula and salasac (2015) found out that l1 (ilokano) personal pronouns are structurally independent and incorporated into other parts of speech as suffixes. it has been observed that in alubijid comprehensive national high school, philippines, many students have shown difficulty in writing a composition 124 jpair multidisciplinary research particularly in spelling and using appropriate word choice. for instance, the grade 10 students who served as participants of the study have performed poorly in english writing composition and textual translation. generally, they tend to use direct translation of words in constructing a sentence. such writing difficulty remains unaddressed and probably aggravates the situation if nothing is done to correct their mistakes. framework the study was anchored on contrastive rhetoric theory by robert kaplan, an american applied linguist who introduced his research in the 1960s. his research on contrastive rhetoric pioneered the attention to cultural and linguistic differences in the writing of esl students. he stated that contrastive rhetoric is the study of how a person’s l1 (first language) and culture influence his or her writing in l2 (second language). kaplan (1966) believed that languages are uniquely characterized by idiosyncratic rhetorical conventions influencing the process of writing composition and consequently, interfered with l2 writing. throughout the years, contrastive rhetoric has investigated cultural differences in written discourse patterns or rhetorical conventions that include lexico-mechanical elements in writing composition that might negatively affect writing in l2 (connor, 2002). kaplan (1966) assumed that: 1) each language or culture has rhetorical conventions that are unique to itself; and 2) the rhetorical conventions of students’ l1 interfere with their esl writing. furthermore, kaplan’s hypotheses have been supported by ulla connor who published a book about contrastive rhetoric in 2002. kaplan’s theory has showed its significance in this study based on the results of the students’ translations that l1 revealed as interference in the l2 writing. kaplan’s contrastive rhetoric maintains that language and writing are cultural phenomena and he asserted the linguistic and rhetorical conventions of the first language interfere with writing in the second language. consequently, contrastive rhetoric is an area of research in second language acquisition that identifies problems in composition encountered by second language writers and by referring to the rhetorical strategies of the first language that includes the lexico-mechanical elements (connor, 2002). 125 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the main purpose of the study was to analyze the influence of l1 on translating a newspaper article using l2. specifically, the study sought to determine the: 1) kind of interference that students make in the process of translating newspaper article; 2) level that the respondents’ l1 interfere on using l2; 3) selfreported composition strategies that students commonly use during the process of writing the translation. methodology research design the study utilized descriptive research design. forty students who were all native cebuano speakers were invited to participate in the study and they were given an assent form to secure the confidentiality of their responses. of this number, 12 are male, 28 are female. they were randomly chosen from the total population of 408 students from grade 10. research setting the study was conducted at alubijid national comprehensive high school, located in alubijid, misamis oriental. it is one of the autonomous schools in misamis oriental. it admits 1,700 students from grade 7 to grade 10. this school is one of the select schools to pioneer the senior high school in 2016. it offers three educational strands: general academic strand (gas), science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem), and technological vocational (tech voc). instrumentation the study utilized three instruments: 1) contrastive rhetorical analysis grid, this is to identify and record the interference made by the respondents, 2) customized translation sheet, and 3) adapted survey questionnaire. the questionnaire has one part. it deals with the respondents’ strategies in translating the cebuano article to english. it was used to determine the students’ self-reported strategies in translating the newspaper article. it was subjected to content and face validity with two experts from the fields of linguistics, language, and research. it was then pilot tested to five students to determine comprehensibility of the questionnaire. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research coding reliability in-depth analysis was made by the inter-raters in identifying the interference in the students’ translations with .80 reliabity index. unit of analysis the unit of analysis considered in the study is an editorial which was constructed in cebuano. it was published in super balita on january 13, 2016. editorials vary according to purpose; the purpose of the editorial used in the study is to persuade. it was selected as a specimen article for the students to translate to english. sampling techniques the respondents of the study were determined utilizing the simple random sampling technique particularly lottery method. the sampling procedure considers the following steps: 1) identifying the total number of the students per section from the adviser’s class list; 2) writing individual number in a small piece of paper and rolling it; 3) placing the rolled papers in a fish bowl where they can move freely in all directions; 4) shaking the container thoroughly before picking four rolled papers from each section; and 5) listing the numbers picked to determine the sampling frame of 40 students. data-gathering procedure a permission letter to conduct the study was sent to the schools division superintendent of misamis oriental. when the request was approved, a separate letter was sent to the principal of alubijid national comprehensive high school asking approval to conduct the study. the adapted research instrument (survey questionnaire) was subjected to face and content validity obtaining a validity index of .80. it was then floated to the student-respondents. the translation test was conducted on the following day. each student was given the customized translation sheet and a clear photocopy of the cebuano newspaper article. the main task requires the students to translate the cebuano article to english. to facilitate easy and accurate contrastive rhetoric analysis, the study considered two important things: 1) two competent translators were invited to translate the cebuano article to english. their outputs were compared with the researcher’s own translation to make an ideal translation which was as basis for checking and or analyzing the students’ outputs; and 2) two competent interraters who are english language majors were invited to identify the interference 127 international peer reviewed journal committed by the students. their outputs were then compared with the output of the researcher to ascertain accuracy, consistency, and precision of the rating instrument, and to ensure equity and fairness of identifying interference, and to maintain the integrity of the analysis process. the translated articles were then analyzed using the constrastive rhetorical analysis grid. a separate session with the students was conducted. the goal was to validate with the students the committed interference as either error or mistake. they were asked if they have another idea of the interference they committed and the researcher identifies the interference of either a mistake or an error. a scoring guide was then considered in determining the extent of l1 interference on l2. a survey was then conducted in one of the noise-free classrooms of anchs in which convenience was assured. the student-respondents were given enough time to answer the questionnaires which were retrieved by the researcher. the results were then coded, tabulated, statistically processed and interpreted. statistical treatment the collected data were managed and analyzed utilizing descriptive statistical technique. it includes mean, frequency and percentage distribution and standard deviation. results and discussion table 1. descriptive statistics on the kind of interference students make during translation (n = 40) kinds of interference measures error   mistake lexical   mechanical   lexical mechanical mean 14.00   2.13   1.55 2.51 standard error 1.02 0.43 0.27 0.39 median 14 2 1 2 mode 5 0 0 0 standard deviation 6.45 2.70 1.74 2.45 range 27 15 6 9 minimum 3 0 0 0 maximum 30   15   6 9 128 jpair multidisciplinary research though l1 use in l2 classroom is seen to be facilitative, it is identified that l1 interference is one of the several sources of errors, learners make in learning the l2 (owu-ewie & lomotey, 2016). table 1 indicates that majority of the students committed error as a kind of interference than mistake in which lexical error is prevalent. erkaya (2012) considered word choice as an error which caused more problems for the respondents in this study than other interferences and led to an incomprehensible output in writing. figure 1. student translation with lexical errors of the two writing elements (lexical and mechanical) considered in the study, the students committed error mostly in lexical element than mechanical. for instance, one student translated this statement: atong daygon ug pakpakan ang local na kagamhanan sa tudela ubos sa pagpangulo ni mayor erwin yu sa ilang aktibong pagpakabana alang sa kaayohan sa katawhan sa dapit… as we all have to thank the local government of tudela down the presedent in mayor erwin yu for their activeness for the wellness of the people… as shown in the example, the students committed many lexical errors such as: thank, down, presedent, activeness and wellness than mechanical mistakes like presedent and thier. the occurrence of lexical errors is caused by the inappropriateness of the words used in the content that gives meaning. it is also noted in the example of mahan (2013) that a dissonant phrase such as “as late as yesterday…” that is supposed to be “as recently as yesterday” clearly illustrates that the student has chosen only one wrong word but still it is adjudged wrong 129 international peer reviewed journal because it distorts the intended meaning. hence, the entire phrase comes out erroneous. in the example statements, the respondents translated the sentence word for word that leads them to commit errors in the lexical element. the result shows that lexical error is the common interference in translating an article using l2. nevertheless, it has been noted in the study that a student’s poor foundation of vocabulary in l2 may lead to lexical errors since l1 is strongly dominant in daily conversations. the participants of the study tended to substitute words that are synonymous, but inappropriate when used in a certain situation or context. for example, figure 2. translated sentences with lexical errors the government past a resolution last december 16, 2015 begging for clear in the dpwh…” instead of “the council passed a resolution last december 16, 2015 asking for an explanation from the dpwh….” in the given illustration, asking and begging are synonymous but they are used differently in certain context. governor and council are both government officials, however, they assume different post in the government. also, past and passed have the same final sound, but definitely they are different in meaning. as noted in the study, the occurrence of l1 interference in writing using l2 has been an issue throughout the l2 learning process. it has been observed that the students committed errors and mistakes but the interference is more of errors. it is also noticeable that l1 interference on l2 makes the article difficult to understand. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research problem 2. respondents’ level of interference of l1 to l2 level of interference range of errors f % very much interfered 20 and above 8 20.00 interfered 11 to 19 19 47.50 slightly interfered 6 to 10 8 20.00 not interfered 5 and below 5 12.50 mean: 14.00 sd: 6.45 quali.desc: interfered table 2 exhibits the levels of interference caused by l1 in the l2 writing. the cebuano newspaper article that was used as unit of analysis in the study is composed of three paragraphs and 10 sentences. these were translated by the students to l2. nineteen out of 40 students have committed interference and eight were very much interfered. the data show that interference is present in the students’ translations. these students used cebuano as l1 which is different from l2 as regards structures which include the lexical and mechanical elements. also, they are commonly exposed on l1 than l2 that leads them to commit errors. on the other hand, castejon (2012) disclosed in his study that the influence of l1 on l2 has got to do with the use of gerunds; the errors occur because of the absence of cognitive approach. another study which was made to the persian students in writing english as l2 revealed that because of the different structural features required in certain genre of writing (i.e. narrative, journal, letter, etc.) influenced the writing errors made in the l2 (moqimipour & shahrokhi, 2015). as observed, the errors occurred because the students do not know the english equivalent of a certain cebuano word used in the newspaper editorial. for instance, one student translated this paragraph: “ang konseho nipasar og resolusyon niadtong disyembre 16, 2015 nganangayo og katin-awansa dpwh 7 bahin sa 40 milyunes nga dalan sa mga lungsod sa san francisco, poro sa isla sa camotes ngadto sa tudela nga moabotug 2.3 kilometros sa katibuk-an. tungod sa pagpakabana sa usa ka local nga kagamhanan, and dpwh 7 nagkabuang na sa pagpasabut sa kontrobersiya.” as: 131 international peer reviewed journal student 1. “the governor is achieving and resolusyon in the year of december 16, 2015 and to claim to the dpwh the divide for 40 millions a good road or highway to a public in francisco because in camotes is a lot of island while tudela have reach in 2.3 kilometers to al public. because of the activities for the one local and powerfull. the dpwh is hava ? craziest to understand the contribution. student 2. “the congress and the resolution that approved on december 16, 2015 that want to know clearly to dpwh about the p40 milions for the street from the city of san francisco. but on the island of camotes until to tudela was 2.3 kilometers of all. the reason why give importance in one powerful organization. because the dpwh not understand the contriburcy. they underestimate the dpwh and contructor in the people of island. the island of camotes is the island of sugbo that we considered that most destination to the tourism because of the wonderful white sand. there’s a lot of different species in the seas of sugbo.” student 3. “the council pass and the resolution on the last mont of december 16, 2015 that requires the clearness of dpwh 7 part of the p40 million of roads from the municipality of san francisco instead of: “the council passed a resolution last december 16, 2015 asking for explanation from the dpwh 7 about the 40 million pesos road project from san francisco to poro in the island of camotes and tudela reaching approximately 2.3 kilometers in its entirety. because of one local government’s initiative to take action and to be involved about the issue, dpwh 7 is now in trouble in explaining the controversy”. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research the example exposes an occurrence of both lexical and mechanical interference in the paragraph he has composed. the student’s translation contains numerous errors. the content words he used are inappropriate for a certain context because his l1 is predominant. hemchua and schmitt (2009) reported that 67% of the errors could be reasonably attribute to l1, however, they strongly affirmed that l1 was not a major factor in the lexical errors that the thai learners made. common translation strategies table 3. descriptive statistics on the respondents’ composition strategies employed during translation composition strategies mean sd never rarely sometimes usually always 1 sticks to the organization of ideas used in the newspaper article 3.08 1.14 12.50 7.50 55.00 10.00 15.00 2 uses the same tense based on the newspaper article 3.00 1.22 15.00 15.00 37.50 20.00 12.50 3 thinks of the correct spelling of english words during translation activity 4.03 0.97 5.00 30.00 22.50 42.50 4 changes the organization of ideas somewhat to fit the english language writing convention 3.40 0.90 2.50 10.00 42.50 35.00 10.00 5 attempts to find the best transitional devices (or connecting words) used to link the ideas 3.40 1.10 7.50 10.00 32.50 35.00 15.00 6 makes an effort to think how best to express the ideas in english 4.00 1.06 12.50 17.50 27.50 42.50 7 translates word for word for the newspaper article 2.75 1.10 17.50 15.00 50.00 10.00 7.50 8 have difficulty in finding translation equivalents in english for words in the newspaper article 3.20 0.97 5.00 12.50 50.00 22.50 10.00 9 uses simpler words and word structures in translating the newspaper article 3.75 0.98 2.50 7.50 25.00 42.50 22.50 133 international peer reviewed journal 10 uses a wide variety of vocabulary purposely to ensure complex grammatical structures 3.18 1.01 7.50 10.00 50.00 22.50 10.00 11 checks for subject-verb agreement when i translated the article in english 3.53 1.09 5.00 7.50 40.00 25.00 22.50 12 makes sure that the passive voice of the verb is used properly 3.38 1.10 5.00 15.00 35.00 27.50 17.50 13 skips words, phrases or sentences whenever i can hardly translate them 3.30 1.04 7.50 7.50 45.00 27.50 12.50 the result shows that student-respondents indicated as frequently used translation strategy is to think of the correct spelling of the english words in the translation process (mean= 4.03). as based on the statistical result in table 1, the average mechanical error in spelling is only 2.13 compared with the lexical error which is 14. this shows that the respondents are conscious in spelling conventions to avoid spelling errors. another interesting result is that students always or usually try to make an effort to think how best to express their ideas in english that has mean percentage of 4. in line with the result, ismail and alsheikh (2012) also found out in their study that it is the most frequent strategy used by the students (69%) in the translated essay. however, the study revealed that the respondents are generally interfered in their translations which reach about 67%, although they have applied the same technique. such interference is exemplified in the following paragraph as translated: atong daygon ug pakapakan ang lokal nga kagamhanan sa tudela ubos sa pagpangulo ni mayor erwin yu sa ilang aktibong pagpakaban alang sa kaayohan sa katawhan sa dapit ug mga dumuduong sa malaparaisong isla sa camotes. sa nakitang ehemplo, importante ang pagpakabana labi na ang yanong molupyo nga direktang nakakita ug nasayod sa pagtrabaho ang proyekto sa kagamhanan sa ilang dapit. kon sakto ug mayo ang pagpatuman sa proyekto, ang mga residente usab sa dapit and kabenepisyo niini. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research we hear and give around of applause the local power of tudela under the presidency of mayor erwin yu in their active involvment for the good of the people near the arrival of the paradise like island of camotes. in the seen examples, it is important the leadership especially the people of the powerful of the place. if it is correct and good the obedient of the project, the residence also in the place will benefit it. as analyzed in the paragraph, both ideas are nearly analogous. this means that the student expressed most of the ideas from the original text. the translated paragraph of the student, however, shows the occurrence of interference in which lexical errors are mostly present. as revealed by urdaneta (2011) in his study, the influence of l1 (spanish) can definitely hinder the writing process in l2. in addition, four basic mistakes in student papers were found to be a direct influence from l1 to l2 writing that includes lexical component. hence, the analyst observed that using a good technique in translation is not the basis of writing an effective, error free paragraph based on the statistics result in the study. the result of the study showed scholastic implications to the teaching and learning of english language in understanding the l1 background that will create interference in writing. moreover, the study will help the l2 teachers in innovating teaching strategies based on the strategies made by the students in translation. however, the result should have been more meaningful if correlational research is also applied. conclusions the study revealed that students seem to rely on their knowledge in l1 most of the time that makes interference occurred although they place conscious effort in the structures and word choice in the target language. this result is further established in the contrastive rhetoric theory developed by kaplan (1966) which presupposes that the person’s l1 (first language) influence his or her writing in l2 (second language). the study concludes that the difference in written discourse patterns which include the lexical and mechanical elements caused the interference in the composition of the students. in this study, the lexical error reveals an interesting factor in the translation process. the students committed errors when they were asked to translate a newspaper editorial in the second language in which l1 interference makes the article incomprehensible. the errors recorded were the word choice and the poor foundation of vocabulary in l2. 135 international peer reviewed journal translational research the analysis and results of the study show that the interference in the lexical and mechanical (spelling) element hampered the writing skills of the students. consequently, the study proposes an english language program, specifically, in the lexical and mechanical elements in writing to meet students’ difficulty in writing a composition. literature cited asgari, azadeh, & ghazali bin mustapha. (2011) “the type of vocabulary learning strategies used by esl students in university putra malaysia.” proquest 2011th ser. 4.2 (2011): 84-90. web. 11 nov. 2015. bhela, baljit. “native language interference in learning a second language: exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage.” international education journal 1999th ser. 1.1 (1999): 2231. web. 11 nov. 2015. castejon, mª ángeles gomez. “contrastive analysis and translation study from a corpus linguistics perspective.” international journal of english studies 2012th ser. 12.2 (2012): 111-32. web. 5 dec. 2015. connor, ulla. “new directions in contrastive rhetoric.” tesol quarterly(2002): 493-510. dich, nadya, and bo pedersen. “native language effects on spelling in english as a foreign language: a time-course analysis.” 16.1 (2013): 51-68. print ebrahimi, nabi a. “validation and application of the constructivist learning environment survey in english language teacher education classrooms in iran.” learning environments research 18.1 (2015): 69-93. erkaya, odiléa rocha. “vocabulary and l1 interference – error analysis of turkish students.” maextesol journal 2012th ser. 36.2 (2012). web. 5 nov. 2015. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research fender, michael. “spelling knowledge and reading development: insights from arab esl learners.” reading in a foreign language 2008th ser. 20.1 (2008): 19-42. web. 10 nov. 2015. ismail, sadiq abdulwahed ahmed, and negmeldin omer alsheikh. “second language learners’ performance and strategies when writing direct and translated essays.” international education studies 5.5 (2012): 173. kaplan, robert b. “cultural thought patterns in inter‐cultural education.”language learning 16.1‐2 (1966): 1-20. mahan. (2013). wwwduouiono. retrieved 23 february, 2016, from https://www. duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/37040/mahanxmaster.pdf?sequence=1 urdaneta, julio lorenzo lópez. “spanish-english writing structure interferences in second language learners.” gist education and learning research journal 5 (2011): 158-179. moqimipour, kourosh, and mohsen shahrokhi. “the impact of text genre on iranian intermediate efl students’ writing errors: an error analysis perspective.” international education studies 8.3 (2015): 122. muhammed, areen ahmed, and chalak ali mohammed ameen. “idea transformation between l1 and l2 as a writing problem for kurd efl learners at different university levels.” international journal of scientific & engineering research 2014th ser. 5.7 (2014): 353-59. web. 7 dec. 2015. tabula, rommel v., and constante s. salasac. “contrastive analysis on ilokano and english personal pronouns.”  jpair multidisciplinary research 19.1 (2015). urdaneta, julio lorenzo. (2011). spanish-english writing structure interference in second language learners: gist education and learning research journal 5: 158-79. eric. retrieved november 10, 2015. hemchua, saengchan, and norbert schmitt. “an analysis of lexical errors in the english compositions of thai learners.” (2006). 137 international peer reviewed journal owu-ewie, c., and c. f. lomotey. “l1 (akan) interference errors in l2 (english) writing: the case of three junior high school students in ghana.”american journal of language and literacy 1 (2016): a1-a18. cover single with doi 93 international peer reviewed journal students’ beliefs toward mathematics as related to their performance in college algebra gary c. garcia garychmich@yahoo.com.ph office of the research, development, and extension, southern leyte state university-san juan campus, 6611 san juan, southern leyte, philippines abstract the study was to determine the beliefs of slsu-san juan bsed freshmen towards mathematics and their performance in college algebra . data gathered were analyzed and interpreted using weighted mean, percentages, pearson r, and the point biserial coefficient of correlation. findings showed that students’ educational background is 62% and 38% from public and private respectively. majority (66%) strongly agreed that mathematics is a challenging subject and 34% considered the latter as one of the difficult subjects. relationship between beliefs about mathematics and performance in college algebra is statistically significant at 0.05. relationship between students’ educational background and performance in college algebra was found to be not significant. the study proved that male students have better performance in college algebra than female. students with positive beliefs about mathematics performed better in the subject. educational background of the students was not a determinant for having good performance in college algebra. considering the result of the study, teaching development program focusing on giving the importance of belief in teaching college algebra was recommended. thus, values formation towards mathematics will be integrated in lesson planning to build positive beliefs. vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.13 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 94 jpair: multidisciplinary research keywords students’ performance in algebra, beliefs, gender and educational background. introduction almost two decades of research revealed how students’ beliefs shape their cognitive and affective processes in the classroom. in learning environment, students’ belief might propagate the idea for achievements and smoothness of learning. in the mathematics learning process, student’s belief about the nature of mathematics and factors related to learning are two components that always concern mathematics educator (lester, garofalo, & kroll, 1989). as mentioned in the national council of teachers of mathematics standards (1998), students’ beliefs about learning and beliefs about the nature of the subject matter affect their learning. this significantly affects the appreciative dimension of the learning since students’ perceptions and beliefs about mathematics are based on what they do in the classroom. past researches revealed how students’ beliefs shape their cognitive domain in the learning processes. students’ mathematics-related belief systems are rarely intensively studied, in spite of the fact that schoenfeld (1999) even in his initial publication already pointed out that the systemic nature is one of the key features of the functioning of beliefs. he clarified that belief systems are one’s mathematical world view, the perspective with which one approaches mathematics and mathematical tasks. garcia (2008) on his unpublished thesis cited that students who have poor mathematical ability have beliefs far different from those who are excellent. it provides possible possibilities that beliefs have direct implication in the performance of students in mathematics. he added that a negligible relationship was found for beliefs in terms of the students’ competency, teaching and learning of the subject. the researcher developed interest to further examine the consistency or contradiction of what have been cited from the previous studies. 95 international peer reviewed journal framework the conceptual framework for this study has been patterned from cobb & yackel, 1998. they have concluded that beliefs and knowledge operate in close interaction. schemas or mental models are considered higher-order constructs that characterize on a conceptual level the integrated functioning of knowledge and beliefs. the current study is aimed at testing the same relationship by using college algebra students’ data. the study considered the students’ beliefs about mathematics as the independent variable. the dependent variable was the student’s performance in college algebra. to further the description and analysis of results, educational background was considered as an intervening variable. as shown in figure 1, students’ beliefs about mathematics were categorized as beliefs about the nature of mathematics, competency of students in mathematics, learning and teaching mathematics. 96 jpair: multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the purpose of this study was to determine the beliefs of slsusan juan bsed freshmen towards mathematics and their performance in algebra. specifically, this study aimed to determine students’ educational background, and student beliefs in terms of the nature of mathematics, students’ competency in mathematics, teaching and learning mathematics. it also sought to test the significant relationship between students’ beliefs towards mathematics, and the relationship between students’ educational background and their performance in college algebra. materials and methods the study examined the students’ belief towards mathematics and their performance in college algebra. it started at the early start of the second semester of ay 2010-2011. the respondents of this study were all slsu-san juan bsed freshmen students taking up college algebra. the study utilized the following instruments: a. self-made assessment test in algebra, b. student portfolio/school records, c. questionnaire on the beliefs towards mathematics. in order to meet the research objectives, a mathematics belief questionnaire was constructed based on the outlined theoretical considerations. basically, the questionnaire consists of three dimensions to represent four facets in student’s beliefs. the dimensions include the beliefs about the nature of mathematics, students’ competence in mathematics, and teaching and learning mathematics, the responses of the respondents on the items were categorized using the following scales: scale interpretation 1 strongly disagree (sd) 2 disagree (d) 3 uncertain (u) 97 international peer reviewed journal 4 agree (a) 5 strongly agree (sa) students' educational background was determined using form 137 and was categorized as (pvhs) private high school and (pbhs) public high school. the other instrument is the 40 items self-made assessment test which was constructed based on the college algebra competencies. performance in college algebra of the students was categorized based on the following scale: grade category 70-74 poor 75-79 below average 80-84 average 85-89 above average 90-95 excellent the data gathered from the responses in the questionnaires were analyzed and interpreted using the following statistical tools: weighted mean and percentages which was used in describing the students’ beliefs towards mathematics and their performance in college algebra, the pearson r, the point biserial , and the coefficient of correlation. results and discussion educational background of the student table 1 shows the educational background of the students where 62% of the students were coming from public high school and only 38% from private. in terms of population, female outnumbered male in both private and public institutions. relatively, previous survey revealed that there were more women than men who enrolled in the university during the sy 2000-2001 with 55.5% while only 44.5% for men. specifically, women outnumbered men in trade and craft and industrial courses and mass communication and documentation (national statistics office, 2002) 98 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 1. educational background of the students male female total percent private hs 4 20 24 41% public hs 6 28 34 59% total 10 48 58 100% students performance in college algebra the weighted mean 3.1 and 2.42 shown in table 2 implies that male students perform better in algebra than female students. the same table further shows that more than half 56% (26 out of 48) of female students fall below average level compared to male with only 20% (2 out of 10) below average. results revealed not in favor to elizabeth spelke’s (2010) who claimed that males and females show no difference in their intrinsic aptitudes for math or science. in her article published in “american psychologist,” spelke rejects several aspects of the myth that males outperform females in these subjects. table 2. students performance in college algebra e aa a ba p total f % f % f % f % f % f % wm male 1 10% 2 20% 5 50% 1 10% 1 10% 10 100% 3.1 female 1 2.1% 9 18.7% 12 25% 13 27.1% 13 27.1% 48 100% 2.42 total 2 3.4% 11 19.0% 17 29.3% 14 24.1% 14 24.1% 58 100% 2.53 legend: e = excellent aa = above average a = average ba = below average p = poor 99 international peer reviewed journal beliefs of the students towards mathematics in terms of the nature of mathematics table 3 reflects the beliefs of the students toward mathematics in terms of its nature. as shown, most (32 out of 58) of the students agreed that mathematics is a way of thinking using symbols and equations. the same number of students strongly disagreed that mathematics is not important in real life. this implies that they were able to see the usefulness and applicability of mathematics. similar results were observed in items 2 and 8, where (27 out of 58) and (26 out of 58) respectively were undecided that mathematics is an assurance to succeed, and mathematics enables men understand the world better. however, majority (38 out of 58) of the students strongly agreed that mathematics is a challenging subject. indeed, 20 out of 58 or 34% of the students strongly agreed that mathematics is considered as one of the difficult subjects. table 3. beliefs of the students towards mathematics in terms of the nature of mathematics items sa a u d sd wm 1. mathematics is a way of thinking using symbols and equations. 32 19 4 2 1 4 2. mathematics is an assurance to succeed 2 22 27 7 0 3 3. mathematics is not important in real life. 3 4 5 14 32 2 4. mathematics is a field of manipulating numbers and symbols. 24 27 3 3 1 4 5. mathematics is a challenging subject. 38 16 3 1 0 5 6. mathematics is considered as one of the difficult subjects. 20 19 16 9 2 4 7. mathematics does not provide foundations for applied sciences. 26 14 10 5 3 4 8. mathematics enables men understand the world better. 1 3 13 26 15 3 beliefs of students toward mathematics in terms of their competence as shown, a total of 25 (10 strongly agreed and 15 agreed) the 100 jpair: multidisciplinary research statement “i like mathematics”. it points out that the love for this subject is rational. for item 2 in the same table, only one strongly agreed and seven agreed that they are not interested in mathematics. in addition, the weighted mean 2 indicates that majority disagreed the statement. the preceding items 4, 7, and 8 show that students were undecided (24 out of 58) if they can do mathematics problems, (27 out of 58) understand even the most difficult materials presented in a mathematics course, and (35 out of 58) if they are good in computation. table 4. beliefs of the students about mathematics in terms of their competency items sa a u d sd wm 1. i like mathematics. 10 15 25 4 4 3 2. i’m not interested in mathematics. 1 7 14 20 16 4 3. i can understand even the most difficult material presented in a mathematics course. 1 8 27 20 2 3 4. i don’t think i can do mathematics problem . 0 8 24 22 0 3 5. i have been doing well in mathematics. 3 27 21 6 1 3 6. i have been interested in mathematics since primary school. 6 18 21 9 4 3 7. i really hate mathematics since grade i 2 5 12 25 14 2 8. i am good in computation. 8 9 35 3 3 3 beliefs of the students toward mathematics in terms of learning and teaching the subject table 5 shows that in item 1 only 18 out of 58 agreed that learning the origin of mathematics makes the subject not interesting. this implies that majority of the respondents considered learning mathematics as an interesting activity when they also learn its origin. out of 58 respondents, 31 agreed and 12 strongly disagreed in item 2 of the same table. this indicates that most of the respondents believed on the importance of drill and practice for better learning in mathematics. in the succeeding item, three respondents did not believe that trying to solve until the correct answer is determined makes mathematics easy to understand. in item 4, (25 out of 58) were undecided if they 101 international peer reviewed journal can do well in mathematics when their teacher let them discover how to do mathematics on their own. however, similar results in items 5 and 6 confirmed that students would not ignore any mistakes when it is being observed. responses in item 9 proved independent learning among tertiary students, as revealed, 44 out of 58 were not in favor of copying answers from their classmates. however, team work was also practiced by 55% of the students as reflected in item 10. in all probability, students were challenged with unique mathematical problems as shown in items 15 and 16 in which almost 100% responded positively. table 5. beliefs of the students about mathematics in terms of learning and teaching the subject items sa a u d sd wm 1. learning about the origin of mathematics concept makes mathematics not enjoyable. 3 19 18 14 4 3.05 2. i don’t believe drills and practice is one of the best ways in learning mathematics. 2 7 6 31 12 2.24 3. trying to solve until the correct answer is determined makes mathematics easy to understand. 20 24 11 3 0 4.05 4. i cannot do well in mathematics when my teacher let me discover how to do mathematics on my own. 4 8 25 18 3 2.86 5. when i spot a mistake in the solution steps of a problem solved on the board, which happens to be the same mistake i usually commit in a test, i try to correct the mistake. 11 31 11 5 0 3.83 6. when i spot a mistake in the solution steps of a problem solved on the board, which happens to be the same mistake i usually commit in a test, i will ignore everything. 0 3 9 35 11 2.07 7. when my classmates’ solution of a problem is entirely different from my own, i will compare solution to his solution. 7 23 18 6 4 3.4 8. when my classmates’ solution of a problem is entirely different from my own, i will check or review my solution. 14 35 6 3 0 4.03 9. when my classmates’ solution of a problem is entirely different from my own, i will copy the solution of my classmate. 0 4 10 24 20 2.31 102 jpair: multidisciplinary research 10. when my classmates’ solution of a problem is entirely different from my own, i will discuss the solution with my classmate. 5 27 19 6 1 3.5 11. when my teachers forget an important fact related to the days lesson and refers the class to a book in the library for verification, i will not go to the library. 1 5 14 26 12 2.26 12. when there are contradictions or inconsistencies between statement and words in mathematical problem, i will ask the teacher to clarify or correct to contradiction or inconsistencies. 7 31 16 3 1 3.69 13. when there are contradictions or inconsistencies between statement and words in mathematical problem, i will analyze the contradiction or inconsistencies. 7 29 18 4 0 3.67 14. when i doubt whether my answer to a problem is correct or not, i review or check my answer. 16 35 5 2 0 4.12 15. when i see that a mathematical problem is unique and is so different from the problem i usually encountered, i will skip the problem. 0 10 23 18 7 2.62 16. when i see that a mathematical problem is unique and is so different from the problem i usually encountered, i will try to solve it. 11 41 4 2 0 4.05 significance of relationship between beliefs toward mathematics and performance in college algebra as presented in table 6, the correlation coefficient between beliefs about mathematics and performance in college algebra is 0.5475 and is quite a bit higher than the critical value 0.2732. it indicates that relationship between the two is statistically significant. table 6. significance of relationship between beliefs about mathematics and performance in college algebra variables df critical value correlation coefficient interpretation results beliefs about mathematics vs performance in college algebra 56 .2732 0.7716 very high positive correlation significant significant at .05 103 international peer reviewed journal figure 1 shows the graph of correlation between beliefs about mathematics and performance in college algebra. the dots are closely located at the line, it signifies almost perfect positive correlation of the variables. figure 1. correlation coefficient between beliefs towards mathematics and performance in college algebra significance of relationship between student’s educational background and performance in college algebra table 7 shows the computed value 0.0018 which signifies negligible correlation. hence, the computed value is lesser than the critical value 0.2732, the relationship between the two variables is not significant. it means that the educational background of the students is not a determinant to have good performance in college algebra. table 7. significance of relationship between students educational background and performance in college algebra variables df critical value correlation coefficient interpretation results public high school vs private high school 56 .2732 0.0018 negligible not significant significant at .05 104 jpair: multidisciplinary research conclusions from the findings of the study, the research formulated the following conclusions: 1. population distribution is an evidence of gender profession preference. 2. male students have better performance in college algebra than female students 3. majority of the students have positive beliefs about mathematics 4. beliefs toward mathematics varied performance in college algebra. hence, students with positive beliefs about mathematics perform better in college algebra than those who have negative beliefs. 5. educational background of the students is not a determinant of students’ performance in college algebra. recommendations from the aforementioned conclusions, it is being recommended that there should be teaching development program focusing on giving the importance of belief in teaching college algebra. thus, values formation towards mathematics will be included in lesson planning to build positive beliefs. finally, mathematics instructors, department heads, dean of the undergraduate studies, parents and other stakeholders should be informed on the result of this study so they will be able to understand the importance of beliefs in learning college algebra. literature cited frank, m. l. 1988 problem solving and mathematical beliefs. arithmetic teacher, 35 (5), 32-34 garcia, g.c. 2008 beliefs about mathematics and problem solving strategies of the secondary students of saint bernard, southern leyte. thesis 105 international peer reviewed journal kloosterman, p., raymond, a. m., emenaker, c. 1996 students’ beliefs about mathematics: a three-year study. the elementary school journal, vol.97. p. 39-56. lester, f. k., garofalo, j., kroll, d. l. 1989 self-confidence, interest, beliefs, and metacognition: key influences on problem-solving behaviour. in d.b. mcleod & v.m. adams (eds.), affect and mathematical problem solving, new york. lim, c.s. 2002 a study on malaysian mathematicians’ way of knowing. report on short term research grant, universiti sains malaysia, penang schoenfeld, a.h. 1999 mathematical thinking and problem solving. journal of mathematical behavior. spelke’s, .es. 2010 non-symbolic arithmetic abilities and mathematics achievement in the first year of formal schooling. http://scholar. harvard.edu/espelke/publications national council of teachers of mathematics standards 1998 www.nctm.org/about/ content.aspx?id=210 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research career management, employee empowerment and motivation in an academic institution: fostering job satisfaction christopher biore http://orcid.org 0000-0002-0062-0344 crisbiore@gmail.com university of cebu, cebu city, philippines abstract employee stagnation in a certain position, centralized decision making and tendency for micromanagement are among the pressing issues for companies experiencing growth. the chief purpose of the study is to determine the extent of career management, people empowerment and employee motivation as perceived by the personnel of the university of cebu (uc). the study applied the descriptive design with the use of questionnaire designed by the researcher as the major tool for data collection. the respondents were the teaching and the non-teaching personnel of uc. the results revealed that there were significant differences on the extent to which people empowerment was upheld by management as well as the motivational needs of the employees. in the aspects of motivation, among herberg’s hygiene factors, only two (2) were well addressed. these were pay and job security. therefore, it is concluded that hygiene factors do not necessarily go together as perceived by employees despite the fact that herzberg’s two-factor theory grouped these aspects together as one. keywords – human resource, career management, herzberg’s two-factor theory, descriptive design, cebu city, philippines vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.338 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 87 international peer reviewed journal introduction individual barriers included a kind of passivity shown in the increased dependency from management for advise, direction, opportunities as well as the perceived importance of not having a degree and having low self-confidence (o’connor, 2000). in a situation where a large number of employees are trapped in a passive work environment, an employee has to set aside his personal goals, thinking that there are many applicants who are ready to take his job. on the other end, seeing some employees who are already employed but are just contented with what they have in the organization, one may think whether this is a case of a prolonged status quo of one’s career. there are also instances when young individuals are propelled to enfold into a specific profession. these people become enthusiastic about such work despite the fact they lack the knowledge on the competencies required to attain success and satisfaction to that particular professional field (judith, 2014). career management and people empowerment are two motivators that the entity should give due consideration. those employees who have a clear direction to where they are going to, and when they get into the organization will have all the reasons to do their job in line with the output desired by the management. however, on the part of the employee, pursuing a career path will not be that much progressive if the culture of empowerment is not entirely in place. involving personnel in organizational decisions would make them relate that their work is now a fundamental principle of good management. according to pagoso (2006), a motivated person is ready to act. generally, based on common experience, if the organization is able to provide a clear career path to each employee and provide him with a certain degree of autonomy to perform his assigned task then, he will be motivated to do his job. in the study conducted by patrick chang boon lee of nanyang business school of nanyang technological university, singapore on career goals and career management strategy among information technology professionals, the results showed that with regards to career management strategy, career planning is positively related to career strategy; career strategy is positively related to professional enhancement; and professional enhancement is positively related to career satisfaction. one important implication is that it is important for computer professionals to plan and strategize their own career. this would lead to greater career satisfaction. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research stumpf (1988) ties business strategy to organizational career management practices. examples of these are policies of promoting from within, position mapping, propagation of mentor-mentee relationship are just few critical practices that can help if an organization wants to maintain its market grip in a dominant way. given the fact that university of cebu is one of the biggest privately owned universities in the philippines with three (3) autonomous campuses armed with different core competencies, maturity levels, and track records, the researcher contends that the aforementioned variables are worth looking for to serve as the collective benchmark in addressing some fundamental human resource problems. this should be done to prepare and equip an organization to deal with the changes and pressing new challenges and demands in the organizations. framework the paper is premised on the theory that career management, people empowerment and work motivation are important and useful elements to enhance the organization’s effectiveness in the context of sustaining human capital as resource (goetsch, 2002). in this era where change is constantly taking place in the organization, quite often than not, one of the most important assets of an organization is forgotten. it is the hidden part of the equation that if not considered, will hinder the success of any development process for the attainment of organizational goals. a major portion of organizational development usually relates to how well the organization understands the human capital assets. career management the notion of “career” has been considered as the chief approach in analyzing the period of employees service in a company (cullen, 2013).  of all the human resource management  functions, management  development is perhaps, the most misunderstood and poorly implemented. the single characteristic that distinguishes a successful organization from others is the caliber of the management team. career management is associated to the organization’s tactics in the instruction process, with the application of a model that delineates the manager’s job as the focus in the fundamental competency and at the same time engulfed by various altruistic acts. the crucial element is to ascertain the explicit transmission from the knowledge area to the work setting (wright & belcourt, 1994). 89 international peer reviewed journal corpuz (2006) defined career management as the process through which employees become aware of their interests, values, strengths, and weaknesses. it also involves obtaining information about job opportunities within the company, identifying career goals, and establishing action plans to achieve those goals while development of the profession prepares a person for progression along a designated career path. empowerment people empowerment is another variable that is worth looking for. its general idea is to give employees more power to make decisions, without the involvement of middle management. sadly, many companies talk about moving from a hierarchical structure to empowerment, but very few take that first step (blanchard, carlos & randolph, 1999). empowerment is also a psychological perception where a person feels more independence, signifying, proficiency, and influence regarding their person in the organization (mcshane & von glinow, 2005). evans and dean (2003) defined empowerment as a means of providing an employee the power to do any vital actions to satisfy the customers as well as trusting them to make right choices without the management’s approval. in some companies, empowerment is used as the umbrella term for increasing employee involvement in decision-making. employees’ perceptions on their leaders’ behavior play a role in creating an empowering environment where employees are willing to do more than what is expected, with retention of employees as a result (bester, stander & van zyl, 2015). the notion that empowerment links to the insights of workers and the innate or mental processes that take place once operational and/or bestowing of authority to the employees has been imposed successfully, it is the psychosomatic method to empowerment (spreitzer, 1995; fong & snape, 2015). fong and snape recommend that empowerment could be regarded as a condition that originates from within a person. managerial staff and line supervisors have the obligation to ensure their employees are performing their jobs, but they cannot coerce the workers to be extra efficient. therefore, they should look into the motivating factors of the employess to perform better (mercurio, 2006). on the other hand, if employees are not satisfied with their jobs, then they would have the propensity to quit. turnover can hurt the organization because it results in the loss of experience and knowledge that an employee has gained about the company, industry, and the business environment. satisfied employees 90 jpair multidisciplinary research manifest decreased probability to search for another job and a decreasing desire to leave (gimena, 2014). empowerment in an organization is far more like freeing a canary than like driving a car. that is, if there is credence that empowerment implicates  an intrinsic aspiration to be responsible to one’s life, compared to plain transfer of organizational authority to individuals. if empowerment enables another to act with more authority, the implications for creating the right conditions that will free employees to do this are very real. the conditions are cultural ones, involving trust and an atmosphere where change is perceived not as a threat but as an opportunity (beach, 1996). employee motivation another variable considered in this study is the motivational level and needs of the employees. motivation pertains to the vigor either inner or outer of an individual that stimulates eagerness and tenacity to engage to a particular course of action. employee motivation affects productivity. so, it would be a part of a manager’s job to channel follower’s motivation toward the accomplishment of the organization’s vision and goals. analyzing workers’ motives aids the management to learn what stimulate people to instigate an act; what inspire their preference of action; and their purpose of keeping up to that feat over time. it was argued that using money as a motivator almost always leads to higher performance (daft, 2014). there are several theories of motivation which are worth looking for which may guide the top management in setting its goals and strategic plans. one of the most popular theories of motivation is frederick herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation which identifies two factors that dominate the workplace such as extrinsic and intrinsic factors. extrinsic factors include salary, job security, security, working conditions, and status while intrinsic factors, known as satisfier, include recognition and advancement. herzberg’s theory implies that organization create noteworthy jobs to motivate people. although unsatisfactory rewards systems can dissatisfy employees, it is also necessary for organizations to motivate workers (zarate, 2006). abraham maslow’s theory of motivation arranged human needs into a  hierarchy. maslow’s  theory posits that an individual will satisfy basiclevel needs before modifying behavior to satisfy higher-level needs. the need in a pyramid consists of physical, security, social, self-esteem and self-actualization need. in this theory, a person would intend to satisfy first the physical or the basic human needs that are necessary for basic survival. the needs in the upper 91 international peer reviewed journal part of the pyramid contribute slight enthusiasm until these essential needs are fulfilled. once physiological needs  are gratified, safety or security becomes the predominant  needs. the necessity for belongingness to a group, community or organization represents the affiliation need.  the fulfillment of  the selfrecognition need creates the sense of self-assurance, notability, influence, and hegemony. upon fulfilling the self-recognition requisite, self-actualization becomes the dominant need. self-actualization is known as the self-realization stage that denotes the necessity to make most of a person’s capability and aptitude (gambrel & cianci, 2003). another theory of motivation is david mcclelland’s learned needs theory in which he suggested that a strong n-affil or affiliation-motivation somewhat destroys a manager’s objectivity, because of their need to gain appreciation from others. consequently, this undermines the manager’s decision-making skill (zarate, 2006). the basis of victor vroom’s expectancy theory is the expectation that a person will strive on the basis of his acuity of the likelihood of his expectations to occur. the expectancies and valences determine motivation that is the context of this theory. expectancy is a belief about the likelihood or probability that a particular behavioral act will lead to a particular outcome. expectancy is based on the assumption that a combination of forces within the individual and in the environment determines behavior (medina, 2011). adams’ equity theory which says that people will be motivated at work when they perceive that they are being treated fairly. in particular, equity stresses the importance of perceptions. so, regardless of the actual level of rewards people receive, they must also perceive that they are being treated fairly (williams, 2013). organizational fairness refers to the people’s perception of fairness in organizations (kivimäki, elovainio, vahtera & ferrie, 2003). organizational justice or fairness concentrates on people’s perceptions of the equality of their work outcomes or in proportion to their work inputs (moorman, 1991). skudiene and auruskeviciene, (2012) investigated the impact of corporate social responsibility (csr) on internal employee motivation. the analysis of the academic literature and research demonstrated that there exist two types of csr orientations that are internal and external. internal csr includes socially responsible activities related with employees’  issues. the findings suggested that internal and external csr activities positively correlate with internal employee motivation. in-house csr was found stronger related to internal employee  motivation than all the external csr dimensions. regarding the 92 jpair multidisciplinary research external csr, customer-related activities had a significant correlation with the organization’s employee motivation  than local communities as well as business activities with business partners. the weakest relation was between the internal employee motivation and csr activities with business partners. to sum it up, the csr initiatives undertaken towards employees, customers, local communities and business partners will lead to the enhanced employee internal motivation. mafini and dlodlo (2014) investigated the association between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction among workers in a government office. exploratory factor analysis was utilized to excerpt the five factors: remuneration, quality of work life, promotion, supervision and teamwork that affect the  extrinsic motivation of public service employees. the usage  of spearman’s rank correlation analysis procedure showed that with the  exclusion of promotion, there was a moderate to strong association between the extrinsic motivation factors and job contentment. further, there exist a positive relationship between fulfillment in work and gratification. this means that these two factors either go together or the opposite direction. objective of the study the study determined the extent to which career management, people empowerment, and employee motivation were adopted by the university of cebu to improve the existing program and redesign its employee development program to be able to addresss the needs employees and foster satisfaction. methodology research design the study utilized the descriptive survey research design using a self-made questionnaire for data collection. those questionnaires were distributed to specific respondents and retrieved after being filled out. gathered data were tallied and tabulated for presentation, interpretation, and analysis. research site the study was conducted at the university of cebu which is composed of the university of cebu main campus, located at sanciangco street, cebu city; uc-mambaling campus, located at tabada street, mambaling, cebu city; uclapulapu and mandaue campus located at hernan cortes ave, mandaue city; and uc-banilad campus located at governor cuenco ave, banilad, cebu city. 93 international peer reviewed journal participants the respondents of the study were the administrators, academic, and nonacademic personnel of the four (4) campuses of university of cebu. there were 100 administrators as respondents while there were 293 for the faculty and nonteaching staff, using slovin’s formula. to comply with research ethics protocol, the researchers obtained informed consent from everyone who was interviewed on given questions to answer. the administrator includes the deans, chairpersons, and directors and heads of different offices including the support services. there were 100 school administrators in all of its four (4) campuses who were considered in this investigation; 874 were fulltime faculty instructors from all the campuses; and 216 non-academic personnel. instrumentation the study used a self-designed instrument composed of three (3) parts. the first part pertains to career development and management; the second part concerns to empowerment, and the third relates to employee motivation. the questionnaire on professional development and management in composed of four elements such as career direction, career time, career options, and career transition. while the questionnaire on empowerment consisted of three (3) parts, namely: self-determination, job meaning, and competence on job and employee’s impact on the job. on motivation, the questionnaire also consisted of three (3) parts: pay, working conditions, job security, and peer relations. the second part of the tool on motivation pertains to company policy and administration, quality of supervision, and relationship with immediate head or supervisor. the third part relates to motivation links to achievement, recognition, responsibility, and opportunity for growth. in the career development & management questionnaire, questions were asked for the purpose of determining the extent to which the management manifests interest on professional development for its employees. each question is followed by some of the responses. corresponding to each item are numeric scales with the following qualitative equivalents. research procedure and data analysis the researcher sought the permission from the chancellor of the university of cebu to conduct a study. after obtaining the approval, letter requests were made to the different human resource (hr) directors of the campuses to distribute 94 jpair multidisciplinary research questionnaires to the respondents. there was ample time for the respondents to answer the research tool, after which they were retrieved for tabulation, presentation, analysis, and interpretation. for the purpose of analyzing and interpreting collected data, weighted mean and pearson were computed. results and discussion the data in table 1 presents the data on the extent to which career management was implemented in all four campuses of the university of cebu. table 1. extent of implementation of career management indicators administrators faculty & staff composite mean interpretation mean interpretation mean interpretation career direction 2.95 ge 2.69 ge 2.74 ge career time 2.62 ge 2.61 ge 2.59 ge career options 2.77 ge 2.67 ge 2.77 ge career transitions 2.69 ge 2.64 ge 2.64 ge general average 2.74 ge 2.65 ge 2.67 ge the general average of 2.67 means that both the administrators (µ= 2.74) and the faculty and staff (µ=2.65) answered that career management was implemented to a great extent in the institution. specifically, career management was perceived to have been applied to a great extent (µ=2.74) in the aspect of career direction. this result means that the institution is in the constant assessment process in terms of what are the employees’ wants, needs, and professional interests. further, this implies that the company is giving its employees some available alternatives in alignment to one’s realistic aspiration. career management in the aspect of career time was likewise implemented to a great extent as revealed in the composite mean of 2.59. this finding can be surmised that the organization made available its target milestones and reasonable timeframes for the employees to track the progress to the professional growth of the employees. in the aspect of career options, career management was also implemented to a great extent based on µ=2.77. this result could be inferred that the employees 95 international peer reviewed journal were supported to a great extent by the top management so that they may recognize the available options within the organization. in this aspect, it can be deduced that the university is not depriving its people of opportunities for advancement, promotional and lateral transfers, and any opportunity for career enrichment. career management specifically in the aspect of career transition was also implemented by the establishment to a high extent (µ=2.64). this outcome means that the institution had invested the considerable amount of resources in preparing its employees to new heights of professional growth and responsibility. the results affirms the idea of mumford (2007), who said that it is significant for the employees that the pay they receive should correspond to the required efficiency in performing their assigned task. typically, it is enviable for employees to be satisfied with their jobs (mobley, 2006) as well as the company policies and rules. table 2. extent of implementation of people empowerment indicator administrators faculty & staff composite mean interpretation mean interpretation mean interpretation self-determination 2.72 ge 2.78 ge 2.73 ge job meaning 2.93 ge 3.11 ge 3.08 ge competence on the job 3.02 ge 3.17 ge 3.14 ge general average 2.88 ge 3.02 ge 2.98 ge the general average of 2.98, derived from the responses from the administrators (µ=2.88) and faculty and staff, (µ=3.02) could be interpreted that people empowerment was implemented by the institution to a great extent. specifically, people empowerment was imposed to a great extent in the organization in the aspect of self-determination (µ=2.73). this means that employees enjoys a certain degree of independence and discretion to do their job within the organization. people empowerment in the aspect of job meaning was also implemented to a great extent (µ=3.08). this result means that employees’ contribution to the organization has been recognized by the institution. this institutional set up motivated the employees to take extra care of their work and would led the employee to believe that what they are doing is of importance. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research in the aspect of competence on the job, it was also perceived to had been implemented to a great extent (µ=3.14). so, the institution has been proactive in enhancing the employees’ capability in performing their jobs. further, this would mean that employees were given a chance to become active participants in the organization once they become proficient in a certain organizational task. people empowerment in this context is related to role responsibility (hicks, fujiwara & bahr, 2006) which emphasizes the obligation of the employees to exert effort towards the attainment of organization goals which lead to desirable performance. table 3. extent to which the motivational needs of employees were addressed indicator administrators faculty & staff composite mean interpretation mean interpretation mean interpretation pay/salary 2.60 a 2.98 a 2.88 a working condition 3.03 a 3.24 a 3.14 a job security 2.89 a 3.16 a 3.11 a company policies 2.89 a 3.14 a 3.09 a recognition 2.66 a 2.98 a 2.92 a responsibility 2.82 a 3.27 wa 3.18 a opportunity for growth 2.74 a 3.08 a 2.96 a general average 2.80 a 3.11 a 3.05 a legend: scale interpretation 3.26-4.0 well-addressed (wa) 2.51-3.25 addressed (a) 1.76-2.50 moderately addressed (ma) 1.00-1.75 not addressed (na) the general average of 3.05 denotes that the two groups of respondents, perceived that the their motivational needs were addressed by the administrators of the university of cebu. in the aspect of pay or salary, the motivational level of personnel was welladdressed which can be deduced that the employees were satisfied with the system of monetary remuneration of the institution. 97 international peer reviewed journal motivational level in relation to the working condition was also addressed by the organization. this finding means that the natural and physical work environment is conducive for the delivery of the expected service from the employee to its clients or customers. job security was also addressed which means that the people working in the organization were satisfied not only in terms of monetary aspect of employment but also on policy about a long-term relationship between management and employee. other organizational variables that were given importance by the management in the aspects of the motivational needs of the employees were company policies, recognition, responsibility and opportunity for growth. the result supports herzberg’s theory which implies that organization create noteworthy jobs to motivate people. although unsatisfactory rewards systems can dissatisfy employees, it is also necessary for organizations to motivate workers (zarate, 2006). table 4. difference on the assessment of the administators and faculty and staff on the extent to which of the manifestation of career management part 1 s-variable t computed t critical decision interpretation career direction 1.8366 1.96 accept no significant difference career time 1.1014 1.96 accept no significant difference career options 1.7526 1.96 accept no significant difference career transitions 1.5176 1.96 accept no significant difference the data exhibited that there was no sigfificant difference in the assessment made by the two groups of respondents on the extent of manifestation of career management in the aspects of career direction; career time; career options and career transitions. it could be noted that these areas in career management had been perceived to have been implemented to greater extent. these areas are considered to be nessary so that employees will be satisfied not just on their jobs, but on how they are being managed. baruch (2004) insinuated that before, planning in the aspect of career has more frequent than not been inadvertent, and when top mamangement would be looking for employees to be promoted, the main characteristicses were overall skills, competence and employment status. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. difference on the evaluations of the administrators and the faculty and staff on the extent of the manifestation of people empowerment part 1 s-variable t computed t critical decision interpretation self-determination 3.5078 1.96 reject significant difference job meaning 2.424 1.96 reject significant difference competence in the job 3.8319 1.96 reject significant difference there were significant differences in the assessment of the administrative personnel and the faculty and staff of the university in terms of people empowerment, specifically, on self determination, upholding empowerment in job meaning and on the area of competence in the job. empowering the employees is a broad action, and the manner that empowerment  deeds are undertaken in harmony with its gist, convey the association between the job performed and the corresponding satisfaction experience by the employees (pelit, öztürk & arslantürk, 2001). table 6. difference in the evaluations of the administrators and the faculty and staff on the extent to which motivational needs was addressed in the institution part 1 s-variable t computed t critical decision interpretation pay 4.3555 1.96 reject significant difference working condition 2.9043 1.96 reject significant difference job security 5.3432 1.96 reject significant difference company policies 5.4162 1.96 reject significant difference recognation 4.8253 1.96 reject significant difference responsibility 8.7935 1.96 reject significant difference opportunity for growth 6.6994 1.96 reject significant difference there were significant differences on the answers made by the administrative personnel and the teaching and non-teaching staff of the university in terms of whether the motivational needs of employees were addressed or were being given importance. specifically, there were significant differences on the perception by the two groups of respondents in terms of the following aspects: pay, working condition, job security, company policies, recognition, responsibility, and opportunity and growth. it can be be noted that all of the t computed value in all aspects in the motivational needs of the employees were greater than the t critical 99 international peer reviewed journal of 1.96. thus, the perceptions of the two groups of respondents in the university substantially differ. the results affirm mercurio (2006) who said that although the top management and supervisors have the responsibility of making sure that the employees are motivated do their tasks efficiently, their opinions and ranking on the motivating factors may differ. conclusions despite the fact that career management and people empowerment had been implemented in most cases, there is still a need to redesign these organizational practices to foster job satisfaction especially on the part of the faculty and nonteaching staff of the university since they are in the first line to provide service to the primary clientele of a university. this action should be done to gain more consistency with consideration to some specifics that contradicts the overall extent of its implementation. further, there is a need to align the existing overall company program especially the part that addresses motivational needs to balance some vital items equitably in terms of promoting work enthusiasm. career management, people empowerment, and motivational needs of the employees are functioning like the three pillars of a dynamic organization. this consistency in the management’s policy, attitude, and philosophy matters a lot. addressing only one or two of these will not guarantee efficient and effective functioning of people in the organization in the long run. an example of this is the finding that career management was implemented to a great extent but under motivational needs, an opportunity for growth ranks lowest from the employees’ evaluation. furthermore, the people within the organization may be in different position and function but they did not differ in terms of vision about their career in the future. translational research the results of the study require the need for the vice-chancellor for administration, campus academic directors, and human resources directors to meet and devise a plan to implement the proposed program entitled “uc career management, empowerment and motivation scheme. part of this program is restructuring the policy that would trigger the employees’ interest to 100 jpair multidisciplinary research do something with independence and initiative. thereby, there will be an increase in the culture of empowerment within the institution. there shall be a creation of an ad hoc committee that would carefully study the inconsistencies regarding performance appraisal and financial incentives associated with it. improvement of the recognition policy of the institution to make less inorganic and more responsive to the lower needs of the employees is also recommended. literature cited baruch, y. 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(2006) organizational behavior and management in philippine organizations. manila, philippines: rexbook store, inc. retrieved from http://goo.gl/l07ew1 158 jpair multidisciplinary research conflict management styles of educational managers in selected higher educational institution in sulu: vis-à-vis teaching performance aurizia d. siraji https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9200-6631 sirajiaurizia@gmail.com sulu state college capitol site patikul, sulu, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0%0 abstract conflict is inevitable in life and the challenge is how leaders can precisely manage it. in this respect, for pragmatic and academic purposes and to provide useful information on conflict management styles for the harmonious and globalized working environment this study determined the appropriate conflict management styles to address specific organizational related conflicts in heis of sulu. to obtain the needed data, the researcher employed the purposive random sampling method, using twenty-five (25) educational managers in higher educational institutions (heis) of sulu includes 230 faculty members to determine the most common organizational-related conflict and the most effective management styles. employed descriptivesurvey method 0.192 is greater than 0.05 confidence levels that provide evidence to say conflict management styles of educational managers are not significant predictor to the teaching performance of the faculty in heis. educational managers in heis should initiate an action plan to improve the programs of managing conflict to approximately make these vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.656 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9200-6631 mailto:sirajiaurizia@gmail.com 159 international peer reviewed journal styles uniform in heis being the people belong to common tribe and lifestyles. moreover, mentoring the workers through the experience managers should be encouraged at the workplace. finally, the study on conflict is highly recommended to scrutinize the effect on the faculty. keywords — conflict management styles, educational managers, teaching performance introduction this chapter explains the rationale behind this research, describes the objectives and the contributions of the present study to the academic world specifically to the higher educational institutions in sulu. in today’s environment, conflicts arises in an institution when employees asserts their demands for an increased share in organizational rewards, such as position, acknowledgment, appreciation, monetary benefits as well as when vacant items that should be given to the contractual instructor of the institution were given to the outsider applicants because of political intervention that may lead to controversy and demoralization of the qualified insider applicants. karip (2003) viewed that conflict will continue as long as there are differences in references, demands, values, beliefs, and interests of the parties involved in communication and interaction. in other words, the question then is not the unavoidability of conflict in the workplace but how people will cope with it. in the higher education for example, the educational managers who are the heads of the departments, colleges, or schools of a university need to manage conflicts using management styles that yield functional synergies and create a constructive school culture that leads to teachers’ high morale and satisfaction and may perhaps result to excellent teaching performance of the faculty. the chancellors and presidents, in turn, being the chief executive in the higher educational institutions must always support and encourage the directors and deans assigned in all departments to observe and evaluate the faculty. these individuals act as triggers in the conversion process of conflicting demands, values and goals into significant behaviors. therefore, conflict management styles are important skills that leaders should possess. in this respect, for pragmatic and academic purposes and to provide more useful information on how conflict can be managed effectively for the globalized working environment this study explicitly investigated the prevalent “conflict 160 jpair multidisciplinary research management styles of educational managers in selected higher educational institutions in sulu: vis-à-vis teaching performance.” data were generated using the likert type questionnaire checklist which is originated from the work of blake and mouton (1964), a popular format of conflict management styles, to explore the general conflict management styles across situations and to answer the question what is the prevailing conflicts in selected higher educational institutions in sulu. framework as educational theories have universal acceptance, the researcher adopted five theories of conflict management styles such as:(1) traditional theory; (2) modern schools management theory (3) contemporary theory; (4) dual-concern model by thomas (2008) (1) traditional theory based on the assumption that conflicts are bad caused by troublemakers, and should be subdued; (2)modern school’s management theory that conflict as an inevitable aspect of organisational life, which can be used to foster healthy organisational development the pluralist view of conflict criticizes the classical tendency to over-emphasize the negative aspects of conflict because it distracts attention from conflicts’ potential benefits. moreover, the dominant conflict management model in this study is (4) dual-concern model by thomas (2008), originated from the work of blake and mouton (1964), the dual-concern model has several variations, all of which assume that individuals choose different modes, strategies, or styles for handling conflict based on some variations of two primary concerns/interests— “concern for self ” and “concern for other”. the styles in resolving conflict in the present study such as avoiding, compromising, competing, accommodating and collaborating confronting are helpful in facing related organizational conflicts such as communication misunderstandings; personality differences and clashes; differences in goals and objectives; substandard job performance of the employees, lack of employee cooperation; problems related to areas of authority; frustration with people and or resources; and non-compliance with rules and policies which resulted to a well-managed conflicts in the selected higher educational institutions in sulu. however, the personal profile of educational manager influenced in a certain degree to the conflict management styles of the individual managers. 161 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study was mainly concern with the common organizational related conflicts in selected higher educational institutions in sulu and the appropriate management styles of educational managers to address specific conflict vis-à-vis teaching performance. at any rate, this aim is divided further into the following specific objectives: (1) to determine the demographic profile of the educational managers and faculty members of the heis in sulu as to age, gender, educational attainment and length of service. (2) to rank the identified common organizationrelated conflicts in heis in sulu as perceived by the educational managers and the faculty based on the following identified conflicts such as communication misunderstandings, personality differences and clashes, differences in goals and objectives substandard job performance, differences over procedures to be used, lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility, lack of employee cooperation, problems related to areas of authority, frustration with people and or resource, and noncompliance with rules and policies, (3) to determine the level of effectiveness of educational managers in managing organization-related conflicts of hies in sulu as perceived by the educational managers themselves and by the faculty in terms of the following: accommodating, compromising ,confronting, collaborating, avoiding, (4)to determine the significant difference in the conflict managing styles of the educational managers in the heis in sulu when the data are categorized according to public and private. (5) to determine the significant effect of conflict management styles of educational managers’ vis-à-vis teaching performance of the faculty. (6) to determine the significant difference in the conflict managing styles of the educational managers when the data are categorized according to age, gender, educational attainment and length of service. (7) to determine the significant difference in the common organization-related conflicts as perceived by educational managers and by the faculty, and (8) to determine the significant difference in the level of effectiveness of educational managers in managing organization-related conflicts of hies in sulu as perceived by the educational managers themselves and the faculty in terms of accommodating, compromising, confronting, collaborating and avoiding. methodology research design to achieve the fundamental thrust of the study, descriptive research design supported with documentary analysis was employed. to obtain the needed data, 162 jpair multidisciplinary research the researcher employed the surveyquestionnaire as the main instrument for the research and personally distributed the checklist questionnaire to the educational managers and faculty members of the different heis in sulu such as msu-sulu, ssc, ndjc, and smii. the researcher, however, is aware that the questionnaire tool of the investigation had inherent limitations. the value of this type of investigation largely depends on the sincerity, truthfulness, and objectivity of the respondents. data were generated using the likert type questionnaire checklist which is originated from the work of blake and mouton (1964), a popular format of conflict management styles, to explore the general conflict styles across situations and to answer the question what is the prevailing conflict management styles of educational managers in selected higher educational institutions in sulu. research site the present study was conducted in sulu involved the higher institutions namely mindanao state university-sulu (msu-sulu), sulu state college (ssc), notre dame of jolo college (ndjc) and southwestern mindanao islamic institute (smii). the map of jolo showing the exact location of the four higher educational institutions in sulu is shown in figure (2) while the map of sulu showing the different municipalities is shown in the table (3). msu-sulu is located at capitol site patikul, sulu while ssc is divided into three campuses located in different areas of jolo. the ssc main campus is located in the capitol road, barangay capitol, patikul, sulu. the high school department and the graduate school campus is located at serantes, barangay walled city, jolo, sulu, and the agriculture campus is located at gandasuli road, patikul, sulu. ndjc campus is located at gandasuli road, barangay bus-bus, jolo, sulu. the smii campus is located at serantes street, barangay serantes, jolo, sulu. participants the population for this study consisted of twenty-five (25) deans and directors in selected higher educational institutions of sulu includes two hundred thirty (230) faculty members to determine the most common organizational-related conflict and the most effective management styles of the educational managers in higher educational institutions in sulu vis-à-vis teaching performance. instrumentation the questionnaire consisted of four parts. part 1 of the questionnaire provides information on the educational manager’s profile in terms of age, gender, 163 international peer reviewed journal educational attainment, and length of service; part ii was gathered information on common organization related conflicts in hei’s in sulu answered by the educational managers, part iii, was questionnaire checklist that revealed on the effectiveness of conflict management styles by the educational managers and part iv is the qce of the nbc no. 461 instruments for instruction /effectiveness to measures the teaching performance of the faculty. reliability and validity the questionnaire was adopted from the study of ma (2007), originated from the work of thomas (2002) with the slight modification being made by the researcher and was validated by three authorities/experts to assure that instrument is reliable. data analysis the statistical tools used in analyzing the data were encoding the frequencies in the computer through the statistical package for social science or (spss). statistical technique the statistical tools used in analyzing the data were encoding the frequencies in the computer through the statistical package for social science (spss). results and discussion this chapter dealt with the results of the statistical computations and the discussion of the results justified by the related literature and studies which are collaborative or opposite findings. the sequence of the presentation of data followed the sequence of the problem as stated in chapter 1. the analysis of data is in tabular form and the interpretation of data was based on the defined problems and null hypotheses. moreover, based on these data, it can be assured that the school managers respondents in this study are matured enough, educationally equipped and have enough experienced as educational managers to handle conflict in their respective schools. this is evident from their age of 41-65 years old, educational attainment, finished the master’s degree to the extent of earned units in doctoral degree, and served the school 21 to 30 years and also male which is encouraged by islam to lead in the society. to be able to address a conflict it is important to identify the underlying causes to address specific conflict management styles before it becomes. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research the next table shows the common organizational related conflicts in the higher educational institutions in sulu. they were arranged from the most common down to the least common through ranking as identified by the respondents. table 1. common organizational related conflicts as perceived by educational managers and teachers organizational related conflicts mean rank lack of employee cooperation 4.6 1st communication misunderstandings 4.3 2nd substandard job performance 4.0 3rd frustration with people and or resources 3.8 4th non-compliance with rules and policies 3.7 5th differences in goals and objectives 3.5 6th lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility 3.4 7th problems related to areas of authority 3.2 8th differences over procedures or methods to be used 3.0 9th personality differences and clashes 2.9 10th the most common organizational related conflicts ranked first with a mean of 4.6 is lack of employee cooperation. in most cases in an institution, there are employees’ wants to be recognized and honored by doing extra effort to show his best contribution to the concerned leaders. the attractive efforts of this employee will gain the attention and support of the institution’s head while other employees are reluctantly opposing the honor. when cooperation breakdown, the results will be a dissatisfied staff and reduced productivity. manzoor, ullah, hussain, and ahmad (2011), concluded that teamwork has a significant positive effect on employee performance. the second in rank organizational related conflicts is communication misunderstanding. communication misunderstanding may be developed when there exist two or more groups of factions, in which the group finds the ways to oppose the communication of the other group just because the members of the group do not agree with the issues expressed by the other group. they tend to disagree with the issues and pretend to have communication misunderstanding. the third in rank organizational conflicts is the substandard job performance. substandard job performance may result from criticism of one employee against 165 international peer reviewed journal other employees while watching every move in his daily activities following the job description as oriented at the beginning of his job appointment. the spreading of gossip about the unfulfilled work according to the identified standardized job order may result in substandard job performance. the fourth organizational conflict is the frustration with people and resources. the frustration with people and resources may result from head favoritism, appointment because of affinity or relatives, recommended by the honorable, and recruitment of disqualified officials. an employee recruited because he/she is a boss favorite might create a clash of the employee. the appointment, because he/ she is related to the boss might create backbiting among employees. the hiring of employee influence by the recommendation of the honorable might create unsatisfactory job performance. lastly, the recruitment of the disqualified official might create an unreasonable decision. all of these may result in frustration. these situations will be followed by the frustration of the scarcity of resources. the employee who is behaviorally distant to the boss will be deprived of the chances to enjoy the resources of the institution, because of his belief that we do not belong to their group. the fifth organizational conflict is noncompliance of rules and policies. this may result when the designated head is not within the consent of the employees during his appointment to the position. the board of appointment should consider in the recruitment period the acceptance of the employees before deciding to designate the office head. the board of appointment should seriously consider this matter so that everybody will comply with the rules and policies ordained by the new head of the office. the sixth organizational conflict is the difference in objectives and goals. the difference in objectives and goals may happen when the head of the office may forget to conduct an orientation seminar on the goals and objectives of the organization. one of the basic approaches to inform the employees about the goals and objectives of the organization and to foster unity to attain the goals and objectives is trough seminar and workshop. the seventh ranked organizational conflict is the lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility. the office manager should clearly emphasize the areas of responsibility of the people given the designation. overlapping of authority may result in conflict on the lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility. the eight ranked organizational conflict is the problems related to areas of authority. the issuance of appointment or designation of the official should carry the brief description of the authority vested to the individual official that holds the managerial responsibility. 166 jpair multidisciplinary research the ninth organizational conflict is the differences over procedures or methods to be used. specific procedures to be implemented to carry out job satisfaction should be initiated according to the required task to fulfill its satisfactory result. the manager should practically give a chance an employee to develop his/her way of doing things to arrive at a particular satisfactory product. after all the procedures or methods should provide basic steps, an employee initiates to arrive at his defined goals and objectives. however, the employees in the same department should consult one another to arrive at the common procedures and methods to do similar things. the tenth organizational conflict is personality differences and clashes. the employees should be given full orientation to develop love and understanding. the absence of love, understanding of one’s personality and moral responsibility will surely arrive at the conflict of personality differences and clashes. however, the movements to ensure love among employee, understanding of personality differences and strong determination of improving one’s faith in god may resolve the conflict in personality differences and clashes. table 2 on the next page shows ten (10) related organizational conflicts as dependent variables and five conflict management styles such as avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, and collaborating as independent variables to measures its effectiveness as viewed by the educational managers and teachers. the results further improved the study of fleetwood (2000) on conflict management styles and strategies which have found that avoiding styles were seldom used by the educational managers in the view of both the volunteers and researchers. sirivun (2002) found that integrating is the most common used conflict management style: compromising is the secondmost commonly used conflict management styles. dominating is the least common style. he confirms this order of preferred style across managers and students. 167 international peer reviewed journal table 2. conflict management styles and its effectiveness no. conflicts handling styles mean description 1 communication misunderstandings accommodating 4.6 most effective 2 personality differences and clashes collaborating 3.8 more effective 3 differences in goals and objectives compromising 3.7 more effective 4 substandard job performance accommodating 3.8 more effective 5 differences over procedures or methods to be used collaborating 4.5 most effective 6 lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility confronting 3.6 more effective 7 lack of employee cooperation confronting 3.5 more effective 8 problems related to areas of authority accommodating 3.8 more effective 9 frustration with people and or resources compromising 4.2 more effective 10 non-compliance with rules and policies confronting 4.4 more effective as shown in table 2, the misuderstanding in communication can be most effectively (4.6) managed by accommodating handling styles. the higher institution employees with conflict on personality differences and clashes can be more effectively (3.8) managed through collaborating. the conflict of differences in goals and objectives can be more effectively (3.7) managed by compromising. the substandard conflict performance can be managed more effectively (3.8) through accommodating. the conflict differences over procedures or methods to be used can be most effectively (4.5) through collaborating. the conflict lack of employee cooperation can be more effectively (3.5) managed through confronting. the conflict in the areas of authority can be more effectively handled (3.8) through accommodating. the conflict on frustration with people and or resources can be managed more effectively (4.2) through compromising. the conflict on non-compliance with rules and policies can be managed more effectively (4.4) through confronting. 168 jpair multidisciplinary research the values of t-test and f-test of the conflict management styles of educational managers. the significant levels of confident values 0.692, 0.524, 0.430, 0.437 and 0.171 are greater than 0.05 confidence level. these indicate that the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in the conflict management styles of education managers when the data are classified according to age, gender, educational attainment and length of service is accepted. the result of this study provides evidence to say that there is no significant difference of the conflict management styles of education managers when the data are classified according to age, gender, educational attainment and length of service. in addition, tseveendorj (2003) in his study on conflict resolution: a basis for effective conflict management of banks in baguio city found that the bank employees with longer years in the bank differed from those with shorter years in their perception of the seriousness of the perception, values and culture problems although both groups similarly perceived the seriousness of the communication problems. it was also noted that the master’s degree holders implemented more the dominating and avoiding approaches; the offices with more subordinates implemented more the dominating, avoiding, and avoiding approaches. likewise, the banks with a greater number of employees implemented more dominating and accommodating approaches. the computed regression value is 0.220, the coefficient of determination (r2) is 0.048, the f-test value is 1.171, and the t-test value is 1.082. the data indicate that the f-test value is not significant, the significant confidence value 0.290 is greater than 0.05 level of confidence. this suggests that the null hypothesis is accepted. the coefficient of determination suggests that 4.8 percent of the teaching performance of the faculty can be accounted to the conflict management styles. the 95.2 percent can be accounted to other variables which are not included in the study. the value of the t-test indicates that conflict management styles are not a significant predictor of the teaching performance. the result of this study provides evidence to say that there is no significant effect of the conflict management styles of the educational managers in higher education institutions of sulu on the teaching performance of the faculty. moreover, only 4.8 percent of the managing conflict styles of the educational managers can be accounted to the teaching performance of the faculty 95.2 percent could be accounted to other variables which are not included in the study. the managing conflict styles of the educational managers are not a significant predictor of the teaching performance of the faculty. 169 international peer reviewed journal the research found that educational managers and their faculty do not differ significantly in their perception of the common organization-related conflict. they perceived that the most common organization-related conflict is the lack of cooperation of employees and the least is non-compliance of the rules and policies. managing conflict is an urgent responsibility of everyone regardless of his status in work. the administrators are liable to maintain the peace and order condition of the employees under his command of responsibility; conflict may contribute to the failure of attaining the mission and goals of the organization. the existence of a conflict should immediately be resolved and given the due process that would account to a smooth and peaceful operation of the job done to achieve the target objectives of the organization. the high official of the higher education institutions should from time to time adapt effective motivation to influence the employees did his responsibility cooperatively and improved the behavior toward the cooperative atmosphere of the school system. likewise, the teachers are also responsible for resolving conflict in their power and capacity. if there is existing conflict among faculty members, the faculty members should at once create an alternative solution to the conflict to enable everyone to concentrate on the underlying success there is existing conflict among students to create a harmonious relationship between the students, teachers and other school personnel. the cooperation of teachers, students and school personnel towards the common goals, mission and vision of the school system with the leadership of the school administrators would contribute greatly to the quality of education which was viewed in the past years as inefficient. the processes involved in resolving conflicts carried out by the administrators and faculty members indicate no significant difference as perceived by the administrators and teachers based on the data collected in this study. hence, the administrators, teachers, students, and other school personnel are the immediate concern of the conflict, unless these people cooperatively make efforts for the job well done, the quality of education is beyond the reach. 170 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. managing organizational related conflicts categorized according to public and private higher education institution (heis) organizational related conflicts sig.(2-tailed) 1 communication misunderstandings .953 .349 2 personality differences and clashes .527 .602 3 differences in goals and objectives .213 .833 4 substandard job performance .1865 .073 5 differences over procedures or methods to be used 1.279 .212 6 lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility 1.261 .218 7 lack of employee cooperation -.633 .532 8 problems related to areas of authority .467 .644 9 frustration with people and or resources 1.297 .205 10 non-compliance with rules and policies -1.642 .112 generally, the ten identified organizational conflicts above when grouped according to the responses of the teachers and administrators of public and private higher education institutions (heis) based on the analysis of the value of t-test at .05 which implies that the hypothesis is accepted. thus, there is enough evidence to conclude that there is no significant difference between the perceptions of the teachers on conflict management styles in public and private heis in sulu. conversely, abdul (2013), as cited by namwila (2016), found that different secondary schools in pakistan use accommodation, avoidance, compromise, and collaboration as styles to manage conflict and however, the choice of which style to use depends on the situation. the avoiding strategy refers to low assertiveness and low cooperation. many times teachers and head teachers avoid conflicts out of fear of engaging in a conflict or because they do not have confidence in their management conflict skills. there are times when the avoiding mode is appropriate is when you have an issue of low importance, to reduce tensions, to buy some time or when one is in a position of lower power (abdul, 2013). 171 international peer reviewed journal table 4. the effect of conflict management styles on the teaching performance of the faculty variables coefficient b std. error t sig. (constant) .719 .966 .744 .465 conflict management styles .273 .253 1.082 .290 r=0.220 r2 =0.048 f=1.171 .290 teachers are very important actors and actresses in institutions. leu (2005) stated that teachers are considered a major figure in the education system, a whole system revolves around teachers. table 3 shows that the computed regression value is 0.220, the coefficient of determination (r2) is 0.048, the f-test value is 1.171 and the t-test value is 1.082. the data indicate that f-test value is not significant confidence; this suggests that the null hypothesis is accepted. the coefficient of determination suggests that 4.8 percent of the teaching performance of the faculty can be accounted to the conflict management styles. the 95.2 percent can be accounted to other variables which are not included in the study. the value of the t-test indicates that the conflict management styles are not significant predictor to the teaching performance. the result of this study provides evidence to say that there is no significant effect of the conflict management styles of the educational managers in higher education institutions of sulu on the teaching performance of the faculty. moreover, only 4.8 percent of the managing conflict styles of the educational managers can be accounted to the teaching performance of the faculty 95.2 percent could be accounted to other variables which are not included in the study. results and discussion the following were the major findings drawn from the study: 1. on the demographic profile of the respondents, as to age, 38.4 percent (98) belongs to age category 21-40 years old, and 61.6 percent (157) belongs to 41-65 years old. as to gender 44.7 percent (114) male respondents and 30 percent (9) are female respondents. the respondents of this study are mostly teachers 88.3 percent (225), 7.8 percent (20) are deans, 3.9 percent (10) are directors of the schools in the different higher institutions. 2. as to the educational attainment of the respondents 53.7 percent (137) obtained the mastered degree with doctoral units, 9.1 percent (23) finished the doctoral degree, 34.1 percent (87) finished the mastered degree, and 3.1 percent 172 jpair multidisciplinary research (8) finished only the bachelor degree with mastered units. as to the length of service 37.2 percent (95) respondents with experience 11-20 years, 62.8 percent with service experience of 21-30 years. 3. the most common organizational related conflicts ranked first with a mean of 4.6 is lack of employee cooperation followed by communication misunderstandings, substandard job performance, frustration with people and or resources, non-compliance with rules and policies, differences in goals and objectives, lack of clearly defined areas of responsibility, problems related to areas of authority, differences over procedures or methods to be used, and personality differences and clashes. 4.the weighted means of the management conflict styles such as avoiding (3.30), accommodating (3.86), competing (3.90), compromising (3.99), and collaborating (3.79) all of these means were given the verbal description often observed except the mean of avoiding given the verbal description sometimes observed. at any rate, the data indicates that the educational managers of the higher institutions of sulu often observed and practiced the management conflict styles except the management conflict style avoiding. 5. the educational managers do not differ significantly in their conflict management styles regardless of their age, gender, educational attainment and length of service. they often observed and practiced the management conflict styles such as avoiding, accommodating, competing, comprising and collaborating regardless of their profile. 6. the educational managers and teachers managed organization-related conflict using the strategies collaborating and avoiding, which was perceived significantly different. the educational managers perceived that collaborating is more effective while the faculty members are in favor of the strategy avoiding. the formulated hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in handling organization-related conflict as perceived by the school managers and faculty members in terms of collaborating and avoiding is rejected. 7. moreover, only 4.8 percent of the managing conflict styles of the educational managers can be accounted to the teaching performance of the faculty 95.2 percent could be accounted to other variables which are not included in the study. the managing conflict styles of the school managers are not a significant predictor of the teaching performance of the faculty. 173 international peer reviewed journal conclusions in conclusion, the “appropriate” management styles in a given situation are essential for educational managers to utilize them for managing conflicts in their respective school. through careful computation, thorough analysis, and keen interpretation of the gathered data, the researcher arrived at the following conclusion: (1) the educational managers selected as respondents in this study are matured enough, educationally equipped and have enough experienced as manager to handle conflict in their respective schools. lack of employee cooperation is the most common organization-related conflict in the heis in sulu. this result further provides evidence to say that the educational managers of msu-sulu, ssc, ndjc, and smii does not differ significantly when they practiced the management conflict styles such as avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising and collaborating. the mean of the responses of the school managers indicates often observed among the four schools. the educational managers do not differ significantly in their conflict management styles when the data are categorized according to their age, gender, educational attainment and length of service. they often observed and practiced the management conflict styles such as avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising and collaborating regardless of their profile. the conflict management styles of the educational managers are not a significant predictor of the teaching performance of the faculty. translational research the findings of this study provided information on handling conflict for the chief executive officers and presidents of the higher educational institutions in sulu and how they influence effectiveness in such institutions. as a whole, this study provided the necessary feedback for institutional managers on various practices on conflict resolutions and how they are managed effectively to minimize or to alleviate conflicts to create a healthy workplace. recommendations the light of the findings and conclusions of the study derived the following recommendations. (1) the educational managers should continue to improve their educational attainment until such a time they claimed the doctoral 174 jpair multidisciplinary research degree. (2) as a result of the improvement of the educational attainment of the educational managers of sulu in addition to some other characteristics like length of service they would be able to improve their styles of managing conflict in their respective schools from merely often observed to always observed and practiced the management conflict styles such as avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising and collaborating. (3) the educational managers in the higher institutions of sulu should initiate an action plan to improve the programs of the management conflict management to approximately make these styles uniform in the higher institutions of sulu being their people are belonging to common tribe and lifestyles. (4) the educational managers should improve the conflict management styles in their respective schools to the extent of producing an apparent effect on the teaching performance of their faculty members to improve quality of education in the higher institutions of sulu. (5) also, mentoring of the workers through the experienced managers should be encouraged at the workplace to foster their effective learning of strategies for managing workinduced stress, burnout, and conflict that can affect organizational productivity. literature cited abdul, g. (2013). interpersonal conflict management strategies in secondary schools of kpk, pakistan. pakistan: abdul wali khan university mardan. blake, r., & mouton, j. (1964). the managerial grid: the key to leadership excellence. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2depshy fleetwood, k. l. (1987). the conflict management styles and strategies of educational managers (master›s thesis, university of delaware). retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2srxhus leu, e. (2005). the role of teachers, schools, and communities in quality education: a review of the literature. academy for educational development. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2bi4dli sirivun, u. (2002). an investigation of the primary and secondary conflict management style preferences of men and women in the role of local managers, international managers, and college students in thailand. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2me5owz https://bit.ly/2depshy https://bit.ly/2srxhus https://bit.ly/2srxhus https://bit.ly/2bi4dli https://bit.ly/2me5owz 175 international peer reviewed journal karip, e, (2003). conflict management. ankara: pagema publishing. manzoor, s. r., ullah, h., hussain, m., & ahmad, z. m. (2011). effect of teamwork on employee performance. international journal of learning and development, 1(1), 110-126. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2dqkqmg ma, zhenzhong (2007). competing or accommodating? an empirical test of chinese conflict management styles.  contemporary management research, 3(1), 3. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7903/cmr.12 namwila, (2016). the causes, styles, and effect of conflict management on teachers in selected secondary schools of mongu district, zambia. thomas, k. w. (2008). thomas-kilmann conflict mode.  tki profile and interpretive report, 1-11. retrieved from https://goo.gl/zw6lw6 tseveendorj, o. (2003). conflict resolution: a basis for effective conflict managemnt of banks in baguio city  (doctoral dissertation). retrieved from https://bit. ly/2wnyksw https://bit.ly/2dqkqmg https://doi.org/10.7903/cmr.12 https://goo.gl/zw6lw6 https://bit.ly/2wnyksw https://bit.ly/2wnyksw 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.349 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract globalization has become a trigger factor in international trade due to its role as an integral part of the world economy and social standardization in the context of technological, cultural and universal knowledge which allows free access to resource with minimal effort. the study is a contribution to theories based on the industry, the dynamic resources and institutions; all around the mexican port system. data was gathered using a qualitative approach of literature review about the current status of the ports and its global environment. the results were organized around the statement of the problem and research objective that guide the study. the results indicated that manzanillo port holds dynamic capabilities that increase its competitiveness in the global port industry as strategic locations, and its natural and human resources. the port of manzanillo from the point of view of economy of organization josé g. vargas-hernández http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0938-4197 jvargas2006@gmail.com university of guadalajara, zapopan, jalisco, 45100, méxico jose satsumi lopez-morales economicadministrative department instituto tecnologico de veracruz, méxico irving daniel agustín cruz http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2004-4003  irdanagcruz@gmail.com university of guadalajara, zapopan, jalisco, 45100, méxico 2 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords international trade, industry, institutions, manzanillo port, and resources, qualitative research design, mexico introduction the free trade agreements (ftas) allow countries to reduce their barriers to import goods, allowing consumption of products and services from foreign countries at competitive prices in local market countries. the evolution of international trade and technological innovations have brought about changes inherent in other areas such as international shipping, which hits into two groups, the size, depth and nature of vessels and, therefore, the port infrastructure to serve them. in the context of international trade, ports serve as key development for their regions. in a peculiar sense, the mexican port with the greatest international impact is the port of manzanillo, located in the mexican pacific coast. this port has become the number one in container movement. in this respect, reyes, guizar, gutierrez and rubio (2014, p. 697) mentioned that the cargo moving via container is the most moving in mexican ports, a worldwide movement of cargo via containers which become the instrument of transport that has revolutionized global logistics. in addition the port of manzanillo was chosen because is the most important port in mexico in size of operations, it receive around 1369 ships annually (nauticanavigation, 2015). some studies about ports have been carried out around the world. these studies have addressed different issues related to the ports, for example: ports performance (tongzon, 1995), variables that affect ports (helling & poisterm, 2000) and operations (hall & jacobs, 2010). however, it have not been indentified and study that addressed the ports with the focus in the economy organization and studies about ports in emerging markets. thus, the relevance of this study for the literature about ports and economy organization focus. trade is an activity which is as old as humanity itself. as soon as an individual, the human being had control or possession of something that someone else wanted or needed, it initiated the exchange relationships (portales, 2012, p. 12). it can be inferred that trade began as the exchange of goods or services in exchange for payment, usually money that occurs between individuals with skills to do so. meanwhile, international trade is one that occurs between individuals of different nations. 3 international peer reviewed journal international trade has become the key input for the world’s economies to create an atmosphere of exchange of effective goods and services, same services that are necessary for economic, social and cultural development and welfare of countries in the world. no doubt, the hand of international trade is globalization, a process which is according to lamy (2006 sp) a historical phase of accelerated expansion of market capitalism. it is a fundamental transformation of society, due to the recent technological revolution leading to a restructuring of the economic and social forces on a new territorial dimension. on the contrary, loyola, and schettino (1994, pp. 4-5) mentioned that the process of globalization results in increasing the networks of relationships between production units in different regions, and, therefore, the relationship between different economies, substantially modifies the structure of the world economy. as the authors mention, globalization has brought fundamental changes in the way how nations conduct their economies, thereby, showing greater international openness, giving rise to a more dynamic world trade and putting through clearer rules and fair play. moving on the rules of international trade, by the year 1947,the act of the general agreement on tariffs and trade, gatt in its acronym in english, was signed. it was brought by the need to create a regulatory mechanism of protectionist tariffs and regulations that countries had begun to spread because of the wars, the second world war being the most devastating in the history of international trade. however, the gatt was not enough for international trade malfunction, and acted only as an instrument and not as an organization that would be able to regulate those irregularities that appeared on tariffs. in the year 1995, the world trade organization (wto) emerged with headquarters in geneva, switzerland. wto is the only international organization dealing with the rules governing trade between countries. the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business (wto, 2015). currently, there are 161 member countries of the wto, seychelles,being the last country in the year 2015 which acceded to the international organization. globalization has become a catalyst for international trade and as a result, there has been an increased exchange of goods between one nation and another, and thus, has brought immediate results in the creation of new media to deliver the goods from their point of origin to final destination, or adaptation and innovation in existing processes. in a broader context, the media and types of transport have had a latent development since the industrial revolution, which 4 jpair multidisciplinary research was the most fruitful period in this area until today with globalization and technological advances. the means and modes of transport have been evolving according to the needs of international trade demands. portales (2012, p. 14) makes a clear distinction between these two concepts. types of transport are the ways that can be done, i.e., water, land, etc., transportation modes are the physical drives through which it is carried out, such as airplane and boat. on this basis, it can be classified the types of international transportation into four main groups 1) air transport; 2) water transport, which in turn are divided into river, sea and lake; 3) ground transportation, which can be motor transport and rail; and 4) multimodal transportation, which is a combination of three types of previous transport. these four groups belong to a conventional type of driving; however, there is a group that is a response to technology and innovations in this field. the average special driving in which can make getting from one place to another, not necessarily physical, what is required in this type of transport medium is passed information, energy, gas files and software. focusing exclusively on maritime transport, this has been one of the most dynamic transports that exists, whose evolution has faithfully gone hand in hand with the growth of international trade. it can be concluded that it is the most excellent means of transport of foreign trade since it allows transporting large volumes in long distances, at low rates, connect continents, and enhanced security. surely this transport mean is the core of international logistics. the growth of shipping and world trade is explained by musso, gonzalez cariou and barros (2004, p. 11) sustaining that port traffic depends on the level of industrial production, geographical organization, and the resulting entity of world trade and maritime transits. the same authors refer to that in recent decades, the port industry has been caused mainly by four factors of change: a. the globalization trend of world economies entails the relocation of industrial, commercial and social activities, thereby, increasing international trade. today, it is easy to produce a goodtrade in japan and be available to an individual in brazil. b. the organizational and technological innovations, especially those related to maritime transport and, hence, seaports. c. innovations in ict (information and communication technologies), that is in those areas that complement the port-maritime, such as better roads, bridges or paths. 5 international peer reviewed journal d. the new institutional, organizational and management models of transport industry. one example, the addition of china to the wto, brought in less than 10 years which is 9 of the 10 largest ports in the world are from such country. these changes have brought new port models, new ways of assessing port competitiveness and restructuring in the way of conceiving the demand for port services (musso, gonzalez, cariou, and barros, 2004).shipping is one of the oldest industries and its influence on transport is reflected in terms and nomenclature used in the environment. according to portales (2012), currently, 85% of international trade in goods is by this means of transport. so much importance is that this is divided into two: height which is the inter-oceanic and coastal routing same coastline. with this, ports also receive this classification based on vessel traffic they have. the agency responsible for regulating the safety and maritime regulations is the international maritime organization(imo).the ports are to be more than a logistical link between international trade bodies. today, the ports have become the key to development and economic growth of countries that boast of having port infrastructure. according to de larrucea, mari, and mallofré, (2014, p. 93) a port is a place on the coast where ships can find shelter, loading and unloading goods. it originated in the existence of navigation, which inherent and inseparable element evolving with the characteristics of the boats. the ports act, sct (1993) defines port as the place of the shore or bank qualified as such by the federal executive for the reception, shelter and care of ships, comprising the port area, the development zone, access and areas of internal navigation and operation. as discussed above, this showed a very basic concept, since the ports currently function more as a detonator of the economy of a country than just pier merchandise. ports fulfill their function in terms of infrastructure as influencing a particular economic environment of the country in which it is found. however, a port is of great value to the nation according to its area of influence; the greater it is, the greater the impact of the port and its importance and economic interest in the country. de larrucea, mari, and mallofré (2014) classified this area into two terms according to the management to be given: a. hinterland (hinterland): the direct area of influence of the port, where shipped goods come from and where they disembark the goods destined. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research b. foreland: turns out to be the opposite of a hinterland, where they come from goods landed and destination of the goods being shipped. there are different types of port management, this according to the origin of capital or authority thereof. according to the origin of capital, may be a) private management: one whose capital is from private sources, companies seeking infrastructure efficiency and customer satisfaction; b) governance: it is the government who has the control and management of them, and seeks to work more in infrastructure efficiency; c) mixed management: where there is private capital and government regulatory body which remains the same. an example is the mexican apis, meaning,integral port administration. according to its authority, it can be centralized and decentralized, the first under a hierarchy and vertical integration, while under decentralized authority, there is coordination in decision-making. the ports have different types of classifications depending on the area to be analyzed, i.e., by maritime traffic or navigation can be high and cabotage. on this regard, mexican regulation through the ports act, sct (1993) defines as follows: a) high, in attending vessels, people and goods between ports or sailing national and international points, and b) cabotage, when only attend boats, people and goods in shipping between ports or national points. another classification of great importance is the type of infrastructure that the port has in the sense it is divided into four main groups: a) commercial dedicated to the handling of goods and / or people; b) industrialdedicated to the management of related industries established in the port area goods; c) fishing dedicated to boat handling and products fishing industry, and d): touristic-when engaged in tourist activity and sea cruises (sct, 1993). for the year 2011, according to statistics from the american association of port authorities or aapa, 9 of the world’s major ports in general cargo were asian, with only one belonging to europe. this is a clear example on how technological change makes it more efficient port infrastructure. this is because it makes no less than a decade that the main ports in the world belonged to the old continent and these were references for quintessential port cities and the great adventures of merchant sailors. it is worth remembering the silk road from venice. for movements of containers in teu (twenty-foot equivalent unit), the same aapa accurate statistics of 2011, it can be observed a similar pattern to the movement of general cargo. the importance of being measured in teus 7 international peer reviewed journal is that the containers have become the most secure and accurate packaging for movement of goods through maritime transport. according to de larrucea, et al. (2014), in 2010, the movement of containerized goods reached 576 million teus, and the forecast for 2020 is 1,002 million. in this environment, the mexican ports are not yet included in degree of importance even that mexico is one of the countries with more free trade agreements and treaties signed to benefit from international trade. in mexico, the authority to regulate and license ports in mexico is the communications and transport secretary(sct by its acronymic in spanish), which through the directorate general of ports performs the control and management thereof. the port operations according to mexican ports act should be through apis (integral port authority) on the basis of concessions granted by the sct. according to data from the sct (2015), there are 16 ports of height, which in addition to handling general cargo, it also handles bulk containers. the main ports according to their locations are: a. pacific:ensenada, bc; guaymas, sonora; mazatlan,sinaloa; manzanillo, colima; lazaro cardenas, michoacan and finally salinacruz, and oaxaca. b. gulf of méxico: altamira andtampico, tamaulipas; tuxpan, veracruz, coatzacoalcos, veracruz; dos bocas, tabasco; puerto progreso,yucatan and puerto morelos, and quintana roo. according to the data of the secretary of communications and transport (sct)in the main mexican ports,the general movement of general cargo and also according to the movement of teus in 2014, the mexican which has the busiest port of both containerized general merchandise per ton, is the port of manzanillo, colima, according to the same projections, this port carries a trend growth over the rest of the ports. manzanillo port has become the most dynamic port in mexico, not only for its annual cargo movement in recent years that has been growing, but also for its area of national and international influence, becoming the gateway merchandise to asian, south american and us origin to the center and shoal (bajio) country. manzanillo port, according to the port authority of manzanillo (2015) is located in the state of colima, on the pacific ocean coast. it is distinguished by its security and social peace, which allows them to attract major private national and foreign investments, increasing its installed capacity. all this coupled with its strategic location as a competitive advantage, allows it to have a larger area of 8 jpair multidisciplinary research influence, since 67% of national gdp is concentrated in the center and country shoal area and also lies 55% of the total population. moreover, 46% of containers entering the country do this in mexican pacific port, making it become the number one in this category nationwide. the hinterland and foreland port of manzanillo can be seen in figure 1. figure 1. hinterland and foreland of manzanillo port. source: own elaboration based on data from port of manzanillo handbook (2015). the puerto de manzanillo is operated by the port authority under the guise of apiman, which according to the ports act is the one which enjoys the tender for 50 years of use and enjoyment of the port facilities. as part of the reforms that were made in the year 1993 in infrastructure and port facilities nationwide, thus, it gives rise to a restructuring of the mexican port system. based on the information raised with the background of economic theories of organization, the following dilemma arises: how do they affect the dynamic resource-based theory, industry-based theory and institutional-based theory on the operation of the port of manzanillo? the current situation of the port of manzanillo consolidates it as one of the most dynamic american pacific ports and greater growth prospects in the movement of containers not only to its strategic location, being connector with us and canadian products from asia, but also by economic agreements that mexico has signed with over 50 countries around the world, thus, increase trade between it and its trading partners. 9 international peer reviewed journal based on the data from sct, the port of manzanillo is number one in container movement in mexico. for its part, the economic commission for latin america eclac in 2013, manzanillois the 4th port in latin america (below ports like colon, panama; santos, brazil and balboa, panama). likewise, the aapa in 2011 in its statistics placed the port of manzanillo at number 71 of the annual ranking for container movement. however, considering that each port of the world is manifested as an individual agent and trader and whose competence is not only international but also national, it is not surprising that the port of manzanillo also has this premise, for this reason, it is considered as an organization represented through its authorized administrator, the api manzanillo. with the above provisions, economy organizations theories come into play, especially three of the most important in strategic management: the theory based on dynamic resource, theory based on industry and the theory based on the institutions. the port of manzanillo has to cope with a constant competition with two mexican ports, lazaro cardenas and veracruz. manzanillo should in turn consider appropriate to take advantage of its natural and human resources strategies and meet those changes in mexican institutions that are constantly changing, such as the restructuring of the port system. framework the industry based theories the theories are basically attributed to porter (1991) and peng (2012). the theories assume the needs of the company which is expected to cope with competition from other players in the same industry or commercial sector. according to saloner, shepard and podoly (2001), the objective to study the industry is to provide the tools for the management of the firm, thus, it is necessary to answer two questions:1) what characteristics of the context are important market and determinants of the profitability of the firm?; and 2) what strategic actions can be taken to improve the performance of my business? the study was based on michael porter’s five forces model as a strategic tool used to investigate the port of manzanillo. this was an attempt to address these questions: a)intensity of rivalry among competitors: the number of competitors is important because the greater the number of companies in most industries is the possibility of income and the market is vast and sufficient for all. b) the threat of potential entries: holding 10 jpair multidisciplinary research companies seek ways to prevent new companies from entering. to be competitive, there is no small enemy and because of this, barriers can be defined by input costs or scale production that makes it more difficult for new competitors. it can also attack potential inflows through product diversification, thus, the competition will be even greater for companies seeking to join the market. in adittion, c) the bargaining power of suppliers: here, suppliers can make use of their power to tax and increase prices or lower the quality of inputs. d) the bargaining power of buyers: this affects mainly industry where competition is between few buyers, or the products are not being of quality that buyers expect. and e)the threat of substitutes: here, those products from the focal industry and without direct competition can affect industry of company product. porter on the other hand, also speaks of three generic strategies that reinforce the model which were explained previously. these strategies are cost leadership, differentiation and focus, (peng, 2012). while the former refers to the low costs that can have for being sometimes leaders or pioneers in the production of a product, differentiation is focused on what happens to be the know-how of the company, how does feel special the customer and, finally, the approach is concerned with niche market to which is intended by its product or service. b. resource-based theory and dynamic capabilities the resource-based view theory was advanced by barney in 2008 postulates that strategic behavior of an organization is related to resources. the failure or success of strategies depend on the company’s resources which determine its strengths and weaknesses. this view is supported by vargas-hernandez, guerra-garcia bojorquez, and bojorquez, (2014), who acknowledge that the use of resources and capabilities by enterprises or companies translates to effective strategy. a similar view is shared by mahoney (2010) who contends that dynamic resources and capabilities have impact on competitive advantage of an organization. he points out that the resources and capabilities are useful for an enterprise if they are operationally and strategically flexible. he further points out that operational and strategic flexibility enables an organization to adapt and respond to changes in the operating and industrial environments respectively. furthermore the theory postulates that dynamic resources and capabilities can must be heterogeneous and immobile. firms in the same industry which rely on each other should fundamentally have different resources, capabilities and the resources which are expensive to use and give high potential ought to be immobile at least in the short run as argued by barney (2008).the dynamic 11 international peer reviewed journal resources and capabilities consist of tangible or intangible assets used by a firm to develop and implement their strategies as argued by peng (2012). tangible resources are financial and physical while intangible include human resources, innovation and reputation (hernández, guerra, bojórquez & bojórquez , 2014). additionally, the theory states that for resources and capabilities to offer competitive advantage they must possess certain attributes of being valuable, rare, hard to imitate and requires some organization (vrio). the resources limit the management and growth of an organization when they are not used to achieve generic goals hence it is necessary to distinctively categories resources by not merely distinguishing them as tangible and intangible as argued by penrose (1959). however, hernández (2014, p. 116) claims that “some of the factors limiting the growth of enterprises are as follows: the ability of management: a) the conditions within the company; b) the markets of products or factors: the conditions outside the company; and c) uncertainty and risk: a combination of internal attitudes and external conditions” . discussion on how resource based theory apply to the port of manzanillo should be provided. institutions-based theory institutions -based theory was advanced by di maggio and powell (1983). the theory postulates that institutions formulate rules which shape human interaction, guide behavior, duties performed and determine social interactions. institutions reduce uncertainty through creation of organizational structures. rules, codes of conduct, skills, strategies, organizational culture and structures determine the success of organizations. organizations include political bodies (political parties, the senate, a city council, a regulatory agency), economic bodies (firms, trade unions, family farms cooperatives), the bodies (churches, clubs, sports social associations) and educational institutions (schools, universities, vocational training centers and groups bound by a common goal (north, 1990). objective of the study to study the port of manzanillo from the perspective of the economics of organizations, especially based on the theories of dynamic resources, industry and institutionalism. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the method used for this research is qualitative, which is to review those qualitative aspects through literature review and comparison and descriptive statistical analysis of comparative data in accordance with the evaluation criteria. the data collection was carried out using diverse documents where describe the situation of port of manzanillo from perspective of the economics organization. in adittion this method was used for this research due to is the best way to obtain reliable information about ports. in this paper was used papers results and discussion due to the data analysis the following themes were evident from the point of view of the industry (ports of the republic of mexico which are in the same range of navigation), manzanillo port is a large entity which belongs to integral port authority, (api).all ports directly compete with one another because, geographically, mexico is accessible by two oceans to the two ends and center of the country. the port of manzanillo is the main port of mexico with a cargo movement of 2.36 million teus in the year 2013, followed by the port of lazaro cardenas with 996.654, its main domestic competition in the field of containers, and the port of veracruz with 847.370. these three ports had played in past years the title of mexico’s main port, but in recent years, it has shown that the rightful place is for the colima´s port. port of manzanillo was assessed based on porter’s three generic strategies. the findings indicated that the cost leadership api cannot implement a different rate for the use of infrastructure, but as part of its dealers, it is possible. this is to say that its private companies realize it. the constant competition between tendered companies that specialize in container handling in the port (ocupas, timsa, ssa and contecon) work third shift leaving costs of a first turn maneuvers. with this, services are not hurt as to the costs for customers. with regard to other ports specializing in cruise terminal, manzanillo handles a coupon rate of 25% on all services and port infrastructure, giving it an advantage over other ports in tourist height as acapulco, puerto vallarta and others. in accordance of differentiation strategies the port of manzanillo has differentiated cruise and petroleum terminals in polygon 1 and polygon 2 consists of container terminals, general cargo fisheries, refrigerators, cars, bulk seed and 13 international peer reviewed journal bulk industry. ship cargo movement in containers augmented by railway and motor transport, which is ,15 minutes away, has led to good management in packaging. and finally the port of manzanillo is opting to specialize in container handling more than other types of packaging, as this is the best and safest way to handle large quantities of goods over long distances. the port of manzanillo from the point of view of dynamic resources the port of manzanillo has privileged natural resources, particularly its geographic location and its vast hinterland, not only nationally, connecting it to the main industrial centers of the country with the largest economies in the world. the port of manzanillo accounts with a static capacity of 49.069 teu and dynamic capacity of 2’132,667 teu’s without causing complications of saturation in their yards (api, 2015). around the vrio framework, presented below aspects of added value and competitive advantage. related to the value the port of manzanillo has a natural formation in its location within the bay, its access channel and docks ciaboga have a draft of 16 meters, without dredging. this gives rise to ships deep draft post-panamax can dock in the port docks. create a competitive advantage over other ports on two fronts, the first such large-capacity vessels are the transportation of containers and the second does not need constant dredging to maintain its depths. another competitive advantage is the convergence of 30 shipping companies at the port that gives dynamism to maritime transport. and in the case of rarity the port of manzanillo has a peculiarity regarding various ports of mexico. it has only one point of access by the sea, on top of that, its size is too small and does not give rise to growth in infrastructure (docks, patios, etc.). however, it has become a multimodal port connection due to convergence in the trucking, rail and sea. in the case of mitation enters the process of coordination of operations and portauthority’s communications system, creating an informal institution called community port which is responsible for reviewing the strategies needed for their daily work. the experience in customs clearance is one of human resources with whom the port customs brokers account and those that streamline foreign trade procedures. and the organization as previously mentioned, the small size of the port could be a disadvantage it has, but the joint work of all entities has resulted in shipments of containers lower to two days, giving an average of 3 working days. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research as part of the frame of institutions, port of manzanillo is regulated by various authorities and laws, from the field of foreign trade, customs, ports, navigation and social. from the point of view of foreign trade, the foreign trade and customs act governing the processes and procedures for foreign trade and customs clearance, customs and authority regulates the handling and use of goods at the port found either deposited or in transit; from the port area, the ports act is one of its top in structure, order and handling. the sct as the authority in charge of regulating port infrastructure, and, therefore,allocates concessions to the apis for 50 years. port harbormaster in navigation and respective navigation law govern shipping and navigation processes in an international legal environment. finally, the same api plays the role of manager and regulator of private operating companies that have a bid assigned by the same, with a term of 20 years for the management, control and protection of goods. an institution that certainly affects the action of the port is the crom, since as the role of union seeks to ensure the welfare of its workers. however, this creates a number of problems for the port since the laborer staff do not receive training as members of their union, work demands are too high, and the costs increase year after year with a “negotiation” that is disadvantageous for all port operators, the damage caused by crane operators, chassis, forklift or any other union personnel are covered by the companies that hire them. as seen is this institution that defines the rules regarding port operations personnel, it makes more expensive the end customer prices and operating times. the api as a state-owned company (parastatal company) is governed by the sct and its time as part of its commitments acquired is the offer in infrastructure in communications not only port ones, but also those who support and rectified the collateral damage caused by the impact of the port within a city. this is the reason why it is that within its port development plans include investments in road infrastructure projects and remodeling the city. note that the polygon 1 is located in the very historical city center of the city of manzanillo, thereby, enabling a tourist boardwalk between the cruise terminal and oil terminal of pemex, while the polygon 2 is found among the colonies of san pedrito, tapeixtles and brisas, hindering access in and out of the area, and it is committed to creating alternative access through road construction and remodeling. 15 international peer reviewed journal conclusions mexican height ports have a constant management by the port authority who in turn is regulated by the sct, which work together on the issues of interest to the ports to be competitive. in the area of institutions, it showed that the ports are regulated or restricted by various institutions that benefit or hinder the way to the international competitiveness of a port. manzanillo, despite all those factors that have against the institutional sphere, has shown that teamwork is the answer to these rules of the game port. in the specific case of manzanillo, the star port today in the national port area and other ports should be turned to him and see those strategies that the port is performing on industry to make its relevant adjustments,to analyze if possible based on the specific resources that make imitations or to structure similar strategies. manzanillo has a dynamic capability that allows management of up to 2.13 million teu’s with smooth saturation, while its strategic location gives it a catchment area to the most important industrial centers of the country and the most important economies in the world (china, japan, usa, south korea, etc.). its natural and human resources allow flexibility in foreign trade offices as part of their competitive advantage against the other ports of the country. literature cited aapa surveys. (2011). obtenido de: http://aapa.files.cms-plus.com/pdfs/ world%20port%20rankings%202011.pdf administración portuaria integral de manzanillo (2015). obtenido de: http:// www.puertomanzanillo.com.mx/esps/0020202/ubicacion-y-zona-deinfluencia barney, j. (2008). strategy management and competitiveadvantages. new jersey, pearson. caaarem.(2015).¿quées la caaarem?.obtenido en: http://www.caaarem. mx/ 16 jpair multidisciplinary research cepal. (2015). movimientocontenerizado de américa latina y el caribe, ranking 2013. obtenido de: http://www.cepal.org/cgi-bin/getprod. asp?xml=/transporte/noticias/noticias/2/53122/p53122.xml&xsl=/ transporte/tpl/p1f.xsl&base=/transporte/tpl/top-bottom.xsl di maggio, p.j. & powell, w.w. (1983). the iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. american sociological review. 48,2. de larrucea, j., marí, r. y mallofré, j. (2014). transporte en contenedor. méxico, alfaomegagrupo editor, s.a. de c.v. hall, p.v. & jacobs, w. (2010). shifting proximities: the maritime ports sector in an era of global suplly chain. regional studies. 11031115. helling, a. & poister, t.h. (2000). u.s. maritime ports: trends, policy implications, and research needs. economic development quartely. 14, 3, 300-317. lamy, p. (2006). conferenciahumanizando la globalización. santiago, chile. loyola, j. y schettino (1994). estrategiasempresariales en unaeconomía global. méxico. institutomexicano de ejecutivos de finanzas  mahoney, j. (2010). resource-basedtheory, dinamyccapabilities, and real options. economicfoundations of strategy. thousandoaks, ca, sage. musso, e., gonzález, f., cariou, p. y barros, e. (2004). gestión  portuaria  y tráficosmarítimos. la coruña, netbiblo.  nauticanavigation. (2015). retrieved from: http://www.nauticanavigation.com/ html/puertos%20principales.pdf north, d. (1990). institutions, institutionalchange, and economic performance. new york, cambridge university. press. peng m. (2012). global strategy. cincinnati, thomson south-western. 17 international peer reviewed journal penrose, e. (1959). thetheory of thegrowth of thefirm. new york: jonhwilwy&sons. portales, g. (2012). transportacióninternacional. méxico, trillas. port of manzanillo handbook. (2015). retrieved from: http://issuu.com/ apiman/docs/handbook_apiman?e=12584442/8495437 porter, m. e. la ventaja competitiva de las naciones. javier vergara editor, buenos aires, argentina, 1991. reyes, o., guizar, a., gutiérrez, a y rubio m. (2014). afectacionespor el servicio de consolidacióny desconsolidación de carga de los recintosfiscalizados del puerto de manzanillo, colima, méxico.global conferenceon business and financeproceedings. vol. 9, núm. 1. saloner g., shepard a. y podony j. (2001). strategicmanagement. wiley (ed.). california university. sct. (2015).obtenido de: http://www.sct.gob.mx/index.php?id=171 sct. (2015). informe estadísticomensual movimiento de carga, buques y pasajeros.obtenido de: http://www.sct.gob.mx/fileadmin/cgpmm/u_ dgp/estadisticas/2014/mensuales/12_diciembre_2014.pdf sct. (2006).ley de navegación. sct. (1993).ley de puertos. shcp. (1995). ley aduanera. tongzon, j. l. (1995). determinants of port performance and efficiency. transportation research part a: policy and practice, 29,3, 245-252. vargas-hernández j., guerra e., bojórquez a. y bojórquez f. (2014). gestiónestratégica de organizaciones. argentina, ediciones insumisos latinos. 196 jpair multidisciplinary research meeting our commitment: school-based management system in the lens of school performance rian s. linao https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1393-1851 drrianslinao@gmail.com deped cotabato division amas, kidapawan city, 9400, cotabato beatriz d. gosadan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9407-7863 beatrizdgosadan@gmail.com central mindanao colleges kidapawan city, 9400, cotabato originality: 95% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 5% abstract advocates of school-based management believe that school performance will improve if educational management is focused on the school-level rather than on the division level. this paper aimed to find out if the school-based management system level of implementation significantly influences the school performance. the findings of the study reveal that the level of implementation of the school-based management system of the administrators in the elementary schools of makilala districts was in the developing and maturing level. most of the administrators’ school performance was meeting the standards in the nat average rating. school-based management system level of implementation in terms of leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability, vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.732 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1393-1851 mailto:drrianslinao@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9407-7863 mailto:beatrizdgosadan@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 197 international peer reviewed journal and continuous improvement and management of resources significantly influence school performance. all of these indicators are the best significant predictors of school performance. these results further indicate that the higher is the administrators’ level of implementation on leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources, the higher is the level of school performance. keywords — school-based management, school performance, descriptive –correlational design, philippines introduction studies in school performance have grown considerably worldwide to account for the quality of functioning of the schools using performance indicators, which expresses various aspects of the organization (dorn, 1998). school performance indicators compare the current environmental condition and the desired one. it measures the organization’s capability of generating quantified value to indicate the level of management process (liyanage & kumar, 2001). on the other hand, school-based management (sbm) is the decentralization of levels of authority to the school level. responsibility and decision-making over school operations were transferred to principals, teachers, parents, sometimes students, and other school community members. the school-level actors, however, have to conform to or operate within a set of the centrally determined framework of goals, policies, curriculum, standards, and accountability (the world bank, 2014). the underlying principles of the said program are that the people directly involved and affected by school operations are the best persons to plan, manage, and improve the school (marshall, 2003). therefore, sbm is establishing a public relationship to enhance the stakeholders’ involvement in school programs and projects. decentralization in decision making for school improvement puts unremarkable pressure on the school heads as it transfers authority over one or more of the following activities such as budget allocation, hiring and firing of teachers and other school staff, curriculum development, textbooks, and other educational material procurement, infrastructure improvement, setting the school calendar to better meet the specific needs of the local community, and monitoring and evaluation of teacher performance and student learning outcomes (sindhvad,2009). the school-based management system believes that 198 jpair multidisciplinary research the increasing involvement of the school-level stakeholders in the management of the school will likely increase the school’s ability and accountability on school performance (lawler iii,1986). reforms on education demanding a high level of production empowers the school to deliver services applying a model of high involvement from the stakeholders and assessing how the sbm works in different circumstances (wohlstetter, simver, and mohrman, 1994). developing countries have been detrimental to the impact of school-based management since researchers conducted were not evident on the conclusive linkage that sbm has led to efficient management and improved quality of education (de grauwe, 2005). however, in 2012, onyango, in her study, concluded that a strong positive relationship was noted between the role of the principal and teachers on school-based management to enhance academic achievement. the increase in students’ performance and self-esteem can be attributed to their meaningful participation in the school’s decision-making. in addition, establishing the relationship of the school management and school performance, malen ogawa, and kranz (1990) indicate that school-based management’s drawbacks are due to piecemeal pursuits. the school council focused on activities of the school rather than instruction and curriculum. inattention to classroom instruction is not deep-rooted to school-based management. sbm teams shall not be blamed for defeating to increase student achievement. in indonesia, a law was passed to decentralize its national education system, which allows the involvement of local communities in the management of schools. a school council was formed at every school level to improve the quality of education (bandur, 2008). in the case of england and wales, through a law where schools have been given greater powers to manage their own affairs within clearly defined national frameworks (ranson, farrell, peim, & smith, 2005). in malaysia, educators believe that the cluster school established will help in enhancing educational excellence. in the study of malaklolunthu and shamsudin (2011), findings indicate that successful implementation of the cluster school initiative needs reorientation on the school community to accommodate a new concept of school-based management. the school-based management in the philippines was officially implemented as a governance framework of deped in 2001 through the ra 9155 as a legal cover. sbm has been a powerhouse mechanism that improves the quality of education at the primary level (abulencia, 2012). in the study of yamauchi (2014) on the impact of sbm in the philippines, findings revealed that when the experienced principals and teachers 199 international peer reviewed journal eagerly introduced the sbm in their local schools, their students’ achievement increased. however, despite the policy changes and reforms of the department of education, philippine educational system in the basic education program often lose status to achieve the desired target because of some factors like the poor planning, poor implementation strategy, as well as lack of monitoring system on the implementation at all levels. since sbm is on its strict execution in the department of education, therefore, it needs a crucial and critical assessment of how sbm influences the elementary school performance. objectives of the study the research would like to assess the implementation of school-based management concerning school performance. specifically, this study aimed to: 1) describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents in terms of gender, age, civil status, highest educational attainment, number of years in the position, and number of relevant trainings attended; 2) determine if the administrators’ socio-demographic characteristics in terms of gender, age, civil status, highest educational attainment, number of years in the position, and number of relevant training attended significantly influence school performance; 3) describe the school-based management system level of implementation in terms of leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources; 4) assess the school performance in terms of the national achievement test; 5) find out if the schoolbased management system level of implementation significantly influences the school performance; find out if school-based management system level of implementation such as leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources significantly influences school performance; 6) identify issues and problems in the implementation of school-based management system. framework of the study the guiding premise of the study was based on the theories of “equifinality” and “decentralization,” which assumes that the school is a self‐managing system and regards initiative of human factor and improvement of the internal process as important. school-based management (sbm) is the institutional expression 200 jpair multidisciplinary research of the decentralization of education at the grassroots level. it was based on the national policy of the decentralization set initially by the local government code of 1991 (ra 7160) as a response to the new challenges for sustainable human development by enabling local communities to become self-reliant and more active partners in the attainment of national goals (operations manual on sbm, 2006). the department of education urges schools to realize the decentralization through its 10-year master plan (1995-2005) by giving more decision-making powers to local school officials to improve its nationwide operations and delivery of services. subsequently, decs order no. 230 in 1999 further defined decentralization to mean such as promotion of school-based management, transfer of authority and decision-making for central and regional offices to the divisions and schools, sharing education management responsibilities with other stakeholders such as the local government units (lgus), parent-teachercommunity associations (ptcas), and non-government organizations. methodology research design the data were generated from a self-administered survey of 45 school administrator-respondents in the four school districts of makilala, cotabato. a descriptive-correlational research design was selected to fulfill the aim of this study. it is descriptive in purpose in terms of gathering the data to describe the level of implementation of the school-based management system in the four districts of the public elementary schools in makilala, cotabato. the school performance was also described using the national achievement test result. the data on the level of implementation of the school-based management and the school performance was then correlated to show a relationship between the variables used and then later treated with multiple regression analysis. research site the study was conducted in the four school districts of makilala under the jurisdiction of the cotabato division. all the school districts of makilala were the setting of the study. the four school districts include the makilala east district located in kisante, makilala, makilala central district in poblacion, makilala, makilala north district in saguing, makilala, and makilala west district in bulakanon, makilala, cotabato. these school districts were chosen 201 international peer reviewed journal because these were considered the schools which were easily accessible and have conducted benchmarking activities to the other deped divisions on matters of the implementation of the school-based management system. the other school districts in the cotabato division were still starting to comply with the said program, the reason for not including them in the study. participants all school administrators in the public elementary schools of makilala district in cotabato division were included in the study. to be included as respondents, the school administrators were screened based on the following criteria: 1) the school administrator must have at least 3 years of administrative experience; 2) the school has already received the national achievement test result, and 3) the school has conducted a benchmarking activity regarding the implementation of the school-based management system. all those who formed part of the samples were asked to answer the survey questionnaire regarding their assessment of the implementation of the school-based management system. instrumentation the revised school-based management (sbm) assessment tool was guided by the four principles of access (a childand community-centered education system). the indicators of sbm practice were contextualized on the ideals of an access school system. the research instrument was composed of a survey questionnaire with 21 items. it was designed to assess the level of implementation of school-based management. the instrument used was adopted from the revised school-based management assessment tool of the department of education (deped) as revised on november 12, 2012. the tool has the consistency and reliability of .80 alpha, which meant that the questionnaire is highly reliable. the level of sbm implementation was measured using the following indicators: leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources. the unit of analysis was the school system, which was classified as developing, maturing, and advanced (accredited level). the sbm practice was ascertained by the existence of structured mechanisms, processes, and practices in all indicators. a team of practitioners and experts from the district, division, region, and central office validates the self-study/assessment before a level of sbm practice was established. a school on the advanced level may apply for accreditation. the highest level, the 202 jpair multidisciplinary research “advanced,” is a candidacy for accreditation. to assign numerical values to the estimates of the extent or magnitude of the items measured, the researcher adopted a four-point rating scale. the table below shows the weight, continuum, responses, and interpretation for measuring or ascertaining the level of implementation of school-based management. weight continuum response interpretation 4 4.21-5.0 advance evidence indicates practices and procedure that satisfy quality standards 3 3.41-4.20 maturing evidence indicates planned practices and procedures that are fully implemented and aligned to access 2 2.61-3.40 developing evidence indicates developing structures and mechanisms that are in place to demonstrate access 1 1.81-2.60 no evidence needs improvement the school performance, in terms of the national achievement test (nat) of their schools, was measured using the distribution of scores as follows: 90% 100%-superior 75% 89%-meeting standard 35% 74%-below standard 0% 34%-poor ethical consideration ethical standards were carefully considered in the conduct of the research. the researchers see to it that before the conduct of the study, consent from the participants was secured. respondents were informed that they are free to withdraw their participation during the research activity. the research avoided the use of provoking, biased, or other unpleasant words in the questionnaires. the purpose of the study was made known to the respondents, and the research data was carried with the utmost confidentiality. ethical standards were also considered in writing the research. all sources of information were quoted and cited to give credit to the authors or sources. data collection the researchers identified the research respondents as the elementary school administrators. a letter seeking permission to conduct the study was then 203 international peer reviewed journal presented by the researchers to the schools division superintendent. in the same manner, a formal letter was given to the school principals of all the elementary schools in the four school districts of makilala in cotabato division. having been granted permission, the researchers conducted the assessment instrument. the retrieval of the survey tool took two weeks after its distribution. statistical techniques the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like mean, frequency count, and percentage to summarize the information. the study used the multiple regression analysis to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. results and discussion table 1. socio-demographic characteristics of the administrators of elementary schools in makilala, cotabato characteristics frequency ( n = 45 ) percentage (%) gender male 17 37.8 female 28 62.2 age (years) 34 – 39 12 26.7 40 – 45 15 33.3 46 – 51 9 20.0 52 – 57 6 13.3 58 – 63 3 6.7 civil status single 2 4.4 married 41 91.1 widow 2 4.4 highest educational attainment beed/bsed 4 8.9 beed/bsed with ma units 13 28.9 ma graduate 23 51.1 ma with ed.d. units 3 6.7 ma with ph.d. units 1 2.2 ph.d. graduate 1 2.2 204 jpair multidisciplinary research number of years in the position 1 – 5 18 40.0 6 – 10 17 37.8 11 – 15 8 17.8 16 – 21 1 2.2 22 – 26 1 2.2 number of trainings attended none 1 2.2 1 – 5 23 51.1 6 – 10 14 31.1 11 – 15 5 11.1 16 – above 2 4.4 table 1 presents the frequency and percent distribution of the sociodemographic profile of the school administrators. the profile includes gender, age, civil status, highest educational attainment, number of years in the position, and number of training attended. the elementary school administrator-respondents in the four districts in makilala were composed of 37.8 percent males and 62.2 percent females. this result implies that the school administrators in the four districts of makilala were dominated by women. the distribution of the age range of the school administrators consisted of 26.7 percent belonged to 34-39 years old, 33.3 percent were within the age bracket of 40-45 years old, 20.0 percent were between 46 – 51 years old, 13.3 percent were 52 57 years old and 6.7 percent were 58 – 63 years old.the findings showed that a fair representation of three generations of school administrators the young, the middle-aged, and the old. however, most of the school administrators are in their middle age. for the civil status of the school administrators, the married ones composed the majority (91.1%), followed by 4.4 percent by single and widow, respectively. the finding revealed that most of the school administrators were married. in terms of educational attainment, 8.9 percent finished beed/bsed, 28.9 percent finished beed/bsed with units earned in master of arts in education. 51.1 percent graduated master of arts in education, 6.7 percent finished master of arts in education with doctor of education units, and there were two school administrators who graduated master of arts in education with ph.d. units earned and doctor of philosophy, respectively.the data showed that most of the school administrators were graduates of master of arts in education and beed/ 205 international peer reviewed journal bsed with earned units in master of arts. this implies that school administrators are motivated to themselves professionally. the supervisory experience of the school administrators ranged from 1 to 30 years, where 40.0 percent had been in the position for 1-5 years, 37.8 percent from 6-10 years, 17.8 percent for 11-15 years, and 2.2 percent had been in the position from 16-21 and 22-26 years, respectively. the finding reveals that the school administrators were predominantly young in the assigned administrative positions. almost all of the school administrators attended pieces of trainings where 51.1 percent had 1-5 pieces of trainings, 31.1 percent had 6-10, 11.1 percent had 11-15, 4.4 percent had 16-above trainings, and only 2.2 percent who have not attended any training. the result implies that most of the school administrators had five trainings, either district, division, regional, or national level. relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of the administrators and their school performance table 2 shows that the combined contributions of the administrators’ sociodemographic characteristics did not significantly influence school performance (f – value = 0.772, p 70.05). taken singly, none of the demographic variables had been a significant predictor of school performance. table 2. combined contributions of the administrators’ socio-demographic characteristics variables coefficient standard t value probability   β error     constant 85.947 6.001 14.323 0.000 gender -2.327 1.668 -1.395 0.171 age 0.002 0.121 0.019 0.985 civil status -3.667 3.692 -0.993 0.327 highest educational attainment 0.526 0.743 0.708 0.483 number of years in the position 0.027 0.184 0.146 0.885 number of trainings attended 0.086 0.161 0.533 0.597 multiple r-square = 0.109 ns = not significant at 5% level f-value = 0.772 ns probability = 0.597 206 jpair multidisciplinary research school-based management system level of implementation in some areas evaluated from the schools the administrators were assessed according to their school-based management system level of implementation in terms of leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources. the results presented reveal that in terms of leadership and governance, 57.8 percent of the administrators were assessed as developing, 37.8 percent of them as maturing, and 4.4 percent as advanced. for curriculum and instruction, the majority (53.3%) of the administrators were assessed as developing, 44.4 percent were maturing, and 2.2 percent were assessed as advanced. in the area of accountability and continuous improvement, most of the administrators, 51.1 percent, were evaluated as maturing, but 2.2 percent of them needed improvement. on the management of resources, 51.1 percent of the administrators were assessed as maturing, 44.4 percent were developing, and 4.4 percent were advanced. this result implies that the school-based management system implementation of the elementary school administrators in makilala was on the developing and maturing level for all indicators of the sbm system. however, few were already in the advanced level of implementation. redesigning the whole school organization is what a school-based management system requires to improve school governance. the organization’s authority must introduce changes in school functioning as it improves school performance. for sbm to work, schools must engage in the professional development and training for teachers and other stakeholders in teaching, managing and problem-solving; information about student performance, parent and community satisfaction, and school resources to help school-level people make informed decisions; and a reward system to acknowledge the increased effort sbm requires of participants as well as to recognize improvements in school performance (mohrman, wohlstetter, and associates, 1994). other studies also pointed out the importance of principal leadership and teachers’ instructional guidance mechanism, the establishment of a clear curriculum framework would also improve school performance (wohlstetter, smyer, and mohrman, 1994). administrators’ performance in terms of national achievement test (nat) in the department of education, school performance in the elementary schools has been measured through the nationwide administration of the national achievement test (nat) for grades iii and vi pupils. this evaluation 207 international peer reviewed journal aimed to find out the extent of learning that has taken place for the school year. in this study, most of the administrators’ school performance (91.1%) was meeting the standards with 75-89 percent nat average rating, and 8.9 percent of them were with superior school performance with 90-100 percent nat average rating. this result implies that schools’ performance belonged to the standard level of performance based on the nat standard distribution of scores of the department of education. relationship between the administrators’ school-based management system level of implementation and their school performance the table presents the combined contributions of the administrators’ school-based management system level of implementation in terms of leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability, and continuous improvement and management of resources significantly influence school performance (f-value = 2.893, p<0.05). taken singly, all of these independent variables are the best significant predictors of school performance. these results further indicate that the higher is the administrators’ level of implementation on leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, accountability and continuous improvement, and management of resources, the higher is the level of organizational performance. the results have supported the study of nsubuga (2001) as cited by gadia (2012) that unless school administrators are well-equipped with knowledge in management and leadership, they would not be able to improve school performance significantly. his study established that effective school performance requires visionary leadership and that there is a strong relationship between visionary leadership and transformational leadership. in addition, gadia (2012) stressed that research studies on effective schools concentrated on the principal’s instructional leadership. researchers found out that an effective school is a school under a principal’s strong leadership with the following characteristics: having a vision which focuses on student achievement, understood by the teachers and students, taking the initiative, actively exploiting resources, spreading the good news about the school, and articulating a vision. 208 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. variables coefficient standard t value probability   β error     constant 80.770 2.578 31.334 0.000 1. leadership and governance 20.091 7.452 2.696* 0.010 2. curriculum and instruction 15.012 7.361 2.039* 0.048 3. accountability and continuous improvement 16.344 6.930 2.358* 0.023 4. management of resources 21.234 7.389 2.874* 0.007 multiple r-square = 0.235 * = significant at 5% set level f-value = 2.893* probability = 0.0258 issues and problems on school-based management system affecting the performance of the school based on the data gathered, a few of the school administrators in makilala school districts have issues and problems in the implementation of the schoolbased management system. enumerated below were the issues and problems encountered: a. on leadership and governance • more weight on administrative work was given attention by the school administrators and instructional supervision, which is not done regularly. • overlapping of activities hinder the administrators from doing their regular instructional supervision. • parents and other stakeholders have minimal support for the school. b. on curriculum and instruction • sustainability of the programs that address the performance of pupils is not attained 100 percent due to insufficient funds. • insufficient and inadequate supplies and materials hinder the realization of the plans. • lack of seminars and pieces of training for teachers and administrators, especially on new curriculum k to 12. • learning materials such as textbooks, learning guides, etc. are not available or limited. 209 international peer reviewed journal c. on accountability and continuous improvement • only a few stakeholders are aware of their roles and functions in the implementation of programs in the school. • lack of funds hinders improvement. d. on management of resources • resources of schools through the maintenance and other operating expenses (mooe) are very limited that programs and projects cannot be implemented and materialized. • the partnership between school and pta is lessened due to the implementation of some programs limited to classroom needs only. • some schools have very limited income-generating programs and are enough to supplement the funds for the feeding program. conclusions the educational interest in sbm of the school leaders as a reform to improve school performance is increasing. research from the school-based management programs found an essential improvement that brought about instruction and curriculum reforms in public elementary schools. the commitment of the stakeholders in the practical information and dissemination of the implementation of the sbm plays an important role for sbm to work. in addition, these schools had influential principal leaders who led by creating ownership in a shared vision of the schools and by delegating specific projects and tasks to the members of the stakeholders. these successful sbm schools had multiple formal and informal mechanisms that encouraged comfortable working relationships among all staff; development of skills among various stakeholders; a strong partnership between parents and the community in the school organization; and addressing the student needs and accomplishments. a lot of literature would agree that the increasing engagement of the school-level stakeholders will help increase the capacity of the school towards accountability of the school performance. the decision-making process was tailored based on the identified needs of the local school community, the reason why the implementation of the school-based management system becomes a centerpiece of the department of education schools in the philippines. the opportunities for the involvement of the stakeholders become a strong predictor of the increased productivity and effectiveness of the schools. 210 jpair multidisciplinary research based on the results, the profile of the school principal was seen not to influence the school performance. however, the leadership styles of the principals are strong determinants of the school performance, the reason it will be recommended as a variable for the future researches. the school-based management system level of implementation in elementary schools was mostly in the developing and maturing level. the mandate of the department of education dramatically emphasizes the level of accreditation of the different public schools regarding the implementation of the sbm. initiatives of school visits and assessments were made by the school leaders and deped personnel to evaluate how the schools work on the standards set by the organization. the national achievement test in the elementary schools of makilala was meeting the standards, and only a few were at the superior level. this implies the need to check on the other aspects of the school system. other indicators of the school performance must also be given attention since it is a constitutional mandate to provide quality education to all learners. in the overall context of the study, the school-based management system levels of implementation significantly influenced the school performance. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media communication for information dissemination, if not, further awareness campaign. results may also be given to different schools since sbm implementation is now strictly complied by all schools. literature cited abulencia, a. s. (2012). school-based management: a structural reform intervention. the normal lights, 6(1). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2luksng bandur, a. (2008). a study of the implementation of school-based management in flores primary schools in indonesia. retrieved from http://bit.ly/31w9doh de grauwe, a. (2005). improving the quality of education through school-based management: learning from international experiences.  international review of education,  51(4), 269-287. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11159-005-7733-1 http://bit.ly/31w9doh https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-005-7733-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-005-7733-1 211 international peer reviewed journal dorn, s. (1998). the political legacy of school accountability systems. education policy analysis archives, 6(1), n1. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2jsxrpo lawler iii, e. e. (1986). high-involvement management. participative strategies for improving organizational performance. jossey-bass inc., publishers, 350 sansome street, san francisco, ca 94104. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2js5o2x liyanage, j. p., & kumar, u. (2003). towards a value-based view on operations and maintenance performance management.  journal of quality in maintenance engineering,  9(4), 333-350. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1108/13552510310503213 malaklolunthu, s., & shamsudin, f. (2011). challenges in school-based management: case of a ‘cluster school’in malaysia.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  15, 1488-1492. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.316 malen, b., ogawa, r. t., & kranz, j. (1990). what do we know about schoolbased management? a case study of the literature—a call for research. choice and control in american education,  2, 289-342. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2jnwmna marshall, k. (2003). a principal looks back: standards matter.  phi delta kappan, 85(2), 105. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2lgdbfz onyango, rose aa (2012) influence of school-based management on the academic performance in public secondary schools in kadibo division, kisumu country, kenya. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2oneuql ranson, s., farrell, c., peim, n., & smith, p. (2005). does governance matter for school improvement?. school effectiveness and school improvement, 16(3), 305-325. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/09243450500114108 sindhvad, s. p. (2009). school principals as instructional leaders: an investigation of school leadership capacity in the philippines. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2lf1kga https://doi.org/10.1108/13552510310503213 https://doi.org/10.1108/13552510310503213 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.316 https://bit.ly/2lgdbfz https://doi.org/10.1080/09243450500114108 212 jpair multidisciplinary research the world bank (2014) world bank support to education: a systems approach to achieve learning for all. retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/ results/2014/04/28/world-bank-support-to-education-a-systems-approachto-achieve-learning-for-all wohlstetter, p., smyer, r., & mohrman, s. a. (1994). new boundaries for school-based management: the high involvement model.  educational evaluation and policy analysis,  16(3), 268-286. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.3102/01623737016003268 yamauchi, f. (2014). an alternative estimate of school-based management impacts on students’ achievements: evidence from the philippines. journal of development effectiveness, 6(2), 97-110. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1 080/19439342.2014.906485 https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/04/28/world-bank-support-to-education-a-systems-approach-to-achieve-learning-for-all https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/04/28/world-bank-support-to-education-a-systems-approach-to-achieve-learning-for-all https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/04/28/world-bank-support-to-education-a-systems-approach-to-achieve-learning-for-all https://doi.org/10.3102%2f01623737016003268 https://doi.org/10.3102%2f01623737016003268 https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2014.906485 https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2014.906485 112 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 entrepreneurial competencies of accountancy, business, and management students in a private institution lorelie c. buitrago http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4677-3514 loreliebuitrago618@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines mark anthony n. polinar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mpolinar22@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines alexander franco a. delantar http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1833-5899 alexander.franco.delantar@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines john lemuel g. buntigao http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-9924 jbuntigao@yahoo.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 1% vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.572 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4677-3514 mailto:loreliebuitrago618@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mailto:mpolinar22@gmail.com http://orcid.org/ mailto:alexander.franco.delantar@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-9924 mailto:jbuntigao@yahoo.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 113 international peer reviewed journal abstract entrepreneurial competencies are considered a vital piece for aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. the research aimed to examine the personal entrepreneurial competencies scores of accountancy, business, and management (abm) students in a private institution. a quantitative method engaging in descriptive research was employed in the study. the study utilized slovin’s formula, with 187 abm students responding. the data were analyzed using mean and ranking. the findings revealed that goal-setting and informationseeking garnered high scores and were rated first and second, respectively, with an interpretation of ‘strong traits’ and their strengths among the identified entrepreneurial competencies. persuasion and networking and risk-taking obtained moderate scores and were ranked 9th and 10th, respectively, and accordingly labeled as inferior characteristics. the researchers concluded that a plethora of inside and outside-of-school activities related to entrepreneurship could enhance the information-seeking skills of students. it was also determined that students’ self-awareness should be strengthened since taking risks is a key component of being a successful entrepreneur. furthermore, the study suggested that increasing entrepreneurial activities both within and outside the campus will be valuable to abm students in developing entrepreneurial competencies, particularly for characteristics belonging to the moderate level. keywords — education, entrepreneurial competencies, accountancy, business, and management, private institution, quantitative method introduction entrepreneurship is a critical component of an economy since it supports job creation to reduce the poverty rate hence national success. it plays a vital role in the growth and development of micro, small, and medium enterprises, which are tantamount to economic progress. the micro, small and medium enterprises in the philippines are headed by the existing, aspiring, and passionate entrepreneurs engaged in entrepreneurial ventures. they treat the ventures as a breeding ground that leads them to have large corporations (senate economic planning office records or statistics of 2012) with relevant knowledge, skills, and attitude. the entrepreneurs envisioned continuous learning from experience and conceptualizing an individual’s key capabilities (alusen, 2016; oganisjana, 2012). 114 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 the role of the human aspect in entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial skills, has been evolving over the last few decades (alusen, 2016). according to kyguolienė and švipas (2019), entrepreneurial competencies have been actively discussed in the academic literature. they have focused on educational institutions and the recent surge of start-ups, where entrepreneurial competencies are prominent. however, numerous findings revealed that entrepreneurship in the philippines was insufficient. the study collected by the global entrepreneurship monitor in 2014 showed that 18.4% of filipinos are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship and contribute to 12.6% of the country’s business continuance rate. the latter percentage far exceeds the asean average of 4.8%. on the other hand, the data collected showed that more than half (52%) of the filipino entrepreneurs are in the age group of 18-44 years. nearly half of the participants have a positive standpoint on entrepreneurial opportunities, and 66% believe that they have the entrepreneurial capabilities needed to venture into business. students should start appreciating entrepreneurship as a course and an opportunity to start a business and consider being employed as a secondary option. according to marlborough (2020), students aspire to run personal businesses primarily for autonomy, financial security, and vocational flexibility. the author contends that developing critical, innovative thinking, leading through collaboration, and combining tenacity with confidence are the core reasons students enroll in entrepreneurship courses. abun et al. (2018) examined the entrepreneurial knowledge and intention of accountancy, business, and management grade 12 students in region i. the scholars established that the entrepreneurial knowledge and intention of the students are high and imply that students consider venturing into entrepreneurship as soon as they are capable. moreover, the scholars recommended that the curriculum developer should enrich the content of the core business subjects that strengthens the interest of the students in business. with the data presented above, it is promising, and there is room for improvement in entrepreneurship to greater heights in the long run in the philippines. in addition to the data presented, covid-19 in the philippines substantially tore down the country’s economy. asian development bank (2021) reports that the philippines’ gross domestic product was negative in 1999 (-9.6%). nevertheless, the philippines’ economy has started to recover with a 5.6% year-on-year expansion in 2021 (world bank, 2021). as a result, it is relevant to carry out research in regard to students who are currently enrolled in taking business subjects to identify weak entrepreneurial traits and help them 115 international peer reviewed journal enhance and use the traits in the future to contribute to the fast recovery of the philippine economy. the primary researcher worked as a senior in high school teaching accountancy, business, and management subjects and examined strong, moderate, and weak points of students’ entrepreneurial competencies in a private institution. recommendations of the study can be used to strengthen the weak points, improve the moderate points, and maintain the strong points of entrepreneurial competencies. objec.tives of the study as a basis for the recommendations to increase the entrepreneurial qualities of the students, the study focused on the personal entrepreneurial competencies scores of accountancy, business, and management students. the study addressed the following objectives, (1) identify the personal entrepreneurial competencies score of the accountancy, business, and management students in terms of, opportunity seeking, persistence, commitment to work contract, risktaking, demand for efficiency and quality, goal setting, information seeking, systematic planning and monitoring, persuasion and networking, and selfconfidence and (2) determine what recommendations can be crafted and endorsed to the private institution’s administration based on the study’s findings. methodology research design to answer the stated research questions, this study used a descriptive research approach to determine the personal entrepreneurial competencies of the participants of the study. research site the research was conducted in one of the private institutions that cater to senior high school, specifically the accountancy, business, and management strand located in cebu city, philippines. participants the study drew 187 participants from a total population of 350 people using slovin’s technique, and a convenience sampling technique was employed in 116 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 choosing participants in the study. these participants are abm students who are currently enrolled for 2021-2022. instrumentation since it presents itself as a viable method for gathering information from the participants, an adopted survey questionnaire with 55 items from management systems international and mcber and company was employed. the tool also assesses how well a student possesses the following characteristics: opportunity seeking, persistence, commitment to work and contract, demand for quality and efficiency, risk-taking, goal-setting, information seeking, systematic planning, persuasion and networking, and self-confidence. the aforementioned technique was extremely useful in identifying and analyzing the participants’ strong, moderate, and weak points (villena, 2018). data collection after acquiring the respondents’ ratings, the data acquired was used to produce an analysis that included the mean and ranking of the personal entrepreneurial abilities scores. the score for each trait was calculated by multiplying it by a constant (6). table 1 presents the scores and their interpretations for each score in the data interpretation. alusen (2016) and duyan’s (2019) study used the scoring system and its interpretation. ethical consideration ethical issues take precedence throughout this investigation, particularly during the data collection phase. objectivity, social responsibility, non-discrimination, and child welfare were used by the researcher. the researcher maintained impartiality by maintaining a formed and sustained answer throughout the study, including the distribution of questionnaires, and will not be unduly swayed by his wants, feelings, or affiliations. by raising awareness of the variables under consideration and clarifying their implications, the researcher ensured that this study had a beneficial impact on the student’s environment. after obtaining all necessary consents, each participant was  adequately informed about the researcher’s identity, as well as the study’s aim and reasoning. the researcher discussed  all of the study’s predicted benefits as well as the significance of the participant’s role. the participant was also informed that he or she has the right to abstain or withdraw from the research study at any time. 117 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion table 1. personal entrepreneurial competencies scores and interpretation pec scores interpretation 19 and up strong 16 to 18 moderate 15 and below weak source: alusen (2016) and duyan (2019) table 2 unveils the personal entrepreneurial competencies scores, interpretation, and ranking of the respondents of the study. table 2. summary of the personal entrepreneurial competencies scores of the accountancy, business, and management students personal entrepreneurial competencies (pecs) scores interpretation ranking goal-setting 19.42 strong 1 information seeking 19.22 strong 2 persistence 18.24 moderate 3 systematic planning and monitoring 17.96 moderate 4 commitment to work contract 17.66 moderate 5 opportunity seeking 17.57 moderate 6 demand for quality and efficiency 17.51 moderate 7 self-confidence 17.14 moderate 8 persuasion and networking 16.96 moderate 9 risk-taking 16.63 moderate 10 the table above shows the accountancy, business, and management students’ scores, the interpretations for each score, and the ranking of each attribute. in general, the accountancy, business, and management students in a private institution were found to have strong points in goal-setting and information seeking and ranked first and second, respectively. persistence, systematic planning and monitoring, commitment to a work contract, opportunity seeking, demand 118 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 for quality and efficiency, self-confidence, persuasion and networking, and risktaking scored moderately. the studies of balasbas (2021), hipolito (2021), abalos et al. (2016), alusen (2016), and laguador (2013) confirm the finding of the study in relation to goal setting. in a study, abalos et al. (2016) established that a high goal-setting score suggests that the participants are futuristic, implying that they are planning for the success of the future business with a goal in mind. balasbas (2021) argues that respondents were clearly related to thinking about the future, were specific about desires in lives, created a clear plan for their lives, and we’re committed to attaining weekly as well as yearly goals. in addition, these studies show how participants value the necessity of creating objectives, not only for personal lives but also for financial and economic lives. it simply means they are committed to setting smart, measurable, attainable, reliable, and time-bound goals and achieving them quickly. researchers have confirmed the study’s result that information seeking is indeed essential from the participants’ perspective in terms of doing entrepreneurial activities with a strong and high level of interpretation (hipolito, 2021; balasbas, 2021; abalos et al., 2016; alusen, 2016; pereda, 2014; and laguador, 2013). it suggests that participants in various studies can keep themselves up to date with relevant facts from various sources (laguador, 2013). it is a strength to hunt for and scan necessary information (alusen, 2016). furthermore, abalos et al. (2021) argue that a good outcome of information seeking as a competency leads to an internationally competitive individual gaining new learnings and technologies that are judged necessary in product production. persistence had a moderate rating in the survey and came in the third spot. persistence entails standing tall and not giving up, even in adversity, when doing something new or difficult (alusen, 2016). the aforementioned result is supported by several articles (alusen, 2016; duyan, 2019). according to these studies, business students regard tenacity as one of the entrepreneurial skills that they do not value highly. as a result, these aspirants are less likely to repeat acts or switch to a different strategy to solve a problem or overcome a roadblock. three behaviors are highlighted in the un’s empretec program: (1) take action in the face of significant obstacles and challenges; (2) take persistent actions or switch to an alternative strategy to meet a challenge or obstacle, and (3) take personal responsibility for the performance required to meet goals and objectives. furthermore, these individuals are more likely to accept personal responsibility for the results required to meet objectives and goals. 119 international peer reviewed journal the study ranked systematic planning and networking fourth, with a moderate score. this trait denoted three behaviors that contribute to the development of a successful entrepreneur: (1) plan by breaking down large tasks into subtasks with explicit timeframes; (2) alter plans in response to performance feedback or changing circumstances; and (3) keep financial records and use them to make decisions. several studies focused on personal entrepreneurial competencies and established that respondents rated systematic planning and monitoring as moderately to fairly important (balasbas, 2021; duyan, 2019; abalos et al., 2016 alusen, 2016; and paladin, 2015). according to a study, the institution should revise the curriculum for business degree programs to promote entrepreneurship and validate more active learning, internships, fieldwork, and the creation of student-run mini-enterprises (paladan, 2015). furthermore, rigorous planning and monitoring should be recognized in entrepreneurship as entrepreneurs alter plans in response to feedback on performance or changing conditions. in table 2, commitment to work is placed fifth with a moderate level of interpretation. according to kyguolienė and švipas (2019), commitment to work is accompanied by behaviors such as: taking full responsibility for the job and completing it efficiently to create a satisfied customer, meeting a deadline, making a personal sacrifice, or exerting extraordinary efforts to complete a job. it also involves pitching in with coworkers or in their proper place to complete a job and striving to keep customers satisfied, and prioritizing long-term goodwill over short-term goals. several scholarly publications have confirmed the study’s conclusions that dedication to work as one of the entrepreneurial competencies has a moderate and fair status (paladan, 2015; alusen, 2016). as a result of the findings, aspiring entrepreneurs should improve competency from a moderate or fair level to a strong or very strong one to become well-equipped entrepreneurs. according to several papers (hipolito, 2021; balasbas, 2021; and abalos, 2016), opportunity-seeking has a high score. however, the results of the current study show that the skill is moderate and ranked sixth. according to alusen’s (2016) study that opportunity-seeking is actively seeking openings in the environment that can be exploited to start a business, improve current operations, or develop a new market. furthermore, opportunity-seeking motivates entrepreneurs to seize business possibilities even in crises and uncertainty. duyan (2019), paladan (2015), and laguador (2013) agreed with the study’s findings and suggested that prospective entrepreneurs acquire opportunity-seeking skills so that they may readily seize rare opportunities to start businesses and secure finance or even add new revenue streams. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 in the research, demand for quality and efficiency was moderate, and it ranked seventh. according to the united nations’ empretec program (2022), this competency demonstrated the following behaviors: find ways to do things better, faster, and cheaper; act to do things that meet or exceed standards of excellence, and develop and use procedures to ensure that work is completed on time and that work meets agreed-upon standards of quality. a moderate degree (paladan, 2015; alusen, 2016; and duyan, 2019) and weak point (paladan, 2015; alusen, 2016; and duyan, 2019) of demand for efficiency and quality as an entrepreneurial trait was stated in several research studies (hipolito, 2021). according to a portion of the findings of paladan’s (2015) study, having a reasonable level of demand for efficiency and quality indicates that they have the potential to try to do things better, faster, or cheaper. furthermore, the author asserted that they could set high standards of excellence and will not compromise on those goals. as a result, if this competency is moderate or weak, it must be considered and addressed as soon as possible. self-confidence had a moderate rating and was rated eighth in the survey. the skill refers to an entrepreneur’s modest confidence and ability to do something beneficial to others. a self-confident person has a strong self-belief, accepts flaws, and is motivated to complete a goal or activity (alusen, 2016). the researcher acquired a large amount of material that revealed the opposing outcomes of a moderate and fair level of self-confidence (hipolito, 2021; abalos et al., 2016; alusen, 2016; laguador, 2013; and bautista et al., 2007). according to bautista et al. (2007), the institution should assess the design of the institution’s curriculum to foster entrepreneurship through apprenticeship programs, ocular visits, forums, and links with the department of trade and industry (dti) and technical education and skills development authority (tesda) to increase the competency level of the participants. according to the results above, persuasion and networking have a moderate mean score and ranked 9th in the study. the following behaviors should be displayed by potential entrepreneurs: (1) using purposeful methods to shape and persuade others; (2) using important people as agents to achieve goals; and (3) taking prompt action to create and maintain a network of business contacts. in comparison to the outcomes of the study, the findings of paladan (2015), alusen (2016), and duyan (2016) indicated the same results. persuasion and networking were determined to be moderate or fair levels for the respondents in both articles. according to alusen (2016), bachelor of science in business administration graduating students, who served as the study’s participants, were 121 international peer reviewed journal not exposed to off-campus activities such as attending seminars, trade shows, conventions, symposiums, and conferences. thus, they were unable to expand networks. they were also less assertive and had poor communication skills, which resulted in low persuasion and networking scores. as a result, institutions must engage employees in various activities or programs to boost confidence, allowing them to easily persuade others and eventually form a network. risk-taking was ranked 10th in table 2 and received a moderate score. alusen (2016) emphasized three types of risk-taking behavior: (a) high risk-taking-doing something risky without even checking what the possible outcomes are and without calculating the possible losses that may be incurred after the move has been made, (b) moderate risk-taking-carefully examining all the chances before doing something arduous or something that may have unpleasant future results and thus reducing possible negative outcomes by making the decision, and (c) low risk-taking-doing something that is not risky at all or venturing low-risk activities. there are empirical shreds of evidence indicating that risk-taking is a moderate, fair, low-level entrepreneurial competency. the results of the study by hipolito (2021), olakitan and ayobami (2011), bautista et al. (2007), and laguador (2013) jointly argue that entrepreneurial risk-taking must be improved to give confidence to the potential entrepreneurs. conclusions the entrepreneurial abilities of accountancy, business, and management students are moderate. goal-setting and information seeking are deemed strengths because of high scores and were rated first and second. the students know what they want future direction think about the future and goals. designing smart (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bounded) goals enable anyone to become an entrepreneur. in the field of entrepreneurship, information seeking demonstrates three behaviors: (1) personally seeking information from customers, suppliers, and competitors, (2) conducting personal research on how to provide a product or service, and (3) consulting experts for business or even technical advice. furthermore, the study findings indicate that abm students regard to feedback on performance as critical and only notice significant information that would help them improve. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 since it received a moderate rating, the institution should strengthen persistence, systematic planning, and monitoring, commitment to the work contract, opportunity seeking, demand for quality and efficiency, self-confidence, persuasion and networking, and risk-taking competencies. the students are not exposed to out-of-school activities such as taking part in a series of outside training, seminars, symposiums, trade fairs, conferences, exhibits, workshops, and educational tours. the activities allow them to expand their network and gain new knowledge that cannot be learned in a classroom but through direct observation and personal experience. as a result, students should prioritize honing networking and persuading skills. risk-taking was ranked lower, which showed that students are not even well-informed about risk, hence making poor decisions. the research findings revealed that students’ self-awareness should be improved, as risk-taking is an important part of being a successful entrepreneur. recommendations private institutions should engage students in programs such as seminars, training, etc., in schools that promote entrepreneurial activities. under the new normal, the school should undertake outdoor activities such as ocular visits to nearby micro, small, and medium enterprises to enable students to have a feel of how a business operates in real life. the school should strengthen its ties with businesses for immersion of enrolled students, so they can obtain further information and practical experience. in addition, the school can work with government agencies such as the department of trade and industry (dti) and the technical education and skills development authority (tesda). dti runs entrepreneurial coaching and mentoring projects, and the school may be a qualified partner in one of dti’s youth entrepreneurship programs. technical education and skills development authority offer a variety of courses that might assist students in improving entrepreneurial skills. bookkeeping nciii is one of the courses related to accountancy, business, and management. when the government allows face-to-face classes during the post-covid 19 pandemic, the school, with the help of teachers, might very well expose students to out-of-school events such as symposiums, trade shows, exhibitions, conferences, workshops and educational tours. the events allow students to expand networks and gain new knowledge that cannot be learned inside the four walls of the classroom but through direct observation and personal experience. 123 international peer reviewed journal the school should provide a series of training for senior high school teachers of core and applied business subjects for change in entrepreneurial mindset and improvement on skills to effectively manage business subjects. future researchers can investigate demographic profiles such as gender and age using correlation analysis establish whether there is a correlation between a student’s gender, age, and entrepreneurial competencies. it is also recommended that online sellers be examined for personal entrepreneurial skills (pecs) to see if they have the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. translational research the findings of the study may be best applied to a private institution, which acts as the study’s environment in order to improve core and specialized courses while also enhancing teaching methodologies for accountancy, business, and management teachers. furthermore, the study’s recommendations will serve the school in maintaining strong  and improving the students’ moderate entrepreneurial competencies, which will prepare them for future entrepreneurial initiatives. literature cited abalos jr, a., doria, s., & villaruz, r. (2016). assessment of personal entrepreneurial competencies (pecs) of bsba students of pangasinan state university. southeast asian journal of science and technology, 1(1), 7883. abun, d., foronda, s. l. g., belandres, m. l., agoot, f., & magallanez, t. (2018). measuring entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention of abm grade xii, senior high school students of divine word colleges in region i, philippines. engineers publication house, 2(3), 27-43. alusen, m. l. v. (2016). personal entrepreneurial competencies of lpu-laguna bsba graduating students: basis for curriculum enhancement. lpu–laguna journal of multidisciplinary research, 4(4), 92-105. balasbas, r. m. (2021). entrepreneurial competencies and business success of pantawid pamilyang pilipino program (4ps) members in the first district of batangas.  international journal of research in engineering, science and management, 4(9), 99-106. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 bautista, r. s., barlis, m. j. p., & nazario, a. g. (2007). the personal entrepreneurial competencies of bs entrepreneurship students of the cordillera administrative region and practicing entrepreneurs in the cities of baguio, dagupan, and san fernando, la union: a comparison. in 10th national convention on statistics (ncs) edsa shangri-la hotel october1-2. department of trade and industry (2018). nueva vizcaya senior high school students joined the entrepreneurial coaching and mentoring project of dti. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3lzvcl8 department of trade and industry (n.d). youth entrepreneurship program (yep). retrieved from https://www.dti.gov.ph/negosyo/yep/ duyan, k. r. m. (2019). personal entrepreneurial competencies of the business students at kalinga state university: a basis for enhancement of teaching strategies and development of program structure. indian journal of science and technology, 12, 44. global entrepreneurship monitor (2014). entrepreneurship: an emerging career path for filipinos. retrieved from http://gem-consortium.ns-client.xyz/ economy-profiles/philippines/policy green, f. a. (2021). asian development. hipolito, g. b. (2021). personal entrepreneurial skills of public school teachers. open access library journal, 8(04), 1. kyguolienė, a., & švipas, l. (2019). personal entrepreneurial competencies of participants in experiential entrepreneurship education.  organizacijų vadyba: sisteminiai tyrimai= management of organizations: systematic research. kaunas: vytauto didžiojo universitetas; sciendo, 2019, t. 82. laguador, j. m. (2013). a correlation study of personal entrepreneurial competency and the academic performance in operations management of business administration students. international journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 3(5), 61. marlborough. (2020). why entrepreneurship is so important for students. retrieved from https://bit.ly/39ctxkk oganisjana, k., & koke, t. (2012). does competence-oriented higher education lead to students’ competitiveness?. engineering economics, 23(1), 77-82. https://bit.ly/3lzvcl8 https://www.dti.gov.ph/negosyo/yep/ http://gem-consortium.ns-client.xyz/economy-profiles/philippines/policy http://gem-consortium.ns-client.xyz/economy-profiles/philippines/policy https://bit.ly/39ctxkk 125 international peer reviewed journal olakitan, o. o., & ayobami, a. p. (2011). an investigation of personality on entrepreneurial success.  journal of emerging trends in economics and management sciences, 2(2), 95-103. paladan, n. d. b. a. (2015). business university student entrepreneurial competencies: towards readiness for globalization.  advances in economics and business, 3(9), 390-397. senate economic planning office (2012). the msme sector at a glance. senate of the philippines. retrieved from http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/publications/ ag%202012-03%20-%20msme.pdf united nations unctad. (2022) empretec program. the entrepreneur guide. retrieved from https://empretec.unctad.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/ eg_eng.compressed.pdf villena, d. (2018). how to: identify your personal entrepreneurial competencies. institute for small-scale industries. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3na5qew world bank (2021). the world bank in the philippines. retrieved from https:// www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/overview#1 http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/publications/ag 2012-03 msme.pdf http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/publications/ag 2012-03 msme.pdf https://empretec.unctad.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/eg_eng.compressed.pdf https://empretec.unctad.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/eg_eng.compressed.pdf https://empretec.unctad.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/eg_eng.compressed.pdf https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/overview#1 https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/overview#1 110 jpair multidisciplinary research whole brain teaching: approach for improving the memorization skills of learners with mild intellectual disability (mid) maridel r. mugot https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8410-7643 maridelmugot1994@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract remembering information can be difficult, especially for a learner with mild intellectual disability. one classroom instruction approach which maximizes students’ engagement, focuses on the way the brain is intended to learn, and addresses the difficulty in memorizing is whole brain teaching. this study was conducted to determine the effects of wbt as an approach to improve the memorization skills of the learners with mild intellectual disability at city central school – special education center. the quasi-experimental research design was employed in the study. eight (8) learners who were diagnosed with mid were randomly selected and assigned as experimental and control groups. pretest and post-test were used in measuring the academic performance of the learners. the experimental group was taught using the wbt approach and the control group was taught using the conventional approach. the results revealed that the academic performance in both groups increased significantly after subjecting them to wbt approach and conventional approach, respectively. however, the results of the post-test comparison of both groups showed that vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.619 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 111 international peer reviewed journal there was a statistically significant difference between the academic performance of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. thus, wbt has a positive impact on the improvement of the memorization skills of learners with mid. keywords – special education, teaching strategies, quasi-experimental design, cagayan de oro city, philippines introduction memorizing names, dates, vocabulary or lists can be difficult, especially for a student with mild intellectual disability (mid). individuals with disability act of 2004 (idea, 2004) defines intellectual disability, (formerly referred to as mental retardation), as significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, that exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifests during the developmental period. it adversely affects a child’s educational performance. intellectual disability is classified into four levels: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. it can be defined as an iq between 50 and 70. students labeled as intellectually disabled exhibit delays in the social, adaptive behavior, and cognitive skills within classroom settings. they function quite capable both socially and vocationally. their abilities appear impaired in the context of academic demands and intellectual functioning (hunt & marshall, 2006). students with mid have difficulty remembering information (i.e., short-term memory). whole brain teaching (wbt) is an approach that is used to get students’ involvement in an organized and enjoyable way. in other words, it is a method of teaching that tries to cater to all the learning styles in one class. research has documented that students learn best when the whole brain is involved (de boer, 2003). wbt incorporates meaningful tools which combine movements, making gestures, singing, dancing, teaching to each other, group works and immediate feedback. whole brain teaching is meant for the uniqueness of every teacher and classroom” (vilsack n.d.). wbt is a flexible approach which allows the teachers to put their own spin on techniques to meet the classroom’s needs (biffle, 2013). based on the unstructured interview with special education teachers in cagayan de oro city, learners with intellectual disability are increasing in number in special education classrooms creating a need for special education teachers to use strategies that improve the academic performance of learners with intellectual disability. others commented that planning the lesson and 112 jpair multidisciplinary research preparing instructional materials for the growing population of students with intellectual disability need a lot of time. so, the teachers are inclined more on the conventional method; which is a teacher-centered approach where the teacher is the giver of information. in addition, the lecture is the most common teaching behavior found in schools, rather than using other learning approaches. it is undeniably important to explore an appropriate approach and strategy that can inhibit the difficulties in retaining information encountered by learners with mid. hence, the researcher uses an approach designed towards maximizing students’ engagement and focus on the way the brain is really intended to learn that may address the improvement of memorization skills. such approach is called the whole brain teaching approach, which is based on the philosophy of teaching and learning that aims to maximize students’ involvement by activating the whole brain in learning and is based on the principles of cooperative learning. whole brain teaching is based on the philosophy that the brain is unique and every individual has the ability to learn (duman, 2006; tufekci & demirel, 2009). advocates of wbt have concluded that strategies in teaching that is based on neuroscience of how the brain works are able to create long term learning (duman, 2006; tufekci & demirel, 2009) which leads to higher and successful academic achievement of the learners (duman, 2010; duman, 2006; tufekci & demirel, 2009). wbt is different from the conventional method because it gives emphasis to meaningful learning (tufekci & demirel, 2009). when learning becomes meaningful learners become interested in the lessons leading to a better academic performance (inci, n & erten, h. 2009; tufekci & demirel, 2009). wbt is useful in increasing the retention of learners (inci, n & erten, h. 2009). a study conducted at the universiti sains malaysia through the school of educational studies, where researchers investigated the effectiveness of this whole brain program as compared to traditional teaching methods (bawaneh, zain, & saleh, 2011). one hundred and eighty-three students participated, of which approximately half were randomly selected to be in either the experimental group receiving whole brain teaching instruction or the control group with conventional instruction. the result of the study showed that brain-oriented teaching methods surpassed conventional method and brought motivation towards learning in science (she, 2005; saleh, 2012; bawaneh, zain, & saleh, 2011). researchers concluded that it is beneficial for curriculum writers to consider hermann’s whole brain teaching model, based on hermann’s dominance theory which postulates that the brain is divided into four quadrants that work systematically together (hermann, 1988). 113 international peer reviewed journal a research conducted to 8th grade science and technology students at the turkish university of firat, studied the impact of wbt instruction on achievement, attention, and motivation (i̇nci & erten, 2011). a pre/post evaluation tool was used on an experimental and control group. the experimental group was provided with instruction using the wbt approach and the control group utilized the traditional method. this study considered a particular lesson on “states of matter and heat” and was conducted during the second semester of a school year. the results of the pre/post evaluation were analyzed using the spss program, friedman test, and the wilcoxon sign rank test. the results of the study showed a statistical significance as determined by the friedman test, for the experimental group based on the results of the pre and post assessments. the friedman test was applied using the spss program and evaluates several measurements including the mean, standard deviation, and statistical difference between the two groups of students. the study concludes that students who received instruction using the whole brain teaching approach performed better academically, indicated by a 27% increase in mean scores, and displayed a more positive attitude towards learning than students who were taught using traditional methods. the wbt lessons which were developed by the researcher, hope to emphasize active learning and alleviate the academic performance of learners with intellectual disability by improving their memorization skills. memory problems are of particular concern in contributing to multiple scholastic abilities such as reading and arithmetic. wbt promotes freedom to visualize, draw and act out their learning in a very flexible method which can be used for all age groups. thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of wbt approach on students’ achievement at the knowledge level in their memorization skills. framework the study evaluates the effectiveness of the pedagogy, whole brain teaching approach, in teaching children with mild intellectual disability. this study is anchored on herrmann’s whole brain theory; johnson and johnson’s cooperative learning theory; vygotsky’s sociocultural theory; and bandura’s social learning theory. the six theories are discussed below. a theory that supports the principles of brain-based learning is the whole brain theory by william ned herrmann (inocian, 2015). he created a wholebrain model which is figuratively illustrated using a circle divided into four 114 jpair multidisciplinary research quadrants to classify the preferences of the learners according to how they think and learn. figure 1: hermann’s whole brain model figure 1 represents the four quadrants of the herrmann model which shows the four learning structures of the brain. each quadrant has different cognitive functions. according to herrmann (1996), if a person develops a very strong preference for learning in one or two quadrants, he may reject learning on the other quadrants. thus, his theory stresses the importance of providing equal learning opportunities for different learners by utilizing their strengths and attending to essential weaknesses, where each of the four learning styles is fulfilled in a single lesson (bawaneh, zain, & saleh, 2011). it can be attained by using various methods, alternating with techniques and activities to address each of the four quadrants (herrmann-nehdi, 2002). it encourages whole-brain development as learning complex tasks involve a widely distributed network of brain areas (worden, hinton, & fischer, 2011). whole brain teaching is anchored on this theory as it supports the idea that a learner learns best when his whole brain is involved. using a whole-brain approach to teaching and learning helps to reach and engage diverse learners, improve their retention and deliver memorable learning experiences (herrmann-nehdi, 2009). the principle of cooperative learning theory by david johnson and roger johnson, (2002) also supports whole brain teaching. this theory acknowledges learning in which knowledge and skills are constructed through mutual 115 international peer reviewed journal interaction among participants. cooperative learning is a teaching strategy which practices small groups so that students work together and learn from each other. the effectiveness of cooperative efforts depends on how well positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing is structured within the learning situation (johnson and johnson, 2002; jacobs, lee, and ng, 1997). wbt involves students to become more engaged in the classroom activities allowing them to become responsible for their learning giving an optimum leeway for student-centeredness to take place in the classroom. wbt is based on the philosophy by lev vygotsky about the socio-cultural theory. this theory recognizes that human activities happen in social settings and cannot be seen separated from these settings. the main factor of this theory is peer interaction. based on the theory of “more knowledgeable other” by vygotsky, teachers transfer the role of the more knowledgeable other to the students using wbt. based on this theory, a technique like teach–okay which has been included in the big seven is applied. it is when students turn to teach each other, mimicking the “lesson” taught by the teacher. research has shown that modeling is an effective instructional strategy and that it allows students to observe the teacher’s thought processes. with the use of wbt, this type of instruction engages students in the imitation of particular behaviors that encourage learning. according to social learning theorist albert bandura (1977), “learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions, this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (p.22). modeling involves kinesthetic teaching by using body movements to teach concepts. this method of teaching encourages the participation of the learners through hand gestures or body movements to demonstrate understanding (van housen, 2015). there is a significant amount of research that indicates a positive relationship between movement and learning, as well as movement and retention. according to jensen (2005), movement can be an effective cognitive strategy to (1) strengthen learning, (2) improve memory and retrieval, and (3) enhance learner motivation and morale. this statement speaks to the need and resistance to implementing instructional practices with kinesthetic elements and moving away from those practices that have been proven to be ineffective. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research the researcher conceptualized a paradigm patterned after the input-processoutput model to illustrate the relationships of the variables and the research process of the study. as presented in figure 2, the input variables include the pretest and the respondents (experimental and control groups) of the study. a pretest was used to assess the performance of the students before the utilization of the wbt. results of which were then compared to the post-test results subjecting wbt. the process employed the kinds of instructions that were used for the experimental group which are wbt techniques and the control group which is conventional teaching techniques. after which, a post-test was administered to measure the academic performance of the students as a result of wbt. the output variable contained the result of the effectiveness of the approaches in the academic performance in science in terms of memorization skills of children with mild intellectual disability. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of wbt in the memory skills of learners with mid at city central school – special education center. specifically, it seeks to answer the following objectives; (1) to describe the academic performance in science in terms of the memorization skills of the learners with mid in city central school – special education center as reflected in the pretest mean scores of the students; (2) to determine the performance of the learners with mid in city central school – special education center when exposed to the wbt approach and the conventional approach; (3) to determine the extent of effectiveness in the utilization of the wbt approach in the aspects of memorization skills, such as – identifying, labeling, defining 117 international peer reviewed journal concepts, enumerating facts; and (4) to compare the significant difference in the academic performance in science in terms of the memorization skills of the learners with mid after exposure to the wbt approach and the conventional approach. methodology research design the quasi-experimental research design which compares two treatment groups was utilized in this study. this design involves an experimental group and a control group. in conducting pre-experiments, the teacher conducted a pretest to the learners with mid. subsequently, the two groups were taught with instructions using the wbt approach and the conventional approach respectively. a post-test was administered after twelve (12) days of using the two different approaches to find out if there is an improvement in the memorization skills of learners with mid. research site the researcher conducted the study at city central school – special education center which is located inside the campus of city central school in velez-yacapin street. it is one of the public schools which cater to students with special needs in the city of cagayan de oro. participants the respondents of this study were learners from city central school – special education center, in the school year 2018-2019. eight (8) learners who were diagnosed with mid, ages 6-9 years old were selected as respondents. half of the eight (8) learners were the experimental group, in which the wbt was utilized. the other half was the control group in which the researcher used the conventional approach for instruction. the learners with mid at city central school special education center were purposively chosen because they were given a diagnosis of mid by a developmental pediatrician. instrumentation a research instrument was prepared to measure the extent of the teacher interventions in the improvement of the memorization skills of the learners with mid. an evaluation test was used as the main tool for gathering the data of this 118 jpair multidisciplinary research study. it consists of a pretest and posttest that were used to measure the academic performance of the students. it was prepared and validated by the researcher. this teacher-made test was originally a 40-item test. it was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. qualitative analysis of the test includes content validation. a table of specification was prepared to determine the academic domains that were measured and to ensure that there was a fair and an ideal sample of questions that appear on the test. the use of a table of specifications can provide teacher made tests’ validity (notar, charles, 2004). the researcher focused on the knowledge level in bloom’s cognitive domains with the skills in identifying, labeling, defining concepts, and enumerating facts since this study relates to the memorization skills of learners with mid. to ensure the validity of the evaluation test, it was presented to a panel of experts to evaluate the correctness of content, representativeness of the concepts used, and appropriateness of the language level. there were ten (10) experts who validated the test; the first expert was a special education headmaster in theralinks asia; the second expert was a special education teacher in new york city board of education school; the third expert was an assistant headmaster in prois international christian school – greenville branch; the fourth expert was an assistant principal in xaris theos christian school; the fifth expert was an assessment-i instructor in the university of science and technology of southern philippines; the other two (2) members of the panel of experts were special education teachers with a matsped degree; and the other three (3) members of the panel of experts were kindergarten teachers from different private sectors. the researcher provided the panel of experts with the tool used for the study. they assessed the tool and gave comments and suggestions on the developed evaluation test for the improvement of the tool. the revisions were made based on the comments and suggestions of the experts. for its quantitative aspect, an item analysis was done. the test was given to a group which resembled the subjects of the study. it was administered to the kindergarten pupils of one of the sections in city central school during the school year 2018-2019. each item was analyzed as to their difficulty or discriminating factor. the index of difficulty of each item was also determined. only items with an index of difficulty of 0.25 to 0.75 were included in the final test. the test was ascertained by item evaluation of discrimination index values depicted in the guidelines of stanley and hopkins (1981) and hedges (1966), as cited in the study of san juan (1990), summed up as follows: 119 international peer reviewed journal the criteria were followed in determining which of the 40 items should be included in the final achievement test. the improved test is only a 20-item test. using kuder richardson (2011) formula 20, the reliability coefficient of the test is calculated to be .79 for the sample used in the validation. data gathering procedure the researcher secured a permit from the schools division superintendent office for the approval to conduct the study in city central school. the teachers who were involved in the study were given an orientation to carry out the teacher rotation schedule effectively and were given instructions about the mechanics of the approaches. the researcher sent consent forms to the parents of the respondents to allow their children to participate in the researcher’s study for twelve days. the researcher taught in both the experimental and the control groups. the researcher learned the wbt approach during her first year of teaching in an international school. with this, she enriched her knowledge on this technique by reading journals and watching videos in “youtube” about this approach. the eight (8) learners with mid were divided into two groups using the random sampling technique called the “fishbowl method” by sevilla (1993). the researcher wrote the names of each learner with mid, one name for each piece of paper. then the papers were rolled up and shuffled in a bowl. afterwards, the researcher took the rolled paper from the bowl twice for each division. from this, the researcher got the participants for each group. the first group was the experimental group in which the four (4) learners with mid were given instructions using the wbt. on the other hand, the second group was the control group in which this group of respondents was exposed to the conventional approach. a pretest was administered personally by the researcher to both groups after having identified the respondents of the study. the respondents were given enough time to answer the pre-test. the retrieval of the answered test paper was done by the researcher herself right after it was 120 jpair multidisciplinary research answered on the same day. the results of the pretest from both groups were checked and recorded. the intervention lasted for twelve (12) days, which occur during a regular class schedule at 7:30am-9:00am. the researcher conducted the two approaches within this timeframe wherein during the first thirty (30) minutes, 7:45am 8:15am, the first approach which is the wbt was conducted to the experimental group followed by another thirty (30) minutes of exposure to the conventional approach for the control group at 8:15am – 8:45am. singleton (2009) stated that teaching could be effective for groups of up to four or five students. after identifying the two groups, the experimental group was familiarized with the wbt approach for twelve (12) days. the researcher incorporated in her instruction the so-called “the big seven,” which included; step 1: class-yes, step:2 classroom rules, step 3: teach-ok, step 4: scoreboard game, step 5: hands and yes, step 6: mirror, and step 7: switch. the instruction focused on the following topics: common plants, parts of a plant, needs of plants, ways to care for plants, and importance of plants. same instruction was given to the control group using another approach which was the conventional approach. in the conventional approach, the researcher incorporated in her instruction a traditional way of teaching wherein most of the time was centered on the textbook and lecture method was used. the control group was given lectures and discussions on the same topics. after the twelve-day intervention, the two groups were given the post-test of the evaluation test. this was administered and scored in the same way as the pretest. ethical considerations all participants were advised that their participation was voluntary. consent forms with the format from the department of education were provided to the parents or guardians of the participants since the respondents were below 18 years old. it was explained to the parents/guardians that the results and findings were highly confidential. statistical treatment to determine the effect of wbt approach on the improvement of the memorization skills of learners with mid, an analysis of covariance (ancova) was used. a one-way ancova was employed to seek the possible effects of the approaches in the memorization skills of the learners. descriptive statistics, such as mean, frequency and percentage were also used for the analysis of data. 121 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion the results and discussion provide information on the effects of whole brain teaching as an approach to the improvement of the memorization skills of learners with mid. academic performance in science in terms of the memorization skills of the learners with mid in city central school – special education center as reflected in the pretest mean scores of the students. table 1. mean achievement scores of the participants in the pretest pretest minimum maximum mean standard deviation control group 4 8 6.25 1.708 experimental group 5 8 7.00 1.414 table 1 presents the mean achievement scores of the learners with mild intellectual disability in the pretest. it shows that the control group had a minimum score of 4 and the experimental group had a score of 5 in the pretest. moreover, both groups got the same maximum scores of 8. the minimum and maximum scores in both groups are comparable. it can be gleaned from the data that the experimental group apparently had a higher pretest mean score than that of the control group, but the difference is not very significant. the spread of the scores of the two groups is also comparable. the data imply that the students in both the control and the experimental groups are comparable in terms of their performance in the pretest. the pretest showed that the participants performed below the mastery level. this can be due to the reason that the learning competencies were new to them and that the lessons were not discussed in their science class. performance of the learners with mid in city central school – special education center when exposed to the wbt approach and the conventional approach. table 2. mean achievement scores of the participants in the post-test pretest minimum maximum mean standard deviation control group 13 17 14.75 1.708 experimental group 17 20 18.50 122 jpair multidisciplinary research the table above presents the performance of the learners in the post-test. the data show that the control group had a minimum score of 13 and a maximum score of 17. on the other hand, the experimental group had a minimum score of 17 and a maximum score of 20, which is a perfect score. the mean and gain scores obtained from the two groups are also presented. the difference in the minimum, maximum, and mean scores of the two groups is evident. it can be gleaned from the data that the two groups differ in their post-test means. the experimental group has a higher mean score in the post-test and higher gain scores in all groups of learners according to their level of performance. the results revealed that the academic performance in both groups increased significantly after subjecting them to wbt approach and conventional approach respectively. however, the results of the post-test comparison of both groups showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the academic performance of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. table 3. extent of effectiveness in the utilization of the whole brain teaching approach in the aspects of memorization skills. a) identifying; b) labeling; c) defining concepts; d) enumerating facts analyzing of covariance (identifying) source sum of squares df mean square f significance pretest 0.083 1 0.083 0.294 0.611 group 0.012 1 0.012 0.042 0.846 analyzing of covariance (labeling) source sum of squares df mean square f significance pretest 0.000 1 0.000 0.000 1.000 group 2.000 1 2.000 5.000 0.076 analyzing of covariance (defining concepts) source sum of squares df mean square f significance pretest 0.167 1 0.167 0.625 0.465 group 2.000 1 2.000 7.500 0.041* analyzing of covariance (enumerating facts) source sum of squares df mean square f significance pretest 0.205 1 0.205 0.662 0.453 group 5.411 1 5.411 17.506 0.009* *significance at the 0.05 level of significance 123 international peer reviewed journal the table implies that in the pretest, the control and the experimental groups have no significant difference in performance among the four different memorization skills. however, in the post-test, the groups have significant differences in their performance in the ‘defining concepts’ and ‘enumerating facts’ memorization skills. but the groups are not significantly different in their performance in the ‘identifying’ and in the ‘labeling’ memorization skills. the result implies that whole brain instruction contributed to the retention and improvement in the memorization skills of learners with mild intellectual disability. group work, such as interaction with the teacher and peers, is the essential technique used in the whole brain instruction. as sousa (2001) indicated, the best way to retain information is through teaching others. whole brain instruction contains self-reflection and group interaction, and it requires either group presentations or discussions, therefore, these may have contributed to the significant increase in learning retention of the learners with mid in the whole brain instructional teaching group. the result in which there is a significant difference on the academic performance of the learners with mid implies that wbt contributed to the retention and improvement in the memorization skills specifically on “defining concepts” and “enumerating facts”. group work, such as interaction with the teacher and peers, is the essential technique used in the whole brain instruction. as sousa (2001) indicated, the best way to retain information is through teaching others. whole brain instruction contains self-reflection and group interaction, and it requires either group presentations or discussions, therefore, these may have contributed to the significant increase in learning retention of the learners with mid in the experimental group. table 4. significant difference in the academic performance in science in terms of the memorization skills of learners with mild intellectual disability after exposure to the whole brain teaching approach and the conventional approach analysis of covariance (overall) source sum of squares df mean square f significance pretest 7.123 1 7.123 5.374 0.068 group 19.373 1 19.373 14.616 0.012 the table above is the result of the analysis in the overall performance of the two groups in terms of their memorization skills, in general. based on the 124 jpair multidisciplinary research figures from the table, the experimental group significantly performed better than the control group. hence, the wbt approach is effective in improving the memorization skills of the students. in this study, it was revealed that utilizing whole brain teaching increases significantly on the learners’ academic performance in science in terms of their memorization skills. this could be due to the fact that multiple areas of the brain are activated when using wbt techniques throughout the lessons. it was evident during the course of the study as the researcher observed that the learners get excited and participative when the class-yes was used. they immediately responded when called as compared to the learners taught using conventional teaching techniques. it was supported by the study of kelso (2009) that positive students’ response increased when wbt attention getters like class-yes were used in the classroom. hypothesis: there is no significant difference on the academic performance in science in terms of memorization skills of the learners with mild intellectual disability in city central school – special education center after exposure to the whole brain teaching approach and the conventional approach in terms of the four aspects of memorization skills namely: a) identifying; b) labeling; c) defining concepts; d) enumerating facts conclusions based on the results and findings of the study, the researcher concluded that the wbt approach has a positive effect on the improvement of the memorization skills of learners with mid. through the big seven technique, the learners were able to remember the topics that were taught. thus, there is higher retention of the topics learned when taught using the wbt approach than the conventional approach. wbt techniques such as mirror, teach-okay, and switch methods help the students to recall the lessons because it enables students to repeat the information given by the teacher. furthermore, whole brain teaching can be used to any age level, to any group of students, and to any types of learners, even to persons with disabilities. 125 international peer reviewed journal translational research the outcome of this study will be used as an effective classroom approach in teaching learners with intellectual disabilities to improve their memorization skills. this could inspire the special education program to be more innovative in developing further instructional strategies such as wbt that would make a difference in the educational system, making the students more cooperative, responsible, and functional persons in the future. moreover, it will be of great help to all sped and regular classroom teachers to utilize this method for it is found beneficial to the learners with the use of two or more senses. literature cited bawaneh, a., zain, a.n., & salmiza, s. 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(2011). what does the brain have to do with learning?. phi delta kappan, 92(8), 8-13. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171109200803 https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2011.570004 https://bit.ly/2ux2kj2 https://bit.ly/2ux2kj2 https://bit.ly/2t7l9m8 https://bit.ly/2spwvp1 https://bit.ly/2spwvp1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.316 https://bit.ly/2rxid6n https://bit.ly/2s0df2h https://doi.org/10.1177%2f003172171109200803 149 international peer reviewed journal abstract writing is a daunting task for filipino college students. however, in the midst of cyberspace and social networks, this study sought to determine the effect of the weblog as a motivational tool on the writing performance of bachelor of arts in communication 1st year college students of palompon institute of technology, philippines. using the pretest-posttest control group design, the students enrolled in communication skills ii were randomly assigned to either the weblog group or the paper-and-pen group. a writing test was used both as a pretest and posttest, which was scored using jacobs (1981) esl composition profile. the data were treated using the mean and t-tests for both dependent and independent samples. results revealed that the students’ initial writing performance was more or less on the same level while the post writing performance of the weblog group was better than the paper-and-pen group. students in both groups benefited considerably from the use of their respective writing tools, but weblog is a more motivating tool than the paper and pen in the development of the students’ writing ability. students then need a writing tool in whatever form to improve their writing ability, but they perform better if they use a weblog instead of paper and pen. keywords — ict in education, academic writing, weblog, l2, pretestposttest control group design, philippines vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.463 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. the effect of weblog on the filipino learners’ writing performance rothelia maria g. ugsad http://orcid.org 0000-0003-4774-2207 rotheliamariaugsad@gmail.com palompon institute of technology palompon, leyte 150 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction writing plays an important role in our personal and professional lives. it is a tool for the creation of ideas and the consolidation of the linguistic system by using it for communicative objectives in an interactive way. thus, it has become one of the essential components in the curriculum (massi, 2001). according to warschauer (2010), writing is especially important for the instruction of second language learners for three reasons. first, writing well is a vital skill for academic or occupational success, but one that is especially difficult for second language learners to master. second, writing can be an effective tool for the development of academic language proficiency as learners more readily explore advanced lexical or syntactic expression in their written work. third, writing across the curriculum can be invaluable for mastering diverse subject matter, as written expression allows learners to raise their awareness of knowledge gaps, abstract problem-specific knowledge into schemas that can be applied to other relevant cases, and elaborate mental representations of knowledge that can be more easily retrieved, while simultaneously allowing teachers to better understand the students’ state of knowledge and thinking process and thus adjust instruction as necessary. many students find writing an unpleasant task and have a negative attitude towards it. according to sayuti (2013), writing is a daunting task for english as a second language (esl) learners. most of the time learners would sigh at the thought of having to write a long essay even though this is what is expected of them in public examinations. similarly, villas (2013) pointed out that writing poses greater problems than the other language skills—reading, listening and speaking. this demands that writing teachers acquire a deep understanding of its nature and intensively plan how to present it to the class in an effective way. the above-mentioned difficulty in writing is evident in the philippines, where english as a language is highly valued because it has prestige and offers social mobility. however, it is a fact that the school setting offers the learners very limited access and exposure to english. in their effort to respond to 21st century literacy needs of learners, many educators now are using technology that combines computers and telecommunication (more popularly known as computer-mediated communication or cmc) in the classroom (cequeña & gustilo, 2014). from cmc, various social networking sites (snss) with multiple applications have emerged. among these features, blogging or weblogs have 151 international peer reviewed journal become a very popular medium in teaching academic writing (cequeña & gustilo, 2014). according to manzanilla (2013), the weblog is a new technology strategy in the teaching practice that sparks online conversations blogging might help language learners to obtain, process, and construct words in the english language. students are motivated to use technology to write. using this idea, teachers can assimilate what the students are already doing through personal websites/blogs and classroom content with a meaningful audience. students, no matter what their gender or ability level is, need to see that writing is a vehicle to show individual thought on subjects, and that this is powerful. technology, such as weblogs, can provide one part of the answer, but educators should recognize that the key to conscientious writing among students is that they need to be a more active part of the educational community (manzanilla, 2013). manzanilla (2013) has observed that college students are “tech savvy” nowadays. they usually communicate in well-known social network sites such as facebook, twitter and blog spots to express their unrestricted thoughts through blogging. since language learning is a communicative process, this emergent interest can be channeled to develop their writing abilities in english. the same is true in the palompon institute of technology (pit). blogging can be used to motivate pit students to write. like most filipino students, they find writing difficult. but like most young people, they are “tech savvy,” which can be harnessed toward getting them interested to write. the researcher, as an english language instructor, has long been searching for an interactive writing tool that will motivate her students to write effectively. blogging can possibly create a huge impact in the preparation of resources for language teaching. through this tool, students will discover once again the need of writing effectively in english in their own turf, which is the internet. it is in this light that this research study was conducted. framework this study was founded on three theories that look at learning as a collaborative, social, dynamic process. these are the (1) collaborative learning theory, (2) socio-cultural theory of vygotsky, and (3) constructivist theory of piaget. according to reimer (2013), the collaborative learning theory (clt) is a theory that can also be applied to incorporating weblog writing into the classroom. as fageeh (2011) stated about clt: “this theory regards sharing as a fundamental feature of successful collaboration. blogging as a feature of cmc 152 jpair multidisciplinary research provides a viable environment for collaboration in which efl learners can share their emotions and ideas in cyberspace.” reimer (2013) pointed out further that the clt theory is similar to vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (zpd), which emphasizes learning through collaborative efforts with others. weblogs that are available to a larger student body, or the general public, “have the potential of being a unique learning venue where collaboration can take place and interaction among l2 participants can be promoted”. these three theoretical frameworks all incorporate a social aspect into learning, something that is very important when learning a second language. by using weblogs as a method of completing writing assignments, students are provided an opportunity to interact with the world and practice what they are learning in the classroom on a much larger scale. weblogs can be used to connect the english language learners around the world to create meaningful interactions with students who are just like them (reimer, 2013). barrios, as cited in jones (2006), said that blogs can develop reading and writing skills, empower students to become better researchers, writers, independent learners, and develop international web communities. blogs for writing can be used in various ways; for example, learning journals, learning logs, thinking journals, reader response journals, reflective journals, and visual learning logs. if the journaling is to be collaborative, then blogging would be an effective use for it. practitioners also assert that the assessment of writing is facilitated by the use of blogs because it combines the best elements of portfolio-driven courses, where student work is collected, edited, and assessed, with the immediacy of publishing for a virtual audience. the content management platforms on which blogs are built make the entire process of assessment efficient. meanwhile, vygotsky (fageeh, 2011) advanced the socio-cultural theory (sct), “which emphasizes that learning is embedded within social events and occurs as a child interacts with people, objects, and events in the environment. practically speaking, developmental processes take place through participation in cultural, linguistic, and historically formed settings such as family life and peer group interaction, and in institutional contexts like schooling, organized sports activities, and work places, to name only a few. sct argues that while human neurobiology is a necessary condition for higher order thinking, the most important forms of human cognitive activity develop through interaction within these social and material environments. 153 international peer reviewed journal this interaction with classmates and the outside world allow the student to have a real-world view when completing writing assignments and leads to an awareness of audience. participants work in group settings and co-create social weblog posts. co-creating weblog posts incorporates parts of the collaborative learning theory (reimer, 2013). however, cmc may also be seen as an environment promoting the constructivist approach. social constructivism has been developed from the theories of bakhtin (1981), bruner (1966) and vygotsky (1978). this theory stresses that knowledge is fluid, not fixed, and learners build their knowledge by engaging in collaborative activities with other students, instructors and learning environment. its goal is to create learning communities that are akin to the collaborative practice of the real world. according to constructivist approach and constructivist learning principles, online learning and teaching of languages could also be promising at promoting learners’ language and communicative skills as well as at fostering their autonomy. learners would have more opportunity for self-study as well as collaboration. in asynchronous learning environments, for instance, learners could contribute by having time for research and acquire the necessary skills for further knowledge construction. the acquisition of these social and interactive skills would contribute into their development into more confident, pro-active, responsible and social individuals (tuncer, 2009). the activity of blogging to be in concert with the constructivist learning approach as research has revealed that learning is best achieved when students are actively engaged in the process of constructing new knowledge through acquiring, generating, analyzing, manipulating, and structuring novel information (salen, 2007). the foregoing constructs provided the theoretical underpinnings of this study, the rationale of which is to address the difficulty and poor motivation that the students have in writing, which is an integral part of their academic and future professional lives. research shows that with technology used as a motivating tool in the classroom, students produce better compositions. one way to incorporate technology into an esl classroom is through the use of weblogs. weblogs are “an online journal that an individual can continuously update with his or her own words, ideas, and thoughts through software that enables one to easily do so” (reimer, 2013). 154 jpair multidisciplinary research objective of the study the main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of weblog and paper and pen on the writing performance of the students, specifically, the bachelor of arts in communication (ab com.) freshmen studying at palompon institute of technology (pit), philippines. methodology the pretest-posttest control group design was used in this study to determine whether there was a significant difference in the writing performance of the students using weblog and those using paper and pen. for the control group, the study was conducted at the ab com. classroom (rm. 219) of the college of arts and sciences (cas) building, while for the experimental group, it was conducted at the cyber library of palompon institute of technology, evangelista street, palompon, leyte. the cyber library had enough computers for the use of all the concerned participants in the study. as originally proposed, the subjects of the study were the thirty-seven (37) ab com. freshmen of the palompon institute of technology (pit) who were enrolled in communication skills ii in the second semester of sy 2015-2016. however, four (4) of them dropped out before the posttest due to financial and family challenges, thus the number of those who actually participated in the study was narrowed down to 33. the students were assigned to either of two groups – the control group and experimental group. to ensure that each student would have an equal chance of being placed in either group, a random sampling technique was used. firstly, they were ranked from top to bottom according to their final grades in english 1, to make certain that the participants in both groups had approximately the same writing ability level at the start of the study. they were then assigned corresponding numbers. those whose numbers were even composed the control (paper and pen) group while those whose numbers were odd made up the experimental (weblog) group. there were 16 participants in the control group, and 17 in the experimental group. the names of the participants in each group, along with their corresponding numbers, were written in a master list prepared by the researcher for reference purposes. a writing test was used both as a pretest and posttest. the test was based on an essay developed by process description entitled, “how to study for exams 155 international peer reviewed journal and get straight ‘as’” by philip z. a. nazareno, which was lifted from the manila daily bulletin, which the students were made to read and then rewrite or reconstruct in their own words. the esl (english as second language) composition profile developed by jacobs (1981) was used to rate the students’ written compositions. it is a set of criteria for rating content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics on the students’ compositions. it was utilized in this study because it encompasses all the aspects that need to be measured in a composition. the profile form contains five component scales, each focusing on an important aspect of composition and weighted according to its approximate importance for written communication: content (30 points), organization (20 points), vocabulary (20 points), language use (25 points), and mechanics (5 points). the total weight for each component is further broken down into numerical ranges that correspond to four mastery levels: excellent to very good, good to average, fair to poor, and very poor. these levels are characterized and differentiated by key words or “rubrics” representing specific criteria for excellence in composition. unlike some holistic evaluations in which readers base their judgments on a single first impression of the quality of a composition, readers using the profile in effect do five holistic evaluations of the same composition, each from a slightly different perspective on the whole. this is an important difference since readers sometimes tend to value only one aspect of a composition when using a purely impressionistic approach, yet it is only through a writer’s successful production, integration, and synchronization of all these component parts of a composition that an effective whole is created. the procedure was carried out in three (3) stages, namely: 1) conducting and scoring the pretest; 2) developing the writing ability and administering the treatment to the experimental group, and 3) conducting and scoring the posttest. gathering procedure the procedure was carried out in three (3) stages, namely: 1) conducting and scoring the pretest; 2) developing the writing ability and administering the treatment to the experimental group; and 3) conducting and scoring the posttest. conducting and scoring the pretest. the pretest was conducted to the students together as one group, although they had previously been equally divided into two. a coding system developed by the researcher was used to determine which group they belonged to. the students were given copies of the essay by nazareno. they were instructed to 1) read the essay silently for ten (10) minutes and 2) reconstruct it in their own words for 30 minutes, without turning 156 jpair multidisciplinary research back to the original text when they started writing. to ensure that the students followed the instructions, the copies of the text were retrieved 10 minutes after they had read it. then, after the given time, the researcher collected the students’ written outputs. she made sure that instead of their names, the students wrote only their assigned numbers on the upper left part of their paper in order to avoid subjectivity in the scoring of their answers. to ensure the reliability of the test scores, three english instructors who are teaching writing in the pit language and literature department were asked to rate the students’ outputs using jacob’s criteria. then, the researcher got the average score of each student. the scores served as indicators of the students’ initial writing performance. developing the writing ability and administering the treatment. after administering the pretest and while it was being scored, the researcher lectured to the students about how to write a process analysis essay a week before the two groups were separated in order to get reliable results. after the one-week lecture, the control group met at 9:30 to 10:30 in the morning during mondays, wednesdays and fridays at rm. 219 of the college of arts and sciences (cas) building, while the experimental group met at 4:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon at the pit cyber library. for six (6) meetings, she lectured to them about how to write a process analysis essay. based on the updated english 2 (communication skills 2) syllabus (appendix c), one of the lessons that was taken up was writing the process analysis essay. the researcher taught the students how to write an essay that was developed by process analysis or the how-to essay or article. after the lecture, the two groups were made to write six process analysis essays following the guidelines and standards set by the instructor. the essays were written one after the other. after a lecture and a process analysis writing activity, the students in the control group wrote process analysis essays and submitted their papers personally inside the classroom. outputs were returned for the students to rewrite based on the feedbacks given. students were also able to interact with others through peer editing inside the classroom. the experimental group underwent three (3) stages during the blog-integrated writing instruction: a) preparation; b) writing; and c) revision. during the preparation stage, the students were provided a title or a video scene as a basis for them to organize their thoughts on their own. by logging on to the researcher’s blog entitled “the writer’s closet” using the weblog internet 157 international peer reviewed journal address http://rotheliamariaugsad.wix.com/writing-blog, they were able to study writing, do the online paragraph writing exercises and link with other learning resources, such as the online merriam webster dictionary for the meanings of new or difficult words, and our daily bread for sample paragraphs or essays. the students were exposed to the target language (english), which helped to broaden their horizon and enhance their language sense. besides, the students were also made to collect as many writing materials as possible by logging onto linked websites. they also discussed the related issues by online interaction, which easily stimulated each other’s imagination. online evaluation among themselves also helped form their writing plots. after having chosen the sufficient amount of accumulated materials, the students proceeded to the next stage, the writing stage. the researcher monitored the whole writing stage and helped to correct any error/s committed by the students. after receiving feedback, the students checked whether their writing made sense and whether structural and grammatical mistakes existed. since the students’ writings on blog were sequenced chronologically, the researcher did not encounter much difficulty in examining their writings and feedbacks, which facilitated the monitoring work. in the last stage, the revision stage, the students’ writings approached perfection gradually with the help of teacher-student interaction and studentstudent interaction. conducting and scoring the posttest. lastly, the researcher gave the same reading text she gave the students in the pretest. again, they were told to read the text silently for ten (10) minutes and to reconstruct the entire text in their own words for thirty (30) minutes, without turning back to the original text when they started writing. the three english instructors who rated the students’ initial writing performance were the same ones who scored their post writing performance. the average scores served as measures of the post writing performance of the students. statistical treatment of data in scoring the written outputs of the students, the scoring from the esl composition profile of jacobs (1981) was used, where the highest possible score was 100 and the lowest possible score was 34. the total scores were interpreted as follows: 158 jpair multidisciplinary research total score on students’ performance qualitative/ descriptive 100 – 83.26 excellent to very good 83.25 - 66.51 good to average 66.50 – 49.76 fair to poor 49.75 – 33.01 very poor the mean was used to determine the students’ initial and post writing performance. to test if there was a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest scores of each group, the t-test for dependent correlated samples was used. to determine if there was a significant difference in the writing performance of the two groups, the t-test for independent samples was used. results and discussion the students’ initial writing performance the first problem asks about the initial writing performance of the students assigned to the weblog and paper-and-pen groups. table 1 presents the pretest or the mean scores of the students. the students exposed to the weblog got a mean of 66.18 which is interpreted as “fair to poor,” while the paper-and-pen group got a mean score of 67.31, interpreted as “good to average.” table 1. initial writing performance of the students group of students pretest mean interpretation critical t-value computed t-value weblog 66.18 fair to poor 2.120 significant paper-and-pen 67.31 good to average difference in initial writing performance the second research question investigates whether there is a significant difference in the initial writing performance of both groups. table 1 further shows that the difference between the means of the weblog and paper-and-pen groups got a computed t-value of 0.69, which is lesser than the critical value of 2.120. the result indicates that the slight discrepancy in their mean scores was not significant and their initial level of performance was the same. the final results of the study would not be affected by the insignificant difference in the pretest writing competence of all the students. therefore, the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the preliminary writing performance of the students in both groups is accepted. 159 international peer reviewed journal post writing performance of the students the third problem inquires about the post writing performance of the students using the weblog on the one hand, and those using paper and pen on the other. table 2 shows that in the weblog group, the highest score was 99 and the lowest score was 61. in the paper-and-pen group, the highest score was 95 and the lowest score was 52. furthermore, table 2 depicts that the weblog group got a posttest mean score of 83.61 which is “excellent to very good.” on the other hand, the paper-and-pen group got a mean of 78.54 which means “good to average.” table 2. post writing performance of the students group of students posttestmean interpretation weblog 83.61 excellent to very good paper-and-pen 78.54 good to average the result shows a difference of 5.07, but this time it was the weblog group of students which earned a higher mean. after using the weblog, the students enhanced their performance in writing compared to those using only the paper and pen in writing because the students were able to study writing through process analysis, do the online paragraph writing exercises and link with other learning resources and websites. moreover, they were able to interact with the instructor and classmates from time to time. difference between the initial and post writing performance of the students using weblog the fourth question seeks to determine whether there is a significant difference between the initial writing performance and the post writing performance of the students using the weblog. table 3 shows, at 0.05 level of significance, the computed t-value of the group using the weblog is 5.10, which is greater than the critical value of 2.120. the difference between the initial and post writing performance of the weblog group was significant, thus, the second hypothesis is accepted. the result implies that using the weblog as a writing tool contributed significantly to the improvement of the students’ writing performance. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. t-test of the initial and post writing performance of both groups group of students pretest mean posttest mean computed t-value critical t-value interpretation weblog 66.18 83.61 5.10 2.120 significant paper-andpen 67.31 78.54 6.08 2.120 difference between the initial and post writing performance of the students using paper and pen the fifth question asks if there is a significant difference between the initial and post writing performance of the students using paper and pen. table 3 reflects the computed t-value of the paper-and-pen group which is greater than the critical value of 2.120. thus, there was a significant difference between the initial and post writing performance of the students in the said group. thus, the third research hypothesis is accepted. in other words, the performance of the students using the conventional paper and pen in writing also improved significantly. like their peers in the weblog group, the students in the paper-and-pen group greatly benefited from the instructors’ inputs and the learning experience to which they were exposed in class in the development of their writing ability. difference between the writing performance of the students using weblog and those using paper and pen the final research question investigates if there is a significant difference between the writing performance of the students in both the weblog and paper and pen groups. to determine if there was a significant difference between the writing performances of the students in the two groups, the t-test for independent samples was used. table 4 presents the results. table 4. t-test of the mean gain scores of both groups group of students mean gain computed t-value critical t-value interpretation weblog 17.43 2.40 2.120 significant paper-and-pen 11.23 161 international peer reviewed journal table 4 presents that the weblog group obtained a higher mean gain score of 17.43 than the paper-and-pen group, whose mean gain score was only 11.23. the computed t-value is 2.40, which is greater than the critical value of 2.120. thus, the difference is significant, based on the t-test for independent samples, at 0.05 level of significance. these figures reveal that the students using the weblog performed better in writing than those using the paper and pen. thus, the fifth research hypothesis is accepted, i.e. there is a significant difference between the writing performance of the students using weblog and those using paper and pen. the significant edge that the weblog group had over the paper-and-pen group could be due to certain reasons. according to maciuba-koppel (2002), the internet is a global library of niches. online writers enjoy freedom, challenges, and growth opportunities, and the ride of their writing life. from the preceding discussion, the results mean that both the weblog and paper and pen are productive tools in teaching writing. however, the weblog is more potential in helping students not just to improve their writing skills but also to make them enjoy writing as an essential activity in learning how to write. the result of the study is similar to that of lin (2014), asatryan (2014), manzanilla (2013), ellison-wu (2008), kashani, mahmud and kalajahi (2013) since they also used quantitative comparative data exploring the expressiveness in two types of writing: paper and pen and weblog. the results revealed that the use of weblogs improved the students’ writing performance than did paper and pen. conclusions on the basis of the data gathered, the following findings were drawn: 1. the initial writing performance of those who belonged to the weblog group was “fair to poor” while that of the paper-and-pen group was “good to average.” 2. the difference between the initial writing performance of both groups was not significant. hence, with the students’ initial writing performance being more or less on the same level, it can be said that the final results of the study were not in any way affected by the advantage of one group over the other. 3. the mean score of the weblog group was higher than that of the paper-andpen group. this means that students using the weblog performed better than those using the paper and pen. 4. a significant difference was found between the initial and post writing performance of the students exposed to the weblog which means that the 162 jpair multidisciplinary research students in this group benefited considerably from the use of the weblog in writing. thus, the second research hypothesis is accepted. 5. similarly, there was a significant difference between the initial and post writing performance of the students in the paper-and-pen group. it means that, like their counterparts in the weblog group, the students in the paperand-pen group also improved their writing performance considerably. therefore, the third research hypothesis is accepted. 6. there was a significant difference between the writing performance of the students using weblogs and those using paper and pen, hence, the fifth research hypothesis is accepted. this means that the weblog is a more effective tool than the paper and pen in the development of the students’ writing ability. students need a writing tool in whatever form to improve their writing ability. the kind of tool given, whether in paper and pen or weblog, will guide them as they enhance their writing performance. furthermore, students perform better if they use the weblog as a writing tool instead of paper and pen because the former necessitates and encourages interaction between the writer and the instructor as well as his/her peers, and interaction, being a social activity, facilitates learning. in using the weblog, the students do their online paragraph writing exercises and link with other resources on the internet. translational research the findings of this study may be best translated to the instructors’ use of weblog as a tool for teaching writing in their classes and view the motivation and eagerness of the students in writing. the english 2 syllabus developers and curriculum makers can use this study in order to design practical writing courses using weblog in which the students receive interactive feedback through social media. literature cited asatryan, n. (2014). expressiveness in blogs vs. pen-paper writings. bakhtin, m. m. (1981). the dialogic imagination: four essays by m.m. bakhtin. (ed. m. holoquist). austin: university of texas. 163 international peer reviewed journal cequeña, m. b., & gustilo, l. e. (2014) can weblogs reduce writing anxiety and facilitate improvement in writing skills? ellison, n. b., & wu, y. (2008). blogging in the classroom: a preliminary exploration of student attitudes and impact on comprehension.  journal of educational multimedia and hypermedia, 17(1), 99. fageeh, a. i. (2011). efl learners’ use of blogging for developing writing skills and enhancing attitudes towards english learning: an exploratory study. journal of language and literature, 2(1), 31-48. jacobs, h. l. (1981).  testing esl composition: a practical approach. english composition program. newbury house publishers, inc., rowley, ma 01969. jones, s. j. (2006).  blogging and esl writing: a case study of how students responded tot he use of weblogs as a pedagogical tool for the writing process approach in a community college esl writing class. university of texas libraries. kashani, h., mahmud, r. b., & kalajahi, s. a. r. (2013). comparing the effect of blogging as well as pen-and-paper on the essay writing performance of iranian graduate students. english language teaching, 6(10), 202. lin, m. h., li, j. j., hung, p. y., & huang, h. w. (2014). blogging a journal: changing students’ writing skills and perceptions.  elt journal,  68(4), 422431. maciuba-koppel, darlene (2002). the web writer’s guide. focal press. elsevier science, ma, usa: focal press. manzanilla, s. m. (2013).a research paper presentation from the joint international conference of the pan-asian consortium of language teaching societies (pac) and the philippine association for language teaching, inc. (palt) ’13. interactive weblogs: breaking barriers in l2 writing in the philippines. december 5-7, 2013, university of san jose recoletos, cebu city, philippines. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research massi, m. p. (2001). interactive writing in the efl class: a repertoire of tasks. the internet tesl journal, 7(6). reimer, k. a. (2013). the use of student written weblogs in esl classes to improve composition (doctoral dissertation, state university of new york at fredonia). salen, t. (2007).weblogs and blogging constructivist pedagogy and active learning in higher education. retrieved on november 8, 2015 from http:// bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/2243/masteroppgave_toril_salen. pdf?sequence=1 sayuti, r. (2013). a research paper presentation from the11th asia tefl international conference. a reason to write: writing through student journals. october 26-28, 2013, ateneo de manila university, philippines. tuncer, c. a. n. (2009). learning and teaching languages online: a constructivist approach. novitas-royal, 3(1), 60-74. villas, m. l. (2013). a research paper presentation from the 11th asia tefl international conference. teaching writing through contextualized writing tasks. october 26-28, 2013, ateneo de manila university, philippines. warschauer, m. (2010). invited commentary: new tools for teaching writing. language learning & technology, 14(1), 3-8. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research development of chalk from selected herbs as cockroach (periplaneta americana) repellents raphael kevin i. nagal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5790-4938 kevzcruize007@gmail.com libacao national forestry vocational high school poblacion, libacao, aklan originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the world health organization (who) estimates that there are 3 million cases of pesticide poisoning each year and up to 220,000 deaths primarily in developing countries. commercial repellents and pesticides, aside from being expensive, also contain chemicals that, when ingested, may pose further threats to the health of humans. the study aims to determine which plant preparation (bay leaf, garlic, peppermint, eucalyptus at 25%, 50% and 75% each) were able to form chalk and can repel the p. americana. endemic and accessible plants namely, eucalyptus (eucalyptus globulus), garlic (allium sativum), peppermint (mentha piperita), bay leaf (laurus nobilis) were used in this study as periplaneta americana repellent in the form of chalk. using a completely randomized design, results revealed that the type of plant preparation and chalk formation are independent. all plant preparations repelled the p. americana. based on the means of distances (cm) of repulsions, it was revealed that 75% peppermint preparation has the highest repulsion mean of 80.67cm based on three trials. hence, it is highly suggested that 75% and 50% mentha piperita, as well as 75% eucalyptus globulus, should be manufactured for commercial production based on the results of this study. vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.654 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 129 international peer reviewed journal keywords — agriculture and forestry, periplaneta americana repellent, experimental design, philippines/southeast asia introduction commercial repellents and pesticides, aside from being expensive, also contain chemicals that, when ingested, may pose further threats to the health of humans. these chemicals do more harm than good to the human body. most of the preparations of these commercial repellents are in the form of spray, lotion and even in a solid cube. households with children, especially infants and toddlers may accidentally ingest these repellents and instead of repelling the noxious arthropods, the children may be hospitalized. the world health organization (who) in 2001 estimated that out of three million cases of pesticide poisoning, 220,000 ended to mortality of patients in developing countries (sarwar, 2015). the pesticide is oftentimes improperly applied, and unintentional exposures occur to other animals in the vicinity where pesticides are used. the kids and also other young pets are principally vulnerable to the negative effects of pesticides and repellents alike. exposure to these chemicals during early childhood development may cause adverse health problems. exposure to pesticides can lead to a number of neurological health effects such as loss of memory, uncoordinated body movements, slow response to stimuli, problems with vision, mood and behavioral alterations, and reduced motor skills. these warning signs are often very subtle and may not be easily diagnosed as a clinical problem. further, possible health problems include asthma and other allergic reactions. pesticide exposure can also lead to carcinoma, hormonal disorders, and reproductive and obstetrical problems (sarwar, 2015). roaches were already living on the earth for at least two hundred million years before the first homo sapiens wandered the surface of the earth. cockroaches evolution is fascinating and complex when the researcher studies are surviving species comparative to the recorded fossil (dominguez, 2005). cockroaches, since time immemorial, have been a vector—a harbinger of diseases. cockroach infestation is a major domestic problem. cockroaches can pick up diseasecausing bacteria such as salmonella, on their legs and later deposit them on foods and cause food infections or poisoning (jacobs, 2013). the adults, being active and can easily be seen roaming around, must be controlled as they serve as a reservoir of diseases. house dust containing cockroach feces and body parts can 130 jpair multidisciplinary research trigger allergic reactions and asthma in certain individuals. studies show that the bacterium pseudomonas aeruginosa can reproduce massively in guts of these arthropods. the said bacterium can cause a lot of diseases like urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal problems, and septicemia. the odorous secretions produced by american cockroaches (periplaneta americana) can alter the flavor of food. moreover, if populations of cockroaches are high, a strong concentration of this odorous secretion can be present. to top all these facts, cockroaches multiply at an exponential level. with these cited threats, it is really a necessity to repel these organisms from our houses that is if drastic measures such as complete eradication of these arthropods, is not an option. since more than a quarter of the philippines population is below the poverty line, it would be hard for these individuals to allow budget on some of their basic needs, and these needs include healthpromoting toiletries in the form of insect repellents. organic preparation of repellents, aside from being environmentally friendly, can be reproduced cheaply. intensive use of chemical insecticides affect not only the target species but also non-target species and environment. the present question about non-poisonous repellent has come to the researcher’s mind. in this study, the researcher chose plants that are inexpensive, endemic and require simple methods of extraction. the study aims to determine if plants namely, garlic (allium sativum), bay leaf (laurus nobilis), eucalyptus (eucalyptus globulus) and peppermint (mentha piperita) as repelling agents can be used as an effective, non-hazardous and budget-friendly roach repellent. chemical analysis from related literature in botany and medicine revealed the following substances from the chosen plants: garlic (allium sativum) garlic can be used to repel a variety of crawling and flying insects, including mosquitoes, according to patrick parker (2002). garlic bulbs contain an amino acid that converts to a chemical called allicin after being blended, chopped, or crushed. the garlic in itself does not have the chemical allicin, however, when the garlic cloves are cut or crushed, two compounds inside it react to form the said substance. this is the reason why garlic will not smell until it is crushed. the typical smell released as a product of this procedure has powerful insect repellent properties. the chemical allicin has shown to have fungicidal, bactericidal, antiviral and anti-infective properties. scientists believe that the substance may also help in preventing the occurrence of cancer. oil from garlic has been used as a repellent against insects and may also be lethal to certain insect ova. current studies showed results that garlic is not only 131 international peer reviewed journal valuable as an herbal plant, as it can also be utilized as an insect repellent to some plant pests like cockroaches. transgenic rice cultivars containing asal protein (a. sativum leaf lectin based) have been found to exhibit increased resistance against sap-sucking insects such as brown planthopper and green leafhopper (meriga, mapori, & muralikrishna, 2012). bay leaf (laurus nobilis) – it is a known fact that the l. nobilis leaves are a very popular component in pasta sauces and soups. however, only a few know that they can also be utilized as an eco-friendly insect repellent. when scattered around the home, dried bay leaves can be just as effective as most popular commercial pesticide sprays in repelling annoying insects, like ants, termites, cockroaches, and fleas. the fact that there are no toxins involved when using bay leaves instead of commercial insecticides makes it qualified research subject -they are safe for use at houses where toddlers and domesticated pets exist. essential oils in bay leaves contain lauric acid, which has insect repellent properties. the bay leaf from the laurus nobilis ‘bay laurel’ tree along with regular sanitation practices can repel cockroaches, eliminating them from our personal spaces. bay leaf oil and leaves can also be used in warding off moths, cockroaches, and other insects away from households without harming the children or family pets. the best way to do this is by placing dried bay leaves around moist spots, cabinets or at different corners of the house. this process leaves behind nice natural scent which also keeps insects repelled. eucalyptus (eucalyptus globulus) any insect such as ants and gnats will avoid its strong, sharp smells as potential hazards. eucalyptus not only has a strong aroma—in most areas of the country, it is also something unfamiliar and instinctively will be perceived by roaches as possibly hazardous. there is evidence that components in eucalyptus oil (in particular the compounds p-menthane-3, 8-diol and eucamol) are as effective as deet and in some cases more effective. currently, it has been discovered that a lot of cooling agents also have potent insect repelling property and this includes the p-menthane-3,8-diols (leffingwel, 2001). peppermint (mentha piperita) peppermint is an aromatic plant, created from the blending of watermint and spearmint. peppermints have high menthol contents. the peppermint oil also has carboxyl esters and menthone, specifically methyl acetate. these compounds give the plant its strong minty aroma which the cockroaches dislike. the repellent action of mentha oil was comparable to that of mylol oil consisting of dibutyl and dimethyl phthalates. this was validated by the study conducted by ansari, vasudevan, tandon, & razdan (2000) where oil 132 jpair multidisciplinary research of mentha piperita l. (peppermint oil), a widely used essential oil, was evaluated for larvicidal activity against different mosquito species. the four plants above were chosen because these are indigent in the community. garlic and bayleaf are known to grow in various parts of libacao and are considered as an indigenous plant of the municipality. peppermint and eucalyptus may not be grown commercially in libacao, but it is widely used as ingredients in cooking. cornstarch, being edible and even used in cooking, is a good choice in creating chalks which are non-poisonous to children. aside from this, the mentioned website was able to provide easily understood steps in doing the process. according to eatbydate.com, cornstarch should be kept covered in a cool dark place (the pantry) away from moisture. the best way to store it is in its original container with the lid re-sealed. as long as it remains dry, it will remain safe to use since the shelf life of cornstarch is really indefinite there is a need to create an economically-friendly, non-poisonous insectrepellant made from organic material. another consideration of the researchers is that the said anti-roach should be handy and can be easily applied. there are plants endemic in the philippines which have insect repellant properties. four of these plants are as follows: eucalyptus (eucalyptus globulus), garlic (allium sativum), peppermint (mentha piperita), and bay leaf (laurus nobilis). the researchers believe that it is a necessity to pursue research on innovating these plants into a budget-friendly, purely organic and edible cockroach repellent in the form of chalk. these plants are easily accessible and are available in most household kitchens, thus, this study. objectives of the study generally, this study aims to make an alternative hazard-free cockroach repellent which is budget friendly in the form of chalk. the study aims to determine if we can create a cockroach repellent from the powdered plants namely, garlic, bay leaf, peppermint and eucalyptus leaves. specifically, it aims to answer the following questions: (1) which plant preparation will be able to form chalk? (2) which plant repellent will be able to repel the p. americana? (3) what is the average distance the p. americana will be repelled from each of the plant preparations using 3 trials? (4) is there a significant difference between the average distances of repulsion of p. americana in each plant preparation compared to the control? (5) what is the duration of the repellent effects of each plant preparations? 133 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study employed experimental research. specifically, a completely randomized design was used. since it only uses two basic principles, randomization and replication, the completely randomized design (crd) remains the simplest design for comparative experiments. i was initially developed for agricultural experiments (salkind, 2010). research site the study was carried out at libacao national forestry vocational high school, poblacion, libacao, aklan. commercially available and organically grown plants were used in the study. organic fertilizers were used to grow said plants. no artificially created fertilizers and pesticides were used in growing the said plants. participants thirty-nine (39) students with informed consent were asked to assist in the application of the treatments and in documenting the testing process. instrumentation the current study was conducted using the following steps: a. materials the materials, tools, and equipment that were used in the conduct of this study are as follows: plant materials (garlic, bay leaf, eucalyptus, and peppermint) cornstarch water wax paper masking tape cardboard weighing scale stirrer beaker knife oven mortar and pestle/coffee grinder empty cartons android phone 134 jpair multidisciplinary research b. methods figure 1. process flowchart c. collection and maintenance of p. americana for the present studies, p. americana, of both sexes were trapped and collected at work, at home, street, and other buildings. the male abdomen contains asymmetrical genitalia, epiprocts and cerci like the female, and below the cerci one or two thin appendages called styles that retain in adult from those found in the nymphal stages of both sexes; the female abdomen contains the small 135 international peer reviewed journal ovipositor valves concealed beneath tergum 10 (the 10th dorsal segment) inside a genital atrium (gullan, et al., 2005). picture 1 & 2. identifying the adult male (left) and female (right) p. americana their habitat was created to simulate a favorable condition for them to thrive. they can be found in abundance in dark, damp areas. they need access to water and food. these were the criteria needed in making their container. in the habitat, the roaches were acclimatized in the container with dimensions 20×10×15 inches for 30 days before the start of the experiment. food and water were provided ad libitum. food consists of cracker, noodles, rice, water, and cabbages. after acclimatization, the healthy and mature roaches of both sexes were randomly selected by an entomologist from aklan state university. cockroaches are hemimetabolous insects with three stages of development: egg, nymph, and adult. the egg stage for american cockroaches lasts about six to eight weeks, while oriental cockroaches hatch in approximately 60 days (brown, merchant, & gold 2012). d. preparation of raw materials the plants were taken from a nursery at libacao national forestry vocational high school. these were ensured that the plants are of the same age during the time of collection. garlic cloves were peeled, sliced thinly and dried in an oven. the garlic was then turned into powder using a coffee grinder. the leaves of bay leaf, eucalyptus and peppermint were washed thoroughly and dried under the sun or in an oven. these were then pulverized using a coffee grinder and a mortar and pestle. e. chalk making molds made from cardboard lined with the wax paper were used to contain the chalk. equal amounts of cornstarch and water are mixed to create the chalk. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research each of the plants was prepared in three concentrations (25, 50, and 75%). that is, for 25% concentration, 25grams of the powdered plant is mixed in 75grams of the cornstarch-water mix. pure chalk, made from just the cornstarch and water solution, was also created which served as the control in this study. a total of thirteen preparations were made. f. treatment three different concentrations of each plant, that is, 25, 50, and 75%, were tested against a placebo (chalk only). the placebo served as the control in this study. the plants used are bay leaf, garlic, eucalyptus, and peppermint. five cockroaches were tested to each plant preparation and the control. g. experimental setup thirty-nine (39) laboratory pens of size 100×100×40 cm were used in the experiment. each pen was cleaned properly taking into consideration that no trace of any smell remains in them. the treatment was placed at the center of each pen. the cockroaches were placed in a receptacle just beside the treatment. a student was assigned to each pen. the student took a picture of the pen after 10 minutes to determine the distance traveled by the cockroaches. here is the schematic diagram of the setup: figure 2. schematic diagram of the experimental set-up. h. replications/trials each treatment was collected in three trials. the experiment was done simultaneously in all 39 pens. here is the laboratory layout of the experiment 137 international peer reviewed journal arranged in a completely randomized design with thirteen (13) treatments and three (3) replications. figure 3. replications. research ethics protocol intel isef (intel international science and engineering fair) forms were prepared prior to the conduct of the study. an entomologist guided the selection process of the target insect. a chemist helped in the formulation of the plantbased repellents. data collection repellent effect of the plants was assessed based on the distance traveled by the cockroaches from the chalk as well as the duration of its repulsion. the distance was measured in centimeters after 10 minutes of exposure to repellents. the mean of the distances traveled by all cockroaches will be taken in every pen qualitative observation was to be noted each day to determine the duration of repellent effects to cockroaches. once the repellents are already observed with cockroaches crawling on it, then that will be the basis of the researchers that the repellents have fully exhausted its effects. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical techniques values were determined and analyzed through one-way anova (analysis of variance). one-way anova is a technique that generalizes the two-sample t-test to three or more samples (heiberger & neuwirth, 2009). the analysis of variance is a statistical tool which assesses significant differences in a scalelevel dependent variable by a nominal-level variable with two or more categories. in this study, the independent variables are the plant preparations while the dependent variable is the distance traveled by the cockroaches after 10 minutes. after yielding a significant difference in the results, a post hoc test, fisher’s least significant difference (lsd) method for multiple comparisons was used to determine which pair of values have significant differences. results and discussion chalk formation upon finishing the chalk making procedures, the researcher was able to confirm that all the plants (bay leaf, garlic, peppermint, eucalyptus) and their concentrations (25%, 50%, 75%) formed a functional chalk—that is, the chalk is solid enough to hold on to and is able to write on surfaces. the chalk’s consistency and stability are highly dependent on the balance between the amount of solute (plant powder and cornstarch) and solvent (water). mixing also affects the products’ consistency and appearance. these considerations were taken into account when creating the products to ensure the proper distribution of the plant materials in the chalk solution. using trial and error, a total of thirteen chalks, including the control, were created. picture 3. drying of the chalk repellents. 139 international peer reviewed journal picture 4. a sample of the finished product. repellent effect as observed during the experiment, all preparations, except the control were able to repel the cockroaches using three trials. picture 5. cockroaches are repelled by a sample treatment. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research the distance of repulsion in all chalk repellents table 1. mean distance (cm) of repulsion traveled by the p. americana after 10 minutes as applied with treatments. repellents mean distance of repulsion * (m) 75% mentha piperita 80.67a (i) 50% menthapiperita 68.17ab (k) 75% eucalyptusglobulus 54.00abc (g) 50% eucalyptusglobulus 44.65bc (l) 75% laurusnobilis 34.33cd (h) 50% laurusnobilis 31.50cde (j) 75% alliumsativum) 17.50def (d) 25% laurusnobilis 15.50def (f) 50% alliumsativum 14.67def (c) 25% eucalyptusglobulus 14.33def (e) 25% menthapiperita 13.00def (b) 25% alliumsativum 6.83ef (a) control (placebo) 2.33f *significant at 5% level; p-value=0.000; lsd=27.35 **means with common letters are not significantly different at 5% level by lsd: m vs l = not significant; m vs a = significant the analysis of variance showed that means are significantly different at 5% level which can be interpreted that the distance of repulsion of cockroaches after 10 minutes of exposure to plant repellents are comparable to each other as well as to the control. the 75% mentha piperita has the highest distance of p. americana repulsion. it is closely followed by the 50% mentha piperita and 75% eucalyptus globulus. these three repellents have no significant difference in terms of distance of repulsion. we can see that the control has the lowest distance of repulsion, but that is expected as it doesn’t contain any plant repellent. thus, the plant repellent with the lowest distance of repulsion is the 25% allium sativum. based on this result, we can see that 75 percent of mentha piperita preparation has the highest repulsion mean based on three trials. this plant repellent has no significant difference against the 50% mentha piperita and 75% eucalyptus globulus. 141 international peer reviewed journal it is noted that all the subject plants have similar particular characteristic—all of them have an aromatic smell. the chemical analysis of the active ingredients of these plant repellents responsible for their aromatic smell revealed the following results. the e. globulus has high components of compounds p-menthane-3, 8-diol and eucamol which are perceived by p. americana as hazardous. a study conducted by thomas (2011) stated that this component might also be at par with the n-ndiethyl netatoluamide (deet)—the active ingredient of commercially prepared repellents. the m. piperita, on the other hand, has a high menthol content. this plant also contains menthone and carboxyl esters, particularly methyl acetate which give the plant its strong minty aroma which the cockroaches dislike. the l. nobilis contains lauric acid, which gives off its strong aroma that has repellent properties. lastly, the a. sativum contains protein molecules that transforms into a chemical called allicin after being chopped, crushed or blended. the distinctive smell that is released as a product of this method has a powerful repellent property. although inconclusive, the garlic preparation may have affected its efficacy since the preparation of the a. sativum involves drying of the cloves which diminishes its aromatic smell. duration of repellent efficacy all plant preparations repelled the cockroaches as stated in the previous data. a sample pen of each plant preparations were left untouched until such time that cockroaches will crawl naturally over the chalk. the chalk was left overnight. most cockroaches have died on the second day. those who survived were able to crawl naturally on the plant preparations. in a study conducted by bessette, lindsay & enan (2003), “insecticidal composition in the control of cockroaches and ants is comprised of a mixture of selected herb essential oils which include 40% benzyl alcohol and 40% peppermint oil with a fit solvent in a solution showed that it is highly effective, as results exhibited fast knockdown and mortality against cockroaches. thus, although inconclusive, m. piperita could also be used as a pesticide aside from being a repellent. conclusions pests affect the health and the economy of the country. in household situations, insects act as carriers for allergens and diseases. in this research, the target organisms are the p. americana who are not only scavengers of human food 142 jpair multidisciplinary research but also harbingers of diseases. although commercial pesticides can act as control measures for these arthropods, we can’t risk the lives of humans from the side effects of these pesticides. hence, this study, which is focused on the creation of a handy, economical and edible repellent solves the problem. from the results above, it is highly recommended that the 75% mentha piperita, 50% mentha piperita and 75% eucalyptus globulus should be used in mass production for plant-based chalk cockroach repellents. it is also noted that the type of plant preparation and chalk formation are independent. the type of plant repellents and its ability to repel p. americana have significant relationships. a significant difference was noted between the average distances of repulsion of cockroaches in each plant preparation and the control. lastly, it is observed that the effects of the repellents vanish on the second day from the time of application. translational research the chalks developed from the research were already undergoing a patenting process. requirements for intellectual property were already being prepared. it is highly suggested that 75% and 50% mentha piperita, as well as 75% eucalyptus globulus should be manufactured for commercial production based on the results of this study. a brochure on the creation process and effects of the repellents are also underway and will be recommended to doh, denr, and da for mass production. literature cited ansari, m. a., vasudevan, p., tandon, m., & razdan, r. k. (2000). larvicidal and mosquito repellent action of peppermint (mentha piperita) oil. bioresource technology, 71(3), 267-271. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/s09608524(99)00079-6 bessette, s., lindsay, a., & enan, e. (2003).  u.s. patent application no. 10/014,797. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2bhhifa brown, w., merchant, m., & gold, r. (may 2012). cockroach biology and management. agrilife extension. texas. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2isqu34 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0960-8524(99)00079-6 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0960-8524(99)00079-6 https://bit.ly/2bhhifa https://bit.ly/2isqu34 https://bit.ly/2isqu34 143 international peer reviewed journal dominguez, m. c. the cockroach. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2t2iljz gullan, p. j., & cranston, p. s. (2014). the insects: an outline of entomology. john wiley & sons. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2spqrda heiberger, r. m., & neuwirth, e. (2009). one-way anova. in  r through excel (pp. 165-191). springer, new york, ny. retrieved from doi https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0052-4_7 jacobs, s. (2013). american cockroaches. pennstate: college of agricultural sciences. the pennsylvania state university. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2bhvg0g meriga, b., mopuri, r., & muralikrishna, t. (2012). insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of bulb extracts of allium sativum.  asian pacific journal of tropical medicine,  5(5), 391-395. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1016/s1995-7645(12)60065-0 parker, p. (2 april 2002). garlic successful as natural insect repellent. savatree. com. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2v9ts9w salkind, n. j. (ed.). (2010).  encyclopedia of research design (vol. 1). sage. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288.n64 sarwar, m. (2015). the dangers of pesticides associated with public health and preventing of the risks. international journal of bioinformatics and biomedical engineering, 1(2), 130-136. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gmkbpg thomas, p. (2012). natural insect repellents that bite back. nyr natural news. retrieved from https://bit.ly/29f7jgg https://bit.ly/2t2iljz https://bit.ly/2spqrda https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0052-4_7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0052-4_7 https://bit.ly/2bhvg0g https://bit.ly/2bhvg0g https://doi.org/10.1016/s1995-7645(12)60065-0 https://doi.org/10.1016/s1995-7645(12)60065-0 https://bit.ly/2v9ts9w http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288.n64 https://bit.ly/2gmkbpg https://bit.ly/29f7jgg 107 international peer reviewed journal development and evaluation of discovery approach-based instructional materials for high school science nero m. paderes http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9375-2839 neropaderes37@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences and technology abra, philippines abstract the traditional method of science teaching in the province of abra, philippines is still prevalent. this leads to poor academic outcomes due to poor understanding and comprehension of students on the different theories in science. hence, the study was conducted to develop and evaluate instructional materials aligned to discovery approach and to determine the level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the developed instructional materials for science teaching. the study used the students and teacher collaborative instructional materials development model (stcimd) to develop and evaluate instructional materials exclusively for physics, chemistry, and biology. students from fourth year, third year, and second year of asist laboratory high school and subject teachers served as the evaluators of the prepared instructional materials. majority of the instructional materials developed were evaluated by the teachers as strongly appropriate (sa), acceptable (a), and usable (u). the students evaluated the instructional materials as appropriate (a), acceptable (a), and usable (u). results showed that the instructional materials captured their interest and curiosity in discovering the scientific principle behind the activity. accordingly, these instructional materials that were aligned to discovery approach were proven vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.331 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 108 jpair multidisciplinary research valuable in achieving meaningful learning. thus, these materials should be utilized during the lesson presentation to facilitate learning. keywords – education, instructional materials, discovery approach, science teaching, descriptive design, abra, philippines introduction throughout history, the education and training of each person, group, and society have continuously acted as a valuable role for development. it caters in providing valuable human resources for the advancement of all areas in society. many places conduct researches  about new teaching techniques, new teaching tools and new curriculum in developing their country’s educational system (huy, 2013). however, the transfer and development of knowledge will always depend on the teaching strategy employed by the teachers which will motivate the learner and guide him in his own understanding with regards to the application of scientific principles. the most common method employed in teaching is known as the traditional approach. to distinguish the difference between traditional from other teaching strategies, we could say that traditional teaching focuses with the teacher being the manipulator of the learning environment. authority and accountability are assumed by the teacher and performs the part of a mentor (through class discussion) and evaluator (in respect to curriculum content and specific outcomes). the traditional method believes that teachers are the reason for knowledge to transpire (novak, 1998). the subject matter and the traditional teaching technique are believed to be highly valuable in conveying information to learners using constant memorization or repetition of the lesson (d. johnson & r. johnson, 1991; theroux, 2001). one of the disadvantages of old-fashioned teaching is that it intentionally gives importance to customary practices, does not promote decisive reasoning ability, and does not improve proficiency to keenly utilize knowledge learned through actual practice and understanding. it highly stresses the part of educators as source of wisdom and learners as knowledge receptacles. this type of education does not permit the learners’ hidden stage of comprehension needed for difficult ideas and lasting knowledge. it also emphasizes passing tests, whether or not students understand the content of the testing material. the development of knowledge is thus, hindered, and learners are discouraged to learn the procedures, 109 international peer reviewed journal means and approaches to solve problems. instead of concentrating on a wider scope and focusing on the learner’s perspective as what constructivism does, conventional teaching instead concentrates on rudimentary abilities to slowly develop a learner. though this makes education easier, it gives only a small background or information to students. conventional teaching concentrates on each learner’s activity and work but fails to instill group dynamics. this form of education fails to train learners the essence of unity and cooperation in achieving wisdom and knowledge (smerdon, burkam & lee, 1999). the traditional method of science teaching in the province of abra is still considered prevalent which leads to poor academic outcomes due to poor understanding and comprehension of students on the different theories in science. to provide remedy to this problem, the integration of other forms of teaching strategy should be considered such as discovery approach. discovery learning aims to let learners find solutions on their own, as well as analyze data and formulate inquiries. its main objective is to let learners come up with their own answers to problems that were not clear to them before. apparently, once questions are made, they can gain new ideas that will further motivate them to explore new areas (marzano, 2011). an effective way of utilizing new teaching strategies such as discovery learning is through the development of related instructional materials. the instructional material design following a student-centered approach combined with case-based and collaborative learning produced encouraging result wherein conversations with school children showed that the use of the developed instructional material made the class motivating and thought provoking, aided them to practice computing realistic problems, encouraged teamwork, incorporated geography and history, and encouraged development of their interaction abilities (godoy & gravoso, 2010). a similar study was conducted in singapore exploring student teachers’ intentions and actions in technology integration as a form of instructional material in their classrooms. results show that student teachers in singapore are willing to use the instructional material to facilitate student-centered learning when they become full-pledged teachers. (choy, wong & gao, 2009). teachers should consider instructional materials that are cost-effective as well as conformant with today’s instructional material standards. the instructional materials will further be assessed and evaluated based on the rubrics that are adopted. the goal of the study is to look for a possible practical approach on enhancing learning through the development and use of instructional materials. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research framework teaching the different fields of science is a complex and painstaking endeavor. everything that a teacher does should always be exact, precise and accurate to be able to achieve meaningful learning. science teaching can be best described as a constantly evolving field in educational instruction that undergoes transformation with the changing time. in the advancement of science and technology, teaching strategies and methods in science teaching is being revolutionized to meet the needs of students. for students to keep up with the changing trends of instruction, teachers must consider methods and strategies along with proper instructional materials. thus, this research is concerned with the development and evaluation of discovery approach-based instructional materials for high school science. the instructional materials presented in the study were simple electric motor and steam powered boat for physics, kitchen chemicals and surface tension for chemistry and audio-visual presentation of human circulatory system and human digestive system for biology stand as the independent variable in this study. the level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the different discovery approached-based instructional materials developed will be the dependent variable. figure 1. conceptual paradigm of the study 111 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study the study aimed to develop and use instructional materials that are relevant based on the principles of human learning and cognition that will also fit current standards and practices for instructional materials design (greitzer, merrill, rice & curtis, 2004). methodology prior to the conduct of the research, necessary permits were obtained as well as strict ethical protocols were observed. the study used the students and teacher collaborative instructional materials development model to develop and evaluate instructional materials aligned to discovery approach. figure 2. the students and teacher collaborative instructional materials development model the sources of the study were collected from second year, third year and fourth year high school students who used and evaluated the instructional materials. the study was divided into three fields of science, namely, biology; chemistry and physics in which the instructional materials were used through discovery approach. both sections of the fourth year, third year, and second year students of asist laboratory school were chosen as assessors, together with corresponding subject teachers. the researchers used the students and teacher collaborative instructional materials development model to develop and evaluate instructional materials. the evaluators were selected through random sampling. the students whose names were odd numbered were given evaluation sheets. the instructional materials were evaluated according to the level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability. the gathered data were organized and recorded after the administration of the said study. the instructional materials presented in the study were simple electric motor and steam powered boat for physics, kitchen chemicals and surface tension for chemistry and audio-visual presentation of human circulatory system and human digestive system for biology. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. fourth year students performing the activity in thermodynamics using the steam power boat model figure 4. fourth year students performing the activity in electromagnetism using the improvised electric motor model figure 5. chemistry teachers evaluates the developed instructional material in microchemistry using household chemicals in explaining chemical reactions and surface tension. 113 international peer reviewed journal figure 6. audio-visual presentation as part of the instructional material in biology the levels of usability, acceptability and appropriateness of the developed instructional materials were evaluated and described following the norms: appropriateness acceptability usability range interval descriptive rating 3.50 4.00 strongly appropriate (sa) strongly acceptable (sa) strongly usable (su) 2.50 3.49 appropriate (a) acceptable (a) usable (u) 1.50 2.49 fairly appropriate (fa) fairly acceptable (fa) fairly usable (fu) 1.00 – 1.49 not appropriate (na) not acceptable (na) not usable (nu) usability it is the usefulness of the instructional materials. acceptability it is to determine whether instructional materials are worth the cost in materials, effort and time involved. appropriateness it is the suitability of the instructional materials to students and teachers. results and discussion the findings were based on the table of statistical analysis on the level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of instructional materials. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the audio-visual presentation used in teaching human circulatory system for biology instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 3.67 sa 3.45 a acceptability 4.00 sa 3.58 sa usability 3.00 u 3.39 u it has been observed that the subject teacher and students in the study found the audio-visual lessons appropriate, acceptable, and usable. they enjoyed during its demonstration as “an enjoyable learning setup is a prerequisite to fruitful teaching”. it is likewise promising that the students realized that the materials are relevant and valuable. this is because appropriate and applicable tools enable students to achieve specific expertise, intelligence, and manners (ghee & heng, 2008). table 2. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the audio-visual presentation used in teaching human digestive system for biology instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 4.00 sa 3.46 a acceptability 4.00 sa 3.53 sa usability 3.67 su 3.47 u wetzel, radtke, and stern (1994) found in their research that audiovisual materials enhance learners’ attention in the topic, as well as it acts as a driving force to learn. students find audiovisual materials appealing, and it leads to higher degree of acceptance among students (kearney & treagust, 2001; piotrow, khan, lozare, & khan, 2000). likewise, a similar result shows the affirmative effects of interactive audiovisual material on both learning outcomes and learner satisfaction in e-learning (zhang, zhou, briggs & nunamaker, 2006). 115 international peer reviewed journal table 3. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the kitchen chemicals used in teaching chemistry instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 4.00 sa 3.34 a acceptability 3.00 a 3.16 a usability 4.00 su 3.17 u according to the ministry of education (1995), in using instructional technologies, the teacher can explain concepts that would be difficult to elaborate orally. students can easily understand concepts when they see the material, its mechanism, and its function. table 4. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the instructional material used in teaching surface tension for chemistry instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 3.33 a 3.23 a acceptability 3.50 sa 3.21 a usability 3.00 u 3.30 u in terms of appropriateness, the evaluated instructional material was based according to the significance of the material to students, and styles or designs of the material. the computed mean of the teacher is 3.33 while the students obtained a mean of 3.23. although, the evaluation of the teacher is lower compared to the students, both agreed that the material is appropriate (a). the use of the instructional material has an impact on students’ content acquisition and adds to class performance (baylor & ritchie, 2002). however, research has shown that it is not only the technology that is important, but also how it is used that improves learning and increases pupils’ interest (beggs, 2000). 116 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the instructional material used in teaching electric motor for physics instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 4.00 sa 3.23 a acceptability 3.25 a 3.14 a usability 3.67 su 3.21 u a research study conducted in the division of pateros and taguig for c.y 2003-2004 shows very poor performance of fourth year students in physics. changes were made in their science curriculum, but still low results were obtained. this prompted school administrators to implement discovery approach-based instructional materials. result shows that the instructional materials effectively increased the performance level of the students. all instructional materials were also evaluated as highly acceptable with regard to its usability, adequacy, clarity, and relevance (naval, 2014). table 6. level of appropriateness, acceptability, and usability of the instructional material used in teaching using steam powered boat for physics instructional material component teacher students adjectival description adjectival description appropriateness 4.00 sa 3.13 a acceptability 3.25 a 3.13 a usability 3.67 su 3.10 u physics is one of the science subjects that is considered to be difficult and hard to understand due to its mathematical equations that further increases the complexity of the subject matter. most high school students find physics difficult to understand. this may be accounted to the use of mathematics as its language which requires skills in computation. if not properly explained it will lead to erroneous beliefs or misconceptions on the part of the students. the introduction of instructional material will aid students to comprehend the lesson better, especially when it involves a great number of learners (ijese from australia, 2008). 117 international peer reviewed journal conclusions instructional materials aligned to discovery approach in science teaching enhances students’ participation and learning in biology, chemistry, and physics. based on the findings of the study, most of the instructional materials developed were strongly appropriate (sa), acceptable (a), and usable (u) for classroom instruction as perceived by the teachers. the findings of this study imply that there is a need for the improvement of instructional materials in science and technology in abra. on the other hand, the students evaluated the developed instructional materials as appropriate (a), acceptable (a), and usable (u). this implies that instructional materials associated to discovery approach can better improve learning outcomes as well as enhance their understanding of concepts and ideas on the different fields of science. therefore, maintaining students’ interest in science and technology can be attained by the implementation of discovery approach in teaching which, if well planned, can inspire and encourage the learner to perform and observe the scientific knowledge learned to life situations by making use of the process and skills in science. this could also lead to the attainment and advancement of knowledge in the country. through discovery approach, learners will be able to foster more optimistic point of view towards learning skills and also, it will improve learning results through hands-on and minds-on activities. translational research the researcher regards this study as a catalyst of change in improving the learning outcomes of students in the province of abra. from the result of the study, teachers would be given ideas on how to create instructional materials in science that is well suited for discovery approach. instructional materials that were developed from this study will undergo further enhancement and then be distributed to participating schools in the province for further verification and validation as to its effectiveness. once it passed all criteria as an instructional material on discovery approach, it will then be converted into kits that will be readily available to all schools in the province. hence, this will hopefully increase the inquisitiveness and attainment of knowledge of students in abra. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited baylor, a.l. & ritchie, d. (2002). what factors facilitate teacher skill, teacher morale, and perceived student learning in technology using classrooms? computer and education, 39, 395-414. beggs, t.a. (2000). influences and barriers to the adoption of instructional technology. proceedings of the mid-south instructional technology conference. murfreesboro, tn, 1-14. choy, d., wong, a. f., & gao, p. (2009). student teachers’ intentions and actions on integrating technology into their classrooms during student teachings: a singapore study. journal of research on technology in education, 42(2), 175195. ghee, t. t., & heng, l. t. (2008). efficacy of multimedia teaching instruction in elementary mandarin class. proceedings of the third centre for language studies (cls) international conference (pp. 686–697). retrieved from http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/tan_lim.pdf accessed on oct. 23, 2012. godoy, j. v., & gravoso, r. s. (2010). design and implementation of an instructional innovation for at-risk learners: a classroom study.  the asiapacific education researcher, 17(2). greitzer, f. l., merrill, m. d., rice, d. m., & curtis, d. s. (2004). representing instructional material for scenario-based guided-discovery courseware. in the interservice/industry training, simulation & education conference (i/itsec) (vol. 2004, no. 1). national training systems association. huy, p. q. (2013). learning needs and education of public sector accounting in global economic integration an exploratory study at vietnamese universities. tạp chí phát triển và hội nhập, (4 (14)), 70-73. johnson d, johnson r. (1991) learning together and alone ed3.;allyn & bacon, sydney. http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/dlit/2002/environs/ jasmine/refs.htm. accessed on oct. 21, 2012  119 international peer reviewed journal kearney, m., & treagust, d. f. 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(1998) learning, creating and using knowledge: concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations; lawrence erlbaum associates, inc; new jersey, pp 24-25. http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/dlit/2002/ environs/jasmine/refs.htm accessed on oct. 23, 2012. piotrow, p., khan, o., lozare, b., & khan, s. (2000). health communication programs: a distance education class within the john hopkins university school of public health distance education program. in m. khosrowpour (ed.), web-based learning and teaching technologies: opportunities and challenges. hershey, pa: idea group publishing. smerdon, becky a.,  burkam, david t.,  lee, valerie j. (1999), access to constructivist and didactic teaching; who gets it? where is it practiced? teachers college record. 101, (1), 5-34. http://www.tcrecord.org/content. asp?contentid=10423 accessed on june 3, 2015. theroux, p. (2001). comparing traditional teaching and student centered, collaborative learning url: http://shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/collaborative. html. accessed on oct. 23, 2012. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research wetzel, c.d., radtke, r.h., stern, h.w. (1994) instructional effectiveness of video media, lawrence erlbaum associates, hillsdale, nj. zhang, d., zhou, l., briggs, r. o., & nunamaker, j. f., jr. (2006). instructional video in e-learning: assessing the impact of interactive video on learning effectiveness. information and management, 43, 15–27. 123 international peer reviewed journal stakeholders’ observed impact of the adopt-an-estero water body program in segment 3 of iloilo batiano river, philippines shirley g. hampac http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6829-7750 hampacshe@gmail.com john b. lacson foundation maritime university (arevalo), inc. sto. nino sur, arevalo, iloilo city, philippines belinda e. gavadan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2342-3340 gavadanbelinda30@gmail.com john b. lacson foundation maritime university (arevalo), inc. sto. nino sur, arevalo, iloilo city, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract cleaning a river needs the collaboration of all stakeholders. thus, this study delved into the stakeholders’ observed impacts of the adopt-an-estero water body program (aewbp) jointly implemented at segment 3 of batiano river by the jblfmu-arevalo, denr 6, and other sectoral groups. the study employed a descriptive research design with ninety-two respondents identified through purposive sampling. the findings revealed that the majority participated once to five times in the cleanup. when not involved in cleanup activity, stakeholders vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.467 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 124 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 visited the area five or more times a year. the observed impacts of aewbp on the community include environmental education, increased health and safety, and established community relationships. on stakeholders, the observed impacts were becoming more environment-aware, motivated to reduce and properly dispose of garbage, and disciplined. on the environment, respondents observed healthier aquatic status, reduced plastic, and increased environmental awareness. current strategies used, like the length of cleanup, using gaff, and the type of people involved, was rated highly effective, where a significant difference was noted in the stakeholders’ observed effectiveness. the stakeholders cited other effective ways of implementation like more often clean up, dredging the river, more funds, continuing education, and more organizations. this study concludes that the aewbp is a good learning avenue for the environmental protection of the community. keywords — social science, stakeholders, adopt-an-estero water body program, segment 3, iloilo batiano river, descriptive, philippines introduction rivers are valued as the main water source for irrigation, domestic supply, power generation, industry, and other ecosystem services. undeniably, rivers and streams are priceless resources, but reports of pollution from urban and agricultural areas threaten our water quality (tickner et al., 2017). a case study conducted by srinivas (2016) covering the thames river, u.k., mekong river, southeast asia, yodogawa river, japan, and ganges river, india revealed that communities living along banks are major culprits for various problems affecting water quality and quantity. it further proved the overuse of water, dumping solid waste, draining sewage and gray water, and urban debris that pollutes rainwater run-off into rivers. industries compound these problems by injecting untreated and unsafe wastewater, chemicals, and other contaminants into rivers. to resolve water pollution, rivers in some countries like asia, north america, and europe have been divided into segments for adoption by communities living along the river. they are assigned to monitor and manage the segments. coordinating the local governments, schools, ngos, universities, and businesses near a segment helps the communities in their tasks and overall coordination of the local governments. in singapore, institutional, structural, and legal reforms are necessary to restore a river’s health. for the country’s development, these reforms can help 125 international peer reviewed journal reduce sources of pollution going into the rivers (joshi et al., 2012). the authors further affirmed that substantial funding should be invested to attain the program goal. a study in malaysia by ismail and salim (2013) revealed that the most effective way to maintain a river basin’s health is to make a river community responsible. however, cleaning-up operations are also often necessary to revive and maintain water quality for human consumption. their awareness was the most critical determinant in the success of the cleanup activities. for packett (2018), cleaning the tagabe river in the republic of vanuatu is significant because the communities around the river have been continually mobilized to improve the river’s health and the coastal areas. collaboration with stakeholders, especially the surrounding communities, is a potent approach to positive environmental change. rivers are the focal points of nature. with clean rivers comes a sustainable and lasting environment (packett, 2018). this can be achieved by engaging communities in a river cleanup as any organization pursues. thus, in iloilo city, the same is expected at segment 3 of batiano river, where john b. lacson foundation maritime university (arevalo), inc. joined as one of the major implementers in the cleanup project. this is the adopt-an-estero water body program (aewbp), launched by the department of environment and natural resources (denr) in 2010 and implemented nationwide. over the past 11 years, john b. lacson foundation maritime university (arevalo), inc. has been involved as one of the major partners in the project. the effort focuses on cleaning the waterways of batiano and iloilo rivers in iloilo city, which is undertaken quarterly. multiple academic institutions and other government and non-government organizations are involved, each taking ownership of the efforts for a section of the river. the regular cleanup is a nationwide effort undertaken to clear the river of debris. all this debris comes from the neighboring municipalities and barangays from the upland down to the rivers and ocean. the activities provide an avenue for unifying development efforts and maximizing human and material resources. an assessment of the water quality of batiano river, specifically at segment 3 from 2014 to 2016 by the emb-denr 6, proved that there was an increased amount of dissolved oxygen (do) and the biological oxygen demand (bod) in the water. these data exceeded the denr’s standards in 2015, which implies that the quality of water got poorer. however, from 2016 to 2017, there was a drop in do and bod to show that water quality has improved. on the total suspended solids (tss), the assessment from the downstream showed a slight 126 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 excess from the standards. however, the sample from the upstream was still within the standards (environmental management bureau region 6-the department of environment and natural resources, 2017). the results mean the water at segment 3, batiano river, has started to improve its quality. continued cleanup of the river and proper environmental practices of the nearby people will result in enhanced water quality. john b. lacson foundation maritime university (arevalo), inc. (jblfmu-a), as one of the key players in the aewbp cleanup drive, has also recognized the importance of a clean river for the benefit of all living organisms, including humans. as a result, the institution has adopted segment 3 of batiano river along with other stakeholders reflecting its commitment to the program. from another perspective, this is also the institution’s support for the philippine clean water act of 2004 (republic act no. 9275). since the aewbp’s launching in 2010, the denr 6 has regularly assessed the water quality. likewise, the jblfmu-arevalo has conducted two institutional researches on water pollutants and quality. no study was ever conducted that could detail the effective strategy employed in the aewbp implementation. there has yet to be a study suggesting other ways to strengthen the current practices and can show the impacts of the program on the stakeholders, the community, and the environment. because of this dearth of information, the researchers have decided to assess the stakeholders’ observed impact of the “adopt-an-estero water body program” (aewbp) implemented by the institution in segment 3 of batiano river in january 2020. in addition, the researchers are the direct implementers of the cleanup program representing the institution with which they are affiliated. this study can strengthen the program, with an expected increase in long-term impact and effectiveness. framework the study is anchored on the theory of change, which according to rogers (2014), is a good way of interpreting the outcomes or impacts of a certain program, project, or intervention. it is used to understand activities conducted and how they contribute to the intended impacts of any development effort. this encompasses processes like individual change to raise awareness about an issue, healthy relationships, and connections for networking with inter-group dialogue and understanding the root cause of long-term structural and social change. further, it uses institutional development for new governance arrangements and entities and the mobilization of grassroots by involving communities as advocacy 127 international peer reviewed journal groups in a non-violent direct action campaign. all these processes were observed as part of various activities or strategies in implementing the adopt-an-estero water body program (aewbp). objectives of the study the study assessed the impact of the cleanup activities under the aewbp based on the stakeholders’ observations. specifically, the study sought to (1) determine the number of times the stakeholders joined the clean-up in the past, (2) identify the number of stakeholders’ visits in the area when not involved in a cleanup program, (3) determine the impact of the program on the community, on the stakeholders, and on the environment, (4) determine the current strategies used they find highly effective in the aewbp, (5) determine the significant difference among the current strategies used when classified according to the level of effectiveness, and (6) examine other ways that could be done to improve the aewbp implementation. methodology research design this descriptive research aims to “describe or give a verbal portrayal or picture of a person, thing, event, group, situation, and others (baraceros, 2016).” this type of research may be repeated after a certain number of years because its scope is limited only to a short period of time. this design systematically and accurately describes a case being investigated and can answer questions like what, when, where, and how. here, the researcher simply records what has been observed but never can he manipulates the variables (mccombes, 2022). in this study, the impact of the program was described according to the stakeholders’ observations; thus, a descriptive research design was employed. research site the site of the study is focused in section 3 of batiano river, lying between barangays sto. nino sur and sta. cruz of arevalo district, iloilo city, philippines. participants the respondents were the stakeholders who participated in the regular river cleanup conducted from 2017 to 2019 at segment 3, batiano river. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 1. distribution of respondents variables f % rank a. age younger (15-35 yr. old) older (36-60 & above yr. old.) 52 40 57 43 1 2 total 92 100 b. sex male female 60 32 65 35 1 2 total 92 100 c. educational level some college college graduate high school graduate elementary some high school secondary 60 12 8 6 4 2 65 13 9 7 4 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 total 92 100 they comprised students and employees of jblfmu-arevalo, employees of meat cares products, and barangay officials of sto. nino sur and sta. cruz and some selected personnel of the emb-denr 6 who regularly took part in the said activity. this investigation used purposive sampling to identify only those who participated in the river cleanup from 2017 to 2019 in segment 3 of batiano river. they were then asked about their observed impacts of the aewbp. the respondents were primarily young (f=52, 57%), which implies that a greater number of the stakeholders were students. as to sex, most were males (f=60, 65%), and the dominant figures show that most stakeholders were in college (f=60, 65%). table 1 shows the data. instrumentation the instrument is a researcher-made questionnaire submitted to experts for face and content validation. after validation, this was tested for reliability, which showed an alpha coefficient of 0.80. the questionnaire is divided into three parts. part i includes items to ascertain the respondents’ demographics and extent of participation in the cleanups. part ii contains questions meant to describe the respondents’ observation of 129 international peer reviewed journal the impact of the aewbp on the community, stakeholders, and environment. part iii contains questions on the current strategies used and other ways that may be considered for a more effective aewbp implementation. the assessment was jointly done with the jblfmu-arevalo community extension services (ces) office. since the instrument was written in english, stakeholders from the two barangays, including those from meat cares products, were convened by the researchers in a small group. those from the local government and the embdenr were also gathered in their respective offices for an interview. before interviewing them, the researchers explained to the respondents the purpose of the study. the former assured the respondents of the confidentiality and the utilization limit of the data generated from the latter. for clarity, the researchers translated and explained the questions in the local dialect before the respondents checked their choice of response. to comply with the research ethics protocol, the researchers secured clearance from the university ethics review board before deploying the questionnaire. likewise, the researchers sent a letter to the two local chief executives of barangays sto. nino sur and sta. cruz for permission and approval to conduct a survey. after permission and approval were sought, the survey questionnaires were then circulated to different sets of stakeholders who were involved in various river cleanup operations in the past. statistical techniques the study employed statistical tools like frequency, percent, standard deviation, and rank to analyze descriptive data, while the friedman test was used for the inferential data. this study used the frequency and percent to determine the number of stakeholders’ participation in the river cleanup operations and their frequency of visits in the area. in addition, the same tools were also employed to determine stakeholders’ suggestions on other ways to make the aewbp implementation more effective. the rank in this assessment was used to identify order among the prevailing current program strategies rated according to the level of effectiveness and the indicated observed impacts of aewbp on the community, the stakeholders, and the environment. the friedman test was used to determine the significant difference among the current strategies used in the aewbp implementation when classified according to the level of effectiveness based on the 0.05 alpha level of significance. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (spss) software. results and discussion number of participation in the “adopt-an-estero water body program” the highest number of stakeholders (f=48, 52%, rank=1) have participated in the aewbp clean-up for one to five times in three consecutive years. there is a lesser number (f=24,26%, rank= 2), however, which shows they joined the clean-up 11 or more times, followed by another group of respondents (f=20,22%, rank=3) who claimed at least 6-10 participations in three years. figure 1. number of participation in the “adopt-an-estero water body program” from 2017-2019 the data reveal a significant number of the stakeholders with a limited number of participations in the river cleanup are not permanent residents of the community. hence, they lose the opportunity to participate in some cleanup operations, especially when it is set on weekends. those with more participation imply that they are just living near the site under investigation so that they can join right away any cleanup activity set for the said quarter. in figure 2, these are community residents of the two barangays who claimed they were permanent residents. figure 1 shows the data. 131 international peer reviewed journal frequency of visit when not involved in the “adopt-an-estero water body program” when not involved in the river cleanup, the biggest number of stakeholders indicated a visit to the area more than five times a year (f=42, 46%, rank=1). there are those who also frequent the area three to five times (f=22, 24% rank=2), while others indicated one to two visits in a year (f=16, 17%, rank=3). however, it is worth knowing that a few have claimed they are permanent residents in the area (f=12, 13%, rank=4). these permanent residents may include barangay officials and employees from nearby meat product factories who regularly join the quarterly cleanup. visiting the area by the stakeholders aside from joining the clean-up activity shows a good sign of the enhanced environmental status. figure 2 shows the data figure 2. frequency of visit when not involved in the “adopt-an-estero water body program” observed impact of the “adopt-an-estero water body program” on the community the majority of the respondents have considered the top three impacts of the aewbp on the community, like educating them about environmental protection (rank=1), increasing health and safety for those using the area (rank=2), and building community relationships (rank=3). educating the community on environmental protection is one of the significant impacts on the community that supports the study of ismail and salim (2013). it says here that educating the surrounding community will help sustain the program. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the data also proves that through this program, the community is gradually educated on environmental protection, as proven by the stakeholders’ greater awareness of the environment (see figure 4), and the safety and health of those using the area are secured. the aewbp is a timely response for developing community relations among residents affirmed by the program’s impact on the respondents, like building more personal relationships (see figure 4). figure 3. observed impact of the “adopt-an-estero water body program” on the community observed impact of the “adopt-anestero water body program” on the stakeholders the top four observed impacts of the adopt-an-estero water body program on the stakeholders include becoming more aware and concerned about the environment (rank=1), motivation to reduce the amount of garbage produced (rank=2), and finally, motivation to dispose of their garbage properly and building discipline (rank=3). these data imply that the program has taught the respondents to observe sound environmental practices emphasizing waste reduction and management. the results are also in consonance with the reports of joshi et al. (2012) that by cleaning the river, there is a reduction of sources of pollution going into the river, which can be attained through proper waste disposal. the stakeholders’ awareness of environmental protection and their motivation to reduce the production of garbage could have been the consequences of the education, which impacted the community through the program (see figure a. educates about environmental protection b. increases health and safety 133 international peer reviewed journal 3). because of its good impact on the community, the stakeholders are likewise influenced to observe proper waste management. figure 4 shows the data. figure 4. observed impact of the “adopt-anestero water body program” on the stakeholders observed impact of the “adopt-an-estero water body program” on the environment for most of the stakeholders, the top four observed impacts of the adoptan-estero water body program on the environment are as follows: leading to a healthier aquatic environment and reduction of plastic entering the aquatic environment (rank=1.5); and leading to healthier aquatic plant life and increased environmental awareness (rank=3.5). the results strengthen the idea of packett (2018) that with clean water comes a sustainable and lasting environment, as reflected in a healthier aquatic environment/life in this study. these data also support the water quality assessment conducted by the emb-denr region 6 in 2017, which revealed an improved water quality in batiano river in segment 3 from 2016 to 2017. it means the efforts invested in the program have benefited the environment. the observed reduction of plastic entering the aquatic environment and a healthier aquatic environment show a strong connection between the observed reduction of garbage produced and the established awareness about a. become more aware about the environment 134 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 environmental protection impacting the respondents (see figure 4). it could be concluded that the reduction of garbage generated and an established awareness of the stakeholders result in reduced plastic entering the site and a healthier aquatic environment or life. figure 5. observed impact of the “adopt-an-estero water body program” on the environment current strategies considered highly effective in the aewbp among the many strategies currently used during the adopt-anestero water body program activity, the stakeholders have observed the top four considered “highly effective in promoting program objectives.” these were the length of each cleanup (m=4.57, rank=1), the use of gaff or bamboo sticks with a hook to collect debris (m=4.46, rank=2), the type of people involved (m=4.40; rank= 3), and the frequency of cleanups (m=4.24, rank=4). those described only as “effective in promoting program objectives” include using flatboats (m=4.03, rank=5), using bamboo rafts to collect debris (m=3.93, rank=6), and marketing/ awareness strategy (m=3.91, rank=7). generally, the process and the length of cleanup, including the people involved, matter most in implementing the aewbp. this means the people involved are the critical components of the success and sustainability of the program. these findings affirm the statements of packett (2018) that improving 135 international peer reviewed journal the health status of the tagabe river was due to the regular involvement of the communities around the river. the length of clean-up now relates to a more specific response which is a longer activity as suggested by the stakeholders (see “figure 6”) when they were asked for other ways to effectively implement the program and, most of all, to attain its sustainability. likewise, the “type of people involved,” as mentioned by the stakeholders, is given a clearer picture now, like recruiting more community members and organizations who have stakes in the program (see figure 6). table 2. effectiveness of the current strategies considered in the “adopt-anestero water body program” effective strategies in the “ adopt-anestero water body program n mean std. deviation interpretation a. length of each clean-up 92 4.57 0.52002 highly effective b. use of gaff/bamboo stick with a hook to collect debris 92 4.46 0.50084 highly effective c. type of people involved 92 4.40 0.59411 highly effective d. frequency of cleanups 92 4.24 0.61786 effective e. use of a flatboat to collect debris 92 4.03 0.81808 effective f. use of the bamboo raft to collect debris 92 3.93 0.65974 effective g. marketing/awareness strategy 92 3.91 0.68983 effective h. distribution of information, education, and communication (iec) on environmental materials to residents 92 3.48 0.52369 effective i. installation of signage around the community 92 3.38 0.53127 slightly effective j. building partnerships with nongovernment organizations (ngos), people’s organizations (po’s) aside from jblfmu-a 92 3.36 0.54635 slightly effective k. number of people involved 92 3.09 0.46058 slightly effective note. 4.21-5.00 = highly effective at promoting program objectives, 3.41-4.20 = effective at promoting program objectives, 2.61-3.40 = slightly effective in promoting program objectives, 1.81-2.60 = no effect on program objectives, and 1.00-1.80 = detrimental to program objectives 136 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 inferential results significant difference among the current strategies used in the “adopt-an-estero water body program” when classified according to the level of effectiveness using the friedman test, the results show a significant difference between the means of the respondents when classified according to the level of effectiveness of the strategies used in the aewbp. the data presented a p-value (of 0.000) lower than the significance level of 0.05. therefore, the hypothesis is accepted, which states, “there is a significant difference among the current strategies used in the aewbp implementation when classified according to the level of effectiveness. the researcher, therefore, concludes that one or more of the strategies have different levels of effectiveness. specifically, the use of a flatboat (m=6.60), the use of a bamboo raft (m=6.12), and the marketing/awareness strategy (m=5.95) are close to the overall mean, which is 6.00. however, the length of each clean-up (m=8.56), gaff/sticks (m=7.99), and the type of people involved are substantially higher than those other strategies. as revealed, items a to c indicate a “highly effective” current strategy (see table 2) used in the aewbp implementation as per observation by the stakeholders. table 3. significant difference among the current strategies used in the “adopt-anestero water body program” when classified according to the level of effectiveness categories mean rank n df chi-square p-value remarks a. length of each clean-up 8.56 92 10 385.146 0.000 significant b. use of gaff/bamboo stick with a hook to collect debris 7.99 c. type of people involved 7.93 d. frequency of clean-ups 7.21 e. use of a flatboat to collect debris 6.60 f. use of the bamboo raft to collect debris 6.12 g. marketing/awareness strategy 5.95 h. distribution of information, education, and communication (iec) on environmental materials to residents 4.56 i. installation of signage around the community 4.01 j. building partnerships with non-government organizations (ngos), people’s organizations (po’s) aside from jblfmu-a 4.14 k. number of people involved over-all mean 2.94 6.00 note: p-value ≤ α: the differences between some of the means are statistically significant @ 0.05 level of significance 137 international peer reviewed journal other strategies that could be done to strengthen the program the top five other strategies that could be applied to strengthen the program, as indicated by the respondents, were the following: cleanup to occur more often (rank=1), dredging the river, and more funds should be raised to promote the program (rank=2.5), educational component, more organizations are recruited, and longer clean up (rank=5). raising more funds to promote the aewb program objectives strengthens the insights of joshi et al. (2012) in their article “cleanup of the singapore river: before and after,” that substantial funding is invested to attain the program goal. in like manner, the recruitment of more organizations was also noted in the study of srinivas (2016). in this study, he confirmed that through the coordination of the local governments, various stakeholders like schools, ngos, universities, and businesses near a segment of a river were involved to warrant success in cleaning the river. the inclusion of the item “cleanup to occur more often” gives a clearer and more specific meaning to the “frequency of cleanup” mentioned in the preceding table (see tables 2 & 3). furthermore, the “educational component of the program” suggested by the stakeholders shows their recognition of the “iec materials” as an effective means for educating the community (see tables 2 & 3). figure 6. other strategies that could be done to strengthen the program 138 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conclusions from the foregoing results, the following conclusions are advanced: (1) the biggest number of stakeholders in the aewbp cleaning operation has only a limited total number of participations for three consecutive years. this implies that most stakeholders are not permanent residents of the area; thus, they did not have the opportunity to join the quarterly clean-up operation as often as their fellow stakeholders did because the activity is regularly set during weekends. (2) a considerable number of the stakeholders hold activities and visit the site despite the absence of clean-up activity which means the area has improved, especially in terms of environmental status. (3) the aewbp is a good learning avenue for the community to learn more about environmental protection, safety, and health, which leads to better community relations and a healthier aquatic environment. (4) the program has also taught the stakeholders to be more concerned about their environment, emphasizing waste reduction and management. (5) because of the aewbp, the site has improved its aquatic environment, reduced the entry of plastics, and made people more aware of the environment. for the respondents, the length of cleanup, and the use of gaff and sticks with hooks, including the people involved, are among the highly effective strategies currently used; therefore, they matter most in effectively implementing the aewbp. frequent clean-ups, dredging of the river, and raising more funds are other suggested ways for the successful delivery of the program. this means more room for improvement in the aewbp implementation. further, there are still challenges to surmount, which the stakeholders need to address for a lasting impact of the aewbp. recommendations based on the foregoing results, the following are the relevant recommendations: (1) there is a need for a more frequent cleanup, which means more stakeholders should be involved, particularly those coming from the river communities. (2) continue the advocacy by distributing iec materials to educate more people. (3) coordinate with the emb-denr 6 and the local government unit of the city of iloilo to verify the need to dredge some sections of the river. (4) more funds should be raised, or more organizations like schools, barangay lgu, and business establishments in the area must be involved, particularly in generating funds to sustain the maintenance of the flatboat and bamboo sticks needed during the cleanup. (5) a copy of this study shall be given to the local government units and 139 international peer reviewed journal the emb-denr 6 for their consideration in policy-making or issuance of local ordinances related to the cleaning up of the river. translational research the findings of the study will form a basis for policy-making or strengthening on the part of the emb-denr6, which will focus on the greater involvement of the residents as informal settlers living along the river banks. the results will also be a good guide for the barangay or city local government unit to promulgate a local ordinance that will reduce sources of pollution thrown into the river for a lasting program impact. literature cited baraceros, e. l. (2016). practical research 1. quezon city, philippines: rex printing company, inc. http://bit.ly/3igvsar environmental management bureau region 6-the department of environment and natural resources. (2017). 2017 regional state of the brown environment report. western visayas-region 6. 67-68 & 96. https://bit. ly/3z3r57o ismail, z., & salim, k. (2013). determination of critical factors in implementing river clean‐up projects: a malaysian case study.  clean–soil, air, water, 41(1), 16-23. joshi, y. k., tortajada, c., & biswas, a. k. (2012). clean up of the singapore river: before and after. global-is-asian, 14, 21-22. mccombes, s. (2020). descriptive research design: definition, methods and examples. scribbr. packett, e. (2018). tagabe river cleanup campaign mini programmatic report. https://bit.ly/3t1pgfn philippine clean water act of 2004 (republic act no. 9275). https://faolex.fao. org/docs/pdf/phi70789.pdf rogers, p. (2014).  theory of change: methodological briefs-impact evaluation no. 2 (no. innpub747). http://bit.ly/3igvsar https://bit.ly/3z3r57o https://bit.ly/3z3r57o https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/phi70789.pdf https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/phi70789.pdf 140 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 srinivas, h. (2016). communities along rivers: importance of community networking to preserve local rivers.  gdrc reseaarch output e-012. kobe, japan: global development research center. tickner, d., parker, h., moncrieff, c. r., oates, n. e., ludi, e., & acreman, m. (2017). managing rivers for multiple benefits–a coherent approach to research, policy and planning. frontiers in environmental science, 5, 4. 89 international peer reviewed journal the initiatives of local government units (lgus) in batangas on climate change jennifer g. manalo http://orcid.org0000-0003-1585-0051 mielmarga1408@gmail.com batangas state university rizal avenue, batangas city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the local government units in the philippines are at the forefront of disaster management including responding to the impacts of climate change. with the necessity to address this problem, this study aimed to determine the initiatives of the local government units (lgus) in batangas on climate change. the study made use of descriptive research which involved quantitative and qualitative methods in gathering data. research triangulation was used. the subjects of the study were the disaster risk reduction management and planning officers of three component cities and twenty-seven municipalities of batangas. frequency counts, percentages, and average weighted mean were used in the statistical analysis of data. results of the study revealed that lgus in batangas comply with the provisions of republic act no. 10121, otherwise known as philippine disaster risk reduction and management act of 2010. lgus to organize disaster risk reduction and management councils at the local level. likewise, cities and municipalities of batangas implement policies through local ordinances to adopt and strengthen ra 9003. they are implementing initiatives that encourage businesses to promote climate-smart services and practices. assessment of farming vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.631 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:mielmarga1408@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 90 jpair multidisciplinary research practices, extension services and linkages with gos, ngos and other agencies in the implementation of climate change initiatives needs to be improved. keywords social science, climate change, triangular approach, batangas city, philippines introduction climate change is a crucial issue that must be addressed within the global and local context. it is a serious (jiang et al., 2014), urgent global priority (papa, 2015), and is one of the most difficult challenges facing the world caused by human activities on earth (yahaya & nwabuogo, 2016). the atmosphere’s surface temperature (merchant et al. (2013) environmental conditions in the arctic region have changed rapidly (zábori et al., 2013) and the ocean is becoming increasingly warmer, and the sea level has risen (hughes, 2014), and the amount of ice on the earth is decreasing over the oceans binti sa’adin, kaewunruen, & jaroszweski, (2016). the earth warming was due to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (ghgs) in the atmosphere (sa’adin, 2016), which destroys the environment and makes it unhealthy for living beings (yahaya & nwabuogo, (2016). large areas of cooling have been observed in the southern ocean during the past few decades, whereas west antarctica and several sub-antarctic islands have warmed more rapidly than other parts of this continent (chambers et al. 2013). its impact worsens and contributes to food shortage, infrastructure damage and degradation of the natural resources upon which livelihoods are based. the philippines like any other developing countries in the world is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change because it is located in the pacific typhoon belt thus, exposed to climate-related risks such as tropical cyclones, drought, flood and climate variability (yumul, cruz, servando, & dimalanta, (2011). according to the study of the united nations university’s institute for environment and human security and the german alliance development works, philippines ranks third in the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change with 24.32 percent disaster risk. typhoon sendong (washi) in 2011 and yolanda (haiyan) in 2013 which landed in the philippines caused tremendous damage to infrastructure and loss of lives mainly due to the storm surge and strong winds (lapidez, tablazon, dasallas, gonzalo , cabacaba, ramos , suarez , santiago , lagmay, and malano, 2018) and left tacloban city and other 91 international peer reviewed journal municipalities in the region entirely devastated. vietnam’s surface heat is predicted to rise between 1 °c and 2 °c by 2050 because of climate change (akpalu, arndt, & matshe, 2015). extreme weather has affected railway operations and safety, including fatalities, injuries and property damage in malaysia (sa’adin, 2016). on 19 may 2016 temperatures exceeded 50 ◦c in a region on the india–pakistan border. excessive temperature can injure human health, resulting in heat cramps, exhaustion, and severe heat strokes (oldenborgh et al., 2018). by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in africa are projected to be exposed to greater water quantity challenges due to the effects of climate change (ojomo, elliott, amjad, & bartram, 2015). these were the grave indication of how extreme weather conditions have become more frequent and more intense due to climate change. some programs and policies have been made and implemented, and yet property losses and casualties are increasing. efforts to avoid substantial losses are unsuccessful and could not cope with the intensifying climate change impacts. the local government units in the philippines are at the forefront of disaster management including responding to the impacts of climate change in their respective localities. however, many of the local government units are not aware of the climate change phenomenon and can’t assist and respond to the affected communities on the actual event. their knowledge and awareness of impending disasters, their impacts, their mitigation, preparedness, and adaptation is lacking (piracha, tariq, 2015). adaptation strategies and alternative policy options that have been recommended to the lgu’s have not yet been institutionalized. the local leaders are critical actors in drafting, implementing, and evaluating development programs that address adverse problems of climate change both strategic and short-term considerations of local government units. however, their perceptions of necessity and urgency are grounded in how much they know about the issue and concern. it is crucial that current and future decision makers are knowledgeable about climate change and its effects to achieve effective adaptation and mitigation (ojomo, elliott, amjad, & bartram, 2015). much has been written on climate change but there is still limited literature and investigation on the initiatives of the local government units to combat the problems on climate change. this study would be beneficial to other locality to enlighten them formulate and adopt their climate change initiatives applicable to their community thereby enhance local climate change adaptation and improve safety and well-being among the population. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the study determines the initiatives of the local government units (lgus) in batangas on climate change specifically along policy framework, knowledge and capacity development, health and social protection and agriculture and fisheries. it further investigates the problems encountered by the lgus in the implementation of identified initiatives with the end view of proposing development initiatives on climate change for lgus in batangas. framework climate change adaptation requires reshaping and redesigning of developing social and economic practices to respond effectively to anticipate environmental changes. likewise, disaster risk reduction seeks to influence development decisionmaking and protect development aspirations from envisioned environment relate to risk. this research work was anchored on the national framework strategy on climate change (2010-2022) and sendai framework for disaster risk reduction (2015-2030). the study was focused on climate change initiatives relative to the policy framework, knowledge and capacity development, health and social protection and agriculture and fisheries. the researcher believes that these are vital components for the local government units in dealing with problems of climate change. the national framework strategy on climate change envisions a climate risk-resilient philippines with healthy, safety and self-reliant communities. it recognizes the roles of agencies and their respective mandates as provided by the law as well as the local governments as front-liners in addressing climate change. the framework also recognizes the value of forming multi-stakeholder participation and partnership in climate change initiatives including the civil society, private sector, and local governments, especially with indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups most vulnerable to climate change impacts. the national framework was formulated within the context of the country’s sustainable development goals/institutional factors that affect the country’s ability to respond to climate change. as climate change has myriad impacts in all sectors of the society and the economy adaptation measures will require resources and the cooperation of all sectors. further, it was focused on cross-cutting strategies: capacity development; knowledge management; iec and advocacy; gender mainstreaming, research and development and technology transfer. 93 international peer reviewed journal the sendai framework for disaster risk reduction was the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and an international document which was adopted by un in march 2015 at the world conference on disaster risk reduction held in sendai, japan and was endorsed by the un assembly in june 2015. the sendai framework is a fifteen-year voluntary, non-binding agreement which offers four priorities for activities such as understanding the risk; strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response. in achieving the goal of the framework, several targets have been identified: substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, reduce the number of affected globally, reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product, reduces damages in infrastructure and disruption of basic services, health and educational facilities and increase availability and access to multi-hazard system and enhance international cooperation. these two frameworks serve as the inspiration of the researcher to the present study since they are both focused on taking proactive measures towards reducing risks and adapting instead of simply responding to the events. they both aimed at reducing people’s vulnerability to hazards by improving methods to anticipate, resist, cope with, and recover from their impact and seek to rebuild resilience in the context of sustainable development. with similar aims and mutual benefits, the researcher recommended development initiatives for lgus in batangas to enhance climate change resilience and reduce the risks; thus, cooperation and collaboration of all the stakeholders in the community is needed to make it fully realized. methodology research design this study made use of the descriptive research which involved quantitative and qualitative methods for gathering data. research triangulation was used. the use of triangulation as a method facilitate the integration of qualitative and quantitative findings, help researchers to clarify their theoretical propositions and the basis of their results thus offer a better understanding and empirical findings (östlund, kidd, wengström, & rowa-dewar, 2011). data were made available through a survey questionnaire, documentary analysis and interview. questionnaires were answered according to the priority of concern by using pre-determined sets of questions with pre-defined ranges of answers as to avoid 94 jpair multidisciplinary research conflicting series of response. informed consent was sought during the conduct of research. further, the respondents of the study were assured of the strictest confidentiality of the data provided and that it will only be used for the purpose of conducting the study. participants the subjects of the study were the heads of the city and local disaster risk reduction management office and planning officer of the three component cities and twenty-seven municipalities of batangas. frequency counts, percentages, and average weighted mean were used in the statistical analysis of the data. instrumentation the survey questionnaire was the major instrument used in gathering necessary data. it composed of two parts. the first part covered the climate change initiatives of the local government units along policy framework, knowledge and capacity development, health and social protection and agriculture and fisheries. the last part delved on the problems encountered by lgus in the implementation of climate change initiatives. the survey questionnaire was presented to experts for validation; the dry run was administered to test the validity of the instrument. the questionnaire was set for reliability testing using cronbach alpha test. the result revealed that it contained high internal efficiency level of 0.871 which was interpreted as reliable and the options are appropriate for utilization. an interview was also conducted to substantiate the discussion and to validate the data gathered from the questionnaire. accomplishment reports, plan of activities, policies, and ordinances relative to climate change initiatives were also analyzed. the responses were tallied, scored and tabulated for statistical treatment. the following continuum was employed to describe the weighted mean verbally: options range verbal description 4 3.50 – 4.49 very highly evident/very serious 3 2.50 – 3.39 highly evident/ serious 2 1.50 – 2.49 moderately evident/moderately serious 1 1.00 – 1.49 not evident/not serious 95 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion initiatives of local government units in batangas on climate along policy framework the planning and development officers and disaster risk reduction management officers revealed that it was highly evident that the lgus in batangas implemented policies and local ordinances to adopt ra 9729 otherwise known as climate change act of 2009 with a weighted mean of 3.35. the lgus conducted activities which include tree planting, mangrove rehabilitation, use of solar panels and other energy saving devices among government offices and bring your bayong (byob) campaign which aimed to reduce the use of plastic. mangroves provide important ecosystem services. this affirmed by the study of abbas, s., qamer, hussain, saleem, & nitin, (2011) who stressed that mangroves provide nursery habitat for marine fish including coastal stabilization. on the other hand, entering into memorandum of agreement/memorandum of understanding with gos and ngos for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction rated as moderately evident with the lowest weighted mean of 2.43. uneke, ezeoha, uro-chukwu, ezeonu, igboji (2018) in their study suggested that there is a need to strengthen institutions and mechanisms that can more systematically promote interactions between researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders and recognize the value of coming together for a symbiotic relationship. to help farmers increase their agricultural production in times of drought and flood caused by extreme weather conditions, policies on the provision of drought and flood resistant seeds and fertilizer rated very highly evident with a weighted mean of 3.59. agricultural crop productions are vulnerable to climate change. most of the time, crops are being damaged by the strong typhoon and during drought. this was reinforced by the study of de-graft, & kweku, (2012) who stressed that climate change tends to have negative effects on crop yield through its influence on crop production. meanwhile, policies establishing linkages and networking to conduct research studies on agricultural technologies that are climate change resilient rated moderately evident with the weighted mean of 2.33. the respondents indicated that it was moderately evident that the lgus formulated and implemented ordinances creating the comprehensive land use plan (clup) for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction with a weighted mean of 2.47. the lgus created an appropriations act for budget 96 jpair multidisciplinary research allocation for the activities, programs and projects for climate change adaptation in all barangays obtained the lowest weighted mean of 2.25. climate change act of 2009 provides for the mainstreaming of climate change into government policy formulation and the establishment of a framework strategy and programs on climate change. the planning and development and drrm officers disclosed that it was very highly evident that the lgus implemented no smoking policy in government offices and public places which garnered a weighted mean of 3.83. on the other hand, policies on the construction of the green building and climate-smart practices shown in weighted wean of 2.33 interpreted as moderately evident. the respondents revealed that it was very highly evident that the lugs in batangas comply with the provisions of the republic act no. 10121, otherwise known as philippine disaster risk reduction and management act of 2010 requiring local government units to organize disaster risk reduction and management councils at the local level with a weighted mean of 3.85. the conduct of training and educating the different committee on pre-disaster phase and during disaster phase to respond and reduce disaster risks obtained the lowest weighted mean of 2.32. along knowledge and capacity development results of the study showed that regarding knowledge and capacity development the lgus initiatives were rated by the respondents moderately evident as reflected in the average weighted mean of 2.43. as assessed by the disaster risk reduction officers and planning development officers in reference to conducting comprehensive strategies for broadest education of all sectors in the community, collaboration with the schools in the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in elementary, secondary and tertiary curriculum rated moderately evident as expressed in average weighted mean of 2.47. distribution of pamphlets and brochures on climate change and disaster risk reduction were also conducted. on the other hand, collaboration with local media for publication of articles, discussion and education on climate change and disaster risk reduction were perceived to be the least implemented development with the lowest weighted mean of 2.35. effective risk management depends on the informed participation of all stakeholders. this was supported by the study of almario-desoloc (2014) who stressed that mobilization of people through seminars and training raised the awareness of action during and after a calamity. to educate the vulnerable community on the impact of climate change, 97 international peer reviewed journal the conduct of training, seminars, and workshops rated by the respondents moderately evident as expressed in a weighted mean of 2.28. educating the about climate change is very important not only to raise their awareness but to enable them to respond to the disasters brought by climate change. this was in congruence with the study of vicerra, salvador, & capili, (2018) who said that knowledge on disaster preparedness boosts confidence and preparedness, but it also conditions people on how to act and what to do if ever such an unfortunate event strikes. the respondents confirmed that disaster preparedness and training program such as earthquake flood, tsunami and landslide evacuation drills were rated moderately evident among the initiatives of lgus with the second highest weighted mean of 2.25. however, the conduct of climate change awareness month and slogan, poster, and essay making contest were rated 2.32 interpreted as moderately evident. results of the study revealed that the lgus in batangas are exploring different avenues to educate people about climate change. on the other hand, of the different development initiatives implemented by the lgus in batangas on the provision of early warning devices in vulnerable areas, installation of rain gauge and storm signal alert were rated highly evident as observed in a weighted mean of 3.47. it has to be noted that this equipment is being installed within the nation by the department of science and technology as one of their projects. on the other hand, the conduct of orientation and workshop on family disaster preparedness obtained the lowest initiatives implemented by the lgus with the weighted mean of 2.37 interpreted as moderately evident. climate change is a complex issue that needs to be cascaded and understood down to the community level. public awareness, active community participation, and strong political will of the local leaders can create enhanced resilience of the stakeholders and reduced cost and magnitude of climate change impacts to especially those in vulnerable sectors. the lgu disclosed it was highly evident that lgus in batangas have formulated gis mapping on flood-prone areas, landslide-prone areas and tsunami and sea level rise prone areas, shown in the weighted mean of 3.46. provision of gis mapping on landslide-prone areas, flood-prone areas and tsunami and sea level rise prone areas is essential to reduce possible casualties during the occurrence of strong typhoons that may cause flood, landslide or sea level rise. along with health and social protections to promote health and social protection of the vulnerable sectors to climate change sensitive diseases, the respondents remarkably revealed that the conduct of 98 jpair multidisciplinary research medical missions and consultations was very highly evident among the initiatives of the lgus with a weighted mean of 3.72. however, provision of health care card and medical assistance was rated highly evident among the initiatives of the lgus which obtained a weighted mean of 3.48. climate change is adversely affecting human health. frequent extreme weather events mean more potential deaths and injuries for those in the vulnerable sectors. this was supported by the study of swaminathan, lucas, harley, & mcmichael, (2014) who emphasized that climate change sensitive exposures and conditions will subtly impair aspects of the human immune response, thereby altering the distribution of vulnerability within populations—particularly for children—to infection and disease. to provide social protection to the communities located in the hazard-prone areas the planning development officers revealed that provision of contingency planning was highly evident with a weighted mean of 3.48. this is to ensure the safety of the people affected by the calamities. on the other hand, they gave the lowest rating that lgus built evacuation centers shown in a weighted mean of 2.43 described as moderately evident. the respondents indicated that it was highly evident that the lgus conducted clean-up drive activities to safeguard the health and lives of the people in vulnerable communities to climate change with a weighted mean of 3.48. this includes “linis kanal at ilog” campaign and coastal clean-up. it has to be noted that canals are the breeding ground of mosquitoes and other disease-causing organisms. maintaining the cleanliness of the canal could prevent the spread of diseases such as dengue, leptospirosis and the like. this was affirmed by the study of de vries, visser, nagel, goris, hartskeerl, & grobusch, (2014) who asserted that leptospirosis is one of the health problems affecting filipinos especially during the rainy season that causes death if not properly treated. however, the respondent gave the lowest rating that the lgus conducted feeding programs and medical missions as shown in the weighted mean of 3.41 which is interpreted as highly evident. in general, the initiatives of the lgus in batangas along health and social protection was rated highly evident with a composite mean of 3.33. along agriculture and fisheries the respondents indicated that it was very highly evident the lgus provided livelihood program to farmers and fishers which are climate change resilient which obtained in a composite mean of 3.53. agriculture remains to be an important activity of the population in batangas. palay, coffee, sugar cane, pepper, banana, corn, coconut and vegetables were the main crops in the province. climate 99 international peer reviewed journal change may worsen its impact (thomson, alderman, tuck, & hobday, (2015) on agricultural production. the farmers feel the above impacts because those can lead to a decrease in production which was affirmed by sumastuti, (2015) who claimed that climate change and the global warming like changes in the pattern and distribution of the rainfall could lead to a decrease in production even in the crop failure. remarkably noted by the respondents, that it was highly evident that the lgus conducted training and seminars to local farmers and fishers on sustainable livelihood programs with a weighted mean of 3.83. on the other hand, the respondents gave the lowest rating on collaboration with the various institutions to conduct research and climate change technologies on agriculture and fisheries with a weighted mean of 2.41. problems encountered by the local government units in the implementation of initiatives on climate change results of the study show that the local government officials encountered serious problems in the implementation of the development initiatives on climate change. this was shown by the overall weighted mean value of 3.32. inadequate knowledge of the community on how to cope with climate change adaptation and disaster risk management was the most serious problem encountered by the government officials followed by the limited participation of the community on climate change adaptation and mitigation programs and activities. average weighted mean values of 3.49 and 3.47 were computed respectively, descriptively rated as serious problems. poor extension services, limited information dissemination and campaign material on climate change, and limited training and seminars conducted relative to climate change were also found a serious problem in the implementation of climate change development initiatives by the government officials. lack of local policies and ordinances relative to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction was also a serious problem encountered by government officials. likewise, limited partnerships to government and non-government institutions for the implementation of climate change development initiatives was also a serious problem encountered by the government officials in the implementation of climate change development initiatives. on the other hand, lack of budget allocation and support from the government was a moderately serious problem. results of the study show that there is a need to improve extension services and linkages or partnership with gos, ngos and other agencies officials in 100 jpair multidisciplinary research the implementation of climate change development initiatives. likewise, local legislatures should formulate laws and ordinances on climate change to implement the different enacted laws on climate change. development initiatives for local government units (lgus) in batangas on climate change the development initiatives are proposed to respond to the challenges that humanity is facing nowadays brought by massive climate change. this development initiative will help address the problems and impacts of climate change which may contribute to food shortages, infrastructure damage and the degradation of natural resources upon which livelihoods are based. education, information, and communication (eic). education, information, and communication (iec) action can lead to better-informed decision sand enlightened choices concerning climate change. information, education, and communication (eic) combine strategies, approaches, and methods that enable individuals, families, groups, organizations and, communities to play active roles in climate change adaptation. embodied in eic is the process of learning that empowers people to make decisions, elucidate perceptions of climate change held by the general public and create an understanding of the factors responsible for climate change to promote behavioral change at the individual/household level. channels might include interpersonal communication (such as individual discussions, or group discussions and community meetings) or mass media communication (such as radio, television and other forms of one-way communication, such as brochures, leaflets and posters, visual and audiovisual presentations and some forms of electronic communication). comprehensive land use plan and risk mapping another proposed addition to the eic is the comprehensive land use planning and risk mapping. clup is the long-term physical plan that allocates land to specific uses taking into account the best use of land after analysis of competing uses, locational strengths, and environmental constraints. the comprehensive land use planning is an integral instrument for local government units to effectively address existing risks, and avoid the creation of new risks to people, assets, and economic activities by rationalizing distribution and development of settlements, and the utilization and management of natural resources. 101 international peer reviewed journal collaboration and networking collaboration and linkages to strengthen efforts to combat climate change are necessary. linkages and collaboration with other agencies should be strengthened not only in the conduct of activities promoting risk reduction and climate change mitigation but also in the conduct of researches. this would bring local leaders, researchers, academicians, industry representatives and other go, and ngos to advance and mainstream climate change adaptation. this could be done through the moa and mou. the researcher strongly believes that collaboration and networking is one of the best ways to share best practices, raise finances and develop technologies solve problems relative to climate change. organization of disaster risk reduction management team and rescue squad alongside with the developed plan and framework, there is a need for the local leaders to organize disaster risk reduction management team and rescue squad. the team shall facilitate and oversee the implementation of the climate change initiatives and drrm activities in their community specifically on preparedness and response. active participation and involvement of various stakeholders could safeguard lives in vulnerable areas and avoid damages to properties and infrastructures. conclusions climate change impact on the environment can lead to severe damage to agriculture, destruction of property and infrastructure and loss of lives. it is a global phenomenon which calls for everybody’s attention and collaboration from various agencies around the globe and the local government as they are the critical actors in responding to the impact of climate change and natural disasters. the lgus in batangas implemented various initiatives to combat its adverse impact along policy framework, knowledge and capacity development, health and social protection and agriculture and fisheries. the initiative among local leaders specifically in batangas on climate change is a good indication that they are extremely aware of its adverse effects. there is growing evidence that the community could benefit from the creation and implementation of localized climate change policies and indigenous activities. institutionalizing and localizing climate change policies and activities could increase the knowledge of the 102 jpair multidisciplinary research community, encourage the involvement of all stakeholders, reinforce agriculture and business and improve human health. addressing their encountered serious problems in the implementation of climate change initiatives would give way in developing more better guidelines and legal frameworks. this study has provided a substantial contribution to the local government units to mitigate the problems of climate change. putting an end to human activity contributing to the climate change will need a strong political will thus, employing a variety of significant measures like the formulation of policies, strictly monitoring and implementation of the law, education of the community, and support from various agencies are needed. this could serve as valuable input the local planners and policymakers in enhancing environmental program policies based on the current strategies adopted by the government to mitigate the impacts of climate change. it is, therefore, important for all local government units to institutionalized various environmental policies and strictly implement the same to 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(2013). comparison between summertime and wintertime arctic ocean primary marine aerosol properties. atmospheric chemistry and physics, 13(9), 4783-4799. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4783-2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children1030403 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127006 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127006 https://goo.gl/k93rrk https://goo.gl/sjcpem https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01216.x https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4783-2013 54 jpair multidisciplinary research efficacy of innovated four-stroke gasoline engine trainer: it’s technical enhancement to grade 12 senior hs students jefford vinson e. valdehueza http:///orcid.org/0000-003-2081-3044 jefford.valdehueza17@gmail.com lapasan national high school-gusa annex 4a-gusa, cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract constantly, engine before all ages until today has a piston in it. reciprocating up and down movement of a piston that converted to rotary motion by crankshaft can never be changed. this study facilitated students in developing their understanding of the operation of four-stroke cycle fundamentals using simulated cut-away parts of an engine. the study used a descriptive research design. descriptive statistics were used to describe the students’ survey responses. inferential statistics (one-tailed t-test) was used to establish the difference between post-test and pre-test results of the written examination, simulation and practical examination. the study was conducted to the 24 senior high automotive grade-12 students of lapasan national high school-gusa annex during the second semester of school year 2017-2018. as a result, the study found a significant difference in the respondents’ pre-test and post-test scores. it helps 100% of the respondents’ to pass the national certification level-1. generally, the students can easily perform simple to complicated tasks; they become selfreliant, confident in handling the actual operation of engine servicing given such advantages. a corollary to this, the said innovation considered and re-assessed vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.649 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http:///orcid.org mailto:jefford.valdehueza17@gmail.com 55 international peer reviewed journal toward sustained improvement the researcher should use the results of the study for deeper analysis of issues and concerns on four-stroke cylinder gasoline engine trainer and as a benchmark measure to increase students’ academic performance. keywords — automotive piston stroke, instructional material, innovated trainer, experimental research, descriptive design, senior high school, philippines introduction expanding public transportation and automotive-related services are important in many ways. it provides mobility, shape land use and development patterns, generates jobs and enables economic growth (weisbrod and reno, 2009). consequently, demand for a skilled automotive technician and automotive trainer to accommodate the prospering automotive business and institutions is increasing, but (afework and asfaw, 2014) stated that most of the public schools, instructional materials were unavailable, less in quantity and quality that created challenge on teaching and learning activities, which, in turn, had a negative impact on the improvement of the quality of education. the government of malaysia invested in equiping student and teachers with the right attitude to ensure a high acceptance of technology use (wong, goh, hanafi, & osman, 2010) determinant in the successful integration of technology in teaching and learning always relay in their teaching practices (teo & schaik, 2009). therefore, the teacher should make the necessary innovations to become effective. the teacher should learn to devise their instructional materials to be consistently effective and efficient in delivering both simple and complicated concepts (earthman, 2002). hands-on learning allows students to responsively perceive and recognize what is happening (esu, enukoha, and umoren 2016). it is often hard to properly understand something you have never directly seen or experienced; this is the reason why hands-on learning has become more prevalent in education (olawale, 2013). despite the fact that instructional materials are essential tools that can make learning practical and knowledge acquisition easily, they are not readily available in most of the public senior high school leading to the low performance of learners in government examination (abdu-raheem & oluwagbohunmi, 2015). one of the purposes of the technical vocational and livelihood (tvl) is 56 jpair multidisciplinary research to enable them to pass the national assessment. therefore, it is imperative that this learner should master the needed skills and competencies through rigorous training and actual application of theories in the classroom. many schools offer automotive technology servicing course, but it cannot be denied that the passing rate of students to pass the assessment is very low. on the recent report of the provincial office of technical education skills development authority (tesda), only five (5) students out of 24 students passed the national certification examination. the shortage and unavailability of instructional materials are the factors that trainers will eventually lead students to poor teaching-learning process and finally produce unskillful and incompetent learners. objectives of the study the benefactor of this study is for the students. they could simulate and apply theory learned in gasoline engine tune-up that is focused on engine valve train adjustment using the innovated project. also, automotive teachers/ instructors. the results of the study would aid their laboratory and classroom instruction in teaching hands-on activity for a gasoline engine. likewise, the school administrator. this innovation increases student performance since it has a great chance for students to pass the assessment. also, it can be useful in motivating other teachers to embark on a similar investigation. furthermore, it can be used for school accreditation purposes. additionally, an automotive technician that possesses quality skills and competence would greatly contribute to the industry by providing quality and globally competitive services in the automotive industry. and finally, future researchers. the study brings substantial benefits to future researchers as it can be a good reference about the impact of instructional material. methodology research design the study used descriptive research as the most applicable method as it determined the effectiveness of the instructional material. this research design helps to describe the data and characteristics of what is being studied. ethridge (2004) stated that descriptive research is conclusive in nature as opposed to exploratory. in addition, van dalen (1967) maintained that descriptive research 57 international peer reviewed journal was used when the objective is to provide a systematic description that is factual and accurate as possible. the framework which guided this study has anchored the model of inputprocess-output (ipo). this model provided the general structure and guided for the direction of the study. on the one hand, the project inputs of this study were the alternative ideas, related literature, and other resources considered as the basis of the creation of the project. supplies and materials, tools, equipment, labor, ideas from fellow teachers were considered as inputs. these include the project objective and project background that facilitated the implementation of the project. it also involves the design and development of a four-stroke single-cylinder engine trainer. it is a cutaway model that is carefully sectioned for training purpose; it is driven by the functional single cylinder engine to simulate the four-stroke principle in actual original moving parts. the process is the action is taken and how the inputs are processed into a more useful form. the process considered and included the procedures involved the development of the instructional learning material such as the aspect of designing, constructing, testing and revision. these outputs considered the simulation of the prototype and the implementation of the post-test. finally, the outcome of the study is the completed project of four-stroke single cylinder gasoline engine trainer tested by the experts in the academe relative to its functionality and effectiveness in contributing to the development of students’ written and skills performance. this instructional trainer will enhance students’ understanding of the four-stroke cycle of the gasoline engine. it will also help them to understand the basic component and its function for the valve train system and familiarize the various component parts available inside a four-stroke gasoline engine. research site the study was conducted in lapasan national high school – gusa annex, cagayan de oro city, misamis oriental. lnhs-gusa annex offers automotive servicing nc-1, electrical installation nc-2 and general academic strand (gas). the school has its own building for the senior high school. profiling, pretest, activities, simulations, and external evaluation were done in the school. participants 58 jpair multidisciplinary research the respondents of the study were the 24 grade-12 students enrolled in automotive servicing at lnhs-gusa annex during the second semester of school year 2017-2018. these students voluntarily opted to choose automotive as their specialization during their first year in senior high. instrumentation a survey questionnaire was administered to the trainees to gather data on their profile, including academic status, program status, and a number of unit loads, family income, and family size. a researcher-made instrument in written examination format on the test and adjust engine intake, and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train had been prepared. the researcher also made activities and simulation assessment. also, a practical examination that serves as pre-test and post-test was conducted of which results were used by the researcher during the data analysis. as for the external evaluator, an evaluation sheet was used. here, the evaluators were required to respond to the 30 items evaluator evaluation sheet. they were asked to indicate the students’ performance with yes or no answer. data-gathering procedure the data gathering was conducted in the following phases: a letter to the school head of lnhs – gusa annex was sent requesting the school and the grade-12 students to participate in the study. a written letter of consent was requested from the respondents to participate in the study actively. the researcher then conducted the pre-test to determine the skill level of each participant on the test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train. after analyzing their scores, this selected topic has been discussed in simulation using the project; classroom instruction was integrated with the innovation. after then, they took the post-test and final actual evaluation with the external evaluator. the data were collated, tabulated and analyzed. statistical treatment descriptive statistical tools such as frequency, percentages, weighted mean and standard deviation were used to describe the respondents’ scores and responses. an inferential statistical tool, the multiple linear regressions, was also used to measure the effectiveness of using the simulator as a pedagogical tool in automotive technology using the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents. 59 international peer reviewed journal an actual simulation with the trainer accompanied it. results and discussion existing product design figure 1. this model manually operates to demonstrate function in every individual part and accessories like valves, pistons, pumps, crank, and camshaft. innovated product design figure 2. this four stroke single cylinder gasoline engine section model displays internal combustion (ic) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft; simulations work as it is powered by the functional engine. table 1. distribution of statistics, mean and standard deviation on respondents 60 jpair multidisciplinary research over-all written post-test performances scores in testing and adjusting engine intake and exhaust valve, servicing crank mechanism and servicing engine mechanical valve train question/indicator pre-test post-test mean s.d mean s.d test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 6.29 1.65 9.83 0.48 service crank mechanism 5.96 2.96 9.71 0.55 service engine mechanical valve train 6.13 2.44 9.25 .074 in the pre-test, data shows that the majority (75%) of the respondents’ overall written pretest scores range from fair to good. the overall rating is fair (mean=18.38). the standard deviation of 4.93 indicates that the respondents’ overall written pre-test scores varied greatly from each other. these conform clearly to the claim of o’neill and oates (2001) in his article, “the effect of the pre-testing on post-test performance,” that there is evidence that pre-test can have orienting, motivational and teaching function. there is also evidence that these additional function can be either general or specific among students. in post-test, data show that 100% of the respondents’ overall posttest score was “very good.” the overall rating was “very good” (mean=28.79). the standard deviation of 1.02 indicates that the respondents’ overall post-test scores still varied from each other. based on the data, it is evident that there has been an improvement in their scores from pretest to the training assessment process. furthermore, the variation of the overall written post-test performance can be attributed to the factors that have affected the respondents’ performance while this study was underway. the results have been supported by the study of fernandez (2010). the construction of the trainer for the lighting system and other related training aid revealed that students could understand and apply their topics and concepts pertinent to the subject area. the succeeding table below shows the distribution of frequency, percentage, mean, the percentage of correct responses and standard deviation on the respondents’ pre-test conducted by the researcher and post-test conducted by external evaluator activities and simulation scores in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, service engine mechanical valve train. table 2. distribution of statistics, percentages and standard deviation on 61 international peer reviewed journal respondents over-all written post-test performance scores in testing and adjusting engine intake and exhaust valve, servicing crank mechanism and servicing engine mechanical valve train. question/indicator pre-test post-test % sd % sd test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 9.46 1.44 9.88 0.26 service crank mechanism 9.00 1.22 9.65 0.59 service engine mechanical valve train 8.96 1.23 9.61 0.45 in pre-test, data show that the majority (87%) of the respondents’ overall activities and simulation score was “very good.” the overall rating was “very good” (mean=27.42). the standard deviation of 3.12 indicated that the respondents’ overall activities and simulation scores varied greatly from each other. the overall mean of 27.42 reveals that the average scores of the respondents in the overall activities and simulation score in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, service engine mechanical valve train was “very good.” the standard deviation of 3.12 implied that their level of significance varied greatly from each other. this means that though the mean is good, that the responses or scores are not entirely very good. it was noted that most of the respondents obtained “good” to “very good” rating in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train. the result shows that there were respondents that were rated “very good.” this may be due to some unexplained factors: the respondents have been exposed to before taking the simulation or one particular student was challenged to make improvements to his performance. the significant count of one respondent rated as “fair” may be due to some undefined factors that the students possessed. such a result conforms to the claims of ogbondah (2010) that the use of the different instructional materials designed within the mock-up models is most effective in enhancing students learning. competencies were all exhibited in the trainer model because the students were able to apply the themes and principle into their hands-on that the different systems of an engine could be simulated smoothly. in post-test, data show that 100% of the respondents’ overall practical posttest scores were “very good’ as evaluated by the three experts. the overall rating was “very good” (mean=28.14). the standard deviation of 1.03 indicated that the respondents’ overall practical post-test scores as evaluated by the three experts 62 jpair multidisciplinary research varied from each other. additionally, after being exposed to the four-stroke gasoline engine trainer during the processes of this study. the variation of the respondents’ performance implied that majority of them were already skillful; they employed varied techniques in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train. training has been very successful. it resulted in increasing of mean scores, a positive increase in terms of frequency. these results conform to the assertion of olumorin, yosuf, ajidagba, and jekayinfa (2010) that the training simulator was acceptable to enhance the learning process of the students in terms of their capability to perform different critical tasks with the help of an instructional trainer. since all the sub-assemblies of the engine were exposed and the interrelation of all the parts was easily seen, the results have been supported by the study of stephen (2015) the use of the trainer model is recommended to enhance the learning process of the students in terms of their capability to perform test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train. table 3. distribution of the respondents’ written performances in testing and adjusting engine intake and exhaust valve, servicing crank mechanism and servicing engine mechanical valve train. category writtenpre-test written post-test p-value one tail critical t-value test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 6.29 9.83 6.12 x 10 -11 1.703 10.069** service crank mechanism 5.96 9.71 2.43 x 10-9 1.706 8.561** test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 6.13 9.25 1.02 x 10 -6 1.703 6.012** the table shows the distribution of the respondents’ written performances in the test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, and service engine mechanical valve train. there were two sets of results have been compared: pre-test and post-test. the results indicate that the written post-test score is greater than the pre-test score in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism and test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve. the degree is 63 international peer reviewed journal highly significant; hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. table 4. distribution of statistic (one-tailed t-test) respondents’ practical performance in testing and adjusting engine intake and exhaust valve, servicing crank mechanism, servicing engine mechanical valve train when grouped according to pre-test and post-test. category pre-test simulation post-test practical p-value one tail critical t stat test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 9.46 9.87 0.0466 1.708 1.745* service crank mechanism 9.00 9.65 0.0119 1.692 2.370** test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve 8.96 9.61 0.0105 1.699 2.439** the table shows the distribution of statistics (one-tailed t-test) respondents’ practical performance in test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism, service engine mechanical valve train when grouped according to pre-test simulation and activities and posttest practical. two groups were being compared: pre-test simulation and activities and posttest practical. the null hypothesis, posttest practical is lesser than pre-test simulation and activities are rejected. the results indicated that posttest practical is greater than pre-test simulation and activities test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve, service crank mechanism and test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve. and the degree is highly significant in-service crank mechanism and test and adjusts engine intake and exhaust valve. the degree is significant in test and adjust engine intake and exhaust valve. a teacher should know how to devise their instructional material to become effective and efficient in delivering both simple and complicated concept in teaching automotive technology. students can be less motivated when teacher don’t use instructional devices that can facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills development of the learner which very important to the educative process. these findings surprisingly confirmed the claims made by olawale (2013) that when experiential precede formal instruction, learners are better prepared for formal learning materials and have higher learning gains. conclusions 64 jpair multidisciplinary research the overall purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of fourstroke single cylinder gasoline engine trainer to improve the students’ technical performance. the study was being developed by the researcher. the design and the relevance of the project were being studied thoroughly based on the actual needs of the students. a thorough consultation and series of testing have contributed a huge impact on student’s performance in terms of knowledge and skills in actual hands-on of automotive servicing. the project has greatly helped automotive students increase and deepen their theoretical understanding of engineering principles which allowed them to manifest actual work competently. using the instructional material, the study believed that a good number of students would pass the national certification of automotive servicing. the trainer contributed greatly to the increase of the performance of the students in the written pre-test examination when the results of the written test were compared. additionally, the study concludes that adoption of the four-stroke single cylinder gasoline engine trainer in grade12 automotive students brought significant effect to the performance of the students. generally, student can be self-reliant, more confident of themselves on the actual scene and movement of an operational engine. with these advantages, students can easily perform simple to a complicated task. the majority (75%) of the respondents’ overall pre-test scores ranged from fair to good. the overall rating was fair (mean=18.38). the standard deviation of 4.93 indicated that the respondents’ overall pre-test scores varied greatly from each other. the majority (87%) of the respondents’ overall activities and simulation score was “very good.” the overall rating was “very good” (mean=27.42). the standard deviation of 3.12 indicated that the respondents’ overall activities and simulation scores varied greatly from each other. one-hundred percent of the respondents’ overall post-test score was “very good.” the overall rating was “very good” (mean=28.79). the standard deviation of 1.02 indicated that the respondents’ overall post-test scores also varied from each other. one-hundred percent of the respondents’ overall practical post-test scores as evaluated by the three experts was “very good.” the overall rating was “very good” (mean=28.14). the standard deviation of 1.03 indicated that the respondents’ overall practical post-test score as evaluated by the three experts also varied from each other. there was a highly significant degree of difference between the respondents’ pre-test and post-test scores in all areas, at the one-tailed test with a 0.05 level of significance. 65 international peer reviewed journal there was a highly significant degree of difference between the respondents’ simulation and practical performances in all areas, at a one-tailed test with a 0.05 level of significance. translational research the automotive teachers should adopt the use of four-stroke cycle gasoline engine trainer as it aids their laboratory and classroom instruction in teaching hands-on activity for gasoline engine tune-up on engine valve train adjustment. the students should use and apply their conceptual understanding in gasoline engine tune-up that focused on engine valve train adjustment. using this four-stroke cycle gasoline engine trainer makes their learning and handson demonstration valuable. the administration should increase students’ performance and assure them a greater chance to pass the assessment. it should provide assistance to teachers who are willing to develop instructional trainers to enhance the teaching-learning process. the industry should use the four-stroke cycle gasoline engine trainer so that a student in automotive can develop their competence for quality and globally competitive services in their automotive company. other researchers from the similar field should use the results of the study for deeper analysis of issues and concerns on fourto increase students’ academic performance. literature cited abdu-raheem, b. o., &oluwagbohunmi, m. f. 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(2009). understanding technology acceptance in prehttps://goo.gl/r1fvqs https://goo.gl/r1fvqs http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/263362 https://goo.gl/byabd3 http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/ajit.2010.107.110 https://goo.gl/pazv8n https://goo.gl/9p6c85 https://goo.gl/9p6c85 67 international peer reviewed journal service teachers: a structural equation modelling approach. the asia pacific educationresearch, 18(1), 47-66. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2g40rnu van dalen, d. b. (1967). understanding educational research: an introduction. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ggzvih weisbrod, g., & reno, a. (2009).  economic impact of public transportation investment. american public transportation association. retrieved from https://goo.gl/eosjs6 wong, k. t., goh, s. c., hanafi, h. f., & osman, r. (2010). computer attitudes and use among novice teachers: the moderating effects of school environment. malaysian journal of learning and instruction, 7(9). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2rxfuk4 https://bit.ly/2g40rnu https://goo.gl/ggzvih https://goo.gl/eosjs6 https://bit.ly/2rxfuk4 44 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract the enhanced k-12 basic education program seeks to provide a quality 12year basic education program that each filipino is entitled and in consistent with article xiv, section 2 (i) of the philippine constitution which states that the state shall establish, maintain, and support a complete adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society.the study aimed to determine the level of performance of the grade 8 adtech students of the philippine science high school ilocos region campus, san ildefonso, ilocos sur in s.y. 2013-2014. the study made use of descriptive correlational research design. results showed that the overall grade exhibited a “very good” level of performance in the curricular subjects. knowledge test of the student obtained knowledge, skills and work attitude as correlates to job performance in exploratory adtech program of grade 8 students richard a. bisenio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7932-4232 biseniora2015@gmail.com philippines science high school-ilocos sur san ildefonso, ilocos sur nelson a. bajet http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5853-3983 nelsonbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.327 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 45 international peer reviewed journal an “excellent” grade, and students’ work attitude is highly important. the student performance along knowledge (0.284), skills (0.301); attitude (0.272) in the exploratory adtech program resulted that no significant relationship. the correlation coefficients between the level of performance of the students in exploratory adtech program and the students’ performance along attitudes, manifested a significant relationship. matching of competency requirements and standards of the 12-year basic education are necessary to acquire skills and match the college readiness standards for further education and future employment of students. keywords – education, performance, grade 8, adtech, descriptive correlational method, ilocos sur, philippines introduction the world is undergoing unprecedented changes brought by the rapid advancement of information and communication technologies, trade liberalization, and globalization (unesco, 2010). many countries in the world have at least 12 to 13 years of combined primary and secondary education. the philippines is one of the few countries in the world with 10 years of elementary and secondary education (unacom, 2010). the four asian countries like brunei, malaysia, singapore and hong kong have a curriculum that supports 21st century learning to enable all students achieve enhanced language and mathematical abilities; a broadened knowledge base, increased competence in critical thinking, independent learning, interpersonal skills and increased exposure to other learning experiences in moral, civic, physical and aesthetic access (gwang-jo kim, 2014). according to the findings of buelva (2000), philippines is one of only three countries in the world (the other two being angola and djibouti) and the last country in asia that still follows a 10-year pre-university cycle. basic education has been assessed every year, but still, students who finished basic education still do not possess sufficient mastery of basic competencies. one reason is that students do not get adequate instructional time or time on task. president benigno s. aquino iii (2010) in one of his public speeches said, “reforms are needed to achieve substantial improvement. we need to add two years to our basic education. i want at least 12 years for our public school children to give them an even chance at succeeding, to enhance k+12 basic education programs.” 46 jpair multidisciplinary research academic performance and achievements are said to be the center of the educational system. these could be appreciable indicators of school effectiveness. integrative teaching effectiveness can be directly assessed through the academic performance of the pupils as shown by their achievement level within subject area boundaries. general education can and should make an important contribution in helping the students develop intellectual curiosity, inquiry and analysis; to build skills of logical analysis; to gain understanding and competence in using the different forms of reasoning employed in various fields; and to deepen respect for all areas of knowledge. in the context of a new school program, the philippine science high school (pshs) in ilocos region based at san ildefonso, ilocos sur adheres to the new school program, the k+12. the department of science and technology (dost) mandated phs a free scholarship with especial emphasis on subjects in sciences. this is according to section 2 of republic act 3661 that established the first philippine science high school campus in 1964. the k+12 program has two objectives: a) to give every student an opportunity to receive quality education based on an enhanced and decongested curriculum that is internationally recognized and comparably develop a curriculum that is rational and focused on excellence; produce a pool of highly qualified and adequately trained mathematics, science and english at all levels; and produce graduates who are globally competitive and whose credentials are recognized internationally; and b) to change public perception that high school education is just a preparation for college; rather, it should allow one to take advantage of opportunities for gainful career of employment and /or self-employment in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment. the study posited that the teacher-related and program-related factors are associated with learning competencies of the grade 8 students in adtech. thus, the researcher felt motivated to conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the exploratory adtech in the grade 8 program of k+12 of the philippine science high school ilocos region campus by assessing the performance of the students in their last year of exploratory adtech program or their last year in junior high school. the findings will be utilized to improve more the implementation of grades 7 and 8 in the exploratory adtech subject offered specifically in the industrial arts that align to sciencethe basic electricity and electronics. for students, it is also expected that learning would become a valuable experience for them because their opinions would be taken into account for future planning of the adtech grade 8 program activities based on their honest 47 international peer reviewed journal evaluation of the factors affecting their learning competencies, and the adtech program as a whole. student performance in school as stated by bacon (2011) is based on finding resources associated with school systems, the school curriculum and the quality of education provided to students. through this study, it is also hoped that the administrators would realize the need for improvement on staff, instructional materials, tools and equipment, and other facilities needed in implementing the adtech grade 8 program. through hands-on activities, the students combined intellectual stimulation and expanded learning (dewey, 1916). in addition, korwin and jones (1990) stated that hands-on demands that students interact with their learning environment that plays an important role in technology education curriculum. objectives of the study the study determined the level of performance of the grade 8 adtech students of the philippine science high school ilocos region campus, san ildefonso, ilocos sur in s.y. 2013-2014. specifically, it sought to find out the level of adequacy of physical resources of the adtech exploratory program along: a) classrooms; b) equipment; c) hand tools; and, d) library. also, it sought to find out the level of performance of the k+12 students in their grade 7 curricular subjects along: a) academic subjects; b) mathematics; c) integrated science; d) computer science; e) social science; f ) english; g) filipino; h) pehm; i) values education; and, j) adtech basic electricity. methodology research design the study involved descriptions and record analysis to verify the facts that were reflected in the survey checklists. the study made use of the descriptive research design to determine the work attitudes as correlates to job performance in exploratory adtech program of grade 8 students. it also determined the grade 8 adtech program status and the students’ scholastic/academic achievement, while the correlational method was utilized to find out the performance of the students in terms of knowledge, skills and work attitudes whether it influenced by grade 8 adtech– related factors and scholastic profile of the students. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research participants and research site the research participants are the 81 grade 8 adtech students of philippines science high school, san ildefonso, ilocos sur, campus. the researcher sought permission from them prior to the conduct of the survey. profile of the adtech administrators half of the administrators belonged to the 37 and 33 age brackets, respectively. the data showed that the administrators of the philippines science high school are relatively young. thus, the faculty are energetic to lead the institution. the administrators are female. they are holders of doctorate and masters’ degree with doctorate units, respectively. educational attainment serves as the basis for getting special job and level of work in employment as well as the wages appertaining thereto. the two administrators’ area of specialization are mathematics and physics, respectively. they have rendered service in philippines science high school for 12 years. they have attended seminars of which more than five are international, more than 15 are national, more than 15 are provincial and more than 15 are institutional, respectively. education and training in formal education determine the individual’s level of qualification for employment. they are members of more than five organizations. the two administrators hold the position as special science teacher 1v, designated as curriculum instruction service division and science, mathematics and technology head, respectively. they hold permanent position. profile of the faculty the faculty belonged to 30 and 26 age brackets. they are relatively young and energetic to teach their field of specialization. they are female. they are holders of master’s degree with doctorate units and master’s degree, respectively. the data revealed that philippine science high school met the educational teacher qualification prescribed by the professional regulation commission. pursuing higher studies is to widen their horizon in their field of specialization. they hold physics as their area of specialization. the respondents have four and two years teaching experience, respectively. they had attended seminars of which more than 10 are provincial and more than 10 are institutional, respectively. cooperative trade training is given in occupation itself, while the schools provide the related instruction and needed skills. further, 49 international peer reviewed journal a teacher grows professionally when he attends in service trainings and seminar. they are members of more than two organizations and both hold the position as special science teacher ii. they are designated as physics, chemistry and adtech teacher and physics and adtech teacher, respectively. they hold permanent position. instrumentation the questionnaire used in this study was adapted from the desired learning competencies in grade 8adtech in basic electricity curriculum module book in determining the level of performance of the students. free test was conducted to validate the desired learning competencies. the research instrument used in work attitude and on physical resources was adapted from bajet (2000) with his permission. this was designed and structured to capture the necessary data needed in the study. questionnaires for student respondents were elicited from physical resources. the items in these instruments will be measured by a fivepoint rating scale described as follows: 5-very adequate; 4 more than adequate; 3 adequate; 2 less than adequate; and 1not adequate. questionnaires for students elicited from knowledge test are questions coming from the different learning outcomes of the k+12 basic education curriculum technology and livelihood education learning module composed of questions for basic electricity. the data were treated statistically through frequency, percentage, weighted mean and simple correlation. results and discussion level of adequacy of physical resources of the adtech exploratory program the adtech exploratory program of the philippine science high school requires a reasonable time or laboratory work to supplement the lectures given by the instructors. this necessitates the availability of some physical resources to be used by the students. on classroom. three classrooms are properly lighted and ventilated. each classroom contains a pair of teachers’ table and chair, a total of 81 chairs for the students, lcd projector, and multimedia speakers with individual tool cabinet. out of the three classrooms, there were two rooms that contain a display cabinet for adtech project outputs. there is also a bulletin board for information of activities intended for the updates and issues in the subject. however, the students demand improvement in some aspects, like dressing rooms. they do believe that 50 jpair multidisciplinary research a dressing room must be provided as a standard facility in the technical work place. also a wiring board should be installed in the classrooms. many educators stressed that basic instructional materials will have to be developed very carefully since these may be the only materials most of the students will have in the process of education. they should provide for the desirable values and the skills and knowledge proposed to be learned in each learning level and adequate achievement of quality. on equipment and hand tools. equipment and hand tools are needed in class/shoproom work. since these are the most commonly used tools in the adtech subjects, every student should have a grip of these tools for him to be familiar with them and their uses. the philippine science high school, san ildefonso campus had wirings. this finding implies that laboratory shop equipment and tools are very important factors in the acquisition of knowledge and manipulative skills of students. only through practice can the students put into use the theories they have learned. teaching and learning can be facilitated with a favorable environment, which includes adequate facilities, equipment and other instructional materials and aids. the school plant as a whole provides an important means of developing aesthetics, intellectual, psychological, social and moral education of the learner. thus, it is important that school administrators should possess a thorough working knowledge about the school plant. in addition, effective teaching and learning cannot take place without good facilities, instructional materials, educational tools and devices. these give support to the curriculum and provide teaching useful aids to instruction. physical facilities development must, therefore, be given as much concern as curriculum and staff development in every school system if quality is to be attained. furthermore, the use of media materials in teaching is now inadequately accepted in all levels of education. a method of teaching that depends really on textbook is now considered inadequate. the necessity of the use of instructional aids and the corresponding appropriate teachings making the teaching and learning process more effective, economical and functional. visual materials have greater use in the classroom than either audio or multi-sensory materials. such aids include: display boards; filmstrips; overhead transparencies; slides and specimens and objects. 51 international peer reviewed journal level of performance of the k+12 students in their grade 7 curricular subjects the student respondents’ overall grade exhibited a “very good” (82%) level of performance in their grade 7 curricular subjects. hands-on activities will further visualize and conceptualize abstract ideas which are believed to be more effective on imparting the lessons. students get fascinated with the tools when they experience manipulating them. the result emphasized that for students to become practitioners of the arts of engineering and technology, they must first acquire both the empirical and theoretical knowledge; the first one refers to the knowledge of experience while the second refers to the knowledge of thought. empirical knowledge is based on observation of others. theoretical, on the other hand, refers to ideas and conclusions learned from experience and its systematically organized study and thoughts. in addition, humanistic view refers to the development of the individual or the learner. from this view point, the teacher accepts the responsibility of giving all for the development of an individual. furthermore, it is necessary on the humanistic view to make the text authentic enough and to make the students the center of the teaching-learning process. according to cardon (2000), construction of knowledge is problem-solving of learning theory that plays contemporary technology education curriculum. level of performance of the grade 8 adtech students the data on the level of performance of the grade 8 adtech students of the philippine science high school, san ildefonso, campus along knowledge, skills and attitudes are based on their lessons from the grading period in grade 7. on knowledge. in administering the knowledge test, the student respondents obtained a descriptive rating of “excellent” with a mean grade of 93%. the knowledge test had 85 items that were taken in the first and second grading period. this implies that the student respondents’ performance along the knowledge test is excellent. learning within the technology education environment includes three primary learning theories: construction of knowledge, problem solving, and hands-on learning theories (herschbach, 1998). johnston (1979) argued that what is internalized is not the behavior, but the system that organizes the specific acts involved. in the technology education perspective, herschbach added that instructions are based on cognitive theory from passive learning knowledge. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research on skill test. the student respondents got a descriptive rating of “very good” with a mean rating of 89%. this implies that most the student respondents follow all the criteria of the skill test like the quality of work, workmanship and speed. also, they follow the requirements and specifications for the skill test that are listed as : a) identifying circuit parts; b) analyzing circuit and parts tracing for any trouble; c) assembling circuits and parts repair with corresponding points. each of the student respondents is assigned to his/ her respective work place to perform individually. the finding is in consonance to the definition of gokhale (1996) that handson learning theory is the basic premise that students learn as a result of doing or experiencing things in the world, and learning occurs when mental activity is suffused with physical activity. on work attitude. the grade 8 adtech students’ work attitude as revealed by an overall mean of 4.72 is highly important.the respondents have a rating of highly important in all items: a) observe shop rules and regulations (with a mean rating of 4.84); b) attend regularly and punctually (4.78); c) demonstrates honesty, diligence and responsibility and sincerity;d) shows willingness to learn (4.74); e) shows resourcefulness and creativity in job performance (4.71); f ) shows the concerned interest in coping with needs and problems; g) shows willingness to learn (4.70); h) establishes and maintain personal and working relations with fellow students (4.69); i) accepts and performs leadership roles with integrity and sincerity(4.65) and j) sets example in moral and ethics behavior to fellow students with a mean rating of 4.62. these findings imply that personal work values and attitudes that are developed by the students in this type of job demand physical strength and a great deal of discipline. working with manual needs proper work attitudes to preserve and complete the assigned tasks. attitude is a persistent disposition to act either positively or negatively towards a person, group, object, situation, value or course. thus, it is essential to every work or activity because it provides an internal motivation to every individual to carry on his desire to achieve his ambition and to attain better education and employment. beder (1989) reported that university education is highly recognized with much prestige especially to young students with privileged than those who pursue vocational courses. educational programs that are vocationally oriented were underestimated in both britain and the united states during the nineteenth century. 53 international peer reviewed journal relationship between the performance of the students in the exploratory adtech program and adequacy of physical resources the coefficient of 0.284 between the student respondents’ performance along knowledge; 0.301 between the student respondents’ performance along skills; 0.272 between the student respondents’ along attitude and exploratory adtech program failed to attain significance at 0.05 probability level. this means that there is no significant relationship between the two variables, respectively. this means further that students can have high knowledge in the exploratory adtech program regardless of adequacy of physical resources. table 1. correlation coefficients showing the relationship between the performance of the students in the exploratory adtech program and adequacy of physical resources performance r-value r-prob decision knowledge 0.284* .039 reject ho skills 0.301* .021 reject ho attitude 0.272* .047 reject ho * significant at .05 probability level the adequacy of physical resources like class rooms, hand tools classroom facilities and equipment are not a guarantee of high knowledge of exploratory adtech program subject of the students. this is supported by cokley (2000) in defining academic self-concept of a student’s view of his or her academic ability when compared with other students. academic self-concept can also be measured in specific subject areas (byne, 1996; hattie, 1992; & marsh, byrne & shavelson, 1988) such as mathematics, english, and science as it involves description and evaluation of one’s perceived academic abilities. the respondents’ performance along manipulative skills when correlated with the adequacy of physical resources yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.301. this is much lower than the required value which means that there is also no significant relationship between the two variables. the respondents’ performance along work attitude when correlated with the adequacy of physical resources also yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.272. this is also much lower than the required value which means that there is also no significant relationship between the two variables. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research relationship between the performance of the students in the exploratory adtech program and student’s performance in grade 7 the correlation coefficients between the level of performance of the students in the exploratory adtech program and the students’ performance in grade 7 are on knowledge 0.273 and manipulative skill 0.555, respectively. these values did not reach significance at 0.05 probability level so there is no significant relationship between the two variables. this implies that the learning theories and principles are not influenced by the performance grade when they were in grade 7. the correlation coefficients between the level of performance of the students in exploratory adtech program and the students’ performance in grade 7 along attitude, the table clearly manifests that it has a significant relationship. this means that the students tend to be more committed and dedicated in their performance in the exploratory adtech program subject without considering their grade when they were in grade 7. table 2. correlation coefficients showing the relationship between the performance of the students in the exploratory adtech program and students’ performance in grade 7 performance r-value r-prob decision knowledge 0.273* .000 reject ho skills 0.555* .000 reject ho attitude 0.004 .958 do not reject ho * significant at .05 probability level the finding implies that personal work attitudes are developed by the students as they are exposed to adtech subject’s work. since this type of job demands physical strength and great deal of discipline, a technologist needs proper work attitude to persevere and complete the tasks. work attitudes among technical education students when developed and internalized in the personality become habit patterns that shape their work value systems and consequently, affect their job performance. this is in support to the statement of townsend (2002) that teachers influence students’ attitudes about education and provide meaningful learning environments by being prepared to effectively teach diverse students. furthermore, lent, brown and hackett (1994) explain academic self-concept as “specific attitudes, feelings, and perceptions about one’s intellectual or academic skills, representing a person’s 55 international peer reviewed journal self-beliefs and self-feelings regarding the academic setting. the study is delimited in finding the level of adequacy of physical resources of the adtech exploratory program along: a) classrooms; b) equipment; c) hand tools; and, d) library. further, in finding the level of performance of the k+12 students in their grade 7 curricular subjects along: a) academic subjects; b) mathematics; c) integrated science; d) computer science; e) social science; f ) english; g) filipino; h) pehm; i) values education; and, j) adtech basic electricity. conclusions the pshs sets harmonized policies that nurture innovative programs in support to the pshs mission and vision towards nation building, and in support to the goal of the enhanced k=12 basic education program which enhances the basic educational system to support the basic learning needs of students. this also supports the statement of president aquino that quality education is the longterm solution to poverty. development in the philippine educational system stresses the need for quality technology and livelihood education. to achieve this worthwhile project, the pshs is giving more attention in molding the youth who are commonly dubbed as the “hope of the nation” especially at this point that the country stands at the threshold of a new era that is expected to bring to the world wonders of technology. at present, there is a shortage of skilled workers in the various occupational fields. what seems to be part of the problem is not scarcity of the job opportunities, but the lack of skilled workers to man these jobs efficiently. the shortage of manpower with specialized knowledge and skills is apparent among many industries that content themselves in employing men with mediocre or average technical skills to man the wheel of the industry. with these issues, the pshs undergo curriculum enrichment like the k-12 to give appropriate trainings that could take them highly efficient and become highskilled industrial workers. translational research the philippines sciences high school’s k to 12 basic education curriculum in the adtech program is in line with the college readiness standards of ched, which enhance the skills and capabilities of k to 12 graduates in preparation 56 jpair multidisciplinary research to the challenges that await them in higher education. based on the result of the study, a matching of competency requirements and standards of the 12-year basic education are necessary to acquire skills and match the college readiness standards for further education and future employment of students. literature cited bacon, l. s. c. (2011). academic self-concept and academic achievement of african american students transitioning from urban to rural schools. bajet, m. a. jr. (2000). employment opportunities and productivity of electrical technical and technology graduates in region i doctoral dissertation, university of northern philippines. retrieved from http://nlpdl.nlp.gov. ph:9000/rpc/cat/finders/nl02/bg08s/300/300/331.htm beder, s. (1989). towards a more representative engineering education. international journal of applied engineering education, 5(2), 173-182. buelva, e. (2002) what is k to 12? http://www.academia. edu/4206472/65752154_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_k_12_1a cardon, p. l. (2000). at-risk students and technology education: a qualitative study. cokley, k. (2000). an investigation of academic self-concept and its relationship to academic achievement in african american college students.journal of black psychology, 26(2), 148-164. dewey, j. (1916). education and democracy. new york. gokhale, a. a. (1996). effectiveness of computer simulation for enhancing higher order thinking. gwang-jo kim. (2014) asian education in a changing world: emerging trends and policy. retrieved on october 10, 2015 from http://www.ciep.fr/ sites/default/files/atoms/files/education-asie-2014-gwang-jo-kim.pdf 57 international peer reviewed journal hattie, j. (1992). self-concept. hillsdale, nj: lawrence erlbaum. herschbach, d. r. (1998). reconstructing technical instruction. johnston, t. d. (1979), behavior and evolution. jean piaget. random house, new york, 1978, xxvi + 165 pp. english translation by d. nicholson-smith. (originally published as  le comportement moteur de l’evolution. editions gallimard, paris, 1976.). dev. psychobiol., 12:  633–637. doi:  10.1002/ dev.420120613 korwin, a. r., & jones, r. e. (1990). do hands-on, technology-based activities enhance learning by reinforcing cognitive knowledge and retention?. journal of technology education, 1(2), 26-33. lent, r. w., brown, s. d., & hackett, g. (1994). toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. journal of vocational behavior, 45(1), 79-122. marsh, h. w., byrne, b. m., & shavelson, r. j. (1988). a multifaceted academic self-concept: its hierarchical structure and its relation to academic achievement. journal of educational psychology, 80(3), 366. president benigno s. aquino, iii (2010). paper on the enhanced k+ discussion 12 basic education program deped discussion. retrieved from paperceap. org.ph/upload/download/201210/17115829500_1.pdf the six year pshs curriculum. (2013). retrieved from www.pshs.edu.ph/thecurriculum/the-6-year-pshs-curriculum united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) 2010 retrieved from www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/opccb/opif2012/ dfa/unesco.pdf unesco national commission of the philippines (unacom) 2010. retrieved from www.coa.gov.ph/.../userupload/.../2010/...of.../unacom_ es2010.pdf23 international peer reviewed journal oral language proficiency level of international business process outsourcing agents ramil s. bulilan http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5028-7570 ramilseg.bulilan@gmail.com bohol island state university clarin, bohol, philippines shaun james t. ponte james_bugs2002@gmail.com sykes asia inc. cebu city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract oral english language proficiency is an important skill every call center agent must possess. towards this end, this study sampled 125 call center agents of sykes in cebu city, philippines primarily to determine their level of proficiency in oral discourse. a descriptive-quantitative design was pursued wherein respondents were assessed using the said industry’s standardized instrument that measured on their pronunciation, stress, and intonation; language accuracy, and vocabulary range; discourse and strategic competency; and, interactive fluency and sociolinguistics. it also specifically sought answers on their gender, highest educational attainment, school attended, and place of origin. we presumed that their highest educational attainment and gender had influenced their oral language proficiency level. results revealed they were modest users which mean vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.627 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:james_bugs2002@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 24 jpair multidisciplinary research that they are non-native-speaker-like agents. they have partial command of the language. statistical tests revealed no significant difference and relationship, respectively, on respondents’ oral proficiency level in terms of their gender and highest educational achievement. these imply that whether male or female, and finished college or not, their oral proficiency level is not affected. in other words, gender and college achievement are not the factors towards their oral proficiency level. nevertheless, call center agents of sykes to need to improve their oral language skills for them to retain employment. keywords — language and communication, business process outsourcing, descriptive design, cebu city, philippines introduction the english language has a prominent standing in global communication. hence, both oral and written english skills are essential around the world. however, for many, speaking english seems to be a very challenging task. since the aim of english education is not only to develop knowledge of grammar and writing skills but also to teach oral english skills, this problem needs to be studied to remedy the situation (paakki, 2013). oral english proficiency is an essential skill every call center agent must possess. this skill is indeed essential for effective communication. on his part, emanuel (2011) stressed that excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills are among the foremost skill sets required for call center agents. the ability to speak eloquently, and effectively has, for centuries, been recognized as the hallmark of an educated person. they further claimed that sufficient skill in communication had paved its way to becoming a passport to success (emanuel, 2011; benaissi, 2008). whether a professional, social, and private individual, people are adjudged as to how well they master the skills of communication in various aspects of their lives. many competencies are measured according to their abilities to express themselves in a clear and convincing way of using the english language. various studies revealed that when students’ proficiency in the english language is high, it will positively affect and improve their academic performance (wilson and komba, 2012; aina & olanipekun 2013; mahmud, 2014; olanipekun, garuba, & mohammed 2014; martirosyan, hwang, & wanjohi 2015). nevertheless, there was not enough literature which delved into the oral 25 international peer reviewed journal language proficiency level among call center agents in the philippines which tried to correlate such language proficiency towards educational achievement and gender. thus, this study is in order and believes in contributing to the body of knowledge. the importance of english language for enhancing educational attainment through improved communication ability can never be overemphasized, that is why students with so much difficulty with their communication skill in the english language may not function effectively, not only in english language but their academic endeavor (aina & olanipekun 2013). as a terminology, proficiency suggests variability, and it has traditionally been related to measurement and testing in second language teaching and learning (llurda, 2000). as such, hakuta, butler & witt (2000) insisted that oral english proficiency is best checked through standardized proficiency tests. oral language is about communicating with other people who involves a process of utilizing thinking, knowledge, and skills to speak and listen effectively. as such, it is central to the lives of all people. as a process of verbally transmitting information and ideas from one individual or group to another, oral communication becomes a skill that must be mastered. one of the few studies which have been conducted on the effect of gender on the production of oral skills is that of koosha, ketabi, & kassaian (2011). in the same year 2011, a study conducted on whether gender plays a role in the assessment of oral proficiency by motallebzadeh, and nematizadeh (2011), it was found out that females did better in vocal performance than males; however, the difference was not that significant. halpern (2004) provided ample evidence that different hormonal configurations can partly explain the differences between male and female cognitive functioning. the production of male sex hormones from early childhood on in boys is assumed to be critical in this respect. as a result, masculinization of behavior and cognition occurs; causing a variety of differences between men and women in, for example, motor skills, spatial abilities, mathematical aptitude, perception, and verbal abilities. girls develop communicative skills at a younger age than boys exhibiting larger vocabularies and using a more extensive variety of sentences (halpern, 2004). furthermore, on gender, a 1998 canadian assessment of students’ speech communication skills showed that there were many significant gender differences among individuals’ listening skills (hunter, gambell, randhawa, 2005). the study revealed that the vocal production of males was consistently below than that of females (koosha, ketabi, & kassaian, 26 jpair multidisciplinary research 2011). according to claes (1999) “the evidence for inherent sex differences in language is not convincing.” in a study conducted by de jong, steinel, florijn, schoonen, & hulstijn (2012) he concluded that speaking proficiency is a matter of declarative knowledge, a matter of processing instruction quickly, and a matter of pronunciation skills, and that linguistic knowledge and processing skills deserve a prominent place in any model of language proficiency. one area in speaking which has shown to be quite challenging to master completely is that of the pronunciation and intonation of the language (koosha, ketabi, & kassaian, 2011). in the arab region, although english is being taught for quite a number of years, the results are nowhere near the expected outcomes; that is, young adults are ill-equipped to use the language as fluently or efficiently as can be desired (alahdal, alfallaj, al-awaied, & al-hattami, 2014). in the philippines, the fact remains evident. however, employers still turn away many of the younger applicants because their english skills are below american standards despite the claiming the philippines as being a country where the english language is deeply entrenched in local culture (hernandez, greene, vaughn, francis, & grigorenko, 2015). thus, these reviews of the literature have triggered the researcher to conduct the study which primarily aimed to determine the oral english proficiency level of the sykes asia call center agents, and whether or not their gender and highest educational attainment influence their oral proficiency. framework the present study is anchored on hymes’ “communicative competence theory” in 1972. this great concept according to hymes himself refers to “one’s competence of language use appropriate to the other participants of the communicative interaction and appropriate to the given social context and situation.” moreover, in canale’s (1983) version of communicative competence, he introduces it with four separate components – grammatical competence, which is quite similar to that of chomsky’s idea of competence; sociolinguistic competence, which addresses the extent to which utterances are produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic context; discourse competence, which is related to the correct organization of text following the rules of cohesion, and coherence determined by the text itself and by its 27 international peer reviewed journal particular genre; and strategic competence, which is restricted to what has come to be known as communication strategies as opposed to learning strategies. four components of the said theory were the bases of the model framed by jane lockwood (2012) in her business performance language assessment scale (buplas) that she used in evaluating call center agents’ language proficiency level. sykes used this same instrument also to assess the language proficiency level of the agents. in such a tool, it has four interrelated areas namely: pronunciation, stress, and intonation, language and vocabulary range, discourse and strategic competence, and interactive fluency & sociolinguistic competence. objectives of the study this study determined the proficiency level of sykes’ call center agents in cebu city. specifically, it 1) sought answers of the profile of the call center agent regarding their gender, educational attainment, school attended, and place of origin; 2) determined their oral english language proficiency level in the attributes of pronunciation, stress and intonation; language accuracy, vocabulary range; discourse and strategic competency; and interactive fluency and sociolinguistic; 3) determined the significant difference between the respondents’ oral language proficiency level regarding their gender; and 4) determined the significant relationship between the respondents’ oral language proficiency level towards their highest educational attainment. methodology research design the study made use of a quantitative-descriptive approach using a correlational type of research undertaking to find out whether the demographic characteristics of the respondents, such as gender, highest educational attainment, school attended and place of origin, as independent variables are related to their oral language proficiency level, as dependent variables. furthermore, it used convenience sampling in determining research respondents. moreover, this study had an ex-post data, meaning the data were taken from those agents who were on their language certification week. this means they already have undergone customer service training, language training, and culture training as well as product training. they were waiting for their qa certification. these date were sought and accessed and with permission from miss venus s. lim, sga 28 jpair multidisciplinary research training manager, and mrs. ma. anna kristina villaba, operations director, sykes asia inc. these data were the assessment rates of 125 agents who were on their probationary period. research site the study was conducted in sykes, asia, inc. located at f. cabahug street, mabolo, and cebu city, philippines. sykes asia, inc. is a foreign-owned, usbased call center that operates in four different sites in the philippines. it is the first call center company to invest in the country in 1997, according to records of the board of investment (boi), besides support departments of multinational companies relocated offshore to take advantage of lower costs. it used the industry’s standardized tool in assessing their agent’s oral language proficiency level courtesy of jane lockwood’s (2012) business performance language assessment scale (buplas) model. sykes used the said tool for quite some time. the respondents are probationary employees and agents of the said entity with four months and onward who are seeking regular employment. instrumentation the assessment tool is made up of 4 interrelated attributes as evaluation areas for the agents. these attributes include 1) pronunciation, stress & intonation which pertains to the ability of the agent to use globally acceptable pronunciation patterns for the work in a call center. this scale includes an assessment of individual words, syllable stress, word stress, and intonation. this also covers voice texture, clarity, volume, and speed. it is weighted 20%; 2) language accuracy & vocabulary range which includes the ability of the agent to use a wide range of language structures and vocabulary items accurately and appropriately. if inaccurate, this band also assesses whether the agent is aware of the error/s he is making and can reformulate correctly. it determines whether there are stabilization problems and whether the agent has the ability to standardize or simplify technical and account jargon in a way that can be readily understood by the caller (20%); 3) discourse & strategic competency which refers to the strength of the agent to understand the nature (call flow and moves) of the spoken text he is participating in. this also pertains to the ability of the agent to adequately take control (or respond) to the “moves” within the text, and use appropriate connectors and signaling devices. this is also evidenced by good caller control and time management of the call. it also covers the ability of the agent to “repair” the discourse, e.g., the ability to recover from misunderstandings, upset, confusion, etc. this also includes the ability of the 29 international peer reviewed journal agent to construct clear, direct, and linear text that is easy for the listener to understand reflecting that the speaker is “thinking in english” rather than in tagalog (30%); and 4) interactive fluency & sociolinguistic competency which refers to the agent’s ability to understand and respond appropriately to the cultural expectations (ethnic / company), the accent and the idiomatic language of the caller. it also covers the interactional strategies in the exchange. e.g., turn-taking, initiation, responding, apologizing, explaining, politeness markers, etc. good awareness of interactive fluency and sociolinguistic understanding is evidenced in good customer relationship building in the call center industry (30%). these attributes are rated with a raw score of 5-1 with each assigned percentage. to wit: 5 as expert user (eu) or native-like speaker. it is toefl’s equivalent to 96-100%wherein the agent is described as having full operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriateness. the csr can handle complex argumentation and description thoroughly. the agent would perform at senior/middle management level in a call center. the agent is in the very complex csr level; 4 as very good user (vgu) or near-native like a speaker. this is equivalent to 86-95% where the agent has excellent operational command of the language though with occasional minor inaccuracies. he/she generally handles complex language well, understands, and can make detailed reasoning on complex and demanding calls. the agent would perform well at middle management level, qa, training and team leader, multiple csr level; 3 as good user (gu) or non-native speaker with 76-85% wherein the agent generally has sufficient command of the language despite some inaccuracies and misunderstandings. he can use and understand reasonably moderately complex or routine language, and handle calls in a satisfactory manner causing minimum frustration to the caller. the agent will improve fast with support and csr experience. he/she is in the moderately complex/routine csr level; 2 as a modest user (mu) or non-native speaker, with 66-75%. here the agent has partial command of the language coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. he should be able to handle essential communication in everyday cases. he/she would perform at usual csr level only; and one as limited user (lu) with 0-65%. in this level, the agent’s basic competence is limited to common questions. he has frequent problems with understanding and expression. the agent is not able to use complex language. communication breakdowns frequently occur. he/she should be able to do routine processing work. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the respondents’ profile on sex. by sex, we mean here both sexes, the male and female species. this is taken into account on our presumption that male differs with that of female abilities in their oral language proficiency as literature reviewed in this study. the result showed that out of 125 respondents, females (70 or 56%) were more than in number than males (55 or 44%). in short, most of the respondents were female. this result is supported by the studies of domingo-cabarrubias, and belt, richardson, and webster (2002) where the majority of call center workers were female. in the philippines, almost sixty percent of workers in the call centers are women (nso-gdc). according to cabrera-balleza (2005), as cited by domingo-cabarrubias, 2012, that bpo is presently the single largest technology where mostly employed by women. much more according to del rosario, “women are preferred more over men in the customer service representative task in almost all the call centers in the philippines.” scientifically proven, women generally possess a high tolerance to stress and soothing quality of voice although married women show more seriousness at work than single women (see table 1). table 1. distribution of respondents in terms of gender n=125 sex frequency percentage (%) male 55 44 female 70 56 total 125 100 on highest educational attainment. this refers to whether the respondents were college graduate or college level. results revealed that most of them (75 or 60%) completed their college degrees; while 50 or 40% were college level. this outcome corroborated melgar, ofreneo, kintanar, & cand (2009) study where seventy percent of the total respondents have graduated college studies. however, in a survey conducted in davao city by castro, and deluna (2013) on the “factors affecting call center as a job preference among employees,” the result showed that majority were college level at 51.3% and, only around 45% were college graduate. 31 international peer reviewed journal table 2. distribution of respondents in terms of highest educational attainment n=125 highest educational attainment frequency percentage (%) college level 50 40 college graduate 75 60 total 125 100 on school last attended. this demographic characteristic of respondents refers to their school last attended before they were hired, whether such school is public or private. the result would serve as the data bank for future researchers of which the present researchers wanted to find out what type of school would dominate in such a call center industry. results unveiled that those who come from private schools in the country outnumbered (84%) with those from public higher institutions, with only 16%. in nigeria, most excelling students tend to emerge from the private school in the modern academic dispensation with the paradox of whose teachers developing from the public school in the old educational allocation (oredein & oredein 2016). table 3. distribution of respondents in terms of school last attended n=125 school last attended frequency percentage (%) public 20 16 private 105 84 total 125 100 on the place of origin. this profile tracks the home addresses of the respondents. this profile is presumed to be of influence to their oral english proficiency level, taking into considerations of their geographical setting which could affect their intonation, accents, diction, etc. the present study classified the respondents as those coming from the three principal geographic divisions of the country luzon, visayas, and mindanao. in this study, 72% came from the visayas region, 20% from mindanao area, and only 8% from luzon. this is precisely because of the geographical location of the call center industry, the sykes, where it is located at the heart of the “queen city of the south,” in cebu city as part of the visayas region. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. distribution of respondents in terms of place of origin n=125 place of origin frequency percentage (%) luzon 10 8 visayas 90 72 mindanao 25 20 total 125 100 on their oral proficiency level. this determines their oral proficiency level in the use of the english language. results showed that they were modest users or non-native-speaker-like agents with an overall weighted mean of 2.70. this result is interpreted as second from the lowest level of such english language proficiency. this further means that the agent-respondents have partial command of the language coping with whole meaning in most situations, though are likely to make many mistakes. they can handle essential communication in routine situations. they would perform at routine csr level only. this result validates the studies of hernandez, greene, vaughn, francis, & grigorenko (2015) where he claimed that in the philippines, employers still turn away many of the youth because their english skills are below par, despite the philippines being a country where the english language is deeply entrenched in the local culture. table 5. oral proficiency level of respondents n=125 oral proficiency level frequency (f ) percentage (%) weighted raw score expert user (eu) or native-like speaker = 5 pts. (96-100%) 0 0 0 very good user (vgu) or near-native like speaker = 4 pts. (86-95%) 0 0 0 good user (gu) or non-native speaker = 3 pts. (76-85%) 15 12 3.17 modest user (mu) or non-native speaker = 2 pts. (66-75%) 105 84 2.67 limited user (lu) = 1 pt. (0-65%) 5 4 1.95 total/overall weighted raw score 125 100.00 2.70 on their proficiency level measured by the four attributes from the tool. using the four attributes reflected in their assessment tool, results showed that the respondents were modest users or non-native speakers, with an overall weighted mean of 2.70. the same results revealed as with their oral english 33 international peer reviewed journal language proficiency level, meaning the respondents have low performance in all of the four attributes measured. moreover, the respondents were noted here to have much difficulty in their discourse and strategic competence area, which means that they were weak in the following aspects: understanding the nature of the spoken text they were participating in, using appropriate connectors and signaling devices, maintaining good caller control and time management of the call, having the ability to “repair” the discourse, e.g., the ability to recover from misunderstandings, upset, confusion, etc. and having the ability to construct clear, direct, and linear text that is easy for the listener to understand. those who were rated weak will be part of training needs analysis to come up with a training module or specific coaching tips. then, an agent who now has attended the intervention training is expected to improve his/ her score. once he/she is cleared or has improved, with the recommendation of the english specialist, the agent now can proceed to take calls with minimum to no observation. if, at any rate, the agent reverts to his/her old habits, another set of call-listening and observation will be done using the scorecard. also, the observation period may last for 3 months or a quarter. this is what is called pip or performance improvement plan. the agent and the account will come up with an agreement. the gist of the agreement is that termination of employment will be reached if performance is not improved. table 6. oral proficiency level measured by four attributes four attributes weightedraw score proficiency level/description pronunciation, stress & intonation (psi )= 20% 2.78 modest user/non-native speaker language accuracy & vocabulary range (lavr) = 20% 2.90 modest user/non-native speaker discourse & strategic competency (dsc) = 30% 2.50 modest user/non-native speaker interactive fluency & sociolinguistic competency (ifsoc) = 30% 2.64 modest user/non-native speaker overall weighted raw score 2.70 modest user/non-native speaker on the difference between the sex profile and oral english language proficiency level. tested hypothesis yielded no significant difference between gender and proficiency level where the computed z-value of 0.05 is lesser than 34 jpair multidisciplinary research the critical value of 1.96; thus, the null hypothesis is accepted, which means that both genders have almost the same proficiency level, or gender is not much of an issue towards their oral language proficiency level. the result validates the study of gorjian, moosavian, and shahramiri (2011), as cited by koosha, ketabi, and kassaian (2011), concerning “the effects of an oral summary of short stories on male/female learners’ speaking proficiency,” where no significant difference between the two genders was noted, although females slightly outperformed males. in contrast of the same year, a study on whether gender plays a role in the assessment of oral proficiency by motallebzadeh, & nematizadeh (2011), it was found out that females did better in vocal performance than males; however, the difference was not that significant. furthermore, the oral production of men was consistently below than that of females (koosha, ketabi, & kassaian, 2011). according to claes (1999), the evidence for inherent sex differences in language is not convincing. table 7 follows. table 7. difference between respondents’ oral proficiency level in terms of gender language proficiency level z-value critical value significance level interpretation male female 2.69 2.71 0.05 1.96 0.05 insignificant on the relationship between highest educational attainment towards oral english language proficiency level. the result showed that the correlation coefficient of 0.176 is lesser than the p-value of 0.327. again, the hypothesis tested yielded negative correlation between the highest educational attainments towards oral english language proficiency level; thus, the null hypothesis is also accepted, which means that whether they have completed a college degree or not, this is not a factor towards their oral language proficiency level. most of the respondents’ verbal proficiency scores are the same whether they have finished college or college level only. there is no significant relationship between respondents’ educational attainment and language proficiency level (p-value>0.05). according to aina & olanipekun (2013), students who have so much difficulty with their communication skill in the english language may not function effectively, not only in english language but in their academic and social endeavor. depicted herein is table 8. 35 international peer reviewed journal table 8. the relationship between respondents’ highest educational attainment and their oral proficiency level variable correlation coefficient () with language proficiency level significance level p-value interpretation decision educational attainment 0.176 0.05 0.327 insignificant accept h o conclusions indeed, there is not enough evidence to claim that there is a significant difference between the proficiency level of male and female call center agents in cebu city. this means that the difference in their sex, male or female, has nothing to do with their oral proficiency level. and since the correlation between their highest educational attainment and their oral language proficiency level showed an insignificant result, again, the researchers do not have enough reasons to believe that their educational qualification has affected their oral proficiency level. the data showed that college level and college graduate respondents are nearly or approximately the same, whether they have finished a degree or not and that their oral proficiency level was not affected by the result. putting it simply, whether male or female, finished a college degree or not, the level of oral proficiency is not affected. their low level of oral english language proficiency might be attributed to some other factors such as places of origin and age of which this present study fails to investigate, and thus recommended for future researchers to delve into. translational research the results of the study serve as eye-openers for both private and public higher institutions to continue giving more emphasis on the importance of acquiring sufficient skill in communication as it is one indispensable tool for success in such an industry and also in other academic and social endeavor (aina & olanipekun 2013). thus, in their continuous assessment of their students, language teachers may use the language competence model of canale (1983) as this is also patterned by the survey tool in assessing call center agents in their hiring, rehiring, and promotion at sykes call center in cebu city. furthermore, 36 jpair multidisciplinary research the study calls for the strengthening of academe-industry linkage so that students with communication flaws who aspire to work in bpos must be checked. acknowledgments i acknowledge indebtedness to mr. shaun james t. ponte, my co-researcher, for his dynamism in helping this study realized, my dynamic and researchoriented professor, d. leo h. aberion, for his persistent push to finish this research endeavor; to the statistician, mr. romar b. dinoy, for his elucidation in matters of statistical treatment, analysis, and interpretation; miss venus s. lim, sga training manager, and mrs. ma. anna kristina villaba, operations director, sykes asia inc., for unveiling the results of the agents’ assessment; and all those, who, in one way or another, have contributed to the realization of this study. i also appreciate those big ideas from all authors whose work i have cited herein. literature cited al-ahdal, a. a. m. h., alfallaj, f., al-awaied, s., & al-hattami, a. 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(2016). effects of school variables on student academic performance in calabar municipal area of cross river state. retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/effect-school-variablesstudent-academic-performance-calabar-oredein/ paakki, h. (2013). difficulties in speaking english and perceptions of accents: a comparative study of finnish and japanese adult learners of english. unpublished master's thesis, university of eastern finland. retrieved from https://goo.gl/goevs1 wilson, b., & komba, s. c. (2012). the link between english language proficiency and academic performance: a pedagogical perspective in tanzanian secondary schools. retrieved from http://hdl.handle. net/123456789/1147 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1147 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1147 53 international peer reviewed journal beliefs, health-seeking practices, and effects of childlessness: the experiences of married women luzviminda p. relon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1334-4227 college of teacher education university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur originality: 99 • grammar check: 97 • plagiarism: 1 abstract in a society which recognizes the significance of children, giving birth to a child completes womanhood and the family. thus, being a mother is synonymous with being a woman. the failure, then to become a mother, constitutes not fully achieving the status of a woman. relatively, the desire for motherhood is inevitable and almost universal. this qualitative study analyzed the beliefs, and experiences of married women focused on their childlessness, health-seeking practices, and effects. data were gathered through in-depth interview. results showed that childlessness typified an unanticipated condition among the childless women. regardless of the current age, age at marriage, marital duration, educational attainment and income, the respondents disclosed that childlessness is a condition which can be treated, provided the woman is still young. childless women with higher income would likely seek medical help. length of marriage disclosed to have affected the childless women’s recognition of their incapability to sire. open communication coupled with trust, love, and understanding between couples vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.575 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 54 jpair multidisciplinary research would keep the marriage intact. findings revealed that their self-esteem, marital relationship, relationship with relatives and friends were affected by the absence of children. almost all of the respondents expressed that the communities they are into neither, in any way, bothered with their condition nor rejected them due to their childlessness. keywords — social science, childlessness, qualitative research design, philippines introduction in a study conducted by the world health organization, programme of maternal and child health and family planning unit (1991), it estimated that globally there are about 60 to 80 million couples with unwanted infertility. boivin, bunting, collins, and nygren (2007) affirmed in his study that approximately 70-80 million couples worldwide are currently infertile, thus, estimated that tens of millions of couples are primary sterile or childless. for most people, having children is immensely vital; not being able to have children is a primary life problem. globally, between 8 to 12 % of couples experience some form of infertility during their reproductive lives. it is important to note that the incident levels in some of the african countries are even higher to the level of 20 to 30 %. the underlying causes and contributing factors of infertility vary from one state to another and even from one locality to another. to the main part (55 % and above), infertility is the consequence of sexually transmitted diseases or complications suffered during postpartum or post-abortion period (particularly illegal induced abortion), all of this infertility to a great extent is preventable. jejeebhoy (1998) mentioned that about 5 % of couples’ infertility rate is attributed to anatomical, genetic, or immunological factors among others. moreover, livingston and cohn (2010) disclosed that the prevalence of childlessness varies by race and ethnicity as well. hispanic women are far less likely to remain childless throughout their childbearing years than non-hispanic whites or blacks. just 10% of hispanic women ages 40 to 44 now report of having no biological children. at the other end of the spectrum, fully 17% of white women in this age range account the same. some 15% of black women are childless, as are 13% of asian women. in indonesia, an analysis of the east javanese data shows that childlessness is a composite category.  demographic childlessness occurs where a combination of proximate determinants (nuptiality, 55 international peer reviewed journal mortality, primary and pathological sterility) leads to no childbearing and child survival. de facto childlessness arises where there is a lack of support from any children. actual childlessness aggregates demographic and de facto childlessness, net of adoption or remarriage where these provide alternative access to children. (butterfill & kreager, 2005). although the proportion of women who remained childless was higher early in the 20th century, estimated levels of childlessness at the start of the 21st century is a social issue for at least two reasons. first, the inability to sire a child contributes to fertility decline, with ramifications for the future size and age structure of the population (australian social trends, 2002). second, the increasing level of childlessness mean that in the future there will be older people with no children. the family members, in particular, the children, contribute to the support and well-being of older people. for some, the cost of raising children, regarding both time and money, is a barrier, while for others, health concerns such as fear of passing on a genetic defect to a child are contributing factors. infertility, as far as gender is concerned, appears to affect more men than among women. moreover, from 10,000 infertile couples, the rate was 33% among male partners and 25% among female partners (who, 1991). while this is the figure, women worldwide appear to be a countless burden of reproductive setbacks of all kinds, regarding blame for the reproductive failing, personal grief and frustration, social stigma and ostracism, and in some cases, life-threatening iatrogenic interventions. the acceptance of the society differs though. according to a study conducted by huijts, kraaykamp, and subramanian (2013), the disadvantage in psychological well-being of childless people is smaller in countries with tolerant norms towards childlessness and high levels of social contacts. the results suggest that the extent to which childlessness is associated with lower psychological well-being appears to be dependent on the societal context. moreover, there are studies which affirmed that childless women had affected their social life. wirtberg, möller, hogström, tronstad, and lalos (2007) disclosed that childlessness had had a strong impact on all the women’s lives and was for all a major life theme. the effects were experienced both on a personal level and on interpersonal and social levels. half of the women were separated, and in all but one, sexual life was affected in negative and long-lasting ways. the effects of childlessness were especially increased at the time the study was conducted, as the women’s peer group was entering the ‘grandparent phase’. many coped with their childlessness by caring for others, such as the children of friends or relatives, elderly parents or animals. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/8d6ff77e09c179b5ca2570ec000a24ff%21opendocument 56 jpair multidisciplinary research among developing countries, childlessness is still a common dilemma among couples. findings of the study of ibisomi and mudege, (2014) show that not having children, whether voluntarily or not, contributes to a kind of invisibility and poverty in nigeria. regardless of the reason, voluntary childlessness evoked strong negative feelings. the study also shows the broad definition given to voluntary childlessness in nigeria as including individuals that are childless because they chose to stay with an infertile partner and also those who could not have biological children and chose not to adopt. likewise, in a study in northern ghana on childlessness, couples without children are denied membership in the ancestral world thereby losing the opportunity to live again (tabong & adongo, 2013). all the studies on childlessness presented were conducted in other countries. jimenez and serrano (1998) disclosed that in the philippines, limited funds allocated discouraged the conduct of research related to infertility. hence, this study on childlessness hopes to provide a more comprehensive understanding on the beliefs, treatment practices, and psychosocial consequences effects of childlessness. thus, the data obtained in this study can be utilized as inputs in the discussion, advocacy, and other related activities and improving current programs or initiatives related to childlessness. the results of the study may also help in raising consciousness about the plight of women in facing their dilemmas. hence, these may eventually lead to better understanding them especially in a pronatalist country like the philippines. conceptual framework figure 1. the research paradigm 57 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study analyzed the views and experiences about the beliefs on the causes, health-seeking practices and the psychosocial effects of childlessness among selected childless married women. methodology research design this study explored the views and experiences of the childless couples on the beliefs of causes, health-seeking practices, and psychosocial effects of childlessness. it was exploratory due to the limited studies conducted. qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in the study. an in-depth interview was conducted among the fifteen childless women. there was a limited number of childless women in the locality being studied who qualified the criteria set. consequently, these married women were purposively chosen based on the set of criteria established by the researcher. the criteria are: 1) should belong to the reproductive ages from 20 to 49 years old; 2) have been childless for five years and above; 3) have openly expressed the desire of wanting to conceive and produce children; and 4) have never been separated from her spouse. data gathering instrument an interview guide was utilized in this study. open-ended questions were used to allow probing to gather significant information that was important in the analysis of data. the instrument was pre-tested with two childless couples. likewise, the instrument was translated to iloco with the help of some people who are knowledgeable on the language. the research instrument was divided into four categories, namely, the profile of the respondent, causes of childlessness, health-seeking practices, and psychosocial effects of childlessness. data gathering procedures the first step done by the researcher was to search for potential respondents. the researcher experienced difficulty in looking for childless women who were willing to answer the questions. some childless women who met the criteria refused to be interviewed for personal or psychological reasons. as a result, only 15 childless women participated in the study. some respondents allowed 58 jpair multidisciplinary research the researcher to record the interviews. informed consent was also secured. the respondents were assured of their anonymity and confidentiality of their responses. the answers of the respondents on the open-ended questions were transcribed, categorized and content-analyzed. this enabled the researcher to improve and probe deeper the areas that were not given considerable focused in the interviews. likewise, content analysis was done to cull out the similarities and differences of the respondents’ views and experiences regarding the causes, health-seeking practices and psychosocial effects. the findings of this study could not be generalized to all childless women. these would only apply to the respondents being studied. results and discussion sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents more than half of the childless women (10 out 15) married at their 20s, three in their 30s. only one associated her late marriage with her childlessness. more than half, too, of the respondents have been living together for only less than ten years (8 out of 15), two have been married now for 11 years, one for 12 years, two for 17 years and one for 18 years. one woman had been living with her husband for 26 years now. all childless women underwent schooling. majority of the childless women (9 out of 15) are college degree holder, four are high school while the other two are elementary graduates. eleven out 15 women are gainfully employed, either as teachers, vendors/store owners or employees in the private or public sector. four of them are plain housewives. majority of the respondents (14 out of 15) are roman catholics. one is a born again christian. the income of the respondents ranged from p1000 to p20, 500. the estimation of the average monthly income included the income of the husbands based from the personal account of the women. regardless of the category, more than half (8 out of 15) were earning below p5,000 (20 usd) or exactly p5,000 (100 usd) each month, majority (13 out of 15) married at the peak of their reproductive period and all of them have high expectations of conceiving after a month or longer of unprotected sexual intercourse. in the case of those who married in their 30s, two associated their childlessness with old age. hence, it was difficult for them and their husbands to produce a child. an important consideration is that, husbands of these childless women have a problem on low sperm count. 59 international peer reviewed journal based on the findings of the study, regardless of age, marital duration, educational attainment, and occupation, religion as well as income, childlessness is regarded as a problem of the couples, particularly, the women being studied. causes of childlessness. the respondents narrated their experiences on the causes of their childlessness. their answers were categorized into biomedical and sociocultural causes. more than half (11 out of 15) attributed childlessness to prolapsed uterus. other frequently cited reasons were irregular menstruation, low sperm count, hereditary factors retroverted uterus and absence of a soft bone in-between the ribs of either wife or husband. one woman shared her story: “maybe one of the reasons why a woman could not get pregnant easily is due to irregular menstruation. just like me for example, i only menstruate four or five times a year. because of this, there is a difficulty in identifying the fertile period of a woman, which some say that conception would easily take place during these periods. aside from this, when we went to the hilot she said that i don’t have the soft bone just between my ribs. also when she did the same thing to my husband, she found out that he has it but a very small one. according to her, we might have difficulty producing a baby because of this.” this result affirms the study of jejeebhoy (1998) on infertility that only in about 5 % of couples stated that the causes of infertility are attributed to anatomical, genetic, endocrinological or immunological factors among others. other causes of their childlessness included habitual drinking of husband, blood incompatibilities of couples, mumps, exposure of underwear at night and electric shock and excessive weight. according to the gainfully employed individuals, they associate childlessness to the psychological effect of their work (3 out of 15), especially stress and problems. one related: “oftentimes when we arrive at home, i am so stressed out resulting in a loss of sexual urge or loss of concentration in our sexual intercourse.” the interplay of hot and cold element within the body was also mentioned by a childless woman. thus, the presence of such would somehow affect the fertility of a woman. however, despite seeking this provider’s help and undergone such treatment she firmly believed that the interplay of hot and cold element in 60 jpair multidisciplinary research the body was not the reason of their childlessness. the childless woman recalled: “there was a time when i went to a hilot who was known in the community because of her capability to help childless women bear their own child. i was massaged by her and was treated 7 to 9 days successively. she told me that my body was full of cold element. when she massaged me, i felt that hot element came out from my head and cold in my feet. however, i still firmly believed with the doctor. the reason of childlessness is not me but my husband due to his operation on appendicitis and his diabetic, which we found out just recently.” most of the reported own causes of childlessness were attributed to the wives. one of the most frequent answers was prolapsed uterus (7 out of 15), three attributed it to irregular menstruation and two on the inverted uterus. two childless women mentioned profuse bleeding during their monthly period. however, the other one still considered the cause unexplainable because the doctor assured her of her normal condition to produce a child. for those who attributed childlessness to their husbands, the causes were low sperm count, and lack or no sperm cell is released during intercourse. another childless woman openly expressed her belief that her husband was the main cause of their childlessness. his job as an electrician could have affected his capability to produce a child especially he was electrocuted before. other causes mentioned were overweight, appendectomy, diabetes and hereditary factors. same findings were revealed by the study of yebei (2000) about what causes of infertility. on the case of heredity, according to them, the inability of couples to sire rooted from their ancestors, as to why they could not bear a child, it is unexplainable. likewise, low sperm count was perceived by the childless women as a cause of their incapability to sire. psychological factors include blockages of the fallopian tubes and an acidic uterine environment while psychopathological causes factors include psychoses, alcoholism, drug abuse, cigarette smoking and psychic stress. health-seeking practices the respondents indicated they had consulted their concerns to the health provider. more than half of them (8 out of 15) sought the help of a hilot and a doctor simultaneously. they mentioned that they went to hilot to find out if their uterus is low or in the proper position. one mentioned that she, together with her husband, 61 international peer reviewed journal is apprehensive of consulting a doctor. this would result only in blaming each other. others who consulted a quack doctor were given root extract to drink and went to sacred places and prayed to the “miraculous lady of manaoag” to plea to sire. for those who visited medical doctors, five consulted once while the other five did it regularly on a monthly basis. one expressly mentioned that in spite of financial constraints, due to high costs of medicines and limited income, she was motivated to undergo such medication due to the willingness of her husband to undergo the same treatment. however, when their condition did not improve, they stopped the consultation and medication. they opted for relying on faith and destiny. it can be noted that the respondents disclosed that nothing happened after consultations with the hilot, medical doctor, quack doctor or faith healer. the other four childless women affirmed that they experienced regulated menstruation, positioned uterus, relief from menstrual cramps, and discovered who is infertile. majority (12 out of 15) also remarked that they never underwent any counseling formally or informally. experienced psychosocial effects of childlessness. some of the respondents admitted that they were being questioned for their incapability to bear a child. one even lamented that what society wants is for women to bear children, which further aggravated her thought of being a childless one. one childless woman, who was still in the first five years of her marriage shared her experience every time people noticed and commented on her being childless. this affirms the findings of the study of ibisomi and mudege, (2014) that not having children, whether voluntarily or not, contributes to a kind of invisibility and poverty. regardless of the reason, voluntary childlessness evoked strong negative feelings. another childless woman shared how her being childless affected her sense of worth as a woman. she added that her work was even affected and which results to the feeling of loss interest in work. however, everything had changed when she and her husband agreed to adopt a child. on the other hand, other childless women viewed differently on their being childless. according to them, their womanhood was never and should not be questioned because of the presence of many women who also have similar faith as theirs and further added that their acceptance of their fate, together with their husbands, has helped them a lot. one of these childless women, who has accepted her fate due to her menstrual problem, boldly expressed the following: 62 jpair multidisciplinary research “why should women put themselves down? for me, it’s not most especially i am not the only one who has this problem and maybe it’s my fate. one thing more, those who don’t have any menstrual problem are not being questioned, how much more to me. for me, i have a valid reason why i couldn’t bear a child.” six childless women, the same person who that their mentioned womanhood has not been questioned by people, those who stated that childlessness has affected their self-image/ selfesteem most especially those who have expressed that they, together with their husbands, have already accepted the situation. besides, their being childless has never become a source of their misunderstanding. the respondent women after knowing that their husbands were the cause of their difficulty in bearing a child, regained their morale as a woman. five admitted that they were envious of women especially of their friends who have their own children. other effects given by the respondents were: two, indicated depression, two, have lost their sense of drive in working while the other two regarded themselves as incomplete and admitted that at times they lost their selfconfidence. one considered herself as worthless while the other was desperate already to have a child. one gainfully employed respondent openly admitted that her womanhood was being challenged and felt guilty, most especially when her husband was so desperate and unhappy due to the absence of a child in their family. table 2. effects on self-esteem effects on self-esteem frequency feeling of worthlessness depressed desperate normal envious of other women absence of drive in working feeling of incompleteness lacks selfesteem lacks selfconfidence guilty 1 2 1 6 5 2 2 1 1 1 *22 the interview disclosed the effects of sterility to their marital relationship. majority of them (12 out of 15), young and old alike, revealed that their relationship was normal just like any couple who has a child. it can be noted 63 international peer reviewed journal that the younger category, where bearing a child is still very high, appeared to have some problems. the older women expressed that acceptance of their fate or leaving everything to god kept their relationship run smoothly. talking about the problem with the husband made the acceptance easier and their marriage became stronger, and others mentioned that the presence of hope helped to normalize everything. besides, childlessness according to them, did not become a source of conflict. only in every few instances had childlessness became a problem to the respondents. one of the childless women openly discussed that there was a time that she discovered that her husband is seeing another woman. however, she did not admit that the womanizing of her husband was due to the absence of a child in the family. she further added when she came to know everything and peacefully confronted her husband, that if only the other woman did not abort the baby, she would be very willing to adopt and accept the child as her own. how she came to know and accepted all these things, she told this story: “there was a time it’s already 4 years ago when i learned that he was courting one of our neighbors. but i came to know about it when the woman became pregnant and the baby was aborted. i learned all about these things through a mailed letter that was sent to me through the post office. the sender’s name was not written, it was anonymous; i talked with my husband upon reading it, but he didn’t admit the affair. i asked him calmly why he did not tell the woman to continue her pregnancy so that after delivering, we would get and adopt the baby. but it was gone already. i was happy when i learned it, i did not feel angry because at least i would have a baby that i could consider as my own even though it came from the other woman, at least the father is my husband. i didn’t get angry with my husband since i have already accepted the fact that i could not bear a child of our own.” on the other hand, two childless women accepted irritability to their husband and blamed them at the same time, which resulted in cold treatment for each other. one of them decided to adopt a child which changed everything. the baby brought happiness to their family. when one of these childless women, who eventually adopted a child from their relative was asked why she said that her husband treated her coldly or vice versa, she honestly admitted: “when the baby was not yet with us, i felt we were not sweet to one another. he treated me coldly, and so did i, but i just ignored it especially 64 jpair multidisciplinary research to avoid conflict. it started when we consulted a doctor, he even blamed me but i just answered him. what can i do? maybe it’s my fate. sometimes i got easily irritated before, but my husband just tried to understand me to avoid conflict.” this study also found out that the 14 childless women remarked that their friends, relatives, and neighbors were always teasing them due to their childlessness. however, all of them added that it was done in a jokingly manner, and it did not become a reason on their part to stop befriending them, although at times they were also slighted. they just kept the feeling to themselves. anyway, they were being treated well by these people despite their being childless. oftentimes they advised or suggested them to consult or seek the help of a traditional birth attendant (tba) or a doctor. they considered their relationship normal, similar to those who have children. most of them mentioned that they were able to maintain good and harmonious relationship. only one respondent mentioned that that she was being jeered and ridiculed. this prompted her to become aloof with them and preferred to stay at home. conclusions childless women with higher income would likely seek medical help continuously than the women with low income. length of marriage would tend to affect the childless women’s recognition of their infertility. the childless women tend to attribute their childlessness both on sociocultural and medical causes. the childless women tend to seek the help of both medical and traditional practitioners. self-esteem, marital relationship, and dealings with relatives, friends and neighbors tend to affect the childless women. childlessness is socially accepted. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to different media of communication for information dissemination and further awareness campaign that will eventually lead to the strengthening of the existing programs of the local government units along the protection and promotion of women’s reproductive, emotional, and mental health. the local television channel and radio stations 65 international peer reviewed journal situated within the locality shall be utilized for the information dissemination. relative to this, an infomercial may be designed using the iloco language. this may focus on the biomedical/gynecological causes of childlessness and the existing services offered by the different rural health units (rhus). literature cited australian social trends (2002). canberra time. family formation: trends in childlessness. retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/1e8c8e4887c33955ca2570ec000a 9fe5!opendocument. boivin, j., bunting, l., collins, j. a., & nygren, k. g. (2007). international estimates of infertility prevalence and treatment-seeking: potential need and demand for infertility medical care. human reproduction, 22(6), 15061512. https://goo.gl/nzgrmt. butterfill-schroeder, e. and kreager, p. (2005) actual and de facto childlessness in old age: evidence and implications from east java, indonesia. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00051.x. huijts, t., kraaykamp, g., & subramanian, s. v. (2013). childlessness and psychological well-being in context: a multilevel study on 24 european countries. european sociological review, 29(1), 32–47. https://doi. org/10.1093/esr/jcr037. ibisomi, l., & mudege, n. n. (2014). childlessness in nigeria: perceptions and acceptability. culture, health and sexuality, 16(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13691058.2013.839828. jejeebhoy, s. j. (1998). infertility in india--levels patterns and consequences: priorities for social science research. journal of family welfare, 44(2), 15-24. https://goo.gl/8nguxf. jimenez, p. & serrano, j. a. (2001) the client-centered approach to family planning intervention in davao del norte, philippines: a qualitative assessment. a paper submitted to the rockefeller foundation and the population council. https://goo.gl/mjzyry. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/1e8c8e4887c33955ca2570ec000a9fe5!opendocument http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/1e8c8e4887c33955ca2570ec000a9fe5!opendocument http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/1e8c8e4887c33955ca2570ec000a9fe5!opendocument https://goo.gl/nzgrmt https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00051.x https://goo.gl/8nguxf https://goo.gl/mjzyry 66 jpair multidisciplinary research livingston, g., & cohn, d. (2010). childlessness up among all women; down among women with advanced degrees. retirieved from https://goo.gl/ yr1no8. tabong, p. t. n., & adongo, p. b. (2013). infertility and childlessness: a qualitative study of the experiences of infertile couples in northern ghana.  bmc pregnancy and childbirth, 13(1), 72. https://goo.gl/mbytju. wirtberg, i., möller, a., hogström, l., tronstad, s. e., & lalos, a. (2007). life 20 years after unsuccessful infertility treatment. human reproduction, 22(2), 598–604. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/del401. world health organization. programme of maternal and child health and family planning unit. (‎1991)‎. infertility: a tabulation of available data on prevalence of primary and secondary infertility. geneva: world health organization. http://www.who.int/iris/handle/10665/59769. yebei, v. n. (2000). unmet needs, beliefs and treatment-seeking for infertility among migrant ghanaian women in the netherlands. reproductive health matters, 8(16), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-8080(00)901952. https://goo.gl/yr1no8 https://goo.gl/yr1no8 http://www.who.int/iris/handle/10665/59769 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-8080(00)90195-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-8080(00)90195-2 cover vol 7 copy jpair: multidisciplinary journal 38 relevance and sustainability of “project pakigdait sa sitio kasagingan, mananga” of the university of san jose-recoletos maria victoria u. sy marivic125@hotmail.com university of san jose-recoletos cebu city, philippines abstract this study sought to determine the program relevance and sustainability of the institutional community project called “project pakigdait sa sitio kasagingan, mananga” of the university of san joserecoletos as assessed by its department anchors, students and program beneficiaries. the respondents were the various stakeholders of the university who were involved in the implementation and supervision of the various programs coming from the different colleges and departments and some selected beneficiaries of the community extension program. the provisions of the program relevance for promoting community development among the community dwellers, promoting people empowerment among adopted community dwellers, and for the conduct of skills training among qualified community members were made to a very great extent. likewise, the provisions for the sustainability of the project through capacity building were made to a very great extent; however, fund sourcing were made to a great extent. vol. 7 · january 2012 print issn 20123981 • electronic issn 2244-0445 international peer reviewed journal doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.152 jpair multidisciplinary journal international peer reviewed journal 39 keywords – program relevance, sustainability, people empowerment introduction institutions of higher learning today are not only focused on rendering quality education to its students, honing their skills and preparing them to enter the real business world, but also on promoting community building and change. the academe is no longer confined to providing curricular activities, but is more geared with instituting linkages with its external constituents. it directs its efforts to go beyond the narrow confines of its school premises to reach out its partner communities to improve the social climate, mitigate economic dislocation and become the catalyst for change in the country. schools of today take special cognizance in the community because of the awareness that someday, somehow, the graduates will assume their chosen roles in it and hopefully would apply what they have learned and experienced in school to a larger context. to ensure that there would be a continuity of their organized involvement in molding responsible future leaders and residents, schools undertake and spearhead community extension programs. through these activities, the goal of the academe to improve and create a positive change in the lives of the community members will be realized. promoting community change can be manifested through development programs that are undertaken not only to equip the people with selected skills as technical or inter-personal, but ideally to develop them holistically to promote harmony and self-reliance among themselves so that they will become competent community builders and contributors. to effect significant social transformation in terms of community building is a challenge for the different academic components of the university of san jose-recoletos. with a history of academic success to its credit, the institution focuses its efforts in achieving relevance in the community it serves by aiming for a sustainable outreach program. one of the activities initiated by the school to concretize this goal is the “project pakigdait sa sitio kasagingan, mananga”. this is spearheaded jpair: multidisciplinary journal 40 by the university’s institute of non-formal education and community outreach program (infecop). such scheme was designed to promote community oriented actions to alleviate the current economic and social conditions of the residents while at the same time seeking a relevant and sustainable cooperative life that serves the interests of people in sitio kasagingan, mananga. objectives of the study the objectives of the study were as follows: (1) to determine the extent of the provisions for program relevance in the aspect of enhancing the qualities among the beneficiaries as community development, people empowerment and skills training; (2) to evaluate the extent of the provisions for program sustainability based on the following indicators: capacity building; and fund sources; and (3) to make a proposal for improvement of the project. materials and methods this study utilized the descriptive survey method of research. researchermade questionnaire was used as the main instrument of data collection. unstructured interviews were also conducted to clarify the answers given by some of the respondents. the validity of the instruments was assessed by the panel of experts during the proposal hearing. two sets of surveys were accomplished by the department anchors, student leaders and program beneficiaries. the features of each questionnaire are described hereunder: the researcher made instrument sought to determine the extent of relevance of the projects implemented in the aspects of promoting people involvement and empowerment, skills training and community development. it was accomplished by the identified respondents of the study. each question is followed by a number of possible responses. corresponding to the responses in each item are four numeric scales with the following qualitative equivalents: 4 very great extent (vge) – means that provisions are made in all cases to extend community extension services deemed useful to the community; 3 great extent (ge) – means that provisions are made in the majority of the cases international peer reviewed journal 41 to extend community extension services deemed useful to the community; 2 less extent (le) – means that provisions are made in a few cases to extend community extension services deemed useful to the community; and 1 never (n) – means that provisions are not made to render community extension services deemed useful to the community. the respondents were instructed to encircle the numeral which best represents their answers to each item. the questionnaire was designed to determine the extent to which the community extension services of usj-r was characterized by continued feasibility after the school has disengaged from the adopted community: 4 very great extent (vge) – means that provisions are made in all cases for the readiness of the beneficiaries to continue the project after the university has detached itself from the program; 3 great extent (ge) – means that provisions are made in many cases for the readiness of the beneficiaries to continue the project after the university has detached itself from the program; 2 less extent (le) – means that provisions are made in a few cases for the readiness of the beneficiaries to continue the project after the university has detached itself from the program; and 1 never (n) – means that no provisions are made for the readiness of the beneficiaries to continue the project after the university has detached itself from the program. the respondents were instructed to encircle the numeral which best corresponds to their assessment. in order to determine the functionality of the questionnaires as the main data collection technique, the proponent conducted a dry run among three (3) professors who used to serve as coordinators of the program, six (6) officers from the various student organizations in the college of commerce who have been exposed to the university’s community extension projects. the researcher met the dry run respondents and asked them to accomplish the instruments. however, they did not participate in the actual conduct of the study. once these were done, the instruments were collected and the responses tallied. an item analysis of the answers was made. the proponent noted the incidence of response and non-response. since the dry-run respondents were able to answer the queries in each instrument with a reasonable range of variation, the questionnaires were then finalized for administration. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 42 permission to conduct the study was secured from the administration in coordination with the research office. once approval to conduct the study was granted, the proponent secured the assistance of the infecop coordinator in distributing the instruments to the identified respondents including those of the adopted community. the proponent also conducted unstructured interviews from the various respondents to support the data gathered from the administration of the questionnaires. the accomplished questionnaires were collected and the responses tallied and tabulated. the weight assigned to the scales in the instruments were noted, and weighted the mean of each item was determine. results and discussions table 1 highlights the respondents of the study. table 1. distribution of research respondents classification f % department anchors 42 18.91 students 145 65.32 beneficiaries 35 15.77 total 222 100.00 table 2 showed the data on the extent of provisions for promoting community development among the beneficiaries of sitio kasagingan, mananga. international peer reviewed journal 43 table 2. promoting community development dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. encouraging the various sectors of the community to function as a whole through meetings, discussions and others. 2. helping the young members of the community in planning community related development programs. 3. establishing cooperatives among the community members. 4. facilitating activities to meet the basic needs of the community such as housing, community centers, health clinic and others. 5. encouraging the community members to make decisions concerning linkages for community development. 6. ensuring the continuity of community development projects by developing future trainers within the community. 7. turning over the community extension program to competent community members. factor average 3.00 3.13 3.25 2.97 3.22 3.38 3.47 3.20 ge ge ge ge ge vge vge ge 3.25 3.14 3.00 3.14 3.12 3.16 3.23 3.15 ge ge ge ge ge ge ge ge 3.80 3.89 3.63 3.60 3.60 3.83 3.71 3.72 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge 3.35 3.39 3.29 3.24 3.31 3.46 3.47 3.36 vge vge vge ge vge vge vge vge legend: range interpretation 3.25 – 4.00 very great extent (vge) 2.51 – 3.25 great extent (ge) 1.76 – 2.50 less extent (le) 1.00 – 1.75 not applicable (na) jpair: multidisciplinary journal 44 as shown by the factor average of 3.36 based on the group average of 3.15 from the students, 3.20 from the department anchors and 3.72 from the beneficiaries, provisions for community development were made to a great extent in this institutional community project of the university. specifically, as revealed by the item average of 3.35, provisions were made to a very great extent to encourage the various sectors of sitio kasagingan, mananga to function as a whole through meetings, discussions and others. from this finding, it could be inferred that in majority of cases, the community dwellers were encouraged to use dialogues and assemblies to enhance participation among them which is a necessary ingredient of development. the item average of 3.39 revealed that to a very great extent, provisions were adopted to help the young members of the area to plan community related development programs. it can be discerned from this information that the project provided the vehicle to involve the youth in community planning and participating in the various activities for community development so that they would achieve selfsufficiency and efficacy. in the area of establishing cooperatives among the community members, provisions to achieve this goal were deemed to be done to a very great extent (µ=3.29). this means that the program was able to imbue among the residents the importance of setting up cooperatives to create a community of mutual benefits. provisions were made to a great extent (µ=3.24) in terms of facilitating activities to meet the basic needs of the community such as housing, community center, health clinic and others. it can be construed from this finding that the project encouraged and supported capable community dwellers to initiate projects focusing on the essential needs of the place in terms of shelter, health, social and other primary indigence. in terms of encouraging the community members to make decisions concerning linkages for community development, provisions for the realization of this goal were observed to a very great extent (µ=3.31). this means that the project supported the community residents to forge tie-ups with other communities through linkages and share their resources for their mutual benefits. international peer reviewed journal 45 lastly, provisions were also conceived to a very great extent (µ=3.43) to turn over the community extension program to competent community members. this indicated that the project created conditions to enable and prepare the community dwellers to be competent and take control of their lives once the program ended. from the findings, it can be construed that in majority of the areas, efforts were exerted to promote among the residents of the adopted community to develop their capacity to manage community life and realize their expressed needs and aspirations. table 3 shows the data on the extent of provisions to promote people empowerment among the beneficiaries of usj-r’s project in sitio kasagingan, mananga. table 3. promoting people empowerment dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. improving conditions that will free the community dwellers from the clutches of poverty. 2. helping the community members to feel capable and in control in improving the quality of their lives. 3. enabling the community members to accept responsibility to improve their standard of living. 4. assisting the community dwellers to identify blocks that hinder their growth and development. 5. initiate people’s involvement in problem solving and decision making. 6. helping the program beneficiaries to become self motivated. 7. encouraging capable community dwellers to initiate projects for the good of the community. factor average 3.09 3.25 3.19 3.19 3.38 3.31 3.38 3.26 ge ge ge ge vge vge vge ge 3.21 3.04 3.28 3.31 3.19 3.14 3.33 3.21 ge ge ge vge ge ge vge ge 3.71 3.74 3.74 3.69 3.80 3.74 3.83 3.75 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge 3.34 3.34 3.40 3.40 3.46 3.40 3.51 3.41 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge jpair: multidisciplinary journal 46 as manifested by the factor average of 3.41derived from the group average of 3.26 from the department anchors, 3.21from the students and 3.75 from the beneficiaries, provisions for people empowerment were made to a very great extent in the institutional project of sitio kasagingan, mananga. specifically, the item average of 3.34 showed that provisions were made to a very great extent for improving the conditions of the beneficiaries that would free them from the clutches of poverty. this finding indicated that the extension program promoted activities to help generate income among the dwellers for their daily subsistence. as demonstrated by the item average 3.34, provision was made to a very great extent for helping community members to feel capable and in control in improving the quality of their lives. it can be deduced from this finding that the program initiated efforts to help the residents of the adopted community to become independent and self-reliant. provision was made to a very great extent (µ=3.40) in enabling the community dwellers to accept responsibility to improve their standard of living. the project carried with it several activities to assist the residents to have better lives and become positive contributors to society the item average of 3.40 revealed that to a very great extent, provisions were made to assist the community dwellers to identify the blocks that hinder their growth and development. this information reinforced the notion that the project provided strategies to help the community residents overcome the problems which may have hindered their growth and development. sufficient assistance was given to them so that they can transform their community life positively. the program provided to a very great extent (µ=3.46) some actions designed to initiate problem solving and decision making. this was not new as the project included an activity designed to help the residents solve problems amicably and effectively as well as making decisions which could lead to a better living environment among themselves. provision was also made to a very great extent (µ=3.40) in helping the program beneficiaries to become self motivated. it can be inferred from this finding that the program included several activities intended to broaden their horizons, and their way of doing things for the better. international peer reviewed journal 47 lastly, the program to a very great extent (µ=3.51) designed various sessions to encourage the community dwellers to initiate projects for the good of their place. the finding denoted that the project paved the way to help residents undertake economic and social movement in the community leading towards self sufficiency and independence. table 4 contains data on the extent to which provisions for skills training were provided among the community beneficiaries as assessed by the three groups of respondents. table 4. provisions for skills training dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. training capable community members to formulate action plans for community service. 2. providing technical training to capable female community dwellers like cooking, manicure, pedicure and others. 3. providing health, sanitation and nutrition trainings to the community dwellers. 4. training capable community dwellers to manage conflict and disagreements effectively. 5. providing short-term trainings to capable male dwellers like carpentry, plumbing, haircutting, welding and others. 6. training capable community dwellers on basic financial activities as record keeping, bookkeeping, cash management and others. 7. providing services on how to form a cooperative among interested community members. factor average 3.38 3.41 3.53 3.19 3.28 3.16 3.31 3.32 vge vge vge ge vge ge vge vge 3.28 3.35 3.27 3.37 3.45 3.33 3.34 3.34 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge 3.80 3.94 3.91 3.69 3.77 3.57 3.91 3.80 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge 3.49 3.57 3.57 3.42 3.50 3.35 3.52 3.49 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge jpair: multidisciplinary journal 48 the factor average of 3.49 indicated that provisions for conducting skills training among the community members were made to a very great extent. this can be gleaned from the group average of 3.32 from the department anchors, 3.34 from the students and 3.80 from the beneficiaries. specifically, the item average of 3.49 showed that provision for technical training was made to a very great extent (µ=3.57). these trainings were specifically addressed to the female community members, which included cooking, baking, dressmaking, manicure and a lot more. in terms of providing health, sanitation and nutrition trainings, the activity registered an item average of 3.57 which means it was conducted to a very great extent. the program calls for these types of training to augment the meager income of the women residents. the respondents also indicated that provisions were made to a very great extent (µ=3.42) to train capable community dwellers to manage conflicts and disagreements effectively. this way, petty misunderstandings can be resolved quickly without going into messy arguments. providing short term trainings (µ=4.00) were made to a very great extent to capable male dwellers like carpentry, plumbing, hair cutting and welding. these skills based training were implemented to make them more productive and generate more income for their families. provisions were made to a very great extent (µ=3.35) in training capable community members on basic financial activities such as record keeping, bookkeeping, cash management, and others. this was done to ensure that the members would learn to maintain sound financial records and decisions for their household and business operations. lastly, the factor average of 3.52 revealed that provisions were made to a very great extent in providing services on how to form a cooperative among interested community members. this was done to instill among the minds of the community dwellers the importance of having a cooperative way of doing things. the summarized data regarding the extent of provisions made for program relevance regarding the university’s institutional project is shown in table 5. international peer reviewed journal 49 table 5. summarized data on the extent of provisions for program relevance dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. community development 2. people empowerment 3. skills training general average 3.20 3.26 3.32 3.26 ge vge vge vge 3.15 3.21 3.34 3.23 ge ge vge ge 3.72 3.75 3.80 3.76 vge vge vge vge 3.36 3.41 3.49 3.42 vge vge vge vge as shown by the general average of 3.42, provisions were made to a very great extent to ensure program relevance of usj-r’s institutional community outreach program in sitio kasagingan, mananga. the group average of 3.26 from the department anchors and3.76 from the beneficiaries indicated their concurrence that such provisions were manifested to a very great extent. on the other hand, the group general average of 3.23 from the students belied that from their end, it was observed to be done to a great extent. provisions for community development among the beneficiaries were made to a very great extent as shown by factor average of 3.36. this means that the project was able to stir the community dwellers to initiate projects and mobilize their members to introduce selfhelp activities in the community to ensure its steady growth and development. provisions for people empowerment among the beneficiaries were made to a very great extent as revealed by the factor average of 3.41. specifically, activities were undertaken to assist community dwellers to organize themselves and work as a team to solve problems in their community. the feeling of confidence is nurtured among the members to enable them to manage their own projects through participatory and consensual decisions and sharing of resources. the factor average of 3.49 showed that provisions were made in the project to a very great extent in conducting skills training among the beneficiaries. the project aimed to provide various skills building activities among the dwellers to enable them to perform significant economic and social activities to improve the quality of their lives. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 50 table 6 contains data on the extent of provisions for program sustainability through capacity building among community members. the factor average of 3.33 indicated that provisions for program sustainability toward capacity building were made to a very great extent. this is evidenced by the group average of 3.05 form department anchors, 3.25 from the students and 3.70 from the program beneficiaries. specifically as revealed by the item average of 3.36, provision for enabling community members to have their own goals was made to a very great extent. this finding signified the fact that the project was able to encourage the community members to set their direction through the formulation of meaningful goals which t hey could perform by themselves. actualizing the transfer of knowledge to as many members of the community as possible was also provided by the project to a very great extent (µ=3.38). this information indicated that the developmental activities initiated by the project were not only enjoyed by a selected few community members, but rather, a lot of them were benefited by it leading to the attainment of their own self sufficiency. table 6. promoting for capacity building dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. enabling community members to have their own goals. 2. actualizing the transfer of knowledge to as many members of the community as possible. 3. assisting the community members to choose partners or linkages for community outreach projects. 4. encouraging the community members to formulate clear cut objectives, vision and mission for people’s organization or cooperative. 5. enhancing the community members’ capabilities to choose their own leaders. 6. developing the community members’ capabilities for interactive mechanism to strengthen their local organization. 7. developing the capacity of the local leaders to manage community life and self-reliant. factor average 3.03 3.03 3.06 3.09 3.06 3.00 3.06 3.05 ge ge ge ge ge ge ge ge 3.19 3.25 3.22 3.38 3.19 3.22 3.32 3.25 ge ge ge vge ge ge vge ge 3.86 3.86 3.49 3.69 3.74 3.49 3.80 3.70 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge 3.36 3.38 3.26 3.39 3.33 3.24 3.39 3.33 vge vge vge vge vge ge vge vge international peer reviewed journal 51 the item average of 3.26 denoted the fact that provisions were made to a very great extent by the project to assist the community members in choosing partners or linkages for community outreach activities. it can be construed from this finding that the project helped developed the community members to make prudent decisions in selecting various agencies or organizations with whom linkages can be formed in its quest for community development. provision was also made to a very great extent (µ=3.39) in encouraging the community members to formulate clear cut objectives, vision and mission for their people’s organizations or cooperative. the finding signified that the residents were provided with adequate exposure in vision-mission statement formulation as well as goal setting practices as an essential part of the community organizing scheme espoused by the project. the item average of 3.33 revealed that provision was made to a very great extent for enhancing the community members’ capabilities to choose their own leaders. it can be inferred from the data that the project provided sufficient exposure among the residents in terms of scope and experience in choosing their own local leaders. with regard to developing the community members’ capabilities for interactive mechanism to strengthen their local organization, provision was made to a very great extent as shown by the item average of 3.24. this is one area where the project needs to reinforce this skill among the dwellers so that they will have the confidence to establish strategic alliances with other organizations for their mutual benefit. finally, the item average of 3.39 demonstrated that the project to a very great extent was able to develop the capacity of the local leaders to manage community life and be self-reliant. this information denotes the fact that the project made provisions to enhance the ability of the local community leaders to be capable in managing his/her constituents and improve their way of life. table 7 highlights the information on the extent of provision for program sustainability through fund sourcing as assessed by the department anchors, students and program beneficiaries. jpair: multidisciplinary journal 52 table 7. provisions for fund sourcing dimensions department anchors students beneficiaries item average µ i µ i µ i µ i 1. facilitating the formation of micro enterprise or entrepreneurial activities among qualified community members. 2. building connection or encouraging linkages with private or public agencies for possible funding sources. 3. providing micro financing training among qualified community members. 4. encouraging the full use of indigenous resources for community development. 5. providing access to markets for goods produced from the livelihood programs of the community members. 6. facilitating the holding of bingos , raffles, benefit dances and others as alternative sources of funds. 7. creating agreements with financial institutions to provide special credit facilities to qualified community members. factor average 2.97 2.97 3.00 3.28 2.97 3.16 2.19 2.93 ge ge ge vge ge ge le ge 3.39 3.25 3.03 3.26 3.12 3.30 3.29 3.23 vge ge ge vge ge vge vge ge 3.80 3.14 3.46 3.69 3.83 3.80 2.80 3.50 vge ge vge vge vge vge ge vge 3.39 3.12 3.16 3.41 3.31 3.42 2.76 3.22 vge ge ge vge vge vge ge ge the factor average of 3.22 taken from the group average of 2.93 from the department anchors, 3.23 from the students and 3.50 from the program beneficiaries indicated that provisions to sustain the program through fund sourcing were made to a great extent. specifically, the item average of 3.39 revealed that facilitating the formation of micro enterprises or entrepreneurial activities among qualified community members was provided to a very great extent. the finding unveils the fact that the project was able to generate useful information and practical guidelines to qualified members on the availability of micro and other entrepreneurial opportunities which can help improve their standard of living. as show by the item average of 3.12, provision for building connection or encouraging linkages with private or public agencies for possible funding sources was made to a great extent. this means that one of the notable goals of the project was international peer reviewed journal 53 to give opportunities to the people to improve their quality of life by forging effective linkages with the various organizations and agencies to fund their projects. providing micro financing training among qualified community members was also done to a great extent as evidenced by the item average of 3.16. it can be construed from this information that the project included certain activities designed to enhance the skills of the dwellers to manage funds effectively and get themselves involved with micro or entrepreneurial endeavors. providing access to markets for goods produced from the livelihood programs of the community members were made to a very great extent (u=3.31). the project was able to broaden the market base of the products of the community by creating mechanisms for direct selling, thereby mitigating the interference of the middlemen. the item average of 3.42 showed that provision was made to a very great extent in facilitating the holding of bingos, raffles, benefit dances and others as alternative sources of funds. the project was able to assist the community members in tapping external resources to finance the community’s projects without involving financial public and private agencies. lastly, the project was able to provide to a great extent (µ=2.76) the mechanism of creating agreements with financial institutions to provide special credit facilities to qualified community members. this means that the project aided those community members who were deemed competent to establish agreements with financial organizations in securing credit privileges to finance their economic activities. as revealed by the general average of 3.28, provisions were made to a very great extent for the sustainability of the project initiated by the university in its adopted community in mananga. the general average was obtained from the group average of 2.99 from the department anchors, 3.60 from the students and also from the beneficiaries. the factor average of 3.33 denoted that provisions for program sustainability through capacity building among community members were made to a very great extent. in this factor, activities were provided in the various phases of the project to develop the dwellers’ capacity to set their goals, make plans for community development, and establish jpair: multidisciplinary journal 54 linkages with other public and private organizations to improve their way of life. as shown by the factor average of 3.22, provisions were made to a great extent for program sustainability in terms of fund sourcing. the gathered data revealed that the project was able to assist the community members in identifying possible sources of funds both internal and external which were needed to undertake as well as finance community related programs. forging linkages with external sources of funds were also provided to ensure the availability of resources when projects were initiated. conclusions in the light of the foregoing findings of the study, the researcher concludes that program relevance and sustainability have been attained by the “project pakigdait sa sitio kasagingan, mananga.” however, there is a need to broaden the provisions for fund sourcing to ensure the sustainability of the community’s development programs. literature cited andres, tomas q. 2000 people empowerment by filipino values. manila, philippines. chapman, audrey r. 2000 consumption, population and sustainability. washington, d.c.:island. corpuz, brenda b. 2002 manual on community immersion. metro manila: horimar publishing co., inc. de leon, alwin. 2002 practicing community development principles in the villages. quezon city. international peer reviewed journal 55 gallagher, d.r. and bagin d. the school and community relations. (8th edition boston: ballyn and bacon. kindred, l. w. 2004 school public relations. englewood cliffs, new jersey: prentice-hall,lewis, david and tina wallace. new roles and relevance. bloomfield. new york: kumarian linao, rex t. 2004 community immersion. quezon city: great risks traiding. miclat, agrinelda n. 2004 the fundamentals of community organization and people empowerment. sampaloc, manila: mary jo educational supply. sadler, philip. 2002 building tomorrow’s company – a guide to sustainable business success. milford, ct., tapales, proserpina d. et al. 2003 local government in the philippines: a book of findings. manila, philippines, kadena press, inc. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research syntactic patterns of news headlines in philippine and american newspapers rommel v. tabula http://orcid.org 0000-0003-2691-6749 rommeltabula127519@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines richard s. agbayani http://orcid.org 0000-0003-4513-2798 agbayanirichard13@gmail.com mariano marcos state university batac city, philippines abstract linguistic and rhetorical patterns of texts are intertwined with writers’ socio-cultural backgrounds. the study explored the syntactic patterns of news headlines in philippine and american newspapers. specifically, it examined the grammatical patterns and cohesive conjunctions commonly employed by news writers; the contrastive analysis on the use of cohesive conjunctions in long headlines; and the cultural practices reflected in headline writing. descriptive research design was utilized in the study. data analyzed were 30 news headlines obtained from the online edition of six leading newspapers from the two countries published daily from august 15-21, 2015. frequency counts and percentage were employed to quantify the frequency of occurrence of the patterns. results revealed that s-v-o emerged as the commonly employed syntactic pattern by filipino and american writers. it is frequently applied either in simple sentences or multiple sentences. the rhetorical pattern of the two speech communities regarding cohesive conjunctions is built on the adversative. comparatively, ‘but’ vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.335 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 45 international peer reviewed journal is the adversative cohesive conjunctions commonly used. similarities of the commonly used grammatical structure existed in the two nationalities as reflected in the writing of news headlines. in contrast, s-v-c pattern was employed in american headlines while the additive ‘and’ was used in philippine headlines. thus, philippine and american headlines manifest parallelism in commonly used syntactic patterns and cohesive conjunctions but have distinct differences in other grammatical aspects. keywords – linguistics, syntactic patterns, news headlines, newspapers, descriptive research design, batac city, philippines introduction research on contrastive rhetoric initially focused on the field of expository essays of second language (l2) learners for the identification of writing problems caused by first language (l1) specific rhetorical strategies. since its introduction in the 1960s, it has undergone dynamic changes from english language teaching to different researchable areas outside the classroom such as business letters, editorials, and headlines. as a scholarly discipline, contrastive rhetorical analysis assumes that culturespecific organizational patterns are displayed in different literary traditions. it includes the selection of linguistic and structural units aimed at producing an effect on an audience. it asserts that rhetoric is adaptable to the functions and operations of language that l2 learners acquire in school, many of which are relatively embedded in the culture of people. tabula & salasac (2015) presupposed that language is intimately and dynamically intertwined with culture. connor (1996), on the other hand, premised that culture is interwoven within the texts written in different linguistic backgrounds. in essence, culture has its own distinct structures and rhetorical patterns. kachru (1981) continuously emphasized the role that culture plays in the development of writing. accordingly, linguistic and rhetorical patterns in discourse are produced and interpreted in the context of culture. relating to the preceding point, leki (1991) stated that it is irrefutable that contrastive rhetoric has had an impact on research on writing across culture, and on the teaching of english to speakers of other languages. one particular focus of contrastive rhetoric nowadays is in line with news headlines. however, previous studies on the grammatical features of news headlines have not attempted to explore the syntactic patterns of news headlines focusing on clause types and cohesive conjunctions. hence, the need for this study prompted the researchers 46 jpair multidisciplinary research to uncover the syntactic features of news headlines in philippine and american newspapers. a newspaper headline is a text that indicates the nature of the article it introduces. koosha and shams (2005) premised that headlines demonstrate the most prominent and significant information of the news story. parallel to this, van dijk (1998) asserted that headline shapes the summary of the news article, which strategically serves as the expression of its macrostructure. it describes the essence of a complicated news story in a few words (ungerer, 2000). according to ludwig (2005), the best headlines both tell and sell, that is, they tell the reader quickly what the news is and persuade the reader that the story is worth reading. the intention of headlines is to draw swiftly and concisely an attention to the story usually read first; and the information expressed is used strategically by the editors or headline writers. it guides the reader in helping them decide whether to continue reading the whole report or to skip skimming the text onto another one. the headlines’ primary goal is to articulate ideas by using as few words as possible without causing misleading and misinterpretation on the headlines’ semantics. hence, a good newspaper headline as mentioned by koosha and shams (2005) in their study, should define the overall coherence or semantic unity of discourse and persuade its readers to devote time to reading. khodabandeh (2005) contrasted a one-week corpus of newspaper headlines of english and persian languages to determine the major similarities and differences between them. the variability of syntactic and lexical features across and within the headlines of the two cultures was analyzed contrastively. results indicated that headlines of both newspapers were similar in the use of dynamic verbs, active voice, short words, declarative sentences, finite clauses and simple sentences, but significantly different in the usage of tense forms, headline types, modification and omission of words. in the same vein, roohani and esmaeili (2010) conducted a contrastive study to characterize the linguistic structures of sports headlines in english and iranian newspapers. applying contrastive analysis, the researchers examined the variability of syntactic and lexical patterns across and within the three week corpus of sports headlines in both newspapers. it was concluded that the sports headlines of english and iranian languages resembled in using type of verb, headline types, voice, tense, and functional types. however, it was found that they differed in the quantitative use of predication, modification, noun and exclamation headlines. acknowledging these contributions of contrastive research toward the understanding of headlines, lee (2012) also explored the similarities and differences of american and korean political news headlines. he investigated how 47 international peer reviewed journal extra-linguistic factors influenced the composition of news headlines between writers of different linguistic and cultural environments. results revealed that the two sets of headlines display a similarity regarding the variety of structural patterns they deploy. nevertheless, it was discovered that differences exist in the tense or aspect of sentences, length of the headlines, uses of complex noun phrases, and naming practice. the differences identified could be attributed to the considerations of the readers’ interests, and the conventions practiced within the relevant linguistic and cultural communities. in a contrastive study of bonyadi and samuel (2013) about headlines in newspaper editorials, the researchers did a contrastive textual analysis of selected headlines, culled from the editorials of the english newspaper, the new york times, and those of persian newspaper, tehran times. their study aimed at exploring the kinds of textual and rhetorical strategies the two newspapers used for propagating their preferred ideologies. from the findings, the researchers concluded that headlines in the two papers presented a subjective attitude of the writers toward the topic. however, based on the analysis of the data, it became clear that there were certain differences between the two sets of headlines regarding presupposition and certain rhetorical devices. through these, the present study attempted to explore the syntactic patterns of news headlines written by filipino and american news writers. specifically, it purported to analyze the grammatical patterns and cohesive conjunctions commonly used by local and foreign news writers. it also endeavoured to determine the comparative use of cohesive conjunctions and the cultural practices reflected in the writing of news headlines. undoubtedly, the two cultures involved in this study have historical connection and relationship. history speaks that the philippines was once colonized by the americans in 1898, introducing education to the filipinos through the so-called thomasites, first american public school teachers in the country, who paved the way to learn a new language, that is, english. besides learning the language for filipinos becomes easy, but in the process of acquiring it, there were differences on the way filipinos used it from the way americans do. therefore, from such an analysis in this study of news headlines, similarities and differences between these two cultures can be highlighted. framework the succeeding concepts and theories have stimulated the researchers to undergo this study. in a contrastive rhetoric undertaken by mohamed and omer (2000), they focused on the direct effect of cultural differences in rhetorical 48 jpair multidisciplinary research organization between arabic and english. their findings showed that the arabic rhetorical pattern is context-based, generalized, repetition-oriented and additive, because of its having a collectivist, high-context, high-contact and readerresponsible culture. on the contrary, english rhetorical pattern is text-based, specific, change-oriented and non-additive due to its being an individualist, lowcontext, low-contact and writer-responsible culture. relatedly, genuino (2002) investigated cohesion as a revelation of cultural practices. from 30 selected articles analyzed, results revealed that the rhetorical pattern of the three communities (singapore, the philippines, and the u.s.) in the genre examined were built on adversative relations. moreover, cohesive devices occupied three positions in discourse, that is, within the sentence, between sentences, and between paragraphs. structural and semantic relations were also identified. with regard grammar and its structures, there are two basic types of headlines in terms of their structures, the sentential and non-sentential headlines. the first type refers to all headlines that have a regular sentence structure, that is, all headlines with a subject and a finite verb phrase. the second type of headline structure is non-sentential. this structure is lower than a regular sentence; it is constructed in an irregular way. in this present study, the sentential type of news headlines was considered. according to crystal (2004), as far as sentence structure is concerned, there are two main types of sentence – simple and multiple sentences. simple sentences consist of just one independent clause. consistently, when it is analysed, there is just one subject and one finite verb phrase. quirk, sidney, leech and svartvik (1985) distinguished these clause types as subject-verb, subject-verb-object, subject-verb-complement, subject-verb-adverbial, subject-verb-objectobject, subject-verb-object-complement, and subject-verb-object-adverbial. multiple sentences, on the other hand, have two or more clauses that are linked either by coordination or by subordination. additionally, jakobson’s (1959) theory of linguistic approach to translation, later developed by robinson (2004), was utilized in this study. the written texts were compared with reference to the observable discourse-sensitive linguistic forms (e.g. grammatical structure and cohesive conjunctions), on the assumption that differences at this level reflect differences at the culturally-coded rhetorical level of text organization. the concept of cohesion according to halliday & hasan (1976) likewise shaped the framework of this study. they explained that conjunctive relations were encoded not in the form of grammatical structures but in the looser more pliable form of linkages between the components in a text. they identified 49 international peer reviewed journal four categories of conjunctions based on cohesive relations namely: additive, adversative, causal, and temporal. contrastive rhetoric has been used to analyze countless genres of writing such as business reports, job application letters, and grant proposals to mention a few. news writing genre has become one of the most intriguing research areas on cross-cultural differences in writing. conducting this present study would somehow delve and determine whether esl readers would be much guided if they have awareness of the rhetorical differences in news headlines cross-culturally, to extend further their comprehension and become more open-minded with their expectations. objectives of the study the study aimed to examine the grammatical syntactic feature used by philippine and american news writers in constructing news headlines. specifically, it analyzed the grammatical patterns and cohesive conjunctions commonly used by local and foreign news writers. it also ascertained the points of comparison on the use of cohesive conjunctions in news headlines and the cultural practices reflected in the writing of news headlines. methodology research setting the contrastive rhetorical analysis of the news headlines was conducted during the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016 at the mariano marcos state university, batac city, philippines. the research site holds the distinctions as national university of agriculture and fisheries education, and higher education regional research center. it is an iso 9001:2008 certified institution. also, it is the third state university in the philippines that was granted with institutional accreditation status by the accrediting agencies of chartered colleges and universities in the philippines. since the data collection involved the use of internet, the university’s college of arts and sciences served as the venue for the whole duration of the study because it provides the fastest and widest hotspot connectivity. the researchers, being members of the same agency, utilized the cas department of languages and literature for other activities about the study. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research research design the descriptive research design was utilized in this study. the design was used predominantly in describing a phenomenon. it attempts to find out existing relationships among variables to develop some generalizations. inevitably, this is the design of choice to meet the objectives of the study at exploring the grammatical patterns and the cohesive conjunctions commonly employed in news headlines across and within two speaking communities. both quantitative and qualitative methods of research were applied in the study. the coded portions of the headlines were counted to determine the most commonly used grammatical structures and cohesive conjunctions between filipino and american news writers. on the other hand, textual analysis was used to ascertain the parallelism and cultural practices in the writing of news headlines between the two cultures. research instrument news article headlines from the different national and international newspapers served as the corpora of the study. thirty news headlines were obtained from the online edition of six leading newspapers in the philippines (philippine daily inquirer, philippine star, and manila bulletin) and in the united states (usa today, the wall street journal, and the new york times). these sources of data were published daily from august 15-21, 2015. the selection of the newspapers was based on ranking that was surveyed by the 2015 newspaper web ranking. according to the survey, these newspapers emerged as the top three highest regarding readership in the two countries, respectively. usa today has the distinction of having the widest circulation of newspaper in america since 2003. it is a daily middle-market newspaper founded on september 15, 1982 and published by the gannett company. the wall street journal emphasizes business and economic views. it is a new york-based international daily newspaper published by dow jones & company. the new york times is an american daily newspaper with 117 pulitzer prizes. it is published by the new york times company since september 18, 1851. the philippine daily inquirer is a member of the asia news network and the most widely read broadsheet newspaper in the philippines. the philippine star is the country’s leading print and digital newspaper. it is flagship brand of the star group of publications which also publishes daily tabloids and weekly magazine. the manila bulletin is one of the largest broadsheet newspaper, which bills itself as “the philippines’ leading national newspaper.” 51 international peer reviewed journal the classifications of clause by quirk et al. (1985) was adopted to examine the grammatical syntactic features of news article headlines written by filipino and american writers. meanwhile, halliday and hasan’s (1976) categories of cohesive conjunctions served as an instrument in analyzing and identifying the commonly used cohesive conjunctions by both writers of different social and linguistic backgrounds. treatment of data out of the 30 news headlines used in this study, five headlines were purposively selected from each of the six leading newspapers. thus, a total of 15 philippines news headlines and 15 american news headlines were considered as samples. though there are two kinds of news headlines (sentential and non-sentential), all headlines included in the corpus were categorized as sentential according to their structure. they were coded based on the syntactic or sentence structures or patterns used within the headlines, that is, s–v; s–v–o; s–v–c; s–v–a; s–v– o–o; s–v–o–c; and s–v–o–a. in like manner, the cohesive conjunctions used within the headlines were underlined. then they were coded based on the cohesive relations they implied within the headlines, that is, add if additive; adv if adversative; cau if causal; and tem if temporal. to determine the frequency of occurrence of the syntactic patterns of news headlines and commonly used cohesive conjunctions, frequency counts and percentages were utilized. results and discussion each news headline was analyzed to identify its linguistic features that include grammatical structures and cohesive conjunctions. as regards the grammatical structures, this study focused only on the sentential headlines considering the two main types of sentence structure introduced by crystal (2004). commonly employed grammatical patterns table 1 presents the grammatical patterns commonly employed in philippine and american news headlines. it also summarizes the frequency of occurrences and percentage counts of grammatical patterns in the headlines. results reveal that among the 30 news headlines, 23 headlines were classified as those with the simple sentence structure while there were seven (7) headlines categorized as multiple sentences, specifically compound sentences. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. grammatical patterns commonly employed in philippine and american headlines sentence structure grammatical patterns philippine headlines american headlines total f % f % f % simple s-v-o 9 60.00 8 53.33 17 56.67 s-v 4 26.66 1 6.67 5 16.67 s-v-c 0 0 1 6.67 1 3.33 total 13 86.67 10 66.67 23 76.67 multiple s-v-o 1 6.67 5 33.33 6 20.00 s-v 1 6.67 0 0 1 3.33 total 2 13.33 5 33.33 7 23.33 grand total 15 50.00 15 50.00 30 100.00 concerning the grammatical patterns, the most frequent type, as reflected in table 1, was s-v-o comprising nine (9) or 60% occurrences in philippine headlines while eight (8) or 53.33% in american headline. the following headlines can serve as examples of headlines having the s-v-o structure: pagasa watches 2 tropical storms outside par (ps) (where pagasa is the subject, watches is the verb (transitive verb) and 2 tropical storms outside par is the object (direct object), or police release sketch of bangkok bombing suspect (ut) (police is the subject, release is the verb (transitive verb), and sketch of bangkok bombing suspect is the object (direct object). it could be inferred that philippine and american headline writers favor the s-v-o pattern because it describes in the best suitable way “who did what”. this implies the subject is always present. this finding supports the premise of koosha & shams (2005) that the most prominent and significant information of the news story is demonstrated when stated in few and simple terms the second most frequently used structure of headlines was s-v with four (4) or 26.66% occurrences in philippine headlines whereas only one (1) or 6.67% in an american headline. the headline china moves to contain cyanide after blasts kill 114 (mb), for example, consist just a subject (china) and a verb (intransitive verb) moves. the least frequently used structure was s-v-c with one (1) or 6.67% occurrence in american headline but it was not used in philippine headline. an example of the svc structure could be red pandas are adorable and in trouble (nyt), where red pandas is the subject, are is the verb (linking verb) and adorable and in trouble is the complement. this result seems parallel 53 international peer reviewed journal to the finding of khodabandeh (2005) that english and persian newspapers are similar in the use of simple sentences but significantly different in the usage of headline types. as further indicated in table 1, there were seven (7) headlines identified as headlines with a regular multiple sentence structure. among the analyzed headlines, there were just seven (7) examples of compound headlines, namely sbp welcomes pingris’ change of heart but leaves decision to tab (ps), which is an example of a compound sentence with two clauses that can individually stand alone as independent simple sentences. the given sentence has a coordinator “but” which link the two clauses. the most frequently employed structure in a compound headline was s-v-o constituting one (1) or 6.67% occurrences in philippine headlines just like the aforementioned sentence example, whereas, five (5) or 33.33% in american headlines. on the other hand, the second commonly used structure was s-v with one (1) or 6.67% occurrence in a philippine headline; however, it was not employed in american headlines. no complex sentences were identified in the 30 news headlines. the non-occurrence of complex sentence in philippine and american news headlines could be attributed to the tenet of ungerer (2000) that news headlines describes the essence of a complicated news story in a few words. commonly used cohesive conjunctions table 2 reveals the types of cohesive conjunctions commonly employed by the two speech communities in the headlines examined. it likewise recapitulates the frequency occurrences and percentage counts of the conjunctions in the headlines. table 2. types of cohesive conjunctions commonly employed in philippine and american headlines sentence structure grammatical patterns philippine headlines american headlines total additive and f % f % f % s-v-o 1 33.33 0 0 1 14.29 total 1 33.33 0 0 1 14.29 adversative but s-v-o 2 66.67 4 100 6 85.71 total 2 66.67 4 100 6 85.71 grand total 3 42.86 4 57.14 7 100.00 54 jpair multidisciplinary research as reflected in table 2, in all the 30 news headlines analyzed, adversative conjunctions were the most commonly employed in the headlines, constituting 85.71% of the total cohesive devices identified in the headlines. additive conjunctions were the next frequently used conjunctions, accounting for 14.29% of the total. no causal and temporal conjunctions were identified in the 30 news headlines. this result is consistent with the findings of mohamed & omer (2000) that the rhetorical organization of arabic narrative texts is additive while the english rhetorical pattern is non-additive. complementary to this finding is roohani & esmaeili’s (2010) conclusion on sports headlines in english and persian newspapers that resembled in using headline types but differed in predication and modification. among the adversative, ‘but’ was the most commonly used by the two speech communities, comprising four (4) or 100% of the total number of adversative conjunctions in american headlines while two (2) or 66.67% in philippine headlines. among the additives, the simple conjunction “and’ was the most commonly employed constituting one (1) or 33.33% of the total number in philippine headline, thus, proving that it was not employed in american headlines. this finding conforms to the result of the study of genuino (2002) that the rhetorical pattern of the genre analysed from the articles of the philippines, singapore and the united states was built on the adversative relations. points of comparison of some cohesive conjunctions used it was found that the adversative conjunction but is parallel to both philippine and american news headlines. this means that local and foreign news writers use similar cohesive conjunctions in constructing a headline with multiple sentences. as lee (2012) stated in his study on american and korean political news headlines, the two sets of headlines reflect a parallelism regarding the variety of structural pattern they deploy. this cohesive conjunction is evident in the following headlines: phil h: sbp welcomes pingris’ change of heart but leaves decision to tab (ps) am h: slovakia will take in 200 syrian refuges, but they have to be christian (wsj) in the excerpt, but connects two clauses: sbp welcomes pingris; change of heart and leaves decision to tab. also, slovakia will take in 200 syrian refugees, and they have to be christian. though but connects two clauses within the sentence, it establishes adversative cohesive relations suggesting the meaning “contrary to expectations” since the second clause functions “contrary to expectations” where the expectation may be derived from the content of what is being said of from 55 international peer reviewed journal the communication process – the speakerhearer situation (halliday & hasan, 1976). presence or absence of cultural practices reflected in the news headlines writing results revealed that there are similarities of the two speech communities regarding cultural practices as reflected in the writing of news headlines. to name a few, it is evidently seen that the commonly employed grammatical structure by filipino and american news headline writers was s-v-o pattern. moreover, the two countries prefer simple type of sentence in constructing a news headline. despite the fact that there were commonalities, there were also differences. for instance, s-v-c pattern was not employed in philippine headlines while the additive “and” was used in american, but not in philippine headlines. some major findings that were considered relevant in the context of culture are identified in the study. first, the grammatical pattern commonly employed by the two speech communities is subject-verb-object (s-v-o). it is frequently applied either in simple sentences or multiple sentences. second, the rhetorical pattern of the two speech communities in terms of cohesive conjunctions is built on the adversative, that is, non-additive, to use mohamed and omer’s (2000) term. this result confirms the findings of genuino (2002) which contradicts the mohamed and omer’s (2000) claim that the english rhetorical pattern is additive due to its having literate culture. in halliday and hasan’s (1976) framework of cohesion, adversative means “contrary to expectations” whereas additive suggest that the meaning of one element (the presupposed) is dependent on the other (the presupposing). moreover, the pervasiveness of adversative relations in the two speech communities may be a function of their cultural characteristic. kramsch (1998) believed that the us has been found to be the most individualist in the world. thus, the preference of us for adversative rather than additive seems to support lonner, berry and hoftstede’s (1980) claim that the us has an individualist or universalist culture. on the other hand, philippines is known to be pluralistic regarding race, language and culture. it is a mixture of different races, different languages and different cultures. no doubt, it is a pluralistic society. the results yielded in this study affirm the hypothesis of contrastive rhetoric that different cultures have different rhetorical patterns. nonetheless, this contrastive rhetorical analysis has also its limitations. first, it has failed to identify the occurrences of other sentence grammatical structures given by quirk, et al. (1985). second, it failed to figure out the occurrences of causal and temporal types of cohesive conjunctions. finally, it focused only on sentential type of headlines; 56 jpair multidisciplinary research hence, the inclusion of non-sentential type was not regarded. in response to these limitations, addendum of other newspapers in the two speech communities as well as taking into account the addition of some samples must also be considered for future studies along this topic. conclusions in the light of the preceding findings, it can be concluded that filipino and american news writers commonly used s-v-o pattern in writing headlines. this syntactic pattern was frequently applied in both simple and multiple or compound sentences. regarding cohesive conjunctions, the rhetorical pattern of the two speech communities was formed through the adversative. seemingly, both cultures employed the adversative ‘but’ to show cohesive relations in news headlines. parallel cultural practices also existed in the two nationalities as reflected in the writing of news headlines. they both utilized simple sentence in constructing a news headline. contrastively, s-v-c pattern was preferred in american headlines while the additive ‘and’ was favored in philippine headlines. thus, the grammatical patterns and types of sentence structures employed by the headline writers in the two linguistic communities revealed the sociocultural practices they have. the results of this contrastive rhetoric of news headlines in national and international newspapers have significant practical and pedagogical implications for l2 instruction. it can assist l2 teachers in identifying the syntactic similarities and differences of headlines in order to guide l2 learners toward better linguistic knowledge of news headlines. since l2 teachers have the relevant contrastive information, they would know the real constraints of students in learning news headlines and other journalistic texts in order to deliver better instruction. the findings of this study also insinuate that philippine newspapers are good instructional materials that can be utilized in teaching academic writing. the authentic language represented in the journalistic texts can serve as model for l2 writers. translational research the true measure of scholarly research is the dissemination, utilization and publication of its outputs. while there are many studies in the area of language and communication done by prolific researchers, only a few were disseminated and utilized through local and international fora. among these researches that were shared for the consumption of human knowledge and for the enhancement 57 international peer reviewed journal of the target clienteles’ skills and values, only a handful were published in an international refereed electronic journals. the online availability of this study would contribute to the growing literatures on contrastive linguistics and other allied fields. research enthusiasts, who are doing literature review along these aspects, could easily access and utilize the results through the use of internet. through digital technology, readers and research scholars across the continents could readily grasp the information this study provided because it is internet accessible. literature cited bonyadi, a., & samuel, m. (2013). headlines in newspaper editorials. sage open, 3(2), 1-10. connor, u. (1996). contrastive rhetoric: cross-cultural aspects of second language writing. cambridge: cambridge university press. crystal, d. (2004). the cambridge encyclopedia of the english language. germany: ernst klett sprachen. genuino, c. f. (2002). cohesion: a revelation of cultural practices. philippine journal of linguistics, 33(2). halliday, m. a. k., & hasan, r. (1976). cohesion in english. london: longman. jakobson, r. (1959). on linguistic aspects of translation. on translation, 3, 3039. kachru, b. (1981). socially realistic linguistics: the firthian tradition. international journal of the sociology of language, 31 (1), 65-89. khodabandeh, f. (2005). a contrastive analysis of english and american newspaper headlines. the linguistics journal, 2(1), 91-127. koosha, m., & shams, m.r. (2005). a critical study of news discourse: iran’s nuclear issue in the british newspapers. iranian journal of applied linguistics, 8(2), 107-141. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research kramsch, c. (1998). language and culture. united kingdom: oxford university press. lee, h. k. (2012). linguistic variations between english news headlines in the u.s. and those in korea. linguistic research, 29(2), 329-350. leki, i. (1991). twentyfive years of contrastive rhetoric text analysis and writing pedagogies. tesol quarterly, 25 (1), 123143. lonner, w. j., berry, j. w., & hofstede, g. h. (1980). culture’s consequences: international differences in work-related values.  university of illinois at urbana-champaign’s academy for entrepreneurial leadership historical research reference in entrepreneurship. ludwig, m. d., & gilmore, g. (2005). modern news editing. wiley-blackwell. mohamed, a. & omer, m. (2000). texture and culture: cohesion as a marker of rhetorical organization in arabic and english narrative texts. relc journal, 31 (2), 45-75. quirk, r., sidney, g., leech, g., & svartvik, j. (1985). a comprehensive grammar of the english language. london: longman. robinson, d. (2004). becoming a translator: an introduction to the theory and practice of translation. routledge. roohani, a. & esmaeili, m. (2010). a contrastive analysis of sports headlines in two english newspapers. journal of applied language studies, 1(2), 68-82. tabula, r. v. & salasac, c. s. (2015). contrastive analysis on ilokano and english personal pronouns. jpair multidisciplinary research, 19(1), 93-109. ungerer, f. (2000). english media texts past and present language and textual structure. philadelphia, pa: john benjamins. van dijk, t. a. (1998). ideology: a multidisciplinary approach. london: sage. cover single with doi 83 international peer reviewed journal instructional assessment of technology and livelihood education (tle) program vangilit g. retome nonita c. estrella avelina sarvida imelda yaoyao vans_venis@yahoo.com.ph education department, southern leyte state university san juan campus, 6611 san juan, southern leyte, philippines gary c. garcia dominador granada garychmich@yahoo.com.ph office of the research, development, and extension, southern leyte state university-san juan campus, 6611 san juan, southern leyte, philippines abstract the study was conducted to assess the tle program instruction of southern leyte state university-san juan campus. it tried to evaluate the attitude of tle teachers towards work, students personal view about the course, and the physical and learning environment of the school in relation to tle program. it utilized descriptive survey using two types of self-made questionnaire, the linkerts scale and the open-ended type survey. the data gathered were treated using weighted mean and the frequency count. results showed that most of the teachers who are teaching tle are in retiring age (7 out of 11 or 64%). the attitudes of tle teachers toward the program vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.14 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 84 jpair: multidisciplinary research are moderately positive while the students’ personal view towards the course is moderately low. both teachers and students believed that the school needs to update instructional materials, tools, and equipments, and improve classrooms particularly home technology building. with these findings, the researchers came up with recommendations which are to revisit the tle curriculum in order to ensure relevance of the program to the present career pathways in technology and livelihood education program of the department of education for secondary schools to hire new teachers specializing tle and to conduct proper orientation of first year students about the tle program. keywords technology and livelihood education, tle, instructional assessment, introduction after decades of limited success in eliminating rural poverty, new ideas about rural development are emerging. a number of prominent agencies are currently revising their rural development strategies in broadly similar directions. so-called ‘livelihoods approaches’ work with people, supporting them to build upon their own strengths and realized their potential, while at the same time acknowledging the effects of policies and institutions, external shocks and trends (carney, 1999). according to chambers & conway (1992), livelihood is socially sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, and provide for future generations. for policy and practice, new concepts and analysis are needed. the school is a very important institution which can provide a variety of career pathways for students taking into consideration of the need of the market on the community where the school serves. the southern leyte state university-san juan campus offered bachelor in secondary education major in technology and livelihood education (tle) in 2006 in accordance to ched memo # 30 series 2004. this specialization replaced the technology and home economics (het), and trade technology (tt) which were the first specializations offered by the school in 1990 until 2006. 85 international peer reviewed journal offering tle is a response to the need of the community considering that the nature of the course would provide practical knowledge and skills of vocational and technological efficiency and problem solving in daily life. under the basic education curriculum (bec) of 2002, tle is incorporated in makabayan subject which then is considered as the laboratory of life or practice environment. thus, tle becomes one of the sources of practice environment for students in school. in 2010, a refinement of the curriculum, now called 2010 secondary education curriculum was made and implemented in school year 2010-2011. the curriculum followed the understanding by design (ubd) framework which provides for a personalized approach to developing the students’ multiple intelligences through the provision of special curricular programs. under this curriculum, there are eight subject areas that have to be taken by the students, one of which is tle now called career pathways in technology and livelihood education (cp-tle). deped order no. 76 s. 2010 prescribed that cp-tle has been expanded as to include the following special curricular programs: special program in the arts (spa), special program in sports (sps), engineering and science education program (esep), special program in journalism (spj), technical-vocational education, and special program in foreign language (spfl). considering the scope of tle as a subject in high school, deped order no. 76, s. 2010 stipulated that in the absence of full-time teachers who can teach such livelihood courses, schools are authorized to secure services of part-time experts (e.g. chefs, farmers, fishermen, manicurists and it specialists) as resource persons who may be paid on honorarium basis, subject to the usual accounting and auditing regulations of public funds are used for the purpose. this development proves that there is really a need of teachers specializing tle. likewise, there is also a need of the school to produce bsed graduates specializing tle in order to cater to the need of the secondary schools today and in the future. however, the researchers were alarmed with the decline of the enrolment of the bsed students specializing tle. during the school year 2010-2011, out of 53 second year bsed students, none (0%) took up tle; for third year bsed, out of 70 students, 4 students (5.7%) took up tle; for 57 bsed fourth year students only one student (1.75%) took up tle. hence, this research 86 jpair: multidisciplinary research will be conducted in order to assess the tle program instruction. objectives of the study the study sought to determine the factors affecting the enrollment in bsed-tle program. specifically it aimed: 1. to determine the attitude of tle teachers; 2. to determine the students’ personal view about tle; and 3. to assess the physical and learning environment of the school in relation to tle program. materials and methods this study used descriptive survey method. two types of self-made questionnaire were administered in gathering data, the linkerts scale and the open-ended type. the first part of the questionnaire was about the personal profile of the respondents, followed by the students’ personal view about tle, then the questionnaire to assess the physical and learning environment of the school in relation to tle program. the research respondents in this study were bsed junior and senior students who were taking tle as their field of specialization and slsu-sj faculty who were teaching tle subjects. complete sampling method was used. data were treated using weighted arithmetic mean and frequency counts. results and discussion table 1 presents the demographic profile of the teachers where 7 (64%) out of the 11 teachers teaching tle are instructors in rank and 4 (36%) are assistant professors. more than half or 55% are female, all of them are married. majority (64%) belong to the age bracket of 5160, 27% will retire this coming june 2011. as reflected, the educational qualifications of the teachers are: 5 (45%) bs degree, 3 (27%) bs with ma units, 2 (18%) are ma, only one with doctorate degree. as to their 87 international peer reviewed journal experience in teaching tle, 3 served from 1-5 yrs, 1 between 6-10 yrs of service and 7 were serving from 20 years or more. table 1. teachers’ educational profile position instructors assistance pro-fessor associate professor professor 7 4 0 0 sex male female 5 6 civil status single married widow 0 11 0 age below 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 0 1 1 2 7 educational qualification bs degree bs w/ ma units ma ma w/ doc. unit doctorate 5 3 2 0 1 experience in teaching tle 1-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-20 years 20up 3 1 0 0 7 attitudes of tle teachers towards job as shown in table 2, 7 out of 9 faculty disagreed in item number 1. this means that they are willing to adopt new strategies in teaching the subject. then 5 agreed and 1 strongly disagreed that they are busy with designated task; all of them strongly disagreed that the teaching tle is impractical. one faculty strongly disagreed on items 7 and 15, but most expressed their love in teaching tle and considered teaching tle as their life. in items 16, 17, 18, all teachers affirm to make the classroom activities interesting, to employ the most effective method in teaching, and to encourage class participation and critical thinking. eventually, nobody agreed to give irrelevant assignments and projects as shown (5 strongly disagree and 4 disagree) in item number 19, and only one faculty disagreed to use updated curriculum as reflected in item 20. 88 jpair: multidisciplinary research table 2. attitudes of tle teachers towards job attitude of tle teachers towards job sd d a sa wm 1. i am old enough to change the method of teaching i used to 1 7 1 0 2 2. i am busy with other designated task 0 3 5 1 3 3. i burn my midnight candle to study the topic 3 4 2 0 2 4. i am pursuing my graduate study 2 7 0 0 2 5. i spent own money to secure the needed materials 0 3 5 1 3 6. i surf in the internet for the additional information about it 2 4 2 1 2 7. i love teaching tle 1 0 5 3 3 8. i have limited idea on the subject 3 4 0 2 2 9. i encountered difficulty in securing instructional materials 4 4 1 0 2 10. i encountered difficulties in relating lesson to the real life situation 3 6 0 0 2 11. my trainings in the subject are insufficient 1 5 3 0 2 12. teaching tle is impractical 9 0 0 0 1 13. i teach the tle subject(s) merely to meet the required teaching load 1 7 1 0 2 14. the subjects assigned to me do not motivate me to give my best 3 5 1 0 2 15. teaching tle is my life 1 1 6 1 3 16. i make classroom activities interesting 0 0 5 4 3 17. i employs the most effective teaching method for every topic discussed 0 0 7 2 3 18. encourages class participation and critical thinking 0 0 6 3 3 19. i use to give irrelevant assignments and project 4 5 0 0 2 20. i use updated curriculum. 0 1 4 4 3 students' personal view on the course item 1 in table 3 indicates that students agreed that tle is very expensive course. however, students strongly agreed with the statements in items number 2, 6, 9, 11, and 13 which says, i love tle course, subject taught in the course are very relevant, the course is very challenging, and i enjoy learning tle respectively. it is a strong 89 international peer reviewed journal indication that the students who are taking tle have positive overview with the course. item number 8 with a weighted mean of 2 signifies that tle course is not boring. students have different overview in item number 10. four students disagreed and 3 strongly agreed that the course does not give assurance to land a job. only one student disagreed in item number 12 which says taking the course makes me feel discriminated. it means that students who are taking tle course have a feeling of being discriminated. table 3. students’ personal view on the course students’ personal view about the course sd d a sa wm 1. it’s very expensive course 0 0 5 2 3 2. i love tle course 0 0 3 4 4 3. i discourage my neighbor and relatives to take up tle course 4 3 0 0 1 4. i could not see any significance of the course 5 2 0 0 1 5. i don’t have any contentment in the subjects 4 1 2 0 1 6. subject taught in the course are very relevant 0 1 1 5 4 7. i took up tle because i have no other choice 4 3 0 0 1 8. studying tle is tiresome and boring 0 6 1 0 2 9. the course is very challenging 0 0 1 6 4 10. the course does not give assurance to land a job 2 2 0 3 3 11. i enjoy learning tle 0 0 1 6 4 12. taking the course makes me feel discriminated 1 0 5 1 3 13. i am a proud tle student 0 0 2 5 4 14. i hate this course since high school 5 1 0 1 2 15. i learned a lot of survival (techniques) needs in this course 0 0 4 3 3 table 4 presents the students’ and facultys’ assessment on the physical and learning environment. items 1 and 2 show that no students agree that the library has plenty of tle reading materials, that internet café are available for surfing anytime. only 2 out of nine faculty agreed 90 jpair: multidisciplinary research on the said items. however, both students and faculty agreed on item number 3 which says tle subject references are not updated. in item number 4, 5 students strongly disagreed and 2 agreed that the school has sufficient instructional materials while 4 faculty disagreed and 5 agreed on it. about tools, 1 student strongly disagreed, 2 agreed and 4 strongly agreed that the tools are functional. while 3 of the faculty disagreed, 4 agreed, and 2 strongly disagreed. majority of the students and the faculty disagreed that classrooms are conducive to learning. for item 7, both the students and the faculty agreed that computer aide instructional materials are not utilized. eventually, nobody disagreed that nursing art has been observed, and most agreed that the home technology building is not well equipped for practicum. table 4. students’ and faculty’s assessment on the physical and learning environment physical and learning environment students faculty sd d a sa wm sd d a sa wm 1. the library has plenty of tle reading materials 2 5 0 0 1.7 3 4 2 0 2 2. internet café are available for surfing anytime 0 7 0 0 2 3 4 2 0 2 3. tle subject references are not updated 0 0 4 3 3.4 0 0 7 2 2 4. the school has sufficient instructional materials 5 2 0 0 1.3 0 4 5 0 5. tools and equipments are not functional 1 0 2 4 3.3 0 3 4 2 3 6. classrooms are conducive for learning 0 6 1 0 2.1 2 3 4 0 2 7. computer aide instructional materials are utilized 3 4 0 0 1.6 3 5 1 0 2 8. school buildings are clean 0 1 6 0 2.9 1 3 4 1 3 9. lack of dummy materials for nursing art 0 0 1 6 3.6 0 0 5 4 3 10. home technology building is not well equipped for practicum purposes 0 0 2 5 3.7 0 0 5 4 3 findings the study has revealed the following: 1. most of the teachers who are teaching tle are in retiring age (7 out of 11 or 64%). 2. attitude of tle teachers toward the program is moderately positive. 91 international peer reviewed journal 3. students’ personal view toward the course is very low. 4. both teachers and students believed that the school needs to update instructional materials, tools and equipments, and improve classrooms, particularly home technology building. conclusion based on the findings, the researchers formulated the following conclusions: teachers still showed strong interest in teaching tle. students’ perception toward the course is an indication of a weak information drive program in promoting tle, its significance to the economy. finally, the institution needs to improve the school facilities, upgrade tools and equipment, and update instructional materials. recommendations 1. since most of the tle instructors are retiring from work, there is a need to hire new teachers in tle. 2. there is a need to revisit and update the tle curriculum to make it relevant to the present career pathways in technology and livelihood education program of the department of education for secondary schools. (dep ed order # 76 series of 2010). 3. the students, especially the first year should be properly oriented about the course. brochure or pamphlets should be provided. 4. instructors handling tle should be updated, oriented to some new trends in teaching tle by allowing them to attend trainings, workshop seminars. 5. bsed instructors should encourage students to specialize a course which is not only of their interest like but that which provides them greater chances for employment. literature cited 2010 secondary education curriculum, curriculum guide in career pathways in technology and livelihood education (cp-tle) 92 jpair: multidisciplinary research deped order #76 s. 2010 policy guidelines on the implementation of the 2010 secondary education curriculum deped memorandum #396 s. 2010 “the 2010 secondary education curriculum (sec) online help desk anytime, anywhere. ched memo #30 s 2004 direct course offering of the teacher education curricula. chambers, r; conway, g. 1992 sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. retrieved december, from http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/ opendocs/handle/123456789/80 carney, d. 1999 approaches to sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor. retrieved december 2011, from http://hdl.handle. net/123456789/497 pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 65 international peer reviewed journal mga bayaning walang kapa: struggles and coping of ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs in the province of batanes william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines kyle g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3025-4875 kyleponce474@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines leonard o. taghap http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6775-5924 ocuranard@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines samantha jaslyn nicole a. arca http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3455-2001 arcasam01@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.664 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 66 jpair multidisciplinary research christine mae d. villa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3163-3954 christinemaevilla83@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract primary caregivers of children with special needs encounter a host of new challenges and face reality and shock of diagnosing the disability itself. this study employed a descriptive research method to identify and describe the struggles of 18 ivatan primary caregivers and their coping strategies in terms of gender in the province of batanes.  inventory questionnaires were used to gather data. using mean analysis and anova one-way repeated measures, the ivatan primary caregivers’ prevalent struggles are financial, health, social, family, and emotional. in terms of gender, both males and females experienced all the areas of struggle. with the struggles ivatan primary caregivers experienced, the more prevalent coping strategies that they used are problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support. male and female primary caregivers used all the coping strategies except social withdrawal and self-criticism. males utilized problem solving the more while females utilized cognitive restructuring. despite the various struggles that the ivatan primary caregivers experienced, they find ways to cope with them. keywords – social science, struggles, coping, children with special needs, primary caregivers, ivatan, descriptive research, quantitative, batanes, philippines introduction children today enjoy healthy childhoods that require little need for specialized health care services. however, some children experience difficulties in early childhood that require access to and consumption of considerable health care resources over time. these children with this developmental disorder this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 67 international peer reviewed journal experience physical, sensory, communicative, and intellectual impairments and may then have complex limitations in self-care functions.  in 2011, the world health organization estimated that around 10% of the world’s population live with some form of disability. it affects the individual concerned and the support network (e.g., friends and family) when one of the family members has special needs, whether physical, psychological, or chronic, and care is generally given by the family (blanes et al., 2007). according to the international classification of functioning, disability, and health, children with special needs can be defined as children having impairments, activity and participation restrictions, or disadvantages (world health organization, 2007). these children need health and other related services beyond what is required of normal children. this makes families caring for children with special needs face challenges and demands than those caring for children without special needs. on the other hand, savage and bailey (2004) defined a primary caregiver as the parent or other family members of the child with special needs responsible for parenting or caring for the child. also, billote (2018) categorized the primary caregivers into blood-related primary caregivers and nonblood-related primary caregivers. blood-related primary caregivers refer to the parents, siblings, grandparents, and other relatives. on the other hand, nonblood-related primary caregivers correspond to a professional trained in special education (sped) or another individual, such as a private teacher, therapist, or nanny. in general, they provide practical and day-to-day unpaid support for a person unable to perform daily living tasks.  with this, families become a critical source of support for children with special needs. parents and family members absorb added demands on time and emotional and financial resources (baker-ericzen et al., 2005) linked to having a child with special needs. although caregiving is a normal part of being a parent or a family member of a child, this role takes a full implication when a child experiences functional limitation that would then be a long-term dependence. evidence suggests considerable disparities in how these caregivers of children with special needs adapt to the caregiving demands and stressors. the varied adaptations in taking care of these children may cause different impacts on primary caregivers’ health and well-being (raina et al., 2005). primary caregivers of a child with special needs encounter a host of new challenges and face the reality and shock of the diagnosis of the disability itself. challenges include learning new medical terms and the new vocabulary of 68 jpair multidisciplinary research government agencies and programs, rules, and forms. a child with special needs can also significantly impact the family dynamics, and parents are often forced to give all their attention to the child with special needs, which can lead to problems with the siblings. additionally, caregivers are faced with new financial burdens, such as efficient medical equipment costs that may not be funded by government or insurance agencies, transportation costs, loss of income, extra child costs, and various out-of-pocket expenses needed by a child with special needs (nuutila & salantera, 2006; yantzi et al., 2006; chambers & chambers, 2015). furthermore, primary caregivers of children with special needs suffer significant psychological and physical changes due to caregiving’s burden (raina et al., 2005). in nuutila and salantera (2006) study, caregivers describe the challenges of not knowing what is wrong with their children, the stress of seeking a diagnosis, and procuring needed knowledge and skills to provide medical and physical care for their children. these challenges are in addition to the caregivers’ day-to-day practical needs.  the daunting task of caring for a child with special needs requires special parenting skills, which can injure the caregivers’ physical health. this is why stress and health are related. murphy et al. (2007) study findings show that the caregiver’s health worsens due to the lack of time and control and decreased psychosocial energy brought about by their roles. in several studies conducted in the philippines, being a child caregiver with special needs has been described as complicated, challenging, and frustrating (gargiulo, 1985). on the other hand, some of the caregivers have given up their careers and devoted their time and energy to the caring of their child with special needs (liwag, 1987, as cited in gomez & gomez, 2013). with the array of struggles the primary caregivers are experiencing, previous researchers have found that they utilize various strategies to cope with raising children with special needs. coping includes behavioral strategies that individuals use to lessen the effect or demands of stress (khan & humtsoe, 2016). coping is usually done through increasing one’s resources, changing beliefs, improving control over surroundings, taking help, or decreasing emotional responses to stress. primary caregivers of children with special needs are more likely to turn towards religion, prayer for reassurance, and increased religious activities to feel less stress (kamaruddin & mamat, 2015). additionally, smith (2003) identified different strategies these caregivers employ once learning their child’s diagnosis. strategies include components of seeking social support, positive reassessment, careful problem solving, and emotional regulation. 69 international peer reviewed journal the researchers were encouraged to conduct this study due to the following reasons. first, the difficulties faced by children with disabilities are “highly individualized.” this means that children’s disabilities will affect them in different ways. no two children with special needs have the same traits that translate to no two primary caregivers experiencing the same struggles and applying the same coping strategies. therefore, the second reason is to determine if the primary caregivers’ gender brings about a deviation in the struggles they encounter. in this way, there will be a comparative look at the similarities and differences of the coping strategies being utilized by primary caregivers. conducting this research will further broaden the current literature regarding this topic – providing the community with a more comprehensive look into the different special needs, which will contribute to the growing awareness and acceptance of people with special needs in the long run. when primary caregivers’ challenges are identified and understood from their perspective, interventions can be designed to address their needs more adequately. school counselors and teachers can respond by forming parent support groups or referring them to existing support groups at the school level. this can serve as a source of support and encouragement to the primary caregivers. when given interventions to cope with the struggles primary caregivers experience and when given support, children with special needs will receive the proper social and emotional tools to go through challenges. this makes them grow more resilient and face and overcome difficulties. framework presented in this section is a brief description of the different variables that underpin the study. children with special needs under the individuals with disabilities educational act (idea), children with special needs are individuals who need early intervention services. this is because, firstly, they are experiencing developmental delays in one or more of the following areas: (1) cognitive development, (2) physical development, (3) communication development, (4) social or emotional development, and (5) adaptive development. secondly, these children have a diagnosed physical or mental condition with a high probability of developmental delay. however, it must be noted that these delays are measured by appropriate diagnostic 70 jpair multidisciplinary research procedures and instruments (national dissemination center for children with disabilities, 2009). furthermore, idea lists thirteen different disability categories for individuals under 3 to 21 years old that may be eligible for services. the disability listed in idea are: 1) autism; 2) deaf-blindness; 3) deafness; 4) emotional disturbance; 5) hearing impairment; 6) intellectual disability; 7) multiple disabilities; 8) orthopedic impairment; 9) other health impairment; 10) a specific learning disability; 11) speech or language impairment; 12) traumatic brain injury and; 13) visual impairment, including blindness. characteristics of children with special needs the following definitions apply to the 13 categories of exceptionality as defined by the individuals with disabilities education act (idea, 2004). autism. it is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects verbal and nonverbal speech and social contact and usually manifests before the age of three. other prominent characteristics associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to changes, and unusual sensory experiences responses. deaf-blindness. it is concomitant hearing and visual impairments. this combination causes severe communication and other developmental and educational needs. deafness. it refers to a hearing impairment that is so severe that it impairs an individual’s processing of linguistic information through hearing. emotional disturbance. it is a disorder in which a child’s educational success is negatively impacted by one or more of the following characteristics over a long period and to a significant degree: 1) an inability to understand that is not due to intellectual, sensory, or health issues; 2) an inability to establish or sustain satisfactory interpersonal interactions with peers and teachers; 3) inappropriate forms of actions or emotions in usual situations; 4) a general pervasive state of unhappiness or depression; and 5) a proclivity to experience physical manifestations or fears associated with personal or school issues. hearing impairment. it is damage in hearing that may be either permanent or fluctuating. 71 international peer reviewed journal mental retardation. it is a general intellectual functioning that is significantly sub-average. it exists alongside deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested in the developmental period of an individual. multiple disabilities. these are concomitant impairments such as mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, mental retardation-hearing impairment, etc. orthopedic impairment. this includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly, disease, and other impairments from other causes such as cerebral palsy, fractures, amputations, etc. other health impairments. these refer to having limited strength and vitality that is due to chronic or acute health problems. this includes asthma, adhd or add, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, leukemia, lead poisoning, rheumatic fever, nephritis, lead poisoning, hemophilia, and sickle cell anemia. specific learning disability. it is a problem with one or more of the fundamental psychological mechanisms involved in comprehending spoken or written language. this could show up as a lack of ability to listen, think, talk, interpret, write, spell, or perform mathematical calculations. speech or language impairment. it is a communication disorder that involves stuttering, flawed articulation, or voice impairment. traumatic brain injury. it is an acquired injury by an external physical force. this results in an impairment in one or more areas such as cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, judgment, problem-solving, etc. visual impairment. it is an impairment in vision (which includes blindness), even with correction. parenting children with special needs families are dynamic functioning units that strive for stability and balance to development and change. however, a child’s birth with special needs creates a severe breach of this balance since families undergo a difficult existential experience (kandel & merrick, 2003). they raise children whose mental, emotional, cognitive, or developmental difficulties reduce their capacity to be 72 jpair multidisciplinary research educated in the same ways as other children. this gives them different roles to play in raising and caring for children with special needs. throughout history, the birth of a child with special needs has been considered heartbreaking, threatening, distressing, and painful for parents or primary caregivers (lizasoáin & peralta, 2004, as cited in lara & de los pinos, 2017). the majority of the scientific literature for more than decades about family and disability has been focused on recounting the child’s effect with special needs produced in the family dynamic. this includes depression, anxiety, frustration, guilt, economic burden, isolation, etc. for primary caregivers, having and raising a child is a process that requires adaptation that starts when they become a mother or a father, continuing through the pregnancy until birth and when individual changes occur that are linked to the new roles as mother and father. there is the assumption of new responsibilities, changes in habit and couple’s relationship, etc. however, these changes are far greater for parents that have a child with special needs because other changes specific to this situation also take place. when various symptoms are shown that are atypical in normal development during the developmental process, feelings and emotions such as loss, pain, doubt, threat, shock, and helplessness arise (lara & de los pinos, 2017).               according to lizasoáin & peralta (2004, as cited in lara & de los pinos, 2017), in the first instance of initial shock when knowing the diagnosis, there is a stage of reaction followed by adaptation and guidance. the progression, coping strategies, the members that form part of the family, and the resources availed and support received will depend on each family. primary caregivers will gradually manage to cope with the new situation and recreate their life scheme until the pain wanes.  struggles of primary caregivers primary caregivers are faced with various concerns, such as chronicity and disappointing prognosis, changes in the family system, financial strain, attitudes of the community towards them and their children, and the minimal social support received by primary caregivers (boyd, 2002, as cited in swanepoel, 2003). consequently, different struggles arise alongside raising a child with special needs. below are the different struggles primary caregivers experience in raising a child with special needs. 73 international peer reviewed journal financial.  according to reichman et al. (2008), due to the immediate financial and continuous need for intervention for children with special needs, one problem it brings to the primary caregivers is financial concerns. they may experience difficulties looking for appropriate and affordable child care, including medical, therapeutic, and educational interventions, which are usually out-ofpocket costs. caring for a child with a special need is a life-long commitment that has a huge financial implication, facing the possibility of bankruptcy and preceding savings so that money is used for daily expenses (baker & sharpe, 2007). health. a health problem is a state in which one cannot function normally and without pain and/or a person who has a physical condition caused by disease. cantwell et al. (2014) emphasized that the primary caregivers› physical health is influenced by poor sleep, greater risk of hypertension, increased headaches, and higher infection rates. barriers to promoting primary caregivers’ health include lack of time, insufficient respite hours, a shortage of qualified care providers for the child with special needs, and low prioritization of their own needs, all contributing to poor health (murphy et al., 2007). social.  socialization problems experienced by the primary caregivers refer to not becoming an active participant in society. primary caregivers cannot make social contacts as much as before since they have the added responsibility of taking care of a child with special needs. this puts them at risk of feeling isolated (biordi & nicholson, n.d.). family. at times, parents become so involved with their child with special needs that they get to pay little attention to their other family members. since family dynamics change, activities seem to revolve around the child with special needs. when this happens, parents feel that it lacks a sense of “normality” (woodgate et al., 2008, as cited in perepa, 2013). emotional.  when caring for children with special needs, families may experience guilt, blame, or lowered self-esteem (reichman et al., 2008). feelings of uncertainty, anger, denial, embarrassment, fear of stigma, grief, and even withdrawal can occur with the sudden realization that the child they have expected and anticipated is different (gull & nizami, 2015). parents or primary caregivers may harbor a lasting sense of loss because of the child’s special needs. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research coping of primary caregivers considering the purposes of this study, the coping strategies used by primary caregivers in dealing with their struggles in raising a child with special needs are presented in the succeeding sections. engagement coping these coping attempts to actively manage the stressful situation or even through social support, cognitive restructuring, expression of emotion, and problem-solving. it is considered to be a more positive way of dealing with a stressful event. this is characterized by direct attempts to influence the stressor itself, emotions in response to the stressor, or efforts to adapt to the stress by modifying one’s cognitions (compas et al., 2005).  problem solving. problem-focused strategies are efforts directed at solving a problem that causes distress. this includes information gathering, decision making, performing task-oriented actions, planning, and resolving conflicts. primary caregivers alter their response to the stressors of having a child with special needs, focusing on the positive rather than the negative (abery, 2006). cognitive restructuring. primary caregivers may have positive and negative judgments of the difficulties that come with raising a child with special needs, and they can coexist (trute et al., 2007). however, cognitive restructuring can help alleviate the child’s disability on family members, strengthen psychological and physical resources during stress, and protect them against depression (gupta, 2007). emotional expression.  how primary caregivers of children with special needs interpret and regulate emotions have been prevalent over caring for a child with special needs. emotional regulation coping is a distancing technique when confronted with daily stressful events (pottie & ingram, 2008). social support. according to the study of billote (2018), primary caregivers can strengthen their relationship if they disclose their problems to others. they tend to seek support groups in learning about their child›s disability and stress related to the disability. primary caregivers are also likely to look into other helpful parenting information on social media content and receive support about raising children and coping with the stress (duggan et al., 2015). 75 international peer reviewed journal disengagement coping  compas et al. (2005) stated that this type of coping distances oneself emotionally, cognitively, and physically from the stressor. it is a passive appraisal that reduces the stress initially, but avoiding the problem continuously and not addressing the stressor can damage the individual and eventually lead to family maladaptation. problem avoidance. primary caregivers who do not want to face a stressful situation may tend to avoid the stressor. as stated by holahan et al. (2005), this approach can be described as cognitive and behavioral efforts to mitigate, dismiss, or ignore the stressor in question. wishful thinking.    primary caregivers usually hold unrealistic positive beliefs based on what they predict. they desire to experience success or avoid negative results rather than focusing on the aspects of the situation. primary caregivers of children with special needs make judgments influenced by their motivation (billote, 2018). self-criticism.  primary caregivers may often judge their situation that would eventually lead to feelings of guilt, blame, or reduced self-esteem. they tend to apply a negative bias to their thinking rather than making a balanced perspective of their situation (cauda-laufer, 2017). social withdrawal. as stated in billote’s (2018) study, some families may choose to be secluded from the rest of the community. bedesem et al. (2009) suggest that some parents explained that being away from people affords them a decent amount of convenience and avoids awkward incidents that only invite embarrassment. objectives of the study the study’s main purpose was to understand the struggles and coping strategies of the ivatan primary caregivers in raising their children with special needs. further, the study aimed to identify the prevalent struggles of the primary caregivers and how they differ in their struggles in raising their children with special needs in terms of the primary caregivers’ gender. the study also aimed to identify the prevalent coping strategies that primary caregivers utilize concerning 76 jpair multidisciplinary research the struggles they experience in raising children with special needs in terms of primary caregivers’ gender. methodology research design the study employed a descriptive research method that aimed to identify and describe the struggles and coping of primary caregivers in raising their children with special needs in the province of batanes. according to nasajji (2015), a descriptive research method’s main goal is to describe a phenomenon and its characteristics. it is, therefore, more concerned with what rather than how or why something has happened. research site the study was conducted with the ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs in the province of batanes. respondents were obtained from the six (6) municipalities in the province of batanes, particularly in basco, mahatao, ivana, uyugan, sabtang, and itbayat, through purposive and snowballing sampling techniques because these were deemed as most appropriate due to the respondents’ characteristics. a total of 18 ivatan primary caregivers comprised the sample of the study. in terms of demographic features, the participants’ ages ranged from 21 to 65. there were seven (7) male participants whose ages ranged from 33 to 65 and 11 female participants whose ages ranged from 21 to 47. regarding the respondents’ relation to the child with special needs, there were 18 blood-related primary caregivers (e.g., grandfather, aunt, father, mother, and sister) whose ages ranged from 21 to 65 and zero (0) nonblood-related primary caregiver. data gathering tools a four-part survey questionnaire, adopted from the study of billote (2018), was used to obtain the study’s data: consent form, the respondents’ demographic data, questionnaire on struggles, and coping strategies inventory (csi). consent form. the consent form is the first section of the data gathering tool attached to the survey questionnaire’s front page. it provides the background of the researchers and the purpose and objectives of the study (billote et al., 77 international peer reviewed journal 2021). it also seeks to ask permission from the participants if they wanted to participate in the study voluntarily (billote et al., 2019). it also explains the study’s significance in the lives of the primary caregivers and how it could alleviate their struggles. demographic data. the demographic data is the second section of the data gathering tool. it was used to gather information about the primary caregiver, such as age, gender, and relationship with the child with special needs. it was also used to gather details about the child’s age, gender, and diagnosis details. questionnaire on struggles. the questionnaire on struggles is a 50-item self-report that measures the prevalence of the respondents’ struggles. initially, the abovementioned questionnaire, which billote (2018) developed, is intended for primary caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (asd). however, the researchers adopted the questionnaire and revised it to fit in the current study. the revised items included were based primarily on the related literature, the definition of variables and concepts, and the study’s conceptual framework. the survey items were categorized into five (5) financial, health, social, family, and emotional. the revised questionnaire was content-validated by a co-rater with a master’s degree in education major in educational management and has experienced working with children with special needs. the filipino translations for the items in the questionnaire were eliminated. however, ivatan translations, which were translated by two (2) co-raters who are graduates of bachelor in secondary education major in english and native to the province of batanes, were provided because of the respondents’ characteristics. the respondents were asked to answer the items by referring to a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (never true of me) to 4 (always true of me). items with an asterisk on the appendix will undergo reversed scoring wherein a response of 4 (always true of me) will be scored as 1 (never true of me). after the pre-testing was conducted, the revised survey questionnaire yielded a cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.83, suggesting that the tool also has high internal consistency. coping strategies inventory (csi). the csi, which comprises a 72-item self-report, was designed by tobin (1984, as cited in billote, 2018) to assess how people cope with a specific stressor. items in the tool are categorized into eight (8) primary subscales: problem-solving, cognitive restructuring, social support, emotional expression, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism, and social withdrawal. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research ivatan translations were also provided in this data gathering tool, which was translated and content-validated by the same co-raters. unlike in the original csi, the respondents who took the csi for this study were asked to respond to the questions using a 4-point response scale. the 4-point response scale ranging from 1 (never true of me) to 4 (always true of me) is a revision of the original 5-point scale ranging from 1 (none) to 5 (very much). the cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the csi ranges from 0.71 to 0.94. using the obtained data from the pre-testing of this study, the cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.74. this suggests that the tool is reliable. data gathering procedure the researchers submitted a letter of intent to the municipal mayors of the different municipalities (e.g., basco, mahatao, ivana, uyugan, sabtang, and itbayat) in the province of batanes to allow him and his research assistants to administer the questionnaires to the ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs. when the request was approved, the researchers and/or the research assistants then conducted house visitations to gather the data needed in the study. before administering the data gathering tool, the researchers and/or the research assistants established rapport through a brief personal introduction, along with a statement of the purpose of the research and the nature of the respondents’ participation. the respondents were allowed to take their time to complete the questionnaires. the researchers and/or research assistants gave specific instructions for each part and asked them for their honesty in answering the items, and assured them of the confidentiality of the collected data. during the tool’s administration, the respondents were given the freedom to write their comments regarding the questionnaire items. if they have any questions or clarifications about the items, they can ask the researchers and/or the research assistants. after the administration of the data gathering tool, the respondents were then given tokens and were promised to be also given the results of the research. the questionnaires were immediately retrieved upon completion and then screened to see possible use in the study. after screening, all the 18 questionnaires gathered by the researchers and the research assistants were deemed valid, and these were used in the study. results and discussion raising a child with special needs can be a stressful experience. it goes beyond ordinary parenting as caregivers need to cope with many challenging demands 79 international peer reviewed journal related to their child’s specific needs. it has drawn attention to the importance of family relationships, but attention has also been given to its impact on the primary caregiver and the family. the following results and discussion are presented according to the research problem sequence for a deeper understanding of this study. prevalent struggles of ivatan primary caregivers to generally describe the ivatan primary caregivers’ struggles in raising their children with special needs, a mean analysis was conducted. results showed that the ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs often experienced all the areas of struggles. to determine the more prevalent struggles of the ivatan primary caregivers in raising their children with special needs, the researchers conducted anova oneway repeated measures. the anova one-way repeated measures showed that the struggles experienced by ivatan primary caregivers in raising their children with special needs did not change significantly varied, f(2.49, 42.37) = 2.40, p> 0.05. this implies that there are no significant differences in the struggles experienced by ivatan primary caregivers. additionally, the bonferroni pairwise comparison confirmed no significant differences among the struggles experienced by ivatan primary caregivers. the ivatan primary caregivers experience financial, health, social, family, and emotional struggles in raising a child with special needs. the costs of caring for a child with special needs are high due to the elevated requirements for medical care, therapeutic and supportive services. such services include rehabilitation, environmental adaptations, assistive devices, personal assistance, home, mental, and respite care. similar to kuhlthau et al. (2005), 40% of us families have reported financial concerns that include the needed additional income for the child’s care and primary caregivers resigning from work to care for the child. in separate studies, newacheck and kim (2005) and newacheck and mcmanus (1998) found that out-of-pocket expenditures for families with children with special needs were more than twice the expenditures for families with nondisabled children. moreover, the impact of caring for a child with special needs affects lowincome parents’ employment because they have to spend a significant amount on medical and treatment costs that are most of the time not affordable (loprest & davidoff, 2004). these demonstrate that caring for a child with special needs can substantially affect families’ financial burden. aside from the day-to-day 80 jpair multidisciplinary research expenses, caregivers have additional expenses that require them to work harder so that there would be an increase in their financial support. a study conducted by resch et al. (2010) revealed that due to the increased parental responsibilities and a larger number of caregiving challenges, primary caregivers of children with special needs experience greater stress, such as more health problems and decreased quality of life. another factor related to the level of parenting stress is the child’s disruptive behavior issues. according to green (2007), when children have difficulty conforming to expectations, their behaviors elicit responses from the public, including shame, laughter, fear, or anger. because of this, some primary caregivers feel that their children are not welcome in many situations. thus, reducing their interactions with other social groups. limiting their social interactions causes parents to miss opportunities to receive social support and engage in other activities besides parenting (plant & sanders, 2007). furthermore, taking care of a child with special needs also affects the family relationship and mechanics. its impact is not only linear and does not only lie in one direction. it is multidimensional and reciprocal. it affects the whole family system and the relationship among family members. in brinker et al. (1994) study, a child with special needs is not the only one who affects family dynamics. the family as well can affect the child negatively, either positively or negatively. they also found out that there is a less positive outcome from the children’s early intervention program when parental stress is higher. additionally, thompson and gustafson (1996) found that sibling relationships may differ when one child in the family has a special need. this affects sibling well-being, coping, and adaptation, especially when parents have less time and energy to meet the child’s needs. moreover, primary caregivers may find themselves overwhelmed by various caregiving, medical, and education responsibilities. in the study of beresford et al. (2007), they stated that no matter how severe the child’s special needs are, parents are still inevitably affected in one way or another. most of them are affected emotionally. they struggle with guilt as though they caused the child’s conditions, whether from the use of alcohol, genetics, or other logical or illogical reasons. this feeling of guilt can harm the emotional health of the parents if not properly dealt with. moreover, blachar and bakar (2007) found that parents still face emotions even after diagnosis before they can grapple with the truth that their child has a special need. these parents’ frustration could make them distance themselves from participating in their child’s educational needs and decisions. 81 international peer reviewed journal gender differences in the primary caregivers’ experiences of struggles using the data obtained from male primary caregivers, the researchers conducted a mean analysis, and results showed that primary male caregivers often experience all the areas of struggle in raising their children with special needs. the anova one-way repeated measures were utilized to confirm what is implied in the mean analysis as the differences in the experiences of struggles among primary male caregivers raising their children with special needs. results showed that the struggles experienced by primary male caregivers in raising their children with special needs did not change significantly varied, f(4, 24) = 2.09, p> 0.05. this implies that there are no significant differences in the struggles experienced by primary male caregivers. the bonferroni pairwise comparison confirmed no significant differences among the struggles experienced by primary male caregivers. using the data obtained from female primary caregivers, the mean analysis revealed that female primary caregivers often experience all the areas of struggle in raising their children with special needs. the anova one-way repeated measures were again conducted to elucidate the outcome of the mean analysis further. results showed that the struggles experienced by female primary caregivers in raising their children with special needs did not change significantly varied, f(4, 40) = 0.70, p> 0.05. this implies that there are no significant differences in the struggles experienced by female primary caregivers. the bonferroni pairwise comparison confirmed further that there are no significant differences among the struggles experienced by female primary caregivers. male and female primary caregivers have experienced all the areas of struggle in raising a child with special needs. however, there are unique differences in the struggles faced by male and female primary caregivers. hoecke (2011) discovered that a common experience male caregivers face is the fear of failing to find or keep steady employment, balance their roles as head of the family, husband, and provider. the high cost of medical services brings additional worries to them. may (2002) also found that they are less likely to have social networks or feel comfortable talking about what they are going through. these can lead to feelings of isolation and social withdrawal. additionally, primary male caregivers seem to have greater parenting and child-related stress than fathers who do not have children with special needs. this is caused by concerns about their child’s behavior, community acceptance of the child, and their future. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, employment effects are greater for mothers (salkever, 1982). according to harrington (1999), having a child with special needs can potentially cause alterations in mothers’ life, especially at the early stages of their adult lives. it was reported by thyen et al. (1998) that almost half of the mothers in their study quit their job so that they can take care of their children with special needs at home. they also face a range of emotions over a long period because they struggle with guilt. generally, all the caring activities like nourishing, cleaning, moving, and feeding a child are done by mothers. these activities lead to physical tiredness that can take an excise on mothers because of the extra care these children need. prevalent coping strategies of ivatan primary caregivers the mean analysis revealed that the ivatan primary caregivers of children with special needs always utilized problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support, often utilized emotional expression, wishful thinking, and problem avoidance, and seldom utilized self-criticism and social withdrawal. the researchers conducted anova one-way repeated measures to determine the more prevalent coping strategies that the ivatan primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising children with special needs. the anova one-way repeated measures showed that the coping strategies that the ivatan primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs significantly varied, f(2.35, 39.97) = 33.69, p< 0.05, (ηρ² = 0.6650). the partial eta-squared value of 0.6650 indicates a large effect size whereby 66.50 % of the variability in the coping strategies that the primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising children with special needs can be accounted for the strategies of coping being rated. the bonferroni pairwise comparison revealed exactly the differences in the coping strategies that the ivatan primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs. problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support are the more prevalent coping strategies that the ivatan primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs, and the mean scores are not significantly different from each other, which suggest that these coping strategies are utilized more or less the same extent. problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support are the more prevalent coping strategies utilized by ivatan primary caregivers regardless 83 international peer reviewed journal of gender. problem solving is used to decrease the stress source’s effect by developing coping strategies during a stressful situation. miller et al. (2011) found that primary caregivers understand the situation, identify the sources, and then deal with it. similarly, curran (1985) stated that when primary caregivers use this coping strategy, they recognize their stress signals, anticipate the sources of stress, and eliminate it in advance. they create a positive meaning out of their situation by concentrating on the next step to better come out of their experience. mccubbin et al. (1981) noted that a primary caregiver’s perception of their situation in caring for a child with special needs is key in determining the stressor’s severity. while primary caregivers would look for solutions and change their perceptions to alleviate their present conditions, they also seek help from others. social support increases positive parental attitudes toward their child with special needs. primary caregivers who participate in support groups and other social services can meet other parents and establish potential childcare for one another. a study by thompson (2000) found that support groups become places where parents can share their feelings, discuss concerns and exchange information about disabilities or community services. finding support groups helps primary caregivers change their attitudes regarding how they deal with their situation. gender differences in the primary caregivers’ use of the coping strategies using the data obtained from primary male caregivers, the researchers conducted a mean analysis, and results revealed that primary male caregivers utilized more problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support with their struggles in raising their children with special needs. these are always true of them. emotional expression, wishful thinking, and problem avoidance are coping strategies utilized by them, but these three are often true. self-criticism and social withdrawal are coping strategies utilized by them, but these two are seldom true. the same anova one-way repeated measures were utilized, and results showed that the coping strategies utilized by primary male caregivers in raising their children with special needs significantly varied, f(1.85, 11.07) = 19.73, p< 0.05, (ηρ² = 0.7670). the partial eta-squared value of 0.7670 indicates a large effect size whereby 76.70 % of the variability in the coping strategies that primary male caregivers utilized can be accounted for by coping strategies being rated. the bonferroni pairwise comparison revealed exactly the differences in the coping strategies that primary male caregivers utilized to raise their children 84 jpair multidisciplinary research with special needs. problem solving, cognitive restructuring, social support, emotional expression, wishful thinking, and problem avoidance are the more prevalent coping strategies that the primary male caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs. the mean scores are not significantly different from each other, suggesting that these coping strategies are utilized to more or less the same extent. however, problem solving yielded the highest mean among all the other prevalent coping strategies utilized by primary male caregivers. using the data obtained from female primary caregivers, the mean analysis revealed that female primary caregivers utilized more cognitive restructuring, social support, and problem solving with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs. these are always true of them. emotional expression, wishful thinking, and problem avoidance are coping strategies utilized by them, but these three are often true. social withdrawal and selfcriticism are other coping strategies utilized by them, but these are seldom true. the anova one-way repeated measures were again conducted to elucidate the outcome of the mean analysis further. results showed that the coping strategies that female primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs significantly varied, f(2.22, 22.21) = 15.72, p< 0.05, (ηρ² = 0.6110). the partial eta-squared value of 0.6110 indicates a large effect size whereby 61.10 % of the variability in the coping strategies that female primary caregivers utilized can be accounted for by coping strategies being rated. the bonferroni pairwise comparison revealed exactly the differences in the coping strategies that female primary caregivers utilized with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs. female primary caregivers utilized more cognitive restructuring, social support, problem solving, emotional expression, wishful thinking, and problem avoidance with the struggles they encounter in raising their children with special needs and the mean scores are not significantly different from each other, which suggest that these coping strategies are utilized to the same extent. however, cognitive restructuring yielded the highest mean among all the other prevalent coping strategies utilized by female primary caregivers. when primary caregivers were classified according to their gender, results indicate that both male and female primary caregivers deemed all as prevalent coping strategies except social withdrawal and self-criticism. however, it was reckoned that problem solving is the most prevalent coping strategy for primary 85 international peer reviewed journal male caregivers. males’ natural reactions are to think through the problem and offer effective solutions. their efforts are directed towards solving or managing the causes of distress. gupta (2007) noted that males gather information when faced with struggles, make decisions, perform task-oriented actions, plan, and solve problems. moreover, males approach solving the problem with less communication and may tend to hyper-focus on one problem at a time. males use strategies to alter their response when confronted with stressors that accompany having a child with special needs. on the other hand, results show that females’ most prevalent coping strategy is cognitive restructuring. females tend to evaluate what is at stake for what coping resources or options are available. they first assess if the situation poses a threat, harm, or challenge to them. females also focus on whether they have the coping skills, abilities, or resources to manage the situation. by doing so, female primary caregivers can determine their response toward their stressful situation in caring for a child with special needs. conclusions ivatan primary caregivers often experience all the areas of struggle. all the areas of struggle, namely financial, emotional, health, family, and social, are the prevalent struggles they experience in raising their children with special needs. in terms of gender, both male and female primary caregivers often experience all the areas of struggle. hence, there are no significant differences between the areas of struggle male and female primary caregivers experience. primary caregivers utilize all the coping strategies, namely problem solving, cognitive restructuring, emotional expression, social support, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism, and social withdrawal. however, the prevalent coping strategies they utilize in raising their children with special needs are problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social support. in terms of gender, both male and female primary caregivers utilize all the coping strategies except social withdrawal and self-criticism. for males, the prevalent coping strategy is problem solving, while for females, cognitive restructuring. translational research the results of the study could be used as a reference for implementing wellinformed seminars or webinars as held by experts and professionals. discussions 86 jpair multidisciplinary research on new and effective strategies could shed light on how the primary caregivers will approach their struggles now. also, schools and daycare centers could curate better curriculums by knowing which areas to prioritize and improve. teachers will know which concepts to teach that will significantly affect the improvement of children with special needs. it should be noted that their educational value is as significant as their personal growth. lastly, the legislators from congress could enact laws that protect primary caregivers and children with special needs, such as an 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(2006). getting out of the house: the challenges mothers face when their children have long-term care needs. health and social care in the community, 15(1), 45-55. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2006.00663.x https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-199808000-00006 https://doi.org/10.1080/13668250601146753 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2006.00663.x 88 jpair multidisciplinary research academic performance in criminalistics courses of senior bs criminology estee louise g. alday aldayestee@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines ysrael m. medios mediosysrael@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines marlon m. rosin rosinmarlon@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines marry jane q. adra https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3171-0008 marryjaneadra27@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 95% • plagiarism: 0% abstract researchers are finding the weaknesses and strengths of the students to find the factors to enhance the student’s learning performance at school. this study dealt with the academic performance of senior bs criminology students in their this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. vol. 41 · july 2020 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v41i3.791 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 89 international peer reviewed journal criminalistics courses and the activities of 26 males and 24 female students. a descriptive method of research was used in the study. the survey questionnaire was used. percentage, weighted mean, and ranking the statistical tools were employed to treat the data. results show the senior bs criminology students got above average grades in their criminalistics courses. the identified factors affecting their academic performance were the student and teacher-related factors. listening attentively, motivation to get high grades, and studying were some of the student-related factors, while mastery of the subject is the topmost factor affecting their performance in terms of teacher-related problems. the students excel in their criminalistics courses, but rooms for improvement must be made. the academic performance of the students was affected by the relationship between teachers and students in the classroom. keywords — criminology, academic performance, criminalistics courses, descriptive method, daraga, albay city, philippines introduction variations in the academic performance among students at all levels of education have attracted the attention of many researchers for years now. this has prompted researchers and educators to find out what factors or reasons can be attributed to these variations (alshammari, saguban, pasay-an, altheban, & al-shammari, 2017). the students’ performance (academic achievement) plays an important role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great leaders and manpower for the country, thus responsible for the country’s economic and social development (mustahq and khan, 2012). the academic achievement of any student is the result of a complex interplay of various factors, such as study habits, personality traits, and personal interest of the student as well as teaching skills of concerned faculties (arora & singh, 2017). thus, students have to put the greatest effort into their study to obtain good grades and to prepare themselves for future opportunities in their career at the same time to full the employer’s demand (olufemi, adediran & oyediran, 2018). academic performance is an essential factor in the success of the posteducation period with respect to employment. the ability to predict students’ academic success has been the subject of increasing interest. the knowledge regarding expected academic performance is also valuable input for educators and school administrators, as this information can be used to identify and target 90 jpair multidisciplinary research vulnerable students at risk of dropping out or in need of additional attention (kassarnig, bjerre-nielsen, mones, lehmann, & lassen, 2017). it remains to be measured through the ordinal scale of the general weighted average (gwa) and continues to be the best predictive variable pertaining to academic success. a student is often labeled as high achieving, average, and low achieving based on his or her gwa (magpily & mercado, 2014). many factors can affect a student’s quality of academic achievement may it be inside or outside the school premises. these factors may be termed as student factors-family factors, school factors, and peer factors (junio & liwag, 2016). motivational variables interact with cognitive, behavioral, and contextual factors to upset self-regulation (gbollie & keamu, 2017). in the study of shahzadi and ahmad (2011), a fitted model for college students was tested to determine their academic performance. the fitted model showed that academic performance depends on learning skills, and learning skills depend on the home environment. the bachelor of science in criminology students under the college of criminal justice education is a 4-year college degree program intended for individuals who wish to have a career in the fields of law enforcement, security administration, and crime detection and prevention. the commission on higher education had recognized criminology education program through the commission on higher education (ched) memorandum order no. 21.s. 2005 establishing the standard and guidelines for criminal justice education in accordance with the pertinent provision of ra. no. 7722, otherwise known as the “higher education act of 1994”, article 1 section 1 of the scope and coverage of cmo no. 21. s. 2005 states (commission on higher education, 2005). literature review in brunei darussalam, the single parent may have profound negative impacts on a student’s academic performance as parents play an important role in most children’s academic development. previous research indicates that children from both parents perform better than children from a single parent due to the limited time a single parent has to spend on their child’s academic work (yaw, 2016). the research study of metussin (2017) indicates that there are gender similarities in practices of good academic performance at school, teaching methods and school facilities and environment may affect students’ academic performance, problems or challenges faced in academic performance or achievement at school, 91 international peer reviewed journal and lastly early entry to the workplace. the study of mundia (2011) discussed that students with a psychological and mental health problem are often accorded with low status and priority compared to peers with other disability because they need to undergo voluntarily testing, self-referred counseling, and mounting an active mental health promotion campaign, they also have pastoral care program. the study of hamid, shahrill, matzin, mahalle, & mundia (2013) is about the learning styles and study strategies scores of secondary school students wherein highly anxious students scored higher on the social-individual learning style than their less anxious peers. the study of abdullah and osman (2010) is to determine the inventive thinking skills of students in brunei and to compare the inventive thinking skills with regard to gender, and school location wherein the primary students in brunei demonstrated low mean scores on creativity, higherorder thinking, and sound reasoning. in cambodia, the study of sothan (2018) discussed that term-time employment and family size have an adverse impact on academic performance and that personal backgrounds played a potential role in predicting the academic performance of undergraduate students. the study of ngin, pal, tuot, chhoun, yi, and yi (2018) discussed that family-related, individual behaviors and attitudes are the key factors associated with depressive symptoms. according to chhuon, dosalmas, and rinthapol (2010), the perceptions of self-competence were positively associated with higher educational expectations and that students’ sense of positive classroom environment to teacher support was important for the motivation of cambodian american students. the motivation and future academic expectations were also associated with students’ perceptions of their own academic self-competence. the study of heng (2014) is about the interaction effect existed between students’ pre-college academic experience and geographical origins. the factors of positive predicted student achievement of cambodia are the following: the importance of students investing more effort in homework or given-tasks or whole-class participation, students’ pre-college academic experience, teachers’ teaching experience, and finally, the course workload and difficulty. according to sao (2012), cambodian rural and city parents’ involvement in their education is influencing the academic performance of the child, especially if parental participation in their children’s education is likely to contribute to the development of their children, and as well as to the development of quality of education in the nation in cambodia. in indonesia, recent empirical findings reveal the impact of positive mood on the performance of the students in processing information. positive mood 92 jpair multidisciplinary research facilitates complex cognitive functions requiring flexibility, integration, and utilization of cognitive material such as memory, categorization, creative problem solving, and decision-making and learning (febrilia & warokka, 2011). the study of tanujaya, mumu, and margono (2017) is about the significant relationship of hots (higher order thinking skills) to the academic performance of students wherein they reveal that the higher the hots of students, the more successful their academic achievement or performance are. the study of prasetio, azis, fadhilah, and fauziah (2017) discussed the importance of improving cognitive ability, mental attitude, and the lecturer’s professional competencies to enhance the academic performance of students in indonesia. the study of hadna and kartika (2017) is about the influence of the program keluarga harapan (pkh) in indonesia on the academic performance of poor students in elementary and junior high schools wherein pkh significance on the attendance of students a must. however, basic education is still unable to address the issues of the teacher’s absents and lack of quality educational facilities. the study of sakitri (2020) reveals that students’ stress negatively affects academic performance, and type a personality has proven to have a positive effect on academic performance. the university of indonesia must build a competency map to students’ personality that cause stress and present the stress management practice to lead students to cope up with stress. in the philippines, the sports enthusiasts were claiming that participation in any sports help the student-athletes to have “a sound mind and a sound body,” individual but some people in the academe believed that sports participation hindered students ability to excel in their academic courses because most of their times were allotted into sports commitments such as training and competitions than studying alone (montecalbo-ignacio iii, and buot, 2017). the study conducted about nurses’ course concludes that the students’ academic performance in their baccalaureate program and their performance in the preboard examination are significant bases in determining the success and failure of students’ licensure examination performance (ong, palompon, and bañico, 2012). the study of carbonel (2013) revealed that defined learning style and established study period are two things that help direct learners to improve their capabilities in learning mathematics, and this study focuses on the perceptional learning style, study habits, and its significance to the students’ academic performance, particularly in college algebra. educational institutions should continue to seek professional development ventures for the improvement of teaching competence and professional preparations. then, they come out with quality output in the 93 international peer reviewed journal success of board examination leading graduates towards employment (chanrabanal, 2016). the cooperating teachers have significantly higher perceptions of the pedagogical competence of the pre-service teachers themselves except along the domains diversity of learning and curriculum. the result of this study can be used as a basis for curriculum enhancement geared toward quality teacher training programs (vecaldo, andres, carag, and caranguian, 2017). with the advent of using internet technology, social communication using the internet has become the frontier of daily communication, collaboration, and networking. the study found that snss (social networking sites) usage had no significant relationship on student academic performance and the improvement in grades relies on other factors within the teaching-learning process. the snss can’t attribute a well on the better academic performance of students (isaac m. morallo, 2014). mobile gaming addiction is a growing concern that increases the user’s risk for physical and psychological health problems. internet gaming disorder (igd) has been linked to the poorer academic performance of students in educational institutions (fabito, rodriguez, diloy, trillanes, macato, and octaviano jr., 2018). in vietnam, the parenting of the child is left to grandparents because they play the same role as biological parents. they significantly affect the educational functioning, developmental outcomes, and well-being of their grandchildren. the more grandparents are involved in their grandchildren’s educational process, and the more likely their grandchildren are to achieve academic success (nguyen, 2018). the factors affecting the behavior of literature learning of secondary high school students in vietnam are gender, learning motivation, student living place, academic performance, and teacher’s teaching method (tung & ly, 2020). there are seven key determinants found in the academic performance of students in dong nai province, vietnam, namely social environment, family and friends, learning environment, personal perception, personal ambitions, living viewpoint, and living location. to enhance students learning motivation, there must be sets of the foundation for rational proposals towards academic faculty, education institution, students, and their families (nguyen, 2019). the research study of wheaton, o’connell, and yapa (2016) reveals that inter-teaching may be a more effective method of teaching resulting in an improved academic performance in the auditing course. this study will contribute towards the effectiveness of student learning, and improvement in pass rates, and overall greater student satisfaction in advanced accounting courses. the study of tran, berkel, ijzendoorn, and alink (2017) discussed the child maltreatment, emotional, cognitive, and physical 94 jpair multidisciplinary research health affects the academic performance of the student in vietnam, which result in the poor performance of the child because of the harsh discipline practice or “tiger parenting” in their country. it has been the reason why the students have a poor understanding of the lessons since they can only get little knowledge cause half of their mind is the trauma of the tiger parenting they experience. thailand is facing challenges with the tradition of passive learning, which has led to concerns that thailand will be ready to launch what they call “thailand 4.0.” the students choose active learning, and the regression analysis indicated that there was a strong association between active learning and academic learning and academic achievement when controlling for demographic variables. this study will imply that the use of active learning concepts was linked with positive increases in student’s attitudes toward their academic achievement (sanitchai & thomas, 2018). sereetrakul, wongveeravuti, and likitapiwat (2013 determine if the time spent on facebook and the purpose for which facebook was used had any impact on the academic achievement of the students. the conclusion that students used facebook on average of one hour and thirty minutes for the purpose of communication and collaboration, that the number of hours spent on facebook had no effect on their academic achievement, that using facebook for communication impaired academic achievement, and that using facebook for collaboration did not impair academic achievement. time management is a key predictor to determine the students’ academic achievement. thomas (2016) is about to assess student’s perceptions of cellphone addiction and academic stress. the study shows that there is no difference in cellphone addiction and academic stress for class and gender, but there was a difference by major. men are mostly affected by cellphone addiction and academic stress than women. na, petsangsri, and tasir (2020) are about the implementation of e-learning in universities, and motivation is an important factor contributing the successful learning. the majority of students were found to have upper to medium motivation levels in e-learning, and there is a weak positive correlation between motivation level and academic achievement. limanond, jomnonkwao, watthanaklang, ratanavaraha, and siridhara (2011) is about if the ownership of private vehicles affects the academic performance of students in universities. the study reveals that those students who own a vehicle tend to spend less time for academic purposes and more on leisure and social activities than non-owner students. in singapore, luo, paris, hogan, and luo (2011) are about how the achievement goals are combined to affects’ learning. their findings suggest that the goal profile with high mastery and performance-approach goals combined 95 international peer reviewed journal with low-performance avoidance goals is most beneficial for learning, whereas high-performance approach goals, when associated with performance-avoidance goals, have some negative effects on affective outcomes. chew, yu, chua, and gan (2016) is about the effect of background music on learning and academic performance of working memory and language tasks in singapore. the study reveals that there is no significant effect was found in the interaction between music and language conditions. depending on the task, familiarity but not the language of music affected learning and task performance when compared to the no-music condition. zhao, yuping, maideen, moe, and nasirudeen (2018) is about the use of smartphones and how it affects the academic performance of students in singapore. the female students used smartphones frequently for learning than male students, and international students frequently used smartphones for learning than local students. seow, pan, and tay (2014) are about how academic achievement, critical thinking, admission interview, mathematical aptitude, and gender affect the success of academic performance. this study reveals that all the factors given above give academic success to students and administrators of schools. akther and robinson (2014) are about academic performance in australia, new zealand, canada, and singapore, and wherein there is a disadvantage in the academic performance of immigrant students within countries with selective migration policies. jayanthi, balakrishnan, siok ching, latiff, and nasirudeen (2014) discussed the academic performance of students in a tertiary institution in singapore wherein the researcher use the following factors such as age, gender, the nationality of student, part-time employment, extracurricular activities, and their interest in pursuing higher studies affected academic success. in myanmar, usagawa (2018) is about the use of e-learning to enhance more the academic performance of students in school. there is a rapid development of information systems and internet technology that bring many educational innovations that can eliminate the boundaries of conventional teaching and learning. thae su mo (2019) discussed the interrelationship of loneliness, social desirability, and academic achievement of adolescents in myanmar, wherein the results show that loneliness had a negative correlation with both social desirability and academic achievement. at the same time, social desirability was positively correlated with academic achievements, whereas girls had higher social desirability than boys did. khine, fraser, afari, zeya oo, and kyaw (2017) discussed the student’s perception of their science classroom environments with giving questionnaire “what is happening in this class” (wihic) wherein the 96 jpair multidisciplinary research researcher suggests that future studies must include measures of student attitudes and academic achievement to permit investigation of associations between the learning environment and student outcomes in myanmar. oo (2015) reveals that undergraduate medical students in myanmar are in urgent need to improve their academic performance, and the existing attendance policy must be reviewed and reinforced. then (2013) discussed how the double orphans in myanmar cope up with the stress they encounter in life and how it affects their academic performance in school. in malaysia, al-rahmi, othman, and yusuf (2015) discussed the way social media contributes enhancement to collaborative learning among researchers in malaysian higher education. their study used the theory of technology acceptance model to connect the positive and significant impact intention of collaborative learning. siraj, salam, hasan, jin, roslan, and othman (2015) is about internet usage can be used and affect the academic performance of malaysian public university. internet usage helps the students to broaden their knowledge in terms of research and assignments, but there is a risk of overused it. ng, hassan, nor, and malek (2017) discussed the use of smartphones to support their schoolrelated learning and how these activities relate to cgpa. the results show that the more students use their smartphones, the lower their cgpa. the study of alrahmi, othman, yusof, and musa (2015) discussed the significant effect of social media on the students’ academic performance with good collaborative learning as the mediating variable. the study of ainin, naqsbandi, moghavvemi, jaafar (2015) discussed the positive relationship between facebook usage and student’s academic performance. there is a good effect of facebook usage on the academic performance and socialization of the students. the study of helou and rahim (2014) reveal that social networking sites have a positive impact on their academic performance. in laos, the study of souriyavongsa, rany, abidin, and mei (2013) is about the students’-teachers’ weakness towards english language learning as their second foreign language. the students don’t practice speaking english with english native, and then the class environment is crowded and noisy that distracts the students from learning. kim j., kim t., and shin (2019) discussed how dr. lee jong-wook-seoul project on a medical student in laos helps with their academic performance, especially when they took the training they give for one year. pengpid and peltzer (2019) are about the school truancy among adolescents that can negatively impact academic achievement or performance of the students, and high internalizing 97 international peer reviewed journal behavior increased the odds for school truancy. the protective factors, peer support, and high parental or guardian supervision decreased the odds for school truancy in laos. siharath (2010) reveals that resources for maintenance, renovation, infrastructure improvement, academic, and staff development are virtually nonexistent (excepting external aid) are the problem encountered by laos in terms of education to improve their knowledge and skills. yi, peltzer, pengpid, and susilowati (2017) reveals that using the illicit drug among the university students has been recognized as a global public health issue in recent years that lead to poor academic performance, in return leads to poor productivity in their later life. the use of drugs for health purposes to help the students with their health problems but must observe the effect of drugs on the behavior of the student and drinking alcohol during class must be prohibited to prevent their poor academic performance. in nigeria, omoruyi (2014) discussed that there is a significant difference between single-parenting and academic performance of the adolescents; and a significant difference between parental socio-economic status and academic performance. there’s a significant relationship between adolescents from broken homes and academic performance. framework academic performance or academic achievement is the extent to which a student, teacher, or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals. the completion of educational benchmarks such as secondary school diplomas and bachelor’s degree represent academic achievement. academic achievement is measured through examinations or continuous assessments, but there is no general agreement on how it is best evaluated or which aspects are most important, like procedural knowledge skills, declarative knowledge, and facts (ward, stoker, & murray-ward, 1996). academic performance is associated with the evaluation tests results that are corresponding to student’s iq, and leaving aside other personal characteristics (martin, ines, garcia, & pastrana, 2017). the use of the nature of the motivation and learning strategy improves student learning outcomes (gbollie & keamu, 2017). the academic performance is estimated for any student by its home environment, learning skills, academic interaction, study habits, and home environment (shahzadi & ahmad, 2011). the most useful information gathered is based on social ties, and there is better model performance collected than 98 jpair multidisciplinary research individual characteristics, including personality and class attendance on academic performance of the student which affect them on their studies (kassarnig, mones, nielsen, sapiezynski, lassen, & lehmann, 2018). the variable of interest in this study is academic performance perceived by administrators, professors, and senior bs students of bicol college, albay, philippines. the study focused on the academic performance of graduating students of criminology courses wherein the data gathered on the board examination coming from prc on rawis are the basis of their achievement that recognizes the great academic performance of the school. the performance of the senior bs criminology students represents the quality of teaching of professors and how the administrator of the school improved or enhanced the learning system of their students. the field studies of the students are one way to improve their skills in facing the people of the community, especially they are working in the community because of the course they choose to study. the instructional materials used by the professor to encourage the student to read and the preexamination of the students related to board examination is preparation and giving the students more knowledge of what they are going to take the test in the future once they finish their studies. the perceptions of self-competence were positively associated with higher educational expectations and that students’ sense of positive classroom environment to teacher support was important for the motivation of students. the motivation and future academic expectations were also associated with students’ perceptions of their own academic self-competence (chhuon, dosalmas, and rinthapol, 2010). the significant relationship of hots (higher order thinking skills) to the academic performance of students wherein they reveal that the higher the hots of students, the more successful their academic achievement or performance are (tanujaya, mumu, and margono, 2017). the importance of improving cognitive ability, mental attitude, and the lecturer’s professional competencies to enhance the academic performance of students is a must to achieve the goal of the students to have good academic performance (prasetio, azis, fadhilah, and fauziah, 2017). objectives of the study the objectives of this study are the following: (1) to determine the level of academic performance in criminalistics courses, (2) to describe a teacher and student attributes, and (3) to recommend measures to improve the academic performance of the senior bs criminology students. 99 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study used a descriptive-evaluative method of research. the descriptiveevaluative method was used to describe the characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. it determined the performance of the senior bs criminology students in criminalistics subjects using a four (4) part survey questionnaire to determine the academic performance of the students on the six (6) criminalistics subjects in criminology program. the data needed in this study were gathered from primary and secondary sources. in choosing the respondents of the study, the random sampling technique was used. the respondents were the enrolled regular senior bs criminology students for the academic year 2017-2018 of bicol college, daraga, albay. it has twenty-six (26) males and twenty-four (24) female students with 50 respondents. the researchers used the five (5) point likert scale, and the statistical tools used are percentage, weighted mean, and ranking. research site the study was conducted at the bicol college, inc., daraga, albay, philippines. bicol college is a private, non-sectarian educational institution located in daraga, albay. it was established in 1941 and had a branch in juban, sorsogon, called juban institute. this school offers undergraduate and graduate programs. the courses in the fields of education, library science, nursing, criminology, accountancy, hospitality management, and law are available to students who intend to study in the institution. in addition, the tertiary level programs, the school also provides elementary and secondary education. bicol college and its programs are recognized by various agencies in the country. the school is accredited by the philippine association of colleges and universities commission on accreditation (pacucoa), the department of education (deped), and the commission on higher education (ched). since its foundation, bicol college has always been committed to serving the community, molding its students into individuals equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for national development. in 2016, the school celebrated its diamond anniversary. participants the participants of this study were the administrators of the school, criminology professors, and the senior bs criminology students. this study 100 jpair multidisciplinary research dealt with the academic performance of senior bs criminology students in their criminalistics courses and the factors affecting their academic performance of twenty-six (26) males and twenty-four (24) female students with a grand total of 50 respondents. the survey questionnaire was used by the researchers, while percentage, weighted mean, and ranking the statistical tools were employed to treat the data. the analyzed data show that senior bs criminology students got an above-average grade in their criminalistics courses. the identified factors affecting their academic performance were the student and teacher-related factors. it was observed that student-related factors had a greater impact than the teacher-related factors. instrumentation the survey questionnaires used are about criminalistics subjects using a four (4) part survey questionnaire to determine the academic performance of the students on the six (6) criminalistics subjects in the criminology program. the researchers asked permission from the administrator of the school regarding this research study to determine the results of the study about the academic performance of graduating students at bicol college. the survey questionnaire provides easier and smooth use of the instrument, like putting the likert scale and percentage for bs criminology students to respond properly and appropriate to the questions asked by the researcher. those responses of the senior bs criminology students were based on their experience in school that they see on the choices given on the questionnaire. these answers consist of the academic performance of the students on every subject that was included on their board examination. the survey questionnaire consists of the level of academic performance in criminalistics courses of the students, factors that affect the academic performance of students, and the ways recommended to improve the academic performance of the senior bs criminology students. results and discussion level of academic performance in criminalistics courses the final grade of the student is the combination of their participation in the subject, their term exams, quizzes, and projects. it can be seen that students excelled in polygraphy as having the highest twm of 3.96 and an interpretation of above average. next, is the personal identification having a twm of 3.90 and an interpretation of above average followed by police photography and 101 international peer reviewed journal forensic ballistics. however, students got an average interpretation in their questioned document examination and forensic chemistry. the high academic performance of the students can be achieved through the help of the teachers, the parents, and students as well. it is in consonance with the study of akessa and dhufera (2015), where they found that the students perform well if they are properly guided by their parents and teachers. the more the students know well about their abilities and their competences then, he will be performing well in their academic performance. table 1. level of academic performance in criminalistics subjects of bs senior criminology students course 5 4 3 2 1 twm adjectival interpretation grading scale 90-95 84-89 78-83 75-77 70-74 personal identification 5 .5 35 2.8 10 .6 0 0 0 0 3.9 aa police photography 0 0 37 2.96 13 .78 0 0 0 0 3.74 aa forensic ballistics 3 .3 27 2.16 20 1.2 0 0 0 0 3.66 aa questioned document examination 0 0 9 .72 26 1.56 15 .6 0 0 2.88 a polygraphy 5 .5 38 3.04 7 .42 0 0 0 0 3.96 aa forensic chemistry 0 0 11 .88 39 2.34 0 0 0 0 3.22 a 5 – excellent, 4 – above average, 3 – average, 2 – below average, and 1 poor student related attributes. table 2 revealed that listening attentively to the lectures of the teachers, getting high grades on quizzes, class participation, projects, and major examinations, and trying their best to exert effort in studying their lessons were rated as “always.” listening attentively to the teacher is one of the factors that become a hindrance to the learning process of the student. distractions can cause less concentration on the discussion of the teacher. these distractions may result in a much bigger problem that a student is facing. being disturbed by other 102 jpair multidisciplinary research factors that are experienced by the student may lead to poor performance in school. next, getting high grades on quizzes, class participation, projects, and major examinations is also a factor that affects the performance of the student. students’ lack of motivation to study and unpreparedness may result in poor performance and failing grades. the level of motivation is destroyed when students have low self-confidence, self-esteem, high anxiety, and inhibition—the willingness towards the lesson of the students affected when the teachers show a negative attitude towards students. then showing non-supportive classroom environments damage student’s willingness to learn—the negative learning of students was influence by the teacher’s shortage of positive reinforcements, approval, and appreciation (di̇şlen, i̇fadeleri̇, & moti̇vasyon 2013). teacher related attributes. under teacher-related factors, mastery of the subject and open to suggestions and opinions were rated by the respondents as “always.” teacher-related factors had a greater impact on the academic performance of the students. in the study of alshammari, saguban, pasay-an, altheban, al-shammari (2017), it was found out that teachers play the most significant role in student performance and are therefore greatly responsible for poor or good student performance. this further indicates that the respondents felt that teaching strategies, student-teacher relationship, and communication barrier hinder their academic performance. mastery of the subject of the professor hinders the student learning capability of students, thus, reflect in their academic performance. ganyaupfu (2013) indicates that teacher competence in teaching is a combination of paradigms that sense the measure of a variety of interrelated aspects in teaching. this includes subject matter expertise, lesson preparation, presentation, and effective communication. the students frustrate when there is a lack of knowledge in the course material by the teacher, and their expectations are not fulfilled with their academic performance is compromised that cause to develop what the teacher’s attitude shows to them. another factor is the openness of the teacher to suggestions and opinions that will lead the students to be more interested in the class. according to barr (2016), instructors should always consider how their behaviors can be interpreted by the students and keep the focus of the students in the lessons when developing courses and lessons. by doing this action is increasing positive outcomes for students as well as the level of satisfaction of the instructor. the most effective teachers convey enthusiasm for their subjects and courses and conduct courses in an engaging and professional manner. one simple way to 103 international peer reviewed journal meaningfully convey enthusiasm is to engage students with examples of relevant recent news and popular culture of the real world. the teacher must utilize a variety of examples to help students with a wide range of learning styles and backgrounds of the world now (beuning, besson, & snyder, 2014). table 2. student and teacher attributes indicators student related factors f twm adjectival interpretation listening attentively to the lectures of the teachers 30 2.60 always actively participate in the discussion 5 2.00 sometimes wanted to get high grades on quizzes, class participation, projects, and major examinations 40 2.56 always study the missed lessons during absences 10 2.20 sometimes take time to study and prepare for quizzes and major examinations 5 2.10 sometimes trying their best to exert effort in studying their lessons 35 2.70 always 2.34 always teacher related attributes establishing a good relationship with the professors and students 9 2.14 sometimes shows confidence and firmness in making decisions 42 2.84 sometimes explains the objectives of the lessons clearly 12 2.04 sometimes open to suggestions and opinions 48 2.96 always uses various strategies, teaching aids devices, techniques in presenting lessons 42 2.84 sometimes mastery of the subject matter 40 2.80 always 2.60 sometimes *3 – always, 2 – sometimes, and 1 never 104 jpair multidisciplinary research 3) measures that can be recommended to improve the respondent’s academic performance. to improve the student’s academic performance, the following measures were recommended by the respondents and the researcher. one of them is adopting a good learning strategy of the teacher to the students. in the study of kafadar and tay (2014), it has been recognized that students’ learning strategies are changing according to the learning styles they have. teachers must be innovative enough to attract the student’s attention. the teaching-learning processes among the roles of the teacher in active learning mode are during activating and motivating the learners. activating the learners must involve asking or answering questions, working in groups, assisting other learners, demonstrating critical and creative thinking. the teachers must not focus on students to receive or listen to what the teacher has explained, but they must do some actions to improve the learning of the child. teacher creativity is essential to facilitate effective learning. one study suggests that creativity as part of normality is part of everyday actions and ideas. this kind of creativity is necessary to facilitate effective teaching in the daily teaching-learning process where a teacher is able to overcome common problems faced by learners, such as being frightened to ask a question or to do a presentation, being shy to discuss within a group, being hesitated to join the role play, and afraid of making mistakes. creative teachers can do the creative design that can be joyful to teaching the students wherein complex things are explained in simple ways, or uninterested learners can become interested in the teaching process, or they can be even able to accept examples to clarify unclear topic for learners (manurung, 2012). students must develop a good study habit. lack of interest in studying may result in poor study habits. in the study of renzulli (2015), it was found out that the study participants were unprepared for the rigors of postsecondary study. those who struggled academically in the public university is showing a distinctive pattern of individual similarities and differences. the students are not ready for completing the basic tasks that predict success in their post-secondary lives, just like attending class regularly, communicating with their professors, completing the required reading, employing minimal study, self-regulation, and time management skills. attend all classes and be on time. class attendance is critical in a student’s learning. it will facilitate new knowledge, and studying will be easy on the part of the student. fadelelmoula (2018) emphasized that lecture attendance has a 105 international peer reviewed journal positive effect on students’ academic performance, and hence a mandatory attendance policy is important. students who attend more classes earn higher final grades. it is also supported by the study of kassarnig, bjerre-nielsen, mones, lehmann, and lassen (2017), the different academic performance levels suggest that attendance is an effective predictor of failing on class of the student, this indicates that differentiation at higher orders among good performers indeed requires more detailed knowledge regarding the individuals themselves. conclusions student’s academic performance can be measured by how well students perform in their class. the driving force to study and be well-prepared in their class may be affected both by student and teacher factors. student’s motivation is lacking for them to perform well in class. the teachers’ motivation to the students and their expertise attracts students to perform well in class. student’s participation depends on how the teachers apply a certain teaching strategy that will engage the students to focus and be motivated to listen and learn. translational research to achieve academic excellence and high quality of education among students, students must acquire high academic performance. the educators particularly must develop new learning strategies like creative learning to engage students’ interest and attention into learning and studying. the students as well must be motivated enough to pursue their studies as it may be beneficial for their academic success and future employment. being responsible enough to do the tasks and responsibilities of a student may be of help in achieving high academic performance. the use of the internet is in demand because of the big help it gives to the students, especially when answering the assignments and research. the use of the internet is very important, especially now that we are facing a pandemic, the business transacts using this, teacher’s meeting online, and student’s meeting online with their teacher, and, most of all, doing research about their lessons on school. this is the number one source of information for students, employers, employees, parents, and teachers. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited abdullah, m., & osman, k. 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(2018). the relationship between smartphone use and academic performance in a sample of tertiary students in singapore: a cross-sectional study. journal of educational technology,  14(4), 28-35. retrieved from https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ej1179530 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1179530 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1179530 174 jpair multidisciplinary research the validity of astronomical calculation in determining the lunar month áleem morad s. umpa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4230-5331 msumpa594@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city originality: 100 • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 0 abstract astronomical calculations, in the view of the majority of jurists, rest on mere assumptions and are hypothetical in nature. therefore, significant acts of worship such as the beginning and end of the month of ramadhān cannot be determined by calculations. the study aimed to validate the astronomical calculation in determining the beginning of new lunar month in connection with islamic acts of worship. the study utilized descriptive and qualitative research method through in-depth study of printed and internet sources. results showed that sighting and calculations are complementary and both are needed. calculations to negate false sighting is used, but not to completely replace sighting. thus, if the calculations say with certainty that hilāl cannot be visible, then we should reject or negate the false sighting and reduce errors. since astronomical calculations, especially on the birth of new moon, are absolutely precise, the claim that a consensus exists among all the muslim jurists regarding absolute mistrust of astronomical calculations, in all forms and ways, related to the beginning and ending of the islāmic months are unfounded, though the majority adopted that opinion because of the uncertainties connected with calculations in their times. although vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.582 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 175 international peer reviewed journal calculations alone cannot be used to determine the start of the new lunar month, this does not mean that we should disregard it. it is completely wrong to ignore the information gained through astronomical calculation as this does not, in reality, contradict islamic teachings. henceforth, the astronomical calculation is valid in islam as its prohibitions are merely due to misconceptions. keywords — astronomical calculation, moon sighting, lunar month, qualitative study, islamic communities introduction all praise and thanks are due to alláh alone, the one, the all-high, and all-merciful. blessings and peace be upon prophet muhammad, the last of his messengers and prophets, his family, companions and all those who follow in his footsteps till the end of time. islām does not oppress the sound minds, the renewable life, or evolution which is one of the laws of life and nature. it does not oppose any true scientific theory, or any matter decided by the human mind to survive. it does not cancel contemporary systems or scientific progress as long as its foundation rests on islāmic conception, together with the true islāmic application that serve the needs of the present time. it is true that the qur’ān and the sunnah being the primary sources of islāmic law are fixed and unchangeable. however, it has the inherent capacity to accommodate changes in society. such ability is realized in the principles of ijtihād being the basis of movement in islām. there are changeable matters in human life which do not remain and go on as they are exposed to events, calamities, and various times, places and environments. with regard to these matters, islām has a wise stand. it enlightens their different sides. it emphasises and concentrates on the laws which control them, and when they and their proofs are manifested and became clear, islām leaves the parts, the branches, and the secondary matters to the specialists on legislation who know their general and specific meanings, and who understand the time they live in for interpretation and application.1 what is needed in this sense to confront the challenge of modernity is a comprehensive approach to the law, in its totality. 1 the characteristic of islāmic thought, p. 27 176 jpair multidisciplinary research astronomical calculations, in the view of the majority of jurists, rest on mere assumptions and are hypothetical in nature. therefore, significant acts of worship such as the beginning and end of the month of ramadhān cannot be determined by calculations. in such case, it is proper to consult experts, or the very learned persons to see whether the matter concerned is in accordance with islām and its axioms or not. they are to decide whether to accept or refuse it accordingly. they have to look for solutions to the problems at hand and have to enrich human knowledge. for instance, in the past, the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] together with his companions fought their enemies with swords, spears, and arrows. at present, is it right to put our modern weapons aside and fight the enemies with swords, spears, and arrows? a true example from islāmic history is that when the companions of the blessed muhammad were fighting their enemy (before the battle of yarmūk) they took their position in lines as they were standing in prayer. but khālid ibn alwalīd, who was asked by the caliph ‘umar ibn al-khattāb to proceed from irāq to syria to take the command of the muslim army, reached the place, came over a hill, and saw that the enemies were divided in squadrons. he directly made a plan, and in the same way, then he fought the romans and defeated them by the will of allāh. on that glorious day, khālid ibn al-walīd did not fight according to the plan of the lines used by the blessed muhammad and his companion abū bakr. so, did that change in the military plan cause any harm to ibn al-walīd? framework in islamic parlance, the months are composed of either 29 or 30 days only. this can be ascertained by the practice of the prophet muhammad [peace be upon him] of sighting the hilal on the 29th day of the month. furthermore, the times of prayers were based on the actual estimation of the sun’s position on the horizon. these are all strongly based in the qur’ān which is full of reflections on the heaven and earth. the verses referring to the creation already contain a broad idea of what is to be found in the heavens, i.e., of everything outside the earth. apart from the verses that specifically describe the creation, let us remind ourselves about the relevant verses of the holy qur’ān on this subject, and we must remember what modern knowledge has to say about the evolution of the stars in general and the sun in particular, and the celestial bodies that automatically 177 international peer reviewed journal followed its movement through space, among them the moon. allāh says: [and he has made subservient to you, from himself, all that is in the heavens and on earth; in this behold, there are signs indeed for people who think!]2 [and he has made the sun and the moon, both constantly pursuing their courses, to be of service to you; and he has made the night and the day, to be of service to you.]3 as to secondary rules that change in time, we select what suits our time and get the benefit from jurisprudence, or from the other matters; because wisdom is the aim of the faithful person. the foregoing principle, is in short, the basis for the use and application of scientific methods for calculating the appearance of the new moon. thereby giving us a valid framework in trying to validate astronomical calculation in islam. the astronomical new moon the qur’ān gives an end to the sun for its evolution and a destination place. it also provides the moon with a settled place. to understand the possible meanings of these statements, we must remember what modern knowledge has to say about the evolution of the stars in general and the sun in particular, and the celestial bodies that automatically followed its movement through space, among them the moon. the qur’ān states: [the one who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon. each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion.] 4 the astronomical new moon is known as new moon birth or conjunction. it is the moment of time when the earth, sun, and moon are in the same plane. in scientific terms, the birth of new moon is the time when sun’s ecliptic longitude and moon’s ecliptic longitude are the same with reference to the center 2 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-jāthiyah, 45:1 3 al-qur’ān, sūrat ibrāhīm, 14:33 4 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-anbiyā’, 21:33 178 jpair multidisciplinary research of the earth. this could happen at any moment from 0:00 hours to 23:59 hours universal time (gmt), and at that moment the moon is dark as seen from the earth. so, you can also think of a “new moon” as “dark moon” or “invisible moon.”5 at this moment the sunlight falling on the moon cannot come to the earth. the moon is totally a dark object; it does not have any light of its own. it merely reflects the sunlight falling upon it. when the sun is on the opposite side of the moon, looking from earth, the side of the moon facing earth is completely dark, and we cannot see this moon for about 36 hours every month. on all other days, the moon is at a different angle from the sun and we see different phases of the moon. it rises and sets because of the curvature of the earth as the earth revolves around its own axis. the astronomical new moon happens when the moon comes between the earth and the sun, and that new moon cannot be seen even by the most sophisticated telescope. that is why it is called the invisible moon because its lighted portion is towards the sun and the dark portion is towards the earth. sighting and calculations muslim astronomers in this age of technology are now in a position to calculate the dates for possible or impossible moon sighting. so the validity of sighting claims can be easily verified for correct moon sighting. in the matters of confirming or negating the islāmic months, especially the month of ramadhān, it is determined by the sighting of hilāl. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] has said, “fast at its sighting, and terminate the fast at its sighting.”6 this hadīth is an explicit proof-text that the month is based on sighting, and not on calculation. sighting is required in starting and stopping the acts of worship based upon certainty. according to the majority of the jurists, the sighting of the new moon is required by islāmic law, as only sighting can guarantee certainty. actual sighting, in the view of these scholars, seems to be the goal and not the means. sighting means the actual sighting of the moon with the naked human eyes. the reason for starting the months with the actual sighting, according to hanafī jurist abū bakr ibn ‘alī ar-rāzī al-jassās, is to begin the acts of worship with certainty and not base them upon mere probabilities. 7 5 www.moonsighting.org 6 al-bukhārī and muslim 7 ‘umdat al-qārī, vol. 1, p.279 http://www.moonsighting.org 179 international peer reviewed journal muhammad ibn ‘abdullāh al-kharshī presented the mālikī position in the following words: “the fasting cannot be observed by following the statement of a stargazer. neither the stargazer nor any one else can fast based upon that because the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] has confined the fasting solely to the sighting of the witnesses or completing the 30 days. no other method is prescribed. therefore, no attention should be paid to the statement or calculations of the stargazer regarding the month whether one believes in the preciseness of his calculations or not.”8 the shāfi‘ī jurist shihābuddīn ibn ahmad ar-ramlī argued that: the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] did not depend upon calculations at all but absolutely negated it by his statement that “we are an unlettered nation, we neither write nor calculate.” ibn ad-daqīq al-ēid stated that calculations could not be the source of confirming the fasting (of ramadhān).9 abdul rahīm ibn al-husayn al-irāqī, a renowned shāfi‘ī scholar, contended that clouds are very often in the horizon. the shar‘ī reason for fasting is the actual sighting. the majority of jurists connected the fasting with actual sighting without resorting to any other method. this was the opinion of mālik, shāfi‘ī, abū hanīfah, and the majority of scholars in the past and the present.10 one of the main reasons for such a total rejection, in the view of these scholars, was the close connection between stargazing (astrology) and magic, which is forbidden by the prophet of islām [peace and blessings be upon him]. al-hāfiz ibn hajar strictly prohibited the use of calculation by quoting the prophetic sayings that warn muslims about the evils of stargazing such as “no one would learn any part of stargazing except that he has learned a part of magic.” caliph ‘umar has been quoted as saying “learn from stargazing whatever portion is helpful in guiding you through the land and ocean and then stop.” therefore, any part of stargazing other than the directional symbols and signs, to ibn hajar, was un-islāmic.11 the renowed hanbalī authority imām ibn taymiyyah was the staunch opponent of using stargazing calculations to confirm or negate the islāmic months. he emphatically argued that calculations could never lead to a certain method of finding out the crescent and he, like al-‘irāqī and al-jassās, also claimed agreement among the scholars about this matter. 8 sharh mukhtasar al-khalīl, vol. 2, p. 237 9 sharh ‘umdat al-ahkām, vol. 2, p. 59 10 tarh at-tathrīb, vol. 4, pp. 113-114 11 at-talkhīs, vol. 2, p. 360 180 jpair multidisciplinary research in spite of this overwhelming majority, there have always been voices of dissent among the three schools of thought, except the hanbalī school. known authorities in the hanafī, mālikī, and shāfi‘ī schools have argued against the total rejection of calculations in establishing the commencement of ramadhān, etc. it is only the hanbalī school of fiqh, especially in the classical period that seems to be enjoying a kind of consensus regarding the absolute rejection of calculations. the claim that actual sighting or completion is the only method accepted by the entire ummah is not based upon historical facts. a minute minority among the earlier jurists disagree with the notion of complete dismissal of astronomical calculations. they, in opposition to the established opinion, argue that calculations are a definitive way of knowing the movements of celestial bodies and are more certain than just sighting the moon with naked human eyes. this group does not see any prohibition, either in the qur’ān or sunnah, manifestly banning usage of calculations in matters of religion. they find support for their arguments within the qur’ān and the sunnah, in addition to resorting to scientifically logical arguments. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] emphasized so much upon sighting the new moon not because sighting is the objective of fasting or in any way a goal of the ‘ibādāt, but because it was a means to ascertain the presence of the new moon, the knowledge of its presence is the objective of ‘ibādāt. if the objective can be achieved through a more authentic and precise method (that is, astronomical calculations) then replacing actual sighting, which is a probable mean of certainty, with a more accurate method is based on categorical certainty will not be a deviation from the prophetic commandment or objectives of islāmic sharī‘ah, but will complement them. there are two main groups in this category of scholars as follows: the first group accepts astronomical calculations only in negating the beginning of the month. that is, if the calculations prove it impossible to sight the new moon or negate the birth of the new moon, then they do not accept witnesses who claim the actual sighting even if the witnesses are trustworthy and righteous muslims. this is an old trend among scholars and can be traced back all the way to the first century of hijrah. mutarrif ibn ‘abdullāh (a successor, tābi`ī), abū al-‘abbās ahmad ibn ‘umar ibn surayj, and taqī ad-din ‘alī as-subkī from the older times and contemporary scholars like sheikh yūsuf al-qardhāwī, director of the sunnah and sīrah research center, university of qatar, and many others have championed this position. 181 international peer reviewed journal the second group accepts astronomical calculations both in establishing the beginning of the month as well as negating or dismissing any claim of sighting if the calculations prove otherwise. this is a recent phenomenon among recent scholars of the last century and contemporary scholars such as dr. muhammad mustafā al-marāghī, grand imām of al-az’har 1935–1945; the celebrated egyptian and encyclopedic authority and 1984 king faisal international prizewinner sheikh mahmūd shākir (1909–1997); sheikh mustafā az-zarqā’ (1901– 1999); the syrian-born judge, broadcaster, author, editor, teacher, orator, and 1990 king faisal international prize-winner sheikh ‘alī at-tantāwī (1908–1999); the contemporary jordanian jurist dr. sharaf al-qūdah; and many others. validity of astronomical calculation the time of conjunction or completely dark astronomical new moon can be exactly computed. but the calculations for islāmic dates should be for the visible crescent by naked-eye from the surface of the earth in local matla’, and not the calculations for the dark invisible astronomical new moon (no moon), which is typically one day before the hilāl. the main criterion for hilāl visibility is the angular separation between the sun and the moon at sunset.12 the scholars in favor of calculations argued that calculations are a definitive way of knowing the movements of celestial bodies and are more accurate than just sighting the moon with the naked eyes. a. from scientific point of view the relationship between the qur’ān and science is one of harmony and not of discord. this relationship has not always been the same in any one place or time. for instance, in the christian world, scientific development was opposed by the authorities in question, on their own initiative and without reference to the authentic scriptures. in the case of islām, the attitude towards science was quite different. nothing could be clearer than the famous hadīth of the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], “seek for science, even in china” or the other hadīth which says that the search for knowledge is a strict duty for every muslim man and woman.13 the qur’ān in inviting us to cultivate science, it contains many observations on natural phenomena and includes explanatory details which are seen to be in 12 www.hilalsighting.org/dr. salmān shiekh 13 the bible, the qur’ān, and science http://www.hilalsighting.org 182 jpair multidisciplinary research total agreement with modern scientific data. the fact that, in these reflections, we can find allusions to data connected with scientific knowledge is surely another of god’s gifts whose value must shine out in this age where scientifically based materialistic athiesm. scientific knowledge would seem to be highly conducive to reflection on the existence of god.14 today it is known how the celestial organisation is balanced by the position of stars in a defined orbit and the interplay of gravitational forces related to their mass and speed of movement, each with its own motion. but this is not what the qur’ān describes, in terms which have only become comprehensible in our own day, when it mentions the foundation of this balance in the qur’ān: “(god is) the one who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon. each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion.”15 the word which expresses this movement carries with it the idea of a motion which comes from any moving body, be it the movement of one’s legs as one runs on the ground, or the action of swimming in water. in the case of a celestial body, one is forced to translate it in the original sense, that is, ‘to travel with one’s own motion’. the qur’ān states that allāh created specified orbits for the sun and moon so that human beings can know the number of years and the calculations: “god is the one who made the sun a shining glory and the moon as a light and for her ordained mansions so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning (of the time). god created this in truth. he explains the signs in details for people who know.” 16 the practical angle from which this perfect celestial order is seen is underlined on account of its value as an aid to man’s travel on earth and by sea and to his calculation of time. this comment becomes clear when one bears in mind the fact that the qur’ān was originally a preaching addressed to men who only understood the simple language of their everyday lives. this explains the presence of the following reflections: 14 ibid. 15 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-anbiyā, 21:33 16 al-qur’ān, sūrat yūnus, 10:5 183 international peer reviewed journal “and he has subjected to you the night and the day, the sun and the moon; the stars are in subjection to his command. verily in this are signs for people who are wise.” 17 it is also a historical fact that astronomical calculations and their use in the matters of dīn and ‘ibādāt is nothing new. they have been used long ago to determine the times of the five daily prayers, sahūr and iftār, and also to determine the direction of the qiblah. the jurists since the old times have not only accepted calculations without any problem but have required muslims to learn about them. zaynuddin ibn ibrāhīm ibn nujaym argued that ibn ash-shihnah says that the magician and astrologist mentioned in the hadīth are the ones who tell about the unseen or claim knowledge of the future. the statement of such a person will not be accepted and approving such claims will constitute an act of disbelief. but calculations of the moons have nothing to do with that. they are based upon precise calculations and are not fortune-telling or things connected with the unseen. do you not you see what allāh says in the qur’ān: [he prescribed for (the moon) computed stages so that you can learn about the numbers of years and calculations].18 taqi ad-din ‘alī ibn ‘abdul kāfi as-subkī, put the point in a nutshell: “it cannot be that the sharī‘ah has categorically prohibited the use of astronomical calculations. that is not the case. how could it be while the calculations are being used in the obligatory as well as other matters (of dīn)? the oft-quoted hadīth mentions writing and calculations. now, when writing is not forbidden, how could astronomical calculations be?” 19 with regard to the hardship argument, it must be noted that we are living in a time when the entire world has become a small village. in this age of communication, the news gets all over the world not within minutes but within seconds. therefore, the argument of hardship leveled by an-nawāwī and others loses its ground. in reality, it is the other way around, as dr. al-qardhāwī rightly contends.20 muslims all over the globe, and especially in the west, suffer many hardships due to uncertainties connected with actual sighting. some of them wait till midnight just to start their tarāwīh prayers or to decide about their ‘eid prayers. there are many hardships for the working class as well as for muslim students. therefore, dependence upon actual sighting rather than astronomical 17 al-qur’ān, sūrat an-nahl, 16:12 18 al-asbah wa an-naza’ir, vol. 2, p. 284 19 fatāwā as-subkī, vol. 1, p. 211 20 fatāwā mu’āsarah, vol. 2, pp. 212-217 184 jpair multidisciplinary research calculations is the source of hardships in our times. the jurists have categorized the knowledge of stars into two categories. first is the calculation of celestial bodies and their movements to determine the beginning of the months. the one who practices this kind of stargazing is called the astronomer. there is no disagreement among the jurists that such an exercise is permitted. it is allowed to learn such science to know the prayer timings and the directions of the qiblah. the majority of the jurists (jumhūr) are of the opinion that it is obligatory that such knowledge be sought by a number of muslims at all times. ibn ‘abidīn in his hāshiyāt says that “astronomical calculations are islāmically approved.” that is what the qur’ān precisely says: [the sun and the moon follow meticulous calculations]. the jurists have allowed depending upon calculations in relation to the timings of the daily prayers as well as directions of the qiblah. the astronomical calculations connected with the new moons, lunar and solar eclipses are correct. almighty god has fixed a system for the celestial bodies, and they always follow that system to the full extent. the same is the four seasons. the aspects of nature that are continuously repeating themselves are categorical in nature. therefore, they should be relied upon in the matters of prayer timings as well as qiblah directions.21 ahmad ibn muhammad al-hamāwī, the known hanafī jurist, stated the same: “the calculations related to the new moons and eclipses are based upon actual realities and experiments. they do not come under the category of prohibited acts by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him]. this argument is substantiated by the fact that the jurists have allowed knowledge of calculations when it comes to knowing the timings of daily prayers and directions of the qiblah.” 22 perhaps these are the reasons that mustafā az-zarqā’ was amazed that a good number of present-day conservative jurists are so adamant about not accepting the astronomical calculations in confirming or negating the month of ramadhān while they are using the same calculations in acts of worship that are far more important in significance as well as frequency, such as daily prayers. the classical jurists were rightfully correct in their stance against these calculations during their times. the science in their times had not reached the levels of authenticity and certainty where it is in our times. they could not have based important acts of worship, such as the fasting of the month of ramadhān, upon calculations that were not 100 percent precise. are we going to drag their opposition to 21 fatāwā mu’āsarah, vol. 14, p. 53 22 ghamz ‘uyūn al-basa’er, vol. 2, p. 66 185 international peer reviewed journal calculations to the times where the reason they adopted such a view no longer exists? cause and effect always go hand in hand. if the cause no longer exists, the effect must also go away.23 furthermore, the muslim ummah for many centuries in the past followed the shadow of poles to determine the timings for the zuhr and ‘asr prayers. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] himself ordered muslims to follow the shadow of the sun to determine the prayer timings. it is a known fact among the jurists that sighting in itself is not a condition for the month of ramadhān, as muhammad ibn ‘alī ibn ad-daqīq al-‘ēid, the renowned shāfi‘ī authority, stated that the actual sighting is not a prerequisite to the fasting. there is agreement (among the jurists) that if someone is imprisoned in the basement and knows, either through completing 30 days or through estimation by following the signs, that the month of ramadhān has started, then he is required to start fasting even if he has neither sighted the moon by himself nor has been informed by the one who sighted it.24 the famous classical hanafī jurist sa‘duddin mas‘ūd ibn ‘umar at-taftazānī stated that all the muslim jurists agree that sighting the new moon is just a means and not the objective in itself. the meanings of the qur’ānic verse  (whoever witnesses the month) mean being present in the month. witnessing the month is just a means. the prophetic statement “fast by sighting it” also leads to that. all the muslim jurists agree that actual sighting is not the objective, but the objective is what the sighting proves, and that is the coming of the (new) month.25 actual sighting with the naked human eye was prescribed by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] as it was the only method available to the muslims of that time to confirm with certainty the beginning or ending of the month. the reason for such a need was also given by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], and that was the unlettered status of the ummah of that time. some contemporary muslims argue that islāmic law has also fixed the means to achieve islāmic goals such as halāl and lawful earning is a means to achieve the goal of feeding one’s family. a muslim is not permitted to adopt an unlawful means such as stealing to achieve the above goal. likewise, the objective of procreating cannot be achieved by unlawful means of adultery and fornication. feeding the family by unlawful means such as stealing or cheating is harām because allāh has clearly prohibited adopting such means in many verses of 23 fatāwā, pp. 157-159 24 ihkām al-ahkām sharh ‘umdat al-ahkām, vol. 2, p. 8 25 sharh at-talwīh ‘ala at-tawdhīh, vol. 1, p. 401 186 jpair multidisciplinary research the qur’ān and through the prophetic narrations. likewise, fathering children through unlawful means is prohibited by the qur’ān. [do not even come close to adultery]26 is the qur’ānic dictum. that is why any such means will be prohibited because they are unlawful in themselves. there are different kinds of means mentioned in the qur’ān, such as those in the following verse: “against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of ) the enemies, of allāh and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom allāh doth know. whatever ye shall spend in the cause of allāh, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly.”27 here allāh clearly mentions horses as one of the means of striking fear in the hearts of the enemies. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] explicitly asked for arrows as a source of power: “certainly the might is consisting of archery; certainly the might is archery.”28 in modern warfare, we would look stupid if we followed the same means of might against the enemies of islām. those means were good to achieve the aspired goal in those days but are not appropriate for modern warfare. therefore, adopting the new means of tanks, missiles, and combat aircrafts to achieve the desired goal of power and might will not be harām but obligatory to adapt to our times. there is no qur’anic text that stops the use of such new means, and that is why it is obligatory to use them. would anyone insist upon using arrows and horses in the battlefield because allāh and his prophet fixed the means through the authentic qur’ānic and prophetic texts? likewise, astronomical calculations are a means to achieve the aspired goal of certainty. the prophetic tradition prohibited them because at that time the overwhelming majority of the ummah was unlettered in the matters of sophisticated astronomical calculations. the same was true with the later generations of the ummah. the majority of the classical scholars were absolutely right in rejecting calculations, as they were inaccurate and mostly done by astrologists and magicians. but astronomical calculations in our time are no longer the work of magicians or fortune-tellers, but the work of bona fide scientists and astronomers who base their knowledge on scientific observations and facts. here we are referring to the astronomical calculations to prove the possibility of sighting and not the birth of the new moon to try to fulfill the sunnah in 26 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-isrā’, 17:32 27 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-anfāl, 8:60 28 jāmi’ al-bayān fi tafsīr al-qur’ān, vol. 10, p. 21 187 international peer reviewed journal letter and spirit. these astronomical calculations are already being used in acts of islāmic worship such as: widely accepted time calculations for sahūr: allāh states: “and eat and drink until the [first] streak of light of dawn becomes clear to you against the darkness [of night].”29 this method determines the end of the period of sahūr: this was the method used by prophet muhammad [peace and blessings be upon him] and the earlier muslims since they did not know how to pre-compute the instant of time when the first streak of light in the morning occurs. the verse defines a particular instant of time, and it is important to adhere to it and not necessarily to the method suggested in the verse. any other way of establishing that instant, if possible, would be acceptable. in fact, muslim astronomers who did the pioneering work in astronomy did compute and prepare schedules for this instant of time for any day of a year for various places on the earth. these schedules are used by most muslims today. they are using a method different from the one in the noble qur’ān, but they still satisfy the basic principle in the qur’ān relating to the time for the end of the sahūr. accepted time calculations for maghrib: to determine the time of sunset for breaking fast or to offer maghrib prayer, the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] and earlier muslims used to wait and watch the setting of the sun when the sky was clear. they did not know how to compute the time for sunset. sighting the sunset with the naked eyes was the only way! of course, in modern times, perhaps no muslim goes out to watch the setting of the sun. schedules giving distinct times for sunset for any day in a year for various places on the earth are now available and they are almost universally used. their use of this method different from what the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] used is not a violation of the sunnah since the basic principle in the method used by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] is preserved. accepted time calculations for ‘asr: to determine the time for the ‘asr prayer, the prophet [peace be upon him] 29 al-qur’ān, sūrat al-baqarah, 2:187 188 jpair multidisciplinary research used a stick and placed it vertically on the ground. if the length of the shadow of the stick equaled [or exceeded] the length of the stick, it was time for the ‘asr prayer. nowadays, we do not use a stick, but we use schedules computed by muslim astronomers to know the time for the ‘asr prayer. the fact that scholars have approved new methods for determining times for different prayers and the time for the end of sahūr shows that, methods different than those used by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] are consistent with the noble qur’ān and the sunnah, as long as these new methods satisfy the principles which are behind the methods stated in the noble qur’ān and those used by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him]. calculation of the birth of the new moon does not necessarily mean that the new moon will be seen or can even be seen, therefore we cannot automatically say that the month is in, with the birth of the new moon because the crescent might not rise above the horizon after conjunction (the meeting of the sun and moon on the horizon). b. from the islāmic point of view: the group of scholars permitting the use of astronomical calculations argued that sighting the new moon is not an act of worship in itself. it is a means of achieving the goal of certainty. now if the goal of certainty can be achieved by a different and more accurate method, then, following such a method will be as islāmic as sighting the moon with the naked eyes. these scholars believed that, currently, astronomical calculations were more precise than the sighting method. this group quoted the following prophetic narrations to prove their point: 1. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] mentioned ramadhān and said, “do not fast until you see the moon and do not break fast until you see it. if it is cloudy, then estimate it.” (al-bukhārī) 2. “the month (sometimes) consists of twenty-nine days. therefore, do not fast until you see it and do not break the fast until you see it. calculate it if it is cloudy.” (ad-dārimī) 3. “do not fast until you see it and do not break the fast until you see it except that if it was cloudy. calculate about it if it is cloudy.” (ibn hibbān) the jurists have given the following three interpretations of these prophetic narrations. imām ahmad interpreted the ahādīth (sing. hadīth) as demanding the start of ramadhān following the 29th in case it is cloudy. mutarrif ibn 189 international peer reviewed journal ‘abdullāh, ibn surayj, and ibn qutaybah interpreted them as demanding the use of astronomical calculations when the horizon is cloudy. mālik, abū hanīfah, shāfi‘ī, and the majority (jumhūr) said that one should complete 30 days and then fast. that is, in their opinion, the meanings of estimation mentioned in the ahādīth. al-mawsū‘ah al-fiqhiyyah gave this explanation in the article ru’yat al-hilāl: “this opinion holds astronomical calculations as a genuine method of estimating the stages of the moon. it has been attributed to mutarrif ibn ‘abdullāh ibn ashākir from the successors, abū al-‘abbās ibn surayj from the shāfi‘ī school, and ibn qutaybah from the hadīth scholars. ibn rushd has narrated the statement of mutarrif that astronomical calculations can determine the new moon in case of obscurities. he has also narrated that such a view is attributed to shāfi‘ī in one of the reports. the known opinion from shāfi‘ī is that fasting cannot be observed except through actual moon sighting or the witness of a trustworthy muslim, as the majority of jurists contend. an-nawāwī also told us that, linguistically, the word used in the ahādīth means estimation or calculations.30 linguistically and contextually, the word in the above ahādīth leads to the meaning of taqdīr as abū sulaymān ahmad ibn muhammad ibn ibrāhīm alkhattābī preferred: that is, it gives a sense of counting and calculation in case of cloudy weather or lack of visibility. that is why scholars like al-khattābī, addāwūdī and many others took it to mean that if it happens to be cloudy on the 29th of sha`bān, then going with the authentic astronomical calculations is not only permitted but required by the sunnah. al-bājī reported that abū ‘abdullāh muhammad ibn saīd ad-dāwūdī azzāhirī had leaned to such a meaning of the ahādīth.31 ibn ad-daqīq al-‘ēid reported that some mālikī scholars from baghdād and some leading authorities from the shāfi‘ī school had adopted this position especially in regards to the astronomer himself. the astronomer is required to start fasting on the day his calculations determine it to be the first day of ramadhān.32 mutarrif was reported to have said that the astronomer must follow his calculations. abū al-‘abbās ibn surayj, the renowned shāfi‘ī scholar of the third hijrī century, took the position that “calculate” is an address to the people who posses the knowledge of calculation and “sighting” is for use by the common muslims. 30 al-majmū’ sharh al-muhadzab, vol. 6, p. 276 31 al-muntaqā sharh al-muwatta’, vol. 2, p. 38 32 ihkām al-ahkām sharh ‘umdat al-ahkām, vol. 2, p. 8 190 jpair multidisciplinary research for instance, in the famous hadīth of the dajjāl (antichrist) in which the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] informed the companions that at the time of the dajjāl, the real time would seem to extend so tremendously that a day, during that period, will be equal to a year, a month, or a week. 33 the companions asked how to perform the five daily prayers then. in response, the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] replied, “faqdurū lahu,” meaning to calculate for it. there is no way to interpret the phrase as 29 or 30 days or completion. it means to estimate. therefore, the interpretation of “faqdurū lahu” as calculating the month or the stages of the moon is perhaps more appropriate. that is why some known authorities in the three schools of fiqh have no problem accepting the astronomical calculations in this matter. imām taqi ad-din as-subkī, a well-known shāfi‘ī scholar, categorically rejected even the trustworthy witnesses if the authentic astronomical calculations negate the possibility of sighting the moon. he emphatically argued that: “there is another scenario and that is if the astronomical calculations prove it impossible to sight (the moon) and this is known through categorical inferences such as the moon being too close to the sun at the time of sunset, in this case, it is not possible to see it with our human senses because such a sighting is impossible. now if one person or two or a group of untrustworthy individuals come up with the witness that they have sighted it, their witness must be rejected. this is because the astronomical calculations are precise while human witness and news are hypothetical; the hypothetical cannot contradict something categorical let alone supersede it. for a witness to be accepted it is required that what is being witnessed about is possible islāmically (legally), logically, and sensually. therefore, if the astronomical calculations prove sighting impossible, it would be impossible to accept any claim of that islāmically because what is being witnessed is not there, and islāmic sharī‘ah does not come up with something self-contradictory and impossible in itself.”34 according to as-subkī, the sharī‘ah has not forbidden calculations at all: “it is obligatory upon the ruler not to accept the witness of such people if he knows by himself or through a trustworthy person that the calculations prove the impossibility of actual sighting. he should neither accept such a witness nor give any ruling based upon such a claim. the month should be considered continuing until the otherwise is proven, as the sharī‘ah requires. and we do not say that the 33 sunan abī dāwūd, no. 4317 34 fatāwā as-subkī, vol. 1, p. 209 191 international peer reviewed journal sharī‘ah has abolished the use of astronomical calculations at all.”35 we have no doubt in our mind that the human witness cannot be accepted against accurately precise calculations. but when the calculations are not certain but probable, then weight should be given to the human witness and his capability of sighting such as the strength of vision, etc. in such a case the judge must use his judgment to the best of his ability. the sharī‘ah would not prefer a probable method over a certain and accurate method. ibn hajar al-asqalānī reported that ibn al-daqīq al-‘ēid said that if the astronomical calculations established the fact that the moon is there and can be sighted, but the cloudy weather came between it and sighting it, in this case, the fasting will become obligatory. 36 this constitutes a valid islāmic reason to follow the calculations. some of our scholars are of the opinion that there is nothing wrong in depending upon the astronomical calculations. muhammad ibn muqātil used to inquire of astronomers about the calculations and depend upon that if the calculations were agreed upon by a group of astronomers.37 it seems that all the above-quoted jurists supported the use of calculations to negate rather than confirm the month of ramadhān although jurists like ibn al-daqīq al-‘ēid and muhammad ibn muqātil ar-rāzī allowed using calculations even to confirm when the weather was cloudy. among contemporary scholars, sheikh mustafā al-marāghi, sheikh ‘alī attantāwi, mahmūd shākir, mustafā az-zarqā’, sharaf al-qūdah, and others have argued that modern science has reached such a level of accuracy and preciseness in the matters of astronomical calculations that there is no more need to sight the moon with the naked eye. the sharī‘ah required sighting when the ummah was mostly unlettered and mostly ignorant in astronomy and other sciences related to attaining accurate calculations. now once we have reached the level of certainty in such matters, we must go with the calculations in determining the islāmic months without any need to resort to the actual sighting. the ‘arabs were called illiterate because writing skills were quite lacking among them. allāh most high has said [it is he who has sent among the illiterate a messenger from among themselves].38 this fact cannot be refuted by the claim that among the ‘arabs there were individuals who could write or calculate because the writing skills were very rare among them. and the reference to calculation 35 ibid. 36 an-nihāyah fi gharīb al-āthār, vol. 2, p. 360 37 ghamz ‘uyūn al-basa’er, vol. 2, p. 65 38 al-jumu’ah, 62:2 192 jpair multidisciplinary research in the hadīth is to astronomical calculations. they did not know much about astronomical calculations except a very negligible portion of it. that is why the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] connected the ruling of fasting with actual sighting to avoid causing any hardship to them.39 therefore, it is an established rule of islāmic jurisprudence that the cause and the effect go hand in hand. now once the ummah became free of illiteracy and started writing and calculating, the effect must also be modified. when the ummah has come out of its unlettered status and started writing and calculating, now once the ummah can trust accuracy of the calculations just like their trust in actual sighting or even more, then it has also become obligatory that they follow the authentic calculations only and not the sighting to confirm the month of ramadhān. the only exception will be if the calculations were hard to come by.40 sheikh mustafā az-zarqā’, after a detailed discussion of the issue, concluded that there is nothing in the sharī‘ah rules that stop muslims in our times from accepting astronomical calculations: “it is a fact that sighting the new moon is not an act of worship in itself. it is just a mean to know the timings. it was the only means available to the unlettered nation which knew not how to write or calculate. its unlettered status was the sole reason for dependence upon the actual sighting. this is clear from the text of the prophetic tradition which is the source of such a ruling. islāmically, what stops us now to depend upon the accurate astronomical calculations which can determine for us quite ahead of time the beginning of the new month? no cloud or fog can obscure our knowledge of the month then except the fog or dust on the intellect.”41 after elaborating a great deal on the subject, dr. yūsuf al-qardhāwī, concluded that the islāmic religion that prescribed sighting the moon as a valid method in confirming the month of ramadhān would prefer accepting astronomical calculations as a valid method also because there could always be doubts or mistakes in human sighting but not in the accuracy of the astronomical calculations. therefore, accepting astronomical calculations is exactly in line with the true spirit of the islāmic sharī‘ah. the ummah can be spared countless confusions and problems by following the calculations. dr. mustafā ‘abdul bāsit concluded that following astronomical calculations was the original intent of the islāmic sharī‘ah. the sighting was prescribed for the times when the ummah was incapable of knowing accurate, precise calculations. 39 ‘awn al-ma`būd, vol. 6 40 awā’il as-shuhūr al-‘arabiyyah, pp. 7-17 41 fatāwā, pp. 163-164 193 international peer reviewed journal the rule of sighting must give way to the original rule once the ummah has attained the authentic knowledge of the calculations. the islāmic months must be confirmed by calculations to avoid the problems connected with the actual sighting. objectives of the study the study aimed to validate the astronomical calculation in determining the beginning of new lunar month in connection with islamic acts of worship. specifically, it sought to answer the following questions: 1) how valid is astronomical calculation, as the methodology of determining the lunar month, from the scientific and islamic legal points of view? 2) based on the different views of muslim scholars, can the muslims adopt the astronomical method of determining the beginning and end of the lunar month? to what extent and in what condition can such adoption be done? furthermore, it provided significant guidelines, limitations or restrictions as to what extent and condition can astronomical calculation can be applied in sighting the new lunar month. finally, this study served as the foundation of having a united observation of the islamic acts of worship such as the ramadhan or eid throughout the whole muslim nations by clarifying the misconceptions regarding the use of astronomical calculation. methodology deals on how and where the writer expects to find data and factual information about the study. it involves researcch design and data gathering. the study used the descriptive and qualitative research design. hence, an in-depth study of the published works of muslim scholars on the problems under investigation was undertaken. the data gathering procedure was done through an indepth study and reading of available literatures including internet references; utilizing existing records as the major tool. content analysis method was also used to determine whether the use of astronomical calculation is valid in islam. and if so, the same method was utilized to identify the restrictions or limitations as regards its usage. 194 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the start of ramadhān is determined by the sighting of the hilāl or that refers to the bright waxing crescent when it becomes visible to a normal observer by naked-eye. the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] has said, “fast at its sighting, and terminate the fast at its sighting.” (al-bukhārī and muslim)  this hadīth is an explicit proof-text that the month is based on sighting, not on calculation. the reasoning of the proponents of calculation is hinged on two main arguments: firstly, the saying of the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], “do not fast until you see the hilāl, and do not break the fast until you have seen it, but if conditions are overcast for you then enumerate for it.” (al-bukhārī)  the proponents of calculation cite the statement, “then  enumerate for it” as evidence for the permissibility of calculation.  this reasoning, however, is unacceptable on two counts: 1. assuming that  “enumerate” in the above hadīth is, in fact, referring to calculation, the hadīth would only indicate the permissibility of calculations in overcast conditions. 2. the meaning of “enumerate” is clarified by another narration of the hadīth, also extracted by al-bukhārī, as well as by at-tirmidzī, abū dāwūd, ibn khuzaymah, ibn hibbān and at-tayālisī, “then complete the number of (days of ) sha`bān as thirty.”  (nasb ar-rāyah, 2/437-8) this hadīth clarifies beyond doubt that what is meant by “enumerate” in the first narration is to count thirty days, for the first narration is general and imprecise (mujmal), whereas the second is explicit (mubayyan), clarifying the imprecision in the first.  ibn rushd says, “it is obligatory to refer the mujmal to the mubayyan, and this is the way of the scholars of usūl, without any disagreement.” (bidāyat al-mujtahid, 1/284) secondly, the saying of the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], “we are an unlettered nation; we neither write nor calculate.  the month is so-much and somuch (i.e., sometimes 29 days, sometimes 30)” (al-bukhārī).  the proponents  of calculations argue that the only reason calculations were not used by the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] was that people at that time were illiterate and uneducated.  thus, they reason that since we are now  educated and advanced in astronomy, there is no harm in determining the start of ramadhān purely by calculations. 195 international peer reviewed journal the refutation of this reasoning is as follows: it is obvious that the prophetic statement, “we neither write nor calculate” is not meant literally, for it has been established that numerous companions did in fact write, and in the farewell pilgrimage, when a yamānī man named abū shah asked for a written copy of the sermon, the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] told the people, “write for abū shah.”  [al-bukhārī and muslim]. furthermore, we know that the ‘arabs at the time used to engage in  trade, which inevitably requires calculation, and that astronomical knowledge, such as recognition of the phases of the moon, and its waxing and waning, were present even during that time. in reality, the hadīth is merely stating a characteristic of this ummah, namely  that their means for determining the month is simple, not requiring  sophisticated science or education.  islām is a universal religion, and its regulations are meant to be equally accessible to all people, scientists as well as non-scientists.  the progress of astronomy cannot abrogate the laws of islām, for the religion was completed and perfected in the time of the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] himself. as further reinforcement, it is worth noting that all of the four juristic schools of  thought are unanimous on the point that basing the islamic month purely on calculation is invalid. according to the hanafī madz’hab in  “addurr al-mukhtār”, “the word of forecasters carries no weight; even if they  are islāmically upright “sharh al-ghāyah” states the same of the hanbalī madz’hab. the mālikī scholars, sheikh khalīl, states in his “mukhtasar”, that the month is not established by the saying of an astronomer. al-ardabīlī, the shāfi‘ī scholar states in “al-anwar,” “fasting does not become obligatory by knowledge of the phases of the moon.” so as we have already established that calculations alone cannot be used to determine the start of an islāmic month, we must at the same time take due notice that islām does not ask us to divorce reason.  now, given that astronomy today can accurately establish  the time of birth of the new moon, and the time interval when it is absolutely  impossible to see the crescent-moo, there is no  harm in using this astronomical basis to reject a claimed sighting which cannot possibly be correct. as-shātibī said, in “al-muwāfaqāt”, “anything which is not in keeping with the principles of the sharī‘ah or rational concepts is not to be relied upon.”    ibn hajar said, in “sharh nukhbat al-fikr”, “among the associated  circumstances by which fabrication (in hadīth) can be recognized (things) which detract from the value of the narrator, and (others) which detract 196 jpair multidisciplinary research from the value of the narration, such as it is in contradiction to the text of the qur’ān, or mass-narrated sunnah, or decisive ijmā` (consensus of scholars),  or clear common sense.”   hence, if a sighting is reported when it was absolutely impossible for it to have occurred, it will be rejected even if the one reporting it is an upright muslim. although in that case, we will attribute the error to genuine misjudgment which does not diminish his islāmic uprightness and acceptability as a witness. verdicts in this vein have been given by the renowned shāfi‘ī  mujtahid, taqi al-din assubkī, as well as by numerous recent and contemporary scholars, among them ‘alī tantāwi, ahmad shākir and muhammad sanbheli. the differences above arise from giving priority to different narrations on the matter, based on factors relating to the authenticities of the reports and on  different methodologies of usūl in reconciling different narrations. these narrations are: 1. abū dāwūd had reported that the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] said, “fast at its sighting, and terminate fasting at its sighting.  but, if (conditions) are overcast for you, then complete thirty (days).  but, if two witnesses testify then fast and terminate fasting (as the case may be).” 2. at-tirmidzī has reported that a bedouin came to the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] and said, “i saw the crescent-moon tonight.”  the  prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] asked him, “do you testify that there is no god but allāh and that muhammad is his servant and  messenger?”  he said, “yes.” the prophet said, “o bilāl! make adzān among the people, for they should fast tomorrow.” 3. abū dāwūd has reported that people were in the last day of ramadhān when  two bedouins stood up and testified to the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] that they had seen the crescent-moon, whereupon the prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] ordered people to break their fast. now, since the scholars differ markedly over the question of sighting in one area, the question to resolve is: is it binding to muslims in other areas? according to the shāfi‘ī school, the sighting is not binding beyond 81 kilometers, as stated by both rāfi‘ī and nawāwī.  the authentic view of the madz’hab is that it is binding on a strip of thickness 81km in either direction of the place of the sighting. this strip extends from the north pole to the south pole. 197 international peer reviewed journal the verdicts in the standard classical references for the hanafī, mālikī and hanbalī schools state that one sighting is binding to the whole world.  (see fat’h al-qadīr, mukhtasar khalīl, and al-mughni respectively)   however, the mālikī scholar, ibn rushd has cited consensus of the scholars that the obligation of fasting based on a sighting in another area is not observed for places which are very distant from one another, such as spain  and ‘arabia.  (bidāyat al-mujtahid, 1/288) this verdict was also explicitly stated by the hanafī scholars al-kasānī, az-zaylā`ī and al-kashmīrī. sheikh muhammad burhānuddin sanbheli says, “contemporary  scholars, in general, have gone by (the view of different sightings for) different rising-places (of the moon).”  (qadhāya fiqhiyyah mu‘āsarah, p. 94) the primary evidence for a sighting not being binding on distant places is the  hadīth narrated by muslim, abū dāwūd, tirmidzi and nasā’ī, in which kurayb  traveled to syria and encountered the start of ramadhān there on a friday.  when  he returned to madīnah, he informed ibn ‘abbās that he had seen the  crescent-moon on the night of friday and that the people in syria, including  mu‘āwiyah, the governor, had fasted on friday.  ibn ‘abbās replied that they (in madīnah) had seen the crescent-moon on saturday and that they would not stop  fasting until they either saw it again or had completed thirty days. kurayb asked, «will you not suffice with the sighting of mu‘āwiyah?”  ibn ‘abbās replied, «no, that is how the messenger of allāh [peace and blessings be upon him] commanded us.” this hadīth is quite clear in this respect, and although it does not state the limit beyond which a sighting is not binding, this latter issue becomes a matter of ijtihād for the scholars. as for the argument that following a single sighting worldwide is in the interests of unity, this is weak as the pious predecessors themselves differed on the start and end of ramadhān and they are the best of generations.  these differences did not cause disunity among them, and so there is no reason why it should at the present.  rather, the disunity seen today arises from other causes, such as ignorance, intolerance and fanaticism. furthermore, it is not practically possible for ramadhān or ‘eid to coincide exactly for all the muslims since day and nights occur at different times around the globe. finally, the issue of calculations was discussed even in the first century of hijrah and has been discussed throughout islāmic history. the majority of the classical jurists rejected the use of calculations because the calculations were not precise during their times. the calculations were usually connected with astrology and magic. moreover, due to lack of high speed internet, telephone and other 198 jpair multidisciplinary research means of communications, each locality used to go by its local sighting, and the ummah did not suffer because of going with the actual sighting the way we are suffering in our times. conclusions in the light of the important findings of the study, the researcher concludes the following: 1. calculations should be used for hilāl visibility, not for astronomical new moon (no moon). 2. calculations for hilāl visibility have a zone of uncertainty and if the western part of our matla’ is in this zone, calculations cannot give an answer thus sighting is the only way. 3. we should use calculations to negate false sighting, but not to completely replace sighting. 4. the claim that a consensus exists among all the muslim jurists regarding absolute mistrust of astronomical calculations, in all forms and ways, related to beginning and ending of the islāmic months are unfounded, though the majority adopted that opinion because of the uncertainties connected with calculations in their times. 5. modern science has attained such a level of authenticity in the matters of calculations that achieving certainty about the birth, presence, or absence of the moon on the horizon is not hard at all. this scientific method is more trustworthy than the efforts of people to observe the moon with naked human eyes. 6. once it has been proven that certainty and not the actual sighting is the goal of the islāmic sharī‘ah, then wasting our time on the issues of visibility and non-visibility will be a fruitless endeavor. 7. the notion that astronomy is prohibited in islām is a misconception that emerged some 1200 years ago when astrology and astronomy were not considered separate sciences and ‘ilm an-nujūm was encom-passing both astronomy and astrology. now it is clearly understood that astrology is prohibited but astronomy (‘ilm al-falakiyāt) is not. astronomy is the knowledge of movement and position of cosmos (heavenly bodies), while astrology is the effect of the position of those heavenly bodies on human beings. future is not known to anyone except allāh so astrology is considered harām in islām. 199 international peer reviewed journal finally, calculations alone cannot be used to determine the start of an islāmic month. however, islām does not ask us to divorce reason. so, given that astronomy today can accurately establish the time of the birth of the new moon, and the time interval when it is absolutely impossible to see that crescent-moon although it is not yet present, there is no harm in using this astronomical basis to reject a claimed sighting which cannot possibly be correct. therefore, accepting astronomical calculations in confirming as well as negating the month of ramadhān is in line with the sunnah and in no way or form constitutes any deviation from the spirit of the islāmic sharī‘ah. in contrast, it is perhaps the only method available at our disposal which, if applied in spirit, can realize the islāmic goals of authenticity, certainty, and unity. allāh almighty knows best. translational research this research is already on the process of making its debut as a book. this would be combined with another topic to form as a single manuscript regarding the sighting as a procedural requisite in determining the beginning of the holy month of ramadhan among muslims. this would be of great value and importance to the whole muslim nation by fostering the initial steps towards united observance of ramadhan. literature cited the qur’ān and commentaries: ‘alī, yūsuf. the holy qur’ān, translation and commentary, new york, 1946. al-jassās, abū bakr ahmad bin ‘alī. ahkām al-qur’ān. istanbul, 1355 a.h. al-qurtūbī, muhammad bin ahmad al-ansāri. al-jāmi’ li ahkām al-qur’ān. 3rd ed., dār al-kutub al-‘arabiyyah. cairo, 1942. as-suyūtī, jalāluddin. tafsīr al-jalālayn. dār al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah. beirut. at-tabarī, abū ja’far muhammad bin jarīr. jāmi’ al-bayān fi tafsīr al-qur’ān. cairo. ibn al-jawzī, jamāluddin ‘abdul rahmān. zād al-masīr fi ‘ilmi at-tafsīr. damascus, 1965. 200 jpair multidisciplinary research ibn kathīr, ismā‘īl bin ‘umar. tafsīr al-qur’ān al-‘azīm. cairo. qutb, sayyed. fi zilāl al-qur’ān. 7th ed., kuwait, 1967. collections of hadīth: abū dāwūd, sulaymān bin al-ash’ath. al-sunan, a collection of hadīth, india, 1323 a.h. al-bājī, salmān ibn khalf. al-muntaqā sharh al-muwatta’. dār al-kitāb 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bin muhammad bin salamah. sharh ma‘āni al-āthār. india, 1929. 201 international peer reviewed journal az-zubaydī, ahmad bin ahmad. al-tajrīd al-sarīh, extract of al-bukhārī, kitāb as-sahīh, beirut. az-zurqānī, sharh az-zurqāni ‘ala muwatta’ mālik. dār al-fikr. ibn ‘ābidīn, muhammad amīn ibn ‘umar. radd al-mukhtār ‘ala ad-dur almukhtār. dār al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah. ibn hajar, ahmad bin ‘ali bin muhammad. fat’h al-bāri, a commentary on sahīh al-bukhārī. ibn kathīr, ismā‘īl bin ‘umar. mukhtasar ‘ulūm al-hadīth, with the commentary of ahmad shākir, cairo. ibn al-qayyim al-jawziyyah. ‘abdullah muhammad bin abū bakr. zād al-ma’ād. cairo, 1379 a.h. different schools of law: al-‘alīsh, muhammad ibn ahmad ibn muhammad. manh al-jalīl sharh mukhtasar al-khalīl. dār al-fikr. al-‘aynī, badruddin. ‘umdat al-qāri. al-baydhāwī, nāsiruddin. minhaj al-usūl ila ‘ilm al-usūl. cairo, 1326 a.h. al-dusūqī, muhammad ibn ahmad ibn arfah. hāshiyat al-dasūqī ‘ala as-sharh al-kabīr. dār ihya al-kutub al-‘arabiyyah. al-hamāwī, ahmad ibn muhammad. ghamz ‘uyūn al-basāer. dār al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah. al-kharshī, muhammad ibn ‘abdullah. sharh mukhtasar al-khalīl. dār al-fikr. al-qaradhāwī, yūsuf. fatāwa mu‘āsarah. al-qarafī, shihābuddin al-‘abbās bin ahmad. kitāb al-furūq as-saniyya. dār al-kutub al-‘arabiyyah. cairo, 1939. al-qushayrī, ‘abdul qāsim ibn hawzān. al-mawsu’ah al-fiqhiyyah. an-nawāwī, yahyā sharafuddin. al-majmu’ sharh al-muhadzab. matba’at almunīriyyah. 202 jpair multidisciplinary research ar-ramlī, shihābuddin ahmad ibn ahmad. fatāwā. al-maktabah al-islāmiyyah. as-shāfi‘ī, muhammad bin idrīs. kitāb al-risālah, with the commentary of shiekh ahmad shākir, cairo, 1940. as-shāfi‘ī, muhammad bin idrīs. kitāb al-umm. 7 vols., dār as-sha’b. cairo, 1321 a.h. as-shalabī, shiekh muhammad mustafā. ta’līl al-ahkām. al-az’har university press, cairo, 1949. as-sharakhsī, muhammad bin sahl. mabsūt. cairo, 1342 a.h. as-shātibī, abu is’hāq ibrāhīm bin mūsā al-bakhmī. kitāb al-muwāfaqāt fi usūl al-ahkām. 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l.g., integrated science. 2nd edition, phoenix publishing. quezon city, philippines, 2007. rich, tracy r. the jewish calendar: a closer look. accessed 15 december, 2006. shākir, ahmad muhammad. awā’il as-shuhūr al-‘arabiyyah. maktabah ibn taymiyyah. 204 jpair multidisciplinary research shafa’at, ahmad. a study of ahadīth about the determination of islāmic dates. october 2003. the soncino talmud, electronic edition. the judaic classical library, davka corporation and judaic press. 1991-1995. dictionaries: ‘abdul hamīd, muhammad and al-subkī, ‘abdul latif. mukhtār as-sihāh, cairo, 1353 a.h. al-ba’albakī, rūhī dr., al-mawrid, beirut, 1993. ibn fāris, ahmad. mu’jam maqāyis al-lugha. cairo, 1369. al-karmi, hasan saīd. al-mughni al-akbar. beirut, 1988. ibn manzūr, muhammad bin al-mukarram. lisān al-‘arab. cairo. 72 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.502 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract graduate education is part of the most effective means of developing capacities related to doing research that will improve educational theory and practice in the many different aspects of the educational process. thus, the study traced the employability and productivity of the graduates of a private higher education institution (phei)-graduate school from 2010 – 2015 in the philippines to further improve its curricular offerings. the descriptive-survey design was used. the majority of the graduates of the doctor of education (ed.d.), master of arts (ma), master of business administration (mba) and master of project management (mpm) programs are employed in a regular or permanent status. they are now occupying supervisory and managerial positions and highly satisfied with their basic salary. the graduate curricula are responding to the needs of various industries. administration and governance, curriculum and instruction, research, professional and cognate courses, student services, library, internet laboratory, interdisciplinary learning, and teaching/ learning environment are the school-related factors relevant to the current employment of ascertaining the curriculum relevance of the graduate school through tracer study in a philippine private higher education institution david cababaro bueno http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0072-0326 docdave3090@gmail.com columban college, inc. olongapo city, philippines 73 international peer reviewed journal the graduates. communication, human relations, entrepreneurial, information technology, problem-solving, critical thinking, and research skills are considered relevant skills learned. love of god, honesty, punctuality, obedience to superior, perseverance, creativity, professional integrity, unity, fairness, love for others, nationalism and being eco-friendly are the values evidently manifested in their workplaces. thus, the graduate school is continuously nurturing and embracing the quality of education. keywords – graduate education, employability, curriculum relevance, descriptive-survey design, tracer study, columban college, philippines introduction the perception of employee confronts traditional views about higher education and raises the question of what the point of having a higher degree is; course comprehension and understanding, or learning how to learn. this can lead to instability among academics that are anticipated to teach employability skills, knowledge and values in the classroom in line with modern european and international trends. graduate education is right on the apex at the educational system in the philippines. it is an active means of solidifying the research skills and potentials of professionals towards enhancing educational theory and practice (cmo 53, s2007). moreover, solutions for the various challenges faced by the 21st century are dependent on the quality of professionals with graduate level education (the commission on the future of graduate education, 2010). thus, many countries are investing substantially to improve graduate programs and develop human capital as an engine of economic development. this includes countries such as china and india that have traditionally sent greater numbers of students to u.s. graduate schools. these countries are also offering career incentives for their students who do study abroad to return to their homes. other countries such as canada, australia, new zealand, u.k, and united states have embraced procedures and policies to recruit and retain international students. moreover, the employability of higher education graduates is one of the first priorities in europe. various studies have been consulted by the researcher to ascertain the relevance of the curriculum through the tracer study. the importance of graduate education through employability of graduates was based on the characteristics that have impact on the quality of program to the world of work (støren & aamodt, 2010); any evaluation of employability 74 jpair multidisciplinary research needs to indicate areas for internal improvement rather than simply ranking institutions which are based on the employability skills; interpersonal skills, thinking skills, personal qualities/values, resource skills, technology skills, simple skills and informational skills (rasul, abd rauf, mansor, & puvanasvaran, 2012); and the quality of management philosophy (schomburg, 2010). in the case of uk graduates, attributes need to develop to be employable suggested that employability is a complex phenomenon involving the interaction between the graduates, their employer and their job (minten & forsyth, 2014). moreover, wilton (2011), overriding underlying principles are offered by uk policymakers to service the high-skill labor requirements of a knowledge economy and to enhance educational and employment opportunities for under-represented groups. thus, employability connects these important principles as a means by which to obtain and maintain high-quality engagement and to eradicate the social reproduction of inequality. employability was further analyzed by differentiating the graduates’ attitudes towards employment and to detect the effects of graduates’ personal and educational characteristics (kostoglou & adamidis, 2009); identifying the attributes graduates’ need to develop from formal education to the workplace (minten, 2010). furthermore, in the context of scotland, it is one way of comparing other education systems that have undergone a significant curricula change, and exploring the contribution of teacher education to their overall strategy (menter, hulme, elliot, & lewin, 2010), while in malaysia, it is appraising the quality of training for the holistic development of individuals equipping them relevant lifelong learning skills such as maturity, reliance, and teamwork (latif & bahroom, 2010), and herrnstein et al., (2012), reiterated that being employable means having the qualities needed to maintain employment and progress in the workplace. thus, it is critical to any program of study to constantly evaluate its curriculum to ensure that its content remains relevant, of high-quality and is in tune with the demand of the job market (peng & zhang, 1997). one of the ways institutions does this is through tracer studies, and this is recommended to be carried at least a year after students graduated (kumar, 1991). ideally, the target students should be not too long on the job so as to achieve an effective tracer feedback since it is often difficult to remember courses taken up to 10 years previously (loughridge, 1990). tracer study provides quantitative data on the productivity and employability of the graduates as well as the relevance of the school curriculum based on their actual experiences in the field (chung & yet, 2009). 75 international peer reviewed journal while almost all the previous studies conducted are focused on the undergraduate programs, the present study ascertains on the relevance of the different graduate school curricula by tracing the employability of the graduates. as one of the catholic pheis in the philippines, the cci-gs envisions to become a leading institution of higher learning in the region responsible for the holistic formation of students and professionals who want to be christ-centered and service-oriented individuals. the responsibilities of catholic school leaders are multifaceted, and their roles demand essential skills and preparation to guarantee the success (daniels, 2014). therefore, use of a graduate tracer study is an appropriate tool in determining institutional capability in preparing graduates to meet the demands of the workplace. it involves a determination of graduates in the job search mode; lead time and employment condition, where the knowledge acquired in schools is used to work, in promotions, and job satisfaction. this is a very significant advantage in countries on the edge of industrialization and in developing countries. framework one of the key conceptual issues in a tracer study is tantamount to learn about the relative impact of graduate programs on acquired competencies and professional success. since then, indicators of graduates’ transition and early career success have been attracting ever more attention on the policy agenda, accompanied by international surveys (gajderowicz, grotkowska, & wincenciak, 2012). the purpose of this paper is to measure the potential role of the graduate education through the employability of the highly educated professionals (garrouste, 2014) by assessing how important for graduates to possess the required skills for the industry. these skills are assessed based on their basic knowledge, soft, and entrepreneurial skills. such study is important to identify if the level of skills possessed by graduates during their studies are appropriate in helping them to perform in a job market (ahmad, zainal, & rahmat, 2012), and to establish the relationships between employability and graduates’ perception of their skills (ahmed, 2009). questions are raised relative to the content and performance of the heis if able to meet the changing needs of society (árcelo & sanya, 1987), and new insights are offered by identifying the value of skills and personal attributes required at the workplace (bhanugopan & fish, 2009). the results will confirm beneficial effects for future curriculum enhancement from the valuable insights of the graduates (blassoples, 2011). 76 jpair multidisciplinary research in the contexts of australia, pakistan, singapore, and malaysia, employers, universities and professional bodies need to develop professionals who possess practical skills (consultancy, 2007); and employment skills and knowledge (haque, 2013). these knowledge and professional characteristics are at varying degrees across the sector and heis (lowden, hall, elliot, & lewin, 2011). moreover, eurico, da silva, and do valle, (2015) confirmed that the heis image is strongly influenced by employability, which was associated with satisfaction and loyalty towards higher education institutions (hei). results showed a wide gap was found in communication skills. this means that improvement efforts and corrective actions must be taken to improve employers overall satisfaction (islam, rafikul, abdul hamid, mohd shukri & abd manaf, 2013). chinese universities are experiencing a decline in their graduate employment since the past decade. with this, su, zhang, and nisar (2015) adopted a multiple approaches to establishing the skills to students’ employability; and de guzman and de castro (2008) saw it on the epistemological dimension of the qualities acquired by the graduates in various contexts. additionally, a confirmatory analysis substantiated that knowledge, skills, thinking skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, and management skills are demanded by employers (naveed, 2015). adding to the lists of soft skills, holt, tink, mandigo, and fox (2008) emphasized the need to have an overall framework the skills and knowledge of students. this was reiterated by the uk research councils’ training requirements by providing an excellent framework that outline the expectations for students’ research skills (polziehn, 2011). information technology and communication skills, and values were identified to be very much useful to the present work of the graduates (macatangay, 2013). however, hard skills were considered less prominent compared to soft skills and personal attributes. nilsson (2010), indicated that the educational program should be more on generalist competence and soft employability skills (norshima, 2011). moreover, in malaysia, employability skills were analyzed based on academic qualification, experience, and specific soft skills, and rate of employability was far above the ground on soft skills requested by employers (omar, manaf, mohd, kassim, & aziz, 2012). further, communication skills and it skills were found indispensable skills that the lis graduates should possess (pradhan, 2015). the researchers also revealed that cataloging and classification and experiential learning remain very critical to their related jobs (shongwe & ocholla, 2011). in contrast, the employment of highly educated dutch doctoral graduates in the netherlands, academic, nonacademic, and demographic variables, such as research publications, age, gender 77 international peer reviewed journal and number of children in the family, were highly correlated with contract type than factors such as supervision and labor market preparation (van de schoot, yerkes, & sonneveld, 2012). thus, employability studies are typically viewed to have practical implications for heis and curriculum re-engineering related to the enhancement of graduates. the findings of the present study have implications towards regular review and revision of the program of studies in a way that would enable graduates to meet the expectations of changing information job market. lastly, it suggests that the hei may work more closely with industries, professional and learned societies through the establishment of university-industry link cooperation that will grow up to be a catalyst for skills enhancement of the graduate students and professionals. objectives of the study the study traced the employability and productivity of graduates to ascertain the curricular relevance of a graduate school. specifically, it sought to analyze the productivity of the graduates regarding employment status, position in the present job, and gross monthly income in the present job, school-related factors relevant to employability, competencies/ skills/ and values learned and useful in the current job, and the suggestions to further improve the curricula. methodology research design this study utilized the descriptive-survey design of research. descriptive research aims to describe the nature of a situation, as it prevails at the time of the study and to explore the causes of particular phenomena. the descriptive research seeks familiarity with the subject and portrays selected employability and productivity data of the graduates of 2010– 2015. thus, it is the most common means of obtaining information from the graduates with the use of survey-questionnaire, random interviews with the aid of the study guide and observation. participants the actual number of graduates was traced and identified through the help of the college’s admissions and registration office. there were fifty-two 78 jpair multidisciplinary research (52) doctor of education (ed.d), sixty-six (66) master of arts in education (maed), twenty-four (24) master of arts in language teaching (malt), thirty (30) master of arts in science education (mase), six (6) master of arts in religious education (mare), sixty-one (61) master in business administration (mba), and twenty-one (21) master in public management (mpm) graduates. instrument the instrument used was the modified gts survey-questionnaire provided by the commission on higher education (ched). several parts of the questionnaire were considered for the purpose of the present study about employment status, job level/ occupation, position in the present job, and gross monthly income in the present job. a separate portion of the survey form to pertinent data as to the relevance of school-related factors in the graduate’s employability, the usefulness of the learned competencies/ skills and values to the current job of the graduates was added. there was no further validation of the instrument done because it was issued by the ched to facilitate the tracer study of the graduates in the region. however, minor reconstruction on the direction/ instruction needed to be done to simplify the instrument for its face validity. data gathering procedure the researcher personally asked the assistance of the staff from admissions and registration office for the actual listing of the desired participants. with the help of friends, currently enrolled students, and e-mail communication, the researcher, was able to distribute and retrieve the desired number of participants in the study with a retrieval rate of 100% of the total number of graduates. in compliance with research ethics protocol, the researcher asked permission through informed consent from all the respondents who were surveyed. results and discussion the graduates are employed on a regular or permanent status, locally, and internationally. this implies that the school is continuously nurturing and embracing the quality of education as revealed by the employability rate of graduates. employment status in the current labor market ascertained the specific areas of skill, the credential of higher education, awareness of interdisciplinarity and the role of heis in supporting graduates’ careers through continuous strategic development, and bridging higher level of education with the labor market (pavlin & svetlik, 2014). 79 international peer reviewed journal the job levels/ occupations of graduates reveal that 53.85% of the ed. d. graduates are occupying a key position in the educational institution as the supervisor or head teacher, 42.31% are school principals, and 3.85% are master teachers. out of the 126 maed graduates, 65.87% are classroom or master teachers, 28.57% are head teachers/ supervisors; and 5.56% are principals. moreover, out of the 61 mba graduates, 11.47% are college professors, 67.21% are occupying a clerical position; 13.11% are supervisors in numerous companies; and 8.19% are managers in different business organizations. lastly, there are 28.57% mpm graduates who landed as college professors, 52.83% are enjoying a clerical position, and 19.05% are supervisors in various lgu/ ngo. the results imply that the programs are responding to the needs of diverse industries. the findings affirmed ramirez, cruz, and alcantara (2014); and ramli, nawawi, and chun (2010) when the graduates claimed that their knowledge, academic-acquired skills and competencies contributed greatly to their job performance. likewise, academic-acquired skills and competencies of the graduates are relevant to their chosen occupations. the results further showed that school produces marketable and appropriately trained graduates with the majority landing in course-related jobs within a short period after graduation. the study also indicated that the graduates possess the skills and competencies necessary to succeed in this competitive world; and when employers perceived the needed enhancement programs to focus on the development and enhancement of critical thinking ability, generating hypotheses and linking ideas, applying theory into practice, sharp analytical skills, prioritizing problems, keeping up-to-date on latest information regarding the professionalism, giving clear explanation about problems and treatments and recognizing the effects of decisions to be made. ed.d. graduates are enjoying a salary of more than 900usd a month. moreover, there are 16.67% ma graduates who are receiving a monthly salary of more than 500usd, 50.00% with more than 600usd monthly salary, 22.22 % with more than 700usd, 3.97% with more than 800usd, while 1.59 % is very happy with more than 900usd a month. out of the sixty-one (61) mba graduates, 9.84% are receiving a monthly salary of 440usd, 62.29% with more than 600usd, 11.47 % with more or less 740usd, while 6.55% are receiving a monthly salary of more than 900usd. lastly, 33.33% of the mpm graduates are enjoying a basic salary of 340usd, 52.38% with 450usd, 9.52% with 650usd, and 4.76% with 750usd. the findings imply that the graduates are contented with their monthly income. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research the school-related factors relevant to graduates’ employment are collectively grouped to administration and governance, curriculum and instruction, research subjects, professional and cognate courses, student services, library, internet laboratory, inter-disciplinary learning, and teaching/ learning environment are the related factors which contributed a lot to their current employment status. the results reveal that the presence of these relevant factors hones their knowledge, skills, and values which are considered by them as a very important instrument for landing in various prestigious jobs. thus, the school is continuously finding countless ways to improve the management of the graduate school. efforts of the entire administration are very noticeable towards the attainment of quality graduate studies. a study conducted by business, industry and higher education collaboration council on graduate employability skills (august 2007) is characterized by diversified programs from various universities develop graduate employability skills. thus, universities work to develop employability skills in their students by providing academic staff with relevant support and resources, integrating these skills into the curriculum and course design, providing students with work placements and exposure to professional settings and providing advice and guidance through career services. in the philippines, the presidential commission on educational reform (pcer) carried out a study regarding the status of philippines education and came out with a report in april 2000. one of the significant findings of the said report is that “the quality of heis depends on the superiority of its teaching force. thus, the government recommended that faculty at the college level must have a master’s degree in the area of specialization. hence, there is a need to encourage and provide assistance to heis to enable them to meet this cmo requirement. the faculty of the school maintains the expertise to accomplish the mission and to ensure that the school administration should conduct continuous assessment among faculty members (aacsb, 2009). lucey (2002) mentioned that the higher authorities including the teaching staff play a significant role in motivating students. the present study considers the effectiveness of faculty as coping measures for dealing with such circumstances. findings would provide professors stronger abilities to focus on student developmental needs. research into effective methods, for developing administrator prioritization and personal skills would also support environments promoting student development. these findings affirm von hellens, clayton, beekhuyzen, and nielson (2009) who found out about the perceptions of ict as a field of study and work in german schools. 81 international peer reviewed journal the competencies, skills, and values learned by the graduates such as communication skills, human relations skills, entrepreneurial skills, information technology skills, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and research skills are of interest to their jobs. ma graduates reveal that courses offered are parallel with the practical application of the work which makes the curriculum responsive to their needs. this is a manifestation that the atmosphere in the graduate school in an output and competency-based instruction has been cascaded to the students’ level. graduates also claimed that though they found research very thought-provoking subject, it needs time, devotion and skills to understand it seriously. human relations skills gained by the graduates are deeply rooted from the caring and individualized attention given to the students during their stay in the institution. this kind of relationship is resounding behavior worthy to be emulated, and most of the graduates admit that they are very convenient as they effectively and efficiently perform their task. communication skills, critical thinking skills, information technology skills, human relations skills and problem solving skills are also pertinent skills according to them. graduates found these skills applicable due to the up-to-date level of job performance in the market. the commission on higher education (ched) has directed the conduct of gts to selected heis offering programs responsive to the needs of industry and society (ched cmo #s 38, s. 2006, 11, s. 1999). about the adequacy of training on human relation skills, it likewise resulted to a high degree of satisfaction which is interpreted as “strongly agree.” hence, the graduate school has provided the alumni with “very adequate” skills on human relations. the adequacy of training on problem-solving skills, the ability to evaluate action for making future decision earned a descriptive rating of “strongly agree”. these abilities, together with the critical thinking skills, earned an overall descriptive rating of “strongly agree.” therefore, the graduates involved in this study are sufficiently provided and trained in solving problems and critical thinking. as to the adequacy of training on research skills, the ability to use technology to acquire needed information gained a descriptive rating of “strongly agree. this is brought by the fact that the use of technology in all aspects is very popular in the philippines. nonetheless, all research abilities yielded a descriptive rating of “strongly agree.” hence, the data confirmed that cc-gs was able to develop the research skills of its graduates. the findings of the present study support the claim of sitepu and kehm (2011) when mapping the graduates’ competencies, knowledge, personal attributes are very useful in workplaces. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, the graduates strongly agree that love of god, honesty, punctuality, obedience to superior, perseverance, creativity, professional integrity, unity, fairness, love for other, nationalism and eco-friendly are evidently manifested in their workplaces as part of the hidden curriculum of the institution. although a considerable amount of literature addresses employability skills and values, much of the information is theoretical in nature and offers policy recommendations and prescriptive advice. further, a majority of research studies have primarily examined the experiences of a particular higher education institute where remedial actions were taken to impart employability skills (wickramasinghe & perera, 2010). the graduates are very satisfied with their current employment situation and that college may sustain its best to improve on the knowledge, values, and skills they are developing among students for better alignment between college education and the world of works. the findings of this study are essential for curriculum development, higher education policy development, and higher education quality assurance. for the improvement in learning condition, the results imply that graduate school needs to think about strategies that are helpful in developing programs that could improve the alignment between higher education and the labor market. one program could be a strong curriculum program for internship and practicum that could provide graduates with advanced and more relevant skills for their chosen careers. undoubtedly, the consequences are powerful documented factors to determine the graduates’ level of satisfaction of the school services, academic environment and physical plant and facilities. thus, the existing program of studies are still effective, adequate and relevant in taking action to the modern and complex changes brought about by emerging developments such as the international standards in academic programs, the asean integration, the qualifications frameworks in the 21st century, among others, and heis should stand out as one of the major players to cope with these reforms (gines, 2014). also, professors are imparting the required performance standards and competencies as emphasized in the human capital theory, popularized by schultz to ensure a high employability skills possessed of business education graduates. the researchers encouraged the teachers to become more active in imparting the identified skills (imeokparia & kennedy, 2012). thus, this paper introduces a straightforward, practical factor of employability that will allow the concept to be explained easily at the graduate level and that can be used as a framework for working with students to develop their employability (dacre pool & sewell, 2007). 83 international peer reviewed journal conclusion heis should continue to work together with industry professionals to equip future graduates with the appropriate skills needed for success in the workplace. unlike the results from previous studies in other countries that there was a large unemployment rate among graduates, this study found out that all participants in this study are employed. the finding of the study also revealed that graduates are contented with their current employment situation and that colleges should sustain the skills they are developing in students for better alignment between graduate education and the world of works. the findings of this study are significant for curriculum development, higher education policy development, and higher education quality assurance. for improvement in learning condition, the study recommends that graduate schools in the philippines are required to begin to think about strategies that are useful for developing programs that could improve the alignment between higher education and the labor market. one such program could be a curriculum revisit vis-a-vis relevant skills for their chosen fields. given that teacher, graduates may not teach their subject specialization, at least two possible options for the teacher education curriculum exist: a strong generalist curriculum excluding special options; or a strong generalist curriculum with a relatively small special component fully (ramrathan, 1997). translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit the institutional admission requirements and support from the administration for continuous improvement of the graduate curricula. additionally, both the external and internal stakeholders might be able to translate it into a more comprehensive institutional policy and specific strategic intervention program that could increase the interest of prospective graduate school students and professionals towards further studies. finally, it can be translated by sharing this with future students and faculty to clarify the skills needed in the workplace. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited ahmad, k., zainal, n. f. a., & rahmat, m. 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(ncia) involving collection, payment, delivery, and pick-up. it also monitored the performance of the liaison officers and the request of transaction is centralized. the researcher developed the centralized collection and delivery system (ccds) of new canaan insurance agency, inc (ncia). the descriptive and applied types of research were employed in the study. data were gathered through interview and feedback form. the respondents were from the 28 employees of ncia. the evolutionary prototype model was used in the development of the system and the use questionnaire to test its usability. the gathered data were analyzed and interpreted using frequency count and mean. findings revealed that the procedures on collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up start with an employee’s request forwarded to the liaison officers which is done manually. using the evolutionary prototype model, the centralized collection and delivery system was developed. the developed system was found to be efficient because it was designed to fit the needs of ncia. vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.356 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. development and evaluation of centralized collection and delivery system of new canaan insurance agency, inc. janelyn a. ambre http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5593-014x janelyn.ambre@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences and technology, philippines 105 international peer reviewed journal keywords information technology, centralized collection and delivery system, ease of use, ease of learning, evolutionary prototype model, descriptive design, and makati city, philippines introduction in offices, the use of computer machinery operated tools to create, store, manipulate, and relay information needed in accomplishing tasks and goals is relevant. business areas use at least one computer business application designed for productivity in the course of its daily activities. even the smallest companies and institutions are utilizing it for sustaining the services delivered in an organization. according to johnson and mcelroy (1995) a computer based records management system comprises an information filter for assuring that record data units offered to the system for storage are complete and not redundant. for business operations the staff must have the information that the company requires and be able to retrieve it quickly for effective management to exist. furthermore, the personnel must be able to determine conclusively if the required information does not contain the available stored information. it is also important to escape the flood of irrelevant and unnecessary information. davenport and short (2003) stated that to improve the way a work is done, it must begin to apply the capabilities of information technology to redesign its business process. consider fedex – the first package freight company to offer package delivery software customers could use to request electronically package pickup and check the status of packages during delivery. all other major package delivery services such as ups and rps, just to name two, were forced to develop quickly similar software. they could not risk losing their customers to a company that provides a more innovative and efficient way to handle the informationprocessing tasks related to delivering packages. furthermore, liabsuetrakul, petmanee, sanguanchua, and oumudee (2012) stated that having a cooperative delivery system (cds) can reduce delivery costs. it consists of common stock point for good consolidation that uses the trucks of participating companies for distribution instead of third party or neutral carriers. new canaan insurance agency (ncia) is a multi-line agency offering competitive commercial and personal coverage through top-rated insurance companies. new canaan’s phenomenal growth can purely be attributed to outstanding customer satisfaction at all times because every single person in the organization, from founder and chief executive officer (ceo) to all the 106 jpair multidisciplinary research client liaison officers, all subscribe to new canaan’s one mantra, promises kept consistently. promises are kept constantly because of their fair customer service commitment. they represent more than 16 of the leading local and international insurance companies, positioning them to solicit and find the best combination of price, coverage, and service that works for personal or business needs. however, as an independent agency, they work for their clients, not for the insurance company. to cope with the advancement of technology, the ncia adopts automation in their processes like an accounting system, but even if automation is evolving in the company, there are still transactions that are manually done like collection or payment of premiums, and delivery or pick-up of insurance policy, claims document, check settlement, government payment, and marketing collateral. they do not have a database for monitoring that is why every member of the team needs to ask the liaison officers to do delivery, pick up, collect, and payment of premiums from time to time. hence, the researcher developed a centralized collection and delivery system. the system was created specifically to meet the needs of ncia to check and monitor the collection, delivery, payment, and pick up transactions of the company and to render good service to their clients. framework figure 1 displays the research paradigm that is composed of input, process and output. the input variables include the procedures made in collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up that were used in the development of the system. the output is the centralized collection and delivery system. the feedback of the study was based on the results of the system being tested and evaluated by the users or respondents and this provided room for improvement. 107 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. research paradigm objectives of the study the study aimed to develop a centralized collection and delivery system. specifically, it identified the procedures made in collection, payment, pick-up, and delivery. it also developed the centralized collection and delivery system, and lastly, it determined the usability of the centralized collection and delivery system in terms of usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction. methodology research design the descriptive and applied types of research were used in the study. descriptive method was used to manage thoroughly the identification, presentation, evaluation, and interpretation of gathered data from the employees of ncia. this type of research includes research methodologies and procedures like survey questionnaires and interview. therefore, the researcher conducted an 108 jpair multidisciplinary research interview and administered survey to the employees of ncia. the design of the study is primarily applied because it focused on the development of the centralized collection and delivery system. for the system development, the researcher used a model that is, the evolutionary prototype model. research site the study was conducted at the new canaan insurance agency, inc. 19f citibank tower, citibank plaza, 8741 paseo de roxas st., 1226 makati city. the chief financial officer served as the respondent to identify the procedures on the collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up. on the other hand, a total enumeration of 28 employees from four departments were selected to evaluate the usability of developed system regarding its usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction (see table 1). table 1. distribution of respondents in the usability of centralized collection and delivery system department population 1. property and casualty 2. life and benefits 3. claims 4. finance and admin 4.a. revenue management 4.b. financial reporting and compliance 4.c. fund management 5 5 4 6 4 4 total 28 instrumentation for objective 1, an interview with the chief financial officer of ncia as the internal control of the company was conducted to identify the procedures on the collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up an. documentary analysis was used to analyze the documents that were gathered like pair reports. for objective 2, in the development of centralized collection and delivery system, the researcher used the evolutionary prototyping model, which consists of four phases namely, identification of the initial concept, design and implementation of first prototype, refinement of the prototype until acceptable, and completion and release of the prototype (see figure 2). 109 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. the evolutionary prototype identification of initial concept. this was the basis for all other phases. the researcher identified essential information needed to develop an efficient system. this stage included tasks such as determining the procedures employed in collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up. furthermore, the researcher built user interface flow diagram and use case diagram to know the static and functional view of the system (see figure 3,4,). figure 3. user interface flow diagram of centralized collection and delivery system 110 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 4. use case diagram of centralized collection and delivery system figure 4 displays the use of case diagram of the developed system to represent the functionality of the system from a user’s point of view. it describes the features that the user expects the system to provide. different users including administrators, employee, messenger, and c & c interact with the system. the administrator has a control over the system and users of the system. the administrator’s roles and privileges include making and editing a request, updating completed request, generating reports, adding new users, insurers, and company, and deleting a record. the employee can add and change requests and produce reports. on the other hand, the messenger can update completed request for agency billed collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up while the c&c can only update the direct billed collection. 111 international peer reviewed journal design and implementation of the initial prototype. this involved the complete design of the system. this phase created the database that specifies the content of records and files that were included. in designing, the researcher considered the user interface and user-friendliness of the system. the researcher used the visual basic version 2008 as the programming language and mysql as the database platform to develop the system and make it usable. during implementation, the system was delivered to the target users of new canaan insurance agency, inc. the researcher presented how the system has to be installed and used including all necessary elements in the distribution such as xampplite installer, mysql connector, and system installer. these software are relevant to make the developed system fully functional. the users tested and evaluated the prototype. feedbacks from the evaluators were considered and integrated to the modifications of the system. in addition, the operation of the centralized collection and delivery system must consider these software requirements. • windows operating system that supports vb .net framework, • mysql data provider, mysql connector, • display resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels, • dual core processor or higher, at least 1 gigabyte (gb) physical memory, and 80 gb hard disk drive, and • dot matrix printer. refinement of prototype until acceptable. the researcher produced the next version of the system wherein testing and evaluation have been done again by the employees of ncia. moreover, every feedback is essential until such time a perfect system was created. completion and release of the prototype. from series of testing and refining until the creation of the complete system based on users’ preference, the centralized collection and delivery system was deployed and used by new canaan insurance agency inc. for objective 3, to determine the usability of the centralized collection and delivery system, the researcher used the use questionnaire by lund (2001). since the instrument was already utilized by the previous researchers and these were truly used in evaluating systems in the ict world, it is presumed to be valid and reliable and that no more validation and reliability tests were conducted. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research data collection the data gathered from the 28 respondents were analyzed and interpreted using statistical treatments such as frequency count, mean and 5 point likert scale. the researcher used a five-point rating scale to determine the usability of the centralized collection and delivery system of new canaan insurance agency, inc. this five-point scale rating was computed and formulated by the statistician consulted. the obtained means were interpreted using the following range of values and corresponding descriptive interpretations: scale statistical range descriptive equivalent rating (der) descriptive interpretation 5 4.20 5.00 strongly agree usable 4 3.414.19 agree usable 3 2.60-3.39 neutral usable 2 1.80-2.59 disagree not usable 1 1.00-1.79 strongly disagree not usable if the grand mean will result to 2.60 or higher, the developed system is said to be usable. having a grand mean lower than 2.60 would mean the produced system is not usable for the ncia. results and discussion procedures in collection, delivery, payment, and pick up of new canaan insurance agency, inc. from the interview conducted with the chief financial officer of new canaan insurance agency, inc., the procedures of ncia in transactions that involve collection or payment of premiums, and delivery or pick-up of insurance policy, claims document, check settlement, government payment, and marketing collateral are done manually. the employees do the request and forward it to the liaison officers. since these are done manually, every member of the team needs to ask the liaison officers to do delivery, pick up, payment, and collection from time to time. 113 international peer reviewed journal general description of developed system the centralized collection and delivery system was developed to check and monitor the collection, delivery, payment, and pick – up transactions of ncia. the employees can make request effortlessly by filling out the request form. a terminal report is created and to be forwarded to the messenger. the credit and collection officer can update the system if the requested transaction is completed. furthermore, the administrator can easily verify the completed and canceled proceedings. he can also check the performance of the messenger. moreover, the centralized collection and delivery system of new canaan insurance agency inc. was developed based on the evolutionary prototyping model. features of the centralized collection and delivery system snapshot of codes this is a snapshot of codes used in the program particularly in the request form. plate 1. snapshot of codes home menu the home menu of the centralized collection and delivery system of new canaan insurance agency, inc. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research plate 2. home menu request form the request form is used to request transactions involving collection or payment of premiums and delivery or pick up of insurance policy, claims document, check settlement, government payment, and marketing collateral. a terminal report is created after request. plate 3. request form 115 international peer reviewed journal messenger form messenger form is used to update completed or canceled transactions in agency billed collection, delivery, and pick – up. plate 4. messenger form c & c form c & c form is used to update completed or canceled transactions in direct billed collection only. plate 5. c & c form 116 jpair multidisciplinary research report form the report form is used to create reports of canceled, done, delivered, and undelivered. in addition, daily collection and monthly collection can be generated. plate 6. report form manage menu through the manage menu, the administrator can add, update, and delete a company, user, and insurer. moreover, it allows you to remove a request. plate 7. manage menu 117 international peer reviewed journal login form the login form allows only registered user to manipulate the system. a user can be categorized as administrator, c & c, employee, and messenger. plate 8. login form usability of the centralized collection and delivery system usefulness the result (see table 2) implies that the system satisfied their needs to make their work easier. the findings strengthen the view of dick, steen and detmer (1997) that gathering the data to prepare reports can be immediately timeconsuming and costly when they are manually abstracted from paper records, but with a computer-based patient record (cpr), reporting on aggregate data can be a by product of capturing data electronically. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. usability of the centralized collection and delivery system regarding usefulness indicator mean descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 1. it helps me to be effective. 4.16 agree usable 2. it helps me to be productive. 4.33 strongly agree usable 3. it is useful. 4.16 agree usable 4. it gives me more control over the activities on my life. 3.83 agree usable 5. it makes the things i want to accomplish easier to get done. 3.92 agree usable 6. it saves me a time when i use it. 3.83 agree usable 7. it meets my needs. 3.67 agree usable 8. it does everything i would expect it to do software is very useful. 3.75 agree usable overall mean 3.96 agree usable ease of use results showed (see table 3) that the system is easy to manipulate by anybody even without user training. “i can recover from mistakes quickly and easily” is the lowest indicator with a mean of 3.92. the result means that even without looking at the user manual, the user can recover from mistakes effortlessly. the results support the notion of clark and d’onofrio (1999) in his invention to provide a friendly graphic user interface in a single or multiple user environments for initiating transactions, retrieving data, and communicating with on-line processors. 119 international peer reviewed journal table 3. usability of the centralized collection and delivery system regarding of ease of use indicator mean descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 1. it is easy to use. 4.25 strongly agree usable 2. it is simple to use. 4.25 strongly agree usable 3. it is useful. 4.33 strongly agree usable 4. it is user-friendly. 4.35 strongly agree usable 5. it requires the fewest steps possible to accomplish what i want to do with it. 4.5 strongly agree usable 6. it is flexible. 4.17 agree usable 7. using it is effortless. 4.25 strongly agree usable 8. i can use it without written instructions. 4.33 strongly agree usable 9. i don’t notice any inconsistencies as i use it. 4.17 agree usable 10. i can recover from mistakes quickly and easily. 3.92 agree usable 11. i can use it successfully every time. 4.00 agree usable overall mean 4.23 strongly agree usable ease of learning the results (see table 4) indicated that users can easily operate the software. the lowest indicators were “i learned to use it quickly” and “i quickly become skillful with it” show that mastery of using the system is simple. the findings strengthen the study of edmund, ramaiah, and gulla (2009) entitled, electronic medical records management system that through this development, it achieved convenience of use, and information is more organized and easier to read compared to paper records. moreover, it improved efficiency of processes such as data collection, data management and data retrieval. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. usability of the centralized collection and delivery system regarding of ease learning indicator mean descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 1. i learned to use it quickly. 4.42 strongly agree usable 2. i can remember how to use it. 4.50 strongly agree usable 3. it is easy to learn to use it. 4.50 strongly agree usable 4. i quickly became skilful with it. 4.42 strongly agree usable overall mean 4.46 strongly agree usable satisfaction results revealed that the users are well satisfied at the functionality of the system that is why they may recommend it to others (see table 5). the results support the claim of dick, steen and detmer (1997) that to manage the delivery of care in an integrated delivery system (ids), a health system must have efficient and accurate ways of capturing, managing, and analyzing clinical data collected at all different sites where care is provided. table 5. usability of the centralized collection and delivery system regarding of satisfaction indicator mean descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 1. i am satisfied with it. 3.67 agree usable 2. i would recommend it to a friend. 3.58 agree usable 3. it is fun to use. 4.00 agree usable 4. it works the way i want it to work. 4.33 strongly agree usable 5. it is wonderful. 3.58 agree usable 6. i feel i need to have it. 4.00 agree usable 7. it is pleasant to use. 4.00 agree usable overall mean 3.88 strongly agree usable 121 international peer reviewed journal summary on the usability of the centralized collection and delivery system it is apparent that the system is usable to the new canaan insurance agency, inc. garnering a total grand mean of 4.13 (see table 6). it means that the respondents are satisfied with the functionality of the system. they can feel the impact of its usefulness in their company. it is noted that the highest mean is 4.30 which is the indicator “ease of learning.” the result implies that users strongly agreed that they find it easy to learn the system even without user’s training. the lowest mean value was “satisfaction” with 3.88 which indicates that the users agreed that the centralized collection and delivery system satisfied their needs in performing their daily tasks. the result of determining the usability validates the ten usability heuristics of nielsen (2005) that to make the system usable, the status should be visible, matches the real world, and has user control and freedom. it also includes consistency on standards, has error prevention and recognition rather than recall. furthermore, flexibility and efficiency of use, aesthetic and minimalist designs should also be included. lastly, the users should recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors, and help and documentation should be incorporated too. table 6. summary table of the usability of the centralized collection and delivery system indicator mean descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 1. usefulness 3.96 agree usable 2. ease of use 4.23 strongly agrees usable 3. ease of learning 4.46 strongly agrees usable 4. satisfaction 3.88 agree usable grand mean 4.13 agree usable conclusions on the identification of procedures made in collection, delivery, payment, and pick-up, it is noted that it is done manually and very tedious on the part of the employees because tracing and monitoring of transactions are complicated. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research with this, the centralized collection and delivery system was developed using the evolutionary prototype model and it is achievable and reliable with its development and deployment. additionally, the system is also usable because it was designed to fit the needs of ncia to easily check the collected and uncollected premiums, and delivered and undelivered insurance policy, claims, check settlement, government payment, and marketing collateral. they can also monitor the performance of the liaison officers and the request of transaction is centralized. translational research the development of the centralized collection and delivery system were conceived primarily for the benefit of the ncia. the output is mainly intended to trace and monitor the transactions of the company involving collection, payment, delivery, and pick-up. the system has been deployed and used by the company as part of their daily business operations. as the company uses the system, some enhancements were adopted on the fast changing business environment like a more userspecific filtered reports, ticketing system or at best a customer link request system. literature cited clark, b. a., & d’onofrio, j. (1999). u.s. patent no. 5,890,140. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office. retrieved on july 15, 2014, from https://goo.gl/ehtvaf davenport, t. h., & short, j. e. (2003). information technology and business process redesign. operations management: critical perspectives on business and management, 1, 97. retrieved on july 23, 2014, from https://goo.gl/ a4pvwh dick, r. s., steen, e. b., & detmer, d. e. (eds.). (1997). the computerbased patient record:: an essential technology for health care. national academies press. retrieved on july 24, 2014, from https://goo.gl/4jwx7m edmund, l. c. s., ramaiah, c. k., & gulla, s. p. (2009). electronic medical records management systems: an overview. desidoc journal of library & 123 international peer reviewed journal information technology, 29(6), 3-12. retrieved on july july 21, 2014 from http://goo.gl/4uffv5 johnson, j. j., and james r. mcelroy jr. “computer based records management system method.” u.s. patent 5,813,009, issued september 22, 1988. retrieved on july 23, 2014, from https://goo.gl/lr6p4c liabsuetrakul, t., petmanee, p., sanguanchua, s., & oumudee, n. (2012). health system responsiveness for delivery care in southern thailand. international journal for quality in health care, 24(2), 169-175. retrieved on july 21, 2014, from http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=786644 nielsen, j. (2005). ten usability heuristics. retrieved on july 21, 2014, from http://goo.gl/kybmmw 24 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.387 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract the creation of a counseling approach for filipinos remains a big challenge to counselors. foreign counseling methods do not meet the needs of filipino clients in addressing diverse issues. moreover, different regions have different perspectives as far as problems, etiology, manifestations and solutions are concerned. the study aimed to show that spaces, an innovative counseling approach, can be a tool in counseling. spaces is multidimensional counseling approach designed by dr. alexa p. abrenica, a filipino psychologist, which evaluates the spiritual life, physical health, attitude, creativity in solving problems, emotional health, satisfying work and support network of filipino clients. it is believed that a difficulty in one dimension will affect and bleed into other components. the author used spaces during a counseling service mission at iligan city, philippines after the onslaught of typhoon sendong in 2012. in the case of mina, a 43-year old widow and a victim of typhoon sendong, spaces was proven effective after its results were used to provide her treatment. spaces allowed the client let go of all the negative thoughts from the traumatic experience and considered it as an enriching experience. the use of spaces proves that counseling approaches must resonate culturally to achieve the real purpose of counseling. spaces as a counseling approach in treating traumatic experiences of the typhoon sendong victims in iligan city, philippines myla pilar s. pamplona http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1712-7174 myla.pamplona@perpetualdalta.edu.ph university of perpetual help system dalta molino cavite, philippines 25 international peer reviewed journal keywords – psychology, post-trauma counseling, counseling approach, spaces, case study, iligan city, philippines introduction typhoon sendong (international name: washi) is the 19th tropical storm that entered the philippine area of responsibility in the year of 2011 and considered the deadliest storm based on the data of national disaster risk reduction and management council (ndrrmc) (malig, 2011). the death toll reached a record of 957 and still counting with hundreds of people missing (daniel, 2011). government agencies and concerned citizens worked hand in hand to account for the dead bodies and to help people who had lost their loved ones (malig, 2011). seldom hit by storms, citizens in 13 provinces in mindanao will never forget the fateful night of december 16 (daniel 2011). cagayan de oro and iligan city were the areas hardest hit by typhoon sendong (gluck, 2012). villages such as cala-cala, isla de oro, isla delta, isla copa, isla bugnaw, and isla baksan were declared a “no return” zone namely (ledesma, 2012). the typhoon left hundreds of people traumatized because of the tragic flash floods in many areas in mindanao. the raging waters from cagayan river together with big logs from the mountains proved too much for people especially those living near the river banks. according to archbishop ledesma (2012) post-trauma counseling is considered one of the most urgent need of the survivors of typhoon sendong because of the difficulty of coping for the lost loved ones and their entire home. although material donations continue to overflow after the onslaught of the typhoon, the mental and emotional support is considered vital in the survival of the people. in times of natural disasters of this magnitude, counselors, and mental health professionals are very much needed on the ground to help traumatized victims. tropical storms are realities that cannot be avoided because of the location of the philippines being surrounded by bodies of water. although filipinos are known for being resilient, traumatic experiences, can often trigger anxiety and depression on a deeper level. the word “trauma” means a negative reaction from a very stressful event (giller, 1999) as explained by allen (1995): it is the subjective experience of the objective events that constitutes the trauma. the more you believe you are endangered, the more traumatized 26 jpair multidisciplinary research you will be…psychologically, the bottom line of trauma is overwhelming emotion and a feeling of utter helplessness. there may or may not be bodily injury, but psychological trauma is coupled with physiological upheaval that plays a leading role in the long-range effects. (p. 14). trauma differs from one person to another based on the subjective perception of the situation. few people escape the direct or indirect effect of the traumatic event (allen, 1995). sometimes, a person tries his best to avoid situations that serve as a reminder of the tragic event not knowing that facing this tragedy can lead to healing (allen, 2008). a person who is experiencing trauma experiences various symptoms of the disorder. trembling every time the event is being recalled in memory, anxiety, sleepless nights, crying and being emotional without much reason, and substance dependency are some of the symptoms if a person has trauma (levin, 2011). regardless of the source of emotional trauma, it contains three common elements: it was unexpected, the person was unprepared, and there was nothing the person could do to prevent it from happening (jaelline, segal, & dunke, 2005). these truths mean that it is not about the situation but how a person perceives the experience and how it affects one’s psychological functioning. a natural disaster can surprise even the richest and the most prepared person. the realization that the control is not anymore within reach and one is helpless to avoid it sometimes proved too much for a person. in the philippines, traumatic events are being treated lightly by some filipinos. the filipino spirit is not weaken even with the most tragic events (dela cruz, 2013). but reports prove that not every filipino is water-proof regarding adversities. the study of halili-jao (2011) revealed that there are many filipinos who are depressed and traumatized after a very stressful event especially after a natural disaster. filipinos cope with the situation by talking with someone, often with a friend (buan, 2013) or through alcohol drinking or smoking. however, trauma is not an overnight feeling that would soon go away but a persistent recurrence of the traumatic event that is hard to handle. since filipinos cope with such situations differently because of cultural values and environmental influence, there is a need to conceptualize an approach that would best fit the filipino norm. according to corey (2015) culture and diversity of the client is very important. he further discussed that western approaches claim a universal application and assume that values and perspectives are the same in all nations 27 international peer reviewed journal lacking the essence of multiculturalism. in the case of individuation wherein there is a separate existence of self, as the foundation for maturity and choice, the person is bounded by the culture he/she was exposed to. the responsibility rests primarily on the self not on groups that is why universal applicability cannot be considered. cultural assumption of counselors to their clients often resulted to biases that resulted to the refusal to avail of the services of mental health institutions by different populations (corey, 2015). western counseling techniques also focus on structures of the self as separate entities, not interconnected with one another. according to gines (1999), “western counselling approaches which are predominantly used in the philippines work well “in their environs of origin but certain elements in the strategies “seem” inapplicable to filipinos because of cultural values.” numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of western counselling approaches (comstock, hammer, strentzsch, cannon, parsons, & salazar ii, 2008) but there are still some doubts to its actual applicability (enriquez in pe-pua & marcelino, 2000). in a study of abrenica (2002) where 116 counselling outcome master’s theses were reviewed based on these four criteria: method of assessment, instrument used, experimenter’s expectancies and statistical inference, it was found out that more studies are needed to solve the issue as to whether these approaches work with the filipino people. deficiency on cultural perspective and understanding, assumed labels, and fixed ideas and concepts, serve as a hindrance to rapport building and counselling efficiency. salazar-clemenia (2000) suggests that in all these efforts the filipino worldview should be considered. gines, (1999) claimed that because the philippines has a network of values, beliefs and assumptions that are part of the human environment, it is logical to use indigenous therapies that fit the filipino psyche. most western approaches do not have the spiritual dimension in their technique which is very important in the filipino culture (abrenica, 2002). the filipino’s belief to babaylans and catalonans can be traced way back its existence. babaylans are considered the first filipino psychologists and the values and beliefs exhibited by filipinos like “utang na loob,” (debt of gratitude) “hiya,” (shame) “mainit na pagtanggap sa panauhin,” (warm welcome to guests) encompass filipinos’ own ideologies and traditions (pe-pua & marcelino, 2000). spaces published by dr. abrenica (2002), is an acronym for s – spiritual life; p – physical health; a – attitude; c – creativity in solving problems; e – emotional health; s – satisfying work and s – support network. it is believed 28 jpair multidisciplinary research that a difficulty in one dimension will affect and bleed the other components (abrenica, 2013). the study aimed to show spaces as an innovative counseling approach that can be a tool in counseling. the author was able to utilize spaces during a counselling service mission at iligan city after the onslaught of typhoon sendong on january 20-21, 2012. framework figure 1. model of spaces as a multidimensional approach spaces as a counseling approach spaces is viewed as a multidimensional approach (abrenica, 2002). it is also worth mentioning that filipinos from different regions have different perspectives as far as problems are concerned, their etiology, manifestations and solutions. the approach is based on the idea that problems can manifest themselves in the various dimensions of a person. in a book entitled, spaces wellsprings of the middle years and beyond, dr. abrenica (2002) discussed the following dimensions: physical dimension. physical manifestations as a consequence of the problem or as a reason for consulting a counselor possibly somatization when a client has 29 international peer reviewed journal concerns that are difficult to handle; persistent headaches or a migraine; cardiac condition, ulcers and so on; also refer to physical changes as a consequence of developmental transitions that need to be clarified by a professional. emotional dimension. emotional outbursts; depression can accompany the physical condition. spirituality or belief in a supreme being. this is very much a part of the filipino worldview (abrenica, 2013). filipinos are very spiritual and prayers are seen as an antidote to problems. attitude is the tendency to act towards or away from an object, event or person. a positive attitude indicates an easier journey into a return to full functioning and wellness. a negative attitude can pose a greater challenge to the counselor. in the filipino context, attitude toward the problem can be viewed as a test of faith, punishment for sins or wrong decisions. creativity. inventiveness, or creative power or ability (thesaurus). points to creative solutions to the problem; viewing the concern from a broader perspective can present various ways of dealing with it; lack of creativity or obscureness of talents because of early experiences may figure in this component. support network of family and friends. family and friends can be identified as support system but also irritant in one’s existence. satisfying work can be a problem source or therapeutic balm for the troubled soul. figure 2. conceptual paradigm for spaces as a counseling approach for trauma victims 30 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2 shows the paradigm on how spaces was utilized to help trauma victims of typhoon sendong. the experience of the respondent was evaluated using spaces. during the initial interview the client exhibited symptoms of trauma that can be attributed to the tragic events that the client personally experienced. the client was able to describe important areas of her life like spirituality, physical dimension, and attitude, creativity in solving problems, emotions, and support network. spiritual dimension plays an important part in the culture of filipinos. western counseling approaches focused more on cognitive and inner consciousness while spaces substantiates the belief to a supreme being. prayers are therapeutic balm that calms the soul. spaces compared to most western counseling approaches gives emphasis to faith and belief in god and use this as a positive coping mechanism which can be good to work through problems. support network also exhibited the filipino value of “pagmamahal sa pamilya,” (love of family) extending help and concern to members of the family. methodology research design the study utilized a single case design to analyze the traumatic experience of a survivor in iligan city during the onslaught of typhoon sendong. since the case study design is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (yin, 2009). a case study is a detailed study of a small number of cases. the collected data were analyzed taking into account the characteristic features of each case. factual situation is vital for a case study to be able to understand the subject and how it was influenced by the environment and internal factors (yin, 2009). population and sampling purposive sampling was used in the study for the respondent needs to meet certain criteria to be qualified. the respondent was chosen because of the symptoms of trauma present being one of the survivors of typhoon sendong. participant of the study the study was a single case study of a survivor after the onslaught of typhoon sendong. the participant came from a referral of pilmico, a company in iligan city, which spearheaded the counseling sessions for the employees and their relatives. the criterion set was the actual exposure of the client to a traumatic event. 31 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedure the class of dr. alexa abrenica on counseling trauma victims expressed their desire to help traumatized victims in iligan city. after coordinating with a university headed by dr. miriam que, referrals from pilmico, were given. the number of clients was based on trauma victims who voluntarily agreed to have counseling session. the researcher utilized spaces during the session with the trauma victim with the able supervision of dr. alexa abrenica, the author of spaces. data analysis the client was encouraged to talk freely about her experience. patterns were generated that describe the event utilizing the dimensions in spaces. seven areas in the life of the client were given detailed attention and importance such as spirituality, physical, attitude, creativity in solving problems, emotions, satisfying work and support network. these dimensions were used to generate initial codes and eventually themes, which comprise the final report. a comprehensive description of the clients’ experience was done to fully analyze the gathered data and also to describe the effect of spaces to the well-being of the client. the study was limited to application of spaces on a single individual who experienced trauma after the tragic typhoon sendong. the analysis was based on the subjective experience of the respondent. it was also limited to one respondent because it was based on referrals and the limited time that the researcher was able to stay in iligan city to get information. during service missions wherein too much grief and sadness are present, the right words to say is crucial in counseling sessions. since the main aim of the author during the mission is to help trauma victims, spaces was utilized to the individual who was in dire need of counseling. results and discussion spaces is useful as a counselling springboard in opening avenues with the client because it cover almost all issues and concerns. one of my clients showed signs of trauma and was counseled using spaces. my first-hand experience in the session with a trauma victim was not easy since rapport building was crucial during the initial meeting. genuine concern and empathy were important gestures that helped the client feel safe and comfortable with the therapist. spaces gives direction during the interview and assessment of the client. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research i. personal profile name : mina (not her real name) address : barangay hinaplanon age : 43 years old status : widow ii. counseling process mina, is the sister of charity, wife of one of the employees in pilmico, mina is presently staying with her sister because their house in barangay hinaplanon was one of the hundred houses that were washed out by raging waters from the river during the onslaught of typhoon sendong. a. spiritual life mina’s spirituality can be attributed to her strong faith in god. it was only god that was on her mind the whole time that typhoon sendong was lashing its wrath. she is a born again christian. three of them were in the house according to her. her son was with his girlfriend in the living room while she tried to rest in the bedroom as the rain poured down hard on their roof. she started praying that the rain would stop since it was the first time that they experienced the rain pouring for hours. around 11:00 pm, her son started shouting as they rushed to the second floor of their house where she was resting. the first floor was submerged in water for 30 minutes, and she told her son that they swim to the door since both of them are good swimmers. but his son’s girlfriend did not know how to swim. the rushing waters started to reach the second floor and they climbed on their cabinet almost reaching the roof. “ma pray ka, ma pray ka!”( please pray mother), his son kept on shouting. mina started praying hard, “lord please save us!” as the water reach their thighs. “ma subukan ko sirain yung bubong!” (mother, i will try to destroy the roof ). her son started banging the roof with their stand fan. the girlfriend started crying as she was losing hope while mina was praying in her mind. as if a miracle, her son managed to put a large hole on the roof and climbed. as he was pulling mina and his girlfriend on the roof, the water continues to rise reaching their neck. mina thanked the lord for saving them that fateful day. b. physical dimension as mina recounted the tragedy of typhoon sendong she started crying. her hand was also trembling so was her voice. she always experienced shortness of 33 international peer reviewed journal breath and felt her heart racing so fast every time she recalled what happened to them. at first, she could not eat that much for about three days, for she cannot believe that she lost everything and many of her neighbors died after the calamity. c. attitude although she is experiencing some negative thoughts and fears, mina is optimistic about the future. she and her son started to attend the church service for she believes that only god can help her in what she is going through. she also encouraged her son to go back to work in a factory so that he will be busy and will not always think of what happened. during the time of the counseling, mina did not have plans in coming back to their barangay to rebuild their house although her son expressed his desire to go back. mina wanted to start their life in a different place so that she will be able to forget the tragedy. d. creativity in solving their problems mina’s decision was somewhat tentative since she wanted to start life anew in a different place. she was also thinking to transfer to cavite since one of their sister is in dasmarinas. her decision, however, was not yet final since her son wanted to stay in the same barangay because of his girlfriend. e. emotional dimension mina was still very emotional during the counseling session. she cried as she recalled the tragedy of typhoon sendong. she still experienced nightmares and woke up trembling and shaking. as she prayed to the lord, it was often with tears, and she found comfort in giving all her fears and worries to god. every time it rains, she felt fearful that it would not stop. mina was also very anxious about her son’s decision since it was already five years when her husband passed away. she could not stay in cavite if her son was not with her. f. support group mina has a very solid support group with the family of charity. they were the ones who convinced her to come to pilmico for a counseling session. according to charity, they encouraged mina on decisions she made. they allowed her to stay with them as long as she likes until she feels she is strong enough to start her life. mina is also very thankful to her pastor who always counsels her to remain strong in her faith with god. mina believes that she will be able to recover with god’s help and very thankful that there are people who are willing to help and support her. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research g. satisfying work mina has a small sari-sari store before typhoon sendong washed away all her properties. during the counseling session, mina has no plans to go back and re-establish her business. charity, however, tried to convince mina to start a sarisari store in their compound. with no decision on when and how to start, mina did not accept charity’s offer. iii. case conceptualization problem: fearful feelings every time memories of the tragedy come to mind and related incidents (every time it rains). anxiety for not being able to decide where to start because of son’s decision. precipitating: negative emotions were the result of a tragic incident by typhoon sendong which drastically changed their lives. properties and lives were lost after the typhoon. the anxiety felt is caused by a different decision of mother and son on where to start their lives. the mother wanted to begin in another place because of the trauma she felt while the son expressed desire to stay because of his girlfriend. perpetuating: crying, shaking and trembling were some of the manifestations of the fear that mina felt every time she remembered what happened. not being able to convince her son to start in another place also adds to her fear and anxious feelings. predisposing: no predisposing factors iv. treatment plan after the counseling session, the counselor conducted a relaxation technique to calm the client. she was able to let all her negative thoughts out of her mind so that she can relax. using the results of the spaces, the counselor pointed out strengths and areas of improvements to guide the client on what to do. 1. spirituality and strong faith in god helped mina to get over her traumatic experience. the counselor encouraged the client to continue with her prayer life since it gave her the strength to move on. 35 international peer reviewed journal 2. cognitive restructuring was also recommended especially when it would rain. instead of associating the rain to the tragedy, the client was encouraged to associate it to the miracle that god has done to her family. she was encouraged to thank and praise god every time it rains so that her mind will not be preoccupied by negative thoughts. 3. relaxation technique like breathing deeply and meditating using god’s word was also a tool in dealing with stress and anxiety. 4. eating well, physical exercise and good rest were recommended to help her recover fast. 5. her optimistic attitude can be utilized so that she can do more activities making her productive. 6. her support group can serve as a motivating factor in helping her do more productive things like going to church, attending counseling sessions, engaging in business endeavors so that she will not think about the tragedy the whole time. conclusions based on the counseling session, using spaces as a counseling approach was seen to be effective. since the filipino culture is more expressive compared to others, talking to the client about the different dimensions was an enriching experience. i agree that one of the concerns of the counseling field in the philippines is to make counseling approaches resonate culturally (abrenica, 2002) and we are proud to have counselors who continue to create counseling methods that are applicable to our culture. spiritual aspect is one of the highlights of spaces, an area which is lacking in most western approaches. filipinos are known for their deep devotion with god and often use their faith to cope with problems and difficulties in life (abrenica, 2002). spaces as a multidimensional approach is evident during my counseling session with mina. her fears and anxiety which is an emotional dimension can also be linked to physical dimensions like trembling and difficulty in breathing. her anxiety also affects her creativity in making decisions and her feelings toward the decision of her son to stay. what is good about mina is her strong faith in 36 jpair multidisciplinary research god, her positive attitude, and her support group, areas that are also linked to one another that is why she did not succumb to depression and had high hopes of recovery. translational research the study will benefit persons who had experienced traumatic events in their lives. it will give insight into the emotions and thoughts of victims and how spaces as a counseling approach can help persons who had experienced trauma as a result of a tragic event. filipino counselors can utilize spaces as they conduct counseling sessions with their clients. the consideration given to the values and culture of filipinos will aid in effective diagnosis. the study will also be significant to the government so that loved ones of the victims of natural disasters will be given much-needed support psychologically. spaces is another contribution to the counseling profession since it is culture sensitive and adheres to the filipino values and belief systems. literature cited abrenica, a. p. (2002). spaces: wellsprings of the middle years and beyond. de la salle university press. abrenica, a. (2013). spaces: a proposed counseling approach. the philippine guidance journal, xli, 1, pp 134-138. buan, l. ( july 13, 2013) depressed? it’s not enough to just talk to. retrieved from http://goo.gl/xizjrs comstock, d. l., hammer, t. r., strentzsch, j., cannon, k., parsons, j., & ii, g. s. (2008). relational‐cultural theory: a framework for bridging relational, multicultural, and social justice competencies.  journal of counseling & development, 86(3), 279-287. corey, g. (2015).  theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. nelson education. daniel, m. (december 19, 2011). tropical storm washi kills hundreds in the philippines 37 international peer reviewed journal http://earthsky.org/earth/tropical-storm-washi-kills-hundreds-in-thephilippines dela cruz, p.a. (november, 16, 2013). the resilient filipino spirit and a need for a balanced perspective. retrieved from http://asianjournal.com/lifestyle/theresilient-filipino-spirit-and-a-need-for-balanced-perspective/ disasters in asia: the case for legal preparedness retrieved from http://www. ifrc.org/pagefiles/134443/asia%20report.pdf giller, e. (1999). what is psychological trauma.  sidran institute. retrieved on august 6, 2016 from https://www.sidran.org/resources/for-survivors-andloved-ones/what-is-psychological-trauma/ gines, a. c. (1999).  towards the indigenization of therapeutic intervention strategies. philippine normal university. halili-jao, n. (april 3, 2011). traumatized? retrieved on from http://www. philstar.com:8080/allure/672053/traumatized ledesma, a. j. (january 23, 2012). sendong aftermath: building communities of hope in cagayan de oro retrieved from http://www.mindanews.com/ top-stories/2012/01/23/sendong-aftermath-building-communities-of-hopein-cagayan-de-oro/ levin, p. (2011). common responses to trauma & coping strategies. retrieved on august 6, 2016 from http://www.trauma-pages.com/s/t-facts.php malig, j. (december 20, 2011). sendong’ world’s deadliest storm for 2011 retrieved from http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/12/19/11/sendong-worldsdeadliest-storm-2011 pe‐pua, r., & protacio‐marcelino, e. a. (2000). sikolohiyang pilipino (filipino psychology): a legacy of virgilio g. enriquez.  asian journal of social psychology, 3(1), 49-71. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research salazar-clemenia, r.m.c. (2000) counseling in asia integrating cultural perspectives. ed). makati: asian psychological and educational counsellors of asia. (apeca). retrieved on august 6, 2016 from http://lib1000.dlsu. edu.ph/record=b1030258~s19 yin, r. k. (2009). case study research: design and methods 4th ed. inunited states: library of congress cataloguing-in-publication data. 91 international peer reviewed journal vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.392 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract infection control is one of the hospital policies that prevents and controls the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections. the study aimed to determine the adherence of staff nurses of hospitals in marawi city and its relationship to the factors affecting their adherence to the said protocol. the study was conducted in the different hospitals in marawi city. the respondents were the 60 staff nurses working in the different institutions of the city and 50 significant others who were staying with the patient for not less than 3 days of confinement. the study utilized the quantitative research design aimed at descriptive correlation analysis on the adherence of staff nurses on infection control protocol and the factors affecting their compliance to it. the tools composed of questionnaires and checklists. frequencies, percentages, and spearman rho correlation were the statistical tools utilized. the findings of the study showed that 73.3% staff nurses were moderately adhering to infection control protocol and this is affected by some variables under the workload, work set-up, cultural practices, administration and supervision. these are also the variables having significant relationship to the adherence of staff nurses to infection control. keywords – health, infection control, factors affecting adherence, quantitative research, descriptive correlation, marawi city philippines relationship of work related factors to the adherence of staff nurses of hospitals in marawi city, philippines to infection control protocol salmah lao manaloconbasher http://orcid.org 0000-0002-15582395 salmahbasher2@gmail.com mindanao state university, philippines 92 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction infection control protocol is a guideline that every staff nurse should follow to prevent the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections or nosocomial infections, which is an invasion of the body by microorganisms capable of producing disease. disease results if the pathogens multiply and cause an alteration in normal tissue function (potter, perry, stockert, & hall, 2016). it is called communicable or contagious disease if the infectious disease can be transmitted directly from one person to another. whenever possible, the nurse implements strategies to prevent infection, (aiken, clarke & sloane, 2002). if the nurse cannot prevent the infection, his goal is to hinder its spread within and between people, and to treat the existing infection. according to maki (2005), statistical evidence shows the increasing problems with nosocomial infections that include gram-negative bacilli (increased to 56.8%), gram positive cocci (33.6%) and yeasts (8.4%). in addition, some other hospitals in the philippines also revealed statistical proof on problems relating to infection control like the increasing infection rate for surgical wounds (12.5%), urinary tract infections (40%), infection of the skin and mucus membrane (10.8%), and infection on surgery site, 10% (cuevas, 2007). in australia, there are around 200,000 nosocomial infections in their acute healthcare facilities each year. this makes hospital acquired infection the most usual complication affecting admitted patients in hospital. as well as resulting to unnecessary pain and suffering for patients and their families, these problems lengthen hospital stays and are expensive to the health care system (minnesota department of health, 2010). in the united states, there was an increase in the incidence of healthcarerelated methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) pneumonia from 2008 through 2012 (lewis et al., 2014). to be diagnosed with a disease generates fear and anxiety in the individuals due to the perception of its effect and the uncertainty of the outcome of the treatment. the death of many patients that is related to hospital acquired infections continuously challenge the health care delivery system of the institution on its provision on the quality of care services by adhering to standard procedures and protocols, thereby, preventing occurrence of problems that will not only affect the patients but also family members and health care providers. the challenge is in the hospital, which is a place where people go to relieve their discomforts and pain, to submit themselves for therapeutic work up that will treat their disease condition, and to verify the presence of a disease process by undergoing 93 international peer reviewed journal diagnostic procedures. however, this place may also predispose and threaten not only the health condition and safety of the patient but also other individuals in the hospital such as the nurses who act as 24-hour front liners who take care of their patients (craven, hirnle & jensen, 2013). this has been a problem in the past, now at present and even in the future, thus, ways of preventing and controlling its occurrence must be maximized by complying with the approved protocol geared towards the attainment of our goals in minimizing nosocomial infections. in marawi city, the leading cause of morbidity according to department of health epidemiology center (2010) was respiratory tract infection that is a communicable disease and is also known to be one of the most acquired infections in the hospital setting. lower respiratory tract infections are the most common lethal nosocomial infections in the united states of america (peleg & hooper, 2011). framework the study is anchored on florence’s nightingale’s environmental theory and betty neumann’s theory on health care delivery system. nightingale defined nursing as the act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery which involves the nurses’ initiative to configure environmental settings as appropriate for the gradual restoration of the patient’s health, and that external factors associated with the patient’s surroundings affect life or biologic and physiologic processes, and his development. this theory is highly related to this study, since this serves as the basis for formulating infection control protocol. the process in which patients acquire infections in the hospital setting can be attributed to contamination of environmental factors such as air, water, drainage, light and cleanliness that are mentioned in this theory. thus, to place the patient in an environment conducive to health, manipulation of such factors through proper compliance to the infection control protocol is indeed, significant and is the best and primary step in preventing, controlling and minimizing the occurrence of nosocomial infections. the theory of betty neumann on healthcare delivery system views the person as a dynamic composite of physiological, socio-cultural and developmental variables that functions as an open system. this theory is also applicable in this study considering that interactions between man and the environment predisposes man to stressors that can be classified as chemical, mechanical, injury 94 jpair multidisciplinary research and biological stressors which may disrupt man’s health, thus, causing a disease process, specially infectious diseases. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the relationship between the personal profile of the respondents, the problems encountered in the implementation of infection control protocol and the adherence of staff nurses of hospitals in marawi city, philippines to infection control protocol. methodology this study utilized the non-experimental research design aimed at descriptive correlation analysis on adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol and the factors affecting their compliance to the said protocol. factors are referring to personal profile, workload problems, work set-up, administration and supervision, cultural beliefs and practices and the perception of nurses on the problems related to the implementation of infection control in terms of patients’ complications and infection transmission. it used a self-made questionnaire that was given to each respondent. a pilot testing and cronbach alpha analysis were utilized to ensure reliability and validity of the questionnaire. a follow up interview was also done. research setting the study was conducted in marawi city, popularly known as islamic city of marawi and is the capital city of the province of lanao del sur, philippines. the city has only 1 government hospital named amaipakpak medical center that has a 100-bed capacity and 11 private institutions. below is the table showing the bed capacity of each hospital in the city participants the respondents of the study constituted of staff nurses from different hospitals in marawi city such as amai pakpak medical center, family hospital, abbas hospital, fatima kids hospital, abdullah hospital, mapandi memorial hospital, midtown hospital, mindalano hospital, hijra hospital, sohaya hospital, magayoong hospital, and salam hospital. the study population for staff nurses was determined by simple enumeration. nurses who were on leave from the hospital for one month were not included in the sample population. 95 international peer reviewed journal table 2. number of respondents of each hospital in marawi city hospitals in marawi city number of nurses as respondents number of significant others as respondents 1. amaipakpak medical center 30 21 2. hijra hospital 2 3 3. abdullah hospital 4 7 4. sohaya diagnostic and medical hospital 2 2 5. fatima kids hospital 2 2 6. family hospital 3 3 7. mapandi memorial hospital 4 3 8. abbas hospital 3 1 9. salaam hospital 3 2 10. mindalano specialist hospital 2 3 11. magayoong hospital 2 2 12. midtown hospital 2 1 total 60 50 the study population was determined by simple enumeration. a list of nurses in each hospital was determined and included in the sample population for staff nurses. each of the staff nurses as was asked to answer the checklist about their adherence to infection control protocol and the questionnaire related to their demographic profile, problems encountered in their adherence to the said protocol. the study used informed consent from the respondents and applied confidentiality of information. permission was obtained from the administration through request letters given to the chief of the hospital, the nursing health services and the chief nurses. lastly, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentage, weighted mean and spearman rho correlation. results and discussion the results revealed that many of the staff nurses were new graduates who had 1-2 years of hospital experience, which implies that practice of infection control was not that observed adequately due to their years of experience. novice nurses 96 jpair multidisciplinary research frequently work with few clinical assistance and mentoring activities/supports while handling complex patient situations that demand decision-making skills (gillespie & paterson, 2009). most of the nurses were single, and there is a greater chance for them to transfer to other institution or to work abroad. according to the philippine overseas employment administration (poea) (2001), there was a reported departure of 13, 536 filipino nurses to 31 countries, which is due to the salary scales in these foreign countries. among the forty-five staff nurses, 10 of them were non-licensed who were working in the private hospitals and receiving a salary of not more than five thousand pesos. this low salary can be attributed in part to the requirement of the philippine nursing law (2002) which states that: “all nursing graduates are required to pass a written examination, which shall be given by the board before they can practice nursing in the philippines.” it was also found out that 15% of the respondents were midwifery graduate who did not even pass the midwifery board examination and also functioning as staff nurses in the private hospitals, this could be the reason why some protocols were not strictly followed, they lack further training provided to nursing graduates. nursing education is designed to prepare students to administer holistic care to the diverse patient by widening students’ knowledge, improving their clinical skills, and molding their ethical principles (kelly & courts, 2007). it further revealed that half of the participants (50%) were employed less than a year in the particular hospitals. this fast turn-over of nurses is attributed to the earlier findings that nurses preferred to work abroad because of higher salary. other than salary, nurses change jobs due to benefits, convenience, and work schedule, offered by other hospitals or job-related stress (cangelosi, markham & bounds, 1998). regarding training, there were only 3 (5%) staff nurses who attended training and seminar about infection control protocol. evidences indicate that appropriate training of health care workers (hcws) could be effective in changing hcw behavior, particularly, if appropriate follow-up is applied (moore, gamage, bryce, copes, yassi, & bc interdisciplinary respiratory protection study group, 2005). midwifery graduates who are working as staff nurses in the private hospital were not able to receive any information and motivation from the hospital administrator regarding training and seminar about infection control, this can be in part, due to their qualification, they are not qualified to attend such training and seminars because these are for licensed professionals. trainings are part of education programs for infection control in the critical care unit and can lead to significant decrease in hospital expenditures and patient’s complications that are related to hospital-acquired infections (zack, et.al 2002). 97 international peer reviewed journal infection control guideline is implemented by various hospitals to minimize, control and prevent the occurrence of nosocomial or hospital acquired infections. standard precautions are some of the guidelines under infection control adopted by many institutions to reduce the possibility of transmission of blood-borne and other microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources (center for disease control, 2011) nurses being the front liners in the care of the patients play a vital role in the implementation of this protocol, thus, their adherence to the said guideline is determined. out of sixty participants, more than half of the them (73.3%) are moderately adhering to the infection control protocol. adherence to clinical guidelines has an impact on preventing patient complications (johansson, pilhammar, khalaf, & willman, 2008). their adherence level is related to other factors such as their workload, cultural practices of their patient, work set-up, support from the administration, and the supervision by their senior nurses or nurse managers. the most common condition cited in the workload factor is the nurse patient ratio, in which only 1-2 nurses were assigned to the hospital department especially in the ward area. in this case, one nurse is attending to more than 20 patients mostly, in the government hospitals. nurses usually complain of overwork by attending to many patients and underpay (ming-yi, 2006). in orlando, united states they developed what it calls a triad – a team composed of nurses, doctors and quality assurance personnel to work together on infection prevention (aston, 2013). poor adherence to hand washing was associated with the number of shifts per hemodialysis unit per day and with higher patient-to-nurse ratios (arenas et al., 2005). with that number of patients, it is expected that quality care is not properly observed. with regard to the work setup, lack of cabinets intended for proper storage of equipment and supplies also affect their compliance to the said protocol. the absence of lavatory in some of the departments of the hospital affects the frequency and proper hand washing among nurses. the presence of more than two watchers for every patient and the larger number of relatives visiting the patients make every room crowded, thus increasing the risk of infection transmission. the problem on supplies such as gloves, masks, and syringes also affect the adherence to infection control protocol. according to nichol, mcgeer, bigelow, o’brien-pallas, scott, and holness (2013), the use of facial protective equipment (fpe), one form of mask, is an important strategy to prevent occupational transmission of respiratory infection to health care workers. one syringe is intended for one medication, as observed, nurses used that syringe to patients receiving the same medication. though the needle is changed 98 jpair multidisciplinary research every after use, the syringe remains, which could have been already contaminated. according to kozier, erb, blais and wilkinson (2007), needles and syringes need to be used once and will be discarded in a puncture-proof container. hand washing, which is the primary step and is the best method of infection control serves as the number one guideline of the aforementioned protocol. nearly half of the respondents (41.7%) were observing strictly proper hand washing techniques because of their fear of acquiring infection and their concern of transmitting microorganisms to patients. most health care workers (hcws) are aware of the rationale for hand hygiene procedures, yet failure to adhere to guidelines is common (o’boyle, henly, & larson, 2001). friction, which is a very important component of hand washing, is also observed but the frequency of doing the procedure is performed two to three times per shift only. the promotion of bedside, antiseptic hand rubs largely contributed to the increase in compliance (pittet et al., 2000). the staff nurses who were strictly adhering to aseptic technique during special procedures were the nurses assigned to the special areas that include the operating room, recovery room, delivery room, neonatal intensive care unit, and the emergency department, which has something to do with the usual invasive procedures performed in these areas. the benefits of preventing surgical site infections are preventing patient mortality and decreasing the hospital expenses (spruce, 2014). surveillance plays a vital role part in the control of infection. this will determine the extent, the number of nosocomial infection occurring in the hospital and will even serve as a basis for formulating measures that may solve the problem. however, based on the findings of this study, 41.7% of the respondents were slightly adhering to the surveillance and even not adhering to the protocol about reporting of diseases. according to pittet (2005), early infection control committee showed that surveillance and prevention programs could be successful in minimizing infection control. fumigation, the use of smoke in destroying microorganisms is also adopted by public hospital as one of the guidelines in infection control. this procedure was associated with control of a nosocomial outbreak and elimination of persistent environmental contamination (falagas, thomaidis, kotsantis, sgouros, samonis, & karageorgopoulos, 2011). all of the respondents, including those in the private hospitals, were not adhering to fumigation since it is usually performed in special areas only and other agencies like the sanitary office of the local government performs this activity. based on the study of murthy (2001), there is a need for a close collaboration among the disciplines 99 international peer reviewed journal of infectious diseases, like microbiology, hospital epidemiology, pharmacy, and nursing, with particular emphasis in critical care units, and with strong support from administrators. supplies in the different areas of the hospital such as minor sets, cotton balls, and distilled water need to be autoclaved before use to maximize sterility, thus, will prevent infection. there are only two hospitals in marawi city that are performing autoclaving with their supplies and these include amaipakpak medical center, the only public hospital in the city and mindalano hospital, the largest private hospital with 50bed capacity. most of the nurses in other private hospitals were not adhering to autoclaving due to unavailability of machine. soaking equipment in a solution for 24 hours and exposing it to heat are some of the measures they performed as a substitute for autoclaving. regarding proper ventilation, the nurses who answered that they were strictly adhering to the procedure were the nurses from the special areas such as the emergency room; neonatal care intensive unit, delivery room, and operating room. since cases handled in these areas require intensive management, environmental manipulation such as the provision of proper ventilation and exhaust fans. many nurses who were moderately adhering to proper ventilation mentioned the absence of exhaust fan even in private rooms and other departments, their reason for such level of adherence other nurses who answered slight adherence to the protocol were the ward nurses who attributed the situation to the absence of proper covering and the closeness of beds, thereby, increasing the risk of transmitting airborne and even droplet microorganisms to patients admitted in that area. out of sixty participants, more than half of them were slightly adhering to ultraviolet rays claiming that this is only performed in the special areas and is only observed in private rooms when a severely infected patient was admitted. cleaning, a major intervention in removing microorganisms from different surfaces is indeed vital in the prevention of infection. twenty-four nurses claim that they were slightly adhering to daily cleaning process because of scarcity of cleansing solution such as lysol or chlorox. moreover, busy days during duty hours, demands of patients and significant others hinder their plan of doing the process. nurses who were strictly adhering to cleaning process were the nurses from operating room, and other special areas, since invasive procedures and critical patients are handled in these areas. daily cleaning of lavatories in every room and departments is also very important in the prevention and control of infection. more than half of the nurses claim that they were slightly adhering to the procedure considering that it is not part of their duty. the use of color coded-waste bag in every hospital setting classifies 100 jpair multidisciplinary research the different types of waste such as non-infectious, or hazardous waste. dealing with waste products also varies. for example, infectious and hazardous waste requires treatment before discarding in appropriate places. however, a majority of the nurses confirm that they were slightly adhering to the protocol of using a color-coded waste bag. to prevent accidental puncture that may cause the transmission of blood borne infection such as hepatitis, acquired immuno deficiency syndrome and other infections, all sharp materials including needles, scalpels and ampules need to be placed in a puncture-proof container. concerning this, majority of the nurses answered that they were slightly adhering to the procedure since they were only using used iv bottles where they placed needles and other used sharp objects. also, more than half of the respondents were slightly adhering to the changing of linens every day since patients were bringing their own bed sheets and it is their watchers who perform the procedure. the curtain may also serve as reservoirs of microorganisms since it screens air in and out of the room. this needs to be changed weekly. but most of the nurses answered slight adherence to the protocol because of the limited number of curtains in the hospitals. segregation of cases is also a precaution technique that may prevent infection transmission. more than half of the nurses were slightly adhering to proper segregation of patients due to insufficiency of rooms and beds. according to 36.7% nurses who answered slight adherence to the proper distancing of beds claim that due to many patients that they were admitting at the ward area, they have difficulty in the proper distancing of beds because they add beds to accommodate more patients, thus, making the area crowded. the cultural practices of watching or visiting the patient among the meranao also affect the implementation of infection control protocol. it was observed that while the patient was confined in the hospital, there were more watchers and visitors coming to patients from time to time. thus, 61.7% claim that it would be impossible to adhere to this guideline because of cultural practices among patients. changing of hospital equipment and supplies such as intravenous cannula, scalp vein, nasogastric tube, foley bag catheter, endotracheal tube, suction tip were strictly observed by the majority of the respondents. regarding bathing, 31.7% of the nurses mentioned that they were slightly encouraging their patient to bathe everyday since this may seem to offend them or because of the patients’ belief that bathing will result to many complications. eating inside the emergency room is prohibited, but because watchers do not leave their patients, they even eat with them in the emergency room. there are times that nurses were too 101 international peer reviewed journal busy in the emergency room, they could not even go outside for their meals, their only choice was to eat within the area. table 2. nonparametric correlation, respondents’ demographic data with their adherence to infection control protocol respondents’ demographic data spearman rho correlation p value interpretation age .267* .039 significant at the .05 level marital status .319* .103 significant at the .05 level years in service -.283* .028 significant at the .05 level area of assignment .271* .036 significant at the .05 level position .388* .002 significant at the .05 level monthly salary .313* .015 significant at the .05 level trainings -.285* .027 significant at the .05 level seminars -.285* .027 significant at the .05 level ** correlation is significant at the .01 level (2 tailed) *correlation is significant at thee .05 level (2 tailed) results imply that nurses having trainings and seminars on infection control tend to adhere strictly on the implementation of the protocol. as nurses age, their experiences and learning increased, they are more vigilant in their compliance with the different protocol like infection control. the civil status, the being single of most of the respondents was found to have a relationship with their level of adherence to infection control protocol. years in service as hospital nurses reveal that the longer the years of experience, the more they become competent in performing nursing care utilizing infection control. with this, years in service are significantly related to the adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol. given with their experiences, they learned lessons from problems encountered regarding nosocomial infection which will result to their becoming more vigilant in the coming years in service. they tend to be skillful in maximizing compliance to infection control protocol. the area of assignment is also related to the adherence to the said protocol. nurses assigned to special areas such as operating room, recovery room, intensive care unit and emergency room were more compliant to the protocol because they know they were handling more critical patients requiring intense and invasive procedures that place patients at risk of acquiring nosocomial infections. nurses who possess administrative functions were more compliant 102 jpair multidisciplinary research to the said protocol, thus, a relationship between position and the adherence to infection control protocol was shown. compensation referring to monthly salary highly motivated employees to work harder and take more appropriate actions. this is also true among hospital staff nurses working, data revealed significant relationship between salary and their adherence to infection control protocol. trainings and seminars will further uplift nurses’ knowledge and skills in different concept and protocol. the study shows that nurses who attended trainings and seminars were more compliant to the said protocol compared to nurses who did not attend any training and seminar pertaining to infection control. table 3. nonparametric correlation, problems encountered by the staff nurses with their adherence to infection control protocol respondents’ demographic data spearman rho correlation p value interpretation age .267* .039 significant marital status .319* .103 significant years in service -.283* .028 significant area of assignment .271* .036 significant position .388* .002 significant monthly salary .313* .015 significant trainings -.285* .027 significant seminars -.285* .027 significant ** correlation is significant at the .01 level (2 tailed) *correlation is significant at the .05 level (2 tailed) there are some specific conditions which fall under factors like workload, work set-up, administration and supervision that have a significant relationship with the adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol. carrying out many doctors’ orders is significantly related to the adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol. this staff nurses’ workload range from 2-5 patients in the private hospital to more than 30 patients in public or government hospitals. there is a growing evidence that low nurse staffing jeopardizes the quality of patient care (hugonet, 2007). also , it shows that lack of facilities like cabinets and the absence of lavatory in the medication room are set-up work conditions that have a significant relationship with the adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol. regarding administration and supervision, the absence of colorcoded waste bag, failure of the guards to stop the entrance of children 103 international peer reviewed journal below 8 years of age, as well as the failure to screen the visitors during the non visiting hours are significantly related to the adherence of staff nurses to the said protocol. color coded waste bags are necessary for waste classification as either non-infectious or infectious. conclusion staff nurses of hospitals in marawi city, philippines are moderately adhering to infection control protocol. this adherence level is related to the specific conditions like workload, work set-up, administration and supervision, and cultural practices of patients. there are some guidelines like fumigation, radioactive light, pretreatment of linens, color-coded waste bags which are not implemented in the hospital but are part of the protocol. an interesting finding of this study is that 33% of the staff nurses in the private hospitals are non-licensed midwifery graduates who do not have adequate knowledge of the different nursing procedures performed in the hospital like maintaining asepsis, and some specific guideline in the protocol like fumigation. the hypotheses of the study are rejected considering that there are some variables found to have significant relationship with the adherence of staff nurses to infection control protocol. translational research health care providers can translate the results of this study to the development of enhancement programs geared towards improving their health care practices. this can also be utilized as a basis for the department of health (doh) in their review of current infection protocol to align it with international standards on the prevention and control of the occurrence and transmission of infection to patients, significant others and to members of health care team. institutions should also comply with the standards regarding nurse-patient ratio, training and seminars, supplies and work set-up. researchers can also use this study in the development of a quality assurance monitoring team that will be responsible for regular monitoring of the protocol and policies that must be implemented in the hospital. an infection control team also needs to be established to monitor the proper implementation of infection control protocol, the occurrence of hospital acquired infections and to plan and implement strategies to prevent and control infections in the hospital. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited aiken, l. h., clarke, s. p., sloane, d. m., sochalski, j., & silber, j. h. 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(2002). effect of an education program aimed at reducing the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia*. critical care medicine, 30(11), 2407-2412. 137 international peer reviewed journalvol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.396 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. development of healthy products using spider conch (gastropoda stromboidea) sulpicio d. garces, jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7296-3111 sulgarcesjr@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines mario ramil pepito http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7716-5776 pepitomarioramil68@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines kevin l. miñoza http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7781-1854 kevinlaominoza@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines welou dil b. diaz http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7548-4511 welou_dil_diaz@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines edison c. tejas http://orcid.org/0000-0002·9165-6632 edisontejas08@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines 138 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract for years now, most doctors have insisted that an average diet that consists of healthy seafood at least twice a week can improve the quality of life (no, meyers, prinyawiwatkul, & xu, 2007). the study utilized an experimental method in developing healthy products out of spider conch (gastropoda stromboidea) shellfish. spider conch extract was used in the formulation of sauce as an alternative product while the spider conch meat after the extraction was used for the development of the spread and patty. panel responses were analyzed using 7 and 9-point hedonic scales. one way analysis of variance was also used to determine whether a significant difference existed between and among the experimental lots. findings showed that spider conch extract is good for sauce formulation, and the spider conch meat are good in preparing spread. also, the study reveals that there is no significant difference between the variants of spider conch sauce and spread for taste; patty for aroma attributes, therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. it was concluded that the developed spider conch sauce is a better alternative product that the commercial sauces available in the market regarding vitamins, protein, and iodine content. the researchers recommend the use of cooking manual and procedures for hrm students. keywords — food technology, healthy products, experimental method, philippines introduction seafood is a regular part of a balanced diet. it contains high levels of some important nutrients. thus, helps maintain a healthy nutritional status, essential for our health. seafood offers a diversity of natural flavors, colors, and textures, making it an ideal addition to any luncheon or dinner menu. seafood is highly nutritious and easy to digest. it contains less than 2% fat, high in many vitamins like a, b, d and the excellent source of omega oils, protein and iodine. prawns, crabs, squid, and octopus, are just as packed with vitamins, minerals and fish oils as fish like salmon or cod. they all contain omega-3 – an essential fatty acid known to help with heart health. a varied and healthy diet is a prerequisite for good health. children, young people, pregnant women, in particular, eat little fish. a good nutritional status is of particular importance for these vulnerable 139 international peer reviewed journal groups (the norwegian ministry of trade, industry and fisheries, 2014; mcmanus, howieson, & nicholson, 2009). the study confers innovative and exclusive facts to the subject that seafood spider conch can be made into savory and healthy products. the spider conch as the main ingredient offers healthy and nutritious benefits when it is integrated into the production of sauce, spread, and patty. the spider conch market continuously grows for the culinary properties or practices. according to food database and calorie counter of usda, it has 165 total calories for every one cup slice of spider conch. although the spider conch may be served in many ways, the most popular are conch fritters, chowder, salad and cracked conch (usda, 2011). spider conch sauce adds a savory flavor to many dishes, making it an ideal choice for flavoring meat and vegetables (schweid, 2013; janer, 2008). the sauce can be a staple food for filipino family-style cooking (nam, jo & lee, 2010; hutton, 2005; laudan, 1996). it is also found in familiar chinese-american dishes such as beef with stir-fried vegetables. a typical example in the market is the oyster sauce, which can also be used as a topping for some dishes. for the spread, it is good to complement with sandwiches so as to balance the carbohydrates and protein; an alternative product from tuna and chicken spread which are common in the market. seafood continues to play a vital role in adapting and developing the menu for a particular dish (amira, 2009; knap et al., 2002; hall & mitchell, 2000). the best method of cooking should achieve its task efficiently and with no problem regarding food poisoning (jevšnik, hlebec, & raspor, 2008; wilcock, pun, khanona, & aung, 2004). it should also provide health benefits and enhance the presentation of a dish product. healthy dishes made from seafood transform an ordinary meal into an extraordinary one (pollan, 2009; hanefors & mossberg, 2003). normally, sauces and condiments are the exclamation point to a meal, adding flavor, moisture, and a certain visual appeal (klosse, 2013; fulton, 2006; raghavan, 2006). spice blends lend unique and distinctive flavor to a variety of dishes and are endlessly customizable (parsons, 2011; gold & stern, 2010). framework this study was based on the scimpo (single commodity input multiple products output) models by the philippine women’s university – manila. (minutes of the 32nd weekly forum meeting by management association of the 140 jpair multidisciplinary research philippines (map) 5). pwu developed the scimpo technology which means using all and wasting none. scimpo technology was applied mainly to bananas and coconuts where all parts were used: peelings, trimmings, meat, trunk, leaves, etc. scimpo system was used in which all parts of spider conch were made into new products at no waste at all. the juice was developed into a delicious sauce while the meat from spider conch made into a flavorful sandwich spread and patty as primary products of this study, while the shell was used as the souvenir for the incoming tourists. spider conch, known as “saang”, is a genus of giant sea snails sometimes known as spider conchs with a maximum shell length up to 29 cm, and average length stands for 18 cm. they are not endangered, and they are a common source of protein for many seaside residents in cebu, bohol, and the rest of the visayas. natives have collected diversified types of seashells, extracted their meats, and added them to their diet and while eating “specimen” shells might be unusual to some people, they are not different from eating clams, mussels, snails, etc. there was a time when the philippine seas were teeming with these shells, and they were a source of protein, as well as the shells going into various handicrafts or being exported to other countries. spider conch shellfish is thick, robust and has different shapes for male and female. from the air, cebu looks like the back of a crocodile half submerged in water. waters teeming with fresh bounty surround it all. olango island of lapulapu district has been the agricultural estate of spider conch that supplies many hotels and restaurants in lapu-lapu city as well as in cordova, part of cebu city, philippines. actual copulation and egg laying of spider conch were observed for the first time in the philippines under laboratory conditions in the months of october to december 2011, march to may 2012 and august to december of 2012. actual copulation in the laboratory was witnessed only once where the male and female spider conches faced each other with their marginal digitations somewhat interlocking. throughout the observation period, there were egg layings that were observed one to five days before or after a full moon. there were also instances that egg laying happened during or one to five days before or after a new moon. the laid egg masses varied in size and consisted of transparent capsules with brownish to bright yellowish embryos inside. most of the laid eggs were found in the early morning, indicating that spawning had occurred during nighttime. however, actual daytime spawning or laying of the egg mass was also observed in 141 international peer reviewed journal the laboratory. when laying the egg mass, the female extended out its foot and proboscis while positioned on its side with the marginal digitations facing up. a continuous strand of gelatinous filament that contained the eggs was laid through the spawning period of spider conch where the egg groove and runs through the foot. the female attached the egg filament to algal strands and available substrate in a maze of a continuous coil with no particular pattern forming an egg mass. one of the medium-sized egg masses was carefully uncoiled for length measurement and was found to be approximately 10 meters. the laying of an egg mass with this length was completed in 7 hours. after laying, the female stayed near the egg mass, almost motionless. some females were also found (hamel & mercier, 2006). determining the size at sexual maturity of the organism can provide information that could be used as the basis for recommending a minimum legal size for collection. furthermore, information on the spawning season can be used in aquaculture efforts as well as a basis for regulated collection or the establishment of open and closed seasons as possible means to be explored for sustainable management of spider conch. culture farms are also being established for aquaculture and reseeding wild populations. for spider conch, a study was initiated at the visayas state university, philippines to address the paucity of information for sustainable management. no data on the reproductive biology of spider conch is yet available in the philippines or elsewhere. the paper presented results on spawning period and size at sexual maturity of the spider conch, including spawning observations in the laboratory (hamil & mercier, 2006). researchers from the institute of tropical ecology at leyte state university (lsu), philippines recently conducted a detailed investigation of the inter-island waters of leyte and samar to determine significant sources and suitable sites for monitoring and field sampling of seafood (germano, cesar, mazo, & melgo, 2003). their main agendum was to come up with an inventory to estimate the volume of catch, threats, frequency in markets and source sites and information availability. meanwhile, three criteria were used to determine priority-fishing grounds for monitoring and field surveys: catch volume, the number of commercial species present, and accessibility and safety of commercially important marine invertebrates in leyte and samar. the inventory was completed using structured surveys and interviews in markets of different coastal barangays, municipalities, and cities throughout the region. bread fortified with iodized salt can provide enough iodine to avoid low thyroid activity for most people, without the need to add iodized salt to their 142 jpair multidisciplinary research diet (victoria, 2016). salt contributes to hypertension (high blood pressure), and there are efforts globally to encourage people to eat less salt by avoiding adding salt in cooking and at the table. in the previous years, low dietary levels of iodine appeared to be a problem only in developing countries. however, some researchers reported that iodine intake levels in australia have dropped considerably, perhaps by as much as half, over the past few decades (department of health & human services, state government of victoria, australia, 2016). ongoing research is looking at the problem and what might be done about it. objectives of the study the study aimed to develop healthy alternative products such as sauce, spread, and patty with spider conch as the main ingredient. specifically, the study sought to: 1.) determine the acceptability test of the spider conch; and 2.) explore the significance difference among the formulated; 3.) identify theoretical nutrient content of the most acceptable product and actual protein content of the fairest spider conch products; 5.) determine the percentage of reni for protein and iodine required for adults (yuppies) satisfied by one serving of the developed products; and 6.) compute the direct material cost of the most acceptable products. methodology the experimental research design was used in the study to determine the most acceptable formulation of healthy dishes. experimental research is a question about cause and effect relationship under controlled conditions. the study consisted of five stages. stage 1 was the formulation and standardization of healthy products using spider conches such as sauce, spread, and patty. stage 2 dealt with the sensory evaluation of the developed good using hedonic scaling. stage 3 was the statistical analysis of the mean panel scores. stage 4 consisted of theoretical computation of nutrient content of the most acceptable set, and stage 5 was the calculation of the direct material cost of the best set of test. step 1: formulation and standardization spider conch as the primary ingredient was harvested at the olango island, lapulapu city, cebu and neighboring island, bohol. the meat was removed 143 international peer reviewed journal from the shell after boiling. three products from the spider conch were made. other ingredients for the three dishes were bought at a commercial market. figure 1. structure of nutritious spider conch products the preparations and cooking were done at the university of cebu – main campus, hrm department, cebu city. a series of preliminary trials was conducted using varying amounts of spider conch extract and meat in each dish. during the preliminary tests, the spider conch extract was used in the making of the sauce, while spider conch meat was used in the making of the spread and patty products based on its original recipe. there was five lots substitution used in this study which is lot 1 with 100% as control, lot 2 with 90%, lot 3 with 80%, lot 4 with 70%, lot 5 with 50% spider conch juice and meat (see tables 1 – 3). table 1. spider conch sauce experimental lots spider conch sauce ingredients lot 5 100%control lot 4 90% lot 3 80% lot 2 70% lot 1 50% spider conch extract 240ml 216ml 192ml 168ml 120ml seasoned soy sauce 30ml 30ml 30ml 30ml 30ml 144 jpair multidisciplinary research sweetener 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g cornstarch 15g 15g 15g 15g 15g salt 3g 3g 3g 3g 3g pepper 2g 2g 2g 2g 2g total 300ml 276ml 252ml 228ml 180ml table 2. spider conch spread experimental lots spider conch spread ingredients lot 5 100%control lot 4 90% lot 3 80% lot 2 70% lot 1 50% spider conch meat 150g 135g 120g 105 75g mayonnaise 100ml 100ml 100ml 100ml 100ml garlic 45g 45g 45g 45g 45g white onion 50g 50g 50g 50g 50g salt 3g 3g 3g 3g 3g pepper 2g 2g 2g 2g 2g total 350g 335g 320g 300g 275g table 3. spider conch patty experimental lots spider conch patty ingredients lot 5 100%control lot 4 90% lot 3 80% lot 2 70% lot 1 50% spider conch meat 500g 450g 400g 350g 250g all purpose flour 65g 65g 65g 65g 65g egg 65g 65g 65g 65g 65g mince onion 65g 65g 65g 65g 65g salt 3g 3g 3g 3g 3g pepper 2g 2g 2g 2g 2g total 700g 650g 600g 550g 450g 145 international peer reviewed journal tables 1 to 3 showed the experimental lots of the three suggested products such as sauce, spread, and patty were spider conch in varying proportion was the main ingredient while the rest of the ingredients were kept constant. stage 2. acceptability test the different experimental lots were subjected to sensory evaluation by randomly new laboratory taste panel consisting of hrm staff, faculty members, students and chefs from selected restaurants using the 7-point and 9-point hedonic scales. the evaluation was conducted at the laboratory room of the hrm department. the 7-point hedonic scale was used in rating the sensory attributes of appearance, color, texture/consistency (for sauce); mouthful (for spread); masticability (for patty), aroma and flavor while the 9-point hedonic scale was used in rating the general acceptability. the following are the levels used with their corresponding verbal description. table 4. the 7-point and 9-point hedonic scales the 7-point hedonic scale the 9-point hedonic scale scale description scale description 7 excellent (e) 9 liked extremely (le) 6 very good (vg) 8 liked very much (lvm) 5 good (g) 7 liked moderately (lm) 4 average (a) 6 liked slightly (ls) 3 fair (f) 5 neither liked or disliked (nld) 2 poor (p) 4 disliked slightly (ds) 1 very poor (vp) 3 disliked moderately (dm) 2 disliked very much (dvm) 1 disliked extremely (de) stage 3. statistical analysis the mean panel scores of the acceptability tests were computed and subjected to statistical analysis using one-way analysis of variance (anova) to detect whether significant differences existed among samples regarding their sensory attributes. scheffe’s test was used as post hoc analysis to determine the significantly different variants for single factor anova that yields a significant result. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research stage 4. theoretical computation of nutrient contents the theoretical computation of nutrient content was conducted with the use of information from nutrition facts for spider conch and other ingredients. these data are used as the basis for the computation of the theoretical nutritional value of the healthy dishes. the vitamin content of the spider conch was computed using the olson formula based on reni as follows: vitamin = actual weight x given value / portion size stage 5. computation of direct material cost the direct material costs of the most acceptable healthy spider conch products were computed based on the standardized ingredients formulation. through the direct material cost computation of the product, the price was determined. all calculations are based on the existing retail prices of the ingredients in the commercial market at the time of the study. formulation studies the five experimental lots of each developed product such as the sauce (figure 2), spread (figure 3, and patty (figure 4) were formulated and subjected to sensory evaluation by new laboratory taste panel. figure 2. experimental lots of spider conch sauce 147 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. experimental lots of spider conch spread figure 4. experimental lots of spider conch patty 148 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion table 5. acceptability test sensory attributes product variants sauce spread patty mean remarks mean remarks mean remarks appearance 5.73 very good 5.67 very good 5.83 very good color 5.73 very good 5.60 very good 5.70 very good texture 5.83 very good 5.47 very good 5.57 very good aroma 5.37 very good 5.13 good 5.63 very good taste 5.37 very good 5.47 very good 5.13 good general acceptability 7.00 like moderately 6.87 like moderately 6.10 like slightly the table reveals that the spider conch, when produced to a sauce, spread, and patty, has very good acceptability ratings from the respondents. these data imply that respondents who tasted the products were likely satisfied with the appearance, color, texture, aroma, and taste of the spider conch products. the table showed that the sauce variants were significantly different regarding appearance, color, aroma and general acceptability. however, no significant differences existed between the lots regarding consistency and taste. anova results for spider conch spread revealed significant differences existed between the experimental lots regarding all the attributes except for taste. no significant differences existed between the lots regarding taste. there is no significant difference between the five lot variants of spread with spider conch regarding aroma. however, the options are significantly different in terms appearance, color, texture, taste and general acceptability. contemporary observations of marine foraging in a variety of settings suggest that some mollusks tend to be over-represented in middens because of differential preservation relative to other mollusk species as well as other organisms (thomas, 2002).  a good storage life was not observed even towards the end of the four months. so an acceptable chutney powder can be prepared with the l. lambis meat. this will pave the way for better utilization of this under-utilized gastropod meat (renitta, gnanambal, & patterson, 2006). 149 international peer reviewed journal theoretical nutrients content and laboratory analysis (protein) the theoretical nutrient contribution of the acceptable spider conch products, particularly regarding vitamins and iodine are presented in the following tables. table 6. theoretical vitamin a content of the spider conch products ingredients vit a/gms (snd) µgre quantity (gm=ml) theoretical vit a content (µgre) a. sauce spider conch juice 29 /127 240 ml 54.8 µg total/batch (300 ml) 54.8 µg total 60ml/pack 10.96 µgre b. spread spider conch meat 29 /127 150 g 34.2 µg garlic 12.2/136 45 g 4.0 µg white onion 3.2/160 50 g 1.0 µg total/batch (350 gms) 39.2 µg total 50g/pack 5.6 µgre c. patty spider conch meat 29/127 500 g 114.2 µg egg 244/50 65 g 317.2 µg minced onion 3.2/160 65 g 1.3 µg total/batch (700 gms) 432.7 µg total 70g/pack 43.27 µgre source: reni (recommended energy and nutrients intakes) formula: vitamin a (µgre) = given value ÷ portion size x actual weight per pack (µgre) = total batch in µgre ÷ (entire batch in gms ÷ per pack) the pure vitamin a contents of the three spider conch dishes ranged from 5.6 to 43.27 vitamin a expressed as µgretinol equivalent with the patty contributing the highest number because of the high percentage content of the meat which accounted for 73% of the total vitamin a per batch of 700 gms. on the other hand, spider conch meat contributed about 26% of the vitamin a of the patty. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. theoretical vitamin b content of the spider conch products ingredients vit b/gms (fct) µgre quantity (gm=ml) theoretical vit b content (µgre) a. sauce spider conch juice b12 – 6.7/127 240 ml 12.7 µg total/batch (300 ml) 12.7 µg total 60ml/pack 2.12 µgre b. spread spider conch meat b12 – 6.7/127 150g 7.9 µg garlic b6 – 1.7/136 45g 0.6 µg white onion b6 – 0.1/115 50g 0.04 µg total/batch (350 gms) 8.54 µg total 50g/pack 1.22 µgre c. patty spider conch meat b12 – 6.7/127 500g 26.4 µg egg b6 – 0.6/50 65g 0.78 µg minced onion b6 – 0.1/115 65g 0.06 µg total/batch (700 gms) 27.24 µg total 70g/pack 2.724 µgre source: reni (recommended energy and nutrients intakes) formula: vitamin a (µgre) = given value ÷ portion size x actual weight per pack (µgre) = total batch in µgre ÷ (entire batch in gms ÷ per pack) the patty has the highest number regarding µgre with 2.72 per 70 grams because of other ingredients added to the mixture particularly, the egg while the sauce contained only 2.12 µgre per 60 ml. and spread the lowest at 1.22 µgre of vitamin b every 50 grams. 151 international peer reviewed journal table 8. theoretical vitamin e content of the spider conch products ingredients vit e/gms (snd) µgre quantity (gm=ml) theoretical vit e-content (µgre) a. sauce spider conch juice 8/127 240 ml 15.1 µg total/batch (300 ml) 15.1 µg total/60ml 3.02 µgre b. spread spider conch meat 8/127 150g 9.4 µg garlic 0.1/100 45g 0.05 µg white onion 0 50g 0 total/batch (350 gms) 9.45 µg total 50g/pack 1.35 µgre c. patty spider conch meat 8/127 500g 31.5 µg egg 0.5/50 65g .65 µg minced onion 0 65g 0 total/batch (700 gms) 32.15 µg total 70g/pack 3.22 µgre source: reni (recommended energy and nutrients intakes) formula: vitamin a (µgre) = given value ÷ portion size x actual weight per pack (µgre) = total batch in µgre ÷ (entire batch in gms ÷ per pack) the results illustrate the highest µgre regarding vitamin e theoretically contained by the patty variants with 3.22 µgre per 70 grams and followed by 3.02 µgre of the sauce per 60 ml. and the lowest vitamin e content is the spread that contained only 1.35 µgre per 50 grams. seafoods are local delicacies along the coastal region in india. these marine gastropods are not utilized by the people because of lack of awareness about the rich nutritive value of the seafood products (renitta & patterson, 2013). shellfish consumption in the southern coastal region of vietnam is high compared to consumption levels in other countries; it is also high compared to consumption levels of vietnamese emigrants. such data may be useful for further investigation on nutrition perspectives and in terms of risk assessment of shellfish contaminants (nguyen, picot, tran, carpentier, roudot, & parentmassin, 2012). 152 jpair multidisciplinary research table 9. theoretical iodine content of the spider conch healthy products spider conch dishes µg iodine/gms quantity/serving (gm)/ (ml) theoretical iodine content (µg) sauce = 100% 161/100g 60 ml. 96.6 µg spread = 100% 161/100g 50 gms. 80.5 µg patty = 100% 161/100g 70 gms. 112.7 µg source: reni (recommended energy and nutrients intakes) the sauce variants with 60 ml. of spider conch extract theoretically have 96.6 µg of iodine while the spread product contained 80.5 µg of the same nutrient. the highest iodine content was the patty with 112.7 µg per 70 grams serving portion. table 10. actual protein content of the most acceptable spider conch products spider conch products lots 5 (100%) sauce 2.16% spread 8.16% patty 12.51% * department of agriculture rfal 153 international peer reviewed journal out of 3 products, the patty got the highest protein content of 12.51%. on the other hand, results showed that the higher percentage of spider conch extract for sauce and meat for spread and patty, the more the protein content. percentage of reni for protein and iodine satisfied one serving of the developed spider conch products table 11. % reni for protein and iodine satisfied one serving of the spider conch products products reni for young adults theoretical content per serving % reni satisfied per serving chon i2 chon i2 chon i2 sauce 46g (women) 56g (men) 150 µg 1.87g 96.6µg 3-4% 64% spread 9.6g 80.5µg 17.21% 54% patty 14.50g 112.7µg 25-35% 75% source: reni (recommended energy and nutrients intakes) people who are sedentary young professionals should aim to consume at least the recommended dietary allowance, or rda, of protein each day. according to the institute of medicine, protein rdas are 46 grams for women, 56 grams for men and. protein rdas are determined using 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight for males and females. the reni recommended daily intake for iodine depended on the age and life stage. the amount needed is subtle (around one teaspoonful over a lifetime for most adults) when compared to other nutrients. it is measured in micrograms (mcg, or µg), and requirements for various age groups are shown below. 154 jpair multidisciplinary research table 12. recommended iodine intakes for specific population groups population group reference weight kg rni µg/day infants, mo birth to <6 6 > 12 6 9 90 90 children, y 1 – 6 4 – 6 7 – 9 13 19 24 90 90 120 males, y 10 – 12 13 – 15 16 – 18 19 and over 34 50 58 59 120 150 150 150 females, y 10 – 12 13 – 15 16 – 18 19 and over 35 49 50 51 120 150 150 150 pregnant women lactating women 200 200 if one does not get enough iodine in the diet, one may need to consider taking a supplement. for most people, an extra 50 µg per day would be sufficient. for young professionals, aged 19 – 39 years old, one serving of the most acceptable spider conch products can satisfy about 3 – 31% and 54 – 75 % of their daily protein and iodine requirements, the biggest contributor being the spider conch patty. the recommended reni is the daily intake set at the estimated average requirement plus two standard deviations to meet the nutrient requirements of 98% of individuals in an ageand sex-specific population group. they added that universal salt iodization (usi) remains the key strategy to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders (andersson, de benoist, delange, & zupan, 2007). the usi is now implemented in nearly all countries worldwide, and two-thirds of the world’s population is covered by iodized salt. the number of countries with iodine deficiency as a national public health problem has decreased from 110 in 1993 to 47 in 2007. still one-third of households lack access to adequately iodized salt. iodine deficiency remains a major threat to the health and development of populations around the world, particularly in children and pregnant women in low-income countries (andersson, de benoist, & rogers, 2010). 155 international peer reviewed journal direct material costs the sauce has a total cost of php 66.67 (1.5 usd) for 300 ml. with the cost per serving at php 13.35 per 60 ml. for the spread, the cost is php 73.90 (1.6 usd) for 350 grams and php 10.56 (0.23 usd) per 50 grams serving per portion. patty has the total cost of php 133.41 (3 usd) for 700 grams and a cost per serving of php 13.34 (0.3 usd) for every 70 grams. conclusions the developed spider conch sauce is a better alternative product that the commercial sauces available in the market in terms of vitamins, protein and iodine content. theoretically, spider conch products contain more vitamins a, b, and e than the traditional counterparts. translational research the outcome of the study has been translated into a cooking module, which forms part of the cooking manual and procedures for hrm 2c (food processing and preservation with laboratory) students of the college of hotel and restaurant management in the university of cebu, philippines. literature cited amira, f. 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(2007). applications of chitosan for improvement of quality and shelf life of foods: a review. journal of food science,  72(5), r87-r100. retrieved on august 2016 from http:// goo.gl/uel62f 158 jpair multidisciplinary research parsons, b. t. (2011).  bitters: a spirited history of a classic cure-all, with cocktails, recipes, and formulas. ten speed press. retrieved on august 2016 from https://goo.gl/b51vtp pollan, m. (2009). food rules: an eater’s manual. penguin. retrieved on august 2016 from https://goo.gl/qbg3ni raghavan, s. (2006). handbook of spices, seasonings, and flavorings. crc press. retrieved on august 2016 from https://goo.gl/wgk7bl renitta, r. e., gnanambal, k. m. e., & patterson, j. (2006). development of chutney powder from spider conch, lambis lambis (linne, 1758).  asian fisheries science, 19(3/4), 309. https://goo.gl/6lebe5 renitta, r. e., & patterson, j. 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(2004). consumer attitudes, knowledge and behaviour: a review of food safety issues.  trends in food science & technology, 15(2), 56-66. retrieved on august 2016 from http:// goo.gl/ubtcvy 74 jpair multidisciplinary research sadtong panahon: oral storytelling training course for pre-service teachers marigrace d. carretero http://orcid.org 000-0003-4597-854x graciaflordes@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines jackielyne m. bosquillos http://orcid.org 0000-002-0861-8273 nichola120583@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines jhonner d. ricafort http://orcid.org 0000-0603-0483-1752 ricafortjhonner@gmail.com sorsogon state college sorsogon, philippines abstract storytelling is an art that contributes not only to students’ academic success, but also to their emotional well-being. however, not many teachers have skills in storytelling. the reason maybe that they have not been trained in the art, or they lack knowledge of it. the study identified the different reactions of the students during storytelling sessions as observed by the students themselves and the teachers. the study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. it made use of a descriptive developmental research design. the respondents were 60 students and 60 teachers. survey questionnaires were used to gather data. unstructured interviews were also conducted to validate their answers. results showed that most vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.380 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 75 international peer reviewed journal of the students are bored and do not engage themselves during the storytelling session. this may be attributed to poor skills in forming connections and poor communication skills of the teachers. based on the findings, it can be concluded that teachers’ way of telling a story affects the students’ understanding and interest in the story.however, this skill is lacking in most teachers. varied problems related to these skills are met by the teachers. the researchers recommend that teachers need to improve their communication skills to become effective storytellersand a storytelling training course should be designed and implemented to train preservice teachers and enhance their storytelling skills. keywords — oral storytelling, sadtong panahon, oral storytelling training course, descriptive developmental research design, sorsogon, philippines introduction as humans progressed from generation to generation, it slowly made up more complex cultures. their speech faculty and creative imagination made it possible for them to build stories that entertain or narrate everyday life occurrences even those that are imagined. through stories, they found out that they could influence other people to do their bidding, either good or bad. they could become the dominant group simply by storytelling. fright could be created by their storytelling. likewise, they inspired their subordinates through their stories and implemented good governance. these people have come out of our storytellers, the most influential and powerful people in the world. hence, the power of storytelling is indeed undeniable. even our great grandparents were master storytellers. they have brought to the world this art and motivated generations to learn through it. discussions of storytelling types, (mythical, personal, and sacred), storytelling as strategies for learning about life, storytelling as knowing and putting back to memory experiences, and relating stories about spirituality from which strength can be drawn are what elders’ stories narrate (iseke, 2013). educators have long known that arts can contribute to student academic success and emotional well-being. storytelling as an art does this as much as painting, drawing, sculpture and the like. storytelling or story arts have long been part of the folk art. telling stories face-to-face with an audience as a live performance can be regarded as one of the oldest forms of oral art (lwin, 2010, p. 357). from the community, it has come to the classrooms. however, not many teachers have the skills in story telling simply because they have not been trained in the art or they lack knowledge about it as an art. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research curricula for teacher education do not include this as a separate subject, but rather as an integrated part of the reading or literature class. as a result, many graduates of teacher education programs as they take on actual teaching do not do well in storytelling with the big book or storytelling materials they have at hand. storytelling must be included in the curriculum for english as a second language and english as a foreign language (atta-alla, 2012). as observed in the classrooms, many pupils either find story time boring or find their teachers simply barking at print without the skill to stimulate or motivate them to listen and anticipate events in the piece they are presented with. moreover, if stories are the way information are stored in our brain, teachers need to let children become more motivated to listen enthusiastically to them as they tell stories. furthermore, they, as listeners meet language patterns that are new through stories. they learn new words or new contexts for already familiar words. according to the national council of teachers of english (2011), those who often hear stories begin to get used to narrative patterns, hence, they learn the skill to predict. then, they make use of those patterns in speaking and in writing as well. learners who often tell stories become aware of how those who listen affect the storytelling. they carry that into their writing. however, simply telling the story is not what works well. the art of telling it, the skill of bringing life into its characters, and the manner by which the storyteller take the listeners to the context or setting are most important. as observed, few teachers possess these skills, and not everyone has the awareness of the elements involved in the big process of storytelling. in an informal interview made by the proponent with pre-service teachers, they observed in their offcampus training that some in-service teachers cannot sustain the interest of students in listening to stories being read to them. few would deny that storytelling has an important role within speaking and listening, and in this context, professional storytellers may continue to enjoy the demand for the services in the school. however, if storytelling is to achieve its potential as both a model of talk and a means of engaging children with narrative, then it cannot be regarded simply as the preserve of the specialist teller of tales. those who work in schools each day need to recognize that they are themselves, storytellers, and that they have at their command a potent tool for classroom teaching (fulton, 2012, p. 48.) in a study made by magno (2014) on teaching practices, it was found out that lack of training of teachers on new trends on teaching strategies and methodologies affect the learning of students. hence, he created a training design for teachers. hence, these pre-service teachers would have wanted to 77 international peer reviewed journal attend storytelling training since they saw the need for it. the proponent also interviewed in –service teachers in the sorsogon city west district during the seminar workshop she gave on storytelling in the district and responses were the same as those given by the pre-service teachers. likewise, in the mtb-mle program of the government is of great concern. the need therefore for stories in the mother tongue which could enhance language learning is essential. since storytelling does not take a major part as a separate/ distinct subject in any of the teacher education programs in our country, the researchers would like to propose that it be made a specialized training course in the teacher education program of the beed; bsed major in english and filipino particularly in the sorsogon state college. the curriculum of the teacher education of the sorsogon state college has courses such as the teaching of reading and the teaching of literature yet no portion in the syllabi focuses on storytelling appreciation and principles. hence, storytelling can be proposed as a separate specialization training course in the said curriculum. the proponents will make a needs analysis of fourth year beed, bsed english and filipino majors pre-service teachers and deped in-service teachers to find out the skills they need in storytelling so as the alignment of topics in the proposed subject may be done. objectives of the study the study aimed to identify students’ reactions during storytelling. it also looked into the characteristics of the teacher-storytellers as perceived by students and teachers. likewise, it identified the benefits of the storytelling course and the different skills needed by the pre-service teachers to become effective storytellers. problems encountered during the storytelling sessions are likewise determined. based on the findings, the study proposed a storytelling course for pre-service teachers of sorsogon state college. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research framework figure 1. conceptual framework of the study it is built on bruner’s theory of learning which looks into meaning making. children develop an interpretation, an understanding and a connection with the world and the environment they are in through stories they listen. hence, they learn about themselves and about their cultures and that of others (bruner, 1996). another is the theory of motivation by skinner which states that when learners are highly motivated, they are able to learn (skinner, 1976). when students are well motivated in listening to stories, they become better learners. the conceptual framework shows the concept of the study. storytelling will be integrated as a proposed subject or training course for third-year pre-service teachers to enhance their skills in storytelling. to know what particular skills/ competencies are needed to be enhanced and the topics that are to be taken up in the course, a needs analysis to in-service and pre-service teachers will be conducted. based on the needs analysis, the storytelling training course will be designed. it then will be implemented so that it can be tried on pre-service bsed english and filipino majors and beed third-year students. the fourth box is placed above the third box to show that implementation is the most important phase. this is because this is where the whole training course will be tested as to its strength and effectiveness. the evaluation is in the last box just beside implementation. this phase is also of utmost importance because it is essential 79 international peer reviewed journal for a curriculum/ course to be assessed on its effectiveness and acceptability. it can be noted that the two last phases were included in the framework since the research design is developmental which means that upon evaluation, whatever improvements may be necessary, the course design may be revised. methodology the study is both qualitative and quantitative in nature. it made use of a descriptive developmental research design since it focused on the curriculum. this was used to determine the needed skills in storytelling of teacher education students of the sorsogon state college and the topics to be included for the proposed development of a storytelling curriculum. the respondents of the study were the in-service elementary and secondary teachers of the department of education of sorsogon west district, namely,pamurayan integrated school, rizal integrated national high school, guinlajon elementary school and guinlajon national high school and the preservice teachers (pt students) of sorsogon state college taking up bachelor of elementary education and bachelor of secondary education major in english and filipino. a total of 120 constituted the respondents. purposive random sampling was employed to identify the 120 respondents. the researchers conducted first a survey whether the teachers are using storytelling in their class or not. as for the students, we also conducted a survey whether their teachers are using storytelling in class. from that, we identified the respondents. the researcher sought permission from the dean of sorsogon state college, education department and the schools division superintendent in sorsogon city to facilitate the conduct of the study. to gain access and full cooperation of the respondents, the researcher secured consent from the school heads. the study used a self-administered questionnaire as its main instrument. it was submitted to experts to ensure validity prior to the actual administration. the researcher personally distributed the questionnaire to the respondents on july 7, 2015 and retrieved it on july 20, 2015. the researchers also conducted unstructured interview to validate the respondents’ answers in the survey. the responses given by the respondents were treated with utmost confidentiality. appropriate statistical measures were employed to quantify the data that were collated to answer the problems of the research study. frequency count was used to find out the topics and skills/competencies to be included in the proposed training program. percentage was also used in the study. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion table 1. students’ and teachers’ reactions when teachers tell stories as observed by themselves indicators studentsf % teachers f % 1. i/they am/are bored. 50 83.33 15 25.00 2. i/they listen but do not pay close attention to details 25 41.67 31 51.67 3. i/they join in enthusiastically. 16 26.67 17 28.33 4. i/they do other things than listen. 47 78.33 36 60.00 5. i/they listen and pay close attention to the details of the story 22 36.67 23 38.33 the result shows that the students do not show interest in their teacher’s story. these findings may be partly attributed to the way teachers relate the story to the students. these further imply that teachers must have the skills of a good storyteller. style and techniques go hand in hand to ensure that what is related to learners can be more than interesting to them. animated teachers are the best storytellers. also, reasons for these could be poor skills of the teachers in delivering the story, improper gesture, posture, etc., lack of ingenuity of teachers and/or the story itself is not interesting. story telling is an art, different skills should be present for it to be effective. teacher must know how to select good stories. for learning it to be effective, the materials must be meaningful for the students. students may find it boring to listen to their teachers’ story for the reason that they cannot connect with the story or they find it irrelevant. teachers must bear in mind that students enjoy hearing stories that have humor, surprise, suspense, interesting characters and clean sharp dialogue. however, stories must be relevant to students’ interests and context and must be a key part of the lesson and not just a time-filler. while students listen to stories, they also relate to them and eventually learn the lessons much better. yazzie-mintz (2007) conducted high school survey of student engagement to document, describe, and monitor student engagement in secondary schools nationally. results showed that 75% of students surveyed said they were bored in class because of uninteresting material and 39% stated that the material had 81 international peer reviewed journal no relevance to them. it was also found out that activities in which students learn with and from peers are the most exciting and engaging, including classroom discussions and debates. thus, it challenges teachers to make necessary adjustment in the implementation of the curriculum particularly along the teaching strategies to motivate students in the class. effective skills of teachers in storytelling are indeed essential for better learning of the students. isbell, sobol, lindauer and lowrance(2004), revealed in their study that the group who heard the stories told gained much comprehension and retold the stories. teachers need to understand that through their way of relating stories, students are able to conceptualize things and are able to follow through. table 2. characteristics of teachers-storytellers indicators students f % teachers f % 1.  animated voice and face 10 16.67 35 58.33 2.  exhibit flat, dull tone 33 55 44 73.33 3.  engaging and draws listeners into the story. 5 8.33 42 70.00 4.  lacks connection to the listener. 48 80.00 52 86.67 5.  has good command of the language used. 18 30.00 30 50.00 6. has poor diction and pronunciation. 4 6.67 26 43.33 this suggests that failing to establish connection to the listeners may be due to having a flat and dull tone during the storytelling lesson. this means that teachers can motivate students to listen by putting life to the story and with proper modulation of voice. without the appropriate expression and intonation, no teacher can better tell stories to learners. variation in tone and expression are a must for teachers. hamilton and weiss (2005) stated that stories go straight to the heart. the iris poet and philosopher james stephen wrote, “the head does not hear anything until the heart has listened. the heart knows today what head will understand tomorrow”. it was emphasized that since students and teachers are emotionally involved and enjoy storytelling, this may facilitate the development of positive attitude towards the learning process. as for teachers’ assessment of themselves as storytellers, majority or 52 or 86.67 % of them believes that they lack connection to their listeners when telling stories. connection to listeners is manifested through verbal and nonverbal cues 82 jpair multidisciplinary research such as maintaining eye contacts, showing gestures and correct posture while telling stories. followed by 44 or 73.33 % think that they exhibit flat and dull tone while telling stories. this explains while most of the students are bored when their teachers tell stories. an average number of the teacher respondents (30 or 50%) think they possess good command of language used. results show that though teacher respondents have good command of language, it is not enough to motivate their students to listen. result implies that there is a need to train teachers in storytelling since most of them lack skills in delivering stories. teachers need to possess qualities that learners have to imbibe such as when storytelling they have to establish eye contact, they must not be easily distracted, does not mumble,and must have a diverse voice tone, range, pitch etc. also, teachers need to be animated and enthusiastic when telling stories since teachers’ enthusiasm to a story is infectious. this was stressed by daniel (2007) that a teacher should motivate the students, put forth questions or deliver answers. in order not to turn the lesson to preach, a teacher should avoid putting certain borders in students’ minds; also he/she should remember that entertainment is necessary to keep telling the story (spaulding, 2011). wright (1997) also emphasized that stories have enormous vocabulary and give students the opportunity to gain a productive language experience. furthermore, when children are given the chance to create and tell a story in a foreign language, they assume ownership of the story and the language. table 3. benefits of a storytelling course indicators students f % teacher f % 1. it is an excellent means of motivation 55 91.67 60 100 2. it is a good source of language 48 80.00 46 76.67 3. pupils love listening to stories in / english/filipino/mother tongue 46 76.67 40 66.67 4. it is a good starting point for various activities 39 65.00 43 71.67 5. it creates a relaxed, safe atmosphere 37 61.67 40 66.67 storytelling is an excellent means of motivation having the highest frequency implies that teachers can capture the interest of the students in the lesson by engaging them in storytelling activities. hamilton and weiss (2005) further 83 international peer reviewed journal highlight that storytelling is motivating and the students acknowledge it to be an authentic activity and a skill that is worth-acquiring. as for the teachers,the findings imply that storytelling as a classroom activity is indeed enticing and that it should be a necessary part of the learners’ learning environment. poliden (2012) suggests that giving students varied activities that are interesting will surely develop crical thinking skills. hence, storytelling is a means of enticing students to learn. as pointed out in the storytelling arts of indiana, hearing stories stimulates students imagination, improves listening skills, instills a love of language, reading, and creative writing, improves language skills, such as vocabulary, comprehension, sequencing, and story recalls and builds community by providing a common experience and collective language of story catch words and phrase. as cited by bala (2015), storytelling has many advantages for social and emotional development. she further mentioned that the storyteller and the listener construct a strong, relaxed and happy relationship during a story time. storytelling encourages the learners to continue acquiring the language because it affects the students positively due to the entertainment and motivating role of storytelling. it also offers the students to work out their imagination by getting involved into the stories or identifying themselves as one of the character in the story. skills needed by the pre-service teachers to become effective storytellers the student-respondents identified the skills needed by the pre-service teachers to enhance and become effective storytellers, namely, communication skills, voice projection, pronunciation, intonation, diction, voice modulation, connection to listeners, eye contact, acting skills, creativity in storytelling, and variation in speaking. as stressed by dujmovic (2006), storytelling is an art of narration which is told through the memory than through reading. furthermore, he added that a storyteller becomes successful in the art when he selects adequate stories and performs well in retelling it. this is because the delivery is the crucial matter and preparation and practice are essential. moreover, new words and new language experience are of equal importance. once these are not considered, boredom, noise, and problems occur in class. it was likewise concluded by yingli (2010) that during sessions on storytelling, active learning of vocabulary, judging and motivation lead students to become more purposive in learning. meanwhile, 42 out of 60 student respondents said that teachers should be trained in storytelling. among the top six reasons why teachers should be 84 jpair multidisciplinary research trained in storytelling are to: 1) develop skills in delivering stories such as diction, pronunciation, enunciation, 2) develop mastery in getting the attention of the students to listen and participate during storytelling session, 3) equip with the different strategies and techniques in storytelling, 4) train the teachers in making their voice animated, 5) develop creativity in executing storytelling, and 6) know the do’s and don’ts of storytelling. majority of the respondents also emphasized that there is no existing storytelling subject in the school while all of them suggested having a separate subject on storytelling. this implies that teachers recognize the significance of developing effective skills in storytelling to engage students actively in the lesson for meaningful learning. it further implies that without proper training in the art of storytelling, this class activity may not be properly conducted as well. these findings show parallel to the results of the study conducted by mottley and telfer (1996) on the needs of prospective teachers to be prepared to use storytelling strategy in teaching. it was stressed that the greatest areas of need of the prospective teachers to implement the strategy in the classroom were: choosing appropriate stories, how to tell effectively a story, and the purpose of storytelling. the researchers asserted that storytelling should be integrated into the teacher-education program. although teachers have materials to read, they need to look more into their attributes as storytellers and seek for appropriate means to enhance them. no teacher can be better equipped but by relevant training alone. problems encountered during story telling sessions with regards to classroom management/setting the different problems that teachers encountered during story telling sessions were: 1) getting and maintaining the attention of their students, 2) some pupils do not understand the story itself, 3) some students do other things than listen, 4) at times that the teacher’s story is somewhat related to their lives, they tend to be noisy and too emotional, and 5) delivering the story in an interesting way. this only shows that teachers acknowledged the fact that they lack skills in storytelling. getting and maintaining the attention of the students is a skill that a teacher should master not just during story telling session but in the entire teaching and learning process (principles of teaching).these findings imply that teachers encounter varied problems as regards students’ assimilating the stories they listen to. these further suggest that teachers must be skillful enough to sustain students’ interest and understanding. the teachers’ skills must be enhanced to address the needs. 85 international peer reviewed journal meanwhile, 96.67 % said that story telling can be done in all subject areas while two or 3.33% said storytelling is only applicable to some subject areas and not to all. most teachers believed that storytelling is a good strategy in getting the attention of the students. this may also serve as a strong source of motivation or ice breaker in class. storytelling breaks the monotony of the learning process. however, this depends on the capacity of the teacher to deliver good stories. during story telling session, some students also share some of their experiences in life. with this, teachers form connections with his students. this is a good way of getting to know his students better. higher order thinking skills of the students are also developed especially if the concepts are contextualized in the story. also, the stories presented by the teachers make learning more meaningful and realistic. the characters in the story may serve as an inspiration to the students. the result is consistent with literature storytelling: process and practice by livo (1986). among the different benefits of storytelling that he presented are stories evoke powerful emotional responses that can fuel the desire to change, stories can serve as stress reliever and stories gives lifelong lesson and help develop new insights. on the other hand, two of the respondents think that storytelling is only applicable to language subjects but not in other subjects like math and science. also, they believe that it will just consume time that should be spent in discussing more important matters. this was opposed by the literature storytelling across the curriculum. further it says, although language arts seem a likely home for the art of storytelling: however, storytelling techniques and process can support exploration in many other curriculum areas. for instance, in storytelling in science is the story of creation, world myth and legends of the sea and creatures, etc. in mathematics, students may be interested to hear the story of great mathematicians and the history of the development of a particular equation. as language can be used across the curriculum, storytelling can likewise be done across disciplines. in an interview done with in–service teachers, about whether to offer a storytelling course for education, 52 answered yes with reasons such asto learn and understand the art of storytelling, to improve their skills in storytelling, to learn more techniques/strategies in storytelling, to develop engagement in the craft storytelling, to become better story tellers and teachers should develop engagement to the craft. furthermore,40 said it should be offered to lower years so that the skills they will learn can be applied when they reach higher years while 20 said it should be on the 3rd year in preparation for practice teaching. meanwhile, forty-eight (48) teachers stated that there is a need to develop skills such as: good command of language, acting skills, diction and pronunciation, 86 jpair multidisciplinary research creativity in making and using props, voice projection, facial expression, ability to organize thoughts, theatrical skills and the ability to relate the story to topics being discussed. all these imply that teachers are aware of the importance of storytelling in learning and that training on this area is a necessity. this is supported by alison(2013) stating that storytelling training course will be of great interest to teachers and trainers who want to learn more about the effectiveness of storytelling as a tool that can enhance learning  within the classroom. the teachers see the significance of a storytelling course for pre-service teachers so that they would be trained on the identified skills which have been seen by the inservice teachers as needing enhancement and honing. further, he stated that for children to enjoy theatre, they must see a story played out physically. storytellers must be taught to act using a simplified version of the stanislavski system that puts emphasis on playable action. he also provides a guide to teaching theater for youth based on a class of the author’s design where students developed curriculum, managed classes of students, and executed lessons that emphasized the importance of physicality in acting. proposed training course for beed and bsed filipino and english the use of storytelling in various disciplines has been proven effective in stimulating students’ critical thinking skills, encouraging self-review and conveying practice realities. storytelling is an art that contributes not only to students’ academic success, but also to their emotional well-being. it is deemed significant as an excellent source of motivation, an avenue for self-expression and as a learning tool. however, not many teachers have the necessary skills in storytelling. this can be attributed to the fact that they have not been formally introduced to the art and they lack training to further enhance their skills in storytelling. these lead the researchers to design a training course in storytelling for future educators to prepare them in integrating storytelling in their teaching task. the storytelling course has been evaluated by teachers who are considered as prospective users along the different aspects and its acceptability. the result showed that 100% of the respondents affirmed that the proposed learning strategies are practical and reasonable, the course objectives are clearly stated, the topics support the objectives, arranged from the simplest to complex and address the needs of the teacher trainees. some 82.23% agreed that the time allotment given for each topic is sufficient for learning while 94.12% affirmed that the materials are accessible and up-to-date. 87 international peer reviewed journal this shows that the proposed curriculum strongly reflects validity and is designed to meet the needs of the trainees. this also implies that the proposed curriculum is generally acceptable to the end-users. the respondents recommend that teachers must be taught storytelling skills because if they do not have the skill, they will simply end up reading rather than storytelling. children must learn the difference between reading and storytelling. the respondents likewise commented that the proposed training course for beed and bsed filipino and english is good and commendable. training course in storytelling degree name: bachelor of elementary education bachelor of secondary education major in english and filipino i. course description this course will examine the various uses and applications of the art and process of telling stories. it looks into understanding story development and the use of the entire telling and writing processes in learning. students will write, practice, and perform the genre of stories and storytelling. skills in oral storytelling are also dealt in. ii. content outline topics no. of hours 1 introduction rationale importance of storytelling 3 2 storytelling influences 2 3 storytelling developments what is storytelling, why are stories told? learning from experience, bringing about change to practice 4 4 storytelling as a theory of learning positioning storytelling, stages of learning, reflective learning through storytelling, how stories are told, storytelling pathway, 4 88 jpair multidisciplinary research 5 finding stories creating a storytelling culture, storytelling activities, charting distance, designing storytelling activities, 4 6 telling stories about practice storytelling, learning through listening, learning through telling, expanding stories, learning to write exemplars as assignments 3 7 expanding stories through reflection exploring reflection, reflection in practice, the reflective process and storytelling, metaanalysis of reflection 4 8 processing practice stories shaping stories, sharing stories, individual work with stories, spontaneous drawing, 5 9 reconstructing stories within a group setting socio-cultural framework for storytelling, learning through storytelling, a formal groupstorytelling process, steps in group storytelling 3 10 ethical and assessment considerations ethical issues related to storytelling, projection, confidentiality and anonymity, primary ownership of stories, presentation of personal or sensitive information, presentation of practice dilemmas, assessment and learning, formative and summative assessment feedback, assessment opportunities 5 11 reflections listening to cautionary tales, different journeys and point of convergence, embracing storytelling, storytelling as theory of learning 2 12 communication and storytelling skills animated theatrical skills, digital storytelling 8 total: 50 • learning strategies 1. written and oral presentations 2. small group discussions 3. theatrics 89 international peer reviewed journal • resources needed projector laptop puppets sketching pads art materials listening texts conclusions most of the students are bored during the storytelling sessions. teachers observed that their students do other things than listen. also, some teachers lack necessary communication skills to become effective storytellers. students perceived that their teachers lack connection with the listeners when telling stories. teachers also believe that they find it hard to connect with their listeners. storytelling is a good source of motivation and language. the way a teacher tells a story affects the students’ understanding and interest in the story. also, stories that are told lack relevance to the students’ interests and context and must be a key part of the lesson. lastly, there is no story telling course in the education program of tertiary schools which can enhance skills and train pre-service teachers in the art of storytelling. hence, a storytelling training course is designed and implemented to train pre-service teachers and enhance their storytelling skills. translational research the findings of the study can be translated into a curriculum for pre-service teachers that would develop or enhance their storytelling skills. the proposed curriculum could be evaluated and critiqued for its relevance and needs appropriateness by the academic council and the board of trustees of the sorsogon state college, philippines and may be adopted by other institutions in the country. literature cited alison, b. t. (2013). teaching and performing theatre for youth using physical storytelling. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research atta-alla, (2012). integrating language skills through storytelling. retrieved april 1, 2016 from: https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?start=10&q=stor ytelling+as+a+curriculum&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_ylo=2010&as_yhi=2016. bala, e. (2015). storytelling in efl classes.  international journal of social sciences & educational studies, 20. bruner, j. s. (1996). the culture of education. harvard university press. daniel, a. k. (2007). from folktales to algorithms: developing the teacher’s role as principal storyteller in the classroom. early child development and care, 177(67), 735-750. dujmović, m. (2006). storytelling as a method of efl teaching. metodičkiobzori, 1(1), 75-87. spaulding, amy e. (2011). the art of storytelling: telling truths through telling stories. retrieved august 10, 2015 from http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/ojs/ index.php/lir/article/viewfile/477/507 fulton, d. (2012). unlocking speaking and listening, 2nd ed. new york: routledge. hamilton, m., & weiss, m. (2005).  children tell stories: teaching and using storytelling in the classroom. richard c owen pub. isbell, r., sobol, j., lindauer, l., &lowrance, a. (2004). the effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children. early childhood education journal, 32(3), 157-163. iseke, j. (2013). indigenous storytelling as research.  international review of qualitative research, 6(4), 559-577. li, c. y., &seedhouse, p. (2010). classroom interaction in story-based lessons with young learners. the asian efl journal quarterly june 2010 volume 12, issue 2, 288. 91 international peer reviewed journal livo, n. j., &rietz, s. a. (1986). storytelling: process and practice. littleton, colo.: libraries unlimited. lwin, s.n. (2010). capturing the dynamics of narrative development in an oral storytelling performance: a multi modal perspective. uk:sage publication. magno, j. (2014). teaching practices of mathematics teachers in selected public and private elementary schools. jpair multidisciplinary research vol 17, no 1. retrieved from http://philair.ph/publication/index.php on may 28, 2016. mottley, r., &telfer, r. (1997). storytelling to promote emergent literacy: prospective teachers’ storytelling experiences and expectations. inyearbook of the american reading forum (vol. 17, pp. 127-149). poliden, s.(2012). teaching practices promoting communication opportunities in the language class.jpair multidisciplinary research.vol.9, no.1. retrieved from http://philair.ph/ publication /index.php on may 28, 2016. skinner, b.f. (1976). about behaviorism. new york: random house inc. wright, a. (1997). creating stories with children. oxford university press. yazzie-mintz, e. (2007). voices of students on engagement: a report on the 2006 high school survey of student engagement. center for evaluation and education policy, indiana university. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research the teachers’ readiness and administrators’ support for the implementation of performance-based assessments in the k to 12 clark dominic l. alipasa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3459-6212 clarkdominic22@gmail.com university of perpetual help system dalta molino campus philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract performance-based assessments are designed by schools to measure what the learners know and can do in diverse ways. according to the department of education, these assessments should enable the students to integrate their 21st-century skills and their knowledge, understanding, values, and attitudes in specific real-life situations. to determine the extent of the teachers’ readiness for the implementation and the extent of support provided by the administrators in terms of supervision and assistance and the administrators’ coaching and mentoring, expert-validated questionnaire checklists were administered to 65 teachers in the senior high school. findings show that the extent of the teachers’ readiness to implement performance-based assessment is the extent. in contrast, the extent of the administrators’ support in terms of administration and supervision and coaching and mentoring are very great. the teachers’ readiness has been attributed to their field studies, professional education subjects, and practice teaching wherein they observed and experienced designing performance assessments. also, the administrators supervised and assisted the vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.661 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:clarkdominic22@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 17 international peer reviewed journal teachers by allowing them to create their assessments, providing suggestions, and encouraging participation. to further the implementation, enriched training and workshop sessions, maintaining the communication among the teachers and administrators, and giving credit, independence, and commendations to the faculty members are recommended. keywords — institutional research, classroom assessment reform, authentic tasks, deped order no. 8, and understanding by design, philippines introduction assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning. it helps teachers determine where each learner needs to be and how he/she gets there; hence, educators engineer effective and challenging tasks serving as learning experiences, eliciting evidence of learning, activating students towards owning their learning, and increasing learners’ engagement and achievement “across a range of contexts. realizing that classroom assessment is a powerful tool to attain the highest educational purpose, which is “achieving high-level learning” for all students, assessment reform has taken hold worldwide. teachers and administrators should untangle embedded issues and tensions in the complexity of the assessment process by formulating plans that will make sense to them (earl, 2014). thus, in pursuance of deped order no. 8, s. (2015) in the philippines, learning is assessed based on what the learners know and can do in diverse ways through the performance task component of summative assessments, which allows students “to demonstrate and integrate their knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes, and values about topics or lessons learned in a specific real-life situation by performing and producing evidence of their learning.” otherwise known as the policy guidelines on classroom assessment for the k to 12 basic education program, the order states that these performance tasks that give learners “the freedom to express inappropriate learning ways” significantly need to “encourage student inquiry” and integrate 21st-century skills in various meaningful contexts. mandated to be the most weighted summative assessment, performance task presently plays an essential role in the students’ learning as it becomes 50% of the final grade in all the core subjects and 45% in all other subjects in the curricula of the k to 12 basic enhanced education program senior high school levels. hence, to evaluate students’ attainment of the content and performance standards through authentic performance tasks, k to 12 teachers can engineer performance18 jpair multidisciplinary research based assessments demanding oral, written, and kinesthetic performance tasks that provide learners with experiences in the real world (deped, 2015). more commonly known as the k to 12, a reform in assessment and grading practices in pursuance of deped order 73 mandates that “all students will be assessed based on k-p-u-p (knowledge, process, understanding, and product/ performance). to recall, this order also recommends that the student’s level of proficiency must be categorized as “b for beginning, d for developing, ap for approaching proficiency, p for proficient, and a for advanced” (do 73, 2012, p. 5); however, it was immediately found out that “many schools find systemic reform difficult to implement as there are many factors and stakeholders who may hinder this initiative” in documenting systemic school reform from vision to standards and assessment (plata, 2013). more so, when the traditional assessments’ appropriateness was reconsidered, magno and lizada (2014) had more greatly proven that teachers need to note that only certain domains such as knowledge, process, and understanding can be assessed using traditional forms of assessment. the other facets such as empathy, taking perspective, and selfknowledge are best done on performance-based assessment. to verify, the 2002 grading for learning framework by o’connor was utilized to analyze k-p-u-p (knowledge, process, understanding, and product/performance) further just to reveal that teachers are not sharing a common understanding of the key concepts that are essential for successful implementation (plata, 2015). because of this, chua (2015) needed to determine the level of preparedness of the teachers who served as the implementers of the new shs consisting of two additional levels in high school. the study identified that the school’s possible difficulty in the implementation is that teachers are given autonomy over curriculum design and implementation. however, on rethinking about assessments, arar (2012) argued that the advances in psychometrics and technology could offer the possibility of new assessment methods that would tap a broader range of skills and knowledge than multiple-choice tests and would do so more efficiently and at a reasonable cost. the development of high-quality assessments requires students to apply complex problem-solving and reasoning skills that are relatively immune to test-focused instruction that could go a long way toward improving outcomes associated with standards-based grading (sbg) or standards-based reform (sbr) through increasing variety in the content and format of tests, resulting to lack of predictability as key to reducing overly narrow test preparation and the resulting score inflation.  this was why lunenburg (2010) pointed out that changes in 19 international peer reviewed journal the curriculum, instruction, and assessment are crucial. the role of instructional leaders is critical for the success of all implemented school initiatives. in this sense, it was revealed that principals and administrators could accomplish the goal to enhance learning by the encouragement of collaboration, use of data, provision of support, and alignment of the curriculum, assessment, and instruction. more so, through commendations and merit rewards from the principal and schools’ organized in-house seminars, teachers become more interested and effective in fulfilling assigned roles and tasks. as integrated in the singapore american school (2017), the focus in assessments shifts to communicating students’ progress. the goal is to communicate students’ progress towards mastery of learning targets and against rigorous, high-level standards not against each other. objectives of the study therefore, this study aimed to determine (1) the extent of readiness of the teachers and the (2) support by the administrators in terms of supervision and assistance, and (3) the support of the administrators in terms of coaching and mentoring provided to the teachers for the success of the implementation. methodology research design a descriptive method was used to evaluate the extent of readiness of the teachers and the extent of administrative support in terms of supervision and assistance and coaching and mentoring through the responses of the participating teachers and selected students to the questionnaire checklists. respondents the respondents of this study were 4,420 students and 65 teachers from the university of perpetual help system-dalta, molino iii, bacoor, cavite. total enumeration was used for the teachers’ population, while slovin’s formula was used to derive the sample size of the students. with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5%, 367 students were selected. instrumentation the research instrument used in this study was a self-developed questionnaire checklist for the teachers and a separate self-developed questionnaire checklist for the students. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research the questionnaire-checklist for the teachers had three (3) parts: the first part inquired about the teachers’ received/attended seminars, training, workshops, meetings, and modules on performance tasks, which were used to support or validate the second part that was for the extent to which the teachers are ready for the implementation. the third part was for the extent of support received by the teachers from the administrators. the self-developed questionnaire checklist was tested, validated, and approved by experts from philippine normal university, department of education, and de la salle university-dasmariñas. data gathering procedure data from the respondents were gathered through a questionnaire checklist for teacher-respondents and the performance-based assessments for all the student-respondents. in view thereof, the following steps were done to gather data from the teachers and students who were the respondents of the study: (1) the approval of the principal was obtained through a letter of request signed by the researcher and the adviser, (2) the first set of questionnaire-checklist was distributed to the teachers, while the second set was administered to the students for them to accomplish accordingly, and (3) the accomplished questionnairechecklists were collected, organized, and tallied for the subsequent statistical treatment and analysis. statistical treatment and analysis of data to analyze the results obtained from the questionnaire checklist for the teachers and the performance-based assessments for the students and to answer the problems, the following statistical tools were used. frequency count. frequency statistics are done by simply counting the number of times a specific response occurs (korb, 2013). this tool was useful in tallying the data obtained in all parts of the questionnaire checklist, specifically determining the number of respondents experiencing each of the given problems before they were subjected to the other applicable statistical tools. weighted mean. the weighted mean is a kind of average wherein some data points contribute more weight than others. it was used to determine the extent of teachers’ readiness and the extent of support coming from the administrators, as shown in relative values and verbal description below: 21 international peer reviewed journal relative value verbal interpretation statistical limit 5 very great extent (vge 4.20 5.00 4 great extent (ge) 3.40 4.19 3 average extent (ae) 2.60 3.39 2 less extent (le) 1.80 2.59 1 least extent (lste) 1.00 – 1.79 results and discussion table 1. the extent of readiness of the teachers in the implementation of the performance-based assessments items meam vi 1. i studied authentic performance tasks. 4.14 ge 2. i designed authentic performance tasks. 4.03 ge 3. i saw how authentic performance tasks were being administered by my co-teachers. 4.02 ge 4. i took professional education courses/subjects that discuss authentic performance tasks. 4.15 ge 5. i designed authentic performance tasks during my college days. 3.98 ge 6. i observed authentic performance tasks during my field study courses. 4.22 vge 7. i used authentic performance tasks during my practice teaching. 4.18 ge 8. i have attended workshops, training, or orientations on the use of authentic performance tasks. 3.8 ge 9. i have read handouts, modules, guidelines, and other related materials on authentic performance tasks. 4.03 ge 10. i have been given examples of authentic tasks that i can use in my lessons. 4.06 ge general weighted mean 4.06 ge table 1 shows that the teachers’ extent of readiness in implementing of performance-based assessments is great extent with a general weighted mean of 4.06.  it confirms the assumption that the teachers are ready  to implement the performance-based assessments. as soon as the guidelines on the assessment and rating of learning outcomes, more commonly known as the knowledge, 22 jpair multidisciplinary research process, understanding, and product/performance (kpup) grading, was issued in deped order no. 73, s. 2012, schools, administrators, and school organizations, both in public and private institutions, immediately geared towards the changes through offering, welcoming, and involving seminars and training being held in and out of their respective campuses and even in and out of their respective cities/municipalities and province to be updated. furthermore, as evident in the highest-ranked items in the table, the readiness of the teachers is greatly attributed to their practice teaching experiences and professional education courses and lessons taught in higher education institutions that are taking the initiative to expose education students and student teachers into authentic education during their years in tertiary education. colleges, universities, and cooperating basic education institutions, usually public schools, where practice teaching and field studies are being held, train and prepare future teachers for authentic performance assessments mandated by the department of education policy guidelines on classroom assessment, so they will be ready to apply them when they enter the real world and profession of teaching. as proven by davis et al. (2016), pre-service teachers’ success on performancebased assessments is impacted by three factors, namely: personal preparation, mentor’s knowledge/expertise, and candidate support. with the emergence of the outcome-based education (obe) in colleges and universities and in anticipation of the k to 12 reforms on classroom assessment and grading that require performance tasks to be integral bases of achievement, education students are trained to gear towards authentic performance-based assessments early on. still, it is shown that more training and workshops wherein teachers will be asked to utilize performance-based assessments can enhance teachers’ readiness and further equip them with more beneficial knowledge and competencies in designing performance tasks. teachers should continuously be trained and ready for any challenges in the design and implementation of performance tasks. numerous activities and required teaching documents focusing on standardized and periodical tests and teaching loads of teachers, including leadership and participation in academic, co-curriculum, and extra-curricular clubs and activities, are the factors that limit seminars and workshops that can be provided within a year.  nevertheless, compared to the findings of plata (2013) that many schools find systemic reform difficult to implement as there are many factors, including stakeholders, that hinder the initiative, the present study reveals a 23 international peer reviewed journal huge improvement. in the implementation of the enhanced basic education curriculum, specifically authentic performance-based assessments, different stakeholders, most importantly teachers, begin to embrace and reinforce the implementation of performance assessments with the support of higher education institutions, partner schools, and training-workshop providing bodies, such as professional organizations and associations where private schools are encouraged to register.  most significantly, the data appear to be far different from the findings of rosaroso and nelson (2015) that teachers are reluctant to change because they have not fully internalized, prepared for, and accepted the philosophy of authentic assessments because of the challenges and difficulties in implementing them. through the efforts of education colleges, school administrators, and teacher-trainers, teachers become more ready to plan, design, and administer authentic performance tasks to their 21st-century students. table 2. the extent of administrative support to the implementation of the performance-based assessments in terms of supervision and assistance items mean vi 1. comment on performance tasks. 2. give suggestions for performance tasks. 3. allow teachers to design performance tasks 4. allow teachers to plan performance tasks. 5. support the design of performance tasks. 6. monitor the administration of performance tasks. 7. help teachers come up and improve the design of performance tasks 8. improve the plan of performance tasks. 9. build a good relationship and communication with me for the administration of my performance tasks. 10. maintain a good relationship and communication with me for the administration of my performance tasks. 4.27 4.38 4.31 4.45 4.32 4.26 4.25 4.65 4.22 4.18 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge general weighted mean 4.33 vge table 2 shows that the extent of administrative support in terms of supervision and assistance in implementing the performance-based assessments is very great extent with a general weighted mean of 4.33. this means that the administrators, including the principal and coordinators, greatly supervise and assist the teachers in implementing performance-based assessments, confirming the assumption of the study.  school administrators allow teachers to plan their performance tasks and 24 jpair multidisciplinary research improve their performance-based assessment plans and designs by providing helpful suggestions and recommendations. through these efforts, the administrators ensure that the implementation of the recommended model is effectively developing the students’ higher-order thinking skills and the competencies of the 21st century and, most especially, to prepare them for the outcome-based education in college that yields knowledge, skills, values, and attitude necessary for the workforce, especially to their chosen profession. this supports the findings of choi (2017) that teachers’ implementation of these assessment reforms should be supervised and focused on since they were noted to be struggling in adapting to changes and the implementing aspects herewith. thus, instead of merely mandating the use of the model, increasing teachers’ determination and willingness will lead to a deeper level of implementation. school administrators use their own experiences and observations to assist teachers by sharing their ideas and suggestions to the teachers’ tasks and supported to plan on their own. furthermore, the data are in line with the findings in the study of potter et al. (2017) that the implementation and the strategies of the teachers in scaffolding and supporting the students in their needs in the entire duration of the task completion must be thoroughly monitored and supervised by instructional leaders, including but not limited to the school principal, to explain variations in students’ achievement of the objectives and higher-order thinking skills. however, the finding is somewhat contradictory to what arar (2014) revealed that the perceptions and expectations of the teachers and staff for a school leader, especially for a deputy-principal are to communicate well with staff; be able to listen, contain and absorb; have a strong and charismatic personality, and be modest and accepted by all. this is the case because administrators greatly focus on reinforcing that building and maintaining a good and constant interpersonal relationship and communication can sometimes be overlooked. notwithstanding, even though interpersonal relationships and communication are the least-ranked items, these aspects still garner a very great extent evaluation, which implies that it is only a minor opportunity that all administrators can considerately look into during their supervision and assistance to the said implementation. 25 international peer reviewed journal table 3.the extent of administrative support to the implementation of the performance-based assessments in terms of coaching and mentoring items mean vi 1. inspire me to design performance tasks. 2. believe in me that i can design performance tasks. 3. encourage me to pursue my preferred performance task ideas. 4. contribute to the development of performance tasks. 5. integrate programs and activities that will benefit performance tasks. 6. encourage the students to participate in performance tasks. 7. support me when i design performance tasks. 8. value my efforts and time in administering performance tasks. 9. give credit to my efforts in designing performance tasks. 10. commend and give recommendations about the design of my performance tasks. 4.29 4.42 4.2 4.23 4.31 4.38 4.28 4.35 4.15 4.22 vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge vge general weighted mean 4.28 vge table 3 shows that the extent of support to the implementation of the performance-based assessments provided by the administrators in terms of coaching and mentoring, as perceived by the teachers, is very great extent with a general weighted mean of 4.28. it reveals that school administrators coach and mentor their faculty members thoroughly to reinforce and strengthen performance-based assessments. based on the findings, subject coordinators, instructional leaders, and supervisors help improve student learning and the strength of the instruction by effectively believing in the teachers’ capability to design sound performance assessments, encouraging students’ activity, and valuing their efforts. administrators see to it that the plans for performance tasks are being communicated to them by the teachers regularly, so feedback and recommendations can be provided and adjusted based on different contexts, possible strengths and limitations, school policies and initiatives, and a certain complexity that is supposed to challenge students and trigger critical thinking, collaboration, and higher-order thinking skills from applying and analyzing to creating a product, output or performance that will be highlighted and emphasized as accomplishments and efforts of each department and subject area. according to lunenburg (2010), principals improve school initiatives by providing support to teachers; encouraging collaboration with students (and stakeholders); and aligning the curriculum, assessment, and instruction. giving credit and commendations to teachers’ efforts is also another area that supervisors improve. principals allot time to coach and mentor all the teachers to implement 26 jpair multidisciplinary research the performance-based assessments successfully and for the teachers to come up with satisfactory performance assessments for their students. notwithstanding, the result opposes the findings of  ayeni (2012), revealing that the least performed supervisory roles by principals and vice-principals for quality assurance are providing regular and constructive feedback to teachers after the monitoring and evaluation of lessons, providing feedback on students’ academic achievement, and reviewing students’ works with teachers and stakeholders. most of the principals’ and vice-principals’ accorded attention is spent on monitoring teachers’ and students’ attendance, teachers’ preparation of lesson notes, and adequacy of the scheme of work. the time that should be allotted for coaching and mentoring teachers in designing tasks can be used for other basic duties, such as attendance, lesson, and work scheme checks. conclusions the following conclusions were drawn from the study, (1) the extent to which the teachers are ready to implement performance-based assessments is great. they observe administered authentic tasks in their field study courses, use authentic performance tasks during practice teaching, and take professional education courses/subjects in college that prepares them for its implementation.  the school administrators provide a great extent of support to implementation in terms of supervision and assistance, especially in allowing teachers to design their performance tasks and improve them by giving suggestions to formulated plans. the extent of support provided by the administrators in terms of coaching and mentoring is also very great. the administrators believe in the teachers’ capability, encourage activity and participation, and value their efforts to implement performance-based assessments. recommendations anchored on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations were derived, (1) enriched trainings, seminars, and workshops may continually be conducted for the teachers based on the noticeable challenges to ease and strengthen the implementation. practices on authentic assessments that the teachers acquired from their college and pre-service teacher training can be contextualized and adapted to improve the implementation in basic education. 27 international peer reviewed journal the school administrators and instructional leaders may continue providing a very great extent of supervision and assistance to the teachers in implementing the performance-based assessments. in the process, maintaining good communication and relationship with all the academic community members is an integral factor towards the success of school initiatives. the school administrators and leaders may still further improve the coaching and mentoring practices by giving more credit, independence, and commendations to the teachers’ performance task designs. nevertheless, the very great extent to which supervisors give suggestions and encourage participation shall be sustained and adopted by administrators in different institutions. literature cited arar, k. 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(2012). assessment as learning: using classroom assessment to maximize student learning. corwin press. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3einoqt korb, k. a. (2013). conducting educational research: calculating descriptive statistics. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3rtyp5g lunenburg, f. c. (2010, september). the principal and the school: what do principals do?.in national forum of educational administration & supervision journal (vol. 27, no. 4).retrieved from https://bit.ly/3brveqs magno, c., & lizada, g. s. (2014).a guide in assessing knowledge, process, understanding, and performance/product (kpup). educational measurement and evaluation review,(july 2014), 5, 118-127. retrieved from https://ssrn. com/abstract=2638770 plata, s. (2013).documenting systemic school reform from vision to standards and assessment: the case of dlsu.language testing in asia 3: 3. retrieved february 10, 2019 from https://doi.org/10.1186/2229-0443-3-3 plata, s. (2015).deped’s 2015 classroom assessment reform: a policy analysis. proceedings of the dlsu research congress 2016 de la salle university, manila, philippines. retrieved from http://bit.ly/3bqakqv potter, b. s., ernst, j. v., & glennie, e. j. (2017).performance-based assessment in the secondary stem classroom. technology and engineering teacher, 76(6), 18.retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1133072 rosaroso, r. c., & nelson, a. r. (2015).performance-based assessment in selected higer education institutions in cebu city, philippines. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, 3(4), 72-77. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2oya3bu singapore american school. (2017). standards based reporting faq. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3vxq7uh https://bit.ly/2oaeoo4 https://bit.ly/2oaeoo4 http://bit.ly/3einoqt https://bit.ly/3rtyp5g https://bit.ly/3brveqs https://ssrn.com/abstract=2638770 https://ssrn.com/abstract=2638770 https://doi.org/10.1186/2229-0443-3-3 http://bit.ly/3bqakqv https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1133072 36 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract poetry defines and records the poet’s views, opinions, and society to whom he/she addresses (biclar, 2014). the study was conducted to stylistically analyze e.e. cummings’, your little voice. specifically, it answered the questions: what are the foregrounded parts in the poem of e.e. cummings’ your little voice? at what linguistic levels do they occur? how do the foregrounded portions of the text relate together and contribute to the interpretation of the poem? through the descriptive-qualitative research, employing the practical stylistic analysis, the findings and interpretations revealed that e.e. cummings’ your little voice is wholly foregrounded as a result of his choice to deviate from the linguistic norms and normal conventions of language. all the poetic lines in the poem exhibit absurdity and irregularity which made them difficult to understand. the linguistic deviations occur at graphological, lexical, grammatical, and semantic levels. there is a cohesion of foregrounding that contributes to the interpretation of the poem. by acting as links between themselves, all the items conferred a cohesive strength on the poem and make it functioned as a unified whole. the poem explains the persistent and strong desire of the poet for the addressee not within his immediate reach. vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.351 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. foregrounding in e.e. cummings’ your little voice: a stylistic analysis susan o. dangan http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6888-2420 sodangan@gmail.com capiz state university-pontevedra campus, capiz, philippines 37 international peer reviewed journal keywords – foregrounding, poetry, literature, e.e. cummings, descriptivequalitative research, capiz, philippines introduction stylistic studies give flavor to the kind of studies carried out by stylisticians and provides them useful indicators of approaches taken to analyze texts (jeffries, 2010). he added that this would also become useful measures to students who would choose to do related stylistic studies. poetry defines and records the poet’s views, opinions, and society to whom he/she addresses (biclar, 2014). several literary texts usually contain rare, unusual, and unfamiliar portions that manifest the poets’ creativity in using the conventions of language in his advantage, personal choice and poetic styles. foregrounding as a strategy comes in two guises, namely: as qualitative (deviation from the norm), and quantitative foregrounding (parallelism).in foregrounding, there is deviation from the language code or from the conventions of the language to create something distinctive and significant in conveying one’s personal and unique vision. normally, it deviates from usual to unusual, making the expected unexpected, which according to short (1996) creates a linguistic phenomenon that gives significant effect to readers and hearers. simpson (2004) defines foregrounding as a form of textual patterning which is motivated specifically for literary-aesthetic purposes. this stylistic analysis of e.e. cummings’ “your little voice” helps literary readers and students analyze poems with rare, unusual, and unfamiliar expressions. it also gives way to languagebased approaches in the study of literature, making it a starting point for fuller interpretations. to literature teachers, it offers opportunities for pedagogic awareness on other literary discourses. after comparison of poems to be studied, the researcher chose ee cummings’ poem because of its aesthetic properties in the texts. looking at unusual literary styles challenged the researchers to make it their text for stylistic analysis. in this study, the researcher specifically looks at deviation from the norm which means that she examined the peculiarities in the poem which give bearing to the interpretation of the text, and ee cummings’ “ your little voice” perfectly manifested these characteristics that challenges the researchers to have this stylistic analysis in interpreting the language. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research framework this stylistic research is anchored on the top-down approach in stylistic research which involves asking questions about the textual meaning of the poem and the reader’s role in negotiating textual meanings. according to short (1996), it is sensible to begin a stylistic analysis by examining foregrounded parts of the texts because it is very important for whatever stylistic interpretation. as a stylistic approach to study of text, it is a technique for ‘making strange’ in language. in literature, foregrounding is derivation: violation of rules and connections. foregrounding as a strategy, proved that poems are open to several possible interpretations of the bearers as readers. it also helps in explaining parts and aspects of the text that readers may have missed. objectives of the problem the study was conducted to stylistically analyze e. e. cummings’s ‘your little voice’. specifically, the study accomplishes the following objectives: 1) to determine the foregrounded parts in the poem ‘your little voice’; 2) to determine at what linguistic level do they occur; and 3) to find how the foregrounded portions relate together and contribute to the interpretation and meaning of the whole poem. methodology the study adopted the descriptive-qualitative research employing practical stylistics approach defined by carter (2010), as a process of literary text analysis based from the basic assumptions that the primary interpretative procedures used in linguistic analysis, learning about the language, and the workings of language in literature. library resources, website references, and internet-based articles were compared considering aesthetic properties present. looking at the literary styles of the authors, the researchers found e.e. cummings poetic styles unusual which made it an excellent source for the said stylistic approach. as discussed in the book of short (1995) exploring the language of poetry, it was mentioned that stylistic analysis is one of the perfect ways for linguistic description which begins by examining foregrounded parts of the text. 39 international peer reviewed journal the top-down stylistic approach was used to ask questions like the following: what are the foregrounded parts, what linguistic levels do they occur, and how the foregrounded parts relate together and contribute to the meaning of the whole poem. the researchers also adopted the steps in conducting stylistic analysis of short which start from accounting, examining, identifying, and noting down foregrounded parts, and counting for frequency. results and discussion to understand the significance of the verbs, the poem was divided into three divisions from which each division contains them. lines 1-12 is one division, lines 13-17 is another division, and lines 18-24 is the third division. dividing the poem into three divisions showed the moods of the poem. a. line 1-12 [1] your little voice [2] over the wires came leaping [3] and i felt suddenly [4] dizzy [5] with the jostling and shouting of merry flowers [6] wee skipping high-heeled flames [7] courtside before my eyes [8] or twinkling over to my side [9] looked up [10] with impertinently exquisite faces [11] floating hands were laid upon me [12] i was whirled and tossed into delicious dancing examining the verbs in this group of lines, most denote a lively and dynamic action. this observation may mean that the poet intends to put a vigorous mood in this group of lines to show his jubilant experience. main verbs used in this group of lines are in past tense to relate experiences that happened in the past to further show the recollection of experiences for emotional realization. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research b. line 13-17 [13] up [14] up [15] with the pale important [16] stars and the humorous [17] moon the omission of verbs suggests an impression of weightlessness and suspension in free-floating relationship with each other and with the space surrounding them. additionally, the absence of verbs in lines 13 to 17 leads to sentence fragment which shows the poet’s strategy to signal the ending of his recollection of a jovial experience. the effect of combining lexical items that leads to sentence fragment was used by the poet at his disposal to end his reminiscing of experience quickly and the ‘voice’ which is the focal subject in the poem is nowhere to be heard. thus, lines 13 to 17 were used as transition lines to direct the readers to his emotional realization in lines 18 to 24. c. line 18-24 [18] dear girl [19] how i was crazy how i cried when i heard [20] over time [21] and tide and death [22] leaping [23] sweetly [24] your voice lines 18-24 reflects the grammatical deviations, specifically on sentence and rules of capitalization. the pronoun ‘i’ which according to rules of capitalization be in the upper case even found at the middle of the sentence. another deviation noted was on transitive verb heard that supposedly needs an object to follow as receiver of the action. in this instance, the reader is prompted from asking what is heard. this also gives the reader the chance to think and find a missing word in order to find meaning to what he/she is reading. 41 international peer reviewed journal this is the original appearance of the poem in the printed page. “your little voice” e.e. cummings [1] your little voice [2] over the wires came leaping [3] and i felt suddenly [4] dizzy [5] with the jostling and shouting of merry flowers [6] wee skipping high-heeled flames [7] courtside before my eyes [8] or twinkling over to my side [9] looked up [10] with impertinently exquisite faces [11] floating hands were laid upon me [12] i was whirled and tossed into delicious dancing [13] up [14] up [15] with the pale important [16] stars and the humorous [17] moon [18] dear girl [19] how i was crazy how i cried when i heard [20] over time [21] and tide and death [22] leaping [23] sweetly [24] your voice it was found out that all the poetic lines in the poem are foregrounded due to cummings’ choices of conventions that fall outside the language system, exhibiting a sense of absurdity and irregularity which made the poem difficult to understand. the deviations in the poem occur graphologically, lexically, grammatically, and semantically. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research graphological. there is anomalous use of indentions and margins which made the appearance of the poem strange on a printed page. this does not conform to the typographical rules of poetry. some lines are aligned left; others are highly indented to the right which made the appearance of the poem absurd. the highly indented to the left and right show absurdity because it deviates from what is familiar that all lines in many poems are highly indented to the left. this allows for introspection and hanging effect. when analyzed, it gives you the idea that a missing link has to be provided. it all depends on the creativity of the reader/interpreter for whatever interpretation anyone gives is always accepted. this according to hunt (1985) creates a psychological effect to the reader he considered stylistic variation, evoking or an exciting feeling. this is the beauty of foregrounding as stylistic analysis because it strikes the readers as interesting and captures their attention. hunt also termed this “discourse evaluation.” lexical .there is invention of new words termed as neologism. vigorous and lively emotions are seen on lines jostling and shouting of merry flowers, wee skipping high-heeled flames with sentimental winks and sad ones on tide and death leaping sweetly your voice. the use of word ‘courtesied’ is unknown to english vocabulary. although it functions as verb in the poem, its meaning is also absurd. cummings maximized the utilization verbs to significantly stress the shifting of the moods in the poem – from vigorous and lively emotions, to sentimental, weak, and sad one. grammatical. there is rejection of the rules of capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, and the rules of the language which resulted to deviations. excessive use of line breaks contributed to the arousal in readers’ interests creating an arrest and suspension of additional information that they could supply as they continue reading. this also allows for uninterruptible movement and transition of actions in his poem which resulted to enjambment. the omission of grammatical subject, predicator, and complement also leads to sentence fragmentation. the “i” in its lower case which appeared four times violated the conventional rules of grammar. the use of the lower case up and upper case up to intensify the tone and movement of emotion from weak to vigorous. semantical. there were combinations of semantically incompatible words and phrases indicative of non-conceivable literal reference to reality. he combined what needs to be separated, and oddly separated what needs to be combined in normal code. the use of metaphorical expressions is also exercised by cummings in the poem. absurdly observed in the normal conventions of language use, he successfully made use of this strategy to present his unique vision of narrating 43 international peer reviewed journal lovely experience in the past. semantically incompatible words are seen in lines 1 and 2 your little voice/over the wires came leaping provided absurd meaning. how can a little voice over the wires came leaping, when leaping can made a movement and voice that is too little can be seen to be moving? in pale important stars and humorous moon, how can pale stars become important when it means stars are not shining brightly and how can a moon be humorous? the adjectives pale and humorous can only describe a persona, not a thing like star nor a moon. the occurrence of linguistic deviations in lines 18 to 24 upheld the most significant interpretation of the poem. there was a strong element of foregrounding in the group of lines. it was found out that the four linguistic deviations, namely: graphological, grammatical, lexical, and semantical worked significantly to reveal that the poem “your little voice” is about cummings and his sentiments towards a girl. in its entirety, it explained the persistent and strong desire of the poet for the addressee not within his immediate reach. the foregrounded parts of the poem contributed to the richness and variety of interpretation. the foregrounded parts when critically analyzed give the readers challenging and unique interpretation very vital in providing students the chance to share the art and skills of doing unique interpretations different from other interpretations. as leech (1965) pointed out, another art as technique of analyzing a literary text is making the objects or elements “unfamiliar” in order to increase difficulty and prolonged the process of interpretation. conclusions the poem is wholly foregrounded as a result of cummings choice to deviate from the linguistic norms and normal conventions of language use. all the poetic lines in the poem exhibit a sense of absurdity and irregularity which made difficult to understand. the foregrounded parts of the poem are linguistically deviant: graphologically, lexically, grammatically, and semantically. the foregrounded portions of the text relate together through the cohesive elements such as synonymy and conjunction, and through the simultaneous occurrence of linguistic deviations. the poem “your little voice” is about cummings and his sentiments towards a girl. the poem in its entirety explains the persistent and strong desire of the poet for the addressee. cummings uses foregrounding in his poem as a technique in presenting his unique vision of telling an experience about a girl who is so much attached to him. the previous analysis of e. e. cummings’ 44 jpair multidisciplinary research poem ‘your little voice’ shows how one can make use of stylistics to uphold an interpretation of a poem, and how stylistics can also highlight elements of a poem that one might otherwise miss. by using a systematic analytical technique like stylistics, ensures that a given interpretation is explicit, objective and grounded in facts. translational research the findings of this literary criticism could be translated into a conceptual manual that draws the relationships between the grammatical components and literature in unveiling the aesthetics and meaning of the text. the conceptual manual drawn can also be evaluated by the stakeholders alike for acceptability and impact. literature cited biclar, l.a.b. (2014). socio-cultural and political undertones in demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair. v16i1.271 last march 20, 2015 carter, r. (2010). methodologies for stylistic analysis: practices and pedagogies. language and style. london: palgrave macmillan, 55-68. hunt & vipond.1985. stylistic foregrounding. retrieved from http://staff.uny. ac.id/sites/default/files/stylistics%20foregrounding.pdf on august 20, 2014 leech, g. 1917/1965. stylistic foregrounding. retrieved from http:// staff.uny. ac.id/sites/default/files/stylistic foregrounding.pdf on august 20, 2014 short, m. (1995). understanding conversational undercurrents in ‘the ebony tower’by john fowles. twentieth-century fiction: from text to context, 45-62. 45 international peer reviewed journal short, m. (1996). exploring the language of poems, plays and prose. new york: longman inc. simpson, p. (2004). stylistics: a resource book for students. london: routledge 16 jpair multidisciplinary research performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions as correlates to the adoption of wireless access for health bien eli nillos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0854-5040 benillos@zuelligfoundation.org zuellig family foundation paranaque city, philippines abstract technology has been integrated into various levels at the rural health systems by both government and non-government agencies. the study aimed to identify the factors influencing adoption of wireless access for health (wah) by rural health workers and how it influences the perception of health workers regarding the health-seeking behavior of their clients. some selected rural health workers from 11 philippine municipalities responded to a survey adopted from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut) questionnaire. correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance were used to test the relationships between the variables. results showed that to establish high adoption of wah among rural health workers, interventions must ignite appreciation among health workers as regard to the importance and relevance of the technology to their work (performance expectancy). support from the health managers and local chief executives of the municipalities, both administrative (social influence) and logistical (facilitating conditions) are necessary for them to adopt the technology. there is also perceived increase in facilities-based deliveries and deliveries by skilled birth attendants in the municipalities after installation of wah. vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.376 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 17 international peer reviewed journal keywords – health information technology, public health, behavioral science, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, descriptive design, philippines introduction the effective use of health information technology (it) by primary care practices to facilitate quality improvement (qi) can help practices improve their ability to deliver high quality care and improve patient outcomes (higgins, crosson, peikes, mcnellis, genevro & meyers, 2015). nations around the globe have shown encouraging progress that demonstrates how the effective use of ict in healthcare can improve access and quality of care, reduce costs and improve satisfaction among both patients and providers (intel, 2013). in the philippine context, there are already existing evaluative studies which looked into the effectiveness of health information technologies. however, there still remains a dearth of timely and evidence-based researches looking into the interoperability and capacity of these technologies in effectively integrating health data from various sources. also, existing studies hardly explored the behavioral changes required both at the level of the individual and at the level of the organization for health technological innovations to be adopted and sustained. the asian development bank, looking at the trends in asean and asian region as a whole states that the state-centric facility reporting model tends to be “passive and does not work well on private facilities when no registration or reporting system is enforced indeed, the state-centric model is becoming increasingly inappropriate in the current move toward institutional autonomy and privatization for hospitals and clinics. information technology may be a game changer facilitating the monitoring of health-related development outcomes. new measurements, for example, could be developed to encourage the shift to electronic medical records or other e-vital statistics and also to leapfrog new technological application in mobile and e-health” (huang, moser and roth, 2013). there are quite limited studies, however, regarding the magnitude of impact of technology in health systems in asean. in the past, the philippine department of health (doh) has been testing different methodologies in an attempt to improve its health information system (valmero, 2011; doh, 2013; health metrics network, 2007; tolentino, marcelo, marcelo & maramba, 2005). part of these methodologies is to include modern technologies as a tool for facilitating a faster and more accurate data gathering process. evaluations of these programs, however, lacked consideration regarding social aspects of technology adoption. the use of technology in health 18 jpair multidisciplinary research information in the philippines is not only relevant, but almost necessary. the primary problem of the philippine health care system is accessibility (philippine health information network, 2007) owing to a number of reasons including the archipelagic nature of the country. however, this situation can be mitigated by the use of health information technology which will hopefully provide information to health care practitioners even to the remote areas of the country. however, introducing a technology is one thing, but integrating it in the system institutionally is another. embracing technological change is a gradual process and social acceptance of such change could take time before it can be fully embraced by its users. in fact, the local government units are still used in collecting, processing, and analyzing health data manually despite the integration of health information technologies (tolentino, marcelo, marcelo & maramba, 2005; health metrics network, 2007; marcelo & canero, 2010). the study addresses the research gap on the knowledge regarding factors that influence a rural health worker would be persuaded to use the technology and knowledge regarding the influence of adoption of wah on the healthseeking behavior of pregnant women in zuellig family foundation (zff) partner municipalities. it also contributes to existing knowledge by adding a social dimension on technology adoption. it addresses the research gap on the application of utaut framework in a post-adoption setting in zff partner lgus. zff is a non-government organization working on local heatth systems development through leadership formation. framework the study adopted and modified the utaut framework in assessing the determinants that influence adoption and acceptance of wah as a technological innovation. the original utaut framework cites only four major determinants, namely, performance expectancy (pe), effort expectancy (ee), social influence (si) and facilitating conditions (fc) and other intervening moderators affecting adoption which eventually influences behavioral intent to continue use. in this study, some of the moderators will be limited only to age, position/rank in the office and length of service, which were collectively referred to as socio-demographic profiles. venkatesh, morris, g. b. davis and f. d. davis (2003) came up with a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut). the unified theory proposes that there are predominantly four main determinants of behavioral intention regarding people using information technology: 1) performance expectancy (pe), effort expectancy (ee), social influence (si), 19 international peer reviewed journal and facilitating conditions (fi). in addition to these variables, the study also included the influence of physical infrastructures in the municipality such as electricity, internet, and technical hardware. they were collectively referred to as enabling resources. the conceptual framework pushes it even further to include outcomes in health-seeking behavior as an indicator of success for the adoption of wah, a research gap which the study aims to address. as shown in the conceptual framework, adoption of wah is determined by the socio-demographic profile of the respondents, their perception on the performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions and the enabling resources present in the municipality. the behavioral intent to continue using wah deals with the probability of the health worker to continue using the technology. it is measured as high, moderate or low behavioral intent. as shown in the conceptual framework, the level of frequency of actual use determines the level of behavioral intent to continue using wah. it is expected that rural health workers with high levels of adoption of wah would have high level of behavioral intent to continue using wah. figure 2. conceptual framework objectives of the study the study examined the determinants of the adoption of the wah among 20 jpair multidisciplinary research rural health workers in selected zff partner rural health units in the philippines. it likewise investigated how the adoption of wah is related to the behavior of health care providers and their pregnant clients. methodology research design the study is a descriptive research. since the study is focused on the perception of the rural health workers with regards to their actual and intent to continue using the wah, including changes in the health-seeking behavior of their pregnant clients, the descriptive method was the most appropriate method to use. participants the study included respondents directly from the rural health units of the partner lgus of zff adopting wah. specifically, the rural health workers of the rhus were randomly selected as respondents in the survey. the rural health workers included municipal health officers, public health nurses, rural health midwives and other health staff such as the medical technologists or microscopists, dentists and pharmacists. among the rural health workers, the doctors, nurses and midwives are those providing direct maternal care services. other rural health workers who also participated in the study were the dentists, pharmacists, medical technologists, microscopists, nursing aides and clerks who perform secondary roles in the provision of maternal care services in the rhus. only rural health workers who have been trained in wah and were expected to utilize the technology have been included in the list. a list of names of the rural health workers in all zff partner lgus was from each rhu and was encoded in computer software that randomly generated a sample list. the sample size was determined using a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 5. therefore, with the population size of 273 health workers, the calculated sample size for the study was 160. research setting there were 15 zff partner lgus in total that initially adopted wah at various levels. these 15 zff partner lgus have been adopting wah for at least 12 months and have already progressed to the subsequent levels. there are recently some zff partner-lgus that have started adopting wah. they were not included yet in the list due to the short time of implementation nor have they 21 international peer reviewed journal yet to progress to the next higher levels of operation of wah, unlike the first 15. the zff partner lgus were from across different regions: 6 from luzon, 2 from the visayas and 7 from mindanao. in this particular study, only 11 lgus participated. instrumentation a survey form was provided to the rural health workers through their rural health units. the instrument underwent pre-testing using face validity among selected rural health midwives from lgus. feedback on the layout of the survey form including ambiguity of the questions was obtained and subsequent changes were made. the instrument underwent pre-testing using face validity among selected rural health midwives from lgus not included in the target participants. feedback on the layout of the survey form including ambiguity of the questions was obtained and subsequent changes were made. the 32-item questionnaire was adapted from utaut questionnaire of venkatesh, morris and davis (2003). in this study, a few words in the instrument was reframed to make it more suited for the actual setting considering that the original instrument was. other than wording modifications to fit the specific technology studied in this research, no changes were made to the user acceptance scale. in addition to the constructs or determinants used in the utaut study, 2 additional constructs are included: adoption of wah (5 items) and healthseeking behavior (4 items). the scale used in this instrument was adapted in full from the utaut study. all items would be measured on a seven-point likert scale, where 1 = completely disagree; 2 = moderately disagree; 3 = somewhat disagree; 4 = neutral (neither disagree nor agree); 5 = somewhat agree; 6 = moderately agree; and 7 = completely agree. the questionnaire was in english with the assumption that all the respondents are fluent in the english language. the survey also included the following information of the respondents for profiling purposes: name of municipality, age in years and number of years working in the rhu. a second survey form (survey form no. 2) was also designed to collect information regarding the municipality’s enabling resources and actual data on prenatal visits, facilities-based deliveries, deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants and postnatal visits. a multiple choice questionnaire was used for survey form no.2. responses to access to electricity and availability of internet included four options: 1) always (24 hours a day); 2) most of the time (less than 24 hours a day but more than 22 jpair multidisciplinary research 12 hours a day); 3) often (less than 12 hours a day); and 4) none. responses to cellphone signal coverage included the following options: 1) 100% of the entire municipality; 2) less than 100% but more than 50% of the barangays; 3) less than 50% of the barangays; and 4) none. to derive the data for sufficiency of i.t. hardware, the survey form listed the minimum hardware needed to operate wah. whenever they were available, they were ticked as yes and if not, they were ticked as no. the hardware items indicated in the survey form were: computer at opd, computer at consultation room, computer at laboratory, computer at pharmacy, dedicated main server, router and external hard drive. out of the 7 hardware items, the researcher categorized the sufficiency of i.t. hardware of an lgu by either at least 75% hardware complete, less than 75% hardware but more than 50%, less than 50% hardware. finally, respondents filled out the health-seeking behavior section of survey form no. 2 by extracting data from their fhsis reports from 2008 to 2013 of their municipal data on prenatal visits, facilities-based deliveries, deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants and post-natal visits. data gathering procedures the primary data were derived from the answers of the respondents in the selfadministered survey. survey form no. 1 was sent out mostly via email and snail mail addressed to the local chief executive of the lgu, specifically requesting that the municipal health officer distribute the survey forms to his or her selected rural health workers. included was a letter addressed to the mayor describing the objectives of the study and seeking permission for their participation in the study. a separate letter was addressed to the mho highlighting the same but also adding other instructions such as making explicit the importance of confidentiality and anonymity of the answers of the rural health workers. a list of the names of the rural health workers randomly selected to answer the survey was provided to their respective municipal health officers. the mho was also requested to ensure that all survey forms have been filled up, which means no question was left unanswered or blank, before the forms were sent back to the researcher either via e-mail or snail mail. whenever possible, the researcher picked up the forms personally in the vicinity or nearby municipality or city in case the mho found it difficult to send the forms back. the lgus were given 14 days to fill up and return the survey forms either via e-mail or snail mail. the mhos were also given specific instructions that they would also personally answer survey form no. 2. their responses, particularly 23 international peer reviewed journal on the health-seeking behavior section, were validated using their official fhsis reports previously submitted either at their respective regional offices, provincial health offices or zuellig family foundation knowledge management (km) unit. phone calls were also made to follow up the submission of forms from the municipalities. in compliance to research ethics protocol, the researcher obtained informed consent from the respondents. data analysis data gathered were encoded using statistical software which is statistical package for social science (spss). the mean scores for each construct were calculated and encoded using the same software. during the data presentation, the calculated mean scores for each construct were subjectively categorized whether they are low, moderate or high. calculated mean scores categorization 1.0 – 3.5 low 3.6 – 5.5 moderate 5.6 – 7.0 high results and discussion out of 160, data from 156 respondents were tabulated and analyzed. data from 4 respondents were not included due to incompleteness of the answers provided in the survey instruments. the average age of the respondents is 39.9 years old with 50% of the respondents aging 41 years old and above. the average length of years in service of the respondents is 12.8 years or 152 months, with 59% of them working as midwives. generally, the respondents have high levels of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. of the 11 lgus, 73% of them have available electricity always. fifty-five percent of the lgus do not have access to the internet. sixtyfour percent of the lgus experience 50%100% cellphone coverage in their areas. the same percentage of lgus have at least 50% of the minimum required i.t. hardware to operate wah. a one-way anova was used to test level of adoption differences among the different positions in the rhu. data showed that the level of adoption among the different positions in the rhu did not differ significantly, f (3, 152) = 24 jpair multidisciplinary research 2.051, p = 0.109. the same has been observed when the adoption of wah has been further segregated according to frequency of use, consistency of use and appropriateness of use of wah. overall, the adoption of wah among all the respondents was moderate even when grouped according to their positions. the respondents have a moderate level of overall adoption of wah although 52% of them reported low frequency of use of wah. seventy-five percent of the respondents have high level of behavioral intent to continue using wah. among the lgus, a slight decrease in prenatal visits is observed after installation of wah. a slight increase, however, in their post natal visits is observed after installation of wah. an increase in their facilities-based deliveries and deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants have been observed after installation of wah. analysis (r = -0.164, n = 156, p=0.041) revealed that there is indeed a significant negative correlation between the two variables. the negative correlation between the two variables indicates that the longer the tenure in rhu, the lower the adoption of wah among the respondents. a pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between the respondents’ pe scores, ee scores, si scores, fc scores and scores of overall adoption of the respondents. it revealed that: 1) as the pe scores of the respondents increased, their level of adoption scores also increased; 2) as the ee scores of the respondents increase, their level of adoption scores also increase; 3) a strong positive correlation indicates that as the si scores of the respondents increase, their level of adoption scores also increase; and 4) as the fc scores of the respondents increased, their level of adoption scores also increased. a pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between the respondents’ current adoption of wah scores and scores of behavioral intent to continue using wah. analysis revealed that there is a strong significant correlation between the two variables (r = 0.478, n = 156, p=0.000). this strong positive correlation indicates that as the current adoption of wah scores increase, their behavioral intent to continue using wah scores also increase. a one-way analysis of variance was done to investigate difference in the mean scores of behavioral intent to continue using wah among respondents when grouped according to their current level of adoption of wah. data showed that behavioral intent to continue using wah scores among the respondents differ significantly, f (2, 153) = 20.173, p = 0.000. tukey post-hoc comparisons of the three groups indicate that the respondents with high adoption of wah (m = 6.6, 95% ci [6.42, 6.78]) gave significantly higher intent to continue using wah ratings than the respondents who have moderate adoption (m = 6.00, 25 international peer reviewed journal 95% ci [5.8, 6.21]), p = .0.000 and the respondents with low adoption (m = 5.15, 95% ci [4.68, 5.62]), p = .0.000. length in years of service, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions are significantly correlated with levels of current adoption of wah. at the same time, current level of adoption of wah is also significantly correlated with behavioral intent to continue using wah and the perception of the respondents with regards to the health-seeking behavior of their pregnant clients. there appears to be a more positive change in the actual health indicators of the municipalities before and after the adoption of wah. in this case, the higher the perception that the technology is useful and beneficial (in this case wireless access for health), the more likely the respondents will adopt the technology, similar to the study done by verhoeven, heerwegh and de wit (2010).positive change is greater among high adoptee-lgus than moderate adoptee-lgus. the results affirm what yeatts, folts and knapps (1999) described with regards to long-tenured employees in the workplace that there is a propensity for long-tenured employees to lag behind in knowing how to apply new tools and techniques as well as an inability to see how their work performance can be improved through the implementation of new knowledge or new skills. many of these long-tenured rural health workers have been used to doing their work manually and it can be a difficult transition shifting from penand-paper based type of work to technology-based work such as wireless access for health. influence of socio-demographic attributes majority of the respondents have been working in the rhu for more than 6 years, some having been employed for at least 22 years. the observation that the respondents who have been serving in the rhu longer than the rest have low adoption of technology can be likened to resistance to change. it was initially assumed that age in years would be associated with adoption of wah in the same way the latter is associated with length of years in service. however, age does not appear to influence the way the respondents adopted the technology. it does not follow, therefore, the older the individual is, the more likely the respondent will not adopt the technology. it is more likely the length of exposure to a certain way of doing things rather than the age that tends to influence the respondents’ openness to change. perception towards wah and its influence on adoption results indicated that the perception of the respondents towards the technology, particularly wah, and towards their environment, influence their 26 jpair multidisciplinary research behavior. levels of perception among the respondents for these four determinants range from moderate to high. they find wah as beneficial to their work as public health workers and easy to learn and use. the default comparison is always with their prior manner of doing things in the rhu which is largely manual. however, it is also possible that the respondents have been basing their perception of wah on its comparison with other existing information technology made available in their rhu. the department of health has also recently launched other forms of digital-based information systems which also require the use of similar technological hardware. however, one perceives a technology to be useful and beneficial influences one’s behavior to use or intend to use the technology. in this case, the higher the perception that the technology is useful and beneficial, the more likely the respondents will adopt the technology, similar to the study done by verhoeven, heerwegh and de wit (2010). respondents consider wah as something useful to them. they see it as something beneficial to their work. swamped with paper works, the public health worker sees the advent of technology, particularly wah, as something that would expedite certain processes at work. the result is similar to h.w. wang and s. h. wang’s (2010) study on the user acceptance of mobile internet; wherein they describe how effort expectancy, including perceived value and self-efficacy of the technology influence the intention to adopt and use mobile internet by the respondents. when it comes to social influence, the level of perceived support from peers and supervisors and other influential people to the respondent affects the level of adoption of technology. in this case, the higher the perception of social support from workmates and other influential people to use the technology, the more likely the respondents will adopt the technology. sykes, venkatesh and gosain (2009) highlight this importance of peers in their study, saying that an individual’s co-workers can be important sources of help in overcoming knowledge barriers constraining use of a complex system (technology) and interactions with others can determine an employee’s ability to influence eventual system configuration and features. more than social influence, the presence of supporting or facilitating conditions, albeit perceived only, can influence the behavior of the respondents in adopting the technology. data revealed that the level of perceived facilitating conditions influences the level of adoption of technology. in this case, the higher the perception of a supportive environment, including high internal capacity, the more likely the respondents will adopt the technology. the results are similar to a study done by maarop and win (2011) concerning the interplay of 27 international peer reviewed journal facilitating conditions and organizational setting in the acceptance of technology (teleconsultation) in malaysian public hospitals. respondents must at least perceive that they have the capacity to do use the technology either through the presence of tangible support such as hardware or the intangible support such as trainings and mentoring to increase knowledge and skills. availability of it infrastructure and wah adoption even in the actual absence or limitation of certain enabling resources such as electricity, internet, cell phone coverage and availability of i.t. hardware components, the constraints in these aspects seem to be not affecting the way the respondents are adopting the technology. most of the lgus in the study do not have critical problems with electricity and cell phone coverage. however, while majority of them do not have internet connection regularly, it was not perceived as a limitation to the use of the technology. relationship of level of adoption and behavioral intent the current level of adoption of wah among respondents is associated with their behavioral intent to continue using wah in the immediate and longterm future. respondents who have currently high adoption ratings of the technology are more likely to continue using the technology in the short-term and long-term, even when the technology is upgraded and assumed to be more complex in operations. the experience of using the technology in a more regular basis, guided by certain conditions such as office culture, norms and policies, making the use more appropriate, appears to reinforce the thought of continue using the technology, thus, sustaining the desired behavior which is adoption of the technology. following the transtheoretical model for behavior change (proschka, johnson & lee, 1998), the process by which a current action or behavior transitions to maintenance phase involves reinforcement management and stimulus control. constant exposure to the technology and ensuring that it becomes part of the way things are done in the office are just ways of reinforcing the behavior of using the technology. public health workers saw the need to continuously apply the technology in their work if they are rewarded. this subscribes to the expectancy theory which describes that an individual’s motivation to increase his or her performance of a given task depends on two types of expectations: 1) that the effort will result in a desired level of performance and 2) their performance will result in desired outcomes (bandura, 1986; lawler, 1973 ). the proposed study focuses on the impact of a specific health information system, in this case, wireless access for 28 jpair multidisciplinary research health. it did not compare this digital-based health information system with other forms of health information system. it did not also consider the influence of the other five building blocks of a health system as described in the who framework of action. conclusions the findings of the study offered several conclusive insights relevant to the understanding of the determinants of the use of wah. first, an individual’s perception of the importance of wah in relation to his work, its utility and relevance to his job as public health worker, is associated with their subsequent adoption of wah. the same can be said about their perception towards the technology’s less complicated operations, how effortless the utilization of the technology and how straightforward the manner of learning how to use the technology. it is important, therefore, that a health worker must have a relatively high performance expectancy and high effort expectancy for him or her to adopt the technology. an individual’s perception regarding social influence and facilitating conditions supporting him or her to use wah also are associated with his or her subsequent adoption of the technology. the health worker must feel or at least perceive himself to be surrounded by influential people such as co-workers and supervisors who also support the use of the technology. the more the individual felt the support from peers and supervisors, the more he or she will use wah in his or her work. the same can be said with his or her perception on facilitating conditions. an individual who felt he or she has the capacity and logistical support to use the technology will most likely use wah in his or her work. even if there are certain actual constraints such as insufficient i.t. hardware or irregular access to the internet, these limitations do not seem to affect the adoption of wah among zff partner lgus. lastly, high adoptors of wah had positive perception of the health-seeking behaviors of their pregnant clients. these perceived positive changes in healthseeking behaviors correspond with the actual data as shown by the health-seeking behavior indicators. while there was no adequate evidence to show a causeand-effect relationship between the use of wah and actual improvements in health-seeking behaviors of the pregnant clients, the association between levels of adoption and perceived positive changes in health-seeking behaviors implies positive reinforcement among rural health workers to continue using wah in their work. 29 international peer reviewed journal translational research findings of the study could be incorporated in future trainings and plannings of local government units who are poised to pursue the installation of wah or any technology in their health system. it can be incorporated in training modules and how toguides for health managers who are planning to integrate health information technology into their health system. literature cited bandura, a. 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(2014). national objectives for health in the philippines 2005 – 2010. retrieved march 28, 2014 from http://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/ default/files/noh2005.pdf. department of health (2013). philippine e-health strategic framework and plan 2013-2017. . retrieved from http://www.who.int/goe/policies/philippines_ ehealth2013_2017.pdf. higgins tc, crosson j, peikes d, mcnellis r, genevro j, meyers d (2015). using health information technology to support quality improvement in primary care. ahrq publication no. 15-0031ef. rockville, md: agency for healthcare research and quality. health metrics network (2007). framework and standards for country health information systems (2nd ed). switzerland: health metrics network, world health organization. lawler, e. e., iii (1973). motivation in work organizations. monterey, california: brooks/cole. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research maarop, n. and win, k.t. (2011). the interplay of facilitating conditions and organizational settings in the acceptance of teleconsultation technology in public hospitals in malaysia. acis 2011 proceedings paper 14. marcelo, a.b and canero, j.m. (2010). health information systems. acta medica philippina. vol. 44 no. 4. manila, philippines. philippine health information network (2007). philippine health information system: review and assessment. switzerland: health metrics network, world health organization. sykes, t.a., venkatesh, v. and gosain, s. (2009). model of acceptance with peer support: a social network perspective to understand employees’ system use. mis quarterly, 33(2), 371-393. tolentino h, marcelo a, marcelo p, maramba i.(2005). linking primary care information systems and public health information networks: lessons from the philippines. stud health technol inform. pp116:955-60. valmero, a. (2011, july 6). ph can be a model for health informatics, says who exec. ioqual. retrieved from: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ph-model-healthinformatics-says-exec-092812919.html. venkatesh, v., morris, m.g., davis, g.b. and davis, f.d. (2003). user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. mis quarterly, 27, 425–78. verhoeven, j.c., heerwegh, d. and de wit, k. (2010). information and communication technologies in the life of university freshmen: an analysis of change. computers & education, 55(1), 53-66. wang, h.w. and wang, s.h. (2010). user acceptance of mobile internet based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology: investigating the determinants and gender differences. social behavior & personality: an international journal, 38 (3), 415-426. world health organization (2007), everybody business: strengthening health systems to improve health outcomes: who’s framework for action. who press. 31 international peer reviewed journal yeatts, d. e., folts, w. e. and knapp, j. (1999). older workers’ adaptation to a changing workplace: employment issues for the 21st century. educational gerontology, 26, 565-582. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research travails of vulnerable people in accretion site of tagum city roque n. langcoy ii htt://orcrid.org/0000-0001-6580-0218 roque.langcoy.2@gmail.com davao oriental state college of science and technology san isidro extension campus, davao oriental, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the effort of the local government to answer the call for modernity and globalization in their respective locality gains investors’ and capitalists’ interest. it turns vast of lands into plantations (banana, palm oil, and pineapple) and subsequently changes the life of the people. the study aimed to explore the following: determine the demographic profile of the settlers in accretion site, and design an enhancement program. the study used an in-depth interview using a semi-structured questionnaire to gather data, using descriptive survey aided with researcher-made questionnaire employed to all 43 family settlers in accretion site. results showed that most of the respondents are christians, married, less educated, doing menial jobs to support their family and children, and have experienced colds, cough, fever, skin diseases, and dehydration. moreover, the family respondents significantly showed interest in participating livelihood programs, to know about the prevention of communicable diseases, birth control, and raising children with good nutrition. this investigation concludes therefore that people become vulnerable in places where development happened due to less vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.635 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 151 international peer reviewed journal educational attainment, and they move to dangerous places to feed and earn a living for their families and children. but if given the chance people are willing to engage in activities that would help elevate their economic condition. keywords — social science, vulnerable people, include accretion site descriptive survey, philippines introduction the movement of globalization has adversely affected human activity like livelihood, education, health, communication, and culture. countries have several issuances, and acumen favorable to international standard has put into law to get greater heights in attracting global market and in protecting the economic stability of a country. many vulnerable individuals have lost jobs, livelihood and identify in embracing globalization. kiggundu (2002) stipulated that vulnerable countries on globalization contribute the highest number of immigrants and refugees; hence, human and intellectual capital moves out due to an unsafe environment. africa, russia, and the middle east suffer from a brain drain in favor of western europe, usa, canada, and australia. furthermore, culture and spirituality are important ingredients on the implementation of globalization with established mechanism and traditions of valuing diverse population. a multicultural country without established standard cannot exist in globalization. in asia, frenckel and kuruvilla (2002) reported that the uneven level status of employment relation (er) could be a potential cause of troubles in the implementation of a borderless market of employment. it is evident in the nation’s economic strategy, the intensity of globalization, government responsiveness to workers’ expectations, labor market features and union strength. the following countries exhibited different er patterns: india is regulated protected, china is constrained competitive, philippine is deregulated competitive and malaysia is protective competitive. the impact of globalization in the philippines, using the data on aggregate and sub-industry level of manufacturing is very much positive. it displayed an increasing openness of economy due to ratio’s increase in export and import over the years. added to the feature is the increase of female participation in employment (orbita, 2002). in mindanao, medina (2015) revealed that tagum city leads in local sustainability development index (lsdi) regarding social impact among the six cities in southern mindanao. these include health and 152 jpair multidisciplinary research nutrition, and quality education. it also showed enough score on economic (puberty reduction and infrastructure services) and ecological (forest protection and solid waste management) indicators. vulnerable communities and groups are given assistance through different approaches, but among them, increasing literacy is found to be more efficacious in tagum city. the palengkeskwela or school in the market program is for out of school youth to learn values education and health awareness campaigns, financial literacy and management, and peace education. the said program garnered an award as a hall of fame in the national literacy and bronze medal under the king sejong prize of unesco for 2011. the lgu is always doing everything to answering the need of the community. most often the intervention activities are on skills acquisition, empowerment and lifelong learning skills. however, in job market, those who obtain a degree gets hired, but those who have no education were displaced in their territory and live a nomadic life. in the accretion site of pandapan, tagum city is one of the destinations of this group coming from the nearby municipalities and provinces. the area is an accretion quarry, and as the years go by, the number of settlers is increasing; hence, the researcher conducted an assessment. the objectives of the study are to draw the family demographic profile of the respondents, evaluate the livelihood activity, health and common illness they experience, and design an enhancement program. framework this study utilizes the community development framework (cdf) which proven successful in uplifting the lives of the poor and vulnerable groups in several communities. it always aims at providing programs or activities to alleviate the problematic condition of the community based on the current experiences, resources and favored undertakings of the community members. the principles of community development lolled in the foundation of shaping the future by connected efforts and getting pair-share of responsibility among individual community members, organisations, and government institutions. in ottawa, canada, cdf is used in identifying local community issues and strengths, deciding on the changes the community wants to make and set goals and in building on neighborhood strengths, and developing skills and support to make the changes happen. added to this the state of western australia also adopted cdf with the following priorities: safeguarding, developing and 153 international peer reviewed journal transmitting noongar culture, providing capacity building and leadership, housing, youth, health and education for five years (noongar negotiation team and the south west aboriginal land and sea council, 2013). furthermore, according to greater shepparton city council (2010), cdf is implemented in their community program with the following focus: people, place, participation, and partnership. nevertheless in the philippines, luna (2009), strongly suggests that cdf is utilized as an approach to reducing risk among flash-flood affected families in albay, whereas; yap and cabalfin (2008) stipulated that governments have to prioritize the social services like education, health, and sanitation in developing better communities. methodology the study employed the descriptive survey method of research which is designed to gather data and information necessary to the study. this method was used to describe the community as the target of the inquiry. the researcher explores the experiences of the community in accretion site of pandapan, tagum city. the conduct of the survey lasted for 6 months. interviews and collection of the data were in the month of january to march 2013. the study used an in-depth interview using a semi-structured questionnaire to gather data needed for the study. its method emulated that of the study conducted by bartilet, and estoque (2007), and retome, estrella, sarvida, yaoyao, garcia, and granada (2012). the instrument has three parts. the first part asked about the family demographic profile of the settlers with three item questions. the second part inquired about the livelihood of the respondents with three-item questions and the third part inquiries about the health-related experiences in the previous year. all head of the families residing in the community of accretion site of tagum city participated in this probe, which totaled to 43 families; four of which are headed by single parents. the majority of the respondents are members of the indigenous people (ips) and are christian. most of them are coming from laak, compostela valley, a municipality in the next province about 85 km in the distance from tagum city. the activity of the study started with asking permission to conduct the research in the site from the department of interior and local government (dilg), tagum city, as well as to the chieftain of pandapan. upon approval, 154 jpair multidisciplinary research the researcher personally asked permission to each settler’s head of the family that they will be included as informants. they gave their verbal consent after being provided with adequate information. data were tabulated and organized using frequency and percentage. moreover, enhancement program was formulated based on the collected information. all participants provided the written informed consent before questionnaires were administered to them. as for the illiterate informants, they verbally bestowed consent right after a substantial orientation and after some clarification of concerns regarding the study. results and discussion the information gathered in the conduct of the study was treated properly, organized and transliterated. the following are the results of the investigation. parents in education. results of the study revealed that of the husbands (29 or 70.73%) and wives (33 or 80.49%) have reached elementary level. none of them has finished college but two husbands reached college and one wife reached vocational education. it is noted that seven (17.07%) husbands and five (12.20%) wives have no education at all. they cannot even recognize letters or numbers. all countries over the world keep on targeting of 100% literacy rate but sad to note that there are communities whose member have not able to step in school for formal education. results of the study have affirmed the report of hall and patrinos (2004) that the school participation of minority groups all over the world is quite minimal. in india, almost 60% of non–scheduled tribes attended secondary level, only 40% of the scheduled tribes do a gap that has held pretty constantly since 1945. in africa and taiwan, some women have not attended schooling than men, and it is increasing. according to malin, & maidment (2003), the factors on education participation among vulnerable people include the standard of living, health, housing, and employment. these factors continuously dominate to impede personal growth and life improvement aligned with education. dhir, (2015) conveyed that many vulnerable groups are engaging in trades with outsiders, working as laborers in some commercial agricultural industries with a very minimal salary, while fighting for instances of discrimination, lack of education and opportunity. they are being hired to a company and not given a chance to be promoted because of the level of education they have. 155 international peer reviewed journal number of children. in terms of the number of children, it was discovered most of the family has two children (10 or 24.39%) and second highest with one child (9 or 21.95%) followed by three children with 7 (17.07%) while only one family who has 1 (2.44%) child. furthermore, the average number of children the 41 families was 3.15. it also shows that all families who settle in the accretion site have offspring. furthermore, the age of 126 children age reached over 20 years old. most of the children lie within the age of above 20 years old with 16.67% followed by age range of 5 – 6 and 78 years old both with 18 or 14.29% and by age ranged 3 – 4 years old with 14 or 11.11%. on the other hand, the lowest in the age range of 17-20 years old. results of the study exhibit that the concentration of children is within the age range of 1 – 10 years old. from one year onward an increasing number of children as the age go up is so obvious. for the settlers of the accretion site, children are treasures for the couple. the number of children a family has, the more advantage they will get; hence it will help the family to earn a living, defend the family on any dispute and maintain the respectable name of parents. among them, family planning is not into practice. some of these settlers get married or get a partner as young as 14 years old and have delivered a baby with the same age. accordingly, the settlers of the accretion site also enunciated that having children today is very expensive even if babies will be feed on rice porridge. the outcome of the study aligns with the report of patrinos, & psacharopoulos (1996) stated that indigenous people are among the vulnerable group, but they treat their children as wealth and source of happiness. it shows that the age structure of children is significant in doing livelihood activities. human rights and equal opportunity commission (2007) added that the aboriginal people have a strong extended family value system. children in the communities are also the concern of the extended family and not only by the biological parents. moreover, they are after with raising, nurturing, educating, and training the children. cuizon (2007) even reported that the sama tribe of the philippines raised children and taught them that there is one creator who protects the environment. this group also believes of not owning property but instead sharing of food, resources and services were among the practices. children education level. another result of the study underscores that most of the children have no education with 43 or 34.13%; followed by grade 1 – 2 with 36 or 28.57%, while the highest stage is the only high school with 1 or 0.79% followed by high school level 1 – 2 with 2 or 1.59%. although there 156 jpair multidisciplinary research were a lot of children ages 16 years old and above, only three have experienced high school education. another point is that there are 43 children who don’t have the education, yet only 23 are under 6 years old. despite the national and international awards garnered by tagum city on literacy, this small community had disclosed the majority of children do not have a formal education yet. community member informants also underscored that most of their children had stopped schooling even at the lower grade level. hence, in times of no planting and harvesting of bamboos or every end of the harvest season, they need to move to other places to earn a living bringing their whole family and children. this situation causes attrition of children in school. furthermore, children are requested to help their parents in doing livelihood activities as early as eight years old. this fact corroborates to the report of patrinos & psacharopoulo (2001) that among vulnerable people having a greater number of younger siblings implies more age-grade distortion and a higher probability for child labor. this practice is evident until now, both for practical reason and traditional credence. de felício, terra, and zoghbi (2012) also stated that children who live with their parents, with a small family and enjoying better socioeconomic status are performing better in school compared to disadvantaged children. moreover, mothers’ level of education determines also the performance of children in school. in addition to that, verola (2009) reported that in 1970s vulnerable children including ip students had shown major deficiencies in the reading, mathematics, and language among the elementary graduates in the philippines. moreover, this poor performance reflected in the 2007-2008 national achievement test (nat) result of compostela valley ip schools. also, in 2010’s nat result for grade six in which most schools including ip schools did not reach 75%. these students often leave school due to poor academic performance, bullying and familial obligations. although, this accretion site in tagum city have shown data of none access to education the philippine government millennium goal was set to eliminate illiteracy by providing filipino greater access to education with the program education for all (efa). several legal bases were implemented to support this goal. it started with the 1987 constitutions which assure equal opportunity for all filipino learners. the ra 10533 known as enhanced basic education program which defines the current k to 12 program of deped which also allows five years old as the entrant student in kindergarten. 157 international peer reviewed journal several modalities adopted to attract participation of children include the 4ps program of department of social welfare and development (dswd), which gives php 300 educational assistance for a maximum of three children, and php 500 health grant per household, and deped (2016) has awarded voucher privilege for those students who will enroll in private institution in grade 11 and 12 levels. the government also provided options such as out of school youth (osy), alternative learning system (als) under executive order no. 356, and formal curriculum for indigenous people (ips) through ra no. 8371. there are government scholarships in the tertiary level which can be availed by the poor but deserving students (like the ra 10648) for top graduates of high school who wish to enroll in suc and ra 10687 (unifast) a comprehensive and unified student assistance system for tertiary education. the philippine government never stops in providing support and bringing children into school. source of income. results of the survey revealed that the majority of husband respondents (37 or 90.24%) are engaged in cutting and planting bamboos, and most wives (46.34) assist with their husband in the bamboo plantation. aside from working in the bamboo plantation husband displayed also working as a habal-habal driver and as a laborer in the factory, banana plantation, and construction and animal raising both with 11 or 26.83%. moreover, wives also work helping their husband. most of the households (husbands and wives) are working with two or more blue collars jobs with menial pay. the majority of the wives perform an economic role in helping their husbands at the same time performing reproductive and familial obligations. as the mothers go to work, she is bringing her small toddlers. children are introduced to work at a very young age but absent in formal schooling. this scenario is one of the pictures why the cycle of illiteracy goes on and on. this information somehow corroborates with the women in equador as articulated by de marco, larrauri, neira, and montiel, (2016) that it is customary that peasant women submit to their husband or to a male member of the family in using economic resources of the family. these women also have engaged menial work to gain personal funds while in education, labor, rights and health services equal rights are afforded to them. gaps occur only in areas of specific needs and transportation. nevertheless, the turning of lands from the forest into plantations of banana, palm oil, falcata trees and pineapple in laak municipality (where they are from) and the lack of opportunity to be hired in companies due to no education have compelled these people to settle on the site temporarily. the settlers stay on the 158 jpair multidisciplinary research site and engage in bamboo planting and other menial jobs for factories found in nearby areas of accretion site since they lack the opportunity to be hired in companies and the turning of lands from. about three years ago there are five households, but now the considerable rate of the population can be observed in the accretion site. this picture is part of the big collage of lumads and indigenous people in the philippines. several government programs and laws are not religiously implemented. some of these programs are the national integrated protected area system (nipas), mining act of 1995, ipra, and integrated forest management agreement (ifma). government agencies like denr, ncip and the local bureaucrats serve as implementers of such policies of a development program. mining activities, operations of logging companies, banana plantations, palm oil plantations, sugarcane and rubber plantations, and conversion of land for infrastructure projects and tourism have affected the vast of the land of the lumads and indigenous people. furthermore, these households have the same circumstances with displaced native people in malaysia particularly in kampung selingkong, and kampung meranti due to the development of their home place. the conversion of forest to agricultural land and logging activities until 2000 has brought alternation of their livelihood (harun et al., 2010). in borneo, the expansion of the logging industry into the interior of the island has similarly destroyed traditional life patterns. these activities have changed the farming system and have lowered the value of farmer services (rainforest conservation fund, 2011). more so, devitt, tsey, & hall (2001) declared that education is the factor associated with the current problems of establishing stable work. hence, those who obtain long-term and full-time employment are those who finished their education from primary to a college degree as one of the major requirement. monthly income. the monthly income of the community members of the settlers of the accretion site, barangay pandapan, tagum city is also exposed in this study. results of the study displayed that a considerable number of family declared a monthly income of one thousand pesos with 18 or 43.90% and followed by income 1,001 – 2,500 pesos with 14 or 34.15%. only two families declared earning above 7,500 pesos. results of the study revealed a very minimal family monthly income of households of settlers of accretion site. indeed, these families experience hardship in their lives. such hardship also contributed to the poor participation rate of the children to school. with the small amount they earn every month they just 159 international peer reviewed journal prioritized the rice or corn grits, while viand comes in veggies grown from their backyard, dried fish and bagoong were among others. family entertainment is in the form of viewing television with neighbors and playing basketball during spare time. they even consider going to the city as already a luxury since the fare is 15 pesos from a habal-habal (single bicycle motor). serińo (2014) reported total inequality in eastern visayas. wage income is prevalent in the philippines. the spike in income from agriculture sector reduces inequality while the increase in wage income will tend to exacerbate inequality. while in other parts of the world, vulnerable people have seemed to be the losing group especially those who are engaged in agriculture. plant (2002) described mexico disparity in income among households showed indigenous more than three times than non-indigenous households. incomes of indigenous come mostly from planting and wage of contractual jobs. while in vietnam, hall & patrinos, (2012) stated that the social and economic situation of vulnerable ethnic minorities has improved over the last decade, but the standard of living is still low. these people engaged in agricultural but paid less during the selling of their produce. livelihood activity choices. when the family respondents were asked if what livelihood activity they wanted to learn, family respondents asserted that they wanted to learn animal raising, food preservation and other livelihood activities. the respondents chose animal raising with 34 (79.07%) for chicken raising, 29 (67.44%) for hog raising and 23 (53.49%) for goat raising. for food preservation, the following are the responses of the family respondents: sardines with 20 (46.51), chorizo with 19 (44.19%), tocino with 12 (27.91%), candy making with 2 (4.65%) and pickles with 1 (2.33). for other activities the borloloy making ranked highest with 13 or 30.23%, followed by farming with 11 or 25.58%, manicure, and pedicure with 8 or 18.60% and sawing with 2 or 4.65%. the high response has shown the interest of the tribe to acquire skills that will help them succeed in their quest of uplifting their financial capability through raising of animals and their prior knowledge in doing this activity. food preservation, on the other hand, also showed comparable votes along with farming, pedicure, manicure and borloloy making. the responses of the households in accretion site have given an impression that they long to improve their current economic condition by empowering themselves with the skills and knowledge in raising animals, food preservation, 160 jpair multidisciplinary research farming and other livelihood activities. this response is aligned with the report of carino (2011) stated the involvement of vulnerable people in natural resource management differs considerably around the globe and invariably involves compound interactions. aside from chicken raising as the most in-demand choice, they engage in a mix of production systems including farming, settled agriculture, hunting and gathering, livestock raising, fishing and production and trade in local handicrafts. involvement of local people is necessary for establishing sustainability, aryal and subedi (2011) suggested this on musk deer farming in nepal, while bebbington and bury (2010) found out to be effective in the mining industry; addressing disagreement, adoption of water monitoring, environmental zoning and proper planning on land use. albeit, vińas, pre, hungria, cruz, alinsunurin, salazar, e. & league (2016) concluded that an extension program would succeed when it is framed with the community development of the place. it would help the beneficiaries and will influence livelihood development positively. furthermore, herera (2010) declared that extension programs that are socially responsive and sincere in addressing the needs of the community create a positive impact on the lives of the beneficiaries over time. in conclusion, shaw and kristjanson (2014) stated that building of capacity and resilience to people who are agriculture oriented is necessary using the inclusive strategies in implementing livelihood and capability program. it will allow reaching the most vulnerable group of the vulnerable, women, rural farmers, and indigenous people. in addition, it will provide a vast range of learning opportunities from technology transfer, the greater understanding of the program and its limit. common illnesses. results of the investigation have revealed the number of household members who experienced illnesses in accretion site of tagum city. most of the families encountered 5-6 diseases in the previous year with 13 families or 30.23%, followed by 3-4 with 27.91% and the lowest frequency is above eight times with 2 or 4.65%. furthermore, almost all families have experienced cold with 42 or 97.67%, cough with 41 or 95.35%, and fever with 40 or 93.02, skin diseases with 27 or 62.79% and lbm with 26 or 60.67%. despite the effort of the local government unit (lgu) to address the health issues of the residents of the city, the household settlers of the accretion site remain to confine their ill members in their homes. that is why the household in the accretion site still experienced these common even though health workers of barangay have constantly implemented programs of the city. 161 international peer reviewed journal results of the study showed that the experiences of the household settlers of accretion site of tagum city have similar experiences with the aboriginal people of australia. the australian bureau of statistics (abs, 2010) stated that aboriginal people are vulnerable to experience ill health than any other group living in australia. the following were health issues confronting them. this include diet, diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, stress, drugs, alcohol and poor children’s health. sunday & eyles (2001) added smoking obesity as the leading contributors to the mortality rate. added to this, ring (2003) pronounced that the said people are susceptible to experience different contagious and none communicable diseases. hence, this group strongly rely on traditional indigenous health practice rather than going to a hospital for proper wellness. in africa, particularly in zambia, anyangwe, mtonga, and chirwa (2006) reported that from the year 1990 to 2003 people who move from rural to cities have experience improvement on mortality rates of the infant in varying ages. it is due to the efforts to campaign measles immunization and with the support of partner agencies of the government. owusu-ansah, tagbor, & togbe (2016) added that the majority of those who moved from ghana and west african subregion to slum cities have not visited health facility and missed membership on national health insurance. they experience malaria, dehydration, mental illness, hiv and convulsion due to poor sanitation. yielded result of the study is not similar to the experience of the atamanobo in the study of gracey & king (2003. the beliefs, customs and cultural pattern distinct on their own have held them not to practice the latest knowledge on managing illnesses. health workers rarely reached them. thus, they could not avail the services offered by the government such as social privileges, and economic services as compared with their other counterparts. health issues. respondents shared that they would like to experience seminars regarding health issues. results of the study revealed the following: prevention of communicable diseases with 38 or 88.37%, child rearing with 25 or 58.14%, youth nutrition with 24 or 55.81 and birth control with 12 or 27.91. in the results of the study, it only showed that the tribe longs to empower themselves with the knowledge of preventing, handling and curing illnesses. knowledge in nurturing children, and birth control were some things they would have in training. unlike in over 80% of the world’s indigenous peoples live in asia, latin america, and africa, their health status or access to health services is not 162 jpair multidisciplinary research given proper attention as stated by stephens (2005). vulnerable as they are, access to health care is also poor for the group of people. it is often partly due to their physical isolation and cultural belief. the world bank (2011) in india and vietnam, where poverty reduction achievements have been sizeable, vulnerable people are less likely to be covered by health programs or received vital vaccinations against tuberculosis, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, measles, and polio. smith (2003) and gracey and king (2003) added that the cause of poor health of vulnerable people is highly affected by their living condition, spiritual, emotional, mental disconnectedness, and racism. table 1. the enhancement program program activities expected outcome a. adopt an early education and functional school 1. establishing of a functional school building establishment of a functional school building 2. training of early childhood teacher three to five community members trained to teach early childhood education 2. involve pre-service teachers and faculty in monitoring and evaluation community early childhood education students were diagnosed and improved competencies in reading and numeracy through enhancement activities b. livelihood program 1. training in on animal raising: hog, chicken and goat • alleviate the poor economic condition of the community members for about 10-15% increase in their income, • all community members families engaged in animals raising, • about 5-10 families ventured in food preservation business, about 3-5 engaged and earned in cosmetology, and • three family beneficiaries enjoyed goat dispersal project. 2. training on food preservation: sardines, tocino and chorizo 3. training in borloloy (fancy accessories) making 4. training in hair cutting, manicure and pedicure 5. goat dispersal 163 international peer reviewed journal c. health and nutrition program 1. medical mission all community members (100%) family beneficiaries improved health conditions and had access to medical services. 2. feeding reduced the number of wasted children for 50 to 70 %. 3. information dissemination on prevention of communicable diseases, children nutrition, child raising and birth control decreased occurrence of common illnesses for about 70 to 80% in the community. conclusions the tagum city accretion site is occupied by vulnerable people who are less educated, no permanent job, most of them are christian and belongs to indigenous peoples (ips). this picture defines the vulnerable people movement in the places where development happened. vulnerable people always fall short on the requirements set by the companies in hiring personnel for the workforce they need in their operation. as a result, they migrated to places where they can earn and feed their families and most of the time landed dangerous sites like the accretion of tagum city. however, this scenario is an opportunity which can be used as avenue to extend expertise for learning institutions or serve as the springboard in improving social services by the government agencies. translational research the findings of this investigation could be translated into an extension project which can be collaborated by different stakeholders. the data and the enhancement program can be offered to the university of southeastern philippines (usep) and to the tagum city local government unit (lgu), usep officials can use the results in forging an extension project in support to its degree program offering and take the lead in finding partners in the implementation of the proposed enhancement program for early education, livelihood activities, and health and nutrition program. the tagum city lgu can also the data as a springboard in providing social services and helping 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(2008).  sustainable development framework for local governance  (no. 2008-33). pids discussion paper series. retrieved july 5, 2017 from https://goo.gl/ayrxpy https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su6052685 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)66801-8 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)66801-8 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0277-9536(00)00166-0 1 international peer reviewed journal incidence of tuberculosis in a highly urbanized city and treatment compliance to tbdots program marjorie rubi sta. teresa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0987-544x sta.teresamarjorie@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines mae c. reynessagario http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3653-8016 mae_rsagario@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines abstract tuberculosis imposes a stigma not only to the patient but also to the community. treatment of this disease needs patience as it may require extended period of treatment regimen. if not treated, tuberculosis can be fatal which can cause multiple drug resistance (mdr). this study aimed to determine the incidence of tuberculosis in a highly urbanized city and its treatment compliance to dots program. descriptive – correlational research design with follow-up interviews were taken to determine the respondents’ profile and the incidence of tuberculosis cases as well as the compliance of tb patients to dots. respondents were identified using purposive sampling design. the study utilized the quantitative method using simple percentage, mode, median and pearson r to establish the relationship of the factors in the study. results showed that the majority of the respondents were males and in the young adult group of age ranging from 15-25 years old. the incidence of tuberculosis is high in 2011 (2.92%) while the cases vol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.413 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 2 jpair multidisciplinary research of tb in 2012 falls in the second rank with 50 cases (24.51%%). the incidence of tb decreased in 2008 (67%); and majority of the respondents were noted to be compliant to the prescribed treatment in the dots program. the study concludes that the incidence of tuberculosis cases is still increasing and uncontrolled, despite that the tb patients were compliant with the treatment regimen as implemented in the dots program of the department of health. keywords — public health, tuberculosis, dots program, descriptivecorrelational design, talisay city, philippines introduction the need to have an extended treatment duration of the life-threatening illnesses such as tuberculosis is needed to lessen the increasing incidence of this disease. a high standard of care is vital to restore the health of individuals with tuberculosis, to prevent the disease in their families and to others, and to protect the health of communities (migliori, hopewell, blasi, spanevello & raviglione, 2006). client’s compliance to the treatment regimen is a concern to all health professionals in the community. treatment for tb is not only a matter of individual health but also a substance of public health. all healthcare providers must have the knowledge to prescribe a standard treatment regimen and the means to assess adherence to ensure that the treatment was completed. it is a long-term process that should be initiated immediately upon suspicion of infection. the compliance to health regimen through prolonged treatment duration is necessary to ensure eradication of the organisms and to prevent relapse of the disease (black & hawks, 2008). tb currently holds the seventh place in the global ranking of causes of death. there were current anti-tb drugs to treat such disease which were available for more than 50 years, but still in every 15 seconds, someone dies of tuberculosis. even more alarming: a person is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis every second, every day. if left untreated, a person with active tb will contaminate an average of 10 to 15 other people every year (who, 2012). medication for tuberculosis is free of charge among the designated health centers nationwide, treatment partners have been part of the patient’s success to compliance through monitoring. for some reasons, a number of ptb patients still fail to comply with the treatment regimen. the health center, particularly of 3 international peer reviewed journal the cebu city, contributed for non-compliance of some patients because of lack of constant monitoring among ptb patients and lack of motivation or drive. the researchers with learning experience as clinical instructors have been affiliated and exposed to one of the communities. for this reason, the researchers observed an increasing incidence of tuberculosis cases in the area and saw the need that the tuberculosis patients need an improvement specifically on the extent of compliance with the dots program. through this study, the incidence of tuberculosis and treatment compliance to dots program in a village of a highly urbanized city will be determined, information will be gathered and correctly disseminated to the community. the relationship among patients and health personnel strengthened towards the success of treatment compliance. hence, the findings of the study will be formulated as basis for a proposed action plan. the gap in the knowledge is the latest evaluation on the effectiveness of the dots program at the health center levels especially in the urban areas of central visayas, philippines. framework this study was anchored on the concept of rosenstock’s health belief model (1974). it is a psychological model that attempts to explain and predict health behaviors by focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals. the key variables of the health belief model are as follows: perceived threat, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and cues to action. specific perception includes perceived threat or susceptibility and perceived seriousness that determines the total perceived threat of an illness to a precise one. modifying factors include a person’s perception to demographic variables, socio-psychological variables, structural variables and cues to action that can either be internal or external. internal signs include feelings of fatigue, uncomfortable symptoms or thoughts about the condition of an ill person who is close. the likelihood of action depends on the perceived benefits of the action minus the perceived barriers to the act (kozier et al., 2016). tuberculosis (tb) is an infectious disease caused by tb bacteria (mycobacterium tuberculosis) that primarily affects the lungs. this condition is known as pulmonary tuberculosis (ptb). patient may also have tuberculosis in the bones, meninges, joints, genital-urinary tract, liver, kidneys, intestines, and heart and this is called extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (smeltzer, bare, hinkle & cheever, 2008). 4 jpair multidisciplinary research according to the who report in 2010, the tb incidence should be falling by 2015. the stop tb partnership has set two additional targets, which are to cut the rates of prevalence and mortality into half by 2015 compared with their levels in 1990. collectively, the who’s stop tb strategy and the stop tb partnership’s global plan to stop tb have set out how the 2015 targets can be achieved. the estimates of the global burden of disease caused by tb in 2009 are as follows: 9.4 million incident cases, 14 million prevalent cases, 1.3 million deaths among hiv-negative people and 0.38 million deaths among hiv-positive people. most cases were in the southeast asia, african and western pacific regions. there were 5.8 million notified cases of tb in 2009 equivalent to a case detection rate (cdr, defined as the proportion of incident cases that were notified). of the 2.6 million patients with the sputum smear-positive pulmonary tb in the 2008 cohort, 86% were successfully treated. among tb patients notified in 2009, an estimated 250,000 had multidrug resistant tb (mdr tb). of these, slightly more than 30,000 (12%) were diagnosed with mdr-tb need to be rapidly expanded. funding for tb control continued to increase and reached almost us $5 billion in 2011. there is considerable variation in which countries spend on a per patient basis, and the extent to which the countries rely on domestic or external sources of funds, compared with the funding requirements as estimated in the global plan. the incident rates are falling globally and in five of who’s six regions. if these trends are sustained, the mdg target will be achieved. reductions in the burden of disease achieved to date follow 15 years of intensive efforts to improve tb cases and control. between 1995 and 2009, a total of 41 million tb patients were successfully treated in dots programmes and up to 6 million lives were saved including 2 million among women and children. looking forward, the stop tb partnership launched an update version of the global plan to stop tb in 2010, for the year 2011-2015, intensified efforts are needed to plan, finance and implement the stop tb strategy, according to the updated targets in this plan. this could have saved at least one million lives per year. national tb program the procedure followed by the treatment for tuberculosis as based on the national tuberculosis program of the department of health (2011) was established. first is the registration and initiation of cure. informing the patient that he/she has ptb and motivate him/her to undergo treatment, a referral to a medical officer for pre-treatment evaluation and initiation of medication, open 5 international peer reviewed journal the ntp (national tuberculosis control program) treatment card and two ntp id cards (one is for the treatment partner and the other is for the patient) as well as starting the treatment using any of the three treatment regimens: registering the patient in the ntp (national tuberculosis control program) and to refer the patient to the most accessible bhs (barangay health station) where he/she can have his/her treatment supervised. second is ensuring treatment compliance through “dot” (directly observed treatment). together with the patient, identify a treatment partner; explain the importance of conducting compliance to the patient; administering the patient’s drugs daily. emphasize the following to both the patient and the treatment partner. the treatment partner makes sure that the patient takes his/her drugs 2-3 hours after a regular meal daily. treatment partner should make sure that the patient swallows his or her drugs daily. after intake of the drugs, the treatment partner checks and signs the treatment partner’s ntp (national tuberculosis control program) id card as well as the patients ntp (national tuberculosis control program) id card. the partner motivates treatment to be vigilant about patient’s treatment regimen. the national treatment outcomes include the following: cured, completed, treatment failure, defaulter, transfer out and died (migliori, hopewell, blasi, spanevello & raviglione, 2006). motivation, by comparison, is a precursor to action that is indirectly measured through behavioral consequences or result. commitment or attachment to a regimen is known as adherence, which may be long-lasting. today, directly observed treatment short course (dots) still has many woes to share. directly observed treatment for eight months often hinders complete treatment and reduces compliance due to inaccessibility of health services. the abovementioned theories, related concepts and studies presented were used by the researchers to obtain an in-depth understanding of the variable studied. they were viewed significantly regarding analyzing and interpreting results which would be the basis for the formulation of the proposed action plan. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the incidence of tuberculosis in a highly urbanized city and its treatment compliance to tb-dots program. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology the study utilized the quantitative method using simple percentage, mode and median and the pearson r results of the research specifically the descriptivecorrelational research design. the researchers had retrieved the records of tuberculosis cases from the year 2008-2012 for the incidence of tuberculosis cases in the village of a highly urbanized city which included the profile of the respondents regarding age, gender, zone, source of patient, category and treatment outcome of the patients. a researcher-made instrument adapted from the procedure manual of the national tuberculosis program of the department of health was created measuring the level of compliance of tuberculosis patients in the year 2012 to dots program of the department of health based on the evaluation of the health worker. the level of compliance was done on a 4-point likert scale from (4) as highly compliant to (1) as not compliant. the researchers ensured that respondents understood the nature and purpose of the study and they were made to sign the informed consent after the orientation and guaranteed the privacy and confidentiality of the study. the research used the purposive sampling method. the respondents were the forty-seven (47) tuberculosis patients of the year 2012 who were evaluated by the community heath workers in their treatment compliance in the doh program. these patients had completed, failed, defaulted and had on-going treatment for the dots (directly observed treatment short course) program of the department of health. excluded in the research were the cured, dead and those who failed as trans-out patients. the profile of the respondents from the year 2008-2012 was also determined. the data were collected, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistical treatment. the proponents obtained authorization to conduct the study from the provincial health officer of cebu city to determine the tb cases. a transmittal letter was sent to the chairman of the village for permission to retrieve the data of their records on prevalence and compliance of tuberculosis patients of the treatment program and for the actual data collection. results and discussion age, sex, origin, source of healthcare assistance, category, occupation and treatment outcomes of the respondents in 2012 7 international peer reviewed journal the results showed that majority of the respondents were 1525 years old with 36.2 percent of the total tb cases in 2012. the least number of respondents are between 71-81 years old. this is consistent with the previous studies on tb cases wherein 80 percent were afflicted of tb in 2006 in the philippines according to doh. their most productive years sent many independent families into poverty and, thus, has economic repercussions to the country in general (lewis, 2007). males have the higher cases of tuberculosis in the year 2012 with 30 cases (63.8%) out of 47 cases with the exclusion of cured patients, while only 17 females (36.2%) have been registered with the dots program in 2012. this finding is also similar to the study done in vietnam in 2006 where there was an increase in tb cases among men. it is due to the lifestyle of men, particularly the young men from ages 15 to 35. at this age, men tend to involve themselves with vices such as smoking, illegal drugs, and alcoholic beverages. here in the philippines, it is also considered rude to refuse a drink when somebody invited you to drink and usually use one glass to be passed on in circles from one person to the other, unaware and even ignoring the fact that these unhealthy and unsanitary practices can endanger their health and predispose them to disease such as tuberculosis among others. there is a higher incidence of tb cases among men as compared to women and is linked to lifestyle such as alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking (rochelle, yeung, bond, & li, 2014; jee, golub, jo, park, ohrr & samet, 2009). most of them came from the village of laray with 14 cases (29.8 %). this implies that areas with poor sanitation and greater population have the higher risk of spreading the mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria (assam, et.al, 2013) since this disease is airborne in nature and can easily spread from one person to another in congested places. the respondents are coming from public institutions such as heath centers and public hospitals. hence, from the data, it can be deduced that most of the clients are coming from low socioeconomic status since they all opted to consult public health institutions concerning their health problems and concerns about their free health consultations and services. as mentioned in the study of santos, vendramini, gazetta, oliveira, and villa (2007), there is a correlation between incidence of tb and low socio economic status wherein tb incidence among the poorest areas. all the patients belonged to category 1, which applies to new pulmonary tuberculosis patients with positive sputum results, extremely ill patients with severe forms of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis with extensive parenchymal 8 jpair multidisciplinary research involvement or any extra pulmonary tuberculosis. according to jones-lopez et al. (2015), having cough more than 2 weeks is a symptom of tuberculosis. the data are also consistent with the researchers’ observation that most of the filipino patients, due to financial incapability to seek medical attention, tend to deal with their health problems on their own and ignore cough, colds, and fever that lasted for more than one week. out of 47 respondents, 12 (25.5%) are fishermen as their present job. the employment status of the patients were related to their educational attainment wherein if one lacks the adequate education, knowledge and skills in life, a person has the tendency to lack the chances of landing in a professional career and good paying jobs, hence, the average monthly family income of the respondents is also below minimum wage which can be considered at the poverty level. this is supported by strauss (2011) that income is related to educational qualifications. only 6 0ut of 47 respondents (12.8%) belonged to the treatment outcome under completed medications; the rest still had ongoing medications with 41 (87.2%). the program of the government gave free medicines to tb patients. most of the patients tend to complete their treatments since the drugs are given for free. however, some of the patients still did not comply with the treatment regimen. they tend to discontinue their treatment and will not be able to go back to the health center for consultation and evaluations. this attitude maybe attributed to hopelessness and lack of education and slow socioeconomic standing. incidence of tuberculosis patients in 2008 2012 table 1 shows the total number of tb patients registered in the dots program from 2008 to 2012 in san roque, talisay city, philippines without the exclusion criteria which totalled to 204 and the incidence of tb patients in the village that excludes those who are cured and died from the treatment. it also shows the percentage of tb cases and as compared to the total number of tuberculosis patients living in the same local community in that particular year from 2008 to 2012. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 1. incidence of tuberculosis patients from 2008-2012 year total population no. of tb patients in the village incidence rate of tb patients in the village percent (%) of tb cases over total no. of tb cases 2008 16,800 28 1.67 13.72% 2009 18, 133 40 2.21 19.61% 2010 18, 300 32 1.74 15.68% 2011 18, 500 54 2.92 26.47% 2012 19, 718 50 2.54 24.51% total 91,451 204 11.08 100% results revealed that there is still increasing incidence with 15-20% of tuberculosis cases in the community for five years (2008-2012).these findings are relevantly similar to the situations in the global statistics wherein according to the records of the center for disease control in 2011; there were estimated 8.7 million new cases of ptb and 1.4 million people who died from tb. according to the article by hopewell in 2006, tuberculosis is a treatable disease, yet one third of the world’s population is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. the number of tuberculosis cases that occur in the world each year is still growing, although the rate of increase is slowing down. with the findings, it clearly shows that tb is a serious disease and indeed, is alarming. it should be treated and need to be addressed sooner. the program needs to be improved so that the incidence will decrease. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. treatment compliance to the dots program among tuberculosis patients in the year 2012 questions weighted mean interpretation the client complied with the health promotion activities by: 1. registering basing from tb symptomatic masterlist. 3.94 very compliant 2. undergoing sputum smear. 3.22 compliant 3. encouraging the household members to undergo sputum examination. 1.81 less compliant 4. having been supervised by midwife or bhw during sputum collection. 3.66 very compliant 5. observing contamination precaution during sputum collection. 3.15 compliant 6. having a medical officer evaluate after the sputum analysis. 3.68 very compliant 7. undergoing pre-treatment evaluation. 3.53 very compliant 8. taking medication daily. 2.55 compliant 9. meeting with treatment partner everyday. 3.53 very compliant 10. meeting with treatment partner to make sure that patient swallow drugs daily. 3.53 very compliant 11. letting treatment partner check for ntp id card. 3.53 very compliant 12. letting treatment partner sign for ntp id card. 3.53 very compliant 13. having treatment at home during saturday and supervised by a family member. 3.55 very compliant 14. having regular motivation from treatment partner. 2.50 compliant 15. taking the drugs for prescribed duration. 3.66 very compliant 16. reporting any adverse reactions to drugs. 3.49 very compliant 17. undergoing follow-up sputum examination on specified dates. 2.38 compliant 18. having regular consultation with treatment partner for treatment evaluation at bhs or rhu. 3.45 very compliant 19.having my treatment partner to monitor patient if he/ she fails to report the day expected for treatment. 2.57 compliant 20. having treatment partner monitor patient for response to treatment. 3.44 very compliant total 3.23 compliant 11 international peer reviewed journal study of the compliance of the dots program was undertaken only in 2012 because it utilize the data of patients undergoing dots program. results revealed a 3.23 as the whole weighted mean of all the treatment compliance among tb patients in the year 2012. it also revealed a 3.94 result as the highest weighted mean of all the treatment compliance among ptb patients in 2012 which means that they are very compliant to the first step in the procedure on the national tuberculosis program of the department of health based on the tb symptomatic masterlist. it showed that the health center followed the first step as initiated in the ntp and that the patients been recognized as patients which is very vital before starting the treatment so that the patients will be monitored well and motivated in complying the treatments. the other findings also revealed that they are very compliant to the second step which is ensuring treatment compliance through dot (directly observed treatment) together with the patient. the results showed that they are very compliant regarding treatment regimen along with the treatment partner, ensuring that the patient takes the drugs by making sure he or she swallows it and also by checking and signing the ntp card of the patient as well as the ntp card of the treatment partner. however, a finding revealed a 2.55 weighted mean for taking medications daily which means that they are compliant to this. this result shows that some patients were not compliant on taking medications daily since the drugs were taken on a weekly basis, so the adherence of taking medications daily was not followed by other patients. motivation, by comparison, is a precursor to action that could be indirectly measured through behavioral consequences or result. on the other hand, the lowest weighted mean revealed a 1.81 which means that they are less compliant with encouraging household members to undergo sputum examination. the success in treatment compliance is related to success in treatment outcome of tb. undergoing sputum check-up is important not only as a means of ensuring the effectiveness of the therapy, but as well as detecting other people who were exposed to tuberculosis and probably might need treatment as well since tuberculosis was transmitted through an airborne transmission. adherence to treatment is the critical factor in determining the successful treatment. achieving adherence is not an easy task, either for the patient or the provider. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. relationship between the treatment compliance to dots and profile of the ptb patients variables computed value decision interpretation present job versus treatment compliance 0.0977 reject ho significant the result showed that there is no significant relationship between the patients’ profile concerning their age, gender, community zones, the source of patients, categories of patients and the treatment outcome versus the patients’ compliance to dots program. however, there is a significant relationship of the present job and the extent of compliance with the treatment program of the department of health. the findings show that one adherence to treatment is affected by one of its factors which is social or economic profile such as lack of effective social support networks and unstable living circumstances. conclusion the researchers concluded that the incidence of tuberculosis cases is still increasing and uncontrolled, and the tuberculosis patients were compliant with the treatment regimen as implemented in the dots program of the department of health. the perceived barrier component of rosenstock’s health belief model (1974) had strengthened the study wherein there were different factors that affect the manner of treatment compliance of the patients. patients needed to be motivated to enhance treatment compliance. translational research the findings of the study were translated to brochures and posters for information dissemination to the different health centers and the department of health to enhance their awareness campaign about tuberculosis. provision of the health program as part of education of community and as well as to conduct research studies related to the evaluation of the health programs given by the government to the communities were also done. an action plan was implemented such as increasing the knowledge of patients regarding tb through extensive health teaching, continuation of the updated dots program with collaboration of the health care team and assistance of patients’ healthy lifestyle. 13 international peer reviewed journal literature cited assam, j. p. a., beng, v. p., cho-ngwa, f., toukam, m., ngoh, a. a. i., kitavi, m., ... & skilton, r. a. (2013). mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis in the southern ecological zones of cameroon, as shown by genetic analysis. bmc infectious diseases, 13(1), 1. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-13-431 black,j. & hawks,j.h. (2008). medical surgical nursing: clinical management for positive outcomes. washington dc: w.b.saunders. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from https://www.amazon.com/surgical-clinical-managementpositive-outcomes/dp/1416046879 department of health (2011). manual of procedures for the national tuberculosis control program. guidelines of procedures for the national tuberculosis control program, 17a, 45-47. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from http:// www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/publications/mop_final_a.pdf jee, s. h., golub, j. e., jo, j., park, i. s., ohrr, h., & samet, j. m. (2009). smoking and risk of tuberculosis incidence, mortality, and recurrence in south korean men and women. american journal of epidemiology, 170(12), 1478-1485. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwp308 jones-lópez, e. c., namugga, o., mumbowa, f., ssebidandi, m., mbabazi, o., moine, s., … fennelly, k. p. (2013). cough aerosols of mycobacterium tuberculosis predict new infection. a household contact study. american journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 187(9), 1007–1015. doi:10.1164/rccm.201208-1422oc kozier, b., erb, g. l., berman, a., snyder, s., levett-jones, t., dwyer, t., ... & parker, b. (2015). kozier and erb’s fundamentals of nursing [3rd australian edition]. retrieved on october 12, 2016, from http://researchonline.jcu.edu. au/42916/ 14 jpair multidisciplinary research lewis, s. m. (ed.). (2007).  medical-surgical nursing: assessment and management of clinical problems  (vol. 1). mosby elsevier. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?q=medicalsurgical+nursing&btng=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5 migliori, g. b., hopewell, p. c., blasi, f., spanevello, a., & raviglione, m. c. (2006). improving the tb case management: the international standards for tuberculosis care. european respiratory journal, 28(4), 687-690.   doi: 10.1183/09031936.06.00097506 organization, w. h. (2010).  global tuberculosis control: who report 2010. retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr =&id=bxv0zjm7m8oc&oi=fnd&pg=pp2&dq=who+estimates+ on+tb+incidence+and+fatalities&ots=9ujpjceio7&sig=57vtoh vg__ioinp5mxxwh9aefve&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=who%20 estimates%20on%20tb%20incidence%20and%20fatalities&f=false rochelle, t. l., yeung, d. k. y., bond, m. h., & li, l. m. w. (2014). predictors of the gender gap in life expectancy across 54 nations. psychology, health & medicine, 20(2), 129–138. doi:10.1080/13548506.2014.936884 rosenstock, i. m. (1974). historical origins of the health belief model. health education & behavior, 2(4), 328-335. doi: 10.1177/109019817400200403 santos, m. d. l. s. g., vendramini, s. h. f., gazetta, c. e., oliveira, s. a. c., & villa, t. c. s. (2007). poverty: socioeconomic characterization at tuberculosis. revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 15(spe), 762-767. doi:10.1590/s0104-11692007000700008 smeltzer, s. c., bare, b. g., hinkle, j., & cheever, k. (2008). brunner & suddarth’s textbook of medical-surgical nursing (11th) lippincott williams & wilkins. philadelphia, pa. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from https:// www.amazon.com/brunner-suddarths-textbook-medical-surgical-nursing/ dp/0781759781 15 international peer reviewed journal strauss, s. (2011, november 2). the connection between education, income inequality, and unemployment. huffington post. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-strauss/the-connectionbetween-ed_b_1066401.html world health organization (2012). global tuberculosis report 2012. switzerland: who press. isbn 978 92 4 156450 2. retrieved on october 18, 2016 from http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75938/1/9789241564502_eng. pdf 104 jpair multidisciplinary research strategic implementation of maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition health programs in ilocos sur, philippines joussie bajet bermio http://orcid.org0000-0002-8755-871 joussabajetbermio@gmail.com university of northern philippines vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines abstract the department of health is committed to achieve the millennium development goals of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health by 2015.the study aimed to determine the relationship between the extent of implementation of the maternal, neonatal, child health, nutrition strategy, and the socio-demographic, work-related and health facility-related factors. the study employed the descriptive-correlational method. the respondents were all the 244 municipal health office personnel of ilocos sur, philippines. the doh guideline was partially adapted specifically on natal and postnatal part of the questionnaire. the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy is “very high”; the implementer-respondents’ civil status yielded positive significant relationship while the implementer-respondents’ educational attainment yielded an inverse significant relationship with the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy. moreover, the number of health personnel, consultation, and delivery room equipment are significantly related to the implementation of the mnchn strategy. the local government unit of ilocos sur, philippines is on the process of finalizing the ordinance in support to the mnchn strategy and the vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.339 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 105 international peer reviewed journal department of health is also working on health facility enhancement program (hep) so that the municipal health offices could upgrade their equipment in providing higher quality of health services to the community. keywords – health education, maternal, neonatal, child, health nutrition, descriptive-correlational method, ilocos sur, philippines. introduction the risk of women who die due to pregnancy and/or childbirth is evident (one in six) in the poorest parts of the world compared with about one in 30, 000 in northern europe. such discrepancy poses a huge challenge in attaining the 5th millennium development goal to lessen the maternal mortality rate by 75% between 1990 and 2015. some developed and transitional countries have managed to decrease their maternal mortality rate during the past 25 years. few of them, however, began with the increasing rates that are now estimated in the poorest countries in which further progress is due to weak health systems, continuing high fertility, and poor availability of data. maternal deaths are clustered around labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period, with obstetric hemorrhage being the primary medical cause of mortality. disparities in the risk of maternal deaths are found everywhere and there is a need to plan for interventions to achieve substantial progress by 2015 (ronsmans, graham & lancet, 2006). in the international advocacy aiming to reduce the burden of maternal mortality in developing countries, strategies that affect this burden have shown to be among the most successful efforts to address a specific cluster of causes of death, with developed and some developing countries having reduced the risk of maternal deaths by 90–99% . the 1000 deaths per 100 000 live births or greater risk of maternal mortality seen in the past in developed countries (and now in the poorest developing countries) have been reduced to as low as 10 per 100 000. although falling short of eradication of maternal death, these impressive reductions are similar to the effectiveness of such undisputed public health interventions as polio immunization (95%) or oral contraception (97%). however, the substantial barriers in poor countries to the achievement of the maternal mortality target of millennium development goal (mdg) 5 are well acknowledged and some assessments deem progress to have stalled (matthews, van lerberghe, manuel & cathy, 2005; sachs & mc arthur, 2005; weil & 106 jpair multidisciplinary research fernandez, 1999). tulali (2010) mentioned that 3.4 million pregnancies happen every year in the philippines of which half are unintended, while one-third ended up in abortions. an estimated of 11 mothers  die due to pregnancy-related diseases every day. most of these deaths could have been avoided if proper health care delivery system exists. it is estimated that for every maternal death, there is at least 20  to 30 other women who  suffer from serious complications, some of which are life-long. maternal health conditions are the leading causes of burden of disease among women. based on the state of the world’s children 2009 report of the united nations children’s fund (unicef), the philippines is among the 68 countries which contributed to 97% of maternal, neonatal, and child deaths worldwide. in addition, tubeza (2013) mentioned that more filipino mothers are dying during childbirth, underscoring their “unmet need” for modern family planning services. in addition, the department of health secretary enrique ona (2012), in a press briefing, said that mortality rate for filipino mothers has increased to 221 per 100,000 live births in 2011 from 162 per 100,000 live births in 2009. he further mentioned that the philippines must reduce the maternal mortality rate to 52 per 100,000 live births. he labelled the latest statistics as “alarming,” given that maternal health is an important indicator of the government’s performance in improving the health of its citizens. he also said that the entire health system will improve if the maternal mortality rate is also reduced. poor delivery of health services is one of the main causes of death. maternal death is highly preventable if women have access to sufficient reproductive healthcare services. reducing maternal deaths and meeting the mdgs require critical legislation to address structural barriers to universal healthcare. according to the bulletin of the world health organization (2000), the integrated management of childhood illnesses strategy responds to the fact that 70% of the 11 million childhood deaths that occur each year in the developing world are due to five conditions: pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, malaria and malnutrition. one million children under five years old die each year in less developed countries; just five diseases (pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and dengue hemorrhagic fever) account for nearly 50% of these deaths, and malnutrition is often the principal cause. effective and affordable interventions to address this issue exist, but they do not reach yet the population who are most in need—the young and impoverish. 107 international peer reviewed journal the health sector in the country led by the department of health (doh) implements various maternal, child health and nutrition programs. numerous activities and programs are being carried out and implemented to promote child and maternal health and to address the different health problems which may affect their physiological conditions. findings of the study could provide information to the entire province of ilocos sur, the health sector, the mhos and other community facilities regarding the current trends on the different maternal, child health and nutrition programs being implemented. such information may serve as springboard for the provincial officials to provide and support comprehensively the maternal, child health and nutrition programs to the underprivileged sectors of the province. the healthcare team will be able to adjust for improvements in the implementation enabling them to prepare specific health strategies which are deemed relevant to the needs of the populace: the mothers and children in particular. more proficient implementation means better healthcare services rendered to the community. also, the result of the study would help the academe design a more extensive curriculum to fit into the needs of the clientele. in addition, students would be able to appreciate the programs and services of the mnchn strategy. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition (mnchn) strategy of the doh in ilocos sur, philippines. specifically, it sought to determine the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy of the doh in terms of the following services: a) maternal care (prenatal, natal, post-natal, expanded program on immunization, micronutrient supplementation, and family planning); and b) child care (information dissemination on child programs , immediate newborn care, provision of essential newborn care, expanded program on immunization, micronutrient supplementation , deworming, and integrated management of childhood illnesses). lastly, it aimed to determine the significant relationship between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy and the following: a) socio-demographic factors, b) work-related factors, and c) health facilityrelated factors. methodology the study employed descriptive-correlational method of research. the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy of the doh was assessed by the 108 jpair multidisciplinary research implementer-respondents and their superiors. correlation was done between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy and the profile of the implementer-respondents. the respondents were all the 244 municipal health office personnel of ilocos sur, philippines. the municipal health officers were requested to validate the responses of the implementer respondents. the researchers sought permission from the respondents in compliance with research ethics protocol. the study utilized a questionnaire as the main instrument formulated by the researcher. doh guidelines was partially adapted specifically on natal and post natal part of the questionnaire. the questionnaire content was validated by a pool of experts. the questionnaire-checklist for the implementer-respondents consisted of two parts: part i obtained the information on the socio-demographic profile and work-related profile of the implementer-respondents. part ii gathered data on the extent of implementation of the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition strategy of the doh in ilocos sur. the first subpart covers the services offered on maternal care such as prenatal, natal, and post-natal, expanded program on immunization to mothers, micronutrient supplementation and family planning program. the second subpart deals on child care practices like the information dissemination of child programs, immediate newborn care, provision of essential newborn care, expanded program on immunization, micronutrient supplementation, deworming, and integrated management of childhood illnesses. the municipal health officers were also requested to answer this part to validate the responses of the implementer – respondents. the quantitative data on equipment and supply of the municipal health offices were elicited through counting or observation based on the standard non-hospital health facility for maternity care package as required by philhealth. it was answered by the public health nurse and rural health midwives in some municipal health offices. the following numerical forms were arbitrarily set to describe the adequacy of equipment and supplies of the mhos: range descriptive rating more than 1 very adequate one adequate less than one inadequate according to philhealth, the standard minimum number of equipment and supplies required for non-hospital facilities is one. 109 international peer reviewed journal the norms used for the interpretation of the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy are presented below: numerical value range of scores item descriptive rating overall descriptive rating 5 4.25-5.00 always (a) very high (vh) 4 3.41-4.20 often (o) high (h) 3 2.61-3.40 sometimes (so) fair (f) 2 1.81-2.60 seldom (se) low (l) 1 1.00-1.80 never (n) very low ( vl) the data gathered were treated using frequency, percentage, mean, and evaluation. results and discussion profile of the implementer-respondents a great number of the implementer-respondents (105 or 43.0%) belong to age bracket 25 years and below. most of the implementer-respondents (211 or 86.47) are female and majority of them (128 or 52.5%) are bachelor’s degree holder. majority of the implementer-respondents (121 or 49.59%) have a monthly income of 5000110,000 and a great number of them (121 or 49.6%) reside in the rural area. majority of the implementer-respondents are doh support personnel (143 or 58.61 %). a great number (111 or 45.49%) of them are rn heals. out of 19 phns, majority of the phns (12 0r 63%) occupy the nurse ii position and only three (15.79) of them are nurses. furthermore, out of 82 rhms, a great majority of the rhms (63 or 76.83 %) occupy midwife ii position and the least (8 or 9.76%) occupy rhm 1. majority of the implementer-respondents (128 or 52.45) are contractual and most of them (159 or 65.2%) have been in the service for 0-4 years. in addition, majority of the implementer-respondents (136 or 55.8%) have not attended training/ seminars on einc for the past three years and a great number of them (112 or 45.9) % are members of the philippine nurses association. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research profile of the municipal health office no one among the mhos has the ordinance in supporting the mnchn strategy. according to the provincial office, there is already a draft made, but it is for the entire province entitled, “an ordinance establishing and adopting a set of measures and systems to ensure effective and efficient implementation of the maternal newborn child health and nutrition (mnchn) strategy.” this includes the setting up of management structures to oversee the implementation and coordinating mechanisms to implement mnchn services, and ensuring commodity self–reliance. most of the mhos (15 or 93.75%) have an adequate number of public health nurses, (1: 5,000 population) while candon city municipal health office lacks 1 rhm and the mhos of the following towns like in santa, san ildefonso, magsingal, and san esteban have an excess of 1 rhm. most of the standard basic consultation and delivery room equipment required by philhealth to be present in a non-hospital health facility for maternity care package is “very adequate” in all the municipal health offices except for the municipal health office of san esteban. most of the standard supplier required by philhealth to be present in a non-hospital health facility for maternity care package as required by philhealth is “adequate” in the municipal health offices except in the mho of sta. maria and san esteban. extent of implementation of mnchn strategy as a whole, the implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of maternal and child care is “very high” as evidenced by a grand mean rating of 4.69. maternal care. the implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of maternal care is “very high” as signified by the grand mean rating of 4.61. the overall mean rating of 4.64 indicates that there is a “very high” extent of implementation of prenatal care, natal care, (x= 4.64), post-natal care, (x= 4.92) expanded program on immunization, (x=4.65) micronutrient supplementation, (x= 4.43), and family planning program (x= 4.14). maternal healthcare depends primarily on the socio-economic and cultural milieu in which a woman lives. the world health organization expert committee on maternal and child health (mch) stated that if mch care programs were to be effective, they must focus not only with immediate causes of morbidity and mortality, but with the social organizations and values that characterize the population. moreover, the resources available both to the family 111 international peer reviewed journal and community determine the access of women to maternal healthcare services (who, 1999). on prenatal care. the overall implementation of the mnchn strategy along prenatal care is “very high “as indicated by the mean rating of 4.64. the rate of pregnant women with at least four prenatal visits decreased from 77% in 1998 to 70.4% in 2003, and pregnant women who received at least two doses of tetanus toxoid also declined from 38% in 1998 to 37.3% in 2003. there was also a notable increase in the percentage of women with at least one prenatal visit to 51% in 2003 from 43% in 1998. pregnancy always involves risk to the life of every woman for she may suffer from different complications and die. therefore, it is necessary that every woman should visit the nearest facility for antenatal registration and avail prenatal care services. the standard prenatal visits that women should follow during her pregnancy are as follows: 1st visit as early as possible before four months or during the first trimester; 2nd visit during the 2nd trimester; 3rd visit during the 3rd trimesterevery 2 weeks after 8th month of pregnancy until delivery (doh, 2013). natal care. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy along natal care is “very high” as indicated by the mean rating of 4.64. among the natal care rendered, the implementer-respondents “always” conduct quick check upon admission for emergency signs (4.92) and conduct counselling on family planning and provide the family planning method of choice by the couple (4.90). on the other hand, the mho personnel “often” encourage mothers on labor to empty bladder and bowel (3.49). decline in maternal mortality rates between 1990 and 2010 may be due to improvements in other mdg 5 indicators such as the proportion of deliveries attended by skilled health personnel (who,2 013). ketsela et al. (2009) mentioned that majority of the estimated 325,000 babies who die from neonatal sepsis and pneumonia could be saved with simple preventive measure such as clean skin and cord care, breastfeeding and warmth, and better management of those who are sick, especially using antibiotics. most newborn deaths are among low birth weight (lbw) babies, or babies weighing less than 2500 grams at birth. simple health care practices of these small babies and early treatment of complications is a great help to save their lives. however, neither home care practices nor care of small babies, or even treatment of newborn infections has been systematically addressed by child health programs at scale, including integrated management of childhood illness (imci). 112 jpair multidisciplinary research post-natal care. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy along post-natal care is “very high” as indicated by the mean rating of 4.92. the implementer-respondents “always” inform, teach, counsel woman on self-care during postpartum and where and when to seek care (x=4.99) and inform, teach, counsel women on birth registration with a mean rating of 4.98. according to the geneva board world health organization (1999), the who/unfpa/unicef/ world bank had a joint statement calling all countries to ensure that all women and newborn babies should have skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, thus, reducing maternal mortality. expanded program on immunization the implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of maternal care along expanded program on immunization is “very high” (x=4.65). among the epi activities, the implementer-respondents “always” administer tetanus toxoid immunization 1 with the right dosage anytime during pregnancy (x= 4.97) and administer tetanus toxoid immunization 2 one month after tt1 ((x=4.93). neonatal tetanus is one of the public health concerns that people need to address among newborn babies. to avoid deadly diseases, tetanus toxoid immunization is needed for pregnant women and child-bearing age women. with this, the mother and the child are protected against tetanus and neonatal tetanus. a series of 2 doses of tetanus toxoid vaccination must be taken by a woman one month before the delivery to protect her baby from neonatal tetanus. finally, the 3 booster dose shots to complete the five doses following the recommended schedule will provide full protection for both mother and child. the mother is then called as “fully immunized mother” (fim). for women of child-bearing age, vaccines that contain tetanus toxoid (tt or td) are given not only protect women against tetanus, but also prevent neonatal tetanus in their newborn infants (who, 2013). micronutrient supplementation to pregnant mothers. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy along micronutrient supplementation is “very high” as indicated by the mean rating of 4.43. among the micronutrient supplementation activities to mothers, the implementer-respondents “always” administer vitamin a supplementation to post-prenatal women (x =4.58) and promote iodized salt (x=4.58) and “often” give vitamin a to pregnant mothers suffering from night blindness regardless if they are taking micronutrient tablets 113 international peer reviewed journal (x=3.28). two important factors that affect children’s survival and development are vitamin and mineral deficiencies. anemia affects 74% of children under the age of three, more than 90 % of adolescent girls and 50% of women. iodine deficiency, which reduces learning capacity by up to 13% is becoming prevalent because fewer than half of all households are using iodized salt. vitamin a deficiency, which causes blindness and increases morbidity and mortality among preschoolers, also remains a public-health problem (health education to villages, n.d.). on family planning program. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of maternal care along family planning program is “very high” as indicated by the mean rating of 4.58. among the family planning program activities, the implementer-respondents “always” inject depo-provera to clients following the prescribed time of administration (x=4.73), and act as advocate of the family planning program (x=4.67).this is attributed to the fact that iud is really used by mothers as claimed by them during the interview. natural family planning is previously known as the rhythm method, and it is based on abstinence from sexual intercourse on days when fertility is probable, and its effectiveness depends on accurately predicting the times when the woman is ovulating. prediction is attempted either by monitoring changes in the woman’s basal body temperature that signal ovulation, or by identifying changes in the cervical mucus and other symptoms that indicate ovulation, or both. studies show that with proper instruction, this method is 98% effective. however, it should not be relied on if pregnancy is likely to threaten the woman’s health (doh, 2013). the grand mean rating of 4.68 for the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care, overall mean ratings of 4.82 for information dissemination on child programs, 4.81 for immediate newborn care, 4.83 for essential newborn care, 4.78 for expanded program of immunization, 4.57 for micronutrient supplementation, 4.91 for deworming, and 4.87 for integrated management of childhood illnesses indicate a “ very high” extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care. on information dissemination on child programs. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care along information dissemination on child programs is “very high” (x=4.82). among 114 jpair multidisciplinary research the information dissemination on child program activities, the implementerrespondents “always” educate the mothers on the benefits of immunization, inform parents on the availability and nature of the different immunizations (x=4.90 respectively) and disseminate information about the child health programs through distribution of iec materials ( x= 4.50). on immediate newborn care. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child program along immediate newborn care is “very high” ( x= 4.81). among the immediate nb care activities the implementer-respondents “always” provide additional care for small baby or twin(x =4.86), and reposition, suction , and ventilate (if after 30 seconds of thorough drying) nb who are not breathing or gasping (x=4.83)and maintain non-separation of the nb for early initiation of breastfeeding (x=4.61). the goal of the mnchn strategy of the doh is to reduce neonatal mortality rates by  2/3 from 1990  levels. the following are the objectives: to provide evidence-based practices to ensure survival of the newborn from birth up to the first 28 days of life or during the neonatal period; to deliver time-bound core intervention in the immediate period after the delivery of the newborn; to strengthen health facility environment for breastfeeding initiation to take place and for breastfeeding to be continued from discharge up to 2 years of life; to provide appropriate and timely emergency newborn care to newborns in need of resuscitation; to ensure access of newborn infants to affordable life-saving medicines to reduce deaths and morbidity from leading causes of newborn conditions; and to ensure inclusion of newborn care ( doh , 2011). on provision of essential newborn care. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care along provision of essential newborn care is “very high” ( x=4.83). among the provision of essential newborn care activities, the implementer-respondents “always” inject hepatitis b vaccination at birth and inject bcg vaccinations at birth (x=4.90) and give vitamin k prophylaxis to the nb (x=4.86). on expanded program on immunization. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care along expanded program on immunization is “very high” as indicated by a mean rating of 4.53. among the expanded program on immunization activities, the implementerrespondents “always” ensure that every child receives complete immunization 115 international peer reviewed journal following the guidelines of the doh (4.94) and follow-up mothers who fail to submit their children to be vaccinated at their own homes (4.53). on the other hand, the implementer-respondents “often” allow the trained bhw to administer polio vaccines (opv) in the immunization sites (3.69). the targets of epi are nbs and infants (0-12 months). it provides free vaccines that protect infants and children from the common vaccine preventable diseases. vaccines include bacillus calmette guerrin (bcg) for childhood tuberculosis, rotavirus vaccine, which is a combination of diptheria-pertussis-tetanushepatitis b-haemophilus influenza vaccine (doh, 2013). furthermore, the 2008 ndhs report (tutali 2008) showed an overall 80% of children ages 12-13 months have received prescribed vaccinations. on micronutrient supplementation to children. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care along micronutrient supplementation is “very high” (x=4.57). among the micronutrient supplementation activities, the implementer-respondents “always” administer personally the vitamin a to the child (x=4.88) and enumerate to the mother the rich sources of vitamin a and encourage mothers to eat food rich in vitamin a (x= 4.46), respectively. however, the implementer-respondents “often” administer vitamin a supplements to children 0-5 years-old and children with low bmi (x=3.80). eilander et al. (2009), claimed that micronutrient malnutrition impairs children’s cognitive performance and developmental potential: 1) single micronutrient interventions have shown that iodine and iron, and possibly other micronutrients such as zinc and b vitamins, may benefit children’s mental development; 2) because micronutrient deficiencies often coexist and synergistic effects of micronutrients on physical functions may indirectly affect cognition, supplementing children with multiple micronutrients could have advantages over single micronutrient supplementation. on deworming. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child program along deworming is “very high” as indicated by the mean rating of 4.91. among the deworming activities, the implementerrespondents “always” educate mothers on ways of preventing parasitism such as proper usage of toilet (x=4.98) and educate mothers on ways of preventing parasitism thorough proper hand-washing and always wearing of slippers (xx=4.96). 116 jpair multidisciplinary research worm infestations often cause serious health problems and affects child’s school performance and another unicef report says that research had shown that regular deworming can substantially increase school attendance and significantly improve a child’s learning ability. according to the who (2015,) the nutritional impairment caused by schistosome and soil-transmitted helminthic infections during childhood has a significant impact on growth and development of children. furthermore, a regular treatment (deworming) of children health education and sanitation can reduce the transmission of schistosome and soil-transmitted helminthic infections. on integrated management of childhood illnesses. the overall extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child care along imci is “very high” (x=4.87) among the imci activities, the implementer-respondents claim they “always” assess the main symptoms such as fever, assessing status on nutritional, immunization and vitamin supplementation (x=4.92), check for danger signs such as unable to drink and vomits everything (x=4.91), classify conditions and identify treatment actions according to color-coded treatment, and treating local infection by giving oral drugs as prescribed by the physician (x= 4.71). since 1995, the integrated management of childhood illness strategy has been introduced in different countries worldwide. imci is focused on child survival, healthy growth and development. it is based on the combined delivery of essential interventions at community, health facility and health systems levels. the objectives of imci are to reduce death and frequency and severity of illness and disability, and contribute to the growth and development. the components of imci includes improving case management skills of health workers, improving overall health systems and improving family and community health practices (doh, 2011). relationship between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy and the socio demographic factors the implementer-respondents’ civil status (r=.266) is significantly related to the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy. furthermore, an inverse significant correlation exists between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy and the implementer-respondents’ educational attainment (r=-509). 117 international peer reviewed journal relationship between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy and the work-related factors the implementerrespondents’ position, and membership in organization had an inverse correlation with the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of child and maternal cares backed up by the r values of r =-.151, and r=.-175, respectively. furthermore, a significant correlation existed between the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy in terms of maternal and child care and the implementer-respondents’ training program attended (r= .137). table 1. correlation coefficients between the extent of implementation and the socio-demographic, work-related factor, and health facility-related factor components maternal care child care overall socio demographic profile sex .073 -.049 .040 age .010 .182** .119 civil status .189** .263** .266** educational attainment -.401** -.675** -.509** income -.052 .242** .124 place of residence .007 .060 .037 work related factors position -.009 -.200** -.151* status of appointment -.018 .196** .106 length of service -.091 .109 .026 training program on einc attended .099 .120 .137* membership in professional organization -.322** -.065 -.175** health facility-related factor number of health personnel .151* .147* .154* consultation & dr equipment -.102 .177** .172** standard supplies .029 .029 -.007 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level*. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level 118 jpair multidisciplinary research the findings imply that the implementer-respondents with lower positions tend to implement the mnchn strategy in terms of child care better since they are after the performance rating given by their immediate supervisor. furthermore, the implementer-respondents with low position/designation tend to implement the maternal and child programs at a higher extent since they do not occupy administrative positions and can focus well with their job as frontline workers. in terms of training attended on einc, the implementer-respondent with more number of trainings on einc, tend to implement the mnchn strategy at a “very high” extent. the results are in consonant with the mnchn strategy implementation of the philippine government pursuant to priorities of the administrative order no. 0023 series of 2005. this strategy shall guide the development, implementation and evaluation programs for mothers and children in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. conclusions results revealed that the extent of implementation of the mnchn strategy is “very high”. the implementer -respondents’ civil status, position and membership in organization and the number of health personnel yielded positive significant relationship while the educational attainment yielded an inverse significant relationship with the overall extent of the overall implementation of the mnchn strategy. the mnchn strategy is one of the programs the philippines is implementing for the attainment of the millennium development goals 4 and 5 aimed at reducing child mortality and improving maternal health by the world health organization. this entails combined actions not only of the international community, but the national government, civil society, and the private sectors. according to the millennium development goals report of 2013, the achievement of the mdgs are a reality. in the philippines, various programs are being implemented like the philippine family planning program, control of diarrheal diseases, integrated management of childhood diseases, expanded program of immunization, and the mnchn strategy. in addition, the province of ilocos sur had implemented measures to safeguard the health of the mother and the child-such as the provision of adequate lifesaving equipment and medicines, surveillance of child illnesses, early diagnosis and treatment. furthermore, the local government units of ilocos sur are 119 international peer reviewed journal strengthening their commitment to continuously support municipal health offices especially on the provision of the needed equipment and supplies to sustain the “ very high” implementation of the mnchn strategy. translational research the mho personnel are pursuing post graduate studies and training program/ seminars on einc with the aim of keeping themselves abreast with the latest trends and techniques on the delivery of the mnchn strategy. in addition, the local government unit is on the process of finalizing the ordinance passed in support to the mnchn strategy and lastly, the department of health is also fast tracking the health facility enhancement program (hep) so that the municipal health offices could upgrade their equipment in providing higher quality of health services to the community. literature cited department of health, national epidemiology center. (2000) philippine health statistics. retrieved from http://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/ philippine%20health%20statistics%202000.pdf department of health. (2011). integrated management of childhood illnesses. retrieved from archivedpublicwebsite.up.ac.za/pdfs/26683_clinical%20guidelines. pdf department of health. (2011). the mnchn manual of operations 2011 2nd edition, manila, philippines. retrieved from http://www.mdgfund.org/ sites/default/files/philippines_cs_mnps_draft.pdf department of health. (2013). vaccine vs. pneumonia in children now part of government immunization program. retrieved from http://www.gov. ph/2013/07/17/doh-vaccine-vs-pneumonia-in-children-now-part-ofgovernment-immunization-program/ eilander, a., gera, t., sachdev, h. s., transler, c., van der knaap, h. c., kok, f. j., & osendarp, s. j. (2009). multiple micronutrient supplementation for improving cognitive performance in children: systematic review of randomized controlled trials.  the american journal of clinical nutrition, ajcn-28376. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research health education to villages. programmes for mother and child nutrition. retrieved on on november 30, 2015 from http://hetv.org/programmes/ nutrition.htm ketsela, t., habimana p., martines j., mbewe a., williams, a., nsungwa sabiiti, j., thiam, a., narayanan, i. & bahl, r. (2009). integrated management of childhood illness. retrieved from http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/ publications/aonsectioniii_5.pdf ona, e. (2012) mortality rate for filipino mothers has increased to 221 per 100,000 live births in 2011 from 162 per 100,000 live births in 2009. retrieved from   http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/214829/maternal-mortalityrate-rose-in-2011-says-doh#ixzz3fhjlaxka  ronsmans, c., graham, w. j., & lancet. (2006). maternal survival series steering group. maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why.  the lancet,368(9542), 1189-1200. sachs, j. d., & mcarthur, j. w. (2005). the millennium project: a plan for meeting the millennium development goals.  the lancet,  365(9456), 347353. tubeza, p. c. (2013). doh launches drive to cut maternal mortality in samar. philippine daily inquirer. retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer. net/354001/doh-launches-drive-to-cut-maternal-mortality-in-samar tulali, c. o. 2010. “philippine policies on maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition: towards achieving mdgs 4 and 5”. in people count plcpd policy brief. philippine legislators’ committee on population and development (plcpd) foundation, inc. with support from the united nations population fund (unfpa). retrieved from http://researchedworks. com/smoking-tobacco-consumption-philippines.php van lerberghe, w., manuel, a., matthews, z., & cathy, w. (2005). the world health report 2005-make every mother and child count. world health organization. 121 international peer reviewed journal weil, o., & fernandez, h. (1999). is safe motherhood an orphan initiative? the lancet, 354(9182), 940-943. world health organization. (1999). reduction of maternal mortality. a joint who/unfpa/unicef world bank statement. retrieved from http:// apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42191/1/9241561955_eng.pdf?ua. world health organization. (2000). internal or reproductive health standards for maternal and neonatal cases. retrieved from www.who.int/ reproductivehealth/.../maternal...health/emergency_prepare... world health organization. (2015). deworming to combat the health and nutritional impact of helminth infections. retrieved from http://www.who. int/elena/titles/deworming/en/ 106 jpair multidisciplinary research sexism in english reference books used by college freshmen: implications for gender equality luisito p. muncada http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5929-3811 lpmuncada4@gmail.com university of eastern philippines laoang campus laoang, northern samar, philippines originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract sexist words in the books showed an unfair treatment of the female gender. the generic term, man, refers not only to a male person but also to denote humanity. the personal pronoun is used to refer to a hypothetical person in general and accepted in filipino society. this research is a qualitative study that used content analysis to interpret the data. sexism was found evident in english references. it is recommended that the sentences containing sexist language be taken out of the 12 books dissected for political correctness to make them gender fair. the textbook board should be aware of ra 7192 (deped, gad program) and ched memo no. 1, s. 2015, they should be gender sensitive. policymakers should be mindful of the dynamism of language, and its importance in education must be more responsive to the needs of the time through quality language and gender sensitive. publishers are cautioned to exact gender-fair language from their clients so that both sexes get equal treatment in publication. students should be alerted to sexist language, and teachers should teach gender sensitivity, even only as incidental teaching. english reference books used by the college freshmen should be reviewed, and those who found out to be sexist should be substituted with gender-fair ones. vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.632 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:lpmuncada4@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 107 international peer reviewed journal keywords english, sexism, mixed methods, content analysis, philippines introduction sexist language is the language that expresses bias in favor of one sex and thus treats the other sex in a discriminatory manner. in most cases, preference is in favor of men. language is parallel to that of attitude in the community. in the olden times, women stayed at home and performed some domestic works which manifested that they were backgrounders, server and generally submissive to men; while men were regarded as the center both family and society. in a world, for a long time, women have been looked on as “the weaker sex” in society. even in a biblical world where the claim is that “everyone is created equal,” discrimination against women exists. language is one area that reflects this social fact. however, because of the greater status-consciousness, the feminist movement worked to reduce sexual discrimination and sex-role stereotyping. this led to some conscious attempts to influence and use language and linguistic behavior. the problem is that the language among the present generation has been carried out over the years. sexist language has been defined as ‘‘words, phrases, and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between females and males or exclude, trivialize, or diminish either gender’’ (parks and roberton, 1998). theoretically, the sexist language could have deleterious effects on either women or men, but empirical evidence in american society strongly suggests that the preponderance of negative results accrue to women. concern about the negative effects of sexist language is grounded in the sapir–whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity, which suggests an affinity between language and culture (cameron, 1985; carroll, 1956; simpson, 1993; thorne, kramarae, and henley, 1983). while bongcac (2003) conducted a study on the gendering of speech and thought and presentation of ninotchka rosca’s “twice blessed: a stylistic analysis” which shows how stylistic analysis selected features of language could reveal the subtle ways of presenting speech and thought presentation styles or modes and showed how a continuum existed with each point marked in precise linguistic terms which allowed a clear measure of such feature as the degree of character’s independence from the author’s viewpoint, the nature of authorial intrusion, kind of fusion between author and character, as well as deviation from or adherence to presentational norms and description of reader positioning. bacarro’s (2001) study investigated changes in the children’s choice of toys from 108 jpair multidisciplinary research gender-biased to non-gender-biased choice employing an intervention approach, and as a subsidiary, whether or not there is an existence of gender-biased practices among teachers in the kindergarten classes of silliman university early childhood school. the writer’s intervention approach included non-genderedbiased stories and song presentation of sets of biased toys as appropriate toys for everyone regardless of their sex, resource persons portraying non-gendered biased activities. atanga’s (2007) study focused on gendered discourse in the cameroonian parliament which looks on the discussion and question-andanswer sessions in the parliament. the study aimed to examine the amount of male and female talk and gender distribution of topics as well as how female, and male parliamentarians were addressed by looking in depth at the available traditional and modern discourse articulated and how these were legitimated through different discursive strategies. critical discourse analyses showed that traditional gendered discourse tended to construct men and women in genderdifferentiated ways, legitimated discoursal in ways which included social, cultural, and institutional discourse as well as for maintenance of the status quo more widely. language like other forms of social interaction has to be appropriate in use. in different communities, children’s and adult’s speech, men’s and women’s language, differ. language does not only have to be appropriated to the individual addressed, but it also needs to be suitable for particular occasions and situations. in other words, language varies not only according to the social characteristics of the speakers, social class, ethnic group, age, and sex but also according to the social context in which it is used. the same speaker uses different language register and styles in a different situation for different purposes. in society, men are considered superior individuals: their physical appearances, judgment principles, and activities are viewed as fully representative of all humans, male and female. this view can make women invisible in language or altogether exclude them. it can also lead to their portrayal as deviations from the ‘male human’ norm. women’s linguistic status is often dependent on or derives from, that which is represented as autonomous. by relegating women to a dependent, subordinate position, even in language use, the portrayal of women and men as equal human beings is prevented (lei, 2006). pimentel (2006) stressed that one essential human right is the right to education and education must be instrumental to the fulfillment of one’s maximum potential as a person; hence, education must cater to the need not only of the society but to the individuals who are the lifeblood of humanity. an education that liberates individuals from the baggage of gender equality has a higher chance of creating a society that is fair and just. as protected 109 international peer reviewed journal by the philippines constitution, gender equality must be present in all aspects of human development. as enshrined in the united nations development program (2018) goals, women continue to experience discrimination and violence in every part of the world, and gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. according to united nations secretary-general antonio guterres, gender equality at the united nations is imperative, and giving importance of women in decision-making increases effectiveness and productivity thus bringing new outlooks and solutions to the table, unlocks greater resources, and strengths efforts across all the three pillars of our work. in the book titled gender-fair language: a primer, dr. judy m. taguiwalo, the director of up center for women’s studies stated that as early as 2001, then bayan muna partylist representative liza masa filed a resolution banning the use of “sexist language in all official communication and documents of the house of representatives” (kintanar 2014). with the increasing issues on sexism and gender equality in the field of education, particularly in the higher education institutions, the commission on higher education (ched) issued the ched memo no. 1 series of 2015 on establishing the policies and guidelines of gender and development in the commission on higher education and higher education institutions (heis). this part iv, rule no. i, section 1 of the memorandum states that the ched and heis shall ensure that gender stereotypes and images in educational materials and curricula are adequately and appropriately revised. the gender-sensitive language shall be used at all times. capacity-building on gender and development, peace and human rights, education for teachers, and all those involved in the education sector shall be pursued toward this end. partnerships between and among players of the education sector, including the private sector, churches, and faith groups shall be encouraged (ched memo no. 1, s. 2015). the department of education gender and development program through republic act 7192 in education, nontraditional livelihood, and occupation; nonsexist schooling in textbooks, teacher training, and training scholarship; participation of women in science and technology and women’s career opportunities in the bureaucracy (pimentel 2006). in like manner, the content of reference books transmits messages to readers about society, about children, and about what adults are supposed to do, whether directly or indirectly or even subliminally. textbooks and reference books shape role expectations and further contribute to the institutionalization of sexism. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research sexism is discrimination by gender. while it is primarily women who are affected by sexism, it can be used to discriminate against either men or women. the language reflects and reinforces the values of society. the english language has developed in a male-dominated, male-centered society. if one examines carefully how she or he expresses himself or herself, she or he will see how male-centered the language is. for example, “the man we want for the job,” may be changed to “maintenance staff.” the terms miss and mrs. indicate the sex and marital status of the person while the term mr. indicates maleness only. it is a tad unfair to specify the marital status of women but not of men. the parallel term for mr. is miss, and instead of mrs., here is ms. these examples would draw attention to the sexist nature of language and provide ways to change it. on this background, the problems of making students realize that there is such a thing as politically correct language use is investigated in this paper. towards this end, the words/ expressions reflecting sexism used by the writers of different english reference books will be reviewed, analyzed, and be substituted with gender-fair ones. framework the interest of this study is sexism in the language in reference books in english. as such, the researcher studied the books for the politically incorrect language they contain. the sexist language was analyzed to suggest genderneutral terms. in analyzing sexist language, the researcher was guided by lakoff’s and fishman’s “dominance theory” which stipulates, that changing in language utterance to both men and women signifies of male superiority and female subservience. o’barr and atkins “powerless language” was also made as a basis for analysis. the words/expressions reflecting sexism were analyzed according to lakoff’s and fisherman’s “dominance theory” and o’barr and atkins “powerless language.” from these, the researcher’s ways of improving the language data were identified and implications for gender-fair language and culture were drawn. 111 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the main purpose of this study is to find out if the sexist language is found in english reference books used by the freshman college students of the university of eastern philippines, northern samar so that in the teaching process, it can be rectified. specifically, it aimed to (1) determine the sexist words/expressions found in english reference books used by freshman students, (2) identify these sexist words or expressions; (3) categorize which of the following classifications do the words or expressions reflecting sexism fall; (a) generic term, (b) use of personal pronoun, (c) saying and expression, (d) terms of address, (e) job titles, (f ) biased and stereotypes assumptions, (g) patronizing and demeaning expressions, (h) sex-role stereotyping, (i) reference guide, and others; (4) establish the treatment of men and women that can be gleaned from the sexist words/expressions; (5) identify how this sexist language can be corrected; (6) ascertain the implications that can be drawn from the use of sexist words/ expressions in these english reference books as regards; (a) gender equality and (b) culture. methodology research design this study was conducted in the three campuses of the university of eastern philippines, northern samar. this research is a mixed method, both quantitative 112 jpair multidisciplinary research and qualitative using content analysis to be able to focus on the words or expressions reflecting sexism as found in the english reference books used by college freshmen of the university of eastern philippines. the researcher asked permission from the heads of offices of the three campuses to conduct the study. this was done through a letter to the university president and the executive directors of the external campuses. upon approval, the researcher asked permission from the librarian the books needed for the study. the study carefully analyzed the words/ expressions based on their context of use. the sexist words or expressions obtained from the reference were listed down by categories and analyzed by using lakoff’s and fishman dominance approach and o’barr and atkins’ powerless language” theories. implications for making these expressions politically correct were drawn, and suggestions were offered. research site this study was conducted in the three campuses of the university of eastern philippines. the main campus, in catarman, and the two satellite campuses are in the municipalities of laoang and catubig in the province of northern samar. instrumentation there were no instruments used in the study. however, the researcher used guidelines for equal treatment of the sexes culled from mcgraw hill book company publications. the guidelines were designed to make authors aware of how males and female have been stereotyped in publication. this is also used to show the role that language has played in reinforcing inequality and to indicate positive approaches toward providing a fair, accurate and balanced treatment of both sexes in the publications. procedure the researcher asked the english instructors/ professors what reference books they used in teaching english to first-year college students. these were listed down and pored over in detail to find out if the books contained sexist words or expressions. all books which were found to have sexist words/expression were the object of content analysis. in looking for the sexist language under study, the following steps were undertaken: a. reading the english reference books used by college freshmen. b. listing sexist words/expressions in context. c. identifying the functions and categories of these expressions. 113 international peer reviewed journal d. determining how men and women are treated based on the use of the words/expressions. e. finding out how gender equality may be reflected in the sexist use of the words/expressions. f. drawing implications for gender equality and culture. the researcher used some guidelines for equal treatment of the sexes in mcgraw-hill book company publications. after the classification of the words/ expressions, the content of their use was analyzed as to the treatment of men and women based on the words; /expressions. implications for gender equality and culture were drawn. frequency counts and percentages were used in recording the sexist words/expressions. the researcher tallied the sexist words/expressions found in each reference books, determined the total number as they appeared in the reference books and percentages were determined. result and discussion this study investigated sexism in english reference books used by college freshmen at the university of eastern philippines. it listed down the sexist words/ expressions and classified them as to generic terms, use of personal pronoun, saying and expressions, terms of address, job titles, biased and stereotyped assumptions, sex roles stereotyping, reference guide and others. the treatment of men and women from sexist words/expressions was also looked into using lakoff’s and fishman dominants approached and o’barr’s and atkin’s powerless language. corrections of sexist language were suggested, and implications for gender equality and culture were drawn. the research is qualitative; it used content analysis of the sexist language found in english language reference books. frequency counts and percentage were used to get which sexist words/expressions in the reference books were most used. twelve english reference books were read and from them were listed down the sentence, paragraphs which content sexist words/expressions. only the sentences/paragraphs that sexist content language was taken and included in the analysis. these expressions were examined for their treatment of men and women. categories and functions, gender and culture implications and suggestions for correction were presented. the study revealed that the books which had the most sexist words/ expressions were communication skills i and study and thinking skills by 114 jpair multidisciplinary research esther baraceros which contend 250 sexist words/expressions followed by study and thinking skills by constancia m. mazon with 117 words/expressions, college english for today book ii by jovita n. fernando with 99 sexist words/ expressions, developmental reading by araceli villamen et al., with 83 sexes words/expressions, english skills for college freshmen by perla m. villanueva with 39 sexes words/expressions, better english for college by josephine serrano with 32 sexes language, effective study of english skills by tizon (2017) with 29 sexes words/expressions study skills in english for a changing world by magelende flores with 23 sexes words/expressions, english plus: enhancing our basic grammar by maria carina dichoso with 20 sexes words/expressions, new perspectives in english two by jovita n. fernando with 11 sexes words/ expressions, business english correspondence by aquino, callang, bas, & capili (2000) with 8 sexes words/expressions and basic communication and thinking skills by tizon (2017) with 5 sexes words/expressions. the study showed that the maturity of the sexist words/expression belongs to the categories of a generic term, use of the generic personal pronoun, saying and expressions and reference guide. man was the generic term commonly used in the sentences. personal pronoun such as he, his, himself, her, she was also present. other classifications of sexist words/expressions were reference guides such as chairman, congressman, and policeman. in general, there were 716 sexist words/expressions found in the 12 reference books used by college freshmen in the university of eastern philippines existing. this was in conformity with the study of wijetunga (2015) of the department of language studies, the open university of sri lanka which stated that the esl textbooks of grades 9, 10 and 11 were found to be sexist in their use of language, thus promoting prejudices against females and contributing to causing a broader rift in the already existent gender disparity of the sri lankan society. this was also confirmed by the study of tao (2008) that the (efl english as a foreign language) textbooks have found out there exists sexism or gender inequality in the chinese high school efl textbooks. an article published by unesco for international women’s day celebration also confirmed this study and stated that gender bias is rampant in textbooks in multiple countries, researchers argue. in the study of benavot & jere (2016) found out that sexism is prevalent in textbooks throughout the world, with many portraying girls and women in submissive household roles. as regards the treatment of men and women, according to language use, the majority of the sexist words/expressions referred to the male gender. only a few sexist/expressions treated showed powerlessness by the o’barr and atkins categorization. this is confirmed by the study of pattalung (2008) that the most 115 international peer reviewed journal significant problem areas regarding sexist language are words that indicate that men are the standard by which people are to be judged and words that indicate that women are somehow different from men when doing the same things. lili and zhenzhou (2002) and ansary and babaii (2003) found out that occupations for men are abundant and varied in current language textbooks. the study of thomson (2002) also confirmed this finding and states that it is clear that there is a variance by gender in common english language usage. this can lead to sex bias, even in efl teaching materials. whereas the materials examined had minimal sex bias, the goal must be to attempt gender neutrality. conclusion sexist words/expressions are found in english reference books. this implies that the book writers are not gendered sensitive, they are not conscious of political correctness in language, thus missing on the opportunity to include it as a necessary element in teaching correctness in language use. book users themselves, either as teachers or students seemed not to care about this aspect, or they may not be particular with gender fair terms. it could be inferred further that although they know gender agreement in sentence structure, they are not sensitive to the fair treatment of both sexes. the use of sexist words/. expressions such as a generic pronoun referred to genderless antecedents. the generic term man in sayings and expressions were used, and there seemed to be no attempt to use gender fair terms, an unconscious carryover of what has always been used and never questioned. that the reference books were not gendered fair implied that the book writers were not gendered sensitive. it could be inferred further that if the books were made gender fair, a sense of personal worth, dignity, and respect for the rights of all people would be fostered among the book users. male dominance in a society which contributed to the rise of sexist words/expressions may be lessened through gender-fair language which looks at both sexes on equal footing. sexist language fosters the idea that men are superior to women’ an unfair treatment of the female members of society. sexist words/expressions in the reference books promote marginalization of women who are regarded as lesser human beings, acting only as a backgrounder to men. thus, to avoid this, there is a need to teach the politically correct language. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of this study could be used as an additional input in classroom instructions not only in language classes but also in other disciplines. the sexist words found in the different books could be substituted with politically correct one and may be adapted into a more compact form like brochures or guides to be distributed to language classes as instructional materials. further, the said brochures or guides may also be used by the different offices to make them aware the political correctness of language bearing in mind the different situations concerning gender and culture, thus fostering equality and reinforcing positive approaches toward providing a fair, accurate, and balanced treatment of both sexes. acknowledgment the researcher acknowledges the almighty god for giving him wisdom and determination in accomplishing this research. with affection and gratitude expresses his deep appreciation to the people whose wisdom and untiring support gave him the courage to finish this research. literature cited ansary, h., & babaii, e. (2003). subliminal sexism in efl/esl text bias. asian efl journal, 5(1), 5-31. retrieved from https://goo.gl/i9vtgr aquino, f. callang, c., bas, h., & capili, c., (2000). business english correspondence. nbs. atanga, l. (2007). gendered discourses in the cameroonian parliament (doctoral dissertation, lancaster university). retrieved from https://goo.gl/wbprii bacarro, p. (2001). “non-gendered-biased intervention approach and kindergarten children’s choice of toys at the silliman university early childhood school,” unpublished thesis, university of the philippines. retrieved from http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-isbddetail. pl?bib=87658 https://goo.gl/i9vtgr 117 international peer reviewed journal baraceros, e. (2000).  communication skills ii’2000 ed. rex bookstore, inc. retrieved from https://goo.gl/dmahyk tizon, m. (2017). reading comprehension ability of grade vi pupils of kinangay sur elementary school. retrieved from https://goo.gl/drnafc benavot, a. and jere, c. 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(2015). sexism in textbooks: a case study of g.c.e. o/ ltextbooks. retrieved from https://goo.gl/cgnhvc villanueva, p., (1989). english skills for college freshmen. katha pub. inc. retrieved from http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-isbddetail. pl?bib=655520 united nations, (nd) retrieved on july 2, 2018, from https://www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/ https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/ 119 international peer reviewed journal united nations development program, (2018). retrieved from http://www. undp.org/content/undp/en/home/gender-equality.htm ched memo no. 1 series of 2015. retrieved from http://ched.gov.ph/cmo1-s-2015/ http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/gender-equality.htm http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/gender-equality.htm http://ched.gov.ph/cmo-1-s-2015/ http://ched.gov.ph/cmo-1-s-2015/ 176 jpair multidisciplinary research perceptions of senior high school students and teachers on the course introduction to philosophy of the human person jomabier n. telan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8656-4522 tjomabier@gmail.com palawan state university puerto princesa city, palawan originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the course introduction to philosophy of the human person is relatively new. unlike other courses in the fields of humanities, sciences, and mathematics which were also offered in the senior high school program, no formal research has been made in order to fortify or assess its utility and efficacy. truly, the implementation of the senior high school in june 2016 brought an utter change in the philippine educational system. it was also expected that problems and issues arose from it. thus, this study aimed to know the perceptions of nine (9) senior high school students and two (2) senior high school teachers on the course introduction to philosophy of the human person. the participants were selected through quota sampling. their personal experiences and point of views on the course are of great importance in this study. so, to deeply extract the data, the researcher used a qualitative-phenomenological design. personal interview and focus group discussion were the means to get the data from the participants. the findings include: (a) good implications of the subject; (b) issues raised by vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.657 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:tjomabier@gmail.com 177 international peer reviewed journal the teachers; (c) and problems encountered by students and teachers. hence, the students and teachers in this study did find good implications, issues, and problems in the course introduction to philosophy of the human person. keywords — philosophy, perception, introduction to philosophy of the human person, qualitative, phenomenological design introduction philosophy has been regarded by many intellectuals as the summit of human knowledge and the compendium of all learning (montemayor, as cited in gualdo, placido and dagwasi, 2013). its importance lies in its nature as the very foundation of other fields of studies like social studies, mathematics, linguistics and other fields in the realm of hard sciences. without the study of philosophy, the understanding of the said fields would be incomplete. thus, it is indubitable that the study of philosophy is of paramount importance in the domains of society and education. the philippines has actualized the k-12 education program fully. this is manifested from its implementation in 2012 up to present. moreover, this has been made possible due to the demands of global standards in education (secomacarandan, 2014). further, globalization greatly challenges the philippine educational system to align with the current demands for global competency (agero and bonotan, 2016). hence, it is rightful to conduct researches to improve its utility and effectiveness. in particular, this research focused on the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person. the department of education here in the philippines is deemed to offer quality and standardized education to all filipino learners. this is indeed evident as it adheres to its vision: “we dream of filipinos who passionately love their country and whose values and competencies enable them to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation. as a learner-centered public institution, the department of education continuously improves itself to serve its stakeholders better.” before the k to 12 education program has been implemented in 2012, the philippines is said to be in an academic disadvantage (crisol and alamillo, 2014.) 178 jpair multidisciplinary research one concrete evidence according to ocampo (as cited in crisol and alamillo, 2014) is the low achievement test scores of the students: “if one would look at the data, achievement scores are very low. so if one would think about it, it’s really not working.” these are the reasons why a closer look at the above vision will enable the readers to understand the need to implement the new program. the government wants the filipinos to be competent in all aspects of life. by this, it does every possible way to bring filipinos the peak of success and selfactualization. sergio (2012) supported this when he said that holistic human development is at the heart of the said program. having the above vision in teaching, the deped copes with ever-growing necessities of students regarding their learning process. this entails to the offering of new courses for learners; thereby giving them necessary and an up-to-date kind of learning. thus, having the senior high school in the k-12 program is foreseen to be a necessity and of high value. prior to the implementation of senior high school in june 2016, philosophy instructors at palawan state university were anxious as to how the subject will be taught to the students. indubitably, there are lots of issues on it during those times. but the most pervading one is the manner as to how it will be taught to the senior high school students since it is usually being taught to college students. all of this became evident when various opinions and point of views were raised during the national implementation of senior high school (shs) teacher training conducted on the said university (personal communication, june 10-13, 2016). however, one semester has already passed and the subject has already been taught to the students. it is assumed, to a greater extent, that issues and problems did arise in its first implementation. therefore, much attention has been given on them as this endeavor is concerned. it is the aim of this paper to know the perceptions of students and teachers as they both encounter the said subject. lots of researches have been made on other subjects like araling panlipunan, mathematics, and science. nevertheless, none has been conducted in philosophy of the human person. this is understandable because it is a new course or subject. this research somehow contributed to the improvement and efficacy of the subject being studied here and to the k to 12 programs in general. 179 international peer reviewed journal framework learning, as constructivists view it, is the result of mental construction (pritchard, 2013). by saying mental construction, it is understood as the ability to construct the previously known knowledge to the new one. pritchard (2013) further explained this by saying that learning takes place when new information is built into and added onto an individual’s current structure of knowledge, understanding, and skills. the topics or contents in the course introduction to philosophy of the human person are utterly progressive. the course starts with a very basic understanding of the term philosophy and further proceeds to gradually more intellectually demanding topics. this makes the theory of constructivism relevant and necessary in this study. it helps to know what and how must students learn in the said course. evidently, constructivist instructors should start with the assessment of what are the knowledge previously possessed of the students regarding the specific course. they may use various activities like a diagnostic test, yes or no activity, and many others. the knowledge with regard to what students know is vital for any instructor to incorporate the topics with the learners’ mind effectively. to improve the teaching of the course being studied here, the perspective regarding the issues and problems of grade 11 students who undergone the course is important to be known. the diagram below shows the input-process-output scheme. it barely demonstrates the connection between the boxes wherein the input box refers to the perceptions of the respondents with regard to their engagement on the course introduction to philosophy of the human person; process box refers to the manner on how the data have been gathered and interpreted; and the output box refers to the outcome of the study, namely, the solutions based on the perceptions of the respondents. figure 1. conceptual framework 180 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this research sought answers to two main questions. (1) what are the perceptions of senior high school students and teachers on the course introduction to philosophy of the human person in terms of good implication, issues and problems encountered? (2) what are the suggested solutions based on the perceptions of the participants? these questions basically led to answers which portray the actual perceptions of students and teachers in relation to their engagement on the course. moreover, this also serves as a baseline study since there is no formal research that has been conducted after its implementation. methodology research design this study used a phenomenological approach; thereby making this research a qualitative one. it intends to know the perceptions of participants in their encounter with the course introduction to philosophy of the human person. the focus here is to have an in-depth understanding of the perceptions of the participants as they encounter good implications, problems, and issues with the said subject. research site this study was conducted in palawan state university main campus. it is located at tiniguiban heights, brgy. tiniguiban, puerto princesa city, palawan, philippines. participants the participants came from the senior high school students and teachers of palawan state university main campus. in choosing the participants, this study used quota sampling. succinctly, this type of sampling allows choosing the participants based on the set criteria prepared by the researcher. as a whole, 9 students and 2 teachers were requested to give their statements as regards to the study. 9 students who underwent the course were the selected respondents based on their performances as manifested in their final grades. for each college which offered the subject, three students were requested to share their experiences: the highest student, the average student, and the lowest student. class records were requested by their instructors. the said 9 students and 2 teachers were requested 181 international peer reviewed journal to give their perceptions through personal interview and focus group discussion. the purpose of the focus group discussion is to validate the data from personal interviews. instrumentation interview guide and focus group discussion were used to gather the data from the participants. thematic analysis was also used as a tool in this study. this is to ensure that the data will be deemed accurate, reliable and trustworthy. ethical consideration foremost, the researcher obtained permission from the president of the palawan state university to conduct the study. selected students and teachers were also informed about the nature and aim of the study. participants also signed informed consent; thereby stating their willful act of participating in the study. results and discussion this section presents the data gathered from 9 senior high school students and 2 teachers of palawan state university main campus. the results, therefore, do not represent the whole population of the students and teachers. theme: perceptions of senior high students sub-theme 1: use of philosophy in life, data were consistent with regard to the good implication of the subject to the participants. participant 1 paved the way for the first sub-theme: “my perception changed. and i can bring these learnings to lifetime which i get from studying philosophy. it changed my life as a person. it taught me how to live in a world full of various spontaneous events. just like death, we cannot predict it. we do not know when it will come us.” participant 7 responded: “yes, sir. in some ways, our study of the subject philosophy did somehow boost our eagerness to learn. the subject is really interesting.” participant 9 noted: “i can use my knowledge in philosophy in the future. the topics in the subject are helpful for me.” 182 jpair multidisciplinary research participant 8 recalled: “… somehow, it is interesting because the subject discusses the human person.” participant 5 clarified: “i really did not understand philosophy. but sometimes i liked it if i got the chance to relate myself.” participant 2 noted: “it helped me to understand more about human personality. i can apply those ideas in my life.” participant 3 recalled: “i thought philosophy would be very easy to study. however, if you try to analyze every word, they appear to be deep. it is in those moments that i learned a lot.” various responses from the participants show appreciation of the good implications of the subject to their life as students and individuals. calano, pasco, and ramoya (2016) foresaw this when they said that after doing philosophy inside the classroom, students would hopefully develop an appreciation for critical reflection as a necessary human activity in pursuit of a meaningful life. sub-theme 2: prior knowledge on philosophy when they were asked if they had issues upon knowing that the course introduction to philosophy of the human person is included in the curriculum, most of them answered that they have none. upon analyzing their statements, the researcher found out that the ultimate reason behind their answers was that they have no idea about the subject itself. literally, their statements manifest no trace of prior knowledge about philosophy which makes them clueless about the new subject. the following statements support the said conclusion: “none sir. actually, there is none. perhaps, because the curriculum is new.” (participant 3) and: “none sir. it is new to me.” (participant 9) 183 international peer reviewed journal hence, all their statements lead in one direction: they have no prior knowledge of philosophy. this also led them to encounter difficulties and problems in studying the subject. sub-theme 3: study skills applied to philosophy regardless of their academic performances, students did manifest patterns of problems. whether they are achievers or not in their classes, they have problems which can be linked with other participants. 3. a. problems on the students themselves students are honest in their statements as they answer questions which pertain to their problems during their study. one of them is their own capability to learn. one participant admitted it when she experienced difficulties during her studies. her own words will best describe it: “perhaps the problem is my capacity to understand. each chapter is connected to the other. i find it hard to understand the connection between the chapters. it appears chaotic for me. (participant 1) the participant struggled to find connections in every discussion. when she was asked if what the root cause of this problem is, this was her answer: “i think it is myself. i am having wrong interpretations of my teacher’s discussions. it is as if my ideas and the ideas of my teacher are being mixed. here, i am having trouble to whom ideas i am about to believe. (participant 1) her statements show that she has her principles and perspective in life. it can be argued that her perspective opposes or even contradicted the teachings of his teacher. she never mentioned, however, that she rejected the teachings. what is stated as she was confused about the perspectives she knew during that time. nonetheless, the point here is she had pointed out the cause of her problems and that is herself. another student who has a related yet different experience shared her case. her problem goes like this: “i do not have any knowledge about philosophy. at first, i am having trouble to memorize the names of the philosophers. i struggled.” (participant 6) 184 jpair multidisciplinary research when she was asked about the reason why she had hard times in the class, she said these statements: “perhaps i am always late in class. further, i am not the kind of student who likes to do assignments. i am not fond of reading as well. it makes my brain ache.” (participant 6) it can be inferred that this participant found herself in difficult times while having the course. however, she showed honesty by saying that the problem is herself. some participants who are not mentioned here also shared the same experiences. without creating any assumption, the statements of the participants clearly show that some problems came from themselves. hence, sometimes, it is not an external factor which causes them not to study, but they are the reason. this is where the theory of constructivism applies. students learn best when they actively construct their own understanding (pritchard, 2013). after examining their selves and pointed out the problems, they might learn already and proceed to learn more about the subject. 3.b. problems on teaching strategies of teachers on the perspective of some students, some teachers are not quite doing their job satisfactorily. this is evident in the statements given by them. in the first parts of the interviews, the students seemed hesitant to give negative comments on the teachers’ way of teaching. but as the conversation went, they were able to express their experiences. a low-grade student stated: “at first, the teacher speaks very fast. for me, he should speak a moderate speed for us to understand the lessons. it will be appreciated by senior high students like me.” (participant 3) another student again with low-grade in the subject expressed the same thought. but this time, the participant refers to different teacher: “for me, the teacher lacked the ability to explain what is within the subject. i did not understand the lessons.” (participant 9) while others found problems in their teachers’ way of teaching, others also have none. they were completely satisfied with the teaching strategies of their teachers in a way that they learned from them. from this, one may conclude that it is just a matter of perspective for the participants. nevertheless, in the classroom 185 international peer reviewed journal setting, the benefit of all the students must be of paramount importance for any teacher. while there are two major points among the statements of the participants regarding their problems, it must also be noted here that the fact of being new to the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person is one of their complaints. according to them, since the subject is new, they do not have any idea on what this subject is all about. this caused them fear and nervousness. while this complaint is not really a problem, it seems for it to be included in this section since many participants mentioned it. theme: solutions from the senior high students in order to fill the gaps or loopholes in the process of learning, the studentparticipants gave possible solutions with regard to their encountered problems during their study of the subject. their statements were coded into two subthemes: sub-theme 1: motivating oneself some participants were aware that they themselves did not exert more effort to learn. this is evident when they said that due to some unpleasant experiences of the subject to them, they resorted not to study really. hence, having a low grade is its outcome. acknowledging this fact, a low-grade student stated this: “perhaps i should have the determination to study.” (participant 9) when he was asked what the possible solutions to his problems are, he said the above statement. indeed, being determined to learn is a potent factor to gain an understanding of the topics genuinely. fortunately, he realized this. in connection with the first participant, another low-grade student had the same realizations. she narrated: “probably, i think, i should have had focused on the lessons. some students say that philosophy is easy. but it is otherwise. the subject must be dealt with seriously because we can learn a lot from it.” (participant 6). it is satisfying to hear these statements from this kind of students who fail to maximize their potentials for learning. she realized this when the researcher asked her about the possible solutions to her problems. ismail, astuti, and mering (2018) noted that evaluation could play a role in anticipating and preventing the 186 jpair multidisciplinary research failure of the learning process. it is in this study that this kind of students could be helped to learn effectively. sub-theme 2: improvements in teaching some participants gave points on how to improve the teaching of the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person. some of them gave detailed suggestions for possible solutions to the problems they encountered. an example from one of the participant will make it clear. “the teacher should discuss the topics carefully and in detail. it would be better if he will try to relate the topics to current news or daily lives of us students. this is for us to really understand the topics and for us also to relate easily.” (participant 1) another participant has the same detailed suggestions: “the teacher should give group activities like games, and others. the reason for this is that the students will not get bored during class discussions.” (participant 8) it is suggested that since other external factors like time and climate are unconducive for learning, the teacher should adjust and make the ambiance of learning contrary to which the participant perceived. more activities are emphasized. in relation to this, a participant supported it in this manner: “some group works will do in order for us students to really pay attention to the discussions.” (participant 2) it is really necessary to apply the lessons to some students’ life specifically. this will enhance the learning process and will be effective in the end — a student with a low grade in the subject mentioned about this. “the teacher should have a clear process in discussing the topics. perhaps the teacher could relate the discussions in every student’s life. (participant 3) obviously, the student is giving concrete steps on how to apply the lessons to the likes of him who wants to have a direct application of the learnings they acquired. pritchard (2013) supported this when he said that students learn best when they actively construct their own understanding. 187 international peer reviewed journal theme: perceptions of senior high teachers in this study, two senior high school teachers were interviewed to give their perceptions regarding the subject being studied here. it must be noted that in their statements, though they have the same line of work, they too have different perceptions. while participant 10 acknowledges the consistency of the curriculum on introduction to philosophy of the human person, he still criticized the timeliness of its offering. participant 11, on the other hand, appreciates the subject itself and continued to say so throughout the interview. nevertheless, despite the differences, subthemes were still formed to present their statements systematically. sub-theme 1: good implications it is indubitable that the subject philosophy itself is essentially good. from the vantage of any professors and teachers, this fact is so comprehensible that it encompasses everything that mankind knows or even do not know. thus the knowledge of it is needed by everyone. when asked if it is fine for him the offering of introduction to philosophy of the human person subject, this is his reply: “yes. basically, it is important in our day to day because people somehow forget what is the very essence of the human person and since we have this k to 12 curricula, it is important for the young ones or the young people of the generation to know the essential characteristics or the different aspects of the human person.” (participant 11) he continues: “ah, yes. i found good implication basically when my students appreciate my subject and most of them told me that this subject philosophy of the human person opens their minds and they were able to see the world in a different view most especially the very essence of the human person. so, they have known the nature of themselves from being human with body and soul then up to the philosophical view or concept of death.” (participant 11) these are technical topics in the subject. from his perspective, he sees the necessity of having the subject for senior high students. this is actually consistent with the statements of the students. they too appreciate the subject as it is very beneficial for their day-to-day living. philosophy truly offers various 188 jpair multidisciplinary research perspectives in life where an individual may use it for their personal convictions and principles. this purpose has been achieved by the students according to the participant above. sub-theme 2: issues for participant 10, there are lots of issues brought by the offering of the subject. one of it is the preparedness of the teachers. these are his words: “the competency of the teachers who will handle the subject.” (participant 10) he continues: “they are not philosophy majors. so, my first issue on that is that they are not qualified to teach the subject.” (participant 10) he is aware that many schools are not yet prepared to teach the subject because only a few instructors are capable of teaching it. indeed, throughout the province of palawan, only a few have a degree in philosophy. the reason for this is that there is only one school that offers the program, and that is seminario de san jose. due to the limited number of graduates, few were being produced. and since the said school is not intended to produce teachers, not all of the graduates end in universities and colleges. this fact serves as enlightenment in this issue. he further fortifies his chain of thought by saying that the offering of the subject is untimely. his words best explained it. “as i have said, the readiness of the students is one of the issues here. the offering of the subject is untimely. i suggest there must be a prior philosophy course. critical thinking course would do. if it would be possible, the course introduction to philosophy of the human person should be put in college.” (participant 10) participant 10 is referring to the offering of critical thinking subject in senior high school while suggesting that the offering of the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person shall be transferred to the college. this suggestion basically sprouts from his teaching experiences and prior thoughts concerning the possible implications of the new subject to the students. for him, changes in the present curriculum are necessary. millar, leach, osborne and ratcliffe (2006) posited this when they said that teachers improve practice by improving specific practices. 189 international peer reviewed journal sub-theme 3: problems under this subtheme, there are two main problems brought by the offering of the subject: readiness of the students and teachers and insufficient learning materials. readiness of the students and teachers participant 10 consistently mentions the issue that the offering of the subject is untimely. this, for him, is not just an issue but a problem. his own words say: “it is untimely. the inclusion of the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person to the senior high school curriculum is untimely.” (participant 10) he continues: “it is because the students are not prepared enough to undergo the subject and at the same time, there are no sufficient materials for the teaching of the subject.” (participant 10) the term “untimely” is a broad one. it connotes negative thoughts and problems which did arise from its offering to the first batch of the senior high school students. for him, both students and teachers are not yet ready to have the subject. his reason for this is that teachers in the first place do not have sufficient training to teach it. second is that students do not have prior background on the subject? this probably surprises them which will lead to unsatisfactory results. this, based on the perceptions of the students, became a reality as it is reflected in their statements. truly, teaching young people the central concepts and practices of the subject areas is extremely challenging work (moje, 2010). insufficient learning materials one of the main problems is the insufficiency of learning materials and additional rooms for senior high students. many schools all over the country did somehow prepare for the implementation of k to 12, but facilities are insufficient. this is manifested in the offering of palawan state university. “in the classroom, in the new building, there is no whiteboard, so i have to find ways on how to explain or deal with my topics. but on the other materials, there is no problem especially for example when i have a film watching; there are materials provided by the university.” (participant 11) 190 jpair multidisciplinary research he continues: “first is the whiteboard and then, i think the exhaust or it’s somehow hot inside the room even though there are fans? maybe it is better to open the windows, but sometimes it is raining, and the water goes inside. but still, for me, it is kind of hot inside because they are thirty-seven and then the room is small for them.” (participant 11) it is hard for a teacher to teach effectively if the materials need for learning are incomplete. another one is the classroom. it must be designed conducive for learning. unfortunately, the teachers, as well as the students of palawan state university, needed to suffer from this situation. theme: solutions from the teachers under this main theme, two subthemes emerged based from the participants’ statements: (1) need for reconstruction of curriculum guide and (2) providence on learning materials and appropriate classroom. sub-theme 1: need for revision of curriculum guide participant 10 sees the need to reconstruct the current subject. his words best explain this: “i think the subject should be modified. instead of teaching philosophy of the human person, it would be better if critical thinking or logic courses are first to be taught to students. in this way, students will be able to understand the more challenging topics in philosophy by studying first the basic principles in it. philosophy requires critical thinking. this is why they really need it. (participant 10) briefly, he suggests that prior to the offering of introduction to philosophy of the human person, there must be a subject supporting it. by this, he means to suggest the offering of the logic subject in senior high school. he contends that students are not in a good position to have the subject without having the first background or at least a mental framework on how to understand clearly the lessons. it may be recalled that the subject logic was eradicated completely from the tertiary level and replaced by the subject ethics. however, in senior high, students are not yet prepared to have the subject being studied here without prior basic philosophy subjects like critical thinking and logic. 191 international peer reviewed journal sub-theme 2: providence on learning materials and appropriate classroom teacher-participants expressed their desire to fill the gaps in teaching. participant 10 stated him in this way: “philosophy is a very beautiful subject. the knowledge in it is so beautiful that it may enhance or it may help the student very well. this is because it is a foundation course. i just hope that it can be taught well by teachers. the learning materials must be provided: the learner’s module and teaching guides. (participant 10) the statements above are understandably encompassing. he refers to the materials which must be used inside the classroom, the teaching guides, knowledge, and capabilities of the teachers to teach the subject. he appreciates the beauty of the subject explicitly stating it so. with regard to the classroom setting, participant 11 gave his remarks: “yes. and they should have a standard most especially in terms of the number of students per room because it is kind of... in the new building, the room for 37 students is small. so they should provide another room which is bigger, or they should divide the students in order for them to have a well comfortable environment in their study. and regarding the section, because they are separate from the new building, the room is big. it is good, but the fans are not functioning. and i think the tables for the professors are not provided both in my senior high students in the new building. it is hard for the teacher to teach if he or she is only using the armchair. so i suggest that each room must have the tables for the professors or teachers.” (participant 11) obviously, the rooms are lacking important materials such as tables and chairs for the teacher. this, however, is one of his point of emphasis. he is also referring to the number of students and the size of the classrooms. he mentioned the term “standard.” it can be thought that the participant is not comfortable with his teaching environment. this reflected the claim of sergio (2012) when she said that classroom requirement alone is an enormous challenge. thus, this problem must be addressed to the ones who are with authority. in general, the overall data shows that problems and issues did arise along with the implementation of the course introduction to philosophy of the human person. upon interviewing the participants, they suggested possible solutions 192 jpair multidisciplinary researchwhich can be used as bases for changes in the teaching of the subject as well as the curriculum itself. with the evaluation, it is expected to make learning better and lack of learning can be improved (ismail, astuti, and mering, 2018). truly, in the process of learning and improvement, everything must be in process. conclusions based on the findings of this study, selected participants found good implications for the course as it can be very useful in life. further, various suggestions such as the improvement on teaching, the revision of the curriculum guide and the provision of learning materials were also raised to meet the issues and problems they encountered during their engagement on the course. the above findings lead to the conclusion that the senior high school students and teachers of palawan state university who underwent the course introduction to philosophy of the human person did find good implications and encounter issues and problems with regard to the actualization of the course. with this, one can see the necessity to improve the offering of the subject studied here. indeed, if the students and teachers are to benefit from the offering of this subject, its efficiency and effectiveness must be improved. but more than this, one should also not forget that the main purpose of education, in general, is to have a lifetime impact in every person’s life. so to be specific, the subject introduction to philosophy of the human person aims to contribute to the lifetime understanding of the nature of man and everything which surrounds him: family, society, nations, world, other galaxies, and even things which people do not know. such is the field of philosophy. thus, it must be taught to the students with rigor but also with enjoyment. translational research the findings of this study could be forwarded to the department of education. in the field of learning, it is of paramount importance to always promote the welfare of the learners. thus, this study can serve as the basis for the re-visitation of the course introduction to philosophy of the human person curriculum. the subject’s efficacy and utility for the students and teachers must be studied in order to promote quality education. 193 international peer reviewed journal acknowledgement the researcher would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following in this study: prof. restie allan a. puno, drs. lerna l. ayco, lourdes m. jimenez and cyril c. serador. also, the researcher would like to thank the students and teachers who gave time and effort to participate in this study. for funding the publication and presentation of this work, the researcher acknowledges the help of palawan state university administrators. and lastly, special thanks to dr. john christian s. jardin, who, although resting now in the presence of god, still contributed and became part of this research. without the said persons, this study will neither be completed nor actualized. literature cited agero, a. d., & bonotan, a. m. (2016). academe-industry partnership: basis for enhanced learning guide in the new science general education course.  asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research,  4(4). retrieved from https://goo.gl/feopxz calano, m. j., pasco, m. o., & ramoya, m. c. (2016) philosophizing and being human. sibs publishing house. philippines. crisol, l. g. d., & alamillo, j. b. l. (2014, march). a comparative study of the attitudes between the students and teachers of two public elementary schools in northern mindanao toward the k to 12 curriculum shift. in  dlsu research congress (pp. 6-8). retrieved from https://goo.gl/gtdsr6 gualdo, r., placido, d. & dagwasi, c., (2013) logic: the basics of correct reasoning. mutya publishing house, inc., philippines. retrieved from https://goo.gl/1ftaui ismail, i., astuti, i., & mering, a. (2018). evaluation of learning outcome assessment system in health and sports physical education subject in junior high school.  jetl (journal of education, teaching and learning),  3(2), 296-301. retrieved from doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.26737/jetl.v3i2.767 https://goo.gl/feopxz https://goo.gl/gtdsr6 https://goo.gl/1ftaui http://dx.doi.org/10.26737/jetl.v3i2.767 194 jpair multidisciplinary research millar, r., leach, j., osborne, j., & ratcliffe, m. (2006).  improving subject teaching: lessons from research in science education. routledge. retrieved from https://goo.gl/jwzpiu moje, e. b. (2010). comprehending in the subject areas: the challenges of comprehension, grades 7-12, and what to do about them.  comprehension across the curriculum: perspectives and practices k-12, 46-72. retrieved from https://goo.gl/e8c7po pritchard, a. (2013). ways of learning: learning theories and learning styles in the classroom. routledge. retrieved from https://goo.gl/grqx7k seco-macarandan, r. m. assessment of the araling panlipunan modules in the k-12 curriculum: enhanced instructional materials development. retrieved from https://goo.gl/nhyy4c sergio, m. r. s. (2012). k-12 education reform: problems and prospects. ateneo de naga university press. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ipx29l https://goo.gl/jwzpiu https://goo.gl/e8c7po https://goo.gl/grqx7k https://goo.gl/nhyy4c https://goo.gl/ipx29l 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.620 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 the mental health status of secondary school teachers amidst the covid-19 pandemic in batanes william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines warren david b. ereful http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4933-5341 ewarrendavid@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines hannah joy g. cantero http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0782-7070 canterohannah5@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines christian jake salamagos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9425-9165 salamagoschristianjake@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines godfrey c. velayo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6311-6313 godfreyvelayo17@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 mailto:williamjosebillote@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4933-5341 mailto:ewarrendavid@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0782-7070 mailto:canterohannah5@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9425-9165 mailto:salamagoschristianjake@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6311-6313 mailto:godfreyvelayo17@gmail.com 2 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 ma. veronica c. enego http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5112-145x veroncano66@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the well-being of teachers influences the well-being of the students in ways that influence the mental health trajectory of future generations. however, when the pandemic started, lockdowns and the closure of schools caused teachers to suffer stress because they needed to adapt policies to provide learning. thus, the changes in work methods have caused mental health issues among teachers. the study aimed to describe the anxiety, stress, and depression among secondary school teachers in batanes. by considering the level of these mental health issues teachers are experiencing, institutions might be in a better position to put in place the relevant support structures that may be needed. this study utilized a quantitative research approach and was conducted in all secondary schools in the province. the study was conducted among 73 secondary school teachers, 17 males and 56 females aged 23 to 59. a three-part survey questionnaire was used to gather data in the study – consent form, demographic profile, and depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (dass-21). results show that they experience moderate anxiety and a normal level of depression and stress. teachers were significantly affected by the occupational stress during the suspension of face-to-face classes and the impacts associated with the pandemic. keywords — social science, secondary school teachers, quantitative, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5112-145x mailto:veroncano66@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 3 international peer reviewed journal introduction the mental health of teachers is an important factor that allows them to become holistic classroom managers and leaders. however, when the global and local transmission of covid-19 was recorded, the government considered it a risk to national security (nicomedes et al., 2020), thus, implementing enhanced community quarantine to contain the spread of covid-19. this health problem created public health emergencies that affected filipinos nationwide due to prolonged social isolation. the psychological impact of social isolation can be intense, substantial, and long-lasting and usually includes a wide range of psychological symptoms such as stress, anxiety, and depression (brooks et al., 2020). the pandemic has affected not only the mental state of students but also of teachers since the beginning of the crisis. lockdowns and the closure of schools caused teachers to suffer from stress because of their need to adapt the policies to provide learning. teachers must cope daily with the workload, emotion management, and conflict mediation in the classroom (schoeps et al., 2020). they are expected to provide academic instruction social-emotional support and build relationships with students and their families. also, they are significantly less compensated than other occupations with similar education requirements (allegretto & mishel,  2019). this has led to stress, frustration, burnout, and teacher turnover. in addition to these, teachers also experience a great amount of stress during the pandemic, adapting to distance teaching and learning, reconciling personal and work responsibilities, fear about their future and their families, and the pandemic itself, making their emotional distress particularly severe. the changes brought about by the pandemic led to the crafting of policies to secure that the adherence of stakeholders is continued, particularly directed to teachers and students. such provisions included alternative delivery modes of education and quarantine requirements (commission on higher education, 2020; department of education, 2020). however, teachers have yet to be trained for emergency online teaching. thus, the suspensions of classes in schools coupled with social isolation and home quarantine have caused depression, anxiety, and stress to the teachers. many studies have suggested that teachers experience psychological symptoms during the pandemic. a recent arab study has indicated that teachers suffered problems related to the pandemic, such as depression, anxiety, stress, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15325024.2020.1759225 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15325024.2020.1759225 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15325024.2020.1759225 4 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 violence, and divorce, all of which hinder their teaching ability (al lily et al., 2020). in germany, teachers experienced a medium-to-high amount of stress during the lockdown. in the united kingdom (uk), teachers reported high levels of anxiety, and in chile, the pandemic negatively affected teachers’ quality of life, especially among women and younger teachers. previous studies have found that working from home using information and communication technologies has created feelings of tension, stress, anxiety, and depression (suárez et al., 2018,) and during a pandemic, these were the only available resources to teachers. the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization [unesco] (2020) has already identified that depression, anxiety, and stress among teachers are among the adverse consequences of school closures due to the abrupt changes in the education system, uncertainty about the pandemic’s duration, and a lack of familiarity with distance education. the long-term nature of the problem leads to exhaustion, thus, creating less confidence in the teachers’ ability to perform their jobs and making it more difficult to manage student behavior (burić & kim, 2020). moreover, in china, anxiety among teachers was 13.67%, with women being more anxious than men and older ones being more symptomatic (li et al., 2020). similarly, teachers reported workloads in spain that lead to psychosomatic problems and exhaustion (prado-gascó et al., 2020). a study conducted in malaysia showed that a higher percentage of secondary school teachers reported psychological symptoms during the pandemic and felt at risk of poor mental health and well-being. there is also a higher rate of men versus women experiencing psychological symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression (pau et al., 2022). on the other hand, a study in thailand reported that 267 thai teachers encountered mental health issues ranging from severe to extremely severe (ratanasiripong et al., 2022). in the philippines, teacher stress has long been a major concern of teachers, even before the pandemic started, with teachers consistently experiencing some of the highest levels of occupational stress among most occupations (markow et al., 2013). with the quick initial pivot to remote teaching, followed by uncertainty due to modifications of instructional policies, teachers have had high mental health issues during the pandemic (bautista jr. et al., 2020). the pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges in education (oducado, 2020). despite the aggressive interventions of the philippine government to stop the further transmission of the disease, cases of those being infected continued to rise. because of this, the closure of schools and isolation implemented globally threatened the mental health of teachers (talidong & toquero, 2020). teachers 5 international peer reviewed journal transitioned professionally and personally through an uncertain period (allen et al., 2020). aside from the threats to physical health, the pandemic has also posed a psychological impact that carries significant threats and dangers to mental health and well-being because of higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. the uncertainty of the situation has exacerbated these. though school closures and protocols, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and remote learning, were necessary to slow down the spread of the virus, these, on the other hand, made it more difficult to deliver content and foster relationships in classrooms and schools. in a survey conducted by diliberti et al. (2021), out of 1,000 teachers, 25% noted a lack of reliable high-speed internet at home, while 40% could not deliver remote instruction well. aside from the stresses teachers face regarding the threat of covid-19 to themselves and their families, they have to transition into the new normal in the educational system and undertake effective remedial education (guillasper et al., 2020; oducado, 2020). not all teachers do not have the technologies, resources, competencies, and knowledge they need to engage and succeed using the new teaching modality. by considering the level of depression, anxiety, and stress teachers are experiencing with the return to school during this pandemic; institutions might be in a better position to put in place the relevant support structures that may be needed. however, there is limited knowledge of the levels of mental health issues teachers are experiencing, which can be the cause of inadequate counseling services or support for them. the mental well-being of teachers is an area that needs to be discussed by both the educational community and society in general. objectives of the study on this premise, the researcher determined the level of mental health issues among secondary school teachers during this pandemic. studies on the islands of batanes have been conducted impacts of the pandemic, but their main focus is on the general population. to date, limited studies examine the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on secondary school teachers in the province. by their occupation, the teachers come in frequent contact during the students’ developmental stages. thus, the well-being of teachers influences the well-being of the students in ways that influence the mental health trajectory of future generations. therefore, the researcher was encouraged to conduct the study to identify the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and challenges encountered by secondary school teachers. hence, the results of this study can be used to create effective 6 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 interventions and approaches that will help address the mental health problems of the island teachers during this time of the pandemic. framework the study is anchored on the diathesis-stress model, known as the vulnerability stress model, by kendler (2020). the diathesis-stress model theory attempts to explain the occurrence of a disorder. this theory suggests that the combination of a pre-existing diathesis, such as a negative cognitive style and stress, can predict the development of any mental health disorder. this model proposes that persons who think of themselves more negatively are more likely to exhibit signs and symptoms of mental health problems when faced with significant life stress. people have differences in how they think about the world, making them susceptible to disorders. because of this, there is now a difference in how people respond to similar stressful events. negative views about the world, the future, and the self may contribute to developing any mental health problem. these views affect how information is processed, making individuals vulnerable to mental health problems when negative situations arise. moreover, according to the diathesis-stress model, perception of the future self and the world can directly cause mental health issues. people with a positive future orientation can maintain optimism and hope for the future whenever a problem occurs, such as a pandemic. thus, they are likely to have more adaptable and modifiable behaviors in stressful situations, making it easier to handle depression, anxiety, or stress (pallini et al., 2018). on the other hand, those individuals with a negative future orientation hold a negative attitude toward the future. this is the reason why, when faced with a stressful situation, they tend to be depressive, anxious, or stressed. as helplessness to psychosocial stressors varies, some individuals may be more affected by the adverse effect of the covid-19 pandemic than others. using the diatheses-stress model, there is a complex interplay between pre-existing risk factors and current environmental stressors. as a result, environmental stressors may impact those with pre-existing problems. consistent with the diathesis-stress model, one study found that increased stress during the pandemic can be associated with maladaptive coping strategies (umucu & lee, 2020). another study by liu et al. (2020) found that higher resilience or the ability to cope with stress effectively was associated with lower anxiety during the pandemic. together, these findings suggest that perceived stress is an important process that modulates covid-19 anxiety and safety behaviors. 7 international peer reviewed journal using the diathesis-stress model in this study can help identify predictors of covid-19 depression, anxiety, and stress responses. it is crucial in effectively addressing mental health issues during the pandemic among teachers. it can be a valuable framework for exploring how pre-existing traits interact with environmental influences in producing excessive, maladaptive responses during the pandemic. it can aid in identifying of how the teachers’ vulnerability can affect or impact their mental health during the covid-19 pandemic. self-perception during this crisis can also have an impact on teachers’ adaptation. individuals with high self-esteem can recognize their good qualities and strive to thrive in difficult situations. on the other hand, individuals with low self-esteem can have negative feelings about themselves, which makes it harder for them to cope during stressful situations. objectives of the study the study aimed to describe the level of mental health difficulty in terms of anxiety, stress, and depression among secondary school teachers in batanes. methodology research design this study utilized a quantitative research approach. it used a descriptive research design to describe the respondents’ level of mental health difficulty. according to nassaji (2015), a descriptive research design aims to gather data to describe a phenomenon, situation, or population scientifically. this method enables the researchers to develop an in-depth understanding of the topic.  research site the study was conducted in all secondary schools in the province of batanes, namely, batanes general comprehensive high school (bgchs), mahatao national high school (mnhs), ivana national high school (inhs), raele integrated school (ris), itbud integrated school (iis), valugan integrated school (vis), batanes national science high school (bnshs), sabtang national school of fisheries (snsf), itbayat national agricultural high school (inahs), and saint dominic college of batanes, inc. (sdcbi). 8 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 respondents the study was conducted among 73 secondary school teachers in the province of batanes. the respondents comprised 17 males and 56 females aged 23 to 59 years old. data gathering tool a two-part survey questionnaire was used to gather data in the study – demographic profile and depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (dass-21). demographic profile. this was used to gather information from the respondents about their age, sex, school, civil status, educational attainment, and years of service. depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (dass-21). according to le et al. (2017), the dass-21 is a shortened version of the original dass, which lovibond and lovibond developed in 1995. the dass is comprised of three self-report scales designed to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. each of the three dass21 scales contains seven items, divided into subscales with similar content. the depression scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, selfdeprecation, lack of interest/involvement, anhedonia, and inertia. the anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. the stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. it assesses difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal, being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive, and impatient. the dass-21’s reliability is outstanding, with cronbach’s alpha values of 0.81, 0.89, and 0.78 for the depression, anxiety, and stress subscales, respectively (coker et al., 2018). it was also discovered to have excellent internal consistency and discriminative, concurrent, and convergent validities in the same analysis. data gathering procedure the researchers submitted a letter of intent asking permission to conduct the study to the school’s division superintendent. when the researchers were permitted to conduct the study, they administered the survey questionnaires to the respondents. the school head of the identified schools distributed the questionnaires to their secondary school teachers. the researchers established a rapport by introducing themselves and letting them read the consent form. the consent form included a brief background of the researchers, the aims and objectives of their study, and the respondents’ permission to participate in the study voluntarily before distributing the survey 9 international peer reviewed journal questionnaires. the surveys were delivered to the respondents while giving them sufficient time to complete the questionnaires. the researchers provided specific instructions in the questionnaires, asked them for their honesty in answering the items, and assured them of the confidentiality of the data collected. due to their busy schedules because of the school’s commencement ceremonies, the researchers gathered the survey results a week after they were delivered. after collecting survey questionnaires, the researchers looked into the data to identify any useful for the study. ethical considerations to observe the proper protocols for conducting this study, prior written permissions were sought from the campus director. the questionnaire was attached to a consent form with a message asking for the active participation of the respondents at their option. it also stated that their anonymity, confidentiality, and neutrality would be kept. proper citations were done for all the information and previous researches used in this study. results and discussion to describe the respondents’ level of mental health difficulty, mean analysis was conducted. table 1 below summarizes the data on the respondents’ level of mental health difficulty in terms of anxiety, depression, and stress. table 1. respondents’ level of mental health difficulty mental health difficulty mean score standard deviation qualitative interpretation anxiety 10.66 7.35 moderate depression 8.66 6.48 normal stress 11.53 6.21 normal n = 73 table 1 shows that the respondents have a moderate level of anxiety, a normal level of depression, and a normal level of stress. in the case of anxiety, negative associations are related to changes in working conditions, social relations, general social support, and emotional support. the changes in the mental health condition of secondary school teachers are possibly associated with changes in their working conditions. data suggests that most secondary school teachers were not prepared to face the technological 10 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 changes that came with the crisis. the lack of preparedness and experience in digital competencies and remote learning methods are seen to be the causes of anxiety among teachers. the uncertainty about the impact of distance or remote education on academic progress has also contributed to this mental health issue. moreover, the higher level of anxiety compared to depression and stress can be due to the new measures teachers had to adopt without support in the form of material and human resources. it can also be linked with uncertainty about the possibility of children becoming infected in schools. the return of students in the classrooms can also become a focus of uncertainty for teachers. through the years, various authors pointed out that teachers show a high risk of developing anxiety due to being exposed to varied work stressors in their daily activities (gil-monte, 2005; menghi, 2015; othman & sivasubramaniam, 2019; schaufeli, 2003). similarly, secondary school teachers experience a moderate level of anxiety because of the lack of knowledge and skills necessary for distance education and the time-consuming process, especially for older teachers (joshi et al., 2020). moreover, since the pandemic started, argentinian teachers have seen many aspects of their work modified, making them even more prone to maladjustments (glowacz & schmits, 2020). results also show that infection-related anxiety tended to increase among secondary school teachers. this is similar to the study held in japan, where teachers have one-hour face-to-face lessons for 30-40 minutes per class. because of this, teachers have to interact with many students daily for a long period. this makes the risk of infection high, which may be responsible for the teachers’ high level of anxiety, among other reasons. similarly, a study by hawes et al. (2021) showed that direct contact with students was significantly associated with higher anxiety symptoms in school staff. in line with the results, there is also increasing evidence suggesting that pandemic has significantly impacted on the well-being of teachers and students. in china, it has been found that a school where teachers presented moderate symptoms of anxiety, whereas, in germany, secondary teachers experience a medium to a high amount of anxiety. in the united kingdom, a teacher reported high levels of anxiety, and in chile, the global crisis has negatively affected the quality of life of teachers (lizana et al., 2021). in another study, the covid-19 pandemic has indicated that work instability negatively impacts teachers’ mental health due to financial uncertainty (varma et al., 2021). public school teachers also had a higher risk of anxiety than private school teachers because of the high workloads. the pre-pandemic 11 international peer reviewed journal occupational health differences may have increased during the crisis, impacting the teachers’ mental health (ozamiz-etxebarria et al., 2021) on the other hand, the respondents’ level of depression and stress is normal. a study suggests that given seeking information about covid-19, filipino teachers search for news about cases of covid-19 and check the information about covid-19 if it comes from a trusted or reliable source. with many speculations on covid-19 and its impact on people, teachers had to be vigilant and careful with news and information to believe (aruta et al., 2022). this allows them to regulate their emotions. to deal with depression and stress, filipino teachers spend time on social media to communicate with friends, students, and colleagues and read news updates that can help heighten their awareness during a crisis (casanova et al., 2022). likewise, secondary school teachers spend more time online since they also practice virtual learning projects aside from communicating with colleagues through a professional online community. they have developed a way to find something purposeful due to the suspension of all school-related conferences and activities in the country (department of education, 2020). additionally, the level of depression and stress among secondary school teachers is normal because teachers’ adaptation to distance education has happened relatively fast. this is why, after the initial exhaustion, there has been an increase in the effectiveness and sense of educational activities observed (bubb & jones, 2020). conclusion the researchers determined the level of mental health problems, particularly depression, anxiety, and stress, among secondary school teachers in the province of batanes. among the three, they experience moderate anxiety and a normal level of depression and stress. it is possible to assert that a large portion of secondary school teachers in the province was significantly affected by the occupational stress during the suspension of face-to-face classes and the impacts associated with the pandemic. this has led to the appearance of different mental health issues. translational research despite its limitations, this study presents a snapshot of secondary teachers’ mental health problems during the covid-19 pandemic. these results will provide ideas for specific actions that can be done and promoted in all 12 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 education settings. it calls for attention to further exploring teachers’ experiences concerning the pandemic and the importance of providing institutional support for the teachers’ well-being. such support includes interventions using icts to reduce psychological distress. future studies can also gather information about these teachers’ sociodemographic characteristics and explore individual, work, and family conditions associated with the experience of certain symptoms of discomfort and distress. literature cited al lily, a. e., ismail, a. f., abunasser, f. m., & alqahtani, r. h. a. 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(2021). younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during covid-19 pandemic: a global cross-sectional survey.  progress in neuropsychopharmacology and biological psychiatry, 109, 110236. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research identification and literary analysis of the selected folk literature in the province of capiz, philippines emmanuel d. dayalo http:://orcid.org0000-0002-7273-6362 mremmanuel0329@gmail.com capiz state university main campus capiz, philippines abstract the philippines, a treasury of oral folk epics and particularly folk songs, gives us opportunities to research them in transition, which implies documenting and introducing them to a wider audience (biclar, 2014). capiz is the capital of folk songs and folk dances in western visayas. it is a province in panay island which has a distinctive and astonishing folk literature existing, but the dilemma is, writings were not all recorded and compiled. the study identified and analyzed the selected folk literature in the province. it sought to identify folk literature in the province of capiz according to genres, craft a literary analysis based on folk literature and determine literary criticism approaches which are applicable for literary analysis. the study utilized descriptive-qualitative research employing literary critical approaches. the multi-stage purposive sampling procedure was used. the most common folk literature in the province were the following: ambahanon, binalaybay, composo, harana, hurobaton, lowa, paktakon and pamulong-pulong used the spoken introduction for the ulitawo and linay in the public dance (bayle). the selected folk literature identified represent the historical, cultural, social, anthropological or even religious aspects of the capizenos’ way of life. keywords – folk literature, literary-critical analysis, descriptive-qualitative research, province of capiz, philippines vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.384 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 139 international peer reviewed journal introduction investigation of subjective reality is an important goal in oral history research. folklorists need to share patronizing attitude which allows no effort in the more official, scholarly analysis and interpretation of the local past (danielson, 1980). capiz is the province considered as where myth and reality merged through its timeless and imaginative folk tales and famous folklore character “aswang” which is always constituted to the province and made it known to the entire philippines. how this misconception started could also be revealed based on some folk tales made by our elder capizeńos or familiar visitors long time ago. the palm – shaped capiz, the seafood capital of the philippines, consists of sixteen (16) municipalities, one component city, two districts and 473 local communities. the folk literature of the capizeńos is so rich for it is easy to be understood and appreciated by its people, but sometimes it could be interpreted figuratively depending on its meaning and context. through folk literature, elements reveal the culture, historical aspects, topographical conditions, beliefs and practices of capizeńos. folk literature is a term which refers to the creative, imaginative and durable writings from the past which are common to ordinary folks (dayalo, 2008). this includes the ambahanon, binalaybay, composo, harana, hurobaton, lowa,paktakon, pamulong-pulong, sugilanon and other literary forms.   the appreciation and inculcation of folk literature in the province are not so intensified. reasons may be attributed to inadequate compilation and researches towards folk literature. there are only a few or none at all programs, showcases, and presentations that could depict the richness of capiz folk literature. few capizeńos have interest about local stories, songs, proverbs, riddles and others, but no municipality in the province have comprehensively identified, collected and literarily analyzed the context and messages the folk literary pieces existing in their place. with this, the researcher sought to address the identification and literary analysis of the selected folk literature in the province of capiz. objective of the study the study aimed to enrich the appreciation and recognition level of the folk literature in the province of capiz through scientific collection and literary analysis of the elements and different critical approaches important in the study of literature. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design it utilized the descriptive-qualitative research employing literary critical approaches. the researcher scientifically collected, identified and analyzed the folk literature of capiz. literary analysis covered the in-depth understanding of the elements of folk literary pieces whether in prose or poetry through decoding the context presented. research setting the study was conducted in the province of capiz using the 11 selected municipalities, namely, panay, president roxas, pilar, pontevedra, cuartero, dumalag, dumarao, ivisan, sigma, sapian and tapaz from january to february 2014. ten selected local communities of every municipality were chosen as study areas for identification and interview of folk literature. participants there were 357 key informants of the study who are actual residents in the study areas. they are natives of their place who can sing, narrate, present or provide a literary piece. three to five key informants were purposively selected in every local community. sampling method and determination of sample size a multi-stage purposive sampling was used. in the first stage, two-thirds of the total number of municipalities in capiz comprised the primary unit for each congressional design. allocation of municipalities was done using random sampling. in the second stage, stratified random sampling technique with proportional allocation by local communities in each identified random municipalities was used. ratio and proportion were employed to allocate equally the sample for each group. finally, purposive sampling of three to five was done in getting the tertiary or final unit (third stage) which were the key informants for each local community. instrumentation the study utilized a researcher-made interview schedule to gather the data. the interview schedule has a translated version of local dialect and was subjected to validation from the panel of experts who are the members of the advisory committee. for the authenticity of the data, a video camera was used. 141 international peer reviewed journal data collection the collection of data covered the whole province of capiz using eleven (11) municipalities. the researcher coordinated with every municipal mayor, tourism officer, local historian and elders, well known folks in a place who can sing, narrate, present or provide a literary piece which can depict the historicity and cultural background of their place. moreover, the researcher sought the facilitation and knowledge of reliable persons who could explain the message and background of the story in general and context in particular. the gathering procedure adapted the informal iterative interview with participation technique during the focus group discussion procedure (fgd). this is for clarification and confirmation regarding the commonalities or for a representation of a certain literary piece of a local community to municipality. also, the researcher observed and participated in the actual performances on specific venues where the folk literature are usually sung, presented, narrated or spoken. the context of literary genre of the folk literature existed or known by the resource persons was literary analyzed. the interpretation of the folk literature was based on the following: firstly, the researcher identified the literary types or genres existing and available in the province of capiz. under the category of prose are: pamulongpulong and sugilanon. while category under poetry are: ambahanon, binalaybay, composo, harana, hurobaton, lowa,and paktakon. secondly, the researcher identified the common folk literature found and available in every municipality of the province of capiz. thirdly, the researcher established the folk literature to be decoded. then, the researcher interpreted the literary pieces based on the elements of literary genre. for narrative form: the character/s, setting, plot, point of view, theme, and mood; and for folk songs/poetry: the form, sound, rhyme, imagery, figurative language, speaker, theme and symbol. fourthly, the researcher analyzed what can be derived from the folk literary forms in the capiz province applying different approaches important in the study of literature by roberts edgar v. and jacobs henry (1989). the analysis focused on what approaches are dominant, appropriate and or fitted in a certain literary piece. 142 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion identified folk literature according to types and genres data revealed that paktakon was the dominant or the most common folk literary type and harana and binalaybay were the least famous, respectively. poetic genres were more notable and more common compared to prose. the municipality of pontevedra got the highest frequency of 79 identified folk literature and pilar became the least with frequency of 33. the data gathered from the 11 identified municipalities were determined through multiple responses. this implies and intensifies further the study of dayalo (2008) that the key informants knew, sung, presented, gave, narrated and performed more than one folk literature. common folk literature the most common folk literature in the province were the following: ambahanon-(“tuburan”), binalaybay-(“ang kabuhi”), composo-(“panit kong maitom”), harana-“bulak sang mirasol”), hurobaton(“kung ano aman ang imo gin tanom, amo man ina imo pagaanihon”); lowa-(“ lupad ka na papel,sa kay neneng katre, pamangkuton ka gani, maano, ikaw diri?, sa ngalan sang gugma, ang akon gin kari.”) and (“sa amon ugsaran may, nagtubo nga iba sultiro makatangla, nagalaway iya baba.”), paktakon(“ano ang isa ka balay, nga damo binitay? (sabat: tino-tino))and (“patay na si lolo, ga gwa dyapon iya ulo?” (sabat: lansang) and pamulong-pulong used the spoken introduction for the ulitawo and lin-ay in the public dance (bayle). literary analysis of the selected folk literature in the province of capiz literary analysis based on the elements of prose municipality of president roxas “dayang aranghela” (sugilanon) a. characters dayang aranghela – a pleasant angelic maiden, excellent dancer, princess of the village and daughter of datu calmerin. datu calmerin – a muslim missionary from arabia who settled in what is now aranguel. he married the beautiful daughter of the native chief. he is the father of dayang aranghela. datu palawan a tausug who voluntarily helped to protect the village against 143 international peer reviewed journal muslim invaders. he is a lover of dayang aranghela. b. setting the story happened many years ago, more likely in the early civilization, in the village of what is now local community aranguel in which believed to be the birth of the municipality of president roxas. c. plot exposition the story depicted that many years ago, datu calmerin traveled and settled in the village in what is now aranguel. he married the beautiful daughter of the native chief and they were blessed with a pleasant angelic named princess aranghela. princess aranghela attacted datu palawan and became her love interest when datu palawan himself and his allies offered protection to the village of datu calmerin, his long lost friend. rising action it was in the period of peace and prosperity when the pirates attacked the village. they abducted the men as their slaves and women for their wives. climax datu clamerin searched the skillful artisan to create a mysterious bell to warn the natives in case of attack of the pirates. however, because of their creation of the great bell, battalions of moro warriors continued to attack the villagers. falling action dayang aranghela escaped and hid in the nearby mountains. she learned the death of her beloved father and datu palawan. she became sick and soon died. resolution it is believed that in that place where dayang aranghela was buried, grew a fragrant tree and it was named after her. from that name, it evolved into aranguel. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research d. point of view the narrator is non-participant character in the story or used third person point of view. theme the story projected the message of love, good leadership and fight against slavery through its characters and events. love is presented when datu palawan offered his voluntary protection to the village together with his army and became the lover of dayang aranghela. too much love also of dayang aranghela to her father and datu palawan that she can’t accept the death of the two can be constituted for her sickness and eventually death. datu calmerin showed his good leadership to the villagers by protecting them with his full might and power against muslim rivals. his creation of a mysterious to forewarn the people from other intruders can be a greatest move in showing his true care for everyone’s safety. the fight against slavery depicted also in the story where the villagers with the leadership of datu calmerin and datu palawan fought the muslim invaders for them not to be victimized. e. mood in the first part of the story, the feeling of festive and happiness is distinguishable. it is when datu calmerin married the beautiful daughter of the native chief and their love was blessed a pleasant angelic maiden princess aranghela. also, festive mood is felt when a feast and dance were held for datu palawan and his men as they offered voluntary protection to the entire village. in the said event, dayang aranghela attracted datu palawan. pity can also be felt in the middle part of the story where muslim pirates attacked the villagers. they abducted young men as their slaves and women for their wives. sadness is distinctive in the last part of the story. too much grief and sorrow felt by dayang aranghela for the deaths of her father and datu palawan resulted to her sickness and eventually death also. 145 international peer reviewed journal literary analysis based on the elements of poetrymunicipality of tapaz “panay bukidnon” (composo) a. form the composo panay bukidnon of tapaz has six stanzas and every stanza has four lines except in the stanza four which has six lines. b. sound it has a beautiful melodic sound. it has a soft and slow tune that could really catch the emotion of the listeners. c. rhyme one distinctive quality of the literary piece is its rhythm through the ending words all throughout the composo. it is richly present the ending sound –on in first, third and sixth stanzas while others are i, an and a. d. imagery kag makatibawas madulom nga gab-i is a line in stanza four most likely appeals to the sense of sight. the line speaks of surpassing the darkness of night or uplifting the life of panay bukidnon through their cultural identity and distinctive talent. however, sense of touch/feeling can be felt in line of fifth stanza bagyo, ulan, init ang ginaagwanta which gives credits to all the teachers who are painstakingly educating the indigenous people especially in the high land areas despite the unpleasant weather. e. figurative language denotative and connotative meanings can be analyzed in the line kag makatibawas madulom nga gab-i. denotatively, the line means surpassing the darkness of the night where their showcase of talents would be limited. connotatively which metonymy (the attribution of something is used to stand a thing itself ) as a figurative language used, the word gab-i in the line represents the lifeless and lightless way of living of the panay bukidnon because of the obscure mentality of fellow tapaznon or capizeńo about their tribal identity. also, the word presents the challenges and difficulties for them to be recognized and be given importance. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research f. speaker the speaker of the composition is a panay bukidnon. he appeals that their culture as indigenous people should not be disregarded and not be forgotten. educating new generation and for those who do not know their tribal identity as baseline of capiz civilization should be given importance. in behalf of his tribe, he is thanking the local government officials like the governor and congressman for giving protection and acknowledging their importance as minority as well as the teachers who continuously teaching them for preservation of their culture and become civilized individual. g. theme giving appreciation to the culture and identity of the indigenous people panay bukidnon in tapaz and in-depth understanding of their practices and talents through educating other people are the messages wanted to convey by the composo. h. symbol there are three objects mentioned in the composo that have symbolisms or representations what panay bukidnon have. first, the word tubo (sugarcane) which is abundant all over tapaz and became one of the sources of income of tapaznon especially harvest time in the sugar industry of capiz. also, one story tells that how tapaz got its name was a misconception by the spaniards who asked the name of the place from the natives who were cutting sugarcane. not knowing what is being asked of them and they assumed the spaniards asked what they are doing, they replied “gapangtapas” (cutting). from then, the municipality was named tapaz. second, the word binanog symbolizes the cultural talent and grace of bukidnon. muyco (2009), in her research about panay bukidnon presented more details about binanog. binanog means”music and dance”, among other expressions like costuming, tales, and relationship; not solely a dance. it is social and is important to communal interaction. inside the panay bukidnon household, the binanog is a pastime for everyone. it is an activity for family entertainment just as playing musical instruments, telling tales and sharing experiences of a day’s toil, and singing about their heart’ concerns at any time of the day. sometimes after supper, they have the binanog while drinking tuba or coconut wine. moreover, family members cajole others to take the next turn to dance. adults challenge those who are alert or skillful to use the panyo (shawl/ handkerchief ) and teenagers would tease each other about partnerships. in this 147 international peer reviewed journal type of gathering, the binanog is among the various activities that consume the whole evening until the time comes to retire for sleep. the binanog tradition is a single event in a series of activities within the feast or punsyon. third is the word kuton (cotton) which symbolizes the cultural identity of panay bukidnon through their dress or clothes wore and used. their dress made from cotton has their own panubok or embroidery by their hand artistry, an age-old activity of the panay bukidnon. applied literary criticism approaches for literary analysis moral/intellectual among the 11 municipalities, three of the noted folk literature were analyzed with the use of moral/intellectual approach. these municipalities were cuartero, dumarao and panay. the sugilanon pedro, pedro mendez had a lesson constituted among its elements and wanted to convey to its readers/listeners. forgiveness was given by maria who had been abused, stabbed, wounded and killed by her own husband because of jealousy and after realization and admittance of his own wrongful acts. what is more notable from the character of maria was beyond human condition to forgive someone just to save the relationship and essence of having a family. sang naumpawan, natingala kag nakapanumdum siya sang iya ginhimo ngaman gin muto ya santa ana nga asawa. nagluhod siya kag nagpangayo patawad nga indi na magliwat sang iya ginhimo nga magpangimon. the statement above became the transformational change from the character of pedro for he had the realizations and asked forgiveness what wrongful acts he did to maria. moral/intellectual approach was manifested also in the religious monologue (binalaybay) sentenela of dumarao. since religious orientation and catholic faith inculcation in the character of a pagan and faithless sentinel was presented, the storyline of the literature is teaching its readers to strengthen faith by developing sense of devotion. virgen ko nga hinigugma ining kubos mo nga inanak naga yaub guid sang hamak 148 jpair multidisciplinary research kay sa imo nagahakus virgen sa imo mga tiil ang akon mga kampilan kag ang hinganiban guina halad sing takus. (guin halad ang iya pusil kag espada sa tiilan sang virgen) the paragraph tells the realization of the sentinel that the woman whom she wanted to shoot by his gun and kill by his sword was the virgin mary. upon knowing the great miracle happened, he surrendered everything he possesses (guin halad ang iya pusil kag espada sa tiilan sang virgen) to the divine being and acknowledged himself to be a believer through the word inanak in the second line. viva, mabuhay ang virgen mabuhay ang maayo-ayo… mabuhay guid si maria hari kag sa tanan labao ngani tanan magtalamyao mabuhay ang waay dagta. the 24th paragraph gives homage and adoration to the virgin mary as patroness of dumarao loudly spoken by the sentinel. lastly, composo bagyo undang shared the strengthening of hope despite of the calamity like the typhoon attacked the municipality of panay. the lines like pagabot ni undang makusog nga bagyo…makusog nga hangin humuyop sadto… didto kag naglugdang ining baryo nila…madamo nga patay gasunod sa dalan were details about the devastation of the super typhoon. the power of prayer amidst adversity should be intensified like what they experienced because people seemed hopeless at that time. many people died and many properties destructed. faithfulness to god, the almighty, can be derived from the lines: bilin ko kag tugon sa inyo kaupdanan ang pangamuyo indi pagkalimtan pagpanawag sa diyos sa oras nga tanan agod ang disgrasya indi maaguman. 149 international peer reviewed journal the application of moral/intellectual approach as literary criticism among selected folk literature implies that the literary types like stories, poems and composo imparted and conveyed virtues, values and genuine perspective in life that are worthy to be emulated by its readers/listeners. topical/historical the data revealed that the approach topical/historical became evident in the selected folk literature sugilanon “bagsang” of dumalag, ambahanon “ati sa bukid” of ivisan, composo “bagyo undang” of panay, sugilanon “bulawan nga barko ni don braulio” of pilar, two tales and a local community of bailan, pontevedra and sugilanon “dayang aranaghela” of pres. roxas. the sugilanon bagsang stated the blood line of datu apin, the father of punay whose ancestors came from datu bangkaya. according to the key informants sally florida, 71 and jasporo florida jr.,78 (personal communication, january 2014) it was believed that datu bangkaya was one of the 10 bornean datus who escaped from tyrannical government in borneo and settled in the island of panay. as history affirmed the presence of this existence and concept, more likely, the story was set in pre-spanish times. in the “ati sa bukid” of ivisan, the approach was used to present the way of living, background, beliefs and practices of the ancestors ati in their earliest living here in capiz and neighboring provinces. it could reveal from historical background how they look like, where and how they do live. it could be implied also that their religion in the ancient time is paganism for they worshipped only natural features and heavenly bodies like the sun, moon, stars or objects present. the lines tuwad ka sa bakolkol, sa dalan ni panalsalan, kyaw kapot panutputan flashbacked the religious rituals practiced by the ati in the bakolkol (mound) where they are bowing down to worship panalsalan (their god). in the composo of panay “bagyo undang”, it spoke about the typhoon hit capiz province on november 5, 1984 and became one of the unforgettable events happened in panay and some municipalities. moreover, the lines “anay sang didto na sa simbahan sila, nanaog ang pare si padre hilata” signify and noted that the priest of panay at that time was father hilata who led the prayer brigade with the people came and evacuated going to santa monica church for them to be protected and be safe from the typhoon. this intensifies further the result of sumagsay (2002) which revealed why the canons in the music world through the very influential agency of the media have marked the composo with the stigma of “otherness”. 150 jpair multidisciplinary research while in the sugilanon “ang bulawan nga barko ni don braulio” of pilar used the approach because the story mentioned in sadtong una, sakop pa sang pilar ang lutod-lutod that president roxas municipality was once part of pilar according to the historical facts of the two municipalities and the capiz sugar central located in pres. roxas at the present was formerly known as azucarera de pilar. the use of don in addressing rich and prominent individuals as a respect to don braulio was recognizable that the story happened in spanish times. also, it is a public knowledge among the residents of pilar that patricio family is prominent and a famous leader through the course of time. in the supplemental reading materials and anthropological-social-historicalcultural research of prof. roberto d. tumlos, he revealed that mariano medina, former head of bailan elementary school has inadequate of historical date to make the report more plausible and acceptable but the reflected folk culture especially on their beliefs, customs, and practices identified to bailanons became so significant. “the earliest inhabitants of the place where farmers who lived peacefully with their families and relatives and enjoyed the bounty of the environment.” the lifted statement gave background what bailan looked like before and what kind of life bailanons had. the tale mentioned also the intervention of americans during 19th century where the military government conducted a survey of the names of the barrios and pacified areas all over the country. “it happened that american soldiers passed in this place and saw several men so concentrated in sharpening their bolos. a soldier approached a person and informally asked what the name of the place was. the person did not understand english, he presumed that the soldier was referring to the grindstone and so he abruptly told the soldier “bairan”. the soldier took his notebook and wrote the name “bairan”. from then on this place was known as “bairan”, a grindstone. later, the letter “r” was dropped and changed to “l” for an ease pronunciation hence the popular name “bailan”. while “bairan” is very close to the name “bailan”, the word also has some historical cultural connotations. 16th philippines, the earliest spanish colonizers in their desire to pacify the natives employed strategies of using the “sword and the cross” and “divide and conquer” tactics to subdue the natives (agoncillo, et.al., 1987).” this one tale projected the naming of bailan came from “bairan”. on the other hand, one tale offered that it came from “babaylan” or priestess of the place who have healing powers. “among the most aggrieved were the “babaylan”, a highly respected social position in the village. as the babaylan continue their art of healings, rituals and ceremonies, and as intermediaries to god and spirits, angered the colonizers and put down the 151 international peer reviewed journal influence of babaylan.” “hence, the name of bailan can have undoubtedly been taken babay from the word “baylan” short for babaylan – the village where they settled away from the influence of spanish domination.” the historical emphasis that was derived from the quoted paragraphs simply provides setting of the evolution of the naming of the local community bailan. “reduccion was a method of forcing the natives to construct their houses close to spanish settlement.” these military tactics were used by the spaniards during their colonization to easily rule and monitor the natives (tumlos, 2010). in president roxas applying the approach, dayang aranghela is a legendary story existed and passed through oral transmission from generation to generation very long time in president roxas. according to the key informant mr. rex windham, 77 years old and a native of the place, this took place in what is now local community aranguel before the coming of spaniards. some of the elders told that aranguel was very progressive those days in farming, fishing and has a system of governance. these were the reasons that many tribes especially moro pirates are envied and wanted to attack the village. it is noted also that the use of datu to address leaders or chiefs is recognizable. in other words, this took place where there is no spanish influenced in the philippines which the system of government is different in their time. the application of historical/topical approach as literary criticism among selected folk literature implies that the literary types somehow had historical facts and relevance. it touched also some important events which sometimes the story was anchored or being a product of such event and phenomenon. the results validated the study of tonogbanua (2002) which explained that literature can trace the history of civilization, the tradition, the social ideas which their ancestors brought about from across the seas, or absorbed through their contact with other people who illuminated their fears, hopes and triumphs which are signals of progress of the country. new critical/formalist based on the data, two sugilanon used new critical/formalist approach from cuartero (“pedro, pedro mendez”) and dumalag (“bagsang”) municipalities. discussions of “point of view,” “plot,” “character,” and “structure,” for example, are ways of looking at literature derived from the new criticism. both of the selected folk literature being applied with new critical/formalist was sugilanon which has a long narration signifying all important facts and background in the 152 jpair multidisciplinary research story. both of the sugilanons and usually in other stories identified used third person narration or omniscient point of view. the narrators or storytellers were not participants in the story. with regards to their characters, the use of native, distinctive and creative characterizations were being utilized and made the story more notable to the readers like in the story pedro, pedro mendez who was so jealous man “sa pangitsurahon kag kagwapahon ni maria, nagatubo sa panghunahuna ni pedro ang pagka-maimon.” and the half-snake feature of bagsang “isa pagid ka makatingala kay bagsang bangud siya tawo kag katunga man-og.” the plot of both stories is distinctive from each other but one thing made them in common about their resolution which ended happily. the application of new critical/formalist as literary criticism in the two selected folk literature implies that through understanding the salient elements can give wider analysis and wider perspective among readers what the contextuality of the writings. feminist the roles of women were being acknowledged in the three sugilanons of pedro, pedro mendez (cuartero), bagsang (dumalag) and dayang aranghela (pres. roxas) based on the data. the multi-roles of maria as a woman, mother and wife in the story in pedro, pedro mendez played significantly. she mirrors the very compassionate and forgiving one, yet very strong in making decision and protecting her family to be torn apart. in her character, it was a stereotype that women stayed at home and be just a good housewife to the husband. in ancient scene, women have limited rights to outgrow personally and passive to the dominion of men. this was a realization to everyone, especially to men, as based what happened to maria being an abused wife that women have rights and should be given equal opportunities to defend themselves also. in the story bagsang of dumalag, the role of punay as a woman became very significant in continuing the leadership legacy of their family from his father going down to her son, clemente. “pag-abot gid nila, nagpapista sa bilog nga banwa sang dumalag. ginapatihan man nga ang pag-abot ni punay, naghatag progreso kag kaayohan sa mga dumalagnon.” it was noted that even as a woman, progressiveness and orderliness of dumalag municipality can be constituted from her when she went down from the mountain to visit her family and stayed for a while to lead the people. 153 international peer reviewed journal moreover, the character of punay to bagsang was a delineation of true and acceptable love despite of their distinct differences from appearance, tribal identity and status in life. in the sugilanon from pres. roxas, the role of dayang aranghela as a woman played vital in the story. first as a daughter who helped spread the fame of datu calmerin to other neighboring islands. “… prinsesa arang-hela nga nagbulig sa pagpalapta sa kaanyagan sng iya amay nga si datu calmerin sa mga kaluyo nga isla.” secondly, she as a lover of datu palawan who offered voluntary help in protecting the villagers from the rival muslims evident in the lifted statement “si datu palawan, isa ka tausog, nagboluntad sa pagbulig proteksyon sa mga tawo batok sa mga kontra sa mga grupong muslim.” lastly, from her grave sprouted the very fragrant tree and was named before her. “sa kun diin siya ginlubong, may puno nga nagtubo nga tuman kahumot iya bulak nga ginatawag subong nga aranguel.” it was evolved to the name of local community aranguel which became the venue for the early civilization of president roxas. the application of feminist criticism in the selected folk literature implies that even in literature mirrored and projected the equal rights and opportunities for women and their special role in the society. economic/determinist/marxist data revealed that the concept of marxism is emphasized in the story “dayang aranghela” of president roxas. it is noted that the village was economically progressive and peaceful in the ancient times. the villagers had their own system of government. the issue of being progressive and economically stable became the struggle of moro invaders to attack and win the place. on the other hand, status of the lovers dayang aranghela and datu palawan has never been an issue in the story for they both belong in the affluent class and high profile status. the application of the approach in the selected folk literature implies that socio-demographic profile/economic stability of the people or the characters is anchored in making the story or has been an issue within the story. psychological/psychoanalytic the data conceptualized from psychological/psychoanalytic approach which provided a new key to understanding of characters by claiming that behavior was caused by hidden and unconscious motives and drives. the sugilanon “pedro, pedro mendez” of cuartero (capunan, 2004) used to describe the state of mind and behavior shown and practiced by main character pedro in the story to his wife. in the statements, 154 jpair multidisciplinary research “iya na abotan ang iya asawa nga nagaistoryahan sa ila nga kaingod nga lalaki. nagtubo gid kay pedro nga paino-ino ang malain. si pedro tuman gid ang iya imon.” pedro was paranoid, distrustful or obsessively anxious about something, or unreasonably suspicious of maria and his male neighbor and their thoughts and motives. he thought that the two were doing something infidelity and an affair that made him felt too much anger and eventually killed maria using his bolo. the approach is very distinctive to explain the character of dayang aranghela state of mind upon knowing her father-datu calmerin and lover-datu plawan were dead. she experienced too much sorrow and sadness in those moments which resulted to her sickness which is present in the statement: “nabalitaan niya ang kamatayon sang iya pinalangga nga amay kag ni datu palawan. sa tuman nga pangasubo, siya nagmasakit kag sa pila ka bulan napatay siya.” the depression and loneliness in hiding alone to the nearby mountain added to her unstable condition and eventually death. the application of the approach psychological/psychoanalytic in the selected folk literature implies that the characters in the story have different distinguishable state of mind and behavior which made them famous and memorable among readers and listeners. like true human beings, characters embodied feelings and emotion that should be given in-depth importance for them to be understood their presence in the story. archetypal/symbolic/mythic based on the data, archetypal/symbolic/mythic approach was applied for literary analysis by stories of bagsang (dumalag), bulawan nga barko ni don braulio (pilar), two tales and a local community (pontevedra), and dayang aranghela (pres. roxas). dumalag sugilanon mythical character, bagsang, whose legs have scales like in a snake made the story very familiar and made the municipality of dumalag very famous for in the neighboring places. the suhot spring which was the private bath in the suhot cave as mentioned in the story is considered as a tourist destination in dumalag at the present. pilar “bulawan nga barko ni don braulio” story has applied archetypal approach in the sense don braulio search for a paradise or gold to become richer 155 international peer reviewed journal and more prominent. the “mysterious golden ship” became a symbol which symbolizes the legacy and mystery of don braulio among natives of pilar and used to forewarn if there will be a typhoon coming. pres. roxas has the archetypal pattern that could be derived throughout the context of the story by the sacrifice of the hero/es for the benefit and freedom of all. the deaths of the great datus were heroic symbol in promoting orderliness and peacefulness in the village and dispelling the acts of slavery against their “villains” (muslims). their fights, battles and sacrifices for their land and people can suffice for what is being required to become a hero. moreover, it is presented the archetypal pattern about muslims who have no second thoughts in killing other people for the sake of their beliefs and practices. to them, killing non moslim is a sacred sacrifice and religious act. two tales and a local community of pontevedra had notable symbols “talibong”, “bairan” and “babaylan”. talibong, a local term for bolo, was indispensable, because of its value use in clearing an area for planting or in catching fish. it also symbolizes as weapon and very prized possession. bairan and babaylan were both symbolisms on how local community bailan got its name. bairan as grindstone where the place of bailan was renowned long time ago which believed possessed magical power for the talibong (bolo) to be effective with. babaylan, the one who performed art of healings, rituals and ceremonies, moved in the village of the place bailan because some of them persecuted in the pueblo by spaniards and they were accused of insinuating the pulpit. this became the reason why they moved and settle away in village which was called “baylan” short of babaylan. president roxas “dayang aranghela” great mysterious bell in the story can be regarded as a symbolic representation as forewarning for the natives if there is another intrusion of muslims. in this way, the bell symbolizes their opposition from oppression and slavery. the mythic symbols mentioned in the story were: genie man apao, he appears sometimes as a hunter with enchanted hand of spear; sometimes as a trapper, gat agyayating, the magic net; sometimes as a domesticator and the culturist of fish and plants was magat-yawo. datu calmerin, if badly wounded and died in the battle, has a mythical power that has the ability to rejoin and be alive again. fragrant tree was constituted also from the grave where dayang aranghela was buried. it is believed that the tree was named after her reciprocated for dayang aranghela’s goodness and forever love and remembrance to the villagers and to datu calmerin and palawan. 156 jpair multidisciplinary research the application of archetypal/symbolic/mythic criticism in the selected folk literature implies that archetypal patters, symbolisms and mythical creatures and characters add conspicuousness and impact to the literature. moreover, the result confirmed the result of the study of villaruel (2013) stating that the naming of every local community can be traced to its own legend, every legend of the local community has its own etymological root, almost onehalf of the local community studied are allegorical and philological theories of origins or the legends were based on literal and distorted interpretations, respectively, and mythological legends of different local communities in the municipality of pontevedra do not show relevance to their festival celebrations of their local communities and that almost all local community names are based on their root of origins. reader-response criticism the reader-response criticism worked in the following folk literature: ambahanon-sapian (sapian), ambahanon-hil-o hanay (ivisan) and composopanay bukidnon (tapaz). the three selected folk literature belonged to the genre of poetry. the ambahanon sapian meant to inculcate love and gratitude to one’s native land, giving back all the goodness and things bestowed by the place. sigma hil-o hanay spoke about the historical, topographical and cultural background of the municipality that is shown through their hil-o hanay festivity. composo of tapaz panay bukidnon appealed. conclusions the province of capiz was very rich with folk literature like ambahanon, binalaybay, composo, harana, hurobaton, lowa, paktakon, pamulong-pulong, and sugilanon. folk writings with poetic features were more common and identified compared to prose. among the identified, paktakon was dominant and binalaybay and harana were least familiar. this implies that capizeńos are poetic and singing has played in their lives significantly. there were folk literature common and can be found from one municipality to the other. it implies that there was an active practice and presentation of folk literature in the province. the analysis of folk literary elements was a better aid for comprehensive studies and to understand the contexts and messages of the writings. through this, in-depth appreciations to the cultural, social and historical 157 international peer reviewed journal aspects of capiz through our own stories and poems will be uplifted and enjoyed. the folk literature sugilanon in capiz had a historical connections and relevance to the province. also, the used of archetypal, symbolical and mythical representations or items were noticeable in the sugilanon selected. translational research the study can be distributed to the department of education (deped) and commission on higher education (ched) curriculum planners and implementers especially in the province of capiz to design and intensify the inclusion of local literature as references in implementing effective and quality curriculum. local government officials can hold cultural shows and presentations to culminate to the younger generation and showcase the creative talents and culture of the people in their place. this can uplift tourism industry of capiz too. teachers in all levels in the province of capiz may use and integrate local materials and folk literature of capiz to enliven the teaching of literature in class discussions. the results and analysis can be used as springboard and aid in teaching language and literature to students for their appreciation of cultural, social and historical background and heritage of capiz. city, municipal, tourism offices and local libraries should keep and maintain locally produced folk literary materials for preservation and perpetuation of historical and cultural aspects of their place. literature cited biclar, l. a. b. (2014). the socio-cultural and political undertones in demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic. jpair multidisciplinary research,16(1). cadiz, r.g.m. 2003. “the quest”: capiz through the years. the official publication of capsu roxas campus. volxxvii no.1 p.9 capunan, r.f. 2014. pedro, pedro mendez: a radio documentary of maindang cuartero, capiz. college of communication, west visayas state university, lapaz, iloilo. 158 jpair multidisciplinary research danielson, l. (1980). the folklorist, the oral historian, and local history.oral history review, 8(1), 62-72. dayalo, e.d. 2008. textual analysis of the folk literature existing in the three municipalities of the province of capiz. unpublished action research. college of education, arts and sciences. capiz state univeristy-pontevedra. edgar, r., & jacobs, h. e. (1989). literature: an introduction to reading and writing. muyco, m.c.m., 2009. the binanog. panay bukidnon arts. balay patawili, inc. pp.16-17 sumagsay, m.j.r. 2004 “reterritorializing the composo”. published thesis in palayag: indigenous knowledge for folk empowerment. center for west visayan studies, college of arts and sciences, u.p. in the visayas, iloilo city, vol.1 no.2 tumlos, r., 2010. two tales and a local community: a historico-cultural description of local community bailan: supplementary reading materials in phil. history, anthropology and literature subjects. villaruel, r. b. (2014). unearthing mythological legends of local communities in pontevedra, capiz, philippines. jpair multidisciplinary research, 16(1). 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.332 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. weed management potentials of identified invasive weed species annabella t. carcusia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7220-4198 annabellacarcusia12370@gmail.com deped-cebu province division cebu, philippines pet roey l. pascual http://orcid.org/00000001-9919-5263 petroey262301@gmail.com cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus barili, cebu, philippines james francienne j. rosit http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1183-804x jamesfranciennej.rosit@gmail.com cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus barili, cebu, philippines abstract synthetic herbicide, the most popular weed control, causes environmental hazards. the use of allelopathy in controlling weeds is a possible alternative for sustainable weed management. the study was conducted to determine the allelopathic potentials of identified invasive weed species in terms of percent and rate of germination, plant height, length of leaves and roots and percent mortality of grasses, sedges, and broadleaves. the treatments were: t0-pre/ post-emergence herbicide, t1tap water, t2-mimosa pudica extract,t3lantana camara extract,t4-chromolaena odorata extract. these were compared according to their effects on cenchrus spinifex, conyza canadensis, impatiens wallerana and cyperus rotundus. data were analyzed using analysis of variance 2 jpair multidisciplinary research (anova) for completely randomized design. a further test was done using duncans multiple range test (dmrt). for germination, lantana camara is effective in reducing the percent germination and prolonging germination rate of most common weed species. on the other hand, chromolaena odorata is effective in reducing the percent germination and prolonging the germination rate of impatiens wallerana, while mimosa pudica was effective against cenchrus spinifex and cyperus rotundus. for growth and development, mimosa pudica was found to be the most effective in all common weed species, except for cyperus rotundus where chromolaena odorata was most effective on reducing the length of leaves and roots, and above ground fresh weight. furthermore, chromolaena odorata was found effective against both cyperus rotundus and conyza canadensis while mimosa pudica was effective against cenchrus spinifex in terms of percent mortality. thus, such potential of invasive weed species for weed management should be utilized. keywords – weed management, organic herbicide, allelopathy, experimental research, cebu philippines introduction along with the various technological achievements in agriculture, severe outbreaks of insect pests, diseases, and weeds in crops have also occurred. weeds pose a threat to agricultural productivity. they alone are held responsible for nearly 34% of the total reduction in crop yield (oerke, 2006). weeds are unwanted plants that compete with crops for nutrients and space resulting to physiological malfunctioning of the crop that makes it susceptible to diseases. thus, eventually reduces its yield. it further harbors some pathogens that consequently infect the crops at various stages of its growth. the most popular way to reduce weed population is through herbicide, a chemical designed to kill weeds by disrupting some important metabolic reactions at the cellular level. however, its excessive use leads to several environmental and health hazards. to combat this, efforts are being made all over the world to replace these synthetic chemicals with alternatives that are safer and do not cause any toxic effects on the environment (an, pratley & haig, 1991).thus, these future problems on weeds will have to be tackled in an environmentally benign manner as part of sustainable crop production technology (dhaliwal & heinrichs; 1998, koul, multani, goomber, daniewski & berlozecki, 2004; & koul, 2008). 3 international peer reviewed journal the use of allelopathy in controlling weeds has been suggested to be one of the possible alternatives for achieving sustainable weed management. allelochemicals are released by plants that can suppress the growth of other neighboring plants of different species. the readily visible effects of allelochemicals on the growth and development of plants include inhibited or retarded germination rate; seeds darkened and swollen; reduced root or radicle and shoot or coleoptile extension; swelling or necrosis of root tips; curling of the root axis; discoloration, lack of root hairs; increased number of seminal roots; reduced dry weight accumulation; and lowered reproductive capacity. invasive plant species, including some species of weeds, usually use allelochemicals for successful colonization of lands. makahiya, scientifically known as mimosa pudica has been found to contain some allelochemicals like alkaloid which has a microbial effect and flavonoids and glycosides (also alkaloids) that exhibited significant hypolipidemic activity. similarly, allelochemicals acyclic terpenoids, lantadene a and b from coronet (lantana camara) have been reported to be effective against aquatic weeds eichornia crassipes and microcystis aeruginosa. on the other hand, through allelopathy, chromolaena odorata reduces vegetation in grasslands and forests (dev & koul, 1997). such reports suggest that further study can be done on their effects to control common terrestrial weeds. however, as indicated in some literature, extracts of some weeds were found to have allelopathic effects over certain crops. interaction between weeds and crops is simultaneously and/or sequentially, with direct or indirect effect of one plant species to another, through the synthesis of various chemical compounds – allelochemicals, that are released into the environment and affect (inhibit and/or stimulate) the germination of seeds and the development of a number of weeds and crop (reigosa, souto & gonzales, 1999; kostadinova, ahmed & kuzmova, 2002; kadioglui, yanar & asav, 2005). thus, a study was conducted to determine the potential allelopathic effects of these weed species to control the establishment, growth, and development of some common weed species in the philippines. materials and methods collection of invasive weeds for allelochemical extraction composite samples of each makahiya (mimosa pudica), coronet (lantana camara) and hagonoy (chromolaena odorata) plants were collected at laray, consolacion, cebu, philippines and cebu technological university – barili 4 jpair multidisciplinary research campus, barili, cebu, philippines. only vigorously growing weeds at their reproductive stage were collected for allelochemical extraction. all plant parts (roots, stems, leaves and flowers) were considered for extraction. collection of seeds of some common weeds seeds of pioneer grass (cenchrus spinifex), impatiens broadleaf weed (impatiens wallerana) and purple nut sedge (cyperus rotundus) were collected at laray, consolacion, cebu. these seeds were used for testing the bioassay of the different crude extracts regarding to seed establishment (seed germination). for the seedlings, uniform weed seedlings (number of leaves, height, and overall appearance) of pioneer grass (cenchrus spinifex), horseweed (conyza canadensis) and purple nut sedge (cyperus rotundus) were collected at cebu technological university – barili campus, barili, cebu. preparation of crude extracts crude plant extracts were prepared following the procedure described by guevara and recio (1985) with some modifications. each composite sample of invasive weed species were chopped and pounded to increase surface area for contact with water. five hundred grams of each of the different invasive weed were added with 500 ml of water and blended and allowed to stand for 24 hrs. the mixture was then filtered, and the filtrate was collected for bio-assay. experimental design and treatments the study was arranged in completely randomized design (crd) with 10 samples per treatment and three replications. the treatments were as follows: t0 – herbicide (post/pre-emergence herbicide at 1% concentration based on its recommended rate) t1 – tap water t2 – makahiya (mimosa pudica) crude extract at 2% concentration taken from the 1:1 ratio in crude extract preparation 5 international peer reviewed journal t3 – coronet (lantana camara) crude extractat2% concentration taken from the 1:1 ratio in crude extract preparation t4 – hagonoy (chromolaena odorata) crude extract at 2% concentration taken from the 1:1 ratio in crude extract preparation bioassay of crude extracts bioactivity of the different treatments was done following the procedure of morallo-rejesus and decena (1982) and was investigated against three classes of weeds: • grass (cenchrus spinifex), • broadleaf weed (conyza canadensis) seedlings and (impatienswallerana) seeds, and • sedge (cyperus rotundus ). the treatments were tested on two stages of weed development to determine its pre and post-emergence herbicidal potentials: • seed germination (percentage germination and germination rate), and • seedling stage (growth and development). for weed establishment, seeds were laid in a petri dish lined with tissue paper and impregnated with the different treatments at 20 ml per petri dish. impregnation of the extract was done every three days during the whole incubation period (15 days). during the preliminary study, horseweed and purple nut sedge seeds did not germinate. thus they were replaced with impatiens seeds and purple nut sedge rhizomes. for growth and development, uniform weed seedlings (number of leaves, height, and overall appearance) were transplanted in uniform size polyethylene bags (10 cm x 12 cm) and were watered daily according to the different treatments for one week at 20 ml per polyethylene bag. data on growth, development and mortality were gathered one week after application of treatments (14 days from first application) and a week after that (21 days after first application). 6 jpair multidisciplinary research data to be gathered a. pre-emergence (establishment) 1. percentage germination – this was computed using the formula: % germination = number of seeds germinated x 100 number of seeds sown 2. germination rate – this was computed using the formula: germination rate = (n1)(t1) + (n2)(t2) + (n3)(t3) + (n4)(t4) … total number of seeds germinated where: n – number of seeds germinated tn – number of days from sowing to germination b. post-emergence (growth and development) growth 1. average plant height (cm) – this was measured from the base of the plant immediately just above the origin of the top most root up to the terminal end of the longest shoot during the termination of the study (21 days after first application of treatments) and 2 cm above the soil surface up to the tip of the longest leaf, held vertically, on 14th day after the first application of treatments. 2. average length of leaves (cm) – this was measured from the terminal end of the leaf up to its base just before the petiole. measurements of the longest and shortest fully opened leaves were used. this was done on the 14th and 21st day after first application of treatments. 3. average width of the leaves (cm) this was measured on the broadest portion of the leaves. measurements of the widest and narrowest fully opened leaves were used. this was done on the 14th and 21st day after first application of treatments. 4. average length of roots (cm) this was measured from the origin of topmost root up to the tip of the longest root. this was done during the termination of the study. 7 international peer reviewed journal 5. above ground fresh weight (g) – this is the fresh weight of the weeds immediately just above the origin of the top most root. this was done during the termination of the study. 6. below ground fresh weight (g) this is the fresh weight of the weeds from the origin of the top most roots and below. this was done during the termination of the study. development 1. average number of leaves – this was determined by counting only the number of fully opened leaves on each plant per treatment. this was done on the 14th and 21st day after first application of treatments. 2. average number of roots – this was determined by counting only the number of roots of each plant per treatment. this was done on the 14th and 21st day after first application of treatment. mortality percent mortality – this was computed using the formula: % mortality = number of weed seedlings that died x 100 starting number of weed seedlings statistical analysis data were recorded, consolidated, tabulated and statistically analyzed using analysis of variance (anova) for completely randomized design (crd). comparison among means was done using duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) to determine the specific significant differences among treatment means. results and discussion pre-emergence (establishment) percentage germination of seeds of selected weed species as affected by the different treatments is shown in table 1. the results revealed that none of the seeds of impatiens wallerana germinate after the application of the crude extract of lantana camara and chromolaena odorata and pre-emergence herbicide. aqueous extract of chromolaena odorata contains soluble allelochemicals that cause an inhibitory effect on germination of paddy and barnyard grass while 8 jpair multidisciplinary research aqueous leaf extract of lantana camara has been reported to contain some harmful allelochemicals that inhibit germination and root and shoot elongation and development of lateral shoots (ahmed, uddin, khan, mukul & hossain, 2007). for controlling seed germination of cenchrus spinifex, mimosa pudica (3.33%) and lantana camara (3.33%) are highly effective. mimosa pudica was found to contain allelochemicals called tannin which can inhibit the growth of cell protein. for controlling the seed germination of cyperus rotundus rhizome to develop shoot, chromolaena odorata (16.67%) was found to be the most effective. table 1. percentage germination (%) of seeds of selected weed species as affected by the different weed extracts treatment weed species impatient wallerana cenchrus spinifex cyperus rotundus t0commercial herbicide 0 0 0 t1tap water 70 29.75 63.33 t2mimosa pudicaextract 23.33 3.33 21.11 t3lantana camara extract 0 3.33 34.96 t4chromolaenaodorata extract 0 6.67 16.67 the germination rate of selected weeds species is shown in table 2. lantana camara and chromolaena odorata crude extracts were the most effective against cenchrus spinifex that results are the same in using commercial herbicide. this implies that to decrease the germination rate of cenchrus spinifex, lantana camara extract is already enough and the use of inorganic herbicide is no longer necessary. according to ahmed et al. (2007), aqueous leaf extract of lantana camara caused a significant inhibitory effect on germination. as reported by b. hu, g. hu and hong (2013), on the other hand, aqueous leaf extract of chromolaena odorata from its leaves and roots will inhibit the seedling growth of some herbaceous weed species. for cyperus rotundus , the most effective extract in prolonging its germination rate was lantana camara(9.72 days) while mimosa pudicawas the most effective against cyperusspinifexat 10.05 days. 9 international peer reviewed journal table 2. germination rate (days) of selected weed species as affected by the different weed extracts treatment weed species impatient wallerana cenchrus spinifex cyperus rotundus t0commercial herbicide 0 0 0 t1tap water 8.4 7.18 3.17 t2mimosa pudicaextract 3 10.05 0.95 t3lantana camara extract 0 1.05 99.72 t4chromolaenaodorata extract 0 6 4.4 postemergence (growth and development) on the height of cenchrus spinifex as affected by the different treatments (table 3), results revealed that among all the invasive weeds tested, lantana camara was the most effective. the application of lantana camara resulted to stunting of cenchrus spinifex at 7.49 cm and 13.04 cm at 14 and 21 days, respectively. this, however, is not as effective as the commercial herbicide that resulted to the death of plants. moreover, with the application of lantana camara, cenchrus spinifex was observed to continue to grow but at a slower rate.this implies that lantana camara is the most effective weed extract to control the growth and development of cenchrus spinifex. lantana camara contains the allelochemical lantadene (frohne & ptander, 1983) that are concentrated in the leaves and in unripe and ripe fruits that have been shown to inhibit the growth of aquatic weeds. xong, wang, zhang and hu (2006) also suggest that these allelochemicals could potentially be used to improve the management of weeds in aquatic systems. in the present study, lantana camara can be used for the management of cenchrus spinifex. furthermore, hossain and alam (2010) reported that different concentrations of aqueous leaf extracts of lantana camara caused a significant inhibitory effect on shoot elongation of some crops. furthermore, table 3 showed that mimosa pudica significantly reduced the growth of conyza canadensis after 14 days from the application (1.01 cm) and was even as effective as the commercial herbicide 21 days after application (0.34 cm). results also revealed reduction on the height of conyza canadensis from 14 to 21 days after application which means that the application of mimosa pudica resulted to tissue death but not the overall death of plants as compared to the commercial herbicide. mimosa pudica contains several allelochemicals like mimosine, ethanol, alkaloids, and tannins. it has also contained methanol, which was recently found and was screened for herbicidal activity. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. average plantheight (cm) of common weed species 14 days and 21 days after the application of the different weed extracts treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days t0 commercial herbicide 0.00 e 0.00d 0.15c 0.00d 0.00c 0.00d t1 tap water 21.09 a 22.52a 4.02a 4.84b 9.47a 10.42a t2 mimosa pudicaextract 11.94 b 19.18b 1.01b 0.34d 7.49b 2.39c t3 lantana camara extract 7.49 d 13.04c 3.93a 3.25c 9.49a 6.31b t4–chromolaenaodorata extract 9.81 c 14.04c 4.40a 7.03a 6.80b 6.04b mean 10.06 13.75 2.70 3.10 6.65 5.03 c.v. 9.25 13.23 15.46 7.74 5.83 8.66 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using the duncan’s multiple range test (dmrt) from among the organic herbicides used, mimosa pudica was found to be the most effective after 21 days from the application (2.39 cm) and was comparable to chromolaena odorata 14 days after application (7.49 cm). as mentioned by s. rizvi & v. rizvi (2012), mimosa pudica contains several allelochemicals like mimosine, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannin, and methanol that are known to be toxic. methanol can be an alternative fuel for internal combustion, known as a wood alcohol which was used as an organic solvent because of its toxicity. the effects of the crude extract of different invasive weed species on the length of leaves of common weeds is shown in table 4. results revealed that mimosa pudica crude extract was most effective against cenchrus spinifex that resulted in shorter leaves at 18.86 cm and 18.70 cm after 14 and 21 days from application, respectively. the result further revealed a reduction in the leaf length by 0.16 cm that signifies not just limitation in growth but as well as the death of leaf tissues. furthermore, mimosa pudica was also found to be the most effective among all organic herbicides tested against conyza canadensis resulting 0.63 cm average leaf length after 21 days from application. this is 5.20 cm reduction from its length 14 days from the application (5.83 cm). on the other hand, both mimosa pudica and chromolaena odorata caused a significant reduction in the leaf length of cyperus rotundus. however, only chromolaena odorata caused tissue death as exemplified by reduced leaf length from 11.73 cm to 11.33 cm after 14 and 21 days, respectively. as reported by cheman (2010), the application of chromolaena odorata contains phytochemical components like monoterpene and sesquiterpene that are evaluated as feeding deterrents to insects. 11 international peer reviewed journal table 4. average length (cm) of leaves 14 days and 21days after the application of the different weed extracts treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days t0 commercial herbicide 0.00 c 0.00c 0.00d 0.00d 0.00d 0.00c t1 tap water 21.73 a 28.46a 4.06b 4.63a 14.50a 15.00a t2 mimosa pudicaextract 18.86 b 18.70b 5.83a 0.63c 9.43c 12.06b t3 lantana camara extract 20.56 ab 17.46b 3.00c 3.36b 12.63ab 12.83b t4 chromolaenaodorata extract 19.70 b 27.53a 3.76b 4.33a 11.73bc 11.33b mean 16.17 18.43 3.33 2.59 9.66 10.24 c.v. 6.49 4.23 12.00 10.53 13.86 9.19 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using duncan multiple range test (dmrt) on the average length of roots (table 5), cenchrus spinifex and conyza canadensis roots were greatly reduced when applied with mimosa pudica at 6.26cm and 0.13cm, respectively. furthermore, the effectively of mimosa pudica is comparable to that of the commercial herbicide when applied on conyza canadensis. on the other hand, root growth of cyperus rotundus was greatly limited when applied with chromolaena odorata crude extract. chromolaena odorata is also involved in allelophatic interactions inhibiting the growth of many plant species. table 5. average length (cm) of rootsas affected by the application of the different weed extracts as organic herbicide gathered during the termination of the study treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus t0 commercial herbicide 0.00c 0.00c 0.00c t1 tap water 7.65a 3.87a 3.45a t2 mimosa pudica extract 6.26b 0.13c 3.05a t3 lantana camara extract 8.01a 2.36b 3.58a t4 chromolaena odorata extract 7.85a 3.11ab 2.02b mean 5.95 1.89 2.42 c.v. (%) 12.45 26.45 13.51 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at5% level of significance using duncan multiple range test (dmrt). 12 jpair multidisciplinary research as shown in table 6, both mimosa pudica extract, and lantana camara resulted to lighter above ground fresh weight of both cenchrus spinifex and conyza canadesis. on the other hand, cyperus rotundus above ground fresh weight was significantly reduced with the application of chromolaena odorata crude extract at 0.10 g. lantana camara is reported to have allelopathic effect against agronomic crops, and it is one of the most toxic weeds in the world. furthermore, it is reported to compete with some agricultural and forest crops through allelopathy by inhibiting germination and initial growth (hossain & alam, 2010). table 6. average above ground fresh weight (g) as affected by the application of the different weed extracts as organic herbicides gathered during the termination of the study treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus t0 commercial herbicide 0.00 d 0.00d 0.00c t1 tap water 1.11 a 0.74a 0.18a t2 mimosa pudica extract 0.51 c 0.34bc 0.15ab t3 lantana camara extract 0.52 c 0.28c 0.13ab t4 chromolaena odorata extract 0.78 b 0.45b 0.10b mean 0.58 0.36 0.11 c.v. (%) 16.40 18.30 27.85 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at5% level of significance using duncan multiple range test (dmrt). table 7 presents the effects of different treatments on the below ground fresh weight of selected weed species. no significant difference among all organic herbicides was noted on cenchrus spinifex. for both conyzacanadensis and cyperus rotundus , lightest below ground fresh weights were achieved with the application of mimosa pudica at 0.10g and 0.08g, respectively.this might be because of the allelochemical contents ofmimosa pudica like tannin thatcan inhibit cell protein synthesis (ranjan, kumar, seethalakstuni&rao, 2013), methanol that is very toxic and can even cause death when ingested by livestock animals. other toxic substances in mimosa pudica are alkaloids, ketones, aflatoxins, phenolic acid and glucosides (s. rizvi & v. rizvi, 2012). 13 international peer reviewed journal table 7. average below ground fresh weight (g) as affected by the different weed extracts as organic herbicides gathered during the termination of the study treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus t0 commercial herbicide 0.00b 0.00d 0.00d t1 tap water 0.35a 0.17a 0.12a t2 mimosa pudica extract 0.33a 0.10c 0.08c t3 lantana camara extract 0.33a 0.14ab 0.11ab t4 chromolaena odorata extract 0.34a 0.13b 0.09bc mean 0.27 0.11 8.00 c.v. (%) 17.33 14.46 19.36 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level of significance using duncan multiple range test (dmrt). development the effects of different treatments on the number of leaves of selected weed species are shown in table 8. mimosa pudica crude extract significantly reduced the number of leaves of cenchrus spinifex after 14 days (2.07) and 21 days (3.61), conyza canadensis after 14 days (3.33) and 21 days (1.66) and cyperus rotundus after 14 days (2.79). its effectiveness, however, is not comparable to using commercial herbicide. nonetheless, it was found to effectively affect the development of all selected weed species. this could be due to its toxicity. allelochemicals of mimosa pudica are concentrated in the different parts of the plant’s body. its seed contains alkaloids, mimosine, a non-protein alpha-amino acid, mucilage, and flavonoids; while in its leaves is the adrenaline-like substances; in its roots are the flavonoids, phytosterol, alkaloids, tanninsand glycoside. the whole body of mimosa pudica contains tubulin, turgorine, and methanol (s. rizvi & v. rizvi, 2012). table 8. average number of leaves of the weeds samples 14 days and 21 days after the first application of the different weed extracts treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days 14 days 21 days t0 commercial herbicide 0.00c 0.00d 0.00c 0.00d 0.00c 0.00b t1 tap water 3.03a 4.33b 5.54a 7.96a 9.54a 3.82a t2 mimosa pudica extract 2.07b 3.61c 3.33b 1.66c 2.79b 3.50a t3 lantana camara extract 1.61b 3.83bc 4.05b 5.33b 2.75b 3.56a 14 jpair multidisciplinary research t4 chromolaena odorata extract 2.72a 6.60a 5.95a 8.31a 3.34b 3.52a mean 1.88 3.67 3.77 4.65 3.68 2.88 c.v. (%) 18.22 9.58 11.42 16.40 8.63 11.03 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level of significance using duncan multiple range test (dmrt). effects of the different crude extracts on the number of roots of the different weed samples were shown in table 9. the results showed that among the plant crude extracts applied to cenchrus spinifex, mimosa pudica reduces the average number of leaves to (5.17).the same result was also observed for conyza canadensis (0.67) and for cyperus rotundus , the average number of roots was reduced greatly by the application of chromolaena odorata(4.77), lantana camara(5.22) and mimosa pudica (5.50). their effectiveness, however, is not comparable to the effects of chemical herbicides in which all the treated plant samples died. table 9. average number of roots ofthe weed samples gathered during the termination of the study treatments weed species c. spinifex c. canadensis c. rotundus t0 commercial herbicide 0.00 d 0.00d 0.00c t1 tap water 5.72 bc 20.20a 6.69a t2 mimosa pudica extract 5.17 c 0.67d 5.50b t3 lantana camara extract 6.83 a 4.22c 5.22b t4 chromolaena odorata extract 6.38 ab 8.67b 4.77b mean 4.82 6.75 4.44 c.v. (%) 11.43 15.80 12.03 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level of significance using duncan multiple range test (dmrt). however, the study needs chemical analyses of the active components responsible for the herbicidal effects of the different invasive weed species. conclusion the application of the crude extracts of mimosa pudicais considered as the best alternative for management of the selected weed species. along with lantana camara and chromolaena odorata, they were found to be efficient and effective in controlling impatiens wallerana, cenchrus spinifex, conyza canadensis, and 15 international peer reviewed journal cyperus rotundus weeds.this reflects greatly the potential of the three invasive weed species asan alternative to the use of synthetic herbicides, especially with mimosa pucidacrude extract. translational research the outcome of this study entitled “weed management potentials of identified invasive weed species” may be translated into use in the community by sending the information to the philippine association for institutional research incorporated. further analyses on the use of weeds to control other weeds using allelopathy and the full method of its process will help identify areas in the procedure that can be improve. literature cited ahmed, r., uddin, m. b., khan, m.a.s.a., mukul, s.a.,and hossain, m. k. 2007. allelopathic effects of lantana camara on germination and growth behavior of some agricultural crops in bangladesh. department of forestry and environmental science, school of mineral sciences,shakfalaluniversity of science and technology. journal forestry research, bangladesh. 18 (14): 301-304 an, m., pratley, j.e. and haig, t.e. 1997. phytotoxicity of vulpia residues. in: investigation of aqueous extracts. journal of chemical ecology. 23:19791995. cheman, m. b. 2010. phytochemical analysis of the leaves of chromolaena odorata(asteraceae). applied science university technologi, mara. dev, s., and koul, o. 1997. insecticide of plant origin . harwood academic publishers gmbh, amsterdam , netherlands. dhaliwal, j.s. and heinrichs, e.a. 1998. critical issue in insect pest management. commonwealth publishers, new delhi. frohne, d., and pfander, h.j. 1983. a color atlas of poisonous plants. wolfe publishing ltd. london, england. 291 pp 16 jpair multidisciplinary research guevara, b.q. and recio, b.v. 1985. phytochemical, microbial and pharmacological screening of medicinal plants. acta manilana supplements, ust research center, manila. 1985. 81 p hossain, m.k., and alam, n. 2010. allelopathic effects of lantana camara leaf extract on germination and growth behavior of some agricultural and forest crops in bangladesh. pak, j. weed science research. 16 (2): 217-226 hu, b., hu, g. and hong, z. 2013. allelopathic potential of leaf litter extracts of the invasive chromolaena odorata on its neighboring plants. journal of food agriculture and environment. kadioglui, y., yanar, u., and asav. 2005. alellopathic effects of weeds extracts against seed germination of some plants. journal environmental biology, 26(2):169-73. kostadinova, p. t., ahmed, k., kuzmova. 2002. a study on the allelopathic potential of convolvulus arvensis leaves and roots. journal of enviromental protection and ecology, 3(3): 665-672. koul, o., multani, j.s., goomber, s., daniewski, w.m. and berlozecki, s. 2004. activity of some non –azadirachtinlimonoids from azadiracthaindicaagainst lepidoperan larvae. australian journal of entomology. 43:189-195. koul, o. 2008. phytochemical and insect control: an antifeedant approach. critical reviews in plant science.27:1-24. morallo-rejesus, b., and decena, a. 1982. the activity, isolation, purification and identification of insecticidal principles from tagetes. philipp j. crop sci. 7: 31-36 oerke, e.c. 2006.crop losses to pest.journal of agricultural sciences.144 : 3143. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research colored overlays: an intervention tool in reading for the grade two learners tiffany ivana j. geonzon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0930-1056 ivanageonzon03@gmail.com university of science and technology of the southern philippines cagayan de oro, philippines originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract reading is an essential element for a child’s learning and success. at the same time, reading can be very challenging, especially when the materials are unfamiliar, technical, and complex. an intervention tool is being used to alleviate reading difficulties particularly the reading rate of the learners. this material is called color overlays, a type of tinted filter and is a plastic reading sheet tinted with color and placed over text to eliminate a wide range of reading difficulties such as low reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension. this research investigated the effects of irlen’s colored overlays on reading rate as an intervention tool for the grade two instructional level of learners, with a class teacher initiating the study and a teacher-librarian conducting the assessment. all of the 52 learners were screened with a vision test. they were grouped into two wherein only the experimental group used the color overlays as their intervention. the result of the study implies that with or without the intervention, the reading rate of the learners is expected to increase. therefore, iren color overlays have no statistical significance and immediate effects on the reading rate of the learners. vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.650 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:ivanageonzon03@gmail.com http://cdo.ustp.edu.ph/ http://cdo.ustp.edu.ph/ 69 international peer reviewed journal keywords — education, color overlays, reading rate, reading, instructional level, philippines introduction reading is an ability that unlocks the door of learning and success. it is commonly accepted that reading is a foundation skill that plays a major role in a child’s academic success. the history of teaching reading includes many theories about the development of reading. the sources of reading difficulties stem from a phonological basis and interventions that target this area are generally beneficial in helping improving reading skills (national reading panel, 2000; lyon, shaywitz, & shaywitz, 2003; stanovich, 1986). children who experienced positive early interactions with reading tend to develop into good readers who enjoy engaging in the task of reading. these children can read with relative ease and comfort; they will read more and continue to build their reading skill and knowledge base (irlen, 2005; stanovich, 1986; morgan, fuchs, compton, cordray, & fuchs, 2008). however, for many children, reading does not develop that easily. instead, reading is a strenuous task and one that requires a significant amount of energy and effort to obtain meaning. when students struggle in reading, other aspects such as their spelling, writing skills, general knowledge, and vocabulary development are also affected. with that, the teachers are in a difficult position. teachers are also held accountable to implement measures that will make low performing students perform on grade level or better than it. moreover, children may struggle with reading for a variety of reasons, including limited experience with books, speech and hearing problems, and poor phonemic awareness. some struggling readers have weakness in the neural feedback loops controlling the eye muscles that control this movement. that makes focusing accurately on a word in a sentence very hard. as what wyman (2003) mentioned, there was always an important reason when children do not like or want to read. often, they do not have the visual skills in place to see the printed page correctly, but it has not been diagnosed. when it is diagnosed, most often the child does not see the printed page the way he should and that learning-related visual skills are missing, such as the ability to track from left to right, and therefore the child skips lines. by then, the child does not like reading in which comprehension suffers. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research according to meares (1980), the factors that contribute most to struggle with reading in children originate in the perceptual instability of the visual input due to the organization of the figure with respect to the background of the black ink writing on a white paper, which is typical in printed books. the idea, therefore, is that for some individuals the reflex of the black ink on a white paper makes reading difficult. jansky (1958) also reported a case of a student who was unable to recognize words printed on a plain white paper but was able to recognize words printed on a yellow paper. however, with a struggling reader, there are numerous visual distortions that can occur to make reading incredibly difficult for the child. visual distortions, also related to visual stress, can be blurring, illusory movement of words and/or letters, skipping of lines, glares or other colors on the pages (bouldoukian, wilkins, & evans, 2002). this visual stress includes eye soreness or headaches when a child is reading and can be identified if your child rubs their eyes, says they have headaches when reading, excessively blinks and/or shows poor concentration while reading. it also posited by irlen (2005) that children who continue to struggle to learn to read efficiently might, in fact, suffer from scoptopic sensitivity syndrome or irlen‘s syndrome (is). this syndrome is characterized by visual perception distortions that occur most often with high-contrast text (black text on white paper) and result in symptoms that make reading uncomfortable. such symptoms include seeing the movement of text (i.e., shaking or wiggling), white spaces becoming more pronounced than black text, text fading in and out. readers may also find that they have difficulty tracking text and may often misread words, skip lines, and develop somatic symptoms such as headaches, nausea, or eyestrain. if children exhibit some of these behaviors, reading specialists and teachers want them to take a break and observe in order to try some of the interventions (irlen, 2005). for learners who struggle to read or in instructional level, there are a variety of strategies that are used to aid in the improvement of this essential skill. colored overlays, which are pieces of thick colored plastic, or colored filters (transparent or translucent), are a tool that has been applied in reading materials to assist readers (kaminsky, 2013). it has been affirmed in the study conducted by imaizumi, furuno, hibino, & koyama, (2016) that this intervention has been found to alleviate visual distortions and discomfort and improve reading accuracy. as believed by ritchie, della sala, and mcintosh (2011), this would theoretically improve the reading rate of the learners in the short-term and aid the development of reading skills in the longer term. 71 international peer reviewed journal the overlays can help students focus more on groups of words and the connections between them, instead of focusing on trying to make out individual letters and words. using overlays will potentially allow teachers to work on comprehension and more advanced reading skills with students, as imaizumi, furuno, hibino, & koyama (2016) stated. the most important point, though, is not to let the overlays do the teaching, the use of overlays must be followed up with individualized, remedial teaching to help the reader regain confidence and an appropriate skill level, imaizumi, furuno, hibino, & koyama (2016) added. thus, the researcher thought it is wise to use colored overlays to learners who belong to the instructional level of reading, as it is concluded that it seems to improve the rate of reading (evans, cook, richards, & drasdo, 1994). it further determines the effect of colored overlays on a reading rate of learners in the instructional level of reading. framework two theories that have attempted to explain the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of colored filters on reading are the magnocellular deficit theory and the cortical hyper-excitability theory (bouldoukian, wilkins, & evans, 2002). according to this theory, termed the magnocellular deficit theory, it is believed that dysfunction occurs in the neural pathway that sub serves vision. the two systems of cells that aid in the process of reading, the magno system and the parvo system, work together to aid perception of the text. the parvo system codes information about color and detail, while the magno system is responsible for inhibiting the parvo system when the eyes are in motion so that images are perceived as stationary even though the eyes are moving across the text. the cortical hyper-excitability theory (wilkins, 2003) postulates that the effects of overlays occur because different colors can cause a shift in the major locus of activation away from hyper-excitable areas of the visual cortex to areas that are less hyper-excitable. the individual’s cue for optimal overlay choice is his/her perception of reduced perceptual distortion in response to the specific overlay/s selected. however, although color can often be the key, not any color will do. for each individual, there is a specific hue (tint) and saturation (depth of color) that will “work” best. so, it is important that a sufficiently wide selection of colors is provided so that everybody’s needs are met. in some cases, individuals requiring a deeper saturation double up two overlays of the same color to achieve the desired effect. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research the colored light filters sample, color space in an order and scientific manner, systematically and efficiently, have been shown to improve reading speed in children significantly (wilkins, 2002;  jeanes et al., 1997) and adults (bouldoukian, wilkins, & evans, 2002) with pattern glare but otherwise normal visual function (scott, et al. 2002) when placed over printed text at near distance, under average classroom or home lighting conditions. as what wilkins (2002) stated, each reader could benefit from the use of the colored overlays only if the color of the overlay is a specific color. they continue that in a straightforward testing procedure, pairs of colors are compared successively. the child is asked to judge which color makes the text easiest to read. the wilkins rate of reading test can then be used to measure the amount of improvement in reading efficiency brought about by using the chosen color. research and classroom experience had proved conclusively that the use of a colored overlay of the correct color could do much to increase the reading speed, comprehension and comfort of many children. framework figure 1 shows the schema of the study. ages of the learners were included in the study because it seems that the critical beginning age is about 7-8 years old. this will give other researchers the background to their reading experiences and their problems in reading as well. it is most likely in the sex to know their color preferences in which supported by a large body of research that sex and age are some of the factors influencing color preference in humans (chiu, gervan, fairbrother, johnson, owen-anderson, bradley, 2006). learners enjoy reading without visual distortions. colored overlays may very well be the doorway to a love of reading for these learners (mason, 2013). this would be the tool to help instructional readers to increase their reading fluency as well as speed and reducing visual perception distortions. furthermore, this will also help in decreasing the visual stress experienced by learners as they read. however, they do not guarantee success for everyone. in order to garner the best results from colored overlays, there should be a careful diagnosing in the reading problem, choosing the correct color for each individual, and continue faithfully in reading instruction. using these tips, learners who are instructional readers have the hope of opening a book without frustration and reading a story for fun (mason, 2013). once they find reading easier, their self-esteem will increase and they will be much more confident about other learning tasks too. 73 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this research sought to answer the following objectives, (1) to determine the reading rate of the experimental and control group in the pre-test, (2) to determine the reading rate of the experimental and control group in the posttest, and, (3) to determine the significant difference between the control and experimental groups’ reading rate. methodology research design this study utilizes the experimental method of research. experimental designs are  characterized by the random selection of participants and the random assignment of the participants  to groups in the study. the researcher also has  complete control over the extraneous variables.  in this design, the respondents are randomly assigned to two sample groups: the experimental and controlled group. then, it established a change to the experimental group and not the control group. there was only one variable being manipulated and tested though it is possible to test more than one, such experiments and their statistical analysis tend to be unmanageable and difficult. the procedure involved random assignment of participants to two groups: the experimental and the control group. before they were given the pre-test, they were given their visual testing to check on their vision. subsequently, both groups were administered with a pre-test without the use of colored overlays. then, they were given the post-test. the experimental group used the colored overlays as their reading intervention; while the control group without color overlay. in this study, the rate of reading was assessed. the study also attempted to know the effects of using colored overlays in one group as part of their reading intervention in their rate of reading. research site the experiment using colored overlays as their reading intervention was done at the school library of bongbongon elementary school, north iidistrict, a public school located at nha kauswagan, cagayan de oro city. the said study was conducted by a teacher-librarian for about two weeks during noon breaks and after the participants’ classes. https://explorable.com/research-variables https://explorable.com/independent-variable 74 jpair multidisciplinary research participants this study was conducted in bongbongon elementary school, nhakauswagan, north-ii district, division of cagayan de oro city. particularly, the grade two identified instructional level of learners of the said school were involved. the respondents of this study were the fifty-two (52) grade instructional level of learners of bongbongon elementary school, aged between six to eleven years old. the selection of the respondents was based on their age, gender, and first quarter grades of the learners. the pretest results of their philiri, without the use of the colored overlays, were also considered. instrumentation this study adopted two types of research instrument. the first questionnaire was utilized to determine the socio-demographic profile of the participants. it was used to distinguish their age and sex. the second set of research instrument was the passages taken from the philippine informal reading inventory (philiri) used by the department of education particularly the english-oral in determining the reading skills of the learners in the elementary level. the philippine informal reading inventory (phil-iri) was no longer validated since it is considered as standard and validated. the questionnaire on the demographic profile was no longer validated as well since it is widely used by the participants. data gathering procedure the researcher secured a letter of permission to conduct the study addressed to the schools division superintendent of cagayan de oro city, school heads, administrators, principals, and teachers. a separate letter was given to the parents of the participants. upon the receipt of approval of the approved request, the researcher then started with the visual testing of the participants. the school nurse was the one who checked the vision of the participants. she was sent for training as a vision screener in the school. after, the researcher started with the one-on-one oral reading in english with the learners identified as instructional level. prior to application of the intervention, the pretest result of phil-iri conducted on june in the grade two level was used as the basis for choosing the instructional level of learners. by then, the researcher had a random assignment; the control group and the experimental group with the reading intervention through 75 international peer reviewed journal colored overlays. after two weeks, posttest using the phil-iri was conducted to the 52 instructional level of learners, the experimental and the control group. the grade 5 teacher was the one who conducted the procedure. the control group just read the passages without color overlays while the experimental group was given time to pick their choice color of the overlays. after they were able to pick their desired color, the teacher then started to conduct the experiment using the phil-iri passage appropriate to their level. then, they were asked to read a passage according to their levels. the phil-iri test lasted for about two weeks for five to six respondents per day, during lunch break and after their classes. this was strictly followed to avoid disruption of classes. to increase external validity, the color overlays used by the respondents are tinted plastic reading sheets by irlen institute ordered from their website. this imitates the typical implementation by a parent or educator, as there are a variety of options available outside of the realm of the irlen institute. the colors of overlays included pink, orange, yellow, red, light blue, and dark blue. each overlay was 8.5″ × 11″ to cover the entire reading passage and surrounding white areas. statistical analysis the statistical treatments used were the measure of central tendencies; mean, frequency counting, standard deviation, and percentage. also, analysis of covariance (ancova) was used in examining the differences in the mean values of the dependent variables that are related to the effect of the controlled independent variables while taking into account the influence of the uncontrolled independent variables. result and discussion table 1. reading rate of the participants in the pretest pretest minimum maximum mean standard deviation control group 12 56 32.31 10.943 experimental group 15 63 36.69 12.917 table 1 shows that the control group has a minimum word per minute of 12 and the experimental group has a minimum word per minute of 15 in the pretest. in addition, the control group has the maximum word per minute of 56 and 76 jpair multidisciplinary research the experimental group has a maximum word per minute of 63. the minimum and maximum words per minute in both groups are comparable. it seems that the experimental group has a higher pretest mean score than that of the control group; however, the difference is not that significant. hence, the two groups have comparable skills in reading. the phil-iri passages given to the 52 instructional learners during the pretest was new to them since the passages are all appropriate for grade two level of learners. below are the passages from the phil-iri that was utilized in the pretest. they were given a pretest to determine their baseline whether they are under the frustration, instructional, and independent level of learners in the phil-iri, which lasted for about a minute. table 2. reading rate of the participants in the posttest posttest minimum maximum mean standard deviation control group 31 88 73.12 16.988 experimental group 21 88 75.04 17.038 table 2 shows the result of the posttest. the table illustrates that the control groups’ minimum word per minute is 31 while the maximum word per minute is 88. furthermore, the minimum word per minute of the experimental group is 21 while the maximum word per minute is 88 which is also the perfect number of words. this concludes that the minimum and maximum word per minute of the groups is comparable. this can be gathered from the data that the experimental group appears to have a higher posttest mean score than that of the control group. the data imply that the learners in both control and experimental groups are comparable in terms of their reading rate. from the results of the greater posttest mean of the experimental group supports the studies of lightsone et al. (2002) and nicholls h.l. & critten s. (2015), as color overlays significantly increase the reading rate of the participants especially using their chosen overlay. the phil-iri passages used during the posttest conducted by a teacherlibrarian of bongbongon elementary school was also new to the participants. below are the passages from the phil-iri that was utilized during the posttest. the passages utilized were level-appropriate intended to the grade two levels of learners. the assessment lasted for about a minute for each participant. 77 international peer reviewed journal table 3. the extent of effectiveness in the utilization of the colored overlays before and after the intervention source sum of squares df mean square f significance (p-value) posttest 10524.463 1 10524.463 75.268 .000 group 217.968 1 217.968 1.559 .218 after exposing the experimental group to the intervention, color overlays, and conducting the posttest to both groups, the data from the pretest and post-test of the two groups were analyzed by using the analysis of covariance (ancova). the study used statistical treatment ancova in order to reveal if there was a difference in post-test scores between the groups or not. one wayanalysis of covariance (ancova) was conducted at a 0.05 level of significance. in this study, the pretest word per minute is considered as the covariates. table 3 indicates that there is no significant difference between the reading rate of the participants in the pretest and post-test of the control and experimental groups after utilizing the color overlays to the latter. these results support the research of ritchie, della sala, and mcintosh (2011) on demonstrating colored overlays as having little effect or no effect on the reading rate of the children. as what griffiths, taylor, henderson, and barrette (2016) added, they concluded that the use of color overlays to improve reading rate could not be recognized and acknowledged as the benefit is based only on the placebo effect. the results provide enough statistical provision to accept the null hypothesis of this study. table 3 shows no significant difference (p=.218) with the reading rate of students between the control group and the experimental group since both groups scored higher means after employing the color overlay intervention in the experimental group and the norm instruction in the control group. these results support the study of stuart j. et al, (2011) that iren color overlays have no statistical significance and immediate effects on the reading ability in poor readers. conclusions from the findings, the following conclusions are drawn about the effects of color overlays as an intervention in reading for the grade two instructional level of learners of bongbongon elementary school: that the experimental group who receives the intervention registered higher mean difference in the reading rate 78 jpair multidisciplinary research in the posttest than the control group; that with or without the intervention, the reading rate of pupils is expected to increase. lastly, that color overlay as an intervention remains a controversial subject to study. recommendation based on the findings and conclusions formulated, it is recommended that (1) the department of education-school administrators should consider supplying colored overlays for children in the kindergartner levels who are still starting to read. (2) parents could continue using color overlays at home if the learners started using color overlay as an intervention in school. (3) since the study is focused on the public schools, other researchers may replicate the study in the private school context. (4) the other researchers may use other levels of reading in the phil-iri not just in the instructional level but also use the frustration and independent level of learners. (5) lastly, future researchers may conduct similar studies on other learners or cases of disabilities for longer durations to further prove the effectiveness of color overlays. translational research the findings of this study could be translated into printed media such as newspapers, published articles, brochures, and posters for information dissemination. this is designed for the dissemination of information for stakeholders from the remote areas in the city. literature cited bouldoukian, j., wilkins, a. j., & evans, b. j. (2002). randomised controlled trial of the effect of coloured overlays on the rate of reading of people with specific learning difficulties. ophthalmic and physiological optics, 22(1), 5560. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00002.x chiu, s. w., gervan, s., fairbrother, c., johnson, l. l., owen-anderson, a. f., bradley, s. j., &zucker, k. j. (2006). sex-dimorphic color preference in children with gender identity disorder: a comparison to clinical and community controls.  sex roles,  55(5-6), 385-395. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9089-9 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00002.x https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9089-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9089-9 79 international peer reviewed journal evans, b. j., cook, a., richards, i. l., &drasdo, n. (1994).effect of pattern glare and colored overlays on a stimulated-reading task in dyslexics and normal readers.  optometry and vision science: official publication of the american academy of optometry, 71(10), 619-628. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2hqe3xy griffiths, p. g., taylor, r. h., henderson, l. m., & barrett, b. t. (2016). the effect of coloured overlays and lenses on reading: a systematic review of the literature.  ophthalmic and physiological optics,  36(5), 519-544. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12316 imaizumi, s., furuno, m., hibino, h., & koyama, s. (2016). trypophobia is predicted by disgust sensitivity, empathic traits, and visual discomfort.  springerplus,  5(1), 1449. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1186/s40064-016-3149-6 irlen, h. (2005).  reading by the colors: overcoming dyslexia and other reading disabilities through the irlen method. penguin. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2hfibab jansky, c. m. 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(2002). coloured overlays and their effects on reading speed: a review. ophthalmic and physiological optics, 22(5), 448-454. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00079.x https://bit.ly/2s6lwze https://bit.ly/2gocpuz https://bit.ly/2gocpuz https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0022219408321112 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0022219408321112 https://bit.ly/2tnnxli https://bit.ly/2nbua1c https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00079.x 72 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 organizational commitment and effectiveness of a holding company for a conglomerate in cebu city krystel may r. balonias http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3355-7417 baloniaskrystelmay@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines mark anthony n. polinar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mpolinar22@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines alexander franco a. delantar http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1833-5899 alexander.franco.delantar@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu city, philippines originality: 99% • grammarly: 98% • plagiarism: 1% abstract the paper aimed to examine rank-and-file employees’ organizational commitment and the effectiveness of a holding company by assessing the level of agreement of the dimensions and variables. a quantitative technique engaging a descriptive research  method  was used in the study. the study applied slovin’s vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.404 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:baloniaskrystelmay@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mailto:mpolinar22@gmail.com http://orcid.org/ mailto:alexander.franco.delantar@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 73 international peer reviewed journal formula, with 92 rank-and-file employees responding, and the data collected were analyzed using weighted mean and descriptive equivalents. the findings revealed that normative commitment has the most dominant dimensions perceived by the rank-and-file employees constituting the overall mean of organizational commitment with a descriptive match of ‘agree.’  additionally, teamwork and direct manager gained the top two highest average weighted mean with a descriptive equivalent of ‘agree,’ resulting in the core variables that constitute organizational effectiveness. the researchers concluded that normative commitment that has had the most direct impact on the holding company’s organizational commitment had stimulated teamwork and a leadership style that has operated as a cultural scaffold for building  strong competitive advantage and effectiveness. over and above that, the study suggested that nurturing and sustaining activities that will bring to light the employees’ shared vision and goals aligned with the organization will help buoy the level of the organization’s moderate level into a high level of organizational commitment and effectiveness. keywords — organizational commitment, organizational effectiveness, holding company conglomerate, quantitative study, cebu city, philippines introduction changes in the business environment happen all the time. aside from external factors that affect a firm’s position in the market, the internal aspect of an organization matters. organizational commitment and effectiveness of a company will be challenged, ranging from downsizing, re-engineering, or restructuring, to an explosion of information and an increase in the diversity of the workforce (alrowwad et al., 2019). organizational commitment and effectiveness define the company’s ability to boost positive and healthy relationships with employees and effectively achieve its organizational goals and objectives. the inputs that the employees receive from the organization that is intimately linked to the results of the relationship between both parties, as well as the emotional bond between the goals and values of the organization and the employee, are the factors that form the organizational commitment (buchanan, 1974). moreover, measuring the level of organizational commitment through three dimensions and critical variables of organizational effectiveness plays a vital role in assessing the strategic viewpoint of the organization in building a healthy employee-employer relationship and continue being effective and efficient in achieving organizational goals. human resources are critical to the success of any organization, as it is positioned as one of the main functions within the organization where working 74 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conditions, worker welfare, and job satisfaction are valued, which mainly helps maintain high levels of organizational commitment. (tiwari & singh, 2014; kurtessis et al., 2017). attracting and retaining the best people is the focal point of every organization, yet this is easier said than done. friedman (2020) of forbes argued that finding and landing high-quality talents is one of the top issues that human resources faced in 2020. the author further argued that 51% of the participants indicated that their organization faced an “extreme challenge” in recruiting and hiring high-quality candidates. on the other hand, it has also been established that retention comes after recruitment. according to kataike (2013), high employee retention in an organization can result from the opportunities given to employees that develop professionalism that will lead to higher and long-term loyalty to the company. it somehow conceptualizes how pointless it can be to recruit high-quality team members if t firm cannot keep them for long. many studies, such as pepramensah et al. (2015) and hom et al. (2017), have shown that at the organizational level, it depends on the job satisfaction level that influences employee turnover. nevertheless, it is increasingly argued and has been found by jhons and harding (2001) that organizational commitment can have an even more significant influence on turnover intention than the latter. organizational commitment is a stage in which employees identify which organization relates to their goals and desires to remain and show their potential in organizational development (eslami & gharakhani, 2012). this has been a valuable employee variable because a highly committed subordinate always identifies with the objectives and values of the enterprise, craving to be with the entity, and is amenable to going over and beyond their required job tasks (ramshida & manikandan, 2013). therefore, a committed employee is an organizational competitive advantage. on the contrary, some studies have shown that various components of organizational commitment have different implications for an organization. genevičiūtė-janonienė and endriulaitienė (2014) found that continuance commitment was a significant predictor of a higher level of resistance to change, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion. this means that commitment is based on an employee’s investments, and the lack of employment alternatives takes lots of the employee’s emotional resources to work in the organization continually. when an employee has few alternatives, he fears losing employment and feels trapped in the organization (vandenberghe et al., 2007). thus, a strong sense of being “trapped” is stressful for the employee (meyer et al., 2002). however, the researchers further clarified that its findings have certain limitations and are encouraging to explore the consequences of different components of commitment on purpose to display a more comprehensive effect of organizational commitment to employees’ wellbeing and effectiveness. 75 international peer reviewed journal to prolong the organization’s existence, aside from developing organizational commitment, it needs to adopt innovations in its work practices to make its processes efficient and effective and successfully attain organizational objectives both in the present and future. rajasekar (2014) stated that human resources management plays a vital role in effectively implementing strategic plans. to be an effective organization, management should focus on human resources, help them develop their skills, provide them with job security and support them in their decisions (vinitwatanakhun, 1998). therefore, human resources can help contribute to an effective organization by building the right workforce to help a company meet its goals by creating a high-performance culture that invites goal-oriented individuals. to enhance organizational effectiveness, senior management teams strive for better leadership, direction, communication, adaptability, interaction, and a positive environment to improve the organization’s effectiveness (heilman & kennedy-phillips, 2011). with this, they also can implement effective performance and talent management processes to help organizations measure how successful their employees are in contributing to their mission. the outcomes of measuring organizational effectiveness will differ according to the context or domain in which organizations operate, and there can be no universally agreed-upon set of indicators (yilmaz & ergun, 2008). hence, researchers conceptualized and measured the success of an organization in different ways since effectiveness is such a broad concept that made this difficult to measure. a criterion was proposed to measure effectiveness, including overall success, market share, profitability, growth rate, and innovation. (mwai et al., 2018). there may be different and several ways, approaches, models, or criteria to be considered in measuring an organization’s effectiveness, but one way to assess the effectiveness of the people is to determine how they are aligned against the organization’s priorities. organizational commitment is considered a vital work behavior that potentially influences organizational effectiveness (shiva & suar, 2010). the basis behind this idea is that organizational commitment enhances the employees’ desire to remain in the organization, improves their performance, and stimulates their utmost efforts to accomplish the goals of the organization, which are all considered necessary for the effectiveness of organizations (srithongrung, 2011). hence, even if developing organizational commitment and effectiveness becomes a challenge, it will also be beneficial, especially for more giant corporations that need good leadership and committed individuals. kenny (2012) noted that managers have more challenges managing and controlling resources when an organization becomes more diverse. managing diversified or holding companies under the same leadership has an economic advantage, but the lack of solid leadership and influential organizational culture causes diversified companies to 76 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 fail (lien & li, 2013). this statement concludes that organizational commitment and effectiveness are essential to organizational performance and a source of sustainable competitive advantage in a diversified organization. the literature above illustrates that organizational commitment and effectiveness are critical disciplines that a company should adopt to maintain a positive employee-employer relationship and achieve its goals and objectives. from this standpoint, the principal researcher of this paper, currently employed as a corporate governance associate in finance at a holding company, wanted to investigate organizational commitment and effectiveness to see if there was a need to improve either employee commitment or organizational effectiveness in achieving objectives and goals. to solve deficiencies in the organization and contribute to the body of knowledge in both areas, the study created recommendations and endorsed them to management. objectives of the study the paper’s focal point was to scrutinize rank-and-file employees’ organizational commitment and effectiveness in a holding company for a conglomerate in cebu city, philippines. the preset elements that constituted the basis of the assessment were prioritized, and recommendations were devised to refine these employees’ organizational commitment and the firm’s effectiveness in achieving organizational objectives. the study aimed to (1) determine the level of agreement of rank-and-file employees on organizational commitment in terms of affective organizational commitment, continuance of organizational commitment, and normative organizational commitment, (2) determine the level of agreement of rankand-file employees on the organizational effectiveness in terms of role clarity, working conditions, performance management, strategy, direct manager, communication, decision-making, remuneration, and teamwork, and (3) to evaluate the recommendations developed to strengthen the bond of the employees to their employer and the firm’s effectiveness in achieving its organizational objectives. methodology research design the study used a quantitative technique and a descriptive research methodology to determine the level of agreement among rank-and-file employees in cebu city, philippines, on the organizational commitment and effectiveness of a holding company for a conglomerate. 77 international peer reviewed journal research site the study was conducted in one of cebu city’s holding firms, which owns many enterprises in various industries such as hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, retail, logistics, and others. this holding company was chosen to be the research site because the researcher is currently connected to the said holding company, wherein the conduct of the research survey will not be toilsome. additionally, the researcher already has a background in the company and determines the different positions of every employee, ensuring accuracy in the survey process. respondents the responders are regular employees exposed to the holding company’s back-end operations in shared services. using slovin’s formula, the research draws 92 respondents from 120 rank-and-file employees out of 147 main population, including the seniority levels and top management. the researchers employed a margin of error of 5% and a confidence level of 95% in their formula. the study’s primary respondents were the study’s primary respondents: accounting staff, audit personnel, office workers, purchasing clerks, customer service representatives, and administrative staff. instrumentation the researchers used survey questionnaires because they appear to be an excellent way to obtain vital information from respondents. part one of the survey question, which deals with organizational commitment, was adapted entirely from meyer and allen’s (1991) study, which consists of three dimensions: affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. the researchers adopted genos’ organizational effectiveness survey question bank, which serves as a second component in the study, which deals with organizational effectiveness. genos also offers world-class examinations and development programs in organizational performance, emotional intelligence, and employee motivation. furthermore, the researchers selected to focus on only five items for each of the nine organizational success variables: role clarity, working environment, performance management, strategy, direct manager, communication, decision-making, remuneration, and teamwork. data collection the data was tallied, evaluated, and analyzed using the weighted mean and its descriptive equivalent after all responses from the respondents were retrieved. the level of agreement on organizational commitment and effectiveness is shown in table 1. the scale rating spans from 4 to 1, with 4 representing strong agreement and 1 representing extreme disagreement. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 for organizational commitment, four represent that respondents strongly agree that they are committed to the organization, and one speaks that respondents strongly disagree that they are committed as an employee to the organization. for organizational effectiveness, the scale rating of 4 constitutes respondents who viewed the organization as very effective in achieving its goals and objectives. one exhibits that respondents perceive the organization as ineffective in achieving its goals and objectives. table 1. the scale of the level agreement of organizational commitment and effectiveness scale rating scale range interpretation 4 3.28 4.0 strongly agree 3 2.52 3.27 agree 2 1.76 2.51 disagree 1 1.00 1.75 strongly disagree results and discussion table 2 reveals the summary of the dimensions of organizational commitment with their respective weighted mean and descriptive equivalent. table 2. summary of the organizational commitment dimensions of rankand-file employees of a holding company organizational commitment dimensions average weighted mean descriptive equivalent normative 2.86 agree continuance 2.82 agree affective 2.62 agree overall mean 2.76 agree the table above unveils the organizational commitment dimensions: affective, continuance, and normative. also, the table presents their average weighted mean, descriptive equivalents, and the overall mean. in a general sense, the overall mean of 2.76 indicates that rank-and-file employees agreed that they are committed to the organization. the result is composed of the different levels of organizational commitment dimensions and gained different outcomes. it indicates that rank-and-file employees in a holding company have agreed and shown a moderate level of 79 international peer reviewed journal organizational commitment, which can signify that these employees are obliged to stay and remain loyal to the organization. the dominant component perceived by the respondents was the normative commitment, which means employees are viewed to have a good level of obligation to continue employment in the organization. it was concluded in a study that normative commitment develops when the employee internalizes a set of rules that refer to proper conduct and creates a feeling of obligation towards the organization, feeling that he must return certain benefits that he received from it (meyer & allen, 1991). in other words, respondents have personally benefited from the company and invested so much knowledge and skills that it makes them positively obligated to remain and continue working with it. this somehow gives an advantage with strengthening employee retention, which employees remain even when the organization faces hostile circumstances. moreover, as wiener (1982) puts it, “they believe it is the right and moral thing to do.” this builds a stabilizing force that can sustain employee behavior on course even if organizational conditions change. conversely, continuance commitment came in second in the study, indicating that respondents know the benefits of ongoing engagement and the costs of leaving their current employer. according to dixit and bhati (2012), when an employee is mindful of the benefits of being in an organization, then the employee is continually committed. therefore, an employee that mainly considers the cost of leaving the organization and the scarcity of jobs with the same level of benefits will choose to remain in the organization. it makes workers with high continuance commitment work hard to ensure that the organization’s goals and objectives are achieved (gilbert & konya, 2020). they became more involved in achieving the organizational missions and visions by improving their job performance (irefin & mechanic, 2014). this makes the organization beneficial at some point. lastly, the affective commitment, which has the least of the respondent’s concerns compared to the other dominants, has also shown that employees were perceived as emotionally dedicated to the organization. with the given result, it is translated as when professionals work, like in a conglomerate company, they tend to feel conflicting goals and are compelled to choose one loyalty over another (setyowati et al., 2017). employees may have a devotion to the organization, which could include some of its goals, but for reasons that are not entirely related to the achievement of goals articulated by the management. furthermore, given the different results of the mentioned dimensions, it shows no far different from each other. generally, a holding company may consist of a large organization with different culture, but the level of organizational commitment remains competitive. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 3 outlines the nine key variables of organizational effectiveness with their respective weighted mean and descriptive equivalent. table 3. summary of the organizational effectiveness key variables of rankand-file employees of a holding company organizational effectiveness key variables average weighted mean descriptive equivalent teamwork 3.24 agree direct manager 3.21 agree strategy 3.19 agree working conditions 3.18 agree role clarity 3.17 agree communication 3.16 agree remuneration 3.14 agree performance management 3.13 agree decision-making 3.10 agree overall mean 3.17 agree table 3 shows the outline of the result that covers nine key variables of organizational effectiveness. also, this table highlighted the key variables, average weighted mean to each variable, descriptive equivalent, and the overall mean. taken as a whole, the overall mean of 3.17 with a descriptive equivalent of ‘agree’ means that respondents discern that the organization where they are currently affiliated is effectively hitting its organizational goals and objectives. it is concluded that individuals with high affective commitment are supposed to deliver high organizational effectiveness (budihardjo, 2013). the findings in the above table resulted positively, giving the exact descriptive equivalent with the level of organizational commitment resulting in table 2. this is an indicator of the reflectance of organizational commitment, and such a moderate level of presentation denotes a positive attitude regarding the employees of their holding organization. in addition, organizational effectiveness was found to be moderate as well. this advocates that the holding company is paying great attention to employee effectiveness schemes. the result further shows that a holding company can survive and flourish over the long term. on top of that, effectiveness is a broad concept and is difficult to measure in organizations (daft, 2003); that is why to assess its level, it takes into consideration a range set of variables wherein it evaluates the extent to which the multiple goals of the organization are attained. these nine key variables are the identified areas in the respective organization that 81 international peer reviewed journal need evaluation in assessing effectiveness and efficiency. teamwork and direct manager have the highest weighted mean of 3.24 and 3.21, respectively, among all critical organizational effectiveness indicators. as evaluated, teamwork is the most influential variable respondents perceived of the holding company, implying that teamwork is vital in achieving its organizational goals and objectives. in organizations where teamwork is effectively implemented, adopting effective management practices such as employees’ innovation, providing confidence, engaging in organizational performance-enhancing activities, managing by objectives, and so on can come to the forefront (zincirkiran et al., 2015). tripathy (2018) found that teamwork is gaining in popularity and importance in every business, large or small and that the structure encourages improved problem-solving techniques, decision-making, and task completion. furthermore, the conclusion is consistent with the findings of boakye (2015) and khawam et al. (2017). using the correlation technique, the former discovered that teamwork positively correlates with organizational performance. in contrast, the latter discovered that teamwork is essential, especially in a workplace with cultural diversity, leading to the recommendation that firms should have an open and supportive environment to refine the effectiveness of a work team. therefore, the holding organization’s set-up of having mixed employees under different subsidiary companies engaged in shared services in one place has not hindered the organization’s effectiveness; instead, it developed teamwork that brings employees together, making their work processes effective and efficient. what comes next is the direct manager’s role, found to be the second key variable that creates effectiveness in the group. the leader’s perceived effectiveness is a criterion expressed through evaluations related to their leaders and aims to reveal how the leader affects an organization (prati et al., 2003). with this, a study found that managers routinely combine their control and trustworthinesspromotion actions, combining result controls with displays of credibility, behavior controls with demonstrations of competency, and clan controls with demonstrations of consideration (sihag & rijsdijk, 2019). conversely, managers are hesitant to deliver genuine comments and have honest dialogues with employees, according to pulakos (2009), for fear of retaliation or ruining relationships with the same people they rely on to get work done. according to the author, employees believe their bosses are inadequate at addressing their performance and teaching them how to improve their skills. thus, it clearly shows that direct managers should release their leadership skills to be effectively direct and influence their subordinates, as well as their activities towards achieving the organization’s goals and objectives. the same can be said about the remainder of the significant characteristics that rank-and-file employees believed were crucial 82 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 for the organization to achieve its goals and objectives, which all positively impact the dependent variable of this study, organizational effectiveness. overall, the rank-and-file employees who took part in the study assessed the nine critical determinants of organizational performance to a modest extent, indicating that all major characteristics were viewed as indicators that the company was effectively fulfilling its goals and objectives. furthermore, a company that adopts the principle of organizational effectiveness and measures the nine critical variables would create high-quality results while wasting as little time and resources as feasible. conclusions increasing organizational commitment and effectiveness has become the main desire of every organization as this serves as a pathway towards heightening employee-employer relationships and pulling off organizational goals and objectives. in this regard, the main motive of this study was to assess the level of organizational commitment and effectiveness of a multi-industry company with different business units by using its dimensions and key variables as a criterion. the findings showed that respondents were moderately committed to the organization, with an overall mean of 2.76, indicating that rank-and-file employees are committed to the organization to some extent, in that they feel a sense of organizational commitment, they buy into the company’s heart and future vision (both personal and professional), they recognize the firm’s goals, they feel like they fit in, and they are well-respected and remunerated for the work they do. normative commitment, being the dominant component, proves that employees in the holding company gave so much value to the organization. this value differs from the “want” and “needs” feelings of affective and continuous commitment. simply put, a commitment seems more of a characteristic or value that employees could acquire in the holding company where they were formed and inspires them to keep their commitments. results have also shown that committed employees perceive their organization to be effective and put their strenuous efforts in that direction, which revealed that the commitment of these employees was necessary for improving the organization’s effectiveness. what constitutes the 3.17 overall mean of the holding company’s effectiveness is the excellent leadership and the teamwork that proves you need good leadership to ensure everyone on your team is going in the same direction and teamwork that acts as the vehicle in working towards that same goal. thus, an actual test of your leadership abilities is how well you lead a diverse team of individuals and influence their behavior to produce results. 83 international peer reviewed journal above all, the study’s findings provide evidence that the rank-and-file employees of the holding company were committed to the firm and perceived that the firm is effectively and efficiently accomplishing its objectives and goals, given it has both resulted in the same moderate level of both commitment and effectiveness. it is further concluded that the dimension of normative commitment has had the most direct impact on the holding company’s organizational effectiveness; as a result, it has established a good teamwork and leadership style that has led them to build a competitive advantage. however, the researchers want to elucidate that the findings have certain limitations, specifically due to the lack of previous research studies focusing on the holding company’s employee’s organizational commitment and effectiveness. with this, researchers are encouraging future researchers to scrutinize the different areas and components of commitment and effectiveness in the same setting to have a better understanding and additional findings to lead to a more comprehensive conclusion, considering that holding companies are now emerging and growing in the business industry. recommendations the researchers propose the following to address the research agendas to strengthen the bond between employees and employers and to help organizations achieve their goals and objectives: in line with the concept that “individuals with high affective commitment are supposed to deliver high organizational effectiveness (budihardjo, 2013)”, the holding company should focus on cultivating this bond to achieve a high level of organizational commitment and effectiveness. management should innovate platforms and activities such as finding common grounds to help form a personal connection with its employees. this will encourage team bonding, making employees feel connected to the organization more than their role. additionally, the holding company should be transparent enough to deliver its vision, mission, and goals that outline its values so that employees can ensure it matches their values. decision-making, the last variable that constitutes organizational effectiveness, must be given attention by the holding company. the company must simplify and clarify decision rights across the organization by clearly communicating who is responsible for making which decisions, what decisions must be made, and how the decision-making process should work. performance management, as well as the second to the last, must be improved to create and maintain a more productive and efficient work environment where 84 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 employees can fulfill their full potential. generally, it can be “set, track, and check in on goals,” creating a culture of feedback or simple recognition for the efforts provided by the employee. this will help strengthen the driving force towards achieving the organization’s goals and objectives. according to the researchers, future scholars interested in this field should perform correlation analysis to see if there is a 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(2015). analysis of teamwork, organizational commitment and organizational performance: a study of health sector in turkey. asian journal of business and management, 3(2). 58 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract during instruction, a communication starts when the teacher imparts knowledge to the students. when the students absorb the information, process it and give feedback, they undergo a communication process. the study aimed to determine the extent of usage of teacher’s feedback in the classroom interactions among bachelor of elementary education (beed) students to maximize learning. frequency counts, frequency percentage, mean and simple correlation analysis were utilized as statistical tools. as a whole, verbal criticisms were often used in fourth year while it is sometimes used in the other three-year levels. in general, written feedback was often witnessed in fourth year while written response was sometimes observed in the other college levels. teachers apply more verbal reactions in classroom interactions followed by written and nonverbal feedbacks. age is significantly related to written opinions. teachers who have more teaching experiences give more written feedbacks than teachers with less teaching experience. hence, the type of feedback which was always used in classroom interaction as perceived by the students was written replies while the most often used feedback given by the teacher was verbal feedbacks. there is a significant relationship between the teacher’s profile on age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, subject taught and the length of service and the extent of the use of feedback in classroom interactions. feed backing: a classroom interaction tool in bachelor of elementary education (beed) classes roberto q. roldan jr. http://orcid.org 0000-0003-2268-8371 hannah.tamayo@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences and technology vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.328 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 59 international peer reviewed journal keywords – education, rejoinders, classroom intervention, descriptive design, abra, philippines introduction “in a classroom setting, there are two persons involved, the teacher and the students. the teacher serves as a guide and the students are the center of teaching (acero, 2007). feed backing is a response of the learners to the teacher’s message. it is either positive or negative. feedback is vital in the communication process because it constitutes the last part of the process, and it manifests whether the receivers understand the sender’s message or not. feedbacks can be verbal, written and non-verbal. pavlović (2004) explained that learning is viewed as a construction process not as knowledge transmission and emphasis is placed on the importance of the “zone of subsequent development for asymmetric partner communication in the process of building up knowledge”.  this means that a mutual relationship of respect is needed for the evolution of knowledge within the learning process. moreover, communication among teachers has also an effect on the teaching-learning process as elucidated by the study of guin (2004) which mentioned “it is clear schools with high teacher turnover rates have difficulty planning and implementing a coherent curriculum and sustaining positive working relationships among teachers”.  communication undergoes different stages when the sender sends the message to the receiver. the stages are as follows: 1. sender-is the entity that conveys or sends a message. the message is what is being transmitted from the sender to receiver. 2. encoding-is a process through which messages are being sent. 3. receiver-is the entity that receives the message. 4. decoding-is the process in which the message is translated, and meaning is generated out of it. 5. feedback-the process through which receiver sends the response (rahman, babu, & ashrafuzzaman, 2011). the process of communication according to rahman et al. (2011) can be further illustrated in this manner: 60 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. process of feed backing feed backing is a tool by the teacher for improving classroom interaction with the students, thus, enhancing student’s performance. teachers are most often thought as sources of feedback. teachers’ feedback reaction includes praising, criticizing, asking a question and commenting (karim & ivy, 2011). it is being observed that some teachers dominate the class by giving a lecture while the students are just passive receivers. the teacher monopolizes the discussion making the students find the class boring and frustrating. however, when the teacher gives feedback to the students, it motivates them to participate in the discussion. when the classroom interaction becomes active and alive, the teachinglearning becomes operational. classroom interaction is the key to reach the different goals in education (tuan & nhu, 2010). teacher talking time (ttt) is the time spent by the teacher in talking in class wherein many modern approaches aims to reduce the amount of teacher talking time to allow learners the opportunity to speak and learn. feed backing maximizes students’ talking time, not teacher talking all the time. this is well recognized by the study of abdrafikova  and konopatskaya  (2014) which diagnose communicative, social, occupational and educational cognitive motives and motives of self-actualization and in the process avoiding failure. there are three kinds of feedback: verbal, written and non-verbal. verbal feedbacks are spoken such as asking questions and giving comments. the written feedbacks are provided by the teacher to students’ written works such as comments to quizzes or written composition. the nonverbal feedbacks include gestures, smile and sigh. verbal, written and nonverbal feedbacks are used in everyday classroom interactions. ramaprasad (1983) states that feedback provides students a way to alter the gap between current performance and ideal. the feedback or information given channel receiver (decodes) message sender (encodes) message feedback feedback 61 international peer reviewed journal by the teacher helps students to study well. it can improve learning habits and enhance the student’s performance in school. this is made real by the study of mellati and khademi (2015) whose results suggested that a significant proportion of the total variations in learners’ outcomes were predicted by teachers’ sources of pedagogical beliefs and teachers’ teaching experiences.  according to chickering and gamson (1989), “knowing what you know and don’t know focuses your learning. it implies that feed backing can provide an improvement on student’s performance and accelerate learning. furthermore, feedback is beneficial to both teacher and students. for the teacher, he will be able to diagnose his students’ problem and needs, solve current problems and improve classroom learning through feedback. for the students, feed backing can motivate them to study harder. this is explicated in the paper of biondo salomão (2011) which utilized reflective teaching paradigm and collaborative language learning with special emphasis on tandem learning, to determine the contributions of the collaborative relationship established between the graduate student and the student-teacher in her first teaching experience. furthermore, torrance and pryor (1998) characterized feedback in terms of rewards and praise, rather than developing an idea that can motivate students to learn. through rewards and praises, students are motivated to focus on positive gain in his or her studies. roehrs, maftum and stefanelli (2007) elaborates this by saying that when teacher acknowledges the therapeutic function in communication, it progresses the interpersonal relationship between teacher and teenage student. to improve teacher-student relationship, non-verbal communication not just verbal should be stressed in teaching english in college classrooms (huang, 2011). furthermore, van vooren and bess (2013) also demonstrated the prominence of communication in improving teacher-student relationship by young teenagers preferring twitter as a mode of communication with their teacher which results to higher academic achievement in a middle school science class. in like manner, the researcher also experienced and observed that many teachers emphasized more verbal communication in the teaching-learning process which means that it is evident that the other forms of feedbacks are least utilized. it is perceived that the literature speaks of ways to improve the relationship between teacher and students, as well as academic achievement, using different modes of communication. it has been accomplished in 2009 by assis and teixeira whose inquiry on the tripartite relationship of teacher/student/text produced the student motivation and their development as critical and reflective people able to act in their social environment. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research in line with these varying results of studies and the researcher’s experience, the researcher wants to know the extent of usage of teacher’s feedback in the classroom interactions among beed students to maximize learning. framework lourdes (2010) elaborated that in utilizing feed backing, teachers are walking in a delicate tightrope between building students up or tearing them down. as a tool, feed backing can, therefore, shape the behavior of the students. burrhus frederic skinner (1938) best described it when he said “reinforcers can be positive or negative, and both are used to strengthen behavior”. in connection, skinner’s behavior modification served as one of the bases of the study. besides, coello and vásquez-rizo (2008) described a comprehensive analysis of situations that occur in the teaching-learning process and how one of the key players in that process; namely, the student, has a decisive influence on how the teacher’s effectiveness is evaluated. the researcher wants to find out if the profile of faculty of abra state institute of sciences and technology has a significant influence in their usage of the different forms of feedbacks. the process of conducting this paper could be illustrated in this manner. objective of the study the study focused on feedback as a classroom tool in the teaching learning process within the beed students and their teacher education instructors. specifically, it aimed to seek clarity on the following: a) the profile of the teacher respondents in terms of age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, subject taught and length of service; b) the extent of usage of feed backing in classroom interactions as perceived by student and teacher respondents along verbal feedbacks, written feedbacks and non-verbal feedbacks; and c) the significant relationship between the profile of the teachers and the extent of use of feed backing in classroom interactions. the study will enlightened the researcher which among the types of feedbacks is being utilized and which feature within the types of feedback is commonly used in classroom interaction. 63 international peer reviewed journal methodology the study utilized the descriptive correlation to determine the extent of usage of feedback in classroom interactions among beed students. it also determined the relationship between teacher’s profile and their perception on the extent of usage of feedbacks in classroom interaction. the respondents of the study involved 19 faculty of cte and 138 beed students: 44 first year, 38 second year, 21 third year, and 35 fourth year. the research instruments used in gathering data were checklist and questionnaire, formulated by the researcher. the checklist identified the forms of feedbacks observed by the students from the teachers while the questionnaire measured the extent of usage of feedbacks during classroom interactions. the researcher formulated the checklist and questionnaire which was validated by the statistician and edited by the critic. the researcher got the number of all beed student respondents from the registrar’s office. the method used in the selection of the respondents was random sampling through the use of a scientific calculator. all teachers in cteht were taken as total enumeration. the letter was addressed to the dean and chairman to ask permission to conduct the study in the college of teacher education and home technology (cteht). the data-gathering tools were floated to the respondents during the last week of november 2012. answers to the checklists and questionnaires were tallied, tabulated and subjected to statistical analyzes such as frequency, percentage, weighted means, and bivariate correlations. results and discussion profile of the cte teacher-respondents ten out of 19 teacher respondents belong to the middle age group with a percentage of 52.63%. most of the college of teacher education professors are young. the distribution of cte teachers according to gender are as follows: 63.16% are females while 36.84% are males. there are more female teachers than male at cte. male teachers give more verbal feedbacks than female. on the other hand, female teacher gives more written feedbacks than male. thirteen out of 19 cte teachers are married to a proportion of 68.42% while four of them are single with a ratio of 21.05%. most cte teachers are married. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research ten out of 19 cte teachers have completed their master’s degree with a percentage of 47.37%. four teachers finished their doctoral degree, and four have doctoral components with a measurement of 21.05%. two teachers have their master’s units, and there is no teacher who is a bachelor’s degree holder. most of the cte teachers are master’s degree holders. thirteen out of 19 teachers taught general education subjects with a calculation of 68.42%. eight teach professional subjects (42.11%) and 6 teach major subjects (31.58). most of the teachers in cte are teaching general education subjects. nine out of 19 teachers have a length of service ranging from 22-28 years with a fraction of 47.37%. there are two teachers whose length of service is from 29-35, two teachers whose length of service is from 8-14 and two teachers whose length of service is from 2-7 years with a section of 10.53%. most of the teachers in cte are seasoned teachers. a similar study in 2014 by dr. edgar m. baylon, jr. utilized teacher-related factors along gender, marital status, employment status, and number of awards received to find significant association with the questioning skills of the teachers to improve student performance. extent of usage of feed backing in classroom interactions as perceived by student and teacher respondents figure 2. most observed form of verbal feedback as observed by 138 student-respondents 65 international peer reviewed journal most form of verbal feedback observed was asking a question with a percentage of 80.4% while criticizing was rarely witnessed with a ratio of 18.8%. the teacher always asks the question after the discussion. on the other hand, criticizing or giving criticism or judgment was rarely heard as feedbacks. this contradicts the findings of bochaver (2014) which states that the teachers direct and indirect bullying affects the participants. figure 3. most observed form of written feedback as observed by 138 student-respondents the most frequently perceived form of written feedback was checking with proportion of 82.6% while replying via e-mail was sometimes observed with a ratio of 29%. the students’ written works were checked by teachers then they give corrections on it while it was rare to see that the teacher replies through e-mails. this result deviates from the findings of kamlaskar and killedar (2015) which mentioned that web-based system is designed to provide an opportunity to maximize interaction, discussion and spontaneous exchanges with ‘real’ teacher during live virtual class and at the same time, present quality learning material to individual to suit his/her learning styles, interests, needs, and at their own pace. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 4. most observed form of non-verbal feedback as observed by 138 student-respondents the most frequently experiential form of non-verbal feedback was guiding and smiling with a calculation of 74.6% while the least observed was clapping with a fraction of 31.9%. teachers extend guidance to the students by encouraging them through a smile. clapping from teachers was sometimes seen in classroom interaction. figure 5. most often observed verbal feedbacks by cte teachers as perceived by students 67 international peer reviewed journal the most often observed verbal feedbacks by teachers of the college of teacher education and home technology (cteht) was asking questions after the discussion with an overall mean of 2. 90. contrary, the least observed feedback was when the teacher criticizes the students constructively when they commit mistake with an overall mean of 1.89. the teachers always ask questions after the discussion while it was rare that the teacher criticizes the student constructively when they commit a mistake. teachers employ more positive feedback than corrective feedback in the interaction (maolida, 2013). as a whole, verbal feedbacks were often used in fourth year with a mean of 2.72. it is sometimes used in third year (2. 21), second year (2. 23) and first year (1. 93). figure 6. most often observed written feedbacks by cte teachers as perceived by students in written feedback, the most often detected by the students was giving grades by the teacher according to student’s performance with an overall mean of 2.92. furthermore, it was rare that teachers reply via e-mail about the result of the student’s assignment with an overall mean of 0.85. the teacher always gives grades according to student’s performance. however, it was rare that teachers 68 jpair multidisciplinary research reply via e-mail about the result of their assignment. this result does not support the findings of van vooren and bess (2013) that the usage of social media, like tweeter, will improve the learning achievement of students. overall, written feedbacks were often witnessed among fourth year students with a mean of 2.47. on the other hand, written feedbacks were sometimes observed in first year with a mean of 1.63, second year (2.06) and third year (2.38). in like manner, this result contradicts the study of carles dorado perea in 2011 which elaborates the usage of interactive and collaborative communication on the internet to produce the desired learning outcomes. figure 7. most often observed non-verbal feedbacks by cte teachers as perceived by students in non-verbal feedbacks, the most often observed feedback by students was the appreciation of teachers when students participate in a class activity with an overall mean of 2.70. our hands or face are more sincere, more transparent in giving feedback (unguru, 2010). it was rare that teachers exhibit the grades in 69 international peer reviewed journal bulletin board with an overall mean of 0.82. teachers always appreciate when students participate in class activity while it was rare that teachers display the best works in bulletin. as a whole, non-verbal feedback was sometimes experienced among fourth year (2.15), third year (1.65) and second year (2.06) while in first year (1.33) non-verbal feedback was rarely observed. the result negates the importance of non-verbal feedback in a classroom as emphasized by the research findings of liangguang huang (2011) of zhenjiang watercraft college of pla. time is important in mastering the characteristics of social behavior, and it is nonverbal in relation to competence in communication (bolotova, 2012). teachers rephrase the question if the student was not able to answer and correct misconceptions on the topic were the most frequently used verbal feedbacks (3.59), sometimes teachers give the answer when a student did not get (2.31), underlining errors was the most regularly used written feedback (2.81) while replying though e-mails was rarely used as written feedback (1.3). this is far from the findings of georges (2007) which informed that most pupils in switzerland are familiar with the practical use of ict. guiding students in doing written work was always seen as non-verbal feedback with a weighted mean of 3.59 while pointing at students when they give the wrong answer was rare with a weighted mean of 1.07. this result promotes the importance of non-verbal feedback in a classroom as emphasized by the research findings of huang (2011). in the same manner, a study investigated and analyzed students’ face wants and english teachers’ awareness of students’ face want in their classroom feedback in improving student academic performance (zhao, 2010). teachers apply more verbal feedbacks in classroom interactions which are followed by written and non-verbal feedbacks. this result does not agree with the findings of huang (2011) who found out the significance non-verbal communication in the teaching and learning process. however, clients’ satisfaction with midwives’ verbal and non-verbal communication skills (50% and 48%) was related meaningfully to midwives’ communication skills application (taghizadeh, rezaiepour, mehran, & alimoradi, 2006). relationship between the profile of the teachers and the extent of the use of feed backing in classroom interactions age is significantly related to written feedbacks. there is a significant relationship between educational background and written feedbacks. furthermore, a significant relationship exists between the length of service and written feedbacks. older teachers provide more written feedbacks than younger 70 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers. the teachers who have more teaching experiences or length of service give more written feedbacks. this is collaborated by the study of md fazlur rahman, rasel babu, and md ashrafuzzaman (2011) which discovered that most of the students liked written assessments. however, the result clearly reverses thompson’s (2014) study which suggests that teachers fully acknowledge the importance of gesture and commonly attribute similar functions to specific gestures within a teaching performance. there is no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and their non-verbal feedback assessment. the results contradict the result of the study of huang (2011) which postulates that “if the teacher knows how to use non-verbal communication more efficiently, the relationship between the teacher and students will be improved.” the results of this study are limited only within the context of beed classes of abra state institute of sciences and technology-main campus. the study only focuses on the teachers of college of teacher education and bachelor in elementary students although the school also offers the bachelor of secondary education in the same campus and in the annex at bangued, abra. conclusions the type of feedback always used in classroom interaction as perceived by the students was written feedback, while the most often used feedback given by the teacher was verbal feedback which is totally different from the result of huang’s (2011) research that found out the importance of non-verbal communication in refining the teacher-student relationship. this is further supported by the study of thompson (2014) which found out that teachers fully acknowledge the importance of gesture and commonly attribute similar functions to specific gestures within a teaching performance. in the same manner, the result also varies from van vooren and bess’ (2013) study that teachers tweeting their students (emphasizing the utilization of social media) help in developing the learning efficiency of the students. there is a significant relationship between the teacher’s profile in terms of age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, subject taught and the length of service and the extent of the use of feedbacks in classroom interactions. teacher’s feedback given during various stages of writing process can play a vital role in improving the student’s competence (karim & ivy, 2011). 71 international peer reviewed journal translational research in relation to the findings of the study, the school administrators should encourage their teachers to be flexible in utilizing feedbacks in their classroom whether it be written, verbal or non-verbal. it also suggests that teachers, on their level, must frequently use varied pointers to raise the school performance of their students. on the level of students, they must be keen on the feedbacks of their teachers for them to know more about themselves and in the process, raise their school performance. literature cited abdrafikova, a. r., & konopatskaya, e. a. 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(2013). teacher tweets improve achievement for eighth grade science students.  journal of education, informatics & 74 jpair multidisciplinary research cybernetics, 11(1). zhao, w. (2010). an investigation of students’ face wants in chinese english teachers’ classroom feedback. journal of language teaching and research,1(1), 29-34. 213 international peer reviewed journal perceptions of students, faculty and administrative staff on the data privacy act: an exploratory study david paul r. ramos http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9663-6633 dprramos@plm.edu.ph pamantasan ng lungsod ng maynila gen. luna cor. muralla sts., intramuros, manila originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the data privacy act of 2012 was enacted to “protect the fundamental human right of privacy of communication while ensuring a free flow of information to promote innovation and growth.” data privacy pertains to the right of an individual not to disclose his or her information. since privacy is a universal human right, it is the responsibility of the government to protect the rights of its people to privacy and provide measures to protect their data. given that the data privacy act’s implementation is a relatively recent development in the philippines, little is known about the various stakeholders’ perceptions towards it. a qualitative study which utilized semi-structured interviews was conducted to explore selected students’, faculty members’ and administrative staffs’ perceptions of the data privacy act. non-probability, purposive sampling was used to recruit six respondents. an interview guide was developed to help in the facilitation of the interviews. data were analyzed through the 6-step thematic analysis by braun & clarke (2006). four themes emerged: 1) limited awareness of the law, 2) somewhat familiar with the purpose/ functions of the law, 3) issues in the implementation of the law in the academe, and 4) ambiguity in the necessity of the law. recommendations to improve compliance with the data vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.733 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:dprramos@plm.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 214 jpair multidisciplinary research privacy act, such as the designation of personal information controllers or data privacy officers (dpo) to ensure that security measures are in place to protect personal and sensitive information, were also discussed. keywords — data privacy, data privacy compliance, qualitative study, thematic analysis, manila, philippines introduction the enactment of the data privacy act on september 9, 2016, was timely given the growing advent of modern technology and the increasing number of internet users, with approximately 4.5 billion internet users around the globe in 2019 (internet world stats, 2019). almost 50% or roughly 2.3 billion of these internet users are asians. since filipinos are heavy social media users and because of the rapid growth of the digital economy, strengthening philippine’s privacy and security protections is a welcome development. on august 15, 2012, president benigno c. aquino iii signed a law that penalizes unauthorized disclosure of personal information – republic act 10173 or the data privacy act of 2012. the data privacy act was enacted to “protect the fundamental human right of privacy of communication while ensuring a free flow of information to promote innovation and growth” (republic act. no. 10173, ch. 1, sec. 2). the law defines data privacy as the right of an individual not to disclose his or her information (republic act. no. 10173). it applies to individuals, corporations, organizations, and or legal entities that process personal information. the national privacy commission’s (npc) circular number 1601 reminded all heads of government branches, including state universities and colleges, that the law applies to all government agencies, bodies or entities that are engaged in the processing of personal data (doce & ching, 2018). international privacy standards the philippines’ data privacy act was patterned from international privacy standards. some of the international accords related to privacy include the asia pacific economic cooperation (apec) privacy framework (2004), european data protection directive 95/46/ec, organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) guidelines on the protection of privacy and transborder flows of personal data 1980, and the general data protection regulation (callo-muller, 2018; mattoo & meltzer, 2018). the first version of 215 international peer reviewed journal the apec privacy framework of 2005 was aimed at implementing a “mechanism for mutual recognition or acceptance of different domestic privacy laws, which would allow for effective privacy protection without creating unnecessary barriers to cross-border information flows” (callo-muller, 2018). the european union (eu), however, implemented the general data protection regulation, considered to be the “world’s most comprehensive regime,” replacing the 1995 data protection directive (mattoo & meltzer, 2018). the new gdpr is stricter, as it widens the scope and strengthens the enforcement of privacy standards by only allowing personal data out of the eu under strict conditions to protect privacy abroad – and that is if a non-eu country enacts privacy legislation that is equivalent to the gdpr (mattoo & meltzer, 2018). although the new gdpr has a legitimate objective to protect privacy, it makes international data transfers more difficult, which could be problematic for some developing countries (mattoo & meltzer, 2018). the obligations contained in the gdpr have been characterized by many as being too stringent (callomuller, 2018). the gdpr applies to the processing (collection, use, and disclosure) of personal data of an identified or identifiable person (callo-muller, 2018). “special categories” of personal data, such as genetic data, biometric data, health data, and data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation, are subject to stricter rules under the gdpr (callo-muller, 2018). the asean member states, on the other hand, has developed a framework on personal data protection. the framework “serves to strengthen the protection of personal data in asean and to facilitate cooperation among the participants (member states), to contribute to the promotion and growth of regional and global trade and the flow of information” (framework on personal data protection, 2016). the framework emphasizes the following principles: 1) consent, notification, and purpose; 2) accuracy of personal data; 3) security safeguards; 4) access and correction; 5) transfers to another country or territory; 6) retention; and 7) accountability. these international accords and the existing challenges brought on by the rapidly advancing ict are precursors to the establishment of the data privacy act in the philippines. ra 10173 was patterned after the gdpr (ching, fabito & celis, 2018). 216 jpair multidisciplinary research establishment of the national privacy commission (npc) in the philippines ra no. 10173 created the national privacy commission (npc) under the department of information and communications technology (dict), the agency that is mandated to enforce policies on data protection. the npc was established to administer and implement the provisions of ra 10173, and to monitor and ensure compliance of the country with international standards set for data protection (republic act. no. 10173, ch. 2, sec. 7). specifically, some of the functions of the npc include: 1) ensuring the compliance of personal information controllers with the provisions of the act, 2) receiving complaints, instituting investigations, facilitating or enabling settlement of complaints through the use of alternative dispute resolution processes, 3) monitoring the compliance of other government agencies or instrumentalities on their security and technical measures and recommend the necessary action to meet minimum standards for protection of personal information pursuant to this act, and 4) ensuring proper and effective coordination with data privacy regulators in other countries and private accountability agents, among others (republic act. no. 10173, ch. 2, sec. 7). salient features of the data privacy act of 2012 ra 10173 applies to the processing of personal information and sensitive personal information. the law considers the following as sensitive personal information: the individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color, and religious, philosophical or political affiliations; health, education, genetic or sexual life of a person, or to any proceeding or any offense committed or alleged to have committed; issued by government agencies unique to an individual such social security number; and anything marked as classified by executive order or act of congress (wall, 2017). it is broadly applicable to individuals and legal entities that process personal information. among other things, it created parameters on when and on what premise can data processing of personal information be allowed. the basic premise for when data collection and processing is allowed is when the data subject has given his/her direct consent. furthermore, it is the right of the data subject to know if his or her personal information is being processed and can demand information on how his or her personal information is being used. institutions, both government and private, are mandated to assign personal information controllers who would ensure that security measures within their institutions are in place to protect the personal information of all stakeholders (republic act. no. 10173). heads of government 217 international peer reviewed journal agencies must, therefore, ensure that their system is compliant with the law. penalties will be imposed regarding violations committed against the provisions of the law, such as unauthorized processing, unauthorized purposes, unauthorized access or the intentional breach, concealment of security breaches, negligence, and malicious and unauthorized disclosure (republic act. no. 10173). in case the data has been compromised, the personal information controllers must notify the data subjects affected and the national privacy commission (republic act. no. 10173). the challenge is for institutions to translate these provisions into practice. since privacy is a universal human right, it is the responsibility of the government to protect the rights of its people to privacy and provide measures to protect their personal data. unfortunately, even if the data privacy act has been passed, some institutions and organizations are not implementing the full provisions of the law. in a case study conducted on the commission on higher education (ched) and commission on elections (comelec), barriers to ensure compliance to the law includes lack of awareness, budget, and time constraints (ching, fabito & celis, 2018). it is crucial and imperative that institutions provide measures to protect the interest of its employees with regard to their data. in line with this, the present study was conducted to explore selected students’, faculty members’ and administrative staffs’ perceptions of the data privacy act of 2012. it is aimed to gain a better understanding of the stakeholders’ perceptions and awareness on the salient features of the law, its implementation, and its necessity. it also sought to gain insights into existing challenges and barriers in complying with the law. given that the data privacy act’s implementation is a relatively recent development in the philippines, little is known about the various stakeholders’ perceptions towards it. objectives of the study the present study aimed to determine the respondents’ perceptions of the data privacy act of 2012 and explore the possible implications. it was intended to explore the students’, faculty, and administrative staff’s awareness of the law’s functions, implementation and, a necessity in the academe. the following questions were asked (1) what are your perceptions on the data privacy act of 2012?, (2) do you know of any organizational, physical, and or technical security measures for personal data protection that is being implemented in your school/ workplace? (3) do you think the data privacy act of 2012 is necessary for your 218 jpair multidisciplinary research school/workplace?, and (4) how do you think this law benefits the students/ faculty members/ administrative staffs in the university? conceptual framework figure 1. the research paradigm methodology research design the researcher utilized an exploratory research design that was done through the collection of qualitative data. exploratory research designs are conducted when not much has been written about the topic or the population being studied, and the researcher seeks to listen to participants and build an understanding of what is heard (creswell, 2014). the exploratory design was employed since both the topic and the population studied have not been thoroughly explored. moreover, the researcher sought to have a deeper understanding of the respondents’ perceptions. qualitative data collection was done through open-ended, semistructured interviews, which allowed the researcher to gain thick and rich verbal descriptions from the respondents regarding their viewpoint. data were analyzed 219 international peer reviewed journal through thematic analysis. rigor and trustworthiness were observed through reading and rereading of transcripts and data, participant, and peer validation. qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning of individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem (creswell, 2014). research site the research was conducted in a local university in manila, which involved students, faculty members, and administrative staff from the same institution. instrumentation an interview guide with four open-ended questions was constructed for this study. the questions focused on exploring the students’, faculty, and administrative staff’s awareness of the law’s functions, implementation, and necessity in the academe. follow-up questions were also asked for clarifications. sample and sampling technique a total of six respondents participated in the study – two faculty members, two administrative staffs, and two students. the study utilized non-probability, purposive sampling. the participants were informed of their rights to withdraw from the study at any point during the research process. data gathering procedure permission to conduct the interviews was secured from respective authorities. the collection of data was conducted through a semi-structured interview. an interview guide was prepared prior to data collection. written consent to take part in the study was given and obtained from the respondents informing them of their rights to refuse to answer questions and to withdraw from the study at any point during the data collection process. the nature and purpose of the study were explained to the respondents at the onset. the recruitment of respondents was done through purposive sampling. the interviews were conducted in a mix of english and tagalog. the respondents were allowed to discuss any questions or concerns about the study. a pseudonym for each respondent was used, and other measures to ensure anonymity and confidentiality were exercised. ethical considerations this research undertaking was committed to the highest standard of professional conduct. to meet the ethical requirements established for this study, 220 jpair multidisciplinary research written consent was obtained from the participants informing them of their right to refuse questions or withdraw from the study at any time during the data collection process. the purpose of the study and methodology were explained to the participants. they were allowed to express their concerns about the study. pseudonyms were used to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. data analysis the 6-step framework proposed by braun & clarke (2006) as an approach to thematic analysis was followed. thematic analysis refers to the process of identifying patterns or themes within qualitative data (braun & clarke, 2006). the goal is to identify salient themes and patterns that are important and or interesting. braun & clarke’s (2006) 6-step framework is considered one of the most influential approaches in conducting a thematic analysis in the social sciences (maguire & delahunt, 2017). the 6-step framework involves: step 1: become familiar with the data step 2: generate initial codes step 3: search for themes step 4: review themes step 5: define themes step 6: write-up transcripts of the interviews were read, re-read until a pattern emerges. to ensure credibility, participant validation was employed, where the researcher’s analysis of the data was compared with the participants’ accounts to establish a level of correspondence. to ensure validity, a colleague was asked to analyze the results to see whether the analysis of the data was accurate. results and discussion the analysis of the data established four higher-order themes that encapsulated the respondents’ perceptions of the data privacy act of 2012. to present the structure of these perceptions, a table of the higher-order themes, subthemes, and an illustrative text was formed. the four higher-order themes are as follows: 1. limited awareness of the law 2. purpose/ functions of the law 3. issues in the implementation of the law in the academe 4. ambiguity in the necessity of the law 221 international peer reviewed journal table 1 lists the specific sub-themes and illustrative quotations for each of the higher-order themes. table 1. superordinate themes and constituent subthemes superordinate themes subthemes example of illustrative text limited awareness of the law somewhat familiar with the law the issue of informed consent “i heard about it.” “according to it, makukulong ka if you didn’t ask for informed consent.” purpose/ functions of the law protection of sensitive personal information/ safeguarding of data regulation of data collection protection of the individual “it secures personal information.” “it prevents unlawful data collection, especially without the consent of the individual.” “para na din sa proteksyon nung tao.” issues in implementation in the academe presence/absence of protective measures presence/absence of department that regulates the implementation “i don’t know of any protective measures being implemented (in my school).” “wala atang department na incharge.” ambiguity in its necessity beneficial only in certain aspects gray areas “i think it is beneficial in medical procedures, in insurance, in bank transactions.” “medyo vague pa sya. what if magbabackground-check, pano yun? what if age, sex, lang yung information need pa din ng informed consent?” theme 1. limited awareness of the law the responses of the participants ranged from “somewhat familiar” to “familiar” in terms of their awareness and familiarity with the law. when asked what they know about the law, most of the respondents said that it has something to do with informed consent: 222 jpair multidisciplinary research “yung data dapat di basta-basta nilalabas, dapat lagging may informed consent when asking for information.” (student 2) “according to it, makukulong ka if you didn’t ask for informed consent.” (faculty 1) “this law secures the collecting and or gathering of sensitive personal information and the right to informed consent. (faculty 2) this indicates limited awareness of the law. there are many more salient features of the law that is not just limited to informed consent, such as the importance of parameters on when and on what premise can data processing of personal information be allowed where the basic premise is when a data subject has given direct consent (section 12 and 13). the law also has provisions for companies who subcontract the processing of personal information to the third party, implicating that they shall have full liability and cannot pass the accountability of such responsibility (section 14), among other provisions. this limited awareness has great implications. this may imply that the institution is not fully compliant with the law. this partial compliance of an educational institution is similar to the case analysis conducted by doce & ching (2018) on the compliance of a state university in mindanao, where it was found not fully compliant to ra 10173, although great efforts are being exerted in maintaining its information management systems and internet usage (doce & ching, 2018). theme 2. somewhat familiar with the purpose/ functions of the law the respondents’ perceptions on the purpose/ functions of the law were centered into three subthemes, 1) protection of sensitive personal information/ safeguarding of data, 2) regulation of data collection, and 3) protection of the individual: “it is there for safekeeping of important records.” (admin staff 1) “for the protection of the students and staff and of the university.” (faculty 1) “it ensures that sensitive information is protected and before any information can be taken from an individual, that individual has to provide his or her voluntary consent.” (faculty 2) this is consistent with the rationale of why the law was created. the law applies to the processing of personal information (section 3g) and sensitive personal information (section 3l) and protects the right to privacy and prevention of unlawful data collection. 223 international peer reviewed journal some of the respondents agreed that the law is for the protection of the individual. this might be explained by their knowledge of the provision of the law that states that data subjects have the right to know if their personal information is being processed and that they can demand information such as the source of info, how their personal information is being used, and a copy of their information. some of the respondents were also aware that they have the right to request removal and destruction of one’s personal data unless there is a legal obligation that required for it to be kept or processed. (section 16 and 18). however, this knowledge, which is at best incomplete, might not be due to the efforts conducted by the institution. theme 3. issues in the implementation in the academe all of the respondents mentioned that they do not know of any organizational, physical, and or technical security measures for personal data protection that is being implemented in the school: “none that i know of.” (faculty 1) “there were no concrete procedures or manifestations of its implementation. (faculty 2) “parang wala naman.” (admin staff 1) “hindi ko po alam kung meron.” (admin staff 2) “i think none po.” (student 1) “wala po akong alam.” (student 2) this awareness or the lack thereof any organizational, physical, and or technical security measures for personal data protection that is being implemented in the school has great implications. the national privacy commission was created to monitor the implementation of this law (section 7). it is the duty of the npc to ensure that all organizations, both government and private, implement the provisions as stated in the law. the npc should, therefore, exert more effort in ensuring that all institutions abide by the law. on an institutional level, all institutions are mandated to provide protective measures to ensure the protection of sensitive personal information and lawful data collection and processing. the institution should make sure that its students, faculty, and administrative staffs are well-informed of how they are implementing the law. furthermore, not one of the respondents were familiar if the institution has designated a data privacy officer. 224 jpair multidisciplinary research barriers and challenges may prevent the institution from fully complying with the law. however, individuals who were in authority to answer were not tapped for an interview. in the case of one state university, factors that contribute to partial compliance include a lack of better understanding, budgetary issues, and time constraints (doce & ching, 2018). lack of better understanding was said to have emanated from not getting everyone involved in the initiative of protecting university data across all units (doce & ching, 2018). similarly, two government institutions reiterated three factors that hamper their compliance: lack of awareness, budget, and time constraints (ching, fabito & celis, 2018). theme 4. ambiguity in its necessity although most of the respondents have positive attitudes towards the data privacy act of 2012, some of them mentioned that there are still “gray areas”: “medyo vague pa sya.” (student 2) “beneficial for medical purposes and for students undergoing counseling, but other than that, it’s not clear to me.” (student 1) “sa banking records, for insurance, for medical records, not sure po sa ibang bagay.” (admin staff 1) the implementing rules and regulations of the data privacy act of 2012 aims to clarify these ambiguities not just in its necessity, but also in its implementation. awareness of its importance and the how’s of its implementation should be made known to individuals in the academe. undoubtedly, protecting personal information is necessary. in light of the continuously changing information technology, and how it affects our daily living, concerns regarding data protection and usage are becoming more evident (xu, teo & tan, 2006). conclusions the study contributes to the literature by providing inputs about the institution’s efforts in implementing the law. this study also provided insights into the implications of students’ and employees’ perceptions of the data privacy act of 2012 and the compliance of the institution in implementing the law. the respondents were clearly just somewhat familiar, if not unfamiliar with the provisions of the law, its functions, and necessity. the institution where the respondents belong to should exert greater effort in making their constituents become more aware and actively participate in the protection of privacy. more 225 international peer reviewed journal effort is needed so that the information that they know about the law is not just limited to informed consent. also, in terms of implementation, not one respondent mentioned that they were aware of any steps or procedures being undertaken by the institution with regards to complying with the law. institutions have to take a more active role in terms of compliance with the law and how this will affect all stakeholders. furthermore, the national privacy commission should intensify its efforts in ensuring that all government and private institutions are compliant with the law. given that most of the respondents are unfamiliar with the salient features of the law and its implementation in the university, it becomes a challenge for the university to comply. there is a need to assess possible data privacy risks occurring within the university, implement protection strategies and how they will be implemented, and to prepare for the different forms of breaches or violations of the law within the bounds of the university. there should be an active commitment to comply with protecting the rights of the individual to privacy – from protecting the individual’s right to be informed, to ensuring that the data collected from the individual is secured and properly stored. since the data privacy act is relatively new in the philippines, very few researchers have been conducted both in government and private institutions; hence, the results of this exploratory research can be used as a basis for future researches and policymaking. one limitation of the present study is that other stakeholders, such as the institution’s officials, members of the administration, and third parties were not included in the study. translational research based on the results of the present study, recommendations to strengthen the compliance on data privacy protection in the academe were deemed necessary to improve the university policy on data privacy and ensure data privacy protection. a proposed institutional guideline on data privacy act compliance was developed to improve the security measures of the university. the institutional guideline involves primarily the designation of personal information controllers or data privacy officer (dpo) to ensure that security measures are in place to protect personal and sensitive information. the dpo should be tasked to ensure that the university is compliant with the law. an analysis of the type of data that the institution collects and stores is also necessary. what type of data is being collected and stored by the institution, and what measures are needed to protect them? 226 jpair multidisciplinary research the integration of appropriate maintenance and management of data should be introduced into the working practices of the user population. provisions for specific departments, such as the office of the guidance and testing services, university health services, and office of the university registrar, should be subject to the principles of transparency, proportionality, and for a legitimate purpose. to ensure commitment that all stakeholders comply with data privacy policies, awareness campaigns and data privacy trainings should be regularly conducted. furthermore, periodic auditing of the state of compliance should be implemented and continuously strive to achieve compliance through frequent monitoring risks and by keeping all stakeholders informed. central to the proposed institutional guideline is an appropriate collection of information, privacy principles, provisions for specific departments/units, use and disclosure of information and security measures: collection of information the privacy principles of transparency, proportionality, and for legitimate use should always be followed. transparency refers to obtaining the data subject’s consent before collecting the information and informing him/her of the purpose for which the information is to be collected. proportionality refers to only collecting information that is reasonably necessary or directly related to university functions. in collecting personal information, the university shall use the information only for legitimate purposes. personal information such as student’s name, parents’ name and addresses and contact numbers, etc., for example, shall be used only for purposes such as enrolment and academic activities. security measures in line with the university’s mandate to comply with the dpa and its irr to secure the personal information of its students, parents, employees and third parties, the university shall designate its data privacy officer (dpo) or a personal information controller, who is tasked to designated to monitor and ensure the implementation of the dpa and its irr and the data privacy policies of the school. members of the data privacy office shall also be designated. the dpo is the de-facto head of the data privacy office, which is tasked to respond to inquiries and complaints relating to data privacy and to assist in the monitoring and implementation of the data privacy policy of the university. the university shall create a data privacy manual, which contains data privacy policies which shall be reviewed annually and regularly updated. the university 227 international peer reviewed journal shall regularly conduct awareness campaigns and data privacy training as part of its commitment to ensuring that all its students and employees comply with its data privacy policies. to ensure that the potential privacy impact of the university’s processes, information system programs, and other initiatives that process personal information of students, employees, and third parties are evaluated, privacy impact assessments are conducted for such projects, programs, and initiatives. the university shall also take reasonable steps to protect the personal information in its possession from misuse, loss or unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure. as most of the personal information of students and employees is stored in the university databases, access to personal information in digital or digitized form by authorized it personnel is restricted and individually identifiable. an approval process is in place for internal requests (i.e., special requests for authority to view student profile for disciplinary cases, counseling, or health concerns) for access to restricted student or employee records contained in the university information systems. as a general rule, only authorized personnel with the necessary approvals may request access to the information systems of personal information. physical access to the servers and network equipment is highly restricted to authorized personnel only. various security appliances and devices shall be employed to safeguard the university network and its systems. access to student and employee personal information is limited to authorized personnel of the specific departments collecting or processing the information. aside from access restriction, the storage facilities for the hard copies of documents containing personal information shall also be secured. only authorized personnel can open or have access to keys to the storage facilities. the storage units or facilities are placed in areas that are not usually accessible to the public, safe from physical hazards such as rain, wind, and dust, and located in areas that are usually manned by the authorized personnel. only authorized personnel shall have access to student or employee personal information. students or parents or guardians (in case of minors) who wish to have access to their own personal information may submit a written request directly to the registrar’s office and may be allowed access to their specific individual information or given copies, pursuant to the policies and guidelines on requesting for access or copies of student records. requests for information through telephone will not be allowed. employees who wish to view their personal information in their individual personnel file may file a written request or directly go to the hrd office, and 228 jpair multidisciplinary research request for viewing of such information in the presence of authorized personnel of the department. in such cases where any individual or entity (other than the student, parent or guardian in case of minors, or employee) wishes to have access pursuant to the instances or exceptions provided under data privacy act, a written request shall be submitted to the department head who may either endorse or reject the same. if approved, the endorsed request shall be submitted to the dpo or her duly authorized representative for approval. only written requests properly endorsed by the department head shall be considered for approval. in cases where government agencies empowered under the law to request for personal information (i.e., bir, doh), request for access, university personnel must ensure that the request is in writing, citing the authority upon which the request is made. in cases where the request is a result of a valid order or decision of a tribunal or court, a copy of such order shall be attached to the written request. once approved by the dpo, it shall be transmitted to the department head or appropriate department for implementation. the department head, who endorsed the same shall be responsible for monitoring compliance of the requestor on the terms of the approved request (i.e., time limit and confidentiality). in case there is a doubt on the propriety of any request for access, university personnel should consult or seek clearance from the legal affairs department or the dpo. the university is recommended to create a policy on how long it shall keep the student and employee records, including the information contained therein. no personal information may be destroyed unless allowed by certain laws, and such destruction, if allowed or authorized by law and the university, must be documented in writing by the university. unauthorized destruction should be reported to the dpo or any member of the data privacy office. provisions for specific departments the office of the university registrar (our) shall only collect personal information for the purpose of evaluating the eligibility of the applicant for admission or in case of current students, for enrollment in the school; for the purpose of providing placement services required on the job training for students; and evaluation of students for eligibility for scholarships provided by the university and third parties. the information collected by the office of the guidance and testing services shall be processed only by authorized personnel and for legitimate purposes of the university. in the course of the collection of information, this authorized 229 international peer reviewed journal personnel from these offices ask data to fill out forms with the corresponding privacy statement to signify consent and to inform them of the purpose of collecting such information during the admission and or enrollment processes. only authorized personnel are allowed to encode and access student data. the human resource department shall collect information from employees or applicants for purposes of evaluating the applicant for eligibility for employment, and to avail of employee benefits (i.e., retirement, educational, and medical benefits). pursuant to existing labor laws and human resources policies of the university, the 201 files or employee’s individual employment records are confidential, and access is restricted to authorized personnel only. access to the data collected by the university health services is restricted and limited only to authorized personnel in the department, such as the school doctor, dentist, or nurse assigned in the department. sensitive information may not be released without the prior consent of the student or guardian except in the life case of the student, or other students (i.e., epidemic cases as provided under the doh rules and regulations) is at stake. in all instances, any access to personal information of students must be with their or their parents/ guardians’ consent, or employee’s and for legitimate purposes, or endorsed by the department head. privacy policies to ensure that the rights of the data subjects are protected, the abovementioned departments are subject to the following policies: 1) data subjects are notified and their consent secured: 2) 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(2006). information privacy in the digital era: an exploratory research framework.  amcis 2006 proceedings, 120. retrieved from http://bit.ly/35rxwro 124 jpair multidisciplinary research profile and level of competence of information and communications technology (ict) coordinators among secondary schools in the division of davao del sur julcon avanceña araiz http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7403-5298 1julcon@gmail.com mariano peralta national high school malita, davao occidental originality: 96 • grammar check: 99 • plagiarism: 4 abstract ict coordinators play a significant role in the effective delivery of education in every school. there have been many studies carried out in relation to ict, but less has been done dealing specifically with ict coordinators. the study aimed to find out the level of competence of ict coordinators in the 57 secondary schools in the division of davao del sur, philippines. a descriptivecorrelational method was used in the study. the research instrument patterned to the nics developed by the cict (2006) was used in the data-gathering procedure. data were analyzed using mean, chi-square, pearson r correlation coefficient and ttest. results showed that ict coordinators were intermediate in technology operations and concepts, social and ethical, and pedagogical domains, but basic in the professional domain. likewise, significant relationships were not established with regard to their gender, age, educational attainment, length of service and position. the findings suggest that ict coordinators need to upgrade their level of competence in the professional domain to become more vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.579 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:1julcon@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 125 international peer reviewed journal proficient and capable in performing their duties and responsibilities through seminar-workshops related to professional growth and development, research, innovation, and collaboration. to maintain their high level of competence, a continuing high-quality training program should be provided in the entire secondary schools in the division of davao del sur. keywords — information and communication technology, ict coordinators, descriptive-correlational method, davao del sur, philippines introduction information and communication technology (ict) had been established in the literature as an effective tool to facilitate students’ learning, improve teaching, and enhance institutional administration (kazu & yavulzalp, 2008; kirschner & woperies, 2003). however, the researcher learned that the training of ict coordinators is inadequate and needs improvement. reasonably, it varies from person to person, and from situation to situation as cleere (2002) claimed that competency level of the school ict coordinator varies far and wide between different schools in different towns, or cities, or indeed countries. in such a growth area as technology, the competency of ict coordinator is of key importance to the proper integration of ict in the school. while there have been many studies carried out in relation to ict in schools, fewer studies have been done dealing specifically with ict coordinators. this research examined the level of competence of ict coordinators in carrying out their day-to-day duties, their suitability for the position and their general opinion of their level of competency. the position of ict coordinator in the world of advanced technology recently is quite relevant with regards to his role. the department of education and science (des) in ireland conducted a survey in 2008 in relation to the integration of ict in primary and secondary schools. the survey was not based on the level of competence. however, it examined the integration of ict into teaching which the researcher calls the level of expertise in this vast area. more recent studies (british educational communications and technology agency, 2002) reveal that in the current practice, the most predominant roles assumed by the ict coordinator include technical support and supporting children during the learning process. in this context, the tasks carried out by the ict coordinator include teaching ict skills, coordinating the development of an ict curriculum, managing hardware, and technical support, and giving 126 jpair multidisciplinary research training. further, british educational communications and technology agency (2002) emphasizes the ict leadership role to facilitate proper use of ict. major ict competencies required by teachers were highlighted by kirschner and woperies (2003) to include competency in making personal use of ict; mastery of a range of educational paradigms that make use of ict; competency in making use of ict as mindtools; competency in using ict as tool for teaching, competency in mastering a range of assessment paradigms which involves use of ict; and competency in understanding the policy dimensions of the use of ict for teaching and learning. successful integration of ict in the school system depends largely on the competence of teachers towards the role of modern technologies in teaching and learning. thus, experienced teachers and newly qualified need to be competent in using ict effectively in their teaching (kyriakidou, chrisostomou, & bank, 2000). in a worldwide study conducted between 2016 and 2017 by the international communications union (itu) based in geneva, switzerland on ict development index (idi) among the asean countries, singapore ranked number 18 followed by brunei (53rd), malaysia (63rd), thailand (78th), philippines (101st), vietnam (108th), indonesia (111th), cambodia (128th), myanmar (135th) and laos (139th) (measuring information society report volume 1, 2017 pp. 31). asean (2011) as cited by pinprayong (2016) revealed that asean countries planned to develop their ict infrastructure and ict manpower for economic transformation, innovation, people empowerment and engagement, human capital development, infrastructure development, and bridging the digital divide to deliver 4 key outcomes: 1) ict as an engine of growth for asean countries, 2) recognition for asean as a global ict hub, 3) enhanced quality of life for peoples of asean, and 4) contribution towards asean integration. in the philippines, a recent study reveals that most teachers have basic knowledge on ict and needs improvement (las johansen et al., 2017). according to buabeng-andoh (2012), the key factor of teacher’s successful integration of ict in the classroom teaching is professional development. the importance of ict competence has been presented in the study to determine thailand’s ict readiness for the asean economic community. with competency in ict and skills to support the growth of the ict sector, human capital will be established. thus, it will turn to support the progress of the other segments of the economy. ict knowledge and skills are needed to help in promoting the country’s 127 international peer reviewed journal competitiveness (wongwuttiwat, 2016). one study conducted by unesco about teacher ict education and training reveals that most asean respondent countries were not systematic (unesco institute for statistics, 2014). there is a great need to consider ict competency for teachers as the figures below suggests. figure 1. the proportion of combined primaryand secondary-level teachers teaching basic computer skills and subjects using ict versus proportions trained ict coordinators accomplish different roles, that is, complex and demanding, yet, only a few roles will be fulfilled in practice (kennewell, & selwood, 1997). to achieve the educational innovation required through ict (watson, 2001), and to assess whether ict coordinators realize their roles as agents of change, it is essential to have more than a theoretical overview of the possible roles ict coordinators can fulfill. thus, the study aimed to identify the level of competence of ict coordinators of secondary schools in the division of davao del sur. framework information and communications technology (ict) have emerged as one of the central building blocks of the society (suliman, raman, & hamid, 2007). countries are now crafting ict competency standards to successfully harness human resources and enjoy the benefits of productivity gains, job creation, and economic growth. ict competency standards is a very effective tool to facilitate a country’s integration into the regional and international markets 128 jpair multidisciplinary research (hwa, 2016). the two international standards authority among the developers of standards for pedagogical ict competency of teachers in all countries of the world “ict competency framework for teachers” (ict-cft) developed under the guidance of unesco and “standards of ict competency for teachers” developed by international society for technology in education iste-nets (avdeeva, zaichkina, nikulicheva, and khapaeva, 2016) is the basis for crafting the national ict competency standards (nics) by the commission on information and communications technology or cict in the philippines. this study adopted its theoretical underpinning to the national ict competency standards (nics) framework for teachers. nics for teachers is designed to define the competency outcomes, and the fundamental knowledge and skills required to employ in the performance of duty related to teaching in philippine settings. it comprises performance indicators to evaluate the level of knowledge and competence of teachers in ict. this is very significant considering that ict coordinators are regarded as a change agent in today‘s teaching and learning process. figure 2. nics competency framework source: ict competency standards, ictd case study 4 2016. united nations asian and pacific training centre for information and communication technology for development (un aptcictd) 129 international peer reviewed journal the nics for teachers is a well-structured framework consist of four major domains:  technology operations and concepts  social and ethical  pedagogical and  professional each domain is presented in a very compact form covering the following elements that serve as determinants on the level of competence of the teacher:  skill set: this is the key area of competency.  sub-area: this is a more specific area of competency within the skill set.  competency descriptor: is a brief description of the competencies covered by the sub area.  competency level: this defines the level of proficiency a person must demonstrate to fulfill a specific job role.  performance indicators: these identify the actions an individual would normally take to perform the area of competence detailed in the relevant statement. these are specific evidence of the achievement of a defined skill or knowledge level or the competent completion of a task.  underpinning knowledge: these are the essential areas of learning and understanding that underpin the area of competence described in the standard. they also indicate broad areas of learning and development that an individual might consider to strengthen the specific area of competence. to determine the level of competence of the ict coordinators of the secondary schools in the division of davao del sur, the four competency domains (dependent variables) consisting different indicators of the nics for teachers will be tested against the demographic profile (independent variables) of the ict coordinators. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research figure.3. schematic diagram showing the independent and dependent variables of the study objectives of the study the study aimed to: 1) determine the socio-demographic profile of ict coordinators; 2) determine the level of competence of ict coordinators on the four competency domains; 3) identify the significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile and their competency level; 4) evaluate the significant difference on the level of competence of ict coordinators against the assessment by their school administrators. methodology research design the researcher used the descriptive-correlational method of investigation which involved a questionnaire to assess the level of competency of ict coordinators in the secondary school of the division of davao del sur. research site this study was conducted in davao del sur, region xi, philippines. davao del sur is a first class province in davao region. it has 14 municipalities and one chartered city. the province is subdivided into two divisions, to wit: digos city division and davao del sur division. the 14 municipalities are under the davao del sur division which has 57 public secondary schools and fifty-seven ict coordinators. fifty (50) of these schools were included in this study. the 131 international peer reviewed journal schools are located in the following municipalities; (1) sta. cruz, (2) matanao, (3) bansalan, (4) magsaysay, (5) hagonoy, (6) padada, (7) kiblawan, (8) sulop, (9) malalag, (10) sta. maria, (11) malita, (12) don marcelino, (13) jose abad santos, and (14) saranggani. figure 4. map of davao del sur indicating the different municipalities where public secondary schools are located participants the subjects of this study were the ict coordinators and school administrators of the 50 public secondary schools in the division of davao del sur. there was a total sample of 100 respondents (50 school administrator, 50 ict coordinators). 132 jpair multidisciplinary research instrumentation the researcher used the descriptive-survey questionnaire as a main data gathering tool for the study. the instrument consists of two parts; the first part is compost of the demographic profile of the ict coordinators and the second part focused on the ict competency assessment. the national information and communications technology (ict) standards (nics) for teachers developed by the commission on information and communications technology (cict) in the philippines was used. the researcher sought permission from the schools division superintendent. upon approval, the researcher went to the identified schools and presented the approved letter to the school principals. scheduled appointments were arranged for the actual survey and retrieval to give enough time for the respondent to reflect and to ensure a more accurate and quality information. this was done for the determination of respondents and for the distribution of the survey questionnaires. the descriptive design used to identify the profile of ict coordinators among the public secondary schools in davao del sur. the correlation method was used to determine the interrelationships between and among the profiles considered and level of competence of the ict coordinators. the comparison between the ict coordinator and administrator’s ratings along the variables considered was also included in the investigation. furthermore, the study used frequency count, percentage, rank order, mean, chi-square test, pearson (r) correlation coefficient, and t-test. to determine the sample size and ease of instrument distribution the researcher used slovin’s formula and purposive sampling techniques. results and discussion as revealed in the study, most of the ict coordinators were male with a frequency of 30 or 60 percent while 20 or 40 percent were females. this finding means that females tend to be less interested in computers than males and use them less often in their spare time (schaumburg, 2001). in addition, the three computer-related occupations (computer scientists, computer engineers and system analysts, and computer science and engineering) are the top career choices for males (derbyshire, 2003). bebetsos and antoniou’s (2008) and kadel’s (2005) studies also found that females have negative attitudes towards computers; as a result, they are often less computer literate than males. sefyrin (2005) asserted that competence in ict could be seen as a question of interest in ict, where males are more interested in ict than females. 133 international peer reviewed journal figure 5. graphical presentation of ict coordinators by gender age most of the respondents were on the bracket 26 -30 years old as evidenced by the frequency of 16 or 32 percent followed by 31 – 35 years old with twelve (12) or 23 percent. these findings reveal that some of the ict coordinators are still young in the profession. thus, this may imply that they have all the power and strength to face the many challenges in the job. figure 6. graphical presentation of ict coordinators by age length of service majority of the respondents were still new in the service ranging from 0 – 5 years in the service with 25 or 50 percent. nine (9) or 18 percent were in the service for 6 – 10 years, eight (8) or 16 percent were in the service for 11 – 15, five (5) or 10 percent for 16 – 20, and three (3) or 6 percent for 21 – 25 years. the findings imply that a greater number of ict coordinators are still a neophyte in the position, but all are able and ready to face the challenges in the profession. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research cajindos’ (2009) finding revealed that half of the teacher-respondents in divine world college of vigan were in the service for 5 – 10 years. figure 7. graphical presentation of ict coordinators by the length of service educational attainment as reflected in figure 6, out of 50 ict coordinators in the division of davao del sur, 44% or 22 of the respondents were bachelor’s degree holder, 32 percent or 16 respondents were master’s undergraduate and 24 percent or 12 of them were master’s degree holder. this means that majority of the ict coordinators were non – master’s degree holders. besides, passing the licensure examination for teachers is one of the main requirements to be employed as a regular teacher. however, there is a need to grow professionally, and one of these is by enrolling or finishing a higher degree in education. figure 8. graphical presentation of educational background of ict coordinators 135 international peer reviewed journal plantilla position as regards the position of the respondents, 32 or 64 percent of the ict coordinators were teacher i, nine (9) or 18 percent were teacher ii, five (5) or 10 percent were teacher iii, one (1) or 2 percent is a master teacher i, and three (3) or 6 percent were lsb (local school board) paid teacher. this implies that there is a need for ict coordinators to grow while in service to get a higher position or rank. however, one factor for promotion is the length of service coupled with high performance at work. villanueva (2009) found that most of the public high school teachers in the city division of candon were teacher i. figure 9. graphical presentation of the plantilla position of ict coordinators level of competence of information and communication technology coordinators in the four competency domains to investigate the level of competence of ict coordinators in the four competency domains descriptive statistics (mean score) were used. as shown in figure 8, the average mean of ict coordinators in technology operations concepts showed to be intermediate with a mean score of 2.281, 2.022, and 1.754 for social and ethical, and pedagogical domains respectively. this means that the level of competence of ict coordinator in terms of technology operations and concepts, social and ethical and pedagogical domain is satisfactory or at high levels. personal attributes on the indicator are satisfactorily manifested. however, the main score for professional domain is 1.502 with a descriptive level “basic”. this signifies that the level of competence of ict coordinators in terms of professional domain is low. personal attributes for the indicators are less manifested. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research technology operations and concepts domain include competencies related to technical operations and concept, and productivity of various ict tools like computers and communication devices as well as the applications available online or offline. ict coordinators in this domain satisfactorily demonstrate knowledge and skills in basic computer operation and other information devices including basic troubleshooting and maintenance. they are also intermediate in using appropriate office and teaching productivity tools. they clearly understand and effectively use the internet and network applications and resources and satisfactorily demonstrated knowledge and skills in information and data management. social and ethical domains include competencies related to social, ethical, legal, and human issues and community linkage. ict coordinators intermediately understood and observed legal practices in the use of technology. they also recognized and practiced ethical use of technology in both personal and professional levels, appropriately planned, modeled and promoted safe and sound technology-supported learning environment and facilitated equitable access to technology that addresses learning, social and cultural diversity. figure 10. graphical presentation of the level of competence of ict coordinators in the four competency domains 137 international peer reviewed journal pedagogical domain includes competencies related to the use of technology in the following components of an instruction process: 1) planning and designing effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology; 2) implementing, facilitating, monitoring teaching and learning strategies that integrate a range of information and communication technologies to promote and enhance student learning; and 3) assessing and evaluating student learning and performances. ict coordinators skillfully applied technology to develop students’ higher-order thinking skills and creativity. they adequately provide performance tasks that require students to locate and analyze information and to use a variety of media to communicate results. they also competently conduct open and flexible learning environments where technology is used to support a variety of interactions among students, cooperative learning, and peer instruction. they amply evaluate usage of ict integration in the teaching-learning process and the use results to refine and design to learning activities. they use computers and other technologies to collect and communicate information from students, colleagues, parents, and others. lastly, they sufficiently apply technology to facilitate a variety of appropriate assessment and evaluation strategies recognizing the diversity of learner. professional domains include competencies related to professional growth and development, research, innovation, and collaboration. ict coordinators in this domain basically engage in exploring and learning new and emerging technologies. they partially evaluate and reflect on the use of technology in the profession for development and innovation and partly share experiences and expertise, and halfway collaborate with peers and stakeholders in advancing the use of technology in education and beyond. the relationship between the socio-demographic profile of information and communications technology coordinators and their level of competence as can be gleaned in table 3, the mean score for male ict coordinators on technology operations and concept is 2.38, 2.18 for social and ethical, 1.71 for pedagogical and 1.64 for professional. on the other hand, female ict coordinators have a mean score of 2.14, 1.99, 1.62 and 1.33 respectively. there is a slight numerical difference on the mean score on how the male and female coordinators perceived their level of competence but when a chi-square test was performed to examine whether there is a relationship between the gender of ict coordinators and their level of competence in the four competency domains the result revealed and failed to indicate a significant relationship between gender 138 jpair multidisciplinary research and technology operations and concepts (chi-square value = 1.181, p = 0.554), social and ethical (chi-square value = 3.707, p = 0.157), pedagogical (chi-square value = 3.081, p = -0.214) and professional (chi-square value = 2.619, p = 0.270) respectively. this is an implication that both male and female ict coordinators had the same level of competence and gender is not an indicator of one’s capability especially in the field of information and communications technology. this finding corroborates with what danner (2013) had reported that there is no significant effect of gender on perceived ict competencies scores. he added that the perceived ict competencies mean of the males (m= 12.830) is higher than that of the females (m= 12.083); however, this difference is not significant enough to conclude that males perceive themselves to be more competent ict users than the females. table 3. the relationship between gender and competence level of ict coordinators competency domain male mean des. female mean des. chisquare value p technology operations and concepts 2.38 intermediate 2.14 intermediate 1.181 0.554 social and ethical 2.18 intermediate 1.99 intermediate 3.707 0.157 pedagogical 1.72 intermediate 1.62 basic 3.081 0.214 professional 1.64 basic 1.33 basic 2.619 0.270 age and its relationship with competence level of ict coordinators as shown in table 4, the correlation for technology operations and concepts, social and ethical, pedagogical had no or negligible relationship with a coefficient of -0.043, 0.054, 0.021 respectively and a weak negative relationship was found for professional domains with a coefficient of -0.235. further, results showed that age and competence level of ict coordinators has no significant relationship with a p value of 0.820 for technology operations and concepts, 0.779 for social and ethical, 0.913 for pedagogical and 0.212 for professional domain. these findings suggest that ict coordinators’ age has no or negligible relationship with their level of competence in the four competency domains. this implies that regardless of age, ict coordinators have the same or similar level of competence. 139 international peer reviewed journal the finding relates to the study of lam (2000) who found out that in determining whether there is a significant relationship between age and ict competence, no significant relationship was found with (f (8,458) =.846, p=.563). in the same vein, the study supported the hypothesis indicating no significant relationship between age and the level of competence of ict coordinators. table 4. the relationship between age and competence level of ict coordinators competency domain pearson r description p value  technology operations and concepts -0.043 no relationship 0.820  social and ethical 0.054 no relationship 0.779  pedagogical 0.021 no relationship 0.913  professional -0.235 weak negative 0.212 educational attainment and its relationship with competence level of ict coordinators it was found that educational attainment and technology operations concepts had a strong positive relationship with a coefficient of 0.402*, no or negligible relationship on social and ethical with a coefficient of 0.155, moderate positive relationship on pedagogical with a coefficient of 0.310 and weak positive relationship on professional domain with a coefficient of 0.262. this denotes a small relationship between the ict coordinators’ educational attainment and their competence level in the four competency domains. in addition, results also showed that ict coordinators’ level of competence in terms of educational attainment has no significant relationship in the four competency domains with a p value of 0.028, 0.412, 0.095 and 0.161 respectively. this points out that educational attainment is negligibly related to their level of competence in the four competency domains. this suggests that educational attainment is not a sufficient factor in determining the level of competence of an individual in any field of concentration. the result contradicts with moffatt (1961) who pointed out that education is charged with the responsibility of helping to build competence for individuals who take their place in the society. moreover, this fact relates to what borghans, green, and mayhew, (2001) ascribed on competence as worker’s level of formal education and that is most often used as a proxy for his/her level of professional competence because education is one of the mechanisms that promotes and develops workers’ professional competence. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. relationship between educational attainment and competence level of ict coordinators competency domain pearson r description p value  technology operations and concepts 0.402* strong positive relationship 0.028  social and ethical 0.155 no relationship 0.412  pedagogical 0.310 moderate positive relationship 0.095  professional 0.262 weak positive relationship 0.161 length of service and its relationship with competence level of ict coordinators table 6 shows the test of relationship between the length of service and the level of competence of ict coordinators in the four competency domains. it was revealed that length of service and ict coordinators’ competence level in the four competency domains had no correlation on the technology operations and concepts domain, social and ethical, pedagogical and professional domain with a coefficient of -0.191, 0.129, 0.128 and 0.115 respectively. this tended to mean that length of service had “no or negligible” relationship to their level of competence in the four competency domains. moreover, results project that length of service and level of competence of ict coordinators had no significant relationship with a p value of 0.311, 0.496, 0.499 and 0.554 respectively. this is a clear manifestation that length of service is not a basis for assessing competence in any career or role. it may insinuate that ict coordinators both new and old in the position can carry out the same task and obligation with the same level of competence. the result is similar to what wang (2006) find out that no significant relationships were derived to show academic orientation, professional development, and length of service in teaching mathematics as predictors of teaching competence. contradict to the findings of teacher ict skills (western australia dept. of education and training, 2006) that as teaching experience increases the average ict competence index score decreases, from a score of 59 for teachers with less than 1-year teaching experience to 49 for teachers with 20 plus years’ experience. the newer and younger teachers are bringing ict skills and knowledge to the profession, whereas the more experienced, and older, teachers are less likely to have ict skills. 141 international peer reviewed journal table 6. the relationship between length of service and competence level of ict coordinators competency domain pearson r description p value  technology operations and concepts -0.191 no relationship 0.311  social and ethical 0.129 no relationship 0.496  pedagogical 0.128 no relationship 0.499  professional 0.115 no relationship 0.554 plantilla position and its relationship with competence level of ict coordinators as can be gleaned in table 7, plantilla position and ict coordinators’ level of competence were correlated to determine the relationship. it was revealed that weak positive relationship was inferred on the technology operations and concepts with a coefficient of 0.247, no or negligible relationship on social and ethical domain with only 0.009 coefficient, no or negligible relationship on pedagogical domain with a coefficient of only 0.140 and 0.217 coefficient for professional domain which denotes a weak positive relationship. correspondingly, results also revealed that the level of competence of ict coordinators in terms of plantilla position had no significant relationship with a significance value of 0.188, 0.962, 0.462 and 0.250 respectively. as indicated in the study ict coordinators regardless of position perform the same in school as ict coordinator with fundamentally or absolutely the same level of competence. the finding is similar to what contessa (2012) emphasized that rank position was weakly correlated with individual competencies and aggregated scores for all competencies as measured by faculty evaluations. different from the result of the teacher ict skills journal (western australia dept. of education and training, 2006) that full-time teachers are significantly more competent in ict integration within learning than part-time / job share teachers (39% vs. 33%). table 7. the relationship between plantilla position and competence level of ict coordinators competency domain pearson r description p value  technology operations and concepts 0.247 weak positive 0.188  social and ethical 0.009 no relationship 0.962  pedagogical 0.140 no relationship 0.462  professional 0.217 weak positive 0.250 142 jpair multidisciplinary research test of difference on competence level of ict coordinators against the four competency domains as rated by ict coordinators and their administrators the descriptive analysis showing the mean score of the level of competence of ict coordinator as perceived by their school administrator and the ict coordinators was presented in table 8 and figure 9. ict coordinators had a high level of competence as perceived by the ict coordinators themselves and by their administrators in technology operations and concepts, social and ethical and pedagogical with a mean scores of 2.28 and 2.44, 2.02 and 2.15, and 1.75 and 1.85 respectively and had a low competence level in professional domain with a mean scores of 1.50 and 1.64. numerically, administrators had higher ratings than the ict coordinators. however, the result yields a clear manifestation that generally ict coordinators performed satisfactorily in their jobs. their level of competence is at the “intermediate level” as revealed when rated by themselves and by their administrators in the four competency domains. in the same table, it reveals that there is a significant difference between the ict coordinators’ competency level as rated by school administrator with regards to their perceptions on the level of competence of ict coordinators in terms of technology operations and concepts. on the contrary, social and ethical, pedagogical and professional domain have no significant difference. possessing such competence, ict coordinators are capable of imparting their knowledge and skills in the four competency domains not only to the students but also to their colleagues and to the school where they were stationed. it justifies what tearle (2003) highlighted that ict coordinators with strong technological and pedagogical proficiency would be the ideal and effective strategy in filling the role in staff development with reference to the staged approach. furthermore, wong (2008) had also stated that with highly proficient ict coordinators, peer teachers could benefit from working under their direction and learning from their expertise both pedagogical and technological to bridge the needs of education and technology. 143 international peer reviewed journal table 8. test of difference between the competence level of ict coordinator as perceived by the ict coordinators themselves and as perceived by their school administrators competency ict coordinator administrator t sig 5%  technology operations concepts  social and ethical  pedagogical  professional 2.28 2.02 1.75 1.50 2.44 2.15 1.85 1.64 -2.016* -1.239ns -.9310ns -1.103ns 0.048 0.220 0.356 0.275 legend: 1.0 – 1.6 (basic), 1.7 – 2.3 (intermediate) 2.4 – 3.0 (advanced) * – significant ns – not significant figure 11. graphical presentation of the level of competence of ict coordinators as rated by ict coordinators and administrator conclusion ict coordinators were intermediate on technology operations and concepts, social and ethical, and pedagogical domains, but less competent in 144 jpair multidisciplinary research professional domain as the result suggests. their demographic profiles are not a reliable basis for assessing their level of competence except for educational attainment which shows a very significant impact. comparative results on the level of competence of ict coordinators against the assessment of their school administrators revealed that the ict coordinators in the division of davao del sur possesses a high level of competence in technology operations and concepts. no similar studies have been conducted in the philippines in relation to ict coordinator. ict coordinator in the philippines is only a designation and not a position included in the personal services itemization and plantilla of personnel, which only means, there is no fixed job description for the said position. to effectively assess the level of competence of ict coordinators, their roles, duties, and functions must be properly defined based on their job description in the position description form that every permanent government official obtained upon appointment for a permanent position. therefore, the position ict coordinator should not remain as designation, but, should be included in the plantilla of personnel as a new regular item position. translational research the findings of this study may be best translated through the conduct of trainings and seminars to update the ict coordinators with new trends and techniques in teaching. likewise, the department of education may craft a policy to clearly define the roles and functions of ict coordinators in schools. literature cited asean (2011), “we’re stronger when we’re connected: asean ict masterplan 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(2016). thailand’s ict readiness for the asean economic community. electronic journal of information systems in the developing countries vol. 72, no. 8, pp. 1-21. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2016.tb00525.x https://goo.gl/c5m5no https://goo.gl/c5m5no https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/34945782 https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/34945782 https://goo.gl/zfqxsi https://goo.gl/oxdcjq https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/a:1012976702296 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/a:1012976702296 http://www.hraljournal.com/page/4%20wang,%20yu-che.pdf http://www.hraljournal.com/page/4%20wang,%20yu-che.pdf https://www.learntechlib.org/p/42209/ https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2016.tb00525.x https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2016.tb00525.x 178 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 a comprehensive approach to solve “distance cheating” in secondary schools in daraga, albay: an exploratory study imelda l. areola https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0748-2738 imeldaareola2023@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines arnel. m. bonganay arnelmb.pcc@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8906-0307 bicol college daraga, albay, philippines gerand o. buenaobra gerandbuenaobra8@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1286-223x bicol college daraga, albay, philippines christine a. armario christineaguilararmario062715@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5538-5713 bicol college daraga, albay, philippines ma. zenia m. cancisio zencancisio@gmail.com orcid no. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4738-741x bicol college daraga, albay, philippines vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.676 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:imeldaareola2023@gmail.com 179 international peer reviewed journal fatima n. dollison fatima.dollison1993@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5213-3081 bicol college daraga, albay, philippines leizel n. espineli leizespineli2015@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4300-8539 bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this is an exploratory study on the issue of “distance cheating” to propose a comprehensive approach to solving it. a survey conducted among high school students shows more than 64% ask help from parents to work on the modules, more than 56% ask others to work on the performance tasks, and more than 86% share answers with their classmates. the foundations of education were considered to analyze the results in a comprehensive way. considering the psychology of digital natives, this may mean changing the grading system, teaching strategies, and forms of assessment. the usual tests that stress memorization may no longer be the best way to evaluate learners since information is available on the internet. it is important to integrate lessons and encourage authentic interdisciplinary assessments to respond to actual issues and challenges they experience in their family, community, society, and the world. to minimize or disable the possibility of cheating, students may be given a choice to do it individually or in a group, propose the best way to express what they have learned in a lesson, with the endorsement of parents/guardians and the approval of the teacher. the rubric for performance tasks may be used for self-evaluation, peer evaluation, parent/ guardian evaluation, and teacher evaluation. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 180 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 keywords — education, evaluation, assessment, distance learning, curriculum, exploratory, philippines introduction due to the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic, educational institutions worldwide, from kindergartens to universities, were forced to close. to mitigate the spread of covid-19 among students, teachers, and parents through social contact, a blended or distance learning system was adopted. teachers and students had trouble coping with the new modality of learning as many students did not have access to the internet and the necessary gadgets. moreover, there were errors in the learning modules. the country was not fully prepared to respond to the pandemic, especially in the educational system. despite this, the department of education was all-out to make blended and distance learning a success in continuing the education of filipino learners. the sudden transition to a non-face-to-face learning system raised concerns not only about its educational quality and impact on students’ well-being but also its impact on academic integrity and academic performance. with the prevalence of virtual and distance learning, the great challenge to the teachers was how to make a course where the teaching-learning process was as close to a face-to-face course as possible. the greater challenge was how to ensure that students adhere to academic honesty and that the mission of the department of education to provide quality education is served. in academic ethics, issues such as plagiarism, cheating on exams, downloading papers from the internet, and submitting others’ papers are only a few of the many issues being tackled (emerald publishing, n.d.). in the study by alvarez (2022), the results showed that students usually cheat assignments, exams, and quizzes mainly due to stress and worry. academic dishonesty is most prevalent among senior high school and college students. most people who offer services to students’ academic requirements, called academic servers, are teachers, earning between php1,500.00 and php20,000.00 on a weekly basis from their clients, who pay an average of php500.00 per work. as a result, there was the low quality of education and poor integrity due to academic dishonesty questioning the effectiveness of online learning during the covid-19 pandemic in the philippines (aguilar, 2021). academic dishonesty has been a challenge in education, whether in a traditional classroom setting or distance learning in many academic institutions. 181 international peer reviewed journal to achieve quality education, we need to study the issue of “distance cheating” or academic dishonesty in distance education so we can understand it considering the essence of education in the 21st century. thus, we can explore a comprehensive approach to ensure that the required competencies are achieved in distance learning, blended learning, or education in all settings. objective of the study the study aimed to understand the issue of “distance cheating” or academic dishonesty in distance learning based on the result of a survey on moral integrity and academic performance of high school students and explore an approach involving the teachers, parents, and students to resolve the issue. methodology research design this study used the quantitative data from a survey on moral integrity and academic performance designed to explore the issue of “distance cheating” brought about by distance learning during the years of the covid pandemic. the items directly related to a possible “distance cheating” (falsely submitting an assignment completed by someone else) were chosen from the survey. participants the respondents to the study were fifty-three (53) junior and senior high school students (grades 7, 9, 10, 11, 12) from kilicao high school and rapurapu national high school in albay who were selected through convenience sampling based on availability and willingness to take part. instrumentation the researcher constructed a survey questionnaire on moral integrity and academic performance to investigate the issue of possible “distance cheating” brought about by distance learning due to the covid-19 pandemic situation. google form survey was used to gather and tabulate the pertinent data. the statistical treatment and graphs were auto-generated by google forms. this present research article used only the items relevant to a possible “distance cheating” based on the degree of independence and self-reliance in accomplishing tasks as well as sharing answers with others. 182 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 results and discussion results show that 30.2% very often, 13.2 % sometimes, 18.9 % rarely, and 1.9% always ask their parents to answer the modules, while 35.8% never ask their parents to answer them. figure 1. degree of independence in answering modules there is nothing wrong with asking for help from parents to answer the modules if, in the process, the students learned the lesson. what can be considered cheating is if the parents themselves are the ones answering the modules, so the students did not learn the lesson. figure 2 shows that 34% very often ask others to do the required performance task for them, 11.3% rarely, 9.4% sometimes, and 3.8% always ask others to work on the required tasks for them. figure 2. degree of self-reliance in performance tasks 183 international peer reviewed journal more than 58% ask others to work on the required performance tasks in varying frequencies, but most of them are very often. submitting a performance task done by others as one’s own is considered cheating. a performance task is supposed to show what the students learned, i.e., they would be able to perform the task by going through the process of studying the module, demonstrating at the same time how much was learned. figure 3 shows that 3.8% share their answers with classmates/friends, 35.8% very often, 17% sometimes, 30.2% rarely, and only 13.2% never share their answers with others. figure 3. degree of sharing answers in written exam/assessment more than 86% share answers with their classmates. sharing answers during an exam in a face-to-face classroom is considered “cheating.” a proctor is usually assigned to ensure students do not cheat by sharing answers, looking at their notes or books, or searching for answers online. the written exam is an individual assessment of the student’s learning. to analyze the results in a comprehensive way, the researcher analyzed them from the perspective of the foundations of education: philosophy, psychology, and sociology. the etymology of education is two latin words: educare (to draw out) and educere (to lead forth). education, based on the philosophy of st. thomas aquinas, is defined as the process of drawing out (educare) and leading forth (educere) a human person to the perfect state of a human person as a human being, the state of virtue (areola, 2021). the cultural and social changes brought 184 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 about by the advances in information technology also changed young people’s learning styles and values. there is a need to study the psychology of learning of gen z (born between the years 1995-2010) to discover new ways of teaching and learning that would develop in them the knowledge, skills, and character qualities necessary to face the challenges of the 21st century. sociology is another basic force that influences the content and organization of the curriculum. with the social and cultural changes brought about by the information age, it is necessary to adapt the curriculum to prepare the students for the challenges of the 21st century. in other words, we need to know 21st-century learning and teaching. a report to unesco of the international commission on education for the twenty-first century entitled learning: the treasure within identified the four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be (unesco, 1996). authentic assessments allowing them to apply what they learned in their personal, family, and social life would be better. education should help learners to be attentive to their or other people’s needs and problems and use their knowledge, skills, and values to respond. in his book the educational imagination, eisner (1994) enumerated the features of new assessment in education; the tasks used to assess what students know and can do need to reflect the tasks they will encounter in the world outside of schools, not merely limited to the schools themselves; the tasks used to assess students should reveal how students go about solving a problem, not only the solutions they formulated; assessment tasks should reflect the values of the intellectual community from which these tasks are derived; assessment tasks need not be limited to solo performance. many of the most important tasks we undertake require group effort; new assessment tasks should make possible more than one acceptable solution to a problem and more than one acceptable answer to a question; assessment tasks should have curricular relevance but not be limited to the curriculum as taught; assessment tasks should require students to display a sensitivity to configuration or wholes, not simply to discrete elements; assessment tasks should permit the students to select a form of representation he or she chooses to use to display what has been learned. it is also important to assess learning in context, use multiple measures with sensitivity to individual differences, and apply assessment for the student’s benefit (gardner, 2006). the psychology of learners, which includes their learning styles and values, is a determinant of the content and organization of the curriculum. for education 185 international peer reviewed journal to be relevant and effective, there is a need to know the learning styles, traits, attitudes, and values of the present generation. the learning styles of gen z are the following: social, mobile, global, digital, and visual. this means that they learn not just in the classroom; since they are connected to social media and the world wide web, thus they need digital skills. they learn best through what they see in pictures and images (visual). whether in face-to-face classes or distance learning, there are students who cheat in exams, plagiarize, or submit the output of performance tasks done by someone else. however, the conditions created by distance learning make cheating easier and more rampant. what could be the reason for cheating? lack of time, procrastination, lack of comprehension, lack of study habits, having a job, low self-esteem, and having the desire to get better marks were the reasons why students committed academic misconduct (san jose, 2022). according to a recent graduate of k-12, students cheat because of their desire to get a high grade due to pressure from parents or pressure they impose on themselves. their goal is to get high grades whether they learn or not. what made the students think that grades matter more than actual learning? this is an important question to be reflected on by curriculum developers and educators. there may be a need to revisit the philosophy of education to understand the root of the problem so that an appropriate solution can be discovered. the curriculum is supposed to be a means to draw out all the good potential of a human person by providing the right conditions in an educational environment for each student to discover his or her unique talents and qualities. this then enables students to develop with passion for becoming the best version of themselves and, in the process, maximize their contribution to improving the society and the world we live in, fulfilling their mission in life (areola, 2021). what are grades for? parents, teachers, and students need to understand what grades are for so as not to be grade conscious or give the impression that the value of the learner depends on their academic grades. grades give information on whether the student achieved the objectives of the lessons or not or the degree of learning the lessons. what matters is that the students learn what is required and even beyond. if they got a low grade or failed, it means intervention is needed for them to cope with academic requirements. what should not be done is to put so much emphasis on the grades rather than on actual learning. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conclusion the sociocultural changes brought about by information age require rethinking the present system in distance education. what has been considered as “cheating” in the traditional classroom setting (asking others for help in answering worksheets, asking others to work on a performance task, sharing answers with classmates during the exam) may not necessarily be considered academic dishonesty considering the specific situations or circumstances in distance learning. the usual forms of assessment in a traditional classroom setting may no longer be effective in evaluating the competencies of the students in distance learning in the 21st century. there is also a need to check whether the present system facilitates authentic education. it seems that getting a high grade for its sake is valued more than what a high grade represents. what could have led to this attitude of valuing high grades more than learning is that grades are used for comparison by ranking students and giving academic awards. grades are also used as the basis for qualifications to enter a university or hire for a job. since each human person is unique and endowed with specific talents, traits, and qualities needed for a particular purpose or mission in life, there is no room for comparison and competition. this is a fundamental principle to be considered in the curriculum. a human person is a unique individual; therefore, an educator would need to consider this reality by providing personalized education and differentiated instruction as much as possible. a one-size-fits-all curriculum leads to practices that expect every learner to meet the same objectives, outcomes, or standards overlooking the uniqueness of each one. as a result, education could dehumanize instead of liberate and hinder instead of facilitate each learner’s flourishing. parents as primary educators and teachers as secondary educators have the responsibility to help learners discover their unique gifts and nurture them so those unique gifts would be developed to optimize their use to fulfill their mission in life. in this case, everyone should treat each person with unconditional positive regard, recognize the potential, and appreciate each one’s contribution through their gifts with gratitude and love. this kind of educational environment will encourage each one to learn with a sense of discovery. they will study with curiosity, adventure, and fulfillment in their achievements while helping others to do the same. a spirit of collaboration instead of comparison and competition is the 21st-century skill that would be 187 international peer reviewed journal developed, enabling them to face the present and future challenges in society and the world. if it is clear to stakeholders that the learner is the protagonist of learning and the role of parents and teachers is to facilitate the learner to discover the unique gifts and support to develop them so that they would be able to fulfill the specific purpose or mission in life, the learner would have an intrinsic motivation to learn with joy. in this condition, cheating would make no sense. recommendation this may mean changing not only the grading system but also the teaching strategies and forms of assessment. after one academic year of distance learning, we can learn from our experience. the usual exams or tests that stress the skill of memorization may no longer be the best way to evaluate learners, who have long questioned the need to remember a large amount of information to pass tests. with the advancement in information technology, a vast amount of information is available to them on the internet to solve many of the problems they can encounter in real-life situations. it would be better to give authentic assessments which allow them to apply what they learned in their personal, family, and social life. the curriculum should be such that the learners are educated to be attentive to their or other people’s needs and problems and use their knowledge, skills, and values to respond effectively. it is important to integrate lessons from the different subjects and encourage interdisciplinary assessments applying what they have learned to respond to actual problems and challenges they experience in their family, community, society, and the world. the study recommended further research on the production of distance cheating using mixed methods. translational research curriculum developers and module writers can use a comprehensive approach to prevent “distance cheating” or academic dishonesty in 21st-century education, considering the foundations of education: philosophy, psychology, and sociology. the assessments can be designed in such a way that the possibility of cheating is disabled or minimized. this can be achieved through authentic assessments that provide opportunities to apply learning to real life. employing differentiated instruction to personalize education, students may be given a choice to do it individually or in a group. they may also be 188 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 given a chance to propose the best way to apply and express what they have learned in a lesson, with the endorsement of parents/guardians and the approval of the teacher. the students will acquire the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. a rubric for performance tasks may be used for self-evaluation, peer evaluation, parent/ guardian evaluation, and teacher evaluation. the corroborated evaluation of all persons involved will provide an authentic assessment of the knowledge, skills, and values for the required competencies. literature cited aguilar, m. g. (2021). academic dishonesty in the philippines: the case of 21st century learners and teachers.  international journal of management, technology, and social sciences, 6(1), 306-313. alvarez, h., dayrit, r., dela cruz, m., jocson, c., mendoza, r., reyes, a., & salas, j. (2022). academic dishonesty cheating in synchronous and asynchronous classes: a proctored examination intervention.  international research journal of science, technology, education, and management,  2(1), 110-122. areola, i. l., manzano, v. u., muega, m. b. a., muega, m. a. g., calingasan, l. y., pedrajita, j. q., & evangelista, f. j. n. (2021). reconstructing eisner’s model in evaluating christian moral education in catholic secondary schools. college of education, university of the philippines diliman. eisner, e. w. (1994). the educational imagination: on the design and evaluation of school programs. prentice hall. emerald publishing. (n.d.). academic ethics and integrity. http://bit.ly/3jfusmc gardner, h. (2006).  the development and education of mind. taylor & francis limited. san jose, a. e. (2022). academic integrity of students during the covid-19 pandemic: a mixed method analysis.  european journal of education and pedagogy, 3(4), 97-103. 189 international peer reviewed journal unesco. (1996). learning: the treasure within; report to unesco of the international commission on education for the twenty-first century (highlights). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590 165 international peer reviewed journal abstract the philippines has felt the need of brilliant leaders that would impact growth and development of the country. thus, this study determined the influence of cognitive skills on the core values of students. specifically, it aimed to determine: 1) respondents’ characteristics considering self-awareness, stress – coping skills, self – motivation, environmental influences such as family, peer and media; and academic performance; 2) students’ cognitive skills; 3) level of students’ core values; 4) difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to their characteristics; and 5) extent of contribution of the students’ cognitive skills on their core values. this descriptive research used simple random sampling method, descriptive and inferential statistics. results showed that students have good stress coping skills, self-motivation, family and peer relationships. their overall cognitive skills and core values are fair and good, respectively. students with good family and peer influence, high academic performance have significantly higher cognitive skills and core values. their cognitive skills also positively affect core values. there is hope for a much better performance as they are rated good in core values given that the respondents are still grade 9. with proper intervention, they could assume leadership roles and be highly competitive leaders. vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.464 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. the influence of cognitive skills on the core values of science class students glenda demata – libed http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6643-4467 glendalibed@ustp.edu.ph mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city, philippines 166 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords – education, psychology, cognitive skills, core values, science class, descriptive design, cagayan de oro city, philippines introduction philippine history is replete with brilliant leaders who have contributed to the growth and development of the country. they have proven themselves to have accomplished many things for the good of many people in the country. it would be ideal, therefore, to form young people and mold them to take over the helms of the elders. to do this, one has to look up to education to produce the kind of leaders needed for the 21st century. according to branson and quigley (1998), education and development go hand in hand. a country is developed only when its citizens are also educated. it can be inferred that formators in schools are challenged to form adolescents to become competent leaders, balancing their cognitive abilities and good values. thus, this study determined whether the students from the public schools, particularly, the grade 9 science class, have developed their leadership skills along with two other skills such as collaborative skills and social competence. cagayan de oro secondary schools aspire to produce leaders who will someday become leaders of the society. thus, some public schools come up with a science class which is composed of selected students who will have the promise of leadership, not only in academics, but also in other areas needed for them to have their skills in leadership. being in the science class means that there are high expectations and challenge for them to be able to retain their standing in academics, requiring high cognitive ability such as critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving skills. but will these cognitive skills contribute to the leadership, collaborative and social competence of these students? do they possess the core values expected of young people, the hope of the fatherland? supporting the revised curriculum program of values education now called edukasyon sa pagpapakatao, the core values are stated as follows: pagninilay (reflection), pagsangguni (consulting), pagpapasya (decision-making), pagkilos (action) and pag-unawa (understanding). the identified values in this study: leadership, collaborative skills and social competence require the core values of edukasyon sa pagpapapakatao, i.e., reflection, consulting, understanding, decision-making and action. 167 international peer reviewed journal in like manner, the said values align with the skills needed for students to master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century and beyond (pacific policy research center, 2010). the researcher has observed that students from the science class belonged to a high academic performing class in school but seem not to have acquired the value of socialization needed for their total development. thus, the department of education, through the teachers and other formators in school is now challenged to bring not only academics but also inculcate in them balance in their student life. thus, this study is conceptualized to hopefully respond to the needs of the 21st century, particularly, leaders with balanced capacities and skills. framework the study is anchored on kurt lewin’s (1951) field theory which refers to the “totality of psychological factors acting at any particular moment to determine a behavior”. it examines patterns of interaction between the individual and the total field or environment. lewin’s field theory can be expressed by a formula: b = f (p,e). behavior (b) being the function between the person (p) and their environment (e). furthermore, the interaction of the person (p), and the environment (e) produces this life space. in symbolic expression, b=ƒ(ls)=f(p,e). the environment as demonstrated in the life space, refers to the objective situation in which the person perceives and acts. the life space environment (e) is completely subjective within each context as it depends not only on the objective situation, but also on the characteristics of the person (p). it is necessary to consider all aspects of a person’s conscious and unconscious environment to map out the person’s life space. the combined state, influenced by the environment as well as the person’s perspective, conscious, and unconscious, must be viewed as a whole. while each part can be viewed as a separate entity, to observe the totality of the situation one must take all inputs into consideration. lewin applied the term person in three different ways: 1) properties/ characteristics of the individual (needs, beliefs, values, abilities); 2) a way of representing essentially the same psychological facts of “life space” itself; and 3) “the behaving self ”. moreover, any change within the life space is subject to psychological laws. accordingly, an action of the person (p) nor a change in the environment (e) resulting from the said action, can be considered behavior (b). these behaviors can make large or small influences on the totality of the life space. regardless, they must be taken into consideration. 168 jpair multidisciplinary research through lewin’s theory (lohmann & medina, n.d.), the study attempted to find out if it can explain the effect of cognitive skills on the core values of grade 9 science class students in selected schools of cagayan de oro city during the sy 2014 2015. the personal characteristics and environmental forces of the respondents in the study comprise the entire life space as described by lewin in his theory. the personal characteristics items looked at the following: self –awareness, stress coping skills, self-motivation, academic performance and the cognitive skills such as critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving skills. it also includes the core value variables such as leadership, collaborative skills and social competence that can be considered the subjects’ potential for the actual performance of the said core values. the environmental forces, however, include the environmental influences such as family, peers and media. this is further supplemented by the ecological systems theory of urie bronfebrenner which states that persons encounter different environments throughout their life span that may influence their behaviors in varying degrees. these include microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, macrosystem and the chronosystem. in this study, the microsystem supports the main theory of kurt lewin’s environmental forces such that according to bronfebrenner (lau & ng, 2014), the microsystem is the direct environment the persons have in their lives such as family, friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors and other people who have direct contact with the person. it is the setting in which they have direct social interactions with these social agents. moreover, the theory states that persons are not mere recipients of the experiences that they have when socializing with these people in the microsystem environment but they are contributing to the construction of such environment. furthermore, exosystem also contributes in part such that this environment includes the influence of mass media on the person (kail & cavanaugh, 2015). researches state that cognitive skills continue to have strong association with various aspects of leadership and effectiveness (pardey, 2007). pagon, banutai & bizjak (2008) also states that competencies of a leader include cognitive, social abilities, some other personal characteristics that can be helpful in performing varied functions, gaining required knowledge and achieving good results. every competency is based on a combination of mutually linked cognitive and practical skills, knowledge, motivation, orientation values, beliefs, emotions, and other social and behavioral components, applicable as a whole in an efficient activity. 169 international peer reviewed journal moreover, goleman (2005) in his article entitled, “what makes a leader”. his study revealed that most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. iq being part of the rational skill is considered a “the entry-level requirements”. moreover, his research along with other studies he consulted clearly shows that emotional intelligence is absolutely necessary for leadership. without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still will not make a great leader (ovans, 2015.) objectives of the study the study attempted to determine the influence of cognitive skills on the core values of grade 9 science class students in the selected schools of cagayan de oro city during sy 2014 – 2015. particularly, this study aimed to determine: 1) the respondents’ characteristics considering the following : self-awareness, stress –coping skills, self – motivation, environmental influence (family, peer, media), academic performance; 2) students’ cognitive skills in terms of the following: critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, problem solving skills; 3) the students’ level of core values on the bases of the following: leadership, collaborative skills, social competence; 4) significant differences in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to: self-awareness, stress – coping skills, self-motivation, environmental influence (family, peers, media) and academic performance; and 5) the extent of contribution / effect of the cognitive skills on the students’ core values. methodology research design this study employed the descriptive method. moreover, it involved hypothesis formulation and testing, uses logical method of inductive – deductive reasoning to arrive at generalization, employed method of sampling, and described the variables and procedures so that the study can be replicated. this method is considered to be fitting for this research as it will include description and analysis of the effect of cognitive skills on the core values of grade 9 science class students from the selected schools in cagayan de oro city during the sy 2014 – 2015. 170 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted to the students belonging to the grade 9 science class of in cagayan de oro city for sy 2014 – 2015. the total number samples were taken through simple random sampling of 305 (n = 581) two of which were discarded due to incomplete details in the forms making a total of 303 from cagayan de oro national high school, regional science high school and the misamis oriental general comprehensive high school. the researcher herself sees the value of balance between the adolescents’ intelligence such as having high academic performance with the values of leadership, social competence and collaborative skills. this will greatly prepare this type of students with the future challenge since this may imply high potential for them to assume leadership roles. moreover, the three secondary schools are in the process of strongly anchoring its services in the guidance and counseling department to be able to cater to these type of students. currently, there are approximately 8 10 guidance counselors in the three schools who handle these services. research participants the participants of this study are the 303 grade 9 students from the science class chosen from among 3 public schools in the city. table 1. table showing the distribution of respondents name of school n n regional science high school 201 105 cagayan de oro national high school 188 98 misamis oriental general comprehensive high school 192 100 total estimated subjects 581 303 instrumentation this study used an instrument called self-survey questionnaire comprising of three forms for the students. survey form 1 will yield responses on: name, name of school, date of survey; and average grade during the first quarter of sy 2014 – 2015. secondly, it will require the subject’s responses on series of statements that best describe their beliefs, attitude and practices as a student of regional science high school, cagayan de oro national high school and misamis oriental general comprehensive high school. 171 international peer reviewed journal they are then asked to mark check (/) their best answer on the space under the column of their choice marked and coded with letters a, b, c, d after each statement. their answers will be treated with utmost confidentiality this part of the form will yield responses for the variables (a-1) selfawareness,(a-2) stress coping skills, a-3) self-motivation, (a-4) environmental influences such as (a-4.1) family, (a-4.2) peers and (a-4.3) media, (a-5) cognitive skills such as (a-5.1) creative thinking and (a-5.2) problem solving skills and the core values such as (a-6) leadership, (a-7) collaborative skills and (a-8) social competence. survey form 2 is a critical thinking skill test. the test is divided into four parts called tests 1 to 4. test 1 measures inference. this part has ten (10) items. this requires the ability of the students to discriminate among degrees of truth or falsity of inferences drawn from given data. the exercise begins with a statement of facts which you are to regard as true. after each statement of facts they will have several possible inferences – that is, conclusions which some persons might make from the stated facts. they will then examine each inference separately, and make a decision as to its degree of truth or falsity and write the following: t if you think the inferences is true pt if its probably true id if you think there are insufficient data pf if you think the inferences is probably false; and f if you think the inference is definitely false test 2 measures deduction. there are ten (10) items in this part. these are items requiring the ability to reason deductively from given statement or premises: to recognize the relations of implication between propositions; to determine whether what may seem to be an implication or a necessary inference from given premises is indeed such. in this test, each item consists of two statement (premises) followed by several suggested conclusions. for this test, the subject is asked to consider the two statements in each exercise as true without exception. they are then asked to read the first conclusion beneath the statements. if they think it’s necessary they follow from the statements given, and write letter a. if they think it is not a necessary conclusion from the given statements, they are asked to write letter b, in the corresponding blank in each item. test 3 measures interpretation. there are ten (10) items in this part. these are items requiring the ability to weigh evidence and to distinguish between (a) 172 jpair multidisciplinary research generalization from given data that are warranted beyond a reasonable doubt, and (b) generalizations which, although not certain or necessary, do seem to be warranted beyond a reasonable doubt. for the purpose of this test, they are asked to assume that everything in the short paragraph is true. the problem is to judge whether or not each of the proposed conclusion logically follows beyond a reasonable doubt from the information given in the paragraph. if they think that the proposed conclusion follows beyond a reasonable doubt (even though it may not follow absolutely and necessarily), then they are asked to write a. if they think that the conclusion does not follow beyond reasonable doubt from the facts given, then they are asked to write b in the corresponding blank in each item. test 4 is on synthesis. this contains ten (10) items. these are items requiring the ability to apply concepts in a new setting, or the combination of ideas to form a new whole. there are two directions for this part of the test. first, they are asked to choose the trait most appropriate in the given situations described and write their answers on the space provided before each of them. the second part asks them to make sensible comparisons. there are four sentences are stated in the left column. in the right are phrases to complete the sentences. they are asked to choose the phrase that best completes each comparison. moreover, they are asked to write only the letter on the blank. the survey form 3 is a supplementary questionnaire stated in a table form given to the top 5 and lowest 5 grade 9 students from a science class in a particular school. the respondents are asked to state what they understood from the terms mentioned in the column specifying all the variables considered in this study. they are asked to provide brief and concise answers. lastly, survey form 4 for teachers and counselors. the survey supplements the data / information gathered among grade 9 science class students. there are four (4) major columns. the header in column 1 states the key words to guide them in answering. header 2 states the teacher / counselor’s response – answer – either by checking (/) if the grade 9 science class students were able to acquire them and putting an (x) if they did not. header 3 states the instance or example for which they are required to state to supplement their answer under colum / header 2. at the last column they are asked to suggest what might be the best intervention to further enhance or develop them in the skills they stated the respondents have or have not. 173 international peer reviewed journal statistical technique descriptive statistical tools consisting of the mean and percentage were utilized. means and percentages were also used to check the respondents’ core values on the bases of leadership, collaborative and social competence. t-test and f-test were used to compare and test the significant differences of the dependent variables such as cognitive skills when grouped according to self-awareness, stress coping skills, self-motivation, environmental influences and academic performance; and linear regression was used to measure the extent of contribution or the direct effect of cognitive skills on the respondents’ core values. results and discussion the overall rating of the grade 9 science class students characteristics is good in the following: stress coping skills (mean= 2.97); self-motivation (mean=3.13); family influence (mean=3.40); peer influence (mean= 3.14); fair in self-awareness (2.78) and media influence (2.41) ; and advanced in academic performance (90.43). the cognitive skills level of the respondents, specifically, in critical thinking is poor (mean=1.58); creative thinking skills is good (mean=2.92); and problem solving skills is fair (2.79) with an overall cognitive level of fair (mean=2.44). the fair perception level means the respondents have below satisfactory level in acquiring the overall cognitive skills. this may imply that they need to work harder in acquiring these skills as they are highly needed to remain in the science class. moreover, reis and renzulli (2014) cited that gifted behavior consists of behaviors that reflect an interaction among the three basic clusters of human traits--above average ability, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity. lastly, a lot of teens really do not know yet how to solve their problems properly (kadir, abdullah, anthony, salleh & kamarulzaman, 2016). successful problem solving requires intellectual skills, verbal knowledge, and cognitive strategies. the research further suggests that these capabilities are learned and, thus, will vary among adolescents, but these can be improved with proper training and instruction. the overall good rating means that the respondents have satisfactorily acquired leadership, collaborative skills and social competence. however, being adolescents themselves who belonged to the science class of grade 9, there are 174 jpair multidisciplinary research more opportunities in school and even outside of school from where they could improve more the core values. the study of martinek schilling and hellison (2006) states that the nurturing begins early in life and becomes especially vital during the adolescent years. findings show both academic competence and other constructs predict leadership as stated by the teachers (schneider, paul, white & holcombe, 2000). stichter, christ,  herzog,  odonnell and oconnor (2016) states on the enhancement of social competence which reflected positive effects on social relations with peers among adolescents. table 2 state distribution of test statistics on the significant differences in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to selfawareness. it is revealed that those students with good or higher self-awareness have significantly higher or better cognitive skills, creative thinking, problem solving and core values such as leadership, collaborative skill and social competence than their fair group counterpart. these findings may imply that the respondents significantly differ in both cognitive skills and core values given their level of awareness with themselves. the better they rate themselves in self-awareness, the higher are the levels of their overall cognitive skills and core values. the study of m. rutter and m. rutter (1993) states that this transition from childhood to adulthood is also characterized by dramatic changes in identity, self-consciousness and cognitive flexibility. furthermore, there seems to be a qualitative shift in the nature of thinking such that adolescents are more selfaware and self-reflective than prepubescent children. 175 international peer reviewed journal table 2 . distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to selfawareness dependent variables self-awareness t valuegood [n=169] fair [n=134] x desc x desc cognitive skills creative thinking skills problem solving skills critical thinking skills 2.97 2.93 1.61 g g p 2.87 2.68 1.53 g f p 2.31* 4.14** 1.53ns overall 2.50 f 2.36 f 4.04** core values leadership skills collaborative skills social competence 3.17 3.33 3.09 g g g 2.99 3.16 2.94 g g g 4.51** 3.67** 4.00** overall 3.20 g 3.03 g 4.75** g = good f= fair p= poor *=significant **=highly significant ns= not significant table 3 states the distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to family influences. students with very good or higher evaluation in terms of family influence have the tendency to have a higher or better overall cognitive skills – critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving skills and core values such as leadership, collaborative skill and social competence than their good, fair and poor counterpart. the leadership group tends to be higher in internal locus of control, to live in a more stable family structure and to have more prestigious career goals. 176 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to family influence dependent variables family influence t valuevery good [n=106] good, fair, poor [n=197] x desc x desc cognitive skills creative thinking skills problem solving skills critical thinking skills 3.04 2.96 1.66 g g p 2.86 2.74 1.53 g f p 4.21* 3.38** 2.31* overall 2.55 f 2.38 f 4.76** core values leadership skills collaborative skills social competence 3.22 3.44 3.20 g g g 3.02 3.15 2.93 g g g 4.69** 6.23** 6.93** overall 3.28 g 3.04 g 7.05** g = good f= fair p= poor *=significant **=highly significant table 4 states the distribution statistics on the significant difference on the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to peer influence. those students with very good/good or higher evaluation in peer influence have the tendency to have significantly higher or better in the overall cognitive skills, creative thinking, problem solving and core values such as leadership, collaborative skill and social competence than their fair group counterpart. moreover, even if the critical thinking skills show no significant difference yet, the good, very good group has a tendency to be higher than their fair counterpart. 177 international peer reviewed journal table 4. distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to peer influence dependent variables peer influence t value good very good [n=238] fair [n=65] x desc x desc cognitive skills creative thinking skills problem solving skills critical thinking skills 2.96 2.86 1.59 g g p 2.80 2.69 1.55 g f p 2.31** 4.14* 1.53ns overall 2.47 f 2.35 f 4.04** core values leadership skills collaborative skills social competence 3.13 3.32 3.08 g g g 2.93 3.03 2.84 g g g 3.99** 5.29** 5.14** overall 3.17 g 2.93 g 5.69** g = good f= fair p= poor *=significant **=highly significant ns = not significant table 5 states the distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to media influence, those students with higher (good) evaluation in media influence have the tendency to be higher in cognitive skills such as creative and problem solving skills and the core values such as leadership, collaborative skills and social competence than their fair group counterpart. moreover, the better the media influence the respondents, the higher are their overall cognitive skills than their fair group counterpart. for the core values, the better (good group) their media influence is, the higher is their tendency to have better leadership, collaborative and social competence than their fair counterpart. 178 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to media influence dependent variables media influence t valuegood [n=123] fair [n=180] x desc x desc cognitive skills creative thinking skills problem solving skills critical thinking skills 3.01 2.91 1.60 g g p 2.87 2.76 1.56 g f p 3.32** 2.34* 0.67ns overall 2.51 f 2.40 f 2.95** core values leadership skills collaborative skills social competence 3.13 3.28 3.06 g g g 3.06 3.24 3.00 g g g 1.61ns 0.89ns 1.60ns overall 3.16 g 3.10 g 1.57ns g = good f= fair p= poor *=significant **=highly significant ns = not significant table 6 states the distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to academic performance. those students with good or higher (advance level) academic performance have the tendency to be higher or better on the overall cognitive skills (creative thinking, problem solving) and core values such as leadership, collaborative skill and social competence than the beginning to proficient group counterpart. 179 international peer reviewed journal table 6. distribution of test statistics on the significant difference in the students’ cognitive skills and core values when grouped according to academic performance dependent variables academic performance t valueadvanced (90-100) [n=228] beginning to proficient (89 & below) [n=75] x desc x desc cognitive skills creative thinking skills problem solving skills critical thinking skills 2.94 2.88 1.61 g g p 2.92 2.80 1.57 g f p 0.37ns 1.16ns 0.59ns overall 2.48 f 2.43 f 1.10ns core values leadership skills collaborative skills social competence 3.11 3.31 3.06 g g g 3.08 3.23 3.01 g g g 0.70ns 0.57ns 1.13ns overall 3.16 g 3.11 g 1.32ns g = good f= fair p= poor ns = not table 7 shows the test of the extent of contribution / effect of the students’ cognitive skills on their core values through simple regression analysis. it shows that regression model: y = 1.797 + 0.53x1 is highly significant. the coefficient of a or y-intercept or core values of the respondents is 1.797. this indicates that when cognitive skills is 0, core values is predicted to have 1.797. table 7. test of the extent of contribution of the students’ cognitive skills on their core values through simple regression analysis independent variable dependent variable regression model f significance cognitive skills core values ŷ=1.797 + 0.53x1 125.17 ** highly significant multiple r = 0.54 constant = 1.797 f value = 125.17 adjusted r2 = 0.29 beta coefficient = 0.53 p value = 0.0000021 level of significance --> highly significant 180 jpair multidisciplinary research the coefficient of b or cognitive skills of the respondents is +.53. this means that for every unit increase or improvement in the cognitive skills of the respondents, their core values increases by .53. the value of r is equal to .54. this indicates that cognitive skills and core values of the grade 9 students in the science class coming from the three schools – cagayan de oro national high school, regional science high school and misamis oriental general comprehensive high school (moghs) are positively related in terms of linear relationship. the adjusted r2 on the other hand is equal to .29 which signifies that 29% of the total variation in the core values of the respondents can be explained by their cognitive skills and 71% is due to other factors. other factors like self-awareness, stress-coping skills, self-motivation, environmental influences and academic performance which were mentioned in the problem may explain the variation in core values – leadership, collaborative skills and social competence. the overall result in f-values states a highly significant difference. the cognitive skills have significant effect/contribution to the core values of the respondents. furthermore, it can be inferred that the higher will be the cognitive skills of the respondents, the higher or better will their core values be. daniel goleman in 1995 released the phenomenal study on emotional intelligence. it states that cognitive abilities include the complete package of rational and emotional mind. in this study, the rational mind has something to do with the capacity to think critically, creatively and capacity to solve problems from where they are rated at a fair level in the overall cognitive skills, yet their capacity to overcome or cope with stress and emotional experience can relate much to what daniel goleman stated since they are generally good at it. in fact, it compensates or may balance the fair rating in cognitive skills which may imply a positive effect or linear relationship to their capacity to lead requiring social competence and collaborative skills. conclusions the grade 9 science class students in the selected schools of cagayan de oro city, philippines during the sy 2014 – 2015 have generally acquired substantial grounding in the following: stress-coping skills, self-motivation, family influence, peer influence; creative thinking skills problems solving skills but poor in critical thinking and need to improve more in self – awareness and media influence. 181 international peer reviewed journal however, what needs to be attended to and really focused on in the formation of this group of students is their critical thinking skills which rated them markedly at the poor level which implies inadequacy in the said aspect of the cognitive skills. this may imply a need for further activities and exposure that may challenge and awaken this higher order thinking skills of the respondents. despite that, the overall cognitive skills have a significant influence on the students’ core values. the other personal characteristics have indirect positive effect. moreover, the findings can be explained by the theory on life space by lewin (lohmann, a., & medina, a., n.d.) such that accordingly, an action of the person (p) nor a change in the environment (e) resulting from said action, can be considered behavior (b). given the result from the characteristics of the person combining the environmental influences and the cognitive aspects, these have an impact on the behaviors, particularly, stated in the core values which have an influence on the totality of their being as grade 9 students from the science class. with all the variables taken in this study, it can also be inferred how cognitive abilities can be translated into a behavior which may build or berate oneself, a challenge that can also be dealt with particularly with the respondents in this study. lastly, there is hope for a much better performance as they are rated good in core values given that the respondents are still in grade 9. with proper intervention and preparation in the k-12 program of the department of education, they can assume leadership roles in the future and be highly competitive in such skill balancing them with intelligence and right attitude. translational research this research could be presented into an instructional and training modules for teachers and students in critical thinking, creative, problem solving skills, leadership, collaborative and social competence. the modules will first be given to teachers who will initially prepare them to implement and translate those skills in the classroom. acknowledgments this piece of research endeavor would not have been possible without the generosity, hard work and commitment to the ideals of education of the honorable visionary president fr. roberto c. yap, sj for the approval of the financing of 182 jpair multidisciplinary research this research through the kinaadman support for student research; dr. ester l. raagas, director of the kinaadman research center of xavier university, whose initial approval of the financing of this study paved the way to the approval of financial support; the superintendents of the divisions of cagayan de oro and misamis oriental, elena m. borcillo, ceso vi and dr. cherry mae l. limbaco, ceso v, the principals of cdo national high school and regional science high school, dr. gina f. labitad and mr. marlon c. seriňa, teachers of the schools included in this study such as horigel abella, reyna grace toletol (cdonhs science class advisers), marie christine antipala (moghs), analou sobremisana (rshs) for the assistance in the data gathering of the study. literature cited branson, m. s., & quigley, c. n. 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(2016). exploring the role of executive functioning measures for social competence research. assessment for effective intervention, 41(4), 243-254. doi:10.1177/1534508416644179 93 international peer reviewed journal enhancing social and emotional learning (sel) competencies among education students through the “share a book, wake a thought (sabwat)” activity angela c. napa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2696-8541 angela.napa@ub.edu.ph university of batangas batangas city, philippines edward e. babasa http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6784-3844 edward.babasa@ub.edu.ph university of batangas batangas city, philippines efsica a. maranan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9545-4934 efsica.maranan@ub.edu.ph university of batangas batangas city, philippines arceli g. gilera http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4464-6917 arceli.gilera@ub.edu.ph university of batangas batangas city, philippines vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.471 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:angela.napa@ub.edu.ph mailto:edward.babasa@ub.edu.ph mailto:efsica.maranan@ub.edu.ph 94 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 judith asistin http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3260-3095 judith.asistin@ub.edu.ph university of batangas batangas city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the holistic development of every learner is one vital aim of schools. thus, the college of education of the university of batangas maintains and enhances students’ intellectual, physical and socio-emotional growth and development through developmentally-appropriate activities such as the share a book wake a thought (sabwat) project. this research intended to enhance the social and emotional learning competencies of the student-donors of the books and eventually improve the ways the sabwat activity would be handled in the next years. it utilized the descriptive research design with a self-constructed questionnaire as the main data gathering tool based on the collaborative for academic, social and emotional learning (casel) frameworks. it also used focus group discussion to verify the information gathered. using stratified random sampling, the researchers selected 111 student-respondents out of the 235 enrolled students in the college of education. the researchers used descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. the findings revealed that the education students, after being involved in the sabwat activity, gained social awareness, self-awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and self-management skills; the manifested application of these competencies in life. major issues and challenges were the limited number of books donated, the small number of students being involved in the actual donation day, and the lack of information about the activity. the proposed sabwat improvement plan aims to address the issues and challenges like the aforementioned. it is also intended to improve the sel competencies of students through the various activities relative to sabwat. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 95 international peer reviewed journal keywords — education, community extension activity, social and emotional learning, share a book wake a thought, descriptive method, philippines introduction the college of education, as stated in its philosophy, firmly believes in the development of the total person in every student. through different modes of instructional delivery, teaching strategies, and other classroom practices used by the faculty members, the college is determined to enhance all aspects of growth and development in each student. the focus is not only on academics that enhance the intellectual aspect but also on activities that lead them to acquire competence in the social and emotional aspects of life. as emphasized by corpuz et al. (2018), developing a stable socio-emotional aspect leads to success in learning and life. learners who can regulate emotions tend to be happier, better liked, and better able to pay attention and learn. while teacher education programs have recently explored social and emotional learning (sel) opportunities, a majority of british columbia classroom teachers have had limited exposure to sel theory and benefits and are naturally concerned about incorporating content into their lessons. the same was observed in philippine higher educational institutions (heis), particularly in the academic institution under study. the study of storey (2017) allows the teacher to understand the ‘big picture’ of sel theory and integration. the authors also considered that progress might be realized by looking into the teachers’ education, professional development, and support for educators who facilitate the development of sel knowledge and competencies. eraldemir-tuyan (2019) stated that there is a need to give more prominence to emotion in education to meet today’s challenges. the researchers also looked into the teachers’ development program to improve their emotional literacy skills, creating opportunities to impart these skills to their students and the people in their personal lives. a related study by intang (2021) emphasized that success in life is determined more by a healthy emotional state than by having a high level of intelligence. lozano-peña, sáez-delgado, lópez-angulo, and mella-norambuena (2021) also believed that the teachers’ social-emotional competencies are essential to educational quality. thus, to achieve better education and a better society, they need to be trained academically and socio-emotionally. furthermore, the teachers’ social-emotional competence is crucial in promoting students’ positive learning environment. hen and goroshit (2016) found a strong positive association between the three social-emotional competencies such 96 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 as emotional abilities, self-efficacies, and empathy and the direct and indirect effects of emotional self-efficacy on empathy. these suggest that the teachers’ belief in regulating their emotions contributes to their empathy in both ways. however, studies on teachers’ social-emotional abilities are very limited. deped order 71, s. 2009 stipulated the infusion of sel to the basic education curriculum, particularly focusing on self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making as these skills will facilitate academic achievement. part of the strategies suggested to achieve this target includes integrating varied activities into the school curriculum. cognizant of the development of the learners at the tertiary level, the commission on higher education (ched) through cmo 9, s. 2013 mandated the importance of student affairs and services. section 4 includes that the educational institution’s responsibility is not only confined to teaching but also to acquiring life skills and values. it further states that higher education institutions must provide a set of student-centered activities and services in support of academic instruction to facilitate holistic and well-rounded learners. the same idea was expressed by wilczenski and cook (2014). they also agreed that service-learning through active engagement in community activities promotes social-emotional and academic development. these activities challenge students to think beyond themselves and to develop empathy in service to others. today, schools’ economic resources are not enough to support individual counseling, but the authors believe that service-learning is a costeffective preventative strategy to support mental health while fostering academic development. it serves as a prevention-oriented with grounding in positive psychology and strong school-family-community partnerships emphasizing proactive and systemic practices to build student social-emotional competencies. ramirez et al. (2021) also recognized the positive impact of sel programs. it has the potential to create more equitable, inclusive, and just learning environments. as choudhury (2021) recommended, socio-emotional competency ultimately strengthens emotionally intelligent behavior that leverages the human capital, individual, or organization. however, they emphasized that few programs are intentionally designed with equity in mind, impacting both the teaching and learning of sel skills. moreover, the link between equity and sel is not always clear, and the field of sel currently lacks a coherent and unified definition of equitable sel and what it looks like in the classroom. the field of sel needs clearer practices that create more equitable learning environments for students and how it can be better integrated into sel programming and practice. 97 international peer reviewed journal moreover, wortham et al. (2020) argued that comprehensive well-being requires the following: (1) the development of multiple dimensions of human functioning such that individuals have an opportunity to become more whole; (2) simultaneous engagement with individual and social ideals, such that individuals have an opportunity to flourish and live respectfully with others; (3) the embrace of intrinsic and extrinsic goals, such that individuals have space to pursue truly worthwhile ends; and (4) the development of a larger sense of purpose so that individuals have an opportunity to discern and pursue a calling. these will allow educators to move beyond superficial, fragmented well-being approaches. enhancing the social and emotional aspects of the students is now widely accepted and pursued by several schools. this is believed to bridge the gap so that individuals can do well to meet the needs of time and situations to become productive with a heart for others. as revealed in kosic’s (2018) work, social and emotional learning can promote the well-being of the youth. in a similar study in singapore, chong and lee (2015), the roles of policymakers and educators are crucial in integrating sel in the schooling of the learners, focusing on the emotional domain. like wilczenski and cook (2014), kosic also noted that sel could be a preventive measure for the alarming mental health issues that sometimes lead to isolated cases of more serious problems like depression and suicide. the same result was established by boichenko et al. (2020), focusing on socio-emotional competence as a predictor of numerous psychological complications in the students’ life. it was then pointed out that the primary challenge for schools is balancing a curriculum that promotes academic achievement through activities that foster emotional well-being. similarly, loinaz (2019) cited that social and emotional education (see) was more likely to be introduced in schools by teachers themselves. however, it was more likely implicit than explicit. this means that it was not taught as a separate subject but merely integrated with existing classes. thus, bueno and pineda (2019) suggested that social-based activities must be implemented in order to prevent the development of depression, social anxiety, and related problems among young individuals. knowing these educational concerns, the college of education tries its best to integrate into every subject the value of sel and how the students can also do the same when they finally become teachers in the future. this research was conceptualized to determine the students’ sel competencies through its annual share a book, wake a thought (sabwat) activity. sabwat originated from the education faculty’s desire to reach out and address the needs of the cooperating schools in batangas. sabwat has become an arm of cedu 98 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 to help one school each year to put up or improve their library facilities. cedu, being an active stakeholder in these schools, ensures that future initiatives succeed. the school beneficiary receives the book donation before february ends each year, and it has become a tradition already among the education students and faculty to start the sabwat information and donation drive as early as the first month or after the first faculty meeting for the school year. the students’ socio-emotional side is triggered positively after being involved in sabwat and they look forward to being active book donors. their involvement showed their fervent desire to donate more books and motivate others to do the same. these are manifestations of the sel competencies among the students. the researchers who are faculty in the college of education have high hopes that with this research initiative, the sel competencies of the education students will be enhanced. objectives of the study this research centers on the enhancement of sel competencies through student involvement in sabwat and aims to further improve the project in the coming years, considering that it is an annual activity of the college of education. specifically, the study seeks to (1) determine the sel competencies enhanced among education students after being involved in sabwat activity, (2) describe the application of sel competencies based on the given focus, (3) determine the issues, concerns, and challenges faced by the college during sabwat implementation, and (4) propose a sabwat improvement plan focusing on the enhancement of sel. this research was influenced by the concepts of albert bandura in his social learning theory which highlighted the value of observation, imitation, and modeling in development, as they enable the learners to self-regulate their actions and behaviors. the roles performed by teachers in guiding the learners are particularly significant in building key aspects of personality. this research focuses more on the socio-emotional aspect that is being enhanced by positive interaction between learners and teachers, among learners themselves, and interaction that takes place outside home and school through the book donation activity called sabwat. enhancing sel competencies among students is one reason this research was conducted. similarly, the theory of urie bronfenbrenner, ecological theory, provided ideas related to the current research study. the said theory focuses on the value of interaction and its effect on the child’s life. being 99 international peer reviewed journal part of the microsystem or the first layer that influences the child, the school has a significant role in his overall development. the activities done in school create an impact on the life of the child. methodology this research initiative utilized the descriptive method with a questionnaire based on the collaborative for academic, social and emotional learning framework (collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning [casel], 2020), which illustrates the learning standards and competencies that articulate what students should know and be able to do as the main data gathering tool. part 1 contains five (5) sel competencies: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skill. part 2 describes how each sel focus is applied to life. this includes empathy, ethical responsibility, perspective taking, leadership, appreciating differences, teamwork, problem-solving, and community building. part 3 are the issues and challenges faced during the sabwat activity. the data gathered was also supported by inputs from the focused group discussion. twelve (12) students who were representatives of the different programs in the college of education were requested to be part of the fgd. questions focused on how the sabwat helped enhance the sel and how they apply these competencies in life. moreover, the discussion was documented and transcribed. on the other hand, the questionnaire was validated and improved by a panel of experts composed of psychologists and faculty members who have exposure to different students having varied experiences. the sample of 111 out of the 235 enrolled students was randomly selected using stratified random sampling based on a 5% level of significance and 95% confidence level, were asked to respond to the electronic survey. descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were utilized in analyzing the data. the study was conducted following the study protocol approved by the university research ethics committee (urec). the questionnaire was distributed to the respondents through google forms after complying with the required documents. the participation of the respondents in this research was voluntary. in addition, the respondents will not be compensated for participating in the study. they were also given the assurance of strict data confidentiality and treatment. likewise, the researchers ensured that no person or organization was harmed throughout the study. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 results and discussion sel competencies of education students table 1 shows the manifested sel competencies of the education students after being part of the sabwat activity of the college. of the five core competencies, social awareness was most evident, particularly in respecting the various beliefs of others and respecting others’ feelings and expressions (m=4.32, sd=0.65). this was observed in the way the students interact with groups not only during sabwat activities but also in doing other school tasks. evaluating others’ actions seemed not evident, suggesting that most students focus on their actions toward others while being with others. observance of positive social behaviors, such as getting along with others, helping others, showing concern for others, empathy, pro-social problem solving, peace building and cooperation can also take place having sel activities in place (mahoney et al., 2018). table 1. sel competencies of education students after involvement in sabwat core competencies mean sd verbal interpretation self-awareness 4.21 0.63 more evident recognizing and understanding personal emotions 4.29 0.76 more evident understanding own needs 4.15 0. 79 more evident understanding own strengths 4.22 0.82 more evident understanding own limitations 4.19 0.80 more evident paying attention to my own set of values 4.27 0.77 more evident managing own intentions 4.22 0.72 more evident having an accurate self-perception 4.05 0.81 more evident analyzing own perspectives 4.32 0.73 more evident self-management 4.10 0.67 more evident managing and regulating own behavior 4.15 0.79 more evident showing perseverance during difficult situations 4.15 0.82 more evident being aware of own behavior in different situations 4.22 0.81 more evident displaying the ability to regulate emotion 3.96 0.98 more evident having the ability to generate conclusions from things learned 4.08 0.82 more evident delaying gratification to achieve goals 3.86 0.87 more evident managing own emotions during difficult situations 4.13 0.89 more evident showing self-control when needed 4.24 0.81 more evident 101 international peer reviewed journal core competencies mean sd verbal interpretation responsible decision-making 4.20 0.57 more evident recognizing positive choices 4.37 0.77 more evident following the logical problem-solving pattern 3.98 0.80 more evident considering varied options before making a decision 3.60 0.51 more evident understanding the importance of making good decisions 4.43 0.77 more evident analyzing situations to come up with the best decision 4.41 0.68 more evident deciding based on personal, moral, and ethical standards 4.34 0.73 more evident being firm in decisions made 4.17 0.74 more evident evaluating benefits and consequences of decisions made 4.26 0.77 more evident social awareness 4.32 0.65 more evident recognizing others’ emotions 4.28 0.82 more evident respecting the various beliefs of others 4.53 0.67 most evident recognizing the points of view of others 4.43 0.72 more evident respecting others’ feelings and expressions 4.50 0.72 most evident taking an active and responsible role in the society 4.23 0.82 more evident empathizing with others 4.24 0.83 more evident identifying social cues in determining how others feel 4.23 0.84 more evident evaluating others’ actions 4.12 0.84 more evident relationship skills 4.17 0.64 more evident forming and maintaining positive social relationships 4.35 0.71 more evident working successfully with others 4.29 0.80 more evident dealing effectively with conflicts 4.01 0.89 more evident communicating openly with others 4.01 0.99 more evident working collaboratively to achieve the goals 4.30 0.77 more evident handling criticisms objectively 4.01 0.84 more evident appreciating suggestions from others 4.42 0.69 more evident expressing negative things in positive ways 4.00 0.91 more evident 102 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 meanwhile, self-management resulted in the lowest (m= 4.10, sd=0.67), particularly in delaying gratification to achieve goals. some students do not have the tolerance for long-term waiting. they like to see things done right away right before their eyes. their impulsive attitude is shown in most of the things they do. cherry (2020) mentioned that putting off what one wants now to get something better later on is not always easy and it is hard to resist temptation, especially if the long-term goal is not set clearly. however, when really needed, they can show a lot of control which is evident in the indicator showing self-control when needed. relative to this, students now realize the value of waiting, perseverance, and patience, which are related to self-management. “i believe better results and decisions are achieved through effort and time,” one interviewee shared. being patient in most things to do may allow them to have a more improved outlook in life that will benefit them in the long run. application of social and emotional learning competencies specific ways were identified on how the focus sel competencies can be applied to life and bring in positive results. table 2 clearly shows that the education students accept and embrace the differences of others and try to build compassion and empathy towards others, regardless of their physical appearance (m=5.56, sd=0.57). evident in their ways of relating with others is appreciating differences among others. this was also confirmed in the fgd done when a student mentioned, “it is only when you accept others together with their differences that you can finally learn to see yourself and accept it fully well, and that is the time one feels real satisfaction and genuine happiness.” this means that acceptance which is part of self-awareness can happen after experiencing life with others. in addition, achieving the “people-person” skill is a key to the enhancement of other positive behaviors. as proposed by aspelin (2019), socio-emotional competence in teacher education must be developed because it is an important pedagogical competence. thus, there is a need to explore the relational competence of pre-service teachers, which refers to the ability and willingness to act sensitively, responsibly, and emotionally to promote students’ emotional development. in addition, the students can learn to listen to differing views of people and make better decisions based on them (m=5.45, sd=0.63), able to share ideas on building relationships, and better understand that we are all “in this together”(m=5.45, sd=0.63), can relate to others with sensitivity, understanding, and acceptance (m=5.41, sd=0.73), can inspire other students to see the impact 103 international peer reviewed journal a high-functioning group can make when they work together towards shared goals (m=5.40, sd=0.68), can influence other students to do good to other people (m=5.32, sd=0.73), able to identify problems and share decision-making skills and strategies with others (m=5.25, sd=0.62), and can feel empowered and ready to bring positive change to the life of others (m=5.22, sd=0.74). the results showed that education students are manifesting behaviors relative to the applications of sel competencies. in addition, the way they interact with other students, provide help in case of need, and the respect accorded to faculty and personnel of the school support this endeavor. poulou (2016) suggested that enhancing teachers’ social-emotional and teaching competencies and skills would potentially promote positive teacherstudent relationships that would prevent student emotional and behavioral difficulties. furthermore, the author recommended considering the teacher perceptions of emotional intelligence (ei) and competence in implementing social and emotional learning (sel) practices as potential teacher-based factors in teacher-student relationships and students’ behavior. among the given focus, leadership, particularly empowering oneself to bring positive change to the life of others, rated the lowest (m=5.22, sd=0.74). though evident in most of the respondents, they need more experiences with people that will hone this aspect since they are just beginning to feel their essence in their group and community. good relationship skill has evolved after experiencing sabwat activities such as being part of the dissemination campaign, orientation initiative, collecting books, and being part of the group to visit the chosen school. however, they agreed they needed more time to enhance this aspect, as one student reiterated during the discussion. further, according to prieto et al. (2019), a good leader is not only technical in nature. it requires human skill or the ability to work effectively with people and build teamwork. table 2. application of the sel competencies focus mean sd verbal interpretation empathy i can relate to others with sensitivity, understanding and acceptance. 5.41 0.73 agree ethical responsibility i can influence other students to do good to other people good. 5.32 0.73 agree 104 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 focus mean sd verbal interpretation perspective-taking i learned to listen to differing views of people and make better decisions based on them. 5.45 0.63 agree leadership i feel empowered and ready to bring positive change to the life of others. 5.22 0.74 agree appreciating differences i accept and embrace the differences of others and try to build compassion and empathy towards others, regardless of their physical appearance. 5.56 0.57 strongly agree teamwork i inspire other students to see the impact a highfunctioning group can make when they work together towards shared goals. 5.40 0.68 agree problem-solving i am able to identify problems and share decisionmaking skills and strategies with others. 5.25 0.62 agree community building i am able to share ideas on building relationships and better understand that we are all “in this together”. 5.45 0.63 agree issues and challenges relative to sabwat based on the result, the more evident issue was the limited number of students who could go and join the group to bring the books (m=3.54, sd=1.22). it has been the policy of the cedu not to hamper the flow of regular classes even during sabwat day. students are given equal chances to be part of the distribution day every year. in addition, involvement in sabwat is not only on the day itself but from day one (1) of the school year after the conceptualization and planning stage up to the distribution day. limited books available for donation (m=3.52, sd=1.00) was another issue faced by the project. some students were motivated to share by giving a number of books. the others, however, remained passive. the third issue was on information dissemination (m=3.43, sd=1.14). though it is always part of the orientation at the start of the school year, students need to be reminded regularly about this. some say it is their busy schedules that hamper their full involvement in the activity. in addition, other challenges include donated books that are no longer physically appealing with torn pages and having scribbles on most pages (m=2.67, sd=1.19), parents/guardians not 105 international peer reviewed journal even knowing about this activity (m=2.96, sd=1.18), students who are not interested in reading and have nothing to donate (m=2.87, sd=1.18), and lack of families’ support (m=2.51, sd=1.11). table 3. issues and challenges mean sd verbal interpretation limited books were available for donation. 3.52 1.00 more evident unawareness of students on information dissemination about sabwat was observed. 3.43 1.14 evident only limited students were allowed to join in going to the chosen public school. 3.54 1.22 more evident some books given were no longer pleasing to the eyes of the readers. 2.67 1.19 evident some students were not interested in books and in reading; thus, they had nothing to donate. 2.87 1.18 evident the family of the students was not aware of the sabwat activity. 2.96 1.18 evident some parents did not allow book donation or its equivalent. 2.42 1.14 less evident the support of family members about the idea of donating to sabwat was not felt by students. 2.51 1.11 evident the item about some parents not allowing book donations rated the lowest (m= 2.42, sd=1.14), which means that some parents are not informed or maybe not be interested in participating in the project or giving away some books that they own. the objectives of the sabwat project directly relate to the ideas presented in numerous studies. for instance, admin (2020) stated that sharing a book with children in any way possible can reinforce their social and emotional learning (sel) skills. on the other hand, croteau (2020) believed that it is essential to teach students to give back to the communities because it instills the idea that they can make the world better. the author also added that giving the students opportunities to volunteer in service projects helps strengthen their social-emotional core focusing on empathy, ethical responsibility, perspective106 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 taking, leadership, self-regulation, teamwork, problem-solving, and community building. proposed sabwat improvement plan the sabwat activity is the college of education’s way of showing gratitude to the cooperating schools where most field study students are deployed. the benefits gained through the books being donated are appreciated by the school heads, teachers, and students and by the parents as well, as this helps improve the library facilities of the school. most importantly, the students will have better opportunities to enhance their reading, language, research, and other related skills through these books. their love for reading will also be developed. teachers are also aided in their daily lesson preparations and instructional material development. moreover, parents are assured that with the available books, their children may no longer visit other schools to do research-related tasks. the college of education students are also benefited but in a much different way. through their involvement in the activity, they become better individuals, having enhanced social and emotional learning competencies that will prepare them to face life and its challenges. the college believes that a more stable socioemotional aspect in a person will bring all the other aspects together in a much better shape. this is what the country needs for its people. this should start with the young generation. this improvement plan is proposed for consideration to achieve the purpose of this research, which is to enhance the sel competencies of the students through the sabwat activity. objectives description of activities persons involved date expected result facilitate initial sabwat meeting to lay the plans for the school year. faculty meeting with feu officers dean, faculty, students august a well-prepared sabwat plan. re-orient sabwat through interactive presentation emphasizing the value of sharing books with others orientation the previous sabwat activities can be presented and discussed through an interactive presentation for information dissemination purposes. dean, faculty, students, parents august delivered information on sabwat that is understood clearly by students and parents. 107 international peer reviewed journal objectives description of activities persons involved date expected result determine the library needs of the target public school library visit to a target public school. through this visit, the college can identify the books and materials needed to improve the school library. faculty-in charge of sabwat september books needed are identified. inform the education students of the possible types of books needed for the school library room-to-room information dissemination by faculty and interested student leaders faculty & staff, students, feu officers october list of needed books and related materials are identified. re-create activities that will revive the student’s motivation to go back to reading and appreciate the benefits they get out of it activities to be proposed are sel-inspired, in line with the national book week celebration, and coordinated with the library personnel. getting back to hard-bound books can be exciting. this will also lessen screen time as they give more to reading books. may include the following: story-telling, slogan making, and big book making. dean, faculty & staff, library personnel, students november to december observable active participation among education students; regained interest in reading make the books ready for distribution. collecting books from student donors and making them ready for distribution. faculty & staff, students, feu officers decemberjanuary well-packed books for distribution were made ready lead a simple program for children of the target public school in coordination with the school head and teachers short program will include dramatic reading, poem reading, and story-telling. dean, cedu faculty, principal, teachers, and students of the public school february activities are successfully done through a wellprepared program require education students to write a reflection paper on how the sabwat activity helped them become better individuals. reflection paper writing on sabwat and how it helped them as students and as individuals faculty & staff, students march well-written reflection paper by each student 108 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 objectives description of activities persons involved date expected result require every student to do a graffiti board online, showing how the sabwat activity has helped them as a person and future professionals. the graffiti board will be shared with friends and classmates to signify their active involvement in the sabwat project. through this final activity, their sel competencies will also be enhanced. students april graffiti board creatively done conclusions based on the results of this research, it was found that the education students, after being involved in sabwat activity, gained the following sel competencies: social awareness, self-awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and self-management skills. in addition, specific ways on how the focus sel competencies can be applied to life include accepting and embracing the differences of others and trying to build compassion and empathy towards others, regardless of their physical appearance, among others. however, issues like limited books, parents’ lack of support, limited student involvement in sabwat activity, and others need to be addressed. this study established the importance of community extension activities like the sabwat program, which focuses on the students’ development of socioemotional skills. this, in particular, will help increase the pre-service teachers’ sel competencies essential to their personal and professional development as future teachers. the authors recommended that the sel competencies gained from sabwat can be made more life-changing through the integration of varied learning activities catering to the enhancement of sel in the lessons to be taken in class. part of the research utilization is integrating lessons on sel in the syllabus and related instructional materials to be implemented in the education subjects in the coming years. the impact assessment will be done to see if the objectives are realized. with this, it is expected that enhancing the socio-emotional aspect will help the students become more mature as professionals and ready to face whatever comes their way. in addition, future research may explore the applicability of sel programs to other educational contexts. education students may have richer opportunities to apply the sel competencies through active involvement in the outreach program of the school and of the college. moreover, the activities proposed in the sabwat improvement plan may be considered in the future 109 international peer reviewed journal years. the proposed activities can reduce, if not prevent, issues and problems confronting the sabwat activity. acknowledgment the researchers have nothing but heartfelt gratitude to the university of batangas for funding this research project. same gratitude is extended to the research and publications office (rpo) and everyone who has supported to finish this academic endeavor which hopefully will be life-changing to the education students as the research beneficiaries. literature cited admin, w. (2020). five ways to support social and emotional learning with children’s books. wellesley centers for women. https://bit.ly/39nlgqf aspelin, j. (2019). enhancing pre-service teachers’ socio-emotional competence. boichenko, a., shukalova, o., & dzhabbarova, l. (2020). research of socio-emotional competence and its importance in students’ personality development. habitus, 2(18). https://doi.org/10.32843/26635208.2020.18.2.3 bueno, d. & pineda a. (2019). school, home, personal and mental-related issues of senior high students in a catholic school in the philippines. cc the journal: a multidisciplinary research review. doi:10.13140/ rg.2.2.32578.94404 cherry, k. (2020). delaying gratification and impulse control. very well mind. https://bit.ly/2w0kpta chong, w. h., & lee, b. o. (2015). social-emotional learning: promotion of youth wellbeing in singapore schools. in  rethinking youth wellbeing  (pp. 161-177). springer, singapore. choudhury, j. (2021). emotional intelligence, socio-emotional competence and human capital. ra journal of applied research, 7(4), 2932-2938. collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning. (2020). casel’s sel framework: what are the core competence areas and where are they https://bit.ly/39nlgqf http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.32578.94404 http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.32578.94404 https://bit.ly/2w0kpta 110 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 promoted?. casel. https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020/ commission on higher education. (2013). enhanced policies and guidelines on student affairs and services. commission on higher education. https://bit. ly/3xqnvty corpuz, b., lucas, m. r., borabo, h. g., & lucido, p. (2018). the child and adolescent learners and learning principles. quezon city: lorimar publishing inc. https://bit.ly/3xfn0ql croteau, j. (2020). these volunteer projects help teens build important sel skills. we are teachers. https://bit.ly/3nuamdx department of education. (2009). july 6, 2009 do 71, s. 2009 guidelines for the effective implementation of the elementary curriculum. department of education. https://bit.ly/3le7mza eraldemir-tuyan, s. (2019). an emotional literacy improvement (eli) program for efl teachers: insiders’ views. european journal of educational research, 8(4), 1113-1125. hen, m., & goroshit, m. (2016). social–emotional competencies among teachers: an examination of interrelationships.  cogent education,  3(1), 1151996. intang, b. (2021). the effect of socio-emotional learning on students’ mathematics competence. in  international conference on educational studies in mathematics (icoesm 2021) (pp. 46-51). atlantis press. kosic, m. (2018). media literacy and for the net generation.  international journal of emotional education, 10(1), 68-88. loinaz, e. s. (2019). teachers’ perceptions and practice of social and emotional education in greece, spain, sweden and the united kingdom. international journal of emotional education, 11(1), 31-48. lozano-peña, g., sáez-delgado, f., lópez-angulo, y., & mella-norambuena, j. (2021). teachers’ social–emotional competence: history, concept, models, instruments, and recommendations for educational quality. sustainability, 13(21), 12142. https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020/ https://bit.ly/3nuamdx https://bit.ly/3le7mza 111 international peer reviewed journal mahoney, j. l., durlak, j. a., & weissberg, r. p. (2018). an update on social and emotional learning outcome research. phi delta kappan, 100(4), 18-23. poulou, m. s. (2017). social and emotional learning and teacher–student relationships: preschool teachers’ and students’ perceptions. early childhood education journal, 45(3), 427-435. prieto, n., arcangel, c., & corpuz, b. (2019). the teacher and the community school culture and organizational leadership. quezon city: lorimar publishing inc. https://bit.ly/3qgcvpa ramirez, t., brush, k., raisch, n., bailey, r., & jones, s. m. (2021). equity in social emotional learning (sel) programs: a content analysis of equitable practices in prek-5 sel programs. in  frontiers in education  (p. 306). frontiers. storey, m. (2017). considering core competencies: social and emotional learning in british columbia’s redesigned curriculum.  journal of contemporary issues in education, 12(2). wilczenski, f. l., & cook, a. l. (2014). toward positive and systemic mental health practices in schools: fostering social-emotional learning through service. health psychology report, 2(3), 145-151. wortham, s., love-jones, r., peters, w., morris, s., & garcía-huidobro, j. c. (2020). educating for comprehensive well-being.  ecnu review of education, 3(3), 406-436. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research presoaking treatment of soybean [glycine max (l.) merrill] seeds using fermented plant extracts and commercial liquid fertilizer reneliza d. cejalvo http://orcid.org 0000-0002-3819-9268 rdcejalvo@up.edu.ph university of the philippines los baños laguna, philippines maria fatima o. mercado mafatima_mercado@yahoo.com university of the philippines los baños laguna, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the yield of soybean in the philippines is significantly low. presoaking is one of the seed priming techniques to improve seed quality. this study aimed to determine the effects of selected fermented plant extracts and commercial organic fertilizer on germination and vigor of soybean seeds. the seeds presoaked in organic agriculture inputs such as ipil ipil fpj (fermented plant juice), squash ffj (fermented fruit juice), commercial organic fertilizer (psplof), and water (control). the seeds were then subjected to seed quality tests to evaluate germination and vigor. ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj significantly improved the percentage germination, first count, vigor index, seedling growth, and seedling emergence. commercial fertilizer showed poor results in seed germination and vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.628 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 41 international peer reviewed journal vigor tests. seeds soaked in water showed high percentage germination but have poor vigor. data were arranged in factorial in completely randomized design (crd) and analyzed using analysis of variance (anova). the initial seed quality results revealed significantly poor germination and vigor. therefore, presoaking of soybean seeds in ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj is recommended to improve the germination and vigor of soybean seeds. the results could be useful to reduce the cost of soybean production and to enhance the yield of soybean. keywords — agriculture, agronomy, soybean, seed germination, seed vigor, seed priming, seed presoaking, asia, philippines introduction soybean [glycine max (l.) merrill)] is an annual legume that belongs to fabaceae family. united states of america (usa), brazil, argentina, china, and india are the top producers wherein they comprise about 90% of global soybean production (dourado, pascoal, sakomura, costa, & biagiotti 2011). due to the high protein content and low price of the soybean meal, it is a significant component of the livestock feed (hartman, west, & herman 2011). the crop is also widely grown for its vegetable oil and for human food consumption that is mostly in asia. some food uses of soybean include soya oil, soymilk, tofu, tokwa, miso, edamame, and soy sauce. since the 1970s, soybean has the highest increase in an area of production than any other major crop around the world due to increasing demand for meal and oil (hartman, west, & herman 2011). however, the volume of production of soybean in the philippines is significantly low. according to the bureau of plant industry (bpi) in 2012, the philippines’ area of production for soybean is just around 1,000 ha. the philippines highly depends on soybean importation from usa, brazil, argentina, and china while the annual domestic needs have reached up to 300,000 mt. according to united states department of agriculture (usda) foreign agricultural service (2014), the philippines are the second largest importer of soybeans from the united states. in the country, about 70%-90% of domestic production and imports are for animal feed while the remaining percentage is for human food consumption and other uses (manuel, huelgas, & espanto 1987). there is a need to increase the germination percentage and vigor of soybean since the demand for soybean would increase (hartman, west, & herman 2011). 42 jpair multidisciplinary research currently, the soybean in the country is primarily imported. in general, when the germination rate of the crop would increase, then the seeding rate would decrease which is favorable for the farmers. when the seed is vigorous, then the soybean seeds can combat diseases such as fungi and bacteria and also insect pests that injure the crop. seed vigor would also determine if the seeds could withstand stressful environmental conditions. presoaking is one of the solutions to improve the seed germination and vigor of soybean. for the presoaking treatments, this experiment utilized inputs used in organic agriculture. organic agriculture in the philippines has been gaining popularity and was officially recognized when the republic act no. 10068 or the organic agriculture act of 2010 was enacted into law. many organizations have sprouted gearing towards sustainable, organic, and ecological agriculture. farmers who practice organic agriculture are also utilizing the principles and materials used in korean natural farming (knf) (zamora and calub 2016). knf was introduced to farmers through the extension work of non-government organizations (ngos) and state universities and colleges (sucs). knf inputs include fermented plant juice (fpj), fermented fruit juice (ffj) and other indigenous microorganisms. the fermented plant extracts can be used as fertilizers, inducing hormones, prevention of pests and diseases, and increasing plant vigor. they can also be good sources of nutrients that can boost crop growth. in this study, the fpj and ffj will be used as presoaking treatments. besides, a liquid organic fertilizer product of a commercial organic enterprise that is also made through fermentation will be used. objectives of the study the general objective of the study was to determine the effects of selected fermented plant extracts and a commercial liquid organic fertilizer on the germination and vigor of soybean (glycine max) seeds. the specific objectives of the study were (1) to evaluate the germination and vigor of soybean seeds presoaked in different fermented plant extracts and liquid organic fertilizer; and (2) to identify and compare which among the fermented plant extracts and the commercial liquid organic fertilizer will improve the germination and vigor of soybean seeds; 43 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the experiment was laid out in factorial in a completely randomized design (crd) with four replicates. the seeds per treatment have undergone seed quality tests. research site the study was conducted in seed science and technology laboratory, institute of crop science (icrops), college of agriculture and food science (cafs), university of the philippines los baños (uplb), college, laguna. the study was conducted from april to june 2017. data gathering and procedure fermented fruit juice (ffj) using squash (cucurbita maxima) and a fermented plant juice (fpj) using ipil-ipil (leucaena leucocephala) leaves were prepared. squash fruit and ipil ipil leaves were obtained from a backyard farm in calinog, iloilo. the plant materials were collected in the morning. dirt from the plant materials collected was removed by shaking and without using water. the fruits and leaves were cut into small pieces of about four inches in width. two kilograms of the plant materials were mixed with one liter of molasses. each mixture was transferred to a plastic pail. the pails were covered with manila paper and tied securely. the combinations in the container were kept away from sunlight undisturbed for seven days. the filtrate was strained into a plastic bottle using a filter. two tablespoons of fpj or ffj were diluted in one liter of purified water to make 3% concentration of the solutions. the solutions served as the pre-soaking treatments. commercial liquid organic fertilizer the liquid organic fertilizer commercially known as power solution premium liquid organic fertilizer (psplof) was obtained from ycrf enterprises in biñan, laguna. ). psplof is included in the official list of third party certified organic operators in the philippines (bureau of agriculture and fisheries standards (bafs), 2017). two tablespoons of the liquid fertilizer were diluted in one liter of water and used as the presoaking treatment. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research presoaking treatment soybean seeds (psb sy2) were obtained from brown gold isabela organic enterprises. the initial percentage germination and vigor were determined. soybean seeds were first washed in running water for 5-10 minutes to remove dirt and other contaminants. the seeds were then rinsed with distilled water. clean seeds were presoaked in different treatments at room temperature. the seeds were immersed entirely in the following treatments: water, fpj (ipil ipil leaves), ffj (squash), and liquid organic fertilizer. for each treatment, 600 soybean seeds were used (200 each for seed germination, vigor index, and seedling emergence). after presoaking, the seeds were blot-dried with a clean paper towel before performing seed quality evaluation. data collection percentage germination for each treatment, 200 presoaked soybean seeds, divided into four replicates were sown in moistened paper towels. the paper towels were kept moist with an adequate amount of distilled water throughout the germination period. the first count was done five days after sowing (das) while the final count was done eight das. the percentage germination was determined using the formula: seed vigor first count. the first count was obtained by determining the total number of germinated seeds on the standard germination set-up five das. vigor index. the vigor index was determined through the speed of germination test. for each replicate, 50 seeds were sown on moist paper towels. seedlings with 2 mm radicle protrusion were considered germinated. the number of seedlings with 2mm radicle protrusion was counted daily from the day after planting until the eighth day and was removed from the set-up. summation of the germinated seedlings over the nth number of the day was used to determine the speed of germination or vigor index. the vigor index was computed using the formula: vigor index = (n/1) + (n/2) + (n/3) + … + (n/8) where n = number of germinated seedlings. 45 international peer reviewed journal seedling growth rate (seedling length, root and shoot length, and biomass). randomly selected seedlings from the standard germination test were used. from the four replicates, ten (10) seedlings were selected for the test. the seedling length, and the root and shoot length (cm) of the chosen seedlings were measured using a ruler. the seedlings were oven-dried for 72 hours at 70°c. the oven-dried seedlings were weighed to determine the dry weight in grams (g). seedling emergence. fifty (50) seeds were sown to test the seedling emergence per replicate in unsterilized soil that was obtained from the icrops, uplb, college, laguna. the set-up was supplied with an adequate amount of water throughout the experiment. the number of healthy seedlings that emerged was counted on the eighth day after sowing. the seedling emergence percentage was computed using the formula: data analysis the data was analyzed using analysis of variance (anova) of star 2.0.1 software developed by the international rice research institute (irri). the mean comparison was interpreted using the least significant difference (lsd). results and discussion initial seed quality table 1 shows the initial seed quality of soybean, which included seed germination and vigor. the initial percentage germination, vigor index, shoot length, root length, seedling length, and seedling emergence were significantly lower than the results of presoaked seeds in different treatments for the same parameter. the standard germination percentage for soybean in generally higher than 80% (egli and tekrony, 1995). the initial seedling biomass was higher than the treated seeds. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. initial seed quality of soybean seeds parameter value percent germination 84% vigor index 42.58 shoot length 7.51 cm root length 5.97 cm seedling length 13.48 cm seedling biomass 0.61g seedling emergence 72% germination percentage the results of the anova showed that the presoaking treatments were highly significantly different (pr<0.01) from each other. there are various effects to soybean seeds among presoaking treatments. results shown in table 2 implies that ipil ipil fpj, squash ffj, and water treatments were effective in improving the percent germination of soybean seeds, from an initial of 84% to 97%, 97%, and 95%, respectively. although ipil ipil fpj showed the highest percentage germination, it should be noted that this was not significantly different from that of squash ffj and water (control). the effect of commercial fertilizer was comparable to the results of the initial percentage germination. table 2. percentage germination of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments. presoaking treatment percentage germination (%) commercial fertilizer 85 b ipil ipil fpj 97 a squash ffj 97 a water (control) 95 a means with the same letter are not significantly different. seed vigor first count the number of normal seedlings five das were counted, and the result indicated the level of vigor of the seeds. the effect for the first count of soybean seeds (table 3) was observed to be the same as the results in germination set up. 47 international peer reviewed journal ipil ipil fpj, squash ffj, and water treatments showed significantly vigorous seeds than commercial fertilizer, which is not significantly different with the initial first count (appendix 15). at five das, there were no additional germinated seeds noted. therefore, the soybean seeds that were presoaked in different treatments germinated on or before five das. fungi affected most of the seeds that did not germinate specifically in those treatments that have low percent germination. table 3. the first count of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments. presoaking treatment number of seeds germinated commercial fertilizer 43 b ipil ipil 49 a squash 49 a water (control) 47 a means with the same letter are not significantly different. vigor index the anova revealed a highly significant difference (pr<0.01) for presoaking treatments concerning the vigor index. the vigor index was measured through the speed of germination test. the vigor index of soybean seeds presoaked in different fermented extracts and commercial liquid fertilizer is shown in table 4. presoaking in ipil ipil fpj proved to be most effective in increasing the vigor index. however, its result was not significantly different with water (control). commercial fertilizer constantly showed poor performance. table 4. vigor index of soybean seeds presoaked for 1 hour and 12 hours in different fermented extracts and commercial liquid fertilizer. presoaking treatments presoaking treatment means comm. fert. 38.78 c ipil ipil fpj 46.54 a squash ffj 44.22 b water (control) 44.37 ab means with the same letter are not significantly different. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research shoot length the anova revealed that the presoaking treatments in shoot length have a highly significant difference (pr<0.01) from each other table 5 shows the shoot length of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments and commercial liquid fertilizer. the results of ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj showed no significant difference with that of water (control). commercial fertilizer was observed to have the shortest shoot. the initial shoot length is significantly lower than the shoot length of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments. therefore, it is necessary to presoak soybean seeds to promote shoot growth. table 5. shoot length of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments presoaking treatments presoaking treatment means comm. fert. 8.96 c ipil ipil fpj 12.45 a squash ffj 12.58 a water (control) 11.90 b means with the same letter are not significantly different. root length the results of the anova reveal that presoaking treatments in root length are highly significantly different (pr<0.01). the root length of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments (table 6) reveals that ipil ipil fpj has significantly longer root than all the other treatments followed by squash ffj and water, respectively. commercial fertilizer was noted to inhibit root growth substantially. table 6. root length (cm) of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments presoaking treatments presoaking treatment means comm. fert. 4.32 d ipil ipil fpj 7.62 a squash ffj 6.61 b water (control) 5.60 c means with the same letter are not significantly different. 49 international peer reviewed journal seedling length the anova revealed a highly significant difference (pr<0.01) for presoaking treatments in seedling length. the comparisons of different presoaking treatment mean in table 7 show that ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj significantly improved the seedling growth of soybean seeds compared to water (control) treatment and the initial seedling length. commercial fertilizer exhibited poor performance in seedling length and showed seedling growth inhibition when compared to the initial seedling length. table 7. seedling length (cm) of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments presoaking treatment presoaking treatment means comm. fert. 13.28 d ipil ipil fpj 20.08 a squash ffj 19.18 b water (control) 17.52 c means with the same letter are not significantly different. seedling biomass there are highly significant differences (pr<0.01) in seedling biomass for different presoaking treatments. the results of the seedling biomass of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking (table 8) show that ipil ipil fpj, and squash ffj significantly increased the seedling biomass of soybean compared to water (control) treatment. seeds presoaked in commercial fertilizer have more massive seedling biomass than water (control), but the results between the two treatments are not significantly different. table 8. seedling biomass (g) of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments presoaking treatment presoaking treatment means comm. fert. 0.54 bc ipil ipil fpj 0.62 a squash ffj 0.58 ab water (control) 0.49 c means with the same letter are not significantly different. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research the initial seedling biomass value is relatively high. the result for the initial seedling biomass is not significantly different with ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj, which have massive seedling biomass among the treatments. seedling emergence the anova for the seedling emergence of soybean seeds reveals that there is no significant difference in different presoaking treatments for seedling emergence. table 9 shows the seedling emergence of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatment. the different presoaking treatment showed almost no significant differences. the initial seedling emergence percentage is significantly lower than all the treatments. therefore, to improve the seedling emergence percentage, presoaking of seeds in fermented extracts is necessary. table 9. seedling emergence (%) of soybean seeds presoaked in different presoaking treatments presoaking treatment presoaking treatment mean comm. fert. 91.75 ipil ipil fpj 90.33 squash ffj 98.67 water (control) 80.63 means with the same letter are not significantly different. initial seed quality the initial seed quality results for percentage germination, first count, vigor index, seedling growth rate, and seedling biomass were significantly lower than that of the treated seeds. the initial seedling biomass, however, was more massive than the pre-soaked seeds. this could be the effect of the attached fungi and other pathogens, which could have added weight to seedling biomass. it was observed that the seeds that were not presoaked in any treatment were significantly affected with fungi and other pathogens. the untreated soybean seeds showed poor performance in germination and vigor. this infers that the seeds that have not undergone presoaking will have a low percentage of surviving in the field where the soil has harmful bacteria and fungi, the ph may be detrimental to the plant, there are weeds to compete for nutrients, and other natural stresses that can injure and affect the growth of the crop. 51 international peer reviewed journal presoaking treatments ipil ipil fpj significantly improved the performance of soybean seeds in percentage germination. it also showed vigorous seeds in different vigor tests such as first count, vigor index, seedling growth rate, and seedling emergence. based on the results from various parameters, it was usually on top among the other treatments; therefore, ipil ipil fpj was effective in enhancing the percentage germination and vigor of soybean seeds. the efficiency of ipil ipil fpj can be attributed to the different nutrients, vitamins, and microorganisms present in the fermented extract. since ipil ipil contains high nitrogen content, the protein contents of soybean seeds may have been increased resulting in increased germination and vigor. this is on par with the study of warraich, basra, ahmad, ahmed, & aftab in 2002 on wheat (triticum aestivum) wherein seeds from plots that were fertilized with nitrogen resulted in increased final germination percentage. seeds that were pre-soaked in ipil ipil fpj may have absorbed water faster during its germination resulting to significantly high first count and vigor index. hara and toriyama (1998) observed that seed lot of rice (oryza sativa) with a higher amount of nitrogen applied showed faster water absorption, more rapid seedling emergence and more uniform emergence than the seed lot with low nitrogen content. seeds soaked in ipil ipil fpj were observed to have the best performance in seedling growth rate test (shoot length, root length, seedling length, and seedling biomass). nitrogen that is abundant in ipil ipil is necessary to promote initial growth in soybean (ohyama et al., 2013). other effects of the essential nutrients present in ipil ipil fpj may have interacted to produce positive results in seedling growth. also, application of nitrogen results in increased biomass yield and protein yield (blumenthal, baltensperger, cassman, mason, & pavlista 2008). ipil ipil fpj, squash ffj, and commercial fertilizer significantly enhanced the seedling emergence percentage of soybean seeds. these fermented treatments contain lactic acid bacteria (lab) and also essential nutrients. hamed, moustafa, & abdel-aziz (2011) concluded that the lab have growth promoting-effects. therefore, seeds presoaked in the fermented treatments were able to combat fungi and bacteria, thus, resulted in successful and improved seedling emergence compared to the initial seedling emergence value. also, the enzymes for metabolic processes may have been activated. however, it was evident that ipil ipil fpj has relatively lower seedling emergence percentage than the other fermented extracts. some emerged soybean 52 jpair multidisciplinary research seedlings presoaked in ipil ipil fpj may have been affected by pathogens present in the unsterilized soil that resulted in decayed seedlings. ohyama et al. (2013) reported that too much nitrogen applied to plants could make them more attracted to insects and diseases. squash ffj squash ffj was also effective in improving the performance of soybean seeds in percentage germination, first count, vigor index, seedling growth rate, and seedling emergence. squash ffj produced the most vigorous seeds in seedling emergence test. squash ffj was also a good source of essential nutrients that resulted in high germination percentage and vigor of soybean seeds. also, squash fruit has high vitamin a and phosphorus (p) content. provision of a more considerable amount of p may have increased adenosine triphosphate (atp) and deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) that triggered metabolic processes resulting in high percentage germination and vigor. the results for squash ffj are in agreement with the study of zeļonka et al. (2005) in which seed coating with phosphorus of spring barley (hordeum vulgare) resulted to higher germination percentage, greater chlorophyll content in the shoots and increased physiological activity. seeds pre-soaked in squash ffj showed good performance on seedling growth rate test. the results were on par with the effect of phosphorus on shoot growth. the findings were also supported by the study of shah, ara, & shafi (2011) on okra (abelmoschus esculentus) seeds that were soaked to p solutions which showed better seedling growth compared to seeds soaked in water. inadequate p can affect shoot and root growth negatively. commercial fertilizer commercial fertilizer showed poor results that are significantly lower or comparable with that of initial seed quality values in almost all of the parameters. however, its result for seedling emergence was considerably higher than that of control. the commercial fertilizer is a mixture of water, molasses, sugar, fresh milk, lemongrass (cymbopogon citratus), oregano (origanum vulgare), malunggay (moringa oleifera), garlic (allium sativum), ginger (zingiber officinale), chicken manure, and mill ash. the ingredients as mentioned earlier may have exhibited detrimental effects on soybean seeds resulting in poor performance. the concentration of the commercial liquid fertilizer used in this experiment may have been too high. szopinska (2013) stated that high levels of lactic acid 53 international peer reviewed journal that is present in commercial fertilizer could reduce the germination and vigor of seeds. the concentration could have been moderated to achieve the optimum potential of the commercial liquid fertilizer. water (control) treatment seeds that were presoaked in water significantly improved the percentage germination compared to the initial seed quality values. water treatment showed a relatively weak result in seedling growth rate. seeds soaked in water may have imbibed adequate amount of water needed for the seeds to germinate. the physiological process may have been triggered, thereby, resulting in a high germination rate and vigor index. also, there was no possibility of allelopathic effects by water. the seeds presoaked in water have no nutrients to acquire, therefore, regarding seedling growth rate, seeds soaked in water showed relatively poor performance compared to the fermented treatments and its performance in percentage germination and vigor index. in contrast, seeds presoaked in the fermented treatments have additional nutrients to absorb. soybean seeds still need additional nutrients during germination for greater yield. to promote the initial growth of soybean, n is applied as a starter fertilizer (ohyama et al., 2013). water treatment has significantly longer seedling than the initial seedling length value but lower than the fermented treatments. water may have supplied the seeds with an adequate amount of moisture. however, it lacked nutrients and other beneficial microorganisms that are present in fermented extracts. seeds presoaked in water have the lightest seedling biomass among the treatments. water treatment showed significantly low seedling emergence percentage. seeds soaked in water were not equipped with beneficial microorganisms to combat the harmful pathogens present in the unsterilized soil. also, there are no essential nutrients supplied to the seeds to thrive and to grow vigorously in the stressful environment. conclusions presoaking of soybean seeds was necessary to improve the germination and vigor of soybean seeds. the result for the initial seed quality was significantly lower than the treated seeds. the untreated seeds were more prone to pathogens than the pre-soaked seeds. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj significantly enhanced the germination and vigor of soybean seeds. therefore, it is recommended to use these fermented extracts as presoaking treatments since they contain microorganisms and essential nutrients. commercial fertilizer did not improve the germination and vigor of soybean seeds. the results for commercial fertilizer were either comparable to or lower than that of the initial seed quality. there might be a need to adjust the concentration of the commercial fertilizer when it is used for presoaking of soybean seeds. seeds soaked in water significantly improved the percentage germination of soybean seeds. however, the seeds were not vigorous since they showed low seedling growth and seedling emergence percentage. this study recommends presoaking of soybean seeds in ipil ipil fpj and squash ffj to improve the percentage germination and vigor of soybean seeds significantly. however, further studies are necessary to determine the optimum presoaking period and concentration of the fermented extracts. also, the floating seeds during the presoaking process should be removed and should not be included in seed quality testing. an adequate amount of water should be supplied in seedling emergence test. it would be better if the amount of water provided for each treatment would be uniform. further studies could also include npk analysis of the fpj and ffj. translational research the findings of this study may be translated to the farmers who engage in organic farming and other farmers who opt to use less synthetic fertilizers. the effect of fermented plant extracts on soybean may give an idea to the farmers on what could be the effect to other crops that are related to soybean. hence, wise decision making that could lead to higher yields and profits can be attained. the methodology of this study will also give an idea to the farmers and entrepreneurs on how they can optimize the product for achieving their purpose. literature cited blumenthal, j. m., baltensperger, d. d., cassman, k. g., mason, s. c., & pavlista, a. d. (2008). importance and effect of nitrogen on crop quality and health. in  nitrogen in the environment (second edition)  (pp. 51-70). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-374347-3.00003-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-374347-3.00003-2 55 international peer reviewed journal [bafs] bureau of agriculture and fisheries standards. 2017. retrieved from: http://www.bafps.da.gov.ph/images/official_list_third-party_ certified_organic_operators_as_of_23_jan_2017.pdf dourado, l. r. b., pascoal, l. a. f., sakomura, n. k., costa, f. g. p., & biagiotti, d. (2011). soybeans (glycine max) and soybean products in poultry and swine nutrition. in  recent trends for enhancing the diversity and quality of soybean products. intech. https://goo.gl/tqazm1 egli, d. b., & tekrony, d. m. (1995). soybean seed germination, vigor and field emergence.  seed science and technology (switzerland). v. 23 (3). retrieved from https://goo.gl/pffoa8 hamed, h. a., moustafa, y. a., & abdel-aziz, s. m. (2011). in vivo efficacy of lactic acid bacteria in biological control against fusarium oxysporum for protection of tomato plant. life science journal, 8(4), 462-468. https://goo. gl/axmhvw hara, y., & toriyama, k. (1998). seed nitrogen accelerates the rates of germination, emergence, and establishment of rice plants.  soil science and plant nutrition,  44(3), 359-366. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380768.1998. 10414457 hartman, g. l., west, e. d., & herman, t. k. (2011). crops that feed the world 2. soybean—worldwide production, use, and constraints caused by pathogens and pests. food security, 3(1), 5-17. https://goo.gl/2lxb7i manuel, p. c., huelgas, r. r., & espanto, l. h. (1987). adoption of soybean in lupao, nueva ecija, the philippines. https://goo.gl/5q55qs ohyama, t., minagawa, r., ishikawa, s., yamamoto, m., hung, n. v. p., ohtake, n., ... & takahashi, y. (2013). soybean seed production and nitrogen nutrition. in a comprehensive survey of international soybean research-genetics, physiology, agronomy and nitrogen relationships. intech. https://goo.gl/psqye5 shah, a. r., ara, n., & shafi, g. (2011). seed priming with phosphorus increased germination and yield of okra. african journal of agricultural research, 6(16), 3859-3876. https://doi.org/10.5897/ajar11.564 https://goo.gl/tqazm1 https://goo.gl/pffoa8 https://goo.gl/axmhvw https://goo.gl/axmhvw https://doi.org/10.1080/00380768.1998.10414457 https://doi.org/10.1080/00380768.1998.10414457 https://goo.gl/2lxb7i https://goo.gl/5q55qs https://goo.gl/psqye5 https://doi.org/10.5897/ajar11.564 56 jpair multidisciplinary research szopinska, d. (2013). the effects of organic acids treatment on germination, vigour and health of zinnia (zinnia elegans jacq.) seeds.  acta scientiarum polonorum. hortorum cultus, 12(5). https://goo.gl/thgbej [usda] united states department of agriculture foreign agricultural service. (2014). retrieved from https://www.fas.usda.gov/regions/philippines warraich, e. a., basra, s. m. a., ahmad, n., ahmed, r., & aftab, m. u. h. a. m. m. a. d. (2002). effect of nitrogen on grain quality and vigour in wheat (triticum aestivum l.). international journal of agriculture and biology, 4(4), 517-520. https://goo.gl/lgzpk2 zamora, o. b., & calub, b. m. (2016), organic agriculture technologies and systems developed and adapted by farmers in the philippines. philippines: department of agriculture-bureau of agricultural research (da-bar) and university of the philippines los baños (uplb). isbn no. 978-971-0347-46-9 https://goo.gl/thgbej https://www.fas.usda.gov/regions/philippines https://goo.gl/lgzpk2 59 international peer reviewed journal very high level of teaching behavior and outstanding teaching performance of public university faculty oswald t. tolentino http:orcid.org// 0000-0001-9430-9751 otolentino1017@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines crizzle a. bajet paz http:orcid.org// 0000-0002-7640-9035 phgovpol@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines abstract the quality of education depends on several factors such as training for students, teaching activities, management of the school, and the teachers themselves. the teachers are the most important factor in successful teaching. moreover, to influence student’s behavior, the relationship between a teacher and his student is the most effective influence. the study aimed to determine the level of teaching behavior and level of teaching performance of the faculty in the college of technology in the university of northern philippines. using descriptive-correlational method of research, the study used questionnaires as primary tools in gathering the data. findings showed that the faculty had a very high level of teaching behavior along personal, teacher and students, involvement of student, influence method, discipline control, preparing teaching method, teaching process, classroom environment and facilities, work distribution, and learning strategy and social skill. furthermore, the faculty had outstanding vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.336 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research level of teaching performance. the level of teaching behavior of the faculty is not significantly related with their level of teaching performance. the teaching performance of the faculty should not rest on their laurels by enhancing some aspects of their performance like sharing learning objectives with students, promoting a healthy exchange of ideas, and using appropriate evaluation tools. keywords – education, teaching, behavior, performance, descriptivecorrelational method, public university, faculty, ilocos sur, philippines introduction education could be seen as a wing for the progress of the human being (perno, 2012) to help him attain intellectual, physical and spiritual or emotional growth. in some ways, it helps the individual live a happier life. for people without education, living turns out to be difficult, especially in the modern world where specific skills are often needed to get a job. besides, education is a real wealth. understanding how the world around us brings happiness, a kind of happiness that does not disappear. true education dignifies the individual. the turkish science education reform declared that students should become scientifically literate (yilmaz, turnkmen & pedersen, 2008). from primary school through tertiary, students need not only to develop a basic understanding of the concepts underlying science, but must also gain a sophisticated understanding of the assumptions and values inherent in the development of those ideas. to execute this, teachers are the most important factor in improving schools. teacher preparation programs have a significant effect to the quality of a teacher. thus, teacher quality depends on the areas of content knowledge, pedagogical skills and disposition (collinson, killeavy & stephenson, 1999). the study considered a personality variable of teachers to know whether their classrooms are more informational or more controlling. environmental variables will also affect teachers to create a classroom climate that is primarily informational or primarily controlling. when teachers are pressured toward a particular outcome, they may in turn become more controlling with their students, which could decrease the intrinsic motivation and self-esteem of their students (deci, spiegel, koestner, kauffman & ryan, 1982). in other studies reviewed by stipek (1996), extrinsic rewards were shown to impair learning and problem-solving. decharms (1976) found that enhancing children’s intrinsic motivation also improved their learning as measured by standardized tests. thus, there is some evidences that suggest controlling external 61 international peer reviewed journal environments impair learning, in other words, intrinsic motivation improves learning; however, the question deserves considerably more attention. the faculty are substantial components of an organization referred to in this study. both the organization and the faculty have needs and objectives. in the pursuit of their respective objectives, they interact and influence each other. teachers become true assets to the organization if individual and organizational objectives are reconciled. there are many factors to achieve effective education; one of the most important factors is teaching behavior. as stated by mann, (1996), the quality of education depends on several factors which are course schedule, the training for students, teaching activity, and management of the school, relationship of school and community, and the teachers themselves. to influence student’s behavior, the relationship between teacher and student is the most effective influence. the researcher observed that in all places of employment, problems on behavior system exist. when values and relationships among teaching personnel do not enhance satisfaction, do not contribute to success, then, there is a dire need to address the situation lest the students who are direct recipient of their labors be greatly affected. if a student fails to learn and develop desirable values, attitudes and behaviors from their mentors in school, then, the society would surely suffer in the future. the researcher believes that teaching effectiveness has a big role to portray in bringing out quality learning to all students. through the interplay of faculty attributes (which include moral qualities, social relationship traits, personality traits and teaching skills or competencies), the faculty may be able to effect desirable change and improvements among the learners. no matter how good the instructional program could be, if the faculty could not effectively share their expertise, then, quality learning becomes a dream. the university of northern philippines (unp), vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines, in general, is not only concerned in the pursuit of academic excellence that is why building a good teaching behavior and performance of the faculty are also given attention. the college of technology in unp, one of the educational arms of the government in developing and improving skilled manpower, is envisioned to be the leading institution in the technological institution in the region in terms of instruction, research, extension and production. it also envisioned to produce highly skilled valueladen graduates employed in the country and abroad to boost the country’s economy, and support themselves and their families. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research through the results of their study, awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching personnel in terms of their behavior and effectiveness could be established. it also hopes that with this study, programs could be initiated to improve the perceived flaws in teaching behaviors and their effectiveness among the faculty of the college of technology. indeed, it is very inspiring to be working with people when everyone is acting and responding in shared direction. everyone is expecting to professionally establish mutual confidence, love and respect with one another to the interest of the students, the organization, and the society. objectives of the study the study determined the teaching behavior and effectiveness of the college of technology faculty in university of northern philippines. it considered the relationship between, age, sex, residence, course, and specialization, length of teaching experience, educational attainment, and training and seminars. furthermore, it tried to find the overall level of teacher’s behavior and its significance to their performance. methodology the study used a descriptive-correlational method to determine the teaching behavior and teaching performance of the faculty in the college of technology. descriptive method was used to describe the teaching behavior and performance. all the 30 faculty of the college of technology served as the respondents of the study. the researcher sought permission from everyone who were interviewed and surveyed. the correlational method was employed to look in the relationship between personal profile and the teaching behavior and teaching performance of the thirty faculty of the college of technology, university of northern philippines. the frequency and percentage were used to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of the faculty-related factors. simple correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the teaching behavior, teaching performance and their profile. faculty performance was taken from the faculty performance evaluation system of the university of northern philippines. the population of this study comprised the faculty and students of the college of technology, university of northern philippines. teaching behavior is measured in terms of personal behavior of teachers and students’ involvement, influence method, discipline control, preparing teaching 63 international peer reviewed journal method, teaching process, classroom environment, work distribution, learning strategy and social skills. on the other hand, performance is measured in terms of activities to improve teachers, making decision while thinking about the teachers’ work, improving learners, improving plans, always improving education quality, have creativity which have a reaction towards the learners, report of improving learners’ quality within a system, being a good example to learners, being creative in joining work with others in the society, and looking for the improvement of information. results and discussion profile of the respondents almost all of the respondents (29 or 96.7%) are males with only one (1 or 3.3 %) female. the faculty of the college of technology is clearly male-dominated and majority (12 or 40.0%) of the respondents’ age ranges from 31-40, two (6.7 %) of which belonged to 30 years and below. the respondents are still considered relatively young and energetic. most (10 or 33.3%) of the respondents have teaching experience of more than 20 years while two (6.7 %) have been teaching for 16 to 20 years. majority of the respondents (17 or 56.7 %) hold a master’s degree, 12 (40 %) hold bachelor’s degree and one (3.3 %) holds a doctorate degree. level of teaching behavior of the respondents the level of teaching behavior of the respondents was measured in terms of personal behavior, teacher an students, involvement of student, influence method, discipline control, preparing teaching method, teaching process, classroom environment and facilities, work distribution, and learning strategy and social skill. the respondents have a “very high” level of personal behavior as backed-up by the overall mean score of 4.54. it is also indicated in the table that all the items are rated “always”. among the items, it is noteworthy that the respondents’ self-confidence and flexibility for student work got the highest rating. kindness, good intention for students achieved the lowest rating. the findings imply that teachers should be sensitive to others and keep the channels of communication open. the table shows that the instructors’ behavior along teacher and students was at a “very high” level with an overall mean of 4.61. the respondents always have 64 jpair multidisciplinary research consultations with their students and remember them well. the result shows that the respondents are keen on training their students with good manners, kind and willing to help students by being friendly and behaving properly towards their students. it is also reflected in the results that the instructors’ behavior along involvement of student was at a “very high” level with an overall mean score of 4.72. all the item indicators are rated always. the results imply that the respondents allow student involvement in work and motivate them to be creative in their work. gross davis (1993) said that students’ enthusiasm, involvement and willingness to participate affect the quality of class discussion as an opportunity for learning. the challenge is to engage all students, keep them talking to each other about the same topic, and help them develop insights into the material. the instructors’ level of behavior along influence method was at a “very high” level. all the item indicators are also rated “always”. the results imply that the respondents are suggesting and improving each student’s weak point individually, encouraging the students to find out the answer by themselves, and explain the tasks clearly. these were supported by the responses of the students during their informal interview. the respondents have a “very high” level of teaching behavior along discipline control with an overall mean of 4.63. the respondents “always” influence their students by reason and set rules for the students to follow. they also let them know their duties and responsibilities, and always keep an eye on them. the respondents’ behavior along preparing teaching method is at a “very high” level (=4.60). all the items are also rated “always”. the students are much aware of their instructor’s behavior on teaching methods particularly training the students in analytical and synthetically thinking and how to construct the body of knowledge by themselves, using activities that help the students’ experiment and practice by themselves, informing the learning objective before teaching and evaluating it every time. this approach to learning emphasizes the fact that individuals perceive and process information in different ways as emphasized by crow (1970). the learning styles theory implies that individual learning has more to do with educational experience geared toward their particular style of learning than intelligence alone. in fact, educators should not ask, “is this student smart?” but rather “how is this student smart?” the respondents’ level of teaching behavior along teaching process is at “very high” level. this is indicated by the overall mean 4.57. all the item indicators are also rated “always”. the students are very much aware of their instructors’ 65 international peer reviewed journal behavior on teaching process particularly in following the steps of self-practicing activity for students, adjusting activity according to students’ interest, training students for knowledge and skills, and setting suitable teaching technique. the instructors’ behavior along classroom instrument is at a “very high” (=4.53) level. all the item indicators are rated “always”. the students viewed that the following indicators of the teaching behavior regarding management of classroom environment and facilities are prevalent: encouraging the students to study and research by themselves, arranging the classroom environment to enable learning, and providing sufficient media and materials which are appropriate to the contents. the instructors’ behavior along work distribution is at a “very high level and all the item indicators are rated “always”. the respondents have clear communication appropriate distribution and keep looking, giving feedback, and keep checking the work suggestion and correction. the model is based on the belief that there are identifiable precepts or principles that provide valuable guidelines for effective teaching in a wide variety of instructional areas and setting. such principles can be used to regulate and guide teachers’ action as stated by good (1973). they assist decision–making about teaching strategies, methods and techniques in all subjects and are based on generalizations derived from classroom observation and research. the application of appropriate teaching principles has been shown to be strongly related to high level students’ achievement in a number of subject areas. much of the support for the principles model is based on research derived from the process – product literature. the respondents’ behavior along learning strategy and social skill is at a “very high” level as indicated by the mean of 4.57. all the item indicators are rated “always”. the findings show that the respondents support teamwork, motivate, express ideas and set problems for their students to analyze and solve. they also give leadership activities to their students. motivation plays an important role in formal education. one of the primary functions of formal education is to develop motives and interest that will be life-long in their effects. education should develop the needs and desires that the individual will constantly try to satisfy. this satisfaction could be attained through proper motivation. the respondents have a “very high” (=4.57) level of teaching behavior. they have a “very high” level in all the dimensions of teaching behavior such as personal behavior, teacher and students, involvement of student, influence method, discipline control, preparing teaching method, teaching process, 66 jpair multidisciplinary research classroom environment and facilities, work distribution, and learning strategy and social skill. level of teaching performance of the respondents the level of teaching performance of the respondents was measured in terms of teaching effectiveness and personal and social attributes. teaching effectiveness was measured in terms of commitment, knowledge of the subject matter, teaching for independent learning, and management of learning. the respondents’ level of teaching effectiveness along commitment is “outstanding” (=4.68). all the item indicators are also rated “outstanding”. the items “supplements available instructional materials” (=4.79) and “makes himself available even outside official time” (=4.77) got the highest mean rating. on the other hand, “shares and realizes learning objectives with student” got the lowest mean rating of 4.59. the results imply that the respondents are dedicated to their job. they are knowledgeable about the things they need to perform to fulfill their job. they do everything and anything to ensure the quality of instruction they give to their students. the respondents’ level of teaching effectiveness in terms of knowledge of the subject matter is also “outstanding”. this is evidenced by the mean rating of 4.75. all the item indicators are rated “outstanding” especially on the item “presents subject matter systematically” which got the highest rating of 4.83. in contrast, the item “summarizes the lessons and makes generalizations” got the lowest mean rating of 4.49. the findings of the study indicate that the respondents are experts in their chosen field. the respondents have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter. further, they supplement their knowledge by keeping track of new concepts and innovative ideas and cites current issues or up-to-date information on the subject matter. the respondents have an “outstanding” (=4.70) level of teaching effectiveness along teaching for independent learning. it is also observed that all the items are at an “outstanding” level. it is worthy to note that “respect students’ opinions and choices and the exercise of their responsibilities” got the highest mean of 4.84. on the contrary, “gives appropriate and realistic assignments” got the lowest mean of 4.49. the findings imply that the respondents provide experiences for students to develop their critical thinking skills and creativeness. they encourage independent learning through the use of varied teaching techniques like cooperative learning and the like. 67 international peer reviewed journal the respondents’ teaching effectiveness in terms of management of learning is “outstanding” (=4.77). all the items are rated “outstanding”. furthermore, the items “utilizes class time wisely and purposively” (=4.93) “ uses example, illustrations, and associations to clarify/expand the lesson (=4.91), and “evaluates students’ performance wisely” (=4.91) obtained the highest mean rating. on the other hand, “uses appropriate evaluation tools such as quizzes, recitation, etc.” (=4.56) got the lowest mean rating. the findings show that the respondents are conscious about time management particularly in the teaching-learning process. this should be exercised particularly with the many class disruptions during the semester. the respondents are also outstanding in stimulating the intellectual curiosity of the students with the injection of their sense of humor once in a while. moreover, the respondents show fairness in rating their students. overall, the respondents have an “outstanding” (=4.72) level of teaching effectiveness. this is backed-up by their outstanding level of commitment (=4.48), knowledge of the subject matter (=4.75), teaching for independent learning (=4.70), and management of learning (=4.77). the respondents have an “outstanding” (=4.69) level of teaching performance along personal and social attributes. all the item indicators are also rated “outstanding”. among the item indicators, the items “orderliness” (=4.84) and “grooming and use of appropriate attire” (=4.77) obtained the highest mean ratings. “emotional maturity/stability”, on the other hand, got the lowest mean rating of 4.57. the results indicate that the respondents are sensitive as to how presentable they are in front of their students. this is in consonance with the common belief that the best audio visual material in a classroom setting is the teacher himself. as a teacher in a technology course, they also need to be systematic and organize particularly in setting their tools and materials. table 1. summary of the level of teaching performance of the respondents dimensions mean dr teaching effectiveness 4.72 outstanding personal and social attributes 4.69 outstanding overall 4.71 outstanding the study reveals that there is no significant relationship between the level of teaching behavior of the respondents and the following” gender (r=0.0323), age (r=0.0692), length of teaching experience (r=0.0223), and highest educational 68 jpair multidisciplinary research attainment (r=0.0483). this implies that no matter is the gender, age, length of teaching experience, and highest educational attainment of the respondents, their level of teaching behavior is more or less the same. there is also no significant relationship between the level of teaching performance of the respondents and the following” gender (r=0.0658), age (r=0.0376), length of teaching experience (r=0.0952), and highest educational attainment (r=0.0881). this indicates that no matter is the gender, age, length of teaching experience, and highest educational attainment of the respondents, their level of teaching performance is more or less the same. a significant limitation of the extant literature is the lack of methodological rigor to demonstrate that the positive relationship commonly found between human resources and performance is actually causal, in the sense that when formal human resource practices are instituted, they lead to higher performance (wright, gardner, moynihan & allen, 2005). moreover, there is no significant relationship between the level of teaching behavior and the level of teaching performance of the respondents (r=-0.112). furthermore, scrutiny of the table also reveals no significant relationship between the all the indicators of teaching behavior and teaching performance. this indicates that the level of teaching performance of the respondents is more or less the same no matter what is the level of teaching behavior of the respondents. conclusions the respondents have a very high level of teaching behavior particularly along personal behavior, teacher and students, involvement of student, influence method, discipline control, preparing teaching method, teaching process, classroom environment and facilities, work distribution, and learning strategy and social skills. the respondents have an outstanding level of teaching performance particularly in terms of teaching effectiveness and personal and social attributes. the level of teaching behavior and level of teaching performance of the respondents is more or less the same regardless of their gender, sex, length of teaching experience, and highest educational attainment. the level of teaching behavior of the respondents is not significantly related with their level of teaching performance. 69 international peer reviewed journal translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to the meaning of the term education and its purpose are not universally fixed and not the same for all. bartlett and burton (2012) stated that personal resonances of the term education are shaped by a number of individual experiences such as coming top of the class, passing examination, going on school trips, being made fun of by teacher, or being in the bottom set. various groups of people are usually positioned differently in relation to education and its purposes. literature cited bartlett, s., & burton, d. (2012). introduction to education studies. sage. collinson, v., killeavy, m., & stephenson, h. (1999). exemplary teachers: practicing an ethic of care in england, ireland, and the united states. journal for a just and caring education, 5(4), 340-366. crow (1970). conservation education training manual-international www.izea. net/.../cec%20con%20ed%20course%20manual%20for%20... deci, e. l., spiegel, n. h., ryan, r. m., koestner, r., & kauffman, m. (1982). effects of performance standards on teaching styles: behavior of controlling teachers. journal of educational psychology, 74(6), 852. decharms, r. (1976). enhancing motivation: change in the classroom. gross davis, b. (1993). tools for teaching.  san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. retrieved july, 1, 2011. good, c. v. (1973) dictionary of education. www.worldcat.org/title/dictionaryof-education/oclc/601235 mann (1996). concept of teacher education. retrieved from www.mu.ac.in/ myweb_test/.../teacher%20education%20-%20iv.pdf stipek, d. j. (1996). motivation and instruction.  handbook of educational psychology, 85-113. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research perno, b. (2012). education could be seen as wings for the progress of the human being. retrieved from http://educationnext.org/ whystudentsinsomecountriesdobetter/ wright, p. m., gardner, t. m., moynihan, l. m., & allen, m. r. (2005). the relationship between hr practices and firm performance: examining causal order. personnel psychology, 58(2), 409-446. yilmaz, h., turkmen, h., & pedersen, je. (2008). evaluating science education reform in turkey via fourth-grade students’ image of science teaching, science education international, 19(1), 27-40. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 animated instructional medium in structural foundation maricel t. daradar https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4518-4352 maricel.daradar@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental originality: 98% • grammar check: 96% • plagiarism: 2% abstract complicated concepts in designs are difficult to explain in traditional media, such as still slides. animation seems to provide an advantage in delivering a better rendition of these concepts. this study aimed to develop an animated instructional medium in structural foundation, which could be used by drafting technology students of carlos hilado memorial state college, talisay, negros occidental and will serve as a viable instructional material in teaching drafting technology subjects. specifically, it sought to design and develop an animated instructional medium in structural foundation with the following features: animated, interactive, and quality. it also determined the acceptability of the project in terms of animation, user control, interactivity, and images. moreover, formulate an instructional guide for using the project. descriptive and developmental methods were used in this study involving one hundred forty respondents comprising architects, civil engineers, drafting instructors, and students for project evaluation. the findings of the study showed that the animated instructional medium in structural foundation was rated highly acceptable in terms of technical features and very acceptable in terms of animation, user control, interactivity, images, and text. an instructional guide was formulated to serve as an instructional medium for teaching basic structural vol. 47 · january 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v47i1.400 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4518-4352 mailto:maricel.daradar@chmsc.edu.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 87 international peer reviewed journal foundations in architectural drafting. this study is beneficial to the bsit drafting students, construction foremen, construction workers, homeowners, instructors, and researchers. keywords — education, architectural drafting, instructional material, descriptive and developmental design, philippines introduction in today’s world of rapid technological change and increasing global competitiveness, south asian countries need a well-educated and skilled workforce to sustain long-term growth. with the unknown kind of abilities that future occupations will require, schools and teachers must equip pupils with more than just fundamental reading and writing skills. students must be able to analyze data, create judgments, be creative, communicate effectively, collaborate well, and be resilient (world bank, 2019). unfortunately, the teacher was found to lack innovative instructional media in teaching and had no other ways to teach about the subject aside from lecture method and notes, which bring less positive effect on the students (sukardi et al., 2017). the major audio-visual aids used in schools are chalkboards and whiteboards, while about 60% of schools used pictures, maps, models, charts, and multimedia (ali et al., 2010). the traditional ways of delivering instructions to the students were also applied in the architectural drafting subject. architectural drafting is primarily about developing schematics, drawings, blueprints, and other design plans. design plans like architectural design, structural design, electrical designs, and more. one of the structural designs is a foundation plan. a foundation plan is a plan view drawing, in sections, showing the location and size of footings, piers, columns, foundation walls, and supporting beams that are located below the ground (jefferis et al., 2016). the utilization of still pictures presentation during the post-pandemic era, especially in architectural drafting, led the students to conduct a site visit for the actual observation and understanding of the latter. moreover, the covid-19 pandemic has sent the global economy into a tailspin and has had a significant impact on education. face-to-face classrooms have migrated to online learning platforms due to the abrupt shutdown of campuses as a social distancing mechanism to avoid community transmission. this has shifted the attention to elearning tools and platforms for effective student participation, which may be out of reach and budget for many students. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 the epidemic has exposed the flaws in today’s higher education system and the necessity for greater digital technology training for instructors to adapt to the world’s quickly changing educational atmosphere (rashid & yadav, 2020). with the development of technology, innovations are being brought up; teachers use different audio-visual aids to facilitate the teaching process (das & al mamon, 2014). with technology advancement at a breakneck speed and gadgets becoming commonplace, digital gadgets delivering content on every topic are expected to replace printed books. the power of interactive gadgets is huge as they cater to more than just books. this awareness of digital learning will propel the industry forward (singh, 2014). however, in the presence of animated medium available, none has prioritize foundation detailing, and the animations lack proper information and discussion, which very essential. it is in this premise that an animated instructional medium was developed. it is a computer-based material that can provide fundamental instruction in ways that are not possible within the limitations of traditional textbook and lecture formats. this instructional medium offers from several actual settings and provides real-life examples in the arrangement of foundation components (brown & green, 2015). it has a knowledge structure with instructional methods that will be the most appropriate fit for students working toward that learning objective (mciver et al., 2016). it is strongly believed that animation is good supplementary material for students, particularly for learning complicated concepts (hwang et al., 2012). in the context of these developments, multimedia plays a vital role as an instrument in the transfer of learning because it offers various experiences such as viewing and interacting through a computer-mediated setting. lastly, an animated instructional medium in a structural foundation is stimulating so that students can make learning activities more freely anywhere and anytime, without depending on a teacher. objectives of the study this study aimed to develop an animated instructional medium in structural foundation, which could be used by drafting technology students of carlos hilado memorial state college, talisay, negros occidental and will serve as a viable instructional material in teaching drafting technology subjects. more specifically, the study sought to (1) design and develop an animated instructional medium in structural and (2) foundation with the following features: a. animated; b. interactive; c. quality. (3) determine the acceptability 89 international peer reviewed journal of the animated instructional medium in structural foundation in terms of: a. animation; b. user control and interactivity; c. images; d. text, and (4) formulate an instructional guide in teaching animated instructional medium in structural foundation. methodology research design the study made use of the descriptive method of research utilizing the developmental method to design and develop an animated instructional medium in structural foundation. participants the respondents of the study were architects, civil engineers, architectural drafting instructors, and architectural drafting students who were informed about the nature of the study. instrumentation the research instruments were composed of two sets intended to gather responses from architects, civil engineers, instructors, and architectural drafting students of carlos hilado memorial state college with regard to the acceptability of the developed “animated instructional medium in structural foundation.” they were asked to indicate the level of acceptability in terms of features on the following criteria: animation, user control, interactivity, images, and text by responding to a five-point scale with corresponding values. a researcher-made questionnaire was developed and has passed the validity and reliability testing and was used to determine the technical acceptability of an animated instructional medium in structural foundation using the mean and standard deviation. however, all information obtained from research participants was treated with confidentiality. scope of the study this study focused on developing an animated instructional medium in structural foundation, which covers the foundation details like wall footing, wall, column footing, column, floor slab, and their respective reinforcement bars. the study had drafting course students and other related professionals as respondents. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 limitations of the study this study will not cover the other house components that are not included in the foundation plan. the respondents of the study should be enrolled or work in chmsc. results and discussion table 1. mean scores on the acceptability of animated instructional medium in structural foundation according to variables variables mean interpretation animation 4.11 high user control and interactivity 4.33 very high images 4.26 very high text 4.14 high total 4.21 very high as shown in the t able, the overall rating of the experts and endusers resulted in a mean score of 4.21, interpreted as very high. this implies that the medium fits classroom use, makes learning a long-term, thinkingcentered process, supports learning with a powerful presentation, focuses on the development factors, and is easy to carry using a flash drive or a compact disc. the table further shows the mean scores in terms of animation, user control, interactivity, images, and text. the obtained mean score was 4.11, interpreted as high. this implies that the animated instructional medium in structural foundation in terms of motion, picture and sound quality, clarity of voice, audio synchronization to the animated objects is user friendly and easy to use, and has a user control instructional manual. the table further shows the mean scores in terms of images. the obtained mean score was 4.26, interpreted as very high. the result implies students’ exposure to the instructional medium will achieve a substantial beginning skill level and proficiency in the structural foundation. the table further shows the mean scores in terms of text. the obtained mean score was 4.14, interpreted as high. the result implies that the text is clear and readable as perceived by the viewers. the results of the study will likewise lead to future enhancement of various instructional media related to the delivery of quality instruction in the college of industrial technology. furthermore, it will be beneficial to students and instructors by utilizing various teaching methods and techniques in teaching technology subjects. 91 international peer reviewed journal generally, the animated instructional medium in the structural foundation was rated high in terms of motion quality, picture quality, sound quality, clarity of voice, and audio synchronization to the animated object. generally, the animated instructional medium in the structural foundation was rated very high in terms of animation, user control and interactivity, images, and text. the animated instructional guide that has been formulated in this study is user-friendly and easy to operate. conclusions in view of the aforementioned findings, the following conclusions are drawn: the animated instructional medium in the structural foundation can enhance the knowledge and skills of architectural drafting students in terms of column footing with required reinforcement bars, a column with required reinforcement bars, wall footing with required reinforcement bars, a wall with required reinforcement bars, and floor slab with required reinforcement bars. the animated instructional medium in the structural foundation can be used in any course that focuses on the study of the structural foundation of a one-story residential house. the animated instructional guide can enhance the instructional delivery system in teaching selected topics in architectural drafting. translational research it is highly suggested all static instructional aid in architectural drafting should be enhanced into an instructional animation to bring more efficiency to the delivery of learning to the students. appropriate computer programs will be used for the high performance of the instructional medium and to becoming more user-friendly. literature cited ali, z., ghani, f., & ali, a. (2010). the use of instructional technology in private schools and national education policy. the dialogue, 6(2), 161-172. brown, a. h., & green, t. d. (2015).  the essentials of instructional design: connecting fundamental principles with process and practice. routledge. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 47 • january 2022 das, s., & al mamon, a. (2014). an interacting model of dark energy in bransdicke theory. astrophysics and space science, 351(2), 651-660. hwang, i., tam, m., lam, s. l., & lam, p. (2012). review of use of animation as a supplementary learning material of physiology content in four academic years. electronic journal of e-learning, 10(4), pp368-377. jefferis, a., madsen, d. a., & madsen, d. p. (2012). architectural drafting and design (book only). cengage learning. mciver, d., fitzsimmons, s., & flanagan, d. (2016). instructional design as knowledge management: a knowledge-in-practice approach to choosing instructional methods. journal of management education, 40(1), 47-75. rashid, s., & yadav, s. s. (2020). impact of covid-19 pandemic on higher education and research. indian journal of human development, 14(2), 340343. singh, j. (2014) digital learning will propel the industry forward. digital learning. retrieved from https://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/03/ digital-learning-will-propel-the-industry-forward/ sukardi, s., puyada, d., wulansari, r. e., & yanto, d. t. p. (2017). the validity of interactive instructional media on electrical circuits at vocational high school and technology. 2nd incotepd, 2017, 21-22. world bank. (2019). the education crisis: being in school is not the same as learning. 67 international peer reviewed journal production and quality evaluation of probiotic malunggay (moringa oleifera lam.) ice cream jessa b. gisulga https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4495-5549 jessagisulga@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology – main campus victoria, oriental mindoro originality: 100 • grammar check: 96 • plagiarism: 0 abstract the study aimed to produce probiotic malunggay ice cream. it further aimed to determine and assess the effects of the probiotic malunggay on the sensory quality of the product, its physico-chemical properties, stability, consumer reaction and the cost of production. the research study used a 3 x 3 factorial experimental type of research in randomized complete block design (rcbd) with two (2) replicates and with three (3) levels of malunggay, namely, 0%, 15%, and 30% (w/v) and three (3) levels of probiotic cultures 0%, 20%, and 40% (w/v). the findings of the study revealed that sensory evaluation showed that only malunggay was significantly affected by the acceptability of the aforementioned sensory evaluation. when malunggay was subjected to sensory evaluation, high levels of malunggay elicit low acceptability on its color, taste, flavor, and texture. in terms of ph, and ta of the probiotic malunggay, when it was made into ice cream, such was affected by the levels of the probiotic culture, increased levels of probiotic culture correspond to a higher ph and ta values thus, increased levels of probiotic culture could further increase the initial microbial count of the probiotics in the product. further studies may be conducted to confirm the vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.576 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 68 jpair multidisciplinary research storage stability of the probiotic microorganisms over an extended period of frozen storage. keywords — malunggay, probiotic, ice cream, production, philippines introduction production of dairy products should be carefully handled that its good bacteria will be the main source of bodily health of both men and women and thus, food production particularly the probiotics malunggay required precautionary measures to ensure safe and germ-free food process. dairy products use milk that includes whole fluid milk, flavored milk, butter, cheese, evaporated and with special mentioned in terms of the most popular from among the group of up students. the ice cream manufacturing industry was one of the largest in the realm of dairy processing (kon & henry, 1949). ice cream alone comes in many different flavors. although ice cream has already been widely available, it is not regularly consumed. barriers from regular consumption include limited health benefits and disadvantageous consumer perceptions. as pointed out by lauzon, zhao, and lacasse (2006), ice cream had nutritional significance yet not considered to have a therapeutic effect. even though enrichment and fortification in whole milk products with vitamins and minerals have been flourishing, it was not common among in frozen dairy products. utilization and incorporation of healthful ingredients like malunggay and probiotics could enhance the nutritional benefits of ice cream. malunggay was used in addressing malnutrition in developing areas of the world. it has been used successfully to combat nutrient deficiency among infants and women of childbearing age. scientific research has proven that malunggay leaves were a powerhouse of nutritional value. the high concentrations of iron, protein, copper, beta-carotene, vitamin c, calcium, potassium and essential amino acids present in malunggay leaves make them effectively ideal as a nutritional supplement (fahey, 2005). on the other hand, probiotics are “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amount confer a health benefit on the host” (fao, 2001). they contribute to the health of people by improving their intestinal microbial balance (fuller, 1989). incorporation of probiotic microorganisms into the ice cream formulation improves the nutritional quality as well as provides a therapeutic value of the product as pointed out by sarkar (1999). 69 international peer reviewed journal buffalo milk which was used to produce the ice cream was a healthy food which provides more nutrients compared to other milk. buffalo milk is processed into a product of high value. one advantage of buffalo milk is its processing quality. the high contents of fats, proteins, and total solids give it a rich flavor and added value. it has a higher resistance to oxidation which is ideal for preparing traditional sweets (philippine carabao center, 2009). time after time, participants in tasting trials pick out consumer preferred buffalo milk than cows, goats and artificially manufactured milk (the india dairy, 2001). malunggay contains a generous supply of vitamins and mineral while probiotic microorganisms offer beneficial effects to human health. adding malunggay and probiotics gives an excellent nutritional value to the product and more health benefits to consumers. hence this study is conducted. objectives of the study the study aimed to improve the nutritional benefits of ice cream and produce probiotic malunggay ice cream using different levels of malunggay and probiotic culture. specifically, it sought to; 1) evaluate the sensory properties of the probiotic malunggay ice cream as affected by the concentration of malunggay and probiotic culture ; and determine the optimum regions; 2) determine the effects of the level of malunggay and probiotic culture on the physico-chemical properties of the probiotic malunggay ice cream; 3) determine the stability and development of lactic acid bacteria (lab) under freezing conditions in the probiotic malunggay ice cream; 4) assess consumers’ reactions toward the optimum product; and, 5) determine the cost of production of the optimum level of probiotic malunggay ice cream. materials and methods procurement of raw materials the fresh water buffalo’s milk used was provided by the philippine carabao center (pcc) at vsu, visca, baybay, leyte. the ingredients for ice cream production except malunggay were bought from baybay public market. the malunggay leaves were obtained from pangasugan, baybay, leyte. ice cream formulation the method used for the production of probiotic ice cream was patterned from the process of sarkar (1999) as modified by lauzon, zhao, and lacasse 70 jpair multidisciplinary research (2006). the amount of ingredients needed was calculated accurately, and the ingredients were mixed carefully to give its proper composition. there were three levels of malunggay and probiotic medium used, which were 0%, 10%, and 20% and 0%, 20%, and 40% (w/v), respectively. malunggay paste preparation the malunggay leaves were first separated from the stalks. the leaves were then blanched into hot water and removed immediately after it was thoroughly soaked. the blanched water was added at 1: 1 malunggay and water ratio to facilitate homogenizing on the electric blender. the process for preparing malunggay paste is shown in figure 1 below. figure 1. showing the schematic diagram of malunggay paste preparation ice cream preparation milk was pasteurized at 72°c (161.6 °f) for 15 seconds. homogenized malunggay leaves were added according to the calculated milk-malunggay ratio. the rest of the ingredients were then added to the malunggay-milk mixture. the mixture was then heated for ten minutes at 80-85°c (176-185°f) with constant stirring. the probiotic culture was added after the mixture has cooled down to approximately 30°c (86°f). the ice cream mixture was subjected to low temperature at about 0 to -4°c (32-24.5°f) with constant beating to incorporate more air. it was then 71 international peer reviewed journal alternately beaten and aged for about 10 minutes. the partially frozen ice cream was transferred in the freezer for complete final freezing. the complete process is shown in figure 2 next page. figure 2. the process flow for processing probiotic malunggay ice cream. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research treatments and experimental design a 3 x 3 factorial experimental design in randomized complete block design (rcbd) in 2 blocks or replicates with three levels of malunggay, namely, 0%, 15%, and 30% (w/v) and three levels of probiotic cultures namely 0%, 20%, and 40% (w/v) was used in the study. table 1 shows the different treatments that were used in the study. table 1. experimental treatments treatment malunggay (%) probiotic culture (%) 1 0 0 2 10 0 3 20 0 4 0 20 5 10 20 6 20 20 7 0 40 8 10 40 9 20 40 sensory evaluation sensory evaluation of the different treatments was carried out using a laboratory test panel composed of 48 fourth-year and third-year bsft students of vsu. samples were coded with the three-digit number and presented to the panelists. panelists were asked to evaluate the product according to their color, taste, flavor, and texture using the quality scoring and the 9-point hedonic scale for the acceptability evaluation. incomplete block design (ibd) as laid out by cochran and cox (1957) was used during the sensory evaluation using a score sheet. it was carried out in four runs with a total of 48 panelists wherein each treatment was evaluated by 32 individuals. the set plan of t = 9, k = 6, r = 8, b = 12, e = 0.94 type ii was followed where t refers to the number of treatments; k, the number of samples presented to the panelists; r, the number of replications; b, the number of blocks and; e, the efficiency factor. stability of lactic acid bacteria (lab) the stability of lactic acid bacteria (lab) at freezing condition was determined by culturing the frozen probiotic malunggay ice cream using the 73 international peer reviewed journal mrs (de mann, rogosa, and sharpe) agar. sampling was done for 6 days with 2 days interval for the optimum formulation. statistical analysis results of the sensory evaluation were subjected to analysis using the response surface regression (rsreg) using the statistical system (sas, 1985) program package in determining the effects of the independent variables on the sensory qualities of the product and the optimum processing conditions for each independent variable for the response studied. effects of the independent variables were clarified by contour plots produced by the analysis. optimum conditions were defined for processing the product using the highest possible product acceptability common to all sensory qualities evaluated. physico-chemical quality evaluation total soluble solids the total soluble solid was measured using the calibrated handheld refractometer (atago atcie model) a drop of sample was placed on the refractometer for tss reading in °brix. ph the ph was measured using the digital ph meter using the model ph 600 available at the national abaca research center (narc) vsu, baybay, leyte. titrable acidity ta was calculated as % lactic acid using the formula below. microbial evaluation the microbial evaluation was carried out to determine whether the initial microorganisms inoculated were the same microorganisms found in the final product. cultures from the commercial yogurt and from the final product were examined by gram staining and visual microscopic examination. the figures of the isolated lactic acid bacteria were compared in terms of morphology and gram reaction. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research consumer acceptability test the optimum formulation and the treatment with the highest level of malunggay and probiotic culture were subjected to consumer evaluation employing 100 consumers composed of 25 elementary students, 25 high school students, 25 college students and 25 adults. cost analysis corresponding production cost was determined for the optimum formulation of probiotic malunggay ice cream considering the prevailing market prices of ingredients, labor, and other processing costs. results and discussion sensory evaluation sensory evaluation was carried out to nine different treatments utilizing different levels of malunggay and probiotic culture. the treatments were in figure 3 as presented below. figure 3. the different probiotic malunggay ice cream affected by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture. 75 international peer reviewed journal color the color description of probiotic malunggay ice cream ranged from “light green” to “green” as described by 60.07% of the panelists (table 2). the color acceptability had an overall response mean of 6.85 which corresponds to “like slightly” to “like moderately” in the 9-point hedonic scale. table 2. frequency count of the descriptive scores on the color of probiotic malunggay ice cream descriptive score count percentage 1 white 51 8.85 2 milky white 88 15.28 3 light green 197 34.20 4 green 149 25.87 5 dark green 91 15.80 color description of the different treatments was in table 3. treatments 1, 4, and 7, with 0% malunggay got a color description ranging from “white” to “milky white.” treatments with malunggay, 2, 3, 6, 8 and 9 exhibited a shade of green, whose intensity corresponds to the levels of malunggay added. however, the addition of probiotic culture repressed the green color contributed by the malunggay. treatments 5, 6, 7 and 8 which had probiotic culture had a receding intensity of the green color. color acceptability is higher in treatments 1, 4, and 7 (without malunggay) whose color description ranged from “white” to “milky white.” the high acceptability rating of the ice cream without malunggay is attributed to the fact that the sensory panelists are not used to green-colored ice cream. table 3. color description and mean1 acceptability rating2 of probiotic malunggay ice cream as influenced by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture treatment % malunggay % probiotic culture description acceptability3 1 0 0 white-milky white 7.47b 2 10 0 light green 6.72cd 3 20 0 green-dark green 6.16e 4 0 20 milky white 7.72ab 76 jpair multidisciplinary research 5 10 20 light green 6.84c 6 20 20 green-dark green 5.69f 7 0 40 milky white 7.89a 8 10 40 light green 6.70cd 9 20 40 light green-green 6.44de 1 n = 48 2 acceptability score: 9 – like extremely 6 – like slightly 3 – dislike moderately 8 – like very much 5 – neither like nor dislike 2 – dislike very much 7 – like moderately 4 – dislike slightly 1 – dislike extremely 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. response surface regression analysis revealed a highly significant linear effect on malunggay levels. this linear effect indicates that malunggay alone has contributed to the significant change in color acceptability on the probiotic malunggay ice cream. the green color of malunggay was brought about by the pigment chlorophyll found in the leaves of green plants. taste the taste of probiotic malunggay ice cream was described to be “sweet” to “well-blended sweet and sour” by 75.17% of the panelists (table 4). the taste acceptability rating of the product had an overall response mean of 7.04 which corresponds to “like moderately” category in the 9-point hedonic scale. table 4. frequency count of the descriptive scores of taste attribute of probiotic malunggay ice cream descriptive score count percentage 1 others 7 1.21 2 sweet 205 35.59 3 well blended sweet and sour 228 39.58 4 sour 79 13.72 5 bittersweet 57 9.90 77 international peer reviewed journal taste description of the different treatments is in table 5. treatments with malunggay exhibited a slightly bitter taste, but it was no longer perceptible in treatments with both the probiotic culture and the malunggay except in treatment 6 wherein the level of malunggay is still perceptible which means that the probiotic culture added is not enough to mask the bitter taste of malunggay. the sour taste of the product can be due to the lactic acid produced by the probiotic culture which is naturally sour. although treatments with malunggay have lower mean taste acceptability rating. however, their mean acceptability scores still fall on the acceptable level of the 9-point hedonic scale. response surface regression analysis revealed a significant linear effect of malunggay on the taste acceptability of probiotic malunggay ice cream. the taste contributed by malunggay significantly affected the taste acceptability of the product. higher levels of malunggay result in lower mean taste acceptability of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. table 5. taste description and mean1 acceptability rating2 of probiotic malunggay ice cream as influenced by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture treatment % malunggay % probiotic culture description acceptability3 1 0 0 sweet 7.39b 2 10 0 sweet-bittersweet 6.91c 3 20 0 sweet-bittersweet 6.22d 4 0 20 sweet-well blended sweet sour 7.86a 5 10 20 sweet-well blended sweet sour 7.33b 6 20 20 well blended sweet sourbittersweet 6.22d 7 0 40 well blended sweet sour-sour 7.78a 8 10 40 well blended sweet sour-sour 6.92bc 9 20 40 well blended sweet sour-sour 6.72cd 1 n = 48 2 acceptability score: 9 – like extremely 6 – like slightly 3 – dislike moderately 8 – like very much 5 – neither like nor dislike 2 – dislike very much 7 – like moderately 4 – dislike slightly 1 – dislike extremely 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research flavor the flavor of probiotic malunggay ice cream was described to have “imperceptible malunggay flavor” to “well-blended malunggay milk flavor” by 56.25% of the panelists (table 6). the flavor acceptability had an overall response mean of 6.95 which corresponds to “like moderately” category of the 9-point hedonic scale. table 6. frequency count of the descriptive scores of color attribute of probiotic malunggay ice cream descriptive score count percentage 1 others 12 2.09 2 imperceptible malunggay flavor 176 30.56 3 well blended malunggay milk flavor 148 25.69 4 slightly perceptible malunggay flavor 117 20.31 5 moderately perceptible malunggay milk flavor 123 21.35 flavor description for the different treatment is in table 7. increased level of malunggay resulted in a higher intensity of the malunggay flavor. treatments 1, 4 and 7 have no perceptible malunggay flavor and have higher flavor acceptability compared to the other treatments evaluated which have a distinct malunggay flavor. response surface regression analysis revealed a highly significant quadratic effect of malunggay levels on flavor acceptability. this quadratic effect indicates that malunggay has contributed to the significant change in flavor acceptability of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. higher levels of malunggay result in lower flavor acceptability. 79 international peer reviewed journal table 7. flavor description and mean1 acceptability rating2 of probiotic malunggay ice cream as influenced by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture treatment % malunggay % probiotic culture description acceptability3 1 0 0 imperceptible malunggay flavor 7.16bc 2 10 0 slightly perceptible malunggay flavor – well blended malunggay milk flavor 7.09ac 3 20 0 well blended malunggay milk flavor moderately perceptible malunggay flavor 6.17e 4 0 20 imperceptible malunggay flavor 7.53a 5 10 20 slightly – moderately perceptible malunggay flavor 7.52ab 6 20 20 well blended malunggay milk flavor – moderately perceptible malunggay flavor 6.11e 7 0 40 imperceptible malunggay flavor 7.56a 8 10 40 slightly perceptible malunggay flavor – well blended malunggay milk flavor 6.94cd 9 20 40 slightly – moderately perceptible malunggay milk flavor 6.45de n = 48 2 acceptability score: 9 – like extremely 6 – like slightly 3 – dislike moderately 8 – like very much 5 – neither like nor dislike 2 – dislike very much 7 – like moderately 4 – dislike slightly 1 – dislike extremely 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. texture the texture of probiotic malunggay ice cream was described to be “firm” to “soft but firm” by 70.48% of the panelists (table 8). the texture acceptability had an overall response mean of 7.23 which corresponds to “like moderately” to “like very much” category in the 9-point hedonic scale. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research table 8. frequency count of the descriptive scores of texture attribute of probiotic malunggay ice cream descriptive score count percentage 1 very firm 48 8.33 2 firm 134 23.26 3 soft but firm 272 47.22 4 soft 85 14.76 5 very soft 37 6.42 texture description of the different treatments of probiotic malunggay ice cream is in table 9. treatments 1, 4 and 7, without malunggay, were described to be soft while treatments with malunggay exhibited a firm texture. these findings can be due to the tiny fibrous particles of malunggay which reduces the stability of the mixture, therefore, limiting the formation of air cells. acceptability means are found to be higher in treatments with a soft texture. response surface regression analysis revealed a linearly significant malunggay level. this linear effect indicates that the presence of malunggay has affected the texture quality and acceptability of the product. table 9. texture description and mean1 acceptability rating2 of probiotic malunggay ice cream as affected by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture treatment % malunggay % probiotic culture description acceptability 3 1 0 0 soft 7.36bc 2 10 0 soft and firm – firm 7.09cd 3 20 0 firm – very firm 6.95cd 4 0 20 soft 7.64ab 5 10 20 soft and firm – firm 7.25bcd 6 20 20 firm – very firm 6.95cd 7 0 40 soft 7.80a 8 10 40 soft and firm – firm 7.16cd 9 20 40 soft – soft and firm 6.89d 1 n = 48 2 acceptability score: 9 – like extremely 6 – like slightly 3 – dislike moderately 8 – like very much 5 – neither like nor dislike 2 – dislike very much 7 – like moderately 4 – dislike slightly 1 – dislike extremely 81 international peer reviewed journal 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. general acceptability the general acceptability had an overall response mean of 7.07, which corresponds to “like moderately.” response surface regression analysis a significant linear effect of malunggay levels. this effect implies that the malunggay levels have significantly affected the general acceptability of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. table 10 shows the corresponding mean general acceptability rating of each treatment. treatment means ranged from 6.17 to 7.92, which fall between “like slightly” to “like very much” category of the 9-point hedonic scale. table 10. mean1 general acceptability ratings2 of probiotic malunggay ice cream as influenced by the levels of malunggay and probiotic culture treatment % malunggay % probiotic culture acceptability3 1 0 0 7.20bc 2 10 0 7.02cd 3 20 0 6.17e 4 0 20 7.92a 5 10 20 7.33b 6 20 20 6.28e 7 0 40 7.81a 8 10 40 7.12bc 9 20 40 6.61de 1 n = 48 2 acceptability score: 9 – like extremely 6 – like slightly 3 – dislike moderately 8 – like very much 5 – neither like nor dislike 2 – dislike very much 7 – like moderately 4 – dislike slightly 1 – dislike extremely 3means with the same letters do not significantly differ from each other at 0.05 level of significance. summary of critical values of predictor variables and predicted optimum sensory attribute acceptability of probiotic malunggay ice cream table 11 shows the summary of the critical values of malunggay and probiotic culture level for the predicted acceptability scores of the sensory attributes of 82 jpair multidisciplinary research probiotic malunggay ice cream at stationary point. the acceptability rating of the sensory attributes revealed a minimum response for color acceptability while a maximum response for taste, flavor and general acceptability at the stationary point. texture acceptability is a saddle at stationary point. table 11. critical and predicted response values at the stationary point of sensory qualities of probiotic malunggay ice cream response critical values predicted values at stationary pointmalunggay (%) probiotic (%) color acceptability 37.614039 18.772724 5.54min taste acceptability -213.753142 -1.831234 14.33max flavor acceptability 1.646431 27.723086 7.55max texture acceptability 22.455906 7.543503 6.98s general acceptability -11.064142 35.440115 8.03max results showed that the predicted optimum value ranged from 0 to 37.61% malunggay and 0 to 35.44% probiotic culture. physico-chemical evaluation ph the overall response mean for ph is 5.92. this mean is relatively lower than the standard ph of fresh milk which is ranged from 6.5 to 6.7. this can be attributed to the production of lactic acid by the probiotic culture thus lowering the ph of the product. figure 4. contour plot for the ph of probiotic malunggay ice cream 83 international peer reviewed journal response surface regression analysis shows that probiotic culture has a significant linear and quadratic effect on the ph of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. this effect indicates that the varying levels of probiotic culture are the determinant of the product’s acidity. figure 4 shows that increasing amount of probiotic culture corresponds to a lower ph. titratable acidity the overall response mean for titrable acidity is 0.23. response surface regression analysis showed that probiotic culture has a highly significant linear and quadratic effect on the ta of probiotic malunggay ice cream. interaction of the formulation variables shows a significant effect on the ta of the product. figure 11 shows that an increased amount of probiotic culture and a slight increase in malunggay result in the rise of the titrable acidity of the product. figure 5. contour plot for ta of probiotic malunggay ice cream tss response mean for total soluble solids is 29.08. response surface regression analysis showed that malunggay has a significant quadratic effect on the tss of the product. however, this effect is not defined on the contour plot (figure 6). 84 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 6. contour plot for the tss of probiotic malunggay ice cream stability of lactic acid bacteria (lab) microscopic examination was done to determine the morphological characteristics and the gram reaction of the bacteria isolated from the probiotic culture and the probiotic malunggay ice cream. results showed that the bacteria found in the product are same bacteria used as a starter culture (figure 7) next page. figure 7. microscopic examination and gram reaction of lactic acid bacteria on the probiotic culture and probiotic malunggay ice cream 85 international peer reviewed journal results in microbial evaluation revealed that the microbial growth during the frozen storage of probiotic malunggay ice cream was declining. the growth of lactic acid bacteria has gradually reduced after six days of storage (figure 8). the decrease in the microbial count is imminent since lactic acid bacteria are thermophiles, their optimum survival temperature is from 41-48°c. it is possible that during freezing, some bacterial cells were killed in the freezing process, if not become dormant. when taken in, the organisms were brought back to warm temperatures within the body, thus become active, grow, multiply and impart the same health benefits as a regular probiotic product (davidson, duncan, hackney, eigel, & boling, 2000). figure 8. lactic acid growth in probiotic malunggay ice cream consumer acceptability and preference test consumer acceptability evaluation employing 100 respondents divided into four categories, elementary, high school, college, and adults. the samples subjected to consumer evaluation were the optimum formulation with 2% malunggay and 38% probiotic culture and t 9 with 20% malunggay and 40% probiotic culture. treatment 9 which has high malunggay content and, therefore, has high nutrient value. the probiotic culture level of both samples was almost the same. figure 9 next page shows the graphical presentation of consumer’s acceptability towards the optimum formulation. almost all of the respondents from each category expressed a positive response toward the product. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 9. graphical interpretation of consumer preference towards the optimum formulation figure 10 shows consumer response towards t9. 16% of respondents from each category of consumers disliked the product although most of them liked it. the frequent reason mentioned for disliking is the distinct malunggay flavor in the product. figure 10. graphical presentation of consumer preference on treatment 9 figure 11 shows the consumer preference towards the products. consumers who preferred t 9 over the optimum formulation reasoned that it has higher nutritive value, assessed from the darker green color of the product. reasons 87 international peer reviewed journal for not choosing t9 is due to its distinct malunggay flavor. of the 43% who preferred t9, 17 of them are adults while of the 57% who favored the optimum formulation only 8 are adults. more adults preferred treatment 9 despite the distinctive malunggay flavor. preference is because adults are more conscious of the nutrient value of the product despite its flavor. most of the respondents who preferred the optimum formulation belong to the younger category. figure 11. consumer preference on the optimum formulation and on treatment 9 production cost table 12 shows the cost of producing 1.5-liter probiotic malunggay ice cream. the total production cost is php 151.75. this price is found to be lower than that of the existing market price of commercial ice cream which costs about php 225.00 per 1.5-l. the addition of the probiotic culture has contributed to the increase in production cost of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. considering the health benefits people can get from the probiotic malunggay ice cream, it is not difficult to promote the product since consumers nowadays are already health conscious. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research table 12. production cost for probiotic malunggay ice cream ingredients quantity price/ unit cost amountphp fresh milk 1 l 60.00 php/1 l 60.00 malunggay 20 g 10.00 php/100 g 2.00 probiotic culture 380 g 80.00 php/1000 g 30.50 other ingredients 20.00 php 20.00 electricity 0.5 kwh 8.50 php/kwh 4.25 labor 1 hr 200 php/8hr 25.00 lpg 800 php/tank 10.00 total 151.75 around 57% of the 100 consumers chose the optimum probiotic malunggay ice cream, while 43% preferred t9 which has 20% malunggay and 40% probiotic culture. the optimum product’s processing cost was php 151.75. the study was limited only on the production and quality evaluation of probiotic malunggay ice cream as affected by the levels of malunggay at 0%, 10%, 20% w/v and probiotic culture at 0%, 20%, 40% w/v. conclusion sensory results revealed that high levels of malunggay have a significant effect on the acceptability as well as the description of the sensory attributes evaluated of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. the levels of probiotic culture and the interaction of both formulation variables do not have any significant effect on the sensory attributes of the ice cream. an increase in the levels of probiotic culture corresponds to the increase in ph and ta of the ice cream, while an increase in the levels of malunggay lowers the tss of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. based on microscopic examination, the morphology and the gram reaction of the bacteria used as starter culture were the same as that found in the product. the stability and development of lactic acid bacteria gradually decline during the frozen storage of the probiotic malunggay ice cream. 89 international peer reviewed journal literature cited cochran, w. g. and g.m. cox, 1957. experimental design. 2nd edition . john wiley and sons, inc. new york, p. 476. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ mnw318 davidson, r. h., duncan, s. e., hackney, c. r., eigel, w. n., & boling, j. w. (2000). probiotic culture survival and implications in fermented frozen yogurt characteristics.  journal of dairy science,  83(4), 666-673. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ykvzbv fahey, j.w. 2005. moringa oliefera: a review of the medical evidence for it’s nutritional, therapeutic, and prophylactic properties. part 1. http://www. tfljournal.org/article.php/20051201124931586 fao. 2001. food and nutrition paper. probiotics in foods on health and nutritional properties and guidelines for evaluation. https://goo.gl/pbjc5x fuller, r. 1989. probiotics in man and animals: a review. journal for applied bacteriology. pp. 365-378. https://goo.gl/xwgszo kon, s. k., and k. m. henry. 1949. nutritive value of milk and milk products, j. dairy res., 16: 68 https://goo.gl/mv9w7w lauzon, k., zhao, x., & lacasse, p. (2006). deferoxamine reduces tissue damage during endotoxin-induced mastitis in dairy cows1.  journal of dairy science,  89(10), 3846-3857. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.s00220302(06)72427-4 philippine carabao center. 2009. (sarabia et al. eds) dairy buffalo production handbook. science city of muñoz, nueva ecija: philippine carabao center. 3138 pp. retrieved from http://www.pcc.gov.ph/publication/ dairy-buffalo-production-handbook/ sarkar, s. 1999. probiotic ice cream: a new concept for indian ice cream industry. indian food industry. vol. 18 (06) pp. 358-363. https://goo.gl/ dnogmm https://goo.gl/mnw318 https://goo.gl/mnw318 https://goo.gl/ykvzbv https://goo.gl/pbjc5x https://goo.gl/xwgszo https://goo.gl/mv9w7w https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(06)72427-4 https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(06)72427-4 http://www.pcc.gov.ph/publication/dairy-buffalo-production-handbook/ http://www.pcc.gov.ph/publication/dairy-buffalo-production-handbook/ https://goo.gl/dnogmm https://goo.gl/dnogmm 105 international peer reviewed journalvol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.419 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. implementation of child abuse act (ra 7610) in manila: inputs for policy advocacy marlene m. monterona http://orcid.org 0000-0003-0631-5233 monteronamarlene@gmail.com eulogio “amang” rodriguez institute of science and technology manila, philippines abstract the situation of child abuse, exploitation, and discrimination in asia remain severe, and the extent of the problem in the philippines is alarming. the study was conducted to assess the implementation of child abuse act (ra 7610) in manila as a basis for policy advocacy. the researcher used the descriptive method of research as well as purposive sampling based on the respondents’ involvement in the implementation of ra 7610. the data were gathered utilizing a validated self-constructed questionnaire which was supplemented by interview sessions. results showed that the implementing rules and regulations of ra 7610 are not totally enforced as assessed by the five groups of respondents composed of 253 samples. findings revealed that there is a great need for education to increase public and multi-disciplinary professional as well as parental awareness of child abuse and protection. legislation of interdisciplinary community collaboration and professional in-service training is very important for the recognition, proper management, and prevention of child abuse and neglect. a proposed intervention scheme was offered to help in empowering communities and local partners to strengthen the protection of children from abuse, neglect, exploitation and other forms of violence to improve their well-being and fulfill their rights to protection. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, child abuse, ra 7610, descriptive and qualitative research design, manila, philippines introduction child abuse is a global problem with severe life-long consequences. violence against children involving physical, sexual and emotional abuse, exploitation and neglect, has been revealed to be widely predominant in all societies (who, 2002; un, 2006). in the past decade, there has been significant growth in the analysis of the incidence and consequences of maltreatment and other harsh conditions in childhood (widom, 2009; pereda, 2009). in life-threatening cases, child abuse and neglect can lead to death. in 2013, around 1,484 children died as a result of maltreatment or neglect. the morbidity, disability and mortality caused by juvenile abuse and neglect lead to extensive human suffering, social handicap and financial loss (national center for injury prevention and control, 2012). southeast asia has long held a known peculiarity of having one of the world’s largest populations of child prostitutes. estimates of the precise number of children involved in illicit sex trades differ, but the existence of minors in tourist establishments is eminent in countries like thailand, cambodia, and the philippines, among which there could be roughly one million child prostitutes (medical news today, 2012; tumlin, 2000). several studies have uncovered the peril of child sex exploitation in asean, associating the trade to organized crime, disease, psychiatric illness, poverty, statelessness, and corruption (tanielian, 2013). child maltreatment is predominant in the east asia and pacific region. inclusive prevalence rates of physical abuse range from 10% (from a study of parents in china) to 30.3% (from a study of grade six students in thailand). despite different questions, most studies consider physical abuse in three general categories: moderate, severe and very severe. actions deemed being “moderate” consist of hitting, slapping, pinching, beating the child’s buttocks with a bare hand or object and shaking. in the philippines, the national statistics coordination board recently confirmed the latest statistics on child abuse. the figures are stark, disturbing, alarming, heinous and telling. the number of cases of child sexual abuse and child labor handled by the department of social welfare and development remained leading problems in the country from 20092010, even as the total number of child abuse cases declined during the period (psa, 2014). an american ambassador to the philippines projected that 40% of foreign tourists come to the philippines for sex (rosales, 2011). that figure is assumed 107 international peer reviewed journal to be closer to 60% in thailand where sex is “an essential economic pillar” (shahabudin, 2012). these statistics are in spite of the statutory prohibition of all prostitution in those nations. it is found that an indication of failure to protect children leads to prostitution, which thrives openly and freely throughout the region, without substantial deterrence or enforcement by public or private sectors. there had been laws in the ten asean members which prohibit sex trafficking and exploitation of minors (interpol, 2010). nevertheless, the region has turn into a prime destination for child sex tourists (bergman, 2013). the position of children in the philippines is equally distinctive. the philippines is believed to be a child-oriented society. children are a vital portion of the fabric of the filipino culture. filipinos have many children, they guard them carefully, they love to talk about them in many senses. the philippine society earns great pride in its children. who would not take pride in their children in a country of over 102 million in which practically 35 % of its population is children? (united nations department of economic and social affairs: population division, 2016). in this perspective, it becomes critical then to examine how they translated this “focus” on children into laws and policies and what this means both for children in their assertion to “have a say” and for adults in “listening” to these voices of children. knowing the occurrence of this problem in the country, the researcher assessed the implementation of “republic act 7610 or child abuse act, which is entitled “an act providing for stronger deterrence and special protection against child abuse, exploitation, and discrimination, in manila” as perceived by the five groups of respondents. the findings served as the basis for policy advocacy as an intervention strategy focused on child protection. framework ra 7610 is the policy that is responsible for the special protection of children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination, and other conditions prejudicial to their development. it provides sanctions for their commission and carries out a program for prevention and deterrence of and crisis intervention. ra 7610 was signed into law in 1992 and provides the subsequently framed general framework of all child protection laws in the philippines (yacat, 2011). article 1 of the united nations convention on the rights of the child (un crc) describes children as “human beings below the age of 18”. while, section 108 jpair multidisciplinary research 3 of republic act (ra) 7610, states that “children refers to persons below 18 years old or those over but are unable to take care of themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of physical or mental disability or condition. child 21 or the philippine national strategic framework for plan development for children 2000 to 2025 is the philippines’ road map for the implementation of the un crc (unicef philippines, 2000). it offers a framework in all the life stages of filipino children. it specifies the objectives and goals for each stage. these intend to give direction to policy development and program planning for the liberal implementation of the philippine government’s commitment to the un crc. it proposes that children from 6 to 17 years old should undertake a valuable and pertinent education that is suitable to the child’s development stage and progressing capacity and take part in the development process. for children to take part, they will be provided with simple life skills to do their roles and persist in the community and society as well as to overcome burdens for their welfare and safety, and to progress as a happy, capable, and responsible adult. the national framework for children’s participation is based on the vision of child 21. the aim of developing this framework is to fulfill the vision that the inherent rights of the filipino children to survival, development, protection, and participation are achieved by 2025 (yacat, 2011). international studies disclosed that a part of adults claimed that they had been physically abused as children, and 1 in 5 women and 1 in 13 men averred that they had been sexually abused as a child. furthermore, many children are prone to emotional abuse (sometimes referred to as psychological abuse) and neglect. each year, there are an estimated 41,000 homicide deaths in children below 15 years of age. this number underestimates the real extent of the problem, as a significant number of deaths due to child maltreatment are incorrectly attributed to falls, burns, drowning and other causes. child abuse and neglect are national issues that bother us all. the magnitude of child abuse and neglect run across the lifespan, undesirably affecting the chances of a child to succeed in school, work, and relationships. effective early intervention and prevention efforts are less expensive to our nation and individuals than trying to solve the hostile effects of child maltreatment. agencies, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and parents alike should discover some ways to help provide significant components of protective features to prevent child abuse and promote well-being within their families, communities, and their nation. for the first time, the philippines has completed a national baseline study on violence against children (vac), a 109 international peer reviewed journal five-year feat whose data and insights will become critical to policies and projects addressing child abuse and neglect in the country (junio, 2015). according to patricia luna, executive director of the council for the welfare of children (cwc), personal interviews were also conducted with parents, children and community stakeholders. the nbs was created and executed to offer a national assessment of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect in all forms and settings in the country. it would also provide data on the status of child protection in the local government units (lgus) regarding resources and readiness to ensure deterrence effort. presidential decree (pd) 603, article 87 states that every barangay council shall encourage the organization of a local council for the protection of children (lcpc) and shall coordinate with the cwc in drawing and implementing plans for the promotion of child welfare. according to prof. ramiro, survey outcomes indicate that there is no or minimal teamwork among lcpc members. there should be an integrated platform among the lcpc, though they have diverse abilities and disciplines, they should be organized to develop an umbrella program of accomplishment, which they can propose to the local executive for funding. ed luna made it distinct that there is much to know from the study, when the outcomes are completed and more insights are drawn from them. he stated further that with the records, we can do better for children: better legislation, policies, programs, and projects, and confidently with information from the children themselves, we will turn out to be better duty-bearers because we can have knowledgeable decisions regarding budget for children, policies, plans and programs. the challenge for us is to utilize the research data into action (junio, 2015). objectives of the study the study ascertained the big gaps in the implementation of ra 7610 to offer the basis for a specific recommendation on how to improve the existing child protection law. the study also includes identifying the problems which concern the implementation of child protection related services in manila, philippines which is used as an advocacy tool to increase public awareness and operational delivery of services. the findings of the study can be a mechanism to stimulate better coordination among partners to augment their support to the development of the program. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research specifically, the study: 1.) determined the impact of the implementation of ra 7610; 2.) identified the extent of implementation in pursuing the rules and regulations of ra 7610 in terms of child prostitution and other sexual abuse; child trafficking; obscene publications and indecent shows; other acts of neglect and abuses; circumstances which threaten or endanger the survival and normal development of children; 3.) ascertained the problems encountered by the respondents in implementing ra 7610; and 4) proposed an intervention strategy as policy advocacy to enforce an effective and sustainable child protection program in metro manila. methodology participants respondents of the study were the parents and employees composed of four institutions in manila: department of education( deped), local government units(lgu’s), attached government agencies (aga’s), and nongovernment organizations (ngo’s). they were chosen through stratified sampling method regardless of gender, age, location, subject/s taught, and educational qualification. also considered was the respondents’ involvement in the implementation of ra 7610. table 1. distribution of respondents respondents sample size % department of education 87 34.39 local government units 31 12.25 attached government agencies 35 13.83 non-government organizations 50 19.76 parents 50 19.76 253 100 the researcher utilized quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather information regarding the impact and implementation of ra 7610 as well as the problems hindering the implementation of the programs on child protection. the researcher employed the descriptive survey research design, which involves the use of a questionnaire, unstructured interviews and documentary analysis. 111 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedure the data collected were statistically treated using percentage and weighted mean. the researcher distributed the survey questionnaires to the selected offices and local communities to determine the level of extent of the implementation of ra 7610. five-point likert scale was used to assess the impact and extent of implementation in pursuing the rules and regulations of ra 7610. scale range verbal interpretation 5 4.45 – 5.00 very great extent 4 3.45 – 4.44 great extent 3 2.45 – 3.44 moderate extent 2 1.45 – 2.44 least extent 1 1.00 – 1.44 very least extent results and discussion table 1. impact of implementation of child abuse act (ra 7610) variables deped lgus agas ngos parents wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi twm vi rank 1. policy advocacy 2.53 me 2.45 me 2.38 le 2.44 le 2.41 le 2.44 le 8.5 2.governance 2.65 me 2.45 me 2.40 le 2.44 le 1.45 le 2.28 le 10 3.responsible parenthood 2.51 me 2.46 me 2.41 me 2.43 me 2.40 me 2.44 le 8.5 4. implementation of the guidelines 2.50 me 2.55 me 2.49 me 2.65 me 2.57 me 2.55 me 6 5. visibility of men in uniform 2.49 me 2.48 me 2.53 me 2.55 me 2.58 me 2.53 me 7 6. safeguard of children’s welfare 3.48 ge 3.45 ge 3.45 ge 3.40 me 3.43 me 3.44 me 1.5 7. eradication of child abuse 2.60 me 2.61 me 2.63 me 2.62 me 2.61 me 2.62 me 5 8. provision of periodic monitoring of the victim 3.40 me 3.39 me 3.28 me 2.46 me 2.58 me 3.02 me 4 9. support to the action program 3.43 me 3.40 me 2.49 me 3.41 me 2.89 me 3.12 me 3 112 jpair multidisciplinary research 10. inculcate the rights of the children 3.45 ge 3.45 ge 3.48 me 3.43 me 3.40 me 3.44 me 1.5 twm 2.95 me 2.97 me 2.80 me 2.83 me 2.68 me 2.85 me table 1 shows the “least extent” of implementation, are: “governance”, ranked 10, shared rank of 8.5 are “policy advocacy” and “responsible parenthood”. although child protection legal frameworks and mechanisms are mostly in place, gaps in the current system hindered the full and effective protection of children. non-governmental organizations (ngos) working in the field of child rights still have inadequate feedback into the development of policies, laws and approaches on children regardless of their imperative role and know-how in upholding and shielding children’s rights. concerning the implementation mechanisms, it still lacks the necessary human, technical and financial resources to fulfill its coordinating roles. the stakeholders suffer from inadequate funds to achieve their mandate, and are often unclear on their roles and responsibilities, have limited capacity in designing budget plans that integrate child protection issues, and it also lacks the expertise needed to identify most vulnerable children in their community. table 2. extent of implementation in pursuing the rules and regulations of ra 7610 variables respondents deped lgus agas ngos parents n=87 n=31 n=35 n=50 n=50 n= 253 wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi twm vi rank 1. child protection against child prostitution and other sexual abuse 2.41 le 2.43 le 2.35 le 2.42 le 2.39 le 2.40 le 2 2. child protection against child trafficking 2.39 le 2.42 le 2.43 le 2.38 le 2.45 me 2.41 le 1 113 international peer reviewed journal 3. child protection against obscene publications and indecent shows 3.11 me 3.55 ge 3.29 me 3.50 ge 3.40 me 3.37 me 4 4. child protection against other acts of neglect, abuse, cruelty or exploitation and 3.52 ge 3.74 ge 3.31 me 3.10 me 2.90 me 3.31 me 5 5. child protection against other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development 3.51 ge 3.74 ge 3.37 me 3.46 ge 2.82 me 3.38 me 3 twm 2.99 me 3.18 me 2.93 me 2.97 me 2.79 me 2.97 me rank 3 1 4 2 5 assessed as the “least extent” is “child trafficking,” the respondents perceived this aspect of child protection was not fully enforced followed by child prostitution and other sexual abuse. in general, the implementation of ra 7610 was assessed as “moderate extent.” this finding is in consonance with (bergman, 2013) that all ten asean members have laws prohibiting sex trafficking and exploitation of minors. nevertheless, the region has become a major destination for child sex tourists (interpol, 2010). further, there are groups of people that are promoting and developing cybersex in the philippines, and these are the people that should be concentrated on because they prey on minors (rosales, 2011). increased poverty and food insecurity has made many children susceptible to trafficking (tumlin, 2000). 114 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. problems encountered in the implementation of child abuse act ra 7610 variables respondents deped lgu aga ngo parents overall wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi wm vi twm vi rank 1. poverty 3.41 me 3.43 me 3.45 ge 3.40 me 3.45 ge 3.43 me 3 2. abuse and neglect of parents or guardian 3.94 ge 4.43 ge 3.88 ge 3.86 ge 3.89 ge 4.00 ge 1 3. cruelty and maltreatment of parents or guardian 2.49 me 2.48 me 2.53 me 2.55 me 2.58 me 2.53 me 8 4. commercial exploitation of children by parents or guardian 2.50 me 2.55 me 2.49 me 2.65 me 2.57 me 2.55 me 7 5. weak capacity building actions to counter child abuse 3.43 me 3.40 me 2.49 me 3.41 me 2.89 me 3.12 me 4 6.lack of support from the government and private sector to sustain campaigns against child abuse 2.65 me 2.45 me 2.40 le 2.44 le 1.45 le 2.28 le 11 7.inability to accede to relevant human right instruments to measure the degree of implementing rules and regulation 2.53 me 2.45 me 2.38 le 2.44 le 2.41 le 2.44 le 10 115 international peer reviewed journal 8.inability to network and alliance with the other intergovernment private and international agencies on the issues of child abuse 2.60 me 2.61 me 2.63 me 2.62 me 2.61 me 2.61 me 6 9. failure to link socioeconomic development concerns with the need to prevent violations of children’s right 2.51 me 2.46 me 2.41 me 2.43 me 2.44 me 2.45 me 9 10. inadequate resource allocation to effectively monitor the program 3.45 ge 3.65 ge 3.70 ge .3.84 me 3.69 me 3.67 me 2 11.limited program/ projects that will deter child abuse and exploitation 3.40 me 3.39 me 3.28 me 2.46 me 2.58 me 3.02 me 5 twm 2.95 me 2.97 me 2.80 me 2.83 me 2.68 me 2.85 me the prominent problem was “abuse and neglect of parents or guardian”. the second major problem was “inadequate resource allocation to effectively monitor the program”, third, “poverty”, fourth, “weak capacity building actions to counter child abuse and poverty.” the least problem concerns “lack of support from the government and private sector to sustain campaigns against child abuse.” it is the fact that cannot be denied due to several government initiatives offered which resulted with other relevant factors. similar finding was stated in child trends databank (2015) which described that the rates of mistreatment are greater than those for other types of child cruelty. in 2013, 7.3 per thousand children were reported as victims of abandonment, compared with 1.6 for physical abuse, and 0.8 each for sexual exploitation and psychological or emotional cruelty. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research further, in the study of rodriguez (2014), she also emphasized that fewer investments on public health and social services increase child abandonment. he also stressed that poorly funded and badly managed institutions can do more harm than good. undp (2013) confirmed this finding that people from poorer nations are more likely to experience extremely difficult life phenomena such as human rights abuses. in turn, individuals subjected to human rights abuses are more likely stuck in deep poverty (amnesty international, 2013). economic essentials like secondary education, student transportation, free school lunch, social housing, food stamps, and child protective services cannot be established and maintained without dramatic changes in public budgets (kampan & tanielian, 2015). conclusions to satisfactorily prevent the occurrence of probable abuse, deterrence and prevention efforts and effective policies must directly address children, their caregivers and the environments in which they live in and to deal commendably with cases of abuse and neglect that have taken place. the concerted and harmonized efforts of a whole range of sectors are vital, and public health researchers and practitioners can perform a significant role by leading and facilitating the process. neglect and abuse of parents or guardian household breakdown, the leading problem, within the context of singleparent families, separated parents or guardians, child-headed households or families with large numbers of children, lack of educational and viable employment opportunities which results in lack of care and support for children. many families struggle to earn sufficient income, mostly due to the lack of work opportunities. most children from large families are obliged to help out. working children are commonly absent from school. deficiency of educational attainment of parents results in scarcer work opportunities and choices resulting susceptibility to child labor exploitation. such children are often vulnerable to exploitation because they are more likely to agree to take unskilled or lowerskilled employment, such as domestic service or factory work. 117 international peer reviewed journal inadequate resource allocation to effectively monitor the program less investment in social services increases child abandonment, neglect, and abuse. with the severe financial limitations faced by child protection service providers, there is very limited support and care for children and families who encounter difficulties and for those who have experienced forms of abuse and cruelty. inadequate program/projects that will prevent child abuse and exploitation insufficient attention on current services and programs for youth and family welfare that will respond to children in crisis after mistreatment has occurred with limited focus on preventing child maltreatment which is cost-effective. the approach of current services and programs is focused on the individual child not on the family as a whole. as a result, fundamental aspects causative to the problem within the family structure are not successfully addressed. weak capacity building actions to counter child abuse while the usage of non-professional caregivers as house parents have impartially alleviated the case load of social workers, these paraprofessional caregivers need to undertake regular seminars and training to warrant competence in service which could be professionally responsive to the needs of the children as well as to afford the necessary protection to the children. inadequately trained or burdened caregivers may do more harm than good. the breakdown of systems of support and care may be a function of poverty. poverty appears to be the most important catalyst which is aggravated by other factors of child abuse. the interplay of these causes results in situations favorable to abuse, exploitation and discrimination of children within the country and across boundaries. while it may be true that poverty is not essentially the cause of the children’s susceptibilities, poverty serves as the element for the host of other issues and problems. for example, the experience of poverty has pushed children to leave their communities in the search for better livelihood and employment opportunities, making them victims of child abuse. the sense of ostracism and inequality due to the experience of poverty makes it easier for armed groups to recruit children. the hardest hit is the underprivileged communities in times of natural disasters, who suffer the longest period to recuperate from the damage and loss. poverty forces parents to abandon and desert their children who in most cases wind up in residential care facilities. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research proposed intervention strategy as policy advocacy on child abuse prevention and protection preventive measures include information dissemination and awareness campaign as well as training on child rights and child protection, inspection and monitoring services, support to parents and caregivers. espouse a method that comprises actions and interventions that will (i) inform families, communities and lgus; (ii) expedite operative access of children at risk to appropriate early education and vocational training; (iii) furnish children with facts and life skills to guard and defend themselves; (iv) encourage accountable and operative parenting education among families; (v) provide livelihood activities and enable access to credit and employment opportunities; (vi) establish effective built-in screening and monitoring strategies for children at risk within fundamental social services at local community, city, and municipal levels; (vii) create, stimulate, and reinforce local councils for the protection of children (lcpc) particularly at local community level; (viii) upgrade technical competencies of program managers, supervisors, social workers, and other service benefactors in aiding children. a multi-disciplinary approach is indispensable to prevent and manage child maltreatment. an efficient and effective system of identification, detection, reporting and processing/managing among the key members of society (government, non-government, business, church, media, community) on the incidence of child abuse/maltreatment is vital to lessening or eradicating this problem. an organized, standard, cohesive and inclusive approach is, therefore, dynamic to address the case of child abuse effectively. several communities have had success in managing child protection activities that produce comprehensive prominence and provision for the importance of the early child years. conduct awareness-raising and capacity-building training and seminar. practice media work on care issues, including in emergencies, to influence public awareness and support for institutional and family-based care. host or sponsor events to build awareness and support for care reform, to raise awareness of the un guidelines, to increase government and donor support for the familyand community-based care and supports, and to share best practices. strengthen civil society and community motivation and capacity to care and protect children, including support for an enriched training for social workers, paraprofessionals, and volunteers, as well as parenting education and support to avoid family separation. provide tools and assistance for capacity building of professionals working with children (teachers, social workers, police, etc.) on the protection issues confronting victim-survivors of child abuse. conduct training 119 international peer reviewed journal and other educational activities to help prepare institutions, organizations, groups and individuals to address child abuse and to correctly deal with the victim-survivors. translational research the outcome of this study may be translated into use in the community and institutions by sending the information to the department of education, local government units, attached government agencies, and nongovernment organizations. information dissemination at the community level with the help of the academe through public awareness as well as further analyses of the implementation of child protection program and identifying relevant problems that beset ra 7610 may lessen if not eradicate the grave conditions of child abuse in the philippines. this information will assist philippine government and partners to raise access and develop the quality of service delivery for vulnerable children. literature cited bergman, j. (2013). can burma avoid the curse of sex tourism? retrieved march, 2016, from http://world.time.com/2013/04/12/can-burma-avoid-the-curseof-sex-tourism/ centers for disease control and prevention, national center for injury prevention and control. (2012). understanding child maltreatment: fact sheet. retrieved on february 10, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/ violenceprevention/pub/cm_factsheet.html. http://www.childtrends. org/?indicators=child-maltreatment#sthash.bcdzlsra.dpuf child trends databank. (2015). child maltreatment. retrieved on february 25, 2015 from http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=child-maltreatment junio, r. a. g. (2015, december 20). #apsb2015: sneak peek – first national baseline study on child abuse and neglect in ph. mulat pinoy-kabataan news network (mp-knn). retrieved on march 10, 2016 from http://www. mulatpinoy.ph/2015/12/20/apsb2015-first-national-baseline-study-onviolence-against-children-ph/ 120 jpair multidisciplinary research interpol. (2010). legislation of interpol member states on sexual offences against children. retrieved on december 25, 2016, from http:// www.interpol.int/public/children/sexualabuse/nationallaws/default.asp>. kampan, p., & tanielian, a. r. (2015). securing the future of the community: child protection in asean. development and the politics of human rights, 198, 165. retrieved on september 7, 2016 from https://books.google.com.ph/ books?hl=en&lr=&id=-jhwcgaaqbaj&oi=fnd&pg=pa165&dq=kampa n+,+palapan,++adam+r.+tanielian.+(2014).+securing+the+future+of+the +community:+child+protection+in+asean&ots=m8wmzxvo1l&sig= q98pdx_ysyc9mdyavkuj3p72_fc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false medical news today. (2012). education lengthens life expectancy. retrieved on december 26, 2016, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ articles/248777.php pereda n, guilera g, forns m, gómez-benito j. the international epidemiology of child sexual abuse: a continuation of finkelhor (1994). child abuse negl. 2009 jun;33(6):331–42. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. chiabu.2008.07.007 philippine statistics authority, 2016. retrieved on september 5, 2016 from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases/2014/pr-201312-pp1-01_children. asp rodriguez, f. (2014, june 23) a village for ‘abandoned’ and ‘neglected’ children. rappler. retrieved on september 5, 2016 from http://www.rappler.com/ move-ph/issues/hunger/61306-sos-village-abandoned-neglected-children rosales, a. 2011.  us ambassador’s statements on rp’s sex tourism have basis—dfa, philippines department of foreign affairs (dfa), manila, philippines. retrieved on september 10, 2015 from https://cfo.gov.ph/news/ from-overseas-filipinos/366-us-ambassadors-statements-on-rps-sex-tourismhave-basis-dfa.html shahabudin, s. (n. d.). strategies of civil society to address aids in asia: emphasis on the sex sector, u.n. retrieved on december 27, 2015, from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/hivaids/shahabudin.html 121 international peer reviewed journal tanielian, a. (2013). illicit supply and demand: child sex exploitation in asean. national taiwan university. http://dx.doi.org/0.3966/181263242013030801003 tumlin, k. c. (2000). trafficking in children and women: a regional overview. retrieved on may 2016 from http://www.ilo.org/public/english//region/ asro/bangkok/paper/background/trafficking.pdf united nations development programme (undp). (2013). human development report. retrieved on december 26, 2013, from http://hdr. undp.org/en/media/hdr_2013_en_complete.pdf unicef philippines. (2000). child 21: philippine national strategic framework for plan development, 20002025, a legacy to the filipino children of the 21st century. council for the welfare of children, makati city. retrieved on february 10, 2014 from http://childfriendlycities.org/building-a-cfc/ building-blocks/examples-a-city-wide-childrens-rights-strategy/child-21a-legacy-to-the-filipino-children-of-the-21st-century-philippines-nationalstrategic-framework-for-plan-development-for-children-2000-2025/ widom, gilbert r, cs browne k, fergusson d, webb e, janson s. burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. lancet. 2009 jan 3;373(9657):68–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(08)61706-7 yacat, j. a (2011). child protection in the philippines: a situational analysis. save the children child protection initiative in southeast asia and the pacific, keen media (thailand) co. ltd. bangkok 10110, thailand, 2011. retrieved from http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/ documents/3464.pdf 32 jpair multidisciplinary research e-map as an android application using shortest path algorithm joshua a. carcillar http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7455-467x carcillar.joshua27@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines karen r. hernandez http://orcid.org 0000-0002-8325-3761 karenhernandez@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines romnick m. mamisay http://orcid.org 0000-0002-1153-3027 mamisayromnick@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines lester paul b. rabano http://orcid.org 0000-0003-0580-9426 lesterpaulrabano@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines shiena g. matibag http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2435-6365 xhenamatibag@gmail.com lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.377 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 33 international peer reviewed journal roselie b. alday http://orcid.org 0000-0003-4789-3558 rbalday@lpubatangas.edu.ph lyceum of the philippines university-batangas batangas, philippines abstract using a mobile device, the user could access the map application anywhere you go. the study was developed to determine the best path from one location to another using gps satellite. it has three features: searching, detecting, and logbook. the user can input the starting location and destination anywhere on land through searching using the shortest path algorithm. based on the inputted location given by the user, the list of available routes will be determined which enables the user to select one from a set of possible routes. afterward, the application will detect which path that the user will take to reach their destination applicable anywhere in the world through gps satellite. it identifies the current location of the person and once the user moves from his current location to another location, the gps will update every 20 seconds so that all possible routes with the number of kilometers will give the user to choose the shortest route. after the completion of the google map application, it was found out that this application can be used worldwide. it can detect routes anywhere in the world by using arrays (from json) as data provided from the satellite as long as travel is on land. keywords – information technology, google map, mobile application, shortest path algorithm, javascript object notation, philippines introduction how would the user arrive at his destination in the shortest distance possible? using a mobile device, the user could access the map application anywhere you go. even though an advanced application like google map has provided almost everything about location, there are still limitations on this application that will be addressed by this study. that is, the researchers developed a new application and which is the “e-map: an android application using shortest path algorithm”. the researchers developed this application through the use of mobile not only 34 jpair multidisciplinary research because it was the most trending scenario but also it has the ability to access from anywhere you go. the application would notify the user all the possible routes and upon the choice of the user, destination will be highlighted by the green path. the features of this project were the following: provide all the possible routes to a destination, detect which path was the shortest by determining the number of kilometers, provide the user the choice route from source to destination, and provide the details based on what direction you had chosen as well as latitude and longitude of the location. emap can be used worldwide as long as it is a land travel and will provide a picture of the location for easy access. the programming languages used were java and xml. implementation of the google map according to pan, crotts and muller (2007) is the big evolution of the static map from letowsky (2004) as a representation that was used before by humans. it can provide interactive mapping services as well as realistic satellite images. by using this dynamic map, the people will no longer analyze the charts by themselves. the application will notify the user to show the shortest distance possible using dijkstra’s algorithm as suggested by yan (2015). framework maps. according to letowsky (2004), a map is a 2d depiction of the wide distribution of objects. for instance, a map may display the location of rivers, cities, or mountain ranges in a particular region. most maps are plain, making their storage, production, and handling relatively simple. maps present information to the observer at a diminished scale. they use mathematical relationships to maintain geographic relationships between points and are smaller than the area they demonstrate. maps represent information by using legends or symbols. in addition to this, based on the source of merriam-webster, a map is a representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area. there are many different types of maps in the present generation based on their concepts, features, and how to use them. for this research, we will cover only two kinds: the online map and the google map. regarding the relationship of these two, they are quite equal but some of them have their particular concepts. based on the journal by goetz et al. (2012), online maps are necessary tools and data sets, such that, maps are usually provided by commercial providers or public authorities. online map, according to rouse (2006), is also a compilation and 35 international peer reviewed journal publication of web sites that provide exhaustive graphical and text information in the form of maps and databases google maps. google map is a desktop and mobile web mapping service application that allows you to display maps on your website. it can provide interactive mapping services as well as realistic satellite images as pointed out by crotts et. al., (2007) based on the research by zavlavsky (2015), the graphics of google map is now vector-based, not pixelated. it uses direct vector rendering in a browser to create highly interactive virtual maps from distributed sources of geographic data. it became possible with the advent of xml (extensible markup language) and xml applications for 2d vector rendering such as vml (vector markup language) and svg (scalable vector graphics). the relationship of online map and google map is that they are both stored in the internet system or world wide web. without this system, then both of these will not be possible. anyone could manage the online map while google company could control the google map. among all the available online maps recently, google map is the most advanced mapping system. figure 1. online and google map source: https://www.google.com.ph/maps/ an algorithm is a logical arithmetical or computational procedure that if correctly applied ensures the solution of a problem. it is also a recursive method whereby it generates an infinite sequence of terms (collins, 2016). according to the study of lozano, et al (2008) “the combination of google earthtm  and free gis software (e.g. healthmapper, developed by who, and sigepi, developed by paho) has tremendous potential to strengthen overall 36 jpair multidisciplinary research public health capacity and facilitate decision support system approaches to prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in resource-poor environments” and this was also feature in the bulletin of world health organization. this principle is in harmony with the study of angelou (2010) in which street view serves millions of google users daily with panoramic imagery captured in hundreds of cities in 20 countries across four continents. also, there is a team of google researchers who describes the technical challenges involved in capturing, processing, and serving street-level imagery on a global scale. patterson (2007) established that google earth’s utility is a teaching tool in pre-collegiate environments as illustrated through development of a south carolina-based lesson plan focused for seventh grade students that increases students’ geographic awareness while also building critical thinking, analysis, and inquiry skills in support of various educational standards. dijkstra’s algorithm. according to yan (2014), dijkstra’s algorithm is the solution to the single-source shortest path problem in graph theory. based on the research by climaco (2003), a shortest path algorithm is one of the well-known algorithms that is used to represent a distance between a predetermined pair of nodes in a given network. the requirements are the following: both directed and undirected graphs, all edges must have nonnegative weights, and graph must be connected. figure 2. shortest path algorithm the uses of shortest path algorithm are to reduce the number of generated non-dominated paths during the search process by using a multiple-criteria shortest path approach when link travel times follow normal distributions. this algorithm is applicable for optimal truck routing through given traffic congestion pattern. 37 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. shortest path diagram figure 4. graphical presentation of the application dijkstra’s algorithm how to detect the location? according to zahradnik (2015), we can identify the location by using a gps or global positioning system. gps analyzes, gathers, and saves location data from its weak satellite signals, operates the location information, then transmits it in real time or saves the data for review later. gps tracking devices need to have access to the open sky through the need 38 jpair multidisciplinary research to get a signal to the cellular network often and to capture satellite signals. for instance, getting a signal indoors don’t work well. based from the research by vargas (2008), a command of control can then be communicated via a mobile communication network that initiate one or more locate service functions, such as wipe data from a memory of the device, lock the device to disable device features, and/or transmit a gps location signal, as well as overriding configuration settings of the device. the locate service of the device can also receive the location signal of the gps, communicate the location of the device for display, and determine a location from the gps signal. how gps works? integrated mapping ltd (2015) discusses about how gps works, that is, gps uses a lot of complex technology, although the concept is simple. from each gps satellite, the receiver gets a signal. when the signals are sent the satellites transmit the correct time. the signal was transmitted from the time it was received by subtracting it which can tell by the gps how far it is from each satellite. the receiver also knows the correct position in the sky of the satellites, at the moment they sent their signals. so given their exact position in the sky and travel time of the gps signals from three satellites, the gps receiver can find out your location in three dimensions – north, altitude, and east. the gps receiver needs to identify the time very accurately in order to calculate the time the gps signals took to arrive. atomic clocks keep very precise time which the gps satellites have it, whereas it’s not feasible to equip a gps receiver with an atomic clock. however, it can solve an equation that lets it determine the exact time if the gps receive uses the signal from a fourth satellite. you can still get your position if the gps receiver is only able to get signals from satellite. unfortunately, it will be more inaccurate. as we discussed above, the gps receiver is necessary to have four satellites to work out your position in three dimensions. the gps receiver can get an approximate position by making the assumption that you are at mean sea level if only three satellites are available. if you are at a mean sea level the location will be reasonably precise. however if you are in the mountains, the two dimensional fix could be hundreds or thousands of meters off. a recent gps receiver will track all of the available satellites. however, only a selection of them will be used to calculate your location. on the other hand, an android operating system based on the research by anderson (2009) is a mobile operating system (os) based on the linux kernel that was built to take advantage of touch screens. it can run on many different devices. it is also the world’s best-selling smartphone platform. 39 international peer reviewed journal according to melanie haselmayr, there are 12 steps or processes in building a mobile application. the steps to consider are the following: (1) define your goal; (2) start sketching; (3) research. in researching, there are four sub-steps that you should follow. first, find out whether there are other apps doing the same thing. second, find design inspiration for your app. third, find information on the technical requirements for your app. lastly, identify how you can market and monetize your app. afterwards, (4) create a wireframe and storyboard. (5) define the back end of your app. (6) test your prototype. (7) build a back end of your app. (8) design the “app” skins. (9) re-test. (10) continue and revise to build. (11) refine each detail. lastly, (12) release your application. objective of the study the study aimed to develop a mobile application using shortest path algorithm. it used gps to detect the location and determine the best path between two points with the shortest distance. methodology for the effective visual approach and understanding of this program and documentation, the researchers used shortest path algorithm. it is one of the wellknown algorithms that is used to represent a distance between a predetermined pair of nodes in a given network, as well as the global positioning system (gps) to detect the actual location within the online map through the mobile application with android operating system. gps is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit. this algorithm helps the user to find a short distance between two points, which is the starting point and end point using gps satellite which gathers, analyses and saves location data from its weak satellite signals, operates the location information, then transmits it in real time or saves the data for review later. the users input the source and the destination then the application will give some possible ways then it will show the highlighted green path considering that it is the best way to be taken. highlighted red roads will be identified as the possible paths to reach the destination. the researchers used java as the programming language using the eclipse ide because it supports android application development and has the capability to implement google maps on that ide. the first step done is to insert the required 40 jpair multidisciplinary research components in the graphic design using xml codes or drag and drop method. to edit a specific feature like sizes and padding in a particular android constituent, add/edit/ remove some xml codes to apply changes. a java code was created to add functionalities in the application. the existing androidmanifest file was modified. to create the initial point in our application, the programmer initialized the latitude and longitude value in the java code. to determine the shortest path from the beginning point, the google map road system was first activated in the user’s google account before inserting an appropriate formula for each path so that determining the shortest path will be possible. to detect the location, the codes are the following: locationmanager locationmanager = (locationmanager) getsystemservice(location_service); criteria cr = new criteria(); string provider = locationmanager.getbestprovider(cr, true); location location = locationmanager.getlastknownlocation(provider); if (location != null) { onlocationchanged(location); } locationmanager.requestlocationupdates(provider, 200000, 0, this); centerlatlng = new latlng(13.7637188, 121.0653556); showroutes(); } to compute the distance for available routes, the codes were listed below: public void listavailableroutes(string result) { list<string> items = new arraylist<string>(); lstroutes = new arraylist<route>(); try { final jsonobject json = new jsonobject(result); jsonarray routearray = json.getjsonarray(“routes”); for (int i = 0; i < routearray.length(); i++) { jsonobject route = routearray.getjsonobject(i); string via = route.getstring(“summary”); jsonarray leg = route.getjsonarray(“legs”); jsonobject legzero = leg.getjsonobject(0); string distanceval = legzero.getjsonobject(“distance”) .getstring(“text”); items.add(“route “ + (i + 1) + “: “ + distanceval + “(via “ + via + “)”); 41 international peer reviewed journal string removedkm = distanceval.replace(“km”, “ “); removedkm = removedkm.trim(); double distance = double.parsedouble(removedkm); if(nearestdistance > distance) nearestdistance = distance; // to determine the shortest path //start location jsonobject startloclatlang = leg.getjsonobject(0) .getjsonobject(“start_location”); string loclat1 = startloclatlang.getstring(“lat”); string loclong1 = startloclatlang.getstring(“lng”); //end location jsonobject endloclatlang = leg.getjsonobject(0) .getjsonobject(“end_location”); string loclat2 = endloclatlang.getstring(“lat”); string loclong2 = endloclatlang.getstring(“lng”); lstroutes.add(new route(i, “route “ + (i + 1), loclat1, loclong1, loclat2, loclong2, distance )); } } catch (exception e) { log.e(“fetch error”, “error getting routes “ + e.tostring()); } results and discussion according to gasimov (2010), the recent development in mobile technologies has increased the demand for sophisticated software applications for mobile devices. this technological-driven market evolution poses new opportunities and challenges for developers to create applications which will fully exploit mobile’s new and expanding capabilities. therefore, the study is an addition to a few available mobile applications, specifically, in finding location that can be downloaded for personal use. to activate this e-map application, the user will tap the e-map icon on the phone’s menu. afterward, the main menu layout will appear on the screen. it contains three sub menus which are start, instruction, and logbook. when the user clicks the start button, it will display search activity. the search feature allows the user to input the starting location and destination anywhere as long as it doesn’t travel overseas. based on the inputted location given by the user, the list of the available route will appear on the screen which 42 jpair multidisciplinary research enables the user to select one of them. if the user chooses route one, it will display the color green path which represents the shortest distance possible to reach the destination. otherwise, it will demonstrate the red color path which represents the possible way to reach the destination. the application has four steps to follow and three legends. it is also considered user friendliness in the design. logbook feature is an advantage for those who have no internet connection. it shows the list of the previous location offline. how to add the venue in the logbook? once the user taps the show route button after he inputted the starting location and destination in the search activity, it will automatically save his location into the logbook. conclusion after the completion of this google map application, it was found out that this application can be used worldwide. it can detect routes anywhere in the world by using gps specifically using locationservice (from google satellite) as data provided from the satellite as long as travel is on land. lastly, the application enables the user to choose which route is better in terms of shortest distance expressed in kilometers to reach their destination in the shortest possible distance. translational research the researchers recommend the study for travelers who need a guide using a dynamic map. the researchers also recommend this application to drivers and commuters to help them in reaching their destination in the shortest distance possible. to be able to use this application without encountering any errors, the researchers recommend the use of android version 2.3 or higher with an internet connection. literature cited alternative source: “shortest paths”, page 7, retrieved february 15, 2015, http:// ww w.cs.princeton.edu/~rs/algsds07/15shortestpaths.pdf anguelov, d., dulong, c., filip, d., frueh, c., lafon, s., lyon, r., ... & weaver, j. (2010). google street view: capturing the world at street level. computer, (6), 32-38. 43 international peer reviewed journal climaco, j. c. n., & martins, e. q. v. (1982). a bicriterion shortest path algorithm. european journal of operational research, 11(4), 399-404. collins. (2016). algorithm. retrieved from http://www.collinsdictionary.com/ dictionary/english/algorithm gasimov, a., tan, c. h., phang, c. w., & sutanto, j. (2010, june). visiting mobile application development: what, how and where. in mobile business and 2010 ninth global mobility roundtable (icmb-gmr), 2010 ninth international conference on (pp. 74-81). ieee. goetz, m., lauer, j., & auer, m. (2012, january). an algorithm-based methodology for the creation of a regularly updated global online map derived from volunteered geographic information. in  proceedings of the fourth international conference on advanced geographic information systems, applications, and services, valencia, spain (vol. 30, pp. 50-58). hall, s. p., & anderson, e. (2009). operating systems for mobile computing. journal of computing sciences in colleges, 25(2), 64-71. ibm survey: it professionals predict mobile and cloud technologies will dominate enterprise computing by 2015, posted october 17, 2010, url: ttp:// www.fiercemobile content.com/press-releases/ibm-surveyitprofessionals-predict-mobile-andcloud-technologies-will-dominateenter integrated mappingltd., “how gps works”, updated 2014. retrieved march 4, 2015 http://www.maptoaster.com/maptoaster-toponz/articles/how-gps works/howgps -works.html islam, r., islam, r., & mazumder, t. (2010). mobile application and its global impact. international journal of engineering & technology ijet-ijens, 10(6), 72-78. lozano-fuentes, s., elizondo-quiroga, d., farfan-ale, j. a., loroño-pino, m. a., garcia-rejon, j., gomez-carro, s., ... & dominguez-galera, m. (2008). use of google earthtm to strengthen public health capacity and facilitate management of vector-borne diseases in resource-poor environments.bulletin 44 jpair multidisciplinary research of the world health organization, 86(9), 718-725. merriam-webster company, retrieved february 11, 2015, http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictonary/maps network flows: theory, algorithms, and applications, r. k. ahuja, t. l. magnanti, and j. b. orlin, prentice hall, 1993. pan, b., crotts, j. c., & muller, b. (2007). developing web-based tourist information tools using google map.  information and communication technologies in tourism 2007, 503-512. patterson, t. c. (2007). google earth as a (not just) geography education tool. journal of geography, 106(4), 145-152. refsnes data. “google maps api tutorial”. retrieved february 19, 2015. http:// www.w3schools.com/googleapi/default.asp rouse, margaret, updated april 2006, retrieved february 11, 2015, http:// whatis.techtarget.com/definition/online-mapping vargas, s., & royal, a. (2008). u.s. patent application no. 12/118,412. application 12/118,412. https://www.googl e.com/patents/us20090149192 yan, m. (2014). dijkstra’s algorithm. zahradnik, fred; how gps tracking works; updated 2015; retrieved february 15, 2015; http://gps.about.com/od/gpsprod uctoverview/a/how-gpstracking-works. htm zavlavsky, i. (2000). a new technology for interactive online mapping with vector markup and xml. cartographic perspectives, (37), 65-77.  45 international peer reviewed journal appendix figure 5. e-map application icon figure 6. main menu screen figure 7. search activity figure 8. list of available routes 46 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 9. result for shortest path figure 10. result for possible path figure 11. logbook figure 12. instructions 107 international peer reviewed journalvol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.393 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract the art of public speaking has been one of the commonly feared tasks for some people because they are not prepared and equipped with knowledge in rhetoric. the study was conducted to analyze the state of the nation address (sona) delivered by the three presidents of the philippines. speech videos and speech manuscripts were analyzed using validated rubrics. a survey was also conducted to gather information on students’ perception on the study of rhetoric. frequency, standard deviation, and weighted mean were used to analyze the rhetorical devices and canons of rhetoric employed in the speeches. it was found out that metaphor is a common rhetorical device used by the presidents. the results show that the canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery were utilized in the speeches. majority of the students of rhetoric and public discourse, selfreported (or agreed) that the rhetorical discourse analysis of the sona is beneficial to them as rhetoric and public discourse students. the study concludes that the rhetorical discourse analysis of state of the nation address of select philippine presidents lilibeth a. calonge lilibethcalonge68@gmail.com http://orcid.org 0000-0002-8617-2318 mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city, philippines ismael n. talili ismael.talili@must.edu.ph http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6994-6991 mindanao university of science and technology cagayan de oro city, philippines 108 jpair multidisciplinary research presidents used the rhetorical elements and techniques to convince and influence the audience. it is recommended that the presidents (or their speech writers) should consider optimum use of the rhetorical elements and techniques to evoke the desired response from the audience. keywords – language and communication, rhetoric, sona, discourse analysis, descriptive survey research design, philippines introduction rhetoric is a technique of using language effectively and persuasively in spoken or written form. it is an art of discourse which employs various methods to convince, influence or please an audience. the state of the nation address (sona) as a form of political discourse seeks to deliver a powerful and convincing speech to the audience that leaves an impingement on their mind. dunmire (2005) stated that the important ideological component of political discourse derives from its representation of the future and the rhetorical functions those representations serve in implicating more immediate and discursive actions. it is through sona that the president will change and influence the mindset and attitude of the people. that is why the presidents’ speeches need to be persuasive in such a way that people ought to believe and accept what they are reporting. dunmire (2005) in his study stated that, “the president’s speech plays a significant role in facilitating the conceptual, linguistic, and political change articulated through the preemption policy. the presidents’ sona primarily aimed to gain the audience trust and confidence for their administration thus employing all the available means of persuasion. according to ong (2010) “the state of the nation is also the state of the citizens”. tenore (2012) in her study of bill clinton’s democratic national convention (dnc) speech said that he has gotten a lot of attention and understandably so, there is something about clinton’s speech that made it stand out – good writing. there are several factors that made the writing in the speech so strong some of which are the rhetorical devices like repetition, and the “rule of three” or tri-colon to cite. the impact received only implies that employing rhetorical devices is a big factor for the effectiveness of the speech. it plays an important role to persuade and convince the audience. another study conducted by navera (2011) on gloria arroyo’s sona implies that presidential speeches are metaphorized and strategically expressed to invoke and influence the interests of the audience. 109 international peer reviewed journal considering the sona of corazon c. aquino (1986-1982), gloria m. arroyo (2001-2010) and benigno c. aquino iii (2010 – present), the study determined the rhetorical devices employed in convincing the emotions of the audience in conceptualizing the presidents’ speeches, and accounts for common rhetorical devices used. the study also examined the importance of employing rhetorics in the presidents’ speeches, and the applications of the five canons of rhetorics, namely: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. framework rhetorical theory is the body of thought about human symbol use. according to rhetorical theory, communicating and presenting information is not just sending a static message; the process is considerably more dynamic. this study utilized aristotle’s definition of rhetorical theory. aristotle defined rhetoric as the art of discovering all the available means of persuasion (littlejohn & foss, 2009). aristotle was convinced that, for a persuasive speech to be effective, speakers must follow certain guidelines or principles, which he called canons. these are recommendations for making a speech more compelling. aristotle points to five prescriptions for effective oratory, the canons of rhetoric, namely: invention (finding ways to persuade), arrangement (putting together the structure of a coherent argument), style (presenting the argument to stir the emotions), delivery (making effective use of voice, gesture, etc.), and memory (speaking without having to prepare or memorize a speech) [(littlejohn & foss, 2009)]. objectives of the study the study analyzed the spoken and written discourses of the three philippine presidents’ state of the nation addresses (sonas). specifically, the study sought to answer the following to: 1) describe the common rhetorical devices employed in the president’s sona; 2) determine how the presidents perform in their respective sonas in terms of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery; and 3) describe the perceived benefits of the students in rhetoric and public discourse from the results of the rhetorical discourse analysis. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the proposed research utilized a descriptive research method. the study primarily concerns on how the presidents’ second state of the nations address (sona) employ rhetorical devices through their discourse and the canons of rhetoric to evoke an emotion on the part of the audience, and to influence and persuade the people in their schema. unit of analysis the study employed the second state of the nation addresses (sonas) of the three presidents of the philippines both written (full manuscript) and spoken (canned video) discourses as the unit of analysis. these were considered as basis for scientific analysis. instrumentation the study used two instruments: validated discourse analysis matrices for video recordings and manuscripts, and survey questionnaire in determining the perceptions of the students in rhetoric and public discourse. it considered five-point likert scale and 15 statements on benefits that students can get from the results of rhetorical discourse analysis. prior to conducting the survey, the questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity with three experts – two english language professors and a researching professional. the instrument obtained a validity index of .80. coding reliability a comprehensive analysis of the presidents’ sona done by the researcher and two expert english language instructors as inter-raters obtained a reliability index of .80. discourse analysis procedure the analysis employed both written and spoken discourses of the three philippine presidents. to obtain both discourses, the researcher downloaded the video recordings and manuscripts of the presidents’ sonas. the data were collected considering the following phases: phase 1: the inputs (video recordings and manuscripts) were checked on completeness of parts and clarity. 111 international peer reviewed journal phase 2: the video recordings and manuscripts were then analyzed using a self-made rhetorical discourse analysis matrix. the analyst identified the common rhetorical elements and canons of rhetoric employed in each sona. phase 3: two inter-raters – english professors who have majored in english, were then invited to rate the sonas. the outputs of the inter-raters were then compared with the analyst’s own output. this was done to ensure inter-rater reliability or concordance among the raters. phase 4: the survey was conducted to all students enrolled in rhetoric and public discourse, one of the courses in bs technology communication management at mindanao university of science and technology, cagayan de oro city. statistical treatment the study used descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, and standard deviation to describe the rhetorical devices and canons of rhetoric employed in the state of the nation addresses (sonas) of the three presidents. the data were then processed using a statistical software. results and discussion common rhetorical devices employed in the presidents’ sona table 1. frequency distribution of rhetorical devices employed in the sonas cory c. aquino gloria m. arroyo benigno c. aquino rhetorical devices f f f alliteration 12 5 6 amplification 1 9 7 anaphora 9 8 12 anadiplosis 1 4 2 antistrophe 2 2 5 antithesis 2 2 5 asyndeton 7 6 3 hyperbole 3 7 3 metaphor 14 12 5 simile 2 3 1 tricolon 6 5 6 understatement 3 1 3 corazon c. aquino used metaphor 14 times in her speech, while benigno c. aquino utilized anaphora 12 times in his discourse. such utilization of the rhetorical devices and techniques implies that the presidents have employed various 112 jpair multidisciplinary research rhetorical techniques in persuading the audience. dunmire (2005) in his study posited that an important ideological component of political discourse, derives from its representation of the future and the rhetorical functions those representations serve in implicating more immediate and discursive actions. metaphor was the most commonly used, while simile was the least used by the three presidents. the results of the study suggest that the presidents are inclined to utilize certain representations or symbols to refer to situations that are not literally applicable. in fact, metaphor is the most commonly used by the presidents. clark (n.d.) averred that metaphors allow one to make the complex simple. similarly, navera (2012) in his study found that presidential speeches are metaphorized and strategically expressed to invoked and influence the interests of the audience. the contemporary rhetorical theory supports this implication that today, rhetoric is generally defined much more broadly as human symbol use. it is no longer confined to the study of speeches or discourse; it is generally viewed as the study of any kind of symbols. the presidential speeches are likewise constituted by a cluster of conceptual metaphors that underlie metaphorical and lexico-grammatical expressions found in political texts and talk. through repeated use and deployment, these metaphors that function and work in conjunction with rhetorical strategies such as logical, emotional, and ethical proofs, strategies of self-representation, and political myths can set off, prompt, trigger or disrupt (shared) schemas responsible for our sense making processes. how the presidents perform in their respective sonas the canons of rhetoric (latent or manifest) commonly applied by the presidents in their sonas were analyzed using the canned video as the unit of analysis. table 2 exhibits the performance of the three presidents according to the canons of rhetoric. it underscores the degree of performance of the presidents in their respective sonas. table 2. degree of performance (latent or manifest) of the presidents in their sonas name of president invention arrangement style memory delivery corazon c. aquino outstanding outstanding outstanding good good gloria m. arroyo outstanding outstanding outstanding good outstanding benigno c. aquino iii outstanding outstanding outstanding good outstanding 113 international peer reviewed journal scoring guide count outstanding good troublesome failing invention arrangement style memory delivery 3 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *irubrics the data in table 2 show that the three presidents are all “outstanding” in the three canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement and style. this means that all were able to narrow targeted topics in their discourses to be relevant and purposeful to audience. they also structured their speeches with coherence, cohesiveness, and organization. as regards style, they crafted their discourses using distinctive language that clearly supports main ideas, consistent and appropriate tone, and superior balance of logic and emotion. in terms of memory, the three presidents are “good” in using sources responsibly. they applied documentations such video and statistics that support and illuminate their ideas. they excluded website evaluations; instead, they employed quotations that leave to the imaginations of the audience. according to aristotle, “most of the topics that are usually discussed in public speeches do not allow exact knowledge, but leave room for doubt” (aristotle’s rhetoric, 2010). however, in terms of delivery, both gloria m. arroyo and benigno c. aquino were rated outstanding since they utilized commanding use of vocal volume as well as variations of vocal rate, pitch and tone. they also demonstrated consistent eye contact, effective gestures and mannerism. both also used pauses, no distracting errors which were covered with professional appearance and facial expression, although contemporary sona speeches are no longer memorized but are just familiarized, since the presidents already used teleprompters, which gives the audience the notion of memorized speech by giving appearance of good eye contact with the audience. whereas, corazon c. aquino exercised less gestures and mannerism and used monotonous tone and pitch, since corazon aquino sometimes browsed througn her own copy of speech. this implies that observing and utilizing the five canons of rhetoric in the presidents’ sonas inculcates the mind of the people, their accountability, accomplishments, and schema of the government. it means it should be crafted in response to a set of circumstances; to seek persuasion, 114 jpair multidisciplinary research rhetorical discourse is usually intended to influence an audience to accept an idea; and to act in a manner consistent with that idea (citizen rhetoric,n.d.) generally, the persuasion in rhetoric is accomplished by a character whenever the speech is held in such a way as to render the speaker worthy of credence. if the speaker appears to be credible, the audience will form the second-order judgment that propositions put forward by the credible speaker are true or acceptable (aristotle’s rhetoric, 2010). tenore (2012) in her study said that bill clinton’s speech has gotten  a  lot of attention – and understandably so, there is something about clinton’s speech that made it stand out – good writing. perceived benefits that the students in rhetoric and public discourse gain from the results of the rhetoric discourse analysis a survey on the students’ perception on the benefits they gain from the results of the rhetorical discourse analysis was conducted and the data were tabulated (table 4). some 144 bachelor of science in technology communication management (bstcm) students participated in the survey. table 3. respondents’ perception on the benefits of rhetorical discourse analysis benefits mean sd description 1. enhances my ability to persuade others. 2. equips me with the rhetorical devices. 3. makes me more persuasive in my dealings with others. 4. empowers me to win a rigorous and constructive debate. 5. allows me to know how to give an effective speech. 6. enables me to know the common rhetorical devices used by the speaker in his/her speech. 7. allows me to determine the meanings, purposes, and effects of the speech. 8. permits me to know how arguments are constructed. 9. allows me to know how to use rhetoric. 10. enables me to know the specific features of the texts. 11 enables me to know how thoroughly a text emphasizes the character of the speaker. 12. allows me to know the speaker’s intention in speaking. 13. allows me to know the principal lines of reasoning or kinds of arguments used by the speaker. 14. allows me to know the figures of speech used by the speaker. 15. permits me to know the kind of style and tone used by the speaker. overall 4.08 3.89 4.17 3.72 4.31 4.13 4.28 4.15 4.17 3.68 3.81 4.16 4.05 3.98 4.03 4.04 0.857 0.777 0.690 0.808 0.796 0.801 0.773 0.787 0.802 0.842 0.844 0.808 0.683 0.848 0.877 0.820 agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree 115 international peer reviewed journal scoring guide mean descriptive equivalent 1.00 – 1.50 1.51 – 2.50 2.51 – 3.50 3.51 – 4.50 4.51 – 5.00 strongly disagree disagree undecided agree strongly agree results indicate that the rhetoric and public discourse student-respondents ‘agreed’ to the 15 perceived benefits they obtain in the rhetorical discourse analysis. they all believed that the results of this analysis will allow them to know how to give an effective speech, and also allows them to determine the meanings, purposes and effects of the speech employing different rhetorical devices. the results of the study also allow them to use rhetoric in constructing a persuasive speech that strengthen their arguments. according to aristotle (“aristotles rhetoric”, 2010), rhetoric is basically the strategic use of communication to accomplish the purposes with target audiences. even tenore (2012) n her study of bill clinton’s democratic national convention (dnc) speech said that there are several factors that made the writing in the speech so strong, some of which are the rhetorical devices. the results imply that the study of rhetorical devices and the canons of rhetoric on the president’s sona is beneficial to the students in their study of rhetoric and public discourse. the respondents viewed the benefits as an edge to help them improve their skills and knowledge of rhetoric and become good and expert critics on rhetorical discourse. the students believed that the results of the study would be beneficial on their parts since rhetoric can be found even on day to day communication. students then will be able to appreciate the arts of persuasion in both written and spoken discourses. rhetoric is a technique of using language effectively and persuasively in spoken or written form. it is an art of discourse which studies and employs various methods to convince, influence or please an audience navera (2011). conclusions the study concludes that the president’s sona commonly employed rhetorical devices in which the most prevalent are anaphora and metaphor. the presidents also performed well in their performance in terms of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery on their respective sonas. the analysis results also imply that the study of rhetorical devices and the canons of rhetoric on the president’s 116 jpair multidisciplinary research sona is beneficial to the students in their study of rhetoric and public discourse. aristotle’s rhetorical theory, which assumes that discourse is usually intended to influence an audience to accept an idea, and then to act in a manner consistent with that idea, supports the results of the analysis. the analysis was limited to the rhetorical devices and canons of rhetoric used in the speeches of three philippine presidents using speech manuscripts and video recordings as the unit of analysis. furthermore, only few related literature were reviewed due to the scarcity of the materials. translational research given the need to extend the benefits of the study particularly to the students, the researchers, therefore, are designing a worktext including application of the findings apart from the rhetorical devices and the canons of rhetoric. literature cited aristotle’s rhetoric (2010) stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. retrieved from http://goo.gl/qhmv5v clark, b. (n.d.) enchanting marketing. retrieved from www.enchanting marketing. com citizen rhetoric (n.d.) rhetorical discourse, retrieved from http://goo.gl/ g0e22h dunmire, p. l. (2005). preempting the future: rhetoric and ideology of the future in political discourse. discourse & society, 16(4), 481-513. littlejohn, s. w., & foss, k. a. (2009). encyclopedia of communication theory (vol. 1). sage. navera, g. s. (2011). “war on terror” is a curative: recontextualization and political myth-making in gloria macapagal-arroyo’s 2002–2004 state of the nation addresses. critical inquiry in language studies, 8(4), 313-343. 117 international peer reviewed journal navera, g. s. (2012). metaphorizing the philippine presidency: schemas of presidential leadership in the post-marcos state of the nation addresses (1987-2009) (doctoral dissertation, national university of singapore). tenore, m. j. (september, 2012). 10 rhetorical strategies that made bill clinton’s dnc speech effective. retrieved from http://goo.g 1 international peer reviewed journal teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms mc kerwin niňo m. acdal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-6153 kerwinacdal1990@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines cm recto avenue, lapasan, cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract education for all and other related inclusive education memoranda and policies paved the way of teaching students with special needs in general education classrooms. in this context, one of the biggest tasks of general education teachers is to provide relevant and appropriate accommodations to students with special needs in their classes. hence, accommodation is an indicator of successful execution of inclusion in several schools. this study aimed to examine the significant degree of relationship between the teachers’ acceptance and the use of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. also, it employed a quantitative approach to research specifically the descriptive-correlational research design and adopted the teacher acceptability and use scale instrument (boulton, 2003). the data were obtained from the 70 teachers of preschool to grade 6 in corpus christi schoolan institution that implemented a school-based policy on inclusive education. the results indicated assenting acceptance and use of accommodations in the general education classrooms. also, it revealed a significant, strong, positive correlation between vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.646 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-6153 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers’ acceptability and the use of accommodations. lastly, while the teachers’ demographic profile is statistically controlled, it showed a significantly higher association between teachers’ acceptability and the use of accommodations. keywords — special education, accommodation, descriptive-correlational research design, cagayan de oro city, philippines introduction inclusive education has been widely advocated in many countries around the world with the common goal of promoting maximum participation of students with special needs in the general education classrooms (kalaw, 2016). in the philippines, the national statistics office (now philippine statistics authority) gathers relevant information during the census of population and housing (2010) and the report states that 1.57 percent of the 92.1 million households in the country have members with special needs. region x (northern mindanao) it has 67 000 household population having members with a disability. similarly, the philippine statistics authority obtains essential data during the functional literacy, education, and mass media survey (2013) and the data reveals that one out of ten or 4 million children and youth are out of school. in the same way, 8.2 percent have illness/disability which is the primary reason for not attending schools. moreover, the annual poverty indicators survey (2016) of the philippine statistics authority shows that having a disability is the 5th top reason for children and youth for not going to schools. indeed, the philippines is being challenged to address this concern of children with special needs on how they can access their basic rightthe right to be educated and the right to learn with other peers in the general education classrooms employing appropriate accommodations to meet their learning needs. the foremost duty of teachers is to teach and to raise students with a mind to respond rationally and with a heart to react emphatically. further, the rational mind and emphatic heart are also the powerful tools of teachers to cater to the needs of their students. it is for this reason that teachers are challenged at this present time to be more inclusive in their respective classrooms. the inclusion of students with special needs in the general education classroom is a current educational movement which highlights every student in the class to maximize his learning potentials and his ability to learn. thus, the teachers’ perceptions in handling students with special needs vividly influence the teachers from accepting and executing accommodations for students with special needs in the classrooms. 3 international peer reviewed journal education for all (efa) global monitoring report (2010), boldly reports that children with special needs are still marginalized and largely excluded from access to quality education. understanding the essential accommodations of students with special needs can be an overwhelming task for teachers (maclean, 2008) knowing that teachers perform different responsibilities in the classrooms and looking into account that all students should grasp the necessary concepts and skills daily. thus, it is vital to examine the teachers’ acceptance and use of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. framework figure 1 shows the relationship between variables that were investigated in the study. it illustrates the teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs. similarly, it explains that teachers’ acceptability of accommodations correlates teachers’ use of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. meanwhile, it displays that teachers’ use of accommodations for students with special needs correlates teachers’ acceptability of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. in addition, teachers’ demographic profile is treated as an intervening variable in determining the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and the use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms. figure 1. a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the variables 4 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study primarily aimed to determine the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. specifically, it sought to answer the following objectives: (1) to describe the demographic profile of the teachers; (2) to describe the experiences of teachers; (3) to determine the level of teachers’ acceptability and the level of teachers’ use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms; (4) to determine the significant relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms; and (5) to determine the significant relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms when the teachers’ demographic profile is statistically controlled. methodology research design the study employed a quantitative approach to research specifically the descriptive-correlational research design. according to campbell and stanley (1963), descriptive correlational research design is geared at establishing a positive or negative relation, association, or correlation between two or more significant variables and it is to describe the linear relations between these relevant variables (collier, 2010). this study explored the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms. research site the study was conducted in corpus christi grade school macasandig and pueblo campuses in cagayan de oro city. participants all seventy full-time faculty members were the participants of the study for the school year 2018-2019. instrumentation the primary tool to gather data was a survey questionnaire. the research instrument was divided into two parts and it contained 40 items. specifically, part 5 international peer reviewed journal a contained twelve items to gather relevant information of the teacher’s personal profile while part b was a survey questionnaire adaptation with permission entitled, “teacher acceptability and use scaletaus” formulated by boulton in 2003, contained 28 items to gather the teacher’s acceptance and the teacher’s use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms. the instrument consisted of 28 accommodations. participants were asked to rate each of the accommodations along two dimensions: acceptability of the accommodation and current or recent use of the accommodation (within the last two years) using a likert-type scale. in relation to the term consistency, the researcher in this study changed the term “modifications” to “accommodations” in the instrument with the permission from the author. thus, these terms are under the big word “adaptations” however these terms are not synonymous and cannot be used interchangeably. also, the taus survey instrument was examined by the university personnel who specialized in special education and educational research to establish the content validity of all the items indicated in the instrument. at the same time, the internal consistency of the instrument was calculated following the factor analysis procedure and the reliability score of the instrument was calculated using cronbach’s alpha analysis. boulton (2003) found that the reliability estimates indicated a reasonably reliable instrument for measuring the teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. data collection the researcher asked permission to conduct this study from the school principal. upon approval, the researcher proceeded with data gathering. the researcher sent a letter to the participants requesting their permission to participate in the study and securely noted their anonymity. the researcher got the 100% retrieval rate of the questionnaires with the help of the grade level coordinators and a few non-teaching staff of the school. data analysis framework the data gathered were tabulated, evaluated, analyzed, and computed statistically using spss. frequency count and percentage distribution were used to determine the profile of the teachers. weighted mean was utilized to determine the level of acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms. moreover, pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. meanwhile, partial correlation was 6 jpair multidisciplinary research used to determine the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and the use of accommodations while controlling the influence of teachers’ demographic profile. results and discussion this section reports the results that address the research questions investigated in the study. results are presented separately for each research question in order to have a logical sequence of data analysis in accordance with the statement of the problem. table 1. the demographic profile of the teachers variable frequency percent (%) a. age 20-24 11 15.7 25-29 17 24.3 30-34 4 5.7 35-39 8 11.4 40-44 8 11.4 45-49 8 11.4 50-54 8 11.4 55-59 5 7.1 60+ 1 1.4 total 70 100 b. educational attainment – highest degree bachelor’s degree 57 81.4 master’s degree 13 18.6 doctorate’s degree 0 0 total 70 100 c. educational attainment – courses general education 32 45.7 special education 14 20 early childhood education 1 1.4 non-education 15 21.4 non-education with professional education 4 5.7 school management 4 5.7 total 70 100 7 international peer reviewed journal d. length of service in teaching (in years) 0-4 18 25.7 5-9 11 15.7 10-14 10 14.3 15-19 8 11.4 20+ 23 32.9 total 70 100 e. subjects taught* araling panlipunan 16 22.9 computer education 4 5.7 english 19 27.1 epp/tle/hele 4 5.7 filipino/mtb-mle 12 17.1 mathematics 18 25.7 music, art, physical education, health 18 25.7 religion/christian living 5 7.1 science 14 20 f. grade levels taught** preschool 8 11.4 grade 1 16 22.9 grade 2 21 30 grade 3 22 31.4 grade 4 27 38.6 grade 5 26 37.1 grade 6 25 35.7 notes: *the sum of the percentages is greater than 100 since the teachers could teach more than one subject. **the sum of the percentages is greater than 100 since the teachers could teach more than one grade level. table 1 presents the participants’ demographic profile. it reveals that among the participants of the study, the majority of the teachers are between 25 years old to 29 years old. in addition, it discloses that most of the teachers are graduates of bachelor’s degree in general education and 21.4 percent of the teachers are non-education graduates. majority of the teachers are long-tenured and with permanent status with more than 20 years of teaching experience. lastly, it shows that teachers handle different subjects and grade levels in the institution. the results indicate that teachers play a significant role in the academic journey of the students with and without special needs. furthermore, it 8 jpair multidisciplinary research implies that teachers’ demographic profile impacts positive views toward inclusion, favorable acceptance and use of accommodations which resulted in higher academic performance of students with special needs, increase students motivation to participate and learn meaningful experiences, and challenge students to complete and to succeed in the given tasks in the general education classrooms (moberg & savolainen, 2003; stubbs, 2009; boyd, lankford, loeb, rockoff, & wyckoff, 2008; kini & podolsky, 2016; clotfelter, ladd, & vigdor, 2007; heggart, 2016). as illustrated in table 2, over half of the teachers (n=60, 85.7%) attended relevant trainings related to inclusive education. also, most of the teachers gained their understanding of inclusive education through in-service training set by the school, and 25 teachers earned their understanding of inclusive education thru university/college courses. table 2. the teaching and training experiences of the teachers variable frequency percent (%) a. trainings, seminars, and workshops on inclusive education* workshops/lectures/seminars/conferences 60 85.7 coaching/mentoring 8 11.4 video instruction/online readings/e-learning 15 21.4 in-service training (inset) 44 62.9 university/college courses 25 35.7 others 1 1.4 b. trainings, seminars, and workshops topics** behavior management 64 91.4 inclusion strategies 35 50.0 differentiated instruction 53 75.7 accommodation practices in inclusive education 22 31.4 assessment/evaluation strategies for children with special needs 22 31.4 9 international peer reviewed journal c. types of disability handled*** autism spectrum disorder 51 72.9 deafness 1 1.4 deaf-blindness 1 1.4 developmental delay 35 50 emotional disturbance 13 18.6 hearing impairment 2 2.9 intellectual disability 13 18.6 multiple disability 4 5.7 orthopedic impairment 1 1.4 specific learning disability 38 54.3 speech or language impairment 19 27.1 traumatic brain injury 0 0 other health impairment 16 22.9 visual impairment including blindness 5 7.1 others 2 2.9 notes: *the sum of the percentages is greater than 100 since the teachers could attend more than one training/seminar/workshop. ** the sum of the percentages is greater than 100 since the teachers could attend more than one topic during a training/seminar/workshop. *** the sum of the percentages is greater than 100 since the teachers could handle more than one disabling conditions. hill (2015) clearly states that teachers become great teachers by going beyond the four corners of the classrooms, and this is to keep the teachers updated with the latest movements in education by attending trainings. the continuing professional development of the teachers helps them earn the essential 21st century skills and contents in the field of education. hence, these teachers need to apply the practical concepts in the classrooms and to help students face academic challenges and real-life problems. solheim (2017) suggests that teachers need to find out more about their teaching craft by including professional development in their schedules to look for new ways to handle students and to learn more strategies in addressing students’ needs. in her study, she finds a positive link between the professional development of the teachers and the achievement of students. it is for this reason 10 jpair multidisciplinary research that she suggests that every teacher needs to undergo cognitive and metacognitive learning processes to reflect on the teacher’s practices in the classrooms to become more learner-centered teachers. trainings help teachers become confident, skillful, and equipped in handling students with special needs. in fact, schools are mandated to do inservice training. in-service trainings prepare and further equip teachers to handle various situations in the classrooms which include an appropriate demonstration of transfer of learning, proper ways to manage students’ behavior, differentiate instructions, and accommodate students’ academic needs. by doing these, the schools are ensuring that the quality of the teachers is the flagship of the institution. importantly, it is vital for teachers to become lifelong learners to advance teachers’ profile competence and quality of work ethics in the classroom. moreover, table 2 shows that generally, all teachers have experienced teaching students with special needs in the classrooms notwithstanding the fact that only 20 percent of the teachers earned a bachelor’s degree in special education. teaching students with special needs is a challenging and overwhelming task. as teachers, you need to make certain that all students learn by teaching them differently and by accommodating them according to their needs for the reason that all children learn and acquire new concepts differently. in addition, the use of a variety of methods to students with special needs is the main point of teaching (wang, 2013). the use of accommodations is an ultimate indicator that teachers are providing opportunities for students with special needs in the classrooms to thrive. mauro (2017) recommends to have a positive student profile and to have a bank of successful strategies to successfully include and accommodate students in the classrooms. as a result, when we create a friendly, safe and conducive environment for all students, it will surely boost their academic achievements more. teachers who have experience teaching students with special needs should lead to successful inclusion implementation by making use of their unique strengths and by being supportive of their challenging weaknesses. students with special needs look forward to teachers’ encouragement and assurance that they can make well with the tasks in the classroom thru appropriate accommodation provisions (mcdonald, 2010). in addition, table 3 shows the level of teachers’ acceptability of accommodations for all students. it reveals that teachers are significantly favorable in accepting accommodations in the general education classrooms. in fact, the teachers did not mark any of the items of the instrument below m=1.49 or unacceptable accommodations for students with special needs. it is a 11 international peer reviewed journal significant indicator that teachers express acceptance to make accommodations for all students to participate in class discussions, tasks, and assignments. it is important for teachers to provide a positive learning environment that promotes learning (cluff, 2011) and that accepts students with special needs to accommodate their learning needs aptly. even though teachers’ acceptability of accommodations varies differently from one another, it is still the obligation of the teachers to provide ways for students to learn and to have access of the learning standards in the educational system. also, these teachers are under oath to accept students irrespective of their learning needs and to set compromising academic accommodations for them. thus, it really needs an optimistic teacher’s attitude towards handling students with special needs to successfully implement appropriate and acceptable accommodations for them in the classroom. furthermore, table 3 reveals the level of teacher’s use of accommodations in the classrooms. it shows that accommodations are used realistically to aid students’ difficulty to improve understanding of the lessons taken in the classrooms. also, it reveals that most of the teachers scored the accommodations between “used on a daily or nearly basis” and “used when appropriate in the instructional sequence.” the results imply that teachers are using accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms to help them have full access to the school curriculum and academic requirements. the use of accommodations is a significant indicator of successful implementation of inclusive education. thus, the main concept of inclusive education is to provide accommodations for students with special needs in the classroom and it seeks to help them become competent and proficient in all the learning competencies of the curriculum. similarly, williamson (2011) shows the same results that the majority of the teachers are willing to make accommodations for students with special needs and used instructional accommodations on a regular basis. some studies reveal that the use of accommodations increased students’ academic performance, boosted students’ confidence and motivation to thrive in academic challenges, and improved students’ comprehension of the lesson and retention of the task completion (erten, 2011; kim & lee, 2015). in general, the average of the teachers’ level of acceptability of all accommodations is m= 4.15 (sd=.52) which strongly indicates that the accommodations are reasonably acceptable for most students with different learning strengths and needs in the classrooms while the mean of the teachers’ level of use of all accommodations is m= 3.57 (sd=.51) which clearly reveals that the accommodations are used rationally to all students with different 12 jpair multidisciplinary research learning backgrounds. the results describe that the teachers have practically accepted and appropriately used the accommodations for students with special needs. the results in table 3 reveal significant outcomes of the current study. it further implies that acceptance and the use of accommodations by the teachers are imperative to appropriately provide the needs of all students with different abilities and exceptionalities. based on the results, table 3 shows the correlation between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. it reveals that 43 percent of the accommodations have a significant, strong, positive correlation, 46 percent of the accommodations have a significant, moderate, positive correlation, and 11 percent of the accommodations have a significant, weak, positive correlation. specifically, the teachers rated a statistically significant, strong, positive correlation on assignment accommodations (r=.521, p<0.05). also, instructional accommodations (r=.473, p<0.05), accommodations to increase students’ focus (r=.388, p<0.05), visual accommodations (r=.482, p<0.05), peer accommodations (r=.458, p<0.05), and assessment accommodations (r=.488, p<0.05) have statistically significant, moderate, positive correlation. generally, the bivariate correlation between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs is significantly strong positive correlation and is statistically significant (r= .521, p<0.05). it implies that the implementation of accommodations has not been the least priority of the school, administrators, and teachers. the teachers’ views on accepting and using appropriate accommodations are necessary to implement an inclusion program successfully and to uphold every child’s rightthe right to free, appropriate, quality and accessible education. as a whole, teachers express their positive view of accepting and using accommodations for students with special needs. however, these teachers need to frequently use the cooperative learning strategy, use graphic organizers, and set-up a distraction-free classroom environment as appropriate accommodations. lastly, all teachers are continuously challenged and constantly called to make accommodations. teachers are not to alter what the students need to learn but rather to offer appropriate instructional strategies on how students learn the specific subject matter. thus, accommodations make a big difference. a legendary difference which makes students with special needs perform better and significantly become proactive students in the classrooms. according to zenisky and sireci (2007), accommodations can only benefit students with special needs when they are appropriately used. in this approach, no child is left behind. the 13 international peer reviewed journal teachers’ acceptance and use of accommodations are key pertinent factors to successful inclusion of students with special needs in the classrooms. in scrutinizing the results, the bivariate correlation between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations is significant, strong, positive correlation (r=.521, p<0.05). in table 4, the data show the correlation between the teacher acceptability and use of accommodations while controlling the influence of the demographic profile of the teachers. interestingly, while controlling the influences of teachers’ age; length of service in teaching; subjects taught; grade levels taught; previous trainings, seminars, workshops about the inclusive education; experience on teaching children with special needs; and experience on handling different types of exceptionalities, the partial correlation resulted to higher correlation coefficients compared to the bivariate correlation coefficient. the results are statistically significant, strong, positive correlations and it greatly strengthens the correlation between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in general education classrooms. it directs that teachers’ personal and professional characteristics have very little influence in controlling the relationship between the acceptability and use of accommodations. however, the teachers’ educational attainment is a significant, moderate, positive relationship while controlling its influence between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. the partial coefficient of the teachers’ educational attainment signifies that it influences the relationship between the acceptance and use of accommodations by the teachers for students with special needs. it also reveals that educational attainment positively influences the teachers to accept and to use the appropriate accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms. 14 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. the level and correlation coefficients of teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations in the general education classrooms item accommodations teachers’ acceptability teachers’ use correlation coefficients m sd verbal descrip-tion m sd verbal description pearson r p association 1 use cooperative learning 4.33 .756 acceptable for most students 3.26 .736 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .080 .508 weak 2 allow students extended time for completing assignments or tests 3.74 .973 acceptable for most students 3.59 .940 used once a week .484* .000 moderate 3 use graphic orga-nizers in lessons 4.34 .849 acceptable for most students 3.87 3.643 used once a week .197 .102 weak 4 administer tests orally to students 3.64 1.228 acceptable for most students 3.36 1.036 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .557* .000 strong 5 directly teach students strategies to problem solve 3.86 1.040 acceptable for most students 3.17 1.103 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .489* .000 moderate 6 using grading adaptations for students 3.53 1.271 acceptable for most students 2.84 1.199 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .388* .001 moderate 7 lessen environmental distractions 4.53 .696 acceptable for all students 4.47 .812 used once a week .220 .068 weak 8 use peer tutoring 3.91 1.087 acceptable for most students 3.13 1.296 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .533* .000 strong 9 assign alternative assignments or projects to students 3.57 1.303 acceptable for most students 2.83 1.103 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .523* .000 strong 10 break down assignments into multiple parts with feedback 4.09 1.126 acceptable for most students 3.16 1.187 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .456* .000 moderate 11 assign fewer assignments 3.84 1.163 acceptable for most students 3.40 1.041 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .460* .000 moderate 12 use different levels of questions for students based on ability 4.20 1.016 acceptable for most students 3.90 1.131 used once a week .661* .000 strong 13 vary the rate of instruction for students 4.04 1.109 acceptable for most students 3.63 1.182 used once a week .632* .000 strong 14 highlight key information or concepts in text 4.49 .897 acceptable for most students 4.17 1.103 used once a week .677* .000 strong 15 international peer reviewed journal 15 adapt the format of tests 4.44 .773 acceptable for most students 3.97 1.021 used once a week .493* .000 moderate 16 provide additional drill or practice based on student progress 4.67 .737 acceptable for all students 4.26 .988 used once a week .635* .000 strong 17 adjust the length of assignments 4.13 1.141 acceptable for most students 3.54 1.188 used once a week .643* .000 strong 18 provide organizational strategies and supports 4.19 1.133 acceptable for most students 3.34 1.433 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .487* .000 moderate 19 simplify text material 4.53 .896 acceptable for all students 3.79 1.273 used once a week .431* .000 moderate 20 provide both oral and written directions 4.81 .490 acceptable for all students 4.56 .773 used on a daily, nearly daily basis .430* .000 moderate 21 allow students to dictate test answers 3.20 1.490 acceptable for students with disabilities 2.73 1.393 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .697* .000 strong 22 break tasks or concepts into smaller units of learning 4.36 .885 acceptable for most students 3.96 .955 used once a week .481* .000 moderate 23 use alternative forms of textbooks or trade books 3.83 1.167 acceptable for most students 3.10 1.065 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .574* .000 strong 24 provide differentiated instruction based on individual student’s needs 4.20 1.098 acceptable for most students 3.51 1.073 used once a week .551* .000 strong 25 use hands-on activities or manipulative 4.49 .880 acceptable for most students 3.66 1.128 used once a week .404* .001 moderate 26 allow students to draw pictures/ diagrams as part of written assignments 4.64 .660 acceptable for all students 3.63 1.106 used once a week .352* .003 moderate 27 allow students to use word processors for written assignments 3.84 1.326 acceptable for most students 3.01 1.280 used when appropriate in instructional sequence .505* .000 strong 28 focus on the mastery of fewer objectives before addressing additional objectives 4.67 .631 acceptable for all students 4.19 .952 used once a week .489* .000 moderate note: *correlation is statistically significant at p<0.05 (2-tailed). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research the center on brain injury research and training in university of oregon (2013) undoubtedly states that academic accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms minimize the students with special needs’ classroom frustrations as well as academic accommodations encourage students with special needs to succeed in the classrooms together with their peers and classmates. interestingly, womack (2017) expresses that accommodation in the classrooms as authentic teaching to all students. she evidently theorized that teaching is accommodation since teachers empower every student with special needs to learn in the classroom and to demonstrate understanding of the subject matter. thus, teachers’ acceptance and use of accommodations for students with special needs promote learning and increase the rigor of learning accessibility. so, accommodations in the general education classrooms are not specifically designed to weaken the academic tasks of the students but are intentionally designed for students with special needs to completely do the academic tasks together with their peers and classmates. hence, accommodations provide multiple opportunities to all students with or without special needs to engage actively in class; and it allows students to understand the subject matter in various ways to fully access the curriculum standards of the institution. table 4. the partial correlation coefficients between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations and teachers’ demographic profile teachers’ demographic profile teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations association partial r p age .578* .000 strong educational attainment .497* .000 moderate length of service in teaching .583* .000 strong subjects taught .528* .000 strong grade levels taught .523* .000 strong training/seminar/workshop .545* .000 strong teaching csn .539* .000 strong type of csn handled .530* .000 strong note: csn= children with special needs *partial correlation is statistically significant at p<0.05 (2-tailed). 17 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the ultimate goal of this study is to reveal the level of acceptance and use of accommodations of general education teachers handling students with special needs in their respective classrooms. also, it is to explore the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. moreover, it is to show the relationship between teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations while controlling the significant influences of the teachers’ demographic profile. the results of the study imply that teachers need to be trained in handling students with special needs during their baccalaureate education course and these teachers need to know the appropriate ways in providing accommodations to students with exceptionalities. hence, education is the fundamental right of all children around the world. in order for them to have access to the educational curriculum, accommodations must be given for them to be successful and to benefit the inclusive education placement. furthermore, the acceptance and use of accommodations are active indicators that school-wide policy on inclusion is successfully initiated and implemented to maximize the learning potentials of all students. accommodations encourage students with special needs to go to school and attend classes together with non-disabled peers. it is for this reason that the department of education dignitaries should create a policy on the appropriate use of accommodations both public and private institutions to support students with special needs in the accessibility of curriculum standards in the general education classrooms. also, to institute the least restrictive environment for students with special needs by creating a more positive and supportive classroom setting while providing accommodations and meeting their various learning needs. in addition, the commission on higher education officials should consider adding special education subjects to all major education courses in both elementary and secondary curriculum to prepare teachers in handling students with special needs and to equip teachers with accurate information to deliver significant and appropriate accommodations to all students with diverse learning strengths and needs. in the same way, school administrators should implement a school-based policy on inclusive education to support and to protect the students with special needs. home and school agreement must be reinforced to protect the school, the family of the child with special needs, and the child with special needs. moreover, the policy should include the provisions to maximize the learning capacity of the students with special needs by providing multiple opportunities and countless experiences; and 18 jpair multidisciplinary research that learning experiences of the students must not be limited to one size fits all. lastly, general education teachers should attend trainings to be informed with the latest developments and trends in education particularly on proper handling and appropriate delivery of accommodations. future researchers should extend the study to private and public schools and to other educational levels (e.g., junior high school, senior high school, and college) that implemented policies on inclusion and accommodations. also, it should extend on exploring the relationship between other relevant teacher factors and teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations. lastly, future researchers should extend this study beyond corpus christi school to provide generalizability of the research findings. translational research the outcome of this study will be entitled, “teachers’ acceptability and use of accommodations for students with special needs in the general education classrooms,” will be translated into a policy to execute the right of every student with special needs to be educated in the general education classroom regardless of his learning needs. also, it will be a great reference to other school administrators to implement accommodation provisions for students with special needs in their respective schools. moreover, it will be of great help to all teachers to open their creaking eyes that all students with varying learning potentials and needs have the right to access free, appropriate, and quality educational curriculum in the country. in this way, all of us are aware of making a big difference in the lives of our dearly beloved students. literature cited annual poverty indicators survey (2016). philippine statistics authority. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gsvm48 boulton, b. s. 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(2017, november 13). importance of teacher learning for students’ achievement. retrieved november 17, 2018, from https://goo.gl/3tbdqq stubbs, s. (2009).  attitudes of general education teachers in grades one through six toward inclusion in new providence, bahamas (doctoral dissertation, the george washington university). retrieved from https://goo.gl/w16ga2 wang, k. (2013, november 08). 8 important tips for working with a special needs child friendship circle special needs blog. retrieved november 19, 2018, from https://bit.ly/2va1rn0 williamson, r. d. (2011). accommodation and curriculum modification for students with special needs: a study of teachers’ attitudes. retrieved from https://goo.gl/9mkzy1 womack, a. m. (2017). teaching is accommodation: universally designing composition classrooms and syllabi.  college composition and communication, 68(3), 494. retrieved from https://goo.gl/4gqcqx zenisky, a. l., & sireci, s. g. (2007). a summary of the research on the effects of test accommodations: 2005-2006. technical report 47. national center on educational outcomes, university of minnesota. retrieved from https:// goo.gl/gpek4e https://goo.gl/aaquj5 https://goo.gl/3tbdqq https://goo.gl/w16ga2 https://bit.ly/2va1rn0 https://goo.gl/9mkzy1 https://goo.gl/4gqcqx https://goo.gl/gpek4e https://goo.gl/gpek4e 46 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract computer aided assessment (caa) has been deployed in higher education to administer examinations in which the responses are electronically recorded, assessed, or both. caa makes possible a detailed analysis of test results with minimal effort. it employed the descriptive and applied methods of research. a standardized research survey questionnaire was used. the study found out that 50.86% of the responses were computer aided, 43.43% were paper and pencil, 4.5% were board work and 1.4% was others. 45.14 of the responses were multiple choice, 22.29% were true or false, 17.14% were essay 14.86% were matching type and .57% were others. test papers were physically distributed by the professors to students. html and css were used for gui while php and mysql for storing data. the multiple choice test (mct) software was evaluated usable. the study concludes that the students prefer computer-aided test as the delivery method of assessment. moreover, students prefer multiple choice type of test especially when the assessment period is limited. the existing testing administration is manual. the combination of hypertext mark-up language (html), cascading style sheet (css), and hypertext pre-processor (php) and mysql relational database management system is deemed effective in the development of a multiple choice test randomizer. vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.352 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. multiple choice test randomizer of ict department of abra state institute of science and technology excel philip b. guidang http://orcid.org/00000001-7080-8230 rieann12@gmail.com abra state institute of science and technology, philippines 47 international peer reviewed journal keywords computer aided assessment, multiple choice test, randomizer, online assessment, descriptive-applied design, abra, philippines introduction computer aided assessment (caa) has been practiced in higher education for the past five decades. computer software was first created to test the behavior of student’s machine-language submissions. caa is a method of administering examinations in which the responses are electronically recorded, assessed, or both. it offers an easy-to-use environment for preparing questions, conducting exams, and administering results. caa makes possible a detailed analysis of test results with minimal effort. this can be used to identify areas within the course where the students have difficulty. as a result, alerting professor to the possible need to adapt their teaching. or maybe it could be used to identify trends and patterns within the student group. questions which are not successful at discriminating between students can readily be identified and improved for future years. fielding (2003) states that caa is the application of computers to assessment processes, including delivery of tests, and capture of responses. it is the use of computers to simplify evaluation (constantine, 2008). these tests can be used for both summative and formative assessment. caa may be stand alone and specific to machines within a computer laboratory based on a local network or web-based. the georgia department of education (gadoe) is providing the 2013-2014 release of the georgia online assessment system (oas). the oas represents a dedicated resource for schools, districts, classroom teachers, students, and parents that allow for ongoing classroom instruction and student learning. the site allows educators to have access to test items aligned to the state mandated curriculum to develop assessments that inform teaching and learning. it allows students and parents transparency on the expectations placed on students about improving student achievement. mitkov, le an and karamanis (2006) developed a computer-aided environment for generating multiple-choice test items. the software identifies ideas in the text and generates questions about ideas as well as multiple-choice distractors. lately, with his desire to explicate generally the use of caa to automate routine processes, sangwin (2013) in his book entitled “computer aided assessment of mathematics” explains how caa is currently applied to assess mathematics. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research the abra state institute of sciences and technology (asist) is the only state college in the province of abra. it is an agricultural school that offers bachelor of science in agriculture and bachelor of science in forestry. moreover, it also offers science and technology courses such as bachelor of science in mathematics (bsmath), bachelor of science in biology (bsbio), bachelor of science in information technology (bsit). also, it offers the courses bachelor of science in secondary education and bachelor of science in elementary education. based on the records in the office of the registrar, there are 1900 students, as of june 2014 who were enrolled in all courses including the high school students. faculty workload shows that a faculty member handles a maximum class size of fifty students. assessment and evaluation are important parts of the teaching and learning process. professors in the abra state institute of sciences and technology are required to conduct diverse forms of assessments. however, the administration of assessment is tiresome and cumbersome because the assessment is done manually. based on observations, students often talk with their seatmates. this makes the professors keep on roaming around the room and try to warn the students and most of the time this would drain their energy. the researcher sought the opinions of three professors from the it department and has this to say, “in a lecture class having 50 students, most of the students tend to communicate to each other either by words or by a signal to send and receive answer(s). if a student caught several times doing it and seems to ignore warnings, he/she is asked to move out of the room and take another form of exam later.” after the examination proper, the hardship of the professors is not yet over because it is only the beginning. individual checking and scoring of examinee’s test paper are even harder. it challenges the professor’s patience and perseverance to stay awake late at night to finish the task. errors and inconsistencies in scoring are often encountered. delays in checking and scoring due to hard to read penmanship prolong the distribution of examination result. in response to the above scenarios, the development of multiple choice test randomizer (mctr) concept was instinctive, to provide a software solution that the professors and students need. mctr is differed from the study of mitkov, r., le an, h. a., & karamanis, n. (2006) because professors who shall use mctr will have to encode manually the questions by themselves and not mctr. 49 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study developed the multiple choice test randomizer. specifically, it aimed to: 1) identify the preferred delivery method of assessment of the ict students; 2) identify the preferred type of test of the ict students; 3) identify the existing procedures of testing administration and scoring; 4) develop the multiple choice test randomizer (mctr); 5) determine the usability of multiple choice test randomizer in terms of usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction. methodology the researcher used both descriptive and applied methods of research. descriptive method of research was used to narrate the delivery method of assessment, the preferred type of test of the ict students, and the existing procedures on testing administration and scoring. the study applied standardized test called use questionnaire to determine the usability of the software. figure 1. the research paradigm sources of data the respondents were two hundred fifty-one (251) ict students and five (5) faculty members. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research the freshmen and the sophomore students of both amalgamated (curriculum is synchronized with other state university and colleges in the cordillera administrative region) and ladderized of ict department were chosen as the respondents on the preferred type of delivery method of assessment and preferred type of test as they are still to be in the adjustment period in the college way of life while respondents to determine the usability of the developed multiple choice test randomizer. the third and fourth year ict students were chosen because they have software engineering and software analysis and design subjects wherein software development life cycles are discussed and they are also required to submit simple application programs and test its usability at the end of the semester. the ict faculty members, too, were tapped to do a usability test of the software because they have the expertise on software development, user interface design, and because they are the direct users of the software. the test paper provides the information on components of multiple choice test (mct). the csit faculty members also provided the procedures for administration and scoring. the researcher personally floated and collected the questionnaire from the respondents to ensure a one hundred percent (100%) retrieval. the researcher asked permission from everyone who were surveyed. table 1. distribution of respondents position population faculty 5 dit 1a 33 dit 1b 41 bsit 1a (amalgamated) 27 bsit 1b (amalgamated) 26 dit 2a 27 dit 2b 27 bsit 2a 16 bsit 2b 16 bsit 1a (ladderized) 25 bsit 1b 22 bsit 2a 22 bsit 2b 22 total 309 51 international peer reviewed journal data instrumentation for objectives 1 and 2, the study used a survey questionnaire validated by 10 agriculture and education students. it was administered to identify the preferred delivery method of assessment and preferred type of test. for objective 3, the study used interview and observation. it was conducted to the ict faculty members to determine the existing procedures for testing administration and scoring. the study also used documentary analysis on test paper having multiple choice test format. it was administered to determine the components of multiple choice test (mct). for objective 4, the software was created using the incremental build model. the model consists of four stages: 1)analysis; 2) design; 3) code, and 4)test. figure 2. incremental build model analysis phase in this stage, the researcher identified the preferred delivery method of assessment and type of test of the ict students. likewise, identified the existing procedures of testing administration and scoring along with the components of a multiple choice test (mct). design phase in this phase, the researcher created a testing administration and scoring solution. user design and user experience were top priorities. focused were on what the user’s need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations.  the goals and objectives of the it department were considered. on top of these considerations, the user design, and user experience best practices set the overall guidance. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research coding phase the coding stage consisted of the writing of computer readable instructions. the code was written using hypertext markup language and cascading style sheet to create graphical user interface or user presentation of the script. hypertext preprocessor (php) was used for server side scripting to collect data from the user and mysql for storing user log or activity. testing phase functional testing was undertaken. this was conducted by both teachers and students. it was conducted to check if the system works on the specified platform and with the required volume of data, and determines if the system meets the users’ requirements. for objective 5, a survey questionnaire was used from the concept of lund (2001) known as use questionnaire. use stands for usefulness, satisfaction, and ease of use. subjective reactions to the usability of an application tend to be neglected for performance measures, and yet it is often the case that these metrics measure the aspects of the user experience that are most closely tied to user behavior and purchase decisions. data analysis data from the respondents were interpreted using frequency count based on the highest number of responses to the preferred delivery method of assessment and type of test of ict students. the usability of mctr was tested with the application of use questionnaire. responses from the students and faculty members were interpreted with the likert scale and descriptive ratings: point of scale mean rating descriptive equivalent rating descriptive interpretation 5 4.20-5.00 strongly agree usable 4 3.40-4.19 agree usable 3 2.60-3.39 neutral usable 2 1.80-2.59 disagree not usable 1 1.00-1.79 strongly disagree not usable the variables with responses within the mean range of 2.60 to 5.00 were interpreted as usable while those variables with responses within the range 1.00 to 2.59 were interpreted as not usable. 53 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion results showed that the 50.86% of responses from the ict students were computer-aided, and only 43.4% were paper and pencil. this implies that the preferred delivery method of assessment of the students is computer-aided. it is for this reason that the researcher decided to create a computer aided assessment tool such as mctr. this is in contrast with the study of sheader, gouldsborough and grady (2006) where more students are “confident” about paper-based work as a method of assessment (91%) and only 50% made the same claim for caa. on the hand option, “others” got the lowest responses. two respondents indicated “actual or practical testing.” this means that the respondents preferred assessments of skills using application. in terms of preferred type of test, 45.14 % of the responses from the ict students were multiple choice. this implies that students tend to like a type of test in which it requires a less of writing especially so when the assessment period is limited. it further implies that students like to perform an assessment which limits error on grammar and spelling. on the other hand, the option “others” got the lowest responses which is .57 % of the total responses. one respondent indicated enumeration. this means that the respondent is fond of memorizing lessons. the existing procedures of testing administration and scoring based on personal interviews with faculty members, observation, and personal practice, the administration of testing begins when the professor formulates and encodes questions. the standard components of multiple choice question are item number, question, and options based on the test paper analysis. then, printing of the questionnaire followed. the professor may either reprint or photo copy in to reproduce the questionnaire. the testing administration proper is the actual distribution of test paper to the examinees. afterward, the test papers are collected by the professor. individual checking and scoring of test paper are next. it is in this part where professors spend a lot of time. it is also in this part wherein error and inconsistencies of scoring occur. the test result is distributed to the students a week after the exam. description of processes in the multiple choice test randomizer the software was developed by dividing the whole program into four separate modules. the four modules were: a) formulation and encoding of the question, 54 jpair multidisciplinary research b) registration and validation, c) user login and validation, d) testing and scoring and e) result. figure 3. encoding of question in encoding questions, it is suggested that user must have to follow the format in figure 3. the first column contains the question, followed by options form a to d. the next column fifth column contains the correct answer. lastly, the sixth column contains the item number for each question. figure 4. saving the file in the csv format after, the encoding of questions. save the file in csv format by clicking save as type drop-down list, and then, select csv (comma delimited). type the file name and click save button. 55 international peer reviewed journal figure 5. uploading question to mctr the uploading of questions to mctr begins by typing www.andwesign.org/ gui/upload.php in the unified resource locator (url). select the drive where your file is located. type the complete filename including the csv file extension. click upload. figure 6. welcome page the welcome page is the first page that mctr serves to all the computers that request for the service. it displays a text greeting along with the capabilities that it may offer for the user. multiple users may be served at the same time. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 7. user registration form the registration form and validation is responsible for allowing users to input personal information. it ensures that all needed user information are present and the information are stored only once. however, it greatly suggested that the user must only use up to six characters and not to input an email account in the username textbox. users should only use a single name. when having two names like excel philip, it is suggested that user must use underscore or dash to make the single word only. figure 8. summary registration form screen cast 3 is part of the user form registration. it summarizes and generates personal information of the user. it displays the user encoded last name, first name, middle name, course, address, username and password. 57 international peer reviewed journal figure 9. user authentication form the user login form and validation form is responsible for accepting username and password. it ensures only the authorized users permitted by the professor to register in the system may take the exam and has not taken the exam yet. otherwise, the software returns or displays on the screen the result of the exam. figure 10. mctr testing administration the testing and scoring is responsible for fetching all the questions that were encoded by the subject teacher. it systematically randomized the questions so that there will be no the same question posted on the screen. this effectively eliminates the issue of cheating among seatmates. it also ensures consistent and reliable scoring and recording. also, another feature of mctr that is present on this page is the reminder of the user of how many questions are still left to answer. the number of items decreases by one every time the user clicks the submit button. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 11. user exam result the result module is responsible for displaying the recorded score. it displays the correct number of items over the total number of items together with the corresponding percentile. figure 12. user’s correct and incorrect answer the result module shows both the correct and incorrect answers by the user per item. 59 international peer reviewed journal figure 13. test results the result module shows the number of examinees who took the exam. moreover, the software also prints the personal details arranged in an alphabetical manner, the number of correct items, the total number of times and the corresponding percentile score of all the users. while it is true that mctr is secure, still, it is highly recommended that an updated anti-virus must be installed along with mctr to ensure the integrity of the data stored in its database. the mctr usability the finding was drawn from the individual indicators which were all rated as strongly agree. the highest mean rating of 4.83 implies that the users strongly agree that the software helped them to be more effective. however the indicator “it gives me more control over the activities of my life” was rated lowest with the mean rating of 4.39 described as usable. the finding supports the study of adams, nelson and todd (1992) that usefulness is an important determinant of system use. the indicator “it is easy to use” was rated by the respondents as the highest with the mean rating of 4.85 described as usable. it means that users find the software straightforward. on the other hand, the indicator “i don’t notice any inconsistencies as i use it” was rated lowest with the mean rating of 4.31 described as usable which implies that the users found using the software reliably. the finding supports the study of venkatesh and davis (1996) that an individual’s perception of a system’s ease of use is attached to his general computer self-desire. 60 jpair multidisciplinary research likewise, usability has an impact on ease of use perceptions about a system only after hands-on experience with the system. the indicator “i learned to use it quickly” was evaluated as the highest with the mean rating of 4.76 and described as usable. this means that the respondents learned to use the software fast. while indicators “i easily remember how to use it” and “i quickly became skillful with it” were rated as lowest with the mean rating of 4.65 and described as usable. this means that users were already “experts” in using the software even in a short span of time. this also means that the users were accustomed to computers that they can easily manipulate software. the indicator “i am satisfied with it” was rated as the highest with the mean rating of 4.76 and described as usable. this means that the respondents were contented. they are comfortable with the features, graphical user interface, and the user experience. on the other hand, the indicator “it is pleasant to use” was rated as the lowest with the mean rating of 4.7 and described as usable. this means that users enjoyed while using the software. this may be because it was their first time using such type of examination in their school lives. the finding supports the study of kekre, krishnan and srinivasan (1995) that capability and usability are the critical drivers of overall customer satisfaction. client-server configuration mctr is a web based application that provides service to client requests. one may use mctr anytime. mctr may be accessed anywhere within the servers’ reaching. hardware requirements for the software to meet its best performance, it should have the proper hardware required. for the implementation of mctr, the following computer hardware are needed:  intel celeron processor g1820 (2m cache, 2.70 ghz)  2gb ddr3 sdram  500gb   gigabit ethernet  wireless router 61 international peer reviewed journal software requirements the following software should be installed for the successful implementation of the system:  xampplite for windows  internet browser (e.g. mozilla firefox) limitations  best viewed using laptop and desktop  tablets and smartphones (ease of use is not guaranteed) conclusions the study concludes that the students prefer computer-aided as the delivery method of assessment. moreover, students prefer multiple choice type of test especially when the assessment period is limited. the existing testing administration is manual. the combination of hypertext mark-up language (html), cascading style sheet (css), and hypertext pre-processor (php) and mysql relational database management system is deemed effective in the development of a multiple choice test randomizer. translational research the software is intended for formative and summative types of test. however, it can be utilized in the administration of admission test and national assessment test. the software is beneficial especially when there is a great number of examinees because it automates the checking of test papers and provides test results immediately. literature cited adams, d. a., nelson, r. r., & todd, p. a. (1992). perceived usefulness, ease of use, and usage of information technology: a replication. mis quarterly, 227247. retrieved on april 10, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp constantine, l. (2008). computer-aided assessment: design considerations. journal of psychotherapy & the family. retrieved on april 7, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp 62 jpair multidisciplinary research fielding, a. (2003). tools for computer-aided assessment. learning-teaching unit. retrieved on april 7, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp georgia online assessment system. (2013, march 15). retrieved on april 8, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp kekre, s., krishnan, m. s., & srinivasan, k. (1995). drivers of customer satisfaction for software products: implications for design and service support. management science, 41(9), 1456-1470. retrieved on april 10, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp mitkov, r., le an, h. a., & karamanis, n. (2006). a computer-aided environment for generating multiple-choice test items.  natural language engineering, 12(02), 177-194. sangwin, c. (2013). computer aided assessment of mathematics. oup oxford. retrieved on april 7, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp sheader, e., gouldsborough, i., & grady, r. (2006). staff and student perceptions of computer-assisted assessment for physiology practical classes. advances in physiology education, 30(4), 174-180. retrieved on april 8, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp venkatesh, v., & davis, f. d. (1996). a model of the antecedents of perceived ease of use: development and test*. decision sciences, 27(3), 451-481. retrieved on april 9, 2014, from http://goo.gl/zv35bp 122 jpair multidisciplinary research the concepts of god and power in the subanon’s myth the creation of the earth and the first people leo andrew b. biclar http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7276-1018 labbiclar@capsu.edu.ph leoandrewbibitbiclar@gmail.com capiz state university roxas city, capiz, philippines abstract literature is the bearer of the best treasures in the world. the values system of the filipinos is embedded in their literature, in the same way that the hebrew values system is anchored from the old and new testaments of the bible. this literary criticism is descriptive-qualitative, employing the comparative and hermeneutical analyses of the subanon’s myth the creation of the earth and the first people and hebrews beliefs on god’s creation of the universe. it seeks to unfold the filipino socio-cultural concepts of god shadowed through the characterization of the myth, analyze the politics of gender and power implicitly displayed by the characters, and draw out theoretical concepts from the analyses made. the findings concluded that the subanon’s myth nuances the peoples’ beliefs on the creation of the universe, and entails to revive the familial values system of the filipino, especially the love for children. the analysis unveils the gender roles of the filipinos in the aboriginal period of history that have evolved to the development of gender equality in the present. likewise, a theoretical concept of literary appreciation is developed through the established philosophy and background of the storyteller of an oral literature. vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.340 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 123 international peer reviewed journal keywords literary criticism, subanon myth, oral literature, descriptivequalitative research, comparative analysis, capiz, philippines introduction florentino h. hornedo (1997) lectures that god’s utterance of himself when he speaks of himself within himself is the word – the bible. when god utters himself outside of himself, he utters himself about the world. therefore, he says that the word is his message to the world which needs to be understood not merely by seeing but also by living in its context. into this light, the subanon epic has rooted the filipino values system – that reflects the traditional beliefs on how god created the universe and the first man and woman who govern it. the subanon myth, the creation of the earth and the first people is an example of an aboriginal literature of the philippines as classified by florentino h. hornedo. the aboriginal mind concerns not with control of nature, but with making sense of phenomena and protecting the people’s consciousness from the threat of absurdity (hornedo, 1997). thus, analyzing an aboriginal literature means to link the ethnic filipino tradition, culture, and values in today’s cultural practices that are preserved in the oral lore such as the myth of the subanon, which represents not only their land but the whole filipino identity in general. framework one’s theoretical preferences or philosophical inclination highly colored the interpretation of the myths and other traditional narratives. however, the researcher views the mythical expressions as a conjoining expression of wonder at existence and the projection of an attempt to make sense of the universe. and precisely, because it is an attempt to make sense of the primordial encounter with the cosmos, it is in the form of the signification of experience, as well as a revelation of at least, partially, the process going on in the consciousness. the mythical significations and the critic’s/researcher’s experiences are significant in the analysis of the subanon’s myth, employing the hermeneutical approach. in 1962, heidegger promoted a hermeneutic paradigm by rejecting that cultural activity is a quest for universally valid foundations for knowledge. instead, the perspective that he produced a holistic epistemology where meaning is context-dependent and anticipated from a particular horizon or point of view. he shattered the idealization of objectivity. therefore, the idea of “understanding” something – for example, the myth – has changed. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research in 1975, gadamer built on this and described the cultural activity as an endless process of fusions of horizons. understanding operates through integration with a strange horizon. such a fusion means that our horizon is transformed and, on the other hand, that the other horizon, being illuminated by a new perspective, transfigurates itself. through this unpredictable process, our personal horizon expands and eliminates distorting prejudices. verification of the truth and of the prejudices through the ability to produce a coherent interpretation of the pieces is offered to our understanding. the inability to produce a harmonious picture would reveal the falsehood of our prejudices (gadamer, 1975). this coherent picture is what the researcher aims in the analysis of the subanon’s myth. objectives of the study it is the aim of this analysis to present a comparative study of the subanon’s myth, the creation of the earth and the first people and hebrews beliefs on god’s creation of the universe. it seeks to unfold the filipino socio-cultural concepts of god shadowed through the characterization of the myth, analyze the politics of gender and power as employed by the literary persona, and draw out theoretical concepts from the analysis made. methodology the study uses mainly the descriptive-qualitative type of research using the comparative analysis between the subanon’s myth, the creation of the earth and the first people and the hebrews beliefs on god’s creation of the universe taken from the bible. likewise, the critical analysis is made by employing the hermeneutical approach, wherein the text speaks itself to the reader, and the latter understands its contexts based on the significations of his/her experiences. results and discussion god and diwata as the father filipinos are religious in nature even before the coming of the spaniards. we pray due to the following reasons: firstly, when we experience hunger. god let us suffer the famine and hunger to remind us that he is the only provider of our needs. secondly, we pray for supplication – that is we wish for something we want 125 international peer reviewed journal him to give. thirdly, we ask him for assistance every time we have problems. the last is assumed to be the frequent reason we filipinos always communicate with our god through prayers though there are times that we celebrate and offer him with thanksgiving. but what is our concept of god, diyos, bathala, or panginoon? jose villa panganiban (1969) in his diksiyunaryu-tesauro defined the term dios or panginoon as synonymous with the words bathala, maykapal, and lumikha – all referring to god in the english dictionary. from these definitions, it can be concluded that god or the panginoon is a supreme persona who is invisible to us, yet has the capacity or the power to create things. some of these creations are the land we live, the flora and the fauna, and we humans as the highest forms of all his creations. all these implied that we owe everything to our god, and that needs to be paid off in whatever means we can, including to be obedient in all his commandments. the characteristics of god as defined by panganiban reflect the god as we see in the bible (genesis) and to diwata, the god in the myth under study. in the genesis 1: 1-31 says: “in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth. and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. and the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters…” the verses in genesis show the power and capacity of god to create both the living and the nonliving creatures that the earth possessed. like god, diwata in the subanon myth represents god in the aboriginal mindset of the filipino. being the father of demowata, he gives everything that pleases his son. he created a place for his son to live, the sun, the moon, and the stars – all that comfort demowata. “… diwata took a piece of heaven and gave it to his son.” (lines 4-5) “he installed the sun to light the new home of demowata.” (lines 10-11) “he [demowata] asked…his father to put out the light so he could sleep…and diwata granted the request.” (lines 23-26) “diwata gave his son thousands of torches which scattered in heaven and became the stars… and gave him a big 126 jpair multidisciplinary research beautiful moon to light the earth at night.” (lines 30-35) diwata mirrors not only the characteristics of god but more so, he portrays the ideal father of the filipino family. it is his duty to love and provide what his son needs or everything that pleases him. in the same way, demowata represents every filipino sibling who needs a father who would give him all the comforts of life. like god, diwata does not only function as a father of all his creations, but he also forgives every sinful act his son performed. as the father of demowata, he gave in to the appeal of his son to forgive le and lebon, the first man and woman created who disobeyed his commandment. “demowata begged his father to create another companion for him who should look like him in build, size, and appearance. he promised his father that if he failed again, he would go back to live with him in heaven. diwata, after a moment of thought, decided to give demowata another chance.” (lines 93-98) “demowata begged his father for mercy and to give the first man and woman another chance. he promised to accompany diwata in heaven. and diwata’s heart was softened by his son’s pleading. he gave le and lebon one more chance.” (lines 211-215) diwata portrays a forbearing father, and he imposes discipline among his children. the enforcement of punishment and discipline among his offsprings symbolizes his capability to rule over his family that let them learn the rules of life. like what god had done to adam and eve, diwata enforced a conditional punishment to le and lebon when they disobeyed his commandment: “from now on, you and your people shall forever live near the river. you will live in sorrows, illness, hunger, and miseries. but above all, you will lose your immortality.” (lines 206-209) god and diwata have been good to all creations as their common denominators. aside from a forgiving and loving father, demowata, who is a metaphor of god in this epic has possessed human nature because he can be a “mad” god if being provoked, disappointed, and disobeyed. 127 international peer reviewed journal the “bad” god diwata in spite of the goodness diwata had shown, he also possesses some characteristics that humans have. at some point, he can be a “bad” god because he represents the filipino idiom “natutulog na diyos”: “he [balag] hurriedly flew to heaven whereupon he saw diwata sleeping on his golden hammock.” (lines 72-74) balag found a way to realize his plan to steal the golden sword, the only weapon that could kill demowata. while diwata was sleeping, he assumes that he could safely get the golden sword. these were the results of balag’s envious to demowata as the privileged son of god, unlike him who only functions as the messenger of diwata. “he took the golden sword and thrust it at demowata. but at that instant the heavens roared and opened up. a ball of fire fell to the earth and struck balag, after which balag lay there writhing in pain. his body was aflame.” (lines 77-81) like god, who rested on the seventh day, diwata also rested, but he is aware of what’s happening around him and among his creatures. he allows balag to steal the golden sword so the prophecy that lies with demowata, who represents christ, to save all men will come into reality. thus, diwata does not sleep at all. he sees us in every way we do and even knows all our plans. he allows balag to steal the golden sword – it was a part of his plan. because the latter has been envious and planned to kill demowata, he transformed him into an eel as his punishment and became all the sources of evil deeds. “they [le and lebon] were surprised to see the great eel speaking before them…balag wriggled, and the water rose like a fountain. le and lebon looked with admiration... balag told her [lebon] that she would acquire the perfection and beauty of a woman if she would obey his wishes. balag asked lebon to drink the water.” (lines 128-138) “lebon had gone back to the river. while she was playing in the river, balag came out from the water and greeted her. balag promised she would become a beautiful if she drank the water… 128 jpair multidisciplinary research balag insisted that he could give her contentment and a beautiful life which demowata could not give. finally, lebon raised her hands and formed them into a cup…she caught the dripping water…then drank it little by little.” (lines 153-166) diwata made balag into an eel so the latter would be an instrument for the first act of disobedience of man (read as man and woman). he allowed balag to play tricks with le and lebon and disobey him by drinking the forbidden water because part of his plan is to give them the free will. man’s free will gives him/her an opportunity to use his/her will to choose between good and evil. but man’s weakness overruled them and chose to disobey god, thus committed their first sin. as a result, they were punished to experience poverty, hunger, bitterness and pains of life – that is if they continuously choose evil against good. since then, nganga, composed of gapin and bonga when chewed together become the first meal of the first man and woman in their new abode after leaving the paradise. the nganga in this subanon epic symbolizes the blood to be shed by man resulted from his labor, pains, and bitterness of life. “lebon’s cry bitterly.” (line 223) lebon’s cry echoes the cries of every man who experience the pangs of hunger and twinge of life that occur in the world today as the result of poverty and disobedience from the will of god. the politics of gender and power the loneliness of demowata as the son of diwata, the supreme being is a counterpart of the hebrew old testament loneliness of adam: “and the lord god said, it is not good that the man should be alone; i will make him an help meet for him.” (genesis 2:18) the verse in the genesis serves as the motivation for the creation of woman (in adam’s case) and other living beings, including men, in demowata’s case. the hebrew biblical story of creation, where man is shown to be created ahead of the woman, and the woman was created from his rib, indicates a cultural bias in favor of the male dominance. the subanon myth shows man and woman to have come from a single molded clay figure, that they were two halves of one 129 international peer reviewed journal and the same creation and were identical in the beginning. this strongly suggests a cultural bias in favor for the notion of absolute equality between man and woman: …the crack split open dividing the moulded figure into two identical creatures. (line 103) this formal aboriginal equality, however, is shadowed in the myth itself by a belief that the woman is psychologically weaker sex. she succumbs to temptation first (153-167) and then tempts the male who succumbs because of her (176178). in this, the subanon shares the biblical version of the woman. even in suffering, the woman is depicted as weaker. the full force of catastrophe of disobedience finally catches up with the woman when god left the earth; lebon cried bitterly (line 223), while the man is busy trying to find something for them to eat (lines 223-230). it may be said, therefore, that in the culture represented by the subanon myth, there is recognition of a formal equality of sexes, but also of a practical discrimination against women. the male is still expected to be the breadwinner. though a lot can be said and analyze from the subanon myth under study employing hermeneutics, however, the concepts drawn are only limited to cultural world views on family and gender equality and composition. through hermeneutics, this researcher and the literary persona in the subanon myth had fusions of horizons – that is to illumine the mind of the readers for cultural and values preservation and understanding of the beliefs on what, why and how they have existed. conclusion the narrative of the subanon myth is an exact example of myth as mircea eliade (1963) defines it: “a story set in time before the world as we know it began, whose dramatis personae are divine or semi-divine beings, whose actions are exemplary or at least explanatory of the subsequent state of things and affairs in the world today.” 130 jpair multidisciplinary research it is sensible to note that the explanatory of the…state of things and affairs in the world today reflects the subanon’s philosophy of nature, as indeed myths in the traditional societies are the expressions of the philosophy of those societies. it can even be said that today’s theories of the nature of matter and the energy and forces of these involve are modern man’s explanation of how everything in nature began (hornedo, 1997). and as myths in primitive societies ruled the behavior of those societies, our own myths rule our actions and the way we manage and control our technologies. the philippines, a treasury of oral literatures, calls us for opportunities to document and introduce them to wider audiences (biclar, 2014). the subanon myth, the creation of the earth and the first people as part of the filipino lore does not only narrate the filipino’s historicity, cultural practices, and values that the people observe, but also it illuminates the “sweetness and light” of life that every human should learn. part of its context is the ideology that defines our life, our way of life, and our being and existence in the community. resil mojares (2002) states in his essay: “to explore a people’s lore is to understand something of the shifting ideological configuration of changing times. a systematic mapping of folklore, informed by a sense of the contingency as well as the interconnectedness of social phenomena, should afford us with a view of material and mental transformations over the long duration…” philippine folklore contains the symbols of filipino crushed spirit; and its revival is more than philological – it had a strong racial, political, and gender implications, and it illuminates the historic conflicts of man and history (biclar, 2014). although our folklore contains the complexity of context between our history and our filipino ideology, still it mirrors our identity, values system, and way of life. our literature emulates human values through the metaphors of the characters and situations they represent. they are being told and retold through the memory we collected from our ancestors or old folks. thus, folk literature is a collection of our memory of time and space. 131 international peer reviewed journal teaching the student how to understand literary text literature is not an ordinary language. the teaching of a student how to understand the literary text concerns itself with guiding him/her to discover the difference between ordinary speech and literary speech. he/she is helped to ascertain textual patterns that are significant to him/her and suggests meaning to him/her. such meanings may be shared to the extent that experiences and significances of the words which express them are common, and may be unique to the student to the degree that he/she has capacities of perception and creative imagination not commonly shared with the rest of humankind. the point is to suggest that the student is capable of being guided to a threshold of understanding text from which threshold he/she can go on if he/she chooses to see worlds for himself. figure 1. teaching the student how to understand literary text in a literature class the minimum that the student should be made aware of, as the diagram indicates, is familiarity with the text and the theoretical and/or historical foundations which have influenced it in any manner. the storyteller or chanter does not employ any theory in the production of the oral forms of literature. however, he/she is conscious of the historicity of his/her times. the theories the teacher have taught, of course, leads the student; however he/she has to be acquainted with the historical roots. and of course, the student is to be made aware of the role of the teacher – who has his own theoretical biases and personal meanings he might attribute to the text (validly, of course, under hermeneutism). teacher student literary text theory 132 jpair multidisciplinary research this role is similar to that of the critic in relation to the reader of both text and critical text. for the student is but an exceptional kind of reader. ordinarily, the guidance of the student towards understanding for himself the literary text involves initiation into the recognition of the philosophy and background of the chanter/storyteller and his/her teacher, in terms of oral literature, in provoking the meaning-making activity of readers called literary appreciation – or simply reading of literature. translational research the literary criticism is the unfolding of the critical worldviews of the filipinos that the new generation might have forgotten or exculturated. the preservation of this oral literature can be done into translational research. the oral literature such as the subanon myth can be translated into a comic or animated movie. the translational research to be employed is to get the acceptability and impact of the translated text. likewise, the implication made from this study can be transformed into a conceptual manual in the teaching of literature, to which the acceptability and impact it made can be taken from the stakeholders. literature cited biclar, l. a. b. (2014). the socio-cultural and political undertones in demetillo’s barter in panay: an epic. jpair multidisciplinary research,16(1). coben, h. m. (2009). verbal arts in philippine indigenous communities. ateneo de manila university press: manila.2009. eliade, m. (1963). myths and reality.  trans. willard r. trask, harper & row publishers, new york. ______ patterns of comparative religion. new york, 1963. gadamer, h. (1975). truth and method. trans. g. barden and j. cumming. seabury press. heidegger, m. (1962). being and time. trans. j. macquarrie and e. robinson. blackwell publishing. 133 international peer reviewed journal hornedo, f. h. (1997). pagmamahal at pagmumura. ateneo de manila university press: manila. mojares, r. b. (2002). waiting for mariang makiling: essays in philippine cultural history. ateneo de manila university press: manila. panganiban, j. v. (1969). diksiyunaryo-tesauro pilipino-ingles. manlapaz publishing house: quezon city. the gideons international (1978). the holy bible (king james version). national publishing company. 16 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.414 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. language patterns and attitudes of kinamiging manobo speakers john brian l. alamillo jbalamillo@gmail.com http://orcid.org 0000-0002-8800-6655 university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines ismael n. talili http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6994-6991 ismael.talili@must.edu.ph university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines abstract language diversity reflects a society’s richness in culture. kinamiging manobo, a language spoken in the southern philippines, faces a threat of extinction posed by a more dominant language. the study aimed to determine the language patterns and the attitude of the speakers towards their language and the survival probability of the language. the descriptive research involved 40 respondents who resided in sagay, camiguin island – a bilingual community. the study utilized two instruments, namely, sociolinguistic survey questionnaire and matched-guise technique. the sociolinguistic survey questionnaire was adapted from the study of campos (2014), who investigated the attitudes of agusan manobo speakers towards their language. results show that kinamiging manobo is no longer used in most of the respondents’ sociolinguistic domains. the findings support the claims that the language is classified as a threatened language. speakers of kinamiging manobo prefer to use cebuano in all the sociolinguistic domains 17 international peer reviewed journal (home, friendship, public and religious). however, most speakers have positive attitudes towards their language and are willing to do necessary efforts to preserve it. kinamiging manobo is least used in church, and is more often used (but still not the dominant language) at home. keywords – sociolinguistics, kinamiging manobo, philippine languages, language attitudes, language patterns, threatened language, descriptive design, philippines introduction in today’s globalized age where the world becomes smaller, it is a common observation that languages converge. what is most evident is that languages spoken by minority groups are often taken for granted. as a result, speakers tend to choose those which are much more useful and readily accessible to them. a country composed of diverse cultures, philippines has a population of 92.34 million (philippine statistics authority, n.d.) in 2010. these people are scattered throughout the archipelago of 7,107 islands. as a result of geographical separation, distinct languages are formed along with different cultures. to unify these diverse societies, filipino (based on tagalog) along with english became the country’s official language. eight major languages are also declared official in regional communication: tagalog, cebuano, ilocano, hiligaynon or ilonggo, bicol, waray, pampango and pangasinense (morrison & conaway, 2007). efforts have been made to represent all groups, but are not sufficient. other minor languages have become useless and are no longer used in communication because of the dominance and utility of some languages, especially the regional lingua franca. this then results to language extinction or language death. it is reported that out of 187 languages in the country, 183 are living, and four are extinct. out of these living languages, 175 are indigenous, and eight are non-indigenous. furthermore, it is reported that 13 of these languages are in trouble, and 11 are dying (ethnologue: languages of the world, 2015). if no measures are done to preserve these languages, the number of endangered ones will eventually increase. as a language dies, so dies the culture of its speakers (sachdev & hanlon, 2000). one of the reasons why a language is no longer spoken or preferred by a certain group of people is that it has negative associations like being uneducated 18 jpair multidisciplinary research and inferior; or a more prevailing language, which speakers believe as a more superior and can be used with greater advantage is present. as such, the younger generation would choose the one which is more accessible and advantageous (ihemere, 2006). the abovementioned factors are the reasons for the examination and exploration of the attitudes of kinamiging manobo speakers towards their language (one of the eight threatened languages in the philippines, spoken in camiguin islands). the language is classified as threatened, which means that the language is used for face to face communication within all generations but it is losing its users (ethnologue, 2015). in addition, the language is not spoken all throughout the island anymore. speakers are concentrated in the municipality of sagay, which has a total population of 531 in 1990 (national center for culture and arts, n.d.). attitudes preserve or endanger a language. when a language is preserved or maintained, the identity of its speakers flourish. on the other hand, once a language is endangered, a great probability of losing the identity of a particular group is at stake. being able to communicate effectively in an individual’s first or home language connects a person to his/her ethnic group and helps to shape a person’s identity (dhurrkay). it is then vital that a language of a certain community be preserved to further preserve its identity. republic act 7104, section 4 directs for the creation of the commission on the filipino language which aims to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of filipino and other philippine languages and which shall be directly under the office of the president (the lawphil project, 2015). the study identified the attitudes of kinamiging manobo speakers and as such, specific measures to preserve the language were formulated which would lead to language revitalization. objectives of the study the study determined the attitudes and language patterns of kinamiging manobo speakers. language attitude, as defined by ihemere (2006) refers to the feelings people have about their language. it is the speakers’ perception whether kinamiging manobo is important in the different areas of their lives. on the other hand, language pattern refers to the respondents’ choice of language in different sociolinguistic domains. as the research locale is basically at least a bilingual community, people tend to use a different language in different places with different interlocutors. 19 international peer reviewed journal more specifically, the study sought the following: 1) profile of the speakers such as age, sex, occupation, highest educational attainment, time spent in speaking kinamiging manobo and perceived fluency; 2) language preferences in different sociolinguistic domains; and 3) attitudes of the respondents towards kinamiging manobo. methodology research design the paper used a descriptive research design. the study aimed to describe the attitudes of kinamiging manobo speakers in a certain period. furthermore, the data collected in the study reflected the present condition of the language in the locality where the language is spoken. research setting the study was conducted in the municipality of sagay, camiguin island. camiguin island is a 5th class province with a total population of 93,646 as of 2010 (philippine statistics authority). located north of mindanao, this second smallest island province is a popular tourist destination. four languages are familiar to the people in the island namely: kinamiging manobo, cebuano, tagalog, and english. cebuano is used in homes, schools, markets and almost all domains of the locals’ lives. tagalog and english are mostly used with tourists. on the other hand, the native language, kinamiging manobo is losing users. residents from most municipalities no longer use the language, and the speakers are already concentrated the municipality of sagay. respondents of the study the respondents of the study were mainly the speakers of kinamiging manobo, who lived in sagay, camiguin island –a bilingual community. all the respondents had access to cebuano, a language used by the majority population. instrumentation the study utilized two instruments: sociolinguistic survey questionnaire and matched-guise technique. the sociolinguistic survey questionnaire was adapted from the study of campos (2014), who investigated the attitudes of agusan manobo speakers towards their language. survey questionnaire was also used by ihemere (2006) and sachdev & hanlon (2000) in their studies about language attitudes. 20 jpair multidisciplinary research as mentioned in campos’ (2014) study, the questionnaire underwent test validity and reliability. as the respondents have slightly different characteristics from that study, some sections were removed and some sections were added. the questionnaire also underwent another round of validity and reliability test after some revisions. the questionnaire was divided into four sections; each section was soliciting specific information related to the demographic profile, language exposure and language attitudes of the respondents. the following are the sections of the questionnaire: background information; language use; language attitudes: perceived importance of kinamiging manobo; and language attitudes: agreement scale. matched-guise technique was also utilized. this technique was developed by lambert, hodgson, gardner and fillenbaum (1960). this instrument employs recordings of speakers who each read the same passage in two or more guises (language, dialect or accent). the respondents then listened to the recordings and assessed the speakers’ personality traits. sampling techniques the study utilized purposive sampling technique in selecting the respondents. purposive sampling, also referred to as judgment, selective or subjective sampling is a non-probability sampling method that is characterized by a deliberate effort to gain representative samples by including groups or typical areas in a sample (key, 2002). the criteria for choosing the respondents were set. selection criteria the criteria on selecting the respondents were based on campos’ (2014) standards as follows: 1. respondent was grown and raised in camiguin island, and if he/she has lived elsewhere, it is not a significant amount of recent time. this assures that the respondent has a long-term contact with the language, and has been using the language in different sociolinguistic domains. 2. respondent should have kinamiging manobo as his first or second language. this means that the respondent should be from camiguin manobo tribe and has access to the language since he/she was a child. 3. respondent should have at least one manobo parent from the village. 21 international peer reviewed journal data-gathering procedure a letter of permission to conduct the study was sent to the local government units (municipal office of sagay and offices of the different barangays). after sending the letter, a courtesy call to the key officials (mayor and captains) took place. the purpose of this was to discuss the benefits the study could give to the preservation of language and culture in the research setting. this was also done to assure permission and to set schedules of the surveys and interviews. after asking for permission, the survey took place. two enumerators were hired for faster data gathering. these enumerators were informed about the objectives and the content of the questionnaire to extract the needed information from the respondents. data gathered during the survey and interview were then tabulated and analyzed statistically. appropriate statistical tools were used to determine the relationship between variables. statistical treatment the collected data were managed and analyzed utilizing the descriptive statistical technique. it includes mean, frequency and percentage distribution and standard deviation. results and discussion there were 40 respondents representing the local communities (barangay) namely: poblacion, bonbon, and mayana. these are the barangays where most bilinguals are concentrated. respondents’ ages were classified into three groups, namely: young (14-29 years old); middle-aged (30-45 years old); and old (46+ years old). the mean age is 42.57 with a standard deviation of 19.12. the youngest respondent was 14, and the oldest was 76 years old. age is an important variable in studying language as it is used in society because it reflects a speaker’s identity changes throughout his/her lifetime (eckert, 1996). in this study, all ages are represented. for the respondents’ sex distribution, male comprises 52.5% while female, 47.5%. occupations of the respondents are grouped according to the following: white collar, blue collar, and none. white collar jobs are those that entail mental or clerical work, and it also refers to those employees or professionals whose work is knowledge intensive, non-routine, and unstructured (business dictionary, 2016). these jobs include respondents who are government employees, business owners and teachers. they comprise 27.5% of the population. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, blue collar jobs are those that require physical labor. this classification includes those respondents who have skilled jobs such as technicians, helpers, farmers, nurses, drivers, and dressmakers. they comprise another 27.5% of the respondents. the remaining group, which is classified as “none” are the respondents who do not rely on occupation for their living. as described earlier in the table, the majority of the respondents come from young and old ages; as such, they are students in senior high school or college and retired employees, respectively. those middle-aged respondents who do not have an occupation (5% of the respondents) are housewives. occupation also plays a significant role in a person’s language because it determines an individual’s choice of words and access to a language. for example, if a person works in a frontline job, he/she should learn vocabulary common to people the company is serving. there are also jobs which do not need the speaker to become articulate in a specific language or languages. after inquiring for the respondents’ profile, their education or highest educational attainment was also asked. a speaker’s education is also a factor that affects his or her language patterns. to communicate effectively in school, especially with non-kinamiging speakers, most of the respondents claimed that they had used other languages such as cebuano for communication. some also mentioned that the use of tagalog and english were very important since their teachers required them to use the said languages inside the classroom. other respondents also studied tertiary education in cities, as such, their language patterns and preferences could be greatly affected. some 47.5% attained basic education, that is, elementary and secondary levels; 15% obtained technical-vocational courses (these are the technicians), and the remaining 37.5 attained the tertiary level. time spent in speaking kinamiging manobo some respondents (47.5%) have been speaking it for 7-10 years; 27.5% have been speaking the language for 31-54 years, and 25% have been speaking it for 55-78 years. time spent in speaking kinamiging manobo depends on the respondents’ age, location, and other factors. the older the speaker, then the more time he/she is likely to be exposed to a language. most young speakers have been speaking the language for only 7 30 years. on the other hand, old speakers have been speaking the language for 55 78 years. it is interesting to note then that one old respondent spoke kinamiging 23 international peer reviewed journal for only 7 30 years. it is further noted that there are respondents who belong to the age group “old” but have comparably shorter time speaking the language. as such, other factors also play a significant role to a person’s language exposure. during the interviews, respondents reported that speakers in poblacion (municipality’s downtown and most populous area) are using cebuano more often. they may have access to kinamiging, but they prefer to use cebuano. as a result, the time they use in speaking kinamiging becomes lesser. in contrast, those who live in rural barangays use kinamiging in their day-to-day encounters and only use cebuano when they go downtown. the respondents even asserted that the further one lives from downtown sagay, the purer his/her kinamiging is. they also added that those who live in the upper barangays speak better kinamiging than those in the town center. another factor that affects the respondents’ time in speaking the language is their length of stay in sagay. some of them lived outside the municipality for several months or years to study or to work. as a result, they learn a different language, and to some extent, bring home some vocabulary. fluency of kinamiging manobo speakers since the study emphasizes the speakers’ attitude towards their language, fluency and or/proficiency test was not done. a person’s perception of how well he/she speaks in the language could also affect his/her attitude towards it. for example, if a person cannot speak a language well, he/she might think that the language is difficult to learn, or he does not want to speak it because he/she has no interest in it. on the other hand, a speaker who thinks he/she speaks a certain language well may have a positive attitude to a language; that is, he/she likes it or likes to listen to it. majority of the respondents (52.5%) believe that they are at the intermediate level. the majority can comprehend and at the same time communicate themselves in kinamiging fairly well. they are more advanced than the beginner, but they are not expert in the language yet. they say that they often speak it in informal settings. another 30% claim that they are well-versed in the language. this means that they can read and write, listen and speak very well in kinamiging. these people also claim that they have used the language not only in informal settings, in formal settings in some cases as well. these people believe that they have an extensive vocabulary in the language and can translate texts from a different language to kinamiging well. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research however, 17.5% of the respondents believe that they are beginners. they claim that they can understand when someone speaks to them in kinamiging, but cannot speak it well. these speakers use cebuano very much often than kinamiging. language preferences of the speakers as mentioned earlier, most of the respondents are at least bilingual. also, some can speak other languages aside from cebuano and kinamiging. the other philippine languages spoken by the respondents (ilonggo, ilocano, and meranao) were learned through immersion to the different regions in the philippines such as bukidnon and cotabato while english and tagalog were learned through formal education and television. despite the fact that the respondents could speak languages other than cebuano and kinamiging manobo, they report that they seldom use the other languages across all domains because they mentioned that there was only one or two in the family who speak these languages. therefore, these other languages spoken by the respondents were considered negligible when used as variable in finding correlations. social domains social domain denotes a speaker’s context of interaction. this term is introduced by fishman and agheyisi (1970) and may include the following: family, religion, employment and friendship. each of these domains requires a specific set of language variety and/or vocabulary because each has distinctive factors: addressee, setting and topic (english language and linguistics online, 2008). the study includes those domains applicable to its respondents. these domains include the following: home, friendship, social/public and religious domains. these domains were also used by campos (2014). each domain has its sub-domain and also includes interlocutors, activities done when interlocutors are in this domain, and its setting. 25 international peer reviewed journal table 1. domains and sub-domains of kinamiging manobo usage domain interlocutors activities setting 1. home 2. friendship 3. social/public 4. religious parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, nephews/nieces neighbors, kamigingnon friends, nonkamigingnon friends kamigingnons, nonkamigingnons, government officials, teachers, classmates, city people, workmates priest/pastor, churchmates, sunday school teacher family gathering, family leisure time, meals playing, reunions village meeting fellowship, singing, prayer, announcements, personal prayer, bible reading inside home outside home market, workplace, school or university church languages used at home home domain includes parents, children, siblings, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces. the following tables specifically describe the languages used by the respondents with specific interlocutors. when talking to their parents, 77.5% of the respondents answered that they use cebuano while 60% say that they use kinamiging manobo. cebuano is predominantly spoken when children speak to their parents. the main reason for this is that most young to middle-aged respondents are more accustomed to using cebuano in day-to-day conversations. twenty-one respondents from young and middle-age groups speak cebuano to their parents while only 13 speak kinamiging manobo. on the other hand, ten speakers who belong to the old age group speak cebuano and 11 speak kinamiging manobo. data indicates that when speaking to parents, younger respondents tend to speak cebuano with their parents at home. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research respondents who had children were also asked what language they used when speaking to their children. majority (92%) speak cebuano while only 52% parents speak kinaminging manobo to their children. some respondents also speak other languages to their parents, which compose 8% of the population. when talking to siblings, 92.1% affirmed to be using cebuano while 47.4% speak in kinamiging manobo. those who speak other languages with their parents comprise 2.6% of the population. questions related to respondents’ language when talking to their spouse was also asked during the survey. a total of 35 married respondents answered the query. results showed that 88.5% speak cebuano while 42.3% speak kinamiging manobo with their spouses. another 3.8% speaks another language since the spouse comes from another tribe. when the respondents conversed with their grandparents, it was noted that 62.9% of the respondents use kinamiging manobo while 57.1% use cebuano. it can be noted that when respondents talked to the eldest members of the family, they used kinamiging manobo more often. this is most probably caused by the respondents’ ages. filipino families base hierarchy upon age. older members of the family are venerated the most; as a result, younger members adapt the language of the older members. as shown, most respondents from the older generations (middle-aged and old) use kinamiging when speaking to their grandparents. on the other hand, younger generations speak cebuano with their grandparents. this shows that the elder generations speak kinamiging manobo more often. furthermore, this also testifies that the introduction of cebuano language happened just recently to the area. the intergenerational language pattern clearly describes the gradual shift of languages choice of the speakers in the locality from kinamiging manobo. when asked for the reasons of their choice, respondents declared that cebuano is more useful than kinamiging manobo. younger respondents also mentioned that kinamiging manobo is difficult to learn. when asked about the common language used with their grandchildren and/or nephews, 78.4% of the respondents said that they use cebuano while 40.5% use kinamiging manobo. the remaining 10.8% speak other philippine languages with their grandchildren and/or nephews. 27 international peer reviewed journal languages used with friends this domain includes the respondents’ neighbors, camiguingnon and noncamiguingnon friends as interlocutors. communication process happens outside home and activities vary according to the respondents’ interests. some 67.5% of the respondents speak cebuano while 62.5% speak kinamiging manobo with their camiguingnon friends. majority (92.5%) use cebuano. a notable 20% speak kinamiging manobo with their non-camiguingnon friends; respondents say the reason for this is that they teach the language to their friends. languages used in social/public situations the public or social domain includes places such as market, workplace or school. interlocutors could include government officials and employees, teachers, classmates, salespersons, and workmates. respondents were asked what languages they use in the market with camiguingnon and non-camiguingnon traders. some 75% of the respondents use both kinamiging and cebuano with fellow camiguingnons. on the other hand, 92.5% speak cebuano while only 20% speak kinamiging manobo with non-camiguingnons. the remaining 5% speak other languages. aside from business settings, respondents were also asked about their language patterns during endeavors done in government offices and with officials. the setting includes communication with municipal and village offices, talking to government employees and village meetings. cebuano is the most common language used in government settings. it is used by 90% of the respondents when communicating with government officials and employees and also being spoken by 86.8% of the respondents during village meetings. respondents described that during meetings, kinamiging manobo is only used in greetings during the first part of every meeting and announcements during the last part. another public setting where the respondents often communicate is the school. despite the fact that only 10% are students, 87.5% of the respondents had secondary education and 100% went to school. cebuano is predominantly used in school with different interlocutors. even with camiguingnon classmates, the majority of the respondents (72.5%) still use cebuano. respondents said that for them to cater to communicative needs of cebuano speakers, they compromise using cebuano. other languages spoken in school include english and tagalog. respondents explained that during their time, they are sanctioned every time they do not speak either english or tagalog. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research languages used in church since the municipality is predominantly roman catholic, most of the respondents say that the language used in church depends on the priest that presides the mass. data show that cebuano is still used in almost all church activities. cebuano language dominates in all church activities. respondents further mentioned that other languages include english and tagalog when the priest or pastor gives the message. they also explained that kinamiging manobo is more often used in greetings and sometimes when the priest inserts stories where the use of language is more appropriate. as shown, cebuano language is the most prevalent language being used in all sociolinguistic domains. it is most dominant in church, which is being used by 97% of the respondents. on the other hand, it has the smallest percentage in the home domain but still has the higher percentage than kinamiging manobo. kinamiging manobo, on the other hand, although the less preferred language, is more often used in with friends, which is used by 30.2% of the respondents. it is least used in religious activities, only used by 2.4% of the respondents. attitudes of the speakers towards kinamiging manobo according to eagly and chaiken (2005), attitudes are psychological tendency expressed through evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. furthermore, they believe that attitudes do not exist until someone distinguishes an object as a discriminable entity or curious awareness. as such, attitudes can be identified by using several approaches (stimuli) to arouse the appropriate subsequent response (attitude) of an individual (melander & dalarna, 2003). in response, the study used several techniques to solicit the respondents’ attitudes. several questions were asked pertaining to kinamiging manobo’s importance in daily activities. statements about the language’s importance and likeability were also asked where respondents could agree or disagree. respondents’ attitude towards kinamiging manobo is divided into two: the way they see the usefulness of their language in specific situations, and their tendency to like the language. in the first part, respondents were asked the importance of kinamiging manobo in its four different functions: 1) facilitating in-group relationship; 2) facilitating out-group relationship; 3) economic use; and 4) literacy and use of technology (campos, 2014). they were asked to rate the following activities as: 29 international peer reviewed journal very important, important, neutral, unimportant, and very unimportant. table 22 further details the abovementioned functions. the second part consists statements on the likeability of kinamiging manobo. respondents were again asked to rate their agreement on the following scale: strongly agree, agree, no comment, disagree, and strongly disagree. facilitating in-group relationship includes the respondents’ perception of how important a language is in building friendship, being accepted in the community, talking to friends and the people within the community and going to church. results showed that most of the respondents (32.5%) believe that kinamiging manobo is not so important in making friends. this “neutral” response is translated into the local language sakto lang, which means not really important, but not unimportant as well. on the other hand, the majority (45%) of them believe that kinamiging manobo is important to be accepted in the community. another 40%-45% of the respondents believe that kinamiging manobo is also important in talking to friends in school and the people in the barangay. there is one activity that the speakers find kinamiging manobo as unimportant. most of the respondents (42.5%) believe that kinamiging manobo is unimportant in church-related activities. results in the respondents’ attitude in church-related activities corroborate with the use of their language. cebuano language is used in almost all of churchrelated activities. as a result, the respondents found the use of kinamiging manobo unimportant in this specific activity. out-group relationships include activities whereby the respondents communicate with people whom they do not identify themselves with. this happens when the respondents are talking to their teachers and the people outside their local communities. this also includes the transaction with government employees and officials. majority of the respondents (65%) believed that kinamiging manobo is important to neutral in communicating with the people outside their barangays. respondents explained that the language is important when they talk to those people coming from far-flung areas where people only understand kinamiging manobo. on the other hand, the respondents also explained that it could be not so important because people from other local communities, especially those near the town center can speak cebuano. most of the respondents (30%) also believed that kinamiging manobo is not so important when talking to their teachers. they say that they seldom use 30 jpair multidisciplinary research kinamiging manobo in school. instead, they use cebuano because they say that some teachers do not understand kinamiging manobo. they further explained that aside from cebuano, they use filipino and english with their teachers because they are required to do so in schools. some respondents even said that when they speak kinamiging manobo or cebuano with their teachers, they receive sanctions. when negotiating with government officials, 37.5% of the respondents believe that kinamiging manobo is not important in communicating with government employees or officials. they said that talking to employees or officials in cebuano is enough because both parties can understand the language well. however, 25.0% of the respondents believe that it is also important to use kinamiging manobo with government officials because it helps them build rapport and close deals easily. economic activities include earning money, looking for a job, going to market and shopping. these activities involve the respondents’ financial aspects. most of the responses consider kinamiging manobo as unimportant in economic activities. the percentage of kinamigng manobo viewed as unimportant is highly evident in activities such as looking for a job and shopping having response rates of 60% and 70%, respectively. the respondents explained that when they look for a job, especially when undergoing interviews, english, filipino and cebuano languages are more useful. they further explained that most of the employers are from outside provinces and do not speak kinamiging manobo. on the other hand, when they go to malls for shopping, the respondents explained that salesladies do not understand kinamiging manobo. as such, they tend to use the most common languages for commerce (cebuano, filipino or english). the last linguistic function where the respondents’ attitudes were determined was the importance of kinamiging manobo in literacy and use of technology. activities include reading, writing, listening to radio and making phone calls. most of the respondents view kinaminging manobo as unimportant. they say that they seldom read and write in kinamiging manobo. they further explained that there are no circulating materials written in kinamiging manobo; thus, they did not find the language necessary in these activities. moreover, the respondents said that programs in radio stations aired all throughout camiguin island are all in cebuano or filipino. only greetings are in kinamiging manobo; so the respondents believe that the language is not important when listening to radio. most of the respondents also explained that 31 international peer reviewed journal the use of kinamiging manobo in making phone calls depends on the person the person they are talking to. they said that they only use kinamiging manobo to someone who knows the language. as discussed above, there were four identified functions where the respondents could use kinamiging manobo. each function is composed of activities done by the respondents on a daily basis. results showed that most of the respondents perceive the use of kinamiging manobo as unimportant in three out of four functions. these are: facilitating out-group relationship, literacy and use of technology, and economic activity. this perception is much evident in the use of the language in economic activities, where almost majority (57.5%) of the respondents believe that the use of kinamiging manobo as unimportant. respondents pointed out that the use of kinamiging manobo in the mentioned activities is not evident. for these areas, cebuano is predominantly used. for facilitating in-group relationships, most of the respondents (45%) perceive the use of kinamiging manobo as neutral. this means that their language, the respondents believe is not so important in dealing with friends and other group of people they identify with. this is because, in a community of bilinguals, speakers can actually switch languages depending on situation and interlocutors. agreement scale another method used to identify the respondents’ attitudes was through an agreement scale. respondents were asked questions about the likeability of kinamiging manobo, and they responded whether they strongly agree, agree, no comment, disagree or strongly disagree with the positive statements asked to them. most of the respondents answered “agree” to all the statements asked to them. the following are the statements that received the most number of “agree” responses: (a) i like hearing kinamiging manobo; (b) i like speaking kinamiging manobo; and (c) we need to keep speaking kinamiging manobo from one generation to next. these statements were agreed by the majority (62.5%) of the respondents. as noticed, the statements are about how kinamiging manobo is perceived through senses. majority of the respondents like to speak and listen to kinamiging manobo, but this is not reflected in their preferences in different sociolinguistic domains. respondents reported that kinamiging manobo is unimportant in 32 jpair multidisciplinary research almost all of their daily activities. respondents may not use their language but they like speaking and listening to it. this implies that even if speakers are proud of their language and consider it their identity, it can still be useless if not found relevant in daily activities. on the other hand, statements that gathered the most responses for “disagree” among all statements are listed below. these statements, though highlighted in the discussion do not receive the highest response for the specific item. (a) kinamiging manobo is important in the modern world. (b) kinamiging manobo is easy to learn. the statements were rated “disagree” by 22.5% of the respondents. as observed, the statements solicited the modernity and the learnability of kinamiging manobo. respondents reported that the language is not important in the modern world and not easy to learn as well. these responses corroborated with the respondents’ responses about the perceived importance of kinamiging manobo in literacy, technology and economic activities. data showed that respondents’ perception of kinamiging manobo in earning money, getting a job, reading and writing, listening to radio and making phone calls is “unimportant.” matched guise result besides interview, matched guise is another method used to determine the attitude of the respondents. they were asked to listen to audio recordings in cebuano and kinamiging and then describe the speaker through the attributes mentioned to them. one female speaker was asked to read a passage in kinamiging manobo and cebuano. another recording of the same passage (in kinamiging and cebuano as well) was read by a male speaker to serve as a filler so the respondents would not identify that there was only one person speaking in two languages. positive responses show that eight out of 13 qualities have more responses when the person speaks kinamiging manobo. these are the following traits: honest, friendly, beautiful, respectful, generous, confident, intelligent and trustworthy. when the person speaks cebuano, majority of the respondents rated her positively in the following attributes: educated, modern, ambitious, industrious and confident. to find out if there is a significant difference between the responses, mann-whitney u test was used. test showed that among all the attributes, only honesty had a significant difference. it revealed the p-value of 0.015, which is less than 0.05. 33 international peer reviewed journal for honesty, 90% of the respondents say that the speaker appears to be honest when speaking kinamiging manobo, while only 65.0% of the respondents rated her positively when she spoke cebuano. the significant difference between the two languages means that respondents believe that being honest is more associated to those who speak kinamiging manobo than those who speak cebuano. honesty, especially in relation to people belonging to a different ethnolinguistic group is a concern in the area. during an observation, it was noted in a store that a kamigin woman said to a cebuano saleslady: “ayaw baya ko ilara day ha, kasabot baya ko mag binisaya.” don’t fool me, i can understand bisaya (cebuano). it was evident in the place that the natives who live in remote areas are often fooled by those who live downtown. as such, cebuano speakers are then noted to lie more often than kinamiging manobo speakers. this event then supports the fact that a language helps build solidarity among its speakers. when a person identifies himself or herself with another person through language, it helps them build trust with one another. conclusions the study concludes and supports the claim of other researches that kinamiging manobo is a threatened language, and necessary measures must be done to preserve it. it is interesting to note that although the speakers believe their language is unimportant in their daily activities, they have high regard of its preservation. the presence of cebuano language has made it more convenient for the speakers to express themselves in some sociolinguistic domains. also, it has helped the respondents communicate with other people outside their community. speakers perceive it helped them in their social and economic aspects. however, the presence of cebuano language threatens the existence kinamiging manobo. language patterns and attitudes reveal the survival probability of a language. as to kinamiging manobo, speakers’ language patterns tell the status of the language, that is, it is a threatened one. this is further supported by the speakers’ view on their language, which they believe it is unimportant in almost all the 34 jpair multidisciplinary research aspects of their lives. speakers of kinamiging manobo prefer to use cebuano in all the sociolinguistic domains (home, friendship, public and religious). kinamiging manobo is least used in church, and is more often used (but still not the dominant language) at home. literature cited agheyisi, r., & fishman, j. 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(2016). in business dictionary.webfinance inc. retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/white-collar.htm 1 international peer reviewed journal creative thinking and anxiety among adolescents william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines trixie elaine g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-1747 elaineonearth@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines angelica ruth b. aguada http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0922-7602 aguadaangelica08@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines ma. abegaille h. bata http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0736-7393 abegaillebatahoriondo@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 46 · october 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v46i1.399 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 2 jpair multidisciplinary research michaela nicole a. de leon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7580-233x mikaelanikolai0107@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines amie shane b. lizardo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7647-1357 shanelizardo09@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines kimberly faith b. merina http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2385-9980 faithmodules@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines micaela lj l. padios http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2457-2092 padiosm44@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines mary diane v. viola http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0627-1576 yhandaviola@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 1% abstract every person will come to experience what everyone perceives as the most challenging stage in life – adolescence. most adolescents have different perspectives on life in this stage, and they experience many transitions. these transitions can this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 3 international peer reviewed journal naturally lead to anxiety. experiencing anxiety is a normal part of adolescence. excessive anxiety, however, frequently results in anxiety disorder. individuals with this disorder often experience intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. using a descriptive-correlational research design, this study aimed to determine the relationship between variables such as age and anxiety to creative thinking among 100 adolescents in a selected school in batanes. the creativity styles questionnaire (csq) was used to assess creative thinking and the zung self-rating anxiety scale (sas) for the respondents’ anxiety. results revealed the following: (1) there were no significant differences in anxiety between male and female adolescents; (2) a weak negative correlation between age and anxiety and; (3) a weak negative correlation between creative thinking and anxiety. keywords — social science, anxiety, creative thinking, age, gender, adolescents, descriptive-comparative-correlational research, batanes, philippines introduction adolescence is the developmental period between 13 and 19 from infancy to adulthood. during the preteen or “between” years, the physical and psychological changes in adolescence frequently begin earlier in ages 9 and 12. this stage is considered a very challenging phase in one’s life. this can be a time of confusion and discovery. zaky (2016) believes that adolescence is a transitional stage typically limited from puberty to legal adulthood in physical and psychological development. it is also a time of several transformation from one living condition to another, including schooling, training, jobs, unemployment, and transitions. during this stage, the risk of developing anxiety disorder rises significantly (grant, 2013). according to adwas et al. (2019), anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders and affect nearly 30 percent of adults at some point in their lives (american psychiatric association, 2021), with lifetime prevalence rates of up to 31% in the population (grant, 2013). it is manifest in mood disorders, as well as in thought, actions, and physiological activity. most generally, the concept of anxiety is characterized as a diffuse, uncomfortable, ambiguous sense of fear, frequently accompanied by autonomic symptoms such as restlessness, easily fatigued, difficulty in concentrating or mind going blank or irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance (munir et al., 2021). it was reported that the mean estimate for any anxiety disorders for adolescents was about 11% (weems & silverman, 2013). 4 jpair multidisciplinary research a study conducted by elflein (2020) revealed that in 2018, the united states of america had the highest number of cases of anxiety disorder with a rough estimate of 75.9 million. china followed with 44.5 million, brazil with 42.6 million, india with 32.1 million, and germany with 16.5 million. the study has also shown that canada has the lowest number of cases with 2.5 million as of 2018. globally, according to the world health organization (2017), the total estimated number of people living with anxiety disorders is 264 million, which comprises the following: african region with 25.91 million (10%), eastern mediterranean region with 31.36 million (12%), european region with 36.17 million (14%), western pacific region with 54.08 million (20%), region of the americas with 57.22 million (21%), and south east asia with the highest number which is 60.05 million (23%). further, bandelow and michaelis (2015) believed that there is a standard view that anxiety is a distinctive aspect of modern times and that due to some political, social, economic, or environmental changes, the incidence of anxiety disorders has increased. developmentally, adolescents have a higher risk for developing anxiety disorders due to numerous transitions and as they face complicated challenges, expectations, responsibilities, uncertainties, and influences in life (grant, 2013). moreover, in a study conducted on parent-child interactions and adolescent anxiety, waite et al. (2014) revealed that parents’ behavior has been associated with developing, transmitting, and maintaining anxiety in children and young people. research has shown that parental engagement affects the actions and learning of children in many aspects of life (negreiros & miller, 2014). on the other hand, rector et al. (2016) emphasized how anxiety affects everyone. this includes the way an individual’s body feels and works (physical), the way an individual acts (behavioral), and the way an individual thinks (cognitive). when someone experiences anxiety, his or her attention shifts immediately to the potential threat. the effect on a person’s thinking can range from mild worry to extreme terror. however, implementing creative thinking techniques may lessen anxiety. according to tabrizi et al. (2011), creative thinking is a skill that produces the power to discover and gain new insights. it also serves as a defense mechanism against anxiety. beesdo et al. (2009) suggested that the core challenge in this age span is developing developmentally more sensitive assessment methods. identifying characteristics that could serve as solid predictors for onset, course, and the outcome will require prospective designs that assess a wide range of putative vulnerability and factors. this is important to improve early recognition, 5 international peer reviewed journal differential diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. therefore, an accurate understanding of the vulnerability factors and the features of anxiety disorder is essential to mental health professionals. framework age, gender, and anxiety  a study by rapee (2012) revealed that anxiety disorders in the general population are more prevalent in females than in males. most demographic studies predict around 1.5 to 2 times as many females compared with males for most anxiety disorders. females have a higher prevalence than males, and this difference gets accentuated with development and reaches 2-3:1 by adolescence (costello et al., 2011). moreover, children who show anxiety disorder during preschool age are 2 to 4 times more likely to meet the conditions for this kind of disorder by middle childhood, and this increased risk has been shown to continue at least into adolescence. adolescence is a period of significant change and identity creation, particularly interpersonally. this period experience high rates of anxiety during this formative time as they involve family pressure, peer relations, romantic relations, and pubertal and gender issues (davila et al., 2010). this increased risk for the development of anxiety is likely due in part to the numerous transitions during this period. according to bhatia and goyal (2018), anxiety is a normal human emotion that involves behavioral, affective, and cognitive responses to the perception of danger. it is a normal part of adolescent life and is considered the most common disorder. the prevalence of anxiety disorders ranges from 4% to 20%. depression, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic disorder (ptsd) are the most common mental health issues. consequently, over 100 million people in the western pacific region, including the philippines, suffer from mental disorders (billote & ponce, 2020). the world health organization (2001) reports that up to 20 percent of children and adolescents have a debilitating mental disorder. while mental health problems have been primarily understudied during adolescence, there is growing evidence that many teenagers face depression and anxiety and that these disorders have lasting adverse effects into adulthood. it is estimated that three-quarters of mental illnesses in childhood and adolescence remain untreated worldwide, and 90% are possibly untreated in developing nations. between 44% and 70% of child and adolescent disabilities remain untreated in developed nations with well-organized health care systems (world health organization, 2003). in the philippines, there are 6 jpair multidisciplinary research only five government hospitals with psychiatric facilities, 84 general hospitals with psychiatric units, and only 2.0 mental health professionals per 100,000 people (estrada et al., 2020). although gender is comparable in the overall rates of mental health and behavioral disorders, there are apparent disparities in depression and anxiety between gender and age. among women, anxiety and depressive disorders are more common. according to hindin and gultiano (2006), after puberty, gender differences in levels of depression appear during adolescence. one of the variables associated with mental illness in adulthood is increasingly shown to be the household atmosphere during childhood. genetics and anxiety the most reported cases of mental illness are often linked with familial or hereditary mental disorders. research conducted by olofsdotter (2017) has shown that the risk of anxiety is approximately five times greater among firstdegree relatives of individuals with anxiety disorders than among those without an affected relative. heritability levels of 30-50% have been identified for all anxiety disorders, indicating that 50-70% of the variation in anxiety could be due to environmental effects. it has shown that children of parents with at least one anxiety disorder have a substantially increased risk of anxiety disorder. however, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. ahmadzadeh et al. (2019) pointed out that children of anxious parents can inherit genes associated with their parents’ anxiety development (a genetic mechanism); anxious parents and children can behave in ways that promote anxiety in the other (environmental mechanisms), and both generations can simultaneously influence anxiety in adverse environments shared by both generations. creative thinking and anxiety  creative thinking is an intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. the effectiveness of these thinking skills must examine psychological variables such as identity and health in adolescents. parisooz (2010, as cited in kargar et al., 2013) showed that creative thinking positively affects psychological health and academic achievements. khandaghi (2011, as cited in miraka & tritsaroli, 2019) found a positive correlation between creative thinking and mental health. results showed that the enhancement of creativity results in the improvement of mental health. 7 international peer reviewed journal furthermore, anxiety may stimulate creativity when individuals are exposed to anxiety situation-related. they may be engaged in a focused problem-solving strategy that leads to creativity improvement. sigmund freud’s psychoanalytic theory of anxiety proposed that anxiety is a form of stress resulting from birth separation and human experiences of biological fantasies (tabrizi et al., 2011). stimulating creative thinking helps to lessen anxiety disorder among adolescents. this is crucial because creative thinking is an ability that generates the power of discovery and new thinking. creative thinking also helps to transform negative emotions into positive and enhances mental well-being in return when an adverse event happens. a study conducted by sandmire et al. (2012) showed that activities involving creativity such as art-making, painting, collage making, still life drawing, and modeling with clay help treat anxiety. moreover, art as a therapy language, paired with verbal dialogue, uses all the individual’s capabilities to find a more efficient approach to lessen anxiety. de witte et al. (2020) also showed that music interventions are used for anxiety reduction in physiological and psychological stress experiences. thus, creativity is vital in one’s life as it is the key to everyday problem solving and planning. objectives of the study   the main objective of this study was (1) to determine the relationship between variables such as age and anxiety to creative thinking among adolescents in a selected school in batanes, and (2) to identify gender differences in terms of anxiety. further, this study sought to increase knowledge and awareness about anxiety among adolescents, which will help professionals to develop preventive measures and interventions.   methodology   research design the approach used in this study is a quantitative research approach. it utilized a descriptive-comparative-correlational research design to identify gender differences in terms of anxiety and to examine the relationship between selected variables such as age and anxiety to creative thinking among adolescents in a selected school in batanes.   8 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted among 100 adolescents in a selected school in the province of batanes. the respondents consisted of 52 males and 48 females ranging from 16 to 19 years old. of the respondents, 31 (31%) adolescents were 16 years old, 58 (58%) were 17 years old, 9 (9%) were 18 years old, and 2 (2%) were 19 years of age.   data gathering tools a three-part survey questionnaire was used to gather data in this study – consent form, creativity styles questionnaire (csq), and zung self-rating anxiety scale (sas). consent form. the consent form provided a brief background of who the researchers are, the purpose and objectives of their study, the study’s significance, and the participants’ permission to participate in the study voluntarily. creativity styles questionnaire (csq). the creativity styles questionnaire (csq) was developed by kumar and holman (1989, as cited in nori et al., 2018). the csq is a self-administered test that consists of 78 items, which was designed to provide information about an individual’s creativity and problemsolving style. for each of the items in the questionnaire, answers are chosen based on the five (5) response categories given on the numerical scale. the choices are 1 (strongly disagree); 2 (disagree); 3 (unsure); 4 (agree); and 5 (strongly agree). the internal consistency of the questionnaire as a whole is 0.92, and the median internal consistency for the csq scales is 0.78. zung self-rating anxiety scale (sas). according to dunstan and scott (2020), the  zung self-rating anxiety scale (sas)  was designed to measure anxiety levels in individuals who have anxiety-related symptoms. the scale is a self-administered test that focuses on the most common general anxiety disorders. the sas consists of 20 questions with 15 increasing anxiety level questions and five decreasing anxiety questions. for each item, answers are chosen based on the four (4) response categories given on the numerical scale. the choices are 1 (none or a little of the time); 2 (some of the time); 3 (good part of the time); and 4 (most or all of the time). the scale’s internal consistency is 0.80 (ramirez & lukenbill, 2008).  data gathering procedures the researchers submitted a letter of intent to conduct the study to the school head. when the researchers were permitted to conduct the study, the 9 international peer reviewed journal researchers then administered the survey questionnaires to the respondents. before administering the survey questionnaires, the researchers established rapport through self-introduction and statements about the purpose and nature of the study. the respondents were given sufficient time to complete the questionnaires. the researchers gave specific instructions for each part, asked them for their honesty in answering the items, and assured them of the confidentiality of the data collected. during the administration of the survey questionnaires, the respondents were free to ask any questions or clarifications about the items. after the administration of the survey questionnaire, the respondents were assured that they would receive the results of the research. upon completing the survey questionnaire, the researchers screened the data to see which were possible for use in the study. results and discussion gender differences in anxiety to compare the anxiety scores of male and female adolescents, the researchers used an independent-samples t-test. it shows that the significance level of levene’s test is 0.716, which means that the assumption of equal variance has not been violated. the result show that there was no statistically significant difference, t (98) = -1.565, p > .05, in scores for males ( = 2.0365, sd = 0.4086) and females ( = 2.1563, sd= 0.3509). the difference between the means is very small (η2 = -0.0254). according to the t-test, there is no significant difference in the anxiety level of male and female adolescents. therefore, it indicates that gender does not affect whether these adolescents are prone to anxiety. the result supports the study conducted by faleye (2010). the outcome of the t-test analysis showed that there were no substantial differences in cognitive test anxiety (cta) scores between male and female students. however, the result of this study contradicts the findings of jalnapurkar et al. (2018) and the world health organization (2017), which have consistently been shown that females are more prone to have an anxiety disorder. relationship between age and anxiety the study shows a weak negative relationship between age and anxiety among adolescents, r = -0.242, p < .05. therefore, as the age increases, the lesser anxiety one will experience. this study supports the research conducted by 10 jpair multidisciplinary research khesht-masjedi et al. (2019) that as an individual grows up, he/she experiences less anxiety. consequently, as younger the adolescents are, the more anxiety they may experience. this is explained by the idea that people experience many changes in their early years, including several cycles of growth and development in their bodies and way of thinking. however, it is good to note that a study contradicts the results that indicate no significant relationship between age and anxiety (tabrizi et al., 2011). relationship of creative thinking and anxiety the result of this study shows that there is a weak negative correlation between creative thinking and anxiety among adolescents, r = -2.10, p < .05. therefore, it indicates that creative thinking will probably work at its best if one is less anxious. the result of this study supports the finding of byron and khazanchi (2011, as cited in little & wuensch, 2015), that found a negative relationship between anxiety and creativity. however, the result of this study contradicts the findings of miraka and tritsaroli (2019) that there is a positive relationship between anxiety and creativity. this has also shown that anxiety drives an individual to be more creative. conclusions as child, anxiety is part of childhood, and every child goes through this phase. however, levels of anxiety, for many reasons, differ in each phase of life. adolescents suffer from anxiety disorder due to various internal and external factors. this study concluded that creative thinking affects mental health. the outcome of this research related to anxiety and gender showed no substantial difference in the degree or scores of anxiety among adolescents. therefore, it indicates that gender does not affect whether these adolescents are prone to anxiety. further, age and creative thinking have both a weak negative relationship when it comes to anxiety. therefore, it indicates that one feels less anxious when one grows up and becomes more creative.  translational research the research can be a helpful guide to comprehending anxiety amongst adolescents considering age and gender. this can be a basis for how creative thinking helps adolescents overcome anxiety. since creative thinking may help 11 international peer reviewed journal reduce anxiety, the findings may help encourage scholars and practitioners, especially in the philippines, to use creative learning methods to lessen anxiety. the researchers recommend that further study be done to look at specific creativity techniques and their effects on anxiety. some studies show a positive association between creative thinking, gender, age, birth order, and anxiety. some studies also show negative correlations between these variables. nevertheless, this indicates a need for more studies to confirm the relations and most importantly, studies that assess the factors that contribute to anxiety to reduce the incidence of anxiety. furthermore, the researchers suggest the construction of questionnaires or tools that measures anxiety and creative thinking, which is culture-bound in the philippine setting, so that results or findings can be more accurate. due to the limited or small number of participants included in the study, the researchers recommend that future researchers increase the number of participants involved to make it a valid and accurate representative sample of the population being studied. the researchers suggest considering and conducting other studies aside from correlational studies that may contribute to literature about creative thinking and anxiety. predictive studies may be considered to develop further and explain the relationship between creative thinking and anxiety.  literature cited adwas, a. a., jbireal, j. m., & azab, a. e. 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(2016). adolescence: a crucial transitional stage in human life. journal of child and adolescent behavior, 4(6), 1-2. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.4172/2375-4494.1000e115 65 international peer reviewed journal phytochemical screening and antibacterial activity of the selected species of mangroves jose haydee d. baldevia jr. jrdelacruzbaldevia@gmail.com inocencio v. ferrer memorial school of fisheries talisay city, negros occidental, philippines ricky b. acanto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3508-6847 ricky.acanto@chmsc.edu.ph carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines marjohn thomas n. conlu iloilo science and technology universitymiagao campus miagao, iloilo, philippines mary grace f. langcoy carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines susan v. lirazan carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.640 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:jrdelacruzbaldevia@gmail.com mailto:ricky.acanto@chmsc.edu.ph 66 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 julie ann b. mario carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract as a productive ecosystem component, mangroves provide critical services to humankind. mangroves may be a source of antibacterial compounds that could be used as a natural treatment for managing bacterial infections. this study determined the phytochemical constituents of leaf extracts of three selected mangrove species avicennia marina (bungalon), rhizophora apiculata (bakhaw), and  sonneratia alba  (pagatpat), using the test-tube method and antibacterial sensitivity using an agar well-diffusion method found in the coastal areas of talisay city, negros occidental, philippines. the results showed that the three species of mangroves leaf methanolic extracts exhibit susceptibility to antibacterial properties against s. aureus; it was observed that s. alba has the highest inhibitory effect on s. aureus among the three selected mangrove species. there was a significant difference between the positive control (linezolid 30 mcg) and the methanolic crude extract of r. apiculata (md = 27.97, p < 0.01), a. marina (md = 24.37, p < 0.01), and  s. alba (md = 23.09, p < 0.01). on the contrary,  a. marina and s. alba did not differ significantly with p= 0.172; this means that the antibacterial activity of methanolic crude extracts of  a. marina  and  s. alba  are comparable but significantly differ with the positive control (linezolid 30 mcg). the qualitative phytochemical analyses of the three species of mangroves’ leaf methanolic extracts showed flavonoids, phenols, saponins, and tannins. terpenoids were present only on  r. apiculata. phytochemical analysis suggests that mangrove leaves have the potential to be used as a natural pharmaceutical component, such as an antibacterial gel. keywords — methanolic extract, mangrove, antibacterial sensitivity, phytochemical analysis, avincennia marina, sonneratia alba, rhizophora apiculata this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 67 international peer reviewed journal introduction the philippines has one of the longest coastlines in the world, and it has many diverse mangroves due to its geographical location and tropical climate. it also belongs to the top 15 countries with the most significant number of mangroves (long & giri, 2011). mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal zone in over 118 countries worldwide between 5º n and 5º s latitudes (sharma, 2018). mangroves grow in saline and brackish water environment due to their morphological and physiological adaptation, including prop roots wriggling out of the mud, which could resist tidal waves. mangrove forests are a highly productive ecosystem component, specifically marine and coastal ecosystems that provide critical services to humans and other biological organisms. mangrove forests maintain biodiversity in coastal areas. the mangrove forest encompasses diverse fauna, including fishes, crabs, shrimps, mollusks, and other invertebrates. mangroves also serve as coastal protection, flood regulation, wildlife habitats, nutrient supply and generation, and erosion control (primavera, 2004). also, mangrove ecosystems are becoming popular for their eco-tourism activities, which give additional compensation and sustain coastal communities (acanto, 2016). apart from its environmental and economic importance, several mangrove species are getting attention nowadays due to potential sources of bioactive compounds, which have commercial applications in the field of ethnopharmaceutical research (nebula et al., 2013). local communities have historically used mangroves for medicinal purposes, yet potential sources for novel biological materials, such as antibacterial and antifungal compounds, remain mostly undiscovered.  phytochemical compounds are essential in different products, especially in pharmaceuticals. phytochemical compounds are secondary metabolites that have diverse functions. these are used in human therapy, medicine, agriculture, and research (ukuri et al., 2019). also, in vitro studies shows that inhibitory effects in some types of microorganisms have been demonstrated by several phytochemicals that belong to several classes (cowan, 1999). this revelation may suggest the importance of plants such as mangroves as an essential source of phytochemicals that can be used as an alternative treatment for some diseases. commercial antibacterial medications are expensive, especially in rural areas. some antibiotics are not readily available in some areas of the country. levy (1991) says that funds are scarce in developing countries such as the philippines. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 thus, it is often impossible to obtain more expensive, effective antibiotics, which are critical in treatment. because of unequal access to universal healthcare, rural communities often rely on alternative medicine, like herbal remedies, to treat bacterial infections. some cultural communities also used some parts of trees and herbs found in their area as first aid treatment for infection and diseases. the vast coastline of negros occidental is home to several species of mangroves, which play a vital role in the marine ecosystem and eventually support the livelihood of local people. in the philippines, efforts have been made by the local government unit and residents to increase the number of species of mangroves along its coastline. the typical mangrove trees found in its coastal areas are the avicennia marina  (bungalon), rhizophora apiculata  (bakhaw), and  sonneratia alba (pagatpat) (pingcale et al., 2017). awareness of these mangrove species in the locality could improve the protection and conservation status in the area. a healthy ecosystem, such as mangrove forests, provides livelihood to many coastal communities. natural and herbal remedies are also readily available to them. objective of the study the study was conducted to investigate the presence of phytochemicals present in the leaves and the antibacterial activity in three different mangrove species found in the coastal communities of talisay city, negros occidental, namely: avicennia marina, rhizophora apiculata, and sonneratia alba. the study could be utilized to determine the potential use of leaf extract of the mangroves in antibacterial gel found in the coastal areas of the philippines. also, the leaf extract could be used as a baseline for further utilization of selected mangrove leaf extracts for antibacterial susceptibility of other pathogenic microorganisms. materials and methods collection and preparation of sample fresh mature green leaves of  a. marina,  r. apiculate, and  s. alba  were collected in the morning throughout the low tide from barangay catabla baybay, barangay zone 2, barangay zone 5, barangay zone 15, barangay zone 16 and barangay bubog in talisay city, negros occidental, philippines. the mangrove samples were authenticated and certified through their leaf shape, fruits, leaf color, and flower by the provincial environment and natural resources and the bureau of plant industry in bacolod city, negros occidental. 69 international peer reviewed journal the collected samples were packed in a polyethylene bag with their corresponding labels. the leaves were washed using tap water, rinsed with distilled water, and air-dried until dry. the air-dried samples were packed in a polyethylene bag and brought to herbanext laboratory for processing. each sample was oven-dried to remove the excess moisture until it was crisp, then pulverized using mortar and pestle and weighed using a digital balance. the extraction of the sample followed the established protocol by jacoeb & suptijah (2013). about 50g of each pulverized sample of a. marina, r. apiculata, and s. alba were soaked with 250ml of methanol using 500ml erlenmeyer flask and covered with aluminum foil to avoid contaminants and were left for 48 hours at ambient temperature. the mixtures were filtered in vacuo using the buchner funnel. the solvent in the filtrate was separated from the mangrove leaves crude extract using a rotary evaporator at 64.7 ºc and 760 torr in a medium rotation; this was done until all the solvent had been evaporated. after separation, the crude extracts were stored in dark aluminum containers and stored in the refrigerator at 4 ºc. phytochemical screening the crude extracts of three selected mangrove leaves were screened for various phytochemicals (saponins, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, phenol, alkaloids, and terpenoids) through standard qualitative tests or test-tube method based on the protocol established by acanto et al. (2022), acanto & cuaderes (2021), especially in the countryside. with its favorable characteristics, this macrofungi shows potential to be utilized in the field of natural products. the study aims to ascertain the antimicrobial effects and determine the active components present in the ethanolic extracts. the extract’s antibacterial activity was determined using kirby-bauer disk diffusion assay, antifungal susceptibility through poisoned food method, and minimum inhibitory concentration (micsurya and hari (2017) & aguinaldo et al. (2004). test for alkaloids. about 1 ml of a. marina extract was mixed with 0.2 ml of 1% hcl in a 10 ml test tube using a pipette. then, 1 ml of mayer’s reagent was added. any yellow precipitate or turbidity indicates the presence of alkaloids. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. test for flavonoids. using a pipette, about 1 ml of a. marina extract was mixed with a few fragments of magnesium ribbon and concentrated hydrochloric acid in a 10 ml test tube. the appearance of pink or magenta-red color or yellow precipitate indicates the presence of flavonoids. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 test for glycosides. using a pipette, about 1 ml of a. marina extract was mixed with 2 ml of glacial acetic acid containing 1-2 drops of ferric chloride solution in a 10 ml test tube. the mixture then flowed into another test tube containing 2 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid. the appearance of the brown ring stipulates the presence of glycosides. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. test for phenols. using a pipette, about 1 ml of a. marina extract was mixed with 2 ml of ferric chloride solution using a 10 ml test tube. the appearance of green, blue, and white indicates phenols’ presence. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. test for saponins. using a pipette, about 1 ml of a. marina extract was watered-down with 20 ml of distilled water in a 25 ml test tube and shaken vigorously. the formation of stable foam indicates the presence of saponins. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. test for tannins. using a pipette, about 1 ml of a. marina extract was watered-down with 20 ml of distilled water in a 25 ml test tube and heated using an alcohol lamp. then a few drops of 0.1% ferric chloride are added. the appearance of a brownish-green or blue-black color indicates the presence of tannins. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. test for terpenoids. about 1 ml of a. marina extract was mixed with 2 ml chloroform in a test tube using a pipette. then 3 ml of sulfuric acid was carefully added. the appearance of a reddish-brown or pinkish-brown ring/color indicates the presence of terpenoids. the process was repeated for r. apiculata and s. alba extracts. antibacterial activity staphylococcus aureus was obtained from herbanext laboratories in barangay taluc, bago city. this was used as the test organism for the antibacterial activity in the study via the agar-well diffusion method. the  s. aureus  was prepared using 5ml nacl-peptone buffer, and 0.5 mcfarland turbidity standard was observed to secure ~1x10^8 cfu/ml; this was confirmed by determining bacterial count by plating. the mueller hinton agar (mha) was prepared using 19g of mha dissolved entirely in 500 ml of distilled water in an erlenmeyer flask covered with a cotton plug and aluminum foil. the mha mixture was then autoclaved at 121 ºc for 15 minutes; enough mha solution was poured to cover the entire surface of sterile petri dishes while observing the right thickness (not too thin and not too thick); the agar plates were left to set at room temperature to cool and solidify, ready for inoculation. 71 international peer reviewed journal using an aseptic technique, the standardized inoculum was swabbed on the surface of mueller hinton agar (mha) using a sterile cotton-tip swab; this was done by dipping the cotton swab in the inoculum and streaking the cotton swab from the topmost portion until the bottom portion of agar surface from edge to edge of petri dish repeating it several times in different directions to ensure that the inoculum was spread evenly into the agar surface. the inoculated mha dishes were covered and stacked upside down to prevent condensation on the surface cover. this was done in a laminar flow hood. a cork borer (about 6.0 mm hole-sized) was sterilized by dipping in 70% ethyl alcohol, passed through the flame of a bunsen burner, and was used to make a well on the agar surface. four agar wells were made in each agar plate, equidistant from each other. about 30 µl of each mangrove extract (r. apiculate, a. marina, and s. alba and the control (linezolid 30 mcg) were placed in one of each agar wells on each agar plates and allowed to pre-dried for 15 minutes before incubation. each treatment has three replicates and was conducted in three trials. the plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37 ºc in an incubator and evaluated for antimicrobial activity. the measurement across the growth inhibition zones was measured in millimeters (mm) using a vernier caliper. in measuring the zone of inhibition, a zero tip was placed at the center of the hole of the well and measured from the center to the edge of the area with zero growth; the zone of inhibition was determined through color difference in the agar surface. if the inhibition zone overlaps the other, measure the inhibition zone’s radius, then multiply by two to get the diameter (hudzicki, 2009). table 1 presents the zone diameter interpretative table based on cheesebrough’s (2005) zone diameter interpretative standard for human pathogens. this was used to determine the antibacterial susceptibility of the mangrove leaf extracts. table 1. zone of inhibition diameter interpretative table verbal interpretation zone of inhibition susceptible 15mm ≤ above intermediate 13mm – 14mm resistant ≤ 12mm statistical analyses mean and standard deviations (sd) were used as statistical tools for the descriptive analysis of data specific to determine which among the experimental treatments (methanolic crude extracts of  r. apiculata,  a. marina, and  s. alba 72 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 can inhibit the growth of s. aureus. one-way analysis of variance (one-way anova) and fisher’s least significant difference (lsd) for post hoc analysis were used for the inferential analysis of data, specifically in comparing the means (in terms of zone of inhibition) of experimental treatments with the positive control. results and discussion phytochemical screening of the leaves of r. apiculate, a. marina, and s. alba table 2 shows the phytochemical screening – the presence or absence of secondary metabolites present in the methanolic crude extracts of r. apiculata, a. marina, and s. alba using the test tube method. flavonoids, phenols, saponins, and tannins were present in the methanolic crude extracts of r. apiculata, a. marina, and s. alba. in contrast, glycosides and alkaloids were both absent or may be present but in minute amounts in the three species of mangroves. terpenoids were the only bioactive compounds present in r. apiculata but not found in both a. marina or s. alba. when extracted from mangrove species, these secondary metabolites are essential sources of compounds necessary for developing novel drugs against many diseases that humans are currently fighting (acanto, 2020; saxena et al., 2013). thus, the presence of flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids, and tannins in the methanolic crude extracts of the three selected mangrove species are important secondary metabolites that can inhibit the growth of microorganisms and shows a potential antibiotic property. table 2. qualitative phytochemical screening of r. apiculata (bakhaw), a. marina (bungalon), and s. alba (pagatpat) phytochemical constituents bakhaw (r. apiculata) bungalon (a. marina) pagatpat (s. alba) flavonoids + + + phenols + + + saponins + + + terpenoids + tannins + + + glycosides alkaloids note: positive (+) indicates the presence of a phytochemical constituent; (-) indicates the absence of a phytochemical constituent, or (-) denotes compounds that may be present in relatively smaller amounts. 73 international peer reviewed journal flavonoids present in three species of mangroves are considered polyphenolic compounds abundant in nature, found explicitly in fruits, vegetables, and beverages humans consume daily, like tea and coffee. the flavonoids have played a significant role in the victorious medical nursing of classical times, and their use has been determined to date (ullah et al., 2020 & panche et al., 2016). it has broad biological and pharmacological activities and has been reported to exert multiple antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and cytotoxicity activities. flavonoids are best known for their capacity to act as powerful antioxidants that can protect the human body from free radicals (kumar & pandey, 2013). catechins and luteolins are the two best-known antioxidants, better than other antioxidants such as vitamins c and e and β-carotene. flavonoids protect biological systems by a capacity to transfer electrons free radicals, chelate metal catalysts, activate antioxidant enzymes, reduce alpha-tocopherol radicals, and inhibit oxidases (iqbal et al., 2019; tiwari et al., 2001). the most numerous and structurally diverse among plant secondary metabolites are phenolic compounds. phenols present in the three species of mangroves are considered the most precise class of bioactive compounds. as secondary metabolites, they have an essential role as defense compounds and exhibit several properties beneficial to humans. their antioxidant properties protect humans against free-radical-mediated diseases (wu et al., 2008; ukachukwu et al., 2013). the presence of flavonoids and phenols in the leaves of three species of mangroves suggests that their leaves could be utilized as a component of food supplements to provide antioxidant compounds. terpenoids unique to  r. apiculata possess medicinal properties such as antimicrobial, antimalarial, and anti-carcinogenic. most terpenoids have a multicyclic structure that differs from each with unique functional groups and carbon skeletons. many terpenoids are the main constituents of essential oils, according to the measurable quantity of isoprene units, such as diterpenes, monoterpenoids, and triterpenes, among others (saxena et al., 2013). this result suggests that r. apiculata has a potential for ethno-pharmaceutical use in the management of certain bacterial and viral infections. with this, further studies must be conducted to establish the potential use of leaves of r. apiculata as alternative medicine, especially as antimalaria. tannins are essential plant-derived secondary metabolites and water-soluble polyphenols usually used in tanning animal skins and textile dyes. in asian natural healing, tannin-containing plant extracts are antiseptic, antidiarrheal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, diuretics, astringents, and hemostatic 74 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 pharmaceuticals. tannins clarify wines and antioxidants found in fruit juices in the food processing industry. the biological action of tannin-containing plant extracts becomes increasingly crucial for the new lead compounds to develop novel pharmaceutical products (abioye et al., 2013; thirunavukkarasu et al., 2018; sowunmi & afolayan, 2015; tiwari et al., 2001; saxena et al., 2013). with this, further studies may be conducted to observe the potential use of leaves of three species of mangroves as herbal medicine for diarrhea and wound healing, especially in rural coastal areas. the phytochemical results also suggest that the leaf extract of the three selected mangrove species could be used to develop natural products such as soap and hand sanitizer, especially with the advent of new infectious diseases that affect the world today. antibacterial activity of selected species of mangrove against s. aureus. table 3 presents the sensitivity testing of s. aureus to the methanolic crude extracts of  a. marina, r. apiculata, and  s. alba  using the agar well diffusion method. the antibacterial assay is crucial to test and screen the inhibitory effects of methanolic crude extract of three mangrove species against  s. aureus  before establishing what product can be produced based on the result.  the methanolic crude extracts of three species of mangroves, namely:  r. apiculata, a. marina, and s. alba, showed a positive response and hindered the growth of s. aureus with the average ranging from 15.82 mm as a minimum to 20.70 mm as a maximum zone of inhibition and interpreted as “susceptible.” linezolid (30 mcg) was used as a positive control in this study with a 43.79 mm (sd= 1.27) inhibition zone. the table also shows the mean diameter of the zone of inhibition of the three species of mangroves, s. alba has 20.70 mm (sd= 1.33), a. marina has 19.42 mm (sd= 0.74), and r. apiculata has a 15.82 mm (sd= 0.68) zone of inhibition, respectively. all mangrove leaf extract is susceptible to s. aureus. the mean shows that s. alba leaf extract has the most significant growth inhibitory effect among the three species of mangroves. this suggests that s. alba leaves could have the potential as an alternative medicine for bacterial infection, especially in rural and coastal areas where access to commercially available drugs is difficult, if not expensive. the results further show that the methanolic extract of mangrove leaves of the three selected mangrove species shows antibiotic properties that could be a potential for the development of ethno-pharmaceutical products that could help people in the community be aware of the medicinal properties of mangroves around their communities for the management of infectious diseases, especially in areas where access to healthcare is challenging and 75 international peer reviewed journal expensive. using natural remedies will help ease the financial burden of people in rural communities, especially those without access to healthcare professionals. saad et al. (2012) confirmed that the methanolic leaf extract of  s. alba appeared to be the most effective extract against s. aureus. in the study conducted by thamizharasan and saravanan (2016), the methanolic crude extract of rhizophora species significantly differed from nine other species of mangroves being studied and showed maximum activity with a 15 mm zone of inhibition against test pathogens. this result is in line with the study conducted by saad et al. (2012), which revealed that the methanolic leaf extracts of  s. alba be an effective extract against s. aureus. a. marina leaf extract could also be used to treat bacterial infection. they can be used to discover new bioactive natural products that can be used as a potential source that may control microbial infections (sharief & rao, 2014). on the contrary, r. apiculata methanolic extracts exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against human clinical pathogens (ramalingam et al., 2018). jadhav and jadhav (2012) proved that methanol extracts have high antimicrobial activity than their ethanol counterpart, and cold methanol is an excellent solvent for extracting the antimicrobial compounds from extracts.  s. aureus’ susceptibility  to the three mangrove species’ methanolic crude extracts may be due to flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids, and tannins in the extract. these phytochemicals can inhibit the microorganisms’ growth (gowri & vasantha, 2010; shahla et al., 2010). results also showed a highly significant difference in the mean zone of inhibition between and among the experimental groups, f (3,8)= 444.37, p= 0.00. furthermore, the results also revealed that there was a significant difference between the positive control (30mg linezolid) and the three mangrove species during the post hoc analysis; thus, this suggests that though leaf extracts of selected mangrove species have exhibited susceptibility to s. aureus, a synthetic antibiotic such as linezolid is still more effective. perry and jarvis (2001) indicate that linezolid is an effective agent against staphylococci such as s. aureus and effective in methicillin-resistant strains, glycopeptides, and other antibacterial agents. however, the results also present that the antibacterial susceptibility of a. marina and s. alba were comparable with each other with a mean difference of 1.28, p= 0.17; this implies that the antibacterial susceptibility against s. aureus of the two mangrove species could have the same effect. the study of behera et al. (2014) evaluated the antibacterial potential of mangrove species against nine human pathogenic bacteria, and the result was compared to amphoxylin as a standard antibiotic. it was found that the 76 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 methanolic extract of a. marina showed moderate antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria compared to standard antibiotic drug resistance. thus, the result of this study suggests that a. marina and s. alba could be used to manage bacterial infections, specifically bacterial skin infections caused by s. aureus in rural areas, especially in coastal communities that have no access to healthcare specifically for first aid treatments of bacterial infections. table 3. antibacterial activity of selected species of mangrove against s. aureus. samples zone of inhibition (mm) mean sd interpretation r. apiculata** 15.82 0.68 susceptible a. marina**a 19.42 0.74 susceptible s. alba **a 20.70 1.33 susceptible linezolid (30mg)** 43.79 1.27 susceptible **f(3,8)= 444.37, p=0.00; ap>0.05 note: susceptible (s) 15mm ≤ above intermediate (i) 13mm – 14mm resistant (r) ≤ 12mm conclusion the following conclusions were drawn from the results of the study: (1) r. apiculata (bakhaw), a. marina (bungalon), and s. alba (pagatpat) contained flavonoids, phenols, saponins, terpenoids (r. apiculata – bakhaw), and tannins. therefore, the leaves of the three mangrove species could potentially develop ethno-pharmaceutical products and be used for natural product development to help communities in rural areas. 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(2008). terpenoids from neolitsea dealbata. natural product communications, 3(2), 1934578x0800300204. 89 international peer reviewed journalvol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.503 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract knowing the current status of southern leyte as a “provincial beauty in the philippines that’s travel worthy” and vulnerable to hazards and risks; it is also expected to be on top in championing actions towards climate change adaptation and embracing sustainability. the study focuses on the viability of selected hospitality industry establishments in southern leyte towards climate change adaptation. data collection utilized researcher-made survey questionnaire. using descriptive-correlational method, managers and owners of 13 department of tourism (dot) identified hospitality industry establishments along the coastlines of maasin city and saint bernard southern leyte were surveyed through purposive sampling. the simple percentage, weighted mean, and chisquare were among the statistical tools utilized throughout the study. most of the provinces in eastern visayas were in little risk to geophysical disasters except southern leyte and northern samar. the establishments were implementing some of the green practices on solid waste management and energy conservation climate change adaptation of the hospitality establishments in southern leyte, philippines edilyn gutierez lopez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9402-9781 sseayp42.edz@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad judy ann ong ferrater-gimena http://orcid.org 0000-001-5352-8253 judygimena@gmail.com university of cebu 90 jpair multidisciplinary research under the international agreements and national laws. economically and environmentally, majority of the establishments partially complied with the iemsd program. regarding the sustainability of the institutions based on the iemsd, economically and ecologically, the facilities were slightly sustainable. it indicates that majority of the services calls for more actions to be durable and be able to adapt to climate change. keywords — climate change, hospitality industry, sustainability correlation, southern leyte introduction tourism and environment closely linked for without an attractive environment, tourism cannot succeed and, in some cases, without tourism, environmental conservation is at risk (connell & page, 2009). the philippines has come a long way since the great gathering of nations to establish the agenda for action on sustainable development during the 1992 earth summit. there were promulgations of various policies and programs that adhere to the principles of sustainable development and climate change. these legislations were the integrated environmental management for sustainable development (iemsd), republic act 9003 (solid waste management act of 2000), republic act 9729 (climate change act of 2009), republic act 10121 (philippine disaster risk reduction and management act of 2010) and other action plans towards sustainable development. super typhoon haiyan hardly hit region vii during the last quarter of 2013. in eastern visayas, there were constant incidents of calamities, like the tragic mudslide in the community of guinsaugon, saint bernard, southern leyte in 2006. as a result, a state of disaster was declared in almost every part the country due to torrential rains that devastated agriculture, livestock, and properties (garcia, 2013). according to department of environment and natural resources (2011), southern leyte is one of the provinces that found to be naturally vulnerable to environmental disasters and one of the provinces that exerted efforts towards sustainable development and climate change adaptation. since southern leyte is prone to hazards of environmental disasters, the study was undertaken to assess whether or not the selected hospitality industry establishments in these areas are compliant with the provisions of the laws on 91 international peer reviewed journal environmental protection. the findings were the basis for the development of guidelines for climate-smart services for hospitality industry establishments along the coastal areas. framework the study was anchored on the four capital model of sustainability. as shown in figure 1, this model put all the four capitals alongside each other and discusses the reality that practical society is impractical to work without keeping up the adjust among these four assets and support of their manageability. there are four different sorts of capital in every general public. they are specific human capital, money related capital, natural capital, and fabricated capital. in consideration with the end goal to make and keep up the supportability in the general public, adjustment of those resources in that society is a necessity. for instance, an excessive amount of consideration regarding human or fabricated capital may influence the natural maintainability. these assets cannot be considered as complementary, i.e. increasing the level of focus on one particular resource does not necessarily contribute to the improvement of other capitals. nevertheless, there are some crossovers amongst capitals that might have positive implications regarding increasing the effectiveness of efforts focused towards sustainable development. note that improvement can be marked as supportable if assets don’t decrease over the time, or in a perfect world, they increment over the time (siebert, 2008). figure 1. the four capital model the changes in the climate is usually exemplified in the over sub-continental regions, the extent at which global climate models replicate well the pattern of observed temperature of the earth’s surface. climate change has some effect on 92 jpair multidisciplinary research natural resource sectors such as agriculture, forestry, ecosystems, water resources and fisheries, and on human activities and infrastructure. climate change adaptation is gauged in terms of the society’s ability to adjust to the potential impacts of climate change (barros & field, 2014). tourism is not a new phenomenon. tourism as per the world tourism organization (wto), is the demonstration of go with the end goal of amusement and business, and the arrangement of administrations for this demo. the tourism industry is a composite of ventures and elements, both private and open, required in the arranging, improvement, advertising, deals, operation and assessment of goals, items and administrations that take into account the necessities of the explorers, both remote and residential (goeldner & ritchie, 2006). in the philippines, the operation of the tour products is primarily the role of the private sectors, while the delivery of tourism services is a joint function of both the government and the private sectors (claravall, 2000). the landscape of the philippine tourism industry composed of two areas: public and private sectors. the public sector includes department of tourism, tourism promotions board, tourism infrastructure and enterprise authority, local government units and other national government units who are indirectly helping the industry. the private sector, on the other hand, is composed of the transportation industry, hospitality industry, travel trade, entertainment industry and other private sector entities. hospitality industry consists of hotels, restaurants, resorts, bars and other establishments that offer accommodation, food, and beverages. operationally, reasonable advancement is an improvement of financially stable, politically engaging, socially just and fair, profoundly freeing, sex touchy, given all encompassing and integrative science, innovatively suitable, expands upon desirable filipino qualities, history, culture and greatness and rests upon substantial institutional establishments. securing the privilege of each filipino to the great life will require a sound and suitable economy, social union, mindful administration, proper efficiency, and biological trustworthiness (curran, 2004). for heinberg and lerch (2010), sustainability is the people’s obligation to continue in a way that will maintain the life that will permit the kids, grandchildren and extraordinary grandchildren to live serenely in a friendly, clean, and sound world. in this manner, individuals can take the assumption of the liability for life in every one of its structures and additionally regard human work and goals. dimpas, sy and gimena (2015) conducted a study to identify the environmentally directed organizational citizenship deeds observed and practiced 93 international peer reviewed journal by fifteen selected municipalities in cebu, philippines. the results revealed that ocbe deeds relative to environmental concerns, organizational commitment, supervisory support for environmental efforts and perceived social performance of the local government units were the most common behaviors exhibited by the local officials and their staff and that the identified ocbe deeds were demonstrated by the municipal government officials and staff to a very great extent. the ipcc (2014) confirmed by scientific studies that there is an increase in global average of air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising of global mean sea level. with these, it is already evident that there is a significant change in the world’s climate system, known as climate change. climate change is a fundamental threat to sustainable development and the fight against poverty. it has been known for some time now that developing countries will be affected the most by the climate change. reasons shift from lacking assets to adapt and are contrasted with created countries. there is also massive neediness and districts that many building nations are happened to be the ones where extreme climate will hit the most, little island countries zone officially observing ocean level rising, among others. german watch distributed the rundown of countries that would be influenced the most by the environmental change in light of extreme climate, for example, storms and surges. between 1991 and 2010, these were the most affected nations: bangladesh, myanmar, honduras, nicaragua, haiti, vietnam, dominican republic, pakistan, korea, and the philippines (huddleston, 2012). with the news on climate change, there were global responses towards climate change adaptation and sustainability. the figure 1 below shows the map of the philippines with combined risk to geophysical disasters. most of the provinces in eastern visayas were in a little risk to geophysical disasters except southern leyte and northern samar. northern samar was in average risk regarding geophysical hazards while southern leyte’s status is very high which means the southern leyte is very prone to geophysical catastrophes. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. map of the philippines with combined risk to geophysical disasters according to the department of environment and natural resources (denr), the philippines is very vulnerable to typhoons because this country belongs to the pacific typhoon belt area. the country is also highly susceptible to ground movements and flooding and inundations (denr geohazard mapping and assessment program, 2014). also, the location of the eastern visayas is in warmer latitudes in which according to the united nations, vulnerability to climate change will be greater in developing countries, located in hotter zones. the philippines faces natural hazard to environmental disasters (united nations environmental programme climate change report, 2009). it is very evident that the effects of extreme weather conditions in southern leyte were very alarming. given the fact that from 1985-2010, the estimated monetary losses in infrastructure and agriculture associated with natural hazardinduced disasters reached p316.3 billion. there were 157.94 million people that 95 international peer reviewed journal were affected by natural hazard-induced disasters from 1985 to 2011—with typhoons accounting for the greatest share—of which 57, 227 people were killed, injured, or missing. additionally, the two different natural hazard-induced disasters: the typhoon haiyan and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit various parts of visayas caused lots of damages, where 222 died, 976 injured and eight were missing. a total of 671, 103 families were in 6 provinces in regions vi and vii. the cost of damages was php 2,257,337,182.90. the super typhoon haiyan that hit the country last november 8, 201 had an estimated total cost of damages of php 22,659,851,383.76. the following world climate change conferences are united nations environmental programmes, intergovernmental panel on climate change, montreal protocol, kyoto protocol, united nations framework convention on climate change, agenda 21, and un climate change conference in warsaw. the philippines being one of the nations that will be influenced by environmental change likewise started the accompanying activities towards environmental change adjustment and sustainable improvement. the aforementioned legal act includes; the 1987 philippine constitution proviso; presidential decree no. 1151 or philippine environmental policy; presidential decree 1152 or philippine environmental code; philippine agenda 21, the philippine environmental impact statement system, integrated environmental management on sustainable development, republic act no. 9003 or ecological solid waste management act of 2000, republic act no. 9729 of climate change act of 2009, republic act 10121 or philippine disaster risk reduction and management act of 2010, republic act no. 9593 or tourism act of 2009, national framework strategy on climate change 2010-2022, national climate change action plan, and batas pambansa bilang 73. the areas 16 of article ii and section 1 of article xiii are the two critical parts of the 1987 constitution of the republic of the philippines that backs the different activities towards economic improvement. the law states that it should secure and propel the privilege of the general population to an adjusted and empowering environment as per the musicality and amicability of nature, and the congress should give the most noteworthy need to the sanctioning of measures that ensure and upgrade the privilege of the general population to human pride separately (de leon, 2002). the three necessary actions highlighted in the study are the republic act no. 9003 or ecological solid waste management act of 2000, batas pambansa bilang 73 and the creation of integrated environmental management on 96 jpair multidisciplinary research sustainable development. republic act no. 9003 or otherwise known as the ecological solid waste management act of 2000 provides for the ecological solid waste management program, creates the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declares certain acts prohibited and providing penalties, appropriating funds and other purposes. batas pambansa bilang 73 further promoted energy conservation and for other uses. the integrated environmental management on sustainable development was implemented to support efforts in the integration of the environment in decision-making, proper pricing of natural resources, and strengthening of people’s participation and constituency-building for environmental policy advocacy. the iemsd has six (6) sub-programmes, namely: a) environment and natural resources accounting (enra); b) integration of environmental and socio-economic development policies (sei); c) environmental impact assessment (eia); d) sustainable development models (sdm); e) environment and natural resource (enr) database (dbas); and f ) programme management support system (pmss). under the iemsd programme, the following major activities have been undertaken: a) development of a comprehensive operational framework for the philippine system of economic and environmental accounts; b) formulation of sustainable development indicators; c) incorporation of environmental concerns in the project evaluation process; d) development of an action impact matrix which identifies priority areas of study on environment-economy integration; e) strengthening of the eia system; f ) reformulation of guidelines for the implementation of the environmental guarantee fund; g) preparation of an eia procedural handbook; h) development of environmental risk assessment software; and i) documentation of sustainable development projects (supetran, 2013). objectives of the study the study looked into the sustainability of hospitality industry establishments in southern leyte, philippines that were accredited by the department of tourism (dot). specifically, this study described the profile of the facility in terms of its classification, years of operation, and location. the study further assessed the green practices implemented by the institutions in terms of solid waste management and energy conservation; extent of compliance of the establishments to iemsd; and the sustainability of the facilities based on the iemsd indicators such as environmental and economic indicators. 97 international peer reviewed journal the investigation further measured the significant difference between the sustainability of the hospitality establishments according to its location. lastly, based on the findings of the study, guidelines for climate-smart services for hospitality industry establishments along the coastal areas were developed. research methodology to assess the sustainability of the dot-accredited hospitality industry establishments in southern leyte towards climate change adaptation, it utilized the descriptive-correlational method using a researcher-designed survey tool that was accomplished by the owners and managers of the hotels and resorts in southern leyte. research environment the southern leyte is one of the six provinces of region viii. maasin city is the capital of southern leyte. there were thirteen (13) hospitality industry establishments identified and accredited by the dot in southern leyte, comprising of seven from saint bernard and six from maasin city. research respondents the respondents consist mainly of the owners or general managers from selected hospitality industry establishments along the coastlines of maasin city and saint bernard, southern leyte. the selection of the facilities applied the purposive sampling technique. the criteria in choosing facilities were the following: establishment should be accredited by the department of tourism (dot) of the local government unit, and situated along the coastlines of the municipality of saint bernard and maasin city. the dot has identified about seven hospitality industry establishments along the coastlines in saint bernard and six institutions in maasin city, southern leyte. research instrument this study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire based on the provisions of the following: integrated environmental management for sustainable development, republic act 9003 and batas pambansa bilang 73. the questionnaire consists of four parts: profile of the establishment; the green practices implementation specifically on solid waste management and energy conservation; the extent of compliance of iemsd program; the last part contains 98 jpair multidisciplinary research the questions regarding the assessment of the sustainability of establishments based on the iemsd indicators. the tool was also reviewed by experts in the field. a dry-run procedure was also conducted to test the reliability of the selfmade tool. the incidence of non-response was noted before it was finalized for administration to the respondents in the actual survey. research procedure before the undertaking of the study, the researcher sought permission to conduct the study from the municipal mayor through the tourism officers. after the grant of the approval, the proponent conducted the study. the researcher assisted the respondents in answering the questions through elucidating the items stated in the questionnaire. after retrieval, results were tallied, analyzed and interpreted in the light of the theory. statistical treatment simple percentage determines the profile of establishment and the green practices implemented; weighted mean utilized to determine the extent of compliance of iemsd programs, and to establish the sustainability of facilities based on the iemsd indicators. finally, chi-square was employed to create the significant difference between the viability of the establishments according to location. results and discussion this section reveals the data on the profile of the facility as to classification; years of operation; and location; the vulnerability to hazards and risks of eastern visayas; the green practices implemented by the institutions in terms of solid waste management and energy conservation; effects of the extreme weather conditions in southern leyte; extent of compliance of the establishments to iemsd; and sustainability of the facilities based on the iemsd indicators such as environmental indicators an economic indicators. 99 international peer reviewed journal table 1. profile of the facility (n=13) classification of hospitality industry establishment f % hotel 6 46 restaurant 3 23 resort 4 31 years/s of operations 13 -16 2 15 9 -12 3 23 5 – 8 4 31 1 – 4 3 23 less than a year 1 8 location saint bernard 7 54 maasin city 6 46 table 1 displays the profile of the facility, based on the information given by the representative of the establishment. of the thirteen (13) establishments being covered in this study, 46% were hotels; 23% were resorts; and 31 % were restaurants. moreover, most of the hospitality establishments had been in the business for 5-8 years already. lastly, the establishments were located along the coastlines of saint bernard, southern leyte and are recognized by the dot office. greening the organizations is not only limited to the formulation of formal management systems in the organization. those people who manifest concern towards the environment exhibits extra efforts beyond the call of duty who focus on undertaking green initiatives within the organization set up (daily, bishop & govindarajulu, 2009). green practices implemented by the selected hospitality establishments table 2 shows the green practices of the hospitality establishments. regarding solid waste management, the establishments in southern leyte were active in the implementation of the provision of the republic act 9003. all offices completely actualizing the following activities such as: guarantee the cleanliness 100 jpair multidisciplinary research of the foundation and five (5) meters from the closest mass of the foundation, keep up the sterile state of all repositories at all circumstances, utilization of legitimate sort of waste repository or holder, guarantee the correct stockpiling and treatment of intense squanders, and ultimately, ensure the best possible isolation and transfer of active wastes. table 2. the green practices implemented by the selected establishments in terms of solid waste management rank green practices yes (f ) % no (f ) % 1 ensure the cleanliness of the establishment and five (5) meters from the nearest wall of the establishment. 13 100 0 0 2 maintain the sanitary condition of all receptacles at all times. 13 100 0 0 3 use of proper type of waste receptacle or container. 13 100 0 0 4 ensure the proper storage and treatment of solid wastes. 13 100 0 0 5 ensure the proper segregation and disposal of solid wastes. 13 100 0 0 6 coordinate with the public service managers for the wastes to be regularly collected and properly disposed. 12 92 1 8 7 pay the garbage fee properly. 12 92 1 8 8 prohibition of spitting, urinating and defecating on sidewalks, pathways, park and any other public places. 12 92 1 8 9 provision of material recovery facility (mrf) 12 92 1 8 10 provision of separate receptacle or trash can for each type of waste from all sources. 10 78 3 23 11  all receptacles are placed in a location that is easily accessible but not obtrusive to the pedestrians. 10 78 3 23 12 use of appropriate size of receptacle or container to prevent spillages. 10 78 3 23 13 encourage resource conservation and recovery through re-use and recovery of wastes. 9 69 4 31 14 faithfully and religiously participate in the regular schedule of garbage collection in your zone 8 62 5 38 15 set guidelines and targets for solid waste volume reduction through composting, recycling and others. 4 31 9 69 then again, the institutions ought to fortify their usage of the three less executed green practices as far as reliable waste administration such as setting of rules and focus on the substantial waste volume decrease through treating the soil, reusing and others, dependable and religiously take an interest in the 101 international peer reviewed journal consistent timetable of rubbish accumulation in your zone, and energize asset protection and recuperation through recycling and recuperation of squanders. these apparent compliance of the hospitality firms in southern leyte indicates the commitment of these establishments to exhibit discretionary contribution to be sustainable in the context of mitigiting environmental damage and hazards of climate change. in relation to the study of heinberg & lerch, (2010) most of the facilities were implementing a majority of the green practices concerning solid waste management. these data denote that the establishments take the responsibility to proceed in a way that will sustain life that will allow people to live comfortably in a friendly, clean, and healthy world. green practices implemented by the selected restaurants regarding energy conservation table 3 shows the green practices implemented by the establishments regarding energy conservation. the results reveal that most of the establishments were not that active in implementing the green practices. the single green practice on energy conservation by all entities relates to the lack of adequate knowledge and resources of the owners and staff of the establishments on energy conservation. table 3. the green practices implemented by the selected restaurants concerning energy conservation (n=13) rank indicator yes (f ) % no (f ) % 1 regulate the use of air-conditioners in the establishment, including but not limited to using and setting of thermostat to certain temperatures that will conserve energy but still assure reasonable convenience to the users thereof. 13 100 0 0 2 set standards and proper monitoring of energy consumption for oil-powered or electric-driven machinery, equipment, appliances, devices, and vehicles. 12 92 1 8 3 stagger the number of working days per week in your establishment for the purpose of conserving energy and relieving traffic congestion: provided, however, that no diminution in the pay of the employees or workers affect shall result thereby. 10 78 3 23 4 set standards in accordance with accepted engineering principles and practices in the use of building materials and the designs for facilities, which will promote the ends of energy conservation. 10 78 3 23 102 jpair multidisciplinary research 5 use of energy efficient technologies or green technologies. 10 78 3 23 6 prohibition of the use of neon lights and electric lights for commercial advertising earlier than 6:00 o’clock pm. and beyond 9:00 o’clock pm. 9 69 4 31 7 prohibition of the deliberate use of unnecessary and excessive lighting in your establishment. 9 69 4 31 8 conduct energy management education program/ seminar in your establishment. 6 46 7 54 9 regulate the use of motor vehicles so as to conserve fuel and relieve traffic congestion or adopt the use of environmentally sustainable transportation vehicles. 5 38 8 62 10 limit and fix the operating hours of your establishment. 3 23 10 78 all of the institutions regulate the use of air-conditioners, including but not limited to using and setting of thermostat to certain temperatures that will conserve energy but still assure reasonable convenience to the users. unfortunately, a majority of the establishments did not limit and fix the operating hours of their facilities and can be inferred that they do not contribute to energy conservation. evidently, the establishments did not practice energy conservation. the implication of these data reflects inability of the firm to conserve the energy would have a direct impact on environmental degradation and would contribute towards rapid climate change due to human’s excessive emission of hazardous elements. environmental sustainability (es) has increasingly become important to business research and practice over the past decade as a response to a rapid depletion of natural resources by developed countries and corporate social responsibility (dao, langella & carbo, 2011). the extent of compliance to iemsd program in terms of the extent of compliance of the establishments with iemsd program, the findings show that in the aspect of economic and environmental indicators, the establishments partially complied with the iemsd program. environmentally, the majority of the establishments partially met with the integrated environmental management for sustainable development program. this result indicates that there is a need for more efforts to constrain the hotels, resorts and restaurants in southern leyte to be highly compliant with the provisions of iemsd. this is one of the means in which these firms will be able to 103 international peer reviewed journal contribute towards the universal plea for climate change adaptation, considering that these establishments would be mostly damaged if there are calamities. table 4. the extent of compliance to iemsd program (n=13) indicators mean description economic indicators 1 facilities that supply services 2.38 fully complied 2 employment opportunities to locals 2.23 partially complied 3 economic gains 2.23 partially complied 4 fishing industry 2.31 partially complied grand mean 2.29 partially complied environmental indicators 5 environmental mechanisms that reduce air pollution 2.15 partially complied 6 environmental mechanisms that control water pollution 2.46 fully complied 7 areas and ecosystems most vulnerable to natural hazard 2.23 partially complied 8 marine cover 2.38 fully complied 9 waste disposal facilities 2.31 partially complied 10 facilities protecting and preserving species 2.15 partially complied 11 vegetation cover 2.08 partially complied 12 renewable and alternative energy resources 2.15 partially complied 13 water facilities 2.15 partially complied grand mean 2.231 partially complied the emergent literature that concentrates the significance of voluntary and unrewarded green initiatives, its contribution to the greening process are often ignored. describing the precise nature of these initiatives and its impact on the firm’s environmental performance had rarely been explored. the initiatives of the people play significant role in improving the efficacy and efficiency of the environmental practices within the firm (asis-dimpas, sy, & ferrater, gimena, 2015). sustainability of selected hospitality industry establishments based on the iemsd indicators table 5 exhibits the sustainability of the hospitality entity based on iemsd indicators. economically and environmentally, the establishments were slightly 104 jpair multidisciplinary research sustainable. the result denotes that majority of the hospitality entities should be transformed to be viable and be able to adapt the hazards of climate change. these data support the four capital model of sustainability wherein it emphasizes that sustainable society is impractical to work without keeping up with the needed adjustments in the four capitals and upkeep of their supportability (siebert, 2008). table 5. sustainability of selected hospitality industry establishments based on the iemsd indicators (n=13)   indicators mean description   economic indicators     1 provision of facilities that supply services. 2.23 slightly sustainable 2 provision of sustainable employment opportunities to locals. 2.23 slightly sustainable 3 sustained increase of economic profitability. 1.92 slightly sustainable 4 protection and safeguarding of fishing industry. 2.15 slightly sustainable    grand mean 2.13 slightly sustainable   environmental indicators     5 implement environmental mechanisms that reduce air pollution. 2.15 slightly sustainable 6 implement environmental mechanisms that control water pollution. 2.23 slightly sustainable 7 determine areas and ecosystems most vulnerable to natural hazards and establish protection measures to those areas and ecosystems. 2.23 slightly sustainable 8 protection and preservation of marine cover. 2.08 slightly sustainable 9 provision of waste disposal facilities. 2.31 slightly sustainable 10 upgrade facilities to protect species and to anticipate changes in weather. 2.00 slightly sustainable 11 expand vegetation cover. 2.08 slightly sustainable 12 accelerate the use of renewable and alternative energy resources. 2.08 slightly sustainable 13 provision of sustainable water facilities. 2.00 slightly sustainable    grand mean 2.13 slightly sustainable these data on the slight sustainability of the hospitality establishments signify that the establishments had not addressed the main issue on practices and actions that would mitigate environmental damage and climatic hazards. 105 international peer reviewed journal table 6. results of the test of significant difference between the sustainability of the hospitality establishments according to location variables computed chi p value level of significance decision interpretation sustainability and location 0.1238 0.724939 5% accept ho not significant sustainability of the establishments in saint bernard and maasin city, southern leyte shows no significant difference between the viability of the hospitality facilities when grouped according to location. the actions that lead towards the sustainability of the hospitality establishments in southern leyte should be geared to strengthen the implementation of the various legal initiatives and policies and adaptation of the climate change. climate change is a worldwide dilemma for the international leader. thereby, they should initiate appropriate action to prevent catastrophe that would be brought by this circumstance (garcia, 2013). there had been different endeavors on researching the motivation behind why the organizations react to the ecological issues, regardless of whether consolidating natural practices into their business exercises can prompt to expanded execution, and assuming this is the case, what procedures are expected to accomplish the objectives (melville, 2010). conclusion regarding the sustainability of the establishments based on the integrated environmental management for sustainable development (iemsd), economically and environmentally, the facilities were slightly sustainable. the current condition on the slight sustainability of the establishments in the context of engaging actions that alleviate havoc to the environment clearly indicates that it necessitates more intensified efforts to strengthen the implementation of the provisions of the laws and legal initiatives so that the firms that are located to hazard prone areas to natural-induced calamities would be forced to follow. although, these establishments had undertaken some efforts in mitigating the hazardous effect of climate change by adopting and complying the provisions of the various legislative requirements that aimed to conserve and protect the mother nature but not to the highest and desirable extent. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research economic and environmental implications consistent with the international agreements and the philippines’ national laws, the local government units, the department of tourism in southern leyte and owners should spearhead in realizing the following guidelines for climatesmart services for the hospitality industry establishments along the coastal areas: 1. southern leyte should have vulnerability assessment (va) toolkit that gives a quick assessment of various parts of the beach front framework to different potential effects brought by changing the atmosphere. by enhancing their ability to evaluate their range’s helplessness to environmental change, nearby governments will have the capacity to arrange and refine existing administration intercessions, improve comprehension of environmental change issues, and enhance their groups’ versatility to environmental change. 2. joining in all accommodation industry foundations’ corporate social responsibility (csr), marketable strategies and arrangements the advancement of atmosphere brilliant businesses and administrations which are atmosphere versatile, eco-proficient and environment-accommodating ventures and management created, advanced and managed. 3. creation of green jobs or sustainable and decent employment in the hospitality industry for locals which help in the protection of the environment, ensure a shift to a low carbon development and adapt to the effects of climate change. 4. conduct of capacity building programs and knowledge for promoting climate-smart industries and services. 5. climate-proofing of infrastructures including emergency facilities and equipment such as lifeboats, life jackets, and emergency kit. 6. there is full implementation of republic act 9003 and batas pambansa bilang 73. 7. provide free seminars, workshops, and resources on reducing the wastes and lessen down the energy use of the establishments. 8. department of tourism 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(2009). retrieved from http://www.unep.org/climatechange/introduction.aspx 29 international peer reviewed journal initial public offering analysis on the financial performance of companies in the philippine stock exchange mark anthony n. polinar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mpolinar22@gmail.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity cebu, philippines john lemuel g. buntigao http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-9924 jbuntigao@yahoo.com cebu institute of technologyuniversity, cebu, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the initial public offering (ipo) is one of the money-making moves of a company to raise capital and to have more financial liquidity by selling shares of stocks to the public for the first time. this study concentrated on analyzing the effects of the initial public offering on the financial performance of four companies that went public three years before and three years after 2016 listed in the philippine stock exchange (pse). the data analysis procedures were accompanied by using the quantitative method that measures the effects of ipo on the financial performance, and t-test statistics are utilized to determine the mean difference between the pre-ipos and post-ipos’ financial performance. the results indicated that the return on sales, return on the total assets, and return vol. 44 · march 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v44i1.662 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-9999 mailto:mpolinar22@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-9924 mailto:jbuntigao@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/http:// https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/http:// 30 jpair multidisciplinary research on equity, current ratio, and debt-to-equity caused no significant difference in the financial performance of companies before and after the ipo event. in contrast, the debt ratio resulted in a significant difference after the ipo event. thus, by interpreting the results, the study concluded that the debt ratio of the companies improved after ipo listing and signifies that the companies have more assets than liabilities. the implication of the study to various stakeholders such as policymakers, private companies, retail investors, and future researchers was also provided. keywords — investment, initial public offering, quantitative method t-test statistics, philippine stock exchange introduction initial public offering (ipo) is one of the methods of private corporations to raise capital to improve and expand the business by issuing a share of stocks for the first time and goes public. a private corporation is a kind of business that privately-owned its share of stocks to its private shareholders and not publicly traded has improved its financial performance relatively with venture capitalists or angel investors. rudianto (2021) states that with the initial public offering, there will be a change in the status of the company from a closed company to an open one. the author argues that ipo has great potential in influencing company performance, one of which is financial performance due to the potential for additional capital in a relatively large amount. the company’s financial performance will be better than before the ipo. munisi (2017) mentions that before a private company goes public, it must first present its prospectus, which contains vital insightful information about the company regarding issuing shares to the public. the author contends that the company’s information presented to the public and the good intention to follow the rules and regulations, the prospect ipo company might expose essential information, such as financial health, compensation scheme, intellectual properties, financial projections, financial obligation, and other material information. the initial public offering (ipo) is a gateway for private corporations to become public companies which posit not only opportunities but also risks and challenges. germo (2021) mentions in his vlog that companies venturing ipo want to raise funds for whatever reason they may use the money for it could be for expansion, to pay off debt, or to reward those early investors that also want already to exit. in addition to the opportunities, kupier and dinklo (2017) indicate the total money 31 international peer reviewed journal collected from the ipo event can be used for investments such as retaining more cash or other assets which they can use for multiple purposes. the scholars contend that another reason for executing an ipo could be to profit from a change in leverage. the authors further argue that advantages for ipos are overcoming borrowing constraints, greater bargaining power with banks, portfolio diversification, stock market discipline, liquidity, investor recognition, change of control, and windows of opportunity. however, the process before and after the ipo event is not that easy due to some risks and challenges involved. the study of munisi (2017) states that an ipo process incurs some costs such as compliance cost and management time spent in the ipo process. the author argues that the company may outsource some professionals such as lawyers and accountants who may charge a significant amount of fees. as indicated on the website of pricewaterhousecoopers (n.d.), an international professional services network that provides audit and assurance, tax, and consulting services, the cost of going public varies. it is also affected by various factors, such as the complexity of the ipo structure, company size, and offering proceeds, as well as the company’s readiness to operate as a public company. the typical example of the cost incurred in the ipo process includes underwriting fees, accounting, legal, sec registration, exchange listing, printing, miscellaneous, and non-disclosed costs. the complex process might be bothersome to the companies’ core competence; as a result, the overall performance of the company will dwindle after the ipo operation is finished. as indicated by verma (2017), financial performance, in the broader sense, depicts the degree to which financial objectives being or have been accomplished and is an essential aspect of financial risk management. the author contends that the companies need to measure the overall financial health over an accounting period and compare their financial performance to similar business entities across the same industry. thus, financial performance is measured through various financial ratios from financial statements to obtain helpful information about the company. maina (2015) breaks down the analysis of the financial information of the ipo companies in tanzania using profitability, liquidity, leverage, and company size. lee et al. (2019), and doski (2014) uncovers that the ipo event has various effects on the company performance, operational performance, and financial performance. kuiper and dinklo (2017) revealed that the most mentioned reason why a firm executes an ipo is raising capital for investment, and the money collected can be used for various purposes that affect shareholder’s equity significantly with cash from the primary issuance. besides, the newest public company can capitalize through secondary offerings that give the company 32 jpair multidisciplinary research another way to raise funds. (business world, 2021). as indicated in the study of mungure (2017), another effect of the ipo on financial performance is it allows the firm to overcome the borrowing constraints that keep production at an optimal level. the scholar contends that the decision to be listed under a stock exchange is triggered by a sudden and permanent increase in total factor productivity. furthermore, the level of capital employed in production is set to advance at a level that is lower than the ex-post efficient one, the return on assets increases too. the study of fan (2019) concluded that highly leveraged firms tend to use the proceeds of ipos to repay more existing debt. the scholar added that the increased debt capacity and reduced interest burden enables firms to expand their business. the scholar further contends that firms that have previously labeled low-growth firms can achieve high growth in the post-ipo period by conducting debt retirement. on the flip side, there are several destructive effects of ipo on the financial performance of a new public company. according to amor and kooli (2017), ipos declaring investment plans as the primary use of proceeds exhibit insignificant average abnormal returns in the three years following the ipo, while ipos that state debt repayment as the primary use of proceeding is the highest underperformers. furthermore, the authors argue that the results confirm the role that the primary use of proceeds plays in explaining the timing motive of ipo firms. mania (2015) indicates that previous scholars have concluded that post-issue declines in the market-to-book ratio, price-earnings ratio, and earnings per share ratio. this is consistent with this interpretation, suggesting that potential investors initially have high expectations of future earnings growth, which are not subsequently fulfilled. the philippine stock exchange (pse) is the marketplace where the companies go public through ipo and get listed. the pse aims at around eight ipo’s per year. in 2016, four private companies successfully went public (pse edge). patag (2019) reveals that the target is based on the continuous slowdown of inflation (2 to 4 percent range. the author argues that fiscal and monetary policies encourage aggregate spending and the strengthening of the peso against the dollar, which influence not only the market but also ipos. if the performance of the local market holds strong, more private companies will be enticed to go public and participate in the market (patag, 2019). however, the author further argues that several companies listed are not performing well after going public. investors should not discount the fact that ipos did not execute well and not even reached their ipo price after listed in the stock market after several years. the research conducted by kim and weisbach (2005) revealed that issuance of primary shares is correlated with higher increases of investment, higher 33 international peer reviewed journal repayment of debt and increases in cash, and more subsequent capital-raising through offerings. the scholars contend that capital raising is an important motive in the going-public decision. sheila (2019) studied and analyzed the effect of an ipo on the financial performance of listed companies in the nairobi securities exchange. the study concluded that selling shares to the public enhances a firm’s financial flexibility by generating additional sources of capital to finance growth and expansion, and this is reflected by the high share prices. the author further argues that an increase in investor recognition and shareholder base due to an ipo lowers the firm’s cost of equity; enhances stock liquidity which is valuable for managerial incentive schemes, which in turn increases the firm’s value. lee et al. (2019) investigated the comparative analysis of financial performance and operational performance of 12 low-cost carrier before and after going public. the findings revealed the improvement of liquidity that management actively attempted to enhance activities based on the money collected provided by the ipo. strong liquidity convinces potential investors and creditors that the business has enough assets to combat any difficult times. the findings also revealed that the debt ratio decreased in most of the sample enterprises. it indicated that the lccs collected a substantial amount of funding through ipo and carried out visible efforts for improvement, utilizing the money for activities such as debt retirement. as presented in the abstract of pastusiak et al. (2016), there is a decline in profitability after the ipo event that confirms the phenomenon of distorting the level of profit before the ipo and partially equity dilution after the ipo. a study by alanazi et al. (2011) indicated that 16 ipo companies listed at the saudi stock exchange market experience a significant decline in the post-ipo performance in comparison to the pre-ipo performance level as measured by the return on assets and return on sales. the findings also showed that the financial performance downturn is correlated with the ipo phenomenon. descriptive research conducted by kuria (2014) examined the changes in the financial performance of companies in kenya as they shift from private to public companies through initial public offerings (ipos). it showed conclusively 67% decline in their financial performance for three years after ipo while 33% increased on their financial performance after the ipo listing. the study of rudianto (2021) indicated that an initial public offering had been proven to reduce financial leverage in companies. this means that the purpose of companies conducting an ipo in indonesia is one of which is a funding portfolio, so to encourage the progress of companies and the national economy, it is important to create new policy innovations such as the provision of tax incentives that have been 34 jpair multidisciplinary research implemented previously. the scholar argues that one year after the initial public offering, it is proven that there will be a decrease in the company’ performance in terms of financial ratios, this happens to the average company, the decline is influenced by the effectiveness of the use of assets in creating sales, and financial leverage effects, this is normal, especially if capital funds used in long-term investment, it is necessary to carry out a more careful assessment in terms of making investment decisions. a study by ritter and welch (2002) raised two theories concerning ipo: the market-timing theory and the life cycle theory. market-timing theory was introduced by baker and wurlger (2002). setyawan (2011) stated that the essence of this theory is described when prices of stocks are overvalued, firms will finance projects through debts, and otherwise, the firms will be undervalued and be relied on equity financing. another theory anchored in the life cycle theory by modigliani (1957) argues that radically innovative industries are more likely to default, which lead to a lower optimal level of leverage (dehan, 2014). the author contends that since the innovative firms have additional capital requirements above the optimal leverage ratio, they will be forced to raise the additional funds through the stock market. ritter and welch (2002) indicated that the decision to go public is more influenced by market conditions and then the life cycle of the business itself. figure 1: theoretical framework 35 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study analyzed the effects of the initial public offering on the financial performance of the four publicly held companies before and after the ipo listing date in 2016 using the selected financial ratios. after that, the results were analyzed whether there is a significant difference in the mean of each variable before and after ipo proceedings. data were tabulated and assessed according to its conclusions, and implications to be used by policymakers help potential private companies which want to undergo the ipo process. the results were to guide retail investors toward investing in newly publicly held companies and adds to the body of knowledge on how it affects the financial performance of the companies. methodology the data utilized in this study was gathered manually from the ipo prospectus of the companies before the ipo event in 2016 and disclosures of the annual reports after the ipo listing obtained from respective company’s websites and pse’s website. according to pse edge, there are four publicly listed companies in 2016, which are cemex holdings philippines, inc. (chp), golden bria holdings, inc. (hvn), shakey’s pizza asia ventures, inc. (pizza), and pilipinas shell petroleum corporation (shlph). these mentioned companies are the primary source of data in this study. the quantitative type of research method was used, specifically described the given data and focused on the particular variables. data was comprehensively analyzed with the effect of initial public offering on the financial performance and also on whether there is a significant difference in mean before and after ipo proceedings. various methods can be used to measure financial performance. the financial measurements commonly used are accounting performance and stock market performance. this study employed accounting performance to measure its financial performance because accounting performance is a better quantification of overall performance than stock price movement. the comprehensive analysis of the financial performance was based on financial ratios in the study, such as return on sales (ros), return on total asset (rota), return on equity (roe), current ratio (cr), debt ratio (dr), and debt-to-equity ratio (d/e). 36 jpair multidisciplinary research profitability return on sales return on sales (ros) is a barometer of the profitability of the company’s efficient course of action to turn sales into profits. it is computed by dividing operating profit by net sales. return on sales (ros) calculation reveals how effectively a company produces its goods or services and how its management handles the business. return on total assets return on total assets (rota) is a profitability ratio that indicates the quantification of a company’s earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) divided by total operating assets. return on total assets shows how management effectively utilizes its assets to generate earnings. return on equity return on equity (roe) is a reckoning of the profitability of the company about equity. the measurement of financial performance is calculated by dividing net income by shareholder’s equity. return on equity is considered an indicator that discloses how much profit a company earned in contrast to the shareholder’s equity found on the statement of financial position. liquidity current ratio the current ratio (cr) is part of the liquidity ratio that determines the company’s ability to pay short-term financial obligations or due within one year. the calculation of the current ratio is dividing the company’s current assets by current liabilities. it notifies the management that the company maximizes the current assets on its financial position to fulfill its current debt and other shortterm payables. stability debt ratio debt ratio (dr) is a financial ratio under stability that describes the financial health of a company and measures the extent of a company’s leverage. it 37 international peer reviewed journal is calculated by dividing liabilities over assets. the ratio shows whether or not it has loans, if so, how its credit financing compares with its assets. debt-to-equity ratio the debt-to-equity ratio (d/e) indicates the financial stability of a company and its ability to raise additional capital to be used as leverage. it is quantified by dividing the company’s liabilities by its shareholder’s equity. the result of this equation can be used in measuring a company’s financial health relative to shareholder’s equity. results and discussion this study examined the effects of initial public offering on the financial performance of companies that go public in 2016. financial performance is measured using the selected financial ratios as shown below: table 1. return on sales (in percentage) pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp 10.56 12.03 19.04 9.12 6.49 9.92 hvn 34.86 30.07 30.4 26.8 29 32.8 pizza 11.65 12.08 11.74 14.57 13.43 12.7 shlph -4.79 4.39 8.21 7.69 3.61 4.12 total 52 59 69 58 53 60 mean 15 14.33 source: authors (2020) table 1 reveals a slight decline in return on sales with the mean after going public compared with pre-ipo. chp and hvn pre-ipo and post-ipo financial performance show a material decrease in return on sales that affects the company’s operational efficiency. however, pizza and shlph appear positive results of postipo financial performance compares to pre-ipo. the decrease in return on sales implies possible financial troubles that affect the company’s operational efficiency. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. return on the total asset (in percentage) pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp 7.84 1.44 9.52 3.90 2.51 0.92 hvn 14.79 13.26 5 6 10 11 pizza 38.40 37.47 11.58 11.54 11.53 12.37 shlph -11.54 5.37 17.3 13 6 5 total 49 58 43 31 28 28 mean 12.33 7.33 source: authors (2020) table 2 shows the comparison in return on the total assets for three years (2014-2016) before and three years (2017-2019) after ipo. it indicates that the mean from pre-ipo declines substantially compared with after listing. chp, hvn, and pizza incurred a decrease in return on total assets after ipo listing. however, shlph recorded an increase in return on total assets after the publicly-held company in 2016 onwards. this is an indicator that shlph is using its total assets effectively to generate earnings. table 3. return on equity (in percentage) pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp -4.57 0.78 5.30 2.42 4.77 1.32 hvn 13.35 34.77 15 15.48 25.79 35 pizza 33.93 30.39 22.6 19.18 18.29 17.07 shlph -104 24 22.6 24.9 13.2 14.3 total -61 90 66 62 57 66 mean 7.67 15.33 source: authors (2020) table 3 depicts the results of the return on equity concerning before and after listing to become a public company. the table above uncovers a double increase in the mean before ipo compared to after ipo. nevertheless, pizza’s comparative assessment of pre-ipo to post-ipo reveals a substantial decline in 39 international peer reviewed journal return on equity. the ratio indicates how capital is utilized effectively and being re-invested properly. table 4. current ratio pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp 0.88 1.43 1.49 1 0.9 0.8 hvn 3.93 0.95 2.65 1.57 1.51 2.02 pizza 1.05 1.23 1.08 1.13 1.66 1.03 shlph 0.9 1.94 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.2 total 6.8 5.6 6.9 5.2 5.5 5 mean 1.6 1.33 source: authors (2020) table 4 shows the current ratio of the companies three years before and three years after the ipo listing. findings indicated a decrease in the mean of the current ratio after ipo listing compared with before ipo. hvn records the highest plunge of the current ratio post-ipo performance among all companies listed. research results revealed that all companies that opted for ipo listing registered a decline in their current ratio, implying a taper of company’s paying their current financial obligations or due within one year. table 5. debt ratio (in percentage) pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp 71.22 69.80 67.20 40 50 50 hvn 34.98 75.68 17 11 11 28 pizza 47.79 40.76 64.20 56.37 52.56 58.90 shlph 94.79 52.71 53.37 10.9 9.7 13.6 total 249 239 202 118 123 151 mean 57.33 33 source: authors (2020) 40 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5 represents the comparative analysis of the effect of ipo on the debt ratio of the publicly listed companies. it unveils a substantial decrease in the mean of the debt ratio after ipo listing. shlph’s debt ratio after three years of becoming a public company (2017-2019) discloses a massive decrease in the debt ratio. it means they have a substantial financial structure and more excellent creditworthiness. furthermore, having a lower debt ratio is more advantageous than a higher debt ratio. table 6. debt-to-equity pre-ipo post-ipo stock symbol 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 chp 2.48 0.70 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 hvn 0.54 3.12 0.38 0.33 0.33 0.88 pizza 0.92 0.69 1.79 1.29 1.11 1.43 shlph 12.71 1.54 1.14 0.20 0.20 0.40 total 16.64 6.04 4.01 2.62 2.54 3.71 mean 2.22 0.74 source: authors (2020) table 6 uncovers a substantial decline of the mean of the debt-to-equity ratio after ipo listing in contrast to before the ipo process. shlph divulges a substantive decrease of the debt-to-equity ratio in the post-ipo listing among all publicly held companies. the substantive decrease implies better corporate valuation that highlights a company’s dependence on borrowed funds and its ability to meet those financial obligations. therefore, a low ratio means a low risk of failure to pay loans and fewer chances of bankruptcy in the event of an economic downfall. test of significance between pre-ipo and post-ipo financial performance this study scrutinized whether the mean difference between pre-ipo and post-ipo financial performance is significant by using an ms excel t-test paired with two samples for means of each variable. the test was done at a 95% significance level using the two-tail test. ho: there is no significant difference between the financial performance of companies before and after going public at the philippine stock exchange. 41 international peer reviewed journal ha: there is a significant difference between the financial performance of companies before and after going public at the philippine stock exchange. table 7. financial ratio test statistics financial ratios return on sales preipo 15 post-ipo 14.33 t-statistics 0.424 return on total assets preipo 12.33 post-ipo 7.33 t-statistics 1.098 return on equity preipo 7.67 post-ipo 15.33 t-statistics -0.663 current ratio preipo 1.6 post-ipo 1.33 t-statistics 1.314 debt ratio preipo 57.33 post-ipo 33 t-statistics 2.560 debt-to-equity preipo 2.22 post-ipo 0.74 t-statistics 1.285 source: authors (2020) the results of the test statistics on return on sales, return on total assets, return on equity, current ratio, and debt-to-equity ratio show no significant differences before and after ipo event and fell in the acceptance region defined by values between -2.2281 and 2.2281. thus, there is no significant difference between the financial performance of companies before and after going public in the philippine stock exchange, which leads to the acceptance of the null hypothesis. therefore, based on these results, there is no enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis when financial performance is measured by return on sales (ros), return on total assets (rota), return on equity (roe), current 42 jpair multidisciplinary research ratio (cr), and debt-to-equity ratio (d/e). on the other hand, the debt ratio test statistics computed was 2.560 that shows a significant difference in this variable before and after the ipo event. conclusions the stock exchange market plays a crucial role as a money-making strategy for the companies that want to raise capital for the general public. the issuance of shares of stocks is one of the companies’ strategies to achieve goals and objectives and to be financially liquid and stable. therefore, investors are participating in this platform by buying shares and becoming a shareholder of listed companies with the financial objective of benefiting from this type of investment vehicle through price appreciation and future dividends. investors can derive these benefits if the new publicly held companies outshine after the ipo event. based on the findings of the study, it shows that there is a difference between pre-ipo and post-ipo. however, the statistical treatment used in this study concludes that the differences in the mean of the selected financial ratios are mostly insignificant. the findings indicate that using the financial ratios as independent variables such as return on sale, return on total assets, return on equity, current ratio, and debt-to-equity ratio results in no significant difference between the financial performance before ipo and after ipo event. the result contradicts the findings of other studies, such as the study by rudianto (2021), whose conclusion showed a significant difference in current ratio, debtto-equity, and return on assets; lee, lim, and lee (2019) indicated that ipo improves liquidity; pastusiak et al. (2016) which revealed a significant decline in profitability, and alanazi et al. (2011) found a significant decline in the postipo especially on the return on assets and returned on sales. it indicated the financial performance significantly declines after ipo. this implies that there are no consistent findings in ipo listing studies. this gives arduous tasks for future researchers and practitioners to achieve a general conclusion on whether companies accomplish better financial performance after ipo. the lack of definitive findings of the study may be due to several factors such as the following: selecting financial ratios as part of variables, methodology, years covered of data gathered, and context of the study. on the other hand, the study’s result supports the conclusion of munisi (2012) that there is no consistency in findings in ipo event studies. the findings reveal that among all selected financial ratios, the debt ratio resulted in a significant difference after the ipo event. the result 43 international peer reviewed journal implies that the debt ratio of the companies improved after ipo listing and signifies that the companies have more assets than liabilities. studies by lee, lim, and lee (2016); kim and weisbach (2005) corroborated that the debt ratio will decrease after ipo and issuance of primary shares has a relationship with higher repayment of debt. therefore, the ipo event reduces the debt ratio that gives conviction to the companies to pay their liabilities. the outcome of this study has implications for policymakers, private companies, retail investors, and future researchers. the results have policy implications for regulators of the stock market and governance of publicly held companies. it unveils that the financial performance of the listed companies does not significantly decline after ipo. for the private companies, the outcome of the study gives insight and guidelines to the private companies who want to raise capital through the ipo process. the result of the study provides data on how financial performance changes after the ipo. rudianto (2021) concluded in his study that the expectation of improved financial performance does not occur in all aspects one year after the initial public offering. the study’s findings imply retail investors in ipos, specifically in pse, wherein both foreign and local investors engage in trading and investing stocks. it shows a comprehensive analysis of financial performance helps a retail investor develop a quality investment decision before investing in an ipo. thus investors should be clear on the information available of the companies that they want to invest in. the findings of the study have necessary implications for future researchers of ipo performance. explicitly, the results show that the conclusion drawn on the financial performance of the listed companies should be explained prudently, and the reason being that the outcome of the study may be affected by selecting financial ratios and different industries of the company. literature cited alanazi, a. s., liu, b., & forster, j. 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(2017). financial performance-understanding its concepts and importance. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2rb0jwj https://bit.ly/3a2qhuh https://bit.ly/2q2796t https://bit.ly/2q2796t https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/deals/library/cost-of-an-ipo.html https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/deals/library/cost-of-an-ipo.html https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6261.00478 https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.210220.041 https://doi.org/10.47604/ijfa.318 https://doi.org/10.47604/ijfa.318 120 jpair multidisciplinary research education, second courser, and non-college of education graduate’s performance in the licensure examination for teachers of jrmsu-tc sy 2013-2016 dana faye t. salundaguit http://orcid.prg/0000-0003-2239-5472 danafharsal@gmail.com jose rizal memorial state university tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan zamboanga del norte originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract licensure examination for teachers (let) is a standardized examination given to qualified graduates who wish to engage in the teaching profession in both elementary and secondary level. the examination is administered by the professional regulatory commission twice in a year and set the passing percentage to 75%. the study employed a descriptive method of research in determining the let performances of education and non-education graduates of jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus (jrmsu-tc). let results coming from the professional regulatory commission (prc) were considered as the main data of the study. the present study considered 281 elementary education takers broken down into 168 beed graduates and 113 non education graduates, and 235 secondary education takers classified according to 75 bsed graduates, 127 professional education certificate (pec) graduates, and 33 noncollege of education (ced) graduates. the statistical measures used in the study vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.633 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.prg/ mailto:danafharsal@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 121 international peer reviewed journal were frequency count and percentage. the salient features were as follows: the bachelor of elementary education (beed) first takers performed well in the let but combining their results with the repeaters, and non-education graduates, results barely surpass the national passing percentage. in the case of the bachelor of secondary education (bsed), overall results indicated low performance in the let or below the national passing percentage. based on the findings of the study it was recommended to review the policies of the college of education particularly on the entry and retention policies, faculty commitment, and the conduct of review classes and mock board. keywords — licensure examination for teachers, education graduates, non-education graduates, second course, descriptive design, philippines introduction for teachers to be globally competitive, one must be highly prepared for the global qualification. as reiterated by the commission on higher education (ched) in 2012, schools must help to build a quality nation and contribute to its global competitiveness (adeyemo, 2015). this mandate includes the need for the higher education system to produce graduates with analytical and problemsolving skills, among others and to align the philippine educational system to the rest of the association of south-east asian nations (asean) which requires competent, highly qualified, and dedicated teachers. the state recognized the vital role of teachers in nation-building and development through responsible and literate citizen (sec. 2 art. 1, of ra 7836). furthermore, teacher quality is one of the goals of the national education systems worldwide and one proposed measure of teacher quality, is teacher licensing, also known as certification, it is an increasingly global component of national education systems and pre-service teacher education around the world (wiseman and al-bakr, 2013). licensure examination for teachers (let) is a standardized examination given twice in a year which requires an examinee to attain an average rating of not less than 75% and must have no rating of lower than 50% in any area covered. similarly, in most states in the united states, teachers are awarded an initial teaching certificate after they have completed the course requirements of their teacher education program and have successfully passed the state teacherlicensing exam. england, on the other hand, is the only country other than the united states that requires a licensure examination in addition to the 122 jpair multidisciplinary research examinations given by the teacher education institution (wang, coleman, coley, & phelps, 2003). there are lots of reasons why teachers need to be certified one of which is salary like in indonesia wherein the teachers are to become certified in exchange for a doubling of their salary, another reason is for better student performance, unfortunately, research from the us using large-scale, longitudinal data is virtually unanimous in its failure to find an association between teacher certification and student performance (pugatch, t. 2017). jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus (jrmsu-tc) is one of the five campuses of jose rizal memorial state university system. the campus offered education courses since 1997 and produced its pioneering group of graduates last 2001 and up to the present. out of the dismay of the faculty and staff of the college regarding the recent results of the let, this study was conceptualized primarily because of the downward trend performance of the let that used to be high in the previous years. it is also the findings of the commission of higher education (ched) who declared that for the most recent years, there had been reports about the deteriorating quality of teacher education graduates as reflected in the prc-let results. these also prompted lots of studies about licensure examination particularly on the causes and factors affecting its deterioration. the present study would like to find out the cause of the downtrend performance of the prc-let results of the institution however, it will only concentrate on the rating of those non education graduates who happen to qualify to take the let by taking the professional education certificate (pec) or the second courser, and the qualified education graduates from other colleges. it is assumed that their ratings as incorporated in the college of education let results causes the decline of the overall results. framework the study is anchored primarily on two theories that are formulated based on the study conducted by faltado (2014), namely the holistic tei theory and the three-tiered theory on let performance enhancement with corresponding theory modeling. the holistic tei theory states that in order for a teacher education institution to perform better in the licensure examination, it must have a holistic package. this means that teacher education institutions must improve and further enhance its status with respect to admission and retention policy, curriculum and instruction, faculty competence, research and extension, physical plant and facilities, administration and school culture. the second theory is the 123 international peer reviewed journal three-tiered theory on let performance enhancement which states that the performance in the licensure examination for teachers is predicted by three aspects, the admission and retention policy, curriculum and instruction and faculty competence. the conceptual framework of the study below shows that the variables are interrelated, the first frame as the independent variable consisting of the let takers classified as education graduates, non-education graduates, and the second coursers as it is directly related to the second frame which is the dependent variable containing their passing percentage in the let. objectives of the study the researcher aimed to: (1) describe the let passing performance of beed first takers and repeaters including the let passing performance of the elementary education graduates, non-college of education (ced) graduates, against the national passing percentage, (2) determine the let passing performance of the bsed first takers and repeaters including the let passing performance of the secondary education graduates, second courser and nonced graduates against the national passing percentage. methodology research design the study employed a descriptive method of research. descriptive method was employed because the present study aimed to describe the performance of graduates in the licensure examination for teachers from sy 2013-2016. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted at jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus. the school was established on december 16, 1958, as zamboanga del norte agricultural college with a total land reserved of 2,300 hectares. jrmsu-tc started offering bachelor of elementary education and bachelor of elementary education in 1997 up to the present, but prior to this, the institution had an existing education program under the college of agriculture labeled as non-ced students. the school is located in the western part of mindanao and around 155 km from dipolog city, the capital of the province and one of the six (6) campuses of the jrmsu system. participants the respondents of the study were the 281 elementary education takers broken down into 168 beed graduates and 113 non education graduates, and the 235 secondary education takers classified according to 75 bsed graduates, 127 professional education certificate (pec) graduates, and 33 non-college of education (ced) graduates. instrumentation the study utilized the scores of takers coming from the professional regulatory commission (prc) from the school year 2013 to 2016. results and discussion a. beed (education), non-ced graduates and national passing percentage graph 1. let passing performance of beed graduates as to first takers and repeaters 125 international peer reviewed journal the graph showed a huge disparity between the first takers and repeaters particularly in january 2014 (first taker 75%, repeaters 12.50%), august 2014 (first taker 36%, zero percent repeaters), march 2015 (first taker 66.67%, repeaters 17.86%), and september 2015 (first taker 4667%, repeaters 8.33%). the results indicated that first takers made a remarkable rating in the let; however, the repeaters pulled down their results. the result of the study agrees with the claim of figuerres (2013) which she expounded that fresh graduates of the teacher education programs tend to perform higher in the let than those who took the let at the later examination schedule. also, it fits with the findings of antiolo (2017) stating therein that the first takers had much higher passing percentage than the repeaters. graph 2. let passing performance of beed and non-ced graduates against the national passing percentage. the graph showed a comparison between the beed passing percentages, non-ced graduates passing percentages as against the national passing percentage. results indicate that combining the passing percentages of beed first and repeaters still exceeded the national passing percentage in most number of school years (jan 2014 with 33.33% against 27.78%, aug 2014 33.33% against 29.89%, sept 2015 with 35.71% against 27.42%, and march 2016 with 38.71% against 35.43%) covered in the present study. the result is related to the study conducted by figuerres (2013) on board examinees of university of northern philippines which she found that institutional passing rate was higher than the national passing rate of l.e.t elementary. however, in the case of non-ced graduates’ takers, their passing percentage only exceeded the national passing in march 2013 having 50% passing percentage against 42.46% national passing. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research graph 3. let institutional passing performance of beed against the national passing percentage the graph showed the institutional passing percentage of jrmsu-tc against the national passing percentage. the result indicates that the beed takers were pulled down because of the non-ced graduate takers. it is a clear indication that only in march 2013 wherein the beed takers exceeded the national passing with 43.24% against 42.46%. unlike, in the case of the university of northern philippines which indicated their performance in the licensure examination for teachers, in both courses (elementary and secondary) have been consistently higher than the national passing rates (figuerres, 2010) b. bsed (education), second courser (pec), non-ced graduates and national passing percentage graph 4. let passing performance of bsed graduates as to first takers and repeaters the graph shows the passing percentage of bsed first takers and repeaters covering the school year 2013-2016. the result indicates a dismal performance of the repeaters when compared to the first takers in sy september 2015 with 66.67% against 0%, aug. 2014 with 57.14% against 9.09%, january 2014 127 international peer reviewed journal (33.33% against 0%), and march 2013 (66.67% against 33.33%). results imply that repeaters affected the performance of the first takers when their passing percentage was combined. the result of the study was attested by antiolo (2017) who confirmed that it was a common observation among tei’s that repeaters pull down the institutional passing percentage (ipp) in let. first takers got higher chances of passing let than the repeaters. graph 5. the bsed, second courser, non-ced graduates and national passing percentage the graph indicates the passing percentage of bsed, second courser, nonced graduate takers and the national passing percentage. results revealed the low performance of the bsed having only march 2016 (36.36% against 35.42) and march 2013 (41.67% against 39.61%) passing percentage higher than the national passing percentage. the result further revealed a very low performance of the second courser, and non-ced graduate takers, thus making the overall performance very low as compared to the national passing percentage. the same result was revealed by rabanal (2011) who found out that the teacher education graduate respondents failed to achieve the passing rate in the licensure examination for teachers. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research graph 6. the institutional and national passing percentage the graph shows a very low passing performance of the bsed takers when compared to the national passing percentages covering the sy 2013 to 2016. the result is very much evident that the ced should make plans and interventions to uplift the passing percentage of the bsed takers. the result is inconsistent with the result of antiojo (2017) which revealed that the institutions’ passing percentage in terms of a number of passers, on the average, is above the let national passing percentage for both the secondary and elementary education graduates. conclusions based on the findings of the study it is concluded that the beed and bsed first takers perform better than the repeaters. the beed takers perform better than non-ced graduate takers surpassing the national passing percentages in the following school years: march 2016, sept. 2015, aug 2014, and jan 2014, while bsed results are greatly affected by the second courser, and nonced graduate results and finally, beed and bsed overall results are low compared to the national passing percentage. translational research the findings of this research study can be translated into formulating review materials or workbook focused on the professional education and general education topics that will be disseminated and published to help education student-graduates pass the licensure examination for teachers (let). furthermore, this also leads to the formulation of a more strict policy in the entry and retention policy to secure the graduates in passing the let. 129 international peer reviewed journal recommendations based on the findings of the study it is highly recommended that for the college of education students the entry/retention policy of the college shall be strictly followed and monitored by the chairpersons and dean, the attendance to the review class must be monitored and checked, students found to have 20% absent from the required number of hours must be dropped from the pre-board subject, result from the mock board examination shall be considered as one of the factors in allowing the students to take the board examination, it is therefore to be presented in the academic council for board of regent’s approval, and lastly faculty commitment shall be encouraged so that class observation must be frequently done for monitoring to improve the academic performance of the college of education students. literature cited adeyemo, k. s. (2015). regulatory and skills requirements for higher education in the philippines. industry and higher education, 29(2), 89-92. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5367/ihe.2015.0249 antiojo, l. p. (2017). performance of education graduates in the licensure examination for teachers (let).  people: international journal of social sciences, 3(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.32.13631384 esmeralda, a.b., espinosa, j.p. (2015). teacher education graduates’ performance as predictor of licensure examination for teachers results. doi: 10.7719/jpair.v21i1.330 faltado, r. e. (2014). correlates of performance in the licensure examination of selected public and private teacher education institutions.  international journal of education and research,  2(8), 167-176. retrieved from https:// goo.gl/pjkgbk figuerres o. b. (2010). an analysis of the performance of unp in the licensure examination for teachers, 2001-2010 retrieved from https://ejournals.ph/ article.php?id=3219 https://doi.org/10.5367%2fihe.2015.0249 https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.32.13631384 https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=3219 https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=3219 130 jpair multidisciplinary research figuerres, o. b. (2013). an analysis of the performance of the university of northern philippines in the licensure examination for teachers. iamure international journal of education, 6(1), 1-1. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ idh2dh pugatch, t. (2017). is teacher certification an effective tool for developing countries?. iza world of labor. retrieved from 10.15185/izawol.349 rabanal, g.c. (2016). academic achievement and let performance of the bachelor of elementary education graduates, university of northern philippines. international journal of scientific and research publications, 6(6), 455-461. retrieved from https://goo.gl/vvqwzo wang, a. h., coleman, a. b., coley, r. j., & phelps, r. p. (2003). preparing teachers around the world. policy information report. retrieved from https://goo.gl/14iim2 wiseman, a. w., & al-bakr, f. (2013). the elusiveness of teacher quality: a comparative analysis of teacher certification and student achievement in gulf cooperation council (gcc) countries.  prospects,  43(3), 289-309. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-013-9272-z http://dx.doi.org/10.15185/izawol.349 124 jpair multidisciplinary research bugkalots’communicative action on property and inheritance: a habermasian discourse panfilo c. canay http://orcid.org 0000-0001-8302-0610 panfilocanay@gmail.com cagayan state university, andrews campus, tuguegarao city, philippines abstract the ability of a cultural community to progress and preserve itself as a distinct people is anchored on a social order that is nurtured and shaped by an oral law, characterized by rational and coordinated action of property ownership, transfer and dispute resolution. using the theoretical lens of jurgen habermas specifically on the concept of “system and lifeworld”, the study aimed to determine the communicative action that exists among bugkalots which allows rational acceptance of customary laws in the transfer of property and solving disputes related to property ownership. also, it determined how communicative action is established and shared in the bugkalot lifeworld and lastly, identify the ethics of discourse which are imbedded in the communicative action that manifest the bugkalot’s struggle for cultural survival and preservation. fieldwork, interviews, and case studies were used in the study. results revealed that one important factor that discourages property disputes especially on ownership and conveyance among bugkalots is their knowledge of communal ownership. this suggests that their purpose of ownership is not egocentric ownership but an act of reaching understanding. community members can still be oriented to their own interests, but they do this under conditions which harmonize their plans vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.357 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 125 international peer reviewed journal of action on the basis of common situation definitions, that is, the essence of habermas’ communicative action. keywords customary laws, bugkalots, communicative action, property, inheritance, ownership, succession, case study, quirino, philippines introduction the world is composed of more than 370 million self-identified indigenous people worldwide making up more than 5000 distinct tribes. they speak more than 4000 of the nearly 7000 languages of the world today. their territories cover about 20% of the earth’s surface(ifad, 2012). the philippines is a home to more than 110 indigenous cultural communities inhabiting seven major ethnolinguistic regions. these indigenous people number to more than 12 million or 16% of the 73 million philippine population as of 1997 survey (ipra, 1997). indigenous cultural communities are known to be distinct from the mainstream filipino due to their cultural identities, spiritual beliefs, economic practices, and political structures. they are the descendants of the native filipinos who rejected colonialism. they retained in them the uniqueness of the filipino person (ibon, 1993). all indigenous cultural communities in the country trace their beginnings on the land upon which culture is rooted and where they live. for them, the land is their worship area (religion), their institution of learning (education), their area of governance (politics), their livelihood and market (economy), their medical center (health), their shelter (defense and security) and their history (ipra, 1997). for these reasons, cultural communities provide ultimate reverence to their ancestral lands since it is the center of their human existence. as clearly articulated by macliing dulag, a kalinga pangat, “land is sacred, land is life” (bennagen, in anima, 1985). this somehow captures the urgent need for the state to recognize the rights of the indigenous people to their ancestral lands and ancestral domain consistent with their aspirations, survival, and cultural integrity. among the indigenous people, the pursuit for order and continued survival are dependent on adherence to their customary laws. the bugkalots of landingan, nagtipunan, quirino, philippines are no exemption as their lands are still untitled and they continue to transfer and decide disputes on property and inheritance by the existing customary laws handed by their ancestors. as of 2015, no written documents are made in the disposition of property considering that 126 jpair multidisciplinary research tekwat (pinpointing) is still the pervading manner of property transfer. unlike in the mainstream culture where demarcation (land titling) of property precedes ownership and identity, the bugkalots first identify themselves as bugkalot then ownership is established. in short, it is their identification of their being bugkalot which determines their communal ownership and subsequently their individual property. the key to this reality is the adherence to their customary laws which is crucial in defining and determining their social relations particularly in relation to land. these customs and practices are rooted in a “widespread rational acceptance” by the population based on the everyday conduct of members and the expectations from certain activity which guide the people’s action. the study proffers that investigating the bugkalots communicative action , a rational and shared understanding of people leading to coordinated action, consensus and cooperation, may be a sound basis in explaining the dynamic character of their customary laws especially in fostering good governance and in effectively responding to changes amidst the influences of modernization. habermas theory (1994) on communicative action provides a theoretical basis for a view of planning through public dialogue. this dialogue is characterized by massive participation from the members and where information are disseminated and shared by all. this theoretical view discourages the exercise of power by strong participants and thus, avoiding the giving of preference to experts that would result to monopoly in the decision making process. in the study of the customary laws of the bugkalots, this theoretical basis of communicative action was explicated in their three primary customary laws: one is the continuous practice of the bugkalots not to have a legal title of their lands. second is their adherence to transfer their property and inheritance from one person to another through customary practice and third, the practice to continue deciding disputes on property and inheritance by existing customary laws. account on the customary laws of the bugkalots are evident that the preservation and compliance of these customary practices are attributed to frequent dialogue regarding its benefits and the need to subscribed to these laws. objectives of the study using the theoretical lens of jurgen habermas, the study aimed to determine the communicative action that exists among bugkalots which allows rational acceptance of customary laws in the transfer of property and solving disputes 127 international peer reviewed journal related to property ownership. also, it determined how communicative action is established and shared in the bugkalot lifeworld, and lastly, identify the ethics of discourse which are imbedded in the communicative action that manifest the bugkalot’s struggle for cultural survival and preservation. framework oral law is considered a system and the practice of it becomes a lifeworld. the bugkalots have weaved across time an oral law governing their property and inheritance. this oral law was not a prescription but a negotiated act among them. the practice of oral law as a negotiated action is founded on their concept of communal ownership. it is through communal ownership that they reach a level of rational and common understanding which constitutes their communicative action. reaching this level of communication brings them to a higher level of consensus and cooperation. it also allows them to pursue a coordinated action leading to the realization of a common goal which is integral in shaping their social life. customary laws: a habermasian perspective jurgen habermas is a contemporary philosopher with a worldwide reputation. one of his best-known idea is communicative action, in which actors in society seek to reach common understanding and to coordinate actions by reasoned argument, consensus, and cooperation rather than strategic action strictly in pursuit of their own goals. in communicative action participants are not oriented to their own individual successes. they pursue their individual goals under the condition that they can harmonize their plans on the basis of common situation definitions. in this respect, the negotiation of definitions of the situation is an element of communicative actions (habermas, 1984). communicative action is an essential framework to understand the bugkalots’ issue on maintaining a “paperless” property ownership, transfer and dispute resolution. it brings into fore the absence of property disputes because community members act on rational and coordinated meaning. thus, their “lifeworld” was the key to creating cooperation and consensus in their family and community life. habermas’ further believed that it is through the legitimation of the social institutions in society that equality and respect among the members are assured, loyalty in the system is expected while adherence to customary laws on property 128 jpair multidisciplinary research and inheritance is subscribed upon. habermas critical social theory proposes a dual understanding of society both as a system and a lifeworld. system refers to the material reproduction which has to do with the preservation of bodies and which occurs mainly though the market and the state, while lifeworld refers to the horizon of meanings that individuals share in society and it is coordinated and reproduced symbolically. lifeworld also conveys the unquestionable background of meanings that is the locus for social integration. then and now, the customary laws of the bugkalots play a significant and indispensable role in shaping their social life. although unwritten, these customary laws are rarely disobeyed and they have become the source of social order and tranquillity in the community. this obedience creates an expectation based on the everyday conduct of members of the group and the expectations for a certain activity which rationally guides the people’s actions. customary law evolved from the recognition of the members of the group that they should act in accordance and in consideration of the rational expectations of others. the “benefit of behaving in accordance with other individuals’ expectation” gives one the assurance that these individuals behave as expected. three (3) primary customary laws are elucidated in this study. one is the continuous practice of the bugkalots not to have a legal title of their lands. second is their adherence to transfer their property and inheritance from one person to another through customary practices. third is their practice to continue deciding disputes on property and inheritance by the existing customary laws. however, to ascertain the role of these customary laws in the bugkalot’s lives, the need to unravel the communicative action governing their everyday life is also imperative. it is a basic assumption of communicative action that those who are involved in the dialogue are rational and equal. in this study, the assumption of rationality and equality is laid by the members of the first or original bugkalot community who set the norms and laws before it became an established customary practice. this is in recognition of the fact that an established practice does not allow rationality and equality of community members in the discourse. rather, by force of reason, this has obtained widespread acceptance from one generation to the next as they see the validity of the claim being clothed with good reasons to ensure that the practice is perpetuated. 129 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. framework of the study methodology fieldwork, interviews, and case studies were used in this study considering that it sought to document the “bugkalot customary laws on property and inheritance”. these research methods were employed to elicit information on the applicability of customary laws on property and inheritance. the researcher lived and stayed in the research site from may 10 to october 2003 and series of visits were made to the place from november 2003 to december 2003. structured interviews were conducted to elicit data on customary laws, while case studies were also undertaken to understand the operationalization of customary laws. the research was substantiated by methods of sikolohiyang pilipino such as pakapa-kapa (groping) approach considering that the researcher is unfamiliar with the research area and its people. thus, during the first part of the immersion, the data collection was made through pagmamasid (observation), pagtatanung-tanong (questioning), pagsubok (trial), pagdalaw (visitation), pakikilahok (participation) and pakikisangkot (involvement). the researcher used the structured interview guide as the primary instrument in gathering the data. the interview guide was done in english and was translated in ilocano and bugkalot. ilocano is the lingua franca of the place, however, some informants, who were not fully conversant in ilocano, were interviewed in the bugkalot language with the aid of a bugkalot interpreter hired for such purpose. interviewed for the study were the group leaders, elders, barangay officials, and some community members in landingan, nagtipunan, quirino who were 130 jpair multidisciplinary research willing to discuss and share their customary laws particularly on property and inheritance. majority of the informants are males aged 40 and above and are married. others belong to the age bracket of 20-40 years old. old informants have not gone to formal schooling but they can speak tagalog and english. they earned varied experiences in the realm of politics serving as municipal councilors, barangay captains, and other administrative positions. few of the informants have at least elementary education, but all of the informants are farmers by occupation. focus group discussion was used to ensure comprehensive collection of the data. documentary analysis was employed to scrutinize barangay and municipal records relevant to disputes and settlement on property and inheritance. the data gathered in the study were qualitative in nature. hence, content analysis of the responses was undertaken. in compliance to free, prior and informed consent, the researcher sought permission from the municipal mayor of nagtipunan and from the ncip regional director for the formal conduct of the study. letters of information to the tribal chieftain, elders and barangay officials of landingan were prepared soliciting for their cooperation and support. results and discussion the primordial reason why the bugkalot’s ancestral lands remain untitled is their concept of land as a property and the great reverence attached to it. degin (land) among the bugkalots is an indispensable property that determines the survival of the individual, family or group. for them, land is life and it is the most precious and sacred property because it directly supports life and must therefore be treasured and respected. it provides assurances for their survival; it provides their food, shelter, clothing, and other materials necessary for their existence as well as protection from their enemies. on the whole, degin is the most important of all the group properties because it serves two purposes: (1) individually, it directly supports life (economic existence) and acts as a social symbol that marks one’s individual identity (social existence). (2) communally, it strengthens social relationship and group solidarity. the bugkalots also regard their land as a schoolhouse for their children and the resting place of their ancestors. this unique reverence for the land means that if it could not be bought as if it is a commodity. the land belonged to all indigenous members and was there for their protection. without land, every 131 international peer reviewed journal individual and family could not live. this was explained in the revelation of one of the informants who said (personal communication, 2003). ma degin okidingtuo, tan-abungan, matribu awannamabibiyeymesitatuo nu awanitu. tan pag toy kagagapwannema pan magu-magunom pambibiyey. ten magaput-to ogindapumasaysay ma degin. [land is the most important property that every individual and family should possess. one cannot live without it considering that it is the source of daily subsistence. for this purpose, land should be valued, protected, and preserved.] the high regard on land as a property may explain why the bugkalots’ ancestral lands, although untitled, have been kept intact, free from dangers possibly imposed by foreign colonizers, migrants, and outside threats, thus, preserving them for the present and future generations. this great respect for land as a property has allowed their survival for centuries and has contained their history and identity as a cultural group. by means of it, the bugkalots have survived and will survive for the years ahead. what communicative action preserves this high respect to the bugkalots’ untitled lands? according to one informant, among the bugkalots, to kill is justifiable especially in defense of property. this reflects the bugkalots’ hierarchy of values putting paramount concern to respect to property than respect to life as hel supreme among mainstream cultures. stealing never happens which explains why you can just leave your property without fear of losing it. this communicative action confirms the observation of father pedro salgado (1994) that the primary virtue of the bugkalots is the respect given to other people’s property. he said: the bugkalots respected the property of others never appropriating for themselves what belonged to others. other writers such as ramon jordana morera highlights the bugkalots high respect for others’ property when he wrote: the bugkalots pose the most perverse inclinations, except theft, which surprisingly they never come with this virtue, the ilongots were spared from property dispute involving ownership and ownership (salgado, 1994). it is important to note that respect to the property of a person is understood by the bugkalots to embody a universal interest and has the capacity to elicit rational agreement in moral discourse to ensure solidarity with others. obedience to this societal norm is necessary to maintain harmony in the group. besides, since they see that the validity of these norms is seen to hold true for all, everywhere, every 132 jpair multidisciplinary research time, they follow it and that the point in acting as such is wise. these normative expectations make one integrated in the mainstream of bugkalot culture and consciousness. for them, the obedience to this norm, because of the fear of being caught and punished to steal one’s property, is seen not as a good moral reason for acting. rather, in respecting one’s property, one acts on reasons of interest that apply to him in a way. in short, members of the community will generally comply with such norm because they see the rational point why they have to do it. in habermas’ term, this is called rational compliance. another customary law peculiar among bugkalots is the transfer of property and inheritance from one person to another through customary practices. adherence to the family and societal norms related to property and inheritance is best illustrated in their concept of tekwat, the pinpointing of property without wills. this concept has prevailed across time and has efficiently elaborated the authority of the parents towards the young particularly in the distribution of property. among the bugkalots, the father has the sole authority to designate which parcel of land has to be inherited by a family member. although equal share in the distribution is ideally observed, a family member has no right to choose the location of the inherited property. the father, then, through his authority in the family, pinpoints the share of his member which becomes binding to all inheritors. this power and authority, however, is obtained not because of external coercion but because of its reasons and consensual determination. it is understood that obedience of the children to the authority of the father (being patriarchal) is based on their respect to the head of the family. parents make conscious effort to provide their children with the information for reflective dialogue about meanings, norms, contexts, and common goals in their communication relative to this concern. in return, bugkalot children comply with what is taught to them paving the way for the preservation and transmission of customary laws. this compliance and recognition strengthen their family and social life, thus, ushering family integration and harmony. it must be emphasized that the bugkalot children are not forced and intimidated to submit themselves to these norms but because of the reasons and benefits they acquire from subscribing to it. it is rather a consequential determination and meeting of minds to live in harmony and in conducting their affairs. from habermas’ lens, the elders in this analysis become post conventional agents who know why they ought to do and act only on principles they can justify. in short, the good reasons of doing things the bugkalot way is supportive 133 international peer reviewed journal of these norms and these norms apply because of their own reasons. following these norms is what constitutes living and living together. the communicative action that transmits and preserves these customary laws, particularly on property and inheritance, is generally attributed to respect for elders which is a basic social orientation in a bugkalot family. high respect for the elders who decide on the division of property and close family ties is a crucial factor that preserves the bugkalot concepts of property particularly land. this can be gleaned from the response of an informant who said that: ma tan-abungansiyey ma mangibege-bege di maanak nun masaysay nun uttung ma-adegin. pen-begebegean de makamasiekenan di maanak de maukamummagun mad pendadalut, pensasadul para mad kaekeding ma degin. ne maanak de pa pensaysayan den man ma deign tensayituymapanganngaandenmapenbibigay de. ten sanmanitu dimaanap man simmaysaymadsasadul mad keakedengtu. [the family is instrumental in the transmission of the group’s high regard for land. parents usually teach their children at an early age to have close attachment to land by involving them in the clearing of, cultivating, and developing the farms. young as they are, children develop a high sense of appreciation for land as the only source of living. for this reason, they take full responsibility in its utilization and preservation.] premised on this response, it can be said that the shared meaning and shared reason in using customary practices in the transfer of property and inheritance from one person to another in the bugkalot society are best nurtured in the family (tan-abungan) as they are the foundations of formative communication, interaction, and socialization process. the family, particularly the parents, instill among children the social standards of the group that are acceptable making them responsible members and bearers of cultural traditions of their group. through socialization, they come to associate certain sanctions with the violation of norms and learn to avoid these sanctions through voluntary action. at the same time, they come to feel at home in and to identify with the collective moral consciousness of the society they inhabit. speaking of his personal experience, an informant reveals the following fact: at an early age my parents, particularly my father, taught me the traditions of the group. a basic custom that i learned from him was respect for the property of others. this is probably the reason why dishonesty is rarely committed among us. we respect the ownership of others so that they will also respect ours. this narration clearly affirms that through observations and interaction within the family and elsewhere, children learn these cultural standards enabling them to internalize the norms and become their bases for human behaviour. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research this is possible when young bugkalots are involved in occasions that showcase the application of customary laws such as marriage ceremonies, burial, and settlement of disputes decided by the elders or the begangit. it is a tradition that in the resolution of disputes, community members are invited to witness the trial. the elders explain the basis of the decision; hence, allowing the children to learn and live by these laws themselves. sharing of information with the public and witnessing the rigors of the legal system of the barangay would also discourage the children to violate laws and instead become living advocates of the traditions. also, reaching consensus through public dialogue rather than mere exercise of power by the begangit manifests the habermasian ideal institution of ruling out authority based on anything other than a good argument. it is with familiarity with these undertakings of being together that has taught the bugkalots to discern and reach an agreement as they interpret their lifeworld in common. such social integration occurs because of this kind of socialization process in their family and societal relations. this also brings them to the concept that the very fabric of living involves norms and it is with the familiarity of these norms that has taught them to discern and reach an agreement as they interpret their lifeword in common. also, parents teach their children to revere the older members of the family and the community for they are the source of wisdom and they are acknowledged leaders, too. parents use language to coordinate their actions and they enter into certain commitments or claims to justify their actions or words on the basis of good reasons. for the older members of the family, the transmission of values revolves around the concept of land as a primordial consideration to sustain community life. they uphold that ancestral land, which their group has kept for a long time is an enduring legacy that they have to treasure and safeguard within the context of their customary laws even in the midst of rapid modernization. these commitments among the bugkalots have a kind of moral status because they are universally applicable to the community, they are unavoidable, and they give rise to obligations towards the family and community members. also, these commitments have a rational status because they are concerned with good reasons which justify one’s deeds and words to others. interestingly, this role of the older members is further enhanced by the child’s interaction with the other members of the community, thus, ensuring respect for each other’s property as the basic tenet in the bugkalots’ social life. the third customary law is their practice to continue deciding disputes on property and inheritance using the existing customary laws handed by their 135 international peer reviewed journal ancestors. disputes over property are rare among the bugkalots due to their high regard to property ownership. customary laws on property are religiously adhered to by the bugkalots and this has discouraged the occurrence of problems related to ownership and conveyance. a good proof to this is that no document on property settlement and inheritance was found in the municipal level for reason that no property dispute was elevated to it. settlement of disputes on property starts and ends in the barangay level. barangay and municipal records show that problems brought to the attention of the barangay officials are properly decided upon and no civil case has reached the established court of the land. also, no case on property dispute particularly those related to ownership and conveyance has been filed for adjudication. barangay records, however, are replete with transactions on the sale, mortgage, and barter of properties. from january 2002 to may 2003, there have been thirty one (31) recorded cases involving sale, twenty-eight (28) on mortgage, and twelve (12) on barter of property. all of these transactions involve agricultural lands like bangkag (corn fields) and uma(hill farms). thus, customary laws on property and inheritance are efficient and effective catalysts in managing property disputes. it calls the state to recognize and allow the bugkalots to utilize their own customary laws and the formal institutions in managing property ownership and resolving disputes relative to it. an important factor that discourages property disputes especially on ownership and conveyance is the bugkalot’s knowledge of communal ownership. claims on individual ownership follow only after having cleared a specific lot for the purpose of cultivation. also, appropriating a land to oneself makes no sense as there are abundant resources found in the environment. this suggests that the purpose of ownership among bugkalots is not egocentric ownership but the act of reaching understanding. community members can still be oriented to their own interests but they do this under conditions which harmonize their plans of action on the basis of common situation definitions (habermas, 1984). this is what habermas calls “an ideal communicative community” (habermas, 1989) where critical interest is beyond the understanding of a particular hermeneutic interest and where communicative action performs the task of coordinating and mediating. hence, in as much as lands are held communally, having it titled is remote. before and now, there are no written records on property. moreover, disputes over property are rare because of the bugkalot’s concept of bertan which is another communicative action that influences the preservation and adherence to their customary laws. the bertan is the largest unit of the 136 jpair multidisciplinary research bugkalot system which is grounded on the ethos of reciprocity. each bertan is composed of persons who choose to reckon their descent identity from either parent. hence, a bertan is a community of families, households, or local clusters living together with a common purpose. the bugkalotis usually composed of several bertans who speak the same language though with slight differences in tone and diction (zialcita, 1996). rosaldo as quoted by salgado (1994) notes the composition of the bertan in these words: timeless and discrete collections of related persons who share an origin from unknown common ancestors who once lived together ‘downstream’, ‘in the lowland’, ‘on an island’, ‘near a mountain’, in short, in some environment from which the bertan takes its name. similar description is given by rosaldo (1980) in salgado (1994) of the bertan that their speech is often distractive in dialect. these differences in dialect range from the intonation and speech to distinct lexical items and features of grammatical form. aware of those bertan-specific varieties of speech, bugkalots delight in imitating the speech of other bertans. the bugkalot grouping into bertans is premised on the idea that important activities such as raiding, celebrating, wedding ceremonies, and hunting are communal activities. these activities had kept the value of grouping themselves together in order to collectively achieve their set goals (zialcita, 1996). however, more than the idea of grouping themselves for the purpose of transmitting its cultural traditions to future or incoming generations, each bertan is known to be a “storehouse” of the bugkalots’ cultural tradition. with a relatively small number of members ranging from 67-300, each bertan closely teaches the young the customary laws governing social life. they are basically taught to respect and not to encroach on the territory of other bertans especially if there are no peace talks arranged between them. this makes the communicative rationality of the bugkalots as a panacea to the social ills brought about by instrumental/strategic reason which is characterized by self-interest and needs. for in contrast to using rationality merely as a tool for selfish ends, communicative rationality of the bugkalots uses the consensus-achieving force of reaching mutual understanding. on the whole, the basis of bertan is reciprocity which is tied up with habermas’ concept that communicative action is an individual action designed to promote common understanding in a group and to promote cooperation, as opposed to “strategic action” designed simply to achieve one’s personal goals (habermas, 1984). thus, reciprocity as the basis of bugkalot customary law implies that laws are not imposed coercively by a leader or institution but because each individual bertan in these terms: so closely linked are the members of relatively concentrated 137 international peer reviewed journal recognizes the benefits in recognizing the laws and in participating in their enforcement. in this context, exchange recognition of behavioral rules in obeying and enforcing the customary law is imperative. agreements on the conditions or duties that affect the parties are the conditions to make a duty clear and rationally acceptable to those who are affected. in the case of communicative action, the interpretive accomplishments on which cooperative processes of interpretation are based represent the mechanism for coordinating action. as fr. salgado (salgado, 1994) noted in a public hearing of the house of representatives committee on national cultural communities, the following testimony of mr. edilmerto ponsal on february 13, 1993: the bugkalots are clan-oriented and recommended that the resettlement program should preserve the integrity of such system and respect the identities and boundaries of each clan. grouping all clans in one resettlement camp will inevitably lead to inter-clan clashes. the clan system of grouping in the bugkalot society is still practiced today, although the names and customs are not as they were in the past. however, the socio-economic survey of the national power corporation and other source of information show that the bugkalot community has so far maintained its cultural identity by sharing a common language, customs, and traditions. all lands and natural resources are passed on by their ancestors to the present generation and group boundaries are identified among the bugkalots group in the area. the use of ancestral land is apparently distributed to each individual or household (salgado, 1994). in the context of habermas, the bugkalots have recognized their relation as the primordial ground from which the notions of self and of others are derived. as in genuine re-creation where one forgets oneself, the abandonment of the “self ” to genuine communication results in its “re-creation” in communion with the world and others from which reifying self-reflection has misconceived it as separate. in relation to the concept of bertan, the observance of binantan also plays a crucial communicative action in maintaining the customary laws of the bugkalots on property and inheritance. this communicative action upholds the idea that property of a group member or a fellow bugkalot should be respected by others. it is a concept that abhors the taking or stealing of others’ property which is one of the most important customary laws among the bugkalots. this customary practice has been followed by the bugkalots though there are no records kept in the barangay office relative to this matter. in fact, an informant narrates that: 138 jpair multidisciplinary research among us bugkalots, stealing or taking others’ property constitutes a grave misconduct. this is a form of dishonesty that may lead to killing. among us, the penalty for stealing is death because you disrespect other people by taking their property for yourself. we practiced headhunting in the past as a requirement for marriage, much more so when we are robbed of our property. today, when we cross the river to visit our farm at the other side, we leave our slippers at its bank and get it when we go home. we strictly observe honesty here in our community. moreover, it can be said that the bugkalot norms, because of their generality, can claim moral authority in the everyday life of each member. according to habermas, this authority lies in the supra-personal character of these norms. all group members are made accountable to a violation made by a single member by virtue of his being a part of the group or bertan. interestingly, the binantan as a concept of property is clearly emphasized to the members of each bertan. members are also educated to respect the properties of other bertans to avoid war with one another. entering into the territorial domain of other bertans just like in the case of clearing a plot for kaingin purposes would lead to killing a member that will also directly involve other members of the group. stealing the property of a member of another bertan would likewise jeopardize the relations of the two since the action and behaviour of a member is also taken as the collective behaviour of the group. this practice will lead to conflict and usually end up to a collective activity such as headhunting. for this reason, the bertan, with its few members who are closely knitted with each other, undertakes the responsibility of emphasizing the concept of binantan to all members. this is done to preserve this customary law for the general welfare of the community. not only does this result in mutual convictions, but also “in coordinating their actions by way of strengthening the integration of those same groups” (habermas, 1989). with the present political structure imposing its authority over the bugkalots, most problems concerning their state of affairs are now referred to the elected officials for their decision, particularly to the lupong tagapamayapa. the lupon is composed of seven members with a chieftain and six elders whose appointment is recommended by the barangay officials and confirmed by the municipal mayor. however, a very peculiar feature in the decision of the barangay officials is that they always seek the opinion of the begangit before giving a decision to a case. this important feature is a sheer manifestation of the bugkalots’ insistence 139 international peer reviewed journal of their customary laws even with the present political structure. while they respect and implement the new ways of dealing with conflicts on property and inheritance, they try to innovate and strategize on how to maintain their customary laws as a way of effectively coping with the current pressures of modernization. interestingly, the innovations and coping mechanisms of the bugkalots were integrally woven with their old views, i.e. customary laws on property and inheritance thereby making them more responsive and attuned to their present socio-political needs and structures. this also ensured healthy social relationship between and among them as exemplified by social cohesion and absence of documentary evidences on disputes regarding property and inheritance in the barangay and municipal records. instead of creating conflicts, the new and the old mental paradigms rather enhanced their consciousness as indigenous community. this proves that the bugkalots’ network of relationship along with the demands of mainstream political structure was not affected by the integration of new concepts in their customary laws. they rather complement each other. the study unravelling the communicative action of the bugkalots along property and inheritance has limitations along external validation. it primarily used the emic approach as most of the informants were community members who believe and practice this phenomenon. it is an “actor-centered” perspective which may be very subjective in nature. in this regard, there is a need to conduct an etic analysis to ensure other voices to be uncovered. this includes voices of nonbugkalots who have intermarried with the bugkalots. integrating their voices is imperative and crucial as they are also essential stakeholders in the process of negotiation and reciprocity. moreover, other bugkalot communities in quirino province have to be covered to see the similarities and differences of bugkalot’s communicative action. this will further make a deeper and wider appreciation of this phenomenon especially in maintaining order in the bugkalots’ social life. conclusions the complementation of the new and the old worldview in the bugkalot’s customary laws may be attributed to their pragmatic view about life. flexibility, rather than rigidity, was exhibited in viewing the changes in their society since it is more practical to fit these new structures and schemas than doing the contrary. for them, these changes are indispensable and fighting them will do more harm than good insofar as their social equilibrium is concerned. these innovating and 140 jpair multidisciplinary research strategizing process made them understand and evaluate their social life in a better and more functional way. thus, it can be concluded that these changes in the bugkalot way of life has not replaced the core values of the bugkalot customs. instead, the new and the old ones have been incorporated to resolve the contradiction within the system. the study strengthens the state’s advocacy to respect and recognize cultural integrity of indigenous communities because these customary laws are not barriers to their lives, but they can co-exist with formal institutions in ensuring social cohesion and order. efforts to mainstream cultural communities pose a threat not only to ancestral domains, but also to the social life and cultural integrity of filipino indigenous cultural communities. translational research the findings of the study shall serve as a baseline data to government agencies like the national commission on indigenous peoples, philippine judiciary, local government units, among others in the formulation and reformulation of policies affecting the lives and welfare of cultural communities in the country. furthermore, such findings shall equally serve as a valuable input to people in the academe especially those in the field of social sciences as a source of reliable data and factual information on customary laws and resolution of disputes among indigenous peoples. literature cited anima, n. (1985). the headhunting tribes of the philippines. cultural foundation for asia. guide to indigenous peoples rights act (ra 8371), 1989. manila: international labor organization. habermas, j. (1984). (trans. thomas mccarthy) the theory of communicative action. volume 1. reason and the rationalization of the society. boston: beacon books. habermas, j. (1989). (trans. thomas mccarthy) the theory of communicative action. volume 2. lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason. boston: beacon books. 141 international peer reviewed journal ibon facts and figures, stral domain and indigenous peoples, page 2 volume 16, 22. international fund for agricultural development (ifad, 2012). indigenous peoples: valuing, respecting and supporting diversity. retrieved on february 29, 2016 from http://www.ifad.org/pub/factsheet/ip/e.pdf rosaldo, renato. (1989). culture and truth: the remaking of social analysis. boston: boston press. salgado, pedro, o.p. (1994). the ilongots 1591-1594. manila: lucky press, inc. manila, 1994. _____ cagayan valley and eastern cordillera 15811898, rex printing press, volume 1, manila, 1994. _____ cagayan valley and eastern cordillera 15811898, rex printing press, volume 2, manila, 1994. zialcita, f. n. (1996). the meanings of community. philippine studies, 44. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.390 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstracts according to the world health organization (who), almost 98% of low and middle-income countries’ air fail to meet the united nations (un) body’s standards. data from the department of environment and natural resources’ environmental management bureau (denr-emb) revealed the total suspended particles (tsp) in metro manila during the first quarter of 2015 reached 130 micrograms per normal cubic meter (ug/ncm). the maximum safe level is 90 ug/ncm. since 80% of pollution load is contributed by vehicles, the study determined the amount of carbon monoxide (co) and hydrocarbons (hc) during the smoke emission testing of motorcycles in metro dumaguete, negros oriental, philippines. random sampling and simple average formula were utilized in the study. using the smoke test results from january to february 2015, it was found out that the average amount of co is 1.45 µg/cm which is very low compared to denr standard exposure value of 35 ug/cm for one hour and 10 µg/cm for 8-hour exposure. also, the average amount of hc is 600.26 ppm which is low compared to denr’s maximum set value of 4500ppm to 6500 ppm. current findings indicate that the amount of co of motorcycle emissions is insignificant while hc is low as compared to the standard value. keywords — environment, smoke emission, descriptive design, philippines carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon contains of motorcycles: metro dumaguete, philippines narcisa t. morallo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-9179 narcisamorallo@gmail.com negros oriental state university dumaguete city, philippines 71 international peer reviewed journal introduction air pollution can personally and economically very damaging. people breathing poor quality of air are at risk of lung cancer and other diseases according to the who (2014). in the second quarter of 2016, 80% of world’s urban dwellers breathe poor quality of air. according to maria neira, the head of who’s department of public health and environment, air pollution in the urban area is rising at an alarming rate. carlos dora, who’s public health and environmental department, pointed to transportation as the first key factor that determines the quality of air in the urban area. who focuses on four air pollutants, namely, particulate matter (pm), particles with an aerodynamic diameter lesser than 10 μm (pm10) and lesser than 2.5 μm (pm2.5), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ozone. data recorded from regions of the world in different years in the period 2008-2012, highest annual mean concentration of pm10 of 540 µg/m 3 was taken in eastern mediterranean region from reshawar station, pakistan. the lowest recorded level of 8μg/m3 was recorded in western pacific region in illawana, australia. while south–east asia region recorded 153 μg/m3, the highest in pm2.5 was taken at delhi station in india. the lowest was recorded at powell river station in canada (who, 2014). urban air pollution resulted from combustion of fossil fuels that are continually used in transportation sector, power generation, industry, and other economic activities. united nations conference on sustainable development last july 2014 aims to decrease the number of deaths and illnesses from pollutions and contamination by 2030.in 2012, 3.7 million died in the world due to ambient air pollution (who, 2015). in “lao environmental outlook 2012”, data taken from vientiane capital in september 2002-to february 2003, indicated that total suspended particulate matter (tsp) has an average of 165 μg/m3 while who 24-hour guidelines for tsp in 1987 was at 120 μg/m3, particulate matter (pm10) has an average of 68 μg/m3 while 2005 who 24-hour mean of 50 μg/m3. sulfur dioxide (so2) has an average of 108 μg/m3 compared to who 24-hour mean of 20 μg/m3. this shows that so2 is a more serious problem in lao. economic growth in the country will result in an increase pollutant levels. in the study of velasco and roth in 2012 entitled, “review of singapore’s air quality and greenhouse gas emissions: current situation and opportunities”, as a wealthy nation, singapore has a very high per-capita carbon footprint. through 72 jpair multidisciplinary research innovative practices integrated in its air quality management, emission of greenhouse gases decreases. the country’s contribution to global co2 emissions is only .11% as reported by united nations in 2011. “opportunities to reduce vehicle emissions in jakarta” published by international council of air pollution in 2014, suggested policy options in jakarta, indonesia to abate air pollution. it was suggested to secure fuel with sulfur content <50 parts per million because advanced vehicle emission control technologies such as diesel particulate filters require ultra-low fuel sulfur content to function optimally. the increase of the motorcycle population in many cities in developing countries resulted to an increase in air pollution (hustim & fujimoto, 2012). motor vehicles emit 14% of fossil-fuel-base co2, 50% to 60% of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and about 30% of nitrogen oxides emissions (hwang & tseng, 2007). the 2014 environmental performance index (epi), showed the philippines scoring 44.02 out of 100, ranks 114th out of 178 countries. there was an improvement from 43.98 in 2013 score. the 2014 epi report reveals that switzerland was on top of the list scoring 87.67 out of 100 and somalia was at 178th (business world research, 2014). in first quarter of 2015, the national capital region’s air pollutant concentration reached 130 micrograms per normal cubic meter (µg/cm). this is in terms of total suspended particles (tsp) which increased from 106 µg/cm in the last quarter of 2014. the maximum safe level is 90 ug/ncm. republic act no. 8749, otherwise known as the philippine clean air act, aims to achieve and maintain healthy air for all filipinos. to decrease air pollution from motor vehicles, emission tests are required prior to renewal of registration. the department of transportation and communication’s (dotc’s) land transportation office (lto) established private emission testing centers (petcs) to provide testing services to public transport vehicles, including private-owned vehicles. “a car emits around 600 parts per million (ppm) of co and hc, while a motorcycle can emit as much as 5,000 ppm. it is, thus, not difficult to understand the environmental impact of the emissions from the millions of registered and unregistered motorcycles, tricycles and scooters you see on the road everyday”(department of environment and natural resources secretary ramon paje). registered motorcycles and tricycles in the philippines for 2013 is 4.25 million which 8.9% from region vii where dumaguete city belongs (land transportation office, 2016). this shows a 3.25% increase in 2012. 73 international peer reviewed journal objective of the study the study determined the amount of co and hc of motorcycles during the smoke emission testing from january to february 2015 in negros oriental, philippines. methodology the study used the descriptive method of research. the research site is metro dumaguete, which is composed of valencia, sibulan, bacong and dumaguete city. figure 1. loca on map of the research environment 74 jpair multidisciplinary research random sampling was used in the study. hc and co concentrations were measured from 767 motorcycles during the smoke emission testing from january to february 2016. these results released by the different private emission testing centers (petcs) in metro dumaguete. the test equipment used in testing were carbon monoxide analyzer which is a non-dispersive infrared (ndir) co exhaust gas analyzer and hydrocarbon analyzer also a ndir hc exhaust gas analyzer, hc as hexane (c6h14). the study used simple average formula. results and discussion carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are emission gases produced by vehicle exhaust fumes that can have negative effects on human health and the environment. motorcycles can produce several hundred times more hydrocarbon pollution than cars. hydrocarbons cause cancer, breathing and heart ailments, and contribute to smog. the study shows that the average amount of co and hc are insignificant as compared to the standard value set by the denr. the decrease of co and hc emission is a result of the government’s continued effort to address air pollution, euro4 fuel compliance, consultations with the motorcycle industry and other stakeholders to give them sufficient time to plan and design vehicles to ensure conformity to standards set by the european economic commission. table 1. co and hc motorcycle emissions co (µg/cm) hc (ppm as hexane) motorcycle emissions (january to february 2016) 1.45 600.26 75 international peer reviewed journal table 2. emission standards for in-use vehicles motorcycle/tricycle and moped vehicle registration date co (%)by volume) hc (ppm as hexane) white smoke (% opacity) registered for the first on or after time prior to july 1, 2017 2.5 1000 20 registered for the first time on or after january 1, 2012 3.5 4500 30 registered for the first time before january 1, 2012 4.5 6000 30 source: denr administrative order no. 2015-04, march 24, 2015 department of environment and natural resources table 3. national ambient air quality guideline values pollutants short term long term µg/ ncm ppm averaging time µg/ ncm ppm averaging time suspended particulate matter tsp pm10 230 150 24 hours 24 hours 90 60 1 year 1 year sulfur dioxide 180 .07 24 hours 80 .03 1 year nitrogen dioxide 150 .08 24 hours photochemical oxidants as ozone 140 60 .07 .03 1 hour 8 hours carbon monoxide 3 5 m g / ncm 10 mg/ ncm 30 9 1 hour 8 hours lead 1.5 3 months 1.0 1 year source: (department of environment and natural resources) denr the 4-stroke motorcycles in the philippines contributed to low co and hc emission levels. two-stroke motorcycles require a mixture of gasoline and oil and are not equipped with enough systems to immediately burn the mixture for 76 jpair multidisciplinary research complete combustion, thus, resulting to more smoke emissions. the study of vergel and tiglao (2013) showed that the switch to 4-stroke tricycles contributed to significant reductions in hc and pm emissions, however, overall emissions reduction was less than 10%. new motorcycles have less co and hc emissions. in this competitive market, motorcycles are affordable to all walks of life through trade-in, installment basis and “sabut-sabut lang” scheme. the study of arafah, ramli, aly, and selintung (2013) revealed that co and hc emission levels increase in following the motorcycle age increasing. table 4. motorcycle acquisition cash (%) installment (%) trade in (%) mode of acquisition 10 80 10 quality engine maintenance can reduce emission. nugroho, junyi and fujiwara (2009) found out that maintenance quality and running kilometer per year play significant role in determining the probability of emission test. table 4. motorcycles/tricycles maintenance schedule type of maintenance monthly (%) quarterly (%) every six months yearly (%) more than a year (%) tuned-up 20 80 change oil 75 25 table 5. schedule change of unit every 5 years (%) less than 10 years (%) more than ten years (%) change of unit 10 70 20 in malaysia, using hydrogen as a supplement fuel for gasoline engine is a better alternative in controlling air pollution which has become an increasingly critical aspect of the local and international motoring industry (razali, sopian, mat & ibrahim, 2015). in the philippines, as part of government efforts to clean the air of the country, denr administrative order (dao) no. 2015-04 provides the new 77 international peer reviewed journal vehicle emission standards to be complied with by new and in-use vehicles starting july 1, 2015. the order also enjoins the department of energy to ensure the availability of euro 4 fuels by this date. table 5. euro 4 gasoline compliance and awareness complied (%) not complied (%) awareness (%) not aware (%) dumaguete city, gasoline stations 100 motorist 10 90 euro 4 has sulfur content of only 50 parts per million (ppm) for both diesel and gasoline, compared with 500 ppm for euro 2. benzene in euro 4 gasoline is only 1% by volume compared to 5% in euro 2. low sulfur fuels will lead to reduced emissions of particulate matter. this particulate matter can penetrate deeply into sensitive parts of the lungs and can worsen existing respiratory and heart diseases. hc and co concentrations were only measured to motorcycles during emission testing conducted by petcs prior to renewal of registration for the month of january to february 2016 only. the area of coverage is metro dumaguete which is composed of valencia, sibulan, bacong and dumaguete city. in 2012, data from the lto showed that there were more or less 378,250 registered motorcycles in region vii which metro dumaguete belongs. region vii in 2014 is composed of 4 provinces, namely, bohol, cebu, siquijor and negros oriental. in 2015, the region was redefined, when region vii lost the province of negros oriental to the newly formed negros island region. conclusion the average amount of co and hc are very safe value as compared to the standard value set by the denr. the amount of co and hc emission is a result of the government’s continued effort to address air pollution. implementation of more stringent emission standards for in‐use motor vehicles (dao 2015‐04) and the voluntary phase‐out of 2‐stroke motorcycles by the motorcycle manufacturers in mid-2006 contributed to abatement of air pollution. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the study may be translated into use in the community by sending the information to the land transportation office to continue on their intensified public awareness campaign on air pollution. literature cited arafah, m., ramli, m. i., aly, s. h., & selintung, m. (2013). the motorcycle emission characteristics in developing countries: logit and regression analysis of i/m data in makassar city, indonesia. journal of the eastern asia society for transportation studies, 10(0), 1218-1226. business world research. (2014).philippines ups score in global environmental scorecard. retrieved on may 9, 2016 from http://goo.gl/wdwbcn department of environment and natural resources. (2015). implementation of vehicle emission limits for euro 4/iv, and in-use vehicle emission standards. retrieved on may 9, 2016 from http://www.denr.gov.ph/section-policies/ viewrec.php?id=4830&main=1 department of environment and natural resources-environmental management bureau. (june 2015). metro manila’s air quality even worse this year – data. retrieved on may 9, 2016 http://goo.gl/grx4q5 hustim, m., & fujimoto, k. (2012). road traffic noise under heterogeneous traffic condition in makassar city, indonesia. hwang, k. p., & tseng, p. s. (2007). co2 emission: status, reduction policy and management strategy of taiwan transportation sector. inproceedings of the eastern asia society for transportation studies (vol. 2007, no. 0, pp. 161161). eastern asia society for transportation studies. lao environmental outlook 2012. (2012) ministry of natural resources and environment (monre), lao pdr. 79 international peer reviewed journal nugroho, s. b., fujiwara, a., & junyi, z. (2009). analysis of inspection and maintenance program for in-use motorcycle emissions in indonesia. inproceedings of the eastern asia society for transportation studies (vol. 2009, no. 0, pp. 195-195). eastern asia society for transportation studies. razali, h. h., sopian, k., mat, s., & ibrahim, s. (2015). modification of motorcycle with hydrogen mixture and effect on emission. arpn journal of engineering and applied sciences, 10(17), 7719-7722. velasco, e., & roth, m. (2012). review of singapore’s air quality and greenhouse gas emissions: current situation and opportunities. journal of the air & waste management association, 62(6), 625-641. vergel, k. b., & tiglao, n. c. c. (2013). estimation of emissions and fuel consumption of sustainable transport measures in metro manila. philippine engineering journal, 34(1). who. (2014). burden of disease from the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution for 2012. geneva: world health organization. who. (2015, may 21). global health observatory data reposi 92 jpair multidisciplinary research the nose-bleed syndrome: a study on the attitude of the college students towards english language learning and their linguistic self-confidence in a multi-cultural context annie mae c. berowa http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8968-1970 annieberowa2015@gmail.com mindanao state universitymain campus marawi city, philippines abstract the expression “nose-bleed!” has become the most popular expression among filipinos when asked to speak in english. in the philippines, english is the most feared language. this fear is seen in classes where students feel so anxious that they may mispronounce a word or that they may commit grammatical inaccuracies. this also happens during job interviews when most of the applicants would sweat out while using english. the study was undertaken to determine the profile of the select students as respondents of the study, their attitude towards english language learning, and the situation/s that they feel linguistically confident in using the target language in a multi-cultural context. the study was conducted at the mindanao state university (msu), main campus, in the islamic city of marawi. the study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis procedures. survey questionnaire and focus group discussion (fgd) were employed. the questionnaire was administered to 129 randomly selected job enabling english proficiency (jeep) program students, and then the fgd was conducted to probe further certain points that require illumination. it was vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.381 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 93 international peer reviewed journal concluded that the respondents have a positive attitude toward learning the english language. it was also disclosed that the linguistic self-confidence of the respondents leaned more on the situation-specific self-confidence. keywords – linguistics, attitude, linguistic self-confidence, jeep program, descriptive design, philippines introduction in the last few decades, english has emerged as the pre-eminent language for international communication. it is spoken by more people around the world than any other languages and is regularly described as a truly global language. in the study of kachru (1997), he stated that in china alone, there are over 200 million students enrolled in programs in english as a foreign language. he added that the survey conducted in india (india today, 1997) shows that contrary to the [indian] census myth that english is the language of a microscopic minority. the poll indicates that almost one in every group of three indians claims to understand english although less than 20 percent are confident of speaking it. as the estimated population of india is almost 1 billion, the figures indicate that almost 333 million indians understand english and almost 200 million have some spoken competence in the language. that means india now has an english-using speech community equal to the population of the inner circle (the usa, the uk, and canada).the users of english in the two asian giants, china and india, add up to 533 million. that is a huge figure and its implications are immense: linguistically, ideologically, culturally, and indeed ethically. furthermore, kachru also showed that english is the main medium in demand for acquisition of bilingualism and in parts of asia (e.g., in singapore) english is gradually acquiring the status of the dominant language or the first language. the global superiority of the english language is made more evident in the article 34 of the charter of the association of southeast asian nations (asean), which was officially adopted in february 2009, stating that, “the working language of asean shall be english” (kirkpatrick, n.d.). in the study of hashim and leitner (2014), it was stated that in asean countries, english is now being introduced as a compulsory subject into the primary curriculum in all the ten countries with the exception of indonesia. they added that in cambodia, laos, myanmar, and vietnam, the number of schools that use english as medium of instruction is fast growing and might well lead to a situation where the function 94 jpair multidisciplinary research of english in the curriculum is no longer that of a foreign language but of a “near universal basic skill. in spite of such high recognition, english language learning does not come easily. it is a complex skill, involving social as well as psychological factors as illustrated by schumman’s acculturation model and krashen’s input on monitor model. voluminous researches on esl or elt have yielded important findings about factors or variables that have facilitative or inhibitory effect on language learning. a variety of factors need to be investigated or examined as mcdough (1986) claimed “individual characteristics of learners may be directly or indirectly related to achievement in foreign language learning.” in the context of the mindanao state university main campus, based on the observations made by the researcher, ordinary conversations inside and outside the english classrooms are characterized by a high prevalence of code switching. when analyzed, few utterances that are commonly heard inside and outside the classroom could be uttered in simple english. there were more of such instances of conscious reverting to the native tongue. confirmation of what used to be mere observation came from one of the researcher’s oral communication classes in which a question was asked, “why don’t you speak in english?” the majority of the students responded that saying things in english takes much of their time. they even admitted that they were not used to speaking in english because they are more comfortable using filipino. besides, they hate being reprimanded or even insulted. these observations could imply only one thing: their peers, their environment, their very own attitudes and the people around hinder them in manifesting their desire to communicate in english orally. if there is one opportunity that language learners should find necessary and desirable, it is the pleasure of engaging in an ordinary conversation with others using the target language. such opportunity, unfortunately, seems widely spaced. it is in this context that this study was undertaken to evaluate the attitude towards english language and the linguistic self-self confidence of the job enabling english proficiency program (jeep) students in the mindanao state university, main campus. the researcher chose these jeep students as respondents because she hopes to get a very rich data and deep discussion since they were immersed in a special english program. the jeep was launched in june 2009. jeep is a new project established by gem (growth with equity in mindanao), a usaid-funded program which has been active in mindanao for over 13 years, working in infrastructure development, business development, governance, and workforce preparation. 95 international peer reviewed journal through the engagement in workforce preparation, gem has increasingly observed that one of the most significant barriers to acquiring favored employment is the lack of sufficient proficiency in the english language. accordingly, in november 2008, usaid commissioned a survey of english language development at higher education institutions in mindanao and a design for a project that would match identified needs and circumstances. the result was an employment-focused english project designated as jeep: job enabling english proficiency. the aim of jeep is to help mindanao graduates secure and retain jobs in highly-favored sectors which require proficiency in english, such as international nursing and allied health, call center and other business processing outsourcing (bpo) employment in these areas. for example, while nursing graduates are very successful in passing the licensure exam, around 50% fail to achieve the required score on the ielts, the main test of english required by international health-sector employers. in turn, the figure for call center employment is much lower, with just 4% of applicants meeting the employers’ standards for english proficiency. as a response to these compelling real-world needs, jeep has been designed as a focused, practical, skills-based program. it is a two-year program which is offered as an elective to third year students. the first year of the program, designated as jeep-start, is based on computer-assisted language learning (call), using the highly regarded american software dyned. jeep-start focuses on developing general english skills, while the second year, designated as jeep-accelerate, offers a range of english for specific purposes (esp) courses focused on preparation for employment in the target sectors. the present research is related to the other studies on language learning, attitude and linguistic self-confidence. however, what sets this study apart from other studies in the area of language anxiety and attitude is the fact that the locale of the study and the target group is composed of mixed backgroundslinguistically, religiously, culturally, and politicallywho were enrolled in a special english language program. framework professionals in the field of language teaching agree that affective factors like attitude and language anxiety have an effectual role in the second language achievement and proficiency. these variables affect authentic communication in l2 and have been considered as excellent predictors of communication. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research social psychologists have long been interested in the idea that the attitude of the learner toward a target language, its speakers and the learning context, may all play some parts in explaining the success or lack of it. researchers on second language attitudes have largely been conducted within the framework of broader research on motivation, of which attitude form one part of (brown, 1987). extensive studies conducted by gardner and lambert in 1959 were systematic attempts to examine the effect of attitudes on language learning. after studying the interrelationships of different types of attitudes, they defined motivation as a construct made up of certain attitudes. the most important of these is groupspecific, the attitude learners have toward the member of the cultural group whose language they are learning. on the other hand, earl stevick (1976) emphasized the importance of self-security, an important facet of the attitude toward self. stereotyping also plays a major role in creating and perpetuating a social distance and social boundaries. saville-troike (1982) argued that stereotypes build a social barrier which inhibits communication and learning, and they affect the self-image of those who are typed. students are considered linguistically deficient or disadvantaged because they have a different first language which is particularly at risk. the second language students’ self-esteem is in jeopardy if the teacher and peers fail to show respect for the first language and the culture of which it is part (brown, 1987). another factor which is considered very significant in english language learning is the linguistic self-confidence. according to clement and kruidenier (1985), linguistic self-confidence is defined in terms of selfperception of second language competence and a low level of anxiety. linguistic selfconfidence can be divided into two main categories, namely situation-specific selfconfidence and second language (l2) self-confidence. second language selfconfidence as described by clement (1985, cited by molberg, 2010) includes two key constructs: 1) language use anxiety and 2) perceived l2 competence (self-evaluation of l2 skills). the first construct is affective and corresponds to language anxiety, especially the discomfort experienced when using an l2. the second construct, perceived l2 competence, is cognitive and corresponds to selfevaluation of the target language skills. in other words, perceived l2 competence is basically a judgment made by the students themselves about their perceived proficiency in the target language. this means that if learners evaluate their own language skills as high and has confidence in their own beliefs, they will perceive themselves as more than capable of interacting, thus, their perceived l2 competence is high. theoretically, levels of anxiety and perceived competence 97 international peer reviewed journal create a state of self-confidence in l2 that, when combined with, for example, the setting in a classroom, may result in willingness to communicate in a given situation (macintyre, clément&dornyei, 1998). second language self-confidence as described by clement includes two key constructs: 1) language use anxiety and 2) perceived l2 competence (selfevaluation of l2 skills). the first construct is affective and corresponds to language anxiety, especially the discomfort experienced when using an l2. the second construct, perceived l2 competence, is cognitive and corresponds to selfevaluation of the target language skills. in other words, perceived l2 competence is a judgment made by the students themselves about their perceived proficiency in the target language. this means that if learners evaluate their own language skills as high and have confidence in their own beliefs, they will perceive themselves as more than capable of interacting, thus, their perceived l2 competence is high. numerous researchers all-over the world investigated the influences of attitude and linguistic self-confidence in language learning. the study of cetinkaya (2005) revealed that those students who have a positive attitude towards the english language and international community were found to be more willing to communicate in english. pongwat fongkanta and fisik sean buakanok (2012) also found out that chinese undergraduates have a better attitude towards learning english that their thai counterparts. in the study conducted by pongwat and fisik (2012) on the learning style and some characteristics affecting english language achievement of chinese and thai undergraduates at rajabhat lampang university in thailand, it was found out that chinese undergraduates have a better attitude towards learning english than their thai counterparts. in the study conducted by hosseini and pourmandnia (2013) in tehran, iran, they attempted to provide an account of the previous studies conducted on attitude and perception, and their impact on learners’ learning abilities. motivation, as determining factor in learning was also discussed. it became evident that attitude and perception play significant roles in enabling learners to learn effectively. it was also stated that cultural background and previous experiences were all contributive to the way learners behave, perceive learning strategies and their ability in maintaining higher levels of learning. it was concluded that having positive or negative attitude towards a certain language and the way learners perceive that language can exert considerable influence upon their performance on the language itself. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research another study conducted by the ministry of education in malaysia authored by lukman and nurl in 2015 addressed the issue of language anxiety in a large uninvestigated context of malaysian university students who were studying in the united kingdom. the study revealed that the anxiety problems faced by the learners are a result of lack of self-confidence and fear of making mistakes. it was also found that improving learning strategies and calming down are found to be the most prevalent strategies employed by the learners to alleviate language anxiety. in 2016, berowa conducted a study on the causal factors influencing the linguistics inclination of meranao job enabling english proficiency (jeep) program students in the different speech domains. the study aimed to discover the language preference of meranao students of the mindanao state universitymain campus in the different speech domains, and form a picture of the language use pattern or language situation in this complex speech community; and to determine from their responses the different causal factors that can affect their language preferences. meranao which means “people of the lake”, largely settle in the region surrounding the basin of lake lanao who are adherents of islam. it was found that the language use pattern of the respondents was somewhat reflective of a diglossic and bilingual/multilingual community. overall, majority of the respondents named meranao as their preferred language at home; favored mixed languages inside the classroom; preferred mixed languages within the campus; and favored mixed languages in meetings, seminars, and conferences. the study concluded that the leading causal factors underlying language preference are mass media, social relationships, and social network. framework the conceptual framework of the study shows the personal profile of the respondents who were students of the job enabling english proficiency (jeep) program of the mindanao state university, main campus in marawi city and their attitude and linguistic self-confidence towards english language learning. the personal profile of the respondents included sex, age, course, year level, and ethnicity. the attitude and linguistic-self confidence towards english learning are the affective factors identified in this study. the flow of inquiry was outlined in the schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of the study as shown below. 99 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of the study objective of the study the study determined the profile of the respondents, their attitude towards english language learning, and the situation/s that they feel linguistically confident in using the target language in a multi-cultural context. methodology research design the study used the qualitative-quantitative study to determine the attitude of the respondents in english language learning and their linguistic self-confidence. the quantitative aspect of the study included the use of questionnaire while the qualitative aspect of the study involved focus-group discussion (fgd) to expound and elaborate the quantitative results. the data gathered from the questionnaires were cross-checked and verified through interviews. research setting the study was conducted in the mindanao state university, at its main campus in marawi city. the msu system aims to be the premier supra-regional university committed to intellectual, moral, social, political, economic and agroindustrial development of the tri-people (muslims, christians and lumads) of mindanao, sulu and palawan (minsupala region). 100 jpair multidisciplinary research established in 1961 through hb 1371, as amended, sponsored by the late senator domocao alonto, msu was created for a special mission, for special reasons, for special people. the special mission and unique mandate is to help integrate the muslims and other cultural communities into the mainstream body politic. the special reason is to be an instrument towards forging peace and development in mindanao. for the special people, msu caters to the poor but deserving all over mindanao, sulu and palawan (minsupala) region. since students in msu are coming from different regions in the country, they also bring with them their different regional dialects, making tagalog the lingua franca of the campus. as a residential campus in a non-metropolitan setting, msu is a social laboratory where young and old people, muslims, christians, and lumads or members of indigenous/cultural communities from all over mindanao converge to learn with and from each other. the msu students live and learn together. although they speak different regional languages, they understand one another; live in harmony and peace amidst diversity. respondents the respondents of the study were the students of the mindanao state university, main campus who were enrolled in the jeep courses in the first semester of school year 2015-2016. specifically, the jeep courses are english 11 (skills for interacting with english speakers in their community and beyond), english 12 (effective speech and oral communication), and english 13 (english for employment). the jeep-start includes the english 11 and 12. the english 11 is a semester course which equips students with skills for interacting with english speakers in their community and beyond. these will be, for the most part, taught using call (computer assisted language learning) utilizing the dyned software, namely new dynamic english (nde), english for success (efs), the lost secret, and clear speechworks. this course will not only foster the development of a functional command of spoken and written english; it will also help prepare the student get ahead in school and in future workplaces. on the other hand, the english 12 is designed to present the essence of effective speech and oral communication. this presents explicit array of effective communication theories paired with practical application suited for pre-conditioned and conditioned environments, which is reinforced by intensive 5-hour jeep laboratory training. this course is highlighted with lessons magnified on the following: speech communication process, intrapersonal and interpersonal (dyadic, small group, 101 international peer reviewed journal and public speaking) communication, and enhancement of the communicative competencies. the jeep-accelerate is composed of english 13 and 14. the english 13 is english for employment. this interactive course is designed to improve the level of english used by non-native english speaking students with specialized vocabulary areas, functions and skills related to the use of english in the profession as well as in life skills to help students in their daily lives. the english 14 is not yet offered for this semester. sampling procedure the study used the sloven’s formula in order to identify the correct number of samples for this study. sloven’s formula:n (sample)= __n____ 1+ne2 where: n – the total population eerror or level of significance (0.05) there were 206 active students of the jeep program in the first semester of the school year 2015-2016. there were 56 students enrolled for the english 11, 41 students for the english 12, and 9 students for the english 13. using the sloven’s formula, it was found out that 136 (135.97) was the needed number of sample units. to compute how many students would be drawn from each subject/course, the researcher used stratified random sampling. stratified random sampling subdivides population into subgroup. total population for each subject/course total number of enrollees of the jeep program x needed sample after computing or determining the needed number of respondents for each subject,the simple random sampling was applied in identifying those students who served as respondents for this study. simple random sampling is a sampling strategy that selects the respondents at random from a list of the population. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research research instruments a questionnaire was designed to know the personal profile of the respondents, their attitude towards english language learning, and their linguistic selfconfidence in the different situations. interview questions were used to verify the results of the questionnaire. the researcher used a voice recorder to remember the answers given by the respondents during the process of interviewing which were used as transcripts. results and discussion majority of the respondents of this study were females. explanations on the result may stem from issues discussed by kissau (2006) related to societal perception of the appropriacy of language study for boys or by mcintryre, baker, clement and donovan’s (2002) study which reported that girls had greater levels of wtc inside the classroom whereas boys were more willing to use their l2 outside the school context. macintyre, baker, clément & donovan (2002) also examined the role of gender with respect to these variables. their findings support those of earlier studies (e.g., gardner, 1985) which uncovered more favorable attitudes and motivation among female language learners. results also showed an increase in wtc and a decrease in anxiety among girls as they mature whereas boys remained constant throughout their middle school years (i.e., grades 7-9; ages 11-13). the above-mentioned studies provide evidences that gender influences one’s attitude towards second language learning. this may be influenced by the traditional, societal views of what is appropriate for a male and what is appropriate for a female. in the case of our country or in msu in particular, there is this notion that language is more of a female concern, and it is not “normal” for a boy to do well in language, particularly in english. in terms of age, the highest frequency counts were ages 16-17 with a number of 68 respondents or 52.8%. next in rank were ages 18-19 with a number of 50 respondents or 38.8%. respondents ages 20-21 ranked third with a number of 9 or 7.0%. those who were ages 22-23 ranked last with a number of 2 respondents or 1.6%. the result suggests that majority of the respondents fell into the typical 16-17 and 18-19 age bracket which could only mean that they are “on schedule,” so to speak. msu students usually take their english course requirements in the first two years. only repeaters enroll late in these courses, an “anomalous” or abnormal situation that sound or conscientious advisement should present. 103 international peer reviewed journal majority of the students who participated in the study came from the college of health sciences who numbered seventy-five (75) or 58.1%. this was followed by those representing the college of hotel and restaurant management, majoring either hotel and restaurant management or tourism who were fiftytwo (52) or 40.3%. there were two respondents (1.6%) who did not indicate their course. respondents came from either chs or charm since the jeep program subjects are required in their curricula. these two colleges’ graduates should benefit from jeep program which is an employment-focused english project especially designed to help mindanao graduates secure and retain jobs in highly-favored sectors requiring proficiency in english. their products hope to be deployed by the international job market in such field as international nursing and allied health, call center and other bpo employment in these areas. in terms of year level, seventy-two (72) or 55.8% respondents were first-year college students. thirty (30) or 23.3% were second-year students, and twentysix (26) or 20.2% were in their third-year. there was one (1) or .8% of the respondents who was not able to indicate his/her year level. english 11 is a prerequisite for english 12 and 13 courses. this is a semester course which equips students with skills for interacting with english speakers in their community and beyond. this course does not only foster the development of a functional command of spoken and written english; it also helps prepare the students to get ahead in school and in future workplaces. 104 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. frequency and percentage distribution of the respondents by cultural affiliation ethnicity frequency percentage rank bicolano bisaya butuanon cebuano iliganon ilocano ilonggo iranon kamayo leytena maguinadanaon mandaya manubo maranao no answer surigaonon tausog total 1 6 1 8 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 64 32 3 1 129 .8 4.7 .8 6.2 .8 1.6 .8 2.3 1.6 .8 .8 .8 .8 49.6 24.8 2.3 .8 100.0 7 4 7 3 7 6 7 5 6 7 7 7 7 1 2 5 7 the data revealed that most of the respondents were meranaos. this is understandable as the locale of the study is in the msu, situated in the islamic city of marawi, which is the home of the meranaos in the country. however, as shown in antecedents of this study like sieras’ (2011), the mindanao state university can lure to the main campus in marawi a heterogeneous enough mix of students, representing different ethnic groups. the population remains diverse, culturally and linguistically. with regards to the attitude of the respondents towards learning the english language, the results revealed that they strongly agreed that as students, they must learn english with a mean of 4.977. they also strongly agreed with the statements, “learning english is beneficial,” (mean=4.783); “after i graduate from college, i will continue to study and improve my english,” (mean=4.682); “i use the words i learn in my classes,” (mean=4.426); “although english is taught in school, i still study on my own,” (mean=4.264); and “i concentrate in what is taught in my english classes,” (mean=4.233). these statements ranked third, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. however, respondents also strongly agree that learning english is useless with a mean of 4.798 and that, learning english is a waste of time with a mean of 4.721 which ranked second and fourth, respectively. 105 international peer reviewed journal respondents agreed on the statements, “during english classes, i am absorbed in what is taught and concentrate on my studies,” (mean=4.047) which ranked ninth; “when i have assignments to do in english, i try to do them immediately after class,” (mean=3.845) which ranked tenth; and “i love english classes compared to other subjects,” (mean=3.845) which ranked eleventh. they also agree to the statements “i think and dream in english,” (mean= 3.713); “i would rather study subjects other than english,” (mean=3.705) which ranked thirteenth and “compared to my classmates, i find english subject very hard,” (mean=3.411) which ranked fourteenth. it can be argued that attitude which refers to sets of beliefs influences language learning (ellis, 2008). lightbown and spada (1993) also indicated that learning a second language depends on a learner’s attitude. the statement “i spend 5-6 hours in a week studying in english” ranked fifteenth (15th) with a mean of 2.830 that may indicate that even though they must learn english, and would improve their english proficiency after they graduated from the college, they are undecided whether they should spend long hours learning it. according to the quantitative results of the questionnaire, jeep students desire to learn english and have a positive attitude towards learning english. the qualitative results revealed that the respondents wanted to learn english mostly to get a better job, to earn more money, and to have an above average lifestyle. the results exposed that the respondents believe that being proficient in english would allow them to improve their social status and would make them earn more money. also, students want to learn english because without proficiency in english, they cannot find a decent job. therefore, learning english is a must for them, not just an option. it seems that the comparatively higher mean scores in the quantitative results do not necessarily mean that these students choose to learn english and make an effort to do so. they believe they have to learn english, and it is necessary for their life to be successful. though the qualitative results indicated that they did not make much effort to use english in their lives or make it part of their lives. moreover, they seem to resist the imposed necessity of learning the english language in their own country. the findings are consistent to study made by lightbown and spada (1993) which indicated that learning a second language depends on a learner’s attitude. there have been relatively few studies that have examined motivation and attitudes in relation to oral interaction in the classroom. an exception is kormos and dörnyei (2000), who examined motivation in relation to oral performance on an argumentative task. they reported a significant correlation between individual willingness to communicate, the pupils’ overall attitudes to the course 106 jpair multidisciplinary research and their attitudes to the particular task on the one hand and amount of speech produced on the other. among the 15 situations presented, the results revealed that the respondents always use english during admission interview that ranked first with the mean of 4.527 which can be considered a foregone conclusion. interviews for screening purposes are conducted in english. the situation does not offer students much of a choice. they are aware of the importance of impression management. respondents perceived that they ought to use the english language always during the interview since, according to some who were interviewed, it is the key to being admitted to the university and the preferred department and courses. the ability to use the english language during admission interviews is very crucial since it will determine the degree that they will be taking, which in turn, will be playing a foremost role in their lives. also, respondents always used english when consulting with english teachers inside the department which ranked second with the mean of 4.333. the respondents always speak in english inside the department since it is being encouraged and has become an academic unit’s policy. however during the interview, some of the respondents told that sometimes, they do not speak english inside the department because some of the english teachers do not use english. furthermore, respondents revealed that they sometimes used english when talking or speaking to the teacher and classmates in their english class that ranked third with a mean of 4.155. according to some participants, there is less encouragement in using english, and that, some of their english teachers spoke and did lectures using english, filipino, and visayan. some mixed codes, usually english-filipino or english-cebuano, are fast supplanting english or filipino as the medium of instruction in many classrooms. ironically, this hybrid variety is being modeled by teachers themselves, or at the very least, is being tolerated by them. the methodology used in this research addressed the purpose of the study which is simply to show the respondents’ attitude and linguistic self-confidence towards english language through the use of questionnaire. the researcher would like to emphasize that this is not a correlational study. on the other hand, the qualitative aspect of the study involved semi-structured interview to expound and elaborate the quantitative results. the data gathered from the questionnaires were cross-checked and verified through interview to determine the veracity of the data gathered. the method was successful for the respondents’ to further expound their ideas regarding the topic. 107 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the findings of the study present a consistent picture which establishes a positive attitude towards learning the english language. based on the results, jeep students desire to learn english and have a positive attitude towards learning english. also, it revealed that the respondents wanted to learn english mostly to get a better job, to earn more money, and to have an above average lifestyle. the respondents believe that being proficient in english would allow them to improve their social status and would make them earn more money. also, students wanted to learn english because without proficiency in english, they cannot find a decent job. therefore, learning english is a must for them, not just an option. it seems that the comparatively higher mean scores do not necessarily mean that these students choose to learn english and make an effort to do so. they believe they have to learn english, and it is necessary for life to be successful. though the results indicated that they did not make much effort to use english in their lives or make it part of their lives, they seem to resist the imposed necessity of learning the english language in their own country. the result provided sufficient answer to the research question and confirms the findings of cetinkaya (2005) and pongwat and fisik (2012), who claimed that their respondents have positive attitude towards learning the english language. furthermore, the study concludes that the respondents were sometimes linguistically confident depending on the situation. the confidence varies depending on the situation that they are in. there are situations or occasions that they appear to be confident in using english always, while in other situations, they do not seem to be very linguistically confident. the result confirms the construct developed by macintyre, clément, dornyei, and noels (1998) on situation-specific linguistic confidence. situation-specific self-confidence refers to the feeling that one has the capacity to communicate effectively at a particular moment. it consists of perceived competence and lack of anxiety. it could arise when one is in a situation that has been previously encountered, provided that one has developed language knowledge and skills. this lack of anxiety can be the reason among the students speaking in english during admission interview which ranked first among the fifteen speech situations they were required to comment. intuitively, respondents can determine or perceive what a particular situation demands of them. they have this sense of propriety which helps them regulate linguistic behavior. 108 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to information dissemination intended for english language teachers and learners, school administrators, educational policy-makers and future researchers. the results can be circulated through seminars and workshops especially when the discussion is related to classroom management, teaching approaches and strategies. the results can also be disseminated through paper presentation in the different arena, and through publication. literature cited berowa, a. m. (2016). the causal factors influencing the linguistic inclination of meranao job enabling english proficiency (jeep) progra students in the different speech domains; the msu, marawi case. book of abstracts, comparative education society in asia 2016, de la salle university, manila. brown, h. (1987). douglas principles of language learning and teaching. cetinkaya, y. b (2005). collegestudents’ willingness to communicate in turkish context. turkey: book on demand. clément, r., & kruidenier, b. g. (1985). aptitude, attitude, and motivation in second language proficiency: a test of clément’s model. journal of language and social psychology, 4, 21-37. ellis, r. (1994). the study of second language acquisition. oxford, england: oxford university press. ellis, r. (2008). the study of second language acquisition. oxford: oxford university press. gardner, r. c., & lambert, w. e. (1959). motivational variables in second language acquisition. canadian journal of psychology, 13, 266-272. hashim, a., & leitner, g. (2014). english as a lingua franca in higher education in malaysia. the asian journal of applied linguistics, 1(1), 16-27. 109 international peer reviewed journal hosseini, s. b., & pourmandnia, d. (2013). language learners’attitudes and beliefs: brief review of the related literature and frameworks. international journal on new trends in education and their implications, 4(4), 6. india today (august 18, 1997). survey on contrary to the census myth that english is the language of a microscopic minority. retrieved from https:// goo.gl/7xwo81 kachru, b. b. (1998). english as an asian language. links & letters, (5), 089-108. kirkpatrick, a. (2012). english in asean: implications for regional multilingualism. journal of multilingual and multicultural development, 33(4), 331-344. kissau, s. (2006). gender differences in motivation to learn french. canadian modern language review/ la revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 62 (3), 401-422. kormos, j. and dornyei, z. (2000). the role of individual and social variables in oral task performance. language teaching research, 4, 275-300. lightbown, p. and spada, n. (1993). how languages are learned. oxford: oxford university press lukman, b. a.and nurl, h. i. (2015).rocking chair syndrome: investigating language anxiety among malaysian university students in the united kingdom. conference proceedings, international educator’s conference 2015, p. 68. macintyre, p. d., clément, r., dornyei, z., & noels, k. a. (1998). conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a l2: a situational model of l2 confidence and affiliation. the modern language journal, 82(4), 545562. macintyre, p. d., baker, s. c., clement, r., & donovan, l. a. (2002). sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence, and l2 motivation among junior high school french immersion students. language learning, 52, 537-564. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research pongwat, f. and fisik, s. b. (2012). a study of learning style and some characteristics affecting english learning achievement of chinese and undergraduates. conference proceedings, the asian conference on language learning 2012, p. 381-389. saville-troike, m. (1982). the ethnography of communication: an introduction. oxford: basil blackwell. sieras, s. g. (2011). error analysis among english 2 students in the mindanao state university. conference proceedings, international conference in language and communication 2011, bangkok, thailand. stevick, e.w. (1976). meaning, memory and method: some psychological perspectives on language learning. rowley, ma: newbury house. 17 international peer reviewed journal vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.333 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. performance characteristics of anaerobic biodegradation of synthetic phenolic industrial wastewater mishu singh http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8890-2591 mishusingh17@gmail.com chhatrapati shahu ji maharaj university kanpur, india abstract the treatment of toxic and inhibitory phenolic compounds using biological techniques have been pursued vas a promising and widely accepted treatment process due to its easiness of handling, a greater level of stabilization of waste and properly operated to prevent the production of secondary pollutants. up-flow anaerobic bio-reactors (uafb) has been widely applied for the handling of high organic load industrial wastewater. the treatment of synthetic phenolic wastewater by a single stage anaerobic fixed bed bioreactor with granite stones packing at four different temperatures was studied. the effect of hydraulic retention time on cod reduction and other steady state characteristics and kinetic parameters, which form these characteristics, was also studied. a recirculated single stage up-flow anaerobic bioreactor operated at all the above-given temperatures with initial bod 1462 mg/l and initial cod 5720 mg/l for a digestion period of 25 days with a working volume of 1000 ml. the performance of the reactor was monitored after every five days and analyzed in terms of percentage (cod, bod, ts, tds, vs removal and biogas production). the removal efficiency of bod, cod, ts, tds and vs reached a maximum value of 63.20%, 61.24%, 44.88%, 47.67% and 53.12% respectively. with the change in hrt, the maximum cod 18 jpair multidisciplinary research reduction was 66.04% at 24 hrs hrt at 400c with initial cod of 5000 mg/l. specific biogas yield increased up to 0.0162 ml/mg codr. keywords phenol, anaerobic, fixed bed bioreactor, wastewater, up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket, experimental design, india abbreviations: bod -biochemical oxygen demand, cod chemical oxygen demand, tds total dissolved solids, vs volatile solids, uafb up-flow anaerobic fixed bed bioreactor introduction aromatic compounds are abundant in the environment (lettinga, rebac, & zeeman 2001; colleran & pender, 2002; collins, 2005). one group of these products is phenolic compounds. phenol is degraded under anaerobic conditions, methane and carbon dioxide as reviewed in several reports (guieysse, wickstro, forsman & mattiasson, 2001; li & fang, 1996). however, at some concentrations, phenol may promote inhibitory effects in methanogenic bacteria, diminishing methane production and carbon degradation (rebecca & gerbens, 1999). therefore, phenolic compounds are problematic for the anaerobic treatment of effluent. one report (hernandez, 2003) sets that various alternatives (dilution, ozonation, uv-h2o2) offer to eliminate the toxicity and improve phenol’s anaerobic biodegradation. previous works on phenol anaerobic biodegradation have been carried out in batch (banks & wang, 1999) and continuous operation: fluidized bed (mc hugh carton, collins & o’flaherty, 2004), uasb (chang, nishio & nagai, 1995) and expanded bed reactor (collins, foy, mchugh & o’flaherty, 2004). veeresh, kumar, and mehrotra (2005) have reviewed treatment of phenol and cresols in up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (uasbr). the anaerobic bacteria have the capability to degrade phenol as a sole substrate (fang, li, chui, & chen, 1996; chang et al. 1995; tay, he & yan, 2000) and use of a co-substrate is not a prerequisite. however, the presence of a co-substrate retards/prevents the toxic effects of phenols during shocks helps in complete biodegradation of phenol (tay et al., 2001) and facilitates fast recovery of the process. pure substrates such as glucose (hwang and cheng, 1991; tay et al. 2001) and volatile fatty acids (vfa) (kennes, mendez & lema, 1997) were used as co-substrates in the anaerobic treatment of phenols in uasbr. the use of pure substrates restricts the practical applicability of the process. therefore, it has been deemed necessary to assess the 19 international peer reviewed journal potentials of a readily degradable wastewater as a co-substrate in the treatment of phenolic waste. the present technical note describes the performance of a (uafb) up-flow anaerobic fixed bed bioreactor treating synthetic wastewater. objective of the study the work studied the anaerobic degradation of phenolic wastewater at four different temperatures 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c and with a change in hydraulic retention time from 2 to 24 hours. chemical oxygen demand (cod), biochemical oxygen demand (bod), total solids (ts), total dissolved solids (tds), volatile solids (vs), biogas productivity and specific biogas yield, evaluated degradation of phenol. materials and methods synthetic wastewater containing phenol with cod: n: p ratio of 100: 2.5: 0.5, using urea and potassium dihydrogen phosphate as a chief source of nitrogen and phosphorous, respectively was produced. the phenolic wastewater contained bod (biochemical oxygen demand) of value 1278 mg/l and cod (chemical oxygen demand) of value 5000 mg/l. in this study, synthetic phenolic wastewater was prepared as and when required. distilled water added maintained the composition of phenolic waste. to support the growth of microorganisms, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous were added in a ratio of cod: n: p of 50: 2.5: 1. synthetic wastewater containing phenol is the sole carbon source. urea and potassium dihydrogen phosphate are the chief source of n and p. small quantities of inorganic ions like na+, k+, ca2+, mg2+, and fe3+ were added in wastewater. an anaerobic mixed culture developed from cow dung in yeast extract media by digesting it up to two weeks at 350c temperature, was enriched in the synthetic medium of acetic acid. acetic acid, added to inhibited the growth of acidogenic bacteria. the methanogenic culture was enriched in an acetic medium. this culture obtained was used as inoculums for the batch process. as phenol is toxic to microorganisms and is a good disinfectant, its higher concentration may prevent microbial growth in wastewater, may prevent microbial growth or, at least, make it difficult to sustain, so the mixed culture was thus, developed and was adapted to the phenolic wastewater. for adaptation, the concentration of phenol was gradually increased from 100 mg/l to 1000 mg/l. this experiment was carried out for 14 days at 350c temperature. the biogas production was measured each 20 jpair multidisciplinary research day to ensure the bacterial activity. phenolic waste water and the developed adapted mixed culture was mixed in definite proportion and was introduced into the single stage attached film fixed bed bioreactor and was allowed to ferment anaerobically for 25 days at four different temperatures 300c, 350c, 400c, and 450c, respectively. one hundred (100) ml seed material was used in each digester while ph was adjusted by adding lime when required. the single stage anaerobic attached film fixed bed reactor with a working volume of 1000 ml was packed with granite stones of size 1.0 cm to 1.5 cm in diameter. the reactor consists of a jacketed column was used to maintain the temperature by flowing water in the outside jacket using a thermostat water bath. the reactor was fed at a rate of 25 ml/hr to maintain the hrt of 24 hours. continuous recycle of the treated effluent (phenolic wastewater) was done for the partial fluidization of the sludge by a peristaltic pump. these pumps were calibrated for different flow rates. cod, bod, ts, tds, vs and biogas production at four different temperatures (300c, 350c, 400c, and 450c), evaluated reactor performance. in the experiment, the effect of a change in hydraulic retention time (hrt) on cod reduction and other steady state characteristics and kinetic parameters from these characteristics was studied. hrt varied from 02 to 24 hrs. the steady state reached between 9th -13th days for different hrt in the reactor. results and discussion phenols are highly toxic to microorganisms. after the development of methanogenic culture, 100 ml inoculum was mixed with wastewater having phenol concentration 100 mg/l. after two weeks, 100 ml inoculum from the experiment and wastewater with 200 mg/l phenol concentration was inoculated. in this manner, the highest concentration of phenol i.e. 1000 mg/l was digested and percentage cod removal of 59.33% was achieved (table-1 & figure-1). 21 international peer reviewed journal table 1. percentage phenol removal during adaptation of phenolic wastewater s. no initial phenol conc. (mg/l) initial cod (mg/l) final cod (mg/l) % cod removal 1. 100 804 699 13.05 2. 200 1627 1363 16.22 3. 300 2082 1620 22.19 4. 400 2877 2047 28.84 5. 500 3958 2493 37.01 6. 700 4495 2425 46.05 7. 800 5746 2722 52.62 8. 1000 6728 2736 59.33 figure 1. cod percentage removal during adaptation of phenolic wastewater effect of change in temperature tables 2 to 5 show the characteristics of the treatment mixture viz. bod, cod, ts, tds and vs at different digestion time at four different temperatures 300c, 350c, 400c, and 450c, respectively. figures 2 to 6 represent the effect of digestion time on % bod, % cod, % ts, % tds and % vs reduction, respectively. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. percentage reduction of bod at 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c temperature s.no. digestion time(days) % bod reduction at 30oc at 35oc at 40oc at 45oc 1. 5 23.05 19.56 28.45 24.62 2. 10 36.73 29.13 40.56 36.38 3. 15 48.29 42.81 49.52 47.87 4. 20 54.58 49.84 60.09 57.85 5. 25 57.25 51.50 67.78 63.20 figure 2. effect of digestion time on percentage bod reduction at four different temperatures table 3. percentage reduction of cod at 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c temperature s. no. digestion time(days) % cod reduction at 30oc at 35oc at 40oc at 45oc 1. 5 18.63 17.74 24.44 20.69 2. 10 33.46 28.70 36.53 33.93 3. 15 42.36 40.85 46.76 42.79 4. 20 49.33 49.84 55.85 54.09 5. 25 49.61 59.47 65.78 61.24 23 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. effect of digestion time on percentage cod reduction at four different temperatures table 4. percentage reduction of total solids at 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c temperature s. no. digestion time(days) % ts reduction at 30oc at 35oc at 40oc at 45oc 1. 5 12.59 11.02 15.74 12.59 2. 10 22.04 22.04 28.34 24.40 3. 15 30.70 29.92 36.22 34.64 4. 20 36.22 36.22 42.51 40.15 5. 25 37.00 40.15 48.03 44.88 figure 4. effect of digestion time on percentage ts reduction at four different temperatures 24 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. percentage reduction of total dissolved solids at 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c temperature s.no. digestion time(days) percentage tds reduction at 30oc at 35oc at 40oc at 45oc 1. 5 16.27 12.79 20.93 18.60 2. 10 25.58 22.09 31.39 26.74 3. 15 32.55 31.39 43.02 38.37 4. 20 40.69 38.37 50.00 44.18 5. 25 41.86 43.02 54.65 47.67 figure 5. effect of digestion time on percentage tds reduction at four different temperatures table 6. percentage reduction of volatile solids at 300c, 350c, 400c and 450c temperature s.no. digestion time(days) percentage vs reduction at 30oc at 35oc at 40oc at 45oc 1. 5 21.87 18.75 26.56 20.31 2. 10 29.68 29.68 35.93 32.81 3. 15 35.93 43.75 46.87 42.18 4. 20 43.75 48.43 56.25 51.56 5. 25 46.87 51.56 60.93 53.12 25 international peer reviewed journal figure 6. effect of digestion time on percentage vs reduction at four different temperatures at 300c bod and cod of the treatment mixture ranged between 1462 mg/l to 625 mg/l and 5720 mg/l to 2882 mg/l respectively. the total dissolved solids ranged from 254 mg/l to 160 mg/l, total dissolved solids ranged from 172 mg/l to 100 mg/l and volatile solids ranged from 128 mg/l to 68 mg/l, with the increase in digestion time from 01 to 25 days. the value of bod percentage reduction varied from 23.05 to 57.25% while cod percentage reduction varied from 18.63 % to 49.61%. the value of total solids, total dissolved solids, and volatile solids ranged between 12.59% to 37.00%, 16.27 % to 41.86 % and 21.87% to 46.87%, respectively. at 350c bod and cod of the treatment mixture ranged between 1462 mg/l to 575 mg/l and 5720 mg/l to 2318 mg/l, respectively. the total dissolved solids ranged from 254 mg/l to 152 mg/l, total dissolved solids ranged from 172 mg/l to 98 mg/l and volatile solids ranged from 128 mg/l to 62 mg/l, with the increase in digestion time from 01 to 25 days. the value of bod percentage reduction varied from 19.56% to 60.67% while cod percentage reduction varied from 17.74 % to 59.47%. the value of total solids, total dissolved solids, and volatile solids ranged between 11.02 % to40.15 %, 12.79 % to 43.02 % and 18.75% to 51.56%, respectively. at 400c bod and cod of the treatment mixture ranged between 1462 mg/l to 481 mg/l and 5720 mg/l to 1957 mg/l respectively. the total dissolved solids ranged from 254 mg/l to 132 mg/l, total dissolved solids ranged from 172 mg/l to 78 mg/l and volatile solids ranged from 128 mg/l to 50 mg/l, with the 26 jpair multidisciplinary research increase in digestion time from 01 to 25 days. the value of bod percentage reduction varied from 28.45% to 67.09 % while cod percentage reduction varied from 24.44 % to 65.78 %. the value of total solids, total dissolved solids, and volatile solids ranged between 15.57 % to 48.03 %, 20.93 % to 54.65 % and 26.56 % to 60.93% respectively. at 450c bod and cod of the treatment mixture ranged between 1462 mg/l to 538 mg/l and 5720 mg/l to 2217 mg/l respectively. the total dissolved solids ranged from 254 mg/l to 140 mg/l, total dissolved solids ranged from 172 mg/l to 90 mg/l and volatile solids ranged from 128 mg/l to 60 mg/l, with the increase in digestion time from 01 to 25 days. . the value of bod percentage reduction varied from 24.62% to 63.20% while cod percentage reduction varied from 20.69 % to 61.24%. the value of total solids, total dissolved solids, and volatile solids ranged between 12.59% to 44.88%, 18.60 % to 47.67% and 20.31% to 53.12%, respectively. effect of hydraulic retention time on cod and biogas production: table-7 shows the effect of change in the effect of a change in hydraulic retention time (hrt) on cod reduction and steady state characteristics and kinetic parameters from these characteristics for the reactor with granite stones as packing material. with variation in hrt from 2 -24 hrs, it was observed that the maximum cod reduction occurred at hrt 24 hrs and was found to be 66.04%. figure 7 shows the corresponding graph. biogas production value decreased with increase in hrt. table 8 shows the effect of hrt on the biogas productivity and specific biogas yield respectively. the value of biogas productivity decreased from 0.0741 to 0.0535 ml/ml/day, while the specific biogas yield increased from 0.0036 to 0.0162 mg/ml codr with an increase in hrt from 02 to 24 hours. figures 8 and 9 show the change of kinetic parameters with change in hrt. table 7. effect of hydraulic retention time on performance characteristics of the reactor at 400c s.no feed rate ( ml/hr) hydraulic retention time (hrs) cod of treated effluent (mg/l) % cod removal 1. 300 2 3321 33.58 2. 150 4 3133 37.34 3. 75 8 1887 42.26 4. 45 14 2444 51.12 5. 25 24 1698 66.04 27 international peer reviewed journal figure 7. effect of hydraulic retention time on percentage cod reduction table 8. evaluation of kinetic parameters from table 7 s. no hydraulic retention time (hours) % cod removal biogas productivity (ml/ ml/day) specific biogas yield (mg/ml/ cod r ) 1. 2 33.58 0.0741 0.0036 2. 4 37.34 0.0713 0.0063 3. 8 42.26 0.0633 0.0099 4. 14 51.12 0.0596 0.0129 5. 24 66.04 0.0535 0.0162 figure 8. effect of hydraulic retention time on biogas productivity 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 2 4 8 14 % c o d r em ov al hydraulic re te ntion time (hours) 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 2 4 8 14 24 b io ga s p ro du ct iv ity m l/m l/d ay hrt ( hours) biogas productivity (ml/ml/day) 28 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 9. effect of hydraulic retention time on specific biogas productivity conclusions the results indicate that there was a steady increase in the percentage reduction of bod, cod, ts, tds and vs from 05th to 20th day, but the rate of percentage reduction decreased after the 20th day at all the four different temperatures. cumulative biogas production and rate of biogas production during the digestion process indicated that there was a steady increase in the yield of biogas from 7th day onwards and it attained a peak value on 20th treatment then after it started decreasing. the biogas production and reduction in effluent characteristics at various temperatures observed showed that optimum temperature for a reduction in effluent characteristics and biogas production was at 400c. the treatment efficiencies increased with the increase of retention time at 400c. methane content in the biogas varied. the average composition of the biogas at the end of digestion with hrt 24 hrs at 400c was: ch4 content varied from 62.2 to 64.1%, co2 varied from 34.0 – 36.5 %, o2 varied from 0.3 – 0.5% and co varied from 0.40.7%. literature cited chang, y. j., nishio, n., and nagai, s. (1995), characteristics of granular methanogenic sludge grown on phenol synthetic medium and methanogenic fermentation of phenolic wastewater in a uasb reactor.” “j. ferment. bioeng. 79 (4), 348–353. 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 2 4 8 14 24 sp ec ifi c bi og as p ro du ct iv ity m l/m g c o d hrt ( hours) specific biogas yield (mg/ml/codr) 29 international peer reviewed journal colleran, e., pender, s., (2002), “mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sulphate-containing wastewaters. water sci. technol. 45, 231–235. collins. g., water research, 39 (2005), 1614–1620, bioreactor at 15 1c. fems microbiology ecology in press, (online 21 november 2004). fang, h. h. p., chen, t., li, y. y., and chui, h. k. (1996), “degradation of phenol in wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor.” water res. 30 (6), 1353–1360. guieysse, b., wickstro¨ m, p., forsman, m., mattiasson, b., (2001), “.biomonitoring of continuous microbial community adaptation towards more efficient phenol degradation in fed-batch reactor”. appl. microbiol. biotechnol. 56, 780–787. hernandez, j.e. (2003),” removal of polyphenols contained in wastewater using anaerobic digestion.” sheffield, the university of sheffield. hwang, p. c., and cheng, s. s. (1991). “the influence of glucose supplement on the degradation of catechol.” water sci. technol. 23, 1201–1209. kennes, c., mendez, r., and lema, j. m. (1997), “methanogenic degradation of p-cresol in batch and in continuous uasb reactors.” water res. 31(7), 1549– 1554. lettinga, g., rebac, s., zeeman, g., (2001), “challenge of psychrophilic anaerobic wastewater treatment.” trends biotechnol. 19, 363–370. li, y.y., fang, h.h.p., chui, h.k., chen, t. (1996), “uasb treatment of wastewater with concentrated benzoate. “j. environ. eng. asce. 12, 401–411. mchugh, s., carton, m.w., collins, o’flaherty, v., (2004), “reactor performance and microbial community dynamics during anaerobic biological treatment of wastewaters at16–37 0c”. fems microbiol. ecol. 48, 369–378. rebecca, s., gerbens, s., lens, p.n., van lier, j.b., stams, a.j.m., keesman, k.j., lettinga, g., (1999), “ kinetics of fatty acid degradation by psychrophilically 30 jpair multidisciplinary research grown anaerobic granular sludge.” bioresource technol. 69, 241–248. tay, j. h., he, y. x., and yan, y. g. (2000), “anaerobic granulation using phenol as the sole carbon source.” water environ. res. 72, 189–194. tay, j. h., he, y. x., and yan, y. g. (2001). “improved anaerobic degradation of phenol with supplemental glucose.” j. environ. eng. 127(1), 38–45. veeresh, g. s., kumar, p., and mehrotra, i. (2005), “treatment of phenol and cresols in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (uasb) process: a review.” water res. 39(1), 154–170. 39 international peer reviewed journal abstract the province of abra is rich in natural resources. environmental sustainability has been one of the advocacies to sustain enough resources to meet our needs. the study was conducted to determine the species diversity of lichens in the province of abra, philippines. specifically, the study documented the species of lichens found in the study sites. the taxonomic classification of the lichen species was documented and identified using the dichotomous key for lichens. samples of lichens were collected by scraping them from the substrate. results revealed that abra could be a rich culture ground for lichens. from 10,659 collected individuals of lichens, 44 species came out. parmtotremarubifaciens lichen appeared to have potential medicinal properties since phytosterol, phenolic compounds, and flavonoid were positive within it. crustose type of lichens was the most abundant type having 25 species. of all the 44 species of lichens, there were five species commonly found in all the 27 study sites. lichens and their natural habitats should not be destroyed by logging, and the use of toxic chemicals that could contaminate the air should be avoided as well as burning of wastes. keywords – botany, lichens, descriptive design, abra, philippines. vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.388 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. species diversity of lichens in the province of abra, philippines mary joan t. guzman http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7106-2979 maryjoan.guzman@gmail.com abra state institute of sciences & technology abra, philippines robinson q. fabito http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9764-7358 robinsonfabito808@gmail.com abra, philippines 40 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction lichens are interesting life forms which comprised of part algae and part fungus. the two live symbiotically, each contributing to the survival of the other. the fungi are responsible for protecting the photosynthetic organism by producing a vegetative body called thallus. the photosynthetic alga produces food and energy for itself and the fungi. these plants thrive in rocks and other surfaces exposed to air and moisture take a long time to develop lichen colonies. once a colony has been established, it will be easier for other colonies to grow and flourish. the three types of lichens are crustose, foliose, and fruticose. within these three types of lichens, scientists have found around 13,500 species on earth. each species has distinguishing characteristics as compared to other species (terc, 1997). about 75% of lichens in the world belong to crustose type. these lichens vary in color. these lichens are encrusted in stone or rocks. they grow so tightly into the rock that it is nearly impossible to pull them off. crustose edges are flat, unlobed closely attached to substrate, hard to remove without damaging substrate or lichen, algae usually dispersed. crustose lichens have the slowest growth rate in all species, thus, used in stone wall dating. they grow about one millimeter per year, thus, make dating on stones and other artifacts easier. sometimes crustose lichens can show no increase in size for ten years. foliose lichens connect loosely to stones and have a leaf-like shape. the bottom part of lichens is a root-like structure called a rhizine. these rhizines attach the lichen to the rock. as these lichens are not adequately attached to the rock, they can be easily removed using a knife or other tools. foliose lichens are usually yellow-green, orange, brown, or gray in color. foliose is a sandwich of fungal layer with algal mat in middle, circular growth, lobes, and the top and bottom layers are different; fruticose lichens appear more branch-like and bushy in appearance. many fruticose lichens stand upright on a leaf-like base. many times, they do not have a distinguishing top or bottom. fruticose is not attached to its surface as securely as the others. these lichens are easily pulled off by hand. there are round branches with their fungal layer outside, its algal layer within, no rhizines, vertical growth pattern, odd-shaped structures such as goblets; threads. bartoli, cardarelli, achilli, campanella, ravera and massari (1997) mentioned that air quality assessment is important. lichen characteristics are 41 international peer reviewed journal well suited for biomonitoring. study on lichen diversity is far cheaper in cost than chemical analysis with regards to the purpose of monitoring air quality. furthermore, boonpragob and nash (1990) stressed that the diversity of lichens are used to identify disturbed areas due to pollution, land use, and other anthropogenic related activities. recent years showed that efforts had been made to develop a feasible protocol for lichen use for biomonitoring. in addition, mendez, monge-nájera, gonzález and rossi (2002) supports that lichens are excellent bioindicators and biomonitors. as bio-indicators, the presence or absence of sensitive species is used to search for distribution patterns that show pollutant deposition. voids in distributions may indicate whether lichens have died out due to heavy metals or sulfur oxide pollution. these observations were achieved by conducting taxonomic inventories or surveys, which include sampling many species in many localities in the study area. nash (1991) stated that lichens have been used worldwide as air quality indicator. relatively low levels of sulfur, nitrogen, and fluorine-containing pollutants greatly affect many species of lichens in terms of their structure and functions, composition, growth rates, and reproduction. in the work of johnson et al. (2011), it was found out that lichens have species-specific response patterns to increasing levels of atmospheric pollutants, ranging from relative resistance to high sensitivity. the majority of early lichens and studies on air pollution involved sulfur dioxide. lichens are sensitive to this kind of pollutant. lichen species were damaged and killed in areas where there is a great concentration of sulfur dioxide. will-wolf, esseen, and neitlich (2002) also emphasized that myriad of pollution effects on lichens have been described in studies to date. at the level of the whole plant, investigators have described decreases in thallus size and fertility bleaching and convolution of the thallus, restriction of lichens to the base of vegetation, and mortality of sensitive species. microscopic and molecular effects include reduction in the number of algal cells in the thallus, ultrastructural changes of the thallus and changes in chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, degradation of photosynthetic pigments and altered photosynthesis and respiration rates. early signs of air pollution were indicated through increased electrolyte leakage, inhibition of nitrogen fixation, and decreased respiration and photosynthetic activity of the algae. more resistant species tolerate regions with higher concentrations of these pollutants, but may exhibit changes in internal and external morphology. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research humphrey, davey, peace, ferris, harding (2002) and schmull, hauck, vann, johnson, and runge (2002) presented that the factors known to affect lichens include climate and air quality. additional factors that can influence lichens occurrence are tree species, stand age, site history and the amount of dead wood present. diversity of foliicolous lichens is high in neotropical rainforest that include central american rainforest (cáceres, maia, lücking, schroeter, schlensog, & green, 2000). for southeast asia, papong, boonpragob and lücking (2007) reported 8 species of foliicolous lichens from nepal, 53 species from sri lanka, 60 species from china, 70 species from vietnam, 83 species from japan, 90 species from india, 106 species from thailand, 210 species from indonesia, 120 species from malaysia, 191 species from papua new guinea, and 224 species fro, philippines. the number of foliicolous lichens recorded from kakamega and budongo forests of africa is higher in number than the number of species reported from most of these in tropical countries. the number of foliicolous lichens recorded from godere africa is higher than the number reported at a country level for nepal, sri lanka, china and vietnam. several studies, have documented high foliicolous lichen diversity in undisturbed primary forests as compared to disturbed secondary forest (lücking, 1998; sipman 1991). the result of their study shows high foliicolous lichen diversity in forests with relatively little disturbance. in the more disturbed secondary forest sites, foliicolous lichen diversity is substantially reduced. lepp (2011) stated that lichens show a great ability to concentrate nutrients from very dilute sources and indiscriminately absorb many toxic substances from the atmosphere (e.g. sulfur dioxide, fluorides and heavy metals). many lichen species are highly susceptible to air pollution, especially to pollution by sulfur dioxide. most species of lichens found in areas containing sulfur dioxide show an increased concentration of sulfur in their thalli. the province of abra has 27 municipalities namely: baay, bangued, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, dolores, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa. it is rich in natural resources where abrenians obtain their necessities. environmental sustainability has been one of the advocacies to sustain enough resources satisfying their needs. protecting and conserving the natural resources is a must to maintain the richness of the mother nature, but due to the increasing population, greediness, lack of discipline etc. environmental degradations is 43 international peer reviewed journal inevitable. landslides and river siltation and pollution happen due to illegal mining. deforestations due to illegal logging and kaingin farming have resulted into many environmental problems. with this, the occurrence of different types of pollution leading to the acquisition of health problems had been experienced by abrenians prevalently. the study of lichens as bio indicators could be one step to help assess the quality of the ecosystems and environments and finding possible solution in the restoration of the original natural resources. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the species diversity of lichens in the province of abra. specifically, the study aimed to: 1) document, identify, and characterize the species of lichens found in each municipality in the province of abra; 2) determine the chemical and medicinal properties of lichen/s found in the province of abra; 3) assess the species diversity of lichens in the province of abra; and 4) determine the index of similarity of the types of lichens found in the province of abra. methodology research design the descriptive analysis research design was used in the study. it employed the investigatory method using fieldworks. it involved the collection, preservation, identification, and description of lichens in the province of abra. data gathering tools the following materials were used in the conduct of the study: for lichen collection, hand lens, paper bags or small white envelope, rock hammer (or a stone chisel and hammer), safety glasses, and spray bottle were used while for lichen preservation, the researcher made used of white paper envelopes. for lichen identification and description of its morphology, dissecting kit that includes fine forceps, dropper bottle filled with distilled water (so the color of the lichen does not change when moistened), slides and coverslips, binocular microscope and dissecting microscope, razor blades, and chemicals for color tests of lichens were utilized. 44 jpair multidisciplinary research data gathering procedure 1. fieldworks a. ocular inspection – the researcher identified the different study sites and made documentations on the possible study sites found in the 27 municipalities of abra by actual ocular inspection. each study site was divided into three sampling stations. b. selection of study sites – lichens commonly thrive in forested areas where there is an abundant number of trees and sufficient moisture. the selection of study sites in the different municipalities was done through interviews. the researcher interviewed the farmers and residents. they were asked to identify forested areas in their municipalities where they saw abundant lichens. after identifying, the researcher selected the sampling sites based on the information from the interviewees. c. collection of lichens – before collecting, the researcher sought permission from the local officials to the conduct the study in the different sampling sites. the researcher considered ethics on collecting lichens that they should only be collected in small amount or should not be collected when there is only limited number of that particular species. this is because lichens served as natural air quality indicator and should not be collected out from their natural habitat. lichens growing on any substrate in the three sampling stations of each study site were collected. to collect very dry and brittle lichens, the researcher misted it with a spray bottle to obtain them easily. the lichens were mainly collected by scraping them from the substrate where they are attached using a rock hammer. lichens that were closely attached to rocks were simply collected by taking a portion of the attached substrate. for lichens growing on trees, the lichens were collected only in a small amount of bark or a piece. d. preservation of lichens – preservation of lichens was done in situ. they were moistened overly especially the dry and deformed shaped lichens with a spray bottle, and gently work into the required form. the moisture of the lichens collected was removed by air drying to keep their threedimensional form. for further drying, lichens were stored in white paper envelopes. some lichens were lightly pressed to retain their superiority. 45 international peer reviewed journal 2. laboratory work a. identification of lichens the researcher identified the collected lichens by studying their morphological, anatomical and chemical properties. dichotomous key of lichens was used to identify the species of collected lichens. b. characterization of lichens the collected lichens were then brought to laboratory for further analysis. each species was examined through the use of binocular microscope. forceps was used to pick and position the collected lichens into the glass slide before covering it with cover slip. examination through the microscope was done by the researcher to describe the morphological characteristics of the collected lichens based on their size, color, and texture. c. phytochemical screening the lichen/s collected was subjected to phytochemical screening to trace its constituents and medicinal properties. lichens screening for alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, saponins, phytosterol, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and proteins was done using standard tests just like plant constituents 3. biodiversity indices a. diversity of lichens species diversity of lichens found in each of the three sampling stations in each study site was computed through the use of diversity indices. these indices include the shannon-weiner’s index, simpson’s index, and margalef ’s index. b. occurrence and distribution of lichens the occurrence and distribution of lichens in the province of abra was determined by frequency. this refers to the number of stations on which species will occur divided by the total station samples. the relative frequency was used to determine changes in lichens and their distribution wherein f1 refers to the total number of stations where the species occur over the total frequency or value for all species times 100. j refers to the evenness of the species distribution in the selected municipalities with the formula of h/hmax. the species diversity of lichens was determined using the indices, shannon weiner (h), simpson (ds), and margalef index (da). 46 jpair multidisciplinary research c. index of similarity the index of similarity is calculated to present the percentage of similarity of the different municipalities of abra on the different types of lichens. the greater percentage value that will be computed, the greater the similarity of the different municipalities on the different types of lichens. index of similarity can be computed using the formula where: n refers to the total number of community or site, c refers to the number of species common to all communities or sites, and s refers to the total number of species in each community or site data gathered 1. characterization of the character states of lichens 2. identification of the taxonomic classification of lichens 3. phytochemical screening of lichens 4. species diversity 4.1 diversity indices 4.2 occurrence and distribution of lichens 5. index of similarity result and discussion the identification and taxonomic classification were based on the dichotomous key for lichens authored by buck (1998). the morphological characteristics were based on the actual structure. there were 45 species of lichens of different types found in the province of abra. there were 25 species under crustose type, 17 species under foliose types, and 2 species under fruticose type. is = ( ) ( 1+ 2+ 3+ 4… ) 100 47 international peer reviewed journal figure 2 scientific name: graphis scripta substratum: tree bark collection site: collected from the 27municipalities of abra morphological description: the thallus is granular, yellowishgreen in color, extending all throughout with in the bark of tree, not smooth scientific name: graphis scripta substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, lagayan, langiden, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: this crustose lichen appear as thread-like structure that is closely attached to the substrate making it not that smooth, gray to black in color, measuring 1020mm long, figure 1 1. crustose (25 species) figure 3 scientific name: calenia sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, lacub, malibcong, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is light brown, apothecia that is dark brown at the center, 10-30mm, slightly smooth figure 4 scientific name: arctoparmelia sp. substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, dolores, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san quintin, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is light green with white margin, 10mm-2.5 feet covering a substrate, not smooth for the substrate where it is closely attached is rough figure 5 scientific name:dyplolabia afzelii substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, manabo, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is white thread-like structure, 2-10mmlong, and smooth figure 6 scientific name:biatora hypophaea substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, daguioman, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: this is round pimple-like crustose lichen where it forms in clump, black in color, 20-50mm, not smooth figure 7 scientific name:phlyctis argena substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is white to light brown extending to its margin, 60100mm, rough figure 8 scientific name:pertusaria sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, lacub, luba, malibcong, pilar, sallapadan, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is white with light brown spots or verrucose, about 60-110mm in size, smooth 48 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 9 scientific name:lepraria sp. substratum: combination of rock and soil collection site: baay, bangued, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, san quintin, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is white, no apothecia observed, about 1 foot in size, rough because of its substrate figure 10 scientific name:cryptothecia striata substratum: tree bark collection site: 27 municipalities of abra morphological description: the thallus is light green, white to light brown thallus margin, about 3 feet in size, rough figure 11 figure 12 scientific name:tephromela atra substratum: tree bark collection site: boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, manabo, sallapadan, tineg tubo, morphological description: the thallus is white to light green, has apothecia, black in color, found at the center of thallus, 50-200mm in size, rough figure 13 scientific name:staurothele aureolata substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: pimple crustose lichen, could be white to brown in color, abot 60-100mm in size, rough figure 14 scientific name:arthonia ilicina substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, san isidro, san quintin, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa, morphological description: lichens that are splashed in appearance, thallus is not sorediate, black in color, 0.51mm in size, rough figure 15 scientific name:sigridea californica substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is light green containing white pimple-like structure suspended all over the thallus, 20-45mm in size, rough figure 16 scientific name:bathelium carolinianum substratum: tree bark collection site: boliney, daguioman, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, sallapadan, tubo morphological description: the thallus is not sorediate, splashed in appearance, black in color, encrusted totally aroud tree stem, 0.5-0.8mm in size, rough scientific name:dirinaria applanata substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, malibcong, sallapadan, san juan, san quintin, villaviciosa morphological description: light green in color, contains round granules concentrated at the center of its thallus making it rough, 90-120mm in size 49 international peer reviewed journal figure 17 scientific name:fuscopannaria sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, pilar, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is mineral gray and black margin in color, has lobes that are closely attached to the substrate, has a powdery structure at its center, 15-50mm in size, rough figure 18 scientific name:phlyctis argena. substratum: tree bark collection site: collected in the 27 municipalities of abra morphological description: the thallus is light green containing and white margin, 30-55mm in size, rough figure 19 scientific name:pertusaria sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: collected in the 27 municipalities of abra except in bangued morphological description: the thallus is light green containing powdery yellowish structure at it, thallus margin is quite loosely attached twhite margin, 30-55mm in size, rough figure 20 scientific name:cryptothecia sp.. substratum: tree bark collection site: collected in the 27 municipalities of abra except in bangued morphological description: the thallus is whitish in color covering tree stem completely encrusted to it, no apothecia, and rough figure 21 scientific name:coccocarpia sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: boliney, bucay, bucloc, danglas, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is dark green having linear projections upward at its center; thallus margin is a hairlike structure, 110-140mm in size, rough figure 22 scientific name:dictyonema sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: collected in the 27 municipalities of abra morphological description: the thallus whitish gray in color with a white structure at its center, 40-90mm in size, slightly rough figure 23 scientific name:phaeographis smithii substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, daguioman, danglas, dolores, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, manabo, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: linear thallus with round structures at its margin, black in color, extends from 15-60mm long and rough figure 24 scientific name:enterographa aldabrensis sparrius substratum: tree bark collection site: collected in the 27 municipalities in abra morphological description: the thallus is appalanate, whitish brown in color, 60mm 1.5 feet in size, rough 50 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 25 scientific name:chrysothrix sp. substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san quintin morphological description: the thallus is yellowish green in color, appalanate, rough, 90mm2 feet in size 2. foliose (17 species) figure 26 scientific name:parmotrema chinense. substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is yellowish gray in color, broad lobes at its margin; contain isidia at its surface center, 80-145mm in size, and rough figure 27 scientific name:peltigera gowardii substratum: tree bark collection site: boliney, bucloc, daguioman, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg morphological description: the thallus is brownish gray, shiny in appearance, 70-180mm broad with lobes, semi-erect forming colonies, soft figure 28 scientific name:relicina eximbricata substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is light green in color, has loosely attached lobe to rock, 60-145mm, smooth figure 29 scientific name:parmeliopsis ambigua substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, danglas, la paz, lacub, luba, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa, morphological description: the thallus is gray green, closely attached to tree bark, lobes are 0.5-1mm wide, no apothecia observed, smooth in texture. figure 30 scientific name:brigantiaea sp. substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, daguioman, dolores, langiden, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, morphological description: the thallus is gray to black in color, lower cortex is brown, 10-15mm in diameter, smooth in its surface, ciliated thallus margin, 70-180mm broad with lobes, semi-erect forming colonies, soft figure 31 scientific name:ephebe hispidula substratum: rock collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, lagayan, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, penarubia, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is brownish gray in color, rough suface or upper cortex because of tiny hair-like structures or cilia erected on it, about 120mm-1 foot wide, rough. figure 32 scientific name:collema fuscovirens substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is black closely attached to the bark; 4080mm broad, upper surface is smooth. 51 international peer reviewed journal figure 33 scientific name:letharia vulpina substratum: tree bark collection site: tineg morphological description: the thallus is greenish gray, braches are moderately papillate, 20-35mm long, smooth cortex, and has no apothecia figure 34 scientific name:athiana aurescens substratum: tree bark collection site: boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is brownish gray in color; marginal lobes are loosely attached to the tree bark, smooth thallus surface and margin without cilia, 55-70mm broad. figure 35 scientific name:canoparmelia carroliniana substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, daguioman, luba, malibcong, manabo, pilar, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is green in color, 40-90mm broad, no apothecium observed, upper thallus surface is isidiate and finely cracked to the margin, smooth figure 36 scientific name:pannaria sp substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, manabo, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is gray in color, lobes are finely cracked towards the margin, apothecia is observed in orange color at the center of the thallus, 20-35mm broad, smooth in texture at its surface. figure 37 scientific name:parmotrema rubifaciens substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, luba, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is greenish gray in color, lobes are round, margin has no cilia, and thallus surface is with isidia, 100-190mm broad. figure 38 scientific name:coccocarpia erythroxyli substratum: rocks collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, lacub, malibcong, tineg morphological description: the thallus is dark gray in color, 30-60mm broad, lobes broad24mm wide and flat, upper surface is smooth figure 39 scientific name:relicina abstrusa substratum: rocks collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, lacub, malibcong, sallapadan, tineg morphological description: the thallus is greenish gray in color, applanate towards the margin, lobes cracked finely and 1-2mm wide, isidia is observed, no apothecia, smooth surface figure 40 scientific name:heterodermia hypoleuca substratum: tree bark collection site: daguioman, lacub, malibcong, morphological description: the thallus is whitish gray in color, 60-70mm broad, upper cortex is smooth and shiny, apothecia is abundant at the thallus center 52 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 41 scientific name:leptogium corticola substratum: tree bark collection site: baay, boliney, bucloc, daguioman, langiden, luba, malibcong, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is light brown color, apothecia is observed in orange color, thallus lobes are loosely attached to the substrate 2-3mm broad, margin has no cilia, smooth figure 42 scientific name:catolechia wahlenbergii substratum: logs collection site: baay, boliney, bucay, bucloc, daguioman, dolores, la paz, lacub, lagangilang, langiden, luba, malibcong, manabo, pidigan, pilar, sallapadan, san isidro, san juan, san quintin, tayum, tineg, tubo, villaviciosa morphological description: the thallus is white in color, lobes are closely attached to the log, 10-30mm broad, thallus surface is smooth, no apothecia is observed figure 43 3. fruticose (2 species) scientific name:bryoria fremontii substratum: tree bark collection site: malibcong, sallapadan, tineg, tubo morphological description: the thallus is pendulous, brown in color, smooth cortex, numerous perpendicular branches, no apothecia is observed figure 44 scientific name:letharia vulpina substratum: tree bark collection site:tineg morphological description: the thallus is greenish gray, braches are moderately papillate, 20-35mm long, smooth cortex, and has no apothecia based on the result of phytochemical screening of parmotremarubifaciens, detected that this lichen was positive to have the following: 1. carbohydrates – this means that parmotremarubifaciens may be edible and could be an alternative food source. 2. phytosterols – these are also called as plant sterols. these are natural compounds found in the cells and membranes of plant that have several industrial uses. phytosterols are used as additives or components in thermoplastic resins to manufacture tires and other rubber products. according to the studies of moreau, hicks, and whitaker (2002), phytosterols can prevent the absorption of cholesterol and therefore reduce blood cholesterol levels. it can also treat benign prostatic hyperplasmia and slow down colon cancer development. furthermore, moreau et al. (2002) stressed that sterols could help the surface skin to recover from dryness and irritations caused by humidity and use of detergent soaps to skin and therefore speed the overall skin recovery. thus, the presence of phytosterol to parmotremarubifaciensimplies that it could be a potential source of the uses mentioned above. 53 international peer reviewed journal 3. phenolic compounds – phenols is used in industry as antioxidants, chemical intermediates, disinfectants, tanning agents, photographic developers, and additives to lubricants and gasoline. they are widely used in the photography, petroleum, paint, explosive, rubber, and plastics, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. phenol is also used in the manufacture of a variety of compounds, including drugs, dyes and colorless or light-colored artificial resins. it is a general disinfectant for toilets, stables, cesspools, floors and drains, as well as an extractive solvent for petroleum refining. 4. flavonoid – a naturally occurring phenolic compound belonging to a large group that includes many plant pigments. it functions for changing or neutralizing the effects of reactive substances called free radicals that can damage body tissue and lead to heart disease, strokes and cancer. this means that parmotremarubifaciens lichen can be used as an antioxidant. 5. proteins proteins have many functions within human body. they serve as catalyst for enzymatic activity and used to  transport molecules like hemoglobin transporting oxygen to different parts of our body. proteins also serve as storage molecules. they are also used for body movements as they are the major components of our muscles. proteins are needed for mechanical support like skin and bone containing collagen-a fibrous protein. cell responses are mediated through proteins. antibodies, control of growth, and cell differentiation also use proteins. all of the substances that were found in the screening test were normal to such species. air pollutants e.g. sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide that could kill lichen species were not found out because the screening test was only limited on the detection of the substances mentioned above. the phytochemical screening on the presence of medicinal properties was supported by some studies. tanooc (2002) found out in her study that lichens containing a variety of acids exhibited antibacterial action against some bacteria like staphylococcus aurea, bacillus cereus and streptococcus pyogene. it also contains lichen acids which have antifungal action against candida albicans. furthermore, behera, gaikwad, verma, sharma (2009) and kosanic, rankovic, stanojkovic, vasiljevic and manojlovic (2014), tested lichen compounds and found out to have a strong antioxidant activity against various oxidative systems. number of previous studies also found out that lichens have higher content of 54 jpair multidisciplinary research phenols that exert stronger antioxidant activity. furthermore, burlando, ranzato, volante, appendino, pollastro and verotta (2009), concluded in their study that tested lichen compounds have a strong antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer activity in vitro, which suggest that lichens could be good natural antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer agents.  species diversity of lichens in the province of abra table 1. computations of biological indices computed value species richness 44 number of individuals 10659 shannon-weiner’s index (h’) 1.2742 evenness (j) 0.7753 simpson’s index (ds) 0.9242 margalef ’s index (da) 10.6758 species richness of lichens is 44. this means that there were 44 species identified lichens in the study with 10,659 total number of individuals. the computed value of shannon-weiner index (h’) is 1.2742. this means that there is a diverse number of lichen in the province of abra. this was supported by magurran (2004) which stated that obtained values of shannon-weiner range from 0 – 5, where values ranging from 1.5 – 3.5 have a biologically diverse site. the evenness (j) of lichens which measures their relative abundance in given site has a computed value of 0.7753, this means that some species of lichens in the province of abra appeared to be dominant over the other having greater number of individuals. thus, species of lichens in the province of abra were not evenly distributed for some species of lichens contain a great number of individuals compared to some that contain only a few. margalef ’s index (da) with a computed value of 10.6758 implies that there are species richness and relative abundance of lichens in the province of abra. the computed value of simpson index (ds) (0.9242) implies that the abundance of individuals across species is not that much even and that there is a moderate probability that two individuals to be sampled will belong to different species. simpson’s index values range from 0 to 1, with 1 representing perfect evenness wherein all species present in equal numbers. this supports the computation of evenness wherein the 44 species of lichens identified do not have 55 international peer reviewed journal the same or an equal number of individuals. some species appeared to have a great number of individuals compared to the other species that may have only a few. there could be a probability that two individuals may belong to same species. table 2. species diversity of lichens in the different municipalities of abra municipalities of abra number of species number of individuals 1. malibcong 41 602 2. boliney 40 791 3. daguioman 39 591 4. tineg 38 662 5. baay 37 704 6. sallapadan 37 491 7. bucloc 36 622 8. tubo 34 459 9. lacub 32 491 10. luba 28 504 11. manabo 26 449 12. pilar 25 478 13. langiden 24 373 14. san quintin 23 357 15. villaviciosa 21 210 16. lagayan 20 280 17. san isidro 20 470 18. san juan 20 254 19. bucay 19 297 20. lagangilang 18 305 21. tayum 16 286 22. danglas 15 204 23. la paz 15 176 24. penarubia 14 236 25. pidigan 14 163 26. dolores 11 163 27. bangued 6 41 total 10659 malibcong appeared to have the most diverse species of lichens having 41 with a total number of 602 individuals, while bangued having only 6 lichen species 56 jpair multidisciplinary research with total number of 46 individuals appeared to be the least diverse municipality in terms of lichen species in the province of abra. this implies that malibcong, one of the upland municipalities of abra, has the cleanest air quality as compared to other municipalities of abra. as you move farther away from bangued, capital of abra, where there is great number of population, to rural areas of abra, there is a clear gradient of increasing number of lichen species. this result was supported by best (1999) in his study stating that lichens increase as it moves away from a city. furthermore, he added that lichens have different sensitivities to pollution so the cleaner the air, the more species are present. the index of similarity of the different types of lichens in the 27 municipalities of abra which served as study sites is 20.18%. this means that among the different species of lichens found in the province of abra, there was similarity of species of lichens in the 27 municipalities, namely: candelariapacifica, cryptotheciastriata, phlyctis sp., dictyonema sp., and enterographaaldabrensissparrius. similarity of species in the different study sites could be attributed to some similarities of their topographical structure, for majority of the 27 municipalities in the province of abra, is mountainous and of forested areas. survival of lichens could be affected mainly by climate and air quality. additional factors that can influence lichens occurrence are tree species, stand age, site history, substrate where they are attached to, moisture level in the air, habitat and abundance of flora and fauna, and their adaptation to a particular environment. diversity of the common species found in the 27 municipalities of abra could be due to the factors mentioned above. all of the five species were found almost in same substrate or tree species. their habitat is usually in a terrain sloping structure. all of the common lichens were located in an area where floras are abundant around them. the 27 municipalities in abra where the five common lichens were found were far from urbanization and are still free from severe air pollution. conclusions species of lichens in the province of abra differ in colors, sizes, structures, and substrates that served as their habitat. based on the presented chemical composition, lichen/s in the province of abra can serve as an alternative food source and a possible source of potent medicine. the province of abra is a rich culture ground for lichen species. the province of abra is considered to still have good air quality for lichens are bio-indicators, sensitive to pollution, indicating 57 international peer reviewed journal air quality. their diversity and abundance in a given community imply a healthy environment. translational research the outcome of the study may be translated into use in the community by sending the result to the department of environmental and natural resources. further analyses on the diversity of lichens will help identify areas with low air quality. the denr may create clearer guidelines on the protection of forests taken into consideration the presence of lichens as air quality indicator and that air contaminants produced by a community must be regulated. literature cited bartoli, a., c. cardarelli, m. achilli, l. campanella, s. ravera & g. massari. 1997. quality assessment of the maremma laziale area using epiphytic lichens. allionia 35: 69-85. best, g. a. (1999). environmental pollution studies. liverpool university press. boonpragob, k., & nash, t. h. (1990). seasonal variation of elemental status in the lichen ramalina menziesii tayl. from two sites in southern california: evidence for dry deposition accumulation.  environmental and experimental botany, 30(4), 415-428. buck, w.r. 1998. lichen flora of eastern north america: the genus  gomphillus  (gomphillaceae). eastern lichen network. retrieved from  http://www.nybg.org/bsci/lichens/eln/articles.html  retrieved on 2002 october 18.   [key, 2 eastern n. am. species; descriptions, fine illustrations of morphology] burlando, b., ranzato, e., volante, a., appendino, g., pollastro, f., & verotta, l. (2009). antiproliferative effects on tumour cells and promotion of keratinocyte wound healing by different lichen compounds.  planta medica,75(06), 607-613. cáceres, m. d. s., maia, l. c., lücking, r., schroeter, b., schlensog, m., & green, t. g. a. (2000). foliicolous lichens and their lichenicolous fungi in the 58 jpair multidisciplinary research atlantic rainforest of brazil: diversity, ecogeography and conservation. innew aspects in cryptogamic research: contributions in honour of ludger kappen. (vol. 75, pp. 47-70). j. cramer in der gebrüder borntraegar verlagsbuchhandling. gaikwad, s., verma, n., sharma, b. o., & behera, b. c. (2014). growth promoting effects of some lichen metabolites on probiotic bacteria. journal of food science and technology, 51(10), 2624-2631. humphrey, j. w., davey, s., peace, a. j., ferris, r., & harding, k. (2002). lichens and bryophyte communities of planted and semi-natural forests in britain: the influence of site type, stand structure and deadwood. biological conservation, 107(2), 165-180. johnson, c. j., bennett, j. p., biro, s. m., duque-velasquez, j. c., rodriguez, c. m., bessen, r. a., & rocke, t. e. (2011). degradation of the diseaseassociated prion protein by a serine protease from lichens.  plos one, 6(5), e19836. kosanic, m., rankovic, b., stanojkovic, t., vasiljevic, p., & manojlovic, n. (2014). biological activities and chemical composition of lichens from serbia. excli journal, 13, 1226. lepp, h. 2011. what is a lichen. australian national botanic gardens and australian national herbarium retrieved on july 2016 from http://www. cpbr.gov.au/lichen/what-is-lichen.html lücking, r. (1998). ecology of foliicolous lichens at the botarrama trail (costa rica), a neotropical rain forest site. ii. patterns of diversity and area cover and their dependence on microclimate and phorophyte species.ecotropica, 4, 1-24. magurran, a.e. 2004. meausuring biological diversity. blackwell. monge-nájera, j., gonzález, m. i., rossi, m. r., & méndez, v. h. (2002). a new method to assess air pollution using lichens as bioindicators. revista de biología tropical, 50(1), 321-326. 59 international peer reviewed journal moreau, r. a., whitaker, b. d., & hicks, k. b. (2002). phytosterols, phytostanols, and their conjugates in foods: structural diversity, quantitative analysis, and health-promoting uses. progress in lipid research, 41(6), 457-500. papong, k., boonpragob, k., & lücking, r. (2007). new species and new records of foliicolous lichens from thailand. the lichenologist, 39(01), 47-56. schmull, m., hauck, m., vann, d. r., johnson, a. h., & runge, m. (2002). site factors determining epiphytic lichen distribution in a dieback-affected spruce-fir forest on whiteface mountain, new york: stemflow chemistry. canadian journal of botany, 80(11), 1131-1140. sipman, h. (1991). notes on the lichen flora of the guianas, a neotropical lowland area. retrieved on august 10, 2016 from https://goo.gl/feb6bv. terc (1997). types of lichens. lichens index. retrieved on march 2013 from https://staff.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/ typeslichens.html will-wolf, s., esseen, p. a., & neitlich, p. (2002). monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem function: forests. in  monitoring with lichens—monitoring lichens (pp. 203-222). springer netherlands. 205 international peer reviewed journal enhancing the demands of zampen-sucs afnr graduates through curriculum intervention using modular approach with high s &t content paterna j. saavedra https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1113-0540 paternasaavedra57@gmail.com western mindanao state university originality: 100 • grammar check: 90 • plagiarism: 0 abstract the contribution of the dost-pcarrd afnr project 2.3 from sy 2009-2011 has demonstrated transformed changes in the afnr curriculum. these changes are well recognized as it has attracted more enrollees in the region’s dwindling afnr courses. the study presented the implementation of the afnr project 2.3 in zamboanga peninsula as an intervention to the observed down trend enrolment in the afnr courses since sy 2001 onwards. the afnr project 2.3 was implemented for the duration of two years from sy feb 2009-feb 2011. the project at the regional level enabled students’ preparation for employability, equipped them with entrepreneurial skills, with the integration of strong s & t contents in the courses through the modular approach. the western mindanao state university  (wmsu) played the lead institution in the region with three collaborating sucs, namely, jh cerilles state college (jhcsc), zamboanga vol. 32 · march 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v32i1.583 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 206 jpair multidisciplinary research state college of marine sciences and technology  (zscmst), and the two campuses of jose rizal memorial state university (jrmsu). towards the end of its implementation for the second year, the project achieved the following gains based on its objectives: (a) enriched 10 bs curricular programs (b) reviewed 81 afnr subjects (c)enriched at least 70 courses in the 10 bs afnr programs and (d) introduced 30 short term courses respectively. keywords — institutional research, afnr project 2.3, agriculture curriculum, zamboanga peninsula, philippines introduction the past two decades showed a declining record in the enrolment of schools offering the agriculture and fisheries courses particularly in wmsu, jh cerilles, jrmsu and zscmst in the zamboanga peninsula (zampen). the enrolment report from sucs revealed that for over a period of 10 years (1998-1999 to 2007-2008), the enrolment trend in the regional level exhibited a decline for about 70% in the baccalaureate degrees and 38% in the associate courses. the afnr tracer study conducted by narvaez and subong, (2009) cited that agriculture was badly hit by the decline in enrolment. initially, an increase was observed up to the 3rd year and enrolment was on its peak with 1, 371; however, a drastic decline followed by more than half of the population in 2002-2003. this observation was happening to three heis integrated to sucs which also started offering non-afnr courses dispersing the enrollment to these courses. from the same report, agriculture was seen having the highest enrolment in all the afnr courses in the region and all the other afnr courses had limited enrolment. in this case, wmsu enrolment followed certain trend showing general increase in the first three years (1998, 1999, to 2000-2001). however, after the semester, the enrolment declined in all courses up to sy 2007-2008. a bigger decline of 50% followed in forestry course starting 2005-2006. one of the probable reasons of the decline was the transfer of the bs forestry to become an integral part of the agriculture campus aggravated by distance. the new site for the college of forestry was 23 kilometers away compared to its original location in the main campus. for the entire university, the decline was very much pronounced between 30-60% in the various courses for the period of 10 years. 207 international peer reviewed journal the tracer study of narvez and subong (2009) showed that the jh cerilles in dumingag had the highest decline by 90% in the enrolment for over 10 years. in this suc, students were given option to enroll in the non afnr programs to expand other programs even if it was still a wmsu satellite campus. in both campuses of jrmsu in tampilisan and katipunan, a decline in agriculture enrolment was observed from 1998-1997 to 2007-2008, respectively. the expansions of the non-afnr courses as well as the offering of other courses were seen as the contributing factors. however, in contrast, the agricultural engineering showed the reverse trend with an increasing trend for five years. on the other hand, the zscmst which initially offered an eight-degree programs with one diploma course also reported a decline in the bs marine biology and bs fisheries. the bs biology started with 90 students in 19981999; however, about 65 students were retained in 2008-2000. although the bs fisheries started with 115 students in 1999-2000, it only showed a retention rate of 73 students towards 2007-2008. as early as 1988, some agricultural institutions in united states had already experience similar trends of steadily dropping enrollment for over the past 10 years at a rate of 1% to 3% annually (national research council, 1988). the total agricultural education enrolment that had dropped came from students with traditional farm backgrounds. consequently, the state felt the need for a traditional production agriculture curriculum in agricultural education programs to sustain the declining students’ enrollment (peasley, & henderson, 1992). whereas, when the new students being recruited into the agriculture programs, the number being retained is far below the level needed to maintain a consistent supply of graduates for the agriculture industry. from the findings of the study, it revealed that the forefront of the challenges was the recruitment and retention of students who are likely to enter employment in agriculture. in the philippines, this drift in the enrolment has also posed a major challenge not only in zampen heis but also in most colleges offering agriculture nationwide. the present challenge calls for a total renewal of the agricultural education system to attract a new breed of students who will play a vital role in meeting the challenges of the future agriculture program. total renewal specifically entails a new direction, a new sense of urgency, new training and instructional approaches, a new level of scientific and financial support, and a new approach to cooperation among all players more specifically, the academe, the industry, and the society as a whole. 208 jpair multidisciplinary research as agricultural development is one of the major concerns in zampen, efforts to maximize its growth and sustainability lies not only in application of improved innovations, but on highly trained and well-prepared human capital that will manage and sustain agricultural activities in the region. as the national government is geared towards improving agricultural productivity in the face of rapidly increasing population, higher education institutions in the region must be able to respond to the opportunities that can transform agriculture as a new and innovative growth sector in western mindanao. among other things, the present agricultural education system needs to be enhanced giving emphasis on advancing “knowledge with practice” as a mode for agriculture students to comprehend and internalize information and new methods of managing crops, livestock, fisheries, and agricultural resources. this initiative is imperative to zampen where agriculture and fisheries are a way of life of the rural populace. the region’s agricultural education system should be able to contribute in harnessing the competitive advantage of the region in agriculture and fisheries. for one thing, zampen is a major producer of coconut, rubber, and marine products like seaweeds and tuna. the economic gains to be brought about by improvement in the region’s competitive advantage in these commodities along with other equally important agricultural products will transform the region into an agribusiness hub and a true growth sector in mindanao. with transformation and economic development comes change in community and people, and a sense of belongingness that hopes to bring about lasting peace that has long been elusive in most regions of mindanao. this project aims to contribute to this transformation. framework the afnr curriculum in zampen-sucs needs to be nationally and globally competitive. the contribution of the afnr project to the present afnr curriculum is widely acknowledge in enhancing usefulness of agriculture education in terms of (i) students’ entrepreneurial preparations,(ii) developing human resources in knowledge, skills, and applications, and, (iii) employability of graduates in major sectors like business, government and other profit-oriented organizations. the project followed the log model framework using the inputprocess-output. the afnr program focused on sucs collaboration provided mutual benefits and strengthened each suc niche select areas on banana tissue culture, rubber, and coconut and seaweeds entrepreneurship. 209 international peer reviewed journal as shown in figure 1, the inputs involved curriculum enhancement with high s&t, human resources development and facilities upgrading including establishment of business ventures to showcase students’ skills in entrepreneurship. figure 1. conceptual framework of afnr project 2.3 the afnr curriculum enhancement developed learning resources used in training students via modular approach. the five technical and four entrepreneurial modules developed were used as an intervention on the existing afnr curricular courses across the four zampen sucs. the project 2.3 conceptual framework provided the actual hands-on experiences in the operation of the igp and entrepreneurial activities. it started with an opportunity for students to carry out a mini trial experience on entrepreneurial practices. the module development workshop took off from the input discussion of experts followed by a forum with resource speakers from the business sector having extensive knowledge on business and entrepreneurial ventures. the human resource enhancement activities involved group trainings and in-service trainings of afnr faculty and non-faculty training specialists 210 jpair multidisciplinary research in zampen-sucs. the various activities included the module development, educational visits to model institutions which provided access to training materials and information from the visited model schools. the model schools had large number of successful experiences to share that provided the means to impart relevant skills on the production and processing technologies as well as entrepreneurial skills and business ventures. the enhancement also provided industry-academe interfacing to provide supplement strategies by which synergies can be induced to orient education and involved other sectors to program expansion and collaboration. the training component in project 2.3 provided hands-on applications, experiences, and the preparation of the students’ business plan into the actual entrepreneurship ventures in accordance to the budgetary requirements of their respective igps. correspondingly, the students’ business plan describes students’ involvement in small groups with a student leader. the plan procedures and steps were carried out and validated as operational outputs to serve as the blueprint of standard operating procedures in the conduct of an eigp subsequently carried out in project 3.1on students igps. the trainings / workshops adopted the following methods and strategies: • participatory approach in carrying out the business plan among prospective trainees; • utilization of small groups with student leaders identified by their specified roles and responsibilities laid out in their business plans; • presentation of outputs in the plenary after the actual hands-on experiences during the trial runs during the actual training for validation; and, • integration, institutionalization and internalization of outputs during the monitoring. the program flowchart shows the link of project 2 (institutional capacity building) and project 3 in support to (igp) supported by three components. the project 2, inputs and process have reached large number of students through oriented trainings with modular intervention in the afnr courses. the project outputs provided trained and developed new breed of entrepreneurs from afnr graduates, exposing faculty and student skills training and enhanced afnr programs from the three major component areas as reflected in the diagram through: (a) human resource development; (b) curriculum enrichment and (c) facilities upgrading. 211 international peer reviewed journal these three major components in the boxes, (a) (b) and (c) provided inputs to human resource development to support faculty capability enhancement through various mechanisms illustrated in the separate boxes, namely, trainings, module preparation, and exposure to other technology and faculty visits. the afnr curriculum enhancement through modular approach exposed the students to the needed skills in production, processing technologies, and entrepreneurship to support the three identified igps for project 3 among zampen sucs. the last box illustrates the outputs of the link between project 2 and 3 showing high employability and entrepreneurship skills for the graduates of the enhanced afnr curriculum. objectives of the study the project aimed to increase the enrolment in agriculture and forestry courses through curricular enhancement and employability of graduates of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the zampen sucs. specifically, the project aimed to: 1) enhance/enrich students’ learning and training through modular intervention programs on existing afnr curricular courses in the zampen-sucs; 2) enhance the capability of faculty and training specialist as entrepreneurial educators; 3) improve the learning environment by upgrading the existing facilities of the zampen-sucs and showcasing agribusiness and fishery ventures with s&t application; and, 4)introduce and prepare students’ career entry by linkaging and networking with various organizations and expose them to the world of agribusiness. methodology the project was implemented in five zampen sucs, namely: wmsu (zamboanga city); jrmsu (tampilisan and katipunan campuses, zamboanga del norte), jhcsc (dumingag campus, zamboanga del sur) and zscmst (zamboanga city). the activities are focused on students enrolled in the afnr courses of the collaborating institutions, the unemployed afnr graduates and retooling of sucs faculty members. for students currently enrolled in the afnr, the trainings were initiated on the2ndyear of the program as preparatory period prior to engagement in actual business enterprise. the actual business ventures were conducted during the last year of the students’ academic program through the income generating projects (igps) established by the sucs. 212 jpair multidisciplinary research component 1. capability building of faculty/specialist instructional materials development. a critical mass of faculty members was selected in the preparation of the nine training modules and one training manual. training of faculty/specialist. the 70 faculty specialists from the various sucs in zampen underwent four short-term in-service trainings to prepare them for entrepreneurial attributes prior to the implementation of the afnr enhancement program. the short-term training identified faculty specialist to at least attend four trainings in entrepreneurship modules and one technical skill module. the training duration lasted from two (2) days for skills and additional five (5) days per module training as required. educational visits to model institutions. educational tour and field visits were conducted to selected sucs and private universities with established agribusiness farms and success stories on entrepreneurships. the sucs visited included bicol university, cavite state university, university of asia and the pacific, university of the philippines at los baños, central luzon state university, benguet state university. these institutions are known to implement innovative strategies in curriculum enhancement and development in entrepreneurship, curriculum delivery, quality assurance, learning resources, field demonstrations, commercialization of technology, regulatory and policy frameworks relating to applications of science technology and biotech parks. a total of 18 strong faculty specialists were part of the afnr educational tour to model institutions in luzon conducted at the early implementation of last march 29 to april 7, 2009. academe-industry linkaging and interfacing. linkage is necessary for building connections with local farmers, industries and prospective agribusiness sectors on farm production and marketing. as the students started to venture in business on their final year in the academic program, the faculty mentors assisted the students in networking and building connections with the local businesses, markets, extension programs, farm demonstrations with interested farmers, and part time farmers. this enabled students to directly market their produce, enrich their skills in 213 international peer reviewed journal production management and farm planning. the focus was on enterprise, based on local market needs and production management to meet market requirements (organic, local, and high quality). in interfacing, activities were related to marketing and alternative enterprises connection with local agriculture community sectors. the activities also included students monitoring, reporting results and evaluation for program improvement. the interfacing served as an avenue for graduating students seeking prospective employers or possible sources of funding for entrepreneurial undertakings. mentor relationships. all students were assigned to entrepreneurial educators/ mentors to provide advice and support in developing their entrepreneurial skills and interests as their proposed as program of work. the mentoring involved areas like risk assessments, venture capitalization, change management and issues related to organization start up. faculty members were assigned to students who worked as a team to create a new venture plan which could result to a feasible business proposal. component 2. enhancement of student learning through modular training development of manuals and modules. nine modules and one training manual for the faculty trainers were developed to enriched the existing afnr curricular offerings. the modules were used as a course enrichment to enhance students’ skills on processing, production management, and entrepreneurship. the training on module preparation was part to equip zampen sucs involved in the afnr curriculum enhancement program. the timeline for module preparation, pilot testing and application of its copyright was done in eight months. likewise, the course syllabi of the various afnr subjects offerings were enriched to match the use of the modules and laboratory manual. the modules and the training manual served as a guide for the laboratory activities of students in the afnr courses, including agribusiness and entrepreneurship subjects during the semester. subjects from the different courses that were included in enhancement program were also realigned to maximize the use of the laboratory facilities. 214 jpair multidisciplinary research course enhancement using the modules. the modules were used as course enrichment on the major courses offered in agriculture and fisheries. the subjects were incorporated with entrepreneurship principles based on the nature and content of each course and technical skills component for internship subjects. conduct of short-term training courses. the short-term training course was conducted for students and unemployed afnr graduates within the duration of two years during the project implementation. the trainings involved two aspects namely, the technical skills and entrepreneurial skills enhancement. the first phase focuses on the enhancement of technical skills of the students/participants on selected topics with high s & t content and market opportunities. a total of five short training courses were conducted during the implementation period. at least 20 participants were expected per training course with 4 batches per topic. thus, a total of 80 trained participants were expected per topic and a total of 450 trained participants for the six topics were proposed for the duration of the project. the second type of training was on entrepreneurial skills. the participants who attended the short-term training courses on technical skills were those who had already identified their specific enterprise prior to use and engage on the chosen enterprise as the focus of the training. a series of four trainings corresponding to 4 modules were also done involving 25 participants per short training course. thus, a total of 100 participants were projected to be trained on entrepreneurship. the skills training hoped to instill on students a degree of healthy competition, combined with shared goals, personal friendships and feeling of trusts and confidence among students involved in applying their newly acquired skills in the business ventures. component 3. facilities upgrading & establishment of demonstration enterprises the afnr facilities upgrading included all of the following; a) expansion of rubber nursery and budwood garden, b) production and processing room for coconut sugar, c) seaweed production and drying facilities and; d.) training room with audio visual facilities. 215 international peer reviewed journal the upgrading of facilities with the necessary equipment provided support on the enhanced courses, short course training and workshops for the income generating projects of the zampen-sucs involved. results and discussion a. institutional capability enhancement 1. formal curricular program innovations table 1 presents the curricular enhancement across the four sucs in five campuses. it can be noted that the reviews and enhancement exceeded more than 100% from its set target initially, having reviewed and enriched a total of 10 curricula during the project implementation. the same table presents the 81 courses reviewed on the third, fourth, and fifth year levels of the afnr courses during the first and second semester of school year 2009-2011, respectively. across the implementers, the frequency of subjects/ courses enriched/ and reviewed revealed 10 courses as the least compared to the highest at 36.a total of30 new short-term courses were offered, however, each suc showed an average of 5-7 new short-term courses offerings. among all the sucs, no one reported to have revised their curriculum. furthermore, it was because when the afnr was implemented, the curriculum was recently revised. curricular revision must be done within the last three years in compliance with the ched memo order 14. the ched order explicitly defines curriculum revision to be done every three years for the bs agriculture degrees and other related programs. the latest curriculum revision was done in 2008 prior to the implementation of the afnr project in feb 2009. table 1. curricular enhancement curricula enhancement sucs implementing afnr curricula total target actual accomp. wmsu zscmst jrmsu tampilisan jrmsu katipunan jhcsc no. of curricula reviewed 5 6 4 5 1 9 10 no. of curricula enriched 5 5 4 5 1 9 10 no. of curricula revised 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 216 jpair multidisciplinary research no. of newly developed curricula 0 0 0 0 0  0 no. of courses/ subjects reviewed 36 9 16 10 10  81 no. of courses/ subjects enriched 29 5 16 10 10  70 new short-term courses offered 7 5 6 7 5  30 figure 2 presents the 10 curricular programs involved in the afnr curriculum enhancement across the four sucs. the same table shows the five programs in agriculture, one for the bs forestry and environmental science, and four for the marine sciences. figure 2. implementing sucs with afnr enriched curriculum 217 international peer reviewed journal upon the implementation of the afnr curricular enhancement in sy 2009, all the ten bs courses were provided with enrichment. in general, most agriculture courses were introduced with entrepreneurship modules. three course subjects, agri econ 120, agri econ 130 and ag mgt 101, were integrated with the four entrepreneurship modules among 4th year students in their first and second semester. among 3rd and 4th year students in the first and second semester, entrepreneurship modules were integrated in courses such as agri res 101, agri tech 136, agri bus 117 & 105, and mb 112 for module 1 (feasibility study, project proposal & business plan); an sci 106, crop sci 105, agri tech 143, agri bus 117 & 141, maj. 105 and elec 2 for module 2 (product development);agri bus 153 & 104 and ag econ 120 for module 3 (marketing management); an sci 108, agri bus 115 and agri bus 108 for module 4 (accounting for nonaccountants). technical skills module is vastly integrated from 2nd year to 5th year, mostly in the second semester. module 5 (tissue culture of abaca & banana) was integrated in seven courses; an sci 113, crop sci 107, ae 153, 154 & 157, agri bus 117 and abm 190. this was implemented among 3rd, 4th and 5th year in the first and second semester. module 6 (coco sap sugar processing) was integrated in most courses and implemented from 2nd to 5th year. all technical skills module was integrated in crop sci 112 and agri tech 119 and implemented among 4th year students in the second semester. for the bs fisheries and related courses, the subjects like marine bio 112, aquaculture 1 and aquaculture 4, aquatic fisheries 2 and mar tech 112 were introduced with module 7 (deepsea seaweeds farming) in the 4thyear programs. for the enrichment of student entrepreneurial knowledge and skills ag econ 120/ ag mgt 101, agtech 136, practicum, marine bio 12 and aquaculture, aquaculture 4 was introduced with module 3 (marketing management) in the third year. during the curricular enhancements, the bs courses in marine science in their senior years were exposed on the actual seaweed enterprise making use of the facilities provided. prior to this, the students underwent immersion on deep sea seaweed production through pilot farms. on the last year of their academic programs they were introduced with enterprise management through the organized seaweed farming, including market and trading activities. the agri bus 108 and abm 171 were integrated with modules 7 (seaweed farming), 8 (rubber nursery management) and 9(rubber budwood production) on 4th year students in the first and second year. all the bs courses contained more 218 jpair multidisciplinary research s&t content integrated with biotechnology specifically on plant propagation and tissue culture techniques relating the content to the scientific and technical nature of the field of agriculture. the fisheries curricular courses were also introduced for students to acquire skills and techniques in seaweed production and management. 2. facilities upgrading & equipment procurement table 2. facilities enhanced name of facility target actual total investment location dost-gia counterpart training room 1 1 500,000.00 ($10,000) 27,000.00 ($540) wmsu coco-sugar processing room 1 1 500,000.00 ($10,000) 17,000.00 ($340) wmsu deep sea seaweed production and processing room 1 1 300,000.00 ($6,000) zscmst rubber nursery garden 2 2 250,000.00 ($5,000) 10,000.00 ($200) wmsu & jrmsu-t rubber budwood garden 2 2 250,000.00 ($5,000) 250,000.00 ($5,000) wmsu & jrmsu-t note: 1 usd= 50php table 2 shows the facilities upgraded by sucs and the total budget for each facility provided for the period of two years sy 2009-2011. the budgetary cost of the total project was php 9,804,126.00 ($196,082.00) comprising the amount of php 2,784,000.00 ($55,680.00) for the facilities and equipment enhancement. among the sucs implementers, only wmsu, jrmsu tampilisan campus and zscmst were provided with facilities and equipment upgrading. prior to the finalization of the actual cost for each of the sucs implemented, it was felt by the concerned proponents during the proposal preparation the need to prorate the proposed amounts in specified areas like processing and drying facilities for seaweeds, training room for the expanded number of clients taking new courses in agriculture, the additional equipment and supplies for the tissue culture laboratory, and the rubber and budwood gardens for the rubber projects in two sites, wmsu and jrmsu tampilisan. 219 international peer reviewed journal table 3. total equipment procured year i & ii purchased items qty. dost-gia target actual 1. pc notebooks 2 3 81,510.00 ($1,630) 2. desktop computer 4 4 85,100.00 $1,702) 3. computer printer 3 3 21,335.00 ($426) 4. air conditioner (window type) 2 3 87,350.00 ($1,747) 5. refrigerator 2 3 56,670.00 ($1,133) 6. water pump 3 3 67,000.00 ($1,340) 7. audio mixer 1 1 7,000.00 ($140) 8. power amplifier 1 1 9,000.00 ($180) 9. speaker 1 1 7,500.00 ($150) 10. camcorder-video 1 1 34,999.00 ($670) 11. digital camera 1 1 9,650.00 ($193) 12. dvd player 1 1 5,999.00 ($120) 13. lcd projector 2 2 69,375.00 (1,387) 14. sala set 1 1 13,500.00 ($270) 15. tables and chairs 1 1 22,670.00 ($453) 16. autoclave 1 1 48,428.00 ($968) 17. autoclave/pressure cooker 1 2 71,750.00 ($1,435) 18. monitoring equipment “banca” 4 4 126,764.00 ($2,535) 19. fabricated economical kiln 1 1 99,369.00 ($1,987) 20. photocopying machine 1 1 40,000.00 ($800) 21. built-in lcd screen 1 2 65,550.00 ($1,311) 22. laminating machine 1 1 4,300.00 ($86) 22. distilling apparatus 1 1 60,000.00 ($1,200) total equipment cost     p 1,094,819.00 ($21,896) note: 1 usd= 50php table 3 shows the list of equipment provided for the project in all the sucs. from the list, about four items (pc notebooks, air-conditioner, refrigerator, and pressure cooker) were increased from their original quantity. in this case, permission to add an item was sought from the afnr–pmo with the justification that the original price quotation of an item was low. one similar additional item is still within its total cost. 220 jpair multidisciplinary research overall, the facilities upgraded were the training room with audio visual facilities, the expansion of the rubber nursery and budwood garden, processing room for the coco-sugar and the seaweed production facilities. since the upgrading of the rubber nursery, it has served as demonstration site for rubber budding, production and its management. the seaweed production facility has also provided zscmst students an avenue to experience seaweed production and improvement of culture techniques using the deep-sea method, the postharvest and processing facility for students enrolled in the bs aquaculture, bs fisheries, bs marine biology and bs marine technology. 3. short-term trainings for faculty, students and alumni • in-service training. a total of nine (9) batches of trainings were conducted. this includes the training of trainers (tot) on entrepreneurship and technical skills done on-site in each of the respective campuses of the sucs (refer to table 4). the first training was done on the first week of august and ended in the first week of october 2009 at jrmsu campuses, bunguiao eco farm training center, wmsu san ramon and zscmst campus. this approach was done in order not to disrupt the classes taught by the individual faculty involved in each of sucs implementing the modular approach. figure 3 shows the total training of trainers attendance with 74 faculty members involved in the entrepreneurship training. out of the 74 faculty members, a total of 71 trainers completed a series of training totaling to five for entrepreneurship training and one technical skills training respectively. during the on-site trainings, 100% of the teachers involved in agriculture and related program received inservice trainings which were also considered a form of professional development for teachers given the nature of the workshop. the workshop approaches were observed very effective in increasing the collaboration among agriculture faculty members as participants of the workshops. individual faculty were also given the task to submit their multiplier effects proposal cascading the number of classes/ and the courses where the modules were integrated for the enhancements on the following semester. 221 international peer reviewed journal table 4. duration and type of training type of training no. of trainers no. of days total hours duration * venue 1. entrepreneurship 2 5 40 jrmsu katipunanzanorte 2. coco-sugar processing 2 3 24 jrmsu tampilisanzanorte 3. rubber budwood/ nursery production 2 3 24 jrmsu tampilisanzanorte 4. entrepreneurship 2 5 40 jrmsu tampilisanzanorte 5. entrepreneurship 2 5 40 bunguiao, zambo. city 6. tissue culture 2 3 24 san ramon, zambo. city 7. coco-sugar processing 2 3 24 san ramon, zambo. city 8. deep sea seaweeds farming 2 3 24 rio hondo, zambo. city 9. entrepreneurship 3 5 40 san ramon, zambo. city  total   35 days 232 hours   * no. of days x 8 hours per day as the curricular enhancements were first introduced to the regional trainers in all sucs, the modules were well received. the teachers were taught to use the multiplier effects (me) templates to plot in which subject/courses will provide quantifiable deliverables using this scheme. faculty trainers across zampen who attended the training of trainers (tot) were tasked to submit a multiplier effects template. this was used to forecast and plot which subjects/courses would be incorporated in the afnr modules, the methods used in teaching, time frame and other significant information regarding the subjects content to be able to forecast if the deliverables were actually met. the me templates provided relevance and broadened the scope of the curriculum using the modules. during the implementation of the modular enhancements, curricular changes were not reflected in the title of the courses, however, over time substantive changes in the content were observed in what is being taught in the afnr courses. 222 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. total number of faculty members trained about three (3) faculties were trained on coco-sugar processing. training was conducted from april 21 to 24, 2009 at the local pca-zrc san ramon on coco-sugar processing coco honey and jelly. the immersion of the faculty was an avenue to hone their technical skills in the various steps and procedure for coco-sugar processing and other value added products. the other related trainings done included two (2) faculties sent to uplb to attend a two-week intensive training on tissue culture from may 17-23 and july 12-18, 2009 at biotech laboratory, up los baňos laguna. training on multiplier’s training for seaweed production was attended by one faculty from zscmst from may 6-9, 2009 at garden orchid hotel, zamboanga city. • alumni and student trainings. during the implementation of the curricular enhancements, students were trained in the entrepreneurial as well as in the four technical skills to include rubber budding, tissue culture, and cocosugar processing for those enrolled in the agriculture education. for students enrolled in the marine sciences, both the entrepreneurial as well as the deep seaweed production were given. students during the curricular enhancements were also asked to submit their group project proposal, feasibility study following the procedures on the learning modules provided per topic. 223 international peer reviewed journal figure 4. total number of unemployed graduates trained to reach out a maximum number of unemployed graduates, announcement via radio broadcast, words of mouth and fliers posted along bus stations, market places, and business establishments were done. figure 4 presents the total of 477 trained unemployed graduates across the four sucs for the technical and entrepreneurial trainings offered. 135 unemployed graduates were trained in entrepreneurship and 342 graduates were trained in technical skills courses. a larger number of alumni have been trained in technical skills, specifically on rubber nursery and budwood production. from the in-campus trainings, the sucs had observed a change of attitude among graduates who were provided 10 days free trainings specifically on entrepreneurship and technical skills. the students revealed that their learning experiences reflected a shift of emphasis on entrepreneurial ventures and handson trainings on tissue culture techniques and coco-sugar processing. during the trainings, the graduates raised issues on farm techniques on seaweed production, profitability, and trade and project employment. these offered added challenges and opportunities for suc providers thought provoking ideas on ways or strategies on marketing, product processing and packaging. secondly, the issue on the conduct of follows ups for the trainees who had finished their training specifically on the application of new knowledge and technologies in rubber budding, rubber seed production, seaweeds processing and marketing. the issues also included starting a coco-sugar processing asa timely substitute for unemployed graduates whose parents had background on seaweed, coconut and banana farming. 224 jpair multidisciplinary research from the observed change of attitude among graduates, this observation corroborates the studies done by martin, rajasekaran, and vold, (1989) who reported factors related to ways through which individual responds to a curriculum change. the national study of high school agriculture teachers on the studies of (martin et al., 1989) also revealed that teachers’ changed attitude toward the importance of teaching science content is related to age, experience and the educational level of the teacher. moreover, these observations from afnr experience support the above authors. based on the open-ended questions given during the training evaluation, the findings revealed that both teachers’ and students’ desire to apply the learning modules, share their ideas about the new skills they have acquired and experienced, and get more interested on how to market and work on the product development. figure 5. total students enrolled in afnr enriched curriculum per suc in figure 5,a total of 902 students were reached out for the technical trainings while 303 received the entrepreneurship trainings. among the sucs, jhcsc had trained 422 students in the technical skills specifically on rubber budding and coco-sugar. jrmsu katipunan showed no results for either training due to the late implementation period of their afnr enriched curriculum. 225 international peer reviewed journal 4. learning materials development during the conceptualization and development of the nine learning modules, and one training manual, a critical mass of faculty and experts were identified. the module writing workshop was necessary in preparation for the faculty attending the training of trainers (tot). the module writing progress through the individual presentation of the individual authors followed by the critiquing process, which was scheduled for three days from april 29-30, 2009. the last day of the workshop finalized the contents of the learning modules and the final suggestions were done by a development communication expert, dr. felix librero from uplb. each identified specialist/ and experts from partner school in the region were also given copies of the final drafts and were invited as critique on the last day of the workshop based on their work expertise and areas of discipline to critique to improve on the module content and presentation. • module preparation writeshop. about 12 faculty members attended a module write shop session for the development of the learning modules. the full module development progressed in 6 months, which was initiated through the collection of materials from the lakbay aral. the individual authors at the same time also continued stacking reviews of related literature to enrich the content presentation of the modules. during the module development, each module underwent a series of re-writing sections and revision based from the individual consultant’s reviews. the contents of each topic were written by at least two to three authors. the first draft was initially pilot tested during the conduct of the first and second trainings on various campuses. suggestions from the consultants who reviewed the modules were incorporated in the final version of the module prior to the application of its copyright. the various courses enhanced using the modules were based on the specific nature of the subject. the modules were also used by student interns and those students doing their practicum. • development of the learning modules. in pursuance to the curriculum enhancements using the modular approach, nine modules and one training manual were developed. the development of the learning modules, was initiated through a workshop among agriculture/ fisheries specialist identifying the important aspects to address the maximum learning competencies (mlc’s) of the users. from the nine modules, four were entrepreneurial and five modules were on technical skills. 226 jpair multidisciplinary research the development of the modules followed a set of criteria on four emboldened issues: (i) presentation of the key concepts (2) objectives of the training guide (3) activities to be done (clarity of the procedures and task) ; and (4) faqfrequently asked questions at the end of the learning task. the modules were used in the re-orientation of the teaching content, course curricula, and interaction with students. the modules developed were used as new learning resources to enhance the quality of teaching and training including research. harnessing the student’s technical skills as well as the entrepreneurial knowledge was central to achieve the goal of the afnr project 2.3. table 5. list of modules and manual developed type title author(s) training modules entrepreneurship modules module 1: feasibility study, project proposal & business plan engr. danilo fonollera prof. arbaiya abdula prof. florenchita somblingo module 2: product development prof. arbaiya abdula prof. florenchita somblingo module 3: marketing management prof. arbaiya abdula prof. florenchita somblingo module 4: accounting for nonaccountant prof. arbaiya abdula prof. florenchita somblingo technical skills modules module 5: tissue culture of abaca & banana dr. jocelyn pedroso prof. elmer galo module 6: coco-sap sugar processing dr. rafael baguio prof. concesa mangaya-ay module 7: deep sea seaweeds faming prof. oliver tito prof. rolando pelinggon module 8: rubber nursery management dr. moises glenn tangalin prof. pepito lacbao module 9: rubber budwood production dr. moises glenn tangalin prof. pepitolacbao training manual general guidelines: empowering afnr trainers dr. vivian r. molina table 5 presents the title of the modules and the various authors in their field of expertise. shown below in figure 6 is the cover for the training manual which provides the overall concept on the use of the nine learning resources. the 227 international peer reviewed journal picture below shows the training manual developed to guide trainers on all the modules for the curricular enrichment. figure 6. training manual/anfr modules cover 5. institutional benefits in pursuance to the implemented curricular enhancement and facilities upgrading, the afnr project has derived the following benefits: a. the project has reoriented the 74afnr faculty mentors from zampen and invigorated the agriculture, forestry and fishery curriculum with trained human resource and, quality of teaching. the project likewise provided in-service training for the faculty from the training of trainers (tot) workshops, consultancy, public-private sector partnership, industry academia interfaced under the afnr project. b. the project has also contributed significant income for the students and better training opportunities with the enhanced facilities and provided better equipment to further improve the student’s e-igp. further, the trainings have exposed various faculty and other practitioners to new developments in the niche/emerging /cutting edge areas. the durations of the training have even extended local hospitality of each host suc 228 jpair multidisciplinary research conducting the trainings on site and ensured access to their facilities. c. the afnr project was well recognized as a timely intervention among sucs implementer in terms of the change of attitude among trainers and entering first year students enrolling in the afnr courses. this greatly helped raise the enrolment figures from the dwindling trend of the afnr courses. d. the process of introducing strong s&t content and enrichment in the subjects helped afnr faculty enrich their respective subject areas, expand curriculum content, and the entrepreneurial application and training of students in selected courses. the afnr provided opportunities to enrich existing course curricula, developed and used new learning resources to emphasize acquisition of students’ skills and knowledge on enterprise, product marketing and needed igp operations among student trainees. e. the involvement of some sectors as business partners was identified when the products were produced out of the students’ training and activities integrated in the entrepreneurial ventures. future prospects for dti for the product certification as well as tesda accreditation on the workshops to be institutionalized using afnr as the accredited program. f. the selected suc implementers developed greater alliance complementing their strength in terms of products developed and marketed like the rubber specific for jrmsu and jh cerilles campuses, wmsu on tissue culture seedlings and coco-sugar products and zscmst on seaweeds. the faculty visits from either sucs being afnr implementer provided an opportunity for more institutional intervention as insights for consideration. g. the project also contributed indirectly aspects of r& d on the sustainability of some products developed especially on the cost efficiency on the use of the existing laboratory for training or igp. likewise, the project’s contribution was seen on the actual products like better packaging materials, shelf life, cost efficiency (firewood or fuel) in sugar processing, other forms and appearance, the other forms of retail and marketing strategies. h. the project has forged further ties with other government agencies in the operation of the student e-igps like jointly promoting academeprivate partnership on education and training, service and commercial linkage. 229 international peer reviewed journal i. the suc implementers were also identified leaders in different aspects of product development based on their rich experiences. future r & d collaboration for product development as significant areas for complementation on each other’s capabilities as a new strategic area like rubber, seaweeds and biotechnology. b. post project outcomes a post tracer study as part of the project 2.3 deliverables was conducted towards the end of the project 2.3 implementation. the target respondents were the unemployed afnr participants who took the various trainings in five campuses. the source of names of the target respondents was from the attendance sheet listing of training participants on different dates and nature of trainings obtained from each suc training coordinators. the participants from each sucs were randomly selected, taking only at least 20unemployed graduates from the list of111 names. the participants were informed of the post tracer study and were requested to return back to campus for the conduct of the fgd. frame of error for this study was controlled by cross-checking the names of the students in the master list of participants by sucs/ title of training /dates of training. selection error was controlled by checking the list to ensure that there were no duplicate names on the list and to make sure selection of the participants for the fgds have case stories. a constructed questionnaire consisting of 20 items was developed. the items statements on the questionnaire asked the following questions: • the relevance of the afnr trainings and benefits derived from the training • how the training will relate to their future prospects/ • insights and lessons learned/ challenges faced after the trainings • strength and weakness of the trainings • other future prospects for the case study the selection of the respondents were based on a criteria as follows (a) afnr unemployed graduates who received the campus trainings (b) self-employed operating on the afnr banner commodities (c) or those who have newly undertaken afnr-s&t-based business start-ups. the results of the post tracer are also presented in the following section. 230 jpair multidisciplinary research general findings of the tracer study: a. profile of afnr trainee-graduates 1. the afnr trainee-graduates were relatively young with an average age of 20 years old, single, from rural origin and were from economically poor families. majority are children of farmers, forestry workers & fishermen. 2. the zampen afnr trainings across sucs were done for a period of ten months from may 2010 february 2011. a total of 380 graduating students and 80 alumni unemployed graduates were trained. the training schedules were varied per institution depending on various factors such as time, resources and category of participants. each institution conducted at least three cycles of trainings on entrepreneurial and technical skills on coco-sugar production, banana tissue culture seedling production, rubber nursery management & bud wood production and deep seaweeds production. 3. from the total of 111 respondents involved in the post tracer study, 37 % (41) were trained in coco sugar, 23 % (26) on seaweeds production, 27% (31) on rubber nursery & bud wood production, and only 3 % (4) were trained on tissue culture. only the students from wmsu college of agriculture were given this training since other sucs do not have a tissue culture laboratory. 4. as revealed by the respondents, aside from the afnr trainings the 44% of the respondents were also given other training opportunities on crop & livestock production & management sponsored by private companies, other government line agencies and non-government organizations. b. employment status 1. while sucs afnr trainings prepare and equip students on both technical and entrepreneurial skills for self-employment purposes, a number of graduates have also tried other jobs from other sectors. the 42% of the afnr trainees after graduation found employment from a wide range of sectors. most of them (58%) were employed in local private firms, local government units (22%), national government agencies (11%), and nongovernment organizations (9 %). 2. about 31 % of the afnr graduates found jobs after graduation, 17 % 231 international peer reviewed journal found jobs after 6 months, about 17 % were employed after a year with only 10% selfemployed. 3. most graduates who found jobs after graduation worked in different sectors. the nature of their positions varied. the 72%however, were casuals /contractual employees, 6 % were hired as regular employees with permanent items. 4. for the other 52 % unemployed, the 38 % were enrolled in other bs courses in the 3rd and 4th year levels failing to get jobs after finishing the 2-year program in diploma in agricultural technology. 5. the other unemployed graduates cited lack of job opportunities with no civil service eligibility as prime reasons for not getting hired. however, a significant percentage (32 %) of these unemployed graduates is now processing requirements to start up their own business ventures. 6. of the 10% self-employed graduates, about 60% worked in retails and merchandizing jobs, (30%) engaged in producing/ manufacturing, and the (20%) in service-related jobs (20%). the (60%) self-employed afnr graduates got their sources of capital from their own families and (40%) made loans from informal lending institutions. 7. most of the employed graduates (42%) admitted have jobs not related to their degrees earned because of the salary and benefits offered after they graduated. the salary offered was only from php 3,000 – php 7,000 monthly, however, it compensated other forms of expenses since the job location was near their residences. c. future plans 1. most employed graduates (60%) still planned to seek other employment if given the chance. higher salaries and benefits were the main reason and the other reason cited was the job’s being related to their degree earned. the other 40% preferred selfemployment if given the chance to acquire capital for doing business. 2. the respondents preferred self-employment, farming & merchandizing as the most cited type of enterprises. graduates who owned a parcel of land planned to engage in integrated farming enterprise and at the same time engage in retail/ merchandizing business in their communities. they cited that their capital investment would probably start from php 30,000 to php100,000 as beginning capital. 232 jpair multidisciplinary research d. relevance of the afnr training 1. the afnr graduates revealed a very good feedback on the quality and adequacy of the afnr training services and facilities. over all, the graduates were “very satisfied” with the different trainings & entrepreneurial skills conducted under the afnr enhancing program conducted from sy 2009-2011. 2. specifically, the graduates were interested in the various technical skills which were dependent on the availability of resources in their own homes and communities. graduates from jose rizal memorial state university, josefina h. cerilles state college rated the trainings as “very relevant” on rubber management & bud wood nursery, coco sugar, & banana tissue culture. similarly the graduates from western mindanao state university also rated the trainings as “very relevant”. for the zamboanga state college of marine sciences &technology, their graduates rated all the trainings on the skills for deep seaweeds production as “very relevant”. 3. overall, graduates in zampen sucs rated the afnr trainings “very relevant” on the afnr actual hands-on experience. almost all have observed change of attitude towards business venture and selfemployment. policy recommendations increasing the employability of graduates of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (afnr) in the zampen sucs is a gigantic steps towards the creation of a favorable and conducive scenario coupled with sincere commitment of all actors from the national government, academe and the human resource in the afnr sector. the national government has to increase annual budget for agriculture education and institute reforms in support for modernizing agriculture. in the academe, this requires investment of modern laboratory and teaching facilities and equipment, continuous training and capacitation of faculty for instruction geared towards student centered approach. state universities and colleges must integrate the high science and technology content in the curricular programs utilizing modular instructional strategy of all afnr courses offered in the country. moreover, students must be equipped with entrepreneurial skills in and out of the campus for better exposure and practicum in preparation for a brighter career entry level after graduation from college. 233 international peer reviewed journal acknowledgment the authors wish to acknowledge the philippine council for agriculture, aquatic, forestry and natural resources and development (pcaarrd) for funding the study. literature cited martin, r., rajasekaran, b., & vold, l. (1989). a national study to determine the role of bioscience/biotechnology in the study of agriculture as perceived by vocational agriculture instructors. in proceedings of the sixteenth annual national agriculture education research meeting, orlando, fl. retrieved from https://goo.gl/2nu2ga narvaez, t. a & subong, j. 2009.afnr human resource tracer study. pcarrd-dost terminal report. western mindanao state university, zamboanga city. philippines. retrieved from http://wmsu.edu.ph/dostpcarrd-wmsu-conduct-afnr-workshop.html national research council. (1988).  understanding agriculture: new directions for education. national academies press. retrieved from https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ed338795 peasley, d. d., & henderson, j. l. (1992). agriscience curriculum in ohio agricultural education: teacher utilization, attitudes, and knowledge. journal of agricultural education,  33(1), 37-45. retrieved from https://goo.gl/ uhafce https://goo.gl/2nu2ga http://wmsu.edu.ph/dost-pcarrd-wmsu-conduct-afnr-workshop.html http://wmsu.edu.ph/dost-pcarrd-wmsu-conduct-afnr-workshop.html https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed338795 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed338795 https://goo.gl/uhafce https://goo.gl/uhafce 196 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract pesticide contaminations on vegetables are widespread and found to be one of the causes of food poisoning in the philippines. the study examined the presence and determined the quantity of pesticide present in three (3) samples of vegetables sold at the zamboanga city public market and bagsakan center, sta. cruz market, zamboanga city. purposive random sampling was used in the selection of the three vegetable samples, which were cabbage (brassica oleraceaorvarcapitata linn.), lettuces (lactucasativa linn.), and cauliflower (brassica oleracea var. botrytis). this was analyzed at cagayan de oro bureau of plant industry, pesticide analytical laboratory. gas chromatography was used in the determination of the presence of pesticide residue. three trials were conducted for each sample and the average was computed for the final result. a no detection (nd) results the findings to all the samples, an implication that the vegetables which were sold and bought from the two public markets in zamboanga city were free from pesticide residues. it is recommended that other fruits and vegetables may be analyzed on different kinds of pesticides vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.522 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. an analysis of pesticide residue in vegetables sold in zamboanga city, philippines maisora t. tahil http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7519-6111 aimhightahil@gmail.com zamboanga city state polytechnic college zamboanga city, philippines 197 international peer reviewed journal considered to be systemic and non-systemic, and after a heavy rain fall. similarly, recommended that periodic monitoring for pesticide residue and other hazardous chemicals by the appropriate agency responsible for the health and welfare of the general public. keywords— environmental toxicology, pesticide, residue, analysis, experimental method, cagayan de oro, philippines introduction pesticide poisoning is a major issue worldwide. moreover, this is also serious matter relating to public health in the philippines (official news service of catholic bishops conference of the philippines, 2010). in central mindanao for example, news on the presence of endosulfan was traced (sunstar, november 17, 2008) seen in the vegetables sold in the market. pesticides are highly poisonous not only to pests but also to human and animals (mohammad idris, 2010) bukidnon is one of the biggest suppliers of cabbage and lettuce and cauliflower in zamboanga city. the need to conduct a relevant study on the residue detection of residue limit of pesticides triggered the researcher to conduct on the following: this study aims to determine the presence of pesticide in the three vegetable samples and quantify the amount of the pesticide residue when found present and if beyond tolerable and acceptable levels. the use of pesticides has increased 50 folds since the 1950s, and 2.5 million tons of industrial pesticides used annually, as mentioned in the study of (artoh, 2011). a study on organo chlorine pesticide residues in three leafy vegetables in iligan city, philippines (almeda, 1998) showed that most of the vegetables samples like pechay, cabbage, and chinese pechay were all observed to exceed the tolerance level. on this existing study made by the researcher revealed, all the vegetable samples from zamboanga city markets resulted to a no detection (nd) determined by a pesticide analysis that could detect 17 types of commonly used pesticides through gas chromatography. cited in the pesticide manual, that pesticides may either be non-systemic or systemic in plants. meaning, when a pesticide is non systemic it is not absorbed by plants from leaves nor soil via the roots on which its residue is being metabolized and slowly degraded. a pesticide like chlorpyrifos a non-systemic pesticide has a half-life of c.60-120 days which is subsequently degraded into organochlorine compound and carbon dioxide. halflife (deer, 2004) is the period of time it takes for one half of the amount of pesticide in the 198 jpair multidisciplinary research soil to degrade. degradation under the pesticides-formulation, effects, and fate by keitkotihale and spanoghe (2011) is influenced by different environmental processes volatilization, photolysis chemical and microbial degradation. volatilization of pesticides immediately occurs after application, while photolysis occurs when molecules absorb energy from sunlight resulting in its degradation. microorganisms however, can use pesticides as nutrients thereby breaking them into carbon dioxide and other components. moreover, kuet (2010) explained what affects the pesticide residue dissipation on vegetables are morphology of the crop, pesticide application and climate such as sunshine, rainfall, temperature. he also said that higher and frequent rainfall, high temperature and high solar radiation can increase the rate of dissipation. the study found out that that no pesticide residue was detected on all the vegetable samples bought from both zamboanga city public market and bagsakan center at  sta. cruz market. all yielded “no detection (nd)” findings which mean therefore, that  the three types of vegetables are safe for consumption by the consumers in zamboanga city. materials and methods this study made use of the three (3) vegetable samples such as cabbage (brassica oleraceaorvarcapitata linn.), lettuces (lactucasativa linn.), and cauliflower (brassica oleracea var. botrytis). these vegetables were bought from the two markets in zamboanga city, the zamboanga city public market and from the bagsakan center. each samples required one kilogram of sample for the analysis. three trials for the analyses were made to stablish validity of the test. for every kilogram of vegetable sample was packed on a polyethylene bag and placed on an iced chest to maintain the freshness of the vegetables. this was transported to cagayan de oro for the standard pesticide analysis. a. sampling procedure letters to the managers of z.c. public markets were sent for the identification of the vendors in the area and was acknowledge. the list of the vendors was handed to the researcher as basis for the purposive random selection for the purpose of buying the vegetables. each of the vendors name was written on a sheet of paper and placed on a box for the drawing of lots. the vendors was contacted via phone call for the purchase of the vegetables. 199 international peer reviewed journal b. laboratory analysis the researcher made its confirmation of the laboratory analysis via mail and phone call to get the expertise of the laboratory chemist three trials (3) were employed in each of the vegetable samples to established validity of the results. each of the three trials was computed and only the average results were declared by the laboratory chemist. three (3) analyses for each were employed on three (3) separate dates e.g. may 19, 30 and june 15, 2012 . three trials were employed in every analysis on the three selected vegetable samples. each of the three trials was computed and only the average result was declared by the laboratory chemist. the presence and quantitative analyses made used of gas chromatography. in the laboratory, the researcher was allowed to observe the step by step procedures made. there are three major steps: first is the homogenization of the sample to obtain a uniform matrix. for each sample, one kilogram was chopped into small sizes and placed separately in a polyethylene bag and chilled over night until frozen. the sample was homogenized thoroughly in a heavy-duty blender. second is the extraction of the pesticide residue with solvents. fifteen (15) g of the homogenized sample was placed in a 50-ml centrifuge tube. acetonitrile (the extraction solvent) was added then shook by hand vigorously for 1 minute. magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride were added and again shook by hand vigorously for 1 minute. the tubes (for different samples) were centrifuged at 3500 rpm (revolution per minute) for 1 minute. a heterogeneous mixture was observed from each tube, the organic solvent (top layer) and water with the vegetable pulp (bottom layer).the organic layer is where the pesticide residue is extracted (if any). finally, a cleanup step is employed using spe (solid phase extraction) tubes to remove interfering matrix components from the gc (gas chromatography). there were two cleanup steps, the first was done using c18 spe to remove non-polar interferences and next is using gcb/nh2 propyl spe to remove pigments, sterols and nonpolar interferences. the spe tubes were in a vacuum manifold set-up. an aliquot of the organic layer was loaded to a c18 spe tube then acetonitrile was loaded to elute analyses to an eggplant flask. the volume was reduced approximately to 2 ml using a rotavapor at 38.30c. the 2ml extract from cleanup 1 was loaded to gcb/nh2 propyl spe. the extract was eluted with a mixture of 60:40 acetonitrile-dichloromethane to an eggplant flask. the volume was reduced to dryness using the rotavapor then 3 ml acetone was added for final volume. this extract is ready for determination of pesticide residues using gc. 200 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the results of the analyses made on the pesticide residues on selected vegetables sold at the zamboanga city public market and at the bagsakan center, sta. cruz market, zc. the tables below reveals the findings. table 1. results of the average of the standard pesticide analyses market place vegetables result zamboanga city public market cabbage nd cauliflower nd lettuce nd bagsakan center cabbage nd cauliflower nd lettuce nd the average results of the standard analyses for pesticide residue on the three trials showed nd which means no pesticide residue detected at the limit of determination for all the samples submitted in the pesticide analytical laboratory at cagayan de oro. there were three sets of samples made for each of the two sites, those bought from zamboanga public market and from bagsakan center, sta. cruz market. all the vegetable samples were found to be negative of residues. the analyses were limited to the determination of the following commonly used pesticides in the philippines such as cadusafos, chlorpyrifos, cyhalothrin (lamda), cyfluthrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, diazinon, dimethoate, endosulfan, fenamiphos, fenvalerate, fenitrothion, malathion, methamidophos, permethrin, phentoate, and triazophos. all the vegetable samples were found t negative of residues. factors to consider for its absence may be ruled out to many possible factors. it could be that the farmers did not use pesticides at all or they may have used organic pesticides. moreover, rainfall may wash off the residue [2] as another factor to consider because month of may to june is wet season in the philippines and it was when the sampling was done. the heavy rainfall during the said period may determine the absence of residue in the vegetable samples. consequently, the bpi laboratory in-charge pointed out that for as long as the farmers follow the proper handling procedure and its application as well as the required harvest period, pesticides are therefore safe to use. halflife of the 201 international peer reviewed journal pesticide may significantly lessen or absolutely degrade the residues (deer, 2004) until the required harvest period attained. the in-charge also added by saying that the problem of pesticide residue also arises when farmers are in a hurry to harvest in instances when the vegetables demand of the buyers are high and immediate, the tendency farmers resort to rush harvest. thus, may also be deduced that the pesticide analyzed in the vegetables under study were not one of those pesticide used by the vegetable farmers. it is also possible that the farmers were compliant with the process and procedure on the handling and application of pesticides because they are very much aware of the harm it does to the consumers, the environment, their families and neighbors in the community. conclusion the results of the analyses on the presence of pesticide residues in three of the vegetable samples (cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce) bought from the zamboanga city public market and at the bagsakan center, sta cruz market, zamboanga city and analyzed at the pesticide analytical laboratory of the bureau of plant industry in cagayan de oro city revealed that no pesticide residues were detected. it can be concluded therefore, that the three types of vegetables included in the study sold both at the zamboanga city public market and at the bagsakan center, sta cruz market, zamboanga city do not contain pesticide residues and are safe for human consumption. recommendation since the findings of this research revealed no detection (nd) of pesticides from the vegetable samples included in the study, the following are recommended; a similar study be conducted but using other leafy vegetables and fruits frequently bought by consumers in the public markets. further, it is recommended that the analyses must consider the two seasons, that is samples be analyzed during the wet and dry season. it is also recommended that vegetables and fruits be analyzed for pesticide residues during the pre-harvest and the post-harvest seasons since there are literature which reveals that pesticides are applied even after harvest to preserve the fruits and vegetables. it is also recommend that other fruits and vegetables may be analyzed on different kinds of pesticides considered to 202 jpair multidisciplinary research be systemic and non-systemic, and after a heavy rain fall. it is also recommended that periodic monitoring of fruits and vegetables for pesticide residue and other hazardous chemicals be conducted by the appropriate agency responsible for the health and welfare of the general public. lastly, that the appropriate agency in the government should conduct regular training and information dissemination to farmers, on the proper use and application of pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides and the like since these chemicals when applied in excess is detrimental to the users, consumers and the environment in general. literature cited almeda, m. (1998). organochlorine pesticide residues in vegetables in iligan city. iligan city: mindanao state university. artoh armah, f. (2011). assessment of pesticide residues in vegetables at the farm gate: cabbage (brassica oleracea) cultivation in cape coast. research journal of environmental toxicology, pp. 180-202. business dictionay.com. (2007, june 4). retrieved july 18, 2011 keitkotihale, b.m. and spanoghe p. (2011). pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables,e. pesticide-formulation, effects and fate, pp. http://www.intechopen.com/boos/pesticide-formulations-effects-fate/pesticide-residues-infruits-and-vegetables. kuet, c. l. (2010). degradation of two pesticides in vegetables . sarawak tribune. mohammad idris, s.m. and mahmud,abubakar. (1987, may 3). asia week. official news service of catholic bishops conference of the philippines. (2010, december 20). cbcp news. philippine medicinal plant. (n.d.). retrieved january 5, 2011, from http://www. stuartxchange.com.html sunstar. (2008, november 17). sunstar.com. retrieved january 2011, 2008 194 jpair multidisciplinary research under-developed standards: the reality in an elderly facility maria flordeliz g. padayao http:///orcid.org/ 0000-0002-9251-7976 mrflrdlz@yahoo.com university of cebu, philippines cielito l. guazon http:///orcid.org/0000-0001-8109-2629 otileiclnozaug@gmail.com university of cebu, philippines mercy milagros bacarro apuhin http:///orcid.org/0000-0000-0002-6485-2486 mercy@apuhin.com university of cebu philippines ma. estella p. cabataña http:///ordic.org/0000-0002-9986-3142 mastella17@yahoo.com university of cebu philippines abstract the burgeoning population of the elderly is an alarm that the national health and nursing authorities should start equipping to meet the needs of this fragile group. the philippines is still under-developed in the standardization of geriatric institutions. mainly, the objective of this study is to evaluate whether the selected vol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.509 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 195 international peer reviewed journal elderly home in cebu city, philippines is practicing a quality facility structuring based on guidelines. a mixed method, specifically, the sequential explanatory research, was used to understand the complexities of this phenomenon. using a multi-level of data sourcing, a meticulous sequencing was followed. first, employing a survey questionnaire; then, an observational checklist and lastly, a cross analysis focus group discussion (fgd). to complete the different sets of sample, an active purposive sampling technique was utilized. findings showed that lack of national standards and financial incapability were the identified factors why there was a non-parallelism between the elderly needs and conduciveness of quality living. as such, may threaten the holistic health and harmony of well-being among them. the result can be applied as reference in generating a standardized protocol suitable for filipino aging clientele. keywords — gerontology, elderly facilities, mixed method, cebu, philippines introduction the burgeoning population of the elderly is currently a health-challenging dilemma in the entire world (who, 2011; black & hawk, 2005). as the aging population surge to double every year, the demand to appropriate caring and health needs are becoming complex. the more they aged, the more they become fragile and susceptible to illness and injury. lamentably, an increasing number of elderly individuals are now sent by their children and significant others to the institutional facilities because of many complicated personal reasons. in turn, the pressure to care the elderly shifts to elderly homes and its care-personnel. therefore, the need to upgrade turns to be a must to meet the demands of their clientele. however, the philippines’ elderly care homes are still underdeveloped in terms of standardization – a real challenge among future gerontologist. reports regarding accidental injuries happening inside institutionalize facilities are common, yet preventable with the right measures. falls, for instance, is the second leading cause of accidents in most nursing homes, but these scenarios are still undocumented in the country. in fact, falling alone can cause complicated consequences such as hip fracture, limb injuries or even severe brain and spine damages. because of the physical and mental conditions, safety is the top priority that administrators should capitalize within the skirt of their home environment (who, 2011). 196 jpair multidisciplinary research these life threatening incidences may occur frequently and repeatedly, if not resolved earlier. nursing home managers can curb this happening when equipped with the correct and standard facility protocols. homes, like this, should serve as “healing centers” whereby holistic hierarchies for long term services are practiced, for the betterment of patients (gladstone & wexler, 2007). according to the environmental theory developed by florence nightingale, the type of milieu that the patient has will determine his condition for recovery and comfort. the function of a care provider is to balance the environment suitable to his human-beingness. in the absence of such health, its restoration is unachievable. limited studies locally have been written that analyzed the physical structure of geriatric institutions. as a response to this new challenge, there is an exigent need to examine the quality of elderly facilities on their real-phenomenological image. this study, therefore, sets the trail for policy makers and gerontologist to generate concrete guidelines that can improve existing homes for the aged in the country. framework caring becomes risky in the absence of a quality environment to our patients (florence nightingale, 1979). in turn, the nurse, as the main care provider, needs to patch up essential components that will harmonize the patient’s mind, body, soul, social, and environment with the degree congruent to his health and healing, especially among frail ones (watson, 2007). some 48% of older adults over age 65 are seen in the hospital, 80% were home care patients and 90% were in nursing homes (mezey, 2001). they enter and exit the healthcare system at many different points throughout old age (mauk, 2010). accordingly, the population of senior adults ascended by 4.1% every year and will increase to 11.9% in the future. these patient age groups are the most demanding and fragile patients because of their physical and mental disability (who, 2011). thus, safety and being protected in the home environment should be capitalized among them. as the number of new in-patient surges, issues on internal accidents occur frequently, which nearly doubles since the last decade (who, 2011). for instance, falls ranked as the second reason for accident or unintended deaths in the world happening among most geriatric patients at nursing homes. approximately, an 197 international peer reviewed journal average population of 28 – 35% of falls each year belonged to people aged 65 and 32 – 42% of those above 70 years of age (who, 2011). this injury, alone, is causing series of mild to severe complications at 20 – 30% including brain and spine to limb injuries. also, there was a higher hospitalization stay on falls-related injuries which ranges from 4 to 15 days. at present, it is still a debate whether what standards shall be implemented, since, the country doesn’t have a concrete structured protocol for a geriatric infrastructural design unlike the singapore and us. cebu city has its first ever local ordinance which was proposed by palompon (2011), but it was not tested. the conceptual underpinning of this study was anchored based on their proposal parameters: signage, bathroom, walkways and furniture. as identified, these 4 aspects of an elderly home are usually problematic that causes numerous injuries and accidents among clients. safety can be improved through modification of simple measures (grab bars, adequate light and non-slippery floor) and introduction of advanced but enhanced technology (ewles & simnett, 2003). or whatever the setting, hospice requires a great deal of patience, expertise, understanding, interdisciplinary communication and compassion on the part of the nurse that needs to be collaboratively shared and discussed among residents and the entire team of the care provider (mauk, 2010). objectives of the study the study aimed to evaluate whether a selected elderly home in cebu city, philippines is practicing a quality facility structuring based on available references of standards. also, this specifically sought to answer the following: (1) the difference between local and international standards; (2) level of satisfaction among elderly residents on their geriatric facility, namely, on signage, bathroom, walkways and furniture; lastly, (3) the salient rebuttals of the residents, affiliating schools and nursing home administration regarding the core issues. methodology a mixed method, specifically the sequential explanatory research, was used to clearly describe and evaluate the selected elderly home for this study. in consecutive phases, quantitative data were first collected and analyzed. using a questionnaire checklist anchored from the local ordinance proposed by palompon 198 jpair multidisciplinary research (2011), the residents’ perceived level of satisfaction was measured. prior to the distribution, it was modified accordingly based from pilot-study with chronbach alpha level at 0.86, and per advice by hired experts. these were distributed to the residents who have stayed for more than 3 years and volunteered, but not more than 65 years old to ensure that the patients were cognitively capable (catalan, 2015). numerical information gathered from the answered survey questionnaires were then transferred to statistical software (spss – 16) for preliminary analysis using percentage distribution and weighted mean. later, a group of research assistants (engineering students) were recruited to conduct observational study specifically on area measurement, infrastructural evaluation and in-door facility. a new set of checklist adopted from the local ordinance (palompon, 2011) and the nursing home standards workgroup (2014) was employed. prior to usage, both checklists reliability were examined. data from this phase were treated using t-test to measure the significant difference between the two references. afterward, findings were utilized as a counter-explanation to substantiate the preliminary analysis of the first collated data. a qualitative research was finally done to provide breadth and depth in analyzing the quantitative data. ten (10) open-ended questions were formulated after fusing the analytic data between the beforehand observational and survey output. each question was initially reviewed by local peer-groups and hired genre specialists. a focus group discussion (fgd) participated by 3 groups with 21 selected volunteers was conducted. each was composed of different representatives from elderly residents, affiliated school faculties/students, and administration heads and staff. the law of numerical equality in the fgd grouping was considered, which means 7 individuals represents each cohort. this is to ensure equal voicing (catalan, 2015). uniquely, a cross analysis between statements was given crucial role in the organized fgd. statements from each group representatives were used as highlights and rebuttal cues in addition to the structured questionnaire. the qualitative context analysis by mayring (2005) was applied to sum up the contextual domain of each verbatim. before concluding, discrepancies identified were re-clarified to the fgd participants. lastly, a literature triangulation was done to eliminate the idiosyncratic conclusion of this research work. worth noting, that upon request from the 3 existing elderly homes in the province, only 1 from talisay, cebu city, which is a semi-private institution manned by nuns accepted this evaluative research. ethical considerations were 199 international peer reviewed journal given emphasis before this was executed. series of letters and consent forms were forwarded. and, a formal one-on-one interaction for clarifications in vernacular was given importance. to control hawthorne effect, the respondents were asked ahead for their preferred testing area. once questionnaires are submitted, they were kept in individualized enveloped, and coded for confidentiality: e for elderly; a was assigned to affiliates; and n was the used to represent the elderly home’s administrators. results and discussion table 1. difference between local ordinance and international standards paired value computed t – value critical value mean difference significance local versus international standards 1.995 14.624 8.85 .006 when comparing the two guideline checklist between the local ordinance and the nursing home standards from singapore (nursing home standard group, 2014), the t – test result is significant at the level of .006, which means that there was a significant difference between the sources. the reason for this was the different sourcing used per guidelines. the local ordinance was based on western standards, while another reference was originally constructed according to a real singaporean scenario. also, there were obvious contradictions on specification of measurement and units. admittedly, some figures were not really applicable for a filipino elderly resident. meanwhile, in this study those identified discrepancies were forwarded to among selected local experts and the final judgment was aligned from their comments and the existing philippine-based studies. table 2. level of satisfaction as perceived by the elderly residents facility structure mean interpretation signage 1.62 less satisfied bathroom 1.67 less satisfied walkways 1.65 less satisfied furniture 1.62 less satisfied 200 jpair multidisciplinary research “we are thankful for the sisters and caregivers taking good care of us. but, aside from their care, we need as well a facility that we can consider as a home, comfortable for us.” e2 “we are living in a place that we were forced to live. so dark, that we need sunshine. like a tight chamber that we cannot breath. and, so old like us. how i wish the government can hear us. we were also citizens of the philippines who paid taxes before. but, today we are like no one that everyone tends to forget.” e5 based on the evaluation result, most of the elderly participants were unsatisfied on the type of housing facilities they have. entirely, the weighted mean findings ranged between 1.62 and 1.67, which are all greater than 1.5. this denotes dissatisfaction to the housing facilities specifically on signage, bathroom, walkways and furniture. likert scale range verbal interpretation 5 4.50-5.00 very satisfied 4 3.50-4.49 satisfied 3 2.50-3.49 moderately satisfied 2 1.50-2.49 less satisfied 1 1.00-1.49 not satisfied table 3. proportion of the residents who are dissatisfied facility structure percentage signage 66.7% bathroom 61.9% walkways 60.1% furniture 69.0% “some of the signage’s’ font texts are tiny and blurred, as if they are like decors without purpose after all. it should be checked and rechecked, ensuring that it is friendly to our poor eye sights. ” e2 signage and directional graphics were unfriendly among geriatric residents. 66.7% (in words) rated it unsatisfactorily. as evaluated per observation, most of the signage posted were blurred, smaller in font sizes, and the color selection is 201 international peer reviewed journal inappropriate, except on the one found at the main entrance. directional signs and posters are very salient among elderly, for re-orientation and safety purposes (who, 2011). however, instead of directing, for some residents, they describe these as decorations with no purpose (e1, e2, e5, e7). to improve, there should be a careful and thorough selection of colors, materials, font size, font styles, graphics and design features (nursing home standards workgroup, 2014; palompon, 2011; reigner, hamilton & yatabe, 1995). filipino transcriptions especially on warnings and danger zones should be available as well. “it is difficult to move inside the bathroom. the size is too small for a nurse and a patient especially in case of emergencies.” a3 “there were times that the floor is slippery, and the handle bar not that easy to reach. it happened one time that i slipped on the floor, how much if among these elderly residents, who have problems in balance.” a1 “with my weak body, i find it difficult sometimes to go to the comfort room. there were instances that i almost about to slip, especially when there is an urge to urinate or such. and it is not well-ventilated, too dark to my poor eye sight and needs to be repainted. e4 toilets and bathrooms are both important to provide comfort and feeling of refreshment. but, 61.9% of elderly tenants felt discomfort when using both house sections. per ocular inspection, privacy in the washrooms is not structured. these were mechanically unplanned, as well, since the space of the room and sizes of the doors were technically not recommendable, which was less than 1500mm x 1500mm. also, there were no sliding doors, no mobility aids and mounted urinals for male not available. conspicuously, the locations were not easily accessible especially in emergency situations. it is worth noting, from private reports that cases of accidental slips were common not only among residents, but, as well as among student affiliates despite the usage of non-slip tiles (e2, e4, e6, a1, a3). accidents are really common in this area, it is suggested that ideal sizes of handrail vestibules, anti-slip rubber floor mats and wider or wheelchair friendly spaces must be observed (nursing home standards workgroup, 2014; palompon, 2011; bakalar, 2011). 202 jpair multidisciplinary research “the ramp way is not spacious, as if we have our own traffic inside the facilities. the size is too small for a nurse and a patient especially in case of emergencies.” a3 “our walkways is also our program area. if so, expect that we are like sardines, fishes compressed inside a can, in every time we used it.” e5 in terms of walkways, 60.1% of the elderly residents were not satisfied. these were ideally designed with non-slip tiles, but their handrails with curve end, which were made of stainless steel, measured less than the standard diameter. in addition, the hallways were constructed in a minimal height of 2,400 mm, not recommendable as emphasized by the guidelines used. according to claims, the hallway was only enough for a maximum of two person that made transportation difficult sometimes (e1, e2, e5, a2, a4, a7). “the edge is not safe. i remember i got a minor wounds because of that” e1 “some of the furniture are too impractical that only cause spaces to narrow.” e4 “those were too heavy and cannot be easily moved. something that can jeopardize the residents especially during emergencies or high magnitude earthquakes.” a7 lastly, the furniture used in the elderly home were not standard. some 69% from the respondents negatively commented on these. there were instances that they got scratches from the edge of tables, cabinets and beds (e1, e5, e7). likewise, these were non-practical to some settings especially in terms of sizes and mobility (e3, e4, a7). the furniture should be flexible to meet the needs of the residents’ physical capability, and with multi-purpose (a4, kong, 1999). furniture must be sharp-free, colors contrasting to the wall and floors and must be stable (nursing home standards workgroup, 2014; palompon, 2011; reigner et al., 1995). table 4. thematic analysis from the fgd among nursing home administration identified factors respondents based on traditional practices n1, n3, n4 foreign standards are not applicable n7 dependent on donations n1, n6 prioritization of budget n5 203 international peer reviewed journal “the facility was built in early 90’s. during that time there were no standards even hitherto. we don’t know what protocol shall we follow, we don’t have such.” n4 “everyone has the right to live in a better facility, for health restoration and shelter. this should not be deprived among those weakly and hopeless elderlies. the government must do something. we know that the administration has a lot of things to consider, however, we like any other ngo’s highly dependent on charities and donations. if only the government can provide us fund assistance, then such standards may be possible” n1 “the western standards may not be applicable to our set-up. elderly homes like in us is highly funded by their government, unlike here in the philippines.” n7 “we know our facility is not standard. but, we are trying our best to provide quality services as we could. we have a lot of things needed here. we need extra personnel, budget, experts and building in order to meet the real holistic needs of our residents. i hope someday, our institution will be called a perfect home for the weakly and deprived ageing clientele.” n3 when the preliminary findings based on the first two phases of the study were presented to the administrative staff, they honestly admitted that claims were true. for them, there is a plethora of issues why these occurred. first, no standards were available before their building was constructed in early 1990’s up to present. per initiative, they just followed the traditional building styles from those typical elderly homes found within the region and in the country (n1, n3, n4). in addition, some foreign standards were not practical to filipino elderly (n7). secondly, the limited budget they have. for a charity institution run by nuns and non-profit volunteers, they were only dependent on donations (n1; n6). finally, as much as they want to improve, they have no choice but to stick to the budget and prioritize other physiologic needs of their tenants especially on food and medicine (n5). the administrators were already aware of these verbal cues regarding the dissatisfactions that their residents have (n2; n3); as much as possible they were trying their best to improve at the highest level they could (n7). in fact in their plan to build a new building they were planning to follow the structural design based on the guidelines highlighted from the modified checklist guidelines generated by the researcher of this study (n3; n7) 204 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusion the living conditions of the elderly facility can be described as far below the ideal in both local and international standards. the level of satisfaction among elderly residents in the geriatric facility, namely, on signage, bathroom, walkways, and furniture was found less satisfied. the under-developed standardization and financial incapability among geriatric institutions were the identified factors why there was a non-parallelism between the elderly needs and conduciveness of quality living. recommendations in the absence of such standards, there is a need to generate a national protocol guideline that will enhance the conditions of elderly homes in the philippines. our recommendation relate to the 4 specific areas: infrastructural design for considerations; additional funding and financial sustainability assistance from the government; open more school programs for gerontology and other related disciplines to increase the volume of experts; and lastly, further research replication that validate the findings of this pilot evaluative research, or other possible studies that will standardize the caring practices and services among elderly facilities tailored-fit to their humanistic needs. through a rigorous follow-up investigation, the core issue of this study can be fully understood that will end up with our very own crafted model-approach flexible to the country’s set-up per se. hence, the notion of “health for all” is achieved especially among this under-looked and fragile group. literature cited black, j. m. & hawk j (2005). medical – surgical nursing. clinical management for positive outcomes. (4th ed). missouri: lippincott williams & wilkins. retrieved from goo.gl/2ztuer catalan, j.p.m .(2015). care needs versus care supplied: the nursing strategies for senior gays and lesbians. bmj open 2015. retrieved from goo.gl/ekfky4 ewles, l. & simnett, i. (2003). promoting health: a practical guide. (5th ed). tottenham court road, london: bailliere tindall. retrieved from goo.gl/ umc7al 205 international peer reviewed journal gladstone, j. & wexler, e. (2000). a family perspective of family/staff interaction in long term care facility. journal on geriatric nursing. 21 (1); 16-19. retrieved from goo.gl/kyljsp kong, a. (1999). housing with aged care and housing architect, victoria. aged, community and mental health division. philippine statistics estimates. retrieved from http://www.priorityhealthcare.com.au/files/victorian%20 government%20aged%20care%20brief.pdf mauk, k. (2010). gerontological nursing: competencies for care. burlington, ma: jones & barlett publishers. retrieved from goo.gl/jtm0vg. mayring, p. (2005). combination and integration of qualitative & quantitative analysis. forum: qualitative social research, 2(1). retrieved from http: www. qualitative-research.net/fqs. mezey, m.d. (2001.). the encyclopedia of older care. the comprehensive resources on geriatric & social care. new york: springer publishing company. retrieved from goo.gl/qkotxy. nursing home standard group (2014). enhanced nursing home standards. ministry of hhealthsingapore. retrieved from goo.gl/m6blce. palompon, d. (2011). predictors of depression among institutionalized elderly clients. ldcu-rpo asian scientific journal, 1 (1). retrieved from goo.gl/ cncqaj. reigner, v., hamilton, j. & yatabe, s. (1995). assisted living for the aged and frail: innovation in design, management and financing. ny: columbia university press. watson, j. (2007). caring science as sacred science. philadelphia: f.a. davis. nursing science quarterly, 20:4. retrieved from goo.gl/zcdfi3. world health organization. (2011). ageing. retrieved from goo.gl/fcjczu. on 8 september 2011. 71 international peer reviewed journal potentials of home-made concoction as nutrient solution in a modified hydroponic system james francienne rosit http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1183-804x jamesfranciennej.rosit@gmail.com cebu technological university (ctu) – barili campus cebu, philippines pet roey l. pascual http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-5263 petroey262301@gmail.com cebu technological university – pinamungajan extension campus cebu, philippines jessa rio http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3062-3044 jessario23@gmail.com cebu technological university pinamungajan extension campus pinamungajan, cebu, philippines meriam mae sacamay http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1630-8029 meriamsacamay200@gmail.com department of agriculture rfo vii maguikay, mandaue city, cebu, philippines vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.337 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research roger alferez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7199-8469 dong3965@gmail.com department of education, toledo city division, cebu, philippines leonilla camomot http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8319-209x leonilacamomot11366@gmail.com lgu, city of naga cebu, philippines abstract a hydroponic system is a technique that is widely used in agriculture especially in growing plants in urban areas. a study was conducted to determine the responses of lettuce grown under a modified hydroponic system to different organic solutions at cebu technological university – barili campus, philippines. the treatments used in the study are t0 – commercial organic amino acid, t1 – home-made concoction, t2 – inorganic fertilizer and t3 coconut water. results showed that on the number of leaves, lettuces that were applied with home–made concoction had 10.13% and 15.23% more leaves than inorganic fertilizer and commercial organic amino acid applied treatments respectively (4th week). no significant difference were observed among commercial organic amino acid, home-made concoction and inorganic fertilizer, in terms of leaf length from the 2nd week to 4th week having. furthermore, comparable results were observed between lettuce applied with home-made concoction and inorganic fertilizer on its leaf width on the 2nd week having 7.03 cm and 6.30 cm respectively. moreover, comparable effects were also observed on commercial organic amino acid and home-made concoction in plant height having an average length of 17.03 cm and 17.00 cm, respectively. at harvesting, lettuces that were applied with home-made concoction had the heaviest weight having 43.23 g or 20.12% heavier than those applied with commercial organic amino acid and 23.67% heavier than inorganic fertilizer. therefore, the home-made concoction is the best organic nutrient source in growing lettuce in a modified hydroponic system. 73 international peer reviewed journal keywords – agriculture, modified hydroponic system, organic liquid solution, experimental research, cebu philippines introduction nowadays, farmers and companies that are producing agricultural products are dependent on using inorganic fertilizer to meet the growing needs of people for food consumption worldwide. one of the major concerns of today’s world is the pollution and contamination of soil (kumari, kumar & rao, 2014). the impact of chemical fertilizer application on agricultural land is seen not only in terms of the soil quality, but also on the survival of soil organisms dwelling there in (rai, ashiya & rathore, 2014). excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides has indirectly caused tremendous harm to the environment as well affects human population (kumar et al., 2014). lettuce  (lactuca sativa) is an  annual plant  of the family  asteraceae. it is most often grown as a  leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds.  in the philippines, lettuce is considered as one of the most important salad crops. hydroponically grown agricultural products continue to grow in popularity most especially in the urban areas wherein the area for planting is limited. hydroponic crop production has significantly increased in recent years worldwide as it allows a more efficient use of water and fertilizers, as well as a better control of climate and pest. furthermore, hydroponic production increases crop quality and productivity, which results in higher competitiveness and economic income (trejo-téllez & gómez-merino, 2012). the hydroponic system does not require soil in growing plants; it only needs the right solution that contains all essential nutrients that the crop needs for survival. a nutrient solution for a hydroponic system is an aqueous solution containing mainly inorganic ions from soluble salts of essential elements for higher plants. eventually, some organic compounds such as iron chelates may be present (steiner, 1968). an essential element has a clear physiological role, and its absence prevents the complete plant life cycle (taiz & zeiger, 1998). without these nutrients in the hydroponic system, it will result to rapid plant death. hence, it is necessary to know the best sources of nutrients for plants that can be used to apply in a hydroponic system. studies on the use of organic materials as fertilizers have gained popularity not just because of its ever increasing price, but also the effects of using commercial fertilizers to human health and the environment. moreover, increased consumer awareness of food safety and environmental concerns have contributed to the development of organic farming over the last few years (worthington, 1998; 74 jpair multidisciplinary research worthington, 2001; relf, mcdoniel & tech, 2002). farm income will also improve when farmers use less money on fertilizers and pesticides for growing crops (vernon, 1999) and the market for organic produce continues to expand (thompson, 2000). as compared to soil-based production systems, hydroponic systems require much less water; are easier to treat for pests and diseases; have high, stable yields; and reduce potential nutrient pollution (resh, 2004). thus, the study aimed to determine the responses of lettuce grown under a hydroponic system applied with the different organic hydroponic solution. materials and methods research site green house experiment on lettuce (lactuca sativa) was conducted at cebu technological universitybarili campus, barili, cebu. the area was cleaned and cleared before the conduct of the study. twenty-four (24) growing containers were prepared and arranged. it was divided into three (3) replications with a distance of thirty centimeters (30cm) per replication. the distance between each growing container per replication was ten centimeters (10cm). each container was covered by an illustration board with five (5) holes to hold the styrofoam cups in place with a diameter of seven centimeters (7cm). one hundred twenty-four (124) perforated styrofoam cups were used with a height measurement of 8.2 centimeters, opening diameter of 7.4 centimeters and a bottom diameter of 4.8 centimeters (figure 1). figure 1. experimental area of the study 75 international peer reviewed journal medium preparation a 1:1 ratio of garden soil and vermicast was used in the study. a composite soil sample was achieved before they were placed in styrofoam cups. sowing lettuce seeds were in a seedling trays. transplanting seedlings were carefully taken from the tray and transplanted to the styrofoam cups one (1) week after emergence. treatments and application the treatments used were as follows: t0commercial amino acid (12ml solution a + 12ml solution b per 3000ml of water) t1home-made concoction (20ml home-made per 3000ml of water) t2inorganic fertilizer (600mg per 3000 ml based on recommended rate) t3coconut water (750ml of coconut water per 2250ml of water) application of treatments was done on a weekly basis following the formulated concentration of the treatments in the study. each treatment in each replication has a total number of 10 samples. the home-made concoction is composed of chopped organic farm waste products from cauliflower, tomatoes and papayas, and japanese snails that were attacking the papaya plants in the area. twenty kilograms of farm waste products plus snails were placed in a drum and mixed with 2 kilograms of brown sugar and fermented for 1 month before using. data collection data collection involves the growth, development, and yield of lettuce as affected by the different treatments. this includes the following: number of leaves this was done 1 week after transplanting until harvesting by counting all true leaves of lettuce once a week. leaf length -this was done weekly by measuring from the base to the tip of the leaf. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research leaf width this was done weekly by measuring the diameter of the leaf. plant height this was done during harvesting by measuring from the bottom up to the tip leaf of the plant. above ground fresh weight this was done during termination day by cutting the base of the plant and weigh the entire plant using a one-kilogram weighing scale. root length this was done by cutting the tip of the root and measure it in centimeters using a ruler during harvesting. statistical techniques analysis of variance (anova) for randomized complete block design (rcbd) was used in analyzing any significant difference on the parameters gathered. comparisons among treatment means were done using the tukey hsd to determine the specific significant differences. results and discussion yield and yield components of lettuce show that the no. of leaves, leaf width, plant height and fresh weight were significantly affected by the treatments (see figure 2). plants that were applied with home-made concoction have the highest recorded no. of leaves on the 3rd week and 4th week (see table 1) with an average of 7.96 on the 3rd week and 11.16 on the 4th week respectively. although, no significant difference were observe between the three treatments (commercial organic amino acid, home-made concoction and inorganic fertilizer) but this implies that home-made concoction is a good alternative to inorganic fertilizer to increase the no. of leaves of lettuce in a modified hydroponic system. this finding is in agreement on what was reported by pascual, jarwar and nitural (2013) that a pechay that was applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice produces higher number of leaves. amino acids such that of golden snails promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms (the gardeners network, 2008). moreover, this may also be true with fermented swamp cabbage juice from ipomoea aquatica; leaves are also very rich in proteins, carotenes and amino acids like aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, leucine, tyrosine, lysine, histidine and arginine (prasad, shivamurthy & aradhya, 2007). 77 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. growth and development of lettuce (lactuca sativa) at harvest as affected by the different hydroponic solutions 78 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. number of leaves of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions hydroponic solution number of leaves week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 t0 – commercial organic amino acid 4.33 5.56 7.96a 9.46ab t1 – home-made concoction 4.80 5.53 7.96a 11.16a t2 – inorganic fertilizer 4.03 5.46 7.83a 10.03a t3 – coconut water 4.40 5.46 6.73b 8.10b mean 4.39 5.50 7.62 9.69 c.v (%) 10.19 5.90 5.89 7.26 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using the tukey hsd significant differences were also observed 14 days after planting on the leaf length of lettuce as affected by the different treatments. having an average of 8.46 cm in length on the 2nd week, plants applied with home-made concoction have 23.17% longer leaves than lettuce applied with coconut water (table 2). this supported the findings of pascual, jarwar and nitural (2013) that pechay applied with fermented swamp cabbage juice alone produced the longest leaves. however, on the 3rd week, plant applied with commercial organic amino acid surpass the performance of the home-made concoction by 2.2% and 1.9% on the 4th week, respectively but still the response of the plants applied with homemade concoction are still comparable as to the performance of the plants applied with inorganic fertilizer and commercial organic amino acid. pascual et al. (2013) also reported that leaf length of pechay was increased 1.77 times when applied with fermented activators and em solution. both of which are known to contain a substantial amount of amino acid as reported by catubis et al. (2013). table 2. leaf length of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions hydroponic solution leaf length week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 t0 – commercial organic amino acid 4.23 8.33ab 12.13a 14.03a t1 – home-made concoction 4.00 8.46a 11.86a 13.76a t2 – inorganic fertilizer 3.96 8.26ab 11.70a 13.30a t3 – coconut water 3.90 6.50b 9.26b 10.13b mean 4.0 7.89 11.24 12.81 c.v (%) 8.94 4.82 3.38 4.49 79 international peer reviewed journal means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using the tukey hsd as shown (see table 3), significant difference was observed two weeks after transplanting of lettuce in its leaf width. with an average leaf width of 7.03 cm, plants applied with home-made concoction shows 13% wider leaves than plants applied with commercial organic amino acid, and 21% wider than coconut water. furthermore, it was observed that on the 4th week, plants that were applied with home-made concoction are 24% wider than lettuce applied with coconut water. table 3. leaf width of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions hydroponic solution leaf width week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 t0 – commercial organic amino acid 2.30 6.10b 10.76a 13.13a t1 – home-made concoction 2.20 7.03a 11.43a 13.30a t2 – inorganic fertilizer 2.26 6.30ab 11.23a 12.96a t3 – coconut water 2.13 5.50b 8.83b 10.23b mean 2.22 6.23 10.56 12.41 c.v (%) 12.88 6.43 4.84 6.55 means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using the tukey hsd during harvesting, significant difference was observed on the height of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions. plants applied with commercial organic amino acid has the tallest plants among all samples having an average plant height of 17.03 cm equivalent to 14.85% higher than inorganic fertilizer and 41.51% higher than coconut water (figure 3).catubis et al., (2013) reported that the application of amino acid significantly influenced shoot growth and the application of amino acid provides a promising beneficial effect especially on shoot growth without negatively affecting root growth and development of leaves. rai (2002) also reported that amino acid such as proline accumulation aids in k+accumulation in vignaradiata cultures. the use of mixed amino acids solutions as alternative part of nitrate fertilization has successfully sustained lettuce plant growth and yield in soilless growing systems (gunes, post, kirkby & aktas, 1994). however, there is no significant difference among lettuce applied with commercial organic amino acid, home-made concoction and inorganic fertilizer. this implies that home-made concoction is a good substitute 80 jpair multidisciplinary research a a a b for inorganic fertilizer to increase the height of lettuce plants grown under a modified hydroponic system. furthermore, lettuce applied with coconut showed the shortest plants among the treatments. figure 3. height of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions lettuce applied with commercial amino acid showed longer root length after harvest with an average of 10.73 cm, equivalent to 21.71% higher than inorganic fertilizer and 11.46% higher than lettuce applied with coconut water. however, no significant difference were observed among the treatments (figure 4). this implies that to increase root length of lettuce, application of amino acid or homemade concoction is already enough, and the application of inorganic fertilizer and coconut water is not anymore necessary if you are aiming to increase the root length of your plants. dick and gregorich (2004) also reported that application of organic matter remains the key component in the development and maintenance of a high-quality soil because it affects many soil properties like buffering capacity, soil consistence, and soil erodibility, and provides a healthy environment for the community of soil microorganisms. 81 international peer reviewed journal figure 4. root length of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions data also showed significant difference among treatments on the above ground fresh weight. plants applied with home-made concoction are the heaviest of them all with an average of 43.23 g equivalent to 63.24% than lettuce applied with coconut water (figure 5). this shows that using home-made concoction alone is already a very promising alternative to increase the above ground fresh weight of lettuce grown under a modified aggregate hydroponic system. furthermore, organic fertilizers (solid or liquid) contain essential elements and substances such as plant nutrients, vitamins, antibiotics, and a complex of black humus that contains billions of microorganisms, egg, and larvae of soil fauna (ruiz, 1983). pascual (2013) also reported that fermented cabbage juice alone improve the nutrient contents (n, p2o3, and k2o) of the compost after four and eight weeks of composting. a a a a 82 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 5. above ground fresh weight of lettuce as affected by different hydroponic solutions bars within the same column affix by a common letter are not significantly different from each other at 5% level using the tukey hsd. however, analysis for chemical and biochemical content of home-made concoction was not done due to the lack of facilities, equipment and money to perform the laboratory test. conclusion home-made concoction increases the number of leaves, leaf width and above ground fresh weight of lettuce. therefore, the home-made concoction has the highest potential to increase yield and yield components of lettuce among all other organic nutrient solutions in a modified hydroponic system. translational research the outcome of the study entitled “potentials of home-made concoction as a nutrient solution in a modified hydroponic system” may be translated into use in the community by sending the information to the philippine association for institutional research incorporated. further analyses of other sources of nutrients in a modified hydroponic system will help identify areas in the procedure that can be improve to increase yield of lettuce. a a a b 83 international peer reviewed journal literature cited kumari, a. k., kumar, r. k. n., rao, n. c. h., 2014. adverse effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on human health and environment. journal of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences.retrieved on november 16, 2015 from http://www.jchps.com/pdf/si3/34%20jchps%20si3%20 addn%20k.anitha%20kumari%20150-151.pdf catubis, k. m. l., granada, b. a., morales, j. b., alferez, r. r., asentista, r. a., pascual, p. r. l., & saramosing, j. g. (2013). application of amino acids on philippine native tomato (lycopersiconesculentum l.)grown under flood condition. jpair multidisciplinary research, 13(1). dick, w. a. and e. g. gregorich. 2004. developing and maintaining soil organic matter levels. in managing soil quality. challenges modern agriculture, ed p. schjonning, s. elmholt, and b. t. christensen cambridge, ma: cab international. gunes, a., w.n.k. post, e.a. kirkby and m. aktas, 1994. influence of partial replacement of nitrate by amino acid nitrogen or urea in the nutrient medium on nitrate accumulation in nft grown winter lettuce. j. plant nutr., 17: 1929–1938 pascual, p. r., jarwar, a. d., & nitural, p. s. (2013). fertilizer, fermented activators, and em utilization in pechay (brassica pekinensis l.) production. pakistan journal of agriculture, agricultural engineering and veterinary sciences, 29(1), 56-69. pascual, p. r. l. (2013). improved composting through fermented activators. jpair multidisciplinary research, 13(1). trejo-téllez, l. i., & gómez-merino, f. c. (2012).nutrient solutions for hydroponic systems.  hydroponics–a standard methodology for plant biological researches, 1. prasad, k. n., shivamurthy, g. r., & aradhya, s. m. (2008). ipomoea aquatica, an underutilized green leafy vegetable: a review.  international journal of botany, 4(1), 123-129. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research rai, n., ashiya, p., rathore, d. s., 2014. comparative study of the effect of chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers on eiseniafoetida.international journal of innovative research in science, engineering and technology.vol. 3.pp 12991 to 12998. rai, v. k. (2002). role of amino acids in plant responses to stresses. biologiaplantarum, 45(4), 481-487. relf, d., mcdoniel, a., & tech, v., (2002): fertilising the vegetable garden. http://www.indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/manuers_fer tilizers/contents/ inorganic_fertilizers.htm (21/08/2008) resh, h. m. (2012).  hydroponic food production: a definitive guidebook for the advanced home gardener and the commercial hydroponic grower. crc press. steiner, a.a. (1968). soilless culture, proceedings of the ipi 1968 6th colloquium of theinternacional potash institute, pp: 324-341, florence, italy. retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/yusuf_genc/ publication/233927805_hydroponics_-_a_standard_methodology_ for_plant_biological_researches/links/0912f50d12847d387e000000. pdf#page=11 taiz, l., & zeiger, e. (1998).plant physiology, 2nd.  ed. sinauer, sunderland, massachussets, 111-143. the gardeners network. 2008. organic gardening – liquid fish fertilizer and fish emulsion. retrieved on january 26, 2011 at http://www.gardenersnet. com/ organicgardening/fishfertilizer.htm. thompson, g. (2000). international consumer demand for organic foods. horttechnology, 10(4), 663-674. vernon, p. g. (1999). sustainable vegetable production from start-up to market. cornell university. ithaca, new york. 85 international peer reviewed journal worthington, v. (2001).nutritional quality of organic versus conventional fruits, vegetables, and grains. the journal of alternative & complementary medicine,7(2), 161-173. worthington, v. (1998). effect of agricultural methods on nutritional quality: a comparison of organic with conventional crops.  alternative therapies in health and medicine, 4(1), 58-69. 185 international peer reviewed journal abstract the discrimination of women in the workplace is a real problem. despite national and international organizations having made huge strides against it and implementation of united nations women’s treaty, apparently, nothing much has changed in the direction of eliminating it. this study aimed to find out if gender equality in terms of women representation and/or participation in the corporate world, politics, higher education management and labor workforce is practiced. likewise, it aimed to find out the causes of inequality, if there exists. this research is essentially qualitative since it uses narrative review to assess, summarize, and interpret the results from a broad spectrum of related studies. only 65 studies were included in the review, out of 122 studies read. the results reveal that glass ceiling and inadequate government regulations and lack of implementation of existing policies in women’s leadership hinder women to forge ahead in the realm of management. this study concludes that gender inequality exists globally despite substantial national and international measures being taken against it. breaking the glass ceiling and fine tune the mindset of the population in favor of gender equality are highly recommended. keywords — social science, glass ceiling, cultural fit, qualitative research design, narrative review, philippines vol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.465 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. a literature review on women in management in asian countries: does gender matter? cecilia q. velasco cezvelasco47@gmail.com http://orcid.org 00000-0027-900-6469 laguna state polytechnic university philippines 186 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction gender disparity in the workplace has, for more than a decade, been one of common knowledge. it is evident in the percentage of participation of women in the business world. according to carter and silva (2010), 3% of fortune 500 ceo’s and less than 15% of worldwide corporate executives at top companies is represented by women. this diminutive participation of women in the workplace has been unpleasant for women who want to advance in the world of business, customarily ruled by men. however, there’s hope that in due time, this situation will change. after all, women comprise 40% of the global labor pool and keep on growing in certain countries. moreover, women are obtaining advanced professional degrees in record numbers, and surprisingly surpassing men in some areas (carter & silva, 2010). at present, women take comfort in having freedom and power than ever before. however, they are still disadvantaged when compared to men in virtually all aspects of life. women are deprived of equal access to health care, education, capital, and decision-making powers in the social, political and business sectors (negash, 2010). according to the united nations (2010), men are credited with performing three quarters of all economic activities in developing countries, although women actually take 53% of the work. this scenario is evident in various fields of endeavors. despite laws on gender equality, still, this inequality exists. although countries all over the world try to embrace this gender equality effort, in the real world, this law is not yet significantly accepted and applied. being a woman of principles and advocate of fair and just dealings with every human being, this investigator sought to find out if different studies on gender equality in the realm of management have similar or contradictory results. moreover, it sought to determine what impedes women to advance in the world of management in the corporate world, politics, and higher education. the study involved a number of primary studies and researches, including articles on gender equality/inequality in the field of management in asian countries, specifically southeast asia. parenthetically, the research and development services and gender and development center of the laguna state polytechnic university promote studies that focus on gender equality, it being a priority policy of the philippine government. in other words, these studies are aligned with the vision and mission of the university. 187 international peer reviewed journal framework undoubtedly, this study is of great importance to the promotion of gender equality. this qualitative research is a narrative review. it is descriptive in nature since it involves the assessment, organization, and interpretation of the results of different studies. additionally, this study sought to find out if laws on gender equality and women empowerment are being implemented. this study proceeded from the principles of gender equality which means equal rights and opportunities for women and men in laws and policies, and equal access to resources and services within families, communities, and society at large (world economic forum, 2014). this condition of gender equality is an aspiration of women all over the world. however, until now, reports on women discrimination and women deprivation of rights and privileges still exist. policies and laws on gender equality seem subdued in some countries. objectives of the study this study was undertaken to review, assess, and summarize the results/findings of researches and studies pertaining to women participation in management in the corporate world, political affairs, higher education, and labor workforce; and find out if gender equality is observed and practiced based in the workplace, seen against the norms set forth in laws and policies. methodology this study is a qualitative analysis using a narrative review research design. a narrative review simply summarizes varied primary studies from which conclusions may be drawn into holistic and/or comprehensive interpretation contributed by the reviewer’s own experience, existing theories and models (campbell collaboration, 2001; kirkevold, 1997). the results of a narrative review are of a qualitative rather than a quantitative meaning. narrative reviews are best suitable for comprehensive topics (collins & fauser, 2005). narrative reviews should make the search criteria and the criteria for inclusion explicit (educational research review, “n.d.) the study is limited to the review, analysis, and summary of the specific studies thus selected. the researcher read these studies and articles, mainly done by different authors in southeast asian countries. the researcher identified first the studies to 188 jpair multidisciplinary research be reviewed through web searches. articles were also included after the screening of the records. the studies and articles were those on gender equality and/or inequality in management. through web searches, 155 studies including reports and articles were found and screened by the researcher. out of 155, duplicates and not so related studies and articles were removed. assessment of the remaining records was done to identify the studies that are eligible for the review. the criteria set by the researcher are as follows: • respondents of the study should be generally women in the corporate world, higher education management, political leadership affairs and labor workforce participation. • methods used to gather the data and pertinent information are similar or of the same mode of procedures. this method could be a survey or data from the company’s databases, reports from government and/or international organizations such as international labor relations (ilo), united nations (un), and un women. results and discussion women representation in the corporate world it was found that women representation in management positions in the corporate world is still very low (chu & ramstad, 2012; ilo report, 2015). women’s representation as chair in the executive board is particularly low. furthermore, at a global level, very few women can reach the position of ceo (ilo, 2015). glass ceiling and sticky floors remain most impenetrable in the largest corporations which are primarily dominated by the high and mighty men (morley, 2013). also, women remain severely under-represented in the highest decision-making positions in the private sector (dawson, kersly & natella, 2014) as compared to that in the government, judiciary and civil service. over time, there was a slim increase and progress in the representation and/ or participation of women (ilo, 2015). there are now countries considering greater women representation in executive boards and adoption of gender quotas in the top management levels (crisostomo, 2015). political participation globally, politics is still under the control of men. patriarchal social structures and gender stereotypes, among other reasons, deter women from entering the 189 international peer reviewed journal public sphere of political participation (un women, 2015). resistance from male colleagues, discrimination arising from such resistance (e.g., bangladesh), inadequate knowledge of women regarding financial issues, poverty, and dependence on men hinder women from exploring avenues like those in politics (hega, 2003; valente & moreno, 2014). this is common and quite apparent in most south asian countries. higher education management men still hold top leadership positions in key educational committees but women’s share increases in more peripheral committees and advisory councils for institutions related to women’s affair. women have enough share of positions that shows equality in terms of participation and leadership perspective (usui, suzana & kageyama, 2003). despite diminutive representation of women in the top positions in universities and higher institutions in several countries such as india, cambodia, and malaysia (asmah, 1993), women representation in the highest levels of educational leadership is gradually increasing. stereotyping, culture, domestic attitude and home-loving trait of women hinder to advancement in the sphere of educational leadership (cheaupalakit, 2014). women in the labor workforce despite policies and laws on gender equality, women still contend with discrimination and deprivation. gender pay gap, under-representation in higher management positions and slow and/or scarce women advancement in the field of work is quite apparent (ilo, 2013). what seems more deplorable is the incidence of violence against women in the workplace, at home, and even in the society at large (irish aid, 2015). no less than then us secretary state hillary clinton (2012) believes that women are a vital source of economic growth, and their continuing deprivation and discrimination still exist all over the world, particularly, in some countries in asia and some neighboring countries. however, countries like the philippines, singapore, jamaica, japan, among others, are now giving women equal opportunities to advance in the labor force (phil. commission on women, 2014). gender inequality still prevails, and percentage of women participation is still low. women continue to participate in labor market on unequal terms with men (asian development bank, 2015). globally, women are paid less than men. this is likely due to women, by and large, preferring to be mere wage workers and 190 jpair multidisciplinary research engaging in low-productivity activities with less mobility to the formal sector, coupled with the view that women as just economic dependents (undp, 2014). despite some advancements over the last 50 years, women spend more time doing unpaid housework, while men spend more time on leisure each day (un women, 2010). women in higher education management in countries like cambodia, india, indonesia, and malaysia, the promotion and recognition of women to fill top positions in management is still minimal (omar, 1993; usui, suzana & kageyama, 2003). diminutive representation of women in the higher education management still exists. in japan, despite an increase in women’s share in holding managerial positions, only secondary committees and advisory councils are given to women. top positions are held by men (morley, 2013). likewise, in some countries like australia, china (hong kong), malaysia, and vietnam, women are still under-represented in the highest posts in educational administration and management. this is probably due to distributive, cognitive, and epistemic injustice in the realm of higher education management (cheaupalakit, 2014; le, 2011). however, in the case of brunei darussalam, philippines, singapore, thailand, and vietnam, there is an increase in the women’s share of seats in higher positions (tai, 2011). this is probably due to gender equality promotion, acceptance and adoption of women empowerment in these countries. moreover, singapore and the philippines recognize and generally accept the ability of women to assume leadership roles in the field of higher education management (tai, 2011; gooch, 2012). gender disparity and barriers to women advancement still prevail. apparently, the glass ceiling syndrome is still dominant impediment to women’s growth and promotion in the field of higher education management (un women, 2013). political participation political affairs of the state have always been dominated by men. none or hardly any woman gains a seat in the parliament(s) (un women, 2015). politics, in the thinking of many, is only for the high and mighty men of society. to date, this thinking prevails, against the backdrop of little women’s participation in government seats (un gender equality, 2014). women are still underrepresented ranging from the local to global political positions (hega, 2003, valente & moreno, 2014). 191 international peer reviewed journal some countries including china, japan, india, malaysia, sri lanka, south korea, and the philippines appear to have still a very limited number of women in political leadership and political participation (surbakti, 2014; islam & dubey, 2015). one factor that hindered women to participate in politics is due to structural impediments like discriminatory laws and institutions. politics appears to be still an elite-male dominated landscape where men and women do not enjoy the same access to resources. also, lack of economic power deprives women of the right and opportunities—additional to the glass ceiling and glass cliff factors that yield imbalance in the overall male-female distribution of power and decision-making positions (hega, 2003, european institute for gender equality (eige), 2015). this inequitable situation appears unmitigated due to inadequate government regulations and lack of adequate implementation of existing policies. however, there are few countries that significantly implement and observe such regulations and policies (masuda, 2012, rajaratnam, 2010). by and large, the studies reveal an obvious fact— even though the constitutions of countries all over the world guarantee equality and women empowerment, there is still a perpetuating patriarchal set-up that hinders women from making significant strategic decisions, thus, ensuring their servitude especially in maledominated cultures (undp, 2013). 1. women in the labor workforce it cannot be denied that women when given more work, economies grow. an increase in the participation of female in the labor force —or a reduction in the gap between men’s and women’s labor force participation—results in fast-moving economic growth (un women, 2015). many countries all over the world have given women opportunities to participate in the labor workforce. to date, women participation in the labor workforce is continuously increasing. however, compared to men, there is still low women participation in the labor force. some country-specific findings appear noteworthy: the philippines is one country that shows an increase, albeit still minimal, in the labor participation rate (lfpr) for females at 49% (from 49.7% in 2012) and a decrease for males from 78.3% to 78.1% in 2012. the number of employed filipinos in october 2013 was estimated to be 37.7 million. female employment was estimated at 14.8 million, compared to 22.9 million of the male (philippine commission on women, 2014). 192 jpair multidisciplinary research more specific findings follow: • showing a slight increase of women employed in the labor market, but women participation still lags behind that of men. • irish aid 2015 reported that women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, and earn only 10% of the world’s income. men still outnumber women in paid employment, in business and political life. • in bahrain, women’s labor participation rates are still very low, i.e., between 10%-15% of the total labor force. bahrain is one of the lowest countries in terms of women participation in the workforce (during the conduct of the study, 1993). at present, however, bahrain is gaining governmental support for women’s empowerment and gender equality in the sphere of a labor market (economic research center, 2015). • in india, women participation in the labor force ranks 111, out of 131 countries with available data. decline in the employment opportunities for women is likely due to the scarcity of job, cultural attitudes and social norms about women in the workplace (ilo report, 2015). • despite the overarching diversity in indonesia, women’s access and permanency in the labor force remain problematic due to early marriage and motherhood which are considered the primary responsibilities of women (ilo report, 2015). moreover, cultural norms, lack of skills, mobility constraints and scarcity of resources appear to be added obstacles for women to become truly economically empowered (garcia, greenley, martin-onraët & pollack, 2015). • in the case of thailand and vietnam, women are still under-represented in the labor force. traditional stereotypes, i.e., men as leaders and women as followers, deprive women of employment opportunities (hansatit, 2014, asialife, 2014). however, nowadays, there appears an increasing number of women entering industry sector, but there appears a decline in the agricultural sector. issues with field of study hinder thai women to develop their leadership skills at all levels. on the other hand, in vietnam, women make up a large part of the vietnamese workforce, although gender pay gap between men and women exists. men receive higher pay than women for the same nature or weight of work (munro, 2012). • in the case of japan and south korea, an increase in the labor force participation of women is evident. women in taiwan stand out in terms of employment, which likely due to the women’s likelihood to continue 193 international peer reviewed journal their jobs upon marriage or childbearing (yu, 2015; kim, 2013; azmat, petrongolo, ganelli, booth, nolen & sosa, n.d.). • in turkey, women’s labor participation is rising year by year. however, under one-third of the total of women take part in the labor market. moreover, women are employed in positions that require fewer qualifications or don’t provide social security (mustafa, 2013). conclusions gender inequality and women deprivation still exist in the corporate world, political affairs of the state, higher education management, and labor workforce. women are under-represented and under-rated in terms of leadership, seats in the parliamentary and higher education positions, as well as denied equal access to employment and permanency in the labor workforce. glass ceiling, sticky floor and glass cliff factors impede women to advance in the world of politics, leadership, education management and employment sectors. moreover, “cultural fit” and masculine leadership factors are also variables that hold women back to grow and progress. patriarchal social culture appears to be at the core of this inequitable condition. gender inequality still pervades globally, despite substantial national and international measures to balance the same. acknowledgments the research would like to thank laguna state polytechnic university research and development office for funding the international conference (lspu), commission on higher education for the financial assistance (ched), asian development bank (adb), international labor organization (ilo), unesco and un women report. literature cited asian development bank (april 2015). women in the workforce: an unmet potential in asia and the pacific. retrieved on january 16, 2017 from http:// www.adb.org/publications/women-workforce-unmet-potential-asia-andpacific 194 jpair multidisciplinary research asialife. 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(2015). women and employment in taiwan.  retrieved from brookings: http://www. brookings. edu/research/opinions/2015/09/14-womenemploymenttaiwan# ftn4. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research effectiveness of understanding by design and computer-aided instruction in learning mathematics ii rachelle c. diviva http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6994-5817 crisostomorachelle@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines abstract the academic achievements of students in mathematics greatly depend on the effectiveness of teaching methodologies employed in the classroom. thus, it is the task of mathematics teachers to evaluate persistently the teaching and learning process in mathematics subjects as part of curriculum development and students’ evaluation process. the experimental-descriptive design was used to compare the effectiveness of understanding by design (ubd) and computeraided instruction (cai) on students’ test scores and determinants of learning which includes motivation, concept formation, application and retention, in learning special products and factoring. the respondents composed of 50 second-year high school students from zambales national high school and botolan national high school. a pretest and a posttest were administered before and after the instruction using ubd and cai, respectively, to measure the student performance. a likert-type perception instrument was used to assess the effectiveness of ubd and cai on the particular learning aspects. the values for the pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores were significantly higher for cai than for ubd. there is moderately low positive correlation between the students’ performance and perception under ubd instruction and very low positive correlation under cai instruction. it is recommended that the caivol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.504 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 111 international peer reviewed journal based learning method be used to supplement ubd-based instruction to provide students with frequent, immediate and adequate feedback in the traditional classroom practice. keywords — mathematics education, computer-aided instruction, learning, experimental-descriptive design, philippines introduction the benefits of teaching for understanding in optimizing academic performance have been documented in industrialized countries like united states of america, japan and germany (martin, mullis, gregory, hoyle & shen, 2000). the data from the third international mathematics and science study (timss) test showed that although the japanese teach fewer topics in mathematics, their students achieved better results. the primary aim of japanese teachers is to develop conceptual understanding in their students. emphasis is given on problem-based learning in which rules and theorems are derived and explained by students, leading to deeper understanding (stigler & hiebert, 1999). however, the framework and standard for basic education, in general, and for basic mathematics education, in particular, depend on the prescribed curriculum. curriculum includes the materials used for learning. it also refers to the course of study for each discipline and the scope and sequence within each grade level to build conceptual understanding (mastropieri & scruggs, 2000). in the philippines, the secondary education curriculum underwent a series of revisions and innovations from the basic education curriculum to revised basic education curriculum until the introduction of understanding by design in june 2010. the understanding by design framework was implemented in the philippines following its success in the united states of america. its implementation in june 2010 was mandated by the department of education order number 76 series of 2010 so that the level of performance and achievement in learning of students is attained through the application of the concept of teaching for understanding rather than using the traditional method of focusing on facts with the expectation that understanding follows. the benefits of understanding by design in optimizing student performance and achievement in learning mathematics ii is given emphasis in this study. achievement in mathematics is essential in attaining success in school and in life. mathematics is the academic discipline concerned with the solution of problems that involve 112 jpair multidisciplinary research quantity or number. it focuses on the thematic process that includes problem solving, reasoning, communicating and connecting. its application transcends across many academic disciplines and fields of endeavor. in the secondary level, the focus of mathematics is the study and enrichment of algebra (quan & tan, 2009). algebra is an important branch of mathematics which is required for more advance problem solving in the field of business and industry. algebra is abstract in nature that involves the use of letters x and y to represent unknown quantities in the solution of problems. the national achievement tests (nat) conducted yearly by the national education, training and research council (netrc) showed that the achievement rate for the elementary or grade 6 level has improved from 55% in sy 2006-2007 to 66% in sy 2009-2010 in all the subject areas. however, it remains below the minimum of at least 75%. second year students fared worse as their nat scores remained virtually unchanged during the said period especially in mathematics and science (senate economic planning office, 2010). traditionally, teaching mathematics considers the teachers as source of all concepts, and the students are merely passive learners. as a result, instead of gaining a deep understanding, students who are exposed to the traditional method of teaching and learning tend to be less productive in terms of conceptualizing the nature of mathematics. in contrast to the traditional method of teaching and learning, the principles underlying understanding by design as defined by the southern regional education board (1992) include a challenging curriculum that equip students to think analytically, to reason, to judge and to balance opposing points of view. the ubd framework encourages students to use knowledge to solve problems, to use academic and technical content and processes to complete tasks typical of those found in the workplace and in the community, and to construct new meanings and understanding from information and ideas. it was revealed that teachers recognize students’ behavior in response to the ubd framework. students tend to engage in active construction of meaning rather than mere memorization, achieve sense of fulfillment in arriving at the ideas, and anticipate variety of instructional activities (lim & prudente, 2013). ubd helps educators not only to increase learning outcomes but also elevate students’ motivation (brown, 2004; childre, sands & pope, 2009). in terms of cultural/ regional context, ubd has been successfully used in many schools across the united states and canada (brown, 2004). the study also focused on the use of modern technology parallel to ubd as an alternative learning method. previous studies by kissane and kemp (2008) 113 international peer reviewed journal showed that a graphics calculator affected teaching and learning of calculus. the geogebra (kissane, 2009) is an example of computer software that uses the idea of dynamic geometry in the area of statistics. considered one of the important driving forces on curriculum change, computeraided instruction (cai) in algebra, particularly, on the topics on special products and factoring was developed. special product is a topic that refers to the process of expansion of a given polynomial. factoring refers to the process of expressing a number as the product of its factors. the cai is an interactive instructional technique where a computer is used to present the instructional material and monitor the learning that takes place. using a combination of text, graphics, sound and video, cai can be used either in isolation, bearing the whole responsibility for conveying instruction to students, or in combination with conventional face-toface teaching methods. the study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning mathematics ii in terms of pretest and posttest scores in special products and factoring and in terms of perception on motivation, concept formation, application and retention. objectives of the study the study aimed to compare the effectiveness of understanding by design and computer aided instruction in learning mathematics ii in zambales national high school and botolan national high school during the school year 20122013. specifically, the study identified how was the student’s performance in the pretest and posttest in special products and factoring using ubd and cai described in terms of mean, median, and mode; how do the respondents perceive the effectiveness of ubd curriculum and cai in learning mathematics ii in terms of motivation, concept formation, application and retention. methodology research design the experimental-descriptive design was used to measure and compare the effectiveness of ubd and cai based on the test scores in mathematics ii and perception of the students. the pretest-posttest experimental research design was used where the total population of participants was randomly divided into two groups-the control group and the experimental group. only the experimental 114 jpair multidisciplinary research group was exposed to the manipulated variable, cai. the control group undertook the usual ubd-based instruction. the descriptive design was used to determine the perception of the respondents on the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning mathematics ii. the lessons in mathematics ii focused on special products and factoring. participants and research site the respondents consisted of second year students of the zambales national high school (znhs) and botolan national high school (bnhs) officially enrolled during the school year 2012-2013. purposive sampling was utilized taking both the first section of the second-year level students. the respondents in the control group were exposed to ubd learning. the same lessons were undertaken by the experimental group through computer-aided instruction. there were 50 students each from znhs and bnhs. the group of 50 students from each school was divided into two groups of 25 students each. the two groups of 25 students each from znhs and bnhs respectively were taught using ubd. the other two groups of 25 students each were taught using cai. instrumentation the data-gathering process consisted of the experimental component and the descriptive component. for the experimental component, the instruments used were the cai software and the ubd-based instruction on special products and factoring. all respondents took the pretest and posttest. for the descriptive component, the survey questions were used as instrument to determine the perception of the respondents on the effectiveness of the ubdbased and cai instruction. the researcher sought the advice of the thesis adviser, information technology (it) experts and mathematics teachers handling ubd-based classes on the construction and validation of the instrument. a draft of the questionnaire was prepared following the guidelines given by the faculty of the graduate school. the pretest and posttest were prepared using test items selected from the 2011 first periodic test and 2012 division achievement test of the department of education. additional test items were patterned from the standardized examinations from ubd-based curriculum given by the department of education during the last few years. a copy of the test items, the questionnaire and overview of the study was submitted to the office of the division schools superintendent. 115 international peer reviewed journal the cai software was developed based on the topic for instruction special products and factoring. the cai and ubd-based instruction were similar in terms of concepts, objectives and coverage but were different in the presentation of the lesson. to test the validity, the researcher conducted a pilot-testing of the instruments to all the second year students of rofulo m. landa high school (palauig, zambales). the cai software was tested with the similar level of students from private school nearby. during the pilot testing, the researcher noted observations on the comprehension of survey questions by students, test items, allocation of time for the test, and allocation of time to run the cai software. data collection prior to the administration of pretest, the researcher conducted a brief discussion regarding the study. the objectives, methods, and implications of the conduct of the study were clearly presented to the respondents. queries and questions have been raised and answered. lastly, informed consent forms were accomplished by the respondents. a pretest was given to all the respondents from zambales national high school and botolan national high school before the start of the lesson on special products and factoring. the pretest was administered during the first week of classes of the school year 2012-2013. the respondents from znhs and bnhs were equally divided into two groups comprising of the control group who attended the ubd-based class and the experimental group who attended the cai-based class. the cai-based class was done from two to three hours for three consecutive days. after the completion of the ubd-based and cai-based lesson on the two separate groups, the posttest was administered to all the respondents. all respondents were also required to answer the survey questionnaire. the respondents in the experimental group were required to write observation about the cai-based learning experience. the information, data and test results collected were tallied, tabulated and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. statistical techniques the study utilized statistical techniques such as the measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), weighted mean, likert scale, standard deviation, measures of skewness, person-r correlational test, t-test and f-test (single-factor anova). 116 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion students’ pretest and posttest scores in ubd and cai the mean, median and modal scores in special products and factoring using ubd and cai are presented in table 1. table 1 . pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores and skewness using ubd and cai statistics pretest posttest ubd cai ubd cai mean 7.94 10.76 10.46 14.80 median 8.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 mode 8.00 9.00 5.00 11.00 skewness 0.78 0.18 0.24 0.24 the pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores were higher when the lessons on special products and factoring were taught and learned using cai than when the instruction was ubd-based (table 1). more students obtained low scores than high scores during the pretest and posttest for ubd and cai. it was reported in the study by mann (1999) that use of computer application was more effective than the traditional method of teaching mathematics among fifth-grade students. some of the instructional benefits that the use of computer software provides are better retention and more positive attitude (cotton, 2001). others studies showed that the use of educational technology in teaching and learning may, among other things, help pupils in putting greater focus in understanding the more difficult and complex concepts (doerr & zangor, 2000) as well as help them develop a conceptual understanding of such concepts (kaput, hegedus & lesh, 2007; kebritch, hirumi & bai, 2010). effectiveness of ubd and cai as perceived by the students the data on the overall weighted mean on perception on the effectiveness of ubd and cai on the aspects of motivation, concept formation, application and retention is presented in table 2 and table 3. 117 international peer reviewed journal table 2. summary on the perception of the effectiveness of ubd on the aspects of motivation, concept formation, application and retention in learning special products and factoring learning aspects overall weighted mean descriptive rating rank motivation 3.81 very effective 3.5 concept formation 4.07 very effective 1 application 3.87 very effective 2 retention 3.81 very effective 3.5 grand mean 3.89 very effective the understanding by design was perceived to be very effective in learning special products and factoring on the aspect of concept formation which ranked first with an overall weighted mean of 4.07. the aspect of application was second in rank. motivation and retention ranked 3.5th (table 2). the ubd was perceived to be very effective with grand mean of 3.89. experts in physics, mathematics and history who developed understanding of problems in terms of core concepts, found its effectiveness in concept retention (national research council, 2001). according to tomlinson and mctighe (2006), the strength of the ubd lies on the instructional design model it offers. ubd model emphasizes the students understanding of concepts and the backward design acknowledges not only the centrality of standards but also demonstrates the meaning and understanding content standards. in this way, castillo (2015) suggests that students can construct meaning from facts they acquire and able to use it. table 3. summary on the perception of the effectiveness of cai on the aspects of motivation, concept formation, application and retention in learning special products and factoring learning aspects overall weighted mean descriptive rating rank motivation 4.10 very effective 4 concept formation 4.34 very much effective 1 application 4.17 very effective 2.5 retention 4.17 very effective 2.5 grand mean 4.20 very much effective the computer-aided instruction was perceived to be very much effective in learning special products and factoring on the aspect of concept formation 118 jpair multidisciplinary research which ranked first with overall weighted mean of 4.34 (table 3). application and retention ranked 2.5th. the aspect of motivation was fourth in rank. the cai was perceived to be very much effective with grand mean of 4.20. pilli and aksu (2013) found that the educational software is an effective tool for teaching and learning mathematics in the sense that pupils who used the software in the classrooms achieved higher test scores and had more positive attitudes towards mathematics. aral and ayhan (2005) also found significant effects of computerassisted instruction in the concept development of children who were exposed to the training without any assistance from teachers and still understood the lessons and performed well in a given activity. furthermore, pilli (2008) showed statistically significant difference in favor of computer-based learning on tests retention. evidence indicates that frizbi mathematics 4, a computer-based lesson for learning and teaching mathematics is an effective tool in the construct retention of the students. table 4. comparison of perception on the effectiveness of ubd and cai on the aspects of motivation, concept formation, application and retention learning aspects ubd descriptive rating cai descriptive rating motivation 3.81 very effective 4.10 very effective concept formation 4.07 very effective 4.34 very much effective application 3.87 very effective 4.17 very effective retention 3.81 very effective 4.17 very effective grand mean 3.89 very effective 4.20 very much effective the results show that for both ubd and cai, concept formation ranked first among the learning aspects. concept formation was perceived to be very effective for ubd and was very much effective for cai (table 4). difference in the students’ perception between the effectiveness of ubd and cai in terms of motivation, concept formation, application, and retention there is significant difference in the students’ perception on motivation between ubd and cai. it was observed that the learning tasks in special products and factoring were seen by students as more meaningful and worth learning in cai than ubd. while the mean perception level (4.07) using ubd is less than (4.34) using cai, there was no difference in the effectiveness of ubd and cai in concept formation ranging from simple to more complex topics on learning special 119 international peer reviewed journal products and factoring. it was observed that the procedures used in concept formation such as providing stimulus, constant drill and practice, enhancing meaningfulness, use of elaboration and emphasizing rules for both ubd and cai were perceived by the respondents to be equally effective. on the other hand, the level of significance indicates that there was no significant difference in the perception of respondents on the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring. in this study, the respondents perceived that cai was very much effective in enhancing the application of learning by providing a variety of problems to solve. the ubd was very effective in enhancing the application aspect by reinforcing the use of techniques learned in solving problems. finally, there was a significant difference in the perception of respondents on the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring in terms of retention. instruction should be understood and remembered. there is better retention of information through cai as illustrated by the higher mean perception value (4.17). roschelle et al. (2010) identified a positive significant impact on the use of the cai program on pupils’ mathematics achievements. the authors conclude that the cai is an effective tool to enhance pupil knowledge of more advanced mathematics. moreover, castillo (2015) reiterated that the students’ participation in cai-based learning leads to higher test results, concluding that cai is, therefore, effective than traditional instruction. moreover, the study examined whether a higher exposure to the program leads to higher test outcomes, using an instrumental variable approach. we observed that, given the participation to the cai-tool, making more exercises leads to higher test results. working with a cai-tool, is, therefore, effective. difference between ubd and cai in terms of pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores the data on t-test to test the difference of the pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores respectively between ubd and cai are presented in table 5 and table 6. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. t-test of difference of the pretest mean, median and modal score between ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring statistics ubd cai decision interpretation standard deviation 1.75 3.30 number of respondents 50 50 degrees of freedom (df ) 98 level of significance (α) 0.05 mean 7.94 10.76 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 7.500 median 8 10 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 5.320 mode 8 9 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 2.660 there was a significant difference between the pretest mean, median and modal scores of the students in special product and factoring. the significant difference in the pretest mean, median and modal scores can be attributed to the nature of the students in each class. as reflected from the above data, students who took cai performed better than students who took ubd. these findings are consistent with those of the results obtained in the study comparing the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction and traditional classroom lecture in allied health sciences where the participants in the computer-assisted group gained more knowledge based on pretest and posttest scores than participants in the traditional classroom lecture group (galvis, ishee & schultz, 2011). as cited by izard (2005), pretesting though simple and basic assessment tool distinguished students between those who have the required knowledge and those who do not. 121 international peer reviewed journal table 6. t-test of difference of the posttest mean, median and modal score between ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring statistics ubd cai decision interpretation standard deviation 4.01 3.87 number of respondents 50 50 degrees of freedom (df ) 98 level of significance (α) 0.05 mean 10.46 14.80 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 5.508 median 10 15 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 6.345 mode 5 11 reject null hypothesis significantt-critical 1.645 t-computed 7.614 there was a significant difference between the posttest mean, median and modal scores (table 6). it was reported in the study of vinita and banswal (2015) that the main effect of cai on students’ retention is very positive. learning with animation, sounds and images has a positive impact on student learning. the authors found significant difference in favor of cai. according to this result, cai is more effective than traditional instruction. the difference between gain levels increased almost nearly two times highly in favor of experiment group. relationship between test scores and perception on the effectiveness of ubd and cai computer-generated pearson-r value using microsoft excel 2007 software indicated that there was moderately low positive correlation between pretest scores and the weighted mean of perception on the effectiveness of ubd (see table 7). 122 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. t-test for significance of relationship of pretest scores and perception on effectiveness of ubd in learning special products and factoring statistics pretest vs effectiveness posttest vs effectiveness number of respondents (n) 50 50 degrees of freedom (df ) 48 48 pearson-r 0.44 0.42 level of significance (α) 0.05 0.05 t critical 2.576 2.576 t computed 3.780 3.205 decision reject null hypothesis reject null hypothesis interpretation significant significant the computer-generated pearson-r value indicated that there was moderately low positive correlation between pretest scores and the weighted mean of perception on the effectiveness of ubd while there was moderately low positive correlation between posttest scores and the weighted mean of perception on the effectiveness on ubd. the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between pretest and posttest scores and the perception on the effectiveness of ubd is rejected. the results provide similar insight on the findings of the study of ali and elfessi (2004) comparing the performance of students in traditional (with online supplement) and online classes. it was reported in the study of ali and elfessi (2004) that the learning environments and the instructional medium have minimal impact on student learning. the study also found out that the slight score improvement the traditional group gained over their online counterparts might be the advantage of having face-to-face instruction. it was observed that personal interaction between and among the respondents, and the presence of the teacher in the ubd-based instruction provided challenge and encouraged the students to do their best to find solution and answers to the problem solving activities for the topic on special products and factoring. 123 international peer reviewed journal table 8. t-test for significance of relationship of pretest scores and perception on effectiveness of cai in learning special products and factoring statistic pretest vs effectiveness posttest vs effectiveness number of respondents (n) 50 50 degrees of freedom (df ) 48 48 pearson r 0.23 0.06 level of significance (α) 0.05 0.05 t critical 2.576 2.576 t computed 1.680 0.146 decision accept null hypothesis accept null hypothesis interpretation not significant not significant the computer-generated pearson-r value indicated that there was very low positive correlation between pretest scores and the weighted mean of perception on the effectiveness on cai while there was very low positive correlation between posttest scores and the weighted mean of perception on the effectiveness on cai. the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between posttest scores and the perception on the effectiveness of cai is accepted (table 8). the correlation of both pretest and posttest scores respectively and perception on effectiveness of cai was very low positive and not significant was in contrast to the findings of the study in korea which reported that e-learning in vocational education was as effective as face-to-face learning (park et al., 2006). while the studies of wang and bagaka (2002), and of redding and rotzien (2001) revealed that computer applications on the internet as an instructional tool has the potential to improve learning, kincannon (2002) found that learning online using computer application requires more time than traditional learning. it was observed that the respondents in the cai-based instruction admitted that the use of the computer software did not provide enough challenge to the students. this results also contradict the study of de witte, haelermans and rogge (2015) which suggests that the use of cai-programs to catch-up on learning outcomes is promising. moreover, the authors argue that the participation on cai program leads to higher test results. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the study concludes the pretest scores for both ubd and cai were consistently lower that the posttest scores. the pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores were higher using cai compared to ubd-based instruction. understanding by design instruction was perceived as very effective in terms of concept formation followed by application, motivation and retention. computer aided instruction was also perceived as very effective in terms of concept formation followed by application and retention, and motivation. the null hypotheses that there are no significant differences in the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring in terms of motivation and in terms of retention is rejected. while the null hypotheses that there are no significant differences in the effectiveness of ubd and cai in learning special products and factoring in terms of concept formation and in terms of application is accepted. also, the null hypotheses that there are no significant differences in the pretest and posttest mean, median and modal scores respectively between ubd and cai is rejected. in terms of significant relationships, the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between pretest scores and the perception on the effectiveness of ubd, and between posttest scores and perception on the effectiveness of ubd is rejected. lastly, the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between pretest scores and the perception on the effectiveness of cai, and between posttest scores and the perception on the effectiveness of cai is accepted. the salient finding of the study is that the cai should be used to supplement ubd-based instruction in mathematics 2, particularly, in classes consisting of heterogeneous groups of students. the study also emphasizes that more handson exercises in mathematics ii competencies which are difficult to comprehend and less interesting should be given to homogenous students using ubd-based instruction. identified lessons and activities in mathematics 2 where more students got low score than high 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(2015). the effectiveness of a computer‐assisted math learning program. journal of computer assisted learning. retrieved from goo.gl/d6bgkx 89 international peer reviewed journal assessment on the integration of the basic education department of notre dame of marbel university: input for strategic management plan wilter c. friales http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5786-5345 cuevas_friales@yahoo.com notre dame of marbel university south cotabato, philippines allan c. sumadic notre dame of marbel university leann jester d. rosali notre dame of marbel university originality: 100% • grammarly: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the term integration refers to merging the elementary and high school departments. the merging entailed alignment of the curriculum and management system from kindergarten to the secondary levels, where there is a unified set of administrative teams for both elementary and high school to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate the curriculum and other administrative components. using a descriptive research design, this study assessed the implementation of the integrated system of basic education at notre dame of marbel university. specifically, this study has determined the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees on the implementation of the integrated system of the basic vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.407 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 90 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 education department of notre dame of marbel university; and determining the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of the integrated system as perceived by the personnel and retirees of ndmu-ibed. the result of the study reveals that all the areas being assessed, such as the organizational structure, academic/instructional management, program implementation scheme, human relationship, leadership, and participation, have obtained very satisfactory results. strengths and weaknesses were also identified in each of the areas mentioned. it can be concluded that the integrated system being implemented in the basic education of notre dame of marbel university has brought more positive changes in terms of the organizational structure, academic management, program implementation monitoring scheme, human resource relationship, leadership, and participation. keywords— education, descriptive, administrative assessment, philippines introduction as mentioned in the study of fan (2004), the word “integrated” in chinese means putting different cultures together based on positive moral concepts. for cultures to become integrated, they must know and understand each other. in addition, they should appreciate and respect each other. in other words, integration does not require the parties to give up their characters or focus on their differences. this is the proper form of integration. the twelve-year basic education curriculum-social curriculum in taiwan is one of the learning focuses. in the study of hong et al. (2022), the integrated curriculum in taiwan promotes the development of the twelve-year consistent education, which leads to learners’ development in terms of their comprehensive quality. in this study, the term integration of basic education has been associated with the concept mentioned above of integration. as defined in the ra 9155 s. 2001, an integrated school offers a complete basic education in one school site and has a unified instructional program. while whitehead’s philosophy specifically refers to the wholeness of every individual as an output of the integrative process of nurturing and developing him, this study pertains to the wholeness of the system considering the different parts or components. in this context, the study pertains to integrating the basic education department into one system, allowing integration, alignment, collaboration, and merging to happen from the kindergarten to the secondary levels of education. several established and known schools in the philippines have already implemented an integrated system. for instance, the university of the philippines integrated school functions primarily as the laboratory school of the college 91 international peer reviewed journal department. it is also the basic education unit of up diliman. other autonomous universities of up also maintain their basic education units (university of the philippines integrated school, 2012). in its desire to be at par with the other educational institutions in the philippines in terms of delivering quality education with a simplified and rationalized system, the notre dame of marbel universityintegrated basic education department also adopts an integrated system by merging the elementary and high school departments. the merging entailed aligning the curriculum and management system from kindergarten to the secondary levels. along with the concept of integration as adopted by the school, there has been a unified set of administrative teams established for both elementary and high schools to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate the curriculum and other administrative components. as mentioned in the rationale of the implementation of the integrated basic education in ndmu (as mentioned in the paascu report 2010), in its aim to potentiate the learning success in the institution, the school continues to prioritize the development of curriculum and institutional programs, policies and standards to reinvent a more flexible and relevant curriculum; thus, the integrated system was implemented. this study is an evaluation of the implementation of the integrated system looking into the five different components the organizational structure/ framework, academic/instructional management, program implementation, monitoring scheme, human resource relationship, leadership, and participation. by structure, it pertains to the framework around which the group is organized and the underpinnings which keep the coalition functioning. it is the operating manual that tells members how the organization is put together and how it works. more specifically, structure describes how members are accepted, how leadership is chosen, and how decisions are made (community tool box, 2015). organizational structures evolve. what exists today often is the cumulative result of multiple changes made over many years. therefore, as executives seek to build a more agile organization, they often find themselves shackled to organizational designs which are not in alignment with their selected strategies to achieve the company’s vision (minerich, 2008). organizational design goes beyond physical workspaces. how a company manages its people, assets, and resources also significantly impacts on how a company creates value (hesselberg, 2018). the second area being evaluated in this study is the academic and curriculum management of the department, which is considered to be one of the main reasons there is a need to merge the two departments and call it integrated. 92 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 in some reviews, the academic management service helps students to carry out all the administrative procedures involved in their education: enrolments, grants, academic transcripts, certificates, and diplomas, among other things. it also deals with curricula and academic regulations (universitat rovira i virgili, 2008). the third component being evaluated in this study is the program implementation and monitoring scheme. this pertains to how the programs and activities implemented in the department are being monitored and evaluated and how are the results of the evaluation being utilized for the improvisation of the program. in various reviews, sarva shiksha abhiyan, a program for universalizing elementary education in india, prioritizes monitoring and supervision since quality is its major concern. monitoring of quality will require an understanding of the processes of program implementation. process and quality indicators would have to be developed per felt needs to track the quality of program implementation. such efforts would require partnership with institutions, pris, school committees, etc. training and orientation programs to develop appropriate monitoring formats and qualitative monitoring through process documentation (all india council for technical education, 2019). meanwhile, the human resource relationship pertains to how every member of the said integrated system collaborates and interacts with each other. this study looked into how the system has strengthened and intensified the relationship between and among the personnel and how their network has improved. in the context of school leadership, research indicates that teachers’ perception of the principals’ expertise or human capital is also critical, and their interactive style can motivate teachers to change (mulford, 2003). further, principals who engage in practices such as soliciting advice and opinions while praising teachers better motivate teachers to improve instruction. he also stated that social capital in the form of a valued social network, mutual trust, respect, and a sense of obligation and responsibility are defining characteristics of teachers’ leadership for instruction. school principals influence teacher professional development on instruction, creating a learning environment, direct involvement in the design, delivery, and content of professional development, and assessing professional development outcomes (bredeson, 2000). employee participation means sharing an activity with others to complete the goals. employee suggests ideas to make the item more efficient and make decisions on his portion of the team’s project. employee involvement is a oneon-one approach between employees and management. an employee is included in all aspects of the decision-making process and takes ownership of the outcome of the project. 93 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study aimed to assess the implementation of the integrated basic education system at notre dame of marbel university. specifically, this study aimed to (1) determine the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees on the implementation of the integrated system of the basic education department of notre dame of marbel university and (2) determine the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of the integrated system as perceived by the personnel and retirees of ndmu-ibed. methodology research design the study made use of the descriptive method of research. a descriptive research method was used in the first part of the study, which included profiling the respondents and determining the level of their agreeability to the indicators in every component. the profiling involves categorizing the respondents according to retired and non-retired personnel and the number of years that they had experienced teaching in the integrated and non-integrated system. in determining the level of satisfaction of the respondents with the integrated system as reflected in the different indicators under each component, the tool that the researchers made was used. the tool determined the level of agreeability of the respondents to the indicators. reviews of literature stated that there is a sense of satisfaction when there is agreeability; thus, in this study, the level of agreeability, as a result, was equated to the level of satisfaction. the second part of the study used an exploratory approach to determining the perception of the participants about the integrated system. a focus-grouped discussion was used in the study to generate data that would speak about their perceptions. research site notre dame of marbel universityintegrated basic education department is a catholic school owned by the marist brothers. as a catholic school, it envisioned being an institution of learning dedicated to the spiritual, moral, and academic formation of men and women who exemplify competence and social responsibility in the service of god and humanity and a mission to commit itself to build character through christian education. it is a laboratory school of the college department of ndmu located at brgy. st. nino, city of koronadal, south cotabato, is considered one of the premiere and prestigious private schools that provide quality education to the young within the city of koronadal and even to its neighboring communities. 94 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 sampling this study on determining the level of satisfaction of the personnel on the integrated system of the basic education of notre dame of marbel university employed a purposive sampling method to determine the respondents and participants of the study. in doing so, the researchers identified the personnel from the elementary and high school departments who had experienced teaching in both the integrated and non-integrated systems. all the identified people in the list were considered respondents in the descriptive part of the study. from them, the researchers identified ten personnel who became part of the focused group discussion to answer the second part of the study. the researcher also identified 15 retirees. the identified retirees were part of the focused group discussion and were also asked to respond to the questionnaire to answer the first and second problems. instrumentation the researchers employed two instruments to answer the research objectives of the study. on the first and second problems, a researcher-made tool was utilized to determine the profile and the level of satisfaction of the personnel, including the retiree, on implementing the integrated system in the basic education of ndmu. the said tool has two parts; the first part seeks the basic information of the participants. the second part aimed at determining the level of satisfaction of the respondents with the implementation of the integrated system. it included the six identified components to be evaluated, namely, organizational structure, academic management, program implementation, human resource relationship, leadership, and participation. for every component, five indicators describe the existing practices/experiences of the personnel while teaching in the integrated system. the second part employed the following scale in determining the level of satisfaction of the personnel: (4) strongly agree, (3) agree, (2) disagree, and (1) strongly disagree. in the study, the level of agreeability to the item determined the level of satisfaction of the respondents to the indicator per item, as this was supported by literature saying that agreeability corresponds to job satisfaction (camgoz & karapinar, 2011) as strongly agree very satisfied; agree satisfied; disagree dissatisfied; very disagree very dissatisfied. data gathering in the first and second parts of the study, a letter of invitation was sent to the identified personnel of the department to become part of the study. they were given a copy of the questionnaire and asked to answer them honestly, ensuring 95 international peer reviewed journal their confidentiality. the identified personnel who became part of the focused group discussion were also given a letter of invitation, and a meeting with them for the discussion was scheduled. the retirees were also given an invitation to be part of the study, and a discussion meeting with them for the focused group discussion was also scheduled on a separate date. data analysis in determining the level of satisfaction of the personnel on the implementation of the integrated system in the basic education of ndmu, the following scale was employed to describe the agreeability level of the personnel on the different indicators for each component as organizational structure, academic management, program implementation, human resource relationship, leadership, and participation as 4) strongly agree; 3) agree; 2) disagree; 1) strongly disagree. the level of agreeability was associated with the level of satisfaction of the personnel, as this was supported by literature saying agreeableness is positively related to job satisfaction (camgoz & karapinar, 2011). to describe the level of satisfaction, the following interpretation was employed, 1.00 – 1.75 very dissatisfied 1. 76 – 2.50 dissatisfied 2.51 – 3.25 satisfied 3.26 – 4.00 very satisfied in the second part of the study, a qualitative approach to data analysis was employed. the result of the focused group discussion was coded according to meaning and organized according to the relatedness of the responses focusing only on the strengths and weaknesses of the integrated system implementation. the researchers put meaning to a certain cluster from the grouped data and then discussed it. results and discussions this chapter presents the results and the discussion of the data drawn from the evaluation of the integrated system of notre dame of marbel university integrated basic education department focusing on the areas of organizational structure, academic management, program implementation, human resource relationship, participation, and leadership. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 1. distribution of the respondents of the study categories of respondents frequency percentage retired personnel 9 31.03 non-retired personnel 20 68.97 n=29 table 1 shows the distribution of the respondents to the study. as shown in the table, of the 29 respondents, 31. 03% are retired personnel working in the basic education department of ndmu in integrated and non-integrated systems. 68. 97% of the respondents are still presently connected in ndmu-ibed. table 2. the distribution of the number of years in service of the respondents number of years frequency percentage 10-15 3 10.34 16-20 9 31.03 21-25 11 37.93 26-30 3 10.34 31-35 3 10.34 n=29 the table shows the distribution of the respondents of the study in terms of their years of service in ndmu. data shows that more respondents had served in ndmu between 16-20 with 31.03% and 21-25 years with 37.93%. few participants had served in ndmu between 31-35 years, with a percentage of 10.34%, and this person had already retired from the service in school. table 3. the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees on the organizational structure in the integrated system 97 international peer reviewed journal indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. the organizational structure is clear and well-articulated. 22 75.86 7 24.14 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.76 very satisfied 2. the functions of each unit in the structure are clearly defined. 21 72.41 8 27.57 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 3. the organizational structure reflects the intertwining and connectedness of the functions of each unit. 20 68.97 9 31.03 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.69 very satisfied 4. all important functions/positions are reflected or represented in the structure. 19 65.52 10 34.48 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.66 very satisfied 5. the structure clearly shows the line of communication in the department. 21 72.41 8 27.57 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied mean 3.71 very satisfied table 3 shows the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees of ndmu-ibed in terms of the organizational structure of the school. the mean of 3.71 indicates that they are very satisfied with how the indicators were observed and implemented in the integrated system. the respondents were very satisfied with indicator 1, obtaining the highest mean of 3.76. thus, they find the organizational structure clear and well-articulated, as manifested through their awareness of the flow of duties, functions, and responsibilities of every component of the integrated system. indicators 2 and 5 obtained the second highest mean of 3.72. it shows that the respondents had observed the clarity of the functions of the administrators where there has been one principal, asst. principal in the elementary (now academic coordinator in both elementary and high school levels), and one set of coordinators and committee heads. hence, the new structure resulted in an enhanced line of communication in the department which the respondents were very satisfied with. furthermore, the result also signifies that the respondents were very satisfied with indicators 3 and 4, with a mean of 3.69 and 3.66, respectively. while the respondents find interconnectedness in terms of the functions of each unit, they also recognize that each unit has important functions and is reflected in the structure. in support of the study of jiang et al. (2011), it was explained that a 98 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 well-established organization is an important factor that facilitates employees’ commitment, satisfaction, and fulfillment. table 4. the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees with the academic/instructional management in the integrated system indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. clear and functional academic systems are established. 24 82.76 5 17.24 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.83 very satisfied 2. there are clear limitations/ distinctions between the academics and administrative functions in school. 23 79.31 6 20.69 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.79 very satisfied 3. in the new system, the monitoring of the academic aspect has been strengthened. 19 65.52 10 34.48 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.66 very satisfied 4. the new system leads to better performance of the teachers in terms of the lesson delivery. 18 62.07 11 37.93 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied 5. there is evidence of thorough preparation and planning of instructional activities. 21 72.41 7 24.14 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied mean 3.70 very satisfied table 4 shows the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees regarding the academic management in the integrated system. the mean of 3.70, which is interpreted as very satisfactory, suggests that the respondents have a positive view of academic/instructional management in the integrated system. the respondents feel that there is a clear and functional academic system in ndmu-ibed with a mean of 3.83, followed by indicator two, which obtained a mean of 3.79. this means that although a clear and functional academic system is established, the respondents still recognize a clear distinction in functions between the administrative and academic aspects of the integrated system. the well-defined functions of the coordinators and staff and proper channeling of academic duties and responsibilities led to the proper monitoring of the academic dimension of the school, in which the respondents are very satisfied with obtaining the third highest mean of 3.66. this also means that the academic management of the 99 international peer reviewed journal school had not been affected by the changes in the structure of the integrated system in a way that despite the wider scope to be monitored and supervised by the academic and subject coordinators, they were still able to manage to monitor and supervise the teachers, the curriculum and instruction in the specific subject discipline assigned to them. furthermore, the respondents are very satisfied with the delivery of instruction of the teachers and in terms of the planning and preparation of the lesson obtaining the mean of 3.62. consequently, a well-managed instructional program results in the higher academic success of students. in support, the study of hartzler (2000) explained that an integrated curriculum had been a viable alternative to the development of the cognitive aspects of learners. table 5. the level of satisfaction of the retirees and personnel on the program implementation monitoring scheme indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. the monitoring scheme of the different programs and services has been strengthened with the new system. 18 62.07 11 37.93 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied 2. the monitoring of the different programs and services has been done by the proper authority. 19 65.51 10 34.48 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.66 very satisfied 3. constant monitoring of the different programs and services leads to better implementation. 15 51.72 14 48.28 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.52 very satisfied 4. the alignment and maximization of the human resources contribute to the effectiveness and successful implementation of the different programs and services in school. 19 65.51 10 33.48 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.66 very satisfied 100 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 5. programs and activities are aligned well according to the mission and vision of ndmuibed. 23 79.31 6 20.69 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.79 very satisfied mean 3.65 very satisfied table 5 shows the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees with the program implementation monitoring scheme in the integrated system. the mean of 3.65 signifies that the respondents are very satisfied with this component. indicator 5 obtained the highest mean of 3.79, which means that the respondents are very satisfied in terms of the consistency between the programs and activities implemented and how they are aligned with the mission and vision of the school. consistency means that the programs and activities reflect the mission and vision of the school. there is awareness on the part of the institution to instill such philosophy in all its undertakings. indicators 2 and 4 obtained an equal mean of 3.66, indicating that the respondents are very satisfied with these indicators. they feel that the monitoring of the different programs and services has been done by the proper authority and such alignment and maximization of the human resources contribute to the effectiveness and successful implementation of the different programs and services in school. human resource relationship table 6. the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees in the human resource relationship in the integrated system indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. in the integrated system, the relationship among the personnel in both high school and elementary departments has intensified. 21 72.41 8 27.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 2. in the new system, there is an open line of communication among the personnel. 21 72.41 8 27.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 101 international peer reviewed journal 3. issues and concerns among personnel are appropriately handled by the proper authority. 21 72.41 8 27.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 4. in the new system, collaboration among the faculty has been strengthened and intensified. 22 75.86 7 24.14 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.76 very satisfied 5. pressures and challenges do not affect the harmonious relationship of the personnel. 24 82.76 15 51.72 0 0.00 0 0.00 4.86 very satisfied mean 3.96 very satisfied table 6 shows the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees in terms of the human resource relationship. the result indicates that they are very satisfied with the relationship developed among the personnel in the integrated system, with a mean of 3.96. indicator 5 obtained the highest mean of 4. 86, which means that the respondents feel that pressures and challenges do not affect the harmonious relationship of the personnel in the integrated system. this has been supported by the mean of 3.76 of indicator 4, which says that collaboration among the faculty has been strengthened and intensified in the integrated system. it can be argued that even during the non-integrated system of the school, collaboration among the faculty was already present; yet, this result simply tells that the integrated system in the basic education of ndmu did not negatively affect such a relationship. it was strengthened and intensified more as perceived by the respondents. similarly, as revealed by the study by marks and printy (2003), active collaboration of administrators or even among teachers in the academic setting enhances the quality of instructional delivery, which ultimately results in student learning. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 leadership table 7. the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees on leadership in the integrated system indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. school administrators have clear and specific functions. 21 72.41 8 27.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 2. school administrators function effectively in accordance with the parameter of their duties and responsibilities. 18 62.07 11 37.93 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied 3. the new structure allows school administrators to make sound decisions. 18 62.07 11 37.93 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied 4. issues and concerns in both departments (elementary and high school) are being addressed efficiently. 17 58.62 11 37.93 1 3.45 0 0.00 3.55 very satisfied 5. the new administrative setup allows every administrator to perform their duties and responsibilities efficiently. 18 62.07 11 37.93 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.62 very satisfied mean 3.63 very satisfied table 7 shows that the personnel and retirees are very satisfied with the leadership in the integrated system, with a mean of 3.63. they find that in the integrated system, the administrators have a clear and specific function, evidenced by a mean score of 3.72 for indicator 1. indicators 2, 3 and 5 were rated “very satisfied” with a mean of 3.62. this means that the personnel and retirees see how the integrated system allows the administrators to make sound decisions and perform their functions and duties effectively and efficiently. also, they feel that the integrated system has allowed administrators to efficiently address the issues and concerns of the ibed, as evidenced by a mean score of 3.55. 103 international peer reviewed journal participation table 6. the level of satisfaction of the personnel and retirees on participation in the integrated system indicators 4 strongly agree % 3 agree % 2 disagree % 1 strongly disagree % mean interpretation 1. personnel and staff’s participation in all the undertakings of the school has been strengthened and intensified. 23 79.31 6 20.69 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.79 very satisfied 2. it is easier now to call the attention and involvement of the personnel in all situations called for. 22 75.86 7 24.14 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.76 very satisfied 3. personnel and staff are given greater opportunities to express all their concerns and issues to the concerned authorities. 21 72.41 8 27.59 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.72 very satisfied 4. open discussion and collaborative decisionmaking are more evident now among the faculty members. 20 68.97 9 31.03 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.69 very satisfied 5. the new system allows everyone to feel that they are being heard and given attention. 16 55.17 13 44.83 0 0.00 0 0.00 3.55 very satisfied mean 3.70 very satisfied table 8 shows that personnel and retirees are very satisfied with how the integrated system involves the faculty and personnel in all of the school’s endeavors, including decision-making, as indicated by the mean score of 3.70. with a mean of 3.79, indicator 1 shows that the respondents feel that the integrated system has intensified the participation of faculty and personnel in the school’s undertakings. indicator 2, with a mean of 3.76, shows that the respondents find it easier for personnel to communicate and be involved in activities. it is supported by their positive response on indicators 3, 4, and 5, with mean scores of 3.72, 3.69, and 3.55, respectively, which shows that the integrated system provided them with more opportunities to express their issues and concerns, especially in decision-making and made them feel they are better heard. in 104 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 support, rivera (2020) explained that organizational success depends on the performance of workers as manifested through their commitment and dedication to the organization’s objectives which leads to development, achievement, and productivity. additionally, she discussed how success could be reflected in how people feel about their participation. identified strengths and weaknesses organizational/structural framework in terms of the organizational/ structural framework of the integrated system, there were five meanings formulated from the significant feedback of the participants. accordingly, the strength of the integrated system is the strengthened involvement of the personnel; there was a clarity of functions, strengthened the relationship between and among the personnel, intensified support system, and improved outcome. on the other hand, there were also identified limitations under this component in the integrated systems, which are the limited authority of the ibed administrators and the limited participation of the personnel in some of the decision-making processes in the department. academic management in terms of the academic management of the school, instruction and supervision were said to be improved. however, despite its improvement, it was still observed that there was a limitation in terms of the time for post-conferencing and following up on teachers’ performance. program implementation monitoring scheme in terms of the program implementation monitoring scheme of the school, the identified strength was that programs and activities were well-planned. however, it was also observed that, in the integration system, there were some instances when the needs of both departments were not equally catered to. lack of proper documentation of the programs and activities and limiting funds for both departments were also identified to be the limitations. human resource relationship in terms of human resource relationships, it was evaluated by the participants that in the integrated system, the relationship of the personnel in both elementary and high school departments was strengthened. having a lack of interest in taking hold of any administrative positions had been considered to be one of the limitations of the personnel under this component. 105 international peer reviewed journal leadership strengthened partnership and empowered leaders were the identified strengths of the participants under the leadership component. at the same time, while lack of urgency, especially in decision making, had been the weakness as perceived by the participants. participation in terms of participation, strengthened involvement of the personnel was identified as the strength of the integrated system of the school. however, it was contradicted by some participants saying that the integrated system lessens participation. one identified weakness also of the integrated system, as shared by the participants, was the objectivity of the personnel towards the administrators in which their dealings with the administrators somehow depend on familiarity. conclusion after looking into the result or findings of the study, the researchers concluded that personnel of ndmu-ibed who had experienced both the integrated and non-integrated system, including the retirees, had positive and good perceptions or feedback on the majority of the undertakings and initiatives implemented by the school. based on the result of the focused group discussion, some of the feedback provided by the participants were non-exclusive only to the integrated system. the issues and concerns they brought out were similar even when basic education was not yet integrated. it was concluded, therefore, that some of the concerns in the integrated system were still similar issues raised even in the integrated scheme. lastly, it can be concluded that the integrated system being implemented in the basic education of notre dame of marbel university had brought more positive changes in terms of the organizational structure, academic management, program implementation monitoring scheme, human resource relationship, leadership, and participation. recommendations based on the result of the study, the researchers recommend the following: clearly define the parameter of the functions and duties of the people involved in the structural organization of the school and present them to the faculty. regarding academic management, coordinators shall program and plan their schedule well to accommodate all the faculty under their leadership for 106 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 mentoring or coaching process. in the planning of the programs and activities, consider the needs of both the elementary and high school departments. encourage faculty to take administrative positions and take a turn in the administrative posts. translational research the data drawn from the study is helpful to the department to review or revisit the existing policy and reflect further in terms of its relevance to the need of the department. second, the result of the study is a good input for the school leaders on how to strategize and improve the mechanisms to sustain the existing best practices and further keep the commitment or strengthen the involvement of the personnel in the attainment of the school’s vision/mission. similarly, this may serve as a reference for future decisions. lastly, the study could also provide significant feedback and affirmation of what the school has gone so far regarding its structure, management, leadership, participation, and relationship. literature cited all india council for technical education. (2019). sarva shiksha abhiyan. https://www.aicte-india.org/reports/overview/sarva-shiksha-abhiyan bredeson, p. v. (2000). the school principal’s role in teacher professional development. journal of in-service education, 26(2), 385-401. camgoz, s. m., & karapinar, p. b. (2011). managing job satisfaction: the mediating effect of procedural fairness. international journal of business and social science, 2(8), 234-243. community tool box. (2015). organizational structure: an overview. https:// bit.ly/3kip36w fan, m. (2004, october). the idea of integrated education: from the point of view of whitehead’s philosophy of education. in  forum for integrated education and educational reform sponsored by the council for global integrative education, santa cruz, ca. 107 international peer reviewed journal hartzler, d. s. (2000). a meta-analysis of studies conducted on integrated curriculum programs and their effects on student achievement. indiana university. hesselberg, j. (2018).  unlocking agility: an insider’s guide to agile enterprise transformation. addison-wesley professional. hong, z., hu, z., lin, l., & li, s. (2022). research on the changes of the social curriculum of basic education in taiwan and its enlightenment. creative education, 13(4), 1302-1311. jiang, j. y., sun, l. y., & law, k. s. (2011). job satisfaction and organization structure as moderators of the effects of empowerment on organizational citizenship behavior: a self-consistency and social exchange perspective. international journal of management, 28(3), 675. marks, h. m., & printy, s. m. (2003). principal leadership and school performance: an integration of transformational and instructional leadership. educational administration quarterly, 39(3), 370-397. minerich, j. (2008). designing and developing the organization.  oliver wight americas, inc., august. mulford, b. (2003). school leaders: challenging roles and impact on teacher and school effectiveness.  a paper prepared for the oecd improving school leadership activity, available at www. oecd. org/edu/schoolleadership. official gazette of the philippines. (2001). republic act no. 9155. https://bit. ly/3aozn3y paascu report. (2010). rationale of the implementation of the integrated basic education in ndmu. rivera, e. d. (2020). organizational commitment and identity in relation to job satisfaction of university employees. lamdag, 11(1), 1-1. universitat rovira i virgili. (2008). academic management. http://www.urv.cat/ en/ university of the philippines integrated school. (2012). the university of the philippines integrated school. https://www.upis.upd.edu.ph/about.html http://www.urv.cat/en/ http://www.urv.cat/en/ https://www.upis.upd.edu.ph/about.html 195 international peer reviewed journal perceived personality traits of deaf students of cagayan de oro national high school: basis for intervention jelvett mynne s. faelden https://orcid.org/0001-6190-639x jeeelai@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines sol dalonos university of science and technology of southern philippines cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract deafness is one of the factors which affects social, emotional, intellectual, and even the psychological aspect of a person. in general, it affects the person holistically and, thus, affects personality. deaf students pose many challenges in their lives, difficulty in hearing, inability to express themselves and to communicate the people that surround them. the core problem is communication difficulties which are the clear barrier in the social relationships with their peers. the study was conducted to describe the perceived personality traits-related problems of the deaf students of cagayan de oro national high school (cnhs), cagayan de oro city. the study utilized the descriptive research design and survey questionnaires were given to the deaf students, parents, and teachers. the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as frequency, percentage, t-test, and anova. deaf students were neutral in four dominant personalities, conscientiousness, agreeableness, vol. 35 · january 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v35i1.658 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:jeeelai@gmail.com 196 jpair multidisciplinary research and neuroticism. further, the teachers were more committed than parents in the development of the deaf students’ personality traits related problems. keywords — deafness; deaf students; personality traits; communication difficulties, philippines introduction every aspect of life is affected by personality. personality is displayed through thoughts, feelings, behaviors and many other ways (cherry, 2016). every person has certain traits with which they are born. personality has been a major factor in determining academic success of a student in the class. as for deaf students, they tend to isolate themselves since sign language is there only way of communication. it has then affected their interrelationship towards hearing students. subsequently, hearing students tend to misinterpret deaf students of being snob, aloof which resulted in withdrawing themselves from the deaf students. this in return has affected the selfesteem of the deaf students and has greatly affected their personality traits. personality traits are either natured or nurtured. in a classroom setting, most of the personality traits are nurtured. deaf students, develop their personality traits from their environment wherein they adapted how other deaf students act in their own way which affects their behavior (vygotsky, 1980). it also expresses certain aspects of personality in different situations and the responses are generally stable. there is a widespread assumption that deafness is associated with a group of specific personality characteristics. suspiciousness and paranoid symptomatology, as well as impulsiveness and aggressive behaviors, have been reported as typical of deaf adults (cooper & marshal, 1976). in general, the frequency of such pathological behaviors is reported to correlate with severity and time of onset of deafness (hindley, hill, mcguigan, and kitson, 1994). deafness is a diverse condition that has far-reaching effects on social, emotional, and cognitive development. according to theunissen et al. (2014), deaf students have a significant difference in their levels of self-esteem compared to normal hearing children. orth, robins, and roberts (2008) added that deaf has a lower level of self-esteem because, among other things, they frequently experience lower language and communication skills. one would assume that deaf students encounter more difficulties regarding their self-esteem because they often face multiple challenges, such as speech and language delays, communication 197 international peer reviewed journal problems, and less or no access to the sound-dominated world (polat & güneş, 2007). these problems could potentially harm deaf students’ level of self-esteem, resulting in less stable friendships and more bullying (theunissen et al. 2014). deaf students have low self-esteem and thus related to their deafness and less communication access to bridge the hearing people and the challenging hearing aid. deaf people need to survive and cope with the demands of a hearing world (jambor & elliott, 2005). williams (1966), observed that deaf students are often described as “immature self-awareness, egocentric, lacking in self-confidence and initiative,” as well as having poor frustration tolerance. higher impulsivity rates have also been reported, including motor restlessness, impulsivity, doubt and uncertainty, rigidity, and obstinacy (lesser and easser, 1972). while reported rates of behavior disorder vary widely in deaf students, they are usually higher than in hearing populations. while confirmed in freeman’s study in vancouver, canada, restlessness, possessiveness, disobedience, destructiveness, distressing habits, and being fussy and over particular to the list of the behaviors are more evident in deaf than hearing students. moreover, in the study of williams (1966), there was a similarity in the type of maladjustments in deaf and hearing children. he found a small proportion of neurotic disorders, and fewer psychiatrically disturbed children in the group with the most severe hearing loss. reivich and rothrock (1972) concluded from factor analysis that conduct, personality, and immaturity dimensions were strikingly similar to those consistently identified in normal populations. only isolation and communication problems were related to deafness. on the other hand, levine (1997) described deaf students’ personality traits like impulsiveness, suggestibility, irritability, and egocentricity. however, myklebust (1960) states that early profound deafness restricts the development of the personality. basilier and lundstrom (2003) however, claims that hearing people contribute to the manifestation of particular personality traits in deaf people because hearing people ‘represent their handicap’; that is, communication becomes a significant problem between hearing people and deaf people because of the lack of understanding on the part of the hearing population (meadow-orlans, 1980). lesser and easser (1972) point up another highly significant issue which complicates the evaluation of behavioral findings of the deaf students. they emphasize that “one cannot adequately evaluate or classify congenitally deaf persons unless one includes the knowledge of the very different developmental and experiential tracks over which these children have advanced” (p. 458). they 198 jpair multidisciplinary research see the impulsivity of the deaf child as closely connected to his lack of adequate communicative modalities. furth and youniss (1966) reiterated that the obsessive like traits of the deaf are reinforced by the usual rearing and educational practices met by the deaf. lesser and easser summarize their discussion that “the usual psychopathological categories are poorly applicable to children whose development from birth must follow other pathways than those with which are familiar” (p. 465). an essential ingredient of this ‘adapting’ is what denmark and warren (2003) refer to as the ability of deaf students ‘to gain insight’ into their problems. makes a point even more clearly that the naivete of the deaf cannot be taken as an indication of better emotional well-being. on the contrary, those who stated that deafness is not a handicap, those who showed the least understanding of what it means to hear, were the most disturbed’ (myklebust, 1960). the assumption that underpins this amazing piece of deduction is profoundly deaf have psychological problems (myklebust, 1965). as per the researcher’s experiences in handling deaf students in the regular classroom setting, they are less mature and more dependent than their hearing classmates and peers. it has been one of the most consistent findings of meadow (2005) that deaf persons are less mature than hearing individuals. moreover, padden, c. a., and humphries, t. (1990), described deaf students as emotional immaturity in terms of egocentricity, easy irritability, impulsiveness, and suggestibility (p. 143). however, through the informal conversation of the special education (sped) teachers, though immature and easily irritable but they are manageable and quick to cope up if teachers spend more time to explain using natural gestures or basic signs to the consequences of their actions. moreover, deaf students are lovable and caring for their teachers and peers. sped teachers are trained to communicate with learners who need special attention. since it is difficult to handle deaf students, aside from having a disability they have manifested extreme undesirable behaviors like being suspicious, paranoid and neurotic which becomes the objective of the study to come up with an intervention. intervention plan that is essential for improving personality traits and involve interpersonal and intrapersonal activities like sharing one’s experiences, role play of current events which presents the pictures of worldly things and distractions, recollection of understanding the value of life deeply, morals and etiquette. thus, the researcher believes that there is a need to create an intervention program for the deaf students in cagayan de oro national high school. an intervention program that would address the personality problems and improve the personality traits of the deaf students. 199 international peer reviewed journal framework over centuries, a range of theories and models has been described and measured by personality. theories of freud, 1996 and jung, 1986 states that the dynamics of personality as a whole explained clearly. freud’s theory on the levels of consciousness in different levels explained, all our actions are influenced by these three levels. the unconscious concept that includes the collective unconscious study of archetypes was introduced by jung. our personality and reactions are influenced by all these three levels. jung extended the unconscious concept to include the collective unconscious and the study of archetypes. we inherit in our brains the collective unconscious, which is a latent memory base of our ancestors. themes which have been part of human life throughout all time and cultures are archetypes. some of the archetypes described by jung are the persona, anima, and animus and the persona represents the mask and the different roles we play in our lives. it means that all of us has a feminine side, anima, while each woman has a male side, animus. all these aspects influence our behavior and form the basis of our character. on the other hand, in recent years trait theory has become a more and more popular tradition is related to genetics and neurological processes are the basis of personality. the central personality traits can be related to genes for some studies of twins raised apart has shown that 50% of experiences in childhood days are another ground for the formation of personality. part of a complex system which makes it impossible to predict reactions with certainty, that individual is unique in his/her character (bouchard, malina, & p’russe, 1997). there is a set of five broad trait dimensions or domains, often referred to as the “big five”: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism (sometimes named by its polar opposite, emotional stability), and openness to experience (sometimes named intellect). highly extraverted individuals are assertive and sociable, rather than quiet and reserved. agreeable individuals are cooperative and polite, rather than antagonistic and rude. conscientious individuals are task focused and orderly, rather than distractible and disorganized. neurotic individuals are prone to experiencing negative emotions, such as anxiety, depression, and irritation, rather than being emotionally resilient. finally, highly open individuals have a broad rather than narrow range of interests, are sensitive rather than indifferent to art and beauty, and prefer novelty to the routine. the big five/ffm was developed to represent as much of the variability in individuals’ personalities as possible, using only a small set of trait dimensions. many 200 jpair multidisciplinary research personality psychologists agree that its five domains capture the most important, basic individual differences in personality traits and that many alternative trait models can be conceptualized in terms of the big five/ffm structure (jackson, soto, graham, carter, & howell, 2013). objectives of the study the study determines the current perceived personality traits of the deaf students that need to be intervened or improved as a basis of higher rates of success in the field of education. thus, the researcher believes that an intervention plan could address the undesirable behavior that would address the personality problems of deaf students. methodology research design the study utilized the descriptive research design. survey questionnaires were given to the deaf students, parents, and teachers to describe the perceived personality traits-related problems of the deaf students. these involved the big five personality test or the five-factor model that evolved from an analysis of the terms which are used to describe personality. after which the data were gathered and analyzed. frequency and percentage, t-test, and anova were employed to determine the significant difference between the deaf student’s profile and perceived personality traits. participants the participants of the study were all grade 7, 8, and 9 deaf students of cagayan de oro national high school. these students were chosen by their respective advisers as per observation in and out of the classroom and based on their anecdotal record. the number of deaf students per grade level: grade 7 10 grade 8 10 grade 9 10 total: 30 201 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the study used survey instruments to describe the perceived personalitytraits related problems of deaf students. these were adapted from dr. lewis r. golberg’s big five personality test (1992) and dr. sol j. dalonos (2013). but the researcher further modified the tool to make it suitable and friendly to the respondents. the questionnaires were of three (3) sets for the deaf students, parents, and teachers. the big five personality test was used for the deaf students and another set for parents and teachers committed to their children/students. the deaf students’ questionnaire was consists of 50 questions, 10 per big five personality category in openness, conscientiousness, extroverted/introverted, agreeableness, and neuroticism. for the parents and teachers, it consists of 20 questions respectively on their commitment to their children and students. table 1. the reliability analysis results for the three instruments used in the study instruments cronbach’s alpha interpretation parents teachers students 0.763 0.731 0.874 valid valid valid data-gathering procedure prior to the conduct of this study, a formal letter of request was sent to the schools division superintendent for approval to conduct the study. as soon as the approval was sought from the schools division superintendent, the letter was then endorsed and forwarded to the principal and teacherdeaf students pose many challenges in their lives, difficulty in hearing, inability to express themselves and to communicate the people that surround them. the core problem is communication difficulties which are the clear barrier in the social relationships with their in-charge. the researcher personally facilitated the conduct of the gathering of data as well as the pilot testing of the tool. after the pilot testing, the researcher conducted the survey to cagayan de oro national high school. the study conducted after the classes were recited to avoid disruption. with the help of the principals/ school head, the questionnaires were then retrieved. an interview was set for the parents and teachers to the personality-related problems of deaf students. 202 jpair multidisciplinary research scoring procedure the scores ranged from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest and 1 the lowest. the individual score is listed and describes as follows: 5 – the students agree the most personality related traits problems of a deaf individual. 4 – the students agree at least 4 personality related traits problems of a deaf individual. 3 – the students agree at least 3 personality related traits problems of a deaf individual. 2 – the students agree at least 2 personality related traits problems of a deaf individual 1 – the students agree at least 1 or none of the personality related traits problems of a deaf individual. scale range description 5 4.5 – 5 agree 4 3.5 – 4 slightly agree 3 2.5 – 3.4 neutral 2 1.5 – 2.4 slightly disagree 1 1 – 1.4 disagree data analysis procedure/statistical treatment before processing the responses, the completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. the questionnaires were then coded to enable the responses to be grouped into various categories. the presentation of data proceeds considering the order of sub-problems indicated in the statement of the problem. results and discussion most of the students are young adults and male predominantly than female. all deaf students are profoundly deaf based on their audiological results from the audiologist. these test results were pre-requisite upon enrolment to categorize them according to their level of hearing loss. moreover, parent education is essential in order for the parents to understand better the hearing difficulty of their children and motivated to get involved in their education. based on the survey, most of the parents were high school graduates; 203 international peer reviewed journal there were a college graduate, college level, and elementary level respectively. according to mukari (1990), parents with any other family member need enough information to make important decisions for their children. parents can even feel that they do not have the necessary skills to parent a deaf child. significantly, the background of the parents can affect the deaf child’s achievements in school. professionals need to be able to adjust to each set of parents when discussing their child’s deafness. mukari (1990), added that lack of knowledge among parents could be related to factors such as the distance from and availability of support services, ethnicity, educational status, the availability of financial resources, and potentially individual levels of commitment from the parent. musselman and kircaali-iftar (2013) found that the level of the parents’ education, the strength of the family’s commitment to the mode of the child’s education, the parents’ level of involvement in their child’s education, and the ability of the family to allocate roles in forwarding their goals for the child related to outcomes for children with deafness are pivotal to lead them successful and live with values. however, there is a danger in ignoring other factors that play into the school placement of a student such as family income, which could restrict the access to social and medical services, or the educational level of mothers, which might affect their likelihood to learn and use signed communication and support the child’s academic efforts (stinson and kluwin, 2003). most of the parents family income ranges from 2,500-4, 999, with 33.3% (n-10). for family income from 10,000-14,999; 26.7% (n-8); 5, 000-9,999 16.7% (n-5); 15, 000-20, 000 10% (n-3) respectively; and 2, 499 below 3.3% (n-1). in the five models of personality traits, openness trait got the highest mean which implies that the students ‘slightly agree’ on this personality trait. according to goldberg (1993), openness refers to a person’s ability to look for new experiences. not only that, but the capacity to make room for them and visualize the future creatively. deaf students are creative in nature most especially in visual imagery. they may be more creative in the figural domain because of strengths in their visual-spatial skills (blatto-vallee, kelly, gaustad, porter, & fonzi, 2007; marschark & wauters, 2011). however, deaf students afraid to take risks not because they cannot do a certain thing but for the people that cannot understand them. goldberg (1993) said that people who are highly open to experience are imaginative and appreciate art. they cooperate well with other people. they are also curious and prefer variety to the routine. those with a low score in this category are people closed off to new experiences. they display all the opposite traits. in other words, they prefer safety and convention. it’s hard for 204 jpair multidisciplinary research them to adapt to new things, which is why they prefer a rigid schedule. they tend towards technical activities and show little interest in the abstract. for the other four personality traits, the students are just ‘neutral,’ with neuroticism having the lowest meanwhile conscientiousness was having the highest mean among them. conscientiousness is one of the personality traits that refers to the capacity for self-control and the ability to act effectively (goldberg, 1993). for deaf students, they find difficulty in controlling their selves because of their problems in communication. they can follow instruction through guidance, but it will take time most especially in understanding things quickly. such problems may either be resolved constructively or lead to a behavior disorder. goldberg (1993) reiterated that people who score high in this factor are often organized. others see them as trustworthy and meticulous. at the extreme end, people with this trait are perfectionists and can be workaholics. they have a strong need for success. however, in the personality trait as agreeableness, deaf students are neutral. though deaf students are friendly and helpful, empathic (graziano, habashi, sheese, & tobin, 2007), and able to inhibit their negative feelings (graziano & eisenberg, 1999) but rejected by peers and friends because of their inability to communicate with them. for the deaf students to communicate the hearing peers, they made it simply using homemade signs and natural gestures. according to goldberg (1993), those who score high in this factor are understanding and tolerant with other people. they are very good at understanding the needs and feelings of others. those on the opposite end of the spectrum are difficult and combative. they enjoy debate and arguments and try to impose their views on others. hostility is their trademark. these kinds of people are very good at competitive activities and get energy from being in front of people. moreover, deaf students are neutral in personality traits as extroverted or introverted. vandenhoff (2011) stated that those who are extroverted are well supported by parents, friends, and peers. they enjoyed and wanted to be the company of others. they liked to have company, and they feel comfortable in a group setting. they work well in teams and are optimistic and enthusiastic. when they are with other people, they are like fish in water. on the opposite end, introverts students prefer to relate to the world by first taking it ‘inward’ (papadopoulos, 1992). they wanted to work better alone. they generally feel a certain mistrust or caution with other people. they prefer small circles of friends and they feel uncomfortable in large groups (vandenhoff, 2011). in this spectrum on this personality continuum, no psychologically healthy individual 205 international peer reviewed journal is a complete introvert or extrovert all the time. rather than a fixed trait, it is a fluctuating state of being (senechal, coco, bryan, & holman, 2011). the personality trait neuroticism of deaf students is still on the neutral side. this personality trait addresses the ability or inability to deal with difficult situations in life. equally early hearing loss and become deaf could affect personality development (chess, s. and fernandez, p., 1980). they are prone to anxiety and depression and tend to have poor coping strategies which can adversely affect all chronic conditions. further, they are more likely to report physical illness and discomfort which may primarily account for the association between neuroticism and many illnesses. however, a key component of neuroticism is somaticizing unhappiness and stress (matthews, deary, & whiteman, 2009). goldberg (1993) reiterated that people who score high in this factor tend to behave unpredictably. they don’t display consistent behavior and their reactions vary widely, though it’s not clear why. on the other side, people are stable, prudent, and moderate. they behave this way even in times of crisis. people like this are calm and sure of their ability to handle hard things and mistakes. they are generally positive and stay positive regardless of hardship. there is no significant difference in the students’ perceived personality traits when they are grouped according to their gender, age, parents’ educational attainment, and family income. this means that they have a comparable perception of their personality traits when grouped according to their profile. male and female students, younger and older students, students’ whose parents have low and high educational attainment, and students’ with low and high family income have similar perceived personality traits. conclusions from the findings, the following conclusions are drawn about the personality traits of the deaf students. the students perceived personality traits related problems as neutral in the four dominant personalities like agreeableness, extroverted, neuroticism and slightly agree on openness. neutral because they do not display consistent behavior and their reactions vary widely because of their inability to communicate with peers, friends, parents, and teachers as well. this is correlated with their severity and time of onset of deafness. while the personality traits related problems of deaf students are closely connected to the lack of adequate communicative modalities, it is true that they appeared to become rude because of their problems of communication. the problems exhibited by the 206 jpair multidisciplinary research deaf students can be resolved constructively by the usual rearing and educational practices for the deaf students. otherwise, if not properly addressed this would lead to a behavior disorder. on the other hand, they are generally positive and stay positive regardless of hardship. those on the opposite end of the spectrum are difficult and combative. thus, the intervention plan is essential to help them realize that the inability to hear and communicate would not be the reason to have personality problems. this would help them to battle the hardships due to their communication problems. but they cannot do it alone; they need people to help and motivate them to become a better person. based on the results, parents and teachers were completely committed in the education of deaf students that will be of great help in improving their personality traits. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit the institutional policies. additionally, both the external and internal stakeholders might be able to translate it into a more comprehensive administrative policy and enhanced intervention program that could increase the interest of prospective internal stakeholders and professionals towards further studies. finally, it can be translated by sharing this with present and future employees to clarify the administrative policies in the workplace. literature cited basilier, h., & lundstrom, a. 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(1966). natural selection, the costs of reproduction, and a refinement of lack’s principle. the american naturalist, 100(916), 687-690. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1086/282461 https://bit.ly/2eidj0r https://bit.ly/2ghmwkf https://bit.ly/2baroyk https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsp.2006.10.008 https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.1501.93 https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.1501.93 https://bit.ly/2szd0f3 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094521 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094521 https://bit.ly/2ejqkra https://doi.org/10.1086/282461 cover single with doi 248 jpair: multidisciplinary research vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.4 published online: august 2012 effectiveness of problem-based learning approach to the students’ problem solving performance sylvino v. tupas sylvinotupas@ymail.com john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod bacolod city, philippines abstract the philippines’ ranking in trends in international mathematics and science survey (timss) is indicative of how mathematics is taught in the classrooms. this descriptive research determined the performance of 12 bsmt and 17 bsmare freshmen students in solving general mathematics problems. they were preselected cadets who enrolled in a maritime school in the philippines first semester school year 2009-2010. two sets of test instruments of similar context and style were used as pretest and posttest. the selected problems included routine or nonroutine and multistep problem and within the context and level of the students. result shows a significant improvement in the performance of both bsmt and bsmare students and as a whole at 0.05 alpha. further, students developed various heuristics which includes guess and test, working backwards, act it out, use of diagram, use of algebra, direct counting, and systematic list. significant performance of students in the posttest is an indicator of the effectiveness of the problem-based learning (pbl) approach. exposing them to various routine and non-routine problems enable students to apply mathematical concepts and understanding into real life problem situations. this makes mathematics more relevant which enhanced students’ interest and level of performance in mathematics. jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 249 international peer reviewed journal keywords timss, math performance, heuristics, mathematics instruction, nonroutine problem, real life problem introduction singapore, being one of the top performers in the third international math and science survey (timss) in 2003 claimed that mathematical problem solving (mps) is at the centre of the framework of the mathematics curriculum in singapore (ministry of education, 2000). on the same survey, the philippines ranked 35th of the 40 countries that participated. the poor performance in mathematics is brought about by the kind of mathematics instruction currently followed in most of our mathematics curriculum (tan, 2008). according to limjap (2001), mathematics instruction in the philippines is taught starting from teaching standard algorithms to develop arithmetic skills, followed by board work and seat work to develop mastery level. this is because many mathematics teachers in a typical classroom setting chooses to focus on the learning of fundamental mathematical concepts with limited time spent in exposing students to various nonroutine problems. unfortunately, most of our mathematics curriculum in the philippines is made with the development of these skills as its ultimate goal. according to schoenfeld (1992), mathematics instruction should provide students of the general concept of mathematics, its scope, power, uses and history. it should develop students’ conceptual understanding and procedural understanding of mathematical concepts and processes rather than mere acquisition of mechanical skills. it should also provide students the opportunity to explore a broad range of problem situations and to apply various problemsolving heuristics in dealing with such problems. moreover, it should develop students’ analytical skills and ability to reason in extended chains of argument. moreover, it should help students learn to present their analyses in clear and coherent arguments using the language of mathematics acceptable in the mathematics community. with these goals in mind, school mathematics should engage students in problem solving and reasoning learning activities. [mathematics] instruction should not be limited to plain mastery of 250 jpair: multidisciplinary research algorithms or development of certain mathematical skills but should involve them into investigations that promote reflective thinking among students (limjap, 2002). furthermore, schoenfeld (2007) stresses that if teachers want to help their students become good problem solvers, then instruction in mathematics should be approached as a problem solving domain. this means that problem solving in mathematics classroom should not be taught as a separate topic but as an approach in the teaching and learning process. john b. lacson colleges foundation-bacolod (jblcf-b) is destined to pass level iii accreditation by the philippine association of colleges and universities commission on accreditation (pacucoa). one of the criteria to be met is for the school to exhibit a reasonably high standard of instruction; that is, exposure of students to scientific problemsolving method is evident in classroom instruction (pacucoa, 2005). to comply with the said requirement, the researcher experiment on the integration of problem-based learning (pbl) approached in a selected mathematics class for a possible improvement in students’ mathematics performance. in jblcf-b, teachers make use of instructor’s guide (ig) in teaching a course. analysis of the ig for math 11a/math 1 plus revealed that mathematics is taught as a closed system characterized by “chalk-talk” instruction and board works. problem solving is merely one of the topics being discussed towards the end of the course. this study attempts to explore various common heuristics in dealing with the general mathematics problems, to determine the possible improvements in the students’ performance in mathematics. the experiment employs problem-based learning (pbl) approach in a constructivist-inspired environment. framework a constructivist-inspired instruction employing problem-based learning (pbl) approach is a student-centered, experiential, contextspecific and process-centered learning. this approach is inductive in nature and builds on prior learning of students (brunner, 2007). it aims to develop critical and creative thinking skills of students, and 251 international peer reviewed journal to promote an active, interactive and cooperative type of learning (de gallow, 2000). students are allowed to logically think any possible solution through any possible representation and medium. the subject focus changes from facts and algorithms to process approached. this approach gives the teacher the opportunity to process the learning deeply rather than to identify and enumerate the contents, thus learning is leading towards higher order thinking. schoenfeld (1992) suggest that school mathematics should engage students in problem solving and reasoning learning activities. it should not be limited to plain mastery of algorithms or development of certain mathematical skills but should involve them into investigations that promote reflective thinking among students (limjap, 2002). teachers shall motivate their students to go beyond the study of rules, it makes mathematics more abstract. according to michalewicz and fogel (2004), there is a great deal to be gained from solving problems; and a great deal to be lost if students solved them poorly. generally, problems are categorized as routine and nonroutine problems. the types of word problems usually solved in a typical mathematics class are called routine problems. on the other hand, green (2003) presented nonroutine problems as those whose solutions are not immediately obvious and the method of solving is not readily known. polya (1973) presented problem-solving process as a series of five stages. these stages are neither independent nor consecutive (krulik and rudnick, 1996). a person engaged in the problem-solving process moves back and forth, sometimes unconsciously with a goal for each stage. contrary to the linear model for solving problem, polya’s problem-solving stages are dynamic and cyclic in nature that promotes his goal of teaching students to think (wilson et al., 1993). the five stages include read and think, explore and plan, select a strategy, find an answer, and reflect and extend (green, 2003; krulik and rudnick, 1996). in the read and think stage, problem is analyzed and critical thinking begins. facts are examined and evaluated, physical setting is visualized, described and understood. furthermore, problem is translated into students’ language, relationships between problem parts are identified and the question asked is identified. in the explore and plan stage, given information are analyzed for completeness 252 jpair: multidisciplinary research while irrelevant information are identified and eliminated. data are organized in tabular or graphical form (drawings, models, graphs and the like), and a plan for finding the answer is developed. the select a strategy stage is considered by many as the most difficult part of the problem-solving process. since there are many established heuristics (strategies and techniques), a good problem solver should be able to select appropriately one or a combination of available heuristics. the find an answer stage makes use of students’ algorithmic skills. the use of calculator and other technology is made applicable at this stage. in reflect and extend stage, answers are checked for accuracy to determine if the question has been answered correctly. creative thinking is maximized in this stage wherein variations to the original conditions can be applied to create new yet related problem situations (krulik and rudnick, 1996). krulik and rudnick (1996) describe heuristics as more than just strategies and algorithms but are “road map” that directs an individual’s path towards a solution and resolution of a problem situation. unlike algorithms, heuristics are more general approach and cannot guarantee success. however, if students are taught these heuristics, they are in a good position to resolve problems successfully (krulik and rudnick, 1996). the common heuristics available include guess and check, make a systematic list, act it out, simplify the problem, look for pattern, working backwards, use of diagram or model, direct counting, use of an equation or algebra, and many more. to synthesize the conceptual framework, a schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of the study is presented. 253 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. schematic diagram of the study figure 1 above shows the schematic diagram of the conceptual framework of the study. students were given the opportunity to engage in solving routine and nonroutine problems involving general mathematics problems within a constructivist-inspired instruction using pbl approach. the students’ problem-solving process was evaluated in terms of problem-solving performance reflective of their level of conceptual and procedural understanding and the problemsolving heuristics employed. objectives of the study this study aimed to evaluate the students’ level of problemsolving performance and heuristics employed by the freshmen bsmt 254 jpair: multidisciplinary research and bsmare odfjell projects students during math 1a/math 1 plus instruction using pbl approach. significance of the study this study may be significant to the following: curriculum developers. the result of this study may be used as their basis for developing a curriculum that develops higher order thinking skills among the learners. teachers. this study may serve as a motivating factor and an awakening for teachers to explore further beyond traditional instruction, that is, to use different pedagogical approaches in teaching mathematics that are suited to the type of learners. it may encourage teachers to exert more efforts in teaching students the real mathematics. parents of the students. this study may serve as evidence to prove that educators are doing something to improve the learning capability of their children. thus, their full support for the enhancement of their children is also expected. students. this study may serve as a benchmark in developing metacognitive skills among students and as an inspiration to perform well in mathematics as well as in other related discipline particularly in solving various problems. scope and limitation the purpose of this study was to evaluate the problem-solving process of the students in a constructivist-inspired instruction in math 1a/math plus using problem-based learning (pbl) approach. the participants of the study were the 12 freshman bs marine transportation and 17 bs marine engineering students of john b. lacson colleges foundation–bacolod under the nsa/odfjell project enrolled during the first semester, school year 2009-2010. the researcher-made evaluation instruments were the 5 routine and nonroutine problems for the pretest and similar 5 routine and nonroutine problems for the posttest. 255 international peer reviewed journal materials and methods a descriptive research method using the quantitative-qualitative approach was employed. it aimed to evaluate the performance of the students in the problem-solving process and the heuristics they employed in solving general mathematics problems using problembased learning (pbl) approach. baseline information was gathered using the pretest. the participants were exposed to various mathematics problems during the course of study. a posttest was administered to measure the improvement made thereafter. the participants of this study were the 12 freshman bs marine transportation (bsmt 1) and 17 bs marine engineering (bsmare 1) students who were enrolled in math 1a/math 1 plus during the first semester of the school year 2009-2010. the group is under the nsa/ odfjell cadetship project and underwent prior selection process from the company. the participants were considered small enough to consider the entire population. they were not informed about the study in order to avoid any biases or subjectivity as well as to maintain the normality on the performance of the class. two sets of test instruments of similar context and style as pretest and posttest were used. the pretest consisted of two (2) routine and three (3) nonroutine problems involving general topic in mathematics. the posttest consisted of two (2) routine problems by virtue of being repetitive from the pretest and three (3) nonroutine problems by virtue of its complexity. the selected problems included in the test instruments should qualify as routine or nonroutine and multistep problem and within the context and level of the students in the maritime program as perceived by the researcher. these routine and non-routine problems were taken from the new sourcebook for teaching reasoning and problem solving in junior and senior high school by krulik and rudnick (1996) and from the personal collection of problems developed by the researcher. students who answer each item has a minimum score of 1 point and a maximum score of 5 points. a perfect score of 25 points is awarded to students who answered all the problems excellently as describe in the rubrics for determining the performance in solving a general 256 jpair: multidisciplinary research mathematics problem. a score of zero is given only if there was no attempt had been made to answer the problem. the 5-point scale is interpreted and described as follows: mean score interpretation description 5 excellent • uses common sense and knowledge in mathematics to identify relationship variables leading to a correct answer. excellent representation of the problem situation. 4 very good • uses known formula to relate various elements of the problem situation leading to a correct answer. very minimal item is missing. 3 good • identifies basic information correctly. represents the problem situation correctly. some representation of the problem situation is missing leading to a wrong answer. 2 fair • identifies given information correctly. uses erroneous relationship among variables leading to a wrong answer. 1 poor • minimal attempt has been made to answer the problem. the mean score that determines the level of performance in solving general mathematics problem is distributed and interpreted as follows: mean score interpretation description 21 – 25 very high • wider range of knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concept and algorithmic skills 16 – 20 high • wide range of knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concept and algorithmic skills 11 – 15 average • average knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concept and algorithmic skills 6 – 10 low • limited knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concept and algorithmic skills 257 international peer reviewed journal 0 – 5 very low • very limited knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concept and poor algorithmic skills validity of the research instruments the test instruments used were subjected to a content validation by three mathematics professors who are experts in the field of mathematics. the criteria developed by good and scates (1995) were used. the experts rated the test instruments with a mean rate of 4.03 interpreted as very good. data gathering procedure the following procedures were followed when gathering data for this research study. 1. researcher-made rubrics were developed based from various literature readings. the rubrics were submitted to the experts for critiquing. 2. the pretest and posttest consisting of routine and nonroutine problems were finalized. the instruments were subjected to content validity and readability test by three (3) subject experts from various schools. 3. a pretest consisting of two routine and three nonroutine problems was administered on day 1 of the regular class schedule. 4. regular classes follows adopting the topics presented in the ig of math 1a/ math 1 plus. additional topics on problem-solving processes, techniques, and heuristics were discussed. students were exposed to various problems in general mathematics. 5. students were normally grouped into two or three members in solving word problems on their seats. quizzes and assignments were given as part of the formative process and for the purpose of giving grades. 6. the posttest was administered as part 2 of the regular final examination to ensure that the participants will perform their best in answering the problems. 7. individual answers were scored and analyzed. all information were organized and synthesized and presented quantitatively to 258 jpair: multidisciplinary research answer the specific problems presented. 8. the problem solving heuristics manifested by the students was determined using a rubric for determining students’ problemsolving heuristics. data analysis to establish objectivity in the analysis of the respondents’ answers in the ten routine and nonroutine problems, the following rubrics and the corresponding statistical tools were used: 1. to determine the students’ level of performance in solving general mathematics problem during pretest and posttest, mean was used. mean is the most stable of the measures of central tendency. it is appropriately used when the data are categorized as ratio and if higher statistical treatment is further desired. 2. to determine the significant improvement on the performance of students in solving general mathematics problem in the posttest, paired sample t-test was used. 3. to determine the problem-solving heuristics students employed in solving routine and nonroutine general mathematics problems, a rubric for determining problem-solving heuristics adopted from singapore’s primary mathematics syllabus available at http://sc-math.com/math/heuristics.php and frequency count was used. results and discussion the level of students’ performance in solving general mathematics problems during the pre-test when grouped according to bsmt, bsmare and as a whole are shown in table 1. table 1. level of students’ performance in solving general mathematics problems during the pre-test and posttest. respondents n pre-test posttest mean interpretation mean interpretation 259 international peer reviewed journal bsmt 12 8.0 low 21.8 very high bsmare 17 10.1 average 20.2 high as a whole 29 9.2 low 20.9 very high table 1 shows that the bsmt level of performance in the pretest is low as indicated by their mean score of 8.0. analysis of their pretest showed that 8 or 66.7% of the bsmt students had obtained a score of zero in at least 1 item because they left the item unanswered. table1 also showed the bsmare students level of performance in the pretest is average as indicated by their mean score of 10.1. analysis of their pretest showed that 12 or 70.6% of the bsmare students leave at least 1 item unanswered while 9 or 52.9% students have a level of performance of average to good. further, table 1 shows the level of students’ performance in the posttest with a mean score of 21.8 for the bsmt interpreted as very high. contrary to the pre-test, analysis of their posttest showed that 9 or 75.0% of the bsmt has a level of very high while none of them leaved any item unanswered. one cadet or 8.3% got the lowest score of 9 interpreted as low while two others or 16.6% got a score of 16–20 interpreted as high and five of them or 41.5% got the highest level of performance as indicated by a perfect score of 25 points. of the total bsmt group, 11 or 91.7% of them exhibited high to very high level of performance as indicated by their scores of 19 and above. table 1 also showed the bsmare students’ level of performance in the posttest with a mean score of 20.2 interpreted as high. analysis of their posttest showed that 8 or 47.1% of the bsmare students had a very high level of performance and none of them left any item unanswered. the lowest score in the group was 15 interpreted as average and three of them or 17.6% got the highest level of performance as indicated by a perfect score of 25 points. of the total bsmare group, 16 or 94.1% of them got a high to a very high level of performance as indicated by their scores of 16 and above. as a whole, the level of performance in the pretest is low while the posttest performance is very high as indicated by their pretest and posttest mean scores of 9.2 and 20.9 respectively. the significant improvement on the level of performance of the 260 jpair: multidisciplinary research students in solving general mathematics problems in the posttest as revealed by the result of paired-sample t-test is shown in table 2 below. table 2. significant improvement on the level of performance in solving general mathematics problem on their posttest. program mean improvement df t p-value interpretation bsmt 13.8 11 7.614 0.000 significant @ 0.05 α level bsmare 10.2 16 12.493 0.000 significant @ 0.05 α level as a whole 11.9 28 12.499 0.000 significant @ 0.05 α level table 2 revealed that the performance of the students in solving word problems improved significantly in the posttest. this is due primarily on the intervention that is the use of problem-based learning approach in dealing with mathematics instruction during the duration of the course in math 1a/math 1 plus. statistically, table 2 showed that the mean improvement of the bsmt group is 13.8 greater than that of the bsmare group which is 10.2. as a whole, the mean improvement of the participants’ score in the posttest is 11.9. paired sample t-test reveals that the improvement of participants’ performance in solving general mathematics problems as indicated by their posttest scores are significant regardless of as groups or as a whole. this implies that exposing students to various word problems of real life situation significantly improve their performance in solving mathematics problem. analysis on their posttest performance showed that none of the cadets neither bsmt nor bsmare left any of the 5 problems unanswered. this is in contrary to their pretest performance. that simply shows how enthusiastic they are in taking time to analyze each of the problem situation in order to arrive at a correct answer. that attempt to solve a problem simply implies that during the 5-month period, the participants developed some level of belief in them that in some way or the other, they knew that they had the capacity to solve a problem. furthermore, independent sample t-test between the improvement of bsmt and bsmare groups revealed a t-value 2.03 and a significant 261 international peer reviewed journal value of 0.052 interpreted as not significant at 0.05 alpha level. this means that the higher mean improvement of the bsmt students is not a strong evidence to claim that the bsmt students performed better in the posttest than the bsmare students. this implies that there are bsmare students who are as good as much as there are bsmt students. inversely, there are bsmt students who are not so good in as much that there are bsmare students who are quit slow. it just happened that in this particular group, there are more bright cadets in the bsmt than in the bsmare, making their mean score higher as compared to that of the bsmare group. table 3 below shows the list of heuristics employed by students in solving general mathematics problems during the posttest. table 3. heuristics employed during the posttest. b s m t b s mar e heuristics frequency heuristics frequency use of algebra 6 use of algebra 16 guess & check 8 guess & check 14 use of diagram 6 use of diagram 10 systematic list 1 systematic list 3 act it out 0 act it out 1 direct counting 6 direct counting 9 working backward 4 working backward 2 assumption 1 assumption 2 table 3 showed that the use of algebra is the most frequently used heuristics. nevertheless, they also made use of guess and check, use of diagram, and direct counting as the next frequent. further, the bsmare group used eight (8) kinds of heuristics while the bsmt group used seven (7) types of heuristics. figure 2 shows how cadet d7 made use of systematic list as a heuristic to come up with a scientific guess in solving the problem. he 262 jpair: multidisciplinary research listed the possible combinations of 11, 15, and 12 to be able to conclude using the diagram that the sizes of the gates are 4 & 7, 7 & 8, and 8 & 4. the solution is logical and does not violate any mathematical concept, thus considered correct. this problem can be solved using algebra. cadet e12 used the concept of systems of linear equations in solving the problem situation as shown in figure 3. he uses three equations in 3 unknowns a, b, c representing the lengths of the gates. substitution method was further used to solve for the values of a = 7, b = 4, and c = 8. the answer satisfies the condition stated in the problem, thus the solution is logically correct. this simply shows that their knowledge of heuristics allows them to generate more than one way of solving a particular problem. figure 2. d7 solution of problem 5 using systematic list and guess & check. 263 international peer reviewed journal figure 3. e12 solution of problem 5 using algebra. figure 4 illustrates the use of the diagram and direct counting as heuristics to answer problem 4. cadet d4 used diagram to visualize a ship traveling as presented. in his diagram, he was able to emphasize that there are variations in speed at specified intervals. he used direct counting to determine the time element in the last lap. with some mathematical relationship among distance, speed, and time, cadet d4 was able to determine the distance traveled by the ship as being asked in the problem. the problem solution was short; this is because the diagram in itself is a solution as a product of his understanding of the problem situation. if indeed he made an erroneous diagram, chances are he ended with a wrong answer. 264 jpair: multidisciplinary research figure 4. d4 solution of problem 4 using diagram and direct count as heuristics. figure 5 illustrates how cadet e14 uses guess and check commonly known as trial and error to answer problem 1 in the posttest. guess and check is a useful heuristic to some problems that learners should be familiar of; or else using this heuristic will lead learners into an extraneous solution, a waste of time. in his work, he made three trials, making the third one satisfies the given condition and concluded to be correct. this item actually is an indeterminate situation consisting of 3 equations with 6 unknowns. the learner should be creative enough to be able to determine the required numerical combinations. trial & error is the most appropriate heuristic to be used. this item aims to develop the student’s creative thinking skills. conclusions the level of performance of the students in solving general mathematics problems regardless whether grouped by program or as a whole improved significantly in the posttest. this is an indicator of the effectiveness of the pbl approach in developing students’ 265 international peer reviewed journal skills in solving problems which is considered as the essence of mathematics instruction. exposing students to various routine and non-routine problems enable students to apply mathematical concepts and understanding into real life situation making mathematics more relevant; thus enhanced their interest that makes them more eager to solve problems. during the past 5 months, they experienced difficulty in solving problems at the same time they also experienced the joy of triumph whenever they solve problems with competence and excellence. heuristics are new things for this group of students. they found it effective and practical in solving general mathematics problems. students enjoy exploring and using heuristics to solve nonroutine problems. familiarizing themselves with various heuristics makes them in a better position to answer problems (krulik and rudnick, 1996). they realized that there are many ways of attacking a particular problem such that when one approach fails there are a lot more others to try. creative thinking was developed during the process. this is a manifestation of a development of higher order thinking skills (hots) that quality education aimed for to be developed among students. figure 5. cadet e14 solution of problem 1 using trial and error as heuristics. 266 jpair: multidisciplinary research recommendation the following recommendations were drawn based from the above-mentioned conclusion: 1. contents in math 1a/math 1 plus should be revised to include exposure of students to various routine and non-routine problems in real life situation to make them appear more relevant and interesting. 2. teaching students to solve problems is a difficult task. thus, teachers should exert more effort to spend more time in teaching word problems among students. they should consider immersing themselves in experiencing the pain and joy in solving non-routine problems. 3. teachers should be open-minded enough to allow students to explore various methods and use various heuristics in solving problems in mathematics. 4. a training program on constructivist philosophy and the use of problem-based learning approach (pbl) be designed and implemented among teachers to be initiated first by the mathematics and science teachers. literature cited brunner, j. 2007 constructivist learning theory. retrieved october 11, from http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html. constructivist theory. retrieved october 11, 2007 from http:// enwikipedia.org/wiki/ constructivism_ (learning_theory). de gallow 2000 what is problem-based learning? retrieved december 14, 2007 from http://aspirant.rggu.ru/ article.html?id=50759 267 international peer reviewed journal devlin, k. 2007 what is conceptual understanding? mathematics association of america. green, w. 2003 mathematical adventures for teachers and students. diliman, quezon city: up nismed. guided problem solving 1. retrieved october 13, 2007 from http:// www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/scottforesman/ math3tit1-2.pdf krulik, s., j. rudnick 1996 the new sourcebook for teaching reasoning and problem solving in junior and senior high school. needham heights, massachusetts: allyn & bacon. learning, technology and educational transformation. from philosophy to pedagogy retrieved october 19, 2007 from http://education. ed.pacificu.edu/bcis/workshop/philosophy.html. limjap, a. 2001 individual and social aspects of learning: developing framework for a deeper understanding of school mathematics in the philippines. sangguni centennial issue, xii (1), 65 michalewicz, z., fogel, d. 2004 how to solve it : modern heuristics. springer-verlag heidelberge, germany. pacucoa (2003). survey instrument for accrediting program in maritime education. pacucoa (2005). manual of accreditation. polya, j. 1973 how to solved it. princeton, new jersey: princeton university 268 jpair: multidisciplinary research press. primary math problem solving heuristics. retrieved october 10, 2007 from http://sc-math.com/math/ heuristics.php schoenfeld, a. 1992 learning to think mathematically: problem solving, metacognition, and sense-making in mathematics. new york: macmillan publishing company. tupas, s., go, j. 2009 an evaluation of students’ problem-solving process in a constructivist-inspired environment. 5th asian mathematical conference proceedings (volume iii), june 2009, pp 515 – 521. isbn: 978-967-5417-55. wilson, j., m. fernandez, n. hadaway 1993 research ideas for the classroom: high school mathematics. new york: mcmillan. pursuant to the international character of this publication, the journal is indexed by the following agencies: (1)public knowledge project, a consortium of simon fraser university library, the school of education of stanford university, and the british columbia university, canada; (2) e-international scientific research journal consortium; (3) philippine e-journals; and (4) google scholar. 75 international peer reviewed journal material culture analysis on the personal furniture in the museums of silay city: basis for cultural and historical preservation ruth garcia tribunal http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9856-3933  rgt052282@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis bacolod city, philippines evalyn m. pedrosa montalvo.evalyn@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3123-5374 carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis bacolod city, philippines wayne custer alegata http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9543-9934 waynecuster.alegata@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis bacolod city, philippines ronald john sayson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6260-5342  ronaldjohnc.sayson@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college-alijis bacolod city, philippines vol. 21 · june 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v21i1.329 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract culture and history harbor the beauty of one’s society. in view, the study of artifacts could best explain our cultural and historical background. the study aimed to examine the personal furniture in the museums of silay city to preserve the culture and tradition of the old society in silay through material culture analysis. the study is a qualitative research conducted within the context of descriptive and historical research. interview method was used in gathering information. mcclung fleming’s two conceptual tools of artifact analysis were utilized to help distinguish precise information about its five properties. personal furniture in manuel severino hofileña ancestral house and bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum were examined and analyze. the result showed that the personal furniture in two museums have significant influence in the culture and tradition of every filipino-spanish family in silay. the study concludes that material culture analysis on the personal furniture could help preserve the culture and tradition of the past. the study further recommends that teachers and students can utilize the result of the study as material for understanding literature, culture, and history. also, the government could use the study as basis for their cultural and historical preservation programs. keywords archaeology, material culture analysis, personal furniture, cultural and historical preservation, qualitative research design, bacolod city, philippines introduction culture and history have great influence on the individual context. one’s culture and history cultivate one’s traditional skeleton (arun, 1995). also, according to arun, culture is the set of traditional beliefs and values that are passed on and shared in a particular society. it is also the total way of life and thinking patterns, speech action and artifacts that are passed from generation to generation. culture can be seen in the constructed places, design, and artifacts. they are all figurative items that denote to the conducts and standards significance to the way of life (warner, 1959). the compilation and documentation of these items contribute to the cultural healing of ones’ society. thus, the analysis of these objects instigates with the very outlining of the examination inquiry (yanow, 2001). 77 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, anderson (1876) claimed that history is a description of the endeavors that occurred among manhood that would include an explanation of the rise and fall of nations, as well as of other great changes which have affected the political and social condition of the human race. thus, the records of history from the artifacts’ study may describe the work of art of our past. in relation, it discourses between the present and the past that could be recorded for the future. the study of potshangbam binodini devi (2015) on “the prehistoric cultural relations of southeast asia with northeast india” provides key drive region on the interment practice which had occurred since primeval ancient era in india. some non-synthetic artifacts are essential assemblages associated with the burial. the study discourses on these folk documents in order to link northeast india with south east asian countries. in the philippines, the ancestral houses in the community owned and preserved by the same family for several generations as part of the filipino family culture would be the places to take care of the ancient objects of the ancestors. indeed, there is a need for a wide-ranging platform in protecting the sites which are rich in historical and cultural value (sison, 2002). the spanish houses in vigan, intramuros, and silay city are just few socially inherited artifacts that paint out past. subsequently, one important point that was raised in this study was how material culture analysis by fleming (1974) was used in the analysis of the personal furniture found in the heritage houses of silay city, namely, manuel severino hofileña ancestral house and bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum. silay city is in the middle part of negros occidental. from bacolod city, it is 14 kilometers north. the total land area of silay city is 214.8 square kilometers occupying the 2.71% of the total land area of the negros occidental, philippines. silay city was the paris of negos occidental. prominent filipino-spanish families who owned big haciendas lived in silay. this made silay city a perfect place to find ancestral houses that mirrors the spanish influence through the furniture. the museums in silay is the best way of getting acquainted with the history of this place that is a perfect blend of artwork, relics and artifacts which enables every individual to understand the present and past of the city. through the study, the locals of negros would have the chance to perceive the beautiful infusion of local culture and spanish influence in silay city. indeed, the study shows a a stunning interaction of two cultures and traditions in the history of negros. therefore, 78 jpair multidisciplinary research a documentation of a material culture analysis on the personal furniture in the museums of silay city verifies the preservation and restoration of the beautiful local history infused with the spanish influence through the significant cultural artifacts in the island of negros. framework the material culture analysis on the personal furniture in the museums of silay is propounded by e. mclung fleming (1999) which claimed that every culture, primitive or advanced is absolutely dependent on its artifacts. subsequently, the artifacts made and used by the people are not only a basic expression of those people; they are like culture itself, a necessary means of man’s self-fulfillment. the study of artifacts is, therefore, a primary humanistic revise. moreover, the study may provide the present and future generations to discover the rich and vast history and heritage behind every cultural artifact in their own local history. this concept was developed from the artifact study of fleming. with this background, it bears the special impression of thinking oriented toward cultural history, but it should equally be applicable in other areas of study. the model utilizes two conceptual toolsa fivefold classification of the basic property of an artifact and a set of four operations to be performed on these properties (fleming, 1974). these operations could answer the most important questions about an artifact. these properties of an artifact are its history, material, construction, design and function. history includes where and when it was made, by whom and for whom and why and successive changes in its ownership, condition and function (fleming, 1999). materials involve what materials are made ofwoods, fibers, ceramic bodies, metals, glass. construction has to do with the techniques of manufacture employed, workmanship and the way parts and organized to bring about the objects function. design includes structure, form, style, ornament, and iconography of the object. function embraces both the uses (intended functions) and the roles (unintended functions) of the object in its culture including utility, delight, and communication (fleming, 1999). description begins with the measurements that specify the dimensions and sometimes the weight of the object. the essence of the description is the concise and orderly delineation of the physical aspects of an object. the chief objective 79 international peer reviewed journal of description is to provide accurate information about the five properties of the artifact (fleming, 1999). evaluation has to do with judgments of aesthetics quality and workmanship. although, the understanding of an artifact begins with the identification of its properties, it can be greatly extended by the evaluation of the properties in terms of culture values standards (1999). cultural analysis is the third operation which begins where identification and evaluation leave-off. meanwhile, functional analysis indicates the ways in which the artifact became an agent of major change within its culture. the purpose of cultural analysis is to isolate characteristics common to the group that enables the researcher to make inferences of a general nature about society that produced or used the body of artifacts (fleming, 1999). the last of the four basic operations involved in artifact research is interpretation. whereas cultural analysis is concerned with the relations of the artifact to its culture, interpretation is concerned with the relations of the artifact to our culture. more specifically, interpretation focuses on the relation between some facts learned about the artifacts and some key aspects of our current value system, and the relation must be sufficiently intense or rich to have self-evident meaning, significance, or relevance. interpretation does not result in a statement of facts that can be documented, but a statement of relationship born of “synthetic intuition” and imagination that goes beyond documentation. as in content analysis, an artifact is not subject to just one “correct” interpretation, but many. objectives of the study the study aimed to examine the personal furniture in the museums of silay city, namely, manuel severino hofileña ancestral house and bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum. specifically, the study sought to: 1) determine the uses and roles of an artifact in terms of history, material, construction, design and function; 2) identify the four operations of an artifact in terms of identification, evaluation, cultural analysis, and interpretation; and 3) determine the cultural and historical preservation program that can be formulated. 80 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design he study is conducted within the context of a multi-methods research designs which are particularly helpful in contributing to a holistic picture of the phenomenon under investigation (baker et al., 2001). moreover, mason (2002) describes qualitative research approaches as being grounded in an ‘interpretivist’ situation. it is based on research approaches which are malleable and profound to the social framework. thus, it was founded on critical methods which take justification of involvedness, feature, and perspective. with the use of qualitative study, the researchers logically developed adequate proofs to present the uses and roles of an artifact. subsequently, qualitative research is best paired with descriptive historical method. descriptive method is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe with respect to variables (key, 1997). consequently, the historical method is used as a system accompanying to reflection. interview was used as a tool in gathering information. research informants in gathering the information, the researchers interviewed the following people: 1) mr. ramon j. hofileña, one of the owners of manuel severino hofileña ancestral house; 2) mrs. carmen k. puentevella, the president of silay heritage foundation inc.; 3) mr. gilbert l. nemenzo, the tour guide of manuel severino hofileña ancestral house; 4) mrs. amor m. condrada, the curator and tour guide of bernardino-ysabel jalandoni ancestral house; and 5) mr. raymond bayot, curator of ramos-dizon museum. mr. ramon j. hofileña and mrs. carmen k. puentevella are the owners of the furniture that the researchers analyzed and examined. indeed, they are the people who best know the furniture. in addition, mr. gilbert l. nemenzo, mrs. amor m. condrada and mr. raymond bayot are the curators and tour guides of the museums. their experience gave them the authority to explain the information that the researchers asked. subsequently, the hofileñas and jalandonis are prominent filipino-spanish families who live in silay city. they played a major role in the development of filipino-spanish culture and tradition in the city. their influences are evident in the arts and artifacts inside their ancestral houses. lastly, their ancestral houses are among the three museums open to the public viewing. 81 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the selection of the problem was the result of the researchers’ thorough study and survey of the relevant and up-to-date issues about the importance of strengthening local history in building national pride. the researchers attended a seminar/forum that discussed issues about the matter. the researchers secured research approval from the school and letters of permission were sent to everyone who was interviewed. then, compiling of objects in hofileña residence and jalandoni-bernardino museum for research analysis followed. the researchers took pictures and interviewed people for documentation. next, the artifacts that would be analyzed were complemented with necessary documents. results and discussion artifact analysis in manuel severino hofileña ancestral house figure 1. the camphor trunk in manuel severino hofileña heritage house the uses and roles of an artifact in terms of its five properties according to mr. ramon hofileña, the trunk (see figure 1) was made of camphor wood from china in the early 20th century by a chinese craftsman. 82 jpair multidisciplinary research the trunk was owned by his mother, and it was used for storing clothes and other personal things. mr. hofileña claimed that a lot of labor went into making it artistic with hand carved figures, flowers and abstractions in the relief all around the trunk including the back. he also added that all its parts were practically handmade, and there was a lot of emphasis on its appearance and craftsmanship. it is excellent in all parts, knitted well, the style is very chinese and the ornamentation is very attractive. as for its iconography, the sculptured figures are chinese which may be depicting one offering something, maybe a gift to a noble person. all the decors are well thought of artistry by a professional artist of its kind. the trunk is off the ground, shouldered by four sculptured birds. since it was made of camphor wood, it could drive away the insects to protect materials inside especially the clothes. it is a beautifully designed work of art. it indicates that the owner is well-to-do or even very wealthy, he added. the four operations of an artifact every part of the camphor trunk is excellent and attractive. the craftsmanship shows imaginative and impressive ornamentation and design. as to its comparison to other specimens, the camphor trunk in hofeliña residence could be best compared to the traveler's chest or baul in bernardeno/ysabel jalandoni museum (see figure 2). according to mrs. amor m. condrada, the curator of the said museum, it was made of hardwood with arched lid and hand forged fittings. also, it is 45 cm. wide and 97 cm. in length. mrs. carmen k. puentevella owns the furniture. according to mrs. puentevella, the baul was owned by the aunt of her husband. the aunt told her that she could get whatever she wanted to have in her house. mrs. puentevella then chose to have the baul. according to the story of her aunt, the baul was owned by the pirates. the pirates would put their money and jewelry inside the baul. the pirates just left the baul by the sea. the aunt found the baul then kept it for herself. 83 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. the trunk in bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum through the examination of the camphor trunk, the researchers found out that there are no significant changes in the general forms, construction and popularity of the items since the 18th century. however, the decoration and iconography have a considerable difference. wooden trunks with intricate designs and carvings like camphor chests were made for elite people, mr. ramon hofeliña said. their expensive and elegant style would give us the idea that they were also symbols of status quo during their time (gilbert l. nemenzo, personal communication, (september 4, 2013). however, the trunks in bernardino/ysabel jalandoni museum and the university of st. la salle bacolod museum showed evidence that both rich and poor owned them. subsequently, the rich and the poor people put their important things inside the trunks. according to mrs. puentevella, the family of her helper owned it. when the father knew that she was collecting antiques, he sold it to her. the picture (see figure 3) is the trunk owned by mrs. carmen k. puentevella which she bought from the father of her helper. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 3. the trunk in the usls-b museum wooden camphor trunks were a part of chinese culture as early as the 18th century. when chinese people started to trade, they also brought with them their practice. thus, they used to store everything from blankets, clothes and linen to food and personal papers. when they reached the shores of the philippines, they also brought with them the camphor trunks. rich spanish/filipino families during the old times own camphor trunks. the trunks would have intricate designs and carvings that would show fame and wealth during that time (crow, 1937). interpretation according to mr. ramon hofeliña, the camphor trunk was owned by his mother. the wedding dress of his mother and the suit of his father were inside the trunk. it was originally placed in the master bedroom, but it was transferred in the stairways of the house when his mother died. the family lost the key of the camphor trunk after they buried their parents. it would be then forever closed with the wedding dress and suit of the hofeliña parents (mr. ramon hofeliña, personal communication, september 4, 2013). this personal furniture of their mother would always be one of the significant pieces of furniture of the hofeliñas. 85 international peer reviewed journal artifacts analysis in bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum figure 4. the butaca/planters’ chair in bernardino-ysabel jalandoni museum. the uses and roles of an artifact in terms of its five properties according to the curator of the house, mrs. amor condrada, the planters’ chair (see figure 4) was made in the philippines. “it could not be traced when exactly it was made because this piece of furniture was only loaned by ms. carmen puentebella”, mrs. amor condrada said. since it was made in the philippines, mrs. condrada concluded that it was made by filipino craftsmen. she added that this chair was intended for men to sit on. it was also made to assist women in giving birth. they just simply sat and spread their legs on the two long arms of this chair. for men, they just tie the cloth between the two arms of this chair and laid their tired feet on it. mrs. condrada mentioned that it was used during the day when relaxing or sleeping or could also be used for birthing. the chair was made of hardwood with woven cane set and has two flat overextended arms. the object was mass produced. the chair is quite simple because it has no intricate designs on it yet very functional because it was made of hard wood. the chair has long flat, extended arms that support the outstretched legs. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research it has dark brown varnish. it is 193 cm high and 77 cm wide. it is a hardwood with woven cane set and has two flat over extended arms. according to the curator, the furniture is usually placed inside the bedroom, but could also be put in the living room. she also added that the chair could be used for birthing and resting. lastly, a well-to-do family owned it because an ordinary person before could not afford to purchase a chair like this one (mrs amor condrada, personal communication, (september 4, 2013). the four operations of an artifact though it is simple in its design, it is visually pleasing to the eyes. it is made of wood with neatly wooden cane set. there are many different types and designs of planter’s lounging chair. as to its purpose, the chair is only used for relaxation nowadays. as to the comparison with other specimens, planter’s lounging chair in bernardino/ysabel jalandoni museum could be best compared to the planter’s chair in ramos-dizon museum. figure 5. the butaca/planter’s chair in ramos-dizon museum 87 international peer reviewed journal the chair was used for resting and relaxation. also, it was a reminder of the past objects. then, it conveys wealth in society. the chair was always placed in the room, but it could also be in the living room. this chair played significant role in the society before especially for the elite people for they used this chair for relaxation by placing a cloth in between its two long arms. the furniture is considered to be an art decoration bed. it has a mixture of designs from different cultures. also, it was brought in the philippines for rich filipino families. later, it became an emblem of wealth or status symbol of the elite in the society, mrs. carmen k. puentevella claimed. the chair is still part in today’s culture. consequently, it is still common among the elite in the society especially the original ones. thus, its designs and constructions have not changed significantly. the philippines was colonized by spaniards for over 300 hundred years. the influence of the colonizers left a colorful blend of cultural and traditional impacts. thus, the bearing of spanish influence is clearly seen to the things they left behind. these things paint a clear image of how these people live and influence the filipino society. the artifacts that could be found in the ancestral houses describe the ways people live. they have the direct connection to their owners. this link makes them the primary sources of cultural and historical studies. the future generation could see the bridge between the past and the present through the artifacts. with this, the study of artifacts plays a very important role in the preservation and conservation of the culture and history. the study could document pictures and compile stories behind these pictures. the documentation and compilation are the resources of the future generation in understanding their roots. material culture analysis by fleming (1974) is the best tool to use in conducting an artifact study. the uses and roles of an artifact in terms of history, material, construction design and function are vividly defined. consequently, the four operations of an artifact in terms of identification, evaluation, cultural analysis, and interpretation are clearly discussed. lastly, the result of the study could make a beneficial cultural and historical preservation program to our society. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions cultural and historical preservation could be best done through material culture analysis. as the proponent of material culture analysis, fleming (1974) presents the steps of artifact study to write about the object. moreover, the five properties for understanding an object’s meaning and significance: material, history, construction, design, and function could provide a formula for including and interrelating all the significant facts about an artifact. through the material culture, the relics from the two heritage houses would give us better understanding of our past culture and tradition. thus, the personal furniture from the two heritage houses were fragments of our ancestors to be restored, preserved and conserved. lastly, the furniture in the two heritage houses could be the physical evidence of the marriage between spanish and filipino cultures. translational research section literature cited anderson, john j. (1876). “a natural of general history”. clark and maynard. new york, usa. arun, agrawal. (1995) indigenous and scientific knowledge: some critical material culture analysis on the artifacts students and researchers school heads and administrators literature and social studies teachers 89 international peer reviewed journal comments. indigenous knowledge and development monitor 3. retrieved on september 3, 2013. www.nuffic.nl/cira/ikdm/3-3/articles/agrawal.html baker, r., freeman, g., boulton, m., windridge, k., tarrant, c., low, j., ... & hutton, e. b. s. (2001). continuity of care: patients’ and carers’ views and choices in their use of primary care services. london: national co-ordinating centre for nhs service delivery and organisation r & d (nccsdo). fleming, e. m. (1974). artifact study: a proposed model. winterthur portfolio, 153-173. key, j. p. (1997). research design in occupational education.  oklahoma state university. mason, j. (2002). qualitative researching. sage. potshangbam, binodini devi. (2015). on the prehistoric cultural relations of southeast asia with northeast india. retrieved: june 18, 2015. http://www. nomadit.co.uk/euraseaa/euraseaa15/panels.php5?panelid=3558. sison, j. c. (2002). a law each day (keeps trouble away). retrieved: september 3, 2013. http://www.philstar.com/opinion/184958/preserving-our-culturalheritage. warner, w. l. (1959). the living and the dead. new haven: yale university press. yanow, d. (2001). learning in and from improvising: lessons from theater for organizational learning. reflections, 2(4), 58-62. 63 international peer reviewed journal abstract naturally-made products are now available in the local and international markets. green leafy vegetables are very rich in phytonutrients that could be utilized in producing value-added products like vegetable jellies. the study considered green leafy vegetables: malunggay (moringa oleifera), kulitis (amaranthus spinosus l.), camote tops (ipomoea batatas), alugbati (basella rubra linn),saluyot (corchorus olitorius) for the development of vegetable jellies. it specifically determined the sensory acceptability of vegetable jellies in terms of their appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency, and general acceptability using the single factor experiment in a completely randomized design considering five treatments evaluated by 80 evaluators using score cards for sensory evaluation. the appearance, aroma, texture, consistency and general acceptability of malunggay jelly was “liked very much” while saluyot jelly was “liked extremely” in terms of color. there were significant differences among the vegetable jellies in the sensory qualities and general acceptability of malunggay jelly and saluyot jelly in terms of color. the five vegetable jellies were acceptable. malunggay jelly had the highest acceptability that was high in ash, crude protein, crude fat, carbohydrates and energy content. saluyot jelly was high in moisture content, and alugbati jelly was high in sodium content. malunggay (horseradish moringa oleifera, basella rubra linn, corchorus olitorius vegetable jellies: potentials for product development and commercialization leila o. olano http://orcid.org 0000-0002-4196-694x olanoleila@gmail.com capiz state university, roxas city campus, philippines vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.353 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research tree), alugbati (malabar nightshade), and saluyot (jute leaves) vegetables have potentials for product development as vegetable jellies. keywords science and clinical laboratory, vegetable jelly, nutrition, crd, experimental design, capiz, philippines introduction people in the world are faced with economic problems especially on the scarcity of food due to the rapid increase of population. in the philippines, many filipinos suffer from malnutrition due to the amount and kind of food they eat and the lack of knowledge about proper nutrition. some even go to bed with an empty stomach. however, if people are just observant enough and resourceful on what they can see in their community, this problem may be minimized. the country is rich in natural resources. a lot of vegetables grow freely or are cultivated in fertile land. these vegetables contain edible parts such as leaves, stalks, roots, tubers and flowers that may be eaten raw, cooked or sometimes added to meat, fish, shellfish and poultry products. vegetables are mostly water (approximately 80%) and usually contain vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fats. they can help a person look and feel great, the healthiest foods one can eat and with disease-fighting phytochemicals that make them excellent food cures (bauer, 2010). malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati, and saluyot are vegetables rich in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that are needed for optimum health. malunggay (horseradish tree) is considered an “all-natural multi-vitamin and can give four times the vitamin a one can get from carrots, seven times the vitamin c from oranges, twice the protein and four times the calcium from milk, three times the iron from spinach, and three times the potassium from bananas. kulitis (amaranth), known as “powerhouse of nutrients” contains protein, carbohydrates, potassium, phosphorus, vitamin a, vitamin b1 (thiamine), vitamin c, folate, calcium and iron (national agricultural and fishery council, 2003). camote tops (sweet potato leaves) are excellent source of anti-oxidative compounds mainly, polyphenolic that protects the human body from oxidative stress associated with many diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases (fernando, 2012). alugbati (malabar nightshade) is an excellent source of calcium, iron, vitamin a, vitamin c and vitamin b which contain saponins that act as phytochemicals and fights cancer and other diseases. saluyot (jute leaves) 65 international peer reviewed journal is rich in calcium, iron, protein, vitamin a, c and e, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate and dietary fibers and beta carotene (maghirang, guevara, & rodolfo, 2008). considering the richness of nutrients present in these leafy vegetables and the vastness of vacant land areas that could be utilized in producing these products, the researcher thought of developing jellies from these vegetables. the study looked at the usefulness of these vegetables in making jellies for sandwich spread/fillings which would become a value-adding product that is nutritious and preservatives-free. besides, these vegetables are abundantly and locally thriving in the community. hence, the study was conceived. objectives of the study the study aimed to find out the acceptability of vegetable jellies from green leafy vegetables: malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati, and saluyot. specifically, it sought to: 1) determine which of the vegetables is the most acceptable in terms of appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency, and general acceptability; 2) find out which of the vegetable jellies is extremely liked in terms of the sensory qualities tested; 3) find out if there are significant differences in the vegetable jellies in terms of appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency, and general acceptability; and 4) determine the nutrient content of the most accepted vegetable jellies. methodology the study used single (1) factor experiment in a completely randomized design (crd) in which each of the vegetable jellies was cooked for one (1) hour and evaluated through consumer testing method using incidental/accidental sampling. the experiment was carried out by using five (5) different green leafy vegetables, namely, malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati, and saluyot. the study used score card for sensory evaluation (hedonic scale) as a research instrument. it looked into the sensory qualities such as appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency, and general acceptability of malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati, and saluyot jellies. the score card for sensory evaluation used the 9point hedonic scale rating standard wherein the respondents were made to rate each vegetable jelly according to the nine (9) responses. these categories were used to determine the qualitative description of the resulting figures of the study. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the evaluation of the vegetable jellies was done through an accidental sampling of 80 prospect consumers composed mainly of students, employees, faculty and food vendors from capiz state university, roxas city main campus. evaluators were oriented on the mechanics of evaluating the jellies prior to actual testing and evaluation. vegetable jellies were evaluated in terms of five sensory qualities: appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency, and general acceptability which were scored using the nine (9) point hedonic scale. the data of the study were processed using the statistical package for social sciences (spss) software. the arithmetic mean and analysis of variance (anova) were the statistical tools used in analyzing and interpreting the data. mean or the expected average value was used to determine the sensory qualities and the general acceptability of malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati and saluyot jellies. anova or f-test was used to determine the significant difference in the appearance, aroma, color, texture, consistency and general acceptability of the vegetable jellies. the tukey hsd post hoc tests were used to pin-point where the significant difference lies for range or interval data. out of the 5 products, 3 best jellies based on the consumer testing were submitted to the department of science and technology in iloilo and cebu city for proximate and sodium analyses. results and discussion results showed that in terms of appearance, malunggay jelly got the highest mean (7.93). saluyot jelly (7.90) and alugbati jelly (7.59) were qualitatively described as “liked very much.” as to aroma, malunggay, alugbati, and saluyot jellies were “liked very much.” in terms of color, saluyot jelly had the highest mean (8.16), closely followed by malunggay jelly (8.14) which was “liked extremely.” in texture, the four vegetable jellies were “liked very much” except for camote tops jelly which was “liked moderately.” in terms of consistency, malunggay jelly also got the highest mean (7.80) and was “liked very much”. meanwhile, kulitis jelly got the lowest mean (7.20) which was qualitatively described as “liked moderately” by the evaluators. in terms of general acceptability, out of the five kinds of vegetables, three were “liked very much”. however, kulitis and camote tops jellies were only “liked moderately” by the evaluators. various experiments have also been conducted with evaluated the acceptability of fruits and vegetables. vegetables were acceptable for use as ingredients in various 67 international peer reviewed journal purposes (institute of food technologists (2014); barcelon, et al. (2014); junio & bisco (2013). results implied that the evaluators had different judgment on the sensory qualities tested. data further showed that the color of saluyot and malunggay jellies were “liked extremely”. the five vegetable jellies were “liked very much” by the evaluators. table 1. sensory qualities of the vegetable jellies malunggay jelly kulitis jelly camote tops jelly alugbati jelly saluyot jelly sensory qualities mean qd mean qd mean qd mean qd mean qd appearance 7.93 lvm 7.30 lvm 7.31 lvm 7.59 lvm 7.90 lvm aroma 7.89 lvm 6.79 lm 6.53 lm 7.70 lvm 7.58 lvm color 8.14 le 7.06 lm 7.11 lm 7.49 lvm 8.16 le texture 7.99 lvm 7.31 lvm 7.13 lm 7.85 lvm 7.64 lvm consistency 7.80 lvm 7.20 lm 7.35 lvm 7.63 lvm 7.31 lvm general acceptability 8.09 lvm 7.20 lm 7.04 lm 8.00 lvm 7.82 lvm overall mean 7.97 lvm 7.14 lm 7.07 lm 7.71 lvm 7.74 lvm legend: qd = qualitative description; lvm = liked very much; le = liked extremely lm = liked moderately there were significant differences in the vegetable jellies in terms of appearance, aroma, texture, consistency, and general acceptability in favor of malunggay jelly, while in terms of color it was in favor of saluyot jelly. the study of awoyinka, abegunde and adewusi (1995) supports the findings of the study, wherein they posited that vegetables were highly acceptable among consumers when used as ingredients in food. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. the finished jelly products based on the reports obtained from department of science and technology (dost) iloilo and cebu city on the nutrient analysis of the most accepted vegetable jellies, the results revealed that malunggay jelly was high in ash (0.32g), crude protein (0.23g), crude fat (0.19g), carbohydrates (84.72g) and energy (342 kcal/mg) content. saluyot jelly was greater in moisture content (17.75g) and low in sodium (20.1mg/kg), while alugbati jelly obtained the highest sodium content of (48.5mg/kg). the experimental design employed in this study implicates the desired outcomes. through the method employed, the study has produced developmental products which are qualitatively and economically accepted by the consumers and possible investors. however, the discussions of the procedures were limited since the product is under application for intellectual property rights of the university. 69 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the positive response of the respondents indicates that there is a potential for vegetable jelly to be accepted in the general market. furthermore, the availability of the products, their affordability in the market and the ease of their preparation are plus factors that could add up to the interest of the consumers. with the vegetable’s appealing aroma, color, texture and consistency, there is a possibility for further enhancement on the recipe of these vegetable jellies. translational research this study can give information about the indigenous plant species abundantly thriving in the locality and in the country. malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati and saluyot which are potent sources of essential nutrients that the body needs. results of this study could be translated into brochures, and pamphlets after the approval of intellectual property rights office of the university. the department of agriculture could utilize the information gained from this research in encouraging farmers to plant more of these vegetables which could be used in the production of nutritious jellies which also serves as their additional source of income. it would also support the department of agriculture’s program of propagating vegetables as a revenue generating industry with malunggay, kulitis, camote tops, alugbati and saluyot for vegetable jellies. literature cited awoyinka, a. f., abegunde, v. o., & adewusi, s. r. (1995). nutrient content of young cassava leaves and assessment of their acceptance as a green vegetable in nigeria. plant foods for human nutrition, 47(1), 21-28. barcelon, e. g., chua, j. n., encinas, j. b., montemayor, j. e., nagalinngam, m. g., ocampo, a. e., & ong, r. m. g. (2014). online consumer preference and sensory acceptability of vegetable-added pasta noodles. food and public health, 4(6), 301-305. basella (vine spinach) nutrition facts. retrieved from: http://www.nutrition-andyou.com/basella.html september 18, 2014. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research bauer, j. (10th. november 2010) vegetables: how foods affects health. retrieved august 20, 2014 from http://www.joy bauer.com/ foodarticles/ vegetables. aspx. fernando, m. (2012, november 10). find out the natural health benefits oftalbos ng kamote[web log post]. retrieved september 5, 2014, from http://gustokohealthyka.blogspot.com/2012/11/find-out-natural-healthbenefits-of.html. foundation for resource linkage and development inc. junio, i.c. and l.p. bisco (2013). formulation and standardization of seaweeds flakes. e-international scientific research journal, 5(1), pp. 183-194. maghirang, r g., guevara, ml d., rodulfo g s., (2008).alugbati production guide. information bulliten no. 269/2008. philippine council for agriculture, forestry and natural resources research and development, iso 9001-2000 & department of science and technology. maghirang, r g., guevara, ml d., rodulfo g s., (2008).malunggay production guide. information bulliten no. 292/2010. department of trade and industry & philippine council for agriculture, forestry and natural resources research and development , iso 9001-2008. maghirang, r g., guevara, ml d., rodulfo g s., (2010). saluyot production guide. information bulliten no. 273/2010. department of trade and industry, philippine council for agriculture, forestry and natural resources research, iso 9001-2008 and development & department of science and technology. malunggay. retrieved from: http://www.medical healthguide.com /articles/ malunggay.htm on june 6, 2014. national agricultural and fishery council (nafc) (2003). indigenous vegetables. malate, manila. department of agriculture-bureau of plant industry. 71 international peer reviewed journal saluyot. retrieved http://www.medicalhealthguide.com/articles/saluyot.htm on september 10, 2014. 47 international peer reviewed journal organizational capacity assessment of herbs, a rural-based farmer organization in san pablo city, laguna, philippines herbert t. ticzon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0811-4171 rdcstudentresearchers@gmail.com dalubhasaan ng lunsod ng san pablo san jose, san pablo city originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract herbs inc. is a rural-based organization recently established in san pablo city, laguna, the philippines comprising of farmers who are senior citizens, mostly retired in government service, to formalize training in organic farming, harvesting and selling products such as chili powder, chili paste, soya milk, and other soy byproducts. records from the city agricultural office showed that newly formed farmer’s organization in the past ten years experienced difficulties in management and operations and eventually faced the risk of closure. the study was conducted to assess this organization in its capacity on entrepreneurship for its members to improve their income and uplift their quality of life, thus promoting inclusiveness in our society. focused group discussion using pra tools such as livelihood analysis, venn diagram, swot and tows analysis, problem tree analysis, and logical framework matrix was used in conducting this study. results showed that the organization still need further training on organizational competencies and skills to achieve and maintain their goals and objectives. furthermore, the findings showed the internal and external factors that hinder or stimulate the development vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.700 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:rdcstudentresearchers@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 48 jpair multidisciplinary research of their organization. the participatory rural appraisal has been proven to be effective in assessing the organizational capacity; therefore, we recommend its usage in carrying out studies of this nature. keywords — rural extension, farmer-entrepreneur, organic farming, participatoryrural appraisal method, philippines introduction entrepreneurship is the answer to the problem of unemployment and as a way of increasing household income, which leads to a better quality of life. entrepreneurship can provide the solution by creating wealth, jobs, and social empowerment (evangelista, 2013). it directly leads to more business and creates more employment opportunities. the philippine government recognizes the impact of entrepreneurship on unemployment, nation-building, and in attaining inclusive economic growth introduced various measures so that entrepreneurial culture will be developed in the country (concepcion, 2009). in order to become a successful entrepreneur and have a thriving business requires managerial skills and must develop an entrepreneurial spirit. to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, an individual must show the attributes of being creative, innovative, risk-taker, good decision-making skills, future time-oriented, always looking for new opportunities and being able to provide new products and fulfill gaps in services or demand (kahan, 2012; singh, 1990). with all these attributes, the bottom line is the ability to make profits from the business venture. herbs incorporated is a farmer’s organization formed and registered with dole, the primary purpose of which is to improve the quality of life of its members by engaging in a profitable farming enterprise. for the organization to realize its goal and expectation, it must have members who have knowledge and expertise in running a business and equippeaad with an entrepreneurial spirit. the organization is almost on its first year of existence, and being a new organization is still on a learning curve when it comes to business operation. given the situation, the study deemed it necessary to understand the condition and needs of the organization and to recommend solutions to the deficiencies and weaknesses identified. 49 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study generally, the study assessed the organizational capacity in the area of farm business management and its entrepreneurial ability. specifically, the study sought to, (1) determine the capacity of the members to start and run a profitable farm business; (2) identify the interventions needed to enhance member’s entrepreneurial spirit, and (3) analyze the financial position of the organization as it affects the sustainability of its operations. review of literature the need to develop organizational and entrepreneurial competence according to cortes. 1993 as cited in díaz-pichardo, cantú-gonzález, lópez-hernández, and mcelwee (2012) a lack of organizational competency may restrict farmers from presenting a common agenda for the defense of their business interests: for example in dealing with intermediaries, or in achieving more efficient production model. by developing organizational and entrepreneurial competency, farmers are expected to be able to work in an organized manner and develop sustainable competitive advantages in order to compete successfully in regional, national and international markets (díaz-pichardo, cantú-gonzález, lópez-hernández, and mcelwee, 2012). entrepreneurial competencies are seen as important to business growth and success (mitchelmore & rowley, 2010). this can be acquired through tailored educational programs combined with experiential learning under the guidance of appropriate leadership and in the congruent culture that reinforces success-striving practices (robinsons, 2009). maresch, harms, kailer, and wimmer-wurm (2016) explained that an entrepreneurial organization with a culture that respect freedom of thought and expression, where cooperation and sharing of knowledge is a norm, where leaders articulate a guiding vision, empower people and value creativity; where individuals have complementary traits and skills, who believe in each other and who are willing and able to challenge the status quo will experience growth and success (maresch, harms, kailer, and wimmer-wurm, 2016). as a result of these changes, farmers have the chance to benefit from market opportunities and to take greater responsibility for the success of their businesses; in other words, farmers theoretically have more freedom to farm as they wish (rudmann, 2008). 50 jpair multidisciplinary research value of entrepreneurship entrepreneurs are frequently thought of as national assets to be cultivated, motivated, and remunerated to the greatest possible extent. entrepreneurs can change the way we live and work. if successful, their innovations may improve our standard of living, and in addition to creating wealth with their entrepreneurial ventures, they also create jobs and the conditions for a prosperous society (seth, 2017). smit (cited in richards & bulkley, 2007) believes that entrepreneurship should be at the core of farming. the farmer must be equipped with entrepreneurial skills to manage the farm profitably and to surmount the challenges faced by the agricultural sector. a farmer is concerned with cultivating the land, a farm manager oversees farm operations, but an agripreneur (farmer entrepreneur) finds opportunities to make the most of agricultural output. roxas & santiago, 2015 stressed that while agricultural productivity is important, training and programs must emphasize the development of entrepreneurial qualities. this will allow a shift from producing more of the same crops to selling value-added produce. together with increased productivity, improving farm incomes through entrepreneurial means contributes to the economic sustainability of agricultural communities. timmer, 2005 (cited in roxas & santiago, 2015) emphasized that value creation at the farm level stimulates greater farm production, bringing more income to the agripreneurs. improving the purchasing power of agripreneurs and farmers makes them a viable consumer market base, thus further stimulating economic activity (roxas & santiago, 2015). economic growth happens when a society embraces and encourages entrepreneurial behavior; when it values achievement and when there are a lot of people who are ‘competent, resourceful and enterprising’ (de wolf & schoorlemmer, 2007). management practices of an organization management practices of an organization are largely influenced by its leaders. hisrich, peters & shepherd (cited in robinson, 2009) added that while an organization’s purpose may be determined by its leader, his behavior may also establish the so-called “moral –tone” of the organization. also, any organization is a composite of the individuals comprising it, the development process followed by individuals also applies to the organization; therefore, it follows that organizational development is dependent on the composite progress of those working in it (robinson, 2009). so, it also follows that the kind of organization will reflect on the kind of leaders and members of the organization. kahan 2012 pointed out that there is a difference between farm business management and entrepreneurship. the 51 international peer reviewed journal farm business is about better planning, implementation, control, and managing risk while entrepreneurship is about looking forward – identifying opportunities, creating a vision of how the business will grow, innovating and taking risks. these two should be combined to have a profitable, successful, and sustainable business. vision is your dream. it’s what your organization believes are the ideal conditions for your community; that is, how things would look if the issue important to you were completely, perfectly addressed. it might be a world without war, or a community in which all people are treated as equals, regardless of gender or racial background (nagy & fawcett, 2015). a farm business mission statement reflects the core values and beliefs of the individuals who lead the business. to the extent, there are large differences between a farm mission and a personal mission, or between farm business values and personal core values, there will be discord and friction for that individual within the business (grusenmeyer, 2016). karl lewin (cited in reese, 2009), a progressive prussian social psychologist, has found a core principle: that we are likely to modify our own behavior when we participate in problem analysis and solution and likely to carry out decisions we have helped make. by involving all concerned, the participants were happier, and the decisions were widely received. participatory management could result in better relationships among the members of the organization because it could be expected to achieve unity of purpose. the people who know about the issue irrespective of their organizational positions are the ones involved in making the decisions which usually results in better decisions and which usually results in a more efficient, productive and successful organization (reese, 2009). methodology research design the study conducted focused group discussion (fgd) and utilized both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection. secondary data analysis provided insights and ideas in the results of fgd. research site the study was conducted in the city of san pablo, an agricultural city witnessing the gaining popularity of farming enterprises locally. and one of those is herbs inc. the study was focused on herbs inc., a newly formed organization with a registered office located at brgy. concepcion, san pablo city. the workshop which lasted for two days was conducted at the city agriculture office in brgy. san 52 jpair multidisciplinary research jose, san pablo city, made possible by ms. elizabeth eseo the city agriculturist. participants the researcher further identified participants of the focused group discussion (fgd) through purposive selection. the participants were seven members of the organization, four women and three men, and they were mostly retirees with technical know-how in organic and natural farming. the city agriculturist officer who served as the mentor of the organization was also interviewed to analyze the capability of the group in meeting their goals. the treasurer of herbs was also interviewed concerning the financial health of the organization. instrumentation the research instrument was composed of focused group discussion (fgd) and par tools. for the fgd, the secondary data analysis provided insights and which include written mission and goals, financial documents, and the profile of each member of the organization. financial data were obtained in order to determine the financial capability of the organization to sustain its operation and gauge its ability to achieve its mission, vision, goals, and objectives. meanwhile, par tools were deemed necessary to understand and assess herbs, inc. as an organization. the following process of par empowered and led the members to have increased control over their organization: (a) venn diagram/linkage map; (b) livelihood analysis has five units of analysis include the human, social, physical, natural and financial capital, so the researcher adopted a likert-type five-point rating scale; (c) seasonal; (d) problem tree analysis and (e) swot and tows analysis. the participants were seven members of the organization, four women and three men, and they were mostly retirees with technical know-how in organic and natural farming. data analysis the researcher utilized percentage analysis to represent and display raw streams of data as a percentage (a part in 100 percent) for the better understanding of collected data. it is a particularly useful method of expressing the relative frequency of survey responses and other data. data gathering tools the researcher submitted a letter of request and informed consent to the herbs inc. seeking permission to conduct the study. par tools were deemed necessary 53 international peer reviewed journal to understand and assess herbs, inc. as an organization. the process of par empowered and led the members to have increased control over their organization. a. venn diagram/linkage map showed the degree or intensity of the relationship or linkages built by the organization both within local and outside partners/collaborators. b. livelihood analysis provided information on the different stakeholders that enumerated significant roles in enhancing livelihood opportunities of the organization. c. seasonal calendar is drawn up by participants to show the seasons experienced annually and movements or changes associated with this (loewenson, laurell & hogstedt, 2014) d. problem tree analysis was used to create a diagram and diagnosed the root causes of certain problems in the organization. e. swot and tows analysis was conducted to describe and evaluate the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization and its proposed solutions. it also analyzes opportunities and threats external to the organization, which affects the conduct of the proposed solution. on the other hand, tows was also used to reflect and plan courses of action based on the outcome of the swot analysis. results and discussion the group was divided into two groups and participated in the vgmo workshop after the facilitator presented the concepts. the group discussed and consulted among themselves the words they wanted to include in their vision and mission. they came up with the final goals and objectives as follows: i. on the production 1. to harvest and sell its own products such as soya milk, tofu, taho, and other soya by-products. 2. to harvest and sell its own products such as chili powder and chili paste • to rent a place for processing the harvested products harvested by august 2016. • to attend trainings on soya processing by september 2016 3. to be able to coordinate with the department of labor employment • for the processing equipment in june 2016 • for the replanting in october 2016 54 jpair multidisciplinary research 4. to have its first full production by september 2017 • to coordinate with the department of education as a marketing arm of soya milk by august 2017 • to look for another market of soya milk products ii. on the membership 1. to recruit new members of the organization • to form a membership committee during the meeting of the organization on may 7, 2016 • to approve at least five (5) to ten (10) members until december 2016 • to collect the payment of the capital share of the members until december 2016. 2. to help the members become disciplined and responsible • to form a disciplinary committee who will take charge of those members who will violate the organization’s rules and regulations. • to form a grievance committee who will look after the rights and welfare of the members. the vision and mission of herbs, inc. vision: a progressive organization having disciplined members with exemplary, broad knowledge and experts in training others about organic farming “isang samahan gmaunlad, disiplinado na may mataas at malawak na kaalaman sa organikong pagsasaka at maging kilalang tagapagbahagi ng mga kaalaman ukol dito” mission: an active farmer’s organization that educates and shares new technologies in organic farming towards a healthy, strong and developed the sector of the society “aktibong samahan ng mga magsasaka na nagsasagawa at namamahagi ng mga makabagong organikong pamamaraang tungo sa malusog, matatag at maunlad na sector ng lipunan” 55 international peer reviewed journal livelihood analysis and financial analysis livelihood analysis was used to understand the livelihood of the individuals and the organization as a whole. based on the ratings done by the member participants, it showed that human capital has the highest rating, which rated a perfect 5. second, are the natural resources with a rating of 4.6. ranked third with a rating of 4 is the physical capital. ranked fourth with a rating of 3.82 is the social capital. the financial capital is ranked fifth, getting the lowest score of 3.06. seasonal calendar the herbs inc. will start with land preparation on the late days of april 2016. chili seeds will be sowed for one month before transplanting to prepared bed while soya seeds will be planted directly to the field right after the land preparation. as a whole, months of may, august, and late april will be the busy months for herbs for land preparation, planting of crops and harvesting of chili and other organizational activities. october may also become busy for them for the harvest, drying, and processing of soya. chili production is a year-round production that requires labor, but also it provides income. venn diagram venn diagram is used to identify the social linkages established by herbs inc. from the time they have started. venn diagramming is a method to find out who, what person or organizations are important in and for a community. a total of 19 organizations, institutions, and individuals were identified by the members of herbs inc. eleven were from government agencies (58%), four from private institutions (21%) and also four from individuals (21%). the venn diagram emphasized the significant role of major government agencies. the participants described the close relationship they have with the agencies which influenced their decision-making. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research swot/tows prmo-f, which stands for people, resources, marketing, operation, and finance, was used as a guide in extracting the strength and weaknesses of the organization. from the five major areas, only two areas were strength came from, these were people and sort of resources. 57 international peer reviewed journal based from the result above, including the result of the tows analysis, the herbs inc. must work hard to developed more strengths for the organization to propel their goals and objectives or at least all areas in prmo-f must have respective strength to overcome weakness and to have enough strength to make use of the opportunities and avoid the possible threats. logical framework matrix (lfm) logical frame matrix (lfm) sometimes refer to as project planning matrix (ppm), or project design matrix (pdm) is a concise document that outlines the key features that lead to a project achieving its goal. process focus group discussion (fgd) tool was used by the class in conducting the logical framework matrix for herbs inc. at san pablo where all the group (25) members actively partook in the formulation process, and all the information generated were given by them. the project proposed to improve organic soya-based enterprise skills of members. as an improvement in members’ skill on organic soyabased enterprise will result in an increased income of members, which will lead to growth in the interest of members in the soya-based organic enterprise. problem tree analysis the participants showed so much enthusiasm in identifying the problems that may cause hindrance to the progress of their organizations. problem tree was created by each group, and it resulted to (1) the problem tree from the production group stated that the core problem was the absence facility to make soy milk, tofu, and taho. this was caused by a lack of funds; (2) the problem tree from the processing group stated that the core problem was low income and caused by members having other important concerns which led to labor and manpower shortage; (3) the problem tree from the marketing group stated that the core problem was low buying price and was caused by high supply and low demand for products. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the study was conducted to assess the organization’s capacity on farm business management and its entrepreneurial ability through the use of pra tools. the study also analyzed the socio-demographic profile of the members to help in assessing their capabilities in achieving the vision, mission, goals, and objectives established. the organization aims to become a progressive, disciplined, and knowledgeable in organic farming and be a trainer/educator in the future. its purpose is to conduct livelihood project specifically in organic soya and chili production, to process the products into soya milk, taho, tofu and chili paste and to market the products as well. the organization was characterized in terms of organizational, managerial, and operational attributes. the result shows that the group, despite their numerous trainings and seminars, is still lacking in direction, and there is a need for better coordination in planning. the members are also in need of additional knowledge on business acumen, financial literacy, and must be able to do a business plan and feasibility study before embarking on a project. these weaknesses are manifested by the result of the organization’s initial ventures in farming, which resulted in losses. the lack of direction was shown during the workshop wherein the members appeared to be at a loss in defining the direction they wanted to take. in the first two ventures of the organization during the period ending december 31, 2015, and the period ending april 30, 2016, on both occasions, the organization incurred losses. the findings show that herbs inc. lacks management and entrepreneurial skills and needed capacity building on these areas. the chance of success and sustainability of the business cannot be assessed unless the total budgetary requirements can be determined. by knowing the needed budget, the organization will be able to plan and set up a financial strategy on how to source the monies required to make the project operational and sustainable. translational research the members should continue with their trainings and seminars to acquire the latest technologies and innovations in farming; therefore, the findings of this study could be translated into a conceptual manual which will aim for them to become a progressive, disciplined and knowledgeable. it may also be brought into various media of communication for information dissemination such as social media and mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio). 59 international peer reviewed journal recommendations having determined the organization’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives, it should now focus on how these will be achieved. foremost is, the members should determine the form of organization they want to be in. they can form a cooperative, partnership, or corporation. the organization must be properly registered and must ensure that it complies with all the requirements of the different relevant government agencies. the bank account should be opened so that the cash will be safeguarded appropriately, and asset register should be kept. accounting records should be adequately maintained, and the regular financial report should be provided to the members. the person-in-charge of the accounting records must be well versed in record keeping and accounts preparation. the organization should consider employing the services of an accountant. before commencing operation, business plan and feasibility study must be prepared to determine the viability of the business. by doing the business plan and feasibility study, the budgetary requirements will be determined from which financial strategies can be formulated like how much will be the capital contribution of members and the financial requirements. without proper funding, it will be tough to continue with the business. it is also essential to assess the market situation and to plan a marketing strategy. by knowing the market situation, i.e., the demand and supply of the products, the feasibility of the business can be determined and also help in deciding the scale of the business operations. finally, it is also recommended that the members continue with their trainings and seminars to acquire the latest technologies and innovations in the organic soya and chili business. also, continuous training in business entrepreneurship should be encouraged so that the long-term goal of becoming experts and trainer/educator will be realized through the knowledge and experienced acquired. literature cited 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[04-03-19], retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1080/08276331.1990.10600361 https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1020697 https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1020697 https://bit.ly/2vy04c1 http://orgprints.org/18064/1/rudmann-etal-2008-esof.pdf http://orgprints.org/18064/1/rudmann-etal-2008-esof.pdf https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2015.054.016 https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2015.054.016 https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.1990.10600361 https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.1990.10600361 57 international peer reviewed journal status of the cultural heritage sites and structures in camalig, province of albay, philippines: basis for sustainable tourism framework maria luisa n. gonzales https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 mangluisa12221963@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts, and intangible attributes of a group or club that are inherited from past generations kept up in the present and preserved for the welfare of future generations. it aimed to determine the natural and human-made attractions, its status along preservations, promotions, and local government unit contributions, the problems encountered and solutions recommended. the study used the descriptive-correlational method of research by employing questionnaires, interviews and documentation of the structures and site to the 5 facilitators, 24 residents and 31 tourists in the community with 60 respondents and used the frequency distributions, percent count, weighted mean and the coefficient of concordance w. data revealed that the heritage sites and structures were in the form of natural attractions and man-made attractions and presently considered much preserved, very much promoted with lgu contribution as much effect, while, there was no significant vol. 34 · october 2018 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v34i1.629 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9776 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 58 jpair multidisciplinary research agreement between the three groups of respondents along the status, and the null hypothesis was rejected. the problems encountered were much pressing, and solutions recommended as very much urgent. thus, this research will provide to the understanding of the factors associating to the sustainability of the heritage site and structure of a particular locality that can lead to goal fulfillment and, subsequently, impact tourism choice. keywords — social science, cultural heritage sites, structures, descriptivecorrelational design, philippines introduction cultural heritage (ashworth and hartmann, 2005) is one of the most important and ubiquitous tourism resources in the world, and heritage tourism is one of the most famous forms of tourism today. to be considered as world heritage sites, criteria for the selection must have an “outstanding value” and meet at least one among the criteria such as: human creative genius, interchange of values, testimony to cultural tradition, significance in human history, traditional human settlement, heritage associated with events of universal significance, natural phenomena or beauty, major stages of earth’s history, significant ecological and biological processes and significant natural habitat for biodiversity. (national geographic, 2015). many places look to the built environment or other types of heritage for their socioeconomic development through tourism. heritage (welch, 2014) is the past made present. it is anything valued by people today that was also appreciated by previous generations. it is also what we have accepted as gifts from those who came before us, our inheritance of land, language, ecosystems, knowledge, and culture. every place has a heritage, (timothy, 2011) although not all heritage resources appeal to tourists, even if they are essential to residents. the status of cultural heritage in nepal, (shailesh, 2001) has not been an easy year, since it witnessed much turmoil, suffering from an absolute tragedy and also from the enormous political problem, is suffering in these times. every year nepal is losing a significant portion of its incredibly rich and diverse cultural heritage. the dangerous condition of the most important sites and countless equally precious places that are afforded far less protection give cause for grave worry. the dismantling and scarring of historical buildings are regrettably common. several important buildings and memorials that were not under the aegis of the unesco world heritage list have been dismantled or destroyed through lack of care. in their stead, the desire to establish rapidly or 59 international peer reviewed journal more all economically is creating an advanced design that is specially appointed and clamorous, described by the inadequately built solid column structures that are so harming to the material of the noteworthy territories and an expanding smudge upon the delightful nepalese scene. despite the fact that these dangers to the nation’s social legacy are bound to private property, a significant number of the loftier national destinations and landmarks are additionally in peril. uncontrolled new buildings and roads at many historical sites yet in the midst of some of the most significant ancient sites are springing up rapidly. nor are some unesco listed sites left untouched by such developments. factors deteriorating the cultural heritage of a country day by day at a very high rate were caused by the following: carelessness of the people towards its harmful effects, ignorance of the people, out of reach of concerned department, various international languages, especially english has influenced the nepali language, the influence of foreign culture among the youngsters, selfishness of the people, which leads them to steal our valuable cultural assets of the country like idols, artistic things, etc. they then sell it for a high price in a foreign country. this makes the future generation unknown about our culture, and they will be forced to visit international museums for the knowledge of our culture. a culturally rich and diverse region in southeast asia that is counting numerous sites classified by the unesco in the world heritage of humanity, having notable sites like angkor wat in cambodia or ha long bay in vietnam, southeast asia is home to 37 beautiful places that stand out for their natural or ethnic worth. more than 1000 historical and natural sites in the universe have been registered in the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization unesco, having 37 sites listed were submitted for review, culture, histories, and landscapes in southeast asia and were acknowledged for their unique value to humanity. tourism industry professional, tourists, media, artistic, cultural or scientific organizations and businesses of southeast asia to name a few, the unesco world heritage sites represent the obvious, symbolic importance of the cultural relevance of southeast asia. titled unesco world heritage sites in southeast asia were: 2 world heritage sites in cambodia, 8 world heritage sites in indonesia, 2 world heritage sites in laos, 4 world heritage sites in malaysia, 1 world heritage site in myanmar, 6 world heritage sites in the philippines, 1 world heritage site in singapore, 5 world heritage sites in thailand, 8 world heritage sites in vietnam. in the philippines, the heritage conservation society (montenegro, filart and santos, 2013) on “preserving what is left” in an article by rappler, pointed out no less than ten (10) churches that were damaged during the quake. among 60 jpair multidisciplinary research them were cebu’s basilica minore del santo niño, the oldest roman catholic church in the country, and bohol’s church of san pedro apostol, the second oldest in the province. among them were cebu’s basilica minore del santo niño, the oldest roman catholic church in the country, and bohol’s church of san pedro apostol, the second oldest in the province. baybayon, bautista, mendez, & ticong study on “loss of loboc’s cultural heritage site: impact and support assessment” on october 15, 2013, a magnitude 7.2 quake struck the province of bohol, damaging more than 73,000 social organizations. several damaged structures were church and bell tower situated in the municipality of loboc, bohol, both of which are declared cultural heritage websites. the buildings were privately owned properties by the roman catholic church, but as declared heritage sites, they are also under the supervision of the national historical commission. this research tried to specify the steps considered in the rebuilding and conservation of the damaged historical sites by the stakeholders and agencies (lgu, church and national historical commission). this intends to conclude the impact of the damage to the municipality and its citizens. and lastly, it aspires to make recommendations affecting the preservation or possible restoration of the damaged sites. it disclosed that at the forefront of the efforts to conserve the site is the national historical commission, with the assistance of parishioners who headed sectoral groups exerting many attempts in advancing finances. with its new tourism opportunities, the then tourism stagnation returned to its normal levels. the negative impact of tourism and the economy is minimal. the national historical commission (nhc) likewise indicated that it would be more practical to rebuild and restore the old church rather than repair it due to safety and cost concerns. the loss of the sites was especially demoralizing and dispiriting to the inhabitants of loboc. the results corroborated with cruz (2017) vigan’s development framework were anchored on cultural heritage conservation leading to people emancipation as local guardians of cultural heritage resulting to direct and indirect economic benefits. if such frame can be duplicated in the revitalization of escolta, manila, the queen of streets of manila will rise back, pronouncing once more that cultural heritage can be the driver of economic growth and that cultural heritage conservation is not always an obstacle to urban growth in the philippines. whilst, the study of ayo (2015) along the cultural heritage sites all over the city of legazpi, looked into identifying the various historical landmarks, plotted the actual sites, narrated the beginning, identification of the significant and relevant details of historical landmarks, and developed a session plan reflecting the integration of historical narratives in teaching history in grade 3. data were 61 international peer reviewed journal derived from secondary sources. the determinations of the study revealing that the city of legazpi, philippines has eight (8) existing monuments symbolizing the historical roots of the citizenry, such as the: (1) battle of legazpi trylon, (2) jose ignacio paua, (3) legazpi-albay gulf landing, (4) headless monument, (5) miguel lopez de legazpi, (6) penaranda monument, (7) liberty bell and (8) simeon a. ola. these gravestones are symbols either by a person whose contribution in the throes and victory of the legazpenos against the colonizers or depiction of the past events with historical significance. taking in the tangible heritage, this served as reminders of the rich ancient past of both the masses and places of the city. the identified historic landmarks are located in the center of the city of legazpi. the historical narratives include the significant chronological events involving personages, places, and events which were deemed necessary in the past of the city of legazpi. the chronology of events as captured in narratives are considered to be as critical instruments for the people of the present legazpi city know their roots more in-depth and better thus, creating an appreciation of what and how to be a legaspeňos. objectives of the study as far as tourism is concerned, the researcher was challenged to (1) determine the heritage sites, and structures in camalig, albay regarding natural attractions and human-made attractions, (2) examine the present status of heritage sites regarding preservations, promotions and lgu contributions, and (3) evaluate the significant agreement on the rank order of the condition, the problems encountered to consider a framework leading to sustainability, goal fulfillment, and subsequently, impact tourism choice. framework in the contexture of sustainable development, stated in the work of javier and elazigue (2011) that the local governments have a strong influence on the success of its local tourism industry, and the safeguarding of its advantages. supportable the travel industry improvement alludes to the administration of all assets that addresses the issues of vacationers and host districts while ensuring the open doors for the future, so that financial, social and stylish needs can be satisfied, while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems (tourism act of 2009). this approach with the full 62 jpair multidisciplinary research range of stakeholders and the community collaboration are vital in arranging and basic leadership to decide the network’s long haul intrigue. on this premise, the government can affect the neighborhood the travel industry and has an impact in moderating the specific resource on which its future depends. for organizational improvement, there must shed light in its directions. so, for the municipality’s operations to be improved, its instructions must be defined, documented, and communicated for its policies, standards, processes, procedures, training, and tools to be utilized. operations framework is a philosophy and decision-making model intended to provide a guide and develop expectations for how the camalig, albay will work towards achieving its goals, and “relentlessly pursue municipal effectiveness.” based on the idea or article of magloff (2018) this operational framework will serve as a structure how the municipal government will govern and the hierarchy of its division. the operational plan does present highly detailed information specific to direct people to perform the day-to-day tasks required in running the organization at the (isaac, 2018) municipal level, it constituted the stages such as plan, decision-making, implementation (instrumentation), and feedback mechanism, going to the sustainability of the heritage sites and structure of the municipality of camalig, will lead to goal fulfillment to ensure meaningful and satisfactory tourist experience, effect political leadership and stakeholder engagement, and, subsequently, impact tourism choice. the concept of the flow to work effectively, beforehand planning is essential, and it considers the 1) problem determinationa collaborative effort of the different stakeholders (lgu, tourism officer, community, and stakeholders), 2) municipal capacity – this is responding to a tourism challenge by the municipality into which several considerations must determine if a new plans and programs will be adopted. this refers to the municipality to respond to the requirements needed out of the ideas and programs. 3) formulation of goals and objectives – a general statement which will serve as a guide by the municipality in considering the desired outcomes. 63 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. municipal framework decision making is the sine qua non to administer because a municipality is a decision-making structure (hoy and miskel, 2001) decisions are based on the beliefs, values and previous experiences of individuals. leaders must know themselves, know why they choose particular paths, know whom to involve, and know which specific decision-making model to use. decision making will be a collaborative effort by followers who deserve to be involved, and that input and collaboration result in better decisions. and decision making of the municipality is: 1) to strategies – this includes the different activities that will be used in order for the framework be expertly formulated., evaluation and selection of strategies the significance of strategy evaluation lies in its capacity to coordinate the task performed by managers, groups, departments, etc., through control of performance (juneja, 2018) strategies in the determination of the locality primarily must be anchored to the desired outcome by the goal and objectives. 3) implementation of the plan – this is the detailed listing of activities, cost, expected difficulties, and schedules that are required to achieve the objectives of the strategic plans (business dictionary). 64 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design a descriptive – correlational type of research was employed in this study as a comprehensive and accurate medium for gathering information needed to come up with an efficient outcome of the present study. research site in camalig, one of the oldest-founded towns in bicol region is cabecera or the mission outpost from which most mission settlements in albay evolved. in confirmation, camalig is rich of heritage sites and structures with historical significance and cultural value that bear a strong influence on hispanic civilizations located in the pueblo or town center such as the old-century st. john the baptist church, clusters of spanish-american colonial houses. languages spoken in camalig include east miraya (camaligueños), bicol, tagalog, and english. transit runs a major supporting part in the social and economic growth of a neighborhood that supplies the means by which people and goods can circulate to and from any direction. the local government unit is mandated under republic act 7160 otherwise known as the local government code of 1991 to undertake measures to enhance its transportation system. the municipality of camalig possesses a transportation system which holds its present functional role, particularly of economic evolution. according to the 2010 census, it contains a population of 63,585 people in households. it has a total land area of 130.9 square kilometers. camalig is politically subdivided into 50 barangays. the municipality has distinct tourist attractions which draw a regular annual number of day-visitors ranging from as low as 5,000 to a maximum of 50,000 day-visitors for each tourist attraction. these real tourist attractions were classified as natural and man-made attractions, a few of which are the hoyop-hoyopan cave in barangay cotmon, the quituinan hills world war ii japanese camp in barangay tinago and ilawod all with minimal facilities for tourism activities. annually, 10,000 days-tourists coming from the different culinary schools nationwide avails the pinangat culinary demonstration and other product demos. an estimate of 120,000 guests yearly dines in the different restaurants that offer camalig’s native cuisines. camalig offers various tourism products such as cabecera de camalig heritage tour packages, cave hopping, tunnel hopping, and pinangat culinary product demos. tourists may enjoy several activities such as spelunking, mountaineering, rock climbing, downhill biking, camping, 65 international peer reviewed journal tunnel hopping, horseback riding, educational/familiarization tours, culinary or cooking demos, product demos, the conduct of sports/recreational activities and conduct of special events like the yearly pinangat festival. also, there is an increase annually on the establishment/development of tourism support facilities such as restaurants, bars, transportation facilities, communications, medical, tour operators, accommodations, souvenir shops, pasalubong center in the tourism service area, the poblacion. camalig was named by the provincial government of albay as “the heritage town” for tourism enacted through the approval of sangguniang panlalawigan resolution number 0039-2014 and was awarded to the municipal officials witnessed by camaligueños on june 10, 2014. camalig as a heritage prosperous town and fast-growing tourist-friendly destination proactively engaged in social and economic transformation promised to contribute 30,000 day-tourist arrivals annually in the province of albay. as such, vibrant tourism industry in camalig will establish strong linkage thus creates more job opportunities, entrepreneurship and better image of the municipality compelled to the town’s tourism branding: the heritage town of albay! figure 2. map of camalig, albay shows the natural and man-made attractions participants sixty (60) respondents composed of 5 facilitators, 24 residents, and 31 tourists were identified and notified in camalig, albay, to shed light in the inquiry, to justify the needed information about the research being conducted. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the participants were selected according to their participation in the research study. as to the facilitators, they are the officers and staff of the lgu, residents are those living nearby the sites and structures, and for the tour participants, they are selected conveniently. the researcher before the study was conducted, seek the approval of the respondents before the instruments were distributed. instrumentation the instrument used in gathering the data underwent several revisions before it finally undergoes a proposal. the researcher, distributed the questionnaire to the facilitator/tour guide, residents and to the tourists, both local and international who visited the heritage sites and structures. the frequency distributions, percentage, weighted mean and kendall coefficient of concordance w were utilized to interpret the data. results and discussions the heritage sites and structures in camalig, albay, considered as natural attraction and man-made attraction. the municipality having this attraction must be sustained to introduce changes or practices by the locals, the municipality and the tourists who are visiting the locality. this study was supported by the heritage theory to recommend holistic, integrated and multidisciplinary management of resources to overcome the dichotomy of conservation and development. for the preservation and promotion, st. john the baptist church, ancestral houses, quituinan hills, world war ii japanese tunnel and hoyop-hoyopan cave was much preserved and very much promoted while lgu contributions as much effectiveness. however, the ancestral houses were only interpreted as protected. this is because the ancestral homes were not open to the public/tourist for viewing. according to mckercher (2002) finding ways to manage assets in a genuinely sustainable manner is clearly in the best interests of the asset, those who control it, and the potential uses for heritage, placing higher pressure on tourism and cultural heritage management (chm stakeholders to collaborate for their mutual benefit. ultimately, the better understanding each has of the other’s philosophical framework and requirements, the better the partnership will be. table 3 reveals the significant agreement on the rank order of the status along preservations, promotions, and local government unit noted that the sum of the squared deviation ranged for preservation was 0.19, promotions 67 international peer reviewed journal were 0.73 and 0.63 for lgu contributions. the coefficient of concordance w for preservation was 0.19, promotions were 0.73, and for lgu contributions, it was 0.63. the x2 was computed to determine the significance of agreement along the status as evaluated by the group of respondents. the computed x2 for preservations was 2.28 (p>0.05) for promotions resulted in 8.76 (p>0.05) and for lgu contributions it resulted in 7.56 (p>0.05). therefore, failed to reach the tabular x2 value at 0.05 level of significance with their corresponding degree of freedom, which means that the group of respondents does not significantly agree about the status of the heritage sites and structures. these findings indicate that for the three groups of respondents agreement on how the heritage sites and structures will be preserved, promoted, and with lgu contributions is to initiate spearheading the sustainability of tourism activity in camalig, which based from r.a no. 9593, section 3. objectives j stating “strengthen the role of tourism councils and encourage the participation of non-government organizations (ngos), people’s organizations (pos) and the private sector in initiating programs for tourism development and environmental protection.” based on silberberg (1995) that cultural tourism represents an area of significant economic benefit to museums and heritage websites. changing economic challenges, do require the cultural and heritage facilities to conduct studies to increase attendance and self-generated revenues and to curb operations expenses. in so doing, the stakeholders must be looked carefully on their operating policies and practices focusing on issues such as client service, partnerships, and packaging opportunities and to be let out to entrepreneurial approaches while continuing to carry on their heritage preservation and training mandates. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. the significance of agreement on the rank of the status along preservation, promotions, and lgu contributions indicator preservations promotions lgu contributions summation of squared deviation from the mean difference no. of groups no. of activities coefficient of concordance w computed x2 degree of freedom tab. x2 value 0.05 0.025 0.01 0.005 the significance of agreement decision on h1 0.19 3 5 0.19 2.28 5 11.07 12.83 15.09 16.75 not significant rejected 0.73 3 5 0.73 8.76 5 11.07 12.83 15.09 16.75 not significant rejected 0.63 3 5 0.63 7.56 5 11.07 12.83 15.09 16.75 not significant rejected the problems encountered by the respondents from the heritage sites and structures and considered as much dangerous. table 4 noted that all indicators were interpreted as much serious showing a general average wx of 3.73. these were presented according to highest to lowest, “proper waste disposal“ (4.13), followed by “promotion” (3.97), “lack of funds” (3.94), “provision of foods” (3.85), “accessibility” (3.83), “protection of area, and safety and security of tourist”(3.80), “less entertainment and activities for tourist” (3.76), followed by “signage’s and street lights” (3.73), “produces trash on the ground created by tourist” (3.66), “causes environmental pollutions”(3.66), while indicators being interpreted as serious were “destruction of natural resources” ,3.54, followed by “road widening and parking lots”, 3.47, and the least was “produces noise” with the average of 3.18. it shows that the majority of the problems encountered by the respondents were proper waste disposal. this may be because waste is an indication of overconsumption and saturation of touring and that material is not 69 international peer reviewed journal being disposed of properly and eventually, that can damage the environment. the tourist ignorí neither signage. and promotion was considered a problem due to lack of funds, based from the book by mckercher and du cros (2012) on “cultural tourism the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage, the failure to appreciate the nexus between cultural heritage management and tourism results in the suboptimal delivery of cultural tourism products and the continued unsustainable development of this sector. the failure to accept that tourism is a legitimate user result in the inability to develop and present cultural assets in a manner that is amenable to the needs of the tourist. the consequence may mean lowered visitation levels and decreased satisfaction, threatening the commercial viability of the asset. worse still, the result may mean continued high levels of visitation without signaling how the asset is to be used, resulting in tourist defining the experience themselves, at the peril of the asset. conclusions camalig, albay has such heritage sites and structures as natural and humanmade attractions that were considered as determinants of income generating tourism activities by the municipality. the present status along preservations and promotions were preserved and much preserved; in the sense that it was very much promoted, adequately supervised by the local government unit, which the municipal tourism officer had given some attention as to how these attractions will be polished according to the demand for tourist visiting the municipality. along with the status, the three groups of respondents should agree about their assessment of the attractions, through the concerted effort of the authority. the proper waste disposal was not adequately managed by the people in charge of the site and structures because disposal management system is not imminent. in the end in view, a framework was devised based on the findings of the study that will serve as a guide in the formulation of the strategies that will be utilized by the municipality. translational research the study is best translated through benchmarking by the municipality as to analyze the best practices from the other known tourist destination areas so improvement is effected in the municipality and more so the translation of the framework strategically to create a policy structure to guide the stakeholder. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research and finally, this study is translated into a journal, newsletters, and an article for publication to expand and be disseminated to tourism stakeholders for future policy/strategic formulation. literature cited ashworth, g., & hartmann, r. 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(2014). cultural heritage: what is it? why is it important?-fact sheet. retrieved from https://goo.gl/gfrcam https://goo.gl/khqkaf https://www.nationalgeographic.com/legal/terms/ https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(95)00039-q https://goo.gl/di3yzd https://goo.gl/gfrcam 17 international peer reviewed journal documented experiences among food service businesses towards future-proofing the industry eloiza loren e. bahillo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3709-8526 eloizabahillo@gmail.com bicol college, daraga albay, philippines theresa t. nasser https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-5611 theresatabuenanasser@yahoo.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract food service businesses such as restaurants and catering services encountered challenges during and after the covid-19 pandemic. this quasiphenomenological qualitative research approach documented the idiosyncratic experiences of food service business owners and managers during the covid-19 pandemic, determined the challenges encountered by the food service business owners and managers, identified the measures implemented by food service industry during and after the covid-19 pandemic, and a recommended future-proofing framework in the food service business. the researcher interviewed the selected registered food service businesses in the vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.625 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-5611 mailto:theresatabuenanasser@yahoo.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 18 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 economic center of the second district of albay, philippines using an openended interview questionnaire and presented a consent form to the participants for it to be recorded and documented. scrutinized data have determined that the point of view and experiences of the food service business owners and managers were relatively comparable. consequently, food service business owners and managers would always be willing to adjust to the current situation or to any business disruption that may occur, particularly on the demands of their customers, by adopting the technological trends, which means having a digital platform to continuously cater to their queries and orders. keywords — business and management, food service business, futureproofing framework, covid-19 pandemic, business disruption, quasiphenomenological qualitative, philippines introduction food-related business is a good choice to have an abundant amount of income, mainly before the occurrence of the covid-19 pandemic. the food service industry in the philippines is expanding at a 4.5% cagr (compound annual growth rate) during the foreseeable timeframe (2019-2024). the philippines’ food service business witnessed continued growth in sales because of a healthy economy in recent years and an increase in the number of restaurants. additionally, the number of restaurants expanded because of a rise in the frequency of eating out, which was affected by rising prosperity, busier lifestyles, a preference for convenience, and the arrival of several foreign brands into the philippine food service market. furthermore, the philippines’ growing number of value-conscious customers who are eager to try out new eateries with a variety of menu options, including interesting international and local cuisines, as well as those that could accommodate a busy lifestyle, will likely continue to drive this market in the future (dublin, 2019). food service businesses such as restaurants and catering services encountered challenges during and after the covid-19 pandemic. both small and large businesses were demanded to change the way they operate their businesses. in the article “restaurants and covid-19: challenges and changes affecting the industry,” with that challenges like new risks as they follow a new safety measure protocol, supply shortages if the usual products that they use are out of stock, limited staff as required to operate at 50% capacity only, consequently, 19 international peer reviewed journal with these challenges they were able to adjust considering the delivery and carryout, however, it added on their supply costs because of the packaging for the condiments and other foods. furthermore, the best way to adjust to a challenging situation is to make the best of it (previsor, 2020). recalling what happened before, according to the provincial tourism and cultural affairs office (ptcao) in albay, the tourism sector has been severely hit by the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic but was able to recover leisurely. in addition, as stated by the ptcao chief, the government’s declaration of community quarantine rules as a health measure to limit and prevent the spread of the virus resulted in php500 million in losses for the province’s tourist and hotel industry during the first half of the year. recognizing data from the previous year, the office reported that during the first half of 2019, roughly a million local and foreign visitors arrived, spending php499 million on travel services, accommodation, and dining. according to the department of trade and industry (dti) in bicol, various businesses claimed revenue losses of almost php5.4 billion because of the region’s temporary shutdown owing to the expanded community quarantine (ecq). according to the regional director of dti, 61,522 out of the 75,000 registered businesses in bicol were closed because of the ecq from march 16 to april 30, 2020. 139, 321 people were temporarily out of work because of the two-month lockdown, while only 14,000 of the previously stated crucial and essential businesses involved in the distribution of power, water, food production and distribution, banking, and health services were allowed to continue operating (serrano, 2020). the key factors remain in the industry, not just by considering competitors and the present trend, but as an owner and manager, one would also consider the possible contributions of it to the economy, community, and the future business maneuver. in the article of katigbak (2022), future-proofing could imply investing in measures that make you adaptive enough to expand as needed for yet unknown events and opportunities. in addition, it also means making sure that something does not become obsolete. it means to be ready for things beyond the here and now. moreover, as a result, industries and professionals need to make investments to ensure the future viability of their offerings. the emphasis for several years was on enhancing the current services and skills. after all, as technology has advanced and business demands have increased, there is increasing focus on the future. customer demands will increase as technology develops, and business operations will become more complex. in having the skills to advance into more difficult roles in the future, professionals should be fully 20 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 equipped to fulfill the tasks and responsibilities of their current positions. it’s all about being resilient, as well as innovative and forward-thinking. framework to direct and assist the study, the study is supported with certain theories. these were utilized to interpret and validate the replies of the food service businesses with various levels of experience, to explain relevant variables, and to analyze the study’s goal. to direct and assist the study, the study is supported by certain theories. these were utilized to interpret and validate the replies of the foodservice businesses with varying levels of experience, to explain relevant variables, and to analyze the study’s goal. the first theory that guided the researcher’s study was schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction by joseph schumpeter; during the pandemic the majority of businesses were affected and closed their business momentarily, also considering the decline of the economic status. the idiosyncratic experiences of the food business owners and managers made them more creative and innovative in sustaining their business operations. in addition, the use of digital platforms made them switch to it so they could constantly communicate and serve their customers. the profit motivation drives entrepreneurs to develop new goods and technology with the intention of improving their circumstances. in the marketplace, new products and services, businesses, and sectors compete with established ones to win customers by providing lower prices, superior functionality, novel features, eye-catching styling, quicker service, more convenient locations, higher status, more aggressive marketing, or more appealing packaging. another seemingly incongruous feature of creative destruction is how the pursuit of one’s interests sparks advancement that benefits society as a whole (alm & cox, n.d.). the second theory that guided the researcher’s study was schumpeter’s innovation theory of business cycle by joseph schumpeter; the pandemic brought numerous challenges to everyone, especially in the food service industry, since the gatherings were limited and there were protocols that needed to be followed. many people created their businesses, such as takeout and delivery orders, on a lower and more affordable price and packages; thus, it challenged the established food service businesses to lower their prices and compete with the new ones. consequently, they were forced to anticipate new ideas and inventions to keep up with the competitors. five innovative techniques that will help your 21 international peer reviewed journal company succeed are as follows: the launch of a new product, the adoption of a novel production technique, the opening of a new market, the search for new sources of raw materials or partially manufactured goods; and reorganization of a company’s production procedures. innovations are entrepreneurs’ commercial implementations of their inventions (kumar, 2020). the third theory that guided the researcher’s study was the rational expectations theory by john f. muth (1961. with all the idiosyncratic experiences and challenges encountered by the foodservice businesses, they have practiced and followed specific measures to steadily open their business during the peak of the pandemic. in addition, the food business owners became more connected with their businesses; hence they could not be as complacent as before. furthermore, they always anticipate what will happen next in the foodservice industry; therefore, they are committed to what will happen now in the future. in macroeconomics, the rational expectations theory is a theory and modeling approach that is frequently applied. in the theory, people make decisions based on three main considerations: their human rationality, the facts at hand, and their prior experiences. moreover, according to the concept, people’s current expectations for the economy have the power to directly affect how the economy will develop in the future. contrary to popular belief, government policy has little bearing on financial and economic decisions (tardi, 2020). the study’s paradigm is described below to help you comprehend the study of documented experiences among food service businesses towards future-proofing the industry. figure 1. paradigm of the study 22 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 objectives of the study the main objective of the study is to document the experiences among the food service businesses towards future-proofing the industry. specifically aims the following (1)to identify the idiosyncratic experiences of the food business owners and managers during the covid-19 pandemic along with production and operation management, sales and marketing management, finance management, human resource management, technology adoption, (2) to determine the challenges encountered by the participants along the abovementioned variables, (3) to identify the measures implemented by food service industry during and after the covid-19 pandemic along the above-mentioned variables, and (4) to recommend a future-proofing framework in the food service business. methodology research design the researcher used a quasi-phenomenological qualitative research approach, a type of approach that aims to comprehend and characterize a phenomenon’s fundamental elements. by putting the researchers’ previous notions about the phenomenon on hold, the technique looks into how people interact with the world on a daily basis. in other words, phenomenology research investigates actual events to learn more about how people interpret them, as well as to trace what accurately occurs in the study regarding its variables. it was used in determining and explaining the data and to consider the answers given by the participants while gathering and analyzing the interview answers; hence, it is scrutinized, documented, and verified. the focus of this study is document the experiences among food service businesses towards future-proofing the industry. research site the study was conducted in the province of albay, philippines specifically in the economic centers of the second district of albay. the researcher chose to study legazpi city and the municipality of daraga because the most known registered food service businesses can be found that cater both onsite and offsite. this place was chosen to interview the selected food business owners or managers from which the researcher has acquired information. as a result, the 23 international peer reviewed journal research’s core informants provided the most reliable and accurate results. research respondents the participants of the study are the selected food business owners and managers of legazpi city and municipality of daraga in the province of albay. the chosen participants were the ones who catered both onsite and offsite events, so they have the most knowledge to share their experiences during a global business disruption which is the covid-19 pandemic. instrumentation the researcher conducted a semi-structured interview with the selected food business owners and managers. the interview question was composed of two parts: part i profile of the participants and part ii researcher’s interview guide. an interview guide was formulated by the researcher after an in-depth reading based on the instrument and interview used by other related researcher and is revised to suit the present study. for validity and reliability of the instrument, which is composed of two parts, was presented to the panel members during the proposal defense for comments and suggestions. sources of data the researcher used primary and secondary sources. the primary source of data was gathered from the responses of the participants, which are the selected food business owners and managers of legazpi city and municipality of daraga in the province of albay. the secondary data came from information surfed and reading materials. data collection the data gathering was conducted by taking into consideration the following procedures: a written permit to conduct an interview with the selected participants prepared and noted by the subject professor, adviser, and the dean of the graduate school in bicol college. the researcher personally interviewed the participants with the aid of an interview guide using open-ended questions from among selected participants and asked permission from the interviewee if the researcher could record the interview to gather necessary data and to verify the genuineness of the information from the participants during the face-to-face interview. come up with the findings and recommendations out of the reactions that were gathered, interpret data sets by identifying common responses, and draw implications of the conclusions and recommendations that were made. 24 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 sampling technique the researcher used purposive sampling wherein the participants of the study were chosen based on the type of food service business and the audience that they cater to. therefore, the total number of participants was based on the legality of their compliance as registered businesses that also have complied with other requirements such as dti and sanitary permit, whether they cater and serve in offsite and onsite locations. data analysis plan the study used thematic analysis (braun & clarke, 2006). this involved steps of coding and the transcribing of interview tapes. the researcher had the opportunity to review potential themes that the researcher had first identified by reading and rereading transcripts. the second level of analysis involved a review of these original codes. when creating overarching motifs and higher-level subthemes, the researcher gave considerable thought to how to preserve the diversity of the original codes. the research questions focused on the documented experiences among food service businesses towards future-proofing the industry, filled in the process. results and discussion the data are presented thematically below, followed by cross-referencing based on the literature review and the implications of each outcome to the overall course of the targeted issue. four (4) theme topics were offered based on the transcript of the phenomenological study: (1) the covid-19 pandemic: the food business owners and manager’s idiosyncratic experiences, (2) the covid-19 pandemic: challenges encountered by the food business owners and managers, (3) the measures implemented during and after the covid-19 pandemic in the food service industry, and (4) the future-proofing framework in the food service industry. this theme outcome is broken down into five (5) sub-variables in the objectives: (a) production and operation management, (b) sales and marketing management, (c) financial management, (d) human resource management, and (e) technology adoption. the interview transcript from the researcher’s semi-structured interview 25 international peer reviewed journal served as the basis for this thematic outcome. part 1: the covid-19 pandemic: food business owners and managers’ idiosyncratic experiences a. production and operation management production focused on ordering and buying the supplies, assigning the personnel in the kitchen and service area, food preparation, and food service and food delivery. along with ordering and buying the supplies, most of the participants have the same point of view of their experiences, such as having difficulty buying goods both at the mall and wet market because of the long line and limited stocks. in assigning the personnel in the kitchen and service area, since it was the peak of the pandemic, a few of the participants mentioned that their way was by shifting the staff and assigning them half of their normal duty days since it was needed to skeletal scheduling. in food preparation, each participant gave out their insights; a participant shared that they were able to avail of same-day delivery of fresh goods from the mall and at the wet market. lastly, in food service and food delivery, most of the participants had done the same routine, such as disinfecting the service car before and after delivery and chose to avail and partner with their preferred delivery. operation management focused on planning, organizing, and supervising in planning an event or function both onsite and offsite, many participants planned preparation of the needed ingredients, utensils, cloth, seating capacity for social distancing, and manpower loading. in organizing an event or function both onsite and offsite, most participants followed the protocol of having fewer events and a number of pax and assigned at least one head waiter or supervisor in each of their events. lastly, in supervising an event and function both onsite and offsite, just a few participants have shared their experiences in supervising the events; hence they have said that as the owner, they also supervised the events and doubled checked all the assigned tasks of the waiters. sales and marketing management sales focused on catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales in sales management, having their catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales in general; for a long time in the food service business, it is just now that the participants have experienced this kind of unexpected and uncontrollable 26 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 financial crisis. marketing management focused on exclusive deals or promo, social media marketing, and affiliate marketing in exclusive deals or promo, many have their own experiences of delivering it, such as by giving appreciation gifts to regular customers and giving more pax as a freebie for their loyal and regular customers. while doing the social media marketing, it was convenient for all of them as they could post on their facebook account or page to promote, and most of the inquiries were coming from the social media platforms. lastly, in affiliate marketing, all the participants did not have affiliate marketing. b. finance management focused on capital budgeting, capital structure, and working capital in capital budgeting many of the participants struggled with their capital budgeting because it was a type of business’s disruption that was out of control. for the working capital, just a few of the participants entertained this part since they already mentioned their struggles with their capital budgeting. lastly, the capital structure was not used by any of the participants. c. human resource management focused on hiring staff, tracking employee hours, running payroll, employee records, and business licenses in hiring the staff, they did not hire anyone because there was no task to be worked on. contradictorily, a participant hired those who have an experience with the food business and is willing to accept and train pwds (persons with disability) and working students. in tracking the employee hours, they also have dissimilar experiences as a participant did not track hours; instead, they assigned them with a specific time of coming to work, and on the other hand, a participant implemented an early out of their employees if there was no event or function. for the running of payroll, many participants have mentioned that they have reduced their salary. for the employees records, just a few of the participants have mentioned that they just required an employee record for their regular staff, such as requiring a resume, community clearance, and a vaccination card. lastly, for the business licenses, a certain number of participants have shared their different experiences in applying for or renewing their business licenses as a participant said that there was no difference prior to and during the pandemic, and a participant 27 international peer reviewed journal also said that the lgu’s (local government) have been lenient and easy. d. technology adoption focused on mobile applications, website, digital platforms, and online payment methods in mobile applications, none of them have a mobile application. while for the website, just a limited number of participants had them as its purpose is for the packages and menu and pictures of the foods and venue. on the other hand, all the participants had an advantageous experience in using the digital platforms, which were on facebook-page and messenger. additionally, a few of the participants have also considered the use of viber, instagram, and email. lastly, the implementation of the online payment method; was also useful and convenient both for the owner and the customer. ruggieri (2018) concluded that the current study emphasized the function of business platforms in advancing novel value proposition models and mediating between supply and demand, supporting the ongoing shift to the digital economy in this way. the author’s multiple-case analysis provided empirical support for some common patterns and characteristics of this sort of business that were, in some cases, already mentioned in the literature. part 2: the covid-19 pandemic: challenges encountered by the food business owners and managers a. production and operation management production focused on ordering and buying the supplies, assigning the personnel in the kitchen and service area, preparation of the food, and food service and food delivery. in ordering and buying the supplies, the participants’ challenges were comparable. they have encountered various challenges, such as price increases of the goods and commodities, and the clients refunded and canceled their events; hence they were challenged about it since no one even booked an event or function. in assigning the personnel in the kitchen and serving area, a few of the participants have stated that the first challenge or issue with it was the transportation of their employees, and some of the staff resigned due to the difficulty of transportation at that time, hence without them, it would be difficult on their end to assign or re-assign the personnel. in preparation of the foods, a few of them shared their challenges. a participant had difficulty finding fresh 28 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 meat at the market since many of the consumers opted to buy canned goods at that time. lastly, in food service and food delivery, a couple of the participants shared their challenges, likely the price increase of gasoline and the same food service businesses owner they were not able to increase the menu since it was still pandemic time. operation management focused on planning, organizing, and supervising. in planning for the events and function, the participants encountered different challenges, such as planning for the seating capacity. another challenge for a participant was the on-calls who would not show up after making a plan of their assignments and tasks. in organizing the events and functions, the participants also shared different challenges that they encountered likely. a participant tried to offer a photo booth for additional activities during the events; however, the result was they must disinfect the props every after use of the guests, so it added to their expenses, such as buying a lysol. lastly, in supervising the event or function, the participants had certain and dissimilar challenges as a participant sentimentally shared that they had experienced a covid-scare at one of their events which few of their employees were exposed to that event even so, that the client had supported the employees that could not come to work. b. sales and marketing management sales focused on catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales. in catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales, the participants were challenged since there were no events at that time, so there were no income and negative sales. marketing focused on exclusive deals or promo, social media marketing, and affiliate marketing. in having exclusive deals or promo, the participants did not share any challenges since it was executed well. however, for affiliate marketing, they have not applied it in their business yet. however, in social media marketing, few participants had their situation, such as fear of scams and the cancellation of reservations. 29 international peer reviewed journal c. finance management focused on capital budgeting, capital structure, and working capital. with the capital budgeting and working capital, the participants shared their unique challenges such as if a specific client had booked an advance event, after a month/s of the said event it had an unexpected increase of the goods that would be used on that event, therefore the management could not be able to increase the package anymore that was availed of the client, so they have to stick with their old price. d. human resource management focused on hiring staff, tracking employee hours, running payroll, employee records, and business licenses in hiring staff, the participants did not have any challenges since they did not need new staff. for the tracking of employee hours, the participants did not have difficulty since they tracked them through a logbook or biometric; also, for the running payroll, both employer and employee had an agreement regarding the giving and receiving of their salaries, so they did not encounter any problem at all. similarly, with the employee records, they did not share any problems with it because the staff complied with it. lastly, regarding the business licenses, a participant mentioned that they encountered a delay in the processing of the requirements. furthermore, a certain number of participants were challenged about the yearly increase in payment for the business permits. e. technology adoption focused on mobile applications, websites, digital platforms, and online payment methods. the use of mobile applications and websites; the participants did not encounter any challenges since there was just a few participants had these. for the digital platforms, the participants did not encounter any challenges in using this. lastly, few of the participants have shared their problem with implementing the online payment method, likely if a specific application has a delay and has an error. in the study of lögdal and calissendorff (2018), past studies on digital platforms and ecosystems are quite thorough and cover a wide range of 30 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 opportunities and difficulties. the author’s research revealed that in addition to a technological problem, there are organizational and business model issues that need to be resolved. part 3: the measures implemented during and after the covid-19 pandemic in the food service industry a. production and operation management production focused on ordering and buying the supplies, assigning the personnel in the kitchen and service area, food preparation, and food service and food delivery. in ordering and buying the supplies, the participants have shared different ways of their measures such as a participant availed and ordered from an online grocery of the mall with free delivery, also with the free delivery of vegetables and fruits from the wet market, and now with the new normal, they have just maintained it. in assigning the personnel in the kitchen and service area; during the peak of the pandemic, most of the participants have assigned their employees with specific days, such as by mwf (monday, wednesday, and friday) and tth (tuesday and thursday) and rotation of schedule as well, but now that it is new normal, they have returned the normal days of their duty days and have a complete staff and have provided a full service for events or functions with the waiter. for the food preparation, most of the participants practiced necessary measures both for the safety of the management and customers. lastly, in food service and food delivery, most participants charge mobility charges if direct delivered by the management. operation focused on planning, organizing, and supervising. in planning and organizing the event and function, a few of the participants have mentioned that they plan ahead of time, such as the manpower and kitchen preparation, and up to now, they are still doing it. while supervising the event and function, a participant has shared that they have been consistent in reminding the staff about the protocols, providing thermal scanners and alcohol at the entrance during the pandemic, and checking the onsite or offsite through video call. b. sales and marketing management sales focused on catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales. in catering sales, restaurant sales, and online sales, the participants gave a 31 international peer reviewed journal different insight into their measures. in catering sales, a participant has joined an online community for food service and became more active on facebook, and with the new normal, they just maintained it. similarly, a participant has shared that for their online sales, they became more active on facebook and instagram and opened orders through messenger. uniquely, a participant has added for their catering and restaurant sales; they had a takeout station to have an additional source of income, and in maintaining it, they have reduced their manpower and supplies, controlled the marketing, lowered the number of pax to be catered, and offered ala carte and small portions for takeout. marketing focused on exclusive deals or promo, social media marketing, and affiliate marketing. for the exclusive deals or promo and social media marketing, the participants had different styles of executing their measures but were relatively comparable. a participant offered a civil wedding package for fifty pax with venue decoration and free wine and gave free use of videoke for the senior citizen. c. finance management focused on capital budgeting, capital structure, and working capital. in capital budgeting and working capital, the participants have different ways of applying their measures, such as an owner-financed new set of menus and adapting the trend, and applying it in the present time. for the capital structure, all participants did not have this. d. human resource management hiring staff, tracking employee hours, running payroll, employee records, and business licenses. in hiring of staff, many participants mentioned that now with the new normal, they needed to hire more for their manpower. additionally, with employee records, they have required a vaccination card. a participant mentioned that during the pandemic, they did not need new staff. hence they have just retained their previous staff. additionally, tracking of their employee hours was just the same. also, the management took care of the blue card and health cards of their staff, and they have a bookkeeper, but now they are accepting 32 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 on-call waiters again. relatively, for running the payroll, a certain number of the participants give payment on the day of the duty, especially for the calls, and give salary and advance payment if needed. still, with the new normal, they give out the normal rate on the normal days of the duty. lastly, for the business licenses, all participants have complied with all the requirements and availed installments for their permits during and after the pandemic. e. technology adoption in using digital platforms and online payment methods, most of the participants focused on the use of gcash and bank transfers. also, few of the participants accepted a credit card and paymaya payment. while for the website just a certain number of the participants had it, and for the mobile application, all the participants did not have it. mishra and tripathi (2020) concluded that throughout the past couple of years, numerous business frameworks and innovative company models had been created. the development of new technologies has altered how businesses operate over time, making the study of business models in digital marketplaces a crucial topic of study if one wants to operate sustainably in the modern digital marketplace. part 4: the future-proofing framework in the food service industry. figure 2. future-proofing framework after all the experiences that the participants have faced, the challenges they 33 international peer reviewed journal have encountered, and the measures they have applied during the pandemic and in the new normal, it is necessary for them to continuously safeguard their business operations this present time regardless of any business disruption that might come again. based on the data gathered from the participants’ responses, immensely guided the researcher to create a future proofing framework in the food service industry. production and operation management; it is necessary to have a reliable permanent supplier and a well-known substitute supplier. it is also necessary to have an active and regular food delivery service partner. respectively, it is required to have a trusted employee besides the owner to handle the operation during an event or function. in the article of blutstein (2022) titled “rise of the digital network: futureproofing operations against supply chain disruption,” here are some of the needed tactics that were mentioned by the author; master planning with traffic light ratings will strengthen supplier networks, keep your finger on the supply chain pulse with warehouse management and a smart factory setup, optimize production performance by keeping track of outside pressures, and take the digital leap to avoid the ‘butterfly effect’ on future supply chains. sales and marketing management; generally, implement creative deals and offer an affordable menu to the clients to boost sales. considering the peak season and lean season of the events or function, think of a promotion that will work on that specific season. be permanently active on social media accounts and consistently advertise the business page on social media. in the article of khanoria (2022), the author mentioned that businesses must ensure that their marketing strategies are future-proof because market conditions can alter at any time. for increasing brand awareness and securing strategies for the future, a unified marketing approach that combines offline and online strategies can be effective. additionally, while posting about the event on media, the author urged offline readers to go online and utilize a hashtag. finance management; overall, consider the important expenses and have a record of the expenses. moreover, always ensure to have a safety budget for every event, function, and restaurant supplies. in the article by lawrence (2022) titled “future-proofing finance: top three priorities to build the finance team of the future,” as mentioned by the author these are three strategies finance managers can use to ensure their team’s success in the future: prioritizing technology to attract top talent, ushering in an expanded set of data skills, and harnessing data to advance environment, social 34 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 and governmental (esg) goals. human resource management; significantly strengthens the workforce with determined and experienced workers. appreciate and give extra credit to the hardworking employees. be more organized and prioritize the needed requirements for the business. in the article of coley (2023) titled “future-proofing the employment relationship to boost retention,” as mentioned by the author, here are some of the ways in which the business could practice: employee engagement, employee contracts, remote working, and global mobility. technology adoption; considerably, balancing the traditional and techy clients, be more attentive to their demands both offline and online. consider more options for online payment. invest on behalf of the clients by having or exploring the website and their mobile application community. in the article by steinberg (2019) titled “5 ways technology can help you future-proof your business,” the author mentioned five significant changes in the business that technology is expected to bring about in the upcoming years and how these seismic adjustments might help future-proof your company and boost output and performance: ai, analytics, and predictive insights, virtualized and mobile workforce management, online payments, digital transactions, and automatic billing, vr and ar training and education, and cybersecurity. conclusions a business disruption such as a pandemic has ruined the way businesses handle their maneuver. this study documented the experiences of the selected food service business owners and managers in the food industry, focusing on specific variables, which are (a) production and operation management, (b) sales and marketing management, (c) finance management, (d) human resource management, and (e) technology adoption. consequently, the challenges and measures were identified, which assisted the researcher in recommending a future-proofing framework. this study has shown that even though strict protocols were given by the government to all the business establishments they needed to follow during the peak of the pandemic, business transaction was affected as well. thus the results proved how strategic and acquiescent the food service business owners and managers were at that time. furthermore, this study has shown that food service business owners 35 international peer reviewed journal and managers could adapt easily to the business trend. moreover, the use of technology helped them in many ways likely, answering inquiries and accepting orders. crucially, this study will help future researchers and benefit the readers by knowing more about future-proofing studies that may secure the food industry in a time of business disruption. translational research significantly, this documented study will guide the food service business owners, managers, and the food industry to manage their businesses competently, particularly during planning, developing, and executing their business operations. from the results of this study, the selected food service business owners and managers had an indistinguishable experience that assisted them in following a set of measures that helped them to survive such business disruption. accordingly, this study will be exceedingly improved and explored through further studies through journals, news, surfed information from the internet, and documentation in the food service industry. literature cited alm, r., & cox, m. (n.d.). creative destruction. http://bit.ly/3srxjr2 blutstein, a. (2022). rise of the digital network: future proofing operations against supply chain disruption. http://bit.ly/3ji2jv4 coley, j. (2023). future-proofing the employment relationship to boost retention. http://bit.ly/3zsrcqp dublin. (2019). philippines foodservice market growth, trends and forecasts (2019-2024): major players are strategizing to increase product visibility through promotions & providing lucrative discount options researchandmarkets.com. http://bit.ly/3kpwlz0 katigbak, t. (2022). future-proof. http://bit.ly/3ston92 khanoria, d. s. (2022). future-proofing marketing strategies to stay relevant in 2023. http://bit.ly/3zotylh kumar, p. (2020). schumpeter’s innovation theory of business cycle. http:// bit.ly/3jhjwq7 http://bit.ly/3ji2jv4 36 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 lawrence, p. (2022). future-proofing finance: top three priorities to build the finance team of the future. https://bit.ly/3klhafb logdal, n., & calissendorf, p. (2018). digital platforms challenges and opportunities: evidence from a traditional market sector. https://bit. ly/41jjrmx mishra, s., & tripathi, a. r. (2021). literature review on business prototypes for digital platform. http://bit.ly/3zqjcjr previsor. (2020). restaurants and covid-19: challenges and changes affecting the industry. http://bit.ly/3zopqou ruggieri, r. (2018). the impact of digital platforms on business models: an empirical investigation on innovative start-ups. https://bit.ly/41nisqc serrano, m. (2020). albay tourism industry loses p.5-b due to covid-19. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1112294 steinberg, s. (2019). 5 ways technology can help you future-proof your business. http://bit.ly/3ksfgc8 tardi, c. (2020). rational expectations theory definition and how it works. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rationaltheoryofexpectations.asp 118 jpair multidisciplinary research vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.394 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. competencies learned and relevance of the business administration curriculum to the graduates’ job lilia absin dela cruz http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5926-5837 lac.delacruz@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad cebu city, philippines judy ann ong ferrater-gimena http://orcid.org 0000-001-5352-8253 judygimena@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines perly paquibot inot http://orcid.org 0000-0003-2205-4547 johntoni82@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad cebu city, philippines christopher biore http://orcid.org 0000-0002-0062-0344 crisbiore@gmail.com university of cebu cebu city, philippines 119 international peer reviewed journal abstract the necessity for higher education is considered as an essential vehicle to alleviate a person’s productivity and employability. many graduates find difficulty looking for suitable jobs nowadays. any job opportunity even if not in line with the educational training is grabbed. this study gathered inputs on the competencies that the graduates of bachelor of science in business administration learned and the relevance of the program to their job. furthermore, the result of the study aimed to improve the school’s quality education through the formulation of an intervention scheme that primarily focused on the transformation of the course syllabi to outcomes-based system. the study made use of descriptive-survey research design, adopting the standardized tool graduate tracer study by the commission on higher education (ched). utilizing purposive sampling, 52 graduates served as respondents. findings showed that graduates were employable across various lines of businesses. the skills and competencies learned in college were relevant in their current jobs. however, relevant skills and competencies like communication skill and practical knowledge need to be enhanced so that future graduates of this program will have a competitive advantage in the labor market both locally and internationally. this issue can be addressed by improving the curriculum and the teaching-learning activities in the classroom that must be reflected in the course syllabi. keywords— business education, career, business administration, descriptive, purposive sampling, cebu city, philippines introduction globalization, technical innovation, rapid effectives and rising demand from the consumers stimulated the transformation in the economy of the united kingdom. these changes imply that employers are requiring prospective workers to possess general skills as well as technical know-how as a way of improving their human capital resources in the context of growing complicated organizational processes; working in teams; less supervision; better work adoption and rotation; and improved customer service (greatbatch & lewis, 2007). the very essence of education is normally measured in the aspect of its propensity to uplift the economic status or the per capita income of the people 120 jpair multidisciplinary research (akkoyunlu –wigley & wigley, 2008). however, in the philippines, one of the most serious problems in the 1980s and early 1990s concerned with a large number of students who completed college but then could not find a job in line with their educational qualification. if these people who had acquired college diploma had found a job which relates and commensurate their field of study, then how would they be able contribute to the economic development. but if there are limited job opportunities, then they would be forced to be underemployed or accept job that mismatch their skills. universities have taken different approaches in the manner in which they develop graduate employability skills. therefore, the connection between higher education and employment has elicited keen interest among researchers as it takes up the major share of education budget. a very significant output of an educational institution is its graduates. they can be measured by efficiency, but still the real score is on their employability and their inclusion in the work force. the number of graduates and employment must be directly proportionate (macatangay, 2013). thus, the commission in higher education issued ched memorandum order no. 46, (series of 2012) that mandates that the philippine higher education shall contribute to building a quality nation capable of transcending the social, political, cultural, economic and other ethical concerns that restrain the growth of the filipino workers and competitiveness in the world market. skills development enhances both people’s ability to perform a specific job function. thus, it widens a person’s job opportunities and propensity to be hired in high paying job. the economic progress of a nation is affected by the employment rate of the labor force and their corresponding productivity. there exist many literatures that connect economic growth to educational situation of a country and the competence of its workforce. most of them emphasize that if there is a nation’s educational system is good, then it produces highly-competent labor force that could be a very good tool to uplift the economic standing of the country in general and reduces market opportunities and reduces social inequalities (international labour office, 2010). the national employment rate in the philippines in july 2013 was estimated at 92.7 percent or approximately 38.175 million compared to the previous years’ 93.0%. the underemployment rate was also estimated at 19.2 % against 22.8 percent in july 2012; while the unemployment rate registered at 7.3 percent. out of the total unemployment rate, the unemployed college graduates accounted for 21.7 percent (national statistics office, 2014). based on common experience, many of the graduates are finding it hard to find suitable jobs. any opportunity even if it is not in line with 121 international peer reviewed journal their educational attainment and training is grabbed, while others wait for jobs they have been longing for, considering the massive number of unemployed and underemployed in the country. framework the study anchors on theodore schultz’ human capital theory that was postulated in 1960. it states that the income in the job market is dependent on the employees’ knowledge, competencies, and abilities. this notion embodies the idea that the workers contribute ones know-how in operation process. the economists who investigated this phenomenon explained that that the increase in total knowledge and skills in the labor force is attributed through formal education (kleinroge, 2014). human capital theory (becker, 1964) discussed that: 1) education provide and enhance the capability and skills of the people so that they will become productive, and 2) wage discrepancy exposes differences in productivity. consequently, those workers who acquire higher educational attainment are more likely to earn higher salaries, keeping other variables constant, because they are deemed to be more productive than those workers who had not attained higher education (rycx, saks & tojero, 2015). becker provided the basis for considering human capital, the same a physical resource. the consideration of educational investment as an investment in human capital depends on the presumption that those people who had acquired higher educational attainment are considered to a more productive worker and more likely to have more access to higher income. the higher income of well-educated people are thus, assumed to mirror their greater productivity. education is a means in which a person will be able to acquire knowledge, skills and competencies that will make him to be more efficient in his job. neoclassical economic theory posits that wages can be determined on the basis of a worker‘s capability to contribute to the income of the firm. therefore, the marginal earnings of the educated are a mirror of their increasing productivity (menon, 2011). the demand to acquire college diploma is a means to achieve better standard of living and value in the job market. this exigency prods a person to earn increased income, accomplish honor and prestige, and uplift one living and social status. precisely, at this stage, there is an on-going call for universities to provide quality education to its students (gimena & doming, 2014). 122 jpair multidisciplinary research the aspect that employers usually give importance in new graduates is those that most professors in tertiary education also considered worthy. this refers to students who exerted extra effort in acquiring knowledge, participation in extra curricular activities and other activities that fully mold the students at their best. these students are also those who had given honor and pride to the university and the community regarding to the participation and winning in contests and related activities harvey & knight, (2005). according to berger and fisher (2013), the chief issue of the state economic policy is the mean on how the government boosts the economic well-being of the people. there will be a rise in the earnings of the people in the economy when productivity increases. the government has many economic and non-economic tools to increase the productivity. these tools include investment in public infrastructure, technology, education and training. however, there are many states which did not take their main responsibility ensuring inclusive economic growth. the focus of these states does not lead towards enabling the people to be productive. the fault of this approach is that it drains the resources from the most significant goal to increasing economic productivity and that is investment in educational system. employability contains different dimensions such as the actual competence of the individual, formal qualifications gained through educational activities, hard technical vocational employability skills, and soft skills, including transferable meta-competence, interpersonal skills. employability is not only concerned with aspects associated with the individual. it is a relational concept, and contextual aspects are also central in the  understanding of the concept. thus, when studying  employability, it is important to consider the following: 1) both soft and hard skills; 2) actual and formal competence; 3) personal characteristics; 4) attributes and talents of an individual; 5) social networks and structural factors; 6)  the implicit and explicit requirements of  the job; 7) the  characteristics of the organization; and the 8) relations between them (nilsson, 2010). objectives of the study the study assessed the relevance of the bachelor of science in business administration program to the current job of the graduates of bsba in a university. 123 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study applied the descriptive research design with the use of a standardized tool suggested by the commission on higher education (2012) in determining the employability of the graduates of bachelor of science in business administration. research environment the research site was at a non-stock and non-profit corporation duly registered under the securities and exchange commission. it is a private educational institution that provides quality education at low tuition fees. it offers the following programs: juris doctor (jd), bachelor of science in accountancy (bsa), bachelor of science in accounting technology (bsact), bachelor of science in business administration (bsba), bachelor of science in information technology (bsit), bachelor of science in information systems (bsis), bachelor of science computer engineering (bscpe) and bachelor of science in electronics engineering (bsee), bachelor of science in hotel and restaurant management (bshrm), bachelor of science in tourism (bstour) science in criminology (bscrim), bachelor of science in nursing, (bsn), bachelor of science in secondary education (bsed), and bachelor of science in elementary education (beed). the student population of the university was 6,500 at the time of the study. the college of business and accountancy’s student population was 1,500 students that offers: bsa, bsact and bsba programs. under the bsba curriculum, the students can choose four (4) types of specialization: human resource development; marketing management; financial management and management accounting. research respondents using purposive sampling, there were 52 respondents of this study who were the graduates of bachelor of science in business administration and were both working in the philippines and abroad. purposive random sampling technique was applied in choosing the respondents. instrumentation the study utilized the graduate tracer survey (gts), a standardized tool designed by ched. it has eight (8) sections with 34 items. the first section 124 jpair multidisciplinary research presents data on the profile of the graduates. section two (2) exhibits the reasons of the graduates for taking the course; while section three (3) presents the employment status of the graduates; section four (4) displays the reasons for unemployment; section five (5) shows the data on the current job, employer’s line of business, place of work and gross monthly earnings on the first job; section six (6) exposes the strategies used to find the first job; section seven (7) reveals the number of graduates who were able to land a job related to the degree obtained in college and lastly; and section eight (8) displays the data on the academic competencies learned in college that were utilized in their present job. as part of the ethical considerations in research ethics, the respondents were requested to sign a consent form before they answer the questionnaires. the gathered data were treated with utmost confidentiality to protect the rights of the respondents. research procedure and data analysis the researchers wrote a letter addressed to the campus academic director asking permission to conduct the study. another letter was sent to the registrar’s office asking the total number of graduates and requesting permission to gain access on the latter’s contact information including the home address of the graduates and their landline and/or cell phone numbers. when all of the requests had been approved, the researchers personally distributed the questionnaires to the graduates. to ensure maximum participation and retrieval of the sample questionnaires, the proponents notified and made follow up to the graduates through their contact information and through facebook online using google form. data were collated, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using appropriate statistical treatment. for the purpose of analyzing the data collected the following statistical treatments were applied: counts and percentage were used to describe the profile of the respondents. ranking was also used to interpret the data on the questions that entails multiple responses. results and discussion profile of the respondents out of the fifty-two (52) graduate-respondents, there were thirty-two (32), whose degree of specialization taken was marketing management, which 125 international peer reviewed journal comprised 61.54%; while there were only two (2) which is equivalent to 3.85%, whose degree of specialization was management accounting. other major of specialization taken by the graduates were financial management and human resource management. there were eight (8) respondents who graduated cum laude, while most of them did not receive any awards when they graduated. further, majority (90.38%) of respondents had not taken further studies yet while there were five (5) or equivalent to 9.62% had taken master in business administration. as for the reasons why the graduates took the course, bachelor of science in business administration, the strong passion for the profession ranked as number one (1). other common reasons were a prospect of immediate employment as well as the influence of parents or relative(s). these reasons implied that the graduates had a good knowledge about the business administration program when they enrolled it. they believed that taking this course can provide them with immediate work after graduation since there are lots of job opportunities in this field. on the other hand, there were only few who answered that their reason for taking the course was no particular choice or no better idea which ranked as last. this result implied that there were still students who did not have a clear idea when enrolled in this program or course. this data support the human capital theory of becker who said that the consideration of educational investment in human capital depends on the presumption that those people who had acquired higher educational attainment are considered to more productive worker and more likely to have more access to higher income (menon, 2011). graduates employment status as to the employment status of the graduates, 90.38% of the respondents were employed. there were only four (4) who were unemployed and one (1) who had not been employed ever since after graduation. further, thirty-seven (37) of those who were employed were permanently employed. there were only two (2) who were self-employed which is equivalent to 3.85%. human capital is a means to achieve economic growth and development. what the people viewed to be the importance aspiration in their lives; how they look at their job, how innovative or competent they are; how intelligent and motivated they are, will determine whether their country will develop or not. labor is a very important resource. it is any form of human effort exerted in the production of goods and services. labor covers a wide range of skills, abilities, and 126 jpair multidisciplinary research characteristics. the supply of labor in a country is dependent on its production and on the percentage of its population that is willing to join the labor force. naturally, a country with a high population growth rate is expected to come up with a bigger labor supply (pagoso, dinio, & villasis, 2013). the graduate-respondents’ job level position in their first job was mostly rank or clerical (61.70%). there were 27.66% who assumed professional, technical or supervisory job. furthermore, there was 6.38% who were holding managerial or executive position; while there were 4.26% who were self-employed. these findings can be deduced as a normal outcome since normally, a newly graduate would likely to fit this position since they do not have any relevant experience and maturity to assume supervisory nor managerial position unless one’s intelligence and talent is exceptional. but it is possible for a newly graduate to venture into a business especially if he has the capital. human capital is the collection of capability, expertise, community and individual skills, which include innovativeness, creativity, cognitive abilities, exemplified in the ability of a person to perform a particular job to produce human satisfying commodity of value. it is the capsule view of the workforce of the work in the economy which intends to capture the social, biological, cultural and psychological complexity as they interact in explicit and/or economic transaction (sorenson, 2015). relevance of curriculum to the job and competencies as to the relevance of college curriculum to the job and competencies learned, result showed that majority of the respondents (82.98%) answered that their curriculum was relevant to their first job. this means that the graduates learned from the subjects they had taken in the course which prepared them to their first job after college. also, the respondents answered that communication skills, human relations skills as well as the critical thinking skills were the top three competencies they learned in college which they find useful in their first job. this result denoted that these competencies were essential in the performance of the job in the business administration sector. there are various factors that motivate a person to study in the university. these factors would include the interest in a particular subject or discipline and to be able undergo another situation in life. in most countries, those who are diploma holders would have a better opportunity to get a better job. although, there many factors that affects the employability of the workforce of a country. these employability factors would include the relative demand and supply of a 127 international peer reviewed journal skill, the complexity of the skills needed for a job, the educational attainment of a person and other technical factors in job performance. when a person is a college diploma holder, prospective employers would expect that these people possess the required skills, competency and knowledge needed in the performance of the job assigned to them (lowden, hall, elliot, & lewin, 2011). conclusion the academic training under the bachelor of science in business administration program is basically relevant to the job of the graduates. aside from the learning of the students from the academic training, there are certain skills that necessitates enhancement to make the business graduates not just simply employable but attain a higher job position. the intelligence, competencies and skills should go together to each human resource to enable them to be valuable not only in the domestic job market but also to be globally competitive. the attainment of multifaceted training program requires various teaching and learning activities that would train the learners with diverse competencies and skills to enable them to be prepared with any job in the industry. in this manner, the business graduates will gain a wider opportunities to find a rewarding job. translational research the outcome of the study required the transformation of the course syllabi under the bachelor of science in business administration from the traditional one-size-fits-all system to outcomes-based standard. this system would enable the students to be more proactive in the learning activities. with this, the learners will gain self-confidence, critical learning skills, communications skills and other skills which are relevant in the job market. literature cited akkoyunlu-wigley, a. & wigley, s. (2008). basic education and capability development in turkey. education in turkey.waxman publishing, new york/ munster. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research berger, n., & fisher, p. (2013). a well-educated workforce is key to state prosperity. economic policy institute, 22(1). commission on higher education (2012). policy-standard to enhance quality assurance (qa) in philippine higher education through an outcomesbased and typology-based qa. retrieved on may 28, 2016 from http://goo. gl/02bpxq greatbatch, d., & lewis, p. (2007). generic employability skills ii.  a paper prepared by the centre for developing and evaluating lifelong learning at the university of nottingham in collaboration with the south west skills and learning intelligence module at the university of exeter. harvey, l., & knight, p. (2005). briefings on employability 5: helping departments to develop employability. london. esect. international labour office. (2010). a skilled workforce for strong, sustainable and balanced growth: a g20 training strategy. international labour office, geneva. isbn 978-92-2-124278-9. retrieved on may 28, 2016 from http:// goo.gl/dxy7sm kleinroge, p.l. (2014). wage and salary. encyclopedia britannica. retrieved on may 28, 2016 from http://goo.gl/mnswxv lowden, k., hall, s., elliot, d., & lewin, j. (2011). employers’ perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates. london: edge foundation. macatangay, l. (2013). tracer study of bscs graduates of lyceum of the philippines university from 2004-2009. academic research international,4(5), 361. menon, m. e. (2011). the link between education and productivity: the employers’perspective. national statistics office. (2014). retrieved on november 3, 2014 from http:// census.gov.ph/ statistics/survey/labor-force. 129 international peer reviewed journal nilsson, s. (2010). enhancing individual employability: the perspective of engineering graduates. education+ training, 52(6/7), 540-551. pagoso, c., dinio, r., & villasis, g. (2013). introductory macroeconomics. manila: rex bookstore. inc. retrieved on may 28, 2016from https://goo.gl/c3nkd1. rycx, f., saks, y., & tojerow, i. (2015). does education raise productivity and wages equally? the moderating roles of age, gender and industry. sorenson, r.l. (2015). e-study guide for: family business and social capital. usa: cram 101 content technologies, inc. retrieved on may 28, 2016 from https://goo.gl/efb9ob 1 international peer reviewed journal syntactic priming: improving senior high school learners’ writing proficiency meraflor montajes alojado http//orcid.org/0000-0001-6334-9021 maimuffins32@gmail.com tongantongan national high school tongantongan, valencia city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract syntactic priming is a tendency for a speaker or writer to repeat of a recently produced or heard in a language structure by processing and sharing the same underlying syntactic structure which serves as the intervention for the students who were having difficulties in writing specifically on coordinating conjunctions. it would enhance the secondary students’ writing proficiency in sentence construction to produce better-written outputs not only in educational context but also to the corporate world as well. this experimental research investigated the significant difference on the grade 11 students section tulip before and after using syntactic priming as an intervention in writing. the researcher made use of structured test like pre-test and post-test to measure the effectiveness of syntactic priming in students’ writing performances. statistical techniques such as mean and t-test were also used. analyzed data revealed that there was an increased on their scored mean from pre-test to post-test among thirty identified participants as poor writers. furthermore, there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test since the p-value (0.000) was lesser than 0.5, the null hypothesis was rejected with 95% level of confidence based on the students’ scores before vol. 36 · march 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v36i1.678 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:maimuffins32@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research and after taking the intervention which was not the same. keywords – linguistic, syntactic priming, writing proficiency, experimental design, philippines introduction syntactic priming is an approach to minimize syntax difficulty of the learners’ writing following the appropriate manner in producing proper grammar in constructing sentences. since writing is one of the important aspects language which needs to be given attention, noam chomsky conceptualizes an idea on grammatical properties to make it simpler in making sentences represented by symbols with binary values and these grammatical theories generate rules, forms, and patterns to be followed in creating “formalized theory of linguistic structure.” nowadays, the writing ability of the students still has been faced due to the high percentage of errors committed by secondary learners in terms of syntax. these learners are well versed in writing supposedly, but they are empowered with advanced tools and results to weaken their interests to write in the class. in a real setting, though teachers provide varied performance tasks, still learners find apprehension in sentence construction wherein the functions of the english language eventually are significant in both written and spoken forms. in linguistic theory, chomsky describes grammar as a tool in producing all sentences at all levels of language analysis because writing is incredibly essential in education, business, and communication. to bridge the gap of the learners and lift their academic performances which are affected, the syntactic priming approach serves as an intervention in producing better language outputs not only in educational context but in the corporate world. pickering, branigan, cleland, and stewart (2000) defines syntactic priming as the tendency for a speaker or writer to repeatedly produce on what he heard and seen in a language structure which recognizes a syntactic representation by processing of another and sharing with the same underlying syntactic structure. it aids as mediation to solve sentence writing difficulty. to prove the efficacy of this syntactic priming in developing language instruction and lessen the problems on syntax is kuerten’s theory (2007) explains that syntactic priming has a good effect not only in behavioural aspect but in output production among students in the field of language which reduces their writing problems in both active and passive verbs. also, mcdonough 3 international peer reviewed journal and mackey (2008) in united states america scrutinize the usefulness of this method as an alternative tool between language production and second language development which have largely encouraged on learners’ immediate reactions to interactional feedback. scheepers (2003) also explores on priming activities in second language acquisition research applicable to the other researches but limited only with the dealt of modality still, shows that experimental groups make more target structures in their written forms than the control group. learners tend to repeat the types of sentences during language production due to syntactic priming as the phenomenon whereby the act of processing in the form of utterance facilitates processing the subsequent utterance in the same form, segaert, menenti, weber, and hagoort (2011). they adopt bock’s experiment in which it uses a picture description to let the speakers’ repeated prime sentences and describe semantically unrelated target pictures. in asia, like indonesia, rahman and asfah’s (2018) investigation on explicit grammar instruction has been exposed to english structures and ends up with automatization on students’ written language production. this research eventually comes up with similar structures have been conveyed from students’ essays and their language discourses. as an effect, this priming approach with unambiguous instruction leads the learners to use similar syntax in their writing and provide an excellent impact on students’ grammatical knowledge for immediate use. in japan, tamaoka (2009), examines the effect on syntactic priming in sentence comprehension in which primed sentences match with the target sentences and somehow partial overlaps in some structures but over-all, the learners are syntactic in nature and independent of lexical/ semantic priming. chen, xu, tan, zhang, and zhong (2013) reanalyses the structure as a relative clause in english of the chinese readers in which demonstrated on the verb repetition but not similarity in meaning produced a syntactic priming effect in chinese. however, those researches give positive feedback on syntactic priming, still there are researchers argue and doubts the priming method like shin, j. (2010) study’s in korea on bilingual syntactic production and shin and christianson (2009) with dative structures in english and korean both experiments show that cross-linguistic structural priming from the second language to the first language does not occur; instead target sentences are found. moreover, the results indicate no effect on second language proficiency in first language production, while second language proficiency has an effect on language production considering english as the medium. ledoux, k. (2007) also claims that the priming effect has been less demonstrated in comprehension than production and only depended 4 jpair multidisciplinary research upon the repetition of verbs across sentences. as a conclusion, syntactic priming is dissociated from the effects of lexical repetition at the verb. in the philippines, cabansag (2013) also stresses that writing proficiency of the filipino students in cagayan valley reveals in the data the persistent errors committed by the participants in their written compositions namely: uses of verbs, tenses, proper use of capitalization and other mechanics. and thus, the researcher explores linguistic concepts and actions further to overcome the problems. writing proficiency is one of the major problems among five micro skills in which learners find trouble in producing written outputs especially in terms of the grammatical structure of the sentences. it is more than 60% of the students according to the survey 2017 in department of education mainly in public schools struggle for written communication though they are given written activities from their teachers for enhancement and practice purposes still sentence construction is the most difficult to deliver. though the english language is formally introduced during elementary years, still the said department urges teachers to continue exerting efforts which instil the value of learning english not only in reading, speaking and so with the writings to be globally competitive not just in sports, arts but also to academics. but in tongantongan national high school, one of the public secondary schools in the city of valencia in the province of bukidnon, philippines mainly in grade 11 students have been challenged much more on using appropriate connectors in sentence writing. students’ difficulty in writing a sentence can be seen from their written activities while others are unable to write even simple text. yes, they can express their thoughts, but improper usage of tenses, transitions, and connectors are highly observed. probably, those happen because of less practice or boring method of learning activity. it is true that teaching-learning method can influence students’ success failure in learning subject. they usually produce the written outputs erroneously like using between “but” and “yet,” “nor” and “or.” in senior high school curriculum, one of the writings must be mastered by students is the use of coordinating conjunctions such as ‘for,” “and,” “nor,” “but,” “or,” “yet,” “so.” these coordinators display as significant roles in connecting two or more sentences to shorten sentences but still expressing one idea or thought without repeating the other words either the case of the subject or predicate as connectors link to words, phrases, and clauses (mayall & hall, 2005). in addition, the present researcher has been observed these senior students have great problems when assigned to produce outputs even simple sentences. they are unable to select appropriate words and put them into grammatical 5 international peer reviewed journal sentences which are mostly contained with incorrect word order especially in the use of conjunctions. though, mentors provide varied performance tasks still learners find apprehension in the syntax wherein the functions of english language should have played essential roles in both written and spoken forms as this approach enhances to make better language outputs not only in educational context but in the corporate world. moreover, the poor mastery of english of the selected thirty students is based on their performances in writing might be attributable to such factors as limited time of exposure to the language particularly in using connectors. meanwhile, during english lessons teachers, the learners do not use english all the time; they use both english, filipino, bisayan and even ilonggo dialect. the limited time for english as dictated by the curriculum does not allow the teachers to practice regularly to improve their vocabulary and other discourses which are the basis for developing the students’ writing abilities. by using this syntactic priming as an intervention, expected that the students are capable of learning the easier way in the process of writing. in this method, the exposure of sentences with a particular syntax can be patterned identically on what they have heard and seen from priming activities (pickering, branigan, cleland, & stewart, 2000). consequently, the current research adopts this approach to increase learners’ performances on writing skills like sentence processing which are very significant in composing sentences and even paragraphs through the use of images or pictures. it provides a better understanding of how the mechanisms of comprehension acquire language and tell the processor of syntactic priming to employ knowledge sources by clues given during activities. the uttered hints happen where the priming normally occurs and when sentences are syntactically alike to the prepared answers in the given pictures during pre-test and post-test assessment. it is very useful for teachers in helping their students to increase their written production. it develops their scripts to construct sentences properly not only in coordinating conjunctions but in other areas, as well. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. this diagram is the flow of syntactic priming as intervention to solve syntax difficulty in any writings specifically in the used of coordinating conjunctions “for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so” to address the main problem the poor writing skills of the grade 11 students in tongantongan national high school, valencia city philippines. 7 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study examines the effect of syntactic priming as an intervention on students’ writing abilities. specifically, it sought to answer the following: (1) to identify the coordinating conjunctions mistakenly used by grade 11 students in making sentences. (2) to determine the student’s writing proficiency level before and after using syntactic priming (3) to evaluate the improvement of students’ writing proficiencies after using syntactic priming. methodology research design this action research utilizes experimental design which seek to find out the syntactic priming and its effects in student’s writing proficiency before and after using the intervention by a self-administered test to the specified thirty participants who are identified to poor writers at the beginning of the academic year 20182019 out of one hundred twenty-seven students in grade 11 at tongantongan national high school in tongantongan valencia city of bukidnon, philippines based on their written tasks. this design had been selected to fulfill the aims of the study from the identification of the coordinating conjunctions which are erroneously committed by the said respondents mainly in word order and sentence construction and its effect of syntactic priming on students’ writing proficiencies after using the said intervention. moreover, the performances of the students toward writing in general before and after using syntactic priming as an intervention have been evaluated through descriptive statistics such as mean and t-test analysis. the structured test is also used to incorporate the descriptive statements of the respondents during the conduction of the study. data from descriptive writings using images presented via multimedia presentations are also employed to measure if there is an improvement of scores from pre-test to post-test assessment. research site the study is conducted at senior high school department specifically in grade 11 students in tongantongan national high school, a public secondary school situated at purok 8, brgy. tongantongan, approximately eight-kilometer from the city proper. the school has been an annex of valencia national high school since it was founding in 2006. the school legislated as a national high 8 jpair multidisciplinary research school last april 2013 and accredited as school-based management (sbm) level 2 high school in 2014. at present, the school, had 1200 enrollees, 17 classrooms, 1 h.e room, 2 computer laboratories, and 35 teachers. it has five sections of grade7, five also for grade 8, four sections in grades 9 and 10 and four sections in the senior secondary curriculum. the thirty (30) recipients from grade 11 section tulips are chosen because these are considered as the poor writers among senior high school students to resolve the low level of students’ writing proficiency in the said curriculum. likewise, they are accessible and highly advisable to be addressed based on their suited needs. participants the respondents of this study are 30 (n=30) who belong to identified students who are poor in writing sentences from tulip section only of senior high school department of tongantongan national high school, valencia city. to be included as respondents, the participants are screened based on the results of their scores on their written performance tasks given from the first quarter of the school year 2018-2019. twenty-one (21) males and nine (9) were females. out of one hundred twenty-seven (127), thirty (30) grade 11 students are identified as poor writers at the beginning of the school year from technical vocational and livelihood track composed of shield metal arc and welding, information and communication technology and cookery. the students’ ages ranged from 16-22 and mostly come from middle to below the poverty line family. the researcher further identified the thirty (30) participants through a purposive selection because they rank as the lowest in terms of writing aptitudes in english instruction and also have the lowest scores in the structured test. descriptive essays’ results from the pictures presented per sessions during the intervention period are also asked from them to determine the improvement of the scored mean from pre-test to post-test. instrumentation the researcher used structured test and descriptive essays as the research instruments of the study. the first set which is the structured testa sixty multiple choice item dealt with the conjunctions used during pre-test and post-test assessment and this test has been checked and validated by the school administrator, research coordinator, language panel and teachers and coresearchers. the test has been used as pilot-test in grade 11 marigold before the actual conduction of the intervention in tulips. 9 international peer reviewed journal the second is the descriptive essays. descriptive essays are the data gathered from the intervention on syntactic priming to measure the students’ writing capabilities through pictures presented via multimedia. the students are given two pictures to be described in written forms per session written on the paper provided by the researcher. data gathering and procedure after all the preliminaries and protocol are observed from data validity and reliability of the test, a letter request is properly set to conduct this action research. the researcher calls the attention of the students who belong to the poor level based on the result of the writing assessment done in the first quarter written activities of the school year 2018-2019. only thirty students from the same grade 11 tulip are chosen to be the respondents of the study. during the pre-test assessment, the students answer the sixty multiplechoice item, and due to their poor performances specifically on the coordinating conjunctions, the researcher then conducted an intervention through the use of pictures where students can write sentences based on the images shown to their teacher. they are given twenty minutes every session during mondays, wednesdays, and thursdays based on their vacant schedules to avoid disruption of classes. it has been implemented for two months equivalent to eight weeks to complete the cycle. this intervention, a researcher utters directly to the description of the pictures loudly and let them absorb the descriptions without knowing that they are already developing their skills through the use of conjunctions during motivations and short drills for 5-10 minute while the second 10-minute session is the implementation process where they give descriptions through writing descriptive paragraphs suited on each image per session. to identify the common coordinating conjunctions mistakenly used in making sentences, the researcher recalls and lists the major coordinators who are incorrectly used in sentence construction from the assessment provided. to determine the student’s writing proficiency level before and after using syntactic priming, the researcher conduct pre-test and post-test to assess if there is a difference from pre-test to post-test using the said intervention. to evaluate the syntactic priming improvement the students’ writing proficiency, it must be based on the results of the intervention conducted by the researcher to the said identified mentally challenged participants. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research ethical considerations in this research, all participants are subject to participate voluntarily. accomplices are rest assured that their own identity together with the name of the departments and sections, works will be remained confidential. the identified participants are explained that the test is completely anonymous excluded any personal information such as names, addresses, advisers, and if necessary may only reveal during the presentation of the paper to the administration, other than these, their identities must not be in public for their security. also, all participants are provided by the copy of the results upon request. the researcher must obtain an ethics clearance review committee with the permission and signed consents from respondents and their parents. statistical analysis before dealing out the responses, the completed structured test was checked and edited for completeness and consistency. the researcher mainly used descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage, and t-test to determine the increase of their writing performances. the data gathered are analysed and treated in accordance with the objective of the study. results and discussions writing proficiency of the students have been challenged until today due to difficulty in syntax and its language rules. it implies that these students are empowered by the advanced technologies and diminish their interests to write and practice which much be more exposed in this micro-skill. obviously, at this level, senior high school students are well enhanced in any writings not only in patterns but in content and proper usage of grammatical features. sad to say, some students still categorize to mentally challenge because of syntax difficulty in connecting words, phrases and clauses. they interchange most of the time the uses of the “but” and “yet,” “so” and “and” “or” and “nor” “so” and “for. perhaps, they able to distinguish these coordinating conjunctions but not too in depth functions and purposes once it links with other thoughts. they just join the sentences without comprehending to the new meaning attached in the newly constructed sentences. for them, as long as they can connect with the seven coordinators: “for and, nor, but, or, yet, so” which is popularly known as fanboys, they are grammatically correct. 11 international peer reviewed journal coordinating conjunctions are most of the time mistakenly used by grade 11 students due to the proper usage which gives them confusion on the functions and results to the interchange of coordinators. the conjunctions of “but,” “yet,” “for,” “nor,” and “so,” 75% of them switched most of the uses of conjunctions like the use of “but” and “yet” based on their written outputs during the performance tasks in the beginning of the academic year 2018-2019. example of the statements were as follows: “the children were not in happy faces, but they could still play,” in the said statement instead of using “but,” it must be “yet,” while in this statement, “ the balloons were nice yet it burst out easily,” supposedly the correct connector can be used for positive to negative thought is “but.” then, others used “or” instead of “so” as the opposite. in short, the learners might swap the connectors due to lack of exposure and training on grammatical features in english. however, the 25% not simply interchanged but they answer “and” most of the time then, as long as there are more than two sentences to be connected each other, they simply use “and” to link with others regardless if it is correct or not. meanwhile, based on the data gathered the level of students’ writing proficiencies before syntactic priming being used is poor while average to excellent after using the intervention. table 1. students’ writing abilities during pre-test and post-test assessment mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 pre-test 13.5333 30 5.3222 .9717 post-test 16.9000 30 4.9154 .8974 in this data explains that scored mean from 13.53 has improved as the posttest assessment conducted to 16.90, the researcher then determines also, standard deviation and error mean down to 0.41 from 0.74 and thus, this syntactic priming can improve their writing skill level based on their scores from pre-test assessment specifically on coordinating conjunctions. definitely, there is an escalation of a percentage due to syntactic intervention, students are now able to identify the coordinating conjunctions very well and the errors committed to using coordinators are slightly observed. they increase their performances definitely on the intervention used in which broaden their minds and skills in choosing the proper conjunctions in joining words and sentences. 12 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. significant difference between pre-test and post-test assessment mean std. deviation std. error mean (lower) (upper) t df sig.(tailed) 95% level of conf. pair 1 pre test -3.336 & post test 3.819 .697 -4.791 -4.828 -1.940 30 .0000 the scored mean increased of more than 3 % from 13. 53 to 16.90 using one-sample t-test which results in a p-value of 0.000 based on the data below. it is noted that there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test since it was lesser than 0.5, which simply meant that null hypothesis was rejected with 95% level of confidence based on the students’ scores before and after taking the intervention in which are not the same. this action research, also affirm with other researches’ findings of the study, bock (1986) who reports a study which specifically used structural priming to investigate language structures and used the active description of the target picture which resulted the same effect has observed after the said intervention. pickering, branigan, cleland, and stewart (2000) supports the results of bock’s study reveals that produced sentences are often structurally similar to recently heard utterances. rahman and asfah (2018) in exposure to english structures through explicit instruction has been concluded that there is an impact on students’ grammatical knowledge for immediate use in writing. mcdonough and mackey (2008) indicate that participants who evidenced high levels of syntactic priming are likely to advance to a higher stage in english as second language while erviyanti, r. (2015) determines that syntactic priming is a better approach in writing but has more demanding task compared with speaking that eventually requires more conscious knowledge of grammar and language. furthermore, there is an impact to the learners from the intervention used since the identified poor writers are now averagely scored in their written performance tasks, and most of them have already recognized the functions and proper usage of coordinating conjunctions in which the tendency of interchanging the major coordinators are not highly observed after the assessment. this intervention serves them as a solution to lessen the writing difficulties in making sentences and paragraphs especially in linking thoughts and other ideas. through this, they enable to increase their performances, exercise the techniques to eliminate redundancies and join the phrases, clauses, and even sentences appropriate and properly to be connected. 13 international peer reviewed journal conclusions syntactic priming is the solution to lessen syntax difficulty especially in the usage of coordinating conjunctions through the use of pictures. it serves them as a tool in broadening their knowledge in recognizing the correct way of linking thoughts and ideas through f.a.n.b.o.y.s. (for, and, nor, but, or, yet so). this approach tends the speakers to speak or write the prime (speaking the first sentence in a successive pair sentences) and the target (second sentence) which is profound to syntactic priming because speaker or the teacher select to repeat the target utterance to be immersed by the participants in the form of writing. it measures the ability also of a learner to produce the same syntactic structure based on the language features provided by the speaker who sends information about the picture description. then, the learners enable to come up with sentences that are similar to recently heard or have viewed from the speakers or writers as they process the language features and share it with the same syntax in written forms. they can easily absorb the descriptions automatically in a given time duration which is good for immediate use only. to retain the information for the next day, learners should employ practice in writing and even reading to widen their vocabulary use and improve their grammatical skills as well. moreover, writing skill is very important not only in educational context but in the world of employment, business and other communications. this skill perhaps difficult to enhance if there is no patience in practical applications. the learners should write, read their works more than twice, edit and revise to the extent they can completely eradicate repetitions and pattern it a correct way of linking words, sentences and even paragraphs. through this syntactic priming, sentence construction may be easier for the learners to write and somehow develop the students’ writing abilities and resolve the difficulty in writing using coordinating conjunctions (leonard, 2011). other researchers also agreed to the conclusions of this intervention which are excellent at their explorations. oltra-massuet, sharpe, neophytou, and marantz (2017), where syntactic priming has been discovered in its good effect in comprehension and recommends since it has a stronger contribution in the syntax level of the respondents. reza (2007) also indicates also that priming generates an increased production of the target structure by the experimental groups as compared with the production of the control group. the experimental group appeared that the rate of production of the target structure has remained 14 jpair multidisciplinary research significantly higher for the selected participants and so with, fine, jaeger, farmer, and qian (2013) on syntactic processing within the speakers that participants could easily absorb on the intended messages through the use of this priming method. based on the data findings, lots of errors committed by grade 11 tulips participants due to the high inclination to interchange the coordinating conjunctions in connecting sentences. it is definitely due to lack of experience in writing in previous years, that supposedly at their level now they are welldeveloped already in any writing performances. though it is an additional burden for the teachers to restart in the grammatical rules and yet they have to be exposed merely in constructing sentences for them to write a good composition. in short, teachers should give more written activities and expose them again to enrich their knowledge on sentence construction and somehow heighten their abilities in their works. nevertheless, through this mediation, there is absolutely an escalating of scores based on post-assessment. in short, there is a positive effect on the students’ performances. since the main objective enables to repeat and follow the patterns of english language structures in the use of coordinating conjunctions, this simply means that the scores prove that there is progress on their abilities in writing sentences. of course, the participants able to gain benefits during the priming sessions in the given writing tasks from poor to average with 3.37%. in short, it is a good point to implement this approach to enhance students’ writing abilities in any forms of writings. syntactic priming is a better approach to any strategies in the sense that learners can easily get a hint in providing words, phrases, and clauses. a sort of motivation to let the learners think and absorb the clues spoken or heard from the initiator. this is one way of implying that these learners can be improved in some ways not only in writing abilities but also their interests to write something on what comes to their mind automatically based on the given picture. since most of them are visuals, love images, it easy for them to follow the patterns in which it provides the new information for new vocabulary and learnings by session. then, after the activities, perhaps they can recall immediately on the words chosen by them to input because of the pictures presented in the previous. and for that, it lessens the burden of themselves and so with the teachers to check on the grammatical rules in language especially on the usage of conjunctions. usually, they can produce identical sentences as they repeat the activities they can improve the uses of language features. 15 international peer reviewed journal hence, there is an improvement using this syntactic intervention. it has a significant difference as an indication of effective technique on writing skills development of the learners. syntactic priming reveals that there is a higher probability of grade 11 tulips to produce the language features as how the learners’ influence from the speaker’s utterance, in short, they able to process the same patterns and structures in making sentences with the correct use of coordinators through picture description method. evidently, through this, the repeated syntactic structures are produced or imitated almost the same syntax in written production. it provides them new input for the new information they have heard and make some valuable insights into real-world syntactic processing in any writings and even in conversations. translational research the result of the study can be translated through articles, journals, publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination but not limited to policy, song, dance, illustrational books, drama, storytelling, brochures, posters, paintings, radio play, and video clips. indigenous materials such as wall newspaper, one-act play, among others may be designed for stakeholders, and other sponsoring group and organization from the remote areas, social media and mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio) may be used in the information. acknowledgment the researcher, ms. meraflor montajes alojado would like to impart her profound gratitude and sincere appreciation to the people who had contributed so much for the success of this action research, the school administrator, angelina a. cacharo, phd. for her endless support and motivational advice as well to the division research coordinator, mr. brian s. salvana. to the school research coordinator, ms. jazheel m. candilasa and research statistician ms. soraya r. redoble for their guidance, kindness, and generosity of their ideas to be done well during the research presentation. to my senior high school family, colleagues, and friends, for their undying support in the improvement of this action research. to my family, in-laws especially to my husband mr. florante v. alojado and my kids namely: francisca nina, deborah trisha and cassandra margaux for the unconditional love, immeasurable support and inspiration to all 16 jpair multidisciplinary research my endeavors. again, thank you for the help, encouragement, and cooperation to be successful in this study. literature cited bock, j. k. 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(2009). syntactic priming effects on the processing of japanese sentences on scrambled word orders. research gate. retrieved from doi: 10.11225/jcss.14.173 https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005149129259 https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005149129259 https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20184200070 https://doaj.org/article/c4fe4d01ad574b27817c1028b3dbb4a0 https://doaj.org/article/c4fe4d01ad574b27817c1028b3dbb4a0 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-0277(03)00119-7 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024209 1 international peer reviewed journal vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.401 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities in basco, batanes william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines trixie elaine g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-1747 elaineonearth@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines julie melanie arca http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0787-1362 juliemelanie@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines ma. kimberly christine d. cabrito http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1099-833x christinecabrito0@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines 2 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 cristine joy f. candel http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9300-4403 cristinejoycandel999@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines wilbert pastor a. cantero http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1161-3905 canterowilbert2@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines lyca jade g. gato http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8502-1609 lycajadegato605@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines ira nicole regidor http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5856-8238 argonzaairanicole@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines victor jacob p. zabala http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2892-286x zabalajacob025@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 98% • plagiarism: 0% this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 3 international peer reviewed journal abstract persons with disabilities (pwds) are one of the concerns of society. but due to prejudice, they are put in a disadvantageous position. since then, there have always been issues in employment, social roles, and accessibility to education. these have led to self-doubt and inferiority, resulting in negative attitudes from non-pwds. the study aimed to explore the issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities in basco, batanes, philippines. this study used a qualitative research design. the researchers used purposive sampling and gathered data from eight (8) qualified participants. the researchers determined the issues and challenges they faced across the four areas of their lives. first, they face difficulties at work and looking for work because of their condition and the prejudice they receive in the work environment. second, they faced problems in school due to poverty and discrimination from classmates. third, they receive discrimination and stereotyping from their community. lastly, the majority of the participants receive support from their families. however, they also faced financial problems, especially with their medication. keywords — social science, issues, challenges, persons with disabilities, qualitative research, basco, batanes, philippines introduction amidst the pandemic, the most vulnerable people are those people with disabilities. persons with disabilities are one of the concerns of society. due to social exclusion, they are put in a disadvantageous position. according to au & man (2006), there have always been issues in employment, social roles, and accessibility to education. these then have led to feelings of self-doubt and inferiority, which suggests that these people receive negative attitudes from nonpwd individuals. according to the united nations (2018) ohchr and the rights of persons with disabilities, persons with disabilities have the same rights as the rest of the citizens. they have the right to vote, live independently in the community, and enjoy social protection, access to justice, and the educational system. according to the un convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (2021), persons with disabilities (pwds) are those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments that, when combined with other 4 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 barriers, prevent them from fully and effectively participating in society on an equal basis with others. moreover, over 1 billion individuals, or roughly 15% of the world’s population, suffer from some impairment. around 110 to 190 million people, 15 years and up, are experiencing severe difficulties in their daily lives. furthermore, the rapid expansion of chronic diseases and population aging contribute to the increasing disability rates. about 80% of the world’s pwds live in low-income countries, where most are poor and cannot access basic services. with their conditions, pwds need greater attention and consideration in health needs without discrimination. however, reports show that pwds have less access to health services and, therefore, greater unmet needs. these prejudices among persons with disabilities can affect them in most areas of their lives. for example, chronic poverty in ghana, combined with the large-scale prejudice and exclusion, results in very few career options, high unemployment, isolation from families, and a high rate of begging by disabled people (grech, 2015). opoku et al. (2019) study highlighted barriers in education, training, employment, and physical environment. the physical environment has many disabling barriers, such as steps, which impede the mobility of wheelchair users. along these lines, naami (2014) highlighted architectural, transportation, information, and medical barriers. people with disabilities are also denied access to social activities, decision-making, and leadership positions. in a study conducted in singapore, one of its key findings is that other than the physical disability, social and environmental factors also play a disabling role in the lives of pwds. they have called for several sectors to collaborate towards a more holistic system of care where pwds’ rights as individuals are respected. persons with disabilities in singapore also highlighted the pressing need for greater public awareness (raghunathan et al., 2015). moreover, in a study conducted among thai students, results showed that there seem to be ineffective policies and laws, poor management, and inequality of education resource allocation for people with disabilities (cheausuwantavee & cheausuwantavee, 2012). there are various concerns encountered by pwds regardless of their impairment type. the republic act 7277 of the philippines, otherwise known as the magna carta for disabled persons, mentioned the seven types of disabilities: psychosocial disability, disability due to chronic illness, learning disability, mental disability, visual disability, orthopedic disability, and communication disability. the pwds mentioned above-faced prejudice and alienation in the community, job, or school. out of 26.39 million households in the philippines, 1.4 million have a disability (velasco j. et al., 2020). the disability rights advocates urged the 5 international peer reviewed journal government to get the utmost attention and fought to pass ra 7277. this aims to protect pwds from discrimination, provide every right, and transform society into a safe place for persons with disabilities. regarding infrastructures, the design of buildings in the philippines has a severe usability problem for the pwds. this includes self-closing doors with heavy springs, uneven surfaces, and a lack of ramps (dianito et al., 2021). however, modern societies are not generally unsympathetic to pwds. more than 180 million people with disabilities live worldwide, and 150 million pwds live in developing countries. for example, in japan, most buildings have automated doors, and voice instructions are available on walkaways and escalators. they will always be moved to the head of the queue without being asked. if there is a lack of accessibility in the area for whatever reason, officials are exceedingly apologetic if something is not functioning for them and are inconvenient. some pwdfriendly facilities have emerged throughout time, although they are exclusive and unevenly distributed around the city. with the issues and challenges faced by pwds, it is important to note that people’s thoughts about disability may lead to stigma, prejudice, and discrimination in society. people may regard disability as a personal tragedy, something that has to be treated or prevented, a punishment for a crime, or a sign of a lack of capacity to behave as expected in society. furthermore, from the perspective of a legislator, our comparatively contemporary society is not entirely indifferent to the situation of pwds. the well-being of pwds is addressed in many republic acts, batas pambansa, presidential decrees, administrative orders, proclamations, ordinances, circulars, and memoranda. these regulations aim to improve the welfare of people with disabilities and integrate accessibility into public settings. however, a plethora of regulations does not inherently imply an all-access paradise. therefore, this study aims to raise awareness about the issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities within the community of basco, batanes. moreover, this study explores the issues and concerns faced by pwds in basco, batanes in different areas of their lives and how people support or treat them. the results of this study also aim to help the professionals and the government implement various programs or projects that will benefit pwds. generally, this study seeks to discover and understand the challenges and difficulties that pwds encounter in their day-to-day lives. 6 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 framework the social model recognizes that disability affects every aspect of our lives. it shows the need for disability to be addressed at every level: social, economic, and political. it now becomes the first consideration when crafting plans and making decisions. everyday things should not be a barrier or even a special accommodation. pwds have the right to enjoy the same life as their non-disabled siblings and friends. they have the right to attend the local mainstream school, use public services such as transport, and take advantage of the same employment opportunities as everyone else (union et al., 1975). this model also focuses on people’s attitudes towards disability and recognizes that attitudes towards disability can create barriers for pwds in the same way the physical environment can. such attitudes can range from prejudice and stereotyping to unnecessary inflexible organizational practices and procedures and seeing disabled people as objects of pity/charity. the social model aims to remove unnecessary barriers that prevent disabled people from participating in society, accessing work, and living independently. it seeks ways to remove barriers to inclusion. it also recognizes that attitudes towards disabled people make unnecessary barriers to inclusion and requires people to take proactive action to remove these barriers. the social model identifies the problems faced by disabled people as a consequence of external factors (retief & letšosa, 2018). methodology research design this study used a qualitative research design. the researchers used purposive sampling. the researchers purposively selected participants that were qualified for the criteria. the criteria entailed that: (1) the participant is a person with a disability, (2) lived in the province of batanes, and (3) were in the age group of 25-60 years old. the researchers were able to gather data from eight (8) qualified participants through the interview method. the researchers used the interview method to explore and understand the issues and challenges faced by pwds. it offers a descriptive, reflective, interpretive, and engaged mode of inquiry that seeks to understand and describe the essence of experiences and enables underlying structures/themes and commonalities in meanings to be understood. 7 international peer reviewed journal research site the study was conducted in basco, batanes. participants the researchers gathered data from eight (8) people with disabilities from basco, batanes. instrumentation interview guide. this was utilized to gather important information from the participants. the questions in the interview guide were related to the participants’ issues and challenges regarding jobs, academics, relationships, and public places. data gathering procedure permission was asked from the respondents, and the objective of the research was explained to them. when consent was granted, the interview was administered by the researchers. respondents were guaranteed confidentiality of information. all audiotapes and field notes were transcribed. the researchers went back to the respondents to verify the transcriptions of their interviews and to ensure that the english translations of their statements were correct. the researchers then analyzed the data by beginning with repetitive listening of the audiotapes and readings of the interview transcriptions and field notes and then isolating and extracting significant statements from the data. these statements were used to create meaning units, which were clustered into common themes. the clustering process was completed before final themes were established. ethical considerations to observe the proper protocols for conducting this study, prior written permissions were sought from respondents. the written permissions were also explained to them. the respondents were assured that anonymity, confidentiality, and neutrality would be kept. proper citations were done for all the information and previous researches used in this study. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 results and discussion the presentation of data gathered and analysis are provided below. four topical areas emerged from the study based on the issues and challenges faced by pwds in the following areas: (1) employment and unemployment, (2) schooling/education, (3) community, and (4) family. employment and unemployment employed persons with disabilities (pwds) face challenges in their workplace due to their disability. one of the obstacles they encounter is the requirement for specific features at their workplace or place of employment. over half of people with disabilities who are employed have some difficulty executing their work tasks due to their handicap. however, due to their sympathetic employer, some employed people with disabilities have fewer difficulties at work. the following selected responses of the participants will show some of the issues and challenges they encountered in their workplace. “aru challenges du trabahu akma su kakey mu pa mayparu su mapanmu kumapet du trabahu, makey ka mangavang a mangay du seminar am mapanmu mu ava an sinu anti u sumidung dimu du syudad. mayanung u kapirmi machiruaru piyan karapan u mapanmu kumapet du trabahu as kanu ipaypipiya nu karakuhan kanu iyangay mu.” (there are many challenges in the workplace, such as the desire to learn more about your job, the need to travel and attend seminars, the uncertainty of who will assist or support you in the city, and the need to socialize in order to exchange ideas that will benefit your work and well-being.) “taytu aku nakasdep du barangay ta inahap da yaken a mayvuyvuyas du rarahan. an kaduan am maynien padang ku an mayengdes aku mayvuyas. mapanmu ku ava an makayamut du kaparin ku anmana nu vanah ku.” (the barangay hired me as a street sweeper. when i sweep for too long, my feet hurt. i’m unsure if it is because of my condition or exhaustion or fatigue.) 9 international peer reviewed journal “nagtatrabaho ako ngayon sa barangay. nagwawalis sa daan. hindi naman ako nahihirapan kasi sabi ng mga taga-barangay, sa tapat na lang namin yung wawalisan ko dahil na rin siguro sa kalagayan ko.” (i now work at the barangay as a street sweeper. i’m not experiencing any difficulties because the barangay councilors stated that the only place where i will sweep is the front of our house, possibly due to my condition.) the responses are largely about their difficulties at work, and the main cause of these challenges is their condition of being physically disabled. despite being disabled, they manage to find work with the government to meet their needs, and they are fortunate that they do not face discrimination at work. however, they still receive prejudice from other people in the work environment. on the other hand, many employers or businesses overlook the skills and abilities of competent individuals with disabilities simply because they believe that accommodating them is a hassle for reasons that are not true. because of this, some people with disabilities have found other ways to supplement their income due to unemployment. despite their life struggles, they manage to survive and meet their basic necessities by doing something. the responses of the selected participants will be displayed in the following paragraphs. “wala akong naging trabaho sa gobyerno. ang pinagkakakitaan ko ay ang pagaayos ng bike at minsan mga payong. hindi naman ako nahihiya kasi hindi rin naman ganun kalala yung kalagayan ko. nakakapagtrabaho naman ako ng legal.” (i’ve never worked for the government. repairing bicycles and umbrellas are my sources of income. i’m not ashamed because my condition is not that bad. despite my disability, i am able to work.) “kaychuwa am naytrabahu aku du bisumi, amna niumhes aku makayamut du pandemya. sichanguriaw am maydakaw aku sa su tumaydedekey a maparin a idakaw.” (i used to work at bisumi, but because of the pandemic, i stopped, and my source of income now is selling.) 10 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 “wala siyang trabaho sa gobyerno, nagwawalis lang siya sa daan, mga job order or hurnal. dalawang beses na siya naghurnal. hindi siya makalakad ng maayos, hindi rin siya makapagsalita ng maayos.” (he is not working in the government, he sweeps in the street and joined hurnal twice. he cannot walk properly, and he cannot talk or speak clearly.) “hindi ako nagtatrabaho. nastroke ako nung 2012. highblood ako kaya nastroke ako. hindi naman kasi ako makapasok sa tupad. sa mga office hindi din ayaw nila ako at nilalait din ako.” (i do not work. i got stroked last 2012 due to high blood. i cannot get into tupad. i have also tried in offices, but they are not fond of me. they insulted and made fun of me.) most of the participants are having difficulties because some do not have a stable source of income and must rely on what is given to them. one participant does not have any work to support his needs. as a result of his impairment, some people make fun of him, and he also faces difficulties in applying for jobs. for many people with disabilities, finding and sustaining work is a challenge. in a study by kraus (2017), only one in three (34.9%) individuals with disabilities are employed in the us compared to 76% of their counterparts who are nondisabled. these employment gaps have also been observed in other industrialized countries where the employment rate with a disability is 49%, while 79% for those without a disability (turcotte, 2014). analysis of the office for disability issues (2011) shows that about onethird of employed people with disabilities and two-thirds of unemployed pwds say that a limitation in the amount or type of work they do or could do is their disability. health or disability is a frequently reported limitation in work, but other factors are also important. studies also show that employers’ stigmatizing views and low expectations toward pwds affect employment opportunities and their productivity. this creates unemployment or underemployment opportunities (critten, 2016). another study by ferrie et al. (2006) addressed relational issues with supervisors and fairness in the workplace. the results of the study show a limited viewpoint regarding job accommodation. the reason behind this is stigmatization, 11 international peer reviewed journal prejudice, and discrimination which can affect reasonable job accommodation for persons with disabilities to fully participate in their respective work settings (yigit & tatch, 2017). moreover, employers often feel that people with disabilities do not have the skills or capacity to work when, these individuals do not work because of environmental and attitudinal barriers within their workplaces, such as discrimination and poor working conditions (fevre et al., 2013). while the world health organization (2011) shows that employment rates vary across countries, the bottom line is that, all over the world, a person with a disability is less likely to be employed than a person without a disability. schooling/education barriers to learning are anything that stops a student from fully participating in the learning process, and various factors can cause them. every individual has the right to a high-quality education. however, some of them work hard to receive the education they are entitled to. people with impairments are included in our society’s group of marginalized people. they face much more challenges in learning compared to able people. the following paragraphs are the selected responses, “hindi ko natapos yung high school ko kasi tinamad ako dagdag mo pa na wala kaming pera.” (i did not finish high school because i was lazy and we did not have enough money.) “tumigil ako sa pag-aaral noon kase nahihiya ako. lagi nila akong binubully dahil sa kalagayan.” (i stopped studying back then because i was embarrassed and was bullied because of my condition.) “chinasaditan aku ava du kapachinanawu ku ta niktuktu ku am taywaran marahet. ravaw mavuya ku a akmay kapachitarek ku dira, ari kami malit.” 12 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 (i did not have any difficulties in school because i did not believe i had flaws. i also did not see much difference between my classmates and me.) “namanda aku du high school ta masadit ka naw u viyay namen, nipipiya ku na u kapaytrabahu ku.” (i only graduated high school because of life’s difficulties, so i chose to work instead.) the participants had varying responses on the topic. others faced hardships and were even forced to drop out of high school due to poverty and discrimination and decided to work instead. others did not have any difficulties because they believed in themselves and did not let their impairment hold them back. one participant was unable to participate in school due to his illness. in the study of black et al. (2015), students with disabilities face positive and negative treatment from teachers, administrators, or peers. instructional methods such as class discussion, classroom arrangement, and instructor’s approaches sometimes go against students with disabilities. on the other hand, liasidou (2014) found existing methodologies are unfriendly to students with disabilities. currently, the asia pacific regional bureau of education mentioned that pwds face barriers to education through remote-learning practices brought about by the pandemic. in health crises such as covid-19, students with disabilities receive less help and inadequately trained teachers. they face difficulty participating actively due to a lack of equipment, internet access, and especially designed materials and support (dianito et al., 2021). moreover, researchers identified the recurring presence of stigmatization of students with disabilities across countries (maranzan, 2016; sachs & schreuer, 2011). they encounter a large stigma because students without disabilities treat them harshly on campus (trammell, 2009). the negative misconceptions about disability affect students with disability outcomes, motivation, success, and career aspiration (akin & huang, 2019). community when it comes to public spaces, people with disabilities face a variety of challenges. they face various obstacles, including a lack of access, transportation, hostile attitudes from others, a lack of pwd-friendly facilities, and a lack of social confidence. for disabled people, these barriers have an impact on their daily 13 international peer reviewed journal existence. even though they may not have to face all these, they still encounter challenges in the community and during social gatherings. the proofs mentioned by participants during the interview are listed below, “masnek aku makayamut ava du kapwd ku, ta sivug u kasnesneken ku aya. mawayid aku machichasa dira du kaduan, aran du batanes day. pidien ku sa u tawu a pachichasan ku ta nu kasnesneken ku.” (almost as if shyness is my nature. i rarely attend social gatherings such as batanes day. i also choose who will accompany me because i am shy.) “minsan nahihiya ako sa daan kasi makikita mo naman yung mga mapanghusgang tingin ng mga tao. pag may ganap sa family namin o kapitbahay hindi ako sumasama kase alam ko naman na huhusgahan lang nila ako.” (when walking on the street, i’m embarrassed because i can see people’s critical gazes. i avoid gatherings with family and neighbors because i know they will only judge me.) “nasnek aku pava du kumavahayan aya, ta nu vatahen da nu iñapuan ku am rava u marahet diyaken. an itek da yaken am sira u makagatus. an machikpekpeh aku am normal uri. malkem aku na as rapava u taywara a umtek niyaken.” (i never feel ashamed of others because my parents once told me that there is nothing wrong with me. if they make fun of me, then they are the ones who are wrong. when i socialize, it’s normal. i’m old, so no one can make fun of me that much.) “pag nakikihalubilo ako, hindi naman ako nahihiya, nakikipagbiruan pa nga ako sakanila. hindi naman ako nahihirapan sa mga lugar dito kasi nakakalakad pa naman ako ng maayos. minsan nga lang sumasakit yung paa ko pag matagal akong magbike o maglakad.” 14 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 (“when i socialize, i’m not embarrassed or feel shy. i even joke with them. i don’t find it difficult since i can still walk properly. my feet only hurt when i walk or ride a bike for a long time.) “sabi nila, ‘tiya dana u akmay nihwa nu buday.” nilalait nila ako kaya ayaw ko na sa mga social gatherings na yan. lalo lang nila akong nilalait kaya gusto ko na magpakamatay.” (some would say, ‘this is the one who spat out by the snake.’ they make fun of me; that is why i do not go to social gatherings anymore. they insult me even more; that is why i want to commit suicide.) the majority of them face discrimination from others. the insults cause them to lose confidence. one participant develops suicidal thoughts as a result of this discrimination. one of the main reasons they don’t attend such social gatherings is because they receive discrimination. others, on the other hand, are at ease and do not encounter such attitudes from others because some understand their predicament. across the world, people with disabilities face various attitudinal barriers such as prejudice, stereotypes, and low expectation from the community (dsdp, 2016). these inaccurate beliefs about disability can result in stigma or discrimination. it arises when elements of labeling, stereotyping, and prejudice combine that most often lead to status loss and discrimination for pwds (scior, 2016). according to the study by bond (2017), organizations working with people with disabilities have found that stigma often lies at the root of discrimination, exclusion, and low status. these are faced by people with disabilities and their families in all aspects of their lives in low and middle-income countries. another study by inguanzo (2017) reported that poverty and other barriers such as stigma and discrimination from the community put people with disabilities rights’ at risk. at the individual level, stigma and discrimination can result in internalized oppression and feelings of shame as pwds face great challenges overcoming the negative views or perspectives of their community or the society around them. they now have difficulty achieving self-acceptance and a sense of pride in their lives. family disabled or abled, every one of us faces personal challenges to survive and achieve our goals. throughout the difficulties that pwds encountered, their 15 international peer reviewed journal family and friends supported and guided them. their family provides them hope and motivation that they need. “kametdeh ku am pinachunungan da yaken su mapiya. an miyan kartus da nu iñapuan ku am ituruh da u kailangan ku, asna pirmi ava ta masadit u viyay namen ka naw.” (when i was young, they took good care of me. they give me what i need when they have money, but only once because our lives were not stable back then.) “hindi masyadong nabibigay ng mga magulang ko yung mga gamot ko minsan kasi mahirap kami. yung sweldo ko sa pagwawalis yun na din panggastos namin dito sa bahay at kung may natira yun na lang yung mapupunta sa panggamot ko.” (my parents sometimes cannot provide my medication because we are poor. my sweeping pay is also what we use to buy for our needs at home. if there’s anything left, it will be saved for my medication.) “hindi. wala silang nabibigay sakin. yung galing sa dswd lang natatanggap ko simula nung mastroke ako wala nang sustento. ako lang nakatira dito.” (no. they don’t give me anything. those from the dswd are the only ones who are providing for my needs. since i got a stroke, my family stopped sustaining my needs.) the majority of the participants receive support from their families. however, they also face financial problems, especially about to their medication. one participant also struggled because his family stopped sustaining his necessities ever since he was stroked. families are an important source of support for people with disabilities. family members absorb the added demands on time, emotional resources, and financial resources associated with having a family member with a disability (baker-ericzén et al., 2005). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 a family member with certain functional limitations or a disability alters the quality of family life. it requires greater adaptation to the needs of all the members. family organization and routines change and even on an employment level. having a family member with a disability requires a more exclusive character for these families as they lack knowledge that must be resolved. they need to seek information about each of the different characteristics of their family members and the risk involved. it generates weariness that may alter the quality of family life, as it requires a greater dedication of time, effort, and resources to address the needs of the pwd (benito lara & carpio, 2017). moreover, a study by juhásová (2015) reports that disability affects the whole family. practitioners are only present in certain moments of the life of a disabled person, but the family undertakes the role of caring for and providing for a pwd. families may be exhausted by the disability, physically, emotionally, and financially. however, with or without help, they can often renew their resources and continue to function just to provide for the needs of their family member with a disability. conclusions the researchers determined the issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities across the four areas of their lives. first, they encounter difficulties at work and looking for work because of their condition and the prejudice they receive in the work environment. second, they faced problems in school due to poverty and discrimination from classmates. third, they receive discrimination and stereotyping from their community. lastly, the majority of the participants receive support from their families. however, they also encounter financial problems, especially with their medication. translational research the schools and the local government can use this research to evaluate the issue and concerns of pwds in basco, batanes. it can give the government awareness on how to enhance the different systems (transportation, education, infrastructure, etc.) in the province for people with disabilities, ensuring that these areas accommodate pwds. it can also help them provide medical healthcare for every person with a disability. furthermore, as locals have low awareness of pwds, lgus’ efforts should be doubled in disseminating information and 17 international peer reviewed journal educating the transport groups, medical establishments, educational system, and other facilities about the needs of pwds. 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(2018). ohchr and the rights of persons with disabilities. united nations human rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/disability/ pages/disabilityindex.aspx velasco, j. et al (2020). covid-19 and persons with disabilities in the philippines: a policy analysis. health promot perspect. 2021 aug 18;11(3):299-306. doi: 10.34172/hpp.2021.38. pmid: 34660224; pmcid: pmc8501486. world health organization (2011). world report on disability. http://www.who. int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html yigit, i. h., & tatch, a. (2017). syrian refugees and americans: perceptions, attitudes and insights. american journal of qualitative research, 1(1), 1331. https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/disability/pages/disabilityindex.aspx https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/disability/pages/disabilityindex.aspx http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html 36 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.415 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. phytochemical and antibacterial screening of euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn species in the province of abra, philippines: an alternative source of antibiotics nero m. paderes http://orcid.org 0000-0002-9375-2839 neropaderes37@gmail.com abra state institute of science and technology abra, philippines divinia borgona eloisan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0092-5962 abra state institute of science and technology abra, philippines abstract plants have been aiding humanity around the world by serving as an abundant source of valuable drugs, antibiotics, nourishment, spices, seasonings, dyes, and other commercial and industrial products. the study investigated the antibacterial activity and phytochemical screening of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. the research was laid out using complete randomized design (crd) which was replicated three times. varying concentrations of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts at 75%, 50% and 25% concentrations were utilized for the antimicrobial assay using the kirby bauer method. phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phenolics in both plants and some other bioactive components that have been found in vitro to have antibacterial properties. statistical analysis using anova and dmrt 37 international peer reviewed journal at .05 level of significance shows that among the two plants tested, euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extract at 75% concentration exhibited a significant mean diameter of zone of inhibition against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. further laboratory analysis and testing should be conducted through the bureau of food and drugs (bfad) for further confirmatory results. keywords — clinical laboratory, phytochemical, secondary metabolites, experimental method, philippines introduction the therapeutic importance of plants is coupled with some biochemical substances also known as phytochemicals that give a definite biological action on the human body (amer, abouwarda, el garf, dawoud & abdelmohsen, 2013). an essential form of bioactive components that originate from plants are flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, glycosides, essential oil, saponins, tannins, steroids, resins, proteins, and others. the most effective method in extracting plant bioactive compounds is solely dependent on the type of solvent used. according to eloff (1998), ethanol, acetone, and methanol are commonly utilized in extracting bioactive compounds. but herbal medicine manufacturers much prefer to use ethanol because it can be safely utilized by herbal clients (dog, 2009). most of these bioactive components are valuable sources of natural antimicrobial compounds (mahady, 2005). nowadays, a growing concern about antibiotic resistance is expanding worldwide (gardam, 2000). this encourages the resurgence of research on the role of plants against resistant strains of diseasecausing bacteria which reveal that pharmaceutical plant extract has the potential to treat incurable diseases (alviano & alviano, 2009: iwu, duncan, & okunji, 1999). indigenous people particularly in the upland municipalities of abra are still practicing traditional methods of medications. herbs are utilized to treat various ailments by using prepared concoctions, poultice or ointments either for oral or external applications. cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn are common plant species in abra that are being utilized as a medicinal plant. however, their phytochemical component as well as their antibacterial 38 jpair multidisciplinary research activity is not yet fully evaluated and studied in the province. hence, the study was conceived. the result of the investigation can be utilized to provide a better comparison of activities of the two local plant species with the results obtained in other countries. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the presence of secondary metabolites through phytochemical screening and the potential antibacterial activity of andadasi (cassia alata linn) and tartaristis (euphorbia thymifolia linn) against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. specifically, it aimed to determine: 1) the bioactive components of andadasi leaf (cassia alata linn) and tartaristis (euphorbia thymifolia linn) plant; 2) the antibacterial activity of andadasi and tartaristis ethanolic extract at 75%, 50%, and 25% concentration towards staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli regarding the diameters of growth inhibition; 3) if there is a significant difference between the zone of inhibition of staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli subjected to andadasi (cassia alata linn) and tartaristis (euphorbia thymifolia linn) ethanolic extracts at 75%, 50%, and 25% concentrations and; 4) which plant and which of the three dilutions has the best potential antibacterial effect against the pathogenic microorganisms tested. materials and methods collection, identification and preparation of plant material cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn samples were harvested in the early morning from various places in abra, philippines on january to march 2015. it was authenticated by professor liezel molina magtoto from the department of biology college of science university of the philippines, baguio city. plant samples were oven-dried for 4 hrs (gen lab, germany) for not more than 40°c, grind using an electrical grinder and immediately proceeded for extraction. extraction grind plant parts (200 g/plant sample) were placed in sterile glass bottles and 500 ml of ethanol was added and soaked for five days. the separated extracts (500 ml) were filtered using whatman’s no. 1 filter paper and were placed 39 international peer reviewed journal in an erlenmeyer flask. the ethanol filtrate was evaporated into a grease-like consistency using an evaporating dish heated in a magnetic stirrer hotplate. the separated plant extracts were individually concentrated to 50 ml and stored in a vial at 4°c for further experimental procedures in accordance with the procedures set by nwachukwu and uzoeto (2010). test organisms the microorganisms used were obtained from the department of science and technology microbiology laboratory (dost) at taguig city, metro manila. all bacterial cultures were checked for purity and maintained in a nutrient agar slants. the organisms tested were staphylococcus aureus, and escherichia coli. bioassay studies the test was done by using the kirby-bauer disc diffusion (bauer, kirby, sherris, & turck, 1996). this method was performed by soaking filter paper discs having the same sizes into the different concentrations (75%, 50%, and 25%) of plant extracts. seventy-five (75) ml of mueller-hinton agar was poured into petri plates and uniformly inoculated with the sub cultured test organisms using a sterile inoculating loop using the streak plate method. filter paper discs soaked in plant extracts together with the filter paper disc soaked in penicillin (positive control) and the filter paper disc soaked in sterile water (negative control) were placed on the surface of the seeded mueller-hinton agar using a sterilized forceps. the plates were incubated overnight at 35°c. the growth of inhibition measured in millimeter using a digital vernier caliper and the effects of the different treatments were compared with that of the positive and negative control. the antimicrobial activity testing was done in three replications. interpretation for the range of inhibition was adopted from ontengco (2005). table 1. range of standard zone of inhibition zone of inhibition inhibitory activity > 17 12 – 16 7 – 11 0-6 + + +, strong + +, moderate +, weak – , negative 40 jpair multidisciplinary research phytochemical analysis fresh and clean two kilograms of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn were placed in sterile containers and sent to slu natural science research unit baguio city for phytochemical analysis (tiwari, kumar, m. kaur, g. kaur, & h. kaur, 2011; soni, sharma, patel, mishra, & singhai, 2011). by this analysis, the presence of several phytochemicals like alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolics, saponins, steroids, tannins, and triterpenes was tested. statistical analysis of data statistical analysis was conducted using the spss software on the antibacterial assay. it was further subjected to anova and dmrt at .05 level of significance. table 2. comparative phytochemical results of cassia alata linn. and euphorbia thymifolia linn name of samples alkaloid anthraquinone glycosides saponins phytosterol phenolics tannins flavonoid triterpenes c. alata linn. + + + e. thymifolia l. + + + results and discussion phytochemical screening anthraquinone glycoside and flavonoids are found in cassia alata linn while phytosterol and triterpenes are present in euphorbia thymifolia linn these secondary metabolites found in both plants have also been found in vitro to have antibacterial properties. according to geissman (1963), phenolics are bioactive phytochemicals that are toxic and inhibitory to organisms such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. anthraquinone has a strong antimicrobial effect. its probable targets in the microbial cell are surfaced exposed adhesions, cell wall polypeptides and membrane-bound enzymes. it may also render substrates unavailable to microorganisms. a study conducted by kazmi, malik, hameed, akhtar, & ali, 1994) described an anthraquinone from cassia italica, a pakistan tree, which was bacteriostatic for bacillus anthracis, corynebacterium pseudodiphtherium, and 41 international peer reviewed journal pseudomonas aeroginosa and bactericidal for pseudomonas pseudomalliae. flavonoids have also been found in vitro to be effective antimicrobial substances against a wide array of microorganisms (dixon, dey, lamb, 1983) while triterpenes or terpenoids are active against bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa (taylor, edel, manandhar & towers, 1996). a study that was conducted by batista et al. (1994), isolated two diterpenes and found out to work well against staphylococcus aureus, v. cholera, p. aeroginosa, and candida species. thus, the extracts from cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn can be possibly be used as a source of antibacterial drugs if the specific compounds can be isolated and purified as to their contents and origin. antibacterial activity table 3. the antibacterial activity of euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts at 75%, 50% and 25% concentrations against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli in terms of mean diameter of zone of inhibition (mm) plant concentrations % s. aureus eschericha coli. e. thymifolia linn. 75 50 25 16++ 10+ 11+ 14++ 9.67+ 11.67+ legend: +++ ( strong), ++( moderate) and + ( weak) table 3 shows that euphorbia thymifolia linn at 75% concentration exhibits moderate antibacterial activity against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli with 16mm and 14mm in mean diameter of the zone of inhibition, while at 50%, and 25% concentrations exhibit weak antibacterial activity. this means that euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extract works best at higher concentration in inhibiting the growth of staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. similar antibacterial activity of the plant extracts has been reported by muthumani et.al (2013), and their work reveals that euphorbia thymifolia linn shows both antioxidant and antihelminthic and antibacterial property. their result further revealed that the growth of all bacteria was inhibited through varying degrees, thus, substantiating the utilization of plant extract as an alternative form 42 jpair multidisciplinary research of medication to treat enteric infections such as e.coli and s. typhii. the strength of the extract can be further enhanced under acidic conditions at elevated temperatures (muthumani et al., 2013). table 4. antibacterial activity of cassia alata linn extracts at 75%, 50% and 25% concentrations against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli in terms of mean diameter of zone of inhibition (mm) plant concentrations s. aureus eschericha coli. cassia alata linn. 75% 50% 25% 13.33++ 9+ 9.3+ 12++ 9 + 7.3+ legend: +++ ( strong), ++( moderate) and + ( weak) table 4 shows the effect of cassia alata linn ethanolic extracts at different concentrations of both staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. results show that 75% concentration of the plant extract also exhibits moderate antistaphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli properties with 13.33 mm and 12 mm mean diameter of zone of inhibition while at lower concentrations both plant extracts manifested weak effects towards the two tested organisms. table 5. duncan’s multiple range tests of the mean zones of inhibition of the different extract concentrations of euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli concentrations euphorbia thymifolia l. (s. aureus) euphorbia thymifolia l. (e.coli) cassia alata linn. (s.aureus) cassia alata linn. (e. coli) 75% 16a 14a 13.33a 12a 50% 10b 9.67a 9b 9ab 25% 11b 11.67a 9.3b 7.3b * means with the same letter are not significant duncan’s multiple range test reveals that euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn ethanolic extract have significant effect on staphylococcus aureus at 75% concentration. this shows that both plant extracts are effective against staphylococcus aureus at higher concentrations. 43 international peer reviewed journal conclusions both plants contain phenolics. anthraquinone glycoside, flavonoids are found in cassia alata linn. while phytosterols and triterpenes are present in euphorbia thymifolia linn. these secondary metabolites which are identified in both plants have been found in vitro to have antibacterial properties. euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extract works best at higher concentration in inhibiting the growth of staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli. analysis of variance (anova) has shown that euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn extracts have a significant effect towards staphylococcus aureus. this shows that the organism is more susceptible to the effect of both plant extracts. the sensitivity of staphylococcus aureus can be attributed to its bacterial thin cell membrane that can be easily affected by the secondary metabolites present. euphorbia thymifolia linn has the best potential antibacterial effect against the pathogenic microorganisms tested at 75% concentration. it signifies that the higher the concentration, the stronger the antibacterial property. translational research the extracts from euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn can be used as a source of antibacterial drugs if the specific compounds are isolated and purified as to their contents and origin. euphorbia thymifolia linn plant is not well known by the natives of abra especially its medical importance. therefore, the researcher recommends further study especially on the exact part of the plant where the antibacterial properties are concentrated. folks should also be informed or oriented on the benefits they can enjoy using the said herbal plants. literature cited alviano, d. s., & alviano, c. s. (2009). plant extracts: search for new alternatives to treat microbial diseases. current pharmaceutical biotechnology, 10(1), 106121. https://doi.org/10.2174/138920109787048607 amer, w. m., abouwarda, a. m., el garf, i. a., dawoud, g. t., & abdelmohsen, g. (2013). phytochemical composition of solanum elaeagnifolium cav. and its antibacterial activity. int j bio pha ali sci (ijbpas), 2, 1282-306. retrieved 44 jpair multidisciplinary research on september 21, 2016 from http://scholar.cu.edu.eg/?q=wafaamamer/ publications/4-phytochemical-composition-solanum-elaeagnifolium-cavand-its-antimicrobial batista, o., duarte, a., nascimento, j., simões, m. f., de la torre, m. c., & rodríguez, b. (1994). structure and antimicrobial activity of diterpenes from the roots of plectranthus hereroensis. journal of natural products, 57(6), 858861. https://doi.org/10.1021/np50108a031 bauer, a. w., kirby, w. m. m., sherris, j. c., & turck, m. (1966). antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disk method. american journal of clinical pathology,  45(4), 493. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5325707 cowan, m. m. (1999). plant products as antimicrobial agents.  clinical microbiology reviews, 12(4), 564-582. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from http://cmr.asm.org/content/12/4/564.short dixon, r. a., dey, p. m., & lamb, c. j. (1983). phytoalexins: enzymology and molecular biology. advances in enzymology and related areas of molecular biology,  55(1). retrieved on september 21, 2016 from https://books. google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9wmztust5sac&oi=fnd&pg=p a1&dq=dixon,+r.a.,+dey+pm,+lamb+cj.+phytoalexins:+enzyymol ogy+and+molecular+biology&ots=lkc-iv0ue3&sig=qnk659bw33lfsxxf95zmomkksk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false dog, t. l. (2009). smart talk on supplements and botanicals: herbal teas versus tinctures; standardized extracts; green tea.  alternative and complementary therapies, 15(3), 101-103. https://doi.org/10.1089/act.2009.15309 eloff, j. n. (1998). which extractant should be used for the screening and isolation of antimicrobial components from plants? journal of ethnopharmacology, 60(1), 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-8741(97)00123-2 gardam, m. a. (2000). is methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus an emerging community pathogen? a review of the literature. canadian journal of infectious diseases and medical microbiology, 11(4), 202-211. http://dx.doi. org/10.1155/2000/424359 45 international peer reviewed journal geissman, t. a. (1963). flavonoid compounds, tannins, lignins and related compounds. pyrrole pigments, isoprenoid compounds and phenolic plant constituents, 9, 265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-4831-97180.50018-7 iwu, m. w., duncan, a. r., & okunji, c. o. (1999). new antimicrobials of plant origin. perspectives on new crops and new uses. ashs press, alexandria, va, 457-462. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from https://hort.purdue. edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/pdf/v4-457.pdf kazmi, m. h., malik, a., hameed, s., akhtar, n., & ali, s. n. (1994). an anthraquinone derivative from cassia italica. phytochemistry, 36(3), 761-763. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0031-9422(00)89812-x mahady, g. b. (2005). medicinal plants for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. current pharmaceutical design, 11(19), 2405-2427. https://doi.org/10.2174/1381612054367481 muthumani, k., wise, m. c., broderick, k. e., hutnick, n., goodman, j., flingai, s., ... & wilson, c. (2013). hiv-1 env dna vaccine plus protein boost delivered by ep expands b-and t-cell responses and neutralizing phenotype in vivo. plos one, 8(12), e84234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084234 nwachukwu, e., & uzoeto, h. o. (2010). antimicrobial activity of some local mushrooms on pathogenic isolates. journal of medicinal plants research,4(23), 2460-2465. http://dx.doi.org/10.5897/jmpr10.154 ontengco, d. c. (2005). methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a serious threat.  university of santo tomas. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?q=ontengco%2c+d.+c.+%282005 %29.+methicillin-resistant+staphylococcus+aureus%2c+a+serious+threat& btng=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5 soni, h., sharma, s., patel, s. s., mishra, k., & singhai, a. k. (2011). preliminary phytochemical screening and hplc analysis of flavonoid from methanolic extract of leaves of annona squamosa.  international research journal of pharmacy, 2(5), 242-246. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from 46 jpair multidisciplinary research https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?q=soni%2c+h.%2c+sharma%2c+ s.%2c+patel%2c+s.+s.%2c+mishra%2c+k.%2c+%26+singhai%2c+a .+k.+%282011%29.+preliminary+phytochemical+screening+and+hplc+a nalysis+of+flavonoid+from+methanolic+extract+of+leaves+of+annona+squa mosa&btng=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5 taylor, r. s. l., edel, f., manandhar, n. p., & towers, g. h. n. (1996). antimicrobial activities of southern nepalese medicinal plants.  journal of ethnopharmacology,  50(2), 97-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/03788741(95)01335-0 tiwari, p., kumar, b., kaur, m., kaur, g., & kaur, h. (2011). phytochemical screening and extraction: a review. internationale pharmaceutica sciencia,1(1), 98-106. retrieved on september 21, 2016 from https://scholar.google. com.ph/scholar?q=tiwari%2c+p.%2c+kumar%2c+b.%2c+kaur%2c+ m.%2c+kaur%2c+g.%2c+%26+kaur%2c+h.+%282011%29.+phyt ochemical+screening+and+extraction%3a+a+review&btng=&hl=en&as_ sdt=0%2c5 47 international peer reviewed journal appendix table 6. summary table on the mean difference of the zone of inhibition of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts towards staphylococcus aureus at 75%, 50% and 25% concentrations in millimeters(mm) % concentration zone of inhibition for euphorbia thymifolia l (mm) zone of inhibition for euphorbia thymifolia l. (mm) mean difference t value t probability 75% 50% 25% 16 10 11 13.33 9 9.33 2.66 1.0 1.66 1.6 1.73 1.89 .185 .158 .132 the table shows that there is no significant difference between the effects of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts at different concentrations in terms of the mean diameter of zone of inhibition against staphylococcus aureus. this shows that both plants have similar antibacterial potency in preventing the growth of the test organism. it also validates the presence of bioactive components or secondary metabolites that are proven to have antimicrobial properties as shown in the phytochemical analysis conducted on both plants (cowan, 1999). this signifies that cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts are good sources of anti-staphylococcus aureus drugs when properly isolated and refined to cure staphylococcal skin diseases and would infections. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. summary table on the mean difference of the zone of inhibition of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extracts towards escherichia coli at 75%, 50% and 25% concentrations in millimeters (mm) % concentration zone of inhibition for tartaristis(mm) zone of inhibition for andadasi(mm) mean difference t value t probability 75% 50% 25% 14 9.67 11.67 12 9.0 7.33 2 .66 4.33 .926 .277 9.19 .407 .795 .001 the table shows that there is a significant difference between the effects of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn ethanolic extract towards escherichia coli at 25% concentration having a mean diameter of zone of inhibition of 11.67mm in diameter and 7.33mm diameter with a mean difference of 4.33mm. this indicates that at lower strength, the two test plants differ in their antimicrobial action towards e. coli where euphorbia thymifolia linn is more potent than cassia alata linn. this result is due to the presence of phytosterol, a steroid compound similar to cholesterol. the same compound was derived by sharma (1993) using petroleum ether extract from the leaves of annona squamosa, adenocalymna alliceum and amaranthus tricolor which exhibited potent antibacterial properties towards gram positive and gram negative bacteria. thus, phytosterols, are considered as wide-spectrum antibacterial agent. as to 75%, 50%, and 25% concentrations, both test plants have no significant difference as to zone of inhibition, meaning, both plants have a similar antibacterial effect towards e.coli at higher concentrations. 49 international peer reviewed journal table 8. one way analysis of variance of the mean zone of inhibitions of the different ethanolic extract concentrations of cassia alata linn and euphorbia thymifolia linn against s. aureus and e.coli sum of squares df mean square f sig. tartaristis between groups (s. aureus) within groups total 62 .000 8.000 70.000 2 6 8 31.000 1.333 23.250 .001 tartaristis between groups (e. coli) within groups total 28.222 35.333 63.556 2 6 8 14.111 5.889 2.396 .172 andadasi between groups (s.aureus) within groups total 34.889 15.333 50.222 2 6 8 17.444 2.556 6.826 .028 andadasi between groups (e. coli) within groups total 33.556 28.667 62.222 2 6 8 16.778 4.778 3.512 .098 analysis of variance shows that euphorbia thymifolia linn and cassia alata linn ethanolic extracts have a significant effect towards staphylococcus aureus with a level of significance of .001 and 0.28, respectively. it points that staphylococcus aureus is more susceptible to the effect of both plant extracts. the sensitivity of staphylococcus aureus can be attributed to its bacterial thin cell membrane that can be easily affected by the secondary metabolites present. 47 international peer reviewed journal kinesthetic learning style and structured approach to learning as most preferred by nursing students ashley ali-bangcola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8228-9930 ashyannaali@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines abstract the learning process has been the focus of numerous studies, but remains complex and affected by many factors. since hardly any attention has been paid to how students learn and how teachers teach in many institutions, this quantitative descriptive-correlational study was conducted to determine the learning styles and attitude towards learning of nursing students. a sample of 304 nursing students was selected from all the nursing schools in marawi city, philippines using stratified proportionate random sampling technique with replacement. results revealed that the four learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic) were found to have been used by the students simultaneously as major learning styles and most of them expressing a preference for kinesthetic learning style (78%). on the other hand, they expressed a minor and negligible preference for group learning. the results of the questionnaire on the attitude towards learning revealed a high level of academic comfort and a preference towards structured, spontaneous, and person-centered approaches to learning. the study concludes that out of the six learning styles tested; only group learning style is found to have no significant relationship with the participants’ attitude towards learning. based on the findings, the researcher recommends that faculty members should take into consideration the differences among the students when designing the course material. vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.3783 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, learning styles, attitude towards learning, quantitative research, marawi city, philippines introduction educators have long been interested and fascinated by how students learn. in this regard, there have been various research studies focused on learning styles. despite these academic investigations, how students learn and how educators can facilitate this process continue to be of primary importance. the teachinglearning process often becomes a struggle as educators attempt to impart information and knowledge to students in the hope that such knowledge are absorbed to the maximum. there are probably many ways to teach as there are many ways to learn. various studies have established that students differ greatly in how they learn and their attitude towards learning. draper (1989) conducted a study that assessed the learning styles of college students. it was found out that most of the respondents preferred kinesthetic learning, were independent learners, preferred written as opposed to oral examination, and spent majority of their study time in reading. frankel (2009) conducted a study to explore staff learning styles in three main categories visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. the study explored whether recognizing nurses’ learning styles could help integrate theory and practice. the findings suggest that staff predominantly prefer kinesthetic or visual learning, with auditory the least preferred. the findings suggests that being aware and considerate of individual learning styles is a prerequisite in designing effective training programs. a study of hauer (2005) to assess the learning style preferences of students enrolled in various allied health professional programs indicated similar learning style preferences from these groups and exhibited a close balance between all learning styles. the study recommended that there is a need to focus on student learning styles and their impact on the educational process. park, endo and goodwin (2006) concluded that filipino students preferred to learn more through their visual, and kinesthetic senses were more teacher motivated and preferred to learn in a greater variety of ways. different bodies of literature depict varying opinions and findings on the students’ attitudes towards learning. according to yara (2009), attitudes of students can be influenced by the attitudes of their teachers and their style of teaching. adesoji (2008) have concluded that some factors have been identified about students’ attitude to learning. these factors include teaching methods, 49 international peer reviewed journal teacher attitude, influence of parents, and cognitive styles of pupils. however, it is unfortunate that some academicians teach students without having much consideration of the way students learn. many lecturers know how themselves and their approach towards learning, but are not sensitive as to how their students learn. there is a need to find ways and means to encourage the two different cultures of ‘students’ and ‘faculty members’ to dialogue and to mediate in defining the future of nursing. analyzing how students learn, as well as acknowledging and attempting to understand the socially conditioned knowledge they bring to the classroom will contribute to the enrichment of their learning process. the results of the study can be used to facilitate dialogue between students and faculty members on the nature of the learning process, and what can be done to improve it. hopefully, it will enable nursing students to get more of the academic process. framework the independent variable is the participants’ attitude towards learning. the dependent variable is the learning styles of the participants. an independent variable is assumed to have an influence on the dependent variable. although numerous internal and external factors influence learning style, the study focused on the relationship of learning style and attitude towards learning of nursing students. the learning styles model as developed by k. j. dunn and r. s. dunn (1978) influenced the study. the learning styles model is built on the theory that each individual has a unique set of biological and developmental characteristics. these unique characteristics impact substantially on how a person learns new information and skills. the study was also influenced by bruner’s constructivist theory (1987). it asserts that learners do not simply absorb and store information, instead, they make active interpretations of experiences and draw from them sound independent conclusions. objectives of the study the study intended to identify the learning styles of nursing students and their attitude towards learning in the different schools of nursing in marawi city, philippines. the study also intended to discover the relationship between the participants’ learning style and their attitude towards learning. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the study utilized quantitative descriptive-correlational design. the descriptive design was used to describe the attitude towards learning and the learning styles of nursing students who were enrolled in the bachelor of science in nursing in all the nursing schools in marawi city during the first semester of school year 2014-2015. the correlation method of research was used to investigate the significant relationship between the learning styles and the attitudes towards learning. the degrees of a relationship were expressed through correlation of coefficient. participants and settings to determine the learning styles of nursing students and their attitude towards learning, the researcher utilized probability sampling in which all the members of the entire population are given a chance of being selected. the setting of the study included all nursing schools (college of health sciences, mapandi memorial college, lanao islamic paramedical college foundation, inc., jamiatul mindanao islamic foundation, mindanao institute of health care professional, safrullah m. dipatuan foundation academy, cali paramedical college foundation, hope healthcare institute), which were located in marawi city, philippines as the locale and focus area of the investigation. the participants of the research consisted of 304 nursing students who were randomly selected using the proportionate stratified sampling with replacement from a target population of 1,239 nursing students from all the nursing schools. this was conducted to provide the researcher with a wide breadth and diversity of students to be represented in the sample group. the participants were regular nursing students who were enrolled in the bachelor of science in nursing program during the first semester of school year 2014-2015.the vast majority of the participants were single, female meranao students with ages ranging from below 18 to 21 and above, with a median age of 18. the participants were evenly distributed in all year levels. however, the majority of the participants belong to the first two year levels, with passing to excellent grades. most of them are from private schools. data collection the researcher requested permission to seek the participation of the students from the deans of the nursing schools prior to the conduct of the study. the 51 international peer reviewed journal randomly selected nursing students were invited to participate in the research study; those who declined to participate were replaced. the purpose of the research was explained briefly to them after class. students expressing interest in participating in the survey were given a consent form. after consent was obtained, the students were given standardized information on how to answer the questionnaire, placing emphasis on honesty in answering the questions, and assurance of confidentiality of the results; then each student was given a copy of the learning style questionnaire along with a scoring sheet to complete. a questionnaire to determine their attitude towards learning and a demographic sheet that asked for basic student information were provided. thereafter, the accomplished forms were returned to the researcher for verification of compliance with directions and for the accuracy of scoring. data analysis to determine the type and strength of learning style of the participants and their attitude towards learning, the researcher used a structured three-part questionnaire. part 1 dealt with the profile of the respondents. part ii consisted of a descriptive survey instrument called the learning style preference questionnaire (lspq) developed by reid (1995) which was incorporated into the questionnaire that was used by the researcher. the questionnaire assessed the preferred learning styles of the students based on how students learn best using their perceptions: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile preferences, and two social aspects of learning: group and individual preferences. the advantages of the instrument are many; it is easy to administer, it is easy to interpret, it is self-scoring, and not scored by an external agent, it is relatively quick to administer and complete, it has easily reportable scales, and it has reliability and validity supported by research (reid, 1987). decapua and wintergerst (2001) in their study on the construct validity of one learning styles ran reid’s lspq through a reliability analysis to examine the internal consistency in each scale. the results showed the scale alpha for each learning style as followsvisual (cronbach’s alpha=0.53); auditory (cronbach’s alpha=0.48); kinesthetic (cronbach’s alpha=0.69); tactile (cronbach’s alpha=0.59); group (cronbach’s alpha=0.87); and individual (cronbach’s alpha=0.75). the survey consists of 30 self-report statements. the inventory was selfscored by the students, and the raw scores were obtained for each of the learning style categories. the score on each item/statement for each learning style were 52 jpair multidisciplinary research summed, and the sum for each learning style was multiplied by two. the learning style categories with the most points determine an individual’s preference for those categories. part iii consists of seventeen (17) items with subscales to determine the students’ attitude towards learning. the subscales included the level of academic comfort (1-5); structured approach (6-8); spontaneous approach (9-11); personcentered approach (12-15); and objective approach (16-17). the statements are concerned with how the students think and feel about learning, including what they pay attention to, what they expect from learning, and what motivates them to learn. pilot testing was conducted to 10 individuals who were not part of the study but who shared similar characteristics as the participants. the data were analyzed using the statistical software for social sciences. the following statistical tools were utilized in analyzing the data: scoring was used for the standard instrument which measured the students learning styles and their attitude towards learning. the ranking was used to determine the learning style based on the statements given them. after which, the respondents’ responses were counted in frequencies and percentages and ranked from the highest count to the lowest. weighted mean was used to determine the average value of the participants’ responses on their attitude towards learning. lastly, to find out possible correlation and significant relationship between the participants’ learning styles and their attitude towards learning, spearman rho correlation was utilized due to the level of measurement used in the variables’ scale which is ordinal. results and discussion the findings revealed that majority of the participants preferred kinesthetic learning style (78%) as their major learning style. this result was followed closely by auditory learning style (76.6%); visual learning style (67.1%); individual learning styles (65.5%); tactile learning styles (62.5%); and lastly, by group learning style (47.7%). conversely, the minority of the respondents at 21.1% has kinesthetic as their minor learning style preference; followed by auditory with 23.0%; visual and individual learning styles come next, both with 31.3%, and tactile learning style with 34.9%. overall, kinesthetic learning, when compared with the other learning styles, was the participants’ major learning style. consequently, the majority of the participants have group learning style as their minority learning style preference (42.0%).we can see that students were not in favor of group learning compared 53 international peer reviewed journal to the other modes of learning. it implies that only a minority model their study habits after this style. kinesthetic learning style is the most popular major learning style but the least popular as a minor learning style. this result implies that nursing students feel the need to move around to learn more easily. to further support this finding, draper (1989) had listed kinesthetic learning as the most preferred learning style among the respondents in his study “continuing education for college students based on learning style research”. the findings also revealed that the relationship between the frequency and distribution of the learning styles as either major or minor is inversely proportional. the finding showed that since majority of the participants use kinesthetic as a major learning style, only a few participants use kinesthetic as minor learning style. this is because one cannot use a specific learning style as major and minor learning styles simultaneously. humans, by nature, are born auditory. since a baby’s vision is fuzzy when born, he/she relies on his/her hearing. as they become toddlers, they become visual since their vision has been defined. they are fascinated by shapes and colors. when they become adolescents, they become more kinesthetic since they move around more often. this is prominent in the case of nursing students who are required to be mobile often. this aspect of not being able to stay in one place becomes ingrained in their system, and soon in their study habits and learning style. this trait might be the reason why kinesthetic ranks first and auditory and visual next since people are nothing without the learning styles they are born with. the group learning style which is not exactly a learning style but a social aspect of learning ranked the lowest. most of the participants were female meranaos, who are by tradition conservative and do not feel comfortable when in a group even for studying purposes. as further proof of this, individual learning style ranked quite high in the social aspect of learning which would imply that participants can study better alone. the participants’ responses tend to center on the highest score in all statements pertaining to academic comfort, which indicated that the participants have a high level of comfort in the academic setting and that they are in a situation wherein they feel secured and comfortable in their environment. the participants generally agree to all statements pertaining to the structured approach to learning. for spontaneous approach, the participants’ responses also tend to center on “agree”. spontaneous learning is unstructured and informal. so there can be lots of gaps in knowledge that is accumulated this way. teachers 54 jpair multidisciplinary research should try to identify important missing knowledge components that they can follow up in a more structured way later. the participants also agreed to the statements pertaining to person-centered approach. this result implies that teachers need to understand the potential of person/student-centered learning in comparison with traditional teaching styles. in a person-centered approach, the teachers act as facilitator of learning and not the provider of learning. this implies that teachers need to feel unthreatened when experimenting with this approach. in contrast, for objective approach, the participants’ responses have a low median score of 2.0 which is interpreted as “disagree”. based on their responses, the participants were not objective or analytical in their learning which implies that they depend on their teachers to provide them with the necessary knowledge they require in their academics. the participants were also found to prefer the spontaneous and personcentered approach to learning, but do not favor the objective approach to learning. this implies that the respondents believe it as necessary to have a personal relationship with the teacher to excel. it is not surprising considering that in an objective approach to learning, inter-dependence between teacher and learner is essential. overall, the participants’ attitude towards learning is structural in nature which means that they prefer the simplest solution path for a problem and then learning more complex paths until mastery of a concept is achieved. the results of the study showed that out of the six learning styles mentioned, only group learning style is found to have no significant relationship with the respondents’ attitude towards learning which means that group learning style does not have any bearing on the respondents’ attitude towards learning. the results further showed that the participants’ attitude towards learning is positively correlated with all learning styles except group learning style. the positive correlation between these two variables entails a parallel relationship, which can be interpreted to mean that as the participants’ preference for visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic and individual learning styles goes higher, their attitude towards learning also increases. meanwhile, should their preference goes lower, it would follow that their attitude towards learning suffers. it is not surprising that tactile learner is perfectly correlated with 100% confidence level to the participants’ attitude towards learning. tactile learners make up about 30% of the population (fleming, 2009). a tactile learner picks up concepts through touch and movement. tactile learners remember things that are done, rather than things that are seen or topics that are discussed. it is important 55 international peer reviewed journal to note that student nurses are required to perform clinical procedures, and they cannot learn these effectively through reading textbooks alone. the textbooks and lab manuals provide learning opportunities that match the preferences of the visual and auditory learner, but student nurses need to perform these procedures hands-on for them to relate what they have learned in the classroom to a clinical setting. the findings verify that students prefer to learn in ways that are personally unique to each student. the participants have different major learning styles which they may use simultaneously and which in turn affect their attitude towards learning and vice-versa. the participants in the study were mostly in their adolescence. a typical adolescent is usually active and agile and, thus, wants to move around while learning. some may want to be entertained while studying, whether by listening to music or watching videos of clinical procedures on the internet while others may want to study alone without the company of friends. according to fleming (2009), a typical visual learner uses visualization techniques to remember things. many prefer to read information in a textbook or on the whiteboard rather than listen to the teacher lecture. visual learners typically use sight words in their everyday terminology. auditory learners learn best by listening and talking aloud. they are good at remembering things that they hear. they often read to themselves as they study. they are also often distracted by noise and sounds. kinesthetic learners typically learn best by doing. they enjoy learning through hands-on methods. they might pace while studying or take breaks from studying to get up and move around. a limitation present in the study pertained to psychological types of the participants since it was only limited to the attitude of the participants towards learning. further, the use of a questionnaire for assessing the attitude of participants towards learning employs quantitative survey scales with the assumption that different participants will interpret items in a similar manner. the validity of the findings of this study must be viewed based on the research methodology and the number of participants which are limited to nursing students in marawi city. while the conclusions may be applicable to this particular milieu, it would require further study to extend similar conclusions to other academic institutions. any attempt to generalize conclusions based on the findings of the study, as applicable to other students in different educational facilities must further be validated. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research conclusions the study provided valuable information regarding the preferred learning styles of undergraduate nursing students. some of the findings of the study agree with the constructivist theory and the learning styles model of k. j. dunn and r. s. dunn (1978), as well as the results of previous learning style studies, lending support to the construct validity of the learning style questionnaire. majority of the respondents are kinesthetic learners having kinesthetic style as a major learning style while having group learning style as their least preferred, ranking first as minor and negligible learning styles. a number of significant correlations were found between the learning styles of nursing students and their attitude towards learning. the researcher also found out that students learn differently. when teachers are teaching in ways that are compatible with their personal styles and strengths, both students and mentors are likely to benefit. knowledge of learning styles encourages every student to draw from his natural strengths. the positive effect of students discovering their learning styles preference cannot be measured easily, but it has significant implications for future personal and professional relationships. identifying one’s preferred learning style and how their attitudes affect their learning could also provide an advantage academically. students frequently expressed both surprise and pleasure in discovering their learning style preference. it was also a rewarding experience for the researcher to provide this service to students during data collection. the tremendous amount of complex, theoretical content that must be processed in a short period complicates the learning process for many nursing students. nursing theory and theories from other disciplines must be committed to long-term memory so that it is readily available for future clinical decisionmaking. many nursing students are kinesthetic learners and “hands-on” learners. they usually want to provide care for a patient with a specific problem or disease process so that they may properly understand the theory behind the disease. since clinical experience is limited, students must understand the theoretical content without the benefit of linking theory to practice in the clinical area. they may find situations in the clinical setting or hospitals that may contradict with what they have learned in the classroom as the ideal safe nursing practice. although learning by experience in nursing is highly desirable, it is often limited in many situations. theoretical content obtained by rote memorization of facts and by learning basic principles provides the knowledge base of nursing 57 international peer reviewed journal practice theory and practice complement, but the ability to apply principles and see relationships is essential to critical thinking and problem solving in complex clinical environments. both rote learning and meaningful learning are necessary for learning and acquiring knowledge. thus, it is essential that teachers understand the different learning styles of students and use a variety of teachinglearning methods in the classroom. some issues emerged from the study such as the inevitable mismatch of learning and teaching styles between teachers and students in the classroom. nevertheless, when teachers teach students in ways that agree with their personal styles and strengths, both are likely to benefit. nursing faculty can certainly help students identify their preferred learning styles and strengthen their natural abilities while at the same time teaching in a manner that will emphasize their own strengths. teaching and learning practices in nursing education must be improved. learning style is a concept that can be of importance towards this end. translational research students will be given a learning style questionnaire at the start of school year to evaluate their learning style preference and that there should be an effort from the educator’s side to accommodate those differences in the classroom. when the learning styles are determined, it is suggested that instructor takes into consideration the differences among the students when designing the course material. a variety of the materials will be incorporated in the classroom. additionally, students’ study centers will be established in the school premises to cater the social preference of students to study individually. instead of written reports, practicum should be used instead, as it would measure whether or not a nursing student can really use it in real-life experiences different from things he/ she read. projects which are student-centered will be incorporated into the curriculum. an example would be actual hands-on experience wherein a student would interact with his or her patients. teachers should also be more systematic and organized when giving their lessons so students would easily understand. while the study was conducted locally, its findings certainly can be applied to educational institutions in other countries. making adjustments for cultural differences, the findings on learning styles of students may be utilized by teachers in foreign educational institutions to create their own optimal learning models. 58 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited adesoji, f. a. (2008). managing students’ attitude towards science through problem–solving instructional strategy. anthropologist, 10(1), 21-24. bruner, j. s. (2009). the process of education. harvard university press. decapua and wintergerst (2001). the construct validity of one learning styles. researchgate draper, d. o., & young, w. (1989). continuing education for athletic trainers based on learning style research. journal of continuing education in the health professions, 9(3), 193-197. dunn, r. s., & dunn, k. j. (1978).  teaching students through their individual learning styles: a practical approach. prentice hall. fleming, g. (2009). tactile learning people who learn by doing. frankel, a. (2008). nurses’ learning styles: promoting better integration of theory into practice. nursing times, 105(2), 24-27. hauer, p., straub, c., & wolf, s. (2005). learning styles of allied health students using kolb’s lsi-iia. journal of allied health, 34(3), 177-182. park, c. c., endo, r., & goodwin, a. l. (eds.). (2006).  asian and pacific american education: learning, socialization, and identity. iap. reid, j. m. (1995). learning styles in the esl/efl classroom. heinle & heinle publishers, international thomson publishing book distribution center, 7625 empire drive, florence, ky 41042 yara p. o. (2009). students attitude towards mathematics and academic achievement in some selected secondary schools in south-western nigeria. european junior of scientific research. retrieved on august 11, 2014, from http://202.193.70.166/mirror/mecemirror/duozhuantimirror/ dztmirror02/m 122 jpair multidisciplinary research peers, administration, and mentor support as correlates of completion/ non-completion of master’s and doctoral degrees among muslim educators athena jalaliyah b. derico-lawi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8199-9543 athenajbdlawi@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city, philippines abstract tertiary faculty members must finish their master’s degree in their field of specialization. however, many tertiary faculties have not been awarded master’s degrees or doctoral degrees because of non-completion of their thesis or dissertation. the study aimed to determine the relationship between the barriers in conducting thesis or dissertation and the completion/non-completion of master’s and doctoral degrees among muslim educators who have completed their academic requirements. purposive sampling was employed in the study. there were 60 participants of which 30 have completed their academic requirements for two years or more, and 30 participants have finished master’s and/or doctoral degrees for the purpose of comparison. based on the results of the study, there is a significant relationship between the degree or course, employment status, faculty rank and number of years in service on the completion or non-completion of master’s or doctoral degrees. the participants were largely undecided as to the role of support system as a whole, but there is a significant relationship between peers, administration and mentor support on the completion or non-completion of master’s and doctoral degrees. the mindanao state university system may vol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.420 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 123 international peer reviewed journal adopt remedial measures to expose its faculty members and other academics to more research work that will improve their research skills. keywords – social science, barriers, completion, masters, doctoral, muslim, educators, descriptive-correlational research design, marawi, philippines introduction faculty members in higher education institutions should finish their master’s and doctoral degrees in their field of specialization. however, many tertiary faculty members have not been awarded with these degrees because of noncompletion of their thesis or dissertation. bourke, holbrook, lovat, and dally (2004) explained that some variables explain considerable proportions of the variation in both elapsed time (38%) and candidacy time (22%). the most important variables in both cases are those related to candidature—particularly, full/part-time enrolment, notifying a problem during candidature, and having a scholarship, with taking leave also important for candidacy time. other studies have suggested that more than one-third leave in the first year (lovitts & nelson, 2000). in addition, colebatch, 2002) suggested that completion rates for research degrees in australia have increased considerably since the 1980s to between 80 and 90 percent in the mid-1990s. a recent study in canada indicated that discipline is important for completion, with completion rates varying from 45 percent in arts and humanities to 70 percent in life sciences, with science completions being generally in the high 60 percent range (elgar & klein, 2004). for u.k., completion rates after 10 years differed by general discipline area with arts/humanities rates being 51 percent, and sciences being 64 percent (wright & cochrane, 2000). for australia, martin et al., (2001) estimated that 60 percent of beginning doctoral candidates in 1992 would have completed successfully by 2003 (that is 11 years after initial enrolment), suggesting an attrition rate of 40 percent. the same study also reported ‘considerable variation’ in completion rates between institutions and disciplines. apart from discipline differences that may exist, institutional arrangements have been found to be important for attrition, which ranged from 33 percent in one university to 68 percent in another in the united states of america (lovitts & nelson, 2000). mindanao state university (msu) is an suc (state university and colleges) mandated to perform the trilogy functions of teaching, research, and extension. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research the three functions were considered in the ranking of regular faculty members. however, for ranks of assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor, the requirement is that the faculty concerned must have a publication or research output (integrated scheme for ranking and promotion, 2005). many faculty members of msu have completed their academic requirement, but without completing their thesis/dissertation. thus depriving them of the opportunity for promotion. under ched memorandum order no. 26 series of 2009 pertaining to the revised implementing guidelines of the commission on higher educationfaculty development programs (ched-fdps) phase 2 under republic act (ra) no. 7722, otherwise known as the “higher education act of 1994”, and pursuant to commission en banc resolution no. 213-2009. per revised implementing guidelines for the ched faculty development program, it states that faculty development is a critical factor towards building a vigorous foundation of an educational institution to ensure quality education. the nation cannot compete with its neighboring countries that are now moving towards offering cutting edge programs and technologies unless the philippines invests in creating a pool of experts in academic institutions. similar projects such as the mindanao advanced education programs (maep), college faculty development fund (cfdf), engineering-science education program (esep), and both the on-going ched higher education development project-faculty development program (hedp-fdp) have been implemented by the legal authority to address the issue of low-quality education through faculty upgrading. at this terminal phase of the hedp-fdp, statistics shows that the percentage of faculty with graduate degrees had increased from 33% in 1998 (pcer) to 47% in 2006 (ched-mis). this figure is still below the minimum faculty requirements as indicated in the existing ched policies and standards for the offering of academic programs that require that college faculty must have graduate degrees in the specific discipline relevant to their respective fields of specialization (angeles, 2009). in delhi, india, faridabad-based engineering and management institute, jb knowledge park organized a two-day faculty development program. the program aimed at enhancing technical knowledge of faculty members on computer networking. according to the dean of jbkp, dr. harshit sinha said that faculty plays a great role in the success of any educational institution and building students’ future by imparting quality education” (jb knowledge park, 2013). unesco (1998) stated that on the eve of a new century, there is an unprecedented demand for a great diversification in higher education, as well 125 international peer reviewed journal as an increased awareness of its vital importance for sociocultural and economic development in building the future for which younger generations will be equipped with the new skills, knowledge, and a standard of perfection. with the aim of setting in motions a process of a comprehensive reform in higher education worldwide, unesco convened a world conference on higher education in the 21st century: vision and action. the goal of improving the quality of higher education is not a task that the country undertakes alone. to be globally competitive, the philippines has to ensure that its institutions can provide excellent education, and will subsequently become world-class higher educational institutions. research productivity of faculty members is of growing importance in higher education institutions worldwide (green, 2008) and research scholarship, especially in reputed peer-viewed publication, seems essential to the success of a faculty member at most universities (o’meara & braskamp, 2005) according to the new report, the road to academic excellence: the making of worldclass research universities, which charts the experience of 11 leading public and private research universities in nine countries from africa, asia, latin america, and eastern europe, the elite research universities are outpacing the smartest companies in the world with their original research. according to dr. jamil salmi, the bank’s higher education coordinator and the co-author of the new report, that by looking at the elite research and grant of money cascading out of world-class universities and their new thinking in humanities and social sciences, people can certainly understand why countries think that a top-flight research institution is all that stands in their way of reducing poverty, leaps forward their national development, and establish new footholds in the global knowledge economy (world bank 2011). in the philippines, graduate students for the master’s and doctoral degrees in education are required to write theses or dissertations. this requirement is not only as an exercise which ma and doctoral candidates have to go through to demonstrate acquired skills in research, but most importantly, as an opportunity to contribute something to the corpus of knowledge in their specific fields of specialization (sevilla, ochave, punsalan, regala, & uriarte, 2005). some of the secondary literature used in the study is pre-2008 because more recent published literature are not readily available. more importantly, the findings of the older literature are still relevant to present-day situations, especially those covered by the present study. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research framework the independent variables in the study include the socio-demographic profile regarding age, gender, marital status, degree or course, field of specialization, employment status, faculty rank, designation, number of teaching load, monthly income, number of family members, number of years in service and teaching efficiency; availability of support system regarding family, financial, peers, administration, employer, mentor, facilities, and colleagues, and the level of determination of the participants regarding research skills, values, and awareness. these variables may serve as barriers to the completion of master’s and doctoral degrees among muslim educators that in turn served as the dependent variable in the study. the study is anchored on the icek ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (1991) which is composed of various concept key variables such as behavioral belief; an individual’s belief about consequences of particular behaviors. the concept was based on the subjective probability that the behavior will produce a given outcome. the level of determination was measured in terms of awareness, values, and research skills. this theory is utilized because there is an influence of the availability of the support system to the behavior of the participants in finishing a graduate/postgraduate degree. objectives of the study the study aimed to: 1) determine level of determination of the participants regarding research skills, values, and awareness; 2) describe the relationship between the participants’ socio-demographic profile and the completion/noncompletion of a master’s/doctoral degree; 3) describe relationship between the participants’ availability of support system and the completion/non-completion of a master’s/doctoral degree; 4) discuss relationship between the participants’ level of determination and the completion/non-completion of a master’s/ doctoral degree; and, 5) identify possible factors that may facilitate or hinder the completion of master’s/doctoral degree (this was answered by the open-ended questions in the questionnaire as qualitative responses of the participants). 127 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the study uses mixed method and a combination of quantitative and qualitative research designs. the quantitative aspect of the study used a descriptive and correlational research designs. the profile, availability of support system, and level of determination of the participants in the completion of masters and doctoral degrees among muslim educators. it was correlational since it attempted to determine the relationship between the variables under the study. the qualitative aspect of the study, on the other hand, focused on the investigation of other possible factors that may facilitate or hinder the completion of a post graduate degree. participants and setting the study was conducted at the mindanao state university (msu) in marawi city. msu is located in the hilly part of marawi city overlooking the city and lake lanao. it is conducted in the different colleges of msu main campus, namely: college of king faisal center for islamic and arabic studies, college of forestry, college of fisheries, college of social sciences and humanities, college of natural sciences and mathematics, college of agriculture, college of education, college of business management and accountancy, college of public affairs, college of hotel and restaurant management, college of sports physical education and recreation, college of health sciences, and college of information technology. the participants of the study were thirty faculty members teaching in collegiate level of msu main campus, who have completed academic requirements (car) but were not able to obtain a graduate/ post-graduate degree due to non-completion of thesis and dissertation and thirty faculty members who have completed their graduate/post-graduate degrees. they may be permanent, probationary or contractual in appointment. data collection the researcher utilized a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. for the quantitative aspect of the study, frequency and percentages, and chisquare are used in the presentation and analysis. these included personal and support system details, as well as information pertinent to the study. their answers to each definite question were then tabulated to discern patterns or inclinations. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research the qualitative aspect of the study, on the other hand, used open-ended questions that inquired about other possible facilitating factors or hindering factors that the participants could think of but are not listed already in the questionnaire. data analysis this study utilized researcher-constructed survey questionnaires that have undergone a try out and was checked using cronbach’s alpha analysis with the result of 0.708 (acceptable reliability before data collection. part i is composed of the participants’ socio-demographic profile such as age, gender, marital status, degree or course, the field of specialization, employment status, faculty rank, the number of family members, the number of years in service, designation, the number of teaching load, and monthly income. part ii was the level of determination regarding research skills, values, and awareness. part iii was an open-ended question that asked the participants about other possible factors that may facilitate or hinder the completion of masters/doctoral degree. a pilot study is implemented in ten faculty members who have their academic requirements. the data were analyzed using statistical software for social sciences. frequency and percentage distribution were utilized to quantitatively describe the responses given by the participants; weighted mean was used to determine the average value of the answers, and pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine the degree or extent of correlation between the different variables in the study. results and discussion the findings of the study were primarily based on the responses of an equal number of faculty/academics from mindanao state university who have completed their theses/dissertations after finishing their academic requirements and those who have yet to finish their theses/dissertations as a final requirement for their post-graduate degrees. the findings revealed that both groups of participants were largely “undecided” on the role of values in the successful pursuit of a graduate school degree. both groups of participants overwhelmingly “disagree” that awareness has anything to do at all, with the completion or noncompletion of research work and hence largely irrelevant as a factor. overall, both groups of participants were also “undecided” on the role of determination on the completion of a graduate school degree. determination is not static. during the 129 international peer reviewed journal research work, the level of determination of the students/researchers may vary depending on the situation. despite the results, both groups of participants have placed a high importance on research skills as a determinant of successful research with majority of the participants either agreeing or strongly agreeing about the importance of research skills in their endeavor to finish a thesis/dissertation; therefore, the only component of the level of determination found to have significant relationship with degree completion was research skills. it is apparent that the presence of adequate research skills was the most important factor in determining whether a student/researcher completes the degree. since research skills were particularly identified as a barrier to the completion of higher degrees by muslim academics in mindanao state university (msu), further study may be undertaken to determine the research skills of msu academics. table 1. level of determination in terms of research skills, values, and awareness level of determination completed not completed mean sd mean sd (descriptive equivalent) (descriptive equivalent) a.research skills 3.93 (agree) 1.043 3.30 (undecided) 1.257 b.values 3.05 (undecided) 1.478 2.75 (undecided) 1.205 c. awareness 2.25 (disagree) 1.443 2.21 (disagree) 1.439 those who completed their graduate school degrees and those who did not appear to have similar responses to values and awareness. this indicates that these components of determination have no significant values on whether a student/researcher will in fact finish his/her degree based on these factors. what is significant is that those who completed their graduate school degrees ’agree’ that the research skills are an important determinant of success while those who did not complete their graduate school degrees seem ‘undecided’ on the value of research skills. as the pursuit of master’s or doctoral degree largely involves research work, and the value of research skills in future completion cannot be over emphasized. it would seem that those who completed their graduate school degrees already have research skills or were predisposed to acquiring such skills. according to aaserud et al. (2005), the quality of research is affected by lack of expertise in research skills. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. relationship between the socio-demographic profile and the completion/ non-completion of masters’ and doctoral degrees predictor coefficient se coefficient z-value p-value interpretation degree or course 2.675 1.199 2.23 0.026 significant employment status -2.453 0.831 -2.95 0.003 significant faculty rank -1.795 0.917 -1.96 0.050 significant members number of years in service 0.981 0.358 2.74 0.006 significant the results indicate that among the 13 predictors of completion or noncompletion of the degree, only four are significant, namely; degree or course, employment status, faculty rank, and number of years in service. thus, the completion or non-completion of the graduate school degrees of the participants are significantly related only to these four predictors. this can be attributed to the fact that different fields of research would offer different quantity and quality of data. for example, a student/researcher is pursuing a phd in physics or chemistry, more effort may be required to access needed data, select respondents, and find academic advisers than if the degree was a phd in general education. a recent study in canada indicated that discipline is important for completion of graduate degrees, with completion rates varying from 45% in arts & humanities to 70% in life sciences, with science completions being generally in the high 60% range (elgar, frank, and klein, 2004). for the uk, completion rates after 10 years differed by general discipline area with arts/humanities rates being 51 percent, & science being 64 percent (wright & cochrane, 2000). as for employment status, those who have permanent tenure may be motivated to finish their post graduate degrees in the hope of being promoted and thus granted a higher salary grade while those who do not have permanent items may have more incentive to finish a higher degree in the hope of getting a permanent tenure. this is supported by a study conducted by (myers, 1999) on the barriers to completion of the doctoral degree in educational administration where he identified key variables and organized them under seven underlying dimensions that emerged from the literature, one of which is former and current employment status. 131 international peer reviewed journal faculty rank may also be a motivation since a higher degree guarantees certain levels of faculty rank. in the case of years in service, there could be a positive motivation to eventually retire with higher pay due to higher rank. somebody who has rendered more years in service would also be presumably relatively older and feel that the window of opportunity to finish the thesis or dissertation is rather narrow; hence, a renewed effort will be expended on the preparation and defense of the thesis or dissertation to ensure that the academic degree is earned and awarded. table 3. relationship between the availability of support system and the completion/non-completion of a masters/doctoral degrees completed/not completed chi-square value degree of value p-value interpretation peers 6.396 2 0.041 significant administration 6.211 2 0.045 significant mentor 6.565 2 0.038 significant availability of support 9.164 2 0.010 significant system (overall) based on the above results, the factors that are significantly related to the completion/non-completion of degrees are peers, administration, and mentor. this means that the participants’ completion/non-completion of their degrees is dependent on these three indicators. given the length and complexity of finishing and obtaining a post graduate degree, it is understandable that various difficulties arise in the process of thesis/ dissertation undertaking due to organizational or professional factors such as administrative support which could include policies and procedures for graduate school that may or may not be supportive to a student/researcher’s undertaking. according to participant #8c “agency/institutional support through rapid promotion can encourage completion of masters’ or doctoral degrees”; participant # 10c ”being on study leave and away from family is a great factor for completion of graduate degrees”. the barrier at the unit level includes obtaining help from administrators and other staff in starting a project/research (chan, barnason, dakin, and gillespie, 2011). the graduate students lack peers with whom they can discuss problems arising from the course of making a thesis or dissertation. students may receive valuable mentoring from their peers in the program as well as from other persons 132 jpair multidisciplinary research (council of graduate schools, 2004). the factors facilitating thesis completions that scored higher include student’s personal positive qualities and relationship with peers and professors (ho, p.t. wong & l. c. wong, 2011). some students may have an advisor who effectively doubles as a good mentor, while others may have an advisor who can provide additional guidance on research career and other topics. misinformed or inadequately prepared mentor/ supervisor or a mentor whose research interests are different from those of the student/researcher could hinder thesis completion. success in achieving a master’s or phd degree depends upon a close and effective working relationship with one’s advisor and mentor (council of graduate schools, 2004). in the study conducted by doozgy and najib (2010), the faculty members in the two (2) nursing colleges in kurdistan region in iraq have barriers in conducting research which includes lack of administrative support, insufficient time to implement new ideas, and lack of knowledgeable mentors. according to participant #30c “moral support/spiritual support from peers and supervisors is a factor for completion of a graduate degree. lovitts & nelson (2000), reported that the most important factor for completion of a graduate degree was relationship with a faculty adviser. students who completed twice were likely to express satisfaction with faculty adviser. table 4. relationship between the participants’ level of determination and the completion/non-completion of a masters/doctoral degree completed/not completed chi-square value degree of value p-value interpretation research skills 6.528 2 0.038 significant the chi-square test for independence results, at 5% level of significance, above reveal that the only indicator significantly related to completion/non-completion of graduate school degrees is research skills. the completion/non-completion of a thesis/dissertation is independent of the participants’ values and awareness. this implies that adequate or inadequate research skills could affect the completion/ non-completion of a graduate school degree. the development of research skills can be affected by the school a student graduated from and the mentors that have taught them the research skills. according to ngozi and kayode (2013), student factors attributed to thesis completion delay is the student’s skill in conducting research and students’ lack of capacity and preparedness for research and postgraduate study. 133 international peer reviewed journal other facilitating and hindering factors for completion/non-completion of masters/doctoral degrees the initial findings of the qualitative aspect of the questionnaire showed that more of those who did not complete their post-graduate school degrees had more factors to include (barriers) compared to those who completed their post-graduate school degrees who were more or less content with the facilitating factors already in the questionnaire. though there were still those who listed additional facilitating factors. through the qualitative aspect of the study, the participants were able to give more insight to the researcher. the participants were allowed the freedom to explain in depth because of the anonymity provided. the additional facilitating factors provided by those who completed their post-graduate school degrees may be categorized into two: “personal factors” and “external factors”. support is the common a common theme and from the comments given, the external factors can be subdivided into financial support, institution/administration support, or moral support from loved ones. the additional hindering factors provided by those who did not complete their post-graduate school degrees may be subdivided into “personal factors” were subdivided into factors that are related to the research process and those completely unrelated, example of which would include outside commitments or uncontrollable events like family emergencies. those factors related to research may be categorized either under committee problems (i.e. problems with advisers, and /or panel), or accessibility problems (i.e. inability to access resources or to find the necessary number of respondents, and others). other hindering factors not yet categorized included problems with the working environment or even problems with the country itself. abiddin and ismail (2011) revealed the influences that affect graduation completion rate as follows: student-friendly, accessible administrative procedures, understanding academic and scientific requirements, ability to judge workload related to different components of the research process, retaining supervisor contact, overcoming isolation, conflict management, and ability to defend the results of the study. in addition, a study by hong, p. t. wong and l. c. wong (2011) entitled, “what helps and what hinders thesis completion”, showed that 25% of the participants indicated financial support as a necessary factor in facilitating thesis completion and 15% indicated financial needs as a factor that hinders thesis completion. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research it is worth noting that even among the factors facilitating thesis completion; financial support was only in the middle with qualitative factors like student’s personal positive qualities and relationships with peers and professors, scoring higher. in the same study, among the factors hindering thesis completion, financial needs can be found in the bottom quarter, with other problems, such as external pressure scoring higher. most of the factors commonly identified dealt with qualitative factors dealing with relationship, the researcher’s personal weakness, or external factors (hong, p. t. wong & l. c. wong 2011). further, according to adiddin and ismail (2011), financial support along with adequate facilities, interaction in the department and university, logistical arrangements, and demographic factors play important roles in a graduate students’ success. finally, consistent with the previous study of shariatmadari and mahdi (2012), sufficient financial supports and adequate reward system can be a leading factor to motivate and encourage graduate school students in finishing their thesis or dissertation. the validity of the findings of this study must be viewed based on the research methodology, sample size, and locale. while the analysis of the responses of the study group used both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including statistical interpretations, the responses were nevertheless, based on opinions that were not independently validated and may require another study. as a result, those who have completed their post-graduate degrees may have the tendency to give less importance to barriers. those who have not completed their degrees, on the other hand, may emphasize barriers as a way of justifying their inability to complete their post-graduate degrees. another limitation of this study is the sample size. there is no previous statistical correlation of the sample size to any similar study that could have validated the acceptability of the number of participants. this could have been dictated by the availability of willing participants and the time constraints of completing the study. finally, the locale of the study is msu, marawi city. while the conclusions may apply to this particular milieu, it would require further study to extend similar conclusions to other academic institutions. conclusions this study found out that degree/course, employment status, faculty rank, and number of years in service, peers, administration, mentor support, and research skills have significant relationship in the completion/non-completion 135 international peer reviewed journal of graduate/postgraduate degrees. this means that the mentioned variables can affect the completion of masters and doctoral degrees among muslim educators. furthermore, possible factors that may facilitate or hinder the completion of masters/doctoral degrees were identified as family support and determination of the participant to complete the program. other socio-demographic factors like the raising of children, marital problems and lack of adequate finances could also be contributory factors to the inability to finish a higher degree, but like most other reasons, these can only delay the completion of a higher degree but not make it impossible. the critical factor is the determination of the student/ researcher to earn a higher academic degree by finishing the thesis/dissertation. the rewards for thesis/dissertation completion are numerous. the researcher may gain academic prestige through designations of academic positions, chance of promotion through new credentials in terms of academics, increase in salary commensurate to the new rank/promotion, and additional incentives. translational research learning is a continuous process. faculty members in all institutions of higher learning must be required to have masters and or doctoral degrees. achieving higher degree entails the making of a research paper. some faculty do not finish the program in a given time due to problem in research skills. the institution should come up with a research plan to cater to the needs of the faculty. it should include training, mentoring, financial support from the institution and a provision of an ideal environment conducive to research. training and mentoring may hone the skills of the faculty in research. financial support from the institution and the provision of an ideal environment conducive to research will encourage the faculty to be engaged in research activities. this is also in compliance with the mandate of the commission of higher education which is to strengthen research in all universities. there are often other considerations that need to be addressed like faculty members should be awarded with items to enjoy the privileges due to them. regular faculty evaluation should be done for the faculty to receive appropriate ranks and with the corresponding salary. tenure should be given to faculty to inspire them to work harder and do research works. faculty members should be encouraged to make proposals and to be submitted to funding agencies to support their work financially. faculty members who intend to proceed to a graduate program should have already a research problem in mind for her/him and her/his adviser to work on it from the beginning of her/his program up to the end. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited abiddin, n. z., & ismail, a. 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(2000.) factors influencing successful submission of phd theses. studies in higher education. retrieved on october 16, 2013 from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713696139 158 jpair multidisciplinary research rheumatic heart disease management: patients’ experiences, health practices, and role performance regina r. tolentino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2546-0276 reggiert811@gmail.com notre dame university cotabato city, philippines virginia s. margallo notre dame university cotabato city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract rheumatic heart disease (rhd) continues to be a major health hazard in most developing countries as well as sporadically in developed economies. this study aimed to determine the drug regimen therapy of the rheumatic heart disease patients and the effects of the illness physically, emotionally, and socially. this qualitative and quantitative study documented the drug regimen therapy management of twenty seven (27) patients among the eighty-two (82) patients currently receiving the drug regimen for rheumatic heart disease at the out-patient department (opd) of cotabato regional and medical center (crmc) through interview, observation, self-made questionnaire and focus group discussion. the study found out that rhd patients, who were mostly housewives, feel strong and healthy when complying the date of benzathine penicillin and experienced heart palpitation if unable to come on their visit on vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.708 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2546-0276 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 159 international peer reviewed journal the 21st or 28th of the month. the effect of rhd physically is feeling of fatigue on the emotional aspect, anxious in the social aspect and avoid activities. the current role performance mostly are housewives. on health services received at opd crmc mostly, they received an injection of benzathine penicillin. the majority have a monthly check-up as their priority in their health practice. keywords — health science, rheumatic heart disease, quantitativequalitative design, cotabato regional, and medical center, cotabato city, philippines introduction rheumatic heart disease is a major burden in developing countries where it causes most of the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in young people and is, therefore, a relevant public health problem. over 15 million people around the world suffer from the condition which kills hundreds of thousands of people a year and is the next common acquired heart disease found among children and young people (seckeler and hoke, 2011). the evidence that increases adherence prevent acute rheumatic fever recurrence and death should be a powerful motivational tool to encourage health professional and client to maximize adherence as pointed out by de dassel, de klerk, carapetis and ralph (2018). rhd continue to be a major cause of disease burden among children, adolescents, and young adult in a low-income country and even in high-income countries with socio-economic inequality. the socio-economic state, access, and quality of health care services are important determinants of the burden of rhd as underscored by negi, sondhi, asotra, mahajan, and metha (2019). nordqvist (2014) stated that the disease starts with a sore throat that develops into a rheumatic fever; the body’s system starts attacking the heart valves, brain, joints, and skin. although other tissues recover, it is the heart where permanent damage occurs. treatment of acute rheumatic heart fever includes antibiotics to treat the strep. infection and additional medications to ease the inflammation of the heart and other symptoms. a long term drug prophylaxis should be given to all children and adult, who suffered an attack of rhd, for protection against streptococcal infection. the duration of prophylaxis differs from case to case, as the incidence of the disease as age advance. this drug prophylaxis may be given until the child reaches adult age or for five years after the last attack of rhd. once the prophylaxis is withdrawn, great vigilance is required, and the child or adult 160 jpair multidisciplinary research should take proper treatment for sore throat. however, drug prophylaxis may be required almost forever or lifelong, especially in cases which exhibit a permanent sign of rhd (guptha, 2011). with the failure to get rhd treatment, a sufferer may further face the risk of congestive heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm, or stroke. the pumping of blood becomes less efficient and the heart has to work harder and faster due to the damaged heart valve (carrie, 2010). according to the philippine heart association (2012) rheumatic, heart disease is one of the top-ranking causes of mortality and morbidity in the philippines when it pertains to acquire the cardiovascular disease, especially among school children ages 5-15 years old. in cotabato city, where most patients are treated at cotabato regional and medical center, there are about eighty-two (82) patients who are currently undergoing treatment. referrals had been made by other caregivers to seek consultation at crmc. the state must provide free health services as well as free medications to all clients regardless of the economic status to ensure health wellness. it is on this premise that the study is pursued to know the drug regimen therapy of the rheumatic heart disease patients and the effects of the illness physically, emotionally and socially—also, the experiences of the patients during their compliance and non-compliance since medications for rhd are not always available. framework the study is linked to the theory of nola j. pender’s health promotion model. health-promoting behavior should result to improve health, enhance functional ability, and better quality of life at all stages of development. in this study, the different preventive measures that the participants use will determine their health-promoting behavior and the client’s level of well-being with regards to compliance of treatment and adequate antibiotic regimen. objectives of the study this study aimed to (1) identify the demographic profile of participants in terms of age, sex, civil status, and occupation, family income per month and, day of the visit to the hospital, (2) describe the experiences on the drug regimen therapy in terms of compliance and non-compliance, (3) determine the effects of 161 international peer reviewed journal the rheumatic heart disease to the patients physically, emotionally, and socially, (4) identify the current role performance of the patients, (5) find out the health services received by the patients from the cotabato regional and medical center, and (6) identify the other health practices of the patients. methodology research design this study utilized qualitative and quantitative design through an interview, observation, available records on the chart, and self-made questionnaire. the study aimed to determine the drug regimen therapy of rheumatic heart disease patients. research site the study was conducted at the injection room, first floor of the outpatient department of cotabato regional and medical center, sinsuat avenue, cotabato city. participants the respondents of the study are the rheumatic heart disease patients who visited and availed the services of the out-patient department of cotabato regional and medical center, cotabato city as of october 7, 2016, to november 17, 2016. sampling technique the researchers chose twenty-seven (27) patients or thirty-four percent (34%) among the eighty-two (82) patients currently receiving the drug regimen for rheumatic heart disease. five patients with an age bracket of 5 to 11 years old. five patients with an age bracket of 19 to 25 years old, five patients with an age bracket of 26 to 32 years old, five patients with an age bracket of 33 to 39 years old and two patients from an age bracket of 40 years old and above rheumatic heart disease patients of the out-patient department of cotabato regional and medical center during their monthly visit for injection. this is the representation of different ages who are currently receiving the drug regimen of rheumatic heart disease patients. out of twenty-seven (27) respondents, fifteen (15) are females and twelve (12) are males, five (5) are categorized as children, thirteen (13) are single, 162 jpair multidisciplinary research and nine (9) are married. with regards to occupation, thirteen (13) belong to children-students, three (3) are jobless, five (5) are housewives, four (4) are selfemployed, one (1) is a farmer and one (1) is a teacher. twenty-two (22) have a family income of p5, 000.00-p10, 000.00 per month; two (2) has p11, 000.00p15, 000.00; one (1) has p21, 000.00-p30, 000.00 and two (2) has p31, 000.00 and above. out of the 27 respondents, 11 are expected to visit the hospital for injection on the 21st day of the month and 16 respondents are expected to visit on the 28th day of the month for assessment and injection. instrumentation the instrument used in this study is a self-made questionnaire distributed by the researchers. it is a four (4) part question. question number one (1) is about the profile which includes age, sex, civil status, occupation, family income per month and day of visit to the hospital, question number two (2) is about the experience on the drug regimen therapy in terms of compliance and noncompliance, question number three (3) is about the effects of rheumatic heart disease to the patients physically, emotionally and socially, question number four (4) is about the current role performance of the patients, question number six (6) is the other health practices of the patients. the questionnaire was contentvalidated by three experts and tried out the reliability of the instrument and pilot tested before being used to the patients. the 15 patients were also rheumatic heart disease patients who come to cotabato regional and medical center outpatient department on the 21st and 28th day of the month. dr. myrna tubigan and dr. elyn dimagiba rated strongly agree with the criteria given. these criteria were the readability level, comprehensive, vocabulary and sufficiency of items. dr. alfonso gonzales jr. rated strongly agreed on the vocabulary and agreed on the readability level, comprehension, and sufficiency of items. data gathering procedure a letter was sent to the chief of hospital of cotabato regional and medical center last september 27, 2016, asking to allow the observation and interview to rheumatic heart disease patients of the out-patient department. after the approval of the chief of hospital, a letter was sent to the research ethics committee last september 2016 for approval after series of evaluation form has been filled up with corresponding documentation accomplished and submitted as required by the ethics committee. after the approval of the ethics committee, a letter was sent to the supervisor of the out-patient department to allow the researchers to conduct the study. 163 international peer reviewed journal a meeting with the 27 patients was scheduled to ask permission, explained the research study, its confidentiality, and informed consent. observation of some physical manifestation of the patients was analyzed and written for final output. focus group discussion was utilized selecting ten (10) patients who are not included in the twenty-seven (27) selected patients. informed consent was also administered and explained thoroughly. focus group guide questions 1. what is your idea about rhd and how are you able to acquire the disease? 2. can you recall what happened to you before you sought consultation and diagnosed with rhd? 3. what do you do now? are you studying or working? can you tell us the disruptions in your activities? 4. why did you choose crmc as your health provider? 5. what are the reasons why you fail to come at opd crmc on the 21st or 28th of the month? 6. what do you feel after you have been injected with benzathine penicillin? 7. do you encounter problems during non-availability of benzathine penicillin? results and discussion rheumatic heart disease patients who avail the services of cotabato regional and medical center at the out-patient department come from within and outside cotabato city. patients with complaints of simple sore throat, fever, pain during swallowing seek consultation and after the assessment of pediatrician and internist are advised to have laboratory workout. these are supported by seckeler and hoke (2011) and the (world heart foundation 2013) that rheumatic heart disease is a streptococcal throat infection (strep throat) with symptoms that include sudden onset of a sore throat (especially with painful swallowing) fever and swollen glands. it is usually a delayed effect of a simple sore throat or throat infection caused by group a streptococcus. the disease is more prevalent in school children, younger people, teenager, young adult. it can be devastating but preventable. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research rheumatic heart disease patients after careful assessment of doctors are advised to come at opd crmc on the 21st or 28th of the month for a monthly checkup and injection of benzathine penicillin with a dose of 1.2 million international units to be injected intragluteally after negative skin test. during compliance with the drug regimen, 18 out of the 27 respondents feel strong and healthy. on the non-compliance, 15 respondents feel heart palpitation. as pointed out by tole (2015), patients who are compliant in one situation may feel strong with a healthy body and this may not be so in another. this positive influence on one individual might also have a negative on another and non – compliance may be a cause for hospitalization and readmission especially to adults. the heart and stroke foundation (2011), also stated that symptoms include heart palpitation and thumping sensation of the chest. on the effects of rhd physically to the individual patient, 20 out of 27 experienced fatigue. myint, aung, win, htut, ralph, cooper, and hanson (2015) emphasized that the disease affects the connective tissue of the body and physically patients have weakness and fatigue. on the emotional aspect, 21 patients are having anxiety about their conditions. as pointed out by brunner (2010), caregivers need to assess the patient’s psychological status and adherence to the management plan. the patients may experience anxiety and fear during treatment. on the social aspects, they avoided and became selective on activities. these are confirmed by talley and o’connor (2013) that in some instances, patients may avoid activities in a school setting and even in their work. others may be reluctant to join social activities in their community or even in their homes. some have different perceptions in themselves; thus, they become selective in their activities. most of the patients are housewives (7 out of 27) and find time to have a monthly check-up for them to be prepared physically, on their daily chores for their families. on health services received from opd crmc, there are 20 out of 27 rheumatic heart disease patients had to avail the injections of benzathine penicillin. as stated by gerber et al. (2009) the primary prevention of rheumatic heart disease is accomplished by proper identification and adequate antibiotic treatment. injectable benzathine penicillin is the treatment of choice, because it is cost-effective, has a narrow spectrum of activity, and has a long-standing proven efficacy. the individual who has had an attack of rheumatic heart fever is a very high risk of developing recurrences and needs continuous antimicrobial prophylaxis to prevent recurrences. 165 international peer reviewed journal on the health practices of rheumatic heart disease patients, to help them on their current disease, 20 patients have monthly check-up whether on the 21st or 28th of the month. as pointed out by de dassel, de klerk, carapetis and ralph (2018), adherence to regimen schedule prevent acute rheumatic fever recurrence and death. conclusions based on the findings of the study, the rheumatic heart disease patients of cotabato regional medical center, the out-patient department experience to be strong and healthy when complying for the scheduled date of injection and feel palpitation of the heart when not complying with the drug regimen. physically, they have fatigability, on the emotional aspect they become anxious, socially they select and avoid activities. most of them are pupils and students and receive injections as health service rendered by cotabato regional and medical center. the health practice they do is to have a monthly check-up religiously on the 28th day of the month. translational research based on the findings, an awareness campaign is of high regard to all health practitioners. information-dissemination via radio or tv to reach remote places or by giving pamphlet through the rhd patients and family, or barangay health education campaign or even to use posters in each community. moreover, it is highly recommended that crmc must closely monitor all rhd patients by ensuring strict compliance on the treatment. it is also suggested that the doh must ensure availability and easy accessibility on the treatment considering crmc has always internist to assess patients prior to injection of benzathine penicillin. it is best to consider the financial status of the majority of the patients; therefore, regularly checking of penicillin vials must be sustained. literature cited armstrong, c. (2010). aha guidelines on prevention of rheumatic fever and diagnosis and treatment of acute streptococcal pharyngitis.  american family physician, 81(3), 346-+. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2js6egw https://bit.ly/2js6egw 166 jpair multidisciplinary research de dassel, j. l., de klerk, n., carapetis, j. r., & ralph, a. p. (2018). how many doses make a difference? an analysis of secondary prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. journal of the american heart association, 7(24), e010223. retrieved from https://www.ahajournals.org/ doi/10.1161/jaha.118.009308 gerber, m. a., baltimore, r. s., eaton, c. b., gewitz, m., rowley, a. h., shulman, s. t., & taubert, k. a. (2009). prevention of rheumatic fever and diagnosis and treatment of acute streptococcal pharyngitis: a scientific statement from the american heart association rheumatic fever, endocarditis, and kawasaki disease committee of the council on cardiovascular disease in the young, the interdisciplinary council on functional genomics and translational biology, and the interdisciplinary council on quality of care and outcomes research: endorsed by the american academy of pediatrics.  circulation,  119(11), 1541-1551. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1161/circulationaha.109.191959 guptha (2011). antibiotic regimen for secondary prophylaxis of acute rheumatic fever. published online 2011 feb 22. doi: 10.2147/clep. retrieved on july 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3046187/ heart and stroke foundation (2011). retrieved on june 2016 from https:// www.heartandstroke.ca/heart/conditions/rheumatic-heart-disease myint, n. p. s. t., aung, n. m., win, m. s., htut, t. y., ralph, a. p., cooper, d. a., ... & hanson, j. (2018). the clinical characteristics of adults with rheumatic heart disease in yangon, myanmar: an observational study. plos one,  13(2), e0192880.retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0192880 negi, p. c., sondhi, s., asotra, s., mahajan, k., & mehta, a. (2019). current status of rheumatic heart disease in india. indian heart journal. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihj.2018.12.007 nordqvist, c. (2014). strep throat, causes, diagnosis, and treatment. medical news today. retrieved on april 2016 from https://www.medical newstoday. com/ articles/155412.php https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/jaha.118.009308 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/jaha.118.009308 https://doi.org/10.1161/circulationaha.109.191959 https://doi.org/10.1161/circulationaha.109.191959 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3046187/ https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart/conditions/rheumatic-heart-disease https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart/conditions/rheumatic-heart-disease https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192880 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192880 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihj.2018.12.007 https://www.medical 167 international peer reviewed journal pender, n. (1992). theoretical foundation of nursing. retrieved on june 22, 2016, from https://nursingtheories.weebly.com/nola-pender.html philippine heart association (2012). what is rheumatic heart disease? retrieved on july 16, 2017, from http//philfoundrfrhd.org seckeler, m. d., & hoke, t. r. (2011). the worldwide epidemiology of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. clinical epidemiology, 3, 67. retrieved on july 15, 2017, from doi: 10.2147/clep.s12977 talley, n. j., & o’connor, s. (2013). clinical examination: a systematic guide to physical diagnosis. elsevier health sciences. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2xfm6ij tole, s. (2015).  assessment of overall level of compliance self care and its associate factors to treatment among heart failure patients in adult emrgency departement and cardiac referal clinic at tikur anbesa specialized hospital addis ababa, ethiopia  (doctoral dissertation, addis ababa university). retrieved from https://bit.ly/30sps4j https://nursingtheories.weebly.com/nola-pender.html https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2fclep.s12977 107 international peer reviewed journal francisco sionil jose: a multicritique on his select short fictions ma. asuncion g. desales http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5423-1758 sionygirayd6@gmail.com university of eastern philippines laoang campus laoang, northern samar originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract genres of literature depict ideas and feelings which are universally felt by everyone, therefore, reading them by heart and comprehending them deeply lead the readers to have wider horizons and understanding on the different cultures of people. this study scrutinizes the textuality of jose’s three short fictions titled: the god stealer, the refugee, and the forest through a dimensional critique. it used the different critical theories of literature such as mimetic, expressivist, formalistic and affectivist. through analysis, a reader is encouraged to envision and reflect on his real-life situation. the findings conclude that the short fictions of jose are exemplary and should be meticulously read and studied since they contribute lots of knowledge in understanding oneself and the world he lives in. also, this study recommends every student to develop the passion of reading and get acquainted with the different theories of literature, to fully understand the meaning of each story and for them to build a strong and better understanding on the perplexing events happening these days. consequently, the multi critique applied on the fictions helped students to comprehend each selection well, so with the supervision of the researcher her students were able to develop translational outputs namely one-act-play, soliloquy, spoken poetry, storytelling, poem and dance drama. vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.704 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 108 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords— literature, multi critique on short fictions, qualitative design, philippines introduction fiction is a well-crafted work of art of a playwright that inspires and challenges every reader to see a clearer reflection of his life by knowing his culture and traditions, by deepening his beliefs, as well as by identifying his history and idiosyncrasies. according to lacia et al. (2015) analyzing every part of a literary text helps students to see the human being as an integral person living in both a national and global community. in like manner, evaluating any work of literature requires paying more attention to one of the several aspects such as language and structure, its intended purpose, the information and worldview it transports or its effect on an audience. all of these could be achieved through reading, coupled with critical analysis since this helps every reader to go beyond the surface meanings of the text and delve more into its underlying meanings. demetrio (2012) asserts that once short fictions are understood, they serve as the perfect vehicle to help understand worldviews about the different cultures of people. nevertheless, with the onset of the new media, such as television shows, online series, movies, and various social media platforms, students’ interest and enjoyment in reading fictions and other literary pieces have visibly deteriorated. additionally, mckeown et al. (2011) stressed that reports from research and the larger educational community demonstrate that too many students have limited interest in reading and in comprehending literary texts. furthermore, cost (2016) pointed out that the research completed by de naeghel and keer has identified that there is a declining trend of reading motivation among students. in like manner, from the unstructured interview of the researcher with a number of faculty handling literature subjects, they verbalized that some students become disinterested in reading the text assigned to them, especially if they are tasked to do the critical analysis of a certain story because they never know how to do it. this scenario had encouraged the researcher to find some interventions as regards to the reading and appreciation of literary pieces because it is a must to inspire students to love, appreciate and critically analyze the literary craftsmanship of brilliant authors such as allan poe, emerson, faulkner, hemingway, and other prolific writers around the world. moreover, cost (2016) stressed that reading fiction had been referred to as the “heartbeat” of classroom life since it helps create a shared bond of experiences and emotions among classroom students. 109 international peer reviewed journal in the philippines, there are also a number of great storytellers namely joaquin, gonzales, tuvera, alfon, napkil, roces, brillantes, benitez, the tiempo couple and many more. one of them who was awarded the national artist for literature was francisco sionil jose who founded the pen international, philippine chapter, and whose write-ups had been translated into 22 languages. jose’s written works are so prodigious and at present, he is the oldest living national artist for literature. however, it is ironic to know that not all filipinos, especially the young ones are familiar with francisco sionil jose’s great works. this paper is a multi-critique on the literary craftsmanship of francisco sionil jose applying the four theories of literature such as mimetic, expressivist, formalistic, and the affectivist theory. the purpose of this qualitative research is to encourage every reader around the world to explore and discover the remarkable written works of a filipino artist named francisco sionil jose through critical analysis on the well-expressed thoughts and emotional state transported to them by the author. in like manner, to do away from traditional literature teaching, genre-crossing was applied and translational outputs had been formulated such as one-act-play, soliloquy, spoken poetry, storytelling, poem and dance drama. framework this thesis uses the three short fictions of francisco sionil jose namely the god stealer, the refugee, and the forest. persistent readings of the literary texts were done which included the appraisal of sionil jose’s biography and history to be able to comprehend all the features found in the texts. after reading the fictions, the critical analysis was done on each of the fiction. this is known to be as multi critique since some criticisms are applied using the theories of literature which are the mimesis of reality, the writer’s presence, the dominant formalistic elements, and the significant human experience. mimetic theory is a theory that places primary importance on how well a literary work of art imitates life while expressivism or the writer’s presence pertains to the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it--a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu through dialogues, time, names, addresses or things that would stress the presence of the writer. the formalistic approach which is also called pure or literary approach pertains to the elements such as symbols, form, style, structure, tone, imagery, point of view, while the reader-response or impressionistic approach allows every reader to give his/her original expression of the author’s craftsmanship kennedy & gioia (2010). 110 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study this study investigates and analyzes the textuality of the three short fictions of francisco sionil jose which are the god stealer, the refugee, and the forest. (1) this focuses on the aspects of the literary theories which are mimesis of reality, the writer’s presence, the dominant formalistic elements, and the significant human experience. (2) it tried to find out the realities signified in the three fictions of jose, as well as the writer’s presence, the dominant formalistic elements, and the significant human experience or affectivist or reader-response theory. (3) it attempted to encourage every reader around the world to explore and discover the remarkable written works of a filipino artist named francisco sionil jose by applying critical analysis on the well-expressed thoughts and emotional state transported to them by the author. (4) it tried to come up with translational outputs done through genrecrossing, after applying the multidimensional criticism. methodology this paper uses the descriptive form of research in scrutinizing the textuality of f. sionil jose’s short fiction titled: the god stealer, the refugee and the forest. this was conducted after several interviews from teachers teaching literature subjects with regard to the attitudes of students in the classroom whenever literary works were discussed. also, a group of students taking up english as their specialization was also interviewed by the researcher pertaining to their difficulty in comprehending literary works particularly short fictions. so from the responses gathered during the interviews, this study was framed. this was done upon the approval of some experts in literature during the in-house review as regards the choice of the study. persistent readings of the texts were done which included the appraisal of sionil jose’s biography and history to be able to comprehend all the facets of analyses on the short fictions in applying the theories of literature. also, this research made use of some other references to amplify better understanding to come up with accurate analyses. finally, after the multi critique, translational outputs were done by the students aided by the researcher herself which were made as proofs of their comprehension on the fictions being studied. results and discussion signification of reality makes use of mimetic theory of literary criticism places primary importance on how well a literary work imitates life, how it conveys 111 international peer reviewed journal universal truths and teaches the reader positive moral values and modes of personal contact, kennedy and gioia (2010). doing the critical reading on f. sionil jose’s stories namely the god stealer, the refugee and the forest, the mimesis of reality being signified in the three stories are: first, is concealed hatred towards a loved one. in the god stealer, after a hard-longday travel of sam cristie and phillip latak, finally they reached latak’s village near the terraces and while taking a rest in a small hut, sadek, phillip’s elder brother came and he said; “you decided to visit us after all. i thought the city had won you so completely that you have forgotten this humble place and its humble people.” then turning to sam, sadek said, “i must apologize, sir for my brother, for bringing you to this poor house. his deed embarrasses us….” the sarcastic greeting of sadek expresses a mantled grudge to philip latak. this kind of attitude shown by sadek is very familiar among rural folks and natives. people in the barrios mostly in far-flung barangays, especially among the elderly, feel insecure and hurt every time a member of their family or clan leaves their place and chooses to stay in the city, for they feel, that their culture, tradition and native place are disowned. this is common among the minorities all over the philippines including some small and developing barangays. another incident was when philip latak watched the children in the village as they scrambled over sam christie while giving candies to them. sadek commented “you see, now that even your relatives do not know you, ip-pig. you speak our tongue, you have our blood –but you are a stranger nevertheless.” the attitude of sadek imitates the intricacy and misfortune of filipino families and their relationships as brothers or sisters because of some reasons. one reason is, villagers are too fraternal that they don’t want to terminate their clan. every time a member of their clan leaves the village to seek for greener pasture, other members of the clan are hurt with the decision made, while the rest have their reasons hidden deep down their heart. another incident which suggests hatred of philip’s grandfather was the revelation of philip latak to sam christie when the former said,, “he never likes strangers, because they took everything away from him, tranquility, including me.” said emotional states and reactions are common to all, not only among filipinos but to all men on earth. to the filipinos, concealed hatred is present because good relationships among family members become complex and chaotic. in the refugee, camouflaged hatred is seen in the actions of the two women who became the girlfriends of the protagonist who was unnamed. first, when 112 jpair multidisciplinary research ligaya, the first girlfriend of the protagonist silently leaves him because of his unceasing taking of drugs. ligaya’s anger is read on these lines.“why did you do it?” she asks, but he couldn’t answer her, could only mumble, “i love you”, and because he could not tell her why, she said,” you really don’t care and you will always be what you are because it is in your blood.” the unspoken hatred of ligaya to her lover is revealed in the statements above. disgust which remained concealed and the solution is a silent exit. this is entirely true to all people because nowadays there are broken relationships in which the cause is the excessive taking of drugs by the husband, boyfriend, partner or vice-versa which is unstoppable, thereby leading to miscommunication, quarrel and finally separation. while, on the part of sueh ching, the second girlfriend of the protagonist, it is on the event which is revealed in the secreted conversation between the protagonist and his visitor which was overheard by sueh ching. the secreted dialogue runs this way, “she is bright and young, and it is possible that she may yet be the mistress of the rich businessmanif she just learns to use more lipstick.” the protagonist in the refugee seems evasive and in denial of the relationship he is in. this occurrence is still happening today especially among those men who are proud and egoistic. men who maintain their machismo and do not want to show to the girls that they are in love. as a result, women leave them because they are uncertain whether the man they love is ready to sacrifice and ready to suffer for their relationship. such kind of attitude develops pain and bitterness deep down the innermost being of sueh ching thus making her leave her man silently. the concealed hatred of the women in the refugee becomes more hurting since there was no shouting, no cruel words, only unspilled and burning rage within. another incident in the forest which shows concealed hatred from a woman who gets pregnant from a lieutenant and the man does not want to marry her because their marriage would be an obstruction to the officer’s social position and career. instead, the soldier tries to pay the doctor to do the abortion and even convinces the woman to yield with his plan, but the pregnant lady did not agree rather she prefers to jump off a cliff and dies. these lines substantiate the incidents: “the lieutenant left for the lowlands today,” he, the doctor went on, “no civilian is allowed in army trades. he didn’t want her along…. he offered me a handsome price if i did the abortion”, the doctor continued thoughtfully. but, the doctor did not do that. the woman had waited for a few hours more. 113 international peer reviewed journal this event portrays ulterior hatred of the woman against the lieutenant who impregnated her, whose promises were not true. her disgust, frustration, and selfpity on what had happened to her made her insecure and hopeless and finally caused her death. this scenario is supported with the theory of mimesis since in real-life there are people who commit suicide when they feel that nobody loves and cares for them in the midst of their misery, more if they feel that hope is nowhere to find and everything is unbearable. in like manner, abortion is rampant today due to so many reasons such as shame, irresponsibility, fear, social status and many more. second mimesis of reality is superstitious beliefs. in the god stealer, ritual practices and superstitions are revealed in the stories of philip latak and the actions of the old man, philip latak’s grandfather. “i was taken ill when i was youngsomething i ate perhaps, i had to go to the mission hospital and that evening he came and right there in the ward, he danced to drive away from the evil spirit that had gotten hold of me.” this occurrence is still being practiced today by some people especially among the rural folks, who instead of going to the doctor for a consultation, they go to the quack doctors who perform rituals to drive away evil spirits hovering the sick person. another happening was when the merrymaking was about to start and part of the event there was a task performed by the old man. the old man kneels slowly while pouring the living, frothy blood on the idol’s head and blood washed down the ugly head to its arms and legs, to its very feet and as he poured the blood, he recited a prayer in his cracked voice. such ceremonial practices are still common among the minorities and even among people in the rural areas until today because usually, folks, especially the uneducated ones believe that if a member of their family gets ill, a bad spirit must have made fun of him/her. also, they believe that spirits eventually stay in their created idols which later on could heal diseases since they believed that the idols are endowed with certain powers. such a scenario is supported with the theory of mimesis since in real-life there are still people who practice rituals and believe in the existence of spirits. third, the mimesis of reality being signified is the feeling of insecurity. in the story the refugee, what is shown in the persona of the protagonist is the feeling of insecurity, he moves from one woman to another, yet, he has not chosen to marry any of his girlfriends. the central character has no permanent relationship because he was afraid that sooner or later his girl would leave him due to his puzzling attitude. this is supported by the statement: 114 jpair multidisciplinary research “he feels inadequate and insecure and fears that all the good he had been would be taken away not by any man but by the time itself.” this is true to all, some people are refugees themselves like the protagonist who seeks refuge. in like manner, he is insecure and insecurity results in nothingness and loss of loved ones. additionally, the mimesis of reality being expressed in, are violence, hostility, the brutality which are evident in war, these incidents are seen in the story the forest, given are some attestations, “the man they brought-the enemy –lay in a ghastly heap, his eyes shut. scrutiny of his bloody face revealed that his ears were shorn, his mouth was slit and some of his teeth pulled. when the two soldiers spread the blanket with which they had wrapped him, we saw that all his fingers had also been mutilated. dried blood was thick all over him, and it was a surprise to see him alive after so the loss of blood.” the forest expresses violence for the reason that enmity and killing exist in war. in like manner in the forest, war has no peace, everything is chaotic; everything is a disaster. the lines below give a clearer vision. “i have the unspeaking lips of the dying drop and the eyes grow pale. i have heard the final, punctuated gasping and the life flowing out of the fatigued, painwrecked body, and i knew what he meant. but how was i to know then that this doctor skilled with the scalpel which was the nearest to death would ask for no second chance? how was i to know why one woman who was shattered by the lust of men whom they brought from the hills soaked with blood and with a shabby voice asking if she would live. and one enemy with a bloody face, ears shorn, mouth slit, and some teeth pulled, fingers all mutilated with dried thick blood all over him and was so dedicated to death.” the scenario above is apparent in the war zone; this is mimetic because like what happened in jose’s the forest, soldiers, all the same, enemy or not suffer a similar fate. one true and similar event was on what happened to the fallen 44 during the mamasapano encounter, there were some who did not die on the spot but were just wounded since there was no back-up from the government forces, they were tortured before they were killed. in like manner, the characters in the story thirst for peace because of the dilemma caused by war. these lines further support it. “i love the wilderness with a zeal that was almost fanatical. the forest gave me a sense of being nearer myself ”. added to it is the situation of the pregnant woman whose baby in her womb was disclaimed by the father soldier, more the father even wanted to abort the baby 115 international peer reviewed journal by paying the doctor with a handsome price. these incidents give the events a vivid description “the lieutenant left for the lowlands today,” the doctor went on, “no civilian is allowed in army trades. he didn’t want her along…. he offered me a handsome price if i did the abortion”, the doctor continued thoughtfully. but, the doctor did not do that. the woman had waited for a few hours more.” this event depicts violence against an unborn child who is innocent of the things happening around him/her. this occurrence is still common today especially to those people who are not ready for commitment and who love their career, wealth and prosperity rather than facing their responsibilities. applying the mimetic analysis in which concealed hatred was found in the god stealer, the refugee and the forest, concealed hatred is also found in the other works of jose such rosales saga, my brother, my executioner, the mass viajero, sin and in other works of jose which were instigated by racial discrimination, class struggle, oppression of the poor and colonialism. said conditions triggered too much hatred but remained hidden due to some reasons. lastly, the action in the story that expresses the mimesis of reality in the fictions, the god stealer, the refugee, and the forest is true love. in the god stealer, true love is shown by the grandfather to his grandson, philip latak, as revealed in latak’s stories: “the day i left he followed me to the town, to the bus, pleading with me to stay and at the same time scolding me. he said i’d get all his terraces.” the old man wants a feast tomorrow night, my bienvenida of course! another one is from the comment of the sadek, philip’s elder brother: “my grandfather always loves ip-pig-phillip-more than anyone of us. he wanted to see ip-pig before he died. he died in ip-pig’s arms.” in the refugee, love is shown by the girls of the protagonist by showing their concern and trying to stay with the leading man in the fiction, even if he doesn’t deserve their love. in the forest, true love is shown by the dedication of the doctor to the patients, even if the place is not good, it lacks amenities, and it was a war zone; still, he did not leave, rather he continuously worked on his job. true love is seen in the studied fictions of jose, that in spite of the difficulty and hardships, love still blossoms. this can also be compared to f. sionil jose’s other written works such as gangrene, the graduation, and waywaya which speak of love in spite of the odds. love is the most unexplained thing this world ever possesses, people when in love show deep concern even if their love and care may not be reciprocated. a man who is in love does not complain and is ready to accept everything. this universal 116 jpair multidisciplinary research feeling expressed in the fictions of f. sionil jose is true ever since and it never will tarnish nor vanish. jose supports this mimetic theory through his remarks which state that “all the issues about life – death philosophy had been discussed 3,000 years ago. and we are still discussing them now. we are giving them new labels and names. the human dilemmas have not changed, but technology has changed a lot.” also, c. s. lewis (2013) approves the mimesis of reality; this is evident in his remarks “literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. it enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides, and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” writer’s presence seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it--a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu through dialogues, time, names, addresses or things that would stress the presence of the writer, kenndey and gioia (2010). f. sionil jose’s the god stealer the critical reading assumes that f. sionil jose’s the god stealer shows glorification of cultural traditions expressed by them. the god stealer talks about colonialism concealed in the friendship between a filipino and an american, personified by phillip latak and sam cristie. f. sionil jose expresses his own experiences on american colonial rule that though he abhors colonialism, nevertheless he gives gratitude to it because had it not through the americans who introduced the public school system, he should have remained an illiterate-poor fellow. however, his being educated remained ironic because, like phillip latak, something in him was gone, his identity, and his being, a true filipino. this is expressed in the incidents below. his gratitude to the americans is evident in the friendship of sam christie and philip latak in the incidents below. sam, an american and philip, a filipino became the best of friends since they both were young and imbued with freshness in their outlook. some narrations support incidents such as; “phil, i must not leave ifugao without that god. it’s more than just a souvenir. it will remind me of you, of this place. philip laughed. “let’s not be bull-headed about this. it’s the least i can do for you. you made this vacation possible and that raise. do you know that i have been in the agency for four years and i never got a raise until you came?” the writer is seen in the fiction the god stealer where he is encouraged by “good purposes” like expressing some gratefulness. rodriguez (2014) comments that in the philippines expressing gratitude for provided assistance is also followed 117 international peer reviewed journal by an expression of debt as one of the pillars of the relationship among filipino society. in the god stealer of f. sionil jose, there is the presence of the god of harvest, the mentioning of reverend father doone and christianity. all these already explain that he, the author is a christian and he believes in god. f. sionil jose gives importance to filipino culture. he often presents a rural place with cogon, bushes, and fragrant flowers. in his work the god stealer, he gives importance to ifugao culture where he too is familiar with, considering that he is from rosales, pangasinan situated in the northern part of luzon. this could be correlated with jose’s the pretenders where he describes the grandeur and simplicity of his native place along with the happiness that he experienced. writer’s presence: f. sionil jose’s the forest in f.sionil jose’s the forest, the incidents were based on his experiences when he served in the medical unit of the us first corporation in laguna. also, his being a medical attendant prompted him to study medicine at ust, but he did not make it. in his fiction, the forest, he describes very clearly the war zone, the casualties, the assistance given by the doctors especially the services and dedication of dr. goddard. according to a.g. roseburg, his descriptions were based on his personal experiences; he must have seen the gory side of the war as a medical student. he was a witness to the multiple faces of the dying that alternate between the serene and the writhing, the brave and the cowardly, the resigned and the struggling. the writer, sionil jose, together with his experiences during wartime is truly present in most of his fictions such as viajero, rosales saga, the forest, and others wherein events and important characters perceived in war, such as japanese war, soldiers and military officials are mentioned. the dominant formalistic element is having mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text. the three short fictions of f. sionil jose use symbolism signified by the titles of the selections. the god stealer symbolizes irony and disaster within the relationship of a filipino family. the person who caused the conflict in the family was the favorite and ever-loved grandson of the old man. on the other hand, the most treasured and adored idol owned by the leader of the tribe was the one being stolen. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research in like manner name callings are also considered symbols as signified by the name philip latak which stands for the filipino or the philippines, and sam christie means, uncle sam or the united states of america. f. sionil jose uses third person omniscient or panoramic point of view in the stories the god stealer exemplified in the line, sam christie realized that there were many he did not know about philip latak. in the fiction the forest, the author uses the grass in the forest as a symbol of trouble, chaos and serenity, when it is dirty there is a difficulty where to trek and wild beasts are presently ready to devour anybody who dares enter the forest but somehow if the forest is denuded it goes back to its being serene and clean again, like war, liberation triumphs in the end and peace is achieved. the title, the refugee, symbolizes a weak and troubled person who doesn’t know what to do for himself. he is afraid of what will happen the next day ahead. he does not know how to love because he doesn’t love himself too. more, he is a victim of a problematic family and a depraved environment. conflict in the refugee does not fall on ligaya, suehching or shinae nor any other characters in the fiction but the real conflict is himself, he himself is the refugee. it is man against himself. significant human experience affective critical theory is the theory in which the audience or reader of literary work finds the freedom to assess the work of the writer and interprets based on his own experience and attitude toward the world kennedy and gioia (2010). f. sionil jose’s the god stealer, the refugee and the forest this critical reading implies that premises of moral betterment are present in the works of f. sionil jose: the god stealer carefully and vividly describes the feeling of remorse felt by philip latak, which is being signified by his wearing of g-strings again, their traditional costumes and by trying to chisel a new ifugao idol. moral betterment is perceived through the actions of philip latak. that feeling sorry and asking for forgiveness, cleans a person’s guilty mind. in like manner, family feuds should be solved and ancient culture and tradition should be loved and preserved. the hedonistic pleasure on self-discipline is evident in the story the god stealer, the grandfather of philip latak still tries to welcome his lost grandson even if he knew that his beloved grandson disowned their custom, tradition, and heritage. as a reader, i hated latak’s attend, but in then i commend on his being 119 international peer reviewed journal remorseful on what he had done. in f. sionil jose’s the refugee, the protagonist should have been opened about the way he felt especially on his insecurities so that real refuge would come on his life and he will be happy. while the forest speaks about scientific learning, they inform every reader that everything is normal when it comes to the issue of man, his life together with his biological and emotional needs. the forest is a complete revelation that everybody dies; everybody has his end, even if he/she is a soldier, a politician or a specialist in the field of medicine. lastly, the critical reading theorizes that the refugee speaks about the catharsis of unpleasant emotion—the problems of the protagonist center on their feelings which were hidden. the characters should have been true to themselves, about what they liked and disliked, what they didn’t want and what they wanted, for them to achieve true happiness. conclusions literary works of art particularly short fictions inspire and challenge every reader to reflect on his life, his feelings, culture, traditions, beliefs, history and his idiosyncrasies. demetrio (2012) explains that once short fictions are understood, they serve as the perfect vehicle to understand worldviews. reading sionil jose’s short fictions; the god stealer, the refugee and the forest gives every reader the thought that indeed literary works imitate the reality of life. they convey the general truth that every person needs to respect and understand one another to refrain from keeping a concealed hatred towards a loved one. in the god stealer, sionil jose focuses on the culture, tradition and beliefs of a certain place and its people, that no matter how long was the stay in some other places a certain native had, he has to revere the traditions and beliefs of his native place to avoid intricacy, misfortune and heartache among the people of their own kind. in the refugee, the reader is taught that in going into a relationship, one has to avoid being evasive and denial of what he feels. he or she has to be certain with his/her feelings, if he/she is in love then love must be shown to avoid pain and bitterness. in the forest the mimetic theory is still being signified. the author reminds the readers especially the men in uniform on how to react when facing death in the rearmost positions during encounters with the enemies. f. sionil jose enables to picture out in his story on how is it to desire to continue life amidst the fatigue, pain-wracked and unspeaking lips of the dying. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research lacia et al. (2015) assertion are accurate that analyzing every part of a literary text helps students to see the human being as an integral person living in both a national and global community. moreover, sarabia’s thesis (2015) confirms with this study when he articulated that a fictional text is not entirely divorced from reality, it is just that it does not necessarily speak to it. finally, cost (2016) is indeed correct in his affirmation that fictions do create a shared bond among students, since after the doing the critical analysis using the mimetic, expressivist, formalistic and affectivist theories, students were empowered to speed up and enhance their comprehension skill. they participated actively in the different classroom activities and genre-crossing was done to come up with translational outputs such as one-act-play, soliloquy, spoken poetry, storytelling, poem and dance drama. they were formulated by the students assisted by the researcher herself which served as proofs of the students’ comprehension of the fictions being studied. translational research the three short fictions written by f. sionil jose were genrecrossed into a one-actplay, spoken poetry, storytelling, soliloquy, poem and dance drama. the students were able to understand well the fictions through critical analysis using the four theories of literature. it was easy for them to come up with the mentioned translational researches. one example of this is one-act-play with four scenes, in the god stealer. scene 1,is the meeting of sam christie and philip latak in the agency where they work and they become close friends until one time they decided to visit latak’s hometown in ifugao. scene 2, is the arrival of the two and the mode of acceptance of the villagers, the old folks, the children, sadek and the old grandfather, scene 3, include the celebration as some sort of welcoming latak, along with the rituals, the planning of stealing the idol and the way of stealing it and finally, scene 4 is the death of the old man and the remorse of philip latak. literature cited cost, g. p. (2016). fiction reader: a case study documenting the impact reading fiction has on one child’s literacy. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2sculfg harper, s. n. (1988). strategies for teaching literature at the undergraduate 121 international peer reviewed journal level. the modern language journal, 72(4), 402-408. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2yla6bm kennedy, x. j., & gioia, d. (2007). literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama, 10/e. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2jv5w2c lacia, f.c, lydia l., mark f. and vivian b. (20l5) .the literatures of the philippines, manila rex book store. lewis c.s. (2013) mla session on cognitive approaches to literary charts. retrieved from http://people cohorts-ohio-state.educ/harmon. mckeown, m. g., beck, i. l., & blake, r. g. (2009). rethinking reading comprehension instruction: a comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches. reading research quarterly, 44(3), 218-253. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1598/rrq.44.3.1 rodriguez, jmo. (2014). living post-colonial: thinking neo-colonial calling it cultural cooperation between spain and the philippines. issn1705-9100 open humanities press vol. 9 no 4. retrieved from www.postcolonial.org/ inde.php/article view/1760 roseburg, a.g. (1998). the refugee, the forest in pathways to philippine literature in english revised edition quezon city: phoenix publishing house inc. sarabia, m. p. (2015). the extinction of fiction: breaking boundaries and acknowledging character in medieval literature. retrieved from doi 10.17077/etd.ux5ifvm http://people https://doi.org/10.1598/rrq.44.3.1 1 international peer reviewed journalvol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.385 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract as the aging population is growing rapidly in malaysia, there is a need to enhance intergenerational communication to improve intergenerational understanding. older people have accumulated vast experience in life, and their narrative sharing would be beneficial for younger generations. the purpose of the study is to explore the impact of an intergeneration reminiscence program on university students. the intergenerational reminiscence program was designed to facilitate intergeneration communication among older people and university students in malaysia. we recruited a total of 52 undergraduate students from abnormal psychology course for this study. they were required to complete at least four sessions of intergenerational interactions with an older adult as part the impact of intergenerational reminiscences on university students in malaysia jin kuan kok kokjk@utar.edu.my universiti tunku abdul rahman perak, malaysia kai-shuen pheh phehks@utar.edu.my universiti tunku abdul rahman perak, malaysia wan ying lee lwying@utar.edu.my universiti tunku abdul rahman perak, malaysia 2 jpair multidisciplinary research of their coursework. at the end of intergenerational reminiscence activities, students developed a life history book for the interviewed older adult. two focus groups were conducted for data collection. three researchers were involved in the data collection and data analysis process. the findings from the thematic analysis show that the intergenerational reminiscence program was able to engage both older people and university students meaningfully. the impacts on university students include changes of perceptions, awareness of intergenerational difference, learning from older people, and meaningful for older people, and acquisition of new skills. keywords – psychology, aging, intergenerational reminiscence, thematic analysis, malaysia introduction population aging is a worldwide phenomenon. according to world health organization (who, 2013), older people (aged 60 years or over) will increase from 11.7% in 2013 to 21.1% by 2050. although malaysia is a young country in which only 5.5% of its population aged 60 in 2013, this statistic will be doubled in between the year 2010 to 2040 (department of statistics, 2013). it was expected by the year of 2030, 15 % of malaysian population will be aged 60 and above. the aging experiences of older people were found to be affected by the socio-economic and socio-cultural environment (chan, 2006; kok & yap, 2014, 2015; kok, 2015). neugarten (1995) claimed “nothing is as rich as human life” especially for older people as they have accumulated richness of experience while sailing through life. their aging experience is a product of what he or she has been through in a particular socio-economic or political context. intergenerational interaction helps to enhance intergeneration communication. previous studies show that intergenerational activities debunk stereotyping views or myth such as elderly were always associated with physical decline, material insecurity, and poor intergenerational relations (fivush, bohanek, & zaman, 2010). engaging older people in autobiographical narratives is therapeutic for older people as they do interpretation and life review. reminiscence activities provide a powerful frame for them to remember and give meanings to their lived experience (fivush, 2008). in addition, reminiscence therapy has been found effective in minimizing depression in older people (hernandez & gonzalez, 2008). sharing own life 3 international peer reviewed journal experience with younger generation will help the young to be more appreciative of the old (wang & ross, 2007). objective of the study the objective of this study is to investigate the impact of an intergeneration reminiscence activity on university students in one of the universities in the perak state of malaysia. we would like to find out the learning experience from the students’ perspectives. methodology experiential discovery qualitative study this study is an experiential discovery qualitative study. a total of 52 (22 males, 30 females) students from a university in the perak state of malaysia were recruited. the participants are students who registered for abnormal psychology course as one of their subjects during the semester. as part of the coursework requirements, they were required to work in pairs to interact with an older adult, who is 65 years old and above, regardless of cognitive abilities and health conditions. specifically, students were asked to interview the senior citizens about their life history. the students were allowed to choose to work with either their own family member or an elderly from their community (e.g. acquaintances or strangers from pasar malam (in malay means night market) that fulfilled the inclusion criteria, for at least 4 sessions (30 to 45 minutes per session). at the end of the interactions, students developed a life history book to capture the memories and stories of the older person’s life. there was no standard format for the life history book. however, it was expected to be multisensory, attractive, and personalized. both students and the older people were invited to do recollection together to remember, to share and to engage with one another during the reminiscence activities. original words and interpretation given by the older people were used in designing the life history book. relevant photographs were included in the life history book. at the end of the activities, students presented the life history book to the elderly with whom they interacted 4 jpair multidisciplinary research focus group semi-structured interviews focus group semi-structured interviews were conducted with volunteered students who participated in the intergenerational reminiscence project. this focus group interview aimed to understand how students’ perceptions of older adults have changed after completing the project. nineteen students volunteered to be interviewed. after a briefing about privacy and confidentiality of collected data, students were separated into two groups. students who interviewed their family members were gathered and interviewed by a co-researcher, while the other students who interviewed strangers from the community were gathered in another group for the interview. the two focus group interviews took about one hour. the interview questions covered sub-topics on the impression towards older people before the project, their learning experience during the project, and the benefits of the project. some examples of the questions are (1) before participating in this project, what is your impression towards older adults?; (2) what were the things that strike you most while doing this project?; (3) how has this project benefited you and the older people you have interviewed? the interview was recorded with participants’ permission and later transcribed for data analysis. results and discussion our findings echoed the previous studies in that reminiscence activities benefited both the older people and university students. watt and cappeliex (2000) have identified reminiscence as intervention strategies by gerontologists working with depressed old people. however, it benefits ordinary older people with no mental health issues as it offers a platform for interpretation of life events (hernandez & gonzalex, 2008). snodgrass and sorajjakool (2011) held that the wisdom gain through life experiences serve as a resource to self and others, especially for young people. fivush and his associates (2010) held that young people gain benefits in terms of intergenerational connections and perspectives taking. this paper reports only the learning points from the students’ perspectives. from both of the focus group discussions, five themes emerged. each theme is discussed in the sections below. 5 international peer reviewed journal change of perceptions most students shared that it was an eye opening experience. they mentioned that there was a change of perception. previously they thought older people were traditional, naggy, stubborn, forgetful and overly anxious (e.g. always reminding others to be careful when driving, not to forget their keys). however, after the intergenerational interactions, they found that older people could be cute and were kind. they were able to remember details about their life history and were also capable of giving good advice. this reminiscence process enabled students to view aging from multiple perspectives, which helps them to improve their relationship with their grandparents. and for those students who did not have grandparents, they reported that they had gained new insights that will help them to understand their parents better when their parents grow old. for those students who interacted with elderly strangers, they shared that they felt comfortable interacting with them as there was no barrier. they were not affected by preconceived ideas of their grandparents. it was observed that students still use similar descriptions for elderly before and after this project (such as nagging, stubborn), but their perceptions have changed. they learned that older people seem to nag or be stubborn for a reason. they perceived older people as naggy and stubborn with good will, as they “do not want you to experience the same pain as they did.” awareness of intergenerational differences students reported that they have become more aware of the intergenerational differences. they realized that the older people live in a different era. one student mentioned that the old lady she interviewed was 91 -year-old but she is still very healthy and can take care of her grandchildren. she got married at the age of 14, was a mother at the age of 15. she gave birth to 13 children, and now she has a total of 190 family members. the student was amazed how she managed to care for so many people. she found out that the older siblings would take care of the younger siblings when their parents went to work. they also supported their family when they were old enough to work. most students were amazed that the elderly they interviewed got married at the age of 15 or 16 for women, 18 or 19 for men. they were surprised t h a t their grandparents resumed responsibility of taking care of their parents and family members at such a young age. by contrast, the students being above the age of 21, all of them were dependent and still receiving financial support from their parents. while on the other hand, their grandparents at 21 years old had 6 jpair multidisciplinary research to work for survival lim shared the stories of his interviewee who had worked as a plantation guard (plantation of rubber, mango, rambutan) for 17 years since 1956. after obtaining precious practical experience, he started to buy his own plantation. daniel concluded, “the on-site experience was really valuable and it was so different from t h e memorizing of content”. this point arose much discussion among the focus group members. students continue to reflect on how to incorporate experiential learning into their university life. learning from the older people jane shared her interaction experience with her grandmother. she has been living with her grandmother since she moved to perak state for further studies at the university. her grandma was very active: cycling to market for grocery before 7 am in the morning, playing mah jong with neighbors, collecting things to recycle so that it could be sold off. being an illiterate old lady who does not speak any other language except for her dialect, she uses sign language to communicate with recycling materials buyers who speak other languages. another student shared about an 81-year-old lady who frequently quarreled with her husband but they would stop and prepared food for each other when it was meal time. jane described this scenario as the most romantic scene she had ever seen. she was amazed how effective it was for her grandparents to get married after one month of dating (once a week for four consecutive weeks). and their marriage was successfully sustained for life-long. jane commented the older generation tends to solve their problems by facing and resolving the difficulties, while the younger generation tends to run away from their difficulties. besides, other students also learned lessons from the older people: support and bless younger generation, values of self-scarifying, perseverance, patience, etc. here are some stories shared by students during the focus groups: tan shared the story he gathered from his intergenerational interview with an old man from his community. that old man married at 18 or 19 but at that time the wedding dinner cost rm100,000 as the whole village from the community were invited to attend the wedding dinner. tan wondered how did the old man managed to save up for his wedding payment. he found out that actually, his parents helped him. lim shared that the passing down of family values amazed him. the parents of his grandparent helped them, and they are now helping their children (who are the student’s uncles and aunties). he witnessed that whenever his uncles and 7 international peer reviewed journal aunties gave hongbao (money put in a red package for older people as a gesture of appreciation) to the old grandparents, they always returned with an addition of money. he noticed that the old grandparents led a simple lifestyle, unlike the lavish lifestyle of the new generations, and they were willing to bless their children by giving them hongbao. three students interviewed older people who had endured t h r o u g h t h e world war ii. students learned that many seniors had gone through hardship in lives. some survived on sweet potato porridge for years during war time. one elderly man was even an activist during the world war ii and fought for the rights of the minority chinese. students were touched when they heard about the hardships of an elderly woman who worked a tailor, who was a cancer survivor and who also had a son suffering from glaucoma other lessons learned include: elderly were self-giving, most of them wanted to live longer to serve their family; they viewed life positively and had a positive attitude and acceptance of death, “when it’s time to go, it’s ok as i have lived my life.” the student admired the elderly’s positive view of death and wished to be like them when they are old. meaningful for older people intergeneration reminiscences have been used as a therapeutic tool for older people to make meaning of their live experience. students shared that some elderly felt like a “celebrity” being interviewed. some of them dressed up nicely before the interaction session. there was a sense of pride being chosen for the interview. they even brought bags of old photos and newspaper cuttings to tell their life story to the students. students found the making of life history book was meaningful as it meets the need of the older people. these made the older people feel that they are appreciated and not forgotten. choy felt that elderly had very scattered memory. she noticed older people were disorganized in storing their photos, without sequential events or years of record. with the life history book he made, he helped the older people to organize the memory of their life experience. jane’s grandmother kept reminding her to return the “life history” book to her. jane included the photo of her grandma’s first house on the first page of her life history book. students fervently discussed how to improve on the design of life history book to make it more personalized and interactive to meet the needs of elderly. some made the life history book with multisensory features, while some others turned it into 8 jpair multidisciplinary research a novel. students who interact with elderly from the old folk home shared that older people displayed more depressive symptoms if they were lacking of support from family members. they felt that this reminiscence process was meaningful for the older people. acquisition of new skills students gained new skills on how to interact and communicate with the golden-ager. they shared that the seniors have a different kind of personality as some of them were introverted who did not share much. but the students revealed that interacting with older people helped them to have a better and deeper understanding and acquire new ideas and skills on how to relate meaningfully with them. they were not sure if those skills could be generalized but they have learned to be patient and to be there to listen. some students had the experience of being judged by their grandparents and they felt hurt. misunderstanding happened due to the generational gaps. they realized the importance of listening to older people and have practiced listening skills throughout this intergenerational project. students whose grandparents were no longer alive, shared that this intergenerational activity helped them to better understand their parents as they age. conclusion this life history book project provided the opportunity for both older people and university students, to experience intergenerational reminiscences together. intentionally spending time and effort to listen to older peoples’ life experiences and perspectives have positively impacted the students’ perception of the older generation. not only did they deepen their understanding towards older people, but they have also gained valuable insights and lessons about life. the older people, on the other hand, received the time, attention and opportunity to pass down their legacy, sharing what is valuable to the younger generation. as both older people and university students share this special moment together, the process of sharing in itself is therapeutic and beneficial for all. since the qualitative feedback of the present study was encouraging, it is recommended that similar study should be conducted using a randomized-controlled design that involved larger sample. a well-controlled trial will allow the researchers to learn about the causative relationship as well as the underlying mechanism of positive outcomes of this program. also, the present focused only the feedbacks of the younger 9 international peer reviewed journal generation. the outcomes of such program, from the older persons’ perspectives, should be assessed in the future, to gain insights on its’ impacts on the seniors. literature cited chan, a. (2006) aging in southeast asia and east asia – issues and policy. journal of crosscultural gerontology, 20, 269-284. doi:10.1007/s10823006-9006-2. department of statistics (2013). retrieved from https://www.statistics.gov.my/ fivush, r. (2008). remembering and reminiscing: how individual lives are constructed in family narratives. memory studies, 1, 45–54. fivush, r., bohanek, j. g., & zaman, w. (2010). personal and intergenerational narratives in relation to adolescents’ well-being. in t. habermas (ed.), the development of autobiographical reasoning in adolescence and beyond. new directions for child and adolescent development, 131, 45–57. doi: 10.1002/ cd.288 hernandez, c.r., & gonzalez, m.z. (2008). effects of intergenerational interaction on aging. educational gerontology 34 (4), 292–305. doi: 10.1080/03601270701883908 kok, j. k. & yap, y. n. (2014). aging gracefully: a comparative study of japanese and malaysian women aged 65-75. journal of aging studies 31, 5461. doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2014.08.007 kok, j. k. & yap, y. n. (2015). a comparative study between malaysian chinese women and japanese women aged 65-75 on their experience and view on ageing. international journal of social science and humanity, vol. 5(12): pp.1045-1049. doi.:10.7763/ijssh.2015.v5.602 kok, j. k. (2015) when socio-culture meets socio-economy. health care current reviews, 3,149. doi: 10.4172/2375-4273.1000149 10 jpair multidisciplinary research neugarten, b. l. (1995). “nothing as rich as human life”. interviewed by w. andrew achenbaum. chicago, illinois: buehler center on aging, northwestern university. snodgrass, j. & sorajjakool, s. (2011). spirituality in older adulthood: existential meaning, productivity, and life events. pastoral psychology, 60:85– 94. doi 10.1007/s11089-010-0282-y watt, l. m., & cappeliez, p. (2000). integrative and instrumental reminiscence therapies for depression in older adults: intervention strategies and treatment effectiveness. aging & mental health, 4(2), 166-177 world health organization [who] (2013). retrieved from http://www.un.org/ en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/aging/worldpopula tionaging2013.pdf wang, q., & ross, m. (2007). culture and memory. in s. kitayama & d. cohen (eds.), handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 645–667). new york: guilford press. 111 international peer reviewed journal electrical post fire as cause of fire incidents in region vi, philippines kenneth g. occeño http://orcid.org/0000-0001-54801776 kennethocceno27@gmail.com capiz state university main campus capiz, philippines abstract the devastating electrical fire incidents affect the economy of the country, and it is essential to answer this problem. the intention of the study is to determine the origin of the electrical fire and recommend for possible solutions. the study sought to find out the causes of electrical fire incidents in region vi that can be used as a guide for future research and policy guidelines relevant to prevention activities. descriptive method of research, employing frequency count and mean was used in the study. statistical package for social science was used to generate and analyze the data. the result showed that the number one cause of electrical fire incidents in region vi was electrical post-fire. aklan had the highest rate of electrical fire incidents caused by short circuit. antique had the highest rate of electrical fire incidents caused by overheat while iloilo and negros occidental had the highest rate of incidents caused by electrical post-fire. the structures involved in electrical fire incidents were electrical posts, residential buildings, commercial buildings, vehicles, and other structures. furthermore, other appliances had the highest involvement followed by electric fans, ceiling fans, flat irons, and electric water heaters. the electrical post-fire and short circuit are mostly the causes of electrical fire incidents. keywords – social science, fire incidents, electricity, electrical post, electrical fire, overheat, region vi, philippines vol. 24 · march 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v24i1.382 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction the devastating destructive electrical fire incidents are the major causes of fires that affects the economy not only in the philippines but also in the different countries. the study of alqassim and daeid (2014) said that “fire related incidents in dubai, united arab emirates” were electrical failures showed the highest risk of fire incidents that hits more on residential units. in the case of united states, united kingdom, and japan, the percentage of residential fires in each country is more than fifty percent especially in the u.s.a. based on the study of sekizawa (1994) of fire research institute, tokyo, japan. the possible causes of electrical fire incidents are short circuits, overheat, electrical sparks or loose connections according to the bureau of fire protection region vi. fire statistics regularly show electricity to be responsible for between 20 and 40 percent of all fire. an electrical fire is a kind of fire in which a current fault is found to have been the ignition source. an electrical fire can also occur when overheated wirings, motors, appliances, plugs are in contact with, or close to combustible materials. electrical fire is usually caused by defects in electrical systems that results to high temperature and produce ignition to create fire. due to this danger of electrical fire and the difficulty to determine its origin or causes, there was a continuous increase of fire incidents from the year 2010 to february 2012 in the philippines. according to the national statistics center, region vi was ranked number two in fire incidents mostly due to electrical fire. these are the reasons why the researcher was motivated to conduct this study. nobody wants his investment in life to turn into ashes in a moment. property damage and physical or emotional injuries due to electrical fires can be devastating. every year, electrical fires result in deaths, injuries and hundreds of millions of property damage. some electrical fires come from faulty products. many more are caused by the misuse and poor maintenance of electrical equipment, incorrect installation of wiring, shortcircuit, overheat, and unattended appliances, but unfortunately, the main source of these causes still needs to be clarified to know the real origin of these causes. given the preceding issues, the researcher studied the record of electrical fire incidents of the bureau of fire protection (bfp) of region vi covering the period 2002 to august 2012. the structures and appliances involved were included in the study. a structured interview was conducted to the fire safety inspectors and arson investigators to give more substantial results of the study. the information obtained through this study may significantly guide future research, planning, and policy activities relevant to disaster preparedness and prevention activities 113 international peer reviewed journal of local government units, the bureau of fire protection (bfp), the city and municipal engineers office, and other involved agencies. it is expected that it could contribute to the resolution of electrical fire problems. framework this study links the electrical post fire as cause of fire incidents in region vi, philippines. electrical system is designed and installed by humans, whose error could not simply be avoided leading to electrical fire incidents, hence this study was anchored on ferrell’s human factors theory introduced by russell ferrell (1977), professor of human factors at the university of arizona. this theory states that accidents are the results of a causal chain (as in multiple causation theory), one or more causes being human error, which is in turn caused by three situations such as overload, incompatibility, and improper activities. however, not only human factors are given consideration but also the situation of the electrical system of the residential, commercial and industrial establishments in which the “petersen’s accident-incident causal theory” is related to ferrell’s human factor theory. the later theory states that causes of accident/incident are human error and or system failure. human error is due to overload, traps and decision to err. human error may directly cause accident or may cause system failure which in term may cause accident resulting to injury or loss as shown in figure below. figure 1. petersen’s accident-incident causal theory traps are due to defective work station, design and incompatible display or control. decisions to err are caused by illogical decision under situation, 114 jpair multidisciplinary research unconscious desire to err and perceived low probability. system failure is due to error in policy, responsibility, authority, accountability, measurement, inspection, correction, investigation, orientation, training, selection, safe operating procedure, standards hazard recognition, records, and others. this body of principles and concepts served as guide posts within which this study nests. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the causes of electrical fire incidents in region vi that may significantly guide future research, planning, and policy activities relevant to disaster preparedness and prevention activities. specifically, it sought to: 1) describe the causes of electrical fire incidents in region vi; 2) describe the causes of electrical fire incidents in terms of province such as aklan, antique, capiz, guimaras, iloilo, and negros occidental; 3) determine the structures and appliances involved in an electrical fire incident; 4) compare the causes of electrical fire incidents in provinces. methodology research design the descriptive method was used to find out the causes of electrical fire incidents through documentary analysis using the records of electrical fire incidents of the bureau of fire protection (bfp) in the custody of the fire stations of the different municipalities in region vi as secondary data. the study was conducted in the six provinces of region vi, namely aklan, antique, capiz, guimaras, iloilo, and negros occidental. the respondents of the structured interview were the fire inspectors and arson investigators of the fire stations located in the municipalities and cities. the study utilized 82 respondents during the structured interview. the highest number of respondents was from negros occidental with 22 or 26.83 percent, followed by iloilo with 20 or 24.39 percent. there was 17 or 20.73 percent from capiz, 11 or 13.41 percent from aklan, while the least were from antique and guimaras numbering seven or 8.54 percent and five or 6.10 percent respectively. the documents needed to be were successfully gathered with the help of the fire marshal and on duty personnel of the different fire department stations. the data were then tallied, analyzed and interpreted with the use of statistical package for social sciences (spss). face-to-face interview using the organized questions 115 international peer reviewed journal schedule was conducted among the fire safety inspectors and arson investigators. the purpose of the structured interview is to support and verify the secondary data gathered. the data were analyzed with the use of the following statistical tools: frequency count, percentage, mean, and one way anova. to find out the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding the province such as aklan, antique, capiz, guimaras, iloilo, and negros occidental; structures and appliances involved in electrical fire incidents, frequency count, percentage, and mean were used. in describing the significant differences in the structures and appliances involved, one-way anova was used. the percentage was used in determining the ratio of the frequency of response (f ) to the total number of respondents (n). it was expressed in percent with the following formula p = x 100. the ranking was used in arranging the data in this study based on certain criteria. results and discussion causes of electrical fire incidents in region vi table 1 shows that the number one cause of electrical fire incidents in region vi was electrical post-fire (59.20%), followed by a short circuit (32.20%) as number two, and in downward trend followed by overheat, loose connection, and electrical sparks in third, fourth and fifth. this result is related to the study of lusk and mak (1976) that the cause of fires in vertical pole members of wooden high voltage transmission line towers not attributable to surface leakage currents or lightning stroke has been identified as a result of excessive internal joule losses generated within the pole wood. these joule losses are a consequence of the electrical conductivity of high moisture content wood and charging currents resulting from the capacitive coupling existing between the poles and the phase wires and high electric field intensities. this was supported by the reports made by the times of india (2008-12) that the fires occurred mainly due to short circuits. this is also related to the study of babrauskas (2008) that the factors contributing to ignition in structure fires are short circuits. the results of the structured interview conducted with the fire safety inspectors and arson investigators of region vi revealed that the number one cause of electrical fire incidents are accidental in nature due to negligence or carelessness of owners or occupants of the building; overloading of electrical wire resulting to overheating; and unnoticed overheated wire resulting to short circuit. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research it implies that electrical competencies have a role in ensuring fire safely. this further implies that concerned agencies need to include safety measures, and the electric cooperative must be informed. table 1. causes of electrical fire incidents in region vi electrical fire incidents regarding: frequency percent rank 1. electrical post fire 1,596 59.20 1 2. short circuit 868 32.20 2 3. overheat 170 6.30 3 4. loose connection 45 1.76 4 5. electrical sparks 17 0.63 5 total 2,696 100.0 causes of electrical fire incident regarding province the degree by which causes of electrical fire incident happened differs by province is shown in table 2. for aklan, a short circuit was the highest cause of its electrical fire incidents. overheat ranked second, followed by electrical sparks and loose connection. electrical post-fire was the least cause of electrical fire incidents in that province. short circuit was the most frequent cause of the electrical fire in antique while electrical sparks and loose connection were the least. overheat was the number two cause of electrical fire incidents in that province, followed by electrical postfire. in capiz, a short circuit like those in aklan and antique was the highest cause of electrical fire incidents followed by overheat and then electrical postfire, loose connection, and electrical sparks as the least cause of electrical fire incidents. short circuit was the highest cause of the electrical fire in the province of guimaras. it was followed by electrical post-fire, overheat, loose connection and electrical sparks in descending order. this result concerning short circuit as the major cause of the fire in aklan, antique, capiz, and guimaras is supported by the study of patel (2005) that fire incidents which are caused by a short circuit arc caused by faulty, loose or broken conductors are also linked to aged wiring. this is also supported by the study of lucini (2009) that fire was (22%) ignited by a heater, lamp, or open flame. eighteen percent were caused by smoking materials or equipment, 12% were due to smoking in bed, 12% were electrical faults. findings show that the leading factors were another electrical failure, malfunction, unspecified short-circuit arc and short-circuit arc from defective, 117 international peer reviewed journal worn insulation. electrical post-fire had the highest frequency as the cause of electrical fire incidents in iloilo. short circuit ranked second. overheat ranked third. loose connection ranked fourth, and electrical sparks ranked fifth. electrical post-fire had the highest frequency as a cause of electrical fire incidents in negros occidental. short circuit ranked second. overheat ranked third. loose connection ranked fourth, and electrical sparks ranked fifth. the above results where electrical postfire was the number one cause of electrical fire incidents supports the study of lusk and mak (1976) that the structure involved is wood pole and the cause of fires in vertical pole members of wooden high voltage transmission line towers not attributable to surface leakage currents or lightning stroke has been identified as a result of excessive internal joule losses generated within the pole wood. table 2. causes of electrical fire incident regarding province causes aklan antique capiz guimaras iloilo negros occidental f % r f % r f % r f % r f % r f % r short circuit 25 65.80 1 22 45.84 1 64 48.12 1 26 50.00 1 228 22.46 2 503 35.67 2 overheat 8 21.05 2 16 33.33 2 33 24.81 2 3 5.77 3 45 4.44 3 65 4.61 3 electrical sparks 2 5.26 3.5 2 4.17 4 2 1.50 5 2 3.85 4.5 5 0.49 5 4 0.28 5 loose connection 2 5.26 3.5 4 8.33 3.5 5 3.77 4 2 3.85 4.5 27 2.66 4 5 59.08 4 electrical post fire 1 2.63 4 4 8.33 3.5 29 21.80 3 19 36.53 2 710 69.95 1 833 0.36 1 total 38 100 48 100 133 100 52 100 1015 1410 100 note: f – frequency, % percent, r rank structures and appliances involved in electrical fire incidents table 3 shows that among the structures involved in electrical fire incidents, electrical post had the highest involvement, followed by residential building, commercial and vehicular. this result is related to the study of lusk and mak (1976) that the structure involved is wood pole and the cause of fires in vertical pole members of wooden high voltage transmission line towers was not attributable to surface leakage currents. lightning stroke has been identified as a result of excessive internal joule losses generated within the pole wood. these results are also related to the study of gloria nenita velasco, m.d. entitled, “epidemiological assessment of fires in the philippines, 2010-2012” 118 jpair multidisciplinary research that the majority of fires involved residential areas followed by commercial areas and this represents a significant risk for families, most especially for those who live in slums or squatter areas. the structured interview revealed that electrical fire incidents involving structures were mostly accidental, and the reasons are the negligence of the occupants of the building and overloading of electrical wire resulted to overheating that cause short circuit. this implies the need for the concerned agency to properly implement the fire code of the philippines to all types of buildings and considering also to include in the electrical fire safety program that the material to be used in the structures must be of standard quality as well as heat resistant. table 3. structures involved in electrical fire incidents property/ structure aklan antique capiz guimaras iloilo negros occidental frequency per cent electrical post 1 4 29 19 710 833 1596 59.20 residential building 32 36 72 19 209 511 879 32.6 commercial building 1 7 1 15 23 47 1.7 vehicular 2 7 3 19 21 52 2.0 mercantile 1 3 3 11 6 24 0.9 institutional building 1 7 8 0.3 educational building 1 4 10 3 18 0.6 industrial 1 1 1 4 1 8 0.3 others 5 2 9 6 37 5 64 2.4 total 38 48 133 52 1015 1410 2696 100.0 note: others are property structures not listed in the table table 4 shows that the appliances involved in electrical fire incidents were other appliances, electric fans, ceiling fans, flat irons and electric water heater. this result is related to the study of sekizawa (1994) of fire research institute 3-14 nakahara, mitaka, tokyo 181, japan entitled “international comparison analysis on fire risk among the united states, the united kingdom, and japan” that the major causes of residential fires in the u.s.a., the u.k., and japan. among these countries, a considerable gap is found in the causes of “cooking”, “heaters”, and “electric” which stands for electrical appliances and distribution system. this is also related to the report that more than 15 million appliances had been recorded in the last five years for defects that could cause in 119 international peer reviewed journal a fire. more than 69,000 fires were reported from 2002 to 2009 associated with appliances, according to data analyzed by the national fire incident reporting system (nfirs). this is also related to the research on electrical fires: state of the art (2008) that one of the leading factors involve in structure fires are appliances. the structured interview revealed that these electrical fire incidents were mostly accidental, and the primary reasons were negligence or carelessness and misuse of electrical appliances of the occupants of the building. other fire incidents in appliances involved were due to the cause by unattended appliances. this implies that there is a need for the concerned agency to include the safe and proper use of electrical appliances in their program. table 4. appliances involved in electrical fire incidents appliances involved frequency percent rank electric fan 69 40.60 2 ceiling fan 23 13.50 3 flat iron 4 2.35 4.5 electric water heater 4 2.35 4.5 other appliances 70 41.50 1 170 100.0 note: other appliances are appliances not listed in the table difference in the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding province results are shown in table 5 indicate that there was a significant difference in the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding provinces. aklan had the highest rate of incidents in a short circuit and electrical sparks while antique had the highest rate of incidents in overheat and loose connection, and iloilo had the highest rate of incidents in electrical post-fire. this means that the causes of electrical fire among provinces were not the same as indicated in table 2. this indicates that every province had different electrical troubles that led to the electrical fire. 120 jpair multidisciplinary research table 5. the difference in the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding the province source of variation sum-of-square df mean square fvalues pvalues remarks between groups 340.585 5 68.117 within groups 5059.462 2690 1.881 36.216 0.000 s. total 5400.047 2695 conclusions the electrical post-fire was mostly the cause of electrical fire incidents, followed by short circuit overheat, loose connection, and the least was electrical sparks. the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding of province are as follows: in aklan, a short circuit was the highest cause of electrical fire incidents. loose connection and electrical post were the least causes of fire incidents. in antique, short circuit and overheat were the most frequent causes of electrical fire in residential buildings. in capiz, a short circuit is the highest cause of electrical fire incidents and electrical sparks the least cause. in guimaras, a short circuit has the highest rate as the cause of electrical fire incidents. electrical sparks the lowest rate. in iloilo, electrical post-fire has the highest frequency as the cause of electrical fire incidents. electrical sparks are considered to be the least cause of electrical fire incidents in the province. in negros occidental, electrical post-fire has the highest frequency as a cause of electrical fire incidents. electrical sparks have the lowest. the provinces of negros occidental and iloilo have the highest occurrence of electrical fire incidents. the electrical post was the structure most involved in electrical fire incidents due to weather conditions and poor electrical works and maintenance which affect the electrical installation and materials. residential building fires have the second highest rate caused by the negligence of the owners or occupants of the building. the electric fan had a high rate of involvement due to overheat and negligence of the owners or occupants of the building. there was a significant difference in the causes of electrical fire incidents regarding provinces. translational research the study is best appreciated if translated into printed media such as brochures, manuals, and training guide that will help the multiple stakeholders 121 international peer reviewed journal in the dissemination and transfer of knowledge based on the findings of the study. the translated outputs can likewise be beneficial not only in the bureau of fire department in the province but in national level as well. however, there is still a need to evaluate the impact of these translated media from the end-users’ point of view. literature cited alqassim, m. a., & daeid, n. n. (2014). fires and related incidents in dubai, united arab emirates (2006–2013). case studies in fire safety, 2, 28-36. babrauskas, v. y. t. e. n. i. s. (2008). research on electrical fires: the state of the art. fire safety science, 9, 3-18. lucini, g. (2009). an analysis of fire incidents involving hoarding households(doctoral dissertation, worcester polytechnic institute). lusk, g. e., & mak, s. t. (1976). ehv wood pole fires: their cause and potential cures. ieee transactions on power apparatus and systems, 95(2), 621-629. national fire incidents reporting system (nfirs), retrieved february from www.firecause/.com/fire.products/press release. national statistics coordination board (nscb) sexy statistics sunog! table 1_files. retrieved february from www.nscb.gov.ph/ru6/sexystats/2012/ ss20120321_fire_tab1.asp. patel, v. (2005). electrical wiring systems and fire risk in residential dwellings. energy safety service, consumer affairs branch, ministry of economic development. sekizawa, a. (1994). international comparison analysis on fire risk among the united states, the united kingdon, and japan.  fire safety science,  4, 961-969. velasco, g. n. v. (2013).  epidemiological assessment of fires in the philippines, 2010-2012 (no. dp 2013-35). 157 international peer reviewed journal the importance of knowledge base among kindergartner teachers on language structure in teaching reading effectively christie mae m. kilat https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1359-9676 christiemae.kilat@gmail.com university of science and technology of southern philippines lapasan, cagayan de oro city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract reading plays a vital role in learning, and yet it is a common problem in many classrooms nowadays. many researchers are looking for a solution to this problem. various methods and strategies are needed to come into solution. by then, the role of the teacher comes in; he will implement these methods and strategies intended for reading. as the teaching-learning process, still problem arises if the teacher has not enough knowledge on how to effectively teach reading. this study was conducted to determine the knowledge base of kindergartner teachers of language structure in teaching reading effectively in the schools of gitagum, libertad, and initao, misamis oriental. this descriptive type of study involves thirty-three kindergartner teachers in the three municipalities of misamis oriental based on the district offices enrolment. the respondents were given survey-questionnaire to rate themselves on their level of knowledge on the basic components of reading and to test themselves on their knowledge and abilities on language structures. the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like mean, percentage, and t-test. the results showed inconsistency in their level of knowledge, the outcome of the knowledge, and ability test. hence, vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.730 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 158 jpair multidisciplinary research the kindergartner teachers are still lack of knowledge of language structure and in need of in-depth training and seminar-workshop. keywords — teacher knowledge, kindergartner teacher, language structure, descriptive design, gitagum, libertad, initao, misamis oriental, philippines introduction reading is an important language skill and a highly complicated act that everyone must learn. reading is not solely a single skill but a combination of many skills and processes in which the readers interact with printed words and texts for content and pleasure. through reading, one can teach writing, speaking, vocabulary items, grammar, spelling, and other language aspects (al-mansour & al-shorman, 2011). in the national assessment of educational progress (neap) of 2013, the reading level of fourth graders across the country is only eight percent (8%) are advanced readers, twenty-seven percent (27%) are proficient readers, thirtythree percent (33%) are basic readers and thirty-two percent (32%) are below the basic level. the no child left policy of the us (2001) states that the state will provide assistance to educational agencies and local educational agencies for students in kindergarten to grade 3 in establishing reading programs based on scientific-based research to ensure that in his grade level or above, every student can read not later than, and of grade 3. along with this, teachers are also provided assistance in professional development for them to recognize the precise reading blockage that the students are facing, and the teachers can also have a tool to help their students learn to read effectively. in the philippines, there were several programs implemented by the department of education to make every filipino child a reader. one of these is ecarp (every child is a reader), which is designed to equip elementary pupils with strategic reading and writing skills to make them independent young readers and writers. as for teachers, they are given seminars and pieces of training for their professional development not only for kindergartner teachers but all teachers in all grade levels. at present, teachers are recommended to have units in master’s degree or doctorate degree for them to enhance or be fully equipped in the teaching field. 159 international peer reviewed journal according to moats (1994), teachers who teach beginning and/or struggling readers need to understand the phonological structure of words (example understanding that the word “cat” is made up of three individual sounds or phonemes: /c/a/t/) and how to direct students’ attention to the contracts in speech-sound sequence (washburn, joshi, binks-cantrell, 2010). another study, cited by washburn, joshi, binks-cantrell, (2011) states that effective reading teachers can implement instruction that is research-based, identify struggling readers, and differentiate instruction depending on individual students’ needs. therefore, brady & moats (1997); moats (1994, 2004) suggested that teachers need to have a solid understanding of basic constructs of the english language. findings also indicate that even though teachers may be literate, experienced, and educated in a university setting; they may still lack vital knowledge of basic language structure that is needed to teach beginning readers as well as effectively (washburn, joshi, binks-cantrell, 2010). framework figure 1. this framework shows the importance of knowledge of kindergartner teachers in the basic concept of reading and language structure, together with the significance of the teacher’s profile. 160 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the goal of this study was to determine the knowledge base of kindergartner teachers of language structure from the different municipalities of gitagum, libertad, and initao for them to teach reading effectively. methodology research design this study is a quantitative method and descriptive design. the kindergartner teachers were given survey questionnaires to answer based on their knowledge and explore whether phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are factors of the knowledge base in their language structure in teaching reading effectively. the questionnaire was answered by the teachers about the average time of 10 minutes. after, data were gathered and analyzed. to determine the significant difference between the teachers’ knowledge of language structure in teaching reading, the t-test was employed. the level of statistical significance of the findings was placed at 0.05 level. research site this study was conducted in the public schools of the three municipalities of misamis oriental, namely, gitagum, libertad, and initao. it consists of 10 schools in gitagum, misamis oriental, eight (8) schools in libertad, misamis oriental, and 17 schools in initao, misamis oriental. figure 2 shows the local map of gitagum, libertad, and initao, where the different schools are located for this study. 161 international peer reviewed journal respondents all kindergartener teachers from the municipalities of gitagum, libertad, and initao participated in this study. nine (9) kindergartener teachers were from gitagum municipality, eight (8) from libertad municipality, and sixteen (16) from the initao municipality. table 1 below shows the distribution of these teachers for each school according to the data given by the district offices. the number of teachers for each school was identified in the enrolment. table 1. distribution of kindergartner teachers for each school. school number of kindergartner teacher gitagum gitagum central 1 cogon es/ talao es 1 ulab es/ g.pelaez es 1 c.p. garcia es 1 pangayawan es 1 natalio bongcas memorial es 1 burnay es/ matangad es 2 quezon es 1 total 9 libertad libertad central 2 gimaylan es 1 dulong es 1 retablo es 1 tangkub es/lubluban es 1 kimalok es 1 taytayan es 1 total 8 initao initao central 5 tubigan es 1 jampason es 1 162 jpair multidisciplinary research gimangpang es 1 pagahan es/ puntacon es 1 kamelon es/ calacapan es 1 sinalac es/ tagpaco es 1 andales es 1 canetoan es 1 oguis es/ san pedro es 1 tawan-tawan es 1 aluna es/ casilihon es 1 total 16 over-all total 33 instrumentation the researcher used a survey type of instrument to assess the knowledge and skills of the basic language of the kindergartner teachers. this was adapted from binks-cantrell (2012) survey instrument. the reliability of the entire survey was found to be 0.903 (cronbach’s α). but the researcher further modified the tool to be suited and to be friendly to the respondents. the researcher added a component on the demographic profile of respondents consisting of their baccalaureate degree and major, highest educational attainment, years in teaching reading, and years in service as the first part. in the second part, the respondents assessed themselves in their knowledge of the five basic components of reading. the third part of the instrument was composed of 40 questions that measured the knowledge and skills of the teachers in their basic language structures. the teachers answered the statements given by checking either yes or no. the questionnaire was pilot tested in the central school, considering a large number of kindergartner teachers. prior to the pilot testing, letter-request was given to the school principal for approval. the researcher conducted pilot testing for the said school. 163 international peer reviewed journal table 2. breakdown of survey items table on breakdown of survey items item number phonemic awareness 1-13 phonological awareness 14-20 phonics 21-32 morphology 33-40 based on the pilot testing, the instrument was answered in an average of 10 minutes. data gathering procedure prior to the conduct of this study, a formal letter of request was submitted to the division office of misamis oriental for approval to conduct the said. another letter-request was sent to the principal of city central school for pilot testing of the questionnaire. after the letter of request was approved by the schools division superintendent and endorse, the permission was forwarded to the different public schools district supervisor and principals/school heads in the district of libertad (consist of libertad and gitagum municipalities)and initao. the researcher personally facilitated the conduct of the gathering of data. the kindergartner teachers of city central school answered the questionnaire on the knowledge base of language structures of teachers. after the respondents answered the questionnaires, it was retrieved and analyzed. after the pilot testing, the researcher started to conduct the said study in the different schools in the municipalities in gitagum, libertad, and initao by giving the questionnaires. with the help of the principals/school heads and kindergartner teachers, the questionnaires were then retrieved. moreover, the study was conducted after academic subjects were done to avoid disruption of classes. the scores ranged from 1 to 4, 4 being the highest and one as the lowest. the scoring are as follows: 4 the kindergartner teacher is equipped with the knowledge of language structure to teach reading effectively. 3 the kindergartner teacher has adequate knowledge of language structure to teach reading effectively. 2 the kindergartner teacher has minor knowledge of language structure to teach reading effectively; 164 jpair multidisciplinary research 1 the kindergartner teacher needs further professional development to enhance his knowledge of language structure to teach reading effectively. scale range description 4 3.5 – 4 very knowledgeable 32.5 – 3.4 more knowledgeable 21.5 – 2.4 knowledgeable 1.1 – 1.4 less knowledgeable statistical treatment to answer the research questions and to interpret the results, descriptive statistics: mean, percentage, and t-tests were used. percentage of respondents’ profile were computed. the level of baccalaureate degree and major (beed versus bsed, ece versus non-ece), highest educational attainment (baccalaureate degree versus master’s degree versus master’s degree graduate), years in teaching reading both in private and public school (0-5 years versus more than 5 years) and years in service both in private and public school (0-5 years versus more than 5 years). all of those were interpreted based on the percentage of teachers who honestly answered each item. the percentage of teachers’ scores of the entire test were computed. t-test for independent samples was employed to determine whether there is a significant difference in the knowledge base of language structures of teachers according to their baccalaureate degree and major, highest educational attainment, years in teaching reading, and in service both in private and public school in the three municipalities of gitagum, libertad, and initao. results and discussion teachers’ profile this study looked into the demographic profile of the kindergartner teachers from 36 schools in the three municipalities of misamis oriental, specifically on their baccalaureate degree, specialization, highest educational attainment, number of years teaching reading, and number of years in service. 165 international peer reviewed journal table 3. baccalaureate degrees of respondents frequency percent beed 31 93.9 bsed 2 6.1 total 33 100.0 most of the graduates are bachelor in elementary education (beed) which designed college students to become a primary school teacher. this focuses on primary grades in which kindergarten is a part of it. when teachers hold a bachelor’s degree and have specialized training in early childhood education, they are better able to support children’s healthy development and school readiness. in conclusion, teachers with a bachelor’s degree and specialized training in early childhood education are able to foster development in children’s cognitive, social and emotional skills children need to be ready for kindergarten. table 4. respondents’ major/specialization frequency percent ece/ecd 9 27.2 filipino 4 12.1 sped 1 3.0 science 1 3.0 gen.ed. 18 54.5 total 33 100.0 according to the list revealed by the commission on higher education (2014) for a.y. 2014-2018, the following are the in-demand courses in college: (1) special education, (2) early childhood education and (3) science. this implies that the following courses are useful in the field of education nowadays, most especially special education and early childhood education when it comes to reading. teachers with general education as their or the so-called generalist has no specific subject or major teaching; thus, this implies that they can teach any subject or grade level they are in to. a study shows that there is no evidence that education majors are significant and more productive as teachers than non-education majors (harris & sass, 166 jpair multidisciplinary research 2007). another study cited by zuzovsky (2003), teachers’ academic degrees (e.g., bachelors or masters, etc.) are inconclusive. some studies showed positive effects of advanced degrees (betts, zau, & rice, 2003; ferguson & ladd, 1996; wayne & youngs, 2003), while others showed negative effects (ehrenberg & brewer, 1994; kiesling, 1984). table 5. highest educational attainment frequency percent baccalaureate 16 48.5 master’s degree units 14 42.4 master’s degree – car 1 3.0 master’s degree 2 6.1 total 33 100.0 many of the respondents considered educational attainment as an investment for a teacher. it helps the teacher to be update on the latest educational trends. it will also refresh their minds with past knowledge in their college years. based on the above data, the higher level of education and training teachers had can help improve teachers’ interaction with children in a positive way of learning. reiterated in the study of magsayo (2009), he said that there is a significant relationship between students’ achievement test scores and teachers’ highest educational attainment. it implies that teachers with bachelor’s degrees only tend to have better-performing students in the national achievement test. it was found that teacher educational attainment is inversely related to students’ achievement in english grammar. table 6. years of experience in teaching reading private public total < 5 years 10 19 19 ≥5 but <10 years 1 13 12 ≥10 years 1 2 total 11 33 33 based on the data gathered in table 6, the respondents’ experience in teaching ranged from 1-6 years () in private pre-schools and 116 years () in public preschools. the respondents’ total number of years teaching reading ranged from 167 international peer reviewed journal 1-16 years, with a mean of 4.45 years. twenty-two of the respondents has no experience teaching reading in private schools. in reading, it takes so much time to inculcate it to the minds of pupils. reading will not happen just once or overnight; it takes a continuous and gradual process. the difference then takes place on how teaching reading is done in private and public schools based on their experience. still, lots of teachers teach in private schools after their graduation, and if given the opportunity, they transfer to public school to render service in a permanent position. according to kini and podolsky (2016), teaching experience is positively associated with student achievement gains throughout a teacher’s career. furthermore, researchers found teachers’ ability to improve student achievement persisted well beyond the threeto five-year mark while the teachers did make the most progress during their first few years in the classroom most especially in terms of reading (sawchuk, 2015). table 7. years in service private public total < 5 years 10 19 18 ≥5 but <10 years 1 13 13 ≥10 years 1 2 total 11 33 33 in the case of the respondents’ length of service, table 7 showed that eleven (n=11, 33%) have served in private schools prior to working in public schools. most of the respondents (n=30, 91%) have the same length of experience in teaching reading and their service, which means that they have no prior teaching experience in other fields. walker (2010) noted that a more experienced teaching workforce, the more it offers numerous benefits to students and schools. the core work of schools includes greater individual and collective effectiveness in improving student outcomes as well as greater stability and coherence in instruction and relationshipbuilding. on the one hand, the passage of time will make all teachers better or incompetent teachers effective (kini and podolsky, 2016). 168 jpair multidisciplinary research table 8. respondents level of knowledge on basic components of reading level of knowledge (f (%)) weighted mean standard deviation descriptionvery knowledgeable more knowledgeable knowledgeable 1. phonemic awareness 5 (15%) 19 (58%) 9 (27%) 2.88 0.65 more knowledgeable 2. phonics 4 (12%) 20 (61%) 9 (27%) 2.85 0.62 more knowledgeable 3. fluency 1 (3%) 25 (76%) 7 (21%) 2.82 0.46 more knowledgeable 4. vocabulary 7 (21%) 19 (58%) 7 (21%) 3.00 0.66 more knowledgeable 5.comprehension 11 (33%) 16 (49%) 6 (18%) 3.15 0.71 more knowledgeable legend: less knowledgeable: 11.4, knowledgeable: 1.5 -2.4, more knowledgeable: 2.5-3.4, very knowledgeable: 3.5-4 table 8 reveals the level of knowledge of respondents on the basic components of reading. as per result in the gathered, they consider themselves as more knowledgeable in all areas or components. in all components, they rated phonemic awareness as the highest and comprehension as the lowest. but still, they are all more knowledgeable based on the weighted mean. phonemic awareness is known as the basic early literacy skill, which predicts reading acquisition and future reading success. early reading instruction and classroom practices are influenced by teacher knowledge of phonological awareness, which predicts student learning in kindergarten (moats & foorman, 2003). in contrast, of all of the components of reading, comprehension is the least component in which the respondents reported themselves as more knowledgeable. as defined by pardo (2004), comprehension is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with the text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience and information in the text. pardo (2004) also quoted that once teachers understand what is involved in comprehending and how the factors of reader, text, and context interact to create meaning, they can more easily teach their students to be effective in comprehending. 169 international peer reviewed journal table 9. respondents who got the correct answer per item on the knowledge and abilities respondents who got the correct answer f % phonemic awareness 1. phonemic awareness is the understanding of how letters & sounds are put together to form words 0 2.phoneme is single speech sound 32 97% 3.phoneme is a synonym to grapheme 19 58% 4. “moon” has 4 speech sound 27 82% 5. “knee” has 3 speech sound 26 79% 6. “brush” has 4 speech sound 15 46% 7. “through” has 7 speech sound 28 85% 8. “ship” has 3 speech sound 23 70% 9. in the word “cat,” if the word is said without the /k/ sound, it is called deletion 21 64% 10.“chip” and “chemist” begins with the same sound 27 82% 11.“chef ” and “shoe” begins with the same sound 29 88% 12. “ice” will be reverse in sound, it will become “easy” 10 30% 13. if the word, “enough” will be reverse in sound, it will become phone” 22 67% phonological awareness 14. phonological awareness is the understanding of how spoken language is broken down & manipulated 2 6% 15. “heaven” has 3 syllables 28 85% 16. “observer” has 3 syllables 33 100% 17. “pedestal” has 3 syllables 33 100% 18. “frogs” has 4 syllables 31 94% 19. “teacher” has 3 syllables 28 85% 20. “disassemble” has 4 syllables 31 94% phonics 21. two or three consonants that keep its own identity is called consonant digraph 9 27% 22. consonant blend is formed by any two letters from the alphabet 13 39% 170 jpair multidisciplinary research 23. “chicago” has a soft ‘c’ 9 27% 24. “city” has a soft ‘c’ 27 82% 25. “cat” has a soft ‘c’ 27 82% 26. between the two non-sense words “bamb” and “phop”, bamb does not have a silent word 11 33% 27. paddle is an example of a word that has a final stable syllable 22 67% 28. wave is an example of a word that has a final stable syllable 15 46% 29. bacon is an example of a word that has an open syllable 21 64% 30. napkin is an example of a word that has a 2 closed syllable 27 82% 31. “c” is used for /k/ sound in the initial position before e, i or y 22 67% 32. “k” is used for /k/ sound in the initial position before a, o, u or any consonant 4 12% morphology 33. morpheme is a letter 28 85% 34. morpheme is a single unit of meaning 26 79% 35. “heaven” has 1 morpheme 21 64% 36. “observer” has 3 morphemes 13 39% 37. “pedestal” has 3 morphemes 21 64% 38. “frogs” has 1 morpheme 10 30% 39. “teacher” has 2 morphemes 28 85% 40. “disassemble” has 2 morphemes 10 30% table 9 shows the result of the respondents who got the correct answer per item in the different categories on the knowledge and ability of language structure. there are 4 categories (1) phonemic awareness, (2) phonological awareness, (3) phonics, and (4) morphology. in the first category, phonemic awareness, all of the respondents got wrong in the definition of phonemic awareness. while other items in this category, some of them answered it correctly, and only a few answered it wrong. this category talks about speech sounds in which phoneme awareness facilitates the growth in printed word recognition. also, students who lack phoneme awareness may not even know what is meant by the term sound. they can usually hear well and may even name the alphabet letters, but they have little or no idea what letters they represent. in the phonological awareness, a lot of the respondents answered this category correctly, most especially in items of “observer” and “pedestal,” which have three syllables. however, only 2 (6%) of the respondents answered item 171 international peer reviewed journal number 14, which is about the definition of phonological awareness. in the third category, phonics, many of the respondents find it hard to answer correctly compared to the other categories. the items on consonant digraph and “chicago” has a soft c, only 9 (27%) got it right. while the least answered is the usage of “k” sound in the initial position before a, o, u and any consonant. the last category is morphology. the least answered items are “frogs” with one morpheme and “disassemble” with two morphemes having 10 (30%) of respondents answered. in general, phonological awareness tops the spot of the category that most of the respondents find it easy to answer because it is more just counting the number of syllables in each word given. more importantly, it is not abstract but concrete, in a way that can be easily heard or read. the more it is very easy for the teacher to understand phonological awareness, the more it is easy for them to teach this category to pupils. while phonics is the category that most of the respondents found it difficult to answer. this shows a bit alarming because if teachers have difficulty in phonics, the more difficult to teach it to the pupils. as the saying goes, you cannot give what you do not have. phonics instruction should be explicit rather than implicit. this means that teachers should be modeling the relationship between sounds and written symbols. however, beginning readers in kindergarten through third grade all benefit from learning phonics skills. explicit instruction is the most effective type of phonics instruction, especially for children at risk for reading difficulties. this suggests that teachers should have more professional development and training about phonics. table 10. knowledge and abilities of kindergarten teachers on language structure (scoring) no. of items minimum maximum mean phonological awareness 13 5 11 8.45 phonemic awareness 7 3 7 5.64 phonics 12 4 10 6.27 morphology 8 3 7 4.76 total score 40 19 32 25.12 172 jpair multidisciplinary research table 10 shows the scoring of the minimal and maximum of knowledge and abilities on the language structure of kindergartner teachers. among all of the categories, phonics is the least to have the less 50% correct answers, although the entire category has passed the 50% correct answer. phonemic awareness shows that the teachers are good in this category with a maximum score of 7 and a minimum of 3. this would be their strength among all the categories of language structure. meanwhile, in phonics, they got a maximum score of 10 and a minimum of 4. in which the respondents found this category difficult for them in totality and considered this as their weakness. difference in teachers’ knowledge base of language structure bachelor in elementary education vs. bachelor of science in elementary education the baccalaureate degree is excluded in the interpretation of data because the number of respondents in the other group is not sufficient or not qualified for the t-test as a rule of thumb; each group should have at least six subjects or ideally more. because of that, inferences for the population will be more tenuous with too few subjects. at the tertiary level, most students take the course bachelor in elementary education rather than the bachelor of science in elementary education. according to some, beed is considered an easy course than bsed in terms of subjects and the students to deal with. but both require the character and patience in order to lessen the burden. most of all, it depends upon the teachers’ determination and their desire and passion for teaching these students. table 11. independent samples test t-test for equality of means 95% confidence interval of the difference t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference std. error difference lower upper total score equal variances assumed -1.603 31 .119 -1.56985 .97961 -3.56778 .42808 an independent-samples t-test was conducted, as shown in table 11 to check if there is a significant difference in the knowledge base of language structures scores of teachers according to their highest educational attainment. this table also is the basis to know if there is a significant difference between the bachelor’s degree and master’s unit. 173 international peer reviewed journal table 12. significant difference of bachelor degree and with masters unit highest educational attainment n mean std. deviation std. error mean total score bachelor’s degree 16 24.3125 2.05649 .51412 with masters units 17 25.8824 3.37050 .81747 >0.05 no significant difference, 0.05ك has significant difference these results suggest that both bachelor’s degree holders and with master’s units area were all helpful for a teacher in teaching reading to kindergartner pupils. specifically, the results suggest that all of the educational attainment does not give any difference in the teaching career of a teacher in reading. table 13. significant difference of less than 5 years vs. more than 5 years in teaching reading years in teaching reading n mean std. deviation std. error mean total score less than 5 years 19 25.1053 2.60117 .59675 more than 5 years 14 25.1429 3.32490 .88862 teachers’ effectiveness increases at a greater rate when they teach in a supportive and collegial working environment, and when they accumulate experience in the same grade level. also, more-experienced teachers support greater student learning for school as a whole, as well as for their own students (kini, & podolsky, 2016). in teaching reading, an experienced teacher can help a pupil more based from their gained experience. table 14. significant difference of less than 5 years vs. more than 5 years in service years in service n mean std. deviation std. error mean total score less than 5 years 18 25.000 2.63461 .62098 more than 5 years 15 25.2667 3.23964 .83647 the levene’s test revealed that there was no significant difference in both less than five years and more than five years in service. some studies show that the length of service has an impact on how a teacher teaches. others would say that the teachers in their first years can teach better than those who have longer 174 jpair multidisciplinary research teaching years. it is because they are still young and fresh from their college years. the result showed that the years in teaching reading and years in service are insignificant in teaching reading effectively. as zuzovsky (2003) cited the studies of kitgaard and hall (1974); murnane and phillips (1981) that the effect of teacher experience on student learning have found a positive relationship between teacher effectiveness and their years of experience, but not always a significant. conclusions teachers knowledge is very important when it comes to reading. this will help the teacher to teach further reading effectively with fun. as the teacher is very knowledgeable, the more he can easily transfer his own knowledge on reading. but then, the results of this study show that the teachers are still lack of such knowledge on language structure, more specifically in phonics. as defined, phonics is the knowledge of letters, and their sounds are blended to become a written word. this component is the most commonly used to teach reading both with non-reader and at risk with a reading problem. but the problem arises if the teachers have difficulty with phonics, how they will teach reading to the children. also, the teachers were confused between the definition of phonemic awareness and phonological awareness. based on research, teachers should not only know the definition of the areas of language structure but also understand what each really mean. hence, the teachers overestimated themselves towards their knowledge of the basic components of reading in which there is the inconsistency of the results. moreover, this study shows that there is no significant difference if the teachers have a longer or shorter length of teaching experience and years in teaching reading when it comes to reading. for teaching reading is not how long your experience is but on how you exert so much effort to transfer your knowledge in the level of the child to know and to love reading. translational research this study will become an eye-opener for everybody, not only the kindergartner teachers but also all the teachers who teach children in school as well as the administrators and the department itself. becoming a teacher does not mean that all you should know is only limited in the four-sides of the classroom but to further indulge themselves with in the latest and more eye-catching high technologies present today. the teachers may use online learning about language 175 international peer reviewed journal structures. self-study is useful in a way that they will do researches using the internet. they may also watch videos to have more ideas in teaching reading that is fun in the eyes of the children. interactive videos are both useful for the teachers and for the children, as well. also, teachers can learn on videos with the alphabet letters with its corresponding example of words and pictures with it. for teachers who are resourceful, they can use the things around them, and an example is an active game on identifying the real objects or using flashcards. literature cited al-mansour, n. s., & al-shorman, r. e. a. (2011). the effect of teacher’s storytelling aloud on the reading comprehension of saudi elementary stage students. journal of king saud university-languages and translation, 23(2), 69-76. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksult.2011.04.001 binks-cantrell, e., joshi, r. m., & washburn, e. k. (2012). validation of an instrument for assessing teacher knowledge of basic language constructs of literacy.  annals of dyslexia,  62(3), 153-171. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1007/s11881-012-0070-8 deped memorandum no.64, s.2005-national work conference on building ecarp models of excellence. retrieved from https://www.deped.gov.ph/ wp-content/uploads/2005/02/dm_s2005_064.pdf harris, d. n., & sass, t. r. (2007). teacher training, teacher quality, and student achievement. working paper 3.  national center for analysis of longitudinal data in education research. retrieved from https://bit. ly/31unfsd kini, t., & podolsky, a. (2016). does teaching experience increase teacher effectiveness.  a review of the research, 15. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2myduud magsayo, y. b. (2009). the influence of teacher quality on students’ performance.  addu-sas graduate school research journal,  5(1), 1-1. retrieved from https://bit.ly/31qxxto https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksult.2011.04.001 https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2005/02/dm_s2005_064.pdf https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2005/02/dm_s2005_064.pdf https://bit.ly/31unfsd https://bit.ly/31unfsd 176 jpair multidisciplinary research moats, l. c. (2009). letrs module 3—spellography for teachers: how english spelling works. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ntc2xj moats, l. c., & foorman, b. r. (2003). measuring teachers’ content knowledge of language and reading.  annals of dyslexia,  53(1), 23-45. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-003-0003-7 pardo, l. s. (2004). what every teacher needs to know about comprehension. the reading teacher,  58(3), 272-280. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1598/ rt.58.3.5 sawchuk, s. (2015). new studies find that, for teachers, experience really does matter. education week, 34(25), 1-10. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2zfjryb washburn, e. k., joshi, r. m., & cantrell, e. b. (2011). are preservice teachers prepared to teach struggling readers?.  annals of dyslexia,  61(1), 21-43. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-010-0040-y zuzovsky, r. (2009). teachers’ qualifications and their impact on student achievement: findings from timss 2003 data for israel.  ieri monograph series. issues and methodologies in large-scale assessments, 2, 37-62. retrieved from https://bit.ly/33mrsca https://bit.ly/2ntc2xj https://doi.org/10.1598/rt.58.3.5 https://doi.org/10.1598/rt.58.3.5 134 jpair multidisciplinary research blended learning approach: a case study cristine v. redoblo http://orcid.org 0000-0002-3291-7732 credoblo@gmail.com carlos hilado memorial state college talisay city, negros occidental, philippines abstract the computer era has come to integrate and assimilate in the academic curriculum and instruction. the blended learning adaptation further added to the teaching and learning experience in the classroom. the study investigated the factors on the use of ict in terms of computer usage, internet usage, multimedia usage and mobile usage in blended learning approach among the faculty. it analyzed the swot (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of blended learning for a proposed 5-year instructional design strategic plan. the study used quantitative research design by the use of the constructed questionnaire and qualitative through the conducted focus group discussions within the four campuses of chmsc. the study revealed that chmsc faculty exhibited low extent of use of blended learning. the result also showed a significant difference in the extent of use of ict in terms of age, sex, and workplace whereas civil status, subject taught, and educational qualification do not significantly differ. the identified factors that affect blended learning were used as a basis for a proposed instructional design strategic plan and projected after five years. the development and package of learning materials will be realized to the clients of the institutions and other stakeholders. keywords ict, blended learning, swot, fgd, instructional design strategic plan, computer, internet, multimedia, mobile, descriptive design, philippines vol. 22 · october 2015 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v22i1.341 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 135 international peer reviewed journal introduction blended learning considered as the unrecognized trend in higher education method of delivery (young, 2002). the internet opportunities and investing to filipinos in using ict as a way of life are some of the thrusts of 2011 philippine digital strategy of the commission on information and communication technology. according to laurillard (1999), an electronic network has revolutionized thinking and activity about learning and information transfer. the internet becomes the infrastructure and channel of the e-learning element of blended learning. bersin (2004) described the emergence of blended learning as the ‘natural evolution of e-learning into an integrated program of multiple media types’ which can solve training and learning problems in the corporate world. thus, this new conceptblended learning has adopted in some universities and colleges where face-to-face instruction and ict-enabled are combined and fueled on a greater need of experiences in the learning environment. on the other hand, many studies show that blended learning takes an active model and a popular choice among students. according to mcdowell (2002), blended learning focuses a multi-faceted phenomenon that combines ict and traditional ways of learning experiences. hence, the immersion of every student in this pedagogy of new electronic resources is very timely in the industry. millions of learners around the world are learning this fashion each day and blended learning continues to climb and considered as the top ten trends to emerge in the knowledge delivery (rooney, 2003). according to the survey conducted in the united states in 2004, the use of blended learning has doubled. in 2006, a 30% increase has been noted in all training. furthermore, more than 1 billion learners around the world would be advancing these skills as indicated in the survey that 80 to 90% of college and industry shall be blended (bonk, kim & zeng, 2005). for some years now, the researcher saw and experienced the demand through education in the 21st century. she considered blended learning as the stepping stone for the future that reminds faculty to look at learning challenges from many directions. it is a high time that the college should maximize its resources and accommodate the learning needs of students. the instructional strategic design was planned by the school (chmsc) through the investigation of blended learning approach. 136 jpair multidisciplinary research framework figure 1. framework of the study objective of the study the study aimed to determine the factors affecting blended learning among faculty members of carlos hilado memorial state college as basis for a proposed instructional design strategic plan. methodology participants the participants of the study were the faculty members of four campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college for the academic year 2010-2011. they were chosen through stratified sampling method regardless of gender, age, location, subject(s) taught, and educational qualification. table 1. distribution of respondents campus/branch n n % chmscalijis 30 20 15% chmsc-binalbagan 51 34 25% chmsc-fortune towne 20 13 10% chmsc-talisay 102 68 50% total 203 135 100% carlos hilado memorial state college faculty members factors affecting blended learning utilization carlos hilado memorial state college faculty members factors affecting blended learning utilization instructional design strategic plan 137 international peer reviewed journal framework figure 1. framework of the study objective of the study the study aimed to determine the factors affecting blended learning among faculty members of carlos hilado memorial state college as basis for a proposed instructional design strategic plan. methodology participants the participants of the study were the faculty members of four campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college for the academic year 2010-2011. they were chosen through stratified sampling method regardless of gender, age, location, subject(s) taught, and educational qualification. table 1. distribution of respondents campus/branch n n % chmscalijis 30 20 15% chmsc-binalbagan 51 34 25% chmsc-fortune towne 20 13 10% chmsc-talisay 102 68 50% total 203 135 100% carlos hilado memorial state college faculty members factors affecting blended learning utilization the quantitative and qualitative research methods were utilized to gather information regarding the factors that affect the use of ict in preparing and delivering of instructions of faculty members of the four campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college. the researcher conducted a focus group discussion (fgd) and made a survey questionnaire to gather information related to the study. the first part contained the basic personal information about the respondents (age, sex, civil status, workplace, educational qualification, subject/s taught, and ownership of technology resources). the second part contained 27-question about the extent use of information and communication technology in instruction affecting blended learning. data gathering procedure after subjecting the constructed questionnaire for validation and reliability testing, a letter of request to the office of the president was properly secured in the conduct of the study. all of the data gathered was collated, treated and analyzed in consonance to the research design and the aforementioned hypothesis of the study. a spreadsheet software was used for more efficient, effective and accurate treatment of data. in the conduct of focus group discussion (fgd), participants were identified and digitally recorded with the permission from the participants. furthermore, the data gathered were transcribed, analyzed, and interpreted. validity and reliability of the data-gathering instrument the questionnaire was submitted for face and content validation by the information and communication technology and education experts which composed of four ict faculty members of the university of negros occidentalrecoletos; two in west negros university; and three professors from college of education and one ict faculty of the university of st. la salle. they checked on the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the inferences of the questionnaire. the content and face validity of the questionnaire was rated by the experts using the following scale: number code verbal interpretation 5 outstanding 4 very satisfactory 3 satisfactory 138 jpair multidisciplinary research 2 fair 1 poor the mean rating of the experts were computed and interpreted using the following scale: range verbal interpretation 4.20 5.00 outstanding 3.40 4.19 very satisfactory 2.60 3.39 satisfactory 1.80 2.59 fair 1.00 1.79 poor the result of the computed mean of the technical experts was 4.4 interpreted as “outstanding”. after the validation of the instrument, reliability testing was established. subong (2005) defines reliability as “the consistency of the scores using the instrument measuring the same thing with similar research. it also measures how well the instrument agrees with itself.” in this study, the test-retest method was used to examine the reliability of the questionnaire. the validated questionnaire had undergone pilot testing to the 26 instructors of technological university of the philippinesvisayas. after 15 days, the same questionnaire was administered to the same group. pearson-product moment (ppm) was used to correlate data for this method. the coefficient of correlation should be high or very high for the questionnaire to be reliable. the result was interpreted based on the following: correlation coefficient interpretation perfect 0.81 0.99 very high 0.61 0.80 high 0.41 0.60 moderate 0.21 0.40 low 0.01 0.20 negligible correlation the computed correlation mean was 0.88 indicated as very high. 139 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion table 1. computer usage, internet usage, multimedia usage and mobile usage in the preparation and delivery of instructions   computer usage internet usage multimedia usage mobile usage variable preparation delivery preparation delivery preparation delivery preparation delivery   vi vi vi vi vi vi vi vi a. as a whole 3.09 h 2.44 l 2.80 h 2.25 l 2.78 h 2.44 l 1.52 l 1.41 vl b. age 21-30 3.75 vh 3.17 h 3.69 vh 3.08 h 3.56 vh 3.29 h 1.88 l 1.92 l 31-40 3.48 h 2.86 h 3.28 h 2.51 h 3.03 h 2.75 h 1.74 l 1.59 l 41-50 2.94 h 2.37 l 2.43 l 2.24 l 2.68 h 2.34 l 1.48 vl 1.41 vl 51-60 2.84 h 2.00 l 2.50 h 1.83 l 2.60 h 2.12 l 1.20 vl 1.04 vl 61 up 2.46 l 1.82 l 2.47 l 1.88 l 2.14 l 2.03 l 1.46 vl 1.36 vl c. sex   male 3.20 h 2.63 h 3.00 h 2.49 l 2.97 h 2.71 h 1.71 l 1.67 l female 3.03 h 2.33 l 2.68 h 2.11 l 2.67 h 2.29 l 1.42 vl 1.27 vl d. civil status  single 3.43 h 2.57 h 3.18 h 2.48 l 3.15 h 2.55 h 1.60 l 1.48 vl married 3.03 h 2.42 l 2.73 h 2.21 l 2.71 h 2.42 l 1.51 l 1.40 vl e. workplace  alijis 3.18 h 2.65 h 2.71 h 2.41 l 2.74 h 2.69 h 1.53 l 1.69 l binalbagan 2.58 h 1.81 l 2.18 l 1.72 l 2.11 l 1.73 l 1.78 l 1.64 l fortune towne 2.96 h 2.64 h 2.46 l 2.46 l 2.69 h 2.25 l 1.89 l 1.87 l talisay 3.35 h 2.66 h 3.20 h 2.44 l 3.14 h 2.78 h 1.32 vl 1.15 vl f. subject taught  academic 3.12 h 2.38 l 2.77 h 2.20 l 2.78 h 2.44 l 1.52 l 1.36 vl vocational 2.85 h 2.44 l 2.75 h 2.26 l 2.71 h 2.38 l 1.46 vl 1.42 vl both 3.65 vh 2.97 h 3.20 h 2.67 h 3.00 h 2.67 h 1.80 l 1.83 l 140 jpair multidisciplinary research g. educational qualification  doctoral 2.75 h 2.83 h 3.00 h 2.67 h 3.00 h 2.83 h 2.00 l 2.00 l with doctoral units 3.06 h 2.35 l 2.72 h 2.17 l 2.62 h 2.31 l 1.55 l 1.46 vl masteral 2.69 h 2.60 h 3.00 h 2.33 l 3.05 h 2.63 h 1.31 vl 1.20 vl with masteral units 3.47 h 2.59 h 3.07 h 2.45 l 3.14 h 2.88 h 1.90 l 1.91 l baccalaureate 2.81 h 2.30 l 2.53 h 2.20 l 2.59 h 2.22 l 1.48 vl 1.18 vl legend: 3.50 4.00 =very high (vh), 2.5 – 3.49 = high (h), 1.5 – 2.49 = low (l), 0.50-1.49 = very low (vl) computer usage in instruction the data showed that faculty between the ages of 21 to 30, teaching both academic and vocational courses had a very high extent of use of computer in the preparation of learning materials. however, only faculty members with ages 61 and up considered having a low extent of use of computer in preparation of instruction. as a whole, the extent of computer usage in instruction to the preparation of learning materials is therefore, broadly used by teachers at chmsc. in terms of computer usage in the delivery of lessons, faculty with the ages of 41 and up, female, married, working in chmsc binalbagan campus, teaching academics and vocational, with doctoral units, and those who were a baccalaureate degree showed a low extent of use. meanwhile, faculty between the ages of 21 to 40, teaching both academic and vocational courses, working in alijis campus, fortune towne campus and talisay main campus having doctoral and master’s degree had a high extent of use of computer in the delivery of instruction. ferrero (2002) also concluded in his study that age has a significant difference in the use of ict in favor of young teachers. further, muir-herzig (2004) implies that teachers should have an access to computers to integrate ict with instruction. therefore, in terms of computer usage in instructions, chmsc faculty broadly used the computer in the preparation of learning materials, while slightly used the computer in terms of delivery of lessons. hargittai (2003) explained that a person’s level of education provides a strong indication on how he will benefit from the tools through the internet. 141 international peer reviewed journal internet usage in instruction. the study revealed that faculty members ages 41 to 50 and 61 and above teaching in binalbagan and fortune towne campus seldom used the internet in the preparation of their lessons and learning materials. however, faculty ages 2130 always used the internet in the preparation of learning materials. in terms of the internet usage in the delivery of lessons, faculty between the ages of 21 to 40 had a high extent of use of the internet as a medium in the lesson presentation. similarly, those teaching both academic and vocational and with doctoral degree had a high extent of use of the internet. in general, the internet technology plays a very important role in chmsc to their lesson plans and learning materials. nonetheless, the use of the internet in instruction in the delivery of lessons of the faculty members were rarely evident. the study of hernes, hestman and haaland (2000) mentioned the use of the internet in teaching in correlation to the age of teachers. the teachers who are 25 years or younger have a good command on the use of the internet compared to the teachers who are 56 years or older. this is also consistent with the findings of liang and chao (2002) as they concluded the taiwan younger teachers as more literate on internet than older ones. multimedia usage in instruction. the faculty members between the ages of 21-30 obtained a very high extent of use of multimedia in the preparation of instructions while faculty members with ages ranging 61 and above and teaching in binalbagan indicated a low extent of usage. nevertheless, faculty members between ages 21-40 had a high extent of use of multimedia in the delivery of instructions. likewise, faculty members who were female, married, teaching academics and vocational in binalbagan and fortune towne campus, with doctoral units and with baccalaureate degree exhibit a low extent usage of multimedia in the delivery of instructions. moore (2007) explains how teachers are letting go of responsibilities in their traditional face-to-face role and integrating the pedagogical of distance learning that can actually give better learning through blended test, recorded or interactive audio or visual media with face-to-face interaction. all these provide diversity of learning styles of students. overall, the use of multimedia in instruction concerning the preparation of instruction were highly used. on the other hand, the use of multimedia in the delivery of instruction were used infrequently. 142 jpair multidisciplinary research mobile usage in instruction. in terms of preparation of instructions in the blended learning approach, the result showed that faculty members within the age range of 21 to 40, single and married, male, and faculty teaching in alijis, binalbagan and fortune towne campus had a low extent of mobile usage in the preparation of instruction. likewise, faculty teaching academic and vocational courses represented an occasional use of mobile technology in the preparation of instruction. those with doctoral degree and with units in doctoral and masteral showed a low extent of mobile usage in the preparation of learning materials. the extent of use of mobile usage in terms of delivery of instructions in the blended learning approach showed that faculty members within the age range of 21 to 40 had a low usage of mobile technology in delivering their topic lesson. it also revealed that male faculty in alijis, binalbagan and fortune towne campus teaching both academic and vocational courses, with doctoral degree and with masteral units had the same result for those between the ages of 21 to 40. table 2. the difference among chmsc faculty in the use of blended learning variable p-value interpretation age 0.00 s sex 0.02 s civil status 0.11 ns workplace 0.01 s subject taught 0.27 ns educational qualification 0.35 ns legend: s – significant; ns – not significant as to age, the obtained p-value was .000053 which interpreted as significant. it implies that those between the ages of 21-30 have a very high extent of use of ict in blended learning in terms of computer, internet, multimedia, and mobile usage in preparation and delivery of instructions. as to sex, the obtained p-value was 0.017 which is significant. it implies that the male participants have a very high extent of use of ict in blended learning in terms of computer, internet, multimedia, and mobile usage in preparation and delivery of instructions. 143 international peer reviewed journal the same is true in the studies of volman and van eck (2001) concerning teachers’ gender and ict use that female teachers’ have low level of computer use due to the reasons of limited technology access, skill, and interest. moreover, research studies revealed that male teachers used more ict in their teaching and learning processes compared to female teachers (kay, 2006). as to civil status, the obtained p-value was 0.112 which is not significant. it means that the single or married faculty members have the same extent of use of ict in blended learning. as to the workplace, the obtained p-value was 0.005 which is significant. it implies that the faculty members in chmsc-talisay campus had a high extent of use of ict in blended learning in terms of computer and multimedia technology. it also implies that the campus has a high extent of use in the preparation of lesson plan and learning material. meanwhile, the faculty members of chmsc-fortune towne campus had a high extent of use of ict in blended learning particularly in computer usage in the preparation and delivery of instruction and multimedia usage in the preparation of instruction. as to subject taught, the obtained p-value was 0.273 which is not significant. it means that the faculty teaching academic and vocational or both have the same extent of use of ict in blended learning. as to the educational attainment, the obtained p-value was 0.350 which interpreted as not significant (ns). it means that any educational degree of the faculty members have the same extent of use of ict in blended learning. the third problem was about the factors affecting blended learning in terms of swot using focus group discussion (fgd) approach on how the faculty members think and feel. this was the other way to collect information to improve the planning and developing of instructional design strategic plan of chmsc. the purpose of the external analysis was to identify opportunities and threats in the organization’s operating environment, while the internal analysis seeks to pinpoint the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. the result showed that the faculty members who adopted blended learning in instruction increases the students’ interest in the class learning attitude and creativity. it also reflected that the faculty members who were willing to use ict in instruction easily embrace new technology. thus, through the use of ict of faculty, learning objectives are reachable. it also revealed that the blended learning was an operational method in instruction which modernizes the teaching and learning in the 21st century learning experience and that the availability of classroom is no longer a problem. furthermore, one of the assets is the computer course or subject which is already embedded in the higher education curricula. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, during the discussion with the faculty members in different campuses of chmsc, the analysis showed that there was inadequacy in ict resources in teaching of the faculty members’ training which impeded the integration of ict tools in teaching. the ict resources in chmsc in terms of instruction were still bare minimum. it also noted that many faculty members were not maximizing the use of ict resources due to lack of knowledge in terms of hardware operating procedure. on the other hand, the electrical power failure was also noted as there was no backup power supply to support the non-stop activity in the classrooms. these were all the product of poor budget prioritization of the institution in terms of instructions. some faculty members think that when they adopt blended learning, this may only bring delay to their work or they will become unproductive. in terms of external barriers, opportunities in the adoption of blended learning could be one of the investing ideas that the administration needs to ponder and commit for development and profit-benefit of the institution. these opportunities were summarized as follows: a) possibility for online presence to access online resources and content management systems; b) increase of enrollment since the clientele finds the institution as globally competitive which the graduates can compete worldwide; c) increase in research development; d) improvement of physical infrastructure and facilities; and most of all, e) methodologies and strategies of faculty in instruction will be broadened. the changes in the external environment may present threat to the institution. there were three identified threats in the adoption of blended learning in instruction during the analysis of the discussion. one of the threats was that the graduates will be left behind in operating various ict facilities in the industry since faculty members have no industry related experiences to various ict media resources during college. it also reflected that not all faculty members were as “tech savvy” as the students nowadays, and there was reluctance on the part of faculty to utilize and integrate ict tools in instructional activities. therefore, carrying out this analysis will be illuminating both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective rather than turning threats into opportunities and strengths. conclusions the researcher concludes that based on the first findings, chmsc faculty exhibited a very limited use of the ict in the blended learning approach 145 international peer reviewed journal in terms of preparation and delivery of instruction. hence, chmsc faculty members significantly differed in the extent of use of ict in the blended learning approach in terms of age, sex, and workplace. specifically, on the computer usage in instruction showed that faculty both teaching academic and vocational courses had a very high extent of use of computer in preparation of instruction. it revealed that a young faculty was mostly dependent to the internet technology in terms of preparation of the lessons and materials. on the multimedia usage in instruction showed that preparation of lesson plans and learning materials were significantly high for the young generation faculty members. however, on mobile usability in instruction, it showed significantly low extent. based on the swot analysis, strengths and opportunities provide chmsc the capabilities to engage in blended learning for a chance to improve college’ performance for its competitive advantage, while there were prevalent weaknesses and threats that could be considered in the design of the strategic plan. it is recommended that the college should have a separate plan for blended learning approach in teaching especially in the curriculum and instruction development unit of the college in response to the findings of the current status and future direction of faculty in the teaching arena. it is categorized into five key factors: strategy, structure, technology, management, and roles / skills. all five factors must be addressed for future projection of blended learning and expected dramatic rise of the use of ict in teaching and learning in the coming years. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to the classroom settings in all campuses of carlos hilado memorial state college by adopting the new technologies in teaching through revising its curriculum, updating facilities and laboratories and continuing training for the faculty members in blended learning utilization to become more competitive and meeting the demands of the industries and also preparing the asean integration in the academic arena. specifically, this teaching and learning through blended learning is a tool in improving efficiency and effectiveness as an educator. as a whole, the study provides relevant and significant inputs concerning the use of blended learning in the college among chmsc faculty members which could serve as a basis and consideration in the formulation of a proposed five-year instructional design strategic plan. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited bersin, j. (2004). blended learning: finding what works. chief learning offficer, 1. bonk, c. j., kim, k. j., & zeng, t. (2005, june). future directions of blended learning in higher education and workplace learning settings. in world conference on educational multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications (vol. 2005, no. 1, pp. 3644-3649). ferrero, s. (2002) two generations of teacher: differences in attitudes towards ict available online: http://www.emile.eu.org/papers/i3-teachersgeneration.pdf (accessed 22 september 2015). hargittai, e. (2003). the digital divide and what to do about it. new economy handbook, 821-839. hernes, f., hestman, m., & haaland, e. (2000). knowledge and competence in ict among teachers in norway. untitled document available at http:\\ www. ifip. org\ con. kay, r. (2006). addressing gender differences in computer ability, attitudes and use: the laptop effect. journal of educational computing research, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 187-211. laurillard, d. (1999). a conversational framework for individual learning applied to the ‘learning organization and the learning society’. systems research and behavioral science, 16(2), 113. liang, m. t. l., & chao, j. y. g. (2002). investigating into the internet literacy of elementary and junior high school teachers in taiwan. world transactions on engineering and technology education, 1(1), 129-131. mcdowell, l. (2002). electronic information resources in undergraduate education: an exploratory study of opportunities for student learning and independence. british journal of educational technology, 33(3), 255-266. 147 international peer reviewed journal moore, m. (2007). the theory of transactional distance. handbook of distance education in moore, m.g. (ed) (pp. 89-105). mahwah: lawrence erlbaum associates. muir-herzig, r. g. (2004) technology and its impact in the classroom, computers & education, 42(2), 111-131. national telecommunications and information administration of the u.s. department of commerce. (2000). falling through the net: defining the digital divide. retrieved from http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/ contents.html. rooney, j. e. (2003). blending learning opportunities to enhance educational programming and meetings. association management, 55(5), 26-32. subong, p. j. (2005). statistics for research. manila: rex book store. volman, m., & van eck, e. (2001). gender equity and information technology in education: the second decade.  review of educational research,  71(4), 613-634. young, j. r. (2002). ‘hybrid’ teaching seeks to end the divide between traditional and online instruction. chronicle of higher education, pp. a33. 148 jpair multidisciplinary research 60 jpair multidisciplinary research vol. 25 · june 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v25i1.389 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. abstract making sense of the challenges and benefits of information and communication technology for education (ict4e) serves as a feedback to planners and implementers. in the context of ict4e, the study attempted to describe the challenges, identify and determine the expected and observed benefits of the program. mixed methods and the exploratory design strategy were used in gathering data. data were analyzed through general inductive approach, thematic analysis, frequency counts, percentages, and ranks. results revealed that informants pointed maintenance and sustainability, internet connectivity, and use of an open source operating system as challenges in ict4e. teacher-participants identified insufficient funds to subsidize expenses, lack of internet connection, and regular power interruption as challenges in ict4e. “learning becomes fast and effective” (53.3%) and “active participation of students in class” (61.7%) were the top expected and obtained benefits from ict4e, respectively. based on the findings, it is recommended that before the implementation, policymakers, planners, and project implementers should deliberately anticipate the possible challenges in integrating ict4e in public secondary schools. the participants should be empowered to have access, power, and control on ict4e initiatives. this develops their sense of ownership towards any educational innovations. exploring the emerging challenges and benefits of information and communication technology for education louis placido f. lachica http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1485-722x lpflachica@gmail.com capiz state university pontevedra campus capiz, philippines 61 international peer reviewed journal keywords — education and social science, ict4e, challenges and benefits, mixed methods, philippines introduction in the advent of technology, educational revolution in the system exists. information and communication technology holds the opportunity to bring about changes regarding pedagogical methods which expand the access to quality education, and improve the system as a whole. the rapid proliferation of information and communication technologies (ict) has significantly changed the educational landscape globally. it is now even impossible to imagine future learning environments that are not supported, in one way or another, by ict. such impacts are felt much more strongly in asia in view of the rapid knowledgebased and technological advancement in this region. hence, it is essential for asian learners, educators and material designers at all levels to adapt to the continually changing landscape (thang & wong, 2010). however, the difficulty in establishing traditional benefits, and the uncertainty over pursuing alternative benefits, raise fundamental questions over whether the society desires a transformed, technologically-mediated relation between the teacher and the learner (livingstone, 2012). ertmer, ottenbreit-leftwich, sadik, sendurur, and sendurur (2012) found out that teachers’ own beliefs and attitudes about the relevance of technology to students’ learning were perceived as having the biggest impact on their success. most teachers indicated that internal factors (e.g. passion for technology, having a problem-solving mentality) and support from others (administrators and personal learning networks) played key roles in shaping their practices. teachers noted that the strongest barriers preventing other teachers from using technology were their existing attitudes and beliefs toward technology, as well as their current levels of knowledge and skills. as the futurist, alvin toffler said, “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” an article on the impacts of icts on learning and achievement elaborated that icts can and will empower teachers and learners by transforming teaching and learning processes from being highly teacher-dominated to studentcentered, and that this transformation will result to increased learning gains for students. current thrusts on ict for education (ict4e) remains a large task. for example, student-computer and teacher-computer ratios can be improved. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research the educational system as a whole lacks the infrastructure for connectivity and access to technologies. while most of the teacher training institutions (teis) have incorporated computer courses into their curriculum as a requirement for graduation, computer literacy is not a requirement for teacher certification/ licensure (deped ict4e strategic plan, 2008). also, the primary and secondary education from the most depressed areas, more often than not, were deprived the right to receive the so-called quality education. partly due to this reason, fundamental training in computer literacy is a must. due to the dearth of information and for the purpose of the study, highlighting the emerging benefits and challenges on ict4e directly uncovered from the voice of various stakeholders in the rural public secondary schools is deemed necessary. framework the study anchors on technological instrumentalism and constructivism. technological instrumentalists, on the other hand, view technology as a tool, largely under human control, that can be used for either positive or negative purposes. instrumentalists also see social conditions and human aspirations as the primary causes of change. the focus is on the human and interpersonal aspects of innovation diffusion. adopter-based theories are inherently instrumental in philosophy because they view the end user – the individual who will ultimately implement the innovation in a practical setting, as the primary force for change (surry & farquhar, 1997). technological superiority alone is not enough to guarantee the adoption of an innovation. adopting new instructional technologies is not automatic since the potential adopters need to understand the social context in which the innovation will be used (surry, 1997). constructivism, developed by jesse delia and his colleagues, has had immense impact on the field of communication. the theory says that individuals interpret and act according to conceptual categories in the mind. reality does not present itself in raw form, but must be filtered through a person’s own way of seeing things (littlejohn & foss, 2008). hence, mental representations are subjective (lachica, 2015). eliciting the notions on emerging challenges and benefits in the context of ict4e promotes sense making or understanding of how participants construct views on these aspects. likewise, it highlights how they realize a sense of ownership on ict4e initiatives through access, power, and control (lachica, 2015). in any educational initiative, it is of prime importance to highlight the voices of the beneficiaries. 63 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study this study investigated on the emerging challenges and benefits of information and communication technology for education among selected rural public secondary schools in capiz, philippines. specifically, it aimed to: 1) describe the challenges encountered in ict4e; 2) identify the expected benefits from ict4e; and 3) determine the observed benefits from ict4e. methodology a case study design which focuses on one phenomenon was employed in the study. a combination of qualitative and quantitative processes was done. the exploratory design strategy was specifically utilized during data gathering. the researcher used exploratory design by exploring the topic with qualitative methods and then build to develop a second quantitative phase where the initial results may be tested or generalized (bergman, 2008). the exploratory design is used when the researcher starts with qualitative methods and then it is followed up with quantitative methods. this helps explain the initial qualitative results (bergman, 2008). the study was conducted in five rural public secondary schools in the province of capiz, philippines. the study sites were covered by a computerization project on ict4e known as the ischools project. the research participants were 60 public secondary school teachers, five (5) principals, and five (5) ict coordinators which were taken in a complete enumeration. semi-structured interview schedules/key informant interviews were used to elicit the participants’ challenges encountered in ict4e. a survey questionnaire was devised to identify their observed and expected benefits from ict4e. these instruments were validated by a panel of expert composed of the researcher’s colleague, officials of the department of education and the information and communication technology office. a letter of permission was secured from the offices of the schools before the field work and administration of the research instruments. mixed methods were used in data gathering. for the qualitative data, the general inductive approach and thematic analysis made sense of the participants’ challenges in ict4e. frequency counts, percentages, and ranks analyzed the quantitative data on obtained and perceived benefits from ict4e. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion challenges encountered in ict4e by key informants the existence of problems is normal in any project or initiative. encountering challenges in ict4e helps in getting feedback for further improvement. based on data transcripts, the key informants described and identified the following as challenges encountered in ict4e: maintenance and sustainability, internet connectivity, use of an open source operating system, lack of school buildings, the efficiency of ict tools, and inappropriate computer to student ratio. internet connectivity. internet connectivity was a problem in one school. below is a portion of the interview with a school principal and an ict coordinator. principal: the connectivity is a problem. ict coordinator: aside from the fact that the operating system is linux, which is open source, the students find difficulty in adjusting because when they go outside, the operating system is windows. we wanted to have an internet connection. however, there is no signal. [gusto guid ya na mo maka connect kami sa internet. kaso wala guid ya signal.] principal: there is no internet signal (in a sad tone). [wala signal] we were given wireless broadband but to no avail also. the project is willing to give p45,000 just for us to be connected. there is no signal here. our location is the problem. [wala guid ya signal diri.] maintenance and sustainability. here’s the sentiment of an ict coordinator: other than the lack of internetl…for now, i believe maintenance is a big problem. there is no money, no budget for that. [sa subong gapati ko nga maintenance guid ang dako nga problema. wala kwarta, wala budget para dira.] the school heads together with the teachers may develop schemes to address the issue on maintenance and sustainability provided that it would not result in conflict of interest in their practice of the teaching profession. concerted efforts from within the school, the parents, the community, and other stakeholders may help solve this problem. use of open source operating software. the issue on the use of open source operating software was seen as a problem: number one, the program used (in the computer) is not user-friendly. it’s open source linux. so, even the teachers are 65 international peer reviewed journal finding difficulty. the first batch of students who were exposed to linux, have to go back at learning the usual software commonly used in big schools. [so, maski teachers nabudlayan.] lack of school buildings. according to one ict coordinator: problems… first, laboratory. we lack school buildings. so what we did is to convert two of our classrooms into a computer laboratory. lack of classrooms was identified as a problem in integrating icts. in one rural public secondary school, the computer laboratory also serves as a faculty room and an area for the school feeding program project. in addition, some teachers were hesitant to utilize ict tools since most of the classrooms were unsecured. they have the fear of being accountable in case the ict tools will be lost or damaged. the efficiency of existing ict tools. this challenge was also aired out by the ict coordinator of one school: what else? some parts of the computer hardware were malfunctioning and got easily destroyed. so it needs to be repaired or replaced. [naga bigay na.] inappropriate computer to student ratio. another ict coordinator stressed that the ratio of computers to the number of students seemed inappropriate: the computer units are not enough compared to the number of students. the ratio of the units is 1:2 or 1:3. there is really a need to have additional units. new projectors are also needed to maximize the use of icts in classroom communication. our existing projectors were no longer functional. if not for our laptops, i don’t know how we can integrate icts in our classes more often. the problems on ict integration raised by the key informants provided an opportunity for the public secondary teachers as well as their school heads to develop ways of coping with these problems by making the most out of what is currently available. challenges encountered in ict4e by teacher-participants the irregular utilization of ict tools could be attributed to some of the pitfalls inherent to its integration in teaching and learning. table 1 presents the challenges encountered by the teachers-participants in integrating ict4e. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. challenges encountered in ict4e by teacher-participants. challenges encountered f % rank insufficient funds to subsidize expenses lack of internet connection regular power interruption obsolete software and hardware inadequate facilities lack of regular training poor internet connection unsecured rooms 48 44 34 33 32 32 23 22 80.0 73.3 56.7 55.0 53.3 53.3 38.3 36.7 1 2 3 4 5.5 5.5 7 8 table 2. expected benefits from ict4e of teacher-participants expected benefits from ict4e f % rank learning becomes fast and effective students’ skills in the use of icts improve teaching becomes more efficient easier to make visual aids convenient in preparing exams arouses the interest of students to learn maintains the retention of students improves students’ performance in achievement tests saves time in computing grades students’ skills in the use of icts improve 32 31 28 27 25 21 17 13 13 10 53.3 51.7 46.7 45.0 41.7 35.0 28.3 21.7 21.7 16.7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.5 8.5 9 expected benefits from ict4e the expected benefits refer to the participant’s anticipated. as shown in table 2, the top expected benefits from ict4e are: learning becomes fast and effective, students’ skills in the use of icts improve, teaching becomes more efficient, easier to make visual aids, and convenient in preparing exams. obtained benefits from ict4e the actual benefits from ict4e were considered as obtained benefits of public secondary school teachers’ from ict4e (table 3). it was found out that active participation of students in class, highly motivated students to learn, improved teachers’ skills in manipulating ict tools, faster pacing of the lessons, covenant in preparing im’s, and more attentive students were the five top obtained benefits from ict4e according to teacher-participants. 67 international peer reviewed journal table 3. obtained benefits from ict4e of teacher-participants obtained benefits from ict4e f % rank active participation of students in class highly motivated students to learn improved teachers’ skills in manipulating ict tools faster pacing of the lessons convenient in preparing im’s more attentive students easy in doing research work and other projects for students non-laborious preparation of exams and computations of grades improved teaching efficiency and effectiveness improved division achievement test results 37 31 26 25 22 21 19 19 18 15 61.7 51.7 43.3 41.7 36.7 35.0 31.7 31.7 30.0 25.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 conclusions based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that challenges in ict4e can be elicited and understood in the perspective of the informants. these challenges are maintenance and sustainability of the ict tools, internet connectivity, use of the open source operating system, lack of school buildings, the efficiency of ict tools, and inappropriate computer to student ratio. likewise, it can also be understood on the part of the teacher-participants. these challenges in ict4e are insufficient funds to subsidize expenses, lack of internet connection, regular power interruption, obsolete software and hardware, inadequate facilities, lack of regular training, poor internet connection, and unsecured rooms. the teacher-participants themselves have identified and ranked these challenges in ict4e. generating the challenges from these two groups of participants provides depth in understanding the context of their experiences. the public secondary school teachers identify that learning becomes fast and effective as the top expected benefit from ict4e while the active participation of students in class is the top obtained benefit from ict4e. deliberately generating the expected and obtained benefits from ict4e allows stakeholders including implementers and policymakers to be guided in further improving technological innovations in the educational system particularly in rural public secondary schools. the participants should be empowered to have access, power, and control on ict4e. this developed their sense of ownership towards any educational innovations. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research based on the results of the knowledge constructs on the emerging challenges in ict4e and the empirical data in obtained and expected benefits from ict4e, a conceptual model to better understand the study is proposed. the model of ict integration formulated by wang (2008) was modified and expanded in this study by focusing in the context of ict4e. theoretical postulates of technological instrumentalism view that technology is mainly under human control. the worldviews about constructivism adhere that humans actively construct their subjective representations of objective reality. the developed conceptual model of ict4e in rural public secondary schools follows seven (7) sequential steps: understanding teachers’ and key informants’ views. this involves unearthing and describing the challenges in ict4e. identifying perceived benefits of ict4e. it can be done by pointing out the expected benefits and identifying the obtained benefits in ict4e. determining ict4e utilization. defining the infrastructure and software to support the desired teaching-learning system is essential. identifying the teaching-learning system. there is a need for planning the teaching-learning objectives, needs, and activities. selecting an appropriate and desired teaching-learning strategy should also be done. implementing the preferred t-l system and ict4e utilization. the implementation involves careful consideration of the previous steps. facilitating monitoring and evaluation scheme. this improves the implementation and post-implementation stages of ict4e integration. replanning. this stage may either be directed in preparing for another cycle and/or fixing the current phase. this model could help provide insights to public secondary schools in rural communities to improve ict4e initiatives. it is the lack of information that a model on integrating ict4e was developed to be applied in a particular context. the developed model could benefit teachers, students, and the entire school system. literature cited bergman, m.m. 2008. advances in mixed methods research theories and applications. sage publications ltd. 69 international peer reviewed journal deped ict4e strategic plan. executive summary. 2008. retrieved from http://goo.gl/pfnpyf ertmer, p. a., ottenbreit-leftwich, a. t., sadik, o., sendurur, e., & sendurur, p. (2012). teacher beliefs and technology integration practices: a critical relationship. computers & education, 59(2), 423-435. lachica, l.p.f. 2015. classroom communication and ict integration: public high school teachers’ notions. international journal on integrating technology (ijite) vol. 4 no. 2. littlejohn, s.w. and foss, k.a. 2008. theories of human communication. usa: thomson wadsworth pubishing co. livingstone, s. 2012. critical reflections on the benefits of ict in education. oxford review of education, volume 38 issue 1, 2012. special issue: digital technologies in the lives of young people. surry, d. w., and farquhar, j. d. (1997). diffusion theory and instructional technology. journal of instructional science and technology, 2(1), 24-36. thang, s. m., & wong, s. l. (2010). impact of ict on teaching and learning in asia: focusing on emerging trends, patterns and practice. international journal of education and development using information and communication technology, 6(3), 3-6. wang, q. 2008. planning for ict integration in topic learning. educational technology and society, vol. 10 no. 1. 13 international peer reviewed journal preparedness and participation in disaster risks mitigation among public elementary schools of 3rd district in zamboanga del norte marife m. napallaton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6139-4344 marahnapallaton1980@gmail.com jose rizal memorial state university – tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte june michael b. antone http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9831-8759 j06121992@gmail.com jose rizal memorial state university – tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% abstract as reported in early days of november 2013, more than 6,000 people died, millions of people displaced and affected in the central part of the philippines which were hit by typhoon yolanda which would enter into historical records and the minds of people in the philippines. thus, every individual must be aware of the importance of knowing the nature of this disaster. this study aimed to determine the natural and man-made disasters that occurred and experienced by the elementary schools’ faculty, staff and the ldrrmc personnel of the selected areas of leon b. postigo, godod, salug, liloy, gutalac, kalawit, tampilisan and, labason, zamboanga del norte. level of preparedness and participation of these vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.698 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:marahnapallaton1980@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9831-8759 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 14 jpair multidisciplinary research municipalities are at risk by the local disaster risk reduction, and management plans were determined as prescribed by the r.a.10121. respondents considered by random sampling were from the local government units, particularly the faculty and staff of the elementary schools of the 3rd district. a self-made questionnairechecklist was used in gathering the data. findings disclosed that earthquake, flood, vehicular and fire incidents appeared as the most prevalent. they lacked monitoring and thorough implementations of the programs prescribed by the ndrrmc. they purchased some important facilities, however, some necessary equipment was not procured and people are less participative in mitigating disaster risk reduction. keywords — natural disaster, anthropological disaster, preparedness, participation introduction this study provides information to the community people that when the big one comes, all must be ready and prepare on what to do. in vietnam, there is an estimated 70 percent of vietnamese people that are exposed to risks from natural hazards-specifically in rural communities where livelihoods are most threatened. there is project aligned with the vietnamese government’s new national strategy for natural disaster prevention, response, and mitigation to 2020. the project has to try to help improve the disaster early-warning and forecasting capacity, especially to the authorities to improve the planning capability for integrated disaster risk management at the national, provincial and barangay level. it also provided safety of disaster hindrance structure including the safety of dams, flood control works, etc., to make them more resistant. (the world bank, 2013). in the study conducted by (bayod, abawag, luardo, padlan & macias, 2016) the result revealed that the community must have a community alarm system, participation in drills, training, and seminars is mandatory, and listening to a warning from community leaders and other government officials especially those that are in charge of disaster risk mitigation and also the people in the communities should have active participation during disaster preparedness and relief operation, and to utilize whatever previous traditional skills and practices that had employed which had been proven effective in preparing for disaster. also, in the study conducted by fajardo, (2013) wherein it clearly states that 15 international peer reviewed journal the active involvement of provinces, municipalities, cities, and barangays for reducing and minimizing disaster risks are very significant. however, there are concrete challenges for these local governments to function commendably and efficiently. on the discussion initiated by european initiatives on climate services (cs) and disaster risk reduction (drr) in january 2018 on how the drr community could be best served by new and emerging cs. their aim in having their discussion was to identify defies and opportunities for the delivery of effective operational disaster risk management and communication informed by an understanding of future climate risks. (street, buontempo, mysiak, karali, pulquério, murray, & swart, 2019) the united nations international strategy for disaster reduction (unisdr 2009) defines a disaster as: “a serious disruption of the functioning of the community or a society involving widespread human, material or environmental losses and impacts which exceeds the ability of the affected community to cope using only its resources.” with the geologic location and physical characteristics of the philippines, it is being considered as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. disasters occurring in the country can be natural or human-induced, according to ndrrmc, 2011, as cited by napere and canencia (2013). certainly, when there is a disaster that will strike in our area, children are the most vulnerable. norio, ye, kajitani, shi and tatano (2011) stated that there should be an urgent need for a highly collaborative framework based on which all available resources could be mobilized; a mutual assistance and rescue system against catastrophes among regions and countries based on international humanitarian aid. the gap that happened is that filipino citizen will not respond right away to the call made by the authorities if they will not see and experienced it personally. while in other countries, they were so very participative when it comes to disaster risk preparation. this research work aimed to determine the level of school’s preparedness and participation in mitigating disaster risks among public elementary schools of the 3rd district in zamboanga del norte. objectives of the study the study determines the level of preparedness and participation in disaster risks mitigation among public elementary schools in the 3rd district of https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/risk-communication 16 jpair multidisciplinary research zamboanga del norte. specifically, the study sought to identify: (1) prevalent disasters that struck the third district of zamboanga del norte -natural and anthropological disasters (man-made) (2) existing programs and activities employed and performed/done by schools in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte in mitigating disaster risk (3) preparedness and participation of schools under study. framework the study was anchored on the vested interest theory (vi) and the extended parallel process model of fear appeals (eppm) by miller, adame, and moore (2013). according to miller (2013), vested interest (vi) theory and the extended parallel process of fear appeals (eppm) provide informative research for creating an effective disaster preparedness and social actions campaigns. the aim was to develop the vested interest (vi) theory scale for assessing individual awareness and vestedness relevant to disaster preparedness. on the other hand, drabek (2007) based on the integrating theory into practical emergency management stated that to gain a greater sense of the value of the social science to emergency management, victims of a disaster are traumatized into nonparticipation, and incapable of caring for themselves. the research used, however, that in crisis, people generally “became the focus on loved ones and neighbors and became extremely creative in dealing with problems generated by a disaster.” from the onset of a crisis, people undertake a rescue, persists the injured, self-evacuate, and provide the existence of first responders. “almost 90% of disaster victims are rescued by private individuals, not by public agencies.” methodology research design the descriptive – survey method of research was employed in this study. it used a self-made questionnaire – checklist as the main data gathering tools. each item made by the researchers were then referred to expert (ldrrmc) for content validity. observations, pictorials, and informal interviews were also employed to gather the data needed with the retrieval of the secondary data and documents about mitigation in disaster risk implementation. in getting the 17 international peer reviewed journal respondents, the researchers employed random sampling. there were a total of one hundred ninety-six (196) respondents, twenty-four (24) principals, thirtyseven (37) ldrrmc employees, and one hundred thirty-five (135) teachers and staff. results of the study were then treated by using frequency count, simple percentage, and weighted mean. research site the study was conducted in the municipalities of the 3rd district, province of zamboanga del nworte which was reported to have histories of disaster. the province is situated in northern mindanao in the zamboanga peninsula. it is bounded on the north and west by the sulu sea, on the east by misamis occidental, and on the southwest by zamboanga city and the southeast by zamboanga del sur and zamboanga sibugay. it is part of region ix in the island of mindanao. the schools who responded to this study are the elementary schools from leon b. postigo, godod, salug, liloy, labason, gutalac, kalawit and tampilisan and the ldrrmo of the said districts. there were four (4) districts which were not included because of the safety in going there, and the peace and order are not yet stable. participants the respondents of the study were the principals/school heads, faculty, and staff in the public elementary schools and ldrrmo of the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte. instrumentation the research instrument was composed of six parts. part i-school profile, part ii-type of disaster experienced, part iii-the existing programs/activities implemented by the school relative to mdrmp, part iv--availability of equipment, and, part v-level of participation and –part vi—suggestions. validation of instrument content and face validity of the instrument, the researchers submitted the questionnaire to the local disaster management team for correction and enrichment since they are the authorized persons who are knowledgeable when it comes to disasters. each item was checked and validated for relevance. the appropriateness of use and relevance of every item were assessed as the basis for the final drafting of the questionnaire before the final distribution to the respective respondents. ethical review was then sought from the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte school heads/principals and ldrrmo of the respective districts for clearance 18 jpair multidisciplinary research to proceed with the actual data collection. informed respondents affixed their signature on the communication letter as the basis of the researchers in distributing the questionnaire. results and discussion based on the results of the study, the most prevalent types of natural disaster is the earthquake. it is because the philippines is located along a typhoon belt and the tectonic plates within the so-called pacific ring of fire “moves every year” (danganan, 2018). its movement caused both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and most recorded earthquakes happened and where many faults are identified is also true in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte. . therefore, there is a need for high collaboration of the government officials and the residence to prepare and minimize the destruction if the big one will come. it has relation to the report of (norio, ye, kajitani, shi and tatano, 2011) wherein it stated that there should be an urgent need for a highly collaborative framework based on which all available resources could be mobilized; a mutual assistance and rescue system against catastrophes among regions and countries on the basis of international humanitarian aid. for anthropological disaster, vehicular accident appeared as the most prevalent one followed by fire. in getting the prevalent types of disaster, the researchers used frequency count and ranking method. the vehicular accident is the most common accident that kills human lives, which are happening, especially in accidental prone pathways. it is because the 3rd district municipalities have only limited items of reflectors use on the roads. (see table 3.1). 19 international peer reviewed journal table 1. the prevalent types of disaster occurring in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte in terms of programs/ activities on disaster preparedness conducted/ implemented, the elementary schools in the 3rds district only implemented these programs twice a year. and some programs were only implemented once a year, and this was done by getting the weighted mean. these findings imply that the elementary schools in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte lack the implementation of the programs mandated in the r.a. 10121. these findings are alarming because according to national disaster risk reduction and management council (2015), the mentioned programs are mandated to be conducted to every schools and municipality as required projects and activities of every municipality. these schools might be oriented with seminars and drills on mitigating disaster risk reduction once a year, but they lack monitoring on the implementation of these programs. this has relation to the study conducted by (bayod, abawag, luardo, padlan & macias, 2016) the result revealed that the community must have a community alarm system, participation in drills, training, and seminars is mandatory, and listening to a warning from community leaders and other government officials especially those that are in charge of disaster risk mitigation and also the people in the communities should have active participation during disaster preparedness and relief operation, and to utilize whatever previous traditional skills and practices that had employed which had been proven effective in preparing for disaster. also, the result was supported by the study conducted by fajardo, (2013) wherein it clearly states 20 jpair multidisciplinary research that the active involvement of provinces, municipalities, cities, and barangays for reducing and minimizing disaster risks are very significant. however, there are concrete challenges for these local governments to function commendably and efficiently. table 2. list of programs/activities implemented by the schools in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte municipalities of 3rd district, zamboanga del norte a b c d e f g h   list of programs/ activities mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr                                 1.conduct disaster preparedness program 1.15 lst.i 2.8 oi 3.2 oi 1.15 lst.i 3.2 oi 3.15 oi 2.2 li 3.9 ai 2. training on rescue operation drill on disaster 1.15 lst.i 1.8 li 2.7 oi 1.1 lst.i 2.7 oi 2.8 oi 2.1 li 3.35 ai 3. piercing action on emergency evacuation 1.15 lst.i 1.45 lst.i 2.45 li 1.15 lst.i 2.45 li 2.45 li 1.9 li 3.85 ai 4. first aid drill 1.15 lst.i 1.6 lst.i 2.8 oi 1.1 lst.i 2.8 oi 2.35 li 1.9 li 3.85 ai 5. workshop on immediate response 1.3 lst.i 1.65 lst.i 2.55 oi 1.05 lst.i 2.55 oi 2.1 li 1.8 li 3.9 ai 6. update whether forecast 1.2 lst.i 2.8 oi 2.75 oi 1.15 lst.i 2.75 oi 2.7 oi 2.15 li 3.9 ai 7. promote survival technique 1.15 lst.i 1.6 lst.i 2.65 oi 1.15 lst.i 2.65 oi 2.3 li 1.9 li 4 ai 8. conduct earthquake drill 1.15 lst.i 1.9 li 3.3 ai 1.15 lst.i 3.3 ai 2.75 oi 2.25 li 3.85 ai 9. conduct fire drill 1.15 lst.i 1.75 li 3.35 ai 1.1 lst.i 3.35 ai 1.95 li 2 li 3.6 ai grand weighted mean 1.17 lst.i 1.9 li 2.9 oi 1.1 lst.i 2.9 oi 2.5 oi 2.01 li 3.8 ai legend: rating scale code description qualification 3.25 4.00 4 ai always implemented four times a year 2.50 3.24 3 oi oftentimes implemented three times a year 1.75 2.49 2 li less implemented twice a year 1.00 1.74 1 lst i least implemented once a year 21 international peer reviewed journal in terms of availability of facilities and equipment, first aid kit is the most available equipment that they have followed by flashlight while the spine board, power saw, and chain ladder is only limited in numbers. all municipalities failed to provide other important facilities as prescribed by the ndrrmc (2015) on the minimum requirement and standards for equipment such as the alternative sources of energy, public address system, pulling and lifting machines and safety full-body harness. table 3. availability of facilities and equipment in the schools and mdrrmc of the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte facilities & equipments municipalities of 3rd district, zamboanga del norte a b c d e f g h total 1.first aid kit 22 12 15 12 18 44 19 30 172 2. rope 21 13 13 5 16 31 15 24 138 3. ambulance 21 12 15 6 14 16 13 10 107 4. whistle 6 12 13 12 19 25 13 25 125 5. reflector 0 3 2 6 3 0 4 2 20 6. fire extinguisher 5 6 12 7 10 8 14 8 70 7. rubber boat 8 0 5 5 0 3 2 0 23 8. fire truck 17 0 13 7 17 4 12 4 74 9. life jacket 7 6 3 3 4 10 4 4 41 based on the ndrrmc 2015 based on the mean of each municipality, municipalities a, c, e & g are well participated in mitigating disaster risk reduction while municipalities b, d, f & h are less participated. this implies that selected elementary schools in each municipality of the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte failed to meet the minimum requirement as per mandated by r.a.10121 that all schools are required to participate in all activities and programs on disaster risk mitigation. every citizen must also respond to the needs of the times. 22 jpair multidisciplinary research table 4. level of participation in mitigating disaster risk reduction among the elementary schools of the 3rd district zamboanga del norte according to municipality municipalities of 3rd district, zamboanga del norte a b c d e f g h level of participation mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr mean dr a. immediate response during emergency calls 3.8 vwp 2.2 lp 3.2 wp 2.6 wp 3.8 vwp 2.2 lp 3.4 wp 2.7 wp b. apply first aid to the victims 3.85 vwp 2.1 lp 3.2 wp 2.3 lp 3.9 vwp 2.9 wp 3.1 wp 2.6 wp c. possessed rescue skills and first aid application 3.75 vwp 2.6 wp 3.1 wp 2.2 lp 3.8 vwp 2.5 wp 2.9 wp 2.1 lp d. bringing victims in critical conditions to the nearest hospital 3.5 wp 2.3 lp 3.2 wp 2.1 lp 3.5 wp 2.3 lp 2.9 wp 2.7 wp e. evacuate the victims to a safer place 3.45 vwp 2.2 lp 3.1 wp 2.1 lp 3.5 vwp 2.3 lp 2.9 wp 2.6 wp f. help save and secure lives and properties 3.3 wp 2.6 wp 2.8 wp 2.2 lp 3.3 wp 2.4 lp 2.8 wp 2.6 wp g. can provide emergency shelter to protect people from calamities 3.15 wp 2.4 lp 2.9 wp 2.2 lp 3.2 wp 0 2.9 wp 2.7 wp h. can supply food and water to the victims of disaster 3.1 wp 2.2 lp 2.8 wp 2.7 wp 3.1 wp 2 lp 2.5 wp 2.5 wp i. can provide clothing to the victims of disaster 3 wp 2.1 lp 2.1 lp 2.2 lp 3 wp 2.1 lp 2.6 wp 2.9 wp j. can remove debris from collapse structure 3 wp 1.9 lp 2.9 wp 2.2 lp 3 wp 1.8 lp 2.2 lp 2.4 lp k. take violator into custody for investigation 2.95 wp 1.9 lp 3.1 wp 2.1 lp 3 wp 1.8 lp 2.3 lp 2.1 lp grand weighted mean 3.1 wp 2 lp 2.7 wp 2.1 lp 3.1 wp 2 lp 2.5 wp 2.3 lp legend: rating scale code description 3.25-4.00 4 vwp very well participate 2.50-3.24 3 wp well participated 1.75-2.4 2 lp less participated 1.00-1.74 1 lsp least participated 23 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the researchers concluded that the elementary schools in the 3rd district of zamboanga del norte are not exempted of both natural and human-made disasters. they have experienced earthquakes, floods, typhoons, vehicular accidents and fire. it is also safe to conclude that 3rd district of zamboanga del norte is lack of preparedness as to implementation and monitoring of the programs and activities prescribed by law and participation in mitigating disaster risk reduction. as to the availability of facilities and equipment, first aid kit is the most available equipment followed by flashlight while the spine board, power saw, and chain ladder are limited in numbers. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various forms of activities wherein the community folks will be benefited. school heads, barangay leaders will be the initiator for information dissemination, if not, a further awareness campaign on the preparation and participation in disaster risks mitigation will be emphasized involving the community folks in any training and seminars in preparation for the big one. recommendations the schools, ldrrmc, and pnp personnel should continuously conduct disaster risk management programs/activities, procure the necessary equipment and facilities in every public school to mitigate the natural and human-made disaster and closely perform monitoring procedures as to the implementations of the said programs. community folks of the 3rd district in zamboanga del norte are encouraged to attend information drives on pre-cautionary measures about vehicular accidents and fire protection to properly address these kinds of disaster. literature cited bayod, r., abawag, d.m., luardo, j.m., padlan, j. & macias, j. (2016). disaster preparedness in aplaya coastal community, digos city, philippines retrieved from https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=11633 https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=11633 24 jpair multidisciplinary research danganan, j. (2018). is the pacific ring of fire raging? retrieved from https://www.pna.gov.ph drabek, t. e. (2007). emergency management and homeland security curricula: contexts, cultures, and constraints. journal of emergency management, 5(5), 33-41. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2wcxyhp fajardo, j. p. m. (2013). evidence-based disaster risk reduction and management: cbms for local level drrm? retrieved from https:// ejournals.ph/article.php?id=2947 miller, c. h., adame, b., moore, s. d. (2013). vested interest theory and disaster preparedness. disasters, 37(1), 1-27. retrieved from: https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01290.x napere jr, r. d., & canencia, o. p. (2013). exploring the disaster management of teachers and pupils in iligan city, philippines.  iamure international journal of ecology and conservation,  8, 147. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2jx3sc4 norio, o., ye, t., kajitani, y., shi, p., & tatano, h. (2011). the 2011 eastern japan great earthquake disaster: overview and comments.  international journal of disaster risk science, 2(1), 34-42.. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1007/s13753-011-0004-9 street, r.b., buontempo, c. mysiak, j. , karali, e. , pulquério, m., murray, v., swart, r. (2019) how could climate services support disaster risk reduction in the 21st century. international journal of disaster risk reduction. retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.12.001 the world bank (2013). vietnam: disaster risk management project. retrieved from www.worldbank.org https://www.pna.gov.ph https://bit.ly/2wcxyhp https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=2947 https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=2947 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01290.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01290.x https://bit.ly/2jx3sc4 https://bit.ly/2jx3sc4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-011-0004-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-011-0004-9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s2212420918309373 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s2212420918309373 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s2212420918309373 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s2212420918309373 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.12.001 142 jpair multidisciplinary research work attitudes as correlate to academic performance of the bachelor of science in industrial technology students in the university of northern philippines karlo r. real http://orcid.org 0000-0002-7545-971 kreal1979@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines joussie bajet bermio http://orcid.org 0000-0002-8755-8714 manuelbajet@gmail.com university of northern philippines heritage city of vigan, ilocos sur, philippines abstract the quality of student’s performance in technological education is influenced by many factors such as facilities, equipment, hand tools, instruction, methodology, and the students. the study aimed to determine the performance of the bachelor of science in industrial technology major in automotive technology students in university of northern philippines, vigan city, ilocos sur, philippines and the influence of some factors. the descriptive-correlational research design and documentary analysis were used. the performance was measured in terms of knowledge, manipulative skills and work attitudes. it was found out that the bsit program had a pool of highly qualified faculty and had vol. 23 · january 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v23i1.358 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 143 international peer reviewed journal more than adequate physical resources. the student respondents had fair grades in their general education subjects and good grades in technology major subjects. the level of performance of students along knowledge was good; very good along manipulative skills; and very high along work attitudes. the students’ level of performance along knowledge and skills was not influenced by the bsit program profile; however, work attitudes significantly affected the students’ performance. the students’ level of performance along knowledge and work attitudes was not influenced by their scholastic achievement. however, there are some aspects of skills, namely, diagnostic and speed/time which are significantly influenced by their scholastic profile. keywords technological education, performance, bsit, descriptivecorrelational design, university of northern philippines introduction education is an important tool in all stages of national development. if used towards constructive ends, it enhances the individual’s personal worth. a person’s value to the nation is almost in direct proportion to the efforts expended in learning. investment in education for the whole citizen tends to increase its productive power. the international community of nations has recognized education as a fundamental human right (mohammed, 2015) and was also agreed in the millennium development goals, which acknowledged education as an indispensable means. in a world of swift technological change, it is neither enough nor of prime importance to equip students with the skills essential to their jobs. the real challenge is to equip them with more core knowledge and skills that will enable them to adapt successfully in the future the jobs and environment that might require different skills. in line with the educational development goals of the country, the university of northern philippines, continuously strives. to improve its curricular offering, skills development focused on middle-level to first-level skills manpower. the philippine government has recognized the need for classifying, standardizing and certifying the skills occupation in as early as 1974. the labor code empowered the tesda to establish national trade skill standards now being called national certificate, in consultation with workers and employers’ organizations and appropriate government authorities and administer the standards. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research it is expected that the quality of instructors reflects the results of education. this statement is in consonance in the chapter 3 of “effective learning and teachingproject 2061” which says that students respond to their own expectations of what they can and cannot learn. they believe they can learn something and they usually make headway. thus, teachers need to provide students with challenging, but attainable learning tasks that could help them succeed. primarily, the two important factors to be considered in the classroom are the learner and the instructor. with this, the technological education instructor is expected to master his subject matter and improve his instructional skills. moreover, he displays quality workmanship. the bachelor of science in industrial technology (bsit) program is intended for the student to become a craftsman or technician that may lead him to land a job in the industry, manufacturing, transportation, construction, service jobs, and other industrial occupations which are usually established in the different communities. thus, the preparation of bsit students is manifold to help them enter into the industries and constructions or to be self-employed. this is expressed in the mission statement of the college i.e. to prove the students the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to become highly productive technicians with the potential of becoming managers in their field of specialization. the program has the following objectives: 1) to provide students with technical and vocational knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for local and national development; 2) to prepare and train students in specific trade and technical area of specialization for self-employment in industrial establishments or agencies; 3) to train students to cope with the demands of time; and 4) to transfer technology to different communities who need vocational knowledge and training to uplift their economic condition. automotive technology is one of the most important technology programs in demand in the labor sector. almost 80% of the whole population in the community has vehicle from two wheels up. the result of the study was utilized by the academe or technology education to find ways to promote technological literacy among the students in a broad and encompassing nature. this is to address the needs of the students to learn how to adapt to technological change and how to deal with forces that influence their lives and potentially control and shape their future. 145 international peer reviewed journal framework as to the philippine statistics authority nso-ncr (2014), it showed that as of january 2013, 37.94 million persons were employed and classified as the labor force which comprised of 92.9% of the total employment rate. translating the above figure, it disclosed that there is a demand as to the number of skilled workers to expanding industries in the local market alone and expectedly the same in the global industry. consequently, there is a big challenge among technological institutions in the philippines since they have a crucial role in molding or developing the skills and abilities of students. this is for the students not just to get a job, but to have a better job in the future. along this line, technological institutions should provide graduates who are responsive to the local and global industries. constant revisions and improvements of educational facilities are indeed necessary. beder (1989) stated that university education has much to do with providing credentials and prestige to a fortunate group of young people, equipping students with vocationally relevant skills. in fact, education that is vocationally oriented and is being looked down in both britain and the united states during the 19th century. common people were trained for a specific vocation whilst ‘gentlemen’ were educated. however, others, while agreeing that the development of effective behavior is essential to student’s achievement, brophy (1986), believed that basing the instructional adaptation on student preferences does not improve learning and may be detrimental. according to reid (1987), several different instructional techniques are used for students who have problems in learning, remembering, and communicating information. one of the techniques is direct instruction which is based on systematic curriculum design and highly structured, fast-paced lessons wherein students participate actively and often. the other is learning strategies to enhance memorization or problem-solving skills where teachers may also assist their students to work around individual learning disorders. from an educator’s viewpoint, schools exist to serve both society and the individuals, striking that balance must necessarily limit individualized education (davidman, 1981). also, the actual impact on classroom teaching may be limited unless teachers can be persuaded to use that knowledge (grasha, 1984). one solution to this problem might be the possible impact of teaching and learning styles and at the same time to develop “cultural-sensitive pedagogy”. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research in the study of cooper and mcintyre (1996) which aimed to explore the professional knowledge, ideas which teachers use in their day-to-day classroom teaching that are not generally made explicit by teachers and which teachers are not likely always to be conscious of using (p. 19). suhr (1988) describes a grading scheme based on peer and professor evaluation. students are asked to rate the class participation of each of their classmates as high, medium, or average. if the median peer rating is higher than the instructors’ rating of the students, the two ratings are averaged. some journal articles on cognitive and learning styles (unfortunately, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably) in elementary (e.g., carbo, 1984; pizzo, 1982), secondary, postsecondary (e.g., grasha, 1984; pettigrew & zakrajsek, 1984; sapp, elliott, & bounds, 1983; schmeck & grove, 1979), adult education (e. g., dorsey & pierson, 1984), and vocational education (e.g., birkey, 1984; fourier, 1984; gregorc & butler, 1984; walker, merryman, & staszkiewicz, 1984) also corroborate to the coverage of the study. objectives of the study the study aimed to determine the status of the bachelor of science in industrial technology program in terms of faculty, physical, hand tools resources, the scholastic profile of the students, their level of performance along knowledge, skills, and attitudes. finally, to find out if there is a significant relationship between the performance of students and the bsit program status, and students’ scholastic profile. methodology the study made use of the descriptive-correlational research design. it involved descriptions, recordings, analyses and interpretation of conditions of the respondents of the study. documentary analysis was also used to verify the facts that were reflected in the survey checklist. the descriptive method was also used to determine the bsit program status and the students’ scholastic/academic achievement of the second-year students enrolled in the college of technology of the university of northern philippines, vigan city, ilocos sur while the correlational method was utilized to determine whether the performance of the students along knowledge, skill and work attitudes can be influenced by other related factors and scholastic profile of the students. 147 international peer reviewed journal the research instruments used in the study were the questionnaires on knowledge and skills of the tesda. a written request was made to the tesda provincial director of ilocos sur prior to the conduct of the survey. the 16 teachers on whom the study focused were selected on the grounds of there being some consensus among their pupils about strengths in their teaching, and their availability and willingness to participate. ‘good teaching’ was defined as what was seen to be good in particular occasion by the particular teacher, and his or her pupils. of the 16 teachers, four were primary school teachers and the other 12 were from ten different subject departments of the secondary school. each teacher was observed for a ‘unit of work’ of between two and six hours, and was interviewed about the observed teaching after every lesson and again at the end of the whole unit. to ensure that it was the teachers’ authentic accounts of their teachings that were articulated, some ideas to achieve this involved: emphasizing what was good about the teaching, in the eyes of the teachers and their pupils; focusing on specific classroom events which occurred when both teacher and researcher were present; avoiding the imposition of any researcher assumptions about good teaching or about how to make sense of teaching; helping teachers to remember the things they did well, the most important element to interview the teachers very soon after the observed lessons. results and discussion status of the bsit automotive technology program faculty resources out of six automotive technology faculty, three or 50% hold master’s degree, two or 33.33% have earned units on doctoral program, and one is currently pursuing a master’s degree. this implies that all the faculty respondents are highly qualified and still want to enhance the basic academic preparation and professional skills by enrolling in graduate courses. the findings suggest that the higher the educational qualification of teacher, the better will be his performance. this supports the statement of cambridge university reporter in 2003 that academic performance is frequently defined in terms of examination performance. in the study, academic performance was characterized by performance in tests, course work and performance in examinations of undergraduate students. 148 jpair multidisciplinary research according to the ucu prospectus, admission points are weights attached to the applicant’s past academic records (ucu, n.d. ) and according to the uganda universities and other tertiary institutions act (2001), there are three main entry schemes to higher education in uganda, the direct entry (a’ level), the mature age entry scheme and diploma entry 15 scheme. the admission points were characterized by direct entry scheme (a’ level), diploma entry scheme and mature age scheme. on years of experience in teaching automotive technology. three or 50% of the faculty respondents have been in the teaching profession for 8-11 years. two or 33.33% have been teaching for more than 16 years; and one has been teaching for three years. this means that most of the automotive technology instructors are “seasoned” teachers owing to their length of service in teaching. on seminars and training attended. four or 66.67% of the faculty respondents have not yet attended seminar related to automotive technology in the national level. however, two or 33.33% were able to attend 1-5 seminar/ training in the national level. five or 83.33 were able to attend 1-5 seminars/ training in the provincial level. five also attend 1-5 seminars/training in local level and one of the faculty respondents has more than 10 seminars/training attendee in the local level. the data reveal that the instructors are highly growing professionally when he attends in-service trainings and seminars. the knowledge he gains in such further improves his competence as an instructor. physical resources physical resources as an indicator for the bsit program status (mean=3.48) is at “adequate” level. this implies that the equipment used for instruction, hand tools and shop facilities with the exemption of dressing and tool rooms which were perceived as “adequate”. physical resources are enough to accommodate the number of students enrolled in this course. on equipment for instruction. automotive technology requires a reasonable time for laboratory work to supplement the lecture given by the instructors. this necessitates the availability of some equipment to be used by the students. equipment is “more than adequate” with an overall mean rating of 3.62. this implies that the aforementioned equipment needed during lectures and laboratory hours are available for use, and these enhance the development of the manipulative skills of the students 149 international peer reviewed journal on hand tools. hand tools are needed in shop work. since these are the most commonly used tools in an automotive shop, every automotive technology student should have a grip of these tools to be familiar with it and its uses. hand-tools were assessed by the respondents also as more than adequate. this implies that hand tools are enough for use in the laboratory and these enable the instructors to train the students in the proper use of these hand tools. on shop room facilities. shop room facilities is rated “adequate” with an overall mean of 3.30. the laboratory, lecture, and library area are at “more than adequate level, while dressing and tool room are rated “less than adequate”. this implies that the students demand improvement in some shop facilities like dressing and tool rooms. the students believe that even if they are males (which means that they can just change their uniforms to working clothes anywhere in the shop area), dressing rooms should still be provided as a standard facility in the technological department. the tool room is also needed in as much as they feel that shop area must be organized and that the tools must be kept properly. scholastic profile of the bsit automotive technology students in mathematics and english, 29 or 70.73% students got an average grades between 2.6-3.0 with equivalent of “fair”. eleven or 26.83% got 2.1-2.5 which means “good” and one obtained an average of 1.6-2.0 or “very good”. in physics, 35 or 85.37% got 2.6-3.0 and six or 14.63% got 2.1-2.5. in psychology, 31 or 75.61% got 2.6-3.0, eight or 19.51% got 2.1-2.5, and two or 4.88% got 1.6-2.0. further analysis showed that most students have grades described as “fair” which means that their achievement in the above-mentioned general education subjects is just above the passing mark. out of 41 students, 26 or 63.41% got 2.1-2.5 and 15 or 36.59% got 2.6-3.0 in technical drawing. in the tech. ed. automotive technology subjects, 20 or 48.78% got 2.1-2.5 and 13 or 31.71% got 1.6-2.0. only eight or 19.51% got a “fair” mark of 2.6-3.0. this data showed that the students obtained higher grades in technological subjects since most of them got good grades. with regards to scholastic achievement, the second-year bsit students obtained a mean of 2.63 in mathematics, 2.64 in english, 2.62 in physics and 2.62 in psychology. the overall mean for the aforementioned general education subjects is 2.63 which has a qualitative equivalent of “fair”. in technological automotive subjects, the student respondents obtained mean ratings of 2.48 and 2.26 has a qualitative equivalent of “good”. the scholastic performance of the student respondents in terms of their average grades in all general and 150 jpair multidisciplinary research technological subjects during their first and second year is described as “good” with a grand mean of 2.50. according to wright (2016), some students enjoy traditional academic subjects, while others see it as a boring subject. also, many agree that some people are just intellectually unprepared to excel in school. however, formal education is tremendously significant to acquire jobs, especially in a competitive economy. for students who are poor in subjects like english and math, vocational schools provide structure and training for future employment. performance of the students table 1. performance of the second year bsit automotive technology students along knowledge and manipulative skills performance items allotted points mean % performance dr knowledge 50 28.95 57.9 vg manipulative skills diagnostic test 15 9.22 61.47 vg engine tune-up a. belt tension 5 3.07 61.4 vg b. fitting hose 5 4.15 83.0 vg c. valve tappet adjustment 5 2.39 47.8 vg d. ignition timing 5 2.80 56.0 vg e. idling 5 2.63 52.6 vg electrical system 20 14.44 72.2 vg gasoline pump 10 7.17 71.7 vg techniques 20 13.44 67.2 vg speed time 10 6.24 62.4 vg overall 65.55 vg legend: 81-above excellent 61-80 very good 41-60 good 21-40 poor 0-20 very poor 151 international peer reviewed journal the students got an excellent rating in fitting hose since this task is very simple. whereas in valve tappet adjustment, ignition timing and idling speed, which are far more complicated tasks, the students obtained good ratings. furthermore, the table reflects the overall performance rating of the students along manipulative skills which is 65.68% with a qualitative equivalent of very good. this may be attributed to the interest in automotive work and intensive training they get in shop work in which are made to diagnose and/or fix defective vehicles. skills require the learner with an opportunity to interact with the content, define learning goals, and explore new understandings through authentic, challenging tasks not just by facts alone (isernhagen, 1999). on work attitudes the bsit students have very high performance level in work attitudes as revealed by an overall mean of 4.35. the respondents have a rating of very high in the following items: observance of shop rules and regulations, attendance in class, honesty, diligence and responsibility, resourcefulness and creativity, cost consciousness, economy and safety, concern and interest in coping with needs and problems and willingness to learn. table 2. level of performance of the bsit automotive technology students along work attitudes items mean dr observance of shop rules and regulations. 4.51 vh moral/ethical behaviour 4.10 h personal/working relations with classmates 4.20 h attendance in class 4.54 vh leadership 4.17 h honesty, diligence and responsibility 4.24 vh resourcefulness and creativity 4.49 vh costconsciousness, economy and safety 4.41 vh concern/ interest in coping with needs/problems 4.22 vh willingness to learn 4.61 vh overall 4.35 vh this may due to the nature of shop work in which the students do not always have the same approaches to the performance of a specific task. this finding 152 jpair multidisciplinary research implies that personal work values and attitudes are developed by the students as they are exposed to automotive work. since this type of job demands physical strength and a great deal of discipline, an automotive mechanic needs proper work attitudes to persevere and complete his tasks. it can be concluded, that work attitudes among technical education students when developed and internalized in the personality become habit patterns and shape their work value systems and consequently, affect their performance on the job. students taking up automotive courses in preparation of their future jobs must have a good interpersonal skill. this will help them establish rapport with customers and colleagues. they must use therapeutic communication in dealing with their clienteles. in addition, students must have repair and maintenance tasks requiring electrical and mechanical skills. he must also know how to operate hand power tools, and standard industry equipment. he must also use and interpret diagnostic software (scan tools), computer-based software, and electronic diagnostic test equipment. in addition, he must have critical thinking ability sufficient for the diagnosis of automotive failures that will help him identify cause-effects relationships of automotive malfunctions; evaluate vehicle or instrument responses, synthesize data, and draw sound conclusions (trident technical college, n.d.). students will be more interested to study about technology if they have experienced positive learnings in technology education program which also developed a positive attitude towards technology. this will then contribute to students’ technological literacy. study also showed that students who have positive attitude toward a subject are more participative in learning during and after instruction (popham, 1994). correlation between the students’ level of performance and the bsit program status the overall correlation coefficient of 0.156 between the student respondents’ performance along knowledge and program profile failed to attain significance at 0.05 probability level. this means that there is no significant relationship between the two variables. furthermore, the students can have high knowledge in automotive technology regardless of the educational attainment, years of experience and trainings attended by the instructors. 153 international peer reviewed journal table 3. correlation coefficients between the level of performance of the bsit automotive technology students and program indicators program indicators k manipulative skills wa dt et es gp t s/t oa faculty resources educational attainment .132 .172 .074 .017 .068 .091 .112 .003 .121 years of teaching .081 .210 .018 .069 .054 .021 .005 .131 .121 training/seminars attended .094 .005 .119 .021 .181 .131 .128 .091 .114 physicals resources equipment for instruction .016 .040 .077 .148 .155 .074 .065 .078 .276 hand tools .178 .195 .001 .083 .077 .029 .011 .080 .411** shop facilities .263 .183 .074 .092 .013 .157 .104 .074 .236 overall .156 .159 .004 .141 .086 .010 .005 .040 .356* legend: *significant at 0.01 prob. level gp gasoline pump ** significant at 0.05 prob. level t techniques k knowledge s/t speed/ time dt diagnostic test oa for manipulative skill overall et engine tune-up wa work attitudes es electrical system the respondents’ performance along manipulative skills when correlated with the program indicators yielded an overall correlation coefficient of 0.040. this is much lower than the required r which means that there is no significant relationship between the two variables. it is hoped that the positive attitudes that were acquired by the students through technology education will influence their lives and career decisions as they experience a lifetime of technological change and adaptation. with this, technology educators play a vital role. they should assess the students in the affective domain to measure attitude changes that maybe attributable to the instructional methods and curriculum (boser, palmer & daugherty, 2015). 154 jpair multidisciplinary research correlation between the level of performance of the students and the scholastic profile table 4. correlation coefficients between the level of performance of the bsit automotive technology students and their academic performance academic performance k manipulative skills wa dt et es gp t s/t general education subjects mathematics -.160 -.223 -.041 -.222 -.081 -.090 -.117 .311* english -.110 -.293 -.054 -.321* -.069 -.079 -.107 .103 physics -.230 -.336* -.064 -.431** -.018 -.066 -.100 -.128 psychology -.256 -.346* -.071 -.436** -.033 -.074 -.112 -.126 overall -.227 -.356* -.069 -.424** -.054 -.088 -.126 -.016 technological/ automotive subjects technical drawing -.262 -.166 -.152 -.106 -.035 -.110 -.176 .250 technological subjects -.021 -.371* -.262 -.341* -.263 -.282 -.298 .106 overall -.170 -.370 -.276 -.306 -.271 -.312 -.312* .196 the performance of the students in engine tune-up when correlated with their academic achievement resulted to an overall correlation coefficient of.069 and -.276 in the general education and technological/automotive subjects, respectively. these values are lower than the required r, which means that there is no significant relationship between the two variables. the correlation coefficient of -.424 between performance in electrical system and academic profile is significant at .01 probability level. this means that there is a very significantly relationship between the two variables, especially with the subjects physics (-.431) and psychology (-.436). correlation between performance and the english subject is significant only at .05 probability level. however, the overall correlation coefficient between academic achievements in technological/automotive subjects is -.306 which not exceed the required r. this means that there is no significant relationship between the two variables though correlation with tech ed subjects yielded the value -.341, which is significant at.05 level. the students’ manipulative skills performance specifically in speed/time when correlated with their average in general education subjects resulted to a computed coefficient of -.126 that do not denote any significant relationship. however, when correlated with technological/ automotive subjects, it yielded the value of -.374 which is significant at .05 level. 155 international peer reviewed journal the correlation coefficients between performance in other areas under manipulative skill; namely gasoline pump and techniques, wherein the computed values failed to exceed the required r. this finding confirms the result of the work of that there is no significant relationship between academic performance and skill performance in gasoline pump. this means that there is no significant relationship between academic profile and the aforementioned variables. durden & ellis (1995) reported that academic records are the most important determinants of student performance. this suggests that the higher the previous performance, the better the students will perform academically (considine & zappala, 2002). the findings contradict the statement of de luca (1992) and james (1991) that problem-centered instruction as an authentic way to focus on the development of students’ higher-level cognitive skills. furthermore, the data on the correlation between performance along manipulative skills and academic achievement imply that some subjects can influence the students’ learning and development of specific skills in automotive technology. these are english, physics, psychology and automotive subjects. in as much as english is the medium of instruction in automotive technology, the students need the basic communication skills to understand theories and likewise, discuss these with the instructors and classmates. physics is also important because this subject enhances the students’ understanding of the scientific processes involved and laws applied in automotive technology. psychology provides the students with a clearer perspective into the realm of the human self. therefore, it helps students come up with a positive understanding of the various issues and circumstances of life. specialized subjects offered in the automotive technology program are very important in the development of a skilled mechanic. it is here the students are trained intensively in all aspects which prepare them for future jobs in the automotive world. furthermore, the students’ performance along work attitudes when correlated with the students’ scholastic profile yielded an overall correlation coefficient of -.010 for general education subjects, and -.196 for automotive subjects, both values of which are not significant at .05 probability level. since the computed values are lower than the required r, there is no significant relationship between the two variables. in addition, further reflects significant correlation at .05 level only between work attitudes and the average grade in the subject mathematics (-.311). this implies that mathematics indeed is difficult subject. thus, a student must develop desirable attitude to pass the subject and likewise apply mathematical theories in automotive work. heaviside (1892) said that arousing 156 jpair multidisciplinary research the learner is a feeling that mathematics is indeed a fundamental reality of the domain of thought, and not merely a matter of symbols and arbitrary rules and conventions. conclusions the bachelor of science in industrial technology program of the college of technology of the university of northern philippines had a pool of highly qualified faculty; most of them have finished a master’s degree, have been teaching for more than eight years, and have attended seminars in the provincial and local levels. it also has more than adequate physical resources which make learning meaningful and the acquisition of knowledge, skill and attitudes more effective. students in the bsit automotive technology have higher grades in the major subjects than in general education subjects. the level of their performance in terms of manipulative skills is higher than their performance in the theoretical aspects of the course. it is in work attitudes where the students get the highest level of performance. the students’ level of performance along knowledge and skills is not influenced by the bsit program status. however, work attitudes greatly affect the students’ performance. the level of performance along knowledge and work attitude is not influenced by their scholastic achievement. however, there are some aspects of skills, namely, diagnostic and speed/time which are significantly influenced by their scholastic profile. skills and attitudes inventories and constructs were found to be standardized tests and previous grades as predictor of academic performance, yielding substantial incremental validity in predicting academic performance (crede & kuncel, 2008). also, professors in the developing countries should be fully equipped with high level of analytical skills; the capacity for critical reasoning, selfreflection and conceptual grasp which require the ability to learn autonomously and exercise flexibility of mind (bagongon & edpalina, 2009). translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media of communication for information dissemination, if not, further awareness campaign. indigenous materials such as wall newspaper, one-act play, among others, may be designed for stakeholders from the remote areas, and social media, mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio) may be used in the information dissemination. 157 international peer reviewed journal 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( 2016), federal cuts for public vocational education , retrieved from:http://study.com/articles/decreased_funding_for_vocational_ schools_raising_quality 13 international peer reviewed journal engagement of lgbt teenagers in sexting in calapan city bernardo g. magbanua http://orcid.org 0000-0002-2883-1573 bernie37magbanua1972@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology calapan city campus calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines ma. arlyn m. redublo http://orcid.org 0000-0001-7754-6667 redubloma.arlyn@yahoo.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology calapan city campus calapan city, oriental mindoro, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract mobile phones are essentially a part of people’s lives, and it has changed the way people lead their lives. the number is rising and the number and the way cellphones are designed today makes access to other people and different services very quick and easy. the study aimed to understand and determine the different factors leading to the engagement to sexting. the data gathering was conducted in calapan city with members of the lgbt community as respondents. a qualitative study was used in the collection and analysis of data. snowball sampling was used for the one hundred (100) identified members of the lgbt community, sixty-four (64) of them have signified as engaging in sexting and vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.721 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 14 jpair multidisciplinary research twenty-three (23) agreed to be interviewed. the study found out that enjoyment and satisfaction is the factor that contributed a lot to engage in sexting. the results showed that loss of reputation greatly affected them as an individual being. further, what started out as simple messaging continued to implicit messaging, then sending and receiving of nude or semi-nude photos, next video chat and for some eventually actual sex. it is recommended that the lgbt sexters should be knowledgeable about the consequences before engaging in sexting. keywords — social science, qualitative, sexting, consequences, philippines introduction it has been 40 years since the first mobile phone call was made. 2 decades after, the first sms messaging was sent and another decade after camera phones were introduced. mobile phones are essentially a part of people’s lives, and it has changed the way people lead their lives. it has been estimated by 2019 the world mobile phone users might exceed the five billion mark. in the philippines, as forecasted by the year 2018, there will be around 72.6 million people owning at least one mobile phone. the number is rising and the way cellphones are designed today makes access to other people and different services very quick and easy. most users engage in watching videos and play games with their mobile phones while some would use it to find long lost family members, friends, and sometimes long-time partners. the new generation of mobile phones is not just a communicating device. teenagers can click pictures, text their friends, send multimedia messages, listen to music, surf the internet and play games. this is actually an endless list since now handsets are heavily loaded with so many features which cannot be counted on fingers (peterson, 2009). this capacity of mobile phones is used and sometimes abused by some people. just over 6,000 offenses involving teens under the age of 18 were listed by the police as either possessing, making or distributing indecent images of children in the year 2016 to 2017. (mcmanus and almond, 2018) research defined sexting as the “sending and receiving of sexually suggestive or explicit images, videos or text messages through cellular phones or other technologies.” california state university and indiana state university scientists polled 459 heterosexual college students regarding their sexting habits and if they are in a relationship, the way they feel regarding it. in a study of 1044 undergraduate students between 18-63 years, 40% of the males (288 out of 719) while 50% of the females (163 out of 325) have sent 15 international peer reviewed journal sexually explicit cell phone pictures. of the senders, around 40% of the males, as well as the females, claimed that they were under 18 years when the picture was taken. majority of those who had sent a text claimed that they had done it more than once and more than 50% have rated the experience as positive. while 30% are neutral, about 40% are likely to engage in sexting in the future. there are many reasons for teenage sexting. some of those are a curiosity for sex, peer pressure, love, less developed thinking abilities and money. viewing sex on tv predicts and accelerates teen’s sexual initiation and creates curiosity which leads to exploring and testing particularly with teens. teens become curious of how and watch others look naked and are easily provoked by nudity; hence, exploration and experimentation initiate teen’s sexting (collins et al., 2004). engaging in such, sexting is applicable for adolescents of all sexual orientations; however, it may be even more important with sexual minority adolescents (lgbt), though they feel less comfortable disclosing their sexual identity and behavior, these individuals are more likely to be engaging in both sexting and sexual risk behavior. the researchers encourage providers to not only connect with lgbt youth about sexting, but also to stress the importance of protected sex, given their added vulnerability to stis and hiv (rice, rhoades, winetrobe, sanchez, montoya, plant, and kordic, 2012). the purpose of selecting this topic is that, these days sexting has become a common issue in teenagers which has an impact on teenager’s physical, social and psychological health. nowadays, new communication technologies play a significant role in their lives (valkenburg, 2011). the prompt contract to others via the internet and other electronic devices has intensely changed when, how, and what will teens learn from each other and the surrounding world. for instance, cyberbullying (annoyance through email, facebook, and text messages, etc) has become a contemporary approach (especially for teenagers) to be violent or threatening (ahuja, webster, gibson, brewer, toledo & russell, 2015). framework this study is focused on identifying factors, which can be events, people, situations or phenomena that may contribute to a particular result or situation. there are studies that showed that curiosity, enjoyment, exploring physical attractiveness, and combating boredom as some of the reasons why youths engage in sexting and how the theory of planned behavior does explain this. taking also into consideration how the respondents see sexting benefits them and affects them. 16 jpair multidisciplinary research sexting is a relatively recent practice engaged in by people of different ages as well as those considered foolish. although it does occur between and among people of any age, the real concerns are teenagers. one in seven teens reports that they are sending sexts, and one in four are receiving sexts, according to a study of over 110,000 teens from around. with the increasing prevalence of sexting in recent years and continues to increase as the youth age, it is necessary that intervention, education and policy efforts be focused of researchers on nonconsensual sexting. the prevalence of sexting has increased in recent years and increases as youth age. further research focusing on nonconsensual sexting is necessary to appropriately target and inform intervention, education, and policy efforts (madigan, ly, rash, van ouytsel, & temple, 2018). adolescence is a time of life in which teenagers are learning about their own bodies, how to take risks, and about romantic attractions. for some teenagers, engaging in sexting may feel like a way to explore their attraction to someone. it is recommended that rather than having one big talk about sexting, have several small talks over time to check in on your child’s understanding, see if there are questions, and reinforce key messages (moreno, 2018). teens who receive sexually suggestive images on their cell phones are more likely to say that they use the phone to entertain themselves when bored; 80% of sexting recipients say they use their phones to combat boredom, while 67% of teens who have not received suggestive images on their phone say the same. teens who have received these images are also less likely to say that they turn off their phones when it is not otherwise required – 68% of receiving teens say they generally do not turn off their phones when they do not have to, and 46% of teens who have not received suggestive images by text report the same “always on” behavior (lenhart, 2009). explication of the term “youth” necessarily precedes a discussion and study of youth sexting. research on sexting and mobile phones uses several terms, such as “youth,” adolescents,” “teenagers,” and “young adults,” which refer to the young people as those between 15 and 24 years of age; for their own study, they sample high school students and refer to them as both “young people” and “teenagers”. thurlow (2003) uses the terms “adolescents,” “teenagers,” and “young people” anonymously. seventh-grade adolescents participating in a sexual risk prevention trial for at-risk early adolescents completed a computer-based survey at baseline regarding sexting behavior, twenty-two percent of the sample reported having sexted in 17 international peer reviewed journal the past 6 months. sexual messages were endorsed by 17%, sexual messages and photos by 5%. sexting of any kind was associated with higher rates of engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors, and sending photos was associated with higher rates of sexual activity than sending text messages only. sexting behavior (both photo and text messages) was not uncommon among middle school youth and co-occurred with sexual behavior. (houck, barker, rizzo, hancock, norton, & brown 2014). researchers from drexel university’s women’s health psychology lab in philadelphia discovered that “sexting” or sending sexually suggestive messages through the phone is correlated with sexual relationship satisfaction, especially among those who with a committed partner (vila, 2015; miller, 2016). researchers discovered that people who were already in a relationship were the most likely to sext. people who were the most anxious about their relationship were also the most likely to send the most explicit texts, photos, or videos— including nudie and lingerie pics. people who worried their partner would judge them if they didn’t sext were more likely to hit send on explicit messages, too (miller, 2016). for young adults engaged in a romantic relationship would send sexuallyexplicit picture or video messages would cite fun and flirtatious as their motivation to please their romantic partners. (drouin, coupe & temple, 2017). educators and prosecutors across the globe say that “sexting” is a national phenomenon for teens. in fact, school administrators are grappling with sexting and another misuse of technology. surprisingly, according to a study on sexting and the filipino youths, can proudly hold their head high and tell the whole world that sexting has no place in their lives. the young filipino individual is updated with the current issue of sexting as shown by this data where more than 50% are aware of such phenomenon. filipino teenagers’ views of sexting are similar to the universal view of sexting as a phenomenon, although their belief is that there nothing good with texting (alimen, city, & alimen 2011). regarding information and communication technologies, for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, these technologies are their only or primary means of communicating with others like themselves, while offering a virtual window on the world free from many of the restraints imposed upon them within their communities (blumenfeld, & cooper 2010). according to a study, those who have sent pictures to recent partners experience regret and worry. while others, at the time they sent the pictures report discomfort and trauma. women and others who send sexual images to casual sex partners report fewer relationship benefits whether emotional or sexual 18 jpair multidisciplinary research and those who send them to committed partners experience more relationship detriments associated with the sexting. (drouin, et.al., 2017). in another study, it is possible that way of introducing sex into the relationship is through sexting or may act as an initial sexual approach. it could also be that sexual advances from an intimate partner or other peers may be attributed through sending sexually explicit image. conversely, individuals are more open to expressing themselves sexually or that the level of flirtation escalates to include nudity, once an individual has sex. therefore, with the association, it is found the sexting may probably be a reliable indicator of sexual behaviors. further, girls have a higher prevalence of risky sex behaviors, including multiple partners and drug use or alcohol intake before sex who engaged in sexting behaviors. thus, among girls, higher engagement in risky sex behaviors coincide with sexting behaviors (donald s. strassberg, d.s., mckinnon, r.k., sustaíta, m.a., & rullo, j., 2013) therefore, this study sought to answer what factors may lead an lgbt youth to engage in sexting. objectives of the study this study focused mainly on why lgbt teenagers engage in sexting. specifically, the study answered the following research questions: (1) how the youths was led into sexting? (2) what are the benefits gained from sexting? and (3) what are the negative impacts of doing sexting? methodology research design this qualitative study used thematic analysis, it is a systematic approach to the analysis of qualitative data. in thematic analysis, the data obtained from the college students specifically members of the lgbt community in calapan city that involves identifying themes or patterns of cultural meaning; coding and classifying data, usually textual, according to themes; and interpreting (lapadat, 2010). it was used to identify the factors leading to sexting and its advantages and disadvantages. the age of the participants ranged from 15 up to 24 years old. out of the 23 who agreed to be interviewed one (2) or 9% considers herself lesbian, ten (10) 0r 40% are gays and eleven (11) or 51% consider themselves to be bisexuals. 19 international peer reviewed journal research site calapan city was simply a little village before the institution of the primary spiritual district in bago. the district convent was transferred to calapan in 1733 and commenced its jurisdiction over the northern island ecclesiastic space. in the early eighteenth century, the city solely occupied a strip of land stretching from ibaba to ilaya facing the church and cut-off by the river and later on, succeeding barrios were established. from puerto galera, the capital was moved to calapan in 1836. then, when the province became part of marinduque, puerto galera became the capital once again, but eventually calapan became the provincial capital when the province was detached to marinduque in 1903. at present, calapan has an area of only 250.06 square kilometres (96.55 sq mi) consist mainly of rural areas, with jurisdiction over the three baco islets on the calapan bay and the two silonay islets. the population is estimated at 142, 214 from a population growth rate +1.52%/year based on 2010-2015 population growth rate. participants there were one hundred (100) identified members of the lgbt community, sixty (64) of them have signified as engaging in sexting and twenty-three (23) agreed to be interviewed. of those who were interviewed, 9% were lesbians, 13% were gays and 78% are male bisexuals. their age ranges from 18 to 23 years old with a mean age of 19. all participants are currently enrolled at the different colleges in calapan city at the time of interview. instrumentation this study used snowball sampling in data gathering. snowball sampling, known as chain referral and is a non-probability technique that was used by the researchers to identify potential subjects in studies since the issue of sexting especially for the filipinos is a question of moral act. the researchers then observed the nominated subjects and continued in the same way until obtaining sufficient number of subjects. the researchers used a likert scale survey questionnaire regarding the consequences behind the engagement of lgbt teenagers in sexting. the questionnaire consists of fifteen (15) questions administered by the researchers. the questionnaire contains questions of socio-demographic profile which included the age and gender identity as well as identifying the awareness and 20 jpair multidisciplinary research engagement of the respondents to sexting. the questionnaire was validated by the subject matter experts, mr. bernardo g. magbanua, consuelo m. untalan, and ms. maria cecilia c. maggay. data gathering procedure in order to have access to the chosen college, the researchers gave a request letter and asked permission to conduct the survey in the school. after the approval of the request letter, the researchers used the snowball sampling to search the participants. first, the researchers administered preliminary survey in which the questions were answerable by yes or no. the researchers chose the qualified participants for the study by reviewing and analyzing the answers on the leading questions needed to conduct the survey questionnaires for the factors to leading in the engagement in sexting. for the qualified participants, the researchers asked to fill out the consent form regarding their participation in their study. the researchers informed them about the study’s objectives, scopes and limits of involvement, anonymity and confidentiality after which the researchers administered survey questionnaire. after the completion of the test, the researchers collected and analyzed the data from the gathered answers. results and discussion curiosity clearly leads based on the conversation fifty percent (50) of the respondents expressed that it was because of curiosity that they started with sexting. it started as simple messages that continued to sexting because they want to know how it feels to sext. this is in agreement with (rasmussen, 2018) young people intend to educate themselves and their peers about sexuality, including sexting, because the schools and parents can be poor at sexuality education young individuals tend to look for answers themselves and see whether how they would feel if they do sexting. as like some of the respondents have expressed when asked how they started with sexting: respondent # 1 “may karelasyon ako na nasa malayong lugar kaya madalas kaming nagpapadala ng mga text messages. dahil matagal na rin kaming magkakilala at may tiwala ako sa kanya, sinubukan ko ang magpadala ng message na may kaunting pasakalye ‘antagal na natin, di ka man 21 international peer reviewed journal lang nakakaramdam?’ mula nun, halos madalas na ganun na (sexting), masaya pala, lalo na pag wala akong magawa …. “ “i am in a long distance relationship, trust since we are far apart from each other we usually send text messages. since we have known each other for a long time and i have trusted him, i tried sending him suggestive messages like ‘we have been together for a long time, and yet nothing has happened?’ from there on, we would do it (sexting), it is fun, especially if i have nothing to do…” there are others that have heard it from peers that made him start asking questions about it and eventually tried entering to sites that caters to this: respondent # 3 “… narinig ko sa mga katabi ko na may-pinaguusapan sila tungkol sa nagpapadala sa kanila ng nude photos ng mga kaibigan nila. nagtanong ako kung paano ang dapat kong gawin. binigyan nila ako ng pwede kong buksan at nakita kong may nagchat na sa akin ng ilang araw. hiningi niya cellphone number ko, kabado nga ako sa una pero nung tumatagal masaya pala, hindi ako nagpapadala kasi natatakot ako, nakakareceive lang ako. ganun pala pakiramdam nun, nakakatakot pero habang tumatagal enjoy na din naman. “ “… i overheard my seatmates talking about someone sending nude photos to them. so i asked them what to do? they gave me a site that i could visit and after a few days i received a chat from someone. he asked me for my cellphone number, it was nervous at first but eventually after sometime it was fun. because of fear, i don’t send photos, i only receive. at first, i am afraid but eventually it was fun, that’s how i felt about sexting. enjoyment and pleasure make it lasts as the interview continued there are about forty-eight percent (48%) of the respondents started with curiosity but later on started to enjoy and finds sexting pleasurable. young people when given the opportunity to share their experiences about sexting, frequently claims pleasure and amusement as an outcome. given an open-ended questionnaire, majority of north american 15 to 18 years old 22 jpair multidisciplinary research indicated that sexting was nothing far from the ordinary and far from having a negative experience. further, sense of enjoyment was gained from sexting and pictures that were shared were mostly due to romantic relationships (anastassiou, 2017). when asked how long have they been doing sexting and why do they continue to do so: respondent # 4 “nagsimula po ako nung grade 11 ako so may mga two years na akong nagsesexting . . . kalapit barangay lang po ung mga kasext ko . . .nagsimula po kami ng simpleng messaging pero umabot na po sa mga kuwentuhan tungkol sa mga ginagawa nila sa kanilang gf nakakaenjoy po lalo na kung walang magawa…mga ilang panahon pa ay umabot na rin kami sa physical sex po.” “i started sexting when i was in grade 11, so i have been doing this for two years now… he just live in a nearby barangay . . . we started with simple messages until it reach to a point that he was telling stories about how he is doing it (sex) with his girlfriend and i seem to enjoy it especially when i am doing nothing . . . until such time that we came to a point that we engage in physical sex.” the report on sexting states that sexting is seen to be a safer way of developing as well as maintaining romantic relationships by young people. this is because sexting platforms are perceived to be safe and avoids the risks associated with having real sex. this is how media reflects adult sexting as a way to communicate sexual desire in a healthier way but fails to recognize that the benefits for young people might be the same (anastassiou, 2017). respondent “yung boyfriend ko po ay taga ibang bansa, at dahil nga malayo hindi naming magawa ang actual sex, para na lang mapagbigyan ang hilig, through pictures na lang o kaya video chat. takot din po ako magkasakit (stds), kaya kung may pagkakataon nga na may kasex ako di ako pumapayag ng walang gamit. yung taga ibang bansa naman, okay na rin sa akin yung video chat at parehas naman nakakaraos at pakiramdam ko mas okay yun kasi mas safe yun. nakakasawa nga rin lang naman.” 23 international peer reviewed journal “my boyfriend is from another country, and since we are far from each other, sex is a problem, so to give in to the desire we would sent photos or engage in video chat. i have fear of getting infected (stds), so if given a chance to have sex with someone i don’t allow it without the use of any protection. with the one abroad, i felt it’s enough to have video chat because we do reach our peaks and i feel it’s okay because is much safer. although, sometimes you don’t like to do it anymore.” sexting with benefits? aside from the pleasure and enjoyment that the youths gain from sexting as well as the validation of their relationship, there can be financial benefits as expressed by the respondents as experienced. pleasure may be superficial but the benefit is real. when asked why he continue to engage in sexting: “nakilala ko po ung mga kamessage ko sa internet isang italian at isang british. may mga edad na sila pareho… hindi po ako nagpapadala ng pictures pero sila po ang nagpapadala… minsan po ay niyaya nila ako na maghubad pero ang kaya ko lang po ay yung sa itaas at di ko po pinapakita ang mukha ko… takot po ako baka kumalat. minsan po ay pinagbigyan ko sila at naghubad po ako at habang sa kabila ay ginagawa nila yung gusto nila. hiningi niya po kung saan niya ako pwedeng padalhan ng pera, bagamat nagulat ako natuwa naman ako. akala ko nga biro lang pero totoo pala sapat na pong allowance ko yung pinadala. simula po nun ay pumayag na ako sa gusto nila dahil kahit papaano nakakatulong sa aking pag-aaral. medyo puyat nga lang minsan at may panahong hindi ko maasikaso ang mga assignments ko. kaya siguro banda banda run titigil na rin ako.” “i met these guys in the internet, an italian and a british. both of them are of age . . . i don’t send them pictures but i receive pictures from them . . . one time i was asked to take off my clothes, but i can only show them my upper body and not showing my face . . .i am afraid that it might spread in the internet. one time i gave in to their request that i take off my clothes while they are doing what they want to do. he asked me where he could send me money, i was surprised but i got excited. i though he was joking but he really did send me money enough as an allowance for my studies. so i continued doing what they like because 24 jpair multidisciplinary research it helps to sustain my studies. i sometimes didn’t have enough sleep and also i couldn’t do my assignments anymore. so maybe in time i will have to stop doing it.” from the said conversation aside from the enjoyment and pleasure, the respondent continued sexting because of the financial gain that goes with it. as a young individual and who wish to finish school it’s like hitting two birds with one stone. physical pleasure paired with financial benefits from sexting. sexting has stopped twenty-five percent (25%) of the respondents have declared that they have stopped sexting because for one they feel that they will lose the respect of others as well as condemnation from those who will know, because in the philippines especially in the provinces it is a moral issue. one of the respondents even have the personal experience of a video of him spread to close friends and he felt so embarrassed and thought of not doing it again unless the other person can really be trusted. another, reason for those who stopped is that the only thing they benefit from it is the thought of having safe sex and to enjoy idle time but the real pleasure is in actual sex which is different from it. lastly, one of the respondents find it more as a distraction especially in his experience during examination week where he was not able to study well in order to give time to the sex mates. conclusions the results showed that one of the reasons why they are engaging on sexting is that they feel enjoyment and satisfaction on their life every time they are doing it. it satisfies their sexual desires as well as look that sexting is much safer than having physical contact. they continue to engage on sexting as long as they feel the enjoyment, fulfil their sexual desire without the fear of the possibilities of having contacted stds or hivs, and the experience being able to receive financial support for doing sexting. there are also those who stopped sexting because the real pleasure is found in actual sex but a protected one and others find it helpful during boring moments when there is nothing to do. there seems to be no tangible benefits but there is real fear of condemnation and humiliation from those who will learn that the person is engaged in sexting and that especially in the province it is a moral issue. 25 international peer reviewed journal translational research since most of those who engage in sexting are the youths, this study may help teachers create an age-appropriate and culture-sensitive sex education curriculum that will develop responsible filipino youth who are aware of risks and issues involving reproductive health. this may be in a form of instructional materials like, comics which can be interesting to the young or short films that showcase young talents with emphasis on the risks involved in sexting. brochures may also be provided for parents to become aware of but not intrusive with how their children are using the cellphones and therefore provide guidance on being responsible. the school may present a comprehensive sexuality education program to students to curtail rising incidences of early pregnancy, sexual violence and human immunodeficiency virus. the community may provide posters that may educate the young people as well as the other members of the values of self-knowledge, self-respect, self-protection, non-prejudice, respect for others, a positive attitude toward sexuality, responsibility and independence recommendations the lgbt sexters, teenagers should distinguish the factors leading to the engagement on sexting. they should have a deeper understanding about the indicators such as curiosity, enjoyment and satisfaction, and peer influence. they also should be knowledgeable about the consequences behind engaging in this activity because it may give negative effect to teenagers learn to avoid temptation from engaging on sexting. teenagers could be exposed more in playing logical and educational games instead of using gadgets in sexting. the future researchers may study other possible factors in engaging in sexting as well as consequences that were not mentioned in this study. the students should think wisely before engaging on sexting. they should not subscribe to the factors that lead to the engagement on this kind of activity. students should enlighten their minds that engagement on sexting results to different consequences. next, to parents, to be open-minded with this and face the fact that their adolescents might be engaged in this. they must be educated to handle this kind of situation and be more of a guiding force towards understanding what sexting is and be caring. lastly, the guidance counselor should help the students who experience the consequences of sexting to thoroughly understand their situation and they could coordinate with the gender and development office in conducting activities towards understanding sexting. 26 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited ahuja, a., webster, c., 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http://oricd.org/0000-0002-2961-5266 marizbabella9963@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university cebu city, philippines rodney a. rabe http://oricd.org/0000-0002-3925-7749 raberodney@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university cebu city, philippines antoniette m. almaden http://oricd.org/0000-0002-3972-7501 antoniettealmaden@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university cebu city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract .online shopping platforms have prompted vital changes in several aspects of the digital market, yet the reasons why consumers buy online are still not clear. driven by technological advancements and evolving consumer demand, online shopping has been remodeled through various e-commerce platforms vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.717 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:marizbabella9963@gmail.com mailto:raberodney@gmail.com mailto:antoniettealmaden@gmail.com 87 international peer reviewed journal that were progressing even before the coronavirus pandemic began. the study examined the consumers’ behavior whether there were significant changes in the metropolitan cebu residents’ online shopping behavior within the context of the community quarantine period. descriptive method and convenience sampling technique were used to determine the determinants of the 543 randomly selected participants’ consumer behavior, online shopping perception, and online purchasing challenges experienced during the quarantine. the selected factors to be explored are personal, social, psychological, cultural, and how they affect consumer behavior towards online shopping. based on the aforementioned examines, it has been found out that almost 20.1 percent of the respondents had not changed their online shopping habits since the quarantine began. around 59.5 percent increased their spending online, and 20.4 percent of the respondents have decreased their online spending during the quarantine. as metropolitan cebu has already transitioned to the mgcq phase, 71.3% of the respondents were expected to continue their online shopping activity to a more sustainable and conscious online product spending after the coronavirus pandemic. .keywords — social science, consumer buying behavior, descriptive method, electronic commerce, metro cebu residents, philippines introduction . in the twenty-first century, trade and commerce have been so diversified that multichannel has taken place, and online shopping has increased (johnson, gustafsson, andreassen, lervik, & cha,  2001). in recent years, technological changes have significantly influenced of consumption as the customer journey has transitioned to include more interaction on digital platforms that complement interaction in physical stores (malter, holbrook, kahn, parker, & lehmann, 2020). in which this generation, the consumer is engaged to an e-commerce platform. the evolution of the internet of things and its boundless worldwide impact were the basis for outreaching entrepreneurship to the new spheres of influence. electronic commerce (abbreviated e-commerce) permitted companies, regardless its size, to sell without the stipulation to set up brick-and-mortar stores. businesses using the internet gained a new dimension of communication with the other businesses and organizations (tekin, i̇nce, etlioğlu, koyuncuoğlu, & tekin, 2018). according to almaden and sombilon (2020) online shopping from various e-commerce platforms is no longer a niche to metro cebu residents. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311975.2018.1514940 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311975.2018.1535751 88 jpair multidisciplinary research it has become an integral part of normal modern life, making consumers tend to purchase goods through online channels as one means of personal protection from acquiring the coronavirus disease. hence, this study seeks to understand if the coronavirus pandemic has changed the online buying behavior of the metro cebu residents. the internet is developing rapidly, and while its popularity is growing, more and more users become familiar with it and adopt it as a medium to search for information and shop online (hill & beatty, 2011; pan, chaipoopirutana & combs, 2010; farag et al., 2007). this section summarizes the determinants that construct the consumer behavior, the online purchasing perception, and online purchasing challenges during the quarantine period. kannaiah and shanthi (2015) studied and identified that “there has been a dramatic change in the way consumers have altered their way of shopping. although consumers continue to purchase from a physical store, consumers feel very convenient to shop online since it frees them from personally visiting the store. internet shopping has its advantages, and it reduces the effort of traveling to a physical store. decisions can be made from home at ease, looking at various choices and prices can be easily compared with the competitor’s products to arrive at a decision. this study highlights student’s attitudes towards online shopping and their product preference for online shopping. this enables the e-retailers to support their online customer better by developing a suitable marketing strategy to attract and convert potential customers as active customers by efficiently encouraging them to make a purchase decision. .howard and sheth (1969) proposed one of the earliest models of consumer behavior. the model integrates various social, psychological, and marketing influences on consumer choice and analyzes purchasing behavior. factors affecting consumers buying decisions are rooted in psychology with dashes of sociology and its influences from groups such as family, friends, and society in general (kumar & babu, 2014). a consumer making a purchase decision will be affected by the following three factors (1) personal factors “demographics are an important set of factors that marketers should not overlook when trying to understand and respond to consumers. demographics include variables such as age, gender, income level, educational attainment, and marital status. each of these can have a strong influence on consumer behavior.” (2) psychological factors “the psychological factors that influence an individual’s decision to make a purchase are further categorized into the individual’s motivations, perceptions, learning, and beliefs, and attitudes (callwood, 2013). (3) cultural factors “culture 89 international peer reviewed journal involves society’s thoughts, words, traditions, language, materials, attitudes, and feelings. one of the elements that make culture is beliefs. beliefs of the people in a community can show similarities. geographical regions and religions are essential in the formation of sub-culture. the preferences of individuals who live very close to each other can be different. individuals belonging to different sub-culture values, attitudes, and social structures of the members of other subculture. these differences, sub-cultural segmentation of the market activity. it is important to know the sub-culture characteristics in creating the marketing mix price, brand name identification, promotional activities, and product positioning” (durmaz, celik, & oruç, 2011). today’s advancement in the internet implies a change in consumer behavior. shopping online has now become a common form for the purchase of goods. though internet shopping is convenient with no restriction of time and space, it also possesses hidden risks compared to traditional shopping through solid shops. tsu-zu (2010) states that quality issues, and product quality are some of the online shopping problems of consumers. when purchasing online, there is no guarantee of the quality of the products because consumers based only on online product reviews where sometimes it can’t be relied on. many e-commerce websites just function as seller’s aggregator. paymente-commerce websites allow the consumer to pay through different modes like credit cards, debit cards, inline banking, other than cash on delivery. sometimes, an unstable internet connection makes the amount debited to the consumer’s account but not credited to the seller’s account. so consumers prefer cash on delivery but could not order due it does not apply to the website. delivery and logisticslong delivery of an item is one of the problems faced by the consumer. e-commerce sites tracking systems are not accurate. due to community lockdown, all delivery is affected where a lot of people turn into online shopping. many items are delivered delayed to consumers. return or wrong item received, as pandemic began, the number of damaged packages has increased. many consumers turn into online shopping, but fewer delivery drivers and fewer trucks so items stocked and become damaged. objectives of the study .the main objectives of the research study are (1) to determine the grounds whether there were significant changes in the metro cebu residents’ online shopping behavior before and during the coronavirus pandemic, (2) to identify the underlying factors affecting consumers buying behavior during the pandemic, 90 jpair multidisciplinary research and (3) to recognize the challenges and consequences consumers faced in online buying through greater utilization of online shopping platforms during the coronavirus pandemic. methodology to succeed in the research objectives, researchers used the descriptive method to describe the facts and characteristics of the metro cebu population’s online buying behavior systematically before and during the coronavirus pandemic, factually and accurately. the present study adopted the convenience sampling technique implemented through the use of google forms administered to the 543 randomly selected online shopping buyers from metro cebu residents selected to represent the diverse population of metro cebu, conducted from october 28 until november 30, 2020. the survey questionnaire was divided into four sections, section 1 was designed to seek the demographic profile of the respondents, including gender, age, location, civil status, education level, employment status, and monthly household income. section 2 was created to explore whether there were significant changes in the respondent’s online shopping habits, the challenges faced in shopping online, and factors that influenced metro cebu resident’s online shopping behavior before and during the coronavirus pandemic. in section 3, there were eight items containing the overall online shopping satisfaction experience in online shopping platforms used by consumers in terms of quality of products, diversity of product offerings, after-sales service, delivery time, order tracking capability, product pricing, promotions, sales, and discounts, and inquiry, dispute, and returns responses. the last section contained the consumer’s insights regarding its understanding and implications of their buying behavior post-pandemic. the collected data from the survey were then analyzed using descriptive statistics to transform the raw data into an analyzable format, hence, enabled accuracy and interpretation of the data collected. .the researchers used a framework inspired and advocated by kotler et al. (2005) design, as shown in figure 1. 91 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. conceptual framework of the consumer online buying behavior results and discussion one of the most popular online activities of filipinos is online shopping. with the advent of new e-commerce channels and digital globalization, more and more people opt to purchase goods online. the present coronavirus pandemic significantly affects the traditional shopping experience. lockdowns are imposed in the cities and municipalities of metro cebu. social distancing was strictly implemented. these changes have a direct impact on the online buying behavior of the residents of metro cebu. personal characteristics demographics play a crucial contribution in asserting the change of purchasing behavior of the respondents attributed to the global pandemic. table 1. distribution of sample according to gender variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent gender male 178 32.78% 32.78% female 365 67.22% 100.00% total 543 100%   . 92 jpair multidisciplinary research to develop an understanding of the research study, a composition of 543 randomly selected respondents were gathered. the majority belongs to the female group, which has a percentage of 67.22% and 32.78% are male respondents. with the advanced development of technology, both genders seem to have equivalent resources and equal access to the internet. however, the results supported the view that the gender differences in online shopping exist in this generation. table 2. distribution of sample according to age variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent age range 13-18 years old 55 10.13% 10.13% 18-25 years old 211 38.86% 48.99% 26-35 years old 203 37.38% 86.37% 36-45 years old 52 9.58% 95.95% above 45 years old 22 4.05% 100.00% total 543 100%   .with reference to the age of the sample respondents, a percentage of 38.86% belongs to18-25 years old, slightly higher than sample residents within the age range of 26-35 years old, constituting 37.38% of the total sample. the majority of filipinos who shop online are between the ages of 18 to 31—members of gen z and millennials who are tech-savvy and prolific social media users (charm, 2020). undeniably, online shopping has developed a vital outlet for the consumption of adolescents expressing their personality and independence. social media participation also can offer adolescents deeper benefits that extend into their view of self, community, and the world (o’keefe & clark-pearson, 2011). teenagers always gravitate towards online shopping due to strong social media presence and compelling online cues from immediate influencers such as their family, friends, classmates, etc. with content most appealing to this social group affecting their buying behavior and make an online purchase. 93 international peer reviewed journal table 3. distribution of sample according to civil status variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent civil status single 371 68.32% 68.32% married 167 30.76% 99.08% annulled 3 0.55% 99.63% separated 0 0.00% 99.63% widowed 2 0.37% 100.00% total 543 100%   . other prevalent characteristics of the respondents are being singled, constituting about 68.32% of the sample. there is a rapid increase in the number of single consumers and smaller households in metro cebu. this makes this demographic factor a major consumer market. based on the data gathered, from 371 single respondents, 247 respondents (66.58%) belongs to the female group, and 124 respondents (33.42%) are male. single individuals are often self-conscious and value individualism. the development of digital technology and social media fostered the independence and autonomy of single consumers because face-to-face engagement is no longer needed. table 4. distribution of sample based on location variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent location city of carcar 11 2.03% 2.03% cebu city (capital) 269 49.54% 51.57% danao city 7 1.29% 52.85% lapu-lapu city 66 12.15% 65.01% mandaue city 30 5.52% 70.53% city of naga 13 2.39% 72.93% toledo city 14 2.58% 75.51% city of talisay 43 7.92% 83.43% cebu province 90 16.57% 100.00% total 543 100.00%   . with the total population of cebu, the majority of survey respondents are from cebu city (capital), which has a percentage of 49.5%, next to provincial provinces of cebu (16.6%) and lapu-lapu city (12.2%), respectively. for highly 94 jpair multidisciplinary research urbanized cities such as cebu city (capital), it is projected that this will have the highest number of respondents in this research study. table 5. distribution of sample based on company sector, employment status, and work arrangement variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent company sector public sector 115 21.18% 21.18% private sector 369 67.96% 89.13% not-for-profit sector 59 10.87% 100.00% total 543 100% employment status employed full time 332 61.14% 61.14% self-employed 40 7.37% 68.51% student 99 18.23% 86.74% unemployed looking for work 28 5.16% 91.90% employed part-time 14 2.58% 94.48% unemployed and not looking for work 11 2.03% 96.50% others 19 3.50% 100.00% total 543 100%   current work arrangement work from home 289 53.22% 53.22% work in the office 254 46.78% 100.00% total 543 100.00%   . coronavirus pandemic causes more serious downside risk to the global economy. employed individuals, especially from the private sectors, are jeopardized by losing their jobs due to the stoppage of operations mandated by the government, instigating deep financial loss for several businesses, particularly in the service industry. schools are temporarily closed, affecting many students as well. the survey respondents comprise mostly 61.14%, full-time employees, 18.23% were identified as students, and about 7.37% are self-employed individuals. 67.96% are from the private sector, and 21.18% are employees from the government. alternative working arrangements were adopted in response to 95 international peer reviewed journal the growing cases of the spread of coronavirus. some of the residents still work in the office (53.22%), and some work in the comfort of their homes (46.78%). results show that their current work arrangement influences 70.7% of the sample respondents’ decision from buying products online during the quarantine. table 6. distribution of sample based on education and monthly income variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent education bachelor’s degree 373 68.69% 68.69% some college, no degree 44 8.10% 76.80% less than a high school diploma 25 4.60% 81.40% associate degree 8 1.47% 82.87% master’s degree 27 4.97% 87.85% doctorate 5 0.92% 88.77% high school degree or equivalent 51 9.39% 98.16% professional degree 3 0.55% 98.71% vocational/technical school 7 1.29% 100.00% total 543 100%   household monthly income under 10,000 pesos 109 20.07% 20.07% 10,000 20,000 pesos 211 38.86% 58.93% 21,000 30,000 pesos 80 14.73% 73.66% 31,000 40,000 pesos 40 7.37% 81.03% 41,000 50,000 pesos 20 3.68% 84.71% above 50,000 pesos 83 15.29% 100.00% total 543 100.00%   . table 6 shows that a large percentage of the sample respondents attained a bachelor’s degree constituting 68.69%. also, 9.39% have high school degrees, and 8.10% attended college but don’t have a degree. in terms of household monthly income, survey shows that the level of income of respondents and with the highest percentage have a range between 10,000-20,000 pesos, which is 38.86% of respondents and next is 20.07% of respondents have income level under 10,000 and 15.29% respondents have an income level of above 50,000.00 96 jpair multidisciplinary research pesos. buying online is interconnected with educational attainment and income level. education influences how we view our environment. when it comes to purchases, education plays an essential part in the level we perceive things. the more a person achieves a higher level of education, the more level of judgment and sensitivity they employ in a purchase decision. consumers are not relying on ads alone but evidence as well. an educated customer would weigh his options carefully before going for a purchase. education makes customers deliberate, observe and examine the product more. social influences studies show that filipino spends an average of nine hours and forty-five minutes  online, according to the annual digital 2020 report (digital, 2020). a majority of all residents have social media accounts. filipinos were branded as technology savvy. this fact exposes them to online shopping platforms; thus e-commerce industry is in positive advantage. it was figured through analysis that 86.4% have been doing online shopping before the pandemic has begun, and 13.6% have not been doing any online activity before the pandemic. in addition, 42% of the sample respondents have been shopping online for the past six months, while 28% have been doing online shopping for 1 to 3 years purchasing items online for themselves and their family members. the period falls when the coronavirus cases are still very high and this confirms that in the period of quarantine and lockdown, 90.1% of the respondents have been doing online shopping. both essential goods and non-essentials are purchased online with a percentage of 45.9%. 97 international peer reviewed journal table 7. distribution of sample based on product purchased online variable valid percent products bought online apparel/clothing/fashion 43.60% food/groceries 41.10% cosmetic and personal care 34.10% shoes 25.40% electronics 19.50% phones and tablet accessories 17.90% kitchen tools 17.10% kids stuffs 14.25% books 14.20% health and safety essentials 13.60% home appliances 13.10% sports equipment and apparels 12.90% hobbies and crafts 12.30% tools and hardware 11% vitamins/supplements 11% travel essentials/accessories 10.30% games & game console 9% pet accessories 8.30% home and garden tools 6.40% cd/dvd/entertainment gadgets 6.10% car accessories 5.25% .since most of the respondents are in the female group, the top purchases revealed that 43.6% of the purchases appeared to be apparel or clothing goods. next in rank is consumer goods such as food and groceries which is 41.1%, and cosmetics or personal care comes after having a percentage of 34.1%. shopping is considered a female activity. to keep a sense of masculinity, some men avoid going shopping. (campbell 1997). the average monthly spending in online shopping is under php 3,000.00, constituting 79.4% of the sample respondents, and 14.5% spend more than php 3,000-5,000. shoppers tend to purchase goods 98 jpair multidisciplinary research through online channels as a means of personal protection by the virus infection. as we respond and adjust to the changes in our basic lifestyle brought about by the global pandemic, it is apparent that there is a shift in consumer preference and behavior when it comes to shopping in-person (offline) and online. table 8. distribution of sample based on frequency (before & after) variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent frequency of online purchase before the pandemic once in 2-3months 308 56.72% 56.72% monthly 128 23.57% 80.29% weekly 86 15.84% 96.13% daily 21 3.87% 100.00% total 543 100% frequency of online purchase after the pandemic once in 2-3months 183.00 33.70% 33.70% monthly 206.00 37.94% 71.64% weekly 125.00 23.02% 94.66% daily 29.00 5.34% 100.00% total 543.00 100.00%   . through assessment, before the pandemic, the survey shows that 56.72% of the respondents purchase online once in every 2-3 months and 23.57% have a monthly purchase. further analysis confirmed that when the coronavirus pandemic started when quarantine and lockdown are imposed, a significant shift happened. respondents with monthly frequency increased to 37.94%, which is 14.3% higher before the pandemic happened. weekly and daily purchases of our respondents also increased by 7.20% and 1.4%, respectively. this increase shows that cebuano’s are inclined to purchase online because the government had imposed closure to all non-essential businesses like malls. the crossing of city borders is strictly monitored. peers and family members are practicing social distancing and wanted to minimize their time outside of their homes. 99 international peer reviewed journal table 9. distribution of sample based on online shopping spending variable frequency valid percent cumulative percent variation in online spending increases my online spending 323 59.48% 59.48% decreases my online spending 111 20.44% 79.93% nothing has changed since the pandemic 109 20.07% 100.00% total 543 100.00%   . respondents are then asked about the changes in their online shopping during the quarantine. more than half of the respondents, which is 59.4%, believed they increased their online spending. while 20.44% said, their online purchases decreased and 20.07% confirmed that their purchases online didn’t change. there is this understanding of how they view themselves as a consumer during this pandemic. how they perceived themselves in their spending towards online shopping shows how rational the consumers can be in this time of pandemic. psychological factors table 10. distribution of sample that influences consumer to purchase products online before and during quarantine period (top 10) variable frequency influences to purchase before the pandemic quarantine period convenience 51.40% time-saving 36.80% need/requirement 35.20% the attractiveness of the product 30.60% a deep personal desire 29.10% value for money 16.10% fear and safety 12.20% peer recommendation 10.70% exclusiveness 3.90% 100 jpair multidisciplinary research variable frequency influences to purchase during the quarantine period lockdown 58.40% stay at home 46.40% convenient cash on delivery 39% less waste of time 26.50% product branding’ 24.70% lower delivery charge 23.80% suitable/reasonable price 23.20% product features 21.50% interest and hobby 14% . prior to the covid19 pandemic, 51.4% of the consumer would transact online mainly because of the convenience it brings, which was evident in the percentage of data gathered. residents always turn online to procure things because of the conveniences it offers. another reason, according to the research, data says 36.8% agree it saves their time by transacting online, which is also, again, a convenience factor. the consumer’s sensitivity was pertaining to online transactions surges because of the high level of fear during the peak of the pandemic. supplementary analysis proves that consumer motivation has a dramatic shift during the coronavirus pandemic. these influences are changed primarily because of the lockdown of the sitios and barangays, according to 58.40% of the surveyed respondents. next to which is because of stay at home implementation by the government officials, which is 46.4% and also because of the convenience it brought to the consumers (39%), which as mentioned is the main reason people turn online before the pandemic, comes in third in the survey. culture and sub-culture influences .mall ceases to operate to abide by government implementing rules and regulations during a pandemic. businesses are making management decisions to reconsider and re-assess digital content marketing and offering to meet the demand of the consumers. exponentially, business embarks on digital transformation and uses online social media platforms and other channels to sell products and services. this is crucial for businesses to reach out to their target 101 international peer reviewed journal markets, especially where transportations are constricted, and lockdown isolation is the urge to the public. cebuanos highly favored shoppee as their primary online selling channel with 80.7% frequency. next in ranked is facebook market or groups with 49.5%, very close results with food delivery providers such as grab & foodpanda who got 45.15%. prominent online shopping platforms in the philippines are dominated by an unrestricted supplier to the cross-border seller like shoppee and lazada. regarding the payment method, it is noteworthy that residents of metro cebu constantly preferred cash on delivery (cod) whether before and during the pandemic and most likely will still be even after. filipino’s habitual influence is to always pay in cash despite the alternatives to opt for cashless transactions. it is a filipino trait to make sure that good and services are delivered before paying just for assurance even though cashless transactions are preferred and advised during the pandemic to avoid face to face interaction with logistics employees. challenges and consequences .it was imparted how online shopping sites provide conveniences to the consumers. however, some negative aspects are also present and cannot be avoided. 65.2% of the respondents have a negative experience regarding online shopping, regardless of whether it is before or after the pandemic. numerous account by consumers that is 38.9% says that delayed deliveries are the main ground of such unfortunate incident. logistics companies are heavily wounded when lockdown measures are implemented. because of the strict cross-border monitoring and alternative work arrangements, logistics companies experience a bottleneck in product delivery to their consumers. consumer’s online buying experience satisfaction the inferences of the data, when analyzed, showcases a few significant factors driving the satisfaction of the customers in their experience based on online shopping. respondents are mostly satisfied with their online shopping experiences in several factors. survey says that 61% are satisfied with the quality of the products received. in addition, 61.3% say that they are satisfied with their online shopping experience regarding the diversity of product offerings. when it comes to the services being provided, 63% agree that they are satisfied. the delivery lead time of the products is also considered as 54.5% the consumer are satisfied with it. to track availability and product pricing, consumers are satisfied with it with a frequency of 59.7% and 59.5%, respectively. due to the numerous 102 jpair multidisciplinary research benefits online shopping sites offer, data gathered reveals that consumers’ interest increases. with that in mind, data says 58.4% of the respondents are satisfied in terms of promotions, sales, and discounts by prominent shopping sites. and also, 51.2% are satisfied with the terms of inquiry/dispute/returns response from seller or shop. post-pandemic consumer’s outlook .there are implicit drawbacks of this global pandemic. businesses must reassess their current financial situation and adapt to new consumer needs cause these consequences might be carried out for the next decade. consumer buying behavior has gone through a tough transformation and old habits may or may not come back. 71.3% of the respondents are still willing to transact online after the pandemic. online shopping is no longer a niche in filipino activity. it became an integral part of our normal modern life as a consumer. in effect, 66.1% of the respondents say chances are their online purchasing behavior will now shift towards buying essential goods only and 33.9% says they will just buy whatever they want. furthermore, research shows that consumer spending habits that will permanently change after the covid-19 crisis are influenced by making more sustainable choices, says 24.7% of the respondents and 19.9% confirms that they will shop more consciously in terms of cost. demonstrating adjustments in consumer buying behavior will likely persist long after the pandemic. the global crisis also causes consumers to reflect more genuinely about health and environmental impacts in their shopping decisions and choices. conclusions .from all the above, it is clear that the community quarantine period in metro cebu has certainly changed the consumer’s online shopping behavior when many non-essential physical stores have been forced to close, reduced or rationed stock and social distancing requirement were strictly observed. overall, it is obvious that the pandemic greatly influenced the consumer’s perception online and contributed to their purchase decision regardless of the challenges identified in online shopping. due to the implemented quarantine measures, consumer’s behavior shows variations. consumers behave differently in confinement times and discomfort situations, which resulted from them to continuing their online shopping motives even in the new normal era. there were few limitations of the study. the 543 respondents were considered the sample size of the entire metro 103 international peer reviewed journal cebu population, which is relatively small for generalizations. however, as the population progresses, we assume there will not be such a dramatic difference between its demographic characteristics in terms of online purchases. also, the larger sample size probably provides us with different results, as other overlooked patterns vary with the increased number of the sample size. the last limitation we consider to be important is the consciousness of the samples regarding the factors themselves, as some of them might affect consumer’s behavior subconsciously without them noticing the factor changed their decision. if further attempts were to be made to examine the consumer’s online buying behavior intensively, it would be interesting to (1) increase the sample size so we can contribute with more general results regarding online buying behavior, (2) conduct a connected user study to compare questionnaire results with real user application behavior when it comes to evaluating factors affecting online buying behavior, and finally; and (4) monitor the trends and changes in user behavior and find new buying behavioral pattern over time. translational research .the research study can be best communicated for adaption and improvement by various stakeholders like the government, marketing, advertising businesses, social media and e-commerce developers, psychological and behavioral practitioners, and social communities. these stakeholders embrace passionate opinions fronting various businesses to prospective innovations and technological advances. the study on consumer behavior during pandemic focuses on the basic principles and theory and explores common predicament and practices by the residents of metro cebu. a regulation can be strategizing the government to safeguard consumers and help evaluate products online, especially during a pandemic. it is important that the consumer guarantee a governing body prioritizing demands judged by business with technical implication and relevance. marketing and advertising businesses can use alternative methods in promoting and selling products to consumers. e-commerce developers can best-utilized data in proposing innovative online purchase experiences and convenience during the pandemic. developing an advance comprehensive e-commerce platform that governing agencies can scrutinize consumer responses. practitioners can adapt and improve new context and discipline for filling the gaps and efforts in consumer behavior. understanding ease of use during new normal and perceived risk can be addressed to alleviate worries in the social communities 104 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(2010). online shopping contract and consumer protection. retrieved from https://ir.nctu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/107633/1/7_1_5. pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2018.1514940 https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550510581458 https://ir.nctu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/107633/1/7_1_5.pdf https://ir.nctu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/107633/1/7_1_5.pdf 127 international peer reviewed journal contribution of professional teachers to the local economy of cebu city, philippines antoniette m. almaden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-7501 antoniette.almaden@cit.edu cebu institute of technology – university natalio bacalso avenue, cebu city, cebu, philippines jan roel a. herbieto http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9856-2826 janroel.herbieto@cit.edu cebu institute of technology – university natalio bacalso avenue, cebu city, cebu, philippines mila mae l. velasco http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7220-2320 milamae.velasco@cit.edu cebu institute of technology – university natalio bacalso avenue, cebu city, cebu, philippines originality: 98% • grammarly: 99% • plagiarism: 2% abstract a yoga teacher deems professional when remuneration is generated from teaching and guiding students on the path of yoga, including the practices of pranayama, meditation, and asana. this study intends to determine whether professional yoga teachers contribute an economic value in terms of employment and income tax to the local economy of cebu. this study used the quantitative research method. about ten professional yoga teachers certified by yoga alliance, vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.402 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:antoniette.almaden@cit.edu mailto:janroel.herbieto@cit.edu mailto:milamae.velasco@cit.edu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 128 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 vinyasa yoga academy, mudra school, and world peace yoga school participated in the online survey. economic evaluation tools such as break-even and costbenefit analysis were applied to determine the cash flows generated between the investment (cost) incurred from acquiring the certification of a registered yoga teacher (ryt) and the earnings (benefit) generated from yoga classes conducted. it was discovered that a registered yoga teacher earns an average pay of php165 or usd 2.9216 per hour per student derived from the 60/40 profit-sharing principle. given the fixed cost of acquiring the ryt-200 certification and the estimated monthly earnings, part-time professional yoga teachers would need at least six months, and full-time would need at least two months to break even. the cost-benefit ratio indicates that the cash flows generated were viable since cbr >1; for each 1-peso value in the teacher’s training certification and equipment costs, 2.07 peso benefits for part-time and 6.70 pesos for full-time were generated. therefore, professional yoga teachers were expected to create incremental economic value contributions to the local economy of cebu. keywords — business, yoga, economic value, quantitative method, breakeven and cost-benefit analysis, professional registered yoga teacher introduction the development of yoga can be traced back 5,000 years ago to the indussarasvati civilization in northern india until it was slowly refined and developed by the mystic seers who documented the practices and beliefs. along with the discipline’s development and spread, many names were described as gurus. among the commonly known names is maharishi pantanjali, or “the father of yoga,” which still strongly influenced most styles of today’s modern yoga. apart from all the physical aspects of the practice, yoga also delves into different disciplines and philosophies that assist practitioners in mastering the mind and body (ancient yoga academy, n.d.). a yoga teacher is a fitness and wellness professional who leads group yoga classes (indeed editorial team, 2019), teaches students how to perform various stretching poses, practice meditation, and promote mindfulness and overall well-being (spiritual touch therapy, n.d.). approximately 54% of people begin yoga to relieve stress, with 52% practicing to improve physical and emotional health. over time, the discipline is being passed down, mostly from teacher to student, and became increasingly popular worldwide where sectarian yoga organizations, nonsectarian classes, and programs like yoga alliance were founded solely to recognize yoga schools and teachers with effective business practices. though yoga originated in india, 129 international peer reviewed journal many countries worldwide have claimed it as their own. about 300 million yoga practitioners are attending various classes worldwide. in comparison, only 100 thousand yoga practitioners were registered as yoga teachers with the yoga alliance (yogi times, 2022). as yoga has become increasingly mainstream, the value of the yoga market has grown beyond expectations. the yoga industry has remarkably contributed to the global economic market of $80 billion worth, which is forecasted to reach $66.2 billion by 2027 and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% from 2021 to 2027 (the good body, 2022). although yoga has been around for decades, the evolution of the practice has created an industry of dedicated yoga teachers and practitioners. back in the day, the philippines lacked yoga studios and certified registered yoga teachers to cater to the rising number of individuals and groups wanting to practice yoga. the first yoga studio in alabang was established in 2005 and has influenced many aspiring yoga practitioners. it has pushed the yoga craze to greater heights and produced a total population of 86 registered yoga teachers. seven came from metro cebu, certified by the yoga alliance in the philippines (newswires, 2021). as time goes by, the popularity of yoga in metro cebu has been well accepted as a lifestyle, and business has been expanded from a single group of classes inside the fitness gyms to various yoga classes in several studios across the city (yoga alliance, n.d.). today, from a peaceful and detached spiritual activity, yoga has evolved into a growing industry, with practitioners and enterprises reaping the business status rewards. presently, more and more people are shifting towards their health and well-being, and the yoga industry offers practices and classes to sate these shifts (yogi times, 2022). this industry promotes each other, like how the yoga industry causes the rise of spending on activewear and other healthy well-being resources. this trend has already reached the philippines and is being observed offline and online, especially in cebu (zuckerman, 2020). there is undoubtedly a demand for connected products and services as the number of yoga practitioners grows. the yoga industry is estimated to be valued at about $88 billion. by 2025, the yoga industry will be worth a staggering $215 billion. this data demonstrates that the global yoga industry is expanding and that yoga trends are continuously diversifying (yogi times, 2022). several barriers to the yoga industry have been considered challenging, which could constitute potential explanations for the lack of primary data on total economic value contributions, such as employment and income. further, the yoga industry is still part of the informal sector; hence a professional yoga teacher is classified as independent or self-employed. we address this gap by quantitatively investigating the wages or earnings of part-time and full-time 130 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 professional yoga teachers (ryt). thus, our investigation may help researchers, stakeholders, and government agencies develop and compile the yoga industry statistics and data crucial to demographics and socio-economic underrepresented in both the yoga profession and yoga research. framework this research study intends to determine whether professional yoga teachers contribute an economic value in terms of employment and income tax to the local economy of cebu. to our awareness, this is the first local economic value contribution report focused on the yoga industry. figure 1 displays the schema of the economic and non-economic value of the yoga profession. figure 1. value of the yoga profession presently, nine registered yoga schools in the philippines offer the minimum designation an aspiring yoga practitioner can enroll. among the nine registered schools certified by yoga alliance, only the mindful yoga cebu school offers the minimum 200-hour yoga teacher training in metro cebu, producing already 70 aspiring yoga teachers since 2020. a registered yoga teacher (ryt) certificate is earned by yoga teachers whose internships and teaching experience meet the yoga alliance standards that are recognized internationally that stand as a marker of high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching (yoga alliance, n.d.). an aspiring yoga practitioner must be certified from a comprehensive training curriculum before teaching yoga to the general public to ensure a solid knowledge foundation for yoga practice and philosophy. much like how different associations oversee the standards for a specialized field, the yoga alliance maintains the minimum requirements for yoga teachers. yoga alliance is a nonprofit organization that tracks registered yoga teachers (ryts) and registered yoga schools (ryss). granted with the minimum designation of ryt title, a implications 131 international peer reviewed journal professional yoga teachers (ryt). thus, our investigation may help researchers, stakeholders, and government agencies develop and compile the yoga industry statistics and data crucial to demographics and socio-economic underrepresented in both the yoga profession and yoga research. framework this research study intends to determine whether professional yoga teachers contribute an economic value in terms of employment and income tax to the local economy of cebu. to our awareness, this is the first local economic value contribution report focused on the yoga industry. figure 1 displays the schema of the economic and non-economic value of the yoga profession. figure 1. value of the yoga profession presently, nine registered yoga schools in the philippines offer the minimum designation an aspiring yoga practitioner can enroll. among the nine registered schools certified by yoga alliance, only the mindful yoga cebu school offers the minimum 200-hour yoga teacher training in metro cebu, producing already 70 aspiring yoga teachers since 2020. a registered yoga teacher (ryt) certificate is earned by yoga teachers whose internships and teaching experience meet the yoga alliance standards that are recognized internationally that stand as a marker of high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching (yoga alliance, n.d.). an aspiring yoga practitioner must be certified from a comprehensive training curriculum before teaching yoga to the general public to ensure a solid knowledge foundation for yoga practice and philosophy. much like how different associations oversee the standards for a specialized field, the yoga alliance maintains the minimum requirements for yoga teachers. yoga alliance is a nonprofit organization that tracks registered yoga teachers (ryts) and registered yoga schools (ryss). granted with the minimum designation of ryt title, a implications yoga teacher has completed a comprehensive program and is deemed fit to teach a yoga class. table 1, presently, about seven registered yoga teachers are trained in mindful yoga cebu school and certified by yoga alliance (asheville yoga center, n.d.). table 1. estimates of professional registered yoga teachers (ryt) in cebu certified by yoga alliance certification f m total e-ryt 500 1 1 2 ryt 200 3 3 ryt 500 1 1 e-ryt 200, ryt 500 1 1 total 7 exhibit 1 presents the various certification classifications registered with yoga alliance. aspiring yoga practitioners can start with the minimum designation to earn an ryt200 certification by completing 200 hours of classroom training (yoga alliance, n.d.). certification training requirements teaching requirements ryt 200 ✓ completed a 200-hour teacher training with an rys 200 that is registered with yoga alliance none ryt 500 ✓ completed a 500-hour teacher training with an rys 500, or ✓ completed a 200-hour teacher training with an rys 200 plus an additional 300 hours of training with either the same rys or a different rys registered as an rys 300 ✓ has at least 100 hours of teaching experience since completing training with an rys 200 or rys 500 *advanced training is defined as training requiring participants to complete a 200-hour training. e-ryt 200 ✓ completed a 200-hour teacher training with an rys 200 ✓ has at least 1,000 hours of teaching experience since completing training with an rys 200 ✓ has taught for at least two years since completing training with an rys 200 132 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 e-ryt 500 ✓ completed a 500-hour teacher training with an rys 500, or ✓ completed a 200-hour teacher training with an rys 200 plus an additional 300-hour teacher training with either the same rys (if it is registered as an rys 300) or a different rys 300 ✓ has at least 2,000 hours of teaching experience since completing the training with an rys 200 or rys 500. also, 500 of these hours must be taught after training with an rys 300 or 500. ✓ has taught for at least four years since completing training with an rys 200 or rys 500. or ✓ meets experienced teacher pathway criteria. *advanced training is defined as training requiring participants to complete a 200-hour training. exhibit 1. yoga alliance certification classification source: teachers | yoga alliance. adapted from https://www.yogaalliance.org/credentialing/credentials_for_ teachers objectives of the study this study intends to determine whether professional yoga teachers contribute an economic value in terms of employment and income tax to the local economy of cebu. specifically, this research aims to: 1. determine the demographic profiles of professional yoga teachers. 2. analyze the economic value using the break-even and cost-benefit analysis. 3. determine the implications of both the economic and non-economic value. https://www.yogaalliance.org/credentialing/credentials_for_teachers https://www.yogaalliance.org/credentialing/credentials_for_teachers 133 international peer reviewed journal table 2. variables/parameters for each specific objective specific objectives variables/parameters 1. determine the demographic profiles of professional yoga teachers. demographic profiles: gender, age, educational attainment, years of teaching yoga. 2. analyze the economic value using the break-even and cost-benefit analysis. duration of classes, the average number of students, certification cost, equipment cost, wages or earnings, and employment status. 3. determine the implications of both the economic and non-economic value. employment, income tax, health and wellness perceptions, and strategies. methodology before the study was conducted, an intent letter addressed to the owner of the mindful yoga cebu school was submitted. an informed consent document was incorporated in the prepared online survey questionnaire conducted through google forms during the third quarter of 2021. about ten professional yoga teachers certified by yoga alliance, vinyasa yoga academy, mudra school, and world peace yoga school accepted and voluntarily participated in the survey. this study was virtuously quantitative descriptive research in nature. however, due to the inadequate number of participants in the survey, a recorded in-depth interview was conducted through microsoft teams. about four of them willingly participated and further elaborated on their perception of employment opportunities, health and wellness, and strategies. the answers from the interview conducted were analyzed and presented using descriptive statistics. most of the basic demographic and economic information was elicited using close-ended questions, which were further analyzed using economic evaluation tools: costbenefit and break-even analysis. lastly, data gathering and analysis were completed four months ago due to the precedented disaster event last december 2021 that restricted our access to essential services. results and discussion demographic profiles were determined to understand the economic value of professional yoga teachers, including gender, age, educational attainment, years of teaching, and teaching status. these demographics pose a critical factor affecting entrepreneurship, job creation, and innovation in the economic aspect (almaden & sombilon, 2020). 134 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 3. the demographic characteristics of the sample studied n = 10 respondents frequency percentage (%) gender female 9 90% male 1 10% age 26 35 years old 8 80% 36 45 years old 1 10% above 45 years old 1 10% educational attainment bachelor’s degree (e.g., ba, bs) 7 70% master’s degree (e.g., ma, ms, med) 2 20% associate degree (e.g., aa, as) 1 10% years of teaching yoga 1 5 years 5 50% 6 10 years 3 30% less than a year 2 20% teaching status part-time yoga teacher 8 80% full-time yoga teacher 2 20% most yoga practitioners in metro cebu, with 90%, were predominantly female. a yoga in america study conducted in 2016 by yoga journal and yoga alliance found that, over five years, the number of people practicing yoga has grown from 20.4 to 36.7 million. the female and male ratio at a severely imbalanced 72% to 28% meant that women still dominated the class. although the practice was designed for anyone, women still dominate yoga despite both genders’ health and wellness benefits. according to cedric bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the american council on exercise, women are drawn to yoga because women are interested in the social aspects of working out and feel more comfortable with other people (huang, 2018). photos of women doing yoga dominate yoga magazines and social media platforms like facebook, instagram, and twitter accounts (satchidananda ashram-yogaville, inc., 2016). the highest response rate was found in the age group of 26-35 (80%), ranging from 26-46 years old, with a mean age of 35. this result proved that most yoga practitioners are teaching at a mid-career age, supported by the studies in the us, in which 27% of the yoga age group range was between 30-39. in the philippines, 135 international peer reviewed journal a bachelor’s degree is not required to teach yoga. however, a study in the usa showed that 69% of yoga instructors were bachelor’s degree holders, 14% of yoga instructors were master’s degree holders, and 10.5 % were associate degree holders. the remaining were instructors with the educational attainment of a college diploma or less (park et al., 2018). regardless of educational attainment, aspiring yoga practitioners must complete a specialized training or certificate program before becoming registered professional yoga teachers (zippia, n.d.). an analysis of data gathered in the us states that 67% of yoga teachers work less than 10 hours a week, and 37% work less than 5 hours a week. this data shows that the majority of yoga teachers are teaching part-time. it was also stated that yoga teachers with 0 to 4 years of experience earned the most, around $61,600 annually, while yoga teachers with 4 to 8 years of experience earned less with $52,900 annually. subsequently, yoga teachers that teach for more than eight years earn more with $60,200 annually (saal, 2019). it is speculated that newcomers expend more energy to earn more and that experienced yoga teachers are being paid more for their services in the long run (yogabaron, n.d.). employment is created due to the yoga industry’s growth in metro cebu. as for the record, the mindful yoga cebu school has continuously produced aspiring yoga teachers. in 2012, yoga was one of the fastest-growing industries in the us. information from ibis world showed that from 2002 to 2012, the pilates and yoga industry grew on average 12.1% per year and was very resistant to the recession by still experiencing growth in 2008 and 2009. the yoga market has grown globally and is projected to reach $66.2 billion by 2027 and is anticipated to have a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% from 2021 to 2027 (the good body, 2022). table 4. yoga studio class rate per session yoga studios rate per session teacher’s salary (60/40 rule) average student per session mindful yoga p250 p150 shares per student five students bliss yoga p300 p180 shares per student six students love yoga world p300 p180 shares per student ten students average rate p283 p170 shares per student seven students through in-depth interviews, it has been validated that prior to the pandemic, the yoga teachers in metro cebu earned an average of php 132 or usd 2.52 per student per hour studio rate. since the pandemic protocols lifted, the yoga classes studio in metro cebu has increased from php150 to php 250 per hourly session, leading to an average income share of php 170 or usd 3.04. through the social media platforms of the yoga studios, it has been observed, that 136 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 part-time yoga teacher spent an average of 1-4 hours a week, while full-time yoga teachers spent more than 5 hours a week. presented in table 4 were the surviving registered yoga studio business in cebu with their corresponding studio rate. an average studio rate per hour was based on the 60/40 profit-sharing principle. the 60% goes to the teacher’s salary, while the 40% goes to the employer. it showed that the average session rate from the identified yoga studios and teachers’ share per student was php 170 or usd 3.04. effective june 14, 2022, the current minimum wage rates in region vii, central visayas, per wage order no. rovii-23b for non-agriculture workers under class a geographic area is php 425 or usd 7.7299 for eight working hours per day. a regular corporate employee must work at least forty hours per week, while the average hours spent per week for part-time and full-time yoga teachers were only four and fifteen hours. with the introduction of the train law in the philippines, the minimum annual gross income taxed from an individual is php 250,000 or a monthly gross income of php 20,833.33 (department of labor and employment-national wages and productivity commission, 2022). under the labor code of the philippines, employees are entitled to monetary benefits such as minimum wage, 13th-month pay, and overtime pay, among many others. in addition, the labor code also requires employers to become members of the pag-ibig fund, phil health, and sss and remit monthly contributions on behalf of their employees to these government offices. furthermore, it must ensure that employees can access affordable house financing, health insurance, and social security benefits, as mandated by the law. however, in the case of the yoga industry, yoga teachers were not treated as corporate employees but rather as self-employed individuals who operate their businesses or trades and do not employ paid workers in the conduct of their economic activities. moreover, the yoga teachers worked on a commission basis, with irregular working hours and unrequired employment contracts. thus, yoga teachers do not receive government-mandated benefits or worker’s compensation (philippine statistics authority [psa], n.d.). regardless of the employment status, wages from the studio vary depending on the number of students per class. full-time yoga teachers have more class schedules than part-time, and the number of students is also affected by the quality of instruction that the teachers have offered them in the previous session or sessions from the one that recommended the class. once teaching experience in the studio was established, professional yoga teachers were invited to conduct corporate or private classes at least once weekly in a resort, company events, and other wellness activities. whether occasionally, yoga teachers receive much bigger earnings on average, from php 1,000 to 1,500 or usd 17.96 to 26.94 hourly. however, not all yoga teachers receive such additional earning opportunities. therefore, the equation excluded other corporate or private yoga class earnings 137 international peer reviewed journal to achieve a rational annual earnings computation for both employment statuses presented in table 5. table 5. annual earnings from conducting yoga classes in studio employment status studio (60/40) wage number of students per session number of sessions per week estimated monthly earnings estimated annual earnings from yoga studio part-time p 170.00 7 3 p 14,280.00 p 171,360.00 full-time p 170.00 7 10 p 47,600.00 p 571,200.00 comparing the result in table 5, to qualify for income tax requirements, a professional teacher must at least earn an annual income of php 250,000.00 (nwpc dole, 2022). however, based on the estimated annual earnings calculations, part-time yoga teachers did not qualify for the minimum wage bracket. in contrast, full-time yoga teachers qualify for the tax rate of 20 percent since their estimated annual earnings are above the minimum wage bracket. the yoga profession commenced when training and ryt-200 certification were acquired. the break-even analysis was applied to determine whether investing in the ryt-200 certification provides an economic value impact for those aspiring yoga teachers. the break-even point analysis determines the number of months a professional yoga teacher could generate revenue to cover the total cost of acquiring the ryt-200 certification, valued at p78,000.00. break-even equation: number of months = certification cost / estimated monthly earnings 138 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 figure 2. break-even point therefore, given the fixed cost of acquiring the ryt-200 certification and the estimated monthly earnings, the part-time professional yoga teacher would need to teach yoga classes with at least seven students and three sessions per week for 5.46 or approximately six months. at the same time, a full-time professional yoga teacher would need at least seven students and seven sessions per week for 1.64 or approximately two months to break even. table 6. total net income comparison between manila-based and cebu-based yoga teachers manila-based yoga teacher rate average per hour rate of yoga teacher average per hour rate of yoga teacher per month average bonus of yoga teacher per year total net income of yoga teacher per year rate difference between manila and metro cebu % rate difference between manila and metro cebu p 173.66 p 22,360.83 p 5,526.00 p 268,330.00 p 96,970.00 p 68.86% p 173.66 p 33,565.79 p 5,526.00 p 402,789.50 p(168,410.50) p141.81% table 7 compares the annual total net income between manila-based and cebu-based yoga teachers. the average yoga teacher’s gross salary in manila, 139 international peer reviewed journal philippines, is php 361,203 or usd 6,877.31 per annum or an equivalent hourly rate of php 174 or usd 3.313, which is 4% higher (+php 12,886) than the average yoga teacher’s salary in the philippines (salary expert, 2022). in addition, aside from the salary, the yoga teacher in manila receives an average bonus of php 5,526 or usd 105.22. salary estimates are based on salary survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous yoga teachers in manila, philippines. an entry-level yoga instructor with 1-3 years of teaching experience earns an average salary of php 268,330 or usd 5,109. conversely, a senior-level yoga instructor with more than eight years of yoga teaching experience earns an average salary of php 444,376 or usd 8,460.92. a part-time yoga teacher showed an annual net income rate of 63.86%, while a full-time yoga teacher showed 141.81%. the comparison revealed a considerable gap between part-time cebu teachers and manila teachers, but full-time cebu teachers earn more than the average manila teachers. on average, from the survey of 80% of part-time teachers and 20% of part-time teachers in metro cebu, the average annual earnings is around p 251,328.00 or $ 4,496.36, which is below the average income of yoga teachers in manila. one obvious evidence to be considered is the rising cost of living in which manila was noted to be expensive to live versus the cebu province. thus, salaries of yoga teachers in manila are expected to be higher to sustain a certain standard of living by affording expenses such as housing, food, healthcare, and, most importantly, taxes. type cost range mid range time 200 hours s1,000 and up s1,000-s3,000 3 5 months 500 hours s1,000 and up s1,000-s3,000 6 months or more, 500 hours refers to total hours. it can be completed after a 200-hours certification by completing a 300-hour training specializations s75 and up s150-s300 less than a week. specializations can be completed on their own and include children’s yoga, stand up paddle board yoga or chair yoga exhibit 2. yoga teacher training certification cost source: adapted from https://www.bizinsure.com/yoga-instructor-certification-cost-and-analysis/ https://www.bizinsure.com/yoga-instructor-certification-cost-and-analysis/ 140 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 exhibit 2 shows the essential facts and figures on what yoga practitioners can spend on a yoga certification. as with any profession, becoming a yoga instructor has costs. the cost of a yoga teacher certification is substantial. choosing the bestaccredited certificate that aligns with the aspirant’s budget and goals is one of the first and most important business decisions any yoga practitioners make as they embark on a yoga teaching career. the philippines government does not regulate the yoga teacher training program. therefore, the training certification varies in cost and content. yoga alliance is a united states-based nonprofit membership and trade organization of yoga teachers and professionals recognized worldwide. the cost of a teacher training certification ranges from about usd 1,000 to 3000, depending on the location. the aspiring yoga teachers are currently paying php 78,000.00 or usd 1,473.11 for a 200-hour ryt certification. aside from the accreditation, yoga teachers also spend their equipment expenses. in fact, according to the yoga journal and the yoga alliance, yoga practitioners spend $16.8 billion on classes, accessories, and gear (bizinsure, 2018).  table 8 compares the costs incurred and expected rewards from undertaking the ryt 200-hour competency-based certification in mindful yoga cebu school, accredited by yoga alliance for both employment statuses. the increasing values were based on the philippines’ forecasted 2022 to 2026 inflation rate. table 6. cost-benefit analysis   part-time teacher 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026   inflation rate 4.26% 3.69% 3% cost yoga certification p 78,000.00 p 80,878.20 p83,304.55 yoga equipment p 4,800.00 p 4,977.12 p 5,126.43   total cost p 82,800.00 p 85,855.32 p88,430.98 benefit income from yoga studio p171,360.00 p177,683.18 p183,013.68 total benefit p171,360.00 p177,683.18 p183,013.68   cost benefit ratio 2.07 2.07 2.07   full-time teacher 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026   inflation rate 4.26% 3.69% 3% cost yoga certification p78,000.00 p 80,878.20 p83,304.55 yoga equipment p4,800.00 p 4,977.12 p5,126.43   total cost p82,800.00 p 85,855.32 p88,430.98 benefit income from yoga studio p571,200.00 p592,277.28 p610,045.60 total benefit p571,200.00 p592,277.28 p610,045.60   cost benefit ratio 6.70 6.70 6.70 141 international peer reviewed journal the cost-benefit ratio indicates that the cash flows generated are viable since cbr >1 for part-time and full-time yoga teachers. based on the present value of all benefits generated from acquiring the ryt 200-hour competencybased certification to the current value of all costs, it is evident that certification investment creates a more attractive return. this ratio can be interpreted as for each php1 price in the yoga teacher’s training certification and equipment, the expected peso benefits generated is php 2.07 for part-time while php 6.70 for full-time. thus, yoga teachers are expected to create incremental value even until 2026. the yoga industry in metro cebu is still developing; the rise of yoga studios means that the demand for the industry has also increased over time. the yoga industry has transitioned from traditional practice to diverse classes such as aerial, dance, and water yoga which the mindful yoga cebu school pioneered. yoga classes are also being offered in different resorts for their guest and those interested in walk-ins. among these resorts is the five-star luxury shangri-la mactan hotels and resorts. the local yoga community has also garnered the attention of local newspapers like sun star and has given them exposure in one of their articles entitled ‘yoga for you: finding love, wellness, and bliss in the city’ featuring the different yoga studios in the cebu city such as bliss yoga cebu, love yoga world, asana yoga + movement, and yogahub cebu (catan, 2019). the anticipated growth in the yoga industry has created an overwhelming response. through the interview conducted, it was clearly emphasized how respondents viewed their careers shortly after acquiring the ryt 200-hour teacher’s training certification. table 9 presents the descriptive statistics of the respondent’s perceptions of a yoga career; about 70% of the respondents perceive that a career will likely happen in the next six months after certification. moreover, 10% of part-time teachers will likely reconsider focusing on their full-time job. lastly, 20% are highly likely to engage in creating their yoga studio soon. 142 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 7. yoga teacher career perception n = 10 respondents frequency percentage (%) how likely is teaching yoga after the ryt 200-hour certification will happen? 1 not likely at all 0 0 2 neutral 3 30% 3 – extremely likely 7 70% how likely will quitting yoga and focusing on a full-time job happen? 1 not likely at all 4 40% 2 neutral 5 50% 3 – extremely likely 1 10% how likely will creating a yoga studio business in metro cebu embark? 1 not likely at all 1 10% 2 neutral 7 70% 3 – extremely likely 2 20% pursuing or quitting yoga is subjective, with many factors to consider. at some point, every yoga teacher struggles with how much pay they receive, especially when paying the dues, and while starting, teachers primarily teach free classes to get experience. it would take them months or a year to achieve the new teacher wage, and they still have to run around the city to different studios to make ends meet, and some work other jobs and constant hustle. full-time employment offers more benefits and insurance to the employee than part-timers. these benefits and insurances may include medical insurance, paid leave, and standard monthly rates. it may be why yoga teachers lean heavily towards their full-time job and work as part-time yoga teachers instead. starting a yoga studio could be a whole new experience for an individual. though it is a rising market in the economy, many obstacles persist in the current environment to have a thriving yoga studio. these obstacles come from hiring the wrong staff, having no business plan, spending too much on the wrong location, and neglecting the marketing of the yoga studio (glofox, 2019). the yoga teachers viewed their yoga practice as a hobby and discipline rather than making it their primary source of livelihood. based on the interview, we have discovered that their primary intention of acquiring the ryt 200-hour certification is merely to understand and learn its anatomy and physiology, yoga techniques and methodologies, and history and philosophy. many yoga teachers attest that their passion is to help others reach their goals by providing them with 143 international peer reviewed journal the right tools to enhance their way of life. yoga teachers provide education on a complete system of self-care that includes movement, stretching, breathing, mindfulness, and even what to eat. it is a gratifying and beneficial profession for yoga teachers when they know they play a significant part in improving students’ overall health and consciousness. at the same time, financial rewards are only their secondary motive (mccullough, n.d.). furthermore, the increasing number of yoga practitioners in metro cebu offers potential opportunities at par with the yoga market in the capital region of the philippines through standardizing yoga teacher qualifications. certified yoga teachers are expected for continuing education requirements. the yoga alliance requires a 45-hour of teaching over three years and a 3-hour of training over the same time. table 10 shows the plans they want to achieve after acquiring the ryt 200-hour competency-based certification. leading the rank is the specialization of the yoga discipline. table 8. yoga teacher future state n = 10 frequency ranking specialize yoga discipline 4 1st upgrade certification higher than ryt-200 3 3rd teach yoga abroad 2 2nd venture into the yoga business 1 4th about seventeen major yoga disciplines are being taught and practiced in modern america and around the world are offered at most yoga studios such as hatha, vinyasa, iyengar, ashtanga, anusara, power, bikram, restorative, kundalini, ananda, forrest, yin, kripalu, prenatal or post-natal, jivamukti, yoga nidra, and partner yoga and followed by teaching yoga abroad. because of the outburst in popularity, yoga teachers could find opportunities to teach around the world, particularly in places with high tourism and booming hospitality industries. the third is upgrading certification, and the last on the rank is to venture into a yoga studio business which may vary depending on the circumstances and compliance. the growth of the population of yoga practitioners in metro cebu offers room for possible programs that can be presented in the market to help promote and continue the industry’s growth in metro cebu. the respondents have selected that yoga studios should expand customer reach via online and offline means and have to conduct events regularly. these strategies are followed by standardizing teacher qualifications in the industry since the yoga industry remains unregulated and unlicensed. the yoga studios must establish minimum requirements for yoga 144 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 teachers. among others, gyms, fitness studios, and health centers must also adopt regulations to add value, business credibility, and competitive advantage. table 9. strategies that the respondents think will help promote the yoga industry in cebu frequency ranking standardize teacher qualification 8 2nd offer a flexible yoga schedule 8 2nd expand customer reach (online & offline) 9 1st conduct events regularly 9 1st offer varied types of classes 7 3rd utilize digital platform 8 2nd organize yoga community outreach 7 3rd offer a scholarship to yoga teachers 6 partnership with international yoga schools 6 offer competitive professional fee 5 offer yoga teacher exchange and study abroad 4 table 9 presents a few strategies suggested by the respondents to expand the influence of the yoga practice, increase its students, and gain more income. one prioritized strategy was promoting the yoga business on offline and online marketing platforms authentically and effectively. teaching yoga in today’s market is challenging. thus, with the right marketing strategies in place, such as knowing the students, updating the websites, getting listed, hosting special events, posting videos on social media, growing the email list, partnering with local businesses, supporting a worthwhile cause, creating a vip program, and encouraging students to bring friends may effectively gain more students. another strategy highlighted the importance of influencing the community to help the yoga business stand out from competitors and increase retention by hiring certified yoga instructors and promoting them (wentley, 2021). standardizing the yoga teacher certification credentials supports and fosters excellent quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching. these standards both promote the advancement of knowledge in the profession of yoga teaching and an ethical commitment toward a higher level of yoga for the members and the broader yoga community (yoga alliance, 2021). the fitness industry in the philippines has developed a lot over the decades. however, the recent pandemic changed the lifestyle as well as the change of fitness. in this ever-changing world, many fitness enthusiasts wish to become fitter and more robust, so niches like yoga have become popular in the country. 145 international peer reviewed journal yoga teachers who complete the minimum certification requirement may work as yoga instructors or engage with the yoga studio business. however, the latter may need to consider the license, equipment, and accessibility funds, among others. those who choose to teach yoga instead may need to consider its economic value, such as income tax contribution. taxes are a little more complicated if the employment type is not established. however, professional yoga teachers in metro cebu are classified as independent or self-employed. income is rightly dependent upon the profits derived from the services the business’s yoga studio produces (filipino wealth, n.d.). according to the psa, the second-largest class of workers in the country are self-employed. they were provided with the competitive income projections that professional yoga teachers may generate from handling both classes in the studio and corporate engagements. compared to the standard public school teacher 1 salary grade, which is p23,877, part-time yoga teachers earn less, with an average monthly earning of p14,280 (adrian, 2022). meanwhile, full-time professional yoga teachers with an average monthly earning of p47,600 have a comparable salary grade to an associate professor 1 salary grade of p48,313 (letpasser.com). it is just that self-employed yoga teachers would be subjected to comply with the tax regulations at a 20% tax rate. thus, based on the estimated monthly earnings, full-time professional yoga teachers are expected to contribute php 6,066.75 monthly withholding tax to the local economy of cebu. hence, the train law’s introduction has incentivized starting a yoga studio as it has increased its vat threshold exemption to php 3,000,000 from php 1,500,000 (moneywise, n.d.) whether it be regular or part-time employment, yoga teacher provides an alternative way to earn a living, especially those who can combine healthy living, reduced stress levels, and a sense of community. in the yoga profession, certifications are essential in ensuring the quality of one’s skill, and it may be a certification that anyone can achieve. it helps perform the task with quality output and confidence from the students and the industry. pursuing the yoga teacher’s training certification provides a wholesome experience and gains a lot of insightful lessons. choosing yoga as a profession might not sound attracting to the ears or satisfying enough to quite the stereotypes. some perceived it as always challenging to look beyond the typecast and do something different and unusual. however, times are continuously changing at a steep rate, and so is the employment market. regions like africa, european union, and the asia pacific are expected to boom in the yoga industry and many job roles for aspiring yoga teachers and students. nowadays, it is prevalent to find any corporate position earning a big salary and living their dream life, but finding a career in the yoga 146 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 industry is very satisfying once the profession has been built and matches the soul. it is evident that the yoga teacher profession not only gives freedom to conduct classes that align its terms and ethics it also associates the students on a spiritual level. unlike the usual corporate job roles, teaching yoga is a soulsatiating experience that allows the yoga teacher to perform a more profound practice of meditation as a divination tool to help people heal from their traumas and insecurities and rise high in life. with the right career path, consistency, and yoga teacher’s training certification standardization promotes a favorable implication for the development of professional growth opportunities such as a therapist, counselor, personal trainers, and even researchers in the areas of health and wellness that are more than worth in the employment market (hartman & andzulis, 2019). conclusion a professional yoga teacher is recognized if training certification like ryt200 hours is completed. back in the day, the philippines lacked yoga studios and certified registered yoga teachers to cater to the rising number of individuals and groups wanting to practice yoga. however, today, the mindful yoga cebu school, certified by yoga alliance, has continually produced more aspiring yoga teachers in metro cebu. in this research study, it has been verified that women still dominate the yoga practice. also, the age group that most yoga practitioners are teaching at a mid-career. education attainment is not strictly required since specialized training or certificate programs are given to those who desire to chase a career in the yoga industry regardless of educational background. moreover, it is noted that professional yoga teachers’ employment is classified as independent or self-employed, depending on the varying number of teaching hours and students derived from handling studio and corporate classes. hence, most rely on their corporate jobs while working part-time in yoga. it has been observed, too that part-time yoga teachers spent an average of 1-4 hours a week, while full-time yoga teachers spent more than 5 hours a week. based on the derived 60/40 profit-sharing principle, it showed that yoga studio rates range to an average of php 283 or usd 5.06 per session, while the yoga teacher gets an average of php 170 or usd 3.04 per student per session. in addition, both parttime and full-time yoga teachers in metro cebu can earn around p251,328.00, which should make the profession, in general, contribute to the economy of metro cebu, and the total return on investment takes around 1.64 months to 5.46 months depending on the varying number of students attending the yoga class and the number of sessions that a yoga teacher handles. 147 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, the cost-benefit ratio indicates that the cash flows generated are viable since cbr >1 for part-time and full-time yoga teachers. this ratio means that for each php1 price in the yoga teacher’s training certification and equipment, the expected peso benefits are php 2.07 for part-time and php 6.70 for full-time. thus, yoga teachers are expected to create incremental value even until 2026. the anticipated growth in the yoga industry has created an overwhelming response. most respondents perceive that a yoga career will likely happen after completing the teacher’s training certification. it has been understood that the primary intention of acquiring the ryt-200 hours teacher training certification is merely to understand yoga practice’s concepts, history, and complexities rather than making it their primary source of income. establishing the right career path, consistency, and standardized yoga teacher’s training certification promotes a favorable implication for the development of professional growth opportunities in metro cebu. there were a few limitations of this study. the ten respondents were considered the sample size of the entire population of professional yoga teachers in metro cebu, which is relatively insignificant for generalization. the larger sample size provides more precise results in determining the average income, costs incurred, and the perception of yoga teachers. therefore, it is recommended that research in this area can be further extended and plan to increase the sample size and contribute with more general results regarding the economic contributions of the professional yoga teachers to the local economy of metro cebu. literature cited adrian, m. 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(2020). significant yoga statistics: 2020/2021 benefits, facts & trends. https://comparecamp.com/yoga-statistics/ https://www.yogaville.org/womens-yoga-vs-mens-yoga/ https://bit.ly/3kzx2rk https://www.yogaalliance.org/directory-registrants?type=teacher&location=philippines%20 https://www.yogaalliance.org/directory-registrants?type=teacher&location=philippines%20 https://www.yogaalliance.org/directory-registrants?type=teacher&location=philippines%20 https://www.zippia.com/yoga-instructor-jobs/education/ https://www.zippia.com/yoga-instructor-jobs/education/ https://comparecamp.com/yoga-statistics/ 1 international peer reviewed journal the changing landscape of human resource management in a qatarization environment: a literature review richelle balboa arugay https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6845-9764 richelle.arugay@aspire.qa aspire academy-doha, qatar originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract qatarization is qatar’s long-term human development strategy. from this agenda, the research covers public policies and reports to review how qatarization is derived as a development strategy. the study attempts to answer the research question: “what is the role of qatarization in facilitating human development?” the author posits that understanding the concept of qatarization at an organizational level is significant in the implementation to support qatar’s human development strategies. following an integrative literature review, the paper scans literature on qatarization practices in the country with a relatively high proportion of migrant workers due to its small native population. although the current practices of workforce localization vary in general and the implementation is relatively inadequate, it is asserted that qatarization has immense potential in facilitating the human capital development of the country. therefore, qatar needs to strategize upon institutionalization of qatarization to realize the goals of building a knowledgeable and motivated workforce through hrd. conceding that research on qatarization in the context of hrm is less explored. this study is a significant contribution to the existing literature pertaining to the roll-out of workforce localization in developing countries. vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.713 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6845-9764?lang=en mailto:richelle.arugay@aspire.qa http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — qatarization, human resource, hrd, workforce localization, human capital, migrant workers, literature review, middle east introduction in most developing countries, the terms “nationalization,” “localization,” or “workforce localization,” which are used interchangeably, is primarily referred to in the literature as a strategy of a host country to develop its labor force to increase the participation of the citizens and to replace migrant or expatriate workers with host country staff. workforce localization in gcc has raised interests to scholars considering the proportion of the workforce where there is an extremely high number of expatriates than the minority local citizens in terms of population (waxin, lindsay, belkhodja & zhaol, 2018)a key emerging market, where, in many cases, local citizens are the minority in terms of population, and compete with high numbers of expatriate employees for jobs and positions. the purposes of this paper are to empirically explore recruitment and selection (r&s. in qatar, workforce localization is termed as “qatarization.” the localization concept was first introduced about two decades ago to the gcc member countries, which includes saudi arabia, united arab emirates, kuwait, bahrain, oman, and qatar (waxin & bateman, 2015). it involved the initial proposition of implementing workforce localization to large organizations, particularly in the oil and gas sector that is considered the economies of scale for the oil-rich region (al-horr, 2011). it was further employed during the inception of new businesses within gcc, where workforce localization or nationalization plan formation is necessitated (waxin & bateman, 2015). as haak-saheem, festing, & darwish (2017) described, the existing literature on institutions suggests that mnes are under influence and pressure to adopt hr practices that are viewed as appropriate for the context and situation. however, the implementation of localization had complicated the staffing in the region due to some techniques and organizational practices that were utilized, which were mostly believed to be deficient (waxin et al., 2018a key emerging market, where, in many cases, local citizens are the minority in terms of population, and compete with high numbers of expatriate employees for jobs and positions. the purposes of this paper are to empirically explore recruitment and selection (r&s). for example, quotas, generous government incentives, and other organizational measures like policy immunities and a special allocation of allowances and benefits were placed to retain the national employees, which help employers achieve or maintain a target percentage of employed nationals at any given time to comply with the government directives on localization. with 3 international peer reviewed journal this context, it is considered, therefore, that the substantial definition which constitutes the effectiveness of workforce localization was lacking at the onset to distinguish its prime objective as a country’s strategy for human development (al-homsi, 2016; williams, bhanugopan, & fish, 2011). qatar is one of the world’s most important oil and gas producers, which is the main reason for the country’s ranking as one of the highest incomes per capita in the world. since the discovery of qatar’s richness in natural gas resources in 1973, the country has continuously attracted job-seekers worldwide for its robust economy. the annual growth rate of population in the country was recorded at 10% in the last decade, and in recent years qatar has offered more than 1.5 million jobs to expatriates, which resulted in an increase of up to 16% growth annually that is mostly accredited to the preparations for the 2022 football world cup and other major projects. the country is then confronted with the challenge of rapid population growth due to the continued influx of migrant workers. qatar statistics show that in 2019 qataris are taking only 30% of the 2.7 million total population, while migrants comprise the majority at 70%. a significant fraction is also presented in terms of the labor force, where there is a relatively high proportion of expatriate workers at 90% and the remaining 10% of the qatari workforce asserting a very low record of the unemployment rate at 0.1% in 2019. with the small size of the indigenous human capital, the extreme dependence on migrant workers, therefore, cannot be avoided (al-horr, 2011). in 2008, the qatar national vision (qnv2030) was launched, and the country’s general secretariat for development planning (gsdp) was tasked to coordinate all programs relative to the implementation and achievement of the national vision. as published by gsdp, qnv2030 is described as “a comprehensive development agenda with the central aim of transforming qatar into an advanced country by 2030 capable of sustaining its own development and providing for a high standard of living for all of its people for generations to come.” qnv2030 rests on four pillars which they have to work collectively with the qatari people: human development, social development, economic development, and environmental development. ‘human development’ refers to the development of all its people to enable them to sustain a prosperous society; ‘social development’ pillar refers to the development of a just and caring society based on high moral standards and capable of playing a significant role in the global partnership for development; ‘economic development’ pillar refers to the development of a competitive and diversified economy capable of meeting the needs of and securing a high standard of living for all its people for the present and future generations; and, ‘environmental development’ which involves the 4 jpair multidisciplinary research management of the environment such that there is harmony between economic growth, social development, and environmental protection. through the four pillars of development, the government tackles the five major challenges that qatar is facing with the rapid economic growth, which includes: (1) modernization and preservation of traditions; (2) the needs of the existing generation and the needs of future generations; (3) managed growth and uncontrolled expansion; (4) the size and the quality of the expatriate labor force and the selected path of development; and, (5) economic growth, social development, and environmental management (as published by gsdp in 2008). of the five major challenges, the resolution for the first four major issues is directed under the human development pillar by providing a comprehensive and integrated healthcare system, quality education and training, and an efficient and committed workforce. focusing on this agenda, the research discussed public policies and government reports to review how qatarization is derived as a strategic human development investment of the country in line with the national vision. qnv2030 provides a framework to which qatar’s national strategies and implementation plans can be developed through the national development strategy (nds) that essentially addresses the interactive relationship between population and development to pursue its main outcome of “…a competitive labor market that enables qatar’s population to participate in the development, build a prosperous society and meet the needs of the current generation without compromising those of future generations through effective participation in the labor force, achieving high productivity, attracting and maintaining highly skilled labor, and a modern and transparent information system that provides data on both the supply and demand sides of recruitment and training” (nds). figure 1. conceptual framework for human development through nds 5 international peer reviewed journal qatar’s vision to transform into a knowledge-based society is already in the process of implementing its plans (gremm, barth, fietkiewicz, & stock, 2018). these plans are being supervised by the ministry of development planning and statistics (mdps) through nds to achieve the main outcome of a knowledge economy and to foster education and training among qataris to ensure their active participation to the objective of qatarization. among the organizations that support the development of the knowledge economy is the qatar foundation (qf), a non-profit organization that has established many different programs with cutting-edge facilities in education, research, and community development that is in line with the objectives of the national strategy (gremm et al., 2018). furthermore, to achieve the transformation, the nds pursues to further develop and improve the educational services to meet the needs of the labor market by providing educational opportunities, developing curricula to keep up with global scientific and technical developments that are aligned with the requirements of the local labor market, and enhancing the productivity of the national labor force in conjunction with the highly qualified expatriate workers. the energy sector is one of the biggest employers of nationals with an overall goal of 50% qatarization in permanent established positions where they offer educational sponsorships, excellent development programs, provide great rewards for good contributors, and develop talented and competent qataris into leadership roles to meet their desired goals which translate to a capable and motivated workforce. in summary, the outcome will be a labor market that encourages investment in human capital development. this labor market that provides skilled expatriate labor with high labor productivity, and a labor market governance that ensures meeting current and future needs. objectives of the study to answer the research question: “what is the role of qatarization in facilitating human resource development?,” the study aims to understand the framework that confers the critical role of the country’s human capital and hrm to achieve qatar’s vision through qatarization and to present a comprehensive review of literature on the concept of qatarization and the complexity of implementing a localization program in a developing country through organizational human resource development (hrd). the research is anchored on human capital investment theory. it reflects similar principles with qatar’s national vision, confirming that economic and social development performance depends heavily on human capital (matei & 6 jpair multidisciplinary research ceche, 2018). with the rapid growth of its economy, the reliable supply and strategic use of high-quality talent are critical considering that the national vision aspires to a greater economic role of qataris and talents of the highly-skilled expatriates, which will lead to better and more active workforce participation (forstenlechner, 2009). scholars define human capital with similar fundamental principles of education and training from which knowledge, skills, and abilities derive (table 1), and the principles of a human capital theory, which present an important insight where higher education relates to higher earnings (gonzalez, 2008). several related opinions were aggregated by nafukho, hairston, and brooks (2004), which conveyed that the main outcome from investment in people is the change that is manifested at the individual level in the form of improved performance, at the organizational level in the form of improved productivity and profitability, or at the societal level in the form of returns that benefit the entire society. table 1. definitions of human capital author year definition schultz 1982 all human abilities to be either innate or acquired. attributes that are valuable and can be augmented by appropriate investment will be human capital bontis & fitz‐enz 2002 the human factor in the organization; the combined intelligence, skills, and expertise that gives the organization its distinctive character. matei & ceche 2018 consists of educational capital (skills acquired by individuals in the process of schooling, but also outside it) and biological capital (physical abilities of individuals, synthesized, most often through the state of health) pegram et al. 2018 embodied knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes of employees that can be put to productive use researchers highlight human capital as a strategic resource that could help achieve a competitive advantage and high-performance (boon, eckardt, lepak, & boselie, 2018). the notion of net economic benefits relates to the difference between the economic value created from human capital and the cost of the human capital resources (chadwick, 2017). according to bae & patterson (2014), the relationship of education to earnings can result in the classification of the implications of human capital theory at the individual, organization, and country levels wherein the individual level refers to the basic supply-side which represents the individual data that comprise the supply of labor market, the 7 international peer reviewed journal organization level which refers to the demand-side which takes into account the analysis of firm related phenomena such as productivity, investment, turnover, etc., and a more comprehensive perspective at the country level which refers to both supplyand demand-side that are essential considerations in national policymaking (table 2). moreover, bae & patterson (2014) emphasize that to benefit from human capital, individuals should increase learning to elevate their value in the labor market, for the organizational level where human resource development professionals have the control in the process to implement a more efficient utilization of training and development with improved job performance that realizes the outcome of the investment activities, and at the country level for the government policymakers to provide a wider scope for considering the extent to which policies can provide more efficient and equitable use of human resources, such as education reform, government training policy, equal employment opportunity legislation, affirmative action, and pay equity arrangements. table 2. comparison of human capital by each level of analysis level investment decision considerations hrd role type of hc costs returns risks perspectives country schooling ↔ training subsidy, loans economic development (gdp, etc.) underor over-investment policy coordination, equality (eeo, aa, etc.) organization general ↔specific training training costs organizational productivity, financial returns, etc. turnover performance, profit maximization individual schooling ↔ training direct costs, opportunity costs pay increase, employability, job satisfaction, etc. unemployment selfdevelopment, selfactualization source: bae, s., & patterson, l. (2014). comparison and implications of human capital theory at the individual, organization, and country levels methodology the study adopts an integrative literature review as its research approach wherein available primary and secondary sources relative to qatarization are identified, analyzed, and synthesized into a model that offers the perspective on qatarization as 8 jpair multidisciplinary research a human resource development strategy. public policies and government reports were reviewed to examine how qatarization is derived as a strategic human development investment of the state of qatar and a review of literature on hrm and hrd related studies within qatar and the gcc region were selected to examine the various workforce localization practices in countries with a relatively high proportion of migrant workers due to its small indigenous population. the author utilized research databases available through google scholar and several on-line resources utilizing the following criteria that helped define and narrow the search: (1) studies on qatarization and workforce localization (2) country-specific and cross-national studies relating to workforce localization practices as integrated within the hrd functions. to filter the search, specific strings or keywords were used, such as “qatarization,” “hrd,” and “workforce localization,” utilizing boolean words “and” and “or” to further narrow the result. selected journal articles on international hrd, business, and management were tapped and retrieved from various publications such as proquest, sage, emerald, wiley, elsevier, etc., to provide the desired rigor to the literature analysis. zotero was used as bibliographic database manager (bdm) to electronically organize and keep track of the references and manage citations and automated bibliography processing. results and discussion although varying definitions of workforce localization is present in the literature (table 3), the phenomenon derives from the process of replacing nonnationals or expatriates with host country staff to increase the national workforce’s participation. table 3. definitions of workforce localization author year definition potter 1989 when a local national is filling a required job sufficiently competently to fulfill organizational needs bhanugopan & fish 2007 a program to replace expatriates with host country staff following a period of staff development forstenlechner 2009 a program designed to foster the participation of citizens in the workforce hickey 2017 getting local citizens to do the jobs that are held by many foreign expatriates in a host country pegram et al. 2018 process of replacing expatriate workers with locals of the host country 9 international peer reviewed journal al-horr, (2011) suggests that the two major external aspects that affect strategic planning and policy formulation regarding localizing the workforce at the macro-level are the population’s growth and structure and the other the educational system. according to his findings, the demographic elements of the population and the low participation of qatari nationals in the labor force (about 10%), especially in the non-government sector, seem to be correlated to the fact that there is only a small indigenous population and, therefore, a significant non-national population, with 30% qataris and 70% non-qataris based on 2019 statistics report. therefore, with the given data, al-horr (2011) concludes that it would not be possible to implement a social and economic development plan without foreign labor. with regards to the educational system, it has a direct and negative influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of such a process. furthermore, the overall formation of the qatari human capital might not be well utilized in the country if the government will fail to provide the different sectors of the economy with a qualified national workforce in terms of an ‘adequate’ level of general or technical skills that are in line with the demand of the labor market. to avoid this, the nds is transforming the country into a diversified knowledge economy by re-balancing the labor market structure, increasing work efficiency in different sectors, developing the capacities of qataris, especially highly-educated women, attracting and retaining skilled and highly experienced workers, developing labor legislation, and improving the labor market information system. each country is unique, with varying socio-economic status and rate of progression and development. the perspective of localization at the countrylevel comprehensively approaches individuals and organizations to support the government policies in the interest of developing its human capital (hickey, 2017). although workforce localization strategies vary from country to country, they all involve key hrm activities, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, career management, performance, and compensation policies for local employees (waxin et al., 2018)a key emerging market, where, in many cases, local citizens are the minority in terms of population, and compete with high numbers of expatriate employees for jobs and positions. the purposes of this paper are to empirically explore recruitment and selection (r&s. in the study of storberg-walker, (2004), the human capital transformation findings were the result of creating the theory of human capital transformation through hrd of which he suggested that the transformation is embedded in the organizational processes. 10 jpair multidisciplinary research hrm and qatarization the international hr management (ihrm) encompasses the design and organizational hr practices in a cross-cultural context (waxin et al., 2018; vance & paik, 2014; björkman & stahl, 2006), and it describes that mainstream hr varies in different countries and regions (budhwar, pereira, mellahi, & singh, 2019; haak-saheem et al., 2017) depending on the socio-economic, cultural and political factors that shape the organization to where it is geographically situated (bratton & gold, 2017). qatarization is qatar’s strategy of long-term investment in human capital that primarily aims to develop and motivate its nationals to occupy responsible and key positions (riaz & ishaq, 2016) within the public and private sectors through education and training pathways (qnv2030). the concerted effort of qatarization in the energy sector with an overall goal of 50% qatarization in permanent established positions contributes to the concentration of the qatari employment in the public sector, engaging about 90% of economically active nationals. strategies for managing human resources, therefore, have a vital role to play in ensuring that public sector agencies have the capacity to address the needs of the communities they serve and to consistently achieve high standards of service, and the effectiveness of these services rests heavily on the knowledge, skill, and drive of the national employees (burke, allisey, & noblet, 2013). the evaluation of the implementation of localization strategy shows that there are three approaches toward what may be called ‘qatarization,’ namely, strategic adaptation, pragmatic acceptance, and implicit avoidance, wherein such approaches are strongly associated with understanding the policy aims and linking the policy to hr practices (al-horr, 2011). human resource development to put it into perspective, hrd is complementary to hrm, which focuses on putting the right person for the job, whereas hrd emphasizes developing both the employees and their organizational context (poell, 2007). storbergwalker (2004) also affirms in his study that the human capital transformation is represented by hrd, which is embedded within the organizational process, and it further recognizes that the human capital needs of countries change over time with the increasing global competitiveness and the advent of new technology which emphasizes the importance of continues learning among individuals. while individuals may derive their own motivation to pursue education and learning (riaz & ishaq, 2016), organizations in the context of hrm sustain the development through employment and retention of the national workforce, 11 international peer reviewed journal which are effectively resolved through hrd interventions that facilitate attractive remuneration package, further education, and continuous learning or on-the-jobtraining and progressive career development. conversely, the same factors were perceived to hinder workforce localization practices according to bhanugopan and fish (2007a) since results in their study suggest that a significant number of managers identify the mainstream hrd functions as prevailing obstacles, including recruitment and selection, local staff performance, lack of training and development, and compensation. hrd encompasses a longer-term effort to prepare individuals to succeed at work, and it essentially fills the performance gaps in knowledge, skills, and attitudes to get to internationally accepted human performance standards (hickey, 2017). the existing literature establishes strong links between hrd and human capital since human capital theory argues that investing in people makes them productive, while hrd also advocates improved workforce development through investment in education and training. as such, nafukho et al. (2004) believe that both education and training are key contributors to the knowledge economy and that hrm practices such as selective staffing, training, and high-compensation systems are positively related to a firm’s level of human capital, and in turn, human capital mediates the relationship between highlevel hrm practices and the organization’s innovative capabilities. however, according to storberg-walker (2004), organizations are still facing the challenge of developing and managing their talent for sustained performance during times of constant change. in her study, both training and development and organization development are considered the transformative motors fueled by human capital that generate sustained organizational success to a knowledge economy. therefore, hrm, management scholars, sociology, public policy, and political science are some of the disciplines interested in understanding how organizations create new ideas and build a sustainable human resource that performs and learn together over time to reach common goals, with labor policies and practices that are aligned to government strategies which can impact the attitudes, behaviors, and performance of the workforce. according to nair and laurencin (2007), the concept and definition of hrd in developing countries are still evolving as the economy grows. they suggest that in the state of qatar, hrd is viewed as a process of preparing and developing the workforce congruent to organizational and governmental goals and objectives. hrd is about human development towards achieving smarter and more innovative people who can work efficiently and effectively in any job 12 jpair multidisciplinary research or organizational setting in a given society through training cycles, succession planning, career planning, work competencies, and coaching/mentoring (hickey, 2017). with qatarization, the principle of localization puts more weight on attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining a competent and high caliber qatari workforce to perform better and achieve leadership roles in the future. human capital resources are characterized by the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics of resources that could be developed and enhanced through training and other developmental programs using either the training cycle or competency-development methods to achieve results. recruitment & selection. the unique characteristic of qatar is the demographic setting where the national population comprises only about 30% of the total 2.7m populace and only 5% share of the qatari workforce out of the 2.11m total size of the nation’s labor force. by the numbers, the 2019 statistics from psa shows that the unemployment population consists of 225 qataris who are fresh graduates coupled with 60 qatari unemployed individuals who are seeking employment, thereby recording a very low unemployment rate of less than 0.1%, which is one of the lowest unemployment rating recorded globally. with the energy sector like qatar petroleum and its associate subsidiaries leading the implementation of qatarization with a target of hiring and retaining at least 50% qataris within their workforce, it would mean that the other sectors and industries can only rely on hiring mostly expatriates to fill the job demands. it is clear, therefore, that the general concept of localization wherein the local workforce is filling the jobs is not applicable with qatarization (potter, 1989). furthermore, the challenge of recruiting nationals is twofold: first, the companies will be sourcing for qatari candidates for job placement out from the limited pool of inexperienced fresh graduates and qatari job seekers (unemployed), and from qataris who are employed however exploring for better opportunities. secondly, attracting qatari potentials who are currently employed by offering better opportunities could possibly alter the organizational commitment of the individual resulting from the decision to transfer from one government company to another in which case does not contribute to the objective of increasing workforce participation and would have a negative impact in the case of disrupting an established training plan in a specified industry except if the new appointment is intended for a higher-level post with more responsibility that stays in line to the career development plan or succession plan. since the context of implementing qatarization within the framework of hrd is underexplored, the author extends to reflect in the available literature 13 international peer reviewed journal that focuses on another gcc country (forstenlechner, 2009), the united arab emirates (uae), which mirrors the demographic characteristics of qatar closer than other gcc countries. similarly, uae is in the quest of localizing the job market through its own workforce localization program called emiratization since the localization concept was first introduced to gcc in the year 2000. in his study, forstenlechner (2009) discusses the practical implications of localization relative to the mainstream hr functions within the oil and gas companies in the uae. since there is no existing standard to operationalize workforce localization process, the hr practice in recruitment and selection follows the rationale of prioritizing the local citizens during recruitment and selection and put forth hiring strategies and programs that would attract local candidates to respond to job vacancy advertisements or to participate in job fairs that are intended to offer opportunities to nationals only (al-emadi & marquardt, 2007). however, potter (1989) emphasizes that “effective localization has occurred when a local national is filling a required job sufficiently competently to fulfill organizational needs “such that successful recruitment and selection exercises depend on hiring the right candidate with the proper match to the job vacancy and there is suitability on his or her qualifications, experience, ability, and personal attributes or competencies. compensation & benefits. the implementation of workforce localization in gcc countries entails higher costs, unlike with other developing countries such as china because the compensation packages for local workers in gcc are typically much higher than the compensation packages offered to expatriates (wong & law, 1999). with over 90% of qataris that are directly and indirectly engaged with the public sector, the compensation package for qataris as it is linked to pay levels across government companies are generally higher than the salaries of expatriates in addition to cost benefits such as housing and education allowances, social allowance for pension benefits, with full expense paid travel entitlements during leave vacation depending on the civil status of the qatari employee. therefore, qataris prefer the public sector in almost all cases because the work is less stressful and less challenging, with higher pay and flexible working times, which are more comfortable and highly convenient (gremm et al., 2018). training & development. the principle of human capital investment theory considers human resources as valued assets and not merely a commoditized labor cost. in the economic context of human capital, higher education/skill is related to higher income (schultz, 1982). therefore, investing in the development of human capital in terms of increasing knowledge and enhancing skills and 14 jpair multidisciplinary research attributes of the workforce through various training and development methods are acceptable essential investments (hickey, 2017). the t&d process involves assessing and identifying knowledge and skills gaps in technical and behavioral aspects in terms of job competencies with the benchmark of best practice standard and resolving to close any gap to perform and deliver the desired level of job performance through the remedy of education (i.e., scholarship, internship) and training (i.e., on-the-job, job shadowing). according to hailey (1993), a key element in the localization process as with qatarization is the increased investment in accelerated programs of management training for a new generation of managers and leaders, including the potential high-performing individuals as exemplified during their academic attendance in schools and universities. a training evaluation system should be in place to validate the usefulness of the training since the success of a career development plan is dependent on the effectiveness of training intervention along the process (khan, rajasekar, & al-asfour, 2015). human capital investment allocation should be appropriately provided to promote and stimulate life-long learning among these high potential performers that could be designated the next or second generation of local managers. during the process, expatriates and (expatriate knowledge experts) consultants continue to play a significant role in both the public and private sectors of many developing countries (hailey, 1993). career development. the organizational career development practices gather more attention in hr literature with the significant role it plays in the workforce localization initiatives, especially in gcc countries (khan et al., 2015). hickey (2017) argues that hrd is merely a mechanism or a tool to succeed with any localization effort. in his study, he emphasizes the importance of empowerment and available opportunity for career growth when people are trained for and can do the job to acceptable international standards, which is the core of effectiveness in work performance. therefore, an effective organizational career development program needs to reflect the organizational realities and needs to be perceived as appropriate by employees to provide them a genuine opportunity to learn and grow (khan et al., 2015). companies must recognize their long-term career aspirations to satisfy their development needs in managing the local human resource. attractive compensation packages may not be necessary and not sufficient to retain them; however, training and development opportunities, internal promotion, and career prospects, in the long run, could be the key factors (wong & law, 1999). 15 international peer reviewed journal career development must add value to the firm’s organizational resources and form a substantial part of the hr strategy and talent management initiative. talent management has taken center stage in human resource management, and it has become highly relevant in the context of workforce localization, especially in organizations in gcc countries that aim to retain talent and fill high-level and critical roles from the internal talents to open promotion opportunities. an active localization program provides good prospects for advancement since professional growth and career advancement are important concerns, especially for young qatari workers at entry-level or fresh graduates, and dissatisfaction with opportunities to advance is one of the most frequently cited reasons for turnover (budhwar et al., 2019; al-asfour & khan, 2014). succession planning. according to aldulaimi (2017), the essential objectives of succession planning and leadership development supports the designation of the right person for the job. aldulaimi (2017) further suggests that technical skills training alone is not enough to develop future leaders. knowing when positions could possibly become vacant allows internal candidates to plan their career path development and avail themselves of better opportunities in the future. in some companies, upon the nomination of a local to assume a position of an expatriate, a succession plan normally takes place within a three to five year period (hailey, 1993). as potter (1989) emphasizes, “effective localization has occurred when a local national is filling a required job sufficiently competently to fulfill organizational needs.” conclusions the study sought to address the role of qatarization in facilitating human development. qatarization as a long-term human development strategy is derived from the framework of human capital, which is, on the one hand, transformed through hrm as it primarily controls the labor market conditions through the organizational factors (such as hr practices and policies) and individual factors (such as personality traits and abilities), and on the other hand, strategically related to labor markets which have important implications on the country’s performance (figure 2). qatarization, as it relates to human capital, carries the challenge to fully utilize the talents of its workforce, both qataris and expatriates. beyond numbers, qatarization is capitalizing on the full utilization and enhancement of qatari human capital while taking full advantage of acquiring the knowledge and capabilities of the highly-skilled expatriates (forstenlechner, 2009). 16 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 2. qatarization process it is critical to continuously and strategically address the human capital constraints brought about by the limited number of qatar’s population. according to gonzalez (2008), education, training, and labor market indicators are important factors in diagnosing the nature of a country’s human resource as can be described by specific demographics of the population, including labor market indicators such as labor force participation, unemployment rates and the sectoral composition of employment. the interrelationship among education, training, and employment requires that sectoral policies and decisions be coordinated, coherent, and integrated into the context of appropriate institutional arrangements that would not only lead to human capital development and a more efficient labor market but achieve the goals of qnv 2030 as a result of the many inter-sectoral relations and efficient workforce sector strategy. these factors are present and strengthened in qatar, unlike other developing 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(1999). managing localization of human resources in the prc: a practical model. journal of world business, 34(1), 26–40. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/s1090-9516(99)00005-x http://hdl.handle.net/11073/16493 http://hdl.handle.net/11073/16493 http://0-dx.doi.org.library.qnl.qa/10.1108/17537981111159966 81 international peer reviewed journal competitiveness of micro, small and medium entrepreneurs during economic disruption alexandria therese t. nasser https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7675-7446 ria11227@yahoo.com bicol college graduate school daraga, albay, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes) are vital for the progress and growth of most countries economies. globally, there is wide recognition of msmes’ crucial role as drivers of economic growth and a key source of supplies and support services for major businesses. hence, a thriving and expanding msme sector indicates a healthy economy. compared to larger businesses, they have particular difficulties surviving and expanding amid crises and calamities. many msmes are typically unprepared when unexpected economic disruptions such as disasters and pandemics occur, which prevents them from operating normally. the study used a mixed-methods research design to determine the competitiveness of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises during economic disruption. analyzed data revealed that challenges and opportunities encountered by the msmes had an adjectival interpretation of almost always or frequently, indicating that msmes experienced both negative and positive, particularly in their businesses. there were lessons learned and best practices vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.641 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 82 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 experienced by the msmes. to overcome these challenges, msmes must possess contingency, adaptation, and resilience. thus, msmes should use advantages to be inventive by consistently providing clients with novel and value-adding services to improve their financial performance even during economic disruption. keywords — business and management, competitiveness, economic disruption, msmes, challenges and opportunities, mixed-methods, philippines introduction most nations’ economic growth and development depend heavily on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (msmes). globally, msmes are widely acknowledged for playing a critical role in stimulating economic growth and serving as important suppliers and support partners for large businesses. they act as a breeding ground for big businesses and new entrepreneurs. hence, a thriving and expanding msme sector signifies a growing economy. the msme sector still faces many challenges that impede it from growing and developing to its full potential, despite regulations that attempt to create an environment favorable for msme development (villegas et al., 2020). how msmes address the current crisis will determine how the global economy will change. msmes are more susceptible to natural disasters, which damage a business’s property and equipment and physically and mentally affect business owners and staff members (botzen et al., 2019). several studies have been conducted regarding msme’s challenges. studies like the development of smes in asean with reference to indonesia and thailand authors, the paper aims to examine the recent development of small and medium enterprises (smes), their experiences during the 1997/98 asian financial crisis, and their main constraints in member countries of the association of southeast asian nations (asean) with special reference to indonesia and thailand (tambunan, 2008); the covid-19: small and medium enterprises challenges and responses with creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship (thukral, 2021); resilience: resources and strategies of smes in a new theoretical framework (alberti et al., 2018); building resilience for the sustainability of msmes post covid-19 outbreak: an indian handicraft industry outlook (agarwal et al., 2023).; challenges and opportunities of india’s micro small medium enterprises in the new era of post covid (ranjan, 2021). however, the present study is focused on the competitiveness of msmes during economic disruptions. 83 international peer reviewed journal msmes are often regarded as the philippines’ economic lifeblood and foundation (flaminiano et al., 2021). msmes contribute considerably to the country’s gross domestic product, creating jobs for the expanding labor force and making up roughly 40% of the gdp overall (adb annual report 2020, 2021). compared with larger companies, they also have significant difficulties surviving and expanding amid crises and calamities. one such challenge is economic disruption. micro businesses are typically unprepared when unexpected economic crises such as disasters and pandemics occur. natural catastrophes can destroy a business’s property and equipment and have a negative psychological and physiological impact on the owners and employees. the philippines is situated in a disaster-prone region. thus, individuals and firms suffer significantly during disasters (dagli & ferrarini, 2019). natural disasters affect all countries and businesses regardless of size. however, asgary et al. (2020) found that smaller firms in developing economies often lack the resources to prepare for crises, leaving them more vulnerable than smaller firms elsewhere. according to the study of liguori and pittz (2020), the upheaval caused by the spread of covid-19 is devastatingly affecting small businesses. a recent goldman sachs survey (2020) of 10,000 small business owners found that the coronavirus has already impacted 96 percent, and 51 percent report their business cannot survive three months of an economic shutdown. these alarming statistics suggest the economic fallout from covid-19 will worsen for small businesses and their employees before it gets better. according to the department of trade and industry (dti), region 5 (bicol) was not spared from the effects of the covd-19 pandemic. in region 5, the provinces with revenue losses as a result of the temporary closure of businesses were camarines sur with php2.6 billion, albay with php1.1 billion, catanduanes with php625 million, sorsogon with php464 million, masbate with php389 million, and camarines norte with php148 m. serrano july 2020 in legazpi city; many businessmen saw the pandemic’s effects firsthand in their businesses. given the considerable data on msmes’ revenue losses and the fact that our country has frequently been affected by economic disruptions, the researcher chose this topic. to formulate a more comprehensive business competitiveness framework for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, this research study aims to assess the competitiveness of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises amidst economic disruption in the 2nd district of albay. additionally, this study will help explain the lessons learned or best practices encountered by the msme. this study aids in understanding the challenges and opportunities encountered 84 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 by msmes and, therefore, serves as a basis for crafting the competitiveness framework. thus, the present study serves to expand the understanding of the msmes’ ability to be competitive even in times of disruption. framework the researcher has proposed several theories to explain frederick morgeson on system event theory by introducing the concept of event system theory, which states that new, disruptive, and crucial occurrences (representing the strength of an event) are the most salient; the contingency theory of management is a leaders-managerial-adaptation theory, which means that the leader tries to adapt to different situations (fiedler & chemers, 1974). according to fiedler’s contingency theory, a number of events, both internal and external, could have a significant impact on the best organizational structure. these elements include the organization’s size, use of technology, leadership style, and capacity to adapt to changes in strategy (shala et al., 2021). this study refers to the challenges encountered by the msmes and how they transformed them into opportunities. entrepreneurs adapted to the changes brought by the disruption. simple methods are not always the best ones for a business. as stated by serifsoy and teker (2020), it aims to be an exploratory study that showcases the considerable changes the companies, especially the global giants, face to withstand this long-lasting crisis. incentive programs and motivational strategies are the main emphases of the contingency approach to management to deal with internal contingencies and external circumstances. the contingency theory of leadership emphasizes that leadership effectiveness depends on matching a leader’s style to the right situation. thus, the study was framed within the context of porter’s competitive theory of strategy. the theory captured and reflected the various factors and contexts that msmes would consider and implement to improve their business operations to grow sales. porter’s theory of competitiveness by michael e. porter (1985) depends on long-run productivity, which requires a business environment that supports continual innovation in products, processes, and management. the four underlining conditions driving the global competitiveness of a country’s companies include factor endowments, demand conditions, related and supporting industries (clusters), and the firm’s strategy, structure, and rivalry (ajitabh & momaya, 2004). 85 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study the study aims to assess the competitiveness of micro, small, and mediumsized enterprises during economic disruption in the province of albay. specifically, the study objectives were to (1) determine the status of the msmes in the 2nd district of albay in terms of the type of business operations, type of ownership, net worth, and number of employees, (2) identify the challenges and opportunities encountered by msme’s during the covid-19 pandemic along; (a) standard & government restrictions (b) operations management (c) financial management (d) human resource management (e) sales & marketing management and (f.) production & service delivery, (3) identify the lesson learned and best practices of msme’s in surviving the covid-19 pandemic, and (4) design a business competitiveness framework for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise to future proof from economic disruption. methodology research design the study utilized a mixed method approach where both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and used in answering the research questions. this research design is done to provide a deeper insight into a study problem or issue compared to applying just one method. this study’s first and second objectives utilized the quantitative approach since the researcher will attempt to quantify and measure the different variables of challenges and opportunities. according to bhandari (2020), quantitative research involves collecting and interpreting numerical data. it can be used to identify patterns and averages, predict outcomes, examine causal relationships, and generalize results to larger populations. meanwhile, the third objective of this study used the qualitative approach. a qualitative research design is frequently defined as subjective (rather than objective), where the findings are collected in a written format as opposed to a numerical one. furthermore, the purpose of this is to get a comprehensive understanding of a specific topic, situation, or meaning based on direct observation (creswell, 2018). hence, the msme’s perspectives were better understood using a qualitative research design. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 research site the research study was conducted in the province of albay, specifically in the second district. albay is a province in the philippines located in the bicol region, occupying the southeastern tip of the luzon peninsula. the province consists of fifteen (15) municipalities and three (3) cities, namely legazpi city, tabaco city, and ligao city. the second district includes the city of legazpi, and other municipalities, namely camalig, daraga, manito, malilipot, and rapu-rapu. the researcher concentrates on legazpi city and daraga since most businesses are located in the area. it is also important to note that albayanos are resilient, kind, joyful, and accommodating, thus making it the perfect place for studying the competitiveness of the msme during economic disruptions. aside from this, the availability of data and its proximity to the researcher’s location are additional factors that affected the selection of this study site. respondents the 15 respondents of the study are registered msmes in daraga and legazpi city. for microenterprises, 5 respondents; for small enterprises 5 respondents and medium enterprises, 5 respondents, a total of 15 respondents. the manager/owner of the msmes was the respondents of the study as they are an essential part of the research by sharing ideas and opinions necessary for the accomplishment of the study. similarly, the msme’s managers/owners needed to respond to determine the lesson learned and best practices during the pandemic. the confidentiality and privacy of the respondents were ensured, and voluntariness was given with utmost concern by the researcher by briefing them to refuse or withdraw at any time during the survey process. data collection the primary data was collected from the self-administered survey questionnaire and interview guide. secondary data was collected from reliable books, articles, journals, and internet sources. the data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. specifically, it used the 5 -point likert scale was used to represent the opinions and attitudes of the respondents toward the challenges and opportunities encountered. the survey questionnaire was divided into two sections: the status of the respondents and the challenges and opportunities encountered by the msme. for the interview guide, the primary data came from the one-on-one interview with the targeted respondents using open-ended questions. the responses from the interview were transcribed by the researcher. 87 international peer reviewed journal this was supported by secondary data derived from a number of published online and/or printed related to the study. all data collected was assessed and consequently established recommendations. ethics protocol before carrying out the study, the researcher had to seek the registered msmes in the municipality of daraga and legazpi city. the target respondents received informed consent and agreed to participate with complete understanding and knowledge of the purpose of the study and all relevant facts regarding the topic, in line with apa’s ethical standard. the participation of an msme respondent in the study was a voluntary act. furthermore, the researcher also values the privacy and anonymity of the respondents by protecting their personal, private, and sensitive information concerning the data privacy act. no participants were excluded for any reason. the researchers obtained an ethics clearance from the ethics review committee and also got signed informed consent from the respondents. results and discussion the respondents of this study were 15 registered msmes. the status of the respondents, type of business operations, type of ownership, msme’s net worth, and the number of employees were collected. table 1. type of business operations type of business frequency percentage service business 5 33.30% merchandising business 6 40.00% manufacturing business 4 26.70% total 15 100.00% table 1 presents the type of business operations, where almost 40 percent of msmes are merchandising businesses, 33.30 percent are in the service business, and 26.70 percent are in the manufacturing business. the findings of the study on the type of business operations showed that the status of the respondents determined the msmes’ type of operations. it can be interpreted that the type of operation has nothing to do with msmes’ performance. 88 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 2. type of ownership type of ownership frequency percentage sole proprietorship 12 80.00% partnership 2 13.30% corporation 1 6.70% total 15 !00.00% table 2 shows the status of the respondents in terms of the type of ownership of msmes in the second district of albay. most of the msmes are registered as sole proprietorships with a percentage of 80%. a sole proprietorship is a form of business owned by one person (permwanichagun et al., 2014). according to kim et al. (2020), sole proprietors may hire additional staff members, but there is only one owner of the company. there is no distinction in the law between the owner and the business entity for sole proprietors because they have full responsibility. as a solo proprietor, the owner often controls business decisions and reinvestments (manenzhe et al., 2020). table 3. msmes net worth net worth (estimated present value in peso) frequency percentage below php 100,000.00 to 500,000.00 3 20.00% 500,001.00 to 1,000,000.00 2 13.30% 1,500,001.00 to 2,000,000.00 2 13.30% 2,500,001.00 to 3,000,000 2 13.40% 3,000,000.00 and above 6 40.00% total 15 100.00% table 3 presents the msme’s net worth. the tables show that most msmes have more than 3 million net worth or a percentage of 40%. research on the efficient utilization of the resources that the business provides to managers in accomplishing organizational goals can be a key performance indicator and a defining aspect of effective and ineffective managers (nkechi & sunday, 2020). 89 international peer reviewed journal table 4. number of employees number of employees frequency percentage 1-10 5 33.30% 10 25 4 26.70% 25 – 50 4 26.70% 50 and above 2 13.30% total 15 100.00% table 4 shows the status of the msme number of employees in the second district of albay. most of the msmes have only ten below or a percentage of 33.30% employees in their business. msmes with 50 0r 26.70% below employees are msmes that operate as merchandise and service businesses. while 50, with a percentage of 13.30% above employees, operates as a manufacturing business. in this case, that frequency with a few employees can be analyzed and their capital is only enough to open a business. that’s why during the pandemic outbreak, there are msmes that cut their operation due to a lack of financial sustainability. in this scenario, having a few employees can affect the performance of the institution. due to this, the employees will have numerous duties and responsibilities that can lead to ineffectiveness and inefficiency in their performance. the study of engetou (2017), which claims that a lack of employees increases workload and less supervision, can be used to corroborate this. the workload consists primarily of job obligations, a common occurrence in many organizations today. table 5. challenges encountered by the msme’s standard and government restrictions indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. adherence to statutory taxes 5.00 aa 2. adherence to health and safety protocols 4.86 aa 3. adherence to salary and wages standards 5.00 aa 4. compliance with permits and license 5.00 aa average weighted mean 4.97 aa legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 5 revealed that all the indicators under the challenges encountered by the msme’s standard and government restrictions are interpreted as almost always, wherein adherence to statutory taxes, adherence to salary 90 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 and wages standards, and compliance to permits and licenses have the highest mean 5.0 while adherence to health and safety protocols got the lowest mean 4.86. furthermore, the average weighted mean of standards and government restrictions is computed at 4.97, which was also interpreted as almost always. this implies that the respondents exhibit challenges in standard and government restrictions. the government has enforced lockdowns, school closures, quarantines, travel restrictions, and other health protocols for everyone to keep away from this unseen virus. government regulations ensure that safe and healthy working conditions be maintained, which contributed to the challenges for the msmes. as assessed by talabis et al. (2021), to lessen the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, the national government of the philippines, through the recommendations made by its inter-agency task group on emerging infectious diseases various quarantine measures, with each level having a corresponding degree of rigidity ranging from enable all businesses to function at a specific capacity to keeping only the essential businesses open. additional restrictions include preventing people of a certain age group from leaving their homes. depending on the severity of the pandemic in their area, the local government units (lgus), including municipalities and provinces, may adopt any of these strategies. the goal is to limit the spread of diseases and fatalities while lessening the pandemic’s financial toll. table 6. challenges encountered by the msme’s operations management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. logistics management 3.60 f 2. supply chain management 4.46 f 3. inventory control 4.47 f 4. manpower attendance 4.73 aa average weighted mean 4.32 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 6 shows msme’s challenges encountered along operations management; the data revealed the average weighted mean is 4.32 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. logistics management got the lowest total weighted mean of 3.60 with an adjectival interpretation of frequent. supply chains constantly face new problems that go way beyond the traditional issues 91 international peer reviewed journal of supply and demand uncertainty, particularly due to the impact of worldwide disruptive events. according to research by raquiza (n.d.), most businesses had trouble coordinating their supply and value chains, resulting in a scarcity of raw materials and challenges with distribution, shipping, and logistics. table 7. challenges encountered by the msme’s financial management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. profit generation 4.46 f 2. cash flow management 4.46 f 3. cost management and costing concerns 4.47 f 4. accounts receivable turnover 4.46 f average weighted mean 4.46 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 7 revealed that all the indicators under msme’s challenges encountered along financial management are interpreted as “frequently”, wherein cost management and cost concerns have the highest mean of 4.47 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. that suggests msmes had issues with the price of their goods or services. this is consistent with a study by velita (2022), which found that the covid-19 pandemic had negatively impacted business operations and profitability. if this trend persists for a number of months, many businesses will have to close because they will be unable to cover their expenses since no sales transactions have occurred. the worst case scenario was when they were unable to repay their loans and debts to banks and other lending organizations, incurring heavy penalty fees. how to continue paying their employees’ salaries is another issue because they are required to do so because they have families to support and must purchase their requirements and wishes during the crisis. table 8. challenges encountered by the msme’s human resource management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. employee satisfaction 4.67 aa 2. employee health and well-being 4.60 aa 3. job availability and task assignment 4.74 aa 4. employee turnover 4.20 f average weighted mean 4.55 aa legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2occasionally, 1-never 92 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 8 shows msme’s challenges encountered in human resource management; the data revealed the average weighted mean is 4.55 with an adjectival interpretation of almost always. this implies that msmes find difficulties in managing their employees. moreover, job availability and task management got the highest total weighted mean of 4.74 with an adjectival interpretation of almost always. at the same time, employee turnover got the lowest total weighted mean of 4.20 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. that implies people need a job to survive. owners of msme companies are worried about the health and welfare of their workers. the influence of locus of control and motivation on business performance, as well as the effect of locus of control and motivation on business performance with learning as moderation, as indicated by the study by agustina et al. (2017). with a focus on control, motivation, and life long learning, msme entrepreneurs must adapt their personality attributes in response to the disruption-era shifts in consumer behavior. this is also true with the employees. table 9. challenges encountered by the msme’s production and service delivery indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. availability of skilled workers 4.66 aa 2. protocol on the limitation of the number of employees 4.00 f 3. communication problems with customers 3.94 f 4. resistance and capacity to acquire technology 3.87 f average weighted mean 4.12 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2occasionally, 1-never table 9 shows msme’s challenges encountered in production and service delivery. the data revealed the average weighted mean is 4.12 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. resistance and capacity to acquire technology got the lowest total weighted mean of 3.87 with an adjectival interpretation of frequent. furthermore, that implies according to the study by reuschke et al. (2021), there are mobility limitations, health risks, limited hours for banking and business transactions, and higher operational costs as a result of stricter transportation regulations that affect the delivery of the goods and services that consumers order online. 93 international peer reviewed journal table 10. challenges encountered by the msme’s sales and marketing indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. declining sales volume 3.47 s 2. marketing to new customers 4.26 f 3. communication barriers (psych & technical) 3.93 f 4. developing & implementing promotions 4.20 f average weighted mean 3.96 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2occasionally, 1-never table 10 shows msme’s challenges encountered in sales and marketing management. the data revealed the average weighted mean is 3.96 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. the computed average weighted mean shows that msmes faced difficulty in their sales and marketing. this is in accordance with the claim made in the article by abi fadel (2021), which states that as a result of globalization and increased competition on a worldwide scale, businesses have seen their market shares decline and their profits decrease. velita (2022) believes that online businesses were a successful marketing strategy for essential and non-essential goods and services, but delivery and operating costs presented a major challenge for all msmes. furthermore, marketing to new customers got the highest total weighted mean of 4.26 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. that implies msmes find difficulty looking for new customers. the opportunity to market to a new customer was made available by the government restrictions brought on by the pandemic. the loss of sales and income resulting from a decline in demand and supply, as well as the government-mandated closure of their business establishments, according to velita (2022), was the pandemic’s worst impact. table 11. opportunities encountered by the msme’s standard and government restrictions indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. tax exemptions and holidays 4.07 f 2. seminars/webinars/information dissemination 3.94 f 3. relaxed licensing and permits requirements 3.73 f 4. financial and non-financial aid to msmes 3.46 s average weighted mean 3.80 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never 94 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 11 presented the msme opportunities encountered along standard and government restrictions in the province of albay. the average weighted mean obtained by the indicators is 3.80, with an adjectival interpretation of “frequently”. this implies that msmes have also experienced support from the government with regard to the following indicators: tax exemptions and holidays, attended webinars for information dissemination, relaxed licensing and permit requirements, and financial & non-financial aid to msmes. this can be supported by the article by balisacan jr. (2020), which explains how the government has taken several steps to assist msmes in surviving difficult times. as an example, the department of finance (dof), bureau of internal revenue (bir), and social security system (sss) have released joint memorandum circular nos. 001-2020 and 002-2020. also, the bayanihan to heal as one act’s implementing rules and regulations of section 4 (aa) (republic act no. 11469). due to the relief provided, no additional documentary stamp duty (dst) will be charged. the department of trade and industry (dti) recently released memorandum circular no. 20-12, which grants msmes who have stopped operations owing to the ecq a 30-day grace period on commercial rent before paying interest, penalties, fees, and other charges. no eviction for non-payment. table 12. opportunities encountered by the msme’s operations management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. develop alternative logistic approaches 3.33 s 2. technology application in supply acquisition 4.00 f 3. development of alternative technology & processes 4.14 f 4. availability of web-based trainings for employees 3.93 f average weighted mean 3.85 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 12 presents the msme’s opportunities encountered in operations management. the average weighted mean obtained by the indicators is 3.85, with an adjectival interpretation of “frequently.” the data showed that msmes had the opportunity to still continue their business activities and maximize profitability. this is supported by the study conducted by (cueto et al., 2022). the findings revealed that their company activities continued despite the pandemic, and they acknowledged the importance of government measures and 95 international peer reviewed journal interventions in ensuring the survival of msmes. the participants also reacted positively to economic downturns because they had become resilient due to business continuity training, productivity gains, and subsidies. table 13. opportunities encountered by the msme’s financial management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. introduction & availability of financial software 3.80 f 2. enhancement of online payment systems 4.27 f 3. enhanced ebanking facilities 4.27 f 4. investment in the accounting system 3.73 f average weighted mean 4.02 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 13 revealed that all the indicators under msme’s opportunities encountered along financial management are interpreted as “frequently,” with an average weighted mean of 4.02, wherein enhancement of online payment systems and enhanced e-banking facilities both have the highest mean of 4.27. at the same time, investment in the accounting system got the lowest mean of 3.73. the covid-19 epidemic has also expedited the adoption of digital technology by existing businesses in several dimensions. the effect continues after one year of full reopening, according to a study by cong et al. (2021). table 14. opportunities encountered by the msme’s human resource management indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. more opportunities to hire quality employees locally 4.33 f 2. new employee (retrenched from big companies brings new ideas) 3.46 f 3. acquire a technology-based hr system 3.26 f 4. improve organizational structure 4.06 f average weighted mean 3.78 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never 96 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 14 revealed that all the indicators under msme’s opportunities encountered along human resource management are interpreted as “frequently,” wherein more opportunities to hire quality employees locally got the highest mean of 4.33. while acquiring a technology-based hr system got the lowest mean of 3.26. furthermore, the average weighted mean of msme’s opportunities encountered along human resource management is computed at 3.78, which was also interpreted as frequently. this implies that msmes find opportunities how to manage their human resources effectively, as mentioned in the indicators. this is related to the study conducted by ogunyemi (2020) that states that six major themes emerged as a result of methodological triangulation and the use of a thematic data analysis technique: (a) enhancing competitive advantage through the business structure; (b) distribution channels, product range, and leveraging networks; (c) human capital development; (d) turning difficulties into opportunities for innovation and enhancing business performance; (e) raising consumer awareness of products; and (f ) using data analysis to improve decision making. table 15. opportunities encountered by the msme’s production and service delivery indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. demand shift provides an opportunity for innovation 4.66 aa 2. innovation along with delivery/customer interaction 4.00 f 3. develop a new scheme/implement a new system 3.94 f 4. new technology in production and service delivery is made available 3.86 f average weighted mean 4.12 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 15 presents the msme’s opportunities encountered along production and service delivery in the second district of albay. the average weighted mean obtained by the indicators is 4.12, with an adjectival interpretation of “frequently.” the data showed that demand shift provided an opportunity for innovation and got the highest total weighted mean of 4.66 with an adjectival interpretation of almost always. this implies that msmes welcome 97 international peer reviewed journal the opportunity for innovation. in the post-pandemic world, service providers must continue to strengthen their efforts to ensure that all customer segments receive the essential services (food, healthcare, housing, education, etc.) they demand. this is according to a study by wang et al. published in 2021. due to the pandemic’s social, economic, and operational challenges, voluntary service providers are unable to meet the increased demand. table 16. opportunities encountered by the msme’s sales and marketing indicators total weighted mean adjectival interpretation 1. develop a new marketing strategy 3.47 s 2. develop a new system of communication 4.26 f 3. innovation of market penetration practices 3.93 f 4. diversify the market and enhance customer service 4.20 f average weighted mean 3.97 f legend: 5-almost always,4-frequently, 3-sometimes, 2-occasionally, 1-never table 16 presents the msme’s opportunities encountered in sales and marketing. the average weighted mean obtained by the indicators is 3.97, with an adjectival interpretation of “frequently.” the data showed further that developing a new system in communication got the highest total weighted mean of 4.26 with an adjectival interpretation of frequently. that implies msmes, to increase sales, welcome the new way of communication in reaching their customers through the use of social media. this is supported by the results of the study indicate that the use of social media for marketing has a positive effect on the performance of msmes, especially in increasing sales, customer relationships, productivity, and creativity. this means that the better at managing social media for marketing, the better the performance of msmes will be, according to syaifullah et al. (2021). meanwhile, developing a new marketing strategy got the lowest total weighted mean of 3.47 with an adjectival interpretation of sometimes. this gave weight to research by purba et al. (2021), which found that digital marketing has been used to raise consumer awareness. the real economy is referred to as an innovation or improvement in marketing tactics. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 lessons learned and best practices of msmes during the pandemic when msmes were interviewed about their lessons learned and best practices during the pandemic, they revealed that having a contingency plan is important, as is adaptability to changes and aligning your strategies to the new trends. relationships are also important factors in surviving during crises, as is being resilient to overcome whatever challenges you encounter. a contingency is the potential for a negative event, such as a pandemic, economic downturn, natural disaster, fraud, or terrorist attack, to occur in the future. this was revealed by the respondents during the interview. as one of the respondents says, “secure to have a backup plan in all means of surviving the dayto-day operations of the business.” adaptability to changes was also mentioned by the respondents during the interview. one respondent says, “be ready to adapt to the changes.” use whatever online social media platform to advertise your shop.” during the pandemic, msmes have adopted new strategies to cope with covid-19’s negative effects, and most are micro in nature. the major business strategies adopted to survive the adverse effects of the pandemic are as follows: following health protocols, finding suppliers in nearby towns, and using whatever online social media platform to market your business. likewise, the study of deshmukh and haleem (2020) revealed that covid-19 disruptions are expected to present new working models as well as possibilities to develop competencies and explore the new international market. another response from the respondent is to implement a new approach tailored to the preferences of the client with a modern technological twist. it was also determined that this pandemic teaches msmes a lesson to become digital in their transactions and adopt a quicker delivery system to continue serving and serving their customers with the utmost attention to detail. the internet, notably social media, has transformed how businesses do business. in many respects, it has upended the conventional business paradigm by enabling businesses to communicate instantly with their customers, become more responsive to market possibilities and challenges, and expand their customer base. it’s now a common practice (velita, 2022). some smes respond to the crisis by applying creativity to problems to obtain opportunities. thukral e. (2021). by enabling people to establish and expand their professional networks more quickly and successfully online, it has evolved into a method of networking. social media is becoming a crucial networking component that cannot be disregarded. according to respondent a, one of the best practices is to “adhere to the demands of most numbers of consumers, the use of the internet and social media.” 99 international peer reviewed journal according to recent surveys, social media also enables businesses to maintain constant communication with their contacts to develop enduring ties. while social media has raised this model and increased the possibility that you are meeting people, nothing matches face-to-face, real engagement, especially in business. who are interested and engaged in what you are talking about, porter et al. (2016). on the other hand, recent surveys indicate that social media enables businesses to regularly communicate with their customers to establish lasting partnerships. while social media has improved this model, making it more likely that you are meeting someone they are attentive to and involved with what you are saying, porter et al. (2016) note that nothing replaces face-to-face, and personal interaction, especially in business. it is also noted that smes adjusted their supply chains and implemented redundant infrastructure to help them get through the pandemic. businesses that are knowledgeable about the difficulties and opportunities of digitalizing their goods and services could overcome e-commerce hurdles or even the switch from traditional to digital commerce (costa & castro, 2021). another response from the respondent is to implement a new approach tailored to the preferences of the client with a modern technological twist. in her research, velita (2022) also determined that this pandemic teaches msmes a lesson to become digital in their transactions and adopt a quicker delivery system to continue serving and serving their customers with the utmost attention to detail. the internet, notably social media, has transformed how businesses do business. in many respects, it has upended the conventional business paradigm by enabling businesses to communicate instantly with their customers, become more responsive to market possibilities and challenges, and expand their customer base. it’s now a common practice. by enabling people to establish and expand their professional networks more quickly and successfully online, it has evolved into a method of networking. social media is becoming a crucial networking component that cannot be disregarded. according to respondent a, one of the best practices is to “adhere to the demands of most consumers, the use of the internet and social media. rukumnuaykit (2022), in his study business survival in times of covid-19, also suggested that msme businesses need to focus on human resource management. the study conducted by agustina et al. (2021) gives credibility to the respondent’s statement, “best practice is to take care of your staff.” the personal qualities of people managers who run businesses are also crucial for msmes to be capable of surviving the covid-19 pandemic. likewise, in the study of flaminiano et al. (2021), one enterprise they spoke with stressed the 100 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 value of developing connections with several suppliers to guarantee a sufficient. according to maritz et al. (2020), entrepreneurs are the unsung heroes of the outbreak because they were unfazed by its turbulence. according to lopes de sousa jabbour et al. (2018), entrepreneurship is crucial in creating a sustainable economy because it seeks, develops, and takes advantage of new economic opportunities that can profit from resolving social and environmental issues. business competitiveness framework for msme the diamond model by michael porter serves as the foundation for the proposed competitiveness framework for msmes. porter’s model, a framework in the shape of a diamond, aims to explain why some industries inside a particular country are competitive worldwide while others may not be. and why can some businesses in particular nations innovate consistently while others may not? with this understanding from porter (1985), the researchers were motivated to create a framework for measuring the competitiveness of msmes based on the four factors porter suggested: firm strategy, structure, and rivalry; factor conditions; demand conditions; and related and supporting industries. if these circumstances exist, msmes are compelled to constantly develop and innovate. when going overseas, the competitiveness that will emerge from this is advantageous and even vital. the framework outlines factors that determine the relative strength of entities, which drives them to become better than the rest. besides some of the available and identifiable attributes in the environment, msmes can create their strengths to empower their competitiveness. these factors make msmes more competitive. conclusion type of business operations, type of ownership, net worth, and the number of employees as part of the status of the respondent showed no bearing on the competitiveness of the respondent. all six variables of challenges and opportunities encountered by the msmes had an adjectival interpretation of almost always or frequently, indicating that msmes experienced both negative and positive particularly to their businesses, overall making it a significant factor in designing the msme competitiveness framework. there were lessons learned and best practices experienced by the msmes. to overcome these challenges, msmes must possess contingency, adaptation, and resilience, as discussed in the theoretical framework for the competitiveness of msmes during economic 101 international peer reviewed journal disruptions. the designed business competitiveness framework for msmes will guide msmes in the second district of albay, especially in forthcoming disruptive events, natural disasters, or pandemics. this is based on porter’s (1985) theory of competitiveness which functions as dynamic progressiveness, innovation, and a capability to change and improve. understanding the business competitiveness framework is crucial for all msme enterprises. future scholars and readers can use this study to determine how competitive msmes are during economic disruptions. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit their marketing strategies. additionally, the government can support msmes in terms of access to capital, technological capability, marketing, and all requirements for business registration. governments have used financial incentives like tax breaks and credits, grants, subsidies, and other similar measures to encourage technical innovation in msmes. to speed up digital innovations in msmes and the economy overall, the government must move quickly to upgrade the it infrastructure in the province of albay and towards further studies. finally, a framework that focuses on competitiveness may be adopted by msmes and may be introduced to educators and students to meet the research objectives, which are primarily geared towards enhancing and sustaining the competitiveness of msmes in times of economic disruptions. literature cited abi fadel, p. 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(2021, january 25). challenges and opportunities of india’s micro small medium enterprises in the new era of post covid. https://doi.org/10.21203/ rs.3.rs-153359/v1 https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1107850 https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/saje/article/view/100234 https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/saje/article/view/100234 https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2399 80 jpair multidisciplinary research awareness of millennial undergraduate students of a private university in the philippines on bioethical practices and issues gina m. alvarado http://orcid.org/0002-4477-8522 gina.alvarado45@yahoo.com arellano university caniogan, pasig city originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this descriptive research assessed the level of awareness of millennial undergraduate students of a private university in the philippines on the bioethical practices such as abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia, eugenics, organ donation/ transplant, and in-vitro fertilization that give rise to bioethical issues. the author utilized a validated self-made instrument to gauge the respondents’ knowledge, understanding, and awareness of these bioethical practices and issues. the findings show that all the student-respondents have a high level of knowledge that bioethical practices, such as abortion, surrogacy, eugenics, organ donation, and in-vitro fertilization do exist in modern society. they also reveal that psychology, education, and nursing student-respondents have a very high level of understanding the meaning of these bioethical practices. the results further reveal that education students are the most highly aware of how the advancements in science lead to the emergence of new bioethical issues. the implications reflect the views of the millennial undergraduate students on the vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.725 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 81 international peer reviewed journal bioethical issues brought about by the advancements in medical science. the millennial cohorts are the driving force shaping the future; hence, there is still a need to reinforce and develop the understanding of bioethics as respect for life which can help them make ethical choices in the dilemmas that they may face in life. keywords — awareness, undergraduate, millennials, bioethical practices/ issues introduction bioethical and medical issues are among the most important concerns facing society today due to the consequences connected with the possibility to control human procreation. humanity is greatly involved and affected due to these issues. the emergence of experimentation on human beings, genetic engineering, organ, and tissue transplants, and the role assigned to medicine when decisions of life and death are involved. the millennial views on humanity change as modern techniques and technology that give man the power to modify life arise. this study is significant because it was able to assess the level of awareness of millennial undergraduate students toward prevalent bioethical practices and issues. the results of this study reflect the possible projection of the future specifically regarding the rights to life and health, the rightness and wrongness of certain developments in healthcare institutions, life technology, and society’s responsibility for the life and health of its members, are being discovered and practiced nowadays. abortion refers to the premature ending of a pregnancy which occurred in itself (known as a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion) or by force through surgery or taking medications. the topic of abortion raises intensely personal issues about many topics such as morals, religion, sexuality, autonomy, politics, and science and medicine. during the abortion, the central question is focused on whether or not an unborn child (called fetus) has moral status and significance. aside from that, questions regarding parental responsibilities and obligations as well as the issue of personhood arise. the latest study on abortion in the british journal of psychiatry has found that abortion increases the risk of mental health problems for women by 81%. according to the latest research from the un and world health organisation, ireland leads the world in safety for pregnant mothers. the report, which was published in september 2010, found of all 172 countries for which estimates are given, ireland remains at the top when it comes 82 jpair multidisciplinary research to safety for pregnant women. in other words, women are safer in ireland when pregnant than in countries like britain and holland, which allow abortion on demand. based on jiro  cadungon’s 2013 article about euthanasia, “in the philippines, euthanasia is not legal for the reason of the  predominance of the religious communities which hinders the ratification of the euthanasia bill. likewise, as a religious country, the majority of the filipinos value the christian doctrine as the foundation of their conviction.” meaning “good death,” euthanasia is the process of intending to end the life an individual to stop his or her pain and suffering. the term eugenics is derived from the greek word “eu,” meaning good or well, and “genos,” meaning offspring. conventional eugenics, or intentional selective breeding for improved genetic traits, has been performed on crops and livestock for thousands of years. the term eugenics as it pertains to humans, was first coined by sir francis galton in 1883. advancements in technology are now able to allow researchers and physicians to view and have access to the whole genome of a newborn. such screening is used to determine the individual’s chances of acquiring and developing certain diseases. however, this process seems to draw criticisms primarily because of the lack of consent from the individual-the newborn. in aldous huxley’s futuristic novel brave new world (1932), human beings are selectively bred to be genetically perfect. based on their genes, they are sorted into a caste system that defines their social hierarchy. the consequences of these reproductive advancements and their impact on the evolution of our society are only beginning to be explored. organ donation/transplant is the process of removing an organ from one person and surgically placing it in another person. many organs can be donated, and these include the liver, kidney, pancreas, and heart (the cleveland clinic foundation). similar to cloning and stem cell research, organ donation have raised numerous moral, societal, and ethical concerns about the use of living people as donors. infertility can be a devastating occurrence to a couple whose wish is to have and raise a child. in-vitro fertilization (ivf) is an expensive and timeconsuming process that may potentially not yield a baby. the process can be as stressful and heartbreaking as it is one of hope. ultimately, the decision to pursue ivf is the couple’s alone. in his study on bioethics education, darryl macer (1997) concluded that ethics education and respect for life must reach all people in all levels--from high school to professional. there is still a need to reinforce and develop the https://www.bioexplorer.net/types-of-doctors/ https://www.bioexplorer.net/organ-donation-pros-cons.html/ 83 international peer reviewed journal understanding of bioethics as respect for life which can help individuals make ethical choices in the dilemmas that they face in life. the undergraduate courses look at bioethics as the study of the ethical issues of life, and the bioethical issues brought about by the use of genetic technology in medicine as well as in agriculture. the course discusses science, ethics, and legal aspects from an international perspective and focuses on making decisions in a balanced and rational way. framework this study is anchored on the generational cohort theory which states that important historical events and social changes in society affect the values, attitudes, beliefs, and inclinations of individuals (edmunds & turner, 2005; d’amato & herzfeldt, 2008). the millennial cohorts, who are born between 1981 and 2000 (howe & strauss, 2003), are known to possess an intuitive sense in understanding technology, bringing a much more creative and innovative approach to solving problems than any of the previous generations. millennials came of age in a time where the entertainment industry began to be affected by the internet. in addition to millennials being the most ethnically and racially diverse compared to the generations older than they are, they are also on pace to be the most formally educated and are more open to change than older generations. in the 1960s, a phenomenon in the field of medical ethics resulted to the birth of what has become known as bioethics, which introduced a wide range of ethical concerns and questions (mccormick & connors, 2002). one of the events was advancements of dialysis machines, artificial ventilators, and organ transplants that offer the possibility of keeping alive patients who otherwise would have died; in vitro fertilization and related reproduction techniques that allow a range of new relationships between parents and children, including the birth of children who are not genetically related to the women who bear them; and the development of modern contraceptives, prenatal testing, and the availability of safe abortions that have given women and couples increased choices about the number and kinds of children they are going to have (kuhse & singer, 2009). objectives of the study bioethics is filled with difficult ethical questions for the youth and their families, medical practitioners, government officials, as well as for other members 84 jpair multidisciplinary research of the community. fundamental values are at stake: human life, the dignity of the frail and elderly, just healthcare, bodily integrity, and the ability to make reasonable decisions. on this premise, the researcher conducted this study to assess the level of awareness of millennial undergraduate students toward bioethical practices and issues. this study determined the profile of the respondents according to age, gender, course, and year level. it further assessed the level of knowledge of the respondents as to the existence of bioethical practices in the society such as abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia, eugenics, organ donation/transplant, and invitro fertilization, their level of understanding of the meaning of each bioethical practice, as well as their level of awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices. previous studies found that the youngest cohort, labeled as the millennial generation, has relatively conservative pro-life preferences (wilcox and carr 2010). the results of this study confirm the claims of previous authors that the millennial generation has pro-life preferences. the implications of the respondents’ level of awareness on bioethical practices and issues lead to the importance of including bioethics as a basic subject in the tertiary education curriculum, not only for the health-related degree programs. methodology the descriptive survey research design was used in this study to determine the level of knowledge, understanding, and awareness of undergraduate millennial students of a private university in the philippines on the existence of bioethical practices and issues in the present society. soliven (2001) stated that the descriptive design aims to systematically and accurately describe the facts and characteristics of a given population or area of interest. it is important to emphasize, however, that descriptive research methods can only describe a set of observations or the data collected (jackson, s.l. (2009). the primary tool used to gather data for this study was a researcher-made survey questionnaire, validated by the dean of nursing, marlene r. padua, who is also co-chairman of the arellano university ethics review board, and two experts in the field of psychology. descriptive survey research design  is a valid method for researching specific subjects and as a precursor to more quantitative studies. the aim of using close-ended questions is to draw concrete conclusions about the respondents. this could be the need to derive patterns, traits, and http://www2.uiah.fi/projekti/metodi/150.htm https://www.questionpro.com/close-ended-questions.html 85 international peer reviewed journal behaviors of the respondents. it could also be to understand from a respondent, their attitude or opinion about the phenomenon in question.  part 1 of the survey questionnaire determined the profile of the respondents according to age, gender, course/program, and year level. part 2 focused on assessing the level of awareness of the millennial undergraduate students on bioethical practices and issues. for the statistical treatment of data gathered, the percentage was used to analyze the profile of the respondents, and the average weighted mean with 4-point likert scale was utilized to analyze the respondents’ awareness on bioethical practices and issues. likert scales have the advantage that they do not expect a simple yes or no answer from the respondent, but rather allow for degrees of opinion, and even no opinion at all. the 4-point likert scale is also called a forced likert scale since the user is forced to form an opinion since there is no safe ‘neutral’ option.  therefore quantitative data is obtained, which means that the data can be analyzed with relative ease. validity was computed at 4.4 fcv (very good) and reliability at 0.89 ca (high). the scale below was used to interpret the data gathered and the results. range of weighted mean interpretation 3.26 – 4.0 very high level of knowledge in the existence of bioethical practices in society; understanding the meaning of the bioethical practices; awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices 2.51 -3.25 high level of knowledge in the existence of bioethical practices in society; understanding the meaning of the bioethical practices; awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices 1.76 2.5 low level of knowledge in the existence of bioethical practices in society; understanding the meaning of the bioethical practices; awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices 1.00 – 1.75 very low level of knowledge in the existence of bioethical practices in society; understanding the meaning of the bioethical practices; awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices this study utilized convenience sampling to select the seventy (70) respondents evenly representing the population from the seven different colleges in the university: business, education, information technology, psychology, 86 jpair multidisciplinary research hotel and tourism management, criminology, and nursing. according to castillo (2009), convenience sampling is a type of non-probability sampling technique wherein the subjects are selected because of their convenience, accessibility, and proximity. convenience sampling (also known as availability sampling) is a specific type of  non-probability sampling  method that relies on data collection from population members who are conveniently available to participate in the study.  all the respondents were bona fide millennial undergraduate students, with ages ranging from 18 to 23 years old, of a private coeducational and nonsectarian university located in the national capital region of the philippines. the millennial cohorts, who are born between 1981 and 2000 (howe & strauss, 2003), are known to possess an intuitive sense in understanding technology, bringing a much more creative and innovative approach to solving problems than any of the previous generations. the researcher complied with the research ethics protocol in having this paper undergo expedited review by the ethics review board of arellano university with minimal risk to study participants and minor revisions in the protocol or informed consent. the researcher explained the objectives and procedures of the study to the respondents prior to voluntarily signing the informed consent. they were duly informed of their right to refuse or reject as a sample for this study, which is for academic purposes only, with emphasis on their anonymity as respondents and confidentiality of their responses. as certified by the au ethics board review committee, no ethical violations were committed by the researcher in the conduct of this study. results and discussion out of the seventy (70) millennial undergraduate students who served as respondents in this study, the majority were female, between the ages of 18 and 23 years old, and in the third year of their respective courses at the time this study was conducted. https://research-methodology.net/sampling/non-probability-sampling/ 87 international peer reviewed journal table 1. knowledge of the existence of bioethical practices in society 1. i know that these bioethical practices exist in our society. psy educ it nrsng ba htm crim 1.1 abortion 3 3.6 2.2 2.6 2.6 2.3 3 1.2 surrogacy 2.9 3.3 2.7 2.7 3.1 2.1 3 1.3 euthanasia 3.1 3.3 2.3 2.3 2.9 2.2 2.6 1.4 eugenics 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.4 2.4 2.8 2.8 1.5 organ donation and transplant 3.3 3.3 3.1 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 1.6 in-vitro fertilization 2.7 2.9 2.5 2.7 3.4 2.7 3.1 weighted mean interpretation 2.93 h 3.15 h 2.58 h 2.68 h 2.97 h 2.58 h 2.98 h the millennial student-respondents have a high level of knowledge of the existence of bioethical practices such as abortion, surrogacy, eugenics, organ donation/ transplant, and in-vitro fertilization in the society. the education student-respondents had the highest level of knowledge of all practices, which may be due to their wide exposure to print and display media as a requirement for their core subjects. millennials came of age in a time where everything is accessible through the internet; hence, they are more open to change. aside from being the most ethnically and racially diverse generation, they are also on pace to be the most formally educated (taylor et al. 2014). table 2. understanding of the meaning of each bioethical practice 2. i understand the meaning of these bioethical practices. psy educ it nrsng ba htm crim 2.1 abortion involves the deliberate termination of pregnancy by killing the fetus. 3.7 4 2.1 3.5 2.9 4.1 2 2.2 surrogacy is implanting and carrying an embryo to deliver a baby for another person/ couple. 3.7 3.9 2.9 3.6 3.1 2.8 3 2.3 euthanasia intentionally ends a life through medical procedures to relieve pain and suffering. 3.7 2.9 2.9 3.7 2.9 2.9 2.5 2.4 eugenics is choosing desired characteristics of parents selected to improve future generations. 3.3 3 2.7 3.5 2.8 3 2.6 2.5 organ donation is the process of surgically removing an organ from one person (donor) and placing it into another person (recipient) 3.6 3.9 2.9 3.7 3.1 3.3 2.3 2.6 in-vitro fertilization is fertilizing an egg with a sperm outside of the woman’s womb (in testtubes). 3.58 3.1 2.7 3.8 2.9 2.7 2.7 weighted mean interpretation 3.59 vh 3.47 vh 2.7 h 3.63 vh 2.95 h 3.13 h 2.52 high 88 jpair multidisciplinary research results reveal that the student-respondents from the psychology, nursing, and education departments have a very high level of understanding the meaning of each bioethical practice. this is because they have greater access to current events and mass media, especially on medical advancements and scientific breakthroughs. however, htm students have the highest level of understanding about abortion, which implies that hospitality and tourism students have more exposure to such bioethical practice among their peers and schoolmates. table 3. awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices 3. i am aware of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices: psy educ it nrsng ba htm crim 3.1abortion is done for personal reasons or convenience. 2.9 3.9 3.1 2.6 2.9 2.4 2.4 3.2surrogacy is done by surrogate mothers to earn money 2.6 3.2 2.6 2.8 2.8 2.3 2.6 3.3euthanasia is done to shorten one’s suffering against the will of god. 3 3.3 2.9 2.8 2.9 2.2 2.3 3.4eugenics is done by tinkering with the natural genetic characteristics of the unborn to produce a better offspring. 2.7 3.1 3 2.8 3.1 3 2.3 3.5organ donation is used by some people (donors) to earn money at the risk of their own health. 3 3.6 2.6 3 3.1 3.3 2.3 3.6 in-vitro fertilization is done with living embryos discarded when the ivf cycles do not lead to live birth. 2.6 3 2.8 3 2.8 2.7 2.1 weighted mean 2.8 h 3.35 vh 2.83 h 2.83 h 2.93 h 2.65 h 2.33 low the education students have a very high level of awareness of the bioethical issues brought about by these practices, while the criminology students have a low level of awareness. on the other hand, the rest of the students have a high level of awareness. the millennials could become even more pro-life as they age. furthermore, if ongoing national trends drive their prolife orientation, one might expect future generations to be even more prolife. some have speculated that young people’s attitudes are driven by changing depictions of abortion in popular culture (e.g. wilcox and carr 2010, 141-2). according to the 2008 survey conducted by the pew research center, millennials are the most likely of any generation to self-identify as  liberals  and are also more supportive of progressive  domestic social agenda than older generations. they are less overtly religious than older generations, as one in four millennials are not affiliated with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/modern_liberalism_in_the_united_states https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/progressivism_in_the_united_states 89 international peer reviewed journal any religion, a considerably higher ratio than that of older generations at the same age (taylor et al. 2014). a study by diug and kendal (2017) focused on the impact of social media in raising awareness of public health issues among tertiary students engaged in health-related degrees. it provides practical suggestions for educators interested in using social media for pedagogical and communication purposes.  students that are immersed in technology and social networking have different facilities and difficulties that educators would do well to address carefully and critically employ (bauman et al. 2014). these findings were compatible with a study on millennials conducted by richardson (2016), which shows that millennials increasingly oppose abortion, even if they don’t identify it as “pro-life.” in the 2008 american national elections study (anes), some respondents were asked whether abortion should be permitted in a series of different circumstances (similar to the gss format), while others were asked a single summary abortion question. the study found out that the drop in support for abortion rights among the millennial generation is only statistically significant when preferences are measured with questions about a series of specific conditions. young people’s abortion preferences are especially relevant. not only could they have direct effects of politics, but they also may foreshadow larger future changes in overall opinion (wilcox & carr 2010). findings also show that the millennial students were aware that a woman’s uterus could be used for the purpose of implanting and carrying an embryo to deliver a baby for another person or couple (surrogacy), although this is not a common procedure in the philippines. however, surrogate companies are now gradually providing filipina women with a way to provide for their own families by helping other couples have children (mundo, 2012). in terms of euthanasia, most millennials are aware that people can intentionally end life through medical procedures to relieve pain and suffering. euthanasia is a word coined from greek in the 17th century meaning “well death.” euthanasia, then, is inducing the painless death of a person who is severely debilitated for reasons assumed to be merciful, either through voluntary, nonvoluntary, involuntary means (hendin, 2004). despite the fact that majority of the filipinos value the christian doctrine as the foundation of their conviction, it is still practiced by some, mostly are from the poor segment of the country. euthanasia is also loosely called as a mercy-killing, assisted suicide, or doctorassisted suicide. while some people believe that euthanasia is just a matter of ending life painlessly, many people (especially those who support bioethics) 90 jpair multidisciplinary research believe otherwise. euthanasia challenges the belief that is concerned with the sanctity and equality of all life forms. furthermore, it is believed to corrupt the practice of medicine as well as undermine the value of suicide prevention. results of the study show that the majority of the millennial students are aware that desired heritable characteristics of parents can be selected to improve future generations. this supports the article that imparted that eugenics endured through population control policies in the philippines, as is the case in other southeast asian countries (connelly, 2009). eugenics became very popular when adolf hitler ordered the killing of disabled and medically unfit people as well as the murdering of the jews. with the advancement of science and technology, many people fear that another era where the principle of genetics will prevail. ethical issues about eugenics are concerned with the moral principle associated with racial equality and the subjective belief on perfection. most of the millennial respondents are knowledgeable about organ donation and transplantation as well and that the processes can compromise the health and the life of the donors. this is compatible with the study of uriarte et al. (2012,) who found out that the majority of the people knows about organ donation. despite being almost common, the practice of donating or receiving an organ seems to give rise to ethical issues. a study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and the ethical issues surrounding organ transplantation and organ donation among healthcare personnel in tehran, iran. the author concluded that there is a need for more educational programs for the improvement of knowledge and ethical consideration with regard to organ transplantation and organ donation among healthcare personnel (abasse et al., 2018). lastly, most of the millennial undergraduate students are aware of in-vitro fertilization (ivf). this case may be reasonable since the facilities and processes to do the procedure are costly, and most filipinos are oriented with christian values. it is also important for couples to understand that ivf is in no way a guarantee that a couple will be able to have a baby. artificial wombs mimic the conditions inside a mother’s body, providing a safe and secure place for a fetus to develop. the wombs are currently being looked to for premature babies or those who would not be carried to term if done biologically. scientists grapple within the artificial womb discussion two ethical issues. first, a clear connection occurs between mother and child in the womb that cannot be replicated by an artificial womb. the bonding intensifies a mother’s protective nature and develops the child’s attachment to its mother. second, artificial wombs may open a pandora’s box of population control and manipulation that can continue without restraint (human fertilisation & embryology authority, 2014). https://www.bioexplorer.net/divisions_of_biology/genetics/ 91 international peer reviewed journal implications of the respondents’ level of awareness on bioethical practices and issues medical science faces ethical dilemmas today that were once considered at the very edge of imagination years ago. advances in medical research, paired with incredible technological leaps, created a marriage of biology and technology that has the power to transform humanity for the better or to generate devastating consequences for mankind. findings reflect that millennial undergraduate students are highly aware of the existence of bioethical practices and issues in modern society. they project the challenges faced by today’s generation regarding the rights to life and health, the rightness or wrongness of certain developments in healthcare, and life technology which affect the unborn, the young, and the aging. the conventional wisdom is that young people are strongly pro-choice, and the millennials are quickly becoming the most prevalent generation of medical learners. these individuals have a unique outlook on education and have different preferences and expectations as compared to their predecessors (desy, reed, & wolanskyj, 2017). conclusions most of the millennial undergraduate students, specifically those taking up education and nursing bachelor degree programs, are highly knowledgeable of the meaning and existence of bioethical practices (abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia, eugenics, organ donation/transplant, and in-vitro fertilization) in the present society and are highly aware of how these practices and advancements in modern science lead to the emergence of new bioethical issues. however, students taking up other programs such as criminology, information technology or hospitality and tourism management are less aware of the bioethical issues brought about by modern medical practices. since they are known to be the generation that is much exposed to technology, it is assumed that they are more prone to exploring different possibilities given the continuous advancements in technology affecting the medical world and give rise to questions on morality and ethics. implications of this study point to the necessity of including bioethics in the tertiary curriculum for all degree programs, considering the emergence of new social issues about medical science. the researcher found strong evidence that young people are becoming more pro-life. the millennial cohorts belong to the latter part of the twentieth century, which is the era of global generations with advanced communications technology and increasing interactivity. they are 92 jpair multidisciplinary research exposed to modern media technologies which have the potential for creating global generational consciousness, exposing traumas happening globally (edmunds & turner, 2005). therefore, it is necessary to educate them on bioethical concerns as medical advancements affecting humanity arise rapidly. translational research millennials are the driving force in shaping the future of the next generation (white, 2016). their high level of awareness on bioethical practices and issues pose challenges for educators to provide strategies to improve the way they regard current medical practices and how these affect their ethical decisions in life. the millennial cohorts (howe & strauss, 2003) are known to possess an intuitive sense in understanding technology, bringing a much more creative and innovative approach to solving problems than any of the previous generations. considering this, the author has integrated the findings of this study in her syllabi for the courses in guidance and counseling, research in psychology, and criminological research, which she is currently teaching. based on the findings in this study, the researcher agrees with darryl macer (1999) that ethics education and respect for life must reach all people in all levels—from as early as high school up to the professional level. there is still a need to reinforce awareness among millennials and develop their understanding of bioethics as respect for life which can help them make ethical choices when they experience difficult dilemmas in life. one way is to expose undergraduate students to the bioethics course, which discusses science, ethics, and the legal aspects from an international perspective and focuses on making decisions in a balanced and rational way. literature cited abbasi, m., kiani, m., ahmadi, m., & salehi, b. (2018). knowledge and ethical issues in organ transplantation and organ donation: perspectives from iranian health personnel. annals of transplantation, 23, 292. retrieved from doi: 10.12659/aot.908615 bauman, w., marchal, j. a., mclain, k., o’connell, m., & patterson, s. m. (2014). teaching the millennial generation in the religious and theological studies classroom. teaching theology & religion, 17(4), 301-322. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12237 https://dx.doi.org/10.12659%2faot.908615 https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12237 93 international peer reviewed journal connelly, m. j. (2009). fatal misconception: the struggle to control world population. harvard university press. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2k54ev3 desy, j r., d. reed, a. wolanskyj (2017). milestones and millennials: a perfect pairing-competencybased medical education and the learning preferences of generation y. published in mayo clinic proceedings doi:10.1016/j. mayocp.2016.10.026 diug, b., & kendal, e. (2017). teaching millennials: twitter, celebrity media and beyond. in teaching medicine and medical ethics using popular culture  (pp. 115-131). palgrave macmillan. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2ykjhgw edmunds, j., & turner, b. s. (2005). global generations: social change in the twentieth century. the british journal of sociology, 56(4), 559-577. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2005.00083.x hendin, h. (2004). the case against physician-assisted suicide: for the right to end-of-life care.  psychiatric times,  21(2), 1-1. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2h2syp9 howe, n., & strauss, w. (2003).  millennials go to college: strategies for a new generation on campus: recruiting and admissions, campus life, and the classroom. washington, dc: american association of collegiate registrars and admissions officers. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2loa8wi human fertilisation & embryology authority. (2014). risks of fertility treatment. retrieved from https://www.hfea.gov.uk/fertility-treatment-risks.html macer, d. r. (1997, may). bioethics education, awareness of ethics and dissemination of knowledge. in birnal f. bachhawat symposium on genome research, emerging ethical, legal, social and economic issues  (pp. 22-25). retrieved from http://bit.ly/2nycpmb mccormick, p. t., & connors, r. b. (2002).  facing ethical issues: dimensions of character, choices & community. paulist press. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2zljucf https://bit.ly/2k54ev3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2005.00083.x https://bit.ly/2loa8wi https://www.hfea.gov.uk/fertility-treatment-risks.html http://bit.ly/2nycpmb 94 jpair multidisciplinary research taylor, p., parker, k., morin, r., patten, e., & brown, a. (2014). millennials in adulthood. washington, dc: pew research center http://www. pewsocialtrends. org/2014/03/07/millennials-inadulthood. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2yagwph uriarte, r. d. b., amarillo, m. l., ampil, r. s., manauis, m. n. t., agency, p. i., danguilan, r. a., & ona, e. t. (2010, january). a national program toward improving renal health: advancing organ donation awareness. in  transplantation proceedings  (vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 121-123). elsevier. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2yw9uly https://bit.ly/2yagwph https://bit.ly/2yagwph https://bit.ly/2yw9uly 59 international peer reviewed journal abstract colon is the oldest street in the philippines. it used to be the center of trade and commerce decades ago. the study aimed to determine the vendor demographics and the positive and adverse effects of the city governmentorganized colon night market program on the night market vendors in cebu city, philippines. impact value chain and social return on investment method analysis were used. two survey questionnaires were prepared: one administered to the vendors that benefited the night market program, and another set was conducted to the customers. the results were validated by in-depth interviews. the study discovered that muslim-filipino vendors constituted the group of vendors with the highest proportion while the homegrown cebuanos constituted the least number. the affirmative effects of the program were identified: better income and improved quality of life for the individuals, creation of more jobs, an vol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.501 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. social and economic impact of the colon night market to small scale vendors antoniette m. almaden http://orcid.org 0000-0002-3972-7501 avmedalle@gmail.com cebu institute of technology – university philippines julie ann veloso http://orcid.org 0000-0003-0002-0987 julie.veloso@aboitiz.com cebu institute of technology – university philippines 60 jpair multidisciplinary research offering of better deals and lower price, and the building of camaraderie among vendors. there were also a few negative issues identified. it was also discovered that there is $6.44 dollars for every one dollar invested by the government. it is recommended that the program is operated year-round to achieve a higher return on investment. keywords— colon street, night market, small scale vendors, descriptive design, cebu city, philippines introduction cebu city, philippines is considered the oldest city in the philippines, as this was the site of the earliest european settlement established by spanish subjugator miguel lopez de legazpi. calle colon in cebu, the philippines’ oldest street named after explorer christopher columbus, which was constructed in 1565, had houses that were built in a row, facing each other on both sides of the main street which was colon. there were about 30 to 40 families who were the original settlers of parian whose descendants have left indelible marks of cebuano politics, religion, business, and arts and letters (briones, 2000). right after the association of south east asian nation (asean) summit, the city government organized colon night market program to bring back the old glory of the oldest street in the country which was the center of trade, commerce and industry decades ago. the colon night market program has been operated since 2007 and conducted four times a year: on january as part of the sinulog celebration, middle of may to june during the opening of classes and cebu business month, on august in time of ramadan, and every middle of november to december christmas season. muslims in the philippines consist of 13 ethno-linguistic groups distributed according to their respective geographical locations. they are: the maranao (lanao del sur), maguindanao (maguindanao province and cotabato), tausug (sulu), sama, yakan, sangil, palawani, molbog, kolibugan, jama mapun, iranun, ka’agan, and badjao. among these 13 ethno-linguistic groups, the maranaos are considered to be most business-minded and comprises the majority of the traders in cebu city. used to be street or ambulant vendors and now partaken the downtown revitalization project which constituted the group of vendors with the highest population while the primitive cebuanos constituted the least 61 international peer reviewed journal number. local cebuanos are people who have been born and raised in cebu whose parents’ origin is also from cebu. they usually cater to snacks and roadside dining which serves local street food. objectives of the study a small-scale business operation is limited in scope and does not a have high volume of sales. this small-scale street vendors directly sell finished products and engage in services that are now eligible for government support. to align its goal of revitalizing the city’s downtown area, the study aimed to determine 1) the small-scale vendors and consumers’ demographics; and 2) to find out the positive and adverse effects of the city government organized colon night market program on the night market vendors in cebu city, philippines. framework bangkok is possibly one of the world’s “jewels” when it comes to selling goods and services in public spaces both day and night. one of the first things that strike visitors to bangkok is the sheer number and diversity of vendors on the streets, lanes, sidewalks, and remaining waterways. in addition to “traditional” street stalls selling food, clothing, flowers, toys, electronics, and even foot massages, bangkok is home to some fairly unique examples of sellers operating in public spaces. include the well-known “floating markets” on the city’s waterways as well as opportunities for vending eked out in some very unusual places such as train rails. there are even vendors specialized in selling “kits” to offer to buddhist monks before dawn (yasmeen & nirathron, 2014). many would argue that vending in public places, especially food, is traditional in southeast asia and deeply rooted in the local culture. however, most scholars argue that a turning point in the region, including and especially in thailand, was the arrival of migrants from china, particularly in the 19th century, concomitant with the growth in urbanization. food vending in the capital city of bangkok dates back to the early period associated with the kings rama i-iii. whereas in the days when bangkok was still known as the “venice of the east”, thai vendors preferred to work from floating markets, chinese immigrants were pioneers in land-based retailing. street vending, which had earlier helped chinese immigrants, became the 62 jpair multidisciplinary research “survival strategy” of another wave of migrants. mass rural-urban migration perpetuated by economic development created both demand for, and supply of, street vending. factors contributing to this phenomenon included uneven income distribution between bangkok and rural areas and rapid urbanization of the capital. the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis, which saw many laid-off workers take up street vending, was a testimony to the “paradigm shift” in government policy on employment as well as to the government’s tenacious role in thai culture. activities in the informal sector were regarded as valuable economic endeavors, not only because of their role in capitalism, but also because of their role in employment creation for the unemployed due to the uncertainty in wage employment in the formal sector. over time, a specific urban culture and economy emerged with vending in public space, becoming a bangkok hallmark. street vendors have a complicated economic status. many earn subsistence incomes or even less, but there are also vendors who accumulate capital and, considering their daily earnings, can be classified as people of middle income. some street vendors can expand their ventures. a shift in employment triggered by neoliberalism and globalization-induced “a new generation” of vendors on the street. for these people, street vending is not a “survival strategy” but, rather, an alternative income generating activity leading to economic mobility. yasmeen and nirathron (2014) found that the common factors that contribute to the success of street vendors of all economic status are self-confidence and selling venues. street vendors who earned subsistence income valued an inexpensive source of raw materials whereas well-off vendors gave high importance to capital, family support, and knowledge. an issue of significant importance in bangkok, which pertains to thailand and southeast asia in general, is the unique configuration of gender roles on hawking and how this meshes with urbanization, immigration, and – most importantly – how one interprets the meaning of these titles. visitors to bangkok will notice the strong presence of women vendors in comparison to south asian countries. migrants from other parts of thailand and neighboring countries also factor into the labor force. female labor force participation rates in southeast asia in general and thailand, in particular are very high and combined with the late age of marriage, many unmarried women and few children per woman. there are debates among scholars as to what extent is this a sign of “high” or “low” status. no matter what the interpretation, one thing is sure: thai women are not confined to the home and easily access all the parts of the city as both 63 international peer reviewed journal buyers and sellers of goods and services in a myriad of public spaces. regarding the expansion of trade and growth of micro-enterprises for upward mobility, women may be in a more disadvantageous position as they have less control over the time and labor of members of the family. nirathron (2006) demonstrated that, by the 1980s, vending in bangkok was no longer female dominated and included roughly as many men as women. the growth, boom, bust and recovery of the bangkok economy – as well as rates of economic growth in china and other parts of southeast asia – has affected the nature of vending in public spaces in the city. in addition to the well-known pattern of migrants from the impoverished northeast of the country (isaan), bangkok is now witnessing the growth of more middle-class vendors selling food (including chinese and other non-thai items), goods from china, etc. many of these individuals are men of chinese ancestry – some of them quite well educated. at the other end of the spectrum, bangkok streets are welcoming a new cohort of migrants from other countries such as myanmar, laos, cambodia and china, many of whom are relatively poor. as to how bangkok had become now on street vending because of the scale, diversity, creativity, cleanliness, entrepreneurialism, and strong government support involved served an example to other neighboring countries. as becoming part of the picture, cebu city government may embark on a new plan to make colon night market program systematic, orderly, and comfortable. also, it would be best to consider on benchmarking good practices and implement policy direction going forward about hygiene, poverty reduction, and environment hazards which are very common in downtown colon (i.e. pollution and floods). methodology the study used the descriptive survey method administered on the small scale vendors and customers of colon, cebu, philippines night market, through field research which includes informant interviews and researcher-made questionnaire as the major instrument of the study. in a randomly selected sample of the vendor’s population, slovin’s formula was used to determine sample size using probability random sampling. systematic sampling technique was also used to determine the customer respondents who were considered representative of the total population. the social impact value chain and social return on investment (sroi) methods analysis were also used to assess the positive and negative impact of the government-organized colon night market program on the night market vendors in cebu city. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research research setting the city of cebu (cebuano: dakbayan sa sugbo, filipino: lungsod ng cebu, and spanish: ciudad de cebu) is the capital city of cebu and the second city of the philippines. being the center of metro cebu, it is considered as the second most populous metropolitan area in the philippines after metro manila. with a population of 933, 166 as per the 2010 census, it is the fifth most populated city in the country. the old street of colon was formerly considered the venue for fashionable shops, offices and movie house which made it an important center of trade, commerce, and industry in cebu city. it was once cebu city’s shopping and business district, which connects to the old chinese district of parian derived from paripari which means “to sell” or “exchange”. the colon night market program is conducted four times yearly. it is held every month of january during the sinulog celebration, middle of the month of may to the month of june as part of the opening of the classes and cebu business month, every month of august in the time of ramadan and middle of november until december for the christmas celebration. this research study was conducted during the peak times of christmas season wherein 200 vendors were identified and registered members of the colon night market program. figure 1. map of colon street, cebu city (courtesy of google maps) 65 international peer reviewed journal participants two survey questionnaires were prepared: one administered on the vendors that benefited the night market program, and another set was conducted on the customers. twohundred (200) vendors were identified and registered during the christmas season of the colon night market program when the research was conducted. before the actual survey, researchers conducted a dry-run survey to a small group of our target participants with 32 sample questionnaires to test its validity and functionality of the research instrument. it has been discovered that 75% of the small-scale vendors identified muslim-filipino vendors which composed of the three large tribes (maranao, maguindanao, and tausug) and the indigenous cebuano constituted the least number which focuses more on foods and merchandising goods. the researchers have selected 1,000 customers of the night market during the peak times of christmas season which was considered representative of the total population for the whole period using systematic sampling technique established every hour starting from 6:30 to 10:30 o’clock in the evening with the assistance of 5 hired research samplers. results and discussion about 75% of the total number of respondents constituted to muslimfilipino vendors which emerged as the group with the highest number of population in colon night market, while 25 percent respondents belong to the indigenous cebuano vendors. figure 2 illustrates the combination of vendors and customers’ positive assessment of the social and economic impact of the government organized colon night market program using social impact value chain analysis. on the query, “how helpful is the colon night market program towards small-scale vendors and consumers?” results were also validated by indepth interviews. 66 jpair multidisciplinary research input activities output outcomes goal alignment small scale vendors → night market → wide selection of → • better income and → • envision an asian program products and improved quality of life night market set-up, police/security extensive array of for the individuals and be known all over the country, and crowd control; street foods • creates new and more be an entry for tourist night market in metro waste collectors peace and security jobs cebu. police visibility • offers great deals and traffic enforcers waste collections increased low price to consumers and traffic • builds good camaraderie government and management among vendors investors (cebuanos and musliminterventions filipino) impact • it brings back colon street’s old glory in trade, commerce and industry • less crime, snatchers, pick-pocketers, and beggars around colon • increase business transaction sales, investments, and support • additional income to cebu city figure 2. social impact value chain analysis table 3 reveals that both vendors and customers’ respondents identified seven negative major effects of the government organized colon night market program. on the query “what negative effect could you identify on the colon night market program to the small scale vendors in cebu city?” the negative reactions were as follows: income instability contributes vendor’s leading concern on the government’s organized program since it only happens four times a year only. with higher social return on investment, the city government may consider operating yearround to sustain the livelihood of the small scale vendors. 67 international peer reviewed journal concerns on road congestions ranks first as customers had to make detours from their official routes. the location of the night market though strategic because of the support facilities surround the market which is within the vicinity of several commercial places in colon: tourist attraction, shopping complexes, clothing retail shops, a wholesale supermarket, cinemas, universities along the main road. table 3: identified negative effects of the organized colon night market program vendors frequency percentage rank does not guarantee income stability 44 33% 1 it creates high competition between vendors due to the product line and price similarities. 32 24% 2 fluctuates profit among vendors since prices are regulated and haggling is expected. 31 23% 3 insufficient infrastructure in the area (i.e. stalls, toilets, electricity, and water) 18 14% 4 not identified any negative effects 8 6% 5 133 100% customers frequency percentage rank causes road congestions to motorists due to traffic rerouting scheme 532 53% 1 insufficient waste removal and sanitation services which results in dirty market conditions and undermine vendors’ sales as well as their health. 375 38% 2 it decreases other merchant’s sales due to the distraction and inconvenience caused by the vendors to the shoppers 67 7% 3 not identified any negative effects 26 3% 4 1000 100% 68 jpair multidisciplinary research projecting into the future impact in base year based on the current monthly income generated from the 200 small-scale vendors of $106 per month, the night market has been operational for four seasonal months per year, the following earnings for the base year shows as $84,800 income to the national government calculated as shown below: base year: 200 vendors x $106 x 4 seasonal months = $84,800 impact in year 1 if the night market would be operational for the whole year with a monthly income generated from the 200 small-scale vendors of $106 per month, and using a 10% drop-off due to possible future business ventures, (the 10% is an estimate of the likelihood that vendors will utilize the program less as time goes on) the following income for the 1st year shows a $228,960 to the local government calculated as shown below: year 1: 200 vendors x $106 x 12 months x 90% = $228,960 impact in year 2 if the night market would be operational for the whole year with a monthly income generated from the 200 small-scale vendors of $106 per month, and using a 10% drop-off due to possible future business ventures, and possible change of the demand from the customers, the following income for the 2nd year shows a $206,064 to the local government calculated as shown below: year 2: 200 vendors x $106 x 12 months x 90% x 90%= $206,064 impact in year 3 if the night market would be operational for the whole year with a monthly income generated from the 200 small-scale vendors of $106 per month, and using a 10% drop-off due to possible future business ventures, possible change of the demand from the customer, and possible change on vendor scale, the following income for the 3rd year shows a $185,458 to the local government calculated as shown below: year 3: 200 vendors x $106 x 12 months x 90% x 90% x 90% = $185,458 69 international peer reviewed journal calculating the present value a 10% discount rate is used to account for the probable increase in costs for paying salaries for police or security personnel, waste collectors, traffic enforcers, and the used of electricity per stall. present value = value of value of value of impact in + impact in + impact in year 1 year 2 year 3 (1+r) (1+r) (1+r) year 1 year 2 year 3 benefits = $228,960 $206,064 $185,458 discounted values = $228,960 + $206,064 + $185,458 (1.1)1 (1.1)2 (1.1)3 present value = $517,784 value of investments: rate no. of resources rate per month police $298 3 $894 waste collectors $225 3 $676 traffic enforcers $225 2 $451 electricity $213 $213 monthly costs $2,233 annual costs $26,796 3 year investment $80,387 npv = [present value of benefits] – value of investments = $ 517,784 $80,387 npv = $ 437,397 70 jpair multidisciplinary research the rates per resources were based on its actual basic salary income in cebu city. sroi ratio: net sroi ratio = net present value value of inputs = $517,784 $80,387 = $6.44: $1 the second set of questionnaire was only a formal validation of the common social and economic impacts of the colon night market program to the small scale vendors in cebu city. based on the gathered data conducted through written and in-depth interviews, researchers discovered that majority of these effects established were viable given that there is a social value of $6.44 created for every investment incurred by the government. and with the increasing number of consumers indulging in the night market, city government needs to consider regularizing the program to maximize value, allow organizers to evaluate strategies to generate social returns and better use of resources, and develop some actions for the underlying negative effects. graft and corruption issues from city government were not disclosed in this study. conclusion the night market program in colon street commenced to re-establish and revitalize the priceless treasure of cebu city, which aims to bring back the old glory of the oldest street in the philippines. colon street being one of the busiest and most populated parts of cebu city has contributed to the gradual progression from simple bartering to a complex economy and monetary system of the whole island today. colon street transformed into a lively night market which caters to the needs of different people from different walks of life to enjoy buying low priced items from kitchen utensils, household needs, garments, school supplies, finger and street foods, among several others. amid such rapid changes as technology development, innovations and the rise of huge companies in cebu city, the cultural value and historical significance of colon street has stayed the same. with the positive affirmations and the negative effects identified, it can be concluded that colon night market program served a substantial impact on the small scale vendors in cebu city. 71 international peer reviewed journal translational research the findings of this study may be best translated through benchmarking and implementing best practices from the other successful night market of southeast asia. infusion of tourism-value to the night market may be worth exploring and program may be operated year-round to achieve a higher social return on investment. literature cited briones, (june 2000) calle colon in cebu, the philippines’ oldest street. retrieved on april 17, 2016 from goo.gl/mk5bbt national competitiveness council. cities and municipalities competitiveness index. philippines. retrieved on march 1, 2016 from goo.gl/cgnpdo nirathron, n. (2006). fighting poverty from the street. a survey of street food vendors in bangkok. bangkok: international labour organization. retrieved on march 5, 2016 from goo.gl/xljolh social value uk, a guide to social return on investment. retrieved on march 5, 2016 from goo.gl/h5xghd yasmeen, g., & nirathron, n. (2014). vending in public space: the case of bangkok. wiego policy brief (urban policies), 16, 1-18. retrieved on march 5, 2016 from goo.gl/4sbkqi 62 jpair multidisciplinary research compliance of the ‘batas kasambahay’ (ra 10361) among domestic employers in zamboanga del norte: basis for bureaucratic intervention evangeline a. mansanadez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com jrmsu-tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte ruthie liza r. lapinig https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0763-0414 ruthielizalapinig@gmail.com jrmsutampilisan campus poblacion, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte originality: 95% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 5% abstract every human being has its own rights and privileges to be enjoyed for a lifetime. to have a happy and secure means of living is always a dream of every individual. this study is designed to determine the compliance of the “batas kasambahay” (ra 10361) among domestic employers in zamboanga del norte as the basis for bureaucratic intervention. it utilized descriptive normative survey method of research employing the questionnaire as the main data gathering tool; employing frequency count, simple percentage and likert’s method of determining the weighted mean; utilizing the 30 kasambahay woarking in households situated in the poblation areas of the towns in the three congressional districts within the territorial jurisdiction of the province of zamboanga del norte. findings vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.701 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-1110 mailto:evangelinemansanadez@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 63 international peer reviewed journal led to the conclusion that the mandated right to board and lodging and medical attendance, humane treatment and access to communication were complied by the majority of the domestic employers. however, their rights for social and other benefits and incentives were not complied by the latter. keywords — social science, the extent of compliance, kasambahay, domestic employers introduction domestic workers comprise a significant part of the global workforce in informal employment and are among the most vulnerable groups of workers. they work for private households, often without clear terms of employment, unregistered in any book, and excluded from the scope of labor legislation. their work may include tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing and ironing clothes, taking care of children, or elderly or sick members of a family, gardening, guarding the house, driving for the family, and even taking care of household pets. at present, domestic workers often face very low wages, excessively long hours, have no guaranteed weekly day of rest and at times are vulnerable to physical, mental and sexual abuse or restrictions on freedom of movement (ilo 2019). some domestic workers also live in their employers’ homes and are often considered ‘on-call’ to undertake work for their employer 24 hours  a day. the pay is often very low, with wage payments frequently delayed. they may not be paid at all or only receive ‘payment in kind’ such as food or accommodation (antislavery organization 2019). montenegro and viajar (2017) claimed that house helpers and domestic workers were not protected by labor laws and did not have access to social benefits. today, the perception and non-recognition of domestic work persist: domestic workers in the philippines continue to be underpaid, receive low salaries and no days off, and lack social benefits. additionally, many domestic workers find themselves in situations of debt bondage, are juridically unrepresented (and thus invisible), and experience bad working and living conditions (most domestic workers don’t have private rooms). the statistical report presented in the philippine labor and employment plan 2011-2016 indicates that based on the 2003 and 2006 data on working poverty rate, around one (1) out of every four (4) employed individual comes from a poor household (p. 11). laborers and unskilled workers remained to be the largest occupational group during the past decade while the farmers, forestry 64 jpair multidisciplinary research workers, and fishermen, were the second-largest group of workers (p.7). among the laborers and unskilled workers are those working as domestic helpers or household service workers (hsw’s). what makes the hsw’s or kasambahay doubly marginalized is the fact that they are receiving a very meagre wage, as well as they tend to be at the mercy of their employers since most often than not, the kasambahays are prone to abuse and exploitation. the nature of their work, coupled with their low education, make the kasambahays more disadvantaged than ever if and when the employer does not comply with the mandate of the law as provided in ra no. 10361, otherwise known as “batas kasambahay.” the depressed, deprived and underserved plight of the kasambahays even after the full implementation of “batas kasambahay”(ra 10361), motivated the proponents to conduct this survey. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the extent of compliance of domestic employers to the mandatory rights and benefits due to kasambahays in their employment in terms of board and lodging and medical attendance, humane treatment, access to outside communication, social benefits and other benefits and incentives. framework the conceptual framework of the study is composed of two (2) frames; the independent variable – batas kasambahay (ra 10361) and the dependent variable – compliance of domestic employers to the mandatory rigahts and benefits due to kasambahay in their employment classified as to board and lodging and medical attendance, humane treatment, access to outside communication, social benefits and other benefits and incentives. 65 international peer reviewed journal figure. 1. conceptual paradigm of the study this study is anchored on the three (3) legal frameworks which are briefly discussed below: republic act no. 10361, “an act instituting policies for protection and welfare of domestic helpers”, otherwise known as “domestic workers act” or “batas kasambahay” the platform of the government of president benigno s. aquino iii expressed in a social contract with the filipino people, which served as the guiding principle by which the philippine development plan (pdp) 2011-2016 was framed. the pdp 2011 to 2016, provides the strategic policy framework for the philippines in the medium-term. the philippine labor & employment plan (lep) 2011-2016 provides the strategic directions for labor and employment in the medium-term; represents a significant effort to work collectively towards the same goals and is important for the following reasons: 1) it communicates the philippine vision for labor and employment and shows the intended direction and emphasis over the next five years; 2) it signifies a commitment to bring about positive results; 3) it informs policy, operational and budget decisions and connects them to the overall philippine goals; and, 4) it provides a structure by which accountability and strategic management of programs and services is ensured. methodology research design this study utilized descriptive normative survey method of research employing the questionnaire as the main data gathering tool to the 30 domestic workers (kasambahay) currently working in households in poblacion areas of 66 jpair multidisciplinary research the province of zamboanga del norte. it is descriptive in purpose, gathering the salient information coming from the respondents of the study on the extent of compliance of domestic employers to the mandatory rights and benefits due to kasambahay in their employment. research site this study was conducted in the poblacion areas of the three congressional districts within the territorial jurisdiction of the province of zamboanga del norte. participants the participants were limited to the 30 kasambahays working in households situated in the poblacion areas of the towns in the three congressional districts of the province of zamboanga del norte. given that household servicing workers are classified under the informal sector, records of kasambahays which are supposed to be on file at the barangay office, are non-existent or have yet to be accomplished. this fact led to the adoption of nonprobability sampling, particularly convenience technique in the selection of samples. according to best and kahn (1998), nonprobability sampling is used whatever subjects are available, rather than following a specific subject selection process. instrumentation this study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire as the main tool in gathering the needed data. the instrument deals with the extent of their domestic employers’ compliance with the mandated rights and benefits of the respondents as stipulated in the “batas kasambahay,” in terms of board and lodging and medical attendance, humane treatment, access to outside communication, social benefits and other benefits or incentives. the instrument has undergone the validation process and tested to measure its reliability utilizing a sample size of ten (10) persons who are not included as respondents of the study. each statement of the instrument has a 5-point likert item from not complied/uninformed to always complied. a cronbach’s alpha test was run. results revealed a value of 0.74, which indicates a high level of internal consistency for the scale used in the study. to determine the extent on the domestic employers’ compliance with the mandated rights and benefits of the respondents as stipulated in the “batas 67 international peer reviewed journal kasambahay,” the following rating scale was used: rating scale description: qualification 4.21 – 5.00 3.41 4.20 2.61 3.40 1.81 – 2.60 1.0 1.80 always complied (ac) often complied (oc) sometimes complied (sc) rarely complied (rc) not complied/uninformed (nc) situation described in the item is provided, given, and done seven days a week, or every day of the week, or in regular monthly occurrence. the situation described in the item is provided, given, and done five days to three days a week, or if it is supposed to be a monthly occurrence, once every two months. the situation described in the item is provided, given and done two days week, or it is supposed to be a monthly occurrence, once every three or four months the situation described in the item is provided, given, and done once a week, or it is supposed to be a monthly occurrence, once every five or six months you have no idea since your employer or anybody else has never mentioned about the particular situation. results and discussion table 1 presents the extent of compliance on the “batas kasambahay” among domestic employers in terms of the standards for board and lodging. result disclosed an overall weighted mean of 4.4, described as “always complied. this implies that domestic employers in the province under study are at all times compliant to ra 10361. this means, they have provided proper board and lodging to their kasambahay and treated them fairly by providing them shelter and foods. marais (2016) revealed that caring and connectedness emerged as the main theme that characterised the domestic worker’s positive employment relationships in which a positive behavioural cycle results from reciprocal actions. 68 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. the extent of compliance of the “batas kasambahay” among domestic employers in terms of board and lodging board and lodging cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer provides you three (3) adequate meals a day. 4.2 ac 4.6 ac 4.9 ac 4.6 ac 2. your employer gives you a room where you sleep and place your personal belongings. 3.7 oc 4.3 ac 4.3 ac 4.1 oc 3. your employer provides you pillow, blanket and mosquito net. 4.0 oc 4.6 ac 4.7 ac 4.4 ac 4. your employer allows you to eat the same foods or meals you prepare and serve them. 4.0 oc 4.6 ac 4.2 ac 4.3 ac owm 3.9 oc 4.5 ac 4.5 ac 4.4 ac table 2 displays the medical attendance of domestic employers towards kasambahay. in the event of illness posted, an overall weighted mean of 3.9, described as “often complied” was obtained. this implies that the domestic employers attend to the medical needs of their kasambahay. they showed humanitarian consideration on many occasions when the health problem of their kasambahay is a concern. the result is in line with the findings of loh and estrellado (2016) who revealed that the quality of domestic workers’ lives depends largely on the personal characteristics of their employers or the workers themselves, rather than on any system of protection. on the other hand, salih (2015) in his study concluded that the best way to deal with the problems faced by domestic workers is the inclusion of them in all aspects of employment and health and safety protection and the regulation of domestic work. table 2. medical attendance of domestic employers towards kasambahay medical attendance cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer gives you free medicine when you complain of minor ailments. 3.6 oc 3.9 oc 4.4 ac 4.0 oc 69 international peer reviewed journal 2. your employer takes you to the doctor when your ailment persists. 3.3 sc 3.9 oc 3.7 oc 3.6 oc 3. your employer asks you to pay back expenses incurred in instances you were ill or hospitalized. 3.5 oc 4.5 ac 4.2 oc 4.1 oc 4. your employer relieves you of your work at times you were ill. 3.5 oc 4.0 ac 4.0 oc 3.8 oc owm 3.5 oc 4.1 oc 4.1 oc 3.9 oc table 3 reflects the standards for the humane treatment of domestic employers towards the kasambahays. the result shows an overall weighted mean of 3.3, indicative of inconsistencies in terms of employers’ interpersonal attitude. categorically, galvaan, et al. (2015) in their findings said, “a single theme, that is “you need them, but they are working on your nerves” and two categories “caught in a conundrum” and “compelled to be benevolent” emerged”. these emphasized that the relationship between the employers and domestic workers’ participation in occupations left the employer feeling weighed down. aside from this, rani and saluja (2017) revealed that the issues such as no formal contracts ensuring an employer-employee relationship, lack of organization, poor bargaining power, no legislative protection, and inadequate welfare measures with no provision for weekly holidays, maternity leave and health benefits need to be addressed. on the other hand, the study of bosch and mcleod (2015) revealed a wide variety in the types of relationships between ‘maids’ and ‘madams’, informed in varying degrees by issues of class race and culture, unique to the south african context that, while employers were very conscious of their power and status as ‘madams’, and in some cases consciously sought ways to compensate for the unequal power relationship. table 3. humane treatment of domestic employers towards kasambahay humane treatment cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer treats you with kindness like a member of their family. 2.7 sc 4.1 oc 3.2 sc 3.3 sc 2.members of the household treat you with dignity, by not shouting at you. 2.4 rc 3.2 sc 2.4 rc 2.7 sc 70 jpair multidisciplinary research 3. members of the household show respect by talking to you nicely and courteously. 3.5 oc 4.5 ac 4.3 ac 4.1 oc 4. members of the household make you feel frightened, scared or threatened. 1.8 nc 4.0 oc 3.2 sc 3.0 sc owm 2.6 rc 4.0 oc 3.3 sc 3.3 sc table 4 presents the kasambahay’s access to communication. as human beings, to be able to share one’s ideas, feelings, emotions and experiences, communication is a means for it. in this study, the result yielded an overall weighted mean of 3.3 described as sometimes complied. it indicates that the respondents are occasionally given a chance to communicate with people they want to share with what they have in mind, more specifically, to their respective families. it shows that at certain times, they are deprived of their right to expression and association. similarly in singapore, according to platt, yeoh, and acedera (2016), since foreign domestic workers are required to live-in with their employers, they often find their access and use of information communication technologies subject to a high degree of surveillance and regulation by their employers. however, the study of mansour (2015) entitled “information needs of local domestic workers in the arab republic of egypt” concluded that a large number of participants were described as illiterate and nonskilled laborers. their income proved that it was one of the barriers to use of and access to information where a large number of them were labelled as lowincome workers.  the most popular information sources mentioned and followed by them were verbal information with friends, peers, and colleagues in neighboring households either via telephones, especially cell phones, or face-to-face meeting. in line with this, sibal and foo (2015) found that foreign domestic workers inadequately meet the requisites for digital and information literacy, which are indispensable yet lacking among many lowskilled migrants. in the case of the advantage of communication using mobile phone parenting for filipina domestic workers and their left-behind children, madianou and miller (2011) conclude that while mothers feel empowered that the phone has allowed them to reconstruct their role as parents partially, their children are significantly more ambivalent about the consequences of transnational communication. 71 international peer reviewed journal table 4. access to outside communication of the kasambahay access to outside communication cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer allows you to own and use your cell phone. 3.4 oc 4.4 ac 4.3 ac 4.0 oc 2. your employer allows you to communicate with your family and friends either through the telephone or cell phone. 2.3 sc 2.8 oc 2.8 sc 2.6 rc 3. your employer allows members of your family to visit you in their home. 2.4 rc 3.3 sc 2.4 rc 2.7 sc 4. your employer allows you to associate with friends outside of their home. 3.5 oc 4.3 ac 4.1 oc 4.0 oc owm 2.9 sc 3.7 oc 3.4 sc 3.3 sc table 5 reflects the rights of the kasambahay to be enrolled for membership to social security insurances, such as the social security system and the philhealth. the respondents assessed this particular mandate as rarely complied, with an overall weighted mean of 2.0. this means that the majority of the domestic employers failed to comply with the rights of their kasambahay that is to be assured of their future by enrolling them with the above-mentioned insurances. this implies that their employment is not secured financially; hence, the financial stability and health benefits of the majority of kasambahay will be at stake due to non-membership to social security insurances. according to the philippines’ 2010 labor force survey, most of the domestic workers come from poor families in the provinces where they either attended school for a few years or did not have any formal education, making them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. asuncion (2014) declared that former president benigno s. aquino iii assented to the domestic workers act or republic act (ra) 10361 to protect and ensure their welfare. anent to this, stakeholders from various sectors consider the act to be the landmark labor and social law for recognizing the rights of domestic workers, as well as the need to protect and improve their working conditions. saiman and jemon (2014) revealed that social security programmes for migrant workers in asean countries 72 jpair multidisciplinary research comprise of old age, invalidity, survivors, medical care, sickness and maternity (cash benefits) and employment injury. in the case of malaysia, migrant workers informal sectors are protected under the workman compensation act 1952 which covers, among others, employment-related injury, medical benefit, old age and maternity benefit except for sickness benefit. they also found out that there are differences between local and migrant workers due to different sets of rules and regulations applied for both types of labor. table 5. membership to social security insurances social benefits cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer informs you about them paying monthly premiums for your benefits such as sss, philhealth and pagibig. 1.4 nc 3.6 oc 2.2 rc 2.4 sc 2. your employer deducts from your salary your sss, philhealth and pagibig monthly contribution. 1.4 nc 3.4 sc 2.5 rc 2.4 rc 3. the deduction is done every month. 1.2 nc 2.7 sc 2.1 sc 2.0 rc 4. your employer pays your monthly contribution to the sss, philhealth and pagibig without deducting it from your salary per month. 1.1 nc 2.6 rc 1.6 nc 1.8 nc 5. your employer gives you the certificate of membership for your social benefits in sss, philhealth and pagibig. 1.1 nc 2.6 rc 1.6 nc 1.8 rc 6. your employer gives you the receipts of payments made for your monthly contributions for sss,philhealth and pagibig benefits 1.1 nc 2.4 rc 1.4 nc 1.6 nc owm 1.2 nc 2.9 sc 1.9 rc 2.0 rc table 6 displays the other benefits or incentives which should be enjoyed by the kasambahay. the data registered an overall weighted mean of 2.1, described as rarely complied. it appeared that the kasambahays’ other benefits or incentives due to them are not often enjoyed by them. this implies that the domestic employers seldom complied on the rights of the kasambahays particularly on their other benefits or incentives supposedly to be granted to them. this finding 73 international peer reviewed journal supports the result of the study conducted by robles (2017) which disclosed that the level of rights and entitlements afforded to domestic workers were much lower than those for other workers in the private sector. he added that there is also sufficient evidence which suggests that these laws, albeit inadequate, were largely ignored. he argued that ensuring compliance with these low minimum standards were problematic because of the weak enforcement tools due to lack of adequate funding. additionally, de leon (2018) reported that household service workers (kasambahays) might enjoy more leave benefits on top of the provisions of the domestic workers’ act or the kasambahay law based on the labor advisory issued by secretary silvestre bello iii of the department of labor and employment (dole). similarly, koh, goh, wee, and yeoh (2016) disclosed that the singaporean government’s commitment to safeguarding international reputation provided further impetus for the improvement of employment conditions for migrant domestic workers by means of the day of the policy. their dependence on migrant domestic workers provided an economic imperative for the introduction of this policy. it was a means to enhance singapore’s appeal in order to attract a steady supply of migrant domestic workers, especially amidst fears of a supply crunch of these workers. table 6. other benefits or incentives due to the kasambahay other benefits/incentives cd1 cd2 cd3 total awm des awm des awm des awm des 1. your employer gives you at least an eight (8) hour rest per day. 1.1 nc 2.4 rc 1.4 nc 1.6 nc 2. your employer gives you at least one (1) day off every week? 1.1 nc 2.4 rc 1.4 nc 1.6 nc 3. your employer gives you a cash gift every december. 2.5 rc 1.6 nc 2.5 rc 2.2 rc 4. your employer gives you five (5) days annual service incentive leave with pay. 2.5 rc 3.7 oc 2.9 sc 3.0 sc owm 1.8 nc 2.5 rc 2.0 rc 2.1 rc conclusions majority of the domestic employers complied with the mandated rights of the kasambahays as stipulated in ra 10361 such as board and lodging, 74 jpair multidisciplinary research medical attendance, humane treatment, and access to communication. however, the kasambahays’ rights for social and other benefits and incentives were not complied by the latter. translational research the findings of this study can be translated into a bureaucratic intervention manual that formulates regulations on the rights and privileges of the kasambahay as stipulated in ra 10361. this will probably help put into effect the law and thereby provide welfare and protection to the domestic workers. the bureaucratic intervention manual can be evaluated by the proper authorities for acceptability and usability. recommendations on the basis of the findings, the researchers put forward the following recommendations, (1) that this study is continued for an in-depth analysis since statistical treatments to the findings are limited because of the time frame and wide scope of the study, and (2) that the proposed bureaucratic intervention be designed and be submitted to the concerned agencies and authorities for its approval and implementation. literature cited antislavery organization. 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(2017). a study on domestic help workers and factors affecting realisation of their rights in the state of punjab. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326261005 https://doi.org/10.1108/el-01-2014-0012 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1461444816655614 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1461444816655614 https://bit.ly/2b8a2zm https://doi.org/10.1108/edi-12-2014-0083 77 international peer reviewed journal sibal, h.t & foo, s. (2015). a study on the information seeking behaviour of singapore-based filipino domestic workers. retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1177/0266666915615929 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0266666915615929 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0266666915615929 46 jpair multidisciplinary researchvol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.513 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. revitalizing institutional policy grounded on work-life balance of employees in a catholic higher education institution: a cross-sectional study amelia cecilia s. reyes http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9161-5884 columban college, inc. olongapo city, philippines carlota a. aquino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0632-376x columban college, inc. olongapo city, philippines david cababaro bueno http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0072-0326 docdave3090@gmail.com columban college, inc. olongapo city, philippines abstract it presupposes that workers must deal with the challenging demands as they confer between spheres of “life” and “work”. the study determines the current work-life balance (wlb) practices and policies as basis for institutional policy reformulation in a catholic higher education institution (hei). the researchers utilized the descriptive cross-sectional design of research to obtain information concerning the analysis of the work-life balance of employees using survey47 international peer reviewed journal questionnaire at a given time in an academic year. the participants of the study were school administrators and faculty members in one private higher education institution in the philippines with full-time status during the academic year 20152016. the surveyquestionnaire for work-life balance (wbl) was modified from “better work-life balance survey-employees” of the university of queensland in 2005. descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, and pearson’s product coefficient correlation were used for a more efficient, effective and accurate analysis of data. the work-life balance related activities of employees are sometimes at risk. work-life related policies on leave arrangements are being viewed by employees in various ways in the organization. parenting and pregnancy related policies are also evident. furthermore, various work arrangement related-policies are also enjoyed by the employees. additional provisions regarding work are also evident. thus, there is moderate impact work-related activities and policies on the personal life of employees. keywords – higher education, work-life balance, employees, policy reformulation, descriptive-cross-sectional design, hei, philippines introduction this study provides human resource professional with empirical evidence related to work/life balance. the study begins with the basic assumption that work related demands can interfere into the rest of workers’ lives (sen & bakht, 2013). it presupposes that workers must deal with often challenging demands as they confer between spheres of life and work (shagvaliyeva & yazdanifard, 2014). this study explores how academic employees manage these competing demands as observed and practiced within the academic institution. the goal is not to suggest the predominance of work in workers’ lives. indeed, it suggests the potentially problematic nature of work’s interference into the rest of workers’ lives through policy reformulation. several studies have been conducted regarding work-life balance of employees and their correlates to other factors in different work settings. studies like the impact of women entering the workforce on work/life balance issues (mitnick, 2007); the potential reduction in overall employee flexibility (azeem, 2015); the incidence and impact of flexi-time programs in britain among employers and employees (downes & koekemoer, 2012); and the increasing prevalence 48 jpair multidisciplinary research of work-life conflicts and increasing concern about work-life issues present (agarwal, 2014); the satisfaction with work-family balance among employed graduate students (allison, 2014), were carried out to spell out the importance of work-life balance. however, the present study is focused on the work-life balance of employees in private educational institution. one of the theories as regards work–life balance was set by clark (2000). according to the theory, people are daily border-crossers, meaning work and family are two domains, which are integrated. this again emphasizes the concept of level of flexibility needed. in the research done by hoffman and cowan (2007), participants identified flexibility as key to define work-life balance that is consistent with clark (2000). flexibility is interconnected with the work-life balance and for generation y different flexibility options, as time or location, are affecting work-life balance (bresman, 2015). research shows flexibility in general positively influences work-life balance (hill et.al, 2001). furthermore, hill, erickson, holmes and ferris (2010) suggested in their research that having flexibility makes one less likely to report work-life balance decrease or how they define it work – life conflict. this opens a new stream of thoughts in which flexibility is almost eliminating borders in a way that it is making work – life balance disappear. moreover, a work-life misbalance is a frequently observed phenomenon around the world (bucek, 2013). people strive for more monetary security and tend to increase the amount of work by working overtime or having two or more jobs (burton, 2012). nonetheless, they wish to spend a sufficient amount of time with their families and friends (chan, 2007), as well as dedicate time to various interests and hobbies. other researchers have shown work-life balance practices to enhance the productivity of workers (canonico, 2016), increase retention (caroline straud, 2008), and diminish levels of turnover and absenteeism (chan, 2007), which ultimately resulted in financial gain for the company (daniels & mccarraher, 2000). work-life balance will enable members of the academic community to be productive and endure over time, ultimately benefiting both the school and the individuals (hall & wilk, 2013). this study contributes to both scholarly and practical endeavors. from a theoretical standpoint, this study is the first of its kind to examine the construct of work-life balance as it pertains to the pivotal role of academic employees in a private higher education institution (phei) in the philippines. additionally, this study will help explain if the factors impact academic staff’s work-life balance. much of the existing literature explored the idea of work-life balance in 49 international peer reviewed journal various settings; however, there is a scarcity of literature and studies explaining the phenomenon through quantitative analyses in the academe. this study aids in understanding the factors that impact work-life balance, thereby, serves as a basis for institutional and administrative policy revisit and reformulation. thus, the present study serves to expand role theory by providing a broader and more encompassing context (cain, 2015). framework in a state of equilibrium, the weight of both a person’s job and personal life are equal (sen & bakht, 2013). thus, several theories have been proposed by researchers to explain wlb. clark (2000) presented a boarder theory separating family and work dimension by physical or psychological element. moreover, some researchers (canonico, 2016; caroline straud, 2008) considered compensation theory, in which, an employee may find higher level of satisfaction in one element to compensate the dissatisfying domain. others such as chan (2007); cook (2011); rothbard & dumas (2006); grzywacz & marks (2000) referred to spill-over theory, wherein feelings, emotions, attitudes, and behaviors caused in one domain can be transmitted into the other domain. frone (2003) and grzywacz and marks (2000) proposed more conceptual models where wlb is being measured family-work conflict and enhancement. grzywacz and marks (2000) implemented bronfenbrenner’s ecological model which suggested that work-life balance does not influence the practice and knowledge. cookson (2015) explained that focus on the domains of work and family is essential, as family and work are the most important elements of everyone’s life. any competing demands of work and family life will cause conflict and negatively affect the wellbeing of workers. de cunto, berti, minute, and longo (2012) agreed that measurable aspects of wlb are satisfaction, lack of role conflict and an overall sense of harmony, while delina and raya (2013) believed that wlb involves proper time management, balance and involvement. frone (2003) stated that the measurable four aspects of the balance between work and family roles, which have bi-directional effects on work and family domains are: (1) work-family conflict; (2) family-work conflict; (3) work-family enhancement; and (4) familywork enhancement. thus, the study was framed within the context of clark’s (2000) border theory. it focused on paid employment, family, leisure, and reported experiences of work-life balance amongst the sample. jebel (2013) concluded that 50 jpair multidisciplinary research transforming the work place pro-actively using a condition of welldesigned qwl initiatives for the employees will yield competitive advantage as it will increase employee job satisfaction and commitment to organization. lazar, osoian, and ratiu (2010) established the wlb may be considered as strategic peoples management decisions towards improving the individual’s life as well as organizational productivity. lastly, flexible working hours are becoming important to the workplaces, wherein lot of organizations offers flexible working hours to employees for the benefits of higher productivity, higher organization profitability, promotion work-life balance, reduction of stress and increasing employee wellbeing (shagvaliyeva & yazdanifard, 2014), and another reason for conducting such study is that work-life balance programs could help improve organizational culture and employee overall performance, and it can contribute to social change by preparing employers for success while simultaneously positioning individual employees to attain optimum balance between work and life responsibilities (sheppard, 2016). furthermore, researchers have suggested that work and non-work domains (family and personal life) are the primary domains for an individual, and the challenge of balancing work and non-work demands is a major concern for employees (shujat & bhutto, 2011). having work-life balance means finding a way to strike a balance between fulfilling both work commitments and care responsibilities and other activities that are important to the individual. individuals invest in other activities (simard, 2011), because they consider them beneficial to their health and well-being (singh, 2013). for many employees, work satisfies many of their needs, such as financial needs, interpersonal needs (i.e., social support from supervisors and coworkers), and power and status (erdogan, bauer, truxillo, & mansfield, 2012). performing a meaningful job that is aligned with an individual’s skill, values, and interests can promote overall well-being and satisfaction with life (smeaton, knight, & ray, 2014). therefore, if an individual experiences balance between their work and non-work domains, their wellbeing is improved (special, town, & state, 2014). objectives of the study the study determines the current work-life balance (wlb) practices and policies as basis for institutional policy reformulation in a catholic higher education institution (phei). specifically, the study seeks to describe: (1) the work-life related activities of employees; (2) impacts of work-life balance 51 international peer reviewed journal related activities; and (3) the related policies of the institution in terms of leave arrangements, parenting and pregnancy, work arrangements, additional work provisions, and experience in the organization. methodology research design the researchers utilized the descriptive cross-sectional design of research to obtain information concerning the analysis of the work-life balance (wlb) of employees in a catholic higher education institution. it is one of the common study designs to assess the wlb using survey-questionnaire at a given time in an academic year (alexander, l.k., lopes, b.; masterson, k.r. & yeatts, k.b., 2016). this means that researchers simply recorded information about the participants without manipulating the study environment. in this study, the researchers simply assessed the wbl practices along with the other characteristics related to institutional policies concentrating on the factors affecting the wlb of employees. in short, the researchers did not force the employees to modify their behavior towards research. thus, the researchers tried not to interfere while the participants were observed using a well-framed instrument (bueno, 2017). participants the participants of the study were the school administrators and faculty members in one private higher education institution in the philippines with fulltime status during the academic year 2015-2016. there were twenty-two (22) administrators and sixty-four (64) faculty members subjected to the assessment by the research and publications office (rpo) of the institution. thus, there was no sampling technique done because the researchers considered the entire population available during the conduct of the study. all of them finished doctorate and/or master’s degrees in various specializations such as education, philosophy, social and natural sciences, business management, and public administration. majority of them have been in the institution for more than 15 years now. instrument the surveyquestionnaire for work-life balance (wbl) was modified from “better work-life balance surveyemployees” of the university of queensland in 2005. it was divided into several parts. part 1 solicited how the participants 52 jpair multidisciplinary research describe their work-life balance related activities. part 2 gathered information on the impacts of work-life related activities on employees. part 3 delved on the school’s policies on leave arrangements, parenting and pregnancy, work arrangements, additional work provisions and experience in the organization. it also described the level of importance of these policies in the work-life balance of the employee. the questions were structured to describe the work-life balance of the employees which aimed to quantify the variables. the same instrument was used for the purposes of determining the wlb of employees in a phei. to assess the wbl of employees, there are several items under work-life balance related activities of employees and policies. the instrument used the 5 point likert scale with the corresponding descriptive ratings: (1) related activities of employees: (5) 5.00-4.20= always (a); (4) 4.19-3.40= oftentimes (o); (3) 3.39-2.60= sometimes (so); (2) 2.591.80= seldom (se); (1) 1.79-1.00= never (n); and (2) related policies: (5) 5.00-4.20= strongly agree (sa); (4) 4.19-3.40= agree (a); (3) 3.39-2.60= moderately agree (ma); (2) 2.59-1.80= disagree (da); (1) 1.79-1.00= strongly disagree (sd). these criteria were subjected to face and construct validity by the administrators and faculty members in a sister phei and graduate education professors and experts after taking into consideration the existing constructs from previous literature and studies. the evaluators of the constructs used the same descriptive ratings and analysis clearly indicated in the instrument. the results of the average computed mean of the juries were 4.71 (related activities) interpreted as “always”, and 4.68 (related policies) interpreted as “strongly agree”. after the validation of the instrument, reliability test was conducted to determine the consistency of the scores using the instrument measuring the same set of factors with similar type of study was established. in this study, the test-retest method was used to examine the reliability of the questionnaire. the validated instrument underwent pilot testing to a select group of administrators and faculty members. after one month, the same questionnaire was administered to the same group. pearson-product moment correlation was used to correlate data gathered. the computed coefficient of correlation was 0.87 (very high). the result was interpreted based on the following: 1.0 (perfect); 0.81 0.99 (very high); 0.61 0.80 (high); 0.41 0.60 (moderate); 0.21 0.40 (low); and 0.01 0.20 (negligible correlation). thus, the computed correlation value indicated that the instrument was reliable. saunders and thornhill (2012) emphasized the importance of the internal validity and reliability of a questionnaire, because a 53 international peer reviewed journal valid questionnaire allows collecting data that measures the investigated concepts; whereas a reliable questionnaire allows the data to be collected consistently. hair, black, babin and anderson (2010) suggested that for reliable responses in research, the minimal internal consistency threshold of cronbach’s alpha 0.7 is required. collis and hussey (2009) stated that “reliability is concerned with the findings of the research”. however, even when a questionnaire is reliable, without an internal validity it will not be able to answer the research question (saunders & thornhill, 2012). data gathering procedure after subjecting the questionnaire to validity and reliability tests, a letter of request to the office of the president endorsed by the vice president for academics and students services (vp-aass) was properly secured in the conduct of survey to the participants. data were gathered towards the end of the academic year 2015-2016. the research and publications office (rpo) director conducted face-to-face and personal assessment using the instrument. each participant was formally introduced to the purposes of the study and assured of the strict confidentiality of the data gathered. ethical considerations all participants were advised that their participation was voluntary. partakers were also assured that their own identity together with the name of the departments they work for will remain confidential. it was explained to the participants that the questionnaire is completely anonymous and does not include questions asking for any personal details, such as names of participants or names of department head. names of the departments that the authors approached may only be revealed, if necessary, to examiners during the presentation of the paper to the administration; other than this, information will not be revealed to anyone else, it will not be available to the public and will not be stated in this paper. also, all participants were advised that they will be provided with a copy of the collected results on request. the researchers obtained an ethics clearance from the ethics review committee and also got signed informed consent from the participants. statistical analysis before processing the responses, the completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. the questionnaires were then coded to enable 54 jpair multidisciplinary research the responses to be grouped into various categories. the researchers mainly used descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, and pearson’s product coefficient correlation to analyze the data. the data gathered were collated, treated and analyzed in accordance to the objective of the study. the wlb of the administrators and faculty members relative to the specific factors was considered. results and discussion the work-life balance related activities of employees are sometimes at risk. the employees oftentimes work on days off; carry a cell phone to work so they can be reached after normal business hours; work during vacations; go into the office before normal business hours; volunteers for special projects in addition to the normal job duties; rearrange or alter personal plans because of work; and participate in community activities for the benefit of the organization. the employees sometimes bring things home to work on; take work-related phone calls at home; check e-mail or voice mail from home; stay at work after normal business hours; work late into the night at home; attend work-related functions on personal time; and travel whenever the school asks them to, even though technically they don’t have to; and check back to the office even when they are on vacation. the overall x is 3.34 (sometimes). work-life related policies are viewed by the employees in various ways. leave arrangements are being viewed by employees in various ways in the organization. the employees strongly agree that there is bereavement leave (employees are allowed to take a leave upon the death of a family member). the employees simply agree about the carer’s leave (employees are allowed to take time off to support a sick family member); opportunity for leave if care arrangements for children or other dependents break down (employees are allowed to take a leave to care for their child if the nanny gets sick); study / training leave (employees are allowed to take time off for study or training.); career breaks (employees are allowed to negotiate affixed period of up to several years away from work to undertake study, while keeping a job at the end of the term.); cultural/religious leave (employees are allowed to take time off for cultural / religious reasons (e.g. fiesta); and pooling of leave entitlements (employees are allowed to avail all leaves if they need it for family reasons). generally, they simply agree with the mentioned work-life related policies on leave as reflected by the computed of 4.07. 55 international peer reviewed journal moreover, parenting and pregnancy related policies are also evident in the organization. the employees strongly agree that they are enjoying the policies in relation to paid maternity and paternity leaves, and have the opportunity to return to the same job after maternity/ paternity/ adoption leave. moreover, they agree that there are policies related to safety at work during pregnancy (changing the work of a pregnant employee to avoid periods of standing or lifting heavy objects); pre-natal leave (time for pregnant women or their partner to attend medical appointments during working hours either using additional leave or sick leave); staggered return to work after pregnancy (allows employees to negotiate a temporary reduction in hours of work when they return to work); breastfeeding room (space at work to offer privacy for an employee to breastfeed and provide refrigeration facilities); and bringing children to work in case of emergencies (provision for a safe location where employees can carry out their regular work duties while caring for dependents until other arrangements can be made). the overall computed x is 4.04 (agree). furthermore, various work arrangement related policies are also enjoyed by the employees. they agree that there are policies related to opportunity to negotiate part-time work for full-time employees, allowing employees to work parttime if a family situation changes dramatically; time off in lieu of rostered days off by allowing employees to take time off for overtime they have worked with pay; and self-rostering and/or staggered start and finish by picking their own start and finish times and/or days as long as you work on an agreed number of hours work. however, they moderately agree that job sharing (one or more people share one full time job); telecommuting ( where an employee can work from home or outside of the workplace using his/her own or the school’s equipment such as laptop); cap on overtime (a limit on the number of overtime hours that can be worked); and gradual retirement (allows employees to gradually reduce the number of working hours or duties over an extended period of time, up to several years, prior to retirement) are not clearly available. the overall x is 3.37 (moderately agree). additional provisions regarding work are also evident. the employees agree that there are additional provisions related to work regarding telephone for personal use (allowing employees to contact family members if needed); counseling services for employees (availability for counseling services for employees experiencing among others work/family stress); health programs (quit smoking programs, flu vaccination on site, dietary advice program, etc); exercise facilities (the organization provides onsite or subsidizes exercise facilities 56 jpair multidisciplinary research /gym memberships). however, relocation assistance (where an employee has to move for work purposes, the organization helps the whole family adapt to the new environment) is moderately provided among the employees. the overall computed x is 3.81 (agree). there is a moderate impact of work-related activities and policies on the personal life of employees. they express that they are happy with the amount of time for non-working activities. they moderately agree that their personal life suffers because of work; they put personal life on hold to work; miss personal activities because of work; and struggle to juggle work and non-work. they disagree that their job makes personal life difficult and neglect personal needs because of work. thus, the computed overall x is 2.73, which mean “moderately agree”. the findings of this study affirmed o’neal’s (2012), who claimed work schedule flexibility as part of the organizational policy resulted to a positive correlation with overall job satisfaction and displayed statistical significance. however, no significant relationship was found between work-life balance and job satisfaction of employees. the second conclusion was elaborated by oswald, proto and sgroi (2015), when they mentioned that lower happiness is systematically associated with lower productivity and the occurrence of the various forms of evidences, with corresponding strengths and weaknesses are consistent with the existence of a causal link between human well-being and human performance. moreover, the results of the present study revealing the picture of difficulties faced in balancing the work demand and the life (family) responsibility, and the high correlation between the difficulties faced and the balancing act to be performed as reflected in the areas of career advancement factors, organizational support and psychological factors towards human resources management interventions for better work-life balance, per se was supported by maiya and bagali (2014). furthermore, a study on high correlation between employees’ job satisfaction as affected by organizational commitment (malone, 2010) further reinforced the findings of the present study. researchers (maurya et al., 2015) have established the level of agreement on various aspects of policies. accordingly, the employees experienced conflicts in schedule when it comes to family events and work. they further established that long daily working hours have caused conflicts between work and family, where employees were not given a chance to decide about the starting time, and were not provided technological resources to allow them to work at home. a study utilizing the existing database 57 international peer reviewed journal from the iowa state university explored faculty work-life balance and job satisfaction among academic disciplines. the results indicated that there was a high correlation between work-life and job satisfaction. additionally, demographic profile like age, school climate and culture were significant predicators for wlb (mukhtar, 2012). thus, the findings of this study provide valuable insight for educators and policy makers who are interested in factors that contribute to work-life and overall job satisfaction among academic disciplines at a large research institution. although these studies insist that work-life balance plays a significant role in employees’ psychological well-being and behavioral performance (kim, 2014), less attention has been focused on what affects work-life balance has on employees’ behaviors in the academic setting. thus, the current study posited that work-life balance, along with employees’ behavior, could affect performance improvement in the phei. the data for this study are collected from the private higher educational institution context where the interest in work-life balance has increased and the in-depth research on work-life balance is needed. lastly, employee performance is key determinant in the achievement of organizational goals, and every individual is an integral part of the family in particular and the organization in general. thus, work-life balance practice is an important factor in increasing employee performance (ngozi, 2015). the results further indicate that employee orientations on policies were highly correlated to organizational commitment, and mediated by job satisfaction. the study of pitek (2015) had provided substantial information regarding understanding individual-level value differences when examining the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of organizational policies and practices affecting wlb of employees. consequently, processing of institutional policies affecting employee life in legal and ethical manners will definitely bring effectiveness and productivity in the workplace; and because this generation of employees are committed to their personal learning and development and this remains their first choice benefit from employers together with flexible working hours, and cash bonuses (pwc, 2011), the phenomenon of flexible working arrangements affected the well-being of employees as reiterated by (subramaniam, 2011) and to ascertain and review the organizational policies to address improve work-life balance (taylor, 2010). the results of a study suggest that there is a great deal of overlap in the factors responsible for the wlb experienced by those in the teaching fields to include hours worked, workload, work pace and spillover (w, 2010). in summary, the presence of work-life balance policies can lead to the organization being identified 58 jpair multidisciplinary research as an employer of choice, ensuring that the company will continuously attract employees (wright, 2014). conclusion the school administration may consider reviewing and enhancing the related policies such as leave arrangements, parenting and pregnancy so that the work-life related activities of employees may be safer. additional provisions regarding work are also evident. there is a moderate impact of work-related activities and policies on the personal life of employees. this research on work-life balance (wlb) has provided significant contribution to the management of higher educational institution by stimulating the review of the existing policies and procedures affecting the social life of employees. thus, the findings of the study suggest the need to frame polices that would minimize the work load of academic employees without affecting the productivity of the institution, for achieving successful work-life balance (mumbai, 2014). moreover, several practices have already been explored related to wlb to promote the value of human resource management in organizations, which were confirmed by the findings of the present study. for example, the hr functions are now considered as strategic tool in the formulation policies to attain its objectives (nierras, 2012). the function of work before which was a matter of necessity and survival has evolved encouraging organizations to create and reformulate new policies and standards that will encourage employee retention and personal satisfaction (rangreji, 2010). it is, therefore, significant for all educational leaders to understand and give due magnitude to the different human resource policies and practices in the institution of higher learning. reformulated policies are concerned with attracting, managing, motivating and developing and retaining employees for the benefit of the well-balanced work-life and the entire organization. wlb is a challenging issue for educational leaders, managers and has also attracted the attention of researchers. work/life balance is described as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in employees’ life. managing the boundary between home and work is now becoming more challenging. catholic educational institutions need to ensure effective balancing act between work and personal life of employees through a functional policy framework towards the overall satisfaction of the workforce. furthermore, there is a need for employers and employees alike to find flexible and innovative solutions that maximize productivity without damaging employees well – being, 59 international peer reviewed journal their family relationships and other aspects of life. studies in the us and europe have already been made to test the effectiveness of good wlb-related practices. this study will help future researchers and readers find out the prevalence of such wlb practices. translational research the result of the study could be translated through a journal article for international publications, newsletters, radio, social media, and other media for information dissemination and to revisit the institutional policies. additionally, both the external and internal stakeholders might be able to translate it into a more comprehensive administrative policy and enhanced intervention program that could increase the interest of prospective internal stakeholders and professionals towards further studies. finally, it can be translated by sharing this with present and future employees to clarify the administrative policies in the workplace. literature cited agarwal, p. 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(2011). flexible working arrangements in malaysia and the participation of women in the labour force, 285. taylor, c. l. (2010). assessment of the effectiveness of attendance management in order to improve work-life balance within warrington borough council september 2010 acknowledgements, (september). wright, j. r. (2014). work and life balance experiences of female professional staff members in higher education: a qualitative case study. thesis. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research enriching formal visual analysis among grade 10 learners through quest-theme module: an experimental study samboy d. franco http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8317-2745 ajarnshen@gmail.com deped-division of pampanga/sta. ana national high school sta. ana, pampanga originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using the questtheme module to enrich the formal visual analysis level of junior high school students in art. a questionnaire and a teacher-made pretest and post-test were used as primary tools in gathering the data needed in this study. the study found that majority of the student respondents were classified as level 2 in terms of formal visual analysis and also, most of them were under approaching proficiency (ap) category in terms of their academic achievements. furthermore, the study unconcealed a significant relationship between the formal visual analysis level and the academic performance of the respondents. findings also showed that pretest results were interpreted as fair. seemingly, there was no significant difference in the mean scores of the control and experimental group. the study revealed that posttest results from the control group were interpreted as fair while results from the experimental group were described as excellent. implicitly, the results from the data showed that there was a significant difference between the two variables. it was also found on the pre-test and post-test mean scores analysis that there was a significant vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.710 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8317-2745 mailto:ajarnshen@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 187 international peer reviewed journal difference between the results of the two variables. it discovered the effectiveness of using the quest-theme module to enrich the formal visual analysis. keywords — action research, formal visual analysis, experimental method, quest-theme module pampanga, central luzon, philippines introduction formal visual analysis is an essential method for handling visual information. in other words, it is a scheme used to retell what you see in written words. this strategy can be practically applied to any work of art, from any historical period, whether a photograph, sculpture, painting, or cultural artwork. in any product of art, all of these elements and principles will be existing, but some will be more evident than others. when performing formal visual analysis, learners should pick out the elements they feel are most powerfully portrayed in the artwork they are analyzing. a dandy spot to begin formal visual analysis is to face at the artwork and take note of how your eye moves around the object. once learners incline formal visual analysis, they will be well preconditioned to put this explanation into activity by making their representation based on the elements and principles of design. the theory of formal visual analysis will aid learners to create their crafts as professional artists would. formal visual analysis is a peculiar sort of visual form. dissimilar to ekphrasis, it is not meant to arouse the work in the reader’s cognition. rather, it is a cerebration of the visual structure, of how certain visual elements have been arranged and function within a composition. the accurate formal visual analysis is restricted to what the observer sees. since it informs how the eye is led through a piece of work, this type of statement caters a solid groundwork for other types of criticism. it is always a helpful travail, even when it is not supposed as a conclusion in itself. the goal of the formal visual analysis is to justify how the formal visual elements of an artwork modify the state of the subject and content. the focus should be on analyzing the formal visual elements not rendering explanations about the artwork. that said, an discernment of the substance of the product is the ultimate score of any formal visual analysis. according to barnet (2008), although the description is an important part of the formal analysis, the description is not enough on its own. an artist must introduce and contextualize his descriptions of the formal elements of the work, so the analyst understands how each element 188 jpair multidisciplinary research influences the work’s overall effect on the viewer. he may include his emotional responses to work, but he necessarily justifies them and rear them up with grounds, the formal visual elements that evoke his emotional response. formal visual analysis is the rudimentary portion of art creation. references as multifaceted as art publication, academic books, and collegian investigation papers trust on succinct and elaborated formal visual analyses. a learner may encounter a visual analysis as an assignment itself, or he may write one as part of a longer research paper. the purpose of the visual analysis is to recognize and understand the visual choices the artist made in creating the artwork. sayre (2005) opined that by observing and writing about separate parts of the art object, the analyst would arrive at an improved discernment of the art product in total. a formal visual analysis answers an artwork’s formal visual elements visual dimensions such as color, line, texture, and size. a formal visual analysis may also reckon humanistic discipline, discourse, or explications of meaning. to write a visual analysis, the learner must look closely at an art object or a photograph of an art object and transform your optical remarks into the inscribed passage. however, a formal visual analysis does not merely record your observances. it likewise claims the work of art. saltzman (1998) includes the following: (a.) observe the artwork and write down your observations; (b.) formulate the main claim, and (c.) support your main claim with visual details. a formal analysis does not concentrate on the subject matter, function, culture, etc., but it may conceive them when they employ to selections regarding the formal element, things like color, line, size, etc. a lucid, well-inscribed formal visual analysis will comprise three belongings: it will repute the formal visual elements discussed, it will expound the purpose of the formal visual elements, and it will handle the effects of that function of aforementioned formal visual elements. this manuscript focused on the formal analysis of art, offering tools to help learners analyze the form of paintings, rather than accounts of the history of individual artists or paintings. the formal analysis examines the visual aspects of a painting, and it begins by looking at broad questions such as the use of color and the depiction of space. the types of questions teachers ask informal analysis can be asked of any painting students see, and some of the questions can also be a useful starting point when thinking about other types of visual culture, such as photography and cinema. how does the formal analysis of a work of art affect our interpretation of it? this has been a hotly debated subject in art theory. it is very difficult to dissociate 189 international peer reviewed journal the way a painting depicts a subject from the subject itself. indeed, the great twentieth-century critic and theorist groenewald (2004) argued that in a work of art, “form” cannot be divorced from “content” and the distribution of color and lines, light and shade, volumes and planes, however delightful as a visual spectacle, must also be understood as carrying a more-than-visual meaning. it is rarely easy to separate what a painting depicts from how it depicts it. it is probably most useful to think of the skills that students will gain in a formal analysis as something they will use in conjunction with other information. so, if they are going to an exhibition of work by a particular artist, they will be able to read in the catalogs and side panels about the themes and subject matters which interested a particular painter, about the historical circumstances in which he or she was working, about the places where the art would have been displayed, and about who it was painting for; but students will be able to see for themselves just how the paintings they are looking at work on a visual level. by bringing together all that outside information about a work of art, an artist, or a historical period, students will end up with a much fuller and richer understanding of the art they are looking at. similarly, if a learner is studying a particular artist or period of cultural history, he will need to bring together your analysis of art with an understanding of the broader history and intellectual context of the artworks themselves. but with the tools, elements, and properties of formal visual analysis, he will always be able to ground his interest in a particular artist or group of artists in their works themselves. a product of art is the outcome of the impulsive interrelatedness between the diverse visual art elements and principles as they are used by the creator. by thinking the elements and principles concerned, you can sense more intimately at the work of art, and hence infer more meagerly the artist’s supposed vision, as well as attending how the activity ponders the time and place from where once it came. on the other hand, the research described in this paper, the notion of questtheme modules (qtm), was used to describe the modular structuring of a course and the course content. nulden (1999) defined the quest-theme module as longer than lessons are and brief than instruction, and it is recommended that in a contentbased motion, the module represents the rudimentary component of learning. modules are useful for experimenting with minimal changes in existing courses and at the same time, focus more intensively on process-methodologies. the questtheme module can, to some extent, be viewed as a reaction to the fragmented and the sequenced model above. from a pedagogical perspective, quest-theme modules share many characteristics with problem-based learning (pbl). as in problem190 jpair multidisciplinary research based learning, each quest-theme module contains a number of distinct phases. in this manuscript, quest-theme module was made up of cartoon and animated characters to portray and display the sequence of the lessons and in targeting and achieving learner’s competencies. in the gap analysis conducted by the researcher, it was found that majority of the students were having difficulty in recognizing simple elements and properties in the visual analysis in art. average of 2 out of 10 students were able to identify simple fundamentals in the formal visual analysis. these fundamentals were very important in the sense that they answer the basic activities in describing qualities and characteristics of presented artworks in art lessons especially that they were always embedded in the lesson concepts in art of the k-12 enhanced basic education curriculum. the purpose of the study, therefore, was to ascertain the effectiveness of using the quest-theme module to enrich formal visual analysis in arts among grade 10 students at sta. ana national high school for the academic year 2017 – 2018. objectives of the study the main objective of this study was to conduct experimentation on the degree of effectiveness of using the quest-theme module to enrich formal visual analysis in arts among grade 10 students at sta. ana national high school for the academic year 2017 – 2018. more specifically, it sought to answer the following queries: (1) the formal visual analysis level of participants in art; (2) the academic performance of the participants in art; (3) significant relationship between the mean scores of the formal visual analysis level of participants and mean scores of their academic performances in art; (4) significant difference between the pretest results of the control and experimental group; (5) significant difference between the posttest results of the control and experimental group, and (6) significant difference between the mean scores of pretests and post-tests. methodology research design to attain the purpose of the study, the researcher employed the experimental method of research. the experimental method of research was an organized and scientific formulation to investigation in which the researcher influences one or more variables, and controls and measures any alteration in other variables. this was an 191 international peer reviewed journal experiment where the researcher manipulates one variable and control/randomize the rest of the variables. it has a control group, the respondents have been randomly appointed between the groups, and the researcher only trials one effect at a time. it was also important to know what variable researchers want to test and measure. creswell (2002) defined experimental study as a method of investigation that involves the compendium of research designs which use influence and controlled testing to infer causal processes. one or more variables are manipulated to ascertain their result on a dependent variable. experiments were conducted to be able to predict the phenomenon. typically, an experiment was constructed to be able to explain some causation. experimental research was important to society. it helped us to improve our everyday lives. this study used the two group control group design. this was the simplest and most common of the pretest-post-test designs and was a helpful way of controlling that an experiment has a powerful level of internal validity. the rule behind this arrangement was relatively simple and involved randomly assigning subjects between two groups, a test group, and a control. both groups were pretested, and both were to be post-tested, the ultimate difference being that one group received the treatment. this test allowed several distinct analyses, giving researchers the tools to filter out the experimental noise and confounding variables. the internal validity of this design was strong because the pre-test ensures that the groups were equivalent. the various analyses that can be performed upon a two-group control group pretest-post-test designs were: (1) this design allowed researchers to compare the final post-test outcomes between the two groups, giving them an estimate of the overall effectiveness of the treatment; (2) the researcher can see how both groups changed from pretest to post-test, whether one, both or neither improved over time and if the control group also showed a significant improvement, then the researcher must attempt to uncover the reasons behind this; and (3) the researcher can examine the scores in the two pretest groups, to guarantee that the randomization operation is effective. participants participants of this study were the students officially enrolled and admitted as grade 10 in sta. ana national high school. for this paper, simple random sampling was used for the recruitment of the participants for this study. 192 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. profile of profile of respondents sections number of students number of samples st. anne 46 10 st. augustine 48 14 st. therese 47 12 st. andrew 48 14 st. mary 46 10 according to fraenkel, wallen, and hyun (2012), simple random sampling was reasoned as an impartial mode of picking out a sample from a given population since every associate was given equal opportunities of being selected. in this proficiency, each member of the aggregation has an equal opportunity of being selected as the subject. the entire process of sampling was done in a single step with each subject selected independently of the other members of the population. in this study, the researcher made use of the most primitive and mechanical lottery method. each member of the population was assigned a unique number. each number was placed in a bowl or a hat and mixed thoroughly. the blind-folded researcher then picked numbered tags from the hat. all the individuals bearing the numbers picked by the researcher were the subjects for the study. sampled respondents were grouped into two. before the conduct of the two phases of this study, the researcher secured first a letter of approval from the division office to conduct the study. after the consent of the school head, questionnaires were administered to respondents. to decrease the response rate error and solicit a relatively high response rate of the survey, the researcher distributed the survey questionnaires personally. in any case that there are clarifications, respondents were informed for a follow-up. a letter was sent to the advisers of respective student respondents for the documentary analysis of their academic performances. to establish the ethical considerations among the respondents, the anonymity of respondents was protected by numerically coding each questionnaire and keeping all the responses confidential. all study data were kept in locked file cabinets in the researcher’s table. 193 international peer reviewed journal instrumentation the first phase of the study aimed to determine the formal visual analysis and literacy rate of the respondents in principles of designs in art. principally, a selfdeveloped questionnaire, containing items of different formats: asking either for one or all that apply, dichotomous answers like “yes” and “no,” self-assessment items, measured on a 4-point likert type, and open-ended questions, was given to the respondents. a teacher made pretest was administered before the allocations of the two groups of students. immediately, simple treatment of the use of the questtheme module in the principles of design of art was applied to the determined experimental group of the study. after completing the treatment, a teacher made post-test was administered again to the same group of learners. the purpose of this test was to measure the achievement of the students constituting the sample. the researcher constructed both the pretest and post-test, through a thorough review of the techniques of test construction and consent of the art teachers and experts were weighed in the construction of tests. both the pretest and post-test were almost parallel with difficulty level. tests were subjected to validity and reliability. validity and reliability of the instruments a panel of supervisors and master teachers handling art disciplines were used to secure the content validity of the survey instruments. a reliability test using the test-retest method was performed by asking ten teachers and students who were not a part of the study to complete the questionnaire. after one week, the same persons were again asked to complete the questionnaire which now featured rearranged items. the test-retest method was a measure of reliability obtained by administering the same test twice over a while to the same group of individuals. the scores from time 1 and time 2 could then be correlated to evaluate the test for stability over time (phelan & wren, 2007). the questionnaire consisted of 50 items, which were organized into three sections. data collection a gap analysis was conducted to draw the study. after obtaining results, the researcher secured first a letter of approval from the division office to conduct the study. after doing so, another letter of approval was sent to a school principal where the participants and letters of information and invitation as well, as the informed consent, were sent to the participants. 194 jpair multidisciplinary research in order to establish a concrete justification, the researcher administered pretest to determine the participant’s formal visual analysis level. retrieval of the pretest questionnaire will be done after the test, and the data will be tabulated. the researcher provided the experimental group with simple treatment through the use of the quest theme module. after the lesson has been discussed, post-test will be administered to both groups. participants will be given thirty minutes to answer the test. the post-test questionnaire will be retrieved after the group has answered the questions. statistical techniques raw scores obtained from questionnaires, academic performances, pretest, and post-test were presented in tabular form for interpretation. for the manipulation of data, means and standard deviation were computed. in order to determine the relationship of the motivation and engagement levels and performance ratings, pearson product moment correlation was applied. to define the significance of the difference between the mean scores of both pretest and post-test were tested at the 0.05 level by applying z-test. results and discussion formal visual analysis level of the control and experimental group distribution of the respondents according to the formal visual analysis level of the control and experimental group. majority of the respondents fell on the level of intermediate (i) with a range of 6 – 10 for both the control and experimental group. in the control group, they were dominated by level 2 participants with an average of 19 counts or with an equivalent of 63.33%. five (5) were considered as skilled (s) with an equivalent percentage of 16.67. only two under the control group were defined as expert (e) having a percentage of 6.67. same with the control group, 14 out of 30 respondents in the experimental group were assessed to be under intermediate (i) level or with an equivalent of 46.67%. ten (10) appeared to be skilled (s) having 33.33%. three (3) out of 30 were described as expert (e) with an equivalent percent of 10.00. mean of the formal visual analysis level of the respondents respondents from the control group got a mean score of 10.57 and interpreted as skilled (s) with a standard deviation of 3.12 while respondents from the experimental group received a mean score of 10.04 and described as intermediate 195 international peer reviewed journal (i) with a standard deviation of 2.63. lastly, the grand mean score of the participants was 10.31, which was interpreted as intermediate (i) with a standard deviation of 2.85. the degree of the academic performance ranged from 75 – 90 for both the control and experimental group. in the control group, the majority of the participants has an academic performance of ranged from 79 – 82 with a percentage of 43.34 or an equivalent to 13 frequencies. it indicated that most of them have an approaching proficiency (ap) performance in class. eleven (12) of the respondents or with an equivalent of 40.00% have an average ranging from 7578. these respondents were noted to have a developing (d) performance in their class. a percentage of 13.33 or four respondents were seen to have an academic performance that fell on 83 – 86 denoted a proficient (p) performance and the lone respondent or with an equivalent of 3.33% performed very well, or advanced (a) with an average ranged from 87-90. on the other hand, the majority of the experimental group has an academic performance ranging from 75-78. fourteen (14) of them or with an equivalent percentage of 46.67 has developing (d) performance inside the class. ten (10) respondents were under the approaching proficiency (ap) performance ranging from 79-82 or with an equivalent of 33.33%. an equivalent of 13.33% was given to four respondents who proficiently performed in the class and two out of the 30 respondents performed advanced with an equivalent of 6.67% mean of the academic performances of the control and experimental group control group got a mean score of 79.72 and interpreted as approaching proficiency (ap) with a standard deviation of 3.89 while respondents from the experimental group received a mean score of 79.54 and also described as approaching proficiency (ap) with a standard deviation of 3.89. the grand mean score of the respondents was 79.63, which was interpreted as approaching proficiency (ap) with a standard deviation of 3.86. the relationship between the formal visual analysis level and academic performance of respondents it can be noted in the table below the significant relationship between the formal visual analysis levels and the academic performances of the respondents. data showed that there was a significant relationship between the two variables tested in 2tailed test with 5% level of significance. the computed value was 1.98, which was greater than the critical value of 1.96; hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. 196 jpair multidisciplinary research on the other hand, the computed correlation coefficient was 0.71 and denoted high correlation. this means that the scores obtained in the academic performances were highly correlated to the obtained scores in the literacy levels of respondents. table 2. the relationship between the formal visual analysis level and academic performance of respondents variables indicators result result significance (2 tailed) remarks formal visual analysis level pearson’s correlation 0.71** 1.98 reject ho academic performance 0.71** 1.98 significant pretest results of the control and experimental group the control group got the mean score of 22.96 and interpreted as fair (f) with the standard deviation of 3.61 while the experimental group got the mean score of 22.75 which was also interpreted as fair (f) with the standard deviation of 4.80. the grand mean score of the pretest results of the control and experimental group was 22.86, which were described as fair (f) with a standard deviation of 4.21. difference between the pretest results of the control and experimental group using the z-test as an indicator, the value obtained between the two variable was 0.85, which was respectively not significant. the data mean that there was no significant difference between the pretest results of the control group and the experimental group, which showed that the two groups were both having the same level of knowledge. table 3. difference between the pretest results of the control and experimental group variables indicators result critical value remarks control z-test 0.85 1.96 accept ho vs. not experimental significant post-test results of the control and experimental group the control group got the mean score of 23.57 and interpreted as fair (f) with the standard deviation of 3.65 while the experimental group got the mean score of 42.75 which was interpreted as excellent (e) with the standard deviation of 1.99. the grand mean score of the pretest results of the control and experimental group was 33.16, which was described as average (a) with a standard deviation of 10.10. difference between the post-test results of the control and experimental group with the use of the z-test as an indicator, the value obtained between the two variables was 9.40, which was noted as significant. this means that there was a significant difference between the post-test results of the control group and the experimental groups. table 4. difference between the post-test results of the control and experimental group variables indicators result critical value remarks control z-test 9.40 1.96 reject ho vs. significant experimental difference between the mean scores of the pretest and post-test results table no. 5 revealed the difference between the post-test results of the control and experimental groups employing the z-test as an indicator. the value obtained between the two variables was 4.51, which was interpreted as significant. this denoted that there was a significant difference between the results of the mean score of the pretest and post-test. relative significance between the two variables can be interpreted as a result of the effective treatment rendered and administered to the experimental group vis-à-vis control group. table 5. difference between the mean scores of the pretest and post-test results variables indicators result critical value remarks control z-test 4.51 1.96 reject ho vs. significant experimental conclusions based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn. majority of the participants were considered as intermediate (i) in doing formal visual analysis in an artwork. on the other hand, both the mean scores of the academic performance of the control and experimental group got an interpretation of approaching proficiency (ap). it was also found in the analysis that there 198 jpair multidisciplinary research was a significant relationship between the formal visual levels and the academic performance of the participants. also, it was established on the pretest results analysis that both groups were interpreted as fair (f). although the pretest results were fair, which denoted the same level of understanding of formal visual analysis based on their pretest results, yet there was no significant difference between the two variables. the obtained mean score of the post-test from the control group was described as fair (f) while the computed mean score for the experimental group was interpreted as (excellent). it was also found that there was a significant difference from the obtained results. seemingly, the study revealed the idea that there was a significant difference between pretest and post-test results of both the control and experimental group. this led to the idea that the quest-theme module sequence of instruction in the formal visual analysis of art was effective. it showed that the students exposed and treated by the quest-theme module mode of instruction performed very well than those students under the control group. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media of communication for information dissemination, if not, further awareness campaign, indigenous materials such as wall newspaper, one-act play, among others may be designed for stakeholders from the remote areas and social media, mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio) may be used in the information dissemination. literature cited barnet, s. (2008). a short guide to writing about art. pearson/prentice hall. retrieved on june 20, 2017 from https://goo.gl/5zg2pa creswell, j. w., & creswell, j. d. (2017). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. sage publications. retrieved on a u g u s t 14, 2017 from https://goo.gl/melsxt creswell, j. w. (2002). educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative (pp. 146-166). upper saddle river, nj: prentice hall. retrieved on june 18, 2017 from https://goo.gl/zxqwns https://goo.gl/melsxt https://goo.gl/zxqwns 199 international peer reviewed journal frankel, j.r., wallen n.e., & hyun, h.h. (2012). how to design and evaluate research in education (8th edition). new york, ny: mcgraw hill companies, inc. groenewald, t. (2004). a phenomenological research design illustrated. international journal of qualitative methods, 3(1), 42-55. retrieved on june 10, 2017 from https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690400300104 nulden, u., 1999. thematic modules in an asynchronous learning network: a scandinavian perspective on the design of introductory courses. group decision and negotiation, 8(5), 391408 doi: 10.1023/a:1008665626692 phelan, c., & wren, j. (2007). exploring reliability in academic assessment. https://www.uni.edu/chfasoa/reliabilityandvalidity.htm saltzman, c. (1998). portrait of dr. gachet: the story of a van gogh masterpiece: modernism, money, politics, collectors, dealers, taste, greed, and loss. viking. downloaded on june 10, 2017 from http://www.openbibart.fr/item/ display/10068/943656 sayre, h. m. (2005). writing about art. saddle river, new jersey; prentoce hall. downloaded on june 19, 2017 from https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8771985 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f160940690400300104 http://www.openbibart.fr/item/display/10068/943656 http://www.openbibart.fr/item/display/10068/943656 199 international peer reviewed journalvol. 27 · january 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v27i1.466 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. feeding practices of children under-five in an industrialized city in cebu marjorie r. sta. teresa http://orcid.org 0000-0002-0987-544x sta.teresamarjorie@gmail.com university of cebu-banilad cebu city, philippines francis jemuel m. rufo http://orcid.org 0000-0001-6641-4108 francis.rufo@gmail.com new york, usa geneveb largo http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6317-5321 geneveblargo@uc.edu.ph university of cebu-banilad cebu city, philippines abstract about bout 30% of children under five years old were stunted as a consequence of poor feeding practices and repeated infections. the study determined the feeding practice of mothers of under-five children in naga city, cebu, philippines. the study utilized the descriptive method involving 330 respondents in five districts of the city of naga, cebu. questionnaire was used in data collection and it was translated to cebuano to extract the necessary data from the respondents. the findings showed the majority of the children under-five yearold were breastfed by their mothers immediately after birth. furthermore, nearly 200 jpair multidisciplinary research all respondents did not practice exclusive breastfeeding, however, a considerable number of respondents continue to breastfeed after six months. plain water, vitamins or medicines and clear broth topped the list of liquids introduced by the respondents, while vitamin a-rich vegetables, foods rich in carbohydrates and iodine-rich foods ranked first, second and third respectively in the list of solid foods for complementary feeding. most of the respondents did not introduce products that are fortified with iron. breastfeeding practices in urban areas lack knowledge of the importance of iron-fortified complementary feeding as well as exclusive breastfeeding. keywords – under-five children,feeding practices, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, social science, nutrition, cebu city, philippines. introduction good feeding practice for children under-five years old is an integral part of childhood development. even in resource-poor settings, improved feeding practices can lead to improved intakes of energy and nutrients, leading to better nutritional status (michaelsen, weaver, branca & robertson, 2000). feeding children under-five years old is a unique experience. these age groups have special nutritional needs, which, when not met, may contribute to the increase in childhood morbidity and mortality rates (doh, 2015). it is imperative that children under-five years old be properly provided with adequate nourishment that is necessary for growth and development. early nutrition affects later development and early feeding sets the stage for eating habits that will influence nutrition status for a lifetime. trends change, and experts argue about the fine points, but properly nourishing an infant is relatively simple, overall. common sense in the selection of baby foods and a nurturing, relaxed environment go far to promote an infant’s health and wellbeing (debruyne, 2008). according to unicef, a major health problem in resource-poor settings is still childhood under nutrition. the big proportion of the children under-five years old are also deficient in one or more micronutrients and approximately onethird of children less than five years of age in developing countries have stunted growth. present data showed that just over half of 6 to 9 month old infants are breastfed and only 39% of 20 to 23 month old are provided with continued breastfeeding. 201 international peer reviewed journal children who are under-five’s mortality rate is a leading indicator of the level of child health and overall development in countries. millennium development goal 4 aims to reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the mortality rate of children under five.  between 1990 and 2008, the number of children in developing countries who died before reaching the age of five dropped from 100 to 72 deaths per 1,000 live births. in spite of the decrease in mortality, the numbers are still significant. furthermore, malnutrition is evident in poor areas of the country particularly manifested by children three years old and below concerning their growth and development in height and weight compared to age. one of the issues the 2008 national nutritional survey (nns) looked into is children’s nutrition. the research of nns found that the number of filipino children who were underweight and under height or stunted increased from 2005 to 2008.in addition, the prevalence of underweight children from ages 0 to 5 years increased from 24.6% to 26.2%, which totaled to 3.35 million children. the under height rate among children on the other hand, increased from 26.3% to 27.9%, representing 3.57 million children (fnri annual report, 2005). through experiences and observations, the researchers found out that the community is still confronted with morbidity and mortality rates that could be associated with infant and young child feeding practices. hence, the researchers aim to determine the feeding practices of children under-five years old in city of naga, the findings will be the basis for a proposed action plan. framework this study is anchored in the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior by martin fishbein and icek ajzen (2005). both theories assume that the immediate determinant of behavior is the people’s intention to perform that behavior. the theory of reasoned action suggests that behavioral intentions are a function of people’s attitudes toward the behavior. these intentions are determined by their beliefs that the behavior will lead to a positively or negatively valued outcomes, their subjective norm, which are shaped by their perception of the value that significant others place on that behavior and their motivation to comply with those norms. the planned behaviour theory includes an additional determinant of intention to act namely, people’s perception of how much control they have over their behavior (brannon & feist, 2010). 202 jpair multidisciplinary research the vital feature of the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior is their claim that behavioral intention is the most important determinant of behavior. both theories postulate that people regard the implications of their actions before deciding to engage in or refrain from any given behavior. these two theories emphasize the role of thought in decision making about engaging in behaviors. the theory of reasoned action states that a person’s intention is determined by two antecedents, one comprising personal factors and the other social influence (sharma & romas, 2010). a motivational theory in psychology of maslow’s (1943, 1954)  hierarchy of needs  comprising a five tier model of human needs can be linked in this study. maslow believed that people possess a set of motivation systems and to meet this, we must first achieve our most basic need for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. once survival level is fulfilled, the next level up is what motivates us, and so on. sister calista roy’s adaptation model (andrews & roy, 1991) can also be utilized in this study where it sees the individual as a set of interrelated systems, biological, psychological and social. roy believed that we all strive to live within a bond where we can cope adequately and that each individual can deal with new experiences effectively. khan and rahman (2010) consider appropriate feeding practices as essential component for proper nutrition, growth, development, and survival of infant and young children. these feeding practices, which include both breastfeeding and complementary feeding, are collectively known as infant and young child feeding (iycf) practice. langley-evans (2009) added that nutritional demands over the first 3 years of life are very much shaped by the physiological and developmental processes associated with this life stage. achieving the physical milestones sets a relative high demand for energy and nutrients, but the psychosocial and behavioral milestones should not be ignored, as these affect upon how nutrient demands are delivered and upon the development of attitudes and behaviors that assist to shape long-term health and well-being. infants need smaller total amounts of nutrients than adults do, but as a preference of body weight, infants need more than twice than adults do. with regards to percentage of body weight, infants need more than twice as much of most nutrients. around six months of age, energy needs begin to increase less rapidly as the growth rate begins to slow, but some of the energy saved by slower growth is spent on increased activity. with their growth slows, infants spontaneously reduce their energy intakes. parents should expect their infants to 203 international peer reviewed journal adjust their food intakes downward when appropriate and should not force or coax them to eat more (debruyne, 2008). directly or indirectly, malnutrition is the culprit for about one-third of deaths among children under five years old. these deaths are often associated with inappropriate feeding practices which happen during the first year of life. thus, nutrition and nurturing during the first years of life are both crucial for life-long health and well-being to enable mothers to establish and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for six months, who and unicef made the following recommendations: start of breastfeeding within the first hour of life; exclusive breastfeeding – with infant receiving only breast milk without any additional food or drink, not even water; breastfeeding on demand – that is as often as the child wants, day and night; and no use of bottles, teats or pacifiers (world health organization). objectives of the study the study determined the feeding practices of infant and children under-five in an industrialized city of cebu, philippines. methodology research design the study utilized the descriptive method of research using questionnaire as the main tool for data gathering. the instrument was translated to cebuano to gather the necessary data and for the ease and comfort of the respondents in answering the questions research site the city of naga is located along the southern coast of the island of cebu and is approximately 21 kilometers away from cebu city. it has a total land area of 10,201.8383 hectares and registers a total population of 95,163 as of 2007. the city is composed of 28 local communities, 6 of which are considered urban communities located along the coastal areas including the 5 districts of poblacion. the other 17 communities are considered rural. the city is bounded on the north by tungha-an of minglanilla, in the south by pitalo of san fernando, in the east by bohol strait and in the west by cantabaco of toledo city. 204 jpair multidisciplinary research the city health office of city of naga, located in poblacion, is manned by a health team composed of 2 physicians, 5 nurses, 1 medical technologist, 1 dentist, 1 sanitary inspector and 15 midwives. one health station is located in each community which is manned by a midwife and assisted by health workers. south general hospital, a tertiary hospital owned by the cebu doctors’ group of hospitals, is located in the city. research respondents the study utilized 332 respondents from the five districts in poblacion, city of naga. the city health office, per department of health statistics, approximates 391 children less than 1 year of age and 1,483 children in the 1to 4-year-old bracket in poblacion as of 2012. using the combined population of infants and young children in poblacion, 1,874, the number of respondents was determined using the slovin’s formula. purposive sampling was used. the respondents were mothers with a 6to 11-month old or 12to 36-month-old child or children from the five districts in poblacion, city of naga. mothers with more than 1 child under the identified age groups were made as a respondent more than once. the following were the number of respondents from the following communities: central had 32; east had 22; north had 87; south had 115; and west had seventy which would total to 330 respondents from a total population on 1,874. the sample was proportionate to the population of infants and young children in each district instrumentation the study utilized a researcher made, two-section questionnaire as an instrument for data gathering. section 1 contains the profile of the respondent which includes age, highest educational attainment, monthly family income, and status of employment. section 2 reflects the child’s feeding history which includes the child’s consumption of breast milk and the timeframe for the initiation of initial breastfeeding. the respondents were made to choose whether it was initiated immediately or hours or days after delivery. further inquiry was done for respondents who chose the latter choices to determine the specific number of hours or days. this section also determines if the child has been exclusively breastfed and if breastfeeding was extended after 6 months. respondents were asked to choose either yes or no. 205 international peer reviewed journal this part, likewise, exhibits provision of complementary feeding including the liquids and solid, semi-solid and soft foods introduced to the child for the last 24 hours. a list of liquids and foods, which are grouped accordingly, was presented in the research instrument. this part allowed multiple answers. also presented in section 2 is the consumption of infant formulas and solid, semi-solid or soft foods. brands available in the local setting were indicated in the instrument to enable the respondents answer appropriately. this part, too, required the respondents to choose either yes or no. complementary feeding and consumption of iron-fortified products were assessed based on the last 24-hourperiod. a cebuano translation of the questionnaire was provided for better comprehension of the respondents who do not understand the english language. research ethics protocol the study had been submitted for approval and approved by the ethics committee of the university with the subjects who are the mothers and children under five years of age belonging under the vulnerable group. confidentiality is ensured and the researchers see to it that the respondents understood the study by translating the questionnaires in cebuano and telling them the importance of the study their rights in this study. data collection and statistical technique the questionnaires were distributed after the letter of request was approved by the city mayor, barangay captains and city health officers. the purpose of the study and how to answer the questionnaire was briefly explained to the respondents within their level of comprehension. further assistance was extended to respondents who had difficulty reading, writing and answering. each respondent was accorded 10 minutes to complete the instrument with the needed information. the assistance of the midwives and health workers in the health stations were requested for the distribution of instrument. data analysis was made after tallying and tabulating the responses of the respondents to the items of the instrument. simple percentage was used to determine the profile of the respondents and the feeding history of the child. average was used to identify the average age of the respondents and the monthly family income rank was used to determine the order of liquids and solid foods mostly given by the respondents to their child or children. 206 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion profile of the respondents the profile of the respondents includes their age, highest educational attainment, monthly family income and employment status. table 1. profile of the respondents ( n=332) profile of respondents f p (%) age 46 – 52 1 0.30 40 – 45 8 2.41 34 – 39 38 11.45 28 – 33 72 21.69 22 – 27 128 38.55 16 – 21 85 25.60 average age 26.06 highest educational attainment college graduate 33 9.94 college level 31 9.34 high school graduate 90 27.11 high school level 133 40.06 elementary graduate 33 9.94 elementary level 12 3.61 no education 0 0.00 monthly family income 20,001 and above 13 3.92 10,001 – 20,000 25 7.53 5,001 – 10,000 129 38.86 less than 5,000 165 49.70 average monthly family income php 5,001 10,000 employed 61 18.73 not employed 271 81.63 207 international peer reviewed journal age of the respondents results indicate that majority of the respondents are between 22 and 27 years old with an average age of 26.06 years. until her late 30s to early 40s when she noticed her cycle to become shorter, a woman’s cycle will still be regular with 26 to 35 days cycle. from menarche to early 40s, a woman remains reproductive and fertile. as a woman ages, she will begin to skip ovulation resulting in missed periods until the time the woman will no longer have menstrual period for 1 full year and experience menopausal period (asrm, 1996-2016). thus, most of the respondents belonged in their reproductive years and capable of bearing children. highest educational attainment most of the respondents have attained education in the high school level only. generally, filipinos have a high regard for education, which they view as a primary avenue for social and economic growth. this started from colonial rule of the united states with the emphasis on mass public education. hence, filipinos have the mentality that individuals could get ahead through attainment of a good education and lived the american ideal of a democratic society. tremendous sacrifices of middle-class parents were made to provide secondary and higher education for their children. this holds true with the respondents of the study, wherein most of the mothers have attained at least a secondary level of education which makes them knowledgeable enough in caring and rearing children. monthly family income majority of the respondents have an average monthly family income of between 5,001 ($100.00) and 10,000 ($200.00). gradual decrease of extreme poverty between 2012 and 2014 has been observed with a decline from 10.6 percent in 2012 to nine percent in 2014. according to revised purchasing power parity (ppp), poverty fell rapidly between 2012 and 2014, after a decrease of only 0.3 percentage points between 2009 and 2012. despite this, high rates of structural poverty remain, particularly among households depending on agriculture (world bank, 2016). hence, with regard to the overall economy of the respondents, they still belong to a lower economic class. with less than 10,000 ($200.00) income a month, they have to live within their means and should do with whatever they can afford to sustain daily expenses of their family. employment status most of the respondents are currently not employed. employment status is associated with the family’s monthly income and most of the mothers are 208 jpair multidisciplinary research caring for their children only. hence, they are pure housewives and left to tend to their children at home. just like in the study of guillasper (2015) that with the educational attainment of elementary and high school level by most of the respondents, they are also earning below poverty line. thus, even though they don’t have a direct financial contribution to the family, they still contribute to saving money for expenses intended for house helpers and in caring for their children and even in saving their money for infants’ milk formula through breastfeeding. feeding practices the feeding practices of the respondents comprise of the following: consumption of milk, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive and extended breastfeeding, and introduction of iron-fortified products. table 2 establishes the feeding practices and percentage of children under-five years old who at any point has consumed breastmilk either from their mother or another woman through breastfeeding, or offered through spoon, cup or bottle. table 2. consumption of breastmilk (n=332) consumption of breastmilk f p (%) yes 312 93.98 no 20 6.02 consumption of breast milk infants and young children who were able to consume breastmilk are in the majority. however, there was no further inquiry whether it was received directly or indirectly and whether the source of the breastmilk is the mother or another woman, such as a wet nurse. according to debruyne (2008) that with the exception of vitamin d, the vitamin content of the breast milk of a well-nourished mother is enough. even vitamin c, for which cow’s milk is a poor source, is supplied generously. as for minerals, the calcium content of breast milk is ideal for infant bone growth, and the calcium is well absorbed and utilized. breast milk is also low in sodium. the limited amount of iron in breast milk is highly absorbable, and its zinc, too, is absorbed better than from cow’s milk. thus, most of the respondents know the benefits of breastmilk to their infants leading to majority of their infants consuming breastmilk. 209 international peer reviewed journal table 3 exhibits the timeframe for the initiation of initial breastfeeding. results imply that some infants and young children were initiated breastfeeding immediately after birth. table 3. early initiation of breastfeeding (n=332) early initiation of breastfeeding f p (%) immediately 275 82.83 hours after delivery 30 9.04 days after delivery 27 8.13 early initiation of breastfeeding khan and rahman (2010) explained that the first feed should be colostrum and offered within half an hour of birth. baby should be provided feeding on demand thereafter. mother’s milk is the best milk because of its nutritional, antiinfective, anti-allergic, contraceptive, and economic significance. it is indeed vital for newborns to have early initiation of breastmilk to ensure the start of proper nutrition and health condition. hence, human milk must be considered as a resource priority in the national development, health, and family planning policies. table 4 displays the respondents’ practice of exclusive breastfeeding. the figures suggest that nearly all the respondents do not observe the recommendations of who and unicef on exclusive breastfeeding. table 4. exclusive and extended breastfeeding (n=332) exclusive breastfeeding f p (%) yes 40 12.05 no 292 87.95 exclusive and extended breastfeeding about 95% of the respondents were considered not observing the recommendations on exclusive breastfeeding on the basis of their claim that they introduced water to their child before six months. some have further claimed to have introduced infant formula and powdered milk before six months which 210 jpair multidisciplinary research accounts about 25% and 10% respectively to the 87.95% who are not observing exclusive breastfeeding. the perfect way to provide the best food for a baby’s first six months of life is exclusive breastfeeding, benefiting children all over the world. however, breastfeeding is much more than food alone. infants who are breastfed are much less likely to die from diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and other diseases. infants’ immune systems will be supported by breastfeeding and help them protect from chronic conditions later in life such as obesity and diabetes. an estimated 1.4 million deaths in children under five annually due to suboptimum breastfeeding. kramer and kakuma (2002) stated in their systematic review that with the fact that complementary foods given in many developing countries and the belief that breast milk alone is nutritionally insufficient after 3 or 4 months, and both nutritionally inadequate and contaminated, led to concern about the socalled weanling’s dilemma. the concerns primarily in developing countries and the risk of mortality associated with early introduction of complementary foods contributed to weanling’s dilemma. furthermore, lack of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0 to 5 months of age and no breastfeeding among children 6 to 23 months of age are associated with increased diarrhea morbidity and mortality. diarrheal disease accounts for approximately 1.34 million deaths among children ages 0 to 59 months and continues to act as the second leading cause of death in this age group (black et al., 2010).  in fact, only few diseases are the culprits for half of the horrendous statistics of mortality among children. the culprits are pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and aids which could be treated with antibiotics, oral rehydration with a simple mix of water, salt and sugar, vaccination, and insecticide-treated mosquito nets. therefore, the community particularly the mothers must be educated on proper nutrition and disease prevention because education and prevention are the keys to reducing child mortality. to enable mothers to establish and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for six months, who and unicef recommend the following: start of breastfeeding within the first hour of life; exclusive breastfeeding – with infant only receives breast milk without any additional food or drink, not even water; breastfeeding on demand – feeding as often as the child wants, day and night; and no use of bottles, teats or pacifiers (world health organization). tables 5 and 6 illustrate provision of complementary feeding through liquids and solid foods. the results were ranked from highest to lowest to determine what was primarily given to infants and young children by their primary caregivers. 211 international peer reviewed journal table 5. complementary feeding (liquids) (n=332) list of liquids f p (%) rank plain water 295 25.97 1 vitamin drops or other medicines as drops 258 22.71 2 clear broth 228 20.07 3 thin porridge 144 12.68 4 milk such as thinned, powdered, or fresh animal milk 82 7.22 5 infant formula 62 5.46 6 juice or juice drinks 46 4.05 7 other drinks not included in the list 18 1.58 8 no drink was given to the child 3 0.26 9 *multiple responses table 6. complementary feeding (solid foods) (n=332) list of solid foods f p (%) rank pumpkin, carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes that are yellow or orange inside 225 17.28 1 bread, rice, noodles, or other foods made from grains, including thick grain-based porridge 208 15.98 2 fresh or dried fish, shellfish, or seafood 206 15.82 3 any meat such as beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken or duck 203 15.59 4 any dark green leafy vegetables 182 13.98 5 eggs, cheese, yogurt, or other milk products 118 9.06 6 any sugary foods such as chocolates, sweets, candies, pastries, cakes or biscuits 68 5.22 7 ripe mangoes, ripe papayas or any vitamin a-rich fruits 49 3.76 8 any foods made from beans, peas, lentils or nuts 14 1.08 9 condiments for flavor such as chilies, spices, herbs or fish powder 10 0.77 10 any other fruits or vegetables 7 0.54 11 any oil, fats or butter, or foods made with any of these 6 0.46 12 liver, kidney, heart or other organ meats 5 0.38 13 other foods not included in the list 1 0.08 14 *multiple responses 212 jpair multidisciplinary research complementary feeding plain water, vitamins or medicines and clear broth topped the list of liquids introduced by primary caregivers, while vitamin a-rich vegetables, foods rich in carbohydrates and iodine-rich foods ranked first, second and third respectively in the list of solid foods. the complete list is indicated in the following tables. adequate complementary feeding of children six months to two years of is particularly important for growth and development and the prevention of undernutrition. a large proportion of children less than five years old in developing countries are deficient in one or more micronutrients requiring additional nutrient and high quality foods in adequate amounts to their diet along with continued breastfeeding (unicef, n.d. ). i age in developing countries about one-third of children less than five years of are stunted (low height-for-age), and large proportions are also deficient in one or more micronutrients. that means they require the addition of nutrient dense, high quality foods in sufficient quantities to their diet along with continued breastfeeding. in most developing countries, there is evidence that complementary feeding practices are generally poor meaning that many children are still vulnerable to largely irreversible outcomes such as stunting and poor cognitive development, as well as to significantly increased risks of infectious diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia (united nations international children’s emergency fund). unicef reports that there are evidences that complementary feeding practices are generally poor in most developing countries. it is worth noting that the philippines is categorized as a developing country. table 7 depicts the practice of continued breastfeeding among infants beyond six months and young children. table 7. continued breastfeeding (n=332) continued breastfeeding f p (%) yes 236 71.08 no 96 28.92 continued breastfeeding a considerable number of respondents continue to give breast milk after six months. this result reflects agreement of the respondents to the guiding principles for complementary feeding of the breastfed child. 213 international peer reviewed journal the second guideline posits that frequent, on-demand breastfeeding should be continued until two years of age or beyond (dewey, 2003). the numbers have a positive implication on infants and young children with regard to feeding practices. dewey added that breastfed children at 12 to 23 months of age whose intake is similar to the average amount of breast milk consumed at that age receive 35-40% of total energy needs from breast milk. while the number of respondents who continue breastfeeding their child beyond six months is high, it is also noteworthy to give attention to those mothers who are not maintaining breastfeeding. thus, further health teaching regarding the importance and benefits of continued breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond must also be implemented in the health centers and the community. tables 8 and 9 register the introduction of iron-fortified infant formula and/ or solid, semi-solid or soft foods. statistics show that majority of the respondents do not introduce products that are fortified with iron. table 8. introduction of iron-fortified infant formula (n=332) introduction of iron-fortified infant formula f p (%) yes 52 15.66 no 280 84.34 table 9. introduction of iron-fortified solid, semi-solid or soft foods introduction of iron-fortified solid, semi-solid or soft foods f p (%) yes 34 10.24 no 298 89.76 introduction of iron-fortified infant formulas and solid, semi-solid, and soft foods nutrient needs per unit body weight of infants and young children are very high because of the rapid rate of growth and development during the first two years of life. the total nutrient intake of children between 6 and 24 months of age can be substantially contributed by breast milk particularly for protein and many of the vitamins. however, minerals such as iron and zinc, even after accounting for bioavailability are usually low in several breast milk (dewey, 2003). 214 jpair multidisciplinary research another guideline identified by dewey (2003) is to use fortified complementary foods or vitamin-mineral supplements for the infant, as needed. certain key nutrients, particularly iron, zinc and calcium is generally insufficient in unfortified complementary foods that are predominantly plant-based amounts of, to meet the recommended nutrient intakes during the age range of 6-24 months. the addition of animal-source foods can meet the gap in some cases. however, this affects the cost and thus may not be practical for the lowest income groups. since most of the respondents were not able to complement iron-rich food in their infants’ daily intake, extensive health education regarding the benefits and importance of iron in the infants’ growth and development must also be emphasized in the community. additional assessments can also be made to find out the reasons why respondents lack knowledge and utilization of some important variables in infant nutrition and young child feeding practices. conclusion based on the results of the study, breastfeeding practices of mothers even in urban areas may lack the appropriate knowledge of the importance of iron – fortified complementary feeding as well as exclusive breastfeeding. health practitioners can intervene and change mother’s behaviour by applying three factors to determine the strength of their intention, viz. perceived ability, attitudes, and social norms. translational research proper feeding education drive through cebuano information and educational campaign (iec) materials would be undertaken to emphasize the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six (6) months of life, implementing health teachings among mothers and pregnant women on the importance of continuance of breastfeeding after 6 months of the infants, identifying infants and children who have iron deficiency anemia and educating mothers on the importance and benefits of iron for growth and development, informing mothers on the food pyramid and the different nutrients and their function, making mothers and community appreciate the available, affordable and accessible food sources in the community and recognizing the role of primary health care facilities in the health care delivery system. 215 international peer reviewed journal literature cited ajzen, i. 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(2010). theoretical foundations of health education and health promotion. massachusetts: jones and bartlett publishers. retrieved on january 10, 2015 from https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?q=shar ma%2c+m.+%26+romas%2c+j.+a.+%282010%29.+theoretical+foun dations+of+health++education+and+health+promotion&btng=&hl=en& as_sdt=0%2c5 unicef (n.d). infant and young child feeding. retrieved november 8, 2012 from http://www.unicef.org/ nutrition/index_breastfeeding.html 108 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 school responsiveness and psychosocial stability of teachers, parents, and learners on the implementation of learning delivery modalities (ldms): a basis in policy brief formulation susan dl oribiana http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3028-7730 susan.oribiana@deped.gov.ph deped calamba city laguna, philippines dexter m. palanas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0691-9555 dexter.palanas@deped.gov.ph deped calamba city laguna, philippines ligaya b. fuego http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7230-0040 ligaya.fuego@deped.gov.ph siranglupa elementary school calamba city, laguna, philippines originality: 99% • grammarly: 97% • plagiarism: 1% abstract pedagogy, technology, and material resources are some challenges in ensuring the continuity of learning, while teachers, parents, and learners are factors that significantly affect the school’s learning performance. the department of education mandate schools and learning centers to implement capacity vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.408 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:dexter.palanas@deped.gov.ph mailto:ligaya.fuego@deped.gov.ph http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 109 international peer reviewed journal building and establish support mechanism to ensure the seamless transition of learning activities into the new normal. the objective of the study is to understand how parents, learners, and teachers will be able to adjust to the new learning setup, embrace the changes, and affects the delivery and acquisition of new learning, as well as the implications of the pandemic in the participant’s personality. a sequential explanatory research design was used in the study. data were collected in two consecutive phases. first phase data were computed from the responses in the survey questionnaire, while the second phase responses from focus group discussion used thematic analysis. based on the generated themes, a new intervention model, three-way teaching and learning process in the new normal, was established. the model integrates significant processes such as observation, communication, instruction, interaction, support, and participation in ensuring the success of the new learning set-up. the model also shows interventions highlighted, such as communication access, professional development, digital collaboration, independent learning, stakeholder engagement, and parental education. the intervention model is recommended to be used as an implementation framework in the division and school learning continuity plan. keywords — education, distance learning delivery modalities, intervention model, mixed-method design, philippines introduction as the threat of covid-19 continues to spread, communities must take action to reduce the impacts of the outbreak and support control measures. protection of children and educational facilities is particularly vital. safety precautions are necessary to prevent the potential spread of covid-19 in school settings; however, awareness must be employed to avoid stigmatizing students and staff who may have been exposed to the virus. school health protocols can prevent the entry and spread of covid-19 while minimizing disruption and protecting students and staff from discrimination (world health organization, 2020). other mitigating measures in reducing the effects of the pandemic in asean countries were cited by heng (2021) that, which include suggestions and policy implications such as enhancing access to technology, establishing online platforms, collaborations with stakeholders, higher education reform, and promoting research and publications. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 bender (2020) stated that advocates for covid-19 will diminish students’ fears and anxieties around the disease and establish a coping mechanism. this provides critical considerations to engage school administrators, teachers and staff, parents, caregivers, community members, and children themselves in promoting safe and healthy schools. in the philippines, the department of education developed the basic education-learning continuity plan (be-lcp). schools administered learning through blended or distance learning modalities where lessons were delivered to the students in their homes. schools ensure that learning will continue amidst the threat and uncertainties brought about by pandemics while ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of all learners, teachers, and personnel of the department. to prepare parents, teachers, and school leaders for multiple learning delivery modalities, ready-made self-learning materials (slms) with tools and mechanisms were developed depending on the community context. deped secretary dr. leonor briones mandates schools to implement capacity building and establish a support system to ensure the smooth transition of learning activities into the new normal format. the new learning setup requires in-depth preparation in terms of contents and processes among learners, parents, teachers, and school heads as they will be facing unfamiliar learning processes in the delivery of various modalities. objective of the study the study aimed to document the learning journey of teachers, parents, and learners, develop a policy brief, and design an intervention model to implement learning modalities in the new normal. specifically, it aimed to (1) determine the mean level of school responsiveness in the delivery of learning modalities in terms of content and pedagogy, internet connectivity, and material resources, (2) identify the school responses that affect the psychosocial stability of teachers, parents, and learners in terms of life skills, coping mechanisms, and resiliency, (3) discuss the challenges of teachers, learners, and parents that affect the delivery and acquisition of learning in the new learning setup, and d. the participants’ coping mechanism against the implications of the pandemic in the educational setting and their lives. framework this chapter takes account-related reading materials from books, journals, magazines, and abstracts, which the proponent of the study deemed helpful in 111 international peer reviewed journal attaining an in-depth discussion of the research problem and development of the research framework. impact of pandemic on education setting the outbreak of the covid-19 virus continues to pose exceptional challenges. at this point, the most significant impact of covid-19 arises from the need to practice social or physical distancing to prevent its spread. the department of education (deped) declared the closure of classes and the cancellation of school activities. the closure of schools limits the efficiency of services that can be provided to learners, as burgess and sievertsen (2020) stated that attending classes remains the best method to raise social skills and social awareness and increases a child’s ability. related to the situation in swede, learners have a conflicting day to prepare for important tests. these differences are random, allowing carlsson et al. (2015) to evaluate the causal effect of schooling on skills. ten days of extra schooling significantly raise scores on tests of the use of knowledge by 1% of a standard deviation. as a highly rough measure of the impact of the current school closures, twelve weeks less schooling implies a loss of 6% of a standard deviation. the learning loss was further supported by lavy (2010) on the effect of instructional time on learning. the results of the study show that the longer time allotted to instruction, the higher the test scores outcomes. closure of school reduces the number of hours for instruction which will lower the learner’s performance. challenges in time of pandemic several doubting challenges must be addressed and overcome for distance education to be effectively and efficiently delivered. the three areas are pedagogy, technology, and resources. pedagogy pinpointed the adjustment needed in the instructional delivery to complement the current health situation, technology covers the systems and mechanism to ensure that distance learning is feasible, and resources deal with the availability of required gadgets and internet connectivity for learners. in support of pedagogical issues, talampas and martinez (2021) stated that the pandemic caused adjustment to the usual teaching methods, strategies, and techniques applied by a teacher. the situation brought a challenge in enhancing five language skills listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing. the closure of schools and learning centers also coincides with the quarterly examination. the global lockdown disrupted internal and public assessments (severstein, 2020). the performance of learners was also correlated with their low 112 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 socioeconomic status and large classroom size (andersen & nielsen, 2020). the importance of assessing learning was greatly felt during this time of the pandemic when it was difficult to measure learners’ performance while they were staying at home. the teachers experience issues not only with the methods of providing assessment but also with adjusting the criteria for evaluating the learners. we find larger effects for students with low socioeconomic status but also that schools with many students from this group are more reluctant to measure their performance. implications and limitations for increasing the level of student testing are discussed. basic education-learning continuity plan in the philippines, the department of education (deped) launched the basic educationlearning continuity plan for school year 2020-2021. the decision to open classes was made considering socioeconomic factors to implement interventions such as (1) minimizing school disruption associated with holistic youth development, (2) education-related economic activity, and 3) school-managed support systems such as the school-based feeding program, among others. the be-lcp must be guided by life-long, life-wide, life-deep, and life-wise learning principles. the future goals of philippine education were to nurture learners with work readiness and responsible citizenship. despite this, the department faces several risk factors, such as social norms regarding the possible resurgence of the pandemic, coordination, and participation of all the sectors in the society, and mobilizing support from stakeholders. alternative learning delivery modalities bamba (2020) stated that schools could implement distance learning modalities depending on the community quarantine restriction. among the modality, blended learning can provide better opportunities for learners in terms of socioeconomic development, assessment, active engagement, and timely feedback. secretary of education leonor m. briones emphasizes that the provision of self-learning modules (slms) and alternative learning delivery modalities such as modular, television-based, radio-based instruction, blended, and online shall address the needs, situations, and resources of each learner and ensure that they have access to quality basic education for the school year 2020-2021 in the absence of face-to-face classes prohibited due to the public health condition. learning resources were integrated into video lessons for learners, contextualized learning materials were developed, and work arrangements and 113 international peer reviewed journal health protocols were strictly followed. this assured the continuity of learning, considering the safety and health of teachers and personnel.  community role in distance learning during distance learning, parents act as facilitators to supplement their children’s learning by solving real-life problems, exposing learners through trips to monuments and museums, and accessing various online materials. although some parents experience success in fulfilling their role in homeschooling, this may not generalize other parents’ dilemmas within the population. as björklund and salvanes (2011) described, families, tend to provide significant support to learners attending homeschooling. despite the first impression that this learning process would not be feasible, the outcomes proved effective. however, this role is typically seen as a complement to the input from the school. the pandemic also provides manifestation that in improving perceived learning, administrators and teachers should intensify the execution of e-learning platforms used in higher education institutions (micabalo et al., 2021). based on the concepts from previous studies, the diagram below represents the framework of the study. initial data was based on the review of the school’s response aligned to the school learning continuity plan (slcp) anchored to regional pivot 4a qube and national be lcp priorities. figure 1. framework on developing intervention model the satisfaction of clients will be reflected in their psychosocial stability in terms of life skills, coping mechanisms, and resiliency. the result will be validated by their experiences in the new learning set up and establish a new teaching and learning model. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 methodology this part shows the procedure for developing a policy brief and designing an intervention model for implementing the learning modality in the new normal. research design the researcher used mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design. data were collected in two consecutive phases. the quantitative data was initially collected and analyzed. qualitative data were collected in the second phase and created connections with the results of the first phase analysis. research site schools division of calamba city is located within the city hall compound at brgy. real, calamba city. the office provides education support to all public and private schools in calamba city. the research involved nine (9) schools in the schools division of calamba city, and one of the school were randomly selected per cluster. figure 2. the location of deped calamba city (courtesy of google map) 115 international peer reviewed journal participants the respondents were selected teachers, parents, and learners from the sampled schools in the schools division of calamba city. the sampling technique used was stratified random to highlight a specific subgroup within the population and to ensure the presence of the vital subgroup within the sample. table 1. the total number of respondents in the study cluster school enrollment (july 15, 2020) no. of teachers total number of respondents parents learners teacher cluster 1 school a 1866 48 60 60 27 cluster 2 school b 3824 130 124 124 73 cluster 3 school c 593 20 20 20 11 cluster 4 school d 902 24 30 30 13 cluster 5 school e 1133 33 38 38 18 cluster 6 school f 1040 31 34 34 17 cluster 7 school g 1498 41 48 48 23 cluster 8 school h 1125 25 36 36 14 cluster 9 school i 295 7 10 10 4 total 12,007  359  400 400 200 elementary learners were identified as a sample of the study since they experienced the biggest drawback of distance learning, such as isolation and human interaction. instrumentation survey questionnaires were developed to assess the mean level of school preparedness and psychosocial stability of learners, teachers, and parents. the questionnaires for parents and learners were translated into filipino. the questionnaires vary in the total number of questions. learners, parents, and teachers have 17, 18, and 20 items. the questions were designed based on the point of view of the respondents. a focus group discussion (fgd) was conducted to understand the participants’ experience, challenges, and the implications of the learning delivery modality on their educational settings. a semi-structured interview guide was prepared for the focus group discussion. online fgd activity was administered based on the most convenient time for the participants. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the questionnaire and interview guide were validated by the school governance and operation chief and the monitoring and evaluation (m&e) specialist. ethical protocol the purpose of the study was communicated to the participants. the questionnaire included a consent form for the participants to have an option to voluntarily participate or withdraw from the study at any time. participants’ information was treated with the utmost confidentiality and will be used only for this study. while in fgd, the online participants were permitted to record their responses. data gathering two sets of data were collected. first data was consolidated from the participant’s responses in the google form. the participants with difficulty using the online form were provided with a printed copy of the questionnaire and encoded by the proponents’ responses in the online form upon retrieval. the second set of data was consolidated from the recorded responses of the selected participants during the focus group discussion using zoom as the interview platform. data analysis the data was collected from the responses to the questionnaire and focus group discussion. the computed mean and thematic analysis was used to identify factors that lead to designing an intervention model. the collected data were analyzed and interpreted. the results were presented to the division/regional research committee and discussed during summits and research conferences. results and discussion this chapter details the results of data collection, analysis, and reports on the research questions for this study. results and discussion were organized into two sets. the first set was based on the school learning continuity plan concern areas, while the second set shows thematic areas on the implementation of distance learning modality. 117 international peer reviewed journal table 2. the level of school responsiveness in the delivery of learning modality slcp teachers parents learners a. planning phase a.1 data analysis and management 3.48 3.16 3.20 a.2 alignment to be lcp and pivot 4a qube 3.43 3.14 3.15 b. implementation phase (school management and operations) b.1 organization of class 3.43 3.13 3.17 b.2 management of learning 3.49 3.26 3.28 b.3 assessment of learning 3.47 3.26 3.27 b.4 teachers deployment matrix 3.43 b.5 teachers professional development 3.55 b.6 instructional supervision 3.46 b.7 school supply management 3.35 3.09 3.13 b.8 school technical assistance mechanism 3.44 3.18 3.26 b.9 community mobilization 3.51 3.11 3.19 c. monitoring and evaluation phase 3.44 3.20 3.11 d. re-calibration / adjustment phase 3.45 3.11 3.21 range: extremely unsatisfied [1.00 – 1.50], unsatisfied [1.51 – 2.50]. satisfied [2.51 – 3.50], extremely satisfied [3.51 – 4.00] table 2 shows the highest rating of 3.55 (extremely satisfied) in the teachers professional development. this implies that the capacity building on distance education was adequate. while the lowest rating falls on school supply management, providing efficient and adequate resources to the participants has plenty of room for improvement. 118 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 3. the level of school responsiveness in the delivery of learning modality is based on identified criteria criteria item distribution teachers parents learners mdl odl mdl odl mdl odl content and pedagogy q5 – q7 [mdl], q8 – q10 [odl] 3.43 3.56 3.17 3.35 3.22 3.34 technology and internet connectivity q1, q2, q18 3.44 3.61 3.13 3.30 3.19 3.18 material resources q14, q16, q17 3.44 3.56 3.14 3.19 3.19 3.30 range: extremely unsatisfied [1.00 – 1.50], unsatisfied [1.51 – 2.50]. satisfied [2.51 – 3.50], extremely satisfied [3.51 – 4.00] table 3 shows that all the online modality satisfaction ratings were higher than the modular distance modality. the result implies that the needs of the participants were provided well in the online modality. also, the lowest rating of 3.13 (satisfied) as per the response by the parents was the technology and internet connectivity since modular learning only uses self-learning modules as learning resources. the response from the focus group discussion was organized, coded, and interpreted according to relevant themes. the results of the thematic analysis were stated as follows: table 4. the themes on the school response to implement learning modality participant direct quotation initial code theme teacher b “nagkaroon ng training ang mga guro at magulang” the school provided a training session for teachers. the school provided training and instructional materials to teachers to implement the learning modality. teacher f “conduct of lac sessions together with parents and learners on psychosocial” teacher g “may supplies para sa health and provision of load allowance.” the school provided instructional supplies to teachers.teacher i “supplies and support from the school are sufficient and visible.” 119 international peer reviewed journal parent a “ang proseso sa pagkuha ng modyuls sa mga paaralan ay naging maayos” the procedure on the distribution and retrieval of learning materials were wellcommunicated. communication is a vital process in strengthening partnerships with parents. parent c “nagkaroon ng orientation ang mga magulang sa distribution at retrieval ng modyuls.” parent b “naging mahusay ag komunikasyon ng guro sa mga magulang at magaaral” the teachers provide regular communication to parents.parent g “may online kumustahan na initiative and mga guro” learner c “pagsagot ng mga guro sa mga tanong at pag house-to-house nila” the learners receive prompt response from the teachers. the teachers provided instructions to learners through various methods. learner f “may assistance from the teacher lalo po dun sa lesson na di maintindihan” learner d “pakikipag-ugnayan nang madalas sa guro” the teachers provide regular communication to learners.learner g “may online kumustahan at open communication” table 4 shows the participant’s appreciation of the school responses and interventions to ensure the continuity of learning. the provisions allotted to the participants are materials, training, and instructions. table 5. the themes on the adjustment of the schools to improve the implementation of distance learning modality participant direct quotation initial code theme teacher a “stronger internet connection and provision of equipment (printer, computer, etc.)” the school can enhance the access of teachers to the online platform. teaching requirements can be solved through strengthening partnerships with stakeholders. teacher b “mas malakas na internet para sa online classes” teacher d “active involvement of parents in assisting the learners” the school can seek assistance from stakeholders.teacher h “strengthen stakeholders’ support to learning modality.” 120 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 parent c “training for parents kung paano mag-turo sa mga anak namin” parent request further assistance from the teacher on learning modality. online sessions provide better instruction to parents and learners. parent h “mas malinaw na paliwanag at pagbibigay ng powerpoint para mas maintindihan ang gawain” parent a “mas madalas na online classes” the school can enhance sessions through online platforms. parent c “dalasan ang online kumustahan sa mga bata” parent g “mas habaan ang online classes” learner a “magkaroon ng mas maraming information sa topic” the teachers can provide additional support materials. the school can still enhance learning through a blended modality. learner e “additional learning videos and supplementary learning materials” learner c “meet more ang teacher para mas maipaliwanag ang modyul at magkaroon ng discussion” online discussion can enhance learning. learner h “magkaroon ng programa para mas mapadali ang pagsasagot sa m modules” table 5 focuses on the programs that required further improvement. the schools can still strengthen their partnership with stakeholders and enhance the implementation of learning modalities toward the digital process. table 6. the themes on the participant’s challenges in the new learning setup participant direct quotation initial code theme teacher a “difficulty in dealing with parents” the teachers find it difficult to depend on parents for instruction. instruction in the new learning setup causes difficulty for both parents and teachers. teacher c ‘attitude of parents regarding sa pagaaral ng anak nila” teacher b “maraming correction sa modyul, mahirap intindihin yung panuto” the teachers also experience difficulty in understanding the learning materials. teacher f “self-learning modules instruction is difficult.” 121 international peer reviewed journal parent a “kulang sa oras ng pag-guide sa bata dahil sa trabaho” parents gain additional task of guiding their children. parents experience an adjustment in their daily routine to assist their children. parent f “nagkakaroon ng conflict sa trabaho kaya kailangang mag-adjust ng oras sa gawaing bahay” parent b “kami ay bumabalik sa pagiging estudyate, dahil iba ang level ng lesson ngayon kailangan din naming matuto” parents experience difficulty in assisting with the content of the lesson for their children.parent g “mahirap intidihin ang lesson at mahirap turuan ang bata” learner a “konti lang and impormasyon sa modyul at mahirap ang mga tanong” learners experience difficulty in understanding the content of the lesson. learners experience difficulty based on their understanding of the module’s content and instruction. learner i “di maintindihan ang lesson” learner d “walang tumutulong sa pagsasagot sa mga lesson” learners require assistance in understanding the instruction of the modules. learner g “di alam kung ano ang gagawin sa modyul” table 6 stresses the participants’ experiences while implementating of the distance learning modality. it shows that distant communication can cause difficulty in instruction that requires adjustment in both parties. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 7. the themes on the participant’s coping mechanism in the new learning setup participant direct quotation initial code theme teacher a “constant communication with the parents to avoid misconception.” teachers shorten gaps with the parents through communication. a better way of communication would result in better instruction. teacher i “conduct online kumustahan to both parents and learners.” teacher b “mas madalas ng pag home visit at video calls” teachers provide better instruction through digital means.teacher f “extend the time to send powerpoint presentations and instructional videos.” parent b “proper time scheduling” parents learn to allot time in assisting their children. parents develop learning responsibility for their children. parent g “time management para mapagsabay yung pagtuturo sa anak at iba pang gawaing bahay” parent a “ask assistance from other members of the family about the topic.” parents seek assistance from their closest relatives and teachers.parent h “magtanong kay teacher” learner a “mag research, self-learning at mag-taong sa guro” learners become independent with minor assistance from the teacher. learners develop their strategies for understanding the topic. learner g “magbasa ng ibang libro at magmessage kay teacher” learner c “magtataong kay ate at sa magulang” learners seek assistance to their family members.learner e “magpapatulong sa mga magulang at kapatid” table 7 indicates the realization of how participants can overcome challenges in the implementation of the new learning setup. the results show that each participant should learn to take responsibility as part of the new teaching and learning process. 123 international peer reviewed journal table 8. the themes on the long-term implication of the new learning setup participant direct quotation initial code theme teacher d “magigig mababa ang kalidad ng edukasyon” teachers were frustrated since the quality of learning will be sacrificed. teachers will bridge the gaps in learning by enhancing their competencies. teacher g “hilaw ang pagkatuto sapagkat limitado and pedeng ipagawa sa mga bata” teacher e “enhancement of skills in ict such preparation of video lessons” teachers shall adopt the new learning setup by enhancing teaching competencies. teacher i “continuous training for teachers on the delivery of learning modality” parent b “magiging relax ang mga bata at di na iitindihin ang pag-aaral. parents believe that the new learning setup will bring drawbacks to education. despite the decrease in the quality of learning, parents will still support their children. parent f “magiging dependent ang mga mag-aaral sa magulang” parent c “masasanay na sila sa online at modular na pag-aaral” parents will move with the flow of the educational system and fulfill their part. parent d “gagawin na lamang kung ano ang dapat para matulungan ang mga bata sa pag-aaral” learner f “hindi nag-aaral ng husto dahil nagsesearch na lang sa internet” learners will tend to learn alone and depend to internet for learning. learners’ interaction with others will diminish, and they seek media as learning partners. learner i “less interaction with fellow learners” learner a “mag-aaral na lang ng sarili at masasanay sa bahay ” learners will be isolated and learn to use available device.learner h “masasanay gumamit ng gadget sa pag-aaral” 124 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 8 emphasizes the drawback caused by the pandemic to the new learning process. the quality of learning was highly affected due to the limited interaction between the components of the learning process. one favorable implication of the pandemic was a show on providing parental support to learners in whatever situation. consolidating the results and themes leads to establishing an intervention model for distance learning modality. figure 2 below shows how relevant processes were connected. the model will serve as a basis for developing local policy in education. figure 3. the three-way teaching and learning process in the new normal communication, observation, interaction, participation, and support were critical processes integrated into the model. these processes were significant in ensuring the success of the new learning setup. the corner of the triangle states the focus interventions: communication access, professional development, digital collaboration, independent learning, stakeholder engagement, and parental education. conclusion the situation affects the quality of education. the department of education’s focus was to continue the process amidst of pandemic. enhancing the distance 125 international peer reviewed journal learning process is inevitable. educational success is attainable by ensuring to equip both teachers and parents with relevant competencies on how they can communicate teaching and provide guidance to the learners. the contribution of stakeholders, specifically the parents, was proven as a crucial component of distance learning. strengthening partnership and stakeholder engagement through periodic and consistent communication and instruction can provide solutions to the gap created by the pandemic. lastly, to reduce the difference in learning performance between modular and online modalities, the school must gradually shift from printed modular to digital modular and online distance learning. learning acquired from digital materials will highly influence the learner’s performance. translational research the study findings shall be translated to a local policy recommendation entitled “the three-way teaching and learning process in the new normal,” an intervention model and strategic framework of the division basic education learning continuity plan. the procedures in implementing distance learning modality shall be based on the identified significant processes and interventions. literature cited andersen, s. c., & nielsen, h. s. (2020). learning from performance information.  journal of public administration research and theory,  30(3), 415-431. bamba, l. m. (2020). deped learning delivery modalities for school year 2020-2021.https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/ sunstarpampanga/20201115/281668257509850 bender, l. (2020). interim guidance for covid-19 prevention and control in schools. unicef. björklund, a., & salvanes, k. g. (2011). education and family background: mechanisms and policies. in handbook of the economics of education (vol. 3, pp. 201-247). elsevier. burgess, s., & sievertsen, h. h. (2020). schools, skills, and learning: the impact of covid-19 on education. voxeu. org, 1(2). 126 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 carlsson, m., dahl, g. b., öckert, b., & rooth, d. o. (2015). the effect of schooling on cognitive skills. review of economics and statistics, 97(3), 533547. department of education, no, d. o. (12). s. 2020. adaptation of the basic education learning continuity plan for school year 2020-2021 in the light of the covid-19 public health emergency. https://bit.ly/3bur2sm heng, k. (2021). exploring the impacts of covid-19 on education in southeast asia: challenges and opportunities.  the impact of covid-19 pandemic: national and regional implications, 166-177. lavy, v. (2010).  do differences in school’s instruction time explain international achievement gaps in maths, science and language? evidence from developed and developing countries (no. 0118). centre for the economics of education, lse. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12233 micabalo, k., poliquit, w. m., ibanez, e., pabillaran, r., malait, c., & cano, j. (2021). the adoption of online learning during the pandemic: issues, challenges, and future directions. jpair institutional research, 17(1), 2442. talampas, r. m., & martinez, v. c. (2021). unraveling the lived experiences of the english language teachers in the new normal: a phenomenology. jpair multidisciplinary research, 43(1), 57-85. world health organization. (2020). key messages and actions for covid-19 prevention and control in schools. 129 international peer reviewed journal people management practices and organizational success indicators of family-owned higher education institutions (fheis) in the second district of laguna: basis for model development maricris glodo-unico http://orcid.org 0000-0002-8837-0764 krysunico.pm@gmail.com laguna college of business and arts calamba city, philippines abstract family-owned higher education institutions (fheis) strive to attract and retain wellequipped and engaged employees. this undertaking was conducted to explore the fheis people management practices and organizational-success indicators. to design the people management model, the study assessed the people management practices, job satisfaction, and the work commitment of teaching and non-teaching staff. the study used the combined quantitative and qualitative approaches. the use of questionnaires and interview was systematically combined to generate data needed. the study revealed that the people management practices as assessed by the department heads and teaching and non-teaching staff were moderately effective. there were numerous issues and challenges identified, and the actions taken were also presented. the teaching and non-teaching staff were satisfied with their job and moderately committed to their work. the fheis hr professionals should start taking a strategic role to help fheis respond effectively to the challenges and issues of contemporary educational institution. vol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.505 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords— people management, family-owned higher education institutions, organizational success indicators, job satisfaction, work commitment, issues and challenges, philippines introduction today’s organization is people-intensive enterprise. people are vital among the other resources to the achievement of the organization’s goals and objectives, hence, people management is important. considering the competitive world of business faced with rapid change, organizations need to design a more effective approach in managing human resources. the studies presented by bautista (2013), encabo, maningas, and revilla (2015), kramar, (2014), guest (2010), alfes, shantz,  soane and truss (2013), and kehoe and wright (2013) which focused on the implementation of hrm practices such as recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, career management and performance management in different organizations, guided the researcher in this study. likewise, the study also cited the literatures on the role of strategic hrm in an organization and those relating to job satisfaction, work commitment, and understanding individuals (alfes, delbridge, shantz,  soane & truss, 2013; arrowsmith  &  parker, 2013; guest, 2010; kehoe & wright, 2013; chen, chuanga,  chuang, 2013; mitchell, obeidat, 2013; liden, wayne & zhong, 2015; barrick, courtright, smith, thurgood, 2015; kim, park & shaw, 2013; constanti, theocharous, & zopiatis, 2014). a mark of family-owned institution is that they possess distinct performance capacities sourced from their ability to create powerful and unique cultures thereby giving them a competitive advantage when it comes to their stakeholders.  however, also there are challenges and risks that often derail them. thus, they need to overcome these to realize their potential. the challenges faced by global organizations are important dimensions of human resource management (hrm), the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance. many companies refer to hrm as involving “people practices”. important hrm practices prevail in companies that support their business strategies. these are analyzing work and designing jobs, determining how many employees with specific knowledge and skills are needed (human resource planning), and attracting potential employees for recruitment, choosing employees (selection), teaching employees how to 131 international peer reviewed journal perform their jobs (training) and preparing them for the future (development), evaluating their performance (performance management), rewarding employees (compensation), and creating a positive work environment (human relations). managing these practices will ensure the organization’s performance. employees and customers tend to be more satisfied, and companies become more innovative, productive, and develop good reputation in the community when their companies have effective hrm (noe, hollenbeck, gerhart & wright, 2007). according to robbins and judge 2011), a person with a high level of job satisfaction has a positive job attitude, while a person who is dissatisfied has a negative attitude. arollado and dimaculangan (2010) mentioned that organizational performance is not only measured by the financial gains of the company; but measured by employee satisfaction, job involvement and commitment. to overcome these challenges, leaders of institutions of higher education need to strengthen people management practices to maintain the performance and high morale of their personnel. it had become apparent that enhancing and keeping high employee morale was a key factor in the pursuit of institutional success (ngambi, 2011). richard steers (2011) hypothesized and found out that the more committed an employee was, the less of a desire they had to terminate his service from the organization. these “highly engaged” people have a higher intent to remain in the company, a stronger desire to attend work, and a more positive attitude on their employment. given the previously inconclusive nature of prior studies seeking to link hrm with performance, alfes, delbridge shantz,  soane and truss (2013) verified whether engagement can manifest a higher level of performance. framework the study considered the different concepts formulated in three models of management, namely, guest’s hrm model, core job characteristic model, and meyer and allen work commitment theory. fundamentally, human resource management is based on the assumption that employees are individuals with varying goals and needs. guest’s hrm model viewed that individuals can be motivated and can help the organization achieve excellence by concentrating on six core values. these 132 jpair multidisciplinary research are hrm strategy, hrm practices, behavior, performance, financial and hrm outcomes. guest has developed a more suited theoretical framework, reflecting the view that a core set of integrated hrm practices can achieve superior individual and organizational performance. according to core job characteristic model, works can be described in terms of five characteristics: (1) skill variety – skills to carry out the tasks, (2) task identity completing a “whole” piece of work from beginning to end, (3) autonomy allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work will be carried out (4) feedback -receives clear information about performance effectiveness, and (5) task significance -the job has an important impact on the lives of other people (noe, hollenbeck). the three-component model of commitment was developed by meyer and allen (1997). this model presented that organizational commitment is experienced by the employee in 3 conditions such as affective, normative, and continuance commitment. affective means commitment based on emotional ties that the employee develops with the organization primarily via positive work experiences. normative commitment reflects commitment based on the perceived obligation. continuance commitment reflects commitment based on the perceived costs, both economic and social, of leaving the workplace. effective organizations are now realizing that among the factors that contribute to performance, the human element is the most crucial. managers in organizations are becoming increasingly aware that a critical source of competitive advantage often comes from having the appropriate systems for attracting, motivating, and managing the organization’s human resources (mello, 2011). objectives of the study the study sought to determine the people management practices of selected fheis in the second district of laguna, philippines. this undertaking led to the development of a people management model for fheis. specifically, the study: 1) examined the effectiveness of the practices undertaken by fheis in the following areas of people management as perceived by department heads, teaching and non-teaching staff: recruitment and selection; training and development; compensation and benefits; career management; and, performance management; 2) determined the job satisfaction and work commitment of the teaching and non-teaching staff; 3) ascertained the relationship between 133 international peer reviewed journal the effectiveness level of people management practices of fheis and the job satisfaction and work commitment; 4) identified the people management issues and challenges encountered by fheis; and 5) describe the ways how the hr and department heads address or resolve the problems encountered by fheis. methodology the study used the combined quantitative and qualitative approaches to research. these methods enabled the researcher to assess the conditions present in the family owned institutions about the people management issues and challenges, people management practices and success indicators of fheis. this study verified if there was a significant relationship exists between people management practices and the selected organizational success indicators. the mean and range of mean values were used to assess the people management practices and levels of job satisfaction and work commitment. pearson’s coefficient of correlation was used to determine the significant relationship between and among the people management practices and job satisfaction and work commitment. on the other hand, survey-interview was utilized to determine the issues and challenges encountered and to determine the solutions adapted to address the issues and challenges identified. research locale this undertaking was conducted among fheis located in the second congressional district of laguna, philippines. the second district includes the cities of calamba and cabuyao and the municipalities of los banos and bay. among the said locales, bay does not have an hei. hence, fheis from the cities of calamba, cabuyao and los baños were taken as the locale of the study. population of the study there are 57 private heis located in laguna and 17 are situated in the second district of laguna. out of 17 private heis, there are nine fheis. only four fheis were considered because the five fheis expressed their intention not to participate in the study. there were two fheis in calamba city that participated in the study, one in cabuyao city and another in los baños, laguna. all fheis have existed for more than five years. the respondents of the study were the 54 department heads, 48 teaching, and 34 non-teaching staff of selected fheis. the researcher attempted to make use of total population but the retrieval rate was only 88%. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research ethical considerations in the course of this study, the researcher sought permission from the owners/ administrators of school respondents before the conduct of this study and clearly explained to them the purpose of the research. questionnaires, on the other hand, did not require the names of the respondents to keep their anonymity and give them the assurance of strictest confidentiality of their responses. four school respondents were coded as heis a, b, c, and d as presented in this study to keep their anonymity. the researcher personally administered the questionnaires to the department heads, teaching, and non-teaching staff of the four school respondents to secure confidentiality of the survey. the researcher respected the decision of the respondents not to record the interview. the researcher carefully transcribed and presented the results of the interview to the department heads, teaching and non-teaching staff to confirm their responses in certain areas. data gathering procedure the researcher served a letter of request to the school president/officer-incharge of the fheis and sought permission to distribute the questionnaire to department heads, teaching and non-teaching personnel. the researcher used different methods of data collection. the survey questionnaire was the primary tool used to answer the problem and objectives of the study. an interview was conducted to explore the scenario particularly the issues and challenges encountered. as for the secondary data needed, the researcher used books, journal articles and internet links to supply the required information to substantiate the content of the study. results and discussion table 1. summary assessment of people management effectiveness variables department heads teaching staff non-teaching staff grand mean om i om i om i i 1. recruitment & selection 3.71 h 3.71 h 3.62 h 3.68 h 2. training & development 3.44 m 3.43 m 3.31 m 3.39 m 3. compensation & benefits 3.51 h 3.30 m 3.44 m 3.42 m 4. career management 3.25 m 3.22 m 3.00 m 3.16 m 5. performance management 3.68 h 3.67 h 3.50 h 3.61 h group weighted mean 3.52 h 3.47 m 3.37 m 3.45 m 135 international peer reviewed journal according to the department heads, people management practices were highly effective (3.52), while the teaching and non-teaching staff assessed the practices with an overall mean of 3.47 and 3.37, respectively. the results imply that observance of people management practices of fheis has to be further improved to strengthen all the loopholes in management practices so that chaos in managing people about their work and performance can be avoided. encabo, maningas, and revilla (2015) revealed that both generational cohorts look at quality management as a culture, one that requires objective evidence, ci, and delivery of quality service; and something that must be communicated and implemented or managed by openminded and innovative leaders. further, the generational cohorts have similar views on the policy intervention that can be made to sustain the qm such as effective communication; qms design improvement, and continual review of processes. the results confirmed the findings of ivancevich (2011) which states that most managers must motivate a diverse and unpredictable group of people. the diversity results in different behavioral patterns that are in some manner related to needs and goals. this type of diversity makes the manager’s motivational work very challenging. table 2. summary assessment of levels of job satisfaction variables teaching staff non-teaching staff grand mean om i om i i 1. skill variety 3.71 s 3.48 u 3.59 s 2. task identity 3.91 s 3.78 s 3.85 s 3. autonomy 3.98 s 3.72 s 3.85 s 4. feedback 3.68 s 3.53 s 3.61 s 5. task significance 4.01 s 3.90 s 3.95 s group weighted mean 3.86 s 3.68 s 3.77 s the results imply that the respondents were satisfied in all aspects of their job in terms of skill variety, task identity, autonomy, feedback, and task significance. the study of alfes et al. (2013) contributes to the understanding of the mediating and moderating processes through which human resource management (hrm) practices are linked with behavioral outcomes. they developed and tested a moderated mediation model linking perceived hrm practices to organizational 136 jpair multidisciplinary research citizenship behavior and turnover intentions. drawing on social exchange theory, the model posits that the effect of perceived hrm practices on both outcome variables is mediated by levels of employee engagement. table 3. summary assessment of work commitment indicators teaching staff non-teaching staff grand mean om i om i i 1. affective 3.42 m 3.28 m 3.35 m 2. continuance 3.01 m 3.13 m 3.07 m 3. normative 3.32 m 3.23 m 3.28 m group mean 3.25 m 3.21 m 3.23 m the results imply that the commitment of teaching and non-teaching personnel of fheis should also be given attention and give necessary preventive measures so that their commitment toward the institution will become strong and solid. according to arollado and dimaculangan (2010), attracting and retaining skilled, knowledgeable and competent employees in tertiary educational institutions is important for excellent delivery of services in the changing environment. this has been a challenge in most higher education institutions that have experienced problems with low morale, skills shortage, stifled academic freedom, low salaries, higher workload, and exclusion from decision-making processes. the study of constanti et al. (2014) determined the caused-effect relationship of job involvement, organizational commitment (normative and affective), and job satisfaction (intrinsic and extrinsic), with the intention of hospitality employees in cyprus to either stay at or quit their post. it was found that there are positive associations between job involvement, affective and normative commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction. likewise, there are positive association between affective and normative organizational commitment, and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. 137 international peer reviewed journal table 4. summary of the test of significant relationship between people management practices and job satisfaction criteria pearson’s r t-value decision interpretation computed tabular overall people management practices versus skill variety 0.99 (high correlation) 10.51 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship overall people management practices versus task identity 0.98 (high correlation) 7.65 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship overall people management practices versus autonomy 0.95 (high correlation) 4.19 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship overall people management practices versus feedback 0.98 (high correlation) 8.03 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship overall people management practices versus task significance 0.99 (high correlation) 16.97 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship the findings of the study imply that people management practices and job satisfaction always work together. for this reason, it is the duty and obligation of the employer to see to it that their employees are satisfied in all aspects about their (employee) work to have a conducive working place and harmonious relationships (employees and employer). among the five variables under people management practices, only the “performance management” was found to have no significant relationship. on the other hand, the rest of the variables were all found to have significant relationship as evident by their respective t-test values, which were all greater than the tabular value of the t-test at 0.05 level of significance. arollado and dimaculangan (2010), found in their study a significant relationship between hr practices and company performance. aside from the different hr practices, they also discovered that employee satisfaction was another factor in determining the company’s performance. if employees are well compensated, trained, secured in their job and treated fairly, they are satisfied with their work and are motivated to work. in the long run, motivated employees would have higher productivity that could lead to higher profit for the company. arrowsmith and parker (2013) conducted a case study at new zealand post about the engagement and performance of supervisory staff. they found out that effective engagement initiatives require political commitment on the part of hr since it requires a clear business case focused on performance, not merely 138 jpair multidisciplinary research engagement, and evidence-based approach to design and implementation. a purposive approach to employee engagement involves hr investigating employment relationship to address issues such as employee voice, work design and management agency. table 5. summary of the test of significant relationship between people management practices and work commitment criteria pearson’s r t-value decision interpretation computed tabular overall people management practices versus affective 0.28 (low negative correlation) 0.40 1.99 accept null hypothesis no significant relationship overall people management practices versus continuance 0.95 (high correlation) 4.42 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship overall people management practices versus normative 0.98 (high correlation) 7.06 1.99 reject null hypothesis with significant relationship result shows that people management practices and affective commitment have no significant relationship. on the other hand, the findings of the study revealed a significant relationship between people management practices and continuance commitment, and normative work commitment. the outputs of the study imply that it is the duty and obligation of the employer to see to it that their employees are happy while performing the assigned tasks to get their loyalty and commitment. the results confirm the findings of the study conducted by arollado and dimaculangan (2010) that employment security helps the employees to have a stronger sense of loyalty to the organization because the employees are ensured that they will not be removed from work instantly. an employee who has a better sense of commitment to the company is more likely to embrace the firms’ vision and is more likely to work better in achieving the firms’ goals and objectives. the results of the study conducted by kehoe and wright (2013), reveal that affective organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between hr practice perceptions, yet fully mediated the relationship between hr practice perceptions and intent to stay with the organization. 139 international peer reviewed journal table 6. matrix of people management issues and challenges encountered by fheis parameters fhei a fhei b fhei c fhei d a. recruitment and selection 1. favoritism based on personal whims and decision the position and salary are based on trust of the management to the person no guidelines in hiring people 2. nepotism the school owners employ relatives the school owners hire or refer friends and relatives. the school owners hire any member of the family regardless of the qualifications. 3. hiring unqualified faculty / personnel lack of qualified applicant in the top level academic positions. 4. promoting unqualified faculty / personnel hire competent and qualified personnel. 5. no permanent schedule of recruitment there is no formal hr department established. 6. multi-tasking they let their people face and do all dirty jobs. multi-tasking b. training and development 1. unequal opportunity for attendance to training no training needs assessments limited opportunity for career advancement and training. limited opportunity for career advancement and training. limited opportunity for career advancement and training. 2. financial constraints insufficient budget for seminars.” insufficient budget for seminars.” no definite policy in seminar related activity 3. selective development programs no relevant in-house seminars. there is a limited opportunity to attend training and seminars. no relevant in-house seminars. 4. lack of training programs there is limited opportunity for advancement. there is limited opportunity for advancement. there is limited opportunity for advancement. 5. fast action (if money in) no action (if money out) the owners are profit oriented. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research parameters fhei a fhei b fhei c fhei d c. compensation and benefits 1. inadequate compensation wage distortion due to the absence of salary scheme. there is no definite policy on faculty ranking and giving of rate. there is no definite policy on faculty ranking and giving of rate. 2. inequitable reward system salary distortion and unequal benefits. salary distortion and unequal benefits. salary distortion and unequal benefits. 3. lack of consistent bases of rewards there’s no system in giving of rewards. there’s no system in giving of rewards. there’s no system in giving of rewards. there’s no system in giving of rewards. d. career management 1. lack of career pathing program absence of career and succession planning. absence of career and succession planning. absence of career and succession planning. absence of career and succession planning. 2. no clear promotion / advancement policy there is limited opportunity for promotion and salary increment. there is limited opportunity for promotion and salary increment. there is limited opportunity for promotion and salary increment. there is limited opportunity for promotion and salary increment. e. performance management 1. lack of performance monitoring system lack of well-defined set of performance monitoring procedure. lack of well-defined set of performance monitoring procedure. lack of well-defined set of performance monitoring procedure. 2. lack of feedback mechanism there are no consultation and feedback mechanisms. there are no consultation and feedback mechanisms. there are no consultation and feedback mechanisms. there are no consultation and feedback mechanisms. 3. lack of uniform skill standards the qualifications and alignment of personnel are not being observed. the qualifications and alignment of personnel are not being observed. the qualifications and alignment of personnel are not being observed. 4. biased evaluation nepotism and school politics nepotism and school politics 5.unprofessional treatment to employees not proper treatment to employees note: blank columns correspond to lack/absence of similar sub-themes. 141 international peer reviewed journal table 7. matrix of resolutions undertaken by fheis parameters sub-themes emerged a. recruitment and selection 1. favoritism the school observes policies and protocol. 2. nepotism the school hires or referred qualified and competent friends and relatives. 3. hiring unqualified faculty /personnel the management selects the right people for the different positions. 4. promoting unqualified faculty/ personnel no themes emerged from the textual data 5. no permanent schedule of recruitment issues are not properly addressed 6. multi-tasking they let their people face and do all dirty jobs b. compensation and benefits 1. inadequate compensation the present administration is trying to address and resolve the issues and problems in the compensation and benefits of employees. 2. inequitable reward system the management is transparent with the financial status of the institution 3. lack of consistent bases of rewards no solutions are being done to resolve the issues c. training and development 1. unequal opportunity for attendance to training no themes emerged from the textual data 2. financials constraints the issues and challenges can be solved according to priorities 3. lack of training programs no definite action from the management 4. selective development programs d. career management 1. lack of career pathing program no clear and definite action from the management 2. no clear promotion/advancement policy no clear and definite action from the management e. performance management 1. biased evaluation an evaluation performance instrument is to be used2. lack of performance monitoring system 3. lack of feedback mechanism dialogue and consultation 4. lack of uniform skill standards the issues are not satisfactorily addressed 5. unprofessional treatment to employees no clear and definite action from the management 142 jpair multidisciplinary research table 8. suggested courses of action to address the cited issues and challenges parameters sub-themes emerged a. recruitment and selection 1. favoritism consistency in the implementation of policies; fair treatment to all personnel 2. nepotism delegation of administrative tasks to qualified professionals; observance of professionalism among the owners 3. hiring unqualified faculty/personnel hiring of qualified human resource officer to process the recruitment and selection 4. promoting unqualified faculty/personnel development of clear standard and mechanism for promotion and salary increment 5. no permanent schedule of recruitment utilization and empowerment of human resource department 6. multi-tasking role clarity, equal distribution, and delegation of work b. compensation and benefits 1. inadequate compensation review and enhancement of the existing compensation and benefits scheme 2. inequitable reward system benchmarking of competitive reward and salary scale 3. lack of consistent bases of rewards clear and definite policy in giving of rewards c. training and development 1. unequal opportunity for attendance to training provision of equal opportunity and treatment to all employees 2. financial constraints better understanding and support of the management to the undertakings of the school 3. lack of training programs the management should support professional growth and enrichment of employees. 4. selective development programs provide scholarship and other grants to facilitate professional development of employees d. career management 1. lack of career pathing program provide a clear policy on career management 2. no clear promotion/advancement policy provide a clear policy on promotion 143 international peer reviewed journal e. performance management 1. biased evaluation provide a standardized performance evaluation instrument 2. lack of performance monitoring system hire a human resource practitioner; conduct a performance evaluation 3. lack of feedback mechanism to conduct meetings and provide decisions based on merit 4. lack of uniform skill standards hiring of an hr consultant or someone who has a full knowledge of the functions of an hr in an educational system 5. unprofessional treatment to employees hiring of qualified professionals to run the school conclusions the fheis hr professionals should start taking a strategic role to help fheis respond effectively to the challenges and issues of contemporary educational institution. having an existing human resource department is not a guarantee that the school will be free from any related issues and problems. people management issues and challenges, when not addressed properly, have the tendency to influence the attitude of employees toward their works and tarnish the image of the management. research model the proposed model of people management reflects how the system works. figure 2 shows four components: the founding principles such as the mission, vision, and objectives of the school. all activities of the people management must be based on the founding principles of the school to efficiently and effectively implement its policies and procedures that will bring about organizational success. this organizational success is to be reflected in the level of job satisfaction and the work commitment of teaching and non-teaching personnel as presented in the box. another box shows the people management related issues and challenges that may influence the people management practices and the organizational success. another box represents external inputs like government laws and policies, linkages and network to other government and private institutions that may 144 jpair multidisciplinary research greatly affect the performance of the entire people management. the main box presents the people management, depicting its components and activities, such as: 1) recruitment and selection which concerns on hiring; 2) training and development which is subdivided into two categories – planning and administration; 3) compensation and benefits which is divided into acquisition and maintenance, and 4) career management which is divided into capacity and opportunity. the first component focuses on hiring. it shows the basic procedure of hiring personnel – from the filing of the application to evaluation, where testing and teaching demonstration (for teaching applicants) could be a possible measure in evaluating applicants. after evaluation, the selection of the most qualified applicant for possible placement and appointment will be done. the second component pertains to training and development, which is subdivided into planning and administration. planning is responsible for the creation of people management development programs and activities. administration is responsible for the systematic and orderly implementation of policies and programs. budget preparation and requisition will be taken charge by the planning group. the third component includes the compensation and benefits. this will also depend on the placement and performance evaluation of the teaching and nonteaching staff. work incentives, whether in the form of intrinsic or extrinsic rewards reinforce the greater acceptance of the employee for what he does and his commitment to the job because of the promise of a good future. this will shape a healthy work climate. the last component pertains to career management, specifically on capacity and opportunity. once hired, an employee will be evaluated based on his performance. in case he or she obtained a very satisfactory or outstanding performance, it will be the basis for promotion, scholarship or recognition. having the capacity and being provided the opportunity would contribute to the effectiveness of the work process. as a result, effective and efficient performance surrounded by a healthy work climate would lead to intended organizational success such as job satisfaction and work commitment. as a whole, this works on the assumption that the model is based on strong organizational leadership that communicates the mission, vision and goals to employees build commitment, provide the necessary support, and builds the capacity of people. these stimulate the workplace attitudes of acceptance, promise 145 international peer reviewed journal of work, commitment that is supported by the opportunities that influence the work process and the work climate. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited alfes, k., delbridge r., shantz,  a., soane e.,  & truss,  c. 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(2011) organizational behavior (global edition) pearson education, inc., prentice hall. goo.gl/def225 steers richard. http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/research/papers/brumcommitment.pdf, (18 dec. 2011) 122 jpair multidisciplinary research levels of zinc application on the agronomic characteristics and yield performance of lowland rice noel j. baylon http://orcid.org.0000-0003-2777-7495 baylonnoel080272@yahoo.com jose rizal memorial state university-tampilisan campus znac, tampilisan zamboanga del norte originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract since rice is indispensable to almost all filipino as their primary food, it is necessary to aim an additional greater harvest as an ultimate objective. the study was conducted to determine if there were significant differences in growth performance and on the yield of lowland rice applied with zinc sulfate at different levels. the experimental area was divided into four blocks for the number of replications and each block was further divided into 5 plots for the number of treatments adopting the randomized complete block design (rcbd). the following treatments were: t0-control-without application of zinc sulfate, t15kg of zinc sulfate, t2-10kg of zinc sulfate, t3-15kg of zinc sulfate and t4 -20kg of zinc sulfate. results showed significant differences in the plant height, the number of tillers, percentage of bearing culm, length of the panicle, percentage of filled and unfilled grains, grain yield per hill, grain yield per treatment, the weight of 1000 grains, except the number of grains per panicle. maximum paddy yield was achieved in treatment 4 (20kg zinc sulfate) and the minimum paddy yield was noted in treatment control (no zinc sulfate application). zinc application increases the crop growth rate and yield of rice. vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.705 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 123 international peer reviewed journal keywords — zinc sulfate, growth performance, lowland rice, agronomic characteristics, plant nutrition, basal application, philippines introduction rice (oryza sativa l.) is the most important staple food crop worldwide for nearly half of the world population. in the philippines, most of the filipino depend on rice as their principal food. more is consumed compared to other foodstuffs, especially in asia, where rice is eaten in large quantities (watson & center, 1995). population in most rice consuming nation are among the highest in the world and in many of them the rate of population increase is alarming (srivastava & mahapatra, 2012). if the world’s population continues to grow as predicted for the next 20 years, global cereal yield must increase 80% over the 1990 average to feed these additional people. demands for the rice are expected to increase approximately in line with population increases and countries that have traditionally exported rice may face difficulty in producing food enough for their own population (de datta, 1981). compounding the problem is that areas of productive farmland continue to be lost through urbanization and degradation of existing agricultural soils (irri, 2002). an adequate and balanced supply of plant nutrient is a pre-requisite to maximize rice production. the maximum utilization of plant nutrients either derived from inherent soil fertility or supplied through fertilizer for optimum growth and yield (srivastava & mahapatra, 2012). in addition to adequate irrigation water, balanced supply of macro and micronutrients is vital for bridging this yield gap. after nitrogen (n), phosphorus (p) and potassium (k), widespread zinc (zn) deficiency has been found responsible for yield reduction in rice (fageria, baligar, & clark 2002; quijano-guerta, kirk, portugal, bartolome, & mclaren, 2002). zinc is a micronutrient and is essentially required in traces for the proper growth of rice plants (jones and jarvis, 1981). zn deficiency is the most widespread micronutrient disorder in lowland rice and application of zinc along with npk fertilizer increase the grain yield dramatically in most cases (fageria, slaton, & baligar, 2003; singh, meena, & bharati 2011). to feed the ever-rising world population, which is estimated to be 10 billion by the end of this century, an increase in rice production per unit area is direly needed. although high-yielding input-responsive varieties are available, a large yield gap exists between the farmers’ fields and research station in developing countries 124 jpair multidisciplinary research development of modern technology alone, however, may not increase yields and production of rice in a given country. the technology must be tested and adopted on farms and any constraints at the farmer’s level determined. in some instances, technology will need to be modified based on the results from the farm level testing. on the other hand, limited study has been done on zinc application and on its supplementation at a different level to rice, hence, the study was conducted. objectives of the study keeping in view of the role of micronutrients in present-day agriculture, the study was; therefore, conducted to evaluate the difference in growth performance and to determine the significant difference in the yield of lowland rice applied with different levels of zinc. methodology the experimental field was divided into 4 blocks for the number of replication and each block was divided into 5 plots for the number of treatments adopting the randomized complete block design (rcbd) having a net plot size of 2m x 10m.there were 15 representative plants in every treatment. the field experiment was conducted at the agricultural farm at namnama, titay, province of zamboanga sibugay philippines during the dry season of 2017. all the facilities necessary for cultivation, including labor, irrigation was readily available. soil samples were taken randomly in the area before land preparation and soil samples were submitted to the bureau of soils department of agriculture zamboanga city for analysis. the experimental field was prepared thoroughly by plowing and harrowing twice. leveling was done before planting to ensure even distribution of water on the experimental field. wet bed method of seedling preparation was adapted. it was prepared by alternate plowing and harrowing the soil. after the soil was puddled, slight elevated seedbed were made and slope along the side to allow surface drainage. the seeds were loosely placed in two sacks soaked in clean fresh water for 36 hours. the sacks were removed from the water and laid flat on the dry shaded place for another 24 hours for the incubation of seed to enhance uniform germination, the pre-germinated seeds were broadcasted in the seedbed. pulling the seedlings was done 21 days after sowing. the seedbed was flooded with water to soften the soil and facilitate the pulling of young seedlings. zinc 125 international peer reviewed journal sulfate was applied basally during the last harrowing to allow incorporation of fertilizers in the soil. the recommended application of zinc sulfate per treatments were as follows: t0no application, t15 kg/ha of zinc sulfate, t210 kg/ha of zinc sulfate, t315 kg/ha of zinc sulfate, t420 kg/ha of zinc sulfate while the application of urea (46-0-0), muriate of potash (0-0-60) and complete fertilizer (14-14-14) was applied following the recommended rate. transplanting was done manually at the rate of 1seedling per hill with a distance of 20 cm between rows and 20 cm between hills to obtain maximum plant population throughout the area. proper spacing at transplanting was done by using a wooden marker. three (3) days after transplanting, all missing hills were replanted using the extra seedlings. three days after transplanting the experimental area was flooded at 3-5 cm depth. water was provided and drained intermittently as necessary during the vegetative and productive growth stages of rice plants. at the ripening stage, water was gradually withdrawn from the field and finally drained at the last week of the ripening stage. the experimental field was kept clean throughout the growing period of the rice plants and the presence of weeds was minimized by manual weeding. the infestation of insect pest and fungal diseases were prevented from the start-up to the harvest. application of the appropriate chemicals was done by following the recommended dosage. bird pest was prevented with a scarecrow, noisemaker and etc. rice was harvested when they reached its physiological maturity when approximately 85% of grains of the panicles are matured. this was done by cutting the rice straw below the panicle using the sickle and the harvested rice was bundled. all representative plants were harvested ahead and carefully labeled for data gathering. threshing of the representative plants was done manually. the chaffs were removed through the fanning method for further separation of the filled and unfilled grains. filled grains were weighed as a basis for total harvested grains. yield collected from the representative plants was placed in a labeled container for the data collection. data were taken from sundried grains at 14% moisture content. 126 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion table 1. summary of the height of the representative plants, number of tillers, percentage of bearing culm, number of grains per panicle, length of the panicle treatment height of representative plants (cm) number of tillers percentage of bearing culm (%)g number of grain per panicleh length of panicle (cm)i 30a days 60 b days dbhc 30d days 60e days dbhf t0control 76.88 b 93.72b 95.55b 14.70c 13.98c 11.67b 88.84c 143.65 22.96b t15 kg of zinc sulfate 77.55b 95.15ab 96.19b 15.05c 13.98c 12.30ab 91.84bc 153.47 23.13b t210 kg of zinc sulfate 77.81b 95.66ab 97.37b 15.70bc 14.78bc 12.83ab 95.69abc 146.42 23.19b t315 kg of zinc sulfate 77.98b 95.14ab 96.73b 16.33b 15.02ab 12.25ab 97.15ab 161.3 23.91ab t420 kg of zinc sulfate 81.39a 97.70a 98.48a 17.83a 15.75a 13.78a 99.83a 162.7 24.82a ftest ** * ** ** ** ** ** ns ** cv% 1.65 1.36 4.17 3.61 3.04 4.14 3.64 6.32 2.34 note: treatment means with the same letter superscript do not significantly differ using anov and dmrt. height of the representative plants. plant height is an important morphological attribute; it is a function of combined effects of the genetic makeup of a plant, soil nutrient status, seedling vigor and the environmental conditions under which it is grown. as shown in table 1.0 the height of plants at 30, 60 and a day before harvest were significantly affected by the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate. at 30 days after transplanting, the rice plants that were in t 4 were significantly the tallest with an average height of 81.31 cm. no significant difference was observed in rice plants in t3 with an average height of 78.89 cm, t2 with an average height of 77.81 cm and t1 with an average height of 77.55 cm including the t0 control which gave the shortest height of 76.88cm. at 60 days after transplanting, t4 resulted to the tallest average height of 97.70 cm, which statistically differed in t0 which gave the shortest average height of 93.72 cm but do not have a significant difference with treatments 1, 2 and 3 respectively. 127 international peer reviewed journal on a day before harvest, the heights of the rice plants statistically differed, plants in t4 were the tallest with 98.48 cm and it differs significantly to those in t3 with 96.73 cm, followed by those plants in t2 and t1 which had an average height of 97.37 cm and 96.19 cm, respectively. the shortest was obtained by plants in t0 with an average height of 95.55 cm. the result above finds support from the findings of cheema, noor, & khan (2006) who noted an increase in the rice plant height with the application of zinc sulfate. a similar result was reported by khan (2007), salam and subramanian (1993), sakal, sinha, singh, and bhogal (1993), kausar, ali, & iqba (2001), bodruzzuman et al., (2002) and mehla, singh, sekhon, sihag, & bhardwaj (2006). number of tillers. the number of tillers was significantly different at 30, 60 and a day before harvest and is presented in table 1.0. at 30 days after transplanting, results showed that plants in t 4 significantly had the highest number of tillers with an average of 17.83, and differed statistically from plants in t3 of 17.83, with an average number of 16.33 but also statistically did not vary to those plants in t2 which gave an average number of tillers of 15.70. results further show that this is comparable with plants in t1 with an average of 15.05. the fewest tillers were obtained by plants in t0 with an average tiller of 14.70. at 60 dat, data showed that t4 produced more tillers with an average of 15.75 which did not significantly different to those in t3 with an average of 15.02. no significant difference was also observed between those plants in t3 and t2 with an average number of 15.02 and 14.78, respectively. plants in t2 were also statistically similar with those of plants in t1 with 13.98 including those without zinc application t0 which obtained the fewest number of average tillers with 13.98. a day before harvest (dbh), plants in t4 obtained the greatest number of tillers in an average of 13.78 but did not differ to those plants in t3 and t2 which obtained an average tiller of 13.25 and 12.83, respectively. no significant difference was also observed between plants in t2 and t1. the fewest number of tillers was obtained in t0 with an average number of tillers of 11.67 and did not differ to those plant in t1 which obtained an average of 12.30. similar results were observed by ghoneim (2016), cheema, noor, & khan (2006) and ahmad (1988) who stated that the number of tillers per hill markedly increased when zinc sulfate was applied to the soil in combination with n, p and k. similarly, slaton, gbur, wilson, and norman (2005) reported that application of zinc significantly affected total numbers of tillers. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research percentage of bearing culm. the application of different levels of zinc sulfate shows a significant difference in the percentage of bearing culm as shown in table 1.0. t4 obtained the highest percentage of bearing culm of 99.83, comparable to those plants in t3 with the average of 97.15 figuratively, and t2 with 95.69 percent, and differed significantly to those plants in t0 which obtained the lowest percentage of bearing culm but it did differ statistically to those plants in t2 and t3 respectively. the yield of rice crop depends on the growth history and other yield contributing factors such as a number of productive tillers and grain weight (sarwar, ali, ahmad, ullah, ahmad, mubeen, & hill, 2013). increasing doses of zinc with irrigation improve crop performance. these results are in accordance with naik and das (2007); who reported that an adequate supply of zinc produced a greater number of productive tillers per m2. number of grains per panicle. the number of grains per panicle is presented in table 1.0. results showed that plants in t4 obtained the highest number of grains per panicle with an average of 162.70, followed by those plants in t3, t2 and t1 of zinc sulfate application with an average of 161.30, 146.42 and 153.47, respectively. the least number of grains per panicle was obtained by those plants in t0 with an average of 143.65. however, analysis of variance (anov) revealed that there were no significant differences among treatment means. the result implied that the application of zinc sulfate did not affect the number of grains per panicle. length of panicle. the length of a panicle of rice plants in response to the different levels of zinc sulfate application is shown in table1.0. results showed that plants in t 4 significantly have the longest length of panicle with an average of 24.82cm but did not differ significantly with those plans in t3. no significant differences were observed between those plants in t3, t2 and t1 with an average length of 23.91 cm, 23.19, and 23.13 cm respectively. the shortest length of panicle was obtained by those plants without zinc sulfate application t0 with an average length of 22.96 cm. the result implies that the application of zinc sulfate had significantly affected the length of a panicle of the rice plant. this result is supported by the investigation of ghoneim (2016), who found that the application of zinc sulfate significantly produced longer panicle length than control. these results are in line with the findings of hung, beltaran, muniz and estrada (1990) and maqsood, irshad, wajid, and hussain, (1999) they reported that an adequate supply of zinc to rice increased its panicle length. 129 international peer reviewed journal table 2. summary of the percentage of filled grains, unfilled grains, grain yield per treatment and weight of 1000 grains treatment percentage percentage of unfilled grains (% )b grain yield per hill (g)c grain yield per treatment (kg)d weight of 1000 grains (g)e of filled grains (%) a t0control 80.18 c 19.80b 21.48c 3.56b 27.25d t15 kg of zinc sulfate 81.25 bc 18.73b 22.05c 3.73ab 27.25d t210 kg of zinc sulfate 81.24 bc 19.43b 22.78abc 3.87ab 28.75c t315 kg of zinc sulfate 82.79 ab 17.20ab 23.90ab 3.82ab 29.50b t420 kg of zinc sulfate 84.24 a 15.75a 25.05a 4.28a 30.25a  f-test ** ** ** * ** cv (%) 1.16 7.66 3.55 7.21 1.19 note: treatment means with the same letter superscript do not significantly differ using anov and dmrt. percentage of filled grains. as shown in table 2.0 result shows significant differences in the percent filled grains. plants in t 4 obtained the highest percentage of 84.34 but did not differ to those plants in t3 with an average of 82.79 percent. no significant difference was also observed between plants applied with 15 kg, 10 kg and 5kg of zinc sulfate application with an average of 82.79, 81.24, and 81.25 percent, respectively. the lowest percentage of filled grains was obtained by those plants in t 0 with an average of 80.18. the result implies that the application of different levels of zinc sulfate had affected the average percentage of filled grains of rice plants. this result is in conformity with the findings of ravikiran and reddy (2004); khan, qasim, subhan, jamil, & ahmad (2003); ram, chauhan, and singh (1995) who stated that among different treatment, the lowest number of filled grains was produced with the treatment t 0. percentage of unfilled grains. the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate shows a significant difference among treatments on the percentage of the unfilled grains as shown in table 2.0. t0 obtained the highest percentage of unfilled grains of 19.80 but did not differ to those plants in t2 of 19.43, followed by t1 with 18.73, and by t3 with 17.20 percent. the result shows further that the lowest percentage of unfilled grains was obtained by plants in t4 with an average percentage of 15.75 and comparable to t3 with 17.20. 130 jpair multidisciplinary research grain yield per hill. based on the result of the study, the grain yield per hill of rice plant was significantly affected by the different levels of zinc sulfate application as presented in table 2.0. plants in t4 (20 kg of zinc sulfate application) obtained the heaviest weight of grains with 25.05 g but did not differ to plants in t3 with 23.90 g. plants in t2 with 22.78g did not significantly differ with those plants in t1 with 22.05 including t0 which give the lightest weight of grains with 21.48. the result implied that the grain yield per hill of rice was significantly affected by the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate. the result is in accordance with shivay, kumar, prasad, and ahlawat, (2008) who reported that the application of zinc sulfate had increased the grain and straw yield of rice crop. these findings are in line with that of rahman et al. (2011) who reported an improvement in the grain weight with the soil application of zinc sulfate in rice crop. weight of 1000 grains (g). the weight of 1000 grain of rice in response to the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate is presented in table 2.0. results showed that the plants in t 4 had significantly obtained the heaviest weight of 30.25 g followed by those plants in t3, t2 with 29.50 g and 28.75 g respectively. the lightest was obtained by those plants in t0 with 27.25g, the comparable weight of 1000 grains to t1. the result implies that on the weight of 1000 grains of rice were significantly affected by the application of zinc sulfate. this finding is in line with that rahman et al. (2011) who reported an improvement in the grain weight with the soil application of zinc sulfate in rice crop. these findings are in line with results of ghani, shah, & khan (1990) naik and das (2007); who reported that soil application of zinc increased 1000-grain weight of rice. grain yield per treatment (kg). the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate to the rice plants resulted in a statistical difference in grain yield per treatment as presented in table 2.0 plants in t 4 obtained the heaviest weight of 4.28 kg but did not differ significantly to those plants in treatments t3, t2, and t1 with 3.73 kg in that order and the lightest weight of grain yield per treatment was obtained by plants in t0. the results implied that the grain yield per treatment of the rice plants significantly affected by the application of the different levels of zinc sulfate. the result is in accordance with the findings of harris, rashid, miraj, arif, and shah (2007) obrador, novillo, and alvarez (2003) and biswapati (2002). similarly, shivay, kumar, prasad, and ahlawat, (2008) who reported that the application of zinc sulfate increased the grain and straw yield of rice crop. these results are in line with the findings of gupta and kala; rehman et at. they 131 international peer reviewed journal reported that soil application of zinc increased paddy yield. although, the application of zinc sulfate significantly affected the growth and yield parameters of rice then it did not obtain the average expected yield. the blast was observed in tillering and flowering stages of rice growth. on leaves, the diseases first appear as small lesions. the center of the spot becomes pale green or dull greyish green and margin of the spot turn’s dark brown. similar spot developed on the sheath. the node of the culm becomes infected towards maturity and becomes blackened just below the panicle. often most of the grain in the infected panicle become chaffy. philrice (2012) mentioned that rice pest, big or small, can cause massive yield loss of up to 100%. rice blast is known approximately 60% to 100% yield losses. it is caused by an ascomycete a fungus called magnafortheoryzae (kihoro, bosco, murage, ateka, & makihara 2013). disease lesion was observed on node infection occurs in banded pattern, it turns into blackish or grayish brown, the infected nodes can cause rice culm on the part of the plant that holds the panicle to break, lesion in the neck are also grayish brown and can cause girdling, making the neck and the panicle fall over. according to (shahijahan et al. 2010) paddy blast generally considered as the principal disease of rice. kihoro (2013) revealed that the disease is the most destructive disease compare to other diseases. heavy yield losses have been reported in many rice-growing countries for example 75, 50 and 40 percent grain loss may occur in india (padmanabhan, 1965), philippines and nigeria (awoderu & esuruoso, 1974), and in serious outbreaks of the disease up to 100 percent of yield could be lost. conclusions the present study aimed to provide the most suitable technology to overcome zn deficiency in rice, by comparing the effects of different levels of zn application on rice growth and yield. treating the soil with zn fertilizer has been found to enrich it with utilizable plant nutrients associated with enhancing the yield of rice crop. it can be concluded from these results that amending the soil with zn fertilizer at 20 kg. per ha. was found the most appropriate dose for higher yield of the rice crop. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to various media of communication for information dissemination and promotion through extension 132 jpair multidisciplinary research (rd&e) programs and activities of the agriculture sector. results also can be made available to relevant government agencies related to rice production program to augment the production of rice and to alleviate the economic condition of the local rice growers and to help them stay afloat. literature cited awoderu, v. a., & esuruoso, o. f. 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(2005). rice response to granular zinc sources varying in water-soluble zinc. soil science society of america journal, 69(2), 443-452. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ulpkdt srivastava, v. c. and mahapatra, i. c. 2012. advances in rice production technology. agrobios (india), jodhpur, india. watson, h. r., & center, m. b. r. l. (1995).  the development of sloping agricultural land technology (salt) in the philippines. aspac food & fertilizer technology center. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2v2tuths https://bit.ly/2uiaeml https://bit.ly/2uiaeml https://bit.ly/2grjcib https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-007-9131-5 https://bit.ly/2v88mv6 https://bit.ly/2ulpkdt 36 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 abstract tone, a divergent feature of the text, sets the readers’ mood in which writers confide their writing styles and convey copious of the cultural background of the community to which they belong. even in the world’s preceding advancement, the emergence of artificial intelligence, empirical analysis of tone in written texts has limited literature in the field; hence the motivation of the researcher to look at the tone of the press release as it is the new face of public relations. the nature of the study is intercultural rhetoric (ir)/contrastive rhetoric (cr), the study of written discourse between and among individuals with different cultural backgrounds. the study used quantitative and qualitative approaches as they complement the richness of the study. the gathered press release headlines of unicef written by authors from varied discourse communities, namely the philippines, thailand, and the united states of america, had gone through content analysis and discovered the ingenuity and inspiration in their word selection in writing headlines, hence the tone. the headlines of the philippines vol. 50 · october 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v50i1.429 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. tone in unicef press releases in the global settings: a contrastive analysis nikko j. domingo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5640-0159 domingonikko985@gmail.com nueva ecija university of science and technology cabanatuan city nueva ecija, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ mailto:domingonikko985@gmail.com 37 international peer reviewed journal were analyzed for having a committed tone and logical and analytical attitude. interestingly, the headlines of thailand have a committed tone as well. on the other hand, headlines in the usa have a neutral tone. keywords — intercultural rhetoric, tone, content analysis, world englishes, press release, philippines introduction intercultural rhetoric studies play an important role in helping students, teachers, and scholars understand and navigate the complexities of writing in different languages and cultures, which provides an opportunity to provide frameworks for written text assessments, especially in the emergence of modern language tools such as the artificial intelligence (ai) through its subfield, natural language processing (nlp). the field examines the differences in rhetorical conventions, cultural values, and writing processes across languages and cultures. by comparing and contrasting writing practices in different contexts, ir studies help writers understand how to communicate effectively with audiences from different cultures. coined after robert kaplan, he argued that writing in a second language involves more than just mastering grammar and vocabulary; it also requires understanding cultural differences in rhetorical conventions and discourse patterns. as an evolving field that continues to grow and develop in response to changing social, political, and technological contexts, some of the recent developments in the field focus on digital communication. as more communication takes place online and through digital media, it is a generous avenue of text resources for the exploration of variation and similarities. according to scolloon (2000), a recurrent problem in contrastive studies of texts is determining how much variation between one text and another is sufficient to determine that the two are different texts. this paper is the analysis of the tone in press release headlines; tone can be subjective and influenced by the cultural context in which the language is used. the tone is an important aspect of the communication process, as it can influence how readers perceive and interpret the information presented. tone refers to the emotional or attitudinal aspect of language use (patterson, 2014) and can be conveyed through word choice, sentence structure, and other linguistic features. determining the tone of written text from different cultures can be challenging, as the cultural context and linguistic nuances may be distinct. it includes the genre and context of the writing, the uniqueness of linguistic features, and the cultural context. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 online press release, like traditional ones, is the new face of public relations. in any institution, press releases are very essential as they continuously boost the reputation and digital assets, big and small, private or government, and even non-profit organizations. they remain visible permanently on search engines and websites. it also affects brand value by reaching out to consumers and target groups across all search engines. having its importance in the business industries worldwide, the reuters journalism research institute of oxford university found out that online publications rank first with 87% among the most preferred media as a news source by the internet user in turkey. the online press release is a site with vast and varied scopes of social, institutional, and cultural discourse communities whose writing panaches can be experienced and utilized for contrastive studies. the online press release has emerged as part of the rise of new news stories on the world wide web in the rise of the new industrial revolution. a press release published online helps institutions and organizations reach their target audiences at the right time and place and offer themselves among researchers for possible opulent constructive rhetoric studies. a limited number of research uses online press releases as corpus. the american sociological association (asa) defines a press release as a short article written in style similar to a news story. news stories have been used in contrastive discourse studies like the study of scollon (2000), who conducted a contrastive discourse study of five days’ newspapers and genre(less) and purpose(less) and the online news galleries by caple. in addition, news stories also bring about compelling academic articles and reports in different fields, such as the business industries. unicef, also known as the united nations children’s fund, was established on december 11, 1946, and it is tasked with assisting children all over the world with humanitarian and developmental needs. with a presence in 192 nations and territories, the organization is one of the world’s most well-known and wellrecognized social welfare organizations, but the u.n. the main press center is located in new york city, where the headquarters are. the activities of unicef include administering immunizations and disease prevention, treating mothers and children who have hiv, enhancing maternal and childhood nutrition, enhancing sanitation, promoting education, and offering emergency relief in disasters. unicef is a non-profit organization that has subsidiaries in each country. the unicef press centre in each subsidiary has the latest press releases, official statements, expert sources, and the like. these press releases are written by local authors whose target readers are natives from the same country. using online corpora such as the unicef online press release in contrastive rhetoric 39 international peer reviewed journal studies allows researchers to examine language use in a more authentic and relevant context and can provide important insights into how culture, language, and communication practices intersect the digital age. framework scollon (2000) strongly emphasized on the use of professional communication between members of various groups, particularly but not limited to face-to-face during speech events like meetings, conversations, or interviews, or in other words, when people are interacting socially with one another. their main objective is to build the vocabulary and concepts required for an easyto-understand analysis of intercultural communication. tone is paramount in the oral discourse, as many researches posit that the meaning of a message is perceived by tone. in the foregoing advancement of the world, the tone in a text has limited literature in the field. tone sets the readers› mood in which the writers confide their styles in writing and tell much of their cultural background where they belong. scollon (2000) describes the tone, as in the headlines, ranging from neutral to committed, from condemnatory to very upbeat. in some cases, it might be called “human interest’’ because the story seeks to convey the emotional impact of events upon the newsmakers or the readers. moreover, the tone is one of the significant variations scollon (2000) analyzed in his study. analyzing the tone of the text can cause some gradation among these categories. for example, the matter of tone is most often conveyed through the choice of words, but it is quite likely that using different textual frames would produce a rather different tone in a news story. scollon’s (2000) study aimed to analyze these variables, which aimed to isolate the features that might be useful in making generic categorizations of news stories. press releases differ in a number of ways that almost certainly reflect the writers’, sub-editors, or editors’ intention to say something different to their presumed target audiences. the tone is one of them. the contrastive analysis concentrated on the written texts’ tones, such as those in the headlines, which could range from neutral to committed, from condemnatory to extremely upbeat scollon (2007). the story attempts to convey the emotional impact of events upon the newsmakers or the readers, which is why it may be referred to as “human interest” in some cases. 40 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 objectives of the study the empirical systematic inquiry of intercultural rhetoric through the lenses of discourse analysis is concerned primarily with interpretations based on both the details of the message itself and contextual knowledge. specifically, the study sought to the following objectives (1) determine the tone of the press release headlines from different linguistic communities, namely (a) the philippines, (b) thailand, and c) the united states of america, (2) determine how the tone analyzed from this press release headlines serves as variation among these press release headlines, and (3) determine how does the cultural context of the philippines, thailand, and the united states of america influence the tone and language used in press release headlines. methodology research design the nature of the study is on intercultural rhetoric (ir) or contrastive rhetoric (cr), the study of written discourse between and among individuals with different cultural backgrounds. it used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. conrad (2002) further elaborates on the combination of both techniques as they complement the richness of the study. a quantitative study allows the researcher to recognize patterns of language use, whether a phenomenon is common or unusual, and qualitative techniques as tied to functional interpretations of language patterns to have deepened understanding of the language phenomena. the paper used content analysis as a method that focuses on the systematic analysis of the content of the communication. it involves identifying and categorizing specific elements of communication, such as words, phrases, or themes, to draw inferences about the meaning or significance of the communication but not deviant from the theoretical theme utilized. content analysis is often used to analyze large amounts of text, such as newspaper articles or social media posts. the researcher used research and method triangulation techniques to verify and cross-check the findings and enhance the validity and reliability of the analysis of the study. a colleague was asked to verify the findings of the analysis and an artificial intelligence tool that detects tone in the text. 41 international peer reviewed journal corpus of the study a total 60 latest press releases were sourced from the press center of unicef from november 2019 to october 2020. twenty press releases were taken from each country, philippines, thailand, and usa: english written text written by three different linguistic profiles writing for specific audiences. it is believed that stories such as these appear to provide an ideal site in which to study audience design (bell, 1984) or what duranti and goodwin (1992) have called recipient design. that is to say since the stories derive from the same news organization and may be presumed to have clear and unified informational goals (wang, 1993). it might be presumed that the differences in these stories will reflect the news organization’s intentions. for this study, the tone of the written text is assumed to reach significantly different audiences, unicef filipino readers, unicef thai readers, and unicef american readers.  the sources of corpora belonged to different linguistic environments. the spread of the english language, whether that was caused by the promotional efforts of the united states and britain or bottom-up factors, in particular, the demand for english arising from individual perceptions that its acquisition would be economically and educationally advantageous, had caused different impacts to certain countries. the english language has a long and complex history in the philippines. it was first spoken in the country in 1901. since then, it has been adopted as a language of instruction in schools. it ingrained itself firmly into philippine culture. language proficiency is another of the nation’s assets that has boosted economic growth and made the philippines the world’s top location for voice outsourcing, surpassing india in 2012 (cabigon, 2015). over the years, despite the numerous shifts in the educational policies of the government, the role of english within the local educational system has remained largely constant. since the 1935 constitution, english has been designated the official language of the islands and has been used as a medium of instruction across all levels. such a divide in the allocation of subject areas for both english and filipino effectively splits the functions of the two languages into two – the former for more global purposes and the latter for more local ones (mahboob & cruz, 2013). to this day, english is the language used in boardrooms and courthouses, in mass media, and institutions of higher learning. despite being a former colony of the united states, the philippines has retained a unique version of english that is heavily influenced by local languages, such as tagalog, and the country’s culture and customs. this has led to the development of a distinct variety of english, known as philippine english, which has its grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 on one hand, the english language has become increasingly important in thailand in recent years as the country seeks to modernize its economy and increase its competitiveness in the global marketplace. english is now taught in schools across the country, and there is a growing demand for english language instruction in both the private and public sectors. however, thailand’s history with the english language has been somewhat complicated. the country was never colonized by a western power, and so the adoption of english was largely voluntary. the first english language schools were established in the late 19th century, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that english became a required subject in schools. finally, english is the official language of the united states and the country’s most widely spoken language. since its founding, it has been the dominant language in the us and is the primary language of government, business, and education. with the strong status of the language in the country, it has evolved, influenced by the many different cultures and languages that have shaped the country’s history. american english has its unique vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar, distinct from other varieties of english spoken around the world. the usa is the third nation from which the corpus was taken. it is a part of the inner circle where english is used as a first language (also known as l1 or “mother tongue”). australia and the united states are two examples of inner-circle nations. these countries are also “norm” providers in speaking the english language; however, varieties of english are also observed from one state to another. these corpora, which came from three different discourse communities, are presupposed to qualify the contrastive study criteria. intercultural communication and contrastive discourse studies are based on finding and analyzing cases of the same textual genre that differ only in certain features (scollon, 1997). the study will analyze english written texts that came from three different linguistic communities, and the point of categorization was based on the model of kachru in 1988. data analysis to determine the tone in a written text is to analyze the authors’ words and language. this language style reflects the culture governing the writers and their orientation. 43 international peer reviewed journal table 1. tone as presented by scollon (2000) tone description committed a writer’s reasoning and analytical attitude about things. more likely to be perceived as intellectual, rational, systematic, emotionless, or impersonal. condemnatory expressing strong disapproval neutral a neutral tone might refer to something unbiased and without a particular point of view (this, at least, is the writer’s claim). very upbeat passive, exhilarated, exuberant, conciliatory the sixty (60) press releases from three distinct communities were analyzed based on the framework of scollon, where he investigated the tone of the english and chinese news headlines using the following categorizations: committed, condemnatory, neutral, and very upbeat. a limited amount of literature determines the tone of written texts. hence the tone categories are defined as (a) committed tone shows writers’ reasoning and analytical attitude about things and is more likely to be perceived as intellectual, rational, systematic, emotionless, or impersonal; (b) condemnatory tone shows the expression of strong disapproval; (c) neutral tone shows unbiased without a particular point of view; and (d) very upbeat shows passiveness, exhilaration, exuberant, and conciliatory. results and discussion the analysis of the data yielded several key findings, which are presented and discussed in this section. table 2. press releases coming from the press centre of the philippines, thailand, and the usa philippine headlines tone thailand headlines tone usa headlines tone 1. press release unicef needs your help for every filipino child’s future gary v and ryan cayabyab collaborate for basket of hope 11 december 2020 neutral 1. thailand’s national survey shows drop in adolescent birth rate, but worrying trend in child nutrition and secondary school drop-out 20 october 2020 neutral 1. almost 2 billion people depend on health care facilities without basic water services – who, unicef 14 december 2020 very upbeat https://www.yourdictionary.com/exhilarated https://www.yourdictionary.com/exuberant https://www.yourdictionary.com/conciliatory 44 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 philippine headlines tone thailand headlines tone usa headlines tone 2. unicef supplies reach typhoonaffected children; php135m still needed to cover children’s needs 27 november 2020 committed 2. unicef calls for the protection of children and young people amid protests in thailand 18 august 2020 committed 2. statement by unicef regional director for west and central africa marie-pierre poirier on school attack in north-western nigeria 13 december 2020 neutral 3. listen to children’s experiences of covid-19 unicef world children’s day on november 20 19 november 2020 very upbeat 3. unicef, department of mental health, joox launch ‘the sound of happiness’ to promote mental health among adolescents in thailand 16 july 2020 very upbeat 3. update on unicef’s response for ethiopian refugees in sudan and host communities 11 december 2020 committed 4. sanitation targets are off-track: doh, who and unicef ask local governments to invest in sanitation 19 november 2020 committed 4. thailand takes another leap towards a universal child support grant statement attributable to thomas davin, unicef representative for thailand 07 july 2020 committed 4. child poverty will remain above precovid levels for at least five years in high-income countries – unicef 11 december 2020 neutral 5. unicef concerned about situation of children affected by typhoons in the philippines 12 november 2020 very upbeat: negative 5. with a school-year like no other set to start, unicef ramps up support to keep children safe during school reopening 30 june 2020 committed 5. life a ‘waking nightmare’ for 12 million children in yemen 10 december 2020 neutral 6. resuming vaccination campaigns a win for children -unicef on the occasion of world polio day 24 october 2020 very upbeat: positive 6. a un report highlights the disruption from the pandemic on thailand’s progress in reaching the sustainable development goals success will depend on the policies implemented now during the crisis 26 june 2020 neutral 6. covid-19: unicef warns of continued damage to learning and wellbeing as number of children affected by school closures soars again 07 december 2020 neutral 45 international peer reviewed journal philippine headlines tone thailand headlines tone usa headlines tone 7.. deped, doh and unicef unite to bring clean hands for all this october 15 15 october 2020 very upbeat 7. covid-19: united states and unicef join forces to protect the most vulnerable including migrants in thailand 05 june 2020 committed 7. norway commits more than $163 million to unicef education, health and inclusivity programmes for children neutral 8. ing and unicef launch ‘fintech for impact’ initiative to support fintech start-ups in philippines 14 october 2020 committed 8. unicef thailand to launch its first virtual concert #lovedeliveryfest to mobilize support for children and families affected by covid-19 20 may 2020 committed 8. norway commits more than $163 million to unicef education, health and inclusivity programmes for children neutral 9. uk government grant to benefit 3m bangsamoros the bangsamoro autonomous region in muslim mindanao (barmm) government, the uk government and unicef partner to respond to immediate needs in covid-19 response 14 october 2020 committed 9. mukdahan case – a painful reminder it is time to strengthen child protection in schools 13 may 2020 committed 9. two thirds of the world’s school-age children have no internet access at home, new unicef-itu report says 30 november 2020 neutral 10. learning should reach the most vulnerable, unicef says as classes resume on 5 october, unicef emphasizes the important role that education plays in shaping children’s futures, especially amid the covid-19 pandemic. 30 september 2020 committed 10. covid-19: unicef thailand launches urgent appeal to the public to help millions of children in need of critical hygiene and other supplies 12 may 2020 neutral 10. threat of further escalation in mekelle, ethiopia, puts children’s lives at risk 25 november 2020 very upbeat 46 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 philippine headlines tone thailand headlines tone usa headlines tone 11. for the future of every filipino child unicef launches basket of hope 2020 fundraising campaign 30 september 2020 committed 11. greta thunberg and ngo human act launch a child rights driven coronavirus campaign for unicef climate activist calls on young people, other supporters, to encourage everyone to support unicef’s vital work to save children’s lives 01 may 2020 committed 11. 320,000 children and adolescents newly infected with hiv in 2019, 1 every 100 seconds – unicef 25 november 2020 neutral 12. 150 million additional children plunged into poverty due to covid-19, unicef, save the children say 18 september 2020 committed 12. covid-19: we must do more and act faster to reach all children and families in need statement attributable to thomas davin, unicef representative for thailand neutral 12. unicef executive director henrietta fore’s remarks at the 2020 afghanistan conference 24 november 2020 neutral 13. doh, who, unicef to conduct nationwide measles campaign starting october 26 17 september 2020 committed 13. covid-19: unicef and partners distribute critical supplies to children and families in need in thailand 28 april 2020 neutral 13. covax update: unicef working with global airlines and freight providers to plan delivery of covid-19 vaccines 23 november 2020 neutral 14. unicef statement on the approval of bill increasing the age for statutory rape 11 september 2020 committed 14. unicef provides covid-19 testing reagents to support national pandemic response in thailand 23 april 2020 committed 14. unicef appeals for us$42.6 million to deliver humanitarian assistance in hurricanestruck central america 19 november 2020 neutral 15. anzcham and saferkidsph join forces against online sexual abuse and exploitation of filipino children 10 september 2020 committed 15. 8 in 10 youth worried about their family income due to covid-19 first survey of its kind in thailand finds 14 april 2020 committed 15. unicef calls for averting a lost generation as covid-19 threatens to cause irreversible harm to children’s education, nutrition and well-being 18 november 2020 very upbeat 47 international peer reviewed journal philippine headlines tone thailand headlines tone usa headlines tone 16. unicef to lead procurement and supply of covid-19 vaccines in world’s largest and fastest ever operation of its kind 04 september 2020 committed 16. 6 ways parents can support their kids through the coronavirus disease (covid-19) outbreak 09 april 2020 neutral 16. unicef welcomes end of ebola outbreak in the equateur province of the drc very upbeat 17. leave no one behind: un-barmm program launched to help build resilience of the bangsamoro people 16 august 2020 committed 17. despite challenges, unicef continues to ship vital supplies to affected countries amid soaring number of covid-19 cases 03 april 2020 very upbeat 17. children and young people join unicef goodwill ambassadors ishmael beah, david beckham, orlando bloom, millie bobby brown and priyanka chopra jonas in conversations for world children’s day 13 november 2020 very upbeat 18. breastfeeding must continue amidst covid-19 06 august 2020 neutral 18. unilever thailand and unicef join hands to fight covid-19 30 march 2020 neutral 18. worldwide measles deaths climb 50% from 2016 to 2019 claiming over 207,500 lives in 2019 12 november 2020 very upbeat 19. addressing stunting and malnutrition should go beyond nutrition month celebration 03 august 2020 neutral 19. unicef scales up support in 145 countries to keep children learning, as covid-19 forces majority of schools worldwide to close 27 march 2020 committed 19. unicef expresses concern about situation of children affected by typhoons in the philippines 12 november 2020 committed 20. doh, who, and unicef resume polio campaign 20 july 2020 neutral 20. globally, unicef is appealing for $651.6 million to fight covid-19 26 march 2020 neutral 20. severe pneumonia leaves 4.2 million children desperate for oxygen each year 12 november 2020 very upbeat 48 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 2 shows the twenty 60 press release headlines with their analyzed tones from three different countries: the philippines, thailand, and the united states of america. the gathered headlines were from march 26, 2020, until the most recent, december 14, 2020. figure 1. presentation of the tone figure 1 presents the tone of the headlines of the press release from three different countries: the philippines, thailand, and the united states of america. tone in philippine headlines out of the 20 press releases coming from unicef philippines, twelve (12) headlines are presented with a committed tone, four (4) neutral, four (4) very upbeat, and zero (0) condemnatory. a committed tone is very evident in the headlines of the philippine press release. writers from the philippines have a reasonable and analytical attitude in presenting their headlines. it can be analyzed in the presentation of the headlines that the writers are steadfast with the “standards” based on the news writing and what the organization aims to convey, which is likely to be perceived as intellectual, rational, systematic, emotionless, or impersonal. philippine writings often emphasize community and interpersonal relationships, which can be reflected in the tone of the writing. according to scroope (2017), filipinos will try to express their opinions and ideas diplomatically and with humility to avoid appearing arrogant, and the tone varies widely by language, dialect, and region. despite being a former colony of the united states, the philippines has retained a unique version of english, hence the philippine english (pe), which is heavily influenced by local languages, such as tagalog, and the country’s culture and customs. 49 international peer reviewed journal tone in thai headlines thailand press release headlines, like the headlines from the philippines, have committed as the majority tone with ten (10) counts, followed by eight (8) for both neutral, two (2) very upbeat, and zero (0) condemnatory tones. like the philippines, headlines from thailand are steadfast with the “standards” based on the news writing and what the organization aims to convey, which is likely to be perceived as intellectual, rational, systematic, emotionless, or impersonal. in journalistic writing, the tone can be more straightforward, but there is still an emphasis on politeness and respect. writers often use language accessible to a broad audience, and there is a focus on presenting information in a balanced and unbiased way. english in thailand and the philippines has a different history despite sharing the same region, south east asia. english in thailand has developed more slowly than varieties of english in post-british colonial countries, sometimes referred to as non-native varieties of english, according to bennui and hashim (2014). thailand lacks colonial and postcolonial english history to compare to the philippines. nevertheless, due to globalization, the country’s educational system is improving its learners in the english language by hiring english teachers abroad. tone in american headlines the headlines of the press release from the united states of america were found to have eleven (11) neutral tones, followed by very upbeat (7), two (2) committed tones, and zero (0) condemnatory tones. in these headlines, the tone is often more informal and engaging, emphasizing storytelling and capturing the reader’s attention. writers of the headlines from the usa use language accessible to a broad audience and strive to present information in a balanced and unbiased way. hence, the writers aim to present their headlines with a neutral tone (11), using a voice or voices to present these in unbiased ways and writing without a particular point of view. followed by seven (7) very upbeat, these headlines suggest passive, exhilarated, and exuberant attitudes. unlike the first two countries, headlines from the usa have only two (2) committed tones and condemnatory has a zero count. it can be analyzed that among the three countries, the condemnatory tone has zero counts. none of these varied writers aims at presenting their headlines with an expression of strong disapproval. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 conclusion   for contrastive analysis, online press centers like unicef, which have affiliates in every nation, are a good source of corpora. with 60 online press release headlines, twenty (20) press release headlines with their tones analyzed came from three different nations: the philippines, thailand, and the united states of america. the most recent headlines, from december 14, 2020, were collected from march 26, 2020. these english-language texts, which take the form of press release headlines, will reveal information about the creativity and motivation of the authors in their choice of words when writing headlines, thereby bringing about a cultural pattern in writing. the authors of these texts come from various discourse communities and write for a specific audience. the headlines from the philippines are analyzed for having a committed tone. authors from this country present their headlines to their readers with a reasonable and analytical attitude. it can be concluded in the presentation of the headlines that the writers are steadfast with the “standards” based on the news writing and what the organization aims to convey, which is likely to be perceived as intellectual, rational, systematic, emotionless, or impersonal. like the headlines from the philippines, thailand press release headlines have committed as the majority tone. on the other hand, usa press releases have a neutral tone as the majority tone. the authors of the headlines from this country aim to present their headlines in a neutral tone, that is, to use a voice or voices and present these in unbiased ways and write without a particular point of view. among the three countries, the  condemnatory  tone has zero counts. therefore, none of these varied aims to present their headlines with an expression of strong disapproval and further suggests that these press releases express democratically. translational research the findings of this study can help linguists and publishers make more informed and humanized decisions about how to analyze culturally-specific words and expressions, hence the tone, in literary texts to maximize their reception in different target cultures, especially in the emergence of artificial intelligence (ai) and natural language processing (nlp). the study also highlights the need for further research in this area to better understand the impact of contrastive strategies on the reception of literary texts and other genres in different target cultures in identifying the tone of a text. moreover, the results of this study could provide insights into how cultural context influences language use in 51 international peer reviewed journal press release headlines. these findings could have implications for cross-cultural communication and the development of effective communication strategies in different cultural contexts. literature cited bell, a. (1984). language style as audience design.  language in society,  13(2), 145-204. bennui, p., & hashim, a. (2014). english in thailand: development of english in a non-postcolonial context. asian englishes, 16(3), 209-228. cabigon, m. (2015). state of english in the philippines: should we be concerned? https://bit.ly/3zgudsq conrad, s. (2002). 4. corpus linguistic approaches for discourse analysis. annual review of applied linguistics, 22, 75. duranti, a., & goodwin, c. (eds.). (1992). rethinking context: language as an interactive phenomenon (no. 11). cambridge university press. kachru, b. b. (1988). the sacred cows of english. english today, 4(4), 3-8. mahboob, a., & cruz, p. (2013). english and mother-tongue-based multilingual education: language attitudes in the philippines.  asian journal of english language studies, 1, 2-19. patterson, a. (2014). 155 words to describe an author’s tone. writers write. https://www.writerswrite.co.za/155-words-to-describe-an-authors-tone/ scollon, r. (1997). contrastive rhetoric, contrastive poetics, or perhaps something else. tesol quarterly, 31, 353-358. scollon, r. (2000). generic variability in news stories in chinese and english: a contrastive discourse study of five days’ newspapers.  journal of pragmatics, 32(6), 761-791. scroope, c. (2017). filipino culture.  ies’s cultural altas. https://culturalatlas. sbs.com.au/filipino-culture/filipino-culture-communication wang, s. (1993). the new york times’ and renmin ribao’s news coverage of the 1991 soviel coup: a case study of international news discourse.  textinterdisciplinary journal for the study of discourse, 13(4), 559-598. https://bit.ly/3zgudsq https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/filipino-culture/filipino-culture-communication https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/filipino-culture/filipino-culture-communication 69 international peer reviewed journal ulamas’ and professionals’ perceptions on the islamic inheritance law under p.d. 1083 abdulcader maruhom ayo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5295-172x abdulcaderayo2016@gmail.com mindanao state university marawi city abstract the study was undertaken primarily to determine the perceptions of ulamas and professionals on the level of awareness or knowledge and the level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law as codified in the muslim code of the philippines. using quantitative -qualitative methods, the 478 respondents autonomous region in muslim mindanao, starting in lanao del sur and maguindanao, including moro national liberation front (milf)-controlled territory, up to zamboanga del sur, sulu, and tawi-tawi participated the widerange survey. questionnaire, interview, focus group discussion, and observation were utilized in gathering the data. it was found that the respondents’ level of awareness or knowledge on the islamic inheritance law was only moderate. however, their knowledge of the holy qur’an and sunnah as the primary sources of the law garnered a high level of awareness. as revealed in the interviews and focus group discussions, the overall moderate acceptance of the law is attributed to certain factors that could be broadly categorized into two sets: external and internal. a positive link between the respondents’ level of awareness/knowledge and their level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law was found. this implies that an increase in the level of awareness may bring about an increase in the level of acceptance of the law. vol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.417 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — social science, islamic inheritance law, mixed methods, philippines introduction islamic inheritance law is conceded as a quite complex branch of islamic law. this complexity is thrown into sharp scrutiny both in and outside muslim communities in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao, philippines. the intricacy grows tenfold when applied in muslim communities. based on the researcher’s experience and preliminary survey he conducted as a preparation for this study, some factors surfaced. among these are the continuing subscriptions to secular law, lack of documents or appreciation of the value of documentation and documents, the practice of polygamy and divorce in muslim communities, and the growing number of exogamous marriages/intermarriages among muslim filipinos. any of these can complicate an already complicated situation. hussain (2011) explains the basic principles of the religion of islam and its law (the shariah) and how the shariah is lived in many different cultures throughout the world. to illustrate, there are problems common to exogamous marriages such as a meranaw man having a christian wife in addition to one or two meranaw wives, or a childless couple adopting a child. in both cases, complications could arise when the husband dies. in this vein, many questions may arise such as: what are the rights of the christian wife to the late spouse’s estate? what portion is she entitled to? the same question could be asked with regard the legally adopted child. what is due to the adopted child as her inheritance from the deceased? in islam, the right to inherent for surviving dependents and relatives is based on islamic principles. when a person dies without leaving a will, the inheritance goes to the wife or his next of kin as stipulated law. indeed, there are laws on the distribution of inheritance to ensure that the inheritance rights of the next of kin are properly managed (bin sulong, 2014). in the same manner, as on conjugal property, another potential complication, can also pose a problem. considering this hypothetical situation: a second or third wife who is an earning professional, or one already moneyed and possessing property before marriage with a family man could claim greater contribution to the growth of the man’s business and assets in which she had sunk some investments. on the other hand, a christian wife walks away empty-handed from the division of the late spouse’s estate. one interesting illustrative case, 71 international peer reviewed journal this time no longer a hypothetical one, is one that engaged a young widow in an inheritance division litigation with her late husband’s parents who believed that the former should not inherit all the properties or assets of their son, as he already had investments in the family business before the marriage. the latter tried to build a strong case based on the argument that not all the deceased’s assets could be, or should be, considered conjugal property. there were sordid scenes -i.e. nearly violent clashes -during the hearings, but at the end shar’iah law on inheritance prevailed to the disadvantage of the wife. usually, inheritance-related disputes are confined to the families involved. there are, however, instances when the domestic discord spills over and becomes a full-blown ridu because of the meddling or interference of in-laws or other parties, particularly, inheritance in the form of real estate or land. as reported by alangca-azis (2013), such inheritance-related conflicts, that is, involving land, are among the most common types of conflict among meranaws. it is presumed that given the core cultural and religious values shared with the meranaw, more or less the same problems also plague the other muslim groups. lack of historical sense among the meranaws, as tawagon (n.d) and other scholars call it, manifests itself in the lack of appreciation of the importance of documentation and documents. this might sound a relatively trivial concern. on the contrary, on more critical examination, it can have grave consequences in an inheritance-related dispute. the wiser, cunning wife can outsmart other wives by having more hefty sums and prime property of the husband placed in her name. since the court, whether the shari’ah or the philippine court, honor only legal documents, the other wives are at a disadvantage. the claim of the documentarmed wife is difficult, if not impossible, to contest. according to the study of sonbol (1996), under the so-called national modern criminal laws based on human rights and centralized police forces, violence increased significantly within and outside the household. women were victimized and often considered the responsible party. zuleika and desinthya (2014) said that faraid (islamic inheritance law) has an important role to bring women into the complex practices of economic activities, so men and women altogether can raise the wealth of the nation and society welfare. furthermore, faraid encourages the economic growth and creates proper economic order in society. against the backdrop of controversies and confusion depicted, it seems imperative to examine and evaluate the level of awareness and acceptance of the islamic law on inheritance as provided in presidential decree no. 1083, known as 72 jpair multidisciplinary research the muslim code of the philippines as the prevailing law governing the problem of interest -i.e. inheritance among muslims, particularly, in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao. inheritance problems, although usually a domestic problem, should not be shrugged off as trivial or petty compared to larger issues like the volatile mindanao conflict. these can fester and break up or ruin relationships. the family is the basic unit of society and islam places a premium on its unity and stability. fragmented families are a potential threat to the social order. the motivation of the researcher on the chosen research problem is not an overnight affair. it started with his observations and preliminary survey of the field through extensive reading. the researcher believes that the study fills a gap or lacuna in knowledge as no study on the problem has been conducted. as a muslim, an endeavor is a form of da’wah, which is an obligation of every muslim. the prophet (s.a.w.) declares: “the best among you is he who learned the holy qur’an and taught it (to others)” (bukhari, vi, no. 106). raising awareness of the holy qur’an-based provisions of the islamic inheritance law is a vital step towards deeper knowledge of the holy qur’an and the sunnah. framework the demographic profile of the respondents comprised of ulama and professionals representing various fields (analysed into age, sex, civil status ethnic affiliation, educational attainment, field of specialization, occupation, monthly income, sources of income, and organization/society membership) is linked with their level of awareness and acceptance of the islamic inheritance law (p.d. 1083), which is the chosen phenomenon problematized and examined in the study. it is part of the inquiry to probe the respondents’ background, knowledge and forms of exposure to the islamic inheritance law as a possible factor influencing their level of awareness and acceptance of the said law. with the respondents’ knowledge of, and exposure to, the islamic inheritance law (p.d. 1083) and their level of awareness and acceptance of it were established through the result of the hypothesis testing, the ground is laid for the critical scrutiny of the underlying factors and problems affecting the acceptance and implementation of the islamic inheritance law. further, an effort was made to discover the islamic point of view encoded in the provisions of the codified provisions of the islamic inheritance law in the muslim code of the philippines to ascertain the law’s faithful adherence to the basic sources or “roots of law”, particularly, the primary 73 international peer reviewed journal bases: the holy qur’an and the sunnah. this requires internal assessment of the islamic inheritance law. finally, based on the findings of the study, prospects for the full acceptance and effective implementation of the islamic inheritance law have been presented. paradigm independent variables moderating variables dependent variables figure 1. schematic diagram showing the relationship between the variables of the study objectives of the study the study ascertained the perception of ulama and professionals’ level of awareness and acceptance of the islamic inheritance law in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm), and their awareness of, or views on the factors and complications that affect the implementation of islamic inheritance law. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the research design deemed most fitting and useful is the mixed model which is a combination of the quantitative and qualitative methods. within the chosen paradigm, the researcher had decided on a descriptive-correlational type of study. these choices are inspired by creswell’s (2009) rationale for the mixed method. all methods have limitations and it has been argued that weaknesses or biases inherent in any single method could neutralize or cancel the weaknesses or biases of other methods. locale of the study the study ranges over the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm). the armm was created by virtue of republic act 6734, otherwise known as the organic act of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao, which was signed into law by former president corazon c. aquino on august 1, 1989, and ratified through a plebiscite on november 19, 1989. it was originally composed of the four provinces of lanao del sur, maguindanao, sulu, and tawitawi. it was designed to address the long-festering mindanao problem or the winter of discontent that the bangsa moro has long lived through, engendered by the national government’s neglect of muslim mindanao, a large part of it counting among the most depressed areas in the country. the region was strengthened and expanded through the passage of republic act 9054 in 2001 as an offshoot of the signing of the 1996 final peace agreement (fpa) between the government of the republic of the philippines (grp) and the moro national liberation front (mnlf). the plebiscite was conducted in september 2001 and resulted in the inclusion of the province of basilan and marawi city in the expanded autonomous region. with this, there are already 5 provinces comprising the armm. the armm is the home of 4.1 million population as of 2007 and has a total land area of 27, 581.79 square kilometers mostly devoted to agriculture. lowland and upland crops are cultivated in the region. the yield of offshore fishery is abundant as the region has a long stretch of coastline, especially, the island provinces which depend on the rich marine life that the area is endowed with. inland fishery is likewise extensive, especially with the presence of the long and wide rio grande de mindanao, the great lake lanao in the province of lanao del sur, and the swamps of liguasan and lake buluan in the province of maguindanao. 75 international peer reviewed journal legend: lanao area maguindanao area basilan area sulu area tawi – tawi area figure 2. map of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao respondents of the study the population was comprised of ulama and professionals from various fields. due to envisaged problems concerning manageability and the enormous cost entailed in dealing with such a large aggregate, there was necessarily practical resort to sampling. an adequate and representative sample was drawn from the identified universe. the tentative target sample for this study was a 400-man sample: 200 ulama and 200 professionals. as the researcher was able to distribute a larger number of questionnaires and retrieved most of this, a 478-man sample was realized (387 respondents for male and 91 respondents for female). sampling procedure taking cue from babbie (2007), the researcher used cluster sampling to draw a sample from the population of ulama and professionals across the armm. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research cluster sampling suggests itself when it is impossible or impractical to compile a list of the elements or units (called sampling frame) composing the population. this contrasts with a single-stage sampling procedure in which there is access to names in the population and potential respondents which can be directly sampled. in a multistage or clustering procedure, the researcher first identified clusters (groups, schools, organizations, and the like), obtained the names of individuals within those clusters, and then sampled them. research methods and instruments a survey questionnaire was utilized in the collection of the primary data. a researcher-designed questionnaire was developed for this purpose. this semi-structured instrument was used for obtaining data on the demographic profile of the respondents and their background (awareness/knowledge and exposure) of the islamic inheritance law. in this study, an attempt was made to correlate the respondents’ level of awareness/knowledge and their acceptance of the islamic inheritance law. to determine the latter, i.e. level of awareness and acceptance of the law, the respondents were required to rate themselves on a list of statement indicators provided in the questionnaire. a continuous scale (3-point scale) was employed for this purpose. instead of pilot testing or field testing, the researcher consulted his adviser, and other experts to establish the content validity of the proposed questionnaire and to improve questions (include or exclude some), format, and the scale. comments or suggestions were incorporated into the final instrument revisions. focus group discussions (fgds) were also held at shari’ah center of mindanao state university to elicit further information, follow up on some issues and cues and probe for different deeper opinions, perspectives, points of view, and motives of the respondents for some thoughts or perceptions expressed on the questionnaire, and encourage them to share experiences and observations pertaining to the islamic inheritance law, particularly its implementation in their communities. for the purpose of triangulation, in-depth interviews with a smaller number of the selected respondents drawn from the original sample, particularly, from the ulama group, were held to pursue certain interesting or provocative lines of thought and to confirm the answers of these respondents in a more private setting. the main task of interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say. a qualitative research interview covered both a factual and a meaning level, though it was more difficult to interview on a meaning level. 77 international peer reviewed journal interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences. the interviewer pursued in-depth information around the given topic (kvale, 1996). library research was also undertaken in obtaining and reviewing information from available relevant literature in the form of books, journals, policies, digests, articles, court decisions or rulings, and other library materials that have a bearing on the present research. the libraries that the researcher visited to acquire these secondary sources are the libraries of the mindanao state universitymarawi city and other msu campuses, and pmtc marawi, autonomous region in muslim mindanao. research procedure in accordance with research protocols, formal letters of request for permission for entry into the field to gather data were personally delivered in the identified clusters like schools, local government offices or agencies like in pnp parang, private firms like in usrah foundation, shari’ah courts of lanao del sur, masaajid in basulta areas and centers for learning like in muhammadiyya in maguindanao, and camps of the liberation groups in southern mindanao in particular, to nosa island and pokutan of wato balindong lanao del sur to administer the questionnaire which was the main source of the primary data. depending on the situation in each cluster, a full enumeration was adopted in selecting the respondents, or the researcher used his discretion as to how many units to include as participants in the study. once the preliminaries were complied with, the researcher and the research team started distributing the questionnaires to the selected respondents or sample units in each of the clusters. to reduce response bias (caused by nonresponse or incomplete responses to certain items on the questionnaire), which could significantly change the overall results, the researcher himself, assisted by a research team, passed out the questionnaires and saw to their retrieval. before leaving each research site, and after examination of the returns on the questionnaire, the researcher seized the opportunity to hold focus group discussions (fgds) and interviews to probe in greater detail certain issues and clues dropped by the respondents themselves in answering some questionnaire items. these methods or aspect of data gathering should shed more light on the respondents’ attitudes, beliefs and awareness, particularly concerning their awareness and acceptance of the law in question, and what they perceived as factors and problems affecting the implementation of the law in their communities. 78 jpair multidisciplinary research with all the accomplished forms returned (numbering 478), the quantitative data collected were tabulated in preparation for submission of these to the statistician who would work on the descriptive analysis of the quantitative data to determine weighted means, standard deviation, and the like, and the testing of the inferential question or hypothesis. while the statistician performed his part on data analysis, the researcher busied himself with the analysis and interpretation of the qualitative data collected via the fgds, individual interviews, and observation. statistical treatment of data the study used frequency and percentage, pearson product-moment correlation and weighted mean. results and discussion the descriptive-correlational study was conducted to ascertain perceptions among ulama and professionals on the level of awareness and level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law (as codified in the muslim code of the philippines) in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao (armm). also, part of the intent or design of the research was to determine the respondents’ awareness of, or views on the factors and complications that affect the implementation of the said law. the research sought to determine the:1) the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, civil status, ethnic affiliation, highest educational attainment, field of specialization/area of concentration, occupation, monthly income, sources of income, and membership in organization or association; 2) forms of exposure or knowledge the respondents have on the islamic inheritance law and its implementation; 3) the respondents’ level of awareness on the islamic inheritance law as codified in the muslim code; 4) the respondents’ level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law as codified in the muslim code; 5) significant association between the respondents’ level of awareness and their level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law, 6) problems or factors that were underlying the respondents’ level of awareness and their level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law; and 7) the prospects for the fuller acceptance and more effective implementation of the islamic inheritance law. the frequency and percentage distribution of the respondents by age showed clustering or concentration in two age brackets (3135, 25.11% and 36 40 years old, 22.60%). most of the respondents were in their early and middle adulthood, thus, mature and presumably knowledgeable enough to seriously deal with the 79 international peer reviewed journal focal concern of the study. they could be credited with having formed opinions on the islamic inheritance law and its implementation. secondly, frequency and percentage distribution of the respondents revealed the numerical dominance of male participants (80.96% against the females 19.04%). small as the proportion of the female group, and forming a dramatic contrast with the huge number of the male group, this disproportionate representation does not necessarily spell lopsided results. thirdly, with regard to civil status, majority (67.2%) are married. data on this characteristic show congruence of the data on age. fourthly, regarding ethnic affiliation, greater numbers represent the more dominant muslim groups: meranaw, 40.6% and maguindanaon, 22.8%. the rest are distributed among other groups including tausug (another major muslim group), yakan, and subanen. fifthly, as to highest educational attainment, ab/bs graduates formed the majority (61.5%), followed by ma/ms degree holders. a smaller number finished doctoral studies (4.6%). sixthly, in terms of the field of specialization or area of concentration, school administration (including madrasah administration) is the most common among the respondents comprising 18.4%, followed by political science (11.96%), public affairs (9.8%), shari’ah (4.6%), traditions of prophet muhammad (s.a.w.) (3.1%), muslim law (3.9%), education (2.5%), and islamic studies (2.5%). as can be gleaned from the frequency and percentage distribution, the respondents were broadly spread across various fields of specialization. however, if the allied fields like traditions of prophet muhammad (s.a.w.), muslim law, shari’ah and islamic studies are grouped together and the figures added up, they would come a close second to the dominant field, school/madrasah administration. with respect to occupation, there was clustering around certain types of occupation or professions: government employee, 88 (18.4%); school teacher, 51 (10.7%); college instructor/professor, 64 (13.2%); madrasah teacher, 14 (2.8%); police officer, 13 (2.7%); arabic islamic teacher, 11 (2.3%); and ustad/ ustada, 11 (2.3%). professions other than teaching are sparsely represented: engineer (including private firm), 5 (1.0%); pharmacist, 2 (.4%); and shari’ah lawyer, 2 (.4%). evidently, a large proportion of the respondents belonged to the teaching profession, and are distributed among the different levels -elementary, secondary, and tertiary. in addition, in terms of monthly income, most or 134 (28.0%) respondents were receiving as much as p15,000-20,000 per month. nearly as many or 101 80 jpair multidisciplinary research (21.1%) have a monthly income of p5,000-10,000 only. seventy-four (74) constituting 15.5% earn p20,001-25,000 per month. below p5000 earners number forty-nine (49) or 10.3%. the rest are distributed as follows: p25,00130,000, 18 (3.8%); p30,001-35,000, 17 (3.6%); and above 35,000, 18 (3.8%). with the p10,001-15,000 considered as the borderline, the respondents may be said to be roughly divided between those who fall into income brackets that place them below the poverty line and those who fall into income brackets that place them safely above said line, with the latter somewhat outnumbering the former. the result is understandable and realistic considering that the sample was drawn from a population consisting of ulama and professionals. one should not lose sight of the fact, however, that there are professionals like teachers, especially those of madrasah schools (madaris), who are underpaid. likewise, as regards the source(s) of income, the huge majority (80.8%) declared “salary” as their major and presumably only source of income. others did not use the same term, but clearly meant much the same thing; many identified or specified the literal source, that is, the employer or agency they are connected with: madrasah, 11 (2.3%); provincial, 13 (2.7); pnp salary, 7 (1.5%); kapamangandaw(teaching), 16 (3.3%); arabic institutes and other schools, 12 (2.5%); business, 14 (2.9%); teaching (ustad)/arabic teacher, and 6 (1.2%). a few (1.2%) augment their salary by getting into business, most likely small-scale. regarding membership in organizations or associations, a thin distribution of respondents across different kinds of organization (religious, professional, ngos, and the like) was noted. high up on the list in terms of number are the following: basic faculty union, 80 (18.9%); al-balag foundation, 23 (4.8%); mahad marawi al-islamie, 26 (5.4%); ulama league of the philippines, 25 (5.2%); albalag foundation, 23 (4.8%); be hope, basilan, isabela city, 11 (2.3%); interfaith council of leaders (fcl basilan), 10 (2.1%); mahadwaqf al-islamie, 8 (1.7%); religious organization(s), 8 (1.7%); ; muslim religious organizations (mrls), 6 (1.3%); religious al-khutubahfilfilben ln, 3 (.6%; and majisula’lalinnisa’almuslima-markazoshabbabfilfilibbin, 2 (.4%). also represented, but in small numbers, are fraternities and professional organizations, such as the following: alpha phi omega (phil. eagles club), 8 (1..6%); mkp fraternal order of eagles (sbp), 4, (.8%); professional criminologists of the phil. (pcap, incl. phimsa msu chapter), 5, 1.0%); ibp, 3 (.6%); phil. pharmaceutical association, isbp, 3 (.6%); association of teachers in marantao, 3 (.6%); isbp beta sigma lambda, 2 (.4%); and lamuspro, 2 (.4%). on the sources of knowledge respondents have on the islamic inheritance law and its implementation. the sources of knowledge on the islamic 81 international peer reviewed journal inheritance law are: “personal readings of the holy qur’an and sunnah” 1st; “listening to khutbah/sermon on special occasions” 2nd ; “formal training/courses taken on the subject matter (islamic inheritance law” 4th; “listening to lectures and interviews on the topic(on tv)”, 5th ; and “conferences/symposia attended on the subject matter (islamic inheritance law), 6th. on the of forms of exposure to the islamic inheritance law, the lists include the following: “discussion with colleagues,” 1st ; “listening to confidences/complaints shared by individuals involved in inheritance-related problems,” 2nd; “consultation with parties involved in inheritance-related dispute or conflict,” 4th; “involvement in negotiation(s) to settle inheritance-related discord in the family,” 5th. in last or 6th place is “attendance at shari’ah court hearings involving inheritance-related cases.” on the respondents’ level of awareness of the islamic inheritance law was determined as at a moderate level. the overall mean is 2.175, which is qualitatively described as moderately aware. the indicators used to gauge or determine level of awareness included the following: (4) knowledge that the primary sources/bases of the islamic inheritance law are the holy qur’an and the sunnah, 1st; (9) awareness of the share of the wife (1/4 without and a child reduced to 1/8 if the deceased husband leaves a child, and that of the husband is 1/2 without a child and reduced to 1/4 if the decedent wife is also survived by a child, 2nd ; (5) knowledge that the holy qur’an outlines a complex set of relations and prescribes percentages or shares due sharers -asbab-ul-furud) : 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/3 and 1/6, or 1/3 and 1/4 , and double or half of it, 3rd ; (11) awareness of who are included among the ‘the holy qur’anic heirs’ -asbab al-furud -and they include wife, children, and parents, 4th. on these indicators, the respondents claimed to be strongly aware. the last two indicators which registered strongly aware responses are: (7) awareness of the equal shares of widows (not exceeding 4) of a decedent husband, from the 1/4 and 1/8 shares that wives are entitled to and (18) knowledge that parents -father and mother of the deceased -are entitled to 1/6 share of the inheritance. lower down the scale are the levels of awareness of such particularities of the law as restrictions on wasiya (affecting only one-third of the al-mawruthestate), the entitlement or inheritance of a non-muslim wife and children by a nonmuslim wife, and differences in the opinions of the leading schools of thought, and disqualification clause for apostates (murtad). as to the respondents’ level of acceptance of the islamic inheritance law as codified in the muslim code of the philippines. the overall result is moderate based on the overall mean of 2.196 which is qualitatively interpreted as moderate acceptance. only three indicators out of the list of ten drew a resounding “high 82 jpair multidisciplinary research acceptance” response from the respondents: (10) the islamic inheritance law should apply even to marriages solemnized by a judge or other recognized secular authorities and no muslim (man or woman) should find recourse in settling disputes, particularly those involving inheritance, (9) critical reviews should concentrate on some contradictory provisions, from religion being immaterial in inheritance division as contradictory to giving short shrift to non-muslim wives who are affected by the disqualification clause; and (1) belief in divine wisdom and its immutability despite the tension felt between cultural values and sensibilities from a remote time that inform the holy qur’anic principles serving as bases for the islamic inheritance law(p.d. 1083), and current values. the rest elicited only moderate acceptance. examples of indicators that drew only moderate acceptance are: (8) need for more critical review of the law, that necessitates going back to the original sources, but it should not stand in the way of the law’s implementation; (7) under more critical scrutiny, the alleged discrimination of women under the islamic inheritance law can be seen as to their advantage since unlike their brother(s), they are under no obligation for the upkeep of the family; (4) can see no discernible inequality in the treatment of males and females as inheritors in p.d. 1083; females are better treated in the islamic law compared to their counterparts in other cultures ; and (3) there are divergences between the original or fundamental islamic inheritance law and what is codified in the muslim code of the philippines, but the law is better than nothing. the association between the respondents’ level of awareness/knowledge and their acceptance of the islamic inheritance law. the hypothesis testing revealed a significant relationship between the respondents’ level of awareness/knowledge and their acceptance of the islamic inheritance law. this indicates that the level of acceptance of islamic inheritance law is influenced or affected by their level of awareness/knowledge of it. regarding the problems or factors that underlie respondents’ level of awareness/knowledge of the islamic inheritance law, foremost of the problems or factors underlying respondents’ level of awareness is the stubborn or tenacious adherence to traditional practices or local customs governing inheritance. there is a tension between the indigenous traditional meranaw culture which has retained residua or vestiges of more ancient pre-islamic culture and the islaminfluenced meranaw culture, which is a relatively recent development. there are traditional beliefs and practices preserved in the words adat and what was later named taritib that are deeply rooted or entrenched in the collective/racial psyche. these continue to exert influence on meranaw thought and ways of dealing with various matters like family relationships, inheritance, and settling disputes. 83 international peer reviewed journal another is the lack of knowledge of the law, or even of the holy qur’anic principles which serve as primary basis or source of islamic law, including inheritance law. regarding this common enough problem, the respondents and key informants sounded a challenge to concerned agencies or institutions, as well as media, to step up its information drive. information campaign in the form of radio and television programs and seminars/symposia/conferences and lectures organized by academic institutions like the mindanao state university (thru its shari’ah center) should be sustained and supported. collaborative outreach projects focused on the discussion and elucidation of the contents or details of the islamic inheritance law should be launched. moreover, on the prospects for the full acceptance and more effective implementation of the islamic inheritance law, surely, there are skeptics, cynics and even doomsayers who are chanting dirges or requiems for the islamic inheritance law. some respondents even dismiss the whole law as a bid’ah, thus, apocryphal, heretical, and un-islamic. however, there are more who stand on the side of hope. while acknowledging the fact that there are problems or issues, they express optimism and confidence that the islamic inheritance law will one day see more effective implementation. lastly, the problems and issues raised lend themselves to classification into internal and external. the internal have to do with the text or contents of the islamic inheritance law. there are provisions denounced as bid’ah (innovations) and “divergences” from the original islamic inheritance law that is solidly and incontrovertibly based on the holy qur’anic principles and the sunnah (prophet’s traditions). there is thus, a clamor for more critical review to bring the islamic inheritance law closer to the original source. the law must be purged of these questionable and controversial provisions. external problems include lack of support from leaders who are awash in politicking and insufficient information drive or campaign. these are far from insoluble problems. concerted efforts of all stakeholders such as jurists, scholars, shari’ah lawyers or legal experts, academics from various disciplines, and the entire society itself -are needed to overcome the identified problems. the study was focused on the assessment of ulama and professionals representing various fields of the islamic inheritance law as codified in muslim code as reflected in p.d. 1083 knowledge, forms of exposure, their level of awareness and acceptance of the law. the respondents, particularly the group of professionals, included a large proportion of government employees like teachers, school administrators, and office staff. the study ranged over the autonomous 84 jpair multidisciplinary research region in muslim mindanao to include not only the meranaw, but also other major muslim groups like the maguindanaon and tausug, as well as muslims found among other cultural communities like the subanen and yakan. an almost equal number of ulama and professionals made up the actual 478 sample of the study. known hazardous areas within the armm were excluded from the itinerary of the researcher, especially as the data-gathering phase coincided with the campaign period for the 2016 election. the “hot spots” have already been identified. however, the researcher and his research team were able to penetrate some milf-controlled territories in maguindanao. conclusions to pave the way for a fuller acceptance of the islamic inheritance law and its more effective implementation, concerned authorities must work doubletime, on raising or increasing the public’s level of awareness/knowledge. this can be realized through a more vigorous, aggressive, well-supported sustained information drive. mass media can be put to good use -for example, radio and television programs that include interviews with experts, debates, lectures, panel discussion, and even dramatization of cases patterned after “kung may katuwiran, ipaglaban mo” or the soco files. academic institutions, madaris, and other schools in the armm could engage in collaborative outreach programs and other projects such as seminars, lecture series, symposia and conferences. the islamic inheritance law must be integrated with courses like political science, history, philosophy, sociology/ anthropology, cultural studies, public affairs, etc. as already mentioned, there must be a core knowledge drawn from the holy qur’an and the sunnah and this must be obligatory to all muslims, regardless of discipline or area of concentration. this core knowledge necessarily including inheritance matters should form part of the curriculum. the study and teaching of fiqh (islamic law) should not be conducted in isolation and discussed as abstract concepts; they should be linked to or bear on contemporary lives, with particular emphasis on islamic solutions as they must be applied in an integrated form in muslim society. in conclusion, concerted effort and much work remain to be done. obstacles to full acceptance and effective implementation (the dependent variable) must be removed by securing the public’s level of awareness/knowledge of the islamic inheritance law (independent variable) and, perhaps, more important, deepening filipino muslims’ faith by learning more about islam. as an oft-quoted ayah goes, 85 international peer reviewed journal in english translation: “allah (s.w.t.) will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (the holy qur’an, 13: 11). the findings of the study imply good auspices or encouraging prospects for fuller acceptance and more effective implementation of the islamic inheritance law. these have also revealed enormous problems that are not, however, insoluble, thus, do not have to continue militating against full acceptance of the law and its effective implementation. as said, problems or issues have been identified and isolated years back, no one should ask for acquittal or absolution from responsibility. in fact, not a few believe or suspect that the islamic inheritance law as codified in the muslim code of the philippines was framed posthaste. the undue rush could account for “insertions” or “inclusions” that should not have been there. however, critics of the law, of whatever situation, should hold themselves accountable and responsible. the more thoughtful could only ponder why no serious comprehensive review of the law has been earlier undertaken, given the identified questionable provisions of the law. identification of the imperfections or blemishes in the law should have served as a strategic starting point. to use an idiomatic expression, “the ball is in our court.” this cue is enough. addressing or acting on these problems ought to have been carried out a long time ago. flaws, weaknesses or infirmities have continued to be deplored and, in fact, been the subject of interminable discussion. this is precisely the problem. it has been all words abetted by this attitude captured in the words “it’s better than nothing.” there is now no excuse for further procrastination. the task of reviewing, correcting and polishing the law must be assumed by experts of fiqh (islamic law), usul al-fiqh (islamic jurisprudence), and traditions of prophet muhammad (s.a.w.) and shari’ah scholars. the ultimate reference is the holy qur’an. this is an area of agreement among all muslims. in fact, the holy qur’anic principles or rulings are the only incontrovertibly binding ones as far as the prophet (s.a.w.) and his followers were concerned. he was careful to distinguish in his rulings or judgments between those instructions that he gave as messenger of allah (s.w.t.), hence, as divine revelation, and those he rendered on his own authority. the discoveries made in the study cannot be taken lightly. a thoughtful review of the law is the only logical and practical basis for a possible revision or amendment. such a review must undeviatingly refer to the primary sources, the holy qur’an and sunnah. 86 jpair multidisciplinary research while the experts work on the “infirmed” text of the law, other stakeholders must work out strategies for an effective information dissemination campaign focused on the provisions derived from the holy qur’an. as stated earlier, there are thirty-five verses of the holy qur’an which refer to mirath or its derivatives in one form or the other. as the contents of the holy qur’an can never be abrogated, what these verses stipulate are final and can be, and should be, in fact, learned by all muslims. once the experts are done with their task of purging the islamic inheritance law of “impurities,” the latter takes over. the entire society must be involved, and work in concert. if there is any vital lesson learned from the framing of the islamic inheritance law, it is the lack of cooperation, unity, democratic participation and consultation. a task as central or pivotal as crafting a piece of major legislation as the inheritance law, like war, should not be left to the generals or experts, to borrow the words of clemenceau. after all, it is the general public that will be affected by whatever law is created. translational research the results of the study will provide adequate knowledge, skills and information on the part of school administrators, policy-makers including   judges and shariah courts to encourage   them craft and design a program on the   islamic inheritance law under pd 1083. this process can be achieved by means of: 1) holding conference/seminar-workshops among deans/directors, faculty, staff and students in the main campus and external units to enlighten them of the significance and importance of pd 1083, 2) serves as a legal basis for possible integration in curricula offerings in accordance with cm no. 46, s. 2012 guidelines which are beneficial to the students to assert their rights and obligations as muslim, 3) give first-hand information of law students tantamount to increase their knowledge in preparation to take the bar and shariah bar examination, 4) provide copies to the supreme court and court of appeals for their reference materials in deciding cases relating to pd 1083 among others.  87 international peer reviewed journal literature cited alangca-azis, j.( 2013). the meranaw view on language of ridu negotiation. mindanao state university. marawi city. babbie, e. r. ( 2007). the practice of social research. cengage learning. belmont, ca. : thomson wadsworth. retrived on july 28, 2016 from http:// www.worldcat.org/title/practice-of-social-research/oclc/318408193 bin sulong, j. (2014). the implications of religious conversion towards muslim inheritance under malaysian law. retrieved on july 28, 2016 from http:// www.ijlass.org/data/frontimages/gallery/vol._2_no._9/13._122-135.pdf creswell, j. w. (2009). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches: sage publication. retrieved on july 28, 2016 from https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ebogaqaaqbaj&oi= fnd&pg=pr1&dq=creswell,+j.+w.+(2009).+research+design:+qualitative ,+quantitative,+and+mixed+methods+approaches&ots=cahqwsraa7&si g=ongvhrbannh5pxdzb2k6_fabto0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false hussain, j. (2011).  islam: its law and society  (vol. 3). sydney: federation press. retrieved on july 28, 2016 from https://books.google.com.au/ books?id=1d5r_t7ev7sc&source=gbs_book_other_versions kvale, s. (1996). an introduction to qualitative research interviewing: sage publications. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from https://scholar.google.com.ph/ scholar?q=kvale%2c+s.+%281996%29.+an+introduction+to+qualitative +research+interviewing&btng=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c5 presidential decree no. 1083 code of muslim personal laws of the philippines. retrieved on july 18, 2016 from http://pcw.gov.ph/law/ presidential-decree-no-1083 sonbol, a. e. a. (1996). women, the family, and divorce laws in islamic history. syracuse university press. retrieved on july 28, 2016 from https://books. google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fg4iakrektuc&oi=fnd&pg=pr9& dq=sonbol,+a.+e.+a.+(1996).+women,+the+family,+and+divorce+laws+ in+islamic+history.+&ots=jcsnjptrhn&sig=axvluw8yl5finmfkzqnj2t 88 jpair multidisciplinary research hdjae&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=sonbol%2c%20a.%20e.%20a.%20 (1996).%20women%2c%20the%20family%2c%20and%20divorce%20 laws%20in%20islamic%20history.&f=false tawagon, m. r. the pengampong: multiple sultanates of lanao. marawi city: marawi state university. mindanao journal: vol. xvi. nos. 1-4. 19891990. retrieved on july 28, 2016 from file:///c:/users/executive%20editor/ downloads/13-stories-of-islamic-leadership.pdf zuleika, a., & desinthya, n. p. (2014). islamic inheritance law (faraid) and its economic implication.  tazkia islamic finance and business review,8(1). retrieved on august 28, 2016 from http://tifbr-tazkia.org/index.php/ tifbr/article/view/64/89 25 international peer reviewed journal perceptions and achievement in electrochemistry using flipped classroom model dexter c. necor https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5592-388x dextercnecor@gmail.com sultan kudarat state university (sksu) access, ejc montilla, tacurong city, sultan kudarat, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the potential of flipped classroom instruction was undertaken to enhance the performance of students in learning electrochemistry. this study was to investigate the effects of the flipped classroom model (fcm) on students’ performance in electrochemistry as well as their general perceptions. the study used a quasi-experimental method that utilized pre-test-post-test nonequivalent groups design. students’ perception of fcm was based on a questionnaire. results of the independent t-test noted that there was a significant difference between the two groups (t (26) =-2.281, p-value=0.031). the results suggested that the flipped classroom group and conventional classroom group are incomparable in terms of performance in electrochemistry after the intervention. the experimental group has a medium gain while control group has a low gain as reflected by the normalized gain (hake factor) values of 0.45 (sd = 8.32) and 0.22 (sd = 6.48), respectively. this only means that flipped classroom instruction has a generally positive effect on the achievement of students in learning electrochemistry. the students’ perceptions were positive. students perceived that fcm helped them understand the concepts in electrochemistry easily. they also vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.699 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 26 jpair multidisciplinary research suggested that fcm was enjoyable, timely and engaging. lastly, the majority of the students agreed about the use of flipped classroom instruction as an effective way to learn electrochemistry. keywords — electrochemistry, flipped classroom model, quasiexperimental design, quantitative and qualitative research, perception, achievement, philippines introduction electrochemistry is one of the most important topics in chemistry. electrochemistry involves a large variety of problems such as balancing redox reactions; electrochemical cells; standard electrode potentials (e0); nernst equation; electrolysis; and corrosion. additionally, strong mathematical operations are necessary to solve electrochemistry problems in which students prove hard to do (tsaparlis, 2014). indeed, electrochemistry topped as one of the most difficult topics for high school students and even in university level (treagust, 2002, lin, yang, chiu, & chou, 2002, finley, stewart & yarroch, 1982; johnstone & mahmoud, 1980) since an understanding of all these topics is needed to adequately understand electrochemical phenomena (corriveau, 2011). the voltaic and electrolytic cells are difficult to understand because these topics are abstract and the process itself is invisible to the eye, while only the effect is observable (corriveau, 2011). in the investigation of pre-service chemistry teachers conducted by ekiz, kutucu, akkus, and boz (2011) it was revealed that teachers could not even distinguish electrolytic cells from galvanic cells. pre-service teachers could not even have distinguished the electrodes as anode and cathode in electrolytic cells, so they could not predict the product of the electrolysis correctly. the same result was also observed to university students (ekiz, kutucu, akkus, & boz, 2011). from this difficulty, teachers should find ways to improve the conceptual knowledge and algorithmic ability of the students. one possibility is the use of varied teaching strategies such as the integration of technology. in addition, the use of varied activities such as visualizing and multimedia tools; smallgroup discussions; and concept mapping have a vital positive outcome in improving their achievement (necor, 2018). several researchers reported success with dispelling student misconceptions by utilizing computer animations showing particle movement in voltaic and electrolytic cells (acar & tarhana, 2007; 27 international peer reviewed journal sanger & greenbowe, 1997b) will ease the difficulty of the students. likewise, sanger and greenbowe (2000) believed that novice learners should be prompted to watch relevant details to maximize their learning experience while using computer animation. teachers must take on the challenge of utilizing technology to commit to a paradigm shift, from a teacher-centered to a student-centered learning style, focusing not on how to teach, but how to facilitate learning. students must be taught how to learn, so that they can continually learn on their own, even outside the classroom setting and throughout their lives (perso, 2007 & allan, 2007). ergo, the flipped classroom model may help establish in improving both conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of the students. flipped classroom model is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. short video lectures were viewed by students at home or outside classes before the class discussion at their pacing, while the in-class time it is devoted to exercises, assessments, or discussions. gayate and caballes (2017) proposed that a successful flipped classroom involves detailed planning. teachers are instructed to start small and it is unnecessary to flip the whole course. choosing a unit that the students find challenging is usually best-suited for flipping (wolf & chan; 2016). they further suggested that flipped classroom instruction facilitates the transformation of the pre-existing incorrect knowledge to a scientific one. from this aspect, the flipped classroom can be viewed as conceptual change and constructivist teaching approach that effectively provides a learning environment in which students use their knowledge actively, construct their views about science, and develop critical thinking (gayate & caballes, 2017). flipped classroom also creates a learning environment that provides students opportunities to change their incorrect conceptions to scientific conceptions (bunce, 2015). in asia, the potential of flipped classroom is not only fueled the necessity for more resources to be channeled. it can also be of special value to schools with a strong international culture worldwide (joanne & lateef, 2014). joanne and lateef (2014) further cited to encourage schools of all levels and disciplines in asia to take the plunge and test out flipped classroom instruction. in the study conducted by ruddick (2012) in college chemistry, preparatory course revealed that students under flipped classroom have higher grades compared to conventional lecture sections. the students outperformed the standard lecture-based students, with higher final exam scores and overall success in class. she also added that flipped classroom is more interesting and feel less humiliated in chemistry class, and online videos 28 jpair multidisciplinary research and powerpoint materials are useful (herreid and schiller, 2013). teaching flipped classroom supports chemistry laboratory experiments conducted by teo et al., (2014) provided teachers with great flexibility over the classroom time as students have time to engage lesson content at a deeper level. the widespread use of “flipped (or inverted) classroom model” in science education is fairly a new pedagogical teaching strategies to address students’ difficulty in electrochemistry. the demand to establish a higher quality of student learning in the tertiary sector is synonymous with the acquisition of a deep level approach to an understanding amongst our students. however, recent research concluded that traditional teacher-centered learning models are more likely to result in surfacelevel learning. additionally, research indicates that higher quality learning is more likely to come from a more student-centered approach to study (entwistle, 1998). electrochemistry exhibited as the most difficult topic in chemistry along with several algorithmic problems and misconceptions. thus, the potential of flipped classroom instruction steer problem-solving skills prompted the researcher to undertake this study. this study was conducted to respond to the challenge of a continuous search for a more meaningful and relevant science learning strategies, which is beneficial to students and teachers. framework figure 1. the conceptual framework of the study chemistry involves both algorithmic (and problem-solving) and conceptual understanding skills which are important ability in the quantitative problems, 29 international peer reviewed journal particularly in electrochemistry. electrochemistry ranked as one of the most difficult topics in chemistry for both high school and college-level students. this is also apparent to some chemistry teachers. in studying electrochemistry, students need to understand both microscopically and macroscopically. these were both abstract to students, which latter affects their conceptual understanding and problem-solving performance. bergman and sams (2002) suggested that the flipped classroom model is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space. the resulting group learning space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. currently, flipping the classroom has become an increasingly popular approach for college students. the role of a teacher changes from a lecturer and a deliverer to learning content coach, guiding students through a series of engaging and experiential learning activities. bergman and sams (2002), authors of flipped classroom suggested that this is beneficial to students and professionals’ development setting particularly those who are busy, as videos can be viewed at a convenient time whether at home, workplace, or mobile device while traveling. the flipped classroom has gained high reputation in recent years and has been used in teaching chemistry classes to enhance conceptual understanding and algorithmic skills. the students under flipped classroom performed better in all tests and quizzes; outperformed the standard lecture-based students; more interested and feel less intimated; supports chemistry laboratory experiments with great flexibility; and a significant increase between in the sequential exams. objectives of the study this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model in students’ achievement in electrochemistry among freshmen civil engineering students and to determine the general perceptions of the students on the use of flipped classroom model. methodology research design this research used a quasi-experimental design, utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods of research. the instruments were administered directly 30 jpair multidisciplinary research to two intact classes, which were flipped classroom (experimental group) and conventional classroom (control group). data were gathered through the use of different instruments such as results of the achievement tests, and students’ perceptions in the flipped classroom model. the study was carried out in two-intact classes. all respondents were freshmen of civil engineering students. matching the respondents was determined using lawson’s classroom test of scientific reasoning (lctsr, 2000) to determine the student’s cognitive level. there were 14 respondents in both groups who matched, each of them represented in the transitional reasoning. it was pointed out that not all students in the same class were part of the analysis. however, all the instruments were administered to all students in the two classes and they were not aware who is included or not included in the study. additionally, a readiness test about prerequisite topics in electrochemistry was administered to examine the prior knowledge of the students. this result obtained will disclose if a review of the prerequisite concepts was necessary prior to the discussion of electrochemistry. the classes were handled by the researcher in the entire semester. instrumentation a) electrochemistry achievement tests (eat) (post-test) this test serves as a basis of student’s achievement in learning electrochemistry after the intervention was administered to both the experimental and control group. the test was prepared by the researcher and was adapted from existing item banks and instruments. the test is a multiple-choice with four options. the topics included are balancing redox reaction (acidic and basic solution); galvanic cell; standard reduction potential (e°); battery; corrosion and electrolysis. this test was content-validated by a panel of chemistry teachers who validated the readiness test. reliability test was tested using the test-retest method. b) survey questionnaire on students’ perceptions on flipped classroom instruction this survey questionnaire was used to assess students’ perception of the effect of flipped classroom instruction in learning electrochemistry using a likert-scale. the survey questions were adapted from gayeta (2017) with slight modification was administered at the end of the course. data gathering 31 international peer reviewed journal the study started with the selection of freshmen civil engineering classes taught by the same teacher. one of the two classes was randomly assigned as the experimental group, and the other as the control group through coin tossing. the lawson’s classroom test of scientific reasoning (lctsr) 2000 was administered for matching and classified as concrete (empirical-inductive) reasoning (ei); transitional reasoning (tr); or as formal operational (hypothetical-deductive) (hd) reasoning depending on their results. it was pointed out that not all students in the same class were part of the analysis. however, all the instruments were administered to all students in the two classes and they were unaware who was included/not included in the study. a readiness test was administered in both groups to determine whether a review of these prerequisite concepts was needed to teach before teaching the core topics in electrochemistry. the intervention ran for only 16 hours of the first semester. after which, both groups took the post-test. the researcher used a pre-test and post-test scores of students of both groups to assess the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model. flipped classroom instruction model (fcm) a flipped classroom instruction (fcm) was an intervention instruction used in the study. in the flipped classroom model, students did not experience “live” lectures but they are required to watch videos, recordings, and presentation prior to class discussion and activities outside the class. the students can browse, watch or listen to the videos several times. students are expected to do assignments and encouraged to review course materials, including online screencasts, prior to coming to the class. the topics were mirrored to those of the lectures that were delivered in the conventional class. the video lecture content was on various topics in electrochemistry. a total of 25 video lectures were posted over the course and overall lecture time was reduced compared to the conventional classroom setting. all the videos were downloaded from youtube by the researcher. varied videos were used based on the researcher’s time limits and/or preferences for a specific lesson. in the experimental group, each student is required to register in the google classroom prepared by the researcher. a google classroom was created wherein the students can browse, watch or listen to the recordings and videos for several times. the students came to class with notes they had taken while watching the pre-recorded lectures and videos. some students may bring questions or clarifications by writing on flipped classroom student checklist to class and 32 jpair multidisciplinary research these were addressed immediately during discussions. to help track students’ attendance, an assignment was given to each of several videos. the questions in the assignments were anchored on the video/s. the primary purposes of this are to motivate students to watch the video before coming to class. note: for those students who do not have online access, a flash drive was used per lesson as suggested by bergman and sams (2002). by the end of the experiment, the sum of all the quizzes, worksheets, and assignments accounted for 25%, 15%, and 10% of their total grade, respectively. during the class the implementation of a flipped classroom instruction during the class session was adapted from ferri (2014). at the beginning of the class, the instructor leads the class discussion, beginning with soliciting questions held by the students or by checking the flipped classroom checklist. the instructor was careful not to review the material in the video lesson again simply. the purpose of the discussion is to get feedback on what was not understood or to give deeper explanations. after which, students were given a formative assessment such as a mixture of recitation, active learning, problem-solving, and activities. during the class, the students are not allowed to browse their laptops or smart mobile phones during formative assessments. students were encouraged to work by a partner, or by group depending on the tasks and activities. across the sections, tests were completed on the same day and at the same time. students’ formative assessments; activities; and homework were checked and recorded properly. data analyses the effectiveness of fcm in learning electrochemistry was determined by gain scores from pre-test to post-test (eat). an independent two-sample t-test at 5% level of significance was used. analysis of covariance (ancova) was also used to determine if a significant difference existed between the post-test scores of students in both groups. pre-test scores of both groups served as the covariate to eliminate the effects of the prior knowledge before the treatment. thus, the improvement in the post-test scores of the experimental group could be solely attributed to the use of flipped classroom instruction. additionally, results of pre-test and post-test were subsequently analyzed using the hake factor test (normalized gain). it was used to measure the effectiveness of flipped classroom instruction in the students’ performance in electrochemistry. descriptive equivalents and verbal description for hake factor test results were presented in table 1. 33 international peer reviewed journal table 1. descriptive equivalents for the hake factor test results formula scale range verbal description 0.71-1.00 high gain 0.31-0.70 medium gain 0.10-0.30 low gain lastly, students’ perceptions of the effect of flipped classroom instruction were determined. composite mean scores were used to interpret as strongly agree; agree; neither agree nor disagree; disagree; or strongly disagree. statements were then ranked, from highest to lowest based on weighted mean scores. students’ answers will be transcribed, analyzed, and evaluated using mean scores as shown in table 2. interview prompt was also conducted to clarify further students’ view on a flipped classroom environment strategy using semi-structured questions. in the study, five students were selected to be interviewed. their consent was asked before the conduct of the interview. table 2. rubric in converting mean score to students’ perception under the flipped classroom model mean score verbal interpretation 4.50 5.00 strongly agree 3.50 – 4.49 agree 2.50 – 3.49 neither agree or disagree 1.50 – 2.49 disagree 0.00 – 1.49 strongly disagree the statistical packages for social sciences, spss version 25.0 software was used in analyzing the data. semi-structured interview after the treatment was completed, the researcher prepared questions from the existing researches about the students’ perceptions in the used of flipped classroom model instruction. a total of five students participated in the faceto-face interview using a semi-structured interview consisting of 3 males and 2 females. the interviews were audio-recorded, and the duration of these interviews ranged from 10 to 13 minutes. to reveal the opinions of the participants about the fcm, the following questions were asked during the interview.  34 jpair multidisciplinary research • how much study time (how many hours) per week did you allocate for your out-of-class lessons? • what are the ways did you do to learn the topics outside the classroom? • what are the positive aspects of the flipped classroom for you? • what are the topics in electrochemistry that is difficult or confusing? • does flipped classroom help you understand this topic easily? • what are the problems you have encountered in flipped classroom model? • what solutions can you suggest to address these problems? results and discussion effects of flipped classroom on student achievement the results of the post-test are shown in table 3. it revealed that the experimental group (mean=19.21, sd=3.21) is statistically higher than the control group (mean=16.36, sd=3.41). this denotes that there was a significant difference between the two groups (t (26) =-2.281, p-value=0.031). the results suggested that the flipped classroom group and conventional classroom group are incomparable in terms of performance in electrochemistry after the intervention. table 3. descriptive statistics of post-test score on electrochemistry achievement test group n mean pre-test sd t df sig (2-tailed) conventional classroom 14 16.36 3.41 -2.281 26 .031 flipped classroom 14 19.21 3.21 to further analysis the pre-test/post-test scores statistically from different groups, an ancova was done where the pre-test as a covariate. this test was used to find out if the experimental group achieved better than the control group. table 4 shows the descriptive statistics comparing the post-test mean scores of the two groups. 35 international peer reviewed journal table 4. descriptive analysis of the post-test scores of the two groups group mean std. deviation n control 16.36 3.41 14 experimental 19.21 3.21 14 total 17.79 3.56 28 table 4 revealed that the mean score of the experimental group is higher at 19.21 (sd=3.21) than that of the control group at 16.36 (sd=3.41) with a total mean score of 17.79. to compare further, ancova on both post-test scores of two groups with the pre-test scores as a covariate as shown in table 5. it revealed that the pre-test scores were equal across two groups to their performance in the post-test of f (1, 26) =.104 and p<.750. this denotes that the data of this study fulfill the ancova assumptions that the pre-test scores must be proportionately related to the dependent variable (post-test scores). table 5. analysis of covariance (ancova) results of the posttest performance of students with their pre-test scores as covariate source type iii sum of squares df mean square f sig (p-value) pre-test 13.722 1 13.722 1.262 .272 group 70.14 1 70.14 6.451 .018 s error 271.85 25 10.87 r2 = .207 (adjusted r2 = .143); p<.05 moreover, table 5 revealed that both groups had a significant effect on their performance in the post-test with f (1, 25) = 6.451 and p = .018. this disclosed that there is a significant difference between the adjusted post-test mean scores of the experimental and control groups after controlling for the influence that their pre-test scores may have on their post-test scores. based on the mean scores, flipped classroom performed better than those in conventional classroom instruction in learning electrochemistry. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research table 6. comparison of students’ achievement exposed to flipped classroom instruction and conventional instruction (hake factor) group pre-test post-test g sd interpretation flipped 0.12 0.69 0.45 8.32 medium gain conventional 0.17 0.56 0.22 6.48 low gain to further assess the effectiveness of the instructional treatment for each of the group, average normalized gains were calculated for each group. it revealed that the experimental group has a medium gain while control group has a low gain as reflected by the normalized gain (hake factor) values of 0.45 (sd = 8.32) and 0.22 (sd = 6.48), respectively. this only means that flipped classroom instruction is effective in achievement in learning electrochemistry. ruddick (2012) used a flipped classroom for college chemistry preparatory course. he found out that students under a flipped classroom have higher grades compared to regular lecture sections. additionally, a flipped classroom model in teaching cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal physiology in graduate students conducted by tune, sturek, and basile (2013) showed scored significantly higher than in a traditional classroom. their findings supported that a flipped classroom model is highly effective instruction in disseminating key physiological concepts to graduate students. flipping the classroom in introductory biology lecture course was also conducted by marcey and brint (2012). it exhibited that flipped-class students performed better in all tests and quizzes. there was also a significant increase between the sequential exams compared to the students in the traditional lecture section (love, hodge, grandgenett, & swift 2014). in the study conducted by yestrebsky (2015) it showed that the percentage of high final grades increased in the test group compared to the control group. fautch (2015) also found out that students showed increased comprehension of the material and appeared to improve their performance on summative assessments or exams in organic chemistry. the students became more noticeably passionate about the subject. fautch (2015) also added that flipping the organic chemistry classroom may help students take more ownership of their learning. bergman & sams (2002) considered that flipped classroom is a pedagogical approach that moves course content from the classroom to homework, and uses class time for engaging activities and instructor-guided problem-solving. finally, it revealed that in a flipped class, students’ misconceptions were addressed, the concepts from the video lectures were applied to problems, and students were challenged to think beyond given examples (fautch, 2015). a flipped classroom can be 37 international peer reviewed journal viewed as conceptual change and constructivist teaching approach that effectively provides a learning environment in which students use their knowledge actively, construct their views about science, and develop critical thinking (gayate & caballes, 2017). students’ perception of the used of flipped classroom model in learning electrochemistry the students’ perceptions in a flipped classroom instruction were obtained and analyzed. this provides meaningful feedbacks regarding flipped classroom instruction, which are of vital importance in decision making for future use. table 7 presents students’ description of their perceptions in learning electrochemistry in a flipped classroom environment. table 7. students’ perception of the use of the flipped classroom model in learning electrochemistry description mean verbal interpretation rank the flipped classroom… 1. was enjoyable and interesting method of teaching. 4.25 agree 3.5 2. helped me understand concepts in electrochemistry easily. 4.32 agree 1 3. increased my appreciation in learning electrochemistry. 4.18 agree 6 4. helped me gain a clearer understanding of the lesson. 4.11 agree 9 5. encouraged me to study independently. 4.14 agree 7.5 6. made me more mentally active in the learning process. 4.00 agree 13.5 7. was an appropriate strategy in learning chemistry effectively. 4.00 agree 13.5 8. made me use my study time more essentially. 4.14 agree 7.5 9. helped me develop a positive attitude towards chemistry. 4.25 agree 3.5 10. helped me develop my study habits at home. 4.29 agree 2 11. gives me greater opportunities to communicate with other students. 4.07 agree 10.5 12. is more engaging than traditional classroom instruction. 4.21 agree 5 13. should be used by other teachers to teach other topics in the future. 4.07 agree 10.5 38 jpair multidisciplinary research 14. was able to choose how much i want to learn in a given period. 4.04 agree 12 15. was able to decide when i want to learn. 3.93 agree 15 composite mean 4.14 agree as disclosed in table 7.0, the fifteen statements describing the flipped classroom instruction have a composite mean value of 4.14, which means that the respondents agreed to most of the statements. students found flipped classroom helped them understand the concepts in electrochemistry easily as shown in figure 2. figure 2. student e#8. sample comments in flipped classroom instruction. they also perceived that flipped classroom improves their critical thinking and they learned independently as shown in figure 3. figure 3. student e#5. student comments in a flipped classroom instruction additionally, they also recommend flipped classroom instruction to another subject as shown in figure 4. figure 4. student e#28. sample comments in a flipped classroom. murray, kozniec, and mcgill (2015) found out that the general perception of the students was a positive approach, particularly the convenience and flexibility 39 international peer reviewed journal of the flipped videos. they also added that the students felt they had interacted more with their instructor’s face. certainly, the flipped classroom model has positive statements based on the composite mean scores. these findings are similar to the study of weaver and sturtevant’s (2015) who used flipped classroom instruction at purde university over three years. likewise, swinburne et al., (2014) also found out that students preferred the flipped approach over traditional face-to-face delivery and reported increased engagement, satisfaction, and learning outcomes. moore and chung (2015) also used flipped classroom model in mathematics class. they found out that flipped classroom could be a motivating factor in learning mathematics. moore and chung (2015) further revealed that the perceptions and attitudes of the students were generally positive in the flipped classroom environment. the students were motivated to use the web-based instructional videos to prepare for their expected learning outcomes. this is also likewise affirmed by lo and hew (2017) that most of the students were able to handle advanced learning problems collaboratively. indeed, their test results confirmed an improvement in their learning. furthermore, from the student interviews, most of the students reported that flipped classroom model facilitated their learning. the students could pause the video clip so that they would have enough time to think about the material or take notes. some students may feel embarrassed to interrupt their teacher during the lecture even though they cannot follow the lecture. but in flipped classroom, watching the instructional videos makes it possible for every student to learn at their own pace (hamdam et al., 2013). however, some students commented that “we cannot ask a question immediately while watching a video.” similar comments were also reported in wanner and palmer’s flipped classroom. they recommended that a discussion forum should be provided for students and teacher to communicate with each other. teachers may also arrange virtual office hours to hold live online chats with students who seek help. from online surveys, focus groups, and informal discussion from students conducted by hunley (2016) discovered that majority of students do prefer an fcm to a traditional classroom lecture as an additional tool or resource to access material for school. students mentioned that classmates who have access to videos but opt not viewing the videos outside of class are frustration. semi-structured interview albeit not part of the original research questions, the students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom are an invaluable resource to teachers envisioning a shift 40 jpair multidisciplinary research to a flipped classroom instruction. a face-to-face interview was conducted to five selected students in experimental group (e#30, e#21, e#28, e#13, and e#27) using a semi-structured question. this provides in-depth reasoning and perception of the students about learning electrochemistry using flipped classroom model. the following questions were asked and answered by the selected students. the selected students were aware and voluntarily submitted themselves for a face-to-face interview. in the semi-structured interview which immediately followed by the informal interview, these were the findings: a) the respondents were asked about allotted time to study in chemistry. majority of the respondents spent at least 3-4 hours per week to study chemistry lessons before coming to class. they also added that they studied a day before the class particularly if a quiz will be given. b) the respondents were also asked the ways on how to study chemistry. majority of them used jotting notes, reviewing the lessons after classes or they studied by peers. c) the respondents were also asked about the advantages of fcm. student e#30 suggested that fcm gave him a lot of time to learn certain topics and made her easier to understand the lessons. e#21 also commented that this could be another source to understand the topics aside from the discussion of the teacher and the classes is enough because he already has prior knowledge before coming to class. so, in class, it’s a matter of checking and reviewing the concepts that he doesn’t understand while watching the videos at home. e#28 also added that it provides more collaboration and engagement. additionally, e#13 through watching the videos it provides thorough discussion that a teacher might forget during lecture and in the videos, it provides more and varied example problems while in lecture, the examples are only limited. lastly, e#27 said that using fcm it enables the student to study independently at his/her pacing. it could provide an avenue to re-watch the videos at any time. overall, the respondents strongly agreed that fcm was very helpful to understand the topics easily. d) the selected students also believed in some drawbacks of fcm. the respondents agreed that the most common problem of fcm is the lack of or limited online access. so, all of them recommended that the school must provide a strong internet connection. another problem that raised in fcm is that some videos are not well organized in presenting to the 41 international peer reviewed journal solutions of the sample problem and also the accent of the presenter. consequently, they recommended that a teacher should make his/her videos or a subtitle can suffice this problem. as proposed by the students, they considered that flipped classroom could be a platform for effective learning, particularly in electrochemistry. they have ample time and ready when inside the class because of the prior knowledge acquired outside the class. furthermore, they also suggested that this strategy should be used by other subjects. flipping the classroom will not likely change how students learn or change the student’s attitudes towards education. however, if used properly and in conjunction with a variety of other instructional methods, it can be an invaluable resource for many students who struggle with traditional education (bell, 2015). one aspect of the flipped classroom that is challenging is access to online to provide ample material for students. thus, students recommended that the school must provide a strong internet connection. another difficult aspect of the flipped classroom is ensuring a high quality of instruction in each video particularly on the use of accent. some students have difficulty to figure out the videos because of the accent. they recommended that the teacher should make his/her videos or a subtitle might suffice this problem. conclusions results showed that flipped classroom model performed better compared to the conventional classroom in terms of the mean score after the intervention. statistical data shows that the flipped classroom model group is significantly higher than the conventional group. it is therefore concluded that flipped classroom model is effective in increasing the achievement in learning electrochemistry of the students. majority of the students agreed about the use of flipped classroom instruction as an effective way to learn electrochemistry. this study affirmed the students appreciate a diverse approach to teaching, learning, and showing what they know. with the advances of new educational technologies and social media, the options to provide a rich learning experience for today’s students may be limitless. the flipped classroom model is one-method teachers should consider as a vehicle to expose students to relevant technological learning resources. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of this study could be used by the teachers to reflect on their teaching experiences and encourage them to take a more active role in their professional development. nowadays, the growth and adaption of the integration of technology into teaching are exponentially rising which, paved away the conventional way the students were taught. hence, this study could provide insights on different ways of integrating new pedagogy and contentbased to encourage students to use critical thinking skills to solve curricularbased differentiated level problems. the use of flipped classroom model provides a platform from which students can take charge of their learning and gives both students and teachers the ability to develop higher-level critical thinking skills in a problem-posing student-centered learning environment. this will also a potential to be an effective and beneficial method of science education particularly in stem courses and in university level which manifested benefits in teaching-learning in science and math courses. consequently, the flipped classroom will help curriculum developers and course program writers in planning electrochemistry under stem or at university level perspective. literature cited acar, b., & tarhan, l. 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(2015). flipping the classroom in a large chemistry class-research university environment. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 191, 11131118. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.370 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.370 28 jpair multidisciplinary research the performance of teachers of indigenous pupils domingo c. edaño http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1688-976x domscedano88@yahoo.com president ramon magsaysay state university iba, zambales, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the study aimed to determine the factors affecting the teaching performance of school teachers handling indigenous students in public elementary schools in botolan district, division of zamblaes, during s.y 2017-2018. the study revealed that the teacher-respondents perceived “often” on psychological and educational factors while “sometimes” on sociological, supervisory assistance and economical as factors affecting teaching performance. the teacher-respondents were rated “very satisfactory” in their teaching work performance. there are no significant differences in the perception towards psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economical as factors affecting teaching performance; and no relationship between the work performance and factors affecting work performance as psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economic factors, respectively. teachers are encouraged to explore multiple intelligences in order to improve a variety of traits and abilities for better teaching and learning process; the school should foster more the harmonious relationship and create a healthy working environment; to revisit curriculum for possible modification in order to meet the varying levels of ip’s abilities; to conduct seminars on human relation for better understanding on vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.722 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1688-976x https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 29 international peer reviewed journal social duties, interpersonal traits and relations with other people; and since there is no relationship between the teaching performance and the factors affecting the teaching performance; therefore, other studies along this line should be conducted using other variables. keywords — indigenous pupils, indigenous people school teachers, teacher performance, teacher efficacy, descriptive method, philippines introduction every indigenous people aim to reach the highest level of development. but before they can achieve this level of development, he must first be educated. education is one of the chief means of acquiring essential knowledge and skills and personal development. it becomes the instrument of the individual to survive, to progress, and to attain human success. more than two decades of experience in development and emergency response have shown how education can make a lasting difference in children’s lives. but education is not just good for children; it is good for the nation. investing in education isn’t just the right thing to do its smart economics. education can put people on a path towards good health, empowerment and employment. it can help to build more peaceful societies. and the benefits of girls’ education extends to their children who are often healthier and more educated because their mothers went to school. that is the reason why department of education strengthen and adopted the indigenous peoples education curriculum framework (deped order no. 32, s. 2015) which aims to provide guidance to schools and other education programs as they engage with indigenous communities in contextualizing the k to 12 curriculum based on their respective educational and social contexts (www. deped.gov.ph). as we can see the indigenous community is at stake through the training of the youth. the nation’s vast educational system is one total implicit pathway to train and empower the young minds of today‘s generation. in this transformation process, the teacher has a very important role in executing. many factors contribute to i.p pupils’ academic performance, including individual characteristics and family and neighborhood experiences. but research suggests that, among school-related factors, teachers matter most. when it comes to student performance, a teacher is estimated to have two to three times the impact of any other school factor, including services, facilities, and even leadership 30 jpair multidisciplinary research (www.rand.org). the success of the teaching-learning process depends to a large extent on the attitude of the teacher towards the teaching profession. coupled with a favorable attitude towards the profession is another factor that determines the efficiency of one’s exercise and performance roles. the execution of roles, duties and function necessitates the ability to interact with others and the competence to face distressing situations that may hamper the effective delivery of instruction. the teacher needs to possess the personality, attitudes, training, and communication skills to carry on the tasks effectively and efficiently (coe, aloisi, higgins & major, 2014). the teacher is the bridge between the learning process and the pupils. teacher efficacy is grounded in bandura’s social cognitive theory (1997; 1986; 1997), which roots human agency in the sense of self-efficacy. according to bandura (1997), self-efficacy beliefs motivate people toward specific actions in all aspects of their lives and therefore have predictive value. bandura identified two dimensions of selfefficacy: personal self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. personal efficacy is the “belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute expectancy is a judgment of the likely consequence such performances would produce.” effective teachers are primary fulcrum for student success. as with other professionals, teachers must acquire the confidence and belief (self-efficacy) that they can undertake a set of work-related tasks that encompass their field of endeavor—education. a strong sense of efficacy influences one’s choices, effort, perseverance, and resilience and is a well-documented aspect of effective teachers. the tasks of creating engaging learning environments that promote cognitive growth “rests heavily on the talents and self-efficacy of teachers.” along with various measures of teacher knowledge and skills, one component of teacher professional development (tpd) program evaluation is assessing teacher self-efficacy. mitzel (2002), states that each performance is the behavior of the teacher and she does in and out of the school classroom to promote student learning. it is a set of knowledge, abilities and beliefs that she/he possesses and brings to the self efficacy. according to bandura (1997), self-efficacy beliefs m profession. it resembles a teacher’s effectiveness and is a product of the interaction between certain teacher’s characteristics and teaching situations. in such contents, teachers allow the learners to maneuver their learning by allowing them to experiment, make decisions, evaluate, criticize and analyze concepts, ideas, problems and experiences. they must suite a passion for the subjects that they taught and genuine care for the i.p pupils with whom they worked. schools function as the vehicle in the transmission of knowledge, and 31 international peer reviewed journal of all of that transpires in the learning process. a great deal of work and activities in school is directly related to the development of attitudes. generally, teachers want their pupils to learn a reasonable attitude toward their fellowmen, pupil and composite of his milieu. nowadays, indigenous people education has been the object of numerous in-service training activities. the discussion centered on the approaches, strategies, or techniques that would enable the students to learn and acquire the needed skills while at the same time develop interest and love to their culture. hopefully, the effort would change the perception of others regarding the i.p pupils to cope up with other pupils in the lowland. indigenous people teacher may face a lot of adjustments to their culture and beliefs they must cope up and embrace them. this is the only way to enhance their learning and when they are fully educated, it would change the way they think to live. objectives of the study this study aimed to determine the factors affecting the teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers in public elementary schools in botolan district, division of zambales, during s.y 2017-2018. specifically, this study sought to describe how the following factors affect the performance of indigenous people school teachers as perceived by the respondents as to psychological, sociological factors, educational factors, supervision and assistance and economic factors; determine the level of teaching the performance of the teachers. social cognitive theory of bandura (1997) affirms that selfefficacy ground teacher evaluation. self-efficacy is a future-oriented belief about the level of competence a person expects to display in a given situation. when applied to teaching, this self-efficacy factor is generally known as personal teaching efficacy (pte). teachers with a high level of pte have confidence that they have adequate training or experience to develop strategies for overcoming obstacles to student learning. such teachers would expand great effort to reach goals, would persists longer in the face of adversity, and rebound from temporary setbacks to greater degree than teachers with low pte. and in outcome expectancy is when such teachers would expand great effort to reach goals in developing their students. methodology research design the researcher employed survey research using descriptive statistics. summary statistics reduce large amounts of information to a single figure, thereby allowing 32 jpair multidisciplinary research comparisons between two or more sets of data. the survey is used to describe characteristics of a  population  or phenomenon being studied. this method is the best because the nature of the research is documentary analysis, where facts, figures and data were already existing information. (shields, & rangarajan, 2013).further, this research design would be appropriate to use in this study since the factors that may affect the teaching performance of ip teachers need to be determined. research site the study was conducted in botolan zambales. it is a first class municipality in the province of zambales, philippines. botolan is the largest municipality in terms of land area in the province, located just as south of the provincial capital, iba. it is also known for its large aeta population, wherein most of them lived in the mountainous area including the location of eighteen ip school in botolan district. participants one hundred fourteen (114) indigenous people school teachers in all grade levels of all schools in botolan district was considered as respondents of the study. the researcher utilized the purposive sampling technique in choosing only those teachers teaching the ip’s as the respondents of the study. instrumentation the questionnaire was the main instrument used in gathering the needed data. the survey instrument was adopted from the study of mr. jesus umipig entitled “factors affecting the teaching performance of mathematics teachers in zone ii, division of zambales”. to ensure content reliability of the instrument, the questionnaire was validated by ten (10) experts with expertise on the field. computed reliability score was 4.62 interpreted as “highly reliable”. the questionnaire consisted of two parts, part i elicits personal information about the teacher-respondents on areas as age, sex civil status, highest educational attainment, length of service, teaching position and eligibility; and part ii gathers data to determine and describe the factors affecting the teaching performance of the teacher-respondents. the researcher had asked the permission for approval from the office of division superintendent of division of zambales, dr. zenia mostoles before distribution of the questionnaire to the teacher respondents. a letter was likewise was prepared for as to the manner of distribution and retrieval of the instrument. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/statistical_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/patricia_m._shields 33 international peer reviewed journal data analysis to interpret the data effectively, the researcher had employed statistical treatment: percentage, mean and pearson chi-square totest significant differences on the perception towards factors affecting the performance of indigenous people school teacher and test significant relationship between the factors affecting the teaching performance and the level of teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers in botolan district results and discussion the frequency and percentage distribution on the respondent’s profile of age, sex, highest educational attainment, length of service and ethnicity is shown in table 1. out of one hundred fourteen (114) teacher-respondents, there were 53 or equivalent to 46.50% are from age group of 21-30 years old; 33 or 28.90%, 31-40 years old; 22 or 19.30%, 41-50 years old; 5 or 4.40%, 51-60 years old and only 1 or 0.90% from 61 years old and above the computed mean age of the teacherrespondents was 33.35 years. the respondents are considered relatively young in their early adulthood stage. this observation is similar to the study of cruzado (2017) where respondents were on the same age groupings. there were 21 or equivalent to 18.40% are males and 93 or 81.60% are females. thus, majority of the teacher-respondents are females. this finding is similar to the study of lingat (2017) on supervisory practices in botolan district where females dominates in the study. there were 39 or equivalent 34.20% are graduates of bachelor in elementary education; 7 or 6.10%, bachelor in secondary education; 12 or 10.50%, bachelor in secondary education with 18 units in elementary education; 44 or 38.60%, bachelor in elementary education with masteral units; 9 or 7.90%, bachelor in secondary education with masteral units; and 3 or 2.60% others like graduates of computer education. richards and farrell (2005) also emphasize the significance of ongoing teacher development for inservice practitioners to become acquainted with the most recent resources and methodologies. there were 58 or equivalent 50.90% had already serve in the teaching profession for 5-10 years; 21 or 18.40%, 11-15 years; 9 or 7.90%, 1620 years; 16 or 14.00%, 21-25 years ; 4 or 3.50%, 26-30 years and 6 or 5.30% had served teaching the indigenous people for 31 years and above. the computed mean years in teaching service was 13.83 years. the dominance of the teachers who served for 1-5 years is similar to the study of pascua (2017) on out of filed 34 jpair multidisciplinary research teaching in relation to the teachers’ work performance in zone 4, division of zambales. there were 75 or equivalent 65.80% belong to indigenous ethnic group while 39 or 34.20% are non-indigenous people. demonstrate on the table that majority in the study are indigenous people teaching the indigenous pupils. according to them, they have blood line of being “aeta” and they loved to serve their own people. they better understand the culture and have more compassion to them. table 1. frequency and percentage distribution on respondents profile variables profile variables frequency percentage age mean=33.35 years old 21-30 53 46.50 31-40 33 28.90 41-50 22 19.30 51-60 5 4.40 61 above 1 .90 sex male 21 18.40 female 93 81.60 highest educational attainment beed 39 34.20 bse 7 6.10 bse + 18 units in beed 12 10.50 beed + masteral units 44 38.60 bse + masteral units 9 7.90 others 3 2.60 length of service mean=13.83 years 5-10 58 50.90 11-15 21 18.40 16-20 9 7.90 21-25 16 14.00 26-30 4 3.50 31 above 6 5.30 ethnicity indigenous person 75 65.80 non-indigenous 39 34.20 total 114 100.00 35 international peer reviewed journal table 2. responses of the respondents towards factors affecting teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers factors affecting teaching performance owm interpretation 1 psychological factor teaching related situations 3.42 sometimes meeting the demand of teaching profession 3.98 often emotional maturity 3.32 sometimes owm 3.57 often 2 sociological factors social maturity 3.41 sometimes feeling about others 3.28 sometimes owm 3.35 sometimes 3 educational factors instructional method/strategies 3.61 often use of instructional materials 3.87 often owm 3.74 often 4 supervisory assistance factor 3.38 sometimes 5 economic factor 2.99 sometimes overall grand weighted mean 3.41 sometimes for psychological factors, the respondents perceived “often” with weighted mean of 3.57. the teacher’s attitude towards his/her pupils has a great impact towards the learning process. attitudes can be formed based on beliefs; both attitudes and beliefs influence behavior. a person could have better understanding. börü (2018) explained the association among belief, attitude, and behavior in the following example: “an elementary teacher judges his/her ability to be lacking in teaching (belief ) and consequently develops a dislike for teaching (attitude) börü (2018). for sociological factors, 3.35 interpreted as “sometimes”. effective teaching and learning is affected by a number of factors including admission points, social economic status and school background. geiser and santelices (2007), acato (2006), and swart (1999) all argue that admission points which the reflection of the previous performance influence future are teaching ability of the teachers. sociocultural approaches to the process of learning are increasingly being applied by educationalist which is very helpful in the teaching-learning atmosphere. sociocultural theorists argue that individuals cannot be considered in isolation 36 jpair multidisciplinary research from their social and historical context and therefore it is necessary to look at the society and the developments occurring at a given time. two principal agencies, the family and the school powerfully shape children’s learning experiences.  the influence of these two agencies is constrained by the wider social and cultural systems into which they are embedded.  there is great diversity in cultural backgrounds, social conditions, family arrangements and school organization.  these two factors have been going through constant modifications. for educational factors, “often” with mean of 3.74. indigenous knowledge is particularly important to modern environmental management in today’s world, hall, sefadeo, & rosenberg (2000) environmental and land management strategies traditionally used by indigenous peoples have continued relevance. indigenous cultures usually live in a particular bioregion for many generations and have learned how to live there sustainably. for supervisory assistance factors, 3.38 interpreted as “sometimes”. supervisors or middle managers are bound to help, guide and assist the teachers to improve craftsmanship in teaching. instructional supervision is considerably influenced by educational context and leaders’ characteristics (neumerski, 2013). the context is linked to how principals perceive and practice instructional leadership daily (mitchell & castle, 2005; spillane, diamond, &jita, 2003; spillane, halverson, & diamond 2001).furthermore, instructional supervision is one of the processes by which school administrators attempt to achieve acceptable standards of performance and results (sule, ameh&egbai, 2015). it is the tool of quality control in the school system and a phase of school administration which focuses primarily upon the achievement of appropriate expectation of educational system (iloabuchi, abraham, & afangideh, 2016). for economic factors, 2.99 interpreted as “sometimes”. teaching the indigenous people is indeed a great sacrifice. according to many of the teacherrespondents, it has been always practice of spending their own money for the sake of giving what is due for their students. they spent their own money to buy paper, pencils, and even sometimes for food of the children who comes to school oftentimes without lunch. the computed overall weighted mean on the perception towards factors affecting teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers was 3.41 with qualitative interpretation of “often”. table 3 shows the level of work performance of teachers teaching the indigenous people. 37 international peer reviewed journal table 3. indigenous people’s teacher level of work performance work performance frequency (f ) percentage (%) satisfactory (1) 2 1.80 very satisfactory (2) 107 93.90 outstanding (3) 5 4.40 total 114 100.00 mean of work performance =2.02 very satisfactory out of one hundred fourteen (114) teacher-respondents there were 2 or equivalent to 1.80% who were rated “satisfactory”; 107 or 93.90 percent who obtain “very satisfactory” while 5 or equivalent to 4.40% who were rated “outstanding” performance. the computed mean for work performance was 2.02 interpreted as “very satisfactory. majority of the teacher-respondents teaching the indigenous pupils were rated very satisfactory. this implies that the teacher met the teaching standards which includes in the preparation of lesson planning, formulation of test, assessment of pupils academic performance, attendance to meetings, seminars and conferences. this manifests that teachers were noted to be efficient, and effective in teaching and performing other assignments assigned to them. (ozdemir & yirci, 2015). table 4 shows the analysis of variance to test differences on the perception of the respondents towards factors affecting teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers. table 4. analysis of variance to test differences on the perception of the respondents towards factors affecting teaching performance of indigenous people school teachers source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 2.769125 4 0.692281 1.654807 0.177189 2.578739 within groups 18.82555 45 0.418346 total 21.59468 49         the computed f value of 1.654807 which is less than <) f critical value of 2.578739 using 0.05 alpha level of significance, therefore the null hypothesis is accepted, hence there is no significant differences on the perception of the respondents towards factors affecting teaching performance of indigenous people 38 jpair multidisciplinary research school teachers.the data implies that the respondents have equal perspective towards factors affecting their teaching performances. this further shows that psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economic factors could be determinants to their teaching effectiveness and performance. the computation on the pearson product moment coefficient of correlation to test relationship between the level of work performance and the factors affecting teaching performance of the respondents is shown in table 5. table 5. pearson product moment coefficient of correlation to test relationship between the level of work performance and the factors affecting teaching performance of the respondents sources of correlations work performance factors affecting work performance work performance pearson correlation 1 -.021 sig. (2-tailed) .821 n 114 114 factors affecting work performance pearson correlation -.021 1 sig. (2-tailed) .821 n 114 114 the computed pearson r value of -0.021 which denotes negligible relationship between the work performance and factors affecting work performance. the t-test significant value of 0.821 which is greater than 0.05 alpha level of significance, therefore the null hypothesis is accepted, hence there is no significant difference. this further implies that the teaching work performance is not influence by the factors affecting work performance such as psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economic factors. stiles (1997) stated that to build up knowledge of pupils, teacher’s teaching capability with proper application of instructional materials plays big part. pupils are said to be reliable with their teacher’s ability to understand, visualize or grasp the idea behind the printed reading materials. conclusions the teacher-respondents teaching the indigenous people is a typical female, in her early adulthood, beed with masteral units, had served teaching for more 39 international peer reviewed journal than a decade and belong to ip ethnic group.the respondents perceived “often” on psychological and educational factors while “sometimes” on sociological, supervisory assistance and economical as factors affecting teaching performance. the teacher-respondents were rated “very satisfatory” in their teaching work performance based on their appraisal rating last school year as rated by their immediate superior. there is no significant differences on the perception towards psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economical as factors affecting teaching performance. there is no relationship between the work performance and the factors affecting work performance as psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory assistance and economic factors, respectively. teachers are encouraged to explore personal multiple intelligences in relation to psychological, sociological, educational, supervisory, and economic factors which affect teaching performance in order to improve variety of traits and abilities for better teaching and learning process; the school should foster more the harmonious relationship and create a healthy working environment; to revisit curriculum for possible modification in order to meet the varying levels of ip’s abilities; to conduct seminars on human relation for better understanding on social duties, interpersonal traits and relations with other people; and since there is no relationship between the teaching performance and the factors affecting the teaching performance; therefore, other study along this line should be conducted using other variables. translational research the findings of the study could be translated to journal within the same scope for information dissemination. indigenous materials such as social media, newspaper, magazine, journal, instructional materials, television and radio may be used in the information dissemination to remote areas. literature cited bandura, a. (1997).  self-efficacy: the exercise of control. macmillan. retrieved from http://bit.ly/33pojhf börü, n. (2018). the factors affecting teacher-motivation. international journal of instruction, 11(4), 761-776. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mfcmul http://bit.ly/33pojhf 40 jpair multidisciplinary research coe, r., aloisi, c., higgins, s., & major, l. e. (2014). what makes great teaching? review of the underpinning research. retrieved from http://dro. dur.ac.uk/13747/ department of education memorandum no. 32, series of 2015.the indigenous peoples education curriculum framework. retrieved from http://bit. ly/33w1fvq department of education memorandum no. 62, series of 2011. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2nmh5pg geiser and santelices (2007). evaluating teaching effectiveness: a practical guide. beverly hills, ca: sage. hall, l.b., sefadeo, g.j., & rosenberg, d.g. (2000) indigenous knowledges in global contexts: multiple readings of our world (toronto: university of toronto press, 2000). retrieved from https://utorontopress.com/ca/ indigenous-knowledges-in-global-contexts-3 iloabuchi, e. n., abraham, n. m., & afangideh, s. t. (2016). management of teaching staff for quality education delivery in secondary schools in abia state, nigeria. american journal of education research, 4(8), 617-623. retrieved from doi: 10.12691/education-4-8-7 neumerski, c. m. (2013). rethinking instructional leadership, a review: what do we know about principal, teacher, and coach instructional leadership, and where should we go from here?. educational administration quarterly, 49(2), 310-347. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x12456700 ozdemir, t. y., & yirci, r. (2015). a situational analysis of educational supervision in the turkish educational system.  educational process: international journal,  4(1), 5. retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/ servlet/articulo?codigo=5286871 shields, p. m., & rangarajan, n. (2013).  a playbook for research methods: integrating conceptual frameworks and project management. new forums press. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2peid51 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13747/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13747/ https://utorontopress.com/ca/indigenous-knowledges-in-global-contexts-3 https://utorontopress.com/ca/indigenous-knowledges-in-global-contexts-3 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0013161x12456700 https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5286871 https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5286871 http://bit.ly/2peid51 41 international peer reviewed journal stiles, d. b. (1997). four successful indigenous language programs. retrieved from http://bit.ly/33wyn2a sule, m. a., eyiene, a., & egbai, m. e. (2015). instructional supervisory practices and teachers’ role effectiveness in public secondary schools in calabar south local government area of cross river state, nigeria. journal of education and practice,  6(23), 43-47. retrieved from http://bit. ly/35panwc http://bit.ly/33wyn2a 21 international peer reviewed journal a document analysis on the efficacy and ethical considerations of online counseling william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines marie fe e. escoto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4631-3398 mariefeescoto@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines trixie elaine g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-1747 elaineonearth@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines eliseo a. pama http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0496-8604 elypama@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.714 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 22 jpair multidisciplinary research rizzalie morne v. montoya http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5291-087x reezamorne@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines joan m. quibal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5208-7705 jquibal75@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines . aljon quiloan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2251-2993 quiloanaljon20@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines marilys g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6573-4924 marilys.ponce@gmail.com batanes electric cooperative, inc. basco, batanes, philippines marianne jean m. adam http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1427-3264 adammariannemiguel@gmail.com department of education – division of baguio city baguio city, benguet, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the current situation brought about by the pandemic and technological advancements has resulted in a significant rise in the number of people who participate in online settings. research into online counseling practice is this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. 23 international peer reviewed journal significant as it is given the relative newness of the techniques. with this trend in guidance and counseling, this research aims to find out the different concerns and issues when providing online counseling and online therapy’s efficacy. the research design involved utilizing the qualitative research method in addressing the research question, and document analysis was employed. this research’s specific documents include outcomes-based studies, process studies, and selfreport studies in guidance and counseling. after examining and analyzing literature from the three categories of study, online therapy appears to be clinically efficacious. online counseling was more convenient and less inhibition in disclosing confidential issues during online sessions. keywords — counseling psychology, online counseling, trends in guidance and counseling, qualitative study, efficacy, ethical considerations, document analysis introduction as the number of people seeking help with psychological difficulties increases, the number of guidance and counseling services has also dramatically increased. since the number of people with access to the internet has increased rapidly, millions of people now can communicate electronically through the mail, distribution lists, real-time chat rooms, and other resources. this increase has led to the generation of a new important way of communication. access to the internet has enabled the construction of virtual communities.  the current situation brought about by the pandemic and the technological advancements of the 21st century has resulted in a significant rise in the number of people, whether students or employees participate in online settings. add to this are the different challenges and pressures, emotionally and mentally, brought about by the pandemic among young people and adults. because of this, online counseling has also become a trend. as professionals, counselors are expected to uphold a certain set of ethical standards, even in online settings. this ensures that clients are socially, mentally, and emotionally succeeding (american school counselor association [asca], 2016). the number of people with access to the internet is increasing rapidly. millions of people can now communicate electronically via electronic mail, distribution lists, real-time chat rooms, and other facilities. this has led to the generation of a new important communications medium. it has enabled the 24 jpair multidisciplinary research construction of virtual communities, and rheingold (1993, as cited in popoola, 2012) argues that these new communities can be a valuable supplement to existing social structures. intimate exchanges can take place between people who may never physically meet. the high level of intimacy that can sometimes occur has been widely discussed. another area of expansion is the number of people seeking help with emotional difficulties. because of this, the number of guidance and counseling services that are offered has grown dramatically over the last twenty years. research into online counseling is significant as it is given the relative newness of the techniques. healthcare expenses continue to rise, and online therapy cut costs because sessions are conducted over the internet. additionally, because of the pandemic restrictions, those that live in remote areas or under strict restrictions can now use the internet as a medium of communication as it allows access to mental health workers living in adjacent places or even in neighboring areas (bouchard et al. 2000). online counseling is defined as the delivery of therapeutic interventions in the world wide web, where communication between a trained professional and client is facilitated by computer-mediated communication technologies. other terms for online counseling include internet or online therapy, web counseling, e-counseling, e-therapy, e-mail therapy, cyber counseling, and internet counseling. similarly, mallen and vodel (2005) defines online counseling as any delivery of mental and behavioral health services by a licensed practitioner to a client in a non-face-to-face setting using distance communication technologies such as e-mail, chat, and videoconferencing. online counseling dates back many decades, and therapists have used mail correspondence and the telephone to maintain contact with clients. however, this practice was the subject of irregular and limited research interest (perle, langsam, & nierenberg, 2011). today, this topic sees renewed involvement cause by the massive growth of the internet and today’s current situation brought about by the pandemic. unlike telephone-based therapy, computer technologies are far more flexible and have advantages, such as seeing the therapist’s face in video conferencing. clients can now schedule via e-mail, look up pertinent medical information, and join online support groups (mallen, vogel, & day, 2005).  a study by alshaabi (2020) found that several practitioners have developed their initiatives to help with psychological first aid to improve the general psychological state of the community during the outbreak of covid-19 through online counseling. therapists, psychologists, counselors, and educational 25 international peer reviewed journal practitioners have opened online services to help the community as they experience psychological disorders during the outbreak. in malaysia, online counseling is considered to supplement traditional mental health counseling services. if online counseling is effectively developed, it can help reach underserved mental illnesses that are isolated (zamani, nasir, & yusooff, 2010). similarly, a 2012 study by microsoft found that singapore had the highest rate of cyberbullying globally and students had been victimized on online social media platforms (kit et al., 2017). because of this, online counseling has been used to empower young clients with coping skills. additionally, qualitative studies suggest that some filipinos are reluctant to seek professional help because of loss of face or shame. the fear of being labeled as ‘crazy’ and tarnishing the family’s reputation was a hindrance to seeking professional help. this makes filipinos prefer online counseling because of the anonymity it provided (hechanova et al., 2013). this study’s results will significantly contribute to counselors as online counseling is time-saving, convenient, and accessible. contact in online counseling can transcend geographical boundaries and time zone. therapy becomes available and within reach at any given time. for clients, counseling can be more convenient and accessible. it offers convenience and remote access, serving clients with mobility, time restrictions, or anyone seeking help who is reluctant to see a counselor in-person. those in remote areas, those traveling and re-locating in foreign countries, those with the language barrier, those physically disabled, or caregivers can arrange an appointment at their own convenience.   framework one of the debates in the online counseling literature is where it can be as effective as face-to-face treatments. lester (1974) proposed that online counseling’s unique qualities include the clients’ ability to control the treatment’s pace and remain anonymous. these would allow those who would otherwise seek treatment to feel more comfortable. other specific potential benefits of working with clients through the internet include lower costs and increased convenience. this suggests that online counseling can be a catalyst for individuals to seek treatment, especially if they are unwilling or not capable of attending face-toface sessions. on the other hand, williams (1971) suggested that anonymity can be a possible disadvantage in online counseling as communication may become devoid of personality.  26 jpair multidisciplinary research online counseling can be used to attain outreach, prevention, short-term treatment, and relapse intervention, all of which are important in counseling psychology. thus, online counseling’s effectiveness can be established by comparing the relative changes in a client’s state and condition after participating in online counseling with the relative changes in those treated in traditional counseling. clients’ satisfaction should also be measured because they are the ones who will or will not benefit from the counseling psychologists provide. additionally, examining the process, intervention, and outcome of online counseling can lead to a deeper understanding of the most significant challenges for online counseling and whether it is possible to connect with a client through distance-communication technologies meaningfully. process, intervention, and outcome studies explore the benefits of contextual and nonverbal cues, the working or therapeutic alliance, and the person-environment interactions. the client and counseling psychologist are not in the same location. these are all critical factors related to the counseling’s efficacy (wampold, 2000). objectives of the study with this trend in guidance and counseling, this study aims to determine the different concerns and issues when providing online counseling and online therapy’s efficacy. methodology research design the research design involved the utilization of qualitative research method in addressing the research question. generally, qualitative research aims to gain insight and explore the depth, richness, and complexity inherent in the phenomenon (creswell, 2007). within this qualitative study, the researchers employed document analysis to pursue the goal of this research. document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents – both printed and electronic (computer-based and internet-transmitted). document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge (corbin & strauss, 2014). the analytic procedure entailed a survey of the different literature regarding online therapy and looked for tentative agreement regarding its efficacy.   27 international peer reviewed journal sources of data the inclusion criteria were used in selecting the documents that were analyzed and reviewed. inclusion criteria are a set of predefined characteristics used to identify subjects included in a study. inclusion criteria make up the selection or eligibility criteria used to rule out the study’s target population. inclusion criteria should respond to the objective of the study and are critical to accomplishing it.  the inclusion criteria were used in selecting the documents that were analyzed and reviewed. in selecting documents for the analysis, the following were considered: the types of documents to be reviewed, which documents would be included, and the time of publication and release of those documents. first, the types of documents that were reviewed were journals, articles, reports, and publications that are either written or electronic. second, in selecting documents, those studies that are non-experimental were chosen because of the difficulty of conducting controlled experiments when client-therapist confidentiality must be maintained. hence, self-report surveys were chosen as it appears to be that these convenience samples are predominant. most of the documents will come from surveys and interview studies or documents. third, the publication was also considered so as to track changes and progress in policy and practice over time. researches and documents regarding online therapy only span a limited time period. this research primarily included studies conducted over the past twenty-five years and attempted to include only the most up-to-date information.  this research’s specific documents include outcomes-based studies, process studies, and self-report studies in guidance and counseling. outcomes-based studies represent an important aspect of psychological research methodology and are crucial in determining online therapy’s real-world effects (hunsley & lee, 2007). a convincing claim of the efficiency of online counseling needs concrete shreds of evidence. process studies are those that approached the problem of researching process variables by using the relationship construct. this is called a working alliance. this is defined as the collaboration between client and therapist that enhances psychological healing. on the other hand, self-report studies are common sources of information in clinical psychological research. studies under this turned to record and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information from interviews and questionnaires. a limitation of using this is its incapacity to answer clinical efficacy directly. however, these types of studies can discern differences between therapeutic methods and the efficacy of online counseling.   28 jpair multidisciplinary research data analysis given the multitude and variety of documents, a thorough review was the first step in the analysis. content of documents concerning the research objectives was digested and summarized. the focus was on information common among the studies, which identified the efficacy and ethical consideration in online counseling. furthermore, the process involved a careful, more focused re-reading and review of the data. analysis of data in a systematic way was then follow based on the guide questions.  after the collection of documents, the researchers as analysts determined the relevance of documents to the research problem and purpose. also, the researchers ascertained whether the content of the documents fits the framework of the study. it was deemed necessary, as well, to determine the authenticity, credibility, accuracy, and representativeness of the selected documents. documents were assessed and selected based on completeness, in the sense of being comprehensive (covering the topic completely or broadly) or selective (covering only some aspects of the topic). the researchers determined, too, whether the documents were even (balanced) or uneven (containing great detail on some aspects of the subject and little or nothing on other aspects). given the variety of documents under each study, a thorough review of the documents was done. the researchers looked into the documents’ contents and assured that each document discussed the efficacy of online counseling, ethical considerations and challenges, and best practices in online counseling.   results and discussion the succeeding sections present the data, analyses, and interpretation. outcomes-based studies  based on the research under outcomes-based studies, there are barriers for participants in teletherapy, as perle and colleagues (2011) noted. although computer technology can increase the access of therapy among technologyliterate groups, it can also reduce the pool of potential users, especially among those who are less technology savvy or has limited access to technology, such as ethnic minorities, the elderly, and the low-income sector. according to the corroborated outcomes-based studies, since online therapies call for computer literacy, this factor can exclude people under the mentioned demographic groups that either lack access to technology or lack the needed skills to use computers. 29 international peer reviewed journal consequently, an outcomes-based study conducted by cohen and kerr (1999) has been the very first research that has measured therapeutic outcome. they looked at the differences between the two groups. one group was assigned to computer-mediated counseling, while the other group was assigned to faceto-face counseling. the outcome-related aspect of the study was derived from the administration of an anxiety inventory. this was done at the end of the counseling session. the participants in this study have reported that they suffered from anxiety. this aimed to measure the improvement of the two groups’ anxiety. after the data have been subjected to data analysis, the researchers determined that both groups had the same decrease in anxiety symptoms. thus, there were no functional differences between the two comparison groups. the findings from their study have shown that online counseling can be substantially similar to traditional face-to-face counseling. similarly, murphy and colleagues (2009) conducted a study that examined the interplay between online counseling modalities and client observations. in this study, the researchers concluded that clients were satisfied with online counseling after analyzing the data. with these studies, outcomes-based literature appeared to support the efficacy of online therapy. based on the studies› findings under this category, online counseling appears to produce therapeutic changes in a client similar to traditional therapy.  process studies a study by cook and doyle (2002) has conducted comprehensive processbased research on online therapy. in this study, the alliance in online therapy was compared to traditional therapy alliance among 15 participants. according to the participants’ comments, most of them preferred online therapy since being anonymous allows them to express their thoughts and feelings in more depth. this study has been one of the first attempts to assess the effectiveness of distance therapy. another study by germain and colleagues (2010) investigated online counseling in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. this study examined the benefits of online counseling in improving mental health care access and other practical benefits. based on the data gathered, it was found out that online counseling is not a replacement for traditional face-to-face therapy but serves as a supplement. 30 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, reynolds et al. (2013) have examined if there was a difference in the degree of alliance with therapists in online counseling and in-person counseling. the researchers have observed that online interaction was less stressful for clients. they demonstrated that clients in online settings have a stronger alliance with their therapists than in the traditional therapeutic environment.  in another literature, bouchard and colleagues (2000) emphasized that online counseling is as effective as traditional therapy. it also possesses certain benefits, especially to those people diagnosed with agoraphobia. these people can lead a person to avoid the public placed due to panic and fear. this situation makes seeing the therapist difficult. online counseling can be a useful tool to ease the strong agoraphobic tendencies of a client.    self-report studies under self-report studies, a study explored by hertlein, twist, and mihaloliakos (2015) sought to understand the perceptions of technologically facilitated therapy among mental health workers. the researchers have surveyed the mental health community using questions related to their perception of its ethical risks. results have shown that issues of confidentiality and therapeutic relationship effects were the main concerns. the study deemed that this posed significant problems in implementing this trend, but mental healthcare workers were interested in using technology training in the future. on the other hand, mishna, bogo, and sawyer (2015) conducted a pilot study to investigate the perspectives of master in social work interns regarding online counseling. the findings of the study show that online counseling was more convenient during certain times of the year. there was also less inhibition in disclosing confidential issues during online sessions. however, participants have suggested better training. it reduces uncertainties during online counseling, such as inadequate emotional connection with clients and frustration by the lack of face-to-face contact.   conclusions after examining and analyzing literature from the three categories of study, online therapy appears to be clinically efficacious. according to the process studies, the alliance is not affected by the online counseling setting and process change. client participants from the three categories have given a positive response and assessment of online counseling. on the other hand, there are still 31 international peer reviewed journal reservations about the use of online counseling. therapists were concerned about the possible negative effects of online counseling, particularly ethical standards. a common theme from the studies regarding the concerns of therapies was the loss of valuable non-verbal information.  additional research should be explored in determining the extent of these concerns and their effect on counseling and the practices to address clients’ issues and problems effectively. there is also a need for future research into the different domains of online therapy, such as investigating the influence that disciplinary orientation has on online counseling. also, future researchers must also consider the subjectivity of the author of the documents selected as well as personal biases so that documents can be evaluated based on its original purpose. researches on ethical concerns facing online counselors are still emerging. however, researchers agree that dealing with legal and ethical factors is one of the most difficult areas when providing online counseling services (mullen et al., 2014). because of the growing popularity of online counseling services, there is a need to conduct more research on the efficacy of online counseling and the different concerns and issues to ensure that ethical considerations are addressed when providing such services.    translational research results of this study and future studies in online counseling can bridge the gap that existed with traditional face-to-face therapy around issues on accessibility, convenience, and affordability as it can serve as an alternative therapy. those residing in areas where there are no counseling services can benefit from the accessibility of online counseling. results of the research can overcome barriers that may preclude these people from seeking therapy. students or children can also access this as they seem to be more comfortable with using the internet. at present, anyone who has access to the internet can utilize such services at their convenience. even when therapies are not available, e-mailing them can give clients the perception that they still interact with their therapist. on the other hand, this trend in guidance and counseling can reduce the hassle of scheduling and setting appointments. it creates opportunities for therapists to extend their services to more clients because appointments can be scheduled anytime and reach a larger geographical region. for individuals who are hesitant with the traditional method, this study’s results can help them find online counseling more suitable, especially those experiencing social phobias. 32 jpair multidisciplinary research generally, when ethical procedures have been developed for online counseling, this can now be more economical for both the therapist and the client. for those who cannot afford to rent commercial spaces, online counseling can lower costs than traditional counseling. online therapists should be comfortable with computers and communicating via text. although the studies have not dealt with the personality attributes of what it means to be a successful online counselor, it is expected that those who can be considered the best online therapists are strong visualizers who have the ability to be flexible, patient, and creative. of course, the most important and essential factor is that online therapists should acquire additional specialized training in practicing online therapy, either through self-study or formal workshops and seminars, to 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(2010). perceptions towards online counseling among counselors in malaysia.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  5, 585-589. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sbspro.2010.07.146 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-01878-022 107 international peer reviewed journal different substrates on the reproduction rate of earthworm (eudrilus eugeniae) and npk content of its castings rovelito l. narita https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2328-4918 rovelito.narita@jrmsu.edu.ph jose rizal memorial state university zamboanga del norte, philippines cerenia b. galagar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9611-0700 cereniagalagar8@gmail.com camiguin polytechnic state college catarman, camiguin, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract in response to the posing threat of chemically produced crops using synthetic fertilizers for human consumption, organic farming using earthworms in composting has resorted. this study is carried out to determine the effects of locally available substrates on the reproduction rate of earthworms and the npk content of its castings. it was laid out with seven treatments replicated three times in completely randomized design. treatments used were 75% goat manure plus 25% of various substrates such as banana leaves, grass clippings, rice straw, legume leaves, cassava leaves, banana bracts, and sawdust. they were shredded, partially decomposed, transferred to the beds for earthworm feeding, and harvested after 45 days. the castings were collected, separated from the vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.718 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2328-4918 mailto:rovelito.narita@jrmsu.edu.ph https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9611-0700 mailto:cereniagalagar8@gmail.com 108 jpair multidisciplinary research biomass, weighed, and were sent for laboratory analysis. the highest reproduction rate of earthworm biomass was in treatments with sawdust and legume leaves. treatments with banana bracts and legume leaves had significantly higher nitrogen and phosphorous. higher potassium content was noted in treatments with sawdust and legume leaves. it is recommended to use 75% goat manure and a combination of legumes leaves and sawdust for a higher rate of reproduction of vermi biomass and higher contents of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (npk) in the castings. keywords — agriculture, substrates, biomass, reproduction rate, c: n ratio, vermicast, philippines introduction the idea of using worms to break down the organic waste is not new. in recent years, there is an awakening about the importance of earthworms in degrading bioorganic wastes. they are significant in waste recycling, especially urban and industrial wastes. hence, earthworms are known to be multipurpose organisms. the breakdown of organic waste by the ingestion of earthworms is vermicomposting, which transforms the material into worm castings and is considered an excellent form of organic fertilizer (domínguez, edwards, & webster, 2000). researchers contend that the microorganisms present in the gut of worms aid in decomposition and provide nutrients for plant growth and development. instead of burning wastes, which can eventually contribute to ozone depletion and global warming, organic wastes could be transformed into viable, environmentally sound, and healthy farm inputs in the form of organic fertilizers, the vermicast and vermicompost. there are two major practices involved in this process, vermiculture and vermicomposting. in vermiculture, the aim is to continuously increase the number of worms to achieve a sustainable harvest, while in vermicomposting, one would want to keep the population density low so that reproductive rates are optimized to grow worms. the more worm produced, the more castings and compost generated. vermicomposting can help protect the environment, enhance and maintain soil fertility, and create livelihood opportunities for rural families through the ample supply of material in farms. the worm per se called the biomass commands higher prices per kilo. it is also used as a substitute for protein sources in feeds for 109 international peer reviewed journal animals as in livestock and fishes. it has been proven to have higher protein content compared to fishmeal. the castings and compost as residuals in vermiculture are other sources of supplemental income for farmers. vermimeal production, on the other hand, can be considered the most economically feasible application of vermiculture, considering the growing demand for animal feeds aggravated by the continued growth of the human population. vermiculture has bright opportunities in the livestock feed industry, according to kale, as cited by adhikary (2012). a feed preparation that consists of processed earthworm biomass is vermimeal or earthworm meal. for animals, birds, and fishes, it is a rich source of protein, amino acids, fats, vitamins, and minerals. to produce a kilogram of vermimeal, about 5.5 kg of fresh african night crawlers (anc) biomass (18 percent dry matter) is required. it can be wrapped in plastic bags and stored for up to 3 months in a cold, dry place. the following composition was discovered in an estimated study of an anc vermimeal in dried and pulverized form; 68 percent crude protein, 9.57 percent fat, 11.05 percent ex-tract nitrogen-free, and 9.07 percent ash. numerous researches on numerous species of cattle, birds, and fish traced its foundation because these earthworm species are truly the food for wild animals in the forest. in a study conducted by the agricultural training institute (ati) philippines, they found out that vermicomposting enhances the texture of the soil and increases the soil’s water-holding ability. it can be low in npk, but it provides important nutrients not present in inorganic fertilizers such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, and zinc. also, it has microbial activities that foster plant health and resistance to pests/diseases. among the beneficial uses of vermicompost includes: red worm castings have a higher concentration of humic substances (adhikary, 2012). humus allows the aggregation of soil particles into clusters, establishing air passage channels and increasing its water-retaining ability. the presence of worms regenerates compacted soils and increases over 50 percent water penetration in those soils. data revealed that 10,000 worms in a field plot have the same value as three farmers who work 8 hours of shift during the year with 10 tons of manure throughout the plot. for the plant nutrients, humic acid found in humus supplies binding sites such as calcium, iron, potassium, sulfur, and phosphorus. these nutrients are retained in a form readily available to plants in humic acid and released when needed by plants. humic acid in vermicompost promotes the development of plants even in small quantities. for plants, humic acid in the humus is important in four fundamental ways: (a) allows plants to absorb 110 jpair multidisciplinary research nutrients from the soil; (b) helps to remove unresolved minerals in the soil; (c) stimulates the growth of roots, and (d) helps to overcome stress in plants. humus found in vermicast and composts helps prevent dangerous plant parasites, fungi, nematodes, and bacteria (adhikary, 2012). vermicompost can combat diseases of soil-borne plants such as root rot. humus also enhances water permeability and water-retaining capacity, leading to increased plant health and soil moisture usage more effectively. the abundance of nitrogen in vermicompost is observed to be greater than in aerobic compost piles. other agronomic advantages of the application of composts, such as an elevated rate of suppression of soil-borne diseases and soil salinity reduction, exist. one research recorded a reduction in mean root disease in tomatoes from 82 percent to 18 percent and capsicum in soils adjusted with compost from 98 percent to 26 percent. it was also found out that plants fertilized with vermicompost can establish biological resistance in plants, the ability to minimize pests attack, and the ability to suppress plant disease. vermicompost contains some antibiotics and actinomycetes that increase the power of biological resistance against pests and diseases among crops. when earthworms and vermicompost were used in agriculture, spraying of chemical pesticides was dramatically decreased by over 75 percent. a worm cast (also referred to as vermicast) is a biologically active mound containing thousands of plant substance bacteria, enzymes, and remains that have not been digested by worms (adhikary, 2012). microbial production in worm castings of beneficial microorganisms is ten to twenty times greater than in soil and other organic matter. nitrogen-fixing & phosphate solubilizing bacteria, actinomycetes & mycorrhiza fungi are among the beneficial soil microbes activated by earthworms. studies showed that more than 10/gm of bacterial count in sample vermicompost. actinomycetes, azotobacter, rhizobium, nitrobacter & phosphate solubilizing bacteria were found in 102 to 106 per gm of vermicompost. castings contain nutrients that are slowly released and readily accessible to plants (adhikary, 2012). the plant nutrients that are encased in mucus membranes secreted by the earthworms are found in castings. rather than permitting rapid nutrient leaching, they melt steadily. the substance has outstanding soil composition, porosity, and capabilities for aeration and water preservation. castings are capable of carrying 2 to 3 times more water than their soil weight. root mechanisms are not burned from worm castings. the substance is capable of insulating plant roots from high temperatures, minimizing drought, 111 international peer reviewed journal and weed suppression. it is odorless and consists of products that are 100% recycled. because of humus material, vermicompost also has very high porosity, aeration, drainage, and water holding capacity relative to traditional compost. worm intestinal behavior is analogous to a miniature composting tube that combines the conditions and inoculates the residues (adhikary, 2012). for a synergistic interaction and then a terrific byproduct, moisture, ph, and microbial fauna in the gut are favorably preserved. every day, they swallow vast soil quantities with organic materials (microbes, plant & animal debris), ground them in their gizzards, and eat them with enzymes in their intestines. in the shape of fine mucus-coated granular aggregates called vermicastings rich in nkp (nitrates, phosphates, and potash), micronutrients, and beneficial soil bacteria, only 5 10 percent of the chemically digested and consumed material is absorbed into the body, and the remainder is excreted. for greenhouses or houseplants, as well as planting and farming, worm castings are the finest imaginable potting soil (adhikary, 2012). even the most fragile plants will not be burnt, and all nutrients are water-soluble, rendering it an instant-eaten plant meal. in addition to their use as a potting ground, earthworm castings may be used as a planting ground for trees, vegetables, shrubs, and flowers. they should be used as mulch, meaning that the products leach directly onto the earth when watered. research indicates that even though plants are already providing “optimal nutrition,” vermicompost usage further enhances plant growth (adhikary, 2012). it has consistently enhanced the germination of seeds, increased the growth and production of seedlings, and greatly increased plants’ productivity even more than would be possible by the simple conversion of mineral nutrients into usable types of plants. some studies have also documented that vermicompost produces growth that encourages “auxins,” “cytokinins,” and “gibberellins,” a flowering hormone secreted by earthworms. a plant bioassay system was used to assess the growth promoter of vermicompost activity. the length of the plumule of seedling maize (zea mays) was measured 48 hours after soaking in vermicompost water and natural water. the marked difference in plumule length of maize seedlings suggested that hormones that stimulate plant growth are present in vermicompost. (csiro, june 2016) australia’s glasshouse studies showed that earthworms composts increased wheat crop growth (triticum aestivum) by 39 percent, grain yield by 35 percent, grain protein value increased by 12 percent, and crop disease tolerance compared to control. 112 jpair multidisciplinary research the results of studies on the development of important vegetable crops such as tomatoes (lycopersicum esculentus), eggplants (solanum melangona), and okra (abelmoschus esculentus) were very strong (najar, i. a., khan, a. b., & hai, a., 2015). another research was performed on earthworms’ growth effect on okra (abelmoschus esculentus) as compared to cow manure and chemical fertilizers. vermicompost has encouraged excellent growth with more flowers and fruits in the vegetable crop. but a significantly lower occurrence of “yellow vein mosaic,” “color rot,” and “powdery mildew” diseases was noted in plants applied with vermicompost. it was even considered as one of the most critical discoveries (adhikary, 2012). there are an estimated 4,000 earthworm species worldwide, and some 29 species have been identified and found in the philippines. earthworms are harmless segmented invertebrates, soft-bodied with no special coverings on their skin wherein their breathing organs are situated. they fed on moist organic materials rich with fungi and bacteria. they are hermaphroditic and parthenogenetic. earthworms are classified into three based on their behavior and habitat (sherman, 2018). the first classifications are the anecic (greek for “out of the earth”). these are burrowing worms that come to the surface at night to pull food back into their permanent burrows deep within the soil’s mineral deposits. an example is the african night crawlers. the second is the endogeic (greek for “under the earth”); they are often burrowing worms, but their burrows are usually shallower. they feed on the organic matter situated already in the soil, so they only occasionally come to the surface. epigeic (greek for “upon the earth”), these worms live and feed on rotting organic matter in the surface litter. they may not have permanent burrows. the type of worm used in vermicomposting is these “decomposers.” the african night crawler (eudrilus eugeniae) is the most popular earthworm species used in vermicomposting (ansari & ismail, 2012). biodegradable materials like leaves, grass cuttings, manure, and vegetable trimmings are nutritious and suitable food for earthworms. these organic wastes are called substrates or food for worms. the earthworms feed on the substrate and, with the aid of microorganisms in their gut, produce casting deposited on the beds’ surface. their castings contain nutrients that are beneficial to the soil. a proper combination of carbonaceous and nitrogenous (c: n) organic materials makes an ideal compost or an effective and complete fertilizer. the c: 113 international peer reviewed journal n ratio relates to the sum of carbon (carbohydrate) and nitrogenous materials needed for energy and development by microorganisms to be composted. the ideal ratio is 25:1 (guerrero, 2010). several studies have been conducted to test the efficiency and effectiveness of earthworms in plant growth and development. the good news is that it eventually shows itself in an increase in yield. the conversion of organic waste into useful products is essential in recycling organic matter to sustain soil fertility and avoid environmental pollution. sustainable crop production demands the use of fertilizers because of the loss of soil fertility. in response to the widely alarming issue of natural resource depletion, pollution, environmental degradation, climate change, and the posing threat of chemically produced crops and animals for human consumption, the government designed a strategic framework to solve these problems; the republic act 10068 or known as “the philippine organic agriculture act of 2010”. it is an act promoting the tradition of organic agriculture in the philippines that will cumulatively condition and enrich the fertility of the land, increase farm productivity, mitigate emissions and degradation of the environment, avoid the loss of natural resources, further protect the health of farmers, customers, and the general public, and save on imported farm inputs. one of the pillars of the organic agriculture act is sustainable agriculture. an identified entry point along this field is vermicomposting technology. guerrero (2010) introduced the importance and viability of earthworm (eudrilus eugeniae) in the country. research trials and findings have emerged. studies on vermicompost production using pig manure were established in the early ‘80s by guerrero et.al. in a study conducted by cruz in 1996 using grasses, pig manure, grass + pig manure and grass + kakawate leaves, it was found out that grass(75%) + kakawate (24%) showed significantly higher nitrogen content in the vermicasts compared to the rest of the treatments. guerrero (2010) found out that a proper combination of carbonaceous and nitrogenous organic materials makes ideal compost or an effective and complete fertilizer. furthermore, because some organic materials contain harmful mycelia, antibiotics, plant pests, and excessive heavy metals, proper mixing and composting, leading to dilution and sterilization, may greatly promote the quality of organic materials. vermi cast was also noted to have stabilized ph regardless of the ph of the substrate. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research it was believed that the nutrient composition of the casting has a positive relationship with the substrates that the worm fed in (edwards, dominguez, & neuhauser, 1998). several studies have revealed to support the positive results of vermicast and composts used for plant growth and development but studies on which substrates fed to worm could give the highest nutrient content in terms of n, p & k is limited. furthermore, the aim of exponentially increasing the vermi biomass could have been hypothetically affected by the type of substrates fed to the worms, hence this study. moreover, investigation on the role of substrate fed to earthworms in the nutrient composition of vermicastings and the reproduction rate of earthworm in the local condition is important for a wise decision on the farmers’ part to reduce labor cost while increasing productivity in the farm. objectives of the study this study looked into the effects of different substrates on the rate of reproduction of vermi biomass and the npk content of its casting. specifically, it aims to (1) determine which substrate fed on earthworms gives the highest yield of earthworm biomass and reproduction rate, and (2) evaluate which vermicast has the highest npk content. materials and methods research design the completely randomized design was used in the study. there were seven (7) treatments that were replicated three (3) times, making a total of 21 experimental plots or vermi beds. plots were randomized using the randomization procedure of crd. the farm wastes available in the locality were used as a substrate for the production of vermi added with goat manure in the following specific combinations; t1 75% goat manure + 25% banana leaves; t2 75% goat manure + 25% grass clippings; t375% goat manure + 25% rice straw; t475% goat manure + 25% legume leaves; t575% goat manure + 25% cassava leaves; t675% goat manure + 25% banana bracts; t7 75% goat manure + 25% saw dust. 115 international peer reviewed journal research site this trial was conducted in the experimental sites of the college of agriculture and forestry of the jose rizal memorial state university, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte. sourcing out of vermi biomass .the earthworms used in the study were sourced out from the municipal agriculture office. they were identified and classified to belong to the same species, the african night crawlers (anc) eudrilus eugeniae, regardless of age. biomass was weighed prior to transferring to the beds. preparation of substrates and beds organic materials were gathered and shredded manually and transferred to the suitable beds to allow them to undergo anaerobic decomposition for at least 15 days. the shredded organic materials were covered with a plastic sheet to minimize aeration. as soon as the temperature of the substrate is lowered, the partially decomposed organic materials were transferred to the vermicomposting bed following the ratio of the treatments stated. the beds were measured 1 x 1 m with the substrate at 100kg/bed. stocking of earthworm biomass was done at 1 kg/bed. harvesting and data gathering procedure after 45 days from the stocking of anc, harvesting was done manually, segregating the casts and earthworms from vermicompost. vermicasts settling at the upper portion of the bed were collected for laboratory analysis. the earthworms were weighed and transferred into a suitable medium for future use. the rate of reproduction was presumed to be the increase in the weight of the biomass before and after stocking. the initial weight of 1 kilogram of vermi biomass was stocked in each bed. the reproduction rate of earthworms was obtained by deducting the initial weight from the final weight of worms divided by the final weight multiplied by 100. the newly harvested vermicompost was air-dried for 3-4 days, and this was sieved and passed through a 5-mm mesh. materials that were not passed through were returned to vermicompost bins for the next production cycle. chemical analysis of vermi casts the vermicast samples were sent to the soil testing laboratory, cagayan de oro city, for chemical analysis to determine the npk contents. 116 jpair multidisciplinary research statistical analysis the data on the weight of biomass or rate of reproduction and npk content were analyzed based on the analysis of variance of the completely randomized design (crd) procedures. to determine the significance of the different treatments, duncan’s multiple range test was used to determine significant differences between treatment means. results and discussion weight of earthworm biomass table 1 shows the average weight of biomass after 45 days of the stocking. analysis of variance revealed significant differences among treatments. treatment 7 (75% goat manure + 25% sawdust) and treatment 5 (75% goat manure + 25% cassava leaves) had significantly higher weight of biomass than treatments 4 (75% goat manure + 25% legume leaves), treatment 6 (75% goat manure + 25% banana bracts), and treatment3 (75% goat manure + 25% rice straw). no significant differences were observed between treatments 7, 5, 1, and 2 and between treatments 1, 2, 4, and 6. the significantly lower weight of earthworm biomass of treatment 3 (75% goat manure + 25% napier grass) supports guerrero’s (2010) finding, which found out that vermi beds with graminaceae substrates and rice hulls dramatically lowered down worm population in nueva ecija. it could then be concluded that the texture and fibrous composition of these plant species decreases the delight of the earthworms to feed on. it was reported that vermis was found to exponentially increase in substrates with goat manure. this conforms to the report of domínguez, edwards, and webster (2000) that goat manure resulted in a higher rate of reproduction of biomass due to a lesser amount of metallic elements and stable ph value, which were found to be preferable by vermis. reproduction rate of earthworm table 1 shows the reproductive rate of earthworm biomass. analysis of variance revealed significant differences among treatments. treatment 7 (75% goat manure + 25% sawdust) and 5 (75% goat manure + 25% cassava leaves) had significantly higher rate of producing biomass than treatments 4 (75% goat manure + 25% legume leaves), 6 (75% goat manure + 25% banana bracts), and 3 (75% goat manure + 25% rice straw). no significant differences were observed between treatments 7, 5, 1, and 2 and between treatments 1, 2, 4, and 6. 117 international peer reviewed journal table 1. rate of increase in the final weight of earthworm biomass after 45 days of stocking treatments initial weight of biomass (g) final weight of biomass (g) rate of increase in the weight of biomass (%) t1 1000 1771.00ab 77.10ab t2 1000 1612.75ab 61.27ab t3 1000 1240.25c 24.00c t4 1000 1400.50b 40.00b t5 1000 2143.60a 114.36a t6 1000 1352.83b 35.28b t7 1000 2149.72a 114.97a f-test cv (%) ** 19.16 ** 15.60 note: means of the same superscript are not significant at 0.05 level of significance. npk contents of the castings nitrogen (n) content the nitrogen content of vermi cast was found to be significant (table 2). treatments 1, 2, and 6 had significantly higher nitrogen content than treatment 7. however, no significant differences were observed between treatments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and between treatments 3, 4, 5, and 7. this implies that treatments with 75% goat manure + 25% banana bracts, 25% banana leaves, and 25% grass clippings had significantly higher nitrogen content than treatments with 75 % goat manure + 25% sawdust. this could be due to the lower nitrogen content of sawdust, as reported by domínguez, edwards, and webster (2000). guerrero (2010) supports that vermicast has another trace element beyond explainable, making it have an edge compared to other organic fertilizers. further, he found out that for whatever substrate he fed to earthworm in his studies, its mineral nitrogen content settles down at an average of 1.2 – 2.6%. phosphorous content also in table 2 reflects the phosphorous (k 2o) content of vermi casts. results showed that treatments 4 and 3 had significantly higher phosphorous content than treatments 5, 6, 1, 7 and 2. however, no significant differences 118 jpair multidisciplinary research were observed between treatments 4 and 3, between treatments 5, 6, and 1, and between treatments 7 and 2. .this implies that treatments with 75% goat manure + 25% legume leaves, 25% rice straw grass had significantly higher phosphorous content than the other treatments. in other words, legume leaves and rice straws were noted to have higher phosphorous content. potassium content the potassium content of vermicast is shown in table 2. statistical analysis showed significant differences among treatments. treatments 7, 4, and 5 had significantly higher potassium content with 1.21%. 1.13% and 1.01% respectively than treatments 3, 1, 6 and 2 with 0.61%. 0.49%, 0.48% and 0.47% respectively. results imply that treatments with 75% goat manure + 25% sawdust, 25% legume leaves, and 25% cassava leaves had significantly higher potassium contents than the other treatments. consistently, the highest potassium content was observed in treatment 7, those having a combination of goat manure and sawdust. table 2. nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium content of vermicast using different substrates treatments nitrogen content (%) phosphorous content (%) potassium content (%) t1 1.47a 1.08b 0.49b t2 1.45a 0.79c 0.47b t3 1.30ab 1.49a 0.61b t4 1.43ab 1.62a 1.13a t5 1.33ab 1.18b 1.01a t6 1.50a 1.10b 0.48b t7 1.19b 0.80c 1.21a f-test cv (%) * 9.29 ** 10.81 ** 19.73 note: means of the same superscript are not significant at 0.05 level of significance. 119 international peer reviewed journal conclusions in light of the findings, it could be concluded that treatment 7, those having 75% goat manure plus 25% of sawdust, could significantly increase the reproduction rate of earthworms. a combination of goat manure and banana leaves got the highest nitrogen content but is comparable to grass clippings, rice straw, legume leaves, cassava leaves, and banana bracts. the least performing substrates when it comes to nitrogen contents were in treatment with sawdust. the highest phosphorous content was obtained by treatments with legume leaves but is comparable to rice straw. the least phosphorous content was noted in treatments with grass clippings and sawdust. the highest potassium content was observed in treatments with sawdust and cassava leaves. recommendations farmers may opt to use as substrates for vermicomposting the combination of 75% goat manure + 25% of sawdust,25%cassava leaves,25%grass clippings and25%banana leaves for higher weight and rate of reproduction of earthworm biomass. farmers also are encouraged to use 75% goat manure + 25% legume leaves for consistently producing higher npk contents of vermicasts. another trial may be conducted to determine the earthworm’s reproduction rate by counting the number of biomass (worms) instead of its weight after 45 days of the stocking. translational research the findings of this study could be effectively translated for the use of farmers in the form of leaflets or brochures. the best combination of substrates for vermicomposting will guide farmers on which farm wastes and debris to be used for optimum production of vermi biomass (reproduction rate) and the nutrient contents in the cast and compost in terms of the available and soluble form of nitrogen (n), phosphorous (p 2o5) and potassium (k2o) 120 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited adhikary, s. (2012). vermicompost, the story of organic gold: a review. agricultural sciences, 3(7), 905-917. retrieved from doi:10.4236/ as.2012.37110. ansari, a. a., & ismail, s. a. (2012). role of earthworms in vermitechnology. journal of agricultural technology, 8(2), 403-415. retrieved from http:// www.thaiscience.info/journals/article/ijat/10840834.pdf ansari, a. a., & ismail, s. a. (2012). role of earthworms in vermitechnology. journal of agricultural technology, 8(2), 403-415. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/3sple33 cruz, p. s. (1996). prospects of raising earthworms as a substitute for fishmeal in aquaculture feeds. retrieved from dost scinet-phil. retrieved from https://bit.ly/38m8xrn csiro. (june 2016). fighting the global threat of cereal rust disease. retrieved from: http://bit.ly/2kh0sv3 department of agriculture, agricultural training institute regional training center xii. vermicomposting guide, leafltes. retrieved at https://bit. ly/3sgydqz domínguez, j., edwards, c. a., & webster, m. (2000). vermicomposting of sewage sludge: effect of bulking materials on the growth and reproduction of the earthworm eisenia andrei. pedobiologia, 44(1), 24-32. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1078/s0031-4056(04)70025-6 edwards, c. a., dominguez, j., & neuhauser, e. f. (2000). growth and reproduction of perionyx excavatus (perr.) (megascolecidae) as factors in organic waste management. biology and fertility of soils, 27(2), 155-161. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s003740050414 guerrero iii, r. d. (2010). vermicompost production and its use for crop production in the philippines. international journal of global environmental issues, 10(3-4), 378-383. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1504/ ijgenvi.2010.037278 https://bit.ly/3sple33 https://bit.ly/3sple33 121 international peer reviewed journal najar, i. a., khan, a. b., & hai, a. (2015). effect of macrophyte vermicompost on growth and productivity of brinjal (solanum melongena) under field conditions. int j recycl org waste agricult, 4, 73–83. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s40093-015-0087-1. sherman, r. (2018). the worm farmer’s handbook: mid-to large-scale vermicomposting for farms, businesses, municipalities, schools, and institutions. chelsea green publishing. retrieved from https://bit. ly/39ymybf 95 international peer reviewed journal ang pag-aruga sa di tunay na kanila: factors affecting foster carers to foster care a child william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org 0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines saint dominic college of batanes inc. basco, batanes, philippines gericka mae m. dizon http://orcid.org 0000-0001-5970-4342 gerickadizon@gmail.com colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines jarrah kay s. fernandez http://orcid.org 0000-0002-6029-7841 kayeaiya@gmail.com colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines rhose ann a. narvasa http://orcid.org 0000-0003-3465-665x rhoseannnarvasa@gmail.com colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines teleperfomance makati city, metro manila, philippines vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.726 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 http://orcid.org mailto:williamjosebillote@gmail.com http://orcid.org http://orcid.org http://orcid.org 96 jpair multidisciplinary research hannah q. viernes http://orcid.org 0000-0003-1755-7107 vierneshannah97@gmail.com ace hardware philippines, inc. urdaneta city, pangasinan, philippines colegio de dagupan dagupan city, pangasinan, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract if parents are unable, unwilling, or unfit to take good care of a child, the child might be better in a new home environment. an alternative way called foster caring, which is given by foster carers, would likely to take place. in this regard, the study determined the factors affecting foster carers to foster care a child and identified the more prevalent factors. the study considered both formal and informal foster care systems. the study was quantitative and employed a descriptive design. the researchers went to baguio city, la union, and pangasinan to gather data, but only eight respondents from pangasinan participated in the study. inventory questionnaires were utilized wherein mean analysis and analysis of variance were used in the analysis and interpretation of data. all the factors namely altruism, companionship for one’s child, life dissatisfaction, desire to derive income, desire to nurture a child, identification with deprived children and need to be needed affect foster carers to foster care a child. however, there were only four prevalent factors which are altruism, life dissatisfaction, and desire to nurture a child, and need to be needed. in conclusion, the factors which affect foster carers to foster care a child play a significant role in the child’s welfare and development. keywords — psychology, factors, foster carers, foster child, foster care, descriptive design, baguio city, la union, pangasinan, philippines this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 97 international peer reviewed journal introduction according to enrique, howk, & huitt (2007), a family is said to be the primary source of support, nurturance, and protection of children. it is considered to be the foundation of children’s future. specifically, parents have the task of shaping and guiding the steps of every child to succeed in all facets of life. although having children presents massive challenges, it cannot be denied that it is still one of the happiest milestones in life. however, as evident, there is no perfect household. struggles are inevitable, and at some point, the things mentioned in the outset could no longer be sustained, which can be detrimental to children. the parents might feel swamped by complications of life. therefore, they cannot handle their household anymore and worse, could be brought to ruin. since children are considered as vulnerable individuals, they can easily get affected by the things around them that is why a measure of love and support is much needed. it is in this case that children who are experiencing neglect from their biological parents in their social, emotional and medical aspects of life and are suffering from physical abuse are candidates for entering the alternative care which is the foster care system (scott, o’neill, & minge, 2005). in the aforementioned cases, foster carers could intercede. interestingly, this group of people is very willing to expend themselves for the sake of these children. in addition, there are two kinds of foster care. these are (a) formal foster care and (b) informal foster care. formal foster care is a system wherein legal court’s decisions take place while informal foster care is when biological parents entrust their children to another party, and there are no judicial processes (faith to action initiative, n.d.). foster care is an international issue. based on the reports collated by the department of economic and social affairs population division (2009), the united nations population division estimates that at least 260,000 children were adopted annually around 2005 at the global level. a large number of adoptions also takes place in china (almost 46,000 in 2001) and the russian federation (more than 23,000 in 2001). other countries with sizeable numbers of adoptions are germany, ukraine, and the united kingdom, each with over 5,000 adoptions annually. brazil, canada, france, and spain also recorded significant numbers, ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 adoptions per year. as of september 30, 2016, 437,465 children in the united states are in foster care (child welfare information gateway, 2017). 98 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, south asia has millions of children who have no families already. in an estimated number of 652 million children living, there are 41 million orphans. in india, the juvenile justice bill or care and protection for children was implemented last august 2014 by the minister of women and child development maneka gandhi wherein it discussed the formal promotion of foster and the introduction of de-institutionalization of children. also, bangladesh and sri lanka have programs about the foster care system. the united nations international children’s emergency fund (unicef) had a project of establishing a foster care program for children who are neglected wherein over 2,000 families joined. meanwhile, in sri lanka, 18, 000 children were already helped by the government sevana sarana foster parents scheme, which was established since 1988 (jain, 2015). lastly, in the philippines, the foster care act of 2012, also known as republic act no. 10165, which aims to strengthen and propagate foster care and to provide funds, was approved and implemented by benigno s. aquino iii last june 11, 2012 (the lawphil project, n.d.). the researchers were encouraged to conduct this study due to the following reasons: first, to explore how the motivation of couples and individuals to foster care a child based on their life stories affects their parenting abilities and second, because of the increasing trend of foster care around the world, to determine if there is something deeper behind every motivation or factor to foster care a child. conducting this research will further broaden current literature regarding this topic on the motivations and experiences that affect foster carers to foster care a child. framework factors why foster carers consider foster caring a child each foster carer has his or her reasons for considering foster care. every choice to foster care is unique. every couple or individual has walked a different path in arriving at their decision. however, there are some common themes when it comes to foster caring. the following are the common factors why people choose to foster care a child: altruism. altruism refers to the selfless behavior of an individual wherein he or she is doing something for the sake of others without expecting anything in return. in foster care, some of the individuals are helping children to overcome their past. even though some are questioning altruistic actions, individuals who 99 international peer reviewed journal are willing to support the foster care program are opening the doors for the child to have a new family (peake & townsend, 2012). according to fenton (2016), foster carers expressed altruistic motivations as a factor in their decision to foster care a child. because of this, several foster carers consider foster caring “a chance to do something good.” several calls it a “win-win,” even a “win-win-win” situation explaining that foster carers “won” by growing their family, their adopted children “won” by being spared life in an institution, and the world would “win,” through one “small act of healing” at a time. companionship for one’s child. foster care programs are temporary placement programs to allow the child to have a family. aside from this, families who only have one child consider foster caring so that someone can accompany their child. these children may enjoy their own company, but there will be times when they will feel alone. they long to have someone that they could share a close and intimate relationship. moreover, sibling relationships are amongst the most significant and potentially important bonds that individuals have in the course of their lifetime. usually formed in childhood, they tend to last longer than other key relationships, such as those with parents and partners and, ordinarily, children will spend more time in interactions with siblings than with close others (dunn, 2007). as well as existing through blood ties, siblingship can be formed in other ways, such as legally through adoption or through familial affinities, such as foster care. through foster care programs, they could help both the foster child and the biological child. life dissatisfaction. foster caring an individual can be driven by loneliness. for a woman, the ability to bear her child is one of life’s greatest achievements. however, some women may experience difficulty bearing their own. infertility is not hopeless, even when it may feel that way. it is not a fault of anyone, and it does not have to be a hindrance to the expansion of any family either, but it is undeniably difficult. the effects of infertility can be emotionally stressful for couples. they are often left in a state of shock and heartbreak, especially when they experience emotions such as frustration and shame. fortunately, they do not have to endure the thought of not ever having and building a family of their own. today, when couples or individuals are unable to have children due to infertility, there are other options they can explore to start a family—namely, foster care. as stated,  foster care  is a great next step for many couples who https://www.adoption.net/a/adopting/pre-adoption/considering-adoption/28072/ 100 jpair multidisciplinary research cannot have children themselves. this is the number one option that families are struggling with infertility turn. overall, infertility to foster care looks like hope for many individuals and families. foster care allows people the change and experience of raising a child, having a family, and impacting a child’s life forever (child welfare information gateway, 2013). foster care programs offer temporary placement program, and through this, the individuals will be given a chance to build a sense of family. desire to derive income. while many dedicated people willing to open their homes and hearts to children in distress, it cannot be denied that financial gain is among a number of significant incentives leading some to become foster parents (thoma, 2003). in foster caring a child, one of the incentives that agencies may provide is a monthly subsidy to support the needs of the foster child and also to help foster carers with the expenses during the placement program. researchers about foster subsidy program have found that subsidies are correlated with increased adoption rates (sedlak & broadhurst, 1993; hansen, 2005, as cited in buckles, 2013). in the united states, each state determines its level of monthly adoption assistance subsidy support. states are partially reimbursed through federal appropriations. federal reimbursement of an adoption assistance subsidy is capped at the amount that would be reimbursed if the child remained in foster care (hansen, 2005). this becomes a motivation for individuals to foster care because they think that foster caring provides them with an income. but it is important to understand that a foster carer cannot consider this as income. the money is a subsidy, not intended as income. foster parents are not employees of the foster care agency that licenses their home, nor are they employees of the state. they do not technically provide services to the state; they provide services in the form of care to the children they take in. a foster care subsidy is intended to pay for the foster child’s needs, and sometimes, it is barely enough to cover those needs. desire to nurture a child. most of the foster carers want to foster care a child because they do not have a child of their own. foster caring is not just for married couples but also for single individuals who enjoy having a child at home. in addition, their application as foster carers can also be their way to adopt a child possibly. these individuals are ready to become parents, but their situation hinders them from being one. they have the right job to provide the needs of a family, and for most of them, they want to seize the opportunity while they are still 101 international peer reviewed journal young to care for a child. because of this, they decide to make foster care plans. although they are ready to bring and raise children in their lives, they are aware that it will bring forth challenges and hardships. however, their desire to parent arises from a wish to meet a child’s needs and enjoy a relationship with him or her. hence, foster care has a greater chance of a positive outcome. identification with deprived children. personal experience also plays a role in why individuals choose to foster care for a child. one may already experience being abused or neglected as a child, or some may have been in the same foster care program. individuals who have been in the same situation and can cope with it may want to build a new family (peake & townsend, 2012). it is not at all uncommon for people who have experienced foster care to have a foster child later in life eventually. they are living proof of the opportunity that foster care can provide and, knowing that there is no difference between a biological and foster parent’s love, they decide to give a child the same positive experience that they had. need to be needed. the need to be needed starts when an individual has done something beyond him/her and has made a contribution to the community. when this happens, an individual feels a sense of significance. more than just being accepted by the community, individuals desire to be appreciated and wanted. they want to feel that they are important. according to maslow, as cited in the study by jerome (2013), people have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of respect from others. when this need is satisfied, they feel confident about themselves and valuable in the world. when this need is frustrated, people tend to feel inferior, weak, helpless and worthless because they find themselves beginning to contribute nothing to the community. as social beings, individuals desire for recognition, acknowledgment, and special status in the eyes of other people. this is why individuals apply to foster care programs because they want to feel wanted. the foster children will depend on them during the placement program. individuals want to feel significant in the eyes of others, even if it is only one other person. they want to feel like they play an important role, whether in an organization, family, or life of another. therefore, the personal issue of the foster carer regarding this factor can be fixed by the foster child. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the study the main purpose of this study was to understand the factors affecting foster carers to foster a child. further, the study aimed to identify the more prevalent factors that affect the foster carers to foster a child. moreover, the researchers opted to conduct this study to empower foster carers by increasing their awareness regarding the foster care systems and the factors that affect them in engaging to foster care. methodology research design this study employed a descriptive design which aimed to describe the factors affecting foster carers to foster care for a child in baguio city, la union, and pangasinan. inventory questionnaires were utilized to gather data. hence, treatment and analysis of the data gathered were accomplished using mean analysis and analysis of variance (anova). research site the study was conducted with the foster carers of children who undergo formal and informal foster care systems. the locale of this study was selected from different agencies and institutions within baguio city, la union, and pangasinan. however, only eight (8) respondents from pangasinan participated in the study. three (3) respondents from the formal foster care system were obtained from caring for the future foundation (cff) while five (5) respondents from the informal foster care system were obtained in different places in pangasinan. participants the sample for the study comprises a total of eight (8) primary caregivers who were recruited through purposive sampling and snowballing sampling technique. the participants’ ages ranged from 27 to 56. of the eight (8) participants, five (5) are single, and three (3) are married. under religion, there are five (5) roman catholic, two (2) born again and one (1) jehovah’s witness. five (5) dwell in rural places and three (3) in urban places. respondents’ educational attainment shows that five (5) are college graduates, while three (3) are college undergraduates. regarding the respondents’ occupation, three (3) fall under housewife, two (2) house parent, one (1) social worker, and two (2) business 103 international peer reviewed journal person. based on the survey, the eight (8) participants have an average monthly income of php 9,990.00 – php 29,990.00. instrumentation the data gathering tool is a 3-page survey questionnaire that has three (3) parts which included the consent form, personal information, and questionnaire on factors. consent form the first section of the data gathering tool was attached on the front page of the questionnaire. it provided a background of the researchers, the purpose of their study, and the respondent’s permission to voluntarily participate in the study. it also explained the significance of the results of the study to their lives and the lives of foster children. the foster carers were given a copy which was signed to prove that they agreed to participate in the study. demographic data the second section of the data gathering tool was used to gather information about foster carers such as age, marital status, religion, dwelling, educational attainment, occupation, and monthly income. questionnaire on factors the questionnaire on factors is a 28-item self-report that measures the factors affecting foster carers to foster care for a child. the questionnaire on factors was constructed by the researchers and was content-validated by co-raters specializing in psychology, family and child development, and social work. items in the survey were categorized into seven (7) categories namely, altruism, companionship for one’s child, life dissatisfaction, desire to nurture a child, desire to derive income, identification with deprived children, and need to be needed. filipino translations were also provided for the items in the tool. cronbach’s alpha coefficient is equal to 0.87, which shows high internal consistency. results and discussion the factors that affect the foster carers to foster care a child are altruism (x ̅ = 3.2813), which always affects the foster carers to foster care a child. then, life 104 jpair multidisciplinary research dissatisfaction (x ̅= 3.2500), desire to nurture a child (x ̅= 3.1250), needed to be needed (x ̅= 2.6563), and identification with deprived children (x ̅= 2.5625) are often affects the foster carers. lastly, companionship (x ̅= 2.3750), and desire to derive income (x ̅= 2.1250), seldom affects in foster caring a child. based on the pairwise comparison, the prevalent factors that affect the foster carers to foster care a child are altruism, life dissatisfaction, desire to nurture a child and needed to be needed, f (6, 368) = 4.90, p< 0.05, (ω2 p = 0.3233). based on the findings, altruism is the main compelling factor why foster carers choose to foster care for a child. the foster carers who participated in the study mentioned that they wanted to help those children in need. this is supported by sebba (2012) wherein the main driving factor for foster carers to foster care a child is out of their altruistic spirit. thus, they want to make a difference in the lives of children. in a study by chowdhury & mitra (2015), altruistic behavior is an intentional and voluntary action that benefit others being without obtaining any potential self-interest and self-benefit. it is the manifestation of caring, selfless, and non-contingent upon reward, and it is true selflessness with no expectation in any advantage. this motivation or desire can be seen to influence the decision to foster care among individuals (costa & tasker, 2018). it can be surmised that for some foster carers, the motivation driving the decision to pursue foster care may be child-centered. this can be supported by the study conducted by tyebjee (2003), finding out that 94% of foster carers decided to pursue foster caring a child because they wanted to make a difference to a child’s life, 92% considered that children would greatly benefit from having a family, and 92% were sympathetic to the number of children in care that needed a family. additionally, while discussing their reasons for foster caring a child in the social care system, foster carers stressed how adoption would provide children with a “permanent” and “stable” home, thus positioning themselves as altruistic. the most widely familiar modern function of foster care is as an altruistic substitution for biological children, typically due to infertility or child mortality (volk, 2011). under these circumstances, foster parents are strongly motivated by a (potentially innate) desire to raise children but do not have any biological children of their own to whom they can apply this altruistic motivation. the next factor why foster carers choose to foster a child is life dissatisfaction. life dissatisfaction is when a person may feel lonely in life, but satisfaction was only found in foster care for a child. the participants of the study, which are 105 international peer reviewed journal foster carers, verbalized that they found satisfaction and fulfillment in foster caring a child. foster carers might feel and find that the children they are foster caring can fix their situation, which is loneliness and dissatisfaction. reasons to life dissatisfaction can be rooted to the yearning of some people to see their genes in the next generation; they crave being pregnant and breastfeeding; they want some degree of control over their child’s intrauterine environment and genetic makeup. it can be noted from this reason that becoming a parent is one of the most fulfilling things a person can do, but even with modern reproductive technologies, not all couples and individuals who would like to have children are able to. it can, therefore, be conceded that one of the best things about helping thousands of hopeful parents complete the foster care process is seeing the joy on a new foster parent’s face when they hold the child for the first time. their dream is to one day have a baby they can love and care for forever. for these families, foster care often allows them to feel whole—by completing their family. for these foster carers, the joy of starting a family is difficult to describe. it’s a clarifying moment — something that makes anyone realize what matters in life. furthermore, the desire to nurture a child also became a compelling factor to fostering carers when they do not have children at home. some foster carers enjoy taking care of a child (ramirez, 2001). one of the foster carers who participated in the study cited that she was foster caring a child because she wanted to have a child at home; to have an experience in nurturing a child since she and her husband does not have a child yet. being able to raise a child allows many single parents and couples to fulfill their greatest dream or desire to build and have a family of their own. foster caring a child allows them to fulfill their dreams to become parents. all of the moments they spent playing with dolls as a child, the daydreams they had about playing catch with their child in their front yard — all of those dreams become potential realities the moment they foster care a child. it can be surmised from the findings that a world of opportunities and memories becomes available to them through foster care programs. when they start to foster care, they are also adopting a whole new set of dreams and aspirations. foster care gives infertile couples and single people the ability to become parents when they would not be able to have children otherwise. foster care gives these hopeful individuals an opportunity to share their lives with a child and experience the joy and blessings of being able to nurture and raise a child. 106 jpair multidisciplinary research moreover, the need to be needed also plays a significant factor in the decision to foster careers to foster care for a child. some people have to be depended on by young children to feel useful or to build up their self-esteem (ramirez, 2001). the desire of adults to feel wanted allows their dependency needs to be met. one way of being able to feel this is by being a parent. bringing foster children in their lives makes them feel better about themselves. knowing that foster carers made a loving decision to choose the best life possible for these children allows them to be grateful for their foster carers’ courageous decision and thankful that so many people care about him or her. the love and support of foster parents who are emotionally and financially ready and able to parent and provide a good life will be making their most precious dreams come true. it is in this case that foster carers feel that they are appreciated and wanted when foster children realize their need of them – people who will take care of them. it can then be inferred that foster carers feel that the opportunity to bring many people a lot of happiness would not occur if not because of them. however, when the desire to be needed and wanted to become too much, foster children’s value may solely be based on their capacity to provide the needs of their foster carers. therefore, these children become mere “objects for gratification.” conclusions all the factors namely, altruism, companionship for one’s child, life dissatisfaction, desire to derive income, desire to nurture a child, identification with deprived children and need to be needed affect the foster carers’ decision to foster care a child. however, the four (4) prevalent factors why foster carers chose to foster care a child are altruism, life dissatisfaction, desire to nurture a child, and the need to be needed. in light of the findings of this study, the main reasons and factors for foster care are: a) a child-centered motivation compels foster carers to pursue foster care, b) foster care often allows individuals to feel whole when they have a complete family, c) foster care gives hopeful individuals an opportunity to share their lives with a child and experience the joy and blessings of being able to nurture and raise a child, and d) foster carers feel that the opportunity to bring a child a lot of happiness would not occur if not because of them. it can then be concluded that the process of foster care can be a complex and emotional process for foster carers. but it is also a genuinely rewarding journey. additionally, while each foster carer may have their own motivation to foster care a child, it should be based on something deeper – a motivation that should 107 international peer reviewed journal have a positive impact to the foster child’s life. for foster children, it is unfair for them only to be put to foster care to preserve a marriage or to replace a lost child – to fill someone else’s shoes. factors for foster caring must not be guided by selfish reasons. these individuals must hold a high standard of parenting than many birth or biological parents. translational research the research can be used as a basis to actualize programs meant for foster carers so that they will be empowered in conducting their duties and responsibilities as foster carers. such programs may include ensuring that foster carers are competent and confident in caring for a child. this means they must be able to promote physical, social and emotional development among children. for agencies, this study can be used for them to constantly check the individual or couple’s motives to foster care because they will have to be good role models to them. literature cited buckles, k. (2013). adoption subsidies and placement outcomes for children in foster care. journal of human resources, 48 (3), 596-627. retrieved from doi: 10.3368/jhr.48.3.596 child welfare information gateway. (2013). adopting as a single parent. retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/single_parent.pdf child welfare information gateway. (2017). foster care statistics 2016. washington, dc: u.s. department of health and human services, children’s bureau. retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/ factsheets/foster/ chowdhury, s., & mitra, m. (2015). parenting style and altruistic behavior of adolescents life. journal of research in humanities and social science, 3(6), 20-24. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2oh79eq costa, p. & tasker, f. (2018). “we wanted a forever family:” altruistic, individualistic, and motivated reasoning motivations for adoption https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/single_parent.pdf https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster/ https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster/ 108 jpair multidisciplinary research among lgbtq individuals. journal of family issues. 39. 4156-4178. 10.1177/0192513x18810948. department of economic and social affairs population division. (2009). child adoption: trends and policies. united nations publication isbn 978-921-151466-7. retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/ population/publications/pdf/policy/child-adoption.pdf dunn, j. (2007). siblings and socialization. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2zmhy35 enrique, j., howk, h., & huitt, w. (2007). an overview of family development.  educational psychology interactive,  2, 1-18. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2yaolzy faith to action initiative. (n.d.). explore the continuum of care: foster care. retrieved from http://www.faithtoaction.org/coc/foster-care/ fenton, e. (2016).  the end of international adoption?: altruism, reproductive markets, and the” healthy child”. northeastern university. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2k36hsw hansen, m. (2005). using subsidies to promote the adoption of children from foster care. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gomiab jain, a. (2015). the practice of foster care in south asia.  institutionalised children explorations and beyond,  2(1), 123-126. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2oqujh5 jerome, n. (2013). application of the maslow’s hierarchy of need theory; impacts and implications on organizational culture, human resource and employee’s performance. international journal of business and management invention, volume 2 issue 3, 39-45. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2slftt8 peake, l., & townsend, l. (2012). the motivations to foster.  london: the fostering. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2kdfdur https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/child-adoption.pdf https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/child-adoption.pdf https://bit.ly/2zmhy35 https://bit.ly/2zmhy35 https://bit.ly/2yaolzy http://www.faithtoaction.org/coc/foster-care/ https://bit.ly/2k36hsw https://bit.ly/2gomiab https://bit.ly/2oqujh5 https://bit.ly/2oqujh5 https://bit.ly/2slftt8 https://bit.ly/2kdfdur 109 international peer reviewed journal scott, d., o’neill, c., & minge, a. (2005).  contact between children in outof-home care and their birth families: literature review. nsw centre for parenting & research, department of community services. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2kfyfri sebba, j. (2012). why do people become foster carers. an international review on the motivation to. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2suiwei the lawphil project. (n.d.). republic act no. 10165. retrieved from https:// lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2012/ra_10165_2012.html thoma, r. (2003). a critical look at the foster care system: incentives to foster parents. retrieved from http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster07.htm volk, a. a. (2011). adoption: forms, functions, and preferences. retrieved from https://bit.ly/32xpgrp https://bit.ly/2kfyfri https://bit.ly/2suiwei https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2012/ra_10165_2012.html https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2012/ra_10165_2012.html http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster07.htm 200 jpair multidisciplinary research agencies and communities participation in the climate change programs ellen v. patungan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2819-8261 ellenpatungan@gmail.com bicol state college of applied sciences and technology naga city, philippines delie jean n. martinez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9692-8003 delmartinez0106@gmail.com bicol state college of applied sciences and technology naga city, philippines margie a. nolasco https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-6720 margieanolasco@gmail.com bicol state college of applied sciences and technology naga city, philippines ebonie b. base https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8765-9689 eboniebase@gmail.com bicol state college of applied sciences and technology naga city, philippines originality: 99% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 1% vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.711 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2819-8261 mailto:ellenpatungan@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 201 international peer reviewed journal abstract metro naga is primarily composed of naga city and its surrounding municipalities in the province of camarines sur. it is located within the heart of bicol’s largest river basin area and is considered as a flood-prone region. this provides challenges to the government agencies responsible for implementing climate change programs. the study utilized the descriptive-evaluative design of mixed method of research to evaluate the community participation in the current programs and campaigns for disaster risk reduction management (drrm) and climate change adaptation (cca). information was gathered through structured questionnaires, guided interviews, and focus group discussions (fgds) from the randomly selected respondents of the four (4) municipalities of metro naga. based on the findings of the study, community residents only participated “often” on the drrm and cca programs ( = 2.94) and the problems encountered in its implementation were no access to effective and applicable disaster risk financing and insurance (90%) and lack of initiative from the community to rebuild and repair the houses/buildings destroyed by the disaster (28%). as a result, continuous campaigns on community involvement in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation should be established. the adoption of community-based disaster risk reduction management will give opportunities to the community residents to be equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to be adaptive and disaster resilient. keywords — agencies culture, communities participation, climate change programs, philippines introduction shreds of evidence of climate change was already seen throughout the globe. forest fires, melting of glaciers, drying of lands and increasing number of endangered species were just a few pieces of evidences of climate change observed (levitus et al. 2017). scientific evidence revealed that the warming of the earth’s surface and change of climate is unequivocal (robinson & monte, 2014). intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) is the united nation’s body for assessing the science related to climate change. it has been the body that provides regular scientific assessments on climate change to guide policymakers in addressing climate change issues and problems. ipcc further discussed that the extent of climate change effects on individual regions vary depending on how would the community will mitigate or adapt to change. (parry et al. & ciais et al.) 202 jpair multidisciplinary research indeed, fighting climate change provide a challenge not only with policymakers but also with the government. responding and adapting to climate change should be acted upon by all the stakeholders involved (bulkeley, 2013).  climate change adaptation is key to the creation of climate policy. in the study of the status of climate change adaptation in africa and asia, revealed that evidence of adaptation initiatives is limited to country’s receiving fund in adapting to climate change. (ford, berrang-ford, bunce, mckay, irwin & pearce, 2015). cities play an active role in climate change. high-end industrial machinery and other contributors in polluting the environment were commonly present in the urban areas or cities. with these city government should formulate and implement policy on climate change adaptation. but according to the study of araos et. al,(2016) cities that were identified as extremely adaptors to climate change belong to low-income countries. in the philippines, climate change is an evident and an alarming subject because the issue is viewed not only as of the cause of property loss and casualties but also as a critical factor that would appraise the survival of the country (de leon, e. g., & pittock, j. 2017). the effects of climate change on agriculture, forestry, marine life, etc. will further encumber a country already reeling from a host of socioeconomic problems (mercer, 2010). to address this issue department of interior and local government (dilg) and all allied national government agencies are working together to ensure the philippines is ready for the future. the dilg, in particular, sees to it that relevant policies and programs are propagated, instilled and implemented among all local government units in the country. ra 9729, otherwise known as climate change act of 2009 and ra 10121, or the philippine disaster risk reduction management act both aim to instill in the public consciousness that meeting the challenges ahead demands organization, coordination and systematic responses at all levels of governance and community management. various drrm and cca programs and projects were institutionalized. one of these is the project noah or the nationwide operational assessment of hazards of dost. the program is the country’s flagship disaster prevention and mitigation program. project noah was launched after the destructive tropical storm sendong in december 2012 (mateo, 2017). on the local front, metro naga is composed of naga city and its surrounding municipalities (bombon, calabanga, camaligan, canaman, gainza, magarao, milaor, minalabac, pamplona, pasacao, pili and san fernando) are visited constantly by about 20-22 destructive typhoons annually (mndc, 2019). when these disasters strike, metro nagueños are highly affected because they heavily rely 203 international peer reviewed journal on the government agencies’ courses of action concerning its active involvement in climate change awareness efforts in metro naga and camarines sur. recently, the national resilience council was made to address the issues and concerns regarding the disaster resiliency of the country where naga city is a part of. it is the role of the local government to implement the provisions of drrm and cca. in this study, the involvement and compliance of the local government units and government agencies were being evaluated. establishing resiliency is one way of mitigating the impacts of disasters with the help of inter-local government units and agencies’ commitment in the implementation of drrm and cca with the active participation of the local community, adverse impacts of natural hazards will be reduced. in general, the effectiveness of the implementation of drrm and cca will depend on the compliance and participation of the lgus, gas, and local communities. this provides challenges to the heads of the communities. furthermore, this collaboration will lead to the improvement of people’s adaptation to climate risk. through the help of barangay officials, government agencies, employees, and household communities, this study evaluated the level of compliance and participation of the stakeholders in drrm and cca in metro naga and the problems and issues in its implementation. objectives of the study this study evaluated the level of compliance in the implementation of drrm and cca programs, campaigns, and activities by the local government units (lgus) and government agencies in the current programs and campaigns in metro naga in 2018. specifically, the study determined the level of participation of community residents in climate change programs, and the problems encountered regarding its implementation by government agencies (gas) and communities. methodology research design the study utilized a descriptive-evaluative design of mixed method of research (creswell & creswell, 2013). two different methods were utilized to confirm, cross-validated, or corroborate findings in determining the level of compliance and participation of the local government units and government agencies in drrm and cca programs. the data and information of this study were collected from 204 jpair multidisciplinary research the responses of randomly selected community residents, government agencies, and local government units of the selected towns in metro naga. focus group discussion (fgds) were also administered and selected individuals were chosen to provide inputs during this focus group discussion. the discussions were guided by the survey instrument to confine deliberations to necessary issues. research site the study was undertaken in four municipalities of camarines sur, philippines namely: canaman, camaligan, milaor and pili. these four municipalities were chosen because these were identified as flood-prone areas in camarines sur and had high risk in environmental disasters. participants the respondents of the study were from canaman, camaligan, milaor and pili. it is composed of household heads, community chairman and personnel of government agencies from the different barangays in canaman, camaligan, milaor and pili. instrumentation the research instrument was crafted to answer the problems stated in this study. a set of the research instrument was prepared for the community residents and the government agencies (gas). one hundred and twenty(120) respondents participated in the validation of the questionnaire. the trial respondents’ responses were analyzed and its measure of reliability was determined. the validated questionnaire was then used to gather information and data. the questionnaire 205 international peer reviewed journal was composed of four parts. it includes the profile of the respondents, level of compliance/participation in the implementation of drrm and cca programs, and the problems encountered in the implementation of the program. the questionnaires were administered and retrieved personally by the researchers. all targeted respondents were informed about the purpose and importance of the study and that honest answers would serve well for the study. the validity of the instrument was achieved through pilot testing, institutional peer review and literature review. on each research questionnaire, respondents were informed of the purpose of the study and were also asked for their consent in answering the questionnaire and using the data gathered. they were also assured of their anonymity and privacy. the statistical treatment included tallying, tabular presentation and statistical computations using a five-point likert scale and average weighted mean. weighted mean was used in determining the average of the responses in each of the given questions. this was used to find a single value out of the different results and in interpreting the data about a given condition (bluman, 2013). table 1. likert scale for community participation and gas compliance scale verbal description 3.01-4.00 always 2.01-3.00 often 1.01-2.00 sometimes 0.50-1.00 never table 1 shows the scale to rate the community participation to the drrm and cca programs. the verbal description “always” is rated in between 3.01 and 4.00, “often” is 2.01-3.00, “sometimes” is 1.01 – 2.00 and “never” is 0.50 – 1.00. results and discussion metro naga is constantly hit by about 20-22 tropical storms/typhoons annually that trigger landslides and widespread flooding in various towns of metro naga namely: camaligan, canaman, milaor, and pili were high-risk areas for flooding. typhoons would usually hit the bicol region during the latter part of the year, starting in september. 206 jpair multidisciplinary research local government and agency disaster response recognizing the huge task of stakeholders of vulnerable the provisions of r.a. 7160 or the “local government code” sections 16 and 24, in which the responsibility of the national government and local governments for disaster planning, must be strengthened. hence, the dilg is tasked to “formulate plans, policies and programs which will meet local emergencies arising from natural disasters…,” has embarked different programs to be implemented that aims to create disaster-resilient communities. (lccap, 2014). in camarines sur, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation start with its governor, which is governor miguel villafuerte. he is the one who directs the provincial disaster risk reduction management council (pdrrmc) to immediately convene all the municipal disaster risk reduction management officers (mdrrmos) and activate their respective incident management teams. figure 1. local disaster response framework every mdrrmo should have a well-prepared safety and emergency plan should a typhoon or any disaster strikes the province of camarines sur. lowlying and flood-prone areas of the province were given special attention. the communication protocol was activated in all municipalities, alerting the chief executives and mdrrmos to plan out the mobilization of its personnel to ensure that disaster protocols are in place. as part of the disaster protocols, emergency 207 international peer reviewed journal ambulances are on a stand by mode as camarines sur pdrrmc preps up for typhoons. while environment disaster management response office (edmero) help facilitate contingency activities and check on their barangay’s vulnerabilities and risks so that preventive actions can be implemented. philippine atmospheric, geophysical and astronomical services administration (pagasa) bear the news about the weather conditions they also provide a warning to municipalities near rivers and streams tributary of the low lying area of municipalities of camarines sur which always includes camaligan, canaman, milaor, and pili. people living near the mountain slopes and low-lying areas are also advised to be alert for possible flash floods and landslides, and the local disaster risk reduction and management councils concerned are advised to be alert and take appropriate actions. compliance of government agencies (gas) natural disasters strike unexpectedly and the only thing one could do is to alleviate the impact it will bring. thus, the government puts an effort in developing a strategic plan to prevent and mitigate the adverse impacts of disasters (ishiwatari, 2012). at the national level, the government aims to institutionalize and standardize drrm measures and processes at the local and community levels; it seeks to empower the most vulnerable municipalities and cities in the country and to enable them to prepare disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation programs, campaigns, and activities. table 2. level of compliance of gas in the implementation of drrm and cca programs programs, campaigns, and activities mean description green technology for houses and buildings 1.85 sometimes enhance communities’ participation 2.31 often collaborate with other community stakeholders 1.75 sometimes well-established disaster response operations 3.01 always safe and timely evacuation centers 3.52 always basic services to affected communities 3 often temporary shelters for affected communities 2.9 often restore and strengthen economic activities 2.01 often construct/reconstruct disaster and cc resilient infrastructure 2.3 often programs on safety and rescue after each disaster. 3.7 always average 2.63 often 208 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2 presents the level of compliance of gas in the implementation of drrm and cca programs. this gives a picture of how the gas is implementing the programs on drrm and cca. it could be seen from the table that among the identified programs the following were rated as “always implemented”: programs on safety and rescue after each disaster (3.7); safe and timely evacuation(3.52) ; and well-established disaster response operations (3.01), while the program on green technology for houses and buildings with a mean of 1.85; and collaboration with other community stakeholders (1.75) or “sometimes implemented”. from the data, it clearly shows that collaboration with the different stakeholders is not yet established and only a few of the community members do. overall the gas compliance in the implementation of drrm and cca programs were rated “often” (2.63). communities participation municipalities of metro naga, being one of the vulnerable municipalities in the country, have their own municipal disaster risk reduction and management council. these units strategize and integrate the disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation plans for the community. table 3 presents how often these programs are implemented at the community level. table 3. communities participation in drrm and cca programs programs, campaigns, and activities mean description awareness on drrm and cca 2.31 often well-established disaster response operations 3.01 always integrated and coordinated search, rescue and retrieval (srr) capacity 3.25 always evacuation of affected communities 3.52 always basic social services 3 often economic activities restored and strengthened 2.01 often safer sites for housing 2.2 often monitor for weather announcements/forecast 3.71 always survival kits before the disaster strike. 3.5 always adequate shelter needs 2.9 often average 2.94 often 209 international peer reviewed journal from the data, it reveals that of the ten (10) identified programs participated by the communities, five (5) are rated as “always implemented.” programs on monitoring of weather announcements or forecast (3.71); evacuation of affected communities (3.52); survival kits before the disaster strikes (3.5); integrated and coordinated search, rescue and retrieval capacity (3.25) and program on wellestablished disaster response operations (3.01). while the other programs such as awareness on drrm and cca, basic social services provided, safer sites for housing and economic activities restored and strengthened, and adequate shelter needs are rated as “often participated.” overall the community participated in cca and drrm programs “often” (. problems encountered in the implementation of the program, government agencies encounter some hardship. shown in table 4 is the five major problems encountered in implementing projects and programs on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. table 4. problems encountered by the government agencies (gas) problems percentage lack of adequate shelter 50% no comprehensive plans coming from lgus 30% no collaboration with other community stakeholders 80% basic social services are not provided 60% no access to effective and applicable disaster risk financing and insurance 90% from the data, it could be seen that the highest problem encountered by the gas during the implementation of the programs was: no collaboration with other community stakeholders (90%), no access to effective and applicable disaster risk insurance (80%), this is because the government does not provide micro-insurance or household earthquake or flood insurance for financial protection. sixty-percent (60%) encountered the problems on basic social services; lack of adequate shelter (50%); and no comprehensive plans coming from lgus (30%). no collaboration with other community stakeholders may lead to the unsuccessful implementation of the program. social services were also provided but not enough to answer the need of the community; thus, it is perceived as a problem by the government agencies implementing the program. bicol is a natural disaster210 jpair multidisciplinary research prone area must have access to effective and applicable disaster risk financing and insurance; however, it is limited to the individual who can afford it. table 5. problems encountered by the communities problems percentage failure to follow policies and procedures 16% lack of participation in preparedness and response plan 18% lack of support from the lgus 21% lack of initiative to rebuild and repair 28% lesser level of awareness 17% from the data, it is shown that 28% of the respondents encountered the problem with lack of initiative of the gas to help and repair the houses, 21% of the respondents identified that there is no support from the lgu, while 18% and 17% encountered the problems on lack of participation on preparedness and response plan and a lesser level of awareness, respectively. only 16% encountered the problem of failure to follow policies and procedures. the community seeks for support from different government agencies; thus they have perceived that one of the problems they have encountered is the lack of initiative from the gas to help them rebuild the houses that had been destroyed by the typhoon, flooding or earthquakes. as to the lesser level of awareness, some part of the community was not invited to seminars, trainings, or workshops conducted by the government and other agencies. conclusions based from findings of the study, the following conclusions/implications are deduced: the community residents are “often” (2.94) participates in the disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation; with the local government efforts on implementing programs, campaigns, and activities. twentyeight percent (28%) identified that the community encountered problem in terms of lack of initiative to rebuild and repair properties destroyed by the disasters and 90% have no access to effective and applicable disaster risk financing and insurance. thus, it may be implied that: (1) implementation strategies of the local government should be revisited to strengthen the community involvement in the programs, campaigns, and activities of drrm and cca. (2) disaster risk 211 international peer reviewed journal reduction and management (drrm) and climate change adaptation (cca) plans should be anchored from the needs of the community and recognizing the existing coping mechanisms and capacities of the community/people as well as local know-how and resources is important to disaster risk reduction plans and strategies; (3) the adoption of community-based program for enhancing resilience to disaster and climate change. translational research the findings of this study may be best translated to a pamphlet for information dissemination, if not, a further awareness campaign on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. the pamphlet will have the information about climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction management programs being implemented in camarines sur. these would be disseminated to different communities in the philippines to give them an initial idea on what the programs are implemented is all about. the pamphlets can also serve as their initial guide if they want to venture in implementing programs in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management programs. literature cited araos, m., berrang-ford, l., ford, j. d., austin, s. e., biesbroek, r., & lesnikowski, a. 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(2007).  climate change 2007-impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: working group ii contribution to the fourth assessment report of the ipcc (vol. 4). cambridge university press. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2wjpvh0 https://goo.gl/5shkcz https://goo.gl/5shkcz https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2016.1174659 https://bit.ly/2htrufv https://bit.ly/2htrufv https://doi.org/10.1029/2012gl051106 http://www.philstar.com/metro/2017/02/25/1675473/adopts-project-noah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_philippine_star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_philippine_star http://www.gov.ph/programs/about-project-noah/ https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1677 http://www.naga.gov.ph/mndc/ http://www.naga.gov.ph/mndc/ https://bit.ly/2wjpvh0 https://bit.ly/2wjpvh0 213 international peer reviewed journal republic act no. 10121 also known as philippine disaster risk reduction management act of 2010. retrieved from https://goo.gl/wl3fvr robinson, d. a., & mote, t. l. (2014). measures northern hemisphere terrestrial snow cover extent weekly 100 km ease-grid 2.0, boulder, colorado usa: nasa daac at the national snow and ice data center. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2k2kqe5w https://goo.gl/wl3fvr https://bit.ly/2k2kqe5 53 international peer reviewed journal study on consumers’ preference and price premium for organic vegetables in budhanilkantha municipality kathmandu valley arjun acharya http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4476-0565 arjun.acharya117@gmail.com tribhuvan university-lamjung campus nepal sagar paudel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0047-7314 sagar.poudel1998@gmail.com tribhuvan university-lamjung campus nepal originality: 100% • grammarly: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract paying regard to the increasing concern of consumers towards nutrientsloaded food products and agriculture sustainability, the main aim of this paper is to assess the consumers’ willingness to pay the price premium for organic vegetables and to know their perception of the organic vegetables in budhanilkantha-8 municipality, kathmandu. a total of 100 respondents were randomly surveyed using a questionnaire. the first part of the questionnaire included the demographic section, while in the second part, consumers were asked about their perception of organic vegetable consumption. the consumers’ survey revealed that 28% of the respondents were willing to pay a 0-10% price premium compared to inorganic vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.403 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0047-7314 mailto:sagar.poudel1998@gmail.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 54 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 vegetables. similarly, 24% were willing to pay a 20-30% price premium. some (22%) were willing to pay a 10-20% price premium, 9% liked to pay a 3040% price premium, 1% liked to pay a 40-50% price premium, and 8% were willing to pay greater than 50% price premium, while 8% of surveyed consumers denied paying price premium even in case of product availability. the consumers’ willingness to pay was health properties, followed by freshness and taste. few factors, such as low availability, low trust, lack of information, and high price, were considered barriers to purchasing organic vegetables. the survey also suggested that the consumption of organic vegetables is increasing; however, to stimulate further demand for its consumption, huge production and timely availability, credible certification, processing, and packaging are needed to be promoted. keywords — business and management, organic vegetables, price premium, willingness to pay, consumer preference, agriculture sustainability, nepal introduction an organic farming system is an integrated farming system that promotes environmentally, economically, and socially sound production, enhances selfregulation of natural resources, and avoidsusing synthetic inputs. several pieces of evidence have shown that organic plant-based food usually contains higher anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other beneficial substances (woese et al., 1997; worthington, 2001). consumers' concerns regarding health, food, and environmental safety have increased the production and consumption of organic products in recent years (liu et al., 2019). the market for organic products is expanding, for the number of people preferring organic products and willing to pay a premium price is increasing (aryal et al., 2009). agriculture in nepal traditionally resembled organic agriculture, but adoptinginorganic practices with time has caused agriculture productivity, environmental sustainability, and human health to degrade(banjara & poudel, 2016). developed countries worldwide are raising their organic product market rapidly, whereas its growth in developing countries like nepal is quite slow, with several challenges. some instances of progress are observed, which are still less. since the formal prioritization of organic agriculture in nepalese agriculture in the 10th-five year plan, organic farming practices mounted, and some organic products like ginger, tea, coffee, cardamom, honey, buckwheat, root, and leaf vegetables, essential oils have been even exported to foreign countries (tamang 55 international peer reviewed journal et al., 2011). the certified organic land in 2017 was 9,361 ha (0.2%) of total cultivated land(willer et al., 2016). organic farming’s future in nepal highly depends upon the demand of consumers, their response to organically grown products, andtheir willingness to pay a price premium. the willingness to pay for organic products is comparatively high in urban areas, which provides some hope for the flourishment of the organic market. from different studies, it was found that the potential of a market is determined by the expectation of consumers on product attributes like quality (ramesh et al., 2005) and certification. consumers’ willingness to pay the price premium for organic products depends upon motivators like awareness, healthiness, perception, and environmentalism (xia & zeng, 2008). some studies also revealed that socio-demographic factors like gender, age, education, income, marital status,and the number of children in the family affect the consumers’ willingness to pay(ariyawardana et al., 2009). to stimulate demand for the purchase, product development and innovations in certification, processing, labeling, and packaging play a crucial role (aryal et al., 2009). objectives of the study the research mainly deals with studying the willingness about the consumers to pay for organic products and determinants in the 8 municipalities in budhanilkantha, kathamandu. according to notions from wier and calverley (2002), a price reduction of organic food encourages its purchase, and the authors believe that the significant fall in prices would increase the demand for organic food. with the increasing concern for health and food safety, consumers are willing to pay a price premium as a sacrifice for their healthy lifestyle. in addition to health and food safety, other motivational factors determine consumers, willingness to pay for organic products as taste, freshness, availability, palatability, nutrition, and other exogenous factors such as processing, packaging, labeling, and certification. similarly, sociodemographic factors such as age, education status, annual income, gender, marital status, and the number of children also influence the willingness to pay. consumers’ decision on whether to buy a product or not is based on knowledge, attitude, and intention. however, the translation of willingness to pay into demand is limited due to low purchasing power. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 methodology research design the research uses the simple random sampling design to obtain information about the consumer. it was done by surveying the consumers. survey was conducted through a structured interview. for this purpose, a questionnaire with both open and closed-ended questions was prepared, and pretesting was done near the survey area before the real administration of the questionnaire. data regarding socio-economic information, degree of knowledge, perception, sources of information, preference of organic products, willingness to pay, price premium, the determinants, etc., were collected during the interview. procedure the data was generated by interviewing the respondent. primary information from the respondents was collected after preparing the interview schedule. information about the respondent’s demography, degree of knowledge, perception, awareness, and attitude, willingness to pay a price premium and the determinants, etc., were collected from the prepared schedule. the sample size used in the study was determined using taro yamane’s formula in finding the sample size: n = n/(1+ n×e²) where n = sample size n= total number of population (16885) e = the critical value/accuracy (0.10 for this study) therefore, n= 16885/ (1+16885 ×0.1) = 100 research site the study was conducted in the eight municipalities of budhanilkantha, kathmandu, to assess consumers’ willingness to pay for organic products. the research site was selected purposively for data collection. this is one of the prime centers in the capital city for the organic production of vegetables, and some identified organic farms are located in this region. the municipality lies at the foot of shivapuri hill in the northern part of the kathmandu valley, bagmati province, nepal. 57 international peer reviewed journal figure 1. map of the study area (budhanilkantha -8, kathmandu) respondents 100 consumers of ward no.8 were selected for the survey using a simple random sampling method. in addition, 15 different organic and inorganic vegetable entrepreneurs, five organic vegetable farmers, five organic vegetable sellers, and five general vegetable sellers in the study area were selected for the survey through a simple random sampling technique. this made a total of 115 samples for the study. instrumentation both primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed in the study. various sources and techniques were used for the collection of the necessary information. for primary data collection, a structured questionnaire was used after pretesting. a household survey was carried out to obtain information from a targeted group of people about their socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, opinions, and preferences with the help of a prepared questionnaire. the secondary data were obtained through books, journals, articles, websites, reports, government records, local institutions, and the thesis. primary data were obtained through a structured interview. for this purpose, a questionnaire with both open and close-ended questions was prepared, and pretesting was done near the survey area before the real administration of the questionnaire. data regarding socio-economic information, degree of knowledge, perception, sources of information, preference for organic products, willingness to pay a price premium, the determinants, etc., were collected during the interview. based on respondents’ frequencies, weighted indexes were calculated to analyze 58 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 consumers’ perceptions of organic products. then the indexes of importance for the preference and non-preference of organic products were calculated to draw a valid conclusion and make a reasonable decision. the index of importance was computed by using the formula: data analysis the collected data were analyzed using msexcel and statistical package for social science (spss). both descriptive and analytic methods were used in data analysis. ethical protocol the participants of the survey were voluntarily selected. it was stated that the name of the respondent, the company they work for, and their other personal details would be kept confidential. it was explained to the respondent that the questionnaire does not include content that may harm their personal sentiments. the researcher obtained ethical clearance from the ethics review committee and also got signed information from the respondent. results and discussion this section includes a detailed study of the factors influencing consumers’ willingness to pay for organic vegetables, and the price premium consumers are ready to pay in budhanilkantha’s in kathmandu. economic involvement of family members figure 2 shows the economically active and inactive population. out of the total members of the surveyed families, 45.5% were economically active, and 54.48% were economically inactive. 59 international peer reviewed journal figure 2. economic involvement of family members respondents figure 3 illustrates the gender of respondents in a bar diagram. most respondents in the study area are male. the result showed that 54% of the total respondents are male, and 46% are female. figure 3. gender of respondents 60 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 figure 4. age group of respondents the age group of consumers plays an important determinant in consumers’ willingness to pay for organic vegetables. the result showed that most of the respondents in the study area belong to the age group 35-44, followed by 25-34 and 45-54, respectively. 37 respondents belong to the age group 35-44, 33 respondents to the age group 25-34, 18 respondents to the group 45-54, 9 respondents to the group 15-24, 2 respondents to the group 55-64, and 1 respondent to the group 65-75. primary occupation figure 5 shows the primary occupation of the respondents in the study area. the results showed that 52% of households’ main source of livelihood was service, followed by 20% involvement in business, 16% in agriculture, 3% in industry, and only 9% in other activities. 61 international peer reviewed journal figure 5. primary occupation highest level of education in the family the educational level of the family members plays an important role in consumers’ willingness to pay for organic vegetables. table 1 illustrates the highest level of education in the family. most respondents’ families had obtained a bachelor’s degree, followed by higher secondary education as their family’s highest level of education. table 1. highest level of education in the family highest educational level of family frequency secondary education 12 higher secondary education 25 bachelor’s degree 37 master’s degree 19 m.phil degree 2 doctorate degree 1 illiterate 4 grand total 100 62 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 level of awareness of organic foods figure 6 shows the level of awareness of respondents on organic vegetables. the results showed that the knowledge and awareness levels among the surveyed consumers were good but not adequate. more than half (55%) of the respondents had medium knowledge of organic vegetables. moreover, the level of awareness of 15% of respondents was high, 14% was low, 8% was very low, and 8% was very high. figure 6. level of awareness of respondents on organic vegetables organic vegetable consumption status figure 7 illustrates respondents’ organic vegetable consumption status in the doughnut chart. the result showed that the majority of the respondents, i.e., 53% consume organic vegetables sometimes, followed by 25% who do not consume organic vegetables at all, and 22% consume organic vegetables too frequently. 63 international peer reviewed journal figure 7. organic vegetable consumption status price premium the result showed that most consumers were willing to pay a higher price for organic products in the case of product availability. the consumer survey revealed that 28 % of the respondents were willing to pay a 0-10% price premium compared with nonorganic products. similarly, 22% of the consumers were willing to pay 10-20%, and 24% were willing to pay 20-30% price premiums. similarly, 9% population were willing to pay 30-40% premium, only 1% population were willing to pay 40-50% premium, 8% of the surveyed consumers were willing to pay >50% price premium, and finally, 8% of consumers were not willing to pay any premium price. factors influencing consumers’ willingness to purchase among many factors influencing consumers’ preference and willingness to pay for organic vegetables, consumers were asked to rank within the health/ nutritional property, freshness, environment, taste/palatability, and good appearance. the following formula was used to analyze the ranks given by people. i imp =∑( ) value 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, and 0.2 (represented by variable x) were given for the ranks i, ii, iii, iv, and v, respectively, ‘f ’ represents the frequency, and n represents the total number of respondents. it was found that health/ nutritional 64 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 property was the major reason for the preference for organic products, followed by freshness and taste/ palatability, respectively. figure 8. consumers’ willingness to pay for organic products table 2. factors influencing consumers’ willingness to purchase factors score ranking health/ nutritional property 0.886957 i freshness 0.747826 ii taste/ palatability 0.676068 iii environmental care 0.395652 iv good appearance 0.28913 v factors contributing to non-preference of organic products to find out the reasons that led to the non-preference of organic products, a few factors viz: high price, lack of information, low availability, and low trust were selected. low availability was the major factor behind non-preference, followed by low trust and lack of information. the high price was selected by only a few people. 8.00% 28.… 22.00% 24.00% 9.00% 1.00% 8.00% not willing to pay 0-10 % price premium 10-20 % price premium 20-30 % price premium 30-40 % price premium 40-50 % price premium >50 % price premium 65 international peer reviewed journal table 3. factors contributing to non-preference of organic products major reasons behind non-preference percentage low availability 35.80% low trust 29.63% lack of information 18.52% high price 16.05% grand total 100.00% relationship between education of household head and wtp figure 9 shows that household heads with master’s degrees, m. phil degrees, and bachelor’s degrees are willing to pay a higher price premium. the result showed that the relationship between the education status of household heads and price premium was significant at a 1% level of significance. the willingness to pay increases as the educational status of the household head increases figure 9. relationship between the education of household head and wtp 66 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 relationship between level of awareness and wtp figure 10 shows that respondents with a very high and high level of awareness were willing to pay >50% price premium. the result showed that the relationship between the level of awareness and wtp was significant at a 1% level of significance. the wtp increases as the level of awareness increases. relationship between primary occupation and wtp figure 11 shows that the respondents who served as a primary occupation were willing to pay a higher price premium. the relationship between primary occupation and wtp was significant at a 1% level of significance. figure 10. relationship between level of awareness and wtp 67 international peer reviewed journal figure 11. relationship between primary occupation and wtp price difference in vegetables between organic farm and organic market figure 12 shows that the average price of organic vegetables in the organic market was greater than that of organic farms. the price difference between organic farms and the organic market was significant at a 5% level of significance. figure 12. price difference between organic farm and organic market 68 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 price difference in vegetables between organic market and inorganic market figure 13 shows that the average price of the same vegetables in the organic market was slightly greater than that of the inorganic market. the price difference of the same vegetables between organic and inorganic markets was non-significant at a 5% level of significance. figure 13. price difference between organic market and inorganic market this research studied different factors that affect consumers’ willingness to pay for organic vegetables in the budhanilkantha of kathmandu valley. several variables such as health/nutritional property, freshness, taste/palatability, environmental consciousness, low trust, consumers’ perceived expensiveness, low availability, and lack of information were considered, and a series of sociodemographic factors were also considered, which included the age, gender, highest education level in the family, primary occupation, economically active population and level of awareness. to better understand the factors influencing consumers’ willingness to pay for organic vegetables, a descriptive analysis was done. from the study, it was found that the majority of the respondents were males (54%), and 45.5% of the total members of the surveyed families were economically active. most of the respondents in the study area belong to the age group 35-44, and their major source of income was service (52%), whereas 16% 69 international peer reviewed journal were involved in agriculture. the literacy rate was found to be satisfactory in the study area, where the majority of the highest level of education in the family was a bachelor’s degree (37%). most of the surveyed consumers had a medium level of awareness about organic vegetables. the result showed that 55% had a medium level of awareness, and only 22% of respondents consumed organic vegetables regularly. the knowledge and awareness levels among the surveyed consumers were good but not adequate. the result showed that 92% of consumers were willing to pay a premium price for organic vegetables in the case of product availability. the consumer survey revealed that 28% of the consumers were willing to pay 0-10% price premium compared with inorganic vegetables. most surveyed consumers were willing to pay 0-10% price premium, followed by 20-30%. quality characteristics greatly affect consumers’ preferences for organic products, with the most important health/ nutritional property followed by freshness, taste, environmental care, and good appearance. consumers’ willingness to purchase is hindered by low availability, low trust, lack of information, and higher product price. it was found that radio/ television was the major source of information on organic vegetables. conclusion this paper sought to estimate the consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for organic vegetables and studied the factors that influence such purchasing behavior in budhanilkantha, kathmandu valley, where wtp has not been addressed far in the previous research. the study can contribute to understanding the demand and supply side of organic products since the study is conducted from the consumers’ perspective. results validate that most people are concerned about their health and prefer healthy and functional foods, but there is a limited price level they are willing to pay for organic products. product attributes such as health, taste, freshness, nutrition, knowledge, and awareness about organic products influence the organic consumers purchasing decisions. some barriers to purchasing organic products include low availability, low trust, and high price. moreover, in the case of availability, almost all consumers are willing to pay a premium price to buy organic products, which can be viewed as a cost of investment in human health. the preference level for organic products was found to be medium, indicating that people are willing to buy in case of availability. a significant relationship was found between the education status of the household head, primary occupation, and level of awareness of wtp. the study concluded that consumers’ awareness of their health and food safety is increasing, and there is a huge future potential for organic markets in the study area. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 translational research the finding of the research can be forwarded to the organic production monitoring agencies and other related organizations to maintain the price of the product. similarly, the government can also take references to encourage people to organic production, which will solve the problems of availability. acknowledgement the author is thankful to the advisory committee, the volunteers, the authors of the literature that was reviewed, and everyone else who helped to complete this research either directly or indirectly. literature cited ariyawardana, a., govindasamy, r., & simon, j. e. (2009). the natural products industry: a global and african economic perspective. aryal, k. p., chaudhary, p., pandit, s., & sharma, g. (2009). consumers’ willingness to pay for organic products: a case from kathmandu valley. journal of agriculture and environment, 10, 15-26. banjara, r. k., & poudel, m. (2016). sustainable model of organic agriculture: a case study of nepalese farmers. journal of advanced academic research, 3(1), 142-163. liu, x., zhong, m., li, b., su, y., tan, j., gharibzahedi, s. m. t., guo, y., & liu, j. (2019). identifying worldwide interests in organic foods by google search engine data. ieee access, 7, 147771–147781. ramesh, p., singh, m., & rao, a. s. (2005). organic farming: its relevance to the indian context. current science, 88(4), 561-568. tamang, s., dhital, m., & acharya, u. (2011). status and scope of organic agriculture in nepal. food and sustainable agriculture initiative, forestaction, lalitpur.. wier, m., & calverley, c. (2002). market potential for organic foods in europe. british food journal. 71 international peer reviewed journal willer, h., lernoud, j., & kilcher, l. (2016). the world of organic agriculture. statistics and emerging trends, 17. woese, k., lange, d., boess, c., & bögl, k. w. (1997). a comparison of organically and conventionally grown foods—results of a review of the relevant literature. journal of the science of food and agriculture, 74(3), 281-293. worthington, v. (2001). nutritional quality of organic versus conventional fruits, vegetables, and grains.  the journal of alternative & complementary medicine, 7(2), 161-173. xia, w., & zeng, y. (2008). consumer’s willingness to pay for organic food in the perspective of meta-analysis. in  international conference on applied economics. icoae (pp. 933-943). 78 jpair multidisciplinary research teachers’ compliance with the use of english as medium of instruction in the liberal arts department vicente b. fernandez https://orcid.org/0000-00w-8194761 vincefernandez1@yahoo.com bicol college sagpon, daraga, albay originality: 98% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 2% abstract the use of english as a medium of instruction is growing so fast. this institutional research determined the teachers’ compliance with the use of english as a medium of instruction. the researcher made use of the questionnaires as the primary source and main data gathering instrument. the statistical tools used were the frequency count, percentage, weighted mean and average mean. the total population of the respondents was utilized. the findings revealed that the respondents failed to comply with the use of english as medium of instruction due to several factors, such as, majority of the faculty members were not motivated to initiate the use of english, no cooperation among subject teachers that they used mother tongue in communication instead of english, did not create a friendly environment in learning english, and failed to explore ways to improve and enhance their teaching. as recommended, the compliance should be elevated at all times, the faculty should find ways to enhance their knowledge and skills about the english language, and the administration should spearhead to conduct seminars and workshops on language training, and create policies to oblige the faculty to use english as the medium of instruction and communication. vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.702 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:vincefernandez1@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 79 international peer reviewed journal keywords— compliance, the medium of instruction, communicative competence, continuing education, learning environment, philippines introduction study shows that as worldwide globalization continues, english as the medium of instruction (emi) is rapidly being adapted from primary to higher education institutions around the world as it is understood that an individual’s proficiency in the language can be the key to success. the medium of instruction as defined is the use of english language in teaching academic subjects such as mathematics, medicine, science except in filipino. english as the medium of instruction essentially refers to the teaching of a subject using the medium of the english language, but where there are no explicit language learning aims and where english is not the national language. in france, such phenomenon is typically observed in higher education institutions (heis) that teach the sciences, social studies, business and mathematics in english. the phenomenon, however, extends to secondary and even primary schools depending on the context (macdonald and madhavan, 2014). according to a study conducted by the hopkins international partners (2018), the official philippine representative to the group called test of english for international communication (toeic), the level of english proficiency of college graduates from the philippines is lower than the target english proficiency of high school students in thailand. the commission on higher education (ched) said that they had to take the industry-academe-government partnership more seriously to make sure that the graduates of the educational system could have the skills and competencies needed not just in the workplace now but in the workplace of the future. furthermore, former president gloria m. arroyo signed executive order 210 – establishing the policy to strengthen the use of english language as a medium of instruction in the educational system, whereas section 7, article xiv of the 1987 constitution provides that for the purpose of communication and instruction the official languages of the philippines are filipino, and until otherwise provided by the law, english, whereas, it is the declared policy of the state to promote education as a means to achieve and maintain an accelerating rate of economic development and social progress (robles and chan 2003). the researcher aimed to find out the teachers’ compliance with the use of english as the medium of instruction for the students to gain skills necessary 80 jpair multidisciplinary research in supporting learning through analytical understanding and to help them develop their communicative competence. the study determined the teachers’ compliance with the use of english as the medium of instruction in the liberal arts department of bicol college in daraga, albay for academic year 20182019. specifically, it aimed to: 1.) assess the compliance of teachers in using english as the medium of instruction at bicol college, along with motivation, prior linguistic competence, learning environment, and teaching strategies in using the language; 2.) analyze the challenges encountered by the respondents in using english as the medium of instruction, and 3.) recommend action plan to address the challenges encountered. this study is believed to be of great value to meet the needs of teachers in the mastery of english as a global language. the findings of the study are deemed beneficial to the teachers as well as to the students. this study could also serve as a lesson for the students on their studies and on other matters that will make them proficient in using english as a foreign language. the teachers as the ultimate beneficiaries of this study could serve as a framework on how to improve the level of proficiency in using english as the medium of instruction. with the salient and relevant findings in this study, it could also serve in enhancing the teachers’ knowledge and skills in the second language. also, the academy could use this study as a sound basis for curriculum planning, implementing, organizing, and evaluating policies; school administration could use this study as basis for implementing plans to improve the curriculum as well as the commission on higher education (ched) as key leader and effective partner in transforming college students towards producing competent and productive professionals through dynamic excellent clientoriented services as this study could serve as a baseline to introduce innovation and curriculum reforms. furthermore, the researchers could benefit from the result of this study in the aspect of gaining knowledge to provide and offer new approaches and strategies in teaching, in the case of future researchers, for this could serve as a basis for further studies about english as a medium of instruction in a different setting. similarly, scholars had developed an understanding of the use of english as the medium of instruction and how this thing helped the teachers in the classroom. cankaya (2017) conducted a study with the main concern on the discussion of english as medium of instruction in all aspects with a particular focus on its challenges and difficulties reported by both students and teachers 81 international peer reviewed journal based on the relevant research studies, since english as medium of instruction (emi) gained the greatest importance among the researchers, policymakers and educators. the data revealed that the policy might not only about instructional challenges, but also language related difficulties both for students and teachers. tehseen & hadi (2015) explained that it was critical to retain high quality and qualified teachers to provide high quality education in schools. turnover intentions of teachers in schools had a negative impact on students’ satisfaction and on their educational development as well. the retention and performance of school teachers and possible through their job satisfaction which reduces their turnover intentions and leads. it reviewed the literature relevant to the teacher’s performance and factors that reduces teacher’s turnover intentions from schools. this study also aimed to review the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors to assess the teacher’s performance and their staying intentions. the above literature is supported by bolton and botha (2017) wherein the authors stated that english is the medium of instruction in higher education from the late 1940s to the post-colonial era. the authors explained that one important argument in this context is that the post-independence policy of promoting english within education had strong roots in the colonial language policies of the 1950s. the authors mentioned that today, singapore has six tertiary institutions, all of which maintained a uniform policy of using english as the sole medium of instruction. despite the official policy on english as medium of instruction (emi) throughout education from a sociolinguistic perspective, it was also important to consider the wider multilingual ecology of the singapore society. nkwe and marungudzi (2015) further discussed the perspectives of teachers on english as a language of learning and teaching in the context of government recommendations that shona and ndebele be used alongside english as languages of learning and teaching in zimbabwean secondary schools. the study indicated that through a questionnaire survey, open interviews and classroom observation, the teachers regarded english as a language of learning and teaching in a positive way, though they were aware of the difficulties associated with its use. there was a high consensus on the desirability of english among teachers as informants with various attributes obtained attitude, pedagogical beliefs, and perceived difficulty scores that were in the main, not statistically significant. the previous literature was supported by borjian (2015) as the author explained that the lack of communicatively proficient teachers in mexico was due to a number of factors, including the types of english training were given at 82 jpair multidisciplinary research the university level. english as second language (esl) and language arts (la) teachers had noted a growing population of transnational students who because of family migration patterns had complex educational histories that straddled both mexico and the us. yet, us teachers knew little about the english-language training that such students received in mexico. this study attempted to bridge that gap, reporting on a survey-based study conducted in mexico of 76 mexican teachers of english. included were recommendations about english instruction in both mexican and us contexts, as well as recommendations for greater collaboration between us and mexican english teachers. a similar study was conducted by owu-ewie and eshun (2015), wherein the authors stated that language education is crucial to students’ academic success. the researchers explained that as a result, nations whose native languages were not the languages of education had promulgated language policies to solve communication problems in their school systems. most multilingual nations had adopted bilingual education systems that recognized the child’s native language and second language, which in most cases was the official language of the nation. in order to address the problem indicated on the previous study with regards to english as the medium of instruction, belhiah and elhami (2014) explored on the effectiveness of english as a medium of instruction (emi) in the arabianpersian gulf with special focus on the situation in the united arab emirates at six universities. the authors explained the results and made suggestions that the current emi situation left much to be desired with students struggling to learn the subject matter due to their low-proficiency level in english. as such, this could be the lack of support of teachers in the teaching/learning process or their failure to initiate the use of english both in oral and written communication inside the classroom. hence, implementing a bilingual curriculum in which instruction be delivered in english and arabic in order to enhance students’ linguistic and literacy skills. the study had implications for language education policy issues in the gulf and advocated bilingual education as a means of improving students’ mastery of english while preserving their national identity and indigenous culture. the studies cited above had bearings to the present study since both of them focused on the use of english as the medium of instruction as knowledge and skills in the second language as a crucial aspect in the teaching/learning process. raymunde and ramirez (2013) pointed out that the need to be proficient in the use of english among non-native speakers had become a global phenomenon. 83 international peer reviewed journal it was noted that filipinos are really proud because english is considered to be the “world language,” the lingua franca of the modern era. furthermore, the authors stressed out that the english language is used as the medium of instruction in filipino schools and universities. launio (2015) stressed that since the need to connect with students as essential to successfully transfer learning. the author aimed to look into the relative effects on the use of pure english (control) and the use of english supplemented with hiligaynon (experimental) as the medium of instruction in the teaching of mathematics. the findings revealed that the medium of instruction played an important role. success in mathematics was also influenced by the medium of instruction used inside the class. this study is anchored on carl rogers’s humanistic psychology who agreed with the main assumptions of abraham maslow but added that for a person to “grow,” he needs an environment that provides him with genuineness, acceptance of being seen with unconditional positive regard, and empathy, being listened to, and understood. rogers believed that every person could achieve his goals, wishes, and desires in life. when, or rather if he did so, self-actualization takes place.  this was one of carl rogers most important contributions to psychology, and for a person to reach his potential, a number of factors must be satisfied. the conceptual framework of this study was designed to assess the compliance of faculty in using english as the medium of instruction at the liberal arts department of bicol college along with motivation, prior linguistic competence, learning environment and methods/strategies in using the language. the study also focuses on executive 210 in enhancing the use of english as the medium of instruction in all the institutions in the country. the study analyzed the challenges encountered by the respondents with the use of english as the medium of instruction. also, this study provided an action plan to address the challenges encountered. methodology research design the study employed the descriptive method of research in gathering relevant information of the study. the questionnaire was utilized in gathering vital responses. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html 84 jpair multidisciplinary research research site the study was conducted at bicol college in daraga, albay. participants the study utilizes the 12 faculty from the liberal arts department as the respondents of the study. instrumentation the researcher prepared a questionnaire. the checklist questionnaire was presented to the institutional research committee for corrections and suggestions. the questionnaire had three parts. the first part indicated the factors affecting the respondents in using the english language with a scale of 4 – always, 3 – sometimes. 2 – seldom, and 1 – never. the second part referred to the difficulties encountered by the teachers in using english as the medium of instructions, and the third part the recommended action plan. data collection the researcher personally sought permission from the department head of the liberal arts department to conduct the study. upon approval, the researcher requested to get the total list of the teachers of the liberal arts department. the researcher administered the distribution of the questionnaires to the respondents and requested them to answer all the items as honestly as possible. the researcher personally retrieved the questionnaires. the data gathered was tabulated and tallied, and the weighted mean was computed to determine the perceptions of the respondents. statistical technique the findings of the study were evaluated using statistical terms and formula. the frequency count and the percentage determined the responses of the respondents while the weighted mean was used to express relative participation of the set of responses compared to the totality. results and discussion this part presented the results and discussion of the data gathered from the respondents through a questionnaire in order to determine the teachers’ compliance with the use of english as the medium of instruction at liberal arts 85 international peer reviewed journal department of bicol college in daraga, albay. work performance had been identified as a significant key for the institution to gain competitive advantage and superiority in the field of teaching. it was noted that there is a fast-moving worldwide shift towards using english as the medium of instruction for academic subjects such as science, mathematics, geography, and medicine. the following were the determinants in teachers’ compliance with the use of english as the medium of instruction at the liberal arts department of bicol college in daraga, albay. motivation, as defined, is the reason for people’s actions, desires, and needs. majority of the respondents were not motivated to initiate the use of english and did not cooperate with the other teachers to use the target language at all times. hence, it resulted in the failure of motivating the students to develop their speaking and thinking skills in the target language. it is understood that a teacher’s motivation had been proven a crucial factor closely related to a number of variables in education. the respondents seldom used the mother tongue and the negative attitude in speaking in english in and out of the classroom. also, the respondents were always aware of initiating the use of the english language. on the other hand, the respondents failed to demonstrate positive feedback with regards to their linguistic competence at all times. the respondents sometimes addressed grammatical lapses immediately to improve skills in the use of the language, possessed good overall english proficiency and the ability to produce sentence forms with reasonable accuracy in speaking, had written and spoken clearly and efficiently in english, and have understood that learning english is a continuous process. such factors definitely had a negative interpretation of the teachers’ compliance in using english as the medium of instruction. also, such findings contradicted on the indicators in the aspect of motivation. in addition, the respondents should have understood that prior knowledge played an important role in the job assigned to them in order to prepare them address challenges they may be facing along the way. as defined, linguistic competence  is the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by speakers  of a  language distinguished from linguistic performance, in which the way a language system is used in communication. furthermore, it can be discerned that the respondents were sometimes responsible for students’ english language development did not encourage students to create a friendly environment in learning the second language as expected in all teaching/learning situations. although using english as the medium of instruction as understood could be a complex task, the teachers should have found ways in establishing an environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/native_speaker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/linguistic_performance 86 jpair multidisciplinary research that complemented in the learning process. also, the respondents should have considered learning to be more fun wherein students are given equal opportunity to develop their communicative competence, and that it should have initiated by them to use english as the language of communication. it can be noted that classroom diversity influenced the teachers as their duties to handle students with a diverse range of learning abilities in terms of using the target language. the teacher should have understood that their encounter every time with the students should be an opportunity for them to transfer holistic learning and that the classroom or the school premise served as the perfect training ground of becoming knowledgeable and proficient in the second language. in addition, it can be inferred that the respondents failed to explore ways in the methods and strategies in using the language to improve and enhance teaching in order to develop students’ interest using the target language other than the mother tongue at all times. the teachers must have explored and employed effective teaching strategies. hence, the teachers should have collaborated with colleagues to discuss and share best classroom practices, and even how to structure a unique learning environment. in addition, the teachers should have clarified the goals in beginning a new lesson for the students to understand the whole thing. on the challenges encountered by the teachers, the majority of the respondents expressed that there were insufficient seminars-workshops on english language being conducted by the administration. the respondents lacked skills in pronouncing the words correctly; wherein incorrect pronunciation distorted the meaning of the words in a given utterance. also, the respondents revealed that there were insufficient seminar-workshops in the english language a factor that could have resulted in non-compliance in using english as the medium of instruction and communication. the respondents lacked vocabulary in the english language, wherein it is considered an essential component both in oral and in written communication. also, the respondents revealed that they lacked skill in pronouncing the words correctly. hence, such difficulty needed to be addressed since correct pronunciation played an important role in english language teaching. the respondents also expressed that they lacked confidence in speaking in the target language. as understood, fluency in the language started with confidence. hence, being confident should be considered as not just like learning rules, but it should be characterized as a state of mind that requires to think positively through 87 international peer reviewed journal constant practice and exposure by talking to individuals. this could have improved the teachers’ levels of confidence in speaking situations. in contrast, as understood, a low level of confidence could also be the result of fear, criticism, and lack of knowledge about something which led to being unproductive. in addition, the respondents had difficulty in using the correct tenses of the verb in the english language. grammarians considered verb as more complex compared to other parts of speech in the structure of the english language. the respondents should have spent times in reviewing all its aspect so as to learn and apply its correct usage and other parts of speech such as noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection at all times. on the aspect of recommended measures, the majority of the respondents expressed the desires to attend seminar-workshop to become proficient in the english language. some of the respondents also considered engaging in speaking activities in developing their self-confidence using the english language, acquire more words in the english language, and to review the grammatical structure of english language that could help them become more effective and efficient educators. good teachers became great teachers by going beyond the call of duty and the textbook (hill, 2012). thus, teachers opted to continue their education for the purpose of improving knowledge and skills essentials to the teaching profession. there were conferences, workshops, and continuing education that served as an avenue in developing their students’ communicative competence in the english language. in addition, technology also serves as a channel in learning such as workshops, and classes that teachers could attend as well as on-site workshop and classes. educator performance evaluation system i a potential tool for improving the student’s achievement by increasing the effectiveness of the educator workforce. for example, recent research suggested that giving more frequent, specific feedback on classroom practice may be led to improvements in teacher performance and student’s achievement. it can be discerned that on motivation in using english as the medium of instruction the respondents interpreted two indicators as ‘seldom’ such as frequent use of mother tongue in teaching the subject with 2.25 weighted mean and negative attitude in speaking english in and out of the classroom with 1.66 weighted mean. also, two indicators were also interpreted as ‘sometimes’ such as, frequent use of english inside and outside of the classroom with 3.08 weighted mean, cooperation among subject teachers helps in the language development 88 jpair multidisciplinary research of the students with 3.33 weighted mean, while one indicator was interpreted as ‘always’ on the awareness to initiate the use of english in developing students’ communicative competence with 3.66 weighted mean. on the linguistic competence, it showed that all indicators were interpreted as ‘sometimes’ wherein the respondents failed to address grammatical lapses immediately to improve skills in the use of the language and were not able to write and speak clearly and effectively in english with 3.16 weighted mean respectively, did not possess good overall english proficiency; did not possess ability to produce sentence forms and with reasonable accuracy in speaking both received 3.33 weighted mean, and did not understand that learning english is a continuous process and requires constant practice with 3.58 weighted mean. in addition, on the learning environment, four indicators were interpreted as ‘sometimes’ wherein the respondents failed to encourage students to become active participants in using english more often and use english as the medium of communication among teachers and students both with 3.32 weighted mean. also, the respondents failed to provide resource materials that were important aids to teaching and learning with 3.33 weighted mean and failed to create a friendly environment in learning the second language with 3.49 weighted mean. it is understood that the environment is crucial to learning. thus, educators should be aware of their duties and responsibilities to create a friendly environment for the students in developing their knowledge and skills in the second language. furthermore, in the aspect of the teaching strategies in using the language, four indicators were interpreted as ‘sometimes’ such as, the respondents considered the traditional strategies as helpful in teaching, introduced and applied new strategies in using the second language, and explored ways to improve and enhance teaching with 3.41 weighted mean respectively; focused on language skills across curriculum to enhance the knowledge about english with 3.49 weighted mean. only one indicator was interpreted as ‘always’ wherein the respondents provided clear goals of using the second language with 3.58 weighted mean. also, the respondents had no sufficient seminar-workshop in english language with the frequency of 12 or 100 percent which was ranked first, followed by indicator e wherein the respondents lacked english vocabulary with the frequency of 6 or 50 percent on rank two, indicator b wherein the teachers lacked skill in pronouncing the words correctly with the frequency of 4 or 33.33 percent on the third rank, followed by indicator c, lack of confidence in speaking in the target language with the frequency of 3 or 25 percent on the fourth rank, and indicator a wherein the respondents had difficulty in using the correct tenses 89 international peer reviewed journal of the verb with the frequency of 2 or 16.66 percent and on the fifth rank. these indicators greatly affected the teachers’ compliance in using english as the medium of instruction. hence, the respondents expressed the desire to attend english seminarworkshop to become proficient in english language with the frequency of 10 or 83.33 percent on the first rank, followed by indicator b wherein the respondents aimed at engaging in speaking activities to develop self-confidence in using the second language with the frequency of 7 or 5558.33 percent on the second rank, followed by indicator d, acquire more words in english with the frequency of 6 or 50 percent on the third rank, and indicator a, review on the grammatical structure of english language with the frequency of 5 or 41.6 percent on the fourth rank. conclusions in conclusion, the respondents failed to motivate themselves in the use of english at all times; they also failed to understand that prior linguistic competence in the second language is essential in the teaching process; failed to consider that learning environment is likewise important in teaching; and methods and strategies should be viewed as crucial in teaching at all times; there were difficulties encountered by the respondents in using the english language as the medium of instruction, and a=action plans were recommended to address the difficulties encountered. translational research the findings of the study may be best translated to the various understanding of the importance of english as a second language and the medium of instruction. its aim is to further develop awareness and the use the conventions of academic english in order to develop students’ communicative competence to be prepared and globally competitive in the field of communication. literature cited belhiah, h., & elhami, m. (2015). english as a medium of instruction in the gulf: when students and teachers speak.  language policy,  14(1), 3-23. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-014-9336-9 90 jpair multidisciplinary research cankaya, p. (2017). challenges in english medium of instruction from the teachers and students’ eyes. online submission, 5(4), 830-839. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2hgsd2m hopkins international partners (2018). accessed on august 10, 2018 at https:// www.eventbrite.com/o/hopkins-international-partners-7851394719 launio, r. m. (2015). instructional medium and its effect on students’ mathematics achievement.  int j multidiscip curr res,  3, 462-465. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2wrp5dm maslow, abraham. hierarchy of needs. simply psychology. accessed on august 21, 2018 at https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html nkwe, t., & marungudzi, t. (2015). teachers’ perspectives on the use of english as the medium of instruction in zimbabwean secondary schools.  south african journal of african languages, 35(1), 43-55. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2015.1056463 owu-ewie, c., & eshun, e. s. (2015). the use of english as medium of instruction at the upper basic level (primary four to junior high school) in ghana: from theory to practice. journal of education and practice, 6(3), 72-82. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2eg8iih raymunde, pedro jr. & ramirez, marvin (2013). english language as a medium of instruction  inside the classroom. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2wq0r3r robles, chan (2003). executive orders  –  2003: philippine laws. chan robles. retrieved from h t t p : / / w w w. c h a n r o b l e s . c o m / executiveorders/executiveorders2003.html https://www.eventbrite.com/o/hopkins-international-partners-7851394719 https://www.eventbrite.com/o/hopkins-international-partnershttps://www.eventbrite.com/o/hopkins-international-partnershttps://www.simply https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2015.1056463 https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2015.1056463 https://www.slideshare.net/marvingwapo/english-language-as-a-medium-of-instruction-inside-the-classroom-perception-of-the-first-year-students https://www.slideshare.net/marvingwapo/english-language-as-a-medium-of-instruction-inside-the-classroom-perception-of-the-first-year-students https://bit.ly/2wq0r3r https://bit.ly/2wq0r3r http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorders/executiveorders2003.html http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorders/executiveorders2003.html http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorders/executiveorders2003.html http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorders/executiveorders2003.html 82 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract as more people consumed and burned wood fuels, in addition to fossil fuel combustion, carbon dioxide concentrations continue to rise, resulting to further increase in the global temperature. the study estimates the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from wood fuel consumption in the three municipalities. there were 450 respondents randomly interviewed using structured questionnaire. findings revealed that firewood is the main type of fuel energy used by the households for cooking. cocos nucifera, acacia mangium, sweitenia macrophylla, gmelina arborea, gliricidia cepium, hevea brasilliensis, melia dubia and leucaena leucocephala, elaeis quineensis, crysophyllum caimito, and sandoricum koetjape are among the known species used as firewood and charcoal, mainly collected from their own farms. the daily consumption of wood fuel for every household ranges from 2.81 kg 4.48 kg (about 2,484.26 kg to 8,822.22 kg annually). carbon dioxide emissions from wood fuel is estimated to 18,247.04 kg/year. further, regression analysis showed that co2 emissions from wood fuel can be determined through the following equations: co2 emissionsfirewood= -3.86 -10 + 1.65*weight of firewood; co2 emissionscharcoal= 4.814 -7 + 3.667*weight of charcoal. household’s income, family size and occupation are associated with a little increase of wood fuel consumption. vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.515 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. the correlates of household income, family size, and occupation and increase of wood fuel consumption cristopher p. tagupa http://orcid.org 0000-00034684-7373 cristags081572@gmail.com jose rizal memorial state university znac, tampilisan, zamboanga del norte 83 international peer reviewed journal keywords — forestry, carbon dioxide (co2) emissions, wood fuel, descriptive survey, philippines introduction wood fuels, processed as firewood, charcoal and other solid fuels constitute a major source of energy in most countries, both developing and developed (samir, 2017; liyama, neufeldt, dobie, njenga, ndegwa & jamnadass, 2014). in developing countries, more than three billion people rely on this type of solid fuel, particularly, in african (mamo, sjaastad, & vedeld, 2007; legros, havet, bruce & bonjour, 2009) and other asian countries (démurger and fournier, 2011; soltani, angelsen & eid, 2014). in latin america, 83 million people rely on firewood and other biomass as their primary fuel for cooking (bailis, chatellier & ghilardi, 2012). in australia, according to the report of driscoll, milkovits and freudenberger (2000), between 4.5 and 5.5 million tonnes of firewood are burned domestically each year. in south carolina, usa, it was estimated that 39% of households burned 1.41 cords for each household (marsinko & wooten, 2016). in the philippines, the main cooking fuels used include agricultural residues, firewood, charcoal, lpg and kerosene (samson, stohl, elepan & de maio, 2002). generally, in the rural areas, wood fuel is the backbone of the rural energy economy (ramachandra, 2004; veld, narain, gupta, chopra & singh, 2006). in the rural sector, the greatest use of wood fuel is among households with income lower than $100 (department of energy, 1995). since wood fuel contains carbon, burning them makes carbon dioxide gas an additional source in the atmosphere. wood fuel consumption is closely related to accelerated land clearance and depleting the forests (daily independent, 2010). as more people clear vast areas of the forest, concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to rise, resulting to a very rapid warming of the world’s climate (aciar, 2008). the use of wood fuel is often identical with poverty. the poor majority of the people in developing countries cover most of their energy requirement in a noncommercial way, using traditional, locally available sources of energy and their own physical labor. they simply cannot afford to buy any appreciable amounts of commercial energy (gtz, 1990). national statistical coordination board (2008) reported that among the top 10 provinces with highest poverty incidence, zamboanga del norte was number one in 2003 and 2nd in 2006. 84 jpair multidisciplinary research hence, the study determines the amount of carbon dioxide (co2) emissions from burning wood fuel in this poverty-stricken province for households’ need as firewood and charcoal. framework a household consumption of wood fuel can be determined by evaluating its behavioral patterns in a utility optimization structure where it maximizes wood fuel use subject to a set of economic and non-economic constraints. the household’s socio-economic condition influences its wood fuel consumption decisions. this wood fuel consumption decision is affected by economic and noneconomic factors. economic factors may include market price of fuel, household income and non-economic factors which may include a set of household characteristics such as household size and occupation. the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from wood fuel consumption depend largely on the amount of carbon present from wood fuels. figure 1. conceptual framework of the study methodology the study was conducted in the selected municipalities of the 3rd district, zamboanga del norte; namely liloy, tampilisan and labason. the study employed questionnaire-checklist to obtain the amount of wood fuel consumption of the households. the questionnaire is composed of two (2) parts. the first part, deals with the profile of the respondents; and the second part, deals on the volume, species, and source of wood fuel consumed by the households. the respondents were selected through purposive random sampling. prior to data collection process, the researcher secured permission from the municipal mayors and community leaders (barangay captain) of the areas under study. co2 emissions wood fuel consumption price of fuel householdhousehold householdoccupation 85 international peer reviewed journal the respondents were explained thoroughly the purpose of the study and asked their approval prior to survey. results and discussion profile of households that consumed wood fuel the profile of the respondents as to their occupation, monthly income, family size, ethnicity and types of fuel energy used for cooking is shown in table 1. it can be observed that most (29.33%) of the households consuming wood fuel have meager monthly income from $100 – $199 because they are farmer/laborer (25.56%). it supports the findings of smith, mehta amd maeusezahl-feuz (2004) and duflo, greenstone and hanna (2008) that 95% of the population in low income countries relies on solid fuels, including firewood and other biomass fuel to meet the basic energy needs for cooking and heating. samson et al., (2002) revealed that the greatest use of firewood is among households with income lower than $100. world health organization (2002) reported that the greatest use of firewood is among households with lower income (reutlinger, 1986) as they are readily available and inexpensive. further, about 4-7 members (69.33%) within a family are wood fuel users. this result conforms to the report of the national statistics office (2010) that the province of zamboanga del norte had an average family size of 5.09 in 2000. table 1. profile of the households that consumed wood fuel item liloy tampilisan labason total a. monthly income f % f % f % n % less than $100 52 34.67 32 21.33 18 12.00 102 22.67 $100 – $200 55 36.67 35 23.33 42 28.00 132 29.33 $201 – $300 31 20.67 18 12.00 56 37.33 105 23.33 $301 – $400 10 6.67 39 26.00 27 18.00 76 16.89 $401 and above 2 1.33 26 17.33 7 4.67 35 7.78 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 b. occupation f % f % f % n % gov’t employee 20 13.33 38 25.33 34 22.67 92 20.44 full-time farmer 40 26.67 49 32.67 19 12.67 108 24.00 farmer/laborer 50 33.33 42 28.00 43 28.67 135 30.00 businessman 40 26.67 21 14.00 54 36.00 115 25.56 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 86 jpair multidisciplinary research c. family size f % f % f % n % 0 3 22 14.67 58 38.67 30 20.00 110 24.44 4 7 127 84.67 74 49.33 111 74.00 312 69.33 8 10 1 0.67 17 11.33 8 5.33 26 5.78 11 or more 0 0.00 1 0.67 1 0.67 2 0.44 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 the species, source and volume of wood fuel consumed by the households are shown in table 2a & 2b. the respondents used firewood composed of different species (39.11%), followed by coconut (cocos nucifera) (19.11%) and rubber (hevea brasilliensis) (22.22%). it indicates that the choice of firewood species depend on its availability in the vicinity. findings of the study consistent with the reports of driscoll, milkovits and freudenberger (2000) which disclosed that species available locally are likely to be used as wood fuel. generally, households collected firewood in their own farms (43.11%). the results implies that households in the rural areas are dependent on gathering firewood because of its availability nearby. the findings concurred with the account of ramachandra (2004) and veld et al. (2006) which revealed that most of the households in the rural areas are dependent on gathering firewood from their own land or other farms nearby. table 2a. species, source and volume of firewood consumed by the households liloy tampilisan labason total a. species of wood used as firewood f % f % f % n % ipil-ipil (leucaena leucocephala) 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 0.67 1 0.22 kakawate (gliricidia sepium) 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 mahogany (sweitenia macrophylla) 2 1.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.44 mangium (acacia mangium) 0 0.00 1 0.67 0 0.00 1 0.22 gmelina gmelina arborea) 5 3.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 5 1.11 rubber (hevea brasiliensis) 0 0.00 100 66.67 0 0.00 100 22.22 coconut (cocos nucifera) 28 18.67 0 0.00 58 38.67 86 19.11 different species 79 52.67 43 28.67 54 36.00 176 39.11 do not know 0 0.00 1 0.67 6 4.00 7 1.56 none firewood users 36 24.00 5 3.33 31 20.67 72 16.00 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 87 international peer reviewed journal b. source of firewood f % f % f % n % own farm 88 58.67 69 46.00 37 24.67 194 43.11 neighboring farms 23 15.33 59 39.33 28 18.67 110 24.44 natural forest 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 0.67 1 0.22 market 3 2.00 15 10.00 52 34.67 70 15.56 own & neighboring farms 0 0.00 2 1.33 1 0.67 3 0.67 none firewood users 36 24.00 5 3.33 31 20.67 72 16.00 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 c. volume of firewood/month f % f % f % n % 1-10 bundles 1 0.67 9 6.00 2 1.33 12 2.67 11-20 bundles 64 42.67 16 10.67 95 63.33 175 38.89 21-30 bundles 48 32.00 38 25.33 19 12.67 105 23.33 31 & above 1 0.67 82 54.67 3 2.00 86 19.11 none firewood users 36 24.00 5 3.33 31 20.67 72 16.00 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 table 2b. species, source and volume of charcoal consumed by the households liloy tampilisan labason total a. species of charcoal f % f % f % n % ipil-ipil (leucaena leucocephala) 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 mahogany (swietenia macrophylla) 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 mangium (acacia mangium) 0 0.00 1 0.67 0 0.00 1 0.22 gmelina (gmelina arborea) 0 0.00 3 2.00 0 0.00 3 0.67 rubber (gmelina arborea) 0 0.00 1 0.67 0 0.00 1 0.22 coconut (cocos nucifera) 36 24.00 3 2.00 32 21.33 71 15.78 different species 0 0.00 3 2.00 0 0.00 3 0.67 do not know 0 0.00 5 3.33 0 0.00 5 1.11 none charcoal users 114 76.00 134 89.33 118 78.67 366 81.33 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 b. source of charcoal f % f % f % n % own farm 0 0 0 0 1 0.66 1 0.22 neighboring farms 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 natural forest 0 0 1 0.67 0 0 1 0.22 market 36 24 15 10 31 20.67 82 18.22 own & neighboring farms 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 none charcoal users 114 76 134 89.33 118 78.67 366 81.33 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 88 jpair multidisciplinary research c. volume of charcoal/month f % f % f % n % less than 1 sack 3 2 4 2.67 1 0.67 8 1.78 1-1 ½ sack 31 20.67 3 2 22 14.67 56 12.44 2-2 ½ sacks 2 1.33 6 4 9 6 17 3.78 3-3 ½ sacks 0 0 2 1.33 0 0 2 0.44 4 sacks & above 0 0 1 0.67 0 0 1 0.22 none charcoal users 114 76 134 89.33 118 78.67 366 81.33 total 150 100 150 100 150 100 450 100 even in metro manila area, about 78% of the households collected the firewood and 22% purchased it (doe, 1995). sun star (2006) reported that of the total number of firewood users in cebu, 52% are bought, while 48% are gathered. about 11-20 bundles (38.89%) of firewood are consumed by the households every month, and each bundle has an average weight of 8 kg. on the other hand, coconut (cocos nucifera) shell is the species used for making charcoal. however, kakawate (gliricidia sepium), caimito (crysophyllum caimito), mahogany (sweitenia macrophylla), santol (sandoricum koetjape), ipil-ipil (leucaena leucocephala), rubber (hevea brasiliensis) and agoho (elaeis quineensis) are among the tree species used for charcoal production. the result is comparative to the findings of driscoll et al. (2000) which disclosed that species available locally are likely to be used as wood fuel for making firewood and charcoal. the volume of charcoal consumed by the households ranging from 1-1 ½ sack per month. charcoal made from coconut shell was chiefly bought in the market. the households, basically, purchased it because they do not have the time to make their own charcoal. doe (1995) revealed that most of the urban centers in the philippines, 99.5% of the charcoal consumed was purchased. in 2007, 42.6% of the population (more than 1 million of households) is still using charcoal for cooking. additionally, the population does not use charcoal for ironing anymore, this means that 99% of the charcoal consumed is considered for cooking purposes (o.d.d., 2007). further, it is observed that prices of charcoal made from coconut shell and wood of different tree species have varying prices. according to the users, charcoal made of coconut shell is costly, compared to other wood species due to its higher btu (british thermal unit) value. nix (2010) reported that wood heating potential can be determined by its wood density and the amount of energy it can produce, usually measured in british thermal units or btus. this is also related to the findings of hong 89 international peer reviewed journal and slatick (1994) which says that the amount of heat emitted during coal combustion depends largely on the amounts of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen present in the coal and to a lesser extent, sulfur content. since carbon is the major component of coal, then it is the principal source of heat. it implies that dry-wood density would matter the amount of heat during combustion as basis for heat sustainability. as observed, coconut (cocos nucifera) shell is heavier than most of the wood tree species used as charcoal. wood fuel consumption rate and co 2 emissions for a household the estimated consumption rate of wood fuel for every household is indicated in table 3. it shows that the daily consumption rate of firewood and charcoal ranges from 1.24 kg 3.03 kg and 1.12 1.45 kg, respectively. the amount of co2 emissions from wood fuel consumption for every household is estimated to 5,827.14 kg annually. these figures are closer to the reports of objectif développement durable (2007) of the firewood consumption in panay island which have an average weekly consumption of 21 kg per week, while charcoal users consumed 5.25 kg per week. in 1995, metro manila had an average annual consumption of firewood at 294.37 kg (doe, 1995). in 2007, metro manila, cebu and iloilo marked an average annual consumption rate of charcoal at 156 kg, 232.96 kg and 273 kg, respectively. comparatively, it can be noted that charcoal consumption of these big cities is quite lower because lpg and electricity are commonly used as principal cooking fuel (doe, 1995). nonetheless, the result is closer to the reports of some authorities in rural areas of subtropical countries. rijal and yoshida (2002) stated that the rate of firewood consumption in the rural households in nepal ranges from 235-1,130 kg/capita/year. world bank (2003) estimated daily firewood consumption in northern himalayan region of india ranges from 1.2 kg in town to 2 kg in rural areas. gtz (1990) also recounted that a family of five members in sudan consumed roughly 2.5 kg – 3 kg of charcoal daily. however, in the cooler regions, the daily firewood demand varies between 20 kg in the winter and 14 kg in the summer. this figure is higher compared to the results of this study since firewood is used not only for cooking but also for heating the fireplace (zhou, wu, q. chen & s. chen, 2008). 90 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. estimated consumption rate of wood fuel and co2 emissions for every household in the three municipalities municipality firewood consumption/ household/day charcoal consumption/ household/day consumption of wood fuel/ household/year (kg) co2 emissions/ house-hold (kg/year) liloy 1.69 1.12 1,011.60 2,484.26 tampilisan 3.03 1.45 1,612.80 8,822.22 labason 1.24 1.28 907.20 6,940.56 total 5.96 3.85 3,531.6 18,247.04 mathematical equation models between wood fuel consumption and its carbon dioxide emissions. table 4 reflects the results of linear regression analysis between wood fuel consumption and its carbon dioxide emissions. it exhibited that the model of relationship between wood fuel consumption and the amount of co2 emissions is observed linear. the equations pointed out that the variation in the amount of carbon dioxide emissions due to firewood and charcoal consumption is explained by linear equation model, r2= .86 and .75, respectively, with p= <.05. table 4. mathematical equation models between wood fuel consumption and co2 emissions woodfuel relative equation model r2 p value firewood co2 emissions = -3.866-10 + .86 0.02* 1.650*weight of firewood charcoal co2 emissions = 4.814-7 + .75 0.04* 3.667*weight of charcoal * = significant at .05 relationship between wood fuel consumption and characteristics of the households table 5 reflects the results of the stepwise multiple linear regression analysis on the predictors of wood fuel consumption. among the independent variables, three came out as best predictors of wood fuel consumption. these variables are monthly income, family size and occupation of the respondents. these levels are 91 international peer reviewed journal statistically significant at p=.05. it explained that 49% of the monthly income, 52 percent of the family size and 53% of the occupation of the respondents significantly influenced their consumption of wood fuel. table 5. relationship between wood fuel consumption and characteristics of the households factors r r2 monthly income 0.70 0.49 family size 0.72 0.52 occupation 0.73 0.53 reutlinger (1986) disclosed that households’ income determined the amount of fuels consumed. macauley, naimuddin, agarwal and dunkerley (1989) reported that the total energy consumption increases with 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w. wu, q. chen and s. chen. 2008. study on sustainable development of rural household energy in northern china, renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 12, 2227–2239. retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/s1364032107000603 163 international peer reviewed journal academic preparation towards improved world class maritime shipboard performance victoria q. paraggua http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0284-5555 victoriaparaggua@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines ronald g. magsino http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0956-5564 rgmagsino92@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines rachelle c. diviva http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6994-5817 crisostomorachelle@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines ana lee m. panado http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7563-5009 pmmaresearch@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines vol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.507 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 164 jpair multidisciplinary research jamila m. millar pmmaresearch@gmail.com philippine merchant marine academy san narciso, zambales, philippines abstract continuous monitoring and evaluation are necessary in keeping graduates abreast of the trends and demands in maritime in order not to lag behind in a highly competitive environment like the shipping industry. the study evaluated the academic preparation and shipboard training performance of the pmma cadets as basis for improvement of the program towards customer satisfaction. the descriptive design was utilized to gather and evaluate the perception of the respondents. the trainee-respondents rated the curriculum, faculty competency, and laboratory and equipment as very satisfactory. evaluator-respondents rated the work competency, ethical standards, and knowledge and skills of the trainees as very satisfactory. trainees positively regarded the preparation of reports. they also handled tasks and functions stipulated in their training record book though there are some areas where a significant majority did not experience. the latest trends and demands that should be addressed and incorporated in the maritime curriculum are the following: full compliance with security and safety; installation and use of up-to-date and modern navigational equipment; the presence of electronically controlled camless main engine; simpler but durable cargo handling equipment; and garbage management system. the weaknesses and gap revealed that the maritime curriculum and shipboard training need consideration and reflection to maintain the country’s status as the prime provider and producer of highly qualified marine officers. keywords — maritime education, academic preparation, shipboard training, performance evaluation, international vessels, philippines introduction in a dynamic working environment like the shipping industry, maritime professionals are expected to be versatile for them to keep up with the fastchanging global trends and demands. technological advancements brought 165 international peer reviewed journal numerous changes in the regulations applicable in the sea lanes of the world. therefore, quality maritime education and training play a role in fostering a corps of able marine professionals who will be resilient and continuously adapts to changes. in this aspect, the institutions of higher learning play a significant part in ensuring that the education they provide meets the expectations of students and the requirements of employers, both today and for the future (henard & rosevaera, 2012). with constant monitoring and evaluation, new trends, challenges, and opportunities can be easily identified. the identification of these areas can serve as a basis for improvement, changes, and upgrade in the curriculum, aids for instruction and competencies of the faculty. one way to identify these areas is through a satisfaction survey. trainees who have undergone the shipboard training and stakeholders are subjected to the survey (b. kim & h. kim, 2013; alimen, gayo, jaleco & gayo jr., 2009). the philippines provides the workforce needs of the shipping industry – including international waters. the country is dubbed as the “manpower capital” of the maritime sector comprising of at least 30% out of 1.2 million seafarers worldwide as of 2012. since the filipinos are most-sought-after in sea-based jobs, it is essential that the quality of the workers should be maintained to sustain the interest of the demanding parties worldwide. the philippine maritime higher education institutions strive to meet the rapid demand of filipino seafarers. the philippine merchant marine academy (pmma) being one of the largest producers and the only state-owned institution specializing in maritime education and training (met) share with this undertakings. most importantly, the shipboard training program should serve its purpose to train future mariners to equip them with knowledge better and dynamically apply their maritime skills to a sea-going vessel. this supports the marina’s mandate to develop and maintain a reservoir of adequately trained, competent, and qualified workforce—who are internationally competitive and familiar with globally-recognized practices and standards—by providing right education and training necessary in the area of expertise of maritime students (maritime industry authority, n.d.). 166 jpair multidisciplinary research framework figure 1. conceptual paradigm to conclude if the program is successful or effective, evaluation and monitoring are necessary. this is a way to realize the strengths, areas of weaknesses and other significant factors that may affect the shipboard training program. harvey (2003) claimed that “feedback has two main functions: internal information to guide improvement and external information for potential students and other stakeholders, including accountability and compliance requirements.” collating all the feedback of the trainee-respondents and evaluator-respondents served as the basis for improvement or changes that will strengthen the academic preparation of the cadets of pmma to attain world-class shipboard maritime performance. objectives of the study the study evaluated the academic preparation of the pmma 2cl midshipmen/women as a basis for improvement toward world-class shipboard maritime performance. specifically, it sought to: 1) find out the profile of the pmma trainees and evaluator respondents; the trainee-respondents’ perceptions on their academic preparations prior to shipboard training as provided by the pmma; their view of preparation of reports and actual tasks and functions 167 international peer reviewed journal vis-a-vis isf/training record book; 2) determine the evaluators perception of the trainees’ performance; and 3) determine the trainee/evaluator-respondents perception on the latest trends and demands in the maritime industry. methodology the descriptive design was utilized to describe the academic preparation provided by the philippine merchant marine academy for the shipboard trainees. a total of 151 trainee-respondents (69 deck-trainees and 82 engine-trainees) and 29 evaluator-respondents who served as the immediate supervisors/training supervisor from the different shipping and manning companies were surveyed. a researcher-made questionnaire for the trainee-respondents’ perception on the curriculum and laboratory and equipment was utilized. nbc 461 instrument for teaching effectiveness was utilized to collect trainee-respondents’ perception on faculty competency. documentary analysis was also conducted to scrutinize the training record books/ isf which were obtained from the department of shipboard training. to support the quantitative data, structured and unstructured interviews were conducted among the trainees, the officers who supervised the trainees; the deans of both colleges; and the panel of experts. quantifiable responses were treated with statistical tools such as frequency, weighted mean, rank, and percentage. ethics protocol the researchers sought permission or informed consent from all the respondents who were surveyed and interviewed. results and discussion profile of the respondents based on the data gathered, the majority of the deck and engine traineerespondents are 18 to 20 years old cadets aboard bulk, tanker or container vessels. on the other hand, most of the shipboard training evaluator-respondents are 4162 years old acting as supervisor/crew manager of a cargo vessel. 168 jpair multidisciplinary research perception on academic preparation for shipboard training curriculum table 1. curriculum – marine transportation deck wm qi deck wm qi navigation   seamanship planning and conduct of a passage and determine position 3.75 very satisfied monitoring the loading, stowage, securing and unloading of cargoes and their care during the voyage 3.64 very satisfied application of the use of radar and arpa to maintain safety of navigation 3.74 very satisfied monitoring of loading of cargoes 3.63 very satisfied maneuvering of the ship 3.66 very satisfied monitoring of discharging of cargoes 3.74 very satisfied steering the ship 3.63 very satisfied maintenance and overhauling of cargo systems and associated equipment – for tankers 3.33 satisfied   maintenance of seaworthiness of the ship 3.69 very satisfied deck watch   maintenance of a safe navigational watch 3.80 very satisfied maritime law   prevention, control and fights fire on-board 3.62 very satisfied english 3 imo standard marine communication phrases operation and maintenance of life-saving appliances 3.72 very satisfied application of the use imo standard marine communication phrases and write and speak english 3.77 very satisfied application of medical first aid on-board 3.62 very satisfied maritime communications monitoring of the compliance with legislative requirements 3.63 very satisfied transmittance and receive information through appropriate gmdss equipment 3.69 very satisfied response to emergencies 3.73 very satisfied marine environment response to a distress signal at sea 3.7 very satisfied ensure compliance with pollution prevention requirements 3.74 very satisfied 169 international peer reviewed journal tables 1 and 2 reflect the satisfaction rating of the deck and engine traineerespondents on the pmma curriculum which is based on their familiarity and knowledge of the different areas indicated. the items shown are parts of the training record book required for them to accomplish while they are in training. findings reveal that both the deck and engine trainee-respondents are very satisfied with the curriculum in preparing them for shipboard training. however, particular areas should be highlighted. the “maintenance and overhauling of cargo systems and associated equipment” was rated by the deck traineerespondents only as satisfied. it was found out that those who were assigned to tanker vessels perceived their preparation needs to be strengthened. another area that should be noted is “safety” and “prevention, control, and firefighting onboard” rated by the engine trainees as outstanding (as shown in table 2). this finding can be attributed to the availability of safety training facilities in the academy, i.e., safety center that provides training in firefighting and safety for its cadets and other filipino seafarers (pmma prospectus, 2015). nevertheless, the overall satisfaction of the trainees implies that the curriculum of the pmma has trained and equipped them for shipboard training. table 2. curriculum – marine engineering engine wm qi engine wm qi machine shop   auxiliary machinery use of appropriate tools for fabrication and repair operations 4.10 very satisfied auxiliary boiler 4.02 very satisfied use of measuring equipment such as calipers, dividers, gauges, steel rule, thread gauge, etc. 4.11 very satisfied pumping and pumping systems 4.00 very satisfied   air conditioning system 4.02 very satisfied electrotechnology   fresh water generator 4.11 very satisfied use of electrical and electronic measuring and test equipment 3.97 very satisfied oily water separator 4.03 very satisfied procedures in response to black-out and emergency situations 3.81 very satisfied sewage treatment plant 4.00 very satisfied   waste oil management 4.09 very satisfied 170 jpair multidisciplinary research engine wm qi engine wm qi automation   purifiers, clarifiers and separators 4.09 very satisfied maintenance and operation of alternators, generators and control systems 3.89 very satisfied control/safety air system 3.99 very satisfied maritime law safety 4.23 outstanding power plant diesel   prevention, control and firefighting on-board 4.24 outstanding main engine 4.08 very satisfied operation and maintenance of life-saving appliances 4.10 very satisfied auxiliary engine 3.99 very satisfied application of medical first aid onboard ship 4.10 very satisfied engine operation 4.16 very satisfied faculty competence table 3. faculty competence deck engine total wm qi wm qi knowledge of subject 3.64 very satisfactory 4.12 very satisfactory 3.88 teaching for independent learning 3.72 very satisfactory 4.09 very satisfactory 3.91 management of learning 3.63 very satisfactory 4.06 very satisfactory 3.85 commitment 3.56 very satisfactory 4.12 very satisfactory 3.84 overall 3.64 very satisfactory 4.10 very satisfactory 3.87 table 3 shows that both the deck and engine trainee respondents are very satisfied with the competency of the members of the technical faculty of the philippine merchant marine academy. however, despite the positive feedback of the trainee-respondents, it can be noticed that areas that the items commonly related to management of learning and commitment are rated lower. 171 international peer reviewed journal laboratory and equipment table 4. laboratory and equipment deck wm qi engine wm qi navigation equipment 3.85 very satisfied marine electricity tools 4.10 very satisfied deck workshop tools and equipment 3.75 very satisfied ship shaft laboratory 4.08 very satisfied cargo handling room 3.79 very satisfied engine control room equipment 4.13 very satisfied ship stability equipment 3.67 very satisfied engine machine shop and tools 4.03 very satisfied conduciveness and safety of laboratory rooms for practical experiments 3.78 very satisfied pneumatics and hydraulics laboratory 4.10 very satisfied instrumentation and control laboratory room 3.80 very satisfied laboratory rooms for practical experiments 4.06 very satisfied latest technology and simulators (bridge and engine room simulator) 3.84 very satisfied instrumentation and control laboratory room 4.05 very satisfied learning venue such as training ship (rpls luna) 3.69 very satisfied latest technology and simulators (bridge and engine room simulator) 4.08 very satisfied safety equipment and tools 3.84 very satisfied learning venue such as training ship (rpls luna) 3.95 very satisfied security equipment 3.63 very satisfied safety, security, lifesaving and personal survival equipment and tools 4.10 very satisfied life-saving and firefighting equipment 3.75 very satisfied computer laboratory and internet access 4.03 very satisfied lifeboats and personal survival equipment 3.69 very satisfied other maritime-related facilities (swimming pool and firehouse) 4.09 very satisfied computer laboratory 3.68 very satisfied overall weighted mean 4.07 very satisfied other maritime-related facilities (swimming pool and firehouse) 3.72 very satisfied gmdss equipment 3.69 very satisfied overall weighted mean 3.74 very satisfied table 4 shows that the deck and engine trainee-respondents are very satisfied with the aid of the laboratory and equipment of pmma in preparing them for shipboard training. it must be noted that this area is vital in the learning 172 jpair multidisciplinary research experience of the students. it is in laboratories where the application of theories is possible. tools and equipment therein increase the capability of the students to retain a multitude of information (lunetta, hofstein, & clough, 2007). evaluation of the preparation of the reports during shipboard training table 5. preparation of reports % % training schedule often affects 39.58 conformity of content to actual training often conforms 53.15 sometimes affects 53.23 sometimes conforms 40.72 seldom affects 4.62 seldom conforms 6.20 never affects 2.57 never conforms 0.53   total 100   total 100 understanding of tasks often difficult 17.32 sequencing of tasks with actual training often sequenced 45.49 sometimes difficult 54.75 sometimes sequenced 48.16 seldom difficult 20.37 seldom sequenced 5.82 never difficult 7.56 never sequenced 0.53   total 100   total 100 duplication of report strongly agree 31.58 queries about the topics often answered 44.19 agree 57.24 sometimes answered 48.57 disagree 9.17 seldom answered 6.72 strongly disagree 2.01 never answered 0.53 total 100   total 100 ease of acquiring certification from supervisor often easy 37.95 sometimes easy 56.15 seldom easy 4.32 never easy 1.58         total 100 as summarized in table 5, most of the trainees agreed that preparation of reports sometimes affects their training schedule and that is consuming most of their time. a majority of them also said that tasks are sometimes difficult to understand, but it often conforms to the actual training and tasks are properly sequenced. moreover, a significant majority also agreed that there is a duplication 173 international peer reviewed journal of the isf record book and the pmma sea project. the trainees agreed that it was sometimes easy to acquire certification of the reports from supervisors and their colleagues and supervisors are helpful in assisting them in the preparation of reports. perception of the evaluator-respondents on the performance of the trainees table 6. performance of the trainees competence/performance weighted mean interpretation rank work competence > attitude while working; have the ability to communicate instructions to a multi-lingual crew; a team-player have the capacity to withstand hard and cumbersome workload and training; and others. 3.99 very satisfactory 1 ethical standards > understand the nature of naval and maritime services well; have served as inspiration for their dedication and high purpose; have encouraged the practice of ethical principles and standards of professional practice; have refrained from committing offenses; and others. 3.87 very satisfactory 2 knowledge and understanding > display of knowledge of their duties and responsibilities onboard; by being watchful during emergency drills and safety practices; by possessing skills on tasks assigned to them; by their display of academic, mental, physical and professional preparedness; and by demonstrating their familiarity of the vessel, operating procedures, and others. 3.57 very satisfactory 3 the evaluators rated the pmma shipboard trainees’ overall performance regarding work competency, ethical standards, and knowledge and understanding as very satisfactory. 174 jpair multidisciplinary research tasks and functions accomplished by the trainees on their shipboard training table 7. tasks and functions engine cadets *values in % *with actual experience *did not experience marine engineering at the operational level maintain a safe engineering watch 73.40 26.60 use english in written and oral form 60.00 40.00 operate main and auxiliary and associated control systems 65.49 34.51 operate pumping systems and associated control systems 67.97 32.03 electrical, electronic and control engineering at the operational level operate alternators, generators and control systems 60.79 39.21 maintenance and repair at the operational level maintain marine engineering systems including control systems 56.11 43.89 controlling the operation of the ship and care for persons onboard at the operational level ensure compliance with pollution prevention requirements 42.26 57.74 maintain seaworthiness of the ship 42.79 57.21 prevent, control and fight fires on-board 59.48 40.52 operate life-saving appliances 57.88 42.12 apply medical first aid onboard ship 56.75 43.25 monitor compliance with legislative requirements 47.12 52.88 175 international peer reviewed journal table 8. tasks and functions – deck cadets *values in % * values in % tasks and functions (deck cadets) *with actual experience *did not experience tasks and functions (deck cadets) *with actual *did not experience navigation at the operational level cargo handling and stowage for tankers plan and conduct a passage and determine position 85.75 14.25 monitor loading of cargoes 24.19 75.81 maintain a safe navigational watch 81.41 18.59 monitor discharging of cargoes 24.19 75.81 use of radar and arpa to maintain safety of navigation 85.44 14.56 maintain and overhaul cargo and associated equipment 22.37 77.63 respond to emergencies 83.20 16.80 respond to distress signal at sea 54.83 45.17 controlling the operation of the ship and care on-board at the operational level use of imo standard marine communication phrases and write and speak english 53.08 46.92 ensure compliance with pollution prevention requirements 70.14 29.86 transmit and receive information by visual signaling 73.55 26.45 maintain seaworthiness of the ship 63.39 36.61 maneuver of the ship 78.47 21.53 prevent, control and fight fires on-board 70.69 29.31 steering the ship 68.49 31.51 operate life-saving appliances 70.17 29.83 apply medical first aid onboard ship 66.08 33.92 cargo handling and stowage at the operational level monitor compliance with legislative requirements 71.62 28.38 monitoring the loading, stowage, securing and unloading of cargoes and their care during the voyage 54.62 45.38 tables 7 and 8 reflect the required tasks and functions of both the deck and engine trainees. most of the trainees have accomplished the tasks and functions required of them. however, some areas need attention. as shown in table 7, more than half of the engine-trainees did not experience at least 3 areas under controlling the operation of the ship and care for persons onboard at the operational level such as “ensure compliance with pollution prevention 176 jpair multidisciplinary research requirements”, “maintain seaworthiness of the ship”, and “monitor compliance with legislative requirements”. also, a significant majority of the deck-trainees who were assigned in tanker vessels did not experience handling tasks that are under cargo handling and stowage (table 8). moreover, the areas which have a higher number of trainees who did not experience handling the tasks only imply that some shipping companies do not involve them in activities that are needed to be complied. therefore, it is necessary for the academic institution to communicate with the shipping companies to rectify this gap. this will ensure a fair training experience among the shipboard trainees. latest trends and demands on maritime industry as perceived by the trainees and evaluators safety and security strict and full compliance with security and safety which includes frequent implementation of safety meetings, provision of up-to-date security information and procedures, full understanding of international ship and port facility security (isps) code contingency plan, use of multimedia for safety awareness, provision of more reliable safety and security equipment. navigational equipment installation and use of up-to-date equipment and modern navigational equipment such as radar, global positioning system (gps), and gyro compass to comply with the international standards to give way to auto pilot system. systems like bridge navigational watch alarm system (bnwas) and electronic chart display and information system (ecdis). cargo handling equipment presently, main and additional cargo handling equipment aboard are simpler but more durable and user-friendly; there are available derricks on both sides, computerized cargo cranes and more convenient and proactive equipment; and fast processing of equipment request to repair exposed items and damaged prone materials are now practiced. engineering machinery and equipment the trends in engineering machinery and equipment include the presence of the electronic main engine, even camless and automatic machinery. 177 international peer reviewed journal marine environment sustainability deck trainees confirmed that ships are fully compliant with marpol specifically international convention for the prevention of pollution for ships regulations; adherence to the sqe policy, practice of garbage management, and existence of latest equipment to prevent and reduce pollution were included. maritime law and ship business trends ship business trend includes adherence to marpol and the safety management system (sms), occupational health and safety law, ships running in eco modes, awareness of charter party, compliance to maritime laws, and rest hours of crew during holidays and sundays. conclusions the student-respondents are very satisfied with their academic preparation regarding curriculum, faculty competence, laboratory, and equipment, but additional topics on familiarization and operation of specialized vessels such as tankers will be useful. in the preparation of reports during shipboard training, there is duplication in the isf record book and pmma sea project; tasks are “sometimes” to “often” difficult to understand, but activities conform and are sequenced according to required training; and supervisors are supportive in the preparation of their reports. the trainees mostly experienced all the tasks and functions required during shipboard training except three sub-areas under the engine group where more than one-half did not perform the tasks and one major area under deck group which specific tasks were not experienced by a majority of the deck-trainees. also, the evaluators are very satisfied with the performance of the pmma shipboard trainees concerning work competency, ethical standards and knowledge, and understanding. finally, new technologies are being introduced covering safety and security; and equipment in navigation, cargo handling, and engineering machinery. sustainability of the marine environment maritime law and shipping business are also emphasized. the need for the utmost consideration and reflection of the maritime institutions towards shipboard training program is very relevant to maintain the country’s status as the primary supplier and producer of highly qualified marine officers. maritime education and training institutions should update and enrich 178 jpair multidisciplinary research their maritime programs to comply with the needs of the industry, current trends and practices, and effect of promulgation and implementation of new local and international laws, rules and regulations. translational research the results of the study were disseminated to the pmma department of shipboard training and the academic council who are responsible in crafting an improved shipboard training policy and program for the cadets. a stronger memorandum of action between pmma and its partner shipping companies in monitoring and evaluation of the required task and functions in the training book/isf is being implemented. review of the curriculum and teaching syllabus is being undertaken to incorporate the latest trends and demands in the maritime industry. acknowledgments the researchers wish to extend their warm gratitude to the philippine merchant marine academy for the unwavering support and for believing in the capabilities of the proponents who put this paper together; the the pmma department of research and development for all the encouragements and assistance; to various organizations (such as marina and ched) for official documents needed; and finally to pair, inc for their kind consideration and tireless support to all the fellows who wish to contribute to the jar of knowledge. literature cited alimen, r., gayo, m., jaleco, v., gayo jr., m., & jaleco, v. (2009). stakeholder satisfaction: research evaluation of marine engineering cadet’s performance at maritime university, philippines. in 8th international navigational symposium on marine navigation and safety of sea transportation, trans-nav 2009 (pp. 719–724). john b. lacson foundation maritime universitymolo. retrieved on june 2017 from goo.gl/swzt5d harvey, l. (2003). student feedback. quality in higher education 9(1). retrieved on june 2017 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538320308164. 179 international peer reviewed journal henard f. and roseveare, d. (2012). fostering quality teaching in higher education policies and practices. an imhe guide for higher education institutions. retrieved on june 2017 from http://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/ qt%20policies%20and%20practices.pdf kim, h. and kim, b. (2013). a study on the improvement of on-board training program through the analysis of satisfaction level. journal of the korean society of marine environment & safety research paper 19(3) pp. 270276. http://dx.doi.org/10.7837/kosomes.2013.19.3.270. lunetta, v. n., hofstein, a., & clough, m. p. (2007). learning and teaching in the school science laboratory: an analysis of research, theory, and practice. handbook of research on science education, 393-441. retrieved on may 2017 from https://goo.gl/ai4ecp. maritime industry authority. (n.d.). mandates by virtue of executive order no. 125/125-a. retrieved from http://marina.gov.ph/profile/mandates125.htm. philippine merchant marine academy. (2015). pmma prospectus: destination: beyond boundaries [brochure]. san narciso, zambales: philippine merchant marine academy. 89 international peer reviewed journalvol. 26 · october 2016 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v26i1.418 journal impact: h index = 2 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. program implementation as predictor of students’ performance in technical vocational education elaine rose g. nachon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4875-8155 elainerose.nachon@lspu.edu.ph laguna state polytechnic university laguna, philippines abstract the ultimate goal of any institution has always been to produce quality outcomes and create sound impact. the study is a descriptive evaluation of the operational management of technical-vocational high school in laguna, philippines. data were obtained from 270 graduates conveniently chosen; 88 randomly selected students; complete enumeration of 61 teaching and non-teaching staff from a public technical vocational high school in laguna, philippines; and complete enumeration of 27 workers from the school’s partner industries within its geographic location. documentary analysis, swot analysis, and unstructured interviews were used to support quantitative data. program implementation either taken singly or in combination with student development services appeared to be a highly significant predictor of students’ performance in tve but not of their performance in on-the-job training. it further revealed that each area thrust in the implementation of the tve curriculum has strengths and opportunities that reduce its vulnerability to external threats. the study concludes that program implementation affects students’ performance in tve since it includes activities meant to deepen understanding of important concepts and to provide experiential learning for students. 90 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords – technical vocational education, operational management, descriptive evaluation, laguna, philippines introduction the strengthened technical-vocational education program (stvep) of the department of education has enlivened the existence of public technical vocational high schools which are known to be demand-driven institutions committed to producing graduates equipped with competencies, training, and values for higher learning, entrepreneurship and life-long gainful employment. it intends to provide students with technical vocational training and skills and academic know-how to prepare them for the needs of the community and the global workplace through highly trained competent teachers. likewise, technicalvocational schools are geared to produce graduates who can effectively respond to the demands of the competitive world of work through highly-trained competent personnel. it also provides students with certifiable, technical, vocational, industrial and other relevant skills to empower them as productive citizens of the country. consequently, the bulk of unemployed individuals have at least high school education and are unskilled, inexperienced and naturally unemployable. in the 21st century, careers in agriculture, eco-tourism, eco-design, recycling, pollution control and alternative energy sources, among others emerged from existing career opportunities. with this, it is imperative that technical vocational institutions shall pursue the exploration and sharing of information about innovative teaching and learning methods. these should focus on areas like re-orientation of technical vocational education curricula, renewable energy programs and innovative approaches that integrate learning with on-the-job training and community services. technical vocational education should empower people to contribute to economically sound sustainable development through chosen occupations and other fields of endeavor. similarly, it contributes to the goals of the society and enhances individuals’ potentials for active participation in the establishment and implementation of the set goals (manabete & umar, 2015). intrinsically, the problems of unskilled, inexperienced and unemployable high school graduates may be addressed. in the advent of asean integration, a higher level of cooperation and collaboration through external free trade arrangements among the 91 international peer reviewed journal member countries (ke, 2013) is expected. similarly, at the height of the full implementation of the k to 12 curriculum particularly the roll out of the senior high school in the philippines, teachers are expected to prepare students toward better employment opportunities in the country or abroad. they shall also equip them with necessary life skills geared towards the holistic development of the 21st-century learners who are capable of contributing to the economic and social development of the community (cabansag, 2014). hence, it is fitting to take a closer look at the operational management of public technical vocational high schools specifically the implementation of the strengthened technicalvocational education program (stvep). the main objectives of the program include the preparation of individuals for higher education, the world of work and entrepreneurship by providing a competency-based curriculum and training (deped order no. 48, s. 2007), to complement the asean qualifications framework (aqf) being crafted and the philippine qualifications framework (pqf) as well. framework this study is premised on kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory (elt) which stresses learning as a process whereby transformation of experience creates knowledge that is the result of the combination of grasping and transforming experience. moreover, it is anchored on dewey’s “learning by doing.” this philosophy emphasizes that education is purposely the preparation of individuals to be responsible and successful in life by acquiring organized bodies of information and prepared forms of skills. since skills development through experiential learning is a salient feature of the implementation of technical vocational education, the foregoing ideas are considered as sound basis of this study. objectives of the study the study aimed to 1) assess the extent of the program implementation and students development services in public technical vocational high school; 2) compare the assessment of graduates, students, and teaching and nonteaching staff of program implementation and students development services 92 jpair multidisciplinary research in public technical vocational high school; 3) determine the level of students’ performance in tve and in on-the-job training; and 4) determine whether program implementation and students development services in public technical vocational high school singly or in combination affect students’ performance. methodology research design the study utilized the descriptive-evaluative method in determining the respondents’ viewpoints on the operational management of public technical vocational high school in laguna, philippines. survey questionnaires were used to gather data. specifically, it is focused on the evaluation of the extent of implementation of the technical vocational program in the respondent-school. documentary analysis was also used to support quantitative data. in particular, the report of grades in technical vocational education and the evaluation sheets used by the teacher and the workers in the school’s partner agencies in performance-based assessments were scrutinized and considered as secondary data and were interpreted based on the results of the statistical analysis. research site the research was conducted in the public technical vocational high school in the municipality of siniloan, province of laguna, region iv-a calabarzon, philippines. the school is the only technical vocational high school in the province which offers crop and animal production as specializations that are both primary sources of income specifically in the eastern part. respondents of the study the implementation of the technical vocational education program in the respondent-school was evaluated by a total of 270 graduates who were chosen using convenient sampling; 88 students selected randomly; and total enumeration of 61 teaching and non-teaching staff from the respondent-school and 27 workers from the school’s partner industries within its geographic location. permission to administer the research instruments among faculty, staff and students of the respondent school was given by the school principal after the purpose of the study were thoroughly discussed. the first part of the survey questionnaires indicates the purpose of the study and provides assurance to the respondents of the confidentiality of their responses. the workers of the school’s 93 international peer reviewed journal partner industries were verbally informed of the objectives of the study in a short meeting set by the farm managers. research instrument this study utilized two sets of survey questionnaires to gather relevant data and information. the first set of questionnaire was intended for the graduates, students, and teaching and non-teaching staff includes the profile and the assessment of program implementation and student development services in public technical vocational high school using the following rating scale and descriptions: rubrics verbal interpretation description 4.21 – 5.00 to a large extent 80-100% affirmative that the activities relevant to the operational management of the public technical vocational high school are undertaken. 3.41 – 4.20 to a certain extent 60-80% affirmative that the activities relevant to the operational management of the public technical vocational high school are undertaken. 2.61 – 3.40 moderate extent 40-60% affirmative that the activities relevant to the operational management of the public technical vocational high school are undertaken. 1.81 – 2.60 limited extent 20-40% affirmative that the activities relevant to the operational management of the public technical vocational high school are undertaken. 1.00 – 1.80 no / not at all 0-20% affirmative that the activities relevant to the operational management of the public technical vocational high school are undertaken. the performance of the graduates was determined using their grades in tve as reflected in the file copies of form 18-a report on secondary promotions; while the performance of the students currently enrolled was ascertained in terms of their grades in tve that are reflected in the grade sheets being kept by the class advisers. similarly, existing documents, specifically the individual evaluation sheets of 94 jpair multidisciplinary research students in their on-the-job training, as assessed by the authorized representative of the school’s partner agencies were used to indicate their performance. in support of the ratings, the questionnaire for the workers in the school’s partner agencies includes the assessment of the student-trainees’ performance relevant to the basic, core and common competencies where the following rating scales were used: rubrics verbal interpretation description 4.21 – 5.00 outstanding the students/trainees have completely met the assessment criteria. 3.41 – 4.20 very satisfactory the students/trainees have considerably met the assessment criteria. 2.61 – 3.40 satisfactory the students/trainees have moderately met the assessment criteria. 1.81 – 2.60 fair the students/trainees have slightly met the assessment criteria. 1.00 – 1.80 poor the students/trainees have not met the assessment criteria. all the statements intended to measure the extent of the variables taken into consideration were adopted from the manual of operations for public technical vocational high school. these are tantamount to the standards set by technical education and skills development authority (tesda). data analysis descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and regression analysis were employed in the analysis of data. results and discussion all three groups of respondents perceived program implementation and student development services with respect to guidance, medical and dental, library, and student safety and campus security to be at a certain extent. in particular, the assessment made by the three groups of respondents showed 95 international peer reviewed journal variations in the extent of their perception as shown by the mean scores with which the highest were obtained from the responses of the students. table 1. extent of program implementation and students development services in public technical vocational high school in laguna, philippines as perceived by the respondents aspects graduates students teacher overall mean mean mean mean program implementation** 3.92 (to a certain extent) 4.21 (to a large extent) 4.05 (to a certain extent) 4.00 (to a certain extent) guidance services** 3.79 (to a certain extent) 4.04 (to a certain extent) 3.69 (to a certain extent) 3.83 (to a certain extent) medical and dental services** 3.68 (to a certain extent) 4.12 (to a certain extent) 3.38 (moderate extent) 3.73 (to a certain extent) library services** 3.94 (to a certain extent) 4.20 (to a large extent) 3.63 (to a certain extent) 3.95 (to a certain extent) student safety and campus security** 4.11 (to a certain extent) 4.39 (to a large extent) 4.26 (to a large extent) 4.19 (to a certain extent) overall** 3.89 (to a certain extent) 4.19 (to a certain extent) 3.80 (to a certain extent) 3.94 (to a certain extent) *aspects where graduates obtained the highest mean **aspects where students obtained the highest mean ***aspects where the teachers obtained the highest mean consequently, the detailed assessment of the respondents on each of the given component ranges from moderate to a large extent. whereby program implementation is characterized by the utilization of contextual learning that reflects the nature of tasks in the real world, exploration of basic principles and practices as well as entrepreneurship concepts in agricultural and flexible instruction to accommodate experiential learning activities. guidance services include individual inventory services, information services, placement and career development services admission and scholarship 96 jpair multidisciplinary research and counseling and follow up services. medical and dental services take into consideration first aid treatment, conduct of annual physical examination of teachers, personnel and students, and coordination with hospitals and health centers. library services include the conduct of library orientation, collections and accessibility of print and online materials. lastly, student safety and campus security consider membership in authorized accident insurance (e.g. red cross, boy scouts of the philippines) peace and order and coordination with the police and barangay officials. this is apparently less than the demand that the status of vocational education goes should go along with the enhancement of the quality of education and training provision at the system, program and curriculum levels as stated by lasonen (2010). in line with this, the implementation of strengthened technical vocational education program-competency-based curriculum (stvep-cbc) in region x, as assessed by alferez and palmes (2012) appeared to be very satisfactory. significantly, monitoring and evaluation (m&e) of programs and projects are increasingly recognized as a requisite management function. it helps improve the ability to monitor effectively and evaluate the program, and therefore, strengthen the program performance. in consonance, regular monitoring should be undertaken to keep track of the effective implementation of the program. they further cited that the greater satisfaction and motivation emanate from existing documents and actual observations among the faculty. tve teachers could sit together in brainstorming sessions; adopt team teaching; encourage the involvement of all the faculty members in planning, designing and evaluating curriculum; and model these behaviors. 97 international peer reviewed journal table 2. computed f-value on the significant difference on the extent of program implementation and student development services in public technical vocational high school in laguna, philippines as perceived by the respondents variables mean square f sig. ho vi program implementation between groups 5.356 15.743 .000 reject highly significant within groups .340 total guidance services between groups 4.018 8.655 .003 reject highly significant within groups .464 total medical and dental services between groups 13.229 25.772 .000 reject highly significant within groups .513 total library services between groups 4.509 10.123 .002 reject highly significant within groups .445 total student safety and campus security between groups 5.267 14.263 .000 reject highly significant within groups .369 total the findings reveal that the three groups of respondents, namely: graduates, students and teachers have highly significant differences in their perceptions on program implementation and all aspects of student development services. the preceding results coincide with the findings of durlak and dupre (2008) who stated that the implementation process of a program is affected by organizational functioning, communities, providers and innovations as well as training and technical assistance, and prevention delivery and support system. in addition, they averred that the collection of implementation data is an essential feature of program evaluations which strengthens the purpose of this study. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. level of students’ performance in technical vocational education as revealed by their final grade in technical vocational education and on-thejob training performance performance mean standard deviation vi final grade in technical vocational education 86.72 3.63 satisfactory on-the-job training performance 1.96 0.44 satisfactory legend: 1.00 (99-100) – 1.25 (96-98) outstanding 2.50 (81-83) – 2.75 (78-80) fair 1.50 (93-95) – 1.75 (90-92) very satisfactory 3.00 (75-77) poor 2.00 (87-89) – 2.25 (84-86) satisfactory 5.00 (below 75) failed students in the public technical vocational high school in laguna, philippines show satisfactory performance in the tve subject and on-the-job training. the stvep curriculum combines classroom discussion and on-the-job training (ojt). ojts provide students with opportunities for experiential learning that may lead them to greater chances of employment after graduation. consequently, a week-long exposure to actual farm and field operations may not be enough. polidano and zakirova (2011) who conducted a related study asserted that the ideal number of hours for ojts should be given attention so that its perceived positive impact would likely increase. in view thereof, it is important to note that students’ performance while in school is a good indicator of better chances to obtain a national certificate. the certification is considered an evidence of achievement of prescribed skills standards and competencies and quality tvet provision. however, this can only be obtained after passing the competency assessment. as emphasized by (syjuco, 2005), the national certificate serves as a concrete evidence that the person is a job-ready skilled worker 99 international peer reviewed journal table 4. regression analysis of program implementation and student development services and students’ performance in technical vocational education model unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. b std. error beta final grade (constant) 82.754 1.482 55.841 .000 program implementation 1.287 .462 .211 2.785 .006 guidance services -.099 .434 -.019 -.229 .819 medical and dental services -.561 .377 -.114 -1.487 .138 library services -.556 .400 -.103 -1.388 .166 student safety and campus security .851 .421 .145 2.022 .044 f = 3.104, sig. 009, r-square = .042 program implementation and student development services (guidance services, medical and dental services, library services and student safety and campus security), when taken in combination, appeared as significant predictors of the students’ performance in technical vocational education. hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. consequently, program implementation when considered singly still emerged to be a highly significant predictor of students’ performance in technical vocational education. of the aspects of student development services, only student safety and campus security was identified as a significant predictor of students’ performance. thus, the null hypotheses were rejected. the findings imply that the better the implementation of the programs under the technical vocational curriculum, the greater the possibility for students to have better performance in technical vocational education subject. the tve curriculum as described utilizes competency-based education that aims to develop technical workers equipped with high behavioral and thinking competency concerning technical tasks (salleh & sulaiman, 2015). likewise, teaching approaches play a vital role in delivering the curriculum. students’ interest and the varying demands of different learning and teaching styles may broaden the teachers’ teaching styles and approaches. it may guide 100 jpair multidisciplinary research them in improving their attitude and behavior towards learning as well as their competencies (yusof, roddin & awang, 2015). also, student safety and campus security appeared as a significant predictor of students’ performance. it purports that if the students have the assurance for development through the various services of the school itself and the school personnel, the more likely it is for them to increase their performance. students feel safe in school if there are good physical security features, positive school climate, harmonious relationships, and pleasant behavior among school constituents (bosworth, ford & hernandaz, 2011). table 5. regression analysis of the factors of program implementation and student development services and students’ performance students’ performance in on-the-job training model unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. b std. error beta on-thejob training (constant) .726 1.621 .448 .664 program implementation .282 .222 .438 1.271 .232 guidance services .000 .137 -.001 -.003 .998 medical and dental services .091 .227 .191 .402 .696 library services -.010 .218 -.020 -.044 .966 student safety and campus security -.024 .479 -.021 -.049 .962 f = .813, sig. 567, r-square = .289 program implementation and student development services (guidance services, medical and dental services, library services and student safety and campus security) when taken either singly or in combination did not appear to be significant predictors of the students’ performance in on-the-job training. these findings imply that the students’ performance in on-the-job training depends on neither how well the programs under the tve curriculum are implemented nor on how the different services geared to students’ development are rendered. students’ performance in on-the-job training may be affected by 101 international peer reviewed journal some other factors. one of which may be the practical applications of the theories learned in the classroom and skills demonstrated and tried out during practical activities. the schools’ partner agencies carry out activities that will expose the students to the real workplace and where they interact with farm workers rich in experiences in the industry. according to agrawal (2013), vocational education and training (vet) focuses on specific trades and imparts the practical skills that allow individuals to engage in a specific occupational activity. it also intends to provide employment opportunities to individuals and help in enhancing the productivity of firms. he also cited that vocational education and training is an indispensable instrument in improving labor mobility. both adaptability and productivity contribute to enhancing firms’ competitiveness and redressing labor market imbalances (caillods, 1994, p.241). it comprises all skill transfers, formal and informal, that are required to improve the productive activities of a society (carnoy, 1994). consequently, partner industries are definitely after their operations and productions. though, they accommodate trainees, they seldom give emphasis on how well the trainees would learn from them since most trainers lack interest in the future employment of their trainees. therefore, the expected outcomes are not fully satisfied even after the training has ended. also, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation by the institution of on-the-job training is missing. after the deployment of trainees, the practicum supervisors seemingly give little attention to feedbacks that can later be utilized as baseline data and information to make the tve curriculum more responsive to needs of the labor market (leong, 2011). despite that, tve has helped solve the problems of unemployment. it has also reduced the number of people who have become dependent on the meager salary they receive. this issue may be solved when skills match the pre-determined duties and functions (kehinde & adewuyi, 2015). conclusions the study concludes that the implementation of the technical vocational education program along with student safety and security should be continuously strengthened considering its significant effects on students’ performance. it should include in-depth discussion of theories and concepts leading to deeper understanding and should provide experiential learning for students to better prepare them for the world of work. 102 jpair multidisciplinary research translational research the findings of the study maybe appropriately disseminated in the form of flyers and brochures reflective of the best practices of the public technical vocational high school in the implementation of stvep-cbc. a short video clip highlighting the experiential learning activities of the students in the school’s demo farm as well as their exposure to actual farm operations and practices may be televised in local channels and/or uploaded in social networking sites such as facebook and youtube to broaden information dissemination. literature cited agrawal, t. (2013). vocational education and training programs (vet): an asian perspective. asia-pacific journal of cooperative education, 14(1), 15-26. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/kpz7gj alferez, r., & palmes, n. (2012). implementation of strengthened technical vocational education program – competency based curriculum, northern mindanao, philippines. jpair multidisciplinary research, 7(1). http://dx.doi. org/10.7719/jpair.v7i1.161 bosworth, k., ford, l., & hernandaz, d. (2011). school climate factors contributing to student and faculty perceptions of safety in select arizona schools*. journal of school health, 81(4), 194-201. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00579.x cabansag, m. g. s. (2014). impact statements on the k-12 science program in the enhanced basic education curriculum in provincial schools. researchers world, 5(2), 29. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/vtqgkc caillods, francoise (1994). converging trends amidst diversity in vocational training systems. international labour review, v133 n2 p241-57 1994 retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej485955 carnoy, m. (1994). efficiency and equity in vocational education and training policies.  int’l lab. rev.,  133, 221. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from https:// goo.gl/dg0kkn 103 international peer reviewed journal durlak, j. a., & dupre, e. p. (2008). implementation matters: a review of research on the influence of implementation on program outcomes and the factors affecting implementation. american journal of community psychology, 41(3-4), 327-350. doi:10.1007/s10464-008-9165-0 ke, j., & . (2013). asean economic and political integration: legal and institutional enquires into prospects for deep integration. hku theses online (hkuto). http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b5053399 kehinde, t.m. and adewuyi, l.a. (2015) vocational and technical education: a viable tool for transformation of the nigerian economy. international journal of vocational and technical education research, vol. 1, no.2, pp. 22-31. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/28kjh8 kolb, d. a. (1984). experiential learning experience as the source of learning and development second edition. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from https:// goo.gl/ixae1v lasonen, j. (2010). sustainable curriculum in tvet.  journal of technical education and training, 2(1), 1-25. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http:// eprints.uthm.edu.my/569/ leong, p. c. (2011). key reforms in revitalising technical and vocational education and training (tvet) in malaysia. in  regional conference on human resource development through tvet as a development strategy in asia. sri lanka. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from https://goo.gl/spbzx4 manabete, s. s., & umar, b. (2015). emerging careers and professions and their implications for technical and vocational education and training in the 21st century. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/tdaczz polidano, c., & zakirova, r. (2011). outcomes from combining work and tertiary study. a national vocational education and training research and evaluation program report. national centre for vocational education research ltd. po box 8288, stational arcade, adelaide, sa 5000, australia. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed514723 104 jpair multidisciplinary research salleh, k. m., & sulaiman, n. l. (2015). technical skills evaluation based on competency model for human resources development in technical and vocational education. asian social science, 11(16), p74. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/ouatvl syjuco, d. a. b. (2005). the philippine technical-vocational education and training (tvet) system. training, 555, 41. retrieved on may 5, 2016 from http://goo.gl/q9d8p3 yusof, y., roddin, r., & awang, h. (2015). what students need, and what teacher did: the impact of teacher’s teaching approaches to the development of students’ generic competences.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 204, 36-44. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.107 168 jpair multidisciplinary research assessment of student services of saint columbian college: basis for continuous improvement genesis b. naparan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2335-2757 sccresearchoffice@gmail.com saint columban college san francisco district, pagadian city originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the main clients of every higher educational institution (hei) are the students. their satisfaction is the utmost concern of a hei. thus, this paper assessed the student services of saint columban college using the 42 graduating students of the college of teacher education, arts and sciences (cteas) during the first semester of the academic year 2018-2019. the different student services that were assessed are the following: admissions, student orientation, guidance program and services, campus ministry, student assistance program, co-curricular programs and activities, alumni, and registrar’s services. this used a survey questionnaire adapted from the philippine accrediting association of schools, colleges, and universities (paascu) manual. this made use of weighted mean, to sum up, the responses of the research participants. based on the findings, admission, student orientation, campus ministry, co-curricular activities, and alumni got excellent rating while guidance programs and services, student assistance program and registrar’s services got lower satisfaction from them. therefore, the researchers suggested activities on how to serve the students better. vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.706 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:sccresearchoffice@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 169 international peer reviewed journal keywords — assessment, student services, higher education institution, customer service, accreditation, saint columban college, introduction higher education institutions need collaboration in giving quality education to the students. aside from the quality of instruction, support services are also needed to make the college education of the students meaningful. tamulienė (2014), in her study about college students’ adjustment, found out that college students need psychological counselling as well as accommodation services. they need somebody to talk to for them to survive college education. aside from counselling, they need also services from other support services. cadosales and ejercito (2009) claim that activities from the support offices enrich the academic life of the students. it is very important to continue to improve the services to the students. to do this, there is a need for evaluation of the existing student services that the institution offers. improving these services can stimulate the different aspects of the development of a student, such as personal, social, cultural, and cognitive (ciobanu, 2013). students can perform well in their academic, for example, if they are provided with good services. they feel at home as they are being served well. according to lugosi (2018), the foodservice, for example, is something that enhances the students’ university experiences. it will create memories to be cherished for as they stay in the college or university that they are studying. it is the role of the school to serve the students in the best way they have to be served. thus, it is very important to ask them as the clientele of the school about the services they have availed to improve them for the benefit of the future clientele of the school. thus the main purpose of this study is to assess the current students’ services of the school utilizing the graduating students as they have experienced for a longer period the services included in this study. objectives of the study this study is purposively done to evaluate the current practices of students’ services in saint columban college, pagadian city during the academic year 2018 – 2019. the researchers asked the student-interns of the first semester of the academic year 2018 – 2019 before the start of one of their review classes to rate the services listed in the questionnaire. specifically, it assessed the following service areas: admissions, student orientation, guidance program and services, campus 170 jpair multidisciplinary research ministry, co-curricular programs and services, alumni, and registrar’s services. after assessing them, this study suggested ways on how to continuously improve its services to the students as primary clienteles of the academic institution. methodology research design the study made use of quantitative research design. in particular, this employed a descriptive-cross sectional research design as it presented the status of student’s services programs based on the rating of the school’s clienteles. the data of this study served as the baseline information on how to further improve these services in the future. research site this research was conducted in one of the private sectarian colleges in western mindanao. this institution is run by diocesan clergy. this is composed of three college departments namely, college of business education (cbe), college of teacher education arts and sciences (cteas) and college of computer studies (ccs). respondents the participants of this study are the 42 graduating students of the college of teacher education, arts and sciences (cteas) during the first semester of the academic year 2018-2019. before they were asked to give their rating to the statements in the tool, the researcher sought their permission to participate in the study. they then gave their ratings on the different areas of student services after signing the informed consent. instrumentation the researcher used a questionnaire adopted from cadosales and ejercito (2009) in their study on student services. this was in the form of a 5-point rating scale in which the respondents can choose from not needed, missing but needed, limited, satisfactory, or excellent. this was fielded to the research participants in one of their review sessions. after gathering the data, the researchers tallied the responses of the research participants. the weighted mean was computed to determine the overall rating of the participants. 171 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedure the researcher first asked the permission of the school president about the conduct of the study. after seeking permission, he then met the cteas dean and asked for his permission of the conduct of the study. the researcher then met the respondents in one of their review classes, and he explained to them the purpose of the study. he then asked them to sign the informed consent and then fielded the questionnaires to them. ethical considerations the researcher ensured that the participation of this study is voluntary. the respondents were given a chance to affirm or deny the invitation to participate in this study. they were given the respondent’s consent form for them to have the knowledge on the intention of the study and for them to be given a chance whether to participate or not in this study. the researcher ensured that there was no harm that this research might contribute to them. this study is done in goodwill. the researcher did not accommodate partiality in this study. data analysis/treatment in analyzing the data, the researcher tallied their responses and computed for the mean to obtain the summative responses of the respondents. he then also computed for the standard deviation to determine how varied the responses are. the results are then presented in tables to show the average per item in the subject areas. results and discussion this section of the study presents and discusses the findings of the study. it describes the assessment of the graduating teacher education students of the first semester academic year 2018 – 2019. eight areas were evaluated in this study namely: admissions, student orientation, guidance program and services, campus ministry, student assistance program, co-curricular programs and activities, alumni, and registrar’s vservices. admissions the programs on admission involve the selection of students. based on paascu standards, the admissions programs of a college should have a proper selection of students. the policies and practices of admissions should reflect the 172 jpair multidisciplinary research objectives of the institution in general. thus, there would be established admission criteria to be followed. this to ensure that students will have a greater chance of succeeding in the courses that they have chosen. as to the admissions, the overall mean is 4.29, interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is on the admission program is headed by an officer or director of admissions. meanwhile, the item that got the lowest mean is regarding the statements of admission procedures that are distributed early to feeder schools that got the mean of 4.07, interpreted as satisfactory. table 1. admissions’ programs indicators mean sd remarks there is an admissions program that provides clearly defined policies and procedures on the selection and admission of students. 4.44 0.63 excellent policies and procedures reflect the institutional purposes and objectives 4.41 0.63 excellent policies and procedures are contained in the school’s catalog or bulletin of information 4.29 0.78 excellent the admissions program is headed by an officer or director of admissions. 4.51 0.64 excellent the head of student services participates in the formulation of admission policies. 4.27 0.81 excellent the school utilizes effective tools and devices in the selection and admission of students 4.22 0.79 excellent the admissions procedure are: (please rate each procedure) a. clearly stated in the catalog or prospectus b. described in the bulletin board announcements c. simple and easy to follow d. executed in orderly manner e. followed by all incoming students alike. the statements of admission procedures are distributed early to feeder schools. 4.44 4.10 4.32 4.29 4.12 4.07 0.71 0.94 0.79 0.78 0.98 1.01 excellent satisfactory excellent excellent satisfactory satisfactory overall mean 4.29 0.79 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. 173 international peer reviewed journal student orientation this program introduces to the students what is the school all about. it elaborates them of their privileges and responsibilities. in so far as paasu is concerned, new students should be oriented with the school policies and others as well as old students should be reoriented. this is also to orient them on the principles and values of the school. this is done a few days before the start of the regular classes. to ensure improvement, this program should be reviewed and evaluated periodically by the school’s stakeholders. the indicators of the orientation program are shown in table 2. for student orientation, it gathered the overall mean of 4.27, which is interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is about the aim of the orientation program that focuses on the adjustment to college life, which has a mean of 4.54, interpreted as excellent. nevertheless, the item that got the lowest mean is on the orientation is effected through brochures, which got the mean of 3.90, interpreted as satisfactory. table 2. student orientation programs indicators mean sd remarks the orientation program aims at student adjustment to college life. 4.54 0.50 excellent it is an ongoing program. 4.24 0.66 excellent it is intended for all students. 4.61 0.49 excellent it is well-organized and systematically implemented. 4.39 0.59 excellent orientation is effected through: (please rate every item) a. symposia b. counseling c. brochures d. student handbook e. others (survival kit) 4.32 4.10 3.90 4.32 4.05 0.72 0.74 1.00 1.06 1.05 excellent satisfactory satisfactory excellent satisfactory overall mean 4.27 0.76 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. guidance program and services sound and functional guidance program and services. the guidance services include individual inventory service, testing, information service, individual and 174 jpair multidisciplinary research group counseling, place and follow-up services, and research and evaluation. the areas in the guidance program and services are manifested in table 4. the guidance programs and services as dealt with in this study involve six indicators, namely: objectives, individual inventory service, testing program, information, counseling, and placement and follow-up. the objectives got the overall mean of 4.18 that is interpreted as satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is on the objectives of the guidance program is intended to self-realization and total personality development that got the mean of 4.32, interpreted as excellent. however, the item about the objectives of the guidance programs in consonance with the purposes and objectives of the institution got the mean of 4.05, interpreted as satisfactory. as to the individual inventory service, it got the overall mean of 4.33, interpreted as excellent. the highest item is on the information is being kept up to date that has a mean of 4.46, interpreted as excellent. the item on the maintenance and respect of the confidentiality of the data got the lowest mean of 4.20, interpreted as satisfactory. for the testing program, it has an overall mean of 4.23, interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is regarding the validity, reliability, and usefulness of the test that got the mean of 4.39 interpreted as excellent. however, the item on a systematic and continuing testing program got the lowest mean of 4.10, interpreted as satisfactory. the indicator “information’ got the overall mean of 4.23, interpreted as excellent. the item on “relevant educational, occupational, and social information is properly disseminated to students, and their parent” got the highest mean of 4.34, interpreted as excellent. meanwhile, the item “the information provided is up-todate and systematically organized” got the mean of 4.12 that means satisfactory. the indicator “counseling” got the overall mean of 4.01 that is interpreted as satisfactory. the item “the nature and the purpose of the counseling process are understood by the students” got the highest mean of 4.12 interpreted as satisfactory. nevertheless, the item “efforts are exerted to reach as many students as possible” got the lowest mean of 3.90 interpreted as satisfactory. the last indicator, “placement and follow-up” got the overall mean of 4.23 that is interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is “the school provides career counseling to prospective graduates in preparation for their entry into a career or employment” that got 4.75 interpreted as excellent. the item that got the lowest mean is “the school maintains systematic contact with its graduates and alumni” that got 4.00 interpreted as satisfactory. 175 international peer reviewed journal table 3. guidance programs and services indicators mean sd remarks objectives the objectives of the guidance program are oriented towards student self-realization and total personality development. 4.32 1.06 excellent they are consonant with the purposes and objectives of the institution. 4.05 1.05 satisfactory overall mean 4.18 1.05 satisfactory individual inventory service information data about each student, his/her needs, abilities, interests, as well as his educational and family background, are compiled and filed in a cumulative folder. 4.34 0.88 excellent information about the students is kept up-to-date. 4.46 0.87 excellent confidentiality of certain data about the student is maintained and respected. 4.20 0.78 satisfactory overall mean 4.33 0.84 excellent testing program there is a systematic and continuing testing program. 4.10 0.70 satisfactory the tests and evaluative techniques being used are valid, reliable and useful. 4.39 0.74 excellent results are made available to the student to help him/her gain self-understanding. 4.17 0.83 satisfactory results are utilized by the faculty and administrators for meeting student needs. 4.24 0.73 excellent overall mean 4.23 0.75 excellent information relevant educational, occupational and social information is properly disseminated to students and their parents. 4.34 0.62 excellent the information provided is up-to-date and systematically organized. 4.12 0.75 satisfactory overall mean 4.23 0.68 excellent counseling the nature and the purpose of the counseling process are understood by the students. 4.12 0.78 satisfactory 176 jpair multidisciplinary research the ratio between the number of counselors and the number of students is adequate. (1counselor :1000 students) 4.00 0.77 satisfactory individual and group counseling are available to all students. 4.07 0.72 satisfactory efforts are exerted to reach as many students as possible. 3.90 0.92 satisfactory the faculty is oriented to the counseling services to facilitate coordination and referrals. 3.95 0.74 satisfactory counseling services are coordinated with other sectors of the school and community to promote the student’s total development. 4.00 1.00 satisfactory the counseling staff regularly participate in in-service training. 4.00 0.95 satisfactory overall mean 4.01 0.84 satisfactory placement and follow-up career guidance is provided to enable students to choose appropriate programs/courses or fields of specialization. 4.15 0.94 satisfactory the school provides career counseling to prospective graduates in preparation for their entry into a career or employment. 4.75 0.49 excellent the school maintains systematic contact with its graduates and alumni. 4.00 0.89 satisfactory it involves alumni in its programs for placement, continuing education and community involvement. 4.15 0.82 satisfactory formal linkages are established with the employment sector for systematic recruitment and orientation of graduating students. 4.17 0.86 satisfactory follow-up studies of graduates are made to evaluate their preparedness for work and acceptability for employment 4.17 0.77 satisfactory overall mean 4.23 0.80 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. campus ministry the services in the campus ministry office are geared toward the spiritual formation of the students. these involve masses, holy hour, retreats and recollections, spiritual direction and spiritual counseling. table 5 shows the students’ rating on the campus ministry services. 177 international peer reviewed journal the services of the campus ministry office got the overall mean of 4.62 interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is about the first friday mass that got 4.78 interpreted as excellent. meanwhile, the item on the impact of the campus ministry services to the students got the lowest mean of 4.34, yet it still belongs to the excellent description. the students commented that the services of the campus ministry office have a great impact on them. they experience the different activities of the office such as masses, holy hour, recollections and retreats, spiritual direction, and spiritual counseling. table 4. campus ministry services indicators mean sd remarks there is an office in charge of campus ministry. 4.51 0.84 excellent rate the delivery of the following services: (please rate every service) a. daily mass b. first friday mass c. eucharistic celebration during relevant school events d. holy hour (every thursday) e. recollection f. retreat g. spiritual direction/spiritual companioning 4.73 4.78 4.71 4.56 4.61 4.71 4.66 0.59 0.57 0.72 0.81 0.67 0.64 0.69 excellent excellent excellent excellent excellent excellent excellent campus ministry services have an impact on students 4.34 0.85 excellent overall mean 4.62 0.71 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. student assistance program paascu conveyed that the school should have a wellorganized student assistance program. this aims to provide the students with financial, health, and other necessary services. the student assistance programs are shown in table 6. student assistance programs have five indicators, namely: financial aid, health services, clinic, food services, and food service area/canteen. as to financial aid, it got the overall mean of 4.05 that is satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is “the program is supported by community resources in addition to a definite allocation in the school budget” that got a mean of 4.15 interpreted as satisfactory. 178 jpair multidisciplinary research meanwhile, the item that got the lowest mean is on “the financial assistance program is systematically managed”, which got the mean of 3.95 interpreted as satisfactory. health services gathered the overall mean of 4.02 interpreted as satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is on “professionally trained personnel carry out the health program” that got 4.22 interpreted as excellent. on the one hand, the item that got the lowest mean is on “adequate facilities and necessary medicaldental supplies are provided” that got 3.93 interpreted as satisfactory. for the clinic, it got the overall mean of 3.74 that is satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is on” patients has direct access to the toilet” that got the mean of 4.17 interpreted as satisfactory. meanwhile, the item “there is access to transportation service in case of an emergency” got the lowest mean of 3.49 interpreted as satisfactory. food services got the overall mean of 3.71 interpreted as satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is on “food is prepared and served in a sanitary and comfortable manner” got the mean of 3.85 interpreted as satisfactory. on the one hand, the item on “food services provide nutritious, well-balanced reasonably priced meals” got only the mean of 3.56 that is satisfactory. in the study of elsaid and fathy (2015), they conveyed many reasons for students’ dissatisfaction. these reasons are related to food and beverage quality, the price paid, quality of service provided, obligation to eat at the university cafeterias due to the lack of time between lectures to go to restaurants outside, poor cleanliness and the presence of insects. the last component that is the food service area/canteen gathered the overall mean of 3.84 that is satisfactory. the item that got the highest mean is “furniture and fixtures are attractive, durable, and cleaned regularly” that got 4.27 interpreted as excellent. however, the item “there is good traffic flow for the service of this area” got the mean of 3.59 interpreted as satisfactory. table 5. student assistance programs indicators mean sd remarks financial aid the school offers financial aid to deserving and needy students. 4.15 0.88 satisfactory the financial assistance program is systematically managed. 3.95 1.04 satisfactory the program is supported by community resources in addition to a definite allocation in the school budget 4.12 1.10 satisfactory information about the assistance program is disseminated to the community and feeder schools. 3.98 1.06 satisfactory 179 international peer reviewed journal overall mean 4.05 1.02 satisfactory heath services professionally trained personnel carry out the health program. 4.22 0.85 excellent adequate facilities and necessary medical-dental supplies are provided. 3.93 0.96 satisfactory health care is available during all school hours. 3.98 0.94 satisfactory parents or guardians are informed when students have serious health problems. 3.98 0.94 satisfactory records are kept systematically and up-to-date 4.02 0.94 satisfactory a health education program is made available to the students. 4.02 1.04 satisfactory overall mean 4.02 0.94 satisfactory clinic the school clinic has enough space for the necessary medical and dental needs of the students. 3.76 1.04 satisfactory the facilities in the clinic are adequate. 3.68 0.96 satisfactory patients have direct access to the toilet. 4.17 0.97 satisfactory it is free from noise. 3.78 1.24 satisfactory the door is wide enough for a stretcher. 3.54 1.10 satisfactory there is access to transportation service in case of an emergency. 3.49 1.21 satisfactory students at the clinic are assured of privacy. 3.71 1.31 satisfactory good drinking water is available. 3.78 1.31 satisfactory overall mean 3.74 1.14 satisfactory food services food services provide nutritious, well-balanced reasonably priced meals. 3.56 1.25 satisfactory food is prepared and served in a sanitary and comfortable manner. 3.85 1.11 satisfactory food services are efficiently managed and supervised by competent staff. 3.80 1.19 satisfactory the health examination of food service personnel and the inspection of food served are attended regularly. 3.63 1.20 satisfactory overall mean 3.71 1.19 satisfactory food service area/canteen the food service area is suitably located concerning the clienteles. 4.12 0.90 satisfactory this service area is adequate for the school population. 3.88 0.98 satisfactory there is good traffic flow for the service of this area. 3.59 0.97 satisfactory it is kept in sanitary condition 3.80 1.03 satisfactory 180 jpair multidisciplinary research the seating capacity is sufficient to meet the demands of its clientele. 4.02 1.04 satisfactory furniture and fixtures are attractive, durable, and cleaned regularly. 4.27 0.92 excellent drinking water is easily obtainable. 3.78 1.15 satisfactory lavatory facility is accessible. 3.71 1.08 satisfactory the kitchen equipment is adequate, sanitary and efficient. 3.71 1.12 satisfactory there is a storage facility which is adequate and kept in a sanitary condition. 3.76 1.20 satisfactory there is a suitable dishwashing facility. 3.76 1.07 satisfactory garbage disposal is adequate and sanitary. 3.83 1.09 satisfactory special needs of the students in the canteen (e.g. selection of food, quick availability of food, good manners, and the importance of cleanliness) are duly stressed. 3.80 0.98 satisfactory the periodic health examination of food servers and the periodic inspection of the food being served are given due attention. 3.78 1.01 satisfactory overall mean 3.84 1.04 satisfactory legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. co-curricular programs and activities in aiming for the holistic development of students, the school should also provide with different yet suitable co-curricular activities that will contribute to student development of talents and potentials. these activities should be organized and must be supervised by a competent staff. table 7 displays the students’ ratings on co-curricular programs and activities. for co-curricular activities, it gathered an overall mean of 4.32 interpreted as excellent. the item that got the highest mean is about “the school’s policy for campus organizations and co-curricular activities are clear and generally accepted by the students” that has 4.41 mean, interpreted as excellent. meanwhile, the item “the school provides functional leadership training designed to tap the students’ talents and develop them maximally” got the lowest mean of 4.20 interpreted as satisfactory. it is important that the students accept what the school wants for them to be interested in taking part of the co-curricular activities. according to gruber, fub, voss, & gläser-zikuda, (2010), the satisfaction of the students about the services that the school gives them lies in the stable person-environment relationship. this will make them feel at home as they stay in school. 181 international peer reviewed journal table 6. co-curricular programs indicators mean sd remarks the school provides a variety of co-curricular programs and activities contributory to student development and supportive of the school’s educational objectives. 4.32 0.76 excellent the school’s policy for campus organizations and co-curricular activities is clear and generally accepted by the students. 4.41 0.63 excellent there are faculty advisers for all student organizations. 4.29 0.78 excellent co-curricular activities are under the direction and supervision of a qualified official (director of student affairs) 4.39 0.80 excellent there is a harmonious balance between the academic and the co-curricular activities of students. 4.32 0.79 excellent the school provides functional leadership training designed to tap the students’ talents and develop them maximally. 4.20 0.87 satisfactory the effectiveness of co-curricular activities and campus organizations is regularly evaluated 4.29 0.84 excellent the program of co-curricular activities includes student publication, community projects, etc. 4.32 0.76 excellent overall mean 4.32 0.78 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. alumni the school should not only influence her students’ bit also extend it to the alumni. the alumni should be formally organized and there should be a designated person responsible for communicating them. the objectives of the alumni association should be clear and widely disseminated. thus, the programs should have provisions on constantly contacting and reaching out to the graduates of the school. table 8 shows the indicators of alumni. as to the alumni, it gathered an overall mean of 4.26 interpreted as excellent. the item “a list of alumni involved in various meritorious projects or programs is kept up-to-date and disseminated to the school on different levels” got the highest mean of 4.29 interpreted as excellent. on the one hand, the item “its objectives are published and distributed to its members and the prospective graduate of the school” got the lowest mean of 4.22 interpreted as excellent. 182 jpair multidisciplinary research table 7. alumni programs indicators mean sd remarks there is a formally organized alumni association. 4.24 0.70 excellent its objectives are published and distributed to its members and the prospective graduate of the school. 4.22 0.72 excellent the alumni show interest and are involved in the continuing development of the institution. 4.27 0.74 excellent a list of alumni involved in various meritorious projects or programs is kept upto-date and disseminated to the school on different levels. 4.29 0.75 excellent overall mean 4.26 0.73 excellent legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent; 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory; 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. registrar’s services this is the office of the school that handles records. it takes care of grade requests and other school credentials. the students’ ratings on registrar’s services are shown in table 9. for the registrar’s services, it gathered an overall mean of 3.57 interpreted as satisfactory. the item “the staff member with whom the clientele interacted demonstrated excellent knowledge about the issue or directed him/her to someone else with excellent knowledge” got the highest mean of 3.76 interpreted as satisfactory. however, the item “the registrar’s office staff greeted politely and treated with respect and patience the clienteles” got the lowest mean of 3.37 interpreted as limited. 183 international peer reviewed journal table 8. registrar’s services indicators mean sd remarks there is an ease in transacting business at the registrar’s office. 3.61 1.16 satisfactory its staff served the needs of the clienteles in a reasonable amount of time. 3.39 1.18 limited the registrar’s office staff greeted politely and treated with respect and patience the clienteles. 3.37 1.18 limited the registrar’s office staff seemed willing to offer assistance that met or went beyond clientele’s expectations. 3.51 1.16 satisfactory the registrar’s office staff listened attentively and asked appropriate questions to understand the clientele’s concern better. 3.56 1.18 satisfactory the registrar’s office staff made an effort to communicate a way that the clientele could easily understand. 3.63 1.09 satisfactory the registrar’s office staff displayed professional behavior during the time of interaction. 3.66 1.17 satisfactory the staff member with whom the clientele interacted demonstrated excellent knowledge about the issue or directed him/her to someone else with excellent knowledge 3.76 1.07 satisfactory the staff member provided a resolution for the clientele’s issue or gave him/her clear instructions for the steps he/she needed to take to resolve his/her issue. 3.54 1.12 satisfactory if the clientele’s request could not be immediately satisfied, the registrar’s office staff member provided him/her with the necessary steps needed for resolution and/or provided him/her with an update until the request was fulfilled. 3.63 1.13 satisfactory overall mean 3.57 1.15 satisfactory legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. summary of student services programs the summary of the students’ rating on the different student services is shown in table 10. the data revealed that the services of the campus ministry are very much appreciated by the students’ raters. they rated campus ministry as excellent. it is being followed by the services regarding admissions, student orientation, cocurricular programs and services, and alumni that also have excellent ratings. 184 jpair multidisciplinary research however, they have only satisfactory ratings to the registrar’s services, student assistance program, and guidance program and services. it is relevant to offer good services to the students as the clienteles of the school. as deshields jr, kara, & kaynak (2005) say, students who have good or positive college experiences are more likely to be satisfied than those who have negative experiences. thus, as much as possible, the institution or college must exert an effort on giving positive experiences to the students. the study also of hasan, ilias, rahman, & razak (2009) conveyed that there is a significant and positive relationship between tangibility, assurance, reliability, responsiveness, and empathy and overall service quality to students’ satisfaction. table 10. summary of student services program student services program overall mean sd remarks admissions 4.29 excellent student orientation 4.27 excellent guidance program and services 4.20 satisfactory campus ministry 4.62 excellent student assistance program 3.87 satisfactory co-curricular programs and activities 4.32 excellent alumni 4.26 excellent registrar’s services 3.57 satisfactory legend – satisfaction scale: 4.21 – 5.00 – excellent (well-provided); 3.41 – 4.20 – satisfactory (provided); 2.61 – 3.40 – limited; 1.81 – 2.60 missing but needed; and 1.00 – 1.80 not needed. conclusions in evaluating the services offered to the students, the administrators are given the status of the services offered to the primary clients, the students. there were positive feedbacks from the clients from the services about to admissions, student orientation, campus ministry, co-curricular activities, and alumni. however, there were also services that the school needs to improve such that on guidance program and services, student assistance program, and registrar’s services. these 185 international peer reviewed journal need to be addressed to provide students with a functional student services program for holistic development literature cited gonzalez, m.c. (2010). preparations of schools for paascu accreditation: a commitment to enhance school’s standards. retrieved from https://www.cfopso.org.ph/pdf/9thconferencepresentation/day1/paascu_accreditation_ dr%20gonzales.pdf. gruber, t., fuß, s., voss, r., & gläser-zikuda, m. (2010). examining student satisfaction with higher education services: using a new measurement tool.  international journal of public sector management,  23(2), 105-123. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551011022474 hasan, h. f. a., ilias, a., rahman, r. a., & razak, m. z. a. (2008). service quality and student satisfaction: a case study at private higher education institutions.  international business research,  1(3), 163-175. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2fduwxp lugosi, p. 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(2014). adjusting college students’ support services to students’ type: lithuania’s case.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  141, 438446. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.077 https://www.cfo-pso.org.ph/pdf/9thconferencepresentation/day1/paascu_accreditation_dr%20gonzales.pdf https://www.cfo-pso.org.ph/pdf/9thconferencepresentation/day1/paascu_accreditation_dr%20gonzales.pdf https://www.cfo-pso.org.ph/pdf/9thconferencepresentation/day1/paascu_accreditation_dr%20gonzales.pdf https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551011022474 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.10.019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.10.019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.077 21 international peer reviewed journal assessment of the implemented kapatid mentor me program (kmme) of the department of trade and industry (dti) in region vii, philippines antoniette m. almaden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-7501 antoniette.almaden@cit.edu cebu institute of technology – university natalio bacalso avenue, cebu city, cebu, philippines bryll m. yu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7000-3475 bryll.yu@cit.edu cebu institute of technology – university natalio bacalso avenue, cebu city, cebu, philippines originality: 99% • grammarly: 99% • plagiarism: 1% abstract the kapatid mentor me (kmme) program is a 10-module mentorship and coaching program initiative of the department of trade and industry (dti) and philippine center for entrepreneurship (pce) go negosyo to help the country’s micro and small enterprises (mses). since the covid-19 pandemic started, the program was transitioned from face-to-face to an online learning platform. the study aimed to assess the implementation of the program from the period 2016 vol. 48 · march 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v48i1.410 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 22 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 to 2021 to streamline the future direction and craft a more holistic initiative for mses. the study used a descriptive research design. an online questionnaire was administered to the 257 respondents clustered by region vii provinces. there were advantages and disadvantages identified for both learning approaches used. the respondents considered the advantages of face-to-face learning as handson learning, easy networking, and a conducive learning environment. also, the advantages of the online learning approach were accessibility of time and place, comfort, and abundant online resources. it was discovered that 74.75% of the mentee graduates had improved their business status after joining the program. to ensure sustainability and scaling up of mses, strengthening the monitoring phase and maximizing the enterprise development track tool are recommended to address the gap of the 25.25% non-improving mentee graduates through concrete and specific intervention schemes recommended. keywords — business, kmme program, descriptive research design, region vii philippines introduction the kapatid mentor me (kmme) program is one of the programs launched in 2016 by the department of trade and industry (dti) and the philippine center for entrepreneurship (pce) go negosyo to help the country’s micro and small enterprises (mses) (hidalgo et al., 2021). the kmme program is a mentoring and coaching program that optimizes weekly face-to-face interactions between mentees and mentors to enhance entrepreneurial capacity. however, the emergence of covid-19 in 2020 resulted in unforeseen disruptions to dayto-day activities worldwide. lockdown forced individuals to isolate themselves in their homes to stop the spread of the covid-19 virus, which led industries and academe to bring their agenda at home, and online. in central visayas, many local retailers have halted operations due to the sharp drop in demand and revenue, forcing several workers to be laid off (department of trade and industry, 2021). considering the effect of covid-19 on lives and businesses, the kmme program is becoming increasingly important. thus, the kapatid mentor me – money market encounter (kmme-mme) online was developed to deliver the same mentorship modules to help mses survive and thrive regardless of businesses’ current setbacks. 23 international peer reviewed journal micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes) play a vital role in most economies, especially developing nations (world bank, 2020). they make up most businesses worldwide and are crucial for job creation. the asia pacific foundation of canada report of 2018 presents that micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes) drive economic growth and innovation. it is difficult to exaggerate the significance of entrepreneurship development in several economies worldwide; thus, most countries have implemented programs to encourage entrepreneurship in their local communities (obaji & olugu, 2014). micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes) are considered the backbone of many economies worldwide. the most recent statistic published by the department of trade and industry (2020) showed that in the philippines, micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes) account for over 99.51% of all businesses and provide 62.66% of total employment in the country. given the importance of msmes as engines for economic growth, the government has initiated policies and developed programs to boost entrepreneurship through trade and investments. given the significant impact of the micro small and medium enterprises (msmes) on the economy and the program’s effect on micro and small enterprises (mses), the researcher chose this topic considering the government’s scarce financial resources during these trying times. thus, this research study aims to assess the implemented kmme program in central visayas to streamline the future direction and craft a more holistic initiative for the mses. framework figure 1. conceptual framework the msmes are regarded as the lynchpin of the philippine economy. according to hidalgo et al. (2021) as stated in republic act no. 10644: go negosyo act, “an act promoting job generation and inclusive growth through the micro and small enterprises (mses) kapatid mentor me (kmme) program implication and interventions 24 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 development of micro, small and medium enterprises” thus the dti conducts technology transfer, production and management training, and marketing assistance for msmes. the kmme program is among the programs initiated by the government to help boost the entrepreneurial capacity of mses in the country. the kmme program is a joint initiative of the dti and pce go negosyo that aims at helping microenterprises expand, stimulate economic activity, and create employment opportunities. the nationwide program kick-started in two regions in early 2016 and was rolled out to the rest of the areas in september of the same year (discover mnl, 2021). the enrolled mses of the program scale up their businesses through free weekly face-to-face mentoring and coaching by business owners and practitioners on different functional areas of entrepreneurship. with the emergence of covid-19, the kmme-mme online was developed to deliver the same mentorship modules as the regular kmme program. the kmme process starts with revisiting the accomplishments and assessing previously implemented batches through a national debriefing among program coordinators. upon assessment, a consensus is taken on the steps moving forward. the regional implementation of the kmme program begins with the submission of the set schedules and then dissemination to target mses through posting on social media and invitations through the negosyo centers. the dti then screens interested applicants and selects qualified mses to be the program’s mentees. the mentees then go through the mentoring and coaching program in preparation for their expected output: the business improvement plan presentation in front of the invited industry expert panelists. mentees conclude the program completion provided with a passing remark, hence graduation rites. the pilot run of the kmme program in 2016 has reached regions and provinces in the country (department of trade and industry record, june 16, 2022). the program has helped more than 32,000 msmes, certified more than 700 mentors, and touched the lives of more than 8,000 mentee graduates in the country. the dti is mandated to help the country compete globally with innovative industries and service sectors, contributing to employment generation and inclusive growth (department of trade and industry report of june 18, 2022). thus, kmme was drafted articulating the program’s overall vision of “prosperous, inclusive and entrepreneurship-driven local economies creating sustainable jobs and promoting competitive production and trade” (asian social project services, inc., 2021). the kmme program cycle must not stop with graduation to ensure 25 international peer reviewed journal that all mentee graduates continue to become deeply committed to contributing to a prosperous future for themselves and society. after implementing the kmme program, the mentee graduates should be monitored and evaluated to know if the program boosted their entrepreneurial capacity. from the constant monitoring, the dti may find out where the mentee-graduates are, who are performing, and who are not. thus, knowing what specific interventions they would need. objectives of the study the study aims to assess the kapatid mentor me (kmme) program organized by the department of trade and industry (dti) in region vii from 2016 to 2021. specifically, the study objectives were to (1) identify the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of gender, age, marital status, educational attainment, forms of ownership, sector cluster, and initial capitalization, and (2) determine the advantages and disadvantages that could be identified from both the face-to-face and online learning approaches of the implemented kmme program, (3) describe how effective is the implemented kmme program to the mentee-graduates from the period 2016 to 2021 in terms of mode of delivery, (a) face to face (b) online, special session, mentors, coaches, application of learnings, retainment of learnings, and business status, and (4) to identify the implications and interventions needed to sustain the implemented kmme program. methodology research design the study used a descriptive research design to identify characteristics, frequencies, trends, and categories. it utilized survey questionnaires to accumulate the necessary information from the respondents. in an article published by solanki (2022), descriptive research design focuses on the status of the given environment and is suitable for research in education, management, epidemiology, and social sciences, and behavioral sciences. research site central visayas comprises the provinces of bohol, cebu, negros oriental, and siquijor. it is also the second-smallest region in the country, with a land area of 14,923 square kilometers, or 5% of the philippines. with the fourth largest regional economy, region vii is one of the most established regions of the 26 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 country. it is among the eight main tourist attractions in the philippines. central visayas is home to numerous industries such as electronics, wearables, footwear, information and communications technology and information technologyenabled services, food processing, housewares, maritime, and furniture. according to data from the philippine statistics authority (psa), central visayas placed fourth in terms of regional contribution to the country’s gdp in 2018. the department of trade and industry’s report of 2018 presents that central visayas’s gross regional domestic product growth rate of 7.6% exceeded the national growth rate of 6.2%. respondents the respondents of this study were the mentee-graduates of the kmme program in region vii. the mentee graduates were the beneficiaries of the kmme program. the mentee-graduates who applied and qualified were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least 18 years of age (2) must be a filipino and resident of the philippines (3) must be the owner or co-owner of or partner of the business. (4) business is registered (with documentation) (5) business has operated for at least one year (6) has employee/s or manages a team (7) willing to attend sessions on specified schedules (8) willing to pass into a contract of commitment (9) three (3) references who can vouch for one’s business (10) applicants belonging to the micro entrepreneurs segment (p3m below) are given the priority. the selected mses per province went through the 10-module mentoring program and presented the business improvement plan through an oral validation with the chosen industry expert panelists. table 1. total mentee-graduates (2016-2021) province 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 total / province bohol 26 55 50 24 41 196 cebu 26 57 52 52 24 40 251 negros oriental 51 44 49 22 42 208 siquijor 5 5 20 12 20 62 total / year 26 139 156 171 82 143 717 source: department of trade and industry (2022) [region 7 summary of mentee graduates 2016-2022] 27 international peer reviewed journal slovin’s formula was used for computing the sample size of the study. n = n/1 (1 + n * e2) n = 717 / 2.7925 n = 256.76 ≈ 257 this sample size was presented in table 2, with 257 respondents clustered by the provinces of region vii. table 2. respondents clustered by region vii provinces province number of respondents (frequency) percentage (%) bohol 69 27% cebu 90 35% negros oriental 75 29% siquijor 23 9% total respondents 257 100% source: authors’ calculations using survey data. data collection the primary data was collected from the self-administered survey questionnaire. secondary data was collected from program documents, reliable books, articles, journals, and internet sources. the data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. specifically, it used the 4-point likert scale, relative frequency, and ranking. the 4-point likert scale was used to represent the forced opinions and attitudes of the respondents toward the learning platform used. the relative frequency and rankings were used to compare categories within tables. the survey questionnaire was divided into three sections: demographic profile of the respondents, mentoring and coaching of both learning approaches used and overall effectiveness of the implemented kmme program. the data collected was assessed and consequently established recommendations. ethical protocol before carrying out the study, the researcher had to seek approval from the department of trade and industry. the target respondents received informed consent and agreed to participate with complete understanding and knowledge of the purpose of the study and all relevant facts regarding the topic, in line with apa’s ethical standards. 28 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the participation of a kmme mentee-graduate in the study was a voluntary act without affecting or jeopardizing their status as a kmme graduate to the department of trade and industry and philippine center for entrepreneurship (pce) go negosyo. furthermore, the researcher also values the privacy and anonymity of the respondents by protecting their personal, private, and sensitive information concerning the data privacy act. no participants were excluded for any reason. results and discussion the respondents of this study were mentee graduates from the implemented kmme program from 2016-2021. the respondents’ gender, age, marital status, and highest educational attainment were collected. the business’ forms of ownership, sector cluster, and initial capitalization of the respondents upon joining the program were also gathered and assessed. the mode of kmme – face-to-face or online, was also determined and analyzed. table 3. gender of the respondents gender f rf crf female 68 0.66 0.66 male 35 0.34 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 3 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 68 (66%) were female, and 35 (34%) were male. it revealed that most of the respondents were female entrepreneurs. similarly, the university of sydney’s 2017 report on women and entrepreneurship discovered that of the 900,000 registered businesses in the philippines in 2015, the majority were micro-businesses, and 51% were womenowned. table 4. age of the respondents age f rf crf 31 59 74 0.72 0.72 18 30 27 0.26 0.98 60 and above 2 0.02 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data 29 international peer reviewed journal table 4 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 74 (72%) were 31-59 years old, 27 (26%) were 18-30 years old, and 2 (2%) were 60 and above years old. it shows that most of the respondents were from generation y. similarly, a study conducted by azoulay et al. (2019) on age and high-growth entrepreneurship found that the mean age for launching a business is in the late 30s to early 40s. table 5. marital status of the respondents marital status f rf crf married 64 0.62 0.62 single 37 0.36 0.98 others 2 0.02 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 5 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 64 (62%) were married, 37 (36%) were single, 1 (1%) was widowed, and another 1 (1%) was separated. one standard label of an entrepreneur is a childless, unmarried workaholic with no time for a spouse and children. a study on the anatomy of an entrepreneur conducted by wadhwa et al. (2009) broke the stereotype, as 59.7% of respondents reported having at least one child when they started their first businesses, and 43.5% reported having two or more. in addition, 69.9%  of respondents were married when they started their first businesses. additionally, a study on the performance of married and single-mother entrepreneurs conducted by salwa et al. (2015) found that married entrepreneurs did better than the opposite group. table 6. highest educational attainment of the respondents educational attainment f rf crf college graduate 72 0.70 0.70 college undergraduate 18 0.17 0.87 others 13 0.13 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 6 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 72 (70%) were college graduates, 18 (17 %) were college undergraduates, 7 (7 %) were post baccalaureate graduates, 4 (4%) were post baccalaureate undergraduates, 30 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 1 (1%) was a high school undergraduate, and another 1 (1%) was a postsecondary undergraduate. it shows that most of the respondents have a college degree. in a study conducted by the ewing marion kauffman foundation in 2020 on the educational attainment of business owners in the united states, approximately half of all entrepreneurs (51.4%) held at least a bachelor’s degree, whereas only a tiny percentage (3.6%) had not completed high school. in addition, the proportion of asian entrepreneurs with a bachelor’s degree was the greatest (29.6%) among all other racial and ethnic groups. according to isador (2022), a solid education can give one the skills and connections to help one make strides in one’s business ventures. table 7. forms of ownership of the respondents forms of ownership f rf crf sole proprietorship 95 0.92 0.92 corporation 4 0.04 0.96 others 4 0.04 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 7 shows that of the 103 respondents, 95 (92%) were sole proprietors, 4 (4%) were corporations, 2 (2%) were associations, and another 2 (2%) were partnerships. one of the main reasons that sole proprietorship is very popular is that it is a business that is easy and not costly to start (slaughter, 2017). table 8. sector cluster of the respondents sector cluster f rf crf tourism 17 0.17 0.17 restaurants (café and carenderias) 16 0.16 0.32 retail 16 0.16 0.48 others 54 0.52 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 8 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 17 (17%) belonged to tourism, 16 (16%) belonged to restaurants, and 16 (16%) belonged to retail. the rest of the respondents belonged to service oriented, youth, agriculture, 31 international peer reviewed journal online sellers, women, manufacturing, sari-sari stores, cooperatives, and exporters. the top five (5) industry sectors with the number of msmes in 2020 were as follows: (1) wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (445,386); (2) accommodation and food service activities (134,046); (3) manufacturing (110,916); (4) other service activities (62,376); and (5) financial and insurance activities (45,558) (department of trade and industry statistics, 2022). a year after the kmme-mme online was launched, the department of trade and industry (dti) and philippine center for entrepreneurship (pce) go negosyo started prioritizing clusters. the said sectoral groups were among the worst hit by the pandemic. a study by shinozaki and rao (2020) on the effect of covid-19 on msmes under lockdown in the philippines found that education, construction, accommodation & food services (including tourism), and manufacturing were hurt the most. table 9. initial capitalization of the respondents upon joining the program initial capitalization f rf crf below php 100,000 47 0.46 0.46 php 100,001 – php 500,000 29 0.28 0.74 others 27 0.26 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 9 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 47 (46%) had an initial capitalization of below php 100,000, 29 (28%) had an initial capitalization of php 100,001 – php 500,000, 11 (11%) had an initial capitalization of 1,500,000 – php 3,000,000, 9 (9%) had an initial capitalization of php 500,000 – php 1,500,000, 4 (4%) had an initial capitalization of php 3,000,000 – php 5,000,000, 2 (2%) had an initial capitalization of, 1 (1%) had an initial capitalization of php 15,000,000 – php 100,000,000 and another 1 (1%) had an initial capitalization of php 10,000,000 – php 15,000,000. it has shown that most of the respondents were micro-entrepreneurs. it was further backed by the 2020 list of establishments of the philippine statistics authority (psa), which recorded 957, 620 business enterprises operating in the country. of these, 952,969 (99.51%) were msmes and 4,651 (0.49%) were large enterprises. the microenterprises constitute 88.77% (850,127) of the total msme establishments. small enterprises make up 10.25% (98,126), and medium enterprises comprise 0.49% (4,716) (department of trade and industry statistics, 2022). under the 32 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 msme sector report by the senate economic planning office (2012), msmes are classified by asset size and the number of employees. for micro, asset size is up to php 3,000,000 and number of employees is 1-9 employees; for small, asset size is php 3,000,001 – php 15,000,000 and number of employees is 10-99 employees; for medium, asset size is php 15,000,001 – php 100,000,000 and number of employees is 100-199. table 10. learning platform learning platform f rf crf online 67 0.65 0.65 face-to-face 36 0.35 1.00 total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 10 shows that out of the 103 respondents, 67 (65%) attended the kmme-mme online, while 36 (35%) participated at the regular kmme. it revealed that most of the respondents were kmme-mme online graduates. the results contrasted with the number of graduates. according to the list of mentee-graduates from 2016-2021 of the department of trade and industry, about 492 graduates from the regular kmme program and 225 graduates from the kmme-mme online program. the kapatid mentor me (kmme) program has been implemented since 2016 as a 10-module mentorship program. it starts with the launching and orientation session and ends with the business improvement plan (bip) presentation that all mentees are individually made to carry out. the kmme program includes modules that expose the mentees to different business concepts and help them acquire the business acumen necessary for expanding and sustaining a business. the ten modules are entrepreneurial mind-setting and values formation, marketing mindset, business model canvas, operations management, supply and value chain management, accounting and finance for small business, taxation, human resource management, product innovation, and market-driven innovation, and business law (garcia, 2018). government services forum then follows wherein government agencies such as but not limited to the department of science and technology (dost), department of labor and employment (dole), small business corporation (sbcorp), department of health food and drugs administration (doh33 international peer reviewed journal fda), department of tourism (dot), intellectual property office (ipo) are invited to discuss their current and planned programs for the msmes. moreover, it is followed by a coaching period on business improvement plan writing and business improvement plan presentation oral validation by selected industry expert panelists. the program then culminates with the graduation of the mentees. on record, there were 36 respondents under the regular kmme program. at the peak of the covid-19 pandemic, the kapatid mentor me – money market encounter (kmme-mme) online program was developed. the kmme-mme online was designed to integrate the money market encounter (mme) into the regular kmme program. it ensures continued access of mentees to money, market, and mentorship (or the 3ms) without compromising the safety of the stakeholders involved and the program’s overall efficacy through the accomplished business improvement plan (bip). the plans are presented before a panel of evaluators composed of representatives from banks, online market platforms, and other business support organizations. the modules for kmme-mme online were slightly revised to remain relevant in the new normal. specifically, business law was fused with the new good governance and ethics module. similarly, taxation was combined with accounting and finance for small business, paving the way for the new digitalization module. the current modules for kmme-mme online are entrepreneurial mind-setting and values formation, marketing mindset, business model canvas, operations management, digitalization, supply and value chain management, accounting and finance for small business, human resource management, market driven innovation, good governance and ethics (alvarez, 2022). like the regular kmme program, it was followed by the government services forum, coaching, and then an individual business improvement plan presentation. the zoom application platform implements the kmmemme online in the new normal. on record, there were 67 respondents for the kmmemme online approach. 34 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 11. advantages of the kmme program advantages percentage ranking regular kmme program hands-on learning 89% 1 easy networking 75% 2 conducive environment 72% 3 trainer has the undivided attention 64% 4 kmme-mme online program accessibility of time and place 87% 1 comfort 66% 2 abundant online resources 63% 3 cost-efficient 61% 4 easy networking 51% 5 better student participation 31% 6 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 11 above shows the ranking of the advantages of the regular kmme program. the advantages of the regular kmme program, as pointed out by the respondents, were hands-on learning (89%), easy networking (75%), a conducive environment (72%), and a trainer having undivided attention (64%). most respondents say that hands-on learning was the main advantage of the regular kmme program. a survey conducted by harris interactive in 2014 found that most americans prefer hands-on training (corinthian colleges, inc., 2014). the survey also revealed that while both men and women regarded handson training as the preferred mode of instruction, men (56%) were more likely than women (47%) to say hands-on learning is the most effective approach. however, it was worth noting that in a study conducted by kulturel-konak et al. (2011) on gender differences in learning styles, it was also pointed out that women tend to prefer hands-on learning experiences. the respondents’ next most common advantage was easy networking. the physicality of in-person classes presents a sense of community that can easily be lost online (ong et al., 2020). according to alleyne (2018), online learning cannot foster loyalty because it can only give learners academics, not the socialization that comes with traditional education. learners can make personal connections with like-minded peers in face-to-face setups. this kind of bonding 35 international peer reviewed journal is difficult to replicate in online learning because students rarely talk during and after online classes. furthermore, virtual learning causes fatigue (kentucky counseling center, 2021). aside from information overload, facing the screen for an extended period in online learning is mentally taxing. according to alawamleh et al. (2020, as cited in dabbagh & ritland, 2005), face-to-face learning environments were bounded by time and location. learners in a face-to-face setup can concentrate more on learning as there are fewer distractions than in-home (shah, 2022). the same can be said of teachers or instructors. a study conducted by xiao et al. (2021) found that one of the impacts of working from home during the covid-19 pandemic includes distractions. furthermore, aliyyah et al. (2020) revealed that teachers had a decline in enthusiasm to teach online as they cannot interact directly with students and cannot gauge their understanding. table 11 also shows the ranking of the advantages of kmme-mme online. the advantages of kmme-mme online, as pointed out by the respondents, were accessibility of time and place (87%), comfort (66%), abundant online resources (63%), cost-efficient (61%), easy networking (51%) and better student participation (31%).  according to singh et al. (2021, as cited in kimiloglu et al., 2017), the most significant advantage of online learning is the flexible feature of the system. whereas traditional classes are scheduled at specific times on certain days, online learning offers learners the flexibility and convenience to attend classes from the comfort of their homes. it eliminates the need to go to and from a classroom, potentially saving students money on commuter expenses (sosnowski, 2020). aside from saving time and commuting costs, learners can also save on learning materials. with the explosion of internet technology, learners and teachers now have access to a wide array of digital learning materials, such as videos, pdfs, podcasts, and articles, to enrich learning. numerous educational resources are outside the school’s walls (yuhanna et al., 2020). when classroom space and materials are eliminated, course costs are reduced, and student savings are passed on (sosnowski, 2020).     online networking allows people to connect quickly and with a broader range worldwide (bartle, 2019). the same is true for kmme-mme online, as a batch›s participants come from the region›s four provinces. despite connecting quickly with a broader range, it does not create meaningful and memorable relationships like in-person networking. another advantage of kmme-mme online was better student participation. 36 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 table 12. disadvantages of the kmme program disadvantages percentage ranking regular kmme program fixed time and place 47% 1 travel expenses 42% 2 inability to pause, review, or forward 33% 3 peer pressure 14% 4 viewing distance 3% 5 kmme-mme online program technology issues 67% 1 dependent on internet 64% 2 poor interaction 37% 3 inability to focus on screens 28% 4 difficulty retaining information 18% 5 single-student domination 10% 6 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 12 shows the ranking of the disadvantages of the regular kmme program. the disadvantages of the regular kmme program, as pointed out by the respondents, were fixed time and place (47%), travel expenses (42%), inability to pause, review, or forward (33%), and peer pressure (14%).  most respondents pointed out fixed time and place as the main disadvantage of the regular kmme program. face-to-face learning lacks the flexibility and convenience of online learning. learners must attend face-to-face sessions at a set time and place, limiting flexibility in work and other activities (kokemuller, 2017). furthermore, if a learner misses a scheduled session, it is their responsibility to book for another to catch up (shah, 2022).  another disadvantage of the regular kmme program was travel expenses. to participate in traditional classes, learners must live on campus or commute (kokemuller, 2017). travel increases the expense and time involved in learning. furthermore, balancing face-to-face learning with work and family life is also more difficult when learners spend more time traveling to and from class.   an additional disadvantage of the regular kmme program was the inability to pause, review, or forward. relative to online classes, face-to-face learning, cannot pause, review, or forward sessions. the teachers and not the students 37 international peer reviewed journal determine the pace of learning in a face-to-face setup. as a result, if a learner falls behind, the learner may be forced to take additional classes, which means added costs and extra time spent. other disadvantages pointed out were peer pressure and viewing distance.  additionally, table 12 above shows the ranking of the disadvantages of kmme-mme online. the disadvantages of kmme-mme online, as pointed out by the respondents, were technology issues (67%), dependency on internet (64%), poor interaction (37%), inability to focus on screens (28%), difficulty retaining information (18%), and single-student domination (10%). most respondents pointed out technology issues as the main disadvantage of kmme-mme online. it was followed by dependence on the internet and poor interaction. the problems and challenges that come with modern technology range from installation issues, login issues, downloading issues, issues with audio and video, and more (dhawan, 2020). according to singh et al. (2021, as cited in alkharang & ghinea, 2013), most users of e-learning platforms lack the basic technology requirements for the program. the platform used in conducting the kmme-mme online was zoom. according to zoom support (2022), the recommended bandwidth for group video calling is at least 1.0 mbps/600kbps (up/down) for high-quality video. though internet penetration has increased by leaps and bounds over the past few years, a reliable connection with enough speed remains a challenge in smaller cities and towns (gautam, 2020). in the philippines, one painful reality filipinos face is internet reliability. despite having the most expensive internet plan, users are likely to get frustrated with how slow and unreliable the connection is. as of january 2021, the philippines have moved to the 86th spot in the global mobile internet speed rankings (department of information and communications technology report, august 10, 2021). although this marked improvement from its 111th rank in the same period last 2020, internet standards have changed. unreliable internet would also contribute to poor interaction. according to (dhawan, 2020), students want two-way interaction, which is sometimes challenging to implement online learning. the internet provides an excellent means to get all kinds of information back and forth to the audience. however, it makes it more difficult to evaluate some forms of student feedback and information (james, 2002). due to the absence of context and nonverbal cues in discussion forums, the likelihood of miscommunication and misunderstanding is heightened in online education. 38 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 one of the biggest challenges of online learning for many students is the inability to focus on screens for extended periods (gautam, 2020). according to laskaris (2017), millennials’ attention spans were short. furthermore, each time a student wants to attend a lecture, download reading materials, engage in a discussion, or submit work, they must log onto the internet. simply being online can be a distraction to students. the temptation to explore and waste time is numerous; alerts and pop-ups on social media, games, television shows and web browsing can distract students. the common disadvantages online learners face technology issues, dependent on internet, poor interaction, inability to focus on screens, and single-student domination-correlate with why learners cannot recall previous topics and discussions. furthermore, the learning process cannot reach its full potential until learners practice what they learn (dhawan, 2020). another disadvantage pointed out was single-student domination. those in question may have grown up in a culture, school, or both where classroom discussions were not the norm. furthermore, an article published by carnegie mellon university (2022) theorizes that having subtle, unwritten rules of turntaking in class could cause difficulties for some students. it is a problem in all classes when a small number of students dominate conversations or the teacher’s attention, and it often gets worse when they are given more time to talk. effectiveness of the implemented kmme program to the mentee-graduates from the period 2016 to 2021. for both learning approaches, only one mentee per enterprise and only one mentee per family is admitted to the program. relative to this, there were two different sets of participants. the participants for the face-to-face program did not attend the online program and vice versa. table 13. level of effectiveness for both the regular kmme and kmme-mme online program face-to-face online n = 36 n = 67 mode of delivery ve e ie vie t ve e ie vie t conduciveness of venue 64% 33% 3% 100% n / a reliability of the platform n / a 58% 39% 3% 100% presentation of learning materials 61% 36% 3% 100% 63% 36% 1% 100% engagement of workshop prepared 64% 31% 3% 3% 100% 61% 34% 4% 100% engagement with the mentor and fellow mentees 83% 14% 3% 100% 61% 36% 3% 100% set schedule and allotted time 58% 39% 3% 100% 63% 36% 1% 100% 39 international peer reviewed journal face-to-face online n = 36 n = 67 face-to-face coaching 75% 22% 3% 100% n / a modules offered relevance to business application 36% 61% 3% 100% 73% 25% 1% 100% content of the module 67% 31% 3% 100% 72% 27% 1% 100% timeliness of the module 61% 36% 3% 100% 66% 31% 3% 100% easiness to understand 61% 36% 3% 100% 63% 36% 1% 100% special session: government services forum discussion of invited speakers on services offered 58% 39% 3% 100% 69% 30% 1% 100% timeliness of the services offered 61% 36% 3% 100% 57% 40% 3% 100% easiness to understand 56% 42% 3% 100% 61% 37% 1% 100% content of presented services 56% 42% 3% 100% 66% 33% 1% 100% relevance to business application 56% 42% 3% 100% 64% 34% 1% 100% mastery of the discussion 64% 33% 3% 100% 67% 31% 1% 100% mentors mastery of the topic discussed 72% 25% 3% 100% 75% 24% 1% 100% content and lecture material prepared 64% 31% 3% 3% 100% 73% 25% 1% 100% delivery of the topic 56% 39% 3% 3% 100% 67% 31% 1% 100% workshop prepared 58% 39% 3% 100% 66% 31% 3% 100% engagement with the mentees 67% 28% 3% 3% 100% 61% 36% 3% 100% coaches motivational skills 67% 28% 6% 100% 73% 24% 3% 100% relevant business advice given 67% 28% 6% 100% 69% 30% 1% 100% critiquing on business plan 58% 36% 6% 100% 70% 28% 1% 100% responsiveness to the needs of the mentees 56% 39% 6% 100% 67% 30% 3% 100% application on learnings learnings have prompted behavioral changes 58% 36% 6% 100% 64% 34% 1% 100% learnings have prompted business operations improvements 56% 39% 6% 100% 63% 36% 1% 100% retainment on learnings provided learning materials provide a clear recollection of the discussion 53% 36% 6% 6% 100% 57% 40% 3% 100% application of relevant learnings 53% 39% 3% 6% 100% 52% 45% 3% 100% coaching face-to-face n / a 3% 1% 4% online coaching n / a 49% 46% 96% source: authors’ calculations using survey data 40 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 the respondents were probed to compare their current asset size classification to their initial capitalization upon enrolling in the kmme program. below is the prerequisite guide in determining the business status regarding asset-size classification. below php 100,000 php 3,000,001 – php 5,000,000 php 100,001 – php 500,000 php 5,000,001 – php 10,000,000 php 500,001 – php 1,500,000 php 10,000,001 – php 15,000,000 php 1,500,001 – php 3,000,000 php 15,000,001 – php 100,000,000 table 14. current asset size classification compared to initial capitalization upon enrolling in the kmme program business status f rf crf interpretation has improved 57 0.55 0.55 asset size moved upward by two levels or more has greatly improved 20 0.19 0.75 asset size moved to a higher level no changes 19 0.18 0.93 asset size remained the same has worsened 7 0.07 1.00 asset size decreased total 103 1.00 source: authors’ calculations using survey data table 14 shows that out of the 103 respondents, the majority, or 74%, had improved or had greatly improved their business status after joining the kmme program. it means that 74% had improved their asset size by a minimum of 1 level higher than their initial capitalization upon enrolling in the program. table 14 also shows that 19 (18%) did not have any noticeable changes in asset size, while 7 (7%) worsened after joining the program. many factors determined the business growth. entrepreneurship training was among many factors which plays a crucial role in msme growth worldwide. a study by nuel and chika (2022) on entrepreneurship and business growth of smes in southeast nigeria found that entrepreneurship training positively affects business growth. the study concluded that entrepreneurship training is among the crucial factors influencing sme growth. 41 international peer reviewed journal conclusion based on the findings, most respondents are female and aged between 31–59, married, college graduates, and sole proprietors in tourism, restaurants (café and carenderias), retail, or service-oriented sectors. they had an initial capitalization of below php 100,000.00 upon entering the kmme program. further, most of them were also graduates of the kmme-mme online program. the advantages of the regular kmme program were hands-on learning, easy networking, a conducive environment, and the trainers’ undivided attention. also, the advantages of the kmme-mme online program were accessibility of time and place, comfort, abundant online resources; cost-efficiency; easy networking; and better student participation. disadvantages of the kmme program faceto-face were fixed time and place, travel expenses, inability to pause, review, or forward, and peer pressure. while the drawbacks of kmme-mme online are technology issues, dependency on the internet, poor interaction, inability to focus on screens, difficulty retaining information, and single-student domination. implementing the regular kmme program and kmme-mme online for modules offered, special sessions, mentoring, coaching, application of learning, and retention were both effective. for business status, most have improved or significantly improved current assets compared to initial capitalization upon entering the program. the limitation of the study was the difficulty in reaching some respondents. it is because some of the emails of the mentee graduates were not recorded. hence it was hard to reach out to the respondents for validation. therefore, incomplete responses were treated as null and void. besides, some emails had typographical errors, and some were inactive. thus, it is challenging to identify significant relationships in data. another limitation was an unequal number of respondents for the regular kmme and kmme-mme online programs, making it hard to compare both learning approaches. furthermore, the data collected did not include the specific year of participation of the respondent in the kmme program. moreover, some questions (i.e., respondents’ email addresses) in the survey questionnaire were not required where they should have been. hence, it resulted in some responses becoming invalid as it was incomplete. this study aims to serve as the basis of implementation for the department of trade and industry’s current and future programs should there be other limitations to learning, such as pandemics and other crises. in such situations 42 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 where resourcefulness and flexibility must be exhibited, the department of trade and industry could continue to offer the kmme program and other similar programs regardless of platform, face-to-face or online. moreover, the assessment result of the program assessment could significantly contribute to the department of trade and industry’s kmme program to create a more holistic initiative for the mses. other government industries can also use this study as benchmark research for their respective research and implementation of training and educational programs similar to the kmme program of the department of trade and industry and go negosyo. furthermore, the academe and research community could also utilize this research’s results and recommendations as a guide in conducting their studies. recommendation the preferred future for the researchers is to see that the kmme program achieves sustainability which is the gateway for microenterprises to level up and boost their entrepreneurial capacity, generating employment opportunities and spurring economic activity in the country. figure 2 below shows how to achieve this through the suggested kmme implementation cycle. with monitoring and evaluation in place, the dti may know where the mentee-graduates are and whether they are performing or not. from there, the dti can craft more holistic initiatives for the graduates. figure 2. suggested kmme implementation cycle 43 international peer reviewed journal based on the study’s results, incorporating the monitoring and evaluation phase after implementing the program may be worth considering to know what specific interventions may be provided to the mentee-graduates. figure 3. proposed process flow for the kmme program in dti region vii figure 3 above shows the proposed process flow for the kmme program in dti region vii. the process flow begins with the national debriefing down to the graduation of the mentees. a monitoring phase follows it wherein the dti 44 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 evaluates whether mentee graduates have applied their business improvement plan and improved their business status. the monitoring may be done done six months after graduation. furthermore, for those who have applied their business improvement plan and improved their business status, the dti may assess their business needs to sustain their business status. depending on the assessment of business needs, the dti may offer the following intervention schemes: (1) assistance in leveling up adapted from the enterprise development track (edt) exhibit 1. description of the levels source: adapted from (enterprise-development-track-edt, n.d.) exhibit 2. requirements / indicators to level up source: adapted from (enterprise-development-track-edt, n.d.) 45 international peer reviewed journal exhibit 3. suggested scope of interventions source: adapted from (enterprise-development-track-edt, n.d.) (2) endorsement to trade fairs the mentee-graduates may be invited to join the yearly trade fairs in their respective provinces and regionwide. they may be able to display their products and services in trade fairs to help market their products and services to increase their sales. (3) kmme refresher course the dti may develop a short kmme refresher course where the menteegraduates may be invited to join. with change being the only constant thing, it may be beneficial for the mentee graduates to renew any outdated information from the program. the mentee graduates may not only be refreshed but may be updated with the latest trends and updates in the market. furthermore, dti must continuously revisit and recheck training materials that need updating. (4) undergo specific dti training and webinars with the ever-changing marketing landscape and advancement of technology, the dti may offer training and webinars on topics related to business and management, such as franchising, digitalization, product design, business continuity plan, business model canvass, accounting, and entrepreneurship, among others. 46 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 (5) endorsement to other government agencies for support extension the dti may endorse mentee graduates to any of the following agencies below: government agency support extension department of labor and employment (dole) labor and employment concerns department of health – food and drug administration (doh-fda) license to operate and accreditations department of science and technology (dost) product / service innovation, machinery, funding small business corporation (sbcorp) loan programs intellectual property office (ipo) intellectual properties department of tourism (dot) accreditations bureau of internal revenue (bir) tax concerns source: author’s recommendation (6) endorsement to financial institutions for easier loan approvals the dti may establish financial institutions’ partners through an endorsement to warrant expedited processing and fast approval for business loan applications. a. banco de oro (bdo) sme loan b. philippine national bank (pnb) small business loan program c. landbank (lbp) term loan facility, working capital and liquidity support facilities, exporters production support facilities, farm tourism financing program, i-rescue lending program, franchise lending program, emerging filipina lending program d. metropolitan bank and trust company (mbtc) puhunan loan, agri-business loans, franchise business e. small business corporation (sbcorp) p3 program, rise up program (7) enrollment in other dti programs and services the dti may enroll mentee graduates in any of the following programs and services: a. barangay micro business enterprise (bmbe) it is a law signed by president gloria macapagal-arroyo to encourage the formation and growth of bmbes by granting micro business enterprises incentives and benefits, which include income tax 47 international peer reviewed journal exemption, minimum wage exemption, special credit window, and business development services. b. shared service facilities the program entails setting up shared service facilities or production centers for specific processes. the msmes may have access to better technology and more sophisticated equipment to accelerate their bid for competitiveness and help them graduate to the next level, where they could tap a better and broader market and be integrated with the global supply chain. c. go lokal! store project a retail concept project which showcases the quality and innovative philippine products. crafted, designed, and produced by the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes). it serves as a marketing platform for the msmes to gain access to the lucrative local consumer market and, ultimately, to the global export market. d. one town, one product (otop). this program promotes entrepreneurship and creates jobs. through otop, local chief executives of each city and municipality take the lead in identifying, developing, and promoting a specific product or service with a competitive advantage. the program has two major components and is generally defined below: otop next gen, as the supply side of the program, refers to the package of assistance provided to capacitate the msmes. this component is primarily the product development initiatives, training, referral, and others to level up the products in design, quality, and volume. otop.ph or otop philippines hub, as the demand side of the program, provides the physical and online channels and market access platform where otop products – especially those assisted via product development – are showcased daily. those who have availed of any intervention schemes may undergo monitoring again for six months or more until business status assurance for improvement is achieved. in addition, it is recommended that a reassessment of the kmme program may be performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed intervention schemes for the mentee graduates in region vii, philippines, so that other regions may be able to benchmark these recommendations for improvement. 48 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 further studies on the effect of coaching on entrepreneurial capacity building and determining the effect of mentoring on the entrepreneurial capacity of the kmme program are also recommended. future researchers should also consider establishing the effectiveness of face-to-face and online learning on entrepreneurial capacity building that encompasses factors that include but are not limited to financial, social, networking and marketing factors. translational research it is highly suggested that all conducted programs have robust monitoring and a standard process. vital monitoring allows implementers to determine the programs’ best practices, gaps, and effectiveness. on the other hand, having a standard process enables implementers to be more confident in achieving set goals. with a standard process, new implementers of existing programs maintain consistency of expected output. results of the study must be published and disseminated to serve as a benchmark for implementers of similar programs. literature cited alawamleh, m., al-twait, l. m., & al-saht, g. r. 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(2022). zoom system requirements: windows, macos, linux. zoom. https://bit.ly/3sixti1 https://bit.ly/3sixti1 42 jpair multidisciplinary research the shared mission: a phenomenological study on the marist-lay partnership wilter c. friales http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5786-5345 cuevas_friales@yahoo.com notre dame of marbel university city of koronadal, south cotabato, region 12, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the term partnership is being viewed in the context that the lay people are not just simply workers or employees of the brothers in schools, but they are partners in fulfilling the mission on education. this phenomenological study of the marist-lay partnership explored the lived-experiences of both the marist lay and marist brothers in the context of a partnership for the mission of the marist. it is a phenomenological qualitative design of research that aimed to explore the lived experiences of both the marist brothers and the lay in the context of the partnership. this qualitative research used the transcendental phenomenological approach following the method introduced by moustaka (1994). the first part of the study explored the lived-experiences of the marist brothers and lay while they work with the marist mission. it presented their vocation stories, challenges encountered, and attitudes towards work, working relationships, and the impact of such a partnership in their lives. the second part of the study revealed the different meanings and the themes drawn in understanding the concept of marist-lay partnership as perceived by the marist brothers and the lay in working for the marist mission. the emergent themes were extracted after the thorough vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.723 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5786-5345 mailto:cuevas_friales@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 43 international peer reviewed journal process of thematic coding, analysis, and categorization of the transcripts from the in-depth interview of the researcher to the identified participants of the study. based on the result of the exploration, it was drawn out that collaboration appeared to be very important to be established in the marist community. as one of the emerging themes, a collaboration between brothers and lay leads to a good relationship that eventually results in a good partnership. thus, there is a need for a continuous nurturing process and redefining of the roles and functions of the lay in the mission. keywords — education, marist-lay partnership, phenomenological qualitative research design, philippines introduction there are a number of higher educational institutions in the world that are being owned and managed by different religious orders. most of the academic institutions are being manned by priests or professed religious brothers or lay belonging to a particular congregation. in most cases, to ensure and maintain the catholicity of the catholic schools, the religious brothers, sisters, and priests are the ones leading the institutions being the school president or the director. however, the priests and religious brothers and sisters alone could not be able to handle managing the institutions considering their numbers. herick (2009) shared that as the involvement of the members of the congregation becomes less, the connection of the institution‘s mission to the founding congregation and their particular charism is likely to be less visibly evident. thus, the laity is increasingly assuming the leadership of the institutions. there goes the idea of a partnership between the religious people and the lay in working for the mission. newton (1981) viewed the partnership between the lay and the religious as a new vision of catholic education which sees the work of education in the church no longer as a mission entrusted to the religious orders and congregations but rather as a ‘ministry of teaching’ in which both lay and religious share as equal partners. further, in terms of how lay people lead the catholic institutions, lay leadership pertains to the role of lay persons on the decision making process on the policy and related concerns ensuring the future and welfare of the catholic schools in the local school or diocesan systems in particular as mentioned in this study. further, newton mentioned that the term lay leadership can refer to the increasingly dominant role that lay persons are assuming in shaping the 44 jpair multidisciplinary research actual environment which permeates catholic education, that atmosphere which both gives catholic schools their unique “climate” and, also, most would agree, more than the formal course of studies, produces the characteristic effect of the catholic school. franco (2016) supported in his work that in most of the catholic higher institutions, the lay people play a very significant role in terms of the leadership in the institutions. as defined, these are the persons who are not religiouslyprofessed but with increasing responsibility and influence in the institutions. morey & holtscheinder, 2005 (as cited by herrick (2009), shared in their work that there is so much effort on the part of the lay leaders from mid to senior-level of administration in personally living such commitment to the mission. catholic schools, founded by priests and nuns, have contributed significantly to the taiwan society. based on an examination and comparison of servant leadership between religious and lay principal led schools, the schools are being successfully maintained by lay leaders who can enhance an understanding of christ’s servant spirit to maintain the catholic culture (tchiong, 2013). similar to that idea, one of the key teachings of the second vatican council was the recognition that people do not just belong to the church as much as they are the church by right and responsibility of their baptism. they do not only share in the membership of the church but also its mission. in the vatican council ii (1961-1965), as cited in the work of elvery (2013), the catholic church reestablished the importance of the baptismal vocation of all members of the church re-enforcing that all the baptized individuals are involved in the mission of the church. likewise, the renewal of religious life acknowledged that all baptized persons are invited to engage in the church’s mission. thus, the lay have found their place in the mission, which is also anchored to the mission of the church. this partnership is even true to the marist institute, which is the center of this exploration. the marist brothers and the lay partnership has been considered and conceived to be a significant phenomenon that is less likely explored, discovered and described. most of the literature reviews focused more on understanding the charism and manifestation of the marist spirituality but not much on the understanding deeply what this partnership between the brothers and lay people is all about from the experiences of both the lay and brothers. marist brothers is an international community of catholic religious institute of brothers founded by st. marcellin champagnat, a priest from france. the goal of the institute is to educate young people, especially those most neglected ones. while the brothers work with the young people in parishes, religious retreats, 45 international peer reviewed journal spiritual accompaniment, and at-risk youth setting, today, it is also true that we know and encounter most of them doing mission in the schools owned by the institute-the marist brothers themselves. when they established their schools in the philippines in 1948 in cotabato, the brothers ran the schools on their own. they taught, they administered, disciplined, and established the reputation of the schools for basic education of the young men of the community. later, due to the limited number in the community, the marist brothers needed the help of the lay people in running the school. in the study of green (1997), it says that the decreasing number of marist brothers has been paralleled by a changing ecclesiology which has emphasized an increased role of the lay people in the life of the church.lay champagnat marists are people who choose to live up to the charism. they are the ones who acknowledge the responsibility of transmitting the charism of marcelin champagnat through being a school administrator, faculty, or staff in the marist school. they are the ones who recognize their roles in nurturing the schools in the marist way. as more lay people assume responsibility for these schools, it has been acknowledged that attention needs to be formally given to the way charism may be continued and transmitted. (mathieson, 2000). they did this with a sense of vocation drawn from the marian spirituality, which resides in the charism. they live this vocation by being co-responsible with the brothers for “marist” mission, especially to the young people and the youth on the margins, and shared life with brothers and one another (champagnat marists, 2009). the lay people became the co-workers of the brothers in the fulfillment of their mission. they worked with the brothers in the mission to educate the young men of the community. they embraced the marist pedagogy and values, journeyed together on such mission, and these made most of the personnel work for a long period in the marist schools, and even retire on the same institutions (marist brothers, 2009). today, lay marists have discovered that the spirituality that stems from marcellin champagnat and the early community of brothers resonates strongly with them as a way of bringing the gospel to life. from that evolved the term partnership in the mission, which means that the lay people are not just simply workers or employees of the brothers in schools, but they are partners sharing the mission. shared mission is not just a catchy phrase but a reality that is penetrating to the very heart of the marist ministries all over the world. in the beginning, the idea was a novel one, and as time went by, attempts to spell it out in concrete ways didn’t always meet with success. today, however, many carefully-thoughtout and striking steps are being taken to confirm this exciting adventure that 46 jpair multidisciplinary research involves lay people and brothers working side by side for the kingdom, sharing marcellin’s spirituality and mission (institute of the marist brothers, 2001). the partnership between the brothers and the lay marists is being placed in new forms of ministry and community and is one where all marists realize that their respective vocations are mutually enhanced by sharing their life, spirituality, and mission. the document of the institute of the marist secretariat of the laity states that the vocational journey of marist laypeople opens the way for a deeper relationship with brothers. this communion is based on both following jesus, sharing the same radical call of the gospel, the same faith, the same baptism, and the same charism. communion leads to vocational complementarity, mutual enrichment, and searching together for a greater vitality of the charism in today’s world. through this communion, the marist institution is becoming identified with a wider group than brothers and works (institute of the marist, 2017). this phenomenological study of the marist-lay partnership explored the lived experiences of the marist lay and marist brothers in the context of partnership for the mission of the marist. this study hoped to lead readers in understanding delete the phenomenon of such partnership, considering the reasons of staying in the marist institute, the attitudes manifested while working in the mission, the working relationship, the impact and challenges, and the concept and meaning of partnership for the marist brothers and the lay. objectives of the study this study aimed to explore the phenomenon of the partnership between the marist brothers and the lay in the context of working for the marist mission. this study focused on the understanding of the concept of partnership from the lived-experiences of both the marist brothers and the lay considering the reasons of staying in the marist institute, the attitudes manifested while working in the mission, the working relationship, the impact and the challenges, and how they lived up this partnership while working for the marist mission on education. methodology research design this is qualitative research using transcendental phenomenological approach following the method introduced by moustaka (1994). the researcher had entered the field and looked for the informants. in this study, the informants 47 international peer reviewed journal were the heads of any of the peers who gave a referral to the participants. after having been permitted, the researcher conducted an in-depth interview with the participants. after every interview, the researcher transcribed and coded the recorded data. in the coding process, the researcher highlighted the significant statement, sentences, or quotes that explain or describe the experiences of the marist brothers and the lay in the context of partnership. this process was called horizontalization. in doing so, careful judgment and reflection on the part of the researcher was employed. the process had been repeatedly done to aid the researcher in following through certain patterns of the responses. once an idea or ideas being shared in every question had been repeatedly shared or mentioned by the participants, that is where saturation point had already been achieved. all coded statements were clustered according to themes. these significant statements and themes were then used to develop the textual and structural descriptions. from the structural and textual descriptions, the researcher then wrote a composite description that presents the “essence” of the phenomenon, called the essential, invariant structure (essence), and from that evolved the emergent themes of the partnership phenomenon of this study. research site the study was conducted within region 12. it includes all the marist schools situated in the region. the marist institutions which had been part of this study were notre dame of marbel university (tertiary and ibed), notre dame of dadiangas university (tertiary and ibed), notre dame of kidapawan college (tertiary and ibed), and notre dame of cotabato (basic education only). instrumentation an interview guide was utilized in the conduct of the interview for the data gathering process. it was a researcher-made tool containing questions needed to describe the experiences of the marist brothers and the lay and their understanding of the concept of the marist-lay partnership. a dry-run was conducted by the researcher prior to the actual interview with the participants to ensure the validity and appropriateness of the questioning approach of the researcher. participants in this phenomenological study of the marist-lay partnership, all administrators, faculty, retirees, and marist brothers of the marist schools in region 12 are the participants of the study. however, data collection to explain 48 jpair multidisciplinary research a certain phenomenon requires the researcher to achieve the saturation point of the data being collected. saturation is the point in data collection when no new or relevant information emerges with respect to the newly constructed theory (saumure & given, 2008). hence, not all of the administrators, faculty, and retirees of the marist schools had been chosen to be participants of the study since the saturation point had already been achieved after the 12 marist lay and six marist brothers from the four different marist schools in region 12 were interviewed. these 18 participants of the study were chosen according to the referral of their workmates. the lay participants of the study were the five administrators, three faculty, one non-teaching personnel, and three retirees, with a total of 12 lay participants from four different marist schools in region 12. the administrator participants vary according to the number of years in service, levels of positions, ranks, and ages. three of them are administrators of the tertiary level, and two of them are in basic education. the faculty participants of the study vary according to the number of years in service, ranks, and ages. one is a college faculty, and two are faculty in the basic education. the retiree participants of the study vary in terms of the number of years being retired personnel and their ranks prior to retirement. one of the retirees retired in the basic education as an administrator, one retired as college faculty, one retired as an administrator in the college and one retired as a college instructor. the lay participants were the following in pseudo names: angie has been working in the marist school for more than 20 years. she started in the marist school as a faculty of the college until such time that she became an administrator. she had deeply involved herself with the mission of the marist institute. bambie has been working in the marist school for 28 years. she has been a faculty member teaching mathematics and has also been the head of the committee. charmie is a retired personnel from the marist school. she retired from work at the age of 60 as desired by her husband. she had been a faculty member, and at the same time, she had also experienced being a top-level administrator of the school. dong has been working in the marist school for more than 20 years now. he has been a faculty member and a head of a particular program in the college department. 49 international peer reviewed journal ester has been working in the marist school for 17 years already. she started in the marist school as a staff in the campus ministry until such time that she became a campus minister of the school. fanie has been in the marist school for almost 18 years. with that span of time, she had been a faculty member and at the same time administrator. gwen is an alumna of the school where she is employed at the moment. she had been a working student of the school and her good performance on her job as a working student allowed her to be hired as personnel of the school. helen has been working in the marist school for 19 years and all her employment years were under the school where she is at the moment. she started as a college instructor teaching physical education subjects until such time that she became an administrator. irene has spent all the 30 years of her employment in the marist school where she is employed at the moment. she has taught in grade school, college and even in the graduate school. presently, she is handling one of the top administrative positions in the school where she is connected. jamie had retired after 40 years of serving the marist school as one of the top-level administrators. she had experience teaching in the public school for five years prior to her employment in the marist school, where she retired. kathy had retired from the marist school after working there as a college instructor in the business college for 33 years. the school where she was employed had been her first and last employment. mary has been working in the marist school for 25 years already. she has been a guidance counselor in the marist school for that long number of years. for the marist brothers participants, there were six brothers who were part of the study who were assigned to the different marist schools in the region. br. allan has been in the congregation for 40 years now. he started at the age of 14 right after graduation in high school. he had been a faculty member, middle-level administrator, and even the president of several marist schools. br. bong has been in the marist brothers for 25 years. his understanding and knowledge about the brothers have been rooted in his educational background, having been schooled in a marist school. he had been a faculty and a school principal of several marist schools in the philippines. br. carlo has been in the congregation for 12 years already and has held several functions as moderator, coordinator, and faculty member. br. dan joined the brothers in the year 1997 up until now functioning as a sports coach, coordinator, and faculty member. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research br. emil has already been in the marist brothers for 44 years. he has been a faculty member, middle-level administrator and became president of several marist schools in the philippines. br. gerry started his journey being a brother after graduation in high school on the same marist school. he has been with the brothers for 47 years. he has held several functions as a brother, such as being a classroom teacher, director, and being a president of several marist schools. data collection the researcher had entered the field and looked for the informants. after the researcher had been granted with the permission to conduct the study at the field, he had a courtesy call with the school head or the in-charge of the school and was formally introduced to the participants of the study. these participants were recommended by the school head, and some were recommended by the informants. the researcher did a recording of the conversation between him and the participant. for ethical consideration, there was a prior notice to the participant that the interview shall be recorded. the traditional face-to-face in-depth interview was conducted to generate and explore the lived experiences of the marist brothers and the lay as this process was also intensified by giorgi (2009). each participant was allocated approximately 60 minutes to two hours for the initial interview, and one to one and a half hours for the follow-up interview. interviews were held on-site in the respective schools of the identified participants. prior to the interview, the researcher had provided the participants with a short briefing/orientation of the purpose of the interview and explained the transcription process and how the data shall be used. each interview started with a grand tour. the researcher made it a point to reiterate the confidentiality of the study, to speak with each participant about how they could be able to receive the transcribed copy of the interview for review and discuss the importance of follow up meeting. during the transcription process, the researcher used codes rather than real names. the analysis of the data followed after all the recorded audios were transcribed. during the transcription process, the researcher used codes rather than real names. the analysis of the data followed after all the recorded audios were 51 international peer reviewed journal transcribed. as cited by arthur (2012) in her study, the summative explanation by the interviewer at the conclusion is recommended as a form of member checking. in the study, it was emphasized to the participants that the study would not be in any way cause harm to them nor be utilized for any negative motives and purposes against them. the protocol had also been observed in this study. permission from the authority to conduct the study was considered, and the participants were aware of their part and of the direction of the study being conducted. confidentiality in the study was also given emphasis. the participants were not identified according to their real identity, but they were represented with codes. their sharing and responses were used not for any other purposes but only to give meaning and substance to this study on a partnership which is expected to provide certain implications or insights for the good of the marist institute. coding of data after the researcher had transcribed all the data he gathered, he did the axial coding marking passages which he believed, using his own value judgment and thorough reflection, to be significant in relation to the phenomenon being studied. once themes were already identified, the researcher had reread the passages within each category and examined the relationship of the themes until such time that significant themes emerged. thematic coding was implemented highlighting color to color themes in the text. the color-coded data were sorted and stored in the electronic files with the theme noted as a file name. after coding all the transcripts, all the folders and files were reviewed for accuracy. it helped in organizing the themes, linking data sources, and drawing conclusions. data analysis in the data analysis, the researcher considered the procedure prescribed by moustakas (1994) as cited by creswell (2007). this method of organizing and analyzing phenomenological data is also derived from the modification of the methods of analysis, as suggested by stevick (1971), colaizzi (1973), and keen (1975). each of the steps is presented in the appropriate order of analysis. building on the data from the first and second research questions, data analysts go through the data (e.g., interview transcriptions) and highlighted “significant statements, sentences or quotes that provide an understanding of how the participants experienced the phenomenon. moustakas (1994) calls this step horizonalization. next, the researcher developed clusters of meaning from these significant statements into themes. 52 jpair multidisciplinary research these significant statements and themes were then used to write a description of what the participants had experienced (textual description). they were used to write a description of the context or setting that influenced how the participants had experienced the phenomenon, called the imaginative variation or structural description. this was introduced by moustakas (1994). from the structural and textual descriptions, the researcher then wrote a composite description that presents the “essence” of the phenomenon, called the essential, invariant structure (essence). primarily, these passages focused on the common experiences of the participants in the study. and that is where the emergent themes were drawn out to become the result of the analysis. results and discussion reasons for working with the brothers and for being a marist brother there were four themes that emerged as reasons why the lay opted to stay and work in the marist school. the first theme spoke about the benefits which they got from school. such benefits included opportunities, satisfaction, and security. secondly, it spoke about the sense of fulfillment in working with marist school. fulfillment came from the joy that the lay felt as they work in the marist school. the third theme spoke about the influence of being a marist to the lay. some laypersons were in the marist institute because of the sense of rootedness that they have with the marist. rootedness means their connection or the connection of their family members to the marist which they still continue to carry on and live up until today that they are still in the institute. for the marist brothers, they believe that being one is a vocation. once called, they respond to into it, live in the community, and engage in the mission. attitudes of the brothers and lay towards work in the mission there is one prevailing theme that emerged under this question. it seemed that the lay has positive attitudes towards their work. they had shown commitment to their work in such a way that despite the tough moments with the brothers, they remained committed to the mission. second, it seemed that they had the dedication to their work that they always go an extra mile in accomplishing a certain task. third, the lay partners had shown compassion on how they take care of the young people that they deal with. they showed commitment, compassion, and dedication. meanwhile, the marist brothers also seem to show positive attitudes towards work with their genuineness and dedication to their work. 53 international peer reviewed journal the perception of the lay and the brothers towards the attitudes of their partners the most prevailing theme to describe the perception of the lay towards the attitudes of the marist brothers is that the latter had certainly been living up the marist values of presence, simplicity, and humility. the presence was manifested through the supervision, monitoring, guidance, and even support of the brothers in any of the school programs and activities. simplicity was manifested in the way the brothers live their lives and even at the usual encounters of the brothers with the lay. meanwhile, the perceived attitudes of the brothers for the lay were captured by the theme of love for the things they do because of the dedication and commitment which the lay manifest in work for the mission. working relationship between the marist brothers and the lay an open relationship had been the dominating theme in describing the working relationship between the brothers and the lay as perceived by the latter. in an open relationship, there is harmony between and among them, and the family spirit is visible in the community. an open relationship had also been the dominating theme in describing the relationship between the lay and the brothers as perceived by the brothers. secondly, the sense of professionalism also appeared as one of the dominating themes under this question. significant impact of the marist-lay partnership for the lay partners, the most dominating theme to describe the significant impact of the marist-lay partnership to them was the opportunity to grow holistically, which includes their opportunity to grow professionally and spiritually. the lay people saw themselves growing in the marist school. that was also one reason why they stay. they believed that they grow professionally through the different opportunities afforded to them. they also grew spiritually through the different spiritual exercises that the marist schools provided for the lay. for the brothers, the marist-lay partnership has a significant impact in terms of their leadership and management. challenges encountered frustration had been the dominating theme to describe the challenges encountered by the lay partners in working with the brothers. whereas, for the brothers, relational gap and managerial challenges had been two of the dominating themes revealed. in terms of the relational gap, it includes the 54 jpair multidisciplinary research attitudinal challenges experienced by the brothers in working with the lay and the other work-related challenges. meaning of partnership for the marist brothers and the lay there were three themes that emerged in the understanding of the meaning of partnership for the lay. these themes were relational, attitudinal, and involvement. the relational theme involves the interaction and blending of the brothers and the lay, their collaboration, their openness with each other and the support and guidance which they give to each other. the attitudinal theme refers to the respect, trust, and confidence that each gives to one another. involvement as a theme is understood through the sharing of decision making and sharing of the mission of the brothers and the lay. there were two prevailing themes revealed in terms of how the marist brothers have understood the meaning of partnership. these themes were relational and involvement themes. the relational theme speaks of the complementarity between the brothers and the lay—the working together relationship and the support and guidance that each gives to one another. the second theme emerged for the brothers were also the same as that of the lay, which is involvement. it speaks about the sharing of decisions and the sharing of the mission between the brothers and the lay. emerging themes on marist-lay partnership. there were three identified themes that emerged in understanding the concept of marist-lay partnership by the marist brothers and the lay. these themes were a collaboration, equity, and ownership. the collaboration includes interaction and blending, working together, openness, support, guidance, and empowerment. equity speaks about how the marist brothers and the lay shared decisions. ownership speaks on how the brothers and the lay shared the mission together. conclusions based on the result of the exploration, it was drawn out that collaboration appeared to be very important to be established in the marist community. as one of the emerging themes, the collaboration between brothers and lay leads to a good relationship that eventually results in a good partnership. this has been practically the reason why most of the marist schools were giving so much 55 international peer reviewed journal emphasis on building a good relationship between and among the brothers and the lay and even with other stakeholders because it has been the foundation of establishing a strong partnership. the next theme that emerged in the study is equity, and it is synonymous to fairness. both the lay and the brothers are treated equally with respect to the sense of personhood that they have. that covers respect in terms of decision making which is believed to be very critical to be sustained and strengthened. it can be understood that in the context of partnership, empowerment and growth have always been part of the process and that is through the shared decision making where everyone is seen to be a potential contributor of good ideas for the success of the mission. this is believed to be important in trying to strengthen the partnership between the lay and the brothers. if the lay feel that they are involved in the process, they would keep their interest to stay and it had been a phenomenon that the lay partners had seen and felt in trying to digest their way of partnering with the brothers in the mission. working collaboratively towards the shared mission would also mean ownership. since it had already been a phenomenon that exists in the institute as revealed in the sharing of the participants of the study, and considering as well that this is an important phenomenon which needs to be sustained and even strengthened, then therefore, there is a need for a continuous nurturing process and redefining the roles and functions of the lay in the mission, and that they would need to understand deeply the philosophy of why there is a need for them to collaborate. lastly, the study perhaps became an affirmation of the support system that the brothers are trying to establish in the institutions. there is a need to intensify the process in such a way that it would become a two-way process which means that support must be in reciprocity for both the brothers and the lay. this phenomenological study on the marist-lay partnership revealed the lived-experiences of the marist brothers and the lay partners in the context of partnership. considering the results and the processes that this study had gone through, it implied that with the fact of the existence of the partnership phenomenon between and among the brothers and the lay, there is a need to sustain the strength of such partnership by focusing more on the identified emerging themes to ensure lasting and stronger partnership upon working in the marist mission. the institute has to work further on strengthening more the involvement and participation of the lay partners in all the undertakings of the institution 56 jpair multidisciplinary research which promote the appreciation of the mission of the marist and deepening the understanding of partnership by encouraging them to get involved into several meaningful and relevant activities. translational research this study provides the readers deep understanding on the concept of partnership particular the partnership between the marist brothers as a religious congregation that runs educational institution as one of their significant mission and the lay people who work in the marist schools as faculty, administrators, and non-teaching staff. the picture of partnership is viewed in any of the educational institutions run or owned by any of the religious orders in the philippines and even in the other parts of the world. but, for this study, the focus is on exploring this phenomenon of the partnership between the marist brothers and the lay. in the course of exploring the body of knowledge, there are several study conducted on understanding what marist charism is all about, and how this charism are actually transmitted and reflected in the school, but little is known about the phenomenon of partnership. it is commonly understood that the lay people who work in the marist schools are simply considered to be workers or employees in the institution. they got employed, paid, and earn a living. thus, they are expected to perform their duties and responsibilities as expected from them. as years went by, this kind of relationship has transcended into something deeper and more meaningful beyond the classic understanding of employee-employer relationship as the case may be. marist brothers and the lay people are partners in the mission of the marist institute. what really is this partnership about? how is it being understood and lived up by both the marist brothers and the lay? how will this help inform the institute in terms of providing more avenues and opportunities for both the brothers and the lay-in intensifying and enriching more the vocation through strengthening such a partnership as a phenomenon. literature cited arthur, j. f. (2012). what is the lived experience of laywomen who serve as catholic elementary school principals in their roles as faith leaders?. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2k3i1ut champagnat marists district of the pacific. (2009). lay marist vocation. retrieved from https://maristbrothers.org.nz/marist-lay/vocations. https://maristbrothers.org.nz/marist-lay/vocations 57 international peer reviewed journal elvery, j. m. (2013). understanding and implementing the marist charism from the middle: the experience of middle leaders in a marist school. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2yxansg franco, s. d. (2016). the interior lives of exemplary leaders: a phenomenological study of lay leadership commitment to mission and identity at a catholic, marianist university(doctoral dissertation, university of dayton). retrieved from http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5154-947x green, m. c. (1997). charismatic culture of marist secondary schools in the province of sydney (doctoral dissertation). retrieved from https://bit.ly/2souuhp herrick, k.a.. (2009).the challenge and promise of catholic higher education: the lay president and catholic identity. retrieved from https://bit. ly/313c9tz institute of the marist brothers. (2001). shared mission: the adventure of the lay people and the brothers. marist echo. retrieved from http://www. champagnat.org/e_maristas/ecos/035en.pdf institute of the marist. (2017). marist communion. being a lay marist: guidelines for accompanying people on their vocational journeys and for formation pathways. retrieved from http://www.champagnat.org/shared/ bau/serlaicomarista_final_en.pdf marist brothers. (2009). gathered around the same table: the vocation of the marist laity. retrieved from champagnat.org. mathieson, m. l. (2000). the transmission of the charism of marcellin champagnat by principals in marist schools. retrieved from http://hdl. handle.net/11343/37605 moustakas, c. (1994). phenomenological research methods. sage. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2y5sjpd newton, r. (1981). lay leadership in catolic schools. retrieved from https:// dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:100289 https://bit.ly/2yxansg http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5154-947x http://hdl.handle.net/11343/37605 http://hdl.handle.net/11343/37605 https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:100289 https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:100289 58 jpair multidisciplinary research saumure, k., & given, l. m. (2008). data saturation.  the sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods,  1, 195-196. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2jy0y6o 214 jpair multidisciplinary research performance of secondary school publications in calapan city: basis for campus journalism development plan consuelo m. untalan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3833-3241 chinguntalan@gmail.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro ma. arlyn m. redublo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7754-6667 redubloma.arlyn@yahoo.com mindoro state college of agriculture and technology masipit, calapan city, oriental mindoro originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract elementary and high schools can run their newspaper publications and calapan city division schools have been persistent in producing school papers through the years. this study sought to identify the extent of performance of the secondary school publications of calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students, providing information to the parents and providing information to the community. this study used the descriptive-correlational method. the respondents of this study were the publication staff, school paper advisers, and secondary school heads of eleven (11) secondary at calapan city division. a self-structured survey questionnaire was used in gathering data. results showed that the performance of secondary school publications at calapan vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.712 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3833-3241 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 215 international peer reviewed journal city division in terms of providing information to the students, parents, and community is in high extent. this proves that the school publications in the secondary level publish articles relevant to the reading public. the quality of the paper the school publishes depends on the capabilities of writers, the assistance of trained advisers and standing of the school publication itself. it is recommended that the school should continue honing the students in their writing capabilities through training and seminars not only for the sake of scholastic journalism but also to guide them in their career paths. keywords — education, descriptive-correlational method, the extent of performance, journalism, students, parents, community, philippines introduction journalism, which is the genre of news gathering and reporting, plays a vital role in the creation, development, and upholding the good health of democratic communities. peralta (2014), asserts journalism as a principal component of a constitutional government which allows the democratic society to practice basic articulation, cognizance, cooperation, and nation-building. the news media, including newspapers will enable people to convey ideas with one another. journalism is also an avenue where the general public can assert commends and grumble, pay tribute, and display censure and pitch ideas. journalism plays a vital factor in the community as it allows its people to preserve an ongoing discussion about the disposition of the community (kothari & hickerson, 2015). in a smaller sphere, journalism prospers in school to promote the same values of awareness, cooperation, and nation-building, called campus journalism. most secondary level schools resemble communities with many roles and niches. the head of the school resembles the head of the community, and its students act as the council member of it. every one of them is eventful about trailing many numbers of interests. a campus journalist enunciates issues, identifies the problem and offer a solution through a much deeper understanding of what is happening around him or her (sapungan & madrigal-sapungan, 2013; arao, 2013). good newspaper or publication in secondary level can be defined when the publication asserts different activities or making the community member wellaware of each other. this publication usually covers local and primarily school news. arao (2010), assert the campus press is as relevant as the press in society in providing relevant information to the reading public. this licit decree regarding 216 jpair multidisciplinary research campus press and publication boost the teaching of journalism and publication of student paper from elementary to tertiary level. the implementation of ra 7079 in different levels of an educational institution is remarkably significant to the students. peralta (2010), sapungan (2013), and aceron (2015) reported that students who have an elite performance in scholastic journalism display competence in english language and writing, and advances critical thinking and creativity. laya, aleria, & laroya, (2013) stressed that campus journalism is a significant pillar of academe which coaches the students to be a responsible member of the society. arao (2010) and peralta (2010) affirmed that students in campus publication develop critical thinking skill through in-depth analyzation of various affairs and concerns which could help raise the level of discourse and contribute to the shaping of public opinion. bañez and latido (2018), affirmed that the innumerable post that journalism offers in the educational institution prevails vital in shaping the curricular and administrative practices of the students’ personal growth and development. extracurricular opportunities are given by the campus press to sharpen the students’ journalistic skills, which are extended from a basic field of researching to complex news and editorial writing. newspaper publication can be managed even by students from elementary or secondary level. each of them can assert a variety of sections, which will make the publication more edifying, depending on which grade level they are in. the edification of publication can be achieved by setting sections that features news, human interest stories, sports, book, and movie reviews, comics, puzzles, poetry, and advice columns. some school newspapers feature letters to the editor, permitting questions or comments from the readers of the publication. since the campus papers act as mirrors of the school as a whole as they portray the reflection of the institution of learning, its contents must be relevant, informative, and educating. republic act 7079, otherwise known as campus journalism act of 1991 upholds and protects the press freedom of campuses with its aim to promote the development of values, encouraging critical and creative thinking, and developing moral characters and personal disciplines of the filipino youth. that is why all deped officials, as well as school/college/university heads, school paper advisers and others concerned in campus journalism are tasked to support and promote the campus journalism program policies and objective. calapan city division schools have been persistent in producing school papers over the years. the city division, as a whole, had proven its mark in the 217 international peer reviewed journal quality of producing school papers, being duly recognized in the regional and national schools press conference for more than two decades now, even before that calapan was still a part of the oriental mindoro division; it was one of the top-performing municipalities in terms of producing school publication. now, that it’s a separate division, it remains consistent in its journalistic performances and is proven when it was declared overall champion in the 2011 regional schools press conference. with this recognition, it has confirmed its legacy in school publication despite the fact that the division is the youngest and smallest in region iv-b, mimaropa. with these facts and evidence, this study aimed to determine the extent of performance of the secondary school publications at calapan city division. objectives of the study generally, this study sought to identify the determinants of performance of the secondary school publication calapan city division. specifically, it sought to determine the extent of performance of secondary school publication calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students, providing information to the parents and providing information to the community. methodology research design the descriptive-correlational method was used in the study. nassaji (2015) defines the descriptive method of research as the investigation which describes and interprets what it is. correlational studies are descriptive studies designed to determine which different variables are related to each other in the population of interest. research site the data were gathered from eleven (11) secondary schools in calapan city, oriental mindoro. these schools were recipients of the campus journalism extension activities. participants the respondents of this study were the publication staff, school paper advisers, and school heads of eleven (11) secondary schools at calapan city division. 218 jpair multidisciplinary research sampling technique the respondents were selected using slovin’s formula and stratified proportional random sampling technique. research instrument a self-structured questionnaire served as a significant instrument in this study. the questionnaire determines the extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students, providing information to the parents, and providing information to the community. all responses provided by the respondents were tabulated and scored based on a 5-point numerical scale (table 1). each point got the corresponding verbal description. table 1. 5-point hedonic rating scale numerical scale stat. limit verbal description 5 4.50 – 5.00 very high extent 4 3.50 – 4.49 high extent 3 2.50 – 3.49 moderate extent 2 1.50 – 2.49 low extent 1 1.00 – 1.49 very low extent reliability of the instrument using the questionnaire, the researchers conducted a test and re-test method to make sure that the instrument used is reliable. ten (10) non-respondents were requested to answer the same set of an instrument twice over ten (10) days. responses were tabulated and interpreted using pearson’s product moment correlation. with the computed r-value of 1.0, interpreted as a perfect relationship, the instrument was considered reliable. 219 international peer reviewed journal table 2. test-retest results of the performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division variable computed r-value interpretation result 1. providing information to the students 1.0 perfect relationship reliable 2. providing information to the parents 1.0 perfect relationship reliable 3. providing information to the community 1.0 perfect relationship reliable data gathering procedure a letter of request was endorsed by the campus administrator and sent to the schools division superintendent of calapan city, and eleven (11) secondary school heads for permission to conduct the study. prior to administration and retrieval of the questionnaire, test and re-test were used in determining the reliability of the instrument. the researcher personally administered the questionnaire to the respondents of the study to ensure strict confidentiality of the responses. finally, the gathered data were tabulated, analyzed and interpreted. statistical treatment of data data collected were treated using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and weighted mean. results and discussion mean extent of performance of the secondary school publications at calapan city division providing information to the students 220 jpair multidisciplinary research table 3. mean extent of performance of the secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students items weighted mean rank description 1. our publication provides the student’s information on the current events inside and outside the school. 4.45 3 high 2. our publication helps the students to understand and interpret all the issues happening around. 4.41 4 high 3. our publication informs the students to understand and interpret the impact of all the issues happening around. 4.31 5 high 4. the publication’s news sources covered administrative and academic offices, clubs and organizations, athletics, related outside activities, and outstanding personal achievements. 4.52 2 very high 5. the published articles contain human interest appeal. 4.62 1 very high overall mean 4.46 high the mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students is gleaned in table 3. survey manifests that item number 5 obtained as a very high extent. item number 3, which garnered a mean rating of 4.31, although described as a high extent got the lowest mean rating. collectively, the mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students as perceived by the staffers, school paper advisers and school heads is high as indicated by the overall mean rating of 4.46. the study has a similar result to peralta (2010) that showed that the school publication caters to the needs of its immediate readers – the students. this also conforms to the studies of ladia, (2015) who stated that campus journalism through editorial commonly discusses budget cuts, tuition fees hike and safeguarding of the college from its inadequacies, irregularity and ineptitude which primarily concerns the students. 221 international peer reviewed journal it must be the primary concern of the editorial staff with the guidance of the school paper adviser that the contents of the campus paper answer the needs for information of the student body. providing information to the parents table 4. mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the parents items weighted mean rank description 1. our publication provides the parent’s information on the current events inside and outside school. 4.21 3 high 2. our publication helps the parents to understand and interpret the impact of all the issues happening around. 4.13 4 high 3. our publication informs the parents about the latest trends and novelties in life today. 4.03 5 high 4. the publication’s news sources covered administrative and academic offices, clubs and organizations, athletics, related outside activities, and outstanding personal achievements. 4.30 2 high 5. the published articles contain human interest appeal. 4.57 1 very high overall mean 4.25 high table 4 presents the mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the parents. it is seen that item number 5 got the highest mean rating of 4.03, also described as high extent obtained the lowest mean rating. with the overall mean rating of 4.25, described as high, data revealed that all the respondents believed that the campus paper also accommodates the needs for information of the parents. moreover, it is also noted that the school publication is highly perceived as containing human interest appeal, which might be one of the reasons why the contents are also interesting to the parents. in addition, since the campus publication also interprets the meaning of news through opinion page, and records the events and worthwhile the student accomplishments and school achievements which the parents are most up to, the secondary school publications of calapan city division is significant to the parents likewise. the support of parents to the students plays a significant role 222 jpair multidisciplinary research in the academic and extra-curricular achievements of the students. this finding conforms to the study conducted by kimaro & machumu (2015) and levanda (2011) which states that the parental involvement is one of the pillars of the students’ academic and extra-curricular achievements achievement. providing information to the community table 5. mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the community items weighted mean rank description 1. our publication provides the community information on the current events inside and outside school. 4.22 3 high 2. our publication helps the community to understand and interpret the impact of all the issues happening around. 4.18 4 high 3. our publication informs the community on the latest trends and novelties in life today. 4.11 5 high 4. the publication’s news sources covered administrative and academic offices, clubs and organizations, athletics, related outside activities, and outstanding personal achievements. 4.27 2 high 5. the published articles contain human interest appeal. 4.49 1 high overall mean 4.25 high the mean extent of performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the community is reflected in table 5. findings showed that the school publication likewise gratifies the community in terms of providing information as reflected by the overall mean rating of 4.25. item number 5 had the highest mean rating of 4.49 described as high extent. on the other hand, item number 3, which garnered a mean rating of 4.11 also described as high extent, had the lowest mean rating. rellora (2006) indicated that student journalists assume the role of social responsibility through their media since they are expected to produce work that benefits the school community and the immediate community they are involved in. they identify problems, and through writing, they make meaning and address the problems 223 international peer reviewed journal they have identified. with this, it is implied that the campus papers also consider the community as their immediate audience. with the relevance and quality of the articles the staffer include in the school publication, it does not only inform but also educate both the students and the people in the community. conclusion \the performance of secondary school publications at calapan city division in terms of providing information to the students, parents, and community is in high extent. this proves that the school publications in the secondary level publish articles relevant to the reading public. the paramount concern of the school publication, with the guidance of the school paper adviser, is to answer the needs for the information of the student body. on the other hand, the parents are more interested in reading the students’ and school’s achievement, which the school publication provides accordingly. lastly, the relevance and the quality of the paper articles does not only inform the student but also gives useful information to the people of the community. translational research the findings of this research will be used in the rendering of the extension services of the college, specifically in a basic literacy program. recommendation the school should continue honing the students in their writing capabilities not only for the sake of scholastic journalism but also to guide them in their career paths. the school should formulated campus journalism development plan. teacher-advisers of school publication may attend seminars, pieces of trainings, workshops, and conferences which will allow them to have new ideas, styles, and techniques resulting in a more competent paper-adviser to the students. the students may also attend seminars regarding the integration of technology, tools, and strategies in writing, which will help them to improve their writing skills. moreover, the community may support the school publication on gathering information and data, which will result in content enrichment of the paper articles. further studies should also be conducted to confirm the veracity of the findings. 224 jpair multidisciplinary research literature cited aceron, r. m. 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(2013). the school paper writers of philippine international schools in jeddah, saudi arabia and their level of writing competence: a correlation.  asian journal of social sciences and humanities, 2(2), 134-143. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2yvoeop https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1362168815572747 https://bit.ly/2jmpt3v https://bit.ly/2ru7hbr https://bit.ly/2yvoeop cover single with doi 214 jpair: multidisciplinary research students’ opinion on the faculty performance evaluation instrument francis ann r. sy violeta b. felisilda farsybeauty@yahoo.com southern leyte state university tomas oppus philippines abstract students’ feedback on faculty performance is an influential measure in obtaining the objectives of teaching effectiveness. southern leyte state university-tomas oppus usually experiences student evaluation reactions on faculty performance. considering that success of the evaluation process is the instrument itself, this research dealt with students’ degree program profile and academic performance; determined their opinion on the criteria’s appropriateness and the instrument’s validity, reliability, objectivity, and utility and their attitude upon it; and, determined relationship between academic performance and degree program on opinions of the four criteria. through the descriptive one shot survey, stratified sampling was employed to college freshmen, juniors and seniors with different courses of sy 2010-2011. the mean, percentage, frequency, and chisquare were used. the students’ opinion on the appropriateness of the criteria was very appropriate and very high on the four criteria. they manifested positive attitude on the instrument. their academic performance and degree program have no significant relationship with their opinion on the instrument. student’s opinion of the evaluation instrument was very appropriate, yet, it has to be revisited because some items, though minimal, were moderately appropriate. keywords performance evaluation instrument, southern leyte state university-tomas oppus vol. 9 · august 2012 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v9i1.6 published online: august 2012 jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 215 international peer reviewed journal introduction student evaluation on faculty performance is one of the appraisal devices used in the academe. the baseline information is sources of specific characteristics in designing an accommodating teaching atmosphere. since student ratings are influential measures of teaching effectiveness, active participation by and meaningful input from students can be critical in the success of such teaching evaluation system. nevertheless very few studies have looked into students’ opinion of the teaching evaluation system and their motivation to participate (heine, 2010). conversations among university colleagues on the topic of faculty evaluations are typically animated and full of opinions, myths, war stories and frustrations (heine, 2010). it is because teachers normally have mixed reactions when their performance is being measured through certain standards. the case of student evaluation is a sensitive matter since teachers could not help but take into consideration that these evaluations have value only if done for faculty development. if they are for venting personal issues and conflicts, they will lose their significance. further concern is the many reliability and validity issues related to teacher evaluations done by the students. while individual situations and personalities may be able to lend some credence to the description of student evaluations as unreliable, invalid, and useless, the literature does not support these claims. for over thirty years, research on student evaluations has ben compiled which remain useful tools in impacting the teaching-learning process on the higher education front (scriven, 2009). the southern leyte state university is not spared from negative insights and reactions pertaining to student evaluation on faculty performance. yet, scriven (2009) emphasized that students have a front row seat to observe teacher behaviours and classroom processes, and are the best judge of what they have learned. the use of standardized evaluations implies, though, that students have the ability to make fair, overall judgments about teaching effectiveness based on legitimate factors that actually relate to effective teaching and learning. moreover, researchers have that college students, in general, possess self-insight into how they make judgments concerning their instructors since they 216 jpair: multidisciplinary research have an implicit awareness of the relative importance of the factors they are considering. with all the reasons cited herein and with the desire to improve the slsu faculty evaluation instrument through the student evaluation, this study was conducted. framework the study is anchored on this argument that students are the best indicator on numerous faculty behaviors associated with effective teaching and student learning. it is an important element in the evaluation of faculty to assess the instructional skills of the faculty, and the academic quality of the course according to hassanein, abdrbo, & al ateeq (2012). in fact, there have been many studies on evaluating faculty based on students’ opinion with a lot of objectives. rifkin (1995) confirmed that the primary purpose is formative; that is, facilitating faculty growth, development, and self-improvement. secondly, student evaluations are used for summative purposes and often play a vital part in tenure, promotion, reappointment, and salary decisions. teachers were evaluated in various methods and ways. simmons (1997) in his study said that a fairly common sort of evaluation that may actually be used for the best intentions but often facilitates the most common abuses is the use of student opinion in the decisions that affect teachers. togomori (1993) as cited in simmon (1997) established that the assessment used by universities and colleges to appraise a professor’s teaching effectiveness were conducted by evaluation through instruments they design, borrow, or adapt from other universities and colleges. the reliability of the instruments used is generally unknown. a comprehensive content analysis of faculty evaluation instruments has not been conducted. as a result, faculty members in higher education may be evaluated with flawed evaluation instruments, conceivably leading to unfair assessment of their teaching performance. a proposed paradigm was adapted from arnoult and anderson (1988) to provide for a better paradigm for the evaluation of teacher effectiveness in the academic environment so as to reduce an evaluator’s 217 international peer reviewed journal biases: (a) gather as much evidence as possible, (b) employ multiple evaluators who have different viewpoints and interests, (c) vary the observational circumstances to provide for different emphasis in the environment, (d) review video tapes for greater accuracy, (e) compare the criteria on balance sheets to establish evidence for and against an evaluation, (f) solicit an explanation of the results and the subsequent conclusions made by evaluators to reveal gaps in reasoning. this paradigm constitutes constructive advice for the evaluations we make of others in a professional setting. in fact, in slsu_tomas oppus a teacher is evaluated by four evaluators, namely: students, peers, immediate supervisor, and herself. this was implemented in order to get the holistic view of his teaching effectiveness. accordingly, students need to be active partners in the enhancement of teaching in higher education. seeking students’ responses to faculty evaluation are considered an honor and support the teaching-learning process. student evaluations provide instructors with important feedback from their point-of-view. also, student’s evaluation can contribute to the teaching-learning process and teachers must be receptive to their ideas. additionally, student evaluation is of value to administrators and department chairs in assessing perceived effectiveness of instruction in line with the study of hassanein, abdrbo, & al ateeq (2012). huitt; and stockham, and amann as quoted in the study of hassanein, abdrbo, & al ateeq (2012), presented the following principles: “1. learning is an active process and student involvement is an integral part of that process; 2.teachers view their teaching with regard to the paradigms of their students in order to facilitate change and build for their growth; 3. teachers recognize that students can make important contributions to the teaching learning process; 4. the teaching learning process is dynamic and should change over time and with context”. student evaluations can be a productive part of improving teaching strategies, course content, and student learning. student evaluation of faculty is just one component of an important process in education. most higher education faculty consider that the teaching learning process is an active process, ever-changing interaction between the student, teacher, and environment that should be focused on a particular outcome. it is therefore reasonable to expect students to 218 jpair: multidisciplinary research make important contributions to this system and it is imperative that teachers be receptive to student feedback as extracted from hassanein, abdrbo, & al ateeq (2012). thus, this study was formulated so as to find out the students’ opinion if the instrument still needs some enhancement. the diagram illustrates the concept of the study. this study was conducted at slsu-tomas oppus to the selected college students. it focused to determine on their opinion to the faculty performance evaluation instrument and their attitude upon it. students’ degree program and academic performance were also being considered as these were assumed that these could affect their opinion on the evaluation instrument. furthermore, the profile was correlated to the four criteria, namely: validity, reliability, objectivity, and utility of the faculty evaluation instrument. finally, the study was conducted to enhance the instrument based on the result of the study. figure 1. the conceptual framework of the study objectives of the study the study focused on determining the students’ opinion on the faculty performance evaluation instrument at southern leyte state university-tomas oppus, sy 2010-2011. specifically, this study answered the following objectives: 219 international peer reviewed journal 1. established the profile of the student evaluators in terms of: 1.1 degree program; and 1.2 academic performance. 2. determined the extent of the students’ opinion on the appropriateness of the existing criteria of the faculty performance evaluation instrument. 3. evaluated the students’ opinion on the existing criteria of the faculty performance evaluation instrument in terms of the following: 3.1. validity; 3.2. reliability; 1.1 objectivity; and 3.3. utility. 4. assessed the students’ attitude on faculty performance evaluation instrument. 5. correlated the students’ academic performance and degree program to the following criteria: 1.1 validity; 1.2 reliability; 1.3 objectivity; and 1.4 utility. materials and methods this study utilized the descriptive method of research using the questionnaire as a tool in gathering data. this was conducted at southern leyte state university-tomas oppus. the respondents were sampled according to the degree program from the third year to fourth year levels. there was only one set of a questionnaire but consisted of four parts, namely: part i are the personal profile, part ii is the existing 220 jpair: multidisciplinary research criteria of the evaluation instrument of faculty performance, part iii is on the criteria on validity, reliability, objectivity and utility, and part iv is the attitude of the students towards the faculty evaluation. furthermore, part i asked about the degree program of the students. although, academic performance of the students was needed in the profile, but it was not reflected in the questionnaire since the students could not provide their exact grade point average (gpa). instead, the researchers asked their gpa from the registrar’s office. in part ii, a scale was established in order to rank the students’ perception to the existing evaluation instrument. instruction, critical factors, comments and suggestions from the students on the teachers’ performance were included here. relatively in part iii, was an adopted instrument of bayon (2006) on the criteria in terms of validity, reliability, objectivity and utility. lastly, part iv was the attitude of the students towards faculty performance evaluation which was patterned on the questions of solis (2010) where it consisted of seven questions. the researchers followed the standard operating procedure of conducting a research. they were observing the ethical side of doing a research specifically on giving the respondents an assurance that their responses will be used only for this study and for research purposes only. initially, permission to conduct the study was sought from the university president through the campus administrator. after the reproduction of the instrument, the researchers personally administered the questionnaire to the respondents. they thoroughly discussed the instrument especially it required opinion from the students. after an hour, the questionnaires were retrieved and was checked if all the items were completely answered. those questionnaires with lacking information were returned and given back to the respondents in order for them to fill up the skipped items. after which, tallying, consolidation and analysis of data were done followed by the interpretation of results. the data gathered in problems 1, 2, 3 and 4 were analyzed using percentages, frequency counts and weighted mean while pearson-r and chi-square were used to answer problem 5. 221 international peer reviewed journal results and discussion a. profile of the students in terms of degree program and academic performance two figures will be shown in terms of degree program and academic performance. figure 1. the profile of the student in terms of degree program it could be inferred from the data in figure 1 that the majority of the students were the education students. the willingness of the education students to participate in the evaluation process was manifested. a remarkable circumstance is to be considered because the majority of the evaluators are future teachers who would, in their profession, be subjected to performance evaluation (bayon, 2006). figure 2. the students’ profile in terms of academic performance 222 jpair: multidisciplinary research the results in figure 2 implied that majority of the students’ were doing very good in their academic performance. thus, this would yield meaningful results because they composed the bulk of the respondents. b. extent of students’ opinion on the appropriateness of the existing criteria of the faculty performance instrument table 1. the students’ opinion on the appropriateness of the faculty performance evaluation instrument criteria criteria mean description part i. instruction a. commitment 4.47 va b. knowledge of subject 4.52 va c. teaching for independent learning 4.46 va d. management of learning 4.43 va part ii. critical factors a. does not engage in unofficial matters like chatting, eating, telephoning, texting, etc. while the student is waiting or watching 4.21 va b. observes proper grooming and dressing, possesses self-confidence, poise, and a pleasing personality, wears proper uniform attire, and school id, 4.45 va a. demonstrates a sense of responsibility 4.54 va d. shows patience, understanding and self-control 4.52 va e. uses sound principles and exhibits value-based behavior and observes standards of morality. 4.50 va part iii. comments and suggestions a. the practices that i like most… 3.66 a b. the practices that i like least… 3.33 ma c. to improve learning in this subject, i suggest the following… 3.61 a legend: 4.21-5.00 = very appropriate (va), 1.81-2.00 = less appropriate (la) 3.41-4.20 = appropriate (a), 223 international peer reviewed journal 1.00-1.80 = not appropriate (na) 2.61-3.40 = moderately appropriate (ma) the criteria in part i were rated very appropriate by the majority of the students as shown in table 1. it was a very professional document. it was a product of the intellectual minds of the faculty in southern leyte state university (slsu), (sy, 2012). specific areas were taken into consideration consistent with the standards and policies of the university, and civil services commission (csc). arreola (2000) called this as “institutional parameter values” that set minimum and maximum weights for each of the faculty performance dimensions. part ii obtained a similar overall description with that of part i which was very appropriate while part iii was appropriate. though part iii was perceived by the students to be appropriate, but this part was the least rated among other parts of the instrument. it is a fact that teaching is a multidimensional activity (arreola, 2000). there is no single measure adequate to assess the total domain of teaching effectiveness. to widely cover the dynamic performance parameter required of the faculty, it was forethought that the faculty performance instrument was set into three. c. the students’ opinion on the validity, reliability, objectivity and utility of the faculty evaluation instrument table 2. the students’ opinion on the validity of the instrument indicators mean description 1. the criteria show teachers’ strength and weaknesses. 4.3 vh 2. they enhance professional growth of the faculty. 4.4 vh 3. they bring about classroom improvement. 4.4 vh 4. they help develop motivation to grow in the academe. 4.4 vh 5. they introduce curriculum improvement. 4.4 vh 6. they institute curriculum improvement. 4.3 vh 7. they help maintain academic standards. 4.1 h 8. they serve as a guide for self-appraisal. 4.4 vh 224 jpair: multidisciplinary research 9. they are bases for awarding tenure and benefits. 4.3 vh 10. they help meet standards for accreditation. 4.1 h 11. they enhance public relations with students and parents. 4.4 vh 12. they identify potential scholars. 4.3 vh 13. they determine rank classification. 4.3 vh 14. they determine teaching performance and enhance learning. 4.4 vh 15. they build faculty morale. 4.3 vh grand mean 4.31 vh legend: 4.21-5.00 = very high (vh) 1.81-2.00 = low (l) 3.41-4.20 = high (vh) 1.00-1.80= very low (vl) 2.61-3.40 = moderately high (mh) a very high opinion was evident in table 2 from the students’ perception on the validity of the instrument. it gave an idea that the instrument can be used as a meaningful source of teachers’ performance. thus, the students approved that the instrument measured what it intended to measure. table 3. students’ opinion on the reliability of the instrument criteria mean description 1. there are enough students in the class who made the evaluation. 4.4 vh 2. the same criteria have been used every year. 4.2 h 3. the criteria are formulated by a group of repute. 4.2 h 4. the evaluation is administered by the same individual or group. 4.2 h 5. the evaluation is administered regularly. 4.3 vh 6. it has clear and specific instructions. 4.3 vh 7. the same system of interpretation of data is employed. 4.4 vh 225 international peer reviewed journal 8. the criteria for assessing performance were clear prior to evaluation. 4.3 vh 9. evaluation criteria are designed with specific purposes. 4.3 vh 10. the criteria are clearly worded in measurable terms. 4.5 vh 11. they are specific, properly laid out and are legible. 4.3 vh 12. they yielded satisfaction among the faculty. 4.3 vh 13. they have enough items to ensure credible results. 4.3 vh 14. they are job-related. 4.3 vh 15. they are acceptable to all. 4.3 vh grand mean 4.37 vh legend: 4.21-5.00 = very high (vh) 1.81-2.00 = low (l) 3.41-4.20 = high (vh) 1.00-1.80 = very low (vl) 2.61-3.40 = moderately high (mh) most of the descriptions in table 3 were very high. so, students affirmed that the instrument is reliable. the students agreed with each other on the indicators present in the instrument. further, it can be administered to a different group of students as well as it can be used to evaluate different teachers based on the result with 4.37 as grand mean. huemer (2010) further elaborated that a test is said to be “reliable” if it tends to give the same result when repeated; this indicates that it must be measuring something. table 4. students’ opinion on the objectivity of the instrument indicators mean description 1. the criteria are approved by the faculty and evaluators. 4.6 vh 2. they are cooperatively planned and executed. 4.5 vh 3. they are formulated encompassing all agreed purposes 4.4 vh 4. they are formulated by an independent group of good repute. 4.3 vh 5. the evaluators are randomly selected. 4.2 h 226 jpair: multidisciplinary research 6. common formula of evaluation is approved by all. 4.3 vh 7. the teacher stays outside while the evaluation takes place. 4.3 vh 8. the evaluation is done by impartial and independent group. 4.3 vh 9. the evaluators observe anonymity. 4.3 vh 10. there is ample time for evaluation. 4.3 vh 11. the faculty is evaluated by the students. 4.5 vh grand mean 4.35 vh legend: 4.21-5.00 = very high( vh) 1.81-2.00 = low (l) 3.41-4.20 = high (vh) 1.00-1.80 = very low (vl) 2.61-3.40 = moderately high (mh) the students described the instrument as very objective with a grand mean of 4.35. of the 11 items, only one (1) item was perceived high by the students. according to elmore (2008), the best way to evaluate quality objectively is to establish several rankings for different types of work and to give them consensus values. in the case of the evaluative indicators, different aspects of establishing objectivity are manifested by the eleven options. the very high description marked that the students believe in the objectivity of the evaluation instrument. table 5. students’ opinion on the utility of the instrument indicators mean description 1. the criteria show teacher’s strengths and weaknesses. 4.5 vh 2. they enhance professional growth of the faculty 4.4 vh 3. they bring about classroom instruction improvement. 4.5 vh 4. they help develop motivation to grow in the academe. 4.5 vh 5. they introduce curriculum improvement. 4.6 vh 6. they institute curriculum improvement. 4.4 vh 7. they help maintain academic standards. 4.5 vh 8. they serve as a guide for self-appraisal. 4.4 vh 9. they are bases for awarding tenure and benefits. 4.4 vh 227 international peer reviewed journal 10. they help meet standards for accreditation. 4.4 vh 11. they enhance public relations with students and parents. 4.4 vh 12. they identify potential scholars. 4.4 vh 13. they determine rank classification. 4.4 vh 14. they determine teaching performance and enhance learning. 4.4 vh 15. they build faculty morale. 4.4 vh grand mean 4.5 vh legend: 4.21-5.00 = very high (vh) 1.81-2.00 = low (l) 3.41-4.20 = high (vh) 1.00-1.80 = very low (vl) 2.61-3.40 = moderately high (mh) the students observed that the instrument was highly utilized by them as shown in table 5. it was their experienced to evaluate their teachers every semester. this is a reason why it has a very high description among them. so, they were very satisfied that it was used often. according to sy (2011) in her study, the teachers as respondents perceived the faculty performance instrument as good. so, the students had a higher perception of usefulness of the instrument than the teachers in this case. d. students’ attitude towards the faculty performance evaluation instrument to gather information about the students’ attitude towards the faculty evaluation tool seven questions were considered by the researchers patterned after the questionnaire of solis (2010). these were the following: a. what do you think are the institutional purposes of the faculty evaluation (fe)? b. what would you personally identify as the single most important purpose of the faculty evaluation? 228 jpair: multidisciplinary research c. what do you think are the steps of the course evaluation system, from the beginning to the end? d. do you think that faculty evaluations are useful? e. what would you personally identify as the most attractive outcome of the fe? f. what would you personally identify as the least attractive outcome of the fe? and, g. do you think the present system of evaluation is designed properly? the data showed that for question a, the students have different diction but their ideas were focused on one concern, and that is for the attainment and the improvement of institutional and professional goals. it could be made more concrete through some sample as … to determine the performance of the teachers inside the classroom; to promote good, effective and productive faculty; to improve teaching strategies; to identify the needs of the students; to monitor whether the students approve or like the strategies of the teacher through their performance; to improve the quality of education through teaching effectiveness; to rank high; to measure the competency of the faculty with regards to their field; for them to adjust the kind of students they have. question b covered on what the students identify as the single most important purpose of the faculty evaluations. yet, the evaluators answers were similar in thought with that of question a like to improve the strategies of the teacher; to know the satisfaction of the students; to maintain academic standards; to identify the problems of the students; to know the comment, suggestion, reaction, likes and dislikes of the student towards the personnel of this institution; to give information to the faculty on what they need to improve and where they excel. question c basically paved the way for answers on what the student evaluators think as the steps, from the beginning to end, of the course evaluation system. this question yielded limited and varied answers from the respondents, but they were geared towards the positive side of it like low to high strategies; the lowest to the highest strategies; first, it will be planned then they will be observed and recorded. question d would lead back again to the answers of questions a 229 international peer reviewed journal and b as they were quite similar. question d was on the usefulness of the evaluation and they commonly answered positively with reasons like: for them to know about their standard of teaching; so that the faculty performance will be evaluated by the students, and the faculty will know of their strength and weaknesses and they can improve their weaknesses; so that they will know the feedbacks from the students about their performance; to be able to reach the expectation of the students. in the same manner, question e has answers which were in the same vein with that of the answers given for questions a, b, and d because it deals with the what the respondents personally identify as the most attractive outcome of the faculty evaluation. the answers were as follows: it would help the faculty to know his/her weaknesses and strengths; they will be aware on what to do to improve their teaching techniques; for positive a outlook; positive changes will happen in the institution; to improve teaching ability of the teachers; it allows the faculty to have strategic planning for the improvement of their teaching. however, question e also has very interesting answers which were not in the same frame with the answers of questions a, b and d and these were: there is a possibility that the teachers will have anger with the one (who has evaluated) even if he does not know who the rater really is, and there is the tendency that the whole class will suffer; probably there is a conflict of the results in the perception between the faculty and the students; students will not be truthful of their answers to the evaluation. in this question, the respondents were being honest on the possible outcome of the evaluation process and their answers could affect the teachers’ record. as emphasized by mcdaniel (2008) that student evaluation could threaten academic freedom or be misused by administrators. but, he countered that his own experience and chair and dean for 28 years suggests that it is an outside possibility at best. he further stressed that in arguments about evaluations statistics tend to be used by instructors more than by administrators. question f was the opposite of question e which caters to the evaluators’ opinion on the least attractive outcome of the faculty evaluation. the students did not hesitate to answer in the following: some or may students are not honest in answering the questions; i 230 jpair: multidisciplinary research hope there will be change after this activity; sometimes we feel tired to answer the fe; it is not valid because there is no action from the faculty for those with negative comments; it irritates the students; having proper outfit and having their make-up; it really hurts on the side of the teacher who is evaluated unfairly because of what we call “revenge” maybe because the students acquire low grade from the teacher. for question f, the students were just being logical of their answers; what they mentioned are some of the least attractive outcome of the evaluation. it could then be inferred that the students’ answers will have shed light on the shadows of the evaluation process. basically, the students’ responses will be used to add to the qualitative data to improve faculty evaluation. question g guided the students to be more honest about faculty evaluations as their answers are a mixture of yes, no and maybe to answer if they feel the present system of student evaluations is welldesigned and properly implemented. there is also one who said it well-designed but not properly implemented. one also claimed that it is not properly implemented in matters of the schedule in which it is conducted. one bravely commented that the suggestions of the students are not being realized by the teachers. there is also a comment on the random procedure in the conduct of the evaluation which for him affects it’s effectively. e. the relationship between the academic performance and degree program of the students and their opinion on the faculty evaluation instrument in terms of validity, reliability, objectivity, and utility table 6. the relationship between the students’ academic performance and degree program and their opinion on the criteria of the faculty evaluation instrument variable p-value description academic performance and validity 0.287 not significant academic performance and reliability 0.265 not significant academic performance and objectivity 0.220 not significant 231 international peer reviewed journal academic performance and utility 0.265 not significant degree program and validity 0.261 not significant degree program and reliability 0.261 not significant degree program and objectivity 0.213 not significant degree program and utility 0.261 not significant table 6 displayed the result that academic performance of the students has no significant relationship to the criteria which means that the academic performance does not affect their opinion towards validity, reliability, objectivity and utility of the instrument. it could then be implied that whether the student is below average or above average, his opinion is not affected by his performance. thus, it can be said further that they have the same perception towards the criteria. on the other hand, it shows that there was no significant relationship between the students’ degree program and their opinion on the faculty evaluation tools’ criteria. it implies that whatever degree program the students had taken, had nothing to do with their opinion on the criteria. conclusion the instrument of slsu-tomas oppus met the criteria of a valid, reliable, useful and objective tool. recommendations 1. students should be assured that their evaluation results will be treated with extreme professionalism and confidentiality so that they will deal with it in all honesty. 2. a post-evaluation conference should be announced to the students so that they will be aware that their evaluation will reach to the faculty concerned. literature cited arreola 2000 establishing the dynamic role parameter. retrieved may 28, 232 jpair: multidisciplinary research 2010 from the world wide web:http://www.missouristate. edu/assets/provost/meritpln-mgt.pdf bayon, a. m. 2000 faculty evaluation tools of government colleges in southern leyte: a 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and (4) google scholar. 110 jpair multidisciplinary research the performance of shs learners in writing scholarly research with the aid of instructional scaffolding vanneza clare g. martinez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-2679 vannezamartinez069@gmail.comde la salle university dasmariñas dasmariñas city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract a research paper is widely considered as an important requirement produced by learners. however, writing a research paper has been a common challenge for most senior high school learners. in the philippines, most of the senior high school learners have difficulty in explicating their contentions in their study due to their lack of knowledge in conducting and writing a research paper. one of their problems is applying the academic writing conventions such as formality in writing, coherence, grammar, and other related skills involved in writing conventions in writing a scholarly paper. hence, this study aims to enhance learners’ research writing skills by utilizing instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique that provides support systems, like reinforcements or relevant activities in molding independent learners, until it becomes unnecessary for them. this quantitative study determined the effectiveness of instructional scaffolding by applying correction symbols as an intervention on the difficulties experienced by the senior high school grade 12 stem learners in writing a research paper. twenty-five research papers were investigated by analyzing them with the checklist used by erel and bulut (2007), which was also subjected to vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.727 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 111 international peer reviewed journal t-test formula. the results of this study revealed a decrease in mean error scores from 75.52 to 20.52, which indicates a significant improvement in the learners’ writings of learners in their research paper. this result implied that instructional scaffolding enhanced the writing competence of learners in writing a research paper. keywords — research writing, instructional scaffolding, quantitative study, philippines introduction academic writing is described as ‘scientific writing’ which is characterized as ‘structured research’ practiced and used by researchers at higher educational level” (sajid & siddiqui, 2015). al fadda (2012) defined academic writing as a “mental ad cognitive activity since it is a product of the mind” (p. 124). myles (as cited by fazdillah, 2013) believed that “when it comes to academic writing, student writers should have a strong awareness when dealing with the process of writing (composing, developing, and analyzing ideas). hence, research writers observe the use of academic writing conventions, like the use of the appropriate word, shifting of tenses, coherence, and other academic techniques. such conventions help research writers in presenting objective statements and descriptions which do away with possible stating a bias. these descriptions imply that amalgamation of ideas and writing formally are necessary for writing a research paper since it has a pivotal function in the academic field. therefore, learners should have a better grasp of the facets of academic writing, so they can express their arguments clearly and accurately. writing an academic paper becomes an essential requirement for some subjects in schools, colleges, and universities; however, most of the non-english speaking learners experience difficulty in writing an academic paper. for example, mei-ching (2013) learned that research-related issues (e.g. lack of material sources) and linguistic-related issues hindered the first-year graduate learners in taiwan to communicate their arguments clearly. also, huy (2015) revealed that vietnamese learners composed weak academic writing due to lack of vocabulary and knowledge on english grammar, insufficient time to check and enhance their academic papers, and scarcity of material sources. another problem of efl learners in vietnam is paraphrasing a statement which stemmed from their lack of vocabulary in english language or inability to comprehend the text (na, 112 jpair multidisciplinary research mai, & xuan, 2017). chuenchaichon (2014) perceived that the efl writing learners in thailand still have writing problems or difficulties because of the “continuous studies on l2 writing errors and discourse.” husin and burbayani (2017) discovered that indonesian learners have weak compositions because of their inability to organize ideas in the english language. in the philippines, albejuela (2014) believed that some causes of students’ difficulty in writing a research paper were due to their lack of familiarity, a cause rooted in their limited knowledge of and exposure to writing academically and their experience in lack of advisor’s support (p. 31). recently, pablo and lasaten (2018) enumerated the difficulties in writing academic essays of grade 11 filipino students: the prevalent difficulty of the students in terms of content and ideas is the absence of a variety of ideas, while the organization is the absence of connectives. for vocabulary and word choice, the students’ most prevalent difficulty is the use of the incorrect word and word usage, while language use is the poor sentence structure. meanwhile, the common problem of the students along formality and objectivity is the evident use of first and second person pronouns, while referencing is the lack of citations. (p. 56). the result of these studies manifests that non-english speaking learners, regardless of learning writing, still experience morphological, syntactical, and lexical difficulties (dubicki, 2015). as a result, most of the learners compose mediocre academic writing. learners’ weak academic writing rooted from poor literacy, the ineffectiveness of writing teachers, and the lack of background knowledge on academic writing conventions. in the study of pineteh (2014), the researcher determined that poor literacy of learners limits their expression of ideas since they failed to comprehend information on their topic (p. 20). in addition, yuen and mussa (2015) concluded that improper way of teaching writing, as well as a lack of reading and writing practice, impedes the development of their academic writing skills. for example, badi (2015) noticed that most arguments of the learners were ambiguous due to the lack of knowledge on the academic writing convention (i.e. cohesive devices, academic words, and the structure and the organization of the academic writing). in contrast to these challenges, enough activities can enhance learners’ communication skills in expressing their arguments. furthermore, al-mukdad 113 international peer reviewed journal (2019) observed that lack of motivation affects learners’ writing style. the outcomes of these studies revealed that learners are benighted with formal writing and unmotivated to write. in light of this information, teaching academic writing conventions should be redesigned to abate the common mistakes. intensive practices and guidance of teachers can help the learners grasp the process of writing an academic paper. these instructions have been widely supported by myriad recommendations of studies. al khairy (2013) and al mukdad (2019) suggested that teachers should employ teaching methods that could stimulate the minds and encourage active participation of the learners. another strategy was also suggested by al fadda (2012) that teachers should promote and encourage self-reflection to their learners because it somehow deepens their awareness. in abreast of this suggestion, teachers should assist their students. these recommendations prompted the researcher to apply instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique in the research subject. veerappan, suan, and sulaiman (2011) described scaffolding as the “process by which a teacher provides students with a temporary framework for learning” (p. 934). this description presupposes that teachers temporarily guide and support the learners until they can independently do the task. in the study of walqui (2002), three related pedagogical scales for instructional scaffolding were spelled out (1) providing a support structure for the students to enable certain activities and skills to develop, (2) carrying out particular activities in class, aqnd (3) providing assistance in moment-to-moment interaction. these pedagogies stress the role of teachers as facilitators who guide the students at every step of the active learning process. equally, this technique provides a student-centered environment that develops the creativity, motivation, and resourcefulness of the students. many studies proved that using the scaffolding technique enhances the skills of the students. for one, faraj (2015) found that an application of a scaffolding approach through the writing process approach “provides a better basis for enhancing the students to write a good and an academic piece of writing.” in the study of veerappan, suan, and sulaiman (2011), the researchers concluded that “the scaffolding technique presented in this study has helped remedy the challenges faced by the target students by further developing the effectiveness in journal writing” (p. 939). besides, mulatsih (2011) concluded in his study that the scaffolding technique is effective to improve the students’ competence in writing genre-based text. these findings hypothesize that instructional scaffolding might have a positive effect on students in composing a scholarly research paper. 114 jpair multidisciplinary research framework the instructional scaffolding has rooted in vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and his learning concept of the zone of proximal development (zpd). scott and palincsar (2013) stated that “the focus of sociocultural perspective is on the roles that participation in social interactions and culturally organized activities play in influencing psychological development” (p. 1). this statement implies that social interaction plays a fundamental role in enhancing the cognitive development of a person. through social interaction, a person gains much information that may enrich the knowledge and skills or clarifies a certain background knowledge. the success of this theory depends on the active involvement of both participants (teacher and students). however, some information or skills are not easy to comprehend; accordingly, the supervision of adults is necessary. aslam khanam, fatima, akbar, and muhammad (2017) described zpd of vygotsky as “the use of problem-solving techniques under the supervision of adults as well as mutual collaborations with more capable peers.” this idea signifies that an adult can help other people who lack knowledge and skills in a certain field. in building an accurate learning environment, an adult should identify the potentials and needs of a person to match the level of development. in this study, the teacher is the “scaffold” who helped the students broaden their learnings on what they should learn. figure 1 shows that the first phase of this study is identifying the potentials and weaknesses of students in writing their research paper. this phase provides a focus on the development of their research writing skills. the intervention made in this study is the face to face interaction and correction symbols for essays. through this kind of scaffolding, the students could produce a scholarly research paper. figure 1. conceptual paradigm 115 international peer reviewed journal objectives of the study in the philippines, the k to 12 program as prescribed by republic act 10533, also known as the enhanced basic education act aspires to improve the skills of filipino students which could contribute to their future endeavors. the enactment of this law entails additional studies of two years for high school learners who are called senior high school (shs). one of the skills that shs curriculum desires to develop is the communication skills of learners in speaking and writing. the development of this skill is covered by oral communication, english for academic and professional purposes, creative writing, or practical research 1 and 2. practical research subjects educate learners in the different methodologies in conducting the two types of research study: practical research 1 (qualitative research) and practical research 2 (quantitative research). as a response, writing a research paper becomes a requirement learners’ need to accomplish at the end of a semester. research writing is known as academic writing that provides opportunities for an individual to pursue an in-depth investigation with known issues and phenomena and to establish newly discovered facts. according to marzo, elnajeh, ghanesan, and sagadevan (2017), writing a research paper involves “the process of establishing new facts or conclusion through systematic investigations and study of material sources”. this description denotes that researchers consider comprehending, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating the related literature and studies to achieve a strong conclusion. in addition, tuyen, osman, dan, and ahmad’s (2016) believed that research writing “plays a key role in academic context because scholarly publications contribute to career promotion and reputation” (p. 19). for instance, filipino public school teachers are motivated to conduct a research project because they believed that it positively influences their teaching methods. furthermore, it is a requirement to gain a degree and to be promoted in their job (ulla, 2018). therefore, writing a research paper serves as a chance to impart information and to support the professional growth of an individual. the present study seeks to identify the common errors of the senior high schools (shs) students as well as to determine the performance of shs learners’ in research writing by utilizing instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique. twenty-five research papers of the senior high school grade 12 stem (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) track students were analyzed with the checklist used by erel and bulut (2007), comprising some academic writing 116 jpair multidisciplinary research conventions that students should observe. the instrument of this data are the research papers of the learners. in gathering the data, a pre-test was conducted to examine the writing errors made in the first draft of their research paper. the website grammarly-checker was used as an inter-reliability for the errors made. the correction symbols helped the learners reflect on their errors. after determining the common writing errors, the researcher applied instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique. this method assisted the students with the correction made in their research papers, using correction symbols to identify the errors made. lastly, the researcher examined the writing errors made in the final draft of their research papers. the frequency of errors was subjected to the t-test formula for comparing the mean errors of the pre-test and the mean errors of the posttest. therefore, the result of this study inferred the effectivity of instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique in writing a research paper and its implication on the students’ research writing skills. this study focuses on instructional scaffolding as a technique in teaching research writing. specifically, this study seeks to address the following research questions: 1. what are the common errors of students in writing a research paper? 2. what is the significant difference between the results of pre-test and posttest? methodology research design this quantitative study assessed the effectiveness of instructional scaffolding as a technique in teaching writing a research paper. the design helped measure the data from the first drafts, which identified the weaknesses of students in composing a scholarly research paper, and final drafts that evaluated the effectiveness of instructional scaffolding as a teaching technique. in addition, this study examined the progress made by the students in every activity. participants the participants of this study were the grade 12 stem students of muntinlupa science high school, metro manila, who took the subject practical research 2 (quantitative research). in each quantitative research class, five groups were made, which corresponds to 25 research papers. 117 international peer reviewed journal data gathering procedure the researcher required the learners to compose an outline as their guide in writing their research paper. then, each group was later mentored face-toface. after the approval of their outline, the researcher instructed each group to compose the first drafts of their research paper. the first drafts of their research paper were analyzed for determining their common errors in writing an academic paper. in determining learners’ common errors, the researcher used the checklist of erel and bulut (2007) as the basis for analyzing the errors made. the analysis of the researcher was checked using grammarly.com, an online grammar checker, spelling checker, and a plagiarism detector. afterwards, the researcher applied correction symbols with the teacher’s assistance as the intervention in treating the writing weaknesses of students. subsequently, the researcher examined the second draft to investigate the changes made in the research papers. also, the third and final draft was re-subjected to identify errors. using the mean errors obtained from the first draft to the final draft, the researcher computed the significant difference. research ethics protocol before examining the first drafts of the students, the researcher sought permission to the students by discussing the nature and limitations of the study. the researcher also assured the students that their identity was anonymous and the identified writing difficulties in a research paper would not affect their grades. statistical analysis the data of this study were extracted from the first to the final drafts of each group by identifying the errors made in the 25 research papers. the t-test formula was utilized in computing the average error committed by the groups during the first and final drafts. results and discussion to restate, this study determined the errors made by the students in writing a research paper as well as the significant difference between the means of pretest and posttest. table 1 presents the mean errors in their pre-test based on the checklist used by erel and bulut (2007). 118 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. pre-test mean errors in first draft category mean errors inappropriate word 20.04 tenses 17.68 subject-verb agreement 9.2 proposition 7.52 singular – plural form 6.4 missing words 5.32 format 4.84 article usage 2.12 capitalization 1.32 punctuations 0.48 pronouns 0.4 spelling 0.2 total 75.52 as shown in table 1, inappropriate words and tenses obtained the highest mean errors among other categories. such errors are similar with the findings of pablo and lasaten (2018) that incorrect word and word usage, as well as errors in grammar, are found to be the prevalent errors of shs learners in academic writing. this result presupposes that the occurrence of these errors is due to learners’ limited range of vocabulary (pablo & lasaten, 2018). in support of this result, yuen and mussa (2015) reported that their respondents admitted the mediocrity of their compositions was due to their lack of vocabulary. this problem emanates from the less exposure of learners to reading and writing academic papers (yuen & mussa, 2015). thus, constant reading and writing of academic paper could heighten learners’ writing skills. through this activity, learners will gain familiarity with the lexical of an academic paper. generally, most of the learners’ compositions utilize words they are familiar with, which sometimes convey a slightly different meaning than they initially intended. the tenses also received a high mean error, as seen in table 1 – a result indicating that student’s sufficient lack of knowledge of the shifting of tenses for a research paper. this category has been a common mistake of students in writing, a finding that supports the study of darus and ching (2009), who contended that the frequent error of tenses was due to the influences of l1 on students’ l2 writing. similarly, ho and ngoc thuy duong (2015) concluded that the 119 international peer reviewed journal difference of tenses magnified the errors in tenses. likewise, widagdo (2017) explained that the misuse of tenses is formed by the unawareness of learners on the numerous possible tenses of the english language” (p. 51). in the present study, the students were found to have lacked enough knowledge of the shifting of tenses. furthermore, this result hinders the ability of the students “to present ideas in an academically persuasive manner” (abejuela, 2014). these findings and the findings of widagdo (2017) have its similarity and difference. in the study of widagdo (2017), the researcher discovered that misspelled words are the most common writing problem of indonesian learners while the misuse of words and word choice is less a problem. this problem of indonesian language learners emanated from being dependent on orthographic rather than phonetics. unlike the participants of this study, misspelled words are their infrequent errors. filipino learners achieve familiarity with the english language due to their constant exposure with the language; for example, through watching, listening, and reading a material utilizing the english language. another difference of the result is the order of misuse of words and word choice as the infrequent problem of indonesian language learners. presumably, the indonesian language learners are undergraduate; therefore, they have an idea on the words they need to include in an academic paper and a non-academic paper. on the contrary, the participants of this study are a senior high school learners who are still learning on the difference of an academic paper and a non-academic paper; hence these learners are a novice, academic writers. table 2. pre-test and posttest mean errors category pre-test mean errors posttest mean errors inappropriate word 20.04 11 tenses 17.68 4.16 subject-verb agreement 9.2 1.92 missing words 5.32 1.2 proposition 7.52 1 format 4.84 0.88 singular-plural form 6.4 0.36 pronouns 0.4 0 spelling 0.2 0 capitalization 1.32 0 punctuation 0.48 0 total 75.52 20.52 120 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2 indicates the improvement of students’ writing skills due to the decrease in mean errors from 75.52 to 20.52. this result implies that instructional scaffolding enhances students’ writing skills in composing a research paper. the lessening of the mean average reveals that students have gained more knowledge of grammatical sentences, written complete and structured sentences relating the ideas and forming coherence in writing. equally, they used less frequent repetition of some vocabulary, and fewer errors in punctuation even made few mistakes in support of aslam, khanam, fatima, akbar, and muhammad (2017) study which concluded that instructional scaffolding creates “a substantial change in the academic achievement of students… as compared to those who were taught with a traditional lecture or discussion method.” this conclusion was also perceived by dawn, dominguez, troutman, bond, and cone (2011) that lecture-based coursework failed to develop the skills of learners to evaluate clinical literature critically. faraj’s study (2015) also supports the notion that instructional scaffolding could both improve students’ proficiency in english language and mold students’ awareness in writing appropriately, accurately and meaningfully. conclusions this quantitative study has revealed that inappropriate words and tenses are the most common errors made by shs learners. the use of inappropriate words in an academic paper was due to learner’s lack of reading an example of academic text such as research journal, critique paper, or term paper. through reading an academic text, shs learners can have an idea of what words should be applied in writing a research paper. the errors in tenses occurred due to learners’ not enough knowledge of the other functions of tenses in a paragraph. therefore, enough exposure can enhance the research writing skill of shs learners. the use of instructional scaffolding with the assistance of correction symbols improve the writing skills of students for a research paper. with this technique, learners develop their awareness as they get to reflect on what could they possibly have done wrong in their composition. notably, the learners have gained critical thinking skills which help them analyze what words they should use and the shifting of tenses. the findings have validated that instructional scaffolding is a useful technique in teaching writing a research paper. more pointedly, the study implies that instructional scaffolding can be practiced in teaching research to senior high school students. aligned with 121 international peer reviewed journal this, research teachers may expose students to research journals and academic writing conventions. this study may be further investigated by other researchers employing the students’ perspective, a technique that may be 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(2015). academic writing difficulties of iraqi postgraduate students in malaysia. international journal of education and research, 3(6), 25–34. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2gvxtjf https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050608668639 https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050608668639 91 international peer reviewed journal muslim meranao consumers on the marketing strategies for halal branded food products aldrich june b. caraecle http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4123-9283 ajb6490.caraecle@gmail.com mindanao state university – main campus marawi city, phavilippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract food consumption is very critical for muslim consumers, as they have to consume halal products. for food companies to satisfy muslim buyers and develop an effective marketing strategy, it is necessary for them to evaluate customer satisfaction. thus, this study assessed the level of satisfaction of muslim meranao consumers toward the marketing strategies for halal branded food products. the study made use of descriptive survey research utilizing a researcher made a questionnaire, and the data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (spss). applying purposive sampling, a survey was conducted to a total of 120 meranao customers, which comprised of 40 meranao fathers, 40 mothers, and 40 meranao ulama. the overall assessment of the three groups of respondents showed that meranao consumers were not satisfied with the marketing strategies of food companies for their product, price, place, and promotion strategies, or the 4p’s. the survey revealed that among the 4p’s, promotion strategies got the highest mean score of 2.48, while price strategies had been found to have the lowest satisfaction with a mean of 2.26. the dissatisfaction felt by the consumers may signify problems on the existing strategies of the companies. the findings of the study will guide manufacturers in enhancing their marketing strategies to attain perfect compliance on halal business practices. vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.703 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 92 jpair multidisciplinary research keywords — agricultural marketing, marketing strategies, halal food, descriptive survey, philippines introduction the halal industry is considered as the latest trend in the global market. with the muslim population reaching 3 billion people, the halal industry becomes one of the fastest growing businesses in the world market (nurrachmi, 2017). the industry covers a wide range of products and services coming from different sectors such as finance, tourism, service, transportations, and food. however, among the several categories of halal products, food is found to be the most in demand. as stated by ismail (2015), food is an essential thing in human life, and thus, the market potential for halal food is very promising with islam as the fastest growing religion in the world. in the state of the global islamic economy report by reuters (2014), the halal food market is labeled as one of the largest consumer markets in the world. interestingly, global muslim spending on food and beverages (f&b) has increased by 10.8% to reach $1,292 billion in 2013. this takes the potential core halal food market to be 17.7% of the global expenditure in 2013 compared to 16.6% the year before. this expenditure is expected to grow to a $2,537 billion market by 2019 and will account for 21.2% of the global expenditure. moreover, based on the data of pew research center (2017), the muslim population was around 1.6 billion in 2010 and will be rising to 2.67 billion near the end of 2050 with approximately 29.7% of the overall total world population. it added that the interest for halal products and services likewise will be relied upon to increase exponentially as the inside guaranteed as of now, the value of the global halal market was over us$3.6 trillion, and it is forecasted to be worth over us$5 trillion in 2020. thus, the study of razzaque and chaudhry (2013) concluded that the halal food market would continue to dominate the global food market due to muslims have to consume halal food regardless whether they live within muslim majority or minority societies. however, food consumption is the most crucial for muslim consumers’ basic needs since they have to consume halal products (varinli, erdem, & avcılar, 2016). hence, the vast opportunity for the food industry to serve the halal market is coupled with challenges in its operation. to satisfy the requirements of muslim customers, food manufacturers must be halal compliance as this is the first rule of the game. this requires them to know deeply and strictly apply islamic practices and principles on the development and implementation of their marketing strategies. 93 international peer reviewed journal considering the halal market, the marketing strategy of any food company has to cover every aspect important to muslim consumers. many elements have to be taken into consideration while setting the marketing strategy; those include the islamic marketing mix or the 4p’s, in addition to the cultural elements of the market. in connection to cultural factors, designing a strategy for the halal market requires a clear understanding of the islam religion as it serves as the foundation of the halal business practices. the development of an effective marketing strategy is a progressive company activity and achieve through continuous development, especially in serving a unique segment of customer like the halal market. it is believed that continuous improvement and success on the strategy applied to serve muslim markets can be done by critically evaluating their satisfaction and understanding their feedbacks. unfortunately, there are only a few researches that purely focus on measuring the satisfaction of muslim consumers on the marketing aspect. therefore, this study finds interest in assessing the satisfaction level of muslim meranao consumers on the strategies adopted for halal branded food products on the marketing mix or 4p’s. this would help the halal food manufacturers identify the areas on their strategies that need significant improvements as well as sustain those areas that drive company success. framework figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework of the study. as depicted in the diagram, the assessment of muslim maranao consumers toward the marketing strategies for halal branded food products is determined. the strategies considered in the assessment are focused on the marketing mix or also known as the 4 p’s in islamic perspective: the product, price, place, and promotion. figure 1. conceptual framework of the study 94 jpair multidisciplinary research customer satisfaction the study of ilieska (2013) emphasized that being familiar with the consumers’ needs is of great importance to the company. she added that economic subjects accomplish their tasks in the process of reproduction and thus satisfy certain needs. the consumers are the focus activity of the company’s marketing orientation. it is crucial to know the consumers’ needs to achieve an optimal combination of both: the production factors and the disposal of products. therefore, she concluded that the research of the consumers’ needs and a measure of their satisfaction is of great significance. a commonly accepted definition of ‘satisfaction’ is: ‘satisfaction is the consumer’s fulfillment response. it is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment, including levels of under-or-over fulfillment. failure to meet needs and expectations is assumed to result in dissatisfaction with the product or service. depending on the context, the meaning of ‘consumer satisfaction’ may vary: consumer satisfaction may relate to a particular feature or characteristic of a product or service, or it may relate to the product/service as a whole. in general, it is the satisfaction about the product/service as a whole that merits attention, since this satisfaction influences the consumers’ future buying and consuming behavior (ilieska, 2013). notably, the understanding of customer satisfaction is vital in this study. marketing mix in islamic perspective the other component of the framework deals on the islamic marketing mix. in the study of ishak and abdullah (2012), it is noted that the essential aspect of the islamic marketing mix as a principle of value maximization is the core concept of adl or justice. they defined adl or justice in islam as ‘just dealing’ and ‘fair play’ for the wider welfare of the society or the consumers. moreover, the principle offers a means to create a healthy business environment which protects both the consumers and producers. it dictates that under no circumstances do the marketers have unbridled liberty to exploit the consumers by way of fraud, deceit, and other illicit means. to commit unethical marketing practices is tantamount to injustice, and by the term, it negates the concepts of brotherhood and equality in islam. after all, the sole aim of the islamic marketing mix is to preserve harmony and provide order in society so that the rights of consumers and marketers are maintained and upheld. 95 international peer reviewed journal according to luthfi and salehudin (2011), islam views at commerce as an important source for a person to make a living and muslims are encouraged to be involved in business activities as far as the generated income is legitimate and islamic principles and ethics are considered in all aspects of the business. in this point, islamic values and laws should be integrated to develop any halal marketing strategy by creating, communicating, and delivering islamic values to customers (hashim and hamzah, 2014). halal is the central idea of islamic marketing and has now become a universal concept. halal is a term exclusively used in islam which means permitted or lawful. there are no parties which can claim the food is halal without complying with islamic law. halal and non-halal covers all spectrums of muslim life, not limited to foods and drinks only, but also for safety, animal welfare, social justice, and a sustainable environment. halal and toyyiban, which means clean and wholesome portray the symbol of intolerance to hygiene, safety, and quality of food that muslims consumed (baharuddin, kasim, nordin, & buyong, 2015). in this study, islamic marketing mix constitutes the 4ps: product, price, promotion, and place. discussion in each element of the marketing mix is also presented. product as mentioned by ireland and rajabzadeh (2011), like any consumer worldwide, a muslim would select products based on the quality, convenience, and very importantly, assurance of verification of certain religious guidelines. based on the islamic perspective, any related process and function should be executed within ethical boundaries set by sharia. as such, the product can be considered as halal (permissible or lawful, contrary to haram) if it can offer essential benefits and values to consumers. additionally, najmaei et al. (2017) noted that market players are expected to operate in a morally acceptable manner. thus, producers and marketers use a halal certificate to reassure customers to convince consumer about the integrity of the production process. halal certification is important to muslim consumers. thus, manufacturers that successfully received the certificate use it to establish trust in consumers and make them assure about the quality of products. moreover, the study of arham (2010) pointed out that prophet muhammad saw avoided the mixing of low and high-quality products at the same place. prophet muhammad saw considered not only positioning but also expounded weak points of products for every customer. notably, he never covered any product weakness aspect from the customers. 96 jpair multidisciplinary research therefore, following the prophet muhammad saw, information tag should attach and develop based on the content, ingredients including all aspects of the product (najmaei et al., 2017). per the islamic approach, the production process should abide by the standards of the value and impact of the product upon the entire society. price based on the islamic context, acquiring something simply without hard work is strictly forbidden. it is also not allowed to sell products at a price higher than the cost of inputs (rosly, 2001). al serhan and alobaitha (2013) stressed out that changing the price without changing the quality or quantity is considered as cheating as indicated in islamic teaching. moreover, the study of saeed et al. (2001) in international marketing ethics from an islamic perspective emphasized that profit maximization should not consider as a priority in marketing from islamic practice. the study of hassan, chachi, and abdul latiff (2008) also highlighted relevant principles in pricing. the study indicated that islam does not ban price controls and alteration to cover market needs. this would mean that islamic ethics allows asking for higher prices as a result of natural insufficiency of the supply chain. thus, the price should be adjusted to provide an advantage for buyers and in a way that not to harm sellers. importantly, islam also banned price discrimination among customers, as based on islamic principle, all people are spiritually the same before god. place (distribution) based on islamic principles, distribution channels are not permitted to generate a burden for the final customer, in terms of higher prices and delays (hassan, chachi, & abdul latiff, 2008). the key purpose of distribution channels should be to create value and elevate the standard of living by delivering ethically satisfactory services. the study of arham (2010) highlighted that in accordance with islamic principles, sellers could not interfere or manipulate product distribution to earn more profits. several studies (arham, 2010; saeed et al., 2001) also presented some vital components of place or distribution from an islamic perspective which include the selection of an appropriate distribution channel, timely delivery, and proper segregation of halal and non-halal products in terms of storage and distribution. promotion the last element is a promotion, which one of the main components of the marketing mix from an islamic perspective. the study of zakaria and abdul-talib 97 international peer reviewed journal (2010) in marketing strategy by applying islamic market-oriented cultural model, proposed establishing promotional activities that are ethically sensitive to the various cultural preferences. a study of nafik and ratnasari (2012) also presented that matching advertising to islamic standards could establish better trust in higher islamic knowledge consumers. significantly, the research of abdullah and ahmad (2010) which covered compliance to islamwic practices among businesses in malaysia, highly recommended to avoid unethical and misleading behaviors as well as using women as objects to attract customers. as noted in the study of najmaei et al. (2017), implementing such a marketing strategy that is commonly used in other non-halal industry is not compliant with islamic teaching. objectives of the study the study assessed the satisfaction level of muslim meranao consumers on the strategies adopted for halal branded food products on the 4p’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. as the study considered three groups of meranao consumers, the differences in the satisfaction level of the meranao fathers, mothers, and ulama on the marketing strategies for halal branded food products were also determined. methodology research design the study made use of a descriptive survey method. as cited in the study of salaria (2012), the descriptive survey is a method of research which concerns itself with the present phenomena in terms of conditions, practices, beliefs, processes, relationships or trends. thus, in this study, the condition of the marketing strategy adopted for halal branded food products are determined by measuring the satisfaction of muslim consumers. research site the study was conducted at the islamic city of marawi, where the majority of the residents are muslim meranaos. the city is part of the autonomous region in muslim mindanao located in the south area of the philippines. remarkably, the city was a victim of the massive and bloody conflict between the isis-associated maute group and the philippine government forces just last year 2017. the study was taken a year after the marawi city siege. 98 jpair multidisciplinary research participants the study considered the muslim maranao or meranao as respondents of the study as they are labeled to be the largest non-christian ethnic group in the philippines, aside from the fact that they are living in the islamic city of marawi. adopting purposive sampling, a survey was conducted to a total of 120 meranao consumers. this number of respondents consists of 40 meranao fathers, 40 mothers and 40 meranao ulama (muslim believers who have taken a higher level of education and have in-depth knowledge in islamic teachings, beliefs, principles, and practices). meranao fathers and mothers were chosen as they are viewed to have more mature buying decision and extensive experiences in purchasing food products given their role as parents. while ulama is selected since they are expected to give a more objective and reliable assessment given their expertise in the islamic religion, which is the foundation of halal business practices. instrumentation a researcher made a survey questionnaire was constructed and used to gather the needed data. the instrument contained a total of 34 statements on the marketing mix or 4ps, 9 questions each for product, price, and promotion, while 7 questions for a place. these questions have been developed applying summative content analysis through in-depth literature review to initial illicit items and further confirmed by a draft questionnaire and pilot test. studies of abuznaid (2012) and hejase, hamdar, orfali, and hejase (2012) have highly contributed to the statements presented in the instrument. the respondents were asked to assess their level of satisfaction on the strategies adopted for halal branded food products on the 4ps of marketing using a four-point likert scale. corresponding to each item are the numeric scales with the matching qualitative equivalents: (4) highly satisfied means that the indicator statement is observed in almost all instances; (3) satisfied means that the indicator statement is observed in the majority of cases; (2) not satisfied means that the indicator statement is observed in a few cases; and (1) highly not satisfied means that the indicator statement is totally not practiced. to arrive at a certain interpretation of the scales in the instrument, the hypothetical mean range is also assigned: highly satisfied (3.26 – 4.00), satisfied (2.51 – 3.25), not satisfied (1.76 – 2.50), and highly not satisfied (1.00 – 1.75). in order to guarantee the functionality of the questionnaire, validity and reliability tests were conducted. using pearson product moment correlations, it resulted that all questions were less than 0.05 if sig. (2-tailed), thus the questions constructed are valid. moreover, as shown in table 1, the cronbach’s alpha is .906, which indicates that the questions used are good. 99 international peer reviewed journal table 1. reliability test cronbach’s alpha cronbach’s alpha based on standardized items number of items .906 .911 34 results and discussions a survey was conducted to evaluate the satisfaction level of muslim consumers on the strategies adopted by halal food manufacturers and/ distributors on their product, price, place, and promotion or 4ps. the results of the assessment are shown in table 2. based on the survey conducted, the overall assessment of the meranao consumers showed that they are not satisfied with the strategies adopted for the product, price, place, and promotion for halal branded food products. the overall mean of the four elements of the strategies resulted not more than 2.5, which would mean that the consumers are not satisfied. notably, among the 4ps, it came out that price strategy got the lowest overall mean (2.26), then followed by product with an overall mean of 2.44. at a very slight difference, a place with an overall mean of 2.45 came next in the ranking, while promotion (2.48) got the highest evaluation, which almost reached the bracket for satisfactory. remarkably, indicators for price strategy, which contained nine questions were all assessed by the consumers not satisfactory. with 34 indicators or questions asked to the respondents, price indicator regarding the observance of false propaganda or publicity with regard to price, demand, and supply found out to have the lowest assessment (2.09) from the respondents. this may imply that consumers have observed misleading information and campaign which may hide the reality as to price, demand, and supply. this action may lead to unjust and overpricing, which are not favorable in the side of the customers. as highlighted in the study of sergius koku (2011), islam prohibits false propaganda or publicity with regard to price, demand, and supply. nevertheless, he added that islam does not prohibit price controls and manipulations from meeting market needs. a study of abdullah, hamali, & abdullah (2015) also stressed out that it is critical to have reasonable and ethical pricing for a product since it is the most sensitive issue when offering a product to a target market. they added that although there is no absolute ruling signifying how to charge customers for a certain product and service, prices should have ethical justification guided by islamic principles such as justice. 100 jpair multidisciplinary research indicator under product strategy, which deals with the strict use of halal ingredients in making the product has been found to have the second lowest mean (2.12) among the indicators. this may connote that muslim consumers have noticed or heard the use of non-halal ingredients on products labeled as halal. it should be noted by halal producers that the ingredients used in processing products are very important to muslim consumers to consider a product to be halal. table 2. assessment of the satisfaction level of muslim consumers on the marketing strategies 4p’s question statements (indicators for the 4ps) mean (fathers) mean (mothers) mean (ulama) overall mean p r o d u c t 1. ingredients used are strictly halal. 2.20 2.33 1.83 2.12 2. final product can be warranted to be totally halal. 2.53 2.6 2.15 2.43 3. packages are labeled with proper information and halal label/logo 2.43 2.83 2.00 2.42 4. name of allah is strictly not used in branding and labeling. 2.68 2.93 2.00 2.54 5. the label of products provides accurate and sufficient information. 2.60 2.78 2.18 2.52 6. the appearance of products does not cause any offense to muslims. 2.48 2.58 2.05 2.37 7. the packaging of the product is appropriate, proper and durable. 2.60 3.03 2.25 2.63 8. food products are guaranteed to be safe and cannot cause any harm. 2.50 2.98 2.13 2.54 9. food products endorse environmental protection. 2.43 2.83 1.93 2.40 overall mean 2.49 2.76 2.06 2.44 p r i c e 1. prices exhibit fear in god and consider the idea that god is the “pricer.” 2.10 2.43 2.05 2.19 2. societal welfare approach is applied in setting prices. 2.25 2.7 2.08 2.34 3. prices reflect value maximization than profit maximization. 2.05 2.53 2.10 2.23 4. prices are observed to be all fair and just. 2.4 2.68 2.40 2.49 5. suggested retail price on a product is adopted. 2.28 2.5 2.03 2.27 6. change in price of the product is consistent with the change in the quantity or quality of the product. 2.23 2.53 1.90 2.22 7. false propaganda or publicity with regard to price, demand and supply cannot be observed. 2.05 2.35 1.85 2.09 8. extortion at the expense of consumers is not practiced. 2.23 2.63 2.00 2.29 9. hoarding, manipulation of prices and restriction on trade are forbidden. 2.28 2.60 1.90 2.26 overall mean 2.21 2.55 2.03 2.26 101 international peer reviewed journal p l a c e 1. storage, display and distribution of halal and haram food products are properly segregated. 2.35 2.58 1.83 2.25 2. supply of halal food products is always available. 2.30 2.68 2.25 2.41 3. use of coercion in the marketing channel is not practiced. 2.60 2.68 2.15 2.48 4. no manipulation has been observed on the availability of food product for the purpose of exploitation. 2.58 2.63 2.40 2.53 5. the food products are sold with appropriate packaging. 2.50 2.98 2.33 2.60 6. no burden has been observed in the distribution in terms of higher prices and delays. 2.43 2.55 2.13 2.37 7. food products are sold in not suspicious places. 2.58 2.65 2.33 2.52 overall mean 2.48 2.68 2.20 2.45 p r o m o t i o n 1. all promotional activities are shariah compliant. 2.45 2.70 2.00 2.39 2. the use of women in any form of advertising is strictly not observed 2.48 2.68 2.30 2.48 3. suggestive language and behavior in promoting products are strictly not used. 2.43 2.60 2.33 2.45 4. concealment of fact and information in the delivery of promotional tools are not practiced. 2.28 2.68 2.23 2.39 5. sexual appeal in any promotional programs is not observed. 2.55 2.58 1.95 2.36 6. no swearing in the name of allah in promoting products is noticed. 3.18 3.28 2.95 3.13 7. no exaggeration of product attributes in the promotion of products is observed. 2.38 2.63 2.18 2.39 8. all of the advertisements do not mislead customers. 2.25 2.63 2.10 2.33 9. deception in all the promotional activities is not observed. 2.43 2.60 2.00 2.34 overall mean 2.49 2.71 2.23 2.48 other indicators under product about appearance, packaging, labeling, branding/logo and endorsement of environmental protection were also evaluated not satisfactory by the consumers. with these results, manufacturers and/ distributors should address these weak areas of product strategy as they are very influential in the eyes of halal markets. hamdan, issa, abu, and jusoff, (2013) investigated the influential factors in muslim consumers’ purchasing decisions of processed food products and determined that the features of processed food products, awareness of halal labeling, and knowledge about processed halal food products are the key variables. in the case of place strategy, the indicator related to the proper segregation of the storage, display, and distribution of halal and haram came out to have the lowest mean (2.25) among the 7 indicators. this would imply that consumers have observed that halal products are not appropriately separated from haram 102 jpair multidisciplinary research food items. there are other areas of place strategy wherein customers are not also satisfied which include burden in the distribution in terms of higher prices and delays, and availability of the supply of halal products. abdullah, hamali, and abdullah (2015) emphasized that the distribution of products should be available and easy to find on the shelf together with the help of a salesperson. the study also noted that businesses must emphasize on offering convenience to the customers in delivering their product to the right customer, at the right amount and the right quality. thus, their study highlighted that having the distribution that offers convenience to muslim customers is critical to protect shariah laws and to serve muslims consumers in line with islamic teaching. interestingly, all indicators under promotion except swearing in the name of allah in promoting products were all assessed by muslim consumers as not satisfactory. indicator pertaining to the use of misleading advertisement found out to have the lowest mean (2.33) in the promotion. deception in the promotional activities, the presence of sexual appeal, concealment of fact and information in the delivery of promotional tools, as well as in compliance to shariah of the promotional programs were observed by the consumers, thus scored not satisfied. the study of abuznaid (2012) noted that promotion of products should not allow any room to cover up promotional behavior or hide any defect in the products. he also emphasized that all forms and shapes of false assertion, overpraising products and attributing to them qualities which they don’t possess, unfounded accusations and false testimony are prohibited. as this study utilized three groups of respondents in equal representation, it came out that the assessment of the three groups of muslim consumers varies. using anova (analysis of variance), it is found out that there is a significant difference in the satisfaction level of the meranao fathers, mothers and ulama on the marketing mix strategies. notably, among the groups of respondents, ulama has the lowest assessment for the product, price, place and promotion strategies. muslim fathers followed the ulama respondents to have an unsatisfactory evaluation of the 4ps strategies of halal manufacturers and/ distributors. this result may indicate that both meranao ulama and fathers are more conservative on their assessment and have a high standard as to halal business practices. on the other hand, muslim mothers are satisfied with the strategies adopted by the halal manufacturers and/ distributors based on their assessment. as presented in the table, they have the highest assessment on the product strategy (1.76), and then followed by promotion (1.71). 103 international peer reviewed journal conclusions the muslim meranao consumers specifically the meranao fathers and ulama are not satisfied with the marketing mix strategies (product, price, place and promotion) applied for the halal branded food products. thus, their assessment would imply that there are violations/problems/issues they have viewed as to the compliance of food manufacturers and/ distributors on halal standards. based on the findings of the study, muslim meranao fathers and ulama as consumers have higher standards as of their assessment on the compliance of food manufacturers and/ distributors on halal practices and principles than muslim meranao 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(2013). religiosity and muslim consumers’ decision-making process in a non-muslim society. journal of islamic marketing, 4(2), 198 – 217. retrieved on february 3, 2019 from https://doi. org/10.1108/17590831311329313 rosly, s. a. (2001). iwad as a requirement of valid sale: application of al-bay as a mode of finance. iium journal of economics and management, 2, 187-201. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2hgbob1 https://doi.org/10.1108/17590831311329313 https://doi.org/10.1108/17590831311329313 180 jpair multidisciplinary research effectiveness of the angolingo mobile game technology in english language learning in adamson university basic education department allhyn marie s. andalis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1911-7378 allhyn516@gmail.com adamson university manila city, philippines benedict clarence s. henson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7407-6487 benedictclarencehenson113095@gmail.com adamson university manila city, philippines julie anne g. junsay http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6511-1380 jagjunsay@gmail.com adamson university manila city, philippines king david n. makan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3309-4803 makankingdavid@gmail.com adamson university manila city, philippines vol. 28 · march 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v28i1.508 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 181 international peer reviewed journal gloria reňen-dela cruz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3599-8152 glowithme25@gmail.com adamson university manila city, philippines abstract technology is gradually shifting the focus of learning to less traditional methods; like ebooks, audiobooks, and more recently, mobile applications. this shift indicates an apparent need to incorporate entertaining components into learning tools to keep users engaged in critical thinking, and comprehension activities. there is untapped power in mobile entertainment, particularly mobile games that can and must be harnessed to improve current methods, and even introduce new methods of learning english. this study seeks to determine the effectiveness of anglolingo, a mobile game that is built on the basics of english, in facilitating learning of english vocabulary, spelling and grammar in students in the basic education department of adamson university, philippines. a control group (n=18) and an experimental group (n=18), were used during the test. quasi-experimental research design with pretest and posttest was used to determine the difference in performance between the control and experimental groups. results indicate a significant improvement in performance on the post-test of the experimental group due to the use of anglolingo before administration of the posttest. the overall results of the three sub-tests (p-value = 6.39e-08) indicate the effectiveness of anglolingo in learning basic english vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. this study also offers recommendations on the incorporation of mobile games in teaching and learning basic english. keywords – english language learning, mobile game, basic english, vocabulary, spelling, grammar. introduction according to statista.com (2017), there are 1.5 billion people in the world who speak english. though a large number of these english speakers come from developing countries, there is still a dire need for increased english literacy in 182 jpair multidisciplinary research these countries. for instance, baleghizadeh and oladrostam (2011) stated that most iranian efl learners in the setting where their study was conducted, have accuracy problems while speaking. even more is computer aided instruction, as stated by jere-folotiya et al. (2014) is a relatively new practice in most african countries. such could be said about other developing countries in other parts of the world. however, according to julsrud, and roldan (2014), asia and africa are the leaders in the increasing numbers of mobile phones in the world. hanz (2011) mentioned that the use of mobile phones is heavy in almost every activity of business, particularly, in developing countries where it is more obtainable to get access to a mobile phone than a computer. basal, yilmaz, tanriverdi, and sari (2016) speak of emerging technologies like mobile phones leading to a quick rise of studies that explore their use in education. on the other hand, liu et al. (2014) indicated that while there may be considerable enthusiasm for using mobile devices to support learning, there is undoubtedly a paucity of research evidence about whether such mobile technology can facilitate learning, particularly, the english language learners. this paradigm shift is inevitable, with education on the possible incline to the adoption of these emerging tools. in no distant future, the majority, and sooner or later, the entirety of instructional or learning tools will be premiered on mobile platforms. under the auspices of mobile devices, is mobile entertainment. mobile devices have numerous distinctive features such as individualized interfaces, instant communication, and feedback. lan (2014), points out that these features enhance the effects of some pedagogies, such as self-directed learning, inquiry learning, or formative assessment. the nuances of these components of mobile devices, and the plethora of ways in which they can be exploited to create effective learning platforms and experiences can and should not be ignored. though traditional methods of instruction and learning have not necessarily failed, it is expedient that more diversified methods be introduced, while those that are becoming obsolete be abandoned. yolageldili & arikan, 2011, state that it cannot be overemphasized that language learning is a challenging task requiring constant effort especially for young learners. thus, it is an inescapable responsibility to continually seek to discover newer and more potent learning methods by utilizing the materials available. richards and rogers (2014), insist that learners learn in different ways because the strengths and weaknesses of every individual are not the same. therefore, teaching needs to take into account these differences and seek out different and befitting methods by laying emphasis on developing the student’s awareness and use of new learning strategies. 183 international peer reviewed journal as time progresses, these new learning strategies must include mobile games. wong and looi (2011) set out to determine the influence of mobile devices on seamless learning; where students can learn whenever they want to learn, in a variety of scenarios, plus the freedom to switch from one to another easily and quickly. frohberg, goth, and schwabe (2009) stated that teachers control most learning activities that involve mobile devices, with there being only a few of these activities or tools centered on the learner. thus, this study sought to highlight the necessity of filling up the void in educational tools that learnerbased learning tools should fill. the most significant motivation to first, develop this application, and subsequently, through this study, determine its effectiveness in basic english learning is the low number of mobile game platforms that are intended for educational purposes; these games make up merely 8.8% of android mobile games, as reported by statista.com (2017), with less than enough specifically developed for english language learning. furthermore, a majority of these english learning games either focus on a specific area of english language with a majority of them being confined to vocabulary, or spelling, and often leave grammar out, or do not adequately utilize the entertainment factor, thereby making them appear uninteresting and engaging to a less streamlined user base. nagalingam and ibrahim (2015) buttress this fact in a study aimed at reviewing the elements of the user experience of educational games, stating that fun was not given adequate attention as most researchers only focused on the other elements of gameplay, and neglected fun which is an essential factor of user engagement. in this study the quasi-experimental research design with pretest and posttest was used to determine the effectiveness of anglolingo in the learning of english. it is the hope that this study will motivate further research into the harnessing of the power in mobile game entertainment, and channel it towards the development of more mobile games aimed at all encompassing english language learning. objectives of the study this study sets out to determine the effectiveness of anglolingo in improving the knowledge of the pillars of english language; speaking and writing through vocabulary, spelling, and grammar of select students in the basic education department of adamson university, philippines. 184 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the study used quasi-experimental research design to determine the effectiveness of using the anglolingo mobile game in aiding students to speak better english at the basic education department of adamson university, philippines. the two group control group pretest-posttest design model was employed in carrying out this study. the hypothesis is that anglolingo is an effective tool in learning basic english for the study participants. research site the site of this research is grade 6 saint lorenzo ruiz of the adamson university basic education, philippines. participants thirty-six students from a grade six class of the basic education department of adamson university were the subjects of this study. the majority of which have english as a second language. with 12 years as the average age, they conveniently fall within the target group who are intended to use this application. the participants were randomly divided into two groups; a control group that consisted of 18 subjects, and the experimental group of equal size. only the experimental group were exposed to use of the anglolingo mobile game. instrumentation the game composes of 3 sections; vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. the vocabulary section consists of one hundred (100) words, whose definitions were taken from merriam-webster.com dictionary. the spelling section consists of 100 words, also taken from the merriam-webster.com dictionary. the grammar section of the game is composed of 60 sentences, developed under the direction of a practical english grammar (thomson & martinet, 1981). the data collection tool was a 50 question test consisting of 20 vocabulary questions, 15 spelling questions, and 15 grammar questions. a senior english professor from the adamson university languages department facilitated the establishment of the internal validity of the test. this test was administered as the pretest and posttest. the single factor analysis of variance was used to determine the statistical significance of the differences between the two groups. 185 international peer reviewed journal procedure the pretest consisting of vocabulary, spelling, and grammar questions drawn from the contents of the game was administered to both groups. the results of the pretest show that the knowledge level of both groups had similar knowledge of basic english. the control group had a mean score of 44%, while the experimental group had an average score of 43%. after administering the pre-test, the experimental group subjects were asked to take out their mobile phones, receive the anglolingo game via a wireless file transfer service, and install the game. there are three sections of the game – vocabulary, spelling, and grammar, with three difficulty levels – beginner, intermediate, and advanced. the vocabulary section displays a definition of a word, and offers the user four options to select the correct answer from. if the user gets it right, a point is added to the user’s score, and additional time is added to the timer which is constantly counting down to zero. if the user gets the answer wrong, the correct answer is displayed momentarily, before moving to the next question, with no added score or time. the spelling game displays the image of an object, offers the user 10 letters which contains the spelling of the word, and requires the user to spell out the word. the same scoring and timing structure as is in the vocabulary game is applied. the grammar game display a group of randomly arranged words, and requires the user to arrange them in the correct grammatical order. the grammar game equally follows the scoring and timing structure as both the vocabulary and spelling games. all three sections of the game are designed in such a way that whenever the user gets an answer wrong, the correct answer is displayed. with that in mind, the subjects were advised to take note of the correct answers to the questions they got wrong. after installation, the subjects were directed to run the application, and the supervisor ensured that they spent a minimum of 20 minutes on each of the three sections of the game, and the different difficulty levels available. the treatment period was 60 minutes, which is the average time it took for users of the app to peruse 80% of the content of anglolingo during the preliminary testing of the game. after that, the post-test was administered. 186 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion vocabulary test the vocabulary section of the pretest had a control group mean score of 46%, while the experimental group had an average score of 36%. reasons for the significant discrepancy between these values which theoretically should be similar cannot be accounted for. however, the most reasonable assumption is to attribute this disparity to random error. in the post-test, the mean score of the control group dropped to 43% while that of the experimental group rose to 48%. table 1 shows the analysis of variance between the control and experimental groups, and the results indicate that anglolingo was indeed effective in widening the knowledge of english vocabulary of the participants with a highly significant p-value of 0.000101. table 1. anova of control and experimental groups in the vocabulary test summary groups count sum average variance control 18 0 0 0.007353 experimental 18 2.2 0.122222 0.006536 source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 0.134444 1 0.134444 19.36 0.000101 4.130018 within groups 0.236111 34 0.006944 total 0.370556 35         spelling test in this test, the pretest mean score of the control group and the experimental group was 48% and 52%, respectfully. these values moderately align with the assumption that both sample groups, being that they were selected from the same environment, and in the same age group, should perform similarly in the test. however, after treatment by use of anglolingo, the experimental group was seen to have its mean score go up to 66%, while the control group rose by only two units to 50%. hence, from table 2, results of the anova between control 187 international peer reviewed journal and experimental groups in the spelling test, with a highly significant p value of 0.001154, indicates that anglolingo was effective in helping the participants improve their knowledge on the correct spellings of english words. table 2: anova of control and experimental groups in the spelling test summary groups count sum average variance control 18 0.466667 0.025926 0.007916 experimental 18 2.6 0.144444 0.012157 anova source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 0.12642 1 0.12642 12.59624 0.001154 4.130018 within groups 0.341235 34 0.010036 total 0.467654 35         grammar test from 15 grammar questions, the mean pretest score for the control group was 40%, and the average post-test score was 45%. the experimental group, on the other hand had a mean pretest score of 40% and a mean posttest score of 54%. table 3 results analysis indicate a significant effect of anglolingo on the posttest scores of the experimental group. thus, being an significantly effective english grammar learning tool, with a p-value of 0.014661. table 2: anova of control and experimental groups in the spelling test summary groups count sum average variance control 18 0.933333 0.051852 0.007611 experimental 18 2.4 0.133333 0.010458 anova source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 0.059753 1 0.059753 6.614148 0.014661 4.130018 188 jpair multidisciplinary research within groups 0.30716 34 0.009034 total 0.366914 35         overall test the pretest mean score of the control group was 44%, while that of the experimental group was 43%. the posttest mean score for the control group was 46%, while the experimental group was 56%. table 4 displays result analysis of the overall test. table 4: anova of control and experimental groups in the overall test summary groups count sum average variance control 18 0.466667 0.025926 0.001529 experimental 18 2.4 0.133333 0.002861 anova source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 0.103827 1 0.103827 47.3019 6.39e-08 4.130018 within groups 0.07463 34 0.002195 total 0.178457 35         considering that data collected, and results of the analysis, it is evident that anglolingo is indeed an effective tool for learning the english language. in a study carried out by yolageldili and arikan (2011), it was found that 90% of the teachers involved in the study agreed that there is an unconsciousness in the learning of the users while playing the game. same has been observed in this study. it is apparent that the improvement of the experimental group is directly linked with use of the application. the efficiency on a larger and more practical scale, however, may not be accurately projected from this study due to the numerous variables that may come into play, which presents open issues for further research that thoroughly examines and evaluates the benefits of learning with mobile games (schwabe & göth, 2005). also, the enthusiasm of the various users to use the application on their own stands as another uncertainty 189 international peer reviewed journal that will affect its effectiveness in the individual user’s learning of english. but nonetheless, the study’s results suggest that if in fact anglolingo is regularly used, it can help improve the english of the user. there are a number of other studies with findings that support the findings of this study, one of which, as reported by miangah & nezarat (2012), is project millee at the university of california (uc berkeley), which focused on simple english language skills. they developed games that covered the curriculum of an esl course, and their findings indicate the emergence of significant learning benefits to the users’ basic skills in english. similarly, liu & chu, (2010), after carrying out a study on the effectiveness of ubiquitous games on junior students’ achievement in english learning, concluded that mobile games can deliver better results in learning, as opposed to other more traditional methods. this study hopes to further motivate the publishing of more literature on the effectiveness of mobile games in learning. holden & sykes, (2012), assert that this will be best achieved when researchers and educators begin to look beyond traditional classroom instruction and develop experiences that provide knowledge that is not inert and passive. table 5: distribution of pretest and posttest scores, with their difference. subject group preov postov difference 1 control 33% 38% 6% 2 control 57% 54% -3% 3 control 57% 56% -1% 4 control 52% 54% 2% 5 control 47% 51% 4% 6 control 56% 57% 1% 7 control 23% 26% 2% 8 control 38% 38% 1% 9 control 40% 43% 3% 10 control 19% 26% 6% 11 control 34% 29% -5% 12 control 52% 58% 6% 13 control 47% 53% 6% 14 control 58% 66% 8% 15 control 45% 51% 6% 16 control 26% 31% 4% 17 control 51% 56% 4% 18 control 48% 43% -4% 19 experimental 22% 42% 20% 20 experimental 36% 53% 18% 21 experimental 37% 50% 13% 190 jpair multidisciplinary research 22 experimental 26% 37% 11% 23 experimental 38% 64% 26% 24 experimental 45% 63% 18% 25 experimental 61% 74% 13% 26 experimental 57% 71% 13% 27 experimental 57% 71% 14% 28 experimental 52% 64% 12% 29 experimental 54% 72% 18% 30 experimental 44% 54% 10% 31 experimental 38% 46% 8% 32 experimental 48% 57% 9% 33 experimental 46% 56% 10% 34 experimental 49% 64% 15% 35 experimental 41% 47% 6% 36 experimental 17% 22% 4% conclusion the findings of this study add to a larger conversation that has been brewing in recent times, about the gamification of various learning processes. in a study carried out by enders and kapp, (2013), where participants were put through gamified elearning experiences, they found that the participants scored 14% higher in skill-based-knowledge assessments, 11% higher in terms of factual-knowledge, and 9% increase in retention rate; indicating strongly that gamification major aspects of learning. the significant improvement of the subjects in the experimental group of this study, proves that a gamified environment for learning english is more effective than traditional learning methods, and suggests that more focus be put on said learning method in order to increase the speed and efficiency of learning, particularly in children learners. the anglolingo mobile game is available for android devices in the google play store. literature cited arikan, a., yolageldili, g. (2011). effectiveness of using games in teaching grammar to young learners. elementary education online, 10(1). retrieved from http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr/vol10say1/v10s1m18.pdf 191 international peer reviewed journal baleghizadeh s., oladrostam e. (2011). the effect of mobile assisted language learning (mall) on grammatical accuracy of efl students. (n.d.). retrieved january 14, 2017 from http://mextesol.net/journal/index. php?page=journal&id_article=50 basal a., yilmaz s., tanriverdi a., and sari l. (2016). effectiveness of mobile applications in vocabulary teaching. retrieved from https://eric. ed.gov/?id=ej1105763 enders, b., & kapp, k. (2013). gamification, games, and learning: what managers and practitioners need to know. california: the elearning guild. goo.gl/uyaarx frohberg, d., goth, c., & schwabe, g. 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(2005), mobile learning with a mobile game: design and motivational effects. journal of computer assisted learning, 21: 204– 216. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2005.00128.x the most spoken languages worldwide (speakers and native speaker in millions). (2013). retrieved january 14, 2017. retrieved from https://www. statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/ thomson, a. j., & martinet, a. v. (1981). a practical english grammar: exercises 1. oxford: oxford university press. retrieved january 14, 2017 from goo.gl/ cak7jq 193 international peer reviewed journal various words (2015). in merriam-webster.com. retrieved december 15, 2015, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary wong, l. h., & looi, c. k. (2011). what seams do we remove in mobile assisted seamless learning? a critical review of the literature. computers & education, 57, 2364e2381. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.06.007 108 jpair multidisciplinary research abstract critical thinking is one of the 21st century skills involved in education and is required of students nowadays. the study investigated the critical thinking skills of junior high school students from three selected public schools in region 3, luzon, philippines. infusion of the critical thinking in chemistry through selected teaching strategies of inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture methods. ceu-lopez critical thinking skills test (2012) with a reliability test value of 0.87 was used to measure the students’ critical thinking skill levels. triangulation of inquiry-based teaching, problem solving, and collaborative teaching methods was used as an intervention to determine the enhancement of the respondents’ critical thinking skills and academic performance. gathered data were processed statistically through descriptive and inferential tests. results revealed that there is a significant difference in the critical thinking skill levels of junior high school students in chemistry. the critical thinking skill levels of the student respondents were highly comparable with respect on their academic performance in chemistry. the students demonstrated good knowledge, attitude and performance in chemistry after the infusion of the critical thinking approach in the intervention. the different teaching strategies utilized in the research were infusion of the critical thinking in chemistry through selected teaching strategies eleanor c. reyes http://orcid.org 0000-0002-1457-0341 mecreyes@ceu.edu.ph centro escolar university graduate school manila, philippines vol. 29 · july 2017 print issn 2012-3981 • online issn 2244-0445 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v29i1.517 journal impact: h index = 3 from publish or perish jpair multidisciplinary research is produced by pair, an iso 9001:2008 qms certified by aja registrars, inc. 109 international peer reviewed journal applicable in the enhancement of the critical thinking skills of the junior high school students in chemistry. keywords — pedagogy, triangulation, critical thinking, infusion, inquirybased teaching, problem solving, collaborative method, philippines introduction gaps in the learning abilities of the junior high school students in chemistry should be determined through experential learning. in any classroom activities, critical thinking should be taught to the students. alwehaibi (2011), defined critical thinking as a philosophical and practical logical perception, knowledge, precision, and decision to value an idea or theory. critical thinking skills could be developed and enhanced by the infusion of critical thinking through different teaching strategies. the study involved the exploitation of the inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture teaching strategies in the infusion of the critical thinking. the researcher chose the study to determine the implications of the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. in science education, students are taught to think critically, to know the different skills, and learn how to adapt and survive in the academic environment. alwehaibi (2011) recognized that critical thinking is an essential competency that plays a significant role in shaping the way students learn and think in the new information age. according to fleming (2010), to become a critical thinker, one must develop a few skills: recognize assumptions, process information honestly, recognize a generalization, evaluate old information and ideas, produce new ideas, analyze a problem, use precise vocabulary, manage emotions, and judge sources. the research involved the enhancement of the critical thinking skills and academic performance of the junior high school students in chemistry though inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture method. the study assumed first that there is a significant difference in the critical thinking skill levels of the junior high school students in chemistry. second, that there is a significant difference on the effect of the infusion of the critical thinking using the inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture teaching methods as teaching strategies utilized in the concepts of chemistry. triangulation method of the inquiry-based, problem solving, and collaborative teaching strategies was used to infuse the critical thinking into the 110 jpair multidisciplinary research concepts of chemistry. questionnaires on the inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture instructional models were validated by three (3) critical thinking experts, five (5) science educators, and ten (10) high school students who are not involved in the research. this validation of the instrument determined the content validity of the instructional materials used in the study. instructional materials were used in the teaching strategies to determine the effects of the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. group respondents teaching method x, o1a,b,c (x1, x2, x3) type of school where the instructional material model 1, 2, and three were used as the teaching strategies. y, 01-a, b, c (x4) type of school where the lecture method model 4 was used as the teaching strategy. figure 1. population sampling diagram nonpurposive population sampling was used in the population sampling were: f % class 1inquiry-based method x,01 ax1, x,01 bx1, x,01 cx1 69 17.51 class 2problem-solving method x,01 ax2, x,01 bx2, x,01 cx2 99 25.13 class 3collaborative method x,01 ax3, x,01 bx3, x,01 cx3 115 29.19 class 4lecture method y,01 ax4, y,01 bx4, y,01 cx4 111 28.17 total 394 100.00 population sampling (non-purposive sampling) four homogenous groups junior high school students in chemistry from public schools in region 3 (bulacan, pampanga, and zambales) 111 international peer reviewed journal there are almost equal in the percentage value of the abovementioned classes (1-4) of the respondents. the data signify that the participants are comparable when grouped according to classes. in the classes of 1-4, inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture methods were used in the intervention. triangulation of the aforementioned teaching strategies was applied in the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. objective of the study the study aimed to determine the effects of the infusion of critical thinking in chemistry through inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture teaching methods. critical thinking skills and academic performance of the junior high school students in the selected schools of region 3, philippines were evaluated. the implication of the infusion of the critical thinking to science education is established by knowing the learning gaps of the junior high school students in chemistry. methodology the study is a quasi-experimental design which focused on the infusion of critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry by using inquiry-based teaching, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture method as the teaching approaches. three hundred ninety-four (394) student respondents from the selected public high school of bulacan, pampanga, and zambales were used to determine the effects of the infusion of the critical thinking using the aforementioned teaching strategies. validated instrument for the respondents’ perception on the criteria of meeting the standard of a good teaching strategy is administered. the critical thinking skills levels of the students were investigated using the ceu-lopez critical thinking skills test (2012) in which the “pre-test” was determined. the students were exposed using the inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture teaching method in which the critical thinking is infused into the concepts of chemistry. thus, after the intervention, “post test” was administered to determine the effects of the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. the validated questionnaires with a reliabilty test-chronbach alpha value of 0.78 were used to evaluate the content validity of the instructional models of inquiry-based, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture teaching methods. concept 1 (boyle’s law) and concept 2 (colligative 112 jpair multidisciplinary research properties of water solutions) in chemistry were used in the process of the intervention. the criteria of a good teaching strategy and content validity of the instructional models employed in this study were evaluated. this undertaking consists of informed consent and clearance from the ethics review board of the ceu institutional ethics and review committee (ierc) as approved by the committee dated september 7, 2015. results and discussion junior high school respondents’ profile according to age the results showed that the most number of the student respondents are between the ages of 17 and 18 with a percentage value of 41.37 % and 49.49 %, respectively. the highest frequency of the respondents is from the age of 18 while the second highest is at the age of 17. junior high school students of the selected schools in region 3 were at the ages of 17 and 18, but there are some at ages 16, 19, 20 and 20 above. this implies that most number of the junior high school students in selected areas of bulacan, pampanga, and zambales is between the ages of 17 and 18. at the age of 19, there are 24 respondents with a 6.09 % value. the ages 16, 20, and 20 above are with the least number of frequency and with a % value of 1.78, 0.76, and 0.51 respectively. there is no significant difference before and after the infusion of the critical thinking of junior high school students in chemistry when grouped according to age. junior high school respondents’ profile according to gender the results revealed that there are more female than male of the respondents in this study. two hundred forty-three (243) or 61.68% are female as compared with one hundred fifty-one (151), or 38.32 % are male. this implies that female is almost two-thirds of the total respondents. it was found out that the junior high school students used as participants of this study are comparable when grouped according to gender. tamayo, tayao, lopez and mangalile (2014) concluded in their study that there is no significant difference in the sexual category of the freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior students of cmt ceu malolos. the profile of the junior high school students when grouped according to classes is needed to determine the number of the participants in each class where the exploitation of the different teaching strategy is used. for class 1, 2, 3, and 4 pseudosononyms is used to identify the different teaching strategies of inquirybased, problem-solving, collaborative, and lecture method. 113 international peer reviewed journal table 1. junior high school participants’ critical thinking skill levels utilizing (inquiry-based teaching, problem-solving method, collaborative, and lecture method) type of classes score level of critical thinking       interpretation % % value value x,01-class 1 (pre-test)   (post-test)   ax1, bx1, cx1 0 0 0 0 master thinker 3 3 4 5 advanced thinker inquiry-based method  0 0 0 0 practicing thinker 20 23 21 24 beginning thinker 40 46 46 53 challenged thinker 24 28 16 18 unreflective thinker  total 87 100 87 100   x,01-class 2 ax2, bx2, cx2 1 1 1 1 master thinker 32 32 34 34 advanced thinker problem solving 0 0 1 1 practicing thinker method 33 33 31 31 beginning thinker 32 32 21 21 challenged thinker 2 2 10 10 unreflective thinker  total 100 100 100 100 x,01-class 3 ax3, bx3, cx3  0 0 0 0 master thinker 29 2 38 26 advanced thinker collaborative 0 0 0 0 practicing thinker method  50 34 45 31 beginning thinker 33 23 29 2 challenged thinker 33 23 33 23 unreflective thinker  total 145 82 145 82   ax4, bx4, cx4  21 19 16 14 master thinker 36 32 36 32 advanced thinker lecture method  28 25 34 31 practicing thinker 13 12 0 0 beginning thinker 13 12 10 9 challenged thinker 0 0 15 14 unreflective thinker total 111 100 111 100   114 jpair multidisciplinary research the results reveal that there is an increase in the number of the advanced thinker and challenged thinker after the infusion was done by using the inquirybased teaching method. however, the data from table 6 for x,01 ax1; x,01 ax2; and x,01 ax3 with a t-test value of 2, -1, and -1 respectively. this implies that there is no significant difference in the level of the critical thinking skills of the respondents after the infusion using the inquiry-based teaching method. jones (2013) confirmed that by stimulating a student’s reasoning abilities through the inquiry-based learning, where the students were motivated by the teachers to discover, define a specific concept, acquire knowledge, and make significant observations based on the interpretation of the relevant data and information. however, cottrell (2011) asserted “giving difficult messages in a way other people could accept an important aspect of critical evaluation. in problem solving method as shown in table 1, there is an increase in the number of the advanced thinkers and master thinkers. however, results in table 4 imply that there is no significant difference in the level of the critical thinking skills of the junior high school students since the t-test value is 1, 1.7, and 0.9 for x,01 bx1; x,01 bx2; and x,01 bx3 respectively using the aforementioned teaching method. through this, critical thinking encompasses a set of skills including the ability to analyze problems, set information that probes into relevant evidence and figures out fallacious arguments in educational settings as confirms by birjandi and bagherkazemi (2012). the results imply that problem solving method was a good teaching strategy to be used in the infusion of the critical thinking in chemistry. paul and elder (2010) cited that a well cultivated critical thinker, raises vital questions and problems, gathers and assesses relevant information, uses abstract ideas, and draws conclusions from a valid data. the assumptions, implications, and practical assesments are needed to find solutions to complex problems. the result exposed that there is an increase in the number of the advanced thinkers in the infusion of the critical thinking where the collaborative method was exploited. data from table 3 shows that t-test value of 2.1, -3 and 2.4 for x,01 ax3; x,01 bx3; and x,01 cx3 respectively. this means that there is a significant difference in the level of the critical thinking skills of the respondents using the collaborative method. the result confirms to the study of l. snyder and m. snyder, (2008) that collaborative learning and activities could also develop the student critical thinking skills. the intellectual challenge of the students with the assessment techniques could enhance the critical thinking skills of the students. this implies that collaborative method is one of the different good teaching 115 international peer reviewed journal strategies that could be utilized in the infusion of the critical thinking. the findings confirm from the study of sabiru, dahir yusuf (2014) that the students where the collaborative teaching method was exploited significantly enhanced the critical thinking skills and the anxiety was found to be low as compared with the lecture method. based on the findings, the recommendations were given that teachers should always use collaborative teaching method in chemistry concepts the result shows that there is an increase in the number of the practicing thinker after the intervention and the infusion of the critical thinking in which the lecture method was used. however, the results show that the t-test value for y,01 ax4; y,01 bx4; and y,01 cx4 is 1, 0, and 0.7 respectively. this means that there is no significant difference in the critical thinking skill levels of junior high school students using the lecture teaching method. the results implied that lecture method is not the appropriate teaching method to be used in the infusion of the critical thinking in chemistry. snodgrass, (2011) on the other hand, revealed that it is important to have a curriculum with new classroom activities involving the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. table 2. comparison between the critical thinking skill levels of the junior high school participants and the teaching strategy teaching strategy (collaborative) x/sd pre-test post test t-test v.i. x,01 ax3 x 17 20 2.1 sig.ho (rejected) sd 7 6.9 x,01 bx3 x 26 24 -3 sig.-ho (rejected) sd 4.7 4.2 x,01 cx3 x 24 27 2.4 sig. ho (rejected) sd 3.9 5.6 @ 0.05 level of significance critical value = 2.021 the finding implies that inquiry-based, problem-solving and the lecture method have no effect on the enhancement of the critical thinking skills after the infusion and intervention were done. moreover, in the classes of x,01 ax3; x,01 bx3; and x,01 cx3 exemplified that in the t-test value of 2.1, -3, and 2.4 respectively, there were significant differences between the critical thinking skill levels in the collaborative teaching method. the collaborative teaching strategy exploited in the research study was applicable in the infusion of the critical thinking skills of the junior high school students in chemistry. it could 116 jpair multidisciplinary research be effective teaching strategy to be employed to enhance the critical thinking skills of the junior high school students into the concepts of chemistry. from the study of sabiru (2014), it confirms that there is a significant difference found when chemistry students were exposed to collaborative teaching method as compared with performance of chemistry students taught with lecture method of instruction. those students taught using collaborative learning tend to achieve significantly higher as compared with those taught using lecture method. table 3. comparison between the teaching strategies and academic performance of the junior high school participants teaching strategies mean value sd t-test value v.i. (pre-test) (post test) (pre-test) (post test) inquirybased (x,01-x1) x,01 ax1 88.5 90.8 2.638 3.300 -3.302 s 1st group 0.685 2.263 x,01 bx1 91.1 92.2 1.324 1.704 2.726 s 2nd group 0.423 1.154 x,01 cx1 80.9 86.05 4.090 3.457 6.212 vs 3rd group 0.836 5.195 problem solving (x,01-x2) x,01 ax2 77.5 78.4 3.553 3.858 0.795 ns 1st group 1.094 0.870 x,01 bx2 87.5 89.8 2.451 2.386 -3.970 s 0.596 2nd group 2.363 x,01 cx2 80.8 85.2 2.056 2.710 8.264 vs 3rd group 0.531 4.390 collaborative (x,01-x3) x,01 ax3 77.0 78.4 2.987 3.477 1.584 ns 117 international peer reviewed journal 1st group 0.899 1.423 x,01 bx3 92.9 94.1 1.766 2.181 2.704 s 2nd group 0.444 -1.2 x,01 cx3 87.5 89.8 2.451 2.386 -4.145 s 3rd group 0.570 2.363 lecture method (x,01-x4) y,01 ax4 76.7 78 2.453 3.055 1.524 ns 1st group 0.835 1.273 y,01 bx4 82.8 82.9 2.784 4.064 0.263 ns 2nd group 0.799 0.210 y,01 cx4 80.0 83.2 4.164 4.463 2.994 s 3rd group 1.062 3.181 total @ 0.05 level of significance critical value = 2.021* legend: 1st group – first public school (bulacan) 2nd groupsecond public school (pampanga) 3rd groupthird public school (zambales) the results reveal that there is a very significant difference in the academic performance of the 3rd group of the participants employing the inquiry-based and problem-solving teaching methods. however, there is a significant difference in the academic performance utilizing the inquiry-based teaching method for the 1st and 2nd groups; problem-solving method for the 2nd group; collaborative method for the 2nd and 3rd groups; and lecture method for the 3rd group. there is no significant difference in the academic performance using the problem solving and collaborative method for the 1st group; and lecture method for the 1st and 2nd groups @ 0.05 level of significance. findings show that the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry could enhance the critical thinking skill levels and increase the 118 jpair multidisciplinary research academic performance of the junior high school students. moreover, according to snyder et al. (2008), rote memorization and lecture method could not be used in teaching the critical thinking to the students. other strategies in teaching such as focusing instruction and assessment techniques could be used to teach the student learners to think critically. the study of adalikwu, and lorkpilgh (2013) revealed that students taught with instructional materials performed significantly high in their academic performance as compared with those educated without the instructional materials. the use of the instructional materials improved the students’ understanding of the concepts resulting to a high academic performance. the use of the instructional materials is highly recommended for the teachers to be used in teaching-learning chemistry. table 4. junior high school participants’ perception of the extent of meeting the criteria of a good teaching strategy for concept 1 and concept 2 mean std. deviation t-value v.i. inquiry-based method (x,01-x1) concept 1 3.318 .348 -7.115 vs concept 2 3.384 .314 problem solving method concept 1 3.399 .314 -3.786 vs (x,01-x2) concept 2 3.450 .284 collaborative method concept 1 3.374 .298 -2.051 s (x,01-x3) concept 2 3.408 .293 lecture method (x,01-x4) concept 1 3.291 .375 -2.616 s concept 2 3.319 .322 table 4 shows that the t-test value of -7.115 and -3.786 @ 0.01 level of significance for the inquiry-based and problem solving teaching method that there is a very significant difference before and after the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. moreover, the t-test value of -2.051 and -2.616 @ 0.05 level of significance for the collaborative and lecture method imply that there is a significant difference after the intervention. smith and szymanski, 119 international peer reviewed journal (2013) confirm that the establishment of professional learning communities allows educators to think critically about the methods they are using to teach, and is a good starting point for ideas about inclusion of critical thinking skills in the classroom. the results imply that the aforementioned teaching strategies used in the infusion of the critical thinking perceived by the student respondents could be the best to exploit in the intervention. inquiry-based teaching and problem solving methods could be the best teaching strategies to use in the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. table 5. junior high school participants’ perception of the extent of meeting the criteria for the content validity of teaching strategies for concept 1 and 2 aspects of critical thinking pre-test post test mean s.d. v.i. mean s.d. v.i. analyzing 3.35 .417 stronglyagree 3.38 .397 strongly agree applying standards 3.28 .398 stronglyagree 3.29 .397 strongly agree discriminating 2.94 .582 stronglyagree 3.01 .522 agree information setting 3.38 .405 stronglyagree 3.38 .404 strongly agree logical reasoning 3.29 .426 stronglyagree 3.32 .414 strongly agree predicting 3.21 .497 agree 3.24 .467 agree transforming knowledge 3.35 .451 strongly agree 3.35 .351 strongly agree 3.26 .308 stronglyagree 3.28 .276 strongly agree table 5 shows that junior high school students strongly agree with respect on analyzing, applying standards, information setting, logical reasoning, and transforming knowledge and agree on discriminating, and predicting aspects for concept 1 (boyle’s law) and concept 2 (colligative properties of water solutions) exploited in the infusion of critical thinking. this signify that the teaching strategies used in the intervention could enhance the critical thinking skills of the students. inquiry-based teaching, problem solving, collaborative, and lecture method that utilized in the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry met the criteria of a good standard teaching strategy. halvorsen, (2005) posited that the most experienced teachers recognize that 120 jpair multidisciplinary research the more information about the personal interests of the students, the more appropriate and engaging the classes will become. table 9 shows that junior high school students strongly agree that the two concepts in chemistry exploited in the infusion of critical thinking with respect on analyzing, applying standards, discriminating, information. vantassel-baska, bracken, feng, and brown (2009), mccollister and sayler (2010), and tsai, chen, h. chang and w. chang (2013) confirms that critical thinking could be infused in lessons throughout all disciplines by exploiting in-depth questioning and evaluation of data and information. these types of activities could be done in any educational setting with the alternative styles of assessment. conclusions science educators have adequate teaching abilities and experiences that could help the junior high school students in some selected public schools in region 3 to enhance their critical thinking skills in chemistry. the learning gaps of the junior high school students should be assessed by the teachers to develop their critical thinking skills and improve their academic performance. the learning through experience of the students is the basis for the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. through this, science educators could determine the effects of the critical thinking and its implications to science education. in this undertaking, it was found out that there is no significant difference between the critical thinking skills and the respondents’ profile: age and gender before and after the interventions were done. the research found out that through collaborative teaching method, critical thinking skills of the student participants were significantly enhanced. moreover, there is a significant difference between the critical thinking skill levels and the academic performance of the junior high school students in chemistry in some public schools in bulacan, pampanga, and zambales of region 3, philippines. the study determined the implications of the infusion of the critical thinking in chemistry through the appropriate teaching strategies. infusion of the critical thinking is one of the important activities in the teaching-learning components of education. 121 international peer reviewed journal translational research the critical thinking should be infused into the different classroom activities to enhance the level of the critical thinking skills of the students. critical thinking skills of the students could be enhanced using other teaching strategies and methodologies. the research could be a basis for a proposed instructional model that could be utilize in the infusion of critical thinking in teaching chemistry concepts. acknowledgement a sincerest gratitude to dr. erna v. yabut and dr. marcos v. lopez, for the ceu-lopez critical thinking skill test (2012) instrument tool. to dir. malcolm s. garma, ceso v, officer-in -charge of deped.region 3, for the approval and endorsement of this undertaking to the school heads. to the principals and teachers of the selected high schools in bulacan, pampanga, and zambales, for the appropriate schedule of the classes during the intervention. to junior high school students, for participating in the infusion of the critical thinking into the concepts of chemistry. finally, to dr. zenaida b. los banos, dr. edna liza m. victoria, dr. avelina raqueno, dr. elmar malvar, and prof. erlina mendoza, for sharing their expertise in the completion of this research. literature cited adalikwu, s. a., & iorkpilgh, i. t. 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(2014), “ a cross-sectional analysis on the level of critical thinking skills of students in the college of management and technology at ceu malolos”. international journal of scientific and research publications, volume 4. retrieved from http://www. ijsrp.org/research-paper-0514/ijsrp-p29124.pdf tsai, p. y., chen, s., chang, h. p., & chang, w. h. (2013). effects of prompting critical reading of science news on seventh graders’ 124 jpair multidisciplinary research cognitive achievement. international journal of environmental and science education, 8(1), 85-107. 8(1), 85-107 doi:, 10.1002/tea.20385. vantassel-baska, j., bracken, b., feng, a., & brown, e. (2009). a longitudinal study of enhancing critical thinking and reading comprehension in title i classrooms.  journal for the education of the gifted,  33(1), 7-37. retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016235320903300102 36 jpair multidisciplinary research talangkang pag-iisip: an exposé of its positivity in the lens of students in a selected university in baguio city william jo se m. billote http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4762-7551 williamjosebillote@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines gael ann g. de sagon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1031-7573 gaelanndesagon@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes marie fe e. escoto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4631-3398 mariefeescoto@gmail.com batanes state college basco, batanes, philippines arnel d. pableo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2965-0993 arnel.pableo@live.com batanes state college basco, batanes ryan g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-5194 ryangutierrezponce@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.715 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 mailto:gaelanndesagon@gmail.com mailto:arnel.pableo@live.com 37 international peer reviewed journal trixie elaine g. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-1747 elaineonearth@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines joan m. quibal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5208-7705 jquibal75@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines . aljon quiloan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2251-2993 quiloanaljon20@gmail.com saint dominic college of batanes, inc. basco, batanes, philippines mark anthony s. comaya http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8121-1798 comayamarkanthony@gmail.com department of education – division of batanes basco, batanes, philippines jessamine marie b. ponce http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1905-6173 shineyozasko@gmail.com department of education – division of batanes basco, batanes, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract crab mentality is one of the common universal traits among many people. it is a behavior wherein a person feels envious or jealous of the success, developments, achievements, and accomplishments of others. some people who could not cope this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:comayamarkanthony@gmail.com mailto:shineyozasko@gmail.com 38 jpair multidisciplinary research with their enviousness and jealousy may lead to committing actions that may deal negative impacts on the integrity, credibility, and social status of the person they are envious of, just to name a few. although this may be universal and popular among many people, the difference lies on how this feeling is regulated and handled or managed by each individual. by seeing it as an admiration that will motivate them to become better individuals, certain people can turn this into something positive. this study aimed to expose the positive aspects and evaluate the source of crab mentality of fifteen (15) selected special education students in a selected university in baguio city, philippines. this sought to seek positive circumstances of crab mentality manifested by the students at home and in school. this is to change the perception of people that the crab mentality has only negative aspects as it also has good and positive attributes. furthermore, this study will help professionals understand the positivist approach of crab mentality. this study employed pagtatanong-tanong, a filipino psychology research method, which is an indigenous way of collecting or gathering data – leading to a case study. the study conducted showed that the positive sides of the crab mentality being manifested at home and school lead to various factors. keywords — psychology, crab mentality, qualitative research, baguio city, philippines introduction the debate about crab mentality began back in the colonial period when the country was still a spanish colony. it was a product of pride and envy, rising between filipino-filipino and spaniards-filipino, respectively. spanish officials were proud of themselves and saw filipinos as a threat, “once an indio, always an indio,” who were given some position on the government. although for the eyes of the spanish colonizers, the filipinos themselves wanted to be more dominant than their fellowmen. this behavior was observed when the locals tried to craft stories and lies to the astonishment of their brethren. it is possible to see the colonial influence of actions until today, where it can be proven in every corner of the world. however, until filipino psychology studies were born at the beginning of the 20th century, no comprehensive research was done concerning the matter. according to mendoza (2007), the birth of filipino psychology is significant in the studies about local behaviors such as crab mentality. sikolohiyang pilipino (sp) is another platform and an alternative approach practiced by western 39 international peer reviewed journal methods to crab mentality. in collaboration with pilipinolohiya and pantayong pananaw, most studies agree that sp has generated the most cultured and thorough formulation of alternative theorizing in psychology and other social sciences. the focus is on traditional filipino knowledge, opinions, and principles recovered by western social sciences from misinterpretations and defamation. the values disregarded as ‘filipino traits’ by psychology under the western approach were pakikisama (roughly, smooth interpersonal relationship), bahala na (roughly, i leave everything to god or fate), crab mentality, utang na loob (roughly, sense of indebtedness), hiya (roughly, bashfulness or absence of confidence). many more, needed radically different (emic) conceptual schemes or theoretical lenses from which to view them (paredes-canilao & babaran-diaz, 2013). crab mentality is a behavior pattern in which a person attempts to discredit other people who display better performance than himself. this concept originates from the observation of crabs in the bucket of a fisherman (aydin & oğuzhan, 2019; spacey, 2015). crabs in a bucket can easily escape one at a time from the bucket, but instead of doing so, as one rises to the top, they drag each other down – thereby ensuring their mutual demise. this is similar to a person’s actions that diminish or brings down someone else who achieves or is about to achieve more success than their own. typically, this behavior is associated with any species of crab, including some of the world’s most potent crabs. a study at harvard university, for instance, suggests that this behavior can be easily identified by studying the lives of hermit crabs. this behavior may, however, also be correlated with humans. there is a culture in one of the countries in this world that demonstrates this form of action; the philippines. it is possible to accept the crab mentality as envy or hate (aydin & oğuzhan, 2019; spacey, 2015). this is not an unusual characteristic; it is known as one of many people’s typical bad habits. moreover, the crab mentality is a unique attitude of the filipino society similar to the crabs’ actions in a bucket. when a crab tries to climb its way up, the others attempt to pull it back down. this mentality is said to be shortsighted thinking that runs along the lines of “if i can’t have it, you can’t either” (cruz, n.d.). many filipinos perceive it as a negative behavior because it can be described in layman terms as “naghihilaan pababa” (pulling each other down). although crab mentality is a unique attitude to filipinos, there is a concept similar to this behavior known as kiasuism, which is a behavior that is common among singaporeans. this is characterized by an impulsive willingness (cruz, n.d.), hyper-competitiveness, and an aggressive desire to win to get ahead of 40 jpair multidisciplinary research others (yap, 2013; hwang, ang, & francesco, 2002). further, a study conducted by ho, ang, loh, and ng (1998) shows that kiasuism is not unique to singapore and may be exhibited by people globally. furthermore, crab mentality can be viewed as a pride-motivated behavior, and one of the reasons this behavior exists in philippine society is jealousy and envy. usually, when someone has been successful, some individuals are jealous and envious of the achievements they have earned through hard work, either by legal or illegal means. these envious individuals will do anything to bring the person down, even at a high cost. it usually conjures melancholic backbiting images, trampling each other down, and even jolting (cruz, n.d.). there is always someone who still sees others as competition and does not want to see them flourish in their expertise. although the behavior has most of its negative traits and has been studied by different academies, it is badly perceived by society. common people tend to avoid people with this kind of trait because it can affect them as well. they also exhibit positive and negative outcomes in each country’s social and political environment. according to cruz (n.d.), it was believed that each country’s respective government and approach plays an essential role in the development and prevalence of such mentalities. even in politics, however, this conduct is so rampant. expect the opposition to put a negative spin on it for all that the administration does. those not in the team would fervently hope that it will not be a success any time a leader heads out to do something. although crab mentality is perceived by many as negative behavior, it also has positive attributes that can benefit people who have this kind of mindset. it always reminds the person to be on guard always and be aware of the people surrounding them. they must also choose trustworthy individuals, either from the family, the circle of friends, or officemates. it goes to say that filipinos have a collective aspiration and goal for equality and justice. filipinos are against inequality and prefer everyone to be of equal rights and status. experts also say that people who are exposed to crab mentality developed virtues of humility and resilience. climbing for wealth and success may be an uphill battle for most filipinos, resulting in improved resiliency upon survival. they become generous in expressing care and concern for those still struggling to move their way up (cruz, n.d.). in studying crab mentality, it is vital to observe the different signs or features of the behavior. a pot of crabs refers to a metaphor. the crabs could easily escape from the pot individually. still, they catch each other in a futile competition 41 international peer reviewed journal for “king of the hill” that prevents any from escaping and ensures their mutual demise. the analogy in human behavior is that, out of jealousy, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, members of a group will always try to “pull down” (negate or minimize the value of ) any member who achieves success above others. . framework there are numerous approaches to study crab mentality in the field of filipino psychology. for instance, sobritchea in 2002 found the strategies for collecting information suggested by sikolohiyang pilipino beneficial for feminist ethnography, ranging from pagmamasid (observation), pakikiramdam (feeling your way through), pakikilahok (participation), pagtatanong-tanong (informal interview), pakikipagkuwentuhan (informal conversation), and samasamang talakayan (focus group discussion). notably, these multi-level data collection techniques not only utilize the sense of sight but the other senses as well. depending on the degree of relationship and the sensitivity of data sought, not just the senses but various levels of contact are explored. the use of indigenous language for indigenous researchers is, of course, instantly disarming and nonthreatening (paredes-canilao & babaran-diaz, 2013). due to the usage of different research methods, there is a significant increase in research papers and crab mentality discussions using the filipino psychology approach. different conceptualizations are formed, and they are essential to further develop this research as excellent literature for further studies. crab mentality is always a part of filipino culture and cannot simply just remove from the philippine social system. the study of crab mentality is crucial not only for psychology students but also for other social scientists to develop adequate studies about it. while the usual debate within the filipino community about crab mentality focuses on the group and how the rest of the group can only behave jealously, there is another logical way to conceptualize the phenomenon, which is why they are trying to “bring others down.” the individual who is the “victim” or target of crab mentality may be a person who the rest of the community considers to be someone who is no longer has “utang na loob” (debt of gratitude) or “pakikisama” (comradeship). people are not against success. when they see other’s success, they are usually proud. such desire for pride and satisfaction for others’ success are possible reasons why it is so common for many filipinos to say that so and so of the celebrity or stature is of filipino descent. therefore, when community members start to see someone who used to be lost (if not denied) their connection 42 jpair multidisciplinary research to the filipino culture, the crab mentality will occur. someone will no longer help out, participating, contributing, or attending some kind of meetings, gatherings, activities, or celebrations because of any success. someone who may have lost their bayanihan spirit (a spirit of civic unity and cooperation among filipinos). someone who can be seen now as one who believes that they are the best than the rest. someone who can now differentiate themselves from the rest, or distinguish themselves from the rest. someone who can now be seen as an individual who has no “utang na loob” (debt of gratitude) or “pakikisama” (comradeship). this behavior can be observed in everyone. some of these behaviors may not be easily recognized until another individual informs them that what they have done is a form of crab mentality. the study must understand how to perceive the attitude of the crab mentality because, as mentioned above, it may occur in various styles and types. it can be generated because of the comprehensive research during the american colonization in the philippines. it has been discovered after several studies that there are positive and negative conceptualizations of crab mentality. likely, those who are good may lose or dilute their sense of comradeship, which is why the rest of society marginalizes or finds them hostile. how does the crab mentality develop into a filipino identity? crab mentality can be observed in any country, but it is such a big deal in the philippines. however, it is crucial to identify the traits that significantly affect the identity of each filipino individual. from the initial works of foreign scholars training, their western colonial disciplinary lenses on what they presumed to be “the” indigenous culture of filipinos, filipino (in the singular) “identity” was constructed in terms of a constellation of traits. these traits revolved around specific surface values that had mostly to do with preserving “face” or what has been labeled the “sir syndrome” (i.e., the penchant for “smooth interpersonal relationships”). identified as its concomitant trilogy of values are utang na loob (roughly, a debt of gratitude), pakikisama (getting along), and hiya (shame). accompanying this trilogy of values is a set of loose negative trait attributions: the habit of mañana (chronic procrastination), ningas cogon (good starters, poor finishers like the short blaze of cogon grass), bahala na (fatalism), and talangka mentality (“crab mentality,” i.e., the tendency to pull down those who strive to be better). for decades, such identity constructs were generally accepted and used in textbooks to teach filipinos about themselves (mendoza, 2007). increased discussion about the humanization of filipinos was given into consideration. studying crab mentality makes the researchers eager to determine how this behavior affects each individual in work, school, or even at 43 international peer reviewed journal home. “talangka” or crab mentality became a call for community members to acknowledge their indebtedness to others and to work for the good of the entire community and not just for themselves. but while such reinterpretations may have worked to “improve” filipino self-image somehow, the laundry list of traits remained mostly untouched, with the positive reinterpretations being mainly reactive (i.e., a kind of reverse stereotyping), leaving the old defining colonial framework intact (mendoza, 2007). there is, however, no real improvement in filipino humanization as a whole. the development of filipino psychology helps in reducing the gap in the filipino’s cultural characteristics and attitudes influenced by the western. filipino psychology revolves around the “kapwa” effect. kapwa is constructed both relationally and dialogically as the central filipino target value in real filipino school-home. the structural environmental sense of the word kapwa in the filipino systemic way of life is clarified by dr. virgilio enriquez. in his study, yacat (2013) mentioned enriquez, who explains that kapwa is very different from the english word “others.” kapwa is the unification of “self ” and “others” in filipino. the english “others” is focused on opposition to the “self ” and implies acceptance of the self as a distinct identity. kapwa, on the other hand, is the acceptance of a collective identity, an inward self-sharing with others. objectives of the study the study aimed to identify the source of crab mentality among students in a selected university in baguio city, philippines. further, this sought to seek positive circumstances of crab mentality manifested by the students at home and in school. this is to change the perception of people wherein they believe that crab mentality has only negative aspects. in line with this, this study also aims to expose the good and positive attributes of crab mentality. furthermore, this study will help professionals understand the positivist approach of crab mentality. thus, the researchers hope that the results of this study will help professionals in the field of psychology. methodology research design this study utilized a qualitative research design. specifically, it employed pagtatanong-tanong, a filipino psychology research method, leading to a case 44 jpair multidisciplinary research study. the researchers used purposive sampling. this means that they purposively selected respondents that were qualified to the criteria. the criteria entailed that: (1) the respondent must be a special education student and; (2) must have observed or manifested crab mentality – positive and negative. the researchers gathered data from fifteen (15) qualified respondents through the pagtatanongtanong method, which is an indigenous way of collecting or gathering data. the researchers believed that this was the best method to employ, being the most convenient method. research site the study was conducted in one of the universities in baguio city. . research participants the researchers gathered data from fifteen (15) qualified special education students from the different year levels of a selected university in baguio city. ethical considerations this research undertaking has been dedicated to the highest level of ethical conduct. to satisfy the ethical criteria established for this study, the researchers asked for the approval of the dean of teacher education. before the interview, the researchers clarified the study’s goals, the methodology, and the importance of the study. participants were also told of the confidentiality of the data collected, where they would remain anonymous. the researchers also asked the participants’ permission so they could take notes and record the interview audio. when the data was transcribed, the researchers communicated with the respondents and let them review the transcript, initial results, and the interpretation of the responses (billote & ponce, 2020). instrumentation two parts comprised the data gathering tool used in this study. consent form. this provided a brief background of the researchers, the objectives and significance of the study, and the respondent’s permission to participate voluntarily in the study. all of the respondents were given copies signed to prove that they agreed to participate in the study (billote et al., 2019). 45 international peer reviewed journal interview guide. this was used to gather important information from the respondents. the questions in the interview guide were related to the participants’ demographics and experiences of positive and negative crab mentality. results and discussion . below is the presentation of the gathered data and analysis. two topical areas emerged from the study: first, the positive instances where crab mentality is observed or experienced at home, and the positive instances where crab mentality is observed or experienced in school. the information in each topical area was then coded into themes. positive instances observed or experienced at home preservation on familial, social status. it is the position or rank of a person or group within the society or family. being the basic foundation of society, the family has its roles to be followed and considered. there is a hierarchy of roles for each family member. the family has an established social status that must be implemented so that integrity will be preserved. according to kapur (2018), the family contributes to granting social status to a person. wherever a person goes, based on the family he belongs to, he illustrates his identity. the family he belongs confers factors such as class, creed, race, religion, history, ethnicity, and nationality. a person’s primary goals are attaining good education and the sustainability of living conditions; he is obligated to work hard to achieve them. he enjoys all the support and assistance of the members of his family. the following selected responses of the respondents will prove their positive thoughts on safeguarding the social status of their family: “hindi naman sa pagmamalaki ay may kaya kami talaga sa buhay. parehas na retired teacher ang mga magulang ko kaya kumukuha ako ng education ngayon. may manggahan din kami sa pangasinan. gusto kong maging kasing successful nila para makamit ko din ang mga mithiin ko sa buhay. it is good that my parents are my greatest encourager in achieving all my dreams.” (“not to brag, but my family belongs in an upper middle class. my parents were both retired teachers; that’s why i am also pursuing 46 jpair multidisciplinary research the course bs in education. we also have mango farm located in pangasinan. i want to be successful in achieving my dreams in life. it is good that my parents are my greatest encourager in achieving all my dreams.”) “gusto ko rin maging tulad ng mga magulang ko. engineer ang papa ko at public accountant ang mama ko. mag-isa lang akong anak at ayaw kong mapahiya sila sa akin. sana kung ano narating nila sa buhay ay ganun din ako. idol ko sila pareho kaya gusto kong higitan pa kung ano sila at alam kong magiging proud sila sa akin balang araw. gusto ko na kung ano ang tingin kina mama at papa ng iba ay ganun din sa akin sa hinaharap. gusto ko ring tingalain ng iba.” (“i want to be just like my parents. my dad is an engineer, and my mom is a public accountant. i am the only child, and i don’t want to embarrass them. i hope that what they have achieved in life is the same for me. i idolize them both, so i want to surpass what they achieved, and i know that they will be proud of me someday. i want what others think about mom and dad is the same for me in the future. i also want to be idolized by others.”) “apat kaming magkakapatid at ako ang bunso. ako na lang ang pinagaaral nila papa at mama. gustong gusto kong makatapos ng pag-aaral para maging successful din ako tulad ng mga kapatid ko. ayaw kong mapahiya sa kanila. challenging at nakakatakot minsan kasi ang taas ng expectations nila sa akin. ayaw kong mapahiya ang aming pamilya sa mga family friends, kapitbahay at sa lahat ng mga nakakakilala sa amin.” (“we are four siblings, and i am the youngest. of us siblings, i am the only one who’s still studying. i want to finish my studies to become successful, just like my other siblings. i don’t want to disappoint them. with their expectations of me, it is quite challenging and scary. i don’t want to embarrass my family with family friends, neighbors, and all those who know us.”) implication: the responses are mostly preserving pride among the family. it is important for preserving the family’s social status because without pride, 47 international peer reviewed journal and the social status will cease to exist. the positive crab mentalit gives each family the ability to raise their level compared to other families. it may be like a competition, where each family will battle for who will be the best and will do anything to make others down; still, it does not need to be in an explicit way. parental and sibling role modeling. when it comes to the welfare and education of their children as a whole, parents take a critical role, as parents themselves are the ones to take care of the overall physical and intellectual development of their child before they become autonomous and ready to face the challenges of the community in which they live. parents are aware of the developmental tasks of their children. however, parents also need pedagogical knowledge of their children’s right to education (ceka & murati, 2016). most of the children tend to imitate their parent’s abilities and attitudes as they grow up. since most children are still in the development stage, they have already set their mindsets about their future. to name some of those responses are: “we are four siblings in our family. pangatlo ako sa apat na magkakapatid. all of us are with honors from elementary to high school. yong ate at kuya ko noong nagcollege ay dean’s lister at bilang 3rd year naman sa ngayon sa ste ay kasama ako sa top 10 ng mga nakapasok na dl. pursigido akong mag-aral dahil ayaw kong mapahiya sa mga ate at kuya ko. mataas ang expectation nila sa akin. ang maganda sa aming magkakapatid ay nagtutulungan kami sa lahat ng bagay. pag may assignment ako na hindi ko alam gawin ay they help me to work on it.” (“we are four siblings in our family. i am the third of four siblings. all of us are with honors from elementary to high school. my sister and brother were both dean’s lister during their college days, and as a third year student in ste, i am in the top 10 of dl. i persevere in my studies because i don’t want to get embarrassed in front of my brother and sister. they have high expectations of me. the good thing about our siblings is that we work together on everything. when i have an assignment that i do not know how to accomplish, they help me to work on it.”) “parating andiyan sila para sa akin kahit busy sa work si tatay at nanay. may time sila sa aming dalawa ng kakambal ko. kung nag-aaway kami ng 48 jpair multidisciplinary research kakambal ko ay andiyan sila to equate the situation. actually, most of the time di kami magkaintindihan ng kakambal ko because of sibling rivalry. nag-uunahan kami sa lahat pero lahat ng eto ay nagiging maayos dahil sa proper guidance ng aming mga magulang. sabi nila na instead na magaway kami eh dapat magtulungan kami.” (“my parents were always there for me despite being busy at work. they always have time for us. if my twin and i fight, they will be there to equate the situation. most of the time, my twin and i don’t understand each other because of sibling rivalry. we are always competitive with each other, but all this is going well with our parents’ proper guidance. they said that instead of fighting, we should help each other.”) “dati rati ang tingin ko sa sarili ko ay ako dapat ang parating tama kasi ako ang panganay pero hindi pala. minsan palpak ako at mas tama ang mga kapatid ko. ngayon ay okay naman na ako at tanggap ko naman na hindi sa lahat ng panahon ay tama ako. we all have our different roles to enlighten and to help one another.” (“i used to think to myself that i should always be right because i am the eldest but not. sometimes i am sloppy, and my siblings are right. now i am okay, and i accepted that i am not always right. we all have our different roles in enlightening and in helping one another.”) implication: the responses are heartwarming because they display how each family member is vital in shaping one’s behavior and life goals. the responses show only one thing: there will be an elder individual who will help each family member provide the direction each sibling must take in. in terms of positive crab mentality, it shaped the family by helping each other bring them up to the pedestal of life and never allow anyone to bring that individual down. give and take relationship among the family members. in every behavior that each one gives, he/she must receive something back in return. each family member must give and take responsibility and attitude to one another. it is like helping each other when the need arises. to quote some of those are the following: 49 international peer reviewed journal “pag may nagkamali sa amin ay nagtutulungan kami para ituwid ang mali ng isa. ganyan kami ka-intact sa aming pamilya.” (“when something goes wrong with us, we work together to correct someone’s mistake. that’s how intact we are in the family.”) “marunong ang pamilya namin na magtago ng sekreto ng aming pamilya. before others know about it, we solve it first. pag may kailangan ang isa, expect mo na lahat kami ay aware at ready to help each other.” (“my family knows how to keep family secrets. before others know about it, we solve it first. when one needs help, expect that we are all aware and ready to help each other.”) “lahat ay nakafocus sa bawat isa sa amin. lahat dapat ay alam kung ano ang dapat gawin kung may nangagailangan kung sino sa amin na magkakapatid o magkakapamilya.” (“everyone is focused on each of us. everyone should know what to do if someone needs help in our family.”) implication: the implication is that there are family issues that must be within the family itself. real positive crab mentality shines when every family member protects each other from other people who try to pull them down. each family member must focus on keeping their family intact, and by this implication, they will ensure that the family pride will be taken into serious consideration. positive instances observed or experienced in school caring instructors. how do instructors care for their students while they are inside the classroom? the teacher’s sense of obligation potentially affects their teaching activities, psychological well-being, and consequently, their students’ learning and success (lauermann, 2013). individuals know that teachers impart important lessons to the students, whether inside or outside the four corners of the classroom. caring for students is one of the responsibilities of instructors. they must ensure that no student will be left out among others in terms of grades and other academic goals. thus, there is a need to promote a sense of belonging by fostering the classroom as a family, having meaningful nonverbal communication, providing students with a positive outlook, and using proximity to help students (garza et al., 2014). 50 jpair multidisciplinary research the following are proofs that the respondents mentioned during the interview: . “sabi nga nila sa educ 105 na subject that the teacher is the authority in the classroom. oo nga sila ang authority pero based on my observation in ste eh, they have this authority pero kahit mataas ang mga teachers sa amin ay they know how to step down from their level. most of my teachers are intelligent, but they know how to care for us educ. students. para sa akin yan ang pinakamagandang katangian ng teacher.” (“they said in the subject educ 105 that the teacher is the authority in the classroom. yes, they have the authority, but based on my ste observation, teachers know how to lower their level. most of my teachers are intelligent but know how to care for us. for me, that’s the best quality of a teacher.”) “kahit alam mong may master’s degree at doctorate ang mga teachers namin dito sa ste eh ramdam mong sila ang nagsisilbing second parents namin. alam nilang mag-alaga at magturo ng mga students.” (“even though our teachers here at ste already have master’s degrees and doctorate degrees, i can still feel that they are our second parents. they know how to take care of and teach students.) “most of the time di ko maramdamang namemersonal sa amin ang aming mga teachers. magagaling sila at maaruga at yon ang gusto kong tularan. they know how to care for us kahit malayo na ang narating nila sa buhay.” (“most of the time, i can’t feel that our teachers were taking things personally. they are good and caring, and that is what i want to emulate. they know how to care for us despite their achievements in life.”) implication: most students have their favorite instructors and their reasons why they like them. according to narinasamy (2018), caring teachers play a vital role in instilling good values besides imparting knowledge and skills. the positive crab mentality, in this case, will come from the instructors themselves. pitting themselves against their fellow instructors, they must do anything to keep 51 international peer reviewed journal their students learning and earning high grades. at the same time, they must maintain their teaching quality with par or to a higher degree than their fellow instructors. it earns the sense of competition on who will be the best instructor in the student’s eyes. concern classmates. how does each student help their fellow students in their student life? each student has their own goals before facing the real world outside school. the lessons they learn must be at the same level as the other students. helping each other will be important in this theme. . sample of those are the following: “oo nga madaming grade conscious sa amin at kabilang na ko doon. pero ayaw ko namang maging intribidida sa mga kaklase ko. i am ready to tutor some of my classmates who cannot follow or understand the lesson.” (“yes, there are many people who are grade conscious, and i am one of them. but i do not want to be egotistical to my classmates. i am ready to tutor some of my classmates who cannot follow or understand the lesson.”) “i am vying for becoming a dl pero hindi ibig sabihin noon na magiging mayabang na ako at hindi ko na kilala ang mga classmates ko. pag may nagtanong sa akin kung paano, ano at bakit ay andiyan naman ako to help my classmates.” (“i am vying for becoming a dl, but that does not mean that i will be arrogant and no longer know my classmates. when someone asks me how what and why i am willing to help my classmates.”) “alam kong isa ako sa mga mahina sa ibang subjects lalo na sa math at english. ang napansin ko sa mga kaklase ko eh nagtutulungan kami sa lahat ng mga activities sa bawat subjects namin.” (“i’m aware that i am not that good in my subject, especially mathematics and english. [but] i noticed that we were all working together with my classmates in every activity we have in each subject.”) 52 jpair multidisciplinary research implication: most students nowadays are competitive. they want to aim for high grades to earn respect from other students. by doing this, however, they are inviting negativity to others simply because of jealousy. having a positive crab mentality in most students enables them to help each other by assisting students lagging. this will also enable them to encourage their fellow students to strive harder to aim for high grades. teachers as role models. teachers are the second parents of the students at school. how do they provide their roles to them? teachers have a huge responsibility to maintain the students’ excellent behavior because they are considered second parents. without the teachers, the students will have difficulty studying their lessons well and enhancing their good behaviors in an environment away from home. good teacher-student relationships can motivate students to strive harder as they will serve as an inspiration to do better (narinasamy, 2018; narinasamy & logeswaran, 2015). such is evident with the following responses of the respondents during the interview: “i want to follow the footsteps of my teacher, most especially mr. x and ms. y. mr. x is so talented while ms. y has a motherly image at very understanding talaga. madami pa silang alam sa sped na magagamit namin in the future. in terms of their achievements in life ay malayo na talaga ang narating nila sa buhay pero very humble parin sila at they are always there to help us. ramdam namin yon.” (“i want to follow the footsteps of my teachers most especially mr. x and ms. y. mr. x is so talented while ms. y has a motherly image at very understanding. they know a lot more about sped that we can use in the future. in terms of their achievements in life, they have come a long way, but still very humble and they are always there to help us. we feel that.”) “pansin ko na may collaborative effort ang mga teachers namin. may mga team teaching na nangyayari sa klase at minsan sila din ang guest lecturer namin sa ibang subjects namin lalo na pag alam mong forte yon nung teacher.” 53 international peer reviewed journal (“i noticed that my teachers have a collaborative effort. there is a team teaching in our class, and sometimes they are also our guest lecturers in our other subjects, especially if it is their specialization.”) “naoobserve ko na despite na iba-iba ang field of expertise ng aming mga teachers sa ste ay they know how to share it with one another lalong lalo na kami na mga students nila.” (“i observed that despite their differences in the field of expertise of our teachers in ste, they know how to share their knowledge, especially with their students.”) implication: teachers have different approaches to disciplining their students. they did not want their students to practice the crab mentality in school. in doing so, the teachers also develop their skills to boost the positive crab mentality, where they and the students aim for high standards in education. without the teachers, school life will be a chaotic one. different approaches in learning will be adopted and the quality of education becomes poor. the teachers need to provide everything they have to guide these students to succeed in life. schools are learning institutions, so they must follow the same principle as the home as an institution of development. conclusions the family is the basic institution of our society. it is where an individual learns and shapes their behaviors. each person learns different things depending on what strategy do parents want their child to do. the preservation of familial, social status discusses more the pride of each family, on how they look like, on how they look at success and relate it to their family. the parental and sibling role model, on the other hand, discuss the role of each one in preserving the pride of the whole, even at the expense sometimes of stepping other people’s minds or thoughts. this also ensures that each member has an essential role and never occupies other family member’s roles without permission. give and take among family members teaches them to accept the importance of preserving the family’s pride and integrity. as a family, it is always crucial to remember that it is an institution and not merely a group of individuals with a father, mother, and children. 54 jpair multidisciplinary research school is the second basic institution where individuals learn about the importance of studies and good manners. they treat teachers as second parents. even in schools, there are instances of having a positive crab mentality, just like what others have experienced at our homes. some instructors tend to care much about their students’ grades because they have to make them learn about certain school topics. their teaching methods have an impact on their desire and their jobs to teach. having concerned classmates, on the other hand, can be viewed positively or negatively. each student has their pride regarding high grades, which inspired other students to strive their best to do everything to make their grades high. other students are willing to help their less fortunate classmates regarding their studies. the importance of being studious can be reflected in teachers’ role—as role models to the students. parents also served as the second parents of the students in school. they set their expectations to the students on how they teach, how they must advise on the struggling of students, and become good examples to the students. the teachers are experienced enough to deal with the school situations, so it is crucial to have them as smart yet humbly respected. the majority of the students manifested a positive crab mentality at home and school. most of them are motivated to strive harder in their study to achieve their dreams and make every member of their family proud of them. the study also shows that having a positive crab mentality helps students to become more family-centered. they are focused on how to keep their family intact and helps each family member in any way. having an optimistic view of crab mentality, they ensure that every family member becomes prosperous in life. further, a positive crab mentality in school was also clearly manifested. these were affected by their favorite teachers/instructors, goal to attain high grades, and styles/methods of teaching. to demonstrate the positive attributes of the crab mentality among students, each factor must be observed. translational research the research can be used by the schools to assess the positive crab mentality of the students. this will help the teachers and parents to draw possible actions towards their children and students to exercise a positive crab mentality. further, it can be used as a guide to change the negative perception of crab mentality 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(2013). the story of kiasu: expressions of identity and status via conspicuous consumption: an ethnographic study of singaporean young women in a newly adopted culture. retrieved from https://researchdirect. westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:17433/ http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/99839 http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/99839 https://bit.ly/3qbdzyt https://bit.ly/3bt3lny https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp224 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp224 37 international peer reviewed journal analysis of philippine national police administrative cases in police regional office v rony bonaobra peñalba https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7281-4332 ronpenalba43@gmail.com bicol college daraga, albay, philippines manny b. macabeo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9218-0533 macabeomanny8@gmail.com bicol college albay, daraga, philippines originality: 100% • grammarly: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the safety of the community and the degree of law and order in the state were based mainly on the efficiency of the duties and functions performed by the agent of the state. being a public officer with state-given powers, a police officer must strictly adhere to organizational discipline. the study aims to determine the prevalent administrative cases in police regional office 5 for cy 2019 to 2021 and identify the factors leading to the commission of administrative offenses based on the available data on the nature of cases, specific offenses, and vol. 49 · july 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v49i1.430 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 38 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 disposition of administrative cases. it will also analyze the effects of decided administrative cases on police officers’ work performance, social relationships, and family relations. content analysis on reliable data on the nature of cases and specific offenses and qualitative method with a phenomenological approach based on the responses of the participants were utilized to analyze the factors and effects of decided administrative cases on police officers. the study revealed that negligence, incompetency, anger management, and sexual misconduct are among the factors leading to the commission of the administrative offense. the study concludes that neglect of duty (nonfeasance) and misconduct (malfeasance) are the two (2) prevalent administrative offenses committed by a police officer. there is a need for cohesive preventive measures that enhance police discipline based on morale and spiritual upliftment, psycho-social intervention program and skill-focused activities to address the increasing number of administrative cases in pro5. keywords — philippine national police, pnp personnel, administrative cases, police misconduct, negligence and irregularities, performance of duty, descriptive, bicol region introduction the level of law and order in the state and society largely depends on the effectiveness of the tasks assigned to the law enforcer. being a public officer with state-given powers, a police officer must strictly adhere to organizational discipline. without complaint, they must obediently and strictly comply with the requirements of law enforcement rules and regulations. to attain the primary objective and goal of the law enforcement organization, the responsible attitude of police officers must be observed toward the effective performance of their sworn duties (kalenichenko & slynko et al., 2021). by preserving public safety and order and fostering a free society, police play a crucial role in the community. the law gives police the power to prevent, stop, and investigate crimes to accomplish these objectives. maintaining the safety of the community, gaining the confidence of their people, and preventing and solving crimes are all made possible by police who faithfully carry out their tasks. but, when police overstep their bounds, they injure people, society, and liberties significantly (pirius, 2022). a police officer who loses control, temper, and self-restraint, becomes undisciplined, impulsive, and neglects their duty can be 39 international peer reviewed journal subjected to the internal disciplinary mechanism so that an appropriate sanction will be imposed. as they are expected to perform their duty with utmost diligence and efficiency, police officers, just like any civilian can be punished for breaking the law or can be brought up for disciplinary action for failure to perform their duty or an abuse of authority. the united states, through the department of justice, most often investigates police misdemeanor that involves alleged uses of excessive force (physical assault), sexual misconduct, theft, false arrest, and attempting to prevent a victim or witnesses from reporting the misconduct (liederbach et al., 2020). roberson (2017) has identified some police departments with notable police misconduct. for instance, the pakistani police agencies are the most corrupt institutions. the agencies have reputations for police brutality, extortion, bribery, and arresting innocent citizens for crimes that police officers knowingly committed. included also were: sudan police, russian police, iraqi police, mexican police, haiti police, and afghanistan police, which were the same as pakistani police but added the use of violence and retaliation against citizens who complained about police abuses, kidnapping, and drug trafficking as their common police misconducts. in the philippines, administrative disciplinary mechanism is an instrument to uphold organizational order and discipline among its members, particularly in the philippine national police. all infractions, offenses, or misdemeanors committed by the erring police officer, regardless of their nature and scope, must be administratively charged under pertinent provisions of the napolcom memorandum circular no. 2016-002 otherwise known as “the revised rules of procedures before the administrative disciplinary authorities and the internal affairs service of the philippine national office.” in the article released by sunstar (2022), it was stated that 5,599 policemen were dismissed from july 2016 to march 2022 after facing administrative charges due to grave offenses, and 714 were involved in illegal drug cases. the 5,599 dismissals signify that around 600 policemen were dismissed in the last 12-month period alone, as the pnp reported in 2021 that 4, 974 policemen had been dismissed from july 2016 to march 24, 2021. apart from the dismissals, the pnp said the efforts of its internal affairs service and its integrity monitoring and enforcement group had resulted in the imposition of other penalties on police personnel charged for less serious offenses. from july 2016 to march 2022, the pnp said, 10,490 policemen had been suspended, 1, 129 had been 40 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 demoted, and 848 faced forfeitures of their salaries. in addition, 2,475 policemen were reprimanded, 208 were restricted, and 286 had their privileges withheld. relatedly, the unexpected increase in the number of pnp personnel in police regional office 5 (pro5) with filed and decided administrative cases for the last three (3) years from 2019 to 2021 has been quite alarming since it can be a breakdown of discipline among police officers, and failure of existing personnel intervention in preventing police officers from committing administrative offenses. statistically, 580 administrative cases were filed and decided against erring police officers, and 1,066 police officers were charged administratively and penalized for different offenses. due to the increasing number of administrative cases in police regional office 5, it is necessary to conduct a study through an in-depth analysis of administrative cases filed against police officers based on reliable data. the study merely aims to analyze the trend of the administrative offense committed by police officers of police regional office 5 and will provide a proper and in-depth interpretation of the data based on its nature, the specific offense charged, and the appropriate disposition undertaken by the disciplinary authority (regional director) on the filed cases. this is to develop and propose preventive plan or program that could lessen the possibility of the pro5 personnel from further committing administrative offenses. objectives of the study this research has primary objectives in dealing with the profile on the data on administrative cases in pro5 for cy 2019 to 2022, particularly with the nature of administrative cases, specific offenses, and disposition of disciplinary authority. along with this primary objective, the study also identifies the factors leading to the commission of administrative cases in terms of negligence of duty (nonfeasance), misconduct (malfeasance), and irregularities in the performance of duty (misfeasance). it further aims to analyze the effects of decided administrative cases against pnp personnel of pro5 in terms of their work performance, social relationship, and family relations. as an output, a comprehensive preventive plan was proposed to lessen the commission of the administrative offense by the pnp personnel in police regional office 5. 41 international peer reviewed journal framework along with the main objectives raised in this study, there is a need to address the increasing numbers of administrative offenses committed by police officers in police regional office v through the proposed comprehensive policy on police discipline anchored on an effective preventive approach in dealing with personnel’s action and deter them from committing administrative offenses. disciplinary liability of police officers was among the main factors in ensuring that police officers effectively performed their official duties and did not violate the rule of law and official discipline. the fact of existence at the legislative level of normative provisions on the possibility of applying to offender’s appropriate negative measures of property, personal, moral, and organizational nature affects the formation of the legal consciousness of a police officer and determines the option of his legally significant behavior. it was significant that disciplinary liability, on the one hand, influences the choice of lawful conduct by a police officer, and, on the other hand, disciplinary liability is a state reaction to a police officer’s failure to perform or improper performance of his or her duties (kalenichenko et al., (2021). the first theory that applied and supported this study is the theory of negligence. according to posner (1972), the theory of negligence has four (4) elements:  duty of care,  which means the legal obligation to exercise the same level of reasonable care that another person would exercise in a similar situation; breach of duty of care, which means one breaches his duty of care by failing to act the way that a reasonably prudent person would if he or she were in the same situation; causation, it refers to the direct link between the breach of duty of care and the injury sustained. there must be a reasonable expectation for the defendant to foresee that his or her actions might cause an injury to the complainant or institution; and the existence of damages. it means there a proof of damage sustained by the complainant or institution (pfeifer morgan & stesiak, 2017). this theory finds application to this study on the reason that performance of duty by police officers was based primarily on specific authority that emanates from existing policies, rules, and regulations promulgated by the philippine national police organization. violation of authority or failure to observe such duty constitutes neglect of duty. one of the typical examples of neglect of duty by a police officer is the failure to safely keep his issued firearms in a safe cabinet, box, or compartment that is not prone to thieves or robbers. putting a gun in an unsafe place prone to thieves or vulnerable to losing it would constitute neglect of duty. 42 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 according to krohn and lane (2015), social control theory argues that deviance, crime, and delinquency are the products of weak or absent social controls. the controls form bonds to conventional society, such as attachment to individuals, involvement in activities, and belief in values. in this regard, the weaker the bonds are, the greater the probability of deviating from normal norms and behavior. more so, self-control is the ability of the individual to exercise self-restraint and self-discipline when tempted to engage in deviance. on the contrary, those individuals who lack self-control tend to act before thinking, prefer immediate over delayed rewards, like risky activities, have high activity levels, have trouble controlling their anger, and have little ambition or motivation. while all the other theories of wrongdoing and misbehavior argue that deviance, crime, and delinquency are positively motivated, control theories specifically argue the opposite. accordingly, control theories posit that wrongdoing results from weak restraints and controls, wherein police officers mostly commit the offense because they lose self-restraint, temper, anger, and perhaps, self-discipline. since police officers have direct contact with the community, they are prone to all stress or strain brought about by the changing environment. through such strain, the police officer may lose self-control, self-restraint, or self-discipline, which may cause them to commit an infraction, misconduct, or misdemeanor (donner & jennings, 2014). krohn and lane (2015) emphasize michael gottfredson and travis hirschi’s self-control theory which shares the same view as social control theory, the idea that deviance is self-evident and inherently attractive. as stressed in the study of donner and jennings (2014), they argued that although those with low self-control can easily recognize the immediate benefits of deviant behavior, they have substantial difficulty calculating the potential longterm costs. since, those with low self-control fail to fully appreciate the long-term costs of their behavior, they are more likely to engage in deviant behavior when presented with an opportunity to do so. hirschi redefined the foregoing conceptualization of self-control, it was stated that self-control is not the tendency to consider the long-term costs of behavior but the tendency to consider the full range of potential costs of behavior. it was categorically emphasized that self-control retains a focus on one’s ability to calculate the likely costs of their actions. still, it acknowledges that a larger range of factors influences one’s decision-making. with this, self-control refers to an internal set of inhibitions, which are the factors that individuals think about when contemplating whether to engage in deviant behavior (donner & jennings, 2014). 43 international peer reviewed journal the general strain theory by robert agnew also applies to this study. it was stressed that there is a significant relationship between police stress and misconduct (bishopp et al., 2020). according to strauss (2017), policing was regularly ranked as one of the world’s most stressful and considered dangerous occupations. one explanation is that police officers often have to make instantaneous decisions in volatile situations, without all the necessary information. these decisions are influenced by a myriad of factors. many police officers cannot control individual, situational, environmental, and organizational characteristics. moreover, police officers’ decisions are oftentimes second-guessed not only within their organization but also by external constituents. agnew’s  general strain theory focuses on negative experiences and consequences. it examines the extent to which various sources of strain generate negative emotional reactions, which, in turn, can lead to deviant and/or criminal coping strategies. due to the nature of police work wherein the police officers perform duties in a constantly changing environment, such as erratic shift work, exposure to violence and trauma, following the established rules, laws, procedures, and constant public scrutiny, they easily develop stress. with the foregoing criminological theories, the researcher embarked on the self-proposed “theory on police deviance.” through this study, the causes of deviancy committed by police officers have a significant relationship with the nature and uniqueness of their work. attitude or motivation towards work, environment, work-related stressors, impulsiveness, negligence, loss of selfrestraint or discipline, including police subculture, could have established the major causes for police deviance. the experience of police officers in law enforcement, coupled with the factors of work-related stressors, impulsiveness, nature of work environment negligence, and police subculture, could be attributable to the causes of police officers with filed and decided cases administrative cases. methodology research design in this study, qualitative research methods were utilized with two (2) approaches/ the content analysis of the reliable data on administrative cases, which focuses on the given data from the concerned office to determine and analyze the prevalent cases committed by police officers in pro5 based on the nature, specific offense, and disposition. another approach in a qualitative study is the phenomenological approach. this approach was helpful in the study, considering that the observations of the respondent’s response to the interview 44 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 guide were properly analyzed to arrive at a concrete and precise conclusion and recommendation. a phenomenology is an approach to qualitative research that focuses on the commonality of a lived experience within a particular group. the concept is to process the collected information primarily through in-depth interviews with at least ten (10) participants. the important point in this approach is to describe the meaning of the phenomenon for a small number of individuals who have experienced it and describe the nature of the particular phenomenon. research site the research study was conducted in the police regional office v. participants participants of this study were those police officers assigned in police regional office v. at least ten (10) police officers were sanctioned administratively with the penalty of suspension from the police service and demotion. instrumentation an interview guide was used that was viewed and validated by bicol college and the assigned adviser. the researcher used informed consent to avoid violating the pertinent information and data to be disclosed by the participants to the researcher during the interview. data gathering procedure the researcher’s study was presented to the panel of experts, and their respective suggestions and comments were taken for the development and improvement of the study. their proposed suggestions were properly taken, considered, and incorporated into the research instrument. no harm was employed by the researcher in gathering the data. upon proper request by the researcher, the independent data subject for analysis was secured from the office of the discipline law and order section, regional personnel and records management division of police regional office v. interview type of question was used in a one-on-one with the supposed participants to get their views and reliable answer on the prepared question. thematic analysis was used in evaluating the answers of all the respondents. 45 international peer reviewed journal ethical considerations privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity of the participants were observed, including the data of administrative cases for the period covered from 2019 to 2021 as provided by the concerned office of regional personnel and records management division of police regional office 5. their information was ensured through informed consent. no force was used in the interview, and the participants answered the question of their own free will and volition. the participants were informed at any time that they may withdraw their answers provided in the questionnaire or refuse to disclose personal information. results and discussion this portion contains the presentation of in-depth analysis and interpretation of data on administrative cases from the regional personnel and records management division of police regional office v covering the period from cy 2019 to cy 2021, including the disclosed information on the lived experiences of police officers with filed and decided administrative case. profile of administrative cases in police regional office 5 for the period of cy 2019 to 2022 in police regional office v, administrative cases emanate from two investigating bodies: the police regional office v cases, initiated by the regional investigation and detective management division; and the administrative cases initiated and adjudicated by regional internal affairs service v (rias5). they are both mandated by napolcom memorandum circular no. 2016002 to process administrative complaints and adjudicate them in the interest of public service. regardless of its origin, the final disposition (decision) of the administrative case will be rendered by the disciplinary authority (regional director). based on the data provided by the discipline law and order section of the regional personnel and records management division, it was disclosed that there were a total of five hundred seventy-four (574) cases filed and decided by disciplinary authority, and one thousand sixty-six (1,066) police officers with the administrative case for the period of cy 2019 to 2021 alone. nature of administrative case the nature of the administrative case is the description of the offense classified under rule 21 of napolcom memorandum circular no. 2016-002, entitled 46 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 “revised rules of procedure before the administrative disciplinary authorities and the internal affairs service of the pnp.” they are generally classified as negligence (neglect of duty) or nonfeasance, misconduct or malfeasance, and irregularity in the performance of duty or misfeasance. as one of the variables of the study, the nature of the administrative case defined the type of offense to which the pnp personnel with the filed administrative case are required to answer. it is the description of the case that classifies the very nature of the offense committed, pursuant to the aforesaid circular. for the period of calendar year 2019 to 2021, there were ninety-nine (99) administrative cases of neglect of duty (nonfeasance). this implies that internal discipline in police regional office v has been commonly breached and/or violated by its personnel. an offense committed by police officers involving and affecting the order and discipline of the police organization. it was classified into simple neglect of duty, less grave neglect of duty, and grave neglect of duty. this warrants the penalty of dismissal from the service, one rank demotion, suspension from the service, or reprimand. another classification of the administrative case under this study is misconduct or malfeasance, which is one of the most prevalent offenses committed by police officers based on the data provided by the concerned office, with a total of two hundred seventy-eight (278) administrative cases covering the period from cy 2019 to 2021. under rule 21, section 1 of napolcom mc no. 2016-002, misconduct refers to “any wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated, obstinate, or intentional purpose. it usually refers to the transgression of some established and definite rule of action, where no discretion was left except where necessity may demand; it does not necessarily imply corruption or criminal intention.” another nature of administrative cases is the irregularities in the performance of duty as a classification of an administrative offense, which has something to do with situations wherein the police officer performs duty under the mandate of the law, rules, or department policy, but performs it improperly or inappropriately. there are less number of cases of irregularities in the performance of duty filed and decided against pnp personnel of pro5, with only a total of five (5) cases. it signifies a positive effect on the level of competency of police officers in pro5. specific offense the specific offense pertains to a particular act or omission committed by the police officers, and it is the basis for the complaint to be filed against them. the specific offense includes the circumstances in which the erring police officer 47 international peer reviewed journal is required to answer for the allegation imputed against them in the complaint. it was defined as the specific act committed by police officers that constitute an administrative offense under napolcom memorandum circular no. 2016002. in the specific offense of negligence (nonfeasance), the most committed offenses between cy 2019 to 2021 are absence without official leave or commonly known as “awol” and violation of office rules and regulations, which is considered a “breach of internal discipline” with forty-one (41) cases filed and decided. the result of the study disclosed that there are several instances of awol in the pnp, such as failure of the pnp personnel to report for duty without an approved leave of absence, failure to seek permission from his immediate supervisor, or failed to report for duty after the approved leave of absence. another specific offense is the violation of pertinent office rules and regulations, with eight (8) cases filed and decided. worth mentioning is the frequent violation of pnp memorandum circular no. 2020-034 entitled: “guidelines and procedures on social media content, post and engagement utilizing official social media accounts and individual accounts of pnp personnel.”  this is to promote accountability and responsibility of pnp personnel in sharing information using social media platforms and encourage self-regulation and discipline in the use of social media accounts as public servants. the study also disclosed that due to new technology, social media platforms became the venue for several pnp personnel to express their grievances using an anonymous account. they even attacked the organization and the pnp officers while using their accounts, which is not considered an acceptable practice since there is an existing external mechanism for grievance. such misdemeanors are not attributed to the individuality of the responsible pnp personnel, but rather, it reflects a negative image of the organization as a whole (pnp mc no. 2020034). with regard to specific offenses of misconduct (malfeasance), there are four (4) most prevalent administrative offenses committed: 1. excessive use of force with one hundred eleven (111) cases; 2. violation of revised penal code or special pena laws such as homicide, theft, violation of domicile, falsification committed by a public officer, direct assault, grave threat, art. 334 -sexual infidelity, grave coercion, swindling, physical injury, arbitrary detention, robbery, acts of lasciviousness, libel, ra 9995, ra 8353, ra 11332, ra 7610, ra 9262, ra 10591, pd 1602, ra 9165 with sixty-one (61) cases; 3. loss of 48 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 issued firearms with twenty-one (21) cases; and 4. evasion through negligence with fifteen (15) cases filed against pnp personnel. excessive use of force to arrest or immobilize the suspect during police operation is prohibited under the existing revised 2021 pnp operational procedures (pnpm-d-0-20-13-21). it has been noted in this study that the administrative cases for grave misconduct anchored on the excessive use of force for the period covered were mostly dismissed, and the respondent police officers were exonerated from the offense charged. this is for the reasons that police operation may exceptionally use reasonable force to subdue the clear and imminent danger posed to him or to justify the force or act under the principles of self-defense, defense of relative, defense of stranger, or fulfillment of duty as laid under the pertinent laws and jurisprudence. for the offense of violation of law (revised penal code and/or special penal laws), it has been emphasized that the police officers committed an act or omission that is in violation of criminal statutes, with sixty (61) cases filed and decided against erring police officers for the period covered. loss of issued firearms is also among the common offenses committed by police officers wherein the nature of the case constitutes gross negligence for failure to safely keep the government property trusted to him. mostly, the police officer commits the offense of loss of issued firearms when he inadvertently leaves his firearms in an unsafe place which is vulnerable to losing either by abandoning or neglecting it. lastly, evasion through negligence wherein the police officer unexpectedly exercises laxity in the exercise of his sworn duty to guard and monitor the person under police custody (pupc). existing policies, rules, and regulations disclosed that police officer is prohibited from engaging in an arrangement of making pupc an errand in the police station. some police stations observed the wrong practice in making pupc a trustee and allowing them to loiter inside and outside the police station unguarded and without security. also, there are instances wherein because of recklessness, laxity, and negligence of police officers, the pupc intentionally escaped. as already discussed, limited numbers of administrative cases recorded for irregularities in the performance of duty as committed by pnp personnel of pro5 for the last three (3) years, with only five (5) cases recorded for the period covered. noteworthy is data on shooting to death wherein the circumstances of the case constitute the same as excessive use of force committed during the police operation. it was classified as irregularities in the performance of duty because 49 international peer reviewed journal the act of the police officer may be considered improper or irregular, as when the procedures in the conduct of buy-bust operation were not observed properly or there was non-observance of the rules set forth under the pnp operational procedures. disposition of case as an integral part of the disposition of cases, the data on the number of imposed penalties were dismissal from the service, demotion in rank, suspension from the police service, and reprimand. however, this study covers only the penalty of demotion in rank and suspension from the police service since the objective is to merely identify the factors leading to the commission of the administrative offense and analyze the effects of decided administrative cases on the police officer. the decision rendered by the disciplinary authority was significant in the disposition of the administrative case as it gave a final determination of guilt based on the act, omission, or wrong allegedly committed by police officer. there are one hundred forty-five (145) suspended for the period covered. suspension from the police service has the effect of forfeiture of salary, allowances, and other benefits to which a police officer was entitled. it is the temporary separation or cessation of work of the police officer for the duration of the sanction. aside from forfeiture of salary, it also includes in the penalty suspension the disqualification for promotion and withholding of privileges for the calendar year, such as schooling and leave of absence. on the other hand, there was a total of thirty (30) police officers demoted for the period covered. it has the effect of disqualification for promotion and withholding of privileges for the calendar year. the study also reveals that demotion as an administrative penalty does not include forfeiture of salary, benefits, and other allowances to which the police officer is entitled. despite the existing disciplinary mechanism for instilling and maintaining police discipline, the above data signifies that there is a need to address the increasing number of administrative offenses committed by the pnp personnel in police regional office 5 by providing a comprehensive preventive measure or plan in a holistic approach to lessen the violation and commission of administrative offenses. the data of administrative cases as provided above was significant in determining the prevalent offenses committed by a police officer of pro5 and correlating them to the next objective of this study. 50 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 factors leading to the commission of administrative offense in this study, the factors leading to the commission of the offense were based primarily on the act, omission, irregularity, or misdemeanor of a police officer. the objective is to determine the reason why an act was committed by the police officer. below are the responses recorded during a one-on-one interview with the respondents with their lived experiences of having filed and decided administrative cases. negligence (nonfeasance) under rule 21 of the napolcom memorandum circular no. 2016-002, for the police officer to be liable for neglect of duty, there must be  “omission or refusal, without sufficient excuse, to perform an act or duty, which it was the police officer’s legal obligation to perform. it confers a duty as well as its breach, and the fact can never be found in the absence of duty.”  stated otherwise, the police officer knows the first place that he/she has a duty to perform, and the failure to do so would certainly constitute neglect of duty. while the neglect would be unintentional and inadvertent, it causes damage to the organization. one of the factors that lead to the commission of the offense was due to the failure of police officer to inform his immediate superior officer of his whereabouts. participan no. 1 stresses out that “nag-awol ako dahil sa banta sa buhay. binantaan ako ng npa dahil sa trabaho ko bilang isang pulis. pumunta ako ng manila. ang mali ko ay hindi ako nakapag-paalam sa aking immediate superior officer kaya kinasuhan nila ako ng neglect of duty para sa di ko pagduty at mga absences. (i committed awol because of a threat to my life. i was threatened by the npa because of my work. my fault is that i failed to inform my immediate superior officer that is why they charged me with neglect of duty for my failure to report for duty.). lack of competence, foresight, and experience was another factor leading to the commission of negligence or nonfeasance. while police officers are trained in the proper handling of a firearm, one must inevitably be cautious and mindful in possessing and bearing his issued firearm, particularly in the process of safekeeping the same. one of the respondents mishandled his issued firearm, which resulted in the accidental firing and hitting of another police officer. respondent no. 2 expresses that “i neglected my duty as i indiscriminately fired my issued firearms. it’s because of mishandling my firing, as i violated the five (5) cardinal rules of handling or using a firearm.” failure to comply with office regulations in the prohibition to post on social media any reckless, pointless, defamatory expression of personal reactions 51 international peer reviewed journal or emotions that may affect the pnp organization. participant no. 3 stressed that “ako ay nakasuhan dahil sa mga komento sa aking facebook. ako ay naglahad ng aking opinion at may mga nagalit dahil doon. the improper conduct and misdemeanor committed by participant no. 3 constitute neglect of duty for failure to observe the guidelines and procedures on social media, media content, post, and engagement utilizing official social media accounts and individual accounts of pnp personnel. the above responses imply that the offense commonly committed by police officers is a breach of internal discipline, which primarily affects the order and discipline within the pnp organization. while negligence (nonfeasance) was unintentional, as police officers cannot foresee all risks and cannot attend to everything at once they inadvertently contribute to its commission. it shows that the primary duty of a police officer is to be cautious and mindful in the performance of duty to avoid committing negligence (william, 2019). misconduct (malfeasance) according to adame et al. (2019), police officers are responsible not only for maintaining public peace, protecting property, and safeguarding lives but uniquely holding power and authority to use force in performing their duties. this profession requires the individual officer to interact with a diverse population daily. as such, policing places much responsibility on the individual officer. in this particular variable, the factors affecting the commission of administrative cases in terms of misconduct are anger or loss of temper, laxity and carelessness, and lascivious conduct. below are the responses of the respondents. anger is an emotional state that is socially prompted regularly through the impression of impairment or distressing circumstances and situations. police officers confront various potential everyday stressors. as a result, many lose sleep or endure depression and emotion dysregulation practices that constitute mental disturbance, just like with participant no. 4, wherein he committed grave misconduct for the illegal discharge of his issued firearms. he stated that “ako po ay nakasuhan sa kadahilanan po sa hindi ko ma-control ang aking emosyon, sa galit kaya nakagawa ako ng mali sa king organisasyon. hindi po related sa trabaho ang naging kaso ko, sa kadahilanan lang po sa aking galit kaya ko naiputok ko ang aking baril.” (i was charged administratively because i could not control my emotion due to anger. i committed a mistake in our organization. my case was not workrelated. due to anger, i fired my issued firearms). participant no. 8 also committed misconduct when he slapped the face of the civilian during their heated argument. he stated that “simple understanding 52 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 with a civilian na lumala na nauwi sa mainit na pagtatalo. sinapak ko po siya sa mukha dahil sa sobrang galit” (a simple understanding with a civilian resulted in a heated argument. i slapped him in the face because of anger). another factor that lead to the commission of the administrative offense was the circumstances wherein because of laxity and carelessness, the police officer yields to commit negligence by allowing the person under police custody (pupc) to go out of the custodial facility unattended and unguarded. it becomes punishable since it is violates established laws, rules and regulations as it constitutes evasion through negligence. participant no. 5 stated that “ako po ay nakasuhan ng grave misconduct for evasion through negligence, kung saan dahil sa aking kapabayaan at pag-violate sa pagbabawal na hindi trustee o paggamit sa prisoner na palabasin sa kanyang selda para gamitin o tumulong sa labas. habang nasa labas po ang priso, pinatulong ko sya sa aking paglalaba sa dahilan na trustee nga siya. di ko alam kung siya pala ay may intensyon na tumakas habang nasa aking pagtingin.” (i was charged with grave misconduct for evasion through negligence because of my negligence and violation of the prohibition of sending out prisoners or arrested persons from the custodial facility and making them trustees or errands. while the prisoner was outside the custodial facility, i let him assist me in washing my clothes. i have no idea that he has the intention to escape.) another circumstance similar to respondent no. 5 was the escape of a pupc while under the custody of police officers. participant no. 7 manifested that “ako ay nakasuhan ng grave misconduct dahil sa pupc at nakatakas habang nasa custody namin at subject for medical. ang aking kaso ay related po sa trabaho at ito ay hindi po sa maling pag-uugali, maling asal. (i was charged administratively for grave misconduct because the pupc escaped while under our custody during the conduct of medical. my case is work-related.) such circumstances constitute grave misconduct, the reason that the act or omission of police officers is in violation of the law (revised penal code) specifically for evasion through negligence. although this manifests negligence in the first place, what is being penalized is the particularity of the act committed, which violates the law. along with the cases of violation of law that are categorized as misconduct is the lascivious conduct committed by a police officer. participant no. 6 disclosed that “i was accused of having committed an act of lasciviousness, which i have not done. although i was innocent of the complaint, an administrative case was filed against me.” the above responses imply that misconduct (malfeasance) was mostly committed on the reasons of loss of temper or anger, laxity or carelessness in the 53 international peer reviewed journal performance of duty, and through lascivious conduct. it was disclosed that loss of temper or anger and loss of self-restraint or discipline (lascivious conduct) were among the most disclosed factors in the commission of police misconduct that were not work-related except laxity or carelessness in the performance, such as the offense of evasion through negligence committed by a police officer. according to brown and daus (2015), loss of temper or anger is a negative affective experience that has unique effects on cognitive processes such as judgment or exercise of discretion compared to positive or other negative affective states. moreover, anger may trigger instinctive processes or the act of responding spontaneously in a given situation and, relatedly, increase the desire to reach a decision. this study also disclosed contributory factors on the part of the police officers through their laxity and carelessness in allowing a person under police custody to go out of their custodial facility and become too familiar and friendly with the pupc resulting in a decrease in vigilance and alertness. police sexual misconduct, according to maher (2010), is “any behavior by a police officer who takes advantage of his or her unique position in law enforcement to misuse his or her authority and power to commit a violent act sexually, or to initiate or respond to some sexually motivated cue for personal sexual gratification.” significantly, it was emphasized in the study of donner and jennings (2014) that individual with low self-control tends to engage in crime and analogous behavior because they cannot consider the long-term consequences of their actions. they further argued that individuals with low self-control are impulsive and insensitive and can be easily tempted to commit acts that constitute misconduct. loss of self-restraint or discipline particularly associated with the offense of lascivious conduct committed within the organization was certainly conduct unbecoming of a police officer as it violates the general principles of acceptable conduct common to law enforcement. irregularities in the performance of duty (misfeasance) there are factors leading to the commission of irregularities of duty, such as lack of competency, training, and skills. participant no. 9 was charged with simple irregularity in the performance of duty as duty investigator during the escape of the person under police custody (pupc) and was penalized for thirty (30) days suspension from the police service. he said that “i am the duty investigator at our police station. there was no irregularity in my duty because the incident was an evasion of prisoner/detainee. but, they alleged conspiracy in the complaint wherein all the duty personnel was involved in the complaint.” 54 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 another instance wherein the police failed to take necessary precautions to avoid the escape of person under police custody (pupc). participant no. 10 stated that “nakasuhan ng irregularities in the performance of duty. ako yung duty jailer at desk officer sa mga panahon iyon. yung allegation laban sa akin yun pagalis ko daw ng posas sa na-arresto at ang hindi pag-take ng necessary precautions na nauwi sa pagtakas ng preso” (i was administratively charged with irregularities in the performance of duty. i was then the duty jailer and desk officer at the same time. their allegation against me was being careless and unjustifiably removing the handcuff of the arrested person and my failure to take the necessary precaution in the escape of pupc). the above responses imply that the circumstances surrounding the commission of irregularity in the performance of duty would constitute improper or inappropriate behavior on the part of police officers in the course of the performance of their duties, such as removing the handcuff of pupc without just cause that resulted in the escape of the pupc, and the failure to take necessary precaution to avoid such escape (standford, 2016). effects of decided administrative case against pnp personnel this portion answers the number 3 objective of the study with the primary purpose of providing an acceptable interpretation and analysis of the adverse effects of a decided administrative case on the respondent’s job performance as a police officer. work performance: temporary loss of work and change of assignment the effect of decided administrative cases on police officers in terms of work performance has been more complex and different to the extent that they feel difficulties towards work and may lose motivation in performing their duties and responsibilities. it implies that the morale of police officers was affected as it declined due to the adverse effects of the decided administrative case. vicente et al. (2020) posit that the effects of decided administrative cases taught police officers to become wiser, more cautious, mindful, and stronger and improve their decision-making skills. philips (2017) emphasized that morale significantly creates a discipline that is voluntary and deliberate rather than forced. it is the tenacity to endure the job without tiring, the power and strength to handle adversity. 55 international peer reviewed journal one of the respondents stated that they became temporarily separated from the police service and lost his job as a police officer. as divulged by participant no. 4, he said that: “marami ang naging epekto sa akin sa kaso ko. una po sa lahat ay nawala ako sa trabaho na gusto ko, isang intelligence officer sa iriga city. (there are several effects brought about by the administrative case. i lost my job as an intelligence officer at iriga city.) police officers with decided administrative cases were temporarily displaced from their work after being sanctioned administratively. the same happened with participant no. 6: “i was relieved from my present assignment and transferred to base police, regional headquarters. i was not able to enjoy some privileges and benefits, such as bonuses and other benefits, as a result of the penalty.” loss of pay, allowances, and other benefits is one of the direct effects of decided administrative cases on the police officer. these are one of the administrative disabilities inherent in the penalty of suspension from the police service. disqualification for promotion and withholding privileges corresponding to the period of suspension are the two (2) other administrative disabilities. loss of salary and allowances police officers may suffer the consequences of losing pay and allowances as the direct effect of decided administrative cases and the penalty of suspension from the service. participant no. 1 also disclosed that “nawala pansamantala ang sahod ko dahil na-suspended ako” (temporary loss of salary because i was suspended from the service.) respondent no. 9 also stated that “i lost my bonus and allowances as an effect of my suspension due to the administrative case filed against me.” similar statement made by participant no. 5 stated that: “dahil sa kaso at na-suspende ako, malaking epekto ito sa aking pang-araw araw na gastusin. walang sweldo sa loob ng 50 days at nawalan ng bonus, at iba pang mga benepisyo” (i was suspended because of the case. it affects our daily expenses. i don’t have a salary for 50 days, and i don’t have bonus and other benefits.). this is the most difficult situation when police officers get suspended from the service. the loss of salary and other benefits of police officers due to suspension from the service causes additional stress and anxiety. these affect the daily subsistence of the family. this implies the negative effects of decided administrative cases on police officers since salary and allowances constitute a motivational factor for police officers to exert high levels of effort to attain organizational goals and objectives. 56 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 lesson learned being sanctioned with an administrative case, some police officer has become more aware of the consequences of the lapses or misdemeanor they have committed. participant no. 5 stated that: “naging aware ako sa mga circumstances na bawal pala ang pag-trustee ng priso pero ito ay isang practice sa station namin. naging masigasig ako sa aking trabaho.” (i became aware of all circumstances that it is prohibited to make the prisoner a trustee inside the police station. i became diligent in performing my job.) decided administrative case had become a lesson learned to some of the police officers like participant no. 3: “masakit at malungkot dahil para itong bangongot sa aking serbisyo pero ito rin nagbigay sa akin ng lesson.” (it was sad and painful, but it became a lesson for me. it became a nightmare for me.) this is also supported by the statement of participant no. 4: “kailangan po na maging mas mapagkumbaba, wag padalos-dalos lalo na sa serbisyo pa at kailangan ang maximum tolerance sa aming trabaho.” (it needs to be humbled. do not be too careless while still in the service, and needs to observe maximum tolerance.) these lessons learned experience of respondents thought them to be strong and wiser to avoid committing the same mistakes in the future. the same disclosure made by participant no. 10, he said: naging masigasig ako sa aking trabaho para di na ulit mangyari. dapat sa lahat ng pagkakataon ay dapat ayusin ang trabaho natin biling isang police” (i became more mindful and cautious in the performance of my work. in all circumstances, we should perform our duty properly). the above responses manifest the lessons learned experience of police officers, which thought themselves to be strong and wiser to avoid committing the same mistakes in the future. according to harris and worden (2017), the effects of the penalty on future misconduct can be expected that the more severely sanctioned officers will deter officers from committing misconduct compared to those who received lighter sanctions. low morale and anxiety to participant no. 2, it was painful on his part to have decided administrative case since he became low morale and gave him pressure in performing his duty. he disclosed that “low morale, it pressures me dahil sa nangyari. of course, feeling shy, nakakahiya din sa mga nangyari. although aksidente ang nangyari.” (i was low morale, and i felt the pressure of what happened. of course, i feel shy about what happened as it was only an accident). he further stated that “nahihiya sa sarili, decrease in my self-confidence also makapahirap ng may admin case. no work, no pay. ang lahat nang bagay ay may dahilan. nagkamali man ako ngunit alam kong may 57 international peer reviewed journal paraan pa para maitama ko iyon. bagaman mahirap sa umpisa, nakakapanlumo at nakakapanliit ng sarili. kinaya ko ang lahat dahil sa pananampalataya sa taas. hindi niya ako pinabayaan. (i’m ashamed of myself, decrease in my self-confidence as it is so hard to have an administrative case. no work, no pay. everything has a reason. even if i commit a mistake, i know how to correct it. i handle everything because of my faith in god. he never left me). when the morale of police officers is very low, it creates a difficult working environment for them. mostly, police officers who are low morale feel poorly about their work and the organization as a whole. according to vicente et al. (2020), it has the effect of losing work enthusiasm and mostly having negative feeling towards work and lost motivation in performing duties. participant no. 7 states that: “isang experience na bumaba ang aking moral lalo pa, mahirap tanggapin. pero dahil police ako, may mga bagay na hindi control ang sitwasyon. at tanggap ko na. masakit sa loob na makasuhan lalo pa noong time na yun ay nag perform ka naman ng trabaho ng maayos. at yung kaso ay related sa trabaho. almost 12 years ko sa police service, first time ko yun na makasuhan ng grave misconduct.” (one of my experiences is morale becomes low. it’s hard to accept. but because i am a police officer, some circumstances cannot control the situation. i accepted it. it’s hard to have a case, especially if you were just performing your job properly. my case is work-related. after almost 12 years in the police service, this is the first time to have case of grave misconduct.) low morale has adverse effects, such as loss of self-confidence, loss of the will to work, and loss of care for surrounding. philips (2017) further posits that low morale promotes a negative environment of complacency by doing the bare minimum, slowing intrinsic motivation, and creating an ambivalent feeling toward law enforcement goals. it is often characterized by: conflicts between staff, uncooperative attitudes, lack of enthusiasm, fault finding, low affect, lack of commitment, gripe sessions, high turnover, opposition to authority, “us vs. them” talk, and complaints of team members not carrying their load, complaints of conflicting demands, and the list continues. low morale has damaging effects on officers, supervisors, and the department as a whole. anxiety would also affect decided administrative cases on the law enforcer. the apprehension and fear include the anticipation that something negative will occur. the feeling of being worried about a life-threatening situation would be attributable to anxiety. participan no. 1: “nag-awol ako dahil sa takot. may banta kasi sa buhay dahil sa npa” (i went awol because of fear. there is threat to my life cause by npa). 58 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 social relation while the variable aims to determine and analyze the effects of the decided administrative cases relative to the respondent’s peers and co-workers, the result glaringly shows that there were no significant changes or effects of decided administrative cases on police officers towards their relationship with a co-worker or peers in the police service. the majority of the response of the participants manifested positive responses as to the effects of the decided administrative case in terms of social relations with other police officers. strengthens peers relationship and support system acceptance and understanding of the situation by their colleagues and peers in the service was the factor in coping with the adverse effects of decided administrative cases the police officers. it helps them to recover as their colleagues accept their situation and understand the difficulties they are experiencing. as such, the morale of the police officer will improve, and they can be more effective in performing their duty as law enforcers. participant no. 4 expresses that “mas lalo silang naging malapit sa akin mga kasamang kong pulis dahil nga po sa hindi naman related sa work ang naging kaso ko. nag-advice sila sa akin. (my friends and colleagues in the police service have become closer to me, and they constantly give me a piece of advice since my case is not work-related.) the above statement was further bolster by the statement of participant no. 5, as he stressed that “naging malapit ako sa kanila at nagadvise sila sa akin na tanggapin na lang ang penalty na pinataw sa akin.” (i became closer to them, and they advised me to accept the penalty imposed on me.) the same with the statement participant no. 6 that “fortunately, most of my colleagues and co-policemen know me well, particularly how i perform my duty, and no one has changed their behavior towards me. all my colleagues gave me the encouragement that i needed so much.” participant no. 2 disclosed his experience by stating that “nabigla tapos naawa dahil sa nangyari sapagkat ang lahat ay naniwala na aksidente lamang iyon at walang gusto sa nangyari.” (i feel pity. i was shocked because of what had happened since it was purely an accident, and no one wants it to happen.) the same statement disclosed by participant no. 10, he said that “naintindihan naman ng aking mga kasamahan na pulis kng ano nangyari sa akin. sabi nila na maging matatag lang daw ako at malalagpasan ko nman yung problema.” (my colleagues understand what had happened to me. they told me to be strong and i can overcome the problem). 59 international peer reviewed journal it was emphasized by sadulski (2017) that peer support and communication are significant in overcoming the stress experienced by police officers. the agency should have a peer-support system wherein selected officers could help other officers who have experienced work-related stressors or life-crisis events, such as decided administrative cases. by doing so, it could help sanctioned police officers to cope with the adverse effects of decided administrative cases and assist them in returning to the mainstream of law enforcement. family relations this particular variable aims to determine and analyze the effect of the decided administrative cases on the police officer in terms of their relationship with their family and understand the situation surrounding their case. the reason is to propose an intervention to help participants be family and serviceoriented police officers. police officers must accept that stress caused by decided administrative cases is taking a toll on their lives so they can mediate and reduce the adverse effects (sadulski, 2017). negative impact on the family it was shown in the response of participant no. 6 said that “i was not able to enjoy some privileges and benefits, such as bonus.” said statement was also supported by the statement of participant no. 7, saying that: “naapektuhan ang aking pamilya dahil 2 months na walang sahod sa part ko, malaki ang natutunan ko at magsisikap ako na hindi yun ulit mangyari o makasuhan ulit ng grave misconduct. (my family was affected because i did not have a salary for two (2) months. on my part, i learned a lot, and i work hard that it will not happen again or will be charged again for grave misconduct.) the family was among those directly affected when the police officers were sanctioned administratively, especially if he was the breadwinner of the family. the situation adds to the possible stress that the police officer with a decided administrative case would overcome while serving the penalty. it makes one unemployed temporarily, which requires her wife to look for other sources of income, and worse, could even afford to engage in debt through a personal loan with higher interest. participant no. 9 stated that “i lost my bonus and allowances as the effect of my suspension due to the administrative case filed against me. my wife was required to look for other sources of income to defray our financial needs.” it holds the same with participant no. 5: “dahil sa kaso at na-suspende ako, malaking epekto ito sa aking pang-araw araw na gastusin. walang sweldo sa loob ng 50 days 60 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 at nawalan ng bonus, at iba pang mga benepisyo.” (i was suspended because of the administrative case. it affects our daily expenses. i don’t have a salary for 50 days including a bonus and other benefits.) the same sentiment that disclosed by participant no. 10, he said that “naging mas mahirap ang naging kalagayan namin kc nga suspended at walang sahod pansamantala. naging masigasig ang aking asawa para maitawid ang pang araw-araw na gastusin.” (the situation became more difficult since i was got suspended, and for the meantime, i don’t have a salary. it was my wife who became more determined for us to survive the everyday expenses.) it implies the most difficult situations when the family was primarily affected by the unexpected loss of income brought about by the adverse effect of decided administrative cases against police officers. as an effect, family stability was crucial for the sanctioned police officer. lindner (2014) posits that the family becomes more unstable in terms of expenses due to temporary loss of work. aside from the financial anguish it can cause, the stress of losing a job, even temporarily, can also take a heavy toll on the mood, relationship, and overall mental and emotional health of police officers (help guide, 2022). improved family relationship to some participants, the effects of the decided administrative case to the police officer’s relationship with his family resulted in a positive outcome as it strengthens the family relationship. according to goetz & boehm (2020), it has been said that the primary person to whom the person seeks advice and support is the family members in cases where an individual has undergone problems. such a situation certainly strengthens family relationships through support and care. just like participant no. 2: “mas pinag-igting ang samahan ng pamilya dahil hindi nila ako pinabayaan sa mga panahong sinusubok ako na napatunayan ko na ang pamilya ang pinakamatatag na sandalan sa lahat ng pagkakataon.” (i became closer to my family as they did not abandon me during my problem. i proved to myself that family is the most reliable to depend on in case of adversities and life-crisis.) same statement with participant no. 5 also states that: “naging close kami sa bawat isa. kasi dati kung saan saan ako na-assign at malalayo iyon. dahil nagkaroon ako ng panahon para makasama aking pamilya lalo na aking mga anak. (my family became close to me since i was previously assigned to other places. i found more time to spend with my family, especially with my children). positive effects and outcomes of decided administrative cases on the respondents of this study could imply that when they return to the mainstream 61 international peer reviewed journal law enforcement profession after serving the penalty, they will be more responsible, cautious, and mindful in performing their duty as police officers. participant no. 1 said that “mas lalong tumibay at naging matatag ang relasyon ng aking buong pamilya” (it strengthens and became stable our relationship with entire family). the same effect with participant no. 8: “noong na-suspende ako, na-enjoy ko ang time sa family ko. nabigyan ng oras ang akin pamilya. yun nga lang walang sahod kasi nga suspended (when i was suspended, i enjoyed time with my family. i could give more time to my family, but i don’t have a salary because of my suspension.) fratesi (2019) states that “a positive family life can relieve stress and improve tolerance for shift work. the officer should be as meticulous about planning for social and family time as he is about sleep and work time.”  it is, therefore, necessary to have a social support system to overcome challenges and difficulties in life. a supportive relationship, such as family and friends, has a tremendous effect in coping with the adverse effect of decided administrative cases against police officers. since human beings do not thrive alone, family and friends were considered the pillars of support, especially during life-crisis. studies have shown that having a supportive relationship with family and friends was considered a strong protective factor against mental illness and distress caused by life-crisis, and it primarily helps to increase one’s mental well-being (health hub, 2022). conclusions neglect of duty (nonfeasance) and misconduct (malfeasance) are the two (2) most prevalent administrative offenses committed by police officers in police regional office 5 for the period of cy 2019 to 2021. with the factors leading to the commission of the administrative offense of neglect of duty and misconduct, there is a need for proper and cohesive preventive measures that enhance police discipline anchored on morale enhancement, spiritual and psycho-social intervention programs, including the skill-focused programs or activities that can deter the pro5 police officers from committing the said offenses. finally, the adverse effect of the penalty imposed in decided administrative cases directly affects the police officer’s behavior, and work performance, including their social and family relationship leading to the potential informal sanctions of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. 62 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 translational research this study is helpful to the police regional office 5 in upholding and strengthening the exercise of the disciplinary authority of the immediate supervisors in all levels of command through adopting the final output of the proposed comprehensive policy on police discipline. these serve as a means of addressing the problems of the high number of administrative cases against the pnp personnel of police regional office 5. with the policy on discipline, a concrete agency’s police personnel management system can be achieved that moves the organization towards its goals and objectives and sets the standard for acceptable, credible, and highly capable police service. literature cited adame, j. l. m., perea, q. r. p., & manibo, j. (2019). levels of anger, emotion dysregulation and conflict management style among police officers. bishopp, s. a., piquero, n. l., piquero, a. r., worrall, j. l., & rosenthal, j. (2020). police stress and race: using general strain theory to examine racial differences in police misconduct.  crime & delinquency,  66(13-14), 18111838. brown, s. g., & daus, c. s. (2015). the influence of police officers’ decisionmaking style and anger control on responses to work scenarios.  journal of applied research in memory and cognition, 4(3), 294-302. donner, c. m., & jennings, w. g. (2014). low self-control and police deviance: applying gottfredson and hirschi’s general theory to officer misconduct. police quarterly, 17(3), 203-225. fratesi, d. (2002). police work and its effects on the family. washington, dc, us. goetz, t. m., & boehm, s. a. (2020). am i outdated? the role of strengths use support and friendship opportunities for coping with technological insecurity. computers in human behavior, 107, 106265. harris, c. j., & worden, r. e. (2014). the effect of sanctions on police misconduct. crime & delinquency, 60(8), 1258-1288. health hub (2022). building a supportive network of family and friends. retrieved on december 20, 2022 from https://www.healthhub.sg/live63 international peer reviewed journal healthy/448/buildingasupportivenetwork. help guide. (2022). job loss and unemployment stress. http://bit.ly/3zo81rm kalenichenko, l. i., slynko, d. v., sobakar, a., & honcharuk, v. v. (2021). features of disciplinary liability of police officers. krohn, m. d., & lane, j. (eds.). (2015). the handbook of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice. john wiley & sons. liederbach, j., wentzlof, c. a., & stinson, p. m. (2022). law enforcement misconduct. in  the encyclopedia of rural crime  (pp. 184-186). bristol university press. lindner, s. (2014, september 11). lose your job, lose your family: how unemployment affects family stability. urban institute. http://bit. ly/3spjuyc maher, t. m. (2010). police sexual misconduct: female police officers’ views regarding its nature and extent. women & criminal justice, 20(3), 263-282. pfeifer morgan & stesiak. (2017). what you should know about negligence? www.pilawyers.com/blog/definition-of-negligence philips, g., (2017, august 3). police administration: leadership and department morale. nicoletti-flater associates. specialist in police and public safety psychology, crisis intervention, trauma recovery, wellness, and violence prevention. http://bit.ly/3kzpewc pirius, r. (2022). police misconduct. criminal defense lawyer by published by nolo. retrieved on december 23, 2022 from https://www. criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/police-misconduct.htm pnp memorandum circular no. 2020-034 dated may 20, 2020, entitled: “guidelines and procedures on social media content, post and engagement utilizing official social media accounts and individual accounts of pnp personnel.” pogarsky, g. & piquero, a.r., (2004, july). studying the reach of deterrence: can deterrence theory help explain police misconduct? journal of criminal justice. retrieved on september 19, 2022 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jcrimjus.2004.04.007 64 jpair multidisciplinary research volume 48 • march 2022 posner, r. a. (1972). a theory of negligence. the journal of legal studies, 1(1), 29-96. roberson, c. (2017). police misconduct: a global perspective. routledge. sadulski, j. (2017). managing police stress to strengthen relationships at home. public safety. stanford, a. (2015).  copping out: the consequences of police corruption and misconduct: the consequences of police corruption and misconduct. abcclio. strauss, k. (2017). the 10 most stressful jobs in 2017. forbes. https://www. forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/01/12 sunstar. (2022). nearly 5, 600 cops dismissed from service. https://ph.news. yahoo.com/nearly-5-600-cops-dismissed-073300148.html vicente, j. b., aguinaldo, j. b., almerol, p. m., balicdang, l. a., bautista, j. p., cristina, v. b. b., ... & vicente, r. m. b. (2020). lived experiences of philippine national police personnel with decided administrative cases. international journal of advanced research in management and social sciences, 9(6), 127-175. williams, g. (2020). taking responsibility for negligence and nonnegligence. criminal law and philosophy, 14(1), 113-134. 122 jpair multidisciplinary research use of the marketing mix in transnational higher education institutions: a literature review nicole raymundo-delmonte http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-1149 nrdelmonte.epmgradschool@gmail.com british international school al khobar al khobar, saudi arabia originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract organizations offering graduate degree programs nowadays have to devise measures to differentiate them from others in the market as there is intense competition. higher education institutions (heis) offering graduate studies programs, specifically those in the transnational education (tne) industry, need to be abreast of their target markets and environments’ changing preferences and expectations. the study used an integrative literature review to analyze readily available 35 journal articles on marketing mix to support transnational heis. the sources came from research databases such as google scholar, directory of open access journals, business publications, and other websites. results show that heis are expected to take on a customer-focused marketing approach to attract more students with commercialization and stiff competition. creating an appropriate marketing mix in line with the target audience and intended purpose has proven useful for heis’ marketing strategy. the study concludes that formulating an effective marketing mix strategy is one of the keys to tne providers’ sustainable growth. keywords — marketing mix, higher education institution, transnational education, marketing, literature review vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.719 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-1149 123 international peer reviewed journal introduction this literature review deals on the recent development in the educational market/marketing, transnational education, particularly the interplay of marketing mix elements that can be used as part of heis’ marketing programs. thus, this paper presents and discusses the published literature and studies that provide a backgrounder on the research topic. higher education institutions (heis) are pushed to take on a customercentered marketing approach to remain competitive. educational services underwent a significant transformation in the last decades, which has led to the commercialization of higher education. this resulted from government measures geared towards privatizing educational institutions (mallik & achar, 2018; nicolescu, 2009; maringe, 2006). gajic (2012) cited that managing heis involves continually dealing with the higher education market’s ever-changing requirements. she noted that heis could be considered competitive only if they can effectively adapt and innovate to the changes in the business environment. .what to teach, who to teach, and how to teach are the three fundamental freedoms of a university. this paradigm has been the key weapon of heis. they used these liberties as benchmarks to measure their performance and progress. in terms of the business landscape, corporations are now at the forefront of the changing times, and heis find themselves having a lot to learn from commercial establishments. developing the customer perspective is probably one of the best lessons that academic institutions learn from business organizations nowadays (gajic, 2012; maringe & gibbs, 2009). gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) explained that with the growing number of higher education graduates comes the tightening of competition among colleges and universities offering higher education programs. gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) mentioned that with the increase in degree choices to choose from and the institutions offering such programs, heis have a higher need for differentiation tactics and strategies. thus, marketing indeed has a crucial role in recruiting new students (canterbury, 2000; nicholls, harris, morgan, clarke, & sims, 1995; taylor & darling, 1991). a study by meraj, fernandes, and ross (2016) supported these claims, citing that the higher education funding council for england i said that heis should be more business-oriented, which means they need to be focused on their customers’ needs. from traditional marketing, this suggested a paradigm shift towards an unconventional marketing approach by correctly applying major marketing principles: segmentation, marketing research, positioning, and the marketing mix. 124 jpair multidisciplinary research the united nations education, scientific, and cultural organization (unesco) defines transnational education (tne) as all kinds of higher education programs, course studies, or educational services (including distance learning) in which the students are located in a country that is different from the country where the primary institution is based (barrows, 2000). through the years, there has been a robust market for tne as societies advance and economies progress. however, with the covid-19 crisis, questions have been raised about the traditional schools’ uncertainties offering face-to-face classes. gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) defined a marketing mix as a combination of marketing tools that an educational institution can control to achieve the desired result, gaining a favorable response from its target markets. in educational marketing, marketing mix is considered one of the essential indicators of the success of the marketing strategies (chawla, 2013; mallik & achar, 2018). since academic institutions have tangible and intangible features, gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) postulated that the 7 ps approach, which is used primarily by the service sector, would satisfy more heis’ clients. it was also stressed that positive synergy among the marketing mix elements could make an organization’s marketing strategies more efficient and effective (gajic, 2012). the expanded marketing mix elements for services presented by gajic are service, price, distribution, promotion, physical evidence, people, and process. objectives of the study the research aimed to address the following objectives, (1) to describe the significant changes in the transnational higher education landscape and higher education marketing and (2) to determine the functions of the marketing mix elements in educational marketing. methodology the study used the integrative approach of literature review to analyze readily available literature on the use of marketing mix to support the business of heis (higher education institutions) offering tne programs. this method aims to evaluate, critique, and consolidate literature about a specific topic, which could be used in drawing out new perspectives and theories (torraco, 2005; synder, 2019). there are four phases undertaken using this method, (1) designing the review, (2) conducting the review, (3) analysis, and 4) writing the review. this sequence 125 international peer reviewed journal of the literature review was developed from various guidelines set by different authors (snyder, 2019; moher, liberati, tetzlaff, altman, & prisma, 2009). the critical review of relevant literature, specifically 35 journal articles on business, education, marketing, and management was used. the sources came from research databases such as google scholar, directory of open access journals, business publications, and other relevant websites. the main criterion for choosing the studies to review is their relevance to the research objectives. keywords such as educational marketing, transnational education, and marketing mix were used to identify the articles to be reviewed. results and discussion taking up higher education is perceived as a life-changing decision. thus professionals are becoming more discerning with their choice of school (gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy, 2008). as a result, potential students are keener in weighing the pros and cons of the different heis in the educational market before they arrive at a final decision. transnational education (tne) .the united nations education, scientific, and cultural organization (unesco) defines transnational education (tne) as “all kinds of higher education programs, course studies, or educational services (including distance learning) in which the students are located in a country that is different from the country where the primary institution is based. thus, tne is a borderless, market-driven higher education that espouses multiculturalism, diversity, and internalization. most significantly, tne also offers an excellent opportunity for professionals to pursue higher studies while working. it helps them upgrade their credentials without leaving the country they are in and their employer (alam & chowdhury, 2013). one of the main benefits of tne is that professionals can upgrade their credentials even if they are based in their home country or working overseas. through the years, there has been a robust market for tne as societies advance and economies progress. from 1990 to 2007, enrollment in higher education increased by 128% (152.5 million students from 66.9 million) (alam & chowdhury, 2013). the top countries which attract almost half of the total number of students who want to study overseas are the united kingdom (uk), the united states of america (usa), and australia. in contrast, the biggest sender of students from 1999 to 2007 was india, china, and south korea (unesco, 126 jpair multidisciplinary research 2009). forecasts were made in 2013 that by 2020, an estimated 3 million enrollees from developing nation countries will pursue higher education in the uk, usa, australia, new zealand, and canada. based on the study of bohm (2002), the tne in higher education will make up 44% of the overall demand for foreign education by the year 2025. however, with the covid-19 crisis, which continuously impacts different sectors of society, questions have been raised about the uncertainties in traditional schools offering face-to-face classes. kumar, paul, and unnithan (2020) underscored the reality that the pandemic, in the long run, will most likely affect transnational education on different fronts. a need for tne players to re-think their program delivery and marketing strategies is crucial to surviving (stewart, 2019). a tne provider’s recruitment method and activities may change, as most are using online platforms with potential students through webinars and social media. universities that have in-country partner institutions will find it easier to conduct student recruitment. also, kumar, paul, and unnithan (2020) stressed that tne players should put a comprehensive crisis management plan for the long term that will cushion the impact of the pandemic. budgets should be reviewed, and come up with more cost-efficient marketing programs. even if the pandemic subsides, it is still possible that fear about health and safety will still hound students, greatly affecting their perception of the institution and host country. academic organizations must find concrete measures to reduce the virus’s negative impact by having a highly positive brand and reputation. regional hubs for tne .part of the thrust of several countries with a massive demand for higher education is bringing foreign institutions in to establish a branch or tie-up with esteemed local organizations to deliver the program. through the years, western universities are known to have the ability to extend their educational programs in singapore, hongkong, malaysia, uae, and qatar via their campuses or in partnership with local partners (alam & chowdhury, 2013). most foreign colleges and universities are located in the following regional hubs: china and hongkong; singapore and malaysia; india, bangladesh, and pakistan; south africa, and united arab emirates (uae) and qatar. it is worth noting that in the uae and qatar, foreign institutions can undertake full commercial operations because there is no cap on fees and ownership (alam & chowdhury, 2013). 127 international peer reviewed journal tne in the middle east .tne is a relatively recent phenomenon globally and in the middle east alone, with 60% of these organizations started to operate in the year 2000 (miller‐idriss & hanauer, 2011). the primary regional hosts for universities from the usa, france, and the uk in the middle east are the uae and qatar. these two gulf countries have dedicated education zones in their major cities for foreign schools to operate – dubai international academic city and qatar education city (alam & chowdhury, 2013; bridi, 2020). .miller-idriss and hanauer (2011) said that while there is no reliable source for the data on the number of tne providers and programs globally, it is evident that a significant number of these can be found in the middle east. in 2011, there were 57 recorded tne institutions – 61% of which are located in the uae, 14% are based in qatar, and 7% are in egypt. the rest of the tne providers are distributed in bahrain, saudi arabia, kuwait, lebanon, and jordan. the usa has the highest number of universities providing tne programs in these countries, with nearly 40% of the tne institutions operating in the middle east. these gathered data signify the great potential of the tne industry even in arab countries. educational marketing mallik & achar (2018) defined educational marketing as the management and implementation of instruction to create customer fulfillment among students. the authors stressed that the said field is a balanced blend of management and academicsit should let teaching thrive properly through compelling administration. while higher education marketing is not new, several authors have noted the crucial role of marketing in recruiting students (alipour, aghamohammadi, ahmadi, & hoseini, 2012; gibbs, pashiardis, & ivy, 2008; maringe & foskett, 2002). with the growing trend in treating education as a marketable entity, several authors have likewise suggested that heis implement marketing programs that are strategicdeliberate and targeted for particular segments (hung, 2008; ng & forbes, 2009). for heis to remain viable amidst the competition, they are also advised to develop positioning and differentiation strategies in mind. these are deemed to provide superior value as perceived by their prospective clients (gibbs, pashiardis, & ivy, 2008; ng & forbes, 2009). this implies that identifying target markets is indeed crucial in order to determine the appropriate programs that will suit their needs and wants. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research understanding consumer behavior must be carefully done by officials of heis to craft marketing activities that would translate to more students and increased revenue. hei should understand that educational marketing is quite different from plain product or service marketing. olenski (2015) affirmed that this type of marketing entails building mutual trust among stakeholders. mallik and achar (2018) highlighted that marketing strategies of educational institutions should be anchored on credibility, quality education, and proper communication. consumers today are highly digital, having easy access to a lot of information. thus, even customers of heis do not have to make an outright decision to enroll in a program unless they plan to do so based on their timetable. gajic (2012) said that a good marketing strategy is a combination of the competencies within an academic institution to address the environments’ constraints and challenges and select the best methods to achieve the organization’s mission-vision. in line with this, masic, babic, djordjevic-boljanovic, dobrijevic, & veselinovic (2010) added that to keep up with the changes in the business environment, heis must be open to change and evolve for the better. cited in gajic’s research were the decisions to be made to formulate a marketing strategy for heis (1) the present programs and markets of the institution – decide whether to maintain, create more, or eliminate; (2) new market opportunities and programs in the future; 3) competition analysis; 4) market positioning; and 5) identifying the target markets and developing the marketing mix. enache (2011) explained that by utilizing a more strategic approach to marketing higher education programs, new data and information could be gathered from the target market. through market research, intelligence data could help heis improve their key decisions in terms of marketing and, ultimately, their overall operations. with proper environmental scanning and analysis of the educational market, heis would be able to identify their students’ primary needs and expectations and potential customers. enache (2011) pointed out that the marketing mix is one of the most useful tools to gauge what ticks customers. marketing concepts and philosophies .the concept of marketing has been evolving through the years, and there are several philosophies and approaches in research studies. kotler (1991) postulated that there are five concepts that organizations align with when it comes to their marketing activities: the production concept, the product concept, the selling concept, the marketing concept, and the societal marketing concept. among these, the marketing and societal marketing concepts are the more timely and relevant ones for organizations today (nicolescu, 2009). 129 international peer reviewed journal .in the marketing approach, the consumers’ needs and wants are the focal points of an organization’s marketing activity. this customer-centric philosophy is very different from the selling approach because additional considerations are also given importance: marketing orientation, consumer behavior, positioning, market segmentation, and marketing mix (kotler, 1991; nicolescu, 2009). the following items outline the steps needed for a consumer-focused marketing approach: (1) market segmentation (to satisfy the customers, target markets must be clearly identified), (2) consumer behavior analysis (organizations must identify and understand the buying behavior of their customers); (3) position strategy (decide on the market positioning of an organization which is usually based on its differentiation from competitors); and (4) marketing mix/transactional marketing (based on the information gathered, organizations should be able to produce what the customers want). marketing mix in higher education higher education institutions can be considered a different type of service, so it requires further customization in the marketing mix that they will use (soedijati & pratminingsih, 2011; mallik & achar, 2018). gajic (2012) underscored that the marketing mix concept for heis should be a synergistic package incorporating not only marketing but also human resource management and process management. shown in table 2 are the parameters of effective marketing strategies for management institutions (mallik & achar, 2018): parameters program 1 providing value added courses 2 availability of a variety of hybrid academic programs 3 offering industry relevant programs 4 academic collaboration with foreign universities 5 adequate training and preparing the students for future job 6 promise to deliver the quality program and living up to that industry expectations 7 co-curricular activities supporting the core subjects price 1 maintain a standard tuition fee 2 provide fee concessions and installments 3 availability of scholarships 4 fees concessions for top-ranked students 5 educational loan assistance and its arrangements by the college 6 installment tuition fees 130 jpair multidisciplinary research place 1 institute is close to the place where students currently live 2 easy accessibility 3 type of the area where the institute is located (urban/rural) 4 physical safety for students and locality of an institute promotional 1 conventional based institute website leaflets/college brochure educational fairs face-to-face counseling sponsorship word of mouth print and visual advertisements (banners and hoardings) advertising, publicity, public relations, and sales promotional efforts 2 digital marketing email and sme marketing campaigns usage of social media video and animation google ads/fb ads (paid advertising) people 1 management people are committed to world-class education 2 top management considers the needs of all major stakeholders (students, faculty, and corporate) 3 faculty with ph.d.’s 4 having committed teachers and staff in the performance of their duties 5 diverse students community 6 faculty with a foreign degree and ph.d.’s process 1 using state of the art technology for t & l 2 hassle-free administration process 3 process of nba accreditation 4 systematic grievance handling mechanism 5 imparting soft skills and technical skills services 6 periodic evaluation of the brand status of the institute will be audited 7 providing online payment options 8 implemented an online attendance management system for students and parents 9 biometric attendance system for teaching and non-teaching staff physical evidence 1 state of the art technology 2 physical infrastructure (classroom/furniture, smart board, lightings, lobby, waiting room, parents’ lounge, etc.) 3 facilities for physically challenged students *lifts/ramps, wheelchair, toilets) 131 international peer reviewed journal 4 library and computational facilities 5 safety, security, and medical facilities 6 gym, hospitals, banks, post offices, co-operative stores, canteen facilities 7 total ambiance (landscape, green campus, etc.) 8 housing and accommodation facilities 9 sports and recreation center, food court, general store, etc. 10 transportation facilities by institutes . enache (2011) postulated that educational marketing is considered part of services marketing. it is important to note that services marketing uses the traditional marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion) plus three other variables: people, process, and physical evidence. enache (2011) and gajic (2012) both stressed that educational institutions could have a more effective marketing strategy using the 7ps, but said that the synergy among the elements of 7ps should be taken into consideration and not just treat each as a separate entity. she added that some components could complement the others, while some may reduce the efficacy of others. in the succeeding sections, the elements of 7ps are discussed by several researchers: product/program the product is the core of traditional marketing. however, enache (2011) noted that in educational marketing, the product could further be improved by the six other elements of the services marketing mix. he said that there are two product strategy paradigms: the degree program is the product with the students as the customers, and the student as the product with the employers as the customers. the research elaborated on these two paradigms: degree program as the product – the educational institution typically focuses on the demands of the students, and that is to obtain a higher education degree such as a master’s or doctorate degree. gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) explained that most of the time, these universities are more focused on the students getting the diploma, without giving too much attention to the admissions policy or selection of students. student as the product – the school studies what the labor market needs and develops programs that are helpful for their graduates to secure career growth or success in business endeavors. by treating the labor market or the business sector as customers, the hei will aim to make sure that it produces competent and skilled graduates through excellent learning opportunities. 132 jpair multidisciplinary research enache (2011) stressed that there is a need to balance these two product perspectives to reconcile the differences in perception between the hei management and professors, students, and employers or business prospects. he further detailed that by developing higher education programs that factor in the needs of the students and that of the labor market, these gaps in perception can be bridged. thus, it will result in an increased level of satisfaction of both the students and the companies/businesses. this is the first step towards crafting an appropriate marketing mix for an educational institution offering higher education. gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) raised the same premises that there are two perspectives on the product. however, he leaned more on the paradigm that considers the degree program as the product because students pay for the program offering while employers cannot be really considered as customers since they do not give payment for the graduates of heis for them to be employed. with this argument, gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) stressed that the degree program design or curricula are the core product marketed by heis. thus, heis must ensure that the curricula are well developed for the needs of students. this also includes the conduct of classes, duration of the program, and syllabi design, which could affect the choice of business school of students. price enache (2011) mentioned that an organization’s pricing strategy is the sole marketing mix element that directly influences earnings. the pricing strategy is part of the branding of an educational institution—the higher cost of the program offers can be perceived as equating to better facilities and teachers, or the program is rare or new in the educational market (enache, 2011; gibbs, pashiardis, & ivy, 2008). while price is considered an economic factor, gajic (2012) pointed out that it is also a psychological factor. the price of a degree program in a certain hei can influence the perceived value of the service being offered. it can be an indicator of good quality, which affects the hei’s image, as well as the rest of the elements in the marketing mix. some researchers also found a direct connection between the tuition fees and the demand for certain degree programs (little, schneider, kroon, price, summerhayes, & segl, 1997). in fact, many students are prepared to pay higher tuition fees in return for quality education (gajic, 2012). gajic (2012) mentioned that hei administrators sometimes fail to see the bigger picture when setting prices for their program offerings. usually, the price 133 international peer reviewed journal set by the school administrators does not incorporate other indirect costs. the consumers’ costs and benefits, according to kotler and fox (1995), should serve as a guide in developing pricing strategies. in addition, gajic explained that potential students, as well as their families, or the reimbursing companies, most often than not look at the final price, which is the actual amount to be paid for the benefit and a value of higher education. the final price, known as the effective price, is the gross amount less any financial assistance or discounts made available to the student (kotler and fox, 1995). gajic also mentioned that heis must consider the following before setting prices: (1) the outcome or effect of the pricing strategy on the hei’s mission and vision; 2) the effect in the enrollment rate of the pricing policy; and 3) the extent to which a pricing strategy can encourage acceleration. heis should also take into consideration the pricing strategy of their competitors and the effect of their pricing schemes on the pricing policies of their competitors. nicolescu (2009) emphasized that from a consumer’s point of view, pricing is the perceived value of the quality received which was paid for. this just shows that having a low price will automatically entice students to enroll. the price should be strategic, taking into consideration the actual costs to be incurred, as well as the quality of education that will be provided to clients. it is possible that students will opt for a premium-priced graduate program as long as it is at par with industry standards and has a good teaching reputation in the academic circles. placement aside from the location of an academic organization, enache (2011) and gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) said that placement could also pertain to new technologies which have become the mean through which higher education can be accessed. aside from tv and radio, internet portals are being tapped by heis to provide their potential and current students the information that they need. online platforms such as emails, video conferencing, podcasts, block release options, moodle, and blackboard enable virtual learning, and through these learning facilities, teachers and students could regularly interact without physically meeting one another. in educational marketing, placement equates to service distribution (gojic, 2012). it primarily involves the manner through which the degree programs will make accessible for students. gojic (2012) likewise elaborated on educational service distribution by stating that the location of an institution can have 134 jpair multidisciplinary research multiple meanings: the area where the hei is located and the features of the area where the hei is located. while program design is essential, program delivery is also highly important for the success of the hei’s operations. school officials must devise innovative channels through which students can access their services, which include distance learning and/or the use of new technologies (kotler and fox, 1995). especially today, the online space is considered the main venue of learning. therefore, it is important to revisit the standard characteristics of a good placement strategy in terms of online education. the type of online platform could affect students’ decision to enroll in a university as it will be the primary mode of learning. accessibility and user-friendliness will be the main considerations of potential enrollees when looking at this aspect. promotion enache (2011) discussed how heis should meet the major challenges of disseminating proper information to the right audience through their promotional strategies: provide adequate information to prospective students on the school’s offerings. – the researcher stressed the significance of the website as the first contact of potential clients with the school. the website must be able to direct the student to read more about the admissions policy and procedure and go to the final step, which is to proceed with the enrollment. enache added that the relationship of the hei with a student does not end after graduation. a graduate could help the university assess whether the educational program was successful through his or her own experience. the alumni of the hei most likely can refer future enrollees or even become funders or investors in the future. promote the benefits of the hei’s services to society as a whole. another point that enache raised was that directing promotional tools to key people that could influence public opinion is another way to enhance the reputation of the hei. he postulated that it is not that easy for educational institutions to undergo re-branding. that’s why most of the time, university officials are keen to maintain a reputable image of the institution. however, heis should use promotional tools with due diligence and not rely on them to attract more students. gajic (2012) emphasized that promotion can work if all the other elements of the marketing mix are implemented well. she said that for universities to implement effective promotion strategies, they should conduct communication planning. the following decisions should be made by hei marketers (gajic, 2012; kotler and fox, 1985), (1) identification of target market; (2) clarification of the sought 135 international peer reviewed journal response; 3) development of a message; (4) selection of the medium or media; (5) selection of the source attributes, and (6) collection of feedback. .gajic (2012) emphasized the importance of effectively communicating to the heis’ stakeholders not only their curricula and prices but more so their goals and activities that can motivate prospects to enroll with them. in addition, gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) specified that using just the website and the prospectus to disseminate information is not enough. different messages and information should be conveyed to a wide variety of publics targeted by the hei. other important communication tools that can be considered are ground events such as exhibitions, conventions, and open days. advertising and direct mail can also be employed to convince potential students to choose their school. people the people in the hei include both the teachers and administrative personnel. the study by enache cited that the quality of people running the hei can strongly influence the strategy used for certain elements of the marketing mix: product, price, process, and promotion. all the personnel primarily interacting with the students are important in the delivery of quality service, which in turn could further attract more clients (alipour et al., 2012; enache, 2011; soedijati & pratminingsih, 2011). in addition to this, marketing is said to work wonders only if all members of the heis from top to bottom understand their role in the organization and how they can contribute to the implementation of their marketing strategies (gajic, 2012). gajic (2012) likewise said that open communication within the hei could increase the motivation level of staff. she also revealed that effective internal communication is positively related to a good attitude of staff to the organization. having highly motivated personnel is a significant element in formulating the hei’s marketing strategy. with dedicated and competent staff, heis have higher chances of success (gajic, 2012). thus, it is necessary for hei management to provide a good working environment conducive to growth, proper compensation, and stability. heis without such motivating factors to staff can have a difficult time becoming successful, more so establishing a world-class reputation (gajic, 2012). enache (2011) pointed out the role of the administrative personnel, particularly in dealing with inquiries and the admissions process. the potential customer’s first contact with the school is through the admissions officer, who answers queries and provides relevant forms and information regarding the 136 jpair multidisciplinary research registration procedure. the first impression that the potential enrollees’ forms through their interaction with the school’s front liner have an immense impact on how the hei will be perceived moving forward. equally important is the roster of teachers employed by the hei. according to enache (2011) and gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008), having on board competent professors has major benefits: students will get quality education, and the hei will have an enhanced image, which will result in the satisfaction of both the students and the society. the authors reinforced the value of putting the right people at the right positions within the he, whether they are teaching or non-teaching personnel. the ability of the professors to execute their lessons well in line with their educational background or field of expertise is likewise paramount to the success of the university. the credentials of the professors greatly influence the image of the business schools and thus affect the student choice of heis. several authors illustrated this by citing an example saying that most students, if not all, are impressed if all teachers have a professorial title or are ph.d. holders. if there are academic staff who are known resource speakers and experts that are visible in seminars or public interviews, it is a great advantage to the hei (gibbs, pashiardis, & ivy, 2008). enache (2011) also said that the hei’s people strategy emerged to be the most significant addition to services marketing. getting the right people for the organization can ultimately help in developing an effective marketing mix. this implies that despite the proliferation of the use of technology in the academe, having the right people will still be of utmost importance in running a transnational hei. the management, staff, and faculty should have the competence and commitment in order to fulfill an organization’s promise to its customers. without people, technology cannot fully function properly. process the hei’s process strategy goes together with the people strategy, especially when it comes to the enrollment process. enache (2011) explained that too much bureaucracy in the enrollment process could have a negative impact on the reputation of the hei, and at the same time, cause dissatisfaction to potential students. the assigned admissions officer should see to it that there is smooth delivery of services from entertaining the inquiry up to the registration procedure. the enrollment process is the sole process that converts a potential student into a bona fide student. that is why all the procedures and strategies involved in this step are considered highly significant. a highlight on the enrollment process 137 international peer reviewed journal implies that the first touchpoint of prospective enrollees is crucial as it can either let them proceed with the enrollment or not. leaving a great first impression at the start of contact with the school means a better chance of enlisting students with the school. physical evidence since education is considered is an intangible product, enache (2011) elaborated that physical evidence is considered the evidence of the product to be delivered. part of the physical evidence is the school building, facilities, laboratories, and equipment used to carry out teaching and administrative tasks. the perceived good quality of such physical evidence contributes to building a good first impression on the school in general. enache (2011) provided a more suitable framework in marketing higher education. using the 7 ps – with the addition of process, people, and physical evidence to the traditional marketing mix, heis can better address the needs of their clients. applying marketing mix constructs in higher education .meraj, fernandes, and ross (2016) encapsulated essential points on the application of the components of the marketing mix in higher education. their study aimed to find out which among the marketing mix elements significantly influence the choice of students when selecting an mba program. the information to be gleaned from their survey is expected to provide a clear basis on the development of marketing strategies, specifically when it comes to branding. they said that proper positioning and communications strategy could improve the ability of heis to remain competitive through higher retention rates and an increase in new students (smith & colgate, 2007, aljohani, 2016). .when asked which among the components of marketing mix mattered to the mba students when choosing the graduate school they want to enroll in, some notable findings were revealed. a study by helmig et al. (2010) found out that the program content, program mode, and image of the institution mattered most to the students. these were followed by the location, length of the course, criteria for enrollment, and accreditation. the researchers singled out that accreditation seemed to have been given low importance by the respondents. it should be noted, though, that accreditation is crucial for the image and reputation of the school. a good grasp on the accreditation credentials of heis can be instilled among future customers via focused branding and effective publicity or advertising. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research in another study in australia by blackburn (2011), he identified five themes which were evident in the factors that highly influenced the choice of students’ mba school: reputation of the hei, quality of the program (class size, course content, teaching quality), syllabus (subjects, course content, flexibility, duration), facilities and campus, and career (job opportunities and security, higher salary and improved lifestyle) the reputation of the hei also topped the list in a survey conducted by schoenfeld (2014) through admissions and applications trends research global. according to the report, students highly consider the reputation of the institution, followed by the accessibility of the location. the third and fourth factors that came out to be critical to students’ perception were the possibility of an international career and the opportunity to network with other professionals. the affordability of the program came in last. .in the actual survey done by meraj, fernandes, and ross (2016), results showed that the marketing mix element which was most significant to the mba students is people followed by product and processes. price, place, and physical evidence were rated almost the same, and the element which ranked the least in order of importance is promotion. the results implied that there is a high significance of people within the heis. this means heis must employ competent, reliable, and customeroriented teachers and staff. the academic and non-academic staff play a vital role in ensuring both prospective and current students’ satisfaction. .ivy & naude (2004) and ivy (2008) likewise identified the marketing mix elements essential to ensure success in the recruitment of new students to mba programs. they believed that a more sophisticated approach to market higher education is needed by crafting marketing strategies based on the relevance of the marketing mix elements perceived by the current and future enrollees. they noted that the following factors were rated important by the respondents in descending order: program, prominence, price, prospectus, people, promotions, premiums. the 7p business school marketing mix gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) developed a new model of the marketing mix for business schools. the setting of the study was in 12 state business schools located in south africa, with the new mba students and those who are leaving the heis as the target respondents of the survey questionnaire. the results of the study revealed that there are seven factors that affect the students’ choice 139 international peer reviewed journal of heis: premiums, prominence, promotion, prospectus, price, programme, and people. in ivy’s study, five factors were rated high in terms of priority by the mba students when they considered the graduate school they have chosen (from highest to lowest): programme, prominence, price, prospectus, and people. the two others, which are premiums and promotions, were the least prioritized elements. program is seen as the most important concern of graduate students in ivy’s study. even numerous researchers have supported this finding, highlighting the fact that offering the right degree programs and well-designed curricula can certainly attract more students to enroll with the hei (maringe & foskett, 2002). on the other hand, prudence equated to a “good teaching reputation” (ivy, 2008). the institutional image was given high importance in the study, which was similar to what other studies have also postulated (maringe and foskett, 2002). more importantly, the variable labeled as “educational standard/recognized qualifications worldwide” was ranked high by binsardi and ekwulugo’s (2003) study. meanwhile, price was the second-highest-rated element by the respondents. while promotion scored the lowest in terms of the rank of importance, ivy noted in his research that the survey conducted by maringe and foskett (2002) among seven universities in south africa revealed that pamphlets and brochures were essential marketing communication tools in hei marketing. this is also supported by several authors (nicholls et al., 1995), citing in their research that despite the proliferation of internet channels, printed materials made available to potential students are still important informational tools. in terms of people, ivy’s study emphasized that face-to-face contact with other students mattered a lot. most of the respondents would consult experts or alumni to help them decide whether to pursue graduate studies or not in a particular hei (binsardi & ekwulugo, 2003). premium was ranked lowest by the respondents in terms of the level of importance. gibbs, pashiardis, and ivy (2008) identified sample elements included in premiums: accommodation, modules, exchange programs, computer facilities, residential requirements, and class sizes. since most graduate school students are working or have been working already, it is already expected that such premiums do not appeal to them in as much as the product or price strategies. 140 jpair multidisciplinary research research gaps while transnational education has been emerging as a significant development in the education sector, it should be noted that only englishspeaking countries such as the uk, usa, and australia have rich data on their tne providers. they keep track of their student population and quality assurance mechanisms, making it easier to improve and innovate. however, there is little research on this relevant information for tne providers in the middle east, although the continent houses almost one-third of the foreign universities worldwide. because of the lack of regular reports and actual figures from other countries on their tne industry, it is difficult to accurately describe the state of this sector. projections can only be made based on estimates available. there have been intensive researches done on the use of marketing mix in the educational sector. however, studies that are specific to the use of marketing mix in the transnational higher education industry can still be explored. conclusions the higher education sector has evolved as societies progressed. both developing and developed countries recognize that borderless education is a great opportunity for individuals to advance despite geographic distance and time zone differences. several countries in various continents have adopted transnational higher education as an innovative mode of learning. on the business side, there is a need for tne providers to differentiate and gain a competitive advantage as students are becoming more discerning with their choice of graduate school. academic organizations that are involved in this kind of business should be more driven to improve and compete alongside the implications of globalization and modernization. the majority of educational institutions are aware of this reality, and they should be strengthening their strategies to get the best students and staff and research programs that elevate their status and maintain a favorable reputation. the marketing mix is one of the strategic tools that, when utilized properly, can help tne providers attract more enrollees and sustain their operations. the relevant elements in the marketing mix for graduate school marketing are product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. the product refers to the program which encompasses the courses offered, curriculum, and content delivery. price is the cost of the program, while the place is the mode 141 international peer reviewed journal of delivery of the program – may it be a physical location or online channel. promotion includes the communication tools used to reach the stakeholders, while the people are the management, staff, students, and even alumni who are part of the institution. process refers to the standard procedures being followed within the school, and physical evidence is the availability of tangible facilities, resources, and equipment that will support teaching and learning. the marketing mix should be taken as a set of available components that can be packaged depending on the needs, demands, and goals of the tne provider. a synergistic grouping of the marketing mix elements should be supported by a customerfocused approach and a cost-efficient allocation of budget for each 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(2009). world conference on higher education: the new dynamics of higher education and research for societal change and development. retrieved from https://bit.ly/3alexgw http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3406 http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3406 https://doi.org/10.1300/j050v03n02_02 https://doi.org/10.1300/j050v03n02_02 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1534484305278283 https://bit.ly/3alexgw 136 jpair multidisciplinary research perceived constraints and challenges in the compliance and implementation of obe syllabus of west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city mary lord l. casiano http://orcid.org/0000-000345008500 marylord.casiano@yahoo.com west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city himamaylan city, negros occidental zoilo s. andrada, jr. university of the philippinesvisayas miagao, iloilo originality: 100% • grammar check: 100% • plagiarism: 0% abstract teachers in the 21st century are encouraged to upgrade their teaching from a teacher-centered approach to student-centered approach to address the demands of globalization. this qualitative research aimed to discuss the perceived constraints and challenges in the compliance and implementation of outcomes-based education syllabus by the teachers who are handling social sciences courses in west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city. data were obtained with the used of triangulation method in the forms of survey questionnaire, focus group discussion, and document analysis. results showed that teachers’ understanding from the training and seminar-workshop attended is not enough because their understanding is only focused on the format to be used and not on the application inside the classroom. in terms of the submission of obe syllabus, vol. 37 · july 2019 https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v37i1.707 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org mailto:marylord.casiano@yahoo.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 137 international peer reviewed journal there is monitoring, but it lacks the feedbacks in monitoring the content. teachers are encouraged to attend training because training implies application. the school shall organize a monitoring mechanism in the implementation of obe syllabus inside the classroom. for monitoring mechanism, the school may tap experts to check the contents of the submitted obe course syllabi by the teachers. to ensure that syllabus is being implemented inside the classroom, close monitoring through class observation by the school heads may be implemented at least twice per semester. keywords — outcomes-based education, challenges, constraints, compliance, triangulation, philippines introduction the philippine educational system is taking reform towards a dramatic shift as a response to greater demands of teachers’ accountability in teaching school children. there has been a paradigm shift from traditional methods of teaching to outcomes-based education. the revision of the commission on higher education (ched) in 2008 highlighted the transformation from content-based curriculum to the competencybased curriculum. later, it was known as outcomes-based curriculum with the memorandum order no. 37 s. 2012 on policies standard and guidelines for its establishment in the higher institution. in the content-based curriculum, the teacher is viewed as a fountain of knowledge. the approach is more centered on the teacher (killen, 2000). in this case, the students are just like empty vessels to be filled by the teachers. the teacher is the sole provider of knowledge. teachers see student mind as a blank sheet or “tabula rasa” based on the belief of john locke, that it needs to be filled with knowledge. the competency-based or outcomes-based curriculum, however, viewed the teacher as the facilitator of the student’s knowledge (jones, 2007). the teacher believes on the multiple intelligences of howard gardner, which states that “not all learners can learn in the same way or at the same time.” but, if given the opportunity, the students can maximize their innate talents and skills. upon implementation, the outcomes-based education (obe) as an approach to curriculum development could change the educational system specifically on the traditional school practices, where performance is primarily based on covering different sets of requirements in a fixed period of time. the teachers are encouraged 138 jpair multidisciplinary research to fully understand the obe program for them to transfer the desired learning outcomes to the students. if teachers lack knowledge on the said program, this may lead to confusions and will end up sacrificing the quality of education. one important aspect of the curriculum is the development of obe syllabus. thus, the syllabus provides a blueprint for the teachers in their lessons, and it serves as a guide for them to realize the outcomes of the course. however, the syllabus must anchor to the course requirement of the said subject. in south africa, on the other hand, the obe system was implemented by a vanguard of newly recruited young technocrats within the department of education. its frameworks were formally adopted in 1997 and the curriculum in 1998. it is now widely accepted that there was an insufficient dialogue about important details like curricula and teaching materials. (ashton, g., 2008). moreover, moodley (2000) posited that obe in south africa is incorporated in curricula since 2005the new national curricula for the twenty-first century. curricula 2005 proposes to be a major step forward in ensuring quality education for all people in south africa. additionally, it aims to equip the learners with knowledge, competencies, and orientations needed for success once learners leave school or complete their training. obe is an approach that focuses on and organizes the educational system on what is essential for all learners to know and value. this approach also aims that students will be able to achieve a desired level of competence at the end of their learning experiences (spady, 1994). as teachers in the 21st century, they are encouraged to upgrade their lesson planning capacities to address the demands of obe. the planning for the learning outcomes starts with a clear picture of what students can do and become. planning for instruction using the obe starts with an end in mind (killen, 2000) as cited in butler (2014). it starts with the considerations of essential learning outcomes for a unit or course. teachers have to identify what they want their learners to demonstrate after the end of every session. after planning, organizing the curriculum, instruction, and assessment follow to make sure learning ultimately happens. in the obe program, teachers are required to comply and to develop an outcomes-based education syllabus as mandated by the commission on higher education. as part of the mandate, there is a massive training for the tertiary level teachers about the preparation and implementation of the obe format syllabus. this premises posted a challenge to the teachers at west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city on their preparedness in complying and implementing the outcomes-based education. 139 international peer reviewed journal framework obe is a program that involves a movement away from a content-based towards the outcomes-based approach. the importance of this is to make a shift from the traditional school practices and embrace the performance-based or outcomes-based practices with specific learning outputs required from the students. the following are the theories that served as the bases of this study: 1.3.1the social constructivism theory. lev vygotsky, the proponent of this school of thoughts, explained how culture affects one’s development. cognitive development of the students is shaped by their sociocultural contexts. learning can be acquired through interactions with the environment (david, 2014). the theory states that teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs when learners are actively involved in the process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. in the obe approach, students are the active players of the teaching and learning process. they are not just mere receivers of knowledge, but they are also involved in the process. it is a philosophy that aims for social reform. one of the characteristics that the students must show in the implementation of this program is to demonstrate cooperation as a member of a team ramoraka, 2007). thus, students need to work together as a team to meet the specific learning outcomes set by the teachers. students construct their knowledge based on what they have observed in their environment and the people around them. if the teachers employ and used the concept of the obe approach in their teaching, this will influence and improve the student’s performances. thus, students do not only learn through memorization but through reconstructing their knowledge to come up with meaningful outcomes. 1.3.2 the blended learning theory. change is the only constant thing that is happening in the human’s society. consequently, the educational systems are also taking their part to address that change. traditional approaches in teaching are being transformed into an outcomes-based approach where the teacher becomes the facilitator of student learning. thus, blended learning theory signifies the change with the integration of digital content as part of the instructional framework in the curriculum. due to the changes that are happening in the higher education levels and the need to prepare the students for the 21st-century workplace, this theory gives the school a different avenue for the students’ needs, differentiated instructions. it also gives teachers the data for instructional decision-making. in obe program, this theory strengthens the idea that the teaching-learning process is more outcomes-based than content-based. new methodologies and 140 jpair multidisciplinary research techniques were used to address the needs of the students. as the evolution of technology is prevalent, the teachers make use of this development. they are as well integrating technology and other newer approaches in their teaching processes inside the classroom. due to the integration of technology in the curriculum, this is an avenue for the students and teachers to learn more and adapt the essence of the new obe program comprehensively. through these initiatives, students can utilize their skills and enhance their knowledge through their experiences. 1.3.3 interactive and participatory learning. everything is changing, including our educational system. part of the change is the adoption of outcomes based education (obe) approach by the teachers in teaching. obe approach is center on the student active involvement in the teaching and learning process. the reason for this paradigm shift in the educational system is to produce quality graduates who can compete globally. the role of the teachers is just facilitators of student learning and not anymore the sole providers of knowledge to the students. teacher’s role is to look for suitable strategies that will match the learning outcomes. learning activities are also interactive because the participants are allowed to participate actively and verbally respond to the learning environment. conceptual framework figure 1. a schematic diagram showing an analytical description of the concept higher educational institution teachers used in this study as a framework for the perceived constraints and challenges in compliance and implementation of the obe syllabus. 141 international peer reviewed journal the diagram presents the concept of the perceived constraints and challenges in the compliance and implementation of the obe syllabus at west visayas state university-extension campus at himamaylan city. the factors that affect the perceived constraints and challenges in the compliance and implementation of the obe syllabus are teachers’ preparation, facilities used, and mechanisms for monitoring. with regards to the teachers’ preparations in making the obe syllabus, it includes the format to be used and the pieces of training attended. another factor that was considered is the facilities used by the teachers that include the instructional materials, the use of technology, the classrooms, and the budget allotted for this program by the school. and lastly, the mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the obe syllabus as one factor in the teachers’ compliance of the obe syllabus was also included. part of the teachers’ preparation is the format to be used for their syllabi. teachers are sent to trainings and workshops to implement obe in their syllabi making and their classroom practices. according to potenza (2002), the success of the curriculum depends on how well trained the teachers are in having a good understanding of the new curriculum. if teachers have a good understanding of obe, it will be easier for them to implement it in the classroom. he also said that teachers trained to understand the new curriculum and its challenges and on how to use a variety of methods to assess whether outcomes are achieved or not. objective of the study this study aimed to identify the perceived constraints and challenges in the compliance and implementation of the obe syllabus of west visayas state university–extension campus at himamaylan city. methodology this part of the paper presents the methods and procedure applied in this study. it was organized under the following sub-headings: research design, population of the study, research locale, sample and sampling techniques, research instrument, data gathering procedures, and method or data analysis. research design this study used the descriptive qualitative method. sandelowski (2000) defined the descriptive method as directed towards ascertaining the prevailing conditions, 142 jpair multidisciplinary research that is, facts that prevail in a group of cases chosen for the study. it is the design to use when the investigator wishes to cover a relatively large population across sections at a particular point in time. triangulation method was employed by the researcher to analyze the data to be collected. the researcher used the information gathered in survey questionnaire, focus group discussion, and document analysis. research site this study was conducted at west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city-a higher education institution located in southern negros, which caters program in education and technology. west visayas state university extension campus at himamaylan city is located in the heart of himamaylan city which is 82 kilometers away from bacolod city. it is an hei funded by the lgu but under the supervision of west visayas state university, la paz, iloilo. it is about 7 kilometers from the city proper of himamaylan. for 10 years of its existence, it earned achievements such as topping the licensure examination for teachers last 2010, with 75% overall performance passing rate in the secondary education level and 72.22% passing rate in the elementary level. the school has five-degree programs: bachelor in secondary education, bachelor in elementary education, bachelor of science hotel and restaurant services technology, and bachelor of information and technology. just recently, another course was added which the bachelor of physical education school physical education. participants the participants of this study were all the teachers who handle social science courses for the second semester 20162017 of west visayas state universityextension campus at himamaylan city. there were eight of them who are handling social science courses, spell out are from the social science division, spell out from the it (information technology) department, one from the physical education division, and one from mathematics and science division. the number of participants in qualitative research, according to creswell (1998), should be substantial in addition, he also mentioned that five to 25 sample size is already enough to gather the needed data. additionally, it was also suggested by dukes (1984) to study 3 to 10 subjects in qualitative research. instrumentation the survey was done using the questionnaire to gather information about the teachers understanding of obe and how they make and implement their obe 143 international peer reviewed journal format syllabus when they teach. in addition, an fgd was conducted to validated responses. at the same time, document analysis was used to check the validity of the obe syllabi submitted by the teachers. sample and sampling techniques the samples of this study were the eight (8) teachers coming from the different area of specialization or department who have a social science subject load for the second semester 20162017. the researcher used the purposive sampling technique in selecting the participants. all of the teachers who are handling social science subject were selected to gather a detailed response. ethical considerations in this study, the researcher analyzed the data objectively by not injecting her own opinion and not letting her cultural biases interfere with the interpretation of data. since qualitative research deals mainly with human as participants ethical considerations below were thoroughly employed by the researcher in the conduct of the study; informed consent. this means that the participants have adequate data about the research and are capable of following the information, and have the choice to either decline or participate in the interview. confidentiality. the confidentiality of information provided by researcher participants must be respected. in this study, the researcher rest assured that the results were kept of utmost confidentiality and were used for the sole purpose of the study. anonymity. the anonymity of the participants made to ensure that the data provided by the participants cannot be traced back to them in reports, presentations, and other forms of dissemination. results and discussion there are eight (8) respondents in this study. table 4.1 shows the demographic profile of the eight (8) respondents. the profile includes age, highest academic degree earned, administrative position, number of preparations, number of years of teaching experience, and course(s) handled. 144 jpair multidisciplinary research a. constraints and challenges in the teachers’ preparation in the compliance and implementation of obe syllabus. understanding the concept of obe principles are part of the teachers’ preparation in the compliance and implementation of obe syllabus. it is perceived as a major constraint and challenge for the teachers of the 21st century. as part of the preparation, they were sent to pieces of training and other seminar workshops. in the case of wvsuechc, they were also sent to pieces of training as part of the implementation of obe approach in their teaching. of the eight (8) respondents two (2) of them were not able to attend any seminar or training on obe syllabus. the respondents stated that the department/ division heads were allowed to attend the seminar or training. this is due to the lack of budget given by the school for the professional development of the teachers. this might be the reason why some teachers have a lack of understanding of the concept of obe. to those teachers who have attended the seminars and pieces of training, they are familiar with the format to be used and the different composition of obe such as the format of the syllabus to be used. results of the study revealed that majority of the respondent answered more on the format to be used. major components of obe syllabus were identified, namely learning objectives, time, topic, and outcomes. in framing the obe syllabus, it is important to know the proper format in developing a course syllabus. it should be noted that teachers have been trained to use the traditional approach in syllabus making before the obe format was introduced. training on the proper format of obe syllabus is necessary to differentiate the traditional from the obe approach and to update the understanding and use of new approaches in syllabus construction. in terms of the different constraints and challenges, the teachers have encountered in compliance and implementation of obe such as looking for appropriate learning outcomes, time frame, learning contents, appropriate assessments, appropriate facilities and lack of training. majority of the respondents identified time as a major factor that affects the proper implementation and compliance of the obe syllabus. even though the respondents reflected time allotment for each topic in the syllabus, the respondents failed to follow it. this shows that the respondents manage to teach time poorly. respondent 4 stated, “she cannot freely do what she wanted to do because of the allotted time given on each topic.” this claim was supported by respondent 6 saying “in following the obe syllabus i have problems with the facing of the time.” it must be noted that obe is more on the student-centered approach and requires more time 145 international peer reviewed journal for student activities. the teacher should be aware of this approach to successfully observed time management. time, according to cavener (1994), is an important factor to consider in the planning and preparing of the obe syllabus. cavener’s statement is strongly supported by bresciani (2011) stating that in the obe approach, teaching is more on the outcomes; and teachers are challenged to manage their time on the activities that students will follow in every lesson. another constraints and challenges are the appropriate outcomes since there is a mismatch between the learning objectives and the assessment as what respondent 2 mentioned during the focus group conducted. teachers’ misunderstanding of the lesson objectives of the course syllabus may lead to improper assessment and eventually, achieving learning outcomes. schwartz (n.d.), mentioned that when designing assessments, it is important to make sure that any exams or assignments match the learning outcomes of the course. assessments should be based on the material you’ve covered in the course, and students should perceive the material as relevant and fair.” respondent 8 answered that she has the problem of elaborating the scope of the course. this problem may arise because the coverage of the course is too broad. it may include too many topics and results in the proper observation of time. bresciani (2011) stressed that teachers would only include the things that have a greater value for them. according to the teaching center of washington university (2017), a syllabus is a course-planning tool that helps the teachers prepare and organize the course. taking the time to construct a detailed syllabus will help the teachers define the course goals; plan the course structure and assignments, exams, review sessions, and other activities; and determine how much time will be devoted to a particular topic. another factor considered as part of the teachers’ constraints and challenges is the attendance to training. wherein two (2) of the respondents were not able to attend any seminar or training on obe syllabus. the respondents stated that the department/division heads were allowed to attend the seminar or training. this is due to the lack of budget given by the school for the professional development of the teachers. according to omar (2014), training is important for the teachers’ effectiveness in the world of education. these trainings could help promote continuous school improvement and lessen teachers’ deficiencies in the delivery of instructions. additionally, these trainings could as well enable teachers to be updated with the new knowledge for much advanced and updated way of delivering instructions. 146 jpair multidisciplinary research if the teachers have a good understanding of obe, it will be easier for them to implement it inside the classroom. b. challenges and constraints in looking for appropriate facilities to be used. part of the teachers’ constraints and challenges in the preparation in the compliance and implementation of obe syllabus are the facilities used by the teachers. these facilities include instructional materials, integration technology, appropriateness of classroom facilities and resources, and budget allocation for obe. for the use of instructional materials, findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents are dependent on the use of lcd projector in most of their classes. this resulted in a decline in teachers’ creativity. majority of the teachers misuse the proper usage of the lcd projector. as what respondent 2 highlighted “the use of lcd projector give me ease in teaching because i will not anymore have a hard time repeating my class discussion… just one click and okay.” respondent 8 affirmed that it challenges her to do away with the use of technology as part of the teachers’ instructional materials because of the ease it can give to the teachers. additionally, she concluded that teachers are the most important instructional materials in the teaching and learning process. in terms of the instructional materials used by the teachers, it is evident that the respondents are more inclined to using technology rather than the traditional materials. results further show that the respondents can be classified according to the type of instructional materials they used. this classification of teachers is technology-dependent teachers and eclectic teachers. technology-dependent teachers are those using technology in most of their classes. most of the respondent preferred to use lcd in most of their classes because of the ease of using it. the respondent further explained that the lcd projector is useful in teaching because teachers can do a lot of manipulation like, using slides, music, hyperlink, videos, and others. the eclectic teachers are those employing the blended learning theory, wherein they use traditional instructional materials while integrating technologies in teaching. these teachers were able to integrate technology inside the classroom without taking for granted the traditional approach. the result shows that majority of the respondents agreed that instructional materials were used to facilitate higher-order thinking skills for the students. instructional materials were used to strengthen the class discussion so when the respondent asked on the learning’s gained by the student with the use of instructional 147 international peer reviewed journal materials their answers were categorized into two, namely: instructional materials used to facilitate active participation and instructional materials used to develop higher-order thinking skills. majority of the respondent agreed that instructional materials used to facilitate active participation. when the researcher reviewed the submitted syllabi, it found out that the strategies used in the delivery of the lesson are more on studentcentered. the strategies include role-playing, talk show, exhibit, drawing, reporting, and the like. khalil & elkhider (2016) emphasized that instructional materials can be incorporated into the teaching strategies to promote active learning and teaching effectiveness of the teachers. in obe classroom settings, these strategies include questioning purposefully; classroom demonstration; short-in-class writing; icebreaker; inviting guest speaker; debate; and talk show are among the examples of teaching strategies that use instructional materials that create excitement and enhance learning. instructional materials used to develop higher order thinking skills. when the researcher reviewed the submitted syllabi, she found out that assessment tools used do not only focus on the paper and pencil test but was more on the performance-based assessment. in the obe program, the use of a variety of instructional materials can help improve student’s participation. this is highly supported by the concept of interactive and participatory learning theory, which, states that teachers’ role, is to keep up with the demands of the country to produce globally competitive learners. this implies the changing role of teachers from being the center of the teachinglearning process to the student as the center of the teaching and learning process. students become the active participants of the teaching and learning process from a mere passive receiver of learning. the use of technology is very popular to the respondents. findings of the study show that the majority of the respondents uses technology in the form of an lcd projector in their classes, and only one mentioned he is using both traditional and technology-based. lcd projector encompasses the functions of other technologies used such as the television for video presentation, movie reviews, and music. the use of lcd projector provides ease and accessibility for the teachers in teaching. the integration of technology in teaching is also one of the constraints and challenges that teachers are experiencing because of the lack of appropriate and enough technology to be used. like for example, respondent 7 highlighted the 148 jpair multidisciplinary research importance of technology in teaching most especially that he is handling the humanities course. performance task like dancing, singing, and poetry are very hard when there is a lack of technology to be used, such as karaoke, microphone, and televisions. respondent 2 highlighted, “i can’t imagine my class without the projector… i don’t know how to continue my class without it.” it only shows that most of the respondents are too dependent on the use of this lcd projector in most of their classes. for them, a day is not complete without an lcd projector. this hampers their creativity inside the classroom. but respondent 6 admitted, “the problem in using the lcd projector is that i cannot assure if the students learned with the discussion.” in addition, respondent 4 stated “sometimes i am not sure if the students are really learning from my discussion because they cannot measure if they learned something from the discussion or not” respondent 4 trying to point out the disadvantage of using of too much lcd projector in teaching because this might make the students used with the same and repeated strategies that might lead to the diminish students interest in participating in the discussions. respondent 7 favors the use of an lcd projector in his class discussion because it will save time compared to the traditional method. he continuously says, “the traditional method is time consuming compared to the use of an lcd projector. for instance, in the traditional method, i will write from the chalkboard then erase it again then i will write again then erase it again literally its time consuming compared to the use of lcd that i will continue the discussion by simply clicking or flashing it.” this only shows that these teachers’ wanted to deliver the class in an easy tone without exerting too many efforts which contradict to the concept of obe that a teacher will do some extra effort in the teaching and learning process. these teachers, as described by corpuz (2015), are equipped with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values demanded by this century. these are referred to as 21st-century skills because teachers are using ict literacy (information media technology and technological literacy). the 21st-century teacher is not only called a digital native but a digital immigrant. it is because he or she injects life into the subject matter by using technology and bridges the classroom and the hi-tech world of students. in addition, these teachers are incorporating the concept of social constructivism. this theory states that learning can be acquired through interaction with the environment. teachers of the 21st century are adopting the new trend in teaching, which, is the use of technology. another constraints and challenges experienced by the teachers are the size and appropriateness of the classrooms and classrooms facilities. the types of the 149 international peer reviewed journal classroom were identified based on the responses of the respondents. they are a spacious classroom and crowded classroom. in a crowded classroom, according to respondent 2, “there is a crowded seating arrangement, hot and limited space for activities.” while respondent 8 supported the response of respondent 7 stating, “classroom size is not appropriate because some of my classes are large classes and the classroom is too small.” the appropriateness of the classroom can be measured by the number of students in a class handled by the teacher. most of the classroom size, according to respondents 3 and 5, are appropriate for individual presentations and small group activities. puteh (2015) stressed that having ample space in the classroom makes the activities occur simultaneously. moreover, a classroom with enough space can facilitate a creative activity for individual and group presentations. in addition, duncanson (2007), mentioned that having a spacious classroom leads to the teachers to create numerous teaching methods to facilitate active participation from the students. these include hands-on experiments, collaboration, student performances, and many others that increased student involvement. hannah (2013) affirmed that a classroom is a place where the students gained an understanding of their place in the world and the gifts that they have to offer. it is also a place where students developed what they want their future to look like, as well as knowledge of the skills needed to reach that goal. the role of the classroom in student learning is very important. in general, the size of the classroom affects the teaching performance of the teachers and the learning process of the students. ijaiya (n.d.) stated that crowded classroom limits the quality and quantity of interactions between the teachers and the students as well as the quality of teaching and learning. when it comes to the facilities, respondent 1 emphasized, “we need more buildings… more classrooms and more on the laboratories.” this claim was supported by respondent 7 during the conduct of focus group discussion; he stated, “the ventilation and classroom is not presentable! considering the time of my class from 10:00 to 11:30 which is very hot in inconvenient for my student because there is no electric fan then the number of students in a classroom are too crowded. this resulted in limited space for group activities.” but respondent 6 reasoned “it depends on the number of students.” it shows that the appropriateness of classroom size depends on the number of students handled by the teachers because there are classes who have a smaller number of students and classes with a bigger number of students. respondent 5 supported the claim of respondent 2 saying “crowded classroom resulted in a noisy environment.” 150 jpair multidisciplinary research another constraints and challenges encountered by the teachers are the budget allocation for obe compliance and implementation. respondent 1 has a limited idea on the budget allocated by the school for obe implementation.” the result shows that the majority of the teachers are not aware of the budget allocation intended for obe compliance and implementation. if in case there is a budget, but they are not aware of how much is the allotted budget. this somehow challenges the teachers to implement the obe because of the limited support in terms of budget allocation. c. challenges and constraints in the monitoring of obe syllabus. the vocational education and training reform program in the republic of serbia (2008) defines monitoring as a systematic collection and analysis of information during the implementation. the necessity of monitoring is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of a certain program. in obe, the monitoring mechanism will improve how the teachers comply and implement the obe syllabus inside the classroom. based on the result of the study, teachers find it difficult to make an obe syllabus because of the lack of monitoring in its content. in terms of a monitoring mechanism for the submission of the obe syllabus, the department heads are the one who is checking it. majority of the respondents agree that expert in the field is the one who will check the content and probably if done checking the heads will do the monitoring in the implementation inside the classroom through class observation. the heads will monitor if the corrected syllabus is being followed. the respondents believe that the need to create a monitoring mechanism will give the assurance that the teachers follow the syllabus when they teach. tokatlı and keşli (2009), stressed the importance of monitoring the syllabus. it helps improve teacher performance through; effectiveness of their teaching techniques and learning materials; making reliable decisions about educational planning; identifying student growth in acquiring certain knowledge, skills, attitudes, and social values; helping motivate students to learn; and providing the educational administrators with the adequate information about teachers’ effectiveness and school needs. majority of the respondents agreed that there is no feedback given if the content of the syllabus is correct. further, there is no observation if obe is properly implemented. there is no monitoring in the compliance and implementation of obe syllabus. 151 international peer reviewed journal d. perceived constraints and challenges on the advantages and disadvantages of the obe syllabus. teachers’ compliance and implementation of obe syllabus has advantages and disadvantages. using obe gives perceived advantages for the teachers in term on the following; monitors the student progress because it is outcomes-oriented, it will give teachers ease in the flow of the lesson, and give ease to the teacher because it focuses on the involvement and performance of students. while the perceived disadvantages are as follows: the teachers’ preparedness to implement obe when they teach, in achieving the desired learning outcomes, enough time needed for the obe approach, students’ readiness to participate in the grouping activities, looking for the references and looking for the appropriate learning outcomes. teachers find it advantageous to use obe syllabus because it emphasizes more on students’ involvement, and it is the student-centered approach. in the obe approach, outcomes is easy for the teachers to see to it if the student achieved the objectives or not. spady (1994) stressed that obe is focused and organized based on what is essential for all students to learn at every end of the learning experience. killen (2000) as cited in butler (2004), supported this for the teachers; it will give them a deeper understanding of the needs of the students and predict what will happen in the future. ramoraka (2007) mentioned that obe requires the students and teachers to focus on the desired result, such as outcomes of learning and the instructive learning process that will guide the learners on what to achieve. in designing the obe syllabus, it is important for the teachers to identify on what topic to be included based on what is essential for students to learn. topics with essential value are given more emphasis by the teachers. in designing the obe syllabus, the teachers keep in mind that their role in the obe approach is more on the guiding rather than discussing all of the things that a student will know. it gives ease to the teachers, especially in the discussion because they will not do all the talking, but instead, it will allow the student to actively participate in the teaching and learning process. bilbao (2015) stressed that the methods of teaching in the 21st century should vary to address the needs of different kinds of students. it should be studentcentered, interactive, and transformative. as for the teachers’ perceived disadvantages, they misunderstood the principles of obe, stating that it is more on the student activities. teachers’ notion regarding obe approach is quite different. in an obe approach, even though it is more on the student-centered approach, the teachers are encouraged to give more extra 152 jpair multidisciplinary research effort in designing and delivering the lessons. bilbao (2015) stressed the quality of the teacher in using obe syllabus such as: prepare the students adequately; create a positive learning environment; help student understand what they have to learn; use variety of methods; provide with enough opportunities to use the new knowledge and skills they gained; and help students to bring each learning to a personal closure that will make them aware of what they learned. the teachers in the obe approach must be well prepared to implement the concept and principles of obe. teachers engaging in this approach need proper planning on what to be included in their syllabus because here they are expecting desired outcomes from the students. obe approach needs more time since it is more on the students’ active involvement; time is an essential element in the planning and outlining of the obe syllabus. preparation of the student-centered approach is time-consuming compares to teacher-centered approach. this challenged the teachers to manage the time properly to avoid the problem with time. cavener (1994), stressed that time is an important factor to be considered in the planning and preparing of the obe syllabus. cavener’s claim was supported by bresciani (2011) asserting that in the obe approach, teaching is more on the outcomes; and teachers are challenged to manage their time on the activities that students will follow in every lesson. in terms of the readiness of the students in doing more group activities, the respondent might have the difficulty of managing the larger classes on their activities. this is because the assessment is based on students’ performances. this may give them a difficult time to assess students one by one. jones (20017) claimed that in a larger class, it is difficult for the teachers to monitor each of the individual student performance because it requires more time in keeping track of their progress. looking for the appropriate activities with the specific outcome is seen as a challenging part of using the obe syllabus. maybe the teachers’ orientation of delivering the course syllabus is more on the teacher-centered approach. possibly, the teachers are still having difficulty in changing the paradigm in delivering the lesson. in obe, the teachers must start first by analyzing what is essential for the students to learn after the learning experience. then the teachers will decide a teaching strategy to be used. general obe program offers a good promise in improving the quality of education that a “teachers” can give to the student to make them more competitive 153 international peer reviewed journal in their chosen field of specialization. to do that, teachers are sent to seminar workshops and trainings to learn the concept and principles of obe. in reality, it is not observed because some teachers are not yet ready to implement it. they need to attend more trainings because the success of obe implementation depends on the teachers understanding of the concepts and principles. when it comes to the use of facilities, in the obe, the teachers need enough materials and resources such as classroom, lights and ventilation, references, budget and other equipment to provide ease to students and teachers interaction. the teachers need an expert person to check their submitted syllabi for monitoring purposes. if the concept and principles of obe are applied and integrated into the teachings, there is no doubt it will give a better result to the performance of the student. and this will give ease to the teachers in delivering their lessons. conclusions the perceived constraints and challenges of the teachers at west visayas stateuniversity-extension campus at himamaylan city were on the obe syllabus preparation. despite the familiarity of the teachers on the format of the obe syllabus, they lacked the understanding and proper application of its components. lack of time and appropriate learning contents and outcomes were seen as major reasons why most of the teachers have a limited understanding of the concept of obe inside the classroom.this could be probably because of the limited trainings that the teachers have attended. similarly, teaching load and the number of course preparations per semester were also the contributing factors why teachers failed to design an effective course syllabus properly. these made the teachers failed to maximize the use of technology in their respective classes. thus, teachers cannot perform well their creativity to expand their lessons and to utilize every resource for the betterment of the obe implementation inside the classroom. classroom size and classroom facilities (e.g., lighting and ventilation) were additional problems why obe was not implemented well inside the classroom or throughout the delivery of the lessons. this is maybe because the school has a limited budget allocated for the implementation of obe, which consequently resulted in a poor learning environment. monitoring mechanism used by the school was only limited to the checking on the submission of obe syllabus, but in terms of the checking of the content there is no monitoring. thus, there is a need to monitor on how the teacher designs 154 jpair multidisciplinary research their course syllabus and how they implement it inside the classroom. in general, submission of obe syllabi was strictly observed. close monitoring was absent, checking and evaluation, and feedback mechanism on the contents of the submitted syllabi. when teachers were asked on the perceived advantages of using obe syllabus, majority of them answered it monitors on the flow of the lesson because it is resultoriented. while the respondents agreed that teachers must be well prepared and knowledgeable enough on the concept of obe to properly implement it inside the classroom. however, the result showed that it was not being followed because some of them were having difficulties in looking for appropriate teaching methodologies in delivering the lesson, looking for references, looking for appropriate learning outcomes, and looking for appropriate assessments. translational research translationally, a training design for actual syllabus implementation was devised and conducted for the teachers of wvsu-echc to improve the syllabi implementation inside the classroom. it is composed of ten days of training sessions with planned, and step by step discussions on how each methodology reflected in each syllabus will be implemented inside the classroom. furthermore, the actual demonstration will also be done to ensure that teachers are well equipped with the proper classroom implementation of the syllabi made. as obe is focused on outcomes, teachers were oriented from merely product-based to outcomes-based of the students’ learning. the proper way of assessment and evaluation will also be included in the said training. literature cited ashton, g. 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(2009). syllabus: how much does it contribute to the effective communication with the students?. procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  1(1), 1491-1494. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sbspro.2009.01.263 vocational education and training reform in the republic of serbia (vet) (2008). techniques for monitoring of the work of teachers. retrieved on april 8, 2017. http://www.vetserbia.edu.rs washington university in st. louis, (2017). preparing a syllabus. the teaching center. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xigmwv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.263 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.263 http://www.vetserbia.edu.rs 125 international peer reviewed journal communicative competencies and pre-service teaching performance: basis for communication skills enhancement lilian b. dela cruz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0811-4171 liliandc66@gmail.com dalubhasaan ng lunsod ng san pablo san jose, san pablo city originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract with the current demand standard for teachers equipped with the 21stcentury skill of communicative competence, teacher education institutions like the dalubhasaan ng lunsod ng san pablo (dlsp) have continuously searched for ways and means to fortify the communication skills development of their students and to hone them into well-prepared and well-equipped future teachers. the pre-service teaching internship is an avenue to establish the readiness of the student-teacher in an educational environment. this paper assessed the extent of association between the level of communicative competencies and pre-service teaching performance of the dlsp student teachers for the academic year 2017-2018. more specifically, it showed the profile of the preservice teachers: the majority are aged 21-25, females, taking beed-general curriculum. the pre-service teachers are found to have an above-average level of communicative competencies in reading, listening, and writing but only average level of communicative competencies in speaking. there is a significant difference among speaking, reading, and writing competencies when grouped vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.7238 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. mailto:liliandc66@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 126 jpair multidisciplinary research according to major or area of specialization. there is a weak correlation between communicative competencies of listening, reading and writing, and student teaching performance, while there is a moderate correlation between speaking competencies and student teaching performance. to get a more conclusive correlation between competencies and performance, it is recommended for the institution to include communicative competencies as one among the specific parameters in evaluating pre-service teaching performance. this study found a need to enhance the communicative competencies, especially in speaking and writing that an integrated listening, speaking, reading, and writing (lsrw) program for enhancement of the pre-service teachers(pst)communicative competencies is proposed. keywords — communicative competencies, lsrw, student teaching, preservice teacher, student teaching performance introduction the 21st century is marked by a prominence of fast-evolving digital literacy and the emergence of a population of digital natives (born into the digital technology) and digital immigrants (born before the widespread use of digital technology), that the education sector is compelled to respond accordingly in putting up programs and strategies to equip both teachers and learners in coping with the inescapable demand of the present and the future. in this day and age, future teachers must incorporate the 21st-century skill of good communication to be adequately prepared for the world of work, given the swiftness with which information technology has been influencing both the domestic landscape and the world of professions (ozkan, 2015). pre-service teachers are desired to exhibit proficiency in the english language, meaning a good level of competency in the four modes of communication: listening, speaking, reading, and writing (lsrw). lsrw permeates the curriculum; they are essential to learning and to the demonstration of learning in every content area.content means the knowledge and skills a student needs to learn and acquire; but while the teacher is expected to have a mastery of such content, he or she needs to possess the necessary communication skill to impart that content to the student (okoli, 2017). in over two decades of the existence of the dalubhasaannglunsodng san pablo (dlsp), a local college run by the city government of san pablo, has 127 international peer reviewed journal produced hundreds of professional teachers. based on informal reports/feedback from and informal interviews of employers or school heads, the applicants newly graduated from dlsp are observed to display weakness in terms of communication skills, specifically in the oral and written forms. though there is no organized documentation of such feedback or comments, dlsp has exerted effort to reverse the situation in revising english subject syllabuses to integrate and emphasize oral and written communication lessons. these information prompted the researcher, a graduate school student specializing in english language studies, to determine the communicative competency levels of pre-service teachers because it may just prove to be a predictor of their effectiveness in the delivery of their function as student teachers and thus be better prepared to take on the teaching profession when they graduate and start teaching as professionals. it is hoped that in establishing relationships between the profile and the level of communicative competencies of the pre-service teachers and the correlation to performance in student teaching, it may be possible to discover variables affecting student teaching performance and offer some suggestions to school administration on ways to improve teaching and learning. the findings will be used as a basis to propose a program that will enhance the pre-service teachers’ communication skills and thus establish their readiness and ability to teach when they do the professional or in-service practice. objectives of the study employing the descriptive-correlative nature of research, this study’s main objective is to identify the correlates of the communication competencies of the pre-service teachers (pst) and their student teaching performance. specifically, this study presents a profile of the pre-service teachers of dlsp for the academic year 2017-2018 in terms of age, sex, area of specialization and access to internet; determines the level of communicative competencies of the said pre-service teachers; tests the significant relationship between preservice teacher profile and communicative competencies; tests the significant difference among the competencies when grouped according to major or field of specialization; correlates the pre-service teachers’ communicative competencies with performance in student teaching; and proposes a program to enhance the communicative skills of the pre-service teachers. 128 jpair multidisciplinary research methodology research design the researcher used the descriptive design to assess the level of communicative competencies and the level of performance in the student teaching of pre-service teachers. the correlation method is used to analyze the extent and the nature of relationships between communicative competencies and student teaching performance. research site the study was conducted indalubhasaannglunsodng san pablo, which is located in barangay san jose, san pablo city.dalubhasaannglunsodng san pablo (dlsp) is a local college run by the city government of san pablo that produced hundreds of professional teachers. participants the participants of the study were the pre-service teachers (psts) of the dalubhasaan ng lunsod ng san pablo (dlsp) who took the student teaching subject in the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018 and their respective cooperating teachers (cts) in the cooperating schools where these psts were deployed to do practice teaching. a total of 102 out of the 137 fourth-year students enrolled in the programs of bachelor in secondary education (bsed) and bachelor in elementary education (beed) who did their pre-service teaching during the second semester of ay 2017-2018 and their respective cooperating teachers participated in this study. a total of 119 cts handled all those 137 pre-service teachers when they were deployed to do student teaching in different secondary and elementary schools of san pablo city. to come up with a valid and reliable total number of respondents (sample size), slovin’s formula was used. based on the said formula, the total number of respondents needed is 102, which is 74.45% of the total population. instrumentation this study used a questionnaire modified from and patterned after selfassessment checklists for listening, speaking, reading and writing by carol orwig, sil (updated 2013), and its adaptation for use in japan by miriam davis. the questionnaire was subjected to validation by three experts in the field – one in education, one in language, and one in research. the questionnaire 129 international peer reviewed journal was next submitted to the university statistician for reliability test, and results indicated that it was acceptable for the internal consistency of this paper. also, this study made use of the likert scale to assess the performance of the preservice teachers based on the grades they obtained in the three components of performance evaluation in the six-unit subject of student teaching. data gathering procedure the researcher sought permission from the college president of the dalubhasaannglunsodng san pablo in the distribution of the questionnaire to the pre-service teachers. likewise, permission was sought from the department of education san pablo city division schools superintendent in the distribution of a questionnaire to the cooperating teachers. the data were gathered, tallied, tabulated, coded, and encoded. the encoded coded tabulation was sent to the university statistician for statistical analysis. data analysis the gathered and tabulated data were analyzed accordingly using the following statistical methods/tools. frequency distribution was used to express the profile variable frequencies as a percentage of the total frequency equated to 100. weighted mean and ranking were used to describe the level of communicative competencies of the pre-service teachers in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. the following are the assigned values with verbal interpretation 2.50–3.49, which means easily or almost always; 1.50– 2.49, which means with some effort; 1.00–1.49, which means barely. analysis of variance (anova) was used to determine whether the means of the four communicative competencies are different. pearson correlation coefficient was used to show the relationship between the communicative competencies with the student teaching performance of the respondents in this study. all data gathered were treated using statistical software, pasw version 18, using an alpha level of 0.05. results and discussion profile summary of respondents one hundred two (102) pre-service teachers were chosen to answer the questionnaire. overall, there are more females, 77.45% of the respondents, than males, only 22.5%. there is a view that teaching is a vocation, an acknowledgment 130 jpair multidisciplinary research of a call to serve others through the means of education and learning, be it at a primary, secondary, or post-secondary level. the focus of conceptualizing teaching as a vocation is more on students for whom teaching activities are carried out than it is on the teacher who performs these activities or on the institution that supports the teaching function (buijs, 2005). related to this, sultana, zahir, and yaacob (2014) cited drudy (2008), who maintained that women are more naturally disposed towards nurture than men, based on the traditional gender roles. most of the respondents are from the beed–general curriculum which is 24.51% of the total population of respondents, while the fewest respondents are from bsed–filipino major, which contributed 7.84% of the total population. in terms of age, most of the respondents are within the age bracket of 21-25 years of age, which comprises 60.78 % of the total population. meanwhile, the lowest age bracket was between 31-35 years old and 46-50 years old, which are both at 0.98%. in terms of internet use: a number of hours spent to support or supplement learning, 28.43% of the total respondents spend between 5-10 hours per week while the longest time spent is 16-20 hours per week by only 9.8% of the total respondents. in today’s educational landscape, computers are widespread, readily accessible, and practical; as computers have been an integral part of people’s lives. cooperating teachers’ profile a total of 102 cooperating teacher population was chosen to answer the questionnaire regarding their assessment of the communicative competencies of the pre-service teachers respectively assigned to them. overall, there are more female cooperating teachers than males; 82.4% and 17.6%, respectively. only a small percentage (9.8 %) of the cooperating teachers did not take a bachelor in elementary education or bachelor in secondary education. in addition, most of the cooperating teachers are between 26-45 years of age. communicative competencies in terms of listening the psts’ listening competencies are at a total composite mean of 2.56 with a verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average competency). following the zascerinska (2010) table of levels of communicative competencies, the psts are at proficient user level in terms of listening competency, meaning they can generally perform the listening tasks autonomously or they can regulate their listening processes with automaticity and without needing help from others. 131 international peer reviewed journal among the listening tasks cited, pre-service teachers (pst) can understand basic warnings and commands (rank 1.5); pstcan understands greetings and other very commonly occurring social routines (rank 1.5), and pst can express personal apologies clearly and appropriately to someone he/she has offended (rank 3). the pre-service teachers (pst) can understand someone describing a complex object or procedure in detail (at rank 10) got the lowest weighted mean score of 2.35 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level of competency). as emphasized in the study of zlatić, bjekić, marinković, and bojović (2014), this lowest weighted mean score could mean that the psts are still in the formative period for structuring the system of their professional behavior. the psts, therefore, should be more flexible and ready to change their behavior at this stage in their teacher education training. listening tasks such as pst can persuade a student to do something he/she doesn’t want to do or to stop doing something the pst doesn’t like obtained a mean score of 2.36 (rank 9) and pst can understand enough to carry on short conversations on concrete topic in english, 2.51 (rank 8). communicative competencies in terms of speaking in terms of speaking, the over-all composite mean is 2.47 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level of competency). from among the speaking tasks, both pre-service teachers (pst) can explain a simple process to students such as doing a project (rank 1.5) and pst can give students clear directions on how to go about an activity (rank 1.5) got the highest weighted mean of 2.68 and with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level). for the speaking task, pst can express personal apologies clearly and appropriately to someone he/she has offended (rank 3) with a weighted mean score of 2.66 and verbal interpretation of easily or almost always. however, the speaking task pst can present a talk at a professional meeting (rank 10) got the lowest weighted mean score of 2.22 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average competency level). speaking task pst can handle formal discussions (rank 9) got a weighted mean of 2.28 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). pst can articulate a complaint, giving the reasons why he/she is dissatisfied (rank 8) got a weighted mean of 2.32 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). communicative competencies in terms of reading communicative competence in terms of reading has an over-all composite mean of 2.56 with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above 132 jpair multidisciplinary research average level). pre-service teachers (pst) can read notes of instructions and follow them obtained a weighted mean score of 2.85 (rank 1). likewise, with task items pst can read announcements and other items on bulletin boards (rank 2) obtaining a weighted mean score of 2.75 with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level), and pst can read and identify signage in school premises (rank 3) getting the weighted mean of 2.74 and with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level). on the other hand, the reading task item pst can read letters to the editor (rank 10) obtained the lowest weighted mean scores of 2.22 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). reading task items pst can read any kind of personal or business correspondence (rank 9) and pst can read expository prose on a wide range of subjects, including some unfamiliar to him/her (rank 8) also got the low weighted mean scores of 2.32 and 2.38 respectively with verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). meanwhile, a study made by erdem (2015) on reading habits of university students revealed that students enjoy reading literary works, historic, romantic, entertaining-humorous, and psychological genres the most; business correspondence and expository prose are not among their reading preferences; and that students are too preoccupied with the intensity of lessons, busy social life, preparation for examinations and spending time on the computer/internet. communicative competencies in terms of writing the pre-service teachers (pst) communicative competencies in terms of writing stand at a total composite mean of 2.52 with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level). pst can fill out school forms is at rank one (1), having obtained a weighted mean score of 2.85 with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average). pst can write its own resume (rank 2), and pst can take notes during meetings, whether formal or informal (rank 3) got the next highest weighted means of 2.83 and 2.65 respectively with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level). on the other hand, writing task item pst can write articles for professional journals (rank 10) got the lowest weighted mean score of 2.17 with the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). writing task item pst can write memos (rank 9) got a weighted mean score of 2.33 with verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level) while pst can write poetry or lyrics to a song (rank 8) got the weighted mean score of 2.17 also with verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). writing is an essential tool for 133 international peer reviewed journal students to be successful in college and in the world of work across all disciplines because everything is based on writing in most academic and professional activities that require essays, reports, research, etc. and helping students improve their writing skills is a responsibility for all teachers (watanabe, 2017). summary of communicative competencies it can be gleaned that in the four language competencies of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, psts show a composite mean of 2.52 and with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always, which means that they have above average level of communicative competencies. the result shows that the weighted means for listening (2.55/rank 2), reading (2.56/rank 1), and writing (2.52/rank 3) are homogenous. it shows only a little difference between the values or scores. it can be noted that the highest weighted mean is on reading competency, which is 2.56 with the verbal interpretation of easily or almost always (above average level). meanwhile, the lowest weighted mean is on speaking competency, which is 2.47 with, the verbal interpretation of with some effort (average level). boonkit (2010) said that for effective communication using any language, whether the mother tongue or a second language like english, students must acquire a good level of speaking competence. over-all student teaching performance it can be noted that 60.8% of the psts got a highly satisfactory grade (9294) for the weekly evaluations. meanwhile, 34.3 % of the psts got a satisfactory grade (88-91), and 4.9% got moderately satisfactory (85-87).in terms of final teaching demonstration evaluation, 67.6% of the respondents got a highly satisfactory grade (92-94). it can also be noted that only satisfactory grade (8891) was given to 30.4% of the psts, while only 2% got an outstanding grade (95-97).in terms of portfolio evaluation, it can also be seen that the majority (73.5%) of the respondents got satisfactory grade only (highest attained grade for portfolio) while 26.5% got moderately satisfactory (85-87). over-all, the psts got good grades in all three evaluation tools where the lowest grade attained was moderately satisfactory (85-87) while the highest is outstanding (92-94). as to the only 5 psts (4.9%) who exhibited moderately satisfactory performance in the weekly practicum, it can only be attributed to the individuals’ deficiencies; while for the only 2 psts (2.0%) who were rated outstanding in the final teaching demonstration, it can be attributed to the individuals’ above ordinary abilities and efforts. 134 jpair multidisciplinary research difference of responses on communicative competencies of students when grouped according to profile – listening and speaking as seen from the result, there were significant differences in speaking when grouped according to sex since the obtained p-value of 0.038 was less than 0.05 alpha level. this means that the responses of males differ from females. it was found out from the result (p-value 0.38), that females have higher competency than males when it comes to speaking. based on the researcher’s observation (who was also the psts teacher in their english subjects), the female student teachers seem to take extra care in speaking with correct grammar, pronunciation and intonation that they even self-correct or self-edit when they realize they commit a mistake, while the males on the other hand exhibit less care on this respect seeming to be content in being able just to express their message and be understood. referring to motallebzadeh (2011), his research regarding gender role in the assessment of oral proficiency emphasized that sex or gender affects language performance. the study, focused on the relationship between gender and oral proficiency or performance, found that females did better in oral proficiency or performance than males. with regard to the competencies in listening and speaking, there was a significant difference observed on the program and major of specialization since the obtained p-values were less than 0.05 alpha level. it also shows that in terms of listening among the profile variables, only the program or course (.058 p-value) and internet usage (0.17 p -value) have significant differences. difference of responses on communicative competencies when grouped according to profile – reading and writing the results revealed that there were significant difference observed from the competencies on reading p-value (0.009), writing p-value (0.002) when grouped according to sex; reading p-value (0.003), writing p-value (0.039) when grouped according to area of specialization and writing p-value (0.017) when grouped according to internet use and .008 in terms of reading. this means that the responses differ significantly. based on the post hoc test groups with a higher level of competencies are females, as explained by the study of xiong (2010) who wrote that females’ internal motivation is stronger than that of males’ in the foreign language because most females tend to aim to gain more language knowledge. it was also found that psts who use the internet for 11-15 hours per week also got higher proficiency. this could mean that the internet aids the pstsability 135 international peer reviewed journal to learn and enhance their communicative competencies. in today’s educational landscape, computers are widespread, readily accessible and practical, and as computers have been an integral part of people’s lives, it is inevitable that computers would attract the attention of pre-service teachers who turn to it for academic research and for general information (basoz&cubukcu, 2013). it can also be noted that in terms of age, there are significant differences in writing competency. age has a possible influence on the acquisition of proficiency in terms of writing. differences in terms of development and rate of attainment can be attributed to age. the older the learners, the faster they are in the acquisition of knowledge and competencies in terms of writing (torras& celaya, 2011). relationship between communicative competencies and student teaching performance the obtained r-values indicate a weak association, and the computed p-values are all greater than 0.05 alpha level. all r-values imply that there is only a weak association among the three communicative competencies (listening, reading, and writing) and student teaching performance. it can be noted that only speaking competency has a moderate positive correlation in the student teaching performance because of the positive r-value (.572) in the first indicator for student teaching performance, which is the weekly evaluation for psts.on the other hand, all the r-values for final teaching demonstration for psts have a positive relationship, while in terms of the portfolio evaluation, all communicative competencies have weak relationships. proposed integrated four-skills program to enhance the communicative competencies of pre-service teachers any language skills development program would require the integration of all the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing to ensure optimum success, hence this “proposed integrated four-skills program to enhance the communicative competencies of pre-service teachers.” 136 jpair multidisciplinary research key result area objectives strategies persons responsible listening competency 1. achieve listening success in manifesting attentiveness, motivation, interest in and knowledge of topics of discussions and conversations 2. demonstrate comprehension by listening to and carrying out instructions note-taking activities using authentic data or materials that will use software and hardware resources mock parentteacher conferencing interactive workgroup activities simulated listening activities english area coordinator and instructors student teaching coordinator and supervising teachers computer laboratory coordinator speaking competency 1. achieve speaking success in approximating native english speaker mastery 2. demonstrate speaking competence in manifesting significant levels of fluency, accuracy and automaticity in the use of the english language task-based speaking program mock parentteacher conferencing interactive workgroup activities simulated speaking activities english area coordinator and instructors student teaching coordinator and supervising teachers computer laboratory coordinator 137 international peer reviewed journal reading competency 1. achieve reading success in obtaining either information or pleasure in reading endeavors 2. demonstrate reading competence in being able to do both receptive and reflective readings the 24-hour reading tasks plan interactive workgroup activities reading and reflecting on the vision-mission statement of the school poetry reading english area coordinator and instructors college librarian and library staff student teaching coordinator and supervising teachers computer laboratory coordinator and staff writing competency 1. achieve writing success in being able to produce logical and functional written presentations that satisfy grammatical and organizational standards 2. demonstrate writing competence in being able to produce either reflective or process writing outputs functional writing program the teacher’s journal writing whole-class blog forum the pre-service teacher newsletter production english area coordinator and instructors student teaching coordinator and supervising teachers resource persons from the field computer laboratory coordinator and staff conclusions based on the findings of the study, dalubhasaan ng lunsodng san pablo’s pre-service teachers for ay 2017-2018 have the following profile: the majority are aged 21-25, females outnumber the males, beed-general curriculum area has the most number, and most of them access the internet 5-10 hours a week. also, the pre-service teachers have above average level of communicative competencies in reading, listening, and writing, but the only average level of communicative competencies in speaking. in addition, there is a significant relationship between gender profile and communicative competencies in speaking, reading, and writing. 138 jpair multidisciplinary research there is a significant relationship between the program or course and communicative competencies in listening and speaking. there is a significant relationship between major/area of specialization and communicative competencies in speaking, reading, and writing. there is a significant relationship in terms of age and writing competency. there is a significant relationship between internet use and communicative competencies in the four lsrw areas. there is a significant difference among the speaking, reading, and writing competencies when grouped according to major or area of specialization. but there is no significant difference between listening competencies and the respondent’s major or area of specialization. there is a weak correlation between communicative competencies of listening, reading and writing, and student teaching performance, while there is a moderate correlation between speaking competencies and student teaching performance. there is a need to enhance the communicative competencies, especially in speaking that an integrated four-skill program for enhancement of the psts’ communicative competencies is proposed. translational research having found some areas that require refinement in the communicative competencies of the pre-service teachers, speaking and writing in particular, the findings of this study could be translated into any language skills development program. a program that will require the integration of all the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing to ensure optimum success, which will aim to fortify the communication skills development of the student teachers to hone them into well-prepared and well-equipped future teachers. it may also be brought into various media of communication for information dissemination such as social media and mass media (tv, newspaper, and radio). recommendations based on the conclusions, the following recommendations are hereby proposed: the teacher education institution may include the pupil/student evaluation to reveal the impressions of the pupils/students taught by the preservice teachers (pst). teacher education institutions in general and the dalubhasaannglunsodng san pablo, in particular, should ensure that students are provided access to printed reading materials in different genres during their free time to enhance their reading experiences as an integral part of integrated four-skills communication development. 139 international peer reviewed journal the cooperating teacher may serve as a model in oral communication skill demonstration and motivate the psts to overcome inhibition and shyness by being consistently friendly and positively correcting their errors. the faculty of english may encourage writing competency enhancement activities for the pst, such as blog writing on teaching experiences. the teacher education institution may opt to revise their rating instrument in including communicative competencies as one among the criteria. the school may implement the proposed program for enhancement of the pre-service teacher’s communication skills that may be evaluated thereafter. future researchers may undertake further studies on the social and psychological issues affecting the communicative competencies of the pre-service teachers for an integrated or a correlational analysis. literature cited başöz, t., & çubukçu, f. (2014). pre-service efl teacher’s attitudes towards computer assisted language learning (call). procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  116, 531-535. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sbspro.2014.01.253 boonkit, k. (2010). enhancing the development of speaking skills for nonnative speakers of english.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  2(2), 1305-1309. retrieved april 19, 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sbspro.2010.03.191 buijs, j. a. (2005). teaching: profession or vocation?.  journal of catholic education, 8(3), 326-345. retrieved on may 28, 2018 from doi: 10.15365/ joce.0803042013 erdem, a. (2015). a research on reading habits of university students:(sample of ankara university and erciyes university). procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  174, 3983-3990. retrieved on april 7, 2018 from https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1145 motallebzadeh, k., & nematizadeh, s. (2011). does gender play a role in the assessment of oral proficiency?. english language teaching, 4(4), 165-172. retrieved on may 6, 2018 from http://bit.ly/2n8ubmo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.253 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.253 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.191 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.191 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1145 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1145 http://bit.ly/2n8ubmo 140 jpair multidisciplinary research okoli, a. c. (2017). relating communication competence to teaching effectiveness: implication for teacher education.  journal of education and practice, 8(3), 150-154. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2nnm961 ozkan, m. (2015). wikis and blogs in foreign language learning from the perspectives of learners.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  192, 672678. retrieved on november 8, 2017 from http://bit.ly/2ob3yin sultana, a. m., zahir, n. m., & yaacob, n. h. (2014). women in the teaching profession: impacts and challenges.  world academy of science, engineering and technology, international journal of social, behavioral, educational, economic, business and industrial engineering,  8(6), 1694-1697. retrieved from http://bit.ly/2o33luh torras, m. r., & celaya, m. l. (2001). age-related differences in the development of written production. an empirical study of efl school learners’. international journal of english studies,  1(2), 103-126. retrieved on may 6, 2018 from http://bit.ly/2ocag9i watanabe-crockett, l. (2017). 8 methods for effectively improving student communication skills. globalcitizen.org. retrieved on april 27, 2018 from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/8-methods-improving-studentcommunication-skills xiong, x. (2010). a comparative study of boys’ and girls’ english study differences. journal of language teaching and research, 1(3), 309-312. retrived on may 6, 2018 from http://bit.ly/2px1o3f zascerinska, j. (2010). conditions, criteria, indicators and levels of forming communicative competence.  online submission. retrieved on april 16, 2018 from http://bit.ly/2ny9s3e zlatić, l., bjekić, d., marinković, s., & bojović, m. (2014). development of teacher communication competence.  procedia-social and behavioral sciences,  116, 606-610. retrieved on january 27, 2018 from https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.265 http://bit.ly/2nnm961 http://bit.ly/2ob3yin http://bit.ly/2o33luh http://bit.ly/2ocag9i https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/8-methods-improving-student-communication-skills https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/8-methods-improving-student-communication-skills http://bit.ly/2px1o3f http://bit.ly/2ny9s3e https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.265 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.265 1 international peer reviewed journal effect of conditional cash transfer program on the scholastic performance of high school students in naga city ronnel joseph t. competente http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-3192 ronneljoseph.competente@deped.gov.ph tinago national high school naga city, camarines sur, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract conditional cash transfer (cct) programs, as for the naga city, philippines, includes the pantawid pamilyang pilipino program (4ps) and quality elementary and high school education in naga (queen), both aimed to help for students to have access in education and also improve its quality. the study sought to describe the effect of cct programs on the scholastic performance of 237 students in a secondary school in naga city, philippines. using a correlational descriptive design, the author analyzed the dropped-out rate and general weighted averages of students. results revealed that cct has no effect in reducing dropped out rate and no significant difference in academic performance among the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the cct. keywords — conditional cash transfer, academic performance, descriptive design, naga city, philippines vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.720 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 2 jpair multidisciplinary research introduction education is the highest priority of the most government in the world. but, one of the urgent, pressing concerns inaccessibility to education. although basic education is free and compulsory in most countries (world policy data center, 2018), sadly, the achievement gap between children of families in the highest and lowest income groups has been widening steadily in recent years (gegel, lebedeva, & frolova, 2015). the philippines is no exception in this worldwide phenomenon. although inequality in educational attainment declined from 1960 to 2000, there are wide discrepancies in the educational performance of regions and provinces (masa, 2007). thus, in 2007, the country piloted the pantawid pamilyang pilipino program or 4ps (formerly ahon pamilyang pilipino), a version of conditional cash transfer program here in the philippines under the department of social welfare and development, patterned on programs in other developing countries like brazil (bolsa familia), colombia (familias en accion) and mexico (oportunidades) (montilla, delavin, villanueva, & turco, 2015). it aims to eradicate extreme poverty in the philippines by investing in health and education, particularly in children from 0-18 years of age. in naga city, camarines sur, even the nationwide implementation of the 4ps, educational assistance to school children of low-income families are on a roll. city ordinance number 2007-045 institutionalizes the quality elementary and high school education in naga (queen) program. it aims to ensure that all school children in naga city will be able to access and complete elementary and high school education, especially the underprivileged or those coming from financially handicapped families in the city. for almost a decade, the program has been a flagship program that naga city paraded all over the country as their effort to reach the millennium development goals (pabico, 2008). these kinds of social dole out the program and its impact on education has been a subject of numerous studies. in a meta-analysis study of cct programs in 47 countries, garcia & saadverda (2017) revealed that cct has positive impacts on school enrolment, attendance, and school completion. similar results were posted by giang & nguyen (2017), pubra (2018) and ferreira, filmer & schady (2017) and all agreed that the program should be maintained and targeting efficiency needs to be improved as the program has a meaningful effect for lowincome households in terms of increasing student achievement. studies of barham, macours, & maluccio (2013) and baez & camacho (2011) revealed that those students had an average improvement on standardized tests and attained more school; however, no significant impact was found on cognition, consistent with 3 international peer reviewed journal cognitive development taking place mostly during early childhood. mo, zhang, yi, luo, rozelle, and brinton (2013) published that the cct program reduces dropout and is most effective among students with poor academic performance, and likely more effective among girls and younger students. on the contrary, garza & villareal (2007) reported that although participants in the cct got lower test scores. similarly, dubois, de janvry, & sadoulet (2012) reported that cct programs had a positive impact on school enrollment at all grade levels, but as to school performance, it had a positive impact at the primary school level but a negative impact at the secondary level. also, baird, ferreira, özler, & woolcock (2014) found that cash transfers improve the odds of being enrolled in and attending school compared to no cash transfer program, but its effectiveness on improving test scores is small at best. these studies revealed mixed results, and these results seem to parallel with the studies conducted in the asean and the philippines. studies of montilla, delavin, villanueva, & turco (2015) and frufonga (2015) highlighted that 4ps beneficiary children have more interest in school and more likely to attend regular classes as compared before the 4ps implementation. another study by chaudhury & okamura (2012) suggested that 4ps had a strong and robust impact in improving education outcomes among younger children between 9-12 years old who were eligible for cct education grants throughout 2008 and 2011, but 13-17 years old, the majority of whom are outside the age cut-off for cct education grant eligibility, as suggested by insignificant coefficients across specifications, have inconsistent results. tutor (2014) supported this by noting that the recent program modification of increasing education grants to older children and covering up to secondary school completion will help households sustain induced behavioral changes over time. kyophilavong (2011) and ferreira, ferreira, filmer, and schady (2017) agreed that the number of children in a household should be considered because even the ineligible children in cct programs due to age also needs assistance. kostioukova (2011) strongly suggested the expansion of the cct program up to secondary school students, since data show that it is the most vulnerable school age in terms of school drop-out. similar to the attempt of the above studies, this paper focus on the 4ps beneficiaries. but adding to the mix are the beneficiaries of the local version of lgu, which is the queen program. the study sought to describe to scholastic performance of students of the locale who are recipients of these programs. this undertaking attempts to add to the literature on cct effects on high school students since most of the studies reviewed focused more on elementary students. this paper also seeks to help the implementing agencies of 4ps to review their existing system for effective achievement results, especially in education. 4 jpair multidisciplinary research framework as for this study, it adopted the theory of change of conditional cash transfer on education (baird, ferreira, özler, & woolcock, 2014), extracted from a proposed systematic review comparing cash transfers (ct) effects on schooling outcomes. all forms of cash transfers (ct) constitute educational inputs and affect the demand for schooling, but ccts do so through raising incomes and lowering the opportunity cost (price) of schooling. the cts have impacts on the intermediate outcomes, and over time, on the final outcomes. the 4ps and queen program represents the educational input as a form of cct, using it as the independent variable of the study. in this theory, the authors postulated that all forms of cct have effects on educational outcome, and this paper sought to establish that outcomes. the education outcome from the theory, which in this study is the scholastic performance of the students, serves as the dependent variable of the students. these outcomes included the over-all school year attendance and general weighted average. further, the theory expands on extrinsic factors that affect the allocation of cct directly to education, as these have an intervening effect on the final outcome of the education. as for this, the study also pierced the reasons how parents allocate their spending on education and why students dropped school, considering it as the intervening variable. objectives of the study the author described the effect of conditional cash programs such as 4ps and queen programs to the scholastic performance of grade 7 students for the school year 2017-2018 in tinago national high school, naga city, camarines sur, philippines. this study defined two sets of students, beneficiaries, and nonbeneficiaries. beneficiaries included the combined number of students who are recipients of 4ps and queen programs since both programs are similar in nature. non-beneficiaries included students who are not recipients of any cct programs mentioned. in this study, it specifically sought to determine the dropped-out rate of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of conditional cash programs and determined the reasons for such. with a hypothesis that these recipients of conditional cash programs perform better than non-beneficiaries, the study also probed on the statistical difference of students’ academic performance. 5 international peer reviewed journal methodology research design the present study utilized a correlational research design to investigate the association between the independent variable (4ps and queen membership) and the dependent variable (academic performance). the performance level of grade 7 students was described. moreover, the relationship between the active membership in the abovementioned programs and the performance of students was established. participants the sample was 237 students which consisted of grade 7 (first year) students from the official list of tnhs who were officially enrolled during the school year this research was conducted. whole purposive sampling was used to since the researcher teaches at this grade level, which made the implementation of the study accessible. since the study involved accessing data of students, the researcher sought the approval of the school principal for the conduct of the students. also, parents of the students that were subjected to the study were asked to sign a written consent. those students whose parents who did signify of non-participation to the study were eliminated in the study. the research was conducted from july 2017-march, 2018. instrumentation this research focused on grade 7 students enrolled in the school year 20172018, as per records of tnhs registrar. the list of 4ps and queen was obtained from the existing database of the school. the scholastic performance was lifted to the official forms submitted by respective teachers on the school registrar at the end of the school year. as for participation rate, dropped out students were divided into two categories, official and left dropped out. official dropped out are those students who informed their teachers and fully accomplished the official dropped out the form of the school. left students were those students who did not finish the whole school year without accomplishing the form. reasons for those left students were accounted for, though it should be noted that not all students were interviewed for due to factors such as hospitalization and moving out of the city. as for the general weighted average, it only involved students who were able to finish the whole school year. dropped out students were not included in the computation. also, transferees were automatically discarded in 6 jpair multidisciplinary research the scholastic performance variable. the researcher assumed that the teaching styles and school activities were the same with all the students, ruling out teaching methodology and curriculum as a factor. other factors like behavioral delinquencies and student tardiness that may affect the scholastic performance of the students were disregarded in this study. for data analysis, simple frequency, percentage, and ranking determined the academic of student beneficiaries. the study also employed a two-tailed t-test to establish the difference in the academic performance of beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries of the cct programs. results and discussion table 1. dropped out rate of students category no. of students (july) dropped out % of dropped out dropped out (official) dropped out (left) total beneficiaries 106 4 12 23 21.7% non-beneficiaries 128 2 20 22 17.1% 237 5 39 45 18.9% *note that only 21 out 23 students were included in this data set figure 1. reasons for dropping out of student beneficiaries 7 international peer reviewed journal the dropped out rate of students shows that cct beneficiaries have a higher dropped out rate than the non-beneficiaries. mapping out the reasons, most of the students identified as the financial problem seems to be the leading reasons for dropping out. based on anecdotal records, these students either have broken families or came from families with more school-aged children. although cct aims to help families to alleviate poverty, it does not account for the number of school-aged children in the families; thereby, even with its financial support, it is not enough for them to stay in school. it should be noted that the cct program only covers a maximum of three children, and poor households with a large number of children have to spread resources thinly across school-aged children. four of the nine students said that they quit school for them to support their families. chaudhury & okamura (2012) and kostioukova (2011) noted in their paper that households with more than three school-aged children are poorer on average than households with fewer than four children. also, it should be taken into account the opportunity costs. first, sending older children to school is associated with opportunity costs, in the form of school fees, supplies, transportation costs, and so on. for example, since there are less high schools than primary schools, high school children are generally more likely to travel farther away from the homestead to school, requiring households to spend more money on transportation (chaudhury & okamura, 2012). given the resource constraints of poor households, it would have been more likely that the cct grants would have less of an impact on relatively poorer households in increasing enrollment (kyophilavong, 2011; ferreira, ferreira, filmer & schady, 2017). also, motivation to finish schooling could be a possible explanation for the results. mo, zhang, yi, luo, rozelle, and brinton (2013) highlighted that since it is likely that lower socio-economic students have a higher expectation of success in the educational system (and a higher chance of accessing the higher returns that come with higher educational attainment), no matter how poor they are, such students were much less likely to plan to drop out anyway (with or without cct), thus they tend to drop out in general. 8 jpair multidisciplinary research table 2. distribution of general weighted average of students category 90above (advanced) 85-89 (proficient) 80-84 (approaching proficiency) 75-79 (developing) below-74 (beginning) total # % # % # % # % # % beneficiaries 9 10.84 11 13.25 29 34.94 23 27.71 11 13.25 83 nonbeneficiaires 13 12.26 22 20.75 31 29.24 28 26.41 12 11.32 106 table 3. t-test value (t) of gwa among the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of 4ps and queen mean s2 df t-value p-value critical t-value interpretation beneficiaries 81.38262 2852.319 81 1.244 0.05 1.980 no significant difference non-beneficiaries 82.48093 2444.413 the researcher hypothesized that there is a significant difference among the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of 4ps and queen. two-tailed t-test (t) determined the significant difference between the beneficiaries. results of computation are shown in table 3, where the t-value was 1.224, which was lower than the critical value of 1.980 (t= df, 81, α 5%), interpreted as not significant. this non-significance can be attributed to the fact that the general weighted average, as revealed in problem number two, leans towards average. many of the students have an average weighted average, and the further test is needed for them to be sorted it out. another one is that there is no direct correlation between the expenditure of cct to the education of the beneficiaries. barham, macours, & maluccio (2013) mo, et al. (2013), and dubois, de janvry, & sadoulet, (2012) supported these findings that the program recipients who graduate from high school seem to perform at the same level as equally poor non-recipient graduates. garza & villareal (2007), baez & camacho (2011), chaudhury & okamura (2012), and tutor (2014) noted in their papers that some beneficiaries are not allocating the cct to education, but heavily pour the benefits in buying daily needs. although the teams of frufonga (2015) and montilla, delavin, villanueva, & turco (2015) claimed that there is a significant 9 international peer reviewed journal increase of the student’s attendance who are beneficiaries of the 4ps program, their findings remains blurry connecting to academic achievement because of lack of other income-generating opportunities, high cost of education and limited provision and duration of 4ps as major constraints that hinders the children’s full acquisition and benefits of education. giang & nguyen (2017) and pubra (2018) further highlighted that to maximize cct programs’ benefit in student achievement, effective monitoring of the program, especially in spending and allocation of the parents to education, is highly needed. but it should be taken note that gwa is just one of the many sources of academic performance data. since gwa is affected by a lot of factors, there is a need to sort out if it has a long term effect on students’ academic development and conclusively say that ccts have no significant effect on academic performance. conclusions this undertaking revealed that the cct has no direct effect on reducing the dropped out rates and no significant difference in the academic performance of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. students seem to be unaffected by the cct programs, although one of the core objectives of these programs is for these students to improve their scholastic performance. implementing agencies should review their programs to calibrate their targets. recommendations the results of this study and several papers reviewed on this study seemingly agree for agencies to look for solutions on how to improve the delivery of the cct programs to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of education of the student beneficiaries of the programs. these agencies should also look at the opportunity cost of education especially in secondary school students. as for the conduct of this study, other factors such as spending habits, family structure, etc. should be included to fully grasp the effect of the cct programs on scholastic performance. translational research the results of this study will be used by our school in its school improvement plan (sip) to incorporate the benefits of 4ps and queen members’ parents as separate stakeholders from pta. in future planning. at the same time, this 10 jpair multidisciplinary research research will be presented to the agencies concerned, like the lgu and dswd, for them to reassess the benefits of these programs and if they are really targeting long effects for the students. literature cited baez, j. e., & camacho, a. (2011).  assessing the long-term effects of conditional cash transfers on human capital: evidence from colombia. the world bank. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xogpbv baird, s., ferreira, f. h., özler, b., & woolcock, m. (2014). conditional, unconditional and everything in between: a systematic review of the effects of cash transfer programmes on schooling outcomes. journal of development effectiveness, 6(1), 1-43. doi:10.1080/19439342.2014.890362 barham, t., macours, k., & maluccio, j. a. (2013).  more schooling and more learning? effects of a three-year conditional cash transfer program in nicaragua after 10 years(no. idb-wp-432). idb working paper series. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2xcfasy chaudhury, n., okamura, y., chaudhury, n., & okamura, y. (2012). conditional cash transfers and school enrollment: impact of the conditional cash transfer program in the philippines  (no. 71904). the world bank. retrieved from https://bit.ly/30ji9ho dubois, p., de janvry, a., & sadoulet, e. (2012). effects on school enrollment and performance of a conditional cash transfer program in mexico. journal of labor economics, 30(3), 555-589. doi:10.1086/664928 ferreira, f., filmer, d., & schady, n. (2017). own and sibling effects of conditional cash transfer programs: theory and evidence from cambodia. research on economic inequality, 25, 259-298. emerald publishing ltd. frufonga, r. f. (2015). the pantawid pamilyang pilipino program (4ps) in iloilo, philippines: an evaluation. asia pac j multidisciplinary res, 3, 59-65. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2rypo56 11 international peer reviewed journal garza, m., & villarreal, h. j. (2007). do conditional cash transfers affect poor students performance. working paper egap/itesm campus monterrey. retrieved from https://bit.ly/32gi7t2 giang, l.t., & nguyen, c. v. (2017). how would cash transfers improve child welfare in viet nam? children and youth services review, elsevier, 82(c), 87-98. gegel, l., lebedeva, i., & frolova, y. (2015). social inequality in modern higher education. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 214, 368-374. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.662 kyophilavong, p. (2011). impact of cash transfer on poverty and income distribution in laos. in: sothea oum, giang thanh long, vathana sann, phouphet kyophilavong, impacts of conditional cash transfers on growth, income distribution and poverty in selected asean countries (pp 55-76): eria. kostioukova, anastasia. (2011). alleviating social disadvantages of rapid economic growth: a case for conditional cash transfer (cct) application in old siam. cmc senior theses. paper 148. retrieved from http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/148 mo, d., zhang, l., yi, h., luo, r., rozelle, s., & brinton, c. (2013). school dropouts and conditional cash transfers: evidence from a randomised controlled trial in rural china’s junior high schools. the journal of development studies, 49(2), 190-207. doi:10.1080/00220388.2012.7241 66 montilla, m. m., delavin, e. a., villanueva, r. m., & turco, r. a. (2015). pantawid pamilyang pilipino program (4ps): assistance to pupil’s education.  asia pacific journal of education, arts, and sciences, 2 (3), 1-5. retrieved from https://bit.ly/32olbta pabico, a. p. (2008, may 30). naga city’s class act. philippines: philippine center for investigative journalism. retrieved january 13, 2018, from https://pcij. org/stories/naga-citys-class-act/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.662 12 jpair multidisciplinary research tutor, m. v. (2014). the impact of philippines’ conditional cash transfer program on consumption  (no. 2014-05). upse discussion paper. retrieved from https://bit.ly/2jwjlvi world policy data center. (2018, october 11). education. retrieved from world policy analysis: https://www.worldpolicycenter.org/topics/ education/policies 59 international peer reviewed journal towards migration-responsive local government: profiling, perceived program needs and driving forces evelyn t. rabino https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8496-7945 evelyn.rabino@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city gov. feliciano leviste rd., marawoy, lipa city, batangas, philippines meynardo d. montalbo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2353-7065 meynard.montalbo@ub.edu.ph university of batangas, lipa city gov. feliciano leviste rd., marawoy, lipa city, batangas, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 99% • plagiarism: 0% abstract the phenomenon of ethnic migration has been part of human history and vital to the development of cultures and civilizations. using mixed-method inquiry, the research studied the local government’s responsiveness to the muslim migrants’ need for programs relative to education, livelihood, health, and sanitation, housing, socio-civic, and cultural aspects, including investigation of the driving forces of the 155 migrants selected using purposive sampling. quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed, and in addition, a subset of the participants, which included government personnel and leaders of the muslims, were interviewed. the use of documentary analysis and observation of muslim activities were also vital sources of data. results showed that older migrant vol. 38 · october 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v38i1.724 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8496-7945 mailto:evelyn.rabino@ub.edu.ph https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 60 jpair multidisciplinary research females have migrated for a relatively long time who have been engaged in business and trading operations, considered limited opportunities and personal reasons as driving forces of their migration; the local government’s support for the educational needs of the muslims through madrassah school supervised by the department of education, support for livelihood program, and promoting harmonious relationships between muslims and non-muslims through sociocultural and other programs. results would lead to the creation of academegovernment linkage for a sustainable development program for muslim migrants. keywords — social studies, ethnic migration, mixed-method, lipa city, philippines introduction the researchers viewed migration as a global phenomenon which refers to the movement of people from one geographic region to another within national boundaries or a movement of population across borders which underlie some relatively significant driving forces. whether migration is internal or international, it is prevailing around the globe at different dimensions and has played a crucial role in shaping the world as it is today. as a process, internal and external migration are considered as integral parts of the social transformation of the community brought about by situations or circumstances as driving forces or push and pull factors. hilsdon (2006) described it as an aspect of mobility or seasonal movements of people who have been a significant human experience of space and time. thapan, singh, and sreekumar (2014), on the other hand, considered it as not only physical and social transactions among migrants themselves, but migration is also considered an instrument of cultural diffusion and social integration with the receiving community. relative to this, when norris and inglehart (2012) studied the western nations, they looked into the extent of culture migrants carried to and the extent of what they acquired in their new community based on the assimilation theories. they described that muslim migrants moved without rigidly fixed attitudes, but rather they could gradually absorb much of the host culture. ethnic migration has become a relevant subject of study, which could be described as the process of social transformation of a particular ethnic group in the communities where it has moved. in other areas in europe or asia, ethnicity 61 international peer reviewed journal has figured in the migration process as a push factor at the point of origin and as a pull factor at the point of destination. due to some driving forces that seem to be inevitable ethnic migration occurs anywhere in the world. there are various reasons for people to migrate. in india, thapan, singh, and sreekumar(2014) said, migration of both men and women is a kind of forced migration resulting from conflict, war, or violence, observed as major reasons why people tend to move from their place of origin to another area. other scholars like datta (2004), highlighted that migrants from bangladesh to western europe were motivated by economic push factors such as instability and economic depression, poverty, lack of employment opportunity, struggle for livelihood or forced grabbing of landed property from minority group and certain political push factors such as political instability, fear of riots and terrorism, inhuman attitude of political leaders among others. similarly, a significant number of muslims have migrated to britain according to anwar (1993) in the last forty years due to combination of economic, demographic and social developments in britain and other western countries as pull factors while pushing factors like high unemployment rates, underemployment and fewer economic opportunities in the countries of origin. moreover, women’s migration, in particular, as a social act, is closely related to women’s freedom to move and their power to decide which seems to show that they are more subjugated and controlled, especially by the male in the family in terms of decision making. by and large, they are largely dependent on the family in terms of mobility to work, in the case of marriage and getting an education (thapan, singh and sreekumar, 2014). this research is focused on muslim migrants whose flow of movement signifies a sizable portion of the population, which might bring a tremendous impact on the adopting community and onto themselves too. their act of migrating is a significant event in their life, which begins with crossing a border and becomes significant for themselves but also for the receiving community considering their intentions, assimilation, and belongingness to the host community, and the local governing institutions. in mindanao, the territorial or land disputes between the christians and the muslims that started from the late 1960s up to the beginning of the 1970s turned up gradually into an armed conflict, which is still ongoing. this condition resulted from the voluntary resettlement of predominantly christian migrants from luzon and visayas, as described by tigno (2006) and that the contemporary conflict situation in the southern part of the philippines could be rooted in the 62 jpair multidisciplinary research historical, systematic, and collective marginalization and minoritisation of the indigenous filipino muslims. as a whole, the muslim groups as one of the ethnic groups in the philippines have been classified according to its distinct cultural standpoint, and linguistic grouping and religion. for instance, the maranao muslims, a particular ethnolinguistic group from mindanao, migrated in many parts of luzon, like in region iv-a calabarzon (cavite, laguna, batangas, rizal, and quezon). the presence of muslim migrants in the area, specifically in batangas province, could be traced back to the early 1980s. the economy of batangas is vastly growing owing to its natural resources and geographic characteristics, and due to the emergence of the calabarzon multi-project plan for the region that started the early 1990s eventually has led different people from other areas to come over including muslim groups. batangas, which is composed of three cities, namely; batangas city, lipa city, and tanauan city, is a first-class province in the philippines, which is located on the southwestern part of luzon in the calabarzon area. with its strategic location, it is accessible to any group of people from other regions in the country. lipa city, which is the main locale of the study, is classified as class a city at present and located almost at the heart of batangas province. lipa’s proximity to manila is approximately 86 kilometers or an hour, and a half drive via southern luzon expressway enhances its strategic access to development trends. it is fast emerging as a key city in the province of batangas and being transformed from basically agricultural to a highly urbanizing area. lipa city, as of 2018, has an estimated population of 360, 990 according to the office of the city planning and development coordinator, and more than 3,000 of these are muslims. the influx of this cultural minority group in the city has led the government to consider them part of the growing community of lipa city; thus, they should be included in the programs of the government. this research contributes both to scholarly undertaking and to promote community extension services of the institution, two among the three major functions of higher educational institutions in the philippines. the results of the study would serve as a basis for an academe government linkage of the university in relation to sustaining its support to its former adopted barangay having muslim residents as the minority group in the said place. an academe – government linkage could be an instrument by the institution to extend its service to the community in partnership with the government. a development program may be formulated by the linkage to address the concerns of the 63 international peer reviewed journal muslim migrants, which may further strengthen the responsiveness of the local government on ethnic migration. objectives of the study generally, the study was focused on the responsiveness of the local government units on ethnic migration in the city of lipa with an end view of strengthening the academe – government linkage through community extension services. it determined the extent of responsiveness of the local government units of lipa city on the needs of the migrants relative to a) education, b) health and nutrition, c) dwelling place, d) livelihood; and e) socio-civic and cultural aspects of the migrants’ life. framework the preceding studies have been used in framing this research, which started first from presenting the demographic profile of the migrants and the driving forces of their migration as key points to establish a major discussion of their migration act. like the social survey on muslim migrants in metro manila by ogena (2012), it gathered data and information related to internal migration, international migration, characteristics of the household’s dwelling unit, migrant adaptation, communication, and migration intention and also investigated the education, mobility and economic activity of the household population. in like manner, the current research is founded on olfosson’s (2012) research, which narrated the fact that the act of people to move is a significant event in their life. he added that this act does not end typically with just crossing the border, but it focused on the migrants’ daily life, motives, integration, perceived outcome, and belongingness, which are significant to the migrants themselves. migration (lingga, 2004) of peoples who are induced by pull factors of the countries of destination and push factors in their own countries are observable, which could be economic opportunities and liberal policies, violent conflicts, lack of economic opportunities, and repressive government policies. as described by abanes (2014), society disintegrates into differentiated groups due to conflict like the mindanao conflict, which has displaced many members of muslim groups from their conflict-affected homeland. the maranao muslims are one of these groups who migrated to other cities in mindanao and in the cities of metro manila and provinces of luzon area. abanes further 64 jpair multidisciplinary research emphasized that they carried with them traumatic experiences and stories of the violence and conflict inflicted and caused by opposing groups. in localities, where they moved, they often found themselves immersed and living in mixed and open social spaces with other groups. moreover, other scholars focused on other issues, lacar (1996) gender disparity and hilsdon (2006) migrant women’s rights, an invoking question of who ought to protect and defend the rights of migrant muslim women. on gender disparity, lacar described that maranao muslim women used to be prohibited from associating with people outside their kinsfolk system and in engaging in livelihood activities outside the home, to the extent that even shopping for household goods was done by men. thus, until about three to four decades ago, an educated maranao muslim woman was a virtual rarity in philippine society. even rarer was a maranao muslim woman practicing a profession or occupying a position of leadership in organizations. when people move, the primary migration population’s concerns are acceptability by the host community, acquisition of equal rights with the dominant majority, equal access to social services, and economic opportunities that the government may provide. according to lingga (2004), there is no government policy that discriminates muslims, but policies are formulated in response to popular demand or can be biased in favor of the majority of the population. there may also be policies and programs that are meant to reinforce the position of the government, but they seem to work against the interest of the muslims insofar as policy or government program is concerned, liou (2015) recommended that it is necessary to create comprehensive policies that involve all members of society throughout the decision-making process to ensure no one becomes or remains disenfranchise. caponio (2010) studied that in europe, there are policy models concerning migrants the assimilationist, multicultural, or functionalist-pluralist. he said, the assimilationist model defines the nation as a political community which newcomers enter by will or by birth; thus, whoever is born on the soil (ius soli) or willing to adopt the national culture and political rules (ius domicili) is admitted into the community; the multicultural or pluralist model defines the nation as a political community constituted by cultural-ethnic heterogeneity which entails that newcomers be granted equal rights in all spheres of society, and by implication that they respect certain key values while keeping their cultural-ethnic heritage and autonomy. in the philippines, the policymakers concerning muslim migrants can frame their policies from the european 65 international peer reviewed journal perspective. while spaan and naerssen (2017) studied the interplay between governmental migration management, migration industry, and migrant decisionmaking of malaysia and indonesia wherein government institutions, private sector, and migrants, are involved in a complex network of mutual relations. based from the cited literatures about muslim migration in the philippines and other parts of the globe, this research has been framed to study further situations of muslim migrants in lipa city, batangas specifically assessing the responsiveness of the local government towards providing social services such as education, health and sanitation, livelihood, housing and socio-cultural and civic activities on the muslim migrants. methodology research design the researchers used a mixed-method design in which scoonenboom (2017) defined as a research type of analysis combining elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. the study used both approaches because of the need for quantitative data, which have been supported by qualitative data and discussion. the researchers recorded all the information provided by the respondents through the self-made questionnaire, interview, observation, and documentary analysis without influencing and manipulating the study environment. the research used a quantitative analysis of data, a systemic approach that consists of statistical technique describing and analyzing the variation in quantitative measurement. frequency and percentage were used to determine the distinction of the number of responses, particularly in the profiling, while weighted mean and standard deviation were to present the variation in the answers related to the extent of responsiveness of the lgu to the program needs of the migrants. participants the respondents in the research were purposively selected, which constituted 155 maranao muslims who migrated in the city from an estimated number of 3,000. they were identified through the help of the barangay officials and muslim leaders in the area. the estimated total population of the muslims was determined by them, and this information was verbally supported by the select city government offices since they do not have a separate record of muslims 66 jpair multidisciplinary research residing in the city. though they participate in the election, the concerned officer does not also have a record to determine how many muslims are electorates. instrumentation there was consultation first with the paramount sultan, province of batangas, and the leader of the muslim elders who is also an imam regarding the plan to conduct the study emphasizing the purpose and how data could be gathered. they provided information vital to the formulation of the questionnaire. the draft of the questionnaire was presented to them and to the research director for validation which consisted of two parts; first, the demographic profile and driving forces of migration and the second part was focused on the assessment of the responsiveness of the local government on the perceived program needs of the respondents. the statistician likewise validated the questionnaire in terms of the content and structure and how the data would be interpreted. structured interviews and observation were also utilized for data gathering. some pertinent documents were identified helpful for gathering vital information regarding the study like executive orders, deped order, and city ordinance. observation of muslim events and activities was permitted by muslim leaders. to determine the responsiveness, the instrument used the 4 points likert scale with the corresponding descriptive ratings and qualitative descriptors; (4) 3.50-4.00 highly responsive, (3) 2.50-3.49 moderately responsive, (2) 1.502.49 less responsive and (1) 1.00-1.49 least responsive. data gathering procedure data collection was conducted through the use of a questionnaire that was distributed to the migrant respondents. it contained questions related to the profile of the respondents, driving forces of migration, and assessment of the government’s level of responsiveness towards the migrants’ program needs. the researchers personally administered questionnaires with the help of some muslim leaders and the coordinator of the student and external affairs’ office. interview with muslim leaders and selected muslim male and female respondents were used to supplement the information taken from the questionnaire. it was done through actual conversations with the respondents and emails. an observation was likewise utilized to see the area where the migrants live and visit their mosques, where they hold their ritual worship and where other activities like their interfaith and friendship activities were being held. 67 international peer reviewed journal letters of the request were forwarded to the respective government departments regarding documents pertinent to the data collection and analysis of data and schedule for the interview. ethical consideration for ethical considerations, the researchers asked permission from the barangay officials and the leaders of the muslim community to administer questionnaires to the muslim residents and asked the consent of the respondents for conducting the survey. the muslim respondents were not forced to participate if it is against their will and assured them that there was no intention of causing harm or distress upon them. during the data gathering, full respect was accorded to the participants by not interrupting their worship hour. the leaders of the muslims were provided with a copy of the research and were involved in presenting the results to the office of the mayor of the city of lipa. results and discussion table 1. demographic information frequency percentage age 43 and older 31 20% gender female 76 49.03% year of migration 13 and above 57 36.77% current occupation businessmen 82 52.90% total 155 100% the population of the muslim migrants in lipa city varied in age, but the vast number of maranao muslims belonged to the age bracket of 43 and older, equivalent to 20% of the total respondents, which means that more muslim migrants were in their adulthood and late adulthood. based on the interview, many muslims got married to the natives of lipa, like some were married to catholics while others to iglesia ni cristo; hence, most of the siblings could hardly relate to or identify with the maranao culture due to intermarriage with nonmuslims. while some older muslims have remained attached to some traditions and beliefs, the younger ones seem to be consciously or unconsciously adopting the culture of the host community. in like manner, the young generations of the muslim attempt to assimilate cultural elements of the muslims and the adults 68 jpair multidisciplinary research might not have been conscious enough to transmit the cultural elements of muslims to their children. the resident muslims, at the same time, exert effort to learn some aspects of muslim culture like the language and the reading of the qu’ran through madrassah education and arabic language and islamic values education (alive) program provided by the schools division of lipa. relative to gender, which reflected the role played by the female and male muslims, the majority of the respondents were females represented by 49.03%. the women respondents were higher because male muslims often travel back and forth to mindanao primarily for personal and business purposes. according to the muslim women respondents, aside from taking care of the family as their primary function, most muslim women have been engaged in trade and have become highly skilled professionals. the city government has allowed the existence of al-hedayaha muslim, a women association. conferences/assembly held have been participated by the muslims from around the calabarzon area wherein issues and concerns on muslim women were tackled. women have been asking that the government and the academe through a program help to change the perspective of men towards their muslim wives while the women should enhance their perception of themselves regarding their rights. regarding the year of migration, most muslim migrants have stayed in the host community for at least 13 years, and more indicated by 36.77% of the total population of the respondents and 7.10 % have been migrants already for more or less 4-6 years. as quoted from the interview with the elders, “as far as immigration of the muslims from mindanao is concerned, to the different provinces, city, and towns in the philippines including city of lipa, batangas, was a fruit of peace and order problems of the long decade conflict, an armwrestle between revolutionary groups and the philippine government forces in the moro provinces”. the city of lipa, according to the muslim migrants, is a peaceful place to stay, which increasingly progressing. muslims claim they are peace-loving people, especially the maranaos, and primarily just wanted to engage in trading or business operations wherever they migrate. relative to the occupation of the muslim migrants, most of them have been businessmen constituting 59.90% of the total respondents of 155, followed by a related occupation of being vendors 23.23%, and very few of them have been teachers. the results implied that those who migrated to lipa city have already been engaged in those kinds of occupations, and with the support of the local government of lipa, they have been given places where they could trade. 69 international peer reviewed journal on the other hand, chaowsangrat (2011), conducted a study which focused on three groups namely, forced migrants, voluntary migrants and non-voluntary migrants and in like manner also used demographic information such as age and sex composition, education, civil status and occupation, and household heads to establish the differences of the three migration groups in terms of those variables. as shown in table 2, the muslim migrants have considered encouragement from the relatives as a significant driving force of their movement which has been justified by the 40.76% of their responses implying that the information they have got from their relatives provided them awareness about the place which has made them decide to migrate. families who grew in the area could influence more their other relatives to migrate and find lipa the best place for them. the data also show that limited opportunities to earn a living represented by the 40% of the responses have been considered as an essential driving force for maranaos to leave their place of origin. it can be assumed that due to a long decade of political or cultural conflicts, it led to limited opportunities for the people to work and enjoy peaceful living. table 2. driving forces of migration frequency percentage peaceful situation 16 10.19% work opportunity 26 16.56% good governance 19 12.10% economic development 31 19.75% encouragement from relatives 64 40.76% political condition 22 14.19% poor economic conditions 30 19.35% limited opportunities 62 40% personal cause 34 21.94% no answer 7 4.52% others 1 0.64% total 155 100% on the other hand, 21.94% of the muslim migrants considered personal reasons as another driving force of migration. also, based on the interview, some of them said they have personally chosen lipa because it is safe and peaceful 70 jpair multidisciplinary research and has eventually encouraged their relatives to visit and later on decided to stay. the economic development of lipa has driven them also to migrate, which constituted the 19.75% of the responses. its accessibility and strategic location contributed to its fast-growing economy made them settle in lipa. a theory of carling & collins (2017), postulates that political rhetoric around managed economic migration continues to propose that regardless of whether migrants are entrepreneurs, workers or students, more or less skilled or affluent, they will identify and assess which locations will provide the most significant benefit for them and their families.  the notion that individualized rational actions underpin migration choices has become unquestionable. table 3 below is a presentation of the highlighted significant findings regarding the programs of the government for the muslim migrants. the overall composite mean of 3.27 shows that the local government has been moderately responsive to the muslim migrants’ needs for education as perceived by the muslim respondents. the education program includes having a daycare center, scholarship grant, literacy program, and a school building. with these, at least the local government has considered this aspect as an essential need of the muslim migrants. specifically, the local government has been highly responsive in providing a daycare center for the young learners manifested by a weighted mean of 3.45, manifesting the government’s concern for providing early education to the children. as mandated by deped order no. 51, s.2004, and no.40, s.2011, the local madrasah school operates under the department of education schools division of lipa. according to coordinator of the division alive (arabic language and islamic values education), its curriculum is limited to the teaching of young muslim children enrolled in grades 1-6. if they wish, they can pursue secondary education in another school. 71 international peer reviewed journal table 3. perceived programs of the government education wm sd qd provide a daycare center for young learners. 3.45 0.732 hr composite mean 3.27 mr health and nutrition presence of a health center 3.37 0.705 mr conduct medical services 3.23 0.711 mr composite mean 3.12 mr housing program provide a settlement 2.36 0.997 lr composite mean 2.23 lr livelihood program give livelihood training 3.01 0.997 mr composite mean 2.96 mr socio-cultural and civic program conduct assembly/meeting on pursuing a harmonious relationship with non-muslim residents in the community 3.55 0.668 hr preservation of culture (language) 3.51 0.694 hr composite mean 3.31 mr qualitative descriptor-legend: 3.50– 4.00highly responsive (hr); 2.50 – 3.49moderately responsive (mr); 1.50 – 2.49less responsive (lr); 1.00 – 1.49 to least responsive (lstp) they study arabic language, values, and the reading of the qur’an, which is considered as the principal sacred text of the islamic faith. a qualifying exam is given to a muslim teacher who will teach in madrasah school. during the fgd, the head of the council of elders and president of the royal majilis ulama said that the local government of lipa city should subsidize the local madrasah school with the goal of elevating it and making it a standardized school that can produce graduates who will become translators or interpreters of the qur’an and arabic language and would eventually become an imam, an officiating priest of a mosque or a muslim religious leader. according to the leader, these are the real objectives of the madrasah school system; hence, it should not be limited to the curriculum mentioned above. furthermore, the holding of classes should not be done during saturdays because it coincides with their worship day in the mosques and may lead the children to be deprived of the practice. 72 jpair multidisciplinary research on granting scholarship, the local government has been moderately responsive as indicated by a weighted mean of 3.32 and a standard deviation of 0.811. availing a scholarship grant or free education is a privilege being provided by the city government to muslim residents of lipa to study at the city college. based on the interview conducted with the government officials of respective departments, muslims in lipa have not been discriminated to educational opportunities. for as long as they are residents of lipa, they are entitled to the same privileges many lipeños have been enjoying. based on the philippines 2016 international religious freedom report, the deped continued to support the alive (arabic language and islamic values education) program for muslim students in selected public elementary schools and in providing instructional materials and modules. a total of 104 private madrassahs have been registered with deped. the right to education should be enjoyed by all the people, regardless of religion or ethnicity. as mandated by the philippine constitution, the state shall give priority to education in order to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total human liberation and development; thus, no sector of learners should be neglected. the implementation of madrasah education should be looked into to achieve its aim fully. from a broader perspective, if decades ago, muslims, particularly women, were limited to acquire knowledge, in the 21st century, everyone should obtain an equal opportunity to education. concerning muslims’ needs for health and nutrition programs, the qualitative descriptor, moderately responsive, reflects the performance of the local government with its composite mean of 3.12. the response of the muslim respondents points toward the presence of a health center whereby medical services are being conducted, rated the government’s performance as moderately responsive with respective weighted means of 3.37 and 3.23. besides, the muslims responded that the government has been moderately responsive in providing medical supplies in the health center, which obtained a weighted mean of 3.04. the results show the government’s concern in promoting the well being of the muslim residents. this is based on the government’s principle that lipeños should be equally treated, whether they are muslims or not. one of the state’s policies is the protection of health as stipulated by the philippine constitution, and the department of health, through the local government should deliver health services to the people, including the migrants. the city government has been less responsive in terms of a housing program for the muslims in lipa, as presented by the composite mean of 2.23. 73 international peer reviewed journal the responses seemed to show that a housing program exclusive for the muslims has not yet been a high priority need of the migrants. the researchers were able to visit the settlement area where the dwelling places of the muslim migrants are located. it has been observed that most of the houses are made from substandard raw materials. based on the interview with some local muslim officials, most of them already own the place while others are renting. the land has been provided to them by the government for their resettlement. aside from the houses, their mosque is built along in that area. during the interview, the leader of the council of elders of the muslims mentioned that the previous administrations had provided shelters to the muslim community where they could conduct their trading at the same time served as a dwelling place. nevertheless, the muslims have been hoping that the government can provide a housing program through the assistance of pag-ibig. according to ballesteros (2010), the urban development and housing act of 1992 (udha), makes local government units (lgus) responsible for being the chief implementer but most lgus lack the capacity and resources for shelter and urban management, they are not often keen to accept low-income migrants for relocation due to limited social services and economic opportunities and housing maintenance costs. relative to the livelihood program of the local government, a composite mean of 2.96 manifests the government’s moderate responsiveness to the livelihood program for the muslim migrants in the city of lipa. they have received livelihood training or orientation from the local government in a moderate response and a weighted mean of 3.01, having a standard deviation of 3.01. it was learned from the interview with the president of ulama and imaam of the philippines, the maranaos are business-oriented groups, and wherever they go, they used to trade. it has been observed that there is a continuous arrival of muslims in lipa city, and the government accommodates them. since they are engaged in trading, they have given their stalls in the newly constructed public market while some have booths in malls. apparently, muslims in the host community are identified as familiar vendors, and business men found in conspicuous places and selling or trading different merchandise. both men and women are actively engaged in trading operations, but men could travel more than women. male muslim respondents mentioned during the interview that they go back and forth to mindanao while the women are left to manage the selling. nevertheless, the muslims expect that the local government may extend an additional livelihood program for them. 74 jpair multidisciplinary research the economic activities of the muslim migrants could contribute to the economy of the local community; hence, opportunities should be accorded to them to maximize their activities. the results related to the socio-cultural and civic programs of the government, generally, the local government has been moderately responsive to the socio-cultural needs of the muslim migrants in the city and even in the conduct of socio-civic activities which involved the muslims which has been proven by a composite mean of 3.31. impliedly, the host community and the government show recognition of the critical cultural elements or aspects of the muslim migrants. the standard deviation of each item signifies the slight differences in recognizing the existence of the activities related to the socio-cultural and civic program. specifically, the local government has been highly responsive to conduct assembly/meeting to promote a harmonious relationship between muslims and non-muslim residents in the community with a weighted mean of 3.55. the response could be attributed to the passage of special ordinance no. 185-2017, an ordinance declaring september of every year as muslim-christian friendship month in the city of lipa. this is in line with the department of education, schools division of lipa city’s muslim-christian friendship caravan, with the theme “muslim at kristiyano, dugong pilipino, bawat isa’y may respeto, sabay sa pag-asenso,” which was held september 30, 2017. this has been intended to raise awareness and a better appreciation of both muslim and christian cultures; eliminate barriers and promote dynamic relationships between muslim and christian communities; declaring september of every year as muslim-christian friendship month as a mechanism aimed at encouraging muslims and christians to unite for peace, as well as cultural and socio-economic advancement. moreover, under the division memorandum no. 135, s.2018, “2018 celebration on christian and muslim friendship month” was again held themed with “strengthening friendship beyond beliefs. it was observed that the activity was conducted on september 15, 2018, focusing on the motorcade followed by the interfaith/ecumenical conference while the cultural presentation of christian and muslim and the musabaquah exhibition was held september 26, 2018. the motorcade was joined by the muslims headed by the paramount sultan of the sultanate of batangas, a catholic group of lipa, the department of education, schools division of lipa, the city government and private companies. representatives from these groups manage and supervise the affair. part ii of the celebration is the interfaith and ecumenical conference lead by the president of ulama and imaam of the philippines and the parish priest of lipa cathedral. 75 international peer reviewed journal the researchers had the opportunity to attend the meeting for the preparation of the above-mentioned activity, present during the meeting were the parish priest, head leader of the muslim community, a city councilor, representatives and staff from deped and coordinator of the community extension services (ces) of university of batangas. the 2018 celebration aimed to strengthen partnerships among christians and muslim children in the division of lipa city. this opportunity may be a time to remove barriers to building healthy relationships with the muslim community in the city of lipa, clear up common misunderstanding related to muslim people, and demonstrate how muslim and christian work together for the benefit of both faith communities and broader society. likewise, private institutions were highly encouraged to join in the activity. concerning the preservation of the indigenous culture of the muslims residing in the city, the local government has been highly responsive in the preservation of the muslim language with a weighted mean of 3.51. the result could be attributed to the presence of the local madrasah school, where the children are taught the muslim language as part of the curriculum. the purpose of this is for the children born in lipa city to learn to speak the muslim language. this is supported by keeping the language as used in the conversation among muslim families. in some other aspects the local government has been moderately responsive both in the preservation of food traditions and religious practices with respective weighted means of 3.48 and 3.47. as mentioned by the leader of the muslim group, the muslims have been oriented with their indigenous principle that wherever they go or settled, they bring with them their customs and traditions. the city government allowed them to establish the muslims’ house of worships; there are three masaajed in lipa city. in the mosques, muslims can freely conduct their regular religious rituals. according to the government’s program of promoting interfaith dialogue to build mutual trust and respect among various religious and cultural groups, the muslim groups and the government of lipa have been conducting this program. based on the experiences presented, integration of practices may be strengthened through a socio-cultural program as an integration policy. the government, through linkage with the academe and other institutions, can promote the process of integration of culture between muslims and nonmuslims. an educational institution with its community extension service can help the government create an integration program. 76 jpair multidisciplinary research the major forced population movement in the past fifty years has been a result widespread of human abuses, which included inadequate access to food, health, care, education, and other social services (toole, 2013). thus these are the programs that the government of the host community should address. conclusions the data showed that older migrant females have been migrants for a longer time and engaged in business and trading operations and drove to migrate due to limited opportunities, personal reasons, encouragement from relatives, and economic development. overall, the local government has been moderately responsive to the educational program, livelihood, health, and socio-cultural and civic program except for the housing program; the local government has been less responsive. the interfaith and friendship activities are avenues to promote peaceful relations between muslims and non-muslims in the host community. translational research this study could be utilized in selected subjects as an integrative topic through the use of courseware. courseware may be created through a combined application of microsoft office with additional video clips. it will appear as a whole lesson that constitutes learning objectives with aligned learning activities and outcomes. it could be played by the students themselves and which they could easily understand since it is a complete lesson package. recommendations it is recommended that deped should standardize madrassah educational system with a comprehensive curriculum aligned with the goals and objectives of the madrassah school system to teach the quran and produce future imam. an adequate health and sanitation service should be provided by the government, a housing assistance program in coordination with the government housing agency should be available, and livelihood support should be intensified for more productivity. the researchers proposed that an academe-government linkage should be established, a partnership between the university of batangas through the student affairs office and community extension services department and 77 international peer reviewed journal the local government starting ay2019 – 2020 up to ay 2022 2023. the linkage will formulate a development program for the muslim migrants that will heighten the university’s involvement in community service. specifically, the program should include a) program on culture and education; b) livelihood; c) gender and development (gad); and d) creation of the muslim affairs office in lipa city. the development program will preserve and promote the muslim culture in the host community, standardize madrasah education, promote the muslim products, and help them fully immersed in the host community. as recommended by the muslim leaders in the host community, a bangasamoro affairs office will help the local government to promote the economic and social well being of the muslims in the area and in the whole province of batangas. literature cited abanes, m. s. 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(2006). migration and violent conflict in mindanao.  population review, 45(1). retrieved from https://bit.ly/31xihuo toole, m. j. (2013). 11 forced migrants: refugees and internally displaced persons.  social injustice and public health, 187. retrieved from https://bit. ly/2zxcepr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2006.05.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2006.05.003 https://www.jstor.org/stable/42633128 https://www.jstor.org/stable/42633128 https://bit.ly/2mfbd70 https://doi.org/10.1111%2fj.1467-9248.2012.00951.x https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2017.1315523 https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2017.1315523 79 international peer reviewed journal thapan, m., singh, a., & sreekumar, n. (2014). women’s mobility and migration. economic & political weekly, 49(23), 97. retrieved from https:// bit.ly/2tpjaap 57 international peer reviewed journal unraveling the lived experiences of the english language teachers in the new normal: a phenomenology roxanne mae talampas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2318-5805 talampas.roxanne@gmail.com st. scholastica’s college – westgrove silang, cavite, philippines vanneza clare g. martinez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-2679 vannezamartinez069@gmail.com muntinlupa science high school tunasan, muntinlupa city, philippines originality: 100% • grammar check: 98% • plagiarism: 0% abstract with the implementation of distance learning, it has provided new opportunities and challenges to english language teachers. commonly, the aim of the english language teachers is to enhance the five language skills of each student: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing. however, the pandemic has affected the usual teaching methods, strategies, and techniques applied by the english language teachers. hence, this qualitative study aims to explore english language teachers’ experiences on the transition of their english language pedagogy towards the new normal set up. a hermeneutic phenomenological design was utilized to describe and interpret the participants’ responses. 15 english language teachers from selected private and public schools participated in the study. the following themes emerged from the focus group discussion: overcoming new challenges in teaching job; altruistic act of teachers towards the second language vol. 43 · january 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.7719/jpair.v43i1.716 print issn 2012-3981 online issn 2244-0445 this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 international license. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2318-5805 mailto:talampas.roxanne@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-2679 mailto:vannezamartinez069@gmail.com 58 jpair multidisciplinary research learners; technology as the main tool for teaching; teachers acting more as guides than facilitators; eclectic approach as the common method to teaching english in this new normal. these findings imply that english language teachers have redesigned their teaching strategies in accordance with the capabilities and needs of the students. also, some activities have been modified to make them compatible with distance learning. the researchers suggest investigating the other factors that may help the english language learners to learn the english language during distance learning. keywords — education, english language, pedagogy, qualitative study, hermeneutic phenomenology, philippines introduction the covid-19 pandemic has changed all aspects of life, including the educational system. the risk of the pandemic has compelled the world health organization (who) to implement some standards for the safety of individuals, such as social distancing and physical distancing. schools, universities, and other institutions were obliged to implement such standards and to execute distance education or online education for continuous learning. this decision, according to the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco), affected almost all countries across the globe, specifically “about 67.7% of the total enrolled learners from 144 countries” (aliyyah, rachmadtullah, samsudin, syaodih, nurtanto, & tambunan, 2020). these changes affected the teachers, learners, and other stakeholders since this new normal provided them with a new role in the education system. distance learning has become significant due to the effect of the covid-19 pandemic. distance learning or distance education is a form of education that implements “a qualitative education to students who are not able to be physically present on campus” (bagapova, kobilova, & yuldasheva, 2020). hence, unlike the face-to-face setup, this learning process has allowed the student and instructor to be in a separate location (widyaningrum, hasanudin, fitrianingsih, novianti, saddhono, & supratmi, 2020). to facilitate the learning in distance education, teachers use various technologies that can help them connect with their students, such as the internet, email, mail, and other materials. accordingly, this learning environment has two types of learning: asynchronous learning and synchronous learning. asynchronous learning implements a one-direction communication. 59 international peer reviewed journal for example, “when students have questions related to the subject being studied, students can ask other parties such as tutors or peers, but these questions cannot be answered immediately” (muzammil, sutawijaya, & harsasi, 2020). on the contrary, synchronous learning allows the engagement of teaching and learning at the same time. hence, both parties are present at the same time and place. in some ways, distance learning provides a flexible learning environment since it can save time and energy for the students. however, it provides a limited interaction between teacher to students and students to students within the scheduled time (muzammil et al., 2020). this shortcoming of distance education may impede the student’s learning as various studies have emphasized that active communication and instructors are significant in shaping the knowledge of students (desak, 2017; wang, minku, & yao, 2018, & muzammil et al., 2020). nevertheless, these challenges and opportunities of distance learning were chosen by various educational sectors for the protection of learners at this time of the pandemic. most schools, colleges, and universities in every country have adapted to the new situation by changing their teaching and learning modalities. according to remeirs (2020), the education system introduced diverse standpoints regarding modification of curriculum, teaching strategies impact of information technology, teacher representatives, parents’ representative, and industrial relevant instructions and materials. some countries have utilized full online learning, while other countries have applied different learning modalities. for instance, thailand, united kingdom, and china initiated a face to face classroom with a limited number of students and following strict guidelines such as wearing a face mask while india attempted to utilize online learning and face to face classroom set up for underprivileged students (council on foreign relations, 2020). in the same case, the most number of colleges in china had implemented online learning to guarantee the safety of the learners and teachers (wang, 2020). also, south korea also opted to adopt online learning instead of a face-to-face mode of schooling (shim & lee, 2020. on the other hand, some countries considered the different underlying factors that may affect the online learning of students, such as the financial status of students. in light of this information, some countries implemented other modalities in learning. for example, in the philippines, the department of education or deped (2020) has provided self-learning modules (slms) with the alternative learning delivery modalities (online, blended, television-based, radiobased instruction, or modular) as the new modality in teaching and learning. also, 60 jpair multidisciplinary research synchronous and asynchronous classes are being implemented by the schools. the application of these classes is dependent on the capability of students to keep pace with their studies. hence, some schools applied both synchronous and asynchronous classes, while others implemented asynchronous classes. with these new learning modalities, certain challenges have been arising in the teaching-learning. in the study of aliyyah et al. (2020), some challenges experienced by teachers in the new normal were enumerated, namely the online teaching experiences, technical obstacles, the participation of students, and student conditioning. similarly, slimi (2020) enumerated the difficulties of oman teachers during the pandemic, which are (1) network issues; (2) pressure from the management; (3) lack of policies related to online learning and teaching; and (4) cultural issues. reich (2020) revealed other challenges such as students’ interest, professional burnout, and exacerbated inequities. while pastor (2020) specifically imparted that student’s location and other factors could affect internet connectivity, which may result in ineffective online learning. these challenges have influenced the common teaching pedagogy to be reformed as suited at the time of the pandemic. the teaching pedagogy is a systematized sequence and pattern in teachinglearning. this system aims to develop the students’ interest in learning, immerse the creation process, and strengthen habits of creation. hence, pedagogy influences a student’s interest in learning and their motivation to learn. in that sense, failure to exhibit a proper pedagogy could make the learners feel uncomfortable, bored, inattentive, resulting in poor performance (svarcova & el-hmoudova, 2015). for instance, asian education, which was known for its examination-driven orientation, has failed to nurture the students’ twenty-firstcentury competencies because of its distorted process of learning and teaching pedagogy (chan, looi, chen, wong, chang, liao, & ogata, 2018). accordingly, polakova and klimova (2019) posited that “the nature of education must change to accommodate the skills and the interests of the new generations.” thus, teachers need to redesign their pedagogy to teach accordingly to the situation for the benefit of the students. henriksen, creely, & henderson (2020) believed that the covid-19 pandemic forced an immediate transition from a traditional medium of instruction to a new one. also, it mandates educators to attend to the need of the learners through the use of alternative solutions that can respond to the current challenges. for example, sutarto, sari, and fathurrochman (2020) enumerated the new teaching strategies of sdit rabbi radhiyya curup teachers during a 61 international peer reviewed journal pandemic, such as (1) providing understanding and attention to students in any situation that they must keep learning; (2) preparing a brief, clear, easy to understand and interesting learning materials; (3) choosing a simple and attractive learning media; and (4) conducting regular and continuous evaluations. popa, repanovici, lupu, norel, & coman (2020) applied chalmers and hunt (2013) model in designing and implementing their online teaching process, which includes the following: efficiency in teaching-learning, synchronization of essential elements of learning environment, cognitive, social, and teaching presence, the introduction of new technologies, and formative and continuous assessment of the formation experience to improve it. evidently, teachers need to develop their technical abilities and to cope with the confined situation. as a result, a modification in teaching pedagogy successfully offers a contemporary view towards a shift in teaching-learning modalities. most of the language teachers experience a range of challenges during the pandemic as there was a shift in teaching english from a face-to-face setting to an online setting. various studies were conducted on the impact and effect of the new learning system. for example, macintyre, gregersen, and mercer (2020) investigated the coping strategies of language teachers on teaching online hartshorn and mcmurry (2020) studied the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on esl learners tesol practitioners in the united states. lie, tamah, gozali, triwidayati, utami, & jemadi (2020) learned about the secondary school language teachers’ online learning engagement during the covid-19 pandemic in indonesia. mardiah (2020) studied e-learning to teach english at the time of the covid-19 pandemic. lastly, munni and hasan (2020) studied teaching english during the covid-19 pandemic using the facebook group as an lms. most of these studies are focused on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic in teaching the english language; but, few studies have been conducted on exploring english teachers’ experiences in transitioning their pedagogy relevant to the demands of the present time. english language teachers have applied the use of technology in their classes. for instance, many classes have adapted the online presentation and online applications as part of their activities (khatoony & nezhadmehr, 2020). but, in this present situation, the integration of technology in the teaching-learning process is a challenge to teachers. the covid-19 has reshaped the educational setting in which teachers and students are fully dependent on the materials they have and the use of technology. thus, this study provide an understanding of the impact of the phenomenon in teaching the english language. thus, the english 62 jpair multidisciplinary research language teachers’ in-depth narrative lived experience was used to explore their coping mechanism towards the shift in teaching pedagogy during the pandemic. objectives of the study this phenomenological study focuses on the lived experiences of english language teachers on transitioning their pedagogy at this time of the pandemic. specifically, this study addressed the following objectives, (1) to narrate the lived experiences of english language teachers in transitioning their pedagogy during the pandemic, (2) to enumerate the english language teachers’ perception with their adjustment of pedagogy from pre-pandemic to during pandemic, and (3) to identify the coping mechanisms of the english language teachers with the teaching pedagogy during the pandemic. the participants of this study were the junior high school and senior high school english language teachers of the calabarzon region. theoretical support the framework of this study explains the corroborative behavioral theories for this study. this study stemmed from the following theories: technology acceptance model of davis, bagozzi, and warshaw (1989), eclectic approach, and sla theory of krashen (1982). .nowadays, language teachers have fully utilized technology as their aid in teaching. this situation led to enhancing the pedagogical content of language teachers in performing a meaningful teaching-learning process. the technology acceptance model (tam) “appears to be the most widely accepted theory among information systems research for studying user’s system acceptance behavior” (liu, liao, & peng, 2005). this theory is built on two fundamental elements perceived ease of use (peou) and perceived usefulness (pu). also, these elements consist of the following sub-elements: attitudes toward using (att), behavioral intention to use (bi), and actual use (au). in connection with this study, english language teachers have adapted the new normal in teaching by utilizing technology as their main instructional material. .aside from dependence on technology, teaching the english language has shifted to cope with the new educational paradigm. with the new normal in teaching, the common method may not be applicable in online teaching. there are several factors needed to be considered, such as limited time in teaching, and some schools have limited modalities in the teaching-learning process. in line 63 international peer reviewed journal with this information, new methods have been developing contingent on the new normal in teaching. the eclectic approach is defined as the one that integrates all the language-teaching methods depending on the classroom circumstances and the learners’ abilities (sagar & afzal, 2019). this approach is based on the level of students and the contexts, such as dependent on the factors affecting the classroom and suitability to prevailing conditions (mwanza, 2017). to address second language learning, krashen (1982) developed second language acquisition (sla) that consists of five hypotheses which are (1) the acquisition-learning hypothesis, (2) the monitor hypothesis, (3) the natural order hypothesis, (4) the input hypothesis, and (5) the affective filter hypothesis (mcclaughlin, 1984). krashen (1982) believed that second language acquisition is an intuitive process. this description implies that the learners are unconsciously learning the language through the process of communication. however, he also emphasizes the importance of exposure to language is crucial in maximal second language acquisition. therefore, peak input should be abundant to provide numerous opportunities to acquire the target language (mason & krashen, 2019). in connection with the shift in language teachers’ pedagogy in this time of the pandemic, krashen’s sla theory provides an opportunity to provide the learners’ needs in learning the language in both virtual and modular setups. despite the need for empirical exploration due to educational transformation (iivari, sharma, & ventä-olkkonen, 2020), the input hypothesis provides consistency in the learners’ linguistic aspect based on the provided output (mason & krashen, 2019). moreover, it strengthens the idea that language acquisition, regardless of the teaching-learning setup, can be efficient as long as there is comprehensive input. furthermore, through the principles of a complex adaptive system (cas) under krashen’s theory in his five hypotheses, the search across the fitness landscape takes an adaptive walk to the multidimensional phase in teaching the language (kauffman, 1995). with the help of cas, language teachers continuously learn new knowledge and upgrade skills to the new paradigm in language teaching. at this phase, the social constructivism of vygotsky (1987) may be integrated with krashen’s theory to construct new learning, new insights, and new experience to cope with the new normal (during pandemic) mode in preparation for next normal (post pandemic) mode in language teaching. 64 jpair multidisciplinary research figure 1. conceptual paradigm methodology research design the study used a qualitative research design that primarily focused on the lived experiences of a focus group of english language teachers at this time of the pandemic. braun and clarke (2013) defined qualitative study as the type of research that mainly concentrates on the social and psychological phases of the participants. this type of research has guided the researchers in revealing the changes and transitions that transpired in the teaching pedagogy of the focus group based on their experiences. also, creswell (2016) emphasized that qualitative research can establish patterns and themes based on the participants’ or focus group’s viewpoints and social problems that signal a call for action. in light of this information, it provided an opportunity for researchers to uncover the in-depth meaning of experiences and beliefs of the focus group. the focus group in this study involved 15 english language teachers from junior high school and senior high school. the group shared similar characteristics and interests based on their experiences at this time of the pandemic. focus group discussion (fgd) technique was utilized to emphasize the complex personal experiences, beliefs, viewpoints, and attitudes of the selected participants through a group interaction (morgan, 1996). this group discussion is facilitated by the researchers (nyumba, wilson, derrick, & mukherjee, 2018). 65 international peer reviewed journal through this technique has allowed the group participants to share their personal thoughts and views based on the series of questions and prompts from the researchers concerning their pedagogical shift in teaching the english language this time of the pandemic? moreover, it also offered a platform for paradigms and viewpoints shift (guba & lincoln, 1994) across a wide range of disciplines, including education (flores & alonso, 1995). to align with the focus group’s narrative study reports and paradigm shift in english teaching pedagogy, this study adapted the hermeneutic phenomenology, which concentrates on the lived experiences and interpreting the “text” of life (van manen, 1990). heidegger (as cited by hirsch, 2015) explained that experiences are described and interpreted to explain the cause of phenomena. on the other hand, van manen (1990) stressed that its main purpose is to reduce individual phenomenon toward a description of the universal importance. wherein the lived experiences of the participants reflect the essential themes in the process from the gathered data in the fgd (creswell, 2016). sampling and participants purposive sampling was applied in this study. the researchers chose participants who can provide the expected information based on their knowledge and experience (etikan, 2016). also, the availability and willingness to participate were considered to converse experiences and opinions in an articulate, expressive and reflective manner (creswell, 2016). hence, the selected participants obtained the following characteristics as their common grounds: they have at least five years of teaching experience, are teaching english subjects, and have an educational background involving english as a second language (esl) or other english related graduate degrees. these participants are all english language teachers in public and private schools in the philippines, specifically in the calabarzon region. the 15 participants were chosen in alignment with their lived experiences during the covid-19, which, according to etikan (2016), made them proficient and wellinformed with the phenomenon of interest. the english language participants were the following in pseudo names: 66 jpair multidisciplinary research table 1. profile of the participants teacher position gender length of service subject taught dt shs teacher male 6 years english language le hs teacher female 30 years english language jp english head teacher male 20 years english language fj hs teacher female 5 years english language rd hs teacher male 5 years english language pl shs teacher male 6 years english language ms ld cj hs teacher hs teacher hs teacher male female male 10 years 10 years 5 years english language english language english language jr hs teacher female 15 years english language xc shs teacher female 20 years english language md shs teacher female 12 years english language ac shs teacher female 20 years english language wv shs teacher female 15 years english language su shs teacher female 10 years english language table 1 shows the profile of the participants pertaining to the position of the teacher, gender, length of service, and subject taught. the second column presents the teaching position of the participants. these participants are from the junior high school department and senior high school departments. the researchers identified a sufficient number of participants purposively (nakkeeran, 2016). according to creswell (2016), this technique is known as the purposive technique which the researchers deliberately chosen their participants based on the qualities they possess. the third column displays the gender of the participants. the table depicted both female and male participants, yet the most number of participants are female, having nine (9) entries, while there are six (6) males listed. these numbers imply that the shift in teaching pedagogy in language was not exclusive to a single-gender. furthermore, the teacher should make some adjustments in their teaching paradigm to be able to attend to the needs of the learners. the fourth column provides the length of service of the participants. the collected data showed the teaching experience ranged from 5 years to 30 years. this column highlighted the fact that this group had participated in the group progress from the same situation as a unit regardless of the length of service (nakkeeran, 2016). 67 international peer reviewed journal lastly, the fifth column exhibits the subject taught by participants. all of the participants teach english, yet each participant applied different teaching pedagogy based on the type of classes, skills, and lessons. data collection in this study, the researchers had selected participants in accordance with their profession and experience in teaching the english language. the collected data were from a group of 15 english language teachers (9 females and 6 males) who are currently teaching during the pandemic. these participants had experience in teaching the english subject for more than five years. also, they are part of the academe in a different institution before and during the pandemic and had to practice using different modalities in teaching english. these participants were chosen by the researchers in consideration of the similarity of the lived experience of participants to one another. as a result, the characteristics of the focus group introduced homogeny, which stemmed from the purpose of the study (parasuraman, zeithaml, & berry, 1985). the focus group discussion (fgd) was the technique applied in gathering the data. this data collection technique attempts to assemble “a group of individuals to discuss a specific topic, aiming to draw from the complex personal experiences, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of the participants through a moderated interaction” (nyumba et al., 2018). in a focus group discussion, the researchers acted as facilitators or moderators as they aimed to focus on the connection between the participants. the gathering of data had three phases: pre – fgd, during fgd, and after fgd. in the pre – fgd, the researchers approached possible participants for this study and provided an invitation letter that for this study. for the safety measures at this time of the pandemic, the focus group discussion was conducted through zoom meeting. the encapsulated the purpose of this study, the confidentiality of the gathered data, as well as their rights as chosen participants. subsequently, 15 english language teachers accepted the invitation to be a participant in this study. for the safety measures at this time of the pandemic, the focus group discussion was conducted through zoom meeting. the zoom meeting is a software-based conference room that allows people to meet online. prior to the fgd, the researchers asked the participants to rename their names with the assigned code for their anonymity. then, a brief discussion about this study, the confidentiality of their information, and their rights as participants were shared 68 jpair multidisciplinary research with the participants. also, the recording of the fgd was mentioned to the participants. at the start of fgd, an introduction from each participant was conducted to acquire their basic information. during the fgd, the participants’ responses led to the discovery, improvement, and refinement of the prepared research questions. also, their responses developed an evaluative framework that considers the needs and outcomes of the study (banning, 2005). as a result, the context of the collective lived experiences and gained insights in the fg were confined to generative ideas. throughout the interview, direct questions were given to the participants to elicit information pertinent to the study. the question revolved around the shared narrative of the lived experiences of the participants regarding their used teaching strategies this time of the pandemic. moreover, the discussion developed further common concerns of the participants, like their coping mechanism to attain effectivity in teaching the english language in both online and modular setups. after the fgd, the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants were reiterated to them with the intention of confirming their full participation in the study. also, the method of analyzing the data was briefly discussed with the participants. before concluding the fgd, the researchers informed the participants of another fgd if further details are needed. data analysis the study used inductive data analysis for the gathered data from the fgd regarding the shift in teaching pedagogy of the english language teachers in this time of the pandemic. the researchers had built themes through the organization of data from the abstract narrative information from the participants (creswell, 2016). furthermore, it elicited a summary format from the extensive raw data, and it linked research objectives and summary findings (thomas, 2003). this study described important features and outline set procedures that were used in the inductive analysis of gathered data from the fgd. it is also aligned with thomas’s (2003) claim that it allowed researchers to emerge from the most substantial themes in the gathered data without controlled methodologies. as a result, five key themes were stimulated from the fgd such as: overcoming new challenges in a teaching job, the altruistic act of teachers towards the second language learners, technology as the main tool for teaching, the teacher acts more as a guide than facilitators, and eclectic approach as the common method to teaching english in new normal. 69 international peer reviewed journal the themes stemmed from the transcript of the fgd. this transcript was read and analyzed by the researchers several times. afterward, a coding frame was developed, and the names of the participants in the transcript were coded. the themes were categorized based on the impact of the lived experiences of the english language teachers on the shift in teaching pedagogy in the time of the pandemic. also, the emerging themes were established through the repeated analysis of the transcript and consideration of embedded meaning that was fitted with developing themes (jain & ogden, 1999, p. 1597). transcripts were also read in the syntagmatic style that grouped segments of text to identify the evident themes. accordingly, marshall (1999) stated that the process of systematic reading and coding transcriptions endorsed the major themes to emerge. the gathered complex data from the fgd undergo reduction process and developed summary themes. research ethics protocols to ensure that the researchers do not violate any rules and protocols regarding the conduct of research, the conduct of interviews, gathering and recording data, and presentation of research results, permits, and transmittals were secured ahead of time. the participants were informed of the technicalities and procedures of data gathering, and rest were assured that the data they divulged will be kept confidential and will only be used for research purposes. in accordance with data privacy act 2012, the free flow of information to endorse innovation and growth should be protected under the fundamental human right of privacy. it is applicable to individuals and legal entities that deal with personal information. according to the given law, the processing of personal data should be permitted by the subject to observance to transparency, legitimate, and proportionality approach principles. the act states that the personal data should be declared, specified and legitimate purpose during data collection required consent prior to the collection of data. the subjects or participants should be informed regarding the extent and purpose of processing. the processing should also provide requisite transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality. moreover, the consent should be freely given, specific, informed and recorded pieces of evidence required to consent to the collection. yet, the processing stage does not always require consent. 70 jpair multidisciplinary research results and discussion the analysis of the data highlighted five themes that summarized the participants’ lived experiences on teaching english in the new normal. the five essential themes are as follows: overcoming new challenges in teaching job, altruistic act of teachers towards the second language learners, technology as the main tool for teaching, teachers acting more as guides than facilitators, and eclectic approach as the common method to teaching english in new normal. overcoming new challenges in teaching job the responses of the participants indicate that, generally, they find teaching in the new normal as difficult and challenging. all of the participants agreed that they are having difficulty with learning the technicalities and topics, on providing feedback and discussion due to less two-way discussion and limited time of discussion, in communicating with students, and with the distance learning setup: cons would be ang hirap cause walang physical contact or genuine reactions from students. mahirap sa feedback and less yung two way discussion. more on teacher-centered. it will eat up time if hihintayin students’ mag – recite cause most of the time, naghahang or lag, or minsan reason lang nila yun kase they don’t really care to participate. pero may ilang students na nagpaparticipate. so, meron pa rin discussion, wala lang full control since hindi kita lahat. at the same time, mahirap din because tasks tend to pile up, especially tasks during asynchronous where students should have been doing the tasks pero they don’t do it in time. then, mag pile up na. cons din na hindi naanticipate masyado yung amount of workloads na papagawa sa students, since everything is new, we teachers thought we should all follow the templates and tasks given by our superiors. minsan need din natin bawasan yung tasks to promote work-life balance, not only for the students but also for the teachers. (sr). well, actually, english is very difficult, especially in this time of pandemic since we are not physically present in school 71 international peer reviewed journal to guide the students on how to learn the pronunciation, the terminologies, and how to apply the english language whenever we are creating conversation. so, the pandemic restricted the usual or most common strategies that i do in school. and, i have to adapt and embrace the changes. and, at the same time, think of new strategies that will really help my students in learning english, and that will ensure that nobody is left behind. (pl) distance is the least of the expectation of an english teacher. what else the pandemic also gives us the challenge, how can we still monitor the learning of our students? how can we know if they still do this? if they still read? if they study at home? if every day, the authenticity of the subject is learned at home, part of the pedagogy of an english teacher is teaching them communication. so, if students are not the boss or not communicating outside or with their peers, with other people, it is a challenge for an english teacher to create a realistic setting for teaching. so, aside from teaching grammar, aside from teaching the rules, aside from teaching the context, aside from teaching communication, listening, and speaking. the distance is the real challenge that affects the pedagogy of english teachers. (cj) these statements signify the challenges experienced by the participants at this time of the pandemic. the limitations of distance learning compressed the activities of english language teachers. to test the english language skills of learners, alternative activities may be given: my subject is oral communication. so, when you say oral communication, of course, it has something to do more with speech, right? public speaking, teaching them public speaking. so, i think there’s really no way to check. like for example, they’ve already returned the answer sheets from the first module that they’ve answered. so, the answer sheet, of course, those are purely written work of the students. but actually, i think that at the end of the semester, i will ask the students to record 72 jpair multidisciplinary research themselves. i need a speech that would be, maybe, that will be their final exam for me or performance task. (le) the pandemic had promptly forced the teachers to change their ways of teaching and to learn about technology. consequently, it offers additional workloads and concerns to the teachers. despite the new challenges, teachers have been adjusting to the new normal in teaching by changing their approaches and strategies: prior to the meeting, i prepare and post the module, powerpoint presentation, video clips, google doc, and google forms in my students’ classroom. it’s difficult in the beginning, but i’ve mastered it through the google classroom tutorial lessons on youtube. on my part, i also oftentimes lose my connection; therefore, i simply use the group chat where i can give them my instructions and answer their queries. (ac) since my subject in grade 12 is a purely writing subject and applied subjects. i needed to do a lot of integrations. i considered a different task, the multiplethe multi first task giving in the modules. rather not really disconnected, but i had to make ways to make it simple that there will be a lot of integrations. and the outputs are, same skills are needed. i just had to add more on, more let’s say, on the writing part. pound on them skills in writing and reading. but, uh, how to come up with good outputs is something else. so, it’s actually doing feedback on the tasks they did; they really submitted. (xc) the most prevailing themes to describe the perception of the language teachers on how to overcome the new challenges in this time of pandemic are the following: they try to identify the interventions, solutions, and remedies that will help the students learning process, adjustment of activities given to the students, collaborative strategy in teaching-learning process, social involvement to understand further the situation of the learners and practice of multi-tasking skill to be able to attend the needs of the learners and the demand of the department of education. 73 international peer reviewed journal altruistic act of teachers towards the second language learners aside from the challenges in teaching and in techniques during the time of the pandemic, the participants realized the great need of the learners on their emotional aspect. consequently, teachers consider the factors that may trigger discouragement of students. according to robinson (2020), due to digital inequalities and social inequalities experienced by the learners, the higher rate of vulnerability became evident on the learners. as a solution, participants have been extending their understanding and patience towards the students through attending to their needs, using polite expressions when commending on their works or outputs, considering the learners’ mental health before and during virtual or modular class starts, giving encouraging words to sustain their interest in learning and show empathy on what they are going through, giving uplifting comments that can boost their confidence and applying of mindfulness on how to approach them both oral and written discourse: i tried to ask for more ideas, and i acknowledge their answers. i also express my gratitude to those who are acknowledging my instructions. (ac) wala naman akong [motivationa] speech pero sa greetings at messages ko i would make sure na friendly, approachable at open for suggestions ang mga tono ng boses ko. lagi akong naka – thumbs up or may heart pa minsan ang mga conversations namin. (jr) i try to be very polite with my expressions, and i always try to validate and verify whether the impact of the effect of what i did and so on and so forth. (wv) so with regard to the strategy, it’s more on the lenient side, not structured and not really structured, because distance learning really relies on the adaptability and the capability of the students to learn and themselves. so, therefore, the teachers, who have to lose in their strategy, have a lot of patience. (su) we have to look at the student’s mental condition because it may lead them to an anxious experience if we ask them to be read a speech online during the synchronous time. so at least they have their time to record and record and record. again and again. whenever they commit mistakes in one thing, at least they have ample time again to record. so that’s a thing to consider as well. (dt) 74 jpair multidisciplinary research now, we also have to adjust our activities. yes, because the everyday we are meeting our students, they cannot always consult, as that is why we also have to adjust the difficulty of the activities somehow. (jr) during writing exercises like correcting sentences, i give appreciation like a good job or very good. and with that, other students are encouraged to try to answer in their module there are reflection parts, i encourage them to explain their learnings and takeaways there especially during asynchronous if they could not explain during synchronous class, at least in the reflections, they were able to construct their thoughts and put it to writing (su) these statements manifest the positive treatments of teachers toward their students; with empathy and care. the positive approach of teachers becomes significant to meet the learners’ expectations and needs. havik and westergard (2020) stressed that “positive teacher-student interactions are a fundamental aspect of quality teaching, learning and student engagement” (p. 501). hence, teachers’ interaction may affect students’ engagement in class and their academic and social development. consequently, the act of altruism was considered as the primary responsibility of the english language teacher. such behaviors and practices display empathy towards the learners, all of which are part of altruism (simmons & sands-dudelczyk, 1983). technology as the main tool for teaching technology became an essential tool in teaching at this time of pandemic for both online and modular mode of schooling. this tool has been the most effective means of relaying information and teaching channel. thus, technology and technological knowledge became highly valued and demanded innovative skill in the teaching-learning process: merong engage part at least every synchronous may interactive task like games. we did pinoy henyo, charade, pictionary, taboo card. they participated, and during discussions, we have a poll, so that i could ask few questions from exercises, then answers will be seen. (su) 75 international peer reviewed journal and then blended learning in the online class, we have the synchronous and asynchronous in my grade 11 students, they are not able to attend the synchronous online classes. so what they did is that i came up with a type of asynchronous strategy. now, kung saan i created a show; it’s what we call lee show. lee means learn english enthusiastically. i am creating videos of me discussing the topics in oral communication and english for academic and professional purposes. (pl) so, the strategy that i am using is, i just created a group chat, where it’s like, and chat support for the students. students used to post their questions on the chat box; then i will just answer their questions. (ld) online games to online educational games now are really is a great tool in teaching, so it increases motivation. it allows students to learn and at the same time to have fun also. since they’re also are using the internet, video recordings, they can video record themselves doing the performances, practicing the activities that you are that you gave them. also, what strategies we can say my subject is communication. and we cannot use the speech laboratory as one of the tool that we are frequently using last time, some of you are going out there i just have a cds listening activities to be played in the music player. and then, afterwards, the student will give us yung parang magbalik sya ng feedback parang palitan lang. (le) the usual is giving platform education gaming platform that we use the kahoot, mentimeter, we often use those platforms just so not to be the students to a competition like environment… since i’m also into editing now, i use photoshop. and, of course, i end up with, i can utilize powerpoint presentation. (dt) i used to do it via google meet because the kids tell that it uses less data but now i diverted into juggling between messenger and more on organizing the different tasks via discord. (ms) 76 jpair multidisciplinary research we have fb group dun ako nag-upload ng video lessons para mapanood nila (jr) the technology bridges the communication gap due to distance learning in both virtual and modular learning set-ups. based on the participants, they have learned to utilize group chats and video calls to attend to the needs of the learners easily. this practice goes beyond the actual conducted synchronous class through virtual zoom conference and google meet in providing input of knowledge to the learners. teachers acting more as guides than facilitators .due to the prompt shift of schooling set up from the face-to-face to virtual and modular mode, the teachers’ role had been modified: from being a facilitator to a being guide. this is considered as one coping mechanism in the new normal way of the teaching-learning process in attending to the needs of the learners. given the situation that physical interaction was prohibited because of the virus, the teachers were not able to facilitate the class. a new role was given to them, which is to be a guide to the learners through giving instructions and feedback in the virtual and modular activities: so, i know it’s clear that i am a guide, but there is still a lot of like, a big portion, a big job my role as a guide is to be a friend… at the same time, with the being a facilitator really becomes queer these days because i can’t really say that i’m facilitating, yeah, i really can’t say that despite the different activities that i have, i ask the kids to do or engage comfortably. (xc) and the teacher part, it’s more on guidance and facilitation na lamang. unlike previously na most of the time, it will be the teacher discussing the matter and parang lumilitaw; it’s the teacher who is performing the wealth of knowledge, this time, there will be more of us soft face independent parangs elf hunt for the students, which in terms para bang if i am going to speak in a figurative manner, para bang, si teacher bibigyan nya lang ng mapa si student, and then the student could be self-hunting, or tracking the guide through the modules parang ganun. so more like independent learning, and then facilitation and guidance only from the teacher. (md) 77 international peer reviewed journal the effort of the educational sector in the country on how the teachers, learners, and schools can cope with the paradigm shift towards the distance learning system became every evident this time of pandemic (alea et al., 2020). based on the participants, during the face-to-face setup of teaching, the instructions or lessons were directly given to the students. they only facilitate inside the classroom on how the students are working on the given instructions to come up with the expected outcome. however, with distance learning, the teachers shifted their role as a guide by giving instructions in every lesson. in some way, feedback creates the learning experience for the learners since this strategy may impart what they know, what they learned, and what else should they learn. this strategy considers the reality that most learners are now doing the task on their own phase or independently. in a nutshell, the consultation process became the new strategy towards effective teaching-learning progression since the learners were forced to do self-hunt tactics to understand the concepts given to them. eclectic approach as the common method to teaching english in new normal all of the participants responded with the unspecified approach in teaching the english language at this time of the pandemic. nevertheless, participants consider combining different strategies that may be suitable for the teachinglearning process at this time of pandemic: here in online teaching, it’s a transition from activities and a transition of discussion and activities, you discuss bits and ideas, okay for them to master your extend the lesson through an activity, and then you add another idea and then extend again through activity and at the end of the entire discussion, you elaborate things to them or you make them analyze the lesson, analyze the skills, use the skills to analyze a text or materials, and then you evaluate so far more and more (cj) you have to search for different strategies for the deliver your lesson. yes, you cannot confine yourself to one theory. (jr) under the new normal set up in the academe, all schools and universities in the philippines had shifted from regular classes into online and modular classes to give continuity in teaching and learning. in consort with this crucial point, the relentless effort of the teachers became notable through the alternative methods 78 jpair multidisciplinary research and diverse paradigm shift in their teaching pedagogies (jafar et al., 2020). in relation to this, based on the participants’ response teaching english as the second language of the learners became more vital due to the expected competency of the four macro skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing despite the lack of readiness of the teachers and provided materials. as a result, the flexibility of teaching methodologies was taken into consideration to be able to sustain the language input to the learners. conclusions .the covid-19 pandemic has reshaped the educational system in the philippines. it shifted the traditional academic paradigm towards the new normal in teaching-learning set-up. specifically, it provided the educational sectors to rethink and redesign the curriculum, the strategies, the approaches, and the techniques for the teaching-learning process at this time of the pandemic. this study revealed that english language teachers have been adjusting to the new normal through overcoming the challenges the pandemic had brought, accommodating and considering the situations of each student, learning technology as the main tool in teaching, embodying the new role as a guide to learners, and combining different strategies that may be suitable in teaching for the new normal. through these experiences, it unravels the teaching pedagogy practiced by the english language teachers. .the concept of flexibility on teaching-learning modalities became the main practices of selected participants at this time of the pandemic. this practice has helped the teachers effectuate a different pedagogy based on the learning environment and learners’ needs. the use of technology became significant in the input learning process of the second language (l2) under distance learning mode. it provides new possibilities in teaching the english language by integrating videos, records, and games. providing feedback to each learner’s output emerged as the essential component in teaching at this time of the pandemic. it creates a learning experience that helps the teacher to identify what needs to be improved. lastly, the teachers manifest a new role in the teaching-learning process as a guide, which enkindles learners’ independence to cope with the adjustment of the teaching-learning process. in conclusion, english language teachers are determined to instill learning in the english language students in spite of the difficulties they have been experiencing in the new normal. their lived experiences and the different 79 international peer reviewed journal strategies on coping with the new normal mode are inevitable to change due to the adjustments and needs of learners at this time of the pandemic. . recommendation based on the findings obtained in this study, the following recommendations are suggested: for the teachers, the english language teachers may learn to embrace the new teaching pedagogies beyond the traditional teaching strategies. for the school administration, the school administration may consider the concept of innovation to assure preparedness and competence of teachers to align with the given changes in the curriculum. therefore, in-service training (inset) may be conducted to address the challenges that may affect the teaching-learning process and to share possible strategies as well as tools in teaching at this time of the pandemic. moreover, the researchers suggest further investigate the other lived experiences of teachers in other subjects or consider the experiences of learners in studying a specific subject. literature cited alea, l. a., fabrea, m. f., roldan, r. d. a., & farooqi, a. z. 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